Knock, knock. Whos There? Your Target Market, Are You Listening?
April 30, 2008
Have you ever had a conversation with a person who wasn’t listening to anything you said?
This one-way communication experience is a big turn-off and many times frustrating to cope with at the time.
Is this occurring in your marketing? Oops, no one wants to think of their business as turning a deaf ear to their market. Yet it can be easy to do since most of us have a jammed packed life already, with little time to spare let alone to listen to what our market is saying. Yet, we can’t afford not to, or we lose our revenue. Relying even 40 percent on push marketing turns off the sound to your market. Okay, Catherine, what is push marketing?
Push marketing is when you use brochures, flyers and other material — including your business card — and you push them out into the market praying all the time you are doing it, hoping they read them and will take the action you want them to. This is an easy rhythm to get into because it allows you to hide and not feel any rejection. Yes, if you don’t know who they are, they can’t reject you.
The Musketeer Approach
April 29, 2008
Stories of intrigue, treachery, politics, lies, double crosses, and power struggles fill the history books, much like they fill today’s headlines. In the world of the 17th century musketeer, life depended on who you could trust. In the world of the 21st century employee, one’s livelihood may.
I’m not naïve to corporate politics, competition, or sabotage in the workplace. I’ve held my own in corporations where silos, turf wars and power brokers delivered indigestion, sleepless nights, and distrusting cultures. But I still don’t get it. When people are more focused on what’s happening in the cube next to them than on achieving corporate goals, everyone loses. When corporate politics fill emails with mixed direction stalling productivity, everyone loses. And when discretionary effort and new ideas are swallowed in pits of bureaucracy, guess what? Everyone loses. The way I see it, if the company fails, we all fail.
So, I believe the Three Musketeers got it right: "All for one and one for all!” Each understood his fate as an individual was tied to their fate as a group. Trusting each other was unambiguous. One was in trouble, they all were in trouble. One needed help, they all provided help. One succeeded, they all succeeded. The fiction of Alexandre Dumas, set in the 17th century, seems a good prescription for the 21st century workplace.
Build Your Mailing List Or Die!
April 29, 2008
Build Your Mailing List Or Die!
by: Margaret Albright
Is having a mailing list really all that important?
You bet it is. Without a mailing list you are at the mercy of the search engines and their ever changing regulations. Don’t get me wrong, doing your SEO is vital to your business but it’s not the end of the story.
If you don’t have a mailing list, your online business, once it gets off the ground, will eventually die. You can not sustain business without a customer base. Online or offline, repeat customers are the backbone of any business. It’s even more important online because the competition is greater and they probably have a list.
Your list is your best form of advertisement. The people who are on your list have been to your site and have an interest in your topic. You will have to remind them on a regular basis that your site is a place they like to visit.
Don’t bookmarks and favorites lists work the same way?
Not even close.
Four Reasons Why Small Businesses Succeed (or Fail)
April 28, 2008
The American system of business management has been admired and emulated around the world. This system is characteristic of two traits in the American psyche: (1) enthusiasm for the future and making things better, and (2) an openness and willingness to change in order to achieve that end.
No society in the world is better or more prolific at creating new businesses than the United States capitalistic system but often we are so busy commercializing ideas and starting new ventures that we don’t take the time to learn basic, successful management principles that have been developed by our larger companies.
Many entrepreneurs are technical experts in what they do but start a business without any formal training or experience in management practices and principles. By "management" here we mean the business of successfully managing the non-technical side of the business, the "back room" activities. As a result of inadequate management, many small businesses fail in the early years. They fail not because of a weakness in the product or service concept they have, but because the business was not properly managed in the back office.
Creating Assets: Spark Your Thinking With These 16 Comprehensive Questions
April 27, 2008
Here are some questions to get your thoughts and cash flow moving that will also keep your product creating aligned and focused.
Find your gold mine in your surroundings by looking at any promotional literature you have created, audio or video tapes you have produced, press releases or articles about or by you, your product catalog or list and even your business card.
1. What is the one single important subject from your experience or knowledge that you want to tell the world about? If you have a list or create a list, which one speaks to you the loudest?
2. What are you most frequently surprised about that people ask about in your subject area? Track all the questions people are asking — they are telling you what they are willing to buy. It is usually something so common sense to you that it escapes your radar. Be observant for a month and you will be amazed on what pops up.
3. When you created your list or selected the single important subject, look to narrow down this topic into segments. Can these segments be a product or service on their own? Most of the time it can be.
One Crazy Cookie
April 26, 2008
In order to survive, you have to be happier than if you were in your right mind.
