eLearning Series
BOULDER, CO, May 22, 2003
Jeff Finkelstein, founder and president of Customer Paradigm, a Boulder-based privacy consulting and Web marketing company, will be the keynote speaker for the RMDMA’s June 5th Meeting at the Arvada Center on 6901 Wadsworth Blvd. The title of the presentation is “The Art of Conversion: How To Turn Prospects Into Paying Customers Via E-mail and Online Direct Response Forms.” From customer acquisition to lead capture to retention-based email marketing, Finkelstein will attendees how to mix consumer psychology with direct response tactics, how to build trust through sequenced interactions, and how to guide prospects down a sales funnel that converts them into paying customers in six easy steps.
Attendees will learn the fundamental elements of a permission-based email message, discover how to reduce communication barriers with optimized response forms, and track and measure marketing expenditures with source codes. Finkelstein will highlight how The Broadmoor generated 350 requests for proposals from meeting and event planners with a three-part campaign, how the Denver Metro Visitor’s Convention Bureau is using the process to bring more tradeshows and conventions to Colorado, and how even a clergy person has used a regular email newsletter to boost attendance at the congregation five-fold.
Finkelstein emphasizes the importance of privacy and permission, and shows how companies can build trust and create sales opportunities by focusing on the needs of their customers. “Most businesses begin by finding a customer need and getting paid to solve it,” says Finkelstein. “Successful online marketing campaigns focus on what makes the lives of their customers better, faster, cheaper, easier. It’s not about how many cases of product a company wants to push out of their warehouse. Customers have control.”
According to a 2001 Department of Commerce study, over 48% of the U.S. population has an email account. “A growing number of people prefer email to voicemail or a face-to-face meeting,” says Finkelstein, “because it is faster to scan through an email than schedule and attend a meeting.” “In most organizations, 20% of the customer base makes up 80% of their revenue, and it’s important to have an account representative stay in close contact via phone or frequent face-to-face meetings,” says Finkelstein. “But for the 80% of past customers that don’t spend enough money with a company to warrant a personal visit, a cost effective permission-based email campaign can help keep in touch.”
Finkelstein will speak at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, on Thursday, June 5 from 12:00 to 1:15. For more information, please visit www.rmdma.org. Background on Jeff Finkelstein:Jeff Finkelstein is founder of Customer Paradigm, an email marketing and privacy-consulting firm in Boulder, Colorado. Clients include: Merck, BP, Lillian Vernon, Starwood Hotels, The Broadmoor, Horizon Organic Dairy, Orange Glo International, Condit Exhibits, McGraw Hill, Ariss Kahan Database Marketing Group, Aegis Analytical, The Denver Metro Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Executive Forum, Micromedex, Microstaff, and AdventureRabbi. Considered an expert on Internet privacy and web marketing, Finkelstein evangelizes the customer experience, and helps businesses design sequenced interactions that lead to loyal, delighted customers.
Finkelstein is a frequent guest on the w3w3 Internet talk radio show, and has appeared as an expert witness before Colorado’s state legislature. Finkelstein has written a syndicated column on Internet privacy, trained ACLU attorneys and MBA students, and has spoken before numerous organizations including the Boulder Marcom Group, Colorado Electronic Commerce Roundtable, Colorado Software & Internet Association, Rocky Mountain Internet Users’ Group, and the Internet Chamber of Commerce. Prior to Customer Paradigm, Finkelstein’s work at PrivaSeek (later re-named Persona) helped GM, Disney and the USPS address privacy concerns on the Internet.
Finkelstein helped Persona design a suite CRM products, and represented the company as a founding member of the Personalization Consortium and the Online Privacy Alliance. Finkelstein’s eclectic past gives him a broad perspective on consumer behavior. Finkelstein has worked as a professional ski patroller, trained search and rescue dogs, built a custom home in the mountains of Colorado, run an indoor rock climbing gym, and led teens on extended backpacking and mountaineering trips throughout Colorado.
Finkelstein studied Political Science and Psychology at the University of Michigan, holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Technology Management from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and has served as an intern at The White House (pre-Monica). Finkelstein’s grandfather used to tell him stories about being held up at gunpoint at his general store in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and how the masked robbers got away on horseback. Finkelstein’s generation has seen how comfort with computers and the Internet has allowed the world to become a very small place.
Digitization, globalization and deregulation have shaped a new competitive business landscape – one that puts customers in greater control. Finkelstein’s mission is to help businesses adopt customer-centric practices that will allow businesses to be more profitable and customers to become loyal, lifetime buyers.
Background on Customer Paradigm: Customer Paradigm was founded to help businesses become more profitable by developing customer-centric business practices. The company helps businesses create and implement sequenced interactions that lead to long-lasting and profitable customer relationships. Clients include: Merck, BP, Lillian Vernon, Starwood Hotels, The Broadmoor, Horizon Organic Dairy, Orange Glo International, Condit Exhibits, McGraw Hill, Ariss Kahan Database Marketing Group, Aegis Analytical, The Denver Metro Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Executive Forum, Micromedex, Microstaff, and AdventureRabbi.
The company stays very involved in the business and technology community, with active memberships that include the Colorado Software & Internet Association, Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association, Colorado Internet Keiretsu, Colorado Electronic Commerce Roundtable, Boulder Marketing Communications Group and the Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group. For more information, please visit http://aws.customerparadigm.com. Background on the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association (RMDMA):The RMDMA was founded in 1980 to provide an unbiased approach to finding the right marketing ideas and solutions.
Today, the RMDMA boasts a membership of over 550 direct marketing professionals, including traditional and interactive advertising specialists. The RMDMA hosts luncheons and other educational events September through June, including Direct Marketing Day, where hundreds of attendees visit trade show booths and take educational seminars. RMDMA sponsors the only certification program for direct marketing in the Western United States through Regis University. The three-semester program first began in September of 1998. Contact Information:Sandi RhynardExecutive Director, Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association www.RMDMA.org