What I've Learned About Picture Plus

I'm an early adopter. Always have been and, in spite of my advancing years, apparently always will be.

One of the problems an early adopter frequently encounters is "outrunning your headlights." In other words, moving more quickly than your ability to see where your motion is taking you.

Such was the case with me and the new Picture Plus feature from SendOutCards. I loved what I saw and jumped in with both feet without taking the time to fully understand how the system works and how it is intended to be used.

Unlike most SOC users, I send mostly custom cards that I create on my Macintosh in PhotoShop and Fireworks. And virtually all of my cards have custom graphics on both the outside and inside panels. Most importantly, I send large quantities of cards in campaigns, usually 100 or more cards at a shot.

When I heard about PicturePlus I thought it was the perfect tool for me to be able to create custom cards and add them to my catalog quickly and inexpensively.

What I didn't take the time to learn first was that 1) Picture Plus only allows you to add a picture to the front of the card and 2) Picture Plus cards cost one extra point each.

At 31 cents per point, any mailing I send of 33 cards or more would be more cost effectively done by paying the $10 to have SOC's design department add the card to my catalog for me. They are very fast and very helpful - but not available after regular business hours.

So I've outrun my headlights once again. It's doubtful that I'll learn from this experience and slow my Mustang down the next time I come across something that gets me as excited as Picture Plus did.

At least I now know the whole story and understand that Picture Plus is a wonderful application - for people who are sending single cards with special photos on them to important friends, family members, customers and prospects.

SOC for Public Speakers

Professional speakers inhabit a very competitive world. While outsiders may view the work as "easy" and perhaps even "glamorous," it is in fact very difficult, requiring levels of prepartion and marketing well beyond what most people realize.

There are a finite number of meeting planners and speakers' bureaus but a seemingly ever-growing number of speakers competing for their attention. Speakers must find innovative ways to differentiate themselves from their competition and stay top-of-mind with their target audiences without making a nuisance of themselves.

One way I do that is through SendOutCards. Every time I am scheduled to present, I send a postcard with all the details to a targeted list of recipients which includes all of the meeting planners and bureaus I am promoting myself to.

It's a very light touch that let's them know I'm out there speaking and that I actively participate in the marketing of all of my appearances. The best part is that, through SendOutCards, I am able to send personalized color postcards to this VIP list for only 70 cents each including postage! If you throw in the ease and convenience of the process this is an absolute steal!

Click on the headline above to see a postcard I recently sent out announcing my upcoming presentation on The Customer Factory marketing model. Do you know any professional speakers who should be using SendOutCards to promote themselves? If you know one who isn't, you know one who should be.

Customer Factory Presentation at The Business Building Trade Show

I'm pleased to announce that I will be presenting at the Business Building Trade Show being held at the Hilton Springfield (Virginia), Friday September 22, 2006. The trade show runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and my 45-minute presentation starts at 3:00 p.m.

I'll be teaching The Customer Factory marketing model, explaining my Four Simple Steps to Lasting Business Success to Northern Virginia entrepreneurs and showing them how they can apply this powerful formula to their own businesses to create dependable sales growth for years to come.

The Customer Factory uses the illustration of an assembly-line factory to describe the fundamentals of marketing success in just four easily comprehended steps.

Those Four Simple Steps to Lasting Business Success are:

1. Design Your Customer

2. Pick Your Production Line

3. Tool It Up

4. Turn It On

I hope to see you in Springfield on the 22nd. If you have any questions about the presentation please call me at 703-401-3170.

Click on the headline at the top of this posting for directions to the Business Building Trade Show.

Picture Plus

I had hoped to attend the Grand Opening Convention but fate intervened.

In spite of my absence (or perhaps because of it) it appears a good time was had by all. And, for my money at least, the biggest announcement to come from the festivities was the introduction of Picture Plus, the new photo uploading, cataloging and custom card creation feature now available for a $99 lifetime license.

I signed up for Picture Plus right away and was initially very impressed with it. Unfortunately I ran into a BIG problem with it within a couple of days of purchase:

You cannot create or place a custom graphic on the inside of the card with Picture Plus - only on the outside.

This may not be a big deal for some of you but for me it's a show stopper. Any of you who have received one of my custom cards knows that I try to make creative use of all three panels available to me - with interesting text and custom graphics on the outside and inside.

One of the reasons I was so pleased with Picture Plus was that (I thought) I could create and upload my own custom creations at any time 24/7 without waiting for the graphics support folks to do it for me. Don't get me wrong: the folks in the graphics department at SOC are first-class and very fast. Still, they're not available nights or weekends when I am often cooking up new ideas.

