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In Brief provides a quick read about what top business authors are saying and ties their bright ideas to direct marketing.? Tap into know-how within minutes that can drive your strategic objectives, while accelerating profitability and sales.?

Not including the appendices and index, the average business book contains about 275 pages. Even the most avid reader will be hard-pressed to read more than a few of these books a year.? This is especially true of small business owners and not-for-profit leadership, who are typically tasked with simultaneously working ?in? and ?on? the growth of their organization.? Marketing and sales executives in large companies, where downsizing and task consolidation has occurred, now also have difficulty keeping up with the latest best selling insights.

In Brief ? Best Seller Insights for Direct Marketing (Volume 2)

Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch (2008)

In our blog post ?Taxi Please?, we emphasized (that in your business and in your marketing) there are no insignificant conversations or communications.? Every touch makes an impression, which could either lead to a sale or crush a potential prospect.? This brought to mind a book I read four years ago by John Jantsch called ?Duct Tape Marketing?, and his philosophy that the best sales tools are nothing fancy.?

Like duct tape, the foundation of superior marketing is built on simple things like trustworthiness, consistency, and caring.? Customers loyally buy and refer your services (again like duct tape) because you get the job done.? How and what you deliver may not be the shiniest tool in the box, and yet it?s the most satisfying and reliable.

John Jantsch is a best-selling author, marketing consultant, and creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System and Duct Tape Marketing Consulting Network, geared primarily to small business development.? He is a sought-after contributor to the New York Times, American Express OpenForum and Wall Street Journal.? HIs blog is also favored by Forbes and AdAge as one of the Top 25.

What I like best about John Jantsch is his enthusiasm for direct mail.? He says direct mail is a ?great tool for targeting because there is almost no competition and you control when it gets delivered.?? He goes on to say, ?People must understand that it?s most effective when you can use it to create awareness about valuable content and not (just) to sell.?

In Brief:

Be MEMORABLE

At the end of any given day when we sit down to dinner with family or chat with a friend on Facebook, we narrow the hours down to sound bytes of the best and worst daily experiences.? ?Duct Tape Marketing? purports that you must strive to put every business exchange into the ?wow? category.

Make all conversations, emails, newsletters, and building signage stand out as excellent, kind, and customer-centric.? Others will then tell your story.? They will endorse you and what you have to offer.? Do the simple stuff exceptionally well and you will be remembered.

EVERY Employee Markets

Though an employee?s business card may not read ?Marketing Director?, don?t be fooled.? Everybody in your organization is a marketer.? Why?? Because every interaction you have with a customer could potentially transform into a sale.? The end goal, every employee?s end goal, is to get prospects and customers to ?know, like, and trust you?.

Think Referrals ALWAYS

In the end, John Jantsch believes that 100% of your business eventually traces back to a referral.? The wisdom is to capitalize on this truism, and there are five ways to do that.

1. Ask for referrals during the ?honeymoon? period with a new customer.? Someone recently wooed (and WOW-ed) is most inclined to recommend your business.
2. Put the referral option out there even before the sale.? Examples include statements like ?If you found this newsletter article helpful, refer a friend? or ?We appreciate you visiting our site, and ask that you recommend us to others.?
3. We all have limited resources of time, energy and money.? Enroll customers and partners to ?white label? your products and services as their own.? This will extend your reach, expand your portfolio, and add bottom-line profit opportunities for them.
4. Allow partners to give something of yours away for free.? Things like a free consultation or organizational evaluation opens the door to deeper discussions and recommendations.
5. Don?t worry whether your product/service is overly intellectual or boring, influence their excitement with outstanding engagement of experience.? If they like YOU, your product/service becomes winning.

Cultivate Client LONGEVITY

Think about the micro-stages of interaction that surround prospects and customers.? This is the customer growth cycle.? Then, create a product or service for every stage of growth to maximize the lifetime value of every client.

John Jantsch suggests the often-overlooked micro-stages of ?suspect? and ?champion?.? A precursor to prospect would be a ?suspect?, or someone who does not yet know you, yet is predictively inclined to need what your selling. Another would be a ?champion?, or someone who is awesomely enthusiastic over your organization.? Tier your offerings.? This allows clients to grow up in partnership with your business because you always have something else perfectly suited for their development.

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Source: http://www.ls-direct.com/2012/09/05/in-brief-duct-tape-marketing-by-john-jantsch-2008/

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