Casual Articles - Business

The Power of Positive Thinking and Your Business
You may not realize this but your thoughts and thought processes have an impact on how you run your business and its inherent success. The way you think has an effect on your business and thinking positively or negatively may make or break you. How does a person's thought processes affect a business? What is the correlation between the way your mind works and how successful your business is and will be?The way a person's mind works is so intricate that digging deep into it to figure it out may be a pretty tough call, however, there is evidence that proves how positive thinking often brings positive results. This positive thinking equals positive results phenomenon is brought about by the possible solutions one can come up with when faced with a problem.Every now and then, when a problem arises within your business organization, how you deal with the problem can either help your company move forward or backward. With the positive results that can be had with positive thinking, you will do well to make your mind run on that path. An example of such positive thinking would be when your business experiences temporary losses due to seasonal fluxes and instead of buckling under the pressure of such losses, you go with the flow and calmly a

the report. And it seems like the report was worth me fielding a call from a salesperson. So I signed up and received the report.

To my surprise this report was 235 pages. I was expecting at the most a 15 to 20 page report that would give me an insight or a tip on how software can help a sales team succeed. But as I looked over the report this was a well-researched chuck-full of good information report.

I went back to the website and read more carefully how they were selling the benefits of the report. This relevant and up-to-date report was featured in the Harvard Business Review. It was valued at $279. And I got it for leaving contact information with this software company.

Now I was feeling uncomfortable. What's worse, I never got a call. I know this was a free report, but I also know deep down that it means I had to give something back in return, it's just not cash. I had the feeling I should have given them more for it. After all, I'd like to be fair.

Well sure, the feeling left me quickly and I didn't do anything

Memorable Effective Portable Trade Show Booth, Roll Up Banner Stands, and Trade Show Signage
There are several factors that make a successful trade show experience and one of the most important factors is having a trade show display that grabs attention!But the graphic images in your tradeshow booth should not be gratuitous or shocking just to get attention. Because the image alone may not get tide to your company in the brain of the viewer. For the image and messaging to be most effective, they must be associated with your company, and with the product or name brand. Trade show displays are a lot like billboards, you only have a few moments to catch a prospects attention. But you must also be remembered.Your current clients will recognize you and drop by your portable trade show booth and prospective clients will become familiar with your name. But trade shows are a unique opportunity to grab the attention of new, and most probably, interested prospective customers. Trade show displays should not only focus on name recognition. Once a visitor to your tradeshow booth has had a chance to look around, you have the opportunity for secondary messaging, highlighting your products and services inside your trade show booth display. It is also a good idea to include secondary messaging or explanations or product demonstrations so t

How many of your new leads progress to an initial prospect meeting?

Offering a free report or white paper to stock your pool of prospects is a common practice. But let's face the facts. Only some of these prospects will eventually give you time for an initial prospect meeting. To sort out the qualified leads, your salesperson has to take time to further qualify, follow up and nurture all the leads.

In fact, most of the new leads will turn out to be unqualified prospects. And working these unqualified prospects waste your salesperson's time and drags down the percentage of your leads that progress to an initial customer meeting. Your salesperson might not appreciate all this work. They will eventually stop using the leads your working so hard at generating.

If you're ready to be more aggressive and send your salesperson more leads that will progress to an initial prospect meeting, here is how you can tweak your program. All you need to do is look at what's behind free offers.

It seems obvious. You offer to your list of suspects a valuable report. Those who see value in the report will send for it, knowing there is a catch. They know they have to provide you with their contact information. But there is actually something else going on here that will win you more qualified leads. There is a fair and well-known bartering system you need to exploit.

How to get more for your free report

Let's see how this works. Trying to get better-qualified prospects from the get-go usually reduces your return rate. You're forced to use a hard offer to stop unqualified prospects from requesting your report. But because you made the offer hard to get, you also loose some genuinely qualified leads.

But you can combine a soft with a hard offer using this bartering system and get more of these genuinely interested people to respond to your offer. More importantly, when you exploit this bartering system you'll get these qualified leads to readily agree to an initial prospect's meeting-- right from the beginning. This is because in this bartering system the medium of exchange is time and information. The result: your salesperson will spend more of their time with potential customers.

All you have to do is up the ante of your free report and ask your prospect to give you more—for what's a fair exchange. If your report provides a higher value than what you usually offer, your prospect will be ready to give you more in exchange for it. In fact, they'll want to. After all your prospects is naturally a fair person. An an added bonus is that the more people give you for it, whatever that means to them, the more likely they will read it. It was worth more, they now feel compel to read it.

If it's time for you to be more aggressive this is one tactic you need to use:

Increase the value of the report you offer by giving your prospect added information for them to make sound business decisions. The report should be about their success. It'll work best if you commission the report from a third party.
The report has to stand out as different than any other report they've received before. The prospect has to clearly perceive greater value.
Make the offer as easy for the prospect to respond. But ask for more. Directly ask for an initial prospect meeting.
Persuade the prospect that this meeting is about finding out how you're services will help them succeed. It'll be strictly about them not about what you offer.

