Archives for April, 2008
Posted on Apr 29, 2008 under Uncategorized |
When you think about how to attract more clients for your professional services, are you playing checkers or chess?
You’re playing checkers when you…
* Attend a networking event and expect it to generate business
* Invest thousands of dollars in direct mail and expect prospects to eagerly call about your services
* Treat your vendors poorly by not paying them on time or not communicating with them in a timely manner
* Misunderstand the differences between advertising, PR, and promotion - and what they can and cannot do for your professional service firm
* Underestimate how important it is for your to address your clients’ PERCEIVED need (i.e., what THEY think they need) vs. what you know they need
You’re playing chess when you…
* Understand that there are right clients and wrong clients for your firm, based on where you want your firm to be in one year, two years, five years - and that your definition of “right” will change over time
* Consider what the right kinds of clients look like for your firm and then carefully develop a roadmap for all marketing activities that align with your definition of “right”
* Use a combination of carefully crafted “touches” to move prospects through your relationship pipeline from Stranger, to Acquaintance, to Friend, to Lover, to Loyal Partner. Are looking six moves ahead, instead of at the next move. Whether it’s developing your website, deciding what committees or networking groups to join, if you should invest in a particular piece of marketing collateral, or where to publish your next article…chess players see the connections between today’s marketing decisions and their impact months and years ahead.For a game plan to avoid checkmate, try these things:
* Consider where you want to be in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 36 months. Identify the big steps to get you there. I organize my actions by “theme of the month.” For example, within 6 months, I want to be well into developing an online platform to launch subscription-based marketing tools. So January and February are Research Months. I’m attending two related conferences to quickly assess the latest approaches, make some good contacts, and scope the competition.
* Your time is precious, so why squander it on marketing activities that don’t fill your pipeline with the right kinds of prospects? Decide how or if to invest time in a particular action (networking, developing a brochure, sending thank-you notes, writing a newsletter, giving a talk) based on how it aligns with attracting attention from the right kinds of prospects. I’ve recently joined a Steering Committee because, in addition to loving the cause it supports, I’ll be exposed in a leadership capacity to my target audience.
* When following up after an initial contact or introduction, you’re nowhere near making the sale. The game is just beginning. Make your goal one of learning more about the other person’s condition so they feel comfortable you’re tuned into their needs. Moving from Stranger to Acquaintance to Friend to Lover takes several “touches,” including telephone conversation(s), face-to-face meeting(s), email, sending them to your website to dig around (because you’ve stocked it full of valuable freebies), seeing you in action as a speaker, or reading about you in the press. Put a predictable system of “touches” in place and run everyone through it.
* Set a huge, “unattainable” goal and then connect the dots to reach it. In 2005, I have my eye on penetrating specific major organizations and creating partnerships for national distribution of my marketing education programs. I’m envisioning what these relationships look like in the end and am taking much smaller, practical, “doable” steps now to get there. These include attending conferences where I can meet key contacts that I’ve already identified (and where I’ll get the lay of the land to speak at next time), putting the wheels in motion for a series of books (the ultimate business card!) to build credibility and exposure, experimenting with local prototypes (where the sales cycle is shorter and there’s not a lot of expensive travel involved to make the sale), and building a solid relationship slowly with VIPs before jumping the gun.
Ready to play chess? Your move!
(c) 2004 TurningPointe Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.
Marketing educator, Kelly O’Brien, is creator of the “Create a
TurningPointe!” Marketing Bootcamp. To learn more about this step-by-step
program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and 20-page marketing
guide, visit
Car Sound on GBase
Chess Web Optimisation Specialists
Chess Blog
Posted on Apr 28, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Jet skis had been in existence for more than three decades now. And since the manufacturers produced the first jet skis, they already have come in high tag prices that most of us could not afford.
Well, these surely must cover some reasons. Let us look at both sides.
Probably, because there are too less competition in the market for only a number of industries can actually produce quality jet skis. Those that actually perform. Or better yet, there is too high demand for such watercrafts that manufacturers are confident of raising their prices.
For the hobbyist, the price of jet ski does not matter much so long as they have the best of the best. Yet for many of us who consider ourselves as weekend warriors and don’t regularly go off and skid through the waters, the price of a jet ski will say it all when it comes to issues of buying one.
And it does not end in buying. In fact, maintenance will mark up with the totality of expenses incurred in investing in a jet ski. Moreover, accessories, upgrades and repairs will contribute so much with the total price.
Ranging from $10, 000 and onwards, jet skis are sure to punch holes in your pockets unless you have endless financial resources.
And because of these, buyers, traders and dealers alike create some adjustments and tactics to make the most out of their resources.
Well, if your planning to buy one, be sure that you know the business strategies that affect largely the prices of various jet skis, both used and brand new.
In normal case, we are blinded by these tactics to make us believe that we get the best value from what we are to buy or what we have bought. And among us, there are far too many buyers who look directly on price to create judgments on the thing questioned.
In fact, price does not tell it all. As we have earlier noted, these are used only to hasten the sale of the vehicle. However, you must be wary of several issues like too low prices and high pricing scheme.
If the price is obviously low, you must atleast know why. Probably the vehicle has some defects or it is an ancient model. Issues like these must be openly discussed to you by the trader or the dealer.
On the other hand, we have this notion that if something is expensive then it must have quality. Sadly, this is not always the case. We still have to check what’s really in the watercraft that will make it worth the price.
