"For Agents and Financial Professionals Only"

Seven Reasons Why Home Buyers Need Their Own Agent

2009-01-30T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: AC Roda

Except for 'For Sale By Owner' homeowners (AKA as unrepresented sellers), Sellers who have their home listed will have an agent looking out for them.........so why not you, the Buyer? Shouldn't you have someone in your corner 'looking out for you'?

Sellers with their home listed have a Listing Agent, who is contractually bound to 1) make every effort to obtain the highest price for the home, and 2) exclusively negotiate favorably all terms and conditions for the Seller. So, when you call on a listing, you'll most likely get the Listing Agent. Although the agent may be friendly, personable, and offering accommodating arrangements to show and describe the home, when it comes time to write a contract and beyond, that agent will be looking out for the seller.

Buyers are often lulled into thinking they'll be alright. They may get lucky and do okay, but more than likely, they will come out better, both financially and contractually, had they had a Buyer Agent on your side.

Let's put one issue to rest right up front......and that is this common thought, ""Well, if I only have to deal with one agent, instead of two, that's one less commission that gets paid......money that can reduce the price......to my benefit.""

Sounds good, and one espoused by some ill advised seminar leaders out there, but in the majority of cases, it doesn't work that way. For that idea to work, one must essentially negotiate away from the Listing Agent half of the commission that the Seller has already agreed to pay them via the Listing Agreement (a legal contract). The Seller, again via the Listing Agreement, has agreed to allow a Buyer Agent who procures a Buyer to share in the commission. But there is no Buyer Agent, as the buyer is unrepresented. So guess what......that money stays with the Listing Agent.

A 'commission cutting' buyer will have to be a very good negotiator to persuade the Listing Agent to give up half of their paycheck. One may get a small percentage break, but more likely it would be less than what a good Buyer Agent can negotiate on the transaction.........like a lower price, more Seller paid closing costs, better Seller paid repairs, a Seller paid home warranty, etc. So, unless one plays the negotiating game daily, like most high volume Listing Agents do, the buyer is more likely to pay more in the end than if they had a Buyer Agent......so much for saving money!

So, just what is it that makes a Buyer Agent so beneficial? ....or better yet, what's the benefit to you to use one? Here's seven reasons......there's most likely a few more, but seven is everyone's lucky number:

1. A good Buyer Agent will negotiate the best price for their client and their client alone. They bring knowledge of the local market, awareness of zoning issues affecting property value, and they network with lots of agents revealing perhaps the sellers motivations (now doesn't that present an advantage in negotiations?).

Also, they can advise buyers on the future marketability of the property (remember....the buyer, or the buyer's heirs, will need to sell the property some day.

2. Over the years, experienced Buyer Agents get to know who the good home inspectors are and also the bad ones.......and unfortunately, there's plenty of bad ones. In some states, home inspectors are totally unregulated. It's the weakest link in the home buying process, where transactions often fall apart. Here in Georgia, a ladder and flashlight will put someone in the home inspection business ............and we're not too sure about the ladder!

Knowing the right vendors go beyond just home inspectors. What if the HVAC needs to be checked out? How about the roof? Home inspectors typically don't go beyond a cursory check of these components and often recommend that a licensed contractor inspect these components, anyway. A good Buyer Agent will know the honest contractors who will complete an objective inspection for a reasonable fee.

3. There's no cost to the buyer! Buyer Agents are paid by sharing in the listing broker's commission as previously agreed to by the seller via the listing agreement (a legal contract) when the property was listed. Commission costs to the seller are the same, regardless of who sells the home.

As stated earlier, thinking one can buy the home for a lower price because there's one less agent involved is erroneous thinking. Listing agents aren't about to give up any dollars the seller has already agreed to pay. Furthermore, one can argue that attempting to 'downsize' that commission can be interpreted as ""interfering"" with a legally binding contract.......that's illegal, folks.

4. A good Buyer Agent can find homes that meet the buyer's requirements faster and better than the buyer, regardless of all the wonderful public internet websites that profess to have _all_ the listings in their database. How? Active networking agents will know about homes that are available, but not listed.

Past clients of active high production agents will often tell them 'Susie Agent, we really don't want to deal with the rigors of listing our home, and we're certainly not under any 'must move' time constraints, so if you come across someone who might be interested, please keep our home in mind'......happens all the time.

Another scenario is where the Buyer Agent knows of a home that's undergoing minor repairs or updating in preparation to being listed soon. These homeowners are typically more than happy to entertain an offer and avoid the listing process.

5. Verify the value of the property. Sellers can ask anything they want for their home, but a savvy Buyer Agent will ensure the buyer doesn't pay anymore than necessary.........and at least be comfortable that the appraisal will come in at or above the contract price.

An effective Buyer Agent will conduct a comparative market analysis, which essentially is an unofficial appraisal, and arrive at a value range for the home. Regardless of the asking or list price, offers, and subsequently contract price, should be within that range.

6. Present a wide choice of lenders, one of which may have just the right loan program for you. Interest rates and closing costs are not always the major selection criteria for a mortgage.

For example, did you know a loan program is available where the costs of any improvement, renovation, restoration, or repair can be rolled into the original mortgage? Again, a good Buyer Agent will know the right lenders, with the right loan products to offer, and match them to the particular situation.

7. Negotiate contract terms and conditions beyond price. There's a lot more to be negotiated in a purchase and sale agreement than price. Among others there's seller paid closing costs (if any), closing date, possession date, earnest money amount and who holds it, and inspection terms (often called Round 2 of Negotiations)............and any number of special stipulations that may apply. Sometimes negotiating the price is the easy part!

Okay, now that hopefully the value of a good Buyer Agent is appreciated, how does one find one? Or choose one? Most consumers either have a Realtor they're comfortable with from a previous transaction or are referred to one by a friend, relative, or business associate.

None of those sources guarantee they've found a good Buyer Agent. All Buyer Agents are Realtors, but all Realtors are not Buyer Agents. Probably the surest approach to finding a good Buyer Agent is to look for an EBA (Exclusive Buyer Agent). These folks are hard to come by, and because real estate, in the end, is a local endeavor, there may not be one around to service the buyer's area. EBA's are committed to work only with buyers. These agents do not take listings; hence, 'exclusive' 'agents'. Further, to be really purist about it, an EBA's brokerage should not list properties. Again, their agents only work with buyers.

Short of finding one of these rare birds locally, one should at least ensure their Buyer Agent holds the ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative) designation. This is NAR's (National Association of Realtors) official recognition that the agent has completed the training needed to represent buyers and advocate for them in all phases of the real estate purchase cycle.

Another good rule to follow, in this author's opinion, is to stay away from agents with many listings. If you see a certain agent's name on a lot of 'For Sale' signs around town, chances are that agent is a 'heavy lister', meaning most of the commissions they receive are a result of being the listing agent, i.e. they've built their business and career out of representing the seller, not the buyer. With all that mental and physical energy focused every day on looking out for the sellers, is it reasonable to expect them to shift gears easily and now look out for the buyers? Not likely.

Simply try to find a good reputable agent with an ABR designation who, by choice, does not take many listings. Most active agents network with other agents all the time. So, if you know a local ABR, but need one elsewhere, simply ask the local ABR to refer you to a fellow ABR in the area to which you are relocating......chances are they do it all the time and will gladly help you.

And if you don't know any at all, call or email this agent/author. He'll tap into a national network of ABR designated Realtors and refer you to one with a good track record who services your area.

There you have it. What do you have to lose? Nothing........and a lot to gain.....including dollars. And remember........it doesn't cost you a dime!

About the author: Kem & AC Roda is a Realtor team with The Home Source Realtors in Peachtree City, Georgia. You can visit or email them at AtlantaHomesSouth.com or give them a call at 678-234-1239.

Tips to Talking to Your Parents About Aging Issues

2009-01-29T03:01:00.000-08:00

By Sue Cunningham, Certified Senior Advisor

Tip #1

Q: Mom still lives alone and she's getting careless in the kitchen. She has forgotten to turn off the stove several times. What can I do?

A: It is always best, if appropriate; to first approach your mom to see if she is aware of what she is doing. Maybe she has a lot on her mind?

But if she is truly getting "forgetful," it may be time to have her evaluated for a mini-mental test from her neurologist to evaluate her memory.

You may also have to unplug the stove if things are really serious.

Alternative methods to provide meals will then need to be addressed.

Tip #2

Q: How do I talk to my parents about their driving? I'm scared not only for them but for others, as well.

A: "Taking away the keys" from anyone who values and needs their car to maintain their independence (and that is almost everyone) is always difficult, especially if the person does not agree it is necessary. If that is the case, you can try bringing in reinforcements:
*At the next doctor visit, ask the senior's doctor to "write a prescription" that says the senior can no longer drive.
*Have a family meeting with the senior present to explain why the family feels it is necessary; you will need to have alternative methods of transportation available.
*Check with your local Department of Motor Vehicles to see if they have a policy in place that addresses this issue.

Tip #3

Q: How can I communicate better with my grandmother as her hearing and eyesight begins to fade but who still wants to live in her home?

A: For her eyesight concerns, check with your local library to see if they have large print books. Ask them about the availability of audio books and if they can be mailed to the senior's home. In most states this is a free service but it must be verified and endorsed by a physician.

For her hearing concerns, get a phone with not only an extra loud ringer, but also with a light on it that blinks when the phone rings. You can also purchase speakerphones that eliminate the need to take out hearing aids when answering the phone. And don't forget the voice activated inline phone dialer that automatically dials the number when a name is spoken. Check with your local electronics store.

Tip #4

Q: My parents are having a hard time doing yard work. At 80, Dad admits he is struggling with lawn equipment. But he doesn't want to "let go" yet.

A: It is never easy for any of us to "let go." And most seniors don't want to spend the money to get help when it is needed.

If the family is in a position to assist, they can divide up the work.

Some families have teenaged grandchildren who want some extra money. See if they will help out.

Some churches provide volunteers who will make minor repairs or do simple yard work. Some state organizations, such as Senior Services (see your local phone book) provide help based on the income of the senior.

Especially in the summer, check with local high schools who may have students looking for some summer work.

These tips are from the PDF booklet titled, How to Talk To Your Parents About Almost Anything…52 weeks of the year written by Sue Cunningham, Certified Senior Advisor, founder and President of Senior Resources Group, Inc. (www.seniorresourcesgroup.com). The booklet is available for $9 from her site. Sue is a columnist, presenter and author of the book, Unwrapping the Sandwich Generation…life vignettes about seniors and their adult children as they face aging issues. The book is available from the author for $14.95 (plus s & h) or go to www.amazon.com.

Perception and how it Impacts Selling!

2009-01-28T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Teri Samuels

Perception is created by beliefs and images. The seller and the buyer become engaged in a series of beliefs or perceptions about one another based on a number of factors. What type of ""image"" are you sending? What's your perception of your customer?

Perceptions commonly include prejudices that can predict outcomes!

Scenario: Keep in mind the examples listed below are taking place on a 'Hot' summer day in Florida in an upscale neighborhood!

Let's assume you're a local realtor and I contact you with specific interest in one of your property listings. You gather some basic information about me and we agree to meet at the property. You're already there when I arrive, sitting in your Infiniti SUV, dressed in a business suit. I pull up in an older but well maintained ""pick up"", dressed in jeans, sweater and boots. We're not what either one expected. My perception of you might me you're smug, uptight, and somewhat unapproachable. Your perception of me might be I couldn't afford this property; after all, I don't even drive a car let alone a new one. Both of us are already uptight and/or uncomfortable because of preconceived images and/or impressions. What are the chances of my buying a house from you?

Let's take another look at the above scenario with a few minor adjustments:

You're already there when I pull up and everything on your side remains the same. I however, pull up in a Newer model BMW professionally dressed. I step out of the car and you quickly introduce yourself. My response is cordial. There's an immediate level of familiarity. Perhaps my perception of you is that you're successful and professional. Your perception of me might be I'm professional and therefore could afford to buy this house. Interestingly enough we're both the same, exact people as above presenting a different image, therefore creating a different perception. If I'm sincere in my desire to purchase a home the chances of my purchasing thru you are now much greater - provided I could afford to buy ... Get the picture?

Thoughts Worth Remembering:

***As a rule, we like and respond more favorably to people that most resemble ourselves. ""A real challenge in Sales.""

***How many sales have you lost as a result of faulty perception? Either yours or the prospects!

PRIOR TO MEETING YOUR CUSTOMER/S TAKE A MOMENT TO CLEAR YOU MIND OF PRECONCEIVED IDEAS AND PREJUDICES. By keeping an open mind you just might gain a new customer.

About the author: Teri Samuels, CEO - United Sales Training (http://www.unitedsalestraining.com), 20 years as a Professional Sales and Marketing Troubleshooter, Trainer, Recruiter, Upper Level Manager, and Consulting Professional. Dedicated to the ""keep it simple"" approach.

Learning to Think Like a Customer: Selling Tips for Success

2009-01-27T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Stephen Wright

One of the most common mistakes marketers make is advertising and marketing based on personal opinions and perceptions. Unsuccessful ones tend to think this way, not only about the product being sold, but also regarding how potential customers will act and react to our advertising approach. This then begs the obvious question (which isn't so obvious)--why do customers buy in the first place. What is their motivation, purpose in buying? What do they need the product/service for? What needs are they satisfying in buying the products in the first place? Seems like simple and basic questions, right? Not really, when you dig deeper under the surface. The better we understand and appropriately respond to these questions, the more sales, revenue and success we will have.

Fact number one: potential customers buy for personal reasons(theirs), not ours. They could care less about our company, glitzy website, or how long the list of product features so skillfully displayed. They only care about the oldest motivation in the book - WII-FM (what's in it for ME!).

They want the benefit, the impact, the improvement, the comfort, or the security it will deliver, period. Most small (and large for that matter) business marketing fails to address these crucial customer needs directly. All too often the focus is mistakenly on the greatness of the product or service, and not on what is important (to the customer that is). Marketers are often their own worst enemy.

Frequently, they are not communicating on the buyer's level of motivation. They are too busy figuring out how to ""sell"" the product than finding out the reasons the customer ""buys"" in the first place.

The problem comes down to the marketing strategy that is employed. Are you pushing the product or are you pulling the customer through the marketing process? The distinction becomes very important and critical to success. Since buyers only care about their needs and take action for their personal reasons, why should they pay attention to why you think your product is so great?

When you push products, you are essentially telling the customer that they should buy from you because of your reasons. With this egocentric approach you often run into a stone wall of objections and delays. Pushing the product forces them out of their comfort zone and places unnecessary pressure on their decision making process. A relentless assault of closing techniques pushes them away from a purchase decision on ""their terms"".

Pulling a potential customer through the purchase process is much more effective. When you pull you are leading them to the purchase like leading a horse to water. You gently guide them through your features and benefits and come to a decision on their terms. If they resist you have not educated them enough with information to motivate them or you haven't addressed their objections sufficiently.

The potential customer will only make a decision when they are comfortably satisfied your offer has met all of their purchase criteria. As a seller, you must pull them through the process and always let them stay within the limits of their comfort zone. It's by staying within these boundaries that trust is established and a long term relationship is built with the customer.

Also remember that the purchasing process is completely rooted in the perceptions of the buyer. They have ultimate control over the process, not you. Your job as a marketer is to develop all your communications to make them comfortable and lead them to the best outcome...purchasing your product or service.

Always be aware of which method you are using - push or pull - and adopt it to the potential customer's personal reasons for purchasing and you will enjoy continuous success.

About the author: Stephen Wright is President & CEO of InternetMarketingUSA.com Get everything you need to make money online in ""Dotcomology: The Science of Making Money Online"". Includes Over 30 Time-Saving, Profit-Producing, Influence-Expanding Tools And Software Programs Absolutely Free at: http://www.InternetMarketingUSA.com/dotcomology.html

NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as

Enhance Your Unique Selling Proposition

2009-01-26T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert Boduch

Having a strong Unique Selling Proposition can help you gain a distinctive edge in any competitive marketplace. Your USP, also known as a Unique Selling Advantage or Unique Competitive Advantage, helps to position you in the eyes of your prospect. It should clearly and succinctly communicate to your prospective customer why he or she should buy from you.

The best USP's come about from an in-depth understanding of your industry and competition. To create a fantastic USP, you need to know first what your competitors are using.

Your USP tells the marketplace what you offer, what makes you different from the other guys and what you'll do for them that will make them want to do business with you over and above all the other options available... including doing nothing. Your USP should focus on what you do best and what clearly distinguishes from all other competing businesses.

Keys To Success

The most successful USP's focus on a big emotional benefit that company offers that no one else does. It's vital to know your competition. Domino's Pizza's famous promise of pizza delivered to your door in ""30 minutes or less, or it's Free"" helped created a huge business and revolutionized the pizza delivery business.

You'll maximize your results when you create a compelling, huge promise that you can consistently deliver on and that you communicate everywhere. Promote your USP everywhere including; business cards, letterhead, all marketing materials, web site, product packaging, Yellow Pages Ads, etc.

How?

The best system I've seen for developing a strong USP, comes from Marketing guru, Jay Abraham. He suggests taking out 2 sheets of paper. On one sheet write, ""You Know How..."" and on the other write ""Well, what we do is...""

Here's an example of this formula in action:

""You know how most home cleaners only work to schedules that suit them. Well, what we do is send a crew whenever you want, anytime of day or night, 7 days a week, including holidays, 52 weeks a year. When you want your home cleaned, we're there fast, guaranteed!""

Here's another:

""You know how most contractors promise a hassle-free renovation, then... they're always behind schedule, leave your house a mess... and they even have the nerve to charge you 15% more than their estimate! Well what we do is ensure your job will be completed on time and at the initial price quoted - 100% guaranteed! And, our crew understands that you're living in your home throughout the renovation, so we promise to take extra time at the end of every day, just to clean up any mess. We help you create dreams... not nightmares.""

Now, you may want to edit these examples down a manageable size, but by going through this exercise, you'll come up with a powerful USP that sets you apart. The length of your ideal USP depends on the nature of your business and the means you'll use to communicate it.

Examples

U-Haul offers an interesting USP with, ""Only U-Haul Moving Vans Have Low Decks And Gentle-Ride Suspensions"". ING Direct promises ""Higher Interest Rates, No Minimum Balance and No Fees Or Service Charges"". And Xerox offers ""A Simpler Way To Do Good Work"".

More resources at www.makeyoursalessoar.com

About the author: Robert Boduch is an author of dozens of best-selling books, reports and articles on the art and science of selling. A free newsletter targeted at anyone interested in selling more of anything is available at www.makeyoursalessoar.com

The Tough Task Of Being A Life Insurance Agent

2009-01-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Gray Rollins

Life insurance agents have a very challenging occupation. To be a life insurance agent, you must be able to combine the gentle and responsive nature of a friend with the cold and almost ruthless salesmanship of a hardened professional. The best life insurance agents are able to make this tough job look effortless, but making a good living in this field is more like a walk on a tightrope than like a walk in the park.

Selling people life insurance seems innately difficult, because it is no easy task to talk somebody into spending the remainder of his or her life paying money for something that won't benefit anybody until after he or she is dead. Some policies are more flexible, allowing for some liquidity so the beneficiaries can access a portion of the money during the customer's lifetime, but other kinds of policies often make the complete sum of accumulated money untouchable until the customer is deceased. This makes many people reticent to invest in a life insurance policy when they could easily put that money into a potentially more lucrative and certainly more flexible portfolio of stock or mutual fund investments. A good life insurance agent must be able to express to these kinds of potential customers why life insurance is a better choice than the other fiscal options available, and being able to do so requires not only very firm conviction under pressure but a talent for articulation and persuasion as well.

Most salesmen and saleswomen are able to walk away as soon as the customer has signed on the dotted line, but being a life insurance agent requires a substantial degree of involvement with the customer all the way until the point in time when the money is paid out to the beneficiaries. Once a customer has purchased a life insurance policy, the agent's job is far from over, which has quite a bit to do with how agents attract potential clients. Today, life insurance agents get a large percentage of their business through word of mouth referrals. This makes it absolutely imperative for an agent to keep up relationships with all of his or her clients.

To keep up a strong relationship with his or her customers so that they will send over their friends and neighbors to take out policies as well, a life insurance agent must be in contact with his or her clients on a regular basis just to check in. If a problem does arise, the agent must be responsive and quick to act in order to keep the customer's confidence, because confidence translates into referrals. Given that being a life insurance agent requires a strong bond between agent and client, it is little wonder then that many life insurance salespeople are starting to branch out into other areas of financial planning as well. By being able to offer a customer a variety of services, the agents are maximizing their own efficiency and earning potential while also increasing their customers' satisfaction.

About the author: Gray Rollins is a featured writer for USAInsuranceCenter.com. To learn more about life insurance agents and affordable life insurance , visit us.

The Secret Rules of Selling

2009-01-24T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Joseph Farinaccio

I'm about to share with you the secret rules of selling.

Well... okay... they're not really a secret. But not many people think about them - - that's for sure. You may already know them, unless you're completely new to marketing.

Here's #1: People don't like it when someone tries to ""sell"" them something. Is that profound or what?

Perhaps this is best illustrated by thinking of how you feel when walking onto a car lot to look at that new or used vehicle. Look forward to it? Probably not. I've had some bad experiences in those places.

When anybody tries to ""sell us"" we tend to feel manipulated. We don't like the idea of being pushed into buying.

The person reading your sales copy feels the same way.

And now... the good news.

If you write your sales letter correctly you won't have to worry about your prospect feeling manipulated. Why?

Because if your sales letter is written properly you can entice your prospect into genuinely WANTING what you have to offer.

How do you do this? By writing in such a way that your product or service appeals to the emotions within your prospect. This is key. Why? Because #2 in the secret rules of selling is emotions control the buying process.

Did you think people buy things for purely ""logical"" reasons?

Nope.

People buy things for emotional reasons.

We are emotional creatures. These emotions are tangled with our ""logic"" more than we might care to admit.

Which leads us to #3 in the secret rules of selling...

After people choose to buy something to satisfy an emotion they use their logic (their reasoning) to justify the purchase they WANT to make.

Always remember: A) emotions first B) reasons second

The logic to justify a purchase comes AFTER the emotional attachment to the product/service has been established. If a product doesn't appeal to you emotionally first then you never move forward to the point of using logic to justify making a purchase. It's that simple.

You buy something because of what you believe it's going to ""do"" for you. Like... make you better looking ... be richer ... be more productive ... or more comfortable ... or make your life easier in some way - - etc. The idea of these things tends to make us ""feel"" better.

Ever go into a Starbucks and buy a super-sugary triple chocolate pastry and a double latte smothered in whip cream?

No? Okay. A banana split? Sure!

Why?

It's not healthy for you. Treats like that can give you diabetes. But if you like ice cream... or coffee and pastry you don't care. It tastes good!

Mmmmmm.

It FEELS good too. That kind of purchase isn't rational. It's about feelings. Taste. Smell. The sugar-rush. A feeling of satisfaction in your belly.

The secret rules of selling dictate that your sales copy must first be aimed at your prospect's emotions.

Logic does play a role. But only after the emotional appeal has been made. Go ahead and give the facts and figures about your product or service. But only after the emotions within your reader have been stirred.

Your prospect doesn't want to be pushed. But she or he likes to be tempted.

Oh yeeeeeeessss...

We're emotional creatures. We want to feel good. We want to be popular. We want our lives easier. We want more time for leisure. We want adventure. We want happiness...

... and the secret rules of selling dictate that sales copy must link what your product or service DOES to the emotions within your prospective buyer.

You'll be writing your copy to stir up feelings like envy, fear, insecurity, pride, laziness, greed, vanity... etc. Then you'll be trying to show off your product or service as the thing that will fulfill their desire and meet their needs.

Read advertising ""classics"" from guys like John Caples and Victor Schwab and you'll learn how to write copy that applies these secret rules of selling in your sales letters and web copy. You'll be astounded by the results.

About the author: Joe Farinaccio helps business owners and entrepreneurs make money using direct response advertising. To discover the best ways of selling your product/service, and the how-to's of profit-pulling sales copy ... visit his website at ... http://www.sales-letters-and-marketing.com

IN SELLING THE SIZZLE, DON'T FORGET THE STEAK

2009-01-23T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Bob McElwain

Picture a pink elephant dancing the two-step in a bright blue skirt. Got it? Are you sure? If not, reread this paragraph.

If you really have it, you won't be able to forget it if asked to do so. Pictures in our minds are simply too powerful to be erased on command.

We Think In Pictures

If I ask you what you had for breakfast, you'll bring up a memory of your plate, then tell me what you ate as you ""watch"" yourself doing so. While some think in the abstract, just sort of rattle off a list, most of us will picture ourselves eating breakfast, then hold that image long enough to answer the question.

If I ask what you did last summer vacation, and you had a great, fun-filled time, you may become so overwhelmed with pictures, you kind of shrug, maybe grin, then say something inane like, ""I had a real good time.""

But if I can get you to talking about that vacation, the pictures will roll out in front of you one by one, and you'll describe them in grand detail. Swimming in the ice cold stream. How that sudden thunder shower forced you to dash for cover. About the campfires, and the very long tales shared over the coals. And that bear. That for sure is something you'll remember!

Now if I ask what your three favorite websites are, what's going to happen? Are you likely to rattle off the URLs? Or will you first remember the image of the site, then maybe plug in that URL? For most, it's the latter. Because we think, and remember, in pictures.

The Image Of Your Website Must Be Memorable

To the degree possible, you want the image of your site to remain as clear in your visitor's mind as that ice cold stream, that sudden thunder shower, the campfires, and that bear.

Three elements need to be blended with precisely the proper mix to make this happen.

1) The headline and subheadings must bring a quick answer to your visitor's question: What's in this for me? And, of course, they must demonstrate, almost in a glance, that there is in fact something here of great value to them. To the degree these collective elements create a positive mental image of your offer, they contribute powerfully to your site.

2) The body copy under each subheading must also draw a great picture. In this case, a ""picture"" of benefits to the visitor. Seek to create an image for your visitor in which he or she can see themselves enjoying this benefit.

3) The art work is secondary to the above, but absolutely critical. All must enhance the presentation, but in a quiet, non-intrusive manner. Bold images fail because they have a thrust, a push, unappealing to most. Soften these elements. Blend them into a simple, attractive, pleasant, and supportive background. Let the art work complete the task of creating a memorable image of the site.

Sell With Images Drawn With Words

We must picture ourselves experiencing the benefits of a product before buying it. There's nothing new in this. Copywriters have known it for years. We need to listen to these people, and study their work with care.

If we are selling tickets to Tahiti, we do not attempt to do so directly. First we show our reader, a man in this case, the beautiful beaches, with nicely tanned people cavorting about and having a grand time. And, of course, the hula dancers for which the island is famous. We show our prospect what he will feel on this beach under the tropical sun, with the drink of his choice in hand, and a lovely woman close by.

Only when we are certain he has this picture clearly in mind, do we begin leading gently toward a sale. Maybe: We can to get you on a plane, into a great hotel, then out onto that beach in just a few short hours. Then maybe: Isn't it time you did something for yourself? Or maybe just for the heck of it?

By Contrast, ...

Picture a site that slaps you the face with images up top which are slow to load. As to our needs, the comments are limited to, ""We're the best,"" ""Cheapest rates,"" and so forth. All followed by a confusing, jumbled array of options that are virtually unintelligible at least at first glace. And maybe later as well.

Which site will you chose to work with? Which site will you remember?

Pictures Matter

Not graphics. That's not what I mean at all. What matters is the pictures you are able to create in your visitor's mind. And that's pretty much all that does matter.

I continue to be awed at how delicious those hamburgers from Jack In The Box look in the TV commercials, particularly after just finishing a great dinner. And only $0.99? Wow. Where do I sign up? Problem is, I tried one once. Spoils the image for me, that's for sure.

I love the idea behind, ""Sell the sizzle, not the steak."" But underneath it all, you'll do better if there's a great steak.

About the author: Bob McElwain Want to build a winning site? Improve one you already have? Fix one that's busted? Get ANSWERS. Subscribe to ""STAT News"" now! mailto:join-stat@lyris.dundee.net Web marketing and consulting since 1993 Site: Phone: 209-742-6349

Selling to the Sellers -- A Lesson in Feminine Wisdom

2009-01-22T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Joe Bingham

Basically speaking, anyone you are trying to sell to, is also a seller themselves, or at least a want to be seller.

So how do you sell to the seller?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

Method #1 -- The Wisdom of a Woman

Sellers are interested in buying those things that can help them become better sellers. So, don't sell your product to them, sell them their own sales.

Women figured out long ago that the best way to get men to like them was to keep the topic of conversation centered around the man. Well, sellers can be sold in the same manner. Talk about their sales profits, their sales numbers, and their results. Relate your product to increases in their sales.

Method # 2 The Wisdom of a Girlfriend

This method is much like a wise girlfriend who helps her boyfriend take better care of himself by making him think that it is his idea. For the first time in a man's life, the trash is taken out on a regular schedule, dishes are done, and clothes are washed regularly. Now, while the man thinks he is doing it to impress the woman, without her knowledge, in reality, the woman is simply inspiring the man to become what he should have been already -- so he will be good enough for her.

Sellers like to be sellers, and hate to become a buyer. So, in order to make sales for yourself, you must transform your buyer into a seller.

Re-sell items are great! People buy it from you and then re-sell it to others. In this manner, they are not really buyers, but 'investors' making a capital purchase which then allows them to immediately become sellers of what they have purchased.

So, just like the boyfriend who thinks he is doing things of his own mind, your buyers will think they are just 'investing sellers'.

Method # 3 The Wisdom of a Wife

After you have made initial contact with buyers and convinced them that they are actually just 'investing sellers' out to increase their own profits, you need repeat contact.

Often a husband's happiness is directly related to the happiness of his wife. In this way, the wife keeps in touch with the husband and keeps them happy together. Otherwise, the husband may turn forgetful and do too much on his own.

It's the same with keeping repeat customers. You need to maintain contact. Ezines, newsletters, or business announcements to initial buyers will allow you to make additional offers to them, or just remind them that your services are still around. Just like in courtship, meet them, date them, and marry them.

So now you know, selling to the sellers is simply a matter of persuasion. And as you can see, there's no better brand of persuasion to learn from better than that of the feminine order.

I can testify to that one personally.

About the author: Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters Subscribe at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com Publish Your OWN Ezine -- The EASY and Enjoyable Way! *Receive Original, Pre-Written Ezine Issues -- You Publish! *Get Access to Extensive Promotional Resources *Initiate and Keep Contacts, Expand Your Online Presence See it! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html

Back End Selling . . . .

2009-01-21T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Don Monteith

There are other names given to ""back-end""selling. You may think of it as follow through… or maybe VALUE added. All are good terms. Let's see how you can profit from this idea.

For our purpose today… let's just FOCUS on the benefit of back-end selling. Its simplest meaning is…. the SELLING you do AFTER the first sale. Your profits come mainly from repeat business rather than from the initial (first order) sale of your service or product.

Your greatest COST (accumulated expenses) is in the FIRST sale. Not always, I know! Let's just believe it will be in most cases. How long did you have to work before that first sale? Did it take you five minutes or five years? All the time this customer was NOT buying from you there was still the overhead to pay.

Obviously, some high-ticket items can absorb the cost and still be profitable. You only need the one sale from a customer. However, we could probably agree that most items that we sell or buy are of a more moderate $$$ value. Meaning the profit return comes from the repeat customer.

Have you ever known a razor company to give away the razor? Why? The profit is in the blades! It's happening today on the Internet. Computers are getting cheaper and cheaper. Even free when you sign up for a service. Sometimes a company will giveaway or ""loan"" a machine to a customer because the profit is in the supplies. This is known as ""back-end"" selling.

You have the challenge to find your ""back-end""! How can you make more sales to the same customer? Sell more of the same product? Service? Can you offer an add-on? Related items? It can even be something entirely different. Put another way, just keep selling ""something"" to the same customer. Your best source of new or continuing revenue.

