7 Ways to keep Customers Coming Back to Your Site
You've built a website. Wonderful! The next question to ask is this: Once you get a visitor's attention, how can you bring them back?
Of course, you don't want every visitor returning, but rather customers and potential customers. Articles and other content published on your site should be relevant, interesting and well written. Unique content will give your site a better chance of reaching targeted visitors through search engines.
Here are seven ways to keep customers coming back to your website:
1. Run short-term specials. Internet users love a bargain, and sales are a sure way to capture attention. Use short sales periods to motivate people to act — giving them three months to make a decision will just help them avoid making the decision to buy. Let users know that the items on offer are always changing to encourage them to visit your site regularly. And get creative with your specials. For example, consider giving away a free gift rather than just cutting the price.
2. Make your site topical. Internet users often look online to learn more about interesting topics in the news. Creating a link between your business and a hot news story can be a great way to attract visitors to your site. This is a common tactic used by public relations firms to get media coverage, and could work equally well for you.
3. Update information regularly. Why would a user want to return to a website that rarely changes? Keeping your information up-to-date sends a message to visitors that your company is current and serious about doing business.
4. Hold a competition. This is a great way to get visitors excited about your website and what you do. Consider asking users for feedback, so that it doubles as a market research tool. Prizes don't need to be extravagant, but should be fun and appropriate for your target market.
5. Send out an e-mail newsletter. This popular promotional tactic is an effective one. Don't expect to build a list of thousands of subscribers, but focus instead on building a high quality list of targeted readers. When sending a newsletter, keep it short and informative. Promotions are expected, but don't overdo it.
6. Join niche e-mail groups. If you have the time, participating in a targeted e-mail list is a great way to connect with potential customers and keep reminding them about your business. Participation in a group works best when your company services a niche market. For example, the owner of a pet store might join a mailing list for pet owners. By participating as an expert, the storeowner is able to promote his business to a community of prospective clients.
7. Know your customers. An understanding of the needs and goals of your clients is the best way to ensure that your marketing efforts are effective. Statistics and tracking reports will help you gauge the interests of visitors to your website. Website usage statistics will help you understand how people come to your site, and what they do once they have arrived. Are they finding what they want, or do certain pages on your site trigger them to leave? Was the contest you ran successful? This understanding will help you hone your online marketing efforts.
7 Ways to Get to the Truth : When the Sale "Disappears"
You're close, really close, to making a sale. Your potential client is in the market for your product or service and you've had a couple of good meetings.
Have you been in this situation before?
Of course you have--we all have, and it's painful. So, can you keep from getting dropped? Yes--With the Unlock The Game™ Mindset, you can abandon the salesperson role and come from a place of integrity that stems directly from your personal brand that doesn't compromise your authentic self. This opens communication with your potential clients so you can learn the truth about their situation--and that's what you always want.
These suggestions will help:
* Don't assume the sale. Potential clients are used to the traditional buyer-seller relationship, so they may decide not to tell you things that might make them vulnerable to you. Until you're sure you know the complete truth, you can never assume the sale.
* Keep making it easy for potential clients to tell you their truth. Toward the end of your conversation, ask, "Do you have any more questions?" If potential clients say no, follow up with the 100-percent-final truth-gathering question: "Now, are you 100 percent sure that there's nothing else that I can do on my end to make you feel more comfortable with this situation?" You'll be amazed how often people then say, "Well, actually, there is one more issue..." And it's at that point that you really start to hear their truth.
* Call back to get the truth, not close the sale. Most potential clients who suddenly "disappear" will be expecting you chase them down by calling them and saying, "Hi, I was just wondering where things are at?" Instead, eliminate all sales pressure by telling them that you're okay with their decision not to move forward, based on their not having called you back. In other words, take a step backward. Most of the time, it'll open the door to a new level of open, trusting communication.
* Reassure potential clients that you can handle a "no." Of course we'd rather not hear a "no." But the only way to free yourself and your clients from subtle sales pressures is to let them know that it's not about the sale but about the best choice for them--and if that means no sale, it's okay, because it's ultimately not about you but about them.
* Ask for feedback. Whenever potential clients "disappear," call them back (e-mail them if you have to, but only as a last resort because dialogue is always better) and simply ask, "Would you please share your feedback with me as to how I can improve for next time? Now that our sales process is over, I'm committed to understanding where I went wrong." This is not being feeble or weak -- it's being humble, which often triggers the truth.
* Don't try to "close" a sale. If your intuition tells you that the sales process isn't going in the direction it should be going - which is always toward greater trust and truth--trust those feeling. Then, make it safe for potential clients to tell you where they stand. It's simple--all you have to say is, "Where do you think we should go from here?" (But be prepared: you might not want to hear the truth of how they're feeling. You can cope with this by keeping your larger goal in mind, which is always to establish that the two of you have a "fit.")
* Give yourself the last word. Eliminate the anxiety of waiting for the final calls that will tell you whether the sale is going to happen--instead, schedule a time for getting back to each other. This eliminates chasing. Simply suggest, "Can we plan to get back to each other on a day and at a time that works for you--not to close the sale, but to simply bring closure regardless of what you decide. I'm okay either way, and that'll save us from having to chase each other."
You'll find that these suggestions make selling much less painful because, with Unlock The Game™, you learn to focus on the truth instead of the sale.
7 Ways to Cut Loose from Old Sales Thinking
Regardless of what product or service you’re selling, you should be able to relate to her dilemma.
Outdated sales skills fail to address the core issue of how we think about selling and unless we get to that core and change it once and for all, we’ll go on struggling with the same counterproductive sales behaviors.
And we’ll continue believing that we’re always just one new sales technique away from the breakthrough we’re looking for.
New Thinking = New Results
Maybe it’s time to take a different approach. Maybe we need to analyze our thinking and identify why we’re not making more sales.
Take a look at the table below and think about your current selling mindset.
How would your selling behaviors change if you changed your sales thinking?
Old Sales Mindset Vs New Sales Mindset
1. Always start out with a strong sales pitch Vs Stop the sales pitch. Start a conversation.
2. Your goal is always to close the sale Vs Your goal is always to discover whether you and your prospect are a good fit.
3. When you lose a sale, it's usually at the end of the sales process. Vs When you lose a sale, it's usually at the beginning of the sales process.
4. Rejection is a normal part of selling, so get used to it. Vs Hidden sales pressure causes rejection. Eliminate sales pressure, and you’ll never experience rejection.
5. Keep chasing prospects until you get a yes or no. Vs Never chase prospects. Instead, get to the truth of whether there’s a fit or not.
6. When prospects offer objections, challenge and/or counter them. Vs When prospects offer objections, validate them and reopen the conversation.
7. If prospects challenge the value of your product or service, defend yourself and explain its value. Vs Never defend yourself or what you have to offer. This only creates more sales pressure.
Let's take a closer look at these concepts so you can begin to open up your current sales thinking and become more effective in your selling efforts.
1. Stop the sales pitch. Start a conversation.
When you call someone, never start out with a mini-presentation about yourself, your company, and what you have to offer.
Instead, start with a conversational phrase that focuses on a specific problem that your product or service solves. For example, you might say, "I'm just calling to see if you are open to some different ideas related to preventng downtime accross your computer network?"
Notice that you are not pitching your solution with this opening phrase. Instead, you're addressing a problem that, based on your experience in your field, you believe they might be having. (If you don't know what problems your product or service solves, do a little research by asking your current customers why they purchased your solution.)
2. Your goal is always to discover whether you and your prospect are a good fit.
If you let go of trying to close the sale or get the appointment, you’ll discover that you don't have to take responsibility for moving the sales process forward.
By simply focusing your conversation on problems that you can help prospects solve, and by not jumping the gun by trying to move the sales process forward, you’ll discover that prospects will give you the direction you need.
3. When you lose a sale, it's usually at the beginning of the sales process.
If you think you’re losing sales due to mistakes you make at the end of the process, review how you began the relationship. Did you start with a pitch?
Did you use traditional sales language ("We have a solution that you really need" or "Others in your industry have bought our solution, you should consider it as well")?
Traditional sales language leads prospects to label you with the negative stereotype of "salesperson." This makes it almost impossible for them to relate to you with trust or to have an honest, open conversation about problems they're trying to solve and how you might be able to help them.
4. Hidden sales pressure causes rejection. Eliminate sales pressure, and you’ll never experience rejection.
Prospects don’t trigger rejection. You do -- when something you say, and it could be very subtle, triggers a defensive reaction from your prospect.
Yes, something you say.
