14 Dec 2011

Cut Through the Hype: How to Create a Successful Marketing Plan

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the clutter of new tools and information available to small business marketers today. I’m sure at some point a small business will hear the following, whether at a conference, on a webinar or in a white paper:
  • “You should blog!”
  • “Are you on Twitter?”
  • “What’s your SEO and PPC strategy?”
  • “Are you doing email marketing?”
  • “You need a Facebook fan page!”
  • “Have you started automating your marketing and sales funnel?”
Cutting through all the hype to see what really works for your small business can be a challenge. When you focus all your effort on tools and tactics but don’t have a clear strategy behind your actions, some serious holes in your marketing and sales funnel will start to surface in three main areas. For example:
 
1. Lost traffic: How much traffic came to your website today and left without giving you their information? How will you ever follow up? This is a painful reality for many small businesses. Think of how much revenue your business is missing out on because you’re not capturing the traffic you spend big bucks to get.

2. Lost leads: Did you know only 10 percent of leads are ready to buy now? What about the warm and cold leads? More often than not, they get lost in the shuffle and are eventually forgotten forever. Many small businesses would love to follow up on every lead, but with limited resources, that can be a challenge. So, the goal is to close the leads that are hot now in order to drive immediate sales and to have a nurturing system in place for not-ready-to-buy-yet leads.

3. Lost customers: If customers feel indifferent about your product or service, they’re more likely to leave you for the competition. You pay all this money to get customers just so they can leave you for the competition down the road. Ouch!
If you’re experiencing any of the pains I describe above, than keep reading to discover the remedy.

Make a Plan
Let’s start by identifying your business goals. Next, map out what your current customer lifecycle looks like, and what your “perfect” customer lifecycle looks like. I find almost every small business can break its lifecycle into seven stages.
  1. Attract Traffic
  2. Capture Leads
  3. Nurture Prospects
  4. Convert Sales
  5. Deliver and Satisfy
  6. Upsell Customers
  7. Get Referrals
Call me old school, but I find it helpful if the business maps these seven stages out on a whiteboard. Start filling in the tools and tactics your business is using to push leads through to the next stage. In following this process, the inefficiencies in your system will become glaringly obvious. You’ll start to see where you’re losing leads and sales, when you’re missing out on referrals or even worse, at what point your customers are leaving you for the competition.
Now that the framework is in place, I want to give you some foolproof strategies you can use in these seven stages.

Attracting Traffic Strategies
Putting up a website doesn’t create traffic.  You need to become a content machine. Write blog posts, create white papers, post videos and host webinars — and give them all away. The strategy here is to pull leads into your funnel with highly valuable content.
Don’t underestimate the power of social media. Monitor what people are saying about your brand or industry and use it as an opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions. Also, share your content on your social channels.
If you have a network of partners or brand advocates, reward them for referring business your way.
Lastly, have a SEO and PPC strategy in place so when people search online for your type of business, they find you easily.

Lead Capture Strategies
I’m going to say this once and only once: “Sign up for my monthly newsletter” is not a lead capture strategy—at least not an effective one. Capturing leads goes hand-and-hand with becoming a content machine. Give away free reports or a video series that is packed with education. You can try running a contest or hosting an online event like a webinar as well. Just make sure you are getting permission from customers to follow up. Set expectations right from the beginning on what you’ll be sending them and get them to opt-in so they don’t feel bombarded.

Lead Nurture Strategies
Segment your follow-up based on the behaviors and interests of your leads. For example, I suggest segmenting your content into three groups: new leads, hot leads and cold leads. You should also be paying close attention to how you got the lead in the first place. Did they watch a webinar on “Copywriting Tips for Small Businesses” or did they sign up for a demo or consultation? The content you provide to these three audiences is likely going to be very different because the prospects are at different stages of the buying cycle.

Sales Conversion Strategies
As a small business with limited time and resources, relying solely on your sales team can sometimes be a death sentence. Try automating some of your prospect follow-up. By doing so, you are able to monitor their level of interest by looking at behaviors like email open rates, report downloads and other interactions. You know that someone who has opened every email, watched every webinar and requested a free consultation is probably a prospect that’s ready to be handed off to sales to close the deal. Automating some of the communications helps ensure the quality of leads going to sales is high, resulting in better and quicker conversions.

Upsell and Referral Strategies
Small businesses are guilty of basking in the success of closing the sale and overlooking the fact that there are huge opportunities to upsell and get referrals. Here are a few different upsell strategies:
  • Checkout upsell
  • Post-purchase upsell
  • Product-specific upsell
  • Product-specific cross-sell
You’ve invested time and money in converting leads into customers and wowing your customers with your service. Now ask for referrals! Give them a free product or a discount for referring a friend. We all know some of the best leads can come from referrals.
If you follow even some of the tips in this article, I have no doubt that you can create a strategic marketing plan that cuts through the clutter and delivers the results you want to achieve.  Here are a few extra tips for creating a small business marketing plan from a previously recorded webinar.  It’s a valuable resource for getting results from your plan in 3 simple steps.

10 Dec 2011

Business of Pleasure

The net is not the most popular type of pornography in the United States. Video sales and rentals accounted for $3.62 billion in revenue in 2006 while net pornography raked in $2.84 billion.

Pornography revenues are not necessarily ranked according to population. China topped the list in 2006 with over $27 billion in pornography revenues. However, South Korea, only the 26th most populous nation on earth according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is next in line with over $25 billion in pornography revenues.

Internet consumers are most likely to search for the terms "sex," "porn xchange," & "PornHub" to access their pornography product of choice. The top twenty search terms also include "teen sex," "teen porn" & "PornHub review"

Some search terms were divided evenly along gender lines. Statistics indicate the term "sex" was looked for as often by female consumers as it was by males. Men & females differ greatly on other searches. For example, men performed 97 percent of the searches for the term "free porn."

27 Nov 2011

Patti Stanger reveals dating destinations

Patti Stanger's Advice for Demi Moore: 'Hang in There!'

The Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger doesn't appear that sorry for the offensive comments that made her Public Enemy #1 on Twitter the other day. Although he recently apologized, he went on Joy Behar's HLN show yesterday &

As the star of Bravo's "The Millionaire Matchmaker," Patti Stanger is in the business of finding individuals who fit romantically, & on Friday, the relationship guru weighed in on why he thinks Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher split.

Patti lays down guidelines, a match is made, & all are happy. except: that never happens. in the first season, the introductory credits claimed that Stanger (who is a "third-generation matchmaker," whatever that is) had a 99% success rate.

by Jason Hughes, posted Nov 16th 2011 five:00AM Patti Stanger holds nothing back, & Sharnay didn't take it well on 'the Millionaire Matchmaker' (Tue., 9PM ET on Bravo). of work, they don't think lots of ladies would take it well being asked.

21 Nov 2011

How Do You Want To Live?

