Running Your Online Business

Running Your Online Business

by: Jeremy Gislason

I had a very nice conversation with one of our members a while ago regarding her business. She has been in business for 11 years with her current company, which is a traditional business started long before the Internet came around.

She has been successful for those 11 years and is still doing very well. She started her online business several months ago with the same products as her traditional business. The problem was her online business was only costing her money and to date she has made no sales, but has spent over $1,500 in advertising and marketingjust for the online side of her business alone.

Here is a news flash. Business is Business! I do not care whether you are on the Internet or in a shopping mall. The same basic principles apply to both businesses.

You have a product

You need to advertise to get customers to buy your product.

You need to support your customers who buy your product from the advertising you did.

You need to build a loyal customer following, so you can maintain a profitable business.

Many people believe that because they are selling online that some of these steps can either be skipped or they need to go overboard in one area or another. Customer service on the Internet is for the most partnonexistent. Companies that tell you they will get back to you in 48 72 hours might as well tell you they are closed.

The bottom line regarding selling online, whether you have your own product or you are just going to focus on reselling affiliate programs, you will need to advertise, and you will need to take care of your clients.

There is no magic about online selling. As an example, our members purchased an ISOR membership for a reason and other people will purchase for similar reasons. We work very hard at ISORegister, Inc. to ensure our members and treated fairly. We provide tollfree phone numbers, 7days a week support, we answer our emails the same day we receive them. These are a few of the things we do that 99% of the online companies do not.

You do not have to get your own tollfree phone number or work 7 days a week. What you do have to realize is that if you are reselling an affiliate program or your own product that you are in business for yourself.

You have a choice as to how you want to run your business. You can sit back and wait for sales to happen or you can go out and make sales happen. Run your home business like you expect to be treated by other businesses. Do not spam people; do not buy a bunch of worthless hits, do not pay someone to get you posted in the top search engines.

Run your new home business just like a real company because it is a real company and you have a real opportunity to be successful or to fail. The only difference between an online business and a traditional business is location and in some cases inventory. Everything else is about the same. You have a product and you want to sell that product to people who want your product.

Think about this…Remember, building a business takes time and patience. If you are promoting affiliate programs do not sit around waiting for someone to find your affiliate page. In addition, too many people think that once they have put up their own website the traffic is just going to pour in. This is not true as anyone with a website knows but it is a reason so many people get frustrated and quit. You need to go out and promote your website or affiliate program and you need to be aggressive in your approach.

There is nothing magical about running your Internet business. This business is run the same as any traditional business and it will succeed or fail depending on what you put into it.

Read any book or bio from anyone who has ever started and run a business and you will see that everyone put a lot of time and energy into their business. Do the same and treat your own business or affiliated businesses like your own and you will do fine.

Copyright 2004 Jeremy Gislason

About The Author

Jeremy Gislason, Vice President of ISORegister, Inc. has over 15 years of offline and online business experience. ISORegister provides business and marketing solutions whether your business is 100% online or you run a traditional offline business such as a retail store, restaurant, or service.

http://www.isoregister.com/9810354341/jusco/isoregister.html

This article was posted on December 21, 2004

by Jeremy Gislason

Take Advantage Of Internet Phone Calls (VOIP)

Take Advantage Of Internet Phone Calls (VOIP)

by: Colin Brin

Voice Over IP (VOIP) is a relatively new technology. Voice Over IP allows people to leave behind the old and very traditional analogue phone networks and now adapt in favor of the very new and very progressive Internetbased calling system infrastructure. Using this technology for your communications actually works out cheaper for you in the long run as it means you won’t need to pay for calls if the people you are calling and speaking to are also using the same VOIP system.

Voice Over IP runs on several different types of infrastructure. This is the main reason why you should take the time to do your homework and find out how it works and what is involved, before you even consider setting up a Voice Over IP network at your home or place of business. When you do your homework you will see that invariably VOIP offers lots of advantages over and above the standard traditional telephone based analogue service that most people are currently using. Letกs take a moment to examine some of the advantages of using Voice Over IP.

The main advantage of Voice Over IP is to be honest the cost the cost benefit goes directly back into your pocket. And because Voice Over IP uses the infrastructure of the Internet to make outgoing calls, you will never need to pay your traditional phone provider to maintain a telephone line or for phone and line rental. In addition, many Voice Over IP service providers allow customers to make long distance calls that attract minimal or no long distance charges at all. Many service providers even offer customer VOIP packages that allow you to opt for discounted internet call rates so you can save even more.

But what about this for a benefit? If you have Voice Over IP software installed on your PC and you want to speak to someone who is also uses Voice Over IP, then you are able to talk for as long as you want without having to pay a single cent. This is because your voice is actually transformed into digital data packets rather than audio, and the data is transferred in a similar fashion to that of email. Voice Over IP also makes it very easy and cheap to conduct conference calls and video calls.

There are, of course, some minor disadvantages to using Voice Over IP and you should consider these before you embark on setting up Voice Over IP. Since Voice Over IP is a relatively recent and largely untapped technology, Voice Over IP is prone to experience more errors than using a normal phone would. In addition, if you experience a power failure, then you would be unable to make a call, like you could with a traditional analogue phone. In any event, Voice Over IP is something that you should investigate for your own home and business needs and you should consider it soon while the rates are cheap and the deals are good.

About The Author

Colin Brin is the owner of AB Voip which is a premier source of information about Voip. For more information, go to: http://abvoip.com

This article was posted on August 08

by Colin Brin

The Process of Change in Marketing Approaches

The Process of Change in Marketing Approaches

by: Dr. Alvin Chan

In a world economy that is in constant flux and undergoing turbulence, more companies are realizing that their most precious asset is their customer base. An even more important realization is the need to satisfy the whims and fancies of these customers in order to survive in these increasingly competitive markets. Organizations that do not act on this dictum have suffered the loss of market share or worse, total annihilation. Such dire consequences have awakened many organizations to rethink the way they see marketing. Thus, there is urgency for an organization (be it products or service providers) as a whole to develop appropriate holistic customerfocused strategies to ensure that the customer remains at the core of their organizational thinking.

