Beef Up Your Opt-In Email List With an Offer Your Visitors CAN'T Refuse!

If there is one piece of advice I would give to every business operating on the Web today, it would be this:

You MUST collect the opt-in information of visitors to your web site!

Why? Because if you're not constantly building your opt-in email list, you're letting MOST of your sales opportunities slip right through your fingers! I can't say it often enough!

Studies have shown that it takes an average of FOUR TO SEVEN points of contact to make a sale — and you won't make it to the second point of contact if you don't have a way to reach your visitors after they've left your site.

Think about how many websites you visit in an hour of surfing the Internet — do you remember the salescopy and products from each of those sites? Could you find a particular site again if you wanted to re-check their information? Even if you Googled it, there's no guarantee that exact URL would show up in your keyword results.

In most cases, visitors come to your site, they look around, then they leave, and they're gone forever.
But simply by collecting their first name, last name, and email address, you can stay firmly on their radar and expose them to your products time and time again — all at nearly no cost to you! These people are your opt-ins, and an opt-in email list is the very foundation of any online business.

That's why it's amazing to me that many people don't take advantage of opt-in email marketing.
Especially when statistics from PostFuture back up exactly what I'm saying:

• 82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase in response to an email promotion
• 67% of users open at least 60% of opt-in emails they receive
• 32% have made an immediate online purchase in response to an email!
• 59% have gone on to redeem an email coupon in an online OR offline store

People pay close attention to their email, and more and more people are buying online every year!

But consumers know that their personal information is gold, and they won't give it to you unless you give them something they want in return. If you provide your visitors with a targeted, valuable opt-in offer, your opt-in email list will grow — and so will your revenues.

So now that you know WHY you should be collecting your visitors' information, let's take a look at...

• WHO you should be considering when you build your opt-in strategy
• WHAT to offer your visitors to get them excited about opting in
• HOW to promote your offer
• WHERE to put it on your web site

Once you've got the answers to these questions, you're ready to put together the best possible opt-in offer for your target market.

WHO? Know your target market — and build an offer they can't refuse!

The first step in creating a solid opt-in strategy is to consider the people you want to opt in to your list. Just as the best businesses are created in response to the needs of a specific niche market, so are the best opt-in offers!

That's why the first, most important question is always WHO. Unless you can specifically say who you're aiming your strategy at, you're going to have a hard time running any kind of an opt-in campaign... AND your business, for that matter.

You can find out a lot about your site visitors' preferences and habits by looking at the server logs that your web host supplies. What's the most popular page on your web site? What pages do visitors stay on for the longest time? Build your opt-in offer around what's on those pages.

Where do people most often click away from your site? Obviously whatever's there isn't something your market considers valuable, so a related opt-in offer wouldn't work.

When do most people visit your site? If they're visiting during work hours, your offer will be much different from one aimed at people visiting in the evenings.

Also consider the questions or comments you get from customers after a sale. What do they want to know? What do they like or dislike?

The more hard information you have on your target audience, the easier it will be to come up with an opt-in offer that answers their specific needs.

Now's the time to think about WHAT your target market really wants...

WHAT? Discover the opt-in incentive that will provide maximum value for your opt-in email list — and get your subscribers in the mood to buy! 

There are tons of different incentives you can use to encourage people to give you their personal information — but not every offer will suit every web site or business.

Because people already get so much email these days, you need to provide them with a really compelling incentive to opt in to your list.

Most people think of newsletters right off the bat when they are first developing an opt-in incentive for their web site. Starting your own online newsletter is one of the most effective methods of building your opt-in list. It's an incredibly powerful way to position yourself as an industry expert with your customers and subscribers, and it reminds them regularly of your presence.

For some businesses, however, offering a free newsletter isn't the best way to collect email addresses. Let's suppose, for example, that your site sells washers and dryers. You're going to be hard pressed to come up with interesting, relevant information about laundry for your free newsletter every month!
According to an Ipsos-Reid poll, 71% of all Internet users have unsubscribed from at least one email list because the information delivered wasn't sufficiently interesting or relevant.

Before you start a newsletter, think about how much interesting and relevant information you can deliver to your specific audience and how much time you have available to put it together so it can be delivered on a regular schedule.

If a newsletter isn't a good fit for your business, don't worry — there are other ways to collect email addresses, and they require less time and effort.

1. Offer a free brochure

A free brochure can be a great incentive, depending on the kinds of products or services you offer.
If you offer a free brochure, you'll have to take the time to actually write it. But a brochure doesn't need to be hundreds of pages long to be useful. An information-packed brochure can be as short as 8 to 10 pages, and still provide a ton of value for your opt-in subscribers.

Not only does a free brochure help build your list, it also helps familiarize your visitors with you and your products or services.

You can also make your brochure viral — and no, that doesn't mean you're making anyone sick! "Viral marketing" is a strategy in which you encourage your customers to pass on a marketing campaign or message to others. Like a virus, your message has the potential to spread throughout online communities.

With viral brochures, word about your business spreads quickly. For example, let's say that you persuade 10 people to pass your brochure on to their friends. And if they share it with even a few of their friends? That's a number that multiplies pretty quickly — and can convert into tons of highly targeted potential customers!

You can even create a new opt-in offer for people who've received the brochure from friends. Put a link in the eBook to a special landing page that features the offer and collect a "second generation" of opt-ins.

2. Offer downloadable articles

If your site contains a lot of useful, original, content-rich articles, one of the best ways to collect email addresses is to require that visitors to your site opt in toyour list if they want to download those articles.

As long as you offer useful information, and as long as the downloadable articles contain something that people can't get for free in the version you have posted on your site, you can expect to get a TON of sign-ups using this strategy.

