Affiliate marketing is a popular and lucrative way to make money online, and it’s becoming increasingly popular with beginners who want to start their own business or earn extra income. If you’re new to affiliate marketing, you might be wondering what it is, how it works, and how you can get started. In this article, I will give you a beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a popular and lucrative way to make money online, and it’s becoming increasingly popular with beginners who want to start their own business or earn extra income. If you’re new to affiliate marketing, you might be wondering what it is, how it works, and how you can get started. In this article, I will give you a beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a type of online marketing where you earn a commission by promoting other people’s or company’s products. You become an affiliate partner by signing up for an affiliate program and then promoting the products or services to your audience. When someone clicks on your unique affiliate link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Affiliate marketing works by creating partnerships between businesses and affiliate marketers. The businesses provide the products or services, and the affiliate marketers promote them to their audience. The affiliate marketers earn a commission for each sale they generate through their unique affiliate link.
To get started with affiliate marketing, you need to:
1) Choose a niche – This is the area you want to focus on, such as health and wellness, personal finance, or beauty.
2) Find an affiliate program – There are many affiliate programs available. Choose a program that aligns with your niche and offers products that your audience would be interested in.
3) Sign up for the affiliate program – You’ll need to provide some information about yourself and your website or social media accounts.
4) Get your unique affiliate link – Once you’re approved, you’ll get a unique affiliate link that tracks any sales generated through it.
5) Promote the products – You can promote the products through your website, blog, social media, or email list.
6) Earn commissions – When someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.
Below affiliate marketing platform is best for beginners:
1) Choose the right niche – Make sure you choose a niche that you’re passionate about and that has a large enough audience.
2) Build an audience – You need to have an audience to promote products to. You can build an audience through a website, blog, social media, or email list.
3) Create valuable content – Your content should be helpful, informative, and engaging. It should provide value to your audience and encourage them to take action.
4) Be honest and transparent – You should always disclose that you’re an affiliate and that you earn a commission for any sales generated through your link.
5) Choose the right products – Make sure the products you promote align with your niche and provide value to your audience.
6) Test and track – Test different products, promotions, and strategies to see what works best for your audience. Track your results and adjust your approach as needed.
Below affiliate marketing platform is best for beginners:
1) Low start-up costs – You don’t need to create your own products or inventory, which means you can start with minimal investment.
2) Passive income – Once you’ve set up your affiliate links, you can earn commissions on autopilot, even while you sleep.
3) Flexibility – You can work from anywhere and at any time that suits you.
4) No customer support – The businesses you promote handle customer support, so you don’t need to worry about it.
5) Unlimited earning potential – There’s no limit to how much you can earn with affiliate marketing. Your earning potential is only limited by the size of your audience and the products you promote.
As conclusion, affiliate marketing is a great way for beginners to start their own business or earn extra income. It’s a low-risk, high-reward opportunity.
Below affiliate marketing platform is best for beginners:
USDC is an ERC-20 token, which means that it is built on the Ethereum blockchain. This allows USDC to be easily integrated into other Ethereum-based projects and applications. Circle and Coinbase created USDC as a response to the volatility of other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. By pegging USDC to the US dollar, the creators of the stablecoin hoped to provide a more stable and reliab
What is USDC？
USDC is an ERC-20 token, which means that it is built on the Ethereum blockchain. This allows USDC to be easily integrated into other Ethereum-based projects and applications. Circle and Coinbase created USDC as a response to the volatility of other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. By pegging USDC to the US dollar, the creators of the stablecoin hoped to provide a more stable and reliable cryptocurrency that could be used for everyday transactions.
The USDC price has remained relatively stable since its launch in 2018. The price of USDC is determined by market forces, just like any other asset. When there is high demand for USDC, the price will go up; when there is low demand, the price will go down. However, because USDC is pegged to the US dollar, its price fluctuations are generally small and predictable.
USDC is issued by Circle, a financial technology company that specializes in digital payments and blockchain technology. Circle has partnered with Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, to promote the use of USDC. As a result, USDC is widely accepted by many cryptocurrency exchanges and merchants.
Advantages of USDC
One of the main advantages of using USDC is that it allows for fast and cheap transactions. Because USDC is built on the Ethereum blockchain, transactions can be processed quickly and at a low cost. This makes it an ideal currency for remittances and other international payments.
Another advantage of USDC is that it is transparent and audited. Circle provides regular attestation reports that detail the number of USDC tokens in circulation and the amount of US dollars held in reserve to back those tokens. This provides users with confidence that USDC is backed by real-world assets and is not subject to the same risks as other cryptocurrencies that are not backed by anything.
What about USDC Price Trend？
The price of USDC is typically very stable, as it is designed to be pegged to the US dollar. However, there can be small fluctuations in the price of USDC due to market forces. For example, if demand for USDC increases, the price may go up slightly. Conversely, if demand for USDC decreases, the price may go down slightly.
In recent news, Circle announced that it plans to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). This merger is expected to value Circle at $4.5 billion and will provide the company with the resources it needs to expand its services and continue growing USDC. This news has been seen as a positive sign for USDC and the broader cryptocurrency market, as it signals growing institutional interest in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
Where to buy USDC?
USDC has become increasingly popular in the cryptocurrency space. In addition to its use as a stable store of value and a currency for transactions, USDC is also used as collateral for borrowing and lending on various DeFi platforms. USDC is also commonly used as a trading pair on cryptocurrency exchanges, allowing users to quickly and easily trade other cryptocurrencies for USDC.
USDC can be purchased on various cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance, and MEXC. Users can also earn USDC by providing liquidity to USDC-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap and Sushiswap. USDC can be used to buy other cryptocurrencies or to make purchases from merchants who accept USDC as payment.
In conclusion, USDC is a stablecoin that has gained significant traction in the cryptocurrency space. Its price is stable and predictable, making it an ideal currency for transactions and as a store of value. USDC has become an important player in the cryptocurrency market and its recent milestones and news suggest that it will continue to grow and evolve in the future.
Growing a startup is not so easy. First, you need a viable idea to get your boat sailing. From there you need to find a profitable niche, determine the target demographic and have something valuable to sell.
Whether you are peddling goods, services, commodities or information, getting the word out to the world has become a tedious and burdensome task to accomplish. And without an apt marketing strategy to fuel your business and churn huge profits, keeping the boat afloat and moving is virtually impossible.
However, finding a marketing strategy that is the right fit is nearly impossible for many organizations. If you are facing the same issue, join the fray. The truth is that most entrepreneurs are so busy working “in” their businesses that they forget to work “on” their businesses. As a result, they fail to decide on a befitting marketing strategy for their organization.
So, what does it take to establish the right marketing scheme to save your ship from hitting the rock bottom? The secret to all this lies in our guide to 8 marketing tactics. Build a great action plan, become competitive, stay relevant and increase your customer base manifold by arming yourself with these 8 tactics!
Let us get started!
Tactics to develop a marketing strategy
1. Dissect Your Existing Strategy
Before jumping directly to creating a whole new marketing strategy, it is extremely important to dissect your previous ones. Identify the areas that need improvement and the areas which are worth investing time in. Take a good, hard look at your existing strategies to determine the things that are working and the things that are not working. Ponder on each area carefully and make a list of everything. Hopefully, your team has been tracking KPI’s, so this step won’t be too difficult to follow than usual.
2. Set S-M-A-R-T goals and define objectives
Businesses define and communicate their goals, vision, and mission by setting some objectives. These objectives should be nothing but specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-oriented that can help individuals evaluate the success of a particular marketing strategy.
They aid the marketers and managers to align their plans, coordinate marketing efforts and hold the teams accountable for achieving particular results.
Furthermore, these objectives should be re-evaluated at the duration of every six months, updated if necessary and used to measure success.
3. Figure out your Value Proposition
Your value proposition is arguably the most critical element of your overall marketing scheme. It tells the prospects as to why they should choose you over your competitors and it also makes the benefits offered by your goods and services crystal clear from the very onset. So a great marketing strategy is one that is derived from the company’s value proposition, encapsulating its primary strength analysis and differentiators against contenders, as opposed to being created from the very scratch.
Determining the value proposition is the step that should be most focused upon. Also, it is the step that requires most of your time, investment and resources as it is the most important conversion factor that decides whether the sale will be closed or lost altogether.
Get started with defining this conversion factor using pre-made value proposition PowerPoint templates that are available all through the internet.
4. Include Virtual Reality tactics to keep the ball rolling
Using Virtual Reality tactics can make a huge difference to your marketing efforts. It is the biggest trend in the business and marketing world. Being able to provide your consumers with an augmented reality experience helps them understand the usefulness and adaptability of a product. It also helps them understand the benefits of the product and how it can make their lives convenient. For Eg- Adidas: Delicatessen. When Adidas partnered with Somewhere Else to show the journey of two mountain climbers using a VR device. The viewers could actually scale the journey of the climbers from rock to rock. This VR campaign made TERREX far more appealing to the user than its onset. The 360-degree view of Delicatessen changed the fate of TERREX- the line of outdoor apparel and accessories.
5. Become Customer-Centric
To embed customer’s needs and seek their involvement in your product, you need to first understand them; their likes and dislikes.
