Donna Knight's Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews

Tag: selling

  • A Business Philosophy That Never Fails

    This article is a broad overview of the kind of marketing that gets good results. We will discuss very specific ways to implement the plan. Now, I am not talking about the kind of plan that you might have learned in Marketing 101.

    What I’m talking about, is a list of methods, philosophies, mission like statements that give direction to all my marketing efforts and those of successful marketers. Remember in a previous article, I said that marketing is EVERYTHING you do in your business, from ordering paper clips to handling customer returns? Marketing encompasses more than just advertising and web site design.

    This article is based on a business philosophy that I believe in because I’ve seen it work. You might not agree with it completely, but I’m sharing this with you to help you in developing your own ‘business philosophy’.

    A Business Philosophy That Never Fails

    · What I think doesn’t matter. Only what the market wants or believes it wants is important.

    · If you market and advertise your products like everyone else, you will get no response. You must differentiate yourself.

    · Don’t market in a threatening aggressive way. Don’t ask for money in any significant way on the first contact. Even after several contacts, your customers don’t believe you or trust you.

    · Trust takes time. So reassure them and sell them what they want. If they are satisfied with the first purchase from you, they are more likely to come back. And repeat business is where the real profits are in any business.

    · Don’t fall in love with your merchandise or your products. If what you have in stock isn’t selling, dump it and reassess the market. Only what the market wants is important.

    · Don’t get married to what your selling — i.e. if your customers want “D” and you’re selling “A”–find the best and cheapest source for “D” and sell them that! The market is the ultimate judge.

    · Don’t sell your merchandise at the lowest possible price. Get a good price for your items. Charge enough to make a healthy profit. How can that be done with ‘commodity’ items? By adding value. Enhance commodity type products in a tough market with free tickets to a basketball game or a free car wash, etc… find something of value that may cost you nothing to acquire, but will be appreciated by your customers and makes you stand out.

    · Only by making a healthy profit can you expect to be in business for the long term.

    · The market does not respect “cheap” products or services, but they always like to think they are getting a ‘deal’. So whenever possible explain in concrete terms why this is a better deal for them than they could find anywhere else. Your “deal” could be a few hours of your time to help them through a particular set-up problem with your item, or it could be donating 10% of the purchase amount to their favorite charity, etc.–it doesn’t always have to be a deal by lowering your price.

    · Put yourself in the prospects’ place. Feel what she feels. Think how she thinks. You must know him/her better than he knows himself. What is he/she like. What do they want, really want? It’s not your item isn’t what they want–it’s the results they will get from using your item that they really want: The new skills they’ll learn from your content, the knowledge they’ll gain to help them in their jobs or relationships, the feeling of pride they’ll receive by showing the item they just purchased from you to all their friends.

    · People buy for their reasons, not yours. Therefore give them every reason possible so they can pick and choose the reason that suits them best.

    · Strip everything from your business that does not directly produce sales, profits and new customers. The only business expenses you should have are the ones that will generate more sales and profits. Before buying anything for your business ask yourself, “Will this help me generate more profits or sales?”…if not, don’t buy it. It’s a waste of money.

    · Focus all your energies and resources on selling something. You have to have something to sell. Is that obvious? Yes it is, but there are a lot of people who want to make money in business and don’t know what to sell! Find something to sell! Constantly develop or obtain new products to sell. When you find one that sells well with your existing customers, that’s the time to ‘roll out’ big to other lists.

    · The money is made in the selling. You cannot make any money if you don’t have anything to sell. Obvious? Yes! But a lot of people will look for months for something to sell, because they can’t come up with a product or service to sell, or can’t get started or finish the book they were writing. Forget it !! Stop “looking” and start testing, testing, testing instead. TESTING and DOING is the key to success. Don’t worry about what to sell– just sell anything–if it works, keep doing it, if it doesn’t work–don’t sell it anymore–find something else. You never know what people will buy until you place the item in front of them. I would never have thought ‘pet rocks’ would sell and I would not have sold them if I had a retail store, but look at what happened! They became a nationwide craze.

