What would you say is the best restaurant in the world? Spagos? Capische? Andre’s? Well, I guess it all depends on your definition of the word best. So, let’s redefine the question: What would you say is the most financially successful restaurant in the world? With the question rephrased, you should have answered “McDonald’s.” Of course, few people (over age twelve) would say that McDonald’s is the “best” restaurant in the world, so why is it the most successful? The answer is that McDonald’s success is a measure of their marketing proficiency. So, what exactly allows McDonald’s to sell billions of dollars of food each year? It really comes down to one key marketing strategy: frequency. Frequency simply means that McDonald’s has a high level of consistent exposure in the marketplace. McDonald’s many locations and consistent advertising make it the most recognizable brand in their industry. Marketers call this establishing “top-of-mind awareness.” By effectively using this strategy, McDonald’s is able to outsell the best restaurants in the world despite the fact that McDonald’s product would seldom be considered as the best. Of course, you are not McDonald’s. In fact, your marketing budget pales in comparison to the mega-corporation. However, frequency, the primary marketing strategy used by McDonald’s, works for every product or service, whether it’s movies, iPods, dry cleaning, or dentistry. Frequency of exposure is the key to growing your practice. It’s just a matter of applying the strategy effectively to your particular situation.

WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY?

So, let’s talk about frequency by comparing the marketing strategies of two doctors: Dr. Blue and Dr. Green. Both doctors have great clinical skills, facilities, and patient care. They both have superb teams, and they both rely on referrals to bring in new patients. In fact, their practices are really quite similar in many ways, except for the fact that Dr. Green consistently attracts many more new patients than Dr. Blue. Let’s look at how the two practices market themselves using frequency, starting with Dr. Blue. His primary marketing tactics consist of running a yellow pages ad and a weekly newspaper ad, asking for referrals when appropriate, and trying to provide great customer service so patients will refer their friends. These aren’t bad strategies, but they don’t provide very high frequency of exposure to prospective patients. The yellow pages ad is great, but only works when people are specifically looking for a dentist. It’s also very expensive since every other dentist in town has a full-page ad too. The newspaper ad, on the other hand, is pretty inexpensive, but it’s small and, since many people don’t read the whole paper consistently, prospects often don’t even notice the ad. Asking for referrals should be effective, but the team is unenthused about “begging” for new patients, and Dr. Blue gets tired of carrying the load. Finally, great customer service does pay off, but most patients are seen only once every six months, which means the practice only has a chance to implement this tactic twice each year. These common marketing tactics do work. But, as you can see, the total frequency of exposure for Dr. Blue’s practice is really quite low, and it could take forever to get top-of-mind awareness with just these tactics. Now, let’s look at Dr. Green’s marketing strategy. Remember, these practices are practically the same-except for one thing-Dr. Green understands the power of frequency.

Advertising

Like most successful business leaders, Dr. Green knows that advertising is a key to establishing top-of-mind awareness. Consistent advertising won’t hypnotize prospects, but it will increase awareness over time by increasing frequency of contact with prospects and current patients. This increased awareness leads to more referrals and awareness in the community. Dr. Green is also careful to invest her money wisely. She tried a big yellow pages ad once but found that it became more expensive every year and seemed to draw fewer quality new patients. She also tends to avoid television, radio, and newspaper ads. Although these tactics can sometimes be a good investment, the advertising rates for these mediums are usually based on a very large distribution area-the entire city. Dr. Green’s practice statistics report, however, shows that 80 percent of her patients come from three zip codes. Taking her strategy from major companies that only advertise on television programs or in publications that target their core demographic (you don’t see ads for toys on Law and Order), Dr. Green targets her marketing efforts to focus only on her core demographic. She does this by mailing professional, full-color brochures to key households in her core market at regular intervals. And, although she doesn’t expect the mailer to hypnotize prospects into calling, she finds that prospects do begin to recognize her name after several mailings. Also, since prospects can keep a brochure if they aren’t ready to call, the mailers last a lot longer than most other advertising would. Of course, Dr. Green knows there is no “magic pill.” So, advertising is just a piece of her marketing program.