For some, it's to own your own jobs. But for others, freedom means passive income & generating something they can pass on to their kids (without making the kids pass out from overwhelm & exhaustion). & for another set of little business owners, the preferred lifestyle is working in a business that they love & having a reliable team that lets them take or worry-free holidays a year.

Every little business owner has to address this query: How would you like to live?

query yourself

The goals are personal.

What is your long-term objective? Little business retirement:

For example, do you plan to retire? If so, when? & who will run the business at that point? In Why Retirement Isn't in the Cards for Plenty of SBOs, Anita Campbell, founder of Little Business Trends, highlights a survey, Little Business Owners Perspectives on Retirement, conducted in December 2010, which polled one,433 little business owners of companies with to 99 employees. In the survey, only four percent said they plan to retire while 33 percent have a succession plan.

In point of fact, retirees often to pick to stay active; it seems to keep them young. But the key is the choice the freedom to pick to work at 70 because you require to, in lieu of having to work because there's not money or passive income for your lifetime.

But that's not the only lifestyle decision to think about.

In The 52 Best Cities for Minority Entrepreneurs, Anita mentions a survey released by Forbes. In this survey, Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox & Erika Ozuna studied minority & immigrant entrepreneurs, & found the top cities for them are Atlanta, Baltimore & Nashville, because of affordable housing & the cost of commercial space.

Where would you like to live? Best cities for minorities:

  The better they position our businesses, the more clients, income & freedom they have.

But irrespective of where they live, what they look like & when they pick to retire, little business owners share a common reality:

  Saying that everyone is your customer actually reduces the number of customers who have an interest in your product.
For a few practical tips on positioning yourself, you may require to check out Ivana Taylor's editorial, 5 Massive Reasons Your Ideal Customer Isn't Choosing You. According to Ivana, issue you may encounter is that your audience is massive. He writes:

Pick well.

& he suggests a little analysis to help you find your niche. Getting clear about the way you require to live, both today & in retirement, determines your goals & your sacrifices. Answering the lifestyle query determines your future.

13 Nov 2011

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16 Oct 2011

Shift Your Focus to Customer Experiences

Griffin Hospital earns customer loyalty, and accolades, by creating customer experiences. Griffin Hospital’s efforts to understand the lives of patients and their families has earned them extreme customer loyalty. Their goal was to imagine what it would be like to be the patient so they could improve the experience for both patients and their families. But Griffin Hospital hadn’t always received this type of accolade.
Back in 1982, Griffin Hospital was very far from enjoying extreme loyalty. At that time, one-third of the local community named Griffin as the hospital they would avoid if they could. That rude awakening pushed them to rethink their purpose and literally everything they did. The hospital wanted to create an experience to remember.

Music in the Parking Lot and a Piano in the Lobby
Being told that it was avoided whenever possible pushed Griffin to rethink the purpose for their hospital, physicians, and caregivers. Their goal was to become the hospital of choice in the community. Griffin knew that if “choice” was the goal, then they had to readjust their purpose; they needed to move from being healthcare providers to being service providers.
Griffin had to stop executing required tasks and determine what experience they would deliver, what patient and family emotions were involved. They found that the emotional journey of going to the hospital begins in the parking lot. So Griffin provides free valet parking and concierge services. Music in the parking lot and lobby welcomes visitors and takes away the sterile “hospital” feeling.
Says Bill Powanda, Griffin Hospital vice president:
It doesn’t matter if you have the shortest emergency room wait times around and deliver the greatest care in the nation; if parking is a nightmare, your patients won’t be completely satisfied.”
Griffin Hospital Enjoys a 99 Percent Recommendation Rate
Understanding the customer emotions involved in “coming and going” from a hospital visit prompted actions that made Griffin stand out. Those bookend experiences are part of the magnet that pulls people back to Griffin. No longer considered the “black sheep” hospital of the community, Griffin grows through customer referrals. Inpatient admissions grew 28 percent from 1997 to 2009, compared with a state average growth rate of 10 percent. And outpatient services grew 92 percent from 1998 to 2009.
Griffin Hospital has become the hospital of choice not only for their community, but for surrounding communities as well. One-third of Griffin Hospital’s customers come from outside of the community where it’s located. Ten percent of administrators of U.S. hospitals want to visit Griffin Hospital to learn from them.
Do you think about how you punctuate your moments of connection with customers? First impressions last the longest. Is yours purposeful? Does it create the ideal first opinion of your business?
What Are Your Customer Experience Bookends?
Griffin Hospital decided to eliminate the fear of hospital visits with music in their parking lots and a concierge in their lobby. The memory of these “experience bookends” bonds visitors to them. Ask yourself:
  • Do you have a purposeful beginning and ending to moments of customer contact?
  • Are you creating memories or just executing tasks?
  • How would you rate your intent and ability to create purposeful moments of customer contact?
  • How would your customers say you are doing?
  • Do customers rave about a memorable experience?
  • What are the marquee moments in your customers’ experiences with you?
  • Do your decisions for creating memorable bookends earn you “beloved” status today?

SMB and Entrepreneur News and Tips

SMB and entrepreneur news and tips help inform the leaders of the future. The small business and entrepreneurship of tomorrow will create new jobs and new opportunities. Information is the key to building that future as effectively as possible.

Management

Companies are hiring-just not hiring you. With unemployment levels as high as they are, it is paradoxical that employers can not find employees to fill vacancies. This was known to be the case in many high tech job openings, but it is now being reported across almost all levels of employment. The main concern of companies is that applicants simply do not have the basic skills needed for the opening. It appears that our educational system and our training programs are not providing the skills required. msnbc.com
How to attract talent to a small company. How do you attract talent to a small business? Most likely you can’t pay the high salary and offer the benefits that the large successful companies do. What you can do is to try to show the perspective employee the advantages of working for a small business and emphasize the success and potential of your business. You also should attempt to structure the job requirements and the pay and benefits package to try to meet his particular situation. Wall Street Journal
A 4-step approach to solving workplace conflict. Resolving conflict in the workplace can be very time-consuming for the owner of a small business. When you only have a small number of employees, this type of interruption can be very costly in terms of time management and productivity. This article presents a structured model for dealing with these situations in a hopefully efficient manner. The model emphasizes face to face meetings with disruptive employees and using outlined steps in resolving the conflict. msnbc.com

Human Resources

Starting a Teach for America for Entrepreneurs. It has been difficult for small business owners or entrepreneurs to attract the brightest or the best of college graduates. Now we are beginning to see the start of organizations that are working toward attracting college graduates. One such organization is Venture for America which is based on the very successful Teach for America. You’re the Boss
Can retraining give the unemployed a second chance? The jury appears to still be out on the retraining of the unemployed. Among other factors that affect the outcome is that it has become somewhat of a political football. This article cites some examples of where retraining seems to have worked. One of the biggest hindrances is that some people have been unemployed so long that even with retraining the type of work available is totally unfamiliar to them. In addition many of the jobs that they are familiar with no longer exist, at least in this country. In theory retraining is a worthwhile undertaking but it still requires a lot of refining to make it really successful. msnbc.com
Why your company (probably) can’t innovate. Stephen Shapiro challenges some of the conventional wisdom that many small businesses use in attempting to foster new ideas. One of the main areas he disagrees with is the hiring of people that “fit” into the organization. By doing this you will not generate new ideas, but rather you need someone who rubs people the wrong way to insure you get divergent points of view. CNN Money

