Brian Tracy! Get Rich Your Way
6. Market And Consumption
“From the point of view of the end result, i.e.
from the point of view of the customer,
marketing is the overarching business.
The concern and responsibility
for marketing must therefore extend
to all areas of the business.”- Peter Drucker
The main reason for business success is
that there is always an individual
or business owner who has the ability to get the product
to the customer in a cost-effective way
(profitable after deducting costs).
The main reasons for business failure are poor marketing,
lack of business ability and lack of momentum in the sales department.
In almost every non-growth company I’ve worked with,
ineffective marketing leads to poor sales,
which is the main problem or cause of declining profits
and arising difficult situation.
I want a million dollars in my happy account
and a million in my bank account. — Jim Rohn
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DEFINITIONS OF MARKETING AND CONSUMER
Marketing can be defined
as “the process of researching the market
and determining what people want,
can use and pay for it,
and then deliver a product
or service in a timely manner in a timely manner cost effective.”
Marketing analytics can help you
or your company bring the right products
and services to your market at the right time.
In other words,
consumption is the process of attracting
or finding customers
for that product or service and making it clear
to them that your product
or service will bring them the benefits they want.
Consumption is the process of proving your product is a solution
to a customer’s problem
or satisfy their need at a fair price.
As Peter Drucker says,
“The purpose of marketing is to create excess consumption.”
Chances are you won’t generate completely overkill,
but your marketing skills will explain 90% of your success in business.
Fortunately, marketing is a learnable skill.
You can greatly improve your marketing by making small changes
and tweaks to what you’re doing today.
The major reason for setting a goal is
for what it makes of you to accomplish it.
What it makes of you will always be the far greater value
than what you get. — Jim Rohn
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MARKETING COMBINATION
Any marketing plan has four parts.
When you’re thinking about building,
starting or expanding your business,
or consuming your product or service,
the four factors that you must constantly think about are product,
price,
location,
and promotion.
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Product
The first element is the product or service.
What exactly will your product
or service sell in that market?
Define your product
or service in terms of what it will bring to your customers.
How does it help your customers get there,
avoid it,
or preserve it?
You must be clear about the benefits you offer
and how the customer’s life
or business would be improved if he
or she bought what you sell.
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Price
How much will you charge your product
or service and on what basis?
How would you retail it?
How much will you sell wholesale?
How do you calculate quantity discount?
Is your right price based on your costs and competitors’ prices?
Location
Where will you sell the product at this price?
Do you intend to sell directly from your company
or through wholesalers and retailers,
direct mail, catalogs or the Internet?
In other words,
where do customers buy your product or service?
Where are they?
Where are they today?
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Promotion
Promotion includes all aspects of advertising,
brochures,
packaging,
sales person and sales method.
How would you promote,
advertise and sell this product at that price in that location?
What is the process from the initial contact
with the prospect to the closing of the deal?
Creative marketing comes
from constantly questioning the current situation
and seeking to change the marketing mix product,
price,
place and promotion.
Creative marketing often involves adding new products
or services or modifying existing products
or services.
That may require changes in prices, sales locations
or business methods.
Sometimes marketing requires you
to dispose of existing products
or services,
sell them at a different price,
or offer them in other locations,
or promote differently.
You can change any one of these factors,
and then try to determine
if this change improves sales or profitability.
Sometimes you may have to change two
or more factors at the same time to make a big leap in business results.
In any case, the marketing mix is a dynamic combination
of factors that are constantly changing.
Success is something you attract by the person you become. — Jim Rohn
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5 RULES OF CONSUMPTION ANYWHERE
When you’re deciding on marketing mix,
there are five key principles about consuming anything,
anywhere,
and at any time.
Any violation of any of these guidelines can lead to the failure
of your business efforts,
and this often happens.
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Principle 1.
Your product or service must die compatibility with the current market.
It has to be competitively priced and hotly promoted.
Nothing is self-consuming.
Products and services are sold,
not bought.
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Principle 2.
People buy benefits,
not products.
They buy solutions to their problems.
They buy the means to achieve their goals.
What problem your product can solve,
what benefits it can provide,
or what purpose it can help customers achieve should be clear.
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Principle 3.
The product or service must satisfy the wants
or needs of existing customers
or create an immediate want or need.
The main cause of business failure is that there is no real demand
for what the company sells.
The more you try out a product
or service before bringing it to market,
the more certain you will be of actual current demand.
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Principle 4.
Customers must trust the business person,
believe in the company and be sure the product
or service is best for them,
all things considered at the moment.
Credibility is the most important thing.
The level of trust your customers have in you
and your company is a crucial factor in determining whether
or not they will buy from you.