The Telephone

Remember, higher frequency of contact leads to more referrals and case acceptance. In fact, sales trainers will tell you that most sales are made after the third contact. This is because multiple exposures help to establish trust. But frequent contact is difficult in dentistry, because most healthy patients are seen only once every six months. So Dr. Green combats this problem by making two after-care calls every day, effectively increasing her frequency of contact with good patients. Dr. Green also calls every new patient prior to their first visit. She finds that this helps establish rapport with the patient and makes them more comfortable during the appointment. It’s as if she’s already briefly met everyone who comes in for an exam. Don’t be fooled into thinking these calls are a simplistic strategy. In the course of a year, by investing just several minutes each day, Dr. Green has 600 more one-on-one contacts with good patients than her competitor, Dr. Blue. Dr. Green knows that these 600 contacts combined with consistent advertising give her a substantial edge.

Acknowledging Referrals

Although advertising is foundational to Dr. Green’s strategy, she gains most of her new patients from referrals. So she and her team acknowledge every referral with a $10 gift certificate to Starbucks. This, of course, increases frequency of contact with the referral source-not just when they receive the card, but also each time they use it.

Handwritten Notes

Dr. Green looks for easy ways to increase her frequency of contact beyond Dr. Blue’s average of two contacts per year. So she and her team send three handwritten notes to patients every day. The notes-whether for an anniversary, a birthday, a simple hello, or to send stickers to a child-all help increase frequency of contact with her best patients.

The Local-Wide Web

Dr. Green also makes use of the power of the web. But it’s not what you think. Instead of trying to attract patients from the Internet like it’s some glorified yellow pages directory, she has her staff direct new patients to the website to fill out their health histories before their first visit. This not only increases her contact with the patient, but also improves the odds of patients showing up for their first visit. Current patients are also sent to the site for additional information on needed treatment, enabling spouses (who were not present during the case presentation) to learn more. Of course, this also leads to more referrals when patients occasionally tell friends that they can also visit Dr. Green’s site for treatment information. Finally, the site helps “close” prospects who receive Dr. Green’s mailers by increasing frequency. That’s because prospects often prefer to visit a website to gather more information before calling to schedule an appointment. For many of today’s consumers, a good website is a predictor of quality service. (And I’m sure that, if you’ll admit it, you’ve based some purchase decisions partly on the quality of a website too.)

The Power of Frequency

Of course, Dr. Green does a few more simple things to increase her frequency of exposure-but I think you get the point. Each and every tactic is designed to slightly increase contact with patients and prospects. In the end, Dr. Green has many thousands of contacts each year-both directly and through advertising-with her key prospects and patients. Dr. Blue, however, has only a fraction of that exposure. This gives Dr. Green a significant edge over her competitor.

CONSISTENCY: THE BEST INVESTMENT

Consider this… Marketing is not a direct-results science. In other words, marketing is not about doing something and always getting an immediate result. Instead, marketing is like gambling-it’s about odds over time. In other words, Dr. Green doesn’t always get referrals because of a higher frequency of contact than Dr. Blue. Nor does Doctor Blue never get a referral because the frequency of contact is lower. However, the odds over time are that Dr. Green will get more referrals because the higher frequency of contact creates “top-of-mind awareness.” This means that each contact increases the odds that her name will come up at the right time-the time when potential patients are thinking about going to a dentist.

WHAT’S IT ALL WORTH?