Now, maybe you're not comfortable writing, or your business isn't suited to offering a written opt-in incentive. But don't worry! There are a number of opt-in offers that don't require much writing at all — just a bit of creativity!

3. Offer a contest, puzzle, or game
Running a contest on your web site works on the same principle as dropping your business card in a jar at the local cafe in hopes of winning a free lunch for your office.

The cafe collects information about its customers, and the customers get the chance to win a valuable prize. Both parties benefit, and it doesn't really cost the cafe anything more than a few burgers for the winner.

Depending on the kind of business you run, there are a ton of different options for this type of opt-in incentive. Some examples include:

A contest to win an item (or a coupon for a percentage off an item) related to your product.
A contest to win one of your products. But remember — don't offer to give away the primary product you sell. People will enter the contest hoping to win — and leave your site without considering an actual purchase!

A weekly puzzle or quiz. The type of puzzle is up to you: a crossword with words that relate to your business, or a "multiple choice"-type quiz, an animated jigsaw puzzle, or a game of "Hangman"! You can set it up as a contest and draw a name from the winning entries to award a prize — or require that people give you their opt-in information to get the answer.

4. Offer members-only specials
One of the easiest ways to encourage visitors to opt in with their personal information is to offer them a chance to save money! It can be as simple as the following text:

"Do you want to receive our special MEMBERS-ONLY offers? Every month we bring exclusive deals to our subscribers that you can't get anywhere else! To start saving now, just sign up below!"

This is a great way to drive opt-ins AND sales, and to make your potential customers feel appreciated before they even buy your products!

There are many different opt-in incentives available — you just need to apply a little creativity to choose the one that's right for you and your target market!

But even the BEST opt-in offer can be ignored if you don't know how to present it to your visitors.
Let's check out HOW to get your potential customers interested in your offer...

HOW? Build a compelling opt-in offer that no visitor to your site will ignore!

Opt-in offers aren't tough to write, but they do require a little bit of thought and time on your part. We've worked with some of the best (and highest-priced!) copywriters in the business, and here are the three hard-and-fast rules they follow when writing an opt-in offer:

Rule #1: Emphasize benefits, NOT features 

To persuade visitors to sign up for your offer, you NEED to answer their biggest question: "What's in it for me?" The best way to do this is by always emphasizing the benefits of your product or service, as opposed to the features.

Here's an example: Suppose you are offering an eBook on your tax advice site. If you were to write...
"Download our FREE eBook, written by a real CPA."

...you'd be advertising a feature. You are telling your visitors a fact about your eBook.

Here's how it reads if we emphasize benefits instead of features:

Don't pay a penny extra on your taxes! Discover 10 simple things that you can do to save hundreds — even thousands! — of dollars on your return this year! Just enter your name and email address below to get your FREE eBook!

That's a pretty dramatic difference, isn't it? You've hooked your visitors by letting them know how THEY will benefit by signing up for your offer — by avoiding costly taxes in the future.

Rule #2: Include a call to action 

If you want people to take action on your site (such as sign up for your eBook), you need to have a call to action that tells them exactly what you want them to do.

For example, if you want your visitors to opt in to your list (and of course, you do!) you should include a link that says something like, "Subscribe here to receive dozens of FREE PowerPoint templates every month!"

You might think it's obvious that you want people to opt in to your list — especially if you've written a great sales pitch that explains how your opt-in offer solves their problem.

But no matter how convincing your copy is, if you don't provide your potential customers with a very specific call to action, you're just leaving them hanging.

Rule #3: Include a link to your privacy policy
A lot of people still feel a bit reluctant to hand over their personal information to someone they've never met before. The best way to ease their fears is to include a link to your privacy policy whenever you ask for personal information. In fact, you should have a link to your privacy policy on every page of your site!

This lets people know that you are committed to protecting their privacy, and makes them feel safe leaving their email address with you.

Your privacy policy should state explicitly what information you collect from your visitors and how you intend to use it. You don't even have to create your own privacy policy from scratch! There's an easy-to-use "privacy policy" generator at:
www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml

Now that you've learned about HOW to craft a winning opt-in offer, let me show you WHERE on your site it should go to get you the maximum amount of opt-ins!

WHERE? Place your opt-in offer in the RIGHT spot and send your opt-in rates through the ROOF!

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of sites that hide their opt-in offer, making it almost impossible for their visitors to find it. In fact, a 2005 MarketingSherpa study showed that only 52% of e-commerce sites have a prominent call to register on their main home page!

If your homepage contains a long salesletter, you'll want to put the opt-in form somewhere around the second "page" of text. By this point, you'll have grabbed your visitors' attention and shown them that your site offers some valuable information. They'll be more inclined to give you their email address once you've established your credibility.

If your homepage DOESN'T have a long salesletter, you'll want to place your opt-in form prominently within the "first fold." (This is the portion of your web site that is visible to a visitor without scrolling.) That's where you'll see our opt-in offer on this page.

Place the opt-in box in the same place on every single page of your site. The more chances you give your visitors to opt in, the higher your conversion rate is going to be. Of course, you don't want to overdo it... one opt-in offer per page is plenty!

You can create an opt-in offer that is specifically targeted to a particular page on your site. For example, if your web site is a catalog site selling home aquarium products, and you have a special page dedicated to different kinds of fish food, you can include an opt-in offer on that page for a free report on "The Top 5 Mistakes People Make When They Feed Their Fish."

And on your page dedicated to exotic breeds of fish, you could offer a free eBook on "Tips and Tricks for Caring For Exotic Fish". That way, you could establish yourself as a fish expert with your potential customers at the same time as you capture their information for your marketing purposes.