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Principle 5.
Customers must be willing and able to pay for the product or service
and truly want to enjoy the benefits you offer.
According to the final analysis,
customers who don’t have the money to pay for your product
or service or don’t really need it first are worse than no market.
If you don’t put a value on money and seek wealth,
you most probably won’t receive it.
You must seek wealth for it to seek you.
If no burning desire for wealth arises within you,
wealth will not arise around you.
Having definiteness of purpose for acquiring wealth
is essential for its acquisition. — John Frederick Demartini
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5 QUESTIONS YOU MUST ANSWER
There are five questions you must be ready to answer
before you can close a deal.
They contain hidden meanings
behind each customer’s question and are rarely said.
However, failing to answer any of the customer’s questions
below could cost you the sale,
even from a qualified prospect.
You must devise a form
and method of doing business around answering the following questions.
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Question 1. “Why should I listen to you?”
All the advertising,
promotion,
and sales efforts are designed to clear the mind of the customer
and answer the question,
“Why should I listen to you?”
If you don’t answer this question at the outset,
usually within the first few seconds,
there’s very little chance you’ll ever sell your product.
Currently in the US goods are rarely “concerned” by people.
The average customer is bombarded with hundreds a
nd even thousands of commercial messages every day.
From the moment customers wake up in the morning, radio,
TV,
newspapers, billboards,
and the Internet all bombard them with hundreds of messages,
all touting somehow,
“Buy mine! Buy mine!”
Even if you have a sales opportunity,
you must dispel this obsession by answering the question,
“Why should I listen to you?”
******************
Question 2. “What is it and how does it work?”
When you are interested in a customer,
you must let them know immediately
and clearly exactly what your product or service is.
How does it improve the client’s life or work?
What need does it satisfy
or what problem does it solve?
It is amazing how many advertisements on radio,
TV and newspapers fail to answer this question.
After you see or read the ads,
you still don’t understand what the company is selling
or why you should care about these forms of advertising any further.
******************
Question 3. “Who said that?”
Customers are skeptical and are skeptical about the program
or the tone of the sales pitch.
You need to prove immediately that your product works as you say.
You need confirmation from satisfied customers.
You need some independent research.
You must overcome the natural skepticism
of your customers by providing proof
that your product or service will deliver the results
or benefits you promise.
******************
Question 4. “Has anyone else used it?”
No one wants to be the first to try your product or service.
For the most part is safe.
Customers want to know the name or category of customers
who have already felt satisfied using your product or service.
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Question 5. “What do I get?”
Everyone’s favorite radio station is WII-FM
(What’s in it for me?).
You have to quickly grasp the bottom line.
The rule for effective advertising
or sales is that a 10-year-old can also read your ad
and can then explain to another 10-year-old exactly
what you’re selling and why.
Why would the child be interested in buying it?
If your ad is more complicated than that,
it probably won’t succeed.
Evaluate every ad or promotion that comes out of your office
to make sure it answers these five questions:
“Why should I listen to you?”
“What is it and how does it work?”
“Who said that?”
“Has anyone else used it?”
and “What do I get?”
*******************
CONSUMER YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
There are many different ways to
consume your product or service.
In consumption and marketing,
the more different options you have,
and the more different abilities you can manifest,
the more it can help you take the all-important first step to becoming rich.
The more techniques and strategies you have,
the more it can help you take the necessary steps
to achieve your financial goals.
The purpose of this book is to confide in you
and broaden your horizons of all the possibilities that will open up
for you to start building a successful business.
Its purpose is to take you from where you are now to wherever you are
and to present you with clear concrete actions you can take to get
to where you want to be in the future.
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MANY WAYS OF CONSUMPTION
There are many different ways of consuming a product or service.
The average business uses only one or two of these methods.
Fortunately, many of these methods you can become proficient in
and the more you test them on a limited scale,
the more you can pinpoint exactly how to successfully consume it that will make you rich.
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Personal consumption
Personal direct consumption is the best of all methods of consumption.
This is something you will do one way
or another from the very first day you start your business.
You will consume the product or service.
You will make believe in your ideas.
You will make believe yourself and your leadership role.
You will make private your solvency to vendors,
helpers and bankers.
You will convince with your credibility with the officers and employees.
You will consume continuously.
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Retail
Another way to sell products is through retail.
You can either sell your products in your own store
or you can sell them to retailers
and let them specialize in stocking your products.
Tens of thousands of products are designed,
developed,
manufactured and sold through wholesalers and retailers.
This is probably the simplest method of consumption in the world.
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Distributors
You can recruit distributors
for your product in market areas other
than the one you are in.
