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Saturday, April 26, 2008
3 Effective Tactics Every Business Should Implement
Do you remember your first day as an entrepreneur? They were probably just like the rest of us ... pretty darned happy and proud on the page. Yes, when we thought we could conquer the world. Now we are too busy conquering our own little corner of the world pay a lot of attention to the rest of the world ... unless there to learn a few tips from successful marketers just as we have made it big. Tips like these ... this applies to every market - regardless of the product or service - and are great motivators to try something new. Yes, you never know when the next idea is worth a million pounds! 1st Create a special OfferA special offer is exactly that ... an offer which is something special. Normally, the customers would not be able to purchase this product or a combination of products, and once the products are over ... Sorry! You do not have to go out and a lot of new products to bring together a special offer. It is not a lot ... just use what you have. Grave a few things that, you should have it together, reduction of prices, and your customers will love are always a good business. Think about it from your view ... It sells three or four points instead. Yes, combination offers are winning bids for all! 2nd Address the small customer GroupsNiche markets are everywhere, right under your nose! Within the customer audience that you serve now are groups of people who have common characteristics. Think about it ... maybe you have a group that speaks Spanish, a group of teenagers and a group of middle-class family men and women.Evaluate these categories of people, and discover the unique needs and aspirations they share. It will ask for your advertising campaign directly to them. It is not difficult to make your current ads and a few changes to adapt to the niches. You will be impressed that you understand them, and the increase your profit, the best thanks you can get.3. Setting up a strategy for a successful referral Program Successful marketers develop the capacity to customers in their favour. Often they are not even asking customers to refer them to others. Your willingness to go the extra costs will win customer loyalty and support. Of course, satisfied customers refer their friends and family to the place of quality care for them.Quality service and is the first step towards recommendations, but it can easily take a step further. Studies show that every satisfied customer tells three people about you. What would happen with a little more incentive to image? Yes, much more. Enter customers, friends found a thank you - whether it is a discount, special gift items or a simple thank you card - and watch the references spiral! You can kill two birds with one stone through customer surveys. A few brief questions about what the customer does not like about your product, followed by a request for the names and addresses of friends and family, would benefit from the product, and you& 39;re all set to decide with the contact information to a potential customer! Andy MacDonald owns and operates his own website design firm Swift, the British media and intranet design, e-commerce development, affordable website hosting and logo design.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Saying NO to Good Opportunities!
Tracey started her video production company 2 years ago, and after struggling through the start-up phase, she was finally reaping the fruits of her labor. When we talked, it was clear that she was ready to move onward and upward but didn t know how to go about doing it.
I am so busy these days, but I m still not getting the level of work I want, Tracey told me. I really want to get in with some bigger companies, but I m always scrambling to get my current projects done.
When I first started my business, I just wanted to get some clients, any clients. Now, I have people calling me up to do jobs for them, but those aren t the jobs I want anymore. I mean, I need them, but I also want to start doing bigger projects for bigger clients.
All the people calling me are small business owners I ve met at the networking meetings I attend. I know we talked before about the fact that I m not going to meet the reps from the big companies there, so I need to develop a different marketing strategy to reach them, but I just don t have the time. I keep thinking I ll reach a point where I ve got things under control, so I can start pursuing the bigger guys, but I never get there.
It was clear that Tracey was exhausted from going through the same cycle over and over again, so I thought I would give her brain a reprieve by taking her back in time. Do you remember when you told me about that guy that you met at a networking meeting last year? He was hounding you about making him a video, but you really didn t see the opportunity there. He didn t seem to have any money budgeted for it and didn t have a clear concept of why he needed it and what he would use it for. You just didn t feel like he was a good prospect, so you told him that you were too busy to take on his project.
Yeah, what about him?
Well, there was a time when you would have seen him as a viable prospect. You would have set up a meeting, spent a few hours going to/from the meeting, spent a few more writing up a proposal, placed numerous follow-up calls only to learn that there was ultimately no chance of getting a dime from this guy. Over time, you learned to qualify prospects, so you didn t waste your time. By the time you met that guy, you already knew how to spot a bad opportunity and had developed the ability to say no to them.
He was easy to turn down. He just didn t have a clue. There was no way he would have ever turned into a paying client, so it wasn t hard at all to tell him that I couldn t help him out. But, I m not talking about people like that. The people calling me are good prospects, but the projects they need me to do are just small. I just want to start getting some bigger projects too.
