Joe Girard is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “World’s Greatest Salesman”. In his best year, he sold an astonishing 1,425 cars, an average of over 28 a week.

How did he do it?

He had a number of ways to bring in business, but one of his most effective was something called “birddogging”.

These “bird dogs” were “people who knew people” – anything from barbers and union reps to bankers, doctors and ministers - that he’d reward for sending him business.

I’ve been using the same principle to help grow my finance business.

I have a few people that send me prospects and, in return, I pay them a generous percentage of the commission I earn.

The amounts can vary greatly – it depends on the type of finance and the amounts involved – but my associates can receive anything from £80 to £1,600 per client.

Looking at those numbers, I’m sure you can understand why they’re happy to keep an eye out for people who might benefit from my services!

My ideal prospects are:

- Business owners looking to raise finance

- Business owners looking to reduce the cost of their existing financing

- Business owners wanting to buy new offices or a new factory

- Property developers

- Anyone wishing to lease anything, literally

If you’re around people like that, then you could make a very nice second income for passing people my way.

I’m not asking you to sell my services, just for you to join the dots between someone who needs advice about financing and someone who’s happy to provide that advice (me).

If you’d like to know more, give me a call on 01257 474 626 and we’ll talk about the details.

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If you use factoring, I’ve got some important news for you: there’s now an alternative that’s usually a lot cheaper.

For example, look at this comparison of service charges:

      With factoring, you’re probably paying between 1.25 and 2.5% of your total sales ledger.

With the new alternative, you only pay 1% of your average outstanding balance.

Sound interesting? Let me tell you more.

The new alternative is called “Wageroller” and it pays your company’s wages for two months, freeing up cash you can use in your business.

Here’s why Wageroller is so good:

- No need for directors’ guarantees or personal security

- No need to submit a business plan

- Get the money fast, usually in just 7 days

- Only pay interest on your average monthly balance (if no outstanding balance, no fee)

- No hidden costs

- Only 3% above base rate (better than an overdraft and most loans)

- It can be managed online just like an online overdraft

- If your sales are seasonal, you can use it to smooth out your cashflow during the year (e.g. two of my Wageroller clients are premiership football clubs)

I think most businesses can save money if they switch from factoring to Wageroller. If you’d like to find out how much you could save, give me a call on 01257 474 626 and I’ll be happy to tell you more about it and go through your numbers with you.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Gill Millington

When it comes to promoting your business, it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.

So, to help you get the most from your sales messages - whether it’s your ads, your sales letters, your website or your emails - I asked one of my marketing advisors to boil this complex subject down to a few basic rules than any business owner could use to increase the response rate of their promotional materials.

Here’s what he wrote:

“When someone responds to your ad or your sales letter, they’re not buying the product, they’re buying the description of the product contained in the words on the page.

Therefore, it’s not the more desirable or superior product that sells, it’s the more desirable words.

So, how do you make your sales message more appealing?

Effective sales copy - whether it’s an advert, letter or web page - tends to have certain elements and each of these elements serves a purpose and should appear in a logical order.

And one of the key mistakes I see from businesses is that they cripple their response rates by leaving out essential parts of the sales message.    

To avoid this, here are 5 things you should look to cover: 

• This is what I’ve got
• This is what it can do for you
• This is why you should get it from me
• This is why you should believe me
• This is how you can get it

It’s not cast in stone - other copywriters have different steps - but it’s a great place to start. 

If you look at your own ads or your website homepage, does it have those elements? And does it have them in this order?

- Can the reader quickly see what the offer is? 

- Does it explain why he or she should buy from you instead of your competitors?

- Is there evidence that backs up the claims you make about your product or service?

- Is it obvious to the reader what he or she should do next?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, you’re probably letting a lot of money slip through your hands.  

Steve Gibson”

This 5-step approach is a good reflection of Steve’s no-nonsense, down-to-earth writing style.

He recently wrote a sales letter for my business that outperformed my expectations.

However, his speciality as a copywriter is taking an ad or website and making a few simple changes that bump up response by 20% or more.

If you’ve got an ad or website that’s producing results, but you’d like it to do even better, feel free to email him at steve@stevegibsonconsulting.co.uk. If you mention my name, he’ll be happy to review it for you free of charge.

Best regards 

Gill Millington

Director

New Branch