e-ret@iler from Profits Plus and Tom Shay
ideas to sell more merchandise and services
July 2003 - Our 44th consecutive issue

The July issue of the e-ret@iler contains:

1. The article of the month: Carve More Market Share
2. e-ret@iler advisory of the month:
Institutional Advertising
3. Our Power Promoting idea of the month: On
the flip side
4. Your e-ret@iler subscription and contacting
Profits Plus and Tom Shay

=> Print the July issue of the e-ret@iler so
you can read it at your leisure.

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1. Article of the month: Carve More Market Share

Surely, every business person reading this
newsletter has experienced or known someone
whose business has had a competitor that has
taken a piece of their market. In this month's
article, we will look at a business that has
made a point to know who their competition is,
what they are doing, and how to do things to
attract customers that your competition can
not match.

Read the July 2003 article and you will see
some great ideas that you can add to your
business.

Click on the link below to see the July article
of the month, entitled:

Carve More Market Share

0 <= After printing the e-ret@iler, check here if
you plan to read this month's article.

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2. e-ret@iler advisory: Institutional Advertising

Just a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of conducting
a "webinar" for a North American group. After the
presentation, a participant followed up with an
e-mail question asking about advertising that can
have measured results and advertising that can not
have measured results (often referred to as
institutional advertising). "How would you
recommend calculating the outcome of our advertising?",
was the question.

Surely, it is easier to feel better about advertising
that names an item and gives a price. When we use such
advertising, we can gauge the results as all we have
to do is calculate how many of the advertised item we
have sold, and decide if we are pleased with the number
of units moved.

The institutional advertising is quite different. We are
usually not able to measure the results in units sold.
We are usually simply trying to convey a feeling, and
hopefully your business - from the outside to the inside -
continues to convey that good feeling that you have
shown in your advertising.

If your institutional advertising is something other
than print, radio, or television, there may be a way
to gauge the success. The person that asked the intial
question asked about their company making an appearance
at a home or trade show. This person gave an example of
purchasing an automobile and how we see numerous
ads before we decide which automobile to purchase.

The response I gave to this person asked what they did
to gather information about the people that would stop
by their display at a show. Hopefully, they give each
person stopping by a reason to leave their contact
information. After this information is gathered, I asked
what they are doing to follow up. Are they sending
additional print material or calling the person on the
phone to further inquire about their interest?

Does image advertising work? There is a business that
has used a certain design to all of their newspaper
ads for years. The type of artwork, the type fonts, and
the product/service description style was the same
for years and years. They were interested in finding
out if the public noticed their ads, so they ran several
print ads without their traditional name and address
information.

The business reported that the results were consistent
with their traditional advertising. People knew their
advertising style whether or not the name and related
information were present. Obviously, getting to this
point takes years. Getting to this point, requires
a lot of work to develop the consistent image. And,
most definitely getting to this point requires dollars
and confidence that you are correct in the image you are
trying to convey.

0 <= After printing the e-ret@iler, check here if
you you plan to read the July e-ret@iler advisory.

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3. The Power Promoting Idea of the Month: On
the flip side.

Take a look at your business card. It is something
that you spend plenty of money to have created,
and hopefully give out in an effort to gain more
business. You carry a short stack of them with
you, and often when you are giving someone your
card, they are giving you one of theirs.

You put their card in your pocket and continue on.
If however, you have something you need to write
down, you are likely to take that business card
you have just received and use the back of it to
write on.

Now that business card is no longer a card, but is
a notepad. When that card next comes out of the
pocket, it will not be for your information on the
front of the card, but for the note on the
back of the card.

The lesson from this? Put something on the back of
your card. It could be information about the
products and services that you offer. It could
be quotes about experiences your cusotmers have
had in your business. It could be a map to
find your bsiness. Whatever you do, don't leave
the back of your card blank. You have a wonderful
opportunity to tell something else about your
business, the card continues to serve its original
purpose, and it costs very little.

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4. We create the e-ret@iler each month to share
with you, information and ideas that we find
by way of books, magazines, the Internet, and
like this month - from the many people we have
the opportunity of meeting. We invite you to share
your ideas and questions so that we can share your
knowledge and concerns with thousands of people
who have similar interests.

This is a free newsletter. We thank you to share
this month's issue with other people and will
gladly add them to the subscription list. You
can get a subscription in one of two ways. The
first way is by visiting the front page of our
website, and clicking on the large yellow
e-ret@iler subscription button. Just enter your
e-mail address, and click on the e-ret@iler box.

The second way is by sending a e-mail to us, and we
will be glad to enter the subscription for you.
In the first part of this e-ret@iler we have
provided you with the necessary links to do either
of these.

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Thanks again for reading the July e-ret@iler.
We know that you have a very busy workday, and
appreciate that you find a way to take a few
minutes to read the message we have to share
with you each month.

We continue to ask you to make an effort to
locate and do business with other small businesses.
You will meet some really great people and
find others who really appreciate their cusomters,
just the way you do!

Get your Profits Plus, and may God bless you and
yours! See you in August.

Tom Shay