Well, you say you ve been trying to get around to marketing to bigger companies for the past eight months, right? But yet, you continue to go round-and-round hoping that you ll suddenly find the perfect moment to work on your marketing strategy to reach the bigger companies. It hasn t happened yet so, just for a moment, let s assume that this cycle will continue indefinitely. What do you think it will take to break it? I asked her.
I don t know. I keep waiting for the right time when things slow down, so I guess the cycle will end when things slow down enough for me to think about it. I was hoping the summer would give me a break, but it didn t. Maybe the holidays?
Tracey was doing what a lot of us have done at some time or another. She was letting her business run her instead of her running it. So, the summer didn t break the cycle and the holidays won t break the cycle. SHE needed to break the cycle.
What I asked her to do is to start to distinguish between good opportunities and great ones. She d learned awhile back how to say no to bad opportunities. What she needed to learn to do now is how to say no to good opportunities, so she could say yes to the great ones.
Most of her incoming phone calls were good opportunities, but the great ones were ones that she would need to put effort into pursuing. There was an opportunity lost during the eight months she filled with small projects. She lost the opportunity to be making contacts at the bigger companies, to be doing jobs for the bigger companies, and to be adding higher level projects to her portfolio.
Over the next month, we assessed the reasons behind why she was letting her business run her. Was she ready for the transition or was she rushing it? Maybe she really wanted to just stick with doing what she knew she could do well. Bigger clients could potentially require her to do things she didn t have experience doing yet. Is that scary, I asked her.
It also takes a different approach to reach and pitch bigger clients. Was she uncertain about what marketing methods to use to reach them? Or did she know that cold-calling was the best way to reach her target market but didn t want to have to make the calls? Or maybe she was afraid of meeting with some big executive of a multi-million dollar company.
After working through some of the potential blocks, Tracey laid out a plan for marketing to the big companies in her area. She contracted an assistant to make the preliminary phone calls to qualify prospects and set up meetings. Once the meetings were set, Tracey felt fully confident in presenting her services to the decision-makers. Within 2 months, she had two new bigger clients and was outsourcing some of the smaller jobs to colleagues she had met through her networking meetings.
Take a note from Tracey -- learn to say NO to good opportunities, so you can say YES to the great ones!
Are you saying yes when you should say no ? Here s how to find out. Ask yourself the following questions:
What is your vision for your business?
What is missing where you are now?
What needs to happen in order for your vision to become a reality?
The process to follow is to:
develop a crystal clear vision of what you want your life to look like
use your life vision to create the vision of what you want in your business
make a list of what actions you need to take in order to go from where you are now to where you want to be
take consistent actions toward your vision
evaluate every new opportunity to determine if it moves you closer to your vision
It s a BAD opportunity if:
you don t feel good about the work you d have to do
you wouldn t be paid fairly
you don t like the people you d have to work with
It s a GOOD opportunity if it:
gives you good experience but pays poorly
pays well but doesn t fit with your vision
you d enjoy the type of work and pay but not the people you d work with or place you d do the work
It s a GREAT opportunity if:
you love the work you re doing
get paid well for what you do
feel inspired and invigorated by the people you d work with and the place you d do the work
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I am so busy these days, but I m still not getting the level of work I want, Tracey told me. I really want to get in with some bigger companies, but I m always scrambling to get my current projects done.
When I first started my business, I just wanted to get some clients, any clients. Now, I have people calling me up to do jobs for them, but those aren t the jobs I want anymore. I mean, I need them, but I also want to start doing bigger projects for bigger clients.
All the people calling me are small business owners I ve met at the networking meetings I attend. I know we talked before about the fact that I m not going to meet the reps from the big companies there, so I need to develop a different marketing strategy to reach them, but I just don t have the time. I keep thinking I ll reach a point where I ve got things under control, so I can start pursuing the bigger guys, but I never get there.
It was clear that Tracey was exhausted from going through the same cycle over and over again, so I thought I would give her brain a reprieve by taking her back in time. Do you remember when you told me about that guy that you met at a networking meeting last year? He was hounding you about making him a video, but you really didn t see the opportunity there. He didn t seem to have any money budgeted for it and didn t have a clear concept of why he needed it and what he would use it for. You just didn t feel like he was a good prospect, so you told him that you were too busy to take on his project.