In the marketing arena, there’s been a whole lot of buzz regarding customer-centricity- the importance of fundamentally aligning your goods and services to the needs of your most valuable customer.
In this quest of getting to know the customers, traditional marketing is getting a setback whereas social platforms are getting more popular owing to their user-friendliness. The organization can easily get information on customer demographics, conversations and online behavior which was not possible otherwise with traditional market research. The more personalized information the company can acquire, the more the trust of the customers. It also shows them that your company values their patronage.
6. Employ Big Data
Big data is critical to building an apt marketing strategy. It is vital to know how to employ it to return the information that you require to market properly as per the trend and industry tactics. It is also necessary to run complete analytics on the company’s biggest opponent and evaluate what they are doing differently to market their products. What you can learn from them and how it can help you improve your marketing efforts. Numbering and scouring profitable avenues for comparative data will yield you better results.
7. Analyze your Competitors
It is important to keep a tab on your direct competitors. It is also equally important to determine the marketing tactics they use and look for trends in their sales inclines and declines. Analyze the pattern of their sales and determine what they are doing differently that you can imitate to take your marketing efforts a notch higher. Learn what does not yield them positive results and create innovative strategies to make their weakness your brand’s strongest point.
Keep an eye on your competitor’s target audience and if they work for your product too, develop strategies to draw their attention with improving reputation, highlighting your brand’s USP and improving your customer service.
8. Market across social media channels
You can’t ignore social media when it comes to marketing. This is where all the so-called magic begins and spreads. In fact, some businesses owe their success to social media. They are built solely on the backs of social media channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc.
It might seem quite intimidating at first. But once you get a hang of it, there is no looking back! The key here is to be authentic, post “your” thoughts and post anything that is of relevance to your audience and your business. Keep the momentum going!
Dropshipping is an attractive retail business strategy for people looking to get high returns for minimal investment. With dropshipping, a middleman takes care of warehousing and storage for you. No need to rent a physical warehouse or set up expensive equipment to run a proper facility.
Dropshipping is an attractive retail business strategy for people looking to get high returns for minimal investment. With dropshipping, a middleman takes care of warehousing and storage for you. No need to rent a physical warehouse or set up expensive equipment to run a proper facility.
Running an online store takes a lot of time, effort, and money. Dropshipping store owners will need all the help they can to grow their business without bloating their expenses. Unfortunately, many beginners fall for costly mistakes that ruin their business. Avoid rookie mistakes with these helpful, risk-reducing tips.How to Reduce Risks for Your Dropshipping Store
1. Triple Check Orders Before Shipping
Customers often order items by mistake and sometimes, they forget to add more items to their basket before checking out. If a customer reaches out to update their order, you must coordinate these changes with your dropshipping partner immediately. You’re on the customer-facing side of the business, so you’re the one who gathers information on what customers need. And as the vendor’s main point of contact, you’re responsible for sharing information with the vendor. Such information includes order changes made outside the selling platform.
Ignoring order changes and cancellations, even by accident, can be costly. First, you may need to arrange the return of wrong items or shipment of missing items. Both scenarios can take up both your time and money. Second, when these concerns are not addressed properly, you’ll most likely get negative reviews and potentially lose repeat customers. A good way to avoid any of these scenarios is to have a solid tracking system for order amendments. And when there is an oversight in order fulfillment, you must have customer handling guidelines in place. Here’s an example of a step-by-step strategy for when a customer complains about an incorrectly fulfilled order:
Offer an apology.
Explain what must have happened that resulted in the wrong fulfillment.
Compensate customers by fulfilling the correct order. You can also consider offering a small token like a free sample or a small discount for their next purchase.
Track such incidents to monitor how often they happen and how much these mistakes cost you.
Review your customer complaint report regularly to find and close gaps in your operations.
2. Don’t Sell Too Many Products
An amateur move in dropshipping is offering too many things at once. The dropshipping industry is quite competitive; you may be tempted to offer as many products as possible to appeal to more people. While offering a wide selection may seem appealing to sellers, potential customers may find it off-putting. Browsing fatigue is real. It happens when customers scroll and scroll through endless products only to end up not finding anything that interests them. When thinking of what products to add to your portfolio, always remember the paradox of choice — when there are too many options, customers end up stressed, indecisive, and less likely to make a purchase decision.
You can easily avoid this problem by picking a niche and sticking to it. Focusing on a certain product category gives you more focus. You can target a smaller but more engaged and profitable audience. It’s also great for marketing. You’ll be able to learn more about who your target audience is and how to engage with them effectively. Make sure to pick a niche that is not just profitable but something you’re passionate about. Having background knowledge about the niche allows you to curate a list of more appealing products that your target customers will like.
3. Sell Multi-Use, Long-Lasting Products
Sustainability is something we can all contribute to. You can be environmentally responsible and still profit by selling long-lasting products. Many people, especially the eco-conscious crowd, are turning away from single-use products as they make an effort to reduce waste. Many consumers are willing to spend a bit more for something long-lasting rather than buying a cheaper, low-quality alternative. While the world still has a long way to go in banishing single-use items in the name of convenience, you can do your part by offering reusable and long-lasting products.
4. Don’t Fall For Shortcuts, a.k.a Black Hat SEO
There are no shortcuts to success, which also applies to dropshipping businesses. Every business owner wants clients to find their store on the first page of search results as soon as they open up. However, a reputable online presence takes time to build, and this is something that beginners should understand and accept. Search engine optimization (SEO) has been around for a while. Search engines have had more than enough time to recognize dodgy SEO tactics and penalize those who use them. Using Black Hat SEO, or the practice of increasing a site’s rank in search engines through underhanded tactics, can get your store noticed at first — but not for long.
Major search engines like Google have been cracking down on SEO violators, and the penalties are severe. You can either be blocked or suffer from lower search rankings. Common Black Hat SEO strategies include doorway pages, page swapping, keyword stuffing, and invisible text. Don’t fall prey to Black Hat SEO tactics and the promises of agencies that use them. You can build up your online presence slowly, surely, and honestly. There are plenty of skilled SEO specialists out there who can create a solid SEO strategy to help you steadily climb the search rankings.
5. Leverage Influencer Marketing at the Right Time
These days, partnering with social media influencers to market products is all the rage. Influencers are individuals with a lot of followers on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Their followers highly regard their thoughts and opinions, which is why many brands collaborate with these influencers. Getting the right influencer to mention or highlight your product even in just one post can boost your sales.
While influencer marketing works, using this marketing tactic too early can mean using up your marketing budget with very little returns. For one thing, influencer collaboration is not cheap. The more followers and engagement an influencer has, the more money they will likely charge for every post. The return on investment is not balanced too early in the game, so it’s best to use your initial marketing budget for more cost-effective strategies. Once you’ve already solidified your brand’s identity and online presence, then influencer marketing may be a sensible strategy.
6. Use Quality Packaging
Many online shoppers have had the unfortunate experience due to low-quality packaging. Imagine being excited to unbox their order only to find it damaged in transit. While this is often out of the control of the retailer, there are some things you can do to minimize the risk of damage.
One way to do this is to require your vendor partner to use quality packaging. Make sure the boxes are sturdy, and your packing material is protective. If products are highly breakable, then there should be a “fragile” sticker on the packaging. Make sure that packaging requirements are part of your agreement with your vendor. It may seem costly, but it will save you a lot of trouble and complaints in the long run.
7. Offer a Variety of Payment Options
The way we pay for things has changed drastically in recent years. Various digital payment options are now available and sometimes favored over cash and check payments.
For example, some people prefer to use digital wallets like PayPal or Venmo. Others might want to use their credit or debit card. Some might even want to pay with cryptocurrency. Make sure to offer a variety of payment options for your customers. This way, they can easily checkout and pay in the method that’s most convenient for them.
8. Offer Good Return and Exchange Policies
Another way to keep your customers happy is to offer good return and exchange policies. This shows that you stand behind your products and are willing to make things right if something goes wrong. Your return policy should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. Don’t make your customers go through hoops to return or exchange products. Your policy should be generous enough to give your customers a hassle-free experience.
9. Support Sustainability and Environmental Initiatives
The world of dropshipping is a contributor to global carbon emissions. While you may not be able to avoid having a high carbon footprint, you can do your part in trying to offset them. Support environmental causes that are dedicated to promoting sustainability and offsetting carbon emissions. Plenty of charitable causes are dedicated to planting trees, waste management, food shelters, and other similar causes.
Consider involving your customers by allowing them to contribute to your supported charities at checkout. You can also integrate your corporate social responsibility efforts in your communications or on specific product pages. Let your customers know that a portion of the proceeds of a specific product will be donated to a good cause. Doing so will make customers feel good about their purchase and be more aware of your brand’s values.
Hopefully, these dropshipping tips can help you avoid the common risks of running this type of online business. Dropshipping may not be as tricky as other retail business structures, but it comes with its own challenges. The best way to succeed in this industry is to familiarize yourself with such risks and find ways to reduce or, even better, eliminate them. Doing so can help your dropshipping store get through the shaky first few years.9 Proven Ways to Reduce Risks for Your Dropshipping Store
Dropshipping is a retail business strategy that attracts a lot of people. There is an unlimited earning potential despite minimal investment cost. With dropshipping, a middleman takes care of warehousing and storage for you. There is no need to rent a physical warehouse or set up expensive equipment to run a proper facility.
