You
are receiving this email from us because you provided your email address
and asked to be on the SIMB mailing list. To ensure that you continue to
receive emails from us, add john@stampingismybusiness.com
to your address book today.
To
forward this newsletter to a downline, upline, colleague or friend, select
here.
The
Stamping Professional's Source
for
Business-Building Information, Products & Services!
Hope
you've all had a strong start to 2006. Lots of interesting
items in this month's newsletter.
Please
take special note of the item about AOL and Yahoo. This
could potentially affect every one of you in a negative way.
Also,
I'm trying something new this month - an audio message. If
you'd like to hear it, just click on theplay button in the Live
Presentation item below.
As
always, if there's anything I can do to help you make your New
Year's resolutions come through, please don't hesitate to get in
touch.
January
and February are great months for your stamping
business. Beginning of the year promotions, along
with the increased 'New Year's' energy in your customer
base, makes for some pretty impressive numbers.
Unfortunately,
by the time March arrives, that energy is gone,
customers are spent, and your numbers for the month tend
to trend downward.
Since this
is a trend, it can be avoided! How? Here are
some tips:
1.
Book Your March Events NOW!
Believe
it or not, some stamping business owners are still
trying to book February workshops and gatherings as we
speak! Doing that doesn't give your hostess enough
lead time to really pack the room. Do yourself a
favor and start booking up your March calendar.
Ideally, you want to have the next month's calendar
booked solid by the first week of this month.
2.
Make Phone Calls!
Part
of the reason for the March slump is that your energy is
low, too. Try to buck that trend and really get on
the phone in March. Whether you're following up on
February workshops or just making customer service
calls, you'll be amazed at how much additional business
is out there waiting for you. It's not going to
come to you, though. You have to pick up the phone
and find it!
3.
Put Together A Good E-mail Special
When
you send your newsletter out at the beginning of March,
include a special that's so appealing, your customers
won't be able to stop themselves from taking advantage
of it!
4.
Do Some Marketing and Advertising
Customers
who weren't part of your business in January and
February won't be fatigued in March, right? So,
make a real effort to find new customers who haven't
gone through the last couple of months with you.
Place some advertising, do some marketing, get your
customers to refer new people to you.
Within
the next month or two, America Online will begin to
charge a fee to people and businesses who send e-mail to
their members.
The
program, AOL Certified E-mail, is being implemented in
conjunction with Goodmail.com. Basically, AOL
plans on charging senders 1/4 cent per 'Certified'
e-mail. This 'Certified' e-mail will be delivered
to a special folder and not subject to any
filtering. Senders still have the option of not
paying, but those e-mails will still be subject to AOL's
notorious filters and delivered to a different, probably
less prominent, folder.
Yahoo!
plans on rolling out a similar system in the next
several months.
As a
stamping business owner with customers and downline who
have AOL or Yahoo! e-mail addresses, how does this
affect you?:
Any
e-mail marketing you do will be subject to this
fee. Depending on the number of e-mails you
send out, this could amount to a few hundred dollars
per year.
If you
choose not to Certify your e-mail, you will probably
end up with lower open and read rates among your
customers due to the positioning and delivery of
your e-mail. This leads to fewer sales and
will probably still cost you a few hundred dollars
per year in lost commissions.
If you
have an AOL or Yahoo! e-mail address yourself:
You
will probably stop receiving e-mails that you expect
to receive (receipts for purchases, newsletters and
messages from business partners, etc.).
Currently, many businesses are rejecting this new
plan on the grounds that it simply creates a new
revenue stream for AOL and Yahoo, but does nothing
to address the proliferation of junk mail.
You
should seriously consider getting your own domain
name and e-mail address for your stamping
business. Its quick, easy and
inexpensive. If you don't know how to do it, e-mail
me and I'll send you a document which will take
you through the process step-by-step.
If you
don't want to get your own domain and e-mail,
consider getting an @StampingIsMyBusiness.com e-mail
address. Select
here for more information about that.
Finally,
write to AOL and Yahoo and let them know you, a home-based
business owner, oppose this new policy and will encourage
your customers and colleagues to sever their ties with
both companies. No matter how you look at it, you'll
be saving yourself hundreds of dollars.
Turn
on your speakers and click the play button below to hear
an audio message from John Sanpietro:
Get
On The Phone! is just one of the many Stamping Is My Business! live
presentations available. All
SIMB presentations are designed to inform, motivate and
inspire your downline or group to define their goals and
build their business.
Unlike
many other speakers, however, SIMB presentations are designed
exclusively for stamping professionals - not the
entire direct sales industry. John understands the
unique challenges stamping business owners face,
and is able to address them specifically.
We
also understand the financial difficulties stamping
business owners face and have priced these presentations
accordingly.
John
will share concrete steps everyone can take to make
their business a success - whether they just want a
self-supporting hobby, or a full-fledged stamping
business!
For
more information about booking John for an appearance in
front of your group, send
us an e-mail, or select
here for more information.
Congratulations
to Sarah, who
wins a $10 SIMB Gift Certificate!
WE
NOW HAVE OVER 200 SAMPLES and are adding more and more to the
Samples Section of our website every day. I'm
especially looking for Spring and St. Patrick's Day samples!
If
you would like to submit a sample to be considered for
Sample of the Month and the Samples Section, just send
me a scan via e-mail, or mail your sample to: John
Sanpietro, Stamping Is My Business!, 36 Fir Street, Jay,
NY 12941.
Please
include your name, e-mail address, phone number and all
materials used to make your sample.
Despite the title, this is a very
inspiring book. The author helps the reader
identify her strengths and weaknesses, as well as her
helpers and her obstacles. Being able to do this
is a huge asset for any stamping business owner.
Once that's done, Lichtenberg
illustrates several ways to maximize those strengths,
while downplaying and minimizing the weaknesses.
According
to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau released last
week, the number of women-owned businesses grew 20
percent between 1997 and 2002, twice the national
average for all businesses!
Women
now own 28% of all private companies in the United
States. The Census Bureau defines a
women-owned business as any business in which women own
51% or more of the interest or stock.
This
figure includes businesses in which the owner is also
the only employee.
In
fact, according to the Census Bureau, 76% of all
private businesses had no employees other than the owner!
(If
there's a question you'd like answered, or a topic you'd
like me to cover, feel free
to
After
seeing your live
presentation, I can't believe (my stamping company) doesn't hire you
for Convention or Leadership! You're better than anyone they've ever
used at their events!
- JN,
Illinois
I've
coached with other direct sales coaches, but they didn't know anywhere
near as much about our business as you do. They seemed more
interested in my personal, rather than my professional issues.
- AW, New Jersey
Your CDs
are the perfect tool to help me and my downline build our stamping
businesses!
Turn
on your speakers and click the play button below to hear
an audio message from John Sanpietro:
