Nett Knowledge Blog

So You Think Your Doing It TOUGH in Business?

Sat, 29 May 2010 03:31:00 GMT

You know, I was sitting here this morning on the 28th of May, 2010 and wondering how on earth I was going to overcome a problem with one of the many businesses that I run online.

I was reading many emails coming in from a project management team and busily replying... "Natter, natter, natter" went the keyboard in response to their emails...

Now I know that this is not your normal internet marketing related post, but it's one that is MUCH more important than any business related topic, this is about being TOUGH in your life...

What happened next was the sound of a "Bing Bong" in my Outlook inbox, and I saw a video from a man who completely "CHANGED" my perspective as I'm sure he will you too.

Just take a look at this video and I want you to take a moment now before you watch it, to think about how you might feel, and then also after you watch it, let me know how it changes your thoughts, feelings and overall being...

Here it is... Enjoy!...

Where Do I Start Online?... Addressing The Universal Question!

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:04:00 GMT

Today I wanted to talk about a topic that is very important to every single business owner. And it's a question I hear about 5 times a day on average “Where Do I Start Online?”…

A lot of business owners are very new to the internet, and therefore they often go and ask this question to web designers and the web deisgners ask them “Well what do you want to achieve online?” or “What would you like to put online?” and quite often a business owner doesn’t know what they want, they “think” they know but they don’t “really” know what is going to work for them.

So What WILL Work For A New Business Owner Going Online?

Here are the steps that you should go through to ensure that your new online marketing launch for your business is a success (notice I said “Internet Marketing Launch” not “Your New Website”?)…

Why whould I say this?…

Becuase websites as we know them are “DEAD” there is no reason why you would just wack up a plain jane 5-page website that has the old style menus of “Home - About Us - Products - Services - Contact Us” any longer… But believe me, this is what the web designers want you to have and if you “don’t know” what you want, this is what they’ll give you!

So the things you need for your internet marketing launch are:

1. 3 niche areas of your industry that you can “without a doubt” offer expert guidance and advice in
2. Market research of all 3 areas, e.g. the words people type in the search engines to find this topic, is there a viable market online for this topic?, what exactly are people looking for around this topic?, what problems are they trying to solve? and what pain are they trying to avoid?
3. Video - You need a video of yourself explaining exactly how you can help them fix their pain and avoid the problems they are facing by engaging you and your business (video is a critical factor to your success online these days, and all savvy business owners are using it (especially the online marketing experts who know of it’s immense power).
4. Strong Sales Copy - If you don’ t have a persuasive message, and no, I don’t mean a message that is full of hype, but a strong, persuasive case that addresses “ALL” the conceiveable angles of why someone would come to you over your competition, then your campaign will most likely not be as strong as it could be. If you can’t do copy yourself then be sure to hire a very successful copywriter to do it for you (DON’T skimp on this step, as that would be like trying to get your car serviced by motorbike mechanic… Not Successful… Get my point?)
5. Last but not least, you need some form of FREE offer to capture a prospective clients details, so you hopefully have them on your marketing and client list for a long time (and as long as you offer them great value you will keep them and they will convert to clients over time).

This is only the very beginning of what is required in any new online marketing campaign, notice how similar they are to the offline world of marketing, the steps are almost identical except it much easier to do this online and gather the information required, as you’re exposed to a much larger global audience instantly by doing it online.

I hope that his helps you understand what to be looking for in a web launch when you next approach your designer to put you online, and if they give you the “what do you want to achieve” line, then you’ll at least have some armoury of points to go over with them.

How To Properly Create Your Online Marketing Funnel - Part 2

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:14:00 GMT

This is the second part of how to correctly create your online sales and marketing funnel for your website. In this second video, Adam explains the power of using an auto-responder email service (http://www.emailmarketing4u.com) to make the entire process very easy and automated.

He also explains how to create leverage for your business, so you can set it up once and then create immense value for your readers, thus turning them into eventual clients or referrers of your service like a viral marketing campaign.

Top 4 Ecommerce Tips To Move Your Business Forward Online!

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:36:00 GMT

Innovative ecommerce today is challenging old school retailers to move forward so they can outperform their competition. The restuls of this new approach to online business is quite frankly "explosive" in the growth for those who use the new model.

You're probably beginning to wonder what the top 4 tips are?

1. In the past retailers have tried to identify their "Best Customers" and reward them only. However, the change that is occuring, espescially with online ecommerce is to look at the total life value of a client and not how much they spend one time, in one big hit.

