How To Write A Great Radio Ad!

If you’ve listened to some radio ads lately you may have picked up on something, right as you punched the button to change the station. And that is that most radio spots, and by that I mean about 97%, are boring or just plain annoying... and boring.
One problem is that many advertisers rely on the station to write and produce their spots. And who can blame them? The stations usually offer those services for free. And the word “free” is the operative word here as in, “you get what you pay for” free.
Most stations make their account executives take on the added job of writing the copy. Still sound good to you? Think about it. These are the same persuasive A type personalities who persuaded you to purchase air time on their stations in the first place. Which do you think they would rather be doing? Being strapped to their desk writing your ad copy, or out selling more time and making commissions off another sale? Plus, most have as much experience writing convincing ad copy as you do. So they either have to write it themselves or pawn it off to the production guy who really, really doesn’t want to write it. After all, he’s not even making any commission! All he knows is that he’s got ten commercials to pound out including yours, (which is another reason many radio spots sound the same) before he can move on.
Now based on that info, do you think the account executive or the production guy really gives a rats behind whether or not your spot is entertaining and convincing? “No” is the correct box to check here.
If you take away anything from this article let it be this: the content of your radio spots are as important as the time you’ve purchased for them. And as proof to your ears, many advertisers miss this most important point. They end up paying a small ransom for their schedule, getting the times sent to them daily while keeping a close eye on when their spots run, all while forgetting that the most important part is the message itself.
Let’ review: you’re not a copywriter, the account executive would rather lose a limb than write it, and the production guy will give you about 10 minutes of his or her time knocking it out. What’s the solution? Hire an expert. After all, would you perform your own appendectomy? Let’s hope not. Some things just aren’t worth cutting corners for. Or body parts.
So where do you find someone who will write and produce your radio commercials? There are several avenues to explore here. First, I would be remiss not to mention my agency, The Eisenberg Agency, because we specialize in radio creative. But aside from that shameless plug, you can ask your radio account executives to suggest someone or you can search the web. Another idea would be to to call the company whose spots you’ve heard and liked and ask them who did their radio. Of course it would be a plus if the company or writer you chose has had prior experience writing for your particular business, but if they’re good it won’t really matter.
And just like the example above, when it comes to hiring a creative agency, you still get what you pay for. Be prepared for quotes that are all over the map. You may find a copywriter who will write the ad and then farm it out to a production house. You may find both in one shop. Just be sure and ask to hear and read samples of their work. Clever copy should perform two tasks. It should make the listener want to hear the spot and it should inform the listener about the product while doing so. There are many do’s and don’ts when writing copy that your copywriter should be very aware of. For example, you may hear some local ads that feel the need to repeat their phone number at the end of their spot four or five times but the truth is, radio is primarily a branding tool. By that I mean it works over time. Don’t expect the listener to remember everything that is said in your spots. Especially while she is driving down the road, headed to a client meeting and answering her cell phone while deciding what to have for dinner. Just keep your message simple, wrap it up in a clever way, and run the heck out of it.
Finally, and I feel the need to say this on behalf of all fellow copywriters out there - let the professional copywriter write the copy. You should supply them with bullet points, the most important points you wish to get across, but let them work their magic and trust them to know what will and won’t work on the radio. And if you are a closet comedian and feel the need to express yourself, try amateur night at the local comedy club first before spending your hard earned money on a spot that you and your fellow employees think is just “freakin hilarious”. Also, when giving your copywriter bullet points, keep in mind that trying to fit in more than three of them may overwhelm the listener’s ears and make them tune your spot out. Sure you’ve been in business for over 12 years, but listeners don’t have to hear about every item or feature you have. I can’t tell you how many spots I hear daily where the poor copywriter was forced to try to change the laws of physics by cramming 3 minutes of copy into a sixty second ad.
Your radio ads could be the driving force behind your brand while at the same time driving your cash register into make those little ringing sounds if you do it right. Good luck and I look forward to hearing your spots. Really, I do!

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By Hal Eisenberg

Like what you’ve read? Want to read more? Visit The Eisenberg Agency web site at: http://www.eisenbergagency.com
E-mail: halacious@eisenbergagency.com.

Mortgage Marketing and Advertising: A Material Approach to Realtors

In the mortgage business, your service is intangible. A realtor cannot smell, touch or feel your service. Many loan officers struggle with this. You depend on your words to convince realtors of your worthiness. And realtors are quick to judge if they’ll even entertain the idea of getting to know you.
Have you ever heard the objection before from a realtor, “I’m happy with who I’m using now!” And worse yet, have you ever heard that objection in the first minute of an initial conversation with a realtor?
Realtors make quick judgments about loan officers and their services. The primary reason realtors are so quick to judge is because most loan officers make the same presentation. Many loan officers haven’t learned the importance of positioning, promotion and relationship building. They try to convince realtors to do business with them after only a contact or two with a prospect.
A Material Role
Your marketing materials are an extension of you. A realtor can actually read about your service, see it on paper. If you use flow charts, graphs or other strong visuals, you’re giving the reader something they can get their hands around. After reading your materials, they should have a clear picture of your service and feel some emotion – peace of mind, excitement, anticipation, etc.
Secondly, marketing materials give you a professional image. Realtors choose to do business with a person, not a company. The relationship is between the realtor and you, not between the realtor and a company. This is why you need to create your own materials.
Materials developed by your company will not convey the kind of message that epitomizes the essence of your business. You have to create them. When you invest the time to create your own mortgage marketing materials, you’ll develop a greater clarity of your service. Over time you’ll improve what you communicate to prospects and build relationships.
Finally, you need to create personalized marketing materials to use as a drip marketing campaign. Most realtors you meet are not ready to do business with you today. But you have to continue dripping value-driven messages to maintain top-of-mind-awareness. Your messages build familiarity and trust, two key ingredients to having a successful campaign.

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By Jeffrey Nelson

Jeff Nelson helps loan officers increase loan originations by attracting quality relationships with real estate agents from the development of customized relationship-building strategies.
Click here to get a free copy of the Marketing Planning Guide, a 20-page workbook designed to help you outline a strategy to become an Agent Magnet.
Visit us at http://www.loan-officer-marketing.com

An Effective Management Tool

If your perception of conducting surveys is that they can be a useful exercise but are too time consuming to prepare, cumbersome to deploy and require considerable resources to process the numerous responses into a meaningful report it is perhaps time to think again.

Online surveys turn what was once a time consuming, resource hungry, cumbersome process into a low cost, quick, easy exercise that delivers real-time reporting.

Ease of Design

Out with the word-processor, now there is a quick and easy way for almost anyone to create surveys using a simple menu system that allows surveys to be created in minutes and with the ability to add additional questions and modify and move existing questions around.

Ease Of Delivery

Once a survey has been created it is deployed through the internet or organisations intranet making it instantly available to anyone with access to the internet.

Ease of Promotion

There are a number of easy ways to invite respondents to participate in a survey such as sending an email that contains a link to the survey or linking to the survey from a suitable website.

Ease of Participation

Online surveys don't just make it easy for the publisher as most respondents find that, when compared against the traditional pen and paper survey, completing a survey online is quicker and easier and from the publishers point of view a lot less prone to mistakes such as respondents missing out questions or multiple responses being entered against single response questions.

Ease of Survey Management

With an online survey the publisher can see in real-time the response rate and summary results.

Ease of Analysis

At the end of the survey the response data is ready for detailed analysis, the information can be loaded into a spreadsheet or third-party analysis program where the respondent data can be sliced and diced.

Appreciating the Ease

Once the ease of the total life cycle of conducting a survey online has been appreciated by business managers they will begin to recognise the multitude of new opportunities that exist.The costly annual employee satisfaction survey can now be done quicker and cheaper allowing the exercise to be conducted bi-annual or quarterly ensuring any employee problems are identified and dealt with early. There is also now an opportunity to conduct smaller and more targeted ad-hoc surveys on a departmental level or a niche area of the business improving employer/employee communications.

A survey can be used to help deliver a management message and measure the employee support and concerns of introducing new initiatives, something a simple one way memo style directive cannot do.

Survey's can be used as a marketing tool as the survey explains the benefit of a product or service and gathers the response from potential customers.

ROI today

Technology too often delivers better ways to perform certain tasks but with a Return on Investment that often requires 'investment' first and the 'return' later. Many of the available online survey services such as www.surveygalaxy.com have not only turned a cumbersome task into a cinch, but reduced the cost down to a pinch, giving you a return on investment from day one and opening up a world of possibilities and further savings.

With the opportunities that online surveys bring it is a tool the smart manager will always have to hand in their personal tool box.