Nothing profound here, except that we often overlook this bartering system. Simply it takes into consideration human nature. This is just good salesmanship.

Let human nature's bartering system work for you

Now, let me tell you why this works and perhaps you can apply the concept in a way that'll work for your specific situation. Why not be as aggressive as you need to with lead generation?

Recently I received a report for free. I knew I had to give up my contact information for it, but I felt it was a fair exchange. I really didn't want anyone to call me, but I had to pay something for the report. And it seems like the report was worth me fielding a call from a salesperson. So I signed up and received the report.

Well sure, the feeling left me quickly and I didn't do anything a

Don't Fake It Until You Make It
Fake it ‘till you make it.This is a tag line that one of my former bosses was quite fond of. She would regularly represent our business as having capabilities that exceeded our ability to deliver. She never outright lied in her marketing efforts. She simply positioned us as a different kind of company – one that she thought our customers wanted to do business with. In the end she was setting us up for failure.Your brand positioning should be based upon your capability to deliver. This is as true for your personal brand as it is for a business brand. One of the key components in positioning yourself is determining who you want to attract as a customer. Ultimately, your brand is the sum of your customers’ perceptions of you. In order to influence the perception of your potential clients, you must achieve a high level of self-awareness.Here are a few things to keep in mind as you develop your brand:You are what you are. Anytime you represent yourself to be something that you are not, you run the risk of losing a customer forever. You need to position yourself as different and valuable. Those qualities must be your own. You must be honest with your customers – and with yourself.Consistency is importa

list of suspects a valuable report. Those who see value in the report will send for it, knowing there is a catch. They know they have to provide you with their contact information. But there is actually something else going on here that will win you more qualified leads. There is a fair and well-known bartering system you need to exploit.

How to get more for your free report

If it's time for you to be more aggressive this is one tactic you need to use:

Increase the value of the report you offer by giving your prospect added information for them to make sound business decisions. The report should be about their success. It'll work best if you commission the report from a third party.
The report has to stand out as different than any other report they've received before. The prospect has to clearly perceive greater value.
Make the offer as easy for the prospect to respond. But ask for more. Directly ask for an initial prospect meeting.
Persuade the prospect that this meeting is about finding out how you're services will help them succeed. It'll be strictly about them not about what you offer.

Nothing profound here, except that we often overlook this bartering system. Simply it takes into consideration human nature. This is just good salesmanship.

Let human nature's bartering system work for you

Now, let me tell you why this works and perhaps you can apply the concept in a way that'll work for your specific situation. Why not be as aggressive as you need to with lead generation?

Well sure, the feeling left me quickly and I didn't do anything

SDC Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning - Brighton & Hove - Choose Local
With ECO issues making the headlines in most countries around the world, often the finger can and should be pointed at the large multi-nationals we see on our high street.We have been in business for twenty three years, over the last decade we have witnessed large national companies abandoning the local businesses in favour of, again, larger national companies. This has a damaging effect on local economies in many ways.For example, a large supermarket arrives just outside of town. We must agree that they generate extra jobs for local people that work in the store, but this is where the benefit ends, in my mind.Local, traditional shops close, with the loss of employment.The supermarket DOES NOT interact with other members of the business community, for example, in recent weeks we have spoken to an electrician working on a bank in Eastbourne, he was sent down from the midlands to execute three hours work! what a ridiculous situation, traveling two hundred miles, for three hours work, lets imagine the financial cost, the carbon footprint and the fact that there are many qualified electricians in the area.We think that this practice produces a low quality of service, mainly because contacts negotiated at a National l

ering system the medium of exchange is time and information. The result: your salesperson will spend more of their time with potential customers.

If it's time for you to be more aggressive this is one tactic you need to use:

Increase the value of the report you offer by giving your prospect added information for them to make sound business decisions. The report should be about their success. It'll work best if you commission the report from a third party.
The report has to stand out as different than any other report they've received before. The prospect has to clearly perceive greater value.
Make the offer as easy for the prospect to respond. But ask for more. Directly ask for an initial prospect meeting.
Persuade the prospect that this meeting is about finding out how you're services will help them succeed. It'll be strictly about them not about what you offer.

Nothing profound here, except that we often overlook this bartering system. Simply it takes into consideration human nature. This is just good salesmanship.

Let human nature's bartering system work for you

Now, let me tell you why this works and perhaps you can apply the concept in a way that'll work for your specific situation. Why not be as aggressive as you need to with lead generation?

Well sure, the feeling left me quickly and I didn't do anything

Turning Your Hobby or Talent Into Extra Cash
Ever thought about turning your hobby or talent into extra cash? You could. Here are a few quick tips.1. Teach What You Know and LoveThere is money to be made in teaching others about something that you are familiar with and have some expertise in. You do not have to be the world's most renowned violinist in order to teach violin classes in your spare time. To teach others in an area you are passionate about will require building your skills in the area of communication, building your knowledge of the field or the product you are teaching about and building relationships. People are looking for instruction in such areas as: dance, art, musical instruments, computer software, dog training, animal care, sailing, canoeing, hunting, self care, and much more. Let us take a look at some of these areas a little more closely.Dance instruction - The variety of types of dance range from traditional Ballet, Jazz, Swing, and Tap to Hip-Hop, Flamenco, Capoeira, and Belly Dancing. If you have one you are passionate about and have some talent and knowledge in, then this maybe an option for you. There is someone else out there dreaming of learning a particular type of dance for recreation or professional pursuits, and you could be t

an any other report they've received before. The prospect has to clearly perceive greater value.

