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If you own or run a business, the landscape, you may wonder how people bargain without the trouble or expense covers found to bring the advertising in the media. Here Landscaping Flyers in print as one of the most effective and economical methods of offline advertising coming today. Flyer printing services are not just for pizza restaurants and take the company, they can apply a variety of different areas of the company and areequally effective for each distributed properly.

Landscaping Brochure Printing is just one of many ways to use this advertising medium that you can really help customers find cheap and fast. Flyer will be distributed effectively in a variety of different options for your landscaping, and they benefit you can try out all these different distribution methods to find out what you need. It may even be that more than one methodis very effective for you.

First, try to direct mailing flyers landscaping your potential customers in your business. Make sure that all potential customers in the area you are traveling comfortably take any job. You should also make sure to do this regularly to not only keep your business fresh at the forefront of customers minds but also to ensure they have a copy of the landscape flyer on hand when they needit.

Next, do not forget from landscape flyers to customers when you have finished a job with them. This will ensure that when she and her landscaping job results are delighted they will certainly pass on your flyer to friends and family members.

You can also try to distribute your flyers, with many cafes and restaurants in your area. The question you always have to eat the owner before, but many establishments have a designated area for flyers to be placed bylocal companies. You can often find that people will have picked up a quick coffee break at a cafe and read a leaflet, as more than they do. This is also a method to reduce the leg work, but it should still be used in conjunction with direct-mailing, will be fully in place.

These are just some of the methods, the difference in distribution may be of interest to you and could be of great benefit for your landscape flyer distribution. Flyerdruck is always popularby many companies because it's so cheap, especially when ordering in bulk, and yet delivers incredible results to bring more customers and thus more revenue for every industry that uses, including landscaping.

When you start self-employed or looking for a new lawn care or landscaping business, landscaping Flyer considered as the most important advertising tool in your neighborhood. Flyer printing can enhance your business and really help to produce yourNew business with a bang with the right advertising and flyer design. Let everyone in your area that your new business around and the great deals have to provide them with the landscape Flyer.

http://diy-interiordesign.blogspot.com/ diygardennetwork.wordpress.com

The catering industry is competitive, and this market is filled with many “wanna bes,” how will your clients pick a great caterer, or how do you set your company apart from the others?  I’ll share some insight into our experiences.

We have been in the catering industry for over 8 years, but professionally for over 4 years.  Every year we see a growing number of repeat customers, and every year, despite a challenging economy, we have witness double digit growth in our catering sales and services.  Why?  What are we doing right?  Here is a four step process.

1.  Prioritize.  Every catering job, no matter its size, scope or menu is our top priority.  We want that customer to be satisfied yes, but truly, we want more than that.  We align our staff, services and menu in such a way for our client to give them what they seek.  Sometimes, it is helping them recognize just exactly what that is.  Our clients come to us for our expertise, and we seek never to fail them.  So we look at every catering job as an opportunity to showcase our talents, to market our company.

2.  Plan.  We work within a budget.  Whether or not our customers admit it, they have a budget.  Whether or not they fully realize what that is, they eventually pinpoint it.  The bottom line on budget is our client will at some point evaluate what they spent and what they received in exchange.  Our “product” MUST be viewed as valuable.  Did our customer get his money’s worth?

Here’s the rub.  It is our job to identify their budget.  Sometimes a customer will come straight out with their budget in dollars.  A lot of times they won’t.  Regardless, we must have a realm to work within, or all is lost.  Either the extra expense comes off our profit, or the client overspends, and they are never happy if that is their lot.  Asking questions is the quickest and most efficient manner to determine a budget.  I like to clarify what is most important to our clients.  Do they desire ease and convenience?  Is the quality and deliciousness of the food most important?  Those two areas of service are the most important aspects of identifying their budget.  Keep in mind, just because a client “wants” something, it does not mean that they  “get” it.  Be honest with them about the expenses associated with the services, and let them be the boss when it comes to expanding their bottom line.

3. Perform.  Be on time.  Be prepared.  Look sharp. Give them EVERYTHING you promised and even a few sparkles more.  Because I guaranty that if they have worked with caterers before, this will be a new, and delightful difference.  Not only will they notice it in stark contrast, they will tell their inner circle.

4. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

I spotted an interesting bit of research carried out in the UK recently by PWC.

The study analysed the durability of clothes available on a typical UK high street. The study tested 10 pairs of jeans ranging in price from £7 (RM38) to £123 (RM680) and ten polo shirts ranging in price from £12 (RM66) to £85 (RM470).

PWC wouldn’t divulge the names of the ten retailers because, well they represent most of them but it did disclose that on the whole the cheaper versions of the jeans and polo shirts fared better than the designer brands.

The garments were put through 15 different trials to analyse the strength of their seams, if they shrank, and if so, by how much, their colour fastness and how they resisted abrasion. The study focussed on how well made the clothes were and the quality, not the fit, brand name or how fashionable the garments were.

The best performing jeans, in terms of cost were

1) Jeans priced at £9 (RM50)
2) Jeans priced at £18 (RM100)
3) Jeans priced at £9.50 (RM53)
4) Jeans priced at £123 (RM680)
9) Jeans priced at £40 (RM222)
10) Jeans priced at £25 (RM139)

It was a similar story with the polo shirts. The top two versions cost £12 (RM66). A polo shirt costing only £4.50 (RM25) came in an impressive 3rd. The £85 (RM471) came in fifth.

From a branding perspective, this study is interesting because consumers often justified paying a high price for a fashion brand because they felt that if it was expensive, it must be of good quality.

Does this mean that this is no longer the case?

If we can no longer trust brands to produce quality products, do we need brands?

Or are we able to get fashionability without the price tag?

What do you think?

Have you ever had service so bad that you made a decision right there and then NEVER to spend money in that  place ever again, and yet, when you look back at the issue,the actual cost of your complaint could have been rectified for just a few dollars??  Bottom line is that so many businesses get caught up in the cost of the “moment” they don’t calculate the cost that customers business might be over a  lifetime of service. One of the most important lessons you can learn in business is that existing customers are the most valuable asset of any business. This little fact is lost on most business owners and managers. Their brand, their reputation, their people, their products or services, and their cash flow are always mentioned, but never a mention of their customers!

So, understanding the “lifetime” value of a customer is incredibly valuable to the business.

What is the lifetime value?

The lifetime value of a customer is the amount they will contribute to the bottom line over the span of your business relationship with them. Hpwever, before you can calculate that you really need to consider the :following:

1. What’s the value of an average sale?

For this exercise, simply divide your total sales revenue by the number of sales over a given time period. Lets say the average sale is $100

2. What’s you % profit margin?

Lets assume a 20% profit margin. It’s important, however, for you to calculate the real number for your business. What’s the % of gross sales you bring to your bottom line.

3. How often do your customers buy from you?

Divide the total number of sales by the total number of customers for a given time period. Lets assume 3 times per year for the purpose of the exercise.

4. What’s Your Typical Customer’s Lifespan?

How long will a customer continue to do business with you. Clearly this will depend on your geo and demographics, however the trade associations studies have sown the average to be around 7 years.

5. How many referrals will they give you in a year?

When customers are happy, they tend to refer more often. More referrals dramatically reduce client acquisition costs. Its reasonable to expect at least 5 referrals annually from existing customers.

6. How good are you at closing referred sales?

Its reasonable to assume that since these are being referred by clients that you should be able to close 50%.

Armed with all this information, you can now calculate the typical customers lifetime value.

Using the above numbers, the customer contributes a gross lifetime revenue of $2100 (7 years x $300 (3 buys per year x $100))

IN addition, the customer generates another 2.5 customers per year ( 5 referrals x .50 closing rate) resulting in $5250 more gross revenue.

Therefore the average customer is responsible for generating $2100 + $5250 = $7350 per year. Accounting for a 20% profit margin, each customer adds $1470 to the bottom line.

If the customer remains satisfied they may actually refer another 5 referrals per year for another 6 years!! WOW!  That’s 30 referrals x .5 = 15 new clients!

