Magic Bullets Do You Know What Your Cusomers Want

By Lisa M CopeDo you ever wonder what your customers want? Most business owners ask themselves that question daily. I know I do and I bet you do too. I was watching one of my favorite marketers speak recently and he said something that struck a chord with me and got me thinking. He said "people want magic bullets". They want the answer to their problems. A quick fix for their woes. A simple solution that will make their world a better place and they want it now! That phrase made me ask, what magic bullets do my prospects want and do I have them? How can I turn my products into the magic bullets that my prospects can't live with out? Side note: The best way to find out what your prospects want is to survey them but, that is a whole other article. Now, asking these questions won't help you get inside your prospects mind but, it will get you in the right mind set. Think about it. When you have a problem, you want a solution right? You don't want to wait. Do you? You want a quick fix and you want it now. You want a magic bullet. Guess what so does your prospect! Have you ever watched an infomercial and felt every button they pushed. Felt like what they were selling was the answer to all your problems? You just want to rip out your credit card and say take my money! You can't wait until you can get your hands on that magic bullet. We all have and it's the magic bullets that get you every time. For instance let's say your target market is acne sufferers. If you have ever had acne you can identify with the pain and agony that acne sufferers go through. A sufferer will try and buy just about anything that offers relief from their suffering no matter what the cost. Magic bullets don't have a price cap. Are you starting to see? Put on your top hat and pull out your magic wand. Now start thinking. What you are selling? What solutions do you have to offer? How can you solve peoples problems? What magic bullets can you pull out of your product or service? Once you pull those magic bullets out of your hat and put them right under your prospects nose then the real magic will begin. About the author:Lisa M Cope - Starting your own online business? Find information articles and tools to help you on your way. http://www.flipidy.com

Learn To Make Money On eBay

By Jeff SchumanSo you want to sell stuff on eBay, but you have two minor problems: you don't know how and you don't have stuff. Not a problem. Keep reading for some tips to get you pointed in the right direction to learn to make money on eBay. Before you begin you’ll need some basic equipment: Computer, Internet access, digital camera, and some space to put your stuff. That’s really all you’ll need to get started. You’ll also need shipping and packing supplies but that is addressed later. Next you’ll need to learn how to list auctions. Go to the eBay sellers overview: http://pages.ebay.com/education/sellingtips/index.html. This will be your lifeline. There is a plethora of information there on everything you always wanted to know and more. Don’t be overwhelmed; just take it one step at a time. You’ll see there is information on listings, on bidding, on photos, on feedback – it’s all there. Next you’ll need to figure out what to sell. Before you zero in on a particular niche you need some experience and some feedback. Buyers are generally leery of buying from someone who is brand new and has a feedback rating of less than 10 evaluations. While you are getting your feet wet, look around your own house first. You’d be amazed at what people buy. You could list outgrown clothing, magazines, candle holders, CD, books, flannel sheets, recipes, the ugly old lamp that was Aunt Mildred’s, all those goofy Christmas gifts sitting in your basement, that old baby gate with a stain on it. Get the idea? You never know what someone will want. Although you need experience, you don’t want to list something that isn’t likely to sell. Do your research first before you invest the time in putting together a listing. An easy method to use is do a “search” on eBay, then look up COMPLETED ITEMS, then sort by HIGHEST price. Then you’ll see if your Tommy Bahama shirt is really worth anything. Or you’ll see that your old baseball cards had 23 listings and not one of them sold. Pricing is another challenge. Again, you’ll need to do your research. See what they’re going for. Don’t have overly high expectations. You know how you feel when you go to a garage sale and you see a pair of jeans for $15 or books for $4 each. Many people come to eBay to look for a bargain. Consider how much you have into the item. If you have an item from around the house, you may consider that something is better than nothing, so you may be inclined to start the bidding quite low. If you bought it with the specific intention to resell, you will, at the very minimum, want to break even, so take the price you paid for it and consider other costs, i.e. listing fees, final value fees (all explained in your lifeline – eBay seller overview above). People are much more apt to bid if the bidding starts LOW. Sometimes though, you will have collectibles that are worth a chunk of money. Don’t give away that vintage postcard that is worth $56! Do your homework. The next big question is how do you get paid? You determine what you would accept. Online payments such as PayPal (paypal.com) are very convenient. You can also decide that you’ll accept money orders or personal checks. The more options you leave your buyers, the more likelihood you’ll get more bids. You also need to decide how you want to ship your items to the winners. Many sellers use USPS, others prefer UPS. If you use USPS and ship via Priority Mail, you can get your envelopes and boxes free from USPS. If you ship First Class or Parcel Post or UPS, you’ll have to shop around for deals on boxes or envelopes and bubble wrap or packing peanuts. Overwhelmed yet? Yes there is a lot to learn, but it’s not nuclear science. Just take it one step at a time. It’s a learning process. Some yahoo groups (or MSN or AOL, or whatever your preference) are great sources for support and camaraderie with others who are doing the same. So in summary, if you want to just “start pushing buttons” and learn to make money on eBay on your own, YOU CAN DO IT. If you do better chatting with others, those resources are available too. Use what is available. About the author:Team-Schuman.Com contains the best make money online and make money websites available today. If you want to make money check us out here: http://www.team-schuman.com/learn-to-make-money-on-ebay.htmlCirculated by Article Emporium

