Realgoalgetter Business Blog

Success Or Failure, And The Fine Line In Between

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:56:00 +0000

Bill Gluth puts it out there with no candy coating . . . this is a fine article to take right to heart if you are just starting a business or are thinking of starting a new business.

How to Fail Miserably Every Time

Why do so many small businesses fail in the first 2 years? What is the common denominator among those who make it in spite of the odds and continue to grow?

One thing that is common among people who grow businesses that work is they get the help they need when they need it.

Another is they continue to learn and grow. But, learning is not the real secret here. Applying what you learn is the secret that turns failure into success.

Finally, people who succeed believe they can. They believe in their idea and in themselves fully. As a result, so do other people who ultimately become clients.

In coaching and working with small business owners and Solopreneurs, I’ve observed a distinct difference between those who hope and those who do.

The "doers" are looking for action steps and take them right away. By contrast, the people who hope for the best tend to wait until everything is perfect before moving forward.

Of the thousands of possibilities, what action steps should you take? What are the steps that create failure and what are the steps that create success?

Focus on the contrast between success and failure

1. Success has a can do/I'll figure it out or get help and make it work attitude.

Failure embraces I'll hope for the best, try to remain positive and wait for an outcome kind of thinking.

2. Success sells products clients want to buy. Success finds that out through polling and asking clients what they want.

Failure sells products it thinks people want to buy. Failure never asks a client what they want or why.

3. Success creates a business around a talent or passion that is exciting and motivating. Inherent strengths and personal genius are used as competitive advantages. Success easily stands out from the crowd.

Failure builds a business around past experience. Failure feels it's stuck and has no other choice but to do what it has always done. It wakes up each day in an anxious state, hoping the day goes all right but feeling deep down disaster may be just around the next corner.

4. Success loves the people it works with. It is there to serve them in the highest and best way possible.

Failure often offers high quality, lowest prices, integrity, and honesty. Failure sounds a lot like everyone else.

Long sales cycles, cutting prices and a lot of open sales that “are going to close really soon” but never do are common.

5. Success knows it will be great and come out on top. It feels accomplishment in the smallest things and is grateful and highly motivated every day.

Failure wishes and hopes things will get better. It keeps doing what it has always done and expects a different result. Failure never steps outside of its comfort zone, even though that comfort zone has long since proven ineffective.

Look around at everyone you know who is in business. Who are you most attracted to? Why?

Chances are, you're attracted to success; wanting to emulate it and enjoy that free flowing, joy filled feeling for yourself.

Businesses fail because they run out of money.

They run out of money because they don't make enough sales.

They don't make enough sales because they don't have clearly defined systems and processes to create the revenue they need.

The information is out there. There are 87,000,000 web sites (Google) when you query “sales training for small business.” There are 118,000,000 sites for “marketing plans for small business.”

Now Google “Love your life in business” – be sure to add the “ “s to narrow the search for just those keywords.

It's the love and passion for what you're doing and who you are doing it for that drives success. Passionate enthusiasm is the key that attracts business.

So ACTION STEP 6 is Learn to Love Your Life in Business

Avoid failing by embracing a mindset of being a value to others. The question becomes “What value do I have to provide this person to truly help them” instead of “What do I have to say to make a sale."

When you do, you are unbeatable, because no one else can ever be you.

You, as a small business owner or Solopreneur are the future of the American Economy. Opportunity abounds, but only if you take action to live the life of your dreams rather than staying stuck running in the same circle over and over again.

by Bill Gluth

Bill Gluth is “Your Talent in Business Expert” and a professional speaker, trainer and consultant. He is the first person to specialize in developing “talent” as a competitive business strategy.

Bill brings clear, simple and focused action steps to any business building program. He spotlights a step-by-step process for unleashing your talent in business so that you can learn how to be unique in a commodity driven world and stand out in any industry.

Find out more about Bill Gluth’s Small Business Coaching Services by visiting http://www.explosivebusinesscoaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Gluth

Income Opportunities - Are You Ready For Them When They Come?

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Opportunity Knocks Daily

You've heard people say that opportunity only knocks once. I say it knocks a thousand times, or at least it can. The problem is, we often don't listen, we don't see, or we don't want to work. The biggest problem, though, is that opportunity really isn't opportunity, if you're not ready for it.

A couple I know had a business handed to them for free. The owner didn't want to deal with it anymore, even though it made money. He had other things going on in his life. He couldn't just call it quits, however, because the lease on the building had nine months to go. This is where my friends enter the story. Why did they have a business given to them?

They listened, and let the man tell his story. They looked at the business, and saw the opportunity. They worked, doing what it took to benefit from their "good luck." The owner agreed to give them the business if they would simply take over the lease on the building.

Get Ready For Opportunity

The biggest reason "opportunity knocked" however, includes the others, and goes beyond them: They were ready. They had a little bit of money to handle the transition, they had previous experience with a small business, and they were willing to learn what they needed to learn.

A friend once said that our mutual acquaintance John was "so lucky" to get a $6,000 car for $2,000 at an auction. I mentioned that John went to the auction regularly, that he had made himself familiar with car values, and that he always kept some money available for such opportunities. It didn't seem to register with my friend.

He could have been "so lucky," too, but he had to be ready. He could have saved $2,000, or obtained a credit card with a high enough limit, or arranged with someone to borrow the money and split the profits when deals like this came up. Not having done any of these things, there was no opportunity here for him.

When you want opportunity to come knocking, aren't there always ways you can prepare? If you want to be lucky in love, you comb your hair, right?

If you want opportunities in the stock market, start studying, setting aside money to invest, and exploring the possibilities.

Get ready for opportunity, and it will come more often.

By Steve Gillman

Steve Gillman writes on many self help topics including boosting brainpower, losing weight, meditation, habits of mind, creative problem solving, learning grattitude, generating luck and anything related to self improvement.

You'll find more at: http://www.selfimprovementnow.com

Want To See The Top 50 Business Plan Posts Of The Year?

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:32:00 +0000

Hi Everyone, I was just taking it easy this morning, browsing some forums, blogs, sites, etc. I came across a gem for business people looking for information on how to form business plans for their company. And everyone knows how important it is to have a business plan, right?

Once you set your business goals, why, you must make up plans to achieve them, right? You would be surprised how many people just skip over this step. (Are you one of them? I have been guilty of this myself. GRINS.)

Anyway, back to the point. Here is a post outlining The Top 50 Business Plan Posts Of The Year on Evan Carmichael's site. They have literally searched through the internet and came up with what they thought were the best business plan posts created.

So if you are looking to be successful in business of any type, go over there and check it out. Nuff said. See you later.

Al

Private Label Rights Content Strategies From Joseph Ratcliff

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:33:00 +0000

Last month I posted an article about Private Label Products.

One of the blogs I follow from Joseph Ratcliff, posted a series of articles about PLR Content and how to make money with it, and includes some pretty solid strategies in using PLR (PLR = Private Label Rights) content.

Here are the links to his PLR series. Take some notes. This guy really knows his stuff.

How To Make Money With PLR Content - 1

How To Find The Best PLR Content - 2

How To Create Unique Products Using PLR Content - 3

OK, I am taking the rest of the day off . . . didn't I just say that earlier?

See you soon.

Al

FREE Sales Letter Template And Checklist - Alice Seba is an Internet Marketing Sweetie

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:26:00 +0000

I just wanted to share a great chance to download the copy for a sales letter template and checklist from Alice Seba.