And, in spite of paying $99 for Picture Plus, I'm still paying $10 per card to upload my custom creations.

Any thoughts from corporate? Any other folks out there unhappy with this situation?

Everyone's A Customer - Maybe Not A Distributor

I am firmly convinced that every business, non-profit organization and salesperson could benefit from SendOutCards. And that's why I offer it to everyone of them that I meet.

I am not convinced however that everyone of them is a strong prospect to become a distributor - at least not right out of the gate.

Many people hold a dim view of multi-level marketing organizations and cannot picture themselves associating with one - much less representing it. I don't want to let their preconceived notions on that topic prevent them from engaging with this great, fun and beneficial service.

So I encourage people to at least sign on as a retail customer if nothing else, just so they can begin to engage with the system and the company and see with their own eyes the impact that these cards have on recipients.

Maybe they'll get excited enough to get involved as a distributor later and maybe they won't. Maybe they'll only get excited enough to refer their friends and neighbors to me to sign up. Maybe neither of those outcomes will occur.

As long as they use, enjoy and benefit from the system I'm happy. Whatever happens from there is gravy.

Don't get too caught up in trying to push everyone you present to to become a distributor. You might lose some great customers in the process!

Exporting Data from the Contact Manager

Hallelujah!

We can now export data from the contact manager of SendOutCards!

I had asked for this feature in an email to wishlist@sendoutcards.com during the holidays and written in this space at that time that I felt confident it would be added at some point in the future.

Well now it's here and it works perfectly.

Just go to the contact manager and run a search for whatever you like: one or more groups, a company name, etc. When the list matching your search criteria pops up you will see a button at the top that says "Export Checked."

Just click that button and the system will give you a .csv (comma separated values) file that you can either save to your hard drive or open directly in Excel. This is a standard database file format that is easily importable into Outlook, ACT!, Goldmine or any other contact management or customer relationship management (CRM) system you or your client's company is using.

As you could always import data into SendOutCards, this export capability now means that you can keep your personal and SOC contact managers synchronized and never have to worry about which one you should type a new contact into.

Pitching SOC to Trade Show Exhibitors

After re-reading my most recent post about using SendOutCards to follow-up on attendees to trade shows - and attending a small trade show at a local university - it occurs to me that trade show exhibitors are a perfect target market for SendOutCards distributors.

The show I attended had about 30 exhibitors and 800 attendees. The booths were rented for about $2,000 and I estimate each exhibitor spent another $500 - $1,000 on graphics, giveaways, labor, etc. Maybe more.

If each of these exhibitors invested another $299 in an SOC distributorship plus $39 in postage, they could send a personal follow-up card to each of up to 100 people who visited their booth and left their contact information.

What a bargain!

Trade Show Follow-Up

Trade shows are making a come back after business travelers started taking to the skies again four years after 9-11.

Companies spend billions annually on exhibits, graphics, travel, show space, salaries, giveaways - you name it - in an effort to increase sales through trade show exhibits.

But very few do the most important thing to ensure their trade show investment pays dividens: follow-up.

I have found that it is much important to gather contact information from attendees on site and drip on them after the show than it is to distribute baubles imprinted with your logo in the hope that they might call you at some point in the future.

But almost no one does it because of the difficulty and expense involved, and because everyone hates to make "cold" calls on people who stopped by the booth.

SendOutCards offers the perfect solution. Simply load the contact information for everyone who visited your booth into a group in the contact manager and then send them a one-card campaign thanking them for stopping by and notifying them that you'll be calling soon.

For $1.01, this personalized communication to qualified prospects who agreed to be put on your mailing list is an amazing bargain.

And your phone call a few days later won't be nearly so called as it would have been otherwise.

Get In The Habit

Back on January 17th I told you about three extremely successful people (Joe Girard, Tom Hopkins and George Herbert Walker Bush) who attribute a big part of their good fortune to their habit of sending personal note cards.

DeMarr Zimmerman sent me an email in which he told me that Harvey Mackay, the author of Swim With The Sharks, is quoted as saying "" Send memorable cards, personal notes when you are reminded of a person, relevant newspaper clippings, birthday cards and thank-you notes. Remember the 80/20 rule applies. I actively keep in touch with at least 20% of the 6,500 names on my personal Rolodex, because that 20% provides 80% of the value of my network."

DeMarr also told me that (the first) President Bush was named the "Rolodex Kid" by Time Magazine because he was a fanatic about maintaining an extensive Rolodex containing everyone he met, and that this was his contact management system for sending personal note cards.

