Six Steps to Creating Online Presentations for Tel

Six Steps to Creating Online Presentations for Telephone Selling

by: Roger C. Parker

How much extra money could you make by closing just one or two additional sales a day? You can double, or even triple, the effectiveness of your telephone selling by showing prospects why they should buy from you, instead of just telling them.

Clients and prospects are visually oriented. They process and retain 75% of the information they see, compared to about 15% of the information they hear.

There are six steps involved in preparing online visuals you and your prospects can look at online during telephone conversations and teleconferences.

Step 1: Desired result

Start by identifying what you want to accomplish during each phone call. Ask yourself:

What is the primary message I want to communicate?

What action do I want my client or prospect to take?

What information can I provide to convince them to take the desired action?

Your answers to these questions will provide the framework you need to begin preparing for your upcoming calls.

Step 2: Benefits

Next, translate your product or service into benefits they will enjoy if they take the action you want them to take. Identify as many different ways as possible your product or service can benefit your client. Be as specific as possible.

Step 3: Framework

Open your presentation program and create an ขemptyข set of visuals to support your upcoming calls. This will provide a framework for developing your telephone sales presentation.

Don’t be concerned the contents of each visual. At this point, don’t stop to fill in the details for each visual. Simply create an empty presentation visual and title for each of the points you want to cover in your upcoming telephone calls.

Hint: You may want to create a template with placeholder visuals to help quickly prepare future presentations.

Step 4: Provide proof

Next, go through your presentation framework and complete each of the visuals by adding appropriate text and graphics. As you complete each visual, strive to make your benefits as specific and as visual as possible. Translate your products or services into added dollars and cents revenue, reduced costs, or time savings.

Whenever possible, show, rather than tell. Translate words into information graphics, like tables, charts, and graphs, to emphasize:

Comparisons, i.e. before and after revenues or expenditures of time and money.

Trends, i.e. growing market share.

Add photographs to personalize and reinforce case studies and testimonials. Use logos, rather than words, to emphasize case studies and satisfied clients.

Step 5: Contingency visuals

Next, prepare to respond to objections that prospects may bring up during your calls.

Start by identifying the possible objections that prospects might come up. Determine how to respond to each one. Then, prepare visuals that will only be used if your prospect brings the specific objection up.

Typical objections concern price, competitive features, ease of use, and economic uncertainty.

Step 6: Upload and rehearse

After reviewing your work, use your presentation program’s Save as… command to save your presentation in the appropriate online format.

Then, upload your presentation to the server where you and your prospects can access it online during calls.

Rehearse your presentation, until you can comfortably proceed from point to point, and easily access the contingency visuals, (if needed).

Consider your webbased presentations a ขwork in progressข that you continually update and refine. Prepare additional visuals as new objections come up. And prepare personalized slide titles and visuals for specific clients and prospects.

About The Author

Let Roger C. Parker help you harness the latest technology to promote your expertise. For more information, please visit www.onepagenewsletters.com.

This article was posted on September 14, 2004

by Roger C. Parker

Email Follow Up Tips, 8 Of Them…

Email Follow Up Tips, 8 Of Them…

by: Daniel Levis

The first thing you need to do is get your emails opened & read. Spend at least as much time worrying about the subject line of each e mail in your sequence as you do worrying about the body.

Brainstorm at least five subject lines, pick the one most likely to stop your prospects dead in their tracks (tip, the only way to know for sure is to test), and use the rest of them in the body of the message. And ALWAYS begin your title with the person’s first name.

Curiosity Killed The Cat Itกs human nature to be curious. One of the most effective ways to get your message opened is to throw a little mystery into the heading. Mystery, mixed with relevant benefit, will get your message opened. But thatกs not all.

Itกs still easy to bail after the first paragraph, so curiosity can also help to drive your prospect deeper into the body of the message. Remember, the deeper your readers go into your copy, the more difficult it will be for them to STOP reading it.

It doesn’t hurt to tell a little bit about what your offer isn’t, to build up the suspense, and help drive your reader further down the page.

Tell A Story In 1919, a Russian immigrant named Max Sackheim, stumbled upon a fascinating discovery. He had been hired by the Sherwin Cody School of English to come up with a mail order advertisement, and his original headline read, กDo You Make Mistakes In Englishก?

The ad didn’t pull.

By adding one magic little word to the headline, Max was able to make the very same ad produce amazing results. The ad became so profitable that it ran for over 40 years straight, when Max changed the headline to, กDo You Make These Mistakes In Englishก?

People’s curiosity got the better of them. They just couldn’t resist reading Maxกs advertisement. They were all wondering if they might be making ‘theseก mistakes in English. Max was able to slip right under the buyer’s natural resistance to being sold, and suck them right into the advertisement.

Story telling has the same effect.

You Can Never Over Educate Nobody ever bought a hammer, because they wanted a hammer. What they wanted was a bunch of nails tapped home just right. Sequential email follow up is ideal for showing your prospects how to achieve their goals with your product.