Consumption through a distributor relationship can be
as simple as giving individuals
or companies the exclusive
or non-exclusive sale of your products
in their regions or to existing customers. their time.
Establishing distributor relationships can be as complex
as choosing the right person or company,
training them thoroughly on how to sell
and deliver your product or service,
providing them with all of your products,
and the ingredients they need to manage their business
and support them 24/7 to make sure they sell your product successfully.
Distributors have always been independent businesses with their own names,
their own characteristics,
and their own ideas about how the business should be managed.
Aside from requiring them
to agree to certain performance standards
and work as closely with them as they accept,
you have little control over how they conduct their business.
However, setting up distributors for your products
or services can help you expand your sales network domestically
and internationally in a short period of time.
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Newspapers
You can sell products through the press.
The purpose of newspaper advertising is to generate immediate
and direct response to turn it into sales
and make more money than advertising costs.
Advertising in newspapers is mainly aimed
at attracting people of immediate interest.
Such advertising is intended
to get people to call you to buy
or to visit your store so that you can present your products
and sell them right away.
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Pay for advertising
A marketing consultant who worked
for me many years ago had a simple formula:
“Creative Consumption Advertising!”
He says immediate customer response
and sales results are the yardstick by which
to judge whether the advertisement is worth anything.
A few years ago,
I was promoting with a radio and newspaper ad designed
by an advertising agency,
which seemed to be of little value.
One day in the middle of this ad campaign,
another executive on behalf of the advertising agency called me
and asked me how sales were going now.
A little embarrassed,
I told him business was going well.
He said, “I have only one question for you: Is your phone ringing?”
It was just a coincidence,
despite spending thousands of dollars on advertising,
but no one called.
I invited him in to offer us another advertising solution.
His ideas were great and we accepted,
within a week the new ads had our phones ringing continuously.
I always apply the same test to my clients’ advertising:
“Does your phone ring?”
If wise change your advertising immediately.
***************
Direct mail
Direct mail will allow you to pinpoint the exact market
and target your promotions
to the right audience who will most likely buy your product
in the shortest possible time.
Successful direct mail depends on your ability
to get a list of readers
to receive your publications and then to have a product
that meets the needs of a certain group of customers.
Direct mail will let you focus on doctors,
dentists,
lawyers,
sports car owners,
seminar attendees
or any other demographic you can identify.
There are a number of organizations
throughout the United States that develop
and provide mailing lists
for those who want to use direct mail to contact customers.
Dun & Bradstreet has been a market leader in this area for many years.
Omaha’s USA Direct has the names, addresses,
and data of more than 100 million customers
of all genders across the United States.
There are mailing list brokers who receive publications in the Yellow Pages
in almost every major city.
You can also find all the information
you need regarding the Internet directory of publications.
The quantity,
sophistication,
and quality of the address lists available for publication are remarkable.
The more precise you are to get the best prospects for you to sell to,
the clearer your list of readers should be
and the more effective your direct mail campaign will be.
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Reservation letter
To sell through mail order,
you can use large and small advertising programs in selected publications
to attract your special customer group.
Business owner Paul Hawkins built a $45 million business selling garden tools
with small advertisements in magazines enjoyed by gardeners.
Other small businesses start out
by contracting to buy products at wholesale prices,
and then selling them at retail prices in classifieds in magazines and newspapers.
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Internet
You can set up your own Web site
or Internet store to offer specialized products
and services to a particular audience,
and then partner with Internet sites
and other businesses to attract customers.
The age of marketing from canned ham
to US government regulations on the Internet.
For the foreseeable future you will sell on the Internet
by providing free information on your areas of expertise
and making your quotes known.
When customers come to your Internet site to tap into those free offers,
you can sell high-quality products
and services backed by an unconditional warranty.
As you develop an extensive niche customer relationship,
they will let others know about your Internet address
and your customer list will start to grow.
There are many misunderstandings about the Internet.
Some people think it’s easy
to start an internet business
and make a lot of money.
Actually, it is not so easy,
every business must have a very well planned
and well prepared plan before they can start.
Then it takes a long time to create a deal, one at a time.
Almost all products sold on the Internet are clear and specific.
Customers know exactly what they’re looking for
before they even hit the Internet.
It is nearly impossible to generate demand
for a new product on the Internet,
since it is impossible to touch
taste,
feel,
or try a product.
The most successful businesses on the Internet are selling known products
at competitive prices and with unconditional warranties.
Think Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com
as well as Internet travel sites, such as,
Expedia.com and Priceline.com.
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Direct sales
You can sell your products directly from office to office
or door to door.