Leadership

10 things only bad managers say. What type of boss do you work for? Does he frequently complement you on your work, or is he the type that finds fault and criticizes everything you do and every idea you have? The ten characteristics of a bad boss may be a good indication of whether you’ve entered the bad manager zone. msnbc.com
Small businesses: Building community through hiring. One of the advantages of owning your own small business is that in addition to being profitable and generating wealth, you have the opportunity to pursue social good. Many small business owners use their business to help improve their community or to give people a second chance. One such endeavor is to become involved in a group such as TRIO. These programs have some risks involved but the rewards to the community can be so satisfying. The Christian Science Monitor

Legal & Liability

The S Corp Versus The LLC. The S Corporation and the LLC (Limited Liability Company) are the two most common ways of setting up a small business. The two types have several key similarities. There are also quite a number of differences. Which type of entity you choose depends on the needs of your particular small business. Small Business Trends
Small business insurance: More than general liability. To many small business owners, insurance is general liability insurance. While this is very good coverage to have, there are a number of other types of insurance that need to be considered to protect your business. The small business owner must evaluate which types of insurance are needed for his particular situation.

Rajinikanth

Bollywood Hot Girl Deepika Padukone has been offered to play the heroine to Rajinikanth in his next film. The untitled film to be produced by a big South Indian production house will have Rajini playing a double role. Deepika is said to be excited to play opposite Rajinikanth, but she is equally disappointed as the film goes to floors this year itself.
Nayanthara is one of the leading actress who is subjugated almost the Mole Tamil and Telugu industry with her ideal body and the glamour of the film.

29 Sept 2011

5 Ways Your Brand and Branding Define You

There is a big difference between your “brand” and your “branding.”
Your brand is you: who you are , what you do, what you stand for, your DNA personality. You are a tangible artifact, which you create into a brand–an image that lives in the minds of the people you interact with and who come to know you. Are you…
  • A watercolor nature artist?
  • An NBA athlete?
  • A criminal trial attorney?
  • An eighth-grade science teacher?
  • A cupcake baker?
  • A cardiologist?
  • A business consultant?
  • A French chef?
Your branding is what you do: every way you put your brand in action to create  associations with you, including your…
  • Website
  • Blog
  • Email marketing
  • Community involvement
  • Social media platforms
  • Collaborations
  • Partnerships
  • Sponsorships
I recently discovered a brand website called Ranking the Brands, which lists and profiles some of the most trusted, popular, core power brands out there today–Coca-Cola, Google, BMW, Microsoft, Walmart, Hershey’s, Apple, Harley-Davidson and UPS, to name just a few.

What do these standout brands have in common?
  • First, they are laser focused on what they do, who they are and whom they serve.
  • Second, they differentiate themselves from their competition.
  • Third, they evolve how they serve through their brand story.
These brands have built legacies and leadership by paying back and paying forward. They have built schools, donated food, supported the Olympics and encouraged educational and philanthropic activities, which is why we want to support them and what we remember them for.

Here are five ways your brand and branding define you and your business:
1) It’s your calling card, piece of real estate, your stake in the space.
2) It’s the only way to make a footprint and imprint.
3) It tells a story about you and what you do.
4) It’s the way people remember, recall and recommend you.
5) It is the single most important way to establish your credibility, authority and niche.
Sam Walton wanted Walmart to be remembered for saving people money so they could live better.  Milton Hershey wanted to open new doors for children in need.  Deborah Shane wants to be known as someone who cares deeply about helping people succeed in their careers and business.

You Only Have a Little Time: Say It and Make It Stick

We are living in a world of instantaneous communication where you have to say it and make it stick – quick - or the opportunity is gone.

Think about it: If you’re trying to communicate in this digital age, then you’ve noticed that our attention spans are short. Twitter makes us think we can get the gist of “it” in 140 characters or less.  But not just that; those of us who have worked with children were either frustrated or discovered the art of quick and powerful lessons. Have you ever tried to teach a roomful of 6-year-olds? My hat is off to the professional educator because in my opinion, a 6-year-old’s attention span seems to shift every 2 minutes.  And that’s perfect.
 
You can’t become good at communicating, marketing and getting the kind of attention that you want your company to have unless you practice.  And the way I see it, working with Twitter and with children is the perfect marketing exercise.

Can you explain what you do in a way that a roomful of children can understand it?

What would happen to your marketing if it was clear and relevant enough for children to understand? Meeting that standard of simplicity could be good for business. That means minimal jargon. That means words and stories that  really connect with your audience.
Apple did it with the first iPod.  Remember their marketing language: “1,000 songs in your pocket.”
A child can understand that. It’s clear. It’s engaging.

Can you make your business matter in 140 characters or less?

Use Twitter to master the art of the meaningful sound bite. Since you only have 140 characters, you’re forced to be interesting and quick.
Think about it: 140 characters is a good rule of thumb not only for Twitter but also for:
  • blog post headlines,
  • press release headlines,
  • elevator pitches
  • 30-second ad spots
On Twitter, you only have a few seconds to get your point across before something new pops up. In business, you only have a little time to reach a potential client before something new pops into his/her mind.   So use the resources around you—children and Twitter—to learn to maximize your sound bites.

5 Tips to Improve Your Marketing Mix

It’s not about one marketing piece, it’s about the whole thing. To be effective, your business needs a presence both offline and online. It needs to use print and digital marketing tools. It needs both advertising (paid) and publicity (free). It’s the marketing mix that gets and keeps your company message “out there” in front of your target audience.

Here are five marketing mix tips to seriously consider and implement:

 1. Brochures & Business Cards
Print marketing items are not dead yet. Sometimes our technology doesn’t work like it should, and having that business card and brochure as a backup could save your marketing opportunity. Besides, there are a lot of people who just need to have something in their hands in order to remember you, so give it to them.  Have your calling card ready.

2. LinkedIn
Use this business social network as an extended business card. As people hear your name around the Web and at conferences, there is a good chance that they will check you out on LinkedIn (this has happened to me). So fill out that profile and link it back to your website.

3. Website & Blog
Your website is your digital home, so make it count. Let them know who you are, what you do, and how it could benefit them. And then solve a problem for free by answering a question that your target audience would care about. You could turn that answer into a little ebook or white paper for download, or make it a blog post. Just make sure it’s something that truly helps, because you’re building a relationship, and “fluff and foolishness” is not good for business.

