Author : claude whitacreYour customers want the same things we all want; After the basic need to be fed, warm, and safe from the weather, we all want:

To be well liked
To be thought of as clever
To be thought of as attractive
To be thought of as special
To be accepted by our group ( friends, church, hobby, occupation any group we hold important)
To feel like we got a special deal from the local merchant
Our family to love us

See how universal these things are?
Notice they were all about the customer (or more specifically, the person wanting these things) None of these "wants" are about things We all have inner needs, and these needs are pretty universal

Did you notice that the above list of customer wants doesn\’t include buying anything? The reason customers buy is because they have the belief that owning what you sell will help bring them closer to satisfying one or more of their desires

Also notice that none of the things we want are truly altruistic? Helping other people may help us satisfy one of our desires, but the desires themself are entirely selfish

Wanting things for other people usually is way down on the list of things we want & think about Our customers are the same way It isn\’t that we are evil, it\’s that we do things for other people either out of obligation or because it makes us feel better about ourselves in some way

How does this help us as small business owners?
We can treat customers better We can, by our actions, make them feel better about buying from us We can laugh at their jokes a little more often We can listen to their stories without rolling our eyes in boredom We can treat them like new friends We can treat them like we want to be treated ourselves

The great Zig Ziglar said that you can get anything you want if you help enough people get what they want There is power in that thought

Can you make your customer feel a little more important than they felt when they first came in your store? Of course you can Can you make hem feel more clever? Sure, just credit them with a good idea or a good question when they ask a question Any small business owner can do that

Can you give them a feeling that they got a special deal, just for them? Of course It doesn\’t have to be something big Almost any little extra will do Any little extra effort will do Small businesses become bigger businesses by giving just a little extra Nothing creates BUZZ like treating you customers like real friends And the core of that idea is giving a little more than they paid for

Do you remember the last store, restaurant, or business you visited that made you feel pretty good about going there? Think hard Treat your customers like that

Appeal to a customer\’s self centered needs first, and your needs will always be taken care of It\’s one of the few ways to get rich Give more than you take

That\’s it for now
Small business advertising expert Claude Whitacre is author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can download a complete free copy at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com or you can just buy a copy at http://www.claudewhitacre.comSubmitted By ArticleUnited.com Submission Services

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Author : claude whitacreThere are many reasons why an advertisement doesn't produce a profit Here are several reasons ads fail, and how to make them profitable

Using "Image Advertising"
Most image advertising is generated by an advertising agency Image ads are created to sell the ad to the advertiser, not sell the product to the consumer Image ads are effective in one way They make the local advertising more effective It\’s easier to sell something if the name is known Credibility has already been partially established But you still need the local advertising to get the customer off the sofa and into the store Image ads create familiarity Local ads create the desire to buy the product now Great ads create the value in the product, and a reason to buy now

High expectations
Some exceptional ads will generate profits at ten or twenty times their cost But most successful ads break even with just a little profit made If your ads break even, you have created a new customer at no cost Most successful companies are happy if their ads break even They are buying their customer for free The vast majority of the profits are made on the relationship you have established with the customer, not from the first sale But making a profit on the first sale is easily done if you follow a few simple rules

Customers don\’t see your ad
If you\’re in the wrong section of the newspaper, you won\’t be seen by your most likely buyers If you\’re on a radio station that plays Heavy Metal music, and you sell hearing aids, your most likely buyers won\’t hear your ad You have to advertise where your customers are

Customers don\’t read your ad
This may be painful to hear Nobody will read your ad if they aren\’t compelled to by your headline Your company name is not a headline It creates no interest It creates no demand A headline needs to grab the reader\’s attention, and create instant interest, or the reader won\’t read the ad
Slogans are not headlines "We service what we sell" isn\’t a headline Read magazine covers Everything written on the cover is a headline They are designed to make you want to read more
Look at a newspaper Every article has a headline The paper itself has a headline Would you ever read an article without a headline? No Headlines are a way for the reader to skim through the paper (or TV, Radio, Direct Mail) to find something that grads their attention and interests them Every successful ad has a headline, and it\’s always at the top of the ad

Ads create no value
This is a major cause of ads failing The reader has to see, in the ad, how they are benefitting If you are selling a product for $500, you better show at least $1,000 of value in the ad

Ads are trying to be cute
The first place many creative ad writers go is the Clever route Cute, funny, clever ads are fun to make and feel like they should work Here\’s why they don\’t; Clever ads make the reader-listener-viewer think about the ad You want them thinking about the product Have you ever seen an infomercial? Do they use jingles? Sing songs? Tell jokes? Nope Have you ever had a sales presentation? That\’s what an ad is, a sales presentation in print Profitable sales presentations focus on three things; Benefits, benefits, and benefits The customer is asking "What\’s in it for me? What do I get? How does it benefit me?"

"Clever" entertains Giving the customer an irresistible offer sells And isn't that what we all want?Small business advertising expert Claude Whitacre is author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can download a complete free copy at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com or you can just buy a copy at http://www.claudewhitacre.comSubmitted By ArticleUnited.com Submission Services

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