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Archives
July 08, 2010
How to Strike a Winning Deal... Help for Quitting the 9-to-5
Nightmare... A Simple Way to Avoid Scams... How to Add
Sizzle to Your Info Marketing Product...
and More.
How to Strike a Winning Deal
By Adrian Newman, Founder of e-Wealth Daily
A big part of turning your business into a booming success is
going to be striking deals. These deals could mean long-term
arrangements with specific customers or they could mean
promotions with other business owners.
In my opinion, the only successful deal is one where both sides
end up with something they couldn't have achieved on their
own.
Sure, you want your deal to be fair and balanced, but at times
this could lead to heads unnecessarily butting over small
details. Trying to make every deal an exactly balanced
transaction will cause you plenty of headaches, so focus on a
mutually beneficial goal, but leave the scales out of it.
Let me explain. Say that you're in a business where every sale
counts and perhaps your profit margins aren't the greatest. A
customer comes to you and tries to negotiate a deal. They want
to buy from you in bulk, but only at a discounted rate.
In that instant, you see your narrow profits shrink even further.
But, customers who are asking for deals like this know that
you're more likely to give in to their demands when they offer
up some incentive of their own. In this example, you could
work out a deal where this customer commits to a long-term
purchasing plan exclusively with you. Sure, you miss out on
some of your profits, but you gain a long-term customer who
could also send referrals your way.
You see, a successful deal is more than just dollars and cents.
You could be saving money or making more money, but you
could also be developing business relationships that could
continue to help you out again and again.
Whether you're laying out your first or your hundredth deal,
keep in mind that not every deal will balance out completely.
Instead, focus on whether this deal will help you get something
you could not have gotten on your own. This way, you'll see
the benefits of your deal and can overlook some of the smaller
details that could cause more headaches than they are worth.
Help for Quitting the 9-to-5 Nightmare
By John Hurd, Chief Wealth Researcher
Quitting your 9-to-5 nightmare and moving into the world of
entrepreneurship can be just as exciting as it can be
intimidating.
At times, it can feel like you're removing the safety net and
walking a tightrope with all eyes on you. And while there
certainly are risks involved, surrounding yourself with the right
people can help lessen the risk and even open up new safety
nets for you.
Let me explain.
At your 9-to-5 job, you may have felt like the bottom rung on a
10-story ladder. But at least being a part of the overall ladder
offered some form of support (as little as it may have been).
The trick, then, when venturing out on your own, is to create a
brand-new ladder, where each rung helps support your overall
efforts.
And you can start assembling your ladder by networking with
people who you believe can help you along the way. These
could be inventors, bankers, investors and local entrepreneurs
who have been there before.
The key is to be open and confident when meeting new people.
You have a great idea and you want them to get just as excited
to help you.
And keeping up their excitement over time is an important
aspect to consider. You want to share without sounding like
you are hounding them for advice and help.
Here, then, are three tips you can use to improve your
networking after making the first contact:
1. Send out a personal "thank you." While a follow-up call or
an e-mail is a nice gesture, neither of these is very permanent.
So instead send out a thank-you card that does double duty. A
card says you're sincerely thankful and took the time to fill this
out and send it to your new contact. It also becomes something
tangible your new contacts will have that they can use to
contact you. So make sure you include all of your contact
details and an invitation to meet or discuss something in the
future.
2. Record the details of your new contacts. Write down
everything you can. Just names, numbers and addresses
certainly aren't enough. Write down what you discussed, as
well as other points that may help both of you down the line. If
your new contact mentioned something they are interested in,
make a note of it. It could be a great opening topic for when
you contact them next.
3. Don't always contact them when you need something.
Everyone has a friend or relative like this. You only ever hear
from them when they need help. So don't be that friend. To
keep your connection in tune, reach out to your contacts and
even offer them some advice, whether it's simply a new
restaurant you thought they may like or a recent article about a
related business.
Keep these three points in mind while building your personal
network ladder and you'll be able to create strong rungs
capable of offering you support when you need it most.
A Simple Way to Avoid Scams
By Michael Newman, Self-made Millionaire
Many people are constantly concerned that they're being taken
advantage of. The mechanic is ripping them off, they're paying
too much for car insurance, or their lender is charging them too
much interest on their loan. Whatever it is, some people just
constantly think that there is a better deal out there for them.
And, in reality, some of them are probably right.