Final thoughts

An opt-in email list that you build with great opt-in offers will generate profits for you starting immediately — and continuing well into the future! If you follow these suggestions, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get at least 10% of your site visitors converted to subscribers!

If you are getting less than 5% of your traffic opting in to your offer, you know you need to tweak your strategy.

I'll say it again: Building a successful opt-in email list is one of the most important things you can do for your online business. That's why we've spent years learning and testing how to create the kinds of opt-in offers that will have a DRAMATIC impact on your conversion rates — and your bottom line.

For more information about email marketing, speak to TA Fastrack today.

What's So Hard About Customer Service?

Written by Jim Barnes, Barnes Marketing Associates, Inc.

"You'll never believe what happened to me today." Everyone's got a customer service story. One of the problems with customer service, though, is that everyone has a unique view of what it entails. It's the epitome of a moving target.

One person's excellent service may represent barely adequate service to someone else. What impresses one customer may make absolutely no impression on another. To complicate matters, what a customer believes to be good service in one context may be unacceptable in another situation or at another time. Service is perceptual; it is individualized; and it is situational.

So how can you figure out what customers want from you in terms of service? The kind and level of service that you must deliver depends on who the customer is, what her expectations are, what experience she has had with you and other firms, what your strategy is and what role customer service plays in its delivery—along with a host of other things.

Many managers and executives are uncomfortable with this notion of variable service delivery; they would much prefer to be able to pin down service and to be able to standardize it so that it can be consistently delivered. But I don't believe service should be the same for everyone. In fact, the value of service as a relationship-building tool is its customizability. Simply out, some customers require and deserve better service than others. In some situations, you will want to be able to provide service that will impress customers so as to make an emotional connection. Whenever your employees can say to a customer, "Let me take care of that for you," you are delivering a higher level of service than the customer was expecting.

Yet customer service gets far less attention than it deserves in many companies, simply because managers do not realize or accept its importance in influencing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Many view customer service provision as a cost, rather than an investment. Many spend a great deal of time looking for ways to reduce that cost, without appreciating the impact it has on the customer's feelings toward the firm.

At the same time, managers tend to focus on what I call the functional side of service provision: the speed and accuracy of service delivery, in particular. Do we arrive on time? Do we have things in stock? Do we answer incoming calls within 20 seconds? These are the aspects of service with which managers in many firms are most comfortable, mainly because they are most easily and frequently measured in conventional customer satisfaction surveys. But they are a dangerously limiting view of service and not nearly as all-encompassing as the customer's view of service.

Four levels of service
Another element that gets in the way of impressive service delivery is management's very simplistic view of customer service. I can think of at least four levels of customer service, each of which involves the creation of progressively more emotional value for customers.

To the customer, service involves more than just the functional delivery of service (the first level, which, in a world where companies like FedEx have practically perfected technical service provision, customers take as a given). Customers care how easy you make it for them to communicate with you. This opens the door to a discussion of your phone system, your web site and your customer service center—not to mention whether customers can find someone to serve them in your store. Increasingly, when you keep them on hold for 20 minutes, don't respond to their email inquiries and ask them to deal with unknowledgeable and unhelpful staff, they will walk away.

At the third level, companies need to understand how customer service is linked to the people they employ. My experience suggests that customers are most likely to equate the notion of service with the way they are treated by employees.

Finally, the level of service that customers experience is a powerful influence on how customers feel emotionally toward a company. Poor service can make a customer feel neglected, unimportant, frustrated, angry or even humiliated. Surprisingly good service leads to emotions such as comfort, relief, delight or excitement.

That holistic view again
Yet, many companies have a less-than-holistic view of their value proposition. Customer service must be seen to be an integral part of what we offer the customer. I recently encountered a major company that has separate marketing, sales and customer service departments, each of which prepares its own annual plan and sets its own budgets, without consulting with the others. In that firm, customer service is defined mainly as the operation of the call center. To the customer, service means much more.

It is far too simplistic to ask customers to rate your customer service on the predictable 10-point scale. It's much too complex a concept for customers to reduce it to a single number. You can't interpret it, anyway. So last month they gave us a rating of 8.1 on customer service. What does that mean? Very little. There's no direction on how we can improve. Anyway, the only people who are rating you are current customers. How would those customers who stormed out or hung up in disgust rate your customer service? You will never know. Yet theirs is a much more important number.

Customer service is not optional. It's not trivial. And it's not easily standardized. Don't make the mistake that one Canadian bank made of treating customer service as a promotion. That bank offered customers $5 if they had to wait in line more than five minutes in its branches. Customers were generally not impressed. To them, a wait time of five minutes was not the issue. Of course, wait time is important—but not nearly as important as being served politely and efficiently once you reach the counter.

Customer service is extremely complex, much like value, satisfaction and the increasingly popular customer experience. To apply such concepts effectively, management must appreciate their complexity. To utilize customer service to increase customer loyalty, to reinforce the positioning of the brand and to gain a competitive advantage, companies much have a strategy to guide its development and implementation.

Tips to Help Empower Yourself

“It’s not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.” - Vance Havner

How hard do you really push yourself and is what you expect in return realistic? Most of the time results achieved fall in line with the exact amount of effort we are prepared to commit. We often sit and wonder why we did not achieve what we set out to do, we look for external reasons (and conveniently find them!) which give us suitable excuses for our half hearted effort. The fact is ordinary results come from ordinary effort, do you want to be ordinary or would you really like to be superb?

To achieve more you need to expect more. You need to be more demanding of yourself first, you can then follow this with higher expectations of others. We often expect more of our team members than we get, after all we pay their wages don’t we?

