Coreta OdjeSharing with the world: Self Improvement, Internet Marketing and more www.coretaodje.com

A better life has been achieved when we are no longer trying to achieve a better life. It means that we are content, as we should be, with ourselves and what we have. To be anxious for more or to envy someone else’s life or possessions is self-defeating. We are then in a constant state of frustration, always hoping and waiting for more happiness.

So what is important? Enough, not more.

“Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.” - Marcus Aurelius (121-180)

There is, here and now, much to appreciate. There is life itself with friends, family, and everything that is naturally before us. We just have to look around and take it in. Perhaps it is time to make a list of all the good things we have to grateful for.

Are there people in your life that you would miss dearly if they were not here? When you go for a walk don’t you see, hear, and smell, many things to appreciate and feel nice about? Like the flowers, trees, birds, and the clouds in the sky. A caterpillar crossing the sidewalk or your neighbor waving. A cute pup or child enthusiastically enjoying that moment in life.

“Whether in favor or in humiliation, be not dismayed. Let your eyes leisurely look at the flowers blooming and falling in your courtyard. Whether you leave or retain your position, take no care. Let your mind wander with the clouds folding and unfolding beyond the horizon.” - Hung Tzu-ch’eng (1593-1665)

It just makes good sense to be satisfied and at peace with yourself and others, and to enjoy life now.

Last week, one of my clients-we’ll call him Rick-had a demo scheduled with a prospect. The standard “show up and throw up” they typically did early in the sales cycle.

Trying to shorten the sales cycle, I asked naively, “Why does the customer want to buy? What are they trying to accomplish?” Rick couldn’t tell me. I asked if he thought the salespeople knew. He said no. I gave him an assignment: he had to find out “Why,” “Why now,” and “What’s it worth.” Otherwise no demo.

In other words, no compelling reason to buy…No demo.

So Rick took a risk, and is rapidly moving to a fully-paid trial implementation.

Sure, long-term objectives and plans still matter, but I’ve been getting more and more inquiries focused on “what to do now.” Entrepreneurs and executives alike are demanding help on how to improve revenues and profits right away.

How do you make the quickest difference? Focus the bulk of your energy on revenue generation. In other words, sales! And don’t do it the same old way either, because — as you may have noticed — it isn’t working that well.

Here are five ways for your sales force to bring in more business in short order. There are no magic bullets, but just last week I taught one of these techniques to a client (#2) and he used it to close a deal the following day! Use one or use them all. Each technique will have its own effect, and each will multiply the power of the others.

1. Sell return on investment, and sell it to the CFO.

Sales people are complaining that while the pipeline may be full, the deals are taking too long to close. Perhaps that’s why the pipe is so full! What are the reasons for this? Companies have money, and in many cases they have needs. But many people are so scared THEIR customers aren’t going to buy THEIR wares, they are loath to spend any money themselves. The result? They are only willing to spend money when they absolutely see near-term financial payback, and the CFO is killing many deals.

The solution? Sell the return on investment. Sell the payback. And sell it to the CFO. Arm your salespeople with two things: A series of case studies that document the returns from using your product, and a well-defined ROI process worksheet. Work with the CFO to build the ROI case so that he or she owns it. This is the only way they come to believe it. Make it their idea and instead of killing your deal, they will help you close it.

2. Forget USP. Determine your Usage Cases

Instead of focusing on why your product is the latest and greatest, clarify the ways in which potential customers will use your product to solve specific problems and produce tangible results. Then, instead of touting the “benefits” of your product–which often fall on deaf ears, anyway–engage your prospects in conversations about what costly and quantifiable problems they now have, and how they might use your product or service to alleviate those.

And, as sales guru Mike Bosworth says, don’t tell them your offering IS the solution. You’re a sales “guy” and they won’t believe you. Instead, ask them if your possible solution might help them. If they believe it does, they have accepted your solution as truth. Then get them to tell you, in real dollar terms, what fixing that problem is worth.

3. Increase Sales Training. Use the 10% solution.

But don’t expect any one salesperson–even your superstars–to be 100% at every part of your sales process. They almost never are. But there is a way you can raise the level of every person in your sales organization-immediately.

Use this process adopted from W. Edwards Demming’s principle of optimization. Break your sales process into as many discrete–but meaningful–steps as you can.. Cold calling. Letter writing. Setting appointments. Identifying pain. Writing proposals. Presenting. And so on. Find out who in your organization excels at each step, and have those reps explain their methods and mindset to the rest of your sales force. Do all the steps at once in a marathon session, or one step at a time. Either way, the results will be amazing.