    · Realize the significant difference between being “professional”, having a certain “image” to maintain and getting “results”. Jay Abraham emphasizes this, and he’s right. This is a difficult concept to explain. The idea here is that RESULTS are all that count – your ‘image’ and being perceived by others as ‘professional’ are nice, but should take a back seat to being productive. If you’re worried about your image, you’re not going to be successful. All your efforts should be placed on satisfying customers wants.

    · Always strive to be personable and friendly – the down-to-earth approach to business is what keeps people coming back to you. Even in this age of the Internet (or maybe because of it) people want to know who you are, as a person. Are you nice? Are you a jerk? Do you love kids and dogs or cats? Do you love to read books? What kind? You see what I mean.

    · OK, I’ll say it again- only results count – if you want to be in business longer than the statistical averages then FOCUS ON RESULTS!

    · If you’re not selling enough merchandise, at a profit, to make a living, stop what you’re doing and think! Start over…get out of that BOX you’re in.

    · You get better results by being yourself rather than trying to impress your customer and clients with your superiority. Be humble, admit mistakes and move on. You’re a business person, but you’re a human being first.

    · Don’t worry about who likes you and who doesn’t like you. People spend half their lives just trying to please people that will never like them back anyway. You’re much better off and will have a more loyal customer base by bonding with others who like you for yourself.

    · Therefore my job is to: Sell merchandise I feel comfortable and proud of selling and which I know my customers will value more than the price they paid.

    · Advertise, market and promote my product or service by being totally focused on the buyer and their wants and/or testing the market to see if it’s what the market wants at that moment.

    · Don’t assume people will order from you without asking them to order it from you. They won’t. You have to ask them to order from you.

    · Don’t over complicate the running of your business. Keep it simple and focused.

    Business Philosophy, Final Thoughts

    When someone buys from you, do you ever send a “Thank you” card or letter saying how much you appreciated their business? If not, then you have not learned the art of marketing.

    Joe Girard made the Guinness Book of World Records for selling the most automobiles because he understood this one aspect of business: he appreciated his customer. He sent ‘Thank You’ cards, Christmas cards, Birthday cards and letters to his customers constantly- he built relationships with all his customers and his customers responded in droves by buying from him and no one else.

    If your customer expects Y then give them Y times 3. Always do more for them than they expect. Very, very few local businesses (even most national ones) I’ve done business with has ever sent me a ‘Thank You’ card or even a coupon so I could get a deal from them the next time I buy something. You will generate a lot of goodwill and customer loyalty by just being thoughtful.

    If you give your customers more than expected then your prices can keep going up. Psychologically it is better to charge your customers higher prices if, and only if, you can deliver more than they expected.

    One final word about marketing. Develop a marketing attitude in everything you do.

    What do I mean when I say, ‘marketing attitude’? I mean that you have to put yourself in your customer’s place, think about their wants and ask yourself continually how your product or service benefits them.

    Stop thinking about what you want (at least while you’re selling) and never stop thinking in terms of communicating with your customers the more salient points and benefits and the results they will get when they purchase your merchandise.

    BONUS: Three CRITICAL Business Strategies For The Real World

    RULE #1: Do not use your cash to buy anything that does not help you produce more cash!

    New business owners go out to buy every piece of equipment they can think of that they might need, but may never need and have little cash left over for marketing their product or service.

    Don’t you fall into that trap. Only cash pays the bills and only cash can be used to generate more cash through marketing.

    RULE #2: Treat Your Internet Business Like A Business And Get Serious About It!
    Conduct all your dealings in a business like way, friendly and personal, but business like.

    Order business cards that state something unique about your business on the front and back of the card. Also, if your sales volume really picks up and it makes economic sense, use an “800? number for people to call and order from you instead of only using online orders. Why?

    It’s just one extra option. Remember that people buy for their reasons, not yours…that also applies to the way they like to buy. They will want to order the way they want to order, not the way you want them to order.

    Also don’t believe that the only way to market your business is using online methods. Try sending postcards, letters and other offline methods to drive people to your web site. Think about every method that’s available to you and test all of them.

    RULE #3: How Specialization Can Increase Sales

    The importance of specializing and knowing, inside and out, what you’re selling cannot be overemphasized. Specialization helps you focus and you build a more valuable knowledge base.

