The Hurbicide Guru

In essence affliliate marketing resembles an auction. Your website advertises assorted good and services and for your effort, you receive a percentage from each sale or lead. There’s less work, fewer overheads, it sells whilst you rest, and even better, it is comparatively easy to pick up.

To start, you must determine exactly which area best suits your business style. To do this, discover what specific solutions to a problem a certain customer profile is suffering from, and find out a solution. One of the better means to determine this easily is to search for specific sets of long tail keywords; there are less searchers for these as a rule, even so greater proportion of these convert. These important keywords can be discovered by using applications such as Micro Niche Finder. Info collected by this program or similar computer programs or software compiles related keywords and phrases in an extensive list allowing you to get top listing on internet searches. Micro Niche Finder will in addition calculate how many searches each word or phrase gets, exactly how many different websites who exploit those keywords, and how good the competition is. Finally, Micro Niche Finder data can help identify appropriate domains, help you in putting together your internet site, and also draw your attention to desirable products to sell.

Now it’s time to build a website; but you’ll plainly need to do more than simply that. Getting a great performance on web based search engines involves the fine-tuning of your web site. This is where Seo Elite information become helpful. Your competitors’ sites are examined by SEO Elite information which then provides advice on improving search engine rankings. With programs such as SEO Elite, info provided by the computer software advises you where to get links, which words or phrases to concentrate on, and a list of sites to submit articles for reference. In a nutshell, the results produced are similar to the suggestions that an SEO professional may give.

Once you have discovered which niche market you’d like to concentrate on, have your product advertisements, and your website is finished, then all you need to do is decidedly refine your search results. You will pick up a regular paycheck and wonder why you didn’t try this method of marketing before!

Be sure you review this great resource for Seo Elite information infos…

This type of marketing is very much like a consignment store. You feature the assorted items goods and services on your site in return, you receive a commission from every sale. There is less effort needed, very few operating costs, it sells while you sleep, and it is easy to master.

At the beginning, you must make a choice as to which products or market most suits your interests. A method of doing this is, you need to find out solutions to issues a certain customer profile is looking for, and find out the best solution. One of the better ways to find this rapidly is to search for specific sets of highly targeted words and phrases; in general people search for these less frequently, all the same they convert far more into sales. If you’d like to find these important words or phrases, you should use programs such as Micro Niche Finder. Data compiled by this software or similar applications and services results in related keywords in a comprehensive list allowing you to get a good listing in the search engines and generate an increased number of hits. Further info is also available by the program, such as search frequency, precisely how many different web sites who exploit those keywords, and inforamtion on your competitors as well. Last but not least, Micro Niche Finder information will help in finding the right domain, content for your internet site, and also point out desirable merchandise to market. Constructing a site is next; yet it will take more than that. Search engine optimization is absolutely essential. This is where SEO Elite information are helpful. This software automatically analyzes competitor’s internet sites and can advise you what you need to do in order to have top place in the search engine results. With applications like SEO Elite, information supplied by the software suggests where to find links, which words and phrases to concentrate on, and a list of article submission websites to refer to. Briefly, SEO Elite information is similar to the information that an SEO professional would provide.

Once you have decided on your niche market segment, have your product promotion, and your site has been constructed, then all you need to do is easily advance your search engine rankings. You’ll pick up a regular pay check and wonder why you doubted that affiliate marketing would be successful for you!

If you stay in sales long enough, you realize that you can’t fix low sales activity. This is as blunt as I can put it. Sales activities drive opportunities which lead to sales. If salespeople don’t do the sales activities, the opportunities won’t develop and sales won’t appear. This is a predictable, yet simple equation. I believe it was Zig Ziglar who said, “If you do the things you ought to do, when you ought to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do, when you want to do them.”

Last month I was reminded how some sales people try to bypass the sales activity with clever tactics, personality and networking. Sales can either be the hardest low paying job or the easiest high paying job there is. I also believe that success comes from the right mix of being smart about what is done and doing the right things.

Managing Sales Contacts and Action Plans

Waiting at the desk for the telephone to ring is not selling. Salespeople must be pro-active and make contact with prospects and customers. If you employ a sales system that records sales activity, the numbers and action plans will predict your sales growth. In sales, you need to know what the success metrics are. This requires an examination of your sales activity results and keeping track of the ratios of success.

When a salesperson monitors the number of sales calls they make to the number of appointments they get, this is an important success ratio. Keeping this data will help anyone analyze the sales activity. When the success ratios drop, or rise, you can often remember what you changed and learn from this. Unfortunately, you can’t discover the ratios, if you don’t have the sales activity numbers. Accurate sales activity numbers are critical to sales activity analysis. If you change a sales script just a little, it might change the outcome of your activity results. This is important.

