The Market

The Market

Every business before it opens its doors need to identify its market.  Your market should include the following or you do not have a market.  

1. You have to have people eager for an answer to a problem
2. Those same people have to willing to spend their money  to get the answer
3. The final step is your ability to reach those people.

To keep it as simple as possible you need a large enough group of people who have a problem that you have a solution for.  If you do not pick a strong enough market then you can have all the pieces to the puzzle together and your campaign will fail.

So you need to ask your self a few questions
What niche do I want to go into?
Do I want to market to this or this or this
The more specialized you are the better. For example if you wanted to Market to Guitar Players.  You may have people who are looking for how to play guitar, you may have people who are interested in electric and some into acoustic. Some maybe looking for lessons others may be looking for equipment. You have to decide which angle you want to take and move forward.

Here are a list of Micro trends that may be worth looking into:

• Garden Sheds.
• Dating Cougars
• Stay at home workers
• Caffeine Crazies
• Neglected Dads
• Video Game Grown ups
• DIY Doctors

Look for articles on some of these trends and search out key words and phrases. Then go to https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ There you will find more key words.  Then go back to google and click the best keywords into their keyword search tool.  I have always been told to look for key words that have 120,000 monthly visitors.  This shows you that their is an interest in the key word so you will not have to spend alot of money getting traffic because you already have a ton of people looking for what you are going to be selling.
 

Why dont they do this-- Automobile Industry

Why dont they do this

Automobile Industry

To take a line from my girl friends brother.  We Americans love our trinkets.  So why havent I seen a few of these things in my American Cars.

Most states have banned texting

Lets face it we love to text message.  However more and more states are beginning to ban text messaging in cars.  I got to thinking on my ride home from work...

• We have cell phones that have voice activation
• We also have software that can "listen" to what you are saying and type it on the screen.

Listen up auto industry, Droid Network, etc

Why cant we make an application that I can say to my phone read txt msg.  Then have my phone read a txt to me and then say,"reply"  Then while I am talking the phone could type what I say and then send it to the person I am trying to talk to.

You may be saying that sounds like a phone application.  Sure it is but the auto industry has followed these kind of technologies.   So why cant you put a "mini computer" into the car or truck that allows me to log into my messages. Then do exactly what I suggested above.

Are we  the most innovative countries? Nope

I have tweeted about this before but would really like to know how this is possible.  With the word of $5 a gallon gas there has been words about a hydrogen car.  Yet we do not have the accessible to buy at this time and even if they did the demand would be so high that the auto industry would jack the price up to unaffordable. Even though not in the mainstream for big boys like me. I can walk into a local Barnes and Noble and buy a hydrogen car model for my son for $100.

I have also always wondered why the auto industry can not make a doohickie that you can screw or glue onto your car that would give my car instatly better gas mileage.  Wouldnt it be sweet if we were smarter than them and could give the world the middle finger and say look what we just did. We dont need your stinking gas.  But were not that smart yet. Im optimistic we will get there. 


Hey auto industry give me your ear, come on, dont be scared, come over here. Lean closer. closer.  I bet  if you sold a doohickie like the one I talk about above.  I bet you could sell more of them, alot more of them, alot more than new cars you can sell in a year.  But let it ride. We are all going to need a new car some day right? If we can afford them....

Then since we are on some of my latest tweets I was also wondering if anyone else had noticed this: I heard on the news the other day because of the terror threat we drove more than ever during this holiday season. Thus "as the experts say" driving up the price of gas.  Does anyone else find it odd or a coincidence that the people who control most of the current oil currency are also the same places that harbor the most terrorists? Did they have a meeting and say, "send out the terrorists and have them target any mass transit vehicle thus pushing these people to drive more" We will all be rich"  (insert: Dr Evil laugh here)


 What are some cool things you would like to see available in your cars and trucks. Please leave a comment.

The first step in Affiliate Marketing.

Simple not Easy

I bet alot of you new people starting out have heard the hype and that is why you wanna do it.

You have heard it as easy as getting a link to a product and all you have to do is share that link with everyone you know. 

Are your frustrated with your results?

Perhaps get the link and tweet it out to the universe and pray you make money.

So how is that working out for you?

