Propsect lost job

You have been working on this prospect for quite some time and have finally secured the sale.


You arrive at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jones and are thrilled that your three months of hard work is finally going to pay off. You had a 6:30 appointment.


Mr. Jones answers the door and looks to be visibly upset. He invites you in, only to learn that Mrs. Jones was laid off from her corporate job.


That sale that you thought you had, was not going to happen.
This is a real life example that happened to one of our recent attendees.


What should the professional do?

GIVE YOUR BUSINESS A KICK IN THE ASSETS

Seminar: GIVE YOUR BUSINESS A KICK IN THE ASSETS-“ PUBLIC SPEAKING: HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF FOR EXPLOSIVE BUSINESS GROWTH-

Speak & Skyrocket Your Business”- Great for ALL business people & professionals.
Presented by Erica Prince, Pres. The Professional Speaker’s Bureau
Tuesday, May 19, 6-8:30 pm;
Register $40 for Seminar, Dinner, Networking/ $48.at the door
Long Island Conservatory, 1125 Willis Avenue, Albertson, N.Y. 11507 Limited seating.

To register call: (516) 817-0222 or (516) 484-2844(msg.) or visit www.ericaprince.net (click ROUNDTABLE-SPEAK & SKYROCKET YOUR BUSINESS SEMINAR, to register)

Early Bird Special $40 includes dinner $48 at the door

What Google can do for you

What Google can do for you
by Steve Levy- Pinpoint Computer Services
Computers Misbehaving?
We Have Your Solution!Please contact us to Get Your Computers Running Right.
Pinpoint Computer Services , Inc.
email: steve@pinpointcomputer.com
phone: 718-279-2222
web: http://www.pinpointcomputer.com


Google has many innovations to enhance your online experience.Check these out.

• Google AlertsYou can keep tabs on any topic or interst you may have. Go to Google Alerts and type in the search phrase (such as your organization, your hobby, your favorite topic or your favorite place). when the search term gets mentioned online, you will hear about it in an email alert. It's like having a personal clipping service.

• Google MapsMore powerful than mapquest. Go to maps.google.com. Choose the directions you want: by car, by public transit or on foot. View current traffic conditions. Turn on Street View to see actual photographs of your destination.

• Google TranslatorTranslate any text or webpage to or from 40 languages.Go to google translatoriGoogleYou can personalize your webpage. Hundreds of useful displays are available: clock, local weather, movie listings, daily horoscope, to do list and so on. Go to

• Google.com/ig800-GOOG-411Dial this number on your phone for the best free directory assistance available. Be sure to keep this number in your cell phone.View the video

• YouTubeYouTube is the most popular internet television or video distribution site on the Internet. A wealth of all types of short videos can be accessed here. Want to learn something by an instructional video, search YouTube. Go to youtube.com. Want to learn how to carve a turkey? You'll find video instruction here.
  
  
  Computers Misbehaving?We Have Your Solution!Please contact us to Get Your Computers Running Right.
  Steve Levy
  Pinpoint Computer Services , Inc.
  email: steve@pinpointcomputer.com
  phone: 718-279-2222
  web: http://www.pinpointcomputer.com

How to get referrals

• 
  

Roboform

ROBOFORM
I have dozens of websites that I log into, each having its own log in id and password. Needless to say, trying to remember these numerous log ins and passwords is a royal pain in the ***. My friend Simone recently turned me on to Robo Form, which automatically logs you into each of your accounts, without having to remember all of your passwords.

Did that make sense? I am not the most technical person, so in basic terms here is what I do.

I installed Robo Form on my computer

I log into the specific website using my user id and password (yes, you have to do it the first time).

Roboform then appears and asks if I want to save the id and password

The next time I need to access that site, I pull it up through roboform which sits on top of my browser and roboform automatically enters my id and password.

You can visit Robo Forms site here. They had some articles written about them in the Wall Street Journal and PC Magazine.

Do you have a recommended service/product you would like to share. Please email info@FaceToFaceNetworking.com and lets help each other become more efficient.

Thanks
Jay Rosensweig
http://www.facetofacenetworking.com/

The small things really do matter

I remember a college business class I took at the University at Albany that focused on a case study where Komatsu was grabbing incredible market share against the industry leader Caterpillar. (Both of these companies are heavy equipment manufacturers eg bulldozers).
The executives at Caterpillar were stunned and could not figure out why they were loosing market share. The pricing was relatively equal and Caterpillar had a stellar reputation.


The reason?


Well, the smart folks at Komatsu decided to put a soft cushion on the drivers seat of the vehicles. This gave relief to the drivers backside, who were bouncing around in the cockpit throughout the long day, moving dirt and other materials. When it came time to order new vehicles, the drivers would mention how they liked the Komatsu vehicles better than Caterpillar. To the purchasing agent, the price was pretty equal, and they were influenced by the drivers words.


So the moral to the story is that a little $25 cushion swayed thousands of dollars in business. Eventually, after hours and hours of research, the people at Caterpillar found out what was going on, and added the cushion to their vehicles as well.
What little things do you do different from your competitors? Some little things that may seem trivial to you could be the deciding factor that sways business your way. So the old saying "don't sweat the small stuff" does not always apply in business.

NYC Networking Events Long Island Business Networking

Does your business card get noticed?

Written by Biba Pedron

Having organized and attended networking events for the last four years, I am always still surprised and amazed to see how many solo-entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t have business cards, or don’t have professional business cards.

Having a professional business card helps to portray your image and make you stand out from the crowd. When you meet somebody, you have less than 10 seconds to make the right first impression, so along with your elevator pitch, make sure that people will remember you.
Your business card is your first marketing tool. But are you using it in the most effective way?
Many small business owners spend hours and hours trying to find the best way of marketing their businesses. But when it comes to their business cards they don’t follow the same rules. Most people just include their basic contact information and don’t realize how this little piece of paper can say a lot about their businesses.

When you place an ad in a newspaper or a magazine, don’t you try to write the most effective text to attract clients so that people call you or buy your products or services? So why not pay the same attention when designing your business card.

Your business card is your first marketing tool. Every time you give it to somebody, it's a chance to communicate something about your business. Your business card is very often the tool which will help people to decide whether they want to work with you or not, since it is an extension of your business. When you meet somebody for the first time they will judge you on your appearance, your clothes, the way you act, the way you speak and your business card. If the whole package looks very professional they will be willing to continue the conversation with you. If it doesn’t look professional they will not waste their time and will find somebody else to work with.

We used to say that we shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but unfortunately this is not true. So put all the chances on your side.
In my program “Power of Networking Secrets”, the Step 3 is “How to Design a Memorable Business Card”, and I help my clients to completely redesign their business card in order to grab people’s attention within seconds.

Here are the 10 indispensable keys which need to appear on your business card:
First on the front of your card:

1/ Your name – this sound obvious for everybody, but make sure it is easy to find.People have to see your name as soon as they receive your card so they will be able to associate your face with the name on your card. This will help them to remember you.

2/ Your title – if you work for a corporation, your title is always mentioned on the card, so if you are a solo-entrepreneur or a small business owner, it is also very important to mention if you are the founder, the CEO, the president, the marketing manager or other. Again, make it easy for people to remember you and what you do.

3/ The name of your company – even if you are a one person operation in your business, it is very important to have a business name. Using only your name if you are a sole proprietor or if you are an independent representative of a company will give the image of a part time activity and not a business image to your prospects. The same as when you introduce yourself and say, “I am a consultant” vs. “I have a consulting company”, people will not pursue you in the same way. Even if your consulting company is only you, this will not have the same impact.

4/ Your email address - the big No/No in a business card – once again if you want to be considered as a business and have a professional image, don’t use an email with yahoo, aol, or hotmail, etc… but have a professional email with yourname@yourdomainname.com. Today it really doesn’t cost a lot to buy a domain name, so please invest the $5 to $10 to buy one and use it on your business card.
You can have a yahoo, aol, or hotmail email to sign up for newsletters to avoid spam, but for your business card, this shows a lack of professionalism. Plus it is much easier for people to remember your name and your company name than a strange email with your nick name or number on it.

5/ Your phone number – personally I think that too many phone numbers are confusing and take up too much space. So I recommend that you use your main number, even if it is your cell phone because it is the most convenient way to reach you.