Yeah, what about him?
Well, there was a time when you would have seen him as a viable prospect. You would have set up a meeting, spent a few hours going to/from the meeting, spent a few more writing up a proposal, placed numerous follow-up calls only to learn that there was ultimately no chance of getting a dime from this guy. Over time, you learned to qualify prospects, so you didn t waste your time. By the time you met that guy, you already knew how to spot a bad opportunity and had developed the ability to say no to them.
He was easy to turn down. He just didn t have a clue. There was no way he would have ever turned into a paying client, so it wasn t hard at all to tell him that I couldn t help him out. But, I m not talking about people like that. The people calling me are good prospects, but the projects they need me to do are just small. I just want to start getting some bigger projects too.
Well, you say you ve been trying to get around to marketing to bigger companies for the past eight months, right? But yet, you continue to go round-and-round hoping that you ll suddenly find the perfect moment to work on your marketing strategy to reach the bigger companies. It hasn t happened yet so, just for a moment, let s assume that this cycle will continue indefinitely. What do you think it will take to break it? I asked her.
I don t know. I keep waiting for the right time when things slow down, so I guess the cycle will end when things slow down enough for me to think about it. I was hoping the summer would give me a break, but it didn t. Maybe the holidays?
Tracey was doing what a lot of us have done at some time or another. She was letting her business run her instead of her running it. So, the summer didn t break the cycle and the holidays won t break the cycle. SHE needed to break the cycle.
What I asked her to do is to start to distinguish between good opportunities and great ones. She d learned awhile back how to say no to bad opportunities. What she needed to learn to do now is how to say no to good opportunities, so she could say yes to the great ones.
Most of her incoming phone calls were good opportunities, but the great ones were ones that she would need to put effort into pursuing. There was an opportunity lost during the eight months she filled with small projects. She lost the opportunity to be making contacts at the bigger companies, to be doing jobs for the bigger companies, and to be adding higher level projects to her portfolio.
Over the next month, we assessed the reasons behind why she was letting her business run her. Was she ready for the transition or was she rushing it? Maybe she really wanted to just stick with doing what she knew she could do well. Bigger clients could potentially require her to do things she didn t have experience doing yet. Is that scary, I asked her.
It also takes a different approach to reach and pitch bigger clients. Was she uncertain about what marketing methods to use to reach them? Or did she know that cold-calling was the best way to reach her target market but didn t want to have to make the calls? Or maybe she was afraid of meeting with some big executive of a multi-million dollar company.
After working through some of the potential blocks, Tracey laid out a plan for marketing to the big companies in her area. She contracted an assistant to make the preliminary phone calls to qualify prospects and set up meetings. Once the meetings were set, Tracey felt fully confident in presenting her services to the decision-makers. Within 2 months, she had two new bigger clients and was outsourcing some of the smaller jobs to colleagues she had met through her networking meetings.
Take a note from Tracey -- learn to say NO to good opportunities, so you can say YES to the great ones!
Are you saying yes when you should say no ? Here s how to find out. Ask yourself the following questions:
What is your vision for your business?
What is missing where you are now?
What needs to happen in order for your vision to become a reality?
The process to follow is to:
develop a crystal clear vision of what you want your life to look like
use your life vision to create the vision of what you want in your business
make a list of what actions you need to take in order to go from where you are now to where you want to be
take consistent actions toward your vision
evaluate every new opportunity to determine if it moves you closer to your vision
It s a BAD opportunity if:
you don t feel good about the work you d have to do
you wouldn t be paid fairly
you don t like the people you d have to work with
It s a GOOD opportunity if it:
gives you good experience but pays poorly
pays well but doesn t fit with your vision
you d enjoy the type of work and pay but not the people you d work with or place you d do the work
It s a GREAT opportunity if:
you love the work you re doing
get paid well for what you do
feel inspired and invigorated by the people you d work with and the place you d do the work
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Monday, April 14, 2008
Finding fine diamond jewelry in Dubai
Diamond jewelry makes a wonderful gift, whether it is for yourself or someone special. Finding fine diamond jewelry in Dubai is not as difficult as one might think. Dubai jewelers offer selections of some of the finest diamonds in the world. Choosing the diamond for your engagement ring, or any other piece of jewelry is simple, once you know the best place to go for your diamond jewelry needs. Whether you are searching for engagement rings or other diamond rings in Dubai, or even diamond necklaces, you can find many types and styles of beautiful diamond jewelry at Dubai Diamonds.