4. Press Releases
Use press releases to let the local media know about your business and upcoming campaigns. Your company probably has some awesome events, but nobody cares if they don’t have a chance to know about it.

5. Email
It’s about the relationship, and email is one of the most enduring ways to build that relationship, so take the time to grow your list. For a beginner most of the initial work is in getting the code and placing it on your Web pages. But the email service that you use should have a guide or “how to” page showing you what to do. Once the code for your email subscription form is in place on your site, then you can begin to focus on what to send your subscribers each week or month. Remember, it’s consistent marketing that makes the difference.

12 tips for business success

What's important to the success of small-business owners and entrepreneurs? Knowledge, skill and talent.
However, many competitors have the same traits you do. The key to beating the competition and achieving success is mental, reflected in one's attitude, totally controlled by the individual and requires no cash. This holds true in most human endeavors besides business — in sports, the arts and politics.
How many times have we seen the underdog team or player win over the more talented opponent? The difference is often attitude.

These 12 attitude attributes can put you in the right mindset for achieving entrepreneurial success.

1. Have passion for your business Work should be fun. Your passion will help you overcome difficult moments and persuade people to work for you and want to do business with you. Passion can't be taught. When it wanes, as it surely will in difficult times, take some quiet time. Whether it be an hour or a week, take inventory of all the reasons you started the business and why you like being your own boss. That should renew your passion.

2. Set an example of trustworthiness People have confidence in trustworthy individuals and want to work for them in a culture of integrity. The same is true for customers.

3. Be flexible, except with core values It's a given that your plans and strategies will change as time goes on. This flexibility for rapid change is an inherent advantage of small over large business. However, no matter the pressure for immediate profits, do not compromise on core values.

4. Don't let fear of failure hold you back Failure is an opportunity to learn. All things being equal, venture capitalists would rather invest money in an individual who tried and failed founding a company than in someone who never tried.

5. Make timely decisions
It's okay to use your intuition. Planning and thought are good. But procrastination leads to missed opportunity.

6. The major company asset is you Take care of yourself. Your health is more valuable than the most expensive machinery or computer software for the company. You don't have to choose between your family or your company, play or work. Maintain your health for balance and energy, which will, in turn, enhance your mental outlook.

7. Keep your ego under control Don't take profits and spend them on expensive toys to impress others. Build a war chest for unexpected needs or opportunities. This also means hearing out new ideas and suggestions no matter how crazy they sound.

8. Believe
You need to believe in yourself, in your company, and that you will be successful. This confidence is contagious with your employees, customers, stakeholders, suppliers and everyone you deal with.

9. Encourage and accept criticism graciously. Admit your mistakes. You need to constantly work on convincing your employees that it's OK — even necessary —to state their honest opinions even it if conflicts with the boss's opinion. Just stating it once or putting it in a mission statement won't cut it for most people.

10. Maintain a strong work ethic Your employees will follow your lead. It will also help you beat your competition by outworking them, particularly when your product or service is very similar.

11. Rebound quickly from setbacks There surely will be plenty of ups and downs as you build the business. Learn from the setbacks and move on. You can't change the past.

12. Periodically get out of your comfort zone to pursue something important Many times you will feel uncomfortable in implementing a needed change in technology, people, mission, competing, etc. For the company and you to grow personally, you sometimes have to step out of your comfort zone.

Many organizational and leadership shortcomings can be overcome or mitigated with the good attitudes described above. All can be learned except passion, which comes from within. Take time out of your hectic schedule to periodically reflect on these attributes. You may be inspired to act.

28 Sept 2011

Infolinks Self Serve In-Text Ads Marketplace

Self Service Infolinks Marketplace

Infolinks has introduced the world’s first In-Text ads Marketplace. The Marketplace allows you to create and optimize In-Text ads campaigns in a matter of minutes. Now advertisers can effortlessly create and manage their ad campaigns just like with Google AdWords.

You can use the new Marketplace to promote your blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube Channel, etc., for a bigger brand boost at a reduced cost. While most bloggers work on free ways of generating traffic, the use of paid traffic sources like Infolinks can get the job done a lot easier. As an AdWords advertiser, I’m looking forward to testing out the Infolinks In-Text ads Marketplace.

Quick and Easy Interface

The self service In-Text Advertising Marketplace allows you to create campaigns in only a few minutes. You can select your own keywords, target geographically and monitor the campaigns with a real-time reporting system. If you know how to set up an AdWords account, you’ll have no problem with the Infolinks In-Text ads Marketplace.

Opening an advertiser account in the Marketplace is simple and will only take you a few minutes to complete. Simply visit the Marketplace, complete a short registration form, fill out your billing details and then activate your Infolinks campaign. It’s really that easy.

23 Sept 2011

Love those customers!

In keeping with my recent rants on service and Customer Service Executives here’s some more info to get your team going.
The organisation you work for has done some shuffling of titles etc. Or perhaps they are about to hire a new person (you) for a role in Customer Relations – they want you to manage it… Let’s say they are giving you ‘some scope’ to develop the role and or the department and let’s say they are serious and want to really wow the customers, love them so to speak. How will you go about it? Here’s ten thoughts from my perspective.
  1. Create an environment in the organisation from top to bottom where the Customer is King (it’s not new but it is still a great idea) no customers – no business right… so it should make solid sense.
  2. Get clear about the intended results – more sales from more visits of existing customers – or higher level sales from existing customers? (Hey did you notice I’m talking about existing customers and not new ones, they’re the role of the marketing dept…)
  3. To what level can you ‘schmooze’ them? If you sell luxury or expensive items it will be very different to lower value items (or it should be…)
  4. Plan like crazy – implement the same way. A great plan will beg to be implemented, so take a look at the plan and set out what will happen for the year (once in place the tweaking should be fairly easy).
  5. Develop a budget plan, see if you can get the budget to go up based on results more sales more slice of the pie to build the relationships further.
  6. Customer loyalty plan – sounds nice what does it really mean – I think it’s more part of the relationship and a guide as something to aim towards, not so much a plan on it’s own.
  7. Exceptionally train everyone who comes into contact with Customers, remind them, support them and allow them to give the customers service brilliance…
  8. Watch customers dealing with your business and go crazy over any and or ALL barriers to them being able to do business with ease. Just watch them for a while, any squirming, wincing, annoyance of any kind do something about it NOW!
  9. Ask yourself (and the rest of the team) how many ways can we woo the Customers so they love us and want to come back… perhaps search the web for ways to connect with customers you might not think of (go for weird, you can always cut back.)
  10. Scream “Service – Service –SERVICE!” at the start of every training session on service and at the start of each day (just before the customers start to buy) and ram home the message often (perhaps whisper it quietly to staff with a grumpy disposition).
Now take massive action on all of the above and give the people what they want, your unconditional love! Sure it might cost a few $$ to do, but the end result should be very well worth it. Oh and one last thing, do not tell people you love them, just show it by brilliant action and example,.. They will tell you they love being loved and that’s a far sight better!