6/ Your website - having a website will help people to learn more about your business later. Your business card can’t say everything, so give them the opportunity to get the information they are looking for. Use your business card to bring traffic to your website.

7/ Your logo – it is as important to have a logo as it is to have a business name for the same reason, because this will give you a professional image. Using a regular white card, with no logo, just your name, phone number and email, will not help people to remember you. Some people use just a clipart on their business card and think this looks like a logo. In people’s minds this is definitely not the same thing. If you are not ready to invest in yourself, how do you expect people to invest in you?

8/ Your tagline – a tagline ensures that people associate your company name with your product or service. That is a short sentence which describes your business’ mission and makes you unique. That is usually the only thing people remember after you have met. So that is why it is important to really choose your words carefully when creating your tagline, in order to hook your audience and be memorable.
Just because you are a solo-entrepreneur or a small business owner, it does not mean that you can’t use the same strategies as the big companies. Make sure you use all the marketing tools which are available to promote your business. This is called ‘branding’. Using an effective logo & tagline are one of the most effective ways to successfully brand your business.
Take a look at most of the business cards that you have collected from people and you will notice how few of them have taglines. So stand out from the crowd, make sure to have the key elements on your card and that they are memorable.
When I work with a client and help him or her redesign their business card, I always encourage them to use the back of their card. Remember what I said earlier, “When you place an ad in a newspaper or a magazine, don’t you try to write the most effective text to attract clients so that people call you or buy your products or services?”
So why are you wasting all of this precious space on the back of your card?
Again, remember that your business card is a marketing tool. Use it to attract potential clients and not only to provide your contact information. Use it to pass on your business message.
On the back of your card – very few people use the back of their cards, so here is an opportunity for you to make a difference.

9/ Describe the benefits of your product/service or the benefits of working with you.Use bullet points to emphasize the purpose of your products and services. Show how you can be a problem solver to others. Encourage people to ask you questions about your business so that they want to learn more and visit your website later.10/ Tell people what to do next. Don’t assume that people will contact you for more information – tell them what to do. What we call “The call to action.”

Do you want them to: go to your website, sign-up for your newsletter, call you, buy your product? Tell them clearly. Offer them an incentive to make sure that they will take action.
Let’s say you are a coach or a financial advisor, no doubt, you have a lot of competition. What makes you unique and special? When people see your card, they will probably say, “Oh, another one!” But if you mentioned your specialties on your card, it will make a difference immediately.
For example I have 2 different business cards:
One card describes the benefits of joining Biba4Network and offers a coupon of $5 to come to my events, then clients can print from my website, which is a way to drive clients to the website to learn more.The other card, describes the benefits of my program “Power of Networking Secrets” and mentions “Sign-up for my newsletter and receive my free e-course “15 ways to maximize your networking results”, which is a way to also drive clients to the website and generate leads for my mailing list.

What's on your Business Card?Take a look at your card now, does it include the key elements to give a professional image to your business?Does your card stand out from the crowd?Does your card give you the results you are expecting?Does your card say what you want it to say?Does your design work with your company image and the rest of your marketing materials?If you have a different design for your business card, your website and your brochure, how do you expect people to take you seriously?

Order professional business cardsAvoid the cards that you print yourself on your printer. It doesn’t cost a lot to print professional business cards, you can order a thousand for $40 to $60 online and it doesn’t cost more to print on both side of your card, but it makes an incredible difference and has a greater impact on people.

Use the same logo and colors as your website, brochure or flyer. Having a consistency on your marketing materials will help people to recognize you where ever they see you. And the more they see you or your logo, the more they will remember you, and the more they will keep in touch with you. Try to always be at the forefront of their minds.

Your business card is an extension of your company just like your logo, letter head, brochures, flyers, website and any marketing tools. They must have the same message and design.
Never leave home without your business cardsWherever you go—to a networking event, to the dentist, to the movies, to a party, always bring your business cards with you. You never know where you will meet an interesting new contact, and you don’t want to miss the opportunity to exchange cards. Writing your telephone number or email address on a piece of paper or a paper napkin definitely doesn’t look very professional.

Still need help to revamp your business card and create a professional image? Learn more about “ Power of Networking Secrets”. In this 5 step program, you will find everything you need on how to maximize your networking results.You will learn: how to create an outstanding business card – how to polish an elevator pitch which will hook your audience so that people will remember you – how to create a 7 step follow-up system to turn more prospects into clients – how to use your newsletter to promote your products or services without hard selling – how to create strategic alliances to grow our business faster. You can read more about it and get your copy of “Power of Networking Secrets” at http://www.theconnectionqueen.com/pon-f2f.html

Five Tips For Writing Email Subject Lines That Can DOUBLE Your Open Rates

Five Tips For Writing Email Subject Lines That Can DOUBLE Your Open Rates
By Derek Gehl

For more great tips, visit the Internet Marketing Center

In the last issue of "The IMC Insider," I gave you ten tips on how to get your emails into your subscribers' mailboxes. And that's a big step in building those all-important relationships -- the ones that turn your subscribers into buyers... and your buyers into REPEAT buyers.

But getting into the mailbox is pretty much the same as knocking on the door. You're not in there yet!

It seems that one of the biggest problems people are having is getting their readers to OPEN the emails in the first place!

Truth is, you can be promoting the best product in the WORLD, and have the most enticing email copy possible, but if you're not writing compelling subject lines that get the emails opened, all your hard work is lost...

So today I'd like to give you FIVE tips for writing effective email subject lines that can easily DOUBLE the open (and click-through) rates on your next email.

Tip #1: Use personalization for added attention

Ever been in a large crowd, and you suddenly hear your name being called?

Even if you're hundreds of miles away from home and it couldn't possibly be someone calling you, you still look up automatically, without even thinking, right?

Hearing your name instantly gets your attention!

Now imagine how much more powerful your emails could be if your customers could "hear" their names right in the subject line.

Sending out an email with a personalized subject line is the equivalent of calling someone's name in a crowd: it has that same power to grab their attention.

So instead of a subject line that says something like:

"I have the information you're looking for"

... you could try something like this:

"Dave, I have the information you're looking for"
Pretty simple, right? But it really works!

In fact, according to a recent report by MarketingSherpa, by writing personalized subject lines that include the first name of your customers, you can get almost TWICE as many people to open the email and click through to your offer.

And if you wanted to take personalization one step further, consider adding another personal detail to the subject line, like the city your customers live in (you'd need to collect that data from them, of course).

Start with a subject line that looks like this:

"Want to get out of the city this weekend?"

... and then make it really compelling by adding personal details:

"Janet, want to get out of Tucson this weekend?"

And the great thing is that, as long as you're collecting your visitors' first names (and any other data you think is useful), there are plenty of tools out there you can use to automatically merge their names and personal details into your emails.

To see the one we like, check out http://www.marketingtips.com/icontact

Tip #2: Keep your subject lines SHORT

Here's a test: open up your email program, and take a look at the subject lines in your inbox.

Are there any that stand out more than others? Any that you read first, or get you interested in learning more?

Chances are it's the shorter subject lines that grab you, right?

It's actually been proven that subject lines that are less than 35 characters had HIGHER opening and click-through rates than those with subject lines longer than 35 characters.

So keep it short and sweet! You don't need to explain in detail what the email is about in the subject line, you just need to give enough information to make people want to open the email to read more.

And if you REALLY want to increase your open and click-through rates, make sure you put your benefit, offer, or most important element right at the beginning of the subject line.

That way, if someone's email program cuts off the end of the subject line (which is pretty common) you'll still get your main point across.

Tip #3: Keep the formatting simple and understated

If you sent an email to a friend, asking her if she wanted to shopping, would you type your subject line like this:

Would You Like To Go Shopping On Saturday?

Or how about like this:

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO SHOPPING ON SATURDAY?

It's pretty unlikely, right?

So why would your emails to your customers and subscribers have subject lines that were formatted like that?

The more your subject lines look like personal emails from friends, family members, or business associates, the more likely it is that they'll be opened. The more they look like spam, the less effective they'll be.

So avoid capitalizing each word (or the entire subject line), and avoid exclamation marks and dollar signs, which can increase your chances of having your messages flagged as spam, and will be sure to set off warning bells with your recipients.