This type of consumption requires the ability to write
or make phone calls to make an appointment
to visit the prospect personally,
to identify the prospect’s needs,
and then to the present deal.
Often direct selling requires contact with the unenthusiastic.
This means calling or visiting someone you’ve never met or met before.
Contact someone who is not enthusiastic,
the possibility of rejection is high.
you need to be clingy and persistent.
However, once you learn that rejection is not unique
to anyone and overcome your fear
of contacting unenthusiastic people,
you can begin to build successful sales in virtually every market.
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Sales at the conference
You can advertise and gather prospective customers interested in your product
or service to present to that group of customers.
While making such a presentation,
can you explain what you offer and why it is an ideal product
or service for those audiences
and encourage conference participants
to buy what you are selling
or arrange a private meeting at a later time.
Seminar sales are mainly used to find buyers in business seminars
or provide services or financial advice and planning.
The secret to success in this approach to consumption is
to provide the best value and tutorials on your topic
to demonstrate your mastery
and create a desire to learn more.
This marketing approach can be very successful
if you can attract a large enough group of qualified prospects,
often through newspapers,
direct mail,
and radio.
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Festival plan
Perhaps your products can be sold through an event called “festival planning”.
Certain product items,
such as plastic dishes (home-organized food storage)
beauty products as well as specialty items
and certain clothing items may be sold at the store.
families by having that local host invite friends to the rollout.
The salesperson then illustrated
and sold the products to the attendees.
The host receives a bonus
or commission on all the deals that the attendees have purchased.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are sold under
such a festival planning system each year.
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Collaborative advertising by mail
You can sell products
or services through postal partnership advertising.
Many large postal advertising agencies,
or other companies,
will include product coupons
or product brochures with promotional offers
or quotes in exchange for a portion of total sales.
If you have a credit card, American Express,
Master Card or Visa Card,
you will be familiar with such special offers along with quotes.
These companies send information about many products
throughout the year with their quotes.
One of the great advantages of co-operative mailing is that it costs you nothing
but to print the brochure until the deal happens.
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Government
Governments at different levels city,
district,
province and central may be interested in your product or service.
This administration is the largest customer in the country,
consuming hundreds of billions of dollars worth
of products and services every year.
You can get rich just by finding products that government agencies need
and need in a certain time.
If you have a product or service that can be used by government agencies,
you should reach out to city,
county,
provincial,
and central government offices.
Find out everything you can on how to sell products
or services to government offices.
Find out how to shortlist their auction.
Find out who buys and why they buy in the first place.
Sometimes you can even develop specialized products
for governments at different levels
or a department within the government,
for example,
the department of defense.
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Manufacturer’s representatives
You can sell the product through the manufacturer’s representatives.
There are companies throughout the United States that represent different types
of products in certain market regions.
Often they will specialize in selling to a particular type of customer
or specialize in a particular type of item.
You can advertise to representatives of manufacturers
who work for you for a commission in other market areas.
Advertise in specialized magazines
and publications they frequently read.
The department that best represents you
for which you pay commissions directly.
You won’t have to pay anything until they close the deal.
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Branch stores
Sometimes branch stores have hundreds of locations across the country.
You only need to sell your product to one person,
to one customer in the general office,
and it will spread to hundreds of stores.
Many business owners have succeeded by finding a company,
like Wal-Mart or Kmart,
to bring their products into all of their locations.
Although these large customers will squeeze business owners to the last penny,
the volume of goods sold can still be made by this large branch store system
to generate huge profits.
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Discount stores
You can sell products through discount stores.
Discount stores like to sell products
that are priced below the normal retail price.
You can sometimes re-pack or even re-label your product
through discount stores
so that it won’t adversely affect retail sales by other means.
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Supermarkets
Mass supermarkets often stock large quantities of non-food items.
If a bunch of supermarkets stock your products
to their target audience,
you can get huge quantities in a short time.
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General stores
You can sell your products through stores aggregate.
The customers who consume their products are smart,
but if they like your product,
they can become your primary customers.
One of the most important things to do
before you start manufacturing
or importing a particular product
or service is to visit the customers
who consume the product in these stores
and collect their opinions.
These people deal with sellers around the clock
and are instinctively very sensitive about
what to sell in the current market.
They are not always right,
but their opinion can save you a lot of time and money.
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Wholesalers
Wholesalers often stock your products
to sell alongside their other items directly
to their retail customers.
If you use wholesalers,
you’ll have to sell them for much less than the retail price.
Their primary concern is how much profit they can make
between the price they pay for your product
and the price they can sell to their retail customers.
They will therefore do everything they can to keep your prices
as low as possible.
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Turnaround speed and sales profit
This is an important point.