Remember, the more comfortable your prospects are about the กHow Toก of using your product or service to solve their problem, the more confidence theyกll have in your ability & willingness to really help them. One of the most effective things you can do with your autoresponder, is to offer free courses & tutorials that show your prospects how to use your products to get the results they’re looking for.

It’s the ultimate soft sell, and it’s very effective!

Warts & All Itกs all about trust. Thatกs why you’re following up on your prospects in the first place, right? Your prospects need to be exposed an average of 7 to 9 times before succumbing to your seduction.

Pointing out the imperfections of your product can go a long way toward building that trust. You don’t necessarily have to slam your product, but giving the straight goods on the pitfalls that the buyer might encounter when using it, and helping them to avoid them, demonstrates your honesty, and openness.

Itกs like showing the front of your hands, in a facetoface encounter.

Be Specific Details, exact numbers, & vivid descriptions worked into your copy are worth their weight in gold, because they’re far more believable than generalities. When you make a claim, back it up with facts & figures.

Your prospects are both naturally skeptical, and hungry for truth.

Don’t Be Shy About Objections Every product has natural objections. Don’t be afraid to bring them up.

Read your copy after being away from it for a while, and at some point in the message youกll feel them creeping in. Thatกs the point when you add something like, กOK, you’re probably thinking . I can understand why you might feel that way, many others who looked at this product felt just the same way, until they found out about .ก

You need to come up with a list of reasons why your prospect would want to buy your product or service, and also the reasons why not.

The Fear of Loss Is Greater Than The Desire For Gain Often the fear of losing something, sometimes even something that we do not yet have, is a stronger motivator than our desire for gain.

The fear of missing out on a special price or promotion is a good example of this.

Don’t we all want what we can’t have? Work hard to find ways to make your product scarce, or at least make your offer scarce, by offering it for a limited time.

Justify Your Offer People know that you’re in business to make a profit, and that you don’t give things away out of the goodness of your heart.

When they see a sale, or a special price, or a bonus offer, the wheels naturally start turning in the back of their heads. Whatกs the catch? While itกs our emotions that truly motivate us, logic does have a nasty habit of getting in the way.

When you are open with your prospects about the reason why you’re offering them a special deal, itกs amazing how easily theyกll accept your reasoning, and abandon their resistance. The same applies to giving a legitimate reason why your special offer absolutely expires on a specific date.

So there you have it. Eight email follow up secrets, revealed.

Until next time, Good Selling!

Copyright 2005 Daniel Levis

About The Author

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & worldrenowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author ขMillion Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!ข, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.

Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!

http://www.AdvertisingOnlineStrategies.com/adstrategies.html

This article was posted on March 19

by Daniel Levis

The New 5 Pกs!

The New 5 Pกs!

by: Jaruda Boonsuwan

NO! When I say ก5 Pกsก, Iกm not talking about the big 5 Pกs of marketing everyoneกs familiar with.

Here Iกm NOT referring to Product, Price, Place, Promotion and Package!

But Iกm talking about the FRESHEST 5 Pกs I believe will be extra useful for your websites and newsletters.

Are you ready to discover the hottest 5 Pกs?

1. P.S.

This writing technique alone will shoot your sales to the roof!

Count how many times this week you skip reading the whole sales copies and go right for a P.S.

We don’t like reading a long letter. Most of the time, we skip. So, itกs a clever idea to give your prospects a big bang with a P.S. They never skip reading a P.S.

Perhaps they’re too bored or too tired to read กanotherก sales letter. Perhaps they like to cheat and want to see the final punch, if itกs right for them or not.

So, make sure you wrap up all of your ICEMELTING กselling pointsก in here! Shrink your message. Make it precise. Make your prospects feel they can’t live กcomfortablyก without your product or service. After all, itกs your last shot to make a sale!

2. PASS

People love a free pass, even if itกs only temporary!

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to let people type in the password to access your restricted area. Itกs not the end of the world. Hereกs where you can get the script for FREE at…

http://www.dynamicdrive.com

Hereกs a cuttingedge trick: Give them a free password to access your newsletter/ article archives, for example, in exchange for their email addresses. Do not give them the password right at your website. Instead, send them the password by email.

Now, this is important…Set up an autoresponder to do this task. Make sure they get their passwords instantly. They can’t wait another minute longer to access the free section. Itกs a MUST that you have an autoresponder, especially if you publish a newsletter. Get it at…

http://www.mailloop.com/t.cgi/769736/

Now this is important! Do not make this offer sound like a junk! You can say that you’re giving away กfree membershipก. Say it is a กprivilegedก or a กVIPก pass. Or simply say that they’re ‘the chosen oneก. This way, your prospects will be eager to get the free access you’re offering. Itกs human nature. We all want to be a Very Important Person!

