Posts Tagged ‘sales’
How to Become a Real Estate Agent
If you’re wondering how to become a real estate agent, the basic process is fairly simple, although it does vary a lot from state to state.. You will need to take classes, pass exams, earn a real estate license, find a broker to work for, then find sellers or buyers as clients.
To successfully practice as a real estate agent in this competitive business can be challenging. You’ll have to stay current on legal changes, understand the real estate contracts and be technologically aware. If you are determined, the payout can be huge.
Here are the basics of what you need to know about becoming a real estate agent.
1) Real Estate Agent Licensing Requirements The Licensing requirements are different for each state. In general, you will have to:
-Meet an age requirement
-Pass a background check
-Complete approved real estate courses from a state-approved school
-Pass a state exam
-Complete an application form
-Submit various fees
Agents just earning their license work for a real estate broker. Most new agents sign up with one of the big company brokerages. If you decide at some point to work for yourself, you will need to earn a broker license. Note that the most successful agents, even those working for a broker, treat the real estate profession as their own business, not just a job. This is one of the secrets to success in this field.
2) A Day in the Life of a Real Estate Agent A real estate agent’s primary job function is to help clients in the (complex) process of buying and selling real estate.
The list of duties includes but is not limited to:
-Interview buyers to determine what kinds of properties they are looking for.
-Submit buyers’ purchase offers to sellers.
-Work with lenders, escrow officers, home inspectors, and pest control operators to make sure that transactions close on time.
-Prepare documents such as listing and purchase agreements.
-Be the intermediary in negotiations between buyers and sellers.
-Determine a property’s market value by comparing the property with similar properties that have recently sold.
-Schedule appointments to show homes to potential buyers.
-Find properties that are consistent with buyers’ needs and available finances.
-There is so much variety that a real estate agent is usually never bored.
3) What is a REALTOR®? Many people are confused about the difference between a real estate agent and a REALTOR®.
A real estate agent becomes a REALTOR® when he or she pays an annual fee to the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its Code of Ethics. The agent generally joins through the local board or association, at the city level. Membership in the REALTORS® is optional, but highly recommended.
4) How much can you earn? Real estate agents are generally paid on commission. This commission is a percentage of the sales price. The seller will generally pay 4-6% of the sales price as the fee for having a professional sell their property. That will often be split equally between the seller’s broker and broker who brings the buyer to the table.
As an example, if the fee for a $300,000 property is 6%, the buyer’s broker will be paid 3% or $9000 and the seller’s broker will also be paid 3% or $9000. The agent is paid directly by the employing broker, using their agreed-upon commission split. This is often 50-50 for beginning agents, so in that case the agent in our example would receive $4500.
Visit Real Estate Career Info for requirements for obtaining a real estate license in your state.
This article may be reprinted if proper credit is given and all links left intact.
Copyright©2005 Real-Estate-Career-Info.com
Andre McFayden, Ph.D. is a Real Estate Broker and contributor to real-estate-career-info.com
Get a Raise: How To Ask Your Boss For More Money
How many people do you know who think they deserve a pay rise, but are too scared to ask? You might even be one of those people! Why is it we are afraid to ask for what we believe we are worth? It’s time to stop worrying and start asking, but before you charge into your boss’s office give yourself the best chance of success with these helpful tips?then book that meeting with the boss.
Do an audit. Make a huge list of all your achievements in your current role. Think about where you add value to your organisation and how you have grown the business. List both demonstrable results such as statistics, sales figures, client testimonials and reports as well as those things that can be a little more difficult to quantify, such as improving staff morale.
Know what you’re worth. Find out what similar jobs to yours are paying in the market. Look at the same industry and other industries to determine what your market value is and what type of additional package benefits are on offer for similar roles.
Create your ideal package. Make a list of what you would like to receive in salary, car allowance, employee benefits, superannuation and time off. Look at the total dollar value of the package ? don’t focus only on the individual components.
Consider the organisational situation. Be aware of how the organisation is performing before you approach your manager. If times are tough, your proposal is less likely to be considered but if the company is performing well your manager might be more open to your request.
Book a time. Make an appointment with your manager and let him or her know that the agenda will be your remuneration package. Try to schedule this appointment for early in the day so your manager is not distracted by competing priorities and you are not spending a nervous day waiting for the appointment time.
Practice. Go over your presentation in your mind and perhaps even with a friend or colleague. Know what it is you want to say and why you believe you deserve this raise.
Objection! List all of your manager’s potential objections and consider how you would respond to them.
Be calm and positive. Take a few deep breaths before the meeting and remind yourself of why you deserve this raise and the positive impact it will have on your life. Don’t approach your manager timidly or they won’t believe you are worth the raise. Believe in yourself and your achievements.
Be aware of body language. Make sure you sit forward in your chair, your shoulders are straight, sit forward in your chair and make eye contact and smile. Try to appear relaxed and comfortable not nervous and fidgety.