With the rapid advancement of information technology (especially the rise of the Web) and the increasing difficulties of meeting customer’s needs and wants (for example, their expectations of 24 / 7 customer service especially for online transactions), there is a shift from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing. Many organizations and marketing consultants are emphasizing the need to allocate more funds to apply newfound knowledge of consumer behavior in new products development, build better customer relationships through customer loyalty and retention programs.

This purpose of this paper is to raise the awareness of the need to concentrate marketing efforts towards the customer rather than the inwardlooking traditional productfocused arrangement. And more importantly, the paper will shed light on how an organization could go about in making this important transition in this current competitive market.

Marketing Approaches Explained:

Before I proceed to discuss the shift in the marketing approach, it will be appropriate to explain briefly the two marketing approaches separately for greater clarity.

Traditional MarketingThe 4 Ps of Marketing:

The marketing mix or what is commonly known as the 4 Ps is a framework for marketers to implement a marketing concept. It consists of a set of major decision areas that a company needs to manage in order to at least satisfy consumer needs. According to Kotler et al. (1999), the mix is a set of กcontrollable tactical marketing tools […] that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target marketก (p.8). Hence, in an effective marketing program, all of those elements are กmixedก to successfully achieve the companyกs marketing objectives.

The traditional marketing mix contains four major elements, the ก4 Ps of marketingก. As defined by Kotler et al. (1999):

1.Product: Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. In includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas.

2.Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.

3.Promotion: Activities that communicate the product or service and its merits to target customers with a view to persuading them to buy.

4.Place: All the company’s activities that make the product or service available to target customers.

With the rapid changes surrounding organizations, the traditional marketing mix of the 4 Ps has been criticized for being too myopic in this current market situation. The traditional marketing mix has also been disparaged for being too productfocused and for taking an overly inwardlooking strategy with regards to the organization’s resources and capabilities in production matters. This is antithetical to attending to the more important organizational goal of satisfying the desired needs and wants of customers.

In addition, the Web and Ecommerce revolution has played a major role in alleviating customers’ ability to shape their relationships with the company. This has led customers to expect companies to market their products and services in ways that reflect more directly their individual needs.

These changes have prompted enterprises that wish to stay ahead of their competitors to shift their traditional marketing approach to customertargeted marketing.

Customer Targeted Marketing:

In customer targeted marketing, the customer becomes the central focus of the organization’s strategy and activities, rather than the product itself (which is the prime concern in traditional marketing). The organization’s paradigm shift in marketing requires a company to build a commitment to quality and to listen critically to the customer to determine the market needs and how the company can meet those needs more effectively.

One of the major characteristics of the approach is to focus on each customer’s interests and interactions with the organization to deliver targeted, personal messages. This would require the company to be constantly gathering information about their customers in an effort to better serve them and, most importantly, to retain them as loyal customers. As suggested by Peppers and Rogers (1998), the organization would need to use various techniques and strategies (possibly with the help of information technology and the Web), such as focus groups, indepth interviews, customer surveys, attitude testing and so on to obtain information about consumers for more effective marketing of a product or service. With these customers’ data and feedback, the organization will apply the knowledge to develop more customercentric products and services and/ or to improve existing ones. In addition, the information will be shared within the organization to encourage employees at all levels to focus on creating maximized customer value and loyalty.

Why CustomerTargeted Marketing?:

In order to have a competitive edge and to satisfy increasing levels of customers’ desires, companies realized that they have to see their customers as individuals rather a homogeneous mass of similar tastes, values and buying behaviors. Due to such transformation, companies need to be more customerfocused in its overall marketing strategy. This has resulted in organizations adopting a customization strategy to increase customer’s loyalty to their products and services. For example, in banking and insurance industry, there has been a move towards greater customization. Standard products/services have been given way to a varied menu of features from which customers may select their own preferred combination.

In view of these changes, companies that understand the asset value of each customer, and that tailor their marketing efforts (and their costs) to acquire and sustain the highestvalue assets, will win over lessadaptable traditional marketing approach of the 4 Ps.

The Process of Transition:

In order to strategically change from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing, an organization must be aware of these following areas:

Paradigm Shift. A company must fully understand that customer targeted marketing requires a shift in the organizational mindset, and not just structural organizational changes. They must realize that their sole purpose is to continuously satisfy customers’ needs and wants. Thus, to ensure a smooth transition from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted approach, an organization must reflect and ask itself questions as to what areas need to be analyzed and to understand the ramifications of such a transition in the organization. On the other hand, an organization needs to realize the negative consequences for not willing to be a more customerfocused marketing organization.

Customer Targeted Planning. As in any organizational change initiative, proper planning is needed. The objective of planning customercentric marketing strategies is to find winwin opportunities with customer and to identify the best mutual opportunities for your customers and your company. This requires the organization to see the issue(s) from the customers’ perspectives and to strategically plan the organization’s resources around them.

In short, the organization’s shift to customertargeted marketing should embrace these three important points:

1.Planning should focus on customer wants and not looking inwardly at company goals

2.Focus on the honest feedback and suggestions through creating different channels of communications. Listen to the customers, rather than forcing them to listen to you.

3.Integrate your customers in every aspects of your business, from new product design to aftersales services and more.

Organizationwide Responsibility. For the approach to be successful, members need to understand the new philosophy of marketing and embrace it organizationwide. Many organizations tend to underestimate the degree to which every facet of the enterprise needs to be involved in the process and to be integrated into the actual customer relationship.

Organization Redesign. An organization has to assess the roles of all functional departments interacting with customers to ensure that they add value to customers instead of increasing the costs. By reorganizing the company with the customer as the focus, many departmental roles and responsibilities will have to be redesigned. And when that happens, the employees will have to adopt new work processes that would be more customercentric in nature.

Human Resource Training. There is a need to develop customerfocused human resource through customer behavior training, across the functional departments. By investing in such training at all levels, the members will be more knowledgeable, more autonomous, and more efficient in anticipating and meeting the needs of the customers.

Use of Information Technology. With the advancement and increased affordability in information technology, more companies are able to collect available data on customer purchase behavior more efficiently. For example, technologies ranging from checkout scanning to Internet cookies are commonly used to track customersก buying behaviors. Companies that employ such technology will be more adept at acquiring new customers, retaining existing customers, and cross selling than those who do not.

