I’m not one for playing the lottery or spending time at the slot machines in Vegas. But this morning I felt like doing exactly that… that this was my lucky day.

I was checking the weather this chilly Sunday morning before venturing out. Because of the likelihood of icy roads, I clicked through to the Local Weather Alert.

Bigger than life is a banner ad from amazon.com featuring my book.

Given all the books and products that Amazon carries, what are the odds of that happening?

Click on the screen shot below.

I’m always pleased when someone who has read my book, heard me speak, or met me at a networking activity calls and says, “I’d like to talk to you about doing a marketing makeover for my business.”

I received one of those phone calls several weeks ago from a delightful woman (whom I’ll call Katherine). She quickly explained that she had been in business for about ten years and felt that she needed to make some improvements in her marketing.

We talked about her business and about my extreme marketing makeover process. Based on a very delightful and productive phone conversation, I recommended that Katherine and I get together. (Katherine lives in Manhattan, so that made it easy.)

I did my usual research before I meet with someone. In most cases, that means digging into a company website to find out a little more about what they do.

So Katherine and I meet. In this faced to face meeting, we cover much of the same things we had earlier on the phone call. But this time, we talk in greater detail.

Ultimately, Katherine says, “Gil, I’d like you to help me with a marketing makeover for my business.” She asked many of the typical questions that people ask, including “How much will it cost?”

I told her I’d put a short proposal together and we would reconvene in a couple of days.

Now, during my time at Katherine’s website, I not only learned about her business, but I also had formed some opinions about her website. I’d never recommend changes without first doing a marketing makeover. But it’s my nature to analyze the website at the same time I’m gathering information.

I’m about the leave Katherine’s office when she say, “I just want to say one thing. I really like my website. My web guy has spent a lot of time on this. He likes to do things his way. I really don’t want to change it. Is that going to be a problem?”

I was running short on time, so I said, “Let’s talk about that when I come back.”

A week later we did reconvene. I talked Katherine through my proposal. We looked at the investment in terms of time and money, and also what she could expect in terms of the outcome.

Sensing the problem with the website might be difficult to overcome and wanting to lay the cards on the table, I included a paragraph at the end of the proposal in which I said:

“The marketing makeover process works best… and the outcome is most dramatic and favorable… when my clients understand that there can be no sacred cows. You shared with me that your web designer is ‘sensitive.’ I’m not saying that anything needs to be change. But we will want to take a critical look at your website and perhaps be open to alternate or improved ways of bringing the website into perfect harmony with your ideal sales process.”

Katherine remained firm about how much she liked the website and didn’t want to change anything and that people liked it. As we were wrapping up, she said, “Let me think about it.” Knowing exactly what was happening in her thinking, I said, “Fine. No problem. I call you in a few days.”

I received an email the next day from Katherine explaining that she had some other priorities in her business that she felt compelled to attend to before starting to do the marketing makeover. (I hadn’t heard any of that prior to this time.) And she thanked me for my time.

The bottom line is that if you want to make a radical change –– whether that’s in your marketing, your appearance, or in improving your relationship with your spouse –– you can’t say, “I’ll change 42.8 percent, but that’s all.” You need to be willing… or at least open… to considering many changes everywhere.

The goal of the website or any marketing component is to support the sales process. If the analysis of the extreme marketing makeover process shows that that’s not happening, changing only small part of the marketing and sales process isn’t going to do the job.

So I say, “Take the sacred cows out back and let them do what cows do. Then be willing to make the necessary improvements.”

Many years ago, I published and printed a personalized newsletter program that was used by over 100 direct mail companies throughout the U.S. These direct mail companies would take the newsletters we sent them – in quantities ranging from 500 to 5,000 – and mail them to their clients and prospects.

It was a great business and served us well until the invasion of the Internet. All of a sudden, direct mail processing centers that were once cookie cutter services of every other processing center, had personalities of their own.

We always used color photos in the newsletters to supplement the stories. Our hard and fast rule regarding the selection of photos was simply, “Offend no one.” This meant that if there was the slightest possibility that a photo we selected would be offensive to a prospect or client of one of the direct mail companies, we didn’t use it. That eliminated people smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages, wearing provocative or scant clothing, photos that were sexually suggestive, and so on.

