I competed as a finalist for the title of Glazer Kennedy Insider’s Circle Diamond Marketer of the Year.  My friend and fellow rep Jeff Giagnocavo, actually won the contest.  This was really cool because I introduced him into this marketing organization, and he has developed his marketing so well that he won the contest.

My entry was a list of twenty one direct response marketing ideas we employed to grow our business in 2011.  If you would like to have the list sent to you, drop me an email at meroot@mikeroot.com.   If you would like more information about Glazer Kennedy and get a free 2 month trial offer go to www.freegiftfrom.com/mroot.  

I personally enter these contests as a recap of marketing efforts throughout the year and results accordingly.  If I can’t compete, then I didn’t have a good year.  But if I have good results like 2011, then it is a good review to see what worked and we should do more of it, and what didn’t work and we should do less.  The side benefit like this year is that we did plenty of good things to get us to the level of being a finalist.  

As we find ourselves at the end of the calendar year, it is a great time to reflect on what went well and what areas we want to improve and grow next year.  This contest was a good first step for me to reflect on what we did well.  Next week, I will spend some time looking at what goals we will set for 2012 when our company Furniture Sales of Mid-America celebrates its 50th year in business.   

When we talk about goal setting, one guy I have been following recently is Gary Ryan Blair’s 100 Day challenge.  If you are looking for a kick in the butt to jump start the new year, check out his program.   I started the 100 Day Program this summer and will have it finished by year’s end.  This is a very comprehensive accountability system.  If you are looking at shaking up your goal setting for 2012 try out the 100 Day Challenge for 7 days for only $10.   To get this special offer use the following link:  http://www.goalsguy.com/Affiliate/tgg.php?id=1036161

Enjoy the holidays and here’s to a happy and prosperous new year.

Last month I told you about Get Customers TV, the web TV that Jay and I are doing twice a month to highlight marketing strategies that retailers and main street businesses can use to generate new sales no matter what the economy.

Today I am happy to announce that we have launched Get Customers Right Now to be a repository of all these great tips and tricks to generate new customer business. There are three ways that retailers can benefit from the ideas we share at www.GetCustomersRightNow.com.

First, we have put together an incredibly comprehensive online marketing system that helps retailers captures leads off of their website, makes an offer on behalf of the business to attract the prospect into the store, and then automatically communicates to these prospects through monthly offers, and weekly emails. The best part about this for the retailer is that they fill in a two page form to set up the system and it will automatically bring in new business month after month with no effort. It is a completely done for you online marketing system to help manage a retailers new customer acquisition through website, Facebook, email, and mobile phones.

You can see a short demonstraton & video about this at www.GetCustomers-Online.com, or if you you want to go directly to the video please visit http://www.GCRNonline.com.

Second, we have assembled some tested, proven and trusted resources to help retailers and businesses bring new customers through their doors with done for you marketing promotional campaigns. For example, there is a turnkey mailer that reaches out to new customers in your trade area with an offer they cannot refuse. You determine the demographics of the target market including age, income, zip code — whatever you determine is the ideal customer. Our resource then identifies in this group who has a birthday each month and sends them a Happy Birthday card with a birthday “gift” / offer from your store. This will be done every month without you lifting a finger. You’ll generate extra customers form this and other incredible campaigns we have assembled under the promotions section of the website. For a shortcut go to www.GCRNpromotions.com.

Finally, we have found a number of suppliers for great giveaway products to spice up your advertising. Whether you want a giveaway that is “free for coming in” or one that will be a bit more expensive and it is “free with purchase”, we have products and ideas you can use. Do you want an American flag to giveaway for an American holiday? We’ve got a resource for you. How about a Barbeque set for summer giveaway? We’ve got a resource for you. Do you want a something special to giveaway with a certain dollar amount of a purchase to encourage a larger transaction? Use an Omaha Steak gift certificate or a travel voucher for three days and two nights in Las Vegas that can both be found on our site. For more information on the type of premiums available check out this shortcut www.GCRNpremiums.com.

We will continue to add promotions and premiums as we find new resources. These will all be highlighted on Get Customers TV. Don’t forget to signup on either site so you can recieve the web TV show when a new episode is posted.

PS. We also have a surprise video when you go to the home page of Get Customers Right Now. Check it out and let me know what you think with your comments below.