    Although I have sold other products and services in the past, my focus is publishing information. I read just about everything I can get my hands on when it comes to information publishing. Sometimes I browse the business and periodical sections to gather ideas, see what’s new or find something I read a long time ago but forgot about.

    I love business information, and I get paid to advise retail clients on how to improve their businesss. It’s my focus and I constantly find ways to build my knowledge and capture new opportunities.

    Has this ever happened to you? When you purchase a new car (or anything) suddenly you start to see a lot of “your” car on the roads? It seems as if everyone has the same car you do. You didn’t notice so many people were driving the same kind of car you had before because you had taken your old car for granted and didn’t focus on it- but now that you have a new car, your focus has changed because of your interest in the new car.

    The same thing happens in business. Once you pick a focus, a specialty, all of a sudden you are surrounded with great opportunities that you weren’t aware of before you started to focus.

    You begin to see opportunities others are not even aware of. That’s the reason you specialize– to become aware of opportunities that others with less focus than you, pass up daily.

  • One Business Secret, Part 5

    In the last few updates I revealed a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

    Do you remember it? I called it “The One Secret”…

    ——————-
    THE ONE SECRET:
    “98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically.”
    ——————-

    Let’s continue…

    One of the things that amazes me about people in business is that they are constantly trying to sell things to people that they don’t want and in a way that they don’t want to be sold!

    Now, there are some things that you have to bring to people’s attention before they know they want them!

    After all, that’s what the marketing is all about!

    I’m not talking about that.

    What I’m talking about is marketing something down people’s throats whether they need it or not!

    I’m in business for the long run. I am not in it for short-term profits. I think, for the most part, you will all agree with me on this. I mean, it just does not make any sense to use high pressure sales tactics on people- even though they may buy from you today-they will regret ever dealing with you tomorrow.

    In fact there is a lot of resistance on and off the net to high pressure sales tactics and hype.

    If you’ve ever received junk email or “spam” you understand what I mean. Didn’t it make you a little annoyed…?

    The fact is it’s just not necessary. All you have to do is develop products that have real value and/or utility and are useful or attractive. Selling it is simply a matter of bringing it to the attention of someone who has the desire and means to purchase it following our “98% rule”.

    Most people today are very skeptical of high pressure sales environments and boiler room operations and have set up barriers so they cannot be sold that way. What barriers am I talking about? Answering machines with ID call screening (is it Mom calling or a salesperson? They want to know!). TV remote controls (A commercial? I’m changing the channel!). E-mail “filters”.

    Everyone is skeptical about what you’re offering and has some kind of system that prevents your message from getting through to them. How do you get good results with these kinds of obstacles?

    By injecting your unique personality into your business – in other words, by being yourself. If potential customers trust and believe in you, they will buy from you. But they can’t know or trust you if you’re putting up a barrier by not letting them get to know you. Being human in business is OK.

    By taking action and asking for the order in a polite, non-threatening way, repeatably. The average person won’t give you an order for your product until the 3rd or 4th request. There are many marketers who say response starts to tail off after the 6th request for an order. How many people in business give up asking for the order even after the 1st try!

    Imagine the profits lost each year because businesses give up too soon! You have to understand your customer. It’s not that they don’t want your product – it’s that they have so many things on their mind that sometimes they need reminding. Done pleasantly and with respect, this is a powerful way to generate sales without prospecting constantly for new customers.

    By knowing how to generate a never ending flow of potential customers who know and already want what you’re selling. In marketing this is called targeted ‘lead generation’. It’s accomplished through offering something free, or at a very low cost to a specific segment of the market that has a high probability of an interest in your offer.

    Lead generation is used to entice prospective customers to make an initial contact with you. Once they do, you send them the free information or sample chapter from your book or content and sell them more of your content in each successive contact. Dan Kennedy (http://www.dan-kennedy.com/) is the master of this kind of marketing.

    Now I can’t tell you how to be yourself. Only you know what that means. The important thing to remember is that your unique personality must come through in order for your customers to get to know you as a person and ultimately trust you enough to order from you the first time, and then again and again.