Build your case. Before you launch into your presentation about what you want and why you deserve a raise, ask your manager these questions:
How do you feel I have been performing over the past few months?
Do you agree I have added value/sales/benefits to this organisation?
Are you happy with my performance to date?
Your manager’s responses to these questions will allow you to understand what his or her opinion of your performance is and help you to position your request in light of their responses.
Be assertive. Use positive assertive, not aggressive, language when you are making your case for why you deserve this increase; don’t moan or complain. Talk about the benefits to the company and to you.
Don’t blink, don’t look away. When you do tell your manager the total package figure you would like to receive, don’t blink and don’t look away. Hold their gaze and remain calm.
Allow your manager to respond. Remember, you’ve been thinking about this and putting together your proposal for some time ? this is the first your manager has heard about it, give him or her time to respond and process your request. Don’t talk while they are responding, let them talk through their thoughts and issues without interruption. Allow yourself to sit in silence if required. Don’t try to fill any silence with further explanation or justification.
Be flexible. If appropriate, let your manager know that you are prepared to be flexible in how the raise is provided to you perhaps is can be phased in, include a bonus or one-off payment or involve changing the structure of your current package.
Agree on a response timeframe. If your manger can’t give you an answer immediately, agree on a timeframe within which he or she will come back to you with an answer. Around one-week should be an appropriate amount of time.
Neen is a Global Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy ? and where they focus their attention ? Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more at http://neenjames.com/
Who Says the Customer is Always Right?
We all know the old adage, “The Customer is Always Right.” If you are an online business owner or offline for that matter, you are on both sides of the subject almost everyday.
Before I started my online business, I was just on one side… the customer. I whole-heartedly believed in the above adage and never questioned it at all. In fact, I would get rather perturbed at ANY business owner, manager, or supervisor that would disagree with any complaint I had.
When I started my own online business back in 1997, I slowly began to learn the “other side.”
My business products are all downloadable. If your business includes downloaded material, you know where I’m going with this one. I get NUMEROUS complaints EVERYDAY about usernames and passwords not working, corrupt downloads, and the big one… “I can’t open the download.” Now I always reply in a very helpful gesture, but my first question is always, “Are you entering the username and password exactly as shown?” This seems to be one of the “biggies” with newbies. They do not understand “case-sensitive” — heck — they don’t even know what that means!
But it doesn’t matter HOW simple I make the instructions and overall download process, I STILL get these everyday. I am accused of being a “scammer” at least 4 – 5 times a week… and that’s on a GOOD week! 
)
The whole point of the above example is NOT that customers are wrong — that’s not the problem at all. Many of them are very new to the internet and sadly, they do not read through the directions most of the time. I have found that I basically have to put myself back into the “newbie” frame of mind — as hard as that is to do! I don’t remember NOT knowing how to download, enter case-sensitive passwords, etc.
You MUST try to understand that customer… at the point of contact, whether by email or phone, they have probably sat there for HOURS trying to figure it out. They are irritated, angry, and they’ve pretty much decided at that point that you scammed them.
Yes, it’s irritating getting these “dumb” questions and emails even when you have them broken down so simply in the instructions. But face it, you’re going to get them and you will get them often as more and more climb on the “web wagon.”
When I get a very insulting email (yes, I HAVE been called the “B-word,” the “MF-word,” and recently a new one that I have never heard before… it was quite disgusting), I do not answer it immediately. I let my initial anger subside. When I can read through it and giggle… it’s time to answer. I find that 80 – 90% of the time, the customer is VERY embarrassed of their initial email by the time I have helped them courteously through their problems.
I had to learn this process through time. Believe me… I am a VERY sensitive person and I used to take these to heart. It HURT! I had to revert back to my “customer side” as well as the “newbie” frame of mind and do my best to understand the person’s anger.
One angry customer can lead to thousands if not millions in lost business revenue! Especially on the internet. That one customer tells one friend who in turn tells another and so on a so forth. You COULD get a real “psycho” customer that decides to start a website all about YOUR company and YOUR poor service or product.
Watch that one spread like a virus! )
On the other hand, exercise great customer service (get those emails answered within 24 hours, folks) and watch the *praise* of your company spread! I guarantee that you just GAINED thousands in sales!
MOST importantly remember these three things:
** LOVE YOUR CUSTOMER
** UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMER
** VALUE YOUR CUSTOMER
You are NOTHING without them. Treat them like gold and you will RECEIVE gold in return!
Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com
FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane
War Time Hiring: 5 Steps to Attract Top Talent
A recent report, titled “The War for Talent” stated that over the next 20 years, employee talent will be what differentiates successful companies from those going bust. The late 90’s gave us a glimpse of the talent war, but was nothing compared to what’s ahead. Here are five ways to bulletproof your company before the battle begins.
Practice What You Preach
Recent studies of America’s largest companies show that a strong reputation for moral and ethical conduct performed better financially in terms of their returns on investment and equity, and their sales and profit growth. How do you begin applying this in your company? At PrideStaff, every time an employee is hired, the owner takes them into his office and goes over the 10 standards of ethical conduct that the company was founded on. We also review these standards several times a year to encourage their daily application in the company.
