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Free Online Advertising: Why You Should Use It
Free online advertising offers many benefits for online and offline businesses. Obvious benefits of free online advertising include increased exposure, sales leads, and additional sales. Read Full Article Here
Vinyl Banners Design Tips for Large Vinyl Banners
Generally speaking, a vinyl banner is easy to design. Anybody with a little bit of graphic design experience can design a vinyl banner. And even if you have no experience, your supplier can point you in the right direction, or even design your banner for a small charge. Here are some things to watch for when designing a vinyl banner... Read Full Article Here
Is It Really This Easy to Get Free Advertising?
One of the best ways to get free advertising is to simply write articles and give them away. Its a foreign concept to those new to online business, but youll really be impressed with the results. 1. Why Should You Write Articles? Read Full Article Here
The Landscape of Business Has Changed
A special yearly issue of Success Magazine called "The Selling Issue" quoted Scott DeGarmo, "The big money goes to those companies with superior marketing operations. Entrepreneurial companies of today must evolve from being sales oriented to being marketing oriented in order to now win the consumer." Read Full Article Here
The Past, The Present, And The Future: A Compulsive Gambler's Thoughts Through Poetry Part 3
The Past, The Present And The Future, A Compulsive Gamblers Thoughts Part 3 is a collection of poems that express what I was going through during the last ten years of my life. Through this experience I was able to better understand what I was going through before, during and after with my compulsive gambling addiction. You learn an awful lot about your self when you are able to put it into words. In part 3 there are two more poems Peaceful Feelings Came Over Me and Living Life To The Fullest. Peaceful Feelings Came Over Me Read Full Article Here
Why 95% of Yellow Page Antique Ads Really Stink, and What You Can Do To Be in the Top 5%
Did I get your attention? That's exactly what I intended to do. I wrote a compelling headline that concentrated on a problem, created interest and desire, and offered a solution...all in a few short words! It's a fact, most antique advertisements in the yellow pages are really lame! Oh, the "yellow page man" that sells you this crud will tell you that your ad "looks good", but does it generate business for you? Read Full Article Here
Is Your Business Phone Number Honest?
Your business is listed in the Yellow Pages whether you buy an ad or not. Your business is listed in the Yellow Book and the other phone books, too, no purchase necessary. Yup, free listings in the yellow pages. Provided, you have a business line, in the name of your business, at the phone company. Advertising your home number as a "business" can only lead to confusion and a problem when the phone company finds out.It's as bad for your company image as having an eMail account with a free service. Spend the bucks for a real business number and a real Internet domain. Once you have an "official" business number, the trick is to get people to remember your name when they look in the book. That's advertising's job. If you stress what's in it for them they will remember who you are when they go looking. Many times they go looking a year, or more, after hearing or seeing your ads. If it is all about them, they will remember all about you. Read Full Article Here
10 Ways to Design Yellow Pages Ads
Here is some common sense advice for those "unchangeable for a whole year" Yellow Pages ads Yellow Pages advertising is one of the most popular forms of advertising in the country today. Almost every home in America (96.9%) and business has at least one copy of "the book". Read Full Article Here
Modern Marvel Yellow Pages
First was the telephone. Once Alexander Graham Bell got it working, it spread like the southern kudzu vine. In less than two years after the first "Watson, come here I need you" conversation, there were enough telephones for a "central office" and someone to connect and disconnect the callers (1878). The fastest growing of the new Bells was the New Haven Telephone Company (Connecticut) There were enough people "on line" to cause them to publish a little white card with the names of all 50 subscribers. The headings were divided into four sections:residential, professional, miscellaneous and essential service listings. Thus, the first telephone "book" Read Full Article Here
Don't Use Your Print Ad on Radio
I don't know about you but I don't drive down the road with a pencil and paper on the seat. Why then should you waste valuable advertising seconds on the radio by telling me your phone number? Read Full Article Here
What Color is Your Yellow Pages Ad?
