Archive for the ‘Rules of Webmarketing’ Category:
Know How to Negotiate
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
1. Create a vision: It’s essential to clearly demonstrate how this partnership or contract will benefit the other party. You’ve got to be in their world, creating a vision for them on what this does for them.
2. Don’t believe you have all the power and avoid using terminology like “take it or leave it”: Negotiations are done in an entirely emotional arena. The human mind functions in the emotional until it makes a decision. People who are rough or aggressive or pushy often create an emotional reaction that they’re never going to be able to overcome.
3. Know what you want to get out of the deal and make sure it’s achievable: Make sure that you know what you want, that’s a critical piece to the puzzle.
4. Don’t compromise beforehand: Never ever go into a meeting with a fallback position. That’s the worst thing that you can do.
5. Invest in a skill: Don’t rely only on your natural because negotiation really is a science. Read a book, sign up for a course and look at each negotiation experience as an opportunity to learn and improve.
How to be a Good Salesman
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
People don’t care how much you know until they see how much you care about them and their goals. You have to get what you sell out of your mind and start focusing on what your customers need. What are they trying to accomplish? What do they get fired up about? Once you start listening and learning about them, the trust starts to build and the sales cycle becomes much easier to navigate. Here are three ways to stay focused.
1. Forget what you sell: When you first meet a prospect, start thinking of questions that will uncover his hot buttons. What does that person do, and does he have goals for the next year or three years? What are his top three priorities or objectives? What challenges and changes does he face in his industry? How can you help him generate more business? Once you focus on the customer, it becomes easier to think of ways your product or service can fit into their overall goals. If you realize right away that it’s not a good fit, you can walk away and work on other, more qualified prospects.
2. Go beyond the customer’s general business needs: There are instances wherein some business owners tend to do something helpful for the prospect that had nothing to do with their business. Maybe they helped them get one of their kids an internship at a client’s business, or perhaps they referred them to a great builder because they were listening when the customer mentioned she was adding on to her house. This breaks down barriers and opens customers up to looking to you as a resource. That’s when good things start to happen.
3. Maintain your passion for learning about the people you serve: How well do you know your prospects and customers? How much more business could you get if you spent more time uncovering their inner workings? When I take a tour of a customer’s business, I interview people in various departments and research who their customers are; this always pays off. Your ability to serve is enhanced by knowledge. When you ask a customer for resources in their organization that you can use to understand the bigger picture, your relationship and the trust with your customer improves, you’re much more aware of their needs and how best to serve them, and the results you bring them will provide you with repeat business and referrals.
The Dr. Pepper Method for Managing Social Media
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
I had an interesting exchange on Google Buzz the other day. In response to my post on <a href=”http://www.biztipsblog.com/2010/03/facebook-pages-are-fast-becoming-essential-for-business.html”>Facebook Fan Pages, I had an exchange with Scott Medlock about the importance of being where your clients/prospects are in order to efficiently manage your social media activities.
Scott said that he used the Dr. Pepper method of 10/2 and 4 to connect on social media. Not being a Dr. Pepper drinker, I had no idea what 10/2 and 4 referred to and Scott was kind enough to elaborate:
Remember the old Dr Pepper line…Have a Dr Pepper at 10/2 and 4? I just have in my personal schedule to
bring up a firefox that I’ve saved all my social accounts in as tabs. I
bring it up around 10 2 and 4 every day, tab thru them and answer
queries, check updates from people, and interact. Usually it takes 5-10
minutes.
That way I’m online and paying personal attention at least three
times a day w/o allowing my social web activity to suck away work time.
I sometimes get on later or earlier in the day. But I nearly always do
my 10/2/and 4 to answer queries, etc. It works pretty well and keeping
me connected.
I like this system! It’s efficient and keeps one connected several times during the day vs. a once a day approach, or shotgun, the way I do it. I tend to dip in and out of twitter and Facebook several times a day but not in such a structured way. I may set up my calendar to prompt me at specific times instead of when I want to procrastinate or am feeling uninspired by my projects. 
How do you manage your time on social media? Or do you manage it at all?
Facebook Pages Are Fast Becoming Essential for Business
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Do you have a <a href=”http://facebook.com/blogSquad” target=”_blank”>Facebook Page for your business? I've had one for a couple years but only in the last year has it really taken off. With 400 million users, it's a force that cannot be ignored. That's where people are hanging out — even in the demographic you serve, I'll bet. Heck, my 101 year old great aunt uses Facebook to keep up with her large extended family!
