Gilbert Direct Marketing

There's an old adage that says, “The more you tell, the more you sell.” Let's put a 21st century twist on this. Providing your prospects and customers with solid testimonials from present customers can be a powerful selling force for your business.

Much like a four-letter word, disasters happen in all forms just about anywhere — without warning, at any time. So prepare your company and yourself. Here’s a disaster-readiness checklist I suggest you look over carefully. If you think you’re on top of this, I recommend you compare your list to this one to ensure you have all bases covered.

What do you get when you mix a complicated product offer with call-center staff that doesn't have the training (or sales acumen) to convert? A company that's bleeding potential customers in the call center. In essence, a lower than what should be call-to-order ratio, with a giant chasm between the prospect's understanding of the offer and the customer service rep's (CSR) ability to close the sale

We measure success today not only by cost per acquisition and lifetime value (LTV), but by time spent interacting with your brand. While not necessarily tangible, or even easily measurable, time spent with your brand in a positive way will gain you new customers and prospects in the future. Although many people are admittedly having a difficult time quantifying social media, in today’s marketplace it's 100 percent necessary.

Want to see your average order values, conversion rates and lifetime values go up? Bring a call center into the mix. Think about it this way: If your Web site converts 4 percent of visitors, even the worst of call centers will convert at least 10 percent of callers. That’s a 2.5:1 ratio, on the low end.

This week, let's look at the many ways you can lose prospects who visit your Web site without even knowing who they are. This phantom demand can be captured and added to your contact strategy, and these leads can be nurtured until they're ready to buy. To capture them and begin a sales dialogue, however, you must get them to identify themselves, right?  

Last week, I gave a presentation to the Florida Direct Marketing Association titled “50 Tips to Drive ROI in the Second Half of 2009.” I’m going to share those tips with you over the course of the next few weeks.

It seems that a lot of you are pretty shy. Over on my personal blog, I’ve been getting a lot of comments to my last article on the evolution of our industry. There's been some back and forth about going green and its impact on direct mail — the typical “direct mail kills the environment” issue.

The goal of my newly branded column — in this newly branded publication — is to help you drive as much high-quality return on investment (ROI) as possible in the ROI channels and mantra (retail/catalog, online integration) from our magazine’s tagline. I'll talk change on a continual basis so you can adapt and thrive. 

As a long-time “big and tall shopper,” I only shop from a handful of companies. Two of these happen to be Rochester Big and Tall and Casual Male XL. While owned by the same company, both have positioned themselves to different segments of the big and tall market. Rochester sells more upscale, pricier, higher-end merchandise, while Casual Male offers more affordable apparel. In my opinion, both have done an excellent job of differentiating themselves brandwise on their Web sites and in their stores with the products they offer.