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                    In a Nutshell
   Information and Tips for your Image Consulting Business

 4/04/03                                          Issue #12
 Linda Gerloff, Editor, linda@blueflute.com
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     By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of
                   "In a NutShell".
 You are receiving this newsletter because you have
 subscribed to either the monthly Automated Inventory
 Updates or this newsletter.
 Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this newsletter.
 
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   IN THIS ISSUE
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    =>  Inventory Updates for April
    =>  Blue Flute News 
    =>  ‘In a NutShell’ archives 
    =>  Feature Article
         Follow-up – Making big things happen in your business
    =>  Fun Trivia 
    =>  Subscribe/Unsubscribe information
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Inventory Updates for April
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Your inventory updates for April are ready. If you have
 subscribed to this service, you can get your updates here:
 http://www.blueflute.com/btyupdt1.htm

 Hint: The inventory updates are usually posted online
 about 24 hours before the newsletter is published. Bookmark
 the above link and then, if you are anxious for your
 updates, you can check and see if the updates are ready.
 The title of the page will tell which updates are
 available.

 If you lose this link, you can always download your updates
 from the main Blue Flute web page. Just click on the
 'Pre-Paid Updates' button.
 
 If your subscription to the updates has expired, you can
 purchase another year online here:
 http://www.blueflute.com/orderpage.htm
 
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 Blue Flute News

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 We have a Winner! – Actually, we have two winners!

    Sue Ross, Sr. Director from Tucson, AZ

 won the Leadership drawing and will receive a free mystery
 product. And

    Judy Fishman, Consultant, also from Tucson, AZ

 referred Sue to NutShell, so she wins the same mystery
 product! Everyone who downloaded or purchased NutShell
 during the week after Leadership was entered in the
 drawing.  Thank you to all those who participated!

 April Special - $74.99 – Introducing a new way to get the
 same great software at an even lower price! Consultants can
 get NutShell for $74.99 in April! This price includes 30
 days of tech support and an online User’s Guide (Adobe
 format). Other options can be added and are priced
 separately. For all the details, you can view the order
 page here:

 http://www.blueflute.com/orderpage.htm  

 Don’t forget that when you refer NutShell to a friend,
 you win, too. Not only will your consultant will have more
 time for selling and recruiting, but you will receive free
 inventory updates, as well!

 

 Details are available here:
 http://www.blueflute.com/btynut.htm


 New Newsletter Format – Starting with the April issue, the
 newsletter will be delivered to you in three parts. My hope
 is that with less information to absorb at once, the
 newsletter will be more helpful to you. Please let me know
 your thoughts about this change. Is it helpful or would you
 rather hear from me just once per month?
 mailto:NewsletterFormat@BlueFlute.com

 A note about referrals and your email address – Being an
 avid hater of email spam as much as you are, I have
 never (and will never) give, sell or rent your email
 address to anybody who could possibly spam you! However,
 I will give your email address to consultants who list
 your name as their referral. I will give her address to
 you, as well. This is so that you and she can be ‘NutShell
 partners’! If you would rather not have your email address
 given to your referrals, please let me know:

 mailto:privacy@blueflute.com
 
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 ‘In a NutShell’ archives
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Did you miss a prior ‘In a NutShell’ newsletter, or would
 you like to review one of the articles? You can view it
 here: http://www.blueflute.com/Newsletters.htm

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 Feature Article –
  Follow-up – Making big things happen in your business
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 We know that one of the most important aspects of selling
 product to our clients is the personal service. Your time
 and attention devoted to your client is the key to setting
 you and your business apart from the crowd.

 But, don’t wait until after the sale is made to start making
 your client feel special. It is not uncommon to require as
 many as 7-12 contacts with a potential client or recruit
 before she will be ready to commit to a business relation-
 ship with you. If you set up a dependable, predictable
 system for making these contacts, you can give your prospect
 as much attention as she needs, and you can do this for
 many prospects at once!

 Your follow-up system should be simple to manage and should
 be ‘in your face’, reminding you to make those contacts.
 The less you have to depend on your own memory, the better.
 You can use a computer program like NutShell to make this
 happen. First, establish some preferred goals. As you move
 your prospect toward making a business commitment, what kind
 of follow-ups do you want to do? How often and in what form?
 Your choices are myriad: phone, email, postcard,
 appointment, lunch date, etc.