3. PROMISE

Youกve got to promise your prospects something important…like moneyback guarantee.

But don’t just say กoneyear, moneyback guaranteeก!

Do say…กAnd if 365 days from now, you decide you want your money back, Iกll ask you absolutely no questions. And even if itกs just because you’re $27 short and can’t buy some beers, I still won’t ask you why. Youกll get your money back as soon as you say so. I can guarantee you that!ก

4. PICK OF THE DAY

When you go to a restaurant, the first thing you always notice is the กMenu of the Dayก! Even if you don’t order it, you’re still curious to see whatกs new for today, right?

The same thing works with your website. Once your prospects leave your site without signing up for your free newsletter, your business depends on pure LUCK.

Too bad people don’t buy the first time they see you. And if you still want to win them back, you might have to spend some more bucks on advertising.

Now, it doesn’t have to be this way…The only one reason thatกll keep people coming back to your site is something NEW every day!

Showcase the กPick of the Dayก. And theyกll come back to your site from time to time to see whatกs new.

See? You don’t even have to pay for the traffic. It can be ‘tip of the Dayก, กSite of the Weekก, กStar of the Monthก, ….anything you can think of!

5. PIECE OF ADVICE

How many times have you read newsletters chock full of the word กbuy nowก?

This is the mistake that can drive your subscribers away faster than jet speed! Your prospects want to read something useful. They simply don’t want another junk mail. If you don’t stop selling to them just for a second youกll risk losing them forever. Theyกll disappear กout of your sightก.

So, in your newsletter, try to give them little tips that teach them how to make their lives easier.

Suppose you’re selling a beauty product, instead of hard selling, try giving them a short makeup tip of how to make their lips look fuller.

If you’re an affiliate for a used car website and running your own ezine, instead of selling cars all the time, try giving them a reliable tip that teaches them how not to get ripped off buying a used car.

P.S. Give it a try. Iกm sure these freshest 5 Pกs can easily add the punch to your websites or newsletters next time you decide to try something new.

About The Author

The author, Jaruda Boonsuwan, is offering oneofitskind, deadlyeffective copywriting ecourse at NO charge.

Beat your competitors now at http://www.groundbreakcopywriting.com

This article was posted on October 23, 2002

by Jaruda Boonsuwan

Consistency Builds Trust

Consistency Builds Trust

by: John Jantsch

You know your prospects need what you sell. You know they want what you sell. Heck, you know that they even sent away for information on your service and requested a quote.

But the fact is you are missing one major piece of the puzzle.

Want to know what it is?

No matter what else you know, often, the missing piece is knowing when your hot little prospect will actually make a purchase.

People search for information and solutions in many different ways and on many different time tables.

Some will buy immediately; some may take a year or more depending on the complexity of the purchase.

The key to solving this dilemma is consistent and repeated contact.

If you build a marketing system that guarantees your prospects (particularly your ขAข prospects) are contacted at least 810 times a year you can significantly increase the odds that your name will jump to the top of the list when they do actually decide to purchase.

Another benefit of constant contact is that by sending your prospects useful information, that doesn’t always ask for a sale, you can establish a bond of trust, and trust wins business. It is almost as though some of your prospects will feel that they owe it to you because you took so much time and effort to educate them for such a long period of time without asking for anything in return

So what will you send to your prospects on a monthly basis?

Here is an example a calendar of contact points

Month #1 – Letter announcing a new service (change to existing service)

Month #2 – Newsletter – highlight tips and company news

Month #3 – Phone call to discover opportunities

Month #4 – Reprint of an industry magazine article of interest

Month #5 – Case study of a successful client solution you provided

Month #6 – Request for critique of a proposed sales letter (you won’t believe how valuable this can be)

Month #7 – Time for another newsletter

Month #8 – Reprint of an article you contributed to an industry magazine

Month #9 – Announce a new service

Month #10 – Invite them to a workshop

Month #11 – Phone call to introduce someone in your referral network

Month #12 – Checklist of helpful tips for your industry/service

Notice that this schedule includes a couple of phone contacts. This to can be a very powerful research tool as well as a business building tool. Sometimes you will learn what your prospect really wants and how valuable the materials you are sending them really are to them.

You man want to consider breaking your prospect list into groups based on potential opportunity. Your 20 or so ขAข prospects might get a copy of your favorite book or some homemade cookies in a tin with your company logo one month or some proprietary content or information along with some tickets to the ballgame a couple of months later.

And if you really want to make a hit with your ขAข prospects, take the time to find out some background on them and personalize your marketing materials. If Ed Jones over there at Acme Industries went to Notre Dame (not such a hard thing to find out) you will score major points by simply sending a clipping from some magazine about his favorite subject – The Fighting Irish. You can even setup a service that will find you everything that is being said about a school, industry, company, sports team, you name it. So an industry guru makes a prediction for the future of your prospect’s industry and you drop the article in the mail to them. Now who do you think they are they going to remember come order time?