In my book, How to Give Your Business an Extreme Marketing Makeover, I talk about how “points of constraint” can bring the sales process where to an abrupt stop. No progress can be made until the point of constraint is satisfactorily removed.

Price is often a point of constraint. A fear of change is another.

Points of constraint will occur in many sales processes. As business owners, our mission should be not to create any additional points of constraint.

So let me get to the point of this post.

I have bug bites. Lots of them. I don’t know where they came from, but they’re driving me crazy.

So rather than driving a mile to the national chain pharmacy, I decided to shop at the local pharmacy. I was greeted by extremely loud music. I don’t like loud music to begin with, but I certainly don’t like or appreciate loud rock ‘n roll. (Understand, that I was probably the youngest customer in the store. By the way, the choice of music was hardly suited for the audience.)

I didn’t stay long. It was really annoying. I left and headed to my trusty old nationally branded pharmacy chain.

I was offended by the music. I’m also offended when I’m waited on in a store by a young clerk with facial piercings, an over abundance of tattoos, or the aroma of a recently smoked cigarette.

Every business needs to look at every facet of their sales process (and prospect experience) and eliminate anything that could be construed as offensive. Unintentionally driving away 10 percent of your prospects could cost you 10 percent less in sales than you had a year ago.

Now, I know it’s impossible to find music that satisfies everyone. So, at least do the next best thing. Keep down the volume. Let it become part of an innocuous and inoffensive background that doesn’t draw attention to itself and doesn’t create an avoidable point of constraint.

Donna Maria Coles Johnson of Indie Business interviewed me live on Monday, May 2, 2011. The interview runs 30 minutes. If you’re not yet familiar with the 5 steps of my Extreme Marketing Makeover process, this is an easy way to learn what they are and why they’re important to the marketing makeover.

Thomas Cogan, writer for The Queens Gazette wrote an article for his publication that appeared on Wednesday, February 16, 2011.

Mr. Cogan not only reported that I was there, but did a terrific job of recapping my talk and summarizing the key points of the Extreme Marketing Makeover process.

You can read the entire article at http://www.qgazette.com/news/2011-02-16/Features/Sunnyside_Chamber_Meets.html.

After weeks of listening to a sales person and speaking with other people in the organization, I signed up for what I consider to be a relatively expensive business service.

During a very lengthy sales dance, the business service company was extremely attentive. They called. They sent materials. They invited me to sit in on WebEx demonstrations. They reeked of professionalism and efficiency. (You know where this is going, don’t you?)

So I made my payment by credit card. A few days later, I received (as promised) a first batch of materials with an instruction to call once they arrived and set a time to work with one of their staff members.

I called. Then I called again. I sent emails. I left messages. This went on for three weeks. No response. Not even an email or message: “Sorry, Gil, the dog ate the worksheet.”

Finally, with my low frustration tolerance boiling over, I left a message: “Cancel the deal. Return my money.”

Well, that did it. I got my call. The excuse had nothing to do with the dog eating the worksheet. It had to do with some “unexpected personnel changes.”

How long would it have taken them to send me an email that said, “Gil, we haven’t forgotten about you. Please sit tight. We’ll be in touch very soon.” (Actually, that took about 18 seconds.)

This service company like so many businesses places all of its marketing and sales process efforts on client attraction – bringing in as many new clients as possible every month.

What they’re apparently not doing is spending an equal amount of time, money, and effort to follow up after the sale.

They don’t realize that my satisfaction with this portion of the transaction ultimately determines how many people I will refer them to and visa versa, and how long I will choose to remain a client.

No matter how good everything turns out (and the jury is still out), I will not forget the couple of weeks that I lived in limbo thinking that the entire thing was a scam and that I had just thrown away a couple thousand dollars.

Once a prospect becomes a client, the number one job of every business is to nurture that relationship, open lines of communication, follow up, look for ways to exceed the client’s expectations, and so on. It’s all geared at keeping that client satisfied for years to come because a satisfied client will buy more and tell their friends how much they like doing business with you. And it’s ultimately and definitely more important than spending time looking for and selling to new prospects.

Whether it’s good news or bad news, all it takes to assure that clients remain clients for life is a little proactive communication on the part of the business.

