Global Digital Store – Ebooks and Softwares

Category: Business

  • Trading Psychology – The Number One Goal-Setting Mistake Traders Make in Trading

    Trading Psychology – The Number One Goal-Setting Mistake Traders Make in Trading

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    The number one goal-setting mistake traders make is setting goals related to money. Active traders will often tell me that they have a goal of making X-dollars a day or X-points a day. That's just not a good way to structure a goal.

    Trading Goals Related to Money

    What happens when the market trades in a very narrow range? Typically, price movement will remain within the first hour's range throughout the day. That range might only be 5 or 6 points – too narrow to offer much trading opportunity. It is very difficult to make money on such narrow range days.

    So, if you goal was to make X dollars a day how do you do that on a narrow range day? Since it is nearly impossible to make good trades on such a day, you would have failed to achieve your goal. And, if you couldn't read that the market has narrowed its range and instead tried to reach your money goal, you would have likely been trying to trade at every little turn and wound up over trading a choppy, range-bound day. At best your money goal had set you up for failure because you couldn't achieve it. Worse, your money goal caused you to force trades in a choppy market, and maybe you lost money. Goals that promote failure, poor trading habits, and losses are not useful goals.

    A Better Trading Goal

    A better goal focuses on your development as a trader. It will help you improve your trading knowledge, skills, or abilities. Rather than thinking about money, think instead about the process of trading. The process of trading simply refers to the skillful actions a trader takes in trading effectively. A useful question to ask is:

    What trading process, if I were to improve and develop in this area, would add to my ability as a trader?

    Example of a Better Trading Goal

    An example will help to illustrate how to do this. Let's say you want to improve your ability in trading trends. You have done a self-assessment of your trading on trending days and find that your greatest limitation is that you tend to counter trade the trend. A simple solution might be to notice whether the market is moving with momentum and making higher lows and higher highs (for a bullish trend). A useful process goal then becomes:

    Prior to taking a trade that fades a move, I will assess whether the market is moving with momentum and making higher highs and higher lows. If it is trending, I will not take the trade. I will execute this process on at least 85% of all trades considered over the next 20 trading days.

    Note that this goal is useful because it builds skills and ability in assessing market movement. It also keeps the trader from taking poor quality trades. The next step for this trader would be to develop a goal to execute trades consistent with the trend – again, a process goal.

    Trading goals should be designed to help you achieve. Goals related to money, points, or other 'stats' won't help you do that. Work on trading goals that are related to achievement by helping you to develop your trading skills.

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    Source by Gary Dayton, Psy.

    Views: 0

  • Saving Money and Heating the Home

    Saving Money and Heating the Home

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    Using Solar Heating costs can get expensive when the weather is cold, making it imperative to find ways to save money on heating your residence. Solar panels are used to collect energy from the sun and transform it into electricity that can be used throughout your home. This same solar energy technology can be used to heat your home.

    Heat collectors, or solar thermal systems, work similarly to solar power cells, except they absorb heat as well as light that is generated by the sun and uses it to heat the air or a liquid. This heated air or liquid is then used to transfer heat into your home. You have many options that allow you to enjoy a warm home and save money on gas and heating costs with solar energy.

    Passive Solar heating is highly effective on large windows that face south, allowing sunlight to stream into your home. Solar light and warmth are absorbed by the floors, walls, or any containers or dark-coloured items. When this warmth is absorbed, it raises the temperature in the home by several degrees. Since hot air rises, heat will spread through the entire home quite efficiently.

    Active Solar

    With active heating using solar energy, heat collectors that contain liquids or air will be used to collect heat from the sun. This warmth is stored much like solar panels store energy in their batteries. When you want to heat the home, the heated air is used to send warmth throughout the house or just individual rooms, depending on the system you have installed. Using liquids, the home is heated using a pump that allows the liquid to be moved though pipes in your home, bringing warmth.

    Liquid Active Solar using liquids requires pipes or tubing, a radiant slab system, to be installed underneath the floors or in the walls of your residence. To heat your home, the liquid is heated, and the warmth radiates from the pipes, causing temperature to increase. Other methods of heating the home, such as furnaces and hot water radiators, use stored hot water to provide heat in rooms. When using liquid active solar heat, water can be heated as well – saving you a ton of money.