In the beginning, Yellow Pages ads were, well, yellow. With black type. Then, in an effort to jump start sales, the clever people who invented Yellow Pages in 1886, the Reuben H. Donnelly Corporation, figured an inexpensive way to add red to the ads. Red borders, red type. Higher rates. With the monopoly broken all over the country there are now Yellow Books, Yellow Pages, McLeodUSA Books and a whole bunch of smaller start ups. Some use new printing techniques making 4- color ads available, in some books. The Yellow Book, the fastest growing independent, does not have any color as a selling point (cheaper). All black, like the old days. Read Full Article Here
Your Billboard is Showing
Several years back the billboard people put a big picture of "Sharlene Wells, Miss America" on billboards all over town. She was everywhere. The clever use of the girl had two purposes; the first was to cover up all the unsold boards. The second was to show the effectiveness of billboard advertising. Surveys were conducted before and after the one month showing of Sharlenes pretty mug. Before, only 1.5% of people surveyed could recall her name when asked "Who is Miss America". After, the number jumped to an amazing 12%. Read Full Article Here
Books, Bibles, and Fast Talkers
Every community has 'em. Fast talkers who roll into town with a clever idea to sell to people in business. Many times the ideas are clever and cute but you should weigh the ups and downs of every offer before you dig out the checkbook. Most of these in-town-for-a-day people want their cash up front. Read Full Article Here
Advertising Vs. PR in Your Small Business Marketing Strategy
A great small business marketing strategy includes a mix of tactics. Advertising and PR are two very important tools that all small business owners need to be using regularly. Many small businesses I talk to do one of the other, but don't commit to doing both. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and are complimentary to each other. Small Business Advertising Strengths: Read Full Article Here
My Ads Don't Work, So I Don't Do Them Any More
Does that make sense? Yet, that is what I hear from a lot of prospective clients. What that is saying is, My Marketing Doesnt Work So Ill Never Do That Again! (Ive actually heard that statement). Read Full Article Here
Here is How to Attain Freedom with Your PC!
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Vinyl Banner Design Tips
Vinyl banner design is about as easy as it gets for the non-professional graphic designer. Generally speaking, a vinyl banner is easy to design. Anybody with a little bit of graphic design experience can design a banner. And even if you have no experience, your supplier can point you in the right direction, or even design your banner for a small charge. Here are some things to watch for when designing a vinyl banner... Read Full Article Here
Inside View On Printers
Printers have certainly come a long way since the inception of the character and and dot matrix printers. These ancient products (ancient in technical terms being as few as 10-15 years) were what are known as impact printers, simply because they needed to make a physical connection with the paper in order to achieve the ink-on-paper result. Read Full Article Here
Is Traditional Advertising Dead?
Talk to almost any advertising agency, or Fortune 500 company exec about advertising and promotion, and you will almost certainly hear the buzz words "fragmented advertising" and "consumer-centric campaigns" and long discussions about the many pitfalls and difficulties of creating effective advertising campaigns today. What is fragmentation exactly? It's the increase in the number of available methods for getting your message to your audience. Read Full Article Here
Radio Advertising: A Long History Of Excellence
For years people have tuned into radio talk shows, radio morning shows as well as all those broadcasters and their funky styles. If you are like many, you flip on the radio as well. From a marketing standpoint, though, do you realize the value of radio advertising? While many say that your marketing dollars should be split into various categories, you will find that this is an excellence place to start. What does radio advertising have to offer you? Consider first the amount of people that are on the radio at any given moment. In the morning, as people get dressed for work or school, the radio is on. When they get into their cars to head to work, the radio is on. The radio is playing in the office, on the way home again and maybe they tune it on before bed as well. It is the first thing that people wake up to. Radio advertising is powerful medium. Read Full Article Here
Is Database Marketing A Good Thing?
