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sandra martini tagged articles (0-50 of 177)

  • Are You Special or Just Another...? - When most of us get into business, we look around at what everyone else in our industry is doing. If we're a bookkeeper, we look around at other bookkeepers. If we're a life coach, we look around at other life coaches. If we're a financial planner, we look around at other financial planners.
  • 3 Reasons Your Prospects Aren't Buying From You - You've worked for months to create the perfect ebook. It includes the answer to every possible question your audience could have. You've created a sales page. You even offered a discount and threw in a ton of bonuses. So why aren't they buying?
  • Are You Preventing Sales and Turning Away Customers? - A few days ago, my assistant was looking into toll free number services. After researching the websites of two companies, she called in frustration: - The websites were a jumble of confusing facts and figures. - When she called the companies, she got different answers from different people. I bet you've had this same experience with at least one company. Has anyone had this experience with you? In their struggle to get clients and customers quickly, many self-employed business owners make the same mistakes again and again and wonder why no one's calling. Here's a look at just a few of them: 1. Confusing marketing with sales.
  • What business are you REALLY in? - Many businesses spend thousands of dollars branding everything they do to create a familiarity with their prospects and customers and yet, sadly, miss the boat completely when it comes to their service. In the last week, I experienced each of the following: 1. A credit card company sent a replacement card -- two months after the original expired. 2. I have an advertisement in a print newsletter under a promotion. I inquired how much it would cost per month to continue the ad. Three emails and two weeks later, I got a response. 3.
  • "Where's the cash? 7 SIMPLE and PROVEN steps you can easily take right now to get paid faster" - It's that time again. You send out invoices and sit and wait, and wait, and wait for your clients to pay you. Sometimes it's a matter of cash flow on their end, sometimes they are just too busy and forget and other times it's something little that they are unsure of, but haven't found the time to contact you. * Put terms on your invoices.
  • Do You Know YOUR *Why* For Publishing An Ezine? - I received the following question yesterday: "How do I get started publishing and marketing my ezine?" While the question is broad enough to warrant its own seminar, let's discuss the "How do I get started publishing?" question this week and the "marketing" of it next week. Before you start publishing an ezine or e-newsletter, you want to know your reason "why". WHY are you going to publish an ezine/e-newsletter?
  • Do You Suffer From Marketing Overwhelm? - It's Monday and you get an email indicating that writing an ezine is THE way to get new clients. You drop everything and start working on an email newsletter. It's Tuesday and your friend calls and says that he heard the best way to get publicity is pay-per-click.
  • 7 Steps to Writing Great Articles - As a business owner, do you find yourself needing to write more and more? You've probably heard that you should be writing articles to promote your business (and it is a great, no cost way to promote!), but may be leery of starting. Here are 7 tips to get you writing effective articles. 1. Select a good topic. There's no sense writing an article if no one wants to read it.
  • How to Develop a Professional Image - In this day of technology and the dreaded recordings, insuring that you maintain a professional image is crucial to business success. How you come across on the phone, through your website, on a plane or at a networking event directly impacts how others (read "potential clients") perceive you and your business. Especially if you ARE your business. Here are a few tips for maintaining a professional image in all that you do: 1. Dress for success and act the part. If you need to attend an event or may otherwise come into contact with potential clients, you should dress for success. This does not mean you need to wear a suit, but you should be well-groomed and your clothes should fit you properly.

  • Autoresponders: What are they and how to use them - Many business owners are confused about what exactly an autoresponder is. . .and what it isn't. An autoresponder is a piece of software -- either standalone or as part of something larger like a shopping cart -- which AUTOMATICALLY sends an email, or a sequence of emails when triggered.
  • The 3 Biggest Pricing Mistakes and How To Avoid Them - I was recently on a forum where several "time for money" service professionals and business owners were discussing their "rates". I immediately noticed that these smart, savvy business owners were falling into some pricing myth traps. Here are the three biggest pricing mistakes that I see being made by "time for money" small business owners: 1. Matching/Undercutting. Many small business owners look around at what everyone else is doing and they do the same thing -- or worse, they lower their rate thinking it makes them more appealing to prospective clients.
