One of the best things that I have learned from being in purchasing, is that the easiest way to see if something can be done, is to ask.

Sounds simple, and it is, but I am amazed how often we do not actually act on it, and ask for what we want or need.

I interact daily with all types of salesmen and operations types, all kinds of personalities, and I get to learn from them all.

Every day I watch salesmen on my team succeed or fail, and it amazes how often an average salesmen gets a large sale just because they asked for it. No one else tried, no one else asked for it, too many other salesmen waited, making the call, but never asking.

I see it with sales people who call on me. Many talk market, or their background, the good ones ask about me and what my company is working on or looking for, but only a very small group of sales people ask for anything. The successful ones not only ask, but also expect a yes, every time, not always get, but always expects it. I know from experience, that person will succeed.

In sales you will get told the word no much more than you will yes by a large margin. It is hard to hear no seventeen times in a row and then ask again, but the good sales people do it, and they truly believe number eighteen will say yes.

Too many inexperienced sales people do not ask, often because they are avoiding the no, and you do need some skill from practice to phrase things so that you avoid the customer having opportunities to say no, but in the end, you have a product you believe in, you make the pitch and you ask.

It is the law of averages, you ask enough people, some will say yes, and the more times you ask, the better your odds of a home run.

It works on everything; to lower bills, get credits for bad service, discounts, to get a free coffee, and to get rid of that extra fee on your phone bill.

It absolutely works for growing and selling in your business.

Ask.

D

In order to stand above the crowded marketplace, you or your company must offer your prospect or client a unique and distinctive benefit or advantage above and beyond that of your competitor. If you don’t, people have no motivation to do business with you instead of your competition. You must identify and understand what it is you or your company do or can start doing for your clients that provides them with a result or an advantage superior to the competition’s. This is called the unique selling proposition (USP). Your unique selling proposition is that distinct, appealing idea that sets your business apart from every other “me too” competitor.

How do you pick a USP? You must first identify which needs are going unfulfilled within your industry, such as: 1. A broad selection 2. Big discounts 3. Advice and assistance 4. Convenience (i.e., location, fully stocked shelves, immediate delivery) 5. Top-of-the-line products or services 6. Speedy service 7. Services above and beyond the basics 8. A longer and more comprehensive warranty or guarantee than the norm 9. Any other distinct advantage, tangible or intangible benefits, or valuable advantages you can give that the competition doesn’t. The point is to focus on the one niche, need, or gap that is most sorely lacking—provided you can keep the promise you make. You can even create hybrid USPs—combinations that integrate one marketing gap with another. Before you decide on a USP, be sure you can always deliver that USP through your whole organization. You and/or your staff must consistently maintain high levels of quality or service.

The USP is the nucleus around which you build your success, fame, and wealth. So you’d better be able to state it. If you can’t state it, your prospects won’t see it. Whenever a client needs the type of product or service you sell, your USP should bring you or your company immediately to mind. Clearly conveying the USP through your marketing and business performance will make business success inevitable. But you must boil down your USP to its bare essence. Try it. Write a one-paragraph statement of your new USP. At first, you will have trouble expressing it tightly and specifically. It may take two or three paragraphs or more. That’s okay. Ruthlessly edit away the generalities, and focus on a crisp, clear statement that promises the most you could possibly offer. Hack away excess verbiage until you have a clearly defined unique selling proposition that a client or prospect can immediately seize upon.

Let’s say you run display ads, and your USP offers a greater selection than any other competitor. There are several ways to integrate this into your ads. 

State the USP in the ad headline:

We Always Have 168 Different Widgets In No Less Than Twelve Different Sizes And Ten Desirable Colors In Price Ranges from $6 to $600

(Or)

Five Times the Selection, Four Times the Color Choice, Three Times the Number of Convenient Locations, Two Times the Warranty, And Half the Markup of Any Other Dealer

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

A producer is someone who creates value and shares knowledge with others. In the process, a producer helps improve lives and earns continuous active and passive income.

Step one is committing to becoming a producer. 

To attract customers, and partner with affiliates who’ll help promote your products, follow these principles:

• Have a solid understanding of your customers’ needs. When you identify your target audience’s biggest problems, you’ll be able to create products that solve them. Once you do so, you’ll have customers for life.
  

• Be clear about what your customers are willing to spend. You can’t expect meaningful rates of conversion if you develop champagne products for beer budgets. Test, poll, research similar products, and interact with potential customers to discover what they’re willing, or even able, to spend on your product.
  