In our example you would need 21 NEW customers to generate $2100 in revenue, so the question is, how much is it worth to you to keep and enhance the relationship you have with your current set of customers??

Try the example above but put in your own numbers and then calculate a 10% increase in the average sales value, 5% in the profit margin, the number of referrals from 5 to 8 and increase the number of sales per year per customer and the lifespan of a customer!  A modest change in all these areas will dramatically increase your overall business..try and let me know how you get on!

James Lawson

Business Coach and President

The Capital Coaching Group Inc

Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles

Doing Business, promotional key chain
, In Time Of War

America has changed how we go to war.

It used to be that war information was parceled out in small doses.

But with the advent of CNN, Internet coverage, embedded reporters, and wall-to-wall (24-hour) coverage by all of the networks, war has become a consuming factor in the lives of many Americans, promotional key chain
, .

Once the war in Iraq starts (or natural disasters happen, terrorists attack, or, promotional key chain
, other major news stories occur), many people will use much of their free time (and often part of their work time) glued to the media, where they become emotionally involved, promotional key chain
, as the events unfold.

This affects us, as businesspeople, in many ways.

Most importantly, sales will most likely drop. Some of this is through consumers not having time to shop, some through a reluctance, promotional key chain
, by both consumers and businesses to commit themselves in time of uncertainty, and some through our inability to generate enthusiasm to purchase when potential buyers’ minds and emotions are focused elsewhere.

So how do we, as businesspeople, do business in time of war?

Here, promotional key chain
, are some strategies that we at WinningAtBusiness, promotional key chain
, .com recommend to maintain and even build sales in time of war and other disasters:

1.
Be opportunistic with the media in your public relations efforts.

For the first part of the war, television news coverage will probably be impossible to gain, as 80-90% of news time will be devoted to the war, so it will be very difficult to get hard news coverage for anything.

This will cause many people who would normally be pitching stories to the press to shelve their publicity efforts until after the war is over.

But don’t forget that every major newspaper and magazine in the country has many other sections to fill, like food, auto, fashion, lifestyle, seniors, sports, business, entertainment, etc. that probably won’t be covering the war. Plus, every radio station, especially the talk channels, will need to fill blocks of time with non-war coverage.

Some stories will have additional interest in times of war, including, promotional key chain
, stress relief, anti-terrorism projects, building love and unity within families, counseling, finance and debt management, communicating with friends and loved ones who are away from home, creating bomb-proof investment portfolios, insurance, how to explain war and death to children, etc.

This combination of lack of stories being pitched and continuing demand from reporters gives you a great opportunity to get a story run that you probably couldn’t obtain otherwise.

2.
Be opportunistic in purchasing advertising.

The Gulf War taught advertisers that it wasn’t a good thing to have their ads run right after pictures of smoldering tanks and dead bodies. Consequently, most major advertisers have a blackout plan in place that cancels ads when the shooting starts.

This leaves you an opportunity open to pick up advertising at an inexpensive rate. We don’t recommend running your ad during war coverage (especially if it turns bad). But there will be an opportunity, during the first day or two of the war, when media ad salespeople will be deluged with calls to cancel advertising. If you would place calls at that same time, to actually buy advertising, promotional key chain
, space, you’re liable to be able to negotiate some great deals for advertising to be run after the war.

3.
Visibly support the troops.

Vietnam taught us a principle that now resonates deeply within the heart of many Americans — that no matter your personal feelings about the politics behind the war, the troops need the support of those at home. Recent poll numbers confirm this, indicating that public sentiment has turned towards supporting the troops.

For example, WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, created an online petition supporting the troops in the field. Not only did it garner 48,173 signatures, but it also generated huge goodwill for, promotional key chain
, them in the Milwaukee market in the process.

What can you do to support the troops and to help rally the goodwill of others?

4, promotional key chain
, .
Publicize your connection with the war.

If you have viable, real connections with the war, you may, want to publicize those connections (depending on the support you see for the war among your customers.) The place where this is most likely to succeed is with the local media, especially local television news stations who are looking for stories that localize the war effort.

Story opportunities range from having 10% of your staff on deployment, to having a government contract to supply something for the war effort, to how you’re managing your small business when the boss is deployed, to the campaign to support the troops that you started in point 3 above, to one of the parts you manufacture being used on the troop transport vehicles. Of course, all of us have seen the publicity generated by the restaurants who poured their French Wines into the gutter, or renamed their French Fries as Freedom Fries, but unless you’re, promotional key chain
, first, you won’t get the benefit of the publicity from these types of actions.

Be very cautious with this strategy though, to ensure that it doesn’t backfire on you. It needs to be a real connection with the war, not just a way to manipulate people into buying, promotional key chain
, your products. Some will create their own problems like a restaurant promoting their delivery service as a great way to be able to stay home and watch the war, and the sale of American flags and genuine Iraqi desert sand.

What crosses the line? Try the smell test โ€” does it smell like a promotion? Giving a week’s worth of profits to the International Red Cross to support feeding Iraqi citizens during and after the war will work, but promoting your product as the official hamburger of the Los Angeles Coalition, promotional key, promotional key chain
,, promotional key chain
, chain
, to Oust Saddam Hussein won’t. Support works, blatant promotion doesn’t.

But no matter how hard you promote your business, it’s virtually inevitable that your phones are going to stop ringing, customer traffic will whither, sales will decrease and your people will have time on their hands.

Unfortunately, the natural inclination in times like these is to run huge sales, cutting prices to buy more business.

We don’t recommend doing this. Remember that your customer’s attention is focused elsewhere, not on running out to support your huge sale. So, you’ll pay lots of extra money to promote your sale, and the sales that result will be less profitable. The net result โ€” an unprofitable sale!

Our recommendation? Instead of sweating trying to pull in more customers, spend, promotional key chain
, this time doing those things that will build your business in the long term โ€” those things that never seem to get done because of the pressures of day-to-day business from your customers. Analysis, planning, customer service and training are all potential tools.

Possibilities include:

1.
Analyze your customer base.

Who are your customers? Where are they from (plotting them on a map is oftentimes helpful.) What do they have in common? , promotional key chain
, What businesses are they in?

But analysis does no good without application โ€” how can you reach more people who are like your current customers? Create a plan to do so, with specific action steps to reach and convince them to try your products and services.

2.
Analyze the profitability of your current customer base.

If you’re like most companies, a small portion of your current customers deliver the bulk of your profits, and most of the time, your biggest customers are not your most profitable ones. Create, promotional key chain
, two lists, one ranking customers by net sales, and the other by net profits. Then look at the differences and why they exist. Is it what they buy? Is it because they’re a house account so you don’t have to pay a sales commission? Is it how they buy, requiring less of your staff’s time?

Next, look at your least profitable customers. What do they have in common? Is it possible to move them into profitability? How would you do that? Or, are they hopeless,, promotional key chain
, and should just be fired? We make it a, promotional key chain
, practice to fire 10% of our client base every year. Some we fire because they’re not profitable, others we fire because they’re a royal pain to deal with, promotional key chain
, . And it’s amazing, every time we do this, another better company shows up to fill the vacuum, and business becomes easier, promotional key chain
, and more pleasant.

Application: Create an action plan to make each of your customer’s more profitable. Consider especially the changes you can make to your product line, promotion materials and customer base to make that conversion.

3.
Analyze your product mix.

It seems counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways that you can build your profitability is to get rid of products that don’t generate significant levels of sales. Remember that inventory,, promotional key chain
, shelf space and working capital costs dollars, money that can be better spent in acquiring, promotional key chain
, more profitable, promotional key chain
,, promotional key chain
, products or promoting the product line that you currently have.

Application:, promotional key chain
, Rank your product/service line by sales volume. Then cut the bottom 5-10%. If you sell goods, return them to the manufacturer, or put them on clearance. If you sell services, remove them from your web site and other promotional materials.