Running an online store takes a lot of time, effort, and money. Dropshipping store owners will need all the help they can to grow their business. Unfortunately, many beginners fall for costly mistakes that ruin their business. Here are tips on avoiding rooking mistakes, mitigating losses, preventing risks, and scaling a dropshipping business effectively.
Triple Check Orders Before Shipping
Customers often order items by mistake and sometimes, they forget to add more items to their basket before checking out. If a customer reaches out to update their order, you need to coordinate these changes with your dropshipping partner to fulfill the request. Customers are more likely to be dissatisfied or angry if they discover that several goods are missing from their purchase or that some of the canceled items were still delivered. Ignoring order changes and cancellations, even by accident, can be costly. It may result in negative reviews and loss of loyalty from your customers.
Since you’re in charge of sales and marketing, you need to inform the vendor of any order changes made outside the selling platform. A good solution is to create a plan to turn your customer’s negative experience around when this happens and create a process that will allow you to avoid this scenario altogether. For instance, when a customer reaches out to you after an incorrectly fulfilled order, offer them an apology and compensation to make them feel heard and accommodated. To prevent this from happening in the future, make sure you have a solid tracking system for additional order requests.
Don’t Sell Too Many Products
An amateur move in dropshipping is offering too many things at once. With the vast selection of dropshipping suppliers out there, you may be tempted to offer as many products as possible to broaden your target market. While offering a wide variety of items for sale is appealing, potential customers may find it off-putting. Browsing fatigue is real, and it happens when customers scroll and scroll through endless products only to end up not finding anything that interests them. When you’re thinking of what products to sell, always remember the paradox of choice — when there are too many options, customers end up stressed, indecisive, and less likely to make a purchase decision.
To avoid this problem, pick a niche and stick to it. Focusing on a certain product category allows you to cater to a smaller but more engaged audience. It’s also great for marketing because you can target the right customers better. Lastly, pick a niche that you are passionate about. Having some background knowledge about the niche allows you to curate a list of more appealing products that your customers will like.
Sell Multi-Use, Long-Lasting Products
Sustainability is something we can all contribute to. You can be environmentally responsible and still profit by selling long-lasting products. Many people, especially the eco-conscious crowd, are turning away from single-use products as they make an effort to reduce waste. In fact, many people are willing to spend a little bit more for a sustainable product rather than buy a cheap one with poorer quality. While the world still has a long way to go in terms of banishing single-use items in the name of convenience, you can do your part by offering reusable alternatives.
Don’t Fall For Shortcuts, a.k.a Black Hat SEO
There are no shortcuts to success, which also applies to dropshipping businesses. Every business owner wants clients to find their store on the first page of search results as soon as they open up. However, a reputable online presence takes time to build, and this is something that beginners should understand and accept. Search engine optimization (SEO) has been around for a while. Search engines have had more than enough time to recognize dodgy SEO tactics and penalize those who use them. Using Black Hat SEO, or the practice of increasing a site’s rank in search engines through underhanded tactics, can get your store noticed at first — but not for long.
Major search engines like Google have been cracking down on SEO violators, and the penalties are severe: be blocked or have lower search rankings. Common Black Hat SEO strategies include doorway pages, page swapping, keyword stuffing, and invisible text. Instead of falling prey to Black Hat SEO or the incredible promises of agencies that use these tactics, build up your online presence slowly but surely instead. There are plenty of skilled but honest SEO specialists out there who can create a solid SEO strategy to keep your online store steadily climbing the search rankings.
Leverage Influencer Marketing at the Right Time
Partnering with social media influencers to market products is all the rage these days. Influencers are individuals with a lot of followers on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Their followers highly regard their thoughts and opinions, which is why many brands collaborate with these influencers. A few seconds of video or even just one picture of the right influencer using, wearing, or buying your product can boost your sales substantially.
While influencer marketing definitely works, using this marketing tactic too early in your business’ lifecycle can lose you a lot of money. For one thing, influencer collaboration is not cheap. The more followers and engagement an influencer has, the more money they will likely charge for every post they make featuring your products. The return on investment is not balanced too early in the game, so use your initial marketing budget for other less costly strategies instead.
Use Quality Packaging
Many online shoppers have had the unfortunate experience of receiving their order only to find that it’s been damaged in transit. While this is often out of the control of the retailer, there are some things you can do to minimize the risk of damage.
One way to do this is to use quality packaging. Make sure your boxes are sturdy and your packing material is protective. You should also include a “fragile” sticker on packages that contain items that are more likely to be damaged.
Offer a Variety of Payment Options
The way we pay for things has changed drastically in recent years. Gone are the days when cash and checks were the only payment options available. Now, there are a variety of digital payment options that cater to different needs.
For example, some people prefer to use digital wallets like PayPal or Venmo. Others might want to use their credit or debit card. Some might even want to pay with cryptocurrency. No matter what your preferred payment method is, make sure you offer it to your customers. The more options they have, the more likely they will find a payment method that works for them.
Offer Good Return and Exchange Policies
Another way to keep your customers happy is to offer good return and exchange policies. This shows that you stand behind your products and are willing to make things right if something goes wrong. Your return policy should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. It should also be generous enough to give your customers a hassle-free experience.
Support Environmental Causes
In the world of dropshipping, there is a lot of carbon footprint involved when products are shipped to different parts of the world. While carbon footprint is inevitable, you can do your part to help offset its effects by supporting environmental causes. Plenty of charitable causes are dedicated to planting trees, waste management, food shelters, and other similar causes.
You can also involve your customers in the goodwill by offering them a chance to contribute to your supported charities at checkout. You can also integrate donations to your store and let your customers know about it by stating that a portion of the sales of a specific product will go to a certain charity.
Hopefully, the dropshipping tips mentioned above give you better insight into the common risks of running this kind of online business. While dropshipping might not be as tricky as other retail business structures, it’s not completely without risk. Familiarizing yourself with these risks and knowing how to prevent them can help your dropshipping store outlast the shaky first few years and reduce risks that could potentially end your business.About the Author: Catherine VanVonno, Ph.D.
Catherine describes herself as a Human Connector, which is quite fitting for the work she does as President and CEO of 20four7VA. She’s an expert in connecting growing businesses with the right remote talent from anywhere in the world. Aside from overseeing the daily business operations and managing the company’s finances, she also engages in resource speaking and writing articles on business growth solutions and impact hiring.
The sales profession is full of ups and downs. At one moment a person is at the top and the very next moment he is at the bottom.
In a blink of an eye, you lose everything you have gained. Also, new competitors emerge out of the blue, products similar to yours sometimes even better than yours conquer the market and before you even realize it, you become the participant of a rat race constantly striving to survive and build yourself in the marketplace.
No matter which industry you belong to, boosting sales performance is the primary motive of every organization and what might have worked a few years ago, might not work today. With new innovations, it is not easy to establish yourself using the traditional approach. You ought to adopt new and improved methods to grow. However, there is no time for trial and error, it is the time to sell and grow!
Here are 10 hidden secrets gathered from the most successful businesses out there which can boost your overall sales performance and help you grow like never before!
Define your vision and mission
The first hidden secret of skyrocketing your sales is to understand your business niche and define your vision and mission to function smoothly. Define what you do best and how it can help you expand. Conduct thorough research on your prospects, their likes, dislikes and how much are they willing to pay. Also, decide which strategy is the best to approach and attract these prospects towards your products.
Divide your mission into specific goals
Break your vision into several divisions each defining the specific goals that are to be attained. Write down all the activity goals that are under your control like proposals per month, referrals, etc. and set result goals to measure and keep a track of your overall progress. Mentioning specific goals focus your attention and energize your action.
Customer is the king when it comes to selling your product. So treat him like one!
Always assume that your customer will buy only those products which he needs, think has some utility and he won’t settle for something ordinary.
So, how will you convince them to buy your products and services? The answer is by highlighting and emphasizing the strengths of your product and how it will reduce the cost borne by him. Also, to bring your product into the limelight it is important to showcase the uses of your product and how it will help solve the problem of your client.
The crux is that be creative and experimental with your sales and marketing techniques.
Get “digital”
The most successful businesses don’t just “ digital”. In fact, they use their full arsenal of capabilities and their full force to conquer the digital world. They build an entire network of e-commerce to directly shape the customer experience.
This trend is becoming more and more popular as the stats of US retail shows. Almost two-third of the US retail sales involve some kind of digital platforms and conduct online research every once in a while.
This trend is especially harnessed by sales leaders who use readily available PowerPoint templates to support their organization in its growth and expansion. Unlike small organizations, this trend is very popular among some of the most renowned organizations to establish themselves in the marketplace.
Sell on purpose
Knowing your purpose to sell is extremely important. Know both what you do and the reason for doing it at every step. Find answers to questions like who are you targeting, the reason of selling to that particular target audience, what are you going to tell them, what are you going to say to them, what will be the look of your proposal and how you will propose yourself in front of the target audience. If you are not sure at every step of the selling process, get some guidance or training to help you out.
Inspire trust and be authoritative
Sales are much more easy to make when your prospects trust you and this is the principle that every top salesperson follows. This principle is the reason why he is referred to as a top salesperson. Therefore approach every prospect of yours as a consultant ready to serve your client and share your piece of knowledge with him rather than being a pushy salesman.
