First, find out what they want. Simple enough, right? Here's how you find out: ASK. That's it. Ask. Now the tricky part is how you ask and what you ask. In our Monopolize Your Marketplace programs & seminars, we go into a lot of detail about how to conduct surveys and find out exactly what your customers want. We don't have time to go into that much detail, so I'll just give you some basics. Ask your current customers, past customers, and prospects who haven't become customers yet what they want in your kind of business. But don't just go ask them, "What do you look for in a printing company...or in a temporary personnel service...or in a hair salon? Or whatever your business is. Put some thought into it beforehand. Identify what some of the typical problems are when doing business in your industry. Figure out some things that you could do that customers might really like and appreciate. Then when you go to talk to your customers, in addition to just asking them what they're looking for when doing business in your industry, you can bounce your ideas off them and validate whether or not the things you've identified as important or innovative are actually important or innovative.

You can probably mentally validate this in your own personal buying habits. Have you ever gotten fed up with a company you do business with, gone to the yellow pages and called around looking for someone better, then frustrated and exhausted, meekly returned to the original culprit because of a perceived lack of better options? Of course you have. We all have. You know by now the reason for this is the confidence gap. The customer doesn't have any ability to make any distinction whether any of the options are any better or worse or different than any of the others. There are a lot of different reasons for this probably the biggest is the dramatically increased number of choices that people have.

Back in the old days when you wanted to buy a Ford, where did you go? To the Ford dealership. Which Ford dealership? THE Ford dealership. Why? Because it was most likely the only one anywhere near your house. And when you got to the dealership, where specifically within the dealership did you go to find out information on the vehicle? That's right to the salesperson. And why did you go to the salesperson? Was it because you loved being `hammer-dunked' by them? Did you enjoy pain more then than you do now? Of course not. The reason you went to the dealership and then to the salesperson was because it was the only way you could find out any information about the vehicle. It was your only choice.

So what about now? Where do you go now? To one of the 17 Ford dealerships within a 50 mile radius of your house. Or if you're like most car buyers, you go to 4 or 5 of them. Let me take this a step further to show you how confidence gets eroded. If you've ever bought a car, you've experienced the hassle of finding the best deal. You look in the paper and see the model you want advertised for a really low price. When you get to the dealership you find out that it was a totally stripped down model and there was only one of them anyway and it was painted avocado green. But hey, they've got the one you wanted for only $12,000 more than the one in the ad. So next time you notice in the ad the really small print that says "only one available at this price." Won't fall for that trick again, will you? Well, now you're tired so you flip on the tube and wouldn't you know it, there's a commercial for a Ford dealership and they say that they've got the largest inventory of Fords in the state. So you make a mental note to go check that place out. You flip the channel and there's another commercial for a different Ford dealership and guess what? They're the largest volume Ford dealership in the city. Wow! How can that be true? As you're driving over to settle the issue of who's actually the largest, you hear an ad on the radio for a leasing company that says you'd be a fool to buy a car when leasing is so much cheaper...and they can handle all the details right over the phone. Then you see a billboard for vehix.com. Okay, I'll stop here. But you tell me, is this a realistic scenario or am I just making it up? Who do you have confidence in after trying to sort that mess out? The problem is that all the sellers are trying to trick buyers into coming into their showroom so they can pressure them into paying too much for something they didn't want. The buyer-seller relationship is totally adversarial or at best, apathetic.

Not to beat a dead horse, but it's the confidence gap. The customer doesn't have any ability to make any distinction whether any of the options are any different or any better than any of the others. So the big question then, obviously, is how do you overcome this? How do you build confidence? There are three key concepts to building confidence; you must do these if you want people to trust your business. Here they are stated in simple terms:

• Find out what they want

• Find out how to give it to them

• Learn to communicate what you do in a way that's believable and embraceable

  First, find out what they want. Simple enough, right? Here's how you find out: ASK. That's it. Ask. Now the tricky part is how you ask and what you ask. In our Monopolize Your Marketplace programs & seminars, we go into a lot of detail about how to conduct surveys and find out exactly what your customers want. We don't have time to go into that much detail, so I'll just give you some basics. Ask your current customers, past customers, and prospects who haven't become customers yet what they want in your kind of business. But don't just go ask them, "What do you look for in a printing company...or in a temporary personnel service...or in a hair salon? Or whatever your business is. Put some thought into it beforehand. Identify what some of the typical problems are when doing business in your industry. Figure out some things that you could do that customers might really like and appreciate. Then when you go to talk to your customers, in addition to just asking them what they're looking for when doing business in your industry, you can bounce your ideas off them and validate whether or not the things you've identified as important or innovative are actually important or innovative.

