How To Win The กMarketing Warก, Capture Your Prosp

How To Win The กMarketing Warก, Capture Your Prospectกs Mind

by: Charles Kangethe

As a marketer you are engaged in a กWarก with competitors where the ultimate prize is capturing the mind of prospects and claiming their purchase dollars.

What you are about to read shows you how to create a powerful, automatic weapon for that war that generates relentless, repeating sales.

Step #1 Get Into Your Prospects Mind.

Many new netpreneurs forget, or fail to understand, that prospects are individuals.

You must get into your prospectกs mind and appeal to them, and them alone, before they will buy from you.

Sidebar

With some exceptions, buying decisions are made on the basis of emotional and intellectual reasoning in that order.

Sidebar

Some marketers prefer to use market research exclusively for this step. This is a valid, but more expensive option to build your prospectกs profile.

Sidebar

Remember : People do not necessarily buy features. They always buy benefits.

Step #5 Headlines

Now you have all the pieces of your jigsaw start to build your กMind Capture Weaponก.

Headlines can be formatted as :

Commands กDare To Write Good Headlinesก

Questions กDo you want to write good headlines ?ก

Announcements กNew product writes your headlinesก

Coaching กHow to write good headlines in 7 easy stepsก

Write as many headlines as you can, some marketers write 50 or more, and format them in the different ways.

Now let them to กstewก for a 2 or 3 days before reviewing and choosing the best ones.

For software to help you write compelling headlines see relevant resources below.

Step# 6 Write The Copy Like A Master Storyteller.

กUsing the action triggers that deliver your MDA, weave a personal story for your prospect around your product and itกs benefits to them.ก

Your copy must be persuasive, emotional, and truthful.

Without exception, people love stories.

Use your

Action trigger list,

Prospect profile

Product benefits

to weave a story that captures your prospects mind.

This is the goal you started out to achieve and a story incorporating these features is how you do it.

Story telling is one of many mind motivators that capture your prospectกs mind and attention.

A new product about to be released will show you many other magical mind motivators that you must learn to use to capture your prospects mind.

Step #7 Ask For กMost Desired Actionก

Your กMost Desired Actionก may be :

Getting the prospect to subscribe to a product.

Getting the sale.

Getting feedback and comments.

Getting contributions, donations or other help.

Whatever it is, you must ask for it in clear explicit terms.

Relevant Resources

กWin The war Of Internet Marketingก eBook, available at http://www.simplyeasier.com under กDigital Info Productsก

กHeadline Creator Proก available from http://www.headlinescreatorpro.com

ก7 steps to writing articles people just have to read.ก article at http://www.simplyeasier.com/ownarticles.html

Mind Motivators product Available Mid March 2004 from http://www.simplyeasier.com

Conclusion

Use the tactics described here to write copy. Then test each detail from action triggers, benefits, headlines, prospect profile, and offer until you have a mind capturing weapon in your arsenal. Use this in the กMarketing Warก and you will have a weapon that sells relentlessly and repeatedly for you.

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

About The Author

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading

new wave marketer and a published author from England. The กSimply Easierก brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 02, 2004

by Charles Kangethe

The Undeniable Value Of Differentiation

The Undeniable Value Of Differentiation

by: Karl Augustine

With all the people offering products and services online, what sets yours apart from the crowd?

You can’t argue this, to succeed you need to differentiate yourself.

Online businesses come and go every day and about 90% fail.

The reasons online businesses fail vary from situation to situation, hereกs a few:

It could be that the business owner didn’t educate themselves properly

It could be that the netreprenuer didn’t market correctly

It could be that the webmaster didn’t develop a product people were actually willing to pay for

It could be that the newbie didn’t spend enough time creating and leveraging the right types of relationships

It could be that the inexperienced Internet marketer didn’t remember to be thorough and calculated with their product offering, sales copy, packaging, traffic plan, etc.

All of the above reasons are valid and one of the most common reasons the product offering itself fails, is because the niche market that the business owner is marketing in is semisaturated and the marketer had no กdifferentiatorก.

A differentiator is anything that makes your unique selling proposition differ from any other by the benefits it delivers to the user. Those benefits need to be itemized in the sales copy to make sure the prospect will understand what makes the offering specific to his/her needs.

A differentiator could simply be a different angle or viewpoint on some problem or product not currently realized by anyone else.

How many ebooks have been written about Internet marketing? Hundreds if not thousands…the ones that make money have easily identifiable differentiators.

A differentiator could be an added bonus to your product offering that the prospect can’t get anywhere else.

**Simple example:

Suppose there are 2 products that a prospect is considering purchasing.

* Product offering #1 offers a bonus that can be easily found on the Internet.

* Product offering #2 offers a bonus that is exclusive to this offering itself that cannot be obtained anywhere else other than through this specific offering.

If both products are equal in benefits to the user and have the same price, which product offering will the prospect choose?

Of course, the prospect will choose Product #2 because of the กexclusivityก of the bonus. That exclusivity is a differentiator.

A differentiator could be a discount on a service that no one else in your niche offers. A differentiator could simply be a promise to respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours.

The trait that defines a truly effective differentiator is uniqueness.

A differentiator could even be something as simple as the packaging of the sales process of a product or service itself. The packaging of a product includes graphics, format of delivery, appearance of web presence, etc.

With regards to graphics, it is important to understand that people respond positively to visually pleasing graphics regardless of whether the end product of offering is actually affected by those graphics. Due to the average personกs reluctance to buy online, the better things look, the better the prospect feels about moving forward with a purchase.