By now, you are probably thinking that this “frequency” strategy just might work. It sure seems logical. If you get thousands of additional contacts over time, you’re bound to get more new patients. But you’re still wondering if it’s really worth it. What about “return on investment”? Well, let’s take a look at Dr. Green’s practice once again and use it as a prototype. First, let’s estimate the value of a patient by assuming that Dr. Green currently averages about $500 per year in production per active patient. Let’s also assume that her average patient stays in the practice for seven years. That means that her average new patient is worth about $3,500. (Of course, some patients invest $350 and are never seen again and some invest $15,000 or more over a lifetime-but $3,500 is a realistic average for a good clinician attracting decent quality new patients.) Now, let’s assume that Dr. Green’s thousands of additional impressions increase her average new patient flow from twelve to eighteen patients per month-an increase of just six patients per month. Let’s also say that she plans to practice for twenty more years before retiring. In this case, consistent marketing will increase Dr. Green’s production over the course of her career by about $5 million. (You can do the math if you want.) In contrast, her total marketing investment over the twenty years would be about $250,000 and fifteen minutes per day. If $5 million in production doesn’t jazz you, then take a look at Dr. Green’s net profit. Because fixed overhead (rent, equipment, facility costs, staff salaries, etc.) is paid on the first dollars of production each month, any increase in production is about 70 percent profit. (The other 30 percent goes to supplies, lab fees, and some increased salaries.) This means that, after marketing costs, Dr. Green could net an additional $3.25 million! Of course, I’m oversimplifying, but you get the idea. Even a slight increase in quality new patient flow could easily earn millions.

THE COLOR OF MONEY

The key, of course, is to think like Dr. Green, who markets her practice consistently to the right prospects. Unlike Dr. Blue, she doesn’t rely on random chance and coincidence to drive patients into her practice. Rather than waiting for someone who wants an extraction to stumble onto a yellow pages ad, she and her team take consistent action 192 days per year, every single year, to increase their frequency of exposure in the marketplace. And this is the power of marketing: frequent exposure applied consistently over time generating big results. So, start increasing your frequency now, and maybe your practice will begin to look just a little bit like Dr. Green’s. After all, it is the color of money.

Buying Through an Agent or Buying Direct from the Seller.

The boom and bust of the Spanish property market is fast drawing to a close with ever diminishing supplies of ‘bargain basement’ properties on offer. Savvy owners who know the real value of their properties refuse to be swept along by the sheer panic being installed into the others by ruthless property agents and fortune seekers alike.

Some of these agents have little or no interest in their clients who are trying to sell and they willfully drive the sellers prices down to ensure that they continue to achieve their margins – come what may. These agents make little or no effort beyond, listing the property on the internet and a quick showing in their shop window for a few days. Ashamedly, most of these Agents are British.

Over recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of sellers listing their properties themselves. This means that they can offer a real discount to prospective buyers of around 5% of the sale price by not having to pay an agent this money!

Agents will tell prospective buyers that they are able to protect them against unscrupulous sellers but who protects the buyers from unscrupulous agents?

Just 5 or 6 years ago, some Agents in Spain were charging up to 10% of the sale price in fees whilst in the UK the charges were often less than 1%

What can an Agent offer that a Private Seller Cannot?

*Most offer free transport from your hotel to the viewing and back

*They have a selection of properties in a variety of areas to show you

*They can negotiate on your behalf with the seller over price

*They can point you in the direction of their favorite lawyer

*They will sometimes collect and return you to the airport for free

*They will email you frequently to update you about properties and prices**

*They can sometimes Speak a Language that Some Sellers Cannot

What are the Advantages of Dealing Direct with the Seller?

*The Seller strips the Agent’s fees out of the price – The Buyer gets 5% discount

*Most Sellers know instinctively how far they can go on price reductions

*Sellers know their way around their own home, Agents seldom do

*The Buyer can ask any questions directly without fear of later contradiction

*The Seller can explain exactly how the Buyer can get the best out of the property

*The Buyer can agree all the arrangements with the Seller without complications

*The Seller can be just as helpful in directing you to a number of lawyers

*The Buyer can generally communicate 24/7 with the Seller but not with an Agent

*Some Sellers do speak more than one European language

*With the Seller you have as much time as you want to inspect and re-inspect

There is now an abundance of websites advertising Direct Sales by Owners, why give 5% to the Agents for their mediocre efforts?

This situation is much the same whether you are buying in Spain, France, Italy, Greece or anywhere else on the Mediterranean.

Living in Spain.