I have read the research and the research is not good.  Alot of people claim to be affiliate marketers but have not found away to break into the big money. Why? It is because its not that easy.

People do not like to be hard sold.  If you do it you will be marked as a spammer.

So what you need to do is find out what a hot market is.  Then I believe you should google a few key words and find out some more information.  If you have a little extra money laying around and you want to buy a few items before you promote them. Go a head.  You will get paid for your purchase.

Stop the frustration today

 The best strategy for a newbie is to get a blog after you have found your niche,  Put a video inside of the blog talking about the product.  Lets say for example your product was on continuity programs. These are programs that you pay a monthly fee for.  You do a video about what it is.  Then wrap the video in content that gives the potential client even more information. This is where buying the product would pay off. You could give information on key parts you found interesting in the program.  Then at the end of your video say I know alot about these programs but my friend John knows more about it that anyone.  You can get his information by following this link.  (your affiliate link)

Thats it.  There is no hard sale involved.  People are either interested or not. You get a sale or you dont.

After the week is up I will be doing a 7 day study course by email.  If you are interested in getting involved as soon as possible Go to http://twitter.com/schulte95 and DM your email address and I will give you the details on getting started.  ok.  Thanks.   Be sure to check back during the week for more tips.

How contact after the sale can bring referrals

How contact after the sale can bring referrals

 

The way I heard this originally was from a car salesman.  The process could be used by any sales business.

 

While he has the couple in his dealership about to ready to sign the papers he asks them if it would be ok for him to call them 3 times over the next six months just to check and make sure everything is going well. They agree and he sends them away with their new car.  He has a process set up that goes like this:

The first call he makes at the end of the first week.  He does this to make sure that everything about the car is running alright and making sure that their over all experience was top of the line.  They say it was great and thank him.  Just before he hangs up he asks them if they know if their is anyone in the market for a new car.

 

 

The second call he makes is after the first month.   He does this to make sure that everything went ok with the financing.  He also makes sure that they are set up with their first maintenance review by the dealership. Gets all that squared away and again as he is about to end the call he asks once again if they know anyone who is in the market for a new car. 

 

The third call he makes is after the sixth month. He knows that it is very important for cars to get their oil changes every 3 months so he calls to make sure that they have set up their appointment for their second oil change.  He knows if they have are not he just wants to make the contact with them.  Lastly he again asks if they know anyone who is in the market for a new car.

 

 

Why does he do this?

In this situation at the end of the six months he had been given 11 referrals from this customer.  Out of those 11 referrals, Six of those people made a purchase.  For each referral he gave them $500 in Service vouchers for upkeep on their car 

 

The six car purchases totaled over $200,000 That is just from one customer.  He did the same process with these six, in fact he does it with all his customers.  I believe very easily this process could easily brought him over a million dollars for the year.

How to get your Local Newspaper to sponsor your Seminar

Want to become THE Expert in your field?


 

Working directly with your local newspaper you offer an appealing seminar that you find will cost you $149

• This could be Real Estate people to doing an event for first time home buyers.

• It could be a Financial Advisor giving retirement tips.

 

• It could be a Contractor offering basic building tips

You agree to give 50% of your consulting fees if in return the local newspaper will do an all out ad campaign in your local newspaper.


By doing this not only does the newspaper cover all your ad costs but you both make excellent profit, and you fill your seminar event.


However the biggest benefit is that you get FREE publicity and credibility as being the expert in your area in your chosen field because of your local newspaper.

The Stadium Sales Pitch -- Educate the prospect

What would you do if I put you behind a podium and told you to sell to 30,000 of your ideal prospect could you do it?

What can you write as your stadium pitch title or ad that would appeal to the entire group of 30,000 people.

So you are an internet marketer you tell me.  There are so many aspects to online marketing that people are looking for.

1. SEO
2. Social Media
3. Blogging
4. Micro Blogging
5. Affiliate Marketing
6. Mobile Marketing

  

Just to name a few.  What are you going to do to keep all of them in the room at the same time.  If you start talking about Google page rank.  You may a good chunk of people but all the mobile marketing people are starting to get up and move to the door. 

The hardest thing today is grabbing our clients attention and holding it long enough so that we can offer them our product and or service.  The best way I know how to do this is through educating the prospect.