  • 3 Processes to Put Your Business on Automatic Pilot - I often talk about implementing systems in your business to keep everything running smoothly. Lots of people talk about systems and processes, but very few actually explain what that means. Last week, I was *out* of the office for 5-6 days recovering from surgery. During that time, systems which I instituted months ago kept things running so smoothly that most of my team didn't know about the surgery until after I was home from the hospital (where I spent 3 days). Here's an example of something you can, and should, institute in your own business -- no matter your industry: 1. Place a buffer between you and prospective clients. Create a process whereby prospective clients do not speak with you until they've spoken with someone else on your team.
  • Top 5 Tools For Insuring Your Marketing Plan Attracts Clients - In order to insure that your pipeline doesn't dry up as existing clients take vacations or move on, you want to overfill your marketing funnel in order to create a waiting list of people who want to work with you.
  • 4 Ways to Build Your Ezine List Without Spending a Dime - There are thousands of ways to build your ezine, subscriber, mailing list. . .some expensive and many not. Today I want to cover the Top 4 ways I built my list. Each of the following items can be done without spending a dime. 1. Public Speaking Public speaking is the quickest and easiest way for you to quickly build a list of raving fans. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce or BNI chapter (or any other organization which makes sense for your industry) and offer to give a 30 minute talk on your industry. This is NOT a sales pitch! It's an educational talk - your only goal is to educate. During your speech, hold a drawing for a f'ree gift (local gift certificate, an hour of your time, etc.) and collect names for your list (just remember to tell them that "everyone wins" a subscription to your newsletter). 2.
  • How To Handle Your Newsletter Unsubscribes - In the beginning, when you're writing your newsletter and repurposing your articles in order to continuously grow your list, things are great. You go to bed, wake up and find you have new ezine subscribers. It's a wonderful feeling (almost as good as waking up to find you've sold some products). Then comes the day when you put your heart and soul into your newsletter article, hit SEND and get a notice indicating that someone's unsubscribed. The most common question I hear from my clients is "What did I do wrong?" immediately followed by "Maybe I should stop publishing my newsletter since no one likes it.
  • Are You Client Friendly? - There was a teleseminar I was interested in attending last week (promoted in a colleague's e-newsletter) and so I dutifully clicked the "register here" link. That link took me to another web page (after 3 tries), which gave me another description of the same teleseminar and asked me to "register here". I clicked that second link and it brought me to yet a third page which asked me to, you guessed it, "click here to register". Enough is enough! Even though the teleseminar is something I'm interested in and, as an added benefit, it's f'ree, it's just not worth the hassle of TRYING to sign up. I gave up at the third registration link.
  • What have you done? - Do you remember the day you worked for a company -- large or small, it doesn't matter -- and dreamed of owning your own business? "I will be *the boss*", you thought. "I will come and go as I please and make my own hours", you thought.
  • Article Marketing Repurposing Strategy - Creating Information Products - We all know the importance of keeping in touch with our ideal clients and prospects via frequent AND informative content. But that doesn't mean your articles, a.k.a. "informative content", should be relegated to your hard drive forevermore. Article Marketing Strategy: Creating Information Products When you're getting ready to create your first information product or, if you're feeling a little stuck, I recommend you start with something simple. . . mini-guides! Take one of your most popular articles and create a step-by-step mini-guide around it where you teach your ideal clients something that they've already expressed an interest in learning. A mini-guide can be as short as 10 pages - size isn't important here, quality of information is.
  • 7 Simple Ways to Consistently Build Your Ezine List - One of the most popular questions I'm asked is "HOW do I build my ezine list?" or "How do I get more people to sign up for my ezine list?" There is NO magic pill to building your ezine list! Please read the above sentence again.