Why is it so important to employees that they work for a company with strong ethics and values? Because your personal identity is strongly tied to your corporation. People often make assumptions about others based upon where they work. I know it sounds shallow, but what’s the first question you’re often asked after meeting someone? “So?what do you do?” Employees want to be proud when they answer that question.
Make Every Employee a Cheerleader
Employees are the first direct contact between a corporation and its customers. They are also the single most important source of word-of-mouth advertising that attracts other talented employees.
So how do you start making cheerleaders? You can start by buying everyone pom-poms. I’m not kidding! You need to make your company a fun place to work, a place that encourages employees to build relationships. An employee is much more likely to look forward to coming to work if they have a best friend there. I recommend you check out the motivational program called FISH!, based on the world famous Pike Place fish market in Seattle. It provides a step by step guide to building an amazing corporate culture.
Create and Convey a Strong Corporate Vision
Ultimately, your vision tells your employees and the rest of the world what you do and why you’re doing it. But just hanging up a poster with your corporate vision isn’t enough to build your brand as an employer of choice. Your vision should weave through every employee interaction. From your newsletter to your new hire orientation, your vision should serve as a constant reminder of where you’re going and provide the motivation to get you there.
I think it’s important to point out the difference between a vision and a mission statement. Your vision should provide a higher calling to a greater good while your mission statement should provide a framework for your existence in relation to your clients. The former speaks to the heart while the latter speaks to the mind. Your vision answers the question, “what really matters in this world ” and your mission statement answers the question, “what really matters in my clients world.”
Build Partnerships with Other Companies with Great Brands
In every industry, you can point to one or two companies that stand out from the rest of the crowd in terms of their reputation. Your goal is to find those companies with excellent reputations, who don’t compete with your company, and develop strategic alliances with those companies. Online, this strategy is known as affiliate marketing. I’ve heard other companies calling it a formal referral network. Whatever you call your partnerships with other companies, make sure you leverage those relationships with non-competing businesses that sell to your demographic.
There’s a saying that goes, “Birds of the same feather flock together.” When two or more corporations enter into a partnership or work together; their reputations may be attributed to each other. Keep this in mind as your think about other businesses to form partnerships with.
Become World Famous
Becoming world famous should be one of your major objectives in your long term business strategy. Why? Because building a business that draws the best of the best requires a brand that is known around the globe. How many people do you know that want to work at Microsoft just because it’s Microsoft? Building a world famous brand should be your ultimate goal in the visibility of your business. How do you get world famous? You start working on it today. Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Mike Nacke is a speaker, author, and consultant to business owners, managers, and recruiters. He has helped companies save millions of dollars by developing unique hiring processes that turn hiring into a measurable science. His clients range from fortune 500 companies to small businesses.
Visit http://www.mikenacke.com for more information on reducing labor costs and increasing workforce productivity.
Mike is currently the Director of Development for PrideStaff, a national staffing and recruiting firm.
10 Secrets to Write Your eBook Like a Winner!
You already have what it takes to write your first e-book. And like other winners you can create or increase your passive income stream each month. Your winning competitors wish you would never discover these secrets.
You may be asking “What if I don’t have the mind of a techie?” You can still write your winner e-book and start earning in a few weeks. Start by solving your readers’ problems using your expert knowledge. You know the articles and reports already in your files. Expand one of your articles or speeches into a short book by adding a short story or some practical how-to steps.
If you want to increase your present book income or just get started now, read these ten secrets and apply them:
1. Secret One.
Write a short e-book first to test your market. I know short doesn’t mean the same thing to every person. For e-books, let’s agree 10-90 pages is short, even 5-27 sounds less intimidating. Your future customers are busy and usually download only the pages they want at the time.
Make your e-book simpler, shorter, and punchier than your print book. Shorten your sentences, stories and analogies. Your winner format will include a strong heading (question) your reader needs answered and the answer. This winner formula presents the problem and solution quickly without a lot of words.
2. Secret Two.
Focus on one topic in your book. It’s a known fact bestsellers focus on one main topic. Focus on one topic then write each chapter to support that subject. When you overload your reader with information, you come across as disorganized, wordy and flat. Instead of including everything you know, stick to one how-to subject and include plenty of simple details with examples to make it useful to your reader.
3. Secret Three.
Brand yourself, your business and your book. Think about the greatest benefit that you offer through your book or service. Consider your book and chapter titles. Now think about your keywords and headings on your website. Do you see a repeating word that stands out? For example, the book “Win With the Writer Inside You” the author threads some form of “win” throughout her materials. Ever heard of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series? The title changes in its audience but the Chicken Soup brand stays the same. For example, there’s a Chicken Soup for Teen-agers, Chicken Soup for Mothers, and so on.