Here is my 3 point solution




Offer them information: by giving the client an education you are going to increase the clients interest in what you have to offer.


Offer the best information: by offering your client the best information that you have and not holding back you setting up yourself as an expert in your potential clients mind. You may even be teaching them stuff about their business they do not even know.


Tie it all together: Finally the last step is taking the information you are presenting and do it in a way that positions your product or service to be the only solution that makes sense in the mind of your potential client.

This is what really makes for effective webinar and teleseminar campaigns to be so successful. You may get 100's of people on a call, by doing what I outlined above will give you a great start in building a successful campaign for your business.
 

Micro Niche #2 -- Pet parents

Pet Parents

Just the facts mam.

 

 

• There are 44 million homes that have at least one dog
• There are at least 38 million homes that have at least one cat
• In 2006 Americans spent $40 billion on their pets.  This puts the pet segment in the top ten in retail 
• We also spent$ 9 billion on over the counter medicines for our pets
• 8 out of 10 dog and 2 out of 3 cat owners buy their pets a gift on their birthday.
• 63% of all American households have pets up nearly 10 since 1988.

 The average pet product buyer is a women, age 24-45, and without children.


What are they buying?  You name it clothes, toys, and obedience training. Not a whole lot different from a parent if you think about it.  It also appears that as households decline in children they are increasing in lavish pets.


Pampered pooches.

http://www.thebarkleypethotel.com/ 

The Barkley pet hotel and pet spa.  If you have never checked out this site go their now.
This is luxury at the highest level for your pet.  You can get your pet a pool suite, send them to doggy day camp, Cut their hair, do their nails.  You name it they do it.  I mean you name it.  They will take your pet for a ride in a Limo.  They will offer you personal belly rub time. Every room is set up with a web cam where you can check in on your pet every moment of the day.

Dog groomers and pet spas The average pet stylest makes in the neighborhood of $100 an hour.  My girlfriend sends her pet to a pet spa that guarantees your pet will never be put in a cage.  The sky really is the limit for this type of business.  Business is only growing.

Micro Niche #1 -- The single Dad

The Young and Hungry Men

Males aged 18-34

Im sure that you have all heard the saying soccer mom.  This was a phrase coined for women who not only had the home duties and work life but also spent substantial time taking kids to and fro to sporting events... The tides are changing.

In 1970 a study was done that showed that men spent 1/3 of the time with the kids as mom did.  However a 1999 University of Michigan study showed that dads in 1997 were spending about 65% during the week and nearly identical on the weekends coming in at 87%

There are a couple of reason why this could be happening. One the fact that mom's are spending more time at work and when they get home they are beat and ask their husbands help with the kids.  The other reason is the increase in divorce and with it, the increasing of exclusive time between dads and their kids. 

With this increase in time we have not seen an increase in marketing which is sad.  I am a single dad and I really think their is an opportunity being missed.  When I want to take my kids out and still want to see the game.  Books that feature Dads with their kids.  Who is marketing to the dad who just coached his kids soccer game and now wants to take them out.

The Dads of today are neglected more than ever.  In fact their are 4 million dads today who have a huge portion of the child care responsibilities. While their wives are bringing home the bacon.  The changing role of dads in family life has many marketing opportunities.  Do me a favor and google dads buying gifts for kids and you will find there are not very many items on the list that are directed just for dads.  

What could your restaurant do to attract those dads who are having the me time with their kids.  

I am very proud of my boys and I would spend just about anything on them.  Pictures of Dad and the boys, Video games.  Sports leagues.  Father daughter parties. Dads are very proud people. I just wish that more politicians, lawyers, and marketing groups would pay more attention to the positive feedback kids give while spending times with their dads.

  The possibilities are endless and it may just be your million dollar idea. 

I think we have all been there who have had kids.  That is what really brings out the future business owner in all of us.  The problem is most people do not act on their creative juices.  Not so for Sharon Mullen the owner of a site called inventiveparents.com The site is filled with products that parents have came up with instead of the huge commercial industry most of us see.

Some of the examples

1. Sharon was the inventor of a product I know I used with my two boys the Car seat cozy.  You know those things you slip over the car seat that have the flapper where the baby's head can peak out.  People put them on in the winter to keep their babies warm.
2. Preggie Pops are pop cycle's that a mom produced to combat morning sickness
3. The Wee block was made by a dad who was tired of getting a shot from his little dude every time he pulled off his diaper.