A top sales performer will also make use of his expertise to establish himself as an authority in his particular field. This can be done by commenting on a few relevant articles that your clients like to read and answering a few questionnaires as well as feedback forms to attract more and more prospects to your doorstep.
Overcome various objections in the sales
To a seasoned professional salesperson, having an objection is an opportunity goldmine since it shows that the customer is fully engaged and even considering his business proposal. However, overcoming various objections is the key to making sales. If there are a lot of objections on the part of the customer, he won’t purchase the product which will ultimately affect the overall sales of the organization.
To overcome objections the salesperson should find the root reason and should be tenacious enough to rebuild his strategy which might not be that successful.
Build strong connections
In order to increase sales, it is important to build strong relationships with the customers which in turn encourages them to buy from you. This all comes down to developing soft skills with the right training.
Therefore, hire right and competent people from the start who can build strong relationships with the prospects and keep them engaged. Direct communication is all necessary to strengthen these relationships and gain some loyal customers.
Harnessing advanced sales analytics
The trend of using advanced sales analytics is on the rise nowadays especially to bring in more profits. The value of harnessing advanced sales analytics is widespread as it helps in making better decisions, uncovering insights into sales, manage accounts and others that make it an important step to be taken. It also helps in deciding the best opportunities and mitigating various risks.
Push for a decision
The ultimate secret is to make a push at the right time to garner sales without being too pushy. The word “Maybe” is horrible and an awful place to be for everybody including both your customer and you. You’re left unsure and your customer is in turmoil whether to purchase the product or not.
In such a case, when you know the client has enough information to make their purchase decision, push them to make one there and then. Don’t keep waiting for their answer, rather just ask them to make a decision and regardless of their decision, find out ways to serve them.
Conclusion
Sales leaders face a dizzying number of issues, often at unimaginable speed while garnering more sales and prospects. However, by imbibing these 10 hidden secrets and focusing on what really matters, they can break and build their own place away from their competitors.
Learn the basics of a winning IT proposal, such as hardware, software, intranet, product or service sales. Anyone can slap a price quote together but that isn’t often a winning strategy. You need to show your potential client that you can be trusted to deliver on the services they need.
Like most businesses these days, your information technology (IT) business is no doubt looking for more clients or is tasked with internal projects. To land a new client or get a project accepted, you will need to write a business proposal.
Never written one? Don’t panic—writing a proposal doesn’t have to be a daunting process, and after you’ve written your first proposal, all others will come much easier.
That’s because the goals and structure for any business proposal are the same: 1) introduce yourself, 2) highlight the services you offer, 3) describe the costs, and 4) persuade your prospective client that you are the perfect choice for the project. You can also speed up the proposal writing process by using pre-designed templates and studying sample proposals.
The basic proposal structure is the same whether your business is network cabling, building and hosting websites, coding software, designing hardware, running a data center, optimizing internal processes, doing IT training, or even asking for funding to create or grow an IT business. Here’s the order your proposal sections should follow: 1) introduce yourself, 2) summarize the prospective client’s needs, 3) describe your products, services and costs, and finally, 4) provide information about your organization, your credentials, and your capabilities.
You will want to include details about your particular products, services and business experience that are relevant to your client’s specific project. For example, website designers might need to include information about templates, widgets, or shopping cart technologies; network specialists may want to include specifications for cables and routers they recommend; IT trainers might include lists of courses and certifications offered; and so forth.
The most important idea to keep in mind is that the goal of any proposal is to convince potential clients to award you their contracts, convince your boss to sign-off on your proposed project, or possibly secure funding for a new venture. To persuade them, you must demonstrate that you can deliver the products and services they want. It’s never a good idea to send your clients only a price list; that will not substitute for a real proposal.
Your proposal should be tailored to a specific client and that client’s needs. This means you need to gather information about that client so that you can create a customized proposal to meet that specific client’s requirements. Don’t make the mistake of sending all your prospective clients an identical sales proposal. A proposal targeted to a specific organization or person is much more likely to succeed.
Now, getting back to the basic order described above, begin your proposal with a Cover Letter and a Title Page. In the Cover Letter, write a brief personal introduction and provide all your relevant contact information so the client can easily contact you for more information. The Title Page is exactly what its name indicates: a page with the title of your specific proposal (for example, “Proposal for Website Services for the Birchwood Company”, “Building a Records Management System” or “Plan for Updating MWP Corporation’s Computer Network”).
Next, after this introduction, write the section that describes the needs of the prospective client. In a lengthy proposal for a complex project, you should provide a summary preceding the detailed pages. In proposals to corporations, this summary is usually called an Executive Summary. In complex but less corporate proposals, the summary is usually called a Client Summary. On this summary page and in the detailed pages of this section, describe your client’s needs and goals and discuss the limitations or restrictions that may be associated with the project. Don’t insert your own ideas yet; this section is where you demonstrate that you understand the client’s needs.
In the last section of the proposal, you get the chance to promote your project, products and services. In this section you will include pages that describe precisely what you have to offer and what it will cost. This section should contain some pages with general headings like Services Provided, Benefits, Features, and Cost Summary, but should also incorporate more detailed pages that fully describe your products and services, explain how you can fulfill the client’s needs, and list the associated costs. You might use topics such as Hardware and Software, Equipment, Options, Scalability and so on.
Your specific business will determine the specialized topics and pages you need to include in your proposal. The size and scope of the project will determine how many topics and how much detail will be required.
A website design and hosting company might need to include topics like Project Deliverables, Storyboard, Features, Technical Approach, Production Schedule, Hardware and Software as well as a development and hosting contract.
An IT training company might want pages such as Services Provided, Training Plan, Exercises, Curriculum, Prerequisites, Retraining, Materials and an Outline.
An IT consultant may use the Services Provided, Cost Summary, Project Summary, References, Certifications and Our Clients to start with.
IT sales proposals will use topics such as Products, Services Provided, Customer Service, Benefits, Features, Case Studies, Guarantee, Price List, Requirements and so on.
If you are proposing an internal company project, not only do you need to look good, you need to make sure your boss looks good too. You need them to trust that you will deliver in order to gain their support. Include topics that show you understand every aspect of the project. Make sure you have considered Assumptions, Risk Analysis, Contingency Planning, Accountability, SWOT Analysis and the Expected Results.
A networking cabling, infrastructure or data center project may require topics regarding the Facilities, Site Planning, Infrastructure, Security Plan, Expansion Plan, Storage, Location Analysis, Diagrams, Blueprints, Equipment, and so on.
Hardware and software designers might include Documentation Requirements, Specifications, Technical Approach, Project Management, Standards Compliance, System Requirements, Interface Requirements and Certifications. Hardware designers in particular may also need topics such as Manufacturing, Engineering, Production Plan, Capacity, Resources and Resource Allocation.
An IT project for the government can be even more complex as you will have an RFP with rules that must be adhered to. In this situation make sure to use the Compliance Matrix, RFP Cross Reference, government grant/contract Cover Sheet and any other topics that are specifically required by the RFP.
A business seeking funding will want to include pages such as a Competitive Analysis, Industry Trends, Market and Audience, Marketing Plan, Insurance, Liability, Disaster Recovery Plan, Time Line, Funding Request, Services Provided, Products, Company Operations, Income Projection, Sources of Funds, Uses of Funds, Personnel, Legal Structure and any other topics required by the lender. Funding or investment proposals also require a number of financials such as your Cash Flow Analysis, Balance Sheet, Revenue, Profit Margin, Profit and Loss Statement, Operating Costs, and so on.
In this final proposal section, be sure to provide pages describing your organization (About Us or Company History), as well as pages that explain your skills and experience or provide information from other clients. These pages are the Our Clients, Personnel, References, Testimonials, Qualifications and Capabilities – whatever you need to instill trust in the prospective client that you can deliver the goods and services they’re looking for.
So there you have it: all the basic steps for creating your proposal. Now for the finishing touches. After you have inserted all the words and data in your proposal, spend a bit of time making it visually appealing. Add your company logo, choose different fonts or use custom bullets, or consider using colored page borders. Don’t go overboard, though; you want to match the style of your proposal to the style of your business.
Don’t send your proposal out before you spell-check and proof every page. If possible, have someone outside of the project or organization do the final proofreading pass. It’s too easy to miss mistakes in familiar information.
You can see now how IT business proposals can vary widely in content because of the variety of IT businesses and the variety of projects for which the proposals are tailored. Your company’s proposal content will be different from anyone else’s. But you can also see that all IT proposals will have similar formats and follow the same basic structure.
To speed up the proposal writing process, you can use the pre-designed templates in a proposal kit. They contain easy-to-understand instructions and suggestions and examples that will guide you to provide appropriate content. It includes many sample business proposals for all sorts of IT businesses, too; these can give you a head start on creating your own winning proposals.
This article highlights the most effective steps to see your proposal to federal government agencies.