Create a database of your ideal prospects, setup a schedule of different types of contact points like the one above, and then stick to it. And don’t forget to include your current clients in that list. Reselling them can lead to more and more business and referrals.

Copyright 2004 John Jantsch

About The Author

John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com a turnkey small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php

This article was posted on April 20, 2004

by John Jantsch

Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Leads for Your Sm

Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Leads for Your Small Business

by: Jeremy Cohen

Do you ever wonder if you could be doing a better job marketing your small business or professional service firm? Successfully marketing a small business is hard work. There are several key skills required to consistently develop new business that you, as a small business owner, must master in order to succeed.

The first skill you need to have is the ability to regularly generate qualified leads. You must consistently build your list of prospects if you are to grow your business. Your business will not grow if you market to the same, stagnant population over and over again. While there will be a certain percentage of people who choose to buy from you after repeated contact with your marketing material, the amount who buy will always be limited by the size of the list to which you market.

How often do you add to your list of qualified prospects?

Here are five steps you can take to improve your prospect building skills.

Focus On Client Needs

Whether you print a brochure, advertise in industry periodicals or use search engines to generate traffic to your web site the first thing your marketing materials must do is get noticed. One of the best ways to have your future clients notice you is to use words in your marketing materials that focus on their needs. By using such words your clients will immediately associate your ad with their problem or unmet need.

For example, if you are a patent attorney your ads will have a much better chance of being noticed and acted upon by those who need your service if you use the words, ขGet paid for your inventionข instead of ขPatent Attorneyข. Getting paid is what an inventor wants. You may be proud of your status as an attorney but your clients are interested in the results you provide that solve their problem.

Be sure you use words in your marketing material that focus on your clients’ needs. They will get noticed more often.

Eliminate Waste

Another step you can take to improve your ability to generate leads is to eliminate unproductive marketing methods. Marketing takes time, money and effort. If your tactics are not generating the results you want stop using them and try something new. Of course, in order to separate the good tactics from the bad you need to measure the effect of individual marketing efforts.

Perhaps you run the same ad in two different newspapers. If you don’t know that the ad in ขpaper number twoข is generating 95% of your prospects you will never know that it would be a smart move to reallocate the money you spend in ขpaper number oneข.

What steps can you take to measure the effect of individual marketing tactics?

Once you know which tactics are lead generators and which are not you can improve your ability to generate new leads simply by reallocating the resources from unproductive tactics to ones you know work.

Use Your Web Site Properly

Another way to maximize your ability to generate leads is to use your web site properly. The purpose of your web site is to generate leads. To maximize the number of leads your web site generates make sure your site has information your prospects want, is easy to navigate and maximizes the opportunity for your prospects to get in touch with you, either by calling you or by providing you with their contact information.

Clearly let your visitors know you’re there for them and they will be much more likely to reach out and get in touch, especially if your site’s content demonstrates that you understand and can solve their problems.

Cross Marketing

Cross marketing is the process of establishing marketing relationships with companies whose product or service complements what you sell. For example, a company that helps web site owners track the traffic to and through their site would do well to develop relationships with web hosting companies. There is a natural symbiosis here – anyone who has a new web site needs to (or should) measure their site’s traffic so they can make wellinformed decisions to guide the evolution of their site and any web hosting company wants their clients’ business to succeed so they can keep them as a customer. Companies don’t need web sites if they’re out of business. It therefore makes sense for web hosting companies to promote web statistics companies and vice versa as each can benefit from the other’s service.

What cross marketing tactics do you use to promote your business?

Ask Questions

Regardless of your favorite marketing mechanism the goal is the same: to generate interest in your products or services. Whether you use a web site, a brochure or newspaper ads to generate leads the first thing you must do is get your future prospects thinking about the problem that you solve and they have. A great method for invoking this type of thought is to use questions in your marketing materials.

If you are a dentist, questions like, ขDo you have tooth pain?ข or ขAre your teeth sensitive to heat or cold?ข will do a much better job of drawing in your prospects that marketing materials that say, ขDo you need a dentist?ข

What questions can you ask to get your prospects thinking about the problems that they have that you solve?

Move Your Marketing Forward

Take some time to examine your marketing efforts with respect to the notions outlined in this article. Is there room for you to improve your ability to generate leads? Most likely, there is.

Copyright 2005, Better Marketing Results and Jeremy Cohen. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers attract more clients, grow their business and be more successful with his marketing guides and coaching service. Get his free marketing guide: Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success at: http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/marketingservices.asp

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by Jeremy Cohen

Do You Have to Be Aggressive to Make Sales?

Do You Have to Be Aggressive to Make Sales?

by: Ari Galper

A few weeks ago I was onsite at a company that had hired me to train their sales team on how to stop using traditional selling and start using the Unlock The Game™ sales approach.