    Why I think this is so effective really doesn’t matter.

    All I know is that it works. And that’s all that matters.

    But if you want my opinion, it works because people are emotional and respond positively to other people who are not afraid to reveal a little bit of ‘themselves’ and enthusiasm for the product or service they are selling.

    Next, you must not be afraid to take positive action to get what you want. Moving continuously towards your goals and business objectives despite obstacles is a rare trait. Those who move forward, despite obstacles, setbacks and distractions will succeed. GUARANTEED. This also means that to get what you want from others, your customers, you must not be afraid to ask them for their business continually.

    Just be sure to ask in a pleasant, friendly way- the same way that you, yourself, would like to be asked. Fewer than 1 in 10,000 businesses do this the right way. Most are either too aggressive in their asking the customer for their order, or they don’t ask at all!

    The good news is, asking for the order is very simple. All you have to do is ask! And don’t just ask once. Sometimes it takes asking 3, 4, 7 or even 10 times to get the order. This is huge secret that few businesses employ: They don’t know how to ask for the order. This has been my experience. Almost no one does this! And they are losing tons of money!

    Constant communication with people who are interested in your product or service (and those who have already purchased from you) is the key to building your business successfully over the long haul.

  • One Business Secret, Part 4

    In the last few updates I revealed a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

    Do you remember it? I called it “The One Secret”…

    ——————-
    THE ONE SECRET: “98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically.”
    ——————-

    Let’s continue…

    Investors and traders in stocks and commodities are notorious for making decisions that amount to thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars based on limited, emotionally charged and spurious information!

    Your customers do the same thing.

    It is amazing to me that individual investors would purchase ten, fifteen or more thousands of dollars in stocks based on a cursory knowledge of those companies operations, management capability, strategy for gaining market share, marketing plans or any number of factors that affect the company’s long term potential.

    I have met a lot of investors who would investigate every possible way to save 30 cents on their favorite brand of cookies at the local market and buy fifty thousand dollars worth of stock in a company based on a single bullish newspaper article!

    It’s crowd psychology- they don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t have the stock that they think everyone else already owns!

    Even those investors that would never dream of entering into a business deal without the proper due diligence would buy thousands of dollars worth of stocks on tips, rumors and broker recommendations alone!

    Got the idea?

    The bottom line is this: People buy things FIRST because they want them and SECOND because they need them!

    If you live in a big city like Boston, New York, or San Francisco, you’ll see many sidewalk demonstrations. Why do crowds develop around these street vendors? For the entertainment value! But, as they watch the skill at which the demonstrator uses the product, they see themselves ‘using it’ too, creating a ‘gap’ or a desire that now needs to be satisfied by buying the product. It’s a very effective way to sell.

    The biggest problem selling from sidewalk demonstrations is breaking the ice- getting the first person to walk up and “buy”.

    Most people don’t want to make that first move because they are afraid of making a mistake. The sidewalk demonstrators know this, so they ‘plant’ two or three people in the ‘audience’ who at the conclusion of the demonstration immediately, at the demonstrators ‘call to action’, step up and buy one. As soon as one or two people from the crowd step up and buy a line begins to form behind them – all waiting to purchase the product – kind of like ‘follow the leader’… it’s an amazing spectacle of crowd psychology in action.

    Hard sell IS NOT necessary, when you understand, fully, what makes people buy!

    In fact, you have very little “selling” to do.

    LET YOUR CUSTOMER SELL HIM OR HERSELF!

  • One Business Secret That Could Make You Rich, Part 2

    In the last article I revealed a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

    Do you remember it? I called it “The One Secret”…

    THE ONE SECRET:
    “98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically.” ——————-

    Let’s continue…

    Let’s take it one step at a time. I’ll provide examples as we move along, as well, to help drive home the more important points. Keep an open mind and try to recognize yourself in the following examples.

    We Are Emotional Creatures

    We are emotional creatures. We think emotionally, act emotionally and make decisions emotionally. If you ask your spouse why they bought that new coat they will say,

    “I need it!”, of course.

    But if you ask them what their thought processes were before they made the decision to buy, it will be a surprise to them what little logic actually went into that buying decision!

