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 rebate certificate 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 (we offer six categories plus a Combo), 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 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: (for this article I’m referring to Gas and Grocery but we have six categories available – Gas, Grocery, Dining, Pharmacy, Pet and Retail

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 ONLY do this online.
(Your customer must have access to a computer)

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. Receipts must be entered by the end of the month and mailed before the 15th of following month – see “Terms and Conditions” on actual certificates. 

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 $20 VISA gift card or make a “Direct Deposit” on their Visa card which the customer may use anywhere. ( or Option B – 24 hour turn around after approval of physical receipts)

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 $20 in free gas once a month for five months.  If they get a certificate for $500 in free gas, they can get a gift card for $20 worth of gas once a month for 25 months ($20 per month x 25 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.

The following is a “Industry Specific” slideshow presentation on HOW the actual system works.
This presentation is for the “Home Security” industry.
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com/slideshow/security/starrebates

Only the Best,

Michael Goulet – TL
Direct Strategies, Inc.
“The Incentive Pros!”
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
http://www.incentivebasedpromotions.com/    (Star Rebates)

How can giving away fuel and free groceries help your business grow? With our struggling economy right now, consumers want value. By providing gas or grocery certificates as incentives for your new or existing customers, you will generate a valuable hold in the marketplace by offering a necessary service that gives good rewards.

Now that you are wondering how something so good can be true, you might want to know how it works, right? Our company works in conjunction with the Direct Strategies, Inc. This company has learned how to create brand loyalty through using these certificates. You, the business, must first purchase these certificates, then it’s up to you to give them away.

Rebate Certificates reward consumers for being loyal customers of their favorite grocery store, gas station, retail/department store, pharmacy, spa, movie theatre, restaurant or sporting event. That’s eight different categories which, in exchange for submitting their monthly receipts, customers get $100, $300, or $500 in Visa cards as a “thank you” for being a loyal customer!

Certificates are available in denominations in amounts from one hundred to a thousand (Combo Certificates).The minimum order is 25 certificates. This way you can give a small incentive for a test drive, for example, and increase the reward for a purchase.

You will get the customer in the door, then seal the deal with a certificate. Imagine how much more inclined someone shopping for a car would feel towards purchasing if they knew they were getting $500 in gas if they bought! And example would be one hundred dollar certificate to get your customer in the door and five hundred for a purchase.

Your customers will not have to jump through hoops for these rewards. It’s simple; they register their certificate online or by snail mail with a $4.50 fee (to cover postage) and select the business where they will be buying. Each month, they simply send in receipts for purchases they would have made anyway. Once they have purchased one hundred dollars in groceries or gas, they will get a $25 card for each month.

In order to keep your name in front of your customers, you can have your company logo put on the voucher. This means over the months it takes to redeem receipts for the gift cards, your customer will be seeing your name as a reminder of who gave them free gas.

Companies who have tested this program have seen fantastic results. Now, in addition to businesses, non-profit groups are able to gain access to free gas and grocery certificates and incentives. With so much success as a draw for established businesses, imagine the success of a fundraiser that will provide a needed item in exchange for a donation. People generally want to help students or other non-profits, but who really wants a $10 tin of cookies or wrapping paper.

Get started with your program today. Don’t you want to be at the forefront, before your competition figures out what works? Get to the customers first with free fuel and grocery certificates.

Only the Best,

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

The Pharmacy Certificate

1. Must purchase 50% prescription and non-prescription medicine. The other 50% can be anything in the Pharmacy.
2. CAN have more than one receipt dated from the same day. The REASON: Some pharmacies make you pay for prescriptions at the pharmacy counter and other items at a separate cash register.
3. We give away a Prescription Discount card at activation now that saves a person up to 60%. Add that to a $25 VISA card each month and you have a grand slam for everyone.

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
Free Fuel Nationwide Team Leader
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
w-612-377-5262
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com

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
Free Fuel Nationwide Team Leader
http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com
w-612-235-6372
Fax-480-304-9095
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com

As a business owner, have you been looking for the magic answer to attract new customers to your business?  Would you like to reward those loyal customers who have been with you for a long time?  We have a new and economical way to help your business with an advertising plan that will amaze your customers and leave you glowing from the results.   We can give you a way to use the rising costs of food to your advantage and grow your business while providing a benefit to your customers that will make them loyal for the long term.