In the online world, the prospect decides to purchase a product or service that is being marketed to them somewhat กvirtuallyก…it is intangible to them until they buy. In this instance, a differentiator could be something as simple as slick graphic or choice of product formatpdf, exe, audio, RAM, MP3, etc.

Before you can actually identify a truly effective differentiator for the product offering, a good amount of competitive intelligence needs to be done within the appropriate vertical niche market.

Begin by reviewing all products and services that could be perceived as competitors in that niche market and define the differentiator from there.

Whatever type of differentiator is chosen, itกs vital to make certain the prospect clearly can understand the value of it by itemizing the benefits it brings to them.

This is often overlooked and equates to unrealized sales.

Be humble, work smart, keep it simple.

Karl Augustine

‘the Regular Guyก

(c) Karl Augustine

http://www.9mistakesonline.com

http://startingsmart.9mistakesonline.com

About The Author

Karl Augustine

Author of ก9 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid When Starting An Online Businessก.

Publisher, กStarting Smartก biweekly ezine for new and semiseasoned Internet marketers.

http://www.9mistakesonline.com

http://startingsmart.9mistakesonline.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 27, 2003

by Karl Augustine

How To Bully Your Prospects Into Buying Your Produ

How To Bully Your Prospects Into Buying Your Product or Service

by: Chris Coffman

Selling is a tough job, and sometimes you may need to appear tough in order to get the sale.

As a salesperson (whether in person or in print) you don’t have to appear to the customer as being needy of the sale. Many times, the opposite can work quite effectively, that is, to make the customer think of purchasing your product or service as a special privilege.

Here are a number of ways that you can ขbullyข the customer into buying from you.

1. State that only a LIMITED number is available.

This is a commonly used technique to push the customer over the finish line. Presenting your offer as limited in quantity nudges the prospect to act now since the offer may not be available later. Companies that manufacture luxury line vehicles often use this technique by manufacturing only in small batches. Think of Hawley Davidson motorcycles for example. Only a limited number is manufactured so as to keep the price high.

A limited time offer works just as well, even though it is less compelling since the buyer may still procrastinate depending on the time window that is given. On the other hand, a limited number offer may go at any time. This places a bit more pressure on the prospective buyer.

2. Place prequalifications on the prospect before they can buy.

Many business opportunity type offers normally indicate that the company is looking for a ขfew top leadersข in a particular geographic area. You are then required to call and listen to a recorded message that will further ‘qualify’ you to work with the company. In this way the rejection is placed on the side of the customer not the seller.

Another slant to this same technique is to simply state that this offer is not for everyone. And only a few special people will recognize the offer for what it is. This of course appeals to the person’s ego and pride. Again they are placed in the defensive position not the seller. They are the ones on the rope.

3. Show how most people will grab this offer.

This appeals to the ขbandwagonข or ขherd instinctข that is common to us as humans. We don’t want to be left out of the new trend or crowd. It’s all about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. Show how thousands have already ordered and how your operators cannot keep up with all the calls coming in. Any statement which can show that other people are flocking for this offer will work here.

4. Demonstrate very strong credibility in your copy.

By showing all the years of experience you have under your belt and the many authority figures that recommend your products, you can bully the customer into submission. The customer feels that it will be very foolish not to trust you when all these other top authorities do. Having someone whom the potential customer admires and respects endorse your product can create the magic here.

5. Show that you are not desperate for the sale.

This is another technique that can place the customer at ease or on the defensive. Here you want to indicate that you’re already doing so well (mostly from the benefits you’ve derived from the product) that the small investment they are making will make no big difference to you. This may seem at first to be counterproductive but it works! Again if the prospect ever senses that you’re just dying to get that sale you can scare them away.

Another way of stating this is to show that you’re actually creating competition for yourself by sharing this product with them.

6. Tell them what will happen if they don’t get your product.

Most likely your product is satisfying a need or solving a problem otherwise you’ll not be selling it. So you can heighten the prospect’s awareness of the problems that they’ll continue to have if they choose not to purchase your product or service. Here is where you really want to ‘rub their faces in the mud’. Spell out, in no uncertain words, the pain they’ll endure and the loss they will suffer.

These six approaches are all based on a deep psychological principle that controls us all Our desire heightens for whatever is denied us or just appears to be denied us.

This reminds me of the story I read some time ago of a small hotel that had problems with guests fishing from the balcony despite clear warning signs to the contrary placed in all the rooms. In a simple experiment, the hotel management removed the ขno fishingข signs and the problem practically disappeared overnight! I guess that the thrill of fishing from the balcony vaporized with the signs—fishing was no longer denied.

Try making your product or service appear ‘denied’ to the casual prospect and see what happens to the dollars ‘fished’ out of your advertisement account.

It’s about time to go out there and be a respectable ขbullyข!

(c) Copyright 2004 by Chris Coffman

About The Author

Chris Coffman is the publisher of The Internet Marketing Letter. Visit http://www.theinternetmarketingletter.com to subscribe today and receive instant access to the IML member community.

This article was posted on April 27, 2004

by Chris Coffman

3 Simple Ways to Start Your Home Based Internet Bu

3 Simple Ways to Start Your Home Based Internet Business Right Now

by: Andrea Hayhurst

So, youกve finally decided to take that giant leap of faith and start your very own home based internet business. Youกve decided that itกs finally time to step up to the plate and claim your share of all those internet riches you keep hearing about. Only problem is, now that youกve finally made your decision, it seems like a pretty daunting task deciding what to do next. Using the term กinformation overloadก to describe the problem seems like a huge understatement.

