Business Building Books and Tapes
MLM Woman Issue 89
June 2004This FREE monthly newsletter is made possible by our advertisers and customers. We thank them for their support!
From the Desk of the Editor
Welcome
to the 89th issue of the MLM Woman Newsletter. This month we feature
articles on how to remove old limiting thoughts, how to use offline
promotions to grow your online business, 10 things great leaders do,
how to learn to use your own selling style and 11 powerful marketing
tips.
Enjoy!
Linda Locke, Editor MLM Woman
Here's why (and how
to) stomp
out any old limiting thoughts!
By Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler
Personal Excellence Mentor
© 2004 All Rights Reserved
You've heard the expression, "We are what we think." But is this old saying really true in a scientific sense?
Do our thoughts really control what we accomplish in life? I recall a classic study from many years ago. Picture this --
A teacher comes into a primary-level classroom, and tells her students that a new scientific study proved blue-eyed children are a lot smarter than brown- or green-eyed children.
The results are both immediate and dramatic.
The blue-eyed children immediately began to outperform their brown and green-eyed classmates in all aspects of their studies.
Then two months later the teacher calls a special classroom
meeting. She tells the students she'd made a serious mistake. She apologized,
and said the scientific study had actually proven that brown- and green-eyed
children are the most intelligent.
Again the results are dramatic and immediate
The blue-eyed children lost their edge and began to under perform. The brown- and green-eyed children's grades, on the other hand, immediately soared to the "superior" range!
What does this prove? Simply this:
=>If you believe you're smart, you act smart.
=>If you believe you're creative, you act creative.
=>If you believe you're a success, you act successful.
=>If you believe you're excellent at something, you act excellent.
We each live up (or down) to the image we hold of our self.
An Important Insight - Earl Nightingale, a prominent
success philosopher and teacher, spent a good part of his life studying
the wisdom contained in the world's philosophical, religious and
metaphysical writings.
He reported discovering one common belief: "We become what we think about."
It seems Nightingale's finding agrees with what the classroom-study proved: If you think you're bright and destined for success, guess what? You'll be smart, and you'll do smart things that move you along toward success.
But if you think you're dumb and destined to fail -- you'll do dumb things, and ensure you end up failing.
How This Works
We are really just like those young children in the classroom.
Perhaps you remember something like this: You're 7 years old and want to learn to play ball. But you haven't had any experience catching, throwing or hitting.
So -- you approach some kids playing ball and ask to join. They assign you the position of third baseman.
But by the time the inning is over, you've clearly shown your lack of skill. Then catastrophe strikes when you come up to bat and strike out! That's the end of your "baseball career." You were dubbed a "stupid dummy," and thrown off the "team."
Then suppose you tell your Dad what happened, and he says something like: "I'm not surprised Son, you're really NOT cut out for sports."
The ANTs Have Invaded
Do you have some particular areas of life in which you seem to have "natural" limitations? If so - take a look inside your mind. You'll find some of image-damaging messages from childhood.
These ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) don't just go away on their own. They sneak around in your subconscious mind twenty-four hours a day sending their messages throughout your mind.
If you even consider engaging in an activity that has ANTs attached to it, a whole army will start to march along your neural networks. Suddenly you'll decide to "just forget it" because "I'm not any good at that anyway."
Sound familiar?
How to Stamp Out ANTs
To claim more of your TRUE potential for personal excellence, you'll have to move those ant hills out of your subconscious mind. The following exercise works especially well for eliminating negative thoughts.
This exercise is intended to be performed in privacy, while facing a mirror. Look straight into your own eyes and repeat an affirmation. Get as much emotional feeling into it as possible.
=>If you want to overcome negative feelings about public
speaking, for example, your affirmation might be: "I am an excellent
speaker."
=>If you want to stomp out negative feelings about failure, you might
say: "I am fearless."
Frequent repetition creates new and stronger neural networks.
P.S. Don't be alarmed if you begin to look like a different person in the mirror. This is a very powerful exercise. Done over time, you will begin to get glimpses of a "truer" version of yourself in the mirror.
This can get very exciting!
About the Author
Dr. Jill 's Quantum-Self.com is the web's premier Personal
Excellence portal. It's sizzling-unique-intelligent-inspiring! Great
free self-tests, brain teasers, and mind-building original articles.
FREE abundance course for new ezine subscribers. http://www.quantum-self.com
Are Online Marketers
Missing The Boat?
By Sharon Fling
I was chatting with someone the other day about my favorite subject -- online promotion of local business -- and he said something that made my ears perk up.
"What about the other way -- Internet companies using offline promotions to grow their enterprises and drive traffic to their sites? Why aren't more internet marketers doing THAT?"