Setting Up a Forum

By Paul JesseForums can be very useful marketing tools because they set a stage for individuals to converse about the topics set forth in the forum. Individuals can post responses, post new comments or simply read what others have posted. This provides multiple reviews for products and generally answers all the frequently asked questions and more. The way it can help you as a business owner is that it saves you time by simply posting answers to questions on the forum so all users can read the information and you don’t have to worry about answering the same question hundreds of times or more. Also, the forum provides new users with a significant amount of information in a short period of time, therefore providing an overview of your products, services or whatever is being discussed in the forum. Also, forums provide a meeting place for forum users and offers kinship because the forum is focused on a particular topic. This makes users feel comfortable communicating with others and often times create a form of friendship and exchange of ideas that keeps users coming back time and again. The bonus for your business is that if you have a free forum and people continuously return, it will increase the percentage that individuals will buy a service or product from you. Another important aspect of the forum, for users and yourself, is that when a large group of people are communicating new ideas are presented daily and old ideas are improved upon. Everyone gains from new and improved ideas, techniques and methods, and this source of information alone could dramatically improve your business flow. If you provide a forum that is monitored and has relevant information, subscribers and users will continuously return because the forum is a place to give and receive information. This is very important for the individuals using your forum as well as for your business. Basically, while you are providing a free service to users they are providing you with traffic to your web page and most likely increased sales and new ideas. This is an incredibly useful tool and should be utilized by business owners interested in reaching more individuals by creating a club like atmosphere in the forum with the exchanging of ideas, as well as increasing your own business. Setting up a forum will help you bring the same users back to your web page time and time again, which is important because it has been proven that over 70% of sales are made after the third, fourth or fifth customer contact. Also, continuously updating your web site and providing a relevant forum will help your web page be returned in free search engine results. As a result, the forum not only keeps users continuously coming back, but it helps get your web page noticed by potential users and subscribers, thus increasing your traffic even more. There is no reason for you not to start a relevant forum on your web page today and see the results of increased traffic and higher sales. About the author:Paul Jesse, Phoenix, Arizona USA Learn more about making money online. Paul Jesse is thr owner of Shea Marketing, published author, retired government employee, private pilot, and lifetime student of Internet Marketing. He created sheamarketing.com to help those interested in working from home on the internet. http://www.sheamarketing.comCirculated by Article Emporium

