Just Until Payday

1. Publish testimonials for your free stuff. It would
increase their value and if they’re viral marketing
tools, you’ll have more people giving them away.

2. Give your visitors a good time so they will visit
your web site again. Use a few jokes, humorous
graphics and funny stories.

3. Make money from web sites that don’t have an
affiliate program, by doing a joint venture. Set up
the affiliate program through a third party for them.

4. Build rapport with your potential customers by
teaching them something new. Provide them with
free ebooks, articles, tips, courses, etc.

5. Allow your visitors to collect things from your
web site so they will stop back again and again.
It could be a series of software, ebooks or articles.

6. Keep each page of your web site consistent or
similar. Use similar text fonts, colors, graphics
and background on every page.

7. Build a popular directory of freebies. It will draw
tons of traffic to your web site and you can request
that submitters place your link on their web site.

8. Create traffic generators that people can add to
their site without doing all the work. It can be an
article directory, freebie directory, web tool, etc.

9. Challenge your visitors to buy your product or
service. People love a good challenge. Tell them
if they can find a flaw you’ll give them a refund.

10. Form a strategic alliance with other related but
non-competing businesses. You’ll be able to beat
your competition by selling to a larger audience.

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

In our last issue, I suggested….ok, strongly recommended that the best way to build sales is by adding inside lead generation to make outside sales reps more productive. That recommendation sometimes yields the response “we tried it and it didn’t work..” Upon further investigation, we discover that their failure were a result of poor execution.

So why did these companies fail? The thinking goes that with all the unemployed people, it should be easy to hire a telemarketer with experience in generating leads. Then, put them in a remote corner alone (so they don’t bother other workers) and give them a script to read to anyone who answers their misguided calls. Or worse, if the person is experienced, expect THEM to set up the process and call flow themselves with minimal supervision or assistance. For tracking, just give them an Excel spread sheet so they can make tick marks. Lists or targets? Typically an after thought. In EVERY failure I have seen, management made one or more of the above errors.

12 Ways to Insure Success

• Develop a solid process first
• Implement a Client Relationship Manager(CRM) tool that matches your business processes
• Don’t hire a sales representative with experience and expect them to know how to set up a process from scratch
• Provide adequate training, coaching,guidance and monitoring; don’t isolate that your sales person in the corner alone and tell them to generate leads
• Strategize with the new sales person with how to approach each target
• Develop a call flow, not a script
• Refer to them and treat them as a Business Development professional, not a “telemarketer”
• Pay them well
• Define the targets and how to reach those targets
• Set the database up correctly
• Track the right information
• Manage to the process and metrics

When the lock on my front door broke, I figured I could save money by fixing it myself. Not only did I have to pay for the locksmith’s visit, I had to pay for a new lock to replace the one I broke. Often, what appears to be the least expensive option ends up being the most costly. In summary, lead development success boils down to having the right people, with the right process, calling the right targets, with the right message…and knowing HOW to ensure you have these basics covered.

1. Up-sell to your customers. For starters, they already know and trust you, plus they have demonstrated a willingness to buy. So if they are given the option of a volume discount, for example, they just might jump at the opportunity to buy more.

2. Cross-sell to your customers. People appreciate convenience and choice. Be sure to provide both by making additional products or services available that complement and enhance your customers’ buying experience. For example, if a customer buys a product from you that requires batteries, be sure to offer him batteries at the time of purchase. Otherwise he’s likely to be frustrated when he gets home and discovers that he needs to head back out to get some batteries… possibly from someone else’s business.

3. Ask your customers for referrals. The best place to find new customers is through your existing customers, assuming they are happy of course. So ask them. Believe it or not, they’ll be glad to help.

One way to do this is to generate a list of prospects you think one of your customers may know. Show her this list and ask if she knows anyone on it. If she does, ask if you might use her name as a reference, or better yet, if she might make an introduction for you. If she doesn’t know anyone on the list, ask if she knows of someone whose name should be on the list. It’s a simple approach, but more times than not, it will get you in front of a warm lead.

4. Develop a CIA list. If you want to grow your sales, you need to get the CIA working for you. That is, the Center of Influence Advocates. These are people, other than yourself, whom your clients consider to be experts. Identify these people and get to know them. Show them what you can do for their customers and find out how you can help them as well… joint marketing or lead sharing, for example. After your customers, a lead from a CIA member is as strong as they come.

