In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: Four Easy Steps to Winning Friends on the Web by Marie Williams

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MARKETING MINUTE: Don't Be Afraid To Expose Yourself! by Joe Reinbold

If you'd like to read previously ran tips and features, go to http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html

"Tip of the Week"

Today's writers focus our attention on the importance of fostering the personal side of our online businesses. Here's a few more ideas from Larry Dotson for creating relationships that last:

The Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Customer Service by Larry Dotson

1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your Web site. After every sale, follow-up with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.

2. Create a customer focus group. Invite ten to twenty of your most loyal customers to meet regularly. They will give you ideas and input on how to improve your customer service. You could pay them, take them out to dinner or give them free products.

3. Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your web site. Have a "FAQ" page on your Web site to explain anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill out an electronic survey to find out how make your web site more customer friendly.

4. Resolve your customers complaints quickly and successfully. Answer all e-mail and phone calls within an hour. If possible, you the owner of the business, personally take care of the problem. This will show your customers you really care about them.

5. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Offer as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers to contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so customers won't have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for phone and fax contacts.

6. Make sure employees know and use your customer service policy. Give your employees bonuses or incentives to practice excellent customer service. Tell employees to be flexible with each individual customer, each one has different concerns, needs and wants.

7. Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses to your customers who make a big purchase.

8. Always be polite to your customers. Use the words your welcome, please, and thank you. Be polite to your customers even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to your customers should you make a mistake. Admit your mistakes quickly and make it up to them in a big way.

9. Reward customers a point for every one dollar they spend. Let's say customers can get a free computer for 300 points. That means customers will spend $300 dollars on your products and services to get enough points to get the free computer.

10. Build strong relationships with your customers. Invite them to company meetings, luncheons, workshops or seminars. Create special events for your customers like parties, barbecue's, dances etc. This will make them feel important when you include them in regular business operations and special events. ---- 1075 FREE Internet Marketing eBooks! http://www.ldpublishing.com

Four Easy Steps to Winning Friends on the Web by Marie Williams

Most of you will be familiar with the works of Dale Carnegie and, in particular, his best-selling publication 'How to Win Friends and Influence People.' People.' It may be over half a century old, but this powerful book is still largely relevant today. Some of his basic ideas need just a little modification for running a successful online business. Here's how to win (and keep!) friends on the web:

1) GET PERSONAL. Dale says: 'Remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound.' Political correctness aside, he's spot on. We're less likely to trash personalised emails, are more likely to open these first, and (providing the email is also well-written) we'll be better disposed to actually reading them. Limited use of names within the body of the email can also draw attention to important points, but if this is overdone it will loose its effectiveness.

2) PRAISE WHERE IT'S DUE. Dale says: 'Begin with praise and appreciation.' This is a great technique when promoting products or services. A small amount of praise can go a long way - as long as it's sincere and you've done your homework. Take a look at the following two notes:

a) Hi there friend! Great site! I've got a great new product to share with you at a very special price ...

b) Hi Laura. Your articles in Business Consultant Weekly are top-notch. Your ideas have helped to turn my website into a goldmine. By way of thanks, I'd now like to share some exciting new ideas of mine with you ...

No points for guessing which letter will get results. The first smacks of insincerity and contains no personalization or indication that the writer has even visited your website. The second letter uses a small amount of targeted praise as a great introduction to the sales patter. This helps to establish an element of trust - necessary if you hope to make any sales.

3) INFLATE YOUR INTEREST. Dale says: 'Talk in terms of the other man's interests.' Of course, this isn't so manageable with an online business. It's easy to apply with a reciprocal face-to-face conversation, but it's another matter entirely via email correspondence.

You have to learn to be an email 'scavenger.' It usually takes several emails before a deal is struck. In this time (providing that you have followed the personalization and praise techniques), your reader will probably have opened up a little. You should read all their emails carefully (keep them together in a separate file if necessary) and search for anything that they let slip about themselves - personal details, country of residence, even their preferred style of writing (formal or informal). These details are your marketing weapons. Comment upon or casually drop in a few of these choice details in your replies for added personalization. When used discretely, they can establish and build a bond between you and your potential client.