Tip #4: Use a compelling "angle" to get your readers interested

Of course, getting your readers to open your emails requires more than personalization and formatting. You'll still need to come up with an interesting angle that grabs your customers' attention, and makes them WANT to open the email.

Here are some ideas for subject lines that we've had success with in the past:

Make an announcement or share news: People want to be the first to find out new things, especially if your site covers a specific industry.


Make your reader curious: Make your reader curious about what's in your email by suggesting they are missing out on an important offer or piece of information.
When you use this technique, make sure you leave something to the imagination. For example: Paul, are you making this common mistake?


Create a sense of urgency: Consider creating a sense of urgency in your subject line by limiting time (Frank, only three days left) or quantity (Mary, only 250 copies available).


Emphasize benefits: Another powerful approach for your subject line is to state how your readers will benefit from your email. If you can tell them how they're going to save money, save time, make their lives easier, etc, by opening and reading your message, you'll have the most success.
Tip #5: Make sure your subject line relates to the content of the email

Nobody likes to be fooled or tricked, and deception is the WRONG way to earn your customers' trust and respect, so make sure your subject line is related to your actual messages.

(In fact, it's a legal requirement under the CAN-SPAM Act that the subject line be authentic and not misleading).

So if your subject line says Mary, three ways to save money, you need to make sure you actually are talking about that, and preferably within the first few paragraphs. Otherwise, your visitors will feel cheated, and that will hurt your credibility.

By following these simple tips for writing and formatting the subject lines for your emails, you should be able to increase your open rates and click-through rates by up to 50%. And considering your opt-in list is where you'll find your most valuable customers, think how that could crank up your bottom line.

To your success,

Derek Gehl
For more great tips, visit the Internet Marketing Center

Business Networking Events Long Island

NY Business Networking

How to Maximize the Benefits of a Networking Event?

Everyone needs to network: entrepreneurs, small business owners, job seekers!
But does everyone maximize the benefits of networking?


The purpose of networking is to build relationships so you will get leads from someone you know, or from someone who knows someone you know. When you attend a networking event the purpose is to meet business people from various industries to get exposure.


What networking is not?
Networking is not a numbers game; you need to focus on quality and not on quantity. Some people think that they had a successful event when they have collected 30, 40 or more business cards, but they are missing the real point. How many of these 30 or 40 people will you be able to follow-up? How many of these 30 or 40 will follow-up with you?
What is the purpose to collect a huge number of business cards that will end up in a shoe-box on one of your shelves?


Networking is not a place to sell. You have to be prepared to give your elevator pitch to introduce yourself, not give a sales pitch. If you attend an event expecting to find a client to close a sale right away, chances are you will be very disappointed. Furthermore the other attendees might not appreciate your attitude.


What networking is?
Networking is more than just shaking hands and collecting business cards.

It is about building relationships and being committed to help other business professionals.

It is about the quality of your contacts and not the amount of your contacts.

It is about consistency. The best is to belong to two or three groups, attend their events regularly, get to know the other members, and in exchange they will get to know you and trust you. When you see the same people over and over you develop a strong and relationship with them. The benefit of building relationships with a committed group of people will result in new leads for your business.

It is about patience. The benefit will not appear overnight, and this is why you need to follow up with your contacts. Networking is like dating, one meeting is not enough to know someone. It will probably take some time, some meetings, some lunches or some drinks before you really start doing business together.

Here are some tips on how to maximize the benefits of a networking event.
* Be prepared when you attend a networking event. Know your goals. Are you looking for leads, partners, new clients, services?
* Bring your business cards and a pen to take notes on the back of the cards you receive.

* Have an effective 15 to 30 second elevator pitch. Learn how to sell yourself before your services or products. People want to hear about you first and when they know you and trust you, they will buy your services or refer you to someone else.

* Have a brochure and/or a web site. Some people will probably want to hear more about your business later, so give them the opportunity to get the information they are looking for.

* Meet people, ask about their business or services. Be curious and ask about them. people love to speak about themselves, so ask questions and listen to their answers.

* Be a problem solver. people will be more interested in you if you tell them how you can solve their problem instead of just hearing your story.

* Go to people; don’t wait for them to come to you. Some people are very shy, they will be very happy if you make the first move.
* Go to events with a friend, a colleague, a client, and introduce people to each other.

* Send a thank you note or email to your new contacts. Thank them for their time and reintroduce yourself in a few lines. They met lots of people during the event and your business card doesn’t say everything about you. So it is good to reinforce your introduction.

* Give them the link to your web site. Tell them about your newsletter, if you have one. This is the best way to stay in touch on a regular basis.

* Schedule follow-up meetings with the people you had a good connection with, or if you think that you can help each other.

* Do it again and again. You will see that networking can expand your contacts, which will definitely help grow your business.

Stop wasting your time attending every event and start growing your business with networking, learn more about “ The Power of Networking”,

In this 5 step program, you will find everything you need on how to maximize your networking results.


You will learn: how to create an outstanding business card – how to polish an elevator pitch which will hook your audience so that people will remember you – how to create a 7 step follow-up system to turn more prospects into clients – how to use your newsletter to promote your products or services without hard selling – how to create strategic alliances to grow our business faster. You can read more about it at “ The Power of Networking”
at http://www.theconnectionqueen.com/pon-f2f.html

How to introduce your business in less than 60 seconds

As a small business owner, we have various marketing options to promote our business: advertising, telemarketing, direct mail. But my favorite is definitely networking. First, it is the most low cost marketing tool and second it is a way to build long-term relationships with people. If advertising can give you a great result in one shot, networking will bring you more in the long run.

Since 2003, when I started Biba4Network, I organized many business networking events, which were a great opportunity for me to meet a tremendous amount of people, make deals, get clients, make friends and learn from others entrepreneurs.
During those events I also noticed that a significant number of people had great products or services but just didn’t know how to present them. And as a result were not able to attract the clients they were looking for.

One of the keys to networking is to be able to introduce yourself and your business in 30 to 60 seconds or less, in one or two sentences, in a very concise way. In other words, you need to have a very efficient elevator pitch. You should be ready to deliver your elevator pitch in the blink of an eye at a moment’s notice.

But what is an elevator pitch?An elevator pitch is a short presentation that introduces you and your business’ mission- and makes you memorable. It focuses on the benefits you provide- and can be delivered in 30-60 seconds or less, even in an elevator, hence the name.If you are passionate, excited and eager to create and manage your own business, then you should be able to describe, in one or two brief and concise sentences, exactly what you do, why your offering is the best in the marketplace, and in effect, why the person should buy from you.

The best way to develop your elevator pitch is to summarize or list the most enticing, exciting and valuable benefits that your customers will get when they use your products and services.How can your products and services solve problems or meet needs?
An effective elevator pitch makes a lasting impression, demonstrates your professionalism and allows you to position yourself with your target customers.
Remember that your client’s main concern is: “What benefits will I receive when I buy your product or service?” So when you prepare your elevator pitch always make sure that your audience need to answer this question “What's In It for Me?”.

People are always more interested in how you can help them than in what you do or how they can help you.
Consider these points when you develop your elevator pitch:
1/ Write down the “deliverables”- the products, services and features that you provide. Then, analyze your offering and put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What good things will they get or what good things will happen to them when they make a purchase?

2/ Be specific. Use numbers and statistics when you can. For example, double your revenue in less than 12 months, achieve a 30% increase over last year, lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks, triple your number of subscribers in 5 days or less. People are driven by numbers because they add a sense of credibility to a claim. Numbers also generate curiosity and anxiety, another useful tool that motivates people to make a purchase.

3/ Never reveal your entire story in your elevator pitch. Highlight the main benefits your products and/or services provide, which will encourage people to ask questions and start the conversation.

4/ Create a tagline that will grab your listener’s attention and force him/her to stop what he/she is doing and listen to you. The most effective openers leave the audience seeking additional information. Compare your elevator pitch to the cover of your favorite magazine. Most likely, you’ll find the titles of the key stories in that issue. If the titles don’t grab your attention and raise your curiosity quickly, then you probably won’t buy that issue.