4.
Analyze your Web Site.

Business has clearly, promotional key chain
, turned to the web. But most companies have sites that are years old, that look horrible, and that aren’t equipped to help customers do business online. More importantly, most companies sites aren’t written to get good rankings on the search engines, so they get no traffic.

Application: Do a thorough review of your site and its traffic. Make changes to make it relevant, to ask for orders, and to get it high on the search engines.

5.
Analyze your systems.

The best businesses systematize how they do key tasks, eliminating questions, standardizing behaviors and removing costs from the system. Key systems to check are marketing, order processing, accounts receivable processing, billing, job, promotional key chain
, costing, and customer follow-ups.

Application: Develop at least three new systems to handle tasks within your organization, write system descriptions and train your staff to use the new procedures.

6.
Analyze your customer service practices.

Employees develop bad habits over time that turn customers away. Carefully analyze your customer service norms. How long do responses take? How empowered are your people? How do they deal with dissatisfied customers?

Application: Develop an action list of customer service problems that you need to resolve in your company, then get the training, do the performance reviews, and if necessary, replace the employees who create those problems.

7.
Analyze, promotional key chain
, your customer needs.

In virtually every, promotional key chain
, category there are some major unmet customer needs. You probably know what some are, but not everything.

Application: Pick up the phone or visit several major customers. Ask them to tell you about the biggest challenges in their business, and what they would like to see you do differently. Analyze your customer correspondence,, promotional key chain
, ask your salespeople, and look at the industry literature for new products/services that you can offer and ways that you can change your current products/services to meet the unmet needs of your customers. Then create an action plan to better meet those, promotional key chain
, needs.

8.
Analyze your business plan.

Are you hitting your numbers? Both sales and profits? What needs to be done differently to ensure that your year comes in on target?

Don’t blame the customer, promotional key chain
, . Look at how you can better meet their needs. The best companies flex, reforecast and revise their plans frequently to achieve the desired objectives. Remember also, that the most common practice of cutting marketing funds to hit profit numbers is the last thing you should do if sales are low. Rather, figure out how to spend them more effectively, test, revise and, promotional key chain
, test again to generate the results you need.

Application: Prepare a revised plan, including reforecast numbers, action plans and, promotional key chain
, measurements.

9.
Analyze your habits.

Almost every business develops, promotional key chain
, bad habits over time. Perhaps it’s a single ad that gets,, promotional key chain
, promotional key chain
, run over and over again, with no testing. Perhaps it’s a focus on a single trade show. Perhaps, promotional key chain
, it’s a total reliance on sales reps. Perhaps it’s a constant pattern of useless meetings. Perhaps it’s a reluctance to do business in a changing world. Or maybe it’s an insistence on a six-week turnaround when you could do it in two if your systems were revised. Most of these habits had a reason behind them at one point in time, but have never changed through laziness or, promotional key chain
, lack of analysis.

Application: Make a list of the things that constitute โ€œthe way we do business.โ€ Then analyze it carefully. Create an action plan to challenge and revise those habits that hurt, promotional key chain
, your business.

10.
Analyze the value you add.

Businesses exist because they add value that the customer either can’t or doesn’t want to add. Unfortunately, the world may slowly change to the point where the value you add is no longer worth the cost required to obtain that value from you. Companies close every day for this very reason.

Application: Analyze the value you add versus what the customer really needs. Are you worth a continued position in the value chain? How could you add more value? What would people be willing to pay more to receive? Create an action plan to implement changes!

As you do these things, you’ll find that your short-term sales and profits decrease less than they might have otherwise and that you’ll find your business running at a higher level once the war ends โ€” creating more sales and profits for years to come!

Who says that war will be bad for business?

———————————–

Don Crowther specializes in helping businesses build their sales and profits. For more information, contact him at info@winningatbusiness.com or for a free subscription to his free WinningAtBusiness newsletter, visit http://www.WinningAtBusiness.com

Friday November 27, 2009 By Kevin Morrow

Actually it already has been done. I have this concept of time which leads me to believe that there really is no time. I feel that anything I want to do is already done and I just have to catch up with it. When I think about doing things I remember this – “Be, Do, Have.” This implies to me that there is no time.

Other people have told me what they think I should be doing. I’ve even been told what I was doing was not giving me knowledge or putting money in my pocket. I understood where this came from because I observe levels of mind in interactions. Had I been only about money, this comment would have motivated me to become a better salesman. That’s not what I am however, I am not a salesman. Money is not my motivation, in fact motivation does not have the same meaning to me anymore.

Inspiration is what I relate to the most. I feel that it comes from the spirit. Any belief I have tends to limit me to a perception. The trouble of limiting myself to a perception is that when you I’m more aware and something that required more awareness comes along, I’m not be able to accept it.

So if I’m going to believe something, I might as well chose to believe in something that will not limit my awareness. That’s what I mean when I say I have an open mind.

Here is how I experience reality.

This is just within my mind, and it doesn’t mean that it’s true to anyone else. This is how I chose not to limit my mind. I see reality as if it’s one big dream. Life is like a video game being played within the minds of people. I use these terms to create a visualization within the minds of those who read this. I think there are fundamental basic rules and then the player believes in what they choose to be reality.

In this life there is a physical aspect and a spiritual aspect. I cannot function well in this reality without being balanced within those realms. I see that everyone has a mind and that the minds are similar in how they perceive and construct reality.

I also realize that I’m the only one conscious in my reality. Meaning there are other players in the game, but I am the only one consciously perceiving from my eyes, and through my point of awareness. Where that point is I cannot tell you, but as you can see, you are reading this from your point of awareness.

So, it seems that reality can be molded like clay. Therefore the mind can be molded like clay. I feel that my mind should be molded to benefit the highest good of myself and of all people. This is my reality. I see this reality as already being done. I’m just catching up to it.

ONE MIND…

The above is a segue into my belief in one mind. Of course language and words can be misinterpreted, so let me explain what I mean. I don’t believe that anybody is separate from me. I feel as though the one point of awareness is shared by all as if there is one mind.

The reason I say this is because the more I look outside of myself and see separation, the more I see dysfunction. I see unity in great teams, families, projects, and even gangs have an element of unity. In all themes there is general acceptance to one frame of mind.

So it seems that at a deeper level, maybe the one mind is fragmented and therefore experiencing in many different forms. Just like I was not the homeless man on the freeway in Vegas, I could see myself as him and therefore I had to help him. If I saw him as insignificant or as something negative, I would not have helped him. But I saw no purposeful reason to not help him. I was looking for any way that I could help him.

Some people call what I’m talking about “The watcher of the thoughts.” That is the consciousness. The consciousness must be in another realm of existence than that of physicality. So words like awareness have been formed to describe that which we are discussing. The people that seem to be outside of me, eat, sleep, and use the restroom just like me. No matter how rich or how poor they are. This to me is a sign of the “real” reality.

I have dreams, and I awake from the dreams into a physical reality. Sometimes I don’t remember the dreams. How do I know that I don’t wake up from physical reality as if it’s a dream and I just don’t remember it? I don’t. There must be a reason for that.

The reality of pain

I feel as though reality is in the mind. What you believe to see is what you see. What you believe you can have is what you have. What I believe I can be I am at any point in time.This is possible because there really is no time, everything happens now. When in pain, I believe in the pain until I have reason to believe that it’s gone. I have literally believed pain to disappear and it did.

This leads me to feel as though anything I want to accomplish is already done. Anything in consciousness that has been done can be done. Anything that can be done through consciousness, can be done. Essentially everything has been done, or will be done, in the realm of conscious ability. Great projects are formed first in the mind, which means they can be done when aligned with physicality.

Physical reality is slower than mental reality because its vibration is much denser. Look into the world and you can see evaporated water moves faster than raindrops. Observe your own self and you will see thoughts move faster than your hand.

There are different levels of thought, it takes thought for you to move your hand in the first place. Once I believe something is “possible” that already was “possible” it becomes automatic. Just like moving my hand.
In order for my consciousness to win something like the lottery, the money would have to come to me not from a form of lack, and FOR the greater good of myself and others. Otherwise I don’t believe its possible for me.