The golden road

By Itsik tzurWhen I first started looking for a home business opportunity, usually after carefully observing the offer I emailed the company or the owner of the website, not just to get more info but to acknowledge there is a real person behind the website who will be there to support and guide me. I can tell you that in most cases, either it took days and even weeks to get their answer or they did not respond at all accept for auto responders in some cases. There was however a few of them who did respond and did it very quickly (less then 24 hrs usually). The first thing I felt was confidence, my resistance and doubts where still there but they were getting weaker and gradually I became more interested and open to listen and learn about what they have to offer. In most cases home business owners are like a car on a highway. They quickly rush to get to their destination and the faster the better. They are busy optimizing their site for better search results, looking for the next place to advertise their site in; checking conversion rate, statistics and so forth… A simple thing like answering a prospect email becomes a hard task they prefer to ignore or get the job done by an auto responder. Looking at my own personal experience, I noticed that my resistance and doubts were fading away when I was getting an email back. At that moment I realized that creating a rapport with a prospect is essential and fundamental to the success of any home business. So how do you create a rapport with your prospect? The first step is: understanding that your prospects are your gold mine and the internet is the tool which you use to reach them. Your prospects are real people like you with dreams, desires and at the same time doubts, resistance and fears. It is vital to understand that they approach you in order for you to help them accomplish their goals and dreams. They are your most precious asset and without them you can't create a successful home business. A simple action like responding to a prospect email has far more impact then you can imagine! On the internet things happen much faster then in the real world. When an email is sent to you by a prospect a fast respond is needed. That kind of gesture lets him know his importance to you, and shows that you respect him. Let him know that you got his message; write a simple email back telling him you are there, willing to guide, serve and help him. Be ready to answer any question and provide all the support you can when he asks you for it. Remember: your prospects are people. They deserve your attention and respect. Create a rapport with your prospects and don’t forget to be patient and honest. In conclusion: It is true that Advertising, optimizing your site for better search results and all the other stuff are essential to your business. But you must understand that none of this matters if you do not create a rapport with your prospects. After all, they are the ones you build your site for. They look, buy and support you so be sure to give them back the same treatment. Then and only then will you be walking the "golden road". About the author:Itsik Tzur can help YOU Start your own profitable business on the Internet Within the next 24 hours! To learn more, visit: http://www.Karma4Success.com/pips.htmlIf you have any questions send your email to itsiktzur@yahoo.com Circulated by Article Emporium

Setting Up A Newsletter

By Paul JesseIt is a proven fact that companies that offer newsletters have more follow up sales than those who do not. As a result, setting up a newsletter is an incredibly effective tool that any business interested in making sales or increasing business should utilize. There are several pointers that will help you begin setting up a newsletter for your company. First, you will need a reason for a newsletter and a reason for potential subscribers to sign up. This can include offering a free sample, free e-book, specialized information and the like. Your newsletter can be about any number of things, it just needs to have a target market and provide the information the subscribers want and need. When you have a newsletter and are offering subscribers something for signing up, then you will have their contact information and will be able to follow up with these individuals. It has been proven that more than 70% of sales are made after the third to fifth contact, so having contact information will prove very valuable for your company. Once you have a reason to have a newsletter, you will need to begin formatting a professional newsletter to provide to your subscribers. Consequently, you will want to buy software that will help you format your newsletter so it can be easily read, distributed and look professional. There are many types of software on the market that can help you do this. However, look around for one that meets your needs. If you are not creating a very difficult newsletter, then there are plenty of programs that can create professional looking newsletters that do not cost a lot of money. The software program you buy should correlate with your newsletter design needs.While you are investing in this software. You will also want a software program that will automate your newsletter and provide subscribe and unsubscribe automatically to subscribers. This will make your newsletter dispersal and cancellations easier on you and it puts the subscribers in control of whether or not they receive the newsletter. If you do not have a program to do this for you then you will end up spending uncountable hours adding and subtracting people to and from your newsletter. If you don’t keep up with it, people will start sending additional and uglier emails to get you to remove them from the list, which further clogs your email system. What’s worse, once someone subscribes if they are not added immediately they might forget about it. A software program that is automated is certainly worth its cost if you are going to offer a newsletter. Finally, make sure you know your market and are marketing your newsletter to these individuals. If so, you will have more subscribers and ultimately more sales because of this. As long as you are aware and constantly trying to meet the needs of your target market through your newsletter and services, your business will continue to grow. About the author:Paul Jesse is the owner of Shea Marketing, published author, retired government employee, private pilot, and lifetime student of Internet Marketing. He created sheamarketing.com to help those interested in working from home on the internet. http://www.sheamarketing.com

Should You Be Selling Information Products?

