hugh Tafel

Profit Accelerator

While the Feds on both sides of the US/CAN border are crowing that prices increased less than expected last month - I'm pretty sure most of you didn’t experience it. If anything, officials are understating inflation by large margins.

So, when a friend of ours crowed about his sales success, based on a conversation we'd had about how businesses should handle the new, inflationary environment, we naturally wanted to hear more.

"Well," he said, "when I have a customer hemming and hawing about a piece that I can see they want, but are reluctant to buy now, I simply tell them this.

"You know, prices are going up next month, probably by 10%, you might want to consider buying this now."

"It's amazing how fast they get their credit card out to avoid the increase."

This is an excellent example of using the common knowledge of rising prices and stating confidently, to your customers, that prices are and will rise. Why wait until then?

Naturally, you need to have a good product or service. Ideally unique or with that perception.

Next, you need to have both a sales process and trained, experienced salespeople, to know with whom and when, a close like that might be effective.

As I've written on these pages countless times before, you want to have a system in place where you can and do, increase prices, on a systematic basis. It would be even better, if in addition to this, you have different packages, each more expensive than the next.

You'd be amazed how much more your affluent customers will buy if you had higher priced items available.

These strategies of increasing prices and bundling services and products together are two of the 12 key strategies we use to help our clients achieve exponential revenue and profit gains, in as little as 60-90 days.

You can see what results are possible for your own business by heading to: Hugh Tafel

Over the past several weeks, we've been discussing the fundamentals of marketing...

* have something good to say
* say it well
* say it often
* *Click here to review the video that explains the important factors that led to the creation of these fundamentals.

Last week we continued our discussion about the second fundamental... say it well.

We discussed the *"magic formula"* that will enable you to write powerhouse marketing.

The magic formula is called the *"Conversion Equation,"* and it looks like this...

*Interrupt, Engage, Educate and Offer*

As a brief review, the Interrupt refers to a problem-based, attention-grabbing headline.

The Engage is a subheadline that promises a solution to the problem referenced in the headline.

The Educate provides the solution and backs it up with evidence and proof.

And the Offer compels the prospect to take action by providing VALUE.

*It's absolutely critical that you know and understand how to use this "Conversion Equation,"* and I promised that this week I would provide you with before and after examples that will prove to you the absolute power of this amazing formula.

* *Click here and check out these two websites (they should look familiar to you).

Notice how the "After" site follows the *Conversion Equation* to the letter, and will result in this child psychologist gaining the ability to out-market and out-sell every other child psychologist hands down.

This child psychologist specializes in helping adolescents with a range of problems from emotional and behavioral issues to teen pregnancy and bullying.

*In the psychologist's "Before" site, notice how he attempts to target ALL of the prospects who may have a need for one of more of his services.*

This makes it impossible to speak directly to any of them with a targeted, problem-based headline... or a subheadline promising a specific solution.

Obviously there is a BIG difference in the messaging for a parent needing help with bullying issues versus a pregnant teen (can you say "day and night").

*But in the "After" site, the psychologist is addressing only the parents with kids suffering with emotional and behavioral problems, and therefore gains the ability to speak to them directly and target their hot button, problem-based issues.*

Now listen, that does NOT mean this psychologist can't continue to treat the other conditions as well.

But to do so effectively, he MUST develop a separate site for EACH of the conditions he treats.

Then he MUST create targeted marketing that directs the right prospects to each individual site.

As an example, he could run a pay-per-click campaign on Facebook with an ad that says... *Sick and Tired of Your Child's Belligerent Attitude?*

Anyone clicking on that ad would be instantly transported to the "After" site where most (if not all) would request the doctor's informational offer... mainly because of the value it promises, coupled with the fact it is NO RISK to the prospect (they don't have to speak directly with anyone).

Then the psychologist could run a second Facebook ad that said... Child Being Bullied - Here's What All Parents Should Know!... and then those parents will be directed to the psychologist's "bullying" site.

*Now answer this question... how many child psychologist's are currently doing anything like this?*

Simple answer... NONE! ZERO! NADA! ZIPPO!

*THIS is the great opportunity that is being handed to you right now!*

99.9% of business owners have NO clue that this is the key to effective marketing, and now YOU have the knowledge to implement this in your business... and if you do, you will begin to dominate your market.

*But there is a reason WHY this works this way, and next week I'll share that secret with you!*

The *calm before the storm*.

Two stories here for you, with lessons for business.

One is the storm that is coming, if it hasn???t hit you yet.

Here are some facts from Heritage.com:

New data released Thursday showed *prices have risen 13.7%* since President Biden took office, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI). The overall price level declined 0.1% last month but increased 6.5% in 2022, a year which saw four-decade-high inflation. Even as the increase in the CPI slows, many consumer staples remain highly elevated compared to the start of the Biden administration: eggs are up *189.9%,* ground beef *21.1%,* gasoline *44.3%,* electricity *21.3%,* transportation services *19.5%,* and housing *11.8%*.

EJ Antoni, research fellow in regional economics with The Heritage Foundation???s Center for Data Analysis, released the following statement Thursday on the latest data:

Biden's presidency has been marked by excessive spending, borrowing, and printing of money by the federal government. The result has been an appalling rise in inflation to levels not seen in 40 years.

If you are wondering where the government got the trillions of dollars in extra spending over the last two years, they are taking it out of your hide right now through the *hidden tax of inflation*. Every time you put gas in your tank or groceries in your back seat, you are paying Biden???s inflation tax.

Prices have risen so much faster than wages that the *average family has lost $6,000* in purchasing power. As the Federal Reserve belatedly raises interest rates to fight the very inflation it helped cause, interest rates are rising fast*, increasing borrowing costs by $1,400*. Combined with falling real wages, the *average family has effectively lost $7,400* in annual income since Biden took office.

I don't have Canada's figures, but anecdotally, likely the same or worse.

I've written about this already in past articles. The average consumer has *less disposable income* than before and as a result - will be spending less in the foreseeable future. If the average consumer is your target market - then you need to ensure you are the one and only option for them and 2) you have a strategy that ensures you have excellent profit margins, with pricing increases planned.

I've written about this already in past articles. The average consumer has *less disposable income* than before and as a result - will be spending less in the foreseeable future. If the average consumer is your target market - then you need to ensure you are the one and only option for them and 2) you have a strategy that ensures you have excellent profit margins, with pricing increases planned.

The other lesson follows last week's missive on mistakes businesses make with their advertising and promotions.

When I was younger, weather forecasters would talk about an upcoming */cold front/*, when referring to colder temperatures on the horizon.

But not anymore. Now such an event is called a *Polar Vortex!* Or an extreme *Arctic Front*.

Forecasters in the US would often call this air flow a Canadian Front but even they now, seem to prefer the *Vortex* label.

Why? Like a good headline ??? it pulls in readers. The more readers they get, the more they can charge the advertisers on their sites.

Look at any newspaper or news site you read. Notice both the large type face and sensationalism of the headlines.

A good headline can make or break your ad. Spend a lot of time on it. If you don't *Interrupt* your audience, you might as well not submit an ad at all. That???s how important it is.

Here's a + Free Resource to help you evaluate your promotions.