I had to admit I didn't know. Since much of my target audience is offline, there's no way I can limit myself to online marketing only. But what about the vast majority of online businesses? Are they doing the same thing brick-and-mortars are doing -- but in reverse? Are they ignoring the offline world the way that some local businesses ignore the Internet?
It reminded me of an exchange I had a few months ago with Martin Avis, of Biz Ezine (http://www.bize-zine.com).
Martin's opinion was that local marketing should be of great interest to all kinds of marketers as well as web site designers and consultants.
"For that reason," Martin said, "I believe that you can market to any online marketer who has an element of local business in their portfolio. And at the moment, that is any online marketer with an ounce of common sense!"
Well. When you put it that way, Martin...
I tucked this nugget away and carried on, still focused on reaching those elusive small business owners in the outside world.
But when the subject came up again last week, it got me to thinking. How many online marketers are maximizing advertising dollars by integrating online and offline promotions?
I know it's hard to believe, but not everybody is online 16 hours a day, visiting websites, reading ezines and hanging out on discussion boards. In fact, a lot of people still don't have computers. Gasp! Can you imagine?
It's not a coincidence that some of the most successful online businesses were promoted largely via traditional media advertising such as newspapers, radio, and TV.
Even Amazon, the king of books online sales, is doing offline promotions such as catalogs and print ads. And how many hundreds of AOL CDs have you received in the mail? Google, eBay, Match.com, Monster.com, Yahoo! -- they all do some form of offline advertising and promotion.
Now, you may not have "Yahoo!" money, but there are plenty of CHEAP ways of driving offline traffic to your online site.
As a matter of fact, they are much like the methods you'd use to drive offline traffic to your local site: your URL everywhere, word-of-mouth, press releases, free publicity from being mentioned in a local newspaper or TV news program, license plate frames, postcards (which can be handed out like business cards at local events and trade shows), promotional items, networking, small print ads that include your URL .... the list is ENDLESS.
Bottom line: the more people you expose to your product
or service, the more business you will get. If you want to reach the
maximum number of people, you must promote your business both online
AND offline. There are too many people that are in only ONE of those
places. Can you really afford to ignore so many potential prospects
and customers?
About the Author
Sharon
Fling is the author of "How To Promote Your Local Business
On the Internet", and creator of GeoLocal.com, the web's largest
resource for promoting small local business online. Visit http://www.geolocal.com
and subscribe to GeoLocal's free Tip of the Week.
10 Things Great Leaders Do
By Janet Mueller
1. Great leaders focus on helping others to achieve. They know the value in sharing their knowledge & success with others.
2. Great leaders are open, willing & encourage their teams to share ideas.
3. Great leaders are in integrity with themselves; they walk the walk and talk the talk.
4. Great leaders do not make excuses for other's lack of performance.
5. Great leaders hold their people and teams accountable.
6. Great leaders inspire their teams with their personal success stories, knowledge and belief!
7. Great leaders show their team respect.
8. Great leaders invest in themselves, they make time for personal & professional development.
9. Great leaders hold the flag on top of the mountain for their team keeping the vision in focus at all times.
10. Great leaders naturally attract other great leaders.
About the Author
Janet Mueller is in the business of "unleashing champions".
Helping people to take the lead on their life. Janet is a professional
business & experienced life coach. She is the founder & president
of Leadership In Excellence, Inc. Janet works with entrepreneurs, business
owners & professionals helping them to achieve higher levels of
success in their personal & professional lives. Janet has had the
honor & pleasure of coaching over 3,000 people internationally.
Janet provides one on one & group coaching. She invites you to receive
a complimentary consultation to experience the power of coaching directly
by calling her toll free: 1.866.265. 6507. You are invited to visit
her website at: www.leadingtoday.com
and to sign up for her FREE monthly "Leading Today" newsletter
Email Janet: janet@leadingtoday.com
Learn How To Use
Your
Own Selling Style
By John J. Taylor
If you have discovered even the smallest amount of information about psychology you will know that we all have our own way of interpreting the world. We all have our own unique thinking style and we all make decisions in our own unique way.Several psychologists have tried to establish a classification system so that they could define us as a specific type of person. Probably the most popular classification system was developed by Elizabeth Myers and Catherine Briggs - it is known as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, or the MBTI, and it is based on the work of Carl Jung.
The MBTI consists of about 80 questions or statements and will help you to identify which of the 16 "type" descriptions most closely matches the responses that you have given.
And then there are things like horoscopes - simply by knowing your date of birth you can be classified into one of twelve star signs.
I would like you to consider the following and then choose the one statement that you feel is most descriptive of your preferences:
A. When making decisions you like to have as much information as possible, you will gather the facts and data and thoroughly analyze them in a logical and rational manner. Once you are certain of the facts and you know how everything will work out, you will make the right decision.