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By Martin Day

Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy Ltd a web site that allows anyone to create, design and publish online surveys. For more information please visit http://www.surveygalaxy.com

Ethics in Advertising

Making money and corrupting the morals of a minor at the same time is not my idea of ethical advertising. Recently a television ad depicted a small boy breaking a window so the owner's wife could upgrade to their own style of window. There were several messages inherent in this ad that bother me.
First, it says that it is O.K. to destroy other people's property if the owner gets someone else to do it. It's like arson, but without the fire. Then, if you lie to the insurance company (and your husband) and say it was an accident, you can use the money to buy a new window.
Of course, since the damage will be over a thousand dollars, the crime is now a felony. Felons can't hold government jobs and are marked for life. Oh, yeah, insurance fraud is a crime, too. But who would fall for such an idea? You'd have to find a little kid, give him money and get him to promise not to tell who paid him and why. All eight year old children have to face life's decisions sometime, don't they?
Now, some ad executive decided to put these ideas on the tube so that millions of people see it, including a lot of kids. So what if the cost of insurance goes up, the cost of the TV ad is tacked on to the price of the product and everybody makes a profit? That's a good thing, isn't it?
Did you ever buy something advertised on TV or in a magazine and was disappointed with the quality or the performance of the product? While it is impossible to change the way some companies advertise their products, here are a few clues that will warn you away from being cheated. Over-the-counter medications are prime examples of the old carnival pitch. If words like 'sometimes', helpful', bigger', or 'more effective are used, then you know that without a comparative study and the percentages to go with them, these modifiers serve only to put a positive spin on the product.
When a medication is helpful, does that mean one per cent of the time or ninety percent of the time? How often is sometimes and bigger than what? Products touted as 'amazing' or 'fantastic' get your adrenaline going, but don't let it get to your wallet. Personal recommendations are purely anecdotal and have nothing to do with a comparative blind study. Adjectives like 'incomparable', 'incredible' and 'unbelievable' often mean exactly what they say. Skin products are rampant with false claims and mythical properties. In science class, we learned that the human skin is practically impervious to anything you put on it except for some acids or strong alkali. A simple softening hand lotion is all you'll ever need and then only in unusual circumstances. Hair shampoo is another catch-all for superlatives. A bar of hand soap in soft water will wash your hair fifty times for eighty cents and do a great job.
I once ordered three 'Multi-fruit trees' from a magazine ad. The picture showed apples , pears, cherries and peaches growing from the same tree! I paid my $5.95 and received three dried out sticks wrapped in spaghum moss. Not even Darwin himself could resurrect these specimens. Other similar items found their place in the attic, like FM transmitters (Fool your friends with your voice on the radio!), instant breast enhancers, fifteen watt bulbs that last forever, and an all-purpose stain remover that supposedly helps remove (almost) any stain. So don't be taken in by the seemingly wonderful qualities of 'bargain' products. Rely on scientific studies, consumer reports and trial and error. If that doesn't work, ask your mother.
Great age allows for making a lot of mistakes. I hope I learned from some of them.

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By Kenneth Hoffman

Sales 201: Learning Tools of Your Trade

A carpenter has his saw and hammer. A writer has his pen and ink. A doctor has her medical instruments. An accountant has his calculator. A mechanic has his wrenches. What of the salesperson? What are the available tools for salespeople?
Salespersons exist in almost every industry, for without the sales channel, there is no reason to manufacture or produce anything. We salespeople produce the results that drive every other function in every company. Although the function of each salesperson is the same, that is to match customer needs to products and services and close each sale, the manner in which we operate varies depending upon the industry we serve. Realtors, bankers, industrial reps, retailers and others have a variety of practices that they have found to be effective. There are sales tools commonly available to all of them to utilize.
Superior salespeople are always interested in maximizing their time and effectiveness in front of the customer. Superior salespersons will develop tools and systems that will aid them in their time management and sales effectiveness. Average salespersons tend to meander, wandering to the next call without any real purpose. They appear busy, but their inconsistent results leave a great deal to be desired. They are often disorganized, keeping poor records and avoid using tools to their advantage.
What are some of the tools and systems of effective, superior salespeople? We will discuss a few tools of the trade that are used successfully by me and others with great success.
• Your Sales Plan: You cannot hit a target that you cannot see, so why would you step out of your door without a plan? Many average and less-than-average salespeople do every day, and then wonder why their sales are flat. A sales plan is a tool that is indispensable to the superior salesperson. An effective sales plan is, in reality, an extension of goal setting. You can develop your plan using a word processor, but a spreadsheet allows much greater flexibility and practicality. Take time to identify your target markets and target customers. Learn as much as possible about each. Identify your competitors. Honestly assess your company's strengths and weaknesses in light of the marketplace and competition. Develop your strategy. Take action and regularly gauge your progress and adjust your plan.
• CRM: Customer resource management has been a tool in development for a number of years. There are a number of quality products available depending upon company structure and individual needs. Among these are ACT, Goldmine, Outlook, etc. Choose one that meets your needs and start using it. Keep accurate and updated records. The best time to make new entries is every day. If you get behind, you may decide that the catch-up task is insurmountable and quit altogether. Don't do it. Superior salespeople keep their contact manager updated with several backups. Once your data is entered, you can merge data with sales letters, print labels, develop email campaigns, and so much more.
• Laptop / PDA: Your carefully manicured data and customer records are of little value to you in the field if you do not have it with you when you need it. In addition to customer records, I keep all price sheets, quote forms, catalogs, brochures and more on my laptop, available for my use at any time. My equipment features built-in wireless networking capability so that I can log onto the internet or send and receive emails from an increasing number of hot-spots in most areas. These devices are no longer simple name and address managers, but rather your mobile office and window to the world!
• Flash Drive: A flash drive is a small electronic device housing a memory chip for the purpose of storing data in a manner similar to that of a hard drive on your computer. The price of high capacity flash drives for your key chain has fallen to levels affordable by almost anyone. My 1 GB flash drive was just $59 at Sam's wholesale club! I also use one on my desk computer in place of a floppy or backup tape drive to save backups and conveniently trade data with my laptop. It is impractical to carry into a customers' office all of the catalogs or literature that you may require for the visit, but located on my keychain flash drive is every catalog and brochure that our company uses, just waiting to be placed in my customers' USB port for easy transfer directly to his computer. Easy indeed! As common as these devices are, my customers continue to be impressed when I pull out my flash drive.
• Mobile Phone: Almost every man, woman and child carries a phone these days. My only comment is to select a model that has the features you need to meet the demands of your job. Do you need email capability, a camera or other features?
• Web Presence: Promote your company's web site to each customer. Get them involved in what your company is all about. If your company does not yet have a web site, consider establishing your own web page to promote you. It's easy and very inexpensive to do, and will prove quite cost effective.
This is certainly not an all-inclusive list of tools available to salespersons, but these represent important and essential elements contributing to the success of superior salespeople. Do you want to be average? Do you want to continue to meander? If your desire is to continuously improve and employ every asset at your disposal to become a superior salesperson, enjoying superior sales and income, then do as the superior salesperson does. Become an expert in the use of tools of the sales trade and get busy.

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By Daniel Sitter

Daniel Sitter is the author of the popular, award-winning e-book, Learning For Profit. Designed for busy people, his new book teaches simple, step-by-step accelerated learning skills, demonstrating exactly how to learn anything faster than ever before. Learning For Profit is currently available from the author’s web site http://www.learningforprofit.com/ and from a variety of online book merchants. Mr. Sitter is a contributing writer for several internet and traditional publications. His expertise includes sales, marketing, self-improvement and general business topics.

Analyzing Internet Sales

Before creating an internet sales/marketing campaign or focusing your products to their niche market, you need to know how buyers think, what their habits are and how to persuade them to purchase from you.

Marketing analyses are constantly performed by companies around the world to measure their effectiveness and how to deal with the new customer's behaviors, and the competitor's strategies; and there are some highlights to remember.

We should take into consideration that half of internet purchases have been made after searching the net, giving a tremendous importance to the organic search results. Of course some categories have a higher tendency (as the online travel market for instance) than others as clothes where customers know more specifically what they are looking for.

Other important fact is that generic keywords are much more used than specific ones, meaning that people prefer to look for broad terms rather than brands of product names. However talking about conversions, even though brands are not so searched, their conversion rate into sales is higher than generic terms.

So here comes a usual question while creating an SEO strategy for your products/services: is it better to drive more generic traffic and then filter the few buyers, or to focus on lower amount of branded targeted searches with higher number of transactions per visitor? Of course there is no absolute answer and the decision should be taken individually obeying the company's policies and the nature of the business.

As most of the searches before purchase come from generic terms, you can find a great opportunity focusing your attention into those keywords by using them as your new brand names and gain an attractive number of broad searches plus the benefit of the awareness for that keyword - as a brand.

Online purchases are made in average after 2-4 weeks from the first research as customers may go from general to particular results until they find what fulfills their expectations.

I expect that period will be shorter each time as customers learn to get what they are looking for faster; and because we - marketers - will continue improving our strategies to offer the right product to our client in fewer steps.

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By Daniel Katz

Daniel Katz is the Business Development Manager at Compucall Web Marketing Ltd., the leading Search Engine Optimization Company in Israel.