4. Secret Four.
Get a professional editor and/or book coach. Yes, its o.k. and you should get feedback from family, friends, local writing group, etc. But you need to get a professional viewpoint of your work to weed out the passive voice, bad grammar and all the things that slow your readers down to a standstill. Copy that appeals to the emotions of your reader sell your books. Your future customers want word pictures that they can respond to with their emotions.
5. Secret Five.
Target and get to know your audience. Let’s face it not everyone will want to read your book. Most newbie authors think up what they feel is a great product; spend tons of time and sometimes money looking for people to buy it. Instead match your expert knowledge with an audience you can serve. Consider their needs, problems and how you can help solve them. Business people are a hot audience right now. They are hungry and willing to buy what will improve, make profitable their life and business. Right now think of one to three preferred audiences in your area of expertise. Then write the book your customers will be looking for.
6. Secret Six.
Automate your business. Don’t get frustrated if you are a non-techie, like me. You can do it. Take your time or at least decide to learn at your own pace. Years ago, the author knew very little about the internet now she owns many websites. She has published 5 inspirational e-books and several on internet marketing and e-book writing/publishing at the time of this writing.
Write your e-book quickly but offer a quality product. Aim to give your customer more than they have asked. Market your book on your site, on the site of others, everywhere basically. A good place to start is eBay or Booklocker. Don’t forget to offer your e-book for sale through an 800 number. Ureach is an excellent service 888-506-7790. Setup a download link for people to access your product. Consider Paypal, Clickbank and/or 2Checkout and/or your own merchant account for offline purchases to offer your customer choices. They will reward you by choosing one.
Whenever you are ready, think delegation, delegate some of your work to a computer assistant. For some perfectionist (not me) delegation may sound like a dirty word. Contact your local high schools and technical schools where bright techies live. The expense is low in comparison to the results you can gain.
7. Secret Seven.
Sizzle Your Title. Your title may well be 90% of the pulling power for your book. An excellent title is short. The top titles are benefit driven. Don’t forget to heat them up with emotion. Use terms your audience can relate to. Use action words and verbs. Quantify change with ways and time limits. Use one or two word ideas to tell a story. Pledge change. Spark interest. Instead of “How to Write an E-book” the author chose the title “Ten Secrets to Write Your E-book Like a Winner.” She quantified change, sparked interest and branded her title.
Have a meeting of the minds with friends or associates. Let them help you choose the best title from the list. Find out which will make them pull out $15-20 or more to buy your book.
8. Secret Eight.
Leverage Your Sales Potential. Think for a moment about the valuable knowledge that you have packed into your e-book at $20 a sale. Remember the principle “Divide and conquer” Web users love chunks of information. To leverage your sales conquer and divide your e-book into an e-course. With minor revisions, you can set your book up as a how-to course or mini-course. In the e-course format you can double your price and up. Don’t forget to bundle several lower cost e-books and offer a discount. At one of the author’s sites she sells 2 e-books for 20.00 separately, bundled she sells them for $30.00
9. Secret Nine.
Add bonus value to your e-book. When you add bonus value (2-4 how-to lists, articles, special reports, sample chapter or mini-course) at the end of your e-book document, you increase its value. Many (author included) will buy for the bonuses alone. Most people love bargains and valuable free stuff. Everyone is looking for original but useful information. Implement this secret of bonuses and watch your subscriber rate and sales go up.
10. Secret Ten.
Market before, while and after you write. Most writers want to avoid marketing. I overheard a writer saying, “I wrote the book. Why should I have to market it too?” Whine, whine?No really as you know marketing can be hard work. From my marketing friend Judy Cullins there are seven hot selling points that will make it much easier: Put marketing into each chapter title, each chapter’s questions you will answer, rough draft of e-book’s back cover (sales letter), the one-minute tell and sell, targeting your audience, thesis, and table of contents. You can implement these before you write a single chapter.
It’s faster to write an e-book if you know how. People surf the net daily looking for practical information and knowledge that you have. Don’t let your ideas, knowledge and expertise fade away. Put it to work for you in an e-book. Remember, if you need help contact a professional book coach or take an e-course to inform yourself.
©Earma Brown, 10 yr. Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, Empowers entrepreneurs and writers to realize their book and web dreams
eBk: Win with the Writer Inside You
P.O. Box 111046, Carrollton, Texas 75011-1046
http://www.writetowin.org
earma@writetowin.org
877-846-9908
Free eZine: Web Wit – webwit@writetowin.org
How to Get More Readers For Your Book
Marketing your own book can seem like a scary task. You poured your heart and soul into the writing of it, and now when you think about marketing your masterpiece, you think, “I’m a writer, not a salesperson!”
But there is a simple way you can get the word out about your book. It takes a little time, but the effort pays huge dividends.
More people will be interested in your book when they are interested in you. Readers become interested in you when they can read some of your writing…for free. You can build your credibility, find readers, and establish yourself as an expert in your field by writing and distributing articles.
(This method works even for fiction writers.)