Whenever you sell to wholesalers,
retailers,
discount stores,
general stores,
branch stores or grocers,
they all have one common metric,
which is the relationship.
Their main focus is on revenue.
How well will the product sell
and how much profit will they make per unit?
This is sometimes referred to as “revolving speed”.
What would be the speed of the merchandise turnover multiplied
by the amount of money they were able
to generate from sales of these items?
These people think only one thing in their business is sales profit.
They don’t care about prestige,
prestige,
charisma,
or attraction to a shrinking market period.
The only thing they care about is how much profit is multiplied
by the sales they can make from each item.
When you talk to them about the quality of your product,
they won’t care much,
but your ability to make a profit on your delivery
will be of paramount importance.
Be sure to capture this primary interest in everything you do or say.
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Merchandise with prizes
Companies may purchase your product as a prize
or as a bonus for their other item purchases.
If your product is quite cheap a
and the value is considered quite high,
these companies will often buy it
and use it to stimulate demand,
attracting customers to buy their main product or service.
Find companies that stimulate demand with prizes,
bonuses and giveaways for new business.
Sometimes these companies may buy your product in bulk.
Often you can label a product
or service separately
for a company that wants to use your product in bulk
to promote their main product.
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Promotional gifts
You can sell your products as promotional gifts.
Companies can buy your products
to print their brand on as gifts to encourage their customers.
Some of the promotional giveaways you’ll often see are pens,
ashtrays,
plastic plates,
or caps that advertise their brand.
Companies often give pocket calendars,
radios,
and even pocket computers as promotional gifts.
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Mining Franchise (Franchise)
Your product can be consumed in large quantities by franchising the exploitation.
Many businesses have the ability to keep a monopoly on mining
and have the right to expand to other areas.
Mining monopolies now generate multi-billion dollar retail sales,
not only throughout the United States but around the world.
A sole proprietorship is a proven successful system.
It is a business system where all errors
and defects have been eliminated.
It is a profit-making system that can work for anyone,
almost anywhere,
if the monopolist follows the established trading system.
When you develop a successful business system,
such as McDonald’s,
Kinko’s, or Krispy Kreme’s orange donut franchises,
you have a model ready to copy.
Like a recipe, it can be made the same way over and over,
to get the same results for each new franchisee.
McDonald’s has more than 30,000 exclusive franchises worldwide.
Since McDonald’s franchise system has been tested
and proven thousands of times in all types of markets,
there have been only one
or two instances of McDonald’s franchise failure in history.
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A system must be challenged
With a good sole proprietorship,
the franchisee’s salespeople can fairly accurately predict
how much the franchisee’s owner earns each year
by following this system.
But franchising the mining requires that you first developed
under a successful system.
Monopoly requires you to develop a profitable business
that can multiply continuously later on.
It’s amazing how many people get a business idea
and start thinking about franchising it
before they can even make it work the first time.
The reality is that the average company franchising doesn’t do anything
until the idea has been in the works for eight to 10 years.
Usually most companies never give the exclusive right to exploit.
If you are interested in buying a mining monopoly,
do your due diligence before you invest
and find previous successful results.
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Trade shows
You can sell products through trade shows.
Customers of thousands of companies attend trade shows each year looking
for new products to offer their customers.
They know the sharp side of new product development presented at trade shows
and in that moment a new product can make millions of dollars.
As I said at the beginning,
there are more than 15,000 trade shows each year in the US.
Many companies grow their entire business
by being ubiquitous in trade shows.
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Displays and exhibitions
You can bring your product to market through fairs,
exhibitions or even conventions and fundraising shows.
A large number of viewers can lead to big deals.
Find locations where you can show up
and showcase your products
to a wide range of potential customers passing by.
You need to constantly find a way to get your product
in front of as many potential customers as possible.
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Fundraisers
Usually you can sell your product through churches,
charities,
chambers of commerce or schools to have them sell it to raise funds.
You can sell candy,
nuts,
toys and other items to schools,
organizations
and other fundraising organizations.
Most of these ideas require more effort
and imagination than money and risk.
In many cases,
you may be able to take orders
before you place an order with the manufacturer,
so it’s a good idea to maintain a limited inventory
until you’ve developed a steady stream of sales.
When money realizes that it is in good hands,
it wants to stay and multiply in those hands. ― Idowu Koyenikan
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START SMALL, DEVELOP GRADUALLY
The secret to business success is to have enough cash at all times.
Poor inventory control,
which means buying too much stock that ends up not being sold,
is one of the main reasons
why businesses go to such trouble.
Whenever possible,
arrange to sell the product
and earn a solid order
before you place an order with a supplier or manufacturer.