  POP Advertising And Small Budget Advertising For Small Businesses
  Small businesses usually have a tough time competing with the big firms that have huge resources and can spend tons of money on advertisements. Small businesses usually have to work on a very small budget for advertisements, usually spending 2 to 5% of the gross sales. Thus, they have to have very good marketing and advertising strategies and develop a fail-proof plan to increase their reach and get good ROI on the amount they spend on advertisements.Enterprising and creative small businesses have developed skills that make it possible for them to advertise using a minimal amount of money yet have astounding reach and response. The main ingredient for their success is to use frequent, consistent, repetitive, and inexpensive advertisements that constantly keep their firms visible and generate new customers regularly. The proven direct approach strategy works best usually, but measuring response rate of any advertising tactic is necessary to determine which st
  course you have. We all have. You know by now the reason for this is the confidence gap. The customer doesn't have any ability to make any distinction whether any of the options are any better or worse or different than any of the others. There are a lot of different reasons for this probably the biggest is the dramatically increased number of choices that people have.

  Back in the old days when you wanted to buy a Ford, where did you go? To the Ford dealership. Which Ford dealership? THE Ford dealership. Why? Because it was most likely the only one anywhere near your house. And when you got to the dealership, where specifically within the dealership did you go to find out information on the vehicle? That's right to the salesperson. And why did you go to the salesperson? Was it because you loved being `hammer-dunked' by them? Did you enjoy pain more then than you do now? Of course not. The reason you went to the dealership and then to the salesperson was because it was the only way you could find out any information about the vehicle. It was your only choice.

  So what about now? Where do you go now? To one of the 17 Ford dealerships within a 50 mile radius of your house. Or if you're like most car buyers, you go to 4 or 5 of them. Let me take this a step further to show you how confidence gets eroded. If you've ever bought a car, you've experienced the hassle of finding the best deal. You look in the paper and see the model you want advertised for a really low price. When you get to the dealership you find out that it was a totally stripped down model and there was only one of them anyway and it was painted avocado green. But hey, they've got the one you wanted for only $12,000 more than the one in the ad. So next time you notice in the ad the really small print that says "only one available at this price." Won't fall for that trick again, will you? Well, now you're tired so you flip on the tube and wouldn't you know it, there's a commercial for a Ford dealership and they say that they've got the largest inventory of Fords in the state. So you make a mental note to go check that place out. You flip the channel and there's another commercial for a different Ford dealership and guess what? They're the largest volume Ford dealership in the city. Wow! How can that be true? As you're driving over to settle the issue of who's actually the largest, you hear an ad on the radio for a leasing company that says you'd be a fool to buy a car when leasing is so much cheaper...and they can handle all the details right over the phone. Then you see a billboard for vehix.com. Okay, I'll stop here. But you tell me, is this a realistic scenario or am I just making it up? Who do you have confidence in after trying to sort that mess out? The problem is that all the sellers are trying to trick buyers into coming into their showroom so they can pressure them into paying too much for something they didn't want. The buyer-seller relationship is totally adversarial or at best, apathetic.

  Not to beat a dead horse, but it's the confidence gap. The customer doesn't have any ability to make any distinction whether any of the options are any different or any better than any of the others. So the big question then, obviously, is how do you overcome this? How do you build confidence? There are three key concepts to building confidence; you must do these if you want people to trust your business. Here they are stated in simple terms:

  • Find out what they want

  • Find out how to give it to them

  • Learn to communicate what you do in a way that's believable and embraceable

    First, find out what they want. Simple enough, right? Here's how you find out: ASK. That's it. Ask. Now the tricky part is how you ask and what you ask. In our Monopolize Your Marketplace programs & seminars, we go into a lot of detail about how to conduct surveys and find out exactly what your customers want. We don't have time to go into that much detail, so I'll just give you some basics. Ask your current customers, past customers, and prospects who haven't become customers yet what they want in your kind of business. But don't just go ask them, "What do you look for in a printing company...or in a temporary personnel service...or in a hair salon? Or whatever your business is. Put some thought into it beforehand. Identify what some of the typical problems are when doing business in your industry. Figure out some things that you could do that customers might really like and appreciate. Then when you go to talk to your customers, in addition to just asking them what they're looking for when doing business in your industry, you can bounce your ideas off them and validate whether or not the things you've identified as important or innovative are actually important or innovative.

