November 2004
Volume 10, Issue 11
10 years in service
ABN 76 809 078 624
ACS News

[Home]  

[Bookstore]
For those who
work at/from home.

[Business Partners]
A list of complementary businesses to our services. 
If you would like yours listed, please let us know!

[Case Studies
Wondering how we 
could assist your
business? 

[Membership
For prospective virtual
secretaries.

[Newsletters
Read our previous
issues.

[Rates]
Kathie's service rates.

[Services
A sample list.

[VA Directory]
For a full list of our team.

[Search]
Search our site for 
further information.

[New ebook coming!]
For those who want to become a VA

 If you received this newsletter by regular mail, have an email address and would like to receive this online, please either subscribe at our website, or contact our office with your email address.

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www.asecretary.com.au

Why are you on this list?  You could be any of the following:

  • a client

  • we've swapped    business cards

  • member of MBN,   BNI, NSAA or    another networking    group that I    participate in.

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PO Box 2918,   Cheltenham, Victoria,
Australia, 3192

New Phone Number:
Ph:  +613 9585 5780
Fax: +613 9585 3785

kathie@asecretary.com.au

MARKETING BUSY-NESS OR MARKETING TO BUILD BUSINESS?

Whether you're just starting your firm or you've been in business for years, you have a good idea of the various marketing tasks that you should be doing. You probably have a web site and are doing some advertising, and spend time on the phone talking with prospects. Each week you and your staff work hard trying to promote your firm.

All of these marketing activities can keep you busy, and take time and money.  But if you're not careful, these marketing activities will limit your growth or worse yet, put you in the poor house.

When I first talked with Judy in Chicago, her business was about to close. Despite having many satisfied clients, an active advertising campaign and a web site, she wasn’t developing a steady stream of new or repeat clients. Each week her spending on marketing was costing her heavily and her income wasn't keeping up.

Judy knew that she needed to bring in more clients but her conclusion was that advertising and web sites don't work, at least not for her business. She was busy with her marketing but it wasn't working to grow her business.

Is your marketing providing you with a steady stream of new clients and customers?

If you're not attracting as many clients and customers as you'd like, there is a good chance that you're busy with marketing but not marketing to grow your business. What's the difference?

One is focused on day-to-day activities and separate marketing tools, such as advertising or a web site. The other is based on a business building strategy that helps you generate more leads and clients each month and each year.

Wouldn't you rather be marketing to a larger and larger group of prospects each month?

Ron, who owns an electronics parts supply firm, business was growing, but he wasn't generating new customers with his web site. While profits were rolling in from his telemarketing efforts, he was missing literally millions of additional dollars in revenue he could have been earning through online sales.

What's your marketing costing you in lost revenue? How much more could you be making if you added ten new clients a month, a week or a day to your business?

Here's how to earn more with a business building marketing strategy.

  1. Attract prospects by focusing your marketing on the problems you solve. Instead of talking about yourself, use prospects concerns to get their attention.

  2. Use your advertising, web site and other marketing activities to prompt people to contact you and add them to your qualified prospect list.

  3. Attract both buyers and potential buyers. For each person who is ready to buy, there are another twenty who are interested and you could convert to client status.

  4. Focus on building relationships. If you want prospects to trust you and buy from you, it helps to create a dialogue and to demonstrate your expertise.

  5. Regularly stay in touch with prospects, otherwise they'll forget you and won't buy our products and services even if they have a need.

  6. Use helping instead of selling, as your marketing model and you'll convince many more people they need your products and services.

Want a business building marketing strategy you can use to attract more clients each month?

After shifting to this business building marketing strategy, Judy is no longer in debt; in fact her company is prospering. She still advertises, has a web site and spends time on marketing tasks but these activities now all reinforce each other and work to help her build more prospect and client relationships each month. Instead of being busy marketing, she is busy growing her business.

Don't wait until you're in debt or losing millions in potential revenue because your busy with marketing. Use a business building marketing strategy to generate more leads and you'll be earning more each month and each year.

2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing Plan eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your businesses at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com

 ====================================================

Awards Can Help Your Business

Businesses that are genuine about good customer service deserve an advantage over their competition. Awards highlight that edge.

Customer endorsement and referral is an extremely important ingredient to maintaining and growing a good business. 

 

The Australian Achiever Awards are for businesses that practice sound customer service skills. These Awards recognise excellent customer service, giving those businesses a distinctive edge over competitors, and their customers a credible and powerful reason to do business with them.  

The Australian Achiever Awards have existed since March 1998, operated by Australian Achiever Pty Ltd with Directors Mr Geoff Harwood and Ms Olivia Champion. Backgrounds of the Directors can be found on the About Us page on their website at www.achiever.com.au.

Well known to Government authorities, they were examined by the Victorian Department of Justice Office of Fair Trading & Business Affairs when they began in 1998.

More recently they have worked with the Victorian Department of Justice - Consumer and Business Affairs Victoria who spent five months, February to June 2001, checking all the businesses that

entered over that period for any consumer complaints made against them. The outcome was that the Department decided to cease its checking because it appears that 99.9% of the businesses do not have any problems and their techniques will pick up any of concern.  

The Hon Louise Asher MP for Victoria has been Guest Speaker at two of their Annual Celebration Dinners and The Hon Philip Honeywood MP for Victoria at another.

The Australian Achiever Awards for customer service excellence is an innovative idea that is viable as a self-supporting concept. Thirty years experience in Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations is enough cumulation of knowledge and skill to establish such a concept in a highly ethical manner.

The huge value of this Award is proved by all the businesses that continue to enter every year.

 

“A Clayton’s Secretary” is proud to be a two time ‘Highly Commended’ Achiever and an outright winner of their category of Secretarial & Word Processing Services.  Why not see if you, too, are eligible for such an award?  They have many different categories so that almost every business would be eligible to apply for an award.

 

Must Read/Must See….

Interested in trying out software programs before buying them?  Then have a look at PC@uthority Magazine, available in a newsagent near you.  Or go to www.pcauthority.com.au.  With their magazine every month are two CDs with the latest updates, patches, and freeware or trials for those programs you’ve really wanted to know more about before buying them.  That’s how I learnt ACT! which is my favourite database program these days.  I was so impressed with it I bought the current version and have been using it for around 4 years now.

 

Websites:

schoolfriends.com.au  – there are versions of this for other countries too. 

A great way to find old friends from schooldays.

Event Update:

The Office Organiser produces a regular fortnightly list of business building events - why not have a look at office-organiser.com.au/weeklyupdate.html 

About Our Organisation

What is a Virtual Assistant?
It's a term for home-based secretaries, administrative and secretarial support, and others who supply remote or virtual support.

We are as close to you as your computer and can do almost anything traditional support staff do - except virtually. You don't need to provide office space, equipment, software or furniture - we have our own!

Location no issue as the work is carried out 'virtually' no matter where you are!  See our newest members listed at VA Directory

And please note, we have a new office phone number - please update your records.
+613 9585 5780.