Is it Your Idea?
Every business needs sales. They need someone who will buy whatever it is they produce or whatever service they provide. And if you want to successfully take your idea to $$$$s, you need to find someone who can sell your product or service or you need to sell it 
yourself.
Different ways of getting $$$$s
- Promotion or as many people describe it marketing. Unless you promote your idea by some form of advertising, article, direct contact or flag waving, no one will know you exist. This includes blogging (all forms), article writing, interviews and any other form of getting the word out to the wider world. And if no one sells your product or service, if no one talks about your product or service, NO $$$$s will be made.
- Get others to promote or sell your product or service. This is what the big guys do. Coke Cola sells to retailers, restaurants and other outlets their product and those places then on-sell to the consumer. Sony, Sanyo, Toyota and all the major manufacturers have thousands of sales people around the world selling their product to the end user. MLM and network marketing companies get lots of people to buy into their program and sell it to others. Franchise operations get others to sell their wares according to their manual.
What can you count on?
One of the many challenges for every business owner is to convince others to sell their product too, as well or instead of their own.
If you look at someone who offers you affiliate programs, a franchise, a PLR what you are looking at is a business owner who wants a sales man. And unless you sell their program neither one of you can make money. The difference though is that they may have “hundreds or thousands of you” in the market and a few are keen to sell their product for them.
You can only count on yourself but if sales is a weak area for you then you need to find people to sell for you. And recognize that the incentive for them to do it has to be good otherwise, why should they.
And why will they sell your product? Because they know people who need your product. They know people who will buy and if they are not willing to buy, they will find another product. They want an easy job of selling.
BUT – does what does that mean for your idea?
If you are selling other people’s ideas, you are NOT selling your own.
Yes you can make dollars but are those dollars certain. What happens if the company goes out of business? What happens if for some reason they stop paying you? What happens if suddenly negative press means prospects stop buying.
Think for a moment of instances, you know either personally or anecdotally, when payment or sales dropped because of some external reason.
Your idea works when you prepare, plan and execute a strategy.
Your plan may be to sell someone else s product or service and if it is that is good. If you are creating your own eBook, information pack or course or service then you need to understand that SOMEONE needs to sell it.
- Someone needs to do the promotion, the follow-up and get the money in and deliver. They need to set performance criteria.
- Someone needs to talk to people and convince them that they wants your idea and get them to part with the $$$$s. They need to know what to say, how to represent you and how to collect the money
- Someone needs to write articles, blogs, website, promotional materials and then someone needs to follow-up. And all of this comes with lots of performance criteria and measurability.
Having the idea without the strategy, key performance indicators, the prospects, and the sales channel (which includes delivery) will never ever, ever result in you earning $$$$s.
If you need help with the strategy, the systems or the promotion, remember that is our area of experience and you can sign up for the webinars, forum or mentoring to help you turn your ideas into $$$$s.
To your success
Roberta Budvietas
Researching Expectations for 2013
On going research is essential for any business to succeed. Today would you please answer 8 simple questions that will allow me to develop materials and blogs to help you more effectively. The survey is here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/62YM3QN.
Your expectations in life and business often dictate how you respond to your environment and the events that happen. In life this can affect things like:
- Relationships
- Career
- Children
- Where you live
- How you live
In business your expectations can affect:
- your cashflow
- how you deal with clients
- your sustainability
- how you run your “business”
If you expect your clients will have problems with your price or service, they often do.
If you think of your business as a way to keep you busy then it does.
If you expect to grow each year and find new opportunities you will but if you buy into the dire economic woes that sell media, then you can struggle and feel challenged.
So what are your expectations. Please take a moment to fill in the survey and remember that if you want help to grow your business this year, a mentor can make the difference between same old same, old and expecting more.
Take you ideas to $$$$s in 2013 and have fun, earn funds and be fit.
Roberta
Community Is Key
Why does community matter to businesses success?
There are several reasons but the biggest one relates to trust. We trust experts. We trust friends. We trust those who are in our circles of influence. And our circles are communities.
Have you observed that communities who experience a common event – an earthquake, a riot, a parade or a festival, react in a similar way for a time. The event brings people together in either joy or misery. While most events are only for a short time, a community attitude grows over time.
There are many studies that look at how a community attitude affects a workplace and success and how the way we perceive community affects our business
The other day I was working with a unique business whose owners were very tired. Their business was flagging and systems and processes that they once had in place were no longer being used. One of the two owners was concerned that they would miss out on opportunities if they made a statement about who they were. Now in the same community, another business owner was thriving because their attitude was to lead the pack and create something different.
How to use Community for your business
Every marketing book says find a need but if you only look at the individual you miss the real need – the community need. NLP teaches about our need for connection and separation but my perceptions says that separation is only comfortable if first you are connected. When you belong to a community, you can then afford to be different.
To succeed in business find the community need and then you can find the personal need.
For example, in education, the community needs certain skills – doctors, lawyers, social workers, political scientists, engineers, scientists, poets, IT specialists, refuse collectors etc. But on an individual level, the schools appeal to the nature of a person to study a certain set of subjects.
In health care, the community needs healthy people – accident free, disease free and mentally alert and yet everything the conventional and alternate medical fields deal with is problems, dis-ease, disaster, cancers and other growths that consume communities of people. Allergies, autism, depression, stress are identified every day by professionals and patients and the need that each “medical professional” attempts to meet is to cure or circumvent the “problem”.