Analysis of the Sales Activities

One of the reasons salespeople don’t like documenting sales activity is because they don’t understand the value from the analysis. Additionally, if sales activity numbers are inaccurate, they don’t help. The important metrics in managing sales is the success ratios of where success and failure is taking place. Correcting and improving these metrics is where a smart salesperson can further improve and become a star salesperson.

Steve Martinez is the founder and CSO (Chief Sales Officer) with Selling Magic. The Business Development company is sales oriented and a CRM pioneer in automating and customizing ACT or Outlook with the best practices of sales management for increased sales. http://www.sellingmagic.com

People buy products or services from you because they expect to
gain a benefit. The benefit is more valuable to them than the
money they spend to get it. You can use that benefit 3 different
ways to increase the results produced by your marketing efforts.

1. Immediately state the benefit to draw the prospect into your
promotional message. 2. Dramatize the feeling of enjoying the
benefit to intensify your prospect’s interest. 3. Stimulate your
prospect to start enjoying the benefit NOW by taking immediate
action to get it.

Apply all 3 of these when you develop any promotional material
– including the content of your website.

1. STATE THE BENEFIT IMMEDIATELY

…to draw the prospect into your promotional message. State the
benefit in the headline of your ad, the first sentence of your
sales letter or in a title at the top of your webpage. Use it as
the opening of your audio or audio-video promotions. It
immediately captures your prospect’s attention and provides a
compelling reason to continue reading or listening.

For example, I recently saw this headline at the top of a
webpage: “Increase Your Online Profits 40% Now”. The website
offered businesses the service of accepting credit card payments
online.

2. DRAMATIZE THE FEELING OF ENJOYING THE BENEFIT

…to intensify your prospect’s interest. Use a word picture to
help your prospect visualize the feeling of enjoying the benefit
you offer. Here are 3 examples you can use as models for
developing your own word picture:

“Know all your bills are paid as you and your family leave on a
2 week vacation.” (a financial planner)

“The pleasing aroma of this new shampoo reminds you of driving
through the country after a fresh spring rain.” (shampoo offered
by an MLM distributor)

“It’s Monday morning. As you get up, all your neighbors are
already on the freeway trying to get to work on time. You have
breakfast with your family and decide how to spend the day while
your customers place their orders at your new automated
website.” (An Internet business opportunity)

3. STIMULATE YOUR PROSPECT TO START ENJOYING THE BENEFIT NOW

…by taking immediate action to get it. Three of the ways you
can persuade immediate action are:

** Make an offer with a short time deadline. (discount, bonus,
etc.) ** Provide several easy, fast ways to buy. The more the
better. (online, phone, fax, etc.) ** Guarantee fast delivery.
This is easy if you can deliver your product or service online.
Otherwise, offer to ship your product immediately or start
providing the service immediately after your customer orders it.

IS IT A BENEFIT?

Be sure you’re promoting the biggest benefit your customers get
from your product or service — not a feature of it. A feature
is what your product or service is. A benefit is what your
product or service does for your customers.

For example, an anti-virus software program may include weekly
online updates. That’s a feature. The benefit is — a new
computer virus will never destroy any data on my computer.
That’s the result a buyer wants. People never buy something to
get a feature. They always buy to get the benefit produced by
the feature.

WORKS FOR A SMALL AD TOO

Including all 3 methods of promoting a benefit in a small ad can
be challenging because of the limited space available. Here’s an
example of how one business did it with only 18 words.

“Take more profit from your business and enjoy less stress! Find
out how - before your competition does.”

Customers buy your product or service to gain the benefit it
offers. Determine what that benefit is. Then use it 3 different
ways in all your marketing materials and promotions. You’ll be
surprised by how it increases your sales and profits.

You’ve probably heard of focus groups. It’s a tool that the big guys use to quickly test a new product or service or to get fast feedback from potential customers. Focus groups do not provide real, actionable information but are great for what I call “clue hunting.” For example, I once sat through a series of focus groups on a new camera-related product. After three focus groups, we were able to pretty well conclude there wouldn’t be much of a market for this particular product, and the idea was dropped. The three focus groups probably cost this advertiser around $5000 vs. the hundreds of thousands of dollars that would have been wasted had they put the product into manufacturing.

While you may not want to hire a full-fledged market research company to conduct a focus group for you, there is nothing to prevent you from doing your own informal focus group or groups.

How should you use a focus group?