  • Giving Back - Have you ever noticed that people get incredibly happy whenever you unexpectedly think of them or do something for them? It doesn't matter if it's related to your business or personal life. Take Oprah Winfrey for example.
  • Article Marketing Repurposing Strategy -- and it's NOT posting articles online - Repurposing - the art of doing something once and using it in other ways - is one of the most effective and efficient systems you can create within your business. Before your eyes glaze over with the thought that this is yet another article telling you to market your newsletter articles online, read on.
  • Does Your Elevator Speech Pass the Goldfish Test? - Hello! How are you? So what do you do? The clock has started. I've just met you and within those first several seconds have formed an opinion of your success, your income, your education, etc. Studies show that the average American has a nine second attention span (about the same as a goldfish) and, in reality, doesn't care what you do or who you are. It's not that we're horrible people, we just don't have the time.
  • 7 Tips to Writing Great Articles Which Showcase Your Expertise - As a business owner, do you find yourself needing to write more and more? You've probably heard that you should be writing articles to promote your business (and it is a great, no cost way to showcase your expertise), but may be leery of starting. Here are 7 tips to get you writing effective articles. 1. Select a good topic. There's no sense writing an article if no one wants to read it. Before you launch into an article, think about your target market and what their wants and needs are - what keeps them awake at 3am? If you're not sure, go hang out in some forums and see what they are discussing.
  • What EXACTLY are "processes and systems"? - Several years ago, I purchased a "system" geared towards getting new clients -- it was very comprehensive and well-written. Until I got to the last chapter on setting up processes and systems for marketing.
  • Marketing Overwhelm: A Curable Disease - It's Monday and you get an email indicating that writing an ezine is THE way to get new clients. You drop everything and start working on an email newsletter. It's Tuesday and your friend calls and says that he heard the best way to get publicity is pay-per-click. You drop everything and sign up for a Google Adwords account. It's Wednesday and you heard that someone made a million dollars selling info products. Everything else waits while you work on your first million dollar product. I once had a client who would tell me he figured out how to "fix" his business and what he needed to do to succeed. Unfortunately, he did this DAILY. Each day he had a new marketing strategy that he would drop everything else to implement. It was exhausting as well as counterproductive - for both of us. Does this sound familiar?
  • The Most Common Client Objections and How to Deal With Them - "A desire can overcome all objections and obstacles." -- Anonymous Think about the above quote for a second. When you want, I mean REALLY want something, you can almost always rationalize getting it. You find a way to overcome that nagging little voice whose job it is to object and throw up obstacles. I want you to view objections as a good thing. Yes, seriously! If your prospects have objections, it means they are considering hiring you or purchasing your product.
  • Which is Better: Direct Mail, Teleseminars or Webinars? - With every new technology, comes groups of users who immediately want to dispense with the old.
  • RSS and Aggregators: So Easy A Caveman Could Use Them - According to Wikipedia, "RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts. Consumers of RSS content use special browsers called "aggregators" to watch for new content in dozens or even hundreds of web feeds. The initials "RSS" are variously used to refer to the following standards: ~ Really Simple Syndication ~ Rich Site Summary ~ RDF Site Summary" RSS allows publishers such as myself to automatically syndicate updates to my website and blog by publishing a feed link (see "Subscribe to My Website" section in the margin of my site).
  • Are you a "Dynamic Dan", "Opportunistic Oliver" or "Scared Susie"? - The book "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard is a 98-page look at the various ways that we react to change. In the book, there are two mice and two mice-size humans and we see how each reacts when their cheese has been moved -- not just moved, but no longer in sight. We all react differently to change: - Some readily adapt - Some ignore it and hope that life will return to the status quo - Others actively seek it out As a person, your success, or failure, depends in part on how well you adapt to change. Do you run screaming like a banshee towards it, ready to conquer?