Every one of these successful people would tell you that they had to work at developing their habit of sending cards and commit to it everyday in order for it to work.

Since joining SendOutCards I have sent over 700 note cards and postcards.

I use them at every opportunity: after a phone call; after meeting someone new; after receiving exceptional service; you name it.

I am getting in the habit and I am seeing the results already. People love receiving my cards and I love sending them.

I have also found that sending cards is the perfect way to demonstrate the power of the SendOutCards system.

Get in the habit. Send campaigns of cards on a regular basis and single unexpected cards everyday.

It's fast, inexpensive, easy to do and fun. What's not to like?

After all, if you're not using the system, how can you expect others to?

My Favorites

Happy Groundhog Day!

Today I want to share a quick thought about the "My Favorites" section of the card catalog.

With thousands of cards to choose from, you may feel a little overwhelmed.

My suggestion is to spend some time becoming familiar with the names of the catalog sections and subsections and then begin poking around in areas of particular interest to you.

As you find individual cards you like, add them to your unique My Favorites section by simply clicking on the link that says "Add to My Favorites" next to each card. Little by little you will build up your own library of cards that match your applications and personality.

In particular, everyone's My Favorites section should have at least one Thank You card, Nice To Meet You card, holiday cards, birthday cards, etc. so you can quickly fire off a personalized card to a prospect, customer, vendor, employee or family member whom you want to share a thought or feeling with.

With your My Favorites section in place, you'll be much more likely to use SendOutCards every day.

Sending Gift Cards

Today I want to remind you that you can enclose a gift card in any greeting card you send.

These are the same gift cards you see at check-out counters of major retailers.

Through SendOutCards you can buy them in denominations ranging from one cent to $50, giving your recipient a quick shopping spree at:

Bed Bath & Beyond
Borders
Circuit City
Eddie Bauer
5 Restaurants in 1 Card
-->Chilis
-->Romanos Macaroni Grill
-->On The Border
-->Maggianos Little Italy
-->Corner Bakery
Sears
Starbucks

I wouldn't use these as bribes ahead of time, intended to drive a particular behavior, but rather as a reward and show of appreciation after someone had done something nice for you.

My suggestion is to send a thank you note with a Starbucks card inside with $10 on it and invite your recipient to "enjoy a Starbucks beverage with a friend on me." That way you haven't put a crassly specific dollar value on the gift but instead have generously given them an experience to enjoy.

If they've done something really great (or made a really big purchase!) you can give them $50 on a 5 Restaurants In 1 Card and let them paint the town at the eatery of their choice.

Send yourself a gift card to see how easy it is!

Is A Card Worth A Bouquet of Flowers?

Yesterday I told you how effective my wife Lori's first card was in introducing her new fine art business and generating positive buzz among her list of recipients.

But what happened yesterday afternoon may be the biggest indicator of the power of a single card.

As I mentioned, this custom card featured a photo of a beautiful landscape, painted in oil on canvas by a world-renowned artist Lori now represents.

After many years dealing with graphic artists and fine artists in the printing industry, she and I were both nervous about his reaction to the printed quality of the card. If you've ever done a press check with an artist, you know what I'm talking about.

The bouquet of flowers that the artist had delivered yesterday afternoon put all of those fears to rest and gave Lori an emotional boost that words just can't describe. He loved the card and the way Lori used his creation to communicate her value proposition.

While I usually focus on the business impact of SendOutCards, the essential, personal emotional impact is what makes them so effective in keeping you in-touch with your list.

Seeing that impact with my own eyes made me a believer.

Showing Instead of Telling

Today I want to touch on one of the most powerful sales tools ever created: showing instead of telling.

I spend a lot of time talking to people about the power of SendOutCards as a touch-marketing system but sometimes a real-life example tells the story better.

Case in point: my wife Lori sent 117 cards out of the system last Monday, announcing her new fine art business Spring Lake Studios.

Between Thursday and Saturday she received more than ten inbound phone calls and emails from recipients, set five appointments and made her first sale.

I can't wait to see what this week will bring!

We also attended a dinner party Saturday night where several other folks who had received the card during the week were discussing it.

Perhaps most interesting (to me at least) was how many people commented specifically on how much they liked the card itself and asked how Lori had made it work.

Two of these people are strong prospects for me - one is in corporate sales for a national retail company. I'll keep you updated.

My point is this: I can run my yap for hours and not do as well explaining the powerful functionality of this system as a single well-executed card.

So, if you want people to understand how this system works, show them instead of just telling them.

Use the system regularly in your own business. Create personal success stories. Generate new sales in your main business while creating buzz around this business.

