August 6, 2009

How to Avoid Discounting Your Profits... The Smart Way to
Live Better and the Realistic Way... An Additional $2,000...
Making the Pitch as an Info Marketer... and More.

When it comes to running a successful business, sales are key. As the old saying goes, "Without customers, you haven't got a business." However, sales are only doing their job if they are providing you with a healthy profit at the end of the month. After all, you didn't get into business to scrape by; you want to make a decent living.

The truth is that many small business owners and entrepreneurs can experience a memory lapse when that cash register starts ringing. They start to enjoy the money coming in, but that enjoyment can come at a high price when they forget to factor in their operating costs.

In order to boost sales, business owners offer things like low prices and discounts, which can end up drastically reducing the profits seen at the end of the month; an! d, while sales are increasing, so is debt. The key to yo! ur busin ess success and longevity is to boost your profits, not sales. Here are a few ideas that could help you accomplish this feat:

1. Don't be afraid to stay away from dropping your prices: In the early stages of a business, owners often think the best way to entice customers is to blow them out of the water with bottom-basement pricing. The fact is that this isn't a great way to accomplish your goals. If the only appeal for your customers is that you offer a low price, what are you going to do when the next business comes along with even lower prices? You should look at other ways to entice customers, such as experience, quality and value, while charging standard or even higher prices for your services.

2. Know what makes the most money: Different products and services have different potential to make profit. Knowing what your high-margin offerings are and focusing your efforts to! push them can help greatly in ensuring a profitable business. For instance, if Brand A is a household name with a higher price but a lower profit margin, then push Brand B. If Brand B is lesser known with a lower price, it's still the smarter sale if it gives you a better chance to maximize profits. To take advantage of this, offer a wide variety of product/services and know as much as you can about them in order to push them to their full potential.

3. Be smart about your discounts: When offering a discount to boost sales, pay close attention to how it will impact your ability to make profit. For instance, instead of offering a discount on a product, throw in an extra at a low cost. This way, you'll end up losing less from your bottom line. Here's an example: offering a 20% discount on a $500 item would be a costly discount. In this case, you're losing $100 per sale. Inste! ad, offer to throw in a lower margin item at a reduced p! rice or, depending on your line of work, perhaps throw in some free labor.

When you get your business going, try not to get addicted to the sound of sales. A closing cash register can be an easy distraction from your greater business goal. By focusing on creating profit, your business and paycheck could grow much faster.

There's one cardinal rule when it comes to living comfortably and avoiding debt. That rule is: spend less money than you make.

Well, you'll have to forgive me if I don't win any awards for sharing that piece of information with you. It's fairly obvious that this is a sure-fire way to avoid the stress of debt. But, is it realistic?

Sure, that is if you're starting with a blank slate. But, unfortunately, most people simply can't start from scratch. There are mortgage and rent payments to make. There's a weekly grocery bill that sometimes requires feeding more mouths than a budget allows. These are just a few of the dozens of reasons why we need to borrow money.

So, for many, spending less than they make is like swimming upstream through white waters. Even when you start making progress, another wave comes along to push you back again.

Alright then, what is a realistic way to start living the life you want? Well, this is the other side of the coin, and it doesn't mean cutting back on all of your spending. What it takes is bringing in more money than you're doing right now.

All this week, the e-Wealth team will continue to share a few moneymaking ideas with you that could help you increase your income. Here's my next tip:

This may sound obvious, but! you'll never get more money unless you ask for it. If y! ou have a job now, ask for a raise. Now, you'll have to give your employer a good reason to pay you more. But asking for more money should become part of every deal you're making. Much like an automatic response, the same way you should ask for a discount on almost every purchase you make.

Will this work every time? Maybe not, but, if you make a habit of asking for more and providing a reason why, you're more likely to hear a "yes" than if you never asked at all. Whether you're working full-time, part-time or simply picking up odd jobs, there are probably dozens of reasons why you could be making a little bit more money; take advantage of those.

A friend of mine bought a new car yesterday and received an additional $2,000 in cash from the seller. Another fri! end of mine got a great deal on his cell phone service package, where he only pays $17 a month. Heck, two weeks ago, I got tickets to a professional hockey game and sat in a box seat without paying a dime.

