Exclusive Promotional and Loyalty Products » Gas & Grocery Promotion http://freegrocerycenters.com How to Acquire More Customers Using Free Rebates and Loyalty Products Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:36:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Incentives that Work and Fundraising http://freegrocerycenters.com/incentives-that-work-and-fundraising.htm http://freegrocerycenters.com/incentives-that-work-and-fundraising.htm#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 11:55:18 +0000 http://freegrocerycenters.com/?p=98

When looking for fund raising opportunities, it is easy to get bombarded with options that offer little to no benefit to the agency that needs the funding. For a strong alternative, keep incentives in mind for your customer. What are you selling that they actually need? With our struggling economy, it is getting more difficult to convince customers to purchase trinkets. By using a fundraising program that offers real value, such as gas certificates or free grocery certificates, you are offering a value that will make your fundraising profits soar.

When deciding to use certificates for your fundraising program, you will be issued a catalog. This is a risk free program for you. Simply present the catalog for friends, neighbors and co-workers to look through. They will have the opportunity to purchase either free gas certificates, free grocery certificates, or gas and groceries.

The denominations in free product increase with the amount of the donation. For example, a donation as low as $20 will get $200 in free gas. A $30 donation gets three times that amount – $600 in gas and groceries.

How does this work? The customers who make the donations redeem certificates for $25 Visa gift cards. The customer simply keeps receipts from regular grocery or gas purchases over a month, and once it totals $100, redeems the receipts via an account to receive the gas or grocery certificates. It?s win-win for everyone.

This type of incentive program has long been in place as a hook for new business. Giving away a product that every person must have anyway appeals to 100% of the customer base. Every person has to eat, and nearly every person has to drive, so by offering gas or grocery certificates you are giving back for something they do anyway.

This program is now paired with the KIDZ-IDZ. This program is designed to help customers save money while not changing spending habits. It eliminates the need for clipping coupons, but still rewards them. What?s even better, they can still cut coupons and bargain shop and STILL receive the rewards.

Why would you want to try to sell something that is going to leave customers feeling they overpaid for a piece of junk? With the KIDZ-IDZ incentive program, your customers will look forward to the new gas and grocery certificates year after year. The draw of this program will make this a fundraising event that actually grows every year instead of becoming the dreaded annual fundraiser.

Gas and grocery certificate programs are the new way to raise funds for your organization, by providing value for your customer and keeping money in your organization?s pocket.

Dare to make a Difference,

Michael Goulet – Team Leader
Direct Strategies, Inc. – “The Incentive Pros!”
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
http://incentivebasedpromotions.com/ (Product Site)
http://fundraisingandincentives.com/ (Non-Profit Certificates)
http://fundraisingandtravel.com/ (Non-Profit TravelBook)
w-612-377-5262
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com

]]> http://freegrocerycenters.com/incentives-that-work-and-fundraising.htm/feed 0 A Day in the “Life of a Certificate” http://freegrocerycenters.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-certificate.htm http://freegrocerycenters.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-certificate.htm#comments Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:43:31 +0000 http://freegrocerycenters.com/?p=94

Normally you would not hear from me more than a few times a month. Our business is not only altering the way “Incentive” based programs works but is improving daily on its delivery and customer service. Our new customer service piece is why I’m emailing today.
Per the title in the subject, this attachment was actually received last night (041409). In one presentation it describes via a visual and written presentation how YOUR customers will be TREATED under our new customer service delivery system - Opening up this week!
In addition our new website will be presented in the very near future. Just a few of the OPTIONS that will be made available to our customers are;

  • The site is full of information that will help any prospective or current client understand WHAT we do, HOW we do it, and WHY we can continue on the long road
  • Pay close attention to the ADVERTISE link (numerous options to our clients) – how about a list option that is growing at close to 50,000 new members per month you could have access to (refined to Zip Code for local impact)
  • We are opening dozens of Manufacturer FORUMS over the next 30 days.  We will be connecting the manufacturer with their buyers.  Social Networking is HOT right now and will be for some time to come.  Manufacturers will be able to display audio/video, do surveys, polling, offer specials and coupons all within their own private label forum.  The manufacturer will assign a moderator for the forum.  All users in the forum will be able to communicate with each other as well.  For example if it was the Weight Watchers forum the users could exchange recipes.  And Weight Watchers might be introducing a new meal and offer it FREE for taking a survey or deep discounts.
  • We have a FREE discount prescription card coming shortly that will be FREE to every end user that entitles them to up to 60% off prescriptions.  $500 in Rewards Cash that will get them Entertainment coupons that offer 2 for 1 restaurant discounts, and the ability to purchase $25 OFF coupons in restaurants across the USA for ONLY $5.  And the list goes on and on…
  • The new Pharmacy/RX certificate is right around the corner.  Stay close!
  • If you’re facilitating, sitting on the fence thinking about what you could do improve your business etc…what are you waiting for exactly…
  • We have the solution “Incentives That Work“!