This rational will never work when it comes to improving results. It has to start with YOU FIRST. Your team are listening to you even though you don’t think they are, they are watching you even though you don’t think they are, and when you slip up… they will remember.

The expectation you have of you team and the results they will produce will only ever be effective in relation to the expectation you have of yourself and how you demonstrate this within your business.

Here are some tips to help you empower yourself to ‘step up the stairs’ today.

1. Set your goals and then re-set them just a little higher.
2. Be committed to constant improvement, believe that you are going to be better today than you were yesterday.
3. Practice, practice, practice, one day you WILL get it right.
4. Have a high level of expectation for yourself, this will enable you to raise the standards for everyone in your team.
5. Lead by example in every possible way.
6. Look for ways of improving your own skill set, knowledge base etc
7. Don’t just talk about it, DO IT!

10 Tips For Marketing Your Hotel on Google Places

Is your hotel making the most of Google Places? If so, how does your page rank among local competitors?

Place pages are more important than ever. A recent Google study found that 20% of all searches on Google are used to find location specific answers.

Place pages - individual Web pages for businesses and points of interest - often dominate search results for location specific queries (e.g. “Sunshine Coast Hotels”), along with a Google Map feature with red markers identifying locations. Google often blends Websites with their accompanying Place pages, as one search result, and even includes links to hotels’ reviews. As you can tell, Google Places is a vital channel for your property.

Below are 10 tips to optimize your page…

1. Add as much detailed information as possible. Google Places listings are ranked by relevance to search terms entered, as well as location, among other factors. Make sure you completely fill out all of the fields in the 'edit page' area. These includes latitude and longitude, your property’s hours of operation, amenities and payment types accepted.
2. Fill out the additional, yet optional, information fields. These are broken up into two categories: “Label” and “Value.” Do not put full sentences into your label. Use specific words. For example, add “Services: concierge, tour booking service, free wireless Internet” not “The services we offer are concierge and free wireless Internet.”
3. Take advantage of Google Tags. These tags allow your hotel to have a direct link to different locations such as your booking page, apartments page or photo gallery. The links are displayed as yellow highlighted icons. Google tags should not be mistaken for a sponsored listing. They will not affect the ranking of Google Places listings.
4. Optimize your description. Write a description that will be helpful to your guests first, then Google - not the other way around. When describing your hotel, using relevant search terms are important, as these are the keywords that people will also to search. For example, “Our Gold Coast holiday accommodation features spacious, self-contained 2 bedroom apartments, a great range of facilities, including a swimming pool, tennis courts and sauna and an unbeatable location - right next to the beaches and close to entertainment and popular Gold Coast attractions.”
5. Select category listings carefully. Google allows you to select up to five categories. These offer your potential guests, and Google, a more detailed description of your accommodation. You should only select categories that directly apply to your property. Creating a lot of “custom categories” doesn’t necessarily help; in some cases doing this can hurt your ranking.
6. Keep your title simple. The title must be your property’s name. Don’t attempt to embed keywords into your title, as that is almost a certain way to ensure your property listing is never seen.
7. Use the “share an update” feature. These updates will be listed on your Google Places page for 30 days, unless you remove the event prior. This is another feature to reach out to potential guests, and add more information about your property, eg special events, conferences etc.
8. Include pictures and videos. Take full advantage of this! Google allows you to upload up to 10 pictures and five videos. When you upload pictures and videos, it provides Google and your potential guests more information about your property. It also displays the photos next to your Google Places listing, which will naturally draw a potential guests’ attention to your listing first.
9. Take advantage of the coupon feature. This is a good way to help drive traffic to your site. However, there are many guidelines for using coupons; the main rule is that the promotion should not be available without the coupon. Therefore, you would need to use a promo code or have them print the page to bring to the property when checking in.
10. Encourage online interaction with your guests. Ask that satisfied guests leave positive reviews on your Google Places page. If you do get a poor review, respond quickly and calmly. Positive reviews that are left on other reputable travel sites (such as TripAdvisor) may also increase your Google ranking.

With four million businesses and growing currently listed on Google Places, the competition for page ranking, especially for hotel related searches, is constantly growing. If you do not currently have a Place page or your page is not appearing near the top of Google results, your property is missing a huge opportunity to reach travel shoppers and direct bookings.

For more information about marketing, website design or if you need help setting up a Google Places page, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3590 or email@tafastrack.com.au. 

Turn Front Desk Clerks Into Front Desk Salespersons

Despite the continuous increased focus on improving revenue management processes at most hotels these days, more often than not the job of working the front desk is still viewed as primarily being an operational position.


While many hotels and hotel companies have focused training efforts on hospitality and guest-service efficiency, few have provided the more comprehensive sales training that the position calls for. Whatever sales training that has been presented has typically focused on reservations sales techniques for converting inquiry calls, which is certainly a step in the right direction. However, at most properties the front desk team faces myriad sales opportunities each day. Depending on your property's location, brand, and market segment, here are some opportunities your front desk salespeople might encounter daily, along with corresponding training techniques for your next departmental meeting.

Capturing more walk-in business

Create a positive first impression by initiating contact and welcoming the guest when they enter the lobby. Rather than quoting only the lowest rate and sending them back out to the car to make an "either-or" decision, instead create a "which should I chose?" decision-making scenario by offering two or three room types and/or rate options. Reiterate benefits. Embellish descriptions of features that are relevant.

Securing "move-overs" from disgruntled guests currently staying at other hotels in the area

Hotels located in dense markets such as Interstate exit ramps or near metropolitan convention centres might often encounter "move-over" opportunities when guests of nearby properties stop by to check rates and availability. Train your team to present your hotel's unique advantages and to avoid negative remarks about the competition. Rather than saying what the other hotel doesn't have or doesn't do, focus on the advantages your property has to offer with statements such as:

"What's unique about us is..."