5/ Practice your elevator pitch to the point where you can recite the language with perfect ease, great confidence and clarity and total poise immediately. It is extremely important that you feel totally comfortable whenever you deliver your elevator pitch. Learn it; practice it; master it; but never read it. Your delivery must be very smooth and totally fluid. Continually practice your elevator pitch in front of the mirror and before your friends until your Pitch becomes part of you.

So do you have a better idea? Are you ready to write your elevator pitch? Try this the next time you describe what you do. Choose your words. Hook your listener. Make them ask questions. Make them want to meet with you and buy your products and services.

Still having trouble writing your elevator pitch? You’re definitely not the only one. The good news is-I’ve developed a 5 Step Program that will help you to not only create your effective elevator pitch- but also redesign your business card so that it will be unique and memorable. Choose the best networking group for your business, create a follow-up system and create strategic alliances to maximize your networking results and boost your bsuiness. You can learn more about "The Power of Networking"http://www.theconnectionqueen.com/pon-f2f.html

New York Networking Events; Business Networking Long Island

How a Local Dominos Gets All the Referrals It Can Handle

How a Local Dominos Gets All the Referrals It Can Handle
David Frey

Do you have a product or service that people who visit your city would be interested in?


Would you like to get local hotels to refer each and every one of their guests to you?


Now how would you like to get all these referrals for free?
Sounding good to you?


Well, it's not that difficult to do.
(I'll show you an actual example of this being done if you keep on reading...)
How a Little Plastic Card Brings a Local Pizza Shop All the Business that they Can Handle


A couple weeks ago my family and I took a short trip over to San Antonio.
We got in real late at night. When I checked in the hotel clerk gave me my room card. I noticed that the room card had an advertisement on one side for a local Domino's pizza business.


Both my wife and I were really hungry so I decided to call up for some pizza.
Instead of having them deliver it to us I told the guy on the phone that I would come pick it up. Again, I was super hungry.


So while I was picking up our pizza I asked the manager how they managed to get their advertisement on the billboard side of my hotel room key.
He said it was easy. He simply called up the company that produced the cards and told them that he managed a Dominos pizza joint and he wanted to advertise on hotel room key cards at local hotels in his area.
And within a week or two, the company called him back up with advertising deals with two local hotels.
Eureka!


Here's what the hotel room key card looks like...
http://www.davidfrey.us/recommends/keycard
After probing a little more he told me he makes a 20 - 1 investment on this advertising venture.
He gets the majority of his nightly orders from these two hotels. "Awesome!"
"I Asked Him What Company He Called Up that Got Him the Advertising Deals So Fast..."


He said, "Look on the back of your card really closely."
See that URL?
That's the company.
So when I got back home I visited the site.
Would you like to see it?
Here it is... http://www.plicards.com
Visit the link that says, "Free Cards from PLI. Learn More."


That's their free hotel advertising program.
What PLI does is get advertisers and then has someone call the local hotels and ask them if they'd like to get their room keys for free.
The answer is usually, "Sure...how?"
Well, you understand how it goes.
Domino's pays the hotel advertising costs, which essentially pays for the hotel room keys.


It's a win - win - win for everyone.
The hotel gets free room keys.
Dominos gets excellent advertising (Travelers ALWAYS look at their room keys multiple times a day.)
And PLI gets more room key orders.
Think, Think, Think. How You Can Make This Work for Your Business?
Think about this referral system.
Business 1 advertises on Business 2's widget that they give to their customers who are also Business 1's ideal prospect.
Business 2 gets the widget for free in exchange for letting Business 1 advertise on it.


Think about how this can work for your business.
Do know of any complimentary businesses that give (or sell) low cost items or consumables to their customers.


If so, approach them for an advertising sponsorship.
If you just sat down and thought about this referral strategy for a moment I think you'll be amazed at what you can come up with.


I personally can think of a hundred ways I could make this referral strategy work for my business.
You can too if you think hard enough.

Get more great information from David Frey

Six Low-Cost, Cutting Edge Technology Marketing Tools Every Small Business Should Be Using

Get more tips at The Small Marketing Business Bible

By David Frey


Times have changed. An ever-increasing amount of competition is vying for the same customers. Fortunately, with the increase in competition, there has been an equal increase in the amount and quality of marketing tools you can use to beat the competition.
Yes, you still have the same reliable marketing mediums such as television, radio, and print advertising; however, with recent advances in technology, there is a new breed of low cost tools you can use to attract and convert new prospects.
In this article I'll introduce you to six cutting edge technology-based marketing tools that every small business should be using to get more customers.

Tool # 1 - Electronic Newsletters
One of the most effective follow-up marketing tools available is the humble newsletter. Electronic newsletters are much like paper-based newsletters in that they inform, entertain, and make product or service recommendations.
The difference is that you can send an electronic newsletter instantly to thousands of people with the simple push of a button for almost no cost whatsoever. It's truly amazing.
Of course you need people to send your newsletter to so you should start collecting the email addresses of your prospects and customers today.
A surefire way to persuade a prospect to share their personal email address with you is to offer them a low cost premium such as a free report that describes insider information, which coincides with the product or service you are selling.
In the hot tub and pool market (where I do a lot of marketing) I've developed a special report titled, "Six Critical Questions You Should Ask Every Dealer Before You Even Think of Purchasing a Hot Tub." This report is a hot item for prospects that are trying to sort out the facts and the myths of how to buy a hot tub.
The key to making electronic newsletters work is to write, in a personal voice, as though you were talking to your prospect or customer face-to-face.
Also, provide interesting and useful content so that your reader looks forward to receiving your newsletter. Be consistent. Send your newsletter on a bi-weekly basis, such as the 1st and 15th of every month.
If you want all the fuss taken out of the newsletter process you can use an all-in-one tool such as www.ConstantContact.com or for a more do-it-yourself option you can have a newsletter template designed for you at www.DesignDoodles.com and use an online autoresponder service such as www.GetResponse.com or with desktop software such as www.Gammadyne.com.

Tool # 2 - Email Autoresponders
In the previous paragraph I referred to an "autoresponder service" and now it's time to learn what they are and why they're important. An autoresponder service automatically sends multiple email messages that you create on a scheduled basis that you define.
For instance, imagine that you were a mortgage broker and you offered a free 6-part email course on your website titled, "How to Get the Absolute Lowest Cost Loan with the Least Amount of Risk."
After your website visitor signed up to receive your email course by sharing their email address with you, your autoresponder service would automatically send them one email containing your course content every other day over the next 12 days.
Every other day your prospect would automatically receive a useful tip or technique for selecting the right lender, without any manual intervention from you.
Included in each day's tip could be an offer to visit your website to take advantage of a special offer or to visit your store to receive a personalized educational session.
There's no magic to how many emails you can set up in your autoresponder system. I know of one pool builder who has over six months of weekly emails pre-written and set up to automatically be sent in his autoresponder system. Each email has a unique teaser that drives prospects back to their website.
For instance, one email says, "Click here to see one of the most unique pools we've ever built."
The link then takes the reader to a page with a beautiful pool that they've built and also includes an story about some of the problems they encountered building the pool, how they overcame those problems, and a testimonial from the prospect raving about the builder. It's quite powerful.

Tool # 3 - Self-Produced Audio/Video CD's
When prospects make a decision to buy, they often know very little about your product or service and are often crying out for knowledge and advice so that they make the right decision. The first small business owner that takes the time to educate their prospect is usually the one who gets the sale.
The problem is, that it takes a lot of time and effort to educate prospects on a face-to-face basis (or over the telephone). Using educational audio and video products you can create a relationship of trust and admiration without having to physically be there to do the work.
If you don't believe how effective this can be you don't have to look any further than the success of late-night infomercials. Millions of products are sold via 30-minute television videos every day. If they can do it, why cant you?
Creating a 30-minute audio CD is as simple as writing a 10 page script, buying a microphone (I recommend the Plantronics DSP 500), downloading some free audio editing software (I use http://audacity.sourceforge.net), and investing in a CD burner from the local computer store.
Then you read your script into the microphone, save your audio file and burn it to a CD. Viola, you have your own audio CD program!
Developing your own video program is a bit more complex, but with video editing programs such as Visual Communicator (www.SeriousMagic.com), broadcast quality video production can be done on your kitchen table.