B. You like to approach things carefully and methodically. You will approach a decision by listing all the positive and negative factors and you will systematically review everything until you are secure in the knowledge that you are making a safe and sound decision.
C. You seldom make a decision without finding out what other people feel about it. You have a network of friends and colleagues and you love to talk things over with them before making a decision. You are careful to ensure that your decisions don't have a negative impact on other people. You need to feel comfortable about things before you take action.
D. You like to find new and interesting solutions to problems. You tend to move quickly and to take more risks than most other people. You hate getting bogged down in the detail and you much prefer to look at the big picture. Your decisions are often instinctive based on a hunch or a gut feeling. Once a decision is made it's time to move onto something new.
So which of the four statements did you choose?
I have described four completely different and, to some extent, extreme styles. When you visit a web site you will have your own way of evaluating the offer.
Just as you have a preferred hand to write with, you will tend to have a preferred writing style. When writing sales copy if you use one of the above extreme styles you are guaranteed to alienate 75% of your audience!
Take some time to look through your sales copy and see if your preferences are coming through...
Is your copy written in a logical and rational way with lots of supporting facts and data?
Is your copy written in a systematic way to lead your prospect through a step-by-step process?
Is your copy written to engage with people interactively, do you connect with their feelings and emotions?
Is your copy written to arouse curiosity, does it offer new and innovative solutions and have you provided the big picture?
Converting a prospect to a customer requires an holistic approach;
your copy should be written to both appeal to the widest audience
and yet to simultaneously speak to each individual in their own language.
About the Author
John Taylor
is the author of "Testing & Tracking" - A Special
Report that contains a wealth of information on professional techniques
that can boost your conversion rate and increase your profits: http://www.test-and-track.com
John also promotes "The Buy Impulse" which describes 26
techniques that can increase your online sales: http://www.Buy-Impulse.com
11 Powerful Marketing Tips
Copyright 2004 Bob Leduc
Each of these 11 marketing tips is based on a marketing strategy or tactic proven to boost sales. How many are you using?
Tip 1:
Your customers buy your product or service to feel a certain way after
their purchase. Keep this in mind as you develop your ads, web pages and
other sales tools. Use vivid word pictures to dramatize the pleasant feelings
your customers experience when they use what you are selling. It intensifies
their desire to have it and motivates them to buy now.
Tip 2:
Continually test new advertising and marketing methods ...and old methods
you never tried before. A good guideline to follow is to allocate 80 percent
of your budget to proven promotions and 20 percent to testing new things.
Most businesses using this formula keep growing regardless
of changing market conditions and intense competition.
Tip 3:
Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost.
Don't be surprised if your short ads generate a higher response than long
ads - giving you a bigger return for your expense. One of the most effective
ads I ever used was only 11 words.
Tip 4:
Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your
targeted market. People read postcards when the message is brief. A small
ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your web site and
generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.
Tip 5:
Active, stimulating words and phrases keep prospects interested in reading
your sales copy. Look for dull passive words and phrases and replace them
with active ones. For example, change a phrase like "...it's practical
and inexpensive" to "...it's fast, easy and you save $99".
Tip 6:
After telling prospects what they gain when they buy your product or service,
tell them what they lose if they do not buy it. Most people fear loss
more than they desire gain. Customers want your product or service so
they can enjoy the benefits it provides. But they will want it even more
if you remind them of what they lose by not buying it.
Tip 7:
You can eliminate any last minute hesitation prospective customers may
have by announcing a pleasant surprise near the end of every selling procedure.
For example, add an unexpected bonus to each transaction immediately before
the final action that completes the sale.
Tip 8:
You can boost your total sales volume and your average size sale at the
same time by combining 2 or more related products or services into a Special
Combination Package. Set the price lower than the cost of buying each
item separately. This "special deal" will motivate both procrastinators
and bargain hunters to buy now.
Tip 9:
You always need to find new customers. But don't overlook the sales you
can easily get from your existing customers. It's easier to get more business
from them than it is to get any business from new prospects. Follow up
with your existing customers to get more sales of the same product or
to offer them additional products and services.
Tip 10:
How would you react if you got a personal "thank you" from a
business several days after you spent money with them? You'd feel good
and probably want to do more business with them. Give that same feeling
to your customers. They will reward you with more business - and a flood
of referrals.
Tip 11:
Convert your customers into publicity agents. Develop an incentive for
them to tell associates and friends about the value of your products or
services. An endorsement from them can produce sales you would never get
with any amount of advertising.
How many of these 11 marketing tactics are you using? How many have you
overlooked? You are losing sales if you don't use all of them.
About the Author
Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find
new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his
manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards ...and
launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow
and prosper. You'll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com
or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV
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