Research: Three Lesson System
Outline Overview

Greg Hulse       August 5th,1998

Objective for today is to develop a simple follow-up plan that will be given to customers over specific intervals after the initial contact.

1. The first contact/information will be the most basic and should be successful 100% of the time to encourage and motivate the customer. This will be offered on the third day after the original contact and will focus on finding where the customers are meeting, online, events, and passions of that segment of the population. Before doing this we must identify who the customer is by demographics. Then we want to include just a few questions to get them to respond to our first follow-up. We will encourage them to visit the Web Site and possibly order, but the goal is to ask them questions about themselves, and get some feedback, some emails.

2. Secondly, on the 7th day after the original contact, a lesson will be sent out that will also be simplified in training the customer online how to use the peg on their Harley so we can begin a dialogue with that customer. It is necessary to have access to those potential customers via email and the lesson will focus on the conversion of contact to interaction, preferably a sale. Once again they will be directed to a Web Page to order.

3. After the 14th day we will send the 3rd and final message out and stress how to use the peg on your Harley and the look/feel that it will give your bike.. Here the objective is to build confidence and trust with that customer who will purchase more and give referrals. They will be put on our Harley ezine list, with notes on the latest political events, biker rallies, Harley specials, good places to shop for parts and Harley's online, etc.

We will become the resource for Harley bikers online, but researching other Web Sites and guiding them once a month to these sites...and our peg. We can also look to joint venture at other sites that offer Harley motorcycles and parts.

Contact 1

We begin here by going online and putting on the customer's shoes, in other words pretending that we are the customer and wishing to find out where people such as ourselves with like interest and passions are meeting online. These often include discussion boards and message boards as well as business and personal or non-profit sites that give us the information we want.

One of the first things to do before going online is to develop at least five or more keywords that will help you with your search. Of course they will be tailor made to your specific interest. For example, lets begin by being a Harley enthusiast, better yet, our interest is in motorcycles and old bikes or "choppers". We discover by searching with Yahoo that we use motorcycles as our beginning keyword we are lead to an array of sites; if we instead use Harley's our selection is narrowed down to a few specific businesses online that deal with sales of parts and units to information and links to other sites and radio programs.

There is a good possibility that if your email one of these sites they will direct you to an online newsletter if they are not providing one themselves. This is an excellent way be in touch with what new information is being circulated currently, plus you can submit an article to be published and leave a SIG file and or a link to your site. You can always get in direct contact with people in that industry through the classified section. Many people are buying and selling used parts, and talking about their bikes. You can use your free report to distribute to these sites as well, focusing on the benefits of this peg without being an overt sales message. Simply request a link to your Web Page with buying information, and a link to your email address.

It is a good idea to use an autoresponder as your email address, so they can get your information immediately. Just note that this is an automated response, and follow the three step follow-up cycle. This would be the initial response, before you follow-up in three days.

In addition in finding out where potential customers meet, it is a good idea to seek out message boards and discussion groups that are established and credible sources for people in that field who wish to communicate online. These are people with a passion, and people like this, like to talk about their passion.

You may find some of these by searching through excite.com and other search engines by typing in the subject or maybe a main company associated with that item. Often there will be links to magazines, classified ads, message and discussion boards as a service to their customers. There are also a collection of businesses that often network together to promote but not compete with each other's business, sort of a network for a specific niche. After searching I found that Forum One from Excite has over 1800 discussion groups listed but most require free registration to obtain access. Usually you go to the About Forum One page and just punch in your keywords and they take you to a listing of the related message and discussion board about that subject. By following the discussion groups the current events and issues will be revealed and give you more opportunities to find out who and where your customers are.

Contact 2

Now that you have spotted where your customers are gathering online, it is important to reach those people through some sort of medium. We mentioned above that often people will put in classified ads either for their business or personal reasons. You can go through these ads and respond with some sense that you did read what they offered, and that you have something of interest for them. This is not spam, because you have gone to an advertising medium and researched an interested market. Before doing this we need to have a good sales letter prepared in advance and use small selected segments of the market to test for result before going to mass marketing. That way if what you did is inappropriate, you do it without bothering many people.

Listen to your customers, and find the best way to target them is a good rule.

It is to our greatest advantage to have those prospects contact us first so we wish to make this possible by making our site as visible as possible. One way to do this is to have articles published in ezines and newsletters that our customer already subscribes to or has access to. We do this by submitting some unusual, interesting, obscure or rare information to those sponsors and ask if they would use them in their next edition. We must contact them by email and ask permission and see if there is a possibility of bartering to strengthen our network in that industry. After an article is available we will leave a email address at its conclusion and offer a free report or newsletter of our own. Email is the best medium but also included should be a fax, phone number and a mailing address just in case their access is limited in some way.

The second contact should merge the content of the first, free report with more of an advertising message. You have to guide them to the conclusion, and giving them several ways to contact you is great.

Having links from highly traveled site to our site is just as important and will bring prospects to our page. We need to register their visit and the best way is to have them volunteer their by rewarding them with a discount on the peg we are offering them. Banner Ads can be very beneficial to bringing people to our site and can also be bartered, bought, or leased. They must be attractive and make them want to contact your site and see what you have for them. Nice graphics and colors are best used as well as good irresistible content in using banner ads.

If you use your banner ad on a page you have led them to from the second contact, you will be surprised at how many people click on it. If you have targeted your message well, make the banner ad one of the only graphics on the page, and make sure it looks like the Windows interface and says "Click Here".

Contact 3: The Close

Converting the list of leads you have now developed into a profitable venture involves testing through contact with those customers. Using a random sample of potential customers in the mediums we've suggested try asking the customers what they need or want most. After a while the responses you see will follow some sort of pattern and try to formulate a list of most frequently asked questions and make it available as a marketing tool. Encourage feedback as much as possible and keep trying and testing different methods to see where your most successful leads are coming from. This can be the result of surveys, contests, and other ways of establishing a relationship that will keep your people coming back to your site. This will be the beginning of customer service and will develop into an area that continually open the door for additional sponsors, resellers, network marketers, advertisers and a host of joint venture opportunities.

Turning those contacts into long term customer is our final and most simple lesson. If your product is truly valuable to your customer and they know it, your task of keeping them will be simple. Using the power of networking and bartering will cement their commitment to you and a mutual relationship will continue to grow into more endorsements and referrals. It is up to you to use this new network to your advantage by partnering with non-competitive products and services and offering banner space, publishing their articles, and referring and exchanging the ideas and services of your customers. The exchanging of databases and mailing lists will strengthen your visibility and keep you from depending on the cold calling style marketing systems that you had to use originally. By keeping an open dialogue with your customers you will have your finger on the pulse of that industry and be able to adjust and adapt to the latest trends related to your field. This will properly position yourself in the market and soon your credibility and reputation will become widely known and respected online as a recognizable and legitimate professional.

Even better, people will refer others to your site to buy. Which is the whole goal of the process any way. Give them good service, and encourage word of mouth. A commission program, so that other sites could act as affiliates for your product, would be a good idea as well.

Why not reward other sites for being in my network? It is all about shelf space; if they have the customers, and can put my product on their shelves to increase my sales, of course I'll reward them.

That's what a profit margin is for, encouraging profits for all the people you work with. Ezines and email is where the profits continue with long term customers.