    Combination Solar & Geothermal

    Solar collectors absorb warmth from the sun and store it to be used to heat the air, or even the water, in your home. Warmth can also be collected due to geothermal heating systems. These systems require water pipes to be installed near your home underneath the ground. They connect to heat pumps, transferring warm water from the ground so that it can be used in the home. Pairing geothermal systems and other solar heating methods can increase efficiency in areas with extreme cold or long periods with little sunlight.

    When it comes to solar power, there is no end to what can be accomplished. Not only can you save money heating your home with solar energy, you can heat water as well.

    For more information about solar energy and solar panels please check out these links.

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    Source by Edmund Brunetti

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  • Customer Satisfaction Management

    Customer Satisfaction Management

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    General understanding of consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is the result of differences between consumer expectations and performance perceived by consumers. From the various definitions of consumer satisfaction that have been researched and defined by marketing experts, it can be concluded that customer satisfaction is a behavior response consumer in the form of after-purchase evaluation of an item or service that they feel (product performance) compared to consumer expectations.Consumer satisfaction is very dependent on the perceptions and expectations of consumers themselves. Factors that influence consumers’ perceptions and expectations when making purchases of goods or services are needs and desires felt by consumers when making purchases of goods or services, past experiences when consuming these goods or services and experiences of friends who have consume these goods or services and advertising.In a competitive environment, an indicator that can show customer satisfaction is whether the consumer will buy back and use the product in the future.

    Customer needs are fulfilled is one of the factors forming Customer Satisfaction (Customer Satisfaction), in addition to other factors related to Customer Service. And this customer satisfaction is what we need to ensure the continuity of our business. Aspects that can affect customer satisfaction effectively [13], namely:

    1. Warranty costs. Several companies deal with the warranty costs of their products / services through a percentage of sales. The company’s failure to give satisfaction to customers is usually because the company does not provide guarantees for the products they sell to customers.

    2. Handling of complaints from customers. Statistically this is important to note, but it is often too late for companies to realize it. If complaints / claims from customers are not immediately resolved, customer defections cannot be prevented.

    3. Market Share. It is a matter that must be measured and related to company performance. If the market share is measured, then the quantity is measured, not the quality of the company’s service.

    4. Costs of poor quality. This can be of satisfactory value if costs for customer defect can be estimated.

    5. Industry reports. There are many types and industry reports, as stated by J.D Power in Bhote, which is the report that is the fairest, most accurate, and most eagerly made by the company.Guiltinan [14] argues that one of the benefits of customer satisfaction is that it can increase customer loyalty, as shown in the figure below

    Customer satisfaction is an emotional response to the evaluation of the consumption experience of a product or service. Kotler defines customer satisfaction as the level of one’s feelings after comparing the performance (or results) that he feels compared to his expectations (Kotler, Philip, and Garry Armstrong, 2005). Basically, customer satisfaction includes the difference between expectations and performance or the results obtained.

    According to Kotler [1], satisfaction is feeling happy or disappointed someone who appears after comparing between perceptions or impressions of the performance or results of a product and expectations. So, satisfaction is a function of perception or impression of performance and hope. If the performance is below expectations, the customer is not satisfied. If the performance meets expectations, the customer will be satisfied. If the performance exceeds expectations, the customer will be very satisfied or happy. The key to generating customer loyalty is to provide high customer value.The relationship between customer satisfaction and loyal customers is disproportionate [2], for example, customer satisfaction is ranked on a 1-5 scale, namely:

    1. Customer satisfaction at a very low level (level 1), most likely customers will move away from the company and speak ill of it.

    2. Customer satisfaction at level 2 to level 4, customers feel somewhat satisfied, but it is still possible to move when a better offer appears.

    3. Customer satisfaction at level 5, customers are very likely to buy back and even disseminate good news about the company.

