Tired of pouring endless money into advertising? Do you wonder which ads are "REALLY" working for the business you manage? Would you like a bullet-proof system for capturing the results from your advertising and marketing? Below are three concepts that will enable you to track your advertising and marketing like a hawk! Really, it's that simple!

Developing a tracking system: As a business owner/executive/manager, you need an efficient way to record and evaluate the results from your advertising and marketing programs. To get started, you will need a "prospect card" which includes a list of ALL the places you advertise and market your company. This prospect card must be current and complete, so your staff will be able to accurately track the results from each advertising/marketing source. Your business should also have a phone log, a summary of the daily and weekly advertising results and a report to summarize the month. Be certain each advertising source you are using has its own column for each report. Often, advertising sources are bunched together in the same category or column on the weekly or monthly recap, making it impossible to track the performance of your advertising/marketing.

Tip From The Coach: When asking your team to provide a summary of advertising and marketing results, have them sign and date the form. This is a reminder that they are accountable for the timely and accurate "source" information which is reflected on each report.

Identifying the source: To accurately evaluate the performance of your advertising program, begin by deleting "drive-by" as a source on your customer card and tracking systems. In most cases, your customers read or heard something about your company before they came to your office or called your company. Next, have your team design a marketing easel or a three-ring binder, which has a sample of the advertising and marketing being done. Then, ask your team to begin each appointment or meeting at this marketing easel or with their three-ring binder, so they can ask each customer if they have seen your current advertising or marketing pieces. NOW, this is the time for your team to record this timely information on the customer card, to accurately identify the advertising which brought this customer to your company. And by using this technique with every new customer served by your team, your weekly and monthly tracking reports will now reflect a more accurate picture of which advertising and marketing source is most effective.

Tip From The Coach: Of course, a tracking system can also be computerized and very powerful, but the steps/tips outlined in the paragraph above are still the same.

Creating a file for return prospects: Wow! Isn't it great when a return-prospect becomes a sale? Such fun! Unfortunately, identifying the original advertising source which brought this prospect to your business the first time is a major problem for most companies. Often, your team will hear from a return-prospect, "I was just here a few months ago and decided to contact you again." But each sale that is made by your company, which comes from a particular advertising or marketing source, makes it easy to justify which advertising/marketing you will continue to use. And since advertising and marketing is such a large monthly expenditure for most businesses, isn't it important to know what's working and what's NOT?

Tip From The Coach: Create a master file of prospect cards for all prospects and have your team file the prospect cards from each day into a small box by last name, sorted A-Z. Now, when "Peter Smith" returns in three months after his first visit or phone call and says he wants to buy your product or use service, your team can simply go to this small box and behind "S" the original prospect card is right there! This is an instant way for your company to source its advertising and marketing. More importantly, your staff will have in their hand the background of this prospect and can create instant rapport. Instant rapport equals higher closing ratios, a double win! Of course, a follow-up system can also be computerized, but the steps/tips outlined in this paragraph are still the same. Once you have these systems in place, you can then calculate your: cost-per-phone-call, cost for bringing a prospect to your business and cost-per-sale! For a free analysis of your advertising tracking forms or the results you are receiving, fax your system/results to The Coach at 435-615-8670 and receive 20 minutes of complimentary coaching!

Author's note: Ernest F. Oriente, The Coach, is the founder of PowerHour® a professional business coaching/recruiting service and the author of SmartMatch Alliances?. He has spent 17,500 hours [since 1995] delivering customized training, by telephone, in leadership, traditional/Internet marketing and sales for fast growing sales companies and entrepreneurial businesses worldwide. PowerHour® specializes in global distance learning by telephone, using their state-of-the-art conference call system for interactive and dynamic TeleForums. Twice-monthly TeleForums link 10-100 executives/professionals/individuals who are geographically dispersed, in a time efficient and profitable format.

PowerHour® is based in Olympic-town?Park City, Utah, at 435-615-8486, by E-mail ernest@powerhour.com or visit their TeleForum website: http://www.powerhour.com. To receive a FREE success newsletter, with subscribers in 74 countries, send an E-mail to: ernest@powerhour.com. Recent PowerHour® articles have appeared in 4000+ business/trade publications and websites.