Many firms stop with the one (1st) sale and never realize the added profits they are leaving behind. YOU would never let this happen. On the other hand, maybe it would just be a good exercise for all of us…. to ASK yourself…. am I selling everything I possibly can to ALL of my current customers? Hits hard, doesn't it?

Think about it! You have been successful in making that first sale. Why? Our basic assumption is that you have earned their confidence. Trust. You have lived up to your promises. Your product or service has met or exceeded their expectation. It's only natural to believe that you will live up to this same level of competence in the future.

Search for your USP… Unique Selling Proposition. What is it that makes YOUR firm stand out from the pack? Are you REALLY any different? Do you offer something special that only YOU can provide? This is what separates the great businesses from the also ran. You have to be unique. Different! A visionary. Added VALUE is every customer's expectation today.

Your next challenge is to find as many ""back-end"" products / services as you can. There is no better customer than one who has already done business with you. YOUR greatest business asset is your customer… without him/her…there is no business.

ACTION TIP: Treat your customer as someone SPECIAL. Look for new products to compliment your first sale. Separate yourself and your firm from the ordinary. Be an important source of information. Make suggestions. Offer to help. Work hard at keeping every customer. Your most valuable business asset.

About the author: Don Monteith DonMonteith@Ezine-Traffic.com Tel: (704) 392-6634

Take 3 Steps Back and Create the Business You Want

2009-01-20T03:02:00.000-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, CSP, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Have you ever wondered why some financial advisors have the kind of businesses they want, while others don't? It's really no big mystery. They simply took three steps back and made the important choices that led them to their current success.

To create the business you want, start by taking the first step back: Decide what kind of life you want. Do you know exactly how you want to spend the next 10, 20, or 30 years? When you decide how you want your life to look and why, you're ready to take the second step and create a financial game plan.

It almost goes without saying that there's a financial component involved in creating the life you want. Therefore, step two is to figure out how much money you need to live the life you want. You also need to consider the time component: How much time are you willing to invest today in order to earn for your future? Most people are willing to sacrifice some quality of life today so they can achieve a better quality of life in the future, but if that sacrifice gets too big, then their willingness to continue eventually diminishes.

By figuring out how much money you need and how much time you're willing to work, you're ready for step three: figuring out how to invest that time. When you know what you want your life to look like and how you're willing to invest your time, you'll quickly realize that you don't have any time to waste.

I'm sometimes criticized for telling advisors not to spend their time poring over the financial news or becoming overeducated, which I define as spending more time trying to understand the market, economics, how world events affect the markets, and investment selection than is incrementally beneficial to your clients. (Notice that I did not recommend that you be a complete financial idiot.) I also tell advisors not to waste time educating clients, not only because your clients don't need to be educated about every aspect of financial services in order to make good decisions (they don't), but also because you don't have time to become an expert in all things financial.

The good news is that what produces a simpler and better life for you also creates better results and value for your clients. Our experience shows that clients are much better served when you organize a "deliverables team" that is dedicated to making sure your clients achieve their goals regardless of what happens in the market, the economy, or the world. Whether you're 22 years old and a brand-new advisor, or 65 years old with decades of experience, your personal time in the business will never match the collective wisdom and experience you can put to bear toward your client's best interest when you assemble a team of competent, professional, trustworthy money managers, financial plan writers, insurance experts, tax professionals, attorneys, etc., to work for you and your clients.

Don't delude yourself into thinking, "Once I get my arms around all this stuff, my business will really take off." All that stuff is impossible to "get your arms around." It's simply too much stuff, coming from too many sources, and there's simply not enough time. You have too many clients and too many variables to ever be able to manage in the finite amount of time that you can dedicate to your business without letting the rest of your life falling apart. Do you know why you feel like there's never enough time? Because there isn't enough time to run the business you have or are trying to build.

If you want your business to take off, focus your attention on the only three things that matter: acquiring new clients, serving your existing clients, and managing your staff who handles the administrative details of your business. Unfortunately, many advisors get so consumed with putting out administrative fires, money management, investment selection, insurance products, annuities, account aggregation systems, client service platforms, CRM software, staying current with tax laws, etc., that they don't have time to acquire enough great clients or run a great business. They rationalize that their business isn't as successful as it could be because they have to spend their time "serving" their clients. It's a real trap that actually leaves most clients under-served and most advisors under-successful.

To create an excellent business life that supports a phenomenal personal life, you must take charge of your time and put the most important things first. Many advisors aren't willing to do this. They tell their clients, "You want to be educated? I'll educate you. You only want to meet once a year? We'll only meet once a year. You don't want to do comprehensive planning? Fine, we won't do comprehensive planning. You want to give me a little piece of your money and expect me to help you when I only have part of the picture? Fine, I can accommodate that." Then those same financial advisors wonder why they don't make the money they want to make, have the quality of life they want, or have a valuable business to sell or pass on to their heirs.

So, what should you tell the client who wants to be educated or wants to dictate how the relationship should work instead of trusting you to do your job? Just tell the truth. Tell the client, "That's not the basis of our relationship. There are a dozen people who are going to contribute to your financial plan and I can't possibly be expected to know everything they know. The basis of our relationship is for me to understand YOU. It's my job to understand your current financial situation, your goals, and what is truly important to you (your core values). Then I orchestrate the creation of a comprehensive financial plan that involves the collective wisdom and expertise of an entire team of professionals. This brings to bear virtually hundreds of years of experience to develop the best advice for you. Then it's my job to hold you accountable to implement this advice over time, which will give you the highest probability to achieve your goals for the reasons that are important to you. We'll meet once per quarter to provide you with progress updates, make appropriate adjustments so you achieve your goals, and ensure that you are doing your part to get where you want to be. Is this the kind of relationship you'd like too have with a financial advisor and his or her team?"

Put the tasks on your calendar that you must perform to create the business that will support the life you want and you'll find that there's no time left for anything else. You have time to serve existing clients, acquire new clients, and manage your staff and deliverables team. That's all you have time to do, and none of these three activities can occupy more than a third of your time. When you become consumed with client service, your client acquisition and staff suffer. When you try to get "caught up" with hiring the right staff and organizing your office, your client service and client acquisition suffer. When you are over-weighted toward client acquisition, the other two aspects of your business suffer. It's like having a balanced portfolio. You have to divide your time between these three vital areas consistently, all the time, over time.

There are only 168 hours in the week, period. How you use those 168 hours determines your business success, your client satisfaction, and your personal happiness and fulfillment. You have to sleep, eat, spend time with your family, exercise, and more. With the time that's left, you have a business to run and build. And you have to run your current business while you build your ideal business. There simply is not enough time to do everything. You have to choose; 168 hours is all you've got.

In the end, you will end up exactly where your choices take you. As the renowned political leader and orator William Jennings Bryan once said, "Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." Make the choices today that will take you where you want to be. Take three steps back and decide how you want your life to look, create your financial game plan, and choose where and how to best spend your time. Those three steps will give you the kind of business you really want and take less time to achieve it.

Don't be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor.

©2005 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bill Bachrach, CSP, is the creator of Values-Based Financial Planning™. He has authored 4 industry-specific best-sellers, delivered over 2,000 presentations worldwide, and is considered to be the leading authority on how financial advisors can improve the quality and profitability of their practices by learning to serve their clients as Trusted Advisors rather than as salespeople. For more information on how to build your practice as a Trusted Advisor, go to www.billbachrach.com where you can watch streaming video of a Bill Bachrach presentation, select other available articles and register to receive a monthly complimentary e-mail of the Trusted Financial Advisor Newsletter; or call 800-347-3707 for more information.

Why Consumers Are Selling Their Annuities

2009-01-19T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Nina Nocciolino

Annuities are a major personal finance tool for consumers looking to lower their tax profile and plan for retirement. But, millions of people are selling annuities for liquidity options, in order to make other financial decisions.

A recent press release issued by J.G. Wentworth stated that with more than $1.6 trillion of assets are backed by annuities in the U.S. alone.

Michael Vaughan, managing director of the J.G. Wentworth Annuity Purchase Program ™ said, ""Despite the enormous success and size of the annuity market in the U.S., we estimate that 5-10% of annuity owners would consider selling all or part of their annuities under the right circumstances.""

He attributed their reasons to everything from life changes to tax efficiency, but says the common denominator for most consumers is liquidity.

According to a recent study from the same company, consumers are selling their annuities as they would any other investment, for reasons ranging from real estate opportunities to starting a business. Based on J.G. Wentworth's own customer experience, here is a list of top 10 reasons consumers sold their annuities in 2005.

Life policy alterations and buyer's remorse came in at numbers nine and ten respectively, with career changes at number eight. An unexpected expense, including medical expenses, was number seven, and aiding a friend or relative was number six. Inheritance of an annuity, where the heir has significantly different financial objectives than the original annuitant, was the number five reason for selling an annuity. Generating additional income was the fourth most frequent reason, with starting a business and buying a vacation home at numbers two and three. Finally, the number one reason consumers sold their annuities in 2005 was for tax efficient wealth transfer planning.

Vaughan added that, ""Tax deferred annuities have been a valuable personal finance tool for many consumers and offer the benefits of stable, secure and guaranteed income."" He continued, ""Unfortunately, annuities can also become a very inflexible solution for many consumers when they face the need to review estate planning or investment goals, or simply realize that their life circumstances have changed.""

About the author: Nina Nocciolino is a copywriter for DMi Partners , an interactive marketing firm specializing in higher education, finance, real estate and retail. For more information visit J.G.Wentworth

How To Get Testimonials Before Selling Anything

2009-01-18T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Vladimir Ghetau

I know! You got an incredible product and you're about to lauch it. But there is one problem: because the product is so new, you don't have testimonials from anyone.

Remember: what other people say about your product worths a zillion times more than you could ever say!

This article will show you how do it and how to convince everyone about the quality of your business.

One option is to have people testing the product: get some friends or colleagues and tell them about your new goal, give them a price discount.

This will gain some profits for the beggining.

Another technique is to give the product for free to a certain number of people in exchange for testimonials. Quickest method!

Tell them about the price, and ask opinions. Remember: if your product has reseller rights, disable them if you share the product for free.

Start a seminar or a conference and invite different individuals that might be interested about your product. Make it interactive, test it live, ask them to give you a hand on testing and revealing it's functionality.

After you're done, ask for feedback.

There are lots of fellows out there which will love to have your product. A small discount always works! Your first clients will guarantee the best testimonials.

The direct approach is the best, writing mails doesn't work as well as calling or meeting live with your ""target"".

Fact #1 : if you get testimonials from important people you dramaticaly increase your credibility. If you trust in what you do, why not letting other people trust you also?

If you decide to ask for a testimonial from a very respected persons it is recommended to get in direct contact, maybe a visit will do the best. Mails just don't work!

When people are ready to test the product, ask for permission to record the testimonial or record them on camera. If you'll launch the product on the Internet or on TV, you are increasing the chance to get more aprovals.

A living person, speaking positively about your product worths more than one million words.

Another thing to do is to find companies launching their product in the same time. Ask them for a testimonial exchange. It's better if you find companies selling for the same market.

You might ask ""where to find those companies?"".

Right here! on the Internet. Use search engine and search for the keyword ""preorder"" or ""pre-order"", both work fine. Those people need testimonials as much as you do.

Be very careful... especially with ""big"" people. Ask them to pronounce your name, brand or slogan, works best when you get video or audio testimonials.

Fact #2 : talking about testimonials means talking about quality.

If you find the right people (celebrities, public persons, etc) to speak about your product, the sellings will increase automaticaly.

And even if you got your testimonials and you are ready to lauch the product, never quit on asking opinions from your clients. More testimonials, more credibility.

More people talking about your product, more sales!

If you run a newsletter, put a small note at the end of each message, for example: We would love to hear your opinion about X product. Don't forget to give them a bonus for sharing their experience. A good thing always brings other good things.

Testimonials can be very rewarding if you are doing it right, so... good luck!

About the author: About the author : Vladimir Ghetau is specialized in professional Web Development. He created the Domain Name Generator , a web application which helps you to choose a good domain name.

Using Direct Mail for EFFECTIVE LTC Prospecting

2009-01-17T03:01:00.001-08:00

By Wilma G. Anderson - The LTC Coach

Using direct mail to prospect for LTC clients can be very successful…..but you must have a system to use it effectively.

First, you'll need a proven direct-mail package. You can buy a lead-generating piece from any major insurance company, vendors that advertise in trade magazines, or us at TheLTCcoach.com.

Once you have a first-rate lead piece, you'll need a first-rate mailing list, which you can buy from a list vendor. Make SURE you mail only to the age group of 65-74, that the leads are returned to your own office or post office box, and that you get a copy of the mailing list so you can follow-up.

Many insurance companies may encourage you to also mail to people in their 50's. I don't recommend that, since most of those folks are still putting their kids through college and may not have any sense of urgency to buy a policy right away. In my own practice, I work only with an older client prospect population that has accumulated their assets. It's easier that way to close on the first appointment. Later, after you deliver the LTC policies, you can help them with their other investments too.

My recommendations for a successful direct mail program:

1. Mail the same lead piece every six weeks to the same prospects.
2. Use only your logo on the return card. Do not say anything about financial planning, investments, resources, etc. on the return card.
3. Focus your mailings to the 65-74 year-old market. They're the ones who have seen their health change, want to get protected with a Plan, and have the $$ to invest.
4. Use a lead program that returns a card to only your office, not the lead company. You'll get the cards back faster. There's no need for a delay with a third party handling the cards instead of you.
5. When a card comes back to you, respond to it within 72 hours.

When you start your own direct mailing program, please remember that you are trying something new for your practice. Yes, I consistently get high response in my marketplace, but I've also been marketing that same piece to the same 13 zip codes for 5 years. Consistency pays off because the market knows how to respond since there are no surprises and they've seen my name and logo several times.

When you start using a lead generating program, you may not get a high response. But you will get response. You may encounter only a .5 to 1.5% response with your first mailing, especially if you are working in a crowded market for selling LTC plans. But each time the response will get better…..and so will your results!

Focus on responding to the leads that come in. Call the prospects, set the appointments. Set those appointments only a few days in advance, otherwise the retiree will forget or may cancel or be a no-show.

Remember, consistency in your mailings is what is most important in a direct mail program. The market needs to see or hear from you an average of 3 times before they respond. Every Senior has heard about long-term care plans-- they just don't know who to buy it from. And that's why it's so important for you to do your direct mail program over and over again in the exact same way.

When you're evaluating a lead program and the results, focus on what you've SOLD, not how many leads come back. When you're "hooked" on the percentage of response, you're not focusing on what is even more important….how much business did you sell……and what was your PROFIT on the investment in the lead program.

Each marketplace has special parameters, whether you're in Florida, Washington, Colorado, or Illinois. But you can design a successful direct-mail campaign that will work, no matter where you live.

If you'd like to know more about direct mail and how to be successful with it, join an LTC Coaching program! It gives you market-tested, no gimmick techniques. The LTC Coach Leadpiece System, which I've used successfully for over 5 years, is included with the program. It might just be the best investment you ever made.

Contact me at (720) 344-0312 or Wilma@TheLTCcoach.com if you have any other questions or would like more information.

My best wishes for your continued success!

PostcardsThe Most Effective Way To Market Annuities!

2009-01-16T03:01:00.001-08:00

By Wilma G. Anderson
The LTC Coach

Every day your targeted prospects receive more mail than they ever wished for. How can you get them to read the mailing piece about the financial services, opportunities, or investments?

Think about putting your messages on large (5" X 8") postcards. It's the simplest and easiest way to make sure your message is seen….and read. Why? When a large postcard arrives with all of the other mail each day, it sticks out because it's an unusual size. We all tend to pick those larger size items out of a pile of mail first, turn the card over, and quickly read the message. When that happens with your prospect, you'll be winning the direct mail war for their attention.

Companies that send direct-mail letters want the consumer to open the envelope and look inside. The envelopes may be flashy, the message on the envelope could be inviting, and the envelope probably even has their logo and the name of their prestigious financial firm on there too. But does the consumer actually open the envelope and read the message inside that talks about them? Sadly, no. Your expectations about what that letter can do for your practice and what the consumer actually does with your letter are two completely different matters

I suggest that you consider a Drip Marketing program. It's called a Drip Marketing program because it's repetitive. Send a series of postcards, on quality paper, several times to your targeted prospects. By using these large postcards, you'll be accomplishing MORE than anyone else sending direct mail in your area.

Think about it. Even if they throw the card away after reading it, the message was sent, delivered, read, and an image was created in their mind. When you send a series of cards, you'll be creating a message and an image. That's what direct mail programs are supposed to do. A financial services postcard program may be just what you need to find the people with money who need your help.

The average Retiree has CDs, annuities, stocks, IRAs, 401Ks, and other investments that you want to know about. Design a marketing campaign to the prospects who have accumulated assets and you'll be expanding your financial practice easily, quickly, and with little cost.

I send out a series of postcards to targeted investors in targeted zip codes every week. I mail out 200 postcards and get a response from investors who call the 800# printed on the postcards. They call in, ask for more information, which we send out within 24 hours. One week later, my staff calls that prospect just to make sure they received the information we sent.

Because we're focusing on annuities in the postcard program, we ask prospects if they have a question about one of their annuities that we can answer for them on the phone. They're surprised we do that, and after a few minutes of conversation, we then ask for an appointment within the next few days. In most instances, the Retiree says YES, and we tell them that we'll do a check-up on that annuity when we see them. During that appointment we'll show them a few options to perhaps help their money work a little harder for them. The client can also ask any questions they might have about their investment. It's easy, simple, and the Retiree will be very willing to listen to what you have to say.

Prospecting to the Retiree for annuity sales can very rewarding financially for your practice. Do I advertise in newspapers too? No. I've found that a postcard direct-mail program to targeted consumers in specific age groups in specific zip codes, with specific annual income parameters, is the best way my practice has grown over the years. I buy a mailing list that focuses on just the consumer I want to have. When you have targets like that, you'll have the clients that you WANT.

After you've sold that annuity to your new client, then it's time to open up the rest of their investments. You'll have established their trust in you first with a simple annuity sale…and then the rest of the doors will open for you. You'll be able to sell them an LTC policy, examine their equity portfolios, help them with estate planning; the options are wide open.

So give yourself a competitive edge in your marketplace! Design a series of prospecting messages that create the image you want to deliver. Focus on a market that wants and needs you. Most importantly, build your financial practice quickly, efficiently, and prosperously.

Part of a Comprehensive Program

The postcard program for annuity marketing is a key part of the LTC Coaching program. You'll learn how to expand your practice with annuity and LTC direct mail programs, how to turn the LTC sale into an annuity sale, and vice versa. 92% of my clients who buy an LTC policy from me also buy at least one annuity too. With these proven, no-gimmick techniques, my practice has grown consistently each and every year…..and yours can too.

For more information about the LTC Coaching program, call my office (720) 344-0312 or write Wilma@theLTCcoach.com

My best wishes for your continued success!!

The Ideal Time-Management System

2009-01-15T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, CSP, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Speaking recently to a group of financial advisors, I commented that every one of us could probably list about 18 different people, companies, or issues that each demand at least three hours of our time every day. If you work for a large firm, you probably get information from the insurance department, the home office, and the money managers. You get data about taxes, financial planning, investments, and legal issues. In the legal area alone, there's information about estate planning, different forms of trusts, marital property agreements, living wills, and medical directives. Just trying to keep up with the information that comes across your desk can take a lot of time.

As if keeping up with incoming data wasn't enough, many financial advisors also believe they have to understand every area that relates to money. In the tax category alone, that would mean learning about all the different vehicles, such as qualified plans and nonqualified plans; SEPs, IRAs, and 401(k)s; regular IRAs and Roth IRAs; college funding vehicles, like 529 plans and UTMAs. When you add other categories, like investments, insurance, and estate planning, and all the vehicles and regulations for each one, you'll quickly see why you'll never have time for everything on the list.

The solution isn't better time management, it's better self-management. No matter how you look at it, there are only 168 hours in a week. And you can't get 168 hours of arms around 400 hours of stuff. This should give you a sense of relief. Instead of trying to process 54 hours of work in a 24-hour day, try looking at the list and deciding which things you can reasonably eliminate.

Back in the 1980s, before e-mail came along, I worked at a major brokerage firm. We received the same amount of information we receive today, but it was all in paper form. Throughout the day, people would walk into my office and add papers to my in-basket. By the end of the day, it was overflowing with reports, announcements, and information from the home office. One day, I decided to get rid of the in-basket altogether. I took it off my desk and placed my trash can at the front right-hand corner of my desk. Five or six times a day, usually while talking to clients or prospects, I'd slide the accumulated papers off the edge of my desk and into the trash—literally without looking at them. In three years at that firm, nothing I threw away ever came back to haunt me. Nothing. Ever.

Now, there were a couple of times when I'd ask about something important and a co-worker would say, "We had a special report about that. Didn't you see it?" I'd say no and then walk to the office next to mine and talk to my friend Mike.

Mike and I started work on the same day and went through training class together. We studied for our Series 7 exams, got our product knowledge training, and went to regional training together. Mike was one of the nicest, most caring, most helpful guys you'd ever meet, and in many ways, he was smarter than me. However, compared to our peers with the same number of years in the business, I was hugely successful while Mike was floundering.

One day, after we'd been at the firm for about two years, Mike walked into my office. Our production reports had just come out and my production was double his. He didn't come right out and say it, but basically his message was, "I'm a better financial advisor than you. Why are you more successful than me?"

I took Mike by the arms and turned him toward the window that separated our offices. "Tell me what you see in your office," I said. "Physically describe it for me."

Pointing to six month's worth of newspapers, Mike said, "Those are my Investor's Business Daily's over there." Then he listed everything else he was using to try to keep up with the data that came into his world. If Mike was an advisor today, he'd be doing the same thing electronically as well as by paper and any other available format.

After Mike described all the things he saw, I said, "Now look at my office. What do you notice in here?" Mike quickly ticked off the items in the room: the scripts I had taped to my wall, the shoebox that served as my tickler file, and the telephone on which I spent most of my time. My office wasn't just neat; it reflected the way I worked. Even then, I was putting into practice what I teach advisors today. I knew that if I was going to spend my time prospecting for new clients and taking care of my existing clients, I had to outsource all other tasks, because I couldn't do everything myself. Since I worked at a major firm, I called on the financial planning department to write my financial plans, the insurance department to give me insurance recommendations, and the mutual fund experts to advise me about mutual funds.

Mike just couldn't understand. "But you've got to know all that stuff," he said.

"Apparently I don't," I replied. "I'd be the first person to agree that you're more technically competent than me, but I believe my clients are better served because I get the experts involved. I deliver the value of hundreds of years of combined experience, and you just deliver you. Besides, isn't that what we're paying for when we give up such a high percentage of our compensation?"

Mike was still not convinced. "But what do you do when you need something from one of those papers that come through the office? What do you do when there's a big news story about a company not paying dividends or changing its CEO?"

"I talk to 25 to 100 people a day, and nobody really asks about that stuff," I explained. "Of course, there are some exceptions. Have you ever noticed that sometimes I'll come into your office and ask what you've heard about a certain company? I don't need that stuff in my office because you're my library and my librarian."

Mike said, "I get what you're telling me, but if I need something, where will I get it? And if I go away, where will you get it?"

With that, I escorted Mike down the hallway. As we passed the 35 offices in our firm, I pointed out the "libraries" and said, "The brokers who keep stacks of newspapers and try to archive all this information have significantly lower production. The people who try to keep their arms around the data don't have time to do both. You have to decide: Are you going to be an overly informed financial advisor, or are you going to be successful?"

To find out how this story ends, we have to take it out to 2005. I'm not trying to blow my own horn, but I've been named by my peers as one of the Most Influential People in the Financial Services Industry. I not only had a successful financial services career but I've gone on to train thousands of people. Last I heard, Mike left the firm where we both worked and bounced to one other firm before washing out of the industry. For all I know, he could be a billionaire entrepreneur today, but I doubt it. I think he probably had the same problem wherever he went.

Most people who enter the financial services industry will wash out of the business, and it's not because they aren't smart enough. It's because they can't figure out how to say no to the unimportant things that demand their attention and make time for the ones that really matter. As I told Mike many years ago, you have to decide. Don't be an over-informed, over-educated salesperson. Be a successful Trusted Advisor.

©2005 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bill Bachrach is the author of four industry-specific books, including the newest book, It's All About Them: How Trusted Advisors Listen for Success. His third book, Values-Based Financial Planning: The Art of Creating an Inspiring Financial Strategy, is written for the clients of financial professionals. It teaches clients and other consumers how and why to build a Financial Road Map®, as well as how to find, recognize, and work with a Trusted Advisor. For information about Bill's speaking services, The Trusted Advisor Coach® program, 3-Day Values-Based Selling® Academy, or to order his results-oriented books and learning resources, contact Bachrach & Associates, Inc. at 800-347-3707 or visit their Web site: http://www.bachrachvbs.com. Watch Bill Bachrach "live" via www.bachrachvbs.com, and sign up for the FREE monthly Trusted Financial Advisor e-newsletter.

Keep Your Head Above Water: 5 Distractions That Can Sink Your Business

2009-01-13T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, CSP, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Keeping your head above water. Drowning in paperwork. Trying to stay afloat. Up a creek without a paddle. Smooth sailing. Have you ever noticed how many water-related expressions there are for describing the way you do business? That's because it's such a great metaphor, and one you can easily relate to.

In my recent coaching program, a roomful of attendees did an interesting little exercise using this metaphor. They took out a piece of paper, drew a horizontal line across the middle, and pretended it was a water line. Above the line, they listed all the activities that really matter in building a successful business. Below the line, they listed the distractions that could keep them from being successful financial advisors. Basically, only three activities belong above the line: acquiring clients, serving clients, and building your team.

ABOVE-THE-LINE ACTIVITIES

Nearly everyone agrees that brand-new advisors should spend a huge amount of time on client acquisition. Unfortunately, many established advisors think the rule doesn't apply to them. They often ignore this crucial above-the-line activity. Instead, they spend their time on all the activities below the line and soon find their businesses starting to go under.

The second above-the-line activity, serving clients, simply means delivering what you've promised. Meeting your clients' expectations is an absolute must for keeping your head above water. This includes ensuring the timely delivery of financial plans, money management services, and advice about insurance, budgeting, debt reduction or elimination, cash management, and emergency reserves.

The third above-the-line activity is building your team. This means organizing your employees and creating successful relationships with outside resources who can provide the services your clients need.

Basically, that's it. Unless you're doing things to acquire clients, serve clients, or build your team, you're spending your time on below-the-line activities that do nothing but distract you from becoming a successful advisor. Here are five common examples.

BELOW-THE-LINE ACTIVITIES

1. Overeducating Yourself: Some advisors think their job is to know everything about insurance, investments, and financial planning. Instead of harnessing the knowledge of experts who can best serve their clients, they spend all their time becoming educated in those areas. If you're paying a money manager to manage the client's money, you don't need to know everything the money manager knows. You simply need to know which questions to ask the client so you can give that information to the experts and they can provide accurate advice. Your job is to serve your clients by holding them accountable for acting on that advice. That's what it really means to be a Trusted Advisor.

2. Reading Financial Pornography: Watching 24-hour news reports, reading financial newspapers and magazines, tracking the prices of oil and gold, and trying to guess the impact that the next terrorist bombing will have on the market is a waste of time, yet advisors are consumed with that kind of stuff. Your clients really want you to help them achieve their goals—and for the record, beating the market is not a goal. If you want to keep your head above water, focus on your clients' real goals, which include things like sending their kids to college, funding their retirement, and buying a vacation home or sailboat.

3. Wasting Time at Conferences: There's nothing wrong with attending a conference, but sitting in sessions and learning information you don't need to know is a below-the-line activity. Before you attend your next conference, look at the agenda and ask yourself, "Will this conference and these specific sessions help me achieve my main goals, which are the things above the line?" If the answer is no, don't go. It must seem strange for a guy like me who gets discovered at conferences and in financial publications to suggest that you be more selective, but that's the best advice I can offer. Many conferences offer a variety of programs that can conflict with each other and therefore potentially confuse attendees. Pick your method and stick to it as it's been proven to work. Stop looking for the new, best "silver bullet." If you're on a path that's vastly different from something that I could help you with or the path of Values-Based Financial Planning™, then you're better off not hearing me speak—at least about my method.

4. Hanging Around with the Wrong People: If you're hanging out with people who have average businesses with average client satisfaction and average productivity, then chances are your business will be a lot like that, too. Don't confuse consensus with wisdom. Just because most of the financial services industry is living below the line doesn't mean it's the right place to be. As Jim Rohn says, you can do anything you want. You're not a tree. Move! Be where you want to be, and do what you want to do. How can you tell whether you're hanging out with people who are living below the line? Here are some signs:

* What do they talk about? If they talk about things beyond their control, like the market and the economy, they're living below the line.

* Do they do a lot or talk a lot? How productive is their business? How good is their life? Do they have some staff that they can delegate to? If they're workaholics with thousands of clients and mediocre production, they're living below the line. If they're significant producers with a manageable number of clients and they're living great lives, they're living above the line.

* Are they focused on what really matters? After recently finishing the British Open, golfer Jack Nicklaus was asked about his legacy. His answer may surprise you. He said he hoped his real legacy was more about his kids and grandkids than about his golf game. Are you hanging around with people who are focused on what really matters? Is their business an enjoyable vehicle for creating a great life while doing good things for their clients, or are they consumed by minutiae?

5. Failing to Delegate: As a financial advisor, you don't need to sit in front of your computer and learn how to create financial plans, be a money manager, or give insurance advice. Trying to do everything yourself is the last and probably worst example of below-the-line activity. Many advisors spend time on activities like these for one of two reasons: They don't want to delegate or they don't have the money. When advisors don't want to delegate, they're usually avoiding work that might feel uncomfortable, such as asking for referrals. When advisors can't afford to delegate, it's because they aren't spending enough time working above the line.

The last person I hired earns a $250,000 base salary. If you think I had a quarter of a million dollars burning a hole in my pocket, I can assure you that I didn't. But good people pay for themselves. It's more important to learn how to hire and manage a couple of people than it is to learn everything there is to know about writing a financial plan, being a money manager, or giving insurance advice.

No one wants to see their businesses sink. To keep your head above water, remember this simple metaphor and spend your time above the line. Focus on the three activities that really matter—acquiring clients, serving clients, and building your team—and don't get drowned in a sea of distractions.

Don't be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor.

©2005 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bill Bachrach is the creator of Values-Based Financial Planning®. He has authored 4 industry best-sellers, delivered over 2,000 presentations worldwide, and is considered to be the leading authority on how financial advisors can avoid being salespeople and instead acquire better clients and serve them by being Trusted Advisors. For more ideas and articles on how to be a Trusted Advisor go to www.billbachrach.com where you can watch streaming video of Bill's presentations and register to get your FREE monthly Trusted Financial Advisor e-newsletter, or call 800-347-3707 for more information.

3 Ways to Tell If Youre Running a Smart Business

2009-01-12T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Basically, there are three ways to build a business in the financial services industry.

Option number one: You can build it smart from the beginning. This means starting out with the right kind and number of clients, and becoming a full-service advisor to a smaller clientele right from the start. Building a smart business from the beginning means being selective from day one.
Of course, you can always choose option number two and build a dumb business, then rebuild it at some point during your career. That's what most advisors do, and those are the people we typically work with. Advisors seem to find us at a time in their life where they realize they have a dumb business—too many clients and not enough time to serve them or even the ones who are ideal well. In reality, you can't take care of more than 100 to 125 clients and do a good job. You might be able to raise that number to 200 at most, if you've got a really great team.
Unfortunately, far too many advisors go with option number three: build a dumb business and live with it your whole career. If you have too many clients and feel like your business is running you instead of you running it, you've got a dumb business. Sadly, that's the reality for the vast majority. They're more trapped by the business than freed by it, but they either don't know how to change it or they think it's too late. "I don't have the time or the energy," they complain. "If I can just ride it out for another four years, I'll retire."
One of our favorite clients was serving 1,243 customers when we met him. His business generated $388,382 in gross production, which sounds pretty good. It took him about two and a half years, and he now has 91 ideal clients and they generate approximately $1.6 million in recurring gross revenue. Let me repeat that. His $1.6 million is not commission oriented; it recurs every year. He works three days a week and has a smaller staff than before (he went from 11 to 4 staff). His life is simpler, his income is higher, his clients are better served and they're happier.