Hurry over to Free Download: Sales Letter Template & Checklist before she changes her mind, comes to her senses, and starts charging for this awesome information! LOL!

Just that for today folks. A quickie from Al.

Relationships First, Sales Come Later . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:56:00 +0000

Take The Time To Create Lifetime Customers For Long Term Sales And Profits.

As a business owner, you know how important your customers are. Customers are the lifeblood of a business. Without them, you wouldn’t have an income. Once someone becomes your customer, they are more likely to purchase from you again in the future.

It is a smart business move to take the time to build long lasting relationships between yourself and your customer. Creating lifetime customers will net you more profit, than constantly seeking out new one-time customers.

Creating quality products is definitely the first step in developing your customer relationship. If your products are anything less than great, your customers will not see a reason to order from you again.

However, if you give them something beyond their expectations, they will want to try out more of what you offer.

The next step in relationship building is providing good customer service at all times. When a customer contacts you, especially if it is with a problem, it is important to respond back in a timely manner.

If your customer contacts you, they are not thinking about all the other people who are requesting your attention. They are only thinking about the reason that they contacted you, and they want you to give them your full attention.

Staying in regular contact with your customer will ensure that they remember you and the other products and services you offer. People get busy and have a lot of things on their plate.

They may have intended to order an additional item from you, but it just slipped their mind. You may want to send out a monthly newsletter to keep them updated on new items or any specials you are offering. Don't assume that they will look further or remember to shop you first.

Speaking of specials, you may also want to consider having a few “customer only” sales each year or offering some other customer only incentive to motivate a repeat purchase.

You may also want to send them an occasional freebie that coordinates with an item they already purchased, or an item that you will be launching in the future.

For example, if you sell day planners and you are coming out with a time management audio, send the customers who have bought a planner a free small report that covers some basic information about time management.

Let them know you are coming out with an audio that goes into more detail. Including a special “pre-launch price” on the audio will encourage further sales.

Creating a lifetime customer doesn’t happen overnight. It is a process that takes time. If you consistently show your appreciation and respect to your customers, you will be well on your way to creating lifetime relationships with them.

People will always buy from someone they know and trust before looking elsewhere, all things remaining the same. Stay sharp and keep your customers best interests at heart.

It's Your Business, Is It Fun And Profitable?

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:57:00 +0000

The way that you see your business has a huge impact on what your business becomes. If you view your business as fun, easy-going, and laid back, your business will be those things.

If you envision your business as serious or tedious, it will take on that form. Your attitude about your business will show through to others.

There are no set rules about your business. You should feel free to have fun and do things the way you want to.

Feel free to be unique and set your own goals. You may read a book or hear a story about the ways another person manages their business, and their way may work great for them.

However, the way they do business may not work for you at all.

It is important to set your own business goals and follow your own management style. If your business becomes a chore, you may not want to do it anymore.

You may start to procrastinate when it comes to completing your work and eventually stop working your business completely.

To keep things fun, try to stay positive about each aspect of your business; if there is a particular task that you don’t like, hire an assistant to do that task for you.

When you are able to concentrate on the things you like doing most, you will feel energized and you will want to take those things head on.

You have surely heard the old saying “rules are meant to be broken”. When it comes to your business, take that saying to heart.

If someone doesn’t like the design of your website or the way you write your content, so be it. You can’t please everyone, and that person may not have anything to do with your target market at all.

If you feel that what you are doing is right, keep on that path. Sometimes you have to walk down a long, bumpy road, but the rewards are worth it.

If you were given a choice to have immediate success at a business you hated or to have success in two years with a business you loved, would you keep working those two years to have happiness and success?

Unfortunately, no one can tell you the date or time when your success will begin. But if you keep working and keep putting in consistent effort, you will find your success. Best of all, it will be on your terms.

And that may just be the most profitable of all.

Increase Profits With PLR Products

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:24:00 +0000

You see them everywhere these days… on membership websites, as packaged offers, as giveaways, and even as bonuses for certain offers. We’re taking about PLR products.

PLR, of course, refers to private label rights, or the license that would enable the holder to alter or modify the contents of the same and even include his name as the author thereof.

Normally, PLR products also come with master resale rights, or the license to see the resale rights of the same products, provided that they are significantly altered from their original form.

The surging popularity of PLR products can be attributed to a variety of reasons. Let’s take a look at them.

· PLR products are more affordable alternatives to actually preparing your own goods. Since PLR products are sold to a lot of people, the cost is shared in common by the would-be purchasers.

100 PLR articles, for example, can cost you around $15 to $10, whereas hiring a ghostwriter to prepare the same amount of articles would set you back around $500 to $1,500 in investment expenses.

· PLR products give you the liberty equivalent to that of the creator’s. You could, technically speaking, do whatever you want with the PLR products you have purchased.

· PLR products will save you a lot of time. They’re already there, ready to be utilized. You won’t have to start from the ground up.

There are many kinds of PLR products available today. There are the aforementioned PLR articles. There are also PLR eBooks and special reports. And there are PLR scripts and software programs.

There are even PLR websites ready to make some serious money as all you have to do is to upload them to a web server.

So, how do you profit from the PLR products you will purchase? Let’s take a look at the approaches you could take.

1. If the license would allow you to resell the PLR products as they are, you could start making money immediately by marketing the same as soon as you get them.

2. If you purchase PLR articles, you could modify each to make the unique and build content sites around them. Put your AdSense code on such websites, market them, then watch your PPC earnings grow.

3. The same PLR articles can also be compiled into eBooks or special reports which you could sell for profit.

4. You could use the same PLR articles as they are as fodders for your autoresponder series. This would give your follow-up system some serious meat, as most of these PLR articles are very informative already.

Are you maintaining an eZine? Select from your PLR articles the contents which are appropriate to the theme of your newsletter.

5. You could use the PLR products as bonuses for the offers you have built campaigns for. Selling your own products? Bundle them with PLR products to increase their value.

Promoting an affiliate merchant’s products? Offer the PLR products you have bought as incentive for anyone who would order the merchant’s products through your affiliate links.

6. You could also use your PLR products as supplemental materials for your sales page. Do you have a highly informative piece in one of your PLR purchases? Clip the same and paste it on a box inside your sales page so that your readers can refer to it to complement whatever you will share on the main parts of your sales copy.

These are just some of the things you could do with your PLR articles. The possibilities are quite endless, further establishing these PLR goodies as fantastic options for your marketing needs.

See you later.

Basic Internet Marketing Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:38:00 +0000

6 Basics of Internet Marketing

Internet marketing means different things to different people. You should first of all learn about the various ways you could market on the Internet. Basic Internet marketing includes owning a website, creating blogs, ezines, email marketing, using proper keyword phrase, etc. to sell your products online.

1. Have your own website -
Having your own website is the basic step in Internet marketing. Creating your own website is not hard these days. There are a number of different software packages available online that you could purchase to create your website. You could hire a professional to design your site if you could afford to pay a price. But it is necessary for you to learn HTML at some point so that you could make changes on your site whenever there is a need.

2. Create a blog -
Blogs are one of the most recent and most popular means of Internet marketing today. You could write about your product or services on your blog. You could make use of streaming videos or audios to demonstrate your product online. Blogs are free. You get to advertise about your product without paying a penny and you could also give a back link to your website, which is allowed by most of the blog websites.

