Prashant Patel — i heart business, technology, cars, and photography

Y-O-U: Three powerful letters that can make you more sales

by Prashant on October 7, 2010

There’s no doubt about it, the word “you” used in advertising and copywriting can make you more money. I have been studying persuasive words that can lead to increased sales and this word is by far one of the easiest to incorporate into your next sales/marketing/presentation copy. I have tested this theory out with sales copy for call-to-actions (CTA’s) and trust me, “YOU” does work.

Why

Generally speaking, most business sell something to an end user. Whether it’s a service or product, whether it’s business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B), there’s some kind of root sales strategy involved. Within the the sales strategy, you may or may not be currently outlining the benefits to the end user.

Since you are selling to someone, why not tell them directly by saying “you.” It’s the same concept behind the placement of CTA’s above-the-fold, and guiding a user down the ultimate path you want them to take towards conversion. You want to make your messsages to the end user as blatently clear as possible so there’s little confusion or in this case, optimial use of the consumer’s time.

Examples

Key examples include situations where you describe how your product/service can make life easier, better, faster, build revenue streams, etc.

Before: Karma, Co. can help boost sales figures.
After: You will have increased sales.

Before: Karma, Co. will deliver results.
After: You will results backed with tangible proof.

Before: Karma, Co. can help you simplify your work flow.
After: You can simplify and take control of your life now.

For the web, my theory is that if you can get a prospective customer to your website, why not do everything you can to make the user’s life easier. Web users are inherently lazy, don’t rely on them to “get it” or understand your messaging. If you can drive someone to your website, it imperative that you deploy every strategy possible to make the sale because it chances are, user’s do not buy unless you tell them to.

Be sure to keep this strategy in mind when you are writing new copy. Or better yet, look at your exiting material and see how you can incorporate this idea right now and then measure the difference between the before and after.

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Understanding user behavior can lead to giant new revenue streams

by Prashant on July 12, 2010

in Web Usability

It’s no secret, web usability is a necessity in order to ensure your business makes the sales you need online. Your website is a 24x7x365 sales machine and it needs to look and function it’s best at all times. Last month I worked on a redesign which was literally only a redesign focused on optimizing user experience. Sure, we’ve done a few new marketing initiatives and spent several thousand more dollars for the client to broaden their reach (which is going to be very promising) but it definitely wasn’t the core of the new 2010 marketing program.

For the time being I’ve decided to not name the business but that doesn’t stop me from sharing the bottom line–numbers. What I’m talking about is a momentous 39% increase in goal conversions. The business went from 72 sales through its website in June 2010 to 100 sales in July 2010 (after I implemented the new redesign). This small business is involved in the travel & tourism industry so those mere 28 sales equates to roughly a new $4,000-5,000+ revenue stream per month. Granted the industry suffers from seasonality, no one is going to complain about more sales in this economy. In addition, the new revenue stream figure only reflects the traceable sales for the one goal that was set in Google Analytics. The analytics goal does not account for increased phone orders, or sales made through third parties such as brokers and agents.

Earlier in the year we set an internal goal for the business which was to make sure we hit the same gross sales from last year. That won’t be the case this year because we’re going to blow that number out of the water. I’m very proud to be involved with a project that’s making real strides in a down economy.

So what’s the takeaway from this? Selecting a internet marketing company or “web designer” is not just about who can make things look the nicest. You need to work with a company who can deliver both form and function in order to make real sales.

There’s a reason why a website costs $15,000 through one company and only $1,200 through another. In this example, a $15,000 investment can easily be recouped in a few months leaving the rest of the year (as well as subsequent years) as pure profit. How’s that for an investment?

UPDATE 08/09/10: Did some more tweaking the website and achieved yet another 12-15% increase in conversions (100 goals to now 112-115/month). Constant testing, adjusting, and measuring is the key.

P.S. I forgot to mention that during the process of the redesign, I actually removed some content pages of the website that probably weren’t needed (still working on adding new content). To further emphasize the ROI of a good web design, I can share that the website’s page views actually decreased yet conversions increased.

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Fail miserably by spraying and praying

by Prashant on June 23, 2010

in Business

I think spraying and praying has to be one of the worst mistakes new entrepreneurs can make. You know the story… Dale, new business extraordinaire, builds a new widget designed for the real estate industry but soon after sees applications in all sorts of industries ranging from janitorial to precision manufacturing. While it’s always nice for John to think big and outside the box, entrepreneurs trying to serve the masses can easily walk right into failure.