Inadequate speed.
Let’s do it step by step.
Please be patient.
Don’t try to jump off the market rails
or get rich quick.
Instead, get rich slowly but surely.
Try every step as you go and whatever you do,
don’t lose money.
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MASTER ART OF SELLING
All successful business people are good salespeople.
They are good at persuading others.
As Robert Louis Stevenson once said,
“People make a living selling something to someone.”
The only question is “How good are you at selling?”
Rich or poor?
This is an important point.
In America the main reason people retire into poverty is
because they don’t know how to sell,
or they’re afraid of selling,
or they think they’re too good at selling.
Sales is one of the highest paying professions in the world.
About 5% of all self-made millionaires have sold their entire lives to other companies.
In addition, the 74% of self-made American millionaires are business owners
who started their own businesses
because of the ability to sell something to someone.
Selling is the main road to business success.
What do you say about people you feel are too good at selling?
It makes sense to think about people like Lee Iacocca,
who is the president of the Chrysler company who appears on TV, radio,
and travels across the United States as spokespersons and sellers of Chrysler products.
People like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison,
Warren Buffett and Michael Dell,
some of the richest people in the world constantly stand
in front of demanding audiences
and sell advertisements to them with useful uses
and benefits value their products and services.
The most successful people are always advertising
with someone to sell something.
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Selling is a learnable skill
The only question you need to ask yourself is
whether you will become a good salesperson.
Fortunately, selling is a skill that can be learned like all other business skills.
Even though you’ve never sold anything to anyone before,
you can learn to be
Salespeople have the confidence to start building a successful business.
If for whatever reason you are not good at selling
and you are not determined to be a good salesperson,
you can only grow your business
if you find someone else to sell to you.
But the trouble is that the best salespeople won’t work
for you in the first place
or will want a large stake in your business in return
for their ability to generate profits.
Many small business owners hire a salesperson
and then become completely dependent on that salesperson.
If that salesman quits his job and takes the business with him,
the company may collapse.
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ERROR CONTROL
There are a number of business skills that you can use to work
for others or hire someone with those skills to do them for you.
There are other skills that you must practice diligently on your own to master
if you want to be both successful and financially well off.
Marketing and sales are two key business owners skills
that cannot be entrusted to anyone else to achieve results.
The sooner you become excellent at sales,
the more financially well off you will be
and the more you will create the life you desire.
Thomas J. Watson Sr., the founder of IBM,
started as a young man selling cash registers
to the National Cash Register company.
Confident in his sales skills,
he bought a small punch card processing company
and renamed it International Business Machines.
By focusing on consumption and being a businessman,
he eventually built IBM into one of the most successful companies in the world.
Richard Sears, co-founder of Sears,
Roebuck and Company, started his career buying wristwatches at wholesale
and retail prices at stations along the railway line.
He enjoyed the process and did it so well
that he eventually partnered with Alvin Roebuck
to go on to build one of the most successful retail companies in the world.
Almost every successful business starts with someone
who can sell a product or service.
Selling in person is the starting point
for most great successes in America.
Decide to learn how to excel in sales today.
*************
CLOSE ANALYSIS OF OPPORTUNITIES
The gap analysis of opportunity is a useful exercise to broaden your mind
and business about your product or service.
With opportunity gap analysis,
you use your creativity to find different ways to make your product
or service more attractive to customers.
Here are 10 questions you can ask to find newer
or better ways of delivering your product or service.
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1. How else can you sell your products?
Remember that there are different ways that we initially identified.
Simply taking the product that is being sold in one way
and selling it in another way can tell
what is the best way to start a successful business
or to return to the current way of consumption.
******************
2. Are there additional customers for this product?
Where are these additional customers?
Who are these additional customers?
Finding new customers as the basis
for an existing product can be the key to making your business successful.
******************
3. How can you modify or change your products
or services to make them more appealing to your customers?
How can you change the packaging?
How to change the features?
How to change the characteristics?
How to increase size or reduce complexity?
How to reduce or simplify the product?
Continue to find ways to offer your product
or service so that it appeals to a previous
or a different set of customers.
******************
4. Can you develop this product
for people who are not customers yet?
Who can you think can use the product,
benefit from it,
and afford it,
who hasn’t purchased from anyone yet?
What customer groups are currently not using this product?
How can you attract these people?
******************
5. What new products do your customers want?
If you already have an existing customer base,
what other needs do your customers have
that you haven’t provided for them yet?
What else can you produce
that your customers can use alongside
what you are already selling to them?
******************
6. What additional distribution channels are available for your product?
How else can you offer your products to customers?
Think of the other ways mentioned at the beginning.
