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Zip Code Phonebook Yellow Pages

A California-based research company has been extensively doing studies on U.S. ZIP (Zone Improvement Program) Codes, they can now predict, with certain percentage of accuracy, what you ate for breakfast based on your zip code.

Zip Code is the smallest, most organized accumulation of information by which we can evaluate the demographic flavor of a given area.

From a marketing standpoint, most retail businesses use zip code along with the Pareto Principle that 80% of your customers reside within the zip codes that connect to your location. In theory, they live no more than 7 miles from where you are.

A CHANGING MARKETPLACE

The phonebook we have grown accustomed to was developed over 30 years ago. Only it has grown in terms of thickness, weight, and aesthetic design.

From a marketing perspective, except for its dominance and near monopoly, it has been rendered useless by a more mobile and more efficient market.

When the Yellow Pages was first introduced, the world “malls”, “strip malls”, “executive centers”, and “postal & mail box centers” were unknown to American consumers.

Today, it is easier for us to dial directory assistance or look online than it is to use the phonebook.

USE OLD PATTERNS

To make it easy for advertisers and consumers to swallow something new, make it look like it’s old. So, use simple patterns and designs borrowed from old phonebooks, including rates charged for your territory.

Establish your advertising rates based on the number of homes and businesses your Zip Code phonebook is going into.

You can cover as many Zip Codes as you want, just make sure you do not pile up a marketplace so large you are practically competing with the phone company. The best rule of thumb is to break the phone company’s general distribution area into 7 phonebooks.

GTE used to have what they called “The Neighborhood Phonebook”. I think the reason it died is that it broke down its neighborhood either very conceptually or too similar to the way all other phonebooks do. Advertisers want solid numbers. Zip Codes are solid. Just ask the postal service.

Prepaid Long Distance

The next money-maker in the long distance telephone business will be focused on the way we buy and pay for long distance service.

PAY PHONES & OTHER STUFF

In the past, technological advancement in telecommunications services has opened doors for entrepreneurs to make money selling services.

Private-Party owned Pay Phones spread like wildfire, and 25c Per-Minute Long Distance Flat Rate Billing was introduced and gobbled up by an excited marketplace.

PAY NOW, CALL LATER

Prepaid Long Distance service is nothing more than a marketing person’s dream of being able to charge for something that need not be delivered right away.

Here’s how it works:

1. You walk into a convenience store and buy a Phone Card for $10, or any denomination it is being sold.
2. When the time comes for you to use the card, simply edial the toll-free 800 number and enter the 14-digit code printed on the card.
3. An automated operator’s voice comes on the line and announces that you have $10 worth of long distance calling available to you.
4. A dial tone comes on and you enter the area code and phone number you want to call.

PLUS & MINUS

Prepaid Long Distance and collecting Phone Cards are now a big craze in Japan. Phone Cards are now being traded like baseball cards, with values in excess of $1,000

Companies giveaway free long distance service as premiums and incentives, and then print their names on the Cards that they giveaway.

But in spite of all thes fads, Prepaid Long Distance has some built-in disadvantages that need to be corrected to guarantee its success.

Here are a few:

• We are a credit-based society. We are not accustomed to paying in advance for services we are not using at the time of purchase.
• The rates marketing companies are charging are relatively higher than basic phone company rates.
• As a business, long distance resellers and marketers will be competing for the same consumer “penny”.

Mixed with something novel or commercially accepted, prepaid phone cards may just make it big in the U.S.

Making Money With Voice Mail

Although this money-making is continuously being marketed as “a way to make money with your answering machine”, new technology has actually rendered this idea obsolete.

With the proliferation of voice mail, fax-back service, and very inexpensive computerized voice processing systems, the answering machine, with its limited one-call-at-a-time capacity, is no longer ideal for making money.

With the advent of this new technology, the concept has also expanded to a variety of processes which you can use to make money.

PEOPLE MUST CALL

With answering machines, the only way you can make money is when people call you up. Since an answering machine is hooked up to a specific phone number, and since it does not advertise on its own, you will have to establish ways to attract people to call your phone number so that people can listen to the message recorded on your answering machine.

THE MESSAGE IS THE KEY

The message recorded on your answering machine is the key to your ability to make money.

The message can instruct people to send money for information about any subject matter, or instruct callers to leave their name and address so you can send them a sales brochure. The information you have recorded on your machine should be encouraging and convincing enough to motivate the caller to do what you have instructed.