    High satisfaction or satisfaction creates an emotional bond with the brand or company and is not only fixated on reasonable choices.While satisfaction according to Kotler and Armstrong (2001: 9): Consumer satisfaction is the extent to which the assumption of product performance meets the expectations of buyers. If the product’s performance is lower than the customer’s expectations, the buyer is satisfied or very happy. According to Zeithaml and Bitner (2000: 75) the definition of satisfaction is: Consumer response or response regarding fulfillment of needs. Satisfaction is an assessment of the features or features of a product or service, or the product itself, which provides the level of consumer pleasure related to meeting consumer consumption needs. Consumer satisfaction can be created through quality, service and value.

    Customer expectations are believed to have a large role in evaluating product quality (goods and services) and customer satisfaction. Customer expectations basically have a close relationship between determining quality and customer satisfaction. Customer expectation always exists because of four things (Kertajaya, 2004):

    1. Individual Need or individual needs

    If your customer already has high demands, then his expectations are definitely high too.

    1. Word of Mouth

    Customers can have certain expectations because of other people’s stories. Other people’s stories are often seen as references.

    1. Past experience or past experience

    People who already have good experience in the past will be able to receive services at least the same as they used to be. If not, he will be disappointed.

    1. External communication or external communication

    It is an attempt by the company to promise something to customers in order to attract customers.

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    Source by Yufi Priyo

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  • How to Take Amazing Photos for Instagram As a Digital Marketer

    How to Take Amazing Photos for Instagram As a Digital Marketer

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    Instagram has recently grown to become even larger than Twitter. This clearly indicates what an amazing opportunity the site represents for marketers, especially those with something very physical to sell.

    But still you'll find that a lot of businesses are reluctant to invest much time or money into the site. Why is that? Often it comes down to confusion over what type of content they should be creating and what type of content does well on the site.

    How to Take Great Photos

    Apart from anything else, success on Instagram often comes down to knowing how to take great photos. Instagram is an arty app that's all about showing the beauty in everyday life.

    As a business, this means showing the beauty in your product or in your niche.

    To do that, you need to start thinking of composition in your photos and of how a photograph can potentially tell a story.

    How can a photo tell a story? An example might be to show an empty wine glass with a lipstick mark around the edge and a fire burning just out of focus in the background. Perhaps feet lingering in a doorway. This tells the story of a romantic night that has just come to an end and people are free to imagine the details of that night.

    Likewise, a photo of a gym kit discarded on the ground next to a protein shaker, suggests a workout. Maybe there are headphones here too and maybe there are muddy trainers, showing that it was a run in the rain. The caption might be something like 'No Excuses' , from which we can infer that even on rainy days, we should still be working out.

    If you're selling trainers, or a brand of wine, these pictures are far more effective than simply showing the products themselves – as they put your product in context and they 'show the lifestyle'.

    Show the Lifestyle

    When you sell a product, you are really always selling a 'value proposition'. In other words, you are selling the lifestyle or the improvement that your product promises. You don't sell fat-free yogurt … you sell abs!

    Understanding this distinction is very important for marketing because it should be the value proposition that really gets your audience excited – rather than the product itself.

    Likewise, people like seeing pictures that create some kind of emotional response.

    Think of this and start framing your shots in more interesting ways that infer rather than tell, and you will start to gain traction on Instagram.

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    Source by Olla Boluwatife Joseph

    Views: 0

  • Entrepreneurship Ideas

    Entrepreneurship Ideas

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    The world is full of need. Need is the foundation of business. Ergo, the world is full business opportunities. This analogy is true being that products and services are generally created to respond to a given social requirement. Food, shelter, security, comfort, entertainment – these are needs commonly recognized and catered by experienced entrepreneurs. This is probably the reason why there is an abundance of restaurants, convenience stores, rental apartments and townhouses, security agencies, spas and clubs in communities around the world. If you are a first time entrepreneur who wants to penetrate the business world, you have got to tap innovative entrepreneurship ideas. Otherwise, you’ll just be drowned out by senior competitors.

    Many of those the established entrepreneurs we have today made their mark in the industry with unique businesses thoughts. They even sought to address needs which were not that recognized by people. Socialization and information are human desires that have given some ingenious individuals access to the big bucks. Facebook and YouTube are ground-breaking entrepreneurship ideas, made real, that dared to redefine the concept of modern entrepreneurship.

    Honestly, it’s hard to top what these young industrialists have achieved. But aspiring businessmen need not feel discouraged about losing out. Here are some creative business proposals that might just get you that free slot with the big shots.

