Monday, March 12, 2007

Cool Ways to Boost Your Profits

Building a large and growing customer base is simple but
not easy. It requires finding, enrolling and training at
least ten serious business builders.

The better you get at using viral and attraction marketing
and applying excellent service, the faster and more
effectively you will build a customer base.

Building a leveraged residual income that will last
requires building a large customer base of people who order
and use real products of real value. month after month even
if they do not get a check.

You do not need to personally enroll hundreds of customers.
You will need at least ten serious business builders in
your organization who you can teach to practice and teach
most if not all of these ways to build a large, stable,
growing customer base that will last for years.

Joining and participating in groups and associations,
communicating with clarity and honesty, leading by example
and constantly prospecting setting appointments, doing
presentations and follow up will be seen and duplicated.

Here are some ways you can boost orders and your profits.

1.Sign-up to win web site awards. When you win, some award
sites publish your web site link, name and description on
their site.

2.Join online business associations or clubs. If you join,
they will usually list all their members on their web site.
It will give your business extra exposure.

3.Utilize a simple form of viral marketing. Write or have
someone else write a small report with your ad included on
it and allow others to give it away.

4.Improve your business by promoting customer feedback.
Tell them you want their honest opinions about your
business, good or bad

5.Compare your product's guarantee to your main
competitors. Find a niche were your can design your
guarantee to be more powerful

6.Try not to assume your audience understands everything in
your approaches. If you have words they may not know the
meaning to, define them.

7.Build alliances with other online businesses. You could
trade links or ads, create joint venture deals, cross
promote your products, etc

8.Design your web site to be a valuable resource for
people. Include original content, links to other
interesting web sites, ebooks, software, etc.

9.Compete with the highly branded businesses by practicing
good customers service, strong product quality and speedy
service

10.Multiply your marketing and advertising efforts on the
Internet. You can accomplish this by starting an affiliate
program or using viral marketing.

11.Increase your ratio of visitors that purchase your
product(s). You could change your headline, offer a
stronger guarantee, add testimonials, etc.

12.Find out who are your strongest leads for buying your
product by offering a free ezine. The visitors that are
very interested will subscribe to it.

13.Team up with your competition by starting an association
for your specific industry. It could lead to a profitable
partnership with them.

14.Attract people to link to your web site. You could offer
them a discount on the products you sell or give them free
stuff for linking

15.Develop your own opt in email list by giving your
visitors a reason to give you their e-mail address. Allow
them sign up to free stuff and contests.

16.Create a "PR" web page for your business. List
information that could be considered newsworthy for
e-zines, newspapers, magazines, etc. Give your business and
products credibility by linking to web sites that have
written positive stories about your business.


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About the author:
Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the network marketing
and home based business industry. He owns a business in
Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to
start and succeed with a home based business that will
generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.
Subscribe to his newsletter at
http://www.make-more-money-at-home.com

10 Business Street Smarts

Many business owners or people who are about to start a
business have idealistic views about their new venture.

People who are experienced in business know that there are
some basics and some fundamentals that you must get right
if you are to succeed. This article outlines a list of
"Street Smarts" which have been distilled from the
knowledge and experience of many successful business
people. Read them carefully!

1. The fatal mistake of many business people - thinking
that because they are a good mechanic, baker, accountant,
that they understand what it takes to run a mechanical
business, bakery business, accountancy business. The most
important skill for any business person is to know how to
run a business. How much management & business & marketing
training have you invested in yourself?

2. Make sure you clearly understand the concept of working
on your business as distinct from working in your business.
The most successful business owners spend a great deal of
time working on their business - learn from them! Read The
E Myth by Michael Gerber - a must read!

3. Work out what it would take in dollars to pay someone to
do what you do, for the hours you put into your business.

Are you paying yourself the same amount? If not, why not?
You are clearly worth it! Many people would argue that if
you are not paying yourself that same amount, then you
don't have a business, you have bought yourself a job - and
perhaps a low paid one!

4. Learn from other people, especially their mistakes - you
cannot live long enough to make them all yourself! This
means that you must be willing to embrace change - in every
aspect of what you do. The one certainty is that change
will continue and increase! The definition of insanity is
"doing the same things in the same way and expecting
different result." If you want a different or better
outcome - change!

5. Can your business run without you for up to a month? If
it cannot, then you have a job, not a business. Are you
taking a holiday each year? Why not, your staff do! If you
are a one or two person business, then bring in a relief
person for the time you are away. Pharmacists, doctors, &
dentists, do it all the time - why not mechanics, bakers,
accountants or home based businesses?

6. Prepare yourself for this one! If you have had the same
accountant, for more than 7 years, then get "a second
opinion" from a completely new source. Evaluate their
advice against your "regular" and see which is more likely
to deliver the lifestyle you want. Two important things to
note about this: a) if your adviser advises you against
this - what does that tell you? and, b) if your accountant
does not understand how and why a business should "deliver
a lifestyle", then it's time to update your advice.

7. Embrace technology at a personal and business level. If
you are not on email and checking it at least every day,
then the world is passing you by and you don't even know
it! Among other resources, there are literally thousands of
free email newsletters available which will help you make
your business more profitable - mechanic, baker, accountant
or farmer!

8. To get where you want to go, mix with people who are
already there. Talk to the best people in your business -
you will learn from them. Avoid the negative complainers -
they'll drag you down. The majority of business today comes
from networking.

9. It doesn't matter how much money your business makes.
What matters is how much you keep! Turnover is a very
misleading measure of the success of a business. Do not
fool yourself (and others) by thinking that a "large"
turnover necessarily means a great business.

10. If you are in business, then you are in marketing. The
more time you spend on marketing your business, the more
profitable your business will become. The single greatest
skill to develop and learn and keep developing is
marketing. 11. Bonus Point! What have you read or listened
to this month? Become thirsty for knowledge and both you
and your business will grow.


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David Julian Price is an experienced business coach and
mentor. He trains, coaches and consults with businesses and
business owners in Australia and throughout the world on
how to market their business and grow their business to
where they want it to be. He is an accomplished speaker and
coaches people all over the world to speak about their
business. David can be contacted at
http://www.davidprice.com or email at david@davidprice.com.