FROM: Jim Cecil SUBJ: Nurture News: What You Need to Know About Nurturing Customers This Spring "Unto all things there is a season." This morning it felt vividly like spring down at the lake, with the birds singing, the sky turning deep pink and reflecting on its glass-like surface. The weatherman says when the sun comes out we'll hit 65 and it will be even better. My fingers are itching to start planting. Some people like spring most of all, others prefer summer, and others fall or winter. In most cases, which season do you think people prefer? Surveys reveal that most people, like me, seem to anticipate and relish the season of spring best. Why spring? Perhaps we like spring most because it represents a well, as in wellspring. You can say people prefer spring because it brings new life and flowers, but most important of all, spring brings variety and change. Spring is the true manifestation and a symbol of hope. Winter can really trash a garden. Some of the neglected perennials, like some of our good customers, need cultivating and early feeding now to prepare for the time of vigorous growth ahead. Spring is a natural season to be thinking about the harvest. What crops are really worth planting this year. Planning allows full utilization of your resources and ensures maximum return on all your investments. Spring is the time to Identify, Personalize, Interact and Integrate what you are learning from last year. We hope this issue helps you get your customer garden in peak shape and growing. Regards, Jim Cecil ==================================== NURTURE NEWS The insights, tools, tips and resources to help you Nurture 'your guys' even better. Date Spring, 2002 Issue #4 Jim Cecil, Editor, jim@nurturemarketing.com ==================================== By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of "NURTURE NEWS" You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this newsletter. ==================================== IN THIS ISSUE ==================================== => Thought for the Day => Sponsorship Notice => Feature Article => Industry News => Nurture Question of the Month => Review of Products or Services => Spotlight => Book of the Month => Letter of the Month => Feedback => Guest Columnist => Privacy Statement => Copyright/Contact Info => Subscribe/Unsubscribe information ==================================== THOUGHT FOR THE DAY ==================================== "When customers leave for greener pastures, they usually give price as the reason when, in fact, it's often a feeling of indifference." - John R. Graham, Consultant & Author ==================================== SPONSORSHIP NOTICE ==================================== Infinity Info Systems, Inc. http://www.Infinityinfo.com Yacov Wrocherinsky, Founder & CEO Infinity Info Systems, Inc. is an independent Sales technology consultancy in New York City, offering a broad range of Sales Force Automation and "Customer Relationship Management solutions since 1987. Because they maintain relationships with an array of application vendors as well as a diverse internal consulting and development team, Infinity is in a unique position to offer unbiased guidance to companies seeking a CRM solution. Their goal is not to sell one particular software, but rather to assist you in reviewing options and selecting a solution, or combination of solutions, that will succeed best in your business environment. ==================================== FEATURE ARTICLE Rainmakers Rule Jim Cecil ==================================== "The growth of a business is merely the survival of the fittest. The American Beauty rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which brings cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it. This is not an evil tendency in business. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of man." - John D. Rockefeller Jr. I am often asked how top producing reps (the 20% that produce 80% of the revenue - I call them Rainmakers) so consistently reach their great sales results. I say that if they could duplicate Rainmaker behaviors the world would beat a wide path to them. Most true Rainmakers are surprisingly unaware of what it is that makes them do so well, thus are usually unable to pass these skills and behaviors on to others. However, closer inspection always reveals they pay close attention to the fundamentals of client cultivating - feeding, weeding, watering, tending, just like American Beauty roses. Perhaps the following article will illuminate the steps necessary to create a few thunderstorms yourself. http://www.nurturemarketing.com/articles/rainmakers.html ***************************************** "There's a fine line between eccentrics and geniuses. If you're a little ahead of your time, you're an eccentric, and if you're a little too late, you're a failure, but if you hit it right on the head, they call you a genius." - Thomas J. Watson, Jr., IBM Corp. ***************************************** ==================================== INDUSTRY NEWS Microsoft Enters the Game - by Rich Bohn - SellMoreNow.com ==================================== CRM Master