5. Create a value driven seminar/talk. This is a great way to get your message to your market while positioning you as an expert in your field. It’s one of the most powerful ways to generate sales because for a significant period of time, you have the undivided attention of a group of prospects. It doesn’t get much better than that.

6. Systemize your sales processes. Every prospect is different, but if you think about it, you probably go through many of the same steps each time you make a sale. If you have a team of salespeople, find out what the best ones are doing and write it down. Then, turn the best ideas into a repeatable sales system that everyone on your team can utilize. You’ll find this one simple concept will bring your entire sales force up at least a couple of notches from before.

7. Stop selling and start helping your customers to buy. This is really the difference between the traditional sales model and the new consultative or customer relations model. Buyers are significantly more sophisticated today than they have ever been. They will still buy, but in this age of information, they’re not looking to be sold. They’re looking for an expert who will help them make the intelligent choice that is just right for them. The customer relations approach to selling means you might not make a sale every time, but if you focus on your client’s needs, rather than your own, you’ll make a life long customer. Something that, over time, is significantly more valuable.

8. Track and analyze your sales processes. Once you have a sales system in place, you’ll want to keep improving it. The only way to do this is to carefully track your results. There are many ways to do this and as many software titles available to help, but what’s most important is that you stay the course. It’s impossible to pull good information out of a system that no-one is using consistently. In fact, partial information can be more problematic than no information at all. So begin by getting everyone on board. Then track your progress and make your improvements. You’ll be successful if you think of it as a marathon, rather than a sprint.

9. Hold regular sales meetings. Meetings can be a big waste of time, but with a proper agenda, schedule and leadership, they can also be the catalyst that ensures your success. So don’t discount them. Your salespeople need to set goals. And regular sales meetings are the key to keeping them on track, holding them accountable, and giving them feedback on their progress.

10. Create a variety of lead generating (prospecting) systems. The more fishing lines you have in the water, the more fish you are likely to catch. So keep on experimenting and every time you find success, turn it into a repeatable system. For example, a healthy mix might include advertising, publicity campaigns, public speaking, direct marketing, customer appreciation events, and so forth.

About the author:

Mark Wardell is President and Founder of Wardell Professional Development, a business consulting firm, focused on the unique needs of small/mid sized growth companies.

Wardell Professional Development
http://www.wardell.biz
Email: info@wardell.biz
Phone: (604) 733-4489

This article is about just one exercise. And this “not-so-secret” secret exercise is the key to getting super-fast muscle gains in no time flat. This exercise is probably responsible for packing more muscle on more bodybuilders than all the other exercises combined.

This exercise is the barbell squat. The barbell squat is the number one exercise for building muscle and strength. You can solve most of your muscle gaining problems with just this one exercise alone. No kidding.

I took us almost six years to grasp the importance of the barbell squat. When we first started training with weights, we wanted big arms, a big chest and ripped abdominal muscles – and we wanted them fast.

It never occurred to us in our wildest dreams that training our leg muscles was the key to unlocking our hidden potential. Most guys don’t want to talk about training their legs. They want the big showy muscles that turn heads at the beach.

But what they don’t realize is that training your legs with the barbell squat is the fastest way to build a strong muscular physique hands down. Without the squat – you won’t grow anywhere near as fast – and you might no even grow at all.

The squat is the growing exercise. It stimulates growth throughout the entire body – not just the legs. This is known as what’s called the “indirect” effect whereby training one body-part can cause indirect growth in other body-parts.

Chamonix is a one of a kind destination with the impressive Mont Blanc as well as majestic glaciers. The group love to go telemarking or even wandering around. I invariably travel from Burlington and stay at a Chamonix chalet for the duration of my holiday.

My family and I used to went to Hotel Deca unfortunately it rarely met the standards of its its advert: The Hotel Deca features 158 deluxe rooms and suites with contemporary art-deco motifs, located in the heart of the University district. Each room features panoramic views of the University District city base, illuminating downtown Seattle or breathtaking mountains and lakes. Microwaves and mini-refridgerators are available upon request for a $10.00 fee. Guests relax in our inviting living-room style lobby with a crackling fireplace and comfortable seating. The District Lounge is a haven for a casually elegant breakfast, lunch or dinner. Tullys Coffee Shop is on-site offering toasty drinks, snacks and streetside views for people watching.