I believe it works because I saw it with my own eyes last week.

I guess I'm only human.

Your Handwriting Font

Today I want to share with you a couple of things I've learned about SendOutCards' ability to use your handwriting and signature in generating the text of your card messages.

First and foremost: it's an incredible feature! When combined with the mail-merge ability of the system, sending a note in your own "hand" makes for a profound level of personalization.

I didn't realize the impact that it could have until I received a card from Jordan Adler in our upline. Even though I KNEW it was computer-generated and most of the text was boilerplate, seeing his words in his own handwriting capped off with his signature made me feel as though he were thinking of me when he sent the card.

If you don't read another word of this post please come away with this message: GET YOUR HANDWRITING FONT CREATED AND LOADED INTO THE SYSTEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

In spite of my initial skepticism, I am now convinced that this is one of the most important features of this system for salespeople and business owners.

The problem lies in creating a handwriting font that you will be happy with.

My handwriting is terrible and my first stab at having SendOutCards create a font out of it was disappointing to say the least. So I am spending $49 to have a new font created and I wanted to share what I've learned in the process.

Follow the instructions on page one of the font package PDF regarding the size of the tip of your pen and staying inside of the boxes.

Print several copies of page two (the fill-in form) of the font package PDF and practice a bit before getting serious. Don't worry about making a mistake because there is an unlimited supply of forms inside of your computer!

As you fill-in the boxes on the form, try to size every character consistently, both vertically and horizontally.

Write unnaturally slowly and clearly. Because of my bad penmanship, my first tactic was to try to write quickly and fluidly so the characters would look "natural." Big mistake when your natural hand looks like a ransom note!

When creating your four signatures consider using first name only for both you and your spouse, as well as first and last name for both (Frank, Lori, Frank Felker, Lori Felker). Since I'm dropping another $50 for another font and signature package I'm now adding Frank and Lori, Frank and Lori Felker, Lori and Frank, and Lori and Frank Felker.

Finally, if you have any issues with your font after it's loaded into the system, call Ryan in the design department and ask him to help you tweak it. He's very knowledgeable and helpful.

Update on My Wife's Fine Art Business

Back on December 2nd I posted an entry on this blog about my wife Lori's plan to start a fine art business in 2006.

Her new company, called Spring Lake Studios was officially launched January 2nd.

Yesterday we sent a beautiful announcement card to her 117 warmest prospects
via SendOutCards. On the cover is a picture of a beautiful oil-on-canvas
landscape from a world-renowned local artist. Inside is an announcement
graphic along with a personalized message from Lori which ends with "I'll be
calling you soon to schedule an appointment."

The whole schmeer including uploading the custom graphics, printing, mailing
services and postage (at the new 39-cent rate) was $128.17. Let me repeat
that please: ONE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT DOLLARS AND SEVENTEEN CENTS!

You simply cannot find that kind of marketing value anywhere else I am aware
of.

In February we'll begin mailing monthly postcards with a series of paintings
on the front - along with the URL to her web site - which we hope people
will feel compelled to post on their refrigerator doors. Our goal is to make
each one "refrigerator worthy!" I'll let you know how we make out.

BTW: Those PERSONALIZED postcards, sent via FIRST CLASS MAIL will only cost
SEVENTY CENTS EACH including printing, mailing service and postage.

Being a customer or distributor of SendOutCards is meaningless if you're not sending out cards.

Start sending cards, distributing positive energy and enjoying the results.

My Money Where My Mouth Is

How much do I believe in the power of SendOutCards as a touch marketing system to help build sales for small business?

So much that my wife and are using it ourselves for just that purpose!

Many of you are aware that my wife Lori recently opened a home-based business through which she sells original fine art and custom framing.

Check out Spring Lake Studios

Yesterday we sent an announcement card to her 117 warmest prospects via SendOutCards. On the cover is a picture of a beautiful oil-on-canvas landscape from a world-renowned local artist. Inside is an announcement graphic along with a personalized message from Lori which ends with "I'll be calling you soon to schedule an appointment."

The whole schmeer including uploading the custom graphics, printing, mailing services and postage (at the new 39-cent rate) was $128.17. Let me repeat that please: ONE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT DOLLARS AND SEVENTEEN CENTS!

You simply cannot find that kind of marketing value anywhere else I am aware of.

In February we'll begin mailing monthly postcards with a series of paintings on the front - along with the URL to her web site - which we hope people will feel compelled to post on their refrigerator doors. Our goal is to make each one "refrigerator worthy!" I'll let you know how we make out.