Happy Birthday Mom

Last Friday my mother hit a milestone birthday. She would kill me if I told you how old she was. Let’s just say it was in the range of three quarters of a century.

My wife and I organized a birthday party for family and friends. Actually my wife did all the work and I got some of the credit. My wife spent a lot of time obsessing over the details like the menu, seating chart, etc. because she wanted to make sure everything was just right. If you have ever planned a sit down affair for 70 people, half of who you really don’t know, and three quarters of who are over 70, it is a thankless job.

All in all it was a very nice affair and everyone including mom and dad had a great time.

End of story… Until Saturday!!!

On Saturday, my uncle and aunt both called to thank us for the wonderful party. My mom and dad both called to thank us for the wonderful party. Ok, that’s to be expected since it was in their honor, and it was nice to be appreciated for the efforts.

On Monday we received three thank you notes from their friends which all had to be mailed on Saturday.

On Tuesday we received another couple of thank you notes including one from mom again reiterating what a nice party it was.

On Wednesday we received another three thank you cards that probably were mailed on Monday. A couple of these were from people I did not know all that well, like neighbors of my parents.

On Thursday a few more.

All the notes were personalized, heartfelt, hand written on personal stationary. And all of them took no more than 5 -10 minutes each to write and mail.

A week ago we were just glad to get through the affair because of the extra effort required. Now we are thrilled because people have called and written to thank us and let us know what a great time they had.

A few takeaways for you today are as follows…

First, it has been a long time since I have been thanked for the extra effort, though I tend to think I provide extra in a lot of things I do. My mom and dad’s generation were ingrained with common courtesies like writing thank you notes. It is a shame that some of that has been lost over the years because it feels real good to be acknowledged for the extra efforts.

Second, for me personally, I probably am the receiver of the extra effort from people. I need to remember how good it felt to receive the hand written thank you note and try and write more of them myself.

Third, my mom’s of an age and a generation that does not do email. Or if they do, it has not seeped over to the fine art of thank you notes. Frankly an email thank you is nice, but not near as pleasing as receiving an actual hand written thank you note on personal stationary, with a personal stamp, addressed personally to us.

Finally, how can you apply the lost art of the personalized thank you to your business? If you are a rep, do you send thank you notes to customers for new placements or ongoing business? If you are a retailer, do your sales people all send out handwritten thank you notes on their sales?

In some cases you may say it’s a lot of work. It is! On the other hand, if the thank you note is written sincerely it will make such an impression on the recipient because hardly anyone does it anymore. Consider part of the relationship building.

And remember, I’m not talking about an email, or a computer generated deal. Those are nice if you can’t get them done any other way. But nothing beats a hand written thank you on personalized stationary with a real stamp on it.

One of the tips from Joe Girard, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “World’s Greatest Salesman” was he hand wrote thank you notes to every customer he ever sold a car to. If it’s good enough for him, it should be good enough for us!!!

Thank you for your continued interest. Have a great selling day.

     As readers of my blog know, at the recent High Point Furniture Market I was asked to give a seminar entitled “The #1 Secret to Grow Your Business In Tough Economic Times”.  I had a great crowd and lots of questions afterwards which is always a good thing if you are a speaker.  It means people actually were interested in the topic and paid attention at 8:30 on a Monday morning of market.

     Based on the feedback from the questions as well as people that have called and asked for more information about this topic, I am going to host a follow up webinar on Thursday, evening November 4 at 7PM EST, 6PM CST, 5PM MST, 4PM PST.  You can register to be on the call at www.FurnitureSecret.com. This FREE follow up webinar will discuss specific marketing strategies that retailers should be using in today’s tough economic climate.

      As many of you know, I have spent the last several years studying top direct response marketers in other industries.  We as an industry do not do near as good a job of communicating what value we offer to the consumer.  But more importantly from my perspective, we also are talking to them in old media like TV, Radio, Newspaper and Yellow Pages rather than the personalized methods afforded by new technologies like Google, Email, Facebook, and Websites.    What I see furniture stores doing in this area is wrong.

     When compared to how direct marketers in other industries are successfully attracting customers and growing their businesses online and offline.  So this webinar will discuss various tricks and techniques to consider.  I also will offer resources to shortcut many of the challenges of implementing a new media marketing system for busy furniture store owners.