You can eliminate rejection forever simply by giving up the hidden agenda of hoping to make a sale. Instead, be sure that everything you say and do stems from the basic mindset that you’re there to help prospects identify and solve their issues.
5. Never chase prospects. Instead, get to the truth of whether there’s a fit or not.
Chasing prospects has always been considered normal and necessary, but it’s rooted in the macho selling image that "If you don’t keep chasing, you’re giving up, which means you’re a failure." This is dead wrong.
Instead, ask your prospects if they’d be open to connecting again at a certain time and date so you can both avoid the phone tag game.
6. When prospects offer objections, validate them and reopen the conversation.
Most traditional sales programs spend a lot of time focusing on "overcoming" objections, but these tactics only create more sales pressure.
They also keep you from exploring or learning the truth behind what your prospects are saying.
You know that "We don't have the budget," "Send me information," or "Call me back in a few months," are polite evasions designed to get you off the phone. Stop trying to counter objections. Instead, shift to uncovering the truth by replying, "That's not a problem." No matter what the objection, use gentle, dignified language that invites prospects to tell you the truth about their situation without feeling you’ll use it to press for a sale.
7. Never defend yourself or what you have to offer. This only creates more sales pressure.
When prospects say, "Why should I choose you over your competition?," your instinctive reaction is to defend your product or service because you believe that you are the best choice, and you want to convince them of that. But what goes through their minds at that point?
Something like, "This ‘salesperson’ is trying to sell me, and I hate feeling as if I'm being sold."
Stop defending yourself. In fact, come right out and tell them that you aren’t going to try to convince them of anything because that only creates sales pressure. Instead, ask them again about key problems they’re trying to solve.
Then explore how your product or service might solve those problems. Give up trying to persuade. Let prospects feel they can choose you without feeling sold.
The sooner you can let go of the traditional sales beliefs that we’ve all been exposed to, the more quickly you’ll feel good about selling again, and start seeing better results.
7 Things to Look for in a New Desktop PC
Does your old clunker make wheezing noises when it boots up? Has your typing become faster than your computer? Tired of looking at the Windows hourglass for minutes at a time?
Perhaps it's time for a new desktop computer.
Computer manufacturers continue to struggle with weak business. Meanwhile, component manufacturers are making their goods smaller, faster and cheaper. The upshot: You can get a good deal on a powerful machine.
I can't recommend individual machines. They might not be on the market when you read this. Instead, let's go through the components that make up computers. Use these to help decide what you need.
Following are seven points to ponder before you buy:
The Microprocessor
This is one of the most expensive parts. Microprocessors for Windows machines are made by Intel and AMD. Those for Apples are made by IBM and Motorola. So here's my first piece of advice: Don't worry so much about who makes the chip. All four are good. For Windows machines, you have a choice of the AMD Athlon XP, the Intel Pentium 4 and the Intel Celeron, an economy chip. The Pentium 4 and Athlon XP are upper end chips. The fastest Pentium 4 runs at 3.2 Gigahertz — a very fast speed indeed. It's also very expensive. The comparable AMD chip, the 3200+, is slightly less expensive.
You may need these fire-breathers if you're doing lots of video editing. Ditto if you're working with computer-aided design or playing advanced games. Otherwise, look to chips running at 2.4 GHz to 2.6 GHz (or 2400+ to 2600+, in AMD-powered machines). They're cheaper, and they perform nearly as well as the top-end chips.
Intel's Celeron is a budget chip. If you do typical office duties and surf the web, you probably wouldn't notice the difference between a top-end Celeron and a Pentium 4 running at the same speed. But you could save some money.
Apple and AMD chips run at lower speeds than those made by Intel. AMD uses the + symbol, as in 3200+, to imply that its chips are faster than comparable Intel microprocessors, despite running more slowly. Indeed, tests often show that to be the case.
Apple claims that its top-end machines are faster than those running Windows. That is a matter of controversy; there are websites devoted to debunking Apple's claims. Apple's chips run at much lower speeds, so they are difficult to compare directly. If you're interested in an Apple computer, test one at a store, then test a Windows machine. Apple computers are more expensive than comparable Windows machines.
Both Apple and AMD have new 64-bit microprocessors. They can crunch twice as much data as 32-bit chips. But there are virtually no programs that take advantage of this power now. That will change in the future, but these expensive new chips don't offer as much value today.
The Operating System
Windows XP and Apple's OS X are also difficult to compare. But there's really no need. Both are stable and fast. You'll probably be satisfied with either.
Windows XP comes in two flavours: Home and Professional. Windows XP Professional has all of Home's goodies, plus some other stuff. Most of it is networking capability. Professional costs more.
But it does have some nice features. One is Remote Desktop, which allows you to access one computer from another. For instance, you could sign onto your office computer from home and check your email. It also allows you to encrypt files and folders.
Random Access Memory
You will need a minimum of 256 megabytes of memory. If you can afford it, get 512 MB. I'd go to one gigabyte for demanding applications, such as video editing. Memory is relatively inexpensive, so don't skimp.
Hard Drives are Big and Bigger
If you do a lot of video work, you need a big hard drive. Video files are huge. Hard drives at 200 to 250 GB are common and relatively inexpensive.
Otherwise, the gargantuan drives common today far outstrip the customer's needs. Even low-end machines today have 40 GB hard drives. You are unlikely to fill that. I recommend putting your extra money elsewhere.
The Video System
The video system sends the picture to the monitor. Many inexpensive computers use the main-system RAM to run video. The video processor is built into the motherboard (the main circuit board). This works, but is less desirable.
Better computers have a separate circuit board, called a video card. This includes the video processor and memory. For video cards, 64 MB of RAM is pretty standard. That's more than enough for day-to-day computing.
However, if you are doing video work or playing advanced games, get a card with 128 MB of RAM. Truly hardcore game players can get cards with 256 MB of RAM.
The Monitor
Do you need to buy a monitor? Most people get one without thinking. But monitors don't necessarily come with computers. Often, you can lower your cost by refusing the monitor. If you're satisfied with your current monitor, it should work OK with your new computer.
There are two basic types of monitor, as mentioned above: CRTs and flat-panels. CRTs are the cheaper option: I would not buy a CRT monitor that was less than 17 inches. Keep in mind that that measurement is diagonal, and includes a portion of the screen hidden behind the bezel. A 17-inch CRT will have a visible screen size of 16 inches or less.
Flat-panel monitors are far more expensive than CRTs. They come in two flavours: analogue and digital. Digital signals are produced natively by the computer; they do not need to be converted. Analogue signals are converted from digital by the video system. Some consider digital signals clearer.
CDs and DVDs
All computers come with optical drives — either CD or DVD. All but the very cheapest have burners. ("Burning" is the process of making a CD or DVD.) CD-RW burners are still the most common, but DVD burners are available on more expensive machines.
DVD is wildly popular, but remains troubled by incompatible standards. You're likely to see DVD+R/RW or DVD-R/RW on a computer. They are incompatible, but most players can handle R discs made on either. R means a disc can be recorded once. RW stands for rewriteable, meaning a disc can be recorded numerous times. DVD burners can also make CDs.
I recommend that you purchase a CD-RW, at least.
One final point: I hear from so many people wondering when the best time to buy a computer is. There will always be something faster, better, hotter, cooler, bigger or smaller coming. If you need a computer, buy one now.
Do you have the right personality type to successfully run your own business?
First, before approaching anyone, do you have your business set up and do you know what you want to do a joint venture on. Many of the people that you approach may already be receiving several offers, so preparation is the key.
Then decide on who you want to have JV’s with. If you are not sure, you can do some research to help you find some potential people. The details on searching can be an article in its self, but to highlight you can:
Look at what your business is; what other businesses would complement yours. Then search the web for them. You can also ask around at forums and newsgroups and ask for referrals. Once you have done that carefully, pick a handful that you would like to try.
Look at their websites. Ask yourself, what is it about them that I like and why would I want to do business with them. What about their site stands out for me and that I could comment on.
Is there a report or course that I could try get to know them better. Is there a product that I can try? Is this even the right person for my JV? When you understand the other person, not only will it help you approach them, you will also be able to know if indeed you could recommend them to your list.
Then decide which of them you would want to work with. Now you can approach them. Think about what your goal is for the JV. Yes, there are the thousands of dollars it can bring, the free advertising and leveraging each other’s resources, but what is the ultimate goal for each JV.
What would your answer be when the potential JV partners says, "So, what do you have in mind?" Is this JV about writing and promoting a book, starting a contest, creating a product or sharing advertising costs, just to name a few.
While you are thinking about your answer, you need to realize that the potential JV partner is thinking, WIIFM. (What’s in it for me).