What kind of business are you running? Here's a three-step litmus test to help you find out.

1. How full is your appointment calendar? Are you spending your time prospecting and marketing because you're not earning the referrals you'd like? Are you meeting with people three or four times before they hire you? Are you sitting down with clients to discuss irrelevant, superfluous topics that waste your time and theirs? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're running a dumb business.

Don't allow your clients to pull you into discussions about what I call financial pornography. If I was your financial advisor and you wanted to have a discussion about how the war on Iraq was going to impact the market, I would not even entertain that conversation with you. Instead, I would explain to you why that's a waste of your time and mine, and remind you that we have an investment philosophy where we focus on what we can control. I would also remind you that we have a long-term financial strategy, so regardless of what happens in the economy, the market, or the world, my job is to help you achieve your goals for the reasons that are important to them, not time the market.

Although this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, educating clients is a waste of your time and theirs. Discussing the war in Iraq as it relates to investments is academic. It's not practical and it doesn't alter the outcome of your clients' investments. At most, it provides nothing but a false sense of security. "But it makes the clients feel comfortable," you might argue. Well, do you want to be in the business of giving your clients a false sense of comfort, or telling your clients the truth?

Telling the truth is actually an interesting and surprisingly effective marketing strategy. When you take a rational approach—when you have rational discussions with rational people—they respond rationally. If you've got an irrational approach to try to move irrational people to buy investments and insurance from you, you'll end up with a high-maintenance clientele and your primary function will be to accommodate their baggage. There's a whole group of advisors who say, "Yeah, that's what it's like to be an advisor. You have to accommodate people's ineffective and false beliefs." If you want to run a smart business, don't focus on educating clients and having these kinds of conversations. Instead, fill your appointment calendar with meaningful, rewarding engagements.

2. Are you comfortable asking for referrals? If you're great at what you do, you won't be uncomfortable asking people to introduce you to others. You'd never hear someone say, "I'm a great pilot, but I wouldn't want to ask anybody to fly with me." When I was single, I noticed that my most attractive friends were always comfortable approaching someone they wanted to meet, and they always got a great response. In the most extreme cases, they didn't even have to do the approaching—people would just find them.
If nobody's finding you, maybe you're not as attractive as you think you are. Do your clients make excuses when you ask them for referrals? Do you they tell you, "I don't know anybody who's looking right now, but if I come across someone, I'll let you know. Why don't you give me a couple of your cards?"
3. Do your clients give you all of their financial business? In other words, do you have all the money? In a smart business, you want your clients to give you all of their money and do whatever you tell them to do with it. You want clients who want more from you than state-of-the-art schmoozing; they want you to be a Trusted Advisor, and they expect you to handle their financial affairs. Most people want to work with one person that they trust. If you aren't getting that level of trust and all the money, you're running a dumb business.

The smartest and most successful people aren't the ones who question authority and try to do everything themselves. The smartest, most successful people outsource. They defer to someone with greater expertise. Andrew Carnegie, one of America's most successful and wealthiest men, understood the wisdom of this philosophy, as reflected in the words he chose for his tombstone: "Here lies a man who knew how to bring into service men better than he was himself."

Yes, it's true—in a smart business, you get to work with clients who tell the whole truth about where all money is, do what you tell them to do, do all your prospecting and marketing for you, are more influenced by you than anything else, and don't let events you cannot control diminish your working relationship. They sincerely value your advice and their relationship with you. That's the proof of great client relationships, and the sign of a very smart business.

Given the choice, which type of business will you pick? Which kind of business do you think your clients would want you to pick? Don't be a salesperson; be a Trusted Advisor.

4 Steps to Conquering Discomfort and Achieving Even Greater Success

2009-01-10T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, CSP, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

In coaching advisors for more than 17 years, I've observed a key distinction between those who succeed at a high level and those who operate at a more mediocre level. Successful advisors are willing to do uncomfortable things. I'm talking about things that are uncomfortable for everyone. Successful people manage to do them, while those who aren't succeeding at a high level will do just about anything to avoid the feeling of discomfort. I can understand why advisors don't like to make cold calls; they're uncomfortable for just about everyone (and we don't recommend making them). But I've noticed that many advisors are reluctant to do something even as simple as asking for, obtaining, and following up on referrals.

Recently, I took a week off to go on a very long bike ride. While my friends and I were logging over 100 miles a day and pushing ourselves up one hill after another, it occurred to me that very few people deliberately do things that make them uncomfortable. In fact, most people are so self-conditioned to avoid discomfort that they think people who seek discomfort are stupid, reckless, or gluttons for punishment. I often get just this kind of feedback when I tell people about my "vacation."

When confronted with something uncomfortable, most of us just won't rise to the challenge, even if it means failing to achieve our goals. However, when we're forced into an uncomfortable situation with absolutely no choice in the matter, we human beings have an incredible ability to rise to the occasion. People successfully move beyond being fired, going through divorce, dealing with life-threatening illnesses, or surviving the death of a loved one. Often they tell us, "It was the best thing to ever happen to me. I'm stronger, better, and more equipped to live a more productive, successful, and happy life." This is great news because it means we all have the capacity to handle discomfort. We simply have to choose to harness it to achieve our goals.

So why do we avoid deliberately putting ourselves in "controlled" uncomfortable situations to make ourselves stronger, better, and achieve higher levels of success and happiness? More important, how can we do this on purpose so we can be stronger, better, more successful, and happier?

At the 1940 convention of the National Association of Life Underwriters, a gentleman by the name of Albert Gray said, "The common denominator of success—the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful—lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do." Gray's words are often quoted within our industry, yet even more significant are the lines he spoke next: "The things that failures don't like to do are the very things that you and I and other human beings, including successful men, naturally don't like to do. In other words, we've got to realize right from the start that success is something which is achieved by the minority of men, and is therefore unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes nor by being guided by our natural preferences and prejudices." In other words, successful people push themselves beyond their natural discomfort to do whatever is necessary.

When it comes to asking for referrals and following up, for example, I look at it as a necessity—you can't build your business without it. As far as I can tell, there's no comfortable method for filling your appointment calendar. But if you don't have any experience doing the things that are optional and uncomfortable, you'll probably tend to avoid them.

What discomfort are you avoiding that needs to be faced in order for you to be the success you're really capable of being? Are you asking yourself "what if" questions that discourage you?

* What if I hire the staff I really need, but it doesn't work out? (Implication: I've wasted time, effort, and money.)
* What if I confront a staff person who isn't getting the job done and they quit? (Implication: I'm stuck doing paperwork for a while and I'm forced to go out and find the right person for the job.)
* What if I ask for referrals and I offend a client? (Implication: The client fires me and tells everyone in the community what a bad person and advisor I am.)
* What if I follow up on a referral and they don't appreciate my call? (Implication: They call my client because they're angry. Then the client gets mad that their friend is mad so the client fires me and tells everyone in the community what a bad person and advisor I am.)
* What if I make that investment in my business and it doesn't turn out like I hoped? (Implication: I've wasted my time, effort, and money.)
* What if I give a client bad advice? (Implication: The client fires me and tells everyone in the community what a bad person and advisor I am.)

If questions like these are standing between you and your success, stop asking such lousy questions and try these four ideas instead!

1. Ask better questions.
Maybe you're focusing on the wrong bad things. The consequences of not asking for referrals and following up are much greater than the worst-case scenario your imagination can conjure up.

Instead of focusing on all the bad things that might happen if you do what needs to be done, ask yourself what will happen if you don't do it. Here's one answer: You'll end up being mediocre. Which is worse: being mediocre or dealing with the discomfort required to be successful?

Mark Allen, the six-time Ironman Triathlon world champion, asks the question, "Are you willing to do the work that the goal requires?" If you're not succeeding at the level you really want, you might want to spend some time thinking about that question. If you want to be a successful financial advisor—someone who has the right number of ideal clients to generate enough gross business revenue to live the life you want—are you willing to do what it takes?

2. Give yourself empowering answers.
As long as you're talking to yourself anyway, why not focus on the positive? What are some amazing, incredible, fantastic things that could happen? What might happen when you consistently and effectively ask for referrals and follow up? What might happen when you have the right staff doing the right things? What might happen when you make that investment in your most valuable asset—yourself?

3. Stop making excuses.
It's amazing how often I hear advisors say, "That successful person was just in the right place at the right time." No, the truth is that nearly every successful person has worked hard and taken uncomfortable actions consistently and diligently over a long enough period of time to become successful today. Stop making excuses and choose to face the uncomfortable situations that will lead to your success. Instead of criticizing the people who have become successful, choose to do the work and join them.

4. Make it a habit to choose discomfort.
The next time you find yourself avoiding something just because it's uncomfortable, do it anyway. This applies to both personal and business decisions. Have you been putting off a preventive or diagnostic medical procedure because you know it will be uncomfortable? Have you been avoiding a personal issue or uncomfortable conversation? Schedule that doctor's appointment, mammogram, or colonoscopy. Visit that friend in the hospital. Talk to that family member about how you really feel. Make an appointment to draw up your will or trust. Join the gym and go work out, even if you don't look perfect in your shorts! Yes, these things may be uncomfortable, but do them anyway. Practice choosing discomfort. It will eventually come more naturally to you and the results will inspire you.

Here's the bottom line. To become an even more successful financial advisor, you're going to have to do things that are uncomfortable. Remember the advice offered by Albert Gray and Mark Allen. Don't let discomfort be the deciding factor in determining what you do or avoid doing. If you're going to do anything significant in life, you must push past the discomfort. In doing so, you'll also set a great example for people around you and earn their trust and respect.

Don't be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor.

What If Your Business Was Truly All About Them?

2009-01-09T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, CSP, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

In 2001, CEG Worldwide founder John Bowen conducted a survey of financial professionals. His question: "Do you think you're client-centered?" Every one of them answered yes.

No surprise there. Most advisors care about their clients and, I suspect, that's what these advisors thought John was asking them about. But when asked to apply twelve (12) objective criteria, only 14% of the advisors' businesses were actually all about the clients. The majority of these businesses were set up to cater to the advisor's preferences. (FYI, the 14% who were truly focused on clients were also attracting as much as 30 times as many assets under management as investment-centered advisors and doing especially well in the downturn that began the year the survey was taken.)

The truth is there are a lot of people who think they are client-centered, and who don't behave that way. What's more, most advisors agree that their businesses should be all about their clients, but they've never formulated or implemented a plan for actualizing this ideal. It's the same as folks who say, "I have a healthy lifestyle," but then smoke cigarettes and eat poorly. Maybe they go to a tanning salon and the gym so they can look good, but they really aren't creating a health-centered life.

You can probably come up with dozens of new ideas for making your business all about them. Then again, maybe you're stymied. Perhaps you're thinking, I'd really like to do a lot more than I do for my clients, but another thought also crosses your mind: I don't have the time, the energy, the staff, the knowledge, or the resources.

Your rationale may even include the idea that your clients won't let you do more for them. I recently heard this at a meeting with the CEO of a major insurance company in California. He made an offhand remark about the wonderful things the agents do for "the clients who will let us." I couldn't just let that pass without comment, so I told him it shouldn't be up to his clients. Of course, a client can choose whether or not they work with one of his agents at all, but the CEO needed to decide what level of service they were going to provide to everyone who works with them. When you get on an airplane and the flight attendant closes the door, does the pilot ask, "Does everyone want me to fly the plane today?" or "Does everyone agree with my flight plan?" An airline doesn't give its passengers discretion about whether to board the plane on time or not, whether to take off as scheduled, whether to divert to another airport at their whim. And why not? Because the other passengers suffer when the pilot abdicates his responsibility to serving all of them equally.

How does this translate to your profession? When you commit to having an all-about-them business, you do what's right for the clients. Period. No hemming or hawing, no allowing them to dictate how you run your business. You figure out what is in their best interests, and then you do it. You don't simply revere the idea of doing what's right for them; you actually implement every time. As Guy Kawasaki wrote in The Macintosh Way, you don't compete on strategy; you compete on execution.

I know you really care about your clients and would really love to run an all-about-them business, but the question is how? How do you go from running your practice as it is now to operating the kind of business that puts the clients first? And if you think you already run a business that's all about them, then how do you take it to the next level?
1. If my business were really all about them, how often would each client see me each year, and how much time would they get?
2. If my business were really all about them, exactly what would I do for each person?
3. If my business were really all about them, how would I make my clients' lives simpler?
4. If my business were really all about them, how would they pay me for this value?
5. If my business were really all about them, how many clients could I do all this for?
6. If my business were really all about them, how many people would staff my office?
7. If my business were really all about them, would I have strategic alliances and partners?
8. If my business were really all about them, how would I take care of myself physically and emotionally?

This should be your objective: Once you've brainstormed answers to the eight questions above, make a list of everything you will be delivering to your clients and how it benefits them. (If you'd like to see what one highly successful advisor calls his "9 Client Deliverables," email Matoula@bachrachvbs.com to receive a copy.) You will be surprised, I imagine, to find that many of these benefits create a better, more manageable business for you, too.

For example, if you were to spend the kind of time with your clients they deserve, that would probably mean less clients, which would mean you'd need to work with clients who yield you more income per capita. You'd need to be extremely competent to work with these folks, and they'd expect you to be focused on your professional growth. Ultimately, you'd need to figure out a way to run a business that allowed you to become very good at what you do, to limit the number of clients, and to serve all of them very well.

So no doubt there's a learning curve to contend with, new management practices to adopt, staffing issues to resolve, and client contact to be made. And that's probably not all. It's not an easy thing, being client-centered. But if you're going to make it all about them, it's what you have to do.

Don't be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor.

©2003 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Bill Bachrach is the creator of Values-Based Financial Planning®. He has authored 4 industry best-sellers, delivered over 2,000 presentations worldwide, and is considered to be the leading authority on how financial advisors can avoid being salespeople and instead acquire better clients and serve them by being Trusted Advisors. For more ideas and articles on how to be a Trusted Advisor go to www.billbachrach.com where you can watch streaming video of Bill's presentations and register to get your FREE monthly Trusted Financial Advisor e-newsletter, or call 800-347-3707 for more information.

4 Signs of an Intelligent Client Acquisition Methodology

2009-01-08T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, CSP, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Financial advisors sometimes joke about their clients' unrealistic expectations. They smirk about Mr. Smith, who's looking for a no-risk, high-return, government-guaranteed investment vehicle. They snicker about Mrs. Jones, who wants a fund that performs well in any market. Meanwhile, those same advisors are on the quest for the perfect client acquisition methodology. They want a system that's easy to implement, fairly inexpensive, requires very little risk, and makes the phone ring off the hook with no effort on their part. I'm sure we'd all like to find something like that, but it simply doesn't exist.

In this business, there is no nirvana. No matter what methodology you choose, you have to put in the time, energy, and money to make it work. M. Scott Peck began his book The Road Less Traveled with the famous line, "Life is difficult." Once you understand and accept that, Peck says, then the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. The same is true with finding a client acquisition methodology. Instead of trying one program after another in search of some method nirvana, successful advisors understand that discomfort is inevitable and they work hard to push past it. That's the first secret to success—being willing to do the uncomfortable things.

Going into the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the U.S. gymnastics team was not expected to do very well. Against all odds, they won the gold medal. The team's captain, Peter Vidmar, scored a perfect 10 on the pommel horse and took first place in that event. People often ask Peter what it takes to become an Olympic champion. He tells them, "It's pretty simple, really. You only have to work out two times—when you feel like it and when you don't."

In your search for the perfect methodology, stop for a moment and ask yourself this question: Are you willing to do the work it requires, when you feel like it and when you don't? If the answer is yes, you're halfway there. Now you just need to find an intelligent method and stick to it.

Here are four ways to recognize an intelligent methodology.

1. An intelligent methodology is client centered.

For decades, financial advisors have been showing up in the marketplace like salespeople—with aggressive marketing, direct mail, and those dreaded suppertime cold calls. No client has ever said, "You know what I want in a financial advisor? I want a really good salesperson. Someone who can handle my objections and make features and benefits presentations. And when I'm really resisting buying, I want a really good closer." If you looked at prospective methodologies through your clients' eyes, you'd never choose a method that focuses on making you a great salesperson. That's not what your clients want. An intelligent methodology is client centered, not product, sales, or "you" centered. A client-centered methodology attracts clients instead of pushing them away.

2. An intelligent methodology produces an intelligent and profitable business.

When a sales-centered methodology works, it usually results in too many clients who don't generate the revenue, the kind of business, or the life you really want. If that sounds like your business, you're probably in one of two stages. Either you're just starting out, or you've spent a lifetime building a business that's not making you happy. Either way, there's good news: It's not too late to get out of the wrong system and into the right one. With a dedicated commitment to systematically implementing an intelligent methodology, you can rebuild in two to four years.

An intelligent method executed over time leads to exactly the kind of business you'd like to have—a business with the right number of the right kind of clients paying you the right amount of money. That's because a client-centered methodology attracts the type of people you want to do business with.

3. An intelligent methodology leads to an incredible life.

Twelve or thirteen years ago I was giving a presentation at a major wire house in Los Angeles. During one of the breaks, a young man in his early twenties came up to me and told me how excited he was. He a hardworking, ambitious guy with fire in his eyes and enthusiasm in his voice. He was modeling his business after a two-million-dollar producer in his office, and he was clearly focused on the money. I suggested, "Before you model your business after somebody else, make sure you look at the whole picture. Don't just look at the business, look at the person's life. How many times has this guy been married? What kind of relationship does he have with his kids? What kind of physical shape is he in? Is he healthy? Does he have time to work out and is he inclined to work out? How many hours a week does he work? Do you really want the whole picture?"

Before you choose a methodology to implement, find out about the people who use that method. Don't just zero in on the money they're making or the number of clients they have; focus on the whole life.

Our favorite success story is Mark Little, not only because of the financial wealth he's earned by implementing our methods, but because of the incredibly wealthy lifestyle he's created. Mark's business generates a predictable annual cash flow of $1.6 million, with predictable annual expenses of less than $500,000. I know there are advisors who make more money, but I'd put Mark's whole picture up against anyone else in the industry. He works three days a week, he's gotten himself in great physical condition, and he has amazing client loyalty. I don't care who you are, how smart you are, or how articulate you are, you couldn't steal one of his clients in a million years.

4. An intelligent methodology includes implementation support.

Early in my speaking career, if people liked what they heard at my seminars, they could go to the back of the room and buy my mastery system. The package included (and still does) all the necessary books, audios/CDs, and videos/DVDs along with four quarterly teleconferences—other than that, they were on their own. After a while I included additional support: I'd put my 800 number up on the screen and say, "If you have any questions you can call me." Hardly anyone ever did. They'd buy the system, take it home, and put it on a shelf. Jim Rohn calls this the law of diminishing intent. They'd have great intentions when they bought the system, but they didn't do anything with it. That really bothered me, so I began focusing on helping people implement the system.

Most human beings under most circumstances most of the time need help implementing. They're a lot like kids learning to ride a bike without training wheels. When they're first learning, it's not unusual to lose their balance and tip over. When that happens, we pick them up, dust them off, get them back on the bike, and give them a push. If we stand there for a little while and watch them, they'll either fall off again or veer off course. It's our job to catch them and get them going in the right direction. Ultimately we get so good at this that we anticipate them falling off the bike, and as they start to lean over, before they hit the ground, we reach up, push them back in the seat, and keep them moving in the right direction.

Before you adopt a methodology, ask this question: When you veer off course or fall off the bike, what's built into the system to make sure you get back up and move in the right direction at a rate of speed that will get you where you want to go? If the system doesn't include human interaction to help you implement, it won't matter how good the content is. An intelligent methodology includes an ongoing accountability structure and a mechanism for getting things done.

Don't be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor with an intelligent and effective client acquisition methodology.

©2005 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bill Bachrach, CSP is the creator of Values-Based Financial Planning®. He has authored 4 industry best-sellers, delivered over 2,000 presentations worldwide, and is considered to be the leading authority on how financial advisors can avoid being salespeople and instead acquire better clients and serve them by being Trusted Advisors. For more ideas and articles on how to be a Trusted Advisor go to www.billbachrach.com where you can watch streaming video of Bill's presentations and register to get your FREE monthly Trusted Financial Advisor e-newsletter, or call 800-347-3707 for more information.

Commissions: Conflict of Interest?

2009-01-07T03:01:00.001-08:00

Although I advocate a recurring revenue business model for financial advisors, I've never believed that earning commissions are inherently unethical. Yet some fee-only advisors and industry leaders argue that commissions create a conflict of interest and anyone who accepts them is suspect. I think this is a self-righteous posture at best and a self-promoting lie at worst.

It's ridiculous to suggest that the type of compensation received is the only thing that separates the honest, do-what's-right-for-the-client advisor from the mercenary, gimme-what's-mine financial products salesperson. Let's face facts: both mentalities co-exist with both kinds of compensation. Commissions do not breed criminals; neither do fees ensure integrity.

Recently, I had the pleasure of giving a presentation at a big-name industry conference that tends to attract a lot of fee-only advisors. The top producers and keynote speakers had dinner together, with one keynote speaker at each table of top producers. I like going to these dinners because I get to be attuned to my audience before I address them. I listened to the discussion at my table, without saying anything, through the salad and soup.

The conversation centered on this issue of fees versus commissions, and some fee-only advisors felt pretty strongly that commissions are unethical and that planners taking them are dishonest. I let all this sink in, then I looked around at them and made my first comment of the evening: "I wonder why some of you are so uncomfortable with your own integrity that you think how you get paid would threaten it."

They looked at me, slightly stunned, and asked, "What do you mean?"

I answered, "Well, it's interesting that you seem to think that if you got paid any commissions, rather than fees only, you would somehow do the wrong thing. Are you telling me you charge a fee because if you didn't, you would give in to the temptation to screw the client?"

That got things cooking at my table.

At first, these financial planners were a bit defensive, reiterating their belief that commissions have a built-in conflict of interest. I asked, "So if fee-only compensation became illegal, and the only way you could get compensated was by commission or some combination of fees and commissions, are you telling me you think your ethics would evaporate? That suddenly you wouldn't do the right thing for the client any more? Are you saying that the boundaries of compensation are all that keep you ethical?"

I looked around the table. "Susan, if you suddenly were paid by commission, not as you are now, would you still do the right thing for the client?"
"Of course I would."
"John?"
"Of course."

So it became apparent to them that the issue isn't compensation, but whether you have the ability to put the client first no matter what.

Is there a question of integrity at all, then? Only if you're twisting the competition's legal, legitimate compensation into something sinister just to make yourself look good. You shouldn't use your method of payment as a marketing tactic, or preach that everyone else lacks integrity because they operate with a different model.

Although it's not an ethical issue, it is true that the fee-based business model is usually superior to commission and fee-only, because advisors in such a business have a finite number of clients who generate a predictable minimum annual recurring revenue (PMARR). These advisors can earn fees for planning, advice and managing assets, as well as commissions on products. My point: fee-based businesses are not superior because they prevent advisors from impropriety. It's because they help advisors limit the client list to a reasonable number, so everyone gets better service. The higher the amounts of predictable recurring revenue, the fewer clients the advisor needs—he or she can work toward what I call Being Done™, which means that the marketing machine stops when the advisor has established relationships with enough people to provide sufficient PMARR to meet the advisors business goals. Once an advisor is 'done,' clients get even more personal attention because the advisor has no more prospecting to do, and the advisor has more time for continuing education and growth, which benefits the clients again when the advisor applies increased knowledge to managing their money. Fees are not necessarily the moral high road, yet they might support a better business model, one that ensures clients get the best from their advisors. It's also likely that the fee-based model is easier for clients to understand.

The challenge with the commission-based business model is that it doesn't work long-term because you have to continue adding client after client until serving them all becomes difficult or impossible. Earning commissions may be a less-than-optimal business model for financial advisors, but it does not intrinsically lack integrity.

To me, ethics and integrity are about client-first service, not compensation. If someone lacks ethics or integrity, changing the way that person gets compensated isn't going to fix them.

The most important aspect of being an advisor is taking care of the client. There are a lot of advisors out there, in all business models, who are doing this. And there are advisors out there, in all business models, who should not be in the business at all. Your job is simply to be in the former category: Put the client first, and your ethics will never be called into question, regardless of how you choose to be paid.

Don't be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor.

© 2003 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Bill Bachrach is the creator of Values-Based Financial Planning®. He has authored 4 industry best-sellers, delivered over 2,000 presentations worldwide, and is considered to be the leading authority on how financial advisors can avoid being salespeople and instead acquire better clients and serve them by being Trusted Advisors. For more ideas and articles on how to be a Trusted Advisor go to www.billbachrach.com where you can watch streaming video of Bill's presentations and register to get your FREE monthly Trusted Financial Advisor e-newsletter, or call 800-347-3707 for more information.

The 5 Conversations of the Perfect First Interview

2009-01-06T03:01:00.001-08:00

Extreme competence with the first interview means you follow the principle of 5/55: in a one-hour meeting, you're talking for a total of 5 minutes, and your prospect has the floor for the remaining 55. What's more, almost everything you say is a question, as the term interview implies.

1. Values Conversation (about 6 min./individual, 15 min./couple)
Key Question: "What's important about money to you?"

As people talk about what's important to them, they become emotional, and as you truly listen, you create trust. (For step-by-step instructions on the values conversation, see the Values-Based Selling Book and Mastery System.) The magic of the values conversation are the discoveries your prospects make, which are more important than what you learn. As people work their way up the "values staircase" with you, they articulate, perhaps for the first time, what will inspire them to implement the financial strategy your create for them.

2. Goals Conversation (20–25 min.)
Key Question: "What are the tangible goals that will require you to have some money and planning to achieve?"

What makes this part of the conversation revealing for the other person is thorough examination of the goals, filling in the blanks on two previous unknowns: how much money will it take, and by when, specifically? There are four parts to ever goal.

If someone says she wants to retire, you ask, "In what year?"
She may say, "When I'm 65."
"Okay, 65. What year will that be?"

Now the goal of retirement starts to feel more real to her as she replies, "Let's see, that would be 2030."
"All right, what day in 2030 do you want to know that if you wanted to stop working you could?"

It's interesting that even for someone who hasn't thought about the exact day before, it's no trouble to come up with one. As they do, they'll gain a profound sense of what is really possible for them — and that you're the one who can help them do it.

After you've established an exact date, you can ask your prospect how much money per month or per year it will take to have the kind of life he or she wants. (Note: This isn't how much money they need to have – it is how much would they like to have.) Of course, they don't have to consider inflation, or make any other calculations. You just need an annual figure so you can do the rest.

The fourth component of each goal is to get them thinking about what it would be like when they have reached their goal. You would say something like, Let's imagine/assume you are there (describe that position they just told you about). Describe in 2 or 3 words how you are feeling and what you are thinking now that you are there.

3. Current Financial Reality (15–20 min.)
Key Question: "Now that we have had a chance to discuss your goals, the next step is to figure out where you are now. I appreciate your bringing all your documents with you to this meeting. Now is the time to pull them out."

Not much discussion is necessary here. In fact, all you should have to say is, "Let's take a look at where you are now. May I?" And your prospect should hand over a complete file with all the documents detailing the entire financial picture. You can quickly review the documents, tally the assets and liabilities, and record them. As you note the figures, your prospective client will be thinking about action. What will it take to bridge the gap between where we are now and the future we want?

4. Commitment to Hire You (2–3 min.)
Key Question: "What you are looking at is your Financial Road Map® for Living Life on Purpose.
We're at the point in our time together for you to decide whether or not you want to hire me to create a written strategy/plan for you.

What that means is that we will create a comprehensive, specific, written step-by-step plan of action that will tell you exactly what to do in these 4 areas.

We are going to tell you exactly the right amount of Cash Reserves to have and how to get it.
Next is debt.
We are going to tell you exactly how to go about eliminating your debt, or reduce it in a way that is prudent.
We are going to examine all kinds of insurance that exists, compare that with what you have, and tell you exactly what kind of insurance you should have and how much.
Now we are going to look at your assets and advise you on how to allocate them so that you have the highest probability of achieving your goals.
(Now recap their goals.)

It's knowing that you have achieved these goals that is the evidence that you have made smart choices about your money.
And for you, NAME, that means that you have more choices, sense of fulfillment knowing that leading your life with existence (recap this persons' values).
And for you, NAME, this means that you have (are…) more …… so that you feel connected with God.… (recap this persons' values)

The question on the table is, "Would you like to hire me to create this written plan for you and to be your coach?"

This will be the easiest question for prospects to answer. If they say no, you've either done a bad job or they don't really want a financial advisor. If it's the former, this is not the time to try to correct what you did poorly earlier in the interview. Gracefully abandon ship. If it's the latter, and you can tell that what they really want is just to buy a specific product, refer them to a reputable financial products salesperson. This is where the rubber meets the road: Your behavior will reveal your true profession. Trusted advisors plan first then implement. Salespeople match products to needs.

Of course, if they say yes, then there's your proof of a good fit with the client and that you've conducted a perfect first interview up to this point.

Another possible response is the question of cost, and it puts you in a perfect position to get a commitment to implement, regardless of whether you work on commission only or write strategies for a fee. In discussing cost, you can segue seamlessly to the next question, as shown below.

5. Commitment to Implement (2–3 min.)
Key Question: "There is one more piece that we need to discuss. This may be the most important discussion we are going to have because I'm sure you would like to realize the results you want from this plan. The results don't come from having the plan the plan the results come from implementing the plan (just like most things in life). We only write plans for people like you who are seriously committed to following through. So it's important for us to have a conversation about your commitment to implement your plan once you have it. It's kind of like thinking about exercise won't make you fit. The actual exercise is what produces the results. Take a few minutes now please and tell me about your commitment to implement your plan once it is done."

If you're commission-only:
"I don't charge you for writing the strategy, and this brings up an obvious question. How do I get paid for doing all this work? The answer is pretty important to both of us. I get paid when you implement your financial strategy. In other words, you benefit when the strategy is implemented; I get paid when it's implemented. Therefore, it's really important that we discuss your intentions. So tell me, in your own words ..."

If you're fee-based:
"I charge $x to write the strategy. You can make the check payable to XXXX." After you've gotten the check, you can continue. "This brings up an obvious point. You might be shocked to learn that there are people who would spend and hour with me and then pay me to create a valuable financial strategy for them and not implement it. I don't want that to happen with you. So tell me, in your own words ..."

Throughout the five conversations, you will succeed if you simply remember who you are: Don't be a salesperson; be a Trusted Advisor.

© 2003 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bill Bachrach is the creator of Values-Based Financial Planning®. He has authored 4 industry best-sellers, delivered over 2,000 presentations worldwide, and is considered to be the leading authority on how financial advisors can avoid being salespeople and instead acquire better clients and serve them by being Trusted Advisors. For more ideas and articles on how to be a Trusted Advisor go to www.billbachrach.com where you can watch streaming video of Bill's presentations and register to get your FREE monthly Trusted Financial Advisor e-newsletter, or call 800-347-3707 for more information.

3 Ways to Earn Your Clients Trust

2009-01-05T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey wrote about those who "work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall." That's what I did in my early years. I was determined, ambitious, aggressive, and proactive about my goals. I worked ridiculous hours, attended one seminar after another, and bought more mailing lists than I can count. If I had to make 250 calls in a day, I'd make them. I attended the Dale Carnegie sales class eight times, and my copy of Zig Ziglar's Secret to Closing the Sales is covered with highlighted paragraphs and margin notes. I was willing to do whatever it took to become a great salesperson—until I discovered that I was climbing the wrong ladder to the top of the wrong wall.