    Let’s take as an example the decision to purchase a new automobile. Now, a large ticket item like that is obviously a very serious financial commitment and should be done with all due diligence!

    We’ll start from the very beginning of the buying decision through post-purchase.

    A Typical Buying Decision Process

    Think about the last car you bought. Do you remember what your thoughts were? Do you remember what you felt when you first started looking for a new car?

    Most people will begin to feel somewhere inside like they want a new car, but will express to themselves and others that they need a new car. ‘Need’ is a ‘logical justification’ and ‘want’ is emotional. No one wants to be thought of as ‘emotional’ so they use ‘logical’ words and expressions to describe their purchasing habits.

    Just to prove that ‘want’ is an emotional term- did you ever see a child, who is really just a little bundle of “wants”, ever say, “Mommy (or Daddy) I need a new skateboard. My skateboard would cost more to repair than a new one and I would still have an older skateboard that will probably be in need of many future repairs. I’ve completed an entire analysis on the cost effectiveness of a new purchase. Here’s the spreadsheet. Also I completed a matrix of options and features that would be beneficial…”…?

    Does that sound like any child you’ve ever been around?

    Probably not.

    What do children usually say when they want something?

    “Mommy (or Daddy) I need a new skateboard! Please, Mommy, buy it for me! I really need it! All my friends have new one’s, why can’t I? I’ll take out the garbage for the next year, promise! Just get it, please!!”

    What’s interesting about this one-sided exchange is that:

    1) The child wants it- even if they already have a fully functioning skateboard in good repair and;

    2) He (or she) is willing to do something they hate, loathe, and detest in order to get it!

    When we grow up do we really change any more than the little boy or girl who wants a new skateboard? My opinion is that we don’t change that much.

    We still want what we want.

    Your customer who wants to purchase some information on home gardening or to learn how to save money on taxes or a number of other “wants” is just like that little boy who wants the skateboard – he just wants it! And he’ll do almost anything to get it, if he wants it bad enough.

    He will justify the purchase by saying that it will ’save them money’ or ‘make them money’, etc., but the truth is people will buy things they don’t need just to satisfy a desire that can’t be extinguished any other way. Adults control their emotions a little more than children (at least some do), to be socially acceptable and responsible… but they still want what they want!

    And, they will do almost anything (hopefully legally) to get it.

    The deepest cravings of the human heart compel people to spend money to satisfy a desire that can’t be extinguished any other way.

    … to be continued…

  • One Business Secret That Could Make You Rich

    In the next few articles I’m going to reveal a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

    Introduction

    In business, as in life, there’s a lot of misinformation that is hurting your chances for success.

    People will say something to you or you’ll read something somewhere that looks ‘pretty good’ or sounds true, but it may only be partially true or an outright lie.

    How can you tell?

    Here’s one way: Question EVERYTHING.

    When you make a decision based on misinformation, you are making a decision that will hurt your business in one way or another, maybe even permanently. The larger the decision and the larger the amount of misinformation you receive, the larger the potential harm the decision could be to your business.

    Some misinformation could be so harmful that it could put you right out of business.

    As an example, here’s a small bit of misinformation you may have mistaken for the truth at one time:

    “People hate to be sold on anything”.

    How many times have you heard that?

    Well, I’m here to tell you it’s a lie. How about this one:

    “People hate to be sold, but love to buy”.

    This statement is a half-truth.

    It’s true, people do love to buy things for themselves and as gifts. But I’ll show you that they also love to be sold.

    In fact everyone loves to be “sold” because when people are being “sold” on something they are following and doing something that gets them closer to what they “want”.

    But anyone who starts out in business may believe that “people hate to be sold” is true and make decisions that effect their business based on this misinformation.

    On the other side of this coin, there are also a lot of entrepreneurs who hate to sell. They hate being pushy or believe they need to be pushy in order to make sales.

    That’s also not true.

    If you’re in this category, then this article will be like a breath of fresh air to you.

    The truth is: Selling is not difficult. If it appeals to people, has value and you’ve made it easy to purchase, people will buy from you. There are some people who will buy your product or service if they have the smallest interest in it just to satisfy their curiosity.