Up-selling effectively during registration

With so many guests booking either online or via third parties, the registration process might represent the best time of all to up-sell to higher-rated accommodations. After reassuring the guest that the option they booked is still a good choice, gauge the guest's interest with questions such as:

"Did your travel agent have a chance to mention our concierge floor?" or "Are you familiar with our suites?"

Present the upgraded options as being a unique opportunity: "We've had some of our executive king rooms open up this evening..." Personalize the benefits: "As a guest on level you would receive full access to..."

How Would Your Customers Rate Your Service?

Rendering exceptional customer service is both a responsibility and a smart business decision; unfortunately, far too many salespeople view customer service as an administrative burden that takes them away from making a sale.


The truth is, providing quality customer service presents tremendous opportunities for cross-selling, up selling and generating additional referrals. Dick Cavett once said, "It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear." If your clients were given a customer satisfaction survey, how would they rate the level of service they are receiving from you?

Customer feedback consistently points to the fact that the little things make a big difference. Quality customer service is typically defined in terms of attention to detail and responsiveness. Not surprisingly, the top two customer complaints with regards to customer expectations are unreturned phone calls and a failure to keep promises and commitments.

Successful salespeople place great value on developing lifetime relationships with their customers and always "go the extra mile" when providing service. In today's competitive marketplace, they are aware that their customers are aggressively prospected and their loyalty cannot be taken for granted.


Could you use a few more referrals? "Go the extra mile" when providing service and turn the customers you serve into advocates to help you promote your business. Your referrals and follow on business are in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of service you render on a daily basis.


When a customer begins a relationship with you, he or she brings to the table specific expectations. These expectations are primarily based on their past experiences as well as their perceptions of you, your product, and your company. It's critically important to take the time to ask open-ended questions and clarify what your customer expects. If they have false or unrealistic expectations, be clear with them upfront on the process and work with them to manage outcomes and set reasonable timelines.


How can you be sure that you customers are satisfied with your service? Just ask them. When it comes to customer service, perception is reality. Service is not defined by what you think it is, but rather how your customers perceive its value. Knowing more about your customer's needs and expectations will allow you to customize the service you provide. If you don't already have a customer service feedback system in place, establish one to monitor how your customers perceive the service you provide.


When it comes to impressing your customers, it's the personal touch that really makes the difference. Stay in contact and keep good records. Take the time to jot down notes from meetings and phone calls making certain to record all relevant information. Maintain a written record of service.


This is especially helpful when clients are reassigned. It's a good idea to setup a suspense system to track important contact dates such as client review calls and birthdays. Consider sending a personal note or an article of interest every six months.


Relationship building and follow on service are critical components for promoting both customer retention and revenue growth. Salespeople that fail to implement an effective customer service program actually do a disservice to their customers and unknowingly, leave the back door open to their competitors.


If you do it right, sales and service blend seamlessly and you will exceed your customers' expectations!

How to implement hotel fees without sacrificing customer satisfaction

Taking a page from the airline’s book, hotels have begun implementing separate fees for services previously included in the room rate. In the airline business, this process has been called the unbundling of the airfare. While there isn’t yet a clever descriptor for the similar process in hotels, it is certainly becoming more prevalent. Vague “resort” and “service” fees have been appearing on check-out bills, and hotels have employed new motion-sensing technology to enforce minibar consumption. Some of these fees are imposed to make up for systemic revenue shortfalls; whereas once phone service was a significant revenue generator for hotels, the proliferation of mobile phones strangled this stream, so some hotels have taken to imposing a telephone fee, unlinked to use.


Whatever the impetus for the imposition of new fees, they are on the rise, and don’t show any sign of abating anytime soon. For hotel owners and operators, these are important revenue lifelines in a market that still aspires only to 2008 conditions. But what is fiscally beneficial for ownership has the potential to alienate consumers, and this is a distinction operators need to keep a good eye on.


Where, in terms of fees, is the line between prudent business practice and chiseling the customer? Where is the balance between needed revenue and nickel and diming?

The truth is, hotels do need the new fees, just as the airlines needed to expose their core product to free up additional ancillary revenue streams. The key for hotels is to avoid some of the mistakes the airlines made, and make those fees straightforward and included upfront in the booking path, clearly linked to tangible services, and not too egregious. Springing an unexpected fee on a guest only at the end of their stay - as is the practice at some properties - is not conducive to repeat bookings and customer satisfaction, the two major drivers of hotel profitability. But there are ways to implement fees without sacrificing these.


First, let’s look at some of the kinds of fees that are being implemented or considered. The most straightforward sort of fee accompanies a clearly delineated auxiliary service. What makes this kind of fee a fee and not an additional product or service for sale is its compulsory nature; a guest will not have a choice to decline this product or service. Housekeeper gratuities are a good example of this sort of fee.


The second kind of fee is derived from something that used to be included in the room rate as a matter of course. Energy surcharges fall into this category, as do in-room safe fees. This sort of fee is also largely unavoidable, and allows hotels to defray the indirect cost of lodging a given guest.


A third kind of fee spreads the cost of property upkeep to the individual guest; examples of these fees include groundskeeping fees, facilities or maintenance fees, resort fees and pool fees. Whether or not a guest actually uses an amenity, they are assessed a blanket charge for them.