In my latest book, It's All About Them, I talk a lot about being a Trusted Advisor. It's a term I've coined to describe people who are interested in taking their businesses to the next level by earning and maintaining the trust of long-term, loyal, ideal clients. A lot of people think that being a good salesperson is the same thing as being a Trusted Advisor, but it's not. Becoming a Trusted Advisor is not just another way to sell products; it's an entirely different process and requires an entirely different mind-set. It's much more about being client centered, with the primary focus on always doing what's right for the client and always putting the client first.

So, how do you become a Trusted Advisor? You start by earning people's trust, which you can easily do by following these three steps: Communicate with conviction, ask better questions, and tell the hard truth.

1. Communicate with Conviction

Have you earned the right to expect people to follow your advice and respond to your authority? No one will give you that authority unless you first believe you deserve it. If you show up in the marketplace assuming that you're not going to be trusted and people aren't going to respond to your authority or advice, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The result is a collaborative environment where the client directs you instead of following your advice.

I often see clients or prospects who strongly believe that they know what they're doing. Others think, "It's my money, so I should be in charge." There's certainly some truth in that, but unless they've dedicated themselves to becoming financial experts, they should find somebody smarter than themselves and defer to that person's expertise. Unfortunately, many financial advisors don't convey the impression that they really are more competent or knowledgeable than their potential clients and prospects. Therefore, people don't defer to them.

To become a Trusted Advisor and have people defer their financial decisions to you, your clients need to think, "I trust you and I believe you have my best interests at heart. I also trust that you're competent enough and, between the two of us, you know better." There's nothing wrong with a client questioning your authority, but at some point all clients want to find an advisor they can trust. Deep down inside, they want you to tell them what to do. If they can trust you, they'll do it. If they can't trust you, they'll find someone else. That's why so many people have more than one advisor—they don't completely trust any of them. Communicate with conviction, and you'll earn your clients' trust as well as all of their business.

2. Ask Better Questions

Have you ever noticed that most people would rather talk about themselves than listen to you talk about yourself? If you want to build a high-trust relationship, shallow chitchat or talking about your credentials won't do it. You need to talk about what's meaningful, important, significant, and compelling to that person. One of the best things you can do to prepare for that kind of conversation is to gather information in advance. Anytime someone refers a potential new client to you, ask the referring person questions that will lead to meaningful, important, significant, and compelling information. Find out as much as you can about your prospects: What are their values, interests, passions, and goals? What do they do for fun? Who do they care about most? When clients or prospects see the connection between the value you bring and what's most important to them, they tend to respond positively. In the process, you lay the foundation for a long-lasting, high-trust relationship with the people you truly want as clients.

3. Tell the Hard Truth

If your clients don't defer to your authority and expertise, there's a good reason, and it's not them. Chances are, it's because you're behaving like a salesperson. Instead of communicating with conviction and earning your clients' respect, you're following the old "customer is always right" mentality. Even though your clients may have little or no financial expertise, you defer to them rather than take the chance of upsetting them and jeopardizing your insurance or mutual fund sale.

I spend a lot of time coaching my Trusted Advisors to tell the truth and be direct. At first, many argue, "I'm afraid of how clients will respond if I tell the truth." I understand that. However, if you want to be a Trusted Advisor, you have to tell the truth—even when the consequences are less than desirable. Think about it this way: If you tell people the truth and they respond poorly, do you really want them as clients? Most people appreciate and respond positively to the truth; honest communication is a cornerstone for building trust.

What Happens When People Trust You?

About a year ago, I hired a new CEO to take over and run my company. One of the guys in my Mastermind group asked me, "What do you do when you and your CEO disagree about something?" I said, "I try to figure out why he's right. He's run a lot more companies than I have." Obviously, I trust my CEO and believe in his competence. I listen to his advice and defer to his knowledge, even when I may disagree.

When people trust you, they not only give you their business, they also listen to your advice and defer to your knowledge. Isn't that the kind of relationship you want to have with your clients? The great industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie understood this philosophy extremely well. The epitaph on his tombstone sums it up perfectly. It says, "Here lies a man who knew how to enlist the service of better men than himself."

Don't be a salesperson, be a Trusted Advisor.

Take 3 Steps Back and Create the Business You Want

2009-01-04T03:01:00.001-08:00

by Bill Bachrach, CSP, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Don't be a salesperson. Be a Trusted Advisor.

Mortgage sales hit problems

2009-01-03T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: Richard Green

The housing market has been buoyant over the past few years, but mortgage providers and first-time buyers are both now facing a tough time. Following announcements from the Bank of England that there has been an overall decline in the total number of UK home-buyers, and a declaration from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) that the number of disputes concerning mis-sold mortgage endowments has now hit record levels, it seems that mortgage lenders are facing a bleak time. Add to this the results of a new survey, by the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre, which shows potential first-time buyers fear that they may never get onto the property market, and you start to see a worrying picture of the housing market emerge.

The problem with the mis-selling of endowment mortgage products has recently made the headlines in the world of personal finance. The FOS admitted receiving 70,000 new complaints about endowment mortgages, the equivalent of 1,300 a week, compared to just 300 a week three years ago.

The main grounds for complaint revolve around people who believe that mis-selling had occurred regarding policies. Many consumers feel that the endowment product sold to them was unsuitable either because it would lead to financial short-falls, or because the level of risk involved had not been adequately explained to them prior to the policy commencing.

The sheer scale and number of complaints has lead to changes in regulations and the imposition of deadlines for lodging complaints.

""The number [of complaints] we can expect to receive in the current year will largely be determined by how financial services firms meet the new regulatory requirements on so-called re-projection letters. Most of these letters will warn of likely mortgage shortfalls and many will give, for the first time, an explicit deadline by which any complaint must be lodged."", Walter Merricks, chief ombudsman. The situation is no better for first-time buyers either. Forming a significantly important sector of the house buying market, a recently published study from GMAC, the financial subsidiary of General Motors, carried out by Professor David Miles, who was originally commissioned to investigate the mortgage market by Chancellor Gordon Brown, has found that dramatically fewer first-time buyers than ever before are currently entering into the housing market. A report from mortgage lender, Abbey, highlighted that the main concern for first-time buyers is not a lack of desire to buy their own house, but rather a fear over whether they feel they can afford to do so. Just over a third of the potential first-time buyers in the survey, indicated that they wanted to buy a home within the next year, however only 5% were confident that they would actually be able to. These figures are disappointing when viewed against the backdrop of the initiatives by Gordon Brown to help first-time buyers, through the increase in the zero rate stamp duty threshold announced during the budget, and the introduction of shared ownership schemes with purchasers owning between 50% and 75% of their home and paying rent on the remainder. Recent reductions in the cost of loans for first-time buyers has also occurred, and many experts believe that the base rate may fall further, creating a spark for further reductions in the cost of monthly mortgage payments. These should all be seen as good news, but new buyers still do not appear to be convinced that now is the right time to buy. "There are other important influences affecting this group other than the straight affordability issue", GMAC's, executive chairman, Stephen Knight, reported, "Buying property is seen as 'settling down' among 71% of those questioned….More than half of the people studied felt comfortable with delaying buying a property until they are over 30. This matches with the current average age of a first-time buyer, 34." Stephen Knight also stated that an increasing problem for those who go on to higher education is that, "many graduates, especially those who leave college with large student debts, are unwilling to take on additional financial commitments."

According to research from Moneynet, first time buyers during May were looking for an average mortgage amount of £135,966 for an average property value of £205,284 on an average salary of £39,027. With the average single UK salary around £24-25k, current house purchases are therefore generally requiring the combined funds available from dual incomes, combined with many young families being worried about job security, Stephen Knight believes there are clearly social and financial issues that need to be addressed.

The greatest worry for a quarter of would-be buyers according to the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre is that they feel that if they don't get on to the property ladder soon, they never will.

References: Mo neynet Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre GMAC Sunday Herald

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Stockbroker Career

2009-01-02T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Nick Hunter

So you think you might want to be a stockbroker?

Perhaps the most popular area of the investment industry is that of a stockbroker. Although some of you might think that breaking into the business is difficult, but it actually is pretty easy. That of course depends somewhat on where you would be willing to work and what you would be dealing in. If you are a young person out of high school or college and can accept less guaranteed money for the potential to make a lot, then the options are limitless. Unlimited income and freedom to control your destiny.

Sound to good to be true? Maybe, but the fact is many people have changed their lives by becoming a Stockbroker or any Investment Professional. Brokerage firms that pay their brokers mostly on commission are always hiring. The idea that an unlicensed or inexperienced person will not be able to find a lot of openings is false. The risk that a stock brokerage firm takes when hiring new brokers in minimal.

A stock firm does not pay much in salary. $250-$500 weekly during training is the average. So, if a firm hires someone at $350 a week, the upside to the firm is high. You have to consider the initial loss of income when entering this business. If you are 20 years old, you might not consider that pay in the beginning as that low. Older workers with more personal and financial responsibilities have to consider it a little more.

Finding a job with a firm in this industry is different from others. Your choices are broad and the way you go about it can enhance your chances. Don't just look for job ads in the newspaper or the Internet. Call up the firms themselves and inquire about openings even if they are not advertising. Look in your local phone book and call them. You may have an office of a terrific firm in your town that might hire you. Do not ask the receptionist if they are hiring. Ask to speak to the Sales Manager in particular. The Sales Manager of a firm is paid largely on the production of the brokers he's managing. So, if you sound eager enough and come across well on the phone, I guarantee he will at least take your name and give it consideration if not bring you in that same day!

The Series 7 and the Series 63 licenses will be required before you can begin working with customers. Your firm will sponsor you for those exams. Other licenses may be needed depending on the firm and the securities they deal in.

Not an easy job for sure. It will take long hours, the ability and willingness to cold call effectively, and the drive to be the best. Only then, will you earn your worth.

Good Luck!

About the author: Nick Hunter is the President of American Investment Training, Inc. (AIT) www.aitraining.com He has personally taught thousands of students in the securities industry for over 15 years.

Can a Sales Leaseback arrangement make investing in Orlando investment more safe and reliable

2008-12-31T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Lisa Carson

Sales Leaseback compared to traditional property investment

Can a Sales Leaseback arrangement make investing in Orlando investment properties more safe and reliable? Yes. Providing a guaranteed rental amount each month is the safest and most reliable way to realize a return on your investment. In addition to freeing you from any financial worries regarding monthly income the Sales Leaseback program also relieves you from the headaches of the marketing and administrative duties of operating a luxury resort.

The sale and lease back transaction owes its initial roots to equipment leasing. In the case of real estate, the buyer purchases real estate from the seller and the seller leases it back from the buyer for a specific amount of rent. (Lease Back) In this case, the owner is the lessor and the management company is the lessee.

The Sale and Lease back offers the following: Increase in rental amounts each year Typical Increases approximately 2% annually. Consistent amounts are paid each month to the owner making it easier to calculate yield and manage the property. A fixed amount is paid to owner each month. If real estate is approximately 2000 sq. ft, they would receive approximately $2000 The owner can stay at resort for FREE or a deeply discounted rates Offer discounted rates to family and friends who want to stay in their villa while on vacation.

The typical resort earns its profits during the high season to offset losses during the low season. Finding a seasoned professional to manage your property during both high and low season is key to your financial success for both short and long term.

As part of the Sale Leaseback program the only items paid for by the Owner (lessor) are mortgage, insurance, taxes and utility deposits. This makes it easy for the purchaser to acquire investment property in Orlando because the challenges of managing the investment properties are handled by the Lessor. Items paid for by the Lessee are Rent to Owner, Homeowner dues, Electricity, Telephone, Cable, Pest Control, Water and Sewer and maintenance. This makes it easy for the buyer to purchase an Orlando investment Property. Upkeep of property, landscaping, and housekeeping is handled by the Lessee.

This makes the investment property management almost turnkey. All these benefits make investing in Orlando Investment Properties a viable alternative to both first time and seasoned investors. Lisa Carson lcarson@biminibayresortinvestment.com http://www.biminibayresortinvestment.com

About the author: Sales Leaseback Expert

Understanding how to unlock the value in today's competitive investment sales market.

2008-12-29T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Mike Myatt

There is little doubt that we are currently experiencing one of the most heated seller's markets in recent history. Today's investment sales market has been reduced to an e-bay like environment where retail brokerage houses simply put an asset up for auction and wait for the buyers to circle like hungry sharks.

Many will point to the increased flow of funds in the

commercial capital markets creating a demand-side frenzy that is causing a compression in cap rates and escalating prices to all time highs as justifying current market tactics. However while there is an element of truth surrounding the logic contained in the previous sentence, I believe it is simply easier for many buyers to blame the market and follow the crowd rather than adapt their acquisitions plan. This is evidenced by the fact that many institutional buyers like REIT's, TIC syndicators or foreign investors seem content to participate in the madness rather than seek alternate investment strategies. The need to place funds seems to be taking precedence over making good investment decisions for many in today's market.

The real opportunities in today's market are not found by following the herd mentality but can be found in the application of any of the following strategies:

1. ""Off-market"" transactions: Seek out assets that are not listed by retail brokerage firms. Hire an investment bank to approach principal owners on a direct basis negotiating with them on assets that are not publicly for sale.

2. Change Market Focus: Focus your acquisition strategies on secondary and tertiary markets where there will be less competition for assets. Additionally stay out of the hot markets and look toward markets recovering from downturns.

3. Change Asset Class Focus: Rather than chasing multifamily and retail properties look for opportunities in office, hospitality and industrial asset classes.

4. Stay Away from Traditional Trophy Assets: If you must buy big look for opportunistic plays that have higher vacancies, lease roll-over risks, or financing issues. An asset doesn't need to be located in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles or be fully leased to constitute a trophy designation.

5. Look for Joint Venture or Recapitalization Opportunities: Many of the best opportunities in today's market are not found in out-right acquisitions. Explore joint ventures that will allow you to co-invest with existing owners of assets in a fashion that will allow them to free up trapped equity or fund new developments.

6. Change Your Acquisition Process: Traditional acquisition time frames that were competitive 12 months ago will leave you on the outside looking in with today's frothy market conditions. Be willing to make unsolicited offers, put up meaningful earnest money deposits and close quickly.

In summary, we are experiencing quite a competitive sellers market and the

investment sales market is turning into more of an e-bay type auction than a business transaction. However, there are many real opportunities in today's market that can be found when you change the way you look at the investment sales market.

About the author: Mike Myatt is Executive Managing Director of Pacific Security Capital, a leading commercial real estate investment banking firm providing commercial real estate loans, structured finance, investment sales and advisory services. Contact Pacific Security Capital at 1-800-844-6085.

Insurance and Financial Services Sales Tactics

2008-12-28T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Sharron Senter

If you sell insurance, financial services and the like, consider the following low-cost marketing strategies to help grow your small business.

It's important to first acknowledge some of the natural barriers to acquiring new clients within the insurance and financial services industries. These include, but are not limited to, customers lacking knowledge about your products and, therefore, lacking the ability to ask questions, and customers afraid of being ripped off. Unfortunately, insurance and financial salespeople often carry the same stigma as used car salespeople. And I'm certain there are some great and honest used car dealers around. It's important to recognize this stigma so you can proactively address it in your marketing plan. Ultimately, to grow your business within the insurance and financial services industries you must strive to build an incredible reputation, built on a platform of reliability, honesty and product knowledge. I also encourage you to be very straightforward about your pricing and how you make your money. The fact is, your customer wants to know. Surprise them, and tell them upfront. Here are some marketing strategies to try. -- First, try teaming up with complementary professionals, such as estate attorneys, business attorneys, financial planners, etc. You'll receive referral business faster from such businesses for two reasons. One, their customers are currently utilizing services for ""future"" occurrences. Hence, your prospect is already in the mindset of planning and spending for the future. You now become another product they need to consider for the future. Second, there's an implied trust between an estate attorney and her customers. If an estate attorney referred her customers to you, that customer would be more likely to do business with you, than if he/she had simply seen your print ad in a local newspaper.

-- Launch a publicity campaign For example, consider submitting a story idea to your local media about, ""The Fallacies of Long-term Care Insurance. Who Needs It? What is it? Insider Secrets to Buying the Most Comprehensive Plan."" I can't stress this next point enough; you must be objective when interviewing for such a story. When being interviewed by the media, it's not a chance to ""sell"" yourself; rather, it's an opportunity to express your knowledge and expertise, and help readers use your knowledge to their benefit. If they like what you have to say, they'll contact you.

-- Consider facilitating a bimonthly workshop(s) at your local library or community center called, ""The Insider's Point of View to Long-term Care Insurance. Who Needs It, Who Doesn't?"" Or, ""Age & Long-term Care Insurance, When's The Right Time?"" The workshop tactic is becoming slightly overused. However, I think it's still a very powerful marketing tool. Plus, it's affordable. You simply need to be more imaginative with your topics and headlines.

-- Try creating a ""Long-term Care Insurance Top 10,"" fact sheet. It should include detailed content about the ins and outs of selecting long-term care insurance, i.e., why, why not? Who qualifies and what are the estimated costs? Distribute your fact sheet to prospects, the press and various public bulletins, such as the library, town hall, Post Office, colleges, doctor and attorney offices, etc. When you're selecting bulletin boards, stick to professional looking boards, rather than just catch-alls. The latter will reduce your professionalism. Some bulletin boards give off the impression, ""What would she know; she's advertising on a bulletin board."" On the fact sheet, you're not selling yourself; instead, you're selling the benefits/solutions of long-term care insurance with your bio at the bottom. If you've done a comprehensive and professional job, readers will contact you.

-- Partner with a local bank. The idea is to get yourself noted as a ""pre-certified insurance expert for XYZ bank."" Approach the bank VP and recommend an informal partnership whereby you're available for complimentary on site consultation for bank customers. Moreover, there's a tremendous amount of implied reliability and credibility when associating your business with a bank. The great thing about banks is that they usually distribute large monthly customer mailings. Ideally you'll want to piggyback on the bank's mailing by having your sales flyer included. These flyers are usually called, ""bill stuffers."" Don't forget banks also distribute calendars, year-end statements, etc. Try to get noted in all of their communications. Of course, under the umbrella that you're a partner with the bank.

-- A bank north of Boston lets their small business customers display sales materials for a week in their lobby. Approach your bank where you have your business account and ask for the same.

-- Try partnering with hospitals. They're well known for sponsoring workshops. They also distribute a weekly/monthly newsletter. My local hospital actually distributes their calendar of events in my local newspaper. By partnering with hospitals and similar organizations, your prospect-reach compounds tremendously, while you spend zero!

-- Consider joining your local chapter of Business Network International, www.bni.com. Of course, like any organization, it's only as effective as your networking abilities and how well the members of that particular chapter work together. Always attend at least two meetings before joining. And watch out! Associations' memberships are down across the board due to the sluggish economy. There's definitely some hard selling going on. Take your time when deciding what organization is best for you. Don't be misled into joining anything.

-- Align yourself with a reputable online insurance media outlet. Ideally you want to become a regularly featured columnist, or perhaps act as a moderator for an upcoming online seminar, etc. This does several things for you. One, usually anything Internet-related is archived. So if a person is shopping around for insurance or financial products and you've partnered with a reputable and high search engine ranking online media outlet, there's a good chance your Web site will reflect high in search engine rankings. Two, if you're a regularly featured columnist, you immediately acquire more credibility than your competitors. Readers are more likely to reach out to you for product solutions.

-- Don't forget about organizations you already belong to. Are you taking advantage of their Web site resources, i.e., linking your Web site, being included in their membership directory, etc.? What's more, do a quick search on www.google.com for free directories. Try, ["your expertise" insurance directories], or [financial sales representatives directories.]

-- The key marketing strategy to keep in mind for any salesperson is that you must circulate, ""be seen."" It's the most perpetuating sales lead program you can foster.

-- Finally, as you're working hard to generate all these new leads, make sure you have a follow-up plan in place. The fastest and most affordable follow-up method is to ask prospects if they want to receive your free monthly ezine.

About the author: Sharron Senter is a New England-based marketing consultant, speaker and founder of Senter & Associates, a marketing communications firm that helps small businesses deploy low-cost marketing strategies. Sharron is well known for her free monthly emailed marketing tips, found at http://www.sharronsenter.com. She's also the cofounder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com – an onsite computer repair, networking and security company based north of Boston.

Insurance, Financial Services Sales Tactics

2008-12-26T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Sharron Senter

If you sell insurance, financial services and the like, consider the following low-cost marketing strategies to help grow your small business.

It's important to first acknowledge some of the natural barriers to acquiring new clients within the insurance and financial services industries. These include, but are not limited to, customers lacking knowledge about your products and, therefore, lacking the ability to ask questions, and customers afraid of being ripped off. Unfortunately, insurance and financial salespeople often carry the same stigma as used car salespeople. And I'm certain there are some great and honest used car dealers around. It's important to recognize this stigma so you can proactively address it in your marketing plan. Ultimately, to grow your business within the insurance and financial services industries you must strive to build an incredible reputation, built on a platform of reliability, honesty and product knowledge. I also encourage you to be very straightforward about your pricing and how you make your money. The fact is, your customer wants to know. Surprise them, and tell them upfront. Here are some marketing strategies I suggest you try. -- First, try teaming up with complementary professionals, such as estate attorneys, business attorneys, financial planners, etc. You'll receive referral business faster from such businesses for two reasons. One, their customers are currently utilizing services for ""future"" occurrences. Hence, your prospect is already in the mindset of planning and spending for the future. You now become another product they need to consider for the future. Second, there's an implied trust between an estate attorney and her customers. If an estate attorney referred her customers to you, that customer would be more likely to do business with you, than if he/she had simply seen your print ad in a local newspaper.

-- Consider facilitating a bimonthly workshop(s) at your local library or community center called, ""The Insider's Point of View to Long-term Care Insurance. Who Needs It, Who Doesn't?"" Or, ""Age & Long-term Care Insurance, When's The Right Time?"" The workshop-tactic is becoming slightly overused. However, I think it's still a very powerful marketing tool. Plus, it's affordable. You simply need to be more imaginative with your topics and headlines.

-- Partner with a local bank. The idea is to get yourself noted as a ""pre-certified insurance expert for XYZ bank."" Approach the bank VP and recommend an informal partnership whereby you're available for complimentary onsite consultation for bank customers. Moreover, there's a tremendous amount of implied reliability and credibility when associating your business with a bank. The great thing about banks is that they usually distribute large monthly customer mailings. Ideally you'll want to piggyback on the bank's mailing by having your sales flyer included. These flyers are usually called, ""bill stuffers."" Don't forget banks also distribute calendars, year-end statements, etc. Try to get noted in all of their communications. Of course, under the umbrella that you're a partner with the bank.

-- A bank north of Boston lets their small business customers display sales materials for a week in their lobby. Approach your bank where you have your business account and ask for the same.

-- The key marketing strategy to keep in mind for any salesperson is that you must circulate, ""be seen."" It's the most perpetuating sales lead program you can foster.

About the author: Sharron Senter is a New England-based marketing consultant, speaker, writer and founder of Senter & Associates, a marketing communications firm that helps small businesses deploy low-cost marketing strategies. She is well known for her free weekly emailed marketing tips, found at http://www.sharronsenter.com

Insurance Regulators Focus on Abusive Sales Practices

2008-12-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: Tony Novak

State insurance regulators are focusing their efforts on a short list of five consumer problems areas related to the improper sale of variable annuities and life insurance. The problem areas include: 1) 1035 exchanges, 2) variable annuities inside of qualified accounts, 401(k)s or IRAs, 3) failure to fully disclose costs and fees, 4) comparing sub-accounts to mutual funds, and 5) improper or unrealistic product illustrations.

While the actual extent of problems in these areas is not known, some industry observers believe that one or more regulations was violated in the sale of the majority of variable annuities and variable life insurance polices. The vast majority of sales practice violations are not reported to the regulators because the investor is not even aware that a violation has occurred. Financial damage, if visible at all, is often not apparent until many years later.

If you believe that you have been the victim of sales misconduct when buying a variable annuity or variable life insurance policy, then you basically have two options: report the incident to the regulators in your state or consult a private adviser. Both are long and tedious processes, but only the second option is likely to result in a financial recovery if you have suffered a loss from an improper sales practice. An apparent third option – reporting the problem to personnel in your investment company – is unlikely to result in any substantive corrective action because the automatic "denial of wrongdoing" mentality is deeply imbedded in the financial services industry. Investment representatives are routinely restricted from admitting wrongdoing or negotiating solutions with customers. These issues must be referred to the firm's legal department where the individual is unlikely to make any progress without legal representation anyway. So this third option really is not really a separate strategy after all.

It might be smart to get an early opinion of an independent financial adviser and attorney in any case. Attorneys who handle these legal issues typically work in tandem with a financial adviser to identify, document and then redress problem areas. Some of these problem issues are addressed as class action claims, where others are handled on an individual case-by-case basis. It is usually necessary to demonstrate a realized financial loss or damage in order to successfully negotiate a financial settlement.

About the author: Tony Novak is an independent writer and financial adviser in Narberth PA who who has consulted as an expert witness in sales practice disputes.

Term Insurance Sales Techniques

2008-12-24T03:01:00.000-08:00

Author: LifePro

Term Insurance Sales Techniques

www.LifePro.com

More people than ever need term insurance, so you should learn to be efficient in its sale.

Term insurance enables many people who otherwise could not afford it to buy a sufficient amount of life insurance to ensure their family will not suffer financially should they die.

What kinds of term products are selling best now? What are the best ways for the producer to approach this large market?

We are delighted to share the following comments from producers, wholesalers, and home office executives who have proven their expertise in marketing term insurance.

Dave Brogan, CLU, ChFC, is a 48-year Ohio National career agent based in Lansing, Mich. Mr. Brogan is a 38-year qualifying and life member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT).

His best term prospects often are young professionals or business people with young families. He does a brief needs analysis to determine the amount of capital that will be needed to provide adequate income for the family. For example, $2 million of life insurance proceeds invested at 5% interest creates $100,000 of income a year. Although $2 million of coverage sounds like a lot to many people at first, when discussed as the income it would provide a family, it is not excessive.

Mr. Brogan develops most of his clients from groups of physicians, attorneys, accountants, and personal contact with local businesses. Some of his sales are a combination of term and universal life insurance products.

""I point out to clients the importance of adequate coverage now to protect their families,"" he says. If their incomes permit, he also encourages clients to make a portion of their coverage permanent life insurance.

Mr. Brogan tells clients and prospects that he never has had a widow ask him what kind of insurance her husband had. Nor has he had a widow tell him she thought her husband had too much insurance.

""I generally sell either 10-, 15-, or 20-year level term insurance policies with guaranteed level premiums for the full term period,"" he says. All the coverage is fully convertible to permanent insurance, and Mr. Brogan uses the enhanced conversion option that allows conversion to any product his company has available.

""Almost every term insurance policy I sell is sold with the expectation that all or a portion of it will be converted at some point,"" he says. ""I attempt to set that thought in my client's mind right from the beginning.""

Mr. Brogan often shows both term and universal life quotes at the initial sale, and indicates that he will stay in touch and review the conversion option periodically.

Early in his career, a close friend of Mr. Brogan's bought a $10,000 whole life policy from him. A few years later, after the birth of this man's first child, Mr. Brogan suggested that his friend needed an additional $10,000 policy. ""He and his wife were not sure they needed it as he had some group benefits,"" says Mr. Brogan. ""Besides, they contended, she was a teacher and would be able to teach if her husband died."" They moved 200 miles away and had two more children.

Mr. Brogan received a call a few months after the birth of their third child, and was told that his friend had died of an aneurysm on his way to work.

Mr. Brogan says, ""Needless to say, my friend did not have adequate insurance. His widow tried to teach, but found it difficult to raise her three children and work a full-time job as well. It was clear to me that a sizeable term policy would have met their needs much better than a lower face amount whole life policy.""

Mr. Brogan has used this example for many years as motivation to ensure his clients have adequate coverage. If term insurance meets a prospect's initial needs, that's what he sells. He also uses this early experience as a reason to approach all friends. ""While I use a low-key approach,"" Mr. Brogan says, ""it eases my mind in case the unthinkable happens and a friend dies. I want to be sure that I attempt to sell them the right products designed to protect the needs of their families.""

Scott Menta, ChFC, CFP, CLU, a MetLife agent from Elmsford, N.Y., believes term insurance will continue to be sold as a commodity unless the producer can demonstrate that he or she delivers additional value. This additional value can be found in the design of the product, efficient underwriting, or the high quality of the producer's advice.

""Most term buyers,"" Mr. Menta says, ""don't realize they'll need life insurance later in life. That's why it's the agent's responsibility to be the advocate for the families and help clients understand the importance of buying a product with high-quality conversion options.""

Mr. Menta works to help buyers understand the product's convertibility period, and the kinds of permanent products to which their term insurance can be converted. The most attractive policies, he says, allow conversion to any kind of permanent product, including whole life, universal life, or variable life.

It is critical, he says, that producers talk to their clients about buying high-quality term products that offer a range of value-added riders. Riders can be added, for example, that guarantee the availability of long-term care insurance later in life, or pay for coverage in case of disability.

Mr. Menta believes producers should recommend the appropriate amount of coverage. Studies have indicated that families with children need 15 to 20 times their income, but the average family covers only 2.5 times their annual income.

Mr. Menta helps solve this problem by using the Human Life Value approach, which calculates the value a person brings to his or her household over the course of a lifetime. By using this method, he says, the producer makes sure that the client knows the ideal coverage level that will ensure his family won't suffer a reduction in living standards after the client's death.

Matt Woodson, Life Brokerage Director for Zenith Marketing Group, Inc., Charlotte, N.C., and Mark Milbrod, CLU, Life Brokerage Director for Zenith Marketing Group, Inc., Manalapan, N.J., believe that a good wholesaler assists the producer's term sale by treating it as more than a transaction sale. The wholesaler, they say, needs to know the long-term goals of the producer's client to determine which carrier or product will provide the best benefit.

All term insurance is not created equal, they say, because convertibility features, available riders, and financial strength are all factors that shouldn't be overlooked when determining the best fit for the situation.

The wholesaler's knowledge of the product features, strengths, and weaknesses saves the producer time doing research, expediting and simplifying the sale.

Using good field underwriting from the producer, the brokerage wholesaler can pinpoint the best product and carrier before an application is taken. After an application is submitted, a wholesaler can facilitate the medical requirement process by ordering the necessary exams and attending physician statements, being proactive with the carrier to get a policy issued in the shortest amount of time, and keeping the producer up to date on the status during the whole process.

By far, the biggest surge of sales Mr. Woodson and Mr. Milbrod are seeing now is with return of premium (ROP) term insurance. In many instances, they say, when given a choice, clients are willing to pay a higher premium knowing they're getting something back at the end of the term period. This is especially true in business situations that call for buy-sell agreements. They also are seeing conservative-minded business owners using ROP term for executive bonus plans.

Greg Bailey, vice president of marketing at Financial Brokerage, Inc., Omaha, Neb., believes the wholesaler can be the ""knowledge bank"" for the producer. From carrier ratings, to detailed product features, to commission schedules and pricing, he says, ""The wholesaler can and should assist the producer in finding the best product and carrier possible for their client."" To this end, it is important that the wholesaler have several high-quality term insurance carriers in its portfolio.

In a recent case, a producer was interested in a 10-year term insurance plan for her client. ""Many of us,"" Mr. Bailey says, ""would take the easy street to the predestined conclusion -- quote the lowest cost, highest commission combination for the producer to sell."" Rather than taking this easy route, they recommended a return of premium term insurance plan for a portion of the death benefit needed. For the remaining portion of the death benefit, a high-quality universal life plan was proposed.