The website has seen a nearly 70% growth since its inception in 1998. The best for most stay at home mom's her business is still ran out of her home.


The best part is she started it from nothing.

She believes that no bank or venture capitalist would have ever bet on her because all the products on her site are invented by unproven inventors.  Guess what? She still turned it into a multi million dollar business.  What do you have inside you?

Why dont cell phone companies do this?

Why dont cell phone companies do this?

Apparently, Nokia alone produce 1,000,000 phones a day, which are shipped to about 130 countries. That is a huge number, considering, in a week, you've made enough phones for everyone in the world to own one. Considering over half the world own mobile phones now, how often do people change their phones?

I really dont think that there is any hard data available that can answer the question.
My guess would be that most people change "upgrade" at 12 to 24 months (most happening at 18 to 24 months)

With this being the case I really can not understand why cell phone companies are not hitting the internet market harder than they do.  I dont blame the big companies.  The big companies are just the networks.  I am talking about the guy down the road who owns Cell One or whatever.

Why dont you:

1. Keep in touch with a blog This is a great way to stay in touch with your customers and let them know Daily, weekly, monthly of the new stuff that is coming in their store.
2. Keep in touch with a newsletter Every single person you have ever did business with you have their billing address so why do you not send them a letter out every month and let them know what is new in the business? Want to get crazy make it phone specific.
3. Why do you not have a Facebook Page? Everyone and their Brother is on Facebook, so why are you not there? Especially due to the fact that your prime customers are the exact same people on Facebook.
4. Youtube would change your business. If you could show potential customers something they didnt know they could do with a phone or something super cool.  I bet you would have a new customer.

The thing that these business owners do not understand is that if they did all of these on a consistent business they would probably retain these customers and gain new customers for life.

Do you think Im right? Leave a comment. Or if you would like help applying this for your business please call me at 608-567-1058

Referral Strategy #7 Package your items as a joint venture.

You have got the next hot program on how to date an incredible women.  Instead of just sending out your book package it with the local Cinema. 

You could package it with a dvd that also shows you how to do some basic magic tricks. Visit someone locally. I live around Wisconsin Dells so there are people locally. If you cant find someone locally talk to someone online.

You could package it with a dvd that shows them how to do a special dance.  Perhaps the two step. There are alot of people online and off who can show you how to do some new dance moves.  Package your product with one of theirs for a great product that anyone would like to buy.

By doing this you are not only promoting your book, or program but you are also bringing value to the whole event by adding and cross promoting other items.


Lets use another example

You see this strategy alot in the video game industry.  Go into any gamestop and you will see a number of video games packaged with other things they may or may not need.  I went into gamestop the other day and they had a Zumba for Wii and they had it packaged with a weight loss do hikey and a few other things and they sold it for $97 brand new.  Then you go over to the wall and the used version of just the game is $29.

The point is the weight loss dohickey what ever it was, perhaps there were multiple thingies but the result was a perceived value of 3 times is real value.

Do you have an idea like this that you could use in your business? 

Xbox Kinect-- Xbox #2 on Ebay's top 10 searches

Catch the Craze Xbox Kinect

1.	ipod
2.	xbox 360
3.	p90x
4.	ipod touch
5.	iphone 3g
6.	verizon cell phones
7.	iphone 4
8.	xbox 360 console
9.	ps3
10.	coach handbags

Today I want to talk to you about the hottest thing this Christmas.  The Xbox Kinect.  What can it mean for you besides fun and excitement of the next big thing? If you dont know where you can get a hot item like this wholesale then your next best option is to look for a way to hop in on the craze and then montetize it.

If you are looking for a place to find them wholesale click on the following link    http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/xbox+360+kinect.html I will not get paid if you click this link and I am not taking any representation all I did was go to google and type Xbox 360 Wholesale.  This was the first choice.  Another intersting topic is the fact that anyone can make their own Kinect apparently and Xbox has already said that they will not be suing anyone at this point for selling the plans. http://www.buzzbox.com/news/2010-11-22/kinect:microsoft/?clusterId=2508724 

So what is the best way to get great qualified leads for the Kinect or the next best game.  The best way to do this is two fold.

