How to win business and gain market-share

If your customer has money to invest, would you rather they spent it on you?
You might think what a silly question, of course I want the money spent on me and not my competitor you say. If that is the case why do many business owners act in such a careless way as if they rather the money was spent with our competition?


Rather than focussing on how the extra revenue might benefit ourselves should we look long-term at what we can offer our customers, distributors, clients, franchisees and the best way is GC&P.... So instead let's look at guidance,care and protection.
If your client needs a product/service could you offer more guidance care and protection... You or your competitor?
If you have a competitor that is better than you at GC&P then watch out as they will take market share away from you and your business.


Just save all your the expense of running a business and send each customer to the competition. However if you set a best practice, getting it right on each and every occasion you will take customers away from you competitors. Don't be the one only after the money be the one that really wants to see your client/distributor grow and succeed.


This get's your customer into your fold as you start to gain a loyal following.
The word customer could be exchanged for anyone you do business with including franchisee,agent,client, distributor and possibly sometimes even supplier.

You must never be a weakling when it comes down to marketing as the best man will win and the meek will not inherit the sale.
Treat the customer like they are a child and not just any child... Your child.


So the customer is not just someone off the street they are like your child.
You are sworn to care, protect and guide your own child.Do the very same with your customer.


You could ignore this idea, even snigger, when you do the, there's a massive chance that the customer or rather the child will buy into another persons pitch and find someone who's saying they are more caring than you.


As customers sometimes buy the story of a scam artist a child can be lured by someone of warped character and in the same way customer can be taken advantage of.

Okay you say now he's rambling and lost the plot!


Wrong! Open both your eyes as right now today all around you there are people selling get-rich quick schemes. Whilst others have tremendous business opportunities and do not offer the (fake)care or guidance of the pitch of a well oiled get rich quick scheme.


The fake gurus all preach (give me money)I'll get you, customers quick, get to the top of Google in a day. If anybody offers you anything in the fast success department run away and do not even ask them any questions.
I will just repeat that again, when offered get-quick-anything WALK AWAY asking or answering no questions. There never has been get-whatever-fast and long-term never will be.
Customers are like children and simply it is not the customers job to know that.


With free sweets,like a child, they see the sweets and they get entranced. Those sweets look so tasty they forget why they came and why they met. In business it is more lolly than lolly pops that makes sane peolple forget that they didn't really want to get into business to get-quick-(insert a word). The real pitch is not instant riches more often we want freedom to live how and where we choose. Today I write this from my home on the beautiful Indian Ocean Island of Sri Lanka and I know that all my old chums (before self employment as a manufactures agent) are working 08:00am until 9:00pm 6 days a week playing a game called never enough and some earn more... so they should as they forgot how to stop.


Because most of us don't get into the business to 'get-top of Google,rich or whatever else-quick" keep very clear why we got into business.
Freedom over our lives and for our family.


We know that if we work for someone else,we've sold ourselves as wage slaves,someone will tell you what to do, when to do it and how long you can go on
holiday. The places you go are also dictated by the boss as they decide how much you will get paid and we're always at their beck and call.


Pissing you life away at the beck and call of another means they enjoy the lifestyle and you can count all the sunny days that pass you by. In the UK today we have around 250,000 people looking to escape that employment
trap and that is when we start a business. Then we find the business is actually much harder than we have ever intended. We work 7 days a week, three for the taxman, two for the bank and end up with a 10% bottom line profit. More sunshine is passing us by than ever before.
That's when the pervs with the sweeties pitch up. In business terms it is the fake guru's and outright scam artist who know you're struggling.
These people feed their family from knowing you'll do anything to get some more lolly in the bank. They know that you'll do anything legal to get noticed by the search engines or pitch all of your friends on a fake set of e-books or tapes. You should do your duty and fight off the fake guru and slick pitcher.
Your customer will get promised the world by these people and you know that the promise is false. You know that the get-quick-whatever is just a waste of time, energy and money. You can let these scam merchants win. Or fight them off. You will need to market the way you should and create more opportunities to do business. You are now going to brush up to present your products and services the way you should.A long comprehensive demonstration built off the back of asking questions will convert more customers and I promise you presentation matters.
Do you see what I see? Our false guru's selling get-quick-rich-whatever,are selling thin air.
The real business has real products/services and will not have anything to present that is so spectacular.
You can win the battle against the false guys by being smarter and this comes from understanding the psychology of a customer. So you have to be smarter. You have to present the information in a manner and sequence that goes in sequences to your customer's brain.