Marketing minds have come up with a incentive program.  Our program allows you to purchase grocery certificates at pennies on the dollar to offer to your customers.  Grocery certificates are something that will get everyone’s attention since 100 % of people eat and most drive.  By giving grocery certificates to your customers, you are boosting your business while retaining your sales.  How does this work?  Well, when marketing minds work in synch, we can find a unique way to help you.  When your company buys these certificates from us, you hand them out to customers. Once they have spent a set amount of money with your company, they can be redeemed for groceries or gas at any location.
It’s a gas or grocery certificate that entitles their customer to participate in an EXCLUSIVE, INVITATION ONLY rebate program.

The ways you can use this incentive program is limitless (2 minute presentation) – you can do this as a Grand Opening incentive, customer loyalty award, new customer reward, or any other way you can imagine. Some businesses use them to schedule in-home demonstrations.  The success has been phenomenal for these businesses.  “One large Northwest furniture outlet with 24 locations used over 3,000 gas certificates for a three month promotion. To qualify for a $500 certificate customers had to purchase at least $999 worth of furniture. You do the math… the company brought in over 3 Million dollars during that promotion. And since then they have purchased 1,000 grocery certificates for a new promotion.”

Let us explain how this program works.  Your company purchases the certificate for a greatly reduced price.  You give your customer the certificate when they spend a certain amount of money with your company, and you are only spending pennies on the dollar to offer this deal.  Companies who tested this method of incentives for customers with one hundred certificates are now ordering them every week because of such a huge increase in business.  See an increase of up to 30% in sales!  This will be invigorating to your employees as they see the increase in traffic.

Please visit my site and watch our Presentation, review our FAQ for additional details http://incentivesgroceryandgas.com

Now that you have found the secret to increased sales and customer incentives, hurry and contact us so we can help get your business going!

Michael Goulet
Free Fuel Nationwide Representative
michaelg@freegrocerycenters.com
612-235-6372

Savvy business owners know that the cost of good advertising is priceless.  Expensive newspaper ads, flyers and signs have long been the industry standard.  However, as consumers become more conscious of rising fuel and grocery prices, advertising needs to take on a new approach to find new customers and retain current customers.  We have a new and economical way to help your business with this advertising plan that will amaze your customers and leave you amazed with the results. You can use the rising costs of food and fuel to your advantage.

Gas and grocery are the main theme through out article. We offer a total of 8 certificate categories in which the same principals apply.(we offer Eight Certificate options)

Rebate Certificates reward consumers for being loyal customers of their favorite grocery store, gas station, retail/department store, pharmacy, spa, movie theater, restaurant or sporting event. That’s eight different categories which, in exchange for submitting their monthly receipts, customers get $100, $300, or $500 in Visa cards as a “thank you” for being a loyal customer!

Grocery and Gas certificates are something that will get everyone’s attention since 100 % of people eat.  By giving grocery or gas certificates to your customers, you are boosting your business while retaining your sales.  How does this work? It’s a gas or grocery certificate that entitles their customer to participate in an EXCLUSIVE, INVITATION ONLY rebate program.

When marketing minds work in sync, we can find a unique way to help you.  When your company buys these certificates from us, you hand them out to customers. You can do this as a Grand Opening incentive, customer loyalty award, new customer reward, or any other way you can imagine. Some businesses use them to schedule in-home demonstrations. The success has been phenomenal for these businesses.

The ideas for using these certificates don’t stop here. By using these certificates, you will have very loyal customers AND increased profit margins.  You can use it as a lure to extend the length of service agreements, increase the traffic to your location, generate a local media buzz, gain market information on your customer base, and offer promotions that are impressive compared with your competition.

Your company purchases the certificate for a greatly reduced price. You give your customer the certificate when they spend a certain amount of money with your company, and you are only spending pennies on the dollar to offer this deal.  Companies who tested this method of incentives for customers with one hundred certificates are now ordering them every week because of such a huge increase in business. With one car dealer, the results were so amazing for a free gas offer he had to order emergency certificates to make it through the weekend.  Can you imagine this kind of traffic to your business and how this will excite your employees?  Please contact us for more information on pricing.

So contact us to provide your customers with a great product from you and an incentive to go with it.  Let’s keep the economy rolling!

Please visit my site and review our FAQ for additional details.

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