Why should he or she pick you over (or as well as) the other people that are also approaching them. Think about how this will help them. Do you have a large list, or contacts that they may want? Do you have stats to show how your plan will help them?
If they say no, and some will for many reasons, go on. They may already have too many things on the go right now. Ask if you can contact them in the future.
There are also different rules and viewpoints on the initial contact. I have heard some people say to phone, as they get so many emails that the call would stand out. Others have said, don’t presume to phone and interrupt them when you haven’t already met them.
There is a combination of things that you could try. For example, send an email that you wish to call. Send a letter via the post office. I have even seen people send requests by an express service and have included a number of different trinkets, samples and attention getters. You may need to experiment, as each person is different.
Ultimately, I believe that you should show that you have taken the time to get to know them on some level and know what their products are. When people feel that you respect them and their product or service, this can go a lot farther than being seen as just a source of your revenue.
Ultimately, plan, prepare and then take action and you will find yourself not only attracting great JV partners but also making good friends along the way.
"I’ve always found it very important to do your homework first and then talk."
– Irwin M. Jacobs, Qualcomm Inc. CEO
7 Signs of an Entrepreneur
Do you have the right personality type to successfully run your own business?
It takes an entrepreneurial fire in your belly to start a business and make it succeed. Not everyone has it.
How do you know if you have what it takes to start a business? There's really no way to know for sure. But I do find things in common among the emotional and family fabric of people ready to consider an entrepreneurial venture.
You don't have to fit all seven of these categories to be a good candidate for entrepreneurship. But it probably wouldn't hurt. In general, the more you have in common with these characteristics, the closer you probably are to being ready to try going out on your own.
1. You come from a line of people who couldn't work for someone else. I don't mean that in a negative way. People who are successful at establishing their own business tend to have had parents who worked for themselves. It's usually easier to get a job with a company than to start your own business; people who strike out on their own often have the direct example of a parent to look to.
2.You're a lousy employee. No need to sugar-coat this one. People who start their own businesses tend to have been fired from or quit more than one job. I'm not saying you were laid off for lack of work or moved from one job to a better-paying one. You were asked to leave, or you quit before they could fire you. Think of it as the marketplace telling you that the only person who can effectively motivate and manage you is yourself.
3.You see more than one definition of "job security." I am truly envious of the few people I know who have stayed with one employer for 25 or 30 years. They look very secure. But how many people do you know who are able to stay with one company for that long? In a rapidly changing economy, job security can be frighteningly fleeting.
4. You've gone as far as you can go, or you're not going anywhere at all. Sometimes the motivation to start a new venture comes from having reached the top of the pile where you are, looking around, and saying, "What's next?" Early success can be wonderful, but early retirement can sometimes drive energetic and motivated people totally crazy.
5. You've done the market research already. Don't even talk to me about your great business idea if you haven't put the time into figuring out if there's a market for your product or service. As the people behind any number of failed Internet ventures will tell you, "cool" doesn't necessarily translate into "profitable." Don't bother building it if you haven't figured out whether there's a good chance the customers will come.
6. You've got the support of your family. Starting a business is stressful under the best of circumstances. Trying to do it without the support of your spouse or other significant family members or friends would probably be unbearable.
7. You know you cannot do it alone. You might excel at promoting a business. Maybe you love running the financial end of the enterprise. You could be someone who starts a business because you have unique creative or technical know-how to create a product.
Any of the above is possible, but it's unlikely that you are going to excel at all of these tasks — or at all of the tasks involved in running any business. Forget all that doing it alone stuff. You are going to need some help sometime.
The willingness to get that help — having employees, partners or consultants for those areas in which you are not an expert — is one indicator of likely future success. "No successful entrepreneur has ever succeeded alone," development consultant Ernesto Sirolli writes in "Ripples From the Zambezi." "The person who is most capable of enlisting the support of others is the most likely to succeed."
7 Pitfalls of Using Email to Sell
* Fear of rejection. The sheer negative force of anticipating rejection makes people turn to e-mail to generate new prospect relationships because it hurts less to not get a reply than to hear that verbal "no."
* Getting blocked by gatekeepers and voicemail. When salespeople don't know how to break through the barriers of gatekeepers and voicemail, they start thinking, "Forget it -- it's not worth the aggravation, and it takes too much energy. I'll just e-mail instead."
However, when you try to use e-mail to offer your product or service to someone who doesn't know you, you can't possibly establish the natural dialogue between two people that allows the trust level to reach the level necessary for a healthy, long-term relationship.
We all know how much everyone hates e-mail spam, but even so, many salespeople are still sending introductory e-mails to decisionmakers. They feel that, because they're from a credible organization, they won't be associated with the negative image of a spam solicitor.
However, these introductory e-mails typically contain the traditional three-part sales pitch -- the introduction, a mini-presentation about the products and services being offered, and a call to action -- and this traditional selling approach instantly tells the recipient of the e-mail that your only goal is to sell your product or service so you can attain your goals, and not theirs.
If you're still using email to sell, watch out for these 7 pitfalls:
1. Avoid sales pitches. If you feel you must use e-mail to start a new relationship, make your message about issues and problems that you believe your prospects are having, but don't say anything to indicate that you're assuming that both of you are a match.
2. Stop thinking that e-mail is the best way to get to d ecisionmakers. Traditional selling has become so ineffective that salespeople have run out of options for creating conversation, both over the phone and in person. However, it's best to view e-mail as a backup option only, not as a way to create new relationships. Try to use it primarily for sending information and documents after you've developed a relationship with a prospect.
3. Remove your company name from the subject line. Whenever you put your company and solution first, you create the impression that you can't wait to give a presentation about your
product and services. Your subject line should be a humble reference to issues that you may be able to help prospects solve.
4. Stop conditioning your prospects to hide behind e-mail. When you e-mail prospects, it's easy for them to avoid you by not responding. Also, they get used to never picking up the phone and having a conversation with you -- and they may want to avoid you because they're afraid that, if they show interest in what you have to offer, you'll try to close them. This creates sales pressure -- the root of all selling woes. This avoidance becomes a vicious circle. If you learn to create pressure-free conversations, you'll find that you'll start getting phone calls from prospects who aren't afraid to call you.
5. Avoid using e-mail as a crutch for hand ling sticky sales situations. Are prospects not calling you back? Many salespeople who call me for coaching ask how they can get themselves out of sticky situations with prospects -- but the e-mails they've sent have already triggered those prospects to retreat. It's tricky to come up with the correct softening language in an e-mail that will re-open a conversation with a prospect who has decided to close off communication -- direct, person-to-person phone calls or meetings are much easier and more human.
6. Avoid using "I" and "we." When you start an introductory e-mail with "I" or "we," you immediately give the impression that you care only about selling your solution, rather than being open to a conversation that may or may not lead to a mutually beneficial match between what you have to offer and the issues your prospect may be trying to solve. If you can change your sales language to a natural conversation, your prospect will be less likely to stereotype your message as a spam solicitation.
Finally...
7. If you can, stop using e-mail selling altogether. There is a way to renew your confidence and eliminate your reluctance to picking up the phone and have pleasant conversations with potential prospects. Learn a completely new way of working with gatekeepers that will get you past voicemail and to your decisionmakers without the rejection and frustration that are inevitable with traditional selling approaches.
For all these reasons, you should think of e-mail as your last resort. If you can learn to pick up the phone without fear, start a trusting conversation with a gatekeeper, learn how to go beyond voice mail and find your decisionmakers, you'll join the many who have made their own personal selling breakthrough.
7 No Cost Tips to Market Your Business
Over the years people have come to know me for my unique ability to develop low cost and no cost strategies to market and promote a business, product or service. Strategies that have realized incredible returns.
Some of my successes have included:
- Before my last book was published I pre-sold over $8,000 in books
- Over 250 people registered for a recent seminar in less than 2 weeks and the cost to promote was under $25
- One company used my strategies for a career expo and made over $180,000 in consulting fees
- One speaker sold over $23,000 in product sales back of the room at a two hour seminar with strategies outlined in my program
I don’t share this to impress anyone, rather to impress upon you when using the right strategies for your market, you can realize some incredible results.
People have also come to know me as someone who is a stickler when it comes to putting systems in place. My marketing successes are a direct result of the systems I have implemented.
With a bit of forethought, planning and desire, you can successfully market your business in a very effective manner. Below are seven proven strategies sure to increase visibility, leads and sales.
1. Business Cards
Business cards are often one of the most underutilized tools in one’s marketing.
Use the front and back of your business card to gain full benefit. Depending on your market you can put some very valuable information on the back such as a sports schedule, emergency numbers, or special dates people want to remember.