    Logo Design - Your First Step Towards Business Success
    If you are a moderately successful businessman, happy with the limited success that you have got through your word of mouth referrals, then this article is not for you. However, most entrepreneurs want to grow and are always striving to keep in pace with the competition, or else their existence is questioned.There are a thousand and one other companies which provide the same professional services as yours, but establishing a visual image of your own business can contribute to your business’ growth, create a corporate identity and help your clients to distinguish you from the rest of the pack. That is why you need a “Logo”.This logo of your business puts up the gist of your company to the rest of the world in a single image. In today’s world you hardly have a second to drag a potential client’s attention and grab the business. It’s the logo of your company, which tells and creates the first impact on the client. It’s the quickest and the easiest way to
    ike most car buyers, you go to 4 or 5 of them. Let me take this a step further to show you how confidence gets eroded. If you've ever bought a car, you've experienced the hassle of finding the best deal. You look in the paper and see the model you want advertised for a really low price. When you get to the dealership you find out that it was a totally stripped down model and there was only one of them anyway and it was painted avocado green. But hey, they've got the one you wanted for only $12,000 more than the one in the ad. So next time you notice in the ad the really small print that says "only one available at this price." Won't fall for that trick again, will you? Well, now you're tired so you flip on the tube and wouldn't you know it, there's a commercial for a Ford dealership and they say that they've got the largest inventory of Fords in the state. So you make a mental note to go check that place out. You flip the channel and there's another commercial for a different Ford dealership and guess what? They're the largest volume Ford dealership in the city. Wow! How can that be true? As you're driving over to settle the issue of who's actually the largest, you hear an ad on the radio for a leasing company that says you'd be a fool to buy a car when leasing is so much cheaper...and they can handle all the details right over the phone. Then you see a billboard for vehix.com. Okay, I'll stop here. But you tell me, is this a realistic scenario or am I just making it up? Who do you have confidence in after trying to sort that mess out? The problem is that all the sellers are trying to trick buyers into coming into their showroom so they can pressure them into paying too much for something they didn't want. The buyer-seller relationship is totally adversarial or at best, apathetic.

    Not to beat a dead horse, but it's the confidence gap. The customer doesn't have any ability to make any distinction whether any of the options are any different or any better than any of the others. So the big question then, obviously, is how do you overcome this? How do you build confidence? There are three key concepts to building confidence; you must do these if you want people to trust your business. Here they are stated in simple terms:

    • Find out what they want

    • Find out how to give it to them

    • Learn to communicate what you do in a way that's believable and embraceable

      First, find out what they want. Simple enough, right? Here's how you find out: ASK. That's it. Ask. Now the tricky part is how you ask and what you ask. In our Monopolize Your Marketplace programs & seminars, we go into a lot of detail about how to conduct surveys and find out exactly what your customers want. We don't have time to go into that much detail, so I'll just give you some basics. Ask your current customers, past customers, and prospects who haven't become customers yet what they want in your kind of business. But don't just go ask them, "What do you look for in a printing company...or in a temporary personnel service...or in a hair salon? Or whatever your business is. Put some thought into it beforehand. Identify what some of the typical problems are when doing business in your industry. Figure out some things that you could do that customers might really like and appreciate. Then when you go to talk to your customers, in addition to just asking them what they're looking for when doing business in your industry, you can bounce your ideas off them and validate whether or not the things you've identified as important or innovative are actually important or innovative.

      The Right Financial Advisor for You
      Financial Advisors come from varied backgrounds, wear different hats and offer vastly different services. So, that begs the question, “What makes an advisor from Merrill Lynch, or UBS, or MetLife, or another firm, big or small, different from any other?”That's a great question – one I get asked all the time. But, the question I often sense lurking well below the surface is one far more rarely asked, if ever. That question is, ... “Who is the right advisor for me and my family?”Slick slogans and fancy websites aside, one thing is sure. It's way harder than ever before to determine who's who in the financial industry and answer that question.Just a few short years ago there were clear differences between financial service firms, their representatives and the services they offered. Banks existed to help consumers save money or get loans. Stock brokers worked for wirehouses and broker/dealers and sold securities. Mutual Funds sold shares directly o
      leasing company that says you'd be a fool to buy a car when leasing is so much cheaper...and they can handle all the details right over the phone. Then you see a billboard for vehix.com. Okay, I'll stop here. But you tell me, is this a realistic scenario or am I just making it up? Who do you have confidence in after trying to sort that mess out? The problem is that all the sellers are trying to trick buyers into coming into their showroom so they can pressure them into paying too much for something they didn't want. The buyer-seller relationship is totally adversarial or at best, apathetic.