Today, we bring you an article by our Proposal Manager and writer, Erin Hoefer, who supports our clients on consulting engagements. She discusses her take on proposal editing, self-editing, and editing others’ work:
Proposal managers often get to wear different hats. I am stating the obvious, I know. We do not always get to stand back and orchestrate the overall effort of a winning proposal. Often we have to also get down in the trenches and perform last-minute capture management, fill out pricing and contractual forms, write the technical sections when the Subject Matter Experts are unavailable, and dare I say we even have to edit the proposal after we have written most of it ourselves.
Editing begins early in the proposal writing process and continues throughout the lifecycle, but no matter what stage you are pulled in to edit, it is a distinct task in a proposal’s lifecycle that requires a specific skill set. Editing includes cutting and strengthening text for readability and impact, bringing consistency to diverse materials, achieving a “single voice” in a proposal, and even making your writing sing.
At the very least, as a good proposal editor, you will:
Work to a proposal-specific or company style guide to ensure consistent use of words.
Strengthen messages and remove ambiguity missed by the proposal team through familiarity.
Reduce word count—we all tend to use unnecessary words and phrases.
Identify and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
It does not matter what you choose to edit first. It may make sense to one editor to review for punctuation and spelling first, and then dig deeper into the message, but there is no right order for editing. It is up to the individual.Editing your own proposal writing
If you are anything like me, you will repeatedly fall in love with your own writing (I am having a love fest with this piece right now). It is easy to fall into this trap, since writing is hard work. It does not matter what type of writing you are doing, it takes a serious effort to get the right words onto the screen in a coherent fashion. When we spend so much time learning about our clients with the final mission of winning business for them, we inevitably begin to feel passionate about the proposal and its potential outcome. We struggle for the right words, then struggle more to arrange them into the right messages, and finally, present a winning proposal that we know (or think we know) needs very little editing. Therefore, it is not surprising we love our writing more than Angelina Jolie loves to fill out adoption papers—so much time has been invested.
But snap out of it lovers! There is a reason the great proposal writers and editors use the various color reviews (and depending on the size and importance of the proposal, there may be a review for every color in the rainbow). You must be objective about your own work. How do you do that?
Here are a few ways to detach yourself or develop objectivity to your own writing:
Step away from the piece for at least one full day (that is 24 hours in proposal writer time). Having a fresh look at the writing will help you see what you could not see when you were buried in the words.
Do it in an alternative format: if you were working in Word, look at your text in PDF. You will see different things. Never skip a hard copy review of your proposal.
Read it aloud. You know how in your head you are a great singer, but when you actually sing out loud, it sounds surprisingly different? Or is that just me? This exercise can also work on your writing. No matter how great a writer you are, your ears are better at picking up things such as incomplete sentences, vague thoughts, or misplaced points when you read it out loud. This is also a key step in the Read Out Loud review prior to your Gold Team Review.
Record yourself. Read it out loud again, but this time, use your computer or smart phone to record it. You will hear yourself differently, but more importantly, any inconsistencies or structural errors will be noted sooner than if re-reading the piece in your head.
Editing Someone Else’s Writing
Make no mistake about it. As much as proposal writers love their own words, nothing trumps the opportunity to alter someone else’s work. It is not because the hard work has already been done. No, it is because it is easier for most of us to edit than to come up with the first draft, however bad it may be.
In reality, editing someone else’s work is a bit of a burden. I know how painstakingly difficult it can be to get all the right words in a proposal. How do I tell the writer to remove a whole paragraph? I do not want to make them upset enough to never want to work with me again. However, the opportunity to edit someone else’s work also brings a two-way street of education. I must be prepared to explain every edit, and at the same time, the writer must be able explain why a particular section or sentence must stay. This often requires team work—give and take.
Below is a simple editing checklist from OST Global Solutions that I use for all proposal pieces, whether my own or someone else’s:
Review content. Cover areas such as compliance, accuracy, consistency, missing information, redundancy, win_themes, and acronyms.
Review for length and structure. This includes proper paragraph order, flow, and paragraph and section length.
Edit and review every sentence and word. Look for passive and active voice, word use, tone, style, and a variety of other issues related to the piece.
Look over the basic mechanics such as spelling, typos, punctuation, capitalization, use of pronouns, subject-verb agreement, and verb tense throughout the document.
In conclusion, whether you edit your own beautiful masterpiece or someone else’s, you can never underestimate the power of making yourself detached and objective. Build the time into your proposal schedule if you are the writer. Estimate a proper amount of time if you are editing someone else’s writing. Cover the basics of editing and dig deep to ensure the proposal communicates the message intended, and that the proposal will sell.
The latest statistics gives a figure that there are around 310 million active customers in Amazon and probably you may be one among them!!
We are quite acquainted with the boom of e-commerce and how massive impact it has made to our lifestyle. With the rise in ecommerce has also given a rise to the number of people who wants to start an online ecommerce business. I randomly asked my friends about what do they want to do in the future. And to my surprise, so many of them said they want to establish business of their own. Entrepreneurship is the gravitating career for most youngsters. But there is one constraint in starting a business all of a sudden. You need to have a good investment support. Capital is the most important investment for any business to start. What if you don’t need to spend any money for your business and still make profit?
DropShipping is not a new term or concept in ecommerce but seldom people know how to start a DropShipping business. More than being a business, it is a service. In a DropShipping business, you don’t need to do a lot of capital expenditure and even don’t need to setup a physical store. The internet does the job!
It is a retail fulfilment method where the seller doesn’t keep his products in a store or inventory. Basically, the seller sells his product from an online store and buyers simply buy them. But the main tasks of the business are actually done by a third party system. Among all the positive aspects of this model of ecommerce, the main perks of DropShipping are
Minimum capital investment required No hurdle in setting up a store Risk margin is lower You can set your own price for the products you sell Let us look at the essential steps you need to know before setting up a DropShipping store in 5 simple steps
The Drop-shipping Concept
Find out about your interest
This is the first thing you need to find out for starting your business. Figure out what exactly do you want your business to do for you, what are the products you want to sell Research on your customer base and see what are the products that can give you higher profits when invested upon Figure out who are your competitors in this run and how they are dealing with the business to make profit The first step is all your homework that you need to do before moving to the next step in the run.
Find a suitable Drop Shipping supplier
The drop shipping supplier is basically the hero behind the scene. Because the drop shipping supplier is the one who will deal with all the physical tasks of the business such as packing, shipping and delivering.
It is therefore essential to get in touch of a reliable supplier who can synchronise with the products you want to sell. Be sure to get the following things clear with the supplier…
How long it takes to ship the order ? What kind of tracking systems they prefer? If they offer a warranty on their products. If yes, for how long
Get a sales tax ID
We all know what sales tax means. It is the tax levied on all sales of physical goods to consumers. Though having a sales tax ID for an eBay seller is not mandatory, there are certain suppliers who prefer sellers with a sales tax ID.
Well, getting a sales tax id is easy as well as cheap!
Just Google your “Country name”+ “sales tax ID” and you would be sorted!
Sort your Platform
Once you are done with the prerequisites given in the above steps, you need to figure out which platforms do you want to use for selling your products.
eBay is the most used and easy ecommerce platform for beginners to start off. Amazon is the world’s largest ecommerce site for selling and buying products Bonanza and Ruby Lane are also ecommerce stores that help in hoisting your product If not any of these platforms, you can even design your own ecommerce store with platforms like Shopify Market and Promote!
Imagine you got an awesome business idea and even setup an online store but no one knows about it! Nothing can be saddening than this. You need to bring out the savvy marketing analyst and start marketing your product
Start various campaigning on social media platforms
Use the power of emails and promote by sending bulk emails to target customers Create discount coupons because discount fascinate people more than chocolates and ice creams With these few basic information on how to start a DropShipping store, you are ready to fly high into the ecommerce sky!!
In this age of online connections, live events continue to be an essential part of brand and business-building. Hosting a live event gives your brand and business the opportunity to stand out from your competitors. In this way you can have a deeper and more meaningful brand-building effect on your consumers that is more effective than indirect and media-centered marketing efforts.
Yet, with so many groundbreaking events happening all over the world, businesses and events professionals need to increase their efforts to make sure the event they stage will be engaging for their target audience and deliver their target objectives.
The live event industry is booming, so much so that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the event industry will grow by 44% from 2010 to 2020, exceeding most growth predictions for other industries. Even so, there continues to be a lot at stake when organizing a live event. They are very expensive to put on and necessitate a substantial amount of planning – even if they only last a weekend.
Here are the tried and tested best practices for staging a successful live event.
Audio
Audio is the number one component when it comes to staging a successful live event. No matter what size, or type of event, the top event companies know that you must always strive for great audio; otherwise, you will lose the interest and attention of your audience.
More often than not, microphones will be part of the setup, so plan to test each and every one of them early enough that your audio engineers have time to deal with any problems that may arise, paying special attention to wireless frequency interference.
Additionally, get in the habit of using fresh batteries for wireless microphones for every single event. If you are utilizing a webcast audio feed, make sure it is clean and audible.
If your event is going to include remote presenters, schedule a test round with each of them, as most won’t be using a high-tech setup and, instead will be using a basic headset microphone or even a telephone connection.
Video
In the past few years, live video has proven itself to be the dominant form of marketing, and when used correctly at events, increases audience engagement. Live video at events offers brands and businesses the opportunity to tap into this engaging tool, bringing you and your customers together.