The experts talk about building lists and affiliates to help you spread the word through their community. But the other day a colleague told me that engaged community was the secret to his success. And engaged communities mean people interacting with each other and the practitioner or business owner.
It means that collaboration and co-operation are becoming more essential for business survival.
We all know the saying - birds of a feather flock together but have you thought about who you have in your community?
And what are the community needs where your business is operating?
Are you trying to meet individual needs or the community needs?
Are you hanging out in a community of your peers or the community of your prospects?
Sometimes your peers will become clients but often your peers will see you as competition first and then only later as the source of assistance.
One last word on Community (for today)
Take a look at the community of the churches, the Network marketing companies, the cults and the country clubs. Can you see what they have in common?
Let me know in the comments about the communities you belong to and please share this blog with your community and see what they think.
Thanks for communing
Roberta Budvietas
What is About, about?
http://about.me/Robertabud
What is the about page on your website about?
About means many things – a story, an approximation or almost doing something
Your Website About Page
I was listening to David Risley describe the about page as a sales page. He said that your page should have 5 key areas:
- Your Elevator Pitch – or unique selling pitch
- The benefits of you and your blog or service
- An opt in for more info
- Your story written from the point of what is in it for your clients rather than you were born, went to school and worked with …”yadda, yadda”
- Your opt in again
BUT is It?
Your about page should be about you but from the clients point of view.
It is about WIIFM – what you can do for them.
It is about starting the relationship and giving them a reason to come back yet again to learn more.
What do you want to see when you look at an about page. I know that the last thing I want is a sales page. I want to know that the person has the attitude, the ability and the passion to help me. I want to know that the person has some experience that says that maybe they have the knowledge to help me. And if they are using energy or spiritual means, then I want to know that they are genuine people rather than con artists.
What are QUALIFICATIONS about?
Qualifications used to show that you studied the lore and wisdom of past people who studied and learned from their predecessors. You gained a qualification because you could demonstrate in an examination or practice that you had retained the information you were taught and could apply it in the exam environment.
Now we could discuss what has happened with qualifications or how many people just memorize massive information and regurgitate it without understanding but that is another topic for another blog. In this one I want you to consider that qualifications mean that the person went to some course somewhere, spent time learning the topic and then was assessed on that learning. How much they learned, how well they can apply it or how much they understand the subject is immaterial to the achievement of the qualification. They had a piece of paper given by some school or organization that says they know something about the topic. Some dues have been paid somehow.
What are Skills about?
A skill is the ability to do. The only proof that a skill exists is that there is evidence in terms of a tangible thing or an outcome. Skills have evidence of performance and can be verified by many different people rather than just the organization handing out a qualification.
What is experience?
Experience just proves that somewhere along the line, you convinced someone to employ you to do something and for a specific amount of time, you performed the tasks required by that job. Now sometimes that means doing the same job over and over again. Sometimes, the experience is constantly changing and the person could be seen as unfocused or unstable. But experience is about learning and applying what we learn. Experience shows that you got the qualification, applied the skills and someone else valued these and paid you money to do a job for them.
The value of the experience is always subjective but easily verified if the right questions are asked by others.
What’s It all about?
But your about page is about your experience, your skills and your qualifications but is also about reassuring your visitor that you are the person that they can deal with to help them. When a potential client reads your about page, they want to know WIIFM but more importantly they want some assurance that if they pay you money to help them they will get the help they want.
What are you about?
In the comment box, you have an opportunity to tell the readers what you are about and also to think about what you offer as evidence that you can help others.
And please share with others so that people think about the about page.
To your success
Roberta Budvietas
We have met the enemy and the enemy is our apathy
Are we drowning in a sea of apathy and if we are how do we get out of it?
Apathy displays itself as not giving a damn. It displays itself as indifference, hopelessness and why should I bother. Apathy is the result of feeling helpless and powerless. We are drowning in a sea of apathy in our businesses, governance, education and daily life.
Apathy (Photo credit: Toban Black)
The ways that apathy shows itself include
- Lack of respect for each other and their property
- Increase suicide and depression
- Reality shows that show obnoxious behavior, abuse and bullying
- No service, caring or interest in the workplace
- Bullying both in person and cyber bullying
- Voting for the least offensive candidate because there is no one running who could do a good job
- Criticizing those who try to get the job done
- Ignoring the wrongs around you because you are afraid of being targeted or abused
Is there a solution to the apathy that is overwhelming the world and business?
Probably! But to solve this will require you to take a risk and commit to living today as if it was your last day on earth.
It takes doing your best every moment of every day with whatever tools you have available regardless of what the challenge is.
It takes keeping your word and respecting both yourself and the person you committed to.
It takes a thick skin when people unknowingly or knowingly insult you. Remember most people are self-centered and only see things from their point of view.
It takes stopping jumping to conclusions about what people will say or do in the circumstances.
It takes never regretting your choices but accepting that did your best, kept your word and lived for today.
It takes living the 5 Agreements
Everyone Needs AAA but sometimes it takes a 2 by 4 to get out of the apathy
The three As are Acknowledgement, Acceptance and Appreciation and every human being needs these things every day. When used in your daily life and in business then we have the opportunity for 3 more As – Action, Achievement, Accomplishment.
Today will you be apathetic or will you fight apathy and acknowledge someone who is different, accept them as being perfectly them and appreciate the differences between you and them and the fact that you are both here on earth for a purpose?
In the comments share how today, you intend to fight your apathy. What will you do today to be the difference you want to see in the world?
To your success
Roberta Budvietas
Maven Connect
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Guest Blogging with Jon Morrow