We all think in the same steps whenever we are buying something, we always follow a solid path to making a decision.
It will happen as fast as light and you need to be trained as to how this will happen. The brain sees the buying process as a ritual, customers like to solve problems, customers buy from what they see as people like themselves, customers never like to commit, customers have a secret code that they talk in to avoid buying, this code is often called telling fibs and customers use the information presented to thems against your business by touting it around the competitor.


Politely some might say this is a series of extremely analytical steps and this should be avoided at all costs and you should break the routine. Of course when we're marketing, we completely ignore the buying process. And in doing so, we fail to get hold the customer's attention and simply lose control.


When we lose control we drive that customer right into the arms of our competition.
The competition might be out of tune (like you), let the customer go,off they drift until a false guru does some smart selling and your customer is swallowed up.


The false guru and the scam artist has no hard sell to get the customer, they simply use psychological step and this is also great news is for you no hard sell need take place. Hard sell is not needed. Not wanted. Not required. What's needed is a buying process with all the right question, establishing the right information in the right process, and followed up with the right call to action.
The questions and the presentation are very important. The hard sell doesn't. Present your information, try to see if it is the right solution for a customer, customer, I prefer to try to eliminate in the right sequence and then the customer will come to you. And you can care, protect and guide them in the way you care and protect a child. Guidance, care and protection are the keys to controlling the ritual or you will fail to care, protect and guide.


You lose the customer. You lose the money a customer was about to pay you. You have less money than when you had a job, less holiday, no family treats and do not hit the business plan!


Keep this up and the bank will call in the loans or you struggle with the mortgage and then the family get at you. You go from happy-go-lucky employee to desperate business owner. And then the false guru comes along with a get rich quick pitch and you join the viscous circle. What happens next. If you wish to avoid what happens next keep an eye on this blog and get a slice of the online action at http://myinternetmillionaire.blogspot.com


I am pleased to keep you furnished with tips and quite frankly your money is not my motivation.

Just monitor your marketing, only spend money on what brings people to you, or you to the people and spend more on what works.

Make a presentation off the back of asking questions and present the price.

Have a reason to do business now.

Ask do you like it?
Is the price right?

Shall we get the paperwork out of the way?

The right process in these unusual times will make you a fortune and I hope to be of service along your journey

See you at the top!

Richard

Richard Williams

Set Goals Have a Treat!

WHERE WILL YOU BE IN A DECADE IF YOU KEEP ON GOING THE WAY YOU ARE GOING?

BIG success is always a by product of little successes achieved and very often over a very long period of time.

Truly successful people have dreams, goals and are long-term thinkers. They know they will build upon each small achievement constantly learning new or better ways of doing things.

You will need to set aside regular reviews to chart your progress to enable the sum total of all the little steps as an essential part of goal-setting.

A goal is little more than a wish unless it has a timetable that must equal real no excuse completion.

Make sure you plan your life and business which also have short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Set a small reward as you reach every goal set

Check them off when they are completed, have a treat and set bigger goals for yourself as you grow.

And take time to reflect often to make sure you are on the right course-for you.

Are your headlines catchy?

Are you losing customers because you don't know how the brain works?

Do you really understand how the marketing brain works? Are you harnessing its immense potential to make your business generate greater revenues? Wouldn't your strategy and tactics be vastly different, if you understood these psychological marketing ideas?

If you don't understand the simplicity and predictability of the brain, a lot of your business could be walking out the door. And you may not even realise it! Here's your opportunity to learn the psychology behind what makes your customer's brain tick. Then you can use this information, to keep them stuck to you like glue!

Our brains are hardwired with information, that hasn't changed in centuries. Imagine being able to use that same psychology in business. It's so deceptively simple that you will wonder just how you did without this incredible understanding of the human psyche for so long.

Why Do Most Headlines Fail?
Sign Up for the PsychoTactics Newsletter and get access to a detailed report on "Why Headlines Fail (And how to create headlines that work)"

Psychology Based Marketing Strategy

These articles are Psychology based: Create your own marketing strategy using these psychological tactics.

1) Harness The Psychological Power Of 3 Improve your communication and change your marketing strategy by tapping into the deeply embedded psyche of humans.