What ways might work for you?
******************
7. What additional products can you distribute
through your existing marketing channels?
If you already have distribution channels – retail,
direct sales or direct mail,
what other products can you offer using the same channels
to sell to the same customers?
******************
8. What new products can you develop
for existing distribution channels
or existing customers? have yours?
What else can you sell through these channels to existing customers?
******************
9. What additional markets are available
for your new products and existing distribution channels?
In other words,
where are the people or customers currently not using your product
or service that you can deliver through your current distribution channels?
******************
10. What additional products can you produce using existing facilities?
With the existing staff?
With your existing knowledge?
With your existing skills and competencies?
What additional products
and services could you create for your existing market?
Most companies and people are stuck in an area of complacency.
They started consuming in a particular way,
and from then on they kept selling
and delivering the same products over and over again.
But what really counts is sales.
Are your sales high enough?
Is your business making enough profit?
Can you change the way you sell
and deliver for better results?
In an age of rapid change,
you must constantly ask
and answer these questions,
as your competitors are asking them the same questions every day.
***********
FIND HOW TO ADVERTISE FOR FREE
Over the years, I have personally used various techniques to calculate tens of thousands
of dollars worth of free advertising in newspapers,
magazines,
radio and TV.
These methods work everywhere and for most people.
Often your ability to generate free advertising can be the key to starting
and growing your business
or your product successfully.
When you have a product
or service that you are ready to bring to market,
start thinking right away how you can make it so interesting
that people will write about it and talk about it,
you don’t have to spend money on advertising.
Here are guidelines for finding ways to advertise for free:
***********
Principle 1. Ask for it
If you want to advertise,
ask for it.
People won’t find you to advertise for you,
but they will often advertise for you if you ask them to.
***********
Principle 2. Be ready to give a press conference
Prepare a promotional announcement
or press conference and send it to all appropriate media outlets.
Search the Yellow Pages for all newspapers,
radio stations,
television stations, magazines,
and other publications,
and then write a letter in company stationery
(with company information printed at the top of the paper as write a letter)
to the person in charge of these items.
Include a 100-word description of your new product or service.
Write this description like a newsletter and make it interesting.
***********
Principle 3. Make it newsworthy
Ask, “Is it news?”
Give your new product or service an attractive look.
A few years ago,
a business owner spent all his money to import a long-lasting,
damaged electric bulb that would burn for thousands
of hours without having to be replaced.
He tried to sell it for 3 years and almost went bankrupt
because no one would pay more than he paid for it.
In the end, he did something to make it newsworthy.
He claims his bulb will last “50,000 hours.”
This has attracted media attention.
Soon he was appearing on radio
and TV to talk about this remarkable scientific development.
People were eager to hear this news,
which they thought was interesting.
Almost a day or two,
his sales increased tremendously
and he became financially successful.
***********
Principle 4. Accurately identify audience, readers
Answer the question,
“Who is the customer or in my customer domain?”
Then find radio stations,
television stations,
for which your particular potential customers are audiences,
and newspapers
or magazines read by these customers.
***********
Principle 5. Choose the mass media carefully
Carefully consider which media outlets you should contact.
Look in the Standard Rates and Data book.
This is the bible of the advertising industry.
It provides you with your name,
address,
phone number,
and all the important information about mass media advertising in your market region
and throughout the United States.
This book tells you which stories and items are of interest
to the media
and which markets they appeal to.
***********
Principle 6. Create tools that work well
What you need to earn free advertising is good letterhead printed copy that is clear,
formal,
and attractive.
In other words,
write about your product or service so it’s newsworthy.
Write it like a newsletter.
Write the description so employees can copy it from your letter
and continue to broadcast it or print it in newspapers
or magazines without having to change it.
Make it interesting and engaging sleep peace of mind
***********
Principle 7. Send pictures
Submit a photo of your product in use.
If you can capture a picture of someone using your product or service,
this is more engaging and may be more newsworthy.
***********
Principle 8. Use direct mail
Use direct mail to select media
and specials in newspapers and magazines.
For example,
if you have a product that appeals to lifestyles, gardeners,
or sports enthusiasts,
write to the person in charge of that particular section
of the newspaper or magazine
or at the radio or television station.
Figure.
These people are always looking for newsworthy items to deliver
to their audience,
their readers.
***********
Principle 9. Access to radio and television
Find a way to get into radio and television talk shows,
if you can.
This gets you exposed to thousands of people pretty quickly
and can often lead to big sales for your product or service.
The first step to breaking into talk shows,
in addition to having a newsworthy product or service,
is to prepare an event report
for the station’s host.