PowerHomeBiz blog picked up one of my byline articles entitled Marketing Works Better When it Supports the Sales Process Directly.

The article is short, sweet, and to the point… summarizing the importance of thinking about marketing as a tool to support the sales process, rather than as an isolated activity. Here’s the link:

http://www.powerhomebiz.com/blog/2010/11/marketing-works-better-when-it-supports-the-sales-process-directly/

When I shared this story with a friend last week, he said it was “impossible to move a virtual office.” He may be right. But it doesn’t change the story or the moral of the story.

Readers of How to Give Your Business an Extreme Marketing Makeover know that I spend a great deal of time talking about how marketing must always support the sales process. I ultimately conclude that in doing an extreme marketing makeover of your own, one of the ways that you know you “have it right” is when you can’t tell the difference between marketing and the sales process.

So here’s the story. In order to pick up some extra services, I decided that it was time to relocate my virtual office on Madison Avenue. It’s primarily a mail drop, but there are times that I need conference room space, and too often, where I am now, it’s just not available.

I did my research online and found several near Grand Central Terminal that would work nicely. I visited the one that I thought would fill the bill.

I called to make an appointment and arrived at the appropriate time. When I walked into the office, I spoke with the receptionist. I explained that I had called and then outlined the services that I was looking for. Mail… a place to hang out between appointments, make calls, return emails… and office/conference space that would be more readily available.

The receptionist didn’t smile and she didn’t make eye contact. She quickly explained that they had three set programs and that for me to get what I wanted, I needed to buy a bigger package and simply not use some of the features.

I explained that most of the items on the list had no value to me. The receptionist didn’t budge.

Obviously, I didn’t stay long. As I left, I couldn’t help but imagine what this young woman’s training was from her supervisor consisted of, “Sit here. If someone comes it and wants space, here are our three packages.”

Somehow, in her training, the boss failed to mention that she was a vital part of the sales process. Her job was to sell something… and that if someone wanted something different or balked at the list, to call him.

I repeated the same activity at the second virtual office I visited. The response was, “Sure. Just let me know what you need and what you don’t need. It can give you just what you want.”

Perhaps I’m too critical of the way the world is and how people do their jobs. But I’m always grateful when businesses do things right.

For example, I walked into an Applebee’s recently and was greeted by a friendly, delightful hostess who seated us right away. On the way out, I happened to notice the rack where the menus are stored. (I missed it on the way in.) My trusty iPhone camera captured this and it made my day.

I wonder if a sign like that had been sitting on the counter at the first virtual office I visited if things would have been different.

I’ll never know because I’ll never go back. But I’ll go back to Applebee’s, if for not other reason than the culture that says, “We’re here to make your experience so wonderful that you’ll come back often and tell your friends.” Someone, somewhere, realized that having me come back and bring my friends for many years to come would be more valuable than saying, “Sorry, no substitutions. You’ll have to eat the carrots.”

Too many business owners and professionals think about email marketing as one-way communication. The problem is that when it’s one-way, you don’t know if anyone is listening or paying attention.

From my vantage point, email marketing – like all direct marketing – needs to be two-way. In other words, you need to get something back for what you’re giving away. That “something back” could be an email address, a telephone number, a request for additional information, a brief (two to three question) survey, a downloadable audio file, a link to a video, and so on.

When the recipient of one of your emails clicks through to a video, email marketing systems such as Constant Contact provide statistics that tell you that that specific recipient did, and when. With that information in hand, you can go back to that recipient with a phone call or additional email message that’s more tailored to the needs of the prospect or client.

Let me give you an example. I was recruited by a local business to help them increase the effectiveness of their email marketing. The problem was that they gave everything – too much – away in every message. They knew it was important to educate prospects and clients, so their email messages would include something like “10 best practices” articles.

When I came onboard, I replaced their “give away everything” messages with a two-step approach. I gave away “3 best practices,” but then said, “There are many more than 3 best practices. Click here to see them all.”

By doing this, we were able to see which prospects and clients clicked through. Depending on the campaign, this would initiate a phone call from one of the sales reps or result in sending them another report.

Now, the emails we send have numerous links. Depending on which link prospects and clients pursue, the company knows how best to respond.

When email marketing becomes two-way, it becomes a more powerful marketing tool.