You accomplish this by these means:
- by publishing articles on your website
- by creating an ecourse or ebook
- by publishing your own ezine or newsletter
- by publishing your articles in someone else’s ezine
Think about that last idea for a minute. Publishing articles in other people’s ezines (or on their websites) is the key, the secret, to creating a viral lead-generating machine.
The popularity of your book website is actually improved when other sites link you to. But Google only likes high-content links. Your articles provide this.
Not to mention that when you have your articles on more and more websites there is a greater possibility that someone will read your articles and do business with you.
The simple system that will market your book for you contains only three steps:
Step 1: Write and Publish Articles
This really is the best way for you to promote your book.
The key is to write a useful, high-content article, and send it to your newsletter and publish it on your website. If you write fiction, write simple short stories or poems, or provide excerpts from your novel.
(For a more information on marketing this way, please read another of my articles, “Online Book Marketing,” at http://ezinearticles.com/?id=45696.)
Step 2: Distribute Your Articles
Send your articles or stories to article distribution lists and ezine directories. These directories exist for ezine owners and website owners to pick up free reprintable content to use in their ezine or on their website. You can find a list of these sites by searching for “articles sites.”
This helps you, because if your article is picked up and distributed by 10 ezine owners who each have 1000 people in their list, your article will be sent to 10 000 people!
Step 3: Your Articles Continue to be Distributed Virally!
When you submit to an articles directory, your article is there to be reprinted. You can submit an article next week, and ten years later it will still be there. Your article can have a shelf life as long as you want, and every time someone reprints your article, you get free exposure!
Bonus tip: If you include at the end of your article that your article can be reprinted anywhere by anyone, anyone who reads your article can reprint in on their website or in their ezine.
To use the above example, if another 1000 people reprint your article in some form, your business will be marketed to 11 000 people-in a very short period of time!
Imagine this process occurring time and time again, with more than one article! How many interested readers will end up at your site?
This is how you successfully market your book online.
Jeremy M. Hoover helps you market your book. To learn about his book marketing plan vist his website, http://www.jhooverwebcopy.com/bookmarketing.htm, or email him at jeremyhoover AT gmail.com.
Do Organizations Serve Us Or Do We Serve Organizations
We have seen an erosion in the confidence that society has in organizational leadership and its integrity recently with the numerous accounting scandals that have become public.Clearly this has led to the demise of several large organizations. In performance terms it is obvious that erosion of leadership integrity is not good for business.
The integrity that exists within an organization either lives or dies with the mission statement and underlying values around which an organization functions. Often the mission and values focus on such things as organizational performance, customer service, quality products, profit goals etc. These are then used as guiding posts and navigational aids to lead and inform leaders and employees at all levels within the organization.
Effectively, individuals then have to “integrate” themselves within the organizational directive in order to survive there. The organizational mission becomes an overarching theme in the lives of these individuals whether or not it is truly aligned with their own values and purpose in life. Of course most individuals are not in the habit of considering their values or purpose in life so they are only too happy to adopt someone else’s in order to stem the inner feelings of insecurity that arise from not having their own.
The organization then becomes a species in its own right and the individuals working within it have to alter their own values and purpose if they hope to remain a part of it. The problem arises however with the fact that organizational mission and values are often not aligned with basic human values. A clear example of this relates to the increasing number of hours that individuals find themselves working in a week and the increasing incidents of burnout related illness. Truly, I think anyone would say that this is not what he or she desires.
So the organization has become an entity that runs individuals lives rather than a means for individuals to achieve their purpose in life. They serve the organization not the other way around. But wait a minute here, isn’t an organization a “human” construct meant to further our goals, desires and purpose in alignment with our basic human values? After all don’t we want to do something in life that gives us joy, happiness, peace of mind, that helps us expand our creative potential in meaningful ways, that furthers the quality of our lives and the lives of others on this planet and that protects our environment? Have we therefore given up our power to an entity that doesn’t represent us? Is it possible to restore our rightful place in this equation and return the organization back into an instrument (or perhaps more accurately a process) that serves human values and humanity in general?
If we come back to the issue of integrity it becomes clear that the integrity, that is the “survival”, of the organization has become the imperative, not the integrity, that is the “wholeness”, of the individual. Notice that I have used the concept of integrity in two different senses here. The individual loses her/his sense of wholeness by repressing his/her basic human core values, effectively “cutting off” important parts of themselves. This repression often occurs out of fear of not surviving and effectively is an unconscious way of “lying” to oneself about what is truly important to that individual. The behavior of lying to oneself is about being “dishonest” with ones’ self or losing one’s integrity or wholeness.
At this point one might ask, is trying to survive not a basic human value? Well I might say that if given a choice an individual would rather “live” than just try to “survive”. Yet because the fear is so powerful most of us have even lost a sense of what it means to live. The idea of survival has a negative feeling attached to it for most people. It’s a feeling of just getting by and for no other purpose. It begins to feel like a meaningless exercise. Living however feels more positively motivating and full of potential. It in fact encompasses most of the human values for joy, peace of mind, creativity, etc. that I mentioned earlier.