Prepare a summary of the benefits
or notable features of the product
or service that the station host can skim through
and then begin the interview.
Make this summary as easy as possible
for the interviewer to view and speak with subtlety.
If you participate in a section on a TV show,
create a questionnaire
that acts as a voice prompt for the presenter.
Give the person a series of 10 to 12 questions you know people will be interested in about
your product or service that they might ask.
Encourage the host to ask you these questions
so you can answer them.
When you start answering questions on radio or television,
don’t be proactive about the program.
Instead, advertise valuable information.
Provide as much valuable information about your product
or service as possible and how it benefits your audience
while you can only get it in the shortest possible time.
Think to talk about the benefits to the customer.
***********
Principle 10. Give Something Free
Whenever possible for a radio or television broadcast,
offer something free to the audience.
Invite them to call you to join a list
or minutes of free clients.
Ask them to mail in pre-addressed and stamped envelopes
so that you offer future customers something of value.
Send them your Internet address
so they can download something
for free that can help their life or work.
People who contact you get something
for free will often become your best paying customers.
***********
Principle 11. Leave information
When you’ve finished playing your role on a radio or TV show,
leave your brochure, business card,
and any other information about your product
or company that you can provide to the receptionist.
It may come as a surprise to you how many times people will phone the radio
or television station to find you
or your company after you’ve been on the air.
When you leave this information at the receptionist,
she can give it to anyone who calls.
A few years ago,
I did an hour-long interview during a mid-morning radio mailing show.
I offer a gift to whoever calls.
The radio station received so many calls an hour later
that the switchboard actually short-circuited and had to shut down.
They had never seen so many incoming calls before.
A few months later,
when another guest couldn’t be on the set of this radio station,
they decided to replay the interview with me,
using introductions and other witty words.
Go.
Once again,
they received over 500 calls
and burned the circuit at the switchboard.
But at this point they have lost their information given to the staff here
and the callers have no way of contacting us.
We have lost a huge number of potential customers.
Always leave information behind you, wherever you go.
Must be especially friendly with the receptionists and the assistants.
Be gentle and polite,
treat them like they’re important people.
Introduce yourself and give them the necessary information
so that when others call they can get in touch with you.
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OPPORTUNITIES EVERYWHERE
There is an old proverb,
“Successful people create more opportunities than they find.”
In fact, the opportunities are endless for the creative few.
If you are determined to enter the world of business owners,
there is no limit to starting your business accomplish anything beyond the limits
you set for yourself.
Most limits are self-imposed.
Every day, nearly 3,000 people make the decisions
they have to come out on their own.
They are willing to risk their dreams of freedom,
success,
and financial independence.
And what they can do,
you can do too.
The richest people in the world build networks.
Everyone else is trained
to look for work. — Robert Kiyosaki
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JUST DO IT IMMEDIATELY!
There are many ways for you to get started.
There are more ways to succeed in business today than you can imagine.
There are more ways to sell products
and services than you might discover in a lifetime.
What you need more than anything else is action.
There is no substitute for focus,
persistence,
and constant action towards your purpose.
When you’re ready to take the necessary actions,
you’ll learn the lessons you need.
You will find someone to help you.
You will discover the opportunities you are looking for.
You will achieve the success you desire,
if you act decisively.
Take action today.
Do it now.
Act without doubt,
hesitation or hesitation.
Do not wait.
Just do it now!
Everyone can tell you the risk.
An entrepreneur can see the reward. —Robert Kiyosaki
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PRACTICAL EXERCISE
1. Make a decision that you will be in business within 30 days.
Identify a product or service that you enjoy
and feel you can sell and arrange to bring it to market.
Let’s continue that.
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2. Decide what makes sense to sell the product or service you choose,
and then focus on mastering that distribution channel.
****************
3. If you’re already in business,
pick up a marketing and sales approach you’re not currently using
and focus on learning everything you can to deliver your product
or service in new ways.
****************
4. Research your distribution channels
and determine what else you can do to offer more products
or other products in different ways to other customers.
Always open to new things and optimistic.
****************
5. Hone your sales skills.
About 95% of full-time salespeople can learn to sell more,
better,
and faster than they do today.
Determined to invest the time and money needed to become excellent
at consuming merchandise.
****************
6. Be close to the right people.
Form a mentoring group with others in the same industry
and get together once a week to share ideas and experiences.
You never live long enough to learn it all on your own.
****************
7. Be ready to accept failure on your way to success.
Nothing works the first time.
Decided to try and try again.
Learn from every mistake and decide first that you will never give up.
“It is an economic fact in a competitive marketplace
that marketing effectiveness is a major determinant of business success.” – Sonia Rappaport