Database marketing is an important field. It allows the business to take advantage of names of individuals who may be interested in their products. These databases of people are often some of the best potential customers out there because they have already made purchases or shown interest in the products and services that you are providing. But, not everyone like these options and not everyone like database marketing. Database marketing is information that is compiled about people from their previous histories. For example, people who fill out such forms as charity forms, subscription forms, credit card inquiries and free products have their names and information gathered. This database of information helps companies to figure out what other potential product they may be interested in. Their names, addresses and other information is gathered and stored in a database that then will be sold to others. Read Full Article Here
3 No Fail Strategies for Promoting Your Business
In a funk because other sales people seem to be winning all the new business opportunities? Its time to start claiming your share of the market. By implementing 3 key promotional strategies youll be able to enhance your credibility, get established as the preferred business of choice, and get super exposure even if you dont win the business this time. Here are 3 tips that will boost your business development promotional efforts and help you to get noticed. Read Full Article Here
The Five Methods To Generate Profitable Marketing Ideas Quickly
"Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
- Harold R. McAlindon Mr. McAlindon, President of the Parthenon Group in Nashville, Tennessee said, "There is a difference between creativity and innovation. Innovation is a creative collaboration. Converting creativity to innovation is a team sport." Read Full Article Here
Cleaning Tips � Their Usefulness To Website Visitors and The Cleaning Company
If you type into the search engines the phrase cleaning tips you get a choice of something like 14,800,000 websites to choose from and many of those websites will redirect you to scores of other websites. There are specific sites that are dedicated to giving hints, advice and tips on a variety of topics with seemingly no vested interest. Many of these tips are useful. However many cleaning companies include on their websites a cleaning tips page. I would argue that many of these are useless both to the visitor and to the company. Why do they do it? To attract more visitors to their site? To gain more customers? The purpose of the website is to provide information to potential customers on the services and products the business provides. Every visitor should be a potential customer. If a visitor leaves without making an enquiry then you have to improve the website and or the services you provide. Or you are not using the right keywords so are attracting people in by default. It is not really your type of services that the person actually wants. No matter what you do you will always attract a certain number of these. What you actually require is lots of high quality visitors. The best way of achieving this is to provide the surfer with as much high quality content as you can whilst still accurately describing your own companies products and services accurately. Good content will go down well with the search engines and raise your profile on them, which in turn should drive quality visitors to your site. Hence improving sales. Read Full Article Here
10 Ways to Make More Money in Business
Dont you just love Paul Simon? The lyrics to his songs are not only pleasing to the ears, but can be inspirational. Imagine yourself enjoying the warm autumn sunlight while listening to Paul's song, 50 Ways to Leave your Lover. Now, stretch your imagination just a bit and think about how many "Ways" you can come up with for saving and/or making more money in business... The problem is all inside your head
She said to me
The answer is easy
If you take it logically Read Full Article Here
Promoting Your Local Business #1 Preparation
Own a small business? Want more customers? Its easy, fast and very inexpensive to promote your business on the internet. Things that you should have ready: Read Full Article Here
Marketing Online? Time to Think Christmas!
It seems that every year I have to remind my e-tail clients to prepare for the upcoming season because while its still sunny and warm out, they arent thinking Christmas (conversely, they arent thinking summertime in the middle of February either). But from a search engine perspective one must prepare a few months in advance of the season to ensure they reach their full potential. Read Full Article Here
Marketing Strategy: 7 Steps to Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is widely defined as being a complex process consisting in two main phases:
- identification of broad, large markets
- segmentation of these markets in order to select the most appropriate target markets and develop Marketing mixes accordingly. Everyone within the Marketing world knows and speaks of segmentation yet not many truly understand its underlying mechanics, thus failure is just around the corner. What causes this? It has been documented that most marketers fail the segmentation exam and start with a narrow mind and a bunch of misconceptions such as "all teenagers are rebels", "all elderly women buy the same cosmetics brands" and so on. There are many dimensions to be considered, and uncovering them is certainly an exercise of creativity. Read Full Article Here
The Man Who Offered to Beat Me Up
Today I received a long letter from a man who created a new self-defense system. He claims he can defeat anyone in under 3 minutes. He wants me to promote him and his method. He went on to say he'd be happy to meet with me to prove his skills. Read Full Article Here
What Motivates Your Customers To Buy?