Make the offer as easy for the prospect to respond. But ask for more. Directly ask for an initial prospect meeting.

Persuade the prospect that this meeting is about finding out how you're services will help them succeed. It'll be strictly about them not about what you offer.

Nothing profound here, except that we often overlook this bartering system. Simply it takes into consideration human nature. This is just good salesmanship.

Let human nature's bartering system work for you

Now, let me tell you why this works and perhaps you can apply the concept in a way that'll work for your specific situation. Why not be as aggressive as you need to with lead generation?

Well sure, the feeling left me quickly and I didn't do anything

Turning a Difficult Customer into a Customer that Comes Back
I really hate it when things don’t go as they should and you have to spend time and effort sorting it out. I have hanging onto a phone line being told that “my call is important”, when I have far better things to do. Many companies are turning away possible loyal customers, because they do not know how to turn a complaining customer into a thankful customer who will come back to buy from you again. Here’s our suggestion. Firstly, I think that you have to put yourself in your customer’s shoes – why do they consider it necessary to come into the store to complain? Then ask yourself, what will resolve your customer’s problems? If someone is angry or upset, it is because they feels injured or cheated in some way. Your job is to let the customer vent and to listen attentively in order to understand the source of that frustration. When you do that, you send the message that you care about then and their problems. If you treat the customer politely, understand what their problem is and give some kind of resolution to their woes – then you will have a happy customer again. Realistically though there are always some people who just like to complain or are complaining in order to gain something.

the report. And it seems like the report was worth me fielding a call from a salesperson. So I signed up and received the report.

Well sure, the feeling left me quickly and I didn't do anything about it. But I knew I got a surprisingly valuable report for at lot less than what I gave them. I got a steal. But for a short time, that bothered me.

If I knew the value of the report upfront and still wanted it without taking out my credit card, no doubt I'd have cleared my schedule and given the sales person an initial prospect meeting. It is only fair.

Believe me, your prospect know the value of a white paper or a report. They know what they're obligated to you for. If you provide them with a higher-value report or white paper, they'll know what's fair. We know how this works from research and from direct mail experience.

Social psychologists like Robert Cialdini have been telling us for years that for some consumers higher price or value means higher quality. Because certain people want the higher quality, they'll gladly pay the higher price. Asking for a lower price, although it's the same high quality, gives the impression that the quality is not there.

Because of our sense of fairness, those who equate quality with expensive feel obligated to pay more for what is perceived as higher quality. What's more if the report is valued let's say at $279, it's only fair to give up more than just their contact information. In fact, they'll feel obligated to you to give you more. Now, there are people, Cialdini tells us, who abuse this obligation successfully to their benefit, but you're here only requesting what's fair to you.

It works for B2B direct marketing

This has proven to work in B2B direct marketing. Bob Bly a veteran B2B copywriter in his book Business to Business Direct Marketing reports that some marketers charge for the report. These will give them a few qualified leads. This means these leads are genuinely interested in what you offer. But he recommends something better.

Tie the soft offer, the free report, to a hard offer. Bly writes:

I personally like the offer of a free booklet or report related to the product or service being offered. This is most often used in the soft offer (“Send for free report”), but it could conceivably be tied to a hard offer. For instance, you can offer an impressive report with the condition that it is hand-delivered by a salesperson whom prospects agree to see for an initial appointment....

Some B2B companies offer a free report for more than a contact information. They want you to fill out information that will qualify you. APC is currently running ad add promoting their white papers. The first thing they did is to sell up up the value of their report. Their headline read “We just spent almost $90 million researching solutions to tomorrow's server problems.” And in the body of the ad they offer 9 different white papers. Each white paper has a price beside it. They tell us the reports go from $120 to $65.

To receive this clearly valuable reports all they want you to do is go to a website or call an 800 number. At the website they tell you that to receive three of these reports, they want your contact information and additional information that will qualify you. This is not bad. At least it qualifies the prospect. But I would ask for an initial meeting right from the website or when they call.

We all know that if we take the free report there is a catch to it. We immediately guess what's coming. It's a well established business bartering system. I get the report for my contact information. That's fair. But if the report has a higher value, I expect to pay more. To ask for more from the prospect is to use the system well. It's good salesmanship.

In salesmanship as in direct marketing, we can't wimp out when the time comes to ask what is only a fair exchange. Since your prospect accepted your valuable report, the prospect knows the report comes with a catch. Your prospect knows what's fair. This is an easy first initial prospect meeting. Go ahead and ask for it.

In Brief:

To get leads ready for an initial prospect meeting you need to offer a higher value report or white paper and ask for more
Because your prospect is basically a fair person, when you give more, he'll want to pay for what's fa

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