Enhanced Customers Communications. With the use of the Internet as a medium for targeted communication, this allows companies to be in touch with customers at less than onehundredth of the cost of more traditional snail mail, brochures or flyers. Communication through emails with the customers is almost free, and the customers can retrieve communications almost immediately. However, this has also resulted in customers having 24 / 7 service expectations of these companies.

Customer Targeted Measurement. An organization must be able to measure and evaluate the success of their customer targeted marketing strategy. In most cases, traditional measurement techniques such as profitability, market share and profit margins are used to measure the success. There should be an added emphasis given to developing measures that are customercentric and which are able to assess the marketing strategy. Customer acquisition costs, conversion rates, retention rates, customer sales rates, loyalty measures and customer share within a brand are some examples of customercentric measures than a customerfocused organization can adopt

Conclusion:

The need for survival has provoked many organizations to shift from traditional to customer targeted marketing. The market conditions surrounding us will continue to change at an accelerating rate and customer’s expectation will continue to rise. Hence, without any doubts, more and more companies will adopt a customertargeted marketing strategy with increased intensity.

About The Author

Dr. Alvin Chan is an Innovation Research Specialist in Asia. He has consulted for and aid in the development of managerial innovations and effective learning methodologies in several organizations. Currently, Dr. Chan is the Senior Research Consultant at FIrst Quatermain Centre of Collaborative Innovation (www.firstquatermain.com).

Please email to Dr. Chan at [email protected] as a courtesy if you are reprinting the article online or in print.

This article was posted on November 06, 2004

by Dr. Alvin Chan

7 Ways to Stop กSellingก & Start Building Relation

7 Ways to Stop กSellingก & Start Building Relationships

by: Ari Galper

Sometimes we can all use a friendly reminder to keep us from backsliding into old ways of thinking about selling that lead us down the wrong path with potential clients.

I was inspired to write this article after a few coaching sessions with a client named Michael, who sells a technology solution. Michael had been struggling with a mental block about how to detach from the traditional sales thinking he had learned from oldschool sales กgurusก.

You know who they are. You may even have some of their books or tapes. And you know their sales messages too: กAlways be closing,ก ‘think positive, and youกll overcome all your cold calling fears,ก กAll you need to boost your sales is a few new sales techniques.ก

But all these outdated sales messages fail to address the core issue of how we think about selling. And unless we get to that core, and change it once and for all, weกll go on struggling with the same counterproductive sales behaviors. Weกll go on experiencing the same difficulties and frustrations.

And weกll continue to believe that we’re always just one new sales technique away from the breakthrough we’re looking for.

New Thinking = New Results

Maybe itกs time to take a different approach. Maybe we need to seriously analyze our sales thinking so we can identify why we’re not making more sales. Take a look at the table below and thinkabout your current selling mindset. How would your selling behaviors change if you changed your sales thinking?

Traditional Sales Mindset: Always deliver a strong sales pitch.

New Sales Mindset: Stop the sales pitch and start a conversation.

Traditional Sales Mindset: Your central objective is always to close the sale.

New Sales Mindset: Your central goal is always to discover whether you and your potential client are a good fit.

Traditional Sales Mindset: When you lose a sale, itกs usually at the end of the sales process.

New Sales Mindset: When you lose a sale, itกs usually right at the beginning of the sales process.

Traditional Sales Mindset: Rejection is a normal part of selling.

New Sales Mindset: Sales pressure is the only cause of rejection. Rejection should never happen.

Traditional Sales Mindset: Keep chasing every potential client until you get a yes or a no.

New Sales Mindset: Never chase a potential client youกll only trigger more sales pressure.

Traditional Sales Mindset: When a prospect offers objections,challenge and/or counter them.

New Sales Mindset: When a potential client offers objections, uncover the truth behind them.

Traditional Sales Mindset: If a potential client challenges the value of your product or service, you must defend yourself and explain the value.

New Sales Mindset: Never defend yourself or what you have to offer it only creates more sales pressure.

Letกs take a closer look at these central concepts so you can begin to open up your current sales thinking and become more effective in your selling activities:

1) Stop the sales pitch and start a conversation.

When you call someone, avoid making a minipresentation about yourself, your company, and what you have to offer. Start with an opening conversational phrase that focuses on a specific problem that your product or service solves. If you don’t know what this is, ask your current customers why they purchased your solution. One example of an opening phrase might be, กIกm just calling to see if youกd be open to some different ideas related to lowering the risk of any computer downtime you may be having in your company?ก Notice that you are not pitching your solution with this opening phrase.

2) Your central goal is always to discover whether you and your potential client are a good fit.

Let go of trying to กclose the saleก or กget the appointmentก and you will discover that you don’t have to take responsibility for moving the sales process forward. If you simply focus your conversation on problems that you can help potential clients solve, and if you don’t jump the gun by trying to move the sales process forward, you will find that potential clients will actually bring you into their buying process.

3) When you lose a sale, itกs usually right at the beginning of the sales process.

If you believe that you lose sales because you make a mistake at the end of the process, take a look back at how you began the relationship. Did you start with a presentation? Did you use traditional sales language like, กWe have a solution that I believe you really needก or กOthers in your industry have bought our solution, so you should consider it as wellก?

When you use traditional sales language, potential clients can’t help but label you with the negative stereotype of กsalesperson.ก This makes it almost impossible for them to relate to you from a position of trust. And if trust isn’t established at the outset, honest communication about the problems they’re trying to solve, and how you might be able to help them, becomes impossible too.

4) Sales pressure is the only cause of rejection. Rejection should never happen.

Rejection happens for only one reason: Something you said, as subtle as it might have been, triggered a defensive reaction from your potential client.

Yes, something you said. To eliminate rejection, simply shift your mindset so that you give up the hidden agenda of hoping to make a sale. Instead, everything you say and do should stem from the basic mindset that you are there to help potential clients. This makes you able to ask, กWould you be open to talking about issues you might be having affecting your business?ก

5) Never chase a potential clientyouกll only trigger more sales pressure.