• Deliver your product in the expected format. Trying to sell a magazine to someone who wants to see a movie is an effort in futility. A videocassette won’t sell to someone who has only a DVD player. Learn how your target customer wants to receive your content and then deliver it via the appropriate medium. 

Higher prices lead to greater affiliate participation. Whether your product costs $10 or $10,000, it’ll require roughly the same amount of effort for an affiliate to promote it. As a result, most affiliates will choose to invest their time into selling high-priced products that provide substantial returns. Printed books and ebooks, while often providing wonderful content, are ill suited for commission-driven relationships as are most other products that sell for under $500. Today’s successful partnerships involve the promotion of products priced between $500 and $4,995. Products above and below these price points continue to be sold, but they represent the two ends of the bell curve. Successful Internet marketers offer products at the center of the curve—and right now that sweet spot is roughly $2,500.  

Higher commissions mean happy affiliates. Selling a highpriced product isn’t the whole story. You must also be generous on commissions paid. Today, 40%-50% commission rates are commonplace, as is the payment of an additional 10% for second-tier affiliates. Second-tier affiliates, also known as brokers, help recruit affiliates for a product launch. When a product is sold, a second-tier affiliate typically receives 10% of the purchase price. Naturally, this cuts into your net profits. However, industry leaders understand that 40%-50% is a price worth paying for instant massive exposure, immediate income, and adding thousands of hopefully satisfied customers to their sales funnel. 


Continuity programs create long-term relationships. While instant cash is always nice, long-term passive income is even better. Whether they consist of bi-weekly one-on-one coaching, monthly product shipments, quarterly VIP programs, or annual membership dues, continuity programs provide ongoing benefits for both you and your affiliates.   

Developing products from scratch is hard. But even more difficult is creating products that fulfill audience needs, provide immense value, are of superior quality, and convert prospects to paying customers. Success requires satisfying all four criteria.

Today, he who has the list controls the game. 

Internet Prophets: The World's Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online by Steve Olsher

First off, reality check.

Very few apps make real—if any—money. There are two key reasons for this: 

1.   Competition: Tens of thousands of apps have been created and more are released daily. Working through the muddle of options and being noticed is difficult. 

2.   Price: The majority of apps are available for free, and many are them are quite useful. This has made it increasingly difficult to get customers to pay for an app. And even if you sell an app, your marketplace will receive a commission on each sale. That means you need to sell a ton of product to earn real money. You should absolutely think twice before spending substantial cash creating an app, because recouping your investment is far from a sure thing.

But if you are ready and committed:

First, you must be clear about what app you’d like to create. Ideally, the app should compliment your business or reflect your unique abilities and/or interests.

It is crucially important to understand your audience, what they can most benefit from, and deliver desired content via preferred learning modes. Three proven ways to start include: 

•   Determining your client’s needs. 
•   Researching existing apps serving this market. 
•   Drafting your plan. 

Internet Prophets: The World's Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online by Steve Olsher

The first point is self-explanatory. 

The second may seem basic, but it’s surprising how many skim past this step with a mere cursory glance, only to find out after significant time and resources have been expended that a more sophisticated tool exists. Do not be afraid to identify competitive products that may thwart your plans. Successful entrepreneurs embrace similar products and focus on what they can do better and more effectively.

The third point is essential. You want to strategize and formulate your vision before the clock begins ticking. Thinking on someone else’s dime is not only expensive, but also unnecessary. Instead, brainstorm with partners, friends, and other trusted sources and create and refine an outline of how the product will look and how it will work. Unless you have money to burn, start the fire with the kindling of your efforts and let the professionals toss in the heavy logs.

Finding A Programmer 

With your idea formalized, the next step is identifying a suitable programmer to bring the concept to fruition. There are multiple options. FREE Numerous free development options exist. However, it’s important to note that in app-land, you really do get what you pay for. That said, if giving things a test run before fully committing is your preference, consider the following: 

•   Sencha: Sencha.com/Touch 
•   AppMakr: AppMakr.com 
•   Free iPhone App Maker: FreeIphoneAppMaker.com 
•   Free Android App Maker: FreeAndroidAppMaker.com 

Each enables you to create a functional app which can be a great tool for creating a working prototype and begin securing feedback. The downside to free is that, once your name and brand is associated with the app you’ve put forth, an impression has been made and there’s no turning back. If the app’s functionality, appearance, or value is minimal, the consumer will tie this directly to you. Make 100% sure the app is fully representative of the impression you want to make before hitting the “release” button.

