Always Be Closing - Conversion Optimization

Why the Internet is no different from the real world when it comes to closing sales.

I recently read a post at Johnathan Mendez's Blog about the Top 10 Multivariate and A/B Testing Results of 2007.

In the very last comments of his post, he mentions how your customers probably know a lot more about your product than you, or the marketers, give them credit for.

As far as conversion goes, you don't need to spend all of your time explaining the fine details of your product. Instead, give a short bulleted list of the reasons your customer must have your product right now.

Just as our friend Zig Ziglar would tell you, the reason most salespeople fail is that they never close. They just continue talking on and on about their product until the customer gets bored and leaves. In sales, your purpose is not to chit chat with people. IT'S TO MAKE SALES!!! Unless you're closing, you're not selling!

The point of this tale is that you don't need to teach the customer everything YOU know about your product. You only need to teach them enough for them to buy.

You'll have plenty of time for support and training AFTER they buy your product. Don't waste that energy on window shoppers.

Short, bulleted landing pages = More conversions (sales)

If you don't believe me, you could always do your own A/B or multivariate test.

And if you want to learn more about website optimization, check out GASetup.com to search for more information.


- Jason Green

Free Software From Microsoft

I just read a post from my favorite blog, LifeHacker.com, where they told of free software available from Microsoft.

That's right! Office 2007 Ultimate or Vista Ultimate (possibly other software?) is yours free!

Yes, there's a catch.

You need to allow Microsoft to monitor your activities for 3 months, and you have to fill out a survey.

Last time I checked, Office 2007 Ultimate edition retailed for about $540. For that, Microsoft is more than free to watch all the boring crap I do all day.

If you're interested in jumping through Microsoft's hoops for this great reward, click here for the Windows Feedback Program.

Has anyone completed Microsoft's requirements for the free software? Tell us about your experience.

- Jason Green

Excel Macro to Generate SQL INSERT Statements

I am in the process of creating a database of County information, and I needed to insert several thousand records. I was able to get the data into Excel, but now I needed to write an SQL Insert statement to get the records into my database. SQL wizards, I'm sure you know a more efficient way to write this INSERT. Actually, what is generated is a series of INSERT statements. If you'd like to share your knowledge, please leave a comment, and I'd gladly update the macro for your improved format.

How it works:
Let's start with what my spreadsheet looks like:
I'm using Row 1 as my header.
The values are: state, county, statefips, countyfips, and fipsclass
Beginning on row 2 I list that information.
Columns A, B and E are text.
Columns C and D are Integers. ***Note this in the macro when modifying.***

Upon running the macro, it will ask for the start row. Enter the number for the row that begins your data.

It then loops through columns A through E and puts those values into variables.

Then, it writes the insert statement, with our variables included, to the file specified by the "MyFile" variable. Currently, it will be written to the active/default Excel directory.

The macro will then loop down all of the rows until it finds a blank.

This macro is fairly short, so I'm copying it below.
I just realized that there are several things I could change to optimize this code and make it more useful. I'll try to get an update out soon. Until then, what would YOU change in this code?

Sub generateInsert()

Dim state As String
Dim county As String
Dim statefips As Integer
Dim countyfips As Integer
Dim fipsclass As String
Dim myRow As Integer
Dim myCol As Integer

myRow = InputBox("What row to START on?")
myCol = 1
MyFile = "insertStmt.txt"

'set and open file for output
fnum = FreeFile()
Open MyFile For Output As fnum

Do Until ActiveSheet.Cells(myRow, myCol) = "" 'Loop until you find a blank.

state = ActiveSheet.Cells(myRow, myCol)
myCol = myCol + 1
county = ActiveSheet.Cells(myRow, myCol)
myCol = myCol + 1
statefips = ActiveSheet.Cells(myRow, myCol)
myCol = myCol + 1
countyfips = ActiveSheet.Cells(myRow, myCol)
myCol = myCol + 1
fipsclass = ActiveSheet.Cells(myRow, myCol)

myCol = 1 ' Return to column A
myRow = myRow + 1 ' Move down 1 row

Print #fnum, "insert into countyTable (state, county, statefips, countyfips, fipsclass)"
Print #fnum, "values ('" & state & "', '" & county & "'," & statefips & ", " & countyfips & ", '" & fipsclass & "');"

Loop

' Close the file
Close #fnum

End Sub

I'm looking forward to your comments.

- Jason