Seems like a pretty simple question, right? Not really, when you dig deeper under the surface. How you answer is critical to the success of your business. To begin, understand one simple fact: prospects and clients buy for their reasons, not yours. They could care less about your company and your mission statement or the long list of product features you so skillfully articulate. Read Full Article Here
Postcard Marketing For Tourism Industry
As a travel agent marketer, or a hotel promotion, all you need in a good marketing tool is a cheap cost and high effect, contribute to the brand building and create a good relation with your visitors. These things can be obtained when you use postcard to market your services in the local community. And here are the reasons: Read Full Article Here
How To Handle No Show Joint Venture Partners
Joint venture marketing is the fastest, easiest, and most profitable way to increase your client base and generate huge profits. But, one of the VERY FEW downsides is that you may run into unserious joint venture partners who can make the process slow, difficult, and unbeneficial. No-show is the polite term for joint venture partners who make empty promises. Ever come across them? They are the all-talk-and-no-action types who seem to have all the enthusiasm in the world to joint venture with you in the beginning. Read Full Article Here
Business Marketing Strategy that Doubles Your Results Through 5 Simple Questions
Many small business owners, remember small is defined as companies with under 500 employees, fail to market themselves and consequently continue to lose market share. The inability to increase sales revenue goes beyond the expertise of your sales staff and is directly tied into your marketing plan. First, do you have a marketing plan to deliver your marketing message? How are you marketing yourself and your business? Even if you are a Single Office Home Office Business (SOHO) or home based business, you need a marketing plan. Obviously if you are a larger organization, you understand the value of having such a plan. HINT: If you dont have a plan or have been procrastinating about writing a plan, STOP right now. Find; hire someone to help you write that plan. These plans should be directly tied to your strategic plan of Who Does What By When within your business plan. Read about where to begin at www.processspecialist.com/articles/DoYouKnowandPlanforthe3RsforBusiness.pdf Read Full Article Here
Reality Branding Are You Taking Advantage Of The 40 Year Social Pendulum?
I watched Roy Williams in a quite literally amazing presentation about society's 40-year Pendulum recently. His presentation was a delightful hidden bonus in the agenda from the Call to Action seminar hosted by Bryan and Jeff Eisenberg at the Wizard of Ads Academy 1 in Buda, Texas. Roy´s presentation explained a phenomenon that happens every 40 years where folks´ attitudes gradually shift over time in an opposite direction to that of the previous generation. He finished by predicting that in the next 2-3 years we´re going to see radical shifts in the way people buy and what they are influenced by. I am labeling this shift for the purposes of this article Reality Branding. Read Full Article Here
Making Teams Work for MLM Business
Pick up the latest U.S and European MLM business books and you will find case studies on MLM business teams, theories on how to develop teams for increased productivity, and ideas for MLM activities, which turn previously, discontented employees into smooth running teams. There are solid reasons why businesses considered using MLM teams. The reasons are such things as the need or desire for: increased productivity, increased quality of goods and services, better quality of goods and services, better quality of work life for employees, cost reduction, reduced employee turnover, reduced spoken and unspoken conflicts within the workplace, increased innovation, increased organizational MLM adaptability or flexibility. When we speak of MLM teams, we have many different kinds in mind, some of which are: permanent organization structure, which is built around, MLM teams, temporary use of teams for special periods of time or special projects, such as merger study team, rewards recognition team, corporate wellness team; functional MLM teams, such as accounting team, marketing team, manufacturing team; interdisciplinary MLM teams, using functional areas of marketing, operations customer service to study and solve issues of customer dissatisfaction; teams with rotating leaders; teams with permanent bosses; self-managing MLM teams. Read Full Article Here
Pull in More Business with the Power of Coupons
Dont you just love a good deal? Well, so do your customers! One of the most effective ways to offer customers a great deal is by offering coupons. In fact, Advertising Age (an authority in the advertising business) reports that 87% of all shoppers use coupons. A.C. Nielson Co., another famous marketing research firm, says that 95% of all shoppers like coupons, and 60% actively seek out coupons before making purchases. Those are pretty high numbers! The effectiveness of coupons has already been proven, so it may be time to consider adding a coupon strategy to your marketing activities. Read Full Article Here
A Gift for Web Visitors Usability!
What does your web site say about your business? The reality today is that your web site represents your entire company, and visitors make judgments about your business based on their impression of your web site. Often, businesses focus on creating a professional image, which of course is vitally important for making a good first impression. But what is often overlooked is the value of web site usability, which can be even more important to your online success. Weve all seen web sites that look great, but the important information is buried, unclear, or just plain missing. Most users will spend a few minutes attempting to find what they are looking for, but then abandon the site to find another that is easier to use. Making sure your site is usable is like a gift to your visitors that pays back rewards in customer satisfaction and a positive user experience. If visitors like your site and find it easy to use, they will come back. Read Full Article Here
Why Should You Send E Newsletters?
