Full disclosure: I am a proud user of Getresponse and if you purchase Getresponse through my affiliate link they’ll pay me a commission. I have a very specific way that I have built my business and there’s only one tool that I’ve found that will do what I need it to do.
In fact, some of Getresponse’ must useful features came from my suggestions.
Myth: The #1 asset in your business is your customer list.
Reality: The #1 asset in your business is your relationship with your customer list.
Therefore your #1 business tool is the software you use to manage and talk to your customer list.
The first time I fully understood this concept was on a blog I came across on December, 2010. This blog post changed the course of my online marketing strategy.
The blogger explained why “the money is not in your list, but in the relationship that you build within your list”.
One of his examples was that you saw someone standing by the street and you approach him to buy your product. “Do you think that the person will buy the product you promote“? The answer would likely NOT right?
The same goes to your mailing list members. Why? Because that person don’t even know who you are. So, we can’t say that the money is on the list.
Therefore, the Money Is In the Relationship that you built within your list. That’s it!
All you need to do in building a relationship with your list members is by feeding them with great information that they are looking for, in which they will also benefit from it and they would likely TRUST you with that.
After building the trust and relationship, you can now send them a product for them to get more benefits than you give to them. So that’s MONEY!
Another archaic example of building relationship with your list is that of the famous “Giorgio Letters” by a restaurant owner named Giorgio.
Giorgio mails out an invitation to romance-starved couples to come to his Italian Grotto for a lovely, intimate evening of linguini, red roses and chocolate for dessert.
A week later, those who don’t respond receive a follow up letter reminding them how they’ve tragically neglected their romance lately. Giorgio reminds them how many couples divorce for lack of romantic excitement in their lives.
Then a week later, all those who didn’t respond receive ANOTHER follow up letter from Giorgio with a penny glued to it. Giorgio laments that he’s throwing a penny in his fountain, a sorrowful romance wish for a couple whose love has grown cold. He pleads with you one last time to come to his restaurant and save your marriage.
It’s OUTRAGEOUS. By the third letter you’re saying, “Dang, this guy just doesn’t stop, doesn’t he?” You’re tempted to show the letter to your next door neighbor and say, “Did you get a letter like this too?”
The first thing that separates the winners from the losers is that most restaurants never send a letter in the first place. (How many letters have YOU gotten from a restaurant? Or even emails? Ever since I’ve been a regular customer of Mr. Biggs, Tantalizers, Tastee Fried Chicken here in Nigeria, none of them ever sent me an email or sms. Except for Sweet Sensation. But, Sweet sensation ONLY sends me sms during public holidays, and that’s it!)
And secondly, most people who send one letter, never send a second, let alone a third.
After Giorgio got letter #1 to generate a response, the big profits were actually in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th letters.
And furthermore if you poured on the gas to those who responded to any of it, you were on your way to cultivating a relationship with a responsive customer. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a perfect application of the 80/20 principle.
In marketing your #1 job is to SORT. Sort the interested from the disinterested, so you can start funneling your resources towards profitable customers.
What you and I can achieve today with Getresponse Autoresponder is far more rewarding. I hope you can see the awesome power of this concept. An autoresponder sequence is THE heartbeat of a successful online business.
Getresponse gives you the opportunity as a starter to have up to 100 subscribers in your list for free, including free photos, customized opt-in forms etc. But the paid one starts from $9.95 per month. This paid option has various features such as; videos, up to 1000 subscribers, photos, attachment, marketing segmentation and more.
Conclusions:
With that said, I urge you to go ahead and create that valuable relationship with your clients or customers in whatever profession your business is into, with Getresponse.com today.
Nice write-up. Thanks for the information
Secondly you can prime your auto-responder with a sequence of emails that you have written yourself or paid someone to write. If you have chosen a good affiliate product they may very well provide you with a series of emails that you can use for that list..
I have never read such a wonderful blog post and I am coming back tomorrow to continue reading.