If you can’t keep that ego in check, sorry… you’re screwed

I believe the problem at the core root of things is simply, our ego. Thoughts of financial freedom, living a self-sufficient life, being known, being “the man”, etc. are all are all areas that newbies need to keep in check. You can write up all the business plans you want, have as many advisors around you as possible, but if you can’t keep that ego in check, sorry… you’re screwed.

You need to keep a leash on yourself

What entrepreneurs need to understand is that it’s ok to dream and think of different ways to apply product/service to different industries, but at the same time, you need to keep a leash on yourself. When I have the spare time, I am personally always thinking of new industries that I’d love to be involved with. I have an excel file that I keep these kinds of notes within and when I get close to learning one industry, I move to the next.

Yes, this is a slow approach and in the past 3-4 years, I’ve personally only moved to my second major industry (from automotive to wine). I take things step by step because I have a small business and I don’t have the financial and talent resources to invest into a dedicated R&D team. Not to mention being the sole decision maker at the end of the day means I just want things to run smoothly with as little headache as possible.

[ Why you need to unlock the power of the niche... ]

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Burglars love Foursquare (really… they do)

by Prashant on June 21, 2010

in Social Media

Location based services (LBS) is seemingly the new trend for marketing and advertising. I’ve been playing on/off with Foursquare for a little while but it didn’t take me long to realize the real privacy and security concerns that I have with the service. And just like big brother of social networking, Facebook, recently saw a slew of negative press around its own privacy issues, Foursquare and other LBS services may get slammed eventually as well.

Sharing TOO much

The main issue that I hate about Foursquare? By checking into venues, they know my habits. They know when I go out, they know where I go, and can fairly easily extrapolate how long I am there (assuming I check-in everywhere I go). The last time I checked, I didn’t need someone looking over my shoulder and being able to see everything I do in real life. Granted, I believe that only fellow Foursquare friends can see your actual movement activity, I doubt many users think about this privacy concern or that Foursquare makes it blatantly clear that your movements are publicly displayed to your friends (and that you need to be careful who you add as friends on their service). In fact if you keep reading, you’ll see that many Foursquare users are not smart at all.

Are you prepared to get robbed?

Earlier in the year, I came across a website called Please Rob Me whose sole purpose was to address this privacy issue with Foursquare and Twitter. The website used Twitter’s public search stream and scanned it for location based tweets. Since these tweets are public to all, in theory a burglar could easily track your habits and rob your home. TechCrunch reported that you can also use the filter on top of the site to show when specific people aren’t home (by their Twitter name), or sort by location.

Please Rob Me says,

The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home.

Not so smart Foursquare users

You know what’s even more sad about all this confusion? When people add their home to Foursquare so they can get more checkin’s. There are a ton of examples of this going on within Foursquare and I think this is an area that Foursquare really should think about moderating somehow. Their service should be for real business venues, not private residences. Even more frightening, in some cases, many people may not even know their home address is listed on Foursquare publicly because a friend may have added it.

Think before you share

The bottom line is that you should all be aware of what exactly is going on with your information behind the scenes with you are using location based services. Personally, I only give up my location only if I have to. For example, I have a music app that I use for streaming radio on my iPhone and it for some reason asks me for my location upon starting up but it has nothing to do with the music. I think their sole purpose of collecting my location data is just for marketing purposes but in any case, I don’t want to give up my location to just listen to music. On the other hand, I am a little more comfortable to give up my location to Google Maps to get information about what’s around me because I trust Google’s policies a lot more than new startups such as Foursquare (although this may be debatable as well).

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Photoshop spell checking

by Prashant on May 17, 2010

in Graphic Design

If you use Photoshop to create designs, here’s a quick tip—spell check! It’s a lot easier than you might think and it could save you some headache down the road.

There are two ways I can think of to ensure you have correct copy:

Type your text in a word processor such as Word and once you’re sure that spelling and grammar are correct, paste the text into Photoshop and style as needed.
Or type the copy directly into Photoshop (generally works best if you don’t have a lot of text) and go to the Edit menu and select Check Spelling…

I have known people to get into major issues in terms of this seemingly simple oversight. Years ago, a friend had a typo in some invitations he had made for a client and of course it wasn’t noticed until the customer came into the store to pickup his final product. Granted the client had approved the artwork by signing a proof, I’m sure you can imagine the turmoil when he came to pickup his product.

The takeaway: Save yourself and your clients the headache and dignity by simply spell checking your graphic designs!