4. Use the 80/20 Rule. And get rid of the bottom 20.

There’s no room in today’s world for mediocre producers. Hold each member of your team accountable for reaching two kinds of performance benchmarks: results measurements, which include not only revenue, but perhaps new accounts and repeat business, and action measurements, which might include prospecting calls, appointments, and new contacts.

Not every sales person will be a superstar, but every one should pay their own way–and then some. Salespeople who aren’t producing not only cost you money, they drag down the performance of your whole organization. You may not pay them very much, but why pay them anything? I suggest you do both yourself and them a favor, and let them go. Don’t worry about having an empty desk: that warm chair was an expense your company doesn’t need.

If you feel it isn’t fair to “dump” them, or if your sales cycle is too long to measure short-term revenue results, give the problem reps a 30-day plan to increase their level of activity in specific ways. That’s long enough to see an improvement if there’s going to be one.

5. Track your results and work harder

Most entrepreneurial sales organizations fail to analyze their efforts. They have no idea how much effort–or money–it takes to create a new customer. The only indication they have of whether salespeople are “doing enough” is based on the revenue numbers. The answer? Track both activity and results, and use the statistics your garner to quickly raise performance. Break your sales process into a series of meaningful steps, counting each time a rep completes one. Calculate averages and set a benchmark. And while you’re at it, analyze the percentage of deals that close whenever you complete that step. That knowledge can dramatically improve your sales forecasts.

Once you establish benchmarks–this one’s a no-brainer–RAISE THE BAR. Yes, that’s right, because the fact is, revenue isn’t coming in fast enough. Do everything discussed above to improve your sales effectiveness–then do more of it. Just working smarter isn’t going to cut it. You’re going to have to work harder as well. And anyone who doesn’t want to?

Does your mind sometimes feel like a television station you can’t quite tune in? You know there’s an interesting program on - or several, but everything is mixed with static. What if you could “tune in” at will, have clear thinking whenever you want it? Try some of the following.

Ten Clear Thinking Techniques And Tips

1. Take a walk. Science will eventually prove this to be a great way to improve the quality of your thinking, but don’t wait for the proof. Aren’t there enough other reasons to take a walk anyhow?

2. Stay away from sugar. If you want to understand what brain fog is, eat a sugary donut on an empty stomach, then do math problems twenty minutes later. What you will experience, along with the “sugar blues,” is brain fog. At least lay off sugar and simple carbohydrates when you need to think clearly.

3. Organized space means clear thinking. It’s rare that a person can actually work better in clutter. Organised working space means you won’t have the thought “where is that…” distracting your mind.

4. Get better sleep. Sleep requirements vary, but the minimum for most is somewhere around five hours. Some suffer if they sleep less than eight hours. The research, however, indicates that after a certain minimum quantity, the quality of sleep is more important to normal brain function.

5. Try meditating. No time? Just close your eyes, relax, and watch your breath for a while. Accept that your mind will wander, but continually return your attention to your breath. Five minutes of this, and afterwards you’ll feel a boost in your brainpower.

6. Resolve your “mind irritations.” Watch your busy brain. Maybe a call you need to make has been bothering you, just below consciousness. Find these stressors, and do something to let them go. For example, make that call, or put it on a list, and your mind will let go of it for now. Just seeing a problem and saying, “There’s nothing I can do about this until Friday,” will often stop unconscious worrying.

7. Don’t drink alcohol. At least don’t drink too much. While moderate amounts can be conducive to creative thinking, all the evidence says that it is bad for the long-term health of your brain.

8. Make decisions quickly. Nothing gets in the way of clear thinking like a dozen decisions hanging around unmade. If nothing else, decide when you’ll make the decision.

9. Get some fresh air. Go outside and breath deeply through your nose. You’ll get a good dose of oxtgen to your brain, and the change of surroundings can help clear your mind.

10. Satisfy your physical needs. Clear thinking is easier if you aren’t too hungry, thirsty, or hot.

You can think more clearly starting today. There are certainly more than ten ways, but you really only need to make a few of them a habit to have a more powerful brain. Why not try one or two right now?

Many people go from site to site on the Internet, and never realize what they ‘re dealing with! To truly understand you must take brief step back,and look from another angle. Ask yourself why the teacher would not let you look on the smart kid’s paper during that test in high school,that would have been too easy right? Well imagine sitting beside the smartest kid in the world,and the teacher says “oh go ahead look all you want” . Remember how we use to envy “Captain Kirk” he could ask that computer anything he wanted ,and it would give him the answer. Well “WAKE UP”you’re there ! In most cases they don’t speak out audibly but its still the same results. Knowledge is Power,and ,power out ranks money,power control money, and knowledge controls money. To make money, it is important to get some information about what customers need.

