Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Understanding Marketing...

I've let my BLOG time and email marketing go the past couple weeks. Time spent with family, time spent on home projects and just letting the Holiday Rush do it's thing. Had a few thoughts here or there for various topics but nothing really that has not been said before ether here or on other networks, BLOGS and Forums. So today's post is just a basic bit of information but something I hope we can use going forward into the new year.

Understanding Marketing:
By Definition - –noun
1. the act of buying or selling in a market.
2. the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.

A recent email that I did get sent out over the Holidays talked about the understanding of Network Marketing and what it takes to succeed in that industry. A common blunder I see with so many companies is the fact they are trying to take out the "Marketing" part of the equation and just rely on the "Networking" to provide the revenue.

Hours and hour and hours of comments and arguments have been made in favor and against the whole industry from blog posts to forums to conference calls, video's and pod casts...however I am holding firm to my belief that you have to learn how to "Sell" to make any real money with MLM, Network Marketing, Referral Based Marketing, Direct Selling, Affiliate Marketing or what ever you choose to call it.

Here is my contribution to the industry's little secret. Many marketers try to "sell" you on all the guru, black belt, ninja, Renegade, Blah, Blah , techniques that you can end up blowing your budget on before you get too any real information. They are just hyping up basic sales techniques and dancing around the point to make you feel like your doing something besides...Selling. WHY? Because we have been told over and over and over again that nobody wants to be sold! BAH HUM BUG!!

Look at the definition...For a business to work that definition has to happen and you can cheapen the process all you want with words that make you fell warm and fuzzy but the core definition is still there. Goods and products must move from Producer to Customer and that has to happen through a "sales" process.

This is my opinion so take it or leave it but the logical "hidden secret" that so many seem to keep searching for by jumping from opportunity to opportunity seems to be this. Learn how to sell and then it wont matter what company your with. As long as they have a real product that will provide a real solution to real needs you can sell it and make money!!

Once you learn a basic sales system and develop some solid success habits with in that system the Relationship marketing will come naturally! You will build a bigger organization...your sales volume will grow expediently and NO you wont run out of people to talk too!

Get on my News letter by filling out the form below the RED BUTTON and look for more on this subject in the coming days!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! ...and Happy Selling in 2010!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Does Your Call To Action Need Some Work?

Great thoughts from Zeke Camusio and his blog... http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog

One of the most common mistakes I see when I review websites is weak calls to action. Actually, I spent the whole morning going through some of the calls to actions on our clients’ websites and I re-wrote them. Here is what I did for them:

Before / After
BEFORE - Sign up for my newsletter
AFTER -Get Killer Weight Loss Tips by Email

BEFORE - Add to Basket
AFTER - Rush My Order!

BEFORE - Subscribe to my blog
AFTER - Be the First One to Know!

BEFORE - Buy
AFTER - Get Instant Access to the Members Area!

BEFORE - Submit
AFTER - Send Me My Videos NOW!

BEFORE - Go
AFTER - Start My FREE Trial

BEFORE - Make a Reservation
AFTER - Claim My Seat NOW!

BEFORE - Call Us - xxx-xxx-xxxx
AFTER - Call Us Now for a FREE Consultation

BEFORE - Send
AFTER - Email Me My FREE Report Now!

Take aways:

* The word “Get” rocks!
* Get as specific as you can. Call to actions need to explain what people will get if they decide to take action. “Start My FREE Trial” is a great example of a specific call to action.
* Move away from standard and boring calls to action. Nobody wants to subscribe to anything. People hate subscribing (but they love being “the first one to know”).
* Some power words: free, get, instant, easy, fast, simple, now.
* The word “now” increases conversion rate by about 25% in average.
* The word “FREE”, when capitalized, converts 86% better than its small caps counterpart.
* Capitalizing the first letter of each word increases conversion rates by about 22% in average.

Just so you see that I practice what I preach, here’s my call to action: Please Tweet this Post (Your Followers Will Thank You).

This reminds me of one last thing: giving a reason WHY people should to do what you ask them to drastically increases conversion rates. Explain why they’ll benefit from taking action.

Please share this post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Let me know if it works OK. Thank you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

What is a sales script?

Article written by Eric Lofholm:

One of the best ways to increase your sales results is to create powerful sales scripts. When I talk about the concept of a sales script most salespeople frown upon the idea. The truth is, we all use scripts, even you. This often-misunderstood idea can dramatically increase your sales results.