1. Give the Kinect away in a contest. If a person already has a Kinect they would probably would not enter a contest to get one for free unless you wanted 
2. Do some FAQ videos Sit down and write out what are the most asked questions with the Kinect.  Then come up with all the solutions. Make a video of each and put them on youtube. With your video drive them back to your website to buy your product. This is a great idea with a new product like this.  Especially for after Christmas.  Nobody likes to read directions these days so show them a few free videos on setting it up the proper way and then offer a cheap product of tips you will give them when they buy your product. 

Is your Dealership networking this way? Ford, Dodge, Gm, Honda

It all starts with Networking

The goal is to bring in the most customers as you can to get your business up in running again.  So what are you doing about it?  The quick examples that I am about to share with you will open your eyes to a new set of customers that you may or may not of tapped.

We have a repair shop close to me that used to have a commercial that said "...if we can screw it or glue it onto your car, we can fix it"  its just another way to say we can fix everything.  I liked it and it worked.  It still sticks to me today and if I had a car problem with my car I would send it there.  However my Galant has 210,000 miles on it and I have never put a penny into it for repairs.

So if you enter into a relationship with this guy you can work a two way positive relationship, When he can no longer work his magic on a dieing car he can send the person to you as a referral. 

Another place you can look for referrals is a person who does detail work.  Most detail work is done either at the beginning when the love affair with your car is still new, or when the love affair is over and you are ready to trade in for a newer model.

Those may seem obvious, What are a few that are less obvious? How about a garage who customizes cars or puts in auto starts in the winter time.  If you have a "pimp my ride" type of garage in your town you should also be entering into business with them to be passing business on to them.  "If you buy this sweet new Camaro I know a guy here in town who can set you up with some killer 22's"   There you set him up, you take care of him he will take care of you.

Here is one with a little farther reach how about entering into a relationship with your motorcycle dealership.  I live in the Northern half of the country even the hardest of hardcore riders still need a car in the winter time.  Most of them I noticed, Not only want a cycle people talk about but also a car or truck that will turn peoples eyes as well.

How about a car Expo sponsored by of course: Your dealership.  Not only is this away to enter into relationships with all the people you want to know for this type of Networking it also sets you at the front and center leader in the auto industry in your area.  Invite audio installers, service stations, customizers, and detailers

Referral Strategy #6 a page out of Omaha Steaks book

Invite your friend to try Omaha Steaks and we will throw in a dozen free burgers.  And for every two friends who try us out, we'll send you a  $20 Reward e-gift card toward your purchase of $80 or more.

This is a great strategy that can be used in nearly any business.  I have also seen this strategy used in direct sales, at home businesses. Like if you refer to people to have a party with me then I will give you one of these products I offer for FREE.

In the example of the steaks above what they are hoping is that you invite friends over to a cook out. Grill out some burgers.  Your friends try the burgers, like them and say, "Where did you get these?"

You say Omaha steaks, you give them the site to order the steaks.  They order and then you get the online coupon for referring the business.

3 way to use Facebook Ads other than driving to a sales letter.

A different way to look at Facebook ads.



Today I want to show you a few different ideas you can use Facebook ads to drive customers other than to just a sales letter.  Keep in mind with Facebook as well as Twitter you should not be saying, " Hi, Im Scott, you want to buy my stuff?"  This would be like going to a cook out and bringing a trunk load of Tupperware.  Its just not going to convert into sales.

Drive people to an event:  If you have an event that you are wanting to promote, or a special offer you have in your store you can use Facebook ads to drive people to your event page right of your Facebook page.  For example if you had a bridal shop and on Saturday you were going to have an event where you were going to invite customers to an expo that had photographer, cake decorators, dj's, etc.  You could use an ad to invite very targeted ads to the event.  You can set up a Facebook Ad to have an ad start just as soon as someone changes their status from single to engaged.  That in itself is HUGE.