You're much better of these days to identify and align with the top experts and "early adopters" of a niche, invite them to trial the new product or service and then give them the necessary tools to invite their circle of contacts, friends, family so they can easily leverage their natural influence and expertise on them, which in turn will allow the whole thing to grow in a viral manner.

This is particularly well suited to online invite a friend forms, however can be done just as easily with an offline by using a well thought out invite a friend program.

2. You've been taught in the past to only sell stock, knowledge, services that you have "on hand" as selling up coming resources will only frustrate customers.

It sounds logical doesn't it, but if you think this "old school way" then you're leaving out a very, very important strategic angle in your business promotion program.

What if you approached the thin niche of "early adopters" that really enjoy and pride themselves on having the latest and greatest and being first in their market by implementing the newest services?

If you were open to this idea of focussing on the early adopters, you would then only need to pursuade them to endorse your products and if you're product / service is worth it's salt, they will love it, and then go on and endorse it to their network of contacts.

Indeed this will allow you as an ecommerce retailer to secure pre-purchase commitments, be ahead of the curve and adjust from early feedback and discussions with clients (before competitors even cotton on to the new product / service and retaliate), allow them to share the new ideas with highly credible circles of influence that can massively influence viral spread of early sales, and finally, increase your loyalty and following from clients who want the latest and the greatest.

3. Overlooking the main ecommerce buyers in a niche to interact with their customers. Retailers by and large don't have any infrastructure to facilitate interaction between customers and buyers. And because most retailers aren't close to their customers, they don't make their industry expert advisors available to their clients, this is indeed a "BIG" mistake.

This has happened because until only recently, and savvy use of internet surveys it was diffucult to get the information and feedback from end customers in a cost effective and timely way.

But with the invent of the likes of Facebook Groups and many other fan based blogs, twitter, it's become much simpler for ratings, polls and reviews to take place. Therefore retailers can make good use of uncovering opportunities, threats and problems so they can make forecasts with a whole new x-ray type vision.

4. Most ecommerce retailers only have one website or storefront, you need to learn how to leverage multiple presences! As a highly savvy ecommerce operator, you can now leverage the likes of affiliates, Ebay, Amazon and so on and so forth. This in fact enables you to put your products / services, under the nose of "Where the clients are" and not wasting your time trying to lure them to your storefront or website.

This is how it might look, your affiliates enable what they call a "Widget" on their Facebook, blog, review website and this will allow your products to show up on "their website" this in essence "takes the water to the horse" and now it's even possible to allow secure transactions to take place from within the widget installed on an affiliate site, and that my friends is the part "that gets the horse to drink".

So there you have it, 4 old-school ways of thinking and unique twists to help you move forward in your business. I hope they help and give you some "AHA" moments to increase your sales.

The Magic Powers of Information Marketing for Lead Generation!

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:48:00 GMT

While information marketing hasn't been taught for all that long, it doesn't mean that it's presence hasn't been strong with top marketers who wish to use it as a weapon against their competitors. It's the art of strategically sharing information with no expectation of anything in return.

What will this process do for you? What it allows you to do is "GIVE" immense value for free, to a prospect who could really need what you offer (who will thank you for it in many ways you've never thought of before).

Please, don't go and plagiarize articles exactly, but rather take the idea, put your own flavour, ideas, personality and experience to it, that will then be 100% unique, and I guarantee you that you'll never, ever, be without ideas for information marketing this way.

If you can share about yourself with your prospective clients and at the same time display your credibility and trustworthiness (through social proof e.g. testimonials) then you'll created a comfort zone for them during this "information giving" process...

Lets know look more deeply into the concept of information marketing and how you can use it in your local area to help a great amount of prospects buy from you "without" even selling to them.

Magazines and television documentary shows on new products emerging on the market and the reviews they do with industry experts see's us driving to the stores that are recommended at the end of the article or program in the hordes to "buy" with very little interaction with the salespeople required.