By Benjamin ScottCopyright 2005 Benjamin ScottDo you know that selling information products is one of the best ways to earn money on the net? And information products don’t just refer to internet marketing strategies, or website design secrets. The surface has just been scratched!Here are just a few of the excellent benefits one will attain from selling information products on the net. The best benefit you’ll get from selling information products is you’ll be your own boss. You won’t answer to any higher authority except to yourself. You can assign yourself to research on ideas and subjects you feel passionate about or are extremely curious about. Or something you are an expert on! 100% of the profits are yours and therefore the sweat of selling information products go to you. You create the product, market and keep all the profits there in. You get to keep each penny of each information product you sell. The information comes from your thoughts. All you’ll need to do is set it down in PDF or other formats. Then – provide a downloading link to clients.No need to collaborate with a manufacturer or supplier. You won’t get behind schedules or need to adjust the selling price because you can’t control the raw materials prices. You won’t have to worry about the delivery or shipping schedules. Selling information products will just require a straightforward process between your computer and that of the reader. Another thing – you don’t need any employees. This means, you don’t worry about enhancing employee motivation or finding solutions about absenteeism. You can hire creative talent on the net, if you need collaborators.Run business where you are, or keep it running even when you aren’t home. Your website can take orders while you are sleeping or grocery shopping, or taking a day out in the sun. With reliable e-commerce applications, you can sell information products, on auto-pilot.Develop your own niche market in selling information products. If you have a passion or a deep interest on subject, you can make an informational product based on it. It would be unique, simply because you’ve put your personal imprint on it. People will flock to your website, because it offers something others don’t. Don’t think a niche market means small pickings. It just means a supplying to markets with a narrower focus. And because you are on the net, you’re selling to the rest of the world that’s connected to the web.Here are some ideas you can use as a springboard for your own information products. 200 Online dating tips and hints150 of the world’s best desserts How to cook Philippine dishes, using the available ingredients 10 secrets to keeping a successful and diversified investment portfolioFor reference purposes, check out the http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace, which claims to sell over 10,000 information products. It will give you an idea on the sheer variety.In case you’re wondering, people are buying these products. Why? Easy to read, and understand. Straight to the point, tell it as it is, based on the author’s and other people’s experiences. The customers surf the net for information that is readily accessible and e-books are it. This is why selling information products will get you a constant stream of profit. You can just as easily sell information products to a customer at Timbuktu or Iceland. If there are secrets or step-by-step processes, you can write about, you can sell these. The potential is there; all it needs is your brand of persistence, dedication, and passion to make it work!About the author:Benjamin Scott operates a successful internet business working from his home personal computer. Grab a FREE copy of his 9 lesson e-marketing course at: http://www.eazyhomebusiness.com/Copyright © 2005 Benjamin Scott Circulated by Article Emporium

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind,: Excellence is a Relentless Pursuit

