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

Do you define success as having a lot of money? Or do you define success as being able to live your life the way you want too?…

I truly feel most people want to be in on the winning side. However, we always run into people that remain in the same place in life. Do you feel you are one of those people? Obviously if you’re a person looking and trying to better your life you want to be on the winning side.

Being successful can mean many things. My definition of being successful is accomplishing what you intend to do. For example, I always intended to have a family and I now have a great family. I consider myself very successful.

Success does not mean to look better than the people around you. I believe it comes from within and how you perceive yourself and your life. Success is something that you do not have to show on a daily basis. Success is how you live your life.

Here are three tips on being successful:

Create a Vision of Yourself

Having a vision is the first and most critical step of any successful plan. Create a vision of what you intend to do. Write down how you want to see yourself 1 year from now. Think about how your life will look. Having a vision will help you focus on what you want to achieve.

Take up Good Habits and Break Unproductive Habits

Always read and learn about the world around you. Think an opportunity through and do not be impulsive when an opportunity presents itself. Eat well and exercise. After all everything you do starts from within. Be in good health and don’t take your good health for granted. Add fitness to your life. Learn to handle distractions as there will plenty of distractions to address. Don’t use distractions as an excuse to fail.

Enjoy the Chase

Enjoy your road to success. The path will be filled with adversity. Keep your sense of humor because you may experience very tough challenges along the way. Be responsible, try and control your time by being as effective as possible.

Remember success is not free and it does take sacrifice. The price you pay is time and effort. Success is hard but rewarding (even during the chase for success). To be successful you have to work hard, educate yourself and maybe have a little luck on your side.

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?

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.

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• Dan Solin: Is Your Broker Smarter Than….Cerberus? (huffingtonpost.com)

Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by 49-year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle has been a prominent Cerberus spokesperson and runs one of its international units.

Founded in 1992, Cerberus is named for the mythological three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades. Feinberg has stated to his employees that while the Cerberus name seemed like a good idea at the time, he later regretted naming the company after the mythological dog.^[1]

The company has been a very active acquirer of businesses over the past several years and now has sizable investments in automotive, sportswear, paper products, military services, real estate, energy, retail, glassmaking, transportation, and building products.