Keep some in your wallet, your automobile, on your desk, and some at home. Be sure to carry them with you wherever you go and be willing to hand them out as opportunity presents itself.
Creatively distribute your card. When you eat out you can leave one with the tip.
If you borrow a library book, use one as a book mark. Hand them to clerks in stores who may know other people who could use your product or service.
When someone gives you their business card be sure to enter their information in your database. Send them a short note or email within 48 hours of meeting them to keep your name fresh in their mind.
2. Send a picture
A great way to keep your name fresh in a customer’s mind is to send them a picture of when they purchased a product or service from you.
Put a picture of a buyer’s auto purchase in a beautiful calendar. Likely, the proud owner of the vehicle will display the calendar for the next 365 days.
For specialty gift shops, when a customer makes a substantial purchase, have a picture taken with the shop owner. Frame the picture and send it to the customer.
Chances are very good the picture will be displayed proudly for friends and family to see.
A dentist who specializes in smile makeovers can easily arrange to have a professional makeup artist and photographer capture the patient’s beautiful new smile. No doubt the patient will be more than happy to show others their new look.
3. Associations
Associations particular to your market are a great resource for marketing. There are associations specific to virtually any industry, job type or business. A quick web search will likely show you how much is available.
A major opportunity within many organizations is the chance to network. Additionally, to make presentations. Along with presentations come publications.
Often, when you do a presentation, you will get a mention in the association newsletter, their Ezine and/or on their website.
In many cases, when an organization has a newsletter or Ezine, they welcome the presenter writing a press announcement for them. It saves them time and often assures you have a better chance of the information making it into the publication.
They may also welcome you writing an article for their publication or website.
This lends itself to pre-presentation visibility. Additionally, you will position yourself as an expert and increase credibility.
Most organizations have the following opportunities that can help you to gain visibility and do some very effective marketing:
-Newsletters
-Internet listings
-Links to you website
-Discounted advertising rates
-Networking opportunities
-Business referral services
-Special recognition events
-Education seminars
-Business and membership directories
In many cases you will need to be a member of the association to take advantage of the multiple marketing opportunities. In other cases membership is not necessary.
4. Committee Involvement
Committee involvement is a great way to give back to the association or community while building visibility for you and your business. In some cases, you may even want to get involved in a committee where you have little experience or knowledge. This will give you an opportunity to stretch yourself and meet and network with individuals you may not have otherwise had the chance to meet.
5. Contests and drawings
Contests are a favorite for many businesses such as restaurants or those that have high foot traffic. Contests are a great way to build your database quickly.
You are generating very hot leads when you have a contest with people who have already frequented your place of business. The key though is to do back -end marketing. Far too many businesses hold contests, get lots of names and do nothing with them. In this case, it is a complete waste of time to hold a contest.
You can advertise a contest to gain new foot traffic in your place of business.
Trade show booths are a great place to hold a contest. Pre-show marketing helps to generate traffic at your booth. Invite people to stop by booth # _____ (whatever your booth is) to enter to win. Creative contests can also generate free publicity.
6. Cross-promoting
Join with other companies who have products or services that compliment yours and promote each other. Let’s say you have a massage business. You could partner with a candle company to sell their candles to your massage clients. They can give out coupons for your massage business. Or the candle company can partner with a gift basket company. Cross-promoting is only limited by your imagination.
This can considerably cut down the cost of business promotion and allow each business to use promotion techniques that might be too expensive to implement alone.
7. Bonuses
Secure special offers from various businesses who want to share a similar market as you. When a customer buys a minimum amount they receive a bonus packet with the various offers from the other vendors. This is a win/win all the way around. The other vendors gain visibility, you have something extra to offer you customers and the customers get incredible value for their purchase.
Be aware of who you cross-promote and joint venture with. You want someone who will be equally committed to a campaign.
7 marketing mistakes to avoid when promoting your business
Here are the 7 most common mistakes to avoid:
1. Not having clear objectives: Many business people start a business without clear objectives. They fail to set realistic goals for their marketing and consequently set themselves up for failure. It is important to make a list of goals and objectives based on a quarterly time line. If you do not have company goals and objectives you are like a car driving without a road map. Make sure all employees are briefed on company objectives. When your employees are not properly prepared you will not be able to achieve company objectives.
2. Neglecting to analyse your potential customers is a dangerous mistake. It can lead to many problems. When you do not analyse your customers wants and needs you do not know what products and services to develop for them. This will lead to targeting the wrong market and neglecting to understand your own niche market. It is important for any business to do their marketing analysis so that you can target your market and maximise your sales.
3. Not testing: By not testing your sales copy and places you advertise with split testing your advertising, you will be losing sales. Split testing is simple to do but many businesses fail to do this. This results in a lot of wasted time and effort. If you do not test your ad copy and marketing promotions you will not have a proper idea of the ads and promotions that are pulling and what is not working. It is simple to do by placing 2 ads for the same product in a publication or website etc. You can then see which one is performing the best.
4. Not budgeting: Budgeting is extremely important in business. Your business should never run out of money. This is especially true with your marketing and advertising ventures. It is important to have a monthly or quarterly budget for your marketing. Within that budget put aside money for each promotion you will be doing. Start small, test and then build on successes. This will allow you to always stay solvent and have enough for promotions.
5. Giving up too soon: Companies go out of business at an alarming rate these days. One of the reasons is that the owners give up too soon. Just when success might be just around the corner they give up and decide to close the business down. In exactly the same fashion marketing promotions can fail. You need to give your promotions at least 3 months before you decide to scrap them. Some promotions will take longer than others to bring results. As always, test all marketing tactics before you launch a larger promotion. Patience is one of the hallmarks of business and you need to implement it.
6. Poor sales copy: How often have you wanted a product but when you read the sales page you had serious doubts? Poor unprofessional ad copy will cost you sales. In fact without good sales copy you will not be able to sell effectively at all. It is critical to your business to get this right. If necessary get an experienced copywriter to do this. It is worth the investment, as you will see returns when you make sales.
7. Not screening your employees carefully: To handle the extra load for the Christmas season you will need to hire new employees. It is very important not to rush into this. There is no dearth of people needing employment but you need to screen them carefully before hiring. One rude customer service agent can cost you customers. Do not take this type of risk. You want to preserve the integrity of your company at all times and screening employees is the way to achieve this. You will then be able to build a core of loyal professional employees that will be an asset to the company.
The golden rule is to diversify. You should always use multiple forms of marketing promotions in your business. Do not just do one or two promotions and then wait for results. This will slow company growth and your business will stagnate. The last thing you need is to slow your marketing in the Christmas season. So remember to diversify and enjoy the increase in sales.
By avoiding these mistakes you will take your company to the success you deserve. You will be able to have year round success for your business and really be able to cash in on the Christmas season. So plan ahead and be careful not to make these common mistakes.
7 Cold Calling Secrets Even The Sales Gurus Don't Know
Cold calling the old way is a painful struggle.
But you can make it a productive and positive experience by changing your mindset and cold calling the new way.
To show you what I mean, here are 7 cold calling ideas that even the sales gurus don't know.
1. Change Your Mental Objective Before You Make the Call
If you’re like most people who make cold calls, you’re hoping to make a sale -- or at least an appointment -- before you even pick up the phone.
The problem is, the people you call somehow always pick up on your mindset immediately.
They sense that you’re focused on your goals and interests, rather than on finding out what they might need or want.
This short-circuits the whole process of communication and trust-building.
Here’s the benefit of changing your mental objective before you make the call: it takes away the frenzy of working yourself up mentally to pick up the phone.
All the feelings of rejection and fear come from us getting wrapped up in our expectations and hoping for an outcome when it’s premature to even be thinking about an outcome.
So try this. Practice shifting your mental focus to thinking, "When I make this call, I’m going to build a conversation so that a level of trust can emerge allowing us to exchange information back and forth so we can both determine if there’s a fit or not."
2. Understand the Mindset of the Person You’re Calling
Let’s say you’re at your office and you’re working away.
Your phone rings and someone says, "Hello, my name’s Mark. I’m with Financial Solutions International. We offer a broad array of financial solutions. Do you have a few minutes?"
What would go through your mind?
Probably something like this: "Uh-oh, another salesperson. I’m about to be sold something. How fast can I get this person off the phone?"
In other words, it’s basically over at "Hello," and you end up rejected.
The moment you use the old cold calling approach -- the traditional pitch about who you are and what you have to offer, which all the sales gurus have been teaching for years -- you trigger the negative "salesperson" stereotype in the mind of the person you’ve called, and that means immediate rejection.