    1. Search Engine Optimization and Web Design
    Given the popularity of the use of the internet and the emergence of online businesses that wish to hit it big in search engines, these services are bound to be profitable. It can be done on a project basis so you don’t have to be committed to something long term. You can even keep another job while running such a business. Moreover, resources for SEO and web design are 50% free and the tools you use for it can be paid by monthly basis. Downside is you have to learn. Search engine optimization and web design aren’t complicated. But they will require some time investment in the beginning. What some start up entrepreneurs do is act as middle men for SEO and web design requests and outsource the tasks to cheap but capable Filipino or Indian specialists.

    2. Deliver Anything Service
    People are very busy nowadays and have hardly enough time to run errands. Running a deliver anything service is gainful considering that you would be able to cater to a large market with basically the same need – fast, efficient delivery of goods. You can be contracted by a studio owner who wants to deliver an important footage to a television station in another side of town; or a mother who wants to get her son’s lunchbox to him while he’s in school in one hour or less; or a businessman who wants to get a gift sent to a client living in another city within the day. The downsides are: it will require a hefty sum of capital and that you have established competitors known as the internet and couriers. Information sharing is fast and cheaper via emails and collaborative folders. And couriers basically give the same service. You’re only advantage is you are not fickle with what deliveries you make.

    3. Events Organization
    This is a fun business and it will challenge all aspects of your being an entrepreneur, from marketing to planning to budgeting and execution. You can cater to weddings, corporate parties, birthdays, baptisms etc. You will be able to widen your network as you pursue this service. And unlike the previous entrepreneurship ideas, YOU WILL NOT BE INVESTING ANY CAPITAL. You just got to establish a reputation and exert effort. You can start small. Start with friend. Get his/her money, spend it wisely and secure a high level of satisfaction. Marketing is basic word-of-mouth. If you do well, you will have a hoard of fans in no time.

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    Source by Greg Peter Candelario

    Views: 0

  • Naval Architect As Entrepreneur

    Naval Architect As Entrepreneur

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    These days a lot of Naval Architects are leaving well paying jobs to start their own entrepreneurial ventures. In this article, I will be exploring the minimal requirements required by a Naval Architect to start his own entrepreneurial venture.

    Different Avenues for a Naval Architect as an Entrepreneur

    i). Start their own Shipyard/ Ship Repair Yard

    ii). Start your Design firm

    iii). Start a Naval Architectural Consultancy

    Starting one’s own shipyard / repair yard will be beyond the means of a majority of wannabe entrepreneurs because of the large amount of capital involved. I will not discuss this topic, any further.

    Start your own Design Firm

    A Naval Architect, by profession is a designer. Design is his bread and butter and hence setting up a design firm will not be all that difficult for a wannabe entrepreneur. Let us see one by one, the minimal requirements for setting up a firm. I will not go into the business plans and cash flows required to set up a design firm as there are lot of books / articles in the net covering the same.

    i). Knowledge Base: A thorough knowledge in the inside-out of Naval Architecture touching all aspects of Naval Architecture. These include (but might not cover everything) Lines Plan, Hydrostatics, Stability, Initial Weight & Volume design, weight estimation, volume estimation, Resistance, Propulsion, Ship Structure, Sea keeping and Maneuvering. This knowledge base can be you yourself, and if you feel that you want to augment your intellectual base, then you can hire naval architects to work for you. If you are a One Man Army, then your costs for maintaining the Knowledge base will be restricted to the books and journals you subscribe to, to keep yourself updated. If you are employing Naval Architects, then you have to factor in their costs too. However if you are stating out as an Entrepreneur, then I am confident that your knowledge base will be sufficient to set you up, in the initial stages. Later on, once your business picks up, you can augment your manpower.

    ii). Office for Hiring: You should have an office space to set up your Naval Architectural Firm. The Office is to have 1-2 rooms, covering a floor area of approximately 1000-1200 sqft. The costs will depend on the area where you have chosen to hire your office.

    iii). Softwares; In the initial days, all the Naval Architectural calculations were done manually or at the most, by using Slide Rules and Logarithmic tables. However, with the advent of computers, things have changed. Nowadays sophisticated softwares are there to cater to each and every aspect of Naval Architectural calculations. These softwares start with the concept design and evolve on to full design at the workshop level stage. However these proprietary softwares are very costly as they are not mass produced to cater to millions of users. A single license can cost up to a million dollars. This will make it out of reach for most of the budding Naval Architects. However, if one does have the resources, then go for it. Some of the proprietary softwares used in the Ship Design field are TRIBON, AUTOKON & SHIPCONSTRUCTOR.