Well, if you’re really serious about starting your own home based internet business, the next step really doesn’t have to be that difficult at all. There are 3 relatively simple ways to start making an online income and one of them is sure to fit your particular idea of what it is you would like to do. So, just relax, take a deep breath, and peruse the following list until you find something that strikes the right cord.

1Join One or Several Affiliate Programs

This is probably one of the easiest and quickest ways to get started making money online. The internet is full of products that have affiliate programs you can join and most of them pay generous commissions. When you join an affiliate program, you are simply making an agreement with the owner of a product that you will receive a commision in exchange for referring a prospect to that personกs product (usually a sales page that you have sent the prospect to via your affiliate link) if that prospect ends up making a purchase.

Start by choosing a product or service that you’re interested in and then visit some of the websites which have achieved top rankings for the keywords which describe that topic. You’re sure to find the top affiliate programs for that industry relatively quickly. Or, try visiting one of the many affiliate program directories (you can find them quickly enough in Google) and scan their listings and recommendations until you find something that appeals to you.

This is a good one for newbies since you don’t even need your own website to get started. You will, however, need to learn how to use the pay per clicks so you can get some targeted traffic to your affiliate link. Once you start generating some income from the pay per clicks, you can then start reinvesting some of your profits and get yourself set up with your own website. By that time the prospect of getting set up with your own website won’t seem so daunting.

2Join a Residual Income Program

Residual income programs are somewhat similiar to affiliate programs in that you typically get paid for referring a prospect to the programกs website if that prospect decides to make a purchase. However, the difference lies in the fact that with these programs you also have the opportunity to earn a monthly recurring income if the prospect you refer becomes a paying member of the residual income opportunity program. For example, I belong to one of these programs myself. If a prospect comes to my website and clicks on a link which takes them to the sales page for the product and they buy, then I get a commission. However, if that prospect also decides to become a member of the residual income opportunity program, then I get a check every month as long as that prospect remains a member of that program.

People tend to be skeptical of these programs and get them confused with pyramid schemes. The way to tell if one of these programs is a pyramid scheme is to simply determine if the company in question offers a real honest to goodness product or service. If so, it cannot be classified as a pyramid scheme and you should be okay. Don’t be scared off by the fact that you will most likely have to pay a monthly fee to participate in the residual income opportunity. If you can build a downline for yourself in one of these programs, the monthly fee will be negligible compared to the potential residual income you could earn. Alot of these programs will provide you with your own cookie cutter website, which is okay if you are just getting started. Again, use the pay per clicks to start generating some traffic and then work on getting your own site up so you can start to build your own opt in list.

3Sell a Hard Good or Downloadable Infoproduct

Okay, okay, I know this one doesn’t sound so simple or easy, but to be honest, itกs really not as hard as it might first appear. Selling a hard good entails offering a real physical product (like fishing poles, for instance) for sale in your own online retail store. If this idea really appeals to you, go for it. Brainstorm some products you would enjoy selling, then do some keyword research in Wordtracker to develop a targeted niche within that market (deep sea fishing poles?).

After that, you can use a drop ship source directory or the search engines to find manufacturers or distributors who will drop ship the merchandise for you (meaning they ship it directly to the customer and you don’t have to carry any inventory). Then go to Ebay or Yahoo and sign up for one of their stores. I know from personal experience that Yahoo has some merchant hosting packages that are great and super easy to use. Theyกll even provide you with a shopping cart feature and help get you set up with a merchant account (so you can accept credit cards). Plus, youกll get some traffic already built in since millions of people are using their shopping directory to browse for products every day.

As for the website itself, don’t worry. Most hosting companies today have some type of site builidng solution available for those customers who wouldn’t know an html code from a java script. Believe me folks, if I, a completely technically useless and html challenged technophobe can do this, ANYONE can.

Now, as to the infoproduct. By the way, I mean YOUR OWN infoproduct. Everyone on the web and their mother will tell you that this is the best way to make the really big bucks online. Write about something you know and/or love. The topic of internet marketing seems to have been way overdone. Unless, of course, you are a true expert on some niche internet marketing subject, then definitely do it. Just don’t do it because everyone else is.

As for the actual writing, you don’t even have to do that if you really don’t want to. You can check out a site like elance.com and post your project and have writers bid on completing the project for you! And there are so many easy to use PDF ebook creators available that formatting the book should pose no technical challenge whatsoever. Set up a simple little one sales page website with a link for payment processing, optimize the site for the engines, use the pay per clicks, find some JV partners, and you’re in the money!

By the way, I know of some guys who have about 10 or 15 of these little mini sites set up selling little reports on niche topics and raking in an average of $2,000 a month from each site. And they’re incredibly easy to set up and practically run on autopilot once you do!

Well, there you have it. Just a few relatively simple ways to get you started on the way to raking in YOUR share of the internet gold mine!

About The Author

Andrea Hayhurst is an internet marketing professional and publishes กHow to Succeed Onlineก, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If you`re looking for the top rated home business opportunities, the latest time saving tools and helpful support from a friend in the business, come by and grab a free subscription today at http://www.YourESource.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 07, 2004

by Andrea Hayhurst

How To Ethically Sell To Your Prospect, Even If Th

How To Ethically Sell To Your Prospect, Even If They Say No.

by: Charles Kangethe

What you are about to read… is a closing technique I learnt many years ago whilst working as a sales rep.