Minimize costs to produce your app

A fully functional, cost-effective app can be built for less than $5,000. Many capable developers have the ability to create a professional looking product that represents your brand and image well. Three sites are solid resources to consider when searching for a developer: •   ELance: Elance.com •   ODesk: oDesk.com •   Freelancer: Freelancer.com Each enables you to provide various criteria such as developer location, experience, and total budget. Talent, of course, varies so be sure to check references and ratings. The caliber of developers available can be outstanding as many have salaried positions and moonlight to make extra cash. Ask for examples of their work and, contrary to popular belief, do not be afraid to select the lowest bid.

HIGH-END Developing a full-blown, highly robust app can be prohibitively expensive. It is not unusual for companies to spend upwards of $1 million to create an app with virtually every bell and whistle. Such apps typically involve detailed, interactive components and move far beyond the options offered by template-oriented products. For most, developing a high-end app is not an option. When it is, there are multiple companies who are more than capable of delivering per your specifications.

Internet Prophets: The World's Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online by Steve Olsher

How to monetize your app

Not every app is created to generate income. Many companies seek to spread goodwill and garner exposure by giving their apps away for free. This is not unusual as thousands of firms implement this approach. If generating awareness is the core objective, the app typically serves the singular purpose of being a digital brochure. If the plan is to monetize your efforts, there are three proven tactics to consider.

1.   Sell It! Fees typically range from .99 to $2.99 with more robust apps costing significantly more, such as VIPorbit’s Business version which sells for $9.99 on the iPhone and $19.99 for the iPad. While seemingly expensive, the robust functionality ofVIPorbit is equivalent to desktop software that can cost significantly more. Additionally, it is available at your fingertips 24/7, which no desktop software can claim. For example, Sage ACT! was recently available for $466.99.…on sale!

2.   Sell Ads Within Your App In similar fashion to AdSense, Google’s AdMob.com has made it extraordinarily simple to place ads on your app via their proprietary platform. AdMob “allows earnings to be generated by placing targeted ads based on the site’s content and users.” Additional options include Greystripe.com and Smaato.com. Revenue is directly tied to traffic. Therefore, as more ads are shown, income will increase accordingly. And, while a significant number of views and clicks are required before more than just pocket change will be generated, each provides a reasonable opportunity to offset a portion of development costs.

3.   Offer A “Light” Version And Encourage Upgrading This strategy can be very effective. VIPorbit offers a free “light” version, as do thousands of other apps. The free version typically provides customers with a solid user experience, but refrains from allowing access to many key components. In consumer product marketing, this is often referred to as sampling, whereby a taste is offered to whet the consumer’s appetite and, hopefully, leads to the product being purchased.

Remember:

•   Modern technology has largely killed the intimacy associated with developing tangible rapport with vendors, clients and even, employees. 
•   Few apps make real money due to competition and price. 
•   Ideally, your app should compliment your business or reflect your unique abilities and/or interests. 
•   It is crucially important to understand your audience, what they can most benefit from, and deliver desired content via preferred learning modes. 
•   Over 300,000 apps were developed between 2008 and 2010, translating to an astonishing 10.9B downloads. 
•   By the end of 2011, more than 25 percent of mobile web users reported owning no other device to access the Internet. 
•   Apps can be lucrative but must be viewed as a component of the overall marketing/branding mix.

Internet Prophets: The World's Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online by Steve Olsher

What is my unique selling proposition or USP? (Why do my clients buy from me—what is it about my product and/or service that distinguishes me from my competition? Do I have more than one USP for different product/service lines or segments of my business?)

Is my USP a consistent theme in all of my marketing and sales efforts? If yes, how, and if no, why not?

Briefly describe my marketing program or marketing mix (all the different types of marketing I use and how they interrelate—i.e., sales letters, direct mail, direct sales, personal networking inside, outside my company, industry, marketplace, Yellow Pages, spot advertisements, etc.).

What do my clients really want (be specific, don’t just answer “a quality product or service”)? How do I know?

Do clients buy from me exclusively or do they also patronize my competitors? What steps can I take to get the main portion of their business (preempt and dominate)?

What’s my market potential (universe) and my current share of that market? 30. What does it cost me to get a new client? (If I ran an advertisement that cost $1,000 and I obtained two new clients, my cost would be $500.) Translate this to whatever your acquisition cost is.

What is my biggest and best source of new business, and am I doing everything possible to secure this business?

What has been my biggest marketing success to date (defined as a specific promotion, advertising campaign, sales letter, etc.)?

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

What’s the lesson in all this? You must constantly be on the lookout for new and better ways to dramatically improve your overall business performance by capitalizing on what everyone else sees as a limitation.