    However these days, with the advent of Open Source Software and freeware, one can get almost all the functionalities of proprietary softwares in these OSS and free softwares, though may be not, all in one.

    For drafting of lines plan, one can go for AUTOCAD. A single license, costs anywhere between 1000-1500 US$. However, these days there are excellent freeware drafting softwares, which one can use. I recommend FREESHIP, an excellent software with all the drafting and graphic functionalities of a Proprietary software.

    For Hydrostatic calculations and detailed stability calculations, one can go for MS EXCEL or Open Office spreadsheet. With the help of these spreadsheets one can do the calculations for Hydrostatics, Stability, Resistance (Based on various empirical formulae) and even propulsion calculations.

    I will talk about other free open source softwares in another article. Let me summarize the gist of my argument here.

    The softwares to set up a Ship Design Consultancy Firm are now freely available as Open Source Software. If at all, some calculations have to be carried out, which are not catered for, by these softwares, one can always go for Spreadsheet applications using Open Office or other similar Open Source products.

    iv). Other Overheads: Includes office furniture, stationary, etc.

    Starting your own Consultancy Firm

    A Naval Architect is a jack of all trades. His field encompasses a host of other fields like Mechanical Engineering, Architecture, Interior Designing, Chemical Engineering, Corrosion, Welding Technology, Software writing skills, Project Management, Hydrodynamics, Ocean & Offshore Structures, to name only a few.

    He can offer consultancy in a wide range of subjects.

    i). Initial Concept design which includes Sizing, Hydrostatics & Stability, Resistance & Propulsion, Initial estimates of weight.

    ii). Propeller-Engine Matching

    iii). Boat/Ferry design

    iv). Propeller Design

    v). Structural Calculations/ Buckling Calculations

    vi). Computational Fluid Dynamics

    vii). Finite Element Analysis

    viii). Offshore structures

    ix). Submarine cables and piping design

    x). Resistance calculations

    xi). Maneuvering calculations

    xii). Seakeeping Calculations

    xiii). Welding & Corrosion related consultancy

    xiv). Many others which cannot be detailed down

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    Source by Candice Gillifaasi

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  • Digital Marketing Course Opening New Horizons of Success in Marketing

    Digital Marketing Course Opening New Horizons of Success in Marketing

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    Why go for a digital marketing course?

    Money is rapidly being drained away from conventional marketing towards digital platforms, and, with that, the need for marketing professionals to get well-versed with digital techniques and analytical fundamentals has also increased.

    What one will learn in Digital marketing course?

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is becoming a critical channel for marketing and helps in boosting your websites rank by fetching more traffic with keyword management, on- and off-page optimization, URL building, link building and many more of such facet. Students will be given a chance to do so on the WordPress site by using Yoast SEO plug-in.

    Social media marketing: A social media campaigning strategy for a product or service is crafted and implemented on different platforms like Facebook and YouTube. Further, the success of the strategy amongst targeted audience is analyzed for conversion rate and amplification. It also gives an insight into how social media can play a critical role in brand building and if likes on social media really help in improving sales.

    Web analytics: This part provides a chance to deal with real data in order to authenticate or confirm the hypotheses is real for any e-commerce store. Google analytics tool is quite handy and proved its value over time and, therefore, is the most used tool. Students can download the mobile application of Google Analytics for getting well- versed with the same.

    Online advertisements: This gives an opportunity to get glibness in paid platforms on internet such as Google AdWords, Facebook Ads and YouTube Ads to target the potential buyers, figure out the acquisition cost and campaigning costs. A spreadsheet is prepared to evaluate the profit margins and thoroughly compare the cost-per-click with average order price and customer lifetime value.

