5 reasons I think Apple has lost their edge. A rant.
Don’t get me wrong. Anyone who knows me is probably laughing because they know I have Apple products all over the place. I have an… Read More
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Helping you qualify, cultivate and prioritize major donors and legacy supporters so you can have fun closing more gifts more efficiently.
Jul
28
2010
Jul
20
2010
Why we'd rather see you call an inactive customer before engaging in SEO marketing.
In my last post I told you why I hated SEO and SEO firms. But I also mentioned that we (at MarketSmart) recommend you have… Read More
Jul
15
2010
5 reasons to be frustrated with SEO and SEO firms.
Alright. I’ve been holding back on this post for a long, long time. But I just can’t hold my breath any longer. SEO is ticking… Read More
Jul
06
2010
How to dramatically cut postage, printing and fulfillment costs while reducing your impact on the environment.
Regularly sending out lots of information to prospects, clients, or customers? How are you doing that? Is it time consuming? Are the packets messy? Lots… Read More
Jun
29
2010
How the new rules of marketing apply to planned giving. (A SmartGiftmaker® blog post)
If your organization desperately needs to generate more planned gifts, bequests, charitable gift annuities, etc… it’s time for you to embrace the new rules of… Read More
Jun
23
2010
Raise your hand if your marketing and sales teams don’t seem to dance well together.
Marketing and sales efforts working together? NOT! Right? How about this…. Are your marketing and sales teams even talking to each other? We’ve heard it… Read More
Jun
12
2010
What's your objective?
In an attempt to generate leads and grow her business, I had one client recently say, “I’m thinking of placing some ads in the local… Read More
Jun
03
2010
When in doubt… ask a question.
The most powerful tool a salesperson possesses is a question. Sure, enthusiasm and creativity will get you pretty far. Some people can sell ice to… Read More
Jun
01
2010
3 easy recommendations for improving your batting average with cold (or warm) calls.
Don’t “wing-it!” That’s what most sales people do. They wing-it. They know they need to make some sales calls to follow-up on leads. So they… Read More
May
12
2010
How to avoid screwing up your leads!
Ok. I know someone will tell me that I should be more professional and should have titled this post something gentle like “Ways to improve… Read More
May
06
2010
5 reasons why customers defect
We’ve talked about the 80/20 rule and why you should focus on the 20% of your clients who (most-likely) generate 80% of your profits. And… Read More
Apr
27
2010
3 Steps to Figure Out Which Email Subject Line Will Perform Best
So you’re scratching your head wondering which subject line will get your email blast opened and read, right? Scratch no further. Here’s how we choose… Read More
Apr
23
2010
The 80/20 rule!!!
I can’t tell you how many times I see people, sales people, marketers and companies forget about the 80/20 rule. Could it be that they… Read More
Apr
20
2010
The number one thing to do in order to close a sale.
Shut up! Really. I’ll never forget one of the harshest lessons I ever learned in business. I was 22 years old selling advertising space for… Read More
Apr
16
2010
Real handwriting generates 14% response rate. Wow!
How many times have you received direct mail with your name on it? How many times has the letter had a signature at the bottom?… Read More
Apr
15
2010
The press release, the bin and the trash can.
The press release, the bin and the trash can. Waaaaaayyyy back… I worked for a newspaper called The Journal. There was a fax machine that… Read More
Apr
12
2010
UPDATE to: 4 ways to really offend people with your email marketing efforts.
So the super-short post about emails and how they offend people got some people to ask me to elaborate. So here goes… 1- Offer no… Read More
Apr
08
2010
Increase sales more cost-efficiently- 3 steps to get your data cleaned up.
Everyone knows that marketing and sales is a numbers game. But I bet your numbers are sloppy because your data is sloppy. Don’t feel bad. … Read More
Apr
03
2010
Success vs. Achievement (smart philosophy from MarketSmart)
People are mixed up about two very important words- success and achievement. A Thesaurus will tell you that success is achievement and achievement is success…. Read More
Mar
19
2010
The Superbowl, the web, social media and "did it work???"
The Superbowl happened and the results are in. This year more marketers tried to infuse a multi-channel marketing approach into the Superbowl than in any… Read More
Mar
17
2010
4 ways to really offend people with your email marketing efforts.
1- Offer no way to unsubcribe. 2- Make it really difficult to unsubscribe. 3- Try to trick people in one way or another. 4- Send… Read More
Mar
17
2010
Three things you should never do when making a cold call.
Reading time for this entry: Under 3 minutes. 1- Never start off by saying, “Hi. My name is (insert name the prospect could care less… Read More
Get the book!
Feeling like your job is getting harder because donor expectations have changed and competition for the charitable dollar is growing?
Finding that the old orthodoxies and conventions espoused by so-called experts in online echo-chambers and at conferences don’t work anymore?
Want to help more people make impact by facilitating their acts of philanthropy but feel like too many obstacles keep getting in your way?
Then this book is for you.
Engagement Fundraising was developed from the perspective of a donor who discovered firsthand that the impersonal, spray-and-pray approaches of his beloved charity were not only offensive but also wasteful and ineffective. So he took action. And now, you can too.
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