BTW: Those PERSONALIZED postcards, sent via FIRST CLASS MAIL will only cost SEVENTY CENTS EACH including printing, mailing service and postage.

I continue to be amazed by this system.

Building Success One Card At A Time

Many of our most successful salespeople, business owners and politicians have used personal, handwritten notes to establish and nurture relationships.

Joe Girard was a car salesperson who worked at a Chevrolet dealership in Detroit, Michigan. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Joe sold more retail automobiles for 12 consecutive years on a one-on-one basis, than anyone else in the world. All of Joe’s business came from referrals. What was Joe’s secret?

Joe developed a system of staying in contact with his customers and potential clients. Every phone call or personal contact he made, Joe would write down on a file card any relevant information. He then sent everybody on his list a unique greeting card every single month! These weren't high pressure sales letters, just friendly reminders to let people know that he was thinking about them.

In fact, Joe sent out nearly 13,000 hand written greeting cards per month to his customers, with the help of two assistants, celebrating anything from Halloween to Groundhog Day.

Tom Hopkins is a real estate sales guru who set and achieved the remarkable goal of participating in 365 transactions in a single year. He credits his success in large part to developing the habit of sending short personal notes to everyone he met, reminding them that he was in the real estate business and explicitly asking for their personal and referral business.

George Herbert Walker Bush - the first President Bush - is also renowned for his personal touch in sending handwritten correspondence to political supporters of any contribution level. Those around often him remarked at his commitment in sending those notes and the amazing impact they had in bringing in money.

All three of these folks - and many thousands of other successful people - have proven the power of consistent personal correspondence in building a business or career. Imagine how well they could do if they had had access to SendOutCards!

BTW: Top Hopkins is now a SendOutCards distributor!

The Magic Printing Machine

In reviewing my last post about Target Markets I was reminded of a story from about ten years ago, when I was a digital printing guru in the $92 billion commercial printing industry.

At that time I published a newsletter called Digital Printing Trends and wrote a monthly column called Digital Imaging Workshop for a 100,000-reader trade magazine.

As a digital printing technology big shot, I was often told about new technology being developed, and asked by manufacturers to render my opinion. One machine - which will remain nameless in this posting - was particularly interesting in that it could literally print anything.

It could print on a wide variety of substrates in black-and-white or full color. It could print a 3.5" x 2" business card or generate a mural (in sections called tiles) large enough to cover the side of a building. It could even cut vinyl or metal letters and shapes out of sheets to be applied to trucks or other types of outdoor signage.

It was truly a magical printing machine.

The problem? It could do anything.

Why is that a problem? Consider how a printing company might advertise the purchase of this machine to their customers and prospects:

"Guess what folks! We now have a machine that can print anything. So, if you've got anything, send it on down!"

Customer don't have "anything." They have specific needs that require specific solutions.

At that time - when digital printing was absolutely transforming the printing industry - I would often say that "The customers don't care if you've got a room in the back full of monks working with quill pens, as long as the job comes out on time, you stick to your price estimate and the quality of the finished job is within their range of expectations."

Digital printing, traditional printing, monks with quill pens: makes no difference to the customer because it doesn't impact their needs, their lives. They just want the job right, on-time and within budget so it can help them accomplish their internal objective - like selling more cars or adding more checking accounts - which has nothing whatsoever to do with printing.

My point relative to SendOutCards: businesspeople don't care what you do or how you do it. All they want to know is "What's in it for me?"

This is why focusing on specific vertical markets one at a time, creating valuable cards and campaigns which create a specific outcome for the members of that vertical, will yield more results than trying to present SendOutCards as the magic printing machine that can "do anything."

Until you can tie what SendOutCards is and what it does to a specific benefit for the prospect, you won't have business owners or marketing professionals tuned into station WIIFM.

Target Markets

When I was first shown the SendOutCards system I was amazed by how many industries could benefit from it.

I have idenitified over twenty groups of companies and individuals who could get incredible value from this ingenious system. But therein lies a problem: the problem of how to eat an elephant.

Here's a partial list:

Automobile Dealerships / Salespeople
Realtors (agents and brokers)
Mortgage Companies / Loan Officers
Title and Setllement Companies
Doctors' Offices / Veternarians
Financial Planners
Non-Profit / Charitable Organizations
Chambers of Commerce
Trade Associations
Pet Walkers and Groomers
Cleaning Companies
Home Improvement Companies

The list just goes on and on.

My first inclination was to send a series of cards to just about everyone I knew who fell into one or more of those 20+ pigeon holes. I sent out a lot of cards and I did sign up some distributors.

