Is Your Toll Free Number
Increasing Your Bottom Line Profits?
By G.H. Bey I read somewhere several years ago: If
you want to leave your competition in the dust,
use a toll free number to sell your products and
services.
Today, when you see the ads in
any national publication, most of the ads will
have a toll free number. So, I suppose what I
read must have been true. Right? Well, let's take
a close look at some of the details of using a
toll free number to sell your products and
services.
USING A TOLL
FREE NUMBER TO GET INQUIRIES
As we all know, using a toll
free number is the easiest way to get a
prospective customer to call for more information
about your product or service. Every one who has
a business or is thinking about starting a
business has a telephone and the call is FREE! So
if you are advertising in publications that has
readers who are interested in what you have to
sell, you are sure to receive a lot of calls on
your toll free line.
Now, this all sounds very good,
so far. Right?
METHODS AND
TECHNIQUES OF MARKETING WITH TOLL FREE NUMBERS
Most advertisers use their toll
free number to get the names and addresses of
their callers so they can send them more
information about their product or service and
then they hope that they will make a sale.
However, there are so many toll free numbers,
there is still a great deal of competition in
getting a potential customer to call your toll
free number. So, the advertiser has to take
additional steps to attract potential customers
to call their toll free line. To solve this
problem most advertisers offer something free
such as a report, booklet, audio tape etc. The
most important thing is to get people to call.
Even if you have a very strong offer, the
prospect won't hear it if you don't get them to
call.
However, let's look at the
other side of the coin, the down side of this
method of attracting people to call your toll
free line. What is this method going to cost you?
Let's say you're using a classified ad and it's
costing you $50.00. Each time someone calls your
toll free line it costs you .20 cents. Now, your
free gift, let's take the least expensive way and
say you're giving away a three (3) page report
which will cost you .30 cents to produce and you
have to pay .32 cents each to send your free
report and sales letter.
Now, let's see what it will
cost you if you get, we'll use a nice round
number, let's say 100 calls on your toll free
line. Your ad will cost you $50.00 your calls
will cost you $20.00 your free gift will cost you
$30.00 your postage cost will be $32.00. You're
total cost will be $132.00. Now, how many sales
do you have to make to cover the cost of your
advertising campaign. Of course, this will depend
on the cost of your product, service or program.
Right here, we'll just use an example and say
your product costs, $25.00. Now, you will have to
make at least six sales to cover your costs. This
means that you will have to get 6% response from
your offer. If you make six sales your total
income will be, $150.00 leaving you with an
$18.00 profit.
The above example is just to
give you an idea of the cost involved in using
this method to obtain new customers using your
toll free line. However, what if you don't get
that 6% response, what if you only get 4% or 3%
or even only 1% then of course, you're going to
lose money. I can tell you from my own
experience, you must be very specific in
targeting your potential customer, you must have
a strong offer if you expect to get better than a
2% response. You might not like to hear this but
it's the truth! Many small business operators are
finding that giving away free gifts using their
toll free number can be very costly
(unprofitable).
The only way to find out
whether this method can be of some benefit to
your business is to test it for your self. My
main purpose here is to point out to you that you
can get many inquires using the method of giving
away something free, people are always looking
for something free but it doesn't mean that they
will buy what you have to offer.
OTHER OPTIONS
One method that can be used to
cut the cost of postage is to ask your
prospective customer to send a couple of first
class stamps to receive the free gift that you
are offering. Some dealers say that you should
not do this however, you should test it for your
self and see if it works for you.
Another method that you can
consider, is to make your sales pitch right from
the greeting on your toll free line. However, I
must point out that using this method takes a
little experience. However, let me assure you
that it can be done, this is a method that I have
used several times and will continue to use.
Using a toll free number is
certainly a good way to bring in the inquires but
turning those inquiries into customers is the
only way that you can make a profit.
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G.H. Bey has
been in the mail order marketing business for
over eight years. You can receive his 60 minute
audio cassette, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY SELL YOUR
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DIRECTLY FROM YOUR TOLL
FREE LINE by sending $7.00 to:
Day-Star
Communications
7023 Hermitage St
Pittsburgh PA 15208-1110
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