I hate junk email as much as the next person. I have signed up for what I thought would be useful e-zines only to find out that they were just thinly veiled sales pitches.
Then I found one that I absolutely love.
Every Tuesday my favorite e-zine comes to my email inbox. It is Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Caffeine.
Now, before you click away, please be aware that I do not get any money from Jeff Gitomer for recommending his website, e-zine or books. I don't belong to his affiliate program. I have never met him in person. Therefore, consider this an honest recommendation.
I love Sales Caffeine for a number of reasons. First, I love Jeff's weekly "Sales Rant." These are short (just a few minutes) videos of Jeff talking about a particular sales technique. They come from his online training library, but you get the weekly "rant" for free in the e-zine.
I also enjoy the helpful articles and success tips that others have sent in.
Yes, the e-zine is also a forum for selling his books (which are all excellent and worth owning, by the way), workshops, and training tools, but it also stands alone as a source of great information.
You can sign up at Jeffrey Gitomer's website (and no one paid me to say that).
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Book Reviews
I just published two new book reviews on the Your Small Business Guide web site. They are for:
- ProBlogger: Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett, and
- Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections, by Jeffrey Gitomer.
You can check them out by clicking on the link above, or go to the Your Small Business Guide home page and select the Book Rview tab on the navigation bar.
The Importance of Follow-Up
Imagine this---
You walk by a table in the table in the park and there is an envelope with your name on it. You open it, and inside there is a note that says, "Come back in 24 hours and there will be a red envelope on this table with your name on it, with a $100 bill inside. Come back and the money is yours."
What would you do?
Maybe you'd be a bit skeptical that there would actually be an envelope tomorrow with $100 for you. Would you be so skeptical that you wouldn't even come back?
Would you come back, but just keep walking by the table, looking at the red envelope, but not taking it?
That's exactly what sales people and network marketers do when they fail to follow-up. Your website, or sizzle line, or sales materials have whetted the appetite of your potential customer or business partner, but if you don't follow-up and actually seize the opportunity by asking for the sale or closing the deal, it's just like leaving money on the table.
Sure, maybe you follow up and it doesn't work out (sort of like the equivalent of coming back to the park the next day and seeing no red envelope on the table), but wouldn't you hate to lose out on the opportunity just because you didn't follow-up?
You walk by a table in the table in the park and there is an envelope with your name on it. You open it, and inside there is a note that says, "Come back in 24 hours and there will be a red envelope on this table with your name on it, with a $100 bill inside. Come back and the money is yours."
What would you do?
Maybe you'd be a bit skeptical that there would actually be an envelope tomorrow with $100 for you. Would you be so skeptical that you wouldn't even come back?
Would you come back, but just keep walking by the table, looking at the red envelope, but not taking it?
That's exactly what sales people and network marketers do when they fail to follow-up. Your website, or sizzle line, or sales materials have whetted the appetite of your potential customer or business partner, but if you don't follow-up and actually seize the opportunity by asking for the sale or closing the deal, it's just like leaving money on the table.
Sure, maybe you follow up and it doesn't work out (sort of like the equivalent of coming back to the park the next day and seeing no red envelope on the table), but wouldn't you hate to lose out on the opportunity just because you didn't follow-up?
Thursday, May 8, 2008
5 Business Website Turn-Offs
I do a lot of web surfing, looking at different business websites. Sometimes I'm searching for information for my own business. Sometimes I'm looking for opportunities. It always amazes me how many websites just turn me off immediately.
Here's my list of my top 5 business website turn-offs:
1. Audio (or video) that comes on as soon as you load the page. This is more than annoying; it's a real intrusion. So many sites have started doing this that I really have to keep my speakers turned off most of the time, lest all my employees be bombarded with an annoying audio in the middle of the work day.
2. Blatant sales pitches. I don't mind a nicely crafted sales letter, but sites that push the hard sell with a bunch of razzle-dazzle remind me of the worst used car salesman stereotypes. The number one criteria for me for doing business with someone is trust. If your site is pushing a hard sell, you won't be getting my trust.
3. Too many graphics and colors. Some people think that a whole bunch of graphics and big print in wild colors is attractive. It's not. In fact, too much glitz distracts from the message of the site, and there are just too many sites out there for me to spend much time on a site that is just visually overstimulating.
4. Anonymous sites with very little information. If someone wants me to buy something (or join a business opportunity) they should tell me who they are and give me some basic information about the product or service. The whole attitude of "Our product is just too complex for you to fully understand it from a website, so you have to leave your information so I can call you an tell you all about it," is just insulting. When I see a site like that, what I hear is either "I don't want to invest enough time in this to develop a good site with enough information," or "I really just want to get you on the phone so I can try my hand at convincing you to buy something you don't need or want."
5. Sites that have a "please don't go yet" popup that comes up when you try to leave the annoying site. It feels like the equivalent of a salesman following you out the door. If the salesman had done a decent job of providing information in a respectful manner in the first place, you might not be leaving. Grabbing me on the way out is the best way to ensure that I will never do business with them in the future.