Spain continues to be the favorite hunting ground for property and the English in particular have had a long love affair with Spain. The German people love it here too and thousands have made their home here accompanied by the French, Dutch, Belgians, Swiss and more recently the Russians.

Broadly speaking there are few coastal places in Europe as beautiful as the Costa Blanca region and in particular around Moraira. This area of Spain is considered by the World Health Organisation to be one of the top places to live a long life.

Despite the hard time that Europe in general and Spain, Italy and Greece in particular are going through, there are many valid reasons for living here.

Climate.

Spain enjoys long hot periods throughout the summer months and mostly bright sunny days throughout the winter months. When it rains it pours but when that is over and done with – the sun shines again!

The Rain in Spain does not fall mainly on the plain. It falls along the coastal regions too and sometimes there are disasters as occur in all of Europe and elsewhere.

The winter nights are cool and often very cold since Spain is a cold country with a lot of sunshine. Those retiring here will need their Winter Fuel Allowance just as they did in the UK but over a shorter period of time.

Sometimes high winds develop out of the blue and then die down to a mere whisper. A gentle breeze in the hottest months is a joy to behold!

Environment.

It is clean and the air smells sweet! There are not many factories belching out obnoxious fumes if any. The ‘ITV’ test, which is the equivalent of the UK MOT, ensures that Motor Vehicles do not pollute the atmosphere.

Scenery.

Altogether, the scenery in this area is breathtaking. Whether you are travelling along a coastal road or passing through the mountains and valleys there is always a wow factor about what is there for you to see. Places like Guadalest and various waterfalls like Fonts D’Algar are major tourist attractions. When you live here you can visit them as often as you like.

Safety.

Spain like any other country has its crime and crime statistics but the police here are far less tolerant of thugs, hooligans and general misconduct. Generally people can go about their business without being molested.

However, people driving from airports in rental cars should ensure that they are not being followed by carrying out simple checks.

Occasionally there are small gangs of non-Spanish origination that do follow rental cars around suspecting that the occupants might be unsure of their directions and a little gullible. Never stop on a motorway unless there is a serious accident or the road is blocked or you are directed to do so by police.

The writer has found the situation here to be vastly better than in the UK.

Food.

Fresh vegetables, meat, fish and poultry are readily available in all shopping areas and the range of products is extremely wide. There are outdoor markets during all weekdays in differing towns and a profusion of very modern Supermarkets are dotted about throughout the area.

Supermarkets have improved significantly during the period that the writer has lived in the area (9 years). A number of large Supermarket groups could now easily match and ofttimes better the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys.

Eight or nine years ago it was almost impossible to find a food shop open on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. now most Supermarkets are open all day on Saturdays and until lunchtime on Sundays.

Food Price

Spain`s entry into the Euro brought with it increased pricing in just about everything as the country struggled to match the expectations of their senior partners in Central and Northern Europe. however, food prices are still lower than most of these countries and the quality is absolutely fine.

Alcohol.

Alcohol is still cheaper in Spain than most Northern European countries but be warned – there is a growing intolerance to drink-driving here and the legal limit is lower than the UK. There are moves afoot to move to a Zero Tolerance situation.

The cost of a taxi pales into insignificance when compared to the loss of an innocent victims life or the lives of passengers travelling with a drunk driver.

Eating Out.

One of the most enjoyable activities here is to take your lunch or dinner at one of the multitude of restaurants around. There are innumerable choices with just about every dish generally available throughout the world – on offer here.

Eating In.

Eating at home can be just as pleasurable as eating out! most people have a terrace with a view and sufficient shade to enjoy eating outside for most of the year. It is a lot cheaper and you can have a drink without worrying about getting home. You can even light the BBQ and sizzle a few sausages, steaks and the like!

Swimming.

There are numerous beautiful sandy beaches where one can swim or bathe or sunbathe along the road from Moraira to Calpe, or around Javea and Denia and most people have their own private pool to swim whenever they want in the day and into the night! If you budget can stand it, have a pool heating system installed and be able to swim all year round. Be warned, the air temperatures reach very high levels in Summer.

