…I’m… compelled to reply with a few questions
of my own:

‘Do you mean besides having fun? Besides learning
that the world has always spun in the palm of your
hand? Besides bicycles, long walks, and hot
chocolate? Besides holding hands, giving hugs, and
drying tears? Besides having a dream and making it
come true? Besides February, Fridays, and Polar
Bears? Besides witnessing miracles that only you
are privy to? Besides sunrises, sunsets, and every
rare and fleeting moment in between?’”

Excerpt taken from Tut’s Adventures Club

I’d first like to hit on some inside email marketing tricks that might seem super simple, but that get the clients reading.  Hence my article title above, “The Broadcast Game”.  Email marketing really is a game – you’re the offense trying to make the play, and the client is defense, blocking your moves!

Hopefully you already know what information you’d like to share with your list.  Maybe you’re writing a newsletter or thinking of a way to promote an upcoming event or new product.  If you can come up with some exciting content, these rules can help you tweak it – so hopefully not only will they open your message, but read every word of it!

Rule #1 – Mystify it. Think of a subject line that will grab their attention.  I’m not talking about, “Act Now!! Don’t Miss This Great Offer!”  Not only will that kind of line not entice your much coveted client (who already has everything he needs and a hundred other offers) to open your email, it’s likely going to get caught in their spam filter for excessive punctuation too.

A better title might be, “What Else Can You Get at This Price That’s Worth so Much?”  Hmm… intriguing, right?  You might just have to open it and see what I’m talking about!  Don’t give away too much – entice them with a bit of mystery.  Never use the subject line to tell them what you message is about in ten words or less. If you do, they’ll decide whether they’re interested or not without even opening it.

Rule #2 – Beautify it. Avoid sending plain text messages if you can help it.  Adopt a sophisticated image using a simple template that is probably offered in your email marketing system anyway.  The appearance of your email at first glance can make or break your chances of being taken seriously and the client moving on to that next step.

Rule #3 – Simplify It. Get to the point already!  Your message has a purpose.  Decide what you REALLY want to say and then add a link to find out more.  Keep it short and sweet and you’ll have them reading it to the end.

Rule #4 – Minify it. Dissect your message into bite-sized pieces.  Sounds painfully simple, but, this is a tried and true, effective way to get people to read.  People are busy, and when it looks like it’s going to take too long, you can be sure they’re going to skip it.  But, there’s a way to make the content look less intimidating.

For example, which would you prefer read?  This:

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock…

Or this:

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old
town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the
streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the
sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.

Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered
on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover
carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the
live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted
by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon,
after their three-o’clock…

Silly example, but you get the picture.  I used a free site called Format-It! to quickly shorten the lines of this text to 50 characters per line.

Rule #5 – Amplify It. Try adding snappy, bold, lead-in titles to sections of your text.  Client’s eyes will jump around for what interests them, or they may just quickly skim through.  If all you offer is an endless sea of similar type, they’re not apt to dive in.  They’ll dip in a toe, give a shiver, and move on to the next email.

Bold or brightly color lines of text that you really want to stand out. Make sure the text you select punctuates your message, so that if someone were to only read the highlighted items, they would still come away with your ideal message.

Rule #6 – Dignify It. Make sure the recipient knows that they’re important to you.   Don’t come across like all you want to do is make the sale.  A client should feel like you’re interested in meeting his needs, not making a buck. This often translates into a trust that will keep the doors of communication open for future broadcasts!

Why is validation so important?  When our feelings are acknowledged, we gain a camaraderie with another person, and in effect, the rest of the world.  Often I feel as if I’m alone in my tasks and burdens, facing obstacles that others can’t relate to.  When someone shares my opinions and respects the things I’m going through, it assures me that my feelings are legitimate and frees me from self-doubt.

For instance, as a mother, I often search for other mothers to share my shortcomings and triumphs with.  It’s uplifting to hear that I am doing a good job and to ‘keep it up’ from a person who understands what I’m going through.  Often it’s that little voice inside that cripples us into thinking we’re all alone or not good enough.  An encouraging voice from the outside often trumps anything our inside voice has to say.

Think of the last time someone listened to, acknowledged and validated your feelings.  It changed your day, didn’t it?  It may have even changed your life.  Check out this video and see how one man’s interpretation of validation changed things for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao

For more inspirational tips visit Geniuscatalyst.com

May you soar through life!