I like to test new product ideas in focus groups (see paragraph #1, above) or to solicit ideas for new products or services.
For example, suppose your company manufactures a line of pet supplies - leashes, dog dishes, chew toys and the like. I think you could easily pull together a group of six or eight dog owners to brainstorm ideas for new pet products. A good place to start is by asking, “What do you need for your dog that you can’t find at the local pet store?”

Another way to approach this is get together a group of dog or cat owners, explain the idea or service you’ve come up with, and see how they react to it. You do have to be careful when you ask friends, what they think of your idea because friends don’t want to have to look you in the face and tell you that this brilliant idea of yours if just plain awful.

If you don’t mind being a little aggressive, you can hang out around stores that cater to the people whose opinions you would like and ask them if they would be willing to participate in a focus group. I’ve found that you usually need to offer some reward like $25 or coupons for a free lunch or dinner. But if you ask nicely, and make sure people understand you’re not trying to see them something, you might be surprised at how many people will say “yes.” Plus, these people are not your friends, so they may give you better, more honest answers.

Where to hold your focus group? If you’re doing a focus group with friends or neighbors, you can probably do it around your kitchen table. If you;re doing it with strangers and have a conference room in your business that will hold seven to nine people comfortably, have a focus group there. Or you should be able to rent a small conference room in a hotel or motel at reasonable cost. Plan on having soft drinks for your attendees and maybe some munchies. I like to run focus group in the evening, as it can be hard to get people to come during the day.

Naturally, your focus group should consist of the people you feel are most likely to be customers for your product or service.

How do you run a focus group? Start by asking everyone to tell a little about themselves - to break the ice. Next, you might ask the group to talk about some of their problems or issues - as they relate to your products or services. Take the example of the working moms. Once they’ve introduced themselves, ask a question like “you’re busy, probably stressed out, working hard - what bothers you the most about being a working mom?” You just might get some ideas for future products.

Be sure to ask open-ended questions like the “what bothers you the most?” “How do you feel about that?” Don’t ask questions that can be answered with a yes or no. This can be the death knell of a focus group.

If you’re unlucky, you will get one person who wants to dominate the conversation. This is the guy or gal who has all the answers and doesn’t care about other people’s opinions. If you get one of these in a focus group, you just have to take control, “Bob, we really value your opinion, but I’d like to hear from some other members of the group.”

When you get around to introducing the product or service on which you want the group’s feedback, be low key. You might not even want to say that it’s something you’re thinking of marketing. Instead, talk in general terms such as “I’ve been sitting here listening to you all and it seems to me that a product you could use would be a (whatever).” Then listen to their responses. Try to keep the conversation going with sentences like, “can you tell me more?” “What made you think of that?” “Is there anything about this idea that could be changed that would make it more useful?” “Are there any products like this on the market?” What do you think of them?”

And, finally, I always like “what do you think a product like this should cost?” This is sort of where the rubber meets the road, If your group assigns a really low cost to your product or service idea, this means they really don’t have much interest in it - no matter what they have been saying.

Don’t get defensive or try to sell your idea. You might think you have just the most brilliant product idea since the iPod, but if your group thinks the idea is really bad, don’t argue with them. Learn a lesson about your product and move on.

The first time you try to do a focus group, you may feel awkward and uncomfortable. But try a couple and it should become easier than falling of a log. Plus, it’s a cheap way to get information that could help you earn thousands of dollars in new sales.

Have you heard about HD radio technology? It makes AM sound as good as FM and FM sound almost like you were listening to a CD … and its free! To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio and family finances.

I had my first official sales training by a man who believed in being very assertive, almost pushy. At the time this conflicted with my reserved nature, and for the next 6 months didn’t even make one sale.

I knew I had to change my approach. Meanwhile I realised there were two sales I had to make, first myself, so that my customer “believed” what I might have to say or recommend, then the second sale was the actual service I was providing.

By this understanding I started to work on building rapport. The system I created was so effective I was stunned. Customers would buy virtually anything and everything I recommended. I knew my system worked!

I then proceeded to teach other people in other industries, selling everything from new kitchens to carpet cleaning, from blinds to jewellery and the system worked, beyond my wildest expectations.

The “system” is based on this principle from Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People…

People are 10,000 times more interested in themselves than they are in you (or your product or service).

Too often in sales the sales person asks a few questions to learn more about their customers interests, then with that knowledge makes some recommendations. Then the sales person does the usual thing of “trying to close the sale”.

This process is flawed for numerous reasons. First of all the sales person hasn’t usually earned the right to talk or give an opinion as they haven’t established the first sales step, selling themselves so they earn the right to speak and to recommend.

If you have enough rapport with a customer and I mean as much rapport as you would have with a friend of 10 years, then the customer will “trust” you and your opinion. What typically happens is the sales person creates their own objections by making recommendations too soon before enough rapport was established.