Flashy public relations campaigns and advertisements are fine, but todays consumers want to know more about the company behind the marketing campaigns. They need to have confidence in the company, know it behaves ethically, and has specific expertise and qualifications that can help solve their customers problems. Contribute to Your Readers Professional Growth Read Full Article Here
Put Your Calendar To Work
It's an October evening and your major reception for donors has just begun. Turnout is substandard and most of the attendees are women. Can you say, "World Series?" Sure, I knew that you could! Every organization should create an annual PR and marketing calendar so that it can avoid the World Series' of the world, as well as take advantage of dates of significance. With a couple of months left in 2005, now is a good time to begin filling out your 2006 calendar. Here's a template to help get you started. Read Full Article Here
Ammo, Ammo, Ammo
All the guns in the world do you no good without bullets. It is the same with media relations: You must have the right ammo to get publicity. Let's take a look at some PR bullets you may want to consider. Of course, the old standby is the news release, which can be issued for new products and services, events you are sponsoring, new facilities and personnel changes, among other things. See this list of possible reasons to distribute a news release. Read Full Article Here
10 Simple Tactics To Improve Your Business
These ten simple tactics are just that, simple. Each one is a nil cost or low cost ways to improve your business and together they form a formidable armory of weapons at your disposal to make your business grow. So, read, study and think about them all so that you can devise the best ways to implement them in your business. Here then are ten simple tactics to improve your business. Read Full Article Here
Painless Methods for Getting a Constant Stream of Referrals
When I was selling Encyclopedia Britannica door-to-door many years ago, it was an obligatory part of the job to ask for referrals. And I hated it. It made me nervous and shaky just to think of it. Is this how you feel too? I hated to ask for fear I was imposing on my prospects, or even destroying my chances of a sale, so I left it almost until I was out the door, like an afterthought. As I didnt make many sales, I didnt seem to get many referrals either, which made matters worse. And because I didnt get many sales I feared that I may lose what sales I did get if I asked for referrals. Read Full Article Here
The 3 1/2 Ways to Grow Any Business
Let me first say that I did not choose 3 ½ instead of the usual 3 to be different or clever
I opted for the fraction because I cant decide whether my ½ is really a part of one of the other three, or deserves is own number, so I chickened out and compromised. Judge for yourself
I wont delve into these in great detail for two reasons
First of all, they are easy-to-grasp concepts, even for novices. Secondly, youll find these discussed ad infinitum in countless business textbooks and marketing websites. You should be ever mindful of them, however, as you develop your plan. Read Full Article Here
Marketing Myth Number 1: Marketing is Just Another Word for Advertising
This is perhaps the most common marketing myth and must be debunked right away if you have any hope of accomplishing your business goals. A belief in this myth necessitates a view of marketing as a tactical function rather than the series of cross-functional processes, approaches and activities that it really is. Yes, advertising (marketing communications) is an essential component of your overall marketing plan, but it is not THE plan and ideally should account for only 1-2% of your entire marketing efforts. If you devote all of your attention and efforts on advertising activities (e.g. ad copy, sales channels, websites, media, etc.) youre putting the cart before the horse and are missing critical issues that may be having a negative impact on your business. Read Full Article Here
Marketing: The Value of Your Own Experience
Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I enrolled in a course titled, "Services Marketing." Among other things, my professor required that we document three positive and/or negative customer experiences we had each week to share with the class. Read Full Article Here
Why Marketing is Like Fishing
I love fishing; its relaxing, fun and always a challenge. I dont fish in tournaments because I dont know how to catch game fish in a consistent way. For me, entering fishing tournaments would be a waste of time and money. There are those, however, who study every aspect of a particular fish, practice casting, and know their target so well, that they consistently pull in "the big ones" and win the tournaments. It seems the same thing happens in business. Certain companies seem to consistently "pull in the big ones" and gain market share. Why? They know that their target is like a fish! Fish are naturally unpredictable. They only strike at bait that is pulled toward them at the right time and in the right place. Sounds a lot like your potential clients doesnt it? When promoting their business small business owners and entrepreneurs often forget basic marketing principles. When I go fishing, the first thing I do is look for a couple of lakes that have they type of fish that I want to catch. Once I find a couple of lakes that I want like to fish, I would seek out the locals to get the latest scuttlebutt on what my fish are doing. I would ask whats biting, where theyre biting, and what time of day seems to work the best. I would also find out which type bait is hauling them in. Then, I would purchase a map of the lake so that I have a good idea of the "lay of the land." Read Full Article Here
