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Let
me tell you how I got started on the Great Concept of
The RipCard…and it is a True Story. It will take you
all of 5, 6 minutes or less to read it and I believe
you will Glean some important insights from it.
Here goes: I have been promoting and producing
high end Social Events in San Francisco for over 20
years. I have always loved bringing people together
- connecting, fun, friendly, outgoing, international
friends and friends of friends….and I have done so very
successful. The key to understand here is that there
is NO WAY I could have done this all by Myself….and
you will see that Here is Exactly where the RipCard
comes in.
For instance In 2007 we had 3,000+ Clients attend
our Halloween Ball, and the year before we had 5,000+
(it was at a bigger venue, City Hall!).
I have been building my contact list for years and
years, one by one and I have nurtured that list
by staying in touch with them, inviting them to attend
all kinds of fun events….from Beach Parties to Happy
Hours, to Concerts, Fund Raising events and to large,
upscale gala events.
The hardest thing in promoting, or selling your
services / product, is to get New Clients. And if you
are in business for yourself, you know Exactly how important
That is - especially if you are going to Sustain and
let alone Grow your business. Since there always is
attrition (people no longer buying your services for
whatever reason), you constantly have to evolve and
come up with new ways to improve upon your Sales and
Marketing Skills. Marketing and Sales should actually
account for at least 80% of your total Business Efforts….if
you are not doing that…you are doing something wrong….or
so say at least all the experts that I have been learning
from (The Jay Abraham's, Mark Victor Hansen and Rich
Schefren's of the World, and they are experts in their
field of Marketing).
Actually I credit a Major portion of the reason I am
pursuing the RipCard to Mark Victor Hansen (Co-author
of Chicken Soup For The Soul) www.MarkVictorHansen.com
and I recently met him in person to thank him specifically
for being that catalyst for me.
Here is a picture of him and me:
Anyway, how did I become so successful at promotion
(If I might be so humble) (READ: acquiring
new clients)?
Well….it happened the following way….and please allow
me to depict at Scenario for you as to what EXACTLY
happened: Let's say I decided I wanted to have another
Social Event. The first thing I would do is to come
up with the Concept….then I would lock down the perfect
venue for that type of event. I would Secure the DJ's
and Entertainment, The Sponsors etc. etc. Next what
I needed to do is to SELL the Event….I had to get anywhere
from 500 to 5,000 people to actually attend. And if
you know anything about Promotion / Marketing / Sales….it
is usually only about 2 to 4% of the people you reach
that will actually show up / become paying clients,
when you do Traditional Promotion. So let's say I wanted
to have 1,000 people attend….I would have to reach somewhere
around 40,000 to 50,000 people in my target market.
That is a tall order for anyone. So what I would do
"in the old days"….before I came up with the Concept
of the RipCard.com, I would Print thousands of flyers,
buy radio ads, talk to co-hosts etc. etc.
When I was promoting, I would take the flyers
I had printed up…and they were always high end, four
Color flyers, on nice paper and all….and Hit the Streets
of San Francisco. I would go to Clubs, to cafe's, Stores
etc. etc. etc. And there is only so much you can do
of that when it comes to Time and Costs.
That is when I came up with the idea of Creating some
kind of a card that enabled ME to GIVE something
of Value FIRST (this is a KEY POINT, to Give something
FIRST) to a Person I would meet at random in a bar or
on the street or where have you….. so I would Increase
my chances of RECEIVING what I wanted in return: Their
Contact information. It being their Email Address, Name
and possibly phone number. Now, before, I was simply
handing them a Flyer and hoping they would come to my
Event…..and I knew that my chances of having them attend
My Event was Much Slimmer than if I actually could also
give them a Free Pass. Well, so early on….I started
giving away Free Passes…..but I still was not Able to
get what I wanted….. Their contact information…..so
that is when ….ONE Day…. I had one of those Light Bulb
…AHHHHAAAA Moments…. What if I could create a card that
Both would GIVE and RECEIVE…..and that is what I did.
Suddenly I was able to go up to someone on the street
or in a bar or in a store….and engage in a conversation
about my Event while handing them an elegant flyer….and
Then following up with the RipCard saying that I would
be Happy to Give them a V.I.P. Pass in return for an
email address. And guess what…it worked like a charm.
I would write on the backside of the card, with
my own hand writing, or actually I would INITIAL my
Name (A.M.) then I would put + ONE. Which would mean,
they could bring this Half of the RipCard to any Event
I would have and they + a Friend would get in for free.