Tool # 4 - Telephone Hotlines
How would you like to capture the name and address of all your lead sources and know exactly where they all came from?
Capturing this information would allow you to do follow up marketing with your prospects and compute the exact return-on-investment of each of your marketing and advertising campaigns. Telephone hotlines allow you to do just that∧ more.
A telephone hotline is simply a recorded telephone message that can either,
(1) Ask for and record a prospect's contact information that can later be transcribed
(2) Play back a pre-recorded educational or sales message
(3) Allow the caller to be directly transferred to a live person after listening to a message.
Most telephone hotlines use toll-free telephone numbers that are rented to your business on a monthly basis. You'll also receive multiple extension numbers with message boxes that can play different messages depending on the marketing campaign.
I use www.AutomateMarketingSolutions.com for my telephone hotline services. If you order your service from them and you mention my name, they'll drop the set up fee.
Imagine offering an interesting information product (or audio / video) in your advertising by asking the prospect to simply call your toll-free number and a specific extension number to request your information product.
The prospect calls up the advertised phone number with its unique extension number and then requests the report by leaving their name and address. Their name and address gets transcribed that night, entered into an MS Excel spreadsheet, and then sent to you in the morning ready for you to follow up on.
At the end of the month you go online, click a button, and a report spits out the exact source of each of your leads and when they came in. Now you have some powerful information that will allow you to precisely track the return on each marketing campaign.

Tool # 5 - Internet-Based Pay-Per-Click Advertising
More and more people are going to the Internet to search for information before they call up any small business. It's critical to be the first business that your prospect finds in their search. Pay-per-click advertising allows you to do that in a low risk way. Let me explain.
Pay-per-click advertising programs such as Overture and Google's Adwords program allow you to bid for search engine placement. If you've ever searched for something in Google and saw those text ads on the right side of the screen you've seen Google Adwords.
With Google AdWords or Overture you create your own ads, choose keywords to match your ads to your audience and pay only when someone clicks on them.
For instance, suppose your furniture retail business is in the city of Victoria. You might bid on the keywords Victoria and furniture, which is a likely keyword combination for a Victoria resident looking for furniture.
You may only have to pay $.05 per click to be at the top of the search engines. In less than one hour any retailer or small business owner can launch their own pay-per-click Internet advertising program.

Tool # 6 - Voice Broadcasting
How would you like to get your customers coming back to your store more often and spending more per visit? You can, using voice broadcasting technology.
Voice broadcasting allows you to send personalized reminders, invitations and/or verbal coupons to existing customers. The message is sent out via a broadcaster directly to your customer's voice mail machine for only pennies per delivered message.
Imagine the impact of sending out a voice message before your direct mail campaign to your customers letting them know that they will be receiving a great offer from you and that it's going to be delivered in the next day or so be looking out for it.
I've seen response rates from direct mail campaigns literally triple and quintuple using this little-known tool.
It's very easy to do. You simply record your message; upload it to the voice broadcasting service along with your customer's phone numbers, and tell the service the date and time you want the message delivered. That's it.
You could have hundreds of phone numbers or even thousands. A good voice broadcaster will have the ability to deliver your calls on time. I also use www.AutomatedMarketingSolutions.com for this service.

Conclusion
If you're not using even a few of these technology tools then you're missing out on potential lost sales. The tools are relatively simple to implement, are low cost, and can provide a big impact on your bottom line.
I invite you to move into the 21st century and take the time to learn and implement a few of these wonderful hi-tech tools that will help put your marketing on overdrive, with little extra effort.
-Cost, Cutting Edge Technology Marketing Tools Every Small Business Should Be Using
David Frey

Get more tips at The Small Marketing Business Bible

How to Introduce Your Business in 60 Seconds or Less

How to Introduce Your Business in 60 Seconds or Less
by Biba F. Pedron

As a small business owner, we have various marketing options to promote our business: advertising, telemarketing, direct mail. But my favorite is definitely networking. First, it is the most low cost marketing tool and second it is a way to build long-term relationships with people. If advertising can give you a great result in one shot, networking will bring you more in the long run.

Since 2003, when I started Biba4Network, I organized many business networking events, which were a great opportunity for me to meet a tremendous amount of people, make deals, get clients, make friends and learn from others entrepreneurs.

During those events I also noticed that a significant number of people had great products or services but just didn’t know how to present them. And as a result were not able to attract the clients they were looking for.

One of the keys to networking is to be able to introduce yourself and your business in 30 to 60 seconds or less, in one or two sentences, in a very concise way. In other words, you need to have a very efficient elevator pitch. You should be ready to deliver your elevator pitch in the blink of an eye at a moment’s notice.

But what is an elevator pitch?

An elevator pitch is a short presentation that introduces you and your business’mission- and makes you memorable. It focuses on the benefits you provide- and can be delivered in 30-60 seconds or less, even in an elevator, hence the name.

If you are passionate, excited and eager to create and manage your own business, then you should be able to describe, in one or two brief and concise sentences, exactly what you do, why your offering is the best in the marketplace, and in effect, why the person should buy from you.

The best way to develop your elevator pitch is to summarize or list the most enticing, exciting and valuable benefits that your customers will get when they use your products and services.
How can your products and services solve problems or meet needs?

An effective elevator pitch makes a lasting impression, demonstrates your professionalism and allows you to position yourself with your target customers.

Remember that your clients’s main concern is: “What benefits will I receive when I buy your product or service?” So when you prepare your elevator pitch always make sure that your audience need to answer this question “What's In It for Me?”.

People are always more interested in how you can help them than in what you do or how they can help you.

Consider these points when you develop your elevator pitch:

1/ Write down the “deliverables”- the products, services and features that you provide.
Then, analyze your offering and put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What good things will they get or what good things will happen to them when they make a purchase?

2/ Be specific. Use numbers and statistics when you can.
For example, double your revenue in less than 12 months, achieve a 30% increase over last year, lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks, triple your number of subscribers in 5 days or less.
People are driven by numbers because they add a sense of credibility to a claim. Numbers also generate curiosity and anxiety, another useful tool that motivates people to make a purchase.

3/ Never reveal your entire story in your elevator pitch. Highlight the main benefits your products and/or services provide, which will encourage people to ask questions and start the conversation.

4/ Create a tagline that will grab your listener’s attention and force him/her to stop what he/she is doing and listen to you. The most effective openers leave the audience seeking additional information. Compare your elevator pitch to the cover of your favorite magazine. Most likely, you’ll find the titles of the key stories in that issue. If the titles don’t grab your attention and raise your curiosity quickly, then you probably won’t buy that issue.

5/ Practice your elevator pitch to the point where you can recite the language with perfect ease, great confidence and clarity and total poise immediately. It is extremely important that you feel totally comfortable whenever you deliver your elevator pitch. Learn it; practice it; master it; but never read it. Your delivery must be very smooth and totally fluid. Continually practice your elevator pitch in front of the mirror and before your friends until your Pitch becomes part of you.

So do you have a better idea? Are you ready to write your elevator pitch?
Try this the next time you describe what you do. Choose your words. Hook your listener. Make them ask questions. Make them want to meet with you and buy your products and services.

Still having trouble writing your elevator pitch? You’re definitely not the only one. The good news is-I’ve developed a 5 Step Program that will help you to not only create your effective elevator pitch- but also redesign your business card so that it will be unique and memorable. Choose the best networking group for your business, create a follow-up system and create strategic alliances to maximize your networking results and boost your bsuiness.
You can learn more about "The Power of Networking"
The Power of Networking

How to Easily Appear In a National Magazine...for Free!

How to Easily Appear In a National Magazine...for Free!

By David Frey author of the Small Business Marketing Bible

How would you like to have your own advertisement appear in a national magazine with a huge circulation?


Imagine what that could potentially do for you business.
Well, it's not only possible, but it's very simple to do.
A Sneaky Little PR Secret that Can Get You National Exposure
There's a little marketing tactic that anyone reading this newsletter can do that can get you some national exposure in major magazines and newspapers.
It's called an "op-ed."


An op-ed is an editorial space in a magazine or newspaper where that publication gives you an opportunity to express your opinion on a topic that they recently covered.


Hence, "op" = opinion and "ed" = editorial.
You've probably read them before but never knew how easy they were to appear in.