Predictive Dialers Human Interaction Maximized
Predictive dialers are many steps removed from their predessors, the automatic dialers of the past. Whereas automatic dialing allowed callcenter agencies to dial numbers quickly and efficiently, predictive dialing also processes and makes use of a whole range of information, linking callers to live voices every single time. In fact, with predictive dialing, agents' 'talk time' has increased from an average of twenty minutes per hour to fifty minutes per hour. This is a fabulous rate of improvement - instead of wasting more than half of their time on listening to busy signals and answering machine messages, agents now spend the majority of their time engaged in producting interaction. The dialer also manages the line to agent ratio by pacing the call rate at the desired level. In this way, quotas are met, and agents are neither idle nor overwhelmed. In other words, because the hardware and software does its job, agents are able to spend much more time doing theirs. And of course, increased contact time means that the center's goals are reached much more quickly. In many ways, it is still true that the real value of a call center depends on its 'human capital' - the agents who interact with clients and potential clients. The more the center's human capital is brought to the forefront, the more everyone benefits. The aim of technology, therefore, is to maximize the time that agents are able to spend doing what only they can do - conversing, communicating, interacting. Predictive dialing and other call center technology represents a perfect symbiosis between person and machine. Read Full Article Here
Stop Selling and Make More Sales
A few months ago I spent time training some telephone sales agents who were new to selling. They'd mainly been involved with handling incoming calls but now their company needed them to do some out bound sales calls. I spent two days running a sales workshop for them and another three days coaching them on the job. The biggest challenge I had was trying to stop them selling. Or at least their idea of what selling is all about. Read Full Article Here
Telesales
HEADSETS & TELEPHONES The equipment your personnel use is important. Dont let others tell you any different. Like the Sales Representative who looks forward to his or her new car every two years, so the telesales person deserves to enjoy good equipment. Good, practical equipment does make a difference. The Sales representative drives the car every day; its a tool of the profession. The staff work area, tools and equipment, like the Sales Reps car, say something about them and the way in which they do their job. Read Full Article Here
Telemarketing Tips for Direct Sales Success
Unfortunately, the DNC legislation has many small businesses that use telemarketers a bit concerned about their choice of direct sales tactic. However, there are still many ways to have your message get into the right peoples hands without annoying them. And the fact of the matter is, telemarketing, as a direct sales tactic, works. Here are some tips and ideas to get your sales flowing and customers thrilled that you called them: Find New Target Markets - Read Full Article Here
Cold Calling for Introverts
In her book, The Introvert Advantage, Marty Olsen Laney talks about the defining moment when she embraced the fact that she was an introvert. It came in the form of a statement, Oh, theres nothing wrong with me, Im just an introvert! According to her research only 25% of people are introverted which leaves us the daunting task of dealing with the 75% extroverts of the world. And surprising as it seems, there are those of us who have, for one reason or another, chosen to make our living in sales. Read Full Article Here
How To Be A Cold Calling Superstar!
Our emotions and feelings are changing all of the time based on our interpretation of events. Does this mean that even a sales superstar feels bad if they lose a big deal? Of course they do. They wouldnt be human if they didnt. Its natural for your feelings to fluctuate as you go about your business. Take a moment and imagine a bad day selling on the phone. Its been awful. Youve been cold calling for over 3 hours and youve had rejection after rejection after rejection. Youve had enough and youre bored and disconsolate. How would you be sitting? Most people would be leaning forward, hunched up. Your head might be down, your breathing shallow. Youd be speaking quietly and your hand may well be partly covering your mouth. Youd probably be looking down too and your facial expression would be boredom. But I didnt have tell you any of that. You already know what physiology goes with a bad day on the phone or in any selling scenario. Read Full Article Here
No More Cold Calling? Well, Almost...