  • MySpace -- 5 Reasons It's Not Just for Teenagers Anymore - It was not so long ago when I was watching my nephews eagerly upload their MySpace pictures and create their profiles. All the rave with teenagers and music bands, MySpace has become so much more! It is now the mecca of small business owners and networkers the world over! MySpace, like Ryze.com and others,allows you to create a profile, share some pictures and add a bit about your interests. You can even post to your own blog and upload music for "your sound" when people click on your home page. Now I know some of you are already shaking your head "no" because you've heard some of the negative publicity surrounding MySpace, or you think it's just for fun.
  • Where are You in the Hierarchy? - There is what I call a "Hierarchy of Connection" - the higher the level of your connection, the more credibility you have and the more likely prospects are to turn into clients and refer others to you - think of this as the "know, like and trust" factor you hear so much about. Each experience of you creates a different level of connection as described below: 1. NO Name Recognition -- People have never heard of you/have no idea who you are or what results you provide. 2. Vague Recollection -- People hear your name and have a vague recollection of having heard it somewhere before, but are fuzzy about the details. 3. Recognition -- People recognize your name and have either heard or read about you at some point.
  • How Different Personalities Deal With Change - The book "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard is a 98-page look at the various ways that we react to change.
  • The Top 5 Ways To Build A Quality Prospect List - Every time you turn around these days, people are telling you that you need to have "a big list". Is this true? "Yes. . .and no." Truth is, you must have a list of qualified prospects who relate to you AND who want to purchase the products and services you offer. Let's break that down. *"qualified prospects" = Individuals in your target market who look forward to hearing from you and for whom you provide valuable information. If you are sending bookkeeping tips to gardeners, for example, they are likely to unsubscribe as the information is not valuable *to them*. *"who relate to you" = You want to build a relationship through your writing so your readers come to know, like and trust you.
  • 4 Keys to Manifesting Your Reality - "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." -- Napoleon Hill People generally fail at achieving their goals and completing their projects for one of three reasons: poor systems, not clearly defining their goal/project or self sabotage (conscious or unconscious).
  • Are You A Good Client? - You often see people (including me) writing about customer service, successful vendor practices and the like, very rarely, however, do you see someone ask you to review your own actions and determine if you are a good client for someone else. And that's what today's article is about -- if you dare.
  • What Do You Do When It All Goes Wrong? - You know the type of week. * Your book is back from the printer, you have some newspaper interviews lined up, your attending a meeting with your target audience. . .you are entering one of the biggest publicity weeks of your business and your website crashes (sound familiar?).
  • Website Not Performing As It Should? Ask These 7 Questions To Find Out Why - In preparing to design and write my new website, I visited hundreds of other sites to get a feel for what I did/did not want. For example, "squeeze pages" are all the rage these days. You know, those pages which require you to enter your name and email just to get a peek at the actual website (or you can check the always-too-tiny "enter site" button to skip the squeeze page).
  • Time and Productivity Management -- Sandy Style - There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books on time and productivity management and most of them appear to have been written by dedicated individuals who work in a vacuum -- they certainly aren't entrepreneurs building businesses from home offices with all the distractions that environment can bring. When I first started my business, I quickly realized that it was much easier for me to manage my time while in the corporate world than in the "spare bedroom" world. In corporate, I would close my door or block access to my cubicle with a chair and a note requesting I not be disturbed when needed;
  • How to Use Email as a Marketing Strategy - Email. We use it for everything from chatting with our friends and family to corresponding with clients and sending business inquiries to helping others in online discussion forums. It's arguably become *the* mode of modern-day communication - more so than the telephone, certainly more so than letter writing. There's a limited amount of real estate in every email that you send. How you use it determines, in part, how effective your emails are and how well you are marketing yourself. Given how often emails are forwarded around, a well-crafted email signature can get you calls/emails from prospects you never knew even existed, new ezine subscribers and, in the best case, a new client - this is a great return on free marketing. 1. Keep it *plain*.