Use your ad as a Billboard: I had one client who just used it as a way to get his business name and his face in front of local people.  There are two ways that you can buy Facebook Ads. 1. CPC (cost per click) and CPI (Cost per 1000 impressions).  What we had the client do was set up an ad in CPC, but formatted it in a way that very few people would click on it.  We did not put any type of offer for the customer to click.  We were just wanting to get their business infront of as many local businesses as we could. Think of it as a way to have a bill board online  This works great for Main Street businesses. Who do you think you would call first.  Someone you would pick out of the yellow pages or the person who is looking you in the eye every day on your Facebook page.

Drive clients to teleseminar or webinar:  If you have an upcoming online event and are looking to drive people to your RSVP page this can also be done by using Facebook ads. You could also sent them to a Youtube video that gives them a preview of what you have to offer.

Target marketing-- Learn from this young man

A young boy was wanting to get a little extra money to buy a bike.  He went down to the local newspaper and was given a list of potential customers.  Over time he found out that there were only two types of people who were in the newspaper.  One was newly married couples and the other was people who had just moved into a new home.  He asked around and found out that the best way to contact more of the same people was through the court house.  Later that day he and some friends went to the courthouse and got a list of people. By the end of the summer he was making more money then some of his school teachers.

What are the Lessons to be Learned?

He paid attention to which customers were buying.  

Then he networked with other people to find out where he could get similar prospects.  I think that this is really important.  A lot of people get into the idea that they already know everything they know about in a particular field of work. Show me the person who is open to learn every day and I will show you a person who is in the top 5 per cent in their field.

He leveraged his friends to grow his business.  When he grows up and builds other businesses he will find out he can do the same type of thing with his employee's rather than his friends.

Do not over look this post as something that some kid did.  This is one of the most fundamentally sound stories I have heard on how ANY business should be ran. What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

Want to get noticed in Marketing? Give something away for FREE

Today I want to talk about the way I first got noticed in my area.  I couldnt really make an impact online.  It is very difficult to build a personal brand from scratch.  How provocative are you willing to be?

Here is what I did.

I grabbed my yellow pages.  I am in an area where the yellow pages is not dead.  The internet seems to be... to business owners anyway. I went to Facebook ads and found out how many people from my town were on Facebook.  There is only 920 on Facebook for my town but what would 920 sales do for a business in a town of 8,000?  If you push your ad to 50 miles away in jumps to 118,000 people.  Then I went to Groups and pages,  grabbed the phone book and started looking up businesses in the phone book.  Then I would check and see if they had a Facebook page.  Not many did. 

I sent them a card that said. "Since you have not contacted me I am going to contact you.  I am in the market for x that your business has.  However you have not found me yet.  How many others out there are just like me?  If I could show you how to but your business in front of 118,000 people would you be interested?

Who wouldnt right?  Just to say "Nice meeting you, I would like to offer building your business a fan page so that you have a web presence and can put your self in front of 118,000 people." Would you be interested in me doing that for you for free? 


By doing this you put your self right at their front door and then you can sell them other ad ons once they see the value you brought to their business.  You can write them a newsletter, or show them how to use Facebook ads or pay per click.  These people want the help anyway.  You just stepped in and got your self a new career.

How much money are you leaving on the table?

I went to the gym today as I was running on the treadmill my mind started to wonder.  I was at a Snap Fitness.  For all the people who dont know Snap.  It is a 24-7 gym.  The problem at my gym is no one is ever there. I understand that the concept of the 24-7 gym is for it to be mainly self sustaining but think about this.

We are strictly told that we are not supposed to let anyone in.  So if someone comes to the door who is going to answer it.  Nobody.  Even if I did help them in.  I could help them sign up.  How many sales are lost? I was told well we have a number they can call us.  Are you serious? I wonder how busy the other gym in town is.

However the biggest point I want to make is what happens to the people who quit in the summer?  I have been on and off at that gym for 6 years.  When I left the first time.  There was never any contact at all on their behalf to get in contact with me. Then when I wanted to sign up again they asked have you ever been here before? I answered yes.  They told me then their is a 150 fee.  I have never understood that.  Why is it that if I have done business with you in the past always paid you on time.  Why do you want to penalize me? Im sure there answer would be that is to retain you.  

My Solution

What I think would be great to see is a gym to understand their situation.