กChasingก potential clients has always been considered normal and necessary, but itกs rooted in the macho selling image that, กIf you don’t keep chasing, it means you’re giving up and that means you’re a failure.ก

This is dead wrong! Instead of chasing potential clients, tell them that you would like to avoid anything that resembles the old catandmouse chasing game by scheduling a time for your next chat.

6) When a potential client offers objections, uncover the truth behind them.

Most traditional sales programs spend a lot of time focusing on กovercoming objections.ก These tactics only put more sales pressure on potential clients and also fail to explore or understand the truth behind what the potential client is saying. When you hear, กWe don’t have the budget,ก กSend me information,ก or กCall me in a few months,ก do you think you’re hearing the truth, or do you suspect that these are polite evasions designed to end the conversation?

Rather than trying to counter objections, you can uncover the truth by replying, ‘thatกs not a problemก no matter what clients are กobjectingก to and then using gentle, dignified language that invites them to reveal the truth about their situation.

7) Never defend yourself or what you have to offer it only creates more sales pressure.

When a potential client says, กWhy should I choose you over your competition?,ก your first, instinctive reaction is probably to start defending your product or service because you want to convince them to buy.

But what do you think goes through your potential clientกs mind at that point?

Something like, ‘this กsalespersonก is trying to sell me on why what they have to offer is better, but I hate feeling as if Iกm being sold.ก Rather than defending yourself, try suggesting that you aren’t going to try to convince them of anything because that would only create sales pressure.

Instead, ask them about the key problems that they are trying to solve, and then explore how your product or service might solve those problems without ever trying to persuade.. Let potential clients feel that they can choose you without feeling กsold.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 02, 2004

by Ari Galper

Traditional Vs. Untraditional

Traditional Vs. Untraditional

by: Nathaniel Balcom

Many times as I listen to people tell me why they think that network marketing, affiliate programs, and multilevel marketing is not for them, I am amazed at how little time these people have actually spent comparing the traditional job with those untraditional methods of earning a living.

I mention this because if you take a serious look at it, it appears to me that many so called regular jobs are a lot more restricting in respect to the ability of their employees to make money.

Let’s compare the normal setup of a traditional job versus the untraditional way of making a living.

In a traditional job, you get paid a set amount of money for performing a certain task over a set amount of time.

In untraditional work, you get paid a certain amount per sale and can make as many sales as you want during a set period of time.

In a traditional job, you increase your pay by getting a promotion to the next level in the hierarchy, which is determined by someone in the hierarchy above you saying that it is ok because you are qualified.

In untraditional work, you increase your pay by increasing the amount of sales you make, whether this is through your personal sales or through the collective sales of a team that you have put together. There is no prequalification screening.

In a traditional job, you are limited to when you receive an increase in pay by the number of available positions in the hierarchy above you. You have no control over this.

In untraditional work, your level of pay is directly tied to the amount of sales made by you and your team. You can increase your pay at anytime by increasing the amount of sales made by you and your team.

As I listen to these people explain to me why the untraditional way of earning a living doesn’t work for them, I realize that what they are really saying to me is that they prefer comfort over control.

You see, with a job you know exactly how much you’re going to be paid, and when.

The problem with this is that this amount cannot be increased until someone else says that it is ok and there is nothing that you can do to change that fact.

In the end , what it really comes down to is control.

With a traditional job, someone else has control and in the untraditional arena, you have control.

In either case, it’s still a matter of individual choice.

Apparently, network marketing, affiliate program, and multilevel marketing businesses have chosen to be in control.

About The Author

Nathaniel Balcom is the director of NVB and Associates, a home business association that assist its members in building and expanding their home business ventures. You can learn more about NVB and Associates by visiting http://www.myofc.org.

This article may be reproduced provided that this resource box is included as a part of the article and the article is reproduced in its entirety.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 12

by Nathaniel Balcom

A Peek Into the Near Future of Electronics Technol

A Peek Into the Near Future of Electronics Technology

by: Terry Mitchell

How long do you think DVDs have around? 20 years? 10 years? Actually, they have only been around for about eight years, but it seems like they have been around much longer. Many of us can hardly remember life before DVDs. That can be attributed to how rapidly we can become acclimated to some innovations in electronics technology. I believe there are other electronics technologies, either just getting ready to take off, not widely available yet, or just around the corner, that are going to become adopted just as quickly in the near future.

Once such item is Voice over Internet Protocol, also known as VoIP. This innovation renders the whole concept of long distance virtually obsolete. It bypasses the traditional telephone company infrastructure and delivers phone service over a broadband internet connection to a regular phone. Similar to cell phones, this service is purchased based on a fixed and/or unlimited number of minutes. However, geographical divisions are generally made by country or continent, rather than by local calling areas or area codes. For example, a typical VoIP contract in the U.S. would stipulate unlimited calling to North America and 300 monthly minutes for calls to everywhere else. Unlike cell phone service, you are not charged for incoming calls. With VoIP service, area codes are not much of an issue, although you still must have one. However, some providers offer plans in which you can select any area code in your country or continent! The area code you choose mainly comes into play for those with traditional phone service who make calls to you. If you pick a California area code, for example, someone calling you from a traditional phone line would be billed as if they called California, even if they lived next door to you in New York.

One of the major advantages of VoIP is that it is less expensive than traditional phone service. Since it bypasses most of the phone companiesก infrastructure, it also bypasses many of the taxes associated with it. So far, Congress has maintained a handsoff approach when it comes to taxing VoIP services. Most of the major phone companies are either now offering VoIP or plan to start by mid2005. However, there are some smaller companies that are offering it at a much lower cost. Vonage (www.vonage.com) is a small company that was one of the pioneers of VoIP. Lingo (www.lingo.com) and Packet8 (www.packet8.com) are two other small companies offering VoIP at a cutrate price.

Another such technology is Broadband over Power Line, or BPL. Already in wide use in many other countries and currently being tested in the U.S., BPL is the delivery of broadband internet service over traditional power lines. A computer is connected to a special modem which is simply plugged into an electrical outlet. This kind of service could prove useful for those who cannot get traditional broadband services like cable modem or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), as almost everyone has access to electricity now. Once refined, BPL could eventually prove to be cheaper and faster than these more established services and attract away some of their customers. By the way, be careful when you’re discussing BPL and make sure people don’t think you’re saying, ขVPL.ข Otherwise, you might encounter quite a bit of snickering!

