How You Doin'?

Are you doing everything you can to maximize your sales and profits? The first step to making helpful changes to your marketing strategies is to assess what you're doing now. Perhaps what you've been doing is delivering satisfactory results. At the very least, you'll save time and energy by targeting your efforts on those areas that will make the biggest improvement.

By answering the following questions, you'll pinpoint your areas of success as well as opportunities for improvement. Missing or incomplete answers to these questions may highlight aspects of your marketing strategy that require attention. Ask yourself:

• What advertising methods am I using now? Which of these successfully deliver customers and which fail to drive traffic to myoffice/website?
• What call-to-action messages do I employ, and do they consistently prompt sales?
• What is the average age of the prospective customers I'm targeting? Is my advertising/signage/website appropriate for those prospects?
• Your website: The sites designed by the Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) Web development team for our affiliated partners have been optimized to maximize sales. If you're maintaining your own site, however, or if you've contributed to your site's content, ask yourself:
• Does my site look professional?
• Is the customer's path to purchase direct, requiring a minimal number of clicks?

IMPORTANT! Once you've identified areas that might need attention and decided upon a course of action, be sure implement your changes one at a time and track the results. That way, you'll know which tactics to incorporate into your regular marketing efforts and which you should discontinue.

New Florida Laws Take Effect July 1, 2010

A pair of laws relating to traffic school in the state of Florida will take effect on July 1, 2010.

First, the good news: Florida State Statute (F.S.S.) 322.0261(4) requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to mail notices to drivers who must take traffic school pursuant to that section. If adjudication is withheld for any offense requiring traffic school, the traffic school requirement shall be waived, unless specifically ordered by the court. However, drivers convicted of passing a school bus in violation of F.S.S. 316.172 must complete a traffic school course even if adjudication of guilt is withheld.

The bad news (for traffic school providers—and motorists) is that F.S.S. 381.14(9) limits the numbers of times that drivers may elect to take traffic school in order to remove points from their records to no more than five attendances in a lifetime.

Other changes related to legislative updates will take effect on Sep. 1 (and a few on Oct. 1). Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., will be updating its approved curricula and will provide you with more information closer to that time.

TSC is on the Move!

Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) has been operating out of its current location for many years. However, due in part to the success of our affiliate programs—i.e., to your success—we have found that our current office space no longer meets our business needs. We are, therefore, pleased to announce the relocation of our California corporate offices to the following address:

Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc.
14526 Roscoe Boulevard
Suite 218
Panorama City, California 91402

Effective July 19, 2010, please direct all correspondence to this new address.

The move itself is being coordinated so as to negate any impact on daily operations, and TSC will continue to deliver the same great service and support that our affiliate family has always enjoyed. Nonetheless, should you have any questions about the relocation, please feel free to email Gloria Verver, our Director of Affiliate Programs, or give her a call at 1-800-252-9488.

Affiliate Marketing Misconceptions

Affiliate programs offer outstanding financial opportunities, but your business will require some promotional efforts on your part to be successful. Here are some misconceptions that can keep affiliates from realizing the full potential of their traffic school enterprise.

Misconception #1: I Don't Need a Marketing Campaign

Every business needs a marketing campaign. This is so important that it bears repeating: every business needs a marketing campaign! At the very least, it's a sign in a window somewhere; but more effective campaigns will generate more customers—and more revenue. You don't have to live and breathe marketing, but you can see a significant increase in business by making a thoughtful effort to implement a few small changes over time. Hopefully these blog posts will inspire you and provide some useful suggestions.

Misconception #2: One Marketing Strategy is Enough to Build an Effective Campaign

One or two marketing techniques make a good start, not necessarily an effective campaign. We understand that there are lots of other duties that occupy your time each day, but not all strategies require constant tending. Issuing coupons (which we highly recommend!) involves the initial layout and an occasional reprint; beyond that, you just have to hand them out. And a magnetic sign attached to the side of your vehicle (another great suggestion!) requires nothing more than a small investment in design and application. In short, it's not all work all of the time. Merely following through with a simple but well-conceived plan can go a long way.

Misconception #3: Marketing Campaigns Run on Auto-Pilot

Marketing channels are constantly changing. Think of the recent shifts from traditional forms of mass communication to new media. Even within the new systems, there have been great transformations. Website aesthetics have evolved and functionality has dramatically improved over just the past few years. To be effective, your marketing techniques need to remain current. You don't have to embrace every fad—an exhausting and fruitless exercise. You might, however, periodically (at least on a yearly basis) review and revise your marketing plan to ensure that you're capturing all of the business that you can. It's unlikely that you'll need to completely revamp your system, but some tweaks from time to time can optimize your results.



It can seem daunting, but the purpose of all of this talk isn't to discourage you. Good marketing simply involves building your name as a trusted provider of traffic safety education. Professionalism, credibility, and regular, small improvements are the key to growing your customer base and your bottom line. And, as always, TSC is here to help you every step of the way.

Mandatory Reporting for 12-Hour ADI

Students who must complete a 12-Hour Advanced Driver Improvement (ADI) course are serious hazards on the roadway—and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) is understandably serious about those students' obligation to complete their traffic safety education. DHSMV, therefore, requires traffic schools to report certain students who enroll in, but fail to complete, an ADI course.

The reporting requirement applies to students who are taking an ADI course because they have had their license suspended for exceeding the point limit or because they have been classified as an habitual traffic offender (HTO). If these students reserve a spot in an ADI class and subsequently fail to attend the class for which they enrolled, DHSMV requires the traffic school to report the no-show. Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) conveniently makes the reporting form available to its affiliates via the link below. You may download this PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file and print the form as needed; each printed sheet will contain two copies of the form. Reporting will be performed on a monthly basis, using Form 77057: Student Status Report. Completed forms must be mailed to DHSMV by the 3rd business day of each month, reporting no-shows for the previous calendar month.