But I have come to the conclusion that a much better way for me to proceed is to focus on one vertical industry at a time and do everything I can to develop and provide value to that group through SendOutCards. That is to say; eat the elephant one bite at a time.

My first bite is the real estate industry, including real estate agents and brokers, mortgage firms and loan officers and title companies. This is the industry I work in full-time. It's where I have the most relationships and the best understanding of how SendOutCards can be used to generate value.

This industry is also chock-full of entrepreneurial people who are more likely to see the SendOutCards business opportunity and run with it.

Where on the elephant should your first bite come from? The single industry where you can bring the most value. People buy because of what's in it for them - not what's in it for you.

Create an integrated solution that includes custom card designs and one or more campaigns that will generate a specific outcome for your target market. Include a call to action such as a promotional coupon for customers to redeem to prove the system is working.

Ideally your first bite will also be the industry you know the most about and have the most current relationships within. It doesn't have to be the same one as your job but it does need to be one you can communicate with easily and regularly.

Take another look at my list above, add some entries of your own and pick one. Then go for it single-mindedly.

One last thought: by creating custom cards and campaigns that you can share with those who join you, you not only bring them more value - by offering a turn-key way to begin marketing and giving them something they can use to promote SendOutCards to their industry comrades - but you also bring yourself more income by assuring that they will use the system every month going forward!

And there is no doubt that using SendOutCards as a systematic marketing vehicle will markedly increase their sales in their primary business, generating repeat and referral business for you.

Bon apetit!

Tips & Tricks: Adding Business Name To Envelope Mailing Address

I send most of my cards to salespeople and business owners at their places of business.

In many cases their companies are large enough that the local letter carrier does not know the recipient by name and so if the name of the business is not included in the mailing address, the card is not delivered. The Postal Service returns the card to me at the return address that SendOutCards has printed in the upper left corner of the envelope.

Luckily, the first class stamp means that I get the card back - no matter what the reason for non-delivery - usually with a rubber-stamped message along the lines of "Unkown Recipient." At least I know that the message I thought they received from me never got through.

While I wish the SOC system would allow business names to print on the face of the envelope so I could do a straight import of data from my contact manager without any additional handwork, there is a workaround: simply put the company name in the Address 1 field and the entire address (including suite number) in the Address 2 field.

I know, I know: this is a big pain that takes a lot of time and has to be done one record at a time. Hey, it works!

I hope the fact that I'm willing to do this on hundreds of records gives you some idea how strongly I feel about the effectiveness of SOC as a marketing tool.

The Sales Skill Set

Few people consider themselves to be "a good salesman," and that can be enough to cause them to turn away from - or give up on - a great opportunity like SendOutCards.

In my book on the subject, The Greatest Job You Never Thought Of, I call Sales The World's Most Valuable Profession for a number of reasons including the fact that anyone with any education level or career history can work hard and begin earning more than Wharton MBAs or Harvard MDs.

But how do you become good at sales? What skills must you develop in order to succeed?

By clicking on this link or "The Sales Skill Set" at the top of this posting, you can download a free copy of the chapter in my book which is called The Sales Skill Set in either Adobe PDF or MP3 audio format.

In this chapter I describe 20 different skills, ranging from Listening and Honesty to Product Knowledge and Persistence, which every adult can develop to become more effective in communicating the value of their offering. I have been told by salespeople, sales managers and business owners with many years of experience that my list and the way I describe each skill is one of the best they have seen on the subject.

#1 on my list is Belief in your product. This is something working in your favor as a SendOutCards distributor. I can tell you without hesitation that this company's service represents one of the best value propositions I have ever seen in business.

The combination of the price point, the service, the quality, the selection, the ease-of-use, the number of applications, the competitive landscape and the business opportunity relative the investment required - all add up to one of the best offerings you could ever present to friends, family - or complete strangers.

Not everyone will buy - nor even see the value - but every person could benefit from SendOutCards and enjoy its features at a very low price. That's something you can feel very good about as you go out and talk to people.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from the free chapter. Please post a comment to let me know what you thought of it.

The First Time Is The Toughest

Are you having a tough time taking your first steps with SendOutCards? You're probably not alone, everyone gets nervous the first time they try anything new.

One thing you can take some support from is that from now on, things will only get easier! The first time you do anything is always the toughest. You'll only improve and succeed from here.

Whether you're stumbling through your first telephone demonstration of a guest account or feeling frustrated trying to learn the online interface, hang in there! This is a great program that deserves your diligence.