Michael Goulet – Team Leader
Direct Strategies, Inc.-”The Incentive Pros!”
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
w-612-377-5262
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com
]]> http://freegrocerycenters.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-certificate.htm/feed 0 Twenty uses for Gas and Grocery Incentive Certificates http://freegrocerycenters.com/twenty-uses-for-gas-and-grocery-incentive-certificates.htm http://freegrocerycenters.com/twenty-uses-for-gas-and-grocery-incentive-certificates.htm#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:44:32 +0000 http://freegrocerycenters.com/?p=91 In case you haven’t heard of gas and grocery incentive programs, they work like this: You, the retailer, buy a large number of certificates for free gas and groceries at a greatly discounted rate (pennies on the dollar).
You then offer these certificates as an incentive for customers to buy your merchandise.  Historically, these types of incentives have worked well, and the gas and grocery incentives are very popular due to the rising cost of both fuel and food in these tough economic times.  The traditional use of these free gas and grocery vouchers is to offer a customer one of these certificates if they buy a certain dollar amount of merchandise from you.  Although that works quite well, there is so much more you can use these gas and grocery certificates for.  This article will give you a list of ideas.

Use gas and grocery incentive certificates to:

·    in exchange for scheduling in-home sales demonstrations
·    get a customer lead to come in and hear your sales pitch
·    get new customers to sign up for new services
·    to get customers to extend the length of their service agreements
·    get dormant customers to order new or repeat services
·    encourage customers to make big purchases
·    as customer loyalty rewards for repeat business
·    reward customers who refer new customers to you.
·    to get more traffic for seasonal businesses (like landscaping) during off-months
·    to encourage customer spending during economic downturns
·    to attract big crowds for grand opening events
·    to create free advertising through a local media buzz
·    to win out over competitors who normally could undersell you
·    as the prize for employee sales competitions
·    to encourage employees to hit sales goals
·    as employee attendance or safety rewards
·    use a few certificates cards for your company’s vehicle fleet – everyone likes free gas, even you!

For Non-Profit Organizations:

·    to encourage higher donations during fundraising
·    as prizes for raffles or other contests
·    to generate attendance and sell more seats at seminars

As you can see, there are tons of ways to use gas and grocery incentive certificates.  A little creative thinking will take you a long way.  As a general rule of thumb, the trick is to find out what the key is to making a sale, then offer the gas and grocery incentive certificates to get customers to do just that.

Let me give you an example.  In automotive sales, for example, if you can get the customer behind the wheel for a test drive, the chances that they’ll buy the vehicle rises dramatically.  Knowing this, a car dealership in New York ordered 700 gas certificates, and offered them to customers during a weekend event in exchange for just coming in and taking a car for a test drive.  By 5:00 AM the morning of the event, they had people lined up outside the door.  By the end of the first day, they had to place an emergency phone call to order more gas certificates just to make it through the weekend.  The sales campaign worked so well, that dealership now orders 5,000 gas certificates per month on a regular basis.

If you try a gas or grocery incentive-based sales campaign, tinker with different approached and conditions for customers to get the incentive certificates.  Experiment and find the approach that works best for your particular business.

Michael Goulet – Team Leader
Direct Strategies, Inc. – “The Incentive Pros!”
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
http://incentivebasedpromotions.com/ (Product Site)
http://fundraisingandincentives.com/ (Non-Profit Certificates)
http://fundraisingandtravel.com/ (Non-Profit TravelBook)
w-612-377-5262
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com

]]> http://freegrocerycenters.com/twenty-uses-for-gas-and-grocery-incentive-certificates.htm/feed 1 How to get the Most out of Your Fr*ee Gas and Grocery Promotion http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-free-gas-and-grocery-promotion.htm http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-free-gas-and-grocery-promotion.htm#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:36:33 +0000 http://freegrocerycenters.com/?p=80 Gas and grocery promotions ( also Merchandise and Pharmacy available April 1, 2009)—offering certificates for free gas or groceries to encourage customers to make purchases—has the potential to drastically improve your business, sales, and profits. Note that we only said “potential”. Like any other sales campaign, if you don’t do free gas and grocery promotions just right, you’ll only get mediocre results—or possibly no results at all. This article will give you some hints and tips on how to get the most out of free gas and grocery promotions.

ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE

First and most importantly, you HAVE to advertise a free gas and grocery promotion as much as possible. The purpose of free gas and grocery promotions is to get customers into your store who wouldn’t normally come, and to make purchases they wouldn’t otherwise make. If you DON’T advertise the free gas and grocery promotion adequately, what you’ll get instead are people who come to your store planning to make a purchase anyway, and consider the free gas or grocery certificates a pleasant, but unexpected, surprise bonus.