My Recent Op-Ed
While reading Inc. magazine, I came across a franchisor that was having trouble. In my opinion, it stemmed from his inferior marketing system. I decided to write Inc magazine to share my opinion with them. So I shot off an email to the publication.
Less than a few days later I received an email asking for permission to publish my opinion.


Sure enough...they did. Here is a copy of my op-ed...
http://www.davidfrey.us/recommends/inc
When it came out I noticed a sharp increase in traffic and subscriptions to my newsletter.


Here's another great example of an op-ed that probably resulted in some new business for the person that wrote it.
http://www.davidfrey.us/recommends/maill


Some Tips On Creating a Powerful Op-Ed
Here are a few tips to help you generate op-ed's that can get you results.


Tip # 1 - Submit op-eds to publications in your target market
There's no use getting publicity in a market that does not have a high propensity of buying your product or services. Submit your op-eds to magazines, newspapers, television shows and any media that allows op-eds to be published in YOUR target market.


Tip # 2 - Don't submit a stupid op-ed
Be smart about what you're going to say. If you submit an insightful, though-provoking, and interesting op-ed, it will almost assuredly get published. Take some time to think about what you're going to say before you submit.


Tip # 3 - Be controversial
The media loves controversy so you might want to consider stating an opinion that is controversial, and perhaps, in opposition to the article that you're commenting on.


Tip # 4 - Follow the exact instructions for submitting your op-ed
This usually involves just submitting your opinion to the person who moderates the op-ed column. At the end of ever op-ed there are instructions on how to submit your own opinion. That's how I got my op-ed in Inc. magazine.


Tip # 5 - Use the right credentials
Always try to use your website address as the name of your company. This way, when the op-ed comes out and your website address is placed under your name, people will know exactly where to go to get more information about you and your business.
You'll be surprised of your results when you simply submit your opinion to target publications. Try it out this week and see what I mean.

Get more tips at the Small Business Marketing Bible

How to improve customer loyalty

How To Improve Customer Loyalty During A Turbulent Economy
By Derek Gehl

Visit the Internet Marketing Center to get more great tips!

I'm not gonna sugar coat it... it's looking pretty darn ugly out there!

I'll spare you a rehash of all the gory details -- I'm sure you're WELL aware of them already -- but suffice to say that the stock market and economy took a pretty sound thrashing this week.

And MANY people are worried.

I'm seeing it in the emails I've been getting from nervous customers... and in the urgent phone calls I'm receiving... and in the comments on my blog...

There are a whole lot of people out there who are concerned about what the present economic climate will mean to their Internet businesses.

Well, I'm no economist, so I'm not about to make a prediction about the markets or the stability of the economy...

... but I am an Internet marketer, and what I can say -- with confidence -- is that a downturn in the current economy does NOT have to be a major roadblock for YOUR Internet business!

One key to surviving (even thriving) during this period of uncertainty is to know your customers!

It's more critical than EVER for you to understand EXACTLY who they are... where they're coming from... their interests, goals, and desires. This will allow you to create laser-focused marketing copy that speaks DIRECTLY to them and solves their specific problems, as well as offer products that you know for sure will make a difference in their lives.

You'll be rewarded with continued customer loyalty and ongoing sales!

So if you don't already know all you can about your customers and visitors, NOW is definitely the time to find out...

... and the easiest and fastest way to do that is with a survey.

Here are the SIX STEPS you need to follow to create an effective and informative survey that will help you connect with your customers -- and continue to profit -- during the current financial turmoil:

Step #1: Plan Your Survey

As with everything else you do with your business, you'll have the greatest success with your survey if you do some advance planning.

Without a solid idea of what exactly it is you hope to learn from your results, you can easily end up creating a survey consisting of fairly random questions that ultimately don't lead you anywhere.

So make sure you take the time to sit down and do some brainstorming and list-making.

Decide what your goals with the survey are. Are you trying to learn more about specific products you offer? Looking for ways you could give everyone a more positive customer care experience? Trying to gather demographic information so you can segment your list better and send out tailored offers?

Be clear about what you're hoping to accomplish with the survey, and you'll be in great shape when it comes time to write the actual survey questions.

Step #2: Choose Your Weapon

One thing I like about surveys is that they're super simple for pretty much ANY business owner to administer, no matter how small your budget, or limited your technical knowledge.

That's because there are lots of web-based services out there that will host your survey for you... for FREE!

You just design the survey using their simple point-and-click interface, enter the text for your questions, and then email a link to the survey to your customers and subscribers.

When your customers show up, the automated survey is online and ready to take!

And best of all, many of these free services offer a reasonable number of reporting features, too, making it easy to interpret your results.

Of course, most of these services offer paid upgrades as well, which allow you to create more complex surveys and get more sophisticated reports, but for a typical small survey, the freebies work just fine.

Here are a couple that I've used and like:
SurveyMonkey


Survey Pro
Step #3: Design And Write Your Survey

Designing your survey takes a bit of skill, but with a small amount of planning (there's that word again!), you'll have no problem putting an effective one together. Just be sure that you're putting the questions in a logical order, and not exhausting your customers by asking for too much detail.

Here are a few tips to help you design a better survey:
Start with the good stuff -- To ease your customers into the survey, start off with some simple questions they can answer without a lot of thought.

This can be something as simple as basic demographic information (age, location, etc.), which also happens to be useful information.

But don't load up the front end with all of the easy questions. Save a few for the end of the survey. That way, it won't get increasingly difficult throughout, which can cause some people to bail before they complete it.



Avoid asking too many questions -- 5-10 minutes is about the maximum length you can reasonably expect somebody to spend answering a survey, so be sure to limit your questions.

At the same time, be sure to let your respondents know up front how much time will be required to complete it... and be honest! People will begin to drop out if it starts to take longer than you say.



Give your survey an introduction and ending -- It's a good idea to include an introduction to the survey, to clearly explain what people are required to do.

At the same time, it's a nice touch to end the survey with a "thank-you" page, just to let people know you appreciate the time they spent taking the survey.



Respect people's privacy -- You may want to collect personal information like age, income, and occupation. If you do so, make sure to reassure your customers beforehand that you have a strict privacy policy, and remind them that their answers are all confidential.
When it comes time to write the actual questions, make sure you write in a relaxed, conversational voice, and avoid things like abbreviations, acronyms, and double negatives. You want to be sure that EVERY person who takes your survey clearly understands all of the questions.

Here are a few tips to help you write compelling and effective survey questions:
Avoid asking leading questions -- Be sure that your questions don't sway your customers toward answering them in a particular way, or giving an answer that's not actually true.

For example, don't say: "How quickly did we resolve your problem? " This assumes that the problem was indeed resolved.

The question you should ask is, "Was your problem resolved?"



Avoid questions that rate more than one thing -- Avoid asking questions that require people to rate more than one thing at a time.

For instance, don't say: "How fast and accurate did you find our customer service representative?"

While the service may have been fast, it may not have been accurate (or vice versa) so this question is impossible to answer accurately.



Focus on asking "close-ended" questions -- In a survey, a close-ended question is one that can be answered with a simple yes/no or other specific piece of information, or a selection from multiple choices.

This makes the survey faster and easier for your customers, and the results more simple for you to manage.

So instead of a question like "What did you think of your customer service experience?" try something like "Did you enjoy your customer service experience?"



Be consistent with your questions -- If you ask your customers to rate certain things on a numbered scale, make sure to use the same scale each time.

So if they need to rate something on a scale of 1 to 5 in one question, avoid using a scale of 1 to 10 elsewhere.



Watch out for long questions -- If your questions are too long, your customers will soon get tired of answering them, and abandon the survey. Look for questions that can be broken into two or more parts.



Don't test your customers' memories -- Try not to ask your customers to recall a lot of information that happened far in the past. They'll soon get bogged down trying to recall specific details, and if they're in a hurry to complete the survey, will often abandon it.
Step #4: Test Your Survey

You all know by now that I'm a HUGE advocate of testing EVERYTHING before you email it, make it live on your site, or expose it to your customers in any way.

So take the time to carefully review the survey to make sure it has a logical flow, and that it all makes sense.

If you can, it's a good idea to ask a few people (customers, if possible, or co-workers, friends, or family) to take the survey ahead of time, and actually WATCH them while they do it.