Radius Marketing for Home Improvement Companies

A friend of mine who sells remodeling projects for a number of companies in the Tidewater area of Virginia gave me a great idea after receiving my series of seven cards.

Let's say you're a home improvement company preparing to do an addition on a home in a given neighborhood. Why not send a card campaign to the 100 or 500 homes closest to your project introducing your company?

Here's how his idea would work: Send your first card a week before the project begins, introducing your company and notifying the neighbors that your trucks and workmen will be showing up soon. Apologize in advance for the noise, dust and traffic and offer your name and phone number for any complaints or concerns regarding the project.

Then, over the course of the next several weeks, drop a number of cards thanking the neighbors for their patience and informing them of the different types of projects you do. Include a coupon offer encouraging them to call for a no-obligation quote while the local project is underway. Possibly even offer a discount because it costs you less to have multiple projects going on nearby to each other.

When the project is completed, and with your customer's permission, invite everyone to stop by to see the finished product and enter to win an iPod. Your salespeople will love the highly-qualified prospects that come from the contest fishbowl: local homeowners who have been "touched" multiple times by your cards and have also seen your work in person, met you and receive the implicit endorsement of your happy current customer with the great new addition.

How can you get the addresses of the 100 closest neighbors? My favorite way is to call InfoUSA or visit them on the web at http://www.InfoUSA.com.

How's that for a great idea that can also be used by a lot of other businesses?

Direct Mail Testing

After years of experience producing millions of direct mail pieces, I believe that one of SendOutCards' greatest uses is as a test bed for large mass mailings.

At 99-cents apiece for a full-color, personalized foldover card including mailshop and first class postage costs, you just can't go wrong on a short run of 500 pieces or less. 68-cents for a personalized 7" x 5" postcard is great too. And the minimum quantity is 1! God bless digital printing technology.

Sure, you could get to much lower price points for bulk mailings but you'd have to invest in big print runs and put out hard cash for mailing house fees and postage checks, not to mention personalization costs and database massaging.

So why not test your direct mail piece, several times if you like, to a controlled list of 400-500 to determine what kind of return a larger mailing might bring before investing in it? SendOutCards is the perfect vehicle for that.

Thanks Kody!

An Idea for Realtors

Here's a great idea I heard Jordan Adler talk about on a SOC conference call recording:

You're a Realtor who has just sold a home. Take a picture of the happy buyers in front of the "SOLD" sign (that includes your name, photo and phone number) and offer to send it to all of their friends as a Change Of Address card.

I like it!

My Wife's Fine Art Business

After managing a fine art gallery for a long time, my wife Lori Felker has decided to go independent and market fine original art directly to buyers as a representative of the artists.

Her official launch date is January 1, 2006 but, needless to say, we are already hard at work creating and implementing her marketing plan.

A big part of that plan involves SendOutCards. With the artists' permission we will be creating greeting cards and postcards featuring their work and using them in a variety of campaigns. We will be sending invitations of art shows, wine tastings and meet-the-artist events. Lori will use them as Thank You cards and Nice To Meet you cards and a million other one-to-one applications.

We are also going to offer buyers of specific pieces the opportunity to have custom cards created that feature their new acquisition on the front so they can send a note to all of their friends and show-off a little bit.

How could your business implement some of these ideas?

Turn-Key Marketing Solutions

Every salesperson and small business owner can benefit from SendOutCards. But many are too busy with their current business to devote any time to figuring out how to use the system, much less consider marketing it as a new business themselves.

So why not just offer it to them turn-key? You do the card creation, the writing, the campaign development, the scheduling and even the inputting of the contact information. Charge them a premium on top of what it costs you and hit the SEND button.

I aluded to this in my Holiday Cards for Small Business posting earlier today. But even I am going to outsource the most time-consuming work (entering the contact info) to a great lady in Florida I found through Elance.

The secret is creating a campaign or single card that accomplishes some objective for them.

When I was in the printing business I came to realize that no one buys printing in and of itself, they buy printing as a means to an end. They are creating a direct mail campaign to increase sales or build the membership of a trade association. They are publishing a directory of medical providers so their network of employees can connect with the right doctors and hospitals. They are not just buying printing because it has some inherent value on its own. They buy printing with the intent that it will do something else for them.

The same is true here - essentially what we're selling is printing and mailing services - in that the value comes from an effect created by the card, not from the card itself.

So create turn-key programs that provide a benefit to your customer. They don't have to know how you did it. They just know you did a great job meeting their objective!

Including A Coupon Offering

Any greeting card or postcard you send can include a coupon for percentage discount off any purchase, buy-one-get-one-free, special pricing on a particular product - or any other special offer that you see on billions of coupons every year.

