What an application!!!!
I don't want to go on about how great DW is... or, how I coudn't run my business without LMP, I just want to tell you how, in the real world I've saved money AND made money using LMP, within weeks of setting it up.
I'm a hotelier, based in the UK and like most hoteliers I'm busy, busy - working hard to protect my margins and trying desperately to deliver a good quality of product to my guests.
Five years ago, I bought my current hotel and over the last five years we've been doing a lot of good work improving the public-facing side of business - better promotional literature a new web-site, new products, a new restaurant... lots of positive stuff. One of the problems we've been having though, is that with all the new products we've introduced (new restaurant, weddings, groups, functions, etc.) so the amount of literature we're sending out has grown too. OK, we're only a 48 bedroom property, and we've only about 25 staff, but we're pretty proactive and certainly keen to deliver a good quality of service. So, one day I woke up and thought "There's got to be a way of delivering timely information to enquirers at low cost, and in a high quality format".... Enter ListMail Pro!!!
OK - how does it SAVE me money?I had staff packing brochures (A4 folders full of, say, 15 sheets of information) and sending these to group operators enquiring about sending groups to my hotel. Fine. That cost me about $3 per mailout, not to mention the time that member of staff took to pull everything together. Likewise, the standard hotel brochure goes out about 5-10 times per day - another $8.00 per day. Not big money, but add in wedding pack requests, function menu requests, bistro restaurant menu requests and other general requests, and you''ve got a good amount of money going out on handling information requests each day.
Ok - so I was spending money dealing with customers...where does LMP_ come in?Well, when you look at my website now:
www.georgeivhotel.com and browse to the BROCHURES page, you'll see that as well as being able to request brochures as downloads (immediate) and by snail-mail, my customers can request brochures to an email address. What's great about this form is that the customer can be at work or at an Internet Cafe, and they can put in their home email address - we'll deliver that email right to their home, ready for them when they get home after work (saves getting into any trouble at work for browsing non-work sites!).
When the email hits our mailserver, it figures out what brochure they want by the subject, and then routes the email to the relavant CGI script for LMP. Then, LMP picks up the email and replies to it with a welcome message which includes a high quality copy of the relavant brochure as a PDF. So, customer gets a really quick, high quality response. Without their brochure request even reaching my inbox. I like it. More and more customers are requesting digital brochures...
Now I'm saving money.
But it gets better...Once they've received the response they wanted, a couple of days later, LMP sends them out an follow-up which 'tickles' the customer for a booking: "Hi, did you get the email?, was there anything else you needed to know before you make a booking...?". This increases my conversions....
Now I'm earing money.
Corporate clients - when they request a groups pack, I'm sending them a 3MB, 10 page PDF telling them all sorts of stuff. I'm following this up with an email making sure they got it, and asking them if there's anything else they need to know... I'm also telling them that I'm hard at work on a pricing plan for the next twelve months which I'll send them when I'm done (guess what.... it's already written) and I'll send it to them when it's done (guess what... it's already scheduled in LMP!). Every sale I make thanks to LMP on my groups business is another $10,000. LMP makes me look good.
And I haven't even lifted a finger.
And there's more!Every brochure that goes out not only adds the customer to my 'brochure xyz mailing list' but also to my general offers mailing list. Every single holiday, thanksgiving, independance day, halloween offer is covered in this list with PRE-WRITTEN offers all nice and neatly scheduled. My existing list of prosepcts (and future sign ups) automatically get hit with special offers throughout the year... and I don't even remember writing them!
Now I'm making money AND saving time!
OK. So you're not a hotelier.It doesn't take a genius to see how this kind of tool translates into other markets. Use your imagination and employ this tool - it's going to save you a load of money, a load of time and it's going to generate sales for you (and make you look responsive!).
Richard Butterworth