The final sort of fee isn’t really a fee at all, but a charge for various services that a guest may or may not engage in. Local phone fees, minibar charges, airport transfer fees and internet connectivity are all examples of fees that were (or are, at a different property) offered complimentarily to guests, with their cost covered by the room rate. But since guests are not compelled to partake in these services, they are not automatically on the hook for their associated fees.

Clearly, the first and last kinds of fees are the most palatable for guests. Vague-sounding, badly-defined charges like resort fees upset consumers, and rightly so; it is a transparent attempt to artificially lower the base room rate by separating a portion of it out. Fees that are closely associated with a given guest’s impact on the property, like energy surcharges, are a bit more palatable, though these fees are often instituted in response to changes in supply cost (does anyone remember an energy fee before crude oil prices went through the roof?), which is also transparent to consumers.

If a hotel sticks with those fees that fall into the first and fourth categories, they can effectively keep the fee revenue stream open without running the risk of alienating their customers. These fees are both reasonable, as they are tied specifically to auxiliary services or products. In the case of the fourth category of fees, there is an opportunity for guests to avoid them if they care to. These are the sorts of fees that hotels can reasonably impose, and continue to reap the benefits of repeat business and high guest satisfaction levels.


Whatever kinds of fees a hotel decides to implement, it is absolutely imperative that the hotel be up front about them. Guests should be alerted well in advance that there is a fee associated with a particular service or product, or if a fee will be imposed regardless - as soon as the booking path. This has a dual effect: first, if a fee is avoidable, this notification gives guests the opportunity to opt out. Second, if a fee is compulsory, it prevents a guest from feeling bilked in the end. Of the two evils - being nickel and dimed and being outright snookered - the former is always preferable.


Hotel fees don’t have to be a Faustian bargain. By imposing reasonable, incremental fees, and by disclosing their existence clearly and early on in the booking process, consumers can be made to accept what is becoming an ever-more common practice. By following these simple principles, hotels can have their fees, ad their repeat customers and high satisfaction rates, too.


After all, isn’t your customer satisfaction just as important as additional revenue streams?

Relationships Are Everything

Your Foundation for Success

Relationship Selling is the core of all modern selling strategies. Your ability to develop and maintain long-term customer relationships is the foundation for your success as a salesperson and your success in business. Relationship selling requires a clear understanding of the dynamics of the selling process as they are experienced by your customer.

Propose a Business Marriage

For your customer, a buying decision usually means a decision to enter into a long-term relationship with you and your company. It is very much like a "business marriage." Before the customer decides to buy, he can take you or leave you. He doesn't need you or your company. He has a variety of options and choices open to him, including not buying anything at all. But when your customer makes a decision to buy from you and gives you money for the product or service you are selling, he becomes dependent on you. And since he has probably had bad buying experiences in the past, he is very uneasy and uncertain about getting into this kind of dependency relationship.


Fulfill Your Promises

What if you let the customer down? What if your product does not work as you promised? What if you don't service it and support it as you promised? What if it breaks down and he can't get it replaced? What if the product or service is completely inappropriate for his needs? These are real dilemmas that go through the mind of every customer when it comes time to make the critical buying decision.

Focus on the Relationship

Because of the complexity of most products and services today, especially high-tech products, the relationship is actually more important than the product. The customer doesn't know the ingredients or components of your product, or how your company functions, or how he will be treated after he has given you his money, but he can make an assessment about you and about the relationship that has developed between the two of you over the course of the selling process. So in reality, the customer's decision is based on the fact that he has come to trust you and believe in what you say.

Build a Solid Trust Bond

In many cases, the quality of your relationship with the customer is the competitive advantage that enables you to edge out others who may have similar products and services. The quality of the trust bond that exists between you and your customers can be so strong that no other competitor can get between you.

Keep Your Customers for Life

The single biggest mistake that causes salespeople to lose customers is taking those customers for granted. This is a form of "customer entropy." It is when the salesperson relaxes his efforts and begins to ignore the customer. Almost 70 percent of customers who walked away from their existing suppliers later replied that they made the change primarily because of a lack of attention from the company.

Once you have invested the time and made the efforts necessary to build a high-quality, trust-based relationship with your customer, you must maintain that relationship for the life of your business. You must never take it for granted. Action Exercises


First, focus on building a high quality relationship with each customer by treating your customer so well that he comes back, buys again and refers you to his friends.

Second, pay attention to your existing customers. Tell them you appreciate them. Look for ways to thank them and encourage them to come back and do business with you again.

If you would like any further advice check out my Facebook Page
Alternativly if you would like any information about Business Coaching click here.

Until next time

Adrian

Spend Less Time on E-Mail -- and Accomplish More

Chances are you are struggling with too much email everyday either from internal sources or from other people. However much you may want to be informed about everything that's going on, you can't possibly keep up on it all without increasing unnecessary stress and damaging your productivity.


My largest client issues a flood of e-mails every day. Some come from the Head of the company. Some come from its divisional leaders. Some come from its operational heads. And some -- not too many, but some -- come from me. If I thought it were important to read and respond to every one of those e-mails that come to me, I'd be spending at least eight hours a day doing that. By the time I would get done, I'd have zero energy left to make useful improvements or suggest productive new directions for my client.


One recommendation for handling a deluge of e-mails comes from Bill Jensen, author of "The Simplicity Survival Handbook". Don't read every word, he says. Instead, scan them with the purpose of discovering what action is being called for. "If the communication does not contain an action and a short-term date [to complete that action], ignore it."


This applies to all communications -- even from top brass. If hitting "delete" makes you worry that you're missing something, do it anyway, he says. There is a 69% chance you'll get this exact communication again, a 48% chance you'll get it a third time, and a 36% chance you'll have to show up at a meeting or event to review it.