On the other hand in Chamonix Haute Savoie the guesthouse is invariably excellent. Moreover dining out in our favorite restaurant, Don’s Restaurant, scoffing macaroni salad is a pleasure. Chamonix France is a big enough village to insure that there is plenty for the tourist to do. Including a museum and a shopping arcade of designer boutiques, Chamonix offers a combination of snowboarding, French alpine charm and sightseeing which not many ski resorts can hope to rival.

Your product or service could be compelling, your price amazing, and your sales letter “hypnotic” … but if your satisfaction guarantee looks shady, your prospects are out the door.

The wording, the structure, and the terms of your guarantee can make or break the sale, and are a direct reflection on you and your company. What is your money back guarantee saying about YOU?

Let’s take a look at three sales-repelling no-no’s from the consumer’s perspective, before we get into the legalities:

NO-NO #1: Putting important clauses in parentheses, or burying them in the copy.

Watch what terms you put in parentheses. Even innocent clauses referred to in this way can give your prospect a feeling of underlying “shadiness.” For instance, you might say:

“If you’re not overjoyed with XYZ Hair Care Product, simply return it within 90 days (with all of the stay fresh seals in tact, all jars unopened, with original packaging, and in resalable condition), and we’ll refund 100% of your money with no hassle!”

No hassle, eh? Could’ve fooled me. This guarantee sounds like the merchant is trying to pull a fast one on the consumer. It gives off that “Oh yeah, by the way, this isn’t really that important, but I just thought I should mention it, I hope you don’t mind…” vibe that screams “scam alert!”

Be up-front about the terms of your guarantee, and you’ll reduce refund and return disputes later on down the line.

NO-NO #2: Offering the bare minimum guarantee term.

30 days appears to be our industry standard for the minimum term of a guarantee, although I’ve seen a 15 day money-back guarantee before (on a shoddy product).

Offering such a short-term guarantee can make prospects feel that you’re afraid they’ll realize your product is worthless given sufficient time to try it out. For instance, the 15-day guarantee I saw above made ME think that the merchant was hoping customers would realize the poor quality of the product AFTER the guarantee term was over, and/or forget to ask for a refund in time.

Also — especially with information products — some people may buy immediately, and not USE (or read) the product until AFTER the covered 30-day period. Why? They may not have the time, and are simply trying to purchase before a possible price increase.

I’ve put off purchasing products with 30-day guarantees quite a few times, as I wouldn’t have been able to read them within the first month that the guarantee covered. Then, I forgot to go back and order the product, (or decided I didn’t really need it after all), and the merchant lost that sale.

The moral? Reward impulse shoppers! Don’t have your guarantee, of all things, give them a reason not to buy your product right away. If you’re like most Internet merchants, you already have a hard enough time convincing a good percentage of your prospects to buy.

NO-NO #3: Putting ambiguous clauses in your guarantee.

I ran across a website that assured me that, with their service, my success was “almost guaranteed!”

Hunh?! Seem a little off to you?

I know there’s a high “duh” factor in this one, but it must not have been as obvious to this clueless merchant.

We as business owners can get so caught up in trying to protect ourselves in our guarantees that we forget to take a step back and actually LOOK at what we’re saying. My advice? This merchant should focus on what they CAN guarantee, and throw those iffy, credibility-killing clauses out the window.

BUT IT’S *THE LAW!*

Here is a summary of what the U.S. requires when offering guarantees (referred to as “warranties” below) on consumer products. (International readers, please investigate these in your own locality.)

TIP: The info below only applies to you if you’re selling CONSUMER products — not commercial — and applies to written (not oral) warranties.

Warranties are your promise, as a merchant, to stand behind your product. The law recognizes two types of warranties: implied and express. There are also two types of implied warranties.

(1) The implied warranty of “merchantability” is a merchant’s promise that the goods sold will do what they are supposed to do, and that there is nothing significantly wrong with them.

The implied warranty of “fitness for a particular purpose” is a promise that you make when your customer relies on your advice that a product can be used for some specific purpose.

(2) Express warranties, on the other hand, are promises that you make (voluntarily) about your product, or about your commitment to remedy the defects and malfunctions that some customers may experience. In other words, a satisfaction guarantee of sorts.