3. Advertise -
There are two types of Internet advertising – free and paid advertising. You could make use of both depending upon your budget. Paid advertising mostly includes pay per click advertising, classified ads in ezines, banner ads, purchasing hits to your website, etc. free advertising includes forums, blogs, classified ads, link exchanges, article directories, etc. where you inform your target customers about your products or service and lead them to your site through a link to your webpage.

4. Ezines -
You publish your own email newsletter through an ezine, which is called electronic mail or email magazine. Ezines are filled with a lot of product information. This is one of the favorite venues used by Internet marketers for their online business. You could build up a mailing list of opt in subscribers to whom you send out your product promotions and sales and latest information about your products or service. Adding your website address in your newsletter gets you more traffic.

5. Email marketing -
Email marketing is yet another way to get across to thousands of people about your online business for a reasonable price. You could advertise a landing page that offers valuable information or freebies in exchange for visitor’s name and email address. Placing a sign up form on every web page you create is also helpful in building your mailing list.

6. Keyword research -
Do your keyword research before you publish your website online. Most popular keywords would fetch you more traffic to your site.

A website carefully designed with good colors, chosen keywords, valuable content and good advertising could generate high traffic. High traffic could lead to more sales and profits, but that will be covered in another article.

Full Time Online Income - What's The Chances?

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:20:00 +0000

Is it Possible to Earn a Fulltime Income Online?

Most of us have seen numerous adverts promoting programs that will earn us yachts and mansions for only a few dollars investment. Too good to be true? Unfortunately yes.

Most of the time you will waste time and money with these programs. So is there a way to make a full time income from only working online a few hours per day?

The short answer is yes but you need to put in a lot more time than a few hours per day to start with. Over the past 6 months I have worked up to 12 hours per day building an income to replace the one I lost when I left my previous job.

It takes dedication and focus and slowly but surely your income will grow to the point that you can cut back your hours and get some quality time with your family.

The first thing you need to do is to sit down and have a long hard think about what you want from life. I would bet that most of you will at first think about the fast cars and mansions and the celebrity lifestyles that are depicted in many aspirational adverts.

However think harder, these are things you would like to have, not what you want from life.

If after you’ve thought deeply you decide that you want to see your family grow up, you want to be able to make it to your children’s school concert and not have to work late on that important project.

If you decide that you want to be able to take your wife for a romantic lunch before you collect the kids from school then you have the correct frame of mind to start making an income for yourself.

If you don’t have a family and you decide you want to be self reliant and not a wage slave then you are on the way. Be realistic and you won’t be disappointed.

Now you know what you want and you know it’s realistic it’s time to get yourself a strategy. I like to think of my income building strategy in terms of building a house, before you put up the walls and roof, the part of the house you can see and admire you need to put in the foundations.

The foundation of your income has to be a steady source of reliable income that you can build on. For this I built a number of content websites and monetized them by adding Adverts and Amazon feeds. I write articles and submit them to directories.

I do everything I can to get the sites into the search engines and get traffic to them. Once the visitors started coming and I was getting a steady income then it’s time to branch out and work on the 4 walls of our strategy.

The second part of the strategy involves taking some profit from the site building and investing it in well researched programs that have a long history of paying out.

You need to do your research and due diligence here and spread the risk among a number of programs if you have any doubts about a program walk away. Now you have your foundation and 4 walls in place it’s time to top it all off with the roof.

The Roof like in your house is the top level of our strategy, this is where you take everything you have learned building your foundations and walls and apply it to your own programs, by now you will know what works, you will have developed a network of contacts through programs and forums and you are ready to develop your own programs.

The great thing about this strategy is that if you have no spare cash you can start out with very little, in fact it is possible to start out with $0.00 and turn this into a full-time income by clever use of resources.

If you don’t believe that this is possible then have a look at the blog detailed in the resource box at the end of this article and watch start with $0.00 and prove there is such a thing as a free lunch.

Remember be focused and realistic and a full time income is within your grasp.

By Mark J Thompson

Mark Thompson ran an IT consultancy in London for many years . He now live in Spain and runs an number of websites including Income Booster. He is also conducting an experiment where he turns $0.00 into a Free Lunch. Will it be in a fast food resturant or a 5 star hotel?? Follow the experiment in his Blog 'Marks Free Lunch'.

Create Interest For Your Product With A Great Sales Letter

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:42:00 +0000

Top Ten Ways to Write a Sales Letter for Each Product or Service

Perhaps you have a book out, or a wonderful service that helps people make their lives better. Authors/publishers are great at getting their books written. Entrepreneurs know their products. But after the initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down.

To counter this make sure your ebook, product, or service you offer will keep on selling from the first day, the first year, even for life. Write a short sales letter for each product or ebook.

Whether you have a Web site or not, you can write a first class, must-buy-now sales letter. Write one for each teleclass, eBook, product, or service. I even write one for my bookcoaching services.

If you are like me and have a Web site, it is content driven. Why? Because that's why people come to any site--to get free information. You must also give them a reason to buy. Most home pages say too much about the author or the book instead of intriguing their potential buyers with a benefit- driven headline, which in turns leads them to the benefits of their books--the sales letter.

My first Web site had many fine books and kits in personal growth and book writing and marketing. Sales never went over $200 a month. To correct that, I created a new site and paid special attention to its sales language (without hype) for each teleclass, eBook, and book coaching opportunities to suit each income and need. Sales were $75 the first month, and in four months they reached $2265. One year later, and today, over $4000 a month. You can boost your sales too.

What Every Sales Letter Needs to Pull Orders and Profits

You can write each sales letter in less than four hours the first time. As you practice, you can write them in two hours.

1. Start the Letter with a Benefit-Driven Headline.

Include these headlines throughout your sales letter. "Want a quick and easy way to quadruple your Online Income in Four Months?

If you answered, "yes" to yourself, the headline succeeds, because you will keep reading. If you said "No, I don't believe this, " but I'm curious where this is going," the headline still succeeds. You win when your headline seduces your potential customer to read on in your sales letter to discover your product's benefits and features, some fine testimonials, and finally to click "buy now" which takes them to the order page.

2. List the Top Five Benefits of your Product or Service in bullet form.

To define your top benefits start with a list of problems your client or customer wants solutions for. Each specific problem you answer can be labeled a benefit. If you are not rock sure of who your audience is, your sales copy dribbles away and doesn't meet its target. Keep redefining your audience and know as much about them as you can.

Remember that one benefit is the top undeniable benefit—usually more money easier, more clients faster, more profits from Web sales, better relationships, and health.

If you have more than five benefits collected in a list, sprinkle the rest throughout your copy. How will your book make someone's life easier, richer in time or money, help their personal growth, provide additional income, entertain them? How will your product or service make them a better business person, more attractive, feel better, avoid catastrophe, sickness, or surgery?

3. Address your Potential Buyer's Resistances.

Remember to tell a background story of where they are NOW so they will emotionally connect with your solutions (the product or service). Let's say they want to write an eBook or print book to make themselves the "expert," make life-long passive income, or share their unique message.

Many people don't write a book because they doubt it will sell well enough for all the effort, it may not be significant enough, it will take too long, cost too much money, and they really aren't writers. One, by one, your sales letter addresses their concerns and shows these potential buyers how they can become an excellent author and make their books more saleable, while building their profits.

4. Sprinkle Testimonials Throughout your Sales Letter.

Potential buyers who visit your site or another one that sells your products are more pulled to buy when they think other people have already. If other people are happy with your product or service, they will be too.

