Can you Explain What An Autoresponder Is to Offline Business Owners in 1 sentence?

"It's a program that lets you send email to a list of people, either in order on an automatic schedule or as needed."

Mistake #1.. Don't sell them "an autoresponder".

Offer them a method of capturing information from prospects which will allow them to turn those prospects into clients.

THEN, you can explain how an autoresponder works, and how they can use it to their advantage.

Pete

I can't improve on what Paul gave you, but I can point out something you should think about...

You're still thinking like a pure online marketer - one who selld their goods online. Most of the business owners you'll be contacting won't care about making sales from their web site. Most will be interested in getting people to either come through the door or pick up the phone.

That's the result you want to promote, not the ability to contact someone 6-7 times. That's just a feature.

"I can show you a technology that clones an entire sales department. This technology will automatically follow up with your prospects on a regular basis until they're persuaded to become customers. Best of all, they never have an excuse why they can't come into work; They go 24/7, 365 days a year."

"Do you want to insure that you get the best return on investment per visitor to your web site?"

"Yes"

"Let me show you an exciting email newsletter technique that allows you to do just that."

In other words, give them a 'yes' question and then offer the solution, very simply. Avoid long detailed technical explanations and IM jargon or else you'll get the "My Eyes Glaze Over" effect. Stick with words and phrases they know like "return on investment", "newsletter" or "flyer" that relate well to advertising techniques that they already use. Also use action words like "exciting" or "amazing".

I would probably say "its an answering machine for email contacts that can also send marketing material when required."

Hope it helps

Norma

Make no reference to "autoresponder"...give it a catchy name like "customer capture system"
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Our Permission Based "Customer Capture System" allows you to "capture" visitors and transform them into paying customers. Once these new customers are in your database, you have the ability to market to them on a steady basis, greatly increasing your ROI.
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Sell the service YOU provide...not just an autoresponder...stress the "time saving factor" & how YOU WILL manage everthing so they dont have too...from account set-up, newsletter set-up & design, a set amount of broadcasts a month, providing tracking & analytic reports once a month, managing the list, etc.. (all part of your monthly fee service)

Good Luck,
Ken

Automatic email sending/replying program

wow, thanks everyone for the responses. All very valuable in their own right!

There you go trying to stuff the chicken back into the egg.

Wouldn't you be a lot better off finding what the customer wants and providing the solution?

As a small business owner, the last thing I want is someone coming to me and telling me what I want.

Wow! This thread itself is gold and an eye opener! You take a simple autoresponder, and give it a very POWERFUL image! That's what marketing is. Thank you all and thank you Alex for starting this thread.

An auto-responder is the electronic, on-line equivalent of a secretary that can write an unlimited amount of emails to people who volunteer their email address in exchange for this information- all within a few minutes.. but it can't make coffee.

Does this work?

Grant

Great suggestions, and Pete makes a good point in that you shouldn't be telling the customer that they need an "autoresponder". Simplify the explanation and offer them a great method of getting contact information from prospectives which has the ability to convert them into reliable customers. If that whets their appetite and interest, you can then go into the specfics of how an autoresponder works, and how it will immediately benefit their business.

Alex, I don't know what type of businesses you are targeting, but most nowadays have some type of web presence and an understanding of the importance of email follow up with their clients. ArtWebster gave you a very good answer, find out what types of problems the client may have and ask them straight out with a smile " If I can provide you a cost effective solution, would you be willing to give the program I come up with a try"?

Cold Calling is tough and most small business owners don't like walk in Salespeople, believe it or not some businesses see more salespeople walk through their doors in a day, then paying customers. So if your going to do it, try to get as much info up front as possible and you might want to test the market to see if investing in some nice business cards and a well thought out Brochure with the features and Benefits of your "New Automated Customer Service Assistant" that can do xyand z at preset intervals or on as needed basis.

Don't forget to list all the advantages such as: low cost advertising, Sales follow up with Thank You, Support Poll ( How is our service, what was your experience like?)
You can go on and on, but this should help. Don't worry about the length of your paragraph...make sure it's a clear message on what your offering.

Tip: Listen...to what the customer says!

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Here are some examples of the uses of autoresponders:

Dentists can send out notice for dental cleanings
Theaters can provide show times and event schedules
Garages can send reminders for Oil Changes
Appliance services can send warranty service reminders
Churches can send choir practice reminders
Schools can send field trip reminders
Teachers can send PTA reminders Sending product updates
Online marketers can send training manuals and free ecourses
And many more ...the list is endless!


So, yes, they can apply to offline businesses as well.

Main point of it is - customer contact.

If Offline Business has a sale running, and they have targeted email list, then they can reach them without more expensive advertising.

Makes economic sense to use them for offline businesses as well.