This book delivers its promise in the following manner. The first four chapters have been written in a traditional business style, the hallmarks of success as outlined in the qualities of leadership that companies embrace for mastery. The first four chapters are the keys to excellence in corporate thought. The final twenty short chapters of one to two pages have been written as fables, stories and parables with lessons attached to them.
Chapter One: Excellence is the Chosen Path
Excellence in your Company
The chapter describes in detail;
Supporting risk through action and interpretation
Full partnerships with clients/ customers
Stimulating the individual
Leadership and motivation; entrepreneurship within the ranks
Motivating people whose productivity is for their own benefit
Hands on management teams shaping values
Letting management manage due to simplification of structures that embrace corporate productivity
Releasing the latent potential in staff through active participation
This chapter describes the characteristics of excellent companies, leadership within the companies that lead to balancing liberation of talent with support. The key point of excellence has always been the cohesion of the team in the grass roots belief of excellence on all levels. This chapter discusses balancing the process of leadership and how we get there through cohesion within the management team. It elaborates on the cohesion of the team through the integration of integrity and values.
Chapter Two
Excellence in Your People
How do we get excellence in the people that propel the company forward?
We look for : Levels of integration of effort
Levels of integrity of thought
Personal vision as to purpose within the company
They also understand that self initiated, self-directed experimentation is the key to success.
To create ownership, projects must be encouraged
Creativity means dreaming up new things; innovation is doing old things in a more efficient way.
Power to implement these ideas is critical to the entrepreneur and will stifle creativity and productivity if criticized.
Four entrepreneurs are introduced; all have stories that are impossible in the conventional thought. However, the desire and the drive for excellence propelled each of these people to outstanding results in there field, beyond the expectation of human possibility. They are Oprah, Deepak Chopra, Jim Carey, and Anthony Robbins. How can corporations learn from these folks who built empires on their own?
This chapter also discusses the true characteristics of professionals:
In sports
In values
In purpose
In the soul’s need to be the very best
Change is not created through illusions; it is created by the souls’ need for excellence. It is important to begin with the end in mind, to see the product before it is built, to believe in the dream before it becomes a reality. The entrepreneur builds the empire in spirit, harmony, and unity for financial immortality.
Chapter Three
Win… What is Important Now!
This chapter is just a story about a baseball player who knew what to do in the top of the sixth inning in a no win game against the Boston Red Sox. I then tell my own baseball story, and what happened to my team when I came back after an injury and went on to play the final game bandages and all. When we remember WIN…What does Important Now, life always give us the final inning? The champions know what it takes to win, and they pull out all the stops to get there in the last moments of the last inning of the last game. It is the reality of relationship that makes life and the WIN important.
Prologue
Wizards, Myths, fables, and Other Misnomers in Business
Why this book was written in the manner that it was. I combined the fables that my mother had read me as a child with the business savvy of my father. The wish was that that combination and small samplings of tales has the reader looking at life more than rose colored glasses in order to slay the dragons in any market.
Secret One;
Always follow the Dream
The biblical story of Joseph and the techni color dream color. The liberation of Joseph’s talent as a dreamier made all the difference to his family and to his nation. Without following the obstacles around the drams and over the hardships, through the rejection to final fruition of the vision, no glory is found.
Secret Two
You are Perfect… the Fable of the Tortoise and the Eagle
One of the greatest lessons and gifts of life is the present, which you are. Victory shows up in making the choices at the levels of performance in what we do our best selves, and by our true unique nature. Contributing to excellence in every interaction captures the magic of our very existence.
Secret Three
Passion is not a Four Letter word, Fear is
Complacency is a deeper rut than a tomb. This fun chapter discusses the blessings of stepping from fear to passion in the parable of the fable of the crow and the two seeds. In seeking challenges growth appears and fears disappears.
Secret Four
Time is of the Essence
The fable of the white rabbit discusses the value of time management. What is important now is just part of the equation, what is important in the future must also be considered. Point zero in business is where most business operate. How do we get past point zero in time, money, and effort to get into profit?
Reverse timelines, the calendar, and the Swiss cheese approach to life in order to put order into chaos of your personal, professional life. There is not point to carve out a living when you forget to carve out a life.
Secret Five
The Pain brings Gain Myth
Inspiration vs. Perspiration
Belling the cat is a hilarious tale from Aesop. The myth is that it takes pain to bring gain. Problems are never sent to give us perspiration, they are sent to give us inspiration. When inspired enough you will step out of your comfort zones to accomplish the vision and conquer the obstacles.
Secret Six
The Butterfly Theory, Making the Market work for you!
We all know and understand that the butterfly theory of chaos a butterfly’s wings fluttered in Rome cause an earthquake in Singapore. Therefore, it is with marketing. Once you have discovered the market and the possibilities of that market, each type of marketing feeds off the other or builds on the other as a another dimension of media . The secrets to marketing is exchange what can you exchange? You r know ledge and skill for another person’s knowledge and skill. Get rich in your niche and growing your business means growing your self?