Include testimonials from experts in your field, celebrities, man/woman on the street, and other people who have profited from your advice. Learn how to approach influential contacts through email friendly notes and requests. Ask them to look at and give their opinion on your table of contents, one chapter, and your back cover or sales letter information

Give as you receive. Give that person something of value. Study their Web site or read their ezine, and send them a short helpful tip or joke.

5. Offer your potential clients three or four chances to buy.

They may have already decided to buy before coming to your sales letter, so offer a "Click Here," "Buy Now" near the top of the letter. Offer more buying opportunities along the way after a list of benefits, what's in this book (features),and testimonials.

6. End your Sales Letter with your 100% Money-Back Guarantee.

When you offer an iron-clad guarantee, people see your book as so valuable that you put yourself on the line for it. They will be more likely to buy and be satisfied with their purchase.

"This product comes with a 100% Money Back Guarantee. Read the book cover to cover, and if the strategies don't work for you within 60 days, we'll cheerfully refund your money, and you can keep the product too!"

7. Make your Sales Letter Credible.

To boost sales, authors need to add free bonus reports related to their book. Make sure your free bonus reports do not cost more than the price of your product. Would you believe this offer "order this for $49 now and receive 4 special bonus reports worth $395?"

8. Share the downside of your book to create empathy.

For example, "this ebook won't write the book for you, or even get it published, but it will show you the steps and resources to write compelling copy, finish fully and sell well."

9. Include your expert credentials

"I spent 6 months researching this book and 3 months writing it. My background includes 23 years coaching, presenting 80 writing seminars a year, and 52 published clients since 1999."

Without a sales letter to guide your potential buyers on your Web site, you leave them bored, uninspired, without enough information to make that decision to buy. Your Web site and ezine must entertain, inform, and give enough benefits to convince your readers to order your book.

For all email promotion campaigns, without a short or long sales letter for each product, your unique, useful and inspiring information will not get read, people won't know you as the expert, and you won't make the sales you want.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach Bk The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Targeted Web Traffic free 2 monthly ezines, "The Book Coach Says. . .," and "Business Tip of the Month." at http://www.bookcoaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judy_Cullins

It's Just Business - Charge The Proper Price For Value Received

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:32:00 +0000

I love this article from The Ezine Queen . . .

Too many times I see people charging a lot less than they should be and then wonder why their company cannot make a profit. --- Duhhh.

How to Charge More and Work Less
By Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen"

I remember when I first launched my first business as a copywriter seven years ago, I had no clue what to charge. Without putting hard thought into what type of results my work gave my clients, I started out with an hourly rate that didn't scare ME! I would still even stutter when I said to clients, "My rate is si- si- si- sixty dollars an hour." Deep down, I wasn't confident in myself, so of course I wouldn't let myself charge more. And of course, as a result I attracted lame clients, worked like a dog, and stayed broke all the time.

Well, things are VERY different today. I have no problem saying my consulting rate is $500 an hour, or that a private mentorship with me starts at a minimum of $9,700. And, here's the kicker: Because I take on so few clients now, at higher rates, and the bulk of my income comes from information products, I work LESS than I used to!

Obviously this shift didn't happen overnight. Here are a few things you can do NOW to move in the same direction:

1. Become an expert in something.

Experts are more respected, get media attention, get paid more, and get less price resistance (meaning people are happier to pay you what you ask). I went from being a general copywriter to one who specialized in newsletters. Then in email newsletters.

Then I dubbed myself "The Ezine Queen". I had no idea at the time how much that would help me get famous and be remembered. Did you know that Muhammad Ali became known as "The Greatest" because Ali himself said it? Yep -- he just kept saying it, and then eventually so did the media!

There's a reason people happily pay more to get to the wise man at the TOP of the mountain! (Meanwhile the man at the bottom can't even seem to give it away.)

2. Raise your rates.

This may seem like a given, but you wouldn't believe the resistance I get from clients when I poke and prod them about this. Last year, I hired a personal trainer for a few months who only charged $50 an hour. Honestly, because his rate was so low compared to other trainers in the area, I was worried he wouldn't be that good. I learned he was actually great.

He often complained that his schedule was so jammed it was killing him. To make a living at that rate, he obviously had to take on clients morning, noon, night, and weekends. He was also disorganized, frazzled, and late most of the time due to his schedule.

He had no idea that he was such a good trainer I would have been happy to pay him $75 or even $100 an hour for his time. I remember suggesting he raise his rates, and he replied, "But then not as many people would work with me."

Well of course! That's the idea. Let's say he decided to double his rates, and half of his clients dropped off. Why wouldn't you want to work HALF as hard as you are now for the same income? This also opens up more time for you to work on new projects, like creating information products and programs. (See #5.)

If you're having trouble raising your rates across the board, bring in fresh clients your new rate, maintain old clients at current rates, and drop off clients that are pains in your bum.

3. Restructure how clients can work with you.

For many solo-professionals, a much better way to approach working with clients is on a project basis, or "flat fee". That way you simply assign a value to the *results* you're giving them. For example, my friend Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero is a copywriter who charges $10,000 to write a sales letter. Does that price-out some clients who can't afford her? Of course! But she much prefers to work on a few projects at a time with stellar clients who truly value her work.

Or instead of taking on one-shot projects, work with clients on retainer (a set fee per month) or require them to sign up for a number of months with you. One trend in coaching and consulting right now is moving toward six-month or annual contracts with clients. Not only does it help guarantee your cash flow, but you attract better, more qualified, and more committed clients.

Example: After I was tired of doing so many one-shot consultations, I created my VIP Private Access Mentorship Program so I could only work with a handful of select people at a time and coach them closely for several months. Right now the program costs between $9,700 and $16,700. It's especially rewarding for me to see my clients implement the recommendations I make, follow along with their progress, and share in their sales successes!

4. "Clone" Yourself.

Have you ever wanted a "Mini Me?" Or a whole team of them? Well there's no reason you can't. If you have a duplicatable system or process you use in your work, why not teach others how to do the same? Then have them work for you on a freelance basis, or consider "licensing" people to use your method or teachings.

Consider working with a team of other coaches and consultants. For example, one of my early life coaches, Talane Miedaner, offered me this choice when I was interested in coaching: Be coached by her personally for a high fee, or work with one of her associate coaches at a lower rate.

Because I wanted her personal help, I paid her the higher fee and she did all the work. But if I chose one of the other coaches, I'd still pay her company, the associate would do all the coaching work, and Talane would keep a good portion of the fee. (Smart lady!)

5. Create and Sell Information Products

If you've read other articles of mine, you know I'm a big fan of transcending the exchange of time for money. You simply will never make the big bucks if you keep getting paid solely for your time. I'm at the point now that about 90% of my income comes from selling my knowledge via information products such as ebooks, manuals, courses, audio programs, and occasional live events. This has helped me almost TRIPLE my income in the past two years!

Instead of "work, get paid" ... you want "work, get paid, paid, paid, paid, paid, paid, paid, paid, paid!" I may spend a good chunk of time creating a new product, but then it can sell forever. I may put a lot of effort into creating a one-time seminar, but I also record it and create a home-study version that can sell forever. (I did this with my recent Online Success Blueprint Workshop.)

I hope you get the idea! There are many other strategies to restructure your fees and leverage your knowledge, but these are great ways to get started.