How to Use Testimonials as an Additional Marketing Tool

It's been said before that one unsatisfied customer will go out and tell 10-20 of their friends and family about their unsatisfactory experience, but the opposite doesn't seem to occur. Your customers, vendors, suppliers and associates might think you walk on water, but they won't seem to tell everyone else how great you are unless you show them how and give them an actual reason to do it.
There are many ways to get testimonials from your customers. You can actually hold contests for best testimonials. Request letters of endorsements from your customers, vendors, suppliers, and any associates you have. Use those to promote your products and services. When you use testimonials to add credibility to what you do, you're letting your customers do the marketing for your business.
Testimonials from your customers are one of the strongest marketing tools available.
What is a testimonial? It's a statement, usually written by your customer, saying nice things about some aspect of your business, you, your employees or your products and services. If you want to use the testimonials in marketing efforts, you need to get a written release from your customers who wrote the testimonials giving your business the right to use the testimonial in marketing.
The best time to obtain the release is at the time the customer delivers the testimonial to you.. You might tell them you want to share their insights with your other customers or some other complimentary statement.
When you use these testimonials, you want to weave them into your marketing story. Use them to embellish and support your claims and promises. For every benefit or objective you need to overcome in your products or services, it is the best scenario to have testimonials establishing or referencing each of those benefits or objections.
You can take the next logical step and establish that your business delivers what it promises. This becomes a very powerful statement.
You don't need to use all of what it says in each testimonial letter. Here are some choices or ways you can use testimonials.
¤ You can print the entire letter.
¤ You can print one sentence.
¤ You can print one word.
¤ Print with a picture of the person whose testimonial it is.
¤ Print the person's initials only.
¤ Print the entire name of the person providing the testimonial.
¤ You can actually do video or audio recordings of a person's testimonial.
Ideally, you want to use all of these techniques. The benefit of using testimonials on your web site can help link popularity in search engine results as well. Whether you use this marketing tool for both inbound or outbound reasons, you will have an advantage over your competition. Check them out next time you visit their office or web site and see for what people are saying about their business practices. You'll be amazed!
You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on your web site as long as the byline is included and the article is included in it's entirety. I also ask that you activate any html links found in the article and in the byline. Please send a courtesy link or email where you publish to: support@multiplestreammktg.com
Copyright © 2005

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By Abe Cherian

Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media, a leading performance-based Internet advertising company dedicated in helping small businesses create online presence, brand recognition and online automation. Main company web site: http://www.multiplestreammktg.com
Abe Cherian's online automation system has helped thousands of marketers online build, manage and grow their business. Learn how it can benefit you too.

Are You Ready to Buy a Company?

If you have just decided to start looking for a company to buy you will need to understand the fundamental assumptions involved before you make your first step to purchase the “right” company.
This article will give you a quick “fly-over” of basic business acquisition insights learned over many years of pursuit of finding the ideal company that meets one’s EXACT purchase criteria. Purchasing a business can be a complex, iterative process made up of many steps. Most steps within the process should be implemented in a logical sequence to achieve maximum desired results. The very first step in any business acquisition effort is understanding some of the basic realities of what to expect within the anticipated business procurement process.
There are basic or “practical” assumptions and specific or “subjective” assumptions one must make in every business purchase effort. Practical assumptions can be best defined as anticipated realities that make sense to understand no matter the potential business transaction. Subjective assumptions are anticipated challenges and events that correlate to your own personal perspectives based firmly within your own purchase criteria, prior business experiences, accumulated knowledge and developed risk/reward tolerance levels.
Like most complex business challenges it is best to make some fundamental assumptions about the task at hand. These assumptions are not inclusive and are documented to facilitate develop of more thoughts and ideas prior to implementation of any initial step to find a business:
Assumptions to Be Made Before Searching for a Company
It is nearly impossible to find the “ideal” company to buy: Compromises will abound throughout your search and negotiations
Not all companies are for sale:
Although, this is a common “opening statement” communicated by an owner of a business you really like
Finding an acquisition candidate is a “numbers game”:
So many letters, calls, e mails and conversations result in thousands of candidate companies defined, result in hundreds of qualified candidates to pursue, result in ten’s of viable companies to visit, result in one company that justifies a formal purchase offer
The deal is done only when the check clears!
Like in any selling situation, the sale really is not completed until you have 100% of the committed funds in hand. A business purchase deal is only truly complete when the business seller endorses your check for deposit … business sellers can and will change their minds at any minute!
If you do not know what you really want to purchase you will never find it.
Developing a clear, well thought out business purchase criteria list will add a tremendous amount of efficiency to your business pursuit process and significantly help all intermediaries you choose to use to help you find your ideal purchase candidate
If it is not in writing it means nothing:
Given the noteworthy amount of capital involved in business mergers and acquisitions activities, coupled with all the required evaluation steps needed to get a deal to final negotiation, and all the people and associated support services involved to get you there, it is always best to maintain a “paper trail” and use binding legal documents to minimize liability and “misunderstandings” along the way
It will cost you more than you anticipated:
Beyond negotiating an equitable price for the business you eventually purchase, there are a variety of costs involved to find, define, qualify and negotiate a business acquisition, no matter whether you do a deal or not. Service fees, legal fees, travel and entertainment expenses, market research publications and industry consultant fees, to name a few “sunk costs”, can really add up.
The more “creative” you are to find deals, the quicker you’ll find the right deal:
The more diverse your means to locate viable companies for sale the better your chances of finding a quality acquisition candidate. Spread out your business candidate search resources; utilize brokers, financial institutions, industry associations, consultants, trade shows and websites to find your next deal. You never know where your next great lead will come from!
Having a structured business purchase process in place to maximize your time and capital will dramatically improve the probability of finding a company that is for sale, reasonably priced and meets most of your purchase criteria. Buying a business does not have to be “psychological warfare” or a stressful process.
Much of the success of buying a business will come from documenting all your relevant thoughts, plans, processes and challenges required to achieve your objectives. If it is written down it can be improved upon, if it is not, it cannot.
Like trying to address any noteworthy business challenge, whatever you can do to educate yourself on all the is required to meet your desired outcomes, in advance of the tasks at hand, the more effective you will be, the less it ultimately will cost you to find the business to buy that was meant to be yours.

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By Mark Smock

Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the FIRST international business buyer directory of its kind. Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for proactive business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.

What Use Are Salesmen?

I just like to question the status quo, and this time my question is "why do we have salespeople?".
Do they add anything to the product? NO.
Do they reduce costs?
NO. They add to costs.
Do they help us make the right purchasing decisions? NO. They want you to buy their product and not their competitors.
So, then, why are there so many salesmen?
Good question, even if I say so myself! Of course, the above questions are all from the point of view of the customer. Ask the company that wants to sell the products and you may get different answers. That's because the questions are different......
Do they give us greater market share? YES
Do they make money by improving sales? YES
Do they help us clear stocks of less popular products? YES
Do they promote new products? YES
Let's not kid ourselves - salespeople are there purely for the benefit of the company they work for - and quite right too, I say. As long as we do not forget that when making purchasing decisions then that's fine.
Salespeople add quite an overhead to product costs. If a company employs lots of salesmen (or saleswomen), then surely the cost of employing them is added to the product or taken away from the quality of the product. Well this, of course, depends. If a sales force is very successful and achieves high sales volume, their overhead is being diluted. If the success continues then the company can produce or buy in the products at a lower cost. This means that, far from adding to the supply chain costs, highly successful salespeople will bring real value by reducing overall costs.
Until they do achieve this utopian goal, they are theoretically a dead weight. Trouble is, if your competitor is employing salespeople and improving their market share, then like it or not, you will probably need to do the same. The next company will do also, until all companies selling a given range of products are not just competing for market share, they are competing for the best sales people. We are then back to square one. With all competing companies employing salespeople, no one company can steal a march and reach the magic break point that truly reduces supply chain costs. Result: lots of dead-weight salespeople, adding to the product cost and reducing profits. Of course, all these competing companies could get together and decide to simultaneously sack all their sales people. They can then reduce their overheads and compete purely on the attributes of the product, whether this be price or quality. Nice idea but, perhaps a little draconian. Also illegal in many communities. Carrying out a co-ordinated commercial act such as this in a kind of cartel would not be allowed in most areas. In any case someone would soon break ranks and the flood gates would open again.
Yes, salesmen usually add costs. The reality is, though, that they are here to stay and, let's be honest, the world might just be a more colourful place with them than without them.
Talking of colour - and of aesthetics in general - some products are more in need of sales support than others. A newspaper with a gripping headline will do a good job at selling itself. Well designed packaging that compliments or enhances a product's value can do wonders for sales. But what of products that do not have such glamour. For instance, machinery, tools and the like. In our case we sell fly killer machines. Not much glamour there! Insectocutor are world beaters at producing fly killer machines. They do not employ armies of salespeople. They are rightly confident that their products really do sell themselves on price and quality alone - and without the glamour. Having said that, some of their models were given a make-over last year. This is in recognition to the fact that some of them are seen by the general public as so many restaurant kitchens are in open view of diners and many fly killers sit behind sales counters or on retail shop floors. The Select Range is a case in point. This is made with a stylish soft green finish. This doesn't make the machine operate any better but it certainly makes is pleasing to the eye. In the case of Insectocutor products, why bother with salespeople when they are not required? Everyone is aware of the superior quality of their products. The good thing about this is that Insectocutor fly killer machines represent excellent value for money as there is no dead weight overhead to carry.
I am sorry that I have given salesmen a hard time - especially as I am one of them. As I said, though, they are here to stay...well I'm not going anywhere...I hope!

