See how savvy you are with our Speedy Smarts.

Of the following media categories, which had the highest sales volume in 2007?

• Business Magazines

• Product Placement (TV, Film)

• Promotional Products

• Yellow Pages

• Point-of-Purchase Advertising

Answer inside!

BASICALLYBUSINESSIN THISISSUE

Marketing In Real Life— Variable Printing and Fulfillment Help Improve Employee Benefit Program

One-to-One Marketing— Beyond Loyalty: Building Customer Engagement

Biz Tips— Turn Your Next Brochure into a Powerful Sales Tool

Cross-selling: A Convenience or an Irritation?Cross-selling is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the action or practice of selling among or between established clients, markets, traders, etc.” or “selling an additional product or service to an existing customer.” It is a proactive, ongoing sales process designed to provide your existing customers with the full range of your company’s products and/or services.

Some marketers are concerned that customers are irritated by cross-selling efforts, or that they perceive such efforts as an overly aggressive sales approach. Interestingly enough, consumer research indicates that the reverse is actually true. Most customers prefer a full spectrum of products and services and truly appreciate the convenience that comes from a comprehensive, cross-selling approach.

Cross-selling can be one of the most profitable and least risky endeavors a company can undertake, bringing in additional revenue with relatively low expense and effort. In addition to generating new sales, cross-selling promotes customer loyalty and, as a result, keeps competitors at arm’s length and your business on the books.

Not surprisingly, one of the key elements that makes cross-selling work is trust. Your customers already possess a degree of trust in your company, and this can be converted into additional sales revenue. As with any marketing endeavor, if your cross-sell program is not properly administered, there is always the risk of irritating customers and thus losing their business altogether.

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truSt is the key element that makes cross-selling to your customers work.

Printing and Marketing Services

Printing and Marketing Services

Higher Response Rates through Variable PrintingResearch studies have shown that when businesses utilize full-color variable print for mailings, customers tend to respond more rapidly. In fact, overall response rates may increase by as much as five times compared to standard mailings. After all, communicating to each customer as an individual strengthens loyalty and builds share of customer.

Variable print is defined as personalized “print-for-one” using information that is unique to each individual recipient. There are three basic levels of variable print:

•MailMerge/BasicPersonalization uses basic text and some graphics

•Versioning uses text, graphics and specific variable information directed to a particular group of customers

•AdvancedPersonalization refers to full-color, highly personalized print using text, graphics and specific variable data to make each mail piece, newsletter or report unique to each recipient

Using variable printing in your cross-selling programs shows your customers that you know them—it personalizes your relationship with them, thus increasing the likelihood that they will act on your recommendations. At Sir Speedy, we can help you incorporate variable printing into your next marketing cross-sell campaign.

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FrancisFranchiseeOwnerPrinting and Marketing Services

Promote Your Brand With Promotional Products Today’s business world is a highly competitive marketplace. Companies need to establish a strong image in order to effectively promote their products and services. Promotional products, also called advertising specialty items, can help make your marketing efforts more effective by keeping your name in front of your customers.

Consider promotional products for:• Customer goodwill and retention • Tradeshows • Employee relations and events • Brand awareness • Public relations • New customer/account generation • Employee service awards • Not-for-profit programs • Internal promotions • New product/service introduction.

From fun to fantastic, the choices for promotional products are expanding every day. At Sir Speedy, we have access to all the newest products and ideas. Whether you need a pen, clock, bag or apparel, we can help you find the right item at the right price for the right occasion.

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Marketing in Real Life One-to-One Marketing Biz Tips

Turn Your Next Brochure into a Powerful Sales Tool

Most brochures are nothing more than a collection of pictures and a few details about a business and its products or services. Here are a few essentials that can turn your next brochure into a powerful tool for increasing sales:

1. Focus on your customers. Talk about how your product or service meets their wants and needs.

2. Incorporate a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that separates you from your competition.

3. Use a benefits-oriented headline on the cover of the brochure rather than your company name.

4. Include appropriate subheads throughout the brochure for easy readability.

5. Incorporate educational content so your prospects can feel good about their decision to buy from you.

6. Offer a special incentive that’s only good with that brochure. This will increase the likelihood that a prospect will keep the brochure on hand.

7. Show how your company or products outperform your competition in a fair and impartial way. Provide proof if possible.

8. Include a call to action to encourage your prospects to take the next logical step in the buying process—whether it’s to purchase, to call for more information or to set an appointment.

Building Customer Engagement

Your customers may be satisfied, but are they “engaged”? Independent research has shown that highly engaged customers deliver a 23 percent increase in revenue as compared to the average customer. Engaged customers are not just satisfied, not just loyal, but are actually enthusiastic about your company, your brand and/or your products.

Although the term is sometimes used to describe customer marketing, loyalty, satisfaction and retention practices, engagement is actually a more strategic way of looking at customer relationships. It has also become the latest buzzword for companies in every industry. In fact, recent research by the Economist Intelligence Unit has confirmed that more and more companies believe their biggest challenge lies in maintaining a high level of engagement with their customers. This was considered more important than the need to create high-quality offerings and finding new customers.

While specific customer engagement techniques vary by industry and company, the Economist Intelligence Unit found that companies that support a variety of modes of communication—and that respond swiftly to customer inquiries, requests and feedback through all of them—are best poised to forge deep relationships with customers.

Of course, involving your entire company in customer engagement efforts is crucial to its success. Building similarly deep relationships with your employees and increasing their level of engagement with your company—and consequently with your customers—is one practice in which we should all engage.

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Variable Printing and Fulfillment Help Improve Employee Benefit ProgramCHALLENGE A fast-growing telecommunications company was experiencing a common human resources problem—hiring and retaining qualified technical personnel. Although the company was successful and profitable, employee moral was low. The company offered a good employee benefits program, but its employees didn’t perceive it as being competitive and valuable. The director of employee benefits wanted to better educate the employees about the true value of all the benefits the company provided its employees.

SOLUTION The company used a personalized direct mail campaign to reach each and every one of its employees and make them feel special. A customized information packet was created for each employee that included his/her unique compensation package including salary, pension, profit sharing, the cost of healthcare benefits and even the cost of payroll taxes paid. By using data from an Excel spreadsheet, certain areas of a brochure template were populated so each employee’s information packet was

specific to him or her. A new brochure was created for the company that focused on the value of its employees to the company’s growth. Each information packet also contained a personalized note signed by the employee’s immediate manager to connect with the employee on a more personal level. In addition to quality design and printing, all the pieces in the package were also kitted together and mailed to each employee’s home address. The kit also included a small leather-bound appointment calendar personalized with each employee’s name on it.

RESULTS This program was so successful that the company plans to mail these kits yearly with smaller mailings of just a few pages every quarter. Employee turnover was down by 4% and the director even noticed a rise in the number of job applications they received as referrals from existing employees. There was also a rise in employee requests for additional training to improve their skills, which really showed that overall employee moral had improved.

A personalization can boost the way your company relates internally as well as how you relate to your customers.