Great Discovery Today - You Might Like it too !
Hi. Here is a little idea that we Newbies can use. I posted up a few ideas on my new site from notes I have gathered. It is my practice site.
It is about Emails and Hotels for Sale. You may like this idea....I do.
I read a forum post today here at WA and it reminded me of a discovery I made yesterday when out in my local market drummin' up a new customer.
I was in this bike shop. I ride a bike every day to stay in shape as I am retired now and have the extra time.
So I needed a more comfortable bike seat and I rode over three blocks to the bike shop.
They were just closing in 1/2 hour, but the guy behind the counter was a nice guy and talkative. He helped me find the best seat and I was all set in ten minutes.
He asked if I lived nearby and that he had a great looking bike on sale. I said yes and we started to talk.
He asked what I do and I said 'internet stuff' .... build little sites and fix local business owners sites that are non-performing.
So we talked.
I really wanted to know if they collected Emails each day...every day.
When I asked he said....no.....what do you mean ?
That was it. Had him. One sentence.
So here is a little background to think about if you are new and want to get it going fast.
I managed resorts for 35 years and that was back when email didn't exist. Then about 1990 +- email got it's start.
But we never gathered emails for business purpose....til we figured out that it was the easiest and cheapest possible way of communicating with CURRENT GUESTS/CLIENTS.
Newspaper ads were costing me $1,400 a week in the Friday travel edition of our city newspaper...The Plain Dealer in Cleveland.
So a friend said....start gathering those email addresses and build a email data base. It was the best casual tip I ever got.
Soon we had thousands of email addresses and we started our weekly newsletter with "killer deals".
I could dream up a 'Killer Managers Specials' and get it out to thousands of former guests in less than an hour and the cost was ZERO !
So, now back to the bike shop. I told him this story and he said......I have no time for that and barely know how to pull email anyhow. Wow....music to my ears. Can you believe those words ?
Now it was time for his store to close....it was 6 pm.
I said...look I will come back tomorrow and take that bike for a ride.
I'll suggest that his competitors are taking emails daily. I just ride over to those other local shops and find out how they do it......just talk it up. Figure out which bike shops are gathering emails and which are not. Easy.
Most still don't gather email addresses and have no valuable email data base.
It is flat out hard to believe that these struggling shop owners are totally ignoring this one really effective tool. Everyone knows a businesses data base is one of their most valuable asset going forward.
Find out they are ignoring email gathering and you will soon find more craziness.
You can check their site SEO with a special tool I use and take them a mini free report and show them why their site is yes...online and not doing zilch .... non-performing and what to do to get to #1 on a google search.
Then it gets even better. They probably are not using affiliate marketing or even know what affiliate marketing is all about or how to do it. Amazing.
And this is all happening within a few miles of your home office! You soon will stop worrying about losing a job with this possibility awaiting you.
I picked bike shops as there are only a few in each community and I can visit the shops personally and give this little easy-as-pie pitch ... make friends and charge a few hundred bucks or do a trade for a nice new bike. Not bad.
This is a super-easy way to get a local effort paying off. I like to hit music shops too. And there is more.......check these out if you like local markets.
You are about to hit a home-run...if you go do it. It is the perfect personal training too. Don't try to be a Harvard business grad sales person. Be yourself and just get a one sentence opening pitch practiced.
That is what I do. Just be nice and be yourself.
One More Method I discovered....and you can use it too.
Being in the hotel business for years, I made a cool little hotel for Sale site that you can make.... super-simple ...easy-as-pie stuff you can do right away.
Make about $500 bucks per site and it is a one page site which doesn't even need to have perfect SEO and doesn't ever have to show up on a Google search. It is true....I promise. I did it already.
Amazing...yup it is....but I was in the hotel business and did figure this out.
This approach I will share every detail as it so massive that I will never-ever worry about you competing with me. It is huge. And really if you do like it, you can get my help and use my site as a guide also. It is a real long one page site too.... very easy to do...You will see.
Go to www.affiliatenewbie.org.
This is my little practice web site I made to practice making sites and the details are all there. I have a real live Hotel For Sale site you can use as a guide.....this hotel is for sale now.
Just look for the link to hotel sites - $500.
Please leave me a Comment if you like the idea and even send an email if you need help. All the details are FREE and I offer this info to help others as members are helping me here at WAU.
Actually my remembering about the email approach was a result of reading a post here on WA in the forum. Hope this helps you get it going a little faster.
Just take the time to do your lessons here at WAU and be ready to attack. It all will come to you. Take your time.....focus. It will happen for you.
These guys that run this WA site spelled it all out and now I am following there lead daily. I actually canceled every other effort I was doing to learn from these guys. The information I find here each day is paying off big time. I started on May 30 and read all the new stuff every day to get ideas and finally it is all clearing up in my mind.
I feel bad for that one guy that said he was quiting as he was frustrated. I bet he is frustrated in the morning traffic jams again. Oh well.....stick with it and lets help each other as much as possible.
One more thing....just scroll down to check out my little site ... just built on WordPress here at WA....lots of newbie notes and easy-to-do stuff for you.
Phbreez
Recent Comments
2
Nice the way you are incorporating your business savvy from the hotel business into IM. Just curious Phil, if a land based business builds a data base of customer and potential customer email addresses, they just send out regular promotions and good offers? Many people won't give out their email addresses to a store, me included. They don't want the advertising. How do you circumvent that?Just yesterday, Pottery Barn asked for my email address, and I refused it.
Hi......Two ways we used with hotels and shop owners that I worked with.
We set up a clip board that people just jot down their email address and people would do that almost without comment. Some times the clerk would say..We have specials coming up with up to 80% discounts that you will be able to take adavantage of when you get home. Almost every customer was a tourist .... but many were locals and they would ask......how will I get the information on these type specials. We would then give them the store/hotel special business card that we made up specifically for email/newsletter promotion at the cash register.
The clerk would attach the card to the receipt. The card had both the store managers email address and the stores web site. On the web site was a link to the affiliate info site which has the Special discounts all done. The shop owner gains big time as he has no fullfullment, extra inventory, customer service and receives the automatic affiliate commish. These shop owners can expand their business to include products that are relevant to their business.
Example was a bike shop that now offers a wide range of clothes, accessories, fishing gear and many other sports related items from different affiliate retailers. Works great.
Then on the site we set up a opt in box too. But it all started off with the personal interaction of the shop owner or clerk at the counter.
In hotels the guests had a flyer in the room and at the front desk and dining area, etc. that said to receive newletter bulletins with Killer Unadvertised Specials...just fill out the email form.
Once a email list grows into the thousands, the list produces sales and hotel future reservations easily and consistantly.
The big thing is to have that personal interaction by the shop staff and lead the people to the web site.
Remember too, in a business that is a franchise...ie. a Holiday inn or any type business with a franchise.....build a small secondary site for reservations direct and Special Bargain discounts.
In the hotel business, this saves tons of money too. The reason is that hotels pay that big percentage for each reservation received through Central Reservations from their official web site. That cost is avoided whenever possible by every hotel manager as it is so expensive.
A small secondary stand alone site is a biggy in the hotel business and works great for every other type franchise operation for sure.
Hope this helps a bit......works great for those owners and managers that realize their future profits can benefit big time from constant email campaigns and a stand alone site with a opt in form.