The fact is that there is a sure-fire way to avoid ever being
ripped off, and all it takes is a tiny bit of work -- a tiny bit of
work that could end up banking you a whole bunch of cash.
The trick to avoiding being taken advantage of and finding the
best price, all while relieving the stress of feeling like a sucker,
is to do some research before you hand your money over.
That's right; it's that simple. Get a second opinion, take a look
at various offers and get out and pound the pavement until
you've exhausted all your options. Once you've done that, you
can make a sound decision about where to get the best bang for
your buck.
The most important thing is to know what you're looking for
when doing your research. This means that there are few
factors to look out for, not necessarily just the price. The key is
to look at the value. After all, in some cases, you'll get what
you paid for and the cheapest option may end up costing you
more in the long run.
It's important to do firsthand research. Get out and talk to
different businesses and see what they can offer you. In some
cases, you may be able to play companies off one another and
start your own bidding war. A friend of mine used to do this
with airline tickets all the time. She would go back and forth
between travel agencies, giving the prices and features each
was offering, eventually leading to the best possible package
she could get. Now, be careful; if you choose to do something
similar, make sure you're honest with the reps. After all, they
can make the same calls you can. If they catch on to any tricks
you're trying to pull, you can throw your chances for a great
deal out the window.
Keep your money where it belongs and never fall victim to
crafty salespeople again by employing this little trick before
you make a purchase. After all, it works almost every time.
How to Add Sizzle to Your Info Marketing Product
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert
Creating your own content for your info marketing business
can be fun, but also troublesome. On one hand, you can really
stretch out and apply your creativity. On the other hand, you
can get stuck while you are working.
Here is a common one: your content is boring.
If you've ever read government, legal or tax material, it's very
informative stuff. But it's bland and uninteresting. Truthfully,
that stuff isn't supposed to be interesting. It's meant to inform
the professionals in those fields with cold, hard facts. Nothing
more.
But if you're an entrepreneur, especially an info marketer, this
kind of cold, hard info is a blunder, not a benefit. It's true that
people turn to you for information about whatever topic you
are writing about -- cars, sports, music. But they need it
presented in a way that is both entertaining AND informative.
People's minds tend to be more impressionable if they are
presented material that they can relate to and understand in a
basic, almost narrative way. Straight facts confuse them and
are usually forgotten.
It's hard to know exactly how you can make your content that
much better, but one option to beef it up is to get personal.
Finding things inside yourself and incorporating your past,
your experiences, and your overall lifestyle helps people
understand what you are presenting to them more.
Obviously, there is a fine line here and you can get a bit too
personal. Writing about your three-year, highly expensive and
bitter divorce, or complaining about someone who picked on
you as a kid is probably too much. But if you generalize on
some experiences, both good and bad, you can really help
clients with whatever stresses they might get involved with in
their entrepreneurial lives.
You can start right off by using examples from your own
professional life. Maybe you spent too much on a particular
service once you got started. Maybe you learned a good client-relation trick along the way. Or perhaps you got some pointers
from someone who wound up mentoring you. Any instance
like this is good to pass along.
One more thing I recommend is, well, recommendations. In
your travels, you will likely have found tools, services, and
methods of business that are better than others. You might have
dealt with a good publisher or courier service in the past. If so,
let others know. Passing this along to your clients or other
professionals will always be helpful. You will be appreciated
for it and people will come back time and again for your
business.
You can also incorporate some aspects of your personal life.
Again, something too personal isn't needed. But simple
anecdotes about your life at home, how your family or friends
influence you, and tips/lessons you acquired on your off-hours
always give your content a sense of real life. People feel at ease
when, in an age of microchips and software, they know a real
human being who is living life just like them is producing real
content.
When you write about your personal experiences in your info
marketing content, you should keep the verbiage simple, to the
point and, if possible, humorous. Now, when I say "humorous," just a chuckle or funny anecdote should suffice -- bathroom
humor is not necessary. But try to keep your personal stories
like a small joke or story. It will help the reader understand
what you are saying and give them some light-hearted
entertainment, too. Problem-solving techniques and ways to
avoid hassles are good tidbits to include as well.
Boring information content is just another issue info marketers
have to deal with from time to time. But all it takes to solve is
some heartfelt injection of your own life into the content. From
there, your content will always live, breathe, and be enjoyed by
others.
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