There are many ways to advertise. Blast emails are probably the cheapest. A direct mail campaign to a targeted audience is also effective. Finally, spend the money to place an advertisement where it will reach a large general audience, like an ad in the local newspaper or a commercial during the local news. The goal is to make as many people as possible aware of your free gas and grocery promotion.

BIG DEAL

You also have to make the deal sufficiently sensationalistic to turn heads. If, for example, you only offer a certificate for $50 worth of free gas if a customer makes a $1000 purchase, that’s not going to encourage very many people to come into your store. In general, the closer the values of the purchase and the free gas and grocery certificate are, the more people will respond. That same $50 free gas certificate, if offered in exchange for a $100 purchase, will generate more interest. A $500 free grocery certificate in exchange for a $1000 purchase will have the same effect. The ultimate is to offer a certificate equal to the amount of the purchase—for example, a $300 free gas certificate for a $300 purchase—because customers will see that as “free money”, and consider themselves fools not to take you up on the offer.

MEDIA MATTERS

If your free gas and grocery is sufficiently sensationalistic (such as in the last example mentioned above), it might generate enough interest to be newsworthy. Contact your local newspaper and television news program, and let them know about your sale. There’s always the chance they’ll have a slow news day, and decide to run an article or news report on your free gas or grocery promotion. This is essentially fantastic, free advertising. Even if your local media declines to do a spot on your promotion, you haven’t really lost anything—it takes almost no time or money to have made a phone call or mailed a letter.

FOLLOWUP AND FEEBBACK

Finally, make it as easy as possible for customers to collect on their free gas and grocery certificates. Your free gas and grocery campaign can backfire if the first round of certificate holders grumble to their friends that your promotion wasn’t all it was cracked up to be—or even a scam. That’s the kind of free advertising you DON’T want.

Instead, explain the redemption process to your customers in detail. Provide them with written instructions. Finally, purchase your free gas and grocery certificates from a redemption company that makes it simple and easy for certificate holders to get their free gas or groceries, with a minimum of conditions, restrictions, deadlines, or hoops for the customer to jump through.

Michael Goulet – Team Leader
Direct Strategies, Inc. – “The Incentive Pros!”
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
http://incentivebasedpromotions.com/ (Product Site)
http://fundraisingandincentives.com/ (Non-Profit Certificates)
http://fundraisingandtravel.com/ (Non-Profit TravelBook)
w-612-377-5262
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com

]]> http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-free-gas-and-grocery-promotion.htm/feed 0 How Fr*ee Gas and Grocery Promotions Work http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-free-gas-and-grocery-promotions-work.htm http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-free-gas-and-grocery-promotions-work.htm#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:00:59 +0000 http://freegrocerycenters.com/?p=84 The vast majority of consumers hold to the traditional folk wisdom that if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. If they don’t discount it immediately as some sort of scam, they are at least deeply suspicious, wary of requirements, conditions, and loopholes. That want to know “what’s the catch?”

Unfortunately, free gas and grocery promotions fall into this “too good to be true” category. If you tell a potential customer that, for example, if they buy a car you’ll give them a certificate for $500 worth of free gas, they are instantly suspicious and on their guard. Many will ask you what the catch is. Consequently, if you use free gas and grocery promotions, you have to know them backwards and forwards. You need to be able to explain to a customer, on a moment’s notice, exactly how the gas and grocery certificates work so thoroughly that they have no doubts left that the offer is indeed legitimate. To help you in that, this article will explain in detail just exactly how free gas and grocery promotions work.

First, you (the store owner) purchase a number of these free gas and/or grocery certificates from a redemption company. You buy them at a greatly discounted rate, paying “pennies on the dollar”. You then use these certificates as an incentive to get customers to buy your product or service.

The best analogy that you can use to explain the process to your customer are the mail-in rebates for items at electronics stores like Best Buy. The customer pays full price for the item, mails in the rebate receipt, and within a few weeks the company mail back a check for the rebate amount.

To use free gas and grocery promotions, the customer must:

1. Choose a gas station (for gas certificates) or grocery store (for grocery certificates) that they want to use their certificate with. They can choose any store they want, but then must always use the same store for the entire certificate redemption period.

2. Activate the free gas or grocery certificate, and state which store they plan to use it at. They can do this either online or through the mail.

3. The redemption company provides the customer a redemption coupon that is printable from the registration site (much like a mail-in rebate form) with the customer’s name, activation number, and month & year the coupon needs to be sent in on.

4. On the first day of the next month, the customer begins saving receipts of their gas and/or grocery purchases.

5. At the end of the month, the customer mails in the redemption coupon for that month and their receipts to the redemption company.