Intentionally, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Who I am right now at this very moment is ready for something like that to happen. But what are the deeper levels of belief? What are the deeper levels of direction? Those are the true questions.

Conflict in relationships and between minds

I occasionally witness conflicts in relationships and between minds because they feel they are separate. As things that are separate they operate for survival of self. Whether it be ego identification or something else. To me this is my mind working itself out. I have to forgive things that I think matter and heal my mind. Therefore what I do to others is like I’m doing it to myself.

“Peoples judgments are more about you than they are about themselves.”

There is this show on TV that my sister watches called “Bad Girls Club.” The girls on the show tend to have a lot of pain. Pain comes from fear of separation. A good majority of the women on the show hurt other people because they are hurting on the inside and don’t know how to heal it.
The mind mirrors into reality what is being fed to it. So if your hurting you will see and create more hurt.

I see this within my own mind. I see that there are things that I may believe as true that may be hurting me, so I must forgive them and move on. What’s the purpose of holding on to something like that?

It’s not my fault syndrome

Anything you want to accomplish can be done. But when you blame others for it not happening, or say it’s not your fault, you create this reality in your mind. I have to be responsible for my reality. My thoughts and beliefs create it. Separation creates pain, so I have to heal my pain. If I blame it on other people, I’m really blaming it on myself.

Doing that creates a cycle within minds and it gets repeated over and over. The same way it does within your mind. That’s why I say “One Mind.”

Perceptions of reality

Perception always limits awareness. It narrows awareness down to a point of view. A perception is like sitting in the nose bleeds at a basketball game or sitting court side. Awareness is seeing the game from all possible angles with no distinctions. This is something the mind may not be able to comprehend, therefore it operates through perception.

Fear is a perception

Anything I want to do can be done, and is done. That is a perception, because it leaves the idea that it can’t be done, which is also a perception. Why wouldn’t something be accomplished? Take the time to ask yourself the question. The only reason something would not be able to be accomplished is because for some reason fear becomes reality.

Fear is a perception, if I were to look at something I wanted to do from all awareness at once, why would I be aware of the fact that it can’t be done? What’s the purpose of seeing that way? To me there isn’t a purpose to that.

If I’m experiencing in a physical world and I have the choice of operating from a source of love, faith, and belief, why would I chose fear?

So what is it that I Want to Do?

I’m doing what I want to do right now. Some people see it as weird because of what it appears to be. Some see it as cool because what it appears to be to them. To me it appears to be what I want to do. I see it as healing the minds of others and my own at the same time. I provide content that’s interesting and follow my intuition. I have created my own job. The things I need are already inside of me, and are provided to me right now. As fact my reality that appears outside of me reflects my beliefs. The things within in me that I have already, appear available to me in my outer reality. This includes, money,transportation,tools,people, and anything else needed to be of overall good to all.

My articles get better as I write them, and I do what I say I will do. As I provide more truth and more value, my income mirrors that. Right now I have no worries about money because I know that I’m never poor. I’m always rich no matter what my physical world may say at the moment.

College completed faster than “normal” happens in my awareness because I believe it to be possible. This is something I see as possible within myself. Money flows to me in avalanches of abundance because I provide value from my spirit. Not because I lack money, but because I believe myself to be valuable. I see others as apart of me and anyone in my awareness is there for me to help in some way, or vice versa.

Some may not understand because it’s not the main stream approach to reality, and that’s okay. To me it means I have limitless potential. Every person I meet is an opportunity to heal the one mind. Everything I think,do, and believe, is opportunity to heal. I feel so much love right now.

Like every other business on the planet, we are always looking for new customers. We have a whole new business team, and in the winter spend an enormous amount on training and product knowledge development during the winter months.

Trampoline Pads and Cover Offer

One of the team has come back from the training obsessed with ‘trading up’, and selling more items to current purchasers.

Consequently he is on a mission to ‘help’ customers buy more.

He has analysed as best he can by talking to customers who buys what products, and why they buy. Using this knowledge he has come up with packages that consumers may want to buy as pairs or groups and made them easy to buy.

For example, he has grouped Trampoline Pads and Trampoline Covers together, for example see :

http://www.gardengames.co.uk/acatalog/14ft_Trampoline_Pads_and_Cover_Package.html

Here he has calculated that consumers who need to buy replacement pads may also want to keep their new pads looking good and will be open to buying a protective cover at the same time.

He has also discovered a secondhand trampoline market, which is buoyant but also in need of spares. Many times, when someone buys a second-hand trampoline the pads are worn but otherwise the trampoline is perfect. Easy solution is to buy a set of replacement trampoline pads, and the trampoline is as good as new.

The insight though is that many of these secondhand trampolines are fairly old and were bought in an era of a few years ago before trampoline enclosures were commonplace. In fact, now, selling a trampoline without a safety enclosure is a rare occurrence.

So, he now believes that as well as needing a set of replacement pads, these customers are also likely to be in the market for a new safety enclosure. Hence he has developed 4 new packages:

http://www.gardengames.co.uk/acatalog/14ft_Trampoline_Pads_and_Safety_Enclosure_Package.html

http://www.gardengames.co.uk/acatalog/12ft_Trampoline_Pads_and_Safety_Enclosure_Package.html

http://www.gardengames.co.uk/acatalog/10ft_Trampoline_Pads_and_Safety_Enclosure_Package.html

http://www.gardengames.co.uk/acatalog/8ft_Trampoline_Pads_and_Safety_Enclosure_Package.html

These pages offer consumers the chance to buy both the pads and the safety net as a deal, at one time.

The trick, as so often, is not in being intuitive, it is in listening to customers. His insight has come from engaging with people on the telephone and asking them about their purchase. He then kept an open mind, and an inventive attitude. After enough conversations, he began to see common threads. It was not that most people already bought the two items together, but that he could see that they might. When he began to ask more questions he did find that people were in the market for the other item, and began to offer the pair.

WIll it be successful? Lets wait and see when the season arrives, but we are hopeful.

Today I attended an advanced social media workshop which is run for the St Albans Enterprise Agency by two of its licensees: FL1 Solutions and Cerco Communications. The social media offer a wealth of opportunities for small businesses and it is such a fast-moving and dynamic area that any business these days has to have an awareness of what is happening or risk being left behind. One comment during the session, however, especially caught my attention: generation X and especially generation Y do not use written media such as newspapers and magazines or even the TV media in the same way as their parents as a prime source – they are much more likely to use the social media and the internet.

As someone who advises start-up and small businesses, it is sometimes very difficult to get across the importance of being able to place your business in the context of the broad environment in which it exists. But this was a perfect example of why it is essential. Every business will be relying on generation X and Y users, and their heirs for their business at some time. So we DO need to take into account the macro trends in our markets as well as the immediate and obvious.

The strategic approach to this is through a PEST analysis – standing for:

P – political and regulatory issues

E – economic issues

S – social and environmental issues

T – technological issues and developments

Well the emerging technologies of the internet and the social media systems it hosts are clear examples  of how technology has changed and is changing our world and our businesses – if you are a conventional media business you will certainly be very aware of this. But the example of generation X and Y also indicates the way social changes are impacting: the technology is the enabler for what is a social change – a different way of using time, of communicating, of researching and gathering information, of having relationships with others.

Some businesses are switched on to every aspect of their broad environment, but for most the pressures of day-to-day mean that it is easy to overlook what is happening on the macro level. This is especially true for a small business where there may not appear to be “time to stop and stare”.

Part of the value of a formal planning process is that it directs your focus onto areas that can get overlooked – and despite the huge surge in the use of the social media by business,  there are still a massive number who are not even reasonably aware of how the shape and process of business is changing as a result of the technological and social changes that are taking place. Make sure you are not one of these.