1. Eliminate the start up fee forever. 
2. Raise your prices November through March.  If hotels can do it so can you!!
3. Tell people you understand that they want to be outside in the summer so give them the okay to quit for the summer.
4. Package sessions.  Meaning if you are only going to be in Nov through March you are going to pay the highest rates.  Followed then by the people who come October through April.  Then the cheapest for the people who keep their package all year round.

Then the last thing I want to talk about is why do people not try and bring people back? So I give my one month notice and leave next month.  Why do I not receive any offer to bring me back?  Why do I not get a feedback card?


This isnt just in this industry even though it was the most obvious.  When that customer walks into your shoe store, car dealership, or hair salon, What are you doing to make sure they come back and buy from you the next time?

Marketing Strategy #117- Networking

The best Networking strategy I know of to this day is for you to enter into events where your customers are already doing business.  The wedding industry is a great place to see this in action.  Let say that you enter a Wedding Expo. Who is involved?


Bridal Shops
Cake decorators
Photographers
DJ's
Jewelers
Caterers
Wedding planners
Floral Shops.

The key  is not to be selling these people at an event.  Same is true of a direct sales event.  The point of the event should be to introduce what you have to offer.  Not to make a sale.  I know of a Lia Sophia adviser who followed this tip to a tea and got 72 leads and 50 had a party.

I have also suggested that this is a great way to make extra money.  If you have an established clientele then enter into advertising arrangements with the above people.  They will be more than happy to because the people that you are doing business with already are the exact people these others are looking for.

Is Dodge, Ford, and GM just to Lame?

Is Dodge, Ford, and Gm just to Lame?

I have been thinking about the auto industry alot lately.  Probably because I am really in the market to buy a car.  I have a 2002 Mitsubishi Galant.  It just rolled 208,000 miles.  I have never put a dime into it except oil changes and breaks, ok I did have a valve that was leaking. I got it fixed for 300 bucks, 100,000 miles ago. I bought the car brand new off the lot.  Why would I ever buy anything else?

I dont know how much you pay attention to commercial in this day of Tivo but has anyone else noticed when they were about to go under they had real life people, mainly GM's ceo on the commercials saying this is what we are all about going forward.  It connected with me and I am sure it did with other people too.  Know one really wants to see a company go out of business.  No one really wants to see American business go out of business even more.  However it seems now that they are back on the NYSE Gm feels like it is now time to go back to the old ways of driving down the curvy road in a cool car.  Guess what? Every car company does it.  So what are you guys doing to be different?

I really think that these companies have lost their way and now it is up to the individual dealers to move these companies back to the top or it will never work.  What is the problem?  They are following the same stupid guidelines that the company is doing just on a grass roots level.

They all say the same dang thing! Our cars are great, Our service is great, We love our customers.  So who do I buy from when they are all the same.  The big local commercial here is.  BRENENGEN.com Where the dad says BRE and the wife says NEN and one of the kids says GEN and the other kid puts it all together and says brenegen.com It must work cause the guy is buying up dealerships like crazy.  

However I still find myself wondering why I have never got a piece of mail from them.  I have been in their a number of times.  I have even test drove a car or two with them.  Yet I have not received a single piece of mail saying come on down and check out the new cars we have in stock.

I think us Americans love our cars too so wouldnt it be cool if you could get a commercial that said this car does this that no other car does on the market.  The avg person drives a new car every three years. I think what is happened is people do like to haggle over price. The dealerships wont do it here. Its part of the American way of doing things.  Just think how a customer would feel if a dealership said behind the scene you can go down x amount of dollars below our no haggle price.  The customer would think " Hey I got a heck of a deal." Instead I go to a dealership say is this your best price and almost universally they will say yes and walk away.

Bring back the feel good spirit of buying a car and I will come down and buy one from you. 

Marketing your Tshirt business.

I bet you have seen them.  You know the people at the flea market that are selling t-shirts for just a few bucks.  You may even be thinking to yourself I bet that person is getting rich.  Come on.  They are at a flea market.  Hold on a second I should not say that, I know a few people who make a full time income selling at flea markets on the weekend.

You may be one of those people and I am here today to tell you how to take your business to the next level.

Level 1
Right now you are making the shirts.  They are selling good and you are making good money but you want more.  You want to grow your business.

Level 2
If you have a product that is selling good Wholesale your product line that is beginning to fade.  Just because it is fading for you does not mean it would be fading in a different location.

