"Your Newsletters" Newsletter APRIL 2010

Hello,

Welcome to our April newsletter for mortgage brokers and others looking for some sales and marketing tips.

In this edition we have an article that gives you three simple tips for generating more leads - which we all need more of!

We also have a short article showing how one broker uses $220 to generate $3m in home loans - which seems like a pretty good investment.

Till next time.

Peter

Wanted - More Leads!

Most business owners assume that they must invest a lot in new marketing campaigns in order to increase their lead generation.

However, there are some very cost-effective ways to exponentially increase your leads.

1. Contact your existing customers

It is six times easier to sell to an existing customer than to sell a new customer. If you concentrate on and stay in contact with your existing customers (eg via a newsletter), they are more likely to do more business with you.

Think about new or complementary products that they may be interested in. Give them a call just to say hello and ask them how it is going. They will greatly appreciate your interest and will become your advocates.

2. Ask for referrals

Your satisfied customers, happy employees and devoted friends/family will want you to succeed in your business endeavors. Ask them if they know of other like-minded customers who may be interested in your services. If you ask most people for help, they are usually willing to work with you.

When asking for referrals, be specific with your associates. For example, ask them, "I am looking for people interested in getting in better health through new exercise programs", or "My ideal client is a business owner with revenues between $1million and $10 million."

  • identify a number of potential referral sources for the next year.

  • Schedule a lunch/breakfast with each referral, each month.

  • That will result in 12+ meetings and exponentially more new business contacts.

3. Cold Calling

Want to know a quick and low-cost strategy that can generate massive results in your business, if practiced regularly?

Simple techniques, like old-fashioned phone calls to suspects, warm leads or referrals, are usually used. The chief excuse of business owners for not using cold calling is lack of time. If you can't (or won't) do it, identify a resource within your team to handle this important task.

  • Discipline yourself to stop what you're doing for five minutes a day, and make calls. Just two calls per hour, every business day, will yield hundreds of calls over a year. If you have a target list, you could place a call to each, once every quarter to let them know you're there and you care! Remember, even if today they are buying what you're selling from someone else, you can position yourself to be the second choice for when things change!
  • Focus on results, and set a daily goal; make calls until you reach the goal. This may be to get an appointment, sale or new referral (as appropriate.) In no time, this will become an effective habit/tool for growing your business. Once you've achieved your goal for the day, congratulate yourself and then go about doing the other tasks that confront you.

Thanks to Sheri Winesett of ActionCoach Business Coaching for this article. For a free business health check go to www.actioncoach.com.au.

George's $3 million newsletter

If we told you that our newsletters could get you $3 million in loans, would you believe us?

How about if George, or actually his printer, told you the same thing - would that make it more believable?

I heard recently from a customer of ours who each quarter buys the PDF print newsletter from us.

In fact that's not quite true. I actually heard from the printer who prints the newsletter from the PDF we supply. He told me that George, the broker whom we produce the newsletter for, had mentioned that the last newsletter he sent out had resulted in him writing $3 million worth of home loans.

Is that a good return on his investment?

The PDF newsletter costs him $220 to buy from us with everything done. Articles written, newsletter tailored with his photo, logo, contact details. All he does each quarter is says "yes please" when I ask him if he wants the newsletter (there's no contract so it's optional).

He then sends the PDF to his printer, gets a couple of hundred printed and mailed, and waits for the phone to ring.

  • Is the newsletter something magical? No. It's good but there's nothing outlandishly different about it. It's a two sided A4 PDF that can be printed by a high street or commercial printer or on your own colour printer.

  • Could he do it himself? Yes of course. He chooses not to as it would take him quite a few hours to write the articles, then he'd have to do the newsletter layout himself using Adobe Indesign. So he doesn't bother - his time is better spent taking the phone calls, writing the loans, or spending time with his family.

  • Could you achieve the same results? Absolutely. Of course I can't guarantee that, but I have numerous testimonials on file from other brokers who are also achieving great results.

If you'd like to see the good, but not magical, newsletter that we produced for George then send me an e-mail and I'll e-mail you the actual newsletter by return. I'll also send you details of a limited time special offer that will make you think - "why wouldn't I give this a try?"

Oh, and in case you're wondering - why didn't George tell me about this great achievement? Well he's been a customer for over three years so I guess he figures he's told me enough times that it works.
DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is provided for general information only. Please do not rely on this newsletter as a substitute for specific legal or financial advice. Before making any decisions you should consider your specific objectives, financial situation and needs.