I have no idea where Jensen got these numbers. Their exactness makes them suspect. But I do think he's right about freeing yourself from the feeling that you need to read and possibly respond to every message that's sent to you.

I am in favor of scanning incoming messages. And I like the idea of paying attention to need-by dates. But it makes no sense to let a memo's urgency determine whether you are going to respond to it. That will turn you into a slave to the latest crisis. You'll spend all your hours fighting fires that aren't dangerous or can be fought by others.

Here's the three-step method I recommend:

Step 1. Scan the message to find out who's in charge of the issue/problem that it's about. If it's not you, make sure that person has been copied on it. If he has, either delete the message or send a short reply saying you trust that person to handle it. If he needs anything from you, he should let you know.

Step 2. Ask yourself: "If I ignore this message, will the issue/problem resolve itself?" If the answer is "yes," either delete the message or send a short reply suggesting that you are going to give the issue/problem some time to work itself out.

Step 3. If the memo is about something for which you are responsible -- and it's not likely to be fixed without some adjudication (see "Word to the Wise," below) -- ask yourself: "How important is this in terms of the business's most important goals?" If it's not important or if you are otherwise preoccupied, delegate it to someone else.

IMPORTANT - Try this......TURN IT OFF !!!!

Check your emails first thing in the morning....and then close down or turn your email system off ! Then turn it on again once every hour ....and then turn it off again. You very well know what happens when you receive an email............. you just have to read it........ Well....don't ! It will take your focus off the important tasks you are currently doing.

If you currently have your email system configured to flag you with a 'pop-up' or 'little enevelope' every time you receive a new email....turn this function off. Focus on completing what you are doing!

I started checking my emails once an hour many months ago and I have literally doubled my daily productivity.

Your Action Plan

My rule, as you know, is to limit all correspondence to a single page. It is very rare when any written discussion I'm involved in can't be dealt with (advanced to the next level, not necessarily resolved) in 200 words or less.

Take a look at the memos and e-mails you've been issuing. If they run more than one page, you're wasting your time -- and the time of the people you're sending them to. Make a conscious effort, starting today, to express yourself in fewer words. When you do, I think you'll find that your written communications will not only be more direct . . . but also easier to understand.

If you would like any further advice check out my Facebook Page


Alternativly if you would like any information about Business Coaching click here.

Until next time

Adrian

Why the Design of Your Hotel Web Site Matters

It’s more than just Personal Taste - with so many hotels relying on the Internet to help fill their rooms- it amazes me that there are still so many hotel web sites that are not designed to produce room reservations. After-all isn’t that the primary reason why hotel sites are published to the Internet to begin with? It’s also shocking that so many web site designers don’t have a clue about search engines, how they work, nor how and why people select a hotel in which to stay.


So much of the planning and designing of a productive hotel web site starts with the intent of the designer, when the site is being designed. Does the designer understand the purpose of a hotel site? Stephen Covey, in his best seller “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, teaches us to “Begin with the end in mind”.

With hotel web sites, the “end” to keep in mind is that a hotel web site must be designed to “sell” reservations; not simply to be an online brochure. Many people have asked me why I feel so strongly that it takes knowledge of hotel marketing to design a productive hotel web site. It’s because an effective hotel web site must incorporate the basic hotel marketing principles of location, facilities, and attractions (both business and leisure); and, most importantly, the site must include dominant well-written sales text.

While a hotel brochure is designed to describe facilities and services, it is not relied upon to “close” sales. The purpose of a web site is far more complex. It must be designed to create search engine popularity, so the site can be found using many different search terms; it must create interest in the hotel’s location, facilities, and services; and, most importantly, its text must be written to convert “lookers into bookers”.

It’s Location, Location, and Location…

With few exceptions, people visit an area but stay at a hotel because of its location, nearby attractions and facilities. Knowing this, it makes pure common-sense to highlight your hotel’s location. It is always amazing to me to see so many hotel web sites which give no clue where the hotel is located; some even without a posted address.

Your location is a very special place. Your location has its own special attributes which attract visitors from all over the World. Your web site should prominently highlight your location’s special attributes and provide a reason to visit that location. Simply listing your hotel’s address is not enough; generating new visitors to your hotel’s location is most important; sell destination first, your hotel second.


Having a Web Presence

In the beginning of the Internet’s popularity, only ten or so years ago, many hotels had the foresight to take advantage of the opportunity to have a presence on this radically new marketing medium. But the Internet has changed a lot since then; we learned that merely having a presence on the Internet does not necessarily generate reservations.

Many of these early sites were designed by pure technicians, or in some cases the owner’s nephew, with a flair for design and some techno-knowledge of how to publish a web site on the Internet. Some sites were good; many were terrible, but in those days, few hoteliers knew how much the Internet would impact our industry and they knew even less about how to design a hotel web site to sell reservations.

During its maturation process, the number of web sites on the Internet has grown exponentially and search engines (the heart of the Internet) have been refined and improved; and are constantly being improved today. If a site cannot be found easily, it’s useless.

The Internet’s explosive growth has been unprecedented in our lifetime. Google, one of the Internet’s most popular search engines indexes more than 6.8 billion web sites. World population is 6.6 billion people; that’s more than one site for each and every one of us! Without search engines, navigating the net would be nearly impossible.

At this point you may be wondering what web site design has to do with search engines; the answer is everything. Search engine requirements must be built into the site’s design. Keep in mind that search engines, at the present time, read text; images and graphics are, for the most part, invisible to them. Search engines seek-out sites which contain the words contained in the search term.

Many web site designers do an excellent job of making web sites look attractive, but fail miserably to comply with search engine and hotel sales and marketing needs. It’s what your site “says” and “how it says it” that creates popularity with search engines and converts visitors into reservations.