For more information and examples of these terms, see The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) “Understanding Warranties” article at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/warranty/undrstnd.htm

The FTC applies the following requirements to businesses who choose to offer a written warranty (but offering one isn’t required). There are three rules companies must follow when offering written warranties on consumer products over $10-$15 (the rule being adhered to is dependent upon the price of the product.)

The FTC’s Rule on Pre-Sale Availability of Written Warranty Terms requires that written warranties on consumer products costing more than $15 be available to consumers BEFORE they buy. The rule has provisions that specify what retailers, including mail order (*this category includes Internet purchases*), catalog, and door-to-door sellers, must do to accomplish this. For details see http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/warranty/making.htm

There are NO time limitations on implied warranties, (which are automatically required and enforced by the government at the point of sale). However, the state statutes of limitations for breach of either an express OR implied warranty are generally four years from the date of purchase.

This means that buyers have four years in which to discover and seek a remedy for problems that were present in the product *at the time it was sold.* Obviously, this doesn’t cover damage due to misuse, natural wear and tear, etc. It simply states that the product must do what it was intended to do for the average “life” of the product.

If you choose not to offer a written warranty, the law in most states allows you to avoid an implied warranty for that product. In order to do that, you need to make it perfectly clear to your customers, (in writing), that you won’t be responsible if the product malfunctions or is defective. You must *specifically indicate* that you don’t warrant “merchantability” (see the definition above), or specify that you’re selling the product “with all faults,” or “as is.”

TIP: If you offer a written warranty for a product, you MUST also offer implied warranties on the product.

A few states have special laws on how you need to phrase an “as is” clause, while other states don’t allow the sale of “as is” consumer products at all. (For specific information on how your state treats “as is” disclosures, consult your attorney.)

TIP: You can’t avoid responsibility for personal injury caused by a defect in your product, even if you sell it “as is.” If it proves to be defective or dangerous, causing personal injury to someone, you still may be liable for damages. Selling the product “as is” doesn’t eliminate THIS liability.

IN CONCLUSION…

As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider when you’re constructing your money-back guarantee — I’ll bet even more than you bargained for. Just remember the importance of offering an ethical, easy to understand, law-abiding guarantee, and you’ll surely be rewarded with increased sales!

We have very candid conversations with the sales professionals who come to our seminars and through those discussions we’ve discovered five critical errors that most salespeople make. Of course, we help them correct those mistakes, but it’s somewhat surprising as to how common they are.

Here are the mistakes, see if you commit them in your own sales career.

1. Failure to maintain a constant presence in the minds of prospects or customers. Quite simply, this is a failure to prospect consistently both outside and inside of existing accounts.

2. A tendency to focus on process over results. The consequence of this is a poorly executed system of prioritization that virtually cripples the salesperson from delivering effective, bottom line results. In short, they are focused on activities rather than results. As a consequence they believe they’re busy (and they are). They are just busy doing all of the wrong things.

3. Me too thinking. Salespeople fail to be creative and innovative. As a consequence, they don’t differentiate themselves, their products or their organization from everyone else in the pack.

4. Failure to listen. This is, perhaps, the most classic and common error. The salesperson who hears but doesn’t listen. The salesperson who interrupts prospects, delivers solutions that are off-target, or simply overwhelms prospects and customers with verbiage that clearly communicates a failure to have really listened to anything the other person has said.

5. Failure to anticipate. A failure to foresee problems in an account. Missing trends, potential problems, needs or necessary solutions that could forestall problems or head off the loss of accounts.

Identifying the problems is one thing. Solving them is, often, quite another. The good news is that awareness is a lot more than 50% of the battle. Are you suffering from some of these maladies? Let’s take a look at a simple quiz that could yield some valuable information for you.

- Do you feel that your prospects or customers are driving hard on price?

- Do your customers ever buy products or services from other suppliers that you could have provided them?

- Do you find you have to revise or redo proposals for prospects?

- Have you had prospects reschedule important meetings with you?

- Do your prospects submit requests for proposals that you hear about at the last minute?

- Do you ever miss out on additional requests for customers?

- Have you missed your sales forecasts for at least 2 of the last 4 quotas?

- Do you feel that your customers or prospects are looking for deeper, better solutions than what you have been providing them?

- Do you feel your prospects or customers get frustrated by errors?

- Do you find prospects failing to involve you in their future plans?