A few of the greatest example for online marketing that I'd like to show you and for you to learn from and use, are:
- How-to's
- Checklists
- Directories
- Statistics
- Measuring tools
- Industry-specific reviews
- Calendars
- Addresses
- Phone numbers
- Web links
- Conversion tables
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Glossaries
- Calculations
- Formulas
- Q&A's
- Wikepidia.com
- Blogs
- Step-by-step reports
- YouTube.com
- Facebook.com
- Squidoo.com
- Reviews
- Article Marketing
- White papers
- Online Website-Buildit.com

By using the above ideas, resources and websites you will come across so much information and ideas to "give" to your clients, they're going to recognize you as the industry expert very quickly if you just keep producing and sharing yourself and who you are and what you're about on a deeper level, you're going to be discovered and related to.

Throughout this process of creating information marketing pieces you'll be positioning yourself as the authority and knowledgeable guide who actually "cares" enough to help their target audience. This is so powerful and authentic, that you're going to find people saying to you that they feel like they really know you already, because they could have been following your for months and studying your information (especially if you're online and doing this, that is so very "POWERFUL")!

Something to be aware of is, the online world is full of copied articles done by others, this is called "PLR" which is short for "Private Label Rights".

I've personally found that by using ghost writers and PLR products won't fulfil your authentic image as greatly as implementing your own expertise and knowledge inside your head and putting that into a knowledgeable format. And unless you have a very, very good writer (who will probably cost you a lot) who understands how you think and your own unique writing style, it's best you create this information yourself.

Should you find yourself stumped for ideas, try searching Google and Yahoo Answers for solutions, an excellent ways to do this is by typing in "Ideas" only.

I hope that at least some of the above ideas have helped you to decide to "begin" using information of some sort, to build trust, authenticity and credibility into your business even more than there is now.

To Make Natural Cold Calls - You Need To Adopt A Mindset of "Non-Attachement" To Sales Outcomes!

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:08:00 GMT

Do you hate making cold calls ?... I would like to hazard a guess and say that 99% of people truly hate the cold calling game.

Now WHY would that be?

The true fact of the matter is the way we think about making a call to perfect stranger.

We go in with a mindset of "I hope I get a sale" or an appointment or even one perceived step closer to making a sale.

Why do you think that this is one of the most negatively looked upon activities in the sales persons bag of tricks?

It's because of a little known universal law called "It Matters Not"... I've written exclusively about the universal laws and expanded upon this particular law on my website www.Law-Of-Attraction-And-Success.com.

But in a nutshell, this law teaches us "NOT" to be influenced by external physical outcomes in our lives, and most definitely not to be "Attached" to anything as we're only here non-permanently anyway... It's a very deep law and requires some depth of understanding yourself to truly comprehend it.

Why then do I bring it up for the purpose of natural cold calling?

Let me answer that by taking you on a guided thought process...

Have you ever been interrupted during the day and it's been someone making a cold call?

What was your reaction in the very first few seconds of the call, you know what I mean... Right after the salesperson said "Hi, my name is, I'm from company X and we do..."

I bet your instinctual reaction was what?... Not Interested!... Am I right?

So the real crux of the matter here is the person calling you was either being too pushy, interrupting, selling something you just don't want, or too pitchy for your liking...

What that person would have been hoping for none the less, would have been a "Nice Sale" to take place from calling you...

This brings me to the very next important part of the mindset for anyone using the phone to make sales...

Most salespeople live in hope and there's really nothing wrong with having hope, except that it "attaches" you to an outcome of possibility... And attachment to outcomes in a sales environment causes all sorts of "unbalanced and irrational" behavior and frustration.

The very best phrase I've ever heard about sales people and hope is the term "Hopium" by Ari Galper at www.Unlock-The-Sales-Game.com
When we live in hope of "closing" a sale, we end up being someone we're not, we're more hyped up (some pass this off as being "PROFESSIONAL") on the phone, but in essence we're really being a turn off to the listener all together, that's why they hang up.

This negative connotation of "Slimy, Greasy, Salesperson" has it's own attachment from car or real estate sales of the early years... Now of course theirs training that takes the pressure out of the sales process for every industry, even real estate and car sales.

So the bottom line for effective adoption of this "Non-Attached" mindset so you can make successful connections is this:
1. "Let Go" of any thought of making a sale.2. Allow a conversation to take place, not a sales pitch.3. Take all pressure, hype and salesmanship "out" of play.4. Make cold calling like your talking to an "Old Friend"

Just these few thoughts above will make a massive impact with the results you get when making cold calls.

Try and make your non-attachment to any outcome second nature, not only with your sales training, but with everything in your life and see and feel the difference this new low-pressure lifestyle will reward you with.

Is Cold Calling "Painful" For You?