HOT! 2) The Power Of Why WHY on earth would you ignore advice on one of the most powerful psychological triggers that make people buy?

3) Is Nature A Marketing Guru? Technology rules. Yeah, for about five minutes -- then natural instincts take over. Are you stupid enough
to fight Mamma Nature? Here's what you can learn from her marketing strategy...

4) Who Is Your Real Competition? If you design kitchens, is another kitchen designer your competition? Most likely not and the sooner you can position yourself against your real competition the sooner you will start to see more business come through.

http://www.psychotactics.com/psychology

This is your customer. All he is concerned about is himself.

In a millisecond, you've got to make him forget about the taxi and think of pizza.

The above is a website to GIVE you psychological tools to keep his attention and then make him BUY!

Well worth a read and you might want to get a cup of tea first and that would be a great time to plug our Ceylon tea business

http://www.emporiumtea.com/test/

How To Escape Your Job?

'How To Be A Freelance Sales Agent'

What is a Sales Agent?

A Sales Agent is a self employed salesperson who works, usually alone, for perhaps several non competing companies. The Sales Agent obtains orders for those companies and is paid commission on those orders.

The Sales Agent usually works in a specific area of industry and within geographical limits. It is usual for the Sales Agent to keep his agencies within the same industry. A major advantage is the ability of a Sales Agent to offer his customer a range of products rather than the single product that an employed salesman can offer.

How do I become a Sales Agent?

You can start tomorrow. You may operate under your own name or you may trade as a company. It is not necessary to register the company if you do not want to form a limited company. (speak to an accountant on this).

If you use a name other than your own you are described as xxxxx, (your name), 'Trading As', xxxxx (your company name). In all circumstances you must inform your local Inland Revenue Office that you have commenced trading, (sorry but the dreaded Self Assessment comes in).

Will I make it as a Sales Agent?

Most important is that you have some sales experience. And if you don't then find a DSA (direct selling association) member company and learn the ropes. It is possible to come from a non selling background and build a tremendous business, earn plenty, become an effective Sales Agent witha DSA company and earn whilst learning to sell. Selling is about taking the hard knocks and not becoming disheartened. Being a Sales Agent is even more so because if you don't sell you don't eat. If you are not afraid of having variable earnings and are determined you can make it a success, you will. Often you can enhance income by getting your own sub agents and that can be a wonderful income stream

What about commission?

It will depend on what you sell. If you are selling quick turnover, high volume, repeat order products around 10% is the norm. If you are selling high value items with long lead times 20%, even 30% is required. You will have to wait a long time for the sale to mature and you are at greater risk of losing the order. When getting started look for highly consumable or repeatable that you cannot buy on the shelf of your average shop

Set up costs

Not a lot, if you already have transport to get you to the customers. You will need a telephone and some headed notepaper. If you have a computer this will save on this cost and also make letter writing and accounting less costly. Things like visiting cards are sometimes supplied by your principals, you will need to project you own image as an independent agent by having your own printed material. Resist the temptation to print these on your computer. They usually are cheap and look it.

Where do I find agencies?

The major place to find genuine agency opportunities is by joining MAA or AgentBase. Many 'so called' agencies are advertised in local and national newspapers but beware. Some of them are 'Pyramid Schemes' and some need you to invest thousands of pounds and no return if it goes wrong. The DSA website is good and also the MAA or AgentBase publishes a regular magazine carrying adverts from Principals seeking Sales Agents in all industries. Once you are established many agencies are passed on by word of mouth from other Agents who work for the same Principals as you do.

How many agencies to hold

Initially only one until you have gained some experience. Once you feel comfortable with the concept of being your own boss you can expand your number of agencies gradually but do not collect agencies. Remember each one has to be serviced and all Principals seem to want you to spend all your time pushing their product. Too many agencies can call your integrity into question.

How about job security?

A surprising amount. There is a piece of legislation called 'The Commercial Agents Regulations 1993' which dictates that you must have a contract with your Principal and that contract must have certain protection and obligations for both parties enshrined in it. Copies of this can be obtained on the HMSO Website, Free legal advice and many other benefits for members are afforded by joining the 'PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION'. Tel 0207 407 8833.

Conclusion

Most Sales Agents consider themselves to be at the pinnacle of their sales career. They rely on their professionalism, salesmanship and customer relations to earn their living. In return it is theoretically possible to enjoy an income far in excess of that usually earned by a paid salesman.