What is a sales script? A script is simply a sequence of words that makes sense. For example the sentence you just read is a script. What isn’t a script is gibberish. It’s word salad. It’s saying things like chair, book, car, dog, computer. These words when spoken in that sequence mean nothing to the listener.
So you are either using a script or you are using gibberish. Now that we agree you are using scripts the real question is how powerful are your sales scripts?

Why do powerful sales scripts work? Powerful scripts work because human beings respond in predictable ways. Here is one of the first scripts I learned.

“If you do what a millionaire does you will get what a millionaire has. If you invest your money where millionaires currently have their money invested, what will you become?”

I have asked this question of over 1,000 people. Every single one of them has always answered a millionaire. Isn’t that powerful? If you didn’t fully grasp the power of the example above let me restate my point.

You can create PREDICTABILITY in your sales presentation. That is what the sales superstars do. They use the same sales scripts over and over again because they work.

Would you like to learn a sales script that generates quality referrals over 95% of the time? I knew you were going to say, “Yes.” How did I know? I knew because human beings respond in predictable ways. Here is the script.

“As you probably know, I work with referrals. A good referral for me is ___ (share with them what a good referral is, for example I say, “a sales manager with six or more people on their sales team). When you think of a good referral think of ___ (jog their memory, for example I say, “other offices in your company, where you have worked in the past). Of everyone you know, who would be the best referral for me?” This sales script produces a quality referral almost every time.

How did I learn about the power of sales scripts?
I was introduced to scripts by my first mentor Danté. I watched Danté deliver his sales presentation over 50 times. Every time he delivered it he said virtually the same thing. He told the same stories and the same jokes. He used the same closes. He handled objections the same every time. Did scripts work for Danté’? He is the only sales person I ever met who drove a Ferrari to work.

I was then trained by one of Dr. Moine's students, named Tony who taught me the psychology behind how to create a script. Dr. Moine, author of Unlimited Selling Power, then trained me & I've been working with him for over 11 years.

What kinds of sales scripts are there? Here is a list of different types of scripts:

1. Objection handling
2. Referral
3. Closing
4. Rapport
5. Identify customer needs
6. Appointment setting
7. Entire sales presentation

The next step is for you to make a list of sales scripts you need to create for your business. Once you have created the list select the most important sales script to complete. Lastly take action.

Eric Lofholm is a Master Sales Trainer & Sales Script Writing Expert who has trained tens of thousands of sales professionals nationwide. He is President and CEO of Eric Lofholm International, Inc., an organization he founded to serve the needs of sales professionals worldwide. This great article was found at How to sell to Big Companies Blog!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

How to find products for EBAY!

Essential Tips On How To Easily Find Products To Sell On Ebay

Finding the right products to sell on Ebay is one of the most important factors that determine whether you will make a lot of money on Ebay or not. Deciding on the right products to sell is one of the main challenges which people starting an Ebay business face.

Products that you can sell on Ebay can be items that you own that you no longer need, or you can buy products and sell them on Ebay at higher prices to make a profit. Buying and selling merchandise for a profit on Ebay is one of the best ways to make money online.

Before you decide on what to sell on Ebay, it’s important that you do some research on the products that are popular and for which there is good demand. By selling only high quality products, you make it easy to make sales and earn profits with your Ebay business.

You can look at Ebay and identify categories that have well-sought after products. You should sell products for which you can get a high number of bids, which indicate high demand. In order to succeed in selling products on Ebay, it is also a good idea that you select a handful of categories and that you focus on selling products in those categories. While looking at the popular categories, you must also assess the prices which the products in these categories sell for. This will give you an idea on what you should pay for the products you buy if you want to make some profits when you sell these products on Ebay.

You can increase the number of products you sell on Ebay by buying items at garage sales. Many elderly people have valuable items that they no longer need and that they offer foe sale. Buy only high quality products that you can buy at a cheap price and which you can sell for a high price on Ebay.

You can also create your own and sell them on Ebay. Depending on your interests and skills, you can write e-books on a wide range of topics and sell them on Ebay. You can earn a lot of profits by creating your own digital products because you do not have to pay anyone for these products.