At the end of the 10th policy year, this client will get back 100% of the term insurance premiums from the insurance company. The client then will have the choice to ""dump in"" that amount of money to a universal life plan -- which will enable the client to maintain life insurance past the initial 10 years.

Mr. Bailey believes that the producer and wholesaler should share the responsibility in creating future options for clients and their beneficiaries.

Michael C. DiPiazza, CLU, vice president of marketing, life operations, MONY Life Insurance Company, says the term insurance market has been growing, and he believes that it will continue to grow for two reasons.

First, the Internet will continue to expand the reach of term insurance promotion and merchandising. And second, continuing reductions in price will make the product more affordable across the economic strata.

""Lower economic strata,"" he says, ""will find life insurance protection finally affordable within their family budget. And, at the higher end ... well, there just will be no excuse for not getting that extra million of protection in place.""

Producers will be able to ask some of their prospects, ""How can you afford not to address that additional need when it is addressed with such a modest premium?""

Mr. DiPiazza believes producers must determine the role term insurance plays within their ""product mix."" If term insurance will be a producer's lead or primary product, then he or she will have to stay on top of the game, tracking the monthly changes among the price leaders to make sure the product quoted is always among the price leaders. The producer also needs to think about means of mass distribution, because earnings per sale will decline as the price continues to drive lower and lower on an already low premium.

On the other hand, the producer might consider pursuing only those market segments where there is a reasonable potential to convert the term insurance he or she sells into permanent insurance. In other words, the reason a producer offers term can be to ""warehouse"" prospects for a future conversion to permanent insurance. For these term buyers, the quality of the carrier and the permanent products available on conversion can justify a reasonable ""premium"" over the lowest price term competitors. ""This approach,"" Mr. DiPiazza says, ""can build a client base that, over time, can generate increasing commissions through conversions without increasing the time invested at work -- but the conversion takes time to sell."" Doing it the other way, he says, means the producer will have to work harder and harder each year to maintain the same level of earnings.

Joseph Sullivan, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Banner Life, and president of William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York, believes that companies with brokerage distribution systems continue to offer the overall best value for the money. Most of the agencies that represent Legal & General America, he says, are members of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA).

Mr. Sullivan notes that term life sales were slightly better than those of other life insurance products in 2003 but were up only marginally over 2002 sales.

Term insurance now represents approximately 23% of all new life insurance premiums (although the percentage is much higher when measured by face amount or policy count).

In a low interest rate economic environment, more people have chosen term insurance to protect their families' financial needs. The low interest rate environment also puts extreme pressure on the crediting rates of permanent plans.

""I advise agents never to forget that life insurance still is a product that is sold, not bought, and to recognize that there are no easy ways to prospect,"" he says.

If the producer performs an honest, rigorous needs analysis, many times the only affordable product choice will be term insurance, because the face amount will be quite high, making permanent insurance for the full need too expensive. ""From a compensation perspective,"" Mr. Sullivan says, ""commissions often will be the same as on a 'scaled down' permanent product.""

www.LifePro.com

About the author: At LifePro, we are more than a borkerage agency; we are the future of financial product and service distribution. LifePro offers independent agents and advisors the type of agency-level service that most independent brokerage agencies no longer provide.

Write Yourself a Reality Check

2008-12-23T03:02:00.000-08:00

Article by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Jim Carrey wasn't always a superstar actor. That may be stating the obvious (after all, the man wasn't born famous—in fact, he once lived on the streets), but what you might not know is that he once enjoyed a super-successful career as a stand-up comic. He was doing uncanny, rubber-faced impersonations of Hollywood legends that critics praised as the best they'd ever seen. But then he just stopped. Took his final bow before a standing, clapping, cheering audience, and vowed to completely change his act.

Why would he do such a thing? He figured that his career was on the same trajectory as old-time impressionist Rich Little, and that simply wasn't good enough. (Haven't heard of Rich Little? Then you still get the point.) This road would have ultimately led to headlining in Las Vegas. Jim Carrey may have wanted to see his name in lights, but he wanted them up somewhere besides the Strip.

What a risk! Carrey was willing to stop doing the one thing that had garnered him material success, not knowing whether what he did next would really work or not. As you know, it did. Carrey started to introduce oddball comedic commentary and strange characters to his act, and he often failed. But just look where he is today.

Helping people make smart choices about their money is no stand-up routine, but there are many lessons we can apply here. Financial professionals spend a good portion of their lives thinking about risk. What is my client's risk tolerance? How much risk is involved in this particular investment?

But have you taken the one risk in your career that will make all the difference?

What are you doing that's working and that, if you abandoned it and replaced it with something else, would propel you infinitely further than what you're currently doing ever would—no matter how good you became at it?

In other words, what old "skill," habit, or technique seems to work in getting you more business or netting higher commissions, but is holding you back? If you're committed to becoming a Trusted Advisor, is there some old sales tool or tactic that you still pull out of the bag in a pinch? How much confidence do you have in yourself to pull off a career make-over?

Excellence expert Tom Hopkins used to say, "You've got to give up what you've got in order to get what you want." And the boxer Joe Lewis once said, "Everyone says they want to go to heaven, but nobody's willing to die." Carrey was willing to die every night in front of hundreds of people. By experimenting this way, he remade himself, and the results were some of the memorable characters he brought to the TV show In Living Color and the characterizations he made famous in films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask. Today, Carrey is something of a phenomenon. Whether you like his work or not, you have to respect the fact that the man earns many millions per picture and has the luxury of selectively pursuing the roles that most interest him.

All-righty, then.

Salespeople simply do what works. Trusted Advisors, however, are willing to experiment—and even to fail. This is a classic principle from George Leonard's book, Mastery, which outlines all of the necessary ingredients for superiority in any field. The willingness to fail is critical: the willingness to look bad, to let go of your vanity for the good of your career and your clients and your own personal excellence.

Carrey's life so far has one more lesson to teach us: how to take a risk with absolute confidence in your own skill to pull it off. Before his blockbuster movies ever hit the screen, he wrote himself a $10 million check. He put that check in his wallet and carried it around with him until he could make good on the payment. Imagine the day he walked into his bank and deposited that whopper check!

What are you worth? If you were to write a big check to yourself, what amount would you aspire to? Before you answer, think about this: the salesperson thinks about how much it is possible to earn based on what is working today; the Trusted Advisor will look to his or her true potential for the future.

Want to deposit a $10 million check to yourself someday? My advice: Don't be a salesperson; be a Trusted Advisor.

© 2000, 2001 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bill Bachrach is the author of three industry-specific books, including the new Values-Based Financial Planning: The Art of Creating an Inspiring Financial Strategy, written for the clients of financial professionals. It teaches clients and other consumers how and why to build a Financial Road Map™, as well as how to find, recognize, and work with a Trusted Advisor. For information about his speaking services, The Trusted Advisor Coach™ program, 3-Day Values-Based Selling™ Academy, or to order his results-oriented books, (Values-Based Selling; The Art of Building High Trust Client Relationships and High-Trust Leadership; A Proven System for Developing an Organization of High-Performance Financial Professionals), and learning systems, contact Bachrach & Associates, Inc. at 800-347-3707 or visit their website: http://www.bachrachvbs.com. Request your free audiotape of Bill Bachrach 'live' via www.bachrachvbs.com.

The Quality of Life Enhancer

2008-12-10T03:01:00.001-08:00

By Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Do Your Clients Think You Add to Their Quality of Life?

For lifestyle planning to work as a business model, not only must financial professionals grasp the essential client benefits, but their clients must also. One tool for helping clients recognize its value is The Quality of Life Enhancer Worksheet™ described below.

This exercise is based on two principles: 1) The more we can align our behavior with our core values (what's important to us), the happier, more satisfied, and fulfilled we'll be; and 2) the more we delegate what's less important, the more time we have for what's more important.

These principles follow two basic facts of life.
1. Your clients, like everyone else, have only 168 hours in a week, no matter their ages, how much money they make, what they've invested, how attractive they are, or how much information they can access on the Internet. No exceptions. A person's quality of life is a function of how he or she chooses to spend that time. Benjamin Franklin agreed, "Time is the stuff life is made of."
2. Some things cannot be delegated, and some things can. We can't delegate exercise, time with friends and family, professional development, intellectual pursuits, enjoyment of hobbies. Bottom line: We can't delegate any of the things that make our lives truly meaningful. Why not delegate those things we can?

In working with a number of people on the following exercise, I've noticed a common group of answers for the first question, "What are a few things that are more important in life than money?" The usual responses include being healthy, being spiritual, nurturing family relationships, having fun, creating career excellence, and serving others. Of course, your clients may come up with an entirely different list, though I suspect it will be much like this one.

Once the list is established, consider these questions: "Can you delegate this? Can someone else take care of it for you?" Invariably, the answer is no, because (as I just pointed out) few things that are genuinely important in life are delegatable.

Next, ask, "Would you like to spend more time on this? If so, how much, and what would you do?" For example, the following might be one client's answers:

Life Quality: Being healthy
Delegatable? No
More Hours Per Week I'd Like to Spend on This: Four hours
What are three activities I'd do this week to improve this area of my life?
1. Exercise three to four times a week.
2. Learn about healthier eating.
3. Learn yoga, and get a massage every other week.

For more examples and blank copies of the worksheet that helps facilitate this conversation, refer to my recently released book for consumers entitled Values-Based Financial Planning available at our website.

© 2001-2002 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bill Bachrach, CSP is considered one of the most valuable resources to the financial planning profession. Visit his website at www.bachrachvbs.com or call 800-347-3707. You can contact Mark Van Leeuwen at (859) 626-3400, Alan Cranfield at (416) 307-3321, and Rod Carson at (913) 685-8581.

How To Market Affiliate Programs On Ebay

2008-11-11T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Ali

Article: Dear Aspiring Internet Marketer!

Are you familiar with Affiliate Marketing? If that phrase is new to you I suggest you get the book ""The Super Affiliate Handbook"" by Rosalind Gardner. Here is a link to the book. <A HREF=http://www.i4unow.com/sah.asp>http://www.i4unow.com/sah.asp< /A>

In a nutshell, Affiliate Marketing is selling a product that belongs to someone else. If you make a sale, you get paid a commission.

So how can you do this on eBay? Most people tell me you can't.

But you can and I've been doing it for quite a while now.

Now first let me say this. eBay makes the rules. At any time eBay can change the rules and make you change your strategy so just realize this before you get started.

Here is what I do.

I find a product that offers affiliate commission. I then register for the affiliate program and get my special affiliate URL.

Next I create an eBay auction or an eBay store item. In my description of the item I make it clear that the only way to pay for the auction is to use a special ""Check Out"" link.

After I have a winner, I then e-mail the Check Out link to the winner.

And that's it. I don't have to ship anything or collect any money. When the winner uses my checkout link, I automatically get a commission.

If you want to try this marketing method out, visit my affiliate program for The Pagerank Report.

<A HREF=http://www.i4unow.com/praff.asp>http://www.i4unow.com/praff. asp</A>

The great thing about The Pagerank Report is its all automated. After the auction closes your customer will have the product within minutes.

Once you've signed up to the affiliate program, then you will be given your own special ""affiliate link"" which you can promote. Any sales which come through from anyone who visits your ""affiliate link"", you will automatically earn a commission; in the case of the Pagerank Report, 51%.

Try it out and see if you can make some affiliate commissions on eBay today!

About the author: Ali is an expert at making money online and on eBay and has mastered the eBay code. If you want to learn the 7 dirty tricks eBay doesn't want you to know, check out http://www.i4unow.com/ebay/articles.asp today!

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Free Marketing Tip #3: Donate Something

2008-11-10T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing

Article: How can you get exposure for your business if you don't have any money to spend on marketing?

Is it possible? Absolutely!

In fact, you can get others to promote your products or services to your ideal customers, at no cost if you know where to look.

All you have to be willing to do is give away some of your products or services for free. Not only will this generate free marketing, it's also a great way to introduce a brand new product or service and get people to try it and give you testimonials. Testimonials you can use to market to others.

When you're looking for places to donate, make sure the people your product or service will be exposed to are your ideal clients. Look for organizations, events or people that have members or attendees that are the kind of people you'd love to have as clients.

Ask them a few questions such as:

Will they talk about your product or service in front of their group?

Or, will they give you the chance to talk about it?

Will they include promotion of your product or service in their event program?

Find out what kind of exposure you'll receive in exchange for donating your product or service.

Make sure it's worth it before you start giving away your valuable products or services.

Not sure what types of events, organizations or people you should donate to?

Here are 10 ideas to get you started:

(1) Charity or Non-Profit Fund Raisers

(2) Auctions

(3) Industry Association Meetings

(4) Networking organizations or meetings

(5) People in related or complementary businesses

(6) Golf Tournaments or other events

(7) The media (for a product or service review)

(8) Chambers of Commerce Events

(9) At Your Own Speaking Engagements

(10) To industry experts (for a product or service review)

Using your actual product or service as a marketing tool by giving it away is a great way to introduce it to your ideal prospects, generate free exposure and start creating a buzz.

About the author: Debbie LaChusa created <a href=""http://www.10stepmarketing.com/guidebook.htm""> The 10stepmarketing System </a>to make marketing your own business as simple as answering 10 questions. Learn more about this unique, step-by-step system and get a free 10-week <a href=""http://www.10stepmarketing.com/ezine.htm""> Marketing E-Course </a> when you subscribe to the free, weekly 10stepmarketing Ezine at http://www.10stepmarketing.com

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Getting The Most From Attending A Trade Show

2008-11-09T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Matt Kelly

Article: Trade shows can be an excellent opportunity for you and your business, whether you are an entrepreneur or you're representing the company you work for. Thousands of people set up trade show booths and trade show displays across the country at a huge variety of industry events. However, many people don't know how to take advantage of the opportunities a trade show offers. Some plan on simply attending, setting up their trade show booth, and then staying there all day hoping to attract new business. Manning a trade show display is only part of the reason you should be attending a trade show. The other vendors at a trade show can provide you with a wealth of new information and contacts in your industry; all accessible in the same room on the same day--this is the unparalleled attraction of a trade show for your business.

If you plan to attend a trade show, make sure you are not the only person there representing your company, even if you are a small business owner with few employees or a sole proprietorship. You will need at least one person to staff your trade show booth, and another to walk the floor taking in the other trade show displays. If necessary, get your spouse or a good friend to come with you and give them a crash course on how to handle your trade show booth while you check out the other vendors - and only do so when it is slow so you don't miss important business opportunities. When you make reservations for the hotel you will stay at during the show, try to find a room as close as possible to the actual location--preferably within walking distance. That way, you won't have to bring anything with you to the venue other than the materials for your trade show display.

Before you attend a trade show, go over the list of vendors who plan to put up trade show booths. Make lists of the vendors you must see, the vendors you would like to see, and those you can live without seeing. You may even be able to schedule appointments with your top priority vendors. Research the companies and determine ahead of time what you would like to find out from each trade show display and what your goals are regarding each vendor: are they competition, or a potential contact? If they are a potential contact, how would they specifically benefit your company? Have questions ready to ask vendors to save yourself time walking the floor. Another good timesaving strategy is to obtain a map and a directory of the trade show when you arrive on location, before the show begins. Use the map to plan your route, and check your prioritized list of vendors against the directory to find out whether any vendors have been added or dropped out.

During the trade show, be active in your quest for information. Don't feel bad about passing by trade show booths that don't interest you. Like you, they are attending the trade show to generate new business, and they don't want to waste time talking to someone who isn't a potential customer. Visit your targeted trade show displays, engage in a dialogue with the vendors, and ask questions. If the trade show booth offers handouts, samples or other materials, take only those you actually want to find out more about. It can be difficult to tote a loose stack of glossy brochures, catalogues, and bulky product samples around a busy trade show floor. If possible, arm yourself with an empty briefcase or duffel bag to stow materials. Use your time wisely to gather intelligence on your competition and make new industry contacts that will benefit your company.

When the trade show ends, especially if it is a multiple-day event, take the time to make notes and organize the materials you gathered before you leave the event. If you need to mail reports, brochures or other materials to your colleagues, prepare the mailings right away while ""who gets what"" is still fresh in your mind. Make sure to store your trade show display safely so nothing is damaged and you can find everything you need the following day. When you return from the trade show, remember to follow up with the contacts you have made--and start preparing for next year's trade show!

About the author: Mat Kelly is the president of ExhibitDEAL the Original Exhibit Wholesaler specializing in <a href=""http://www.exhibitdeal.com"">trade show displays</a>, exhibits and booths. ExhibitDEAL offers portable trade show displays at nearly half the market rate.

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3 Secrets of Selling for Artists

2008-11-08T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Greg Katz

Article: 3 Secrets of Selling for Artists By Greg Katz

Most artists would rather cut off their right arm then engage in the entrepreneurial dance we call selling. For many, selling seems like a forced an uncomfortable means to an end. Remember, there is a connection between how you sell and how much you sell! If we reframe the selling process we can develop a sales cycle that fits our personality and isn't offensive to the buyer. The sales cycle consists of the 3 C's in the artist toolkit: confidence, conversation and community.

Confidence Confidence is imperative for success. Are you willing to engage in practices that expose you as a person and as an artist and as a solopreneur? On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your confidence level? It may be best to give yourself a score for each of the following categories and then take an average: Creative Vision; Technical Ability; Sales Skill and Marketing and Promotion. This is the baseline so you can measure your progress. Just think, if you were to increase your score by one in each category what would that look like? How would it manifest when you engage your ideal customer? Keep focused on the fact that you control your confidence level. It needs to be an internal process not something that spins like a weathervane in a windstorm. Become committed to yourself and your art. People are always amazed when you are not only the sales person but the creator of the art. They are in awe, so leave the fear behind; it's usually the customer who is intimidated by your talent, soak up the good vibes and claim your work and your life as an artrepreneur.

Conversation How can something as simple as conversation be an effective sales tool? When you come in contact with a potential customer we engage in a relationship ritual, courting. Potential customers want to know you. When they show your work to friends, family and colleagues they like to be able to tell a story. The story they tell is about you, the artist.

I'm not suggesting that the conversation be scripted. Conversation is an art, and as an artist you should make it part of your toolkit. I recommend Debra Fine's, The Art of Small Talk. Her tips will give you the edge you need to invite prospects to become a customer. The added advantage is that these customers you're creating a relationship with are more likely to buy from you again in the future. Think of your sales process and conversation as one ongoing cocktail party. It should be fun for you and them!

Community Ever wonder why the airlines created club rooms and special lounges for loyal customers? These are the tenets of building community. Customers like to feel as if they are part of your inner circle, so make them feel this way as part of your sales cycle.

Honor your customers as part of your community with personalized invitations to openings and events. Have an annual function for customers only, it doesn't have to be at the Ritz, invite them to your studio. Inviting them to your studio gives them an opportunity to connect more solidly with you, while being part of a private showing. Customers like to be invited to pass through the velvet ropes, like a VIP lounge.

Sales doesn't have to be difficult or tedious. You can create a process that fits your personality and your market. You're art gives people joy...let's spread the joy!

About the author: Greg Katz is a national juried artist and the owner of the Artist Success Studio, a virtual community transforming ""Successful Artist"" from oxymoron to declarative fact. Greg can be reached at 720-851-6736 or his website, www.gregkatz.com.

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Free Marketing Tip #2: Publish an Ezine

2008-11-07T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing

Article: There are many ways to start getting the word out about your products and services - that's all marketing is after all - getting the word out to the people you think would be interested. The people you would love to have as clients.

And yes, there are many ways to get the word out for free, or very little cost.

One of my favorites is Ezine Publishing.

What's an Ezine? It's an electronic newsletter you write and distribute via email.

Here are 10 steps to help you use Ezine Publishing to market your small business:

(1) Ask yourself, ""What am I am expert in?"" or ""What do I know a lot about?""

(2) Research other businesses in your same area of expertise to see if they are publishing an ezine. Subscribe to all the ezines you find in your same area of expertise.

(3) Find a unique spin or approach that no one else is using and that you feel your ideal clients would be interested in. For example, will you publish a quick weekly tip, recaps on industry news and happenings or how-to articles?

(4) Decide if you want to publish a text ezine (looks like a normal email) or an html ezine (includes graphics and color).

(5) Find an email marketing/list management program to help you publish your ezine and automatically manage your list of subscribers. There are free and paid services you can use. You'll find a few options at http://www.10stepmarketing.com/helpfullinks.htm

(6) Put an opt-in box for your free ezine on every page of your website. Include a reason why someone would want to subscribe to your ezine - give it a little promotion.

(7) Offer a free gift to anyone who chooses to subscribe. This could be a Special Report, a small e-book or any other no-cost item you create, and gives them more reason to subscribe.

(8) Decide how often you're going to publish. Weekly? Biweekly? Monthly?

(9) Schedule a regular time to write and publish your ezine each week, or month.

(10) Get your ezine listed in ezine directories on the web to help you generate subscribers. Search for ""ezine directories"" on Google to find places to submit your ezine.

An ezine gives you the opportunity to build a list of people who are interested in your expertise and what you have to offer. It also gives you a captive, targeted audience to market your products and services to. And it can be done for free, or for very little cost.

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Internet Promotion - Advantages And Disadvantages

2008-11-06T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Carla Lendor

Article: The emergence of globalise trade, increase in foreign investment and cross-border transactions have put many small businesses under pressure to find innovative ways to continue to market their products and services. This is especially difficult given that they often operate on tight marketing budgets.

In the quest for cheap marketing alternatives, these small businesses continue to use conventional marketing tools such as newspaper, magazine, radio and television advertisements, unaware of the advantages that Internet Promotion offers. All too often, these entrepreneurs focus on the disadvantages of Internet Promotion and fail to adequately take advantage of the opportunities that it presents. Moreover, their preoccupation with conventional marketing strategies is driven by a misconception that these are cheaper than Internet Promotion.

To most small business entrepreneurs, marketing or promoting their products or services via the Internet can be a daunting task. However, with adequate information small businesses can benefit significantly from Internet Promotion while minimising the disadvantages that it presents. In fact, it may prove to be the marketing strategy that generates the highest return on investment.

The Advantages

Cost Effective and Enduring Marketing Strategies

The Internet has become the information superhighway for the buying public. Most persons prefer the hassle free transactions that Internet shopping can offer. As a result, the Internet has become the most powerful selling tool. Internet Promotion offers cost effective ways for small businesses to enhance their product or service distribution networks. For example, the use of portals can help create new marketing channels and logistics, or provide better or faster product access for customers.

In comparison to other forms of marketing, Internet Promotion presents the advantage of reduced budget and storage costs, when compared with printing brochures, producing television or radio advertisements or managing a call centre. It presents a fast and cost effective option for penetrating new markets.

Market Penetration

With millions of person using the Internet to search for products and services, small businesses can penetrate other markets at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods.

Websites act as virtual storefronts, allowing businesses to stay open 24/7. Internet Promotion gives a business greater visibility, thereby creating more opportunities for increasing its customers at relatively low cost. Never before has it been easier for an upstart business to be able to reach out to literally millions of potential customers and to position themselves for success, without the need for costly infrastructure and overwhelming marketing costs. Thanks to the Internet, new businesses can become popular almost overnight.

Low Cost, Instant Communication

Email makes business communications instant, whether the customer or business affiliate is across the street or across the globe. It makes it easier for customers to maintain contact and readily facilitates repeat purchasing. An effective online strategy can therefore turn a small web business into a virtual cost saver and income-generating machine. The net result is that the small business can gain significant competitive advantage in a given market.

Many online businesses have therefore resorted to the use of ezines, blogs, pop-up ads and other online marketing tools to let customers know about new products or services as well as provide information relevant to their respective industry. The benefits of this strategy are two fold. Marketers can effectively heighten brand awareness for relatively new products on the market whilst strengthening customer relationships, with shorter time frames.

Content is Timeless

Internet Promotion also provides the advantage of being enduring. Whereas participation at a trade fair or conference loses sales impact, once it is over, and an advertisement in a newspaper or business magazine may quickly lose its sales generating value within a day or two or as soon as the next issue is released; Internet Promotion is often timeless. Apart from the dates and sometimes prices, much of your website content remains valid years after.

Real Time Statistics For Measuring Success of Promotion Campaign

One of the most significant advantages of Internet Promotion is that its success is measurable. Marketers can use tools that provide real time statistics, on unique visitors, repeat visitors, click through rates (CTR) on advertisements, thereby allowing them to evaluate the effectiveness of a promotion campaign. This enables marketers to determine what works for their particular market and to make timely changes in their marketing strategies.

Time Saving

Another important advantage of Internet Promotion is that it saves time since it generally does away with counselling on product uses and benefits, service information and sales administration. Visitors can access ""frequently asked questions"" to help themselves, and can buy online, without the involvement of staff. This saves time and money. So, whether 10 or 10,000 visitors visit the site, the increased cost is marginal whilst the savings can be immense.

But like any business approach, Internet Promotion is not without its risks and weaknesses.

Disadvantages

Difficulty in Attracting Customers

Small business may not have the resources to pay for paid directory inclusion, pay per click inclusions and often have to rely solely on search engine optimisation or word of mouth to drive traffic to their sites. With millions of businesses selling the same product and services, competing with more established businesses can be frustrating and costly venture for small business.

On the other hand, larger companies can offer promotions, pay for directory inclusions, implement pay per click campaigns as well as employ the ""who is who"" in internet marketing to develop campaigns that generate traffic and leads.

Difficulty in Evaluating Legitimacy of Transaction

Another notable disadvantage of doing promoting businesses online is that it may be difficult for the businesspersons and consumers to thoroughly evaluate the legitimacy of a transaction. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to thieves using stolen credit cards and stolen information to do online transaction.

With Internet credit card and identity fraud on the rise, small businesses are forced to finance costly security measures to reduce their vulnerability to fraudulent transactions.

Salespersons and Customers are Isolated

Another disadvantage of promotion via the Internet is that the customers and businesspersons are isolated. There is little personal contact between customer and salesperson prior to and after the sales is closed. Thus, the prospect for repeat sales may thus be diminished. Entrepreneurs are therefore compelled to adopt marketing strategies to drive online users back to their site.

From all indications, it appears that the advantages of Internet promotion, far exceed the disadvantages. With adequate knowledge, entrepreneur can benefit significantly from Internet promotion, especially small business owners.

More and more, the growth and outreach of the Internet's, its ease and accessibility for customers is becoming inevitable. Small business would therefore be well advised to start their web advertising function in order to improve their competitiveness online.

About the author: Carla Lendor is an Internet Marketing and co-publisher of eXplosion! Visit <a href = ""http://www.talkcsme.com"">Caricom Single Market Economy (CSME)</a>,<a href = ""http://www.jewelsinthesun.com"">Caribbean Vacations</a>,<a href = ""http://www.patantconsult.com"">Patant Consultants International</a>

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Free Marketing Tip #4: Share Your Knowledge

2008-11-05T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing

Article: If you're a small business owner or an independent professional offering a service, you very likely know a lot about whatever it is you do. For example, if you're a chiropractor, you know a lot about health and wellness. If you're an accountant, you know a lot about financial matters. If you're a coach you know a lot about helping people accomplish their goals and achieve success in whatever aspect of their life or business you coach them in.

Sharing what you know is an excellent way to market yourself and your services.

And the best part is, in most cases it won't cost you a dime. So, for those who are on a tight budget, it is ideal.

This is not giving away your services for free, but rather introducing yourself, your services and your business to people who could benefit.

There are all kinds of ways you can use this small business marketing technique to start attracting new clients to your business.

Here are 10 ideas to get you started:

(1) Identify a topic you know a lot about, related to your business, and that you think would be helpful and valuable to your ideal clients.

(2) Put together an outline on this topic, that you can use to create an oral presentation, or a written report.

(3) Get out and speak on this topic to groups of your ideal clients.

(4) Teach teleseminars on this topic to groups of your ideal clients.

(5) Publish and distribute a Free Special Report on this topic.

(6) Publish and distribute a Free Ebook on this topic.

(7) Publish and distribute a Free E-Course on this topic.

(8) Publish a regular ezine or e-newsletter on this topic and related topics.

(9) Create and distribute a free audio course on this topic.

(10) Include some form of promotion, or special offer with your free content.

All of these small business marketing techniques are a great way to introduce yourself and your content to potential clients. They get you and your business out into the marketplace, for little or no cost, and can start attracting the kind of clients who are most interested in what you have to offer.

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Free Marketing Tip #5: Get Out and Speak

2008-11-04T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing

Article: Have you been to a networking event, or a conference or industry meeting lately? If you have, chances are you heard a presentation. Someone got up and spoke to you and the rest of the group about a topic. A topic they knew a lot about, and a topic related to their business. They may have even made a special offer to the group, such as a special product or service package they don't usually sell, or a special discount on their products or services.

These people are using speaking as a marketing tool ... as a way to get the word out about their business, products or services. They're doing this by sharing valuable information with the kind of people they can best help, and those they'd like to have as clients. And by offering everyone the chance to go deeper by making a purchase, or joining their email list, or some other offer to bring them into the fold of their business.

If you're a small business owner or independent professional, you can do the very same thing. And the best part is, it's free.

So what if you're not sure how to use speaking as a small business marketing tool.

Here are 10 steps to get you started:

(1) Identify a topic you know a lot about and that is related to your business.

(2) Using that topic, put together an outline for a presentation.

(3) Create a 30-60 minute presentation from this outline, being sure to share valuable information and helpful tips, but also being careful not to give away the whole store.

(4) Identify who your ideal clients are.

(5) Look for groups or associations these ideal clients belong to that hold regular meetings.

(6) Contact these groups to see if they feature outside speakers at their meetings.

(7) For those groups who do feature speakers, offer to come speak at a future meeting for free. Be sure to help them understand how your topic will benefit their members or attendees.

(8) Find out if the group you are speaking to will allow you to sell your product or service to the group at the end of your presentation.

(9) For those groups that will allow you to sell, put together an irresistible offer. Consider packaging together products or services you don't usually sell together, or give them a big discount if they purchase from you at the event.

(10) For those groups that won't allow you to sell, do a giveaway of one of your products or services and invite all attendees to submit their business card for a chance to win. Follow-up with everyone who enters, inviting them to join your email list.

Speaking is a great way to get yourself in front of your ideal clients so they can get to know you and your business better. It's also a great way to build a mailing list of your ideal clients that you can market to over time, through a regularly published newsletter or ezine.

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Million Pixel Home Page Advertising Search Engine Marketing How It Works

2008-11-03T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Wayne Hagerty

Article: How do they produce high traffic?

One of the most important reasons this new Search Engine Marketing system produces traffic is the Buzz going around the internet from forums, articles like this, word of mouth, press releases and the fact that it is a brand new way of Internet Marketing that has never been seen before.

Here is what you need to do if you would like to receive the benefits from this amazing Search Engine Marketing traffic generator.

#1- Look for a Pixel Page that is fairly New, very little current ads ( I have listed a link to a great one below ). Reason being is that you really benefit greatly by having the opportunity to place your Pixel AD were ever you want.

Note: Look for middle available sections as well as top left hand corners ( the way people read the paper ). Also another important reason is that when other interested people that want to place there ads clearly spot your Pixel Ad first. This generates curiosity on what's behinds door number one = Tons of traffic for you.

#2- Choose the amount of pixel space you need and want to purchase. Prices for pixels normally cost about $1.00 ( less that a cup of coffee ). This is one of the most inexpensive ways of Internet Marketing I personally have ever seen.

#3- After you decide how many Pixel Advertising spaces you wish to purchase and were to place them on the Million Pixel Page Grid now it is time to create your Search Engine Marketing Pixel Ad.

#4- When putting together your Pixel Ad be creative, you don't have to purchase a large amount of Pixel Page Realistate if your thumbnail Pixel Ad is creative. It has been reported that a ton of the small mini Pixel Ads, because the are unique and eye grabbing are receiving close to the same amount of traffic to the larger sized Pixel Ads.