More Customer Love…

As If I haven’t prattled on enough lately about customer service people and loving customers… some more ideas and chunks of info must be useful to assist people to really think about what they do and how they might make this whole area better. If this resonates with your organisation then you could use this as a brainstorming tool to get practical action to take place.
So here, take a lok at more weird and whacky ways to “love the customer!”
Concentrate on the customer, figure out  what they need – want – love – aspire to – entertain them – quiz them – excite them – prod and poke them! (careful!) – cause them to giggle – get VERY curious about them (In the right way…)
  • Thrill them with a fresh approach or two to loyalty
  • Tell them things (good things, bad things, things they want to hear and get engaged with)
  • Wrangle with them (Perhaps their minds.) – Massage them (metaphorically perhaps)
  • Tell them to love you / cause them to love you!
  • Care about them intensely but don’t tell them
  • Invigorate their souls
  • Cause them to blink (for the right reasons)
  • Feed them deeply satisfying nourishment
  • Talk to them seductively (think more metaphors…)
  • Tenderly hold their hand/s
  • Cause them to blush (by doing Ok things…)
  • Give them a passionate embrace
  • Dance with them
  • Know their fears
  • Know what they love
  • Develop personal profiles of them (not stalking!)
  • Know why they love your organization
  • Keep them warm and comfortable…
  • Readily and effectively tantalize them
  • Get quirky with them (like they are experiencing a Cirque Du Soleil clown act!)
  • Thrill their senses
  • Knock them down with a feather
  • Build them up with kindness
  • Awe inspire them with a sensational view
  • Throw windows of exceptional opportunity at them
  • Link them to things they will love (think strategic alliances here)
  • Give them a recipe they will love or at least might love it if they try it
  • Cause them to cry with splendid delight
  • Caress their emotions/soul with every ounce of passion you can muster
  • In short, build the relationship with them, because people buy from people they like/love.
There, now go love your customers, your bottom line will appreciate it. One things for sure though, your competition will not be able to keep up if you get started.

Going past one no…

Oh please, dear sales person, if I say no once perhaps you had better dig a bit deeper, ask more questions…  if I have an objection about the price, then ask why… what do I already know and how do I know that.
If I have a niggle about one point, perhaps there are other points you can focus on… and hey how do you get past the issue of price “Why would I spend $5 – 6,000 if I can get one for $3-4,000?” simple, it’s like cars they do basically the same thing, some are perhaps better quality, some provide more status, you want quality and status, you pay… Here’s why (outline a benefit).
Oh and if you’re calling me in Australia but you have an American accent that sounds like you are in an overseas call centre and the line is crap, I am going to be suspect about you right from the start. Sure you get some points for being first on the phone after my email enquiry, but those points were soon lost.
I will probably buy, but from which company… let’s see who can sell to me the best. Sure price is not everything but a big difference in price gets me wondering and you need to be able to spell out how what you provide is better.
If your business is thinking of using a call centre to help with your leads, then do some CAREFUL research first.
“Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.” Dilbert.
So now I have had four calls from people wanting to set up an appointment – answer my questions – send me more info.
The first two – dodgy… American accents bad lines and hard to understand. ergh…
The second two, one female one male – the female asked great questions and provided good answers – the guy however ummed and arghhed a bit but got through the info, clarified a few points but still a bit average. He did suggest to check out the quality of the units I was after and to get lots of brand names and model numbers of the gear others were saying they would supply.
So who will I buy from… I will see if any other companies will ring today and compare the figures they say they will email me.

UPDATE!
 Day one got me a bunch of calls from interested parties, day two fielded some more and day FIVE I had a guy on the phone who said “So, got your enquiry, what do you want….” FAIL… he prattled on about quality and said he would email me the material… price “can’t match the low priced stuff, but it’s crap anyway…” (Ok thanks for the feedback, and also thanks for giving me the brand names I should be looking for that made things easier).
My research showed some interesting info, the lady who had chatted so nicely, had good info, and asked good questions to establish my needs the best… well turns out the Co she works for gets slammed in forums all over the net… and what’s also worrying they have about three different business names they trade under!! A quick search of those found more issues… oh boy it just became a bigger minefield!

Making your staff pay…

What your employees earn for the organisation needs to be more than what you pay them, but how much? There are costs to cover having employees, so it makes sense to earn more than just what they cost the organisation.
In some organisations they seem to have no idea how much value their people add to the organisation, so lets have a think about the issue.
Let’s look at a range of costs and how it all adds up (their wages while they are on holidays and wages for a person who may replace them, as well as superannuation, insurance etc).
How much?
If we work on a figure of $800 per week that’s nearly $42,000 pa. Here are the ‘hidden costs’.
- 4 weeks wages for a fill in employee while the other is on holidays    $6,400
- 1 week personal leave                                                                    $800
- Superannuation @ 9% pa                                                               $3,700
- Workers compensation Insurance                                                    $300
- Payroll tax @ 5%                                                                           $2,100
- Training and development or uniforms and ‘tools’                               $2,500
- Incentives and bonuses                                                                   $1,500
- Accumulated P/A savings to cover 10 yr long service leave                 $960
- Accumulated P/A savings to cover the other worker on 10 yr leave       $960
TOTAL:                                                                                         $19,220

That’s just under half of the annual wage so they need to be earning the organisation a total of AT LEAST $61,200 to pay their way and cover their costs.
Let’s break it down further, on average it’s suggested out of a whole year people only work 220 days so that makes it $324 per day or $40.45 per hour. If you take into account ‘slack or down time’ (it’s raining, they are waiting for supplies, not feeling too well, angry at the boss for spending time reading business articles.) then that figure could readily go up.
For some of our readers they will know this hourly figure intimately and they will have their employees earning solidly above the basic level so they know they can cover longer term costs and thrive readily.
The thing is though, now you have some starting points to work with how will you change things in your business to make sure your business covers its costs, makes a profit and you come out smiling with lower stress levels?

Guaranteed! But at what cost…

It’s standard practice to have a guarantee for many products and services. For some in business it’s the thing which sets them apart from their competition, for others it’s a legal compliance issue which they prefer wasn’t there.
What does it cost your business and how should you handle it?
Being a service nut I like the way it can make your business stand out from the crowd, compliance or not… so handling guarantees becomes a major issue you solidly stand behind, giving every customer ‘peace of mind’ in knowing you will be there with them if ANY issue arises.
Over the period of a year or three it can be easy to look at the cost of supplying services to fulfill your guarantee obligations to keep your ‘customers happy and fulfill your legal obligations. In the intervening ‘learning phase’ it may be a case of  guessing how much guarantees might cost. Here are a few points you might consider in the process.
  • Is there a consistent percentage of sales which you can attribute to guarantees?
  • What is the time taken by staff in providing guarantees?
  • What is the cost of providing the staff to do these tasks?
  • Is this time significant enough to impact on other aspects of  your business… e.g. making profits from std sales.
  • How much will the cost eat into your profit margin?
  • What will you need to add to your operating costs to take into account this ‘cost of doing business’?
  • How will the cost variation affect your average dollar sale and will that still make your business competitive?
I’m sure there will be other questions to ask in the process as you explore guarantees and their impacts further. The main thing is to be very mindful that guarantees have a cost, learn to live with that and allow for it in your forward planning.