No one likes an opinionated person and this is typically the trap that sales people fall into, not building enough rapport before making a recommendation.

So how you do build massive rapport, in as little as 7 seconds?
The best method I teach others to use is understanding the persons DISC Profile. DISC profiles have been around since 1920 when Dr Marston observed peoples behaviour falling into 4 different categories.

These being… outgoing and task orientated, outgoing and people orientated, task orientated and reserved and people orientated and reserved.

What that means is around 50% of the population are task orientated and about 50% are people orientated. Also that 50% of people are outgoing and 50% are reserved.

By understanding these figures I learnt that by being friendly with a customer you could be annoying them as 50% of people are task orientated people that are annoyed by friendly sales people. They don’t feel any need to like the person they buy from.

While the other 50% of the population are people that need to like the person they buy from or they won’t buy from them on principle. You’d be mazed at how accurate this is, ask your partner or friends about it if you don’t believe me and you’ll see that it’s very true.

Now the secret to building rapport is to be friendly, if they are a friendly or people orientated person. Stop trying to be friendly if they are not reciprocating. It takes time to learn this skill, it took me about 6 months to pick which DISC profile a person is accurately and consistently.

Once I learnt this, the rewards were unbelievable. Even without knowing how to “close the sale” I had customers wanting to buy from me saying things like ‘how do we work together’, ‘how do we get started’, ‘when can we start’, all before they knew the price of my service! I found myself needing to say, ‘do you mind if I outline the investment before we start?’

With this technique I realised I had created a selling system of “how not to get objections”, where you simply don’t get objections! This is in contrast to trying to overcome objections written about in dozens of sales books. Rapport is the key and you build rapport when you’re listening, not when you’re talking.

Obviously there’s a lot more to this system than I can talk about here, in fact its a whole book full of information, but understanding a persons DISC profile is the most powerful thing you can learn in sales, as you are learning how to communicate with people in their own language.

There’s another step to selling with DISC profile, which is to sell to outgoing versus reserved people.

However that’s a lot more involved that space permits here.
Try to learn more about DISC profiles and study it. You can get to the stage where you can pick a persons profile in less than 7 seconds, even on the phone! When you know a person’s DISC profile and communicate using it the rewards are fantastic.

Tim Stokes is a professional business coach awarded “Worldwide Coach of the Year 2000″. His understanding about DISC profiles is extraordinary and by teaching others his building rapport selling system his has achieved an impressive list of client testimonials from all industry types.

His best results of teaching someone his sales system was a 357% increase in sales in 30 days for an experienced real estate agent. Another was an increase from 3% conversion rate to a 75% conversion rate with 30% higher prices all in 6 months.

To find out more about Tim Stokes and to see his impressive testimonials go to http://www.bbms.com.au or contact him direct at tim@bbms.com.au

A true story: In the course of sending out a mailing to prospective clients, I found it necessary to verify some addresses. I called the main telephone number for one of those prospective clients. The receptionist answered the call, and a conversation ensued…

Receptionist: ABC Company.

Wendy: I have some correspondence that I’m addressing, and I need to verify some information. Your mailing address is 123 Main Street?

Receptionist: Sounds right.

Sounds right? (Question: How did she get to work that morning?) Sounds right? Does this sound right to you?

The person answering the telephone at your company is your representative to the world. This is the person who makes the first impression for your company, and the world sees this representative as YOU. In the abovethis conversation, the receptionist seemed unconcerned, careless and not too bright. A caller could easily assume that this is the way the entire company functions, that that it’s the way YOU function.

Think about the impression you wish to make. Do you want to be seen as clueless (I don’t know my own address) or as intelligent, businesslike and professional?

Here are some tips to help make an intelligent, businesslike and professional impression on the telephone:

1. Hire someone whose speech is clear, articulate and pleasing. (Tip: Have your job candidates leave a voice mail for you. If you do not understand what they are saying, or you do not care for their tone or speech qualityno one else will either.)

2. Make sure that your telephone representatives know all key company information. (yYour company name, address, etc.). Have that information posted prominently for easy reference.

3. Develop a plan to route and handle all calls. Have the plan in place Develop this plan before problems occur. so that it is in place if problems occur.

4. Make sure that anyone answering your company telephone knows the responsibilities of various individuals at the company. Again, have that information posted prominently for easy reference.

5. There was is an old a saying, “The customer is always right.” Bring that saying back. Treat all callers, even ones that call to complain, with respect and concern.