With the absence of sales tax in the Dubai area, as well as the wide selection of certified diamonds available, you can find the perfect diamond engagement ring or necklace, and for a very competitive price over other jewelry sites. Dubai DMCC jewelers are qualified and trained to produce the highest quality, as well as the most uniquely beautiful and exquisite diamond rings and necklaces that are currently available. By using a Dubai Diamond Park jeweler, you know that you are getting a diamond jewelry piece that is crafted with the utmost perfection in mind. This may be particularly important in engagement rings, as you want the assurance that you are buying a high quality and very beautiful and unique diamond engagement ring to begin the rest of your life with the one that you love.
Purchasing diamond jewelry from Dubai not only offers quality and a fair, competitive price, but you get the added satisfaction of knowing that these diamonds are certified, and there are also loose diamonds available. If you are planning to buy diamonds on Dubai, then you should definitely feel satisfaction in knowing that your diamonds will be of the utmost quality, and you will be receiving a very fair price. Simply browsing the beautiful selection available will show you that what you will receive will be a beautiful diamond piece that is sure to invoke gratitude from whoever receives it.
Whether you are shopping for yourself or for someone special, purchasing a diamond, whether it be a diamond necklace, diamond ring, or any other piece of beautiful diamond jewelry, you want the assurance that the jewelry you have selected will last a lifetime. By purchasing a Dubai diamond jewelry piece, you get the assurance that you need, and your loved one gets a beautiful diamond jewelry piece whose quality and marksmanship is unsurpassed. The author Thomas H. Lindblom talks about finding fine diamond jewelry in Dubai. By purchasing a Dubai diamond jewelry piece, you get the assurance that you need. Dubai DMCC jewelers are qualified and trained to produce the highest quality.
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With the absence of sales tax in the Dubai area, as well as the wide selection of certified diamonds available, you can find the perfect diamond engagement ring or necklace, and for a very competitive price over other jewelry sites. Dubai DMCC jewelers are qualified and trained to produce the highest quality, as well as the most uniquely beautiful and exquisite diamond rings and necklaces that are currently available. By using a Dubai Diamond Park jeweler, you know that you are getting a diamond jewelry piece that is crafted with the utmost perfection in mind. This may be particularly important in engagement rings, as you want the assurance that you are buying a high quality and very beautiful and unique diamond engagement ring to begin the rest of your life with the one that you love.
Purchasing diamond jewelry from Dubai not only offers quality and a fair, competitive price, but you get the added satisfaction of knowing that these diamonds are certified, and there are also loose diamonds available. If you are planning to buy diamonds on Dubai, then you should definitely feel satisfaction in knowing that your diamonds will be of the utmost quality, and you will be receiving a very fair price. Simply browsing the beautiful selection available will show you that what you will receive will be a beautiful diamond piece that is sure to invoke gratitude from whoever receives it.
Whether you are shopping for yourself or for someone special, purchasing a diamond, whether it be a diamond necklace, diamond ring, or any other piece of beautiful diamond jewelry, you want the assurance that the jewelry you have selected will last a lifetime. By purchasing a Dubai diamond jewelry piece, you get the assurance that you need, and your loved one gets a beautiful diamond jewelry piece whose quality and marksmanship is unsurpassed. The author Thomas H. Lindblom talks about finding fine diamond jewelry in Dubai. By purchasing a Dubai diamond jewelry piece, you get the assurance that you need. Dubai DMCC jewelers are qualified and trained to produce the highest quality.
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Real Estate Agent Marketing
If you run a real estate business, you are well aware of the importance of marketing. If your potential clients don t find you, they are likely to find your competitor and give their commissions to them.
Internet marketing is an excellent solution for real estate agents. A real estate agent can reach people who they would not be able to meet otherwise by using Internet marketing. Here are five tips to help you reach your potential customers:
- Create A Professional Web Site For Your Real Estate Business. You need to present a professional online image to attract real estate clients. Potential clients who find your web site will equate the professional look and feel of the web site to your own professionalism, since the web site is the only piece of information they have to evaluate your real estate business.