That is all you need to do. These Pixel Page sites will bring a continuous amount of traffic for years to come. This type of Search Engine Marketing will pay for itself over and over again by generating more sales, and tons of new unique visitors to your site. These sites marketing creates the buzz your sites get the benefit of the continuous high volume of traffic.

About the author: This article written by Wayne Hagerty certified SEO/SEM professional with years of experience. To get continuos traffic to your website visit the Million Pixel Page new traffic system. Learn how his unique platform can bring your site continuos traffic at: http://1-millionpixelpage.com

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Mortgage Leads generated with PPC

2008-11-02T03:01:00.001-08:00

Author: Jayson Brock

Article: Using PPC Search Engines To Generate Mortgage Leads

The fastest and most effective way to start getting quality website traffic to your website is by using Pay Per Click Ads. Two of the most popular PPC (Pay Per Click) search engines are Google Ad words http://www.google.com which are featured on many websites including the monster of all search engines GOOGLE and Overture http://www.overture.com which shows your listings on sites like Yahoo, AltaVista, MSN, and more!

PPC advertising offers you the best bang for your buck. Here is how it works:

You bid on specific keywords or key-phrases to have your ad come up when people search for that specific keyword. For example, when a person searches for ""Refinance"". If the person sees your ad and is interested and they click on it and you simply pay your bid amount.

You may bid $1 to get listed at the top of the search result, but your competitor could then bid 1.05 and outbid and move ahead of you. This does happen unless you are able to bid on less popular search terms that your competitors do not and still many people use.

Bids for the top positions vary from pennies to a few dollars, but most PPC search engines have keyword suggestion tools to help you find keywords and their search results to suit your budget. You may bid on as many keywords as your budget can handle. A general rule of thumb would be to aim for one of the top two positions for keywords with low bid searches and aim for top 5 for keywords with higher volume searches.

You must be careful though to bid within your means! PPC's are all about conversion rates. For example, if you bid $2.00 per click and get 10 clicks and one mortgage lead from those 10 clicks, this means you paid $20.00 for that lead and have a 10% conversion. This is something you must figure out on your own if you are using PPC's for the first time in order to be successful. If you were to sell that lead on refinancing their home and that lead was $20.00 you and I both know you made a killing! You have to spend money to make money. This is also is true with search engine placement.

Be sure that if you are licensed in only certain states that you bid on state specific keywords. Example. ""Florida Home Loans"" instead of ""Home Loans"". If not you will get tons of clicks for leads you can not use.

Finally, your ad should follow certain guidelines. You want to describe your product or service in your ad as precise as possible. Remember you are not looking for ""random visitors"" because you are paying for their click whether they become a lead/sale or not! Try to include the keywords in the subject that not only brings in good prospects for you but also use keywords and descriptions that will thwart ""curiosity seekers"" from clicking on your PPC ad.

You may reproduce or reprint this article if you include the following:

This article is provided by http://www.TheMortgageWire.com - Mortgage Industry News and Marketing Portal.

About the author: None

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4 Powerful Ways To Generate A Traffic Stampede To Your Website

2008-11-01T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Jeff Smith

Article: Whether building or growing your online business, you need 3 basic elements to succeed: something to sell, copy that sells it and traffic generation to drive visitors that will buy.

Weakness in any one of these areas can very severely impact your results frustrating you beyond belief.

These 3 building blocks may not be new for you, but I bet that you have tended to think about them as islands, each of which you must master in order to achieve online business success?

ONLINE BUSINESS SUCCESS ECOSYSTEM

Suppose you have spent thousands having a bang-on sales letter written for your business, and you are able to draw some significant traffic to your site.

You'll sell products won't you?

Of course, however, what happens if your product (or the product you are selling) is not of high quality or is not significantly percieved as offering value?

First, you will get many returns resulting in lower profits, additional service fees, additional support costs and possibly losing your ability to take payment online.

Second, a bad sale, even if not returned, will not gain you additional word-of-mouth sales. In a niche market, this means you will certainly miss out on capturing your market. In a mass market, this means you have significantly hurt your chances for successful press, reviews, interviews and low or no cost advertising opportunities.

Third, you hurt your reputation for all other business you want to capture within your market. High equity business build customer value over time by continuing to market additional products and services - typically higher-end over time. By releasing a less than stellar product, you stop your progress dead in its tracks.

So, as you can see, marketing strong, in-demand and differentiated products IS critical to your overall marketing campaign.

To truly move into advanced traffic generation territory, we have to think about techniques that will consistently build momentum and traffic month after month, rather than one-time traffic spikes that cannot be sustained.

This is important background to these 4 leading traffic generation techniques.

GENERATING A STAMPEDE OF TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE

1. Writing Content: There is no better way to virally spread your thoughts, brand, products and services to a wide audience than developing content. Writing articles, audios, podcasts, blogs, ezines, special reports, rebrandable products, content-rich web pages, are just some of the opportunities that will both bring in new traffic as well as build relationships with your market resulting in more sales and higher value in long-run.

2. Affiliate Program

When I launched my online business back in 2000 little did I realize that within 1-year, over 75% of my traffic and more than 50% of my sales would be generated through affiliates and joint venture partners. Now with over 1,000 affiliates generating consistent, targeted traffic, my business largely operates in a completely automated fashion. I could literally disappear off the face of the earth for the next 6-months and still see very little impact on sales. Obviously, to build an affiliate army, you must own the rights to your own products.

3. Develop Your Own Quality Unique Products

What does product creation have to do with generating traffic? Actually, quite allot. Even if you plan a business model around selling someone else's products, wholesale selling, or advertising revenue, creating your own product is a MAJOR traffic building technique. Creating high-demand products will build your brand, gain you lots of no cost publicity, attract partners and joint venture your way, build word-of-mouth marketing, open up many new channels to generate traffic (Try Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and eBay to start) and can act as a leveraged stream of income for your business

4. Take Your Message To The Street.

Generating a stampede of traffic often rests on your ability to convince the market that you are someone that needs to be checked out and followed. So, focus on building your visibility through Press releases, joint ventures, keynote speaking opportunities, local presentations, teleseminars, seminars, courses, workshops, bootcamps, book reviews, trade shows, podcasts, radio shows and more...

While these are certainly ADVANCED techniques for generating a traffic stampede to your web business, they are not difficult, require no special skills and well within the reach of anyone looking to break out with their web business this year.

About the author: Discover how to create your own best-selling eBooks, Special reports or books to sell online ...AND keep 100% of the profits. Limited time complimentary access to 7-Part Minicourse will get you started quickly and easily. Visit: http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/

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Mortgage Leads and Mortgage Lead Management Systems

2008-10-31T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Jayson Brock

Article: Mortgage leads come in many formats and from many different channels. Most mortgage branches buy mortgage leads from different mortgage lead websites, marketing companies, and in house websites. The one thing that most offices are missing is a central point of control that maximizes the revenue potential of sales leads.

The fact is that only about 65% of leads are worked to the fullest extent. Many factors such as turnover & poor time management limit the potential of mortgage leads. Leads generated from any channel can be lost in the shuffle leaving revenue on the table. Drive up your ROI!

From research we have found the key points that most need in a mortgage lead management system - Check out some below!

Multiple lead format uploads and channel allocation - This feature allows you to upload leads from different mortgage lead vendors, and different in house channels by creating an upload template for uploading leads to the system.

Mortgage Lead Distribution - Upload leads and distribute to all or certain users. Redistribute leads to active users when deleting a current user.

Mortgage Lead Tracking - Inbox displays new leads assigned from admin/manager that are to be called as new leads. User can then assign call back dates, track closing dates, keep contact notes, and more!

Automatic Emails - Once a lead is added to the system, dropped from system, or set as closed the system will send an automatic email custom created by the admin/manager to each lead. This assures professional contact and follow up to all your borrowers. This email is managed by the admin and can be edited or turned on/off at anytime.

Reporting - Reporting is key to any business owner and will really track the production of employees and your mortgage lead channels. Some sample reports are new leads, leads dropped, leads closed, leads by state, leads in processing and with features to track all this by what channel or lead vendor.

Security - A highly powerful SSL and private bullet proof hosting by Red Hat Linux is the backbone of the system. This assures no data sharing or possible entries into your account.

Calyx Upload Template - Saving your lead to your pc in a Calyx upload template will allow you to upload your lead right to Calyx Point.

Mortgage Calculator - Discuss 3 loan scenarios online with the on the fly data. Compare 3 products to see what is best for the borrower.

Key Points to a Good Lead Management System!

Track employee performance with real time tracking and reports

Get true reports and ROI for all your mortgage lead sources Easily upload leads from all your mortgage lead channels

Assign leads automatically upon upload or manually each morning

Know your investment in Mortgage Leads is paying off and working for you

Enjoy less stress, relaxation and trust in your business operations

Generate more referrals and repeat business with excellent customer service

Close up to 20% more mortgage leads each year with a good lead management system

Along with this feedback we looked into several options online and found 3 Good choices available for the Mortgage office manager or Branch manager.

http://www.Leads360.com - Good site with a lot of features - A little complicated to use from our view and expensive.

http://www.LeadROI.com - Very similar to the Leads 360 site with same features and we found this option to be very expensive - Over $12,000.00 a year for 50 users and it goes up as your staff grows.

http://www.LeadApp.com - Does all the things that the Leads360 and LeadROI system does expect distribute leads with out actually logging in - LeadApp.com is set up where you have to log in upload leads and hit a buttom to distribute at one time or you can do manually based on Loan officer strengths - Very affordable at $5995.00 for a Lifetime license and as little as $2995.00 per year.

About the author: Jayson Brock - BrokerTrends.com (coming soon) tracking new marketing tools online.

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How To Get Started Writing Articles

2008-10-30T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Ian G Williamson

Article: If you are a new or budding writer, then you may be wondering how to get started writing articles. The first and most important rule of writing is simply to write what you know. That is not to say that you cannot research subjects to get a better idea of the needed content, but it is always best to have some previous knowledge of the topic before you accept the job.

Many people are terrific writers, but still struggle with how to get started writing articles for profit. As a budding writer, you will likely have to contribute some free writing projects in an effort to get your name noticed. As time progresses and your resume becomes more defined, you will be able to find paid writing jobs without a problem.

Writers not only wonder how to get started writing articles, but also where to submit their completed work. There are plenty of opportunities for talented individuals who have a knack for words, including newspaper reporting, magazine features, website content, press release and newsletter content, etc. If someone were to ask an accomplished writer how to get started writing articles, they would almost always reply by recommending patience, perseverance and promotion. When you decide to become a writer, you will also become a marketing specialist. You will now be in the position of having to sell your work to editors and this can be a very challenging task, but very much worth the extra push.

The best advice on how to get started writing articles would include the recommendation of having a good resume. If you cannot write your own resume, editors will wonder how you will be able to write for them. So, first and foremost, perfect the resume, polish it and make sure that it is without flaw. This means no errors in spelling, punctuation, etc. With that being said, keep in mind that nobody is perfect, so if you notice a mistake after your resume has been submitted, don't spend too much time worrying about the error. Simply correct the problem and move on to the next opportunity. Truth be told, if your resume looks great, an editor will not disregard it just because you misspell one word or have a punctuation out of place. The next step in how to get started writing articles will be to create a writing sample. If you have been published previously, this will work to your advantage because you can use this as not only a sample of your work, but lend to the popularity of your writing as well. If you have never been published, then write the best article that you can on a subject that is close to your heart.

Still wondering how to get started writing articles? The best way is to just start writing and see where it takes you. Everyone from editors to webmasters are in constant need of content for their publications and websites, so there is no shortage in the writing market. Always keep your expectations in check and don't expect to get rich overnight. Like any career, it will take time to build and experience is a must. The more you have written, the more you will get the chance to write.

For further information visit <A HREF=http://www.real-articles.com>http://www.real-articles.com</A >

About the author: Ian Williamson is the owner of <a href=""http://www.real-articles.com""> - Real-Articles.com a free article distribution site</a> for writers and webmasters looking for content.

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Mortgage Leads - The ROI

2008-10-29T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Jayson Brock

Article: Mortgage Leads - Are they a good mortgage marketing tool?

Mortgage Leads are and will always be key in any mortgage marketing plan. The biggest issue with buying mortgage leads is that the buyer (Mortgage Brokers and Loan Officers) will spend $100.00 and expect a deal and no time in working that deal or leads. You have to expect the following when buying mortgage leads:

1. You will not reach the borrower by phone if you only call 1-3 times. If the borrower does not call back you should not consider this to be a bad lead.

2. Expect to always get 3 bad leads out of every 10 mortgage leads - as long as your mortgage lead company has a solid return policy you have only lost time - and I can assure you every person values time, but not as much as money.

3. The potential borrower has spoken to other mortgage companies, probably a few before even submitting information online for a Free Quote. So when you call a borrower and they say ""I have been contacted by several people"" - then that is your chance to sell - not say ok let me get off the phone and request a refund for this lead.

Research shows that online users submit their information to 2 or 3 mortgage websites when shopping for a quote online. Combined with shopping in their local market the person will always exaggerate with the common, ""I have been called by 20 people"", when it is really been FIVE.

Number of Leads Purchased: 50 Cost Per Lead Purchased: 15.00 Total Lead Investment: $750

Estimate Percentage of Leads Closed: 5% Average Amount of Mortgage Closed: $185000 Number of Loans Closed: 2.5 Total Amount of Mortgages Closed: $462500

Fee's Collected: 2% Commisions Earned: $9250 Return on Investment: 1133.33%

Taking all this in consideration you truly have to have patience and be willing to spend more than the $100.00 you thought was a major investment. A 5% closing on 50 leads is realistic and not fluffed like most mortgage lead websites.

Good Lead Sources that drive up ROI are.

http://www.LeadsExpo.com http://www.LeadBull.com http://www.LeadOrder.com

Check them out our research showed a ROI above 15% and quality customer service.

About the author: Jayson Brock - BrokerTrends.com research team.

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Employing A Writer To Produce Your Articles

2008-10-28T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Ian G Williamson

Article: If you are a webmaster who is interested in using articles to promote your website, then you will either have the option of writing the articles yourself or employing a writer to produce your articles in exchange for a fee. The latter works very well if you are not a natural-born writer yourself or simply don't have the time to devote to writing and research. The majority of webmasters are very busy just trying to keep their website updated, operating correctly, answering e-mails and accepting orders. With that being said, there are a number of terrific writers who are looking for employment opportunities. In addition, there are several tips to help you select the perfect one.

Before employing a writer to produce your articles, it is a good idea to request a resume and/or sample of their work. The resume is beneficial for the obvious reasons and the writing sample will give you an excellent idea as to their writing style and whether it will suit your business needs. The next step will be to determine a fair compensation amount and an agreement on payment terms. For example, once you agree to a payment amount, will that be paid in full upfront, at the completion of the project or does the writer require a deposit upfront with the remaining balance due upon completion? Depending on the writer, fees and payment structures may vary greatly. For reasons of expense, it is a good idea to hire only the writer(s) that you can afford. A clear agreement on payment terms will make for a happy and lasting business relationship.

When employing a writer to produce your articles, it is a good idea to explain exactly the type of article content that you are looking for. How many words should the article include? What subject will the article cover? How much research, if any, do you prefer that the writer conduct? If you have any ideas or thoughts on exactly how you want the content structured, be sure to let the writer know upfront. In addition, if you have a specific deadline or just prefer to get the job completed quickly, be sure to inform the writer so that he/she can deliver the work on time. One of the most important thing to look for, when employing a writer to produce your articles, is dependability.

If you have decided that employing a writer to produce your articles is the best approach for your business, then try and select one or several good writers and build an ongoing working relationship with them. It is good to work with a variety of writers but, if you work with too many, the content of the articles will each sound so different that it may become obvious that multiple people are producing the work. If you are promoting your website, then you will want the articles to sound consistently similar so that there aren't a lot of different styles of writing.

Employing a writer to produce your articles will save you a lot of time that may be otherwise spent promoting your website, developing new ideas and preparing for new changes. Whether you aren't a writer by nature or simply don't have the time, employing a writer to produce your articles will make your strategy for article marketing a lot easier. For further information visit <A HREF=http://www.real-articles.com>http://www.real-articles.com</A >

About the author: Ian Williamson is the owner of <a href=""http://www.real-articles.com""> - Real-Articles.com a free article distribution site</a> for writers and webmasters looking for content.

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How To Get Traffic To Your Site

2008-10-27T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Bradley Carson

Article: There are several ways to get traffic to your site. You can pay for your traffic or get it for free. I'd like to concentrate on free traffic.

The first thing you need to do is make sure your site is key-word optimized for the search engines. For a new site, using low competition words can help you to get placed high on some search engines and give you much needed targeted traffic. If you have a site with several categories, doing at least one optimization a day will slowly but surely build your business. With more than one category this gives you an opportunity to be placed on the search engine with each category and not just your front page.

Another way to help build targeted traffic and links to your site is a blog. You can have the blog linked to your site. If you update your site regularly and 'ping' your blog with one of the free pinging services, you will gradually build your traffic and business.

There are many sites that have free content that you can use on your blog. Once you've set up the blog and find the right ping service, this would only take you a few moments a day. When using free articles, be sure and use proper etiquette, giving the author credit for his writing.

The tried and true way to build 'free' traffic and links, is articles. You can write about anything you want or about the services or products your website distributes. If you're not able to write the articles yourself, there are a number of services available that can do it for you (you pay). Then post your article to as many directories as possible. Webmasters are constantly on the look out for good, new content.

The number of links to your site is critical in your placement with most search engines. Articles and a blog help build your site targeted traffic slowly. But to speed up your linking process, you could search and join some link exchange sites. The more links the better.

About the author: Bradley Carson is an online marketer and is owner of http://www.topinfoshop.com/

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What Does Multimedia Mean and How Can it Help My Business?

2008-10-26T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: John Lewis

Article: The term multimedia simply means many ways of communicating. Media is the plural for medium and the word originated in the field of advertising over 50 years ago. The following are all examples of multimedia, they all relate to each other and are powerful tools in the advertising industry.

Graphic Design for print and web Web Design Web Development Interactive CD ROM and DVD

How can it help in marketing your company and why should you be investing in the skills of a professional graphic designer? In an era where we are constantly exposed to imagery and brands, having a strong corporate identity is a major factor for helping to market a companies products or services. Branding or corporate identity usually consists of a logotype, slogan and its associated imagery and colours. Unfortunately there are no requirements for qualifications in order to set up as a web design, graphic design or multimedia specialist and I believe that this has had a detrimental effect on the industry as a whole. There are now numerous companies out there that have set up as design agencies and who offer poor quality services to their clients. This is particularly evident in the web design industry where it is all too easy for individuals to buy the many templates that are available and pass these off to their clients as web design. Worst still is that this poor quality work doesn't come cheap as many individuals seek to cash in on peoples lack of understanding of the multimedia industry.

An important part of your marketing and branding will be your company logo so when choosing and designing a logo, make sure you have a reasonable budget and that you seek professional help. Avoid the temptation to 'knock something up on the computer' yourself or to ask a friend or colleague to have a go.

Good graphic design need not cost a fortune but bad design will have a huge impact on how your business will be perceived. Most logos are instantly forgettable but you have the opportunity to develop something memorable if you spend time and money at the outset. Look at the big brand names that you are exposed to every day of your life and you will see just how much they invest in and value their company branding and logo to the extent that they will fiercely defend their branding with expensive lawsuits if necessary.

When planning your logo, you should develop a simple written brief for the project and commission a professional graphic designer.

A logo needs to be distinctive and not too much like the logo of other, well known organisations? It needs to work well with the logo of any of your major partners or funders if you have any?

The new logo should work well across a range of applications ie. on a conference banner, business card, letterheads, brochures, website etc.? It also needs to look good when reproduced on a basic photocopier?

For your logo colour, it might be better to avoid particular tones of colour associated with say political parties. Limiting the range of colours will help to keep costs of reproduction down.

For logo typeface, limit the number of typefaces for headlines and body text and choose modern, clean typefaces.

<a href=""http://www.sundial.dircon.co.uk/"">graphic design Edinburgh</a> and <a href=""http://www.multimedia-scotland.com/"">web design Scotland</a>

About the author: John Lewis is a multimedia designer who specialises in producing interactive CD Rom, original <a href=""http://www.sundial.dircon.co.uk/"">graphic design Edinburgh</a> and <a href=""http://www.multimedia-scotland.com/"">web design Scotland</a>

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Modern-Day Postcard Marketing

2008-10-25T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Bob Leduc

Postcards are one of the most effective marketing tools you can use to generate website traffic or sales leads. Postcards are not new - and they may not be very exciting. But they really work ...especially if you follow these 6 proven postcard marketing tactics.

1. Know What You Want

Decide what you want your postcards to accomplish. Most marketers use postcards to attract new customers. But you can also use them for other purposes such as generating repeat sales or cultivating customer loyalty.

Also, decide what you want the recipients of your postcards to do. For example, do you want them to visit your website, pick up the phone to call you, come into your store ...or something else?

2. Use the Best Mailing List

If you want postcards to generate repeat sales, you already have the mailing list - your customers. But if you want postcards to attract new customers, you need to get a mailing list. Fortunately, there are high-quality mailing lists available that can deliver your sales message directly to your best prospects.

For example, get a list of prospects who previously requested information about (or bought) products similar to those you sell ...or a list of subscribers to publications read by prospects in your targeted market. You can get these and other high-quality lists from most mailing list brokers.

3. Design Your Postcard to Look Like a Friendly Message

People like friendly messages. They don't like advertising. Take advantage of this by designing your postcard to look at first glance like a message from a friend instead of like an ad in a magazine. It produces a pleasant emotional reaction from readers and increases the number of replies you get.

For example, use the same typestyle and layout you would use for a personal note to a friend. Include a date at the top and a sender's name at the bottom. Avoid borders, graphics and other design features often used in advertising.

4. Include an Incentive to Respond Quickly

Provide a reason for those who read your postcard to take action - now. Don't let them put your postcard aside for later action. They'll get involved in other activities and forget all about it.

For example, offer the reader a discounted price, a special bonus or some other benefit if they reply by a deadline.

5. Use Real Stamps

Use real postage stamps on your postcards. It produces more replies than imprinting the postage. You can send postcards by First Class Mail in the US for only 24 cents if you make them at least 3 1/2 by 5 inches but no larger than 4 1/4 by 6 inches.

6. Time the Delivery of Your Postcards

Mail your postcards so they are likely to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday. The volume of mail delivered on those days is usually light and your postcards will not have to compete with a lot of other mail delivered at the same time.

Controlling the delivery day of your postcards is easy if you use First Class Mail. Just allow 2 to 3 days for delivery - depending on how far they have to go. That's the normal delivery time for First Class Mail in the US.

Postcards have been around for a long time ...but they have become a highly-effective modern-day marketing tool. Follow these 6 proven postcard marketing tactics and you will generate a flood of traffic to your website, a steady flow of sales leads or any other sales activity you want.

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. You'll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

About the author: None

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Great Online Resources for Webmasters

2008-10-24T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: S. Housley

Article: As the web becomes increasingly more crowded, it is important for webmasters to take the extra step to make their web sites user friendly. There are a number of free resources available to webmasters:

What is a Favorite Icon - Favicon? Favorite icons, also known as favicon, appear in the URL bar. When a user bookmarks a specific Web page, that Web page loads a customized icon into the user's browser, typically a tiny version of a company or Web site's logo. Because the favicon is usually displayed next to the web site address, it can act like a small logo or an icon that visitors can use to remember the web site or the site address.

The favicon is displayed next to the Web site's name in the Favorites list and can also be displayed in the Links toolbar. When a site has not created a favicon, IE will load the IE logo into the browser by default. When a user bookmarks a page, the browser will request a favicon.ico file from the directory of the Web page. If such a file exists, then the Web page is using a favicon and will return the file to the browser. Many browsers support favicons including all current versions of the major browsers support favicons, including Internet Explorer 5/6+, Firefox 1+, Mozilla 1+, Netscape 7+, Opera 7+, Konqueror 3+, Safari and more. If a particular browser doesn't have support for the favicon feature, it'll simply ignore the favicon and the presence of a favicon won't affect that browser.

Webmasters can establish branding by customizing a favorite icon. The free service from HTMLKit http://www.html-kit.com/favicon

Custom 404 Pages. Urls are often mistyped into browsers. When a domain is correctly entered, but the web pages full url is entered incorrectly, it is possible to display a custom error page to web site visitors. By providing users a navigational bar or assistance rather than a generic error page. The customized error page will help keep prospective customers on your site providing them alternatives.

Webmasters should also routinely check their log files and correct any pages that result in errors. Most log analysis software will provide the referring document information for a webpage (the page that the user was at prior to the current page). Use the web log to track faulty links, if the links are out of the webmaster's control (a 3rd part), consider setting up a re-direct and forwarding the traffic to the appropriate webpage.

Sample Custom 404s - http://www.web-search-engines.net/error-page or http://www.puzzle-place.net/error-page

Navigation Clear and intuitive navigation is important so that web surfers can locate the material of interest. Many web surfers will enter your website and land on a variety of pages. It is important that they navigate your site regardless of the webpage they landed on. Links on the site, should contain text that relates to the linked webpage's content.

Consider recruiting a child or inexperienced adult to test your website's navigation. Webmasters can often learn how others view their website, by just watching.

Webmaster Tools There are a number of freely available web tools that will evaluate a site for a variety of things. Most of the online tools will generate a report and highlight the positive aspects of the website and possibly the negative aspects of the website, as it relates to the evaluation.

Web Analyzer Tool - http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/web-page-analyser.shtml Search Engine Assessment Tools - http://www.submitcorner.com/Tools/Assessment/

Take a few extra steps to make your site stand up and out from a competitors.

About the author: About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

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How To Start Your Online Business In A Matter Of Few Minutes And Still Rake In Thousands Of Dollars Every Month

2008-10-23T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Andrew Heuw

Article: Would you like to rake in $10,466 per month without having your own products? If you would like to then read on...

1. So What Is It?

It is called affiliate marketing. It, as a matter of fact, is one of the easiest and fastest ways to start your online business and rake in thousands of dollars every month.

2. What's Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing simply to say is promoting other people's product and in return you'll get certain percentage of the merchant's item if and only people who buy the merchant's item buy through your link.

So we can say some sort of online multi level marketing.

Why I said that? Because many of these programs have 2-tier which means you can refer another affiliate below you. Whenever he or she makes sales you'll get certain percentage of those sales.

3. How do I get started?

Well, first off, you have to identify which niche you want in? For example if you are a maniac golfer, then the chance you're more likely to promote golf equipment rather than fishing equipment.

Then estimate the competition, go to Google and type in your appropriate term for example ""beginner golf guide"" and see how much sites on that subject already exist?

For me personally, I don't care much about the competition if you have more crowded competition that means you'll need to wait longer to make profits and so vice versa. It's just that simple.

However, be sure to do something you really love, because in the end it will be life and death of your business.

4. Let's Find The ""Eager-To-Give You Money"" Merchant

Now you should have roughly figure on which niche you want to in. The next thing we're going to do is find potential merchant that could bring you the potential income you always dream of. To faster the process we are going to choose them from affiliate programs directory. Affiliate programs directory is site that already does the hard-work for us in selecting which one the potential merchant, so you just need to pinpoint which one you want to embrace.

Some of the best are: <A HREF=""http://www.associateprograms.com"">www.associateprograms.com </A> <A HREF=""http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com"">www.5staraffiliatepr ograms.com</A>

5. Skyscraper Website versus ""Mini"" Content Site

As the time writing, there're 2 current opinions:

The first state in order to get money from affiliate program you have to build skyscraper site and fill it with hundreds of content while

The second state in order to get money from affiliate program you have to build multiple stream of mini site

Which one that works?

Both work, it is ultimately up to you which one you want to adopt for example of the first one in action you can see <A HREF=""http://www.sage-hearts.com"">www.sage-hearts.com</A> which has been running by Rosalind Gardner while the second one you can see <A HREF=""http://www.dominatesearchengine.com"">www.dominatesearchengi ne.com</A> which has been running by Anik Singal (Actually, I haven't ask their permission to cover their web site in this article but I bet they wouldn't mind)

Both is very respected and highly acclaimed both affiliate marketer and internet marketer.

Here're the pros and cons:

If you decide to build mini site then you'll have to forget the possibility of getting traffic from generic search engine.

If you decide to build skyscraper content site then you'll have to invest considerable amount of time and energy to build it.

Don't re-invent the wheel there's no point in doing so just follow what already works. Examine both of their sites carefully and see which part you can adapt to your business model. (But mark my words don't copy them words-by-words!)

6. Ready to Drive Traffic?

Now you have proven business model at your disposal, it is the time to drive traffic to your site. I'd recommend first off you start by going to build reciprocal link campaign. Reciprocal link is the act of exchanging link between two sites in hope to send traffic to each other.

Let's put it into action...

Once again type in your keywords on search engine, next click on each of the site you found, if you like this site then examine it carefully. Are they having something like ""submit URL"" or ""add URL""?

If they have click on the link there should be simple self-explanatory instruction to exchange your link with that website but what if they didn't have one? Just contact them through email or phone and ask if they're willing to do reciprocal link with you.

What's great about this method? Here's what will happen...

Let's say after doing reciprocal link for one month in the end of the month you get 30 links. Each one refer one people per day to your site, now you already have 30 people visit your site without you doing a thing. In one month you will get 900 people visit your site on completely auto pilot. That's the beauty of reciprocal link-)

What happen if you can manage to get 200 links?

7. Final Note

Like any of other endeavors if you expect some results it means hard work and persistence. Don't expect result in a week I tell you that wouldn't happen but expect in a year or so. Trust me though it seems long far away at the beginning but in the end your perseverance will pay off many times.

About the author: This article has been authored by Andrew Heuw M.B.B (Maniac Business Builder) If you want to learn more on how to start your affiliate marketing business and generate 5-figure income every month. Please visit http://www.emillionairesecretsexposed.com to get your FREE course.

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Making a million dollar with one page!

2008-10-22T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Paul

Article: The revolutionary idea of selling pixels and making money is picking up. As the pixels in milliondollarhomepage by Alex Tew is full, people who have missed having space in this website are asking what would be next best pixel ad site to advertise on?

As the idea has been successful thousands of similar pixel websites have sprung up and the ads are ranging from 1$ per pixel to 1 cent per pixel. More than 100,000 people on the Internet visited the website milliondollarhomepage. The pixels of milliondollarhomepage were sold for $1 and a block of 100 pixels were sold for $100. With continuous marketing effort the website became so popular that all one million pixels in his website were sold in 4 months.

Now comes the question, which pixel ad website should I advertise? Will the pixel ad website have the same success as milliondollarhomepage and have 100,000 visitors a day and how do I select a pixel ad website to advertise on? These are questions which would remain unanswered as nobody can predict which pixel ad website would be the next big hit. The young British entrepreneur has proved one thing though, even a single web page can make 1 million dollars and there is no need to have 1000's of web pages.

About the author: Paul has been providing answers to lots of queries through his website on a wide variety of subjects ranging from satellite phones to acne. To learn more visit http://www.askaquery.com/Answers/qn1517.html

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Getting Into Internet Marketing

2008-10-21T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Mike Taylor

Article: The thought of using the Internet for Marketing purposes can seem rather daunting at first. Where to start, what to look for, then what to do with it.

Many have done it, some very successfully, 1,000's would like to know how.

Well following in the footsteps of those that have made it and are earning a good living from Internet Marketing would probably be a good place to start.

Knowing what to look for, where to look and of course how to use it in a way that is going to attract visitors at a website and in newsletters is the main requirement.

Getting started in the first place though, is probably the hardest thing of all. But once that has been done, it will become easier to take the next step, then the following step etc.

Follow this link to get an idea.

http://www.internetmarketingbizware.com

Clicking on the links at the bottom of that page, will lead to sites that show those types of successful Internet Marketers, what products, tools and methods they use and how they put it all together to make it work over and over again like clockwork.

How they have overcome the obstacles and broken through to obtain the life they desire.