  • How to Avoid 97% of What Causes All Failures - I want you to consider two typical scenarios that could occur in any business: A. You're in your office making up a new client folder for a client who doesn't yet exist. You are thinking about how you'll work together and the phone rings. It's a prospect who's interested in working with you. B.
  • 7 Tried and True Ways to Get More Subscribers - You've made the decision to start your own ezine or newsletter. You've formatted your newsletter, written an article or tip or two and sent it to your parents, siblings and friends. Great! Now what? The question I'm asked most from new ezine/newsletter publishers is how to get more subscribers on their list. Here are 7 simple ways for you to grow your ezine list - - with integrity and authenticity! 1. Make it easy. It's amazing to me how many people have only one sign-up spot on their website or don't include an invitation to sign up for their newsletter in their email signature.
  • Is Your Business in a Slump? - Your marketing materials should communicate that your business stands out and is *special*. You are not another of those "dime a dozen" small businesses. You offer extraordinary customer service.
  • 5 Success Indicators to Knowing If You Have a Hobby or a Business - I'd like you to take a step back, look at your business as an outsider would and ask the question "Is this a hobby or a business?
  • 5 Simple and Easy Ways to Use Facebook to Market Your Business - Facebook is another in a long list of social networking sites. There's MySpace, LinkedIn, Ryze, etc. Certainly too many to join and keep up with AND run your business at the same time. So what's a busy entrepreneur to do? I spent some time playing around on Facebook this weekend and wanted to share some of high impact, low effort ways you can easily market your business using it -- without a lot of time or effort: 1. Include your website/blog link on your Facebook profile page. By including links to your website and blog, you invite anyone who visits your page to quickly and easily visit your website, opt-in page, blog, etc.
  • 4 Unconventional Ways to Market Your Ezine - There are hundreds of ways to market your ezine. Some are good, some are expensive and many are both.
  • 5 Strategies To Getting Your Money's Worth At Seminars & Workshops - You open your email to find a notice about an upcoming seminar or workshop on a topic you desperately want to learn more about. Later that day, you get the mail and there's a postcard inviting you to the same workshop. "Should I go?" you think. "It's expensive, I'll have to pay for airfare and hotel, but I'll learn *so much* and will really be able to propel my business forward," you say to yourself. After much wrangling between those two guys that sit on each of your shoulders, you decide to go for it. You tell your clients you'll be gone, you buy the plane tickets, book the hotel, pay the workshop fee and you're excited! The day finally arrives. You can hardly wait. You get a seat and wait for things to start.
  • Online Success Simplified: 5 Must-Have Tools for a 6-Figure and Beyond Business - In building and growing an online business, or one with a strong online component, there are several must-have tools which will allow you to not only have passive revenue, but to enjoy multiple streams of it.
  • 5 Strategies for Getting Clients NOW - If you’re currently looking for new clients, pick one of the these strategies to do EACH DAY of the coming week – starting tomorrow. Are you ready to attract the clients you deserve? The problem? There are actually two: 1. She’s not *consistently* marketing to get new clients (filling her funnel, pipeline, pyramid) and 2. She suffers from distraction (yes. . .it is like a disease).
  • 5 Must-Haves for Your Business Retreat - Do you spend so much time working in your business that you never work on your business? The corporate world knows the value of taking time out for a step back, taking time to assess what is going right, what is going wrong and what just plain isn't going anywhere.
  • 9 "Low Cost/No Cost" Marketing Tips & Techniques - Do you need to get more clients? Are you trying to get your first client? Is your marketing budget equivalent to the cost of a Happy Meal? The following tips and techniques are not hidden secrets by any means, but they are some of the most overlooked ways to market a small business today. 1. Know your target audience. As silly as it sounds, many small business owners kick off a marketing campaign without regard to whom they want to target. If you send out a coupon for NASCAR tickets to the first 1,000 people in the phone book, some will undoubtedly be thrilled and will do what's necessary to earn the tickets (akin to dropping 1,000 mailers from an airplane -- some will hit the target).

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