      Not to beat a dead horse, but it's the confidence gap. The customer doesn't have any ability to make any distinction whether any of the options are any different or any better than any of the others. So the big question then, obviously, is how do you overcome this? How do you build confidence? There are three key concepts to building confidence; you must do these if you want people to trust your business. Here they are stated in simple terms:

      • Find out what they want

      • Find out how to give it to them

      • Learn to communicate what you do in a way that's believable and embraceable

        First, find out what they want. Simple enough, right? Here's how you find out: ASK. That's it. Ask. Now the tricky part is how you ask and what you ask. In our Monopolize Your Marketplace programs & seminars, we go into a lot of detail about how to conduct surveys and find out exactly what your customers want. We don't have time to go into that much detail, so I'll just give you some basics. Ask your current customers, past customers, and prospects who haven't become customers yet what they want in your kind of business. But don't just go ask them, "What do you look for in a printing company...or in a temporary personnel service...or in a hair salon? Or whatever your business is. Put some thought into it beforehand. Identify what some of the typical problems are when doing business in your industry. Figure out some things that you could do that customers might really like and appreciate. Then when you go to talk to your customers, in addition to just asking them what they're looking for when doing business in your industry, you can bounce your ideas off them and validate whether or not the things you've identified as important or innovative are actually important or innovative.

        How NOT To Network
        There's a lot of information around about how to network effectively; which presupposes that it is an art to be learned. But there is also a case for laying down the guidelines for how NOT to network.Successful networking is, in the end, another application of good people skills. You would not expect to endear yourself to someone if your eyes are constantly wandering off round the room while he/she was talking to you.Still, at some point everyone will end up, cornered, at the networking event from hell. On such occasions it is as well to remember the old adage: “There is no failure, only feed-back”. While the event may be less than successful, you can at least derive some small benefit from it by registering all the pitfalls you personally have not fallen into.Cardinal rules of how not to network include the following:1) Do not attend a networking event with your mother if you are 45 or over. It tends not to project you in the most
        embraceable

        First, find out what they want. Simple enough, right? Here's how you find out: ASK. That's it. Ask. Now the tricky part is how you ask and what you ask. In our Monopolize Your Marketplace programs & seminars, we go into a lot of detail about how to conduct surveys and find out exactly what your customers want. We don't have time to go into that much detail, so I'll just give you some basics. Ask your current customers, past customers, and prospects who haven't become customers yet what they want in your kind of business. But don't just go ask them, "What do you look for in a printing company...or in a temporary personnel service...or in a hair salon? Or whatever your business is. Put some thought into it beforehand. Identify what some of the typical problems are when doing business in your industry. Figure out some things that you could do that customers might really like and appreciate. Then when you go to talk to your customers, in addition to just asking them what they're looking for when doing business in your industry, you can bounce your ideas off them and validate whether or not the things you've identified as important or innovative are actually important or innovative. But here's the important thing: Don't neglect to ask. Don't assume you just already know. If you did know, you'd already have all the business, right? So just ASK!

        Second step to gaining confidence is to give the customer what they want. If you took the time to ask and you've figured out what they want, GIVE IT TO THEM. Does this sound familiar at all? What I'm describing here is your inside reality. I'm giving you the process in simple terms for crafting your inside reality so it reflects what your customers want. Here's a tip: In today's competitive marketplace, you've got to innovate and make your business better by a big margin. You can't just make your business 5% better or 10% better than the competition. It's not enough to generate the confidence people need to give you a try. You have to make your business 50% better or 100% better or 300% better than the other options. Here's why: if you don't, someone else will. You need to have a good inside reality if you want to engender confidence with your prospects and customers. It's a critical step.

        The third step to gaining confidence is the really tricky one and that's saying what you do is innovative in a way that is believable and embraceable. And what's that? It's your outside perception. You need to learn how to take your inside reality and communicate it in a way that breaks through the clutter of noise in the marketplace, bridges the confidence gap, and gains the confidence of your prospects.

        See how this stuff all works together? Have something good to say. Say it well. Say it often. Find out what they want. Give them what they want. Say it in a way that's believable. The inside reality. The outside perception. These concepts are all very simple to understand.