Great Time

Marketing should be treated like a science. If you are serious about making money on the Internet, it is absolutely crucial that you spend some time testing your results and refining your approach.

Let me drive this point home. Say for example you have a website that gives you a visit to sale ratio of about 200 to 1. Not really bad as far as web sites go. Most do far worse.

Now, assume that you get 5,000 visits per month. Do the math. That’s 25 sales per month. If your profit from each sale is $50, you are making $1250 per month profit from your website.

Now, what would happen, if by changing one small thing on your website, you could improve that ratio to say 150 to 1. It may not seem significant, but let’s see how it works on paper.

Now, instead of 25 sales per month, you are doing 33. Multiply that by $50 and you are now making $1650 per month. That’s a difference of $400. It’s not like you’re having to work any harder for that additional $400. Your website is always there.

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Many service professionals tell me that they are uncomfortable with the idea of marketing — like marketing is a bad word! For some, “marketing” brings up images of telemarketers, aggressive sales people, and feelings of resentment at being invaded. But marketing is really about connecting with your customers. In service businesses — particularly ones where you are very personally involved with the client — you must build up a rapport with your prospects before you can ever hope to turn them into clients. Here are seven basic principles to remember if you want to really connect with potential clients and turn them into loyal customers:

KNOW YOUR CLIENTS

How can you sell to your clients — much less help them — if you don’t know what their problems are? Marketing is all about SOLVING PROBLEMS — whether your prospect wants to get a stain out of the rug or have 10,000 copies made by tomorrow or find a better way to manage paper. When you market your services, your job is not to “con” people into buying something they don’t need. It is to show them how you can solve a problem for them. You’re not selling a service — you’re selling a solution.

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Looking for some tips on being a newbie in the world of marketing? Here are a few to think about (and do!).

1) Know your audience - While marketing your website or webpage,you should consider your audience. Who are they? What do theyexpect from the website? Are you offering that? Will visitorsto your website find what they are looking for?

2) Know your budget - Whatever your website is, marketing it canbecome expensive! Depending on how you market it and how much,you could rack up the bucks in marketing. So, before you beginmarketing it, you need to have a budget, a goal in mind of how much you want to spend on marketing alone.

3) Choose the right marketing medium - Choose the medium you will use to advertise wisely. Now, if your target audience is young women, you definitely want to advertise on such sites as ivillageand woman.com. But, is it worth putting your money out there for such sites less used by women, say a sports page? It may attract a few interested individuals but will it be enough to pay back what you put in? Perhaps not.

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You have a choice. You can stand out or blend in with your competitive landscape. Differentiation doesn’t come naturally, blending in does. We all want to fit in with the crowd, we want to be like everybody else, and we’ve been that way since we were kids. As a professional sales representative you should focus on what makes you different because the similarities will take care of themselves.

When selling there are three principle things you can differentiate: You, your products, and your company. My observation is that most sales representatives do an adequate job of differentiating their products and their company. They neglect, however, to develop a personal brand. Before a customer considers buying your products, they must buy you.

Here are seven ways to separate you from the competition:

1. Your appearance matters. Look the part because your appearance influences your image. You are walking billboard and how you look is what your prospects see first. Belts and shoes should be the same color. Shoes and shoe heels should be shined - every day. When it comes to your wardrobe buy less and spend more.

2. Prepare an effective e-mail signature. Your e-mail signature of course should include your name, a keyword a short phrase - describing your expertise, a telephone number, and your web site. Also periodically include a P.S. and a P.P.S. to emphasize new product introductions, special sales, and special events. In this way, every email provides a branding and promotional opportunity for you.

3. Getting people to return your telephone calls is challenging for everyone. Using a different approach can make all the difference in the world. Mike, a client, shared this with me and it’s guaranteed to be different. If someone very important is not returning your telephone calls use this approach. Buy a coffee mug and print these words on the mug. “Let’s talk business over a cup of coffee.” Put a packet of Starbucks coffee into the mug and include a note with your business card and the times you’ll be available to take his telephone call.

4. Here’s a business card idea. Why are business cards printed one side? Use the blank side of your business to differentiate yourself. You can stamp an inspirational quote. You can stamp the 7 reasons why customers like doing business with you. Use red ink to make it stand out.

5. This is a small tip though it’s an effective one. Most promotional literature is produced on standard size 81/2" X 11" paper. Since most people are overwhelmed by the amount of work on their desk - they simply create stacks of sales rep literature. Go to an Office Depot and buy brightly colored 9 X 12 paper. Affix your literature to the 9 X 12 paper and it’ll standout in any stack of literature. Use the open space on the colored paper to write a note, a reminder, or even your phone number.

6. Visibility is more important than ability. Every contact counts. Develop a (one-two-three) follow-up system every time you meet and/or talk to a new prospect. Here’s my recommendation - within 24 hours send an e-mail, within 72 hours send a handwritten note, within 10 days send a handwritten note with an article to your prospect. Within two weeks you have a total of four exposures with your new prospect. Now that’s impressive.