Question Fifteen

This week our assignment is about web personalisation. We have to take a stand on personalisation and decide whether we are for it or against it. We have to explain our decision and provide evidence to back up our opinion. We have to use our own arguments and thinking and illustrate our points with images and examples and links to websites showing good and/or bad practice.

Web personalisation is a strategy and marketing tool. It is the process of tailoring the presentation of a website’s content to match a specific user’s instructions or preferences. This custom tailoring is accomplished either by the user choosing from a menu of available alternatives or by tracking his or her behaviour (such as which pages the user has accessed and how often) on the website.

Web personalisation models include collaborative filtering. This shows relevant material to customers by combining their own personal preferences with the preferences of like minded others. Collaborative filtering works well for books, music and DVD’s etc, this would therefore work well for my e-commerce business Play.com.

Both of the websites Play.com and Amazon.co.uk use personalisation. They recommend products to shoppers on their sites based on their previous purchases. Amazon makes extensive use of collaborative filtering in its personalisation technology. This can be seen in the screenshot below. When a customer purchases a product from Amazon they will recommend products that other people with similar interests bought.

The next screenshot shows another example of web personalisation. It shows that when you visit Amazon’s website it says “Sign in to get personalised recommendations”, so as soon as the customer has signed in they will be provided with recommended products.

After researching about web personalisation I personally believe that it is a good idea and a very useful tool. There are several advantages with a company using personalisation on their website.

• It tailors the website to the customer’s interests, this can therefore help increase sales for the company.
• Recommends products that customer may be interested in but not know about. For example if a customer bought a CD by a certain artist, the website could recommend another CD by the same artist or a different but similar artist.
• Saves time for the customer. It eliminates repetitive tasks and remembers transaction details. This will help encourage customers to return to the website for more purchases by making the transaction as easy for them as possible.

I’ve always felt that there were two types of startup – those with too much money and those with too little. I’ll leave the topic of too much money for another day, and instead think about the more common problem of having too little money.

When you’ve got too little money, the key is not to spend a penny you don’t need to, and to make sure that every penny you do spend is effective. That’s pretty much common sense, but I think that it’s worth drilling into much more deeply.

One of the pitfalls when starting a business is mixing up the keys to business success with the stuff that has to be done as you become successful. In start up mode, all your effort needs to go into the former and virtually nothing into the latter.

A business bank account, business cards, business premises and the services of an accountant can all be vital ingredients – but not if your business isn’t yet making any sales.

Your efforts and resources should go into working out your business proposition, finding customers and delivering that proposition to them. Make sure that you keep 100% accurate records, and probably set up a limited liability company to protect you from personal bankruptcy, but otherwise focus on starting to make sales and money.

When I set up Actinic, providing ecommerce services for SMEs, we had two vital objectives. We were trying to sell critical technology to small companies and ISPs, and we also needed to raise funds. I renamed my house “Actinic House” which was perfectly legal and cost nothing. I also joined the Institute of Directors and met all prospective investors in the IoD offices in Pall Mall.

These are the sorts of techniques that I would describe as “guerilla” – getting to your objectives by low cost and unconventional means. You can find all sorts of ideas both online and from other successful entrepreneurs. You won’t get them from the bank manager or the accountant, these techniques tend to be anathema to them. But it’s these that will help you to succeed, not having leather bound accounts.

I am beginning to notice an increase in new business openings. One might say at first blush they must be nuts. In this economy? Why would anyone want to open a new business?

No they are not crazy at all, in fact they will probably have a better chance for survival then those who are and have been in business for a while.

Seems strange you say…Think about it. Today’s issue are all about surviving this huge transition. Changing economy, changing customer habits, changing credit availability, changing everything.

Sometimes it is either very difficult to change or change is made too slowly, or not at all or incorrectly. Change is the issue. Downsizing, debt workout, redefining your market, all uphill battles.

Opening up a new business with a fresh start with no issues other then figuring out what and how to do it under today’s conditions may be an easier challenge then making the transition from old ways to new ways.

In fact with so many businesses going out of business, the market place is ripe for new replacement businesses prepared to move forward without the anchor of previous bad habits, too much debt and overhead weighing them down.

There are therefore two lessons to e learned here.

1. Change is a huge opportunity for fresh thinking and new business openings. Our changing economy will provide many new opportunities for fresh thinking and new start ups.

2. Existing businesses must act as if thy are a new start up and make all the changes required to succeed. This of course is very difficult, as it means reinventing yourself from what you are and have been to what you must become, and doing this with all the old systems and strategies in play and of course all the existing problems plaguing you… a very tough job.

Maybe you all ought to consider closing down and then re-opening as a new and different operation, designed for today’s economy and customer….as if you were starting a new business.

Change always brings opportunity with it…we are clearly in a changing time…embrace it and win. Fight it, or ignore it at your own peril. Open a new business, perfect timing, with everyone in business figuring out how to survive, a new start up is simply taking into consideration what will work and what will not and starting out fresh in this down economy, with a fresh approach, could be a competitive advantage.

Yes start up a new business, what a great idea!

In promotional marketing, and indeed below-the-line marketing in general, we’re constantly looking for a reason to speak to our customers, send them an offer and reap the additional sales as a result.

Today in America, it’s Black Friday – the day when seemingly the whole country does their Christmas shopping. But in the UK, we’re unaware of this – one of the few traditions from across the Atlantic that hasn’t made it over here.

This year though, with the retail sector continuing to stagnate at best, it seems as though it’s catching on. Strangely most of the communications I’ve received today, don’t explain what Black Friday is, and instead, they just say “Black Friday, 30% off” and this is a mistake. See, we may always be looking for a reason to speak to our consumers but we shouldn’t be doing this at the risk of confusing them over why we’re doing it.

Twitter users frequently ask the Twittersphere for recommendations on suppliers of good are services; or they’ll happily share what it is they’re looking to buy next in the hope another user can offer some tips or advice.  These shared needs offer enormous potential for business, as each one is a potential sales lead.  Read on to find out how to locate those posts and respond to them.

The search engines are worried.  More and more people are asking the millions of people they can now reach on social networks their questions rather than going to traditional search sites like Google and Bing.  And why wouldn’t they?  Rather than getting thousands of irrelevant results presented by the best a robot and database can achieve, they are asking real people and getting real answers.  Social networks have enabled a return to word of mouth in a way that hasn’t existed since search engines claimed they could do a better job.

(I have blogged on this very topic so for more detail go to “Why smart business are looking for leads on social networks, not Google”.)

This presents a great opportunity for businesses.  When a Twitterer posts a need or request for a recommendation, they don’t care who answers.  But they’re very likely to take seriously the answer they get.  It could be their followers are able to answer, or maybe not.  But no one really keeps tags on who is following them anyway, so if YOU answer they’ll treat your reply with the some seriousness as any other.

All you need to do is to find out who is tweeting a need for what it is your business does.  And that is where our Twitter Sales Leads tool comes in.  Here’s how to use it.

If you’re an existing WeCanDo.BIZ member you can go straight to Step 3.

Step 1
First off, if you haven’t done so already, come and sign up using your Twitter ID at WeCanDo.BIZ:

We require a few pieces of information about you that Twitter doesn’t provide, but you only have to give that once — we DO NOT sell it on! — and then you’ll be able to sign straight in using your Twitter ID via OAuth, Twitter’s official way of supporting third party applications (we are Twitter application developers).

Step 2
Next up, we need to find out a little about your business, so complete a Business profile — it’s free!

All of the information we request is necessary to help find you sales leads and to authenticate your association with the company you are adding.  It may seem detailed but it helps to reduce instances of company identities being hijacked.

Make sure to spend a little time and thought on your keywords as these will be critical.  Think of the words that potential customers will use to try and locate a company like yours and use all possible variants.  For example, if you are an accountant, use “accounts”, “accounting”, “accountancy”, “tax”, “VAT”, “year “, “end”, “companies”, “house” etc.

For free you get 10 keywords but if you need more upgrade to a Pro Networker, which gives you 50 keywords.