    It truly amazes me what people will buy.

    There are some people who are compulsive buyers. Make them just about any offer, and they’ll order if they trust you. But they will only account for 1 out every 10,000 customers.

    Selling on the Internet isn’t much different than selling through the mail or television or radio.

    You may be really lucky and get as many as 1 in 10 visitors to your web site to order something. If you do, you will be considered one of the top marketers on the net.

    The real expert marketer takes that small flame of interest that’s inside your potential customer and fans it until it becomes a burning desire that can only be satisfied when they have purchased your product.

    Using the following methods in this article can help your potential customers become actual customers, with very little effort on your part. Potential customers will be drawn to your products and services almost like magic.

    Why People Buy A Product Or Service

    This is not something people talk about at polite social events, but it is the very foundation of ‘trade’ and business success!

    To understand what I am about to say you have to be a student of human nature or at least you need to have some understanding of it. I’m not a psychologist. I only know what I see and observe.

    Before I made a single sale on the net, I had to become a ’student’ of human nature.

    It doesn’t take a genius to understand this, but once understood it will change the way you do business forever! Read this slowly. It’s not as profound as it is insightful.

    This is what I call the “The ONE Secret”:

    THE ONE SECRET: “98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically.”

    You may have heard this before. You may have even understood it. But I doubt you have fully comprehended the total significance of it.

    What I’m going to do is OPEN YOUR EYES, illuminate this truth so that you’ll never forget it.

  • How Important is Marketing in Your Business?

    How important is “marketing”? You’ve seen the letters, the emails, and the products: courses, books, ebooks and teleseminars showing you how important ‘marketing’ is.

    You and I have tools through the Internet right now that direct mail marketers just a few years ago would give their eye teeth for. These are incredible time savers and money-makers and they will allow you to generate tons of profits if you see the opportunity in front of you.

    The question is, “Is it ‘marketing’ that REALLY makes the difference in your business? Is the hype of ‘marketing’ REAL? How important is marketing to your business REALLY? Is it all a game and hype? Or is there more to it?”

    The answer is in your MIND. It’s your MINDSET, once again, that makes all the difference. It’s the way you look at things that will make the biggest difference in your life and your business.

    People who run successful cash-cow businesses think different than you do. They look at business opportunities in a different way than you do. They look at risk differently.

    They SEE OPPORTUNITY everywhere and take action to go after more business at every turn and every chance they get.

    They SEE RISK in every transaction but insure themselves against catastrophic loss by not investing large amounts of capital until they test and tweak their products and offers until the numbers are extremely promising.

    You may have learned something about business in the past that was NOT true, but you accepted it because you didn’t know the REAL truth.

    The problem is that most people are not open to the truth when they have an existing belief that contradicts what they are hearing.

    You need to open you mind here and suspend belief about what ‘business’ all about for the next few minutes.

    A lot of online business newbies say “I don’t know what kind of business to start!”

    So if you ask them about their hobbies, what interests them, etc. and you’ll ALWAYS find something they could start marketing immediately, but they hesitate because they are not sure they want to be “in” that type of business.

    They don’t know if they should open a physical store or a website or whatever…they are uncertain as to what course of action to take.

    They are trying to choose a business to be “in”… whether it’s the ‘mortgage reduction’ business or the ‘gift shop’ business or the ‘auto parts’ business and this is the wrong mindset…

    …100% wrong, that is, if you want to be successful, as you’ll see.

    Back to our question: “How Important Is Marketing…Really?”

    First answer this question:

    Are you “in” the “information marketing business”? Or the “web business”? How about the “mortgage reduction business”?

    Are you really “in” any kind of business at all?

    Bear with me here…I have a point that could explode your income to brand new levels.

    You’re in not in the “information publishing business”, you are not in the “mortgage reduction business” or the “coaching business” or whatever business you think you’re in.

    You’re in the “marketing business”.

    Your only business is “marketing _______________”
    (fill in the blank withy what YOU think your real “business” is).

    THINK about this for a moment. You can start any business you chose, but what is your REAL job in that business?