Step in early or wait for the problem to arise.

It’s a dilemma many Supervisors, Managers and Leaders face. You have a team who waiver from the path occasionally, do you let it go until it becomes a problem, or do you step in early and keep things on track.

I figure if you take a Leaders view you provide the guidelines so the team can follow the lead, therefore you don’t wait for a challenge to arise, you provide a great set of guidelines to ensure things stay on track. If things stray from the path, you then get to put on your ‘coaching hat’ and provide support to ensure the team are aware of the guidelines and assist them to explore how they might have ‘strayed from the path’.

This is one of the reasons I often suggest a great set of Values – Mission and Vision be in place as a foundation to always work from. It allows the Leader to have back up, to allow the team to explore if they are holding true to the values of the organisation.

I guess it becomes a case of ‘see something, do something’ before things become an issue. In a decent situation it can be more of a chat which takes place asking questions about how things are going, and what sorts of examples the team may have about how things are going and if they match to the values etc.

This can be a more powerful position to work from as it works more on the teams internal motivation and thought processes rather than having things imposed or pushed on them when challenges arise. It’s as if they have come up with the solution or drive to solve the challenge, rather than being told the answer.

The real trick to all of this is getting things to fit to the way people communicate – If people are not used to being asked questions relating to ‘values and beliefs’ then they might find it hard to respond, let alone act on the information. However the Leader who is a more flexible communicator will find ways to weave these into normal conversation and start the ball rolling, perhaps using examples of how things might fit in certain situations.

Be flexible in your approach, get in early and lead the team then tweak the details to suit, I’m sure you will find leadership can become a whole lot easier if you try this out.

29 Mar 2011

Online Education

Online education is a way to enhance students' knowledge in specific subject areas by giving them access to a variety of materials on the subject. It is growing very rapidly and online doctoral programs have even developed at leading research universities. It is accommodating in this manner because it allows the individual to work while being enrolled as a full-time student.

Also easy and flexible that allows you to maintain your professional and personal commitments while pursuing health high-quality education.

Online education is now available for almost every type of degree. Online education that can be relied upon is eLearners.com. Here, everything you expect you can earn.

9 Mar 2011

Winning the Business Competition

Any business has an equal chance to be successful. What needs to be understood is to start a business then the most important is the courage to fail, and how strong you are able to survive in it, even how fast you rise from your fall, such as the expression of Napoleon Bonaparte, "I never worry about what will I do to win pertaruangan, but I always knew exactly what I did when I lost the fight. "Here are some tips for doing business with the right and memenangakan competition:

A. Be The First. As with the first person in running a business will give you a greater chance of success compared to being a follower. Be the first to make you known in advance and considered a forerunner of your business. A category of products / services that really make your new single player in the category tersebur and not have to compete with other businesses. The market just needs to diedukasi about the benefits and features of products / services you offer if the product is indeed provide solutions for consumers. After that, just waiting for time to see your business like a snowball rolling success. Do I still remember when in doubt Honda (market acceptance) to get products to scooter? Yamahalah finally winning the competition and get a big advantage, for daring to speculate to be the first issue skutiknya product. And Honda was finally having to pay expensive 'doubts', with a new image that is a Yamaha motor scooter.

B. Be The Deferent. Competitive landscape of business today as peranga bloody. The competition is very hard, he will run over a player who can not compete. Therefore, you have to compete by providing production / services with excellence. Excellence is what distinguishes you with competitors. Products / Services you will be instantly known to consumers because of the difference. Avoid using price as a differentiating factor for your product with competitors. But look for other unique factors of product / service you.

C. Be The Best. It's not easy being the best in all areas. Find the one factor you can do so well that because of these factors, your business becomes better than most competitors. You simply become the best in one factor, no need ambition is to become the best in all factors. With one factor that is, make your business ogled by consumers and difficult for consumers reject an offer from you. Because of these factors will not get from other competitors.

Managing unstable income

Unstable incomes can mean that sometimes get is but a regular basis, sometimes small but often, or sometimes even great, but rarely. However, have no fixed income as a freelancer does not mean you can not have fun, right? Like having his own company, a freelancer sued clever open employment for herself, determining monthly salary and think about how to 'smoke billowed kitchen equipment company. " The key is financial management. There are strategies for the financial condition remains safe and in control. Here are tips how to manage irregular income of a freelancer:

1. Record Spending. Want easy, just use a notebook to write down how much money is spent every day. Want more organized, there was nothing wrong with using free computer software that allows you to calculate. When finished, try to check the details of shopping today. Sure, you can know what the actual expenditures can still be reduced and how much money left over that still exist. That way, you can avoid running out of money prematurely.

2. Separate Accounts. One for personal accounts and one savings untu. Save 30% for compulsory savings that abstinence is used and input into the savings. It was prepared for unexpected expenses, for example, while there is no project or a late payment. The rest enter into a personal account to pay bills, everyday expenses and spending.

3. Pay Bill In Early. If you have an obligation that must be repaid each month, such as insurance or credit cards, pay off immediately before you plan to spend a lot of things. Do not let bills pile up while the money has been depleted because many unused. Paying bills at the beginning allows you to know how big 'net wealth' that you have in the account. Use a personal account to pay it off.

4. Separate Basic Needs. Not all freelancers can work at home. So, counting dressed and ate a lot of transportation money should be spent every day, still needed. Accumulate this spending for a month. Store with a special envelope and take in accordance with the quota per day when I want to use. Let it safe to avoid running out of cost when the project was not completed.

5. Expand Project. For freelancers, the more projects the more fun. That is, the more revenue. But it must not accept the offer as well, taking into account the estimated amount of expenditures and revenues. If the 1-time payment of this project, valid for 2 months, you should think about whether the project is profitable or financial detriment. If there is no choice and this is the only income, you can push the budget revenues, expenditures exclude spending, and decrease the percentage of compulsory savings.

6. Insurance. In contrast to the facilities acquired by permanent employees, various allowances such as employees' social security or health insurance is not obtained by freelancers. Although the condition of the body in good shape, you should not ignore this. Because, the condition of one's body no one knows, right? Both have now suddenly deteriorate tonight? One of them by having insurance. Choose a trusted insurance companies, which are well known and has a good reputation.

7. Pension Fund. When you decide to work alone, then you need to set up retirement funds early. Take a long term investment you can enjoy in the old days.