Using drop shipping can also give you a wide range of products to sell. There are wholesalers that will sell you products and send them to the address that you tell them. This means that you do not have to carry any inventories. All you have to do when you complete an auction on Ebay is to direct your customers to the wholesaler’s website who will do all the shipping.

Use these tips to identify some products that you can sell on Ebay. All you have to do is to identify popular products, buy them at good process so that you make a profit when you sell these products on Ebay.

You're also welcome to look at this program developed by Keven "Mr. Ebay" Johnson. It works! Click Here --> TRY THIS EBAY SYSTEM!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

It's not how hard you hit....

I know this speech was written for a movie but WOW somebody did a great job with it and Sly delivers it very well! Fair warning..it can give you Goose Bumps!

How to write a newsletter...

From our friend John Guanzon owner of List Building Video Club

Providing a newsletter for your opt-in list subscribers provides
many benefits in terms of driving traffic into your site as well as
boosting the sales and profits of your site and company. This is a
marketing ploy that will not hugely dent your marketing budget and
will not also require many man-hours in developing this project.

With a newsletter, you can inform the public about your company and
products as well as services. You can keep them posted and updated
about what's going-on with your company as well as many of your
promotions and offerings. With these, you keep on reminding your
subscribers that you are still here and is willing to offer them
good deals and services.

Newsletters also allow you to impress your subscribers. It can show
your expertise and knowledge about the topic at hand and the many
benefits you can offer them. When you impress people, they will
become potential customers and another great thing is that they can
recommend you to their friends, colleagues and family. All of them
could very well be customers in the future.

If you do not have a newsletter or publishing one for your site,
then you may have to consider about researching and be well
informed on how to publish one. It is not as easy as it seems but
if and when you get the right idea and process, it will be smooth
sailing from there on. Try to take the time to learn what you need
to learn and get that newsletter ready and good to attract
subscribers to your newsletter as well as traffic to your site.

In the next few paragraphs, I will provide you with some things to
reflect on when you decide to start your own newsletter for your
site. Here are five things to consider when publishing a newsletter.

1) Make sure that the content of your newsletter pertains to and
closely associated with your business or the theme of your site. Do
not dwell too far on what could be regarded as your field of
expertise. You have started a site and your theme for your site
will always be something you are knowledgeable about. For example;
if you have a site that sells auto car parts, your newsletter must
contain articles or content like photos that pertain to cars, auto
parts and such. You may also include content about your company and
your staff.

Remember that visitors of a certain site are there because they are
interested in what the site has to offer. If they sign up for an
opt-in list or for a newsletter this means that they want to be
updated for that certain theme or subject. Be sure that when you
publish your newsletter you are providing for the need of the
subscriber as well as their interests.

2) Ensure that you have well written, information riddled and
content rich articles. You articles will be the body of your
newsletter and that they should be able to excite your readers as
well as provide information. Articles should be well written and
checked for errors such as spelling and grammatical errors for it
to look professional and believable. The trust of your client to
you and newsletter is at stake here.

3) Fact-check your articles. Make sure that you provide true facts
and figures so that your reputation as an expert and knowledgeable
in that field is not questioned. If you lose the trust of your
subscribers these may persuade them to unsubscribe to your
newsletter. You will lose many potential sales this way.

4) Provide fresh and new articles that can provide new information
to your subscribers. If you publish stale and old news in your
newsletter, there is a tendency that people or your subscribers
already have read and known about them. This will lose their
interest in your newsletter and they wont get to read what is most
important, your ads. They may not open or read any of your
succeeding newsletters losing your intention in writing and
publishing newsletters, to get them to visit your site and make a
purchase.

5) Never use copyrighted materials such as photos and articles.
This is outright plagiarism, you may get into a lot of trouble for
this. You can lose your business and get sued over copyright
infringement. If you do not have the time to write your own
articles, there are many willing and able professional article
writers that can do it for you for a reasonable fee. All your
investment in writing and publishing articles will be well worth it
when you see your list build up and your traffic increasing.

To Your Success,
John Guanzon
www.johnguanzon.com

Thursday, December 3, 2009

How to use Twitter for your small business!

Brought to you from powerhomebiz.com

Here are tips on how to effectively use Twitter for your small business:

1. Understand what Twitter is all about. The key to long-term success on Twitter is to view this microblogging platform as a community. While it is a great way to get exposure and even increase traffic to your web site, your success on this platform depends on how you engage your community, dialogue with them and how you make full use of this social networking platform.