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By Vernon Stent

The SE22 is one of the stylish fly killers made by Insectocutor. The rest of the Select Series can be seen here

Marketing's Magic Bullet

Hundreds of "consultants" make millions of dollars each year teaching seminars and boot camps, and selling newsletters about marketing's magic bullet - that one simple thing you can do to fill up your register with virtually no effort on your part.
People buy this tripe because they want "simple" and "no effort" ways to move their business forward.
All those magic bullet consultants are wrong. I have the secret and I am going to share it, but you won't be happy about it. My marketing magic bullet: focus, discipline and consistency. Yes, my magic bullet involves some work on your part.
Focus requires you to define your audiences, learn about their behavior, and then provide relevant and believable information, communicated in an original, impactful fashion.
Discipline necessitates developing a marketing plan and implementing it aggressively. Your plan must also include a sales element. I know businesses that market and then just expect clients to flock to them with wallets in hand. Unfortunately for these businesses, it requires some effort on their part. Sorry, no passive income.
Finally, we come to consistency. This means implementing your program even after you are tired of it. And don't change your message and marketing tactics on a whim. The race goes to the marathon man, not the sprinter.
Some other smart people agree with me. Business Coach Brent Dees says, "You can do anything, but you can't do everything. If you focus, you can accomplish your goals." Friend Bill Loeffler used to tell clients, "We can't do everything. Let's pick three marketing tactics and do them right."
Remember: focus, discipline and consistency. Unlike those other consultants, I won't bill you for that magic bullet. Lock and load.

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By Harry Hoover

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Focus Four, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX, Verbatim and Wicked Choppers.

Market Direct Advertising: Numbers Count

Ever wonder how to put more jingle in your pockets? Recently I was invited to join the “staff” of a local accounting firm, under the sheer guise of increasing business and profitability to a company with consistent net gains in their profit margin. The owner’s intent is rather clear; he wants more money jingling in his pocket.
While this isn’t a bad thing and nobody is condemning him for his intentions, a better objective might be “improving service”, or “broadening the market”. Either of these or more money in your pocket would appeal to most business owners, because the bottom line is simple, more jingle.
Improving service, broadening the market, and bringing in more business consistently are common results of a solid business marketing plan with high numbers of contact within the client market of the business. It’s all a numbers game, is probably an understatement.
Proposing a miraculous solution for this issue requires thought and planning, and is definitely a can do project. Just follow the steps:
* Know your product. Have an identifiable and recognizable name for your product; know what it does, how it can be used, and specifically how it will help the client.
* Know your market. Have a specific description of who will purchase and use your product. Know your clientele and have a good plan for communicating with them personally.
* Know how to promote your product/service to your client.
* Be willing to go the extra mile to promote your business or product.
The purpose of business is to make money. If that is not your intent, your business probably won’t make any money, and it’s NOT a viable tax shelter either.
Put your marketing skills into effect, by pursuing your client with thoughtful well planned market directed advertising. Bring in the people and your business will be profitable.
Copyright © 2005 – Jan Verhoeff

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By Jan Verhoeff

Effectively market your business with client directed advertising that brings in the people. Make every advertising dollar count by knowing your product and your market. For more information in this area of business marketing and planning, ask one or our consultants at: http://makemoremoneyon.tripod.com

Lead Management Software

Efficient lead management is the cornerstone to good sales. Without some sort of lead management system, keeping track of follow-up calls, meetings, and details relating to prospective clients can be nearly impossible. With proper lead management tools, all the information you will ever need to convert prospects into clients will be at your finger tips.
One of the first things necessary for good lead management is an efficient tool to organize records with. Whether a company is a one man shop, or a multinational organization, the efficiency of lead management can be essential to the health of the business.
A good lead management system allows business owners to organize and streamline the process of converting potential customers into clients. From the moment of contact, a sales representative should be able to add personal data and notes to client records. Follow up scheduling should be as easy as possible. Making a sale is often a matter of remembering the details and doing what you say you'll do when you say you'll do it.
After a good lead management tool has been selected, learn it and use it to follow up quickly. In the instant world of Internet, email and phones, a quick follow-up can make or break a sale. Having a good stock of marketing materials handy to close a deal is also very helpful. Ideally, your lead management software will allow for the sending of marketing material with a few key strokes.
Before you can use your lead management tool, a plan to generate leads is needed. Perhaps it's an online request form, an 800 number, a catalog, a magazine ad or maybe all of the above. With the right software, Internet leads are easy to track, allowing business owners to see what is working and what is not. Magazine and TV ads are also very effective, but can be harder to track.
When ever you contact a potential client, use your lead management tool to keep track of the details of your conversations. The more personal details you include, the easier it will be to connect with your potential client in the future. Making a personal connection to your client is often the key to making a sale.
Once you make initial contact with a potential client, you'll want to follow-up. Keep in front of your potential client. Even if the potential client doesn't need your product or service now, maybe he or she will down the road. If you can manage to get in front of your audience enough for them to remember your company when it comes time to make the purchase decision, they will be likely to choose your company.
Proper lead management without the right tool can be an overwhelming task. With a tool to organize and prioritize all of your lead management tasks, following up with potential customers can be a real pleasure. All their information will be right in front of you, and you will be able to provide them any information they need instantaneously.

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By Halstatt Pires

Halstatt Pires is an Internet marketing consultant with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing firm in San Diego offering automated web site systems through http://www.businesscreatorpro.com

Networking Your Way to Online Business Success

Forums, groups, boards, and loops; they’re all synonymous for online locations facilitating online networking. Some are entirely public, where everyone and anyone can click to the URL, read the messages and if they have no interest in contributing, they can just lurk. Some require active participation and others require registration before members can participate. These online forums, groups, boards or loops are different from paid membership sites in that there is no cost to network at these websites.
Some are active, some are sleepy. Some are strictly for online business related topics; some allow more OT (Off Topics) and social interaction. There are forums for every imaginable topic: Entrepreneurs, International online business, Health related fields, Technology, Copywriters, Web Designers, Work at Home Moms, Programmers, Finance, Ebay, Job Seekers, Internet Marketing, Writers, Inventors and Virtual Assistants, just to barely scratch the surface of what’s out there on the World Wide Web.
Time management skills need to be paramount when participating in online forums. You can very easily get swallowed up and spend hours and hours online networking with others who have online businesses, yet you miss real opportunities to get some productive work done!
From a online business standpoint, there are two areas you should consider before participating in a loop. It’s always good to have a network of like-minded online business people. If you’re a web designer, hang out with other designers. You can help and support each other. If you’re just starting out, you can learn from the pros.
Don’t get stuck though, just hanging out with your own kind. You’re not going to be very successful trying to promote your design services to other designers. This is where balance comes in. Pop into the boards, check new posts of interest, ask or answer questions, then get out. Then move onto groups who need your services or products. Who is your target market and where do they hang out? Go there. Word of caution: Do not go to these forums with the sole purpose of SPAMMING the group. You’ll be tossed out on your ear quicker than you can blink if that is your sole purpose. People like to do business with people they know and trust – or at the very minimum have at least heard of.
If you’re trying to sell your curriculum to a group of home school parents and you just pop in, spew your sales rap all over the boards then expect any sort of return, you’re missing the point of online networking. It’s networking – not advertising. You need to build a rapport with your other “loopies”. Then if a need arises and they know one of their own fellow networkers has that special skill or product, guess who they’ll call first? You hope it’s YOU.
For starters check MSN, Google, Yahoo, AOL, and Ryze. Inside there are literally hundreds and thousands of groups just waiting for you. Start networking your way to online business success today!

