I want to share with you an interesting story that happened to me yesterday which relates to marketing and how you can put this to use in your own business to “steal” customers from your competitors. (or know how they can take your customers from you)

Here’s how it went down…….

I noticed before getting into my car a couple of days ago that the left rear drivers side tire was pretty low on air, so I drove down to my local gas station and put some air in the tire to bring it back up to where it should be. No big deal.

The next day when I got into my car I noticed that the air in the tire was low again.

“Okay, we got a pesky one here”, I said to myself.

So I drove down to a local Les Schwab tire shop that I’ve done business with before as they had fixed a flat tire for me about six months earlier and I really liked their service and the minimal wait time, plus they only charged me $12 to fix the flat last time I went to their shop.

Well this time I rolled up to their shop early in the morning to get my tire fixed after I dropped my kids off at school.

The first thing the guy sitting behind the counter says to me when I walked into their store to ask them about fixing my tire was that he couldn’t fix it because their tire machine that mounts rims like mine went down on Saturday and that they expect a guy coming later in the evening to fix the machine.

Okay, no big deal I thought.

So I told him, “okay I’ll just come back this evening”.

He said, “I can put some air in your tire if you would like”.

“Ok”, I said, “thanks I really appreciate that”.

So I just waited in my car while he put some air in the tire and when he was done he came up to my window and he said, “you know that tire only has about 20 pounds of pressure in it, I would get that fixed as soon as possible”

I said, “yeah I’ll have you guys fix it later this evening or tomorrow morning when you get your machine fixed, hopefully the air you put in it will hold up overnight”.

He said, “if you can, I would go somewhere else and get the tire fixed as soon as possible because that’s a low-profile tire and if you ride on it too long it will damage the side wall of the tire and you’ll end up having to buy a new one”

My first impression after he made this statement to me was “wow” this guy is really concerned about my needs as a person with an issue rather than my business as a customer.

I was a bit perplexed as you really don’t find such honesty too often.

But something else happened in my mind too, when he told me that he couldn’t fix my tire(in addition to what I’m going to tell you in a minute)

I had my mind set on getting my tire fixed at their store because the price was right, I liked their quick service, and I also like to eat their popcorn out of their popcorn machine in the waiting area while I read their magazines and watch the news on T.V. (If you’ve ever been to a Les Schwab you will know what I mean.)

But when he took all that away from me I wanted my tire fixed even more….

Although they had a legitimate reason why they couldn’t fix my tire, as soon as he told me he couldn’t fix it, I suddenly wanted him to fix my tire more now than I did before I even drove to their shop to ask them to fix it.

Interesting isn’t it?

When you make something available to somebody, and then you suddenly take it away from them after they had already made up their mind that they wanted it, it makes them want what you have even more and they will do just about anything to get it.

So what did I do?

I immediately drove down the street to their competitors just like he recommended me to do. I had an urge I needed to fulfill and their competitors fulfilled that for me.

It probably didn’t turn out like he anticipated by turning me away though…….

Because when I ended up going down the street to his competitor to have the slow leak in my tire fixed I had a pleasant surprise after they made the fix when I learned that they do not charge for repairing tires.

Honestly I couldn’t believe it. I thought Les Schwab was a great bargain for $12 to repair a leak in a tire. But this place fixed my tire at no charge and it only took them nine minutes when they were clearly busy with other customers.

In response to my shock, the manager of the store simply said to me, “the only thing we ask in return for fixing your tire with no charge is that if you ever need any tires in the future that you’ll come back and purchase them from us or if you have any family or friends that need tires that you will refer them to our company”

So what’s the real marketing lesson that can be learned from this story?

There’s actually a couple of things that you can learn from this….

First and foremost by losing a small amount of money on the front end from providing a product or service for free to your customers you can often reap the rewards many, many times over in the future for your back-end products or services. Word-of-mouth travels fast too, trust me. (in this case I ended up referring four or five people because of my experience with this company today)

So how much money do you think this company is going to make off me in the future as a lifetime customer?

If you figure out how much money the lifetime value of your customers is worth you can easily find something from your product or service line that you can give away free to your customers/leads that has a high perceived value or appeal as an entry level product/service to bring new customers into your sales funnel.

When you provide something of value to your customers/leads for free you automatically break down the barriers and start the trust building and relationship process with your customers and once they’re in your web or sales funnel it will be much easier to provide continued value and you’ll be rewarded in the process for your efforts.

The other thing that can be learned here is that when you have a customer or lead who wants something that you have, and you suddenly take it away from them before they get it, it makes them want what you have even more and they will do just about anything to get it. 

You can either sell to them what they want as quick as possible increasing your conversions or get them in your web and draw them near when the time is right to make the sale. (reserving their spot for a lower price later) Wait too long and they will go to your competitor.

Theres a few different ways you can use the “take away” strategy in your business so use your imagination, its open water.

Integrate these marketing strategies into your own business and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how very well they work at increasing your profits in your business.

Would you like to get more real world marketing strategies to increase your sales and profits for your business?

Click here to get into Secret Society Coaching

 
Frank Bruno

Check this freaky thing out.

It instantly cloaks your hyperlinks into videos.

Play around with it and tell me what you think. Its pretty cool…..

Instant Video Cloaker

Frank Bruno

I read a ton of business books and For some reason lately I’ve been following Donald Trumps’ books the last several weeks. The guy is a freakin working machine.

I really admire his business philosphy and he kind of sucks me into his books when he tells you what to do, and what not to do, he goes on to describe specific real life stories of both his successes and failures.

One of the aspects of his business philosophy is to go with your “gut” feeling. Its sounds kind of stupid and non sophisticated as a way to stear through the business jungle waters, but it really does work.