I call it "The Wall."
The problem is with how you’re selling, not what you’re selling.
This is an area that’s been ignored in the world of selling.
We’ve all been trained to try to push prospects into a "yes" response on the first call. But that creates sales pressure.
But, if you learn to really understand and put yourself in the mindset of the person you call, you’ll find it easier to avoid triggering The Wall.
It’s that fear of rejection that makes cold calling so frightening.
Instead, start thinking about language that will engage people and not language that will
trigger rejection.
3. Identify a Core Problem That You Can Solve
We’ve all learned that when we begin a conversation with a prospect, we should talk about ourselves, our product, and our solution. Then we sort of hope that the person connects with what we’ve just told them. Right?
But when you offer your pitch or your solution without first involving your prospect by talking about a core problem that they might be having, you’re talking about yourself, not them.
And that’s a problem.
Prospects connect when they feel that you understand their issues before you start to talk about your solutions.
When people feel understood, they don’t put up The Wall. They remain open to talking with you.
Here’s an example based on my own experience. I offer Unlock The Game™ as a new approach in selling. When I call a vice president of sales, I would never start out with, "Hi, my name is Ari, I'm with Unlock The Game, and I offer the newest technique in selling, and I wonder if you have a few minutes to talk now."
Instead, I wouldn’t even pick up the phone without first identifying one or more problems that I know VPs often have with their sales teams. Problems that Unlock The Game™ can solve.
For example, one common problem is when sales teams and salespeople spend time chasing prospects who have no intention of buying.
So I would start by asking, "Are you grappling with issues around your sales team chasing prospects who lead them on without any intention of buying?"
So, come up with two or three specific core problems that your product or service solves. (Avoid generic problem phrases like "cut costs" or "increase revenue." They’re too vague.)
4. Start With a Dialogue, Not a Presentation
Let’s return to the goal of a cold call, which is to create a two-way dialogue engaging prospects in a conversation.
We’re not trying to set the person up for a yes or no. That’s the old way of cold calling.
This new cold calling approach is designed to engage people in a natural conversation. The kind you might have with a friend. This lets you both of you decide whether it’s worth your time to pursue the conversation further.
The key here is never to assume beforehand that your prospect should buy what you have to offer, even if they’re a 100 percent fit with the profile of the "perfect customer."
If you go into the call with that assumption, prospects will pick up on it and The Wall will go up, no matter how sincere you are.
Avoid assuming anything about making a sale before you make a call.
For one thing, you have no idea whether prospects can buy what you have because you know nothing about their priorities, their decisionmaking process, their budget, etc.
If you assume that you’re going to sell them something on that first call, you’re setting yourself up for failure. That’s the core problem with traditional old-style cold calling.
Stay focused on opening a dialogue and determining if it makes sense to continue the conversation.
5. Start With Your Core Problem Question
Once you know what problems you solve, you also know exactly what to say when you make a call. It’s simple. You begin with, "Hi, my name is Ari. Maybe you can help me out for a moment."
How would you respond if someone said that to you?
Probably, "Sure, how can I help you?" or "Sure, what do you need?" That’s how most people would respond to a relaxed opening phrase like that. It’s a natural reaction.
The thing is, when you ask for help, you’re also telling the truth because you don’t have any idea whether you can help them or not.
That’s why this new approach is based on honesty and truthfulness. That’s why you’re in a very good place to begin with.
When they reply, "Sure, how can I help you?," you don’t respond by launching into a pitch about what you have to offer. Instead, you go right into talking about the core problem to find out whether it’s a problem for the prospect.
So you say, "I’m just giving you a call to see if you folks are grappling (and the key word here is ‘grappling’) with any issues around your sales team chasing prospects who turn out to never have any intention of buying?"
No pitch, no introduction, nothing about me. I just step directly into their world.
The purpose of my question is to open the conversation and develop enough trust so they’ll feel comfortable having a conversation.
The old way of cold calling advises asking lots of questions to learn about the prospect’s business and to "connect." The problem is that people see right through that. They know that you have an ulterior motive, and then you’re right back up against The Wall.
These ideas may be hard for you to apply to your own situation at first because trying to leverage calls based on what we know about our solution is so engrained in our thinking.
If you stay with it, though, you can learn to step out of your own solution and convert it into a problem that you can articulate using your prospects’ language.
And that’s the secret of building trust on calls. It’s the missing link in the whole process of cold calling.
6. Recognize and Diffuse Hidden Pressures
Hidden sales pressures that makes The Wall go up can take a lot of forms.
For example, "enthusiasm" can send the message that you’re assuming that what you have is the right fit for the prospect. That can send pressure over the phone to your prospect.
You must be able to engage people in a natural conversation. Think of it as calling a friend. Let your voice be natural, calm, relaxed…easy-going. If you show enthusiasm on your initial call, you’ll probably trigger the hidden sales pressure that triggers your prospect to reject you.
Another element of hidden pressure is trying to control the call and move it to a "next step".
The moment you begin trying to direct your prospect into your "sales process", there is a very high likelihood that you can "turn off" your prospect's willingness to share with you the details of their situation.
It's important to allow the conversation to evolve naturally and to have milestones or checkpoints throughout your call so you can assess if there is a fit between you and the person you are speaking with.
7. Determine a Fit
Now, suppose that you’re on a call and it’s going well, with good dialogue going back and forth. You’re reaching a natural conclusion…and what happens?
In the old way of cold calling, we panic. We feel we’re going to lose the opportunity, so we try to close the sale or at least to book an appointment. But this puts pressure on the prospect, and you run the risk of The Wall going up again.
Here’s a step that most people miss when they cold call. As soon as they realize that prospects have a need for their solution, they start thinking, "Great, that means they’re interested."
What they don’t ask is, "Is this need a top priority for you or your organization to solve, or is it something that’s on the back burner for a while?"
In other words, even if you both determine that there ia a problem you can solve, you have to ask whether solving it is a priority. Sometimes there’s no budget, or it isn’t the right time. It’s important that you find this out, because months later you'll regret not knowing this earlier.
Putting the Pieces Together
Have you ever wondered where the "numbers game" concept came from?
It came from someone making a call, getting rejected, and the boss saying, "Call someone else."
But with the new way of cold calling, it’s not about how many people you call. It’s about what you say and how you come across.
Do you remember the definition of insanity—continuing to do the same thing but expecting different results?
If you go on using the same old cold calling methods, you’ll go on experiencing the ever-increasing pain of selling.
But if you adopt a new approach and learn how to remove pressure from your initial cold calls, you’ll experience so much success and satisfaction that it’ll really change the way you do business, bring you sales success beyond your imagination—and eliminate "rejection" from your vocabulary for good.
7 Benefits Of Mobile Document Shredding Services
What are the benefits of mobile shredding service?
* Containers: Many shredding companies furnish nice looking steel locking containers for use in your office. These containers can be emptied on schedule, or whenever they get full. Many mobile shredding companies offer flexible scheduling.
* Certification: You may get a “Certificate of Destruction”. While this certificate doesn’t totally absolve the business of responsibility for the document security, it does help.
* Ease Of Use: Why risk transporting tons of documents off-site when you can witness the document destruction in the back of the truck right outside your office!
* Unrecoverable: The professional process used by mobile shredding companies makes it impossible to reconstruct documents.
* Affordable: It can cost only pennies per pound to shred business documents.
* Verified Firsthand: Company personnel can witness the shredding is done on-site. You don’t have to entrust the drivers and a chain of people to destroy your documents…you can witness it firsthand without leaving your office parking lot!
* Less time consuming: Shredding these documents by hand would waste valuable employee-hours. With a mobile shredding service, huge piles of documents can be shredded in a fraction of the time.
Mobile shredding is probably the easiest, most secure, and most rest freeway of disposing of documents.
Some of the service options frequently offered by mobile document shredding companies:
Ongoing scheduled service
One time bulk shredding.
Onsite shredding
Offsite plant based shredding
One time purges
Electronic destruction / Recycling
Daily, weekly, monthly, and semimonthly (or, biweekly) schedule
For a company, it can be a good investment to hire a mobile shredder to come to the site regularly and dispose of sensitive documents. After all it can cost a lot of money to warehouse this type of data. Instead of documents sitting around collecting dust, a mobile shredder can make mincemeat of them with minimum hassle and clear the clutter.
You can find more information about certified mobile document shredding and paper shredding in general at our website.
5 Start-up Ideas for Your Home-Based Business
Here are five easy start-up ideas for your home-based business to save you time and money.