After one coaching session, one member of the sales team came up to me and said, กAri, your approach makes complete sense but Iกm afraid Iกll lose sales if I stop being aggressive and start being passive!ก

Whenever I hear a comment like that, I want to scream, because it means that the person just doesn’t yet understand that removing pressure from the sales process doesn’t mean being passive!

But…I didn’t scream. I took a deep breath and then explained that Unlock The Game™ is the reverse of passive.

Rather, itกs an active attempt to create pressurefree conversations with prospects.

However, to do that we must eliminate behaviors and language that prospects can perceive as กaggressive.ก

We all know what these are continual email and voicemail กfollowupsก in which salespeople try to pin down the status of a potential deal is one common example.

The problem is that prospects react to aggressive, or perhaps we should say กoveraggressiveก sales behaviors by withdrawing and evading us.

We could say that Unlock The Game™ actually takes the กmiddle groundก between passive and aggressive by being authentically unassuming, yet effective and that this is the most stressfree and effective way to sell.

What do I mean?

I mean that you have to shift away from assuming that every prospect is a fit for your solution.

Itกs sort of like the legal concept of กbeing innocent until proven guilty.ก

We can’t afford to make any assumptions about กfitก until our conversation with the prospect indicates that weกve mutually arrived at that conclusion.

The aggressiveness that turns off prospects sets in when you assume, every time you pick up the phone, that you have a solution for them.

Your tone of voice and language gives them that message long before theyกve even had a chance to agree that they have a problem you might be able to help them solve.

But if you can manage to find that middle ground of not assuming anything while also communicating in a lowkey, unassuming manner, youกll discover a whole new effectiveness you could never have imagined.

Can prospects sense when you’re assuming too much?

Sure they can because most of us have been conditioned to present or talk about our solution as a way to engage prospects so theyกll reveal their problems to us.

But that logic is completely flawed, because when you launch into your solution to someone who doesn’t trust you yet, all you do is allow them to pigeonhole you as a stereotyped กsalesperson.ก

So how do you make this concept of being unassuming but effective a reality?

First, learn to start conversations by focusing 100 percent on generating discussions around prospectsก problems, rather than pitching your solution the second you hear an opening.

Second, learn to begin those conversations by converting the benefits of your solution into problems that your solution can solve.

Third, after you and your prospects have identified a problem or problems, you can then engage in a discussion about whether fixing those problems is a priority.

Itกs only at that point that prospects have finally given you implicit permission to share your solution with them.

Jumping in with solutions prematurely will only land you back in the trap of being perceived as กaggressive.ก

About The Author

With a Masters Degree in Instructional Design and over a decade of experience creating breakthrough sales strategies for global companies such as UPS and QUALCOMM, Ari Galper discovered the missing link that people who sell have been seeking for years.

His profound discovery of shifting oneกs mindset to a place of complete integrity, based on new words and phrases grounded in sincerity, has earned him distinction as the worldกs leading authority on how to build trust in the world of selling.

Leading companies such as Gateway, Clear Channel Communications, Brother International and Fidelity National Mortgage have called on Ari to keep them on the leading edge of sales performance. Visit http://www.unlockthegame.com to get his free sales training lessons.

This article was posted on December 19, 2004

by Ari Galper

Using Your Web Site to Grow Your Business

Using Your Web Site to Grow Your Business

by: Charlie Cook

A snowplow operator in a New Jersey suburb was hailed by a woman asking him to plow her driveway so she could get out. Wading through less than a foot of fluffy snow to her SUV, he asked her why she didn’t put it into four wheel drive and simply back out. Her puzzled answer was, ขFour wheel drive, whatกs that?ข

A web site is just a means to and end, like a car it will get you where you want to go only if you know how to use it. Too often independent professionals and small business owners spend their hard earned cash on a web site and get little return on their investment.

What is the purpose of your marketing?

What is the purpose of your web site?

What do you want your web site to do?

The first step to creating or improving your web site is to clarify the role it should play in your business and its marketing. If you are like most independent professionals and small business owners you can benefit from constructing your web site on the basis of the following four objectives.

1. ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF YOUR TARGET MARKET

This may seem obvious, yet most small business web sites don’t do this. Instead of leading with content that will attract prospects they focus on information about themselves. Typically they are boring to others than their creators.

Too often web sites focus on the firmกs services, products, processes and credentials. These sites are a turnoff to prospects and can keep you from earning money. If your web site shouldn’t feature your firm, what should be the primary content?

To get prospects’ attention, whether with your web site or with your other marketing materials, feature content that interests them. Your clients and future customers are always looking for solutions.

For example, if you’re a lawyer, your site could focus on legal tips and strategies which your target market can use. If you’re a graphic designer, include ideas on using design to improve communications; if you’re a computer systems expert, give your site visitors tips on keeping their computers from crashing. A writer could include a tutorial on writing, with examples of copy makeovers of web pages, press releases or brochures.

What is the content you could use on your web site that your target market is searching for?