Guru, Rich Bohn, weighs in on Microsoft CRM. Is this the answer you've been looking for or just another "me-too" for an already crowded market? Here is a link to his insights from his recent newsletter and urge you subscribe (free) to stay on top of this vital and rapidly changing industry. Read the full article at: http://www.nurturemarketing.com/articles/MSCRM.html More info at: http://www.sellmorenow.com/MSCRM.htm Subscribe to Rich's newsletter at: http://www.sellmorenow.com ==================================== NURTURE QUESTION OF THE MONTH ==================================== Q: Question I have used contact managers for years but CRM is a big step. What should I consider in selecting a vendor for such an important decision? Bill K, Atlanta A: Answer Getting straight answers to CRM questions takes persistent effort and access to top CRM players. We asked Yacov Wrocherinsky, Founder of veteran CRM experts, Infinity Info Systems. He generously supplied his top ten things to look for when selecting a CRM vendor. 1. Make sure the business focus is CRM 2. Make sure vendor is experienced in complete CRM implementations 3. Do they have a solution and service focus or strictly product sales 4. Is there a fit size-wise? 5. Do they know anything about your business and industry? 6. Do they utilize intelligent project management practices? 7. Are technical staff certified, experienced and fast? 8. Are Certified Trainers locally available? 9. Do they provide a logic al ROI process? 10. Will recent clients give positive marks for satisfaction? For more details on Yakov's Top Ten, see http://www.infinityinfo.com/navigate.asp?p=top10 ==================================== REVIEW: Growing Relationships with Affluent Clients - Subscriber Special - Save $20 Seven Sizzling Strategies to Leverage the True Power of Your Computers and Relationship Management Concepts in a 6 hour, drive-time audio program. ==================================== Most senior executives are affluent. In both their personal wealth as well as in their personal perspective on life they make buying decisions in a unique and quite different way. Designed to motivate the experienced senior sales representative to target and sell the cream of the crop. If you target CEO's or other highly paid individuals, you'll quickly learn seven of the world's greatest marketing strategies for initiating and cultivating relationships with movers and shakers. Jim Cecil describes exact strategies and how to customize them for your own applications. What You'll Learn: * The single best method for getting affluent clients to call you first * Unique insights to impactful sales presentations * Secrets to getting prospects to close the order themselves * Specific Nurturing action plans for prospecting, qualifying, cultivating and closing business more profitably * How to reposition yourself from "commodity" to "a true Solution Provider" This tape series was so powerful that it was distributed over a two year period to tens of thousands of Senior Financial Services Executives world-wide as a member benefit of the International Association for Financial Planning. Let Jim Cecil lead you and your team through this intensive one-day workshop and learn to sell more now. Regularly $69.95 - Subscriber special - $49.95 Visit www.nurturemarketing.com/products/ ***************************************** NURTURE - How to make customers want to call YOU when THEY are ready to BUY! ***************************************** ==================================== SPOTLIGHT: Traveling Microphone ==================================== May 2002 5/16 TEC 851 Seattle 5/17 TEC 236 Vancouver June 2002 6/20 TEC 566 LA 6/27 TEC 233 Vancouver July 2002 7/12 - 15 - Microsoft Fusion LA August 2002 8/14 TEC 352 Indianapolis 8/21 TEC 238 Vancouver 8/22 TEC 232 Vancouver ==================================== "Getters generally don't get happiness; givers get it. You simply give to others a bit of yourself - a thoughtful act, a helpful idea, a word of appreciation, a lift over a rough spot, a sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something out of your mind, garnished in kindness out of your heart, and put it into the other fellow's mind and heart." - Anonymous ==================================== ==================================== BOOK OF THE MONTH REVIEW Relationship Aspect Marketing By Jack Burke ==================================== All the necessary tools to create a relationship culture Are captured in this great handbook. No matter how high tech the world becomes, relationships continue to drive marketplace success. Jack Burke's new book is a fact-filled guide to understanding the customer, communicating with the customer, and delivering what the customer wants. He successfully shows us how to use technology to develop personal relationships. Like his other book, Creating Customer Connections, Jack Burke gives us a comprehensive appendix that gives the reader the tools to build a relationship aspect culture. His blend of information and personal experiences make this book enjoyable and valuable for all types of businesses. Read