 Outline for yourself a plan of action and stick with it.
 After you have made an initial contact, you will want to
 follow-up quickly, while the prospect is still hot. She will
 cool off in 24-48 hours after you first speak with her. A
 good starting point would be to email your prospect the
 evening that you meet her, telling her how excited you are
 about getting to know her. The tone of the message can be
 low key, or more excited, depending on what you learned in
 your initial conversation with her. But the important thing
 is to make that contact right away.

 Then you will want to follow-up within just a few days,
 regardless of whether she responded to your first message.
 The form and content of each of these messages is up to you
 and your perceptions of the prospect’s interest level. But
 the ‘when’ must be ‘right away’ and ‘often’.

 The advantage of setting up a predictable and dependable
 system is that it will be easier to stick with. It will
 feel more like a business and less personal (as in taking
 ‘No’ personally). So, when you meet someone new, put her in
 your NutShell right away. If she is a potential recruit,
 set her ‘Type’ on the Client screen to ‘Recruit Prospect’.
 If she is a potential client, use one of the client
 priority choices. For example, make all potential clients
 ‘Client – Priority 3’. After you have entered her information,
 tell NutShell when you want to be reminded to contact her
 again.

 You can do this in two ways.
   1. For a more generic reminder, use the ‘Next Contact
      Date’ field. Fill in this info quickly by clicking the
      calendar button by the ‘Next Contact Date’, click on
      the desired date and click OK. Then click the Reminder
      button so that the reminder will appear on your
      Datebook.
   2. Your second option is to make a client Note. Make a
      Note if you want to remember specific information
      about the client – for example her interests or
      special needs. After you enter your note, set the
      reminder date and turn the reminder on in the same
      way as described for ‘Next Contact Date’

 Now that you have completed the setup work, NutShell will
 go to work for you. Keep an eye on your Datebook. Every day
 that you need to contact someone, you will see a little red
 square on that date in the Datebook. Click on the date
 sto see specific information about who to contact.
 This will be your ‘tickler’, i.e. a virtual index card.
 After you have made your contact, make a note about what
 you did and what was said. Then change the reminder date to
 the next time you want to contact the client. The reminder
 will move to the new date, ready to prompt you at the right
 time.

 If you like to work from paper, you can print all your
 reminders for any given time period – a day, week or month.
 You can also print a list or mailing labels for all of your
 Recruit Prospects or Priority 3 Clients.

 NutShell provides tools to help you follow-up regularly
 with your prospects so you can convert them to clients or
 recruits. After they have converted, you can continue to
 use the reminders to keep them active and interested.