I have been recently following my gut feeling on several decisions, issues and business dealings over the several weeks and a few days ago it really payed off (litterally)

I was procrastinating for a few days on whether I should make a specific phone call to a certain person, well actually, I really didn’t know if I even wanted to call the guy at all.

Anyways, I took Donalds approach to following my gut feeling.

He says many times you can get an actuall physical feeling in your gut about some decisons your dealing with or an instinctive gut feeling that you should follow.

So I gave the guy a call based soley on my “gut” feeling and I hit a nice payday in the tune of about 16k.

Now, this 16k I will not see for a few months but it was the fact that I was blown away making the call based entirely on my gut feeling.

I really would like to give details about the 16k but its a very personal (and business) issue and the money wasn’t really my point here,but the fact that following your gut can lead to good things and smart choices.

I’ve had numerous other “gut” decisons over the last few weeks and almost all of them worked in my favor.

So if you want to try a unique method to really getting what you want and need in 2009 go with your “gut” feelings on your decisions, dealings and let us all know how that works out for you.

I think you’ll be blown away how well this works.

The trick is to conciously be aware that when a decision comes around to just go with your gut instinct.

To your continued success in 2009!

Frank Bruno

Its always interesting to hear of other marketers success stories
so I thought I would share with you one my clients recent successes
with you to give you an idea of what you can do in your business.

For obvious privacy reasons I cannot reveal their name or website
but heres a good example of what can easily happen if you leave out
even one important step in your offer.

One of my clients who’s in the sports niche, (off season right now
I might add) has been on board as a coaching student for a few
months now. Anyway, He sent out a promotion last week to their
rather small list of under 4,000 for a holiday promotion.

I helped them prepare their holiday offer with some sale copy
tweaks, and business strategies to get the most out of their offer.

Heres their results from the first day of their holiday offer.
 
12 orders- Price range main product approx. $170
(approx sub total $2,040)

13 orders- Price range misc. products $65-$100
(approx sub total $1,072)

Total 25 orders- Approx. $3,112

Ok not bad, but I was monitoring their promotion and noticed
something very wrong that needed to be fixed as soon as possible.

I think they my have got a little excited and wanted to blast out
the promotion (who blames them for that though) without waiting for
one critical step to be completed before their promotion.

Anyways, heres what happened the second time they sent out their
offer with my suggested way to promote their offer.
 
The last offer they sent out only got 12 orders on their main
package. This time they got 39 new orders with the same list about
a week later- Price range approx. $170  (approx sub total $6,630)

The last offer they sent out only got 13 orders on their misc.
products. This time they got 30 new orders with the same list about
a week later- Price range varies $65-$100 ( approx sub total $2,475)

Total from both promotions- 69 orders- Approx. $9,105

Based on one critical suggestion to promote their offer, their
sales almost tripled!

This doesn’t even include the additional sales from the ongoing
promotion for this holiday offer. (update- $3,600 for Thanksgiving
day and Fri.)

(Update they have now made approx $64,000 from their holiday promotion which lasted about a month or so)

hmmmm…Maybe your also leaving money on the table in your business
and you don’t even know it?

I love to spot opportunity in other peoples businesses that they
can’t see themselves. Call it a gift I guess.

I have to admit Its kind of fascinating working with such a diverse
group of people because I’ve got clients in all kinds of obscure
niches such as Animals, local business services, Internet
marketing, and even some niches I could never reveal.

Some of my clients have already made millions online and like to
keep me on board for consultation and others are newbies all the
way to intermediate/seasoned marketers.

One particular client I have is a very “undergound” marketer that
pretty much knows all the tricks in the book and has been blown
away by some of the tactics and methods I’ve showed them to run
their business.

Some of my clients like me to keep them focused with weekly or
day-to-day tasks, while others just need to know how to streamline
and systemize their business, where others needs help with their
sales conversions.

What is it that you need help with in your business? Is it that
your lacking focus? Can’t spot opportunity in your business? Are
you not understanding how to run an Internet business correctly?
Maybe you don’t know how to create your own product or understand
how to set up a killer sales funnel to increase your sales
conversions?

Whatever your case, If you want to get serious with your Internet
marketing and want to be included in my “inside group” to find out
the secrets that other higher level marketers are using to run a
real Internet marketing business to make steady profits each month,
then I’d hop on board as one of my coaching students before Monday
Dec 1st.

You’ll want to do this right away because I have a press release
going out for my coaching and training packages Monday and I’ll be
doubling my monthly coaching fees on Monday also to catch all the
PR juice I’ll be getting.

So snatch up one of my coaching packages right now before I double
my coaching fees Monday Dec 1st. and I’ll bring you into my “inside
group” and work with you one-on-one to help you start earning some
steady profits and show you how a real Internet marketing business
is ran by the big boys….

http://www.ditchyourjob4im.com/v/coaching.html

Frank Bruno

I just finished writing a short special report that will tell you what you need to do to take your Internet Marketing business to the next level and thought I would post here on my new blog….

I wrote this special report because I still get a lot of people contacting me because their not quite sure how to take their IM business to the next level, Or their not quite sure of the steps they need to take.

If you end up procrastinating by spending your time aimlessly surfing around online instead of taking action on the areas of your business that will propel you forward, then hopefully this report will help clear up a few things and get you going in the right direction.

In this short report your going to find out….

• What it takes to propel your business to the next level
• Exactly how much your time is worth and why that number is critical to your business
• Where most marketers make their lethal mistake and can’t get momentum in their business
• Why making only $5, $10, or $20 each day can take your business to the next level

I’m only going to leave the link up for a few days before you’ll have to optin to get it….

So heres the link to download the special report ”How To Take Your IM Business To The Next Level”

(please optin to receive the report, I left the link up for several days….)

Frank Bruno