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is creator of the award-winning 'Boost Business With Your Own E-zine' system. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for her FREE how-to marketing articles and FREE audio class, visit www.EzineQueen.com

Communication In Business, Are You Asking The Right Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:58:00 +0000

The 7 Keys to Asking Clients the Right Questions

The secret to successful communication in business and in everyday life is asking the right questions. Understanding the value of effective questioning is probably the single most dominant factor in achieving business success. The way to learn about what people need is to ask a question and then listen carefully to the answer.

What do Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, and Barbara Walters all have in common? They are all great interviewers. They have the uncanny ability to make people feel comfortable and talk by asking the right questions. The bottom line is that customer and prospects will gladly volunteer information about what they think they want in pricing, products and services if you ask the right questions.

The more questions you ask, the more the customer or prospect will talk, which allows you to uncover their “hot buttons”. Remember, approximately 90 percent of customers and prospects think about themselves first.

To start, you should always remember the 7 keys to good questioning. It’s a matter of being clever, and being direct. How better to accomplish this than to utilize these 7 keys:

1. Why?
For example: Why would you choose software A over software B for your small business expenses?

2. Who?
For example: Who would you recommend this product to and why?

3. Where?
For example: Where did you first hear about my small business?

4. When?
When were you hoping to have project A completed?

5. What?
What troubleshooting issues have you discovered while using this program?

6. How?
How do you feel about our new shipping policy?

7. Is it?
Is it alright if I contact you in the future if I need more information?

You’ve probably already noticed that number 7, “is it” isn’t one of the standard questions that you consider when you think of posing questions, but “is it” allows you to verify what you have learned by listening carefully to the answers to keys number 1-6.

Confirming and verifying what customers are saying demonstrates to them that you are listening carefully to what is being said, and reassures them that their input matters. It also allows you to better absorb and synthesize what is being stated so that you can put it into its best application.

There is an art to asking the questions. While using the 7 keys to good questions does get you off to a good start, you have to remember to keep things well focused, so that the responses that you receive will be tailored to what you are seeking to discover.

Most people have a natural tendency to pose very general questions. However, while conducting business, you need to aim to ask questions that are as detailed as possible, so that you will receive a better response, and so that the person with whom you are speaking will know you are a good listener.

Keep in mind, also, that just because a question is detailed, doesn’t mean that it has to be verbose in any way. Rather, it must simply be worded in a way so that the right information is provided within the response.

For example, if someone were to ask you “how do you start a small business?” that would leave you in a bit of a lurch with regards to what to say and where to start. Additionally, it will necessarily lead to a number of other questions that negate the purpose of asking the original question in the first place: more detailed questions.

Don’t waste the time of the person to whom you are asking questions, don’t waste your own time, and keep confusion to a minimum. A better question with which to begin may have been something more detailed such as: “How do you start a small mail order business in Richmond, Virginia, that deals in laptop computers?” Notice the difference?

The foundation to asking good questions and achieving a wealth of practical answers is to apply the 7 keys in a direct and detailed manner. They allow you to get to the root of your question, so that you will gain the information and direction that you need to take specific action.

Robert Moment is a successful business and success strategist and author of “It Only Takes a Moment to Score”, which is available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Robert shows entrepreneurs how to avoid becoming a statistic and turn their ideas into wealth and have FUN ! Grab a copy of his Free Special Report, “17 Profitable Ways to Turn Your Content into Money”. Visit: http://www.sellintegrity.com/

Are Your Business Files Organized According To How You Personally Work?

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:25:00 +0000

Following up on the last post about productivity in your home business, here is an article about organization and how each individual is quite different in how their mind organizes information.

It's Only Organized if It Works for You

Being organized means different things to different people. For some it means dozens of filing cabinets with carefully organized drawers and folders with lots of subsections.

For others, it means knowing which pile of papers to begin looking in when they need something.

What's organized to one person may be a horrible mess to someone else. But no matter what your organizational style, the bottom line is making sure that what you're doing works for you.

You could have the most state-of-the-art organizing system around, but if it takes you hours of sorting through subcategories to find what you need, it's not doing its job.

It Doesn't Have to Be Fancy, But It Should Be Functional

When getting started in business, many people run out and buy filing cabinets, in and out baskets, and desks with lots of compartments. These things provide lots of organizing options, but unless you are dealing with lots of files and paperwork, chances are it's overkill.

Systems that can expand as a business grows are a more economical option. Stackable file drawers are a great example. There are even plastic storage units that might suit your purposes just fine.

If you are dealing with confidential information, you might want to go with something sturdy and lockable. Otherwise, anything that holds your paperwork in a way that can be organized will do.

When it comes to desks, some like open shelving while others like lots of drawers and compartments. As long as you can keep things that you need within easy reach, it is simply a matter of preference.

There's a Lot to Be Said for Trial and Error

If you are new to business, it's hard to know just what will work. Even those who are extremely organized when it comes to personal papers and items may not know where to begin when it comes to organization for business purposes.

Perhaps the best thing you can do is just jump in and try something, and if that doesn't work adjust until you find what works for you.

Fellow business owners may be able to provide some guidance and share things that work for them. And there are lots of organizing gurus out there who are more than willing to help.

But the fact is that they may not work the same way as you do, and what is perfect for them could be a disaster for you. It doesn't hurt to get suggestions, but it's how well a system works for the person who is using it that counts.

Organization systems are as unique as the people that use them. One person might find things better when their location is determined by a specific and logical formula, and another might prefer to have frequently accessed items within easy reach and file away the rest.

Neither way is better than the other. It's what works for the individual that matters.

Be More Productive In Your Home Business

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:45:00 +0000

Run Your Business From Home? Here's 10 Ways to Be More Productive

Ah, working at home sweet home... Visions of leisurely days, conference calls in comfy sweatpants, increased productivity with fewer interruptions. But the distinctions between work life and home life soon blur. You really should throw some laundry in the wash before you write that proposal. You have an hour before a meeting: Should you balance your books or clean the kitchen? And remember to call that client back right after you empty the cat box.

Welcome to the real world of the home office: unforeseen distractions, a lack of structured time, and sometimes a perceived loss of identity. But don't give up the dream just yet! By putting into place a few simple ideas, you can reap more of the rewards of staying home-bound. Based on my experiences and those of my clients, here are 10 simple ways to help you stay on track.

1. Separate Your Space.

Keep a separate, distinct work area in your home. Very important. (This is especially difficult if you're living and working in a shoebox apartment, like I was when I started my business in New York City!) If you don't have a separate room, at least define an area, and know that when you're in it, you're in "work mode."

2. Structure Your Time.

As your business and personal time mesh, it's more important than ever to structure your day. For example, if you regularly take a walk or go to the gym, try to do it every day at the same time. Value that personal appointment with yourself -- even when you're very busy. It will actually help you keep your business on track! I like to get up early and work until 1 pm, then I take a few hours off to enjoy lunch and go to the gym or jog on the beach. Then I'm back at my desk at 5:00 until who knows when!

3. Outsource All You Can.

When I began my business, I made the mistake of doing all my own administrative work. Whenever you start thinking, "Well I can just do that myself," STOP. Streamline your business, making everything as automatic as possible. Use outside services to stay focused on your *real work*. Get accounts with an overnight delivery service, messenger service, errand service, bookkeeper, etc. Save your time and energy for your brilliant ideas! (Learn more about hiring a virtual assistant (VA) at www.ezinequeen.com/assistanttele.htm)

4. Use Technology to Your Advantage.

In-person meetings are very valuable when appropriate, but schedule them sparingly. Try to do most of your business via phone, fax, and e-mail using the best equipment you can afford. For most of us, when we're out of the office, we're not bringing in the bacon! So it's important that you can communicate flawlessly from where you are. PLEASE do us all a favor and get separate lines/services for your phone, fax, and Internet! No one likes getting a busy signal or having to call first before faxing.