6. Try not to put callers on hold. (Do you like being put on hold?) If you must put a caller on hold, explain that you are doing so and that you will be back in just a moment. If that moment is longer than anticipated, go back to the caller and tell them it is taking longer than you anticipated. Offer them the option of calling back, going to voice mail or continuing to hold.

7. Do not chew gum, eat, drink or have conversations with other people in the room when you are answering telephone calls. Keep background noise to a minimum no loud conversations or music.

8. Treat your callers the way you would want to be treated. If you’re not sure, ask yourself, “How would I feel or react if someone said or did this to me?” Act accordingly.

© 2005 Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success,” is a sales trainer, author, and sales coach. Her recently released program, “Cold Calling College”, and/or her book, “Cold Calling for Women”, can be ordered by visiting http://www.wendyweiss.com Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy’s free e-zine at www.wendyweiss.com

Selling is a tough job, and sometimes you may need to
appear tough in order to get the sale.

As a salesperson (whether in person or in print) you don’t
have to appear to the customer as being needy of the sale.
Many times, the opposite can work quite effectively, that
is, to make the customer think of purchasing your product
or service as a special privilege.

Here are a number of ways that you can “bully” the customer
into buying from you.

1. State that only a LIMITED number is available.

This is a commonly used technique to push the customer over
the finish line. Presenting your offer as limited in
quantity nudges the prospect to act now since the offer may
not be available later. Companies that manufacture luxury
line vehicles often use this technique by manufacturing
only in small batches. Think of Harley Davidson motorcycles
for example. Only a limited number is manufactured so as to
keep the price high.

A limited time offer works just as well, even though it is
less compelling since the buyer may still procrastinate
depending on the time window that is given. On the other
hand, a limited number offer may go at any time. This
places a bit more pressure on the prospective buyer.

2. Place pre-qualifications on the prospect before they can
buy.

Many business opportunity type offers normally indicate
that the company is looking for a “few top leaders” in a
particular geographic area. You are then required to call
and listen to a recorded message that will further
‘qualify’ you to work with the company. In this way the
rejection is placed on the side of the customer not the
seller.

Another slant to this same technique is to simply state
that this offer is not for everyone. And only a few special
people will recognize the offer for what it is. This of
course appeals to the person’s ego and pride. Again they
are placed in the defensive position not the seller. They
are the ones on the rope.

3. Show how most people will grab this offer.

This appeals to the “band-wagon” or “herd instinct” that is
common to us as humans. We don’t want to be left out of the
new trend or crowd. It’s all about ‘keeping up with the
Joneses’. Show how thousands have already ordered and how
your operators cannot keep up with all the calls coming in.
Any statement which can show that other people are flocking
for this offer will work here.

4. Demonstrate very strong credibility in your copy.

By showing all the years of experience you have under your
belt and the many authority figures that recommend your
products, you can bully the customer into submission. The
customer feels that it will be very foolish not to trust
you when all these other top authorities do. Having someone
whom the potential customer admires and respects endorse
your product can create the magic here.

5. Show that you are not desperate for the sale.

This is another technique that can place the customer at
ease or on the defensive. Here you want to indicate that
you’re already doing so well (mostly from the benefits
you’ve derived from the product) that the small investment
they are making will make no big difference to you. This
may seem at first to be counterproductive but it works!
Again if the prospect ever senses that you’re just dying to
get that sale you can scare them away.

Another way of stating this is to show that you’re actually
creating competition for yourself by sharing this product
with them.

6. Tell them what will happen if they don’t get your
product.

Most likely your product is satisfying a need or solving a
problem otherwise you’ll not be selling it. So you can
heighten the prospect’s awareness of the problems that
they’ll continue to have if they choose not to purchase
your product or service. Here is where you really want to
‘rub their faces in the mud’. Spell out, in no uncertain
words, the pain they’ll endure and the loss they will
suffer.

These six approaches are all based on a deep psychological
principle that controls us all - Our desire heightens for
whatever is denied us or just appears to be denied us.

This reminds me of the story I read some time ago of a
small hotel that had problems with guests fishing from the
balcony despite clear warning signs to the contrary placed
in all the rooms. In a simple experiment, the hotel
management removed the “no fishing” signs and the problem
practically disappeared overnight! I guess that the thrill
of fishing from the balcony vaporized with the
signsfishing was no longer denied.

Try making your product or service appear ‘denied’ to the
casual prospect and see what happens to the dollars
‘fished’ out of your advertisement account.

It’s about time to go out there and be a respectable
“bully”!

(c) Copyright 2004 by Chris Coffman

Author Bio: Subscribe to Net Marketing Weekly today and receive free enrollment to the entire 27 lesson Internet Marketing Success Course!

http://www.netmarketingweekly.com