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:01:00 GMT

Has cold calling ever felt uncomfortable, distressful or even painful for you?

Have you ever had a bout of what the industry guru's call "Cold Call Reluctance", where you want to make the call, you know you should make the call, but rather...

You end up making thirteen trips to the bathroom, have five cups of coffee, sweat like crazy and then finally...

After you've got yourself into a lather you make the call... Only to be confronted by a fast talking gatekeeper who tries to get you off the phone and if you're lucky enough to get through to a decision maker, you get shut down, and or hung up on!

WHY... Does This Happen?

You're about to learn the art of "Natural Cold Calling" and how to take the pressure, rejection, pain, sweaty palms, heavy phone, and nervous tension out of the sales prospecting process forever.

Yes, there is a way to do this and that is what this website and process that I've used for years will teach you...

So if you're caught up in a business where you're "required" to make telemarketing calls by your boss, or the organization that you're with teaches that telesales is the main way to prospect..

Then you're in luck, as learning to use the phone "effectively" in selling, can be one of the most rewarding, fun and productive ways to prospect and put thousands of extra dollars of commissions into your pockets.

However, if you're selling with an "old school" mindset, that a lot of cold call training programs teach, then you're leaving "money-on-the-table" when in reality you don't need to be.

As a personal student of all types of selling over the years from cold prospecting through to consultative and high level sales, I've seen the best (and the worst) programs out there.

I've also been an international senior sales coach for one of the most renowned, unique and life changing mindsets for making sales calls in the world.

I hope you enjoy what you discover at this site and should you wish to connect with me personally, or a qualified coach for free, I'll show you how to do that too!

How To Properly Create Your Marketing Funnel Part-1

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:55:00 GMT

Your online marketing funnel is one of the most important components you could ever give attention to, but so many business owners overlook this critical element and just construct their website without any tact or strategy whatsoever.

Learn one of the many possible ways to create a sales / marketing funnel that works very well and anyone can work through this, and I highly recommend that you do... Sooner rather than later!

The resources mentioned in this video are:
SynergyBizNet - http://www.synergybiznet.com/index.jsp?promo=MarketingStrategies

Pride Coaching Network - Richie Williams of Pride Coaching Network is the recommended resource for business coaching in this video for business owners who "feel stuck" in their business. The Pride Coaching Network - business coach newcastle web address is: www.pridecoaching.com.au

Magic, Dragons & The High-Earning Affiliate

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:02:00 GMT

Is magic, dragons and high-earning affiliate marketers are myth?

Well... The High-Earning affiliate is certainly alive and well, and here's how to adapt affiliate marketing to your business niche to create an additional layer of income from associated product / service sales online.

The affiliate model of marketing for your existing business is a very safe, low-cost and potentially very "high reward" way of adding layers of profit to your business that don't currently exist.

Take the following ideas for example:

No creation of products, so you don't waste time
No investment of capital for inventory
No hassles about order taking or customer complaints
No shipping worries or handling issues
Never answer customer enquiries, it's done for you
They don't cost a cent to join (but beware of those that do)
You can start on a shoestring, part time from your home

If you wonder how this amazing concept can actually help your current business... Then follow this link to learn more about how it can be done the "right way" and the "long term" way...

Enjoy!

How To Be Successful Online in Only 12-Weeks

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:32:00 GMT

This is a short post on how local business owners can build a successful "web business" from the knowledge that is in their heads. You see, most local businesses that I consult with have the pre-conceived notion that they need a pretty website that is fancy and has lots of bells and whistles, or... Nothing at all, thinking they'll be somehow exempt from the global online marketing wave.

The sad truth is, if you're one of the above you're going to be left "WAY" behind, when the tide turns and the internet becomes main stream, like the way it is in the US or UK (the UK being about 8 years ahead of us as online consumers and the US is about 5 years ahead).

When the time comes and the internet does become the main stream way of being found for gaining clients, it will be the businesses with an already, very well established and optimized online presence that will win the race. As it will be way too late, for you to build a website in a year or so time and expect to beat your competition that is online NOW!

I hate to be brutal about this but are you SERIOUS about your business, or just treating it as a hobby?

Because there is now, no excuse to not have a web presence, or should I say "multiple" web presences, and that is the key, multiple web presences, as one is just not enough.

Here's how you can have a very successful presence with a tool called "Site Build It" and it has an exclusive way of taking a complete newbie to online marketing and walking them through the entire process (for under $299US) and if you're too technically challenged to do it yourself, you can have it done for you, at sub two thousand dollars which is extremely affordable considering what this platform does for your business.

