Geico's 15 Minutes of Fame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yellow Pages & Small Business Commando News Geico's Magic Phrase that Wins Customers May 23, 2006 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ in this issue -- Geico's Magic Phrase that Wins Customers -- Hanging with the Plumbers -- Answer to Last Redneck Riddle -- Yellow Pages Humor -- Try, try again -- Hardy-har-har -- Puppy Talk -- Seemed like a good idea at the time -- Announcements -- This Week's Redneck Riddle -- Quote of the Week   Like this newsletter? Call my testimonial hotline and leave a message. I'll post it on the website and in a few weeks show you how to do it for your business. 1-888-334-8891 Just say your name, company name and any message.

Geico's Magic Phrase that Wins Customers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Geico is one of the most successful insurance firms in the US. A major part of their success comes from their innovative sales model. Geico's main salesman is a lizard. When I say lizard, I don't mean a cold-blooded reptile in a coffee-stained golf shirt pressuring you to buy a variable annuity so he can go on a trip to Cabo. Geico's lizard is an animated Gecko with an Australian accent. Get it? Geico and Gecko? (insurance humor . . . shoot me now, please.) See, Geico sells auto insurance using inbound telephone sales instead of relying on field sales agents. It's not that I have anything against insurance agents. In fact, if it weren't for insurance agents, we wouldn't have . . . uh . . . well . . . hmmm . . . let me get back to you on that. Since they have no outside sales staff, Geico relies on heavy advertising to generate leads for their telesales folk. View a Geico Ad Here If the ads don't get customers to call, the company is in deep doo doo. (That's highfalutin marketing lingo they don't teach you in college.) Geico's TV commercials are cute, but the magic is delivered in the last 5 seconds. The TV ads end by showing a phone number with the voice-over saying "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on your car insurance." This simple phrase is a wonderful marketing lesson. Check out the principles 1. Go for the easy sale. The ad doesn't try to sell you insurance. They sell you on making a telephone call. That's an important distinction, and much more likely to result in success because the hurdle is lower. Yellow Pages ads don't close sales. By that, I mean that no one reading your ad is going to mail in money in anticipation that you'll come out and fix their roof, write their will or adjust the kinks out of their neck. The optimal goal of your Yellow Pages ads should be to get someone reading the ad to identify themselves and their interest in whatever is being sold to you. To achieve this outcome, give the prospect a reason with a well defined payoff. Depending on your business, this should usually come in the form of educating the customer to make an informed decision. When composing an ad for your business, focus on the easy sale. The easy sale could be a recorded message, a free report, a second opinion, a video inspection or a complimentary diagnosis with a written analysis of the possible solutions. 2. Limit the risk. By stating that it's a 15-minute call, Geico sets the expectation that the caller has limited downside. A side benefit is that the customer will likely set aside enough time to complete the call. "15 minutes" is a qualifier that puts the caller into the right mindset before picking up the phone. In your business, how can you limit the customer's risk of speaking with you? Free quotes and consultations are so common that they generally don't have any competitive advantage. If tire-kickers are a concern, tie a small commitment to the easy sale. Notice that Geico doesn't dwell on the fact that it's a free call. They get the consumer mentally committing 15 minutes. 3. Clearly defined payoff. By saying that you could save 15%, Geico gives the viewer a quantifiable benefit. Notice that they don't say "cheapest rates in town" or worse, "call for a quote" 4. Defined audience. Geico sells more than car insurance, but rather than throwing their entire product line at you, they focus the ad on car insurance. Granted, car owners are a very broad audience, but it immediately excludes everyone who might not be in the market for car insurance. Most Yellow Pages ads include lists of services and features hoping that if you through enough against the wall, some of it is bound to stick. In practice, it's far more effective to have a single focused message When designing your Yellow Pages ad, you don't need animated lizards bantering about insurance Michael Hepworth gave some fabulous tips in our teleseminar. For a complimentary downloadable mp3 recording of the call, go to the link below. Just leave the credit card fields blank, there's no catch. Complimentary MP3 of the Street Smart Teleseminar (leave the credit card info blank)

Hanging with the Plumbers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kevin Shaw, of Kevin Shaw Plumbing booked me to speak at the upcoming Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors show in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 3. I'll be presenting tactics for dramatically improving Yellow Pages effectiveness as well as a series on marketing your local business online. Last year, I helped over 200,000 small businesses market themselves on Yahoo, Google and the top Internet Yellow Pages. If you want leads from the Internet, you won't want to miss it.

Answer to Last Redneck Riddle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Buford is waiting in the longest line ever to use the port-a-potty at the wrasslin' match. He is the 11th from either end of the line. How many people are standing in line? The winner receives an autographed copy of my latest CD "Commando Secrets LIVE - How to Market Your Local Business Online." Didn't win? You can still get the CD here. See the answer and the Redneck Riddles celebrity winner

Yellow Pages Humor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say that.

Try, try again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before he designed his world-famous "Falling Water" house, Frank Lloyd Wright had a few lesser known masterpieces.

Hardy-har-har ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dang you Spike, give me my teef back.

Puppy Talk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK, have you heard the one about the two kittens who walked into a bar? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So many people have asked about the greeting card system that our clients are using to build their word-of-mouth marketing business. It makes sending hand-written greeting cards as easy as sending an email. I'll walk you through the system and show you how to systematically build your referral business with greeting cards to your existing customers. It only costs $1.01 which includes a beautiful card, hand addressed envelope and first class postage. You gotta email me if you want to try this system. cards@ypcommando.com Check out SendOutCards.cc

Seemed like a good idea at the time ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Until someone didn't realize it was a garage. Lots of people fell for it. Sorry for any heart attacks. Here is the April Fools joke in case you missed it.

Announcements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spot Runner is a new Internet-based advertising agency that makes it easy and affordable for local businesses to advertise on TV. They offer a full-service package, including commercial production, media planning and ad time. Spot Runner has developed a revolutionary online platform that makes it fast, easy and affordable for local business to advertise on major TV networks, such as CNN, HGTV and ESPN. Ad production is only $499 and airtime costs as little as $10 per ad in many places. Check 'em out.

This Week's Redneck Riddle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Buford rode with Festus and Skeeter to Daytona Beach for biker week. Festus brought 5 Slim-Jims (spicy sausage snacks) and Skeeter brought 3 Slim-Jims. A few hours into the drive, the boys got hungry and decided to equally share 8 Slim-Jims. Buford didn’t bring any food, but agreed to pay $8 for his share in the feast. How should Festus and Skeeter fairly divide the $8? Email your answer to slimjim@redneckriddles.com Every correct answer will receive a gift account allowing them to send five personalized greeting cards (including envelope and first class postage) compliments of www.SendOutCards.cc One lucky winner will receive 15 minutes of uninterrupted fame and an autographed copy of my latest CD "Commando Secrets LIVE - How to Market Your Local Business Online." Stumped? You can get the CD here. To improve your random chances of winning, please include your name, company name, and mailing address. I draw the winner the day before I send the following newsletter, so keep voting until the polls close.

Quote of the Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I went to the thirtieth reunion of my preschool. I didn't want to go, because I've put on like a hundred pounds." --Wendy Liebman Got a good quote? Send it my way, and I'll give you 15 minutes of uninterrupted fame.

Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: news@ypcommando.com phone: (760) 579-1005 web: http://ypcommando.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~