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by: Hans Hasselfors

This Article Was Published By Hans Hasselfors, from The Business Professional. Get the net working for you. Join a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and make your living online. Become a member of The Business Professional network: http://www.internet-marketing-experts-online.com

Relax Your Customer

One of the most important skills a doctor can posses, is that of a bed side manner. In the same sense, it is important that sales people posses the same type of skill, to be able to put their customer at ease.
Relaxing your customer is important to any type of sales situation you may find yourself in. Remember, think of the customer as a guest in your house, you are the host, so you want to make them as comfortable as possible in your house. The more comfortable they are in your house, the easier it will be for them to talk to you.
In sales, trying to persuade someone we have never met before to buy our product can be very challenging.
It can be challenging for a number of reasons, mainly the fear that consumers associate with sales people.
The fear that we are all alike, comparing us to the unfair stereotype of the used car salesman. They are afraid of being convinced to buy something they don’t need at a price they can’t afford.
You need to find a common denominator with your customer, something you can both relate to, something non-business.
A non-business conversation is a great way to break the ice with your customer. We all want to make a sale, but since when is it a crime to get to know your customer?
This is easier than you may think, people love to talk, especially about them selves.
So ask questions. Ask about their pets, their families, their work, and their hobbies.
When I was in banking, I managed a branch inside of a supermarket. Our daily goals consisted of going out into the aisles, approaching customers, and trying to convince them to bank with us.
We applied certain techniques to this type of sales that worked rather well.
For instance, the pet food aisle was a good place to talk to people, because people loved to talk about their pets. A simple question such as; “What kind of dog do you have?” would get them talking with the greatest of ease.
The junk food aisle was also a good place to talk to people. For some reason the presence of candy and junk food put people in a good mood, and they were more prone to talk with a stranger.
One place we stayed away from, was the frozen food section, because people didn’t want to talk where it was cold. Understandable.
My point is, people love to talk as long as they can relate to the subject manner, so don’t be afraid to ask questions, and get to know your customer beyond that of the products they need.
The more relaxed you can make your customer in your setting, the better off the two of you will be, and the more sales you will walk away with.
This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

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by: Jay Conners

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site, he is also the owner of http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead company.

Presenting Your Product

We all know the expression “you only get one chance to make a first impression,” well it holds true when it comes to presenting your product to your customer.
For starters, the last thing you want to do when a customer walks into your office is present the first product that pops into your head.
Before you present a product to your customer, you must first find out exactly what it is your customer wants and needs.
The first thing you want to do is introduce yourself to your customer. Offer them a seat and make them feel as comfortable as possible.
Get to know your customer, talk about non-business subjects, this will take some of the pressure off of the both of you and make it easier to talk to one another.
Once you believe that you and your customer have found a comfort level, begin to evaluate your customer’s needs.
Start by asking questions to find out his reasons for coming in to see you. Find out what products he currently has and uses. And how much he pays for them. Find out all you can about the company he obtained his products from, and what he thought of the customer service he was provided with.
It is important to know these things for reasons of comparison.
Once you have evaluated your customer and have a pretty good idea of what his needs are, get ready to present the products you have, that you believe to be an ideal match to his needs.
But before you make your presentation, make sure that you are prepared. Have all the materials you need to make your presentation a solid one at your finger tips. Such materials would include, brochures and literature, not only to give to your customer, but to go over with your customer. Unfold the brochure in front of him as you discuss the product. Literature is also a good way to be prepared in case you are hit with a question you can’t answer, this will be a good resource for reference.
The point that I am trying to make is; Present to your customer a product you believe they will need. Your presentation should be based on the information that you have gathered from your customer during your sales session.
You could be the greatest presenter of products in the world, but if you are presenting products that customers don’t need, you’ll never sell a thing.
So be sure to evaluate your customers before you start presenting your products.
This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

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by: Jay Conners

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site, he is also the owner of http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead company.

How to Not Waste Money on Marketing

If you own your own business, you're probably innundated with advertising and marketing opportunities and salespeople. You probably get asked to sponsor events and donate to organizations. Maybe you've even been hit up by the premium company trying to get you to buy pens with your company name on them.
So how do you know what to spend your marketing dollars on, and what to pass on?
How do you avoid wasting your money on marketing that isn't going to result in more clients and more sales? How can you ensure you'll get the "biggest bang for the buck?"
The answer is to go back to your marketing plan and look at your goals and objectives. You'll also want to look at who you identified as your ideal prospects or target clients.
Then you simply evaluate these potential marketing activities based on their ability to help you achieve your objectives, and their ability to put you or your company in front of your ideal prospects.
While sponsorships and donations are in part a goodwill activity and can be very worthwhile for that reason alone, if you are evaluating them from a marketing perspective (and I recommend you do, especially if you get asked to sponsor or donate frequently) you need to make sure they will give you exposure to your ideal prospects and contribute toward reaching your objectives.
The value of the exposure you receive should be worth the investment you are making. Consider what it would cost to reach those prospects in another manner to help determine the value of the exposure.
As far as purchasing pens with your company name, the same tests apply. Ask yourself how you will use the pens. Will they provide exposure to your ideal prospects or clients?
Will they reach your prospects in a manner no other marketing activity can? For example, if you are looking for repeat business from your clients, if they have a pen with your name on it that they see and use everyday perhaps they will be reminded to frequent your business.
If you are planning to do a direct mail follow up to clients who haven't done business with you in awhile, a pen might be a nice premium to include in the mailing, and it will continue to serve as a reminder long after the direct mail piece is read and thrown away.
But do NOT order the pens if you don't have a plan for using them and an objective for what you hope to achieve. Just having pens with your company name without these two items defined is definitely a waste of your money.
Whenever you are questioning whether you should take advantage of a particular marketing opportunity, ask yourself these three questions:
1) Will it provide exposure to my ideal prospects or target clients?
2) Will it help me achieve my marketing objectives?
3) Is this exposure worth the dollars I am investing?
If you can answer "YES" to all three questions, and you have marketing budget available, then you'll want to seriously consider the opportunity.
If your answer is "no" to the first two questions, and the opportunity doesn't put you in front of your ideal prospects or help reach your objectives, you'll want to "just say NO!" to that particular marketing opportunity.
If the answer is "yes" to the first two questions, but "no" to question number three and the opportunity is well-suited to your marketing plan but the value just isn't there, you may want to go back and negotiate more exposure or a lower price.
And, last but certainly not least, if you don't have a marketing plan to help you evaluate these kinds of opportunities when they come your way, my advice is simple: You NEED to get one.
If you haven't identified who your ideal prospects are and what you want to achieve with your business you will most certainly waste valuable time and money on marketing opportunities that are not a good fit for your business. In fact you'll be in danger of doing this everyday.
If you need help creating a marketing plan, The 10stepmarketing System is a great way to do it. When you create your own marketing plan using the simple, step-by-step 10stepmarketing System you are setting your business up for success and you can be sure you are not wasting valuable dollars on marketing that won't deliver you the results you deserve.
(C) 2005 Debbie LaChusa

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20-year marketing veteran Debbie LaChusa created The 10stepmarketing System to help independent professionals and small business owners successfully market their business, themselves, without spending a fortune on marketing. To learn more about this simple, step-by-step program and to sign up for her FREE audio class and FREE weekly ezine featuring how-to articles, tips and advice, visit http://www.10stepmarketing.com

Why Use Lead Management Software?

Having a popular website, or popular company of any type, is entirely dependant on sales. Effective sales at that. Maintaining a healthy profit is key to the long-term survival of your web site or business and this means knowing the difference between your effective sales leads and your ineffective sales leads.
Small Business Owner
Lead management software is perfect for the small business owner or webmaster of a website. You may have numerous different affiliate links and many different salespeople. Sometimes it can be very difficult to manage your prospective clients. By using lead management software you can keep track of your sales force or each of your affiliates.
Salesperson
Perhaps you are a salesperson or sales executive responsible for selling goods or products for one or many companies. Lead management software can provide a similar service for you too. By essentially managing the tracking of your sales, lead management software will free up much more of your time providing you with the opportunity to do what you do best. Sell.
Lead management software is useful for absolutely anyone who needs to track, manage and maintain his or her sales leads. Internet marketers will find lead management software particularly useful. Often we find ourselves spending more time working out the efficiency of each avenue of sales than we do actually advertising and selling. Lead management software will give you all the statistics you could need.
What's It For?
You will be able to track how much you are paying for your advertisements and how much return they give for your investment. That way you can remove or improve the campaigns that don't give a decent return. Using good lead management software, you can know which of your campaigns are worth investing more money into or which campaigns you should be repeating, and which you should be dumping.
With lead management software you can keep, manage and update all of your vital contacts' information in one place. You can keep track of whom you've assigned each of your sales leads to, you can also record where that sales lead came from and how you got it.
The Bottom Line
Organizing your leads and all the information surrounding them will not only lead to a more effective sales campaign it will also increase the time you have creating leads and selling to your new prospective clients. If you sell a useful product, whether it be consumable or not, one of the greatest ways of making money or winning contracts is through follow up business. If you own a website, this usually involves sending an email to a previous customer. Lead management software can effectively manage this process for you, sending emails at predetermined times, managing responses and updating all the required details.

