Does your small business use the phone as a marketing tool? Whether you are personally using the phone to drum up business, or you have a dedicated sales staff, here are some tips to consider.

Tip #1 - Use Your Phone to Track

Wouldn’t it be nice to know which of your marketing efforts were paying off, and which campaigns were a waste of resources? Imagine the money you could save by not paying for useless campagns! Your phone can give you this ability!

I have been using a phone system called Freedom Voice for several years now. This phone system gives me the ability to generate as many extensions as I need, and tracks how many people dial in to each extension over each day, week, and month.

In other words, let’s say you have 1 newspaper ad and 1 direct mail campaign, and you’d like to see which is earning you more sales. Simply assign the newspaper ad 1 extension, and the direct mail campaign a seperate extension. When prospects call in and dial the extension found your ad or direct mailer, the system will track.

At the end of teh week or month you can pull up a report to see which campaign to keep and which campaign is a waste of your marketing dollars. Of course you don’t need a Freedom Voice system to accomplish this. But it sure as heck makes things a lot easier!

2. Collect email -

One of my most valuable assets as a business owner is my list of email addresses. Sales sagging? All I have to do is run a promotion and send out an email to all 4,700+ individuals who have requested to be on my list! Even a 1/2 of 1 percent response is quite profitable.

Where did I get this list of 4,700 email addresses? I asked for them! (In more than 1 way of course) One practice that has stuck with me like glue has been the habit of asking for an email address on every phone call. When someone calls my business, they will be asked: “Oh by the way - Each week I send out great marketing tips and articles via email… This newsletter is filled with excellent advice that will also give you a glimpse of what The legendary Marketer has to offer. Would you like me to send you this newsletter as well? You can opt out at any time if you don’t find it useful…”

That’s it! Takes 7 seconds, and more than 80% of my callers say “yes” and give me their email address. At hundreds of inbound calls each month, (Counting unique callers - Not existing clients) this list has grown quickly. Is there anything stopping you from doing the same?

This email list will be far more responsive than purchasing a bulk list because these people are expecting an email from you, and have an interest in your products or services. (Hey, they called you right?)

There you have it! 2 quick tips on how to use the phone to increase your profits beginning this month. Identify and cut out wasteful marketing campaigns, and build a valuable resource that increase profits whenever you click that “send” button. Let me know how it works for you ok?