Here is a video overview of their eLearning Platform, I hope you enjoy it!

How To Use Natural Cold Calling To Lessen Sales Pressure!

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:03:00 GMT

This is the first in a series of sales coaching blog posts, where I'll be explaining more about how you can connect with your existing clients and potential new clients in a way that makes them feel comfortable, and position you in the authentic light that you wish to be seen in as a salesperson. There are many more articles here at my niche site Natural Cold Calling also, I know you'll learn a great deal from these.

I've been involved in cold calling sales, marketing and business development for over 15 years now, and during that time I've implemented all sorts of strategies in the past to stimulate sales. Some of them worked very well, others were complete failures.

The interesting thing that I discovered during this time is the more natural you connect with prospects and clients, the more you come across as authentic and develop trust and the less you appear as a "salesperson" with a hidden agenda.

It's this hidden agenda when doing a cold call that makes the whole process so uncomfortable for both you (the salesperson) and the prospect. When you try and create a linear sales process, the whole thing seems to go awry and you "lose the sale", sometimes forever!

That's why I've developed my own way of approaching people in all scenarios of life not just sales, and I call it "natural cold calling" and I hope that it helps you immensely.

How To Eliminate Cold Calling Scripts & Be Your Natural Self On The Phone

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:35:00 GMT

Have you ever heard how cold calling scripts actually make you sound on the phone when making your calls?

My guess is this... You actually hate being interrupted by telemarketers in your office?

WHY?

Because when cold call scripts are used and you're the reciever, it triggers a certain response within you, one you've been conditioned to react negatively to, right?

So, when you begin making your own cold calls, and use cold calling scripts yourself, you have a feeling of un-easiness within, because you know how your making the reciever feel "PRESSURE" which is a natural born "KILLER" of cold calling and any sales process.

I once wondered "How Many" sales are lost, due to the fact that telemarketers and the sales managers that run business development projects via the phone (typically cold calling)?

I later found out from practical experience as both a cold caller myself and then an international sales coach, that there are way too many "LOST" sales from using a scripted, un-authentic approach.

When you can just be yourself, which most people want to be on the phone, but just don't know how because they either:

1. Lose the sale becuause without a script their "too nice"
2. Aren't allowed to be themselves because "thier boss is listening"
3. Have tried not using scripts and being natural before, but it never worked for them... So they reverted back to the worse of the two evils... "Cold Calling Scripts"

Well, I'm here to tell you, that you can be yourself again, however, there are some critical things you need to be aware of to make this transition, being:

1. Realize how "fake" cold calling scripts make you sound.

Just the use of a script changes your overall tone on the phone, becuase you know deep within yourself that your not being "YOU" and so does your prospects.

This isn't a matter of making your cold calling scripts sound more natural either, it's much deeper than that, it's a matter of "releasing" the artificial approach that cold calling scripts deliver all together!

I know that can be an extremely scary thought, and at the same time a very freeing thought also... There are many other ways to go about connecting with prospects without having to "corner" them into a "one-way" sales pitch, which is in essence what a sales screed is all about... You don't need it!

2. Don't pitch, converse with your prospect!

This statement of opening with a conversation, rather than a sales pitch might be rather foriegn to you, you might even be rejecting the idea with all your heart, because you've tried that and it doesn't seem to get you anywhere... Right?

Well there's a very reasonable logic as to "WHY" a conversation with your prospects hasn't got you anywhere in the past, and it's because you're so focussed on trying to tell (and sell) them on what you have to offer, that you've lost touch with your prospects own dilemmas and issues that you help solve!

I can guarantee you, if you workout before you make your next cold call, "What" are the top issues that you help people solve everyday... Really project yourself in the world of your prospects in this exercise... What are they feeling, what problems do they face, where and who do they go to, to seek solutions and are they solved sufficiently?

If you dig deep into their world and then ask them about it, you'll begin to "bond" with that person, they'll see you as the problem solver, not the problematic "high pressure" sales person who wants to sell them the latest gadget or service and most importantly you'll be heard!

There's a complete and unique process behind what I'm talking about here, and I know it works as I used it for years and then coached it for several more years.

3. Look at possibilities rather than a "one-way" close!

When you use cold calling scripts and any form of scripted approach in sales, speaking, or interaction you might find yourself in even outside of a sales environment and you'll end up finding yourself in artificial and uncomfortable territory.

