One thing you probably don’t know about me is that I’m a human ideas machine. I often find it very difficult to switch my brain off at times and that often keeps me awake. If I get an idea in the middle of the night I can’t sleep until I get up and write it down.

Now last week I attended a lunch in London, which is a regular event organised by a very fine chap called Martin Avis for Internet marketers. You may not be surprised to hear that it is called the “London Lunch” and is held approximately every 2 months.

Well now, because it was the last lunch of 2008 there were over 40 people who’d said they would attend. That’s when my mind started working overtime. How could I make an impact and try to recruit some potential JV partners from this happy throng? And then it came to me…

I decided that I would present them with a Christmas gift. The gift would be a valuable ebook provided free, with the opportunity to also give it away free to their lists (via my optin form of course) with the potential for them to make commissions on the backend.

My method of delivery would be the humble christmas card with a short note from me stuck inside.

So I bought 40 Christmas cards printed and cut out my notes and printed a few sheets of labels for the envelopes. Here’s a picture of my desk while I was imitating Santa’s elves.

Now unless you’ve got very good eyes you probably can’t read what’s written on the little note inside the card. So here’s what it said…

Fellow London Luncher,

I wanted to take the opportunity to wish you the compliments of the season and offer you an early Christmas gift with my good wishes for a happy and prosperous 2009.

This truly is a gift that carries on giving.

When you give it away to the people on your list, not only will you receive their love and gratitude you may also receive a healthy commission for any sales you generate as a result.

Fancy a little extra cash for Christmas?

If you’re curious or if you’d just like to experience the joy of giving this Christmas then please email me for further details at:

jv at estreetuk dot com (email changed to avoid the spam harvesters)

Merry Christmas!

Jeff McCall

 What d’ya think? I thought it was quite good myself and it certainly went down well at the lunch.

However, I may well have shot myself in the foot. The discussion seemed to be more about how good my idea was rather than the content of the message. I think one or two also resented the fact they hadn’t thought of it.

So did I make any new contacts? Only time will tell!

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, marketing ideas, marketing tactics, Martin Avis

There’s an insurance company here in the UK who’ve been using an interesting marketing tactic in their television advertising recently. Now the casual observer may take the view that they’ve “lost their tiny minds”, because to the uninformed it may seem pretty crazy.

“So what have they been doing?” I hear you cry.

Well, when a customer rings them up for a quote if they know they can be beaten on price then they refer that customer to the competitor who can offer the best price.

I first came across this marketing tactic in a film called “Miracle on 34th Street”. This was the 1994 remake of the original 1947 film and starred Sir Richard Attenborough as Kriss Kringle. In the film ‘Dicky’ is employed by a top New York department store as Father Christmas. He is chastised by his employers when discovered referring customers to other stores who sell the toys that parents really want for their children.

I actually think this tactic is very clever; let me explain.

With easy access to the Internet it’s very easy for customers to do quick market research and price comparisons before they part with their hard-earned cash. Any sensible company must realise this and make allowances for it in their marketing strategy.

So our clever insurance company knows that when a customer asks for a quote there’s a very good chance they’re going to be contacting their competitors as well. If they can’t win the price war then they lose a sale and derive no benefit from the transaction.

But what if they could lose the sale yet still win something out of the situation.

And that’s exactly what the insurance company is doing. By referring customers to their cheaper competitors they are winning the good will of those customers.

Who do you think the customer is going to remember; the company who sold them cheap insurance or the company who referred them to the cheapest provider, thus saving them a load of effort?

There’s a good chance that the customer will return in the future when the company might be better placed to do business with them. There’s also a good chance that they will tell their friends and family how great that company was to tell them where they could save money. And as you should know customer recommendations and referrals are priceless.

Is there a way you can take advantage of this tactic in your marketing?

It might take a little thinking outside the box, but I’m fairly sure that there are a number of ways this can be employed in Internet marketing. For example, clawing back an affiliate commission rather than just losing a sale. Give it some thought!

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: customer service, marketing tactics, referrals, testimonials