We do not advocate cold calling in High Probability Selling. However, cold calling is necessary at times. You do need prospective clients and customers: If you don't have a customer list from which to solicit referrals, and you also lack an advertising/marketing budget, cold-calling to a highly targeted list is the fastest route to finding High Probability Prospects. Read Full Article Here
7 Ways to Jump Start Your Cold Calls
Cold calling has to be one of the most feared aspects of every sales person's and business owner's day. With some important key tips, you can make cold calling painless and enjoyable and as easy as calling a friend. Here are 7 key ways to jump start your cold calls: Read Full Article Here
High Phone Bills Can Affect More Than Your Expenses
I got a phone call today from a gentleman in Arizona. He wanted to talk to me about a report I downloaded from him about network marketing. I wasnt interested in network marketing, and I told him that. But consider this. Read Full Article Here
4 1/2 Steps for Doubling Your B2B Appointments
Cold calling. Most people hate to do it and there is a cottage industry of people making a profit by selling ideas on how to generate business without cold calling. They're making money because they are using a basic marketing tactic that most of us have forgotten how to use - give your customer what they want! Tell a salesperson that they can get appointments without making cold calls, tell them to buy your book, and you'll make money hand over fist. Why? Because it's a solution that fits what that market wants. The fact of the matter is that there are many things you can, and should, use to help generate leads. However, business-to-business cold calling will always be an effective basic tactic that will help you get an appointment with your prospect. Read Full Article Here
Generating Leads Through Telemarketing
Telemarketing is one of the most common ways that a business can generate leads. It is a versatile approach. Lead generation telemarketing can be inbound or outbound, meaning that systems use prerecorded messages and can dial either random numbers or numbers from an imported list. Telemarketing is one of the few lead generation techniques that is flexible enough to be immediately adaptable to new situations. The telemarketer can answer questions or provide additional information as needed in response to the potential customers comments. Also, while prospective buyers may ignore direct mail or advertisements, they will not ignore a ringing telephone. Once the person answers the phone, a good telemarketer can generate a lead. Read Full Article Here
15 Tips to Making More Telephone Appointments, More Often
So we all hate having to make telephone appointments, its a pretty thankless task at the best of times, but if you learn your craft well, at least you will be out there getting appointments and making things happen. Just remember, if you sell a product worth say 5000 pounds, and it takes you 100 rejections to get that sale, then each of those rejections is worth £50.00. If you were paid £50.00 just for getting a NO each time, youd be on that phone day and night wouldnt you? These tips are just a few of the many hundreds I could write from my 17 years experience of cold calling and appointment making. Nothing happens without a sale. Read Full Article Here
Discover the 3 Essential, and 1 Optional, Elements That Guarantee More Appointments
There it is again. Your biggest hurdle to getting appointments. The telephone seems to be sitting there on your desk mocking you as if it knows you just hate to pick it up and use it to ask for an appointment with your prospects. You wish you had some way to make the experience of lead generation more enjoyable by sending something out to your prospect first and yet you know that most of your efforts have been costly, time-consuming, and ineffective. Its now another Monday and you have to fill your week with appointments or else youre out of a job or out of business Guess what? There is a way to make those cold calls warmer, enjoyable, and more productive. It just takes a little creativity to warm up the coldest prospect and get them talking to you on the phone. It doesnt cost much to do and if done correctly can earn you as high as a 40-50-60% appointment ratio or higher. Read Full Article Here
Fear
Half asleep but with a look of fear still present in her eyes, Sandy stared into the bathroom mirror. Her right cheek displayed the remnants of pillow wrinkles and still revealed a telltale sign of the drool that escaped her mouth during the night as she slept. Sleep hadn't come easy for Sandy that entire weekend. In fact, this was the worst weekend she could remember having since her Grandmother passed away. Sandy looked into the mirror only to see an unsympathetic face filled with anxiety staring back at her. "Just call in sick," she commanded to her own image in the mirror. "Better yet, why don't you just quit, that'll fix that Bozo of a boss. I'm the best Inside Sales person our company has. They'll miss me when I'm gone." Read Full Article Here
How to Get Rid of Annoying Cold Callers
Ring ring . . . Potential Buyer (PB): Hello Read Full Article Here
Voice Mail Prospecting Most Salespeople Leave The Wrong Kinds of Messages
Do you routinely achieve a 65% - 85% callback rate on the voice mail messages you leave for prospects? You can. But first you have to ignore the "conventional wisdom" being taught by sales trainers who never actually cold-call or by business consultants who teach rather than do. Read Full Article Here
Making a Cold Call Fun
If you are in business in any capacity, youve made cold calls. If youve had to call anyone out of the phone book for any service whatsoever, youve made a cold call. So why are cold calls so HARD for people to make? How come people DRED making cold calls and how come there are sales classes and books dedicated directly to Cold Calling? Read Full Article Here
Working From Home Telemarketing Do You Have What It Takes?