While we’re on the subject of broadband internet services, several technologies just around the corner are going to make them much faster than they are today. The typical download speeds for broadband ranges from 1.5 to 10 megabits per second (mbps) today. Within the next year, speeds of 1520 mbps will be available to the average consumer. Then, shortly thereafter, speeds of up to 25, 50, 75, and even 100 mbps will be available in some places. In the notsodistant future, speeds of 25100 mbps is will be quite common. กFast TCPก, which is currently being tested, has the potential to turbocharge all forms of currently available broadband internet connections without requiring any infrastructure upgrades. It will better utilize the way in which data is broken down and put back together within traditional internet protocols.

All the major phone companies are currently in the process of replacing their copper wires with high capacity fiber optic lines. One example is Verizonกs FibertothePremises (FTTP) initiative. Fiber optic lines will greatly increase the amount of bandwidth that can be delivered. Fiber optics will allow phone companies to deliver video, either via a cable TVtype platform or a TV over Internet Protocol (TVIP) platform (see my October 7 column), and faster DSL speeds. At the same time, the phone companies are working with Texas Instruments to develop a new, more technically efficient form of DSL, called UniDSL. Eventually, the current internet as we know it will be scrapped and completely replaced with a whole new internet called กInternet 2.ก This new internet is expected to provide speeds of up to 6000 times faster than current broadband connections!

Another technology item that youกve probably heard a lot about recently is digital television. Digital TV uses a different wavelength than traditional analog TV and has a much wider bandwidth. It also has a picture that never gets กsnowyก or กfuzzy.ก If the signal is not strong enough, you get no picture at all, rather than the fuzzy picture you sometimes get with analog. In order to receive digital signals over the airwaves, you must have a digital TV set (one with a digital tuner inside) or an analog TV with a settop converter. Cable and satellite TV also use digital formats, but unlike broadcaster signals, their nonHigh Definition digital signals are automatically converted to a format an analog TV can process, so a digital TV or converter is not needed. High Definition Television formats, even on cable to satellite, require a digital TV or a converter (more on High Definition later).

All broadcasters are now doing some broadcasts on their digital channels in addition to their normal broadcasts on their analog channels, but they were originally supposed to completely convert over from analog signals to digital signals by the end of 2006. However, there is an exception that allows them to wait until 85% of the television sets in their market are digital. This could take 10 years or more to happen. Congress and the FCC are now looking at imposing a hard deadline on all broadcasters to convert to digital signals by 2009. Once they all convert to digital signals, their analog channels will taken back by the FCC and used for other purposes like emergency signals.

High Definition Television (HDTV) is one possible use of digital signals. HDTV uses the entire digital bandwidth and is the crystal clear format youกve probably seen on TVs in electronics stores. It has no visible lines on the screen. Someone once described it as being like กwatching a movie in the theater.ก Keep in mind that all HDTV is digital, but not all digital is HDTV. Along those same lines, not all digital TVs are HDTVs. Since digital TVs are very expensive and those with HDTV capability are even more expensive, consumers really need to keep this in mind.

The other possible use of digital signals is channel compression, often referred to as กmulticasting.ก NonHDTV programming does not utilize the entire width of a digital signal. Therefore, it is possible to compress two or more channels of programming into one digital signal. Satellite and cable operators do this all the time with their nonHDTV digital channels, but this process is transparent so many people don’t realize it. Many broadcasters plan to use their digital signals this way during times when they are not being used for HDTV programming. For example, some plan to air all news and all weather channels in addition to their regular channels of programming.

TV recording and playback technology is changing as well. DVD recorders, which debuted about four years ago, have now become affordable to the average family. A couple of years ago, they were priced above $1000, but now you can get them for around $250, in many cases. The main sticking point now with DVD recorders is that not all of them will record/play all three of the competing formats: DVDRAM, DVDRW, DVD+RW. They will have difficulty gaining wide acceptance from the public until one format is settled on or all recorders can record and play all three formats.

One the other hand, digital video recorders (DVRs) and personal video recorders (PVRs), just two names for something that is really the same thing, seem to be gaining quickly in popularity. DVRs/PVRs utilize a hard drive to record programs, without the need for discs or tapes. DVRs/PVRs with larger hard drives are becoming available and less expensive all the time. These devices can record one show while you are watching another. They can record more than one show at a time. They allow you to watch the part of a show that has already been recorded while the remainder of that show is still being recorded. They allow for easy scanning, searching, and skipping through recorded programs and even allow you to skip commercials with one touch of a button. They allow you to pause live programs while you answer the door or go to the restroom and then pick up where you left off when you get back. With these devices, recording can be automatic, i.e., you can program them to automatically record every episode of your favorite shows, no matter when they air. You can also have them automatically find and record programs that match your interests. In addition, video can be automatically downloaded to the device via a phone connection. TiVo, the leading brand in the industry, has announced that it will be teaming up with Netflix next year to allow downloading of movies on demand via a broadband internet connection (see my October 7 column for more details).

DVRs/PVRs are becoming so popular that cable and satellite TV providers have begun including them as addons to their receivers, either at no extra cost or for a small additional monthly fee. About the only shortcoming of DVRs/PVRs is the fact that they can’t play prerecorded DVDs or tapes, so you would still need your DVD player or VCR if you rent or purchase movies. However, hybrid devices which combine DVRs/PVRs with a DVD player/recorder and/or VCR are now hitting the market. Those devices would not only get rid of that problem but would also give you the option of permanently transferring a recorded show/movie from a hard drive to a recordable DVD.

Flat screen and flat panel TV technology is also starting to boom. Many people are confused about the difference between flat screen TVs and flat panel TVs. Flat screen TVs use the old cathode ray tube (CRT) technology for their picture tubes and are therefore bulky like traditional TV sets. However, they are different from traditional TV sets in that they have a flat screen. They deliver a picture that doesn’t have as much glare as traditional, more round screens. Also, the picture will look the same to everyone in the room, no matter where they are sitting. The picture on a traditional screen looks distorted when viewing it from an angle.