Any “yes” answer means you may have a problem. You need to go about the business of resolving them to the very best of your ability. Recognition and awareness are essential components of sales success.

Bill Brooks is the founder and CEO of The Brooks Group, an internationally known sales and business development research, training and consulting firm. He is the author of 14 books including The How To Sell At Margins Higher Than Your Competitors, a 2005 best-seller published by John Wiley & Sons. Click on the link for more information on sales and sales management training.

The dos and don’ts of debt consolidation

It’s likely heard all types of stories about consolidating your debt. Some of these rumours portray debt consolidation as the easiest and quickest way to repay your debts. Other rumours conjure up a worrying picture of increasing debt which, inevitably leads to bigger problems.

The real situation, of course, lies right the middle. Debt consolidation may or may not be the best way for you to get out of debt. It all depends on a range of factors: not just how much debt you have, but how much you earn and what kind of debts you’re thinking about consolidating, as well as your attitude to debt and to money in general.

There are, however, a few ‘dos and don’ts’ that should apply to just about anyone.

DO – Do talk to a professional debt adviser if you’re thinking about taking out a debt consolidation loan. You need someone who can help you explore your options, so make sure you talk to a company that doesn’t only provide debt consolidation. It’s possible that you’d benefit from some budgeting advice so you can handle your debts yourself.

Make sure you think carefully about the repayment term on your consolidation loan, if you take one.

DON’T – Don’t keep on fighting if you really can’t afford to pay your creditors each month. If you need help, ask for it – a debt consultant should be able to help you decide whether you need a professional debt solution, and if so, which one.

Personal coaching is a type of therapy that has become very popular over the last 10 years. The term personal coaching first became accepted in the United States of America where, together with NLP aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, it became part of an improved fabulous wave of decidedly proactive therapy techniques. Find out how to boost self esteem with a life coach.

In many ways both Personal Coaching and NLP are a reaction against certain aspects of the Humanistic movement, in particular Human-Centred Counselling. A criticism of the humanistic and person centred therapy approach is that it is awfully reactive and not highly proactive. Although this works spectacular with some clients, with other people long periods of impasse or low return for time and effort occur. Life coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming are both human-centred therapy in stance, spending effort on improving a customers smiles rather than looking into the minefields of childhood, as in traditional psychoanalysis. Their emphasis is, however, deliberately proactive and their to resolve your problems.

Performance coaching is not about telling the coaching customer what to do. This is a common misconception. Some coaches are comparably successful in their business careers and then make the change to life coaching, assuming that they will merely be required to divulge their pearls of superb wise wisdom with the customer. Sharing pearls of wisdom is more like mentoring an apprentice in a specific environment. Personal coaching is instead about life as a holistic view.

Do you feel that you web sales have reached a plateau? Well a few fresh ideas can help boost your sales. I’m going to provide a few simple ideas that you might have not thought about or maybe just didn’t think that they could work. But a few tweaks here in their can mean big returns in your pocket.

eBay – even if your company sells over a million dollars worth of products a month eBay can help you bring in a little bit more. A great way to drive extra traffic to your site is to set up your user id with your site’s address. Now the only way I know how to do this on eBay is by putting your web address in between asterisks, for example my site address is http://www.laplounge.com so my eBay user id would be *laplounge.com* by doing this eBay users who see your id will be curious and visit your site. Sponsor an event – Depending on your budget you can sponsor just about any kind of event. One that I really like is to contact a local school and sponsor a drawing contest. The winner can get a gift certificate or even better a gift certificate and a t-shirt or hat with your company’s logo on it. If you contact a local newspaper you can have the wining drawing printed in the newspaper. Since you are sponsoring the contest your contact information will be printed, so potential customers will be able to find your goods and services.

Start an affiliate program – This one will produce huge sales for you. No matter how much traffic your website brings in, you will be able to sell more with an affiliate program. These are great; you only pay a commission if someone actually sells your product. By setting up an affiliate program you can have a huge sales team that will do their own marketing to produce sales for you. One of the best affiliate a model that I’ve seen in a long time is from www.allposters.com they really do just about everything to help their affiliates sell as much as possible.

I hope that these ideas will help you boost your web sales. Remember even if you think that you’ve done everything possible to increase your sales, there is always something else that you have not thought about. The most important thing is to enjoy yourself and always keep an eye open to new ideas.