    Data visualization: This segment deals with converting raw data into useful information for crafting dashboards to help the stakeholders remain updated with important figures and changes in them over time.

    Opportunity to work with real e-commerce companies: Institutes invite designers, campaign strategists, and expert marketers to deliver special lectures on various topics like pros and cons of different marketing tools, email marketing, online network building, search engine optimization, user experience designing and mobile marketing etc. Students also get an opportunity to deal with these tools first hand by doing group as well as solo projects and building their personal website in WordPress. They are also made to work with e-commerce companies in real-time once they are well equipped with the knowledge of various facets of digital marketing.

    Career prospects after the course

    Students after clearing various exams conducted from time to time get a firm grasp on all tactics of digital marketing, various tools and resources that are available. They are also provided with quality placement assistance. It is one of the highest paid departments in any company. You have an option to work as a freelancer or get associated with companies and work in a more organized environment. Following are the posts available for marketing graduates with specialization in digital marketing:

    • Digital marketing manager
    • Content marketing manager
    • Social media marketing specialist
    • SEO executives
    • Copywriters
    • Content writers
    • Conversion rate optimizers
    • Search engine marketers
    • Inbound marketing experts

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    Source by Shalini M

    Views: 0

  • MLM Success – Is Your Content Valuable, or a Waste of Web Space?

    MLM Success – Is Your Content Valuable, or a Waste of Web Space?

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    If you're looking to create MLM success, which I know you are … then there's one thing that you better make sure of.

    That one thing is that you're putting out great content.

    Now what do I mean when I say great content? You see there's only one secret to great content and that's that the content is valuable. When content is valuable it simply means that your readers will be able to use that content and make some sort of use of it.

    If your MLM success is dependent on you having valuable content, what are some of the ways that you can ensure that your content is usable by your readers.

    Here are 3 Ways to Create MLM Success by Making Your Content Valuable and Usable

    First … Give Tips That Are Immediately Useful – If you give your readers a tip that they can use today, to see some success, then they're going to look at you as someone that they want to know more about and work with .

    Of course, this assumes that you're marketing to people who are already in the home business arena. This is a huge way to bring some heavy hitters into your downline, simply by showing them that you too are serious and know what you're talking about.

    This also brings the people who are looking for mentorship into your downline. These are the people who have put their faith in another sponsor with another business with high hopes, only to find out that this sponsor knew little more than they did about creating MLM success for themselves.

    So, putting out great content that people can use pronto will grab these people and have then knocking down your door to join you and your business opportunity.

    Second … Be Inspiring – Creating inspiration will go a long way in creating raving fans that want to work with you. This is because we're all dying to be inspired. We read books that inspire us, we buy posters with inspiring quotes, we watch inspiring movies over and over again, basically we'll walk over hot coals for inspiration.

    If you're the one providing that inspiration then you're going to win a lot of friends and well … influence a lot of people to steal the title of the great book.

    Inspiring people means giving them a kick in the pants to get them to act. Helping them see the reasons and the ways to reach their goals, and achieve their dreams. When they're inspired they'll be looking for your mentorship to get them closer and closer … and in the situation of MLM success, or home business success this means very likely joining your MLM business opportunity.

    Third … Be Entertaining – Sure, people want inspiration and they want great tips, but what they also really want is to be entertained. The proof is simply looking at movie sales, music sales, sports stadium seating, concert halls, Broadway, and television. People want to be entertained, and so if you can provide that entertainment along with the two points above, then you've got yourself a heck of a captivated audience.

    This means an audience captivated by your voice.

    So, as you can see, creating MLM success isn't that difficult as long as you're creating valuable content that people flock to … and now you know exactly how to do that.

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    Source by David L. Feinstein

    Views: 0

  • New Book Removes Fear From Sales With Practical, Easy-To-Implement Techniques

    New Book Removes Fear From Sales With Practical, Easy-To-Implement Techniques

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    As a small business owner, I found Greg Andersen's Small Business Sales, WTF (Without the Fear) full of practical advice, new ideas, and down-to-earth common sense to help me rethink my sales approaches. Andersen has been in sales for many years in the printing business, but the advice he offers is applicable to anyone in sales, especially small business owners who may be wearing all the hats themselves or unable to focus on sales because they're too busy looking after everything else.