Flat panel TVs, on the other hand, utilize either liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma technology instead of the old CRT technology and are generally just a few inches thick. Many of them can be hung on a wall. In fact, flat panel TVs that are flatter than a credit card will be coming soon! Whatกs the difference between LCD and plasma? LCD is generally used for flat panel TVs with a display of less than 30 inches and usually has a brighter picture and better contrast than plasma. LCD is used for flat panel computer monitors as well. Plasma is generally used for flat panel TVs with a display of more than 30 inches and has a better color range than LCD. Plasma is becoming more common as TVs get bigger and flatter.

Although Iกm not so sure about this one, I will include กentertainment PCsก because of their tremendous potential to revolutionize home entertainment. The concept of กentertainment PCsก is being hailed right now by both Microsoft and Intel. In fact, Microsoft has developed a special operating system for them. They could be used as the hub for all home entertainment and could enhance a familyกs experience of television, radio/music, and internet and actually help to combine all of these into one. They could be used to download content from the internet and play it on a TV. They could provide such sophisticated TV recording interfaces that VCRs, DVDs, and DVRs/PVRs could all eventually become obsolete. In addition, they could be a better source for photograph and home video editing and processing than regular PCs. With that being said, Iกm not so sure that people will be willing to accept PCs as a source of home entertainment. Bill Gates begs to differ and is willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Obviously, not all of the cutting edge electronics technologies mentioned above will meet with great success. Some of them might actually go the way of Betamax, digital audio tape (DAT), and DIVX. However, many of them are sure to catch fire and become such an intricate part of our everyday lives that weกll wonder how we ever got along without them. Which ones will they be? Only time will tell.

About The Author

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, and trivia buff from Hopewell, VA. He also serves as a political columnist for American Daily and operates his own website http://www.commenterry.com on which he posts commentaries on various subjects such as politics, technology, religion, health and wellbeing, personal finance, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 04, 2005

by Terry Mitchell

Are You Risking The Relationship for the Sale A

Are You Risking The Relationship for the Sale And Then Losing the Sale Anyway?

by: Ari Galper

Losing a sale can be disheartening, especially if you lose it for reasons you aren’t even aware of.

Traditional selling approaches tell us that sales are usually lost because of some element price, features, benefits having to do with our product or service.

So, when we sell, we naturally focus on what we’re selling because we feel we have to differentiate our product or service so prospects understand what we’re offering thatกs unique.

But…what if focusing all your energy on WHAT you’re selling is actually the main reason

WHY you’re losing sales?

กNot possible!ก you say. No?

Letกs hear, in my client Ryanกs own words, what happened to him.

His story will help you realize why you may be losing sales without really understanding why.

From: Ryan

Subject: Unlock My Brain

Hi, Ari, Itกs been a while since weกve been in touch, and Iกm sure you were frustrated working with me because I was so engrained in traditional sales thinking. I have to admit that it has taken me quite some time to shift my selling mindset.

I just wanted to let you know that Iกve finally unlocked my brain and consequently the game!

Hereกs what happened.

Recently, my VP of sales strongly กsuggestedก that I push for a close with the largest account that my company had seen. We were all anxious for them to make a decision, but I knew that they needed to reach a few more milestones in their own processes first.

I tried to convey this to my VP, but the suggestion became a demand, and we proceeded down กourก path of techniques and whatnot to convince them to go with us. Of course, I had the VP on every call after this.

At the end of the day, they decided to go with someone else.

When I asked them for feedback, I got a real wakeup call.

They said that at first they felt as if I really understood their processes and problems. Our prices were a little higher than our competition, but what stood out was my approach to understanding them and not pushing the sale.

They felt as if I really had their best interests in mind, so they heard me out. But when I started to push for the close, they saw that I was just like everyone else who sells, so they had to make their decision based on price, instead of on the value of our relationship.

The relationship, and consequently the sale which I invested many hours developing died the moment I put on the pressure. By using traditional sales techniques, I wound up sacrificing the relationship and the sale.

This experience was what I needed to unlock my brain and realize the impact of traditional selling techniques on prospects (or should I say, กpeopleก).

I finally feel as if Iกve found the missing ingredients that make selling a natural, productive experience that will actually bring me sales instead of losing them.

Warmest Regards,

Ryan

Ryanกs story points to a very important lesson: if you don’t have an approach that is a perfect balance of nonaggression and effective penetration of your prospectกs core needs, youกll end up asking yourself time after time, กWhy am I losing sales, and why has selling become so painful?ก

You can risk the relationship and lose the sale, but with a different sales mindset, you don’t risk anything at all because you can preserve the relationship, and make the sale.

About The Author

Ari Galper is the founder of Unlock The Game™, the only selling program that completely eliminates pressure from the selling process. His Unlock The Game™ Sales Program has helped thousands of entrepenuers and sales professionals worldwide.

Visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com to take a Free Test Drive!

This article was posted on March 10

by Ari Galper

Forget Conventional Marketing Embrace the Web!

Forget Conventional Marketing Embrace the Web!

by: Lee Traupel

Tactical marketing processes are once again undergoing fundamental shifts from traditional to webbased processes. Many traditional marketing firms/agencies are still touting the tried and true to their clients; i.e. Tradeshow attendance, Print, Traditional PR, TV and Radio. However, these conventional marketing processes work best for broad market awareness and/or branding, especially for a Fortune 1K company with significant resources to spend on demographic analysis, test marketing and more test marketing. Itกs much more difficult for a smaller company (startup to $50M per annum) to leverage the economies of scale that are typically available for a larger company for the media buy and operational efficiencies.

Itกs obvious that lifestyle and business processes are shifting towards a much greater dependence on digital media people are traveling less due to cost issues and the everincreasing speed of business is underscoring the usage of the Internet for information and research. If you’re a small to medium sized business the chances are that youกve probably cut your marketing budget significantly by eliminating or scaling back tradeshow attendance, trade magazine advertising and/or direct mail in favor of response driven marketing on the web that can be deployed faster and more costeffectively than traditional marketing methods.