THE 1-MINUTE SPIEL

Think of your recording as a radio commercial. Since callers have short attention span, used to hearing radio and TV spots that are not more than 1 minute long it is advisable that you limit the length of your message to about 1 minute, 2 minutes tops!

GETTING THE CALL & COLLECTING PAYMENT

Whatever it is you are selling, and by which you are using your answering machine or service, your primary challenge will be in two areas:

1. How you can advertise and make your telephone number known to as many people as possible.
2. How you are going to collect payment for whatever it is you are selling.

SELLING THE INFORMATION

One of the most popular topics sold on “answering machine schemes” is information about how people can make money with their answering machine.

This is worn out and very unimaginative. More than likely, your caller will feel insulted and not order whatever literature, report or booklet you want them to order.

Remember, if you want to have a recorded sales message over the telephone, use a voice mail service, which may cost you around $8 a month.

There’s Gold Inside Your PC

A friend once asked, “How was your life before Personal Computers came alone?”

Honestly, I can’t really recall. It’s been more than 15 years since I bought my first computer.

It’s very convenient piece of equipment which makes my work a lot easier. Everything I’ve done with it is work related. However, by itself, I’ve never really learned how to make money with my PC until I met this poker player from Las Vegas who earns an average of $15,000a month with his PC.

But best of all, with his idea, you don’t have to know a single thing about operating a computer to get into this business.

SHAREWARE & PDs

A shareware is a “sample” version of software. Individuals who write software usually “give away” copies of shareware so potential customers can “test drive” the product before they purchase the full version.

This “try before you buy” has made the shareware concept extremely acceptable, both by the people who design software as well as tens of millions of computer owners.

Public Domain (PD) software are programs developed without any copyright or patent assignment. Since it is Public Domain, any one can use it without having to pay rights to its designer.

FREE COPIES

The Las Vegas man researched some of the best sharewares and Public Domain software he could locate.

He bundled together 7 to 10 of them into a single floppy disk and started selling them for $20 & up.

He made several disks containing different varieties of sharewares and PD software. He sold the disks individually and as a group. He was making so much money you’d think he was doing something illegal.

One day, competition caught on and he needed a twist. A friend of his introduced him to me and I developed a new plan built around the same product he already has. Since other people started selling similar disks at the same price eh was charging, the competition started eating up his market. He needed something new.

What I did was design a gift certificate offering free software. We gave certificates to stores, libraries, and mail order houses to give away to their customers.

The certificates offered a collection of shareware and PD software - FREE OF CHARGE. Just pay minimal shipping and handling fee of $8.69. Since it cost him 69Cents to reproduce each disk, he makes an $8 profit per certificate.

NAFTA Exporter: Mexico

To draw attention to a vast export promotions arsenal available to individuals and businesses seeking to export to Mexico, a program called EXPORT MEXICO was developed through a partnership between business and government.

Mexico is our fastest-growing export market. With the implementation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), this market is expected to provide even greater opportunities.

Why Mexico?

When your fastest growing export market is right next door, you’ve got to harness it and seize the opportunity.

Exports to Mexico have Increased from $12,.4 billion in 1986 to $40.6 billion in 1992.

Mexico’s 86 million consumers prefer U.S. goods. 70% of every dfollar Mexico spends on foreign products is spent on U.S. goods.

Rising levels of disposable income among Mexican consumers helped increase our exports by 50% since 1991.

THE NAFTA FACTOR

In the last decade, the Mexican market has become more open, instituting unilateral, market-opening reforms.

The North America Free Trade Agreement will help further accelerate the growth of U.S. exports to Mexico, opening new doors to U.S. companies.

NAFTA will create the biggest market in the world right at our doorsteps, over $6 Trillion with 370 million people.

NAFTA will make nearly half of all U.S. exports qualify for ZERO tariffs.

NAFTA will open Mexico to U.S. service exports, including such industries as insurance, banking, accounting, advertising and more.

GETTING STARTED

If you’re seeking to export to Mexico, you can call Flash Facts facsimile service and order Mexico market information sent to you via fax, free of charge. The number to call is (202) 482-4464.

The system includes among its many documents NAFTA updates and upcoming trade events.

You can also call (202) 482-0300 to consult trained desk officers from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Mexico regarding the most cost-effective ways you can enter the Mexican market.

SPECIAL FINANCING

The Commerce Department’s Office of Mexico publishes a comprehensive manual called “A Guide To Financing Exports To Mexico”, which you can obtain free of charge by calling the Flash Facts line and requesting document number 0420.