Step3
When complete, you’re ready to starting playing with our Twitter Sales Leads tool which you’ll see a button for at the top of the website page along the green bar.

We show you the keywords associated with your business an enabled you to use combinations of these, either together or alone, to find people with a need for what you do on Twitter.

To try it out, tick just some of the keyword boxes and then click “Search”.  Note that if you select the “ALL” option, the tool will look for all the keywords you have ticked being present in a single tweet, e.g. “I need someone to do my year end accounts“.  Otherwise, it will bring up tweets where it sees ANY of those keywords in a tweet.  This will bring more results but many are likely to be inappropriate matches.

Try various combinations of keywords to bring up different results.

Added: The sceptics of you may be thinking that you can use Twitter search tto find the same results.  As well as scouring the 27 millions tweets a day for your keywords, we also look ONLY for tweets where there is an expressed need, like “looking for”, “we need”, “can someone suggest”, “can anyone recommend” etc.  If you have 10 business keywords you would need to do 50 seperate Twitter searches to find the same results; even more to search on combinations of keywords!

Step 4
You can find out more about the people behind interesting leads you find, plus reply to them to position your offering or ask if they still have a need.

Just click on the “More info >>” link under each tweet to find out the location of the tweeter, the number of followers they have and to get a link to their website to find out more about them.

This area also offers the ability to reply to a tweet.  You don’t need to add the “@user” bit as we do that for you behind the scenes.  Just type your response.

To the right of this area you can choose to follow that Twitter user if you wish.

Note that the above options will only be available to you if you have signed in to Twitter through our site using OAuth, but you can do that on the Twitter Sales Leads page even if you logged in through some other means.

Replies will come into your normal way of interfacing with Twitter, be that the Twitter website or a tool like TweetDeck.  Our aim is to broker the introductions so you can start dialogue with a potential customer.

Next week we’ll be adding the ability to create lead for each identified opportunity within your WeCanDoCRM Social CRM system, so you can keep track of it through to close.

COME AND GIVE TWITTER SALES LEADS A GO!

All feedback welcomed! Just post below.

Whether you are building your GBG business online or offline, using 3way calling along with edification can sky-rocket your business. If you’re a serious business builder, you should be doing 3way calls with your Upline. You should also be doing 3way calls for your success team. Furthermore, you should make sure your success team gets training on 3way calls and edification.

A 3way call is when a network marketing distributor gets a prospect on the phone with their Upline.

In this article, I’m going to show you exactly how to do 3way calls properly. But first, let me share the hard reality on why 3way calling and edification is more important than you may think.

Are you ready? Ok, here it goes. People who know you don’t respect you. They trust you. But they don’t have the respect that you can help them build a 6 or 7-figure income with network marketing.

That’s why you need 3rd party validation. Even if you’re currently doing well in the industry, you need a 3rd party to back up what you say. Even millionaires in the industry of network marketing take advantage of 3way calling and edification.

You see, people who know you remember your ups and downs. They know how low you’ve been. And since people’s thoughts tend to gravitate toward the negative, it’s hard for them to take what you say seriously. That’s why they won’t budge even if you talk to them until you are blue in the face. 3way calling helps give you the credibility you need to overcome that challenge.

Let me give you an illustration that demonstrates the power of 3rd party validation. Let’s say you get dressed up in your best suit and go to your family reunion. While there, you tell everyone about your new network marketing venture. How many do you think will join with you? How many do you think will laugh at you? How many will enjoy eating with you?

Now, let’s say a year rolls around and you come to the next family reunion. This time you’re not wearing your best suit. When you get out of the car, your family sees you in a t-shirt with holes in it and stains. You have on some ugly shorts and some dirty sneakers. You can see your family and friends wagging their heads and whispering. Some have a smirk on their face. Others put on fake smiles.

But, here’s the good part.

Out of the blue, from the passenger side of your vehicle, comes Donald Trump. He’s dressed in his best suit.

Look at their faces now!

They don’t even care how you look. And your past doesn’t seem to matter. All they know is that you’re with Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is with you. And what is more, they see you both laughing together.

You, together with Donald Trump, walk up to greet everyone. You introduce everyone to your friend Donald Trump. And, every now and then, Donald Trump starts bragging about you. He says, “I’m so glad I met Reginald”.

(Let’s assume your name is Reginald).

Donald Trump continues, “Reginald is awesome. He’s exactly the type of person I love doing business with. I’m so glad we’re in business together. We’re going to make a lot of money together”.

After an hour, he has one of his limo drivers pick him up. He has a business appointment. But, as the limo drives off a few yards, it stops. Donald Trump rolls down the window and shouts, “Reginald!”

Taken off guard, you shout, “Yeah?”

Trump then shouts out for everyone to hear, “Call me when you get in.”

Then you shout, “Will do.”

After the limo drives off, all your family and friends flock to you.

Now, let me ask you this: How many of them want to know about your business venture? How many do you think will join with you and your partner? How many will laugh at you? How many will enjoy eating with you?

That’s the power of 3rd party validation.

So, to sponsor more GBG distributors and get more customers, let your prospects know who you are partnered with. It doesn’t matter whether they’re a Regional Manager or on the President’s Club. Edify your Upline and make them look like “Stars”.

Edification is when you say such good things about your Upline, that your prospect is thrilled to talk to them on the phone. Edification is a skill that has earned millions of dollars for countless network marketers. When used in conjunction with 3way calling, your business can sky-rocket.

Use 3way calling and edification and teach your team to do the same. Just email this post to your group if you have to. This skill could change everything for you, if you haven’t been implementing it already.

So, let’s do a quick recap and then get into how to edify and do 3way calls.

It all can summed up in a simple equation:
TRUST + RESPECT = SUCCESS
Because of you, there is TRUST.
Because of your Upline, there is RESPECT.

The people who you know, will listen to someone they don’t know before they listen to you. You can’t tell them how great you are. But, someone else that you’ve edified can. My Upline and I can make you look incredible in front of your friends. But, you can’t do it yourself.

So, edify us. How? Tell our story. Please take a moment to read the section on stories (coming soon). In it, you’ll find stories that you can use to edify us. You’ll also find out how to use stories to edify yourself and the team you’re building.

Just make sure you edify your Upline before the 3way call. Otherwise, the 3way call will have no effect. Somehow, you want to communicate to your prospect that your Upline’s time is valuable and that it’s a privilege to speak even 5 minutes with them.

Also, make sure that your prospect has already had an exposure to the product or business – even if it was simply a 1 minute presentation given by you. Why?

The purpose of a 3way call is for someone else that you’ve edified to validate what your prospect has already heard. You are leveraging your Upline’s credibility to give more respect to you and what you’re doing.

So, how do you set up a 3way call? Piece of cake.

The opportunity to set up a 3way call will arise anytime a sincere prospect asks a question. This is sooo fun. Let me give you just one example.

(I’m giving only one example because, here’s the deal. If a tiger is hungry, it will eat. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a chicken or a rabbit. Perhaps during the chase, the tiger will run a little different to catch a rabbit. And it might run in a different style to catch a chicken. Or, it might run in the same style. But, bottom line, if he runs after 30, he’ll probably catch at least 1. So, it’s not about the perfect script. It’s about your desire and your belief. I could sit here and give you a million scenarios for leading your prospect into a 3 way call. But, that wouldn’t be reasonable. Just believe in the industry, believe in GBG, believe in your Upline support, believe in yourself, believe in the team that you’re building, and believe that 3way calls can help your business tremendously and that it’s an excellent opportunity to pass the buck to someone who has more experience with closing prospects. The rest will come naturally).

Let’s assume they ask you the dreaded question: How much do you make?”. Before you read this script, remember the importance of posture. It’s not always what you say- it’s how you say it. Here’s what you can say if you want to get them on the phone with Brad Aspin.

“I’m glad you asked. [SAY THEIR NAME], I’ve made the decision not to divulge that. But, since you’ve asked an excellent question, and it would be good for you to know the type of team you would be joining, what I have decided to do is give you an opportunity to ask that same exact question to one of the top reps in GBG, who happens to be my personal mentor and the Founder of the A-Team, one of the fastest growing teams in GBG – can you hold for a moment while I try to get him on the phone.”