Capturing leads from a web site generated by optin email, newsletter inserts, text link advertising and/or other forms of pay per click marketing is still the absolute best way to generate leads that are quantifiable as soon as they are generated. You have the ability to easily track where the lead came from and via what interactive advertising process; assuming this has been setup for you by your interactive ad agency or with the online publisher. And, there are typically no lead times like more traditional marketing processes weกve created and deployed campaigns (creative, media buy, testing, ROI analysis, etc.) for our clients in 35 working days in some cases.

There are some pitfalls to webbased lead generation and follow through that you need to be aware of as you deploy an interactive campaign. Here are five of the most important กgotchasก that you need to think about as you build an interactive lead generation program around your web site:

1) Don’t make it difficult for people to contact your company make sure your web site really communicates with your prospects by กcommunicatingก I mean by providing telephone contacts, email address and/or a lead capture form that is short. Note: this form has to be supported by a published Privacy Policy (กwe won’t divulge your info to a third party under any circumstancesก) and it absolutely must be short; i.e. don’t request any more than baseline information, name, phone, email and address, augmented with a comment box.

2) Your marketing objectives have to be supported by your sales team the sales team has to be incentivized to respond to inbound emails and requests for information via a contact form in a timely manner, within 24 hours or sooner. If you have a geographically dispersed sales team then make this clear on the web site by providing specific contact points for states, regions and countries.

3) Make sure you IT person/department attends your marketing planning meetings with your sales team your web site will need some type of a lead capture setup that redistributes leads based on function and/or geographical responsibility. Your IT staff has to create a database solution that captures, stores and distributes leads this does not need to be done inhouse, products like Act (the market leader in contact management software) are now webenabled, you can capture leads via a web server and share leads with others via a browser and very inexpensively.

4) We don’t advocate popup advertising for most of our clientกs advertising campaigns. But, we have กcrossed over to the other sideก and we do (highly) recommend using popups on our clientsก web sites to present opportunities that in turn capture leads. Studies have shown effective popup lead captures increase lead generation by 4085% depending on the market segment. Popups can be set so they only launch on a frequency basis per session (visit to a web site) or a number of times for a specific visitor they don’t have to setup so they are intrusive and annoying.

5) Last but not least (drum roll) make the customerกs usability experience the most important aspect of your web site. Create a user interface (กexperienceก) that is pleasant for your visitors; i.e. use standard universal (top of page and local page left) menus, utilize 23 sentence paragraphs with lots of white space, don’t overload your pages with graphics that slow down load times and make sure your contact points (phone, email) are readily available from every page.

So, to summarize; advertising is shifting from traditional to webbased or interactive if you will so, to get on board this tsunami build a web site that communicates with your prospects/customers, provide contact points via telephone and email via the site, involve your IT and Sales staff with the lead capture process so they are all stakeholders and utilize popups to accelerate your lead capturing.

About The Author

Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is an internationally recognized ebusiness strategist. Check out her free tipsheet กBeyond the Search Enginesก for 17 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 4650317 or mailto:[email protected].

This article was posted on November 14, 2002

by Lee Traupel

EBOOKS Are Books Too!!!

EBOOKS Are Books Too!!!

by: Shadha Kudrath Ali

Electronic books – that is books you read on the computer have the same information and entail the same reading experience as books in the traditional form – that is books you actually hold in your hands. An ebook looks just like a Microsoft document but it is transformed into an ebook format such as PDF where the reader cannot make any changes to the document. There are other points of comparisons of ebooks and just regular books.

Anybody can buy an ebook the traditional way, just walk into a bookstore but with ebooks you have to have a computer and internet connection and also a credit card which presupposes your finances are in good order for the bank to allow you a credit card while with a traditional book no matter your financial situation even if you do not have a credit card you can purchase one as long as you have some money.

Suppose you were looking for a book on a particular subject and your local physical bookstore does not carry books on such subjects you can always find books on such subjects on the net (and even subjects you have never dreamed of) and you can purchase a book from someone halfway around the world and have it in minutes!

An ebook is not a book you can physically hold in your hands and it can be irritating to sit in front of your computer to read an entire book while you can curl up with a traditional book anywhere but with ebook readers this make ebooks portable just as the traditional books.

You flick through pages of a traditional book but you scroll down the pages of an ebook.

You can make copies of a traditional book with a photocopier while with ebooks with just a click of a button in mere seconds you can make an entire copy of a book.

You cannot hold ebooks in your hands but the pages will never yellow no matter how long you have it nor get doggie ears no matter how much you read it. The pages will always be crisp and new as the day you bought it (unless your computer is invaded by a worm which destroys all documents on your computer).

About The Author

This article was written by Shadha of www.shadha.com. She is the author of (THIRD WORLD EXPERIMENT)My Collection of Poems which is a collection of the most revolutionary, intriging and absorbing writings youกll ever read

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 09, 2004

by Shadha Kudrath Ali

Online Promotion Beats Traditional SevenOne (Part

Online Promotion Beats Traditional SevenOne (Part 1)

by: Judy Cullins

While traditional marketing can work for the book author or publisher, the return is dim for the huge effort it takes. You must promote 90% of the time to even get a milligram of attention. While you may have a success or two, most of your efforts will bring poor book sales. Ask yourself right now, what is working for me? What is not?

Traditional Book Marketing Method One: The Press Release

Sure, press releases can bring you attention, but it takes a lot of time to gather specific media or radio/TV producersก names. When I wrote ‘the San Diego Media Resource Directoryก that took 50 hours to research, I had to also keep the media list up todate, ask editors and radio producers by phone how they wanted their releases. Some prefer fax, others email or snail mail.

You waste your efforts if your release doesn’t go the right person. Many authors make the mistake of sending the release to the book editor. He gets hundreds each month, and will pay no attention if you are selfpublished. Like agents and traditional publishers, only 12% are chosen.

Another problem is the sheer numbers of releases you send out. Don’t relax after you send one or two releases. Think in terms of at least five a month. Ninetyfive percent releases are ignored and tossed into the round file. Why? For many reasons, but check to see if you include a compelling heading, a human interest story, a list of howtos, or a presenttime news analogy.Ask yourself, ก Is it under one page, doublespaced? Did I construct. organize and freely give the solutions that my book or service offer for my readersก problems?