Do they hesitate while answering a question? Backtrack? Skip over a question? It could be a sign that your questions aren't clear enough, and you'll need to work on making them more simple.

Once you're done, ask about the experience. Was there anything you didn't understand? Were you confused at any point?

You want to make sure the survey is easy to understand and follow BEFORE you make it available. Once it's actually live -- and your customers have started answering it -- you DON'T want to have to start tinkering with the questions. That will skew your results.

Step #5: Administer The Survey

Okay, the moment of truth is upon you: It's time to invite your customers to take the survey.

The easiest way to do this is to email them, and ask them for a few minutes of their time. And make sure you tell them what's in it for them if they take the survey.

If your goal is to improve a certain product, for instance, tell them that by taking the survey, they'll actually be helping you to help them, because you'll use their comments to fine-tune the assistance you can offer them.

And don't be shy about offering your customers a "bribe" for taking the survey. You're asking them to do a big favor for you, so it's not unreasonable to reward them for their time.

Consider sending everyone who responds a gift (like a free eBook that they'll find valuable, a coupon for discounted products, or enter them in a draw to win some a prize.)

Finally, make sure you build some urgency into the email. If you don't ask people to take the time right away to answer the survey, they'll often put it aside to answer when they have more time... but then never return to complete it.

Step #6: Interpret Your Results

As you review the results of your survey, remember that, more than anything, you're looking for trends. Did the majority of respondents answer specific questions the same way? Are they often expressing the same frustrations, etc?

At the same time, look for any surprising answers. Your survey is likely going to tell you things about your audience that you had no idea were true.

By finding out EXACTLY who your audience is, what they like (and dislike), and what their goals and experiences are, you'll be able to tailor your salescopy, your email marketing efforts, your website, and even your products, to perfectly suit them.

The results should be improved customer loyalty, and ongoing success with your business, even during these turbulent economic times!

To your success,

Derek Gehl

Visit the Internet Marketing Center to get more great tips!

Networking Event 10/1 at 6:30 PM

$10 at the door
Title: PowerTeam Meeting -Fifth Ave.

Date: Wednesday October 1, 2008
Time: 6:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Next reminder: The next reminder for this event will be sent in 2 days, 4 minutes.
Location: 425 Fifth Ave -Enter on E.38th - 12th floor
Street: 425 Fifth ave. -Enter on E. 38th - 12th Floor
Phone: RossLaGumina@Gmail.com
Notes: UPW Scholarship "Advance Copy" $1.00 BOOK Sale
Financial Strategies for these tough times
Speed Networking Experience
RPM Planning for next 30 days


Hello Everyone!

and Happy Autumn!! Join us this Wednesday at 6:30pm for NETWORKING
[this will be a STRUCTURED and TIMED process known as Speed
Networking - contributed by one of NYC's biggest coordinators of
Speed Networking and Speed Dating!]
We have lots of new members joining us from the previous UPW so be
sure to come and meet new friends, resources, project partners and
clients!

We will be RPM planning with a focus on FINANCES in these "hard
times".
How to create more certainty [financially] in uncertain times. How a
little commitment and creativity can get you lots of gains – in your
finances and beyond!

Please be prepared to contribute at least ONE IDEA that you have
implemented in your life to optimize, manage or propel your financial
situation. It could be anything from joining Costco to buy at
discount in bulk, to floating balances on non-interest bearing cards
or negotiating your credit card interest rates down, to turning your
hobby into a moneymaker, even making games for your kids instead of
buying them for $25.

How amazing would it be if you could stop paying a mortgage and just
own your residence? How great would your cash flow look and your
quality of living be?! We will discuss a simple change in financial
perspective that could cut the remaining years on your mortgage down
to ONE THIRD! [and this is not the old strategy of paying bi-weekly
to squeeze in an extra month's payment]

Also this meeting… It has been suggested that we create a UPW
Scholarship and I believe we would all agree that that would be a
terrific gift for some deserving individual. So we are going to turn
our traditional "Advance Copy" Book giveaways into a Book SALE for a
Scholarship Fund for the upcoming November UPW in Secaucus, NJ. If
you have any barely used books that might be of interest, feel free
to bring them and donate to the inventory! Thanx (-:

Snacks and refreshments will be served as usual.

Basket Brigade is coming in November – the Sunday before
Thanksgiving. Save the date!!

See you all this Wednesday at 6:30pm at 425 Fifth Ave [enter E.38th]

Lean into Life…
Your PowerTeam Committee

Contact: rosslagumina@gmail.com with requests, ideas,
contributions, etc.

7 Easy & Powerful Ways to Become an Expert

7 Easy & Powerful Ways to Become an Expert
by Biba F. Pédron

Are you like most of those small business owners who are very good at what they do but still struggle to get new clients and don’t know how or where to start promoting themselves and their businesses?


I work with a lot of new entrepreneurs and small business owners and one of the most frequent comments I hear is, “I don’t have enough clients and I don’t have money to spend on advertising my services, so what are my options?”.


In my book “Start Your Dream Business Today”, I cover various ways on how to get new clients and how to promote your business. (www.startyourdreambusinesstoday.com)
Actually there are many things you can do to promote your products or services in order to get new clients. The good news is that most of these marketing tools are free or at least cost very little. And in addition to promoting your products or services, you get a chance to promote yourself and become recognized as an expert in your field.
Here are 7 Easy & Powerful Ways to Promote Your Business While You Become Recognized as an Expert:


1/ Publish you own newsletter – If you have read some of my previous articles or attended my program, you already know that after networking, publishing a newsletter is my favorite marketing tool. It is part of my 7 step follow-up system in my program “Power of Networking Secrets”. It is easy, cheap and very effective.
Publishing your own newsletter provides you with an opportunity to constantly and consistently communicate with your prospects and clients. Statistics show that people need to see the same message at least seven times before they buy or take action. So your newsletter will cost you a lot less than if you run an ad in a newspaper seven times.
Your newsletter will give you the opportunity to announce new products, contests and specials to your readers so that you can boost your sales. Your newsletter will also give you a chance to reactivate some of your former clients.
Always inform your contacts of what is new in your business and provide them with valuable information, if you want to keep them as your readers.
Your newsletter is the best way for your readers (which by the way are your target market) to get to know you and trust you. While your build your database, your newsletter will turn your leads into prospects and your prospects into clients.

2/ Write Articles – Regularly write articles about your field and publish them on your website, your newsletter and submit them to ezine directories and magazines. This will build-up your image as an expert and your credibility. Being published in various directories will also bring a lot of traffic to your website, so more people will sign-up to your newsletter in order to receive other information and tips from you. And then more people will buy your services or products.

3/ Write a book or an ebook – If you are comfortable with writing you can write your own book. But if you don’t want to spend months writing a book, or think that you don’t have enough to say, start with writing articles, then make a compilation of them and turn them into an ebook.
Creating an ebook is totally free, you just have to convert your word document into a PDF document. It takes only a few seconds. (You can download free PDF software online).
For example, what are the top 10 ways you can help people in your own field? You can create a document of a couple of pages to a 100 pages. Become a problem solver to your prospects and clients, they will thank you for your help and buy your ebook to find the solution.
Offering a free ebook can be a great way of attracting more people to sign-up to your newsletter.

When you sign-up for my Biba4Network Newsletter at www.biba4network.com you receive my free ebook “15 Ways to Maximize Your Networking Results”.
So why not become an author today? It is easier than you think.

4/ Host your own teleclass – Hosting your own teleclass is the same concept as writing an article. But in this case you help people live instead of on paper. It is even better because you get a chance to speak to your audience directly, answer their questions and once again solve their problems. You also get instant exposure. Hosting a teleclass is totally free. You can use various bridge lines - I personally use www.freeconference.com - it is free and very easy to use.

If you are not totally confident in becoming a speaker and hosting your teleclass, you can actually interview an expert. He or she will do most of the talking but you can still take credit since you are the one who is bringing the resources to your audience.
To hear some of my interviews, check my monthly teleseries “Ask the Expert” at: www.biba4network.com/asktheexperts.html

5/ Create a product – You have your book or ebook! So you just created one product.
With your teleclass, it is even easier to create a product instantly. While you host your teleclass, the only thing you will have to do is to record it. (I use and highly recommend
http://biba.audioacrobat.com to do so, it is also very easy to use).