Sometimes, it seems like people all around you are scoring great deals and getting more for their money when you're sitting at home watching the bills pile up, just looking for a break. Well, let me tell you something: these deals everyone seems to be getting aren't just falling out of the sky, but they are a result of doing proper research; and sometimes proper research can be as simple as flipping through your weekly periodicals or coupon books.

The friend of mine who received an additional $2,000 when he bought his car was able to do it by spending some time online to find the best deal possible for the car he wanted. The seller was offering the potential buyer $2,! 000 towards the existing lease. The friend who got the g! reat cel l phone package at $17 a month was simply flipping through a magazine and saw an advertisement for a limited-time offer. Now, sure, he had to sign a three-year contract, but he had already been with the company for five years, anyways. And I was able to get the free tickets to the hockey game by learning about a free fan appreciation day being offered. So you see, what may seen as a getting lucky was actually the result of doing things that can actively boost savings.

Every week there are coupon books and advertisements with all kinds of money-saving offers for people to take advantage of, but most of us just pass them by or throw them directly in the garbage. If you're one of these people, start taking the time to look through them and notice all the kinds of deals to be had. It's also important to stay current with the things you like and want. Use the Internet to look for great d! eals and unique opportunities that can help you get what you want at a lower price. In fact, many great deals are offered over the Internet. All you have to do is get online and search for what you want; chances are you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Why sit and wait for these deals to come your way? In an exclusive special report published by the e-Wealth Daily team, you'll find little-known ways to get what you need faster. Learn more here:

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** Making the Pitch as an Info Marketer
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert

Ever walk down the street and see a building with really amazing architecture and wonder how it was constructed? Wonder how your favorite a! ctor seems to do whatever he or she does on the screen o! r stage so seamlessly? Ponder over some interesting scientific breakthrough?

In a world of manmade creations, most of these things start with willpower -- that desire in people to want to do something great and rise to an amazing achievement.

Then comes the next inevitable question: "How much...?"

Like it or not, money matters. Whether it's trying to get a bridge built or networking to finance a movie production, costs are often the determining factor. Most people look at this with trepidation and it can only be assumed that some great potential dreams were not realized in the past, because people let the dollars or lack thereof scare them away.

As an info marketer, don't let this happen to you. If you've reached a point where you think your business deserves to get bigger, but you lack the capital, take the plunge and seek out other funding sources.

How do you do! this? You make the pitch.

In Hollywood, pitches are heard almost hourly. On Wall Street, I would imagine the frequency of pitching to be the same, if not greater. Some deals are made and many, many are not. In most cases, those who didn't get their deal brokered suffered from a lack of preparation in getting ready for their pitch. The pitch is a process and there is a technique to it.

Here are some tips to go about pitching:

Put together a portfolio or package: Pitching is a lot like job- hunting. You have to make yourself look appealing to someone in order for them to make an investment in you. Do you have published information products? A trusted client list? A good resume, with years of work experience? That's all valuable coin in the pitching process. Put together a neat portfolio of your work and work history to bring to a pitch session, so a potential investor can ! see what you have to offer firsthand and the body of wor! k you ha ve to back it up.

* NOTE: This is where pictures really do speak louder than words. Whatever graphic material you may have, collect it together in a big a presentable portfolio to be shown at a moment's notice.

Know exactly what you want: Those people throughout history who were most notable knew what they wanted and stopped at nothing to achieve it. Whether it was Madonna or Mao Zedong, these people knew what they wanted and worked hard to achieve their goals. Be the same. Outline your mission in your pitch and exactly how you intend to go about achieving your goals.

Be presentable and polite: Like hunting for a job, pitching requires good etiquette on your part. Dress like a professional and use polite, simple language when meeting with a prospective investor. Be ready to answer questions and defend any arguments that you might encounter in a professional ma! nner.

Don't stop until you get it: Rejection is a part of life. I don't much care for it myself, be it from a girlfriend, investor, or whomever. But you cannot become dejected because one person did not like what you had to offer. Use any rejection you encounter as a learning ground for the next pitching session. You have to work to get what you want and it might take some trial and error along the way to do so.

Without struggle or desire, life is kind of meaningless. No one can shame someone who wants to go the extra step to realize their dreams. Pitching for investment in information marketing is one way to realize a dream. Get out there and do the work you need to do in order to satisfy that need to succeed that dwells within you.