    Small Business Sales, WTF is divided into two sections: Pre-Sales Planning, in which Andersen discusses products, going to market with products, creating a sales environment, and then The Sales Process, in which he explores how to find customers, make contact , get the opportunity to sell to the customer, execute the sale, and then follow up with and retain the customer long-term. Andersen walks readers through each step of the sales process, providing practical and personal examples of what has worked for him that readers can easily model or put their own spins on.

    Andersen writes in a humorous but tell-it-like-it-is style to dismiss myths about the sales process and cut through sales jargon to get to what the reader really needs to know. For example, early in the book, he has a list of "Words / Phrases you will not hear in my book." Among the phrases included is "Belly-to-Belly" to which he responds, "Gross. How about face-to-face." Another phrase is "Low Hanging Fruit," which he says does not really exist, and still another is "Hook," which he finds insulting because it assumes customers are suckers or fish. Instead, Andersen prefers to treat his customers like human beings and rather than "close the sale" come to an "agreement" between two parties who trust and respect each other.

    For most people, sales can have a bad name. No one likes being sold to, and people who reluctantly take on a sales role are aware of that and often fearful of selling. Andersen teaches readers how to remove the fear of sales by rethinking what sales really is. Most people dread the "cold call," so Andersen talks about instead viewing sales as "demand generation." It's about looking for where there is a demand for your services and then providing the product or service to fulfill that demand. It's also about listening to customers.

    Andersen states: "When all is said and done, only a few methods of outreach will really get you in contact with a prospective new customer-the phone, letter writing, a trade show, and email. What really counts is the technique you employ . " He then provides creative examples of how to handle sales through each of these approaches, as well as discussing social media as a sales strategy. His examples are drawn from personal experiences, from his days as a shoe salesman at Nordstrom to his current sales role in the printing industry. Best of all, he even includes copies of letters he has sent to clients. His techniques are simple and straightforward, so anyone, no matter how scared of sales, can implement them.

    Of course, there will be difficult clients or people who don't want to hear how you can help them. Andersen provides strategies for getting past the gatekeepers to the decision makers. He reveals his research techniques, which are quite clever and even include looking at prospective customers' job postings to determine who in a company is or will be in a buyer position for his product.

    When facing resistance from a potential client, Andersen realizes it's not always about him, his approach, or his product. I loved the following invaluable point he made: "Another way I like to approach these challenging situations is to remind myself that all these excuses mean the customer is probably protecting his current vendor. If he is being loyal to his current vendor, some day he will be loyal to me. Stay positive. " Personally, I know this is true as a business owner. If I have a vendor providing me with a good service at a good price, I feel loyal to that vendor and am not willing to change. Such clients may be resistant to change, but they are the ones you want because they are loyal. Andersen shows how persistence pays off in these situations. Sometimes he makes contact with customers who are not in need of his services right then, but years later, he secures business with them, and even if at first he doesn't get the level of business he wants, they often will give him some business as a trial and then he can work his way in to larger sales with them.

    Perhaps what I liked most about Andersen's approaches is that he truly believes in being responsive to clients. I cannot stress enough how frustrated I feel when I send an email to someone who does not reply to me for several days. I am personally always very responsive to my clients and usually reply within hours if not minutes. Andersen points out that even if you don't have an answer to a client's problem or you can't take the time to respond to a question at that moment, a simple response like, "I'm on it," lets clients know you will get back to them and then they can quit worrying about their problem and go on to the next item on their to-do list until you do get back to them. In other words, Andersen is always in favor of reassuring the client that you will do what you say and provide reliable and quality service.

    Altogether, Small Business Sales, WTF does take a lot of the fear and stress out of sales. I believe most readers will be pleasantly surprised by this book; they'll read Andersen's stories and examples and say to themselves, "I can do that," and even find ideas of their own popping into their heads as they build off of Andersen's advice. Whether you are a small business owner with absolutely no sales experience, are just starting out in sales, or have been in sales for years, there are plenty of nuggets of advice here that can make your sales process easier, more lucrative, and all around more enjoyable.

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    Source by Tyler Tichelaar

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