Chinese Fortune Cookie
When orienting someone new to the company, the last thing I tell them is to, "have fun." This usually raises a skeptical eyebrow, but it’s true. Work should be about more than simply surviving the day. It should be a place where we learn from our mistakes and celebrate our successes. When we do this everyone wins because the act of celebration creates a motivating force that is entirely disproportionate to the initial experience. A personal or team success, when celebrated, unleashes a long-lasting positive effect. Morale, productivity, effectiveness and quality all increase in response to a celebration. Best of all, the celebration need not be elaborate to create the effect. It can be as simple as a team picnic during a regular lunch break, or a potluck breakfast preceding a staff meeting. The essential elements are only that the success be recognized with credit given where due, and that it occurs in close proximity to the experience.
So go ahead, have some fun!
George Ebert is the President of Trinity River Seminars and Consulting, a firm specializing in the custom design and delivery of team building, personal growth and ethical development programs. Mr. Ebert is a highly sought after speaker, educator and consultant with over thirty years experience in both the public and private sectors. He has presented widely throughout the Unites States. He is the author of the management cult classic, Climbing From the Fifth Station: A guide to building teams that work!
How To Become An Expert…And Why
April 25, 2008
How To Become An Expert…And Why
by: Donovan Baldwin
Do you remember the old ads, “When E. F. Hutton speaks…”?
Of course, the idea was that E. F. Hutton could offer expert advice on investing, and that it was good to listen to experts before making such an important financial decision such as investing your hard-earned money.
Most of us realize the value of listening to, or getting guidance from, an expert before we enter into important changes or projects.
In fact, a whole new breed of “experts” is emerging due in part to the internet and internet marketing programs. Just what are these people experts on, and how do YOU become an expert? Why would you even WANT to be an expert?
WHO ARE THESE EXPERTS?
They are people from every walk of life. They may be doctors and lawyers, housewives, internet marketers, shoe salesmen, Wal-Mart clerks, automobile service managers (met him last night), unemployed or retired. Male, female, young, old, college graduates and high school drop outs. Some are well known in their areas of expertise, and some have never been heard of by their peers. The next expert could be you!
Retirement Planning the Offshore Way
April 24, 2008
Retirement Planning the Offshore Way Why do so many of us constantly push the thought of retirement planning to the back of our minds? Reluctance?! 1 Reluctance to save for an event that seems so far off 2 Reluctance to tie in to an inflexible pension scheme 3 Reluctance to put a large portion of our current income out of reach for the long term But in terms of retirement planning, putting off until tomorrow that which you could get done today will end up costing you very dearly. Every month you delay your retirement savings planning, you significantly reduce the value of your future potential retirement fund.
Or put another way, every month you delay your retirement savings planning you significantly increase the amount that you will need to invest to achieve the same level of retirement income than if you’d started today. If a 25 year old and a 35 year old were to start saving for retirement at 55 and the 25 year old invested £300 a month towards retirement, the 35 year old would have to increase his contributions to £803 a month to achieve the same potential returns. At the state retirement age of 65 the average man will have some 19 more years to live and the average woman, 22 years. You will have to support yourself without work and, very likely, without state income.
19 Ways To Attract Higher Paying Clients
April 24, 2008
Some people have little difficulty attracting and maintaining clients who have higher discretionary funds to spend for solutions. Others can’t get to first base. If you are one of those and want clients that can pay more and you currently aren’t attracting them, here is a list of 10 barriers that might be interfering.
Higher paying clients are easier to work with, appreciate your work more, pay quicker and are more profitable.
Whenever I am asked by a independent profession how to get a client to pay more money, the first answer tends to be “you can’t.” It is very difficult to raise your rates with your existing clients. You generally need to find new, higher- paying clients.
1. Equal stature. People usually take the time to listen to people who are just as important as they are. Are you on their listening level? Dress the way they do, even if you deal with them only over the phone. Speak in their language. Show the same type of authority and posture. Avoid jargon and words they aren’t familiar with, yet use ones that they are. Talk across or equal not down or up. Take control of the relationship. This may seem to aggressive, however, this is the way you raise yourself to their equal.
Resurrecting the Perfect Resume, Part Two
April 23, 2008
Are you in denial about the lifelessness of your resume? If you are reasonably qualified for the type of work you seek, yet your resume is consistently failing to win you interviews, then you need to face the reality that your beloved document is dead.
Try these professional resume writing techniques to resurrect your resume and your job search today:
Problem #3: Resume Is Blind
In your eagerness to cut your job search work load have you reduced your objective statement to something grandiose and vague, something that you hope speaks to every employer but which, in fact, communicates to none? A resume with no focus is blind; without a clear focus in your resume an employer cannot perceive what you’re offering them; without a concisely stated vision in your resume an employer cannot grasp the big picture of how you fit into their organization.
Solution#3: Give Your Resume Vision So Employers Can See You