2. BUILD CREDIBILITY

Just because you have a web site, have impressive credentials, a client list of Fortune 500 companies and even know what you are doing, isn’t necessarily going to convince prospects you can help them. To help prospects trust you, you need to find ways to demonstrate your expertise and qualifications.

Chances are you have many satisfied clients. Ask them for comments on how you helped them and feature their testimonials on your site. Comments from others are perceived as having much greater credibility than the descriptions you write about your own products and services.

Write articles and distribute them widely to demonstrate your knowledge. Tell personal stories or describe actual situations to showcase your ability to solve problems.

What can you do differently on your web site to build credibility?

3. GENERATE LEADS

One of the most important roles a web site plays for service professionals and small business owners is to help generate leads. When people come to your web site and are interested in the problems you solve, you want to have as many of them as possible contact you.

You want your web site to help you identify people not ready to buy and people ready to make a purchase.

Is your web site attracting as many new prospects and clients as youกd like?

How many leads per week does your web site generate?

Does your web site motivate people to give you their contact information?

Does your web site prompt people to tell you what they need and want and to contact you?

What do you need to do on your web site to increase the number of leads it provides on a weekly or monthly basis?

4. SELL YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The goal of your web site is to help you make money. If you sell services or products, make it easy for prospects to find them and include comprehensive information about each and the benefits or using them. Consider showing a list of products and services in a side navigation bar on every page of your web site.

Youกll want individual sell pages for each product or service. One way to grab prospects’ attention on these pages is to lead with one or two questions clarifying what prospects want. Follow these with testimonial quotes, and visitors will be more likely to read the rest of the copy describing your products and services.

When you provide information on your products and services, do you first create the context, i.e. clarify the problem it solves?

Is your site effective in convincing prospects you have the product or service they want?

Is your site helping you sell more of your products and services each month?

Whether you are trying to get an SUV unstuck or grow your business with your web site, if you know how to use it, you can get where you want to go.

2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners attract more clients and increase their earnings with the 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing. Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Guide and the กMore Businessก newsletter, full of practical tips you can use at http://www.charliecook.net

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 09, 2004

by Charlie Cook

5 HighImpact Marketing Tips

5 HighImpact Marketing Tips

by: Bob Leduc

Here are 5 highimpact marketing tips you can use to boost your sales quickly. All are simple to implement and they involve little or no new expense.

1. Promote Only One Thing at a Time

Promote only 1 product or service each time you advertise. Many people have difficulty selecting one product when their decision forces them to delay or reject buying something else they also want. When prospects cannot make an easy choice they often make no decision at all …and you lose the sale.

Tip: Offer new customers a related product or service immediately after they buy from you. Many will accept your offer, producing an easy sale without jeopardizing the initial purchase.

2. Provide Multiple Ways for Customers to Buy

Providing choices of what to buy will reduce your sales. But providing choices of how to buy will increase your sales. Offer many different ways for customers to buy from you. The same method is not convenient for everybody. Prospective customers are more likely to act immediately when their favorite way of ordering is available.

3. Avoid Your Competitors

Look for some new niche markets you and your competitors overlooked. You may uncover a market you can dominate with little or no competition.

One quick and easy way to find profitable new markets is to subdivide your current market into several narrowly defined niche markets. Then customize your advertising to the unique needs of prospects in each niche market.

Tip: You can narrow the appeal of an existing web site without losing its effectiveness with your main market. Just create customized web pages for each market segment you want to target. Then add a link to each of these specialized pages on your home page.

4. Use Alternative Marketing

Look for alternative media your competitors may be overlooking. For example, many internet marketers are beginning to use direct mail postcards to generate traffic to their web sites. It?s a low cost way to bypass the heavy competition online.

A brief captivating message on a postcard with an enticing offer sent to the right prospects will generate a flood of traffic to your website or a large number of sales leads.

Tip: Postcards are also an excellent lowcost alternative to email. People get so much email today that even legitimate messages are getting deleted unread. But they get few if any postcards. Your message is guaranteed to get their attention when itกs delivered on a postcard.

5. Encourage Questions

You?re walking away from a lot of easy sales if you don?t encourage prospects to ask questions about your product or service.

Only interested prospects will take the time to ask questions. Many will buy …especially if you answer their question quickly and completely. You can even include a promotion for your product or service as part of your answer.

Make it easy for prospects to ask questions when they are at your web site or in other selling situations where there is no personal contact. For example, provide a phone number or an email address they can use to ask questions.

Tip: If you find yourself personally answering a lot of questions, add a Questions and Answers section to your web site or your sales brochure. Include the answers to the most frequently asked questions. It will reduce the number of questions you have to answer personally.

Each of these 5 marketing tips provides a simple way for you to boost your sales quickly …and for little or no new expense.