As I develop my own marketing sites, I try to keep these things in mind. My goal is to develop trust and convey the genuine respect that I have for my customers and prospective business partners.
What are your thoughts on this?
Here's my list of my top 5 business website turn-offs:
1. Audio (or video) that comes on as soon as you load the page. This is more than annoying; it's a real intrusion. So many sites have started doing this that I really have to keep my speakers turned off most of the time, lest all my employees be bombarded with an annoying audio in the middle of the work day.
2. Blatant sales pitches. I don't mind a nicely crafted sales letter, but sites that push the hard sell with a bunch of razzle-dazzle remind me of the worst used car salesman stereotypes. The number one criteria for me for doing business with someone is trust. If your site is pushing a hard sell, you won't be getting my trust.
3. Too many graphics and colors. Some people think that a whole bunch of graphics and big print in wild colors is attractive. It's not. In fact, too much glitz distracts from the message of the site, and there are just too many sites out there for me to spend much time on a site that is just visually overstimulating.
4. Anonymous sites with very little information. If someone wants me to buy something (or join a business opportunity) they should tell me who they are and give me some basic information about the product or service. The whole attitude of "Our product is just too complex for you to fully understand it from a website, so you have to leave your information so I can call you an tell you all about it," is just insulting. When I see a site like that, what I hear is either "I don't want to invest enough time in this to develop a good site with enough information," or "I really just want to get you on the phone so I can try my hand at convincing you to buy something you don't need or want."
5. Sites that have a "please don't go yet" popup that comes up when you try to leave the annoying site. It feels like the equivalent of a salesman following you out the door. If the salesman had done a decent job of providing information in a respectful manner in the first place, you might not be leaving. Grabbing me on the way out is the best way to ensure that I will never do business with them in the future.
As I develop my own marketing sites, I try to keep these things in mind. My goal is to develop trust and convey the genuine respect that I have for my customers and prospective business partners.
What are your thoughts on this?
Blogging Lessons
Here are some valuable blogging lessons from Darren Rowse, founder of ProBlogger.net.
Blogging is an excellent marketing strategy, and getting good at it is certainly worth your while. Take a few minutes to read what Darren has to say.
Blogging is an excellent marketing strategy, and getting good at it is certainly worth your while. Take a few minutes to read what Darren has to say.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Finding the Time
I know I have posted about time management and written articles about time management, but I am constantly amazed at how simply finding the time for marketing activities remains one of my biggest challenges.
Like many people, I have a categorized "To Do" list that I use each day to help keep me focused on income generating activities for the business (and my highest family priorities for home). Still, I seem to push the marketing activities aside when other income generating opportunities are pressing - and more likely to produce immediate income.
Of course, I know that not staying focused on marketing activities on an ongoing basis is absolutely critical to ongoing and long term income.
So, I am working on disciplining myself to do something on that marketing "To Do" list each and every day. Sometimes the activities are small, but the act of doing something every day will soon develop a habit.
If you experience the same time pressures, please know that you're not alone. Juts keep moving forward.
Like many people, I have a categorized "To Do" list that I use each day to help keep me focused on income generating activities for the business (and my highest family priorities for home). Still, I seem to push the marketing activities aside when other income generating opportunities are pressing - and more likely to produce immediate income.
Of course, I know that not staying focused on marketing activities on an ongoing basis is absolutely critical to ongoing and long term income.
So, I am working on disciplining myself to do something on that marketing "To Do" list each and every day. Sometimes the activities are small, but the act of doing something every day will soon develop a habit.
If you experience the same time pressures, please know that you're not alone. Juts keep moving forward.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
A Great Tool for Network Marketers
If you haven't checked out Renegade University, you should check it out right away. It gets you started with the information and tools you need to use the internet to 1) generate qualified leads, and 2) sell e-goods that make you money while also generating qualified leads for your primary mlm business.
What I like most about Renegade University is that it takes you through what you need to know to set up the online systems in a step-by-step way. There a video tutorials that literally walk you through even the simplest of processes, click by click. If you are more advanced, you can buzz ahead. If you are new to the online world, you can use the video tutorials to jump on board with the best of 'em.
The university gets its name from Anne Sieg's book, The Renegade Network Marketer, but it goes far beyond the book to show you how to implement the ideas contained in the book, and more.
You can learn more about what it takes to be a success in network marketing by clicking here to review the page devoted to that topic on the Your Small Business Guide website.
What I like most about Renegade University is that it takes you through what you need to know to set up the online systems in a step-by-step way. There a video tutorials that literally walk you through even the simplest of processes, click by click. If you are more advanced, you can buzz ahead. If you are new to the online world, you can use the video tutorials to jump on board with the best of 'em.
The university gets its name from Anne Sieg's book, The Renegade Network Marketer, but it goes far beyond the book to show you how to implement the ideas contained in the book, and more.
You can learn more about what it takes to be a success in network marketing by clicking here to review the page devoted to that topic on the Your Small Business Guide website.
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