Just like in a TED Talk video, plan to have multiple camera angles to create a cinematic experience. Capturing raw moments and different perspectives helps everyone feel closer to the action.
The power of video is elevated by the fact that you can stream your events to audiences around the world, enlarging the live audience and furthering the results of the event you are staging. Filming any speakers, panels, or performers can later be turned into content (such as webinars) to promote your next event.
Visuals
In addition to the power of audio, visuals add an extra component to the story you are telling. The level and intricacy of the visuals are going to vary based on your brand’s aesthetics and the nature of the event; however, in all cases, some form of visuals should be used.
Motion backgrounds are a fantastic way of adding an extra dimension, as the subtle movement lightly enhances everything else that is occurring on stage. For a more extreme visual experience, LED lighting rental is the way to go.
Another idea is to incorporate your brand or business’s logo into the look of the event. All in all, you want the space that your event occupies to turn into an immersive environment.
Processing Fees
When selling tickets for your event, you may encounter ticket or credit card processing fees. Depending on the company, these can vary from 2.5-3.5% and may have an additional flat per-ticket fee.
Make sure that you are building these extra charges into the price, instead of adding them on at the end. Psychologically, customers would rather see a slightly higher ticket price than have a load of additional fees added at the end.
Venue
Selecting a location and venue for your event is a question that may require a lot of brainstorming. First, take into consideration the niche your event falls under and what (if any) characteristics your venue should have for that niche.
Once you have selected a venue, don’t solely focus on the positives, but also consider its limitations. Ask about power capabilities, if certain things will set off the smoke alarms, the weight capacity of the ceiling, etc. – go over all the small things that could potentially turn into big problems.
In the days and weeks leading up to the event, make sure the core team members know their way around the venue. When everyone is running around trying to get everything in place, knowing the quickest routes from A to B will feel like a blessing.
Wherever you decide to host your event, make sure that there are plenty of charging stations. You want everyone to be tweeting your event #hashtag all day long!
Technicians
When dealing with product and service suppliers, the most important tip of all is to hire the right attitude. You want to ensure that the people you are going to be working with are the creme de la creme of the industry.
Organizing and hosting these events can get slightly messy and intensely stressful, which can only be made worse if the people who are in charge of your audio, lighting, stage and rigging have not been listening and can’t remember what to do. A good, energetic, motivated attitude goes a long way.
Don’t forget to make sure you are rewarding your crew with good food! It is amazing how much more motivated people can get when the reward for hard work is a tasty snack or meal.
Feedback
After your live event has wrapped up, make sure to ask attendees to provide you with post-conference feedback. This is the key to ensuring that the next event runs more smoothly and is more impressive than the last one. If you don’t ask, then you may never know that the chairs were uncomfortable, that too many panels overlapped, or that the coffee machine was never full.
Pro Tip:
As you will probably need to sleep for three days once the event is over, prep your post-event emails and surveys before the event even starts. Check that all the links are working and leave space for pictures that you can add from the event before you hit send.
By hosting a successful and engaging live event, potential customers can begin to develop a relationship with you, increasing the chances of them purchasing from you in the future.
We are dedicated to BIG TIPS to help you get things done more efficiently. You will master how to do everything in a bigger way and live smarter. Topics include Home, Health, Lifestyle, Travel, Technology, Entertainment, Business and Video.
Our eBook series will be a collection of Tips and Tricks from our website. If you are an Amazon KU (Kindle Unlimited) subscriber or Prime member, you are eligible to enjoy our eBook for free.
When you give a presentation, you need to remember that effective communication is tied up in the use of your voice and body language far more than in the content of what you are saying.
Some studies have found that body language accounts for 55% of what we take away with us when we have sat through a presentation.
Body language leaves a lasting impression, so you must get it right when giving a presentation.
Being under scrutiny and having everyone’s eyes on you can be an uncomfortable experience. The first lesson in body language is that you must not let that show on the outside no matter how you feel inside.
You can do this by “acting” as though you are a confident speaker who has spoken in front of large audiences many times. Visualise how a confident speaker looks on stage or in a boardroom. Now visualise yourself doing that.
You can also watch TED talks on YouTube and analyse what the best presenters do. If you can harness even a small amount of the persona and charisma these people have, you’ll be making giant steps in your presentation skills.
Preparation
Firstly you need to get the content right. Consider what needs to be included in the presentation and keep it simple. Work all the hot topics in and ensure that you have evidence and examples as required.
Before your presentation, you must practice, practice, practice! Not just once, but many times. The more practice you do, the more confident you will feel about the content. Once you know the content inside out, you can start to think about how you will present it.
You need it to look as natural as possible even though you have rehearsed to death when you present. It may not sound logical, but you will look more natural when you have taken the time to go over and over the presentation in rehearsal.
Energy
Throughout the presentation, you need to be dynamic and energetic. You must sound enthusiastic, like you care about what you’re saying and the product or service you are offering.
If you don’t care, why should anyone else? Your body language should reflect this energy. Your head should be up, your eyes shining, your gestures should be high, and perhaps your fist will be clenched when you talk about winning or victory, or you might gesture at your heart if something means a lot to you or your company. Don’t remain rooted to the spot; move around from time to time when you change slide or topic. Inject energy into the room. No movement will lead to the audience’s thoughts drifting off.
Standing
When you are in front of your audience, you need to be perfectly balanced and grounded if you are standing still. Plant both feet on the floor and pull up your spine. Tuck your pelvis in and pull your shoulders down and back.
Do not be tempted to put your weight through one hip as your audience will subconsciously perceive you as slovenly lacking in backbone. Do not fold your arms or cross your legs, as you will appear defensive. Try not to sway as the audience may think you’re a little unbalanced and not trust what you say! It’s difficult when you’re nervous but try to keep your body open and facing the audience as though you are upright and honest with nothing to hide. This will help project confidence.
Interacting with your Visuals
Turning your back on the audience is a no-no, and you need to avoid it as far as possible. If you have slides of some description, point at them from time to time, acknowledge the content or explain graphs and diagrams but do not read from them.
Your audience can read and have already read the slide within two seconds of it going on the screen. Instead, use visuals that will hold their attention while you present confidently, facing your audience and making eye contact. You have rehearsed so much you don’t need to read off the screen anyway, do you?
Movement
It’s a fact that the way you move, gesture and use facial expressions all help to convey meaning to your audience. If you say one thing, but your body language says something else, your audience will get confused. Their subconscious mind reads a presenter’s body language to understand what is being said. Precise gestures and facial expressions will aid the audience’s understanding.
Moving is good. It demonstrates confidence and can show that you are thoughtful and dynamic. Step closer to your audience from time to time but don’t get in their faces too much, or you’ll intimidate them.
Make sure your gestures are powerful; otherwise, there is no point in using them. If you keep your arms locked into your sides or only motion with your hands and wrists, you will appear uptight to your audience, so relax your shoulders and let the movement flow through your arms naturally.
As a rule of thumb, the larger the audience, the more expansive your gestures should be. In front of an intimate board meeting, you can keep your hands quite close to your body at chest height. In front of a large audience you need to move your shoulders and upper arms too. If you have to raise your voice, then raise your gestures.
Not sure you can pull it off? Of course, you can! You don’t have to make a windmill impression; you only need to gesture on certain words or phrases if you wish-practice in private. Try saying ‘increase’ or ‘increased profits’ with a gesture. Try saying ‘amazing’ or ‘we’ll get results this way. It isn’t about turning cartwheels; it’s about your audience perceiving you as engaging, interested and interesting.
First Impressions Count!
From the moment you appear in the room or on the stage, you need to take ownership and make a positive impression. Shuffling towards a lectern or fiddling with the equipment will not instil much confidence among the audience. Instead, walk-on in front of them, head held high, shoulders back, making eye contact, and smiling with your eyes as well as your face. Greet everyone. Take a moment to compose yourself, take a deep breath, and then launch in with your opening statement.
Own the stage and fake your confidence. Within no time at all, you won’t ever have to pretend again!
Pamela Wigglesworth, CSP is an international marketing consultant, speaker and the CEO of Experiential Hands-on Learning based in Asia. She is the author of The 50-60 Something Start-up Entrepreneur and works with organizations across multiple industries to help them increase brand awareness, increase leads and ultimately increase sales.
Scaling a business is not an easy task. Between keeping past clients happy, converting new leads and ensuring you have the right team on board, scaling a company involves focusing on many things. And, if you look away for a minute, your development can slip.
Scale your business the smart way by using technology. Using technology isn’t even optional these days. No matter the size of your company, how many clients you have or how much you want to grow, there’s someone looking to take your business.
And, if your competitors are using software, apps, and tools you’re ignoring, they’ll have an easy time getting ahead. By using the right tools, you can track where you are, where you’re going and the areas in your business that are lagging.
Technology improves customer experience
Customers are the main drivers of your company, so it’s crucial to do everything to offer them a positive experience when they interact with your firm. Consider offering Wi-Fi so that your customers can browse while they’re in your shop.
By using chatbots, you can improve customer-service response time. Chatbots can answer a big percentage of your clients’ queries. And, they can direct clients to customer service agents if the questions need human intervention. They can also help to keep your clients engaged. For instance, they can prompt customers to view or write a product review, and encourage them to view tutorials.