Get separate lines for home and business, or ask your phone company about getting "distinctive ring". Also, voicemail is better than an answering machine, because if you're on an important call and don't want to be disturbed, other callers can still leave you a message.

5. Group Your Errands.

Try to group your meetings and errands together to minimize your out-of-office time. Make a list in the morning of all the outside tasks you need done for the day, and attempt to complete them in one fell swoop. Even better, do what I used to do and designate just one day a week as your "blitz" day for errands and meetings. Plus, then you only need to get dressed up one day a week! : ) (Nowadays I use an errand service to run around for me.)

6. Stay Focused.

Make your workspace off-limits to other roommates or family members when you're working. For you animal lovers, this may go for pets as well. (My cat Francine gets extremely jealous when I'm not giving her complete attention!) Keep all personal paperwork such as bills, magazines, and to-do lists out of sight, so they won't distract you from your work projects.

7. Beware of Yappers.

Many of your friends and family will be immediately delighted when they learn that you're now home-officing. They picture you lounging on the couch, eating potato chips, and waiting for their calls. When they call you simply to chat, politely remind them that you're working, and ask them if you can call them back after your day is over. It may take them a while, but they'll eventually get the idea.

8. Work With Your Moods.

Keep track of your moods and productivity compared with the time of day. For example, if you find you're more alert in the morning, use this time to make important calls and do your creative work. Take advantage of your natural cycles. If you feel better after an afternoon nap, go for it! (I'm a BIG proponent of the catnap. In fact, I may start a support group.)

9. Suit Yourself.

To bring out your best work, make your environment perfect for YOU. How do you work best? With plenty of breaks, or with no interruptions? In silence, or with some light music in the background? On a cushy couch and coffee table, or at a business desk in an ergonomic chair? (My friends thought I was nuts when I spent $750 on my Herman Miller Aeron chair, but they quickly understood why I did once they sat in it! It will last forever and my spine thanks me every day.)

Also, find some places you can do work when you need a change of scenery. How about the library, the park, or your neighborhood coffee shop? When I need to do serious reading, thinking, or editing, I take my work outside to the beach. The sea air, sunshine, and soothing waves help me think much more clearly.

10. Break for People.

Feeling sluggish, lonely, or moody? Arrange for at least one social break during the week. Schedule breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even just coffee with a client, vendor, or friend. Join a business networking group, or sign-up for social activities such as dance class or recreational sports league. Don't go into hermit mode -- it can be self-destructive!

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Alexandria's Small Business Marketing Blog.

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," publishes the award-winning 'Straight Shooter Marketing' weekly ezine with 20,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at http://www.EzineQueen.com

Pareto's Law Applied To Business

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:04:00 +0000

The 80/20 Rule

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule), states that, for many things, 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. For instance, you wear 20% of the clothes in your closet 80% of the time. This equation also affects your business, as in 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients.

Unfortunately, most people will spend 80% of their time dealing with the 80% of clients who are not bringing in business. You can use this theory to argue that only 20% of the tasks you work on will bring in the majority of your business.

Here are some tips to help you streamline your schedule and spend time where it really counts.

Have you ever noticed that the people who ask the most questions or are the most difficult are the people who place the smallest orders? While it is certainly important to provide great customer service, you can place a limit on your time.

For example, let’s say you sell cosmetics and a potential customer wanted to know if the product was tested on animals. Once you researched the answer and got back to them, they wanted to know if only organic materials were used, so then you research that answer and when you get back to them they have another question and then another question and so forth.

This exchange could go on for several days, and at the end of it, the potential customer may not become your customer at all. If a potential customer is “on the fence” about a sale, it is okay to ask them for the sale, and if they hesitate, to let them know you are available to help them place their order, once they are ready.

It definitely feels good to get a sale and gain a new customer, but the time you spend chasing down small sales could be spent on the “big clients” who are willing to place large orders.

Another smart thing to do is create a thorough FAQ and standard answers that could be cut and pasted into a support email. Always direct your customers to your FAQ first, then support.

Email can be another big time waster. Setting aside a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the evening to respond to your email can save you time during the day. Another option is to hire a virtual assistant to answer general business email. There may be some things you need to respond to yourself, but the vast majority can probably be handled by someone else.

Start a time log where you document time spent and results achieved. Experiment a little by tracking the time you spend on various tasks to determine which ones are actually making you money. It only stands to reason that devoting more time to those activities will greatly increase your productivity and profits.

Try it and notice how much more you accomplish. See you next time.

Al

Discipline Is A Key To Business Success

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:24:00 +0000

It's All About Discipline
By Susan Carroll

Having your own internet marketing business means being able to enforce some self discipline.

While many people think that time management is the only form of discipline you must enforce on yourself when you have your own home business, it isn't. There are at least 7 aspects in your life you must learn to adjust and today we're going to look at them.

1. Time Management - Learn to use your time effectively.
You must identify "weak spots" - the things in your business that suck a lot of your time and energy but produce very small results. For most, email and the amount of time spent reading and responding eats up their most valuable time. For others, proof reading their site and making sure they catch every typo is their downfall.

If you are spending some of your most creative and productive time on "weak spots", you need to redo your schedule and give your most creative and productive time to the areas of your business that earn you the most. Continued On The RGG Site

Productivity In Your Online Business

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:25:00 +0000

Great article post over at Zen Habits today. In this post the author writes about time management and productivity.

He runs a full time online business from home, or wherever he happens to be as long as he has access to a computer.

12 Organizational Pointers for anyone working an internet based business include the following:

Focus on the essential.
It’s important to take some time to think about what’s essential to your tech work (and play). What do you really need? What gives you the most benefit for your time? What’s not so essential? What takes up a lot of time without making much of an impact? What gives you the most enjoyment?

If you can identify the activities, sites and software that is most essential to you, you can eliminate or at least reduce the non-essential. And from then on, focus almost exclusively on what’s essential. This applies to your work tasks as well - what tasks are extremely essential? Focus on doing those each day.

Do one thing at a time.
I know. This is super hard when it comes to tech. Browser’s on, a dozen tabs open at once, switching between reading and email and work and IM and Twitter … we live in a multitasking world. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

While there’s nothing wrong with having multiple tabs open, it can be very helpful to focus on one task at a time. Have 10 tabs open, but do one tab until you’re done, then close it and move on to the next, and so on. If you’re going to do IM, just do IM.

If you’re going to do email, just do email. Sure, you can do more than that at once, but it adds to the stress of your day and decreases your effectiveness because of all the switching. Practice doing one thing at a time and you’ll find your work to be much more peaceful.

Have periods of disconnectedness.
While I do most of my work online, I find it extremely useful (and calming) to close my browser and just work offline for awhile. This post, for example, is being written in a text program, and when I’m done writing I’ll go and post it in WordPress. This really allows you to get much more done, because there’s no temptation to go check something just for a sec.

Don’t live in your inbox.
I’ve done this, and if you do it you know who you are. Email is everything to many people. It’s communication, it’s a task list, . . .