Here’s what you can say if you want to get them on the phone with me.

“I’m glad you asked. __________, I’ve made the decision not to divulge that. But, since you’ve asked an excellent question, and it would be good for you to know the type of team you would be joining, what I have decided to do is give you an opportunity to ask that same exact question to one of the leaders on our team – He’s my personal mentor. His residual income has more than quadrupled in 2009 alone – Can you hold for a moment while I try to get him on the phone.”

You don’t have to divulge how much you make. Even companies that are now billion dollar giants were at one time private before they went public on the stock market. So, you don’t have to tell a prospect how much you make. Most of your prospects are wrong for your business anyway. They won’t join no matter what. So, why blab about your income when most likely it doesn’t even matter? Many times, your income is either too much or too little for your prospect. The “wrong” people will look for any excuse not to join. So, you don’t have to ‘enable’ them by stating your income. Please read this article for more information on how having the right attitude about not revealing your income can actually get you more sign-ups and customers (coming soon).

I like to remember the saying: “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. So, when it comes to any other questions that your prospects ask, be open to connect them to your Upline so that they can get an answer from them – even if you know the answer yourself.

Perhaps you could say something like, “That’s a good question and I want to make sure you get the best answer possible…So let me go ahead and connect you with my mentor. That way, you hear the answer from someone with more success and experience in the business than me. Can you hold for a moment while I try to get her on the phone. [Pause. They'll probably say 'Sure', if your tone carries over to your prospects the idea that you're absolutely going to call your upline in the next millisecond - it's just that you're asking them to hold on for a moment].

[If you haven't edified your upline by this time, here's what you could do. Just say] Great. And by the way. Ask her anything. I’m going to try to get you a few minutes – she stays pretty busy. But she knows a lot about the business – it would really be great if you could talk with her. Hold on [Then try to reach her and do a 3way call].

If you can’t reach your upline for a 3way, just set up a future appointment with your prospect for a 3way call.

On the other hand, if you do reach your Upline, ask them if they are available for a 3way and that your prospect is on the other line. If your upline can actually do the 3way call at that time, give a 1 sentence summary about your prospect and then switch over to your prospect.

Once you do, immediately start edifying your Upline and building up her time by the way you address her. Don’t give a speech about how great your upline is. Simply edify them by the way you talk to them. This is what you can say once you switch over:

“Sally, Thanks a lot for giving me the opportunity to talk to Michael. Sally, I know your time is very very valuable. Michael is very excited, he saw the plan and his major concern was about how much money could be made. Michael, I want you to meet Sally – one of the leaders who’s helping me. Sally, I want you to meet Michael.”

At that point, be absolutely silent. Don’t say one word.

Why? Well, who’s the expert? The one who you edified. As soon as you start to talk before you’re spoken to, you imply that your Upline is not the expert and that the prospect should listen to you instead. So, in essence; you take away the propsect’s respect for your Upline. The prospect doesn’t respect them anymore – so, anything your Upline says carries zero weight. And since you’ve taken away respect from your Upline, your Upline no longer has the power to edify you and make you look good in front of your prospect. So, there’s no respect in the conversation and now, you don’t get the sign-up.

The 3way call is not about saying the “right thing” – it’s about listening. So, don’t interrupt no matter how tempting it gets. Remain silent, even if you feel your Upline is missing an important point. It’s your Upline’s job to listen very carefully, and help your prospect to sell themselves on the product or the business. Your prospect doesn’t have to know all the great things about GBG to get started. Your plugged in Upline knows this. The Upline who is doing your 3way calls should be plugged in to the system and understand people. Your plugged in Uplines should ask questions and listen. While your prospect is speaking with your Upline, you should pay attention to how your Upline listens and leads the conversation with questions. This will be training for you. It would be good to have pen and paper. Your Upline will be asking the questions from the (8 question follow-up). Click here to view them (link coming soon, but you can find it somewhere on this blog in the meantime – I already posted the article).

Your Upline will typically ask for “the check” during the 3way call. In other words, your Upline wants the call to end with you having a new customer or rep in your organization.

If your prospect does not make a decision to buy, then your Upline will BAM FAM. What is BAM FAM? Click here to find out?<– coming soon

Thursday November 26, 2009 By Kevin Morrow

A couple years ago I set out on a mission to BE MYSELF. I really didn’t know exactly what I meant, but I knew it was something I needed to do. I felt like I was doing what other people were telling me, and not what I felt was right for me.

To be yourself you have to let a lot of things that don’t matter go. I have slowly realized this. I feel like a lot of people measure progress by time. Like four years from high school you graduate college and that is an accomplishment. I tend to see things a little differently. I think that your progress is really an uncovering of your self.

But it seems to me the more I hold on to things that are restricted by time, the more I am measuring my growth based on something that fades away. Every accomplishment will eventually fade away with time.

I have to ask myself, “What is self improvement really?” What does it mean to me?

My answer has to do with my mind and the reality that I experience. In order for me to do this I feel like I have to live my self image. Which at times has a lot to do with money. I look at money though and I see something that I would not want my self image to represent. As far as the the paper material.

I feel as if my self image is much bigger than I actualize. I know this to be due to how my mind sees reality. The thing is, if I put my self image value into material things that pass away, I am building a foundation on a spider web. Another way to put it it, “I’m skating on thin ice.” So what is the strongest foundation.

For me my strongest foundation has been that I know I can do better. I know I can be more loving in all aspects of my life. I feel that love is my real self image. But if I limit myself to something then I’m not open to other possibilities.

Also, when I identify money with my self image, something else shows up. The idea of loss. If I need money that means I’m lacking something, and when I have money that means it’s possible to lose it. This is where worry shows up.

A lot of people tell me that they are afraid to lose money, or they are afraid to lose their boyfriend/girlfriend, and this really makes me think. If I identify with money as my personal growth, I’ll limit myself from a lot of experiences.

I have told myself that I’m no longer afraid to be a what I know I can be. Instead of studying other people, I studied myself and then I compared my thoughts to those who were in positions I viewed as “high achievements.”

I have to ask myself what is it that I think I have to achieve? Me, and nobody else, what do I have to achieve? I had no answer for myself.

The only thing I know for certain is that I want to strengthen my faith in the higher power. In my mind I feel as though I don’t have to strengthen my faith. I feel like I just have to remember it.

Now I have come to a good solution within my mind. This is how I can live my life without being afraid. If I live my life out of unconditional love, remember my faith in the higher power/which in turn strengthens my faith in the higher power, I will have my real achievement.

Imagine I have no fear of money, therefore situations appear to mirror that reality in my life. This means to that however the money comes to me, I will not be afraid to lose it. I’m not afraid to lose it because I know that no matter what happens I will always have it. Why? Well because I’m not afraid to lose it.

If your not afraid to lose something, it must mean you have it. Either that or you don’t have it, or don’t care for it, but I used the first example as an illustration.

Worry and doubt are the opposites of FAITH

I’ve learned in my life that worry and doubt are the opposites of faith. The things I have faith in happening, actually happen in my life. This is something I rolled around my thoughts until the light bulb clicked.

There is a difference between me being a multimillionaire that thinks the money is who I am, and being a multimillionaire that knows the money is just a material tool. The more I feel the money is who I am, the more depressed I can get about the amount I have right now. But if I don’t look at it like that, I open myself up to infinite possibility.

My relationship with basketball has helped heal my mind…

The best examples I can give come from my relationship with basketball. I use to identify who I was with how I could play basketball. This was very shaky with me because my self image definitely is bigger than the current situation looks like. The key though, is that it only appears that way if that’s how I’m looking at it.

Today it doesn’t make sense to me that I put my self worth into how I perform on the court. There will be on days and off days. Some days I will dominate the court and some days I may not. So where does my self worth rest? To me it’s in who I help, and how I contribute to the team, whether physically or mentally or both.

