Magnetic Websites - Attract Customers Like a Magnet

Focus on Results, Not on Activity

by Joe Gracia

Ask most small business owners exactly what kind of results their last marketing effort generated, and you will most likely hear, 'I haven't the slightest idea.'

They pay for Yellow Page ads, newspaper ads, direct mailings, flyers, and more. They can tell you exactly how much money they spent on these marketing vehicles, but few will be able to tell you how many prospects or sales that money brought them.

This is like hiring a team of salespeople and agreeing to pay them each week, but never determining if any of them is actually selling anything. Would you do that?

TREAT EACH OF YOUR MARKETING VEHICLES LIKE A SALESPERSON

You only have so much time, energy and money, and you need to invest it in the most profitable ways to ensure that your business can grow.

Treat all of your marketing vehicles -- your ads, flyers, sales letters, even your referral process -- as you would real salespeople. Hold them accountable for their results.

You would ensure that your sales staff is properly trained to sell your products and services, and so, you must also ensure that your marketing pieces are effectively designed to generate maximum prospects and sales.

You would also track each of your salespeople's results each week. If you didn't, how would you know which ones were excellent and worthy of additional investment? How would you know which ones needed more training, or which ones were not qualified for the position?

By tracking the results of each of your marketing efforts, you can determine the same things that you would by tracking the performance of your individual sales team members.

TRACKING IS THE KEY TO CONTINUOUSLY GROWING SALES

One of the reasons Maria and I have been able to grow our sales so rapidly on the Internet, is because we are both committed to tracking our marketing results each week.

We track the specific number of visitors to each of our primary Web site pages so that we can determine what our visitors want and what they don't want. That way we can give them more of what they want and less of what they don't.

We track the results of each ad we run to determine exactly how many prospects and sales it generated.

We even track the results of our free marketing efforts to determine if our time is being spent wisely.

All of our marketing decisions are based on the numbers that we receive each week from our marketing efforts.

With this commitment to focusing on results, it's very easy to determine which of our efforts are winners -- we invest more in those -- and which ones are losers -- we stop using those.

This system of focusing on results, eliminates guesswork and opinions. It enables us to only use winning marketing techniques. This strategy helped us generate well over $100,000 in sales last year from just one of our Web sites.

If you commit to this simple idea -- focusing on and tracking your weekly results, you will be amazed at the additional sales you can produce for your business.

For the past ten years we've been teaching our clients that the foundation of any profitable marketing strategy is an effective tracking system so you will always know what every marketing effort you invest in is producing for you.

THE POWER OF A SIMPLE TRACKING CODE

One of the easiest ways to track the results of your printed marketing pieces -- ads, flyers, sales letters, post cards, business cards, etc. is by including a tracking code in every marketing piece you use.

Then, whenever you get an inquiry or a sale, you simply record the code on your tracking form.

At the end of the week you add up the numbers for each code and you'll know exactly which of your pieces produced for you and which didn't. How could you continue to invest in something that wasn't producing for you?

Without this basic information, you're just blindly shooting arrows in the air -- a frustrating and dangerous activity.

Make the commitment today to focus on the results your marketing pieces are generating and your results will automatically begin improving.

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE YOUR SALES SOAR?

Marketing doesn't have to be a mystery -- and it doesn't have to be expensive. There are many low-cost, even free, marketing techniques that will get your phone ringing off the hook.

We explain, in a simple, step-by-step format, exactly how you can use them along with the most powerful marketing strategy available in our Magnetic Marketing Solution. Don't delay.

Reprinted with permission from Joe and Maria Gracia's FREE, Give to Get Marketing Newsletter. You can subscribe to their newsletter and receive their complimentary Marketing Idea-Kit by simply visiting their Web site: http://www.givetogetmarketing.com