And what do most cold calling scripts try to accomplish?

They try to push the prospect towards getting a "yes" response, and chip away at them so they eventually agree and "give in" to what you're suggesting... But I bet, the whole time you're doing this you don't feel too good, because you haven't taken the time, to hear their problem(s).

If you approach it in a natural "be yourself" style, a level which is the basis of all human needs, which is make the other person feel "important and cared for" and that you "understand" them, you'll find they'll ask you "how" you can help them solve their problems and decide from their.

No pressure, no hype, no fuss!

4. Record yourself in general conversation and then in a sales conversation... and HEAR the difference!

Have you ever role played with a practice partner and actually heard the difference between your general conversation, like you're talking to a friend, and then in "sales mode"?

What do you think the difference in our physiology is?

Well to begin with, in a sales process we're taught to try and "make the sale" and we know within ourselves that we have a hidden agenda.

Both your discomfort level and the response of your approach from the prospect, which is normally to shut right down from that point forward, you have "no chance" to ever build any form of rapport or trust.

However, when you call a friend for a game of golf and they reply "well, actually I was thinking of tennis today" you are more inclined to go along with it, rather than trying to "SELL" them on how good a game of golf would be...

So your whole demeanour is different and you're more relaxed and flexible, therefore your both more open to each others ideas... If you can build this relaxation into your sales calls (and you most definitely can), you're bound for a lot of success and friends in the process.

Because sales should be fun and it's a "Two-Way" process that is to be enjoyed, not feared or hated!

5. Focus on the goal of "just having a natural two-way chat" on your calls.

Do you feel rather uncomfortable at the thought of not using some form of cold calling scripts?

Here's a possible solution and thought process for you...

Next time you make a cold call, try asking for the help of the person who answers the phone. You might liken this to being lost in the street in your car, and you find a local who can help you.

Well it's not different on the phone cold, than it is with a stranger, so you might say "Hi, I'm hoping you might be able to help me out?"... No threat in asking for help right?

So instantly their ready to "help you" and not be defensive, what you say next is (and there is a complete mindset around this) something like "I'm a little lost, I was calling to find out ..."

You're more than likely (if you do this correctly) get a response like "what do you mean?", "how do you do that?" or "tell me more?" it will be a response of intrigue and openness, rather than one of closedness.

I got a response like it just the other day, when I had to approach a very large bowling club as I was trying to help my friend who is a DJ for karaoke find some work...

So I called in and went over to the manager and said in a very normal and low key way... "hi, I'm just calling in to see if I could help your club with more business when times are quiet?"...

What do you think he said to me?

Well he certainly didn't say "go away", "we don't need it", or "we already have a supplier" he asked me... "what do you propose?"... A response that opened a conversation and a complete and friendly tour of the facility and a future conversation for openings with that club.

Now if I'd have gone to him and say "Hi, my name is Adam, and I'm from DJ Karaoke, do you have karaoke here?" he would have said "Nup, don't need it... don't want it... it's never worked for us... never will... GO AWAY!" (which is the "typical" response that cold calling scripts achieve... and the really sad thing is, we're taught to "put up" with the general response, rather than fix it's root cause!)

But instead I offered to "solve a problem that every club faces" which is downtime, slumps, profit gaps, in their timetable that causes them to lose money and most clubs do at some point, have times where they need more clientelle to come in and buy food, drinks and entertainment.

I simply filled a gap (that no cold calling scripts could ever do), I was my authentic self and it worked...

The truth is, there are gaps that need filling in every single industry you can think of, no matter what area, or niche you work in, I bet you, that I could find the problem required upon talking with you for 15 minutes (without the use of cold calling scripts to guide you)... It's just a matter of teaching you how to unwind from the artificial teachings that we've all fallen sucker to in the past, as its been the only way we've known... Until now that is!

So now you know the difference between using artificial cold calling scripts and the negative salesperson stereotype effects that come from them.

I wish you all the best in the world in going out and connecting with total strangers in both the cold calling world and the general conversation world... Once you experience this new form of freedom, you'll want more and more of it.

There is a whole new world out there for cold calling and sales that are totally void of cold calling scripts, don't ever let others tell you there isn't!

If you enjoyed this piece, I have written a lot more like this at my site specifically written for sales people who wish to connect and prospect in a more authentic way, so go ahead and visit www.NaturalColdCalling.com it's more than just cold call training, it's about connecting authentically with others.