I read an article on Web Pro News that supports why you must have a page - Google Makes Facebook Pages a Priority for businesses.
Google announced via Twitter this week, that public status updates from Facebook are now included in the search engine's real-time search feature. That means the largest social network in the world is getting play in Google's real-time search alongside Twitter, MySpace, and others, and these real-time results are often featured prominently on the first page of search results for the hottest queries.
Content in Page updates is indexed by Google. Content on Profiles is not. It's another opportunity for you to be found via search by your ideal client.
I've found that "fans" like to interact, click the "like" button, comment on the links and status updates I post. They also click through to my blog posts which are automatically fed to my page through the Notes application.
I post links to cool resources I find and articles related to business <a href=”http://www.gordonwebbo.com/go/blogging”>blogging, marketing on the web, social marketing and online visibility. It's the perfect venue when I don't need to write a whole blog post but I want more than the 140 characters that I get with twitter. And when you link your Fan page to your twitter account, your updates are automatically sent to twitter with a link back to your Fan page.
I post all my pictures and videos on the Page and tag people when appropriate. Tagging people publishes your content on their profiles which alerts them to the tag AND makes your content visible to THEIR friends. How's that for boosting your visibility? NOTE: Do NOT tag people who are not directly mentioned or appear in photos or videos. That is the equivalent of spam.
NOt sure what to do with your fans? Don't miss this detailed article by Mari Smith on 13 Ways to Move Your Facebook Fans to Action.
Keep in mind that some people prefer to hang out on Facebook; some prefer twitter; and some will subscribe to your blog. There will be some overlap, yet with the pace of information flowing by, having your content show up on multiple platforms increases the odds that the right person will see it at the right time to help them or remind them they want to business with you.
Are you a <a href=”http://facebook.com/blogSquad” target=”_blank”>blog Squad Fan? I hope you'll join me!
The Business Acumen of Mumbai Dabbawalas
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
The phenomenon is perhaps unique to Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the business capital of India. As millions leave homes early in the morning to work at places several miles away, they don’t miss out on hot, home-cooked food for lunch. Their family members don’t have to wake up at wee hours in the morning to cook, but can cook leisurely and rely on the services of this fail-safe system that delivers lunch boxes or ‘dabbas’ to their desks at lunch time, dot on time, every time. The system covers the entire nook and corner of Mumbai via ‘delivery boys’ who use bicycles and crowded local trains for this. They deliver lunch boxes at the stipulated time – usually, 12.30–1.00 pm. Later, they collect empty boxes and give them back to the homes. If you have nobody who can cook and send food for you, you can fix the dabbawalas to collect lunch boxes from your favorite catering services or hotels.
The following is a very interesting clip that documents a slice of India.
An estimated 5,000 odd dabbawalas move 200,000 lunch boxes for a small nominal fee of Rupees 300 (1$= Rs. 45, approximately). The thorough professionalism and dedication with which they do this low-margin, high-efficiency job has won them the admiration of none other than Prince Charles who visited India in 2004 and expressed interest in a personal meeting with them. The dabbawalas agreed happily of course, but requested the Prince of Wales to schedule the meeting such that it did not interfere with their mid-day delivery timings. Prince later sent them invitations for his wedding.
A mark of quality in business is Six Sigma standards, which quantifies that one mistake for every eight million deliveries constitutes Six Sigma Certification. According to various surveys, there is only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries by the dabbawalas, statistically equivalent to a Six Sigma (99.9999) rating.
How do the illiterate dabbawalas do this? They have perfected their working with the experience they have gained in their 115 years of operation. A set of color marks on the boxes indicates the source as well as the destination of the boxes, and helps the dabbawalas to differentiate, sort and redistribute the boxes along the route. The system has caught the attention of several business schools who invite them for giving talks on ‘Time Management’ and ‘Supply Chain Management’.
What about the future of these dabbawalas? It’s difficult to say. As things stand, their numbers are dwindling. With joint families shrinking and working women increasing, more people opt for hotels and restaurants. But again, the tribe in question is an extremely adaptable one. Their members may not be educated, but they have tried to keep up with the times. Their website is a testimony to this. So, let’s hope they modify their business models and keep it flourishing.