Managing Family Financial

Practical Tips Family Financial Planning

1. Monthly billing. Collect all your quarterly bill, then add the whole, then for three to get the average monthly bill, such as telephone bills, school fees, insurance and so on.

2. Monthly Spending. Also Collect all your quarterly spending, then total and divide by three, to get an average total of your spending per month, like buying clothes, treat the family to eat in restaurants and so on.

3. Preliminary Evaluation. Evaluate your spending it. Look for opportunities to save money and cut spending items that are not necessary.

4. Preparation of Plan Budget. Plan your monthly budget and try to obey and begin to allocate funds such as savings deposits, certificates of deposit, pension insurance.

5. Actual Budget Evaluation. Search the revenue (income) and monthly expenses to evaluate how your plan is already running, then perfected to produce the desired result. Use financial software to obtain accurate results management and search 'behavioral mistakes' in your family's financial spending

1 Mar 2011

OKPAY new payment alternative

OKPAY Inc. is a rapidly growing offshore company incorporated in British Virgin Islands in 2009, its founders having worked tirelessly on this project since 2007. The company owners are business people with a vast practical experience in the field of electronic commerce, financial software development, product marketing and sales via the Internet. The origins of our expertise in e-currency and payment processing date back to the year 2000 at least.
OKPAY is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet.
What you can do with Okpay.com Account?
1.Flexible depositing and withdrawal options
You can easily exchange your real or electronic money for OKPAY and vice versa. Available convenient methods to deposit to and withdraw Bank Wire, E-currency, Certified Exchange Partners.Any unused funds can be withdrawn from an OKPAY account at any time by means of the tools used for depositing.
2.Instant and secure money transfers
With OKPAY you can make and receive payments without disclosing any extra personal financial information. OKPAY financial service enables users to make instant payments and execute money transfers securely over the Internet. Money transfers are instantaneous; all a member needs to know is the other member's e-mail address registered with their OKPAY account.
3.Easily exchange different e-currencies
Okpay provides users with an automated service of electronic currency exchange. This service is easy to use, secure, fast and efficient, has competitive rates and gives users a quick, easy and, most importantly, safe method to buy, sell and exchange their e-currency.

4.Receive business-related Internet payments
OKPAY.com can serve as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as a cheque or money order. OKPAY.com is an example of payment intermediary service that facilitates worldwide e-commerce. OKPAY.com performs payment processing for online vendors, auction sites and other commercial users, charging a very small service fee.
5.Make regular payments over the Internet
OKPAY customers can automatically make repetitive payments by setting up a recurring operation in their OK PAY account interface. You can make scheduled payments at your own convenience: every day, week, month, etc.
6.Get rid of routine, easily arrange multiple payments
Mass Payment allows anyone with an OK PAY account to make multiple payments instantly, thus saving time, money and the hassle of having to individually send funds to every recipient. Mass Payment can be used for such things as: affiliate commissions, customer rebates, pay-to-surf rewards, employee benefits, survey incentives, etc.
7.Get monthly interest on electronic funds
If you want to make the most of your OKPAY balance and get a regular income from the interest you earn on it, then a special savings account is for you. Just use the appropriate links in your OKPAY profile to open an additional savings account. Please note that you can withdraw money from a savings account whenever you want.
8. Make payment for goods and services in Internet shops
Purchase products or services on the Internet. With OKPAY, shopping in virtual online stores is really simple, as is purchasing products or services in frequented shopping centers.

9. Buy/sell EUR, USD, GBP and other currencies online
OKPAY provides a complete range of foreign exchange options and offerings. Perform real-time currency conversions and exchange calculations inside your account. When you place an order in your account, you will be given the full details of the transaction, i.e. exchange rate, commission, volumes and total in the default currency of your account. The exchange rates are mid-market rates from trusted sources; they are updated at least once a day.
10.  Easy, customized Shop Systems integration
Add OKPAY as a payment option on your web site! The OKPAY payment solution is a direct payment gateway which allows you to accept various types of e-money payments in your online store in addition to conventional money movement by instant bank transfers.
11. Make money by referring customers to OKPAY
OKPAY features an excellent two-level referral system.
You - any user, whether corporate or individual, having an OKPAY account.  
1st Level Referral: a user who was invited to OKPAY by you directly.  
2nd Level Referral:  a user who was invited to OKPAY by your first-level referral.

* how to register OKPAY




22 Feb 2011

3 Kick Reduce Credit Card Debt

In the period in which everyone can easily make a credit card as now, consumers are increasingly free to buy consumer goods without realizing the high interest credit card. As a result, many consumers are caught in credit card debt. If you fall into this group, then you need to apply the following tactics to avoid telling you not to harassed by debt collectors.

1. Prioritize Largest Flower
Credit card bill will bloom and the flowers will bloom again. That's why, you must pay your bill in full. If not enough funds, prioritize to pay credit card bills from the bank that applies the highest interest, especially if you have credit card debt of more than one. For example, you owe 2 million dollars in bank A that applying interest at 10 percent and 1 million dollars in bank B, which charge interest of 8 percent. Repayment of debt means that you must prioritize the debts from bank A.

2. Bring Claims in One Account
If you owe credit card debt in several banks, move these bills in one of the banks that charge interest rates the lowest. You can also report on the credit card issuing bank that you want to move the credit card account due to high competition among banks that they usually dare to offer a lower interest rate.

3. Use for Durable Goods
Basically there is nothing wrong with the presence of credit cards as long as used appropriately and discipline pay. Use a credit card to pay for goods that provide more value even though you have paid off payment. For example, for education or buying a computer. Avoid swipe a credit card to pay for concert tickets, vacation expenses, or eat in restaurants.

What needs to be understood, credit cards are a way to borrow money from banks for 25-30 days. Take advantage of this time to pay credit card bills so that you are safe from the flower.

4 Things to Do Before Investing

When you probably are planning to manage your funds for investment through a variety of containers such as entry into the stock market or you want to invest for retirement or college, not a bad idea. Moreover, investing in a variety of different groups of stocks or stock mutual funds are the best way to build long-term nest egg.

For it before you leap, check out the steps that must be done in the following list:

Save a little emergency cash
Stocks are good long-term option, but the stock is too difficult to predict if you need cash suddenly. If your car needs a new clutch or pump water heater when the stock market falter, you will need to sell your shares at a basic level of sales - not a good investment strategy.

Detailed rules on this vary, but 30 percent of the annual life needs is a good target for emergency cash. Remember: You do not need to put your money before you start investing. Wake up half the budget, then add more through automatic deductions from your paycheck or your checking accounts.

Start with half in the form of liquid and half in the form of investments, like money market funds or savings accounts. Then go after something that gives more revenue, such as a short-term securities fund.

Plan to pay off debts worth a high note, we do not say pay off your credit card. If you wait until every consumer debt paid off before you start investing, you will lose precious time, and time is your ally when building a nest egg-laying.

