John Bradley "JJ" Jackson

Business Planning

The Executive Summary Sells the Business Plan

The "executive summary" is the first part of the business plan that gets read and may be the only part of the plan that actually gets read. Its job is to get the plan funded whether by an investor or a banker. Many plans are rejected based on

Email Marketing

When Opt-in E-mail Becomes SPAM

E-mail marketers figure that once a list member has opted-in that this means that their readers will read and value their e-mail marketing letters. Well, this is not always the case. According to blogger Stefan Eyram, "BACN” is a marketing e-mail that many readers agreed to receive, but is

Email Marketing

Personalize Your E-mail Marketing Letters

A highly effective marketing technique used by successful e-mail marketers is to personalize the e-mail letter. This personalization can be accomplished in many ways. One way to personalize an e-mail letter is to use the recipient's organization logo or web site. The purpose of a personalized image is

Segmentation

Is Niche Marketing Like Guerrilla Warfare?

Some people will tell you that niche marketing can be like jungle warfare and that you must conduct battle like a “guerrilla soldier.” You may have heard the term “guerrilla marketing” used by others. Admittedly, this is a powerful image but I believe that this paramilitary characterization puts the focus

Branding

Trust and Selling

Would you buy something from someone whom you don’t trust? Most people won’t. Studies have shown that lack of trust may disable a sale more quickly than any other factor. So, what is trust? I define it as the feeling you get from someone that what they say

Public Speaking

Conquering the Fear of Rejection

The single greatest cause of sales “failure” is the fear of rejection--- that creeping feeling that customers will tell you “no”. It can be so paralyzing that rookie and veteran sales people will go to great lengths to avoid that word. This fear disables you from cold calling, closing, and

Sales Management

It Pays To Be Optimistic

Western culture is overwhelmingly pessimistic. Just turn on CNN or the local news and you will be bombarded with bad news---home foreclosures, inflation fears, Iraq, crime, and much more. Most advertising is negative---have you seen the political campaign ads? Studies have shown that 7 out of 10 people are pessimistic

Pricing

Discounts Cut Deep

To discount or not to discount---that is the question that many sales professionals must answer. At first view, it seems that discounting prices should stimulate new sales and be a good thing. But that is not always the case. The best advice may to be to hesitate and think first.

Email Marketing

Spam, Spam, Spam

Thanks to Monty Python, the U.K. based comedy troupe from the seventies, “spam” became the symbol for mediocrity. Later spam became the symbol for unwanted e-mail from unknown senders. Spam is actually the trademark name for the Hormel Corporation canned meat product. SPAM was used by the U.S.

Branding

Great Brands

Your brand is your promise of value to your customers. Great brands are unique, consistent, and authentic. Your brand’s uniqueness answers the question, “How is your offering different or better?” To be considered better or different than your competition your offering must have at least one feature or benefit

Business Planning

Business Concept

A “business concept” is the first step in the process of starting a new venture. It typically describes a vision of what might be. It generally precedes the business plan and it begs feedback on the merit of the idea. A business concept speaks about the customer, the product or

Market Research

Know Your Target

The market place may seem large, but it is really made up of many smaller markets with customers who share similar preferences or needs. These smaller markets are called market segments. Your target market is the market segment that you choose to serve. Yet, to truly serve your target market,

Branding

Marketing Mantras

Marketing mantras say how you are different. A mantra is a religious prayer or mystical phrase or poem that instills concentration when repeated and is used for meditation and prayer. The key is to focus on the mantra and to block out everything else. A marketing mantra is three to

Customer Satisfaction

Guarantees Reduce Customer Anxiety

“Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise.” * Author Unknown Many customers hesitate to buy because they fear that they might make the wrong decision and regret it later. This fear dominates the purchase decision and may kill the selling opportunity altogether. One way to minimize

Pricing

Life is a Cabernet

There is something special about a fine bottle of wine—for many, a fine wine is worth the hefty price premium. Yet, that price premium is how many wine lovers actually determine a fine wine’s merit--- the higher the price the better the wine. Scientists at California Institute of

Advertising

I See Colors

No, this is not a flashback to the psychedelic sixties. Instead, this is a serious discussion about color and how it can be used in marketing. While perceptions of color are somewhat subjective, there are some color effects that have universal meaning. Colors in the red area of the color

Ethics

Spam, Spam, Spam

Thanks to Monty Python, the U.K. based comedy troupe from the seventies, “spam” became the symbol for mediocrity. Later spam became the symbol for unwanted e-mail from unknown senders. Spam is actually the trademark name for the Hormel Corporation canned meat product. SPAM was used by the U.S.

Sales Management

Smile While Selling on the Phone

People can “hear” you smile when you talk with them on the phone. A recent study confirmed that you sound different or better when you smile. Smiling affects how we speak. Listeners can actually detect your smile based on sound alone according to a new study by the University of

Email Marketing

Privacy Policy: A Must Have for a Website

Your website must have a posted privacy policy. No exceptions please. With e-mail marketing the most practiced form of customer communication and the most common way that contact information is gathered, a privacy policy needs to explain what you plan to do with customer contact information. A privacy policy is

New Product Development

Marketing Innovative Products

Innovative products need to be marketed and sold differently than other offerings since they require a special customer who is receptive to innovation. Most customers are skeptical and will wait until innovative products are mass marketed. Here are a few suggestions on how to market innovative products: • Not everyone will

Email Marketing

Staying in Touch with E-mail Newsletters

Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your customers and prospects; they can create a new relationship or maintain an existing one. When sending a regular newsletter to your subscribers, always make sure that it's sent on the same day, at the same time. Your

Sales Management

Setting Sales Goals for 2008

Study after study shows that people who set goals accomplish more, achieve greater success, and accumulate greater wealth than people who don't. Read on if you agree. Setting your sales goals for 2008 should begin with a review of how you did in 2007. Did you achieve your

Direct Mail

P.S. Everyone Reads the Postscript

Postscripts have been a very effective tool in direct mail marketing industry for many years. More often than not, the call to action is repeated in the postscript along with a special incentive. A postscript (from post scriptum, a Latin expression meaning "after writing" and abbreviated P.S.

Email Marketing

Mobile Devices and E-mail Marketing

Mobile devices have changed the face of e-mail marketing. Why? Read on. A recent survey by American Online uncovered the following about the users of PDAs: • 59% of people e-mailing from portable devices are checking e-mail in bed while in their pajamas • 53% are checking e-mail while in the bathroom

Websites

Words That Sell On the Web

The search marketing trade press waxes poetic about the value of keywords---the words or terms which people use when conducting an internet search with search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN. These lauded words get you to a website but they seldom get you to take any other action. Once