Too many marketers let go on the first no.

If you really believe in the value and benefit of your product or service to your prospect, then you need to learn about กPreemptive Marketing.ก

Tip #1 Learn To Differentiate Prospects

There are three groups of prospect

1) Those to whom you will never sell because they have no need for your product or service. Vast majority

2) Those to whom you might sell, if only you can overcome initial objections. Majority of the rest.

3) Those to whom you sell automatically, because of your reputation and the quality of your products and services. Very small minority.

Your marketing should focus on the second group. There is nothing you can do about the first and the third largely take care of themselves.

Once you understand this you will be less fearful of alienating prospects which is the reason most marketers give up on a sale too soon.

Tip #2 Why Do Prospects Not Buy From You ?

There are four broad reasons why prospects will not buy from you.

* Money The product is priced too high, or too low either in absolute terms or in comparison to the competition.

* Functionality The product has too much functionality or too little. In the first case it is too complex or complicated to operate in the second it provides little benefit to the prospect.

* Timing Your prospect has just bought a competitors product, or they are just window shopping in anticipation of a future purchase.

* Competition Your competition has a powerful brand presence in the market place that makes it difficult for you to compete.

Tip #3 What Is PreEmptive Marketing ?

In order to apply Preemptive Marketing Tactics go through these stages.

Phase 1 Understand your prospect in detail. What motivates them ? What are their problems and issues ? What solutions are they looking for ? What value do they place on the solution ?

Phase 2 Brainstorm ALL of your prospectกs possible purchasing objections. Use the objection groups in step #2 to help you.

Phase 3 For each objection, decide on credible and persuasive responses.

Phase 4 Using popup technology and / or autoresponders deliver the responses to prospects who did not click on กBuy Nowก after reading your copy.

Tip #4 Examples Of Credible Responses

Here are some example Credible Responses to Frequent Purchasing Objections

* Too Expensive

Ask your prospect to make you an offer If your product has sunk costs that you have covered, then any offer is probably acceptable. If you still need to cover the production costs, give the prospect a floor price you are willing to accept and ask them to bid, above the floor.

* Too Cheap

Tell your prospect they can have the product at a discount to the already cheap price ! If they like the product then they can send another payment for what they think the product is really worth.

* Product Too Complicated

Offer a discount on standard price and offer to train the prospect for F’ree in how to use the added functionality.

When you design your products, do so in a modular fashion so functionality can be added or removed to the core product.

* Product Too Simple

Offer a discount with a guarantee of F’ree upgrades when the functionality is added.

Ask your prospect to make you a reduced offer based on their evaluation of the functionality.

* Prospect Was Window Shopping

Offer your prospect a discount for buying before a date you set in the future. Make sure the discounts are removed when that date is reached, else the tactic loses credibility.

* Prospect Bought A Similar Product From Elsewhere

Offer your prospect a discounted price and an extended returns period during which they can compare your product against the previously purchased one.

* Competitor Brand Is Dominant

Do a กwarts and allก comparison of your product against the market leader. Line them up and let your prospect make the buying decision based on information rather than กbrand awarenessก

Brand your own product, service and business with your USP.

Tip #5 Practical Preemptive Marketing

Armed with your list of objections and a response for each, create your sales pages and apply an exit popup to everything except the กBuy Nowก or กOptInก buttons.

You also need to set up an autoresponder with the responses to the objections as the topics for your mails.

The use of exit popups and autoresponders in this way is nothing new. However, what is different in this tactic is the detail of objections to which you respond.

You must have answers to the entire range of objections your prospect may have to make this work.

The way you present the information on your กPreemptive Responsesก Popup and autoresponder is also critical to the success of this tactic.

The objection must be headlined in an attention grabbing way, so that if that objection applies to your prospect they will be drawn into your response.

Relevant Resources

Quick Tactics To Brand Your Business http://www.simplyeasier.com/ownarticles.html

Article by Bob Leduc Neutralize Unspoken Objections To Increase Sales available from http://www.sbishere.com/article.html/598

When Objections Get In The Way http://common.ppmg.net/NEWSltc/021108.htm

The Psychology Of Closing http://common.ppmg.net/NEWSltc/021101.htm

Conclusion

Make it a business philosophy of yours not to let the sale go on the first no !

Use Preemptive Marketing tactics to persuade warm prospects that they can and should make the purchase despite their initial objections.

These tactics will not appeal to people who would never have bought from you, but a few of those who read your copy and are still undecided may convert much to their own and your benefit.

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

About The Author

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The กSimply Easierก brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 16, 2004

by Charles Kangethe

A Revolutionary กNEWก Dimension in Sales

A Revolutionary กNEWก Dimension in Sales

by: Linda Blew Carlson

A Revolutionary กNEWก Dimension In Sales: Make many more closings in the same amount of time!

By Art Nelson and Linda Carlson

Phase I

Phase I: Learning the Product is the first thing Paul does as he begins his career in sales. This กnewbieก envisions three major factors that will determine his success or failure in sales. They are:

Knowledge of his product.

Knowledge of the benefits that it offers to his prospects.

How well he communicates that knowledge and benefits to his prospects.

Most salespeople don’t have a problem with product knowledge. The company usually spends plenty of time and money to assure the competence level of its sales force. So, Paul is fine at 1, 2, and since his mother said, กYou can sell an icebox to an Eskimo,ก he figures he will do well at 3.