1. Choose Your Hours
Decide how much time you will be able to invest in your home-based business. To be honest, there are many new business owners who never make it because they're not willing to invest their time. If you work a full-time job and plan to keep it while your home-based business builds, then you should determine how many free hours you can spend working. Can you invest a few hours per day, or week perhaps?
Once you choose your hours, stick with them on a consistent basis. Treat the home business just as you would a store with operating hours. If you open a store from 9 to 5, then someone must be there during those hours. So, if you plan to work on your new business from 8:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. five nights per week, then let this be your "operating hours!"
2. Choose a Business
Even if you plan to start a business selling products of your own, you might find it useful to join with a company to sell their products to build extra income at first. You can even do both if you can invest enough time and effort into both businesses. Choose a product or service that you enjoy selling. No business is fun if you dislike it. The more you enjoy it, the more likely you are to be successful.
With the Internet, MLM businesses are building down lines like crazy. This is the perfect opportunity for you to earn some extra cash or even a substantial income. The reason MLM businesses are so profitable online is because it is so easy to contact people by email and through your own website. Some MLM companies even do most of the work and contacts for you to save you time and money. Communication is very easy online even if you're not really a "salesperson."
If you plan to join an MLM group, be sure to choose a reputable company that has been in business for at least several years. Ask to speak with others who have worked with the company a while. Check with the Better Business Bureau Online to be sure there have been no (or very few) complaints. There are many scams online today, so sign on with a well-established MLM company to be safe!
3. Prepare Your Home-Based Business Work Area
Before you start a home-based business, be sure your home office is up to par. Upgrade your computer to a fast one with a super-fast Internet connection so your work will not be hindered by outside factors. Also, get a very comfortable desk chair with plenty of back and arm support. Choose a keyboard and mouse that you're comfortable with, and organize your desk. Working in a well-organized environment clears your thinking so you can work and promote without distraction.
4. Investing Your Money
Before you invest a dime, be certain it's the right business for you. When selling products for others, you might be asked to invest money before getting started for inventory, membership, a website, and so forth. If so, study every aspect of the business before doing so. Any business start-up will require some monetary investment, but you need to think before you invest.
Once you've chosen a business to invest in, set up a budget solely for your business. Having a business account at your local bank will help. Also, set up an account with an online payment processor if possible. PayPal and StormPay are two of the most popular ones online right now. If signing on with an MLM company, find out how they issue their payments first.
5. Use Your Talents and Skills
Whether you sign on with an MLM company or start a business selling your own products and services, remember to use all your talents and skills. Maybe you're a great typist or a very savvy Internet user. Perhaps you know how to design websites, printed flyers, or promote online. Use your talents to maximize your home-based business profits.
Don't just sit at home and dream of owning your own business. Use these five start-up tips to get your home-based business moving today!
6 Ways To Fund Your New Business
The answers, respectively, are: 1. there is no "best" way to fund a new business; and 2. I do invest in new business ventures, but darn it I can’t today because I left my checkbook in my other suit.
The truth is there are a variety of ways to finance a new business and which way is best for you depends totally on your product, your market, your financial requirements, your burn rate, and most importantly, your personal and financial situation.
So with that in mind, here are a few of the most common ways to finance a new business without hitting old Tim up for a loan. Keep in mind that all methods have pros and cons and some (or most) may not work for your specific situation. No matter what financing method you choose thoroughly investigate the ups and downs and don’t jump in with both feet until you’re sure you’ll land on solid ground.
Savings and Investments
The first source you should consider tapping is your own savings and investments. I’m a huge fan of self-financing when it comes to business because it doesn’t make you responsible to others should the business fail. The bad thing is that it if things do go under, it will be your money that goes down with the ship. If you’re not willing to risk your own capital you certainly shouldn’t be willing to risk anyone else’s.
Friends and Family
After tapping their own savings and investments, many entrepreneurs turn to friends and family for help. This works well for some, but here’s the creed I live by: NEVER borrow money from anyone you have to eat Thanksgiving dinner with. Nothing causes tension in a family like lending money that is never paid back. And notice I say "lending money" rather than investing money. Venture capitalists invest money. Your relatives lend you money. They will expect it back someday even if they say they won’t. Remember, when a loved one invests in your business they are emotionally investing in you. It would be tough to tell mom and dad that their favorite son lost their life savings because his business went down the drain.
Credit Cards
I financed my first business on credit cards, which was an incredibly stupid thing to do given the fact that my business could have failed and left me with thousands of dollars in credit card debt that would have taken until the year 2099 to pay off. It worked out in the end for me, but if you decide to finance your business on plastic keep in mind that you will be paying extremely high interest rates on the money you’ve borrowed and unless you hit it big you will be paying for that money for many years to come.
Mortgage The Farm
Bank loans are next to impossible to get if you don’t have collateral and a track record of business success, which is why many entrepreneurs use the equity in their homes to finance their business after being turned down for a bank loan. While this makes more sense than building a business on a deck of credit cards, the financial risks are no less abundant. You must pay this money back whether your business succeeds or not, but it is a good source of low interest money to get you started and the interest may be tax deductible (check with your accountant to make sure).
Angel Investors
An angel investor is typically a wealthy individual who invests in start up ventures for a share of the ownership. Angel investors are usually the first formal investors in a business and provide the seed money to get the business up and running. Some angel investors will write you a check and leave you alone to run your business while others consider their investment a license to "help you" manage and make decisions. If you do accept angel money make sure the terms are clearly defined on both sides. Angel money always comes with strings. Make sure you know whether those strings come in the form of a bow or a noose before you accept an angel’s check.
Venture Capitalists
Venture capitalists are to angel investors as pit bulls are to Chihuahuas. That’s not to say all VC are big, bad dogs, but they do have powerful jaws that can chew up your business and spit it out if things don’t go their way. VC money doesn’t come with strings, it comes with chains and locks and lots of legal documents. VC always have the upper hand in any deal they invest in. That’s just how it works and that’s the price you pay to get access to VC money.
If your business gets to the level that VC money becomes a viable option, don’t jump at the first bone a VC dangles before your eyes. If one VC likes your idea, others will, too. Present to multiple VC and carefully consider each offer before you accept the check.
Just remember, no matter how you finance your business, use the money wisely. Don’t buy $1,500 plasma monitors and $1,000 Hermann Miller chairs.
Have a very clear plan of how the money will be used and how it will be paid back.
And remember this, the more you can shoestring the business, but more of the business you will own in the end.
6 POWERFUL VRE Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense - Part 4
The only thing your required to do is learn how to set them up with Google Adsense and targeted affiliate programs.
They are FREE, there's no hosting costs(optional), search engines love them, they use a state of the art syndication technology and are one of the most talked about phenomenons to hit the web simply because they work.
So, with that said, let's get on with it.
VRE Model #4. Niche Blogs.
"Niche Blogs" are simply dynamic websites that use a syndication technology called RSS, which stands for Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, that can target any Niche Market.
Now, why do Niche Blogs make such a great VRE Business Model?
Simple. People come online seeking 'Information' on or about a particular topic or problem.
Information comes in many forms online, but one of the most Powerful forms are 'Articles'.
The great thing about Blogs is they give you the ability to Post content, more specifically, targeted content to your niche and then they ping the search engines to come and take a look for potential indexing, then... using the RSS technology, it will then syndicate that post INSTANTLY via RSS to all who's subscribed to that particular feed giving them the highly target content they requested.
Also, when someone clicks on any of the links your feed is displaying, guess what? It will bring them to back to your blog with all your Google Adsense ads and related affiliate programs which is where you'll make your money.
The real cool thing is the information you choose to post doesn't necessarily even have to be yours. You can go to ANY article directory on the web and use other peoples content, saving you *tons* of time writing it yourself.
The best part about this VRE Model is, all you have to do is set up your blog template with Google Adsense and targeted affiliate programs that will solve that persons query and post to it on a regular basis.
That's it!
All other actions after that are beyond your control because you can't make them click on an ad, all you can do is try to entice them to make a decision.
Now, if this VRE Business Model interests you and you want to get started with building Niche Blogs then I recommend you go to Blogger.com - http://www.blogger.com - since they have an easy to use interface and are owned by the all mighty Google.
Just before I warp this up I always like to give examples so I'll leave you with this one that I've been working on.
Go check it out. It might give you some ideas as to how you might want to set up your own Niche Blogs.
http://www.internetwondersezine.com/internet-joint-venture/
Well, that's it for this installment of "6 POWERFUL VRE Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense".
Be sure to keep your eyes open for my next installment which will reveal yet another 'POWERFUL' VRE Business Model using Google Adsense and targeted affiliate programs.