There are two ways to do this:

1) Create a coupon graphic and upload it into your card;

2) Simply type the text of the coupon offering into the body of the card - maybe with a row of asterisks at the top and bottom to make it look more like a coupon.

Be sure to say "Present this card for..." and "substitutes or photocopies not accepted." so you can see how effective the coupon - and the card - were in bring people to you.

We did this at Monarch Title in a Thank You card to real estate agents who attended the Grand Opening of our Old Town Alexandria (Virginia) office, and left their business card in a fishbowl for a prize drawing. The offer was for a FREE SETTLEMENT. "Just include this card when you drop off your next contract."

How could you use this in your business?

Holiday Cards for Small Businesses

Yesterday morning I spent about ten minutes sending out a holiday card prompt to a list of about 50 small business owners.

The front of the card has a picture of tired Santa sitting in a chair with the caption:

Tired or writing, licking, sticking mailing holiday cards?

Inside I wrote:

Have you sent your holiday cards yet FirstName?

If you're like most small business owners, you haven't. But this year I have an easy solution that you can still implement before the 25th - if you act fast.

I have found a great new online system that will let you send customized holiday cards like this one for as little as 99 cents each - including postage.

If that sounds like too much work we can handle the whole thing for you for as little as $2.50 per card - including inputting your list and sending it back to you in a spreadsheet!

Sound interesting? Give me a call at 703-401-3170 or email me at frank@TheCustomerFactory.com.

Happy Holidays! Frank Felker 703-401-3170

Like I say, it took me less than ten minutes to send this campaign to 50+ business owners. Stay tuned to find out how it worked for me!

Photographers and Graphic Artists

Photographers and Graphic Artists can create a great business for themselves by offering their clients custom greeting cards and postcards which incorporate photos, logos and graphic elements tied to the client's business.

Every company should have a custom Thank You card, We Appreciate Your Business card, Thanks For The Referral Card, Nice To Meet You Card, etc., etc. The artist or photographer can earn money on both the creative work and the production and mailing of the cards. Sweet!

Graphics folks can also create cards which incorporate their own creations for sale on the retail card site, or for their own use in marketing their businesses.

The great thing is that SOC gives these folks a reason to call their existing clients or prospects and say, "Hey I found something new that would be wonderful for your company. Can I come by and show you?"

Better yet, why not go ahead and create a card or two and send it to them unannounced? That will get there attention!

My Seven Card Campaign

Like everyone who is just starting out with SendOutCards, I am learning and growing - and experimenting!

My focus is entirely towards the business world: specifically salespeople and small business owners. Also, since I work full-time in the real estate industry, I am naturally including real estate agents and mortgage loan officers in my efforts.

Having spent much of my career in the printing industry - and in particular the digital printing world - I was immediately intrigued by the potential SOC offered as a marketing tool. Once I began to test and investigate the system, I quickly became convinced that this is something that every marketing-oriented adult needs to know about.

My first efforts are a little different from what is recommended by the company. Rather than sending a single "First Look" card to my initial group of 50+ warm prospects, I created a campagin consisting of seven cards, sent out every-other day over the course of two weeks. Each card highlights a different feature and/or application of the SOC system. The fifth card includes the DVD insert.

My plan was to send a personalized email to everyone 10 days into the campaign. But the fact that I could not (currently) export data from the SOC contact manager put a crimp in that step. I would then follow-up by telephone after everyone had received seven cards and an email from me.

I am currently making my follow-up phone calls and loving the results. In all my years of sales and marketing work, I have never gotten the response on the other end of the phone that I am getting right now. People loved the card series, have been thinking about it and me during the entire two-week period and invariably say "I've been meaning to call you. These cards are great."

I even had two people sign up straight-away just from the cards - with no email or telephone touch from me.

Rather than having "call reluctance," I'm having a lot of fun telephoning the people who have received my series of cards. And the $7 investment is paying great dividends.

In that I am always testing and trying to improve my results, I am currently refining the cards in this campaign, replacing two with postcards, and anxiously awaiting the ability to export data from my SOC contact manager so I can include an automated personal email message in the campaign.

The best part so far is that I'm having fun creating and sending the cards and the people receiving them are enjoying the process as well.

SendOutCards.com Featured in the Wall Street Journal

In another indication of the impact of the SendOutCards.com system, the company and its impact on holiday card sending was featured in the November 22nd edition of the Wall Street Journal.

The story focuses on how online services are making the annual holiday card sending ritual a litttle easier.

Read the entire article here.