The only limit to the size of their earnings is the amount of time, effort and salesmanship they put in. Not for them the petty squabbles, rivalry and jealousy that arise when such earnings are within a company structure.

My own reasons for this are not just the potential earnings I really enjoy the satisfaction derived from nobody telling me what to do, when to do it, how much I will get paid and when I take free time.

I really enjoy roaming around the world doing business!

If you are new to this or need to make money before waving two fingers at the boss (no matter how you feel about your employer be polite as they will be your best prospects) and running a business your way needs some practice simply join an MLM company or go to the DSA website as these companies are great at getting you in business very fast.

A great business to take a look at is here

Opportunity Presentation

This business cost me about £200 to start and has returned more than £1 million in income.

Once established it takes a few hours a month to run .

I will not give you a 100% promise of £1Million as the variable factor is your skills and how hard you work. What I will do is show you how to start a business,
supply you with all the support needed to become successful and pr...ovide
you with the required knowledge necessary to build up a
profitable, viable business as a manufacturers agent and work from home business.

Give me a call and I will get you started!

Cheers
Richard
0845 056 9325

Why not having an 'About us' page could cost you a sale says Enterprise Nation

http://www.enterprisenation.co.uk/detail/Why_not_having_an_About_us_page_could_cost_you_a_sale/3376/22.aspx (as seen here)

As an avid online shopper myself, I've strolled the virtual high street for many years, popping into the big department stores of the 'net (Amazon.co.uk, eBuyer, etc.), but also the smaller, independent, 'boutique' shops. But what makes the difference between a purchase and a closed-tab is an affective 'About Us' page. So, don't forget to include one!

I'm not worried about Internet security. I know what the padlock looks like in my browser. But I'm really concerned with two things when I shop at independent, often home-based online retailers:

1. Design: You may have the best product in the world, but if your website looks tacky, I'm going to be skeptical about its quality and will probably be put off. Not always, mind you. But it might make me wince!
   If you don't have the resources to make your online shop everything you want it to be, just keep it simple. As a customer, I'd rather that, and I'd be more likely to buy your goods, then you can invest that money into making your website a little more 'slap-bang' and a little less 'hit and miss'.
2. Transparency: This is hugely important to me. I'm comfortable shopping at Amazon.co.uk, but if I'm going to shop at an indie online retailer, I like to know who I'm dealing with. After all, that's an advantage you have over the 'department stores'.

'About Us'

A good 'About Us' page should have the following:

• Your actual name: It's terribly frustrating to scour a website, looking for the name behind the business. What's the big secret? It makes a huge different knowing - and puts shoppers at ease knowing that there's someone accountable for the transaction.
• A photo: It's a powerful thing for a customer to imagine who they're dealing, but to see them as well helps us empathise in a way we can't with businesses like Amazon.co.uk.
• A short bio: We're not looking for your life story, but something brief about how you arrived at this point in your life, where you hope to be in a few years and a few personal tit-bits maybe. It's harder to walk away from a sale when it's someone you know!
• Contact details: This is really important. Not only do we want to know where your stuff's coming from, but we want to know that someone's accountable for the transaction - and there's someone we can contact if something goes wrong.

What do you think?

Google Buzz! Can you get the buzz in your business

Will Google Buzz benefit your business?

Now that the dust has settled on the controversial launch of Google Buzz, I decide to investigate whether it offers real business opportunities.

This piece on Google Buzz and its potential applications for business was originally going to run some weeks ago, but two things rapidly became apparent.

Firstly, we needed time to have a play around with it. It wasn't instantly clear to me exactly what its purpose, strengths and/or weaknesses were and the fact that it landed out of the blue, with no instructions save for a two-minute video, certainly didn’t help matters.

As ever some sources were prepared to stump up some snap opinions (opinions are like bottoms as everybody has one and they are often full of the same stuff) even some of those quickly wanted to retract or amend their initial thoughts as they further explored the functionality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi50KlsCBio&feature=player_embedded

Mind you, woth the BIG the liberties that Buzz took with its users' privacy resulted in such an unholy storm that everything else regarding Google's foray into the social world was overshadowed by the controversy. Understandably, people weren't happy when they initially checked out Buzz to find that they were already set up to follow people and the backlash began.

The dust has now settled (somewhat). Although whether or not Buzz will ever recover from the furore is yet to be seen.