Whatever you’re doing, however you’re doing it, and wherever you’re doing it, you can and must find continually better ways to maximize your results. But maximizing and creating breakthroughs means more than simply getting the most profit, highest performance, and greatest productivity and effectiveness out of an action, opportunity, or investment. It also means achieving maximum results with a minimum of time, effort, expense, and risk—something few people practice or even think about. Think: highest and best use of your time, money, and effort. Highest and best. Always highest and best!

In order to produce the maximum number of breakthroughs possible, you should focus your thinking on these fundamental objectives that your breakthrough ideas should be designed to achieve. It’s a success template that keeps your mind’s eye on the breakthrough ball at all times. 

• Always discover what the hidden opportunity is in every situation. 
• Try to uncover at least one cash windfall for your business or employer every three months. 
• Engineer maximum success into every action you take or decision you make. 
• Build a business breakthrough foundation based upon multiple streams of idea generation instead of a single idea source.
• One of your breakthrough goals is to always make you, your business, or your product special, unique, and more advantageous in your client’s eyes. 
• The more value or wealth you can create for your client, the greater the power of that breakthrough. 
• A breakthrough’s purpose is to help you or your business maximize personal or organizational leverage in every commitment of action, investment, time, effort, opportunity, or energy you make. 
• Breakthroughs increase in direct proportion to the amount of networking, brainstorming, and masterminding you do with like-minded, success-driven people outside your industry.
• Your goal in creating breakthroughs is to use ideas to create more value for others.
• Breakthroughs fuel growth thinking.
• Growth thinking seeds/breakthroughs . . . the two go hand in hand. 
• The best breakthroughs take away risk or resistance from the other side. So it’s easier to say yes than no. • Employ as many success practices of others outside your field or industry by adopting or adapting their philosophies and methods to your business situation.

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

I have a client whose income curve was stagnant. It doesn’t matter what they sold. Pretend it’s your product or service. This company had a compensation program that paid the salespeople 10 percent of the profit. So, if the company made a $1,000 profit on a sale, the salesperson would get $100 and the company would get $900. I had them calculate: 


• What the average new client is worth to them in dollars each time they buy • How many times that client will buy from them each year 
• How many years the average client will be with them It turned out the first sale, on average, resulted in about a $200 profit for the company. 


Of that, $20 went to the salesman or saleswoman, $180 to the company. On average, the client bought five times a year for three years. So basically, each time that company got a new client, they were receiving $3,000 in cumulative profits. 


My solution: Instead of giving the salespeople 10 percent of the profit on a sale to a new, first-time client, give them 100 percent of the profit on the first sale. The company management’s response: “You’re insane!” I smiled pleasantly and went on to explain that as long as their salespeople maintain sales from existing clients at past levels or above, give them 100 percent of the profit on the first sale for every new client they bring in. They’ll be ten times more motivated to sell new clients. And every time they bring in a new client, the salesperson makes an additional $200, but the company makes an additional $2,800. The company implemented the plan and sales tripled in nine months.


Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham

Get a Notepad for Brainstorming I prefer to start with an idea capture mechanism.   


Carry a small notebook everywhere you go so you can jot down ideas. The key is to write down everything.   Record any thought – Even if you only have a slight interest in it.  This is important because you never know where a random thought will lead!

Look at Your Personal Background Think of the characteristics that make YOU unique. 

Look for products that are related to your core niche idea.   My suggestion is to only consider an idea if you can find 3 or more products.  That means it’s making enough money to warrant a little bit of competition. 

Look for Competitive Niches


Instead of looking for a ‘hidden’ niche, I feel it’s better to find a proven market where you can create unique content.  Yes, you’ll depend a lot on search engine traffic.  But you’ll create content in a specific way where it doesn’t matter how much competition a market possesses. 

Your niche site will largely depend on what’s known as long-tail keyword phrases. 

Identify Long-Tail Keywords

The best way to get this web traffic is to create content around the specific phrases that are often used in each niche.  You won’t target ultra competitive keywords.  Instead you’ll look for longer, multiple word (3+) phrases that don’t get a ton of traffic, but are naturally congruent to the product you’re promoting. 

The best place to find this kind of information is with the Google Keyword tool offered through their Adwords program. 

I recommend you open a free account, so you can get 800 results instead of the 100 that’s typically offered with their External tool.  Once you’ve created an account, go to: Tools and Analysis ---> Keyword Tool To the left, you’ll see the options for Match Types.  I recommend you de-select the Broad and “Phrase” options.  Then select the Exact option.  This will provide the best approximation of how often that specific phrase is entered into Google. 