Level 3
Perhaps you do not want to do the above or yet want to add another income stream. Sell your transfers or designs.

Level 4
Start a membership site.  Have multiple levels a gold and silver membership where the gold members get access to the products faster after you have made your money.  Or you can say I will present you with 10 new designs a month and silver members only get 5

Level 5
Make custom t shirts.  This could open up another income stream.  If you tell the person that once they present an idea to you it becomes property of your company now you can run this product through all of the first four levels

Please feel free to make comments if my post helped you increase your business.

Learn from the Best-- Napolean Hill --Product Creation

Over the weekend I was listening to an audio book called the Master Key System by Napolean Hill.  On one of the cd's it talked about Walter Chrysler.  The man who started Chrysler motors.  He said when he first started out he bought a car.  It didnt say what one he bought but it said that he took it to his garage and took it a part piece by piece. Then he put it back piece by piece.  Then apart, he did this a number of times.  When he would do it  he would think to himself. How can I make this better.  What can I do to give the customer a better experience.  Then as he continued to take it apart and put it together he started to replace it with parts he had made.  People thought he was crazy.


When he began to sell Chrysler automobiles they became known to be of the best quality of anything out there.  This really got me thinking about present day stuff.

You hear on the news that we only buy our electronics these days from China or Japan.  Why?  Most people would say that it is because they make it cheaper over there.  They have the technology over there.  Guess what we buy the technology over here. So why cant we do exactly what Mr Chrysler did.

Why Cant we take a TV apart and see how it works.  Do you think we have someone in the US who can make it better?

The avg person gets a new computer every three to five years.  Just think of all the parts you could ever need to build a computer are already here. MP3s, Video game consoles, Cell phones, Tablets, ereaders.  You name it its already here. So can someone tell me why we cant do this?  

I even wondered if it would be possible for someone to just exchange the "guts" inside of a computer ?  Im not very tech savy but I wonder if it can be done. 

Does anyone see where there is opportunity here? 

How to start an info business.

I was struggling with this one because I would be watching all these people online and I would just want to do what they were doing.  That is an easy way to get in trouble for coping work.  Some will say go ahead and do something like it.  Russel Brunson has a program where he says here is how you make an info program.  It is one video of six.  You can what they call splinter your product and sell it off in pieces.  That is what he suggests you do.  Show people how to make a info product.  Like I am about to do here.


The first thing I realized is the stuff that some of these guys are in, is just not my cup of tea.  Its funny because some will say for a few extra bucks like lets say $100 we will make you an info product.  People eat that up sometimes because they are wanting to hit the big bucks fast or just to lazy to sit down and come up with one on their own.

The key I also think is not to have limiting beliefs.  If offer some suggestions.  Dont assume I am the only person doing them or the only person who can do them.  If there is a market for it in your area.  By all means go ahead  and do it. Get something going.

So here are a few things that I came up with when I first started in my info business. Things in my everyday life.  I had incredible heart burn.  I had a friend I went to high school with who told me he had just had surgery on his throat because of his heart burn.  Then my dad went to the doctor and the doc was concerned about acid and cancer since my grandpa died of a tumor in his esophagus.  I do not want to go through that. So I wondered if their was an all natural alternative.  It turns out that there is.  The antacid market has compound growth  of 9.8% annually for the last three years.  It turns out there are some simple fixes you can make with your diet.   Put them together and market them to people who are having acid pains.


I have always wanted to buy a home but I have this belief that their are hidden costs in buying a home.  When you go to buy a house they say your payment is going to be 700 a month.  They do not tell you you may have to get mortgage insurance.  You will have to include taxes and in my town the avg is about 3600 a year.  That is another 300 a month.  Why do you think people are foreclosing on their homes.  They are not educated.  So I got together with some local people and we came up with a program that helped new home buyers understand the process and fees so they could make a smart decision.

The last thing I did was get educated and took it to Main St.  I know how to write a blog.  I know how to make newsletters.  I know how to set up pages on Facebook.  There are alot of people out there who do not have the time to do this stuff and will pay someone to do it for them.  Increase your value and you will become financially secure in your life.

If you found this post to be helpful Please leave a comment.  Thanks.