2. Set your goals. Determine what you want to accomplish in Twitter and how you want to use it for your business. Some possible uses of Twitter include:

To showcase your knowledge and expertise.
To reach out and connect with other people with similar interests.
To communicate with existing customers.
To generate traffic and backlinks to your site.
To give a “human face” to your business
To post your random thoughts and display your wit and brilliance.

3. Keep on target. Focus on what you want to accomplish. If you want to demonstrate that you are an expert on eBay selling, be consistent and post only tips on how to use eBay. Steer clear of random thoughts and be true to your mission.

4. Plan what you are going to tweet. Decide what you will say on Twitter. Study what other users in your niche are saying, and how you can make your tweets more interesting, informative and engaging. Some ideas on what to tweet:

Articles or blog posts that you have written
Articles, news items or blog posts that may be of interest to your followers
Tips
Quotes
New information about your business and product, including press releases, announcement of events and product features
Offers and discounts
Customer service responses
Post a question to your followers
Comments on what other folks have posted, starting a dialogue with other users

5. Carefully choose your Twitter ID. Look at your Twitter ID as part of your brand. You can use your name, name of your business, or a keyword-rich username

6. Be searchable on Twitter. Make sure that people can find you when they search on Twitter for people with common interests, goals and professions. Study how the users that show in the first page do it – look at the username, as well as the keywords they use for their name and description.

7. Give value. Like any business, success depends on how well you create value. Establish yourself as an authority in your field. If you must post an article or news item that 100 other Twitter users have already posted, tweet the main learning from the article, not just the title.

8. Increase the visibility of your tweets. Even if you have only 100 followers, you can potentially expand the reach of your tweets. Write highly informative tweets (even if that means writing great content on your blog first that you can then tweet) that will attract other users to retweet your post. You can even ask others to retweet your post. Also, make use of the hashtag # symbol in order for your users to be visible to those who are interested in the topic, even if they are not your followers.

9. Get yourself listed in Twitter directories. They may not be as effective in bringing a huge number of followers, but they can be useful in getting targeted followers, or those who are specifically interested in your sector. Good ones include:

WeFollow http://www.wefollow.com
Twellow http://www.twellow.com
Just Tweet It http://www.justtweetit.com
Geofollow http://www.geofollow.com/

10. Use tools outside of Twitter to expand your reach and increase your followers. Some ideas you can try are:

Add your Twitter username to your email signature
Add a Twitter badge to your website or blog
Add Tweetmeme or AddThis to your articles or blog posts

If you use other social media communities such as LinkedIn, Plaxo or Facebook, consider connecting your Twitter account so you can showcase your Twitter feed to your other social network contacts.

Are you Blogging for Fun or Profit?

Are You Blogging For Fun Or To Make Money?

Many people think that since blogging is very easy and fun, one can make money with the blog without any effort.
Although it is true that anyone who is hard working and determined to succeed in making money online can earn a good income through blogging, many bloggers fail to achieve this.

Many people who are starting in internet marketing think that in order to make a lot of money on the internet through blogging, all they need to do is to set up a blog, add content to it on a regular basis and start to get money! You will need to do more than this if you want to make money with your blog.
Outlined below are the key steps that you will need to follow to successfully make money with your blog.

1. Advertise on Your Blog. Adding Google Adsense on your blog is one of the easiest ways to make money with your blog. All you will need to do is to get a Google Adsense account, and Google will place adverts that relate to your blog topic. If your blog visitors visit any of these adverts on your blog, you can earn some money.

2. Create your own products for selling or offer some services. You can sell your own products or services on your blog. By blogging regularly, your blog get indexed on search engines, which drives traffic to your blog. The more traffic you have, the more sales you make. It is important that you use your keywords in your blogs. By adding keywords and phrases that relate to your niche to your blog posts, you increase your site's ranking on search engines, which will drive traffic to your blog where people will buy your products or services.

3. Selling affiliate products is one of the best ways to make your blog profitable. All you need to do is to pick the affiliate products or programs that relate to your niche and add your affiliate links on your blog. By selling affiliate products on your blog, you can earn commissions of about 30%-70% on each product you sell on your website.

Although blogging is quite easy, you need to follow the tips outlined above so that you can start to make some money.