5 Ways to Make Money on the Internet with Top Quality E-books
Thousands of people are earning extra income or enjoying a full time business in their home by selling e-books. E-books are available everywhere you go online, and cover a variety subjects from cooking to home decor to financial tips. They are easy to purchase thanks to online credit card processing, and they are easy to download and read at one's own convenience. The beauty of an e-book business is you'll have no inventory to keep up with, no overhead costs to produce the e-book (unless you invest your own time in writing one), and no shipping hassles.
Let's explore five ways you can make money on the Internet selling e-books.
1. Pick and Choose from E-books that Interest You
The key to success is to build a solid business while selling items that interest you. Do you wish to help others with finances or to help them get out of debt? Sell e-books related to finances. Do you enjoy making crafts? Sell e-books about crafts. Are you a seasoned fisherman? Offer tips about fishing in an e-book. The list goes on and on, and you can make money on the Internet while doing something you actually love to do!
You can write your own e-books, hire someone to write them, or sign on with a company that provides the rights to sell their e-books. If you use another company's e-books, this will save you the time and headaches of writing your own. You might also be able to pick and choose which e-books you'd like to sell. Then you will be able to offer only those that interest you.
2. Read the E-books
You should be knowledgeable about the products you sell. If you don't actually write your own e-books, be sure to read the ones you offer. This will allow you to answer customer questions, write effective sales presentations, and offer insight about the e-books to your readers. It's much easier to sell something you believe in, and you'll also want to make sure that what you are offering is of top quality. If you blindly sell someone else's e-books without reading them, you can hinder your own ability to make money online.
3. Promote E-books through Various Online Resources
Once you decide on a few e-books to offer, it's time for promotion. With any new online business, you'll want to start with a great website and effective sales presentations. Without these, you won't be able to convert the visitors to paying customers so your promotions will be in vain. If you're not a writer, hire a professional sales writer to create copy for you. It will be well worth the money later on when you're selling e-books like hotcakes! If you sell multiple e-books, be sure to set up a presentation for each separate e-book. This will give you more clout in the search engines and help to better target your readers.
After setting up a website, start submitting all your web pages to the major search engines. This can be achieved through an SEO promotion company or you can do it manually yourself. Next, look for pay-per-click opportunities at search engines so you can target your visitors. Pay-per-click enables you to pick and choose the keywords you would like to target. Your website will only show in the search results when those particular keywords are used. You will pay a small amount per click, but most of your visitors will be targeted with an interest for your products. Other effective forms of advertising online include press releases, e-zine (or newsletter) advertising, classifieds, auctions, and malls.
4. Sell Ad-On Products to Benefit E-book Customers
Once you start selling e-books and build a customer base, it's time for ad-ons. You might sell products or services within your e-books through affiliate links. Or, you might offer newly released e-books to customers who have bought from you before. If you want to offer additional services besides selling e-books, you might use the e-books to gain a customer base first. Then, you can introduce your main services.
5. Teach Others to Sell E-books
Another way to make money online with e-books is to train others to sell e-books. You can offer commissions or rights to e-books and help others build a new online business. As you help others make money on the Internet, you will reap rewards as well. E-books are easy to sell for your own purposes, and they can be easily passed on for others to sell.
Selling e-books offers many advantages over selling physical products or offering various services. You can save time and money by offering e-books 24/7 and by automating your business to make it work for you. Start searching online today for e-book opportunities so you can reach your goals soon!
5 Ways to Incorporate Network Marketing with Your Home-Based Business Opportunity
Some people work at home for themselves, providing services to others, or selling their own exclusive products. There are business opportunities in MLM, and network marketing that allow a person to earn money while selling for someone else. Either way, it depends on the ambition and dedication of the person involved. Any business can become a success with hard work and a product that is easy to sell.
Finding a Business Opportunity
Network marketing is about selling and dispersal. You want to get your product known to prospective customers and have it distributed so that it creates more sales for you. By investing a small sum of money, you can begin to make money and work from home selling your own products or products for another company.
Promote Your Business
The first and best form of advertising and marketing is word of mouth. Whenever a person finds a new product, or a new store, new doctor, or a new restaurant, they tell everyone they know about it. This stirs up interest and encourages people to try something new. If you have a product or service to sell, the ones who use it will become your best form of advertisement. Many businesses depend on this positive form of network marketing.
Secondly, to make your product known to more people, try printing business cards to hand out everywhere you go. When you go to the grocery store, church, school meetings or other everyday places, hand your cards out with a friendly smile. This will spread your name and increase your business opportunity.
Thirdly, you can promote your products through your own website or by emailing people from related websites. The Internet is also useful for marketing by submitting articles related to your products to other websites.
Fourthly, another effective network marketing tool is a send-out card. These keep you in touch with your clients and customers by using a more personal approach. Sending an email is easy and cheap but it does not seem as personal as a card addressed to them
Fifthly, network marketing is not just about making a one-time sale. You need to generate new sales and keep your customers coming back for repeat business. A business opportunity that enables you to add products or sell multiple products to your previous customers will give you a solid foundation for building a steady yearly income.
Following up on your customers will build a relationship that will develop confidence in your home business. By thanking your customers for their business and staying in touch, you show them how valuable their business is to you.
Build Your Home Business
The success of your home business will depend on your dedication and hard work. You don't have to start out with a lot of overhead expenses and huge facilities. By investing a few hours a week, you can slowly build your business and not be overwhelmed by debt. Start working today to build up your home business and enjoy fulfillment and financial security.
5 Ways Blogging Can Help Your Business
Not long ago, a diary was a deeply personal thing — a journal of thoughts and observations, kept under lock and key and often buried in a dresser drawer.
The Web has a way of changing things. Now, a diary of thoughts, observations and insight — posted on the Internet — may be a way to boost your business.
Web logs, or "blogs" as they're better known, have become a way to engage readers and potential customers of businesses big and small.
A blog is a journal posted on a Web site, updated on a regular basis and containing news, opinions, ideas and brainstorms. It might also have links to other sources of information, other Web sites and other blogs.
Many blogs cut both ways, inviting readers to post feedback on what they see. While that can apply to everything from sports and entertainment, it can also generate interest — and, ultimately, income — for your business.
No, blogs aren't for everyone. But see how they can accomplish these five basic business objectives.
1. Expose a new or little-known product or idea
For Grant Smith, blogging makes a world of sense on a number of levels. Smith operates a business that provides streaming video e-mail and related video communications products. Since many prospective clients might know little about video e-mail, Smith says his blog is a natural way to provide specifics.
"I began blogging to get established in the technology," Smith says. "It can have a positive impact for business. Readers are always looking for more ways to find out information about companies and for ways to interact."
That, in turn, can lead to a more informed customer and a more time-effective sales process. Rather than taking time to pitch your product or service to a client who may not need it, a blog supplants you as an information source. If a prospect contacts you, that's great. If not, you've wasted no time in explaining something that generates nothing in return.
2. Improve your search engine rankings
Blogging also puts you in touch with prospects in other ways. As any company with a position on the Internet realises, Web site visitors that come via Google, MSN and other search engines can provide numerous leads. Blogs can add to the frequency with which search vehicles identify you and your company, particularly if your blog allows readers to post a response.
If done properly, blogs have a tremendous benefit relative to search engines, according to Brad Fallon, president of SEO Research, a search engine marketing firm. "With blogs that allow comments, every new post and every new comment becomes an additional Web page filled with additional keywords to be picked up by the search engine spiders," he says.
3. Position yourself as an expert in an industry or field
Blogging also can also prove an effective marketing tool to establish yourself as an authority in your field. Not only can that generate leads, it also sends a positive message about your credentials through the marketplace and also gives your business a face and a personality.
4. Influence public opinion
Blogging also allows users to bypass traditional journalistic venues and, in effect, become a publisher of their own thoughts and viewpoints. For Steve Rubel, vice president of client services at a public relations firm, blogs are also fast becoming a powerful influence on public opinion.
"Blogs have evolved into legitimate alternative sources of news on niche and micro-niche topics," Rubel says. "Anyone with a passion and dedication could become an amateur journalist. I feel some of these sites — in aggregate — are having just as much sway on public opinion as larger, more established media brands."
5. Engage in a forum openly with your customers
Just as important, blogs that solicit reader comments can provide a sense of immediacy with your customers. In one respect, that's a ready source of feedback on what you're doing right and what you need to improve.
"My blog provides a forum for customers to give feedback after plunking their money down," says Fallon. "The result? While the normal market is lucky to have one-half of 1% of customers send an unsolicited testimonial, I have already collected glowing testimonials from over 15% of my customers."