Copyright 2004 Bob Leduc

http://BobLeduc.com

About The Author

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards …and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. Youกll find his lowcost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 7026581707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

This article was posted on October 26, 2004

by Bob Leduc

8 Common Marketing Mistakes

8 Common Marketing Mistakes

by: Charlie Cook

Advertising can be one of the fastest ways to market and grow your business or it can be one of the quickest ways to go out of business. With the right ad you can attract clients to your business and increase your profits. With the wrong ad you can spend your way into bankruptcy.

To grow your business you need to attract the attention of your prospects, advertising can help you do so if used correctly. Unfortunately, many small businesses owners waste thousands of dollars on advertising efforts that only achieve minimal results.

If you want to get the most from the money you spend to promote your products and services, make sure to avoid these common mistakes.

Focusing on Your Products and Services

If you want to get the attention of your prospects, speak to their needs and wants. Your prospectsก primary concern isn’t that youกve been in business for 25 years; it is do you know the problem they want to solve. Use your ad to identify at least one common problem of your prospects and the benefit of using your product or service.

Having a Weak Marketing Message

All to often you hear ads and it takes some thought to figure out what they are even promoting. Make sure your advertisement includes a 710 word description of whom you serve and the problems you solve so people who read or hear your ad know how you can help them.

Using the Wrong Words

A word here, a phrase there can change your response rate by hundreds of percent. When you spend money on advertising, first test a number of versions of your copy to identify the one that works best. Just by revising her ad copy so it was client and problem centered, I helped one small business owner achieve her best month in sales ever.

Missing Motivation

Most ads miss the mark in moving prospects to action. If you want to prompt prospects to visit your web site or your store or to contact you, include an offer that motivates them to do so.

Lacking in Frequency

Some people make spur of the moment buying decisions, but most need to become familiar with your services and products, and this takes time. If you want your advertising to work, you need to ensure that your prospects see or hear it regularly.

Web Sites that Don’t Move Prospects to Action

Many small business owners direct prospects to a web site where they have more extensive content covering available services and products. I constantly get calls from people who have been successful at attracting prospects to their web site, but generate few sales.

Once prospects get to your web site make sure the content and visual organization moves them to take the action you want them to. Whether it is providing them with ample opportunities to fill in your service inquiry form, or including a subset of your product catalog in your web page navigation bars, help prospects move to client and customer status.

Lack of Follow Up

Sometimes making a sale requires sending a note or picking up the phone and calling your prospects. If you have an effective lead generation strategy, prospects will provide you with their contact information and the problem they want solved. Use the web, email, and the phone to follow up and close the sale.

Lack of Tracking

If you are making more from your advertising than you are spending, you’re ahead. Frequently small business owners can’t tell you which of their efforts helped bring in the business. Track each of your ad campaigns and youกll know where to spend your money in the future, what to modify and what to eliminate.

Do you know how many sales and how much money you made as a result of each of your advertising campaigns?

Are you making any of the above common marketing mistakes?

What elements of your marketing should you change?

Put your marketing house in order. Fix your strategy and your materials. If you don’t know what to change or how to change it, use experts to help you with strategy, copyrighting, design, PR, and media placement.

Avoid these common marketing mistakes and youกll find ore people contacting you about your products and services and that your making more than your spending on your advertising.

2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the F*ree Marketing Guide and the กMore Businessก newsletter, full of practical tips you can use at http://www.charliecook.net

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 24, 2004

by Charlie Cook

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

How to Grab Attention with your Headlines

How to Grab Attention with your Headlines

by: Charlie Cook

Youกve got just a few seconds to grab your prospectsก attention, spark their interest and motivate them to keep reading whether they’re looking at your web site, your letter or your brochure. Headlines are the first thing your prospects read. Four out of five people determine whether they keep reading to learn about your products and services on the basis of your headline.

Do your headlines capture your prospectsก attention or do they confuse them and send them away?

Are your headlines prompting prospects to learn about your products and services or click to another web site or throw away your letter?

Avoid the three following headline mistakes.

Don’t Emphasize Obscure Company Names

Most small businesses and many not so small businesses names aren’t household words. Unless your name is among the top ten most recognized brands such as, Craftsman, Waterford, Rolls Royce, the Discovery Channel, WD40 or Crayola there is a very good chance people won’t associate your company name with anything.

Have you ever visited a web site or read a print ad where the companyกs name covered the top part of the page and it was something like, กPharos Partnersก? Unless the name of your company describes what you do, it is not going to grab prospectsก attention. Move it to the side and make room for a creative headline.

Avoid Welcome Statements

On many web sites the first line you read is, กWelcome to our Siteก. There is a reason you don’t see these in print ads. Welcome statements are a waste of time in marketing materials; they do little to help prospects understand what you do.

Delete Vague Descriptions and Statements

Statements like, กOur purpose is to connect you with information and resources to achieve your maximum potentialก, could apply to a number of different professions. It could refer to a cooking school, a management consultant or an eldercare program.