The problem shows up when Paul (now on his own) tries to share this knowledge with his prospects. He finds that some prospects get really ‘turned onก by the product and its benefits; but there are other prospects that never seem to get interested or กunderstand.ก Talking to them is like ‘talking to brick walls.ก

He doesn’t understand why every prospect doesn’t insist on purchasing. He is warm and charming every time! It must be the way he closes. There has to be a secret he needs to discover.

Phase II

Upon realizing this, Paul enters Phase II of his career: The Search For Enlightenment. The great question of a salesmanกs life haunts him on his prospecting calls. In the face of obvious need, why doesn’t my prospect buy?

กHe needs this product. I qualified him carefully. Why can’t I close him?ก

So, Paul begins reading, listening to tapes, attending seminars, etc. for every gimmick that comes along promising the กSecret of Closing.ก

Phase III

After a season of this, he enters Phase III of his career: The Stasis Of Superstition.

Paul (like most sales people) is making 2 or 3 sales for ten presentations. But since he really doesn’t understand why he sells sometimes and sometimes doesn’t, he กfreezesก or กcansก his presentation. He is afraid to change it because he might mess up his success so, he plays the กnumbers game.ก

Paul falls into a pattern of expecting to close กjust so manyก sales. No amount of reading, listening to tapes, or taking sales seminars changes his pattern for long. He is hoping to keep enough prospects on the line that the ones he doesn’t sell won’t really matter. Heกll still be a กsuccessfulก salesman.

Phase IV

Before ICTech® (Individualized Communication Technology) most of us (salespeople) ended our career growth in Phase III. Now with the Natural Styles strategy used in ICTech® we can move into Phase IV: Natural Persuasion.

Knowing how the 5 styles are born to process information, allows the salesperson to tailor his presentation for the format most easily understood and agreed upon by the prospect.

It doesn’t matter how well you know your product or how smooth your presentation is. Until your prospect UNDERSTANDS your product and its applications for him you won’t close a sale.

Understanding the strategy lets you dispense with gimmicks and integrate all of your sales knowledge into a cohesive whole that you will automatically adjust in each new situation. This means more sales! And more satisfied customers!

How ICTech® works:

You’re a salesperson whose Natural Style is กSingle.ก What do you do with a กMultipleก style prospect?

Don’t bore her with too many details; give her the overview of the product and its effects on her. Be sure to ask her what this product could do for her or in some way let her think this whole thing is her idea.

The fastest way to lose this prospect is oversell too many details. You are ‘tellingก not กselling.ก

Now reverse the example. You’re a กMultipleก salesperson and your prospect is a กSingle.ก What do you do?

Don’t overpower him with too many examples or applications of the product. Let them apply to him. Again, กsellก don’t ‘tell.ก Concentrate on the strongest feature of your product and give as many details as possible.

Give him plenty of time to think; don’t rush him. The fastest way to lose this prospect is to appear too vague because you’re trying to give him an overview and he wants an explicit example.

Just a couple of simple examples, but Paul practices the simple strategies of ICTech® and it has made him one of his industryกs กhottestก sales people.

Many sales people who use ICTech® close 5 to 7 of ten presentations. What would happen for any salesperson who could cut through the mental baggage of a prospect and give a presentation with a 50% to 70% chance of closing?

Simple. Revolutionary!

Art Nelson is an entrepreneur and consultant in various areas of media organization. He found ICTech in a public workshop, and since has been learning more about it and applying it in his businesses Linda Blew Carlson, is President of FOCUS I, Inc. a company dedicated to supporting American businesses by helping them find innovative ways to individualize their service. Reach her at http://www.styleworks4u.com/pages/homepage.html or [email protected]

About The Author

Linda Blew Carlson, is GM of FOCUS II, LLC, a company dedicated to supporting businesses, families, and individuals by helping them find innovative ways to individualize their communications and strengthen each other. To become a part of this effort go to http://www.styleworks4u.com.

This article was posted on June 19, 2003

by Linda Blew Carlson

The Top 7 Sales Blunders

The Top 7 Sales Blunders

by: Kelley Robertson

We all make mistakes when selling our product or service. Here are the most common mistakes people make. I have to admit I have made many of mistakes listed in this article even though I have been teaching this stuff for almost a decade. I hope you can learn from them.

1. Allowing a prospect to lead the sales process. The best way to control the sales interaction is to ask questions. This is also the best way of learning whether or not your product or service meets the needs of your prospect. Quality questions that uncover specific issues, problems, or corporate objectives are essential in helping you establish yourself as an expert.

2. Not completing premeeting research. After several weeks of voice mail I finally connected with my prospect and scheduled a meeting. Unfortunately, I entered the meeting without first researching the company. Instead of presenting a solution to an existing problem, I spent the entire meeting learning fundamental information, which to senior executives, is a complete waste of their time. This approach is one of most common mistakes. I have received countless phone calls from sales people hawking their wares and trying to sell me ‘stuff’ I have no need for. As a sole proprietor, I do not need a complex telephone system, additional employees, or an automated payroll system. Invest the time learning about your prospect before you call them and before you try to schedule a meeting.

3. Talking too much. Too many sales people talk too much during the sales interaction. They espouse about their product, its feature, their service and so on. When I first bought carpet for my home I recall speaking to a sales person who told me how long he had been in the business, how smart he was, how good his carpets were, etc. But this dialogue did nothing to convince me that I should buy from him. Instead, I left the store thinking that he did not care about my specific needs. A friend of mine is in the advertising business and often talks to prospects who initially request a quote for a specific advertising job. Instead of talking at great length about the ad agency’s experience and qualifications, he gets the potential client talking about her business. By doing this he is able to determine the most effective strategy for that prospect.