Automate daily tasks with machine learning
Machine learning can help your company to reduce the need for employees performing repetitive tasks such as purchasing and billing operations. You can use software and apps to handle most of these duties. Automation will do these tasks quickly and accurately, and this will free up your employees’ time to do jobs that demand critical and creative thinking.
Automation and integrating operational processes helps businesses achieve end-to-end visibility, and it enables teams to scale speed while delivering excellent service to customers.
Releasing data for future growth
Investing in the right technology and integrating business processes will make your company responsive enough to compete with bigger competitors and deliver sustainable growth.
By using a cloud-based business management system, you’ll have full oversight of your company operations and easy access to data to make insightful decisions on how and where to grow the firm.
Use technology to streamline onboarding
As your company grows, your human-resource department will use technology solutions to smooth the onboarding process. Software and apps enable new members to complete paperwork and make introductions before they arrive for their first day of work.
Also, onboarding apps provide new employees with detailed information of the company’s culture and they assist them to set goals for their first 90 days. This helps to ensure an employee is ready for their first day of work and it prepares them to help the company grow.
Putting automatic systems like streamlining, outsourcing and automation to work in your business can make it more efficient and productive. To discover more on how to effectively reduce the amount of time you work on your business, while simultaneously building your business reach and productivity, download the free checklist Work Smarter with Business Systems & Automation at https://jonallo.com/biz-systems
People often dream of getting a nice post and a banking job is one such exception. The banking sector is considered as the biggest occupation market on the global platform. You can look around for all types of short and long term jobs within banking sectors.
Position in the banking sector can be a rewarding and high paying job type.
One major advantage is that the banking sector offers jobs for multiple positions ranging from peon to managerial posts.
To get a nice position in banks, you may also need to appear for certain competitive exams.
Banking occupations are always long term job positions with regular promotions for employees.
There are certain steps that you may have to consider so you can get selected for any banking sector-job position.
The right set of qualifications
When coming to the selection process, candidates need to hold the right set of qualifications you have the benefit to apply for multiple job positions like cashier, managerial, teller, or peon. For each job position, you may need to hold a distinct set of qualifications.
High position banking jobs that are at management positions may also require candidates to appear for nation-wide competitive exams. In general, these exams are conducted at the national level.
Get relevant degree certificates
For most banking jobs candidates are also expected to hold the right set of degrees. The degrees have to be in selected subjects as not all subjects are important for banking jobs. You need expertise in maths and commerce related subjects.
For certain specific job positions, it is also important for the candidates to qualify for special courses. You can opt for a charted accounts course or management course in finance and banking.
Always opt for competitive exams first
The banking job industry is always considered as very much rewarding for candidates. If you wish to get a high position job within the banking sector then candidates should always select to opt for competitive banking exams.
This is one of the most crucial steps towards taking your high salaried good-job position in banks. Without competitive exams, you may not be able to move to a higher banking job position.
Prepare your best resume
Banking sector jobs are not like any regular sales jobs. Your resume preparation has to be specifically based on the job position you are applying for. You may have to focus on building your very powerful job resume.
All essential qualifications and degrees have to be highlighted for a specific job position. So if you are focusing on joining as a cashier position, then you will have to highlight your mathematical skills. For managerial positions, you may have to highlight your management skills.
Locate jobs at right place
Banking sector jobs may certainly be published only in selected places and media. Candidates need to look around for jobs in the right place. In most cases, the job requirements for banking sectors are regularly published online and in print media.
Searching the position in the right place and at the right time is more important for candidates. To get the best banking job you have to always be prepared in advance.
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Every salesperson wants to have a relationship with a buyer that cannot be duplicated by their competitors. Salespeople try numerous strategies, few work effectively, until now. Research into neuroscience has provided great insight into how our brain functions. As salespeople we need to know what this means in a sales context. Sales will change the relationship between yourself and the buyer because it is based on biology and not psychology.
Our brains are most comfortable when operating in autopilot. We also feel relaxed when in this state. Repeated conscious thoughts and actions are not stored in our conscious mind but transferred to our subconscious where autopilot happens. Example, have you ended up at an address you normally go to, but on the day planned to be somewhere else? Your subconscious mind took you there whilst you were preoccupied with other conscious thoughts. To save energy our brain uses shortcuts to make decisions to solve problems quickly. If the buyer perceives you to be the same as your competitors they will switch to autopilot. If a buyer cannot see anything new, intriguing or different in you, or the product/service or the organisation their brain will go into the default mode. This means they will emotionally detach and will more than likely give you a price objection to create differentiation between you and your competitors. As salespeople we need to be aware of three components of the brain:
The Primal Brain
This is the most primitive part of the brain and is in control of our instinctive and automatic self-preserving behaviors. The thinking rational brain, the neocortex, shuts down when the primal brain is dominate. It is driven by the fight or flight or freeze response to a threat either perceived or real. In sales this could be disguised as an objection such as “I will think about it.”
The Mammalian Brain
Also known as the Limbic system it is the center of emotions and learning and where ‘gut’ feelings come from, trust and loyalty. The system evaluates everything as either pleasure or pain. Sales presentations need to focus on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ to connect to the mammalian brain.
The Neocortex
The neocortex is associated with high order brain functions such rational and conscious logical thinking and language. Salespeople who provide an overly structured features and benefits presentation focus on the ‘what.’ This triggers the neocortex resulting in an emotionally disengaged buyer.
What to do?
Do your homework to uncover information so your presentation disrupts the buyer’s pattern of thinking. Focus on the new, intriguing or different using ‘why’ and ‘how’ in your presentation. When you do you will have a fully engaged buyer who will feel closer to you and open up about a problem they want solved.
If you have any issues selling whether new of a sales veteran fell comfortable to contact me. Any discussion is confidential. Please to be of service.
ACCOUNT BASED MARKETING – WHY BUSINESSES SHOULD CONSIDER IT
Account-based marketing or ABM has been around for a very long time, but it is only now that people are really paying attention to it and implementing it closely and more consciously as part of their marketing campaign. It involves taking your resources and placing them all on a set of targeted accounts within the market. The business strategy uses campaigns that have been personalized to engage each account individually. These campaigns are developed by looking at the specific needs and wants of an account.
Many people across the industry consider account-based marketing revolutionary and cutting edge. This is because the strategy looks at marketing holistically, as a whole, whereas older techniques focus too heavily on lead generation. A key attribute within account-based marketing looks at wagering and taking advantage of larger accounts. This means that you’re looking at trying to up-sell and cross-sell your larger accounts to get more value out of them, rather than spending time in the seemingly endless and tiresome loop of lead generation.
Account based marketing offers benefits both for the business and its customers. This is also one of the reasons why people are drawn to it.
1. Personalized and customized marketing experience.
Understanding your customers better gives you a leg up on the competition and allows you to strengthen your business relationship with that customer. The personalized marketing campaign could lead to better and more sales. A large part of account-based marketing is the personalization of marketing techniques to larger accounts. By figuring out the customer’s expectations, wants, and needs, you can tailor the marketing campaign specifically to and for them.
2. More realistic ROI expectations
Account-based marketing is known for giving higher returns than any other marketing strategy. It offers the highest return on investment (ROI) than any other B2B marketing strategy. The new strategy gives more precise measurements of the ROI that a company can expect. In turn, it allows companies to get a better grip on how their customers are responding to certain advertising techniques. This means that they have more control over what tactics are working as well as those that aren’t working.
3. Strategic use of available, fewer or limited resources
The account-based marketing approach focuses on a smaller number of accounts at a given time. Because they’re working with fewer accounts, they are more likely to bring those accounts to the final sales process. You’re actually going to be bringing more with fewer resources. This also frees up resources that used to be spent on funneling numerous companies. So, companies who use account-based marketing tactics can use these now free resources to complete and focus on other tasks.
4. Shorten sales timeline significantly
With your sales and marketing teams are working together to align and move accounts through the sales pipeline, you’ll find that the sales cycle shortens significantly. Your teams don’t have to juggle multiple moving parts separately. Rather, you’re streamlining the process and making it easier for everyone to keep up with the leads and customers that your business currently has. This also makes it easier to cater to these specific customers, making sure their concerns are addressed appropriately and in a timely manner. They don’t get lost in the noise.
5. Better, more effective and efficient marketing and sales alignment
Marketing teams and sales teams are more likely to and should work together to accomplish goals and sales together. By bringing these entities together, they can work on important tasks as a team rather than individually:
Identify accounts that you want to target
Create customized/personalized marketing campaigns for those targeted accounts.
Aligning accounts and moving them along the sales cycle as a team
Having an account-based marketing approach will take your lead conversion method to a new level. If your marketing and sales teams are still separated, you likely run into a lot of issues when it comes to successfully converting leads into sales.
It is reported that the Bitcoin is rolling into forbidden grounds as it creates a spate of controversy among the “high” society and savvy digital investors. These digital marketers try to gain their share of the billion-dollar-a-day digital pie while corporate society seeks to curtail the spiral hike in the value of what seems to be a “monetary menace”. Some who strive on exploiting the poor and vulnerable are not having this as they try to inoculate the masses in an attempt to put down this growing “digital monster.”
These seemingly corporate crooks continue to put a choke-hold on how the less fortunate spend their money as they try to build financial cartels worldwide but thanks to digital technology, Bitcoins have revolutionized money control in the 21st!