this book. Apply the principles. Watch your business soar! More details at www.amazon.com ==================================== LETTER OF THE MONTH ==================================== We love getting letters you receive. Whether good or Bad examples, we love 'em all. If you find one Particularly appealing or galling, send me a copy to share. Here is one of the more commonly misused letters people send. This one is a letter of introduction. Ever want to write and introduce yourself to a viable prospect you don't know? The temptation to write a 'corporate' letter of acquaintance is almost irresistible but often deadly. Often writing a self-congratulatory, 'us' filled memo is a sure turn-off. One very typical example of a well meaning but unconvincing contact came my way this week. Frankly, it was not offensive, just easily discardable. It looked just like every well intentioned sales solicitation letter ever printed. My comments are listed below: Dear ______ Please allow me (A) to introduce myself. I am ______, marketing Director with _______ Company. (B) The selection of a key supplier can be a worrisome decision in today's volatile market. That is why ____ Company and its entire staff make reliable customer service the cornerstone of our corporate values. (C) From our front line to our boardroom, we measure success in terms of service to you. Our records for on-time delivery, product reliability, and customer satisfaction set the industry standard. (D) We have a wide range of products and application knowledge from many years of experience. Please call upon us for your ___, ___ and ___ applications, so we may serve you and help solve any problem you may have. You may reach ___ or ___ in our customer service department at 1-800-xxx-xxxx. I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx ext xx. (E) ____ Company is a well-established industrial ______ company that has been meeting the needs of the industrial community with high-quality and competitive products since 19xx. Our mission is to keep-up with current technology, (F) provide top-quality products, and make appropriate _____ selections and industrial products that will add savings and satisfaction to you. (G) I am enclosing some basic information about our products for your review. Please let me know how we can be of assistance to you now and as opportunities arise in the future. If you need assistance with anything (H) in the meantime, please do not hesitate to call our customer service department. We hope you will give us an opportunity to be a key partner in your success. Very Truly Yours, ____________ Company COMMENTS: A. Mushy opening line - no benefit, no problem solved, no offer made. B. Obvious, but little value C. Specifically how do you serve? D. Specifically what record? What % filled same day? E. Old without innovation - sounds antique F. Why not a mission to serve? G. Either stacked, discarded or filed, H. Unrealistic expectations for first letter results. Bland, industrial letters like these have been cramming landfills since mail was discovered. Sadly the writer knew little about writing headlines, opening remarks, intriguing solutions, relevant offers, logical next steps. If you'd like to have an objective review of one of your letters, just email to Jim@nurturemarketing.com. ==================================== FEEDBACK mailto:feedback@nurturemarketing.com ==================================== ** NURTURE STORIES ** Tell us ways you use Nurture to attract or cultivate customers, prospects and your own team. We love real-world results and if we use your story, you'll receive a gift of appreciation. Nurturing Your Own People Eric Rabinowitz, president and founder of IHS Helpdesk Service, implemented a nurture campaign more than a decade ago. Since then, he has seen business grow from one client in 1989, Johnson & Johnson, where he placed about 10 temporary help-desk workers, to the more than 200 employees it staffs today. Back then, says Rabinowitz, IHS, a subsidiary of New York-based CRM consultants Leveraged Technology Inc., was a start-up with "no marketing and no sales force at all; everything was done through personal relationships." Revenue stood at roughly $250,000. This year, IHS expects to top $15 million. Nurture marketing proved so successful that Rabinowitz decided to apply it elsewhere. "It became an important tool in retaining our people," he says. With its professional team assigned to help desks on remote corporate premises, IHS was experiencing an annual turnover rate of some 300 percent. In 1996, the company hired a consultant to investigate the problem and found that its employees were identifying with the companies to which they were assigned, not with IHS. IHS responded using Cecil's drip-irrigation approach, instituting a daily fax campaign that sent a single-page newsletter to every IHS employee at a remote work site. Called The Daily Helping, the newsletter included help-desk tips, contests, games and announcements about what was happening back at headquarters. The company also brought on a full-time employee advocate to implement another