4. Giving the prospect information that is irrelevant. When I worked in the corporate world I was subjected to countless presentations where the sales person shared information that was completely meaningless to me. I don’t care about your financial backing or who your clients are. Make the most of your presentation by telling me how I will benefit from your product or service until I know how your product or service relates to my specific situation.

5. Not being prepared. I remember calling a prospect expecting to receive his voice mail. That meant I was completely unprepared when he answered the call himself. Instead of asking him a series of qualifying questions I simply responded to his questions, allowing him to control the sale. Unfortunately, I didn’t progress any further than that initial call. When you make a cold call or attend a meeting with a prospect it is critical that you are prepared. This means having all relevant information at your fingertips including; pricing, testimonials, samples, and a list of questions you need to ask. I suggest creating a checklist of the vital information you will need and reviewing this list before you make your call. You have exactly one opportunity to make a great first impression and you will not make it if you are not prepared.

6. Neglecting to ask for the sale. I recall a participant in one of my workshops expressing interest in my book. I told him to look through it but at no time did I ask for the sale. Later, I heard him express this observation to other participants in the program. If you sell a product or service, you have the obligation to ask the customer for a commitment, particularly if you have invested time assessing their needs and know that your product or service will solve a problem. Many people are concerned with coming across as pushy but as long as you ask for the sale in a nonthreatening, confident manner, people will usually respond favorably.

7. Failing to prospect. This is one of the most common mistakes independent business make. When business is good many people stop prospecting, thinking that the flow of business will continue. However, the most successful sales people prospect all the time. They schedule prospecting time in their agenda every week.

Even the most seasoned sales professional makes mistakes from time to time. Avoid these blunders and increase the likelihood of the closing the sale.

Copyright 2004, Kelley Robertson

About The Author

Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, is a professional speaker and trainer on sales, negotiating, and employee motivation. He is also the author of ขStop, Ask & Listen – Proven Sales Techniques to Turn Browsers into Buyers.ข For information on his programs, visit his website at www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com. Receive a FREE copy of ข100 Ways to Increase Your Salesข by subscribing to his 59Second Tip, a free weekly ezine available at his website.

This article was posted on September 30, 2004

by Kelley Robertson

The Importance of Advertising Your Home Business

The Importance of Advertising Your Home Business

by: Kevin Purfield

The most important aspect of any business is selling the product or service. Without sales, no business can exist for very long.
All sales begin with some form of advertising. To build sales, this advertising must be seen or heard by potential buyers, and cause them to react to the advertising in some way. The credit for the success, or the blame for the failure of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad itself.
Generally, the กad writerก wants the prospect to do one of the following:

Visit the store or website to see and judge the product for himself, or immediately write a check or use a credit card and send for the merchandise being advertised.
Phone for an appointment to hear the full sales presentation, or write for further information which amounts to the same thing.

The bottom line in any ad is quite simple: To make the reader buy the product or service. Any ad that causes the reader to only pause in this thinking, to just admire the product, or to simply believe whatกs written about the product is not doing its job completely.
The กad writerก must know exactly what he wants his reader to do, and any that does not elicit the desired action is an absolute waste of time and money.
In order to elicit the desired action from the prospect, all ads are written according to a simple กmaster formulaก which is:

Attract the กattentionก of your prospect.
กInterestก your prospect in the product
Cause your prospect to กdesireก the product
Demand กactionก from the prospect

Never forget the basic rule of advertising copywriting: If the ad is not read, it won’t stimulate any sale; if it is not seen, it cannot be read; and if it does not command or grab the attention of the reader, it will not be seen!
Most successful advertising copywriters know these fundamentals backwards and forwards. Whether you know them already or you’re just now being exposed to them, your knowledge and practice of these fundamentals will determine the extent of your success in your home business.

About The Author

Discover more Home Business Tips subscribe to my newsletter [email protected]. Kevin Purfield owns the Wealth System Online Resource Directory where you can find everything you need to start, run and grow a home based internet business at: http://www.wealthsystemonline.com/

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 10, 2004

by Kevin Purfield

How To Write An Effective FAQ Page

How To Write An Effective FAQ Page

by: David Coyne

Websites that have multiple pages usually have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)page. There are several good reasons why you should have one.

An FAQ clears out any confusion your prospect might have about buying product. Remember, a confused mind always says no.

It lets a prospect grab key information quickly.

It creates a positive impression with your prospect because you’re acknowledging that their time is precious and they want answers quickly.

An FAQ saves you time. The more answers you provide at your website, the less customer emails you’ll get asking the same questions over and over.

Before you write an FAQ, do some research. Think about your favourite websites and formulate some questions you might ask about their products or services.

Now surf to those websites and review their FAQ pages. Were you able to find answers to your question quickly? Or did you have to scroll or click through pages to find what you were looking for? Were the questions separated into logical categories or were they put in random order?

This should give you an idea of the ขdo’sข and ขdont’sข of creating an FAQ.

Another valuable research technique is to ask good friends or customers to give you feedback on your products or service. What questions popped into their minds when they visited your website. (You might offer a small gift or discount to your customers in exchange for feedback.)

After getting everyone’s comments, assemble the questions and group by category. For example, questions about how quickly you ship products would be under your ขShippingข category, etc.

Write your FAQ in a ขQuestion & Answerข format.