The Cons
Despite the growth of digital currencies such as Bitcoins, it would be remiss of me to not disclose the cons of these virtual currencies. Due to the fact that their digital footprints are encrypted, they cannot be traced online. Although one has the pleasure of privacy and security when trading, it provides another gateway to hide and conduct illicit transactions.
When this happens, drug dealers, terrorist and other suspected culprits, will continue to conduct their illicit trade without detection when using Bitcoins.
The Pros
However, amidst the monetary mayhem, Bitcoins offer anyone tremendous investment opportunities and growth potential. No one controls virtual currency as it can be accessed by the public in cyberspace and the value continues to appreciate while the society stumbles on the debris of inflation.
An ordinary man on the streets can buy, save, trade, invest and increase his chances of becoming financially successful without the interference of government restrictions, controls, and fiduciary regulations; hence spiral inflations become things of the past.
Many truly believe the number 1 problem in our society is establishing financial monopolies. When one corporation decides to control foreign exchange, gold, and fuel, it uses its power to dictate how money should be spent.
Regulations set by large and wealthy multi-corporations are only geared to add more wealth and power to their portfolio rather than benefiting borrowers who seek financial help. In addition, the ones at the top try to drain the swamp so others can depend on them while they can become wealthier but they can’t control digital currency!
The Brighter Side of the Coin
Time has come to open the eyes of the world and that is what Bitcoin is all about. The ones who try to control the world are threatened by this Frankenstein but I doubt they can stop it or call the shots. Currently, 1 Bitcoin values $844099.07 Jamaican Dollar or $6895.80 US Dollar. The cost for 1 Bitcoin in 2009 was.05 USD!
Outsourcing is still widely regarded as important for achieving business goals and strategies, but many people now arrange outsourcing that does not achieve the expected benefits. This article examines the outsourcing aspect from the client’s perspective. These aspects are often overlooked or underestimated, but they are important to provide the value you need for the duration of your contract.
With outsourcing expert virtual assistant services, your business can reach the pinnacle of success. It’s like getting professional service at a lower price. Virtual assistants are people who have the ability to perform administrative tasks and perform client-specific tasks. You can perform a wide range of tasks, from simple management tasks to complex customer reports. Without a doubt, this is one of the most important factors that can improve your business productivity.
There are many benefits to having an online assistant. You can let them take care of your long work, so you can focus your time on more important business work. As with any business, revenue is always your primary concern as it keeps you in business. With the help of an online assistant, this is no longer a problem.
Here’s why you need to appreciate your virtual assistants and management services even more:
1. Improve your business productivity.
Business success depends on the revenue generated. Capital is the cause of running a business, and online assistants play an important role in business returns. By outsourcing some of your work to them, you have the talent to tackle income-generating tasks for your business. In this way, you can emphasize that you are improving the profits of your business with less stress..
2. Do Things in Less Time-Assistants are obedient to the outsourcing industry.
They have dedicated training pieces in the areas they have decided to undertake. From this point of view, they appeal to experts in various fields. You never trust their efficiency in performing the various tasks assigned to them. Providing instructions on a regular basis and performing tasks on a regular basis will definitely save you time.
3. Virtual assistants are a lucrative option-you can save a lot of money with virtual assistants.
You don’t have to worry about the office and tools to get it working, as it actually works for you. You can reduce costs because you are not responsible for the interests of your assistant employees.
Are you a small business provider who always quits your business because of so much luxury? Time to shout for help. Hire a virtual assistant now
LinkedIn has many wonderful attributes and a ton of capabilities and possibilities. You may have a LinkedIn account but, perhaps, you are not leveraging it as much as you can or should be. If you haven’t done so already, the first thing that you should do is to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is complete. Undoubtedly, people will check out your profile and you want to make sure that they are able to get to know you through your profile, want to connect with you, and interact and engage.
Leveraging LinkedIn to Manage Your Clients
You may consider your LinkedIn profile a detailed business card. Well, you are correct to a point. However, it is so much more than that and if you are not aware of all (or most) of its potential, it is time for you to become educated about all that LinkedIn has to offer. The fact is that everyone needs to manage their clients, whether you use some sort of sophisticated tool to accomplish that or not. LinkedIn can definitely do that for you. You just need to figure out how to make it work for your business.
When it comes to online social networks, LinkedIn is the one to use for professionals. You probably have all sorts of valuable connections that you may not even be aware of. One of the great things about LinkedIn is that after a person has created a profile, they are generally reachable at that particular URL for eternity. You will most likely find that to be a really great (and helpful) feature. In fact, not only does that information stay the same but it also gives you other valuable information that you will undoubtedly find useful. It tells you when your LinkedIn connections are having birthdays, work anniversaries, etc.
You may be surprised at how far a simple birthday or anniversary wish will go in your relationship with the other person when it comes to your solidifying your relationship with that person. You have probably noticed that there are two versions of LinkedIn: one that is free and one that costs money. In some cases, the one that costs money is superior to the free one. However, in the case of LinkedIn, the free version is perfectly acceptable and the chances are really good that you can get everything that you need from the free version without missing anything.
Turning to your LinkedIn connections for help
You may experience many times when you have a question that plagues you. You may not have the resources for that particular issue and you are not sure where to turn. Well, LinkedIn can certainly help. If you have a question without an answer, all you need to do is post it to your LinkedIn connections. The chances are really good that at least one or two people will respond to you. You may not get the answer that you are looking for but the responses that you do receive may bring you closer to the answer that you need.
You will see that people are generally willing to help you if you need them to. All you need to do is ask. Of course, there will be many people who just don’t know the answer to your question. However, there will also be many people who can offer their help to you. Having a robust network is a wonderfully supportive thing. You can thank LinkedIn for that.
Conclusion
LinkedIn is not only an amazing social network but it is also a wonderful way to manage your customer relationships and it has tremendous capabilities that can really bring your business to the next level. It allows you to connect and stay connected with your valuable online connections. It not only helps you to gather valuable information but it also allows you the ability to make the most of that information and to use it effectively for your business. You should learn about all that it can do and take advantage of all that LinkedIn has to offer.
Who is the writer ?
Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies. Mr. Cohn spent a significant amount of time at a major telecommunications company, where his main focus was on initiating and leading synergy efforts across all business units by dramatically improving efficiency, online collaboration, and the company’s Intranet capabilities, which accelerated gains in business productivity. He also reduced company travel and travel costs by introducing and implementing various collaboration technologies.
His expertise includes business analysis; project management; management of global cross-matrix teams; systems engineering and analysis, architecture, prototyping and integration; technology evaluation and assessment; systems development; performance evaluation; and management of off-shore development.
Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.
Small business marketing is increasingly complex. The online environment changes rapidly so it is important to remember the basics of marketing. That is focus on the needs of the customer.
Profile Your Target Customer
Who is your ideal customer, what do they buy, why do they need those products or services, and why do they buy from you? Most businesses serve several market segments, each with different requirements. So it is important to identify those segments and build a customer profile for each.
Decide How To Reach Your Customer
What are the best ways to reach identified customers and market segments? It may be the best route is offline but more likely the most efficient and cost-effective method will be online marketing. Research what methods target customers use to source information. It may be via search engine queries, or possibly social media, or online publications. Whatever route is best, target your efforts on those mediums.
Be Found
There is little point in having a website if it is not found when a prospect types a relevant search term into one of the major search engines. Statistics show that over 90% of prospects never go beyond page 1 when looking for information. The same argument applies to social media. With any online marketing tool, the objective is to be found.
Build A Relationship
Once found, only a small percentage of prospects will make an immediate purchase. A much larger proportion will keep coming back to learn more and will buy in the future. Once a prospect lands on an online communication channel the objective is to start to build a relationship and credibility to achieve a sale in the medium to long term.
Convert
A relationship is of little use if it does not ultimately convert to a sale. So it is important to lead prospects down a path and specifically tell them what you suggest they do (calls to action). The process may include securing a prospect Email address (perhaps in return for a valuable download) to facilitate ongoing dialogue.
The key to small business marketing success then is to start with the customer. With the customer defined, deliver the information they need and develop a relationship that ultimately results in a sale. It is important to make sure the message goes out via a method that is most likely to be read and engaged with. Don’t be invisible, forget the marketing hype and focus on the basics.
When it comes to choosing a phone system provider, there are a few things you should take into consideration. Here are a few tips to help you decide about the right provider for you:
1- Determine your needs. Before you start shopping around, take a moment to think about what your business needs in a phone system. Do you need a simple system with just a few lines, or something more complex? What features are important to you? Once you know what you need, you can start analyzing your options.
2- Compare features and prices. Once you know what you need, you can start comparing features and prices between different providers. Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples, and don’t forget to factor in things like installation costs and monthly fees.
3- Read the reviews. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, take a moment to read online reviews of the different providers you’re considering. This can give you a good idea of what others think of their service
4- Many of these providers have local partners in all countries. Most of them ask you to send un email with your location and the sales team redirect you to your local provider. So, we list the contact pages for every provider we mention here.
And to help you on this, here is a list of best rated phone systems for businesses in the marketplace:
1- Nextiva
Best Phone system for multisite retail and healthcare.