6. If their receipts show they have spent at LEAST $100 on gas or groceries that month at the store they previously selected, the redemption company will mail the customer a $25 VISA gift card which the customer may use anywhere.

7. They continue this process until the certificate amount is used up. For example, if they received a certificate for $100 in free gas, they can get $25 in free gas once a month for four months. If they get a certificate for $500 in free gas, they can get a gift card for $25 worth of gas once a month for 20 months ($25 per month x 20 months = $500.00).

That’s how it works. The customer does have a few hoops to jump through, and a deadline each month, but nothing unreasonable. If you explain this clearly enough to them, hopefully they’ll become convinced that your free gas or grocery promotion is legitimate. That builds customer trust—something worth its weight in gold in a competitive marketplace.

Michael Goulet – Team Leader
Direct Strategies, Inc. – “The Incentive Pros!”
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
http://incentivebasedpromotions.com/ (Product Site)
http://fundraisingandincentives.com/ (Non-Profit Certificates)
http://fundraisingandtravel.com/ (Non-Profit TravelBook)
w-612-377-5262
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com

]]> http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-free-gas-and-grocery-promotions-work.htm/feed 3 HOW TO SHOP FOR FREE GAS AND GROCERY CERTIFICATES http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-to-shop-for-free-gas-and-grocery-certificates.htm http://freegrocerycenters.com/how-to-shop-for-free-gas-and-grocery-certificates.htm#comments Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:36:44 +0000 http://freegrocerycenters.com/?p=76 HOW TO SHOP FOR FREE GAS AND GROCERY CERTIFICATES

Given how successful free gas and grocery promotions have become as the world has fallen on economic hard times, you might be thinking on doing one of these promotions for your own business. You may quickly discover, however, that there are lots of redemption companies out there who will sell you the free gas and grocery redemption certificates and handle the processing for you. How do you know which company to buy from? What should you be looking for in these companies? How does one know how to shop for free gas and grocery certificates? This article will guide you through what to look for in a company, and what services might be worth paying a premium for.

Don’t be driven by the lowest price alone. There are many other important service factors to consider before choosing a supplier for your free gas and grocery certificates. The two main areas to examine are how easy it is for the customer to redeem the certificates, and how flexible the company is in working with you.

First and foremost, carefully examine the company’s process for customers to redeem their free gas and grocery certificates. Find the company that offers the simplest and easiest method for certificate redemption, with the fewest hoops the customer has to jump through. It is important to do the best you can to make sure your customers do indeed get the free stuff that motivated them to make a large purchase of your merchandise in the first place. Why? Because if they have difficultly collecting their free gas and groceries—and especially if they aren’t able to collect the full amount of their certificate—they’ll feel cheated, scammed, and complain about you to their friends. The last thing you want your company to have is a reputation for failing to deliver on promises and cheating customers.

Some redemption company’s certificates can only be used at certain stores, which may irritate some customers. Other certificates expire in unreasonable amounts of time. Some enforce strict deadlines that if the customer fails to meet, the certificate is forfeit. These are just some of the many terms, conditions, restrictions, and red tape some companies use in an attempt to prevent the customer from collecting the full amount. The customer, naturally, we be frustrated with the redemption company, but take their anger out on you for offering them a bum card.

When shopping for a redemption company to buy certificates from, look for one that has a relatively simple and easy process for collecting the free goods. Look for a company that lets the customer use the certificate at whatever store they want, issues cards that don’t expire, either reasonable or no activation deadlines, and comb the rules carefully and make sure there are no loopholes though which a customer’s certificate may be forfeited altogether.

As for your end, look for a company that’s flexible in working with you. You probably won’t find a redemption company that will give you one free trial certificate, or let you purchase only five or ten. Redemption companies make their profits by selling free gas and grocery cards in bulk. Some companies, however, offer amounts of certificates as low as 25, which provides you with an inexpensive way to do a “trial run” to see if this type of promotion works for your company. Look for redemption companies that offer cheaper per-certificate prices if you buy larger quantities.

Look for redemption companies that offer a wide variety of certificate amounts. The most common are amounts of $50, $100, $150, $250, $300, $450, and $500. Another benefit to look for is a company that will let you mix and match the card amounts in your bulk purchase. Finally, another great bonus to look for is a redemption company that will let you put your company logo on the free gas and grocery certificates. This simple thing can help you turn each certificate into a free advertisement reminding the customer that your company provided them with all that free stuff.

Michael Goulet – Team Leader
Direct Strategies, Inc. – “The Incentive Pros!”
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
http://incentivebasedpromotions.com/ (Product Site)
http://fundraisingandincentives.com/ (Non-Profit Certificates)
http://fundraisingandtravel.com/ (Non-Profit TravelBook)
w-612-377-5262
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com

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