Now if you follow me so far I think you are beginning to see that the problem of integrity has something to do with how we as individuals have been conditioned to react out of fear throughout our lives. It is clear that there is a lot to be afraid of as we are growing up in an uncertain world. It is this accumulated fear that we carry around that ultimately undermines our integrity (sense of wholeness and sense of personal honesty) in the long run.
Coaching for Organizational Integrity is about restoring our sense of wholeness and sense of personal honesty. This will allow us then to have the awareness of what we truly desire for ourselves and possibly enhance our courage to pursue it. Its premise rests on the observation that our conditioned responses to life long trauma become associated with limiting negative beliefs about others our environment and ourselves. Below is a short example of an exercise that I have used with individuals in my coaching practice to help them go beyond internal limitations to a place of greater awareness and self determination
Example:
A sales executive selling water treatment equipment is under pressure to meet his sales quota for this month. The economy is in a slump and he knows he will be unduly pressured to explain why his performance is slipping. He generally likes his job and has felt that his mission in life has been to help improve the environment and offer customers a product that they will truly get health benefits from. But under recent pressure he has started to doubt his sales abilities and this has inhibited him from being his normal ebullient self. He has started to have fears of failing and worries that he might get fired if he doesn’t meet his monthly quota.
Analysis of Situation:
There are a number of beliefs that this individual is unconsciously entertaining that need to be addressed:
1. His doubts about himself suggest that deep down he “doesn’t believe that he is capable of succeeding”. This is evident because if he knew with certainty that he could succeed doubt about this would never arise.
2. His fears of failing suggest that he ” believes he could fail”. This is evident because if he knew with certainty that he would never fail this thought would never arise.
3. The worry suggests he “believes the quality of his life would be made worse with failure to meet his quota”.
Now from the standpoint of integrity the highlighted beliefs clearly are not doing him any good. They are causing him to turn against himself; they create anxiety, confusion, inhibition, and ultimately reduced performance. We therefore have an individual who is “disintegrating” not one who is “integrated” or “whole”. So why would anyone accept these negative statements to be true?
Well over our lives we unconsciously learn to accept such negative beliefs about ourselves based on the failed experiences we have had. Rationalizations form around these negative beliefs and anchor them in our minds, whether we want them there or not. Let me illustrate:
1. The negative belief ” I don’t believe I can succeed” is held in our unconscious by the rationalization: ” Well if I believe this then I will work harder and I will succeed”.
In other words we unconsciously come to believe that this negative belief actually “helps us to succeed”.
2. However when we look at the evidence the belief ” I don’t believe I can succeed” actually ushers in self-doubt, anxiety, fear, confusion, inhibition all of which ultimately lead to reduced performance and potential failure. There is no success in this picture.
3.The rationalization “Well if I believe this then I will work harder and I will succeed” is actually a “lie” we choose to accept as truth. By doing so it anchors the negative belief in our minds and makes us susceptible to its ravages.
It is possible to make individuals aware of their negative beliefs and the rationalizations that anchor them. Additionally through a simple exercise, known as the Mind Resonance Process?, it is possible to permanently release this kind of unconscious material. This allows individuals to live with a greater sense of freedom in alignment with their own true values and desires. This freedom leads to enhanced motivation, joy, creativity and performance. The result is a more ” integrated”, “whole” individual. Such an individual is living, and working, from a place of power, creativity, joy, passion, etc. Clearly this is the kind of person any organization would value.
Some of the benefits to the organization are increased performance, increased productivity, and a greater creative resource in employees fostering continued innovation. As employees become integrated in this way they will more effectively help shape the organizational process in ways that will make it serve the real needs of others in its environment.
Copyright© 2005, Arrizza Performance Coaching Inc., All Rights Reserved
Nick Arrizza MD, Presidient & Founder of Arrizza Performance Coaching Inc.,is an Organizational Psychiatrist, Executive, Life & Leadership Coach, Stress & Performance Researcher, Speaker and Workshop Leader. He has developed powerful tools known as the Mind Resonance Process? which he uses in his practice to enhance individual and organizational performance. He can be contacted through his Web Site at: http://www.telecoaching4u.com
Brand Extension; Going from Consumer to Commercial
As more and more home pressure washers are sold at leading retailers such as Wal-Mart, Sears, Home Depot, Cosco, etc. We are seeing companies offer products in brand line extension to service this niche. Armor All is the newest company to offer it’s brand name customer loyalty to sell these products. They of course have been heavy into the Car Wash Industry with National Networks of Distributors in Canada and The US and Europe for tire cleaners and protectants, now they are offering a concrete cleaner for home pressure washer do-it-yourselfers.
http://armorallhomecare.com/products/concretecleanerpw.html
Many homeowners are finding this works very well for small clean-up jobs around the home. Armor All Homecare also has a new deck wash cleaner to remove oil, stains and mold.