Education.

for those with young families, there are both public and private schools available according to their means. Education standards are pretty much on par with Europe in general with all subjects delivered in the national language and or a regional language like Valenciano or Catalunian, depending upon where you choose to settle.

The Spanish people absolutely dote on children and always put them first.

Healthcare.

For retired people there is the option to go private or use the public health services having at first applied for a SIPP card. For Pensioners and their dependents, the British Government has a reciprocal arrangement with Spain and other countries but not all have the same. This means that your government picks up the bill for your medical costs including hospital treatment.

Hospitals are excellent and very clean despite swinging cuts taking place right now and medical staff are both skillful and in many cases do speak some English. Generally speaking however, one is advised to use the services of an economic translator if your Spanish language skills are poor.

Language.

There are a lot of ex-pats from the UK in this area and English is widely spoken as too is German. Many of the local communities and Town Halls hold low-cost Spanish language classes for adults of all nationalities. The writer often has conversations in French and German with peoples from those countries living here.

Transport.

Public transport is available in some areas and is generally cheap and comfortable but most people will need their own car if only to do the weekly shop and explore the countryside.

Taxis are quite widely available but there are very strict laws against anyone using their private vehicle for hire or reward. Collecting family or friends from airports like Alicante or Valencia can sometimes be challenged by the police who might mistake you as trying to operate on a hire basis. Providing you can reassure them that your passengers are family or friends they will make their farewells and leave you to get on.

Fuel Costs.

for a long time, the cost of petrol and diesel was considerably cheaper than the rest of Europe but Spain has all but caught up. At today’s date unleaded 95 is 1.52 Euros a Litre. With the pound Sterling fetching just over 1.20 Euros at the time of this article, that equates to 1.27GBP.

Tax.

House Tax or ‘IBI’ as it is called here, is around €500 p.a. for a 3 bed, 3 bath detached villa with private pool, considerable less than it would be in the UK. It is collected from your bank by the local office.

‘Suma’, is the equivalent of car tax and also rubbish collection from the various bins you are invited to take your waste to. It works out at about 250 Euros in total and along with the ‘IBI’ it can if you apply in time, be collected over 6 months.

Income tax has a top rate of around 45 % which is similar to the UK and is payable on a P.A.Y.E basis or Self-Employment along with Social Security charges if you work here.

Under a reciprocal arrangement with the UK government you should avoid UK tax if you register to pay tax in Spain on your income from the UK – typically pensions.

Spain is altogether an amazing place to live providing that you don’t live in an isolated or insular way. Interact with the people and you will enjoy living here.

The Euro will surely survive but if it doesn’t there will always be the good old Peseta! Spain is working hard like Britain to clear its debts and better times will return. Property prices will rise again and investments will be sound.

Come and join us and find your home in the sun!

Whenever you decide to start looking for your home in Spain, why not consider the properties that people themselves are advertising at discount prices? There are always some real bargains to be had. Dealing with a vendor directly cannot harm you health or wealth and you will have no less legal protection than you would have by using an Agent! The laws applying to the Sales and Purchase arrangements are exactly the same. Both sides choose their own lawyer and as with a sale through an Agent, the final agreement is always completed before the Notary or Notaire. When you deal face to face you can be more sure of the state of play than with a third party involved and it can be a pleasant experience.

Some of the questions racing through your mind can be asked and answered in one day not through a series of disjointed telephone calls or emails over days or weeks. Invariably all the answers to your questions are rooted in the person you are negotiating with and you are looking at! My young family and I are moving to France to pursue some business activity there and our fabulous villa is for sale. We will miss this wonderful scenery around us.

SponsorDaddy has been around for about two years ans is an Internet and Email Marketing System. It is simple to use and explain and very replicable. It has some great features including a strong presentation about itself. It can free up a lot of your time now spent marketing in other ways. How does it work and how well does it work?

It depends on what you intend it to do. When you join you receive two duplicate websites. One that offers the SponsorDaddy System to others and one that allows you to offer up to three of your current income opportunities. Let’s say you are already involved in Internet Network Marketing and you are offering people an opportunity to join your Health or Beverage Products Company.