The goal here is to find a variety of keywords that get at least 50 to 100 exact searches each month.  These might seem like a small amount.  But they add up when you factor in random long-tail searches and related traffic.

Spend a couple of hours looking at your niche ideas.  I recommend you create a list of 100 keywords for each topic. That way, you’ll have stuff to write about once it comes time to build your website. 

After this task, you should have a ‘short-list’ of 3 or less ideas.   Each one should include the following elements: --- It should be a topic you find enjoyable --- It should be in a market where people buy information --- It should have keywords that get 50 to 100+ exact searches per month

Your First $1000 - How to Start an Online Business that Actually Makes Money by Steve Scott

"How can you construct an offer that your prospects won’t refuse?

Remember, first you need to sell what people want to buy.

1. Understand that what we want and what we say we want are not always the same thing.

2. Most of us like to buy, but we don’t usually like to be sold. An offer you can’t refuse may apply subtle pressure, but nobody likes a hard sell.

MAGIC FORMULA:

THE RIGHT AUDIENCE, THE RIGHT PROMISE, THE RIGHT TIME = OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE

BASICS What are you selling? ______ How much does it cost? ______ Who will take immediate action on this offer? ______

BENEFITS The primary benefit is ______ An important secondary benefit is ______

What are the main objections to the offer?

Why should someone buy this now? What can I add to make this offer even more compelling?

Provide a nudge. The very best offers create a “You must have this right now!” feeling among consumers, but many other offers can succeed by creating a less immediate sense of urgency.

Just as what we want and what we say we want aren’t always the same thing, the way we place a value on something isn’t always rational. You must learn to think about value the way your customers do, not necessarily the way you would like them to."

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

"So how do you manage a cold call?

First, it’s all about attitude. Your attitude.

You’re never going to be completely ready to meet new people; there is no perfect moment. Your fears will never be completely quieted, because inviting rejection is never going to be appealing. There are always a hundred reasons to procrastinate. The trick is to just plunge right in. Remember, if you don’t believe you are going to get what you want from the call, you probably won’t. So, in the words of Caddy Shack, “Be the ball.” You have to envision yourself winning to win.

And second, cold calls are for suckers. I don’t call cold—ever. I’ve created strategies that ensure every call I make is a warm one.

In fifteen seconds, I used my four rules for what I call warm calling:

1) Convey credibility by mentioning a familiar person or institution—in this case, John, Jeff, and WebMD.

2) State your value proposition: Jeff’s new product would help Serge sell his new products.

3) Impart urgency and convenience by being prepared to do whatever it takes whenever it takes to meet the other person on his or her own terms.

4) Be prepared to offer a compromise that secures a definite follow-up at a minimum.

Here are some of the rules I follow fleshed out in more detail:

1. Draft off a reference. The reason a cold call feels like torture was set out in vivid detail fifty or so years ago in an advertisement, recalled by Harvey Macka, in his book Swim with the Sharks. It pictures a corporate killjoy facing the reader, who is cast in the role of the salesman. The killjoy says: I don’t know who you are. I don’t know your company. I don’t know what your company stands for. I don’t know your company’s customers. I don’t know you company’s products. I don’t know your company’s reputation. Now—what was it you wanted to sell me? You can see the total lack of credibility one has when making a cold call. Credibility is the first thing you want to establish in any interaction, and ultimately, no one will buy from you unless you establish trust. Having a mutual friend or even acquaintance will immediately make you stand out from the other anonymous individuals vying for a piece of someone’s time.

2. State your value. Acquiring a reference or institution to draft off of is only a starting point. It will help you get your foot in the door. Once you have someone’s commitment to hear you out for thirty seconds, you’ll need to be prepared to deliver a high-value proposition. You’ve got very little time to articulate why that person should not try to get off the phone as quickly as possible. Remember, it’s all about them. What can you do for them?

3. Talk a little, say a lot. Make it quick, convenient, and definitive. You want to impart both a sense of urgency and a sense of convenience. Instead of closing with “We should get together some time soon,” I like to finalize with something like “I’m going to be in town next week. How about lunch on Tuesday? I know this is going to be important for both of us, so I’ll make time no matter what.”

4. Offer a compromise. In any informal negotiation, you go big at the outset, leaving room for compromise and the ability to ratchet down for an easier close. I closed my pitch to Serge by suggesting that even if he didn’t want to hear anything about digital content, I’d love to get together with him just to meet, given our mutual friend’s admiration and respect."

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi, Tahl Raz