Effective Permission-Based Email Marketing

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:18:00 GMT

Lately there has been a lot of permission-based email marketing going very wrong in the online world. What I mean by this is, people are starting to create bulk email internet marketing programs that are sometimes borderline illegal and I'm sure you know the ones that I mean, because we've all received them.

Therefore, I've put together this short video to show you where to go to get the correct resources for strategic email marketing and how to grow your marketing email lists in an highly authentic, reputable way that will only win more referrals and business for you and your company.

Small business email marketing is a challenge for many of start-up businesses and small companies, with a lot of them veering away from this form of marketing due to either thinking it's too hard or will get them into trouble, and quite often it's just out of sheer ignorance of how and effective permission-based email marketing is.

My recommendations for you to learn more are to not send out blind, bulk email marketing campaigns, but rather go and invest some money into learning the right way to market with email, the two resources I've included here are among the best resources in the world that I've found in my 10 plus years in the internet marketing industry.

They are:
http://www.Website-Buildit.com - For a more comprehensive information marketing approach.
http://www.Renegade-University-Training.com - For specific social and email / information marketing strategies.

If you follow the advice of only the two above resources, by picking out one strategy per day and actually implementing it, you will indeed be among the elite in the information marketing world online and your offline business will benefit greatly because of it.

How To Better Identify Your Target Market?

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:27:00 GMT

Your "target market" is the sub-niche of people you are aiming at reaching, and the way you do this is by creating excellent content aimed right at solving the problems their searching for a solution for online. One of the main elements you need to know how to do effectively, is knowing how to research your target audience online, so you know what their drivers are and what will cause them to either become a lead for your business, or to buy something you offer right there and then.

The best thing you can do to research your key target market online is to use a tool called www.Website-Buildit.com (the company SiteBuildIt) they have an entire suite of tools that allow you to uncover sub-markets of tight, reactive and ready to buy customers. So instead of creating your website first, and having a message that basically talks about "who you are, what you do and why you're so good!" and hope that some of the visitors to your site end up buying or inquiring, you need to work with much more savvy to get results.

As a business person you probably understand the principal of target markets and that "not everyone" is going to be interested in buying your product or service. So it wouldn't make any sense to marketing to everyone out there would it?

What are the two most important things you need to know for targeting your ideal niche market?

1. Who is your target market exactly?

Here are some just some of what you need to identify for your target market (the more specific you are here, the better your results are going to be), try identifying what gender they are, their age, location, income bracket, what their culture is, are they religious, and also their political views.

So during this entire process, you need to take each general area and really break it down into micro areas, in essence you want to understand them so well, that you feel like you've walked a hundred miles in their shoes so you can talk right to their problems and push their hot buttons.

2. What are their main motivations?

The next step you need to know, and I would go as far as insisting that you "MUST" know these details are: Are they driven by pleasure or pain? fear of love? What do they need most and why? Are their hot buttons purely desire? Or are they emotional, purely functional or a mixture of both to achieve a certain outcome? And probably the most important of all questions you need to nail here (and once you understand this and use it well, you will have a thriving business... THRIVING!) what are they willing to do, sacrifice, give, overcome or endure to get what the solution to what it is you offer, what does it mean to them to have it?

When I do a market analysis of any online (or offline) market niche, what I've found works and is indeed imperative for your success in understanding your market place is to firstly, try and become the "perfect client' who would buy or strongly qualify as a hot lead for your product or service. Create an exhaustive list of what you think the characteristics would be and then we go onto step two.

The second part of identify and really solidifying your target market so that you don't address to wrong niche is to create a survey and then go out to the market place and start asking the real market place. Be thorough, don't breeze through this phase, and a great place to get numbers and results fast and thoroughly is by using online advertising like Google Adwords, that's right, throw a few hundred dollars at a campaign and send them to a web based survey that you create with an online program such as www.SurveyMonkey.com
If you take this information above and use it the right way, right down to the deepest levels and follow it through you cannot fail in the long run, if you do it means you've either not been thorough in your research, or you have given up along the way or not used the tools as described.

So go out and get stuck into micro-niching your exact target market for every single service and product you offer, you WON'T be sorry!

How To Build TRUST in Facebook & Social Marketing Platforms!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:14:00 GMT

You know it really surprises me how many online business owners try and get completely "unknown" people into their business!