Product Links
• Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Tools
• Solution Advisor
• Product Advisor
5 Tips To Successful Joint Ventures
Joint ventures generally are business partnerships established between two or more parties (individuals, business groups, companies, corporations) for the purposes of expanding the business and achieving merits by joining forces and working as a team. The parties involved in joint venture agreements complement each other, leverage each other’s assets assets, compensate each other’s weaknesses, and at times equally share risks.
Less than 5% of businesses actually use joint ventures effectively and most don’t even use it at all. In order to get the most out of joint ventures correctly, multiple factors such as choosing who to partner with, approaching potential partners correctly, negotiating a win-win deal for all parties involved, and having a well-coordinated execution need to be taken into consideration.
There are several types of joint ventures. Big companies may join forces to become even more powerful and thus dominate the market, while small companies may team up to build a stronger presence in their market niche in order to fend off bigger, resource-rich companies. JVs can also be used to gain access into foreign markets. Foreign companies often form joint ventures with indigenous companies that are already present on the market, but lack capital or financing to truly take advantage of the market potential. Foreign companies can bring money, new technologies and competitive strategies into a joint venture deal, while benefiting from the relationships and the brand of the domestic company.
These complementary partnerships benefit all the businesses involved if set up correctly with the right partner. Here’s a powerful but simple example of a JV that many businesses can take advantage of to grow their small business fast. It is a highly efficient method of increasing business profits by teaming up with another partner whose business is non-competitive and offers a highly valuable asset, a highly responsive client list that would be interested in your products or services. By tapping into this hidden goldmine, small businesses can save thousands of dollars in marketing expense to reach their target clientele while achieving the goal of boosting the bottom line. The business offering the vehicle in which to reach these clientele, the client list, benefits from offering complementary products and services that it does not sell and makes a cut of the sales generated from marketing to this list.
Here are 5 tips for joint venture success:
- Choose your partners carefully. A joint venture has greater chance of being successful if partners have an excellent reputation. An essential component to good team building is having the right partners. They must be trustworthy and have a high level of integrity.
Joint ventures involve extensive team building effort because it is a relationship between two parties and if the relationship is to last, it must be nurtured and kept going. Both parties must be able to trust each other and deliver on each other’s promises. To find the right partner, perform solid market research and approach only businesses you would want to do business with long term. If you want to form a partnership with a certain company, make sure that its business practices are in-line with yours. It would be very difficult for you to form a reliable team with people who lack motivation or professionalism, so you should look for well-trained, open-minded potential partners.
- Know what to expect from the beginning of any JV relationship. Know from the start what your goals are, what you want to accomplish, and see if your goals are attuned with the partner. Each company should come up with a marketing plan and clearly specify what is expected from their potential partners.
Plan your strategy ahead of time and make sure you cover all the legal aspects stipulated in your joint venture contract, like resource availability and management, special allocations, mutual gains, deductions and income issues. Stick to the business development plan and establish new priorities and goals as you progress. By efficiently managing resources and by maintaining a good, competitive business policy, you will secure the longevity and the success of your business.
- Draft proposals like mini-sales letters. Compose a professional proposal letter explaining the advantages of the joint venture in a convincing way. Keep it short, clear, concise and coherent while briefly introducing your business and why they should do business with you. Remember to tune in to the radio station your prospective JV partner listens to, WIIFM or What’s In It For Me.
If you want to propose a joint venture to anyone you have to give them a really good reason why they should do it. Otherwise, they will most likely decline your proposal. Big, successful companies receive many joint venture offers so you have to stand out. You should educate them about the advantages and the benefits of choosing you over the others. If this partner happens to be a dream partner, stay persistent as persistence demonstrates sincerity and determination to make it work for the potential JV partner.
- Avoid shooting too high with your offers. If you are a smaller business, do not target your offer to a large company first as it will most likely be thrown away. Instead of aiming too high at this point, establish successful joint ventures with small companies in order to get noticed by the bigger, powerful ones. Establish a reputation as a solid business owner who knows how to turn joint ventures into gold for their partners. Businesses naturally gravitate towards successful businesses. Remember to toot your own horn by announcing JVs through press releases and/or articles in trade magazines. As your business expands, the competition will quickly become aware of your presence, and there is a chance that powerful companies might come up with proposals of joining forces with your company.
- Be honest and open with all business transactions always. Once you have negotiated the details of the joint venture, the actual work begins. In order to keep things going, a lot of trust, understanding and expertise are needed for ongoing team building on both sides. Maintain an open dialogue and always address issues upfront before it becomes a bigger problem that threatens to break up the partnership.
These are the basic rules for joint ventures and it is ultimately up to you to see whether a deal will be successful. Learn with each joint venture deal to improve on the next deal. Deals can only be made if you go after them. With lots of hard work, you’ll develop enough expertise to be a joint venture expert and take your business to the next level.
5 Tips to Choose the Best Home Business Opportunity
1. Know your options. There are tens of thousands of Internet-based home businesses, if not more. They range from multi level marketing opportunities to ecommerce to intellectual property sales. Your first step should be to find a website that has an overview of the best home business opportunities. This will save you countless hours scouring the Internet in order to find all of the choices available.
2. Know your strengths. Perhaps you're a great writer, and would enjoy - and profit - from taking public domain books and articles and crafting them into books and articles that you could sell on the Internet. Perhaps you're an experience network marketer and would do well selling products or online opportunities to others who want to break into the field of network marketing. When reviewing home business opportunities, narrow your field to those that play to your strengths.
3. Know your weaknesses. If you don't know the first thing about building websites, it doesn't make sense to choose a home business where you'll have to build a bunch of websites. Likewise, if you couldn't sell water to someone in the desert, don't go into direct sales. Even though you might find an incredible home business opportunity, if it doesn't dovetail with your talents, it's not for you. It's like any other job: there are jobs you're automatically qualified for, those that you can learn as you go, and others that are beyond your reach. Again, success lies in playing to your strengths.
4. Diversify your revenue streams. Despite what many opportunities claim, your best chances for success come when you bring in revenue from several sources. You may begin with one home business, but over the course of a few months, you should add several others. By doing this, if one revenue stream goes south in any given month, you'll always have backup sources of revenue.
5. Set goals and meet them. In order to be successful, you need to set goals. The goals you set should include revenue goals, marketing goals, and goals specific to the home businesses you're engaged in. Once you've set your goals, you need to make a plan to reach them. Then, you need to commit to doing whatever it takes to follow your plan.
Having a home business is incredibly rewarding. If you're a parent, you'll have more time to spend with your children. If you're retired, you'll have additional income. If you're a student, you can pay for your education. If you simply like the idea of giving up the hassles of a nine-to-five job, a home business will give you the freedom you desire. Just do your research, play to your strengths, diversify your revenue streams, and set and meet your goals, and you'll experience the satisfaction that being a successful home business owner can bring.
5 Tips on Maximizing Opportunities to Earn at Home
Unfortunately, many people who want to work from home don't take the steps necessary to find the right opportunities and ensure their success. Here are five tips to get started and stay on the right track.
1. Write down your motivations. To find the right opportunity, it helps to get clear on why you want to earn money from home. Do you want to supplement your income, to have part-time work while the kids are in school, or do you want to save for a vacation? Whether you are looking for some extra spending money or you need the money for necessities, putting pen to paper and outlining why you want to earn money will help you focus and stay motivated.
2. Make money online. If you have a high-speed Internet connection (as most people do), it literally pays to look for ways to make money online. After all, you already have a computer, so why not work at home and make your own hours? Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people are already making part- or full-time incomes online. Shouldn't you be one of them?
3. Find the right opportunities. It's sometimes difficult to figure out which work at home opportunities are legitimate and which will work well with your skills and interest. The best place to start looking is a website that provides visitors with a comprehensive listing of the top-rated opportunities to earn money from home. That way, you can be assured that the opportunities have been researched and investigated, and that the company or companies you choose to work with pay on time, give excellent support, and will help you earn from home.
4. Do the math. Once you've written down your motivations and have reviewed opportunities to work at home and make money online, you need to determine your financial needs. When you know how much you want to make, you can do the math and figure out the amount of time you'll need to commit to reach your goals.
5. Treat it like a job. While it's true that working from home means that you can set your own hours and work as little or as much as you'd like, the only way you'll truly succeed and earn money at home is if you treat it like a job. That means setting regular "office hours" where you're free from distractions and can concentrate on your efforts to make money online. Perhaps you want to work while the kids are in school, or maybe you're a night owl and want to work from midnight until three in the morning. To increase your likelihood of success, though, set a regular schedule and stick with it.
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