I often see signs, trucks, apparel and other marketing materials with multiple phone numbers on them. Why? Are you not organized enough to set up call forwarding? Perhaps you have a partner and you are hoping half the call volume goes to her. Maybe you just plain don’t like phone calls, and you are hoping that your confusion with what phone number to use will carry onto the customer and get them not to call you.

There is only one reason why you would want two numbers on the side of your truck, if you have two locations in different area codes and you want to offer the customer the option to call their local number. Even this is sitting on thin ice with me - get a toll free number.

The truth is, you want your customers to call. How do you get them to do that? Most importantly is to make it easy to get your number. When you give them an option you do two things:

1. You make the number smaller. This is both literal and figurative. If you have limited space on a vehicle for example, you must make the numbers smaller to fit them both on there. It also shares the importance of your phone number - therefore making it less.
2. You may confuse your customer. They may not know which number you want them to call. A confused customer will not open their checkbook.

So what do you do? Pick one number.

• Pick a number and have it forward to whoever can answer the phone at that time. You might change where it forwards depending on who’s available.
• Put the second number in the voicemail of the first. Give customers the option to call down the phone list after they have written down and tried the “main one”
• Use a service like phonepeople.com and get a toll free number with a virtual pbx.
• Hire an answering service to answer your main line and text you when you have a message.
• Use the easiest to remember number. Zeros and repeating digits make a number easier to remember.

These are just a few ideas. Get creative, but stop using two phone numbers. I promise you, it’s not helping your business get double the calls.

When a customer decides to use your company for the first time they get a first impression, but it’s not your voice or how you answer your phone. It’s your phone number. Your phone number is part of your brand. It defines who you are in many respects. You wouldn’t give your customer your Yahoo email address, nor would you give your new customer a hand written business card. Why would you give your customer a phone number that is hard to dial, confusing or doesn’t mean anything? Take a few minutes before you start your next business, or order a second phone line to ask the phone company for an easy to remember phone number. They usually don’t charge for this.

And for those of you with a Yahoo email address, I’m not sorry for offending you. If you can’t put the $10 into a .com with a free email address, why should a customer think you would spend any extra time or money to make their experience worth while?

Garage and yard sale season is here. I wrote a little guide on advertising your garage sale for those out there looking to have one this year. There is something to be learned from the frenzy of customers deal hunting at a garage sale. Could your business benefit from similar traffic? Here are a couple of ideas to pull in some new customers this spring.

• Use garage sale like signs to promote your products. Hand written signs attract attention. The real estate investors swear by them. You might even use arrow directionals to drive traffic right to your front door.
• Use classified ads like craigslist.org, backpage.com or your local newspapers to advertise specials, closeouts and overstocks.
• Set your stuff outside. Have a sidewalk sale and set your products out front where shoppers can see them.

If you want customers to pick up your business card, make it the most interesting.

If you want customers to find your website, make it the most useful.

If you want customers to see your yellow page ad, make it the largest.

If you want customers to refer you, make them the happiest.

The point here, no matter how important, is not to make your customers happy. My point is that these facts are not interchangeable. You won’t get more people to pick up your business card by making your prices low. Just like you wont get more people to visit your website just because it’s happy. Each part of your marketing efforts are independent paths towards your overall brand.

If you want more customers, make each part better. You won’t get new customers through your website if you don’t make it better.

  I was talking to a client of mine a few days ago when she started talking about post cards for her bookkeeping service. Generic, first time customer post cards tend to have a success rate of 2-3%. The problem with post cards is most of us throw them away without even looking at the offer. So, to make a long story short, I suggested writing her potential customers a letter with a hand written address on the envelope instead.

For around $600 you can blast 1000 potential customers with post cards, or send a letter to around 300, but the number of people that will read your “handwritten” letters are going to be nearly 100%.

I challenge you. The next time you get a hand written envelope in the mail, don’t open it. Throw it away. You won’t do it.

Call the local high school and tell them you are looking for a student to come by the office after school for administrative work or post an ad on craigslist. Pay them ten cents per address, and you will have the most effective “post card” campaign you have ever seen.