Read more about 12 Powerful Ways to Keep Your Online Life Simple and Peaceful

Stop Reading, Start Your Business . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:54:00 +0000

There is no better time. Start your new business now.

Often people look for advice on the Net for all the problems that plague them; and the Net rarely fails them, there is so much information available.

It is very rare that you do not get what you are looking for on the Internet, especially when you make the effort to look seriously.

This is applicable for all those who are seeking insights on starting an affiliate marketing business as well.

When you do a search for affiliate marketing strategies, you will find information, advice, tips, and ideas at the click of a button – most of it excellent material waiting to be read and absorbed.

That is fine, as long as you find what you want, and then start applying that same knowledge right away. Very often people get caught up with just reading this information, building their base knowledge and they forget the action part.

As one saying so correctly emphasizes, ‘The longest journey begins but with one step’ - and you will need to make that one step to have the affiliate marketing start working for you.

If you will wait until you gather sufficient information before you do so, let me assure you that you probably will never start. There are too many exceptional things to read out there and you will find it difficult to say ‘stop – enough of reading; let me start the action’.

It is good to read and collect all the relevant information you need, as this would indeed be beneficial; but you cannot afford to wait until you feel you know it all because such a time might never come.

Hence, thorough gathering of intelligence is a good idea, but the best would be to take the plunge and side-by-side learn the how-to-dos and the rest of the stuff that would optimize your efforts into the best possible results.

Most of the successful people, when asked on their secret to success, reply with a very consistent answer, i.e. their success is not a through a conscious thought about a thing, rather they just do what they think they should do and the rest just happens – success included, fame included, etc.

This is why the best advice you would ever get would be to start your affiliate marketing today and adjust your sails according to whatever is given on the Internet as information/ tips/ advice.

If you want to be highly successful in life – do not be too concerned about details and overall picture. Just get into one-step-at-a-time syndrome and plunge ahead.

You will never be able to feel how it is to swim in deep waters if you never venture out there. However descriptive any book is about the deep water, there is still only one way to find out – by diving into the water and testing it for yourself.

Similarly, if you want to know what affiliate marketing is, how it works and how to grow your business – then start today and find out. Whenever you are stuck - seek help and then move ahead again.

You have started, you will move ahead, and you can keep abreast with the latest developments in the market as you proceed to grow your business.

Be Proactive and Creative In Your Problem Solving

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:58:00 +0000

Think Outside The Cup and Saucer
Larry Galler

There were four of us at dinner. Three ordered “regular” coffee, the fourth requested “decaf.” Every so often a server, carrying two pitchers, refilled the coffee cups and knowingly poured three cups from one pitcher and one from the other. He never asked who wanted which type of coffee.

As we were leaving, one of us asked the server how he knew which of us preferred “decaf.” “Simple, the three of you drinking “regular” coffee have black cups with white saucers, we serve “decaf” in white cups with black saucers.” Instead of thinking outside the box these people have been thinking outside the cup and saucer.

What an elegant, easy solution. The server doesn’t have to interrupt conversation to find who is having which coffee, there is no mix-up or confusion, and everyone gets what they want. More importantly, it demonstrates how deeply the “customer satisfaction” thought process has gone in that particular establishment and it is a lesson for everyone who manages a business.

Imagine how many opportunities for little confusions that exist in delivering any product or service, from not greeting a customer properly to forgetting to return a credit card, and everything in-between.

Management that really wants to deliver a superior customer service experience systematically looks at every possible opportunity for confusion or error and attempts to eliminate them as they are identified. In the case of the cup and saucer solution there was no cost expended to solve the problem, just a little time and creativity.

An owners or managers challenge is to identify a little confusion or opportunity for error in your business that can be overcome by thinking through the process and developing a low cost / no cost solution. Instead of thinking outside the box, let’s call it “thinking outside the cup.”

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler" Sign up for his newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

10 Steps To Increased Profits For Your Business

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Here is a good article about how to increase your business revenues and profits without spending a fortune. These strategies are based on sound business principles that have been proven through the ages.

10 Simple Tactics To Improve Your Business
By Leslie Sprankling

These ten simple tactics are just that, simple. Each one is a nil cost or low cost ways to improve your business and together they form a formidable armory of weapons at your disposal to make your business grow.

So, read, study and think about them all so that you can devise the best ways to implement them in your business. Here then are ten simple tactics to improve your business.

1. Concentrate your efforts on those people who are most likely to buy from you. If you sell only apples, don’t waste your time on people who really want to buy oranges. Qualify the people who come to you (your prospects) and pre-qualify the viewers and readers of your ads so that you don’t spend all day dealing with lookers and tire kickers.

When you qualify the inquiries as they come in, you’ll be able to spend the majority of your time with people who want or need your product or service, want it now and have the ability to pay for it now. All others are just a waste of your time.

2. Get ‘connected’ to your customers, at least the top 20% who may produce as much as 80% of your business. Get in touch with these ones personally and stay in touch with them regularly. Cultivate them and reward them for their loyalty to you. After all, these are the ones who provide the bulk of your income.

However, do not neglect the rest of your customers. Assign members of your staff or sales force to look after them as their ‘personal customer care officer’ as these ones, with proper attention have the potential to join the top 20%.

3. Follow up with all qualified prospects, not with blatant sales blurbs or pressure tactics, but do so with additional information on the product or service they inquired about, or to provide free advice, some additional benefits or solutions to their problems.

You can offer a free booklet, tips etc or ways to assist in meeting their desired goals. Never, never, never give them a sales pitch without at least offering help, advice or a solution.

4. Don’t take it for granted that your customers and prospects know all the benefits of doing business with you, compared with your competition. The fact is, unless you tell them, they don’t know, and couldn’t care less about you. Customers and prospective customers are selfish people, they want what’s best for them, not you.

Think about this for a moment, as a prospective customer, about to spend your dollars on something you want. Do you care about the person you’re doing business with? Or do you want to know ‘What’s in it for me’? Well your customers are the same, so spell out to them all the advantages and benefits of doing business with you instead of your competitor over the road or down the street.

This means telling about your great warranty or guarantee, your extended hours of business, your 24/7 home service, your lower prices, your greater range of products, sizes, colors etc., your uniqueness and whatever else puts you a step ahead of your competition. Even if you don’t do anything differently, tell ‘em what you do because they probably don’t know that your competitors do it too.

5. Spend whatever time and resources are needed to determine your customers’ Marginal Net Worth. This is the amount, in dollars, that a typical customer is worth to you over the duration of the time he does business with you. Without this valuable information you could be handing most of your business over to your competitors.

In simple terms a customer’s Marginal Net Worth (or LifeTime Value) is the average profit on each purchase, multiplied by the number of times in a year that he buys from you, multiplied by the number of years he stays your customer. As an example, if a customer’s average purchase is $100 (of which $50 is profit), if he buys 8 times a year and stays with you for 3 years, you net profit from this customers is $50 X 8 X 3 which equals $1,200.00 net profit. This is his Marginal Net Worth.

See The Simple Secrets to Business Growth at http://www.better-n-chocolate.com, for detailed information on how to determine your customers’ MNW.

6. Follow up all inquiries promptly. In contemplating the reasons for this use empathy here by putting yourself in the place of your prospective customer. How long would you wait for a follow-up before you went somewhere else. We live in a society where instant gratification is demanded. We want it, and we want it now!