This content is provided by Low Jeremy and may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more info on Jetski, please visit
Reviw of Car Audio Systems
Reviw of Car Audio Systems
Chess Blog
Posted on Apr 27, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I need to make some phone calls, the laundry is piling up, and the car is due for an oil change. But those will have to wait–I’m busy reading blogs.
The word “blog” itself gives one the feeling of a murky forest filled with treacherously hidden hollows of mud waiting to pull the unwary wanderer under, never to be seen again.
Indeed, many blogs are a veritable morass of links and reciprocatory links and thanks-for-the-link links and you’re-welcome links. The web traveler is sent from one blog to the next, which refers to yet another; soon he begins to feel panicked and finds himself blindly fighting backwards to get back to the original site, by which time he has forgotten what caught his attention in the first place.
The other day I found myself in a dilemma: should I read Dostoevsky on the possibility of redemption, or the blog of a guy who calls himself the Curmudgeongly Celt on the possibility of repainting his upstairs bathroom? The Celt won, of course; he’s probably going to use beige and orange-red. Sounds like an unpleasant color scheme to me, but that’s a Celt for you.
What is it about blogging that’s so alluring? Hoping that, perhaps, in some small way, you can make a difference in the world? The desire to unleash the latent Creative Potential that heretofore has remained untapped? Creating a forum where anonymous weirdos can leave ads about Web Poker in your guest book using misspelled words and all caps?
I know, I know. There are many well-written and thoughtful blogs out there. The trick is finding them and avoiding getting sidetracked once you’ve discovered one. But even the best of bloggers is eventually going to succumb to the temptation of linking to a “Which Animal in ‘Charlotte’s Web’ Do You Most Resemble?” quiz. You have a limited amount of time; will you resist the web-wandering by ignoring the link? Or will you take the time to: 1) follow the link, 2) take the quiz, and 3) go back to the blog and post in the comment section that you are Wilbur? (Admit it: you initially were the Speech-Impaired Goose before you went back and changed three of your answers).
Well, enough about this. I want to read about how the bathroom remodeling project is coming along. Then I guess I’d better start dinner…I see from my husband’s blog that he’s getting tired of take-out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angie Brennan is a freelance humor writer, cartoonist, and illustrator. She and her family live in Maryland. Visit Angie’s website and humor blog at:
www.roiweb.biz
www.roiweb.biz
Gps Base Froogle Or Whatever Theyre Calling It Today
Posted on Apr 27, 2008 under Uncategorized |
The advent of the audio book happened over 35 years ago in the early 1970’s. Initially the most common place where you found the books was at the public library. Usually you could listen to the book only at the library where they had the necessary tape playing equipment. At the beginning these recordings were often of only average quality but within a few years, due to the growing popularity, many publishers began to produce much higher quality audio books.
As most public and municipal libraries had only modest resources to buy these audio books their catalog of available titles were initially quite small. To satisfy the public’s growing appetite for audio books, a large number of rental groups began to spring up everywhere offering a much wider range of titles.
Audio book rentals are akin to book clubs, but they are able to offer customers unlimited access to literally thousands of different audio books. Customers are offered the option of having their audio book rental on either a CD or tape. They can then select from a range of services where the hire rates can vary depending on the duration of the rental or by way the rented audio books are returned, for example by post or in person.
Audio Book Rentals - A Traveler’s Delight
Most people are already familiar with rental services, originally for videos and more so with DVDs these days. There are some quite interesting groups offering book rentals, one in particular has a fairly unique way in which it makes its service very user friendly. This company specializes in distributing its audio books to customers via travel centers located on most major American highways. Among its loyal customer base are truck drivers, sales persons as well as frequent travelers. Their concept is very clever as it allows you to rent the book at one place and return it at another travel center elsewhere in the country. For example, you could effectively rent a Stephen King novel in New York to listen to on your car CD player for the long drive to California and when you finish you just pop it into the nearest travel center.
This type of rental service is particularly useful if you do not have access to the internet and cannot download the audio book you are interested in. Additionally audio book rentals can still be taken out in the old cassette format, something else you cannot get from a computer download.
One criticism of audio book rentals, however, is that some customers are unable to finish listening to the books that they have rented before they are due for return, unlike downloads which you can listen to at your leisure. Sometimes with rentals there is also the problem of having to wait for copies of particularly popular books as not all rental agencies have the resources to stock multiple copies of certain titles. So if you are about to embark on a long journey why not pop down to your local travel center and check out their audio book rentals and when you have finished listening to it just drop it off at your destination.
For additional information on
Good Better Best Car Audio
Web Optimisation, Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing
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Posted on Apr 26, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Everyone wants to maximize returns on investments. If you have sharp business acumen and your investment decisions are right, success is bound to come sooner or later. Business fluctuations are very much intrinsic to the nature of activities involved in it. If you are receiving good returns from the business, you can create reserves to be used in future business projects. However, if you do not have any reserve and a big business order is awarded to you, the only solution that you are left with is to borrow money from the market.
A businessman can borrow against the goodwill of his business. The past records show that how regular you have been in repayments. There are two ways to raise credit from the open market. You can pledge your assets like business premises or stock and obtain loan from lenders.
It is, however, a risky proposition and your business goodwill may receive a setback from the market. The other way is to obtain unsecured loans from the lenders. This can be done without involving any business assets in the loan transaction and is a safer way of borrowing money.
Lenders provide unsecured loans to the business houses as well as for your personal use. The loan amount differs in both the cases. Businessmen generally have larger financial requirements; whereas a common man would apply for limited loan amount only. Businessmen can use unsecured loans to expand their businesses or to recover from a bad financial phase.
Gadget Articles
Chess Web Optimisation Specialists
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