      There is a fundamental shift that has occurred in the marketing of home furnishings businesses towards new media solutions.  For this reason, furniture technology and marketing expert, Sev Ritchie, has agreed to join me as a co-host of the November 4th webinar.  Sev has a long list of industry accomplishments in cutting edge technology solutions.  Currently Sev is a partner with Leslie Carothers in the Kaleidoscope Partners, a leading provider of social media solutions to the home furnishings industry.

      A few of the topics to be discussed on the FREE Webinar include:

· Expanded Tips & Tricks To Get to listed on the first page of Google

· 9 Best Ways to use Personalization in Marketing to make it stand out

· Effective Use for Furniture Stores of Social Media Marketing like Twitter and Facebook (Sev’s expertise)

· Measuring the Investment in New Media To Get a Return – If Marketing Dollars Can’t Be Measured They Shouldn’t Be Spent!!!

· Steps To Build An Integrated Marketing System that Will Not Overwhelm  A Furniture Retailer’s Resources or Time Constraints

    The basis of the webinar centers around the strategy of how to integrate a variety of medias to simply and easily attract qualified customers to your retail business when the customer is ready to do business with you.  By embracing cost effective new media solutions, personal interaction between your company and the end user becomes infinitely simpler.

    Retailers can register for the FREE Webinar at www.FurnitureSecret.com. 

     Again, This Free Webinar will be on Thursday, November 4 at 7PM EST, 6PM CST, 5PM MST, 4PM PST 

     This Free webinar will not only help retailers grow their business in tough times, but all attendees will be entered into a drawing for a free IPAD or $500 Gift Card to be given away on the webinar.

Many people inquired yesterday about how my seminar was recieved.  The room was 80% full at 8:30 in the morning, people were taking notes, and asking questions after.  So from that regard I would consider the seminar itself a success. 

But all during market I have had people say they had conflicts and couldn’t be there.  So I have decided to do a replay on a webinar on November 4th at 7PM EST / 6PM CST / 5PM MST / 4PM PST.  You can register at www.FurnitureSecret.com.

Based on the questions I had and the interest levels of the topic, the expanded webinar  will be on

Dirt Cheap Quick & Easy Strategies To Fill Your Store With Hungry Customers During Stagnant Times.

I will go over many of the topics during my High Point presentation including  

•Expanded Tips & Tricks To Get to listed on the first page of Google

•9 Best Ways to use Personalization in your Marketing to make it stand out

•How To Measure Your Investment in Media So You Get a Return – If Your Marketing Dollars Cannot Be Measured Don’t Spend It!!!

•How To Build All This Into An Integrated Marketing System that Will Not Overwhelm  Your Resources or Your Time Commitment

The webinar will be Thursday, November 4 at 7PM EST / 6PM CST / 5PM MST / 4PM PST

Anyone who was at our seminar at the North Carolina market or who attends the online webinar will be registered for a drawing for a free IPAD or a $500 gift card.

You can register for the FREE Webinar at

 www.FurnitureSecret.com.

I will find out once and for all if it truly is “Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

I am going to a one day Marketing Mastermind sponsored by my friend Mike Capuzzi the creator of the remarkable Copy Doodles. That will be followed by a networking get together in Mike’s suite at the Phillies game.

The trip came about because of a contest I won for the most innovative use of Mike Capuzzi’s Copy Doodles, a terrific product for anyone trying to break through the clutter in their marketing. So here’s the back story and then the campaign.

I had a meeting scheduled with a buyer to present a new bedroom set. We were to have dinner the evening before the meeting but a conflict came up and she had to cancel. Knowing that she liked Red wine, I thought of the most expensive bottle I could think of (Silver Oaks) and decided I would make up a story about enjoying that wine by myself. I knew Copy Doodles had napkins and a wine stain as part of the package so I hit on the idea of writing this as though I was at the bar.

After getting into it a bit I realized I didn’t have enough room on those silly napkins to get my message across so I went to the next morning with the concept of being hung over and needing to hand write the yellow legal pad. It was a good story that provided lots of laughs and broke the ice for an excellent presentation.

On the last page of the Copy Doodle samples, you’ll see four questions I pose that will help you make better presentations. As always make sure you leave comments below. Thanks

What do “frozen shoulders” and the current economy have in common? They both may seem like impediments in their respective ways, one on the golf course and the other in the business world; however these obstacles can be overcome with the proper mindset. By maintaining an optimistic mindset, you can not only improve your golf game, but also improve your business.