There are so many reasons why information is the greatest commodity in the world. Information helps people. It spreads the knowledge of topics and subjects. It is the basis for every study, occupation, and hobby. The most important reason why information is the greatest commodity in the world, a reason that effectively sums up all others, is simple - everyone needs information.

Who provides information? Experts, or just people who seem to know a great deal about a certain subject, provide information about a subject to those of us who have limited experience with it. Face it-there is no single person in this world who knows everything, though some may think so! Eventually, everyone has to ask questions and seek answers to matters they do not understand. And since it seems everyone knows something, providing information throughout the world is easy.

You can find information everywhere. The Internet is one of the fastest, most inexpensive ways to obtain information about an innumerable wealth of subjects. Search engines are extremely useful, as are specialty websites. Offline sources include schools, libraries, and people themselves. Ever gotten a lecture from your dad on the importance of changing your oil regularly? Guess what-he was providing information.

Since information is the greatest commodity in the world, profiting from it can be easy. Consider teachers, for example. Their main business is to provide information to students, sometimes all year long. Book authors, website owners, and even religious figures are all trying to provide information of some sort.

Making it your business to provide information, when correctly executed, will be profitable for years to come. The need for information is not a trend, and it will not go out of style. Since we know why information is the greatest commodity in the world, we also know why it will continue to be just that. Whether you provide your information on or offline, you can earn income and even make a living.

Having a plan and executing that plan are two different things.

Planning is good but it won’t get you anywhere.
Execution is good but without a plan, you won’t get to where you want to be.

I find that many online business owners tend to lean toward one and not the other. Which category do you fall into?

While most people tend toward one or the other, it’s the successful combination of planning and executing that will actually make a business successful. Help yourself by planning and executing brilliantly. Here’s how to create a simple but effective action plan:

1. First, get a blank piece of paper and a pen.

2. Decide where you are. Pick an area that you want to focus on (for example, monthly income or number of clicks to get one sale). Be sure to identify a specific area of your business and then identify a specific number you want to work on. For example, if your current monthly income is $3000, write that at the top of your page.

3. Decide where you want to be. Using the same area of business and the same measurement (dollars or clicks or whatever you chose in step 1), write out where you want to be. If you want your monthly income in six months to be $6000 per month, write that at the bottom of the page.

4. Now connect the dots! On the space on your page between where you are and where you want to be, create steps with real, practical ideas that help move you toward your dream. If it’s a simple matter of only two or three steps, that’s all you need. However, more than likely, you need to fill your page with ideas to help you move from “now” to “soon.” Some ideas for the example we’ve been looking at might include: increase prices by 10%, try upselling customers into a higher priced product, do half an hour of cold calling each morning, etc. These items should be specific action steps that you need to take, not general ideas you have. Be sure to assign due dates for each one so you have a timeframe to work in.

5. Now, take those action items, and implement them into your weekly
planner.

6. Then simply execute! Do one step at a time, each day, every day, until you’ve reached your time limit listed at the bottom of the page. Did you achieve your goal? Did you miss the mark? If so, how close did you come?

Once you get into the habit of doing these regularly, you’ll find that you’ll do them more and more often for a variety of business and personal goals.

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Major television networks have been in control of what you watch, when you watch it and how often you watch the programs that interest you. With the social boom caused by web 2.0 including social networks and online movies and video, major television networks can no longer confine your mind to their broadcasts for entertainment.

Chris Anderson (author of The Long Tail) hit the nail right on the head… In his book, he predicted that television’s viewing audience will spend more time on the Internet than watching TV. This former viewing audience will entertain themselves by going to websites they are interested in (to do whatever is more interesting to them than watching TV). Chris predicted that people will spend their time more involved in their personal “long tail” interests.

This trend is bad news for the television networks!

The Internet offers television’s former viewing audience better entertainment because they can do, see and hear what they want and when they want. The big television networks no longer have a monopoly on the public’s entertainment and mind share.

To make matters worse… with the advent of DVR (digital video recorders) less and less people are watching television commercials (the lifeblood of the major TV networks). The average person with Internet access is spending 4 times longer online than watching TV. The effectiveness of television advertising is dwindling exponentially and to make matters worse, 90% of DVR owners are fast forwarding through television commercials!

The truth is, people hate commercials. We all know that sigh when you’re intensely involved in your favourite TV show just to be distracted by 2 minutes of commercials. Most people have learned to ignore commercials, even if they are watching them!

