December 04, 2001 Welcome to Issue 003 of the Fortress E-Newsletter! This month we begin by looking at ways to generate profits from that website you have or are in the process of having created. Once all is said and done, it would be nice to generate some income, right? Our first article on this topic has to do with how we provide our services to the customer, both on the web and off. We'll show you why upselling is the key. Those concerned about net security got a jolt when a major site was hacked and credit card numbers stolen. All the news and some comments are here for your information. In an effort to find new ways to "Design and Conquer", we're happy to bring you a few other marketing ideas that will work in conjunction with your site and greatly increase your impact without greatly increasing your costs. Look at our Portable Brochures feature for all the information. Enjoy the issue.

In This Issue Feature Article Upselling! Internet News Hackers Strike Web Spotlight Loubon.com Fortress Services View back issues of this newsletter at fortressweb.com ------------

Upselling Requested Ask almost any business and you'll quickly find out that the key to their financial success is upselling. Getting a sale is one thing, but it is far better to "super-size" that sale. After all, it's much easier to work with an existing client than to get a new one. The woman going into the pet store is a classic example of this. Simone goes to buy a small goldfish for her apartment. When the clerk sees her looking at the budget-priced goldfish he leads her over to the much more impressive tropical fish. "You will probably need a fish tank as well," he says. "These lovely fish need fresh water to live in. We happen to have a wonderful fresh water starter kit for only $89.00" By the time Simone leaves the store, she's carrying a new tank, rocks, a heater, filters, fish food, and a bag of tropical fish. A lot more than the budget-priced goldfish she initially came in to buy. Upselling or Helping? If you're an ethical business person then your primary focus is to help your customers. You provide a product or service that benefits and enhances their lives in some way. Think about the questions and challenges that your clients come to you with... and the products or services they request. Does the solution they present REALLY address their issue? Chances are your customer needs a lot more help than the basic solution they first consider. By recommending what will meet those needs completely you create a satisfied customer. This is known as needs-based selling. Uncovering your customers' needs and filling them with the appropriate goods or services (rather than just "taking the order") will give you the best overall results. In the long-term, the price is the thing that is most quickly forgotten. The service never is. Computer companies do this all the time. When we go in to buy a basic family computer a good salesperson will anticipate our needs. Do we have children? Would we perhaps like to add the software suite that will work for them? Will we need to print in colour? Is the computer also going to be used for business? Are we playing games on it? All these questions and others help the salesperson create a package that will do all the things we want it to. In my years of computer sales I never once sold a client the system they came into the door asking for. They were always missing some pieces of the solution. You should never expect your customer to be the expert - that's why they're coming to you! Three ways to make it easy: 1) Bundle several products together. When a customer inquires about a single item, point out that they can get a better deal by purchasing additional items that go with the first one. Most customers can't resist a bargain, especially if they can see the immediate or future need for the additional products or services. 2) Compliment your product or service. "That works fine by itself, but it really works wonderfully when you add THIS..." Sometimes products or services in tandem are just so much more effective than alone. Point this out to your clients and offer a bundled solution as above. We offer eNewsletter design, but a good eNewsletter is so much more effective when bundled with a good subscription database system that makes it easy for clients to find and subscribe to your newsletter. 3) If a little worked, then a lot will work even better. If you can solve one problem for a client, then look for other areas where you could do the same. This works just as well for those who sell services as those who sell products. By offering solutions that generate what the client really needs you will have the opportunity to offer additional services to them. In time you'll be the one they turn to exclusively for results. Successful needs-based upselling needs to be at the core of every business whether online or off. When you get good at it your profits will increase exponentially with no additional effort. You could go from getting by to doing well... and from doing well to doing REALLY well. -

Hackers run off with Credit Card Numbers Several weeks ago a group of hackers broke through the security on the playboy.com web servers and had full access to all the data they wanted. While we might assume they were after the latest playmate of the month, in reality they gained access to a huge database of customer information... including credit card numbers and expiry dates. Company spokespeople said they did not know how many customers were affected, but a large number of people received an email from one "martyn luther ping" informing them of the theft and with their credit card information in the email as proof. The hackers apparently did this to test the firewall systems and to make a point. From all indicators it seems that no credit cards were actually used by the hackers. So did they make a point? You better believe it! This brings to mind the question about purchasing on the internet. Just how safe is it? If a site of this size can be broken into, how safe are the rest of us? Before we (or our customers) all panic and make a vow never to buy anything off the internet again, take a step back and look at the big picture. In terms of credit card fraud and theft, the internet is probably one of the safest places to make a purchase. If the site you're buying from has proper encryption during the payment process, then you're able to be quite confident. When you buy something at your local mall and they run your card through the machine, your card numbers, expiry AND signature are all there on paper and left behind with some teenager who's earning minimum wage! THAT requires a lot of trust and confidence. Make sure you buy from a company that you trust. If you are concerned about their security policies then ask them. A reputable company will be happy to address your concerns.

A Look at Loubon.com Just in time for the holidays! We are pleased to showcase Loubon.com this month. Loubon is an evolved site that came from Bunnys Beans 'n Baskets, a gift basket company. Joan Loubon, the owner, wanted to create a more classy and corporate company presentation and expand her range of products and services. We took her new logo and image design, and built a site around it. We expanded the ancient Egypt theme and carried it over into all pages and sections. The new site features: Completely new look and feel Company information Comunity news and features Corporate account information Full product guide in multiple categories Secure ordering and payment with shopping-cart features Full statistics and tracking package for visitor monitoring Visit the Loubon.com Web Site at: www.loubon.com

Portable Brochures There are times when a client just doesn't have the time to visit your website. There are times when they simply forget your web address and can't be bothered to call you and ask for it. There are times when handing them something that contained all your information would be just so convenient. Most of us have seen or heard of the electronic business card. These small CD cards are slightly bigger than a traditional business card and can be used in any computer CD Rom drive. Often with music and flashy graphics, they go a long way to making a lasting first impression. But is there an easier and less-expensive way to do something like that? If you have a website online, it is usually not very difficult to produce a running version of it on a CD for distribution. Since CDs do not have those pesky limitations of server space or connection speed, you can add content that you would not normally place on your site. Larger graphics, audio and video clips are just a few that immediately come to mind. The other option is to create a PDF file with all your business and product or services information. PDF (Portable Document Format) files are readable by anyone with the free viewer program and can contain images, text, sound, video, links and so much more. Their small size and usability on all computers make them the perfect marketing tool. Consider having a marketing CD that goes along with your presentation package or marketing materials. With the storage space and dynamic options available you can pack a lot of marketing punch in a small space.

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