So, if a customer has come to you, by phone or in person, get back to him while he is ‘hot.’ The longer you leave it before you follow up, the ‘colder’ he will get or, worse, the more likely it is that he’ll go to your competitor. Always follow up with useful information, advice or some benefit to him, but never solely with a blatant sales pitch.

7. In any transaction, there is a risk. For the customer the risks include that the item he buys from you will be defective, unsuitable, won’t match his color scheme or some other reason. He needs assurance that the item will be repaired, replaced, exchanged or his money returned if need be.

By reversing all those risks and taking them upon yourself you remove those risks from the customer. He will therefore be free of the normal transaction risks and will be more inclined to buy. Yes, you will get a few who may unfairly take advantage of your risk reversal, but you’ll get far more additional business than you will refunds.

8. In a disagreement with a customer, separate personal feelings from business relationships. Hurt feelings can be gotten over in a few hours, a damaged relationship can be financially disastrous and long lasting. Always listen politely to a complaint and act on it on the assumption that the customer is right (even if you feel he is wrong).

It’s much better to lose a little face, or a few dollars, if you can salvage and restore a business relationship. And remember this, the old man in the frayed sweater and dirty jeans may have enough cash in that shopping bag he’s carrying to buy and sell you three times over.

9. There are only three ways to grow a business: get more customers, get your customers to buy more, and get them to buy more often.

10. Hidden Assets are items in your business that, on the surface have no fundamental value but which you can sell or exploit to raise cash. These can include:

* disused or surplus materials, equipment, appliances or office furniture,
* unused space in your warehouse, factory, office or store that you can rent out to a sub-tenant,
* a good relationship with your customers (who can provide referrals or bring in new customers),
* relationships with your suppliers (who may be willing to meet all or part of your advertising costs, or even supply you with stock on credit),
* old merchandise that you have stashed away because you no longer handle those products,
* your reputation in the community as a person or business to get free publicity through press or media releases, informative and advisory articles in local newspapers, magazines etc., radio and/or TV interviews,
* component suppliers who may be willing to include you in their marketing at no cost to you or, if you are a component supplier, your customers may be willing to include you in their marketing.

© 2005 Leslie H F Sprankling. All Rights Reserved. Leslie H F Sprankling is an Australian business consultant and author of a number of business manuals and other publications. He has been involved in the start-up and operation of a number of successful businesses over some 40 years. His business experience covers three continents, North America, Africa and Australia. His web-site, http://www.better-n-chocolate.com offers a wide range of business products, including exclusive software, business books and manuals for experienced business people and for those entering business for the first time. For anyone considering how to get into business on the internet without risking large sums of money and time, as well as for some exclusive free software and business advice http://www.better-n-chocolate.com is well worth a visit.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

Business Goals And Strategies - Decide What You Are In Business To Do!

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:52:00 +0000

What Will You Get From Being In Business? What Are You Intentions? What Do You Want To Do? What problems are you going to solve? What value are you going to add that people are willing to pay you for and buy your products? (key words being "what people are willing to pay you for")

Before we do anything else, we need to make up a business plan for our new business. I am in fact in the middle of doing that for this new site. Spend some time on this, it will pay huge dividends later.

It is tremendously important to know what we want to accomplish so we have guidelines drawn up, so we can make the right decisions regarding the direction we take in our business dealings.

Why Is It Important To Set Goals For Our Business?

Goals are very important when it comes to the success or failure of our business. Why are they so important? Goals act as a roadmap for us to follow. They let us know where we are going, and if we are getting there on time.

You wouldn’t get in your car and start driving without having a destination planned out, so why would you approach your business that way? (Actually sometimes I do just get into the car and drive, but more often than not, I an just getting away to think or just enjoy the time on the road. Depends on your goal though doesn't it?)

All goals should have a few things in common. A goal should define what we are trying to accomplish and when we want to accomplish it by. Goals should be realistic and there should be a way to measure them.

All goals should be written down and viewed on a regular basis. Simply writing the goal down will significantly increase our odds of achieving it and having it displayed as a visual reminder will also help motivate us. We want to be thinking about our direction constantly and take advantage of opportunities to move forward when they show.

Even if you have never taken the time to set goals for your business, you are actually very familiar with the process. At some point in your life, you have more than likely taken out a pen and paper and mapped out a plan for accomplishing some type of task. Writing out goals for your business is no different than writing out your grocery list.

By clearly defining your goal, you are telling yourself where you are going. Instead of having a goal of “I plan to spend more time promoting my Virtual Assistant business”, clearly define the goal as “during the next three weeks, my goal is to spend 10 hours per week promoting my Virtual Assistant business”. The second goal tells you what you are going to do and for how long you are going to do it.

Once you know where you are going and when you want to be there, you can figure out how you are going to get there. Using the example above, you know that for the next three weeks, you need to be spending 10 hours per week promoting your business.

Now you can start defining mini-goals, such as writing articles and submitting them to reprint directories, emailing past clients and letting them know you are accepting new projects, sending press releases to the media, and so forth.

Goals can also serve as a great way to challenge yourself. Are there some things you have been meaning to do, but keep putting off? Start setting weekly challenge goals, such as blogging one post each day for a week straight or adding a new message each day to your auto responder or even writing an article each day and submitting it to a reprint directory.

The important thing is to be specific and measurable for easy monitoring results. Always keep your focus on how you can help more people get what they want. Price your product or service properly (according to your perceived added value) and you will sustain the business profitably long term.

Have fun with your goals and reward yourself with a point when you accomplish one of them. Once you have collected 10 points, treat yourself to a spa day or some other indulgence.

By setting and achieving goals you will find your business taking off and will feel a great sense of enthusiasm and accomplishment. And you will obviously be excited about your profit growth and the income stream that begins because of it.

If you need more information on setting proper goals, then see the link below and search out what info you need. There is a ton of info on our other site.

The Realgoalgetter Blog (Our Original Goal Setting Blog)

How's Your Time Management?

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:51:00 +0000

Time Management For Internet Marketers Really Does Come Down To Changing Habits!

I was reading my favorite blogs earlier and came across an "aha" moment. What a timely post over at SSWT. I couldn't count how many times I have worked through backlogs, organized everything just right, updated all work to a current status . . . and then started to fall behind the very next day.

Check out Lynn Terry's blog post titled "Why Time Management Techniques Fail" and then dig out that old time management system and change your way of doing things.

Any time management system will work if you work it properly according to your goal achievement plans. You do not need to go out and spend more money on that latest greatest program.

Don't change your time management system, Change How You Use It!

By the way we will be introducing a FREE eCourse pertaining to time management habit change very soon.

How Quickly Things Can Change in Business . . . And In Life

noreply@blogger.com (Al Smith) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:41:00 +0000

A heartbeat . . . things can change in a heartbeat.

Here I was more or less coasting successfully, doing a bang up business, not aggressively promoting my services, quite pleased with myself, and then . . .

. . . I read a newsletter this morning, one of many I get from the Brian Tracy Organization, and this particular quote really hit me and stuck to me today. Sometimes they do that.

I realized that my company was in fact at this point right now, and it first scared me, and then excited me . . . Here is the quote:

"There is at least one point in the history of any company when you have to change dramatically to rise to the next level of performance. Miss that moment, and you start to decline." -- Andy Grove, Intel CEO

It started my brainstorming session. I immediately wrote my thoughts out as they crept in and a new plan for my company started to emerge. Suffice to say that my goals for my company and my life this year just changed drastically.

More to come as I develop my new vision for 2008 and beyond.