As soon as you finish the teleclass, you log on to http://biba.audioacrobat.com and gain access to the recording, which you can then publish immediately or download, copy and create a CD. Then you can either sell it on your website or offer it for free as a sample of your program.
The same applies when creating a video. You can either record yourself doing a presentation or a live event and sell it on your website, or offer it for free as a sample of your program.

6/ Start public speaking – Spread the word by offering your expertise at live events, associations, networking and conferences. Select organizations who have the same target as you, so that you become THE expert in your field and build-up your name, your credibility and your database (so once again you get more people to sign-up for your newsletter).

7/ Say again and again that your are an expert and people will follow you.
Come up with a name for yourself, so people will remember you easily.

For example: The Ezine Queen, as Alexandria Brown; The Queen of Call Calling, as Wendy Weiss; The Marketing Mentors, as Adam Urbanski, The guy to call when you're tired of thinking small, as Michael Port; The Greatest, as Mohammed Ali or The Connection Queen, as myself.
The first time somebody called me The Connection Queen, months ago, I found it weird but quickly realized the impact it had on people. So I started using it more and more often, until I became confident enough to actually use it as my new brand and create my website www.TheConnectionQueen.com
Become “THE GO TO GUY” in your field and you will quickly realize that people will come to you for your expertise.

Is Your Image Reflecting Your Business?

Are you one of those people who say that they don’t judge a book by it’s cover?
But are you really being honest with yourself?

How do you act when you meet somebody for the first time? Do you pay attention to his/her general look? I do!

Do you know that in life and more importantly in business you have only 30 seconds to make the right first impression when you meet somebody for the first time?

Yes, in just 30 seconds people will subconsciously make a decision on whether they want to work with you or not. So make that first contact count.

How you dress influences what people think about you?

Working with small business owners for years in France and for the last four years in New York, and now specializing in networking, I have to say that I am always surprised to see how some people dress for networking events or business meetings.

Those who do not dress in suitable business attire are usually the ones who are surprised that their business doesn’t take off.

How do you act when you buy a product in a store?

Let’s say that you are looking at a printer and you have the choice between two brands. The product inside the boxes has the same exact characteristics. So how do you make your choice? Do you choose the one with the less attractive package or with the most attractive package? Do you choose the one which highlights the characteristics and benefits of buying this product? Or the one which presents the product in a regular, white box without any information?

And it is exactly the same thing where people are concerned. How a prospect will choose between you and your competitors is not based on your experience and your competencies, but is based on the way you look.

If you are able to impress them with the way you dress and the way you look, they will pay more attention to what you have to say.

It seems unfair, I know, but remember that you are judged every day, simply on the way you look.

So how to maximize your appearance:

1- Create an image to impress!

Your image is what people see long before you even get the chance to speak. Choose a wardrobe that works for you and your business. But you need to be yourself, don’t try to copy somebody, follow what you see in a magazine, or follow some fashion trends, because if your image doesn’t reflect your personality, people will see it immediately.

Don’t try to fake it, be yourself.

Create an image that fits your business. Have the right attitude. Be consistent with your image. The image you reflect, good or bad, has a direct impact on how other perceive your business.

In other words, have a professional look. Respect yourself and others will respect you.

2 - Dress with Confidence

When you look your best and act with self-confidence, others will see you that way too.

Keep it simple. Wear traditional colors like blue, grey or black.

Pay attention to your shoes, sloppy shoes can completely damage your image. Choose shoes that improve your silhouette. Make sure to clean your shoes before your leave the house.

Treat your hands like your best friend. When you meet somebody and hand out your business card, people will have a look at your hands. So have neat nails, well polished, if you are a woman and remember to change your nail polish on a regular basis, if you wear some. Never, never go out with your nail polish half effaced.

I read once in a magazine that when a woman dates a man for the first time, the first two things he notices are her hands and her shoes. So consider the same thing for business.

You don’t need to spend lots of money to look great, business-like and confident.

I work with many start-up businesses and very often my clients tell me that since they have a limited budget for their business, how can they possibly have a budget for a new wardrobe.

One of my best clients, who lives in Paris, is an image consultant and a personal shopper and I partner with her to help some of my clients. She is truly incredible, she is able to find a complete outfit with accessories, including a handbag, for less than a $100. And the items are of a very good quality.

Yes, you heard me, for less than a $100. So learn how to shop. Shop during the sales, at the end of the season, or go to outlets. You will find a lot of great deals.

Don’t buy clothes that will go out of style at the end of the season. Buy a few new tops, ties, or accessories that will make the difference. Sometimes just by changing one item from your outfit, you will look totally different. So you don’t need hundreds of clothes. Just learn how to put everything together.

Think of yourself as a brand.

As a small business owner, you spend a lot of time trying to perfect and improve your offering. So treat yourself as your most important product or service. Go back to your marketing plan. How did you brand you product? How can you do the same for yourself? What makes you different? How can your image make an impact compared to your competitors?

Still need help to create your professional image? Learn more about “Power of Networking Secrets”. In this 5 step program, you will find everything you need on how to maximize your networking results.

You will learn: how to design a memorable business card and an outstanding professional image– how to polish an elevator pitch which will hook your audience so that people will remember you – how to create a 7 step follow-up system to turn more prospects into clients – how to use your newsletter to promote your products or services without hard selling – how to create strategic alliances to grow our business faster. You can read more about it here.

Why Do you Network?

Why Do You Network?
by Biba F. Pedron

After spending the last four years organizing business networking events, I still don’t have the answer to why some people go to them.
The only goal for most people who attend networking events seems to be to collect business cards. They have the feeling of a great event if they come back home with 30 or more business cards.

How many of you follow up with everybody after each event?

How many people who you met follow up with you?

When I train people on networking, either one-on-one or in a group and ask those two questions, I usually have the same answer.

“Oh yes I follow-up, I send an email the next day”. My next question is, “What do you do after this email?” and the usual answer is, “Well, nothing, because I don’t know what to do next”.

So what is the purpose of spending two to three hours at a networking event and pay $20 to $50 each time, if it is just to go and say hello to some people who you will never contact again. Repeat the process two to three times a week, and this is a big waste of time AND money.

I recently attended a business expo, and, of course I met a number of people. I didn’t take everybody’s’ business cards, only the ones I had an interest in. I also spoke with the owners of two different booths, because they had a product I was interested in purchasing. I asked all of my questions, explained why I needed the product, gave them my card, and asked them to contact me to close the sale after the expo. This was a very easy sell for them, but guest what? None of them followed up with me or even returned my e-mails. Well, they both lost a sale, because I didn’t find them to be very professional.

I guess that if they didn’t follow-up with me, chances are that they didn’t follow-up with other people either. So what was the purpose of having a table at this expo?
What is your goal when you attend a networking event?

Are you trying to get new contacts to buy your product or service, or do you give the opportunity for people to get to know you, as the first step of your networking system?
People are always surprised in my training when I say that I never try to sell anything during an event. One of my secrets is that my business card mentions, “The Connection Queen”, which usually gets me lots of comments and questions:

“How do you speak with strangers?”,
“How do you introduce yourself without being pitchy?”
“How to you leave people if you are not interested in what they are doing?”, and so on.

My only purpose is to listen to people, see how I can give them a contact, a resource, or some advice. It shows them my expertise without selling anything, but offering them to participate in my free e-course, “15 Ways to Maximize Your Networking Results”, to get the answer to all of their questions. Offering them my free e-course is a way to get them to sign-up for my weekly newsletter and get a chance to know me, trust me, and later, buy my product or service when they are ready.

I attend networking events to build a long-term relationship with people, not to collect business cards or to sell anything.

So why do you network?
Try to think of your strategy for a moment. Test different approaches; stop selling and start implementing a follow-up system. You will get much more results and will attract your ideal clients, and only your ideal clients, the ones who really appreciate your services. Clients who like and trust you, clients who respect your knowledge and experience, and, very importantly, clients who will work with you in the long term, will refer you to people like them. This means more ideal clients.


Still struggling to develop your follow-up system? Check out my program, “Power of Networking Secrets” where I reveal my proven Seven-Step Follow-Up system.
www.powerofnetworkingsecrets.com


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