Some Web Site Common-Sense

Hotel site designers, even those with hotel marketing experience, tend to be very right-brained creative types. Don’t assume that they always know all those key factors which make your hotel’s location unique and popular. When you select a designer for your site, either new or replacement site, make a list of sales features and keep them in priority order.


A good designer knows the prime web site real estate to occupy those most important details of your location and hotel. Remember, it’s not just what you say; it’s how you say it. Begin with the end in mind; the “end” is to generate reservations not just increase the number of visitors to your site.

I know it’s tempting to let your designer create a work of art; after-all you have all those beautiful images of your hotel, but it’s often their lack of hotel sales knowledge which will doom your site to obscurity and mediocre performance.

Good simple navigation of your site is also essential. Basic rule; don’t make users learn how to navigate your web site. Understanding how and why people choose a hotel is the first ingredient in designing a hotel web site. It is not a matter of simply describing all your hotel’s attributes; it is how they are presented that really counts.

Take an Objective Look at Your Site

If your site is not producing a good volume of reservations, it’s probably time to have a marketing analysis done of your site. A site analysis can reveal why your site is performing poorly; often some minor adjustments can make a substantial difference in your sales results. It can also reveal a need to scrap your current site in favor of a new, properly designed, one.


Are you measuring your site’s conversion rate? If not, why not? Don’t be fooled by simply measuring the number of visitors to your site. Most hotel web sites only convert less than four percent of visitors into reservations; increasing that ratio is the ultimate goal. Properly written and placed sales text can make a huge difference.


A web site is a living breathing sales tool which needs to be adjusted constantly to keep up with changes in your market, your hotel, and the ever-changing search engine parameters. Your web site is generating data and statistics, which you can use to improve your web site and its performance. Ask your web master to produce and evaluate this data. Sometimes there may be a small additional fee, but it is very worthwhile.


Your web site is capable of producing 30% to 70% of your total reservations; get it to work for you.

If you would like any further information on our budget and premium hotel website design click here to contact us or call us on 07 3040 3588.

9 Keys to Developing Strategic Alliances

Forming key relationships or partnering with other businesses could be the most important thing you do to ensure your success, however, the wrong decision could be a recipe for disaster. To successfully develop worthwhile strategic alliances, consider the following nine keys points:

Select partners carefully

Make sure you attract like minded people with similar values and ethics. Today there are still many 'cowboys' in the marketplace. People who ride into town, with lots of fanfare, making lots of noise and hollow promises. However, if you are looking for a long term relationship with your clients, don't network with the cowboys or you are sure to have a stormy ride. Look at your peers and competitors and identifying those who think like you, run their businesses along the same ethical lines and basically have a good business name.

Be clear on outcomes

• Be as specific as possible. Identify exactly
• how big you want your connection to grow
• The turnover you anticipate
• the number of hours you can commit to the project
• any other commitments that may affect your financial situation
• any fears you may have about the business relationship
• identify exactly how many widgets you want to produce, when and by whom
• how much you can afford to invest and lose, should your partnership fail.

Never assume anything

Many business partnerships fail because of poor communication. Some partners think everything that needs to be discussed is covered once the dollars are finalised but this is far from reality. Clarify everything. Put everything in writing as soon as possible after your meetings. Take notes during the meeting or have the meeting and minutes recorded for you.

Set specific time lines

Many people agree in principal to something and then find that due to prior commitments or unexpected events, they cannot honour their agreement. By setting trial time frames, you can get an idea of your partner's management style, their attention to detail and their investment in the project.

Allow for exit clauses

Better to lose a partner in the early stages, than lose your good name in the marketplace. Sometimes the different styles of management and leadership create disharmony. Something that seemed like a small annoyance may become a huge irritation down the track. For example, you may form a partnership with someone who always runs at least forty minutes late for every meeting. You on the other hand are always ten minutes early,

You may initially laugh this habit away, however, after a few months of being kept waiting, you may not see the humour anymore. You may like to put in place a 'trial time frame' e.g. 'lets review this in 30 days and see how we are travelling. If things are not working out by then, we can dissolve the partnership without any hard feelings'.

This one point will ensure a clean break if one becomes required in the future.

Aim for the WIN-WIN

Brainstorm possible, best and worst case scenarios regarding this strategic alliance. What is the worst thing that can happen and can you cope with that outcome? If you can, then you have absolutely nothing to lose. If you can't cope with that outcome, you may like to review the situation or review the guidelines.

Celebrate your successes

In life, some people are so busy doing, doing, doing, that they forgot to stop and smell the roses. To maintain your and your partners motivation, it's important to record the milestones in your alliance: ie Your first order or contract, your first payment in excess of $X, etc. Acknowledge these wins regularly. If you don't give yourself recognition, why would you expect others to give it to you?

Do your homework

Prepare your business plan, do a SWOT analysis highlighting the positives and the negatives of a joint alliance. Prepare all the information that you consider your potential partner would need to know before they could comfortably make a decision about forming an alliance with you.

Don't be afraid to go for it

And finally, when you have selected your partner to be, make the phone call, send the fax, email, whatever the approach - make contact. Remember, if you never ask the question, the answer is always, no! Ask for six minutes of their time. Talk fast - let your passion and enthusiasm sell your idea. After all, what's the worst thing that can happen - rejection? You can live with that. Remember, they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting your product, service or a specific opportunity. Tomorrow, they may change their mind or better still, they may introduce you to a person they consider to be your ideal strategic alliance partner. If we have courage to face the challenge and make our dreams, goals and targets greater than our fears - we can have whatever we want in life.

Dream big dreams…