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By Halstatt Pires

Halstatt Pires is an Internet marketing consultant with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing firm in San Diego offering automated web site systems through http://www.businesscreatorpro.com

Follow Up With Your Customer

After you go through a sales session with a customer, wether you sell them a product or not, follow up with them. Otherwise, your time was all but wasted.
Every part of a sales process from the initial contact, to the presentation of the product, to the final step, following up, are all equally important.
The following up process is an important element of the sales process for many key reasons, here are just a few:
1. Following up makes your customers feel important.
When a customer walks into your office, or calls you on the telephone, they do not want to be thought of as a statistic. They want to be treated as though they are the only customer you have.
By following up after your initial contact, it tells the customer that you are serious about doing business with them.
They will appreciate the phone call, and this will be a clear message to them that they weren’t just another sale on your way to meeting your goal.
2. Following up with your customer shows that you care.
Another reason to follow up with your customer is to find out how they are doing, and how their new product is benefitting them.
Ask questions about the product and the experience they have had with you and your company.
It is always good to get feedback, good and bad. This way you can correct anything that your customer was not happy with, learn from your mistake, and be sure not to let it happen again with your next customer.
If their feedback is negative or they just are not happy with the product, find out their reasons, be empathetic, and try to resolve the problem as best you can.
3. Follow up with your customer for more sales opportunities.
After your initial meeting with your customer, one of two things happened. Either you got the sale, or your customer left still undecided.
If you got the sale, following up with your customer is important for reasons stated in number two, and also, you now have an opportunity to up-sell. While they are on the phone, ask for permission to go over some of your other products you believe they may be interested in.
If your customer left you still undecided, than this is the perfect opportunity to see if they have come to a decision. If they haven’t, ask if there is anything they would like you to go over again, or, if they thought of any more questions they would like to ask.
A final note . . .
Before a customer leaves your desk or hangs up the phone, make your customer aware of your intentions to follow up with them. If your sales session went well, this should not be a problem.
Following up with your customers is a great opportunity to keep in contact with them, and there is no law that says you can’t follow up more than once.
The more you stay in contact with your customers, the stronger your relationship with them becomes. The stronger the relationship, the more business and referrals you can expect from them. So follow up, Always.
This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

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By Jay Conners

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site, he is also the owner of http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead company.

Evaluate Your Customer

When a customer walks into your office, don’t sell them the first product that comes to mind. Sit them down and evaluate their needs, than sell them the products that meet their needs.
I once worked with a guy in the banking industry, who was one of the best at explaining the benefits and features of our products, the only problem was, he was spending so much of his time explaining, but never selling anything.
He never sold anything because he never took the time to get to know what his customer’s needs were, therefore he was attempting to sell them things that they didn’t really need.
Nobody will buy things that they don’t need.
This is why it is so very important to evaluate your customer.
Start off by making your customer as comfortable as you possibly can, talk about non-business topics such as the weather, sports, or a current event.
Once you and your customer have built a good enough report, start to ask some questions so that you may evaluate your customer’s needs.
You can begin by finding out why your customer came into see you in the first place. Find out what products they already have. Find out if they already deal with one of your competitors. If so, find out all you can about the products and services they have with your competitor, so that you may compare products and fee’s. This is a perfect opportunity to let your customer know how much better your products and services are compared to your competitors.
Find out what it is they need and can afford, than sell them the products you believe to be ideal for their needs.
Once you have evaluated your customer, the chances of making a sale will be very good, because you will now be offering your customer something they need and can use, so they will most likely buy it.
The last thing a customer wants to hear about, is a bunch of stuff they don’t need. They have a reason for coming into see you, so find out what that reason is and do all you can to satisfy their needs.
Don’t waste your time trying to push off all of your products on them at once. This time can be better spent evaluating them.
Get to know your customer, evaluate their needs, than meet their needs with the appropriate products.
By evaluating your customer before you sell, you will find that the sales process will come much easier to you. Good luck.
This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

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By Jay Conners

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site, he is also the owner of http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead company.

How to Deal With Fools

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly" Proverbs 26:4
One of the sad realities of owning an ezine is that from time to time you will encounter fools.
Fools that take offense to something that you have written and decide to send you horrible, abusive messages.
When This Happens You Have Three Choices.
Lets examine each one and see which has the best merits.
1. You Can React.
Someone sends you a profane, abusive message. They rave on about how much they dislike you - or your website - or your newsletter.
I even had one guy write and say; "I hate your ezine. I hope that you and your family all get cancer and die!"
Now the human reaction is to think: "Who does this guy think that he is? How dare he send me stuff like this" I'll give him a piece of my mind..."
The problem with reacting is that you end up giving precious 'mental energy' to dealing with a fool.
It just isn't worth it.
Fools cannot be reasoned with.
If they could, they would not have sent you an abusive message in the first place.
Writing back and saying something like; "Oh Dear! Does your Mommy know that you are off the medication again?" might make you feel better - momentarily - but it could add fuel to the fire and you could end up with some complete lunatic whose only purpose in life is to think up new ways to annoy you.
Besides, you have better things to focus on.
2. You Can Respond.
Here is what I do. I check their e-mail address against my subscriber base and simply delete them.
I remind myself that the good book says: "Do not answer a fool according to his folly" and I make a "decision divorced from emotions" to not give the fool a nanno-second of my precious time.
The result?
I experience less stress and focus on the good aspects of my life.
Oh, did I mention that I add them to my blocked senders list so that if they try to contact me in the future, their message simply goes into my deleted items folder?
3. You Can Report Them.
Lets say that someone sends you a life-threatening email. (I've had it happen) What should you do then?
I report them.
I contact their ISP (Internet Service Provider) I go to their website, look for the contact button and explain what has happened and that I will hold them legally responsible should they allow the individual in question to continue using their service to harass me in any way via e-mail.
The Result? Most ISP's worth their salt will immediately delete the individuals account.
I also would report their threats to the police.
ReactRespondOr Report.
The first will only lead to stress.
The second will deal with 99.9% of the situations you will ever face.
The third is the best way to deal with any serious threats.
I hope that this helps.
Remember - look at things in perspective. At the time of writing I have tens of thousands of opt-in readers to my various online newsletters and can count on the fingers of one hand the number of fools that contact us with abuse and hate mail each month.
Look on the bright side.
Focus on the positive!
Copyright © 2005 Chris Bloor

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By Chris Bloor

Chris Bloor the 'Walking Idea Machine' Lives in Western Australia. His ambition in life is to become the person that his dog, Spike, already thinks he is. Get his ezine at http://www.SucceedAtMarketing.com

ReInvent Your Product

Sales, that unique experience that comes and go!
When we have it, we think it will last forever, when we don’t, we worry that it will never come. It is not only an experience, it is a way of living in a permanent challenge with competition, with customers and with ourselves.

You have been successful selling your product for a while. You have grown, you have achieved your goals and you have the will to continue to grow and achieve! You cannot wait just doing nothing the time when you will have no demands because your product is an old one.

You must find something new to keep your market warm or if you don't have one, is the time to Reinvent Your Product!

1. Evaluate your product very carefully and make a list with its functions. You might discover a new one or a function you have never promoted.

2. Evaluate the market demand and check the list with your product functions. It is very possible to find that you cover a demand you have never took into consideration.

3. Evaluate the content of promotion in the light of above two points and add a new benefit your competition doesn't offer and use it as your main selling tip.

4. Analyze the ways trough other similar successful products are promoted (websites, mini sites, ezines, etc) to see if you spread the information in an usual and comfortable mode for customers.

5. Set a package containing your product and another 3-4 (free) products (reports, e-books, tools, programs, etc). Promote this full package as a new product able to solve a larger area of problems.

6. Choose a new name but not a very different one. Your old customers must recognize previous brand and product they trust. The simplest method is to add 'Gold', 'Platinum' or something else to draw attention that your product is a new one.

You may think this ReInvention process seems unorthodox, but it sure has worked for other people and will work for you as well. There is no reason to judge yourself because you can't do something extraordinary as long as people buy from you.

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By Valerian Dinca

Valerian Dinca is the owner of the newest online business tutorial. Everything you need when you need it.

Sell The Wife!

How to close a deal?
Are you involved in the marketing/sales industry?
How much deal that you already close?
Do you know that there is a few tips that we almost forgot to use?
I will share with you on this problem.
As a start, I want to ask you... do you know that the first time you show yourself to the customer, definitely you are a bad guy for them? Trust me, this happened to anyone for the salesperson even they have a good looking or good personality. So, don't wait too long to solve this. Now, let me tell you the way to change that "bad" assumption ... allright?
First,
Create the COMMON BOND as quick as you can. Make them as your "friend" or your "family". It is because people will start talking to you if they like you. And at this time... you must make your customers to feel SAFE. If they feel SAFE with you, they will trust you.
Second,
Don't try to sell if you want them buy your service/merchandise. Bear this in your mind. People will not BUY if we ask them to BUY. So, how to solve this BIG problem? Anyway, I'm still wanna share with you the "IMPORTANT" tip to solve this problem.
But how?
It's gonna be like this... "Try to put the "VALUE" on your service or merchandise". Don't push them to buy but, make them "SOLD" to your product and make them feel that "There is no time for me anymore to think about it...so I'll buy from you..."
See, if you can put the "VALUE" to your service/merchandise... at the end of the day, PRICE will not be a big problem. This skill you have to study. This site also can help you.
Third,
Sell the WIFE........!! Sell the WIFE.......!! Sell the WIFE.......!! Then, sell the HUSBAND! (marriage).
Look carefully what I'm mentioned above. And take note at the selling pitch RATIO between the wife and the husband. It's so important to know this.
I already practised this skill until now, and it's worth it. In this learning method, 90% of the deals come from here. Make sure you talk a little bit more to the wife rather than her husband along the presentation.
Because at the end of the day, if the wife "SOLD" with your presentation, automatically she will ask her "MAN/husband" to buy it for her. You know... man will do anything for women. But, if the opposite scenario happened... the husband will say NO...!
You must CLOSE THE DEAL...!!
Bear in mind one more time, 90% of the household expenses/budget are controlled by the women/wife.
So.... Sell the WIFE...!! Sell the WIFE....!! Sell the WIFE....!! Later.. sell the HUSBAND....

