Welcome to the end of the year special edition of SpeakerSue's Ezine! Why is this a special edition? When you see the holiday specials, you'll know why!

Holiday special #1: Promo code — HAPPYHOLIDAY — for free download: How to send the perfect holiday email

Holiday special #2: New subject line research that will change the way you write - and the results you get

Holiday special #3: Fresh ideas to save you money and sell more

SPECIAL, SPECIAL BONUS! Shhhhh!

Holiday special #1: Promo code - HAPPYHOLIDAY- for free download: How to Send the Perfect Holiday Email: Why Generic is Worse Than Nothing
Holiday email messages take nothing but your time so if you're sitting there wondering how to fill your day productively, start writing and sending. Don't waste your money on fancy cards, or your time on ecards (except those Elf ones that are worth opening). Write emails that are meaningful to your recipient — messages that make them feel good about themselves — and you've not only done a good deed — you may also stay top of mind.

Add this report to your shopping card and enter promo code HAPPYHOLIDAY (only for ezine subscribers) to receive the report for free.

Holiday special #2: New subject line research that will change the way you write — and the results you get
Marketing Sherpa says that the first two words of your subject line are critical to getting your message opened. Here are their lists of top-performing subject lines and their bottom-performing lines. Look at them to see what differences you can detect.

Is it hard to tell? The difference, according to their 12 month case study, is in the use of "immediate value" words at the beginning of the subject line — in the first list. The second list — the worst performers — asked their readers to do something and didn't clearly and quickly convey a benefit to the reader.

Bottom line: People open what interests them and delete the rest.

Fresh ideas to save you money and sell more
Plan Your Meetings offered great tips to help sales people sell better. Suggested were such things as boosting your level of customer service (which, of course, means writing concisely and clearly to respect their time, giving your customers the information they need when and where they need it, using the communication medium they prefer, and ensuring that every word matters to them — not just to your sales effort), being more accessible (providing mobile numbers, for instance) and getting creative (like packaging services and adding a unique twist to a tried and true idea).

Here are some other ideas to help you:

• Don't waste money on gifts they won't use anyway. Imprinting your name is useless. Imprinting their name has value. Even better, donate money to a worthwhile cause in someone's name and email them to let them know.
• Don't waste money on postage. When prospecting write brief, relevant email messages to initiate contact with a new prospect. Remember your goal: to talk to them, or motivate them to complete something that gives you more information about their needs.
• Don't waste money on fancy collateral. Provide a UBS drive (maybe with your company name on it) with everything you'd like them to know.

Check out the SpeakerSueSays blog for other ideas.

SPECIAL, SPECIAL BONUS: Use Email to Prospect Now has been so successful that I'm presenting it again January 6, 2009. But, this session is ONLY for ezine subscribers + you get a special bonus! Register for the teleseminar and immediately following the program, you will receive example prospecting letters that you can send to your prospects to keep your sales funnel full. So, you get a reduced fee for the webinar ($54 for up to 3 participants and if you want your entire sales department to participate, please email Fran@SpeakerSue.com, or call me at 480-575-9711 to work out courtesy pricing).

You'll hear ideas that change the way you write. We're talking about specific tips to break through to get your emails opened, read and acted upon! Don't let your competition hear this! Register now! Make this new year a prosperous one!

May your holidays be filled with every good thing!

All the best,
Sue

Sue Hershkowitz-Coore
Sue@SpeakerSue.com
480-575-9711
www.SpeakerSue.com
Blog: SpeakerSueSays

You have our permission to copy the information contained here only as long as you give us proper credit and copyright. Please include this in entirety: “Copyright @2008. High Impact Presentations. For more information, contact Sue Hershkowitz-Coore at 480-575-9711 or visit www.SpeakerSue.com.” If you’d send us a copy or a link, that would be wonderful, too.