Reference: Mumbai Dabbawalas
Private Label Resale Rights Traps
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Similarly to other marketing niches, the private label resale rights field may not give you the profitable achievement you have constantly dreamed of. While mostly, the exclusive resale rights ‘Gurus’ win big time in this area, you have to see that in this info era, you should know wherever the areas are that you might lose out. Paying consideration to the following could save your time, your work and your cash.
Right, here are some private label resale rights stumbling blocks:
- Intense competition is constantly a difficulty for newbies, wanting to gain a foot in the door with internet ventures. The private label resale rights field is no different. Using the world internet marketplace and consequently worldwide competition, your exclusive resale rights venture might not move as quick as you had anticipated.
- For a private label resale rights venture, it may take a lot of advertising talent, time and careful preparing to arrive at your desired goal. Because PLR is already big business, you ought to analyze the marketplace before throwing yourself into it.
- Although all businesses are different from each other, the extreme levels of competition in PLR, means “real competition.” Consequently you must come up with a special product of your own, as any private label item you purchase, may have numerous imitations which in turn creates crazy competition.
- A private label resale rights business is time intensive. Even though all businesses need time to run, extra work will be needed with the necessary adjustments and rebuilding of each item, or package, to come up with something unique.
- Finally, any PLR product you produce is more or less likely to be already out there, in some form or another.
So, the responsibility is on you to really create something unique, prospective clients, or resellers, should be able to easily determine that your item IS different from the bulk of the other information products on offer.
None of this means you do not have the possibility of enormous success in a private label resale rights venture. When you realize how few people actually make it in this business, you can surely position yourself within the ranks of those who are successful.
Essentially, it all comes down to hard slog and an innovative imagination. It’s crucial, also, to become a bit bold – attempt those subjects that you, privately, may believe would not sell. You may nicely be surprised.
5 Top Experts Reveal Their Secrets for Radiant Success
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Lots of great events coming up in March and this one is very exciting for me personally…
Would you like <a href=”http://smallbusiness-bigresults.com/preview1.htm” target=”_blank”>a RARE opportunity to get business advice, strategies and tactics from 5 top small business and online marketing experts at no cost?
Then join Janis Pettit, Kathleen Gage, Marnie Pehrson, Ellen Britt and me, in this free teleclass for small or solo business owners and entrepreneurs.
These highly successful women will share insights on:
- How to build a successful, high income small or solo business and still have a life
- Traffic generation strategies that work
- How to use <a href=”http://www.gordonwebbo.com/go/blogging”>blogging and social networking to get more leads, fans, followers and sales
- How to dramatically increase sales through Joint Ventures and Continuity programs
- Plus - they’ll be sharing their money and marketing insights and and giving you an honest glimpse into the struggles and triumphs they experienced on their journey to successful Entrepreneur
- AND how you can meet this group of impressive women LIVE and get their personal help.
You don’t want to miss this unique opportunity to get an inside look at the strategies, mindset and success tips that these 5 Experts will offer as they come together for the FIRST TIME EVER in a powerful tele-class.
Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 5 PM ET (2 PM PT)
<a href=”http://smallbusiness-bigresults.com/preview1.htm” target=”_blank”>Register now to attend and learn our secrets to business success and get the audio download of the class afterward. No charge.
Profit or Loss?
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Going into business seems to be the best option to cope with today’s ever-increasing cost of raising a family. It becomes even more relevant when most salaries are unable to keep up with the rising cost of commodities. If you’re thinking of doing business on the side, one of the key issues you’ll need to weigh carefully is how you price your items. Too low or too high a price is never good for business.
Here’s what you need to keep in mind when you set a price.
Input all costs
One of the first things to do is get the basic costs right.
- Weigh or portion the raw materials to get an accurate picture of your costs.
- Don’t forget to consider items like electricity, gas, labor, and other items needed to make the product.
- Monitor how much time it takes to produce your product so that you can compute labor costs.
- Factor in other operating costs like marketing expenses.
Mark-up your product
Once you have done the costing, ask yourself the amount of profit that you want to make. If you want to earn $10.00 per product, put that amount on top of your costs to get your selling price.
Market pricing
While the markup should be satisfactory to you, you must also take into consideration the price that your market can take to ensure that they will still buy your product. Your price must be competitive. If two or three of you sell the same product, either you price it the same or lower as long as your costs are covered.