Only today I logged into my Facebook account and wasn't surprised when I opened an email directly to me from a guy called Nick, explaining that I don't know him and then going on to try and get me to look at his business.

Actually, I wanted to make a lesson out of this today, so here is the message directly from him (if you're in Facebook, you might have received emails like this too)...

Nick L October 28 at 6:54am

I know you don't know me all that well and i know that relationships have to be built before a business relationship can be formed. However I don't want to keep this from you any longer as time is money! You may or may not have heard about this so check out this link and let me know what you think. You seem to have a great number of followers and friends on face book so this could be very good for you and them! I have found this program to very easy to maintain and develop into a residual income that I will eventually will to my children!

Here is the link and thank you for your time!

www.his-link-was-here.com (I've taken out the link)

Your friend
Nick L

Income for Life - Start Earning Money Now
Source: www.his-website-opportunity-was-here.com

Join 1000s of real people worldwide who are quietly building their own 'Income for Life' R from home!

Now, before you read any further... What can you see that is wrong with this scenario apart from the obvious? (Think about it before you read on).

Well, now that you've thought about it, here is my reply to Nick...

Adam Price October 27 at 7:36pm

Hi Nick,

Yes, I've known about this program for some time now, and from an integrity point of view, I've found that it's overpriced for the hosting and domain name when you can get a .com from GoDaddy.com for only $8's...

There are other highly authentic ways to make a residual income online from which I've created for myself and my followers (a good deal of them my clients).

I believe if you're going to gain TRUST with your clients, you need to seriously (and I mean seriously) look at information marketing Nick...

Then there is no more cold calling or un-announced emails where your stating "I know you don't know"... The rules of success online are quite simple... and they are:
1. Build Relationships
2. Don't Spam
3. Offer Value
4. Grow a Following
5. Help People First

Over time as the "Seed of Trust" is planted in the minds of your prospects (and you have to do this the right way, i.e. not as you've done here, allow me to explain), it will create a viral following effect where they tell their friends about you, because you "NEVER" tried to sell them anything or market to them in any way.

But rather you offer more value and help to them with every communication you have, so from this point forward, please try and keep this thought at the top of your mind before you contact prospects and the thought is this "How can I enhance this persons business, without making them feel pressured or like they're being sold to today!"...

If you do this, and this is how I've built my full-time internet affiliate marketing business and now my offline internet marketing consultancy and coaching business, you will indeed instill the TRUST factor into your prospects and it will allow them the freedom to learn more about you, rather than you telling them.

I once heard a very well known sales trainer Brian Tracy mention, "If your prospect says it, he's right... If you say it, you're being pushy"... well it went something like that anyway...

The essence of the information marketing message online is, "DON'T PUSH & DON'T TELL" but rather EDUCATE your clients without ever talking about your product or service, but demonstrate why it's so good for them in real, everyday, examples and stories.

This process is known as C-T-P-M (Content, Traffic, Pre-Sell, Monetize) and it's the information marketing model of a company called SiteBuildIt www.Website-Buildit.com and I assure you, if you follow this model online and off, you WILL be successful long term (there's not short term silver bullet, quick cash, strategies here, those are for the birds and the dreamers)...

It takes work, it takes determination, and it takes a desire to REALLY want to help your prospects excel.

So please don't ever spam anyone again, rather ask them about themselves and try and find out their problems and then solve them for them and that doesn't mean trying to sell them the program your in, but ALLOWING them to go and look at that program from your real life experience, examples, and case studies of how it's worked for you and others you've helped.

If you want to know how to do this sort of thing better in Facebook, Twitter and the social hubs, then become a free member at www.Renegade-University-Training.com and you'll see how they teach it and how their members connect with others in Facebook the "Value Driven" way... Which is known as "Attraction Marketing" online and is the key!

Take care my friend, and I hope you don't think I'm trying to beat you up, but rather help you become a better marketer than you were before you read this reply.

Warm Regards,
Adam Price,
Founder
www.NettKnowledge.com

I take it that this example is a good lesson for you as a business person who is marketing online, to learn from... Don't SPAM people they HATE it!

But rather CONNECT with them authentically, learn about them, their lives, their hobbies, their business, and if there is anything you can help them solve... Then ALLOW them to see what you do... But NEVER... EVER... Sell to them like this, it loses TRUST and makes you look desperate and someone who doesn't know what their doing in business!