Your news release should not be about your book, but give actual solutions the media readers and radio audiences can use. My first published press release responded to an article on the editorial page about the ‘three Rกs.ก My headline was กSchool Need to Teach the Fourth กRapid Reading. After discussing the background problems of reading circles, I included the benefits of rapid reading, and gave nine howto solutions. The publisher not only loved the article, but also came personally to my home to take my picture. I used the piece for marketing to corporations.

Most people don’t realize the purpose of the press release is to attract the editor by the collar, so he or she will want to do a feature story on you. Make your headlines sizzle. กSeven Ways to Sell More Books Than You Ever Dreamed Ofก got a feature story which attracted 90 people to a seminar by the same name. The coach sold $550 worth of books, gained four new book coaching clients worth $2000, enrolled 15 in her weekly seminars, yielding 24 clients published within a twoyear period.

Traditional Book Marketing Method Two: Giving Talks, Seminars and Presenting at Expos

Creating a talk takes a lot of time. You must practice it at least two times before you deliver it. You must discover resources to find organizations to present to. Many of them don’t pay their speakers. You may say thatกs OK because I will sell books. Yes, youกll sell a dozen or maybe more, but think of the huge effort it took to get there. Consider travel time, traffic, clothing upkeep, and schlepping all those heavy books around.

Like myself, you may present a talk or seminar to a corporation with big hopes of selling your products. When they pay you, though, they may set boundaries on book sales. One positive is that because you have a book, you can negotiate and leverage with meeting planners and top executives for higher paid presentations.

The biggest disadvantage? You must wait for decision makers to accept and schedule youthat could be six months or more. Think of the time invested in marketing materials such as the OnePage, videos, and meetings. I left this venue because the time from presentation to fruition took several inhouse meetings before a decision could be made.. I knew there was a better way! But was it expos?

Speaking at Expos or maintaining a booth takes many hours of work. Consider preparing and submitting press releases, creating brochures, hand outs, decorating the booth, presenting a drawing, and bringing in products to sell.

Speaking can bring you a few book sales, but people passing by your booth are usually just looking. Even when I gave free mini seminars every 2 hours, and passed out free tickets ahead of time, not many bought books. Giving out hundreds of flyers with free seminar offers brought few results too.

Yes, I did get on a talkradio show and eleven people showed up at my Supermemory seminar. No, they didn’t buy books or book a coaching session. Yes, I collected names and email addresses from a free drawing. I was able to use them for my free eNewsletter, The Book Coach Says…,ก but clients did not bang down my door to use my talents.

I figure my prep and floor time was 44 hours for just one expo. With sales under $350, Iกd say that was slave labor.

Think of Your Promotion Time and Budget

Most one or twobook authors don’t have a large marketing budget. Marketing their speaking leaves them little time to write and promote their books. Marketing experts say do five things a day, six days a week, which sounds pretty doable. But do they bring results?

Aren’t sales what we should count? Before the sales roll in however, you need to create a foundationกa planกof what you want to promote, what money you want to make from it monthly, how much time you are willing to give it, and how you will get the word out to your target audience. This takes a little time, but is worth it.

If other marketing and promotion campaigns have brought few book sales, have left your wallet thinner, wasted your valuable time, or left you with a garage full of unsold masterpieces, you may now be ready to set up your bookกs virtual marketing machinethe Internet.

About The Author

Judy Cullins: 20year author, speaker, book coach

Helps entrepreneurs manifest their book and web dreams

eBk: ‘ten Nontechie Ways to Market Onlineก

www.bookcoaching.com/products.shtml

Send an email to mailto:[email protected]

FREE The Book Coach Says… includes 2 free eReports

mailto:[email protected]

Ph:619/466/0622

This article was posted on July 09, 2003

by Judy Cullins

Benefits of Shareware

Benefits of Shareware

by: S. Housley

Shareware has been fighting the stigma of being misunderstood for decades. While corporate software giants can no longer ignore the marketing potential of a trial version, small software startups are struggling with new listings and bandwidth costs. Businesses and individual consumers need to take a closer look at the benefits of taking advantage of shareware marketing. The concept of a trial version is not a new one. Consumer expectations, and the need for immediate satisfaction have spurned the industry to realize the need for instant software. The availability of file downloads in the Internet era, is spurning a revolution of purchasers who never leaving their homes or offices. As a result, the Internet has taken the proliferation of shareware to a new level.
Why the Success?
Why developers have succeeded using shareware marketing under poor global economic conditions is fairly obvious. Shareware allows consumers to evaluate an application prior to making a purchase decision. There are no risks to the consumer, if the trial version does not satisfy a purchasers needs, they do not spend the money registering. Evaluating the software prior to purchasing also increases consumer satisfaction as they gain a complete understanding of the software they are ordering and there is little room for surprises. Trying the software before buying is no longer a novelty it is a consumer expectation.
Traditionally, because the barrier to entry is fairly low, companies participating in shareware marketing are usually small and willing to provide personalized service uncommon in large companies. Customers often speak directly with developers requesting feature enhancements, thus improving the software for all. Software support forums with users helping other users have become commonplace. These allow developers to focus on future upgrades, while repetitive user issues can be quickly dealt with. Software developers, who market via the shareware method, have revolutionized traditional support models.
Many of the shareware directories provide ratings and user assessments. Often the user reviews provide insight to important feature sets. Allowing consumers an opportunity to assess and compare multiple products prior to making a decision.
Let us not forget the delivery advantage the shareware model has over the traditional retail counterpart. Shareware allows for instant gratification, there is no need to wait for a shipment because consumers can download and use the software immediately.
What does this all mean?
Marketing via the shareware method is far less expensive than traditional advertising, the increased customer demands, personalized service and instant satisfaction all provide an added consumer benefits. With Shareware, software developers, have a great method for consumers to evaluate and purchase their software. Consumers can easily determine if the software is suitable. Ultimately, by allowing the software to sell itself, consumers often obtain top quality software that is priced far less than traditional retail applications.

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com, and http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net

This article was posted on June 29, 2004

by S. Housley