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By Rohaizad Jumat

The author is the owner of the lampusuluh.blogspot.com and the bloggerman.blogsome.com. His name is Mr Ombak.
Now, the author more concentrate on his new project and it's still in progress. The author will inform to the public about his new project within 2 week from today. He will tell the public about his own experience about adsense from the 1st; that is 3 months ago. So, don't forget to bookmark his blog (http://lampusuluh.blogspot.com).

Increase Your Sales by Giving It Away

Stand out above the crowd by Giving Away Your Best Information
What makes you better than your competition? Let me give you a hint, it’s not because you are less expensive than your competition or because of your great customer service. When you start giving away your services, your ideas, you will see your sales skyrocket.
Consumers have choices. In fact, they’ve got more choices today than ever before. And it only takes a few clicks of your mouse to be overloaded with options.
Given the fact that competition is at an all-time high, what can you do to stand out? Most companies have someone just like them on literally every street corner. So how do you get noticed? Just assume that you are standing in a crowd. Everyone’s the same height, wearing the same clothes, and has the same skin color. That’s what most companies are doing. They look just like everyone else. So, how do you get noticed?
There are many things that should be done. Many of the consultants out there talk about coming up with an authentic brand, crafting your positioning statement or unique value, choosing the right Bull’s Eye Market, and delivering your message effectively. But I want to suggest something else to consider.

• How do you provide more value than your competition assuming that your products and services are similar?
• Then how do you let everyone know that you have something really different?
• How do you become a trusted and credible resource and not just another vendor?
  

The answer is with information. You’ve got it. All you have to do is package it and share it. Just look at the number of people that surf the internet. What are they looking for? Information.
I’m not talking about just any information. I’m referring to information that will be valuable and beneficial to your prospects and clients. Start telling everyone how if they do XYZ their business will increase, their jobs will be easier. Give them some real meat that can help them, not just skim over the top because you fear that you will give away all of what you sell.
Spill Your Candy on the Floor—Give Away Key Information, Help Your Customer Get Information
I’ve heard other sales trainers say “don’t spill your candy on the floor in the lobby.” What they are referring to is the fear that giving all of your knowledge away means you are no longer needed. They believe you’ve essentially spilled all of the goodies so why should someone hire you? I believe just the opposite, that if we change our approach from selling to giving information and helping, you suddenly become a necessary part of what your customer needs. They are hungry for information. Information that tells them how to fix their biggest problems. They need that information to decide what is the best approach to fixing their problem. And they will look on those that provide that necessary help as a trusted partner and resource.
The best sales process requires that you first build rapport with the client; after all I’m sure you’ve heard the statement that people buy from people they know and trust, not from salespeople. Once they know you and trust you, then they have to know that what you offer will solve their problem, and finally that you are credible, believable. All of that is a part of the “building rapport.” You also are there to help in any way you can. Selling should be really on the backburner.
So, by providing information you establish rapport, credibility, and prove that you want to help, not withhold information until the cash is shelled out. You are truly there to help.
Give Away as Much Information to as Many as You Can at One Time
Let’s talk a little about your marketing efforts. Have you always sent out your direct marketing (emails, letters, whatever) with a goal of selling something? What would happen if you sent them out to advertise that you are giving away all of this free information? Get everyone to attend a seminar on How to……..[whatever]
I can tell you from experience, both my own and those of the clients that have followed this procedure that your direct mail response rates will increase somewhere around 10 times. During the seminar make sure to give them some real meaty ideas to improve whatever it is that are clamoring for. You have just become “the expert” in the industry, in your geographic area, your community. You will be the FIRST person everyone turns to looking for help, advice, and….to buy from.
You will also have shown your value to a roomful of people in the time that you would normally have spent in a one-on-one sales pitch.
It sort of goes this way for my sales training and coaching:

• I send out 1,000 postcards advertising my next “Double Your Business in Weeks” seminar.
• There will be 50-60 phone calls (about 5+% response rate, where before giving away information it would be 0.5% or less).
• I’ll end up with 25-30 warm bodies in the seats.
• 10-15 will actually sign up for the next sales training session.
• Also, I will have a list of the 50-60 people that called that are on my “qualified leads” list that are interested in my ongoing helpful newsletters (more information giveaway), and within 3-6 months many of those will either call me to join a later session, or send me referrals. And I've done it in the time it would take to make one sales call.
  

There are lots of ways to give away, or even charge a small amount, for this information. Public seminars, white papers on your website, email newsletters, chamber events (offer to be the speaker at a chamber event, or host a free training, send the entire chamber an email to drive them to your website for the information, or call you to send the information), an electronic file, a CD The options are endless. You don’t even have to stick to just one way to communicate it. The key here is to use the information as an enticement for them to contact you, give you their contact information, and for them to truly want more from you, much more. Don’t try to sell them, they will be turned off. Be the helper that is in demand.
If you have a complex or high-cost product or service, many businesses have had success by offering introductory seminars, webinars and teleseminars. It allows your potential buyers to take a test drive before committing to purchase. They can determine if your approach and values are similar to theirs.
By determining and delivering the information your buyers want, you will become more valuable and you’ll stand out among your competition. Of course, you have to make sure that your content is pertinent and objective. No one wants to read or listen to an advertising pitch, but they do want insightful information that makes their life easier or better.
Let’s look at some examples:

• If you provide staffing services, you might put together information on “Five Mistakes To Avoid When Hiring,” or “10 Interview Tips To Learn What Your Job Candidates Won’t Tell You,” or “Now You’ve Hired Them…How To Retain Employees Without Blowing Your Budget.”
• Mortgage company, you might offer a white paper or seminar on “How to get the lowest interest rates,” “How to Fix Up your house for best resell”. You might even partner with a local real estate agent to do joint seminars that would help both of you.
• Massage Therapy: offer information where you talk about the biggest problems someone might experience, back and body pains, muscle pains, and how to eliminate them. It could include massages, some techniques that maybe your personal partner could do for you.
  

Don’t be afraid that you are giving away your services; this makes you visible, and THE EXPERT that they will turn to. I look at it this way: There are always those in your audience that will never buy your services. They are here to get the free information. So what? Aren’t you here to help everyone? The actual sales you get will always be a relatively fixed percentage of those you talk to, whether it is 10% or 50%. If your sales rate was 10% in a one-on-one, it’ll be MUCH higher in the roomful of people, since you are now considered an expert, not a salesman. And you just talked to a roomful in the time you normally do one sales call to one person.
Everything Increases, Marketing Leads and Sales Closes
Everything increases, marketing response will increase, your sales close rates will increase, and on top of that you are talking to 20-30 people at once.
What would happen if you stopped going door to door, talking to one-on-one, and started having 20-30 people come to you every week, or every month?
Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leader’s Perspective, LLC, is considered one of the world’s leading breakthrough specialists. He has worked with some of the worlds largest companies, on projects in the multi-billion dollar area, and with single proprietor companies. He has worked on many hundreds of projects with companies that have resulted in multi-$100 million savings or gains.
With over 35 years of business, quality, and process experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some have doubled and some have jumped 10 times. He claims the key to that is:

• Helping the business owners/employees develop the business skills
• Helping them overcome the limitations and attitudes that they built between their ears (the self imposed limitations, I can’t, this won’t work for me, I’m different)
• By helping them find the breakthroughs in their business and thinking
  

He helps companies worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible . . . . FASTER

__________________________________

By Alan Boyer

http://www.leaders-perspective.com/Sales-Training.aspx
mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective.com

Don't Land Your Plane (or Business) With The Wheels Up!

Recently I had the pleasure of being a passenger in a small private airplane. The pilot, the owner of the airplane welcomed me then instructed me to just sit in my seat while he went through his pre-flight check list that was printed on a laminated card. So I just sat there while he spent about ten minutes checking the exterior of the plane, the quality and amount of fuel, fluid levels, the settings and workability of the controls, and various instruments. Finally he looked around, hollered “Contact” and pressed the starter button. The motor started, we taxied to the runway then surged into the sky. We flew to another city and, as we approached the airport to land the craft, he pulled out the checklist and went through the same procedure checking everything before landing.
As we walked away from the plane I asked him, “How long have you been flying?”
“About ten years” he replied.
“Haven’t you memorized the procedure for taking off and landing by now?”
“Of course I have.”
“Then why do you bother using the printed checklist each time?”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve read a story in the newspaper about an airplane that lands on its belly because the pilot forgot to lower the wheels? That’s not going to happen to me! I was taught to always use my checklist every time I take off and every time I land. I always do it. I have never had a problem and don’t plan on ever having one.”
He’s right of course. In our normal existence we do many routine tasks almost unconsciously. Ever since that conversation I have started working on being more conscious and intentional about my routine-yet-important tasks with a goal of never “landing the plane with the wheels up.” I’ve created written checklists to insure I do them right every time. I encourage you to look at the routine tasks at your company, write checklists for them. You’ll be sure to “lower the wheels every time.”