4) LET THEM HAVE THEIR SAY. Dale says: 'Let the other man do a great deal of the talking.' Encourage feedback from your reader. Give them a reason to reply and to pass on more of their personal details. This can be done by making a few relevant enquiries. Ensure that you don't ask questions which simply require a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Ask something specific and get them talking. Not only does this help you extract your marketing weapons but it also means that your potential client won't feel as though they've been talked into anything - even if they have.

I think you'll find that these four steps will give you a really unfair advantage over your competition. If you want to learn more, pick up a copy of 'How to Win Friends and Influence People.' It's not too old to teach you a thing or two.

© 1999 Marie Williams, editor "Write Advice"

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Don't Be Afraid To Expose Yourself!

by Joe Reinbold

No I am not going to talk about raincoats or flashing! It might be more interesting, but my topic today concerns exposing yourself in your email correspondence and at your web site.

Before I moved my entire business online, I used to mail thousands of pieces of mail each year through the Post Office. In return I received about the same number if not more back and still receive quite a few "unsolicited" pieces each day by snail mail. Many of you probably did or are still doing promotion in that manner. So you may be well aware of what I am going to comment on.

It never ceased to amaze me that someone might send me an offer, that looked pretty good, but they failed to identify themselves. There was no name or address on the outside of the envelope, nor was there a name, address or telephone number on the correspondence or flyer inside. It was completely anonymous! That piece of mail went immediately into my round file, even if I might be a little interested in the offer. I knew that, with the amount of mail I received on a daily basis, I would get it from someone else who was a little more professional and someone I could call up and talk to about it.

Wouldn't you want to know at least the name of the person who is sending you the offer? I don't know how many dollars are wasted by individuals doing that type of mailing every day! Sometimes I think that the person sending it is just plain embarrassed about the offer or program. In some cases you could tell why because the offer was outright illegal. But in other cases, the product or service was legitimate but still no identification other than the primary company name and an ID number.

Well, since I have been online, I noted that it hasn't changed much! I get email solicitations everyday with no names on them. I subscribe to many ezines that contain no identity of the publisher. Many have comments by the editor but his or her name is never shown. I have gone to many web sites to get additional details in response to some offer I received and again there is no name, location or telephone number anywhere on the site. And what amazes me is on some of the sites, not only isn't there a name of the distributor promoting the offer, in some cases you can't even find any information about the company that is the actual vendor or owner of the offer.

If someone sends you "unsolicited" email or spam, they most likely don't use their name because they don't want to be personally associated with what they are doing. That is why they also, in a lot of cases, use a false email address. As I used to do with snail mail, right into the round file, email is a lot easier and quicker to dump! One click of the delete button and it's into my electronic round file!

If you truly are interested in operating a business online then you need to establish a presence. If you were opening a printing shop at your local mall, would you put boards over the windows and make sure that there was no sign outside. DAH! Then why do it for a business online.

Put your name on what you send out by email. Use a signature file. If you publish an ezine, don't you think that your subscribers would like to know who the publisher is? Put your name, address and telephone number on your web site and your email address as a hyperlink so people can contact you if they have questions.

You are not going to establish a presence on the Internet if you try to run your business anonymously. You need to get as much exposure as you can. You don't see Amazon sending out anonymous emails soliciting book sales! You want to get to the point where people can say.. Yes, Joe Blow, he's the owner of XYZ site or he's the publisher of ABC Ezine! Plus you will be surprised at how much increased business it can bring you. ----- Joe Reinbold, webmaster of The Entrepreneur's Home Business Link publishes a free weekly email newsletter "Home Income Quarterly E-dition" which is dedicated to assisting online marketers. For a free subscription just mailto:subscribe@homebizlink.com or visit his site at http://www.homebizlink.com

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