Will an Email Database get you More Appointments?

Announcement:  If I have your email address and I know you are a Realtor, small business owner, entrepreneur, salesperson, independent agent or marketer, you will soon be subscribed to my bi-weekly email of the articles I publish about the subject of Alliance Marketing and Selling.  In fact, I will be doing exactly what Jim Cronin from the Real Estate Tomato prescribes to initiate new Blog readership.  In the past, although only for a couple of months, I routinely sent bi-weekly emails with links to my blog posts of an earlier blog with similar 25% readership success so I know what he suggests works.

So the question is:  Can you regularly set appointments using a weekly or bi-weekly email subscription?

I don't know yet, but 3 different campaign types come instantly to mind which should easily drive up personal response either by telephone or email. 

1. Start with a blog about exactly what you do to your target audience and start with a complimentary e-zine subscription with 3 or more article leads.  The postings should have a call to action within each post to entice the reader to ask for a sit-down or next step.
2. Send out small batch, personalized emails stating a purpose for getting in touch and ask the best time for a call or visit.  Being slightly vague to entice the reader to "fill the information gap" may improve response.  Asking for help or suggesting an invitation are good lead-ins.
3. Directly ask for the appointment via personalized email stating exactly the purpose or agenda or intended outcome with the reader's needs in mind, of course.  The challenge here may be not knowing exactly your readers' needs in order for an appointment to sound necessary.

Which one sound most effective to you? Which approach will you try first?

THROWDOWN! with Alliance Science:  Start your campaign and record the results.  We want to know how many emails, over how much time, with how many responses and how many appointments set.  Respond with an email to Throwdown at OwnersHelp.com or comment to this post.  Every response will be considered for a personal interview to discuss your results, your special topic of expertise and promote you or your business.  The first one to respond will get 5 FREE CD's of the interview for your promotion purposes.

Comments

[George Sherry]

Rick,

I will later in the week take a look at your material, but first I need to know four things:

Ø Who is your target audience?

Ø What do you want to achieve (what actions or outcomes)?

Ø You are looking for feedback in which specific areas?

Ø Are you using an editor?

[Rick]

Hi George, great to hear from you. Thanks for responding to my request for comments.

My target market is specifically Business Owners, Salespeople, Marketers, Independent Agents and anyone who is regularly responsible for generating sales and sales prospect appointments. Ideally, these readers need or want to:

• Make a LOT more money than they are making now, typically another $100,000 easily and without much more time or work spent in prospecting
• Value professional and personal improvement
• Strive for excellence
• Understand that selling is about relationships and that personal referrals are the best form of introduction
• Are willing to pay in both $ and time of 2 hours a week to see an minimum 2,000% Return On Investment

The desired outcome of regular readership is to:

• Generate interest in my free whitepaper, “The 10 Big Breakthroughs in a Sales Persons Life,”
• Generate attendance to my local seminars and workshops and sign up profit seekers who want to have at least 500 more ideal client prospect meetings within the next 12 months by participating in Automatic Appointments
• Create comments and links to other credible bloggers to build brand awareness and readership
• Educate readers on selling through Alliance Partners, a practice I believe is underdeveloped and not understood

Feedback is greatly appreciated as:

• Comments to the blog about specific posts or subjects
• Links or trackbacks to other bloggers’ posts on related subjects
• General applause or atta-boys on how good looking or smart I am

As to the question, am I using an editor?

• Not currently, but would always consider it if the right value proposition were made
• I am always seeking weblog co-authors in the area of PR, Marketing, Sales, Small Business Management, Training or Coaching
• I would consider hiring an amanuensis (cool word, huh? http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2008/03/01.html )