7. Prepare creative organizational charts for your biggest proposals. In your business, if you do proposals especially for larger deals, consider using a very creative organizational chart. Think about the five to seven people in your organization who interact with your customers; you, your sales manager, your Vice President of sales, customer service, technical service, you get the picture. Create an organizational chart using boxes and include in each box the following: name, title, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and a digital photograph. This introduces your entire team with photographs to your new potential customer. It’s easier for a prospect to say no to a salesperson than it is to say no to the entire team.

The real difference among salespeople is what’s inside their heads - their ideas. To offer generalities when customers are begging for specificity misses the mark completely. Don’t permit generalities to skewer the real differences between you and your competitors.

Being boring, bland, and benign won’t cut it in today’s very competitive marketplace.

If you want to make a difference you have to be different.

Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

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About two weeks ago I received an article submissionthat immediately attracted my attention. The title wasidentical to the title of an article I wrote and whichwas published in ‘WebProNews’ in May 1999.

“Probably just a coincidence”, I thought to myself,and kept reading. But the first paragraph stopped mein my tracks. It was quite clearly plagiarized from myarticle. As I kept reading I recognized sentence aftersentence that had been lifted from my article and thenmodified slightly.

The whole article was plagiarized. I could hardlybelieve it. As the English say, I was ‘gob-smacked’.

——————————What Is Plagiarism?——————————

‘Plagiarism’ comes from the Latin word ‘plagiarius’, akidnapper. Here are two dictionary definitions ofplagiarism:

‘[to] take (the work or idea of someone else)

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What is the best protein powder to buy? I get this question all the time, and really, there is no best protein - many are very good for different reasons! In my opinion, it is futile and possibly detrimental to stick to only one brand for the following reasons:

a) I always recommend that you cycle your supplements so that your body does not get used to them thereby decreasing their effect,

b) for variety sakes alone, it breaks the monotony and allows you to try different brands,

c) to take advantage of the unique qualities offered by various brands, and

d) it is a good idea to switch the powders you use on a frequent basis to not develop any food intolerances or even worse allergies (I have an article coming out on this subject in the near future.) A blend that combines various protein sources (i.e. casein, egg, whey, and even beef if you can find it) is your best bet. I highly recommend the following: MD+ Myosin Protein Complex, Beverly International Muscle Provider, Biotest Low-Carb GROW!, and Dorian Yates Approved ProPeptide.

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Have not decide if becoming an affiliate is for you? Then how about becoming a reseller?

In this article, I will explain to you the similarities and differences between a reseller and an affiliate. You should read this if you are not yet familiar with either terms which are often used in the Internet Business and Marketing arena.

An affiliate is someone who earns a commission (variable) from selling other people’s products. The product can be either physical or digital. Digital products can vary from E-books, software, templates or even more.

In another term, an affiliate is also known as an associate. Quite simply, an affiliate acts very much as a referrer. There is no need for an affiliate to do any selling as the principal sales letter will do all the selling job to the prospects referred by the affiliate.

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Your health insurance policy is an agreement between you and your insurance company. The policy lists a package of medical benefits such as tests, drugs and treatment services. The insurance company agrees to cover the cost of certain benefits listed in your policy. These are called “covered services.”

Your health insurance policy also lists the kinds of services that are not covered by your insurance company. You have to pay for any uncovered medical care health insurance that you receive. Keep in mind that in case of health insurance a medical necessity is not the same as a medical benefit. A medical necessity is something that your doctor has decided is necessary. A medical benefit is something that your insurance plan has agreed to cover. In some cases, your doctor might decide that you need medical care that is not covered by your insurance policy.

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The first thing you should consider in advertising is the firstthing you should consider when buying real estate: Location,Location, Location. You want to focus all of your efforts on yourintended audience. Once you know who they are, determine whichpublications they are most likely to read.

While large sources have apparently attractive numbers ofreaders, their advertising rates are usually high. Focus insteadon smaller publications, such as targeted newsletters or Internetmagazines (ezines). There are publications for sports, hobbies,pets, business, occupations and many other areas of interest. Theadvertising rates of these smaller publications are usually lowerthan the big guys and, if you select carefully, the readersalmost guaranteed to be in your target market.

To give an example from my personal experience:

I posted an identical ad for an affiliate program in twodifferent publications. The ad ran for the same period in bothpublications and both were published with the same frequency. Thefirst was a large ezine with over 300,000 subscribers, the secondwas a publication for online business people with a subscriberbase of only 7,000. Below are the results I observed:

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In these days of every increasing demand and competition, there is a considerable choice available to the cautious consumer. People have the choice of various types of media, if they are looking to shop for any particular product.

Looking at the various types of media, we realise just how large the choices are for anyone venturing into buying or selling something. At the same time, there is the factor of convenience. It wasn’t so long ago, when the customer either went to the shops, to buy, or looked in the local or national press, to browse through the classified and commercial advertisements.

Then came along the advent of radio and television, which provided a whole new concept in advertising. You could now sit comfortably at home, and listen to, or indeed see, advertisements for your favourite products. But this didn’t provide a huge market in private individual advertising, due to the costs involved, although some local radio stations were able to provide so called ’small ads’.

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