    Here’s a very important point that will become even clearer as we get to the end of this report:

    I started to make money consistently when I changed the way I looked at my business and exploded my income when I said to myself:

    “I am not in the “website building” business; I’m in the “business of marketing website businesses”.

    There is more to this than you think… so please stay with me.

    Let me give you some examples of how this mindset can TRANSFORM your business overnight!
    If you are an owner of a store that sells auto parts, are you in the “auto parts business”?

    No.

    You’re in “the business of marketing auto parts”.

    See the difference?

    The the point I’m making here is that ‘marketing’ is YOUR BUSINESS and your first priority. What you actually sell is secondary. And I don’t want you to think that just because you own a physical store that sells, for example, “gift items” that you are stuck with that method of marketing.

    A ‘physical store’ is just one method of marketing ‘gift items’… that’s all it is. Just like a ‘website’- it’s only one form of marketing.

    Don’t confuse a ‘method of marketing’ with what your REAL business is.

    With a physical store, if you get a good location you are able therefore to get your prospects attention for your products simply because they are riding in their cars past your store and see the sign you’ve placed out front.

    Your location and physical storefront is a form of marketing- it is NOT your business. You are not an owner of a ’store’.

    But don’t get stuck thinking a ’storefront’ is the only way to market your products (the “sign” and your storefront is a form of marketing – the marketing of your ‘gift items’, and to be honest, not a very good one because it’s passive …

    Think in terms of more pro-active forms of marketing like referrals, direct mail, press releases, coupons, display or classified ads and any other method that will bring business to your door…

    In other words you are NOT REALLY marketing your “STORE” – because your store makes you no money…!

    Right? It’s the SALE of GIFT ITEMS that makes you money.

    So you do not want to market your store. Because your store makes you no money. In fact it’s an expense. Your REAL business is the “marketing of gift items” You just use a physical storefront to HELP you market gift items.

    It’s a completely different mindset than saying that your in the “gift store business”.
    Are you beginning to see this? We’re not done yet…

    How many ads have you seen in your local paper that try to market the ’store’ the person owns. I guess it’s pride of ownership that causes these shops to advertise the shop, instead of the gift items and the benefits of the products they carry.

    Believe me, very, very, few store owners understand this difference and the mindset I’m sharing with you!

    Let me ask you what would happen if you did not put a sign out or any kind of markings to indicate you had anything for sale at all in front of your store if you owned this gift shop?

    Nothing would happen, right? People would not stop at your store to buy anything because they didn’t even know you were there or didn’t think you were selling anything at all!

    So you see that a “sign” in the front of your store is a form of marketing, right? Is the sign there to advertise your store?

    No. It’s job is to DRIVE potential customers into your store TO BUY gift items.

    As odd as this sounds, what is the most prevalent form of marketing storeowners participate in?

    A sign. And maybe a few local newspaper ‘ads’… that’s it. Is it any wonder then why they can’t make a go of it?

    So the marketing for most stores is a simple ’sign’ out in front of your store that gives your name and maybe something that describes your store like “Gift Shop”.

    Ok?

    Now people at least know what you do and that you’re a business. No sign, no customers.

    Are you going to leave your entire businesses future dependent on that one ’sign’ in the front of your business or a few ads in your local paper?

    Sadly, most businesses do.

    They could be using a hundred different methods to DRIVE potential customers to their front door (direct mail, postcards, events and contests, sponsorships, drawings, JV’s, open houses, etc) but they don’t because they do not understand this important thing:

    They are not in the gift shop business they are in the “business of marketing gift items”!

    When you realize what your REAL business is you begin to see thousands of possibilities for getting more customers.

    You use anything and everything at your disposal, test every method and keep the one’s that work constantly.

    That’s how successful business people THINK: They see OPPORTUNITY EVERYWHERE! And it kills them that they will never have the time or money to take advantage of every opportunity they see because there’re are simply too many of them!

    Do you think that way? You need to if you want to grow your business.

    When you don’t realize what business you’re really in, you get stuck and confused because you think you are in the “Gift Shop Business” – a DEAD END – then you try to figure out how to market your ’shop’. But that is WRONG. That’s the complete opposite of what really, really successful businesses do!