I would always customize the Rip Card so that I gave
them something that they wanted. Although, it was a
Natural thing for me to give them a FREE pass to my
event….I could just as easily have given them a couple
of free drinks by writing that on the pass.
**I will show you how you can GET VERY CREATIVE
giving away stuff that is not even yours, and while
you will achieve the same result, actually and many
times Even a Much Better result…but more on that a little
further down.
I had been using the card for a while before I started
seeing the analogy that this card could be used
for THOUSANDS of other businesses….not only Event Producers
such as myself….but anything from Restaurants, Real
Estate Agents and Brokers, Hair Designers, Dry Cleaners,
Manicure Stores, Chiropractors, Dentists, Printers,
Clothing stores, Yoga Centers, Workout Places, Network
Marketing people…the list goes on…and pretty much anyone
that wanted to find creative ways for how to attract
new business, building their contact list as well as
getting Others to Refer business to you…..in which you
can TRACK whom is sending / referring the business to
you…AND…MOST IMPORTANTLY, Reward them for doing that.
You know how it goes…. If you have an existing customer
that that keeps on referring you NEW CUSTOMERS….you
really Ought to "Take Very Good Care Of" that Customer….meaning
REWARD HIM or HER.
Ahhh…I almost forgot. I was going to tell you
how you could work with the RipCard to give away things
that are not even yours. Let's say for example you are
a Hair Designer and you used the RipCard to attract
more referrals and word-of-mouth. Well, your natural
inclination would be to give a Discount on your haircuts,
or maybe some hair care products….which is obviously
fine in itself. But let's say you have a client that
possibly would be very excited if you could give her
50% (or 25%, I will leave that up to your imagination
and negotiation power) off at a Manicure / Pedicure
place…. Just for referring some clients to you….and
one that just might even be located a few doors down
the street from you.
Here is how I would go about setting this up.
Oh…..let me ask you this first: Do you think a small,
local Manicure / Pedicure salon down the street would
be excited if you brought them a New Customer? Probably….
Since they just like any other small store owner would
struggle with getting new customers in the store, they
would be very, very Happy if you did that for them.
Now, let me ask you this: Since the Manicure
store would not have spent any money on marketing or
advertising, don't you think you would have some negotiation
power? You Bet you would. Next…. What if you said to
them. "Hey, Mrs. Owner of the Manicure store, I happen
to have the ability to refer you some Brand New Customers,
some customers you actually would be very happy receiving
since I have pre qualified them. Tell me, if I referred
them to you would you be willing to knock of 50% (or
25%) for any first time customers to your establishment
if I personally recommended them to you? And keep in
mind, this is a customer you would never have had if
it was not for me personally recommending them to you".
I can almost guarantee you that they would say
yes. If not....you know what to do: NEXT! If
that establishment does not value what you will do for
them.... simply move on to the next.
Now get this….this would not only have to be a Manicure
place…it could be a Dry Cleaner, a Restaurant, a
Dentist, a Chiropractor, an Attorney….the sky is the
limit….But the KEY here is to Offer Something to YOUR
CUSTOMER that they would want so that they in return
would patronize your establishment.
SO….when it came to my party planning endeavors
as explained to you in My Story Section, you
will see that I did not only have to offer Free Passes
to my Event…NO, I could offer for instance a Free Salsa
Class, which would be provided by some of my Business
Associates, whom would be GLAD or even Bend Over Backwards
to get new clients referred to them. As a Matter of
fact…… and I was not really going to get too much in
to this now….which I also won't, ….but if you set this
up the Right way….you can make a Business Proposition
with the establishments that you Now Start Referring
New customers too….that if you were going to continue
sending them more business…you could negotiate a Joint
Venture Agreement with them, in which you would receive
Residual (ongoing) income from all the customers you
referred to them…for as long as they remained their
customers. Now.... That is a Mind Boggling idea
in itself and which is a concept all in itself….HOWEVER…..
the RipCard is Tailor Made for Setting situations
exactly such as that for yourself with many, many vendors
as you keep on creating value for ALL parties involved.
You will see more details and explanations of how
to work with the Joint Venture (JV) concept under
my Joint Venture link to the left, under the
main link called: "Creative Ideas" That's about
the Size of it….. and this is how it all got started.
And as I kept on working on the concept I fine tuned
it and came up with better and better ideas of how to
Track whom gave the referrals as well as what incentives
one could give away and most importantly how you could
BOTH use your existing Customers AND your Associated
businesses to help you draw a tremendous amount of traffic
to your business. …..and this my friend….you will learn
more about under the link Named: "How it Works".
Now.....what is your story?
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