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Freelancers are not entrepreneurs

by Prashant on May 16, 2010

in Business

Now, this might be a touchy subject for some of you, but just hear me out before you start firing back. In my opinion, freelancers are NOT entrepreneurs. Well actually, I believe that freelancers are for the most part people who are on their way to entrepreneurship but are still figuring their situation out—a “half entrepreneur” if you will. I’ve polled a few people on this subject a few weeks ago and overwhelmingly it seems like the majority of you disagree. That’s fine by me, but let me explain my thought process.

To me, a freelancer is someone whose income is directly correlated to their work output. In other words, if a freelancer stops working, their income comes to a halt. On the other hand, entrepreneurs build sustainability. They can leave the business, take a nap, go on vacation, and expand their skills while STILL making money in the process. Just looking at this one comparison of freelancers vs. entrepreneurs, who do you think is more likely to be stable in the long run?

[see my breakdown of freelancers vs. entrepreneurs in an easy-to-read table format...]

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Sell the razor blades not the razor

by Prashant on May 10, 2010

in Marketing

Have you ever gotten a free razor in the mail? You know, when Gillete or Schick releases a new razor, does one magically appear in your mailbox? I’ve gotten several free razors over the years. Have you ever wondered why they gave you a razor for free? The razor is just the way that you get hooked into buying the company’s more profitable products (the blades). The concept of giving something away at a loss in hopes to hook them is nothing new and this scenario is known as a loss leader. Sometimes it takes guts to run with a loss leader campaign but at the end of the day, it’s smart business… sell the razor blades, not the razor.

This has to be one of the best stories and concepts I’ve heard in a while…sell the razor blades, not the razor. It’s one of those common sense type stories that you might not think about on a day-to-day basis, but when it hits you, you get the ah-hah moment complete with the brightly lit bulb.

I can’t remember where exactly I read about the razor vs. razor blade concept but I do know that the article involved Robert Mondavi, and him teaching his son the concept. Think about all the industries that take advantage of this scenario. For example, Expedia takes guest rooms provided by hotels at a discount, marks them up, and sells them for a profit. Generally speaking, their markups are usually around $20+ a night. Hotels sell them rooms simply because of their large distribution channels and guests book through them because they generally end up with a cheaper rate than booking directly with hotels. $20 gross profit per room + thousands of properties, thousands of interested guests, multiple night stays, you’re beginning to see the power of the model. They don’t have to deal with guest check-ins, housekeeping, room maintenance, etc. because that would be the razor. Instead, they use their distribution services to sell the blades and let the hotels do the work. Granted their net operating margin declined in 2010 something like 8.5%, their high volume of sales produces quite a bit of money. Quite an effective example of being a middle man if you ask me.

Do you have any other examples you want to share about selling razor blades instead of razors?

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Be well, do good work, keep in touch

by Prashant on May 8, 2010

in Success

I have no idea where I read/heard this quote from but I had this written down in one of my notebooks from a couple years ago so I thought I’d share with you. Garrison Keillor says, “Be well, do good work, keep in touch” which I think is a truly epic quote because it hits three major areas of being a successful.

Be well

Being well has to deal with staying healthy. If you are sick all the time, you can’t be as useful as if you weren’t sick…pretty straight forward right? Hit the gym, up your vitamin-c intake, whatever you need to do to stay healthy and productive. It’s also important that you don’t get burnt out because you try to take on more things than you can handle. Reduce your work load, learn the art of delegation, set a schedule and stick to it. Reducing stress is vital to long-term health for you and your business’s success.

Do good work

This is an area that I can’t stress enough…do good work. I’m a big believer in the concept of if you’re going to do something, you better do it right or not do it at all. Granted, sometimes there may be special situations where you have constraints such as the luxury of time. But besides those instances, don’t involve yourself with monkey business, half-assery, or BS. If you need me to put it another way: stop chasing every opportunity… quality over quantity.

Keep in touch

Stay in touch with your customers. Learn what their problems are and try to solve them. I think this is an area that a lot of people don’t take advantage of (myself to some degree) but it really is important to stay in touch. An example of a contact schedule of this for web designers might look something like something like this:

During the initial contract process, keep your client updated about revisions, the status of the project, any potential delays, etc.
After the project has been completed, make sure you get feedback about the project, how they liked working with you, how you could improve, etc.
A few months down the road, make sure you do an audit on the website and let the client know about any trends you notice, revisions that could be made, etc. I personally search through client’s analytics data and browse the long-tail for new content creation suggestions on a quarterly basis.

The bottom line is that by being well, doing good work, and keeping in touch, you will keeps your clients happy, build creditability, and make clients feel reassured that they made the right decision in working with you. Unless you’re only after a short-term relationship with your client, keeping in touch will allow you to build long-lasting relationships for future work and referral business. After all, we all know how powerful word-of-mouth can be!

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