Organize the questions in each category so the most important questions appear near the top.

Create a ขTable of Contentsข at the top of your FAQ page and put the most asked questions here.

Hyperlink them so your customer just has to click to get to the answer. Or hyperlink your categories at the top of the page.

Here’s a few more tips:

Keep your FAQ updated. Are the answers still relevant? Review monthly.

Keep your questions and answers concise. No more than a paragraph. If the question requires a long, detailed answer, have a link to a separate webpage.

Don’t create your FAQ as a file that a prospect has to download to read. Most people won’t bother, and they’ll leave your site frustrated.

Include info and links at the bottom of each FAQ page so that a prospect can contact you if they still have unanswered questions.

About The Author

David Coyne is a marketing consultant and online entrepreneur.

Visit his website and get the FREE ebook ขMarketing Secrets Of The Ages.ข You can sell this ebook to customers and keep 100% of the profits. http://www.dcinfobiz.com

This article was posted on May 03, 2003

by David Coyne

10 Tips for Effective Email Sales Letters

10 Tips for Effective Email Sales Letters

by: David Coyne

1. Write Your Objective Before you write your sales letter, write down your marketing objective. Is it to generate inquiries about your products? Is it attract subscribers to your ezine? Is it to find a joint venture partner? Having an objective will help you focus your copy.

2. Make A List Of Your Product’s Benefits How will it improve your prospect’s life? How will it save them money or time? How will it make them more productive? Use the top three or four benefits in your email. Be specific and tone down the hype.

3. Spend Time Creating Effective Subject Lines Don’t rush through this task. A subject line is the equivalent of a print headline. If it doesn’t catch their attention right away, a reader won’t bother opening the message. Avoid writing cute puns or playonwords. Make your subject line sound valuable to your prospect. For example, ข5 Ways To Increase Your Web Traffic.ข Using this ขHow Toข approach is one of the most powerful tactics in advertising. People are always hungry for info on how to increase sales, save time or increase productivity.

Another effective technique is to ask a question: e.g. ขNeed More Web Traffic?ข

4. Select Your Words Carefully With the increasing use of antispam software, even legitimate ขoptinข emails often get blocked. You need to choose words that prevent your email from being filtered out. Never use the word ขfreeข in a subject line. For a list of words to avoid, visit this site: http://spamassassin.org/tests.html

5. Use A Casual Tone Nothing turns off a reader faster than stiff, formal language. You’re not writing a college essay. Write your email as if your were writing to a friend.

6. Use Short Sentences They’re easier to read and sound more conversational than long sentences. Keep your sentences crisp and snappy. And use short words rather than long.

7. Use Bullets To Highlight Benefits People tend to scan email rather than read every word. Bullet points makes it easy for a reader to quickly catch key information on your product or service.

8. Use Testimonials Nothing builds confidence in your product quicker than comments from satisfied customers. Collect testimonials whenever you can. Include the customer’s first and last name. Comments that use initials, like ขJ. Smith,ข are not credible.

9. Hyperlinks Should Be Specific When you insert a link into your email, make sure it takes the prospect to the specific info you referred to in your letter. Don’t just link to your homepage and expect the prospect to search for your offer. Your response will drop significantly.

10. Offer An Incentive To Get The Prospect To Take Action Now It’s not enough to publicize your product, you want the prospect to take action. At the end of your email, tell the prospect what they should do next. Sign up for your newsletter? Visit your website? Download an ebook?

You’ll get a better response if you offer an incentive for them to take action. Offer a limited time discount. Give them lots of bonuses. Enter them into a contest. They’re tons of incentives you can come up with.

About The Author

Dave Coyne is a copywriter, marketing consultant and president of DC Infobiz http://www.dcinfobiz.com. Get his FREE REPORT ขStart A High Income, Low Risk Home Business And Never Create A Product, Write An Ad or Talk To Anyone.ข Send an email with REF006 in the subject line to: [email protected]

This article was posted on April 11, 2003

by David Coyne

7 Keys to Turning Cold Calls Into Warm Calls

7 Keys to Turning Cold Calls Into Warm Calls

by: Ari Galper

Let’s face it when it comes to cold calling many of us fear being rejected. What if I was to tell you I have come up with 7 keys to turning your cold calls into warm calls? Would you believe me?

Try these 7 cold calling ideas for yourself and see just how easy making a cold call can really be.

1. Change Your Mental Objective Before You Make Your Call

When making a cold call the traditional way, your main objective is usually to try and get the appointment or make the sale. The main problem with that is when you do make the call it is quite clear to the person on the other end of the phone that this is your goal and they usually think of an excuse to get you off the phone before they have a chance to hear what you have to say.

To turn your cold calls into warm calls you need to change your objective to creating a feeling of trust with the person you are calling. It is important to remember that the person you are calling needs to feel that you are calling to help them rather than just trying to make the sale.

2. Understand The Mindset of The Person Your Calling

This is an extremely important tip and one that can help you greatly with your cold calling success. By putting yourself in the mindset of the person you are about to call, you can move beyond making a sales pitch.

Imagine that you are that person receiving the call and you hear ขHello, my name is Clare and I’m with a company called Financial Solutions International, do you have a few minutes?ข What would be your immediate reaction?

You’d probably think ขSalesperson! How can I get them off the phone.ข Instead, try beginning your conversation with ขHi, my name is Clare, maybe you can help me out for a moment?ข Something as simple as that puts you smack in the middle of your prospect’s world of welcoming phone calls.