Using their knowledge would be very helpful in starting out on the road to Internet Marketing. What is needed though are some good products for a target market.

Follow this link to get an idea of some products.

http://www.linkbrander.com/go/4292

The internet, of course, is the greatest source available now for all information and like any information it can be used as a basis for marketing and business.

Mike Taylor

www.internetmarketingbizware.com

About the author: None

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What You Need to Know BEFORE You Get Started on eBay

2008-10-20T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: James Mahony

Article:

What you're about to read is the result of ongoing interaction over years with several enthusiasts like you. They are also interested in this subject.

This article was written to answer some of their frequently asked questions and address common issues of interest. And like them, I hope you'll find this information helpful too.

So you've decided that you want to get started as a seller on eBay. There are a few things that you really need to know before you go and throw yourself in at the deep end.

What to Sell.

First off, you need to know what it is you're going to sell: whats your speciality? you'll do far better on eBay if you become a great source for certain kind of products, as people who are interested in those products will come back to you again and again. You wont get any loyalty or real reputation if you just sell rubbish at random. When you think about what to sell, there are a few things to consider.

Before we go on, a quick reminder... You'll discover some interesting stuff on this website listing informative, educational and entertaining resources, along with other material to help you. Please take a look at them when you've finished reading this article.

The most important of these is to always sell what you know. If you try to sell something that you just dont know anything about then you'll never write a good description and sell it for a good price. You might think you're not especially interested in anything, but if you think about what kind of things you usually buy and which websites you go to most often, Im sure you'll discover some kind of interest. If all else fails mention it to your friends and family: they'll almost certainly say Oh, well why dont you sell, and you'll slap your forehead.

Out of the things you know enough about, you should then consider which things you could actually get for a good enough price to resell, and how suitable they would be for posting. If you can think of something of that you're knowledgeable about and its small and light enough for postage to be relatively cheap, then thats great! Dont worry if you think the thing you're selling is too obscure. It isnt.

Theres a market for almost everything on eBay, even things that wouldnt sell once in a year if you stocked them in a shop. you'll probably do even better if you fill a niche than if you sell something common.

Tax and Legal Matters.

If you earn enough money, you should be aware that you're going to have to start paying tax this wont be done for you. If you decide to sell on eBay on a full-time basis, you should probably register as a business.

Prepare Yourself.

There are going to be ups and downs when you sell on eBay. Dont pack it in if something goes a little wrong in your first few sales: the sellers who are successful on eBay are the ones who enjoy it, and stick at it whatever happens. Anyone can sell on eBay, if they believe in themselves and if you do decide its not for you, then the start-up costs are so low that you wont really have lost anything.

If you're ready to start selling, then the next thing you need to know is the different auction types, so you can decide which ones you will use to sell your items. Our next article will give you a guide. <A href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com/A-Beginners-Guide-to-t he-Different-eBay-Auction-Types.html"">A Beginners Guide to the Different eBay Auction Types</A>

About the author: James Mahony is the founder of <a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Online Auction Handbook</A>, Learn How to Make Money on eBay

<a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Make Money on eBay</A>

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A Beginners Guide to the Different eBay Auction Types

2008-10-19T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: James Mahony

Article:

How often do you find yourself saying: ""I wish I knew how to learn more about eBay auction types""

Well, we were listening! And this article is the result. Enjoy.

Over the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their things on eBay. For every seller who doesn't like the idea that their item might sell for a far lower price than they intend, theres another who wants to shift hundreds of the same item quickly. eBay tries to cater to all tastes. This article gives you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and their advantages for you.

Normal Auctions.

These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows: buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Simple. Reserve Auctions. Reserve auctions are for sellers who dont want their items to sell for less than a certain price a concept you'll know about if you're familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyer will be told if their bid does not meet the reserve price you set, and they'll need to bid again if they want the item. If no-one is willing to meet your price, then the auction is cancelled, and you keep the item.

Fixed Price (Buy it Now) Auctions.

Buy it Now auctions can work in one of two ways. You can add a Buy it Now button to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and avoid the whole bidding process. Some sellers, though, now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at fixed price. This lets you avoid all the complications of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want them to sell for.

Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the best offer. This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to get sell some extra stock at a small discount. The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small extra fee to use these formats. In general, it is more worth using reserve auctions for higher-priced items and fixed price auctions for lower-priced ones but remember that you can combine the two formats.

Multiple Item (Dutch) Auctions. These are auctions where you can sell more than one of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done by bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders.

If you have trouble getting your head around that, then dont worry everyone else does too! These auctions are very rare. What is more common is when a seller has a lot of one item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types: a multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that you can just say how many of the item you they have, and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then just click Buy it Now to get them.

Now that you know about the different types of auctions, you should make sure that the items you plan to sell dont violate eBays listing policies. The next article will let you know whats allowed and what is a big no-no. <A href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com/Staying-Out-of-Trouble -with-eBays-Listing-Policies.html"">Staying Out of Trouble with eBays Listing Policies</A>

Now that you've learned something about this topic, maybe you want more information or need greater detail about certain specific issues.

I encourage you to explore this site, read a few more articles on related topics, and get even greater insight into the subject.

And if there's any way I can help you, please write. We welcome feedback and thrive on your support.

About the author: James Mahony is the founder of <a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Online Auction Handbook</A> - Learn How to Make Money on eBay

<a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Make Money on eBay</A>

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Learning the eBay Lingo

2008-10-18T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: James Mahony

Article:

How often do you find yourself saying: ""I wish I knew how to learn more about eBay Auctions""

Well, we were listening! And this article is the result. Enjoy.

Do you have trouble sometimes understanding when people talk about eBay? Dont worry, some of the jargon is really obscure, and you cant be expected to understand it until someones told you what it means. Heres a little list of some of the most useful lingo to know, but you dont need to memorise it even the most common jargon is only used relatively rarely.

Words.

Bid: telling eBays system the maximum price you are prepared to pay for an item.

Dutch: an auction where more than one of an item is available.

Feedback: positive or negative comments left about other users on eBay.

Mint: in perfect condition.

Non-paying bidder: a bidder who wins an auction but does not then go on to buy the item.

PayPal: an electronic payment method accepted by most sellers.

Rare: used and abused on eBay, now entirely meaningless.

Reserve: the minimum price the seller will accept for the item.

Shill bid: a fake bid placed by a seller trying to drive up their auctions price.

Snail Mail: the post, which is obviously very slow compared to email.

Sniping: bidding at the last second to win the item before anyone else can outbid you.

As you've seen from the article you're reading, we have tried to compile the very best resources from across the Internet on this topic - build the ultimate destination that'll attract you and others interested in the subject.

Abbreviations.

AUD: Australian Dollar. Currency.

BIN: Buy it Now. A fixed price auction.

BNWT: Brand New With Tags. An item that has never been used and still has its original tags.

BW: Black and White. Used for films, photos etc.

CONUS: Continental United States. Generally used by sellers who dont want to post things to Alaska or Hawaii.

EUR: Euro. Currency.

FC: First Class. Type of postage.

GBP: Great British Pounds. Currency.

HTF: Hard To Find. Not quite as abused as rare, but getting there.

NIB: New in Box. Never opened, still in its original box.

NR: No Reserve. An item where the seller has not set a reserve price.

OB: Original Box. An item that has its original box (but might have been opened).

PM: Priority Mail.

PP: Parcel Post.

SH: Shipping and Handling. The fees the buyer will pay you for postage.

USD: United States Dollars. Currency.

VGC: Very Good Condition. Not mint, but close.

The chances are that you'll find more specific jargon related to whatever you're selling, but it would be an impossible task to cover it all here. If you cant figure one out from your knowledge of the subject, then type the term into a search engine, followed by the word ebay. The chances are that someone, somewhere will have seen fit to explain it.

While its good to be able to understand others jargon, avoid using it unless you really need to (for example, if you run out of space in an items title). Many people on eBay are not experienced buyers and you will lose them if you write a load of gobbledegook all over your auction.

By now, you're well prepared for eBay life, and you're probably ready to get started with that first auction. In the next article, well show you how to dive in and get started. <A href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com/5-Simple-Steps-to-Post ing-Your-First-eBay-Auction.html"">5 Simple Steps to Posting Your First eBay Auction </A>I hope you've found this information helpful and gained something of value from the article.

In case there is any specific portion that is not clear enough, or that you'd like to know more about, please write to let me know and I'll try and update the article or write another one getting into greater detail.

About the author: James Mahony is the founder of <a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Online Auction Handbook</A> - Learn How to Make Money on eBay

<a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Make Money on eBay</A>

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Creating Customer Loyalty For Your Business

2008-10-17T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Chris Swemba

Article: Creating Customer Loyalty for Your Business

Strategize and Plan For Loyalty!

These four factors will greatly affect your ability to build a loyal customer base:

1. Products that are highly differentiated from those of the competition.

2. Higher-end products where price is not the primary buying factor.

3. Products with a high service component.

4. Multiple products for the same customer.

1. Market To Your Own Customers

Giving a lot of thought to your marketing programs aimed at current customers is one aspect of building customer loyalty.

When you buy a new car, many dealers will within minutes try to sell you an extended warranty, an alarm system, and maybe rust proofing. It's often a very easy sale and costs the dealer almost nothing to make. Are there additional products or services you can sell your customers? Three years ago my house was painted, and it's now due for another coat. Why hasn't the painter called or at least sent a card? It would be a lot less expensive than getting new customers through his newspaper ad, and since I was happy with his work I won't get four competing bids this time. Keep all the information you can on your customers and don't hesitate to ask for the next sale.

2. Use Complaints To Build Business!

When customers aren't happy with your business they usually won't complain to you - instead, they'll probably complain to just about everyone else they know - and take their business to your competition next time. That's why an increasing number of businesses are making follow-up calls or mailing satisfaction questionnaires after the sale is made. They find that if they promptly follow up and resolve a customer's complaint, the customer might be even more likely to do business than the average customer who didn't have a complaint.

3. Reach Out To Your Customers!

Contact with current customers is a good way to build their loyalty.

The more the customer sees someone from your firm, the more likely you'll get the next order. Send Holiday cards, see them at trade shows, stop by to make sure everything's okay. Send a simple email newsletter to your customers-tell them about the great things that are happening at your firm and include some useful information for them. Send them copies of any media clippings about your firm. Invite them to free seminars or exclusive events. The more they know about you, the more they see you as someone out to help them, the more they know about your accomplishments-the more loyal a customer they will be.

Recommended Tool: Loyal Email

The Loyal Email solution enables businesses of any size to communicate directly with customers via permission-based email campaigns which helps companies save time and money while increasing sales and customer loyalty.

This solution is geared towards companies whom want to harness the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of email communications but do not want the hassles of managing their own program in-house. Loyal Email is a 100% managed service which doesn't require any additional investment in hardware, software or personnel. They take care of everything so you don't have to. Get your own custom designed email marketing and customer loyalty program at <A HREF=http://www.loyalemail.com>http://www.loyalemail.com</A>

Wishing you great business success,

Chris Swemba Kinetica

About the author: Chris Swemba is the founder and CEO of Kinetica Media, an internet marketing company that develops and implements affordable internet marketing and website design services. Please visit http://www.kineticamedia.com for more information on our customer-generating products and services.

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10 Killer Ways To Multiply Your Sales

2008-10-16T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: kenji sakamoto

Article: Making the first sale is not difficult task but the most important task is how to make more sales by previous sales.I just made 10 tips to boost your salees by using information of privous sales.

1. When you make your first sale, follow-up with the customer. You could follow-up with a ""thank you"" email and include an advertisement for other products you sell. You could follow-up every few months.

2. You could upsell to your customers. When they're at your order page, tell them about a few extra related products you have for sale. They could just add it to their original order.

3. Tell your customers if they refer four customers to your web site, they will receive a full rebate of their purchase price. This will turn one sale into three sales.

4. When you sell a product, give your customers the option of joining an affiliate program so they can make commissions selling your product. This will multiply the sale you just made.

5. Sell the reprint/reproduction rights to your products. You could include an ad on or with the product for other products you sell. You could make sales for the reproduction rights and sales on the back end product.

6. You could cross promote your product with other businesses' products in a package deal. You can include an ad or flyer for other products you sell and have other businesses selling for you.

7. When you ship out or deliver your product, include a coupon for other related products you sell in the package. This will attract them to buy more products from you.

8. Send your customers a catalog of add-on products for the original product they purchased. This could be upgrades, special services, attachments, etc. If they enjoy your product they will buy the extra add-ons.

9. Sell gift certificates for your products. You'll make sales from the purchase of the gift certificate, when the recipient cashes it in. They could also buy other items from your web site.

10. Send your customers free products with their product package. The freebies should have your ad printed on them. It could be bumper stickers, ball caps, t-shirts etc. This will allow other people to see your ad and order.

There are more ways to make more sales but those above strategies are effective, and customers will come back to you. I use those strategies for my business. I hope ""10 Killer Ways To Multiply Your Sales"" will boost your business, too. __________________________________

Brian Sakamoto is the webmaster of http://wwww.marketingonlinepro.com You can read more articles like this at http://www.articleonlinedirectory

About the author: Brian Sakamoto is the webmaster of http://wwww.marketingonlinepro.com You can read more articles like this at http://www.articleonlinedirectory

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Is All Web Traffic, Good Traffic?

2008-10-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Chris Le Roy

Article: I am sure I have listened to just about every Internet Marketing Expert alive on this planet talk about web traffic. Some will tell you, that you need to get as much web traffic as possible, others will tell you that you only need a little bit of traffic to make money on the web. Each of these gurus talk about how they achieved so many sales from 10,000 visitors, or we will guarantee you will make at least 1 sale from every 1,000 visitors you have at your website even if it's a ugly website.

Well, I don't want to give you any false hopes on how many sales you will make, in fact, I want to share with you, what can really go wrong on the web if you are not seriously careful in getting the right web traffic. I had been working with a couple of different mentors for our business from both the traditional Bricks and Mortar perspective and an Internet perspective. I wanted to test out a new sales page I had written to see if we could sell any of our Microsoft Office Specialist Excel Training kits online. Everybody who has seen our training programs have always commented on how easy they are to understand and how much more professional they are to others on the market.

With the help of our internet mentor, we built a sales page, and then used Google's Adwords to drive traffic to our website. The advert we had put together on Google was nothing short of amazing; our Click Through Rate or CTR was as high as 12.5% which is absolutely out there. I had achieved something I never thought I would. After 24 hours we had 1,200 visitors with about 120 people registered for our free chapter extract, after 6 days I had had over 10,000 unique visitors to our website with approximately 900 people having given us their email addresses to get their free chapter.

One Catch - WE HAD ZERO SALES

What I had effectively done was to drive traffic from Google to our site to get their free chapter but the traffic that was driven to our site had absolutely no interest in buying anything from us, they only wanted what we going to give them for free. Now to give you an idea of what that traffic cost, to get those 10,000 unique visitors to my site had cost me just over $3,500 US dollars. I should make a note at this point, I had implemented all the programs, internet marketers recommend like using AutoResponders, doing follow-ups on the people who had registered etc.

One of the things I had done prior to building this site was to put into place a number of strategies I had learnt from an audio package called the Mr H Interviews, if you want to listen to them, there is about 5 hours of interviews and you can get access to them by visiting my website - http://www.1-on-1.biz/dms.asp In these interviews this gentleman talked about learning about who your customers were and whether the traffic coming to you site is valid for your site.

Driving traffic to a site is easy. Just give something away Free that people want and you will get people to your site. But, just like in our bricks and mortar building, we only want to give the free things away, if people truly want to purchase our wares, or what is the point in being in business.

Prior to driving this traffic to our site I had developed the website to track where people were clicking off, I did a follow-up survey 7 days after they visited my site and I asked them a range of questions such as were they interested in buying my product and it was at this point I realised that the traffic I had purchased from Google via the Adword campaign was absolutely the wrong traffic for my website. I started to get comments from people demanding that I give them our training material for free, that they weren't going to pay for it cause they had no money and I was this big company who should be giving it for free. I must have got about 50 responses along these lines and very quickly I realised, the traffic I had driven to my site was the wrong traffic. More than that, I can honestly say, getting responses like these really do get depressing especially when I am only a small Australian business with just nine people working for me.

Anyway, where I made my biggest mistake was that the Adwords campaign I had used was simply the wrong advert to be catching the customers I wanted. In the advertisement I had stated that who ever clicked on this link would get a Free Chapter Extract of our Excel program. It turns out, the type of customer I had attracted was one that only wanted everything for Free.

One of the lessons I learnt in using Google, Overture and other pay-per-click search engines is that it is not the volume of traffic but the quality. In our adwords campaign, I wasn't using generic keywords, I was in fact using very targeted keywords but still attracting the wrong type of customers. I needed to qualify my customers through the advert a lot more than what I had done.

Before you even think about building an Internet business you really do need to have a very clear understanding of who your customer is, what it will take your customer to buy, what attracts your customer, where your customers can be found and how you can check to make sure that the customers you are attracting to your website is valid for your business. The other issue to make a special note of, is make sure you build your website that can test where people are leaving your site, how far they are reading to and what their objections are in buying. If you put these strategies into place, you will very quickly see whether your website is working for you, but even more so, you will have the information to know whether any changes you make are in fact working. Essentially you want to take the guess work out of your website.

About the author: None

Chris Le Roy is the Managing Director of One-on-One Personal Computer Training and has been training people in building websites and using the Internet through his company for 10 years. If you would like to listen to the interviews mentioned in this article click on the link - http://www.1-on-1.biz/dms.asp

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5 Simple Steps to Posting Your First eBay Auction

2008-10-14T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: James Mahony

Article:

Here is a short introduction to a subject many hundreds of readers are eager to learn more about.

In response to a growing demand for quality content on the topic, we commissioned a group of expert writers to create this article specially for you. Let's get right into the content.

Its surprisingly simple to get started posting your very first auction on eBay. Heres what you need to do.

Step 1: Open an eBay sellers account. If you've bought things on eBay, then you already have an account just log in with it and click Sell in the toolbar at the top of the page, then click Create a sellers account.

If you've never used eBay before, then you'll need to open an account first using the register link underneath the toolbar, and then click Sell and Create a sellers account. The eBay site will then guide you through the process. For security, this may involve giving card details and bank information.

Step 2: Decide what to sell. For your first little experiment with eBay, it doesn't really matter what you sell. Take a look around the room you're in Im sure theres something in there that you're not all that attached to and could put in the post. Small books and CDs are ideal first items.

Step 3: Submit your item. Click Sell, and you're on your way to listing your item. The first thing you need to do is choose a category its best to just type in what the item is and let eBay choose for you. Next, write a title and description. Include key words you think people will search for in the title box, and all the information you have about the item in the description box. Now set a starting price. $0.01 is the best starting price, as it draws people in to bid who otherwise wouldnt, and items will almost never finish at such a low price. The next thing to set is the duration of the auction: 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. This is up to you: longer sales will usually get more bids, but will also seem to drag on forever. If you've taken a picture, add it now items with pictures always sell for more. Finally, tick the payment methods you will accept (just PayPal is best for now), and where you will post to (limit yourself to your own country to begin with). Submit and you're done!

Editor's Note: I came across this article quite by accident - through a friend. He was reading a website - and the articles on it captivated him. He mentioned it, fortunately we managed to convince the author to agree to share this valuable content with others, and now you're reading it!

What you've learned has the potential to change the way you view this topic in the future. And there's more to come...

Step 4: Wait for it to sell. This is just a matter of sitting back and letting eBay do its thing buyers will find your item and leave bids on it. Some bidders might email you with questions about the item, and you should do your best to answer these questions as quickly as you can. Remember that if your item doesn't sell then you can list it again for free.

Step 5: Collect payment and post it. eBay will sent your buyer emails guiding them through the process of sending you payment for the item. Make sure you have the money before you send anything. Once you've got the payment, all you need to do is pack the item for posting (make sure to use some bubble wrap), take the buyers address from the confirmation email eBay sent you, and write it on the parcel. Put some stamps on, post it, and you're done! I hope you enjoyed selling your first item. Now that you're starting to get into it, the next article will give you a checklist of things you need to do to be a successful seller.

Now that you've learned something about this topic, maybe you want more information or need greater detail about certain specific issues.

I encourage you to explore this site, read a few more articles on related topics, and get even greater insight into the subject.

And if there's any way I can help you, please write. We welcome feedback and thrive on your support.

<A href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com/An-eBay-Seller-s-Check list.html"">An eBay Sellers Checklist</A>

About the author: James Mahony is the founder of <a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Online Auction Handbook</A> - Learn How to Make Money on eBay

<a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Make Money on eBay</A>

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Staying Out of Trouble with eBays Listing Policies

2008-10-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: James Mahony

Article:

While you can sell most things on eBay, quite a few things are banned. If you try to sell any of these things then eBay will remove your auction and all bids will be void.

Here is eBays full list of prohibited or questionable items:

Academic Software Airline and Transit Related Items

Alcohol (also see Wine) Animals and Wildlife Products

Anti-circumvention Policy Artifacts Authenticity Disclaimers Autographed Items Batteries Beta Software Bootleg Recordings Brand Name Misuse

Catalog Sales Catalytic Converters and Test Pipes

Celebrity Material Charity or Fundraising Listings

Comparison Policy Compilation and Informational Media Contracts and Tickets Counterfeit Currency and Stamps

Counterfeit Items Credit Cards Downloadable Media

Drugs & Drug Paraphernalia Electronics Equipment

Embargoed Goods and Prohibited Countries Encouraging Infringement Policy Event Tickets Faces, Names and Signatures Firearms, Ammunition, Replicas, and Militaria

Fireworks Food Freon and Other Refrigerants Gift Cards Government IDs and Licenses Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Items Human Parts and Remains Importation of Goods into the United States International Trading - Buyers International Trading - Sellers Lockpicking Devices

Lottery Tickets Mailing Lists and Personal Information

Manufacturers' Coupons Mature Audiences Medical Devices Misleading Titles Mod Chips, Game Enhancers, and Boot Discs Movie Prints Multi-level Marketing, Pyramid and Matrix Programs OEM Software Offensive Material

Pesticides Plants and Seeds Police-Related Items

Political Memorabilia Postage Meters Pre-Sale Listings Prescription Drugs and Devices Promotional Items Real Estate Recalled Items Recordable Media

Replica and Counterfeit Items Satellite and Cable TV Descramblers Slot Machines Stocks and Other Securities

Stolen Property Surveillance Equipment Tobacco

Travel Unauthorized Copies Used Clothing

Warranties Weapons & Knives Wine (also see Alcohol)

If you liked what you've read so far, you'll love the rest. Now you too can access the resources created by top experts.

They will help you save hours of frustrating, wasted searching, and let you zero in on the best material on this subject - like this article you're reading. Go on...

Most of this is very obvious of course you cant sell illegal things like drugs, pyramid schemes or stolen goods. Almost everything that is on the list is there because there is law against selling it.

Some of the reasons, though, are a little strange. The autographed items entry, for example, doesn't mean that you cant sell anything thats been autographed it just means that you can only sell it if it comes with a certificate of authenticity.

The artifacts entry prohibits you from selling Native American graves; celebrity material means you cant sell unauthorised pictures of celebrities; embargoed goods means that you cant sell anything that comes from Cuba on and on it goes, and most of it you never need to know. If your chosen kind of item seems to be on the list, though, and you're concerned that you might not be able to sell it, then check the full list at <A href=""http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html"">http://p ages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html</A> to see whether the item is banned entirely or there are just a few restrictions.

eBay says it will remove any items that it believes violate copyright law, but in reality they dont have that many people to monitor the site. You will generally only find that your auction gets removed if someone decides to report you and even then, they might not get around to it.

Really, buying and selling on eBay can sometimes feel more complicated than it really is, thanks to all the rules surrounding it not to mention the jargon. Our next article is a jargon buster, to help you learn the language of eBay. <A href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com/Learning-the-eBay-Ling o.html"">Learning the eBay Lingo</A>

Writing this article was hard - but fascinating - work. We spent hours researching this material and crafting it painstakingly into an article that will provide you with useful, valuable, practical information.

And the end result was worth all the hard work! Don't you agree? Drop us a quick note to share your thoughts and comments.

About the author: James Mahony is the founder of <a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Online Auction Handbook</A> - Learn How to Make Money on eBay

<a href=""http://www.onlineauctionhandbook.com"">Make Money on eBay</A>

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Tips For Using Video & Web Conferencing To Train, Manage And Support Your Sales Team

2008-10-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Dan Richmond

Article: If you have a large sales force, spread out over wide distances, or if you have a small staff in various locations, then video and web conferencing is an ideal way to train, manage and support your team. In case you are wondering what online conferencing has to do with managing and training a sales force, here are a few ways to utilize this new technology.

1. Hold Virtual Online Sales Meetings

Instead of calling all your representatives to one physical point, you can set up a web conference and meet with them online. Your sales people only need a computer and a broadband connection to the Internet and they will be able to take part in the online sales meeting. The newest conferencing systems have a real time notepad allowing online brainstorming.

2. Hold Meetings More Frequently

Whenever your organization holds a physical meeting, then you have to pay a cost in terms of travel as well as in time lost from normal work. For this reason meetings have to be scheduled carefully and not too frequently. When the meetings are held online, the ""opportunity costs"" of your meetings are reduced because no one has to leave his or her location in order to attend. This should make it possible to hold your sales meetings more frequently, and take advantage of improved communication with lower costs.

3. Show Your Staff How to use Video Conferencing to Sell to and Support Customers

As you get more accustomed to online conferencing with your staff, you can use these meetings to train your staff in online conferencing skills so that they in turn can reach their contacts, clients and customers using the same online conferencing technology. Your sales people can meet a contact ""face to face"" online, demonstrate products and even perform after-sales service without leaving their offices once they become familiar with online conferencing. Your regularly scheduled online meetings offer a great opportunity to impart these skills to your staff.

4. Get Valuable Feedback From Your Team With Online Conferencing

Meetings do not have be a one-way street where only the organizer or presenter gives information or instructions to the attendees. Rather, online conferencing makes it possible for the executives to get valuable feedback from the field. For example, you can take a poll of your organization or get information via an online survey using the new instant polling and survey features of the newer web conferencing systems.

5. Inspire Your Team With Guest Speakers and Special Presentations

Once you have your online conferencing system set up, you can announce and hold meetings whenever you like. Use this channel of communication to educate and inspire your staff with the best speakers in your particular field of activity. Your guest presenters do not even have to come into your office, they too can participate online which will save you a lot of money in transportation and lodging costs.

Once you get the hang of online conferencing you will probably be able to add to this list and come up with even more ideas on training and supporting your sales team.

About the author: Dan Richmond is Co-founder of MegaMeeting.com. MegaMeeting provides Web & <a href=""http://www.megameeting.com/"">Video Conferencing services <a> for individuals & businesses. For more information, please visit <a href=""http://www.megameeting.com/"">www.MegaMeeting.com</a>. or call 818.783.4311.

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The 7 Components Of Effective Website Design And Marketing

2008-10-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Chris Swemba

Article: 1. Target Audience: (Who Buys From You?) The foundation of effective web marketing is the 'who.' Determining your target audience, their needs, wants, level of knowledge, goals, etc is critical to creating a website that will be effective at either lead generation or e-commerce.

2. Core Message: (What Exactly do You Offer?) Flowing directly from who you want to target, is the question of what you want to say to them. Your core message delivers your value proposition in a clear and compelling way. Your core message is not a mission statement, or an executive summary of your strategic plan. Your core message is essentially a list of the reasons that people do business with you - written from their perspective.

3. Site Structure: (Is it Easy to Navigate) Many websites are little more than on-line brochures. Visitors are free to click between this page and that, reading a little here and a little there. The result is that a site visitor develops very little emotional attachment, and the 'back button' is increasingly enticing. Sales people intuitively understand that their message must be delivered in the right sequence - A, B, C, then D, which leads to E. A website that is carefully structured can accomplish this same effect, building understanding and buy-in, step-by-step. At the end of that 'presentation' the visitor takes the next step willingly.

4. Calls to Action: (Ask People to Buy!) Asking a site visitor to take the next step is the 'call to action'. This is the ""contact us"", ""join our mailing list"", or ""sign up today"" option, which informs the site visitor of the correct next step. Most people are grateful to be guided through the process of evaluating a product or service, so if you tell them that the next step is to sign up for a 30-day trial, many of them will.

5. Lead Capture: (Get Their Contact Info) Actually capturing contact (and qualification) information from leads is relatively easy with today's technology. Some simple web scripts and an effective 'off the shelf' business database are all that are needed. Many companies set up automated responses, saving time and energy, and ensuring that their sales people spend personal time with only the most qualified leads.

6. Good Graphic Design: (Makes You Look ""Bigger""!) Unfortunately, many companies spend 90% of their web budget on graphic design, and only 10% on 'the other stuff'. Graphic design serves two purposes: 1) to establish credibility, and 2) to entice visitors to read your text. Credibility is established when a company uses effective graphic design and 'looks big'. On-line it's hard to tell, but poor graphic design leads visitors to believe that your company is small. Once credibility is established, visitors will spend some time evaluating your specific message.

7. Site Promotion: (How Will You Get Visitors?) Once your site has been optimized to maximize conversion rates, using the strategies listed above, site promotion activities should be used to drive increased traffic onto your site. Site promotion ranges from listing your website on your business cards, through expensive and time consuming Search Engine Optimization strategies to increase your ranking on sites like Google. The area of site promotion can be a minefield to those new to web marketing.

Perhaps the 3 most cost effective strategies to investigate are:

* Email Marketing * Search engine submission and marketing * Reciprocal linking

Each of these strategies are relatively inexpensive, and place your prospect just one-click away from your website and possibly a sale.

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Your Way With Words Is Key To Increased Website Traffic

2008-10-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Anton Cheranev

Article: You have to have a way with words in order to increase the traffic on your website. Sometimes, the most intelligent people in the world can have a problem communicating with others. When those intelligent people or great businesspersons develop a website that would blow your mind with great inspirations and benefits, they may not know exactly how to get across their message to their target audience. Learning to communicate with the right words to get your point across clearly and without rambling is an important skill that takes some time to acquire. You can take the time to learn communication skills or you can hire a consultant to help you get your point across to others. Sometimes the simplest things are right in front of you.

When writing to produce more website traffic, you will want to make your website easy for others to read. It is better to write in laymen terms than in long scientific or technical mumbo jumbo. You want people to be able to read the pages on your website without getting a headache and without having to refer to a dictionary. Visitors should not have to learn how to translate your website in order to understand what you are trying to say. A hard to read or hard to understand website will be abandoned quickly.

When writing, be sure all content is relevant to your website. Only write the information that readers are looking for and that is relevant to your website and products. When you begin writing your first paragraph, try starting with paragraph with your conclusion. By getting to the point right off the bat, this could grab a reader's attention and keep them reading. Keep your paragraphs and sentences short and to the point. Readers do not enjoy long, wordy web pages that take too much time to read through. Avoid writing in a passive voice. Readers want action words and a strong voice to tell them what to do. Keep your writing in a steady flow. Always read your writing aloud and listen to the flow. In addition, reading aloud can help catch those nasty little typos that will drive people away from your site. Proofread your writing before posting it to your website.

Understand that your website will be accessible to viewers all over the world. Although visitors from other countries may be able to view your website, they may not understand the language or the content. If your website is not for worldwide viewing, then you should specifically list the regions that can best view your website. You can add the intended region(s) in the page description or keywords. This way, if someone in Canada is looking for a veterinarian, he or she aren't frustrated by looking through all the veterinarian web sites that only cater to pet owners in Paris, France.

Even some regional topics hold value to worldwide viewers. Perhaps a person in Italy will be visiting your hometown and would need to speak with a veterinarian about traveling with their pet. You may wish to provide general information on your website that will appeal to visitors outside your specified region.

Most of the websites on the Internet are in English, but that does not mean that English is a first language throughout the world, it just means it is easy to translate. Never use slang when writing on your website. Slang is not an internationally understood language and can be difficult when translating.