All the big brand advertisers that you see on television are well aware of the fact that their advertising dollars are not as well invested in television ads as they once were. These major brands, including the BIG 8 in advertising, have been looking to the Internet as an alternate form of advertising for quite some time now.

For the first time in history thousands of people are going to share in revenue that was formerly paid to major television networks. Millions of dollars are going to be paid on a residual basis to a “core group” of marketing partners… No hype intended or implied!
PPP is a way for advertisers (Like Harley Davidson or Taco Bell) to serve a 5 second audio advertisement to website visitors. It is a way for advertisers to target their 5 second audio ad to specific interests, demographics and geographic locations.

Big TV’s ad revenue is dwindling because PPP offers advertisers a more cost effective advertising solution that has been providing positive Return on Investment (ROI) for over 2 years. PPP offers advertisers a way to reach their target audience and is the only form of media whose impressions and ad placements are verified by an independent 3rd party.
PPP is not new, it has been running for 2 years, has over 66,000 advertisers and over 550,000 websites that serve PPP ads to their visitors.

The 550,000+ websites that currently serve these ads are responsible for 43 million streams (impressions) of advertisers’ 5 second audio ads on a monthly basis.

Internet home business beginners are usually undecisive over what products to start selling when they start a web business. Here are some information that might be of help.

There are basically three broad categories of product types:

1) Own product
Many successful Internet marketers have at least one product they call their own. This is one of the fastest way to get your name out on the web. Having your own product gives you full control over pricing, design, joint venture deals and bonus materials.

If you do decide on creating and selling your own product, your next step would be to choose between portable electronic version or physical version. Most marketers woud prefer the former because there’s no inventory costs. But the most important element is, electronic products like ebooks or MP3s allow for immediate delivery. And this appeals to buyers because they get access to the products instantaneously, satisfying their desire for instant gratification.

One advantage of having your own product means recuiting others (affiliates) to sell for you. You pay them commission only when sales are made. You get tons of targeted visitors but don’t spend a cent on advertising.

However, to recruit good affiliates, even super affiliates, you need to have a set of promotional materials ready for them to use. Don’t invite them to sign up your affiliate program and leave them to fend for themselves.

Of course the product itself must be of high quality or you’ll see refund requests faster than you can sell. Your reputation gets ruined, your affiliates dump you and it’s going to be difficult to regain customers’ trust.
2) Affiliate Products
Like I mentioned above, an affiliate promotes someone else’s products and get paid commission when sales are made. Many Internet marketing beginners will start with this type of selling as it is low costs and some of the pay outs are pretty generous.

But how do you choose which merchant’s products to sell? Many people will look at the rate of commission payout by the merchants to decide WHICH products to sell, but be careful, it may just backfire.

First, always think from the customer’s point of view. Take a good look at the merchant company’s website, does it make you want to buy if you were the customer? Does it have compelling copy to make you click on that “order” button? If the mechant does a lousy job convincing potential buyers, then it won’t matter even if they pay out 90% commission to you. Remember, you have done the work and send visitors to the merchants, all your effort and time are wasted if they fail to convert.

So look for merchants who are helpful and have great sales materials you can use like banners and sales messages. Successful affiliates are usually those who are promoting good merchant products, even with low commission rates.

Please note that this is a brief introduction to affiliate marketing, to learn more, visit Wealth Affiliate.com or Affiliate Classroom. Both offer excellent in-depth coaching and training programs to beginners.

3) Resale Products
There are some products where you can resell after you have purchase it yourself. These products come with what is called Resell Rights. There are “Master Resell Rights” and “Resell Rights”.

Master Resell Rights give you the full right to either sell or give the product away. You can even pass along the resell rights to your customers.
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Resell Rights on the other hand, just gives you the right to sell the product, you may or may not give it away and you cannot transfer the rights to your customers. Meaning your customers cannot sell the product like you can.

While this article is not exhaustive, it is hopeful that the information above can help you make a decision on what to sell as a start and then move on from there. Usually Internet marketing beginners will start with affiliate marketing because it costs the least and you have no inventory or customer service to worrry about.

Personally I would suggest you do the same: start with affiliate marketing and get into a coaching program like the Affiliate Classroom. Learn from those who are successful and take action.
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Click on the links below

• The season: autumn 2009 (telegraph.co.uk)
• Autumn comes early because of drought (telegraph.co.uk)
• Fall foliage. . .with bourbon in Kentucky (gadling.com)
• Caroline: a dark poem for a darkling season (californiawinehikes.com)
• Autumn views - wild berries ripening (themanfrommoselriver.wordpress.com)