 If you have developed some methods of using these
 tools, please share them with us:
 mailto:FollowUps@BlueFlute.com

 ~~~~~~
 You can get more information about using the NutShell
 software here: http://www.blueflute.com/btynut.htm
 

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 Fun Trivia
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 During World War II, sales of the soft drink 7 UP (or 7-Up)
 rose to new heights. Bottlers focused on 7 UP because it
 required less sugar than other soft drinks, and sugar was
 being rationed for the war effort.

 http://www.absolutetrivia.com

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 In my business, how do I…
  Record my new consultant package?
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 The answer to this question has to be another question:
   What are you going to do with your new consultant package?

 If you plan to put the products from your new consultant
 package into your case, then all the products you got will

 be sales aids. You can simply enter the cost of the case
 directly into the Income and Expense Log. There will be
 three entries:
  1. Sales Aids – this is the cost of your kit
  2. Sales Tax – the tax you paid on your kit
  3. Shipping – the shipping costs of your kit

 However, if you plan to sell the contents of your new
 consultant package, then you will need to enter a Purchase
 Order. The PO is necessary in order to get the product into
 your inventory. It has to be in your inventory in order to
 sell it.
 
 To enter this PO, add all the items that you got in the pack
 that you plan to sell. It is OK to leave off the literature
 and other sales aids. Because the product in the case is
 a much greater value than you paid, you will need to make an
 adjustment. An easy way to do this is to put 100% discount on
 the PO and then put the price of your case in the Adjustment
 Field. Enter the correct tax and shipping to get the correct
 PO total. Receive and close the PO as normal. You will have
 the product in your inventory, available to sell, and the
 costs will be in your Income and Expense Log, ready for the
 tax man!
  
         *-----------Quote of the Month-------------*
         "Do not be embarrassed by your mistakes.
          Nothing can teach us better than our
          understanding of them. This is one of the
          best ways of self-education."

           --Thomas Carlyle, Writer and Mathematician
         *------------------------------------------*

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 Guest column –
     Reward (and entice) your clients with BeautiBucks
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 contributed by:
          Sherri Cassidy, Unit VIP, Houston, Texas

 I use BeautiBucks.  Here's how my program works:

 For every $25 a client spends with me (after discounts &
 before tax) she gets ONE BeautiBuck.  When she has
 collected 6 BeautiBucks (which means she has spent $150
 with me), she may turn in her BeautiBucks for $25 off her
 NEXT order. The discount must be on the NEXT ORDER! 

 I now number each BeautiBuck on the clients receipt & on
 her BeautiBuck to help me track how many she has received.
 For example, a client that purchases 2 wet/dry compacts
 at one time would spend $42 plus tax and shipping.
 Included in her order would be her receipt that states
 "Free Gift" number 1 of 6 BeautiBuck. This is based on
 $42 dollars not including the tax & shipping. On the Actual
 BeautiBuck I also have blanks to fill in number __ of __. 
 This helps me keep track of their BeautiBucks. This may
 also entice her to spend eight more dollars so that she
 can get a second BeautiBuck on the order.

 I originally started putting a free BeautiBuck
 on the back of each newsletter, but I send about 4
 newsletters each year and I have MANY clients turning in
 BeautBucks - so now you only earn when you spend. The key
 is that BeautiBucks cannot be turned in on the order that
 they earned them - they must be used on the NEXT order. 
 If you allow the client to use BeautiBucks as payment on
 the order in which they were earned, you the consultant are
 actually giving a $50 credit instead of a $25 credit because
 the client would subtract $25 from their total and should
 have earned ONE LESS BeautiBuck.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 To share your ideas and comments, contact me here:
 mailto:Guest@BlueFlute.com

       *---------------A Good Laugh--------------*
              "What are the three words guaranteed to
        humiliate men everywhere? . . .'Hold my
        purse.'"   - Francois Morency
      *-----------------------------------------*

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   Recognition Corner
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 Congratulations to the following NutShell users who have 
 worked hard and achieved success in advancing their careers!

 ~ $10,000 Director ~
  Linda Allexander
  Maudava Morton

 ~ $5,000 Director ~
  Marcia Dever
  Michelle LePak
  Saralyn Ostwinkle
  Liz Palaca
  Lori Tinkham

  Belinda Trost
 
 ~ Mustang Director ~
  Karen Echele
  Kacy Hottle
  Jennifer Keathley
 
 ~ Director ~
  Brenda Fogerty
  Amy Messinger
  Teresa Sprouse
  Diane Vivlamore

 ~ New DIQ ~
  Sherronna Bishop
  Cyndi Blau

  Catherine Blomeke
  Thelma Blount
  Lisa Boyd
  Gail Broussard
  Roxanne Dufort
  Tina Fitts
  Linda Foreman
  Barbara Gordan
  Bonnye Hicks
  Tania Kinzinger
  Donna Kistler
  Kay Korbe
  Roseann Lange
  Barbara Lindner
  Jennifer Myers
  Karen Murphy
  Donna Oehlert
  Lisa Poppenhouse
  Renae Reeves
  Ann Marie Root
  Jeanne Saxon
  Heather Smith
  Connie Stock
  Susan Stauffer
  Teresa Sykora
  Annette Walden
  Renee Zimmerman
 
 
 ~ DIQ ~
  Valerie Altman
  Diana Baker
  Linda Bennett
  Rita Byrd
  Davonnia Cox
  Linda Croft
  Patricia Crowley
  Sandra Elliott
  Carissa Evans
  Pamela Fowler
  Terri Grahlman
  Ann Harris
  Norma Holland
  Cindy Irvin
  Mary Laughlin
  Tressa Malone
  Debra McComb
  Sandra Mozey
  Saundra Pendergrass
  Diana Perez
  Melanie Peterson
  Heather Richter-Egger
  Claudette Sealy
  Wendi Lawson-See
  Tina Stock
  Anne Teran
  Linda Williams
  Karen Witt
  Wendy Zukowski
 
 
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   Copyright Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
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 Copyright 2003 Blue Flute Software Creations, Inc.

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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Linda Gerloff
 Blue Flute Software Creations
 linda@blueflute.com
 P.O. Box 77882 
 Fort Worth, TX 76177
 817-439-1081