Too high a price may put you out of market range, and too low a price may prompt possible clients to wonder about the quality. Finding that happy middle ground assures you that clients can still afford to buy your product while covering your costs.
Top Tips for an Interview
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
- Prepare. If you don’t come prepared, you might as well not turn up at all. It will be perfectly obvious that you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
- Be smart. First impressions are everything, and if you look smart, the person conducting the interview will assume that you will always look this way.
- Make sure you’re on time. If you ensure that you know exactly where you’re going and how long it’s going to take for you to get there before the day itself, you will know that you will be on time. It is rare that somebody will get a job if they are not on time for their interview.
- Be truthful in your CV. While it might look good if you can speak fluent French, German and Finnish, they may ask you to demonstrate this, and you will look a little silly if you actually can’t speak them at all. Plus, they’re not very likely to believe anything else that you said on your CV either.
- Be polite. If you swear, you’re not going to get the job. Make sure your language is polite and clean, and you will be seen in a much better light because of this.
- Be confident. If you have eye contact with the person you’re speaking to, you’re more likely to be viewed positively than if you’re looking at the desk or out of the window for the whole time.
- Posture. Sit up straight, but don’t look too formal. If you do this, you might look a little too nervous, so you have to try to strike the right balance between being formal and being comfortable in the interview situation.
- Get the handshake right. If you make it too firm or too soft, they might judge you because of it. Practice with your partner or a friend beforehand and you will impress them without them even knowing about it.
- Smile. If you look like the kind of person who’s going to have a positive effect on the current workforce, you’re more likely to get the job than if you look like you’re going to be frowning the whole time.
Online Visibility Tip - Use your real name, please.
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Real names. I’ve had this on my list of topics to address for some time and then I saw a post on the NAMS forum from David Perdew, the producer of the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop, letting members know that if they don’t use their real name, they’ll be removed from the forum. That reminded me it was time to write this post.
It’s become a total nightmare in the blog comments. Recently I <a href=”http://www.buildabetterblog.com/2010/01/poll-do-you-moderate-blog-comments.html” target=”_blank”>announced that I have moved to moderated comments because of the torrent of spam comments from names like SEOLondon or Web Marketing Expert. Those comments generally do not get through. NOTE: If you want your comment approved, use your real name.
The problem is that many real, legit people also do this. They think they’re being clever. But in fact, they are doing themselves a disservice if they are building a legitimate online business. People don’t do business with a brand, clever slogans or keyword phrases. They do business with people. Use your brand name and slogan in your profile and the site you link to in your comments and profile.
Before you get all crazy on me, I do know the power of branding in comments and forums. I used to put Denise aka The blog Squad in the name field for blog comments. Sometimes I still do. I also used <a href=”http://twitter.com/blogSquad” target=”_blank”>@blogSquad for my twitter ID (I still have the blogSquad account since a lot of people search for me by that brand name). And then about a year ago, I changed to using my real name and many people commented that they preferred that, since after all, I am a person and not a faceless company. The blog Squad is my business and I am the person who represents the business.
Now I’ll contradict myself and say I understand there are real reasons why people want to remain anonymous online. They have multiple businesses; they have a J.O.B. and don’t want their boss to find out about their hobby biz; they are affiliate marketers and manage many niches. I’m sure there are hundreds more reasons.
This is where the visibility tip comes in. For the sake of argument, if you’re trying to establish yourself as an expert in your niche, then use your real name. The people I primarily work with are professionals and small business owners and if that’s you, then I respectfully ask that you use your real name when you comment and when you participate in forums. You don’t introduce yourself as your brand name or slogan or keywords at networking events or conferences do you?
I want to know who you are. I want to be able to read your profile and find out more about you. I want to look you up on Google to see what else you’re up to. So do a lot of other people who may be your ideal client. Make it easy and help them find you by using your real name. Please don’t hide behind a cryptic username.
I may get some flack from this, so be it. I know there are exceptions. There are plenty of people who identify themselves only by their brand. I’m just saying, for the majority of the professionals out there, if you want to build your online visibility and get known and findable on the web as the go-to expert in your niche, use your real name. It’s much easier to relate to you and take that leap to a business relationship.
What’s your take? Use your real name or not? Why or why not? Chime in on the comments below.