Recently my longtime friend and the woman who sat my children from birth, passed away from pancreatic cancer. My 16-year-old daughter delivered the following eulogy (which she wrote) with her 18-year-old sister. There are lessons to be learned here…

“Love is stronger than death, although it can’t stop death from happening. No matter how hard death tries, it can’t separate people from love. It can’t take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.”

Not too many kids get to grow up with two mommies. It’s a rare thing. But my sister and I were extremely blessed and lucky kids. For those that don’t know, Susie took care of me from the time I was born and up until I was about twelve, and likewise with my sister Karla. We spent every day with her, and once we started school, every morning and afternoon. She taught us how to read and write, walk and talk, and pretty much everything in between. Yet those aren’t the most important things I took away from her. I think anyone who knew Susie, whether personally or simply as acquaintances, saw something amazing in her.

She was the most loving, caring, giving, unselfish person that I’ve ever met. Not to mention patient.

When I was about eight years old, in the summertime, we went out somewhere in the car. I had just gotten my brand new box of 124 Crayola crayons. I was so excited, and it was just my pride and joy, so I brought it with me – not to Susie’s knowledge of course. Not so brightly, I left the box in the car on this ninety-degree day. As you can probably guess, the following day there was a completely melted rainbow of wax covering the backseat of the car. I was a completely oblivious eight-year-old. I had no idea what I had done until I saw it. All she did was smile, laugh and clean it up. By the next week I had a brand new box of crayons, along with a new rule: keep the art supplies in the house.

I didn’t get in trouble. I didn’t make her angry. It didn’t even phase her. It’s times like this that amaze me. Looking back, I realize that Susie was truly meant to be a caretaker. Even my amazing mother would have lost it at the sight of that mess. She took care of everyone – friends, family, strangers, children – everyone before herself. She never held it over their heads, or wanted credit for the things she did. She just did them. She made us breakfast and lunch every day until we started school. To put that in perspective, between my sister and I, that’s about 3,012 peanut butter & jelly or bologna & cheese sandwiches. Not to mention the other kids she took care of throughout the years.

Susie always had the ability to light up a room. She looked for the best in everyone and everything and taught me to do the same. She was a firm believer that wherever you go, no matter the weather, you should bring your own sunshine. She taught me the sunshine song, which ironically enough sums up the way most feel about her.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.

I think that Susie left a little of her sunshine in all of us, and I know she loved everyone in this room dearly. She always had enough room in her heart for everyone and distributed love frequently. The most important thing to me has always been to make Susie proud – to show her that I was listening all those years through the ups and downs of childhood. What I’ve realized is that no matter what, she would be proud of me, and I know that she is. I think she’s proud of all of her children, whether blood-related or otherwise.

Susie never gave me any idea that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do or be whoever I wanted to be. She filled her house with books, and music, and love, and fun, unfailing in her efforts to give me inspiration and role models. As she raised me, I don’t know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her.

Once Susie passed I was worried, that for all that she had done for me I hadn’t given enough back. Sadly, I don’t know if we answered those sandwiches with 3,012 thank you’s. But Susie also told me she loved me every day, and that, I always returned. I’ve come to realize that was enough for her. That was everything to her. That’s about 5,245 I love you’s. But I think she deserves one more. So let’s make it 5,246. Susie, I love you. We all do.

The lessons I wish everyone who heard this and now everyone who has read it can take away from this are as follows:

1. Bring your own sunshine no matter the weather – it often makes the day brighter for others.
2. When things are tough, when you are hurting the most, you can rise to the occasion and help others, no matter your age.
3. Remember to see the beauty in the accidents of life – such as melted crayons.
4. Say I love you to those close to you while you can.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and though the turkey and the pie are must-haves,
they are not the best part for me.

I grew up in a family of 12 children. So, 14 at the table was a Sunday dinner. Over the years we added spouses, children and even great grandchildren. This year we celebrated with 41, proving the decision to move it to a fire hall with more ovens and more space was a good one.

My favorite part of thanksgiving has always been the blessing. When I was a child, my Dad was the one who said it. It was a prayer handed down by his father who could also recite it in German. It starts “Most merciful and everlasting Father”. But the best part is at the end. No matter how old or how young you were, at the end of the prayer, we went around the table and thanked God specifically for something special to us. Some of the things made us laugh, and some made us cry.

This year there were 41 people giving thanks, all included family on the list.