The web site for your real estate business should have a professional look and feel and have information about you, your business, and services that you provide to your clients. There should be a way for potential clients to contact you. After all, you would like these people to get in touch with you and start working with you.
- Publish A Real Estate Newsletter. Not everyone who comes to your web site is going to be in need of your services immediately. Many people shop around, reading information about dozens of real estate agents before picking a real estate agent to work with. Others may not need to buy or sell a house now, but they maybe in need of your services at a later date. You need to be able to keep in touch with people who come to your web site, but are not ready to hire you yet.
A newsletter is a great tool to keep in touch with your web site visitors, share information with them and educate them about your products and services. Make sure that you have a newsletter subscribe form on every page of your web site, and that you offer a compelling reason for your web site visitors to subscribe to it.
- Offer A Compelling Reason For Your Web Site Visitors to Subscribe To Your Newsletter. If you are not inviting your web site visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, you are losing money in the long run. Make sure that you are offering a free report, or some other free gift for everyone who subscribes to your newsletter. By doing this, you will be able to get more newsletter subscribers and more clients for your business.
- Optimize Your Web Site for Search Engines. Search engine optimization is the process of modifying web page content and meta-information to improve the search engine ranking of the page. By optimizing your web site for search engines you can get more people looking for real estate agents in your area to your web site.
- Publish Your Articles Online. Publishing articles is an excellent way to show off your expertise, let others know about your real estate business and drive traffic to your web site. When you write and publish your articles, other web site owners pick them up and publish them on their web sites, while giving you a link back to your web site.
Use the five techniques we outline above to drive targeted potential clients to your real estate web site. Effective Internet promotion of your real estate business will help you drive clients to your real estate business every single day.
Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author who teaches real estate agents how to get more clients online. Subscribe to her free Effective Online Marketing Newsletter at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/free newsletter.html to learn how to promote your real estate business online.
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Internet marketing is an excellent solution for real estate agents. A real estate agent can reach people who they would not be able to meet otherwise by using Internet marketing. Here are five tips to help you reach your potential customers:
- Create A Professional Web Site For Your Real Estate Business. You need to present a professional online image to attract real estate clients. Potential clients who find your web site will equate the professional look and feel of the web site to your own professionalism, since the web site is the only piece of information they have to evaluate your real estate business.
The web site for your real estate business should have a professional look and feel and have information about you, your business, and services that you provide to your clients. There should be a way for potential clients to contact you. After all, you would like these people to get in touch with you and start working with you.
- Publish A Real Estate Newsletter. Not everyone who comes to your web site is going to be in need of your services immediately. Many people shop around, reading information about dozens of real estate agents before picking a real estate agent to work with. Others may not need to buy or sell a house now, but they maybe in need of your services at a later date. You need to be able to keep in touch with people who come to your web site, but are not ready to hire you yet.
A newsletter is a great tool to keep in touch with your web site visitors, share information with them and educate them about your products and services. Make sure that you have a newsletter subscribe form on every page of your web site, and that you offer a compelling reason for your web site visitors to subscribe to it.
- Offer A Compelling Reason For Your Web Site Visitors to Subscribe To Your Newsletter. If you are not inviting your web site visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, you are losing money in the long run. Make sure that you are offering a free report, or some other free gift for everyone who subscribes to your newsletter. By doing this, you will be able to get more newsletter subscribers and more clients for your business.
- Optimize Your Web Site for Search Engines. Search engine optimization is the process of modifying web page content and meta-information to improve the search engine ranking of the page. By optimizing your web site for search engines you can get more people looking for real estate agents in your area to your web site.
- Publish Your Articles Online. Publishing articles is an excellent way to show off your expertise, let others know about your real estate business and drive traffic to your web site. When you write and publish your articles, other web site owners pick them up and publish them on their web sites, while giving you a link back to your web site.
Use the five techniques we outline above to drive targeted potential clients to your real estate web site. Effective Internet promotion of your real estate business will help you drive clients to your real estate business every single day.
Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author who teaches real estate agents how to get more clients online. Subscribe to her free Effective Online Marketing Newsletter at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/free newsletter.html to learn how to promote your real estate business online.
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