drip-irrigation technique: a structured telephone campaign of daily calls to employees to be sure things were going well. ==================================== GUEST COLUMNIST Bob Davidge ==================================== Bob Davidge believes there are 20 reasons why most sales letters don't sell. And he should know. He has been helping advertisers explain themselves for decades. A few years ago at a sales-letter seminar, someone asked Bob why most sales letters were not as effective as a client might like. "There are more than one correct answer," he said. "In fact, there were quite a few, including the following: * Most of us were never taught how to write a sales letter. * What gets said is too often too seller-oriented. * There's usually an inclination to sell features rather than benefits. * Too many sales letters commit the cardinal sin of being boring. * There's often little recognition of the competition all sales letters face, or that selling is often an incremental process, requiring multiple contacts. * And the prospecting brochure that isn't there is often needed to tell our sales story sufficiently well to gain us an audience with our prospect. "But that's only six reasons, and didn't we say there were at least 20? Well, careful consideration shows there to be 20 more specific reasons. These include: 1. A weak, uninteresting opening 2. Wordiness 3. Stereotyped phrasing (or "business-letter-eze") 4. Too many long sentences and too many long paragraphs 5. Not enough variety in sentence and/or paragraph length 6. Poor organization 7. Lack of clarity 8. Trade jargon (you might call it "seller-eze.") 9. An "I-we-our" orientation instead of "you-your" (i.e. the seller's perspective rather than that of the prospective customer or client) 10. Failing to address the prospect's wants and needs 11. Poor flow 12. Use of the passive voice 13. Dull, uninteresting formatting 14. A boring presentation 15. A weak close 16. Lack of an incentive for prospect action 17. Asking the sales letter to do too many jobs 18. Absence of a needed prospecting brochure 19. Trying to make a sales letter do the job of that missing prospecting brochure 20. Failing to recognize that - in most cases - selling is an incremental process. Of all of these, none is more important than numbers 9 or 10, which are aspects of selling features rather than benefits. All of which is probably the most important reason why the most significant truth in sales-letter writing is this: The man who buys a drill doesn't want a drill; he wants holes. The Maxwell Company Bob Davidge, Marketing Wordsmith 16405 S.E. 16th Street, Bellevue, WA 98008 Phone: 206/233-0403, E-mail: maxwellco@earthlink.net ==================================== SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION ==================================== ** Need a Speaker? ** Jim is available for speaking engagements. For a sample video, call us at 800-474-7951. ** Need a consultant or coach? ** If you are challenged with finding or keeping the right kind of customers or if you want help telling your story in letters, give us a call at 800-474-7951 and ask about our consulting and coaching services. ==================================== PRIVACY STATEMENT ==================================== NO SPAMMING OR LIST SHARING! - You can rest assured that your subscription email address will be kept in the strictest confidence. We do not divulge, nor make available to any third party, our subscription list. Your privacy is paramount to us! Therefore, it receives the respect it deserves! ==================================== COPYRIGHT/CONTACT INFORMATION ==================================== All contents Copyright (c) 2002 James P. Cecil Co., Inc. except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The contents of this E-zine may be copied, reproduced, or freely distributed for all nonprofit purposes without the consent of the author as long as the author's name and contact information are included. Example: Reproduced with permission from the Jim Cecil Nurture News E-zine. For more information, contact: James P. Cecil Company, Inc. 1402 - 140th Place NE, Suite 200 Bellevue, WA 98007 800-474-7951 Fax: 425-747-2198 jim@nurturemarketing.com Visit our Web Site to hear more about Drip Irrigation Marketing FREE: "21 Best Ideas for Making Prospects Call You First" http://www.nurturemarketing.com ==================================== LIST MAINTENANCE ==================================== To subscribe to our E-zine, send an email to info@nurturemarketing.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. mailto:info@nurturemarketing.com?subject=SUBSCRIBE To be removed from our mailing list, send an email to info@nurturemarketing.com with REMOVE in the subject line. mailto:info@nurturemarketing.com?subject=REMOVE Online issues can be found at http://www.nurturemarketing.com/ezine_archives ************************************************* "The quality of my life lies in the quality of my communication with myself and others." - Tony Robbins. ************************************************* THANK YOU FOR READING. MAKE IT A GREAT MONTH!