3. Identify A Problem That Your Company Can Solve

Knowing a specific problem that your prospect is having is how you can immediately create a natural conversation on the phone.

If your prospect feels that you really do understand their particular issues, then they are more open to hearing your solutions giving you the opportunity to see if you both are a good match.

Identifying the problem before you make your cold call really can make a major difference in the success of your cold call.

4. Start A Conversation, Don’t Give A Presentation

Giving a presentation is the old traditional way of cold calling which has the negative affect of creating sales pressure and viewing people as ขprospectsข.

Engaging people in a natural conversation is the only way to avoid rejection because you are relaxed as if you are talking to a friend. A genuine approach will always put your potential customer at ease from the start.

Never assume beforehand that your prospective customer should buy what you have to offer. Your prospect will pick up on this right away and you will be on your way to losing the sale.

5. Start By Asking A Question

After your opening cold calling statement, always begin by asking a question about how you can help them solve issues that you believe your solution can solve.

Think about it, how would you respond if someone genuinely knew what you were struggling with and had ideas to solve it?

By basing your cold call on honesty and truthfulness and knowing how to engage your prospect based on their issues, then all of a sudden your call becomes a twoway dialogue rather than a oneway pitch.

You will be able to open up a conversation and be able to build up trust at the same time.

6. Recognising and Diffusing Hidden Pressures

By being able to recognise hidden sales pressure you can turn your calls into pleasant conversations. And be aware, that enthusiasm can make your prospects feel pressure from you.

Learning to engage in a natural conversation can alleviate this pressure and leave your client open to the idea of hearing what you have to say.

Try to avoid controlling your calls in a way where your prospect feels you are taking them down a sales process. Give them a chance to share their concerns with you without having to worry about you trying to ขcloseข them.

7. Determining A Fit

Let’s say your call is going great and the dialogue is flowing well but the conversation is reaching its natural end. What do you do next?

Most people who sell assume they should try and close the person to an appointment. But there is a risk in that if the person’s problem isn’t a priority to solve. So it’s important that you first ask ขIs this issue a priority to solve or is it something that’s on the back burner?ข

Not only have you determined a need but you will also determine a time frame. This could save you months of wasted ขfollowupข calls.

Now it’s time to start putting these tips into practice. From personal experience, I can tell you that you if use these ideas on your cold calls, you’ll know how to turn cold calls into warm calls.

About The Author

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio minilessons visit http://www.UnlockTheColdCallingGame.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 07

by Ari Galper

Under The Covers: ClickBankกs Affiliate Tracking S

Under The Covers: ClickBankกs Affiliate Tracking System

by: Tim Coulter

The core principle of affiliate marketing is that the referring affiliate earns a commission if a referred prospect makes a purchase. Any affiliate program that aims to succeed in its recruitment efforts must uphold this principle, regardless of whether the prospect buys immediately, or delays her purchase until some time in the future.
To fairly and accurately distribute affiliate commissions requires a database that maintains a list of the relationships between prospects and the affiliates that referred them. Ideally, this database would be centralized, hosted as part of the software application that manages the affiliate program. But this approach would only be feasible if web visitors could be automatically distinguished from each other, using a unique and permanent identity code.
Unfortunately (for affiliate program operators) web users prefer to surf anonymously. Web browser software is designed to allow a surfer to visit any website without leaving a personal identity trail. So, affiliate programs need a less intrusive method of tracking the associations between their members and the surfing public. The solution adopted by most programs, including ClickBank, is to distribute the database throughout the internet, storing a tiny fragment of information on each prospectกs computer. They implement this using cookies.
ClickBank uses a mechanism known as the hoplink system to record cookies on a prospectกs computer, storing multiple affiliate referral relationships in a single cookie. Every time a prospect is referred to a new merchant, her existing referral cookie is updated to reflect the association between the new merchant and the affiliate that referred her.
The hoplink system is invoked automatically whenever a prospect is referred to a ClickBank merchant by an affiliate. When a prospect clicks on a referral link, she is initially directed to ClickBankกs hoplink server. The server, in turn, sends her the referral cookie and immediately redirects her to the merchantกs website. The destination of the redirection is known as the merchantกs landing page and is configured within his ClickBank account settings. A landing page is a merchant web page designated to accept inbound affiliate referrals.
The hoplink system is implemented by two architectures that operate in parallel. The original architecture, known as the regular hoplink system, has been in operation since the launch of ClickBank, but it has come under criticism for its inflexibility and the ease with which it allows commission theft. Announced in October 2003, the enhanced hoplink system aims to overcome the security shortcomings of the original system and to provide support for a range of new features that will improve the effectiveness of the affiliate system.
Aside from improvements in security, the enhanced hoplink system is designed to capture additional data that will enable detailed reporting of affiliate referral statistics and merchant conversion rates. Perhaps most significant of all, it provides support for referral links to multiple landing pages at the merchantกs website an essential feature that has previously been noticeable by its absence.
Affiliates with established businesses that use regular hoplinks are free to continue without modifying their existing configurations. But to exploit the richer functionality resulting from ClickBankกs ongoing system development, it is worth upgrading to the enhanced hoplink format.

About The Author

Copyright © Tim Coulter. All rights reserved.
Tim Coulter is a consultant and software developer who helps netpreneurs to harness marketing technologies.
He is also the author of กClickBank The Definitive Guideก The Ultimate ClickBank Tutorial & Reference Manual.

http://www.clickbankrevealed.com/

This article was posted on June 29, 2004

by Tim Coulter