Also, take into consideration money and number conversions. If you are listing a price for services on your website, be sure to list the currency you will accept or will be using (USD, pounds, yen, etc.) The same goes if you are listing measurements or sizes. Always list the conversions or provide a link to a website for conversions. When in doubt, hire a professional translator.

Your goal is to increase the traffic to your website to benefit you or your business the most. By using the World Wide Web, you will be able to reach an audience of millions, all to your benefit. However, reaching all of these people, in the far reaches of the world requires good communication skills. You must be able to explain who you are and what you can do for the people. Tell them why they need your services above all the others. Be concise and to the point.

About the author: Don't pay a dime for any ebook, marketing course or software program until you've read this groundbreaking document... Check Out : <a href=""http://www.myinstanthomebusiness.com/dotcomology.html""> http://www.myinstanthomebusiness.com/dotcomology.html</a>

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White Papers In Business-To-Business Direct Mail Lead Generation: How To Name Them

2008-10-09T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Alan Sharpe

Article: Yes, white papers are an effective way to generate leads with business buyers. But the tricky part is getting your white paper into the hands of those buyers in the first place.

The best place to start is the topic and title of your white paper. You need a relevant topic and you need a compelling title. A poor topic with a great title will perform just as poorly as a great topic with a poor title.

How to choose your white paper topic

My thanks go to Paul DiModica, President of Digital Hatch, an IT sales and marketing consultancy, for his insights in this area. When Paul sits down to create a white paper aimed at management prospects, he picks a topic that answers the most common sales objections that sales people hear.

Here's what he does. He gets together with the sales people who move the product or service he is promoting. He asks them to list the top 20 sales objections that they hear from management prospects. Then he writes white papers to answer these objections, one white paper for each objection, being sure to keep the discussion in each one objective and free from self-promotion.

The secret to a successful white paper, says DiModica, is to address the one reason that management is reluctant to buy, while avoiding any mention of features and benefits offered by what you are selling.

How to name your white paper

DiModica has a unique way of titling his white papers, too. In every white paper title he tries to put the following:

1. the sales objection raised by management

2. the job title of the management prospect who raises that objection

3. the industry of that management prospect

Here is an example of how this works:

Industry: Restaurants

Product: Automated time and attendance system

Buyer title: Payroll manager

Sales objection: Can't afford it

White paper title: How Restaurant Payroll Managers are Recovering their Investment in Automated Time and Attendance Systems Within Months.

DiModica says this method works because prospects see their job title, industry and sales objection in the title of the white paper, and are thus more inclined to read it than they are to read a product brochure. Managers pass white papers along to their peers. But they file unsolicited product brochures in ""the file that is emptied daily,"" says DiModica.

If you'd like to learn more about Paul DiModica's innovative approach, read his excellent book, <a href=""http://www.itsalestraining.com"">How to Sell to Management</a>.

And if you need help crafting that white paper, or the sales letter that offers it to your business prospects, give me a call. My number is 1 877 SHARPE COPY (742-7732).

About the author: Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter and lead generation specialist who helps business owners and marketing managers attract new clients using direct mail marketing. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com/newsletter

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Using Search Engines To Connect With New Local Customers

2008-10-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Chris Swemba

Article: Local Search Marketing provides you, the business owner, with the most targeted and cost effective customer acquisition opportunity.

Your customers are more and more often searching for businesses like yours on the Internet. Studies show that these customers have a serious buying intent. As a local business (online or off) you need to figure out how to cost effectively reach out to these ""Local"" customers and start the business relationship before your competition does.

Why should ""local search marketing"" be important to your business? The Kelsey research group found:

* 74% of households use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally.

* Approximately 45% of local searches had a buying intent.

* The percentage of respondents who used yellow page directories decreased from 75% to 62%. (If you have a yellow page ad, it is time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your marketing dollars to the Internet.)

As local business owners you need to take action now. You need to keep your existing customers, and gain new customers, so you need to be found where they are searching. Local Search Marketing is where your future clients and customers will come from.

So where do you start?

Most likely your customers will have a default setting on their computers and this will be set to one of these sites for search; Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL. These search engines all index web pages and have some form of paid advertising referred to as Pay Per Click. This is fine if you have a website but what about many small and local businesses that have little or no web presence at all? And even if you do have a website, does it show up in the search engines above?

Okay, so what other choices have you got?

There are those folks, you know whom I am talking about, who will place you not only in a hard copy directory but also have services online. The challenge is in what the financial cost is, BIG, but hey, they have been around a long time and have deep pockets. The other issue is that they often advertise in the search engines and you will find them there BUT if you follow the link to them, you need to do your search all over again! What a pain.

There are other commercial ""local search engines"" and some of these are good value but many are not comprehensive. If there are only a few thousand businesses in a local directory most users will leave given the limited amount of content.

So what you need to do is use a search engine like Google and search for ""local search directory"", make sure you limit your search to the country you're in. The results include Yahoo local search and a number of local directories. You should check these out and see what it takes to participate in the directories that make the first page of the Google search. By doing so, you'll be able to get a feel for how they work and what is needed for you to get listed competitively

About the author: Chris Swemba is the founder and CEO of Kinetica Media, LLC. a media firm that offers website design and internet marketing services to small and medium businesses. Visit http://www.kinetica-media.com for more info on how your business can GET and KEEP more customers with our proven online marketing services and products.

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7 Strategies & Benefits Of Using Online Coupons

2008-10-07T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Chris Swemba

Article: 1. Increased Traffic - Introduce your business to new customers and send a reminder to your existing customers, driving traffic back to your store, office or Web site. Give your customers and prospects a reason to choose your business over the competition by offering exclusive coupons and discounts.

2. A Larger Email Marketing list - Make your customers or visitors sign-up for your email newsletter before they are able to receive your coupons. That way you'll have an opportunity to follow back up with them to resell.

3. Increased Sales and Repeat Sales - Remember, when customers visit your store, office or site to redeem a coupon, they will very likely buy more than just the item promoted thereon. Same goes for a discount. Both new, and existing customers may be motivated to try a new product or service they would not have considered otherwise.

4. Viral Marketing - Take advantage of word-of- mouth referrals by encouraging your customers to forward your coupons to interested friends or family members. It is the oldest and least expensive form of advertising.

5. Increased Customer Loyalty - Develop relationships with your customers by offering them added value, letting them know how much you appreciate their business. Keep their minds on you, and they'll forget about the competition.

6. Affordability - Save your marketing dollars. Online coupons are far less expensive than traditional coupon advertising because they require no production expense or mailing costs.

7. Targeting - Reach the right customers. Companies like Loyal Email target precisely where your customers live, where they like to shop, and what they like to buy, making your coupons highly relevant and, accordingly, more effective.

8. The Better Your Coupon, The Better Your Response- Use online coupons to offer savings of money (a dollar amount or a percentage off), time (free pick- up/delivery or gift wrapping) or to promote any aspect of your business. For example: a restaurant may offer a ""buy one entrée and get the 2nd at half price."" A landscaper may offer a ""free crabgrass eater application"" with a yearly contract, a movie rental store may offer a ""2 for 1 midweek"" rental, and a retail store or website may offer ""$20.00 off any purchase of $100.00 or more.""

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Manufacturing Optimism Survey by TR Cutler, Inc.

2008-10-06T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

Article: Every two years the Manufacturing Marketing firm, TR Cutler, Inc. conducts a national survey about the optimism of manufacturers throughout the U.S. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the survey results at: http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/dec05/380879.asp

When last conducted, November 2003, the manufacturing sector was coming out of a long-term slump. Indeed the economy of the manufacturing sector has improved drastically in the past two years. Among the 2429 privately-held manufacturers surveyed, optimism was stronger in almost all geographic sectors, with few exceptions. The most optimist geographic regions are:

With a rating of >70% saying 2006 will be better or much better than 2005

Louisville (77.1%) Dayton (76.9%) Dallas (76.3%) Cleveland (76.1%) Milwaukee (75.2%) Kansas City (75.0%) Atlanta (74.1%) Nashville (73.6%) Memphis (73.1%) Tampa (72.2%) Charlotte (71.8%) Cincinnati (71.6%) Chicago (71.4%) Orlando (71.2%) San Antonio (70.8%)

According to Cutler, ""Milwaukee has really rebounded since we last conducted this manufacturing optimism survey. The mean age of the manufacturing CEO's was considerably younger than two years ago and apparently some of this ""fresh blood"" has really impacted the overall enthusiasm and optimism for the manufacturing sector.""

Thomas R. Cutler, who founded the consortium in 1999, has grown the participation from 300 journalists to more than two thousands key clients, journalists, editors, trendsetters, and key business leaders worldwide. Cutler has authored more than 1000 articles for a wide range of manufacturing periodicals, industrial publications, and business journals including most of the leading monthly trade publications. TR Cutler, Inc., (www.trcutlerinc.com), is the nation's largest manufacturing marketing and public relations firm, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

TR Cutler, Inc. www.trcutlerinc.com Thomas Cutler 954-486-7562

About the author: None

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Set Your Marketing Goals In 10 Simple Steps: How To Plan For Your Success

2008-10-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Jennifer McCay

Article: Does this sound in any way familiar?

*Last year you declared that it was THE year to grow your business. You may even have made a to-do list that included things like ""Make more money,"" ""Find new clients,"" etc.

But despite creating your trusty list, life got in the way, as it is wont to do, so you're no closer to meeting your goal now than you were this time last year.

In fact, just thinking about what you (gulp!) didn't accomplish makes you a little uncomfortable and disappointed. You might even have talked yourself into thinking that you simply can't find the time to start working on your goals, what with all the last-minute client challenges, employee issues and hurried attempts to do any sort of marketing at all.*

The good news is that it doesn't have to be so difficult to reach your goals. If you know my work and/or subscribe to my newsletter, you know that I'm a planner at heart. It's the very best way to ensure that you will actually reach the goals you want to achieve this year ... and beyond.

Here is a simple, yet helpful method to plan for your own success. Just grab a pen and paper, and you're ready to roll!

1. Think about where you would like to be in 3 years. I pick 3 years because it is a reasonable amount of time in which to expect fairly large changes to take place -- such as achieving nationally known status as an expert in your field, a substantial increase in your net earnings or simply finding a better clientele that doesn't stress you out. Many of your goals may take a while to achieve, above and beyond a mere 12 months. (We all know how quickly a month can pass us by!)

So think long and hard about what you would like to achieve, first and foremost.

2. Why do you want to achieve those goals? What is your motivation? Because you really want to make them happen, or because you think you *should* achieve them?

Now is not the time to play ""should'ves."" Instead, ensure that every goal on your list is motivated by the right goals, namely that you want to see them come true because they are ideal for your skill set and key strengths.

What's key here is to rule out goals that you have set for yourself that actually aren't in line with your value system and dreams. It's time to concentrate on what YOU want! This will save you many hours of time and frustration.

3. Make sure you're aiming for goals that are high enough! Many of my clients initially have a tendency to sell themselves short; only after discussing their potential do they see what they can truly achieve.

It's also important to ask yourself very seriously if you are simply planning not to fail. No, you don't want to take risks that will majorly undermine you if they fail, but you do need to take calculated risks that stretch you to new heights.

4. What will it take to get you there? You want to consider the steps that will get you to each of your goals.

If, for example, you are currently making $45,000 a year and hope to achieve more than $1 million in business in 3 years, you have to determine the changes you will make in your business model as a whole that will allow you to do so.

You might need to:

-- hire more employees to handle the increased business

-- stop trading hours for money (or as many hours for money) by starting to help groups of clients rather than individuals and/or branch out into information publishing

-- begin recruiting clients in ways that reach out to large quantities of targeted prospects rather than focusing on less time- and cost-effective marketing methods

-- expand your reach outside your local area

-- get to know people that can help you reach your goals

-- start weeding out the clients you don't enjoy working with and concentrating on the ones you do, who typically bring in more for you while requiring less handholding

-- etc.

Spell out the broad steps that you will need to make in order to move ahead, along with the amount of time it will take for you to achieve them.

5. Which skills do you need to gain in order to achieve those goals? If you want to make more money with your business with a minimum of expense, I highly recommend that you do the following:

-- Establish a clearly defined brand for your business, which you can use from this point forward as the foundation for literally all of your business decisions to follow. My High-Concept Brand Bible home-study manual will walk you through all of the steps in the process. <A HREF=http://AvenueEast.com/brand/>http://AvenueEast.com/brand/</A >

-- Improve your copywriting skills. Learning how to write effective sales copy is one of the very best ways to save yourself time and expense on your promotions. That's true whether you ever gain expert-level copywriting ability or continue to hire out all of your copywriting work in the future. Just knowing what to look out for is a tremendous help. My FREE sales letter tutorial is a good starting point. <A HREF=http://AvenueEast.com/saleslettertutorial.htm>http://AvenueE ast.com/saleslettertutorial.htm</A>

-- Learn the ins and outs of direct marketing. This will allow you to reach a wider audience, and you will learn the nuances of sales psychology that cause your prospects to act quickly. (Don't worry -- you don't have to use cheesy hard-sell tactics, but you do need to learn how to motivate people to take action.)

-- Plan to expand your firm beyond your own capabilities? You'll need to learn how to manage staff, potentially handle more complex tax requirements for payroll purposes and other non-marketing related concepts that will directly result from your marketing decisions.

Make sure to list all skills that you need to improve upon.

6. Assess which goals are realistic to achieve. What is viable? What isn't? If you need to learn a lot of new skills, how much time can you realistically plan to dedicate to doing so? Do you have the financial ability to afford the training?

Secondly, are any of your goals contradictory? For example, if you wish to raise your income by selling more personal services and want to make 6 figures, will you be able to raise your rate enough in your market to realistically accomplish this?

Then, and only then, you'll be ready to ...

7. Create a 1-year plan. I started with the longer-term plan because it helps you visualize the things that you truly with to achieve -- and allows you to see the significant gains you can make with concerted effort. However, you need to build some interim steps in the process, 1 year at a time. At this point you want to outline the goals that you would like to achieve in that 1-year period.

8. Map out the steps that would allow you to achieve those goals. For instance, if your goal is to gain 12 new clients this year, what will it take to reach them?

Be very specific about what you plan to do at what point during the year -- along with how you plan to find the time to achieve them. It might mean hiring a virtual assistant, getting help from a marketing professional like yours truly and/or sending out mailings to clients and prospects on a monthly basis.

Oftentimes each goal has a number of subgoals, such as gathering names of prospects, getting design work done, joining local organizations and attending meetings, hiring a consultant and so forth.

9. Add the steps in your 1-year plan to your calendar. I use Microsoft Outlook solely for the calendar function, which allows me to set up reminders and manage my time more effectively. You can also use a paper calendar or Daytimer organizer -- it's not the medium that counts, but what works best for you!

Make sure to add an appointment to your calendar for each of the major milestones in your plan, and then commit to keeping them. If you let one slide, immediately reschedule it. If you're not committed to your own success, you can't expect to make progress.

10. Assess where you are once a month, and adjust your schedule accordingly. There's no sense beating yourself up if you suffer a minor setback; just find a way to get back on schedule the following month.

We all have professional and personal challenges that get in the way of progress from time to time -- illness, family matters, etc. Forgive yourself for serious matters that you cannot plan for; it happens to the best of us. If you suffer serious setbacks, it might be time to reassess what is feasible to accomplish in the near future.

If you do end up reworking your set of goals, go through these steps once again to ensure that you aren't setting yourself up for failure. Every successful business owner I've ever known (and frankly, every successful person I've ever known) has understood the value of putting yourself in a position to succeed!

About the author: Want to turn your small business into a brand-name success? Jennifer McCay, author of The High-Concept Brand Bible, helps small business owners like you find more clients using big-business tactics that really work. Get all the info at <a href=""http://AvenueEast.com"">AvenueEast.com</a>

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What is professinal SEO and how does it relate to your website or business

2008-10-04T03:02:00.001-07:00

Author: Dustin Twiggs

Article: <a><a href=""http://www.jakeyourlilly.com/seocontests/carcasherdotcom-se ocontest.html"">Carcasherdotcom seocontest</a> got me to thinking. SEO is an amazing art. You could call it a skill, but the great SEO professionals out there are really very artistic when you get down to it. You look at all the millions of websites out there and it's amazing what goes into them. You have folks who have only been exposed to even the most basic layers of html for only days competing with folks who are familiar with so many different types of structures, languages and ideas all in one playing field. Of course the more experienced web designer may product a beautiful work of art, but without some sort of SEO experience or training, that wonderful website may never be found.

And in contrast, the WORST website ever known to man kind, could become the first website that anyone sees, should the proper seo tactics be put into place. That's where the <a><a href=""http://www.jakeyourlilly.com/seocontests/carcasherdotcom-se ocontest.html"">Carcasherdotcom seocontest</a> comes into place. You see, this carcasherdotcom has set out to find out who the 'greatest of the great' really is. Who are these so called SEO professionals, and what are they doing? Visit my site and you'll get more info on the specifics. But the bottom line is, if you want your site to be seen, you need to market it. You can spend millions of dollars through offline and online advertising. Mailers, PPC, catalogs, commercials, etc. But the most valuable form of advertising you could possibly offer your business or website, is truly gold old fashioned organically produced traffic from skilled SEO tactics.

So what are some of these SEO tactics? Well the list goes on forever. But I will at least share a biggy. Anchor text links, such as this one here leading to my site: <a><a href=""http://www.jakeyourlilly.com/seocontests/carcasherdotcom-se ocontest.html"">Carcasherdotcom seocontest</a> Will help you in a big way. I like to write articles myself. Post them to article directories with ""back links"" to your site. This has a Double benefit. 1st, the most obvious, someone is likely to click and end up on my site. 2nd, the search engines such as <a href=www.google.com>Google</a> base their searches off a popularity contest. Basically if you have 100 sites linking back to yours, and another site has none, chances are you will come up sooner in the search results then them for specific keywords. Make sure those back links are ""anchor text links"" though. Those do hold more value.

I've only just barely skimmed the surface of the easiest form of SEO. It's the beginning. But if you like it, and you think you can do more of it, then keep researching. You'll have plenty of visitors in no time.

About the author: Dustin Twiggs is currently writting articles for: <a><a href=""http://www.jakeyourlilly.com/seocontests/carcasherdotcom-se ocontest.html"">Carcasherdotcom seocontest</a> and <a><a href=www.tca-inc.net/computer_cables.html>computer cables</a>

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Get Going With Email Marketing And Keep More Customers

2008-10-03T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Chris Swemba

Article: It's Never too Early: We often talk with companies who aspire to reach many of the same goals we've achieved with email - regular communications, and enhanced relationships. Amazingly, many of these companies are considerably larger than us - but yet object on the grounds that they 'aren't ready.' Baloney! Email marketing is incredibly easy to get started - and in our opinion it is most effective when it is done with a philosophy of simplicity

Frequent Contact is Key: Email marketing does not work as well for a one-time quick hit marketing strategy. Email allows you to build a regular, ongoing dialogue with your best clients and prospects. And that becomes self-selecting - those who most wish to do business with you will appreciate the regular communications. Those who do not can opt-out. It truly is a win-win.

Be Regular: One of the real keys to success is how frequently (or not) you communicate. We occasionally provide special alerts, but generally, for us, once a month is plenty often to communicate. I firmly believe - and our results have confirmed - that regular but respectful communication is optimal.

Content is King: Ultimately, for professional service firms like ours it is ideas that build relationships - and ideas are driven and supported by content. We strongly recommend the creation of a regular communications vehicle - whether an e-Newsletter or other vehicle. It has worked for us and it works for a number of our clients.

Be Brief: We also have found that it is critical to keep the content out of the newsletter. While this may seem to be a contradiction to the previous point, it is not. You should let people know about your ideas, but not force them down their throats. Use the newsletter to point to your content (on your site or elsewhere) but don't try to cram it all in. It shouldn't take someone 10 minutes to decide if your newsletter is worth a read. An overly long, dense, hard-to-read newsletter simply wastes people's time. In addition, by keeping the content external, you can use click through analytics to see who is really interested in what content - and tailor your follow-up appropriately.

Keep it Entertaining. We're shocked by the number of dry, boring newsletters that clog our inboxes. We subscribe to many newsletters to keep up on our competitors, but we usually only read those that keep us entertained. Try adding a bit of humor if possible.

Don't Hard-Sell. The flip side of the coin is when we see companies who feel as though they need to close business in every sentence. Email marketing is about relationship building, and it is something you're doing for the long- term - not a quick revenue hit. Even for consumer- oriented retailers, this fact still holds true- customer relationships are profitable when they are long-term, so your marketing efforts need to be oriented that way.

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Your Company is Either Online or Out of Touch

2008-10-02T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Jay Fink

Article: Description: Establishing a web presence is vital to any business today as it promotes the company and gives it access to a market of over 1 billion people.

A decade ago, a title like the one above would have been absolutely absurd. In 1995, there were not even ten million Americans online and the technology was so new that it was a true burden to think about shopping online. Of course, that was back in the days when dial-up was the only access to the Internet. Today, with broadband technology and over 140,000,000 Americans using the Internet, the fact is that businesses either embrace this technology or they run the risk of becoming obsolete.

When the dot.com explosion occurred at the end of the 20th century, companies were rushing out to create websites in hopes of cashing in on this new and exciting medium. The crash which happened a few years later occurred because companies overestimated the reach of the Internet at that time, not because the potential was not there. However, the dot.com crash did cause a lot of companies to shy away from developing a website or at least in establishing a web presence.

Of course, nowadays, the Internet has Ebay and a host of other ""cyber darlings"" that have helped fuel the latest surge in growth. Such companies have renewed faith in the Internet as a means of tapping into markets that a traditional company cannot. There are now over 1,000,000,000 using the Internet and that number is expected to grow to 1.2 billion by the end of 2006. Frankly, the longer a company waits to establish its presence on the web, the harder it will be for that business to compete in the future.

It is called ""targeted marketing"" and it is the biggest single reason to establish a web presence. When a person searches for something that they are interested in--let's just say music--they type in the word ""music, or cd, or even the name of their favorite artist--and the search engines turn up a list of relevant sites. Every one of those sites, or at least the vast majority of them, is dedicated to music in one way or another. But, the real advantage for a business is that every surfer visiting those sites is already interested in music!

Just think about it: they are already interested in whatever you happen to be selling! It is literally like a self-generating mailing list! Instead of sending out mass mailings in hopes of getting a few responses that will help build a future mailing list, a business can set up a web presence and generate its own list from scratch.

In addition to targeted marketing, a web presence simply is another way to promote your business and gain access to a market that is over 1,000,000,000 people strong. And in truth, an Internet web presence is beneficial to 'non-traditional' business ventures as well. Let's say, for example, that you were a musician. Like most people starting out in the business, you are probably having a hard time getting your music out there for people to listen to. But, by establishing a web presence at a place like www.entertomusic.com, you can sell your music online without ever having made a cd. In fact, a site that helps sell your music may be the way to raise the cash you need to cut your first cd!

The fact is simple and clear: The Internet is the train to the future and those not on board will be left behind. Internet sales increased by 21% last year and a similar increase is expected next year. Our traditional business model is being replaced before our very eyes and we must not shun change or else the future will continue onward without us. A web presence is no mere luxury or trivial marketing ploy--it is positively essential to the growth and survival of any business venture. If you do not have a web presence yet, do not waste another day and establish one now before that train leaves without you!

About the author: I have been promoting and generating traffic for websites for 7 years.

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Creating a Professional Calendar

2008-10-01T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Viojieley Gurrobat

Article: Calendars have been a result of the people's effort to organize our lives in accordance with the sun and stars. The sun and the moon play an important part in the creation and understanding of the calendar. Today, it has become a hard thing to live without a calendar.

Calendars make great gifts for friends and loved ones. As much as electronic organizers help in managing your everyday affairs, when you want to present a product or stir a memory you would turn to the old fashioned calendar printing. Modern printing technology has made calendar printing easier and more affordable than before. Aside from the usual paper calendar, there are a lot of choices nowadays when it comes to design and color. Now that full color printing is common, calendar printing has become more fascinating and attention-grabbing. This printing technique has been an important advancement in the printing industry as it increases the appeal of any printed work.

Custom calendars are also a good way to attract customers, promote your business and track appointments. When you want to customize your calendar you can choose your own photo or images to include in the print. Likewise, customized calendar can help you keep track with meetings or due dates that standard store calendars don't have. Putting your logo in the calendar and adding special event in it is a good marketing strategy. You can easily hand it out to your customers and prospects.

To achieve a good calendar printing you have to carefully consider the design and layout, the photos that you will use, and the printing technique. Choose the size and style of text carefully and use the right colors. You have a lot of choices when it comes to color but it is essential to use a design that does not detract from your images. When choosing the photos to use, make sure that they do not contrast your theme. Choose pictures that have plenty of color and interest. Remember that the photos will be displayed for a whole month so choose those that suit the season and your theme. If possible you can compile the images in a folder as you make your final choices for ease in editing and putting together the final product. And when you are already happy with your design, save it and print it.

Different printing shops have different ways of printing a calendar. You can ask their help if you are unsure of how to design your own calendar. Just remember to create a calendar that is really personal and unique.

For comments and suggestions kindly visit <a href=""http://www.digitalroom.com/calendars-printing.html"">Calenda r Printing </a>

About the author: Viojieley Gurrobat loves readings books in her spare time. She writes stories and poems about anything under the sun.

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Banner Ads: Death and Resurrection

2008-09-30T03:01:00.001-07:00

Author: Tim Priebe

Article: Back in the 90's, many internet companies were making their money solely off advertising. They would create content for a site, but then not sell anything but advertising on the site. And the companies paid for the advertising. Any company would advertise on any type of website. The point of the game back then was getting your banner on as many sites as possible.

Then came the dot-com bubble bust. And companies started pulling out everywhere. Investments, staff, everything. Paying for banner ads was no exception to the rule. An overall lack of effectiveness of remaining banner ads caused the advertising method to slowly die out.

Well, almost.

Crafty marketing individuals had watched the whole thing carefully. With banner ad pricing dropping across the board, now was the time to get the best bang for their buck. But how could it possibly work? Banner ads had been shown to be largely ineffective.

Two words: Targeted marketing. These advertisers knew that it was just plain dumb to advertise your Christian a cappella group's website on a flash games website. No, you needed to advertise it on the website of a Christian publication.

See, those who make banner advertising work for them today knew the whole time that banner ads are, in many ways, no different from other types of advertising. Mass marketing to the population as a whole is largely unsuccessful. Banner ads were no exception to the rule. However, careful, selective targeted marketing can prove useful in any form.

So if you are thinking about getting a banner ad on a website, consider the following:

1. Is the demographic of this website the same as the demographic of mine?

2. Does this website get enough traffic to make the cost worth it?

3. Is your target demographic large enough to make banner ads wise?

As with any marketing plan, banner ads should never be your only method of promotion for your website. However, combined with other methods, targeted banner ads can still prove effective.

About the author: Tim is the owner and senior web designer at <a href=""http://www.tandswebdesign.com"">T&S Web Design</a>. His company has developed and maintained website for dozens of small businesses and organizations. Tim also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners, <a href=""http://www.getasiteonline.com"">GetASiteOnline.com</a>.

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The Marketing Miracle

2008-09-21T03:02:00.000-07:00

Author: Casey Tyler

Article: Marketing strategies are very important to every business, large and small. I've seen a lot of businesses in my time take almost a cavalier attitude toward marketing. As if they say to themselves ""Ok, I have to advertise. Here is some money let me know how it goes."" I assure you there is or should be more to it than that. People today are always looking for the quick fix, the instant gratification. I see it all to often as I am sure you have. The post in the blah blah forums asking ""What is the best way to advertise"". I do have the answer. Are you ready. The answer is........It depends. It depends on who your market is. What age group are you targeting? What demographic are you stalking? If you can answer these questions you are on the right track for success. The answer is not a simple one. Most often the answer is a medley of different answers and quite often one that nobody hasn't thought of yet. When advertising, never do it out of emotion. When starting an advertising campaign make sure it can be tracked. Weather you pay for it or not, if you can't track it, your wasting your time and or money. Lets say you want to start an opt-in e-mail campaign. You send out 300,000 e-mails. You get 3000 responses(by the way, that is extremely good). Where did the they come from. Why didn't they or did they buy? If you can learn something from it that makes the next campaign better it is not a failure. By constantly analyzing and readjusting your campaigns, you can zero in on the most effective form of advertising possible for your specific business. In the words of Colin Powell, ""There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."" Most hosting companies today offer web site analysis software. Use it! I can not stress this enough. Its amazing to me how many webmasters don't know what there highest traffic days are. How many unique visitors are you getting? What is the most popular page on your web site? What is the least? What time of day does the bulk of your visitors show? There is so much useful information that can be harvested from these programs. I had a friend of mine come to me and asked for my help. He was getting a lot of visitors to his site but they were leaving and not buying. He did know that but he should have dug deeper. After reviewing his site statistic reports I noticed that a lot of shopping carts were being abandoned. This isn't really all that uncommon accept for the fact that 90% were being abandoned at a specific point in the check out process. I ran through the check out process myself and discovered that selecting payment page was very confusing. I let him know about it. After fixing the issue his sales went up 150%. That's huge! How much would you pay to increase your business 150%? This is one of many examples of the potential benefits of knowing the visitor flow and behavior of your site. Don't let your ego get in the way. Don't get dragged into an advertising war with a competitor. Its human nature to be competitive and that isn't necessarily a bad thing but it can turn into a disaster if it gets the best of you. Just take a look at Google Adwords. I've seen certain search terms as high as $3000.00. I've seen businesses fold partly due to there advertising budget that had gotten out of control. Always have a plan. Always know were you are going, were you are now, and were you have been. If you follow these simple guidelines, success is just a matter of time.

About the author: About the author: Casey Tyler is the owner of TotalNetTechnologies.com. ( http://www.totalnettechnologies.com ), a web hosting company dedicated to the success of its customers.

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Enhancing Your Flyer Advertisement

2008-09-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

Author: Viojieley Gurrobat

Article: Creating blazing flyers that focus on benefits will go a long way toward making a successful sale and more money.

When you are selling something or opening a new store you need to advertise. But oftentimes people starting up a business do not have enough cash to advertise. This is where flyer printing can help you. Flyers are one of the cheapest but most effective ways to market a product or service. They can be typically produced as handouts that can be distributed during street fairs or parades or keepers that can be mailed and send out to selected prospects.

One common mistake that business owners commit when advertising through flyers is distributing these promotional materials. This can be a costly mistake. So to avoid losing customers you have to consider your type of business in the first place. Make sure that you put it up in a location where most of your target customers are located. After considering these you can distribute your flyer within and around your existing cluster of customers. Remember also to reach the right people in the area. If your flyer is about lawn care or landscaping it will be a waste to distribute it to apartments. Thus, carefully point out your prospects before going out and distributing your flyers.

To enhance the marketability of your flyer add something unique to it. You can experiment with horizontal, vertical or diagonal cuts. Doing so, you can make the flyer funkier and eye catching. Also, do not underestimate the use of the color black. Even for a colorful print black is a must. It can be used for headings, subheadings and headlines.

In addition, aside from using door to door distribution post the flyers in areas were it is allowed. For ease in distribution you can keep a few flyers in your car so that when the opportunity arises you can easily hand it out or post it. On top of this, it is important to stick with the image and message that you have told your customers the first day you created your flyer. So when you print new flyers do not change your story just to make it more interesting. Remember that customers want consistency and professionalism. They are more loyal to businesses that they can trust. Hence, whether you mail, hang up or hand out your flyers make your flyer say 'look at me'.

For comments and suggestions kindly visit <a href=""http://www.digitalroom.com/Digital-Flyer-Printing.html"">Fly er Printing </a>

About the author: Viojieley Gurrobat loves readings books in her spare time. She writes stories and poems about anything under the sun.

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