http://armorallhomecare.com/products/deckwashpw.html
Armor All Home Brands went one step further in their brand extension was introduced for Home Vinyl Siding. Many small business type pressure washing companies are now using these products and have asked about commercial pricing and commercial grade concentration. It has always been Armor All’s strategy to first hit the consumer markets with their current outlets and retail connections and then to develop teams of industry sector sales forces to distribute to the companies, which might use their products. Armor All in that regard runs a two-tier system, which in turn expands brand recognition and helps with customer loyalty. This is one of the finest strategies of any cleaning products companies for brand awareness and they deserve kudos, we expect these products to be as good or better than their previous products accomplishments. We believe this newest effort to attack the Home Product Market and expand with the incredible growth in home pressure washers is very good.
Pressure washers can be found for as little as $79.00 at Wal-Mart and the industrial units we use can cost as much as $12,000.00 for the most ominous commercial hot water pressure washer machines. Armor All brand is owned by Clorox now and this might be a good indication of why they do so well when rolling out new products. They are a modern day Proctor and Gamble and can hold their own against Kelloggs, Hienz, GM, 3M or any of the top brands.
“Lance Winslow” – If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
3 Steps to Creating Your Own Ezine to Increase Web Site Traffic!
What if I showed you a simple way to increase web site traffic that could sky-rocket your sales and make you an internet expert.
Would you be interested?
I sure hope so?
First, you have to remember the primary reason people get on to the internet. In case you have forgotten, it is to get INFORMATION. If this is the only thing you take from this article I will be pleased, because it is that important!
Articles provide a great way to get your message out and increase web site traffic. However, publishing an ezine is much more effective because you have a captive audience that is interested in getting your information. The reason they are interested is because they have given you permission to send them your publication by subscribing to it.
A subscriber is a much greater asset than a web site visitor, in the sense that you will be able to communicate to them for as long as you produce your ezine, or until they decide to opt-out.
So remember, when it comes down to which you would rather have?A hit on your site or a subscriber? The subscriber should win every time.
Now that we have determined that the internet is an information platform that CAN be utilized to make transactions and the importance of subscribers to your ebusiness. Let’s begin laying out the 3 steps to create your own ezine and increase web site traffic.
Step 1 – Decide on the Topic of Your Ezine Based on Your Niche.
The theme of your ezine needs to be built around your niche. Therefore, if your site is about quilting then you would need to publish an ezine about how to quilt. It could include topics and articles that would be of interest to quilters and possibly even collectors of quilts.
Make sure you stay niche driven! Don’t get away from the theme of your web site.
Most of all do not try to be everything to everybody. If quilting is a broad topic you might want to focus on certain aspects of quilting.
Now that you have determined the theme or topic of your ezine here are a few things to consider before you put it all together:
- Determine how often you will publish your ezine. (i.e. monthly, weekly, etc.)
- Will you sell advertising space in your ezine? Most do, but you do not have to. You need to think about your readers, if you think they will be offended by a few ads then you might not want to. I have found that most people do not mind a few ads, just keep it to no more than 3 per issue.
- Are you going to allow other people to submit articles to your ezine? You will get tired of writing all of the content yourself, but make sure that you use quality articles that do not have a bunch of typos and grammatical errors.
Those are a few things to consider before you start to distribute your ezine.
Let’s move on to the 2nd step.
Step 2 – Build a List.
It’s not the size of your list that matters, it’s how good it converts!
You need to focus on techniques to build your list. It is important to have a big list, but not as important as having a quality list. That is why I do not recommend buying subscribers. It is best to build the list yourself!
Below are some ideas to help you grow your list:
- Use pop-ups on your site to encourage visitors to sign up for your ezine.
- Make sure you have a subscribers box on every page of your web site.
- Give away a free e-book or mini-course to encourage people to subscribe. People like free stuff!
- Write articles on topics that are relevant to your ezine. Distribute them to article directories, announcement lists, and to other ezine publishers promoting your ezine. Make sure to put a link in the resource box to your auto-responder.
- Utilize Joint Ventures with other ezine publishers to grow your list. You could do Adswaps with them or even ad their ezine to your subscriber’s thank you page in return for adding yours to their thank you page.
- Use Pay per Click advertising to urge people to subscribe.
These are some basic, but very powerful ideas to rapidly grow your subscriber’s list. I can guarantee you that if you implement these tactics you will see your subscribers grow by leaps and bounds.
Let’s go to the last step.
Step 3 – Promote Your Ezine.
In order to have an ezine that is an effective marketing tool you need to promote it. People have to know that the ezine exists! Follow these tips and they will not only know that it exists, but you will have a monster on your hands.