    A successful person will turn the phrase “I am in the Gift Shop Business” into “I am in the business of marketing gift items” and suddenly completely turn their business around, overnight!

    Once a business owner realizes they are in the business of marketing they can develop a “direct mail” division or a “infomercial” division or an “Internet” division … anything that will drive customers to do business with them. These opportunities become INSTANTLY available because they realize this FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH:

    They are in the “business of marketing gift items”… and not the ‘gift shop business’.
    See the difference now?

    The illustration I gave you above is EXACTLY the same type of thinking that you need to employ and it doesn’t matter what you’re marketing.

    You are not in the ‘mortgage reduction business’, you are in the business of ‘marketing business reduction solutions’ …

    How about this:

    …your website is NOT YOUR BUSINESS. IT ONLY a convenient PLACE to drive your potential customers. Your REAL business is the marketing of ‘digital information products’ or whatever it is you sell on your website.

    It’s the same for anyone who has a physical storefront – once you get into this MINDSET, the storefront is JUST and ONLY a convenient PLACE to drive your customers to.

    You could also take orders…

    · by PHONE through running infomercials or ads, or
    · on your website or
    · through a direct mail package or
    · catalog
    · etc, etc, etc…

    I have seen businesses literally TRANSFORMED overnight into million dollar businesses when they realized what business they are REALLY in …

    …”the business of marketing”.

    This has been the catalyst for a transformation in my own business.

    In the past I’ve sold various types of internet marketing services and I thought I was in the business of ‘internet marketing’ or the business of I wasn’t. I was in the “business of marketing internet marketing services” and it doesn’t matter HOW – website, infomercial or direct mail, storefront, etc…

    I hope this concept helps you too. I hope it helps you to understand that the only thing that matters in business is marketing and sales.

    I cannot tell you what you should sell… I don’t think it matters as long as there is a strong market for it. You could be in the business of marketing wiper blades for cars or marketing a diet pill.

    As long as you are convinced the product is a good one and it will benefit the person you’re selling it to there is NOTHING stopping you from making a million dollars except YOU.

    You are the only thing keeping you back. There isn’t anyone on this planet that can stop you if you follow the laws of your country.

    Most businesses fail because the owner has given up too soon, just before striking GOLD. Or more likely it’s because the owner didn’t know what business they were really in– the marketing business. They thought the product was the most important part of their business and if the product was good, it would sell itself.

    Don’t let that happen to you. Know what business you’re in (’the marketing business’) and think like a master marketer at all times or at the very least hire a master marketer.

  • Imagination in Business

    One of the most interesting books you could read in all of business and marketing literature is by Lorin Deland’s, “Imagination In Business“.

    Published in the early part of the last century it is PURE GOLD. He may have been the first one to ask the question “Why should anyone do business with you over your competition?” (page 86).

    Deland was a ‘business consultant’ who specialized in sales and marketing at the turn of the century. The book reads like it could have been written just a few years ago… it just goes to show you that things change, but human nature doesn’t.

    It’s been said that “… people buy our products and services for their reasons, not ours.”

    One case study he relates expresses this idea very well.

    A retailer came to him for advice. The retailer was on a busy street, but so were his 4 main competitors.

    He wanted to know from Deland how he could increase his business with so much competition.

    All of the retail stores were fairly close to each other and all were selling the same merchandise.

    Deland stated that the retailer is really only entitled to one-fifth of the business (after all there were 5 stores!) and that for every dollar above that amount that you want to make, there must be a reason. And he had to create that reason, if he was going to get any more of the business!

    Deland also said that if he discovers he’s getting more than his share of the business, he should discover what that reason is. He said, “…some customers travel on the line of least resistance, you must make that line of least resistance lead directly to your store!”.

    Deland continued, “Again and again you must ask yourself, ‘Why in the world should these people pass four other stores and come into this one?‘”

    There has got to be a reason for people to do business with you over your competition. Find out what that reason is and put it in every communication to your prospects.

    By the way… a used copy (it’s been out of print for almost 100 years!) – has sold for as much as $395! If you’re lucky you might be able to find a cheaper copy once in a while by regularly searching http://www.bookfinder.com …