Secret Seven
Walking the Financial Tightrope or Surfing the Net works
This chapter discusses the markets where you gain financial success. Newton’s law of gravity works in business as well as in physics… an object in motion stays in motion, and object at rest stays at rest. The object in motion should be you. The miracle of the internet quantifies this amount, an easy way to sell to millions.
Secret Eight
Promotion is Communication, or the Fable of the Goat and the Fox
The simple fable of using dramatic means to self-promotion to broadcast your business. The magic of the mix is the combination of broadcast. The bolder the more dramatic, the promotion the broader you market becomes. All electromagnetic frequencies alter matter, voice alters matter.
Secret Nine
Dialing for Dollars
Calling past clients, clients, geographic databases to ask for repeat and referral business, if you have served your clients well, you will serve them again and again. Matching and mirroring the clients gives maximum results. Continue to raise yourself and others to the standards of excellence that you envision.
Secret Ten
Lazarus theory or the Dead Client Walking: Know the difference
How to spot a dead client a mile away, and bow to handle the objections to make this client work for you and with you by setting your boundaries. The good angler can catch and release.
Secret Eleven
The Tale of St. George and the Dragon… or Dealing with the Dragon Client
Beware of the smoke screens, and much noise. A control freak at best that wastes your time and money in trying to please him/her. When the dragon client arrives, leave the crusade for change behind you and let him terrorize someone else. If you need the lesson, understand that this person is your greatest teacher.
Secret Twelve
Loyalty for Life or You don’t want the Business
The Tale of the Ugly Wife
Camelot found. When you discover that the mystery of the ugly wife holds for you all the wealth in the world will be yours. This very old tale discusses the marriage of Sir Gawain, royal knight of the Round Table a good and worthy servant of King Arthur to a HAG. In discovering her internal beauty and the lessons that she had for him, she became the most beautiful woman in the world. Discovering what the bride/client really wants, gives you riches beyond your imagination.
Secret Thirteen
The Fool Who is Silent Passes for Wise
The lesson of Silence is found in the story of Narcissus. When the Echo or Salesman repeats the needs of the client over and over, the client falls in love with him/her. Narcissus fell in love with the silent pool because the mirror in the pond was he. As we learn to be a reflection of what the client needs, business becomes endless. We look wise when we are silent rather than boastful.
Secret Fourteen
Practice, Practice, Practice
When we choose to change our definition of gratifying relationships to be long, lasting and mutual, not short term and empty, our businesses go up exponentially.
Secret Fifteen
Profitability to Die For or the Tale of Achilles
The riddle of Achilles hold the answers to real profit in business. When business crates energy with a four to one profitability of expenses to income. If the expense does not produce a profit in 45:1 return, you may be overlooking cast amounts of profit and where to earn these profits. Prune the roses for extra profit, cut off the dead wood, in your business for more profit.
Secret Sixteen
The Midas touch
Not all that glitters is gold. Midas pursuit of business was running him, because he abandoned all else for the pursuit of gold. Sometimes a profitable business is running you, rather than you running it, and the quality of your life disappears into it, heart disease, stroke and other disease are crated from this lust for gold.
Secret Seventeen
Be Proud of Who you are, or the Fable of the Millar, his Ass, and His Son
Probably one of the most humorous stories in this book is the fable of the miller, his son and the ass. Trying to please every one else, and not yourself is the key to failure. Being outstanding does not just take skill, it takes heart. In the willingness to contribute, to make a difference to society, to commit all to excellence, there creates a magical path to success. This path takes us beyond the Township of the Ordinary into the Country of Our Highest Purpose. There miracles and our destiny are found.
Secret Eighteen
Negotiation... Thor the Sledge Hammer, or the Count of Monte Christi Chisel
The tools that are required for excellence are always fine-tuned. They require a command of the facts, a list of the technical details, and finally the trust of the two parties to create a win/win situation in every circumstance.
Secret Nineteen
The Secret of Pandora’s Box
A Greek tale of love and lust. Again, the love of money creates disaster. What is in Pandora’s Box, the only redeeming quality left there was the element of Hope. Hope lives in the future, no matter how difficult and treacherous the past has been, hope gives us a promise of a new day tomorrow
Secret Twenty
The Buddha, the Traveler, and the Gift
Once upon a time, the Buddha was traveling and he came upon a traveler who wanted to walk with him. This traveler poured poison on the Buddha and after three days when he did not not respond, he asked the Buddha, why he had not retaliated. The Buddha responded with a question, this question is the great question of life and all teachers, healers give the same lesson, never retaliate in anger, and understand in love.
Epilogue Thoughts
Thoughts about the journey of success. The path is usually convoluted, unexpected and has no ending. The secrets are lessons learned over time for our amusement and personal growth. The lesson manifest at a time when we are ready to learn. Excellence is the relentless pursuit of the very best that we have to give to the universe, when we are ready to learn and ready to give. This is our very best, our relationships and our commitment to world service.