- Submit your ezine to ezine directories and announcement lists. I have listed a few below for you to utilize:
- Ezine Directories:
1. Directory of Ezines:
http://www.directoryofezines.com
2. Ezine-Universe:
http://www.new-list.com
3. The Ezine Directory:
http://www.ezine-dir.com
- Ezine Announcement Lists:
1. 100 Sightings:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/100sightings/
2. 1_List_Advertising:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/1_List_Advertising/
3. A Announcer:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aannouncer/
- Create a web site specifically to host your ezine. Use this web site to promote your ezine, store your archived copies of previous issues, and to gain new subscribers.
- Write articles promoting your ezine and submit them across the internet. Send them to other ezine publishers for submission into their ezine. Make sure you have a link to your auto-responder in your resource box.
- Pursue Joint Ventures with other ezine publishers that will be of benefit to you and your ezine.
By using these 3 steps you can and will develop and distribute a successful ezine. Most ezines never gain the popularity that their publisher hopes for. The reason for this is that they lack quality content in their ezine and never fully promote it.
Keep these 3 key factors in mind and you will have a prosperous and profitable ezine:
1. Stay Niche driven.
2. Grow your list with high quality subscribers.
3. Promote, promote, promote.
Thanks for reading and good luck in your ezine publishing endeavors.
Mark Williams can help you Increase Web Site Traffic by subscribing to The Cash Cow-Zine. Get your free 5 Action-Steps to Online Profits Course.
7 Secrets to Explode your eBook Sales! Part 5
Secret #5: How to build steady sales for years to come with eBook Directories!
Aho,
Are you making this mistake in your business?
Are you to busy to submit to more than a handful of eBook directories? Or worse yet, are you to busy to submit to even one!
Stop! By all means take a minute to read this short and to the point article. It will help you to build steady sales for years to come.
Before we begin, here is what you need to put together before you start going to the directories.
1. Great eBook Cover
This is a MUST! In order to promote correctly you
must have a great eBook cover. In this case, the
cover does sell the eBook.
2. 3 descriptions of varying lengths written out into
a text editor like notepad. Begin with 2 to 4
sentences and build to several paragraphs.
3. A list of 10 keywords.
Now, let’s take a look at these separately.
First, a great eBook cover. Now there are eBook cover makers on the Internet that you can buy to make a great looking cover. You can also use some of the drawing programs that are out there. If making your own ebook cover is daunting to you, just relax and use this method: Buy one from a professional eBook cover maker.
In this article I do not have enough room to help you with the eBook Cover Programs. Simply go to a search engine and look them up.
(Note: I will have an extensive list of eBook Cover Programs in my upcoming eBook: EBook Marketing Secrets Revealed. Please see the end of this article for information.)
However, I can help you with a custom cover. Here is a wonderful cover creator for you:
http://hop.clickbank.net/hop.cgi?bdolphin/coverart
Just copy and paste the above URL into your browser and away you go! Have fun!
Ok, now where were we. Oh yes?
Second, writing 3 descriptions about your eBook. This is an essential step and must not be taken lightly. You will need these descriptions when you go to enter your eBook into the eBook Directories.
The reason I have you write 3 of varying lengths is to accommodate the different directory layouts.
Third, make a list of ten keywords. This is very important. I suggest you go to some of the directories first and type in some keywords you think you’d like to use and see what the results will be. This will show you what others are looking under and what other eBooks will be listed. This way you can narrow down your ten best keywords.
In addition to your list of three descriptions and keywords add the following to you file: your title, your name, email address and website URL.
Ok, now let’s move forward.
eBook directories will increase both your short term and long term sales. It all depends on the directory itself. Some directories have a large audience that shops regularly, this will increase your long term sales. Other directories have large spurts of sales and of course this will increase your short-term traffic.
eBook directories are not just good for sales, they make excellent research helpers as well. When I was first beginning my first eBook I went to a dozen or more eBook Directories and researched via keywords the different topics my eBook would carry. This gave me a great idea of what was already on the market and where there were possible niche markets.
In addition, I found hundreds of eBooks to download for free. This is the biggest help I had in getting over the Internet learning curve. I also learned from those eBooks how to write an eBook and how not to write an eBook. It becomes oh so clear when you use this type of research.
Today there are so many people submitting to the eBook directories you need to become familiar with the many different types of directories before you begin listing.
First there are still some directories that are free to list in. Then there are those that charge a fee to list unless you don’t mind waiting 30 days or more in which case the listing becomes free again. Still others ask you to add a link to your website before they will add you to their directory. You must decide which avenues you wish to walk down and then head for those types of directories.
Many of the directories today utilize submission guidelines. When you see this make sure you take the time to read them. They are invaluable! The more you know about a particular eBook directory the better your chances of gaining a good listing.
Here are three eBook Directories to get you started.
http://www.ebookdirectory.com/index.html
http://www.ebookjungle.com/submit.php
http://www.wisdomebooks.com/add.html
Well that’s it for today!
Happy listing!
Blessings Bluedolphin Crow
About the Author Bluedolphin Crow Ph.D. is the author of an eBook called: eBook-Marketing-Secrets-Revealed! Rreserve your copy go to: http://www.ebook-marketing-secrets-revealed.com