More and more people every day are looking for ways of working from home. Working from home has never been so popular and the choice of types of employment seems endless. You might decide to start your own home based business and work long hours to achieve a dream of supporting your family from the profits of the business. Perhaps you simply want a job you can do at home, maybe just for a few hours a week to bring in a little extra money. Up until a few years ago, work from home opportunities were rare and poorly paid. This type of work from home slavery still exists but technology has caused a dramatic increase in the number of genuine work from home opportunities available, both for the home based business entrepreneur and for the stay at home mom who wants a job she can fit in around the kids' schedule. Read Full Article Here
Changing How Business Answers Their Telephones
America is now conditioned to the automated telephone answering experience. Most of us can recite the words from memory. This drone or common experience has a comfort zone that many companies are fearful to abort. As the buying demographic changes, so must the approach. Telephone answering script and voice professionals at www.scotttradio.com welcome this new frontier in the business and call center phone experience. Please listen closely as the menu has changed is now a common phrase when we are sent into the automated telephone answering world. Wouldnt it be nice to be both informed and entertained? Who said it must be bland to be professional? Someone did and too many companies believe this reality. Read Full Article Here
Cold Calling Success for Cleaning Companies
Most people recoil in fear at the thought of cold calling in order to make sales for their business. But if you spend your time sitting in your office waiting for people to come to you, you're going to have a long wait. If done properly, cold calling can be an effective sales technique for your cleaning business. The following tips won't eliminate your fear of cold calling, but they can help to make it a more positive, successful experience for you. Read Full Article Here
Top 10 Tips For Cold Calling Success
At some point or other every sales person has to cold call. Whether its ringing totally new clients, chasing leads, gaining referrals, networking or following up on a conference card handed in its not something that many salespeople are that comfortable with. Being able to cold call confidently, professionally and effectively will not only open up more potential business for you it will also allow you to feel more in control of your own destiny and much more empowered. Here are my top 10 tips for cold calling success
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BBB Better Business Bureau Have They Changed Their Ways?
The BBB, Better Business Bureau had been previously accused by members and non-members for their questionable sales practices. The sales teams used by their franchisees or licensees to sign up customers were reading from a sales script one, which was at best a little misleading. As it would be prudent not to comment on this matter most business owners are not willing to say anything, although many do consider the sales tactics used in the past to be problematic. Personally I have not followed up to see if in fact the BBB has changed their sales tactics, although do recommend one does do some investigative reporting. You must understand of course that having a BBB plastic sign in your business, tends to give confidence to consumers to buy from you, so that is a plus for them. Good brand name building. A true pragmatic small business owner might over look such things as misrepresentations in their sales pitch to get that sign and prominently display it in their establishment. Theoretically one could argue that point. Read Full Article Here
CommonCommon Courtesy Isn't So Common � 10 Telephone Blunders
As youngsters, many of us were taught basic telephone etiquette. These lessons taught us the basic components of conducting a phone conversation - politeness, attentiveness, respect, and common courtesy. Unfortunately, it seems these lessons have been forgotten by many of todays companies. For many, the philosophy seems to say that its easier to forgo these practices and, instead, choose to deal with the customer service consequences later. It seems the true cost to the bottom line is of not of any consequence. Why in a time of ever increasing competition locally and abroad, along with the knowledge of customers high expectations, would anyone be willing to overlook and undervalue this most basic customer service skill? Common Sense
Common sense and logic arent so common. Common sense says solid telephone skills cannot be taken for granted and shows our customers we value them and their business. Here are some common telephone blunders and common sense solutions to keep your company on track. Even if you have been guilty of practicing some or all of these blunders, take charge now and reshape your focus to create a customer-focused organization. Read Full Article Here
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