My mom gave her four F’s that she is always thankful for – Faith, Family, Friends and Food.

My nephew Nolan thanked God that it was not a school day.

My husband thanked God for the country we live in and the rights granted us.

So many people with so many blessings: safe travel, family being together, improved relationships, new marriages, children, parents, health.

And though the pumpkin pie was almost as amazing as the cheesecake and Ghirardelli brownies, it still pales in comparison to what we all really took in. What a gift it is to take those few minutes to see our blessings and to thank God for them, not only in our hearts but out loud for others to hear – the best part of my Thanksgiving.

(The Justice League)

It all started because I was amazed at the quality and creative work that my web guy consistently produces. When one of our clients wants something to happen on their site they simply describe it and – bam! Joe does it. I discovered that nothing seemed impossible for this guy – thus I started calling him Superman.  Faster than a speeding bullet – more powerful than a locomotive – able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Well, okay, maybe I am exaggerating but Joe really is amazing!

Superman on the other hand began acknowledging the increasing list of clients I was bringing in and dubbed me Wonder Woman.  It became an affectionate way to acknowledge each other’s strengths.  Our instant messages became riddled with hero compliments and fun.  In fact Joe even had an audio/visual that would pop up sometimes saying, “Don’t worry – I’m here now”!  It is nice to have people that you like on your team.

Soon we brought Jeanne in on the action. Jeanne is one of my top VA’s and is worth her weight in gold, but she is a buried treasure.  Content to stay behind the scenes she consistently makes me look amazing by creating quality work that I am proud to have bear the company name.  Finding a name for Jeanne was a little tougher – she does so many things well and perhaps her greatest strength is her willingness to learn anything I throw at her.  Acknowledging the fact that she is an important yet hidden resource, we dubbed Jeanne the Invisible Woman – always there, making a difference, getting things done behind the scenes and letting the company take the credit. Though you may not see her – you know she has been there. Another amazing superhero!

So now we spend our days (and sometimes nights) helping our clients to rid websites of poor grammar, boring web pages, and taking on the tasks they themselves wish not to do.  As a Justice League – we are shy a few superheroes, but as a team we are unstoppable.  Anytime you have a team to work with that is this talented, this personable, and this fun, you feel like a superhero.

Over the years of dealing with clients – and being one myself – I have learned that customer satisfaction really is key.  This is so with any business, but especially true in the online world.  Jeff Bezos, the Founder and President of Amazon.com, said, “If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.”

The University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index listed Internet retail in 2007 as having an 83% rate of customer satisfaction.  That means that 17% of our customers are walking away unhappy!  Often an unsatisfactory experience is due to simple misunderstanding.  These situations can easily be resolved by reassuring the client that their problem will be taken care of expediently and also, will not be repeated.  Customers want to be dealt with on a personal level.  Take on each case as though you’ve put your arm around that person and made their problem your problem.

So what key strategies do I follow?

#1    Respond promptly.  Nothing burns a customer more than having to wait for a reply.  The longer they stew, the harder it is to diffuse their anger.  A quick reply denies them the advantage of saying they “tried to contact you several times with no reply”.  This only justifies their stance and puts them even more strongly on the defensive.  Even if you need to tell them, “I received your request and am looking into the issue.  Thank for your patience”, you will have given them your respectful attention.  Now the ball is in your court.

#2    Listen.   Find out what the customer is really asking for.  Let them vent and then reiterate what it is they want.  It should be your aim to please.  You will not only be securing a customer, but gaining credibility. J.C. Penney said, “A happy customer is your walking advertisement.”

#3    Empathize.  As far as the customer is concerned, you are the company.  Be as real and personable as possible.

#4    Commit.  Benjamin Franklin said, “Well done is better than well said.”  Avoid making promises you can’t keep.  Tell the customer what you plan to do and then do it.  If you aren’t certain of something, assure them that you will find out.

#5    Offer incentives to stay.  Go above and beyond what the customer is asking.  People inherently feel that there should be some compensation for their inconvenience.  An apology doesn’t always wipe the slate clean, so add a peace offering.

Here are 10 tips for dealing with those unhappy customers:

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/223/Tips-To-Deal-With-Unhappy-Clients-From-Your-Strategic-Thinking-Business-Coach.html

Finally, look at the unhappy client as a guide to where you need to improve.  Their feedback is an invaluable resource.  Their issue resolved is one step closer to 100% customer satisfaction.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. – Bill Gates