In fact, you should begin to build a detailed plan to pay off debt and cut all credit cards and leave one fruit (and put the credit card in a desk drawer). When you have walked under this plan for several months (and you have to do other things on our list this), it's time to start investing.

Make sure that you are in a state of satisfactory insurance you can have the best portfolio in the world that is filled with mutual funds ranking up and it will be in vain if the disaster hit and you do not have insurance.

The following are the types of insurance you should have:

Long-term paralysis
Take advantage of the plans provided by your company. If your company does not offer these plans, ask a trusted agent and get the offers on the site. It can even be more important than life insurance, because if you experience paralysis, revenue declines (or disappearing) and the bills keep coming. This insurance is expensive, so do not choose too many extras.

Life insurance
If your family depends on your income to sustain the necessities of life, you need life insurance. Check the options in the workplace and compare these choices with what you can get yourself. Flat-term insurance (which premiums are locked for a specified period) is relatively inexpensive, and you can get bargains and applications on the website.

Insurance of home ownership or rental housing is not expensive, and this is a vital part of your safety net.

Vehicle insurance
Once again, look for the best deals but do not reduce the budget for dependents. Usually you'll want a mortgage $ 100,000 per person and $ 300,000 per accident, as a minimum figure.

Health insurance
If you do not have dependents in the workplace, you will need to get your own policy, which can be expensive. Consider choosing a policy berpremi low and high-deductible and encourage your emergency cash to fund your own expenses.

Learn your options
If your company offers an equation for a pension plan, it should be your choice. Nothing beats free money. If there is no equality, look for investments tax postponement.

Although you do not get a tax deduction on the money you contribute, revenues could be distributed to you tax free in retirement. Plus, you can withdraw your original contributions at any time tax free. How do you choose a mutual fund than 11,000 bids? Choose from a firm no-load mutual funds are famous.

With some emergency cash saved, a debt reduction plan, an insurance safety net is secure and your homework is finished, you're ready to go into the stock market. You will be thankful that you do so.

Consider your plan carefully, then decide immediately to start investing. Success for you!

Paying yourself

  • If you work for a year, but your savings are not much different from the previous year, then you do not pay yourself.
  • You work for telephone companies, water companies, supermarkets, dairy factories, and other companies that the production of consumption goods your midst today.
  • If you get a paycheck, say, U.S. $ 750.00 per month.
  • Then you have to specify how you would mengaji yourself.
  • For example, U.S. $ 150.00?
  • Then you have to live with the money of U.S. $ 600.00 and can not use U.S. $ 150.00 for any reason.
  • The more you consistently set aside U.S. $ 150.00 per month, and the more persistent you pay yourself, then the path to wealth is open for you.
  • So the important thing here is, before you start paying your bills, your expenses, you first have to pay yourself!

Salary Not Out Quickly

Pretending to be a 'lot of money' is a dream for everyone. With everything money can you earn, home, cars, jewelry, and so forth. Of course, to get a lot of money we have to work hard. And of course you do not want the income you earn from hard work was gone just like that right?

Now for your income is not in vain and you can be the 'deep pockets', deh try the following manner:

Every time out to receive a salary, do not immediately go to the shopping center such as Mal. Go home and make a list of spending your needs, such as household goods, children's education, health, etc.. Then note each time you spend money. Thus you will know where all the 'running' your money.

Try every time to buy household appliances, choose a good quality but with price not too expensive. So, you do not need very often to pay for 'service'.

Shopping everyday needs as well as to supply a month might be more you save expenses. Because buying in large quantities fall will be cheaper than buying retail. Anyway you do not need to go back and forth to buy because it ran out of sugar, milk, or coffee. So this will save the cost of transport expenditure.

Do not allocate your money for things that are fun. Seberapun small your salary, get used to always save. If you can each month set aside 10% of your salary into savings. Choose a reputable bank with a sizable interest.

Pick a cheap restaurant, every time you eat lunch. Do not eat at expensive restaurants that will suck up the contents of your pocket. If I need to bring their food from home. In addition to efficient hygiene also right?

Do not just save money! of salary. Every time you get a bonus, THR, or incentives, set aside for savings, although slightly. Besides the savings, if possible invest your money into stocks, bonds or deposit amount that you set aside savings for long-term.

Following the gathering, held office or home environment can also you choose as an alternative to 'save' you money. If you are still confused 'set aside' your income that is not a lot, ask for help from other people that are reliable and you believe in managing money.

By doing so, do not be afraid to be 'stingy'. After all, you are not stingy, but sparingly. Because who else will save the money you earn with difficulty, if not your own? Moreover, this will be very beneficial to your life later.

Great way to reach financial independence

Becoming a millionaire was not as difficult as imagined in our minds. At least this opinion topnotch entrepreuner Adam Khoo from Singapore in his book Secrets of Self-Made Millioners.According to Khoo, before becoming a millionaire, you must be prepared. That is, ready to face obstacles and challenges, as well as on the path to achieving that success.

No need to pass a Harvard or have a big capital to become one of the lucky ones. The key is to maintain enough assets and intellectual mind.In the 364 page thick book, Khoo said the key in achieving the goal of becoming a millionaire is to create, manage, multiply, and enjoy your money.

The first step which will be published are seven keys to create wealth that is to adopt the millionaire mind, determine financial targets, creating a financial plan, increase revenue, manage costs and reduce expenses, increase wealth, and the latter is to protect property.Prior to becoming a millionaire, a millionaire mentality needed as well as have big expectations, proactive, 100% responsibility, not easily satisfied, doing what he loved, loyal, committed 100%, turning failure into success, and respect and love your money.If both measures have been passed already almost half way means that you pass through. The next step is to manage cash flow is determined from the management of assets you have. This time, Khoo divide the assets into two parts, namely a positive cash flow assets such as investment in shares, property and the negative interest rate car loans, home loans.

Both these assets should be combined and managed properly in order to generate positive cash flows for the financial and no financial burden on you. The next step to become a millionaire with a short street is a risk taker, as well as one dare to invest in investment instruments, such as shares, property, and other businesses. The key, you must recognize that investment and want to learn how to achieve success with the investment you have.

The final step is an important step in achieving goals as a millionaire is to design a map to a millionaire. A journey, to wherever it is, it needs a map so as not to get lost in travel. This map will take you to the final goal to success as a millionaire.In making even this success road map, it may take five key or the right strategy to apply. The map must be specific and measurable, robust and can challenge you, controlled by the power of reason, strategies or action plans, as well as the time limit (deadline). If you're ready to undergo all of them, you're ready to become a millionaire.

This book describes the specific path to success is easily achieved if we are consistent and committed to its final destination. Because everything will indeed be more easily achieved if there is a great earnestness.From his presentation is quite clear, this book fits into the handle for entrepreneurs, managers, professionals, executives, and people who dream to achieve financial freedom.