That’s a question I often get and I thought I would answer it briefly here. I’ll take the problem/solution approach in the hopes of simplifying the answer.
The Problem is that most businesses (small and large) have failed to grasp the imperative of establishing and maintaining a relationship with individuals. This is important because the days are gone when you can present yourself as a corporate monolith and expect people to be attracted to you. Perhaps you’ve heard the age-old and oft-repeated notion that, “People don’t do business with companies, they do business with people.” That seems obvious but judging from the way most companies present themselves, you wouldn’t think it’s widely recognized.
Not only do people do business with people, they do business with people they know, like and trust (hat tip: Bob Burg). If that’s true (and I think it is) then the goal of your web presence should be to give people the opportunity to know you (as a person), and reasons to like and trust you. Continue Reading..
Imagine a cross between a world-class Internet Marketing seminar and a virtual world like Second Life.
That’s Traffic Rockstars.
Some friends of mine brought together 20 of the top names in traffic strategies and put them all in one place online where you can soak-up hours of free teaching without leaving home — and for no money!
This is the very first time this technology has ever been used, so I’ll be watching it very closely. Hint: Who’da thought Facebook would catch on?
With 20 of the biggest names in the business, all in one place and one weekend, teaching some of their best stuff… if you need more traffic, attendance is a must!
P.S. Without leaving home and without spending a single dime, you will get a couple dozen hours of presentations from 20+ traffic experts plus a few offers of even more stuff they are not offering anywhere else. Register now and I’ll see you there!
Every once in awhile I have to pass along nifty software I find.
It was driving me nuts having to always click before I could scroll in a window. A simple example is when you open Windows File Explore and you navigate to a directory. You then have to click (argh) in the file list to enable scrolling down to find the file you want.
Never fear, my friends, there is a simple and elegant solution. And, as with all the best solutions, this one is free! WizMouse from Antibody Software provides a quick and easy fix. Download the software, install and watch your productivity soar! What you get is basically the automatic activation of scrolling on a hover event. It doesn’t even require that the window have focus (be active) – so you can scroll through a window that is sitting behind your active window. Nice!
The best answers to this question is found in a great training series by Rich Schefren that teaches you how to: Become an Instant Expert.
The short answer to the question is that, by establishing yourself as an expert, you are building your personal brand. If you had to list what’s important about a brand, what would you say? Perhaps your list would include some of these benefits:
differentiate yourself
develop a reputation as trustworthy
seen as a reliable source of information
obtain a status among peers
While all those things are important, the primary purpose or benefit of a strong brand is that it reduces your selling costs. You don’t have to work nearly as hard to get your message out and persuading people to buy becomes much easier.
Rich covers the topic in much greater depth and I highly recommend the program. And, oh-by-the-way, he’s one of those people with a strong personal brand. It’s worth the 47 bucks just to watch how he cultivates his brand.
I’ve been chowing on a book called Endless Referrals and I think it holds the key to “sales” for many entrepreneurs. Sales is a misunderstood concept by many people; it has negative connotations in large part due to the unfortunate behavior of many sales practitioners.
This book turns the notion of sales on its head. It’s a refreshing look at commerce as an exercise in giving. In fact the author (Bob Burg) wrote another little jewel called “The Go Giver” which is a modern-day parable of a salesman hopelessly lost in his self-absorption. The essence of Endless is that people buy from people they know, like and trust. According Burg, the way to generate this kind of goodwill is by sacrificing your own ends and dedicating a good portion of your time to giving.
This may sound trite (and perhaps obvious) but precious few salespeople and even fewer entrepreneurs have learned this little secret of business success (and endless referrals). It may very well be that most of us are not prepared to handle “endless”. We haven’t structured our business so that we have the excess capacity to handle the deluge that would surely come if we had the business development function properly sorted. But that’s a topic for another post.
One of the great things about running your own business is that you get to be a bit more choosy about the people you work with. I’m working with some really great people at VCLi and I’m enjoying them a great deal. They are passionate about what they do and they like to think big. In Australia, we used to refer to people like this as “switched-on”. I always liked that term. Isn’t that the way we should all be — switched-on?
I always thought it was interesting that companies were formed in states other than where they were operating. I would always see large corporations listed as a Delaware Company — which made me wonder — what’s up with Delaware? It turns out that Delaware has some business-friendly laws that make it a popular state for incorporation.
So why are we a Wyoming company? I hear the skiing is good. Actually, the reason is two-fold: they don’t have personal or corporate income tax at the state level and forming a business there is fairly easy and inexpensive. Continue Reading..
From time to time, I will promote, endorse, or suggest products and/or services for sale. My recommendation is ALWAYS based on my belief that the product and it's author will provide excellent and valuable information or service based on a review of that product, my relationship with that person, and or previous positive experience with the person or company who's product I am recommending. In some cases, I will be compensated if you decide to purchase that product based on my recommendation. Always do your OWN due-diligence before making any purchases. Never purchase anything that you cannot afford. Most people don't do anything with the products they buy, so most of the time, their typical results are zero. Don't do drugs, stay in school and always wear sunscreen.
HT: Andy Jenkins