You would send your prospects to your SponsorDaddy website link. As a member their System will automatically send out emails to 10K opt in leads, people who are interested in joining an income opportunity online. It then follows up on your leads and any prospects and attempts to convert them to sales. So is it just an auto responder service? No.

The first page of the website explains the benefits of joining a home based business, perhaps breaking down any prejudice someone may have against network marketing. It then directs people to you as a potential sponsor and works to build a relationship for you with the prospect. It then works to encourage the prospect to consider your Opportunity or Product. As far as I know, SponsorDaddy is the first complete system that merges the explanation of the home based industry in general with an automated prospecting and follow up system.

In addition to this, The SponsorDaddy Marketing System also attempts to interest prospects in itself. The specific site they use for this is SponsorDaddy. This is basically the same website, however, it directs prospects to joining SponsorDaddy as a business or income opportunity as compared to directing them to your number one income opportunity.

SponsorDaddy makes it possible for you to earn back your initial Enrollment fee by sponsoring four new members into the program. It also makes it possible for you to earn as much as $10K per week through their Binary Compensation Plan. Obviously, at some point you could potentially earn enough to pay for your monthly plan, thus making the whole system free. The key to this possibility is whether the whole System works. Does it?

As a former member, I can’t say that it did. However, as the system has expanded, it had a lot more to offer. Did it work? In my experience, I didn’t believe so. Too many people were interested in the sponsordaddy system as compared to any opportunity I had to offer. And the bottom line is, that’s what’s wrong with just about all “marketing systems”. They direct people to the system and not to the individual.

What advantage was there to this Marketing Program over others I’ve used? It saves you valuable time. It also puts all your leads and prospects in one single source. It also sends out messages to the leads that come with the system or through the monthly plan (starting at $25.00) that you become a part of. In other words, you join and let the system do most of the work.

This System is especially easy and beneficial for new networkers who don’t know how to use an auto responder, don’t know how to write sales letters, don’t know how to do spam compliant email marketing and probably can’t afford all the built in features separately. What are these?

Video emails, live actors, lead capture pages, tracking and movies. The trends and introduction to SponsorDaddy clearly explains that this System utilizes all the key ingredients for Marketing through Social Networking and Videos which is the current trend on the Internet. After all, it doesn’t matter if you have the greatest product on earth if no one hears about it or you. Marketing is the key to your financial future. I wasn’t convinced that SponsorDaddy is your ticket to make it happen.

What is Email Marketing?

Over the past ten years email marketing has taken its place amongst the top most effective direct marketing campaigns being used. With the economy still struggling to revive itself and competition more fierce than ever, business professionals are having to re-evaluate how they market their services and products in a cost-effective way. Electronic marketing via email, Facebook and other social mediums has become monumentally important in these times.

Email marketing in basic terms is the use of electronic communications, or emails, in direct marketing schemes. How it works is that a customer or potential customer provides your company with an email address. This may be collected on customer satisfaction surveys, at booths during social events, through referrals and so on. You or your marketing director would then put together some sort of promotional material, such as a flyer, newsletter or coupon page, which could be easily attached and emailed to return and potential customers.

Email marketing is ideal for creating relationships with your customers. This gives you an opportunity to let them know a bit about yourself and your company. The more familiar they feel, the more loyal they are bound to be and the more business comes your way. Sending newsletters can be effective and can make customers feel that they are “in the know”. Try to make them both informational and entertaining. Humour can be a positive aspect of a company newsletter. Another option is to send coupons via email for services or products. Use this tool wisely and the return on investment could be great.

To determine whether or not email and social marketing is working for your company, track the results and compare them with other types of marketing you are utilizing. Just be cautious when studying spamming laws and other Internet ethical guidelines to make sure you are not violating any rules. Remember, you want to entice the customers, not irritate them.

Ultimately, electronic direct marketing is low-cost and can bring in business on a tight budget, so it is certainly worth exploring in these difficult economic times.