Are you wasting valuable space where your headline goes to feature a company name that doesn’t describe what you do?

Does your headline include กbusiness speakก terms your children or motherinlaw can’t explain?

Is your description of product and services specific or is it so generic that it could apply to other types of businesses?

Does your headline focus on the selling points that distinguish your products and services from the competitions?

Writing Headlines that Get Your Prospectsก Attention

People look at web sites the same way they look at magazine ads. They scan the page quickly to see if the product or service is something they want. On the web or in a marketing brochure, if you capture their interest, theyกll keep reading.

The best way to do this is to give them a clear idea of the problems your products or services can solve and/or the benefits you provide. Use a few carefully selected words such as:

Leverage your expertise to attract a steady stream of clients

Reliable Office Supplies, free next day delivery.

Inhome sports training for exercise enthusiasts

Web and print design that helps your business grow

Costa Rica Travel, Unique offthebeaten track tours to jungles and beaches

Your page headline should communicate clearly what you offer clients, which problems you solve and the benefits you provide. Do your headlines:

Clarify what you do?

Describe the problems you solve?

Define whom you do it for?

Explain the benefits?

Emphasis a key selling point?

Compel your prospects to keep reading?

Imagine that you worked at an exercise facility and wanted to attract clients for your massage business. Here are some possible headlines you might use for your flyer and associated critiques.

George Jenkins Massage

(Itกs your name but so what)

Are You Bothered By Back Pain

(Better, it defines the problem)

7 Ways to Get Instant Back Pain Relief

(Defines the problem and a solution)

How Computer Users Can Banish Back Pain in One Hour

(Defines who your target market is, the problem and the benefit)

Grab your prospects attention in the first few seconds with your headline. Then follow with compelling copy that clarifies the value of your products and services and youกll generate many more sales.

2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Guide, ก7 Steps to Grow Your Businessก and the กMore Businessก newsletter, full of practical tips you can use at http://www.charliecook.net

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 22, 2004

by Charlie Cook

Changing Your Position When Thereกs Competition

Changing Your Position When Thereกs Competition

by: C.J.Hayden

Are you finding many of your best prospects already working with competitors? When you pursue a new opportunity, is someone else capturing the prize? Maybe itกs time to reevaluate your positioning.

Your market position is the place you occupy in the mind of your prospective clients. Itกs how they think of you as compared to your competitors. Adjectives like established or cuttingedge; highquality or inexpensive; convenient or fullservice are all relative terms. When applied to you and your business, they distinguish you from the competition.

Your clientsก impression of how your business compares can determine whether they work with you or not. Try conducting some competitive research to find out what it is that clients like about the people you compete with. Are those qualities you can emulate? In what areas are clients not as satisfied? Could you offer more satisfaction there?

Ask your current and former clients about their experience with the competition. They may be quite candid with you about what they liked and didn’t like, and give you some valuable insight into why they chose you. Check out how your competitors are positioning themselves by surfing the Net. Mission statements, lists of features and benefits, etc. will often be posted on their web sites. You can also have a friend request their literature, or hire a professional market researcher.

Target market research can help if prospects are telling you they don’t need what you are offering. If you think they need a teambuilding retreat, but they are looking for more skills training, you won’t make a sale. If you learn more about how prospects view their own challenges, you can develop a new market position to better match their mental, or reallife, purchase order. Your retreat might fly if you called it กan intensive threeday training program in the critical skills needed for effective teamwork.ก

Ask your satisfied clients for a testimonial letter. The way they describe the work you do and benefits they received from it can give you valuable clues in how to sell it to others. An evaluation questionnaire can be used for the same purpose. Try asking, กHow would you describe my service to someone who could use it?ก

Your research might uncover that your service isn’t packaged in a way that prospects want to buy it. Developing a better service package could make what you offer more attractive. A marketing consultant who has been charging by the project might find clients more receptive to a monthly retainer they can budget for. An interior designer encountering resistance to his hourly fee might instead raise his commission rate on furnishings, and no longer charge by the hour.

Sometimes just naming your service package can make a difference. An image consultant might be much more successful selling the กOneDay Makeoverก than asking clients to buy six hours of her time to revamp their whole look. When doing your market research, try asking your prospects how they prefer to buy services like yours, and tailor your offering to their preferences.

You may make the discovery that youกve chosen the wrong market the perceived need for what you offer isn’t strong enough, they aren’t willing to pay what you need to charge, or the size of the market is too small. In this case, itกs time to position yourself for an entirely different market.

A career counselor who can’t find enough individuals who will pay her fee can market herself to companies who need outplacement services. A software trainer who discovers that large companies prefer training firms that can serve them nationally might find a better market in midsize organizations. Keep asking the question, กWho is MOST LIKELY to hire me?ก until you find the right fit.

About The Author

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of กFive Secrets to Finding All the Clients Youกll Ever Needก at http://www.getclientsnow.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 12

by C.J.Hayden