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By Larry Galler

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler" Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com Questions??? Send an email to larry@larrygaller.com

What's The Most Important Word In Marketing?

What’s the most important word in marketing?
Free?

Why?

Truth?

Honesty?

Integrity?
At first glance, it seems like a simple question. But the more you think about it, the more complex it gets. One could probably argue any number of answers based on his beliefs, values or type of business.
But is there really one word that’s more important than all the others? One word without which your marketing efforts will be successful?
I recently surveyed dozens of marketing professionals, authors, consultants and small business owners on my blog. The results included a wide range of words; from the emotionally charged to the pragmatic; from the right brain to the left brain and from the customer focused to the company focus. But all of the suggested "most important words in marketing" fell into one of two categories: Traditional Marketing or Modern Marketing.
Traditional Marketing: The Old School

Traditional Marketing used to be all about advertising. It was expensive, short lived, and had little to do with the Internet or word of mouth. Also, it aimed its messages at passive audiences. Leading expert and best selling author Seth Godin calls this "Interruption Marketing," in which the marketer talks directly to as many consumers as possible.
Now, although this traditional style of marketing has lost some of its prowess to the fierce competition of the web, it’s still a powerful medium through which companies can reach their customers. Let's see which words the experts chose from this category.
NOTE: before you read the survey results below, take a minute to answer the question for yourself: What do you think is the most important word in marketing? Once you’ve made your decision, read on and see how your answer compares.
NEW

"NEW is probably the strongest word in marketing," explains Ronnie Horowitz from The TRIZ Journal. "People are attracted to new products like a magnet. Introducing new products on a constant basis is the best way to get attention and invaluable free publicity for your business."
WHY

Michael “The Success Doctor” Fortin believes the most important word in marketing is WHY. “It is much better to communicate why you are original, special or unique; why you are better, different or superior than competitors – not just the fact that you are. Imply your superiority by specifying as much as possible.”
CUSTOMER

Sivaraman Swaminathan from Customer World says we shouldn’t overlook the obvious word, CUSTOMER. “I think marketing has evolved because the focus is on the customer. The soul of marketing is the customer. Period. In marketing, you will fail even if you have greatest passion for the wrong target audience; you will fail if you don't know whom you should respect, and you will fail if you don't know which customer to trust.”
YOU

Similarly, Robert Middleton from Action Plan Marketing said, “The most important word in marketing is YOU. That is, marketing needs to convey very clearly what's in it for the client or customer.”
FREE

FREE was also touted by several experts as the most important word. Edward “Skip” Masland, owner of Web Solvers says “FREE was, is and will always be the most powerful word in marketing. It attracts eyeballs. It gets results and responses quickly. And marketers may not profit today – or tomorrow – but if they can generate a groundswell of interest from something free, they know they will profit sooner or later.”
On the other hand, Bob Serling from Idea Quotient wrote an article claiming that FREE was the most dangerous word in marketing. “I've been advising businesses for nearly 20 years that a business model driven by attracting prospects through giving something away for free is almost always a model for failure. And it doesn't matter whether you use this model online or offline – it will nearly always fail.”
LISTENING

Next, Karen from Dezign Matters explained that the most important word in marketing was something you DON’T say. “I think the word is LISTENING. A little time leaning back and listening quietly can save time, money and leave the client and customer feeling that someone truly heard what they were trying to say.”
BECAUSE

Michael Daehn, author of Marketing Ingenious explained, “I read a case study about cutting in lines at a copy machines. The hypothesis was that the word ‘please’ would get the best response. But the results proved that the word ‘because’ received a much better response given that the word offered a reason to let someone cut in line. Therefore, we as marketers need to give customers a reason to buy.”
RESULTS

Lastly, Michael Cage from Small Business Marketing Systems said the most important word in marketing was RESULTS. “Small businesses are often suckered into fluffy, fancy marketing concepts that sound great but produce absolutely nothing in the real world. If the business owner or marketing department can't tie what they do to results, likewise, they need to step back and get it right before passing go.”
Modern Marketing: The New School

20 years ago, nobody knew what the words “blog,” “RSS feed,” “personal branding,” “viral marketing” or “google” meant. But now – at the risk of sounding cliché – the rules have changed. Business is different. Customers are smarter. And marketing isn’t the same old run-a-bunch-of-ads-and-hope-people-buy-your-stuff system.
Now, it’s all about creating an emotional connection. It’s about being unforgettable, unbelievable and unique. It’s about providing an experience that’s so fantastic, customers not only remain loyal to you – but they tell all their friends to do the same.
Here’s what the experts said about the most important words in Modern Marketing.
RESPECT

It’s not surprising that Seth Godin – author of seven best selling books about how to make your business remarkable – always emails me back within 30 minutes. I drop him a line every once in a while to pass along an interesting website or, in this case, ask a question. He replied with a brilliant one-word answer: RESPECT. Period.
AUTHENTICITY

John More, owner of Brand Autopsy, maintained the most important word in marketing was AUTHENTICITY. “With the world becoming one gigantic ad, consumers today can sniff out anything that smells the least bit fake and inauthentic. Success will come truer and faster if companies can design products, programs, and services that are authentic in meaning, purpose, and delivery.”
Moore dug deeper on the topic of authenticity and explained that “Authenticity is usually a by-product of a purpose-driven business. And unfortunately, there ain’t enough businesses out there with the purpose of making a positive difference in the world.”
PASSION

Similarly, Tom Asacker from A Clear Eye says it’s all about PASSION. “Passion for one's business and for one's calling inspires and attracts people. They want to be to believe, to belong; to become. And that's the essence of marketing today.”
Tom and John’s posts on the blog discussion generated high amounts of support from other experts. Laura from the Smart Musings blog agreed by saying, “John and Tom are right. Consumers can distinguish between authentic and inauthentic marketing. Authentic messages will strike a chord with them. That may encourage them to buy. And once they become a customer, then they may too become passionate about the product. And that is the ultimate goal of marketing: not just to have passionate employees, but passionate customers.”
TRUST

Another popular word was TRUST. Kevin Berringer from Reflections on Business Blog simply said, “No trust = no belief = nobody listens.”
EXPERIENCE

Then, Chris Ray from Interactively Speaking voted for the word EXPERIENCE, as in The Customer Experience. “I believe this word summarizes respect, authenticity, passion, results, etc.” said Ray. “It ultimately decides whether or not a company succeeds.”
AROMA

Next, Jim Seybert from the Jim Seybert Company offered a most unusual suggestion: AROMA. “Brain scientists tell me that smell is the only sense that goes directly to the limbic lobe in our brains - and triggers nothing short of primal emotions. Marketers should pay attention to the ‘aroma’ of their brand. They need to identify the unavoidable, immediate and emotional reaction customers experience upon coming into contact with their brand.”
OPEN

Another intriguing response came from Nellie Lide of The New Persuasion Blog. Her word was OPEN. “You’ve got to be open. Open to others. Open to customers. Open to employees. Open to new. Open to old. Open to scrutiny. Open to derision. Open to joy. Open to different.”
TRUTH

George Silverman, author of The Secrets to Word of Mouth Marketing says it’s all about TRUTH. “Marketing has become synonymous with hype. The truth, compellingly told, is all you need. Just tell it in an interesting way, usually with a story. This allows you to tell the truth about your product and the truth about yourself.”
No WordThe last respondent of the survey was Sean D’Souza from Psycho Tactics. He decided to take the contrarian’s point of view. “There is no one single word that's the most important in marketing. Making such a claim would be like saying your heart is the most important part of your body. I think we try to make things too simplistic. In reality, marketing is a series of things that coordinate together to create magic.”
It’s All In The HuntIn case you haven’t already figured it out, the answer to the question “What’s the most important word in marketing?” is: it all depends.
Typical marketing answer, huh?
But ultimately, it’s not about the answer – it’s about the question. It’s about the creative thought process each businessperson goes through when he considers what the most important word in marketing is...to him.
Personally, I chose the word CONFIDENCE.
In other words, I want to instill confidence in the minds of potential customers that if they step onto my company’s front porch, they will be working with a credible, valuable, trustworthy individual whose unique school of thought will help them produce results.
But that’s just me. That’s how I roll.
Now, it's up to YOU to reexamine what “marketing” truly means to you and your company. In so doing, you will gain a better understanding about who you are, what you do and whom you do it for.
So, what’s the most important word in marketing...to YOU?
© 2005 All Rights Reserved.

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By Scott Ginsberg

Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, "The World's Foremost Expert on Nametags" and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com.