That is a big challenge to me. I don’t want to dominate other people, I want to help everyone be their best, and in turn be my best at the same time. I also have a different view of domination. I see it as will-power instead. The will to win, the will to overcome defense, the will to overcome mental lapses. That’s what I view what some call domination. When I play against someone, I want them to make me better.

I see myself in people I know…

A lot of people I know play college ball, play pro ball, and I up until this blog I haven’t played as I see myself. These are creations of my mind. Because I get thrilled when I see somebody I know playing college ball or pro ball, all I want to do is help them become better in any way I can.

I love to see people live their dreams, its fun. I know a guy right now who plays basketball in northern Cali, and I think that he has the ability to play in the NBA. Maybe apart of me sees myself in him or something. Maybe that’s what happens when I see anybody I know playing college or pro. I think to myself, if I were them I would want to know that other people believed in me.

I know a few players who lived in my same city who are playing overseas and or about to. It brings a smile across my face. Something that they may never know, but I know. I feel it within me everyday.

It may sound strange but this is my blog and I put it all out there. I had a conversation about rappers calling themselves the king of rap, or even the God of rap as Jay-z would say.The thing with that is, there can never be a clear winner, and they are claiming something that will fade away. What is the point?

And what good is being a King if you don’t help other people?
I’m not saying they don’t do these things, I was just throwing the idea out there.

Check this out, if I put my worth into how I can play basketball, then anytime I’m defeated I may feel as though I’m nothing. Instead I should remember that I am SOMETHING, and focus on what should be done to win the next game.

I’ve been there. I can play basketball with the best of players. But when I identify and look at my situation then depressed feelings come in because my current situation is not what it could be. These are all things of that past that I no longer do. But I’m using my past to illustrate how the mind shapes its reality.

These are all images in the mind. I play the game because it’s fun. To me it’s fun when everyone on the team is on the same page, and the highlights are flowing, and the defense is intense. I love the energy of the game. But if I think that’s who I am, I become vulnerable to things that are counterproductive to who I think I am. Unless of course I know who I am.

I only view it as self improvement when I’m identifying with things that are subject to change. If I base my self-image off of things like love, teamwork,making others better, and contributing to the overall good of all, then I feel a true sense of accomplishment. It seems that’s just who I am.

I could play for any team in the NBA and contribute to them mentally and physically and I know I would contribute in a positive way. Where I am mentally I can feel this as true reality. Even if I didn’t play, I know that mentally I could help any team just based on how I view reality.

When I say things like this, it’s like I’m remembering myself.
When I set out on this journey that’s what I intended to do. I felt like I knew there was a greater me waiting to be uncovered.

It’s like coming out of amnesia, the whole time people are telling you who you are or were, but you have to uncover who you are for yourself. And who you are is always there no matter what. Everything that’s not real fades away, while everything that’s real lives on. That sentence is deeper than it looks for those that view themselves as “thinkers.”

Thank you for reading.

-Kevin

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was going to write something else as the title, but in the age of sue happy people and everyone being P.C. I decided not to. The last thing I need is…..On second thought Happy Turkey Holocaust everyone. Yeah still not putting it as the title though. Anyway so yesterday’s blog brought in 3 people that were doing searches and my blog came up so they clicked. Well the first one just really made me laugh, but also sad at the same time. Someone typed in “is there such thing as Thanksgiving Eve.” Well if they do come across my blog they now know it’s not real, but at the same time I really hope that was a little kid looking that up. Someone else typed in “Thanksgiving Eve Christmas Shows.” ok I kinda get it. Then I got one that was kinda like wait what? “watch the wholewednesday november 25ths.” No I didn’t forget the space that was really what was put in the search. Now I bring these up because I’ve never gotten 3 hits from a search before. Well probably did, just never noticed it before. It was a good day at the shop with a bad ending. It’s never good when a customer comes in and says you guys close in 10 minutes right? That means they plan on spending that 10 minutes looking and maybe buying. This guy spent 5 minutes at the clearance table (looking then finally getting something) then gets what he wanted in the first place, then spends another 5 minutes looking at protein bars. As soon as he left it was (shockingly) time to close up. Well on the plus side I got to enjoy sleeping in and my Comedies. Yay I love holidays when I don’t have to work. Well time for squiby power. Today’s video is the first battle you have with Jafar on Kingdom Hearts. Why this video. Because there is this spell that Jafar uses that creates like this cyclone with shards of ice that my party members always got caught up in. It’s also a spell that he finishes despite the fact that you are kicking his ass with a blade. Not to mention whenever I would play he would use this spell like 20 million times before I kicked his ass. Now what I don’t like about this video is that this guy used so much magic. When I fought Jafar there were only two spells I used. Cure (heal) and Aero (the wind). I mean come on Jafar is a sorcerer and they are kinda all but immune to magic attacks. Now granted I had the guide book so I could see how ineffective magic could be on him, but still come on common sense. Well enjoy. Look for that ice spell. You’ll know when he’s going to do it because his hands glow blue and he holds them out and looks like he’s going into a trance. Today’s tip is on a day when people stuff their faces one being is truly thankful, Tapeworms. Happy Thanksgiving.

We get a number of emails about the Dandies vegan marshmallows that we carry. Among the most popular is, “How are they for roasting?” (or some variation)

Well, according to one of our customers, who had not eaten a marshmallow in about 27 years, They are “exquisite”! Here’s Mr. Walsh roasting his air-puffed marshmallows over a firebowl:

Roasting Dandies

A guest post by Gavin Costello (Franksting):

@Franksting

In Irish tradition, there is the concept of the ‘Seanchaí‘.

Basically a storyteller, but also the holder of knowledge in Society down through the ages. The Oral Tradition, as it were, was once seen as just Stories, but I’m of the impression, the longer archaeology gets better at identifying things, many so-called ‘legends’ actually become real (Note, if I was a real journalist, I would look for a link to prove this). I’m sure most societies have a similar tradition.

While there would generally only be one Storyteller in a village or area, I imagine, he also had success/fail considerations. I mean if the stories he told were boring, or his tone of voice was that of a footballer, now retired, who was used as a TV commentator because of his abilities on the field, then he’d have to hand the baton over quicksmart to the young fella in the next field wouldn’t he? Either that or his listeners would be heading down to the next village to listen to Richie Benaud’s dulcet tones instead, right?

As I think about that, I see parallels between the longevity of those who tell stories in whatever traditions, and the varying successes of Businesses depending on what they are selling and then how they are engaging with their Customers.

To put it simply, not only did the locals want to listen to the Stories, they also needed to LIKE YOUR COMPANY.

If you apply that then to any company who wants to properly serve their customers, don’t they have to LIKE you, to WANT to listen to you?

Even if they have no option and they HAVE TO use your services, but you don’t talk with them in a way that is beneficial to them, why would they want to listen to you?

And if they do like your services, but they don’t like you, not only will they not listen to you, but most likely they will also search out alternatives as soon as they become available.

But let’s go further, if you talk about having a ‘conversation’ with your customer (I’m starting to hate the use of that term to describe what should be basic customer service), but the ‘conversation’ isn’t open, then what value does it have?

And what if you, in the day-to-day operations of your organisation, don’t create an environment where everyone feels they can partake in a fireside chat about the company or even believes in the customer facing presentation, then what chances have you of getting your stories told by them?

As a further challenge. Do companies really understand, as Marilyn Pratt from SAP says in her excellent presentation on Killing Communities (Hat Tip to Gavin Heaton for drawing this to my attention at his Blog); developing products or services should be simply about:

“…what value it brings to them, not what money it brings us.”

Because if the only reason you are developing and selling anything is to make a buck, chances are your opportunity will be short-lived – even if you do make a killing.

For your customers won’t like you, because not only are you not interested in delivering THEM value, if you try to talk to them about the value and service you are providing them, it’ll be a story they won’t want to hear and they’ll go to the Village down the road to listen to the other fella instead.