Effective Advertising and Info Management

Scammers are getting more creative every day, coming up with new schemes to get your money (or sensitive information). Knowledge is power! By educating yourself on the common scams and keeping aware about new ones, you can stop the scammers in their tracks. Remember, if no one fell for their tactics, they would be out of business! Here are some of the most common scams today:

Stuffing Envelopes - There are no legitimate envelope-stuffing jobs out there. Please don’t fool yourself into believing there are. Companies can very easily purchase a beautiful machine for a few thousand dollars that will not only stuff the envelopes, it will also fold, collate and apply postage to the envelopes. Why would a company pay you thousands of dollars a month to stuff their envelopes? They wouldn’t. If you send in your fee for this scam, you will receive a copy of the same ad you responded to, and you will now have to scam other people by placing the ad and having them send you their money. This is illegal.

Typing and Data Entry - Similar to the scheme above, if you sign up for this and pay your fee, you will receive a copy of the same ad, and have to place ads to get other people to send you their money. You earn $20 per “application processed” because you are charging people $20 to get the information. Again, illegal. There are some legitimate companies that will hire you to do typing and data entry (such as transcription or coding) — but they won’t charge you a fee to work for them. If a fee is being charged, it’s a scam.

Craft Assembly - Most of these opportunities are scams because they make their money by the start-up fees you pay. When you receive your kit, you will assemble dozens of earrings, potholders, magnets (or whatever), send them in for payment, and they will not pass inspection. You can try to fix them as many times as you like, they still won’t be accepted. The company doesn’t want the items you assembled, they want your money for the start-up kit. There are a few legitimate companies out there, however. Disciple’s Cross and New England Crafters are two we’ve found so far. We are researching others.

Medical Billing - There are companies that will train you to become a Medical Biller from home, as long as you purchase the Medical Billing software for your computer from them. (Usually costs a few hundred dollars at least) What they don’t tell you is that YOU will be responsible for finding your own clients (Doctors/Dentists). This can be incredibly difficult to do, since most medical professionals already use a billing service, or do their own billing in the office. With the new Privacy laws, medical professionals need to be extremely careful with patient records, and most will not want to trust someone with no billing experience to handle the office billing at home.

Payment Associate/Specialist - A company wants to hire you to place auctions on eBay and accept customer payments using your own accounts). You get to keep a portion of the money, and send the rest to the company. The company is supposed to ship the product to the customer, but they don’t. (or they ship stolen goods) You are now in big trouble with eBay and Paypal for fraud. Don’t do it! Don’t ever use your own accounts for anything other than your own business. Companies should be able to set up their own accounts just as easily as you did for yourself.

Pyramid Schemes - A pyramid scheme is when money changes hands but there is no product or service being sold. “Joe” charges you $200 to join the scheme, and then you in turn need to charge others $200 to join, and they charge others, etc. This is illegal. Remember, there must be a product or service being sold.

Gifting Programs - This is also an illegal pyramid scheme, but they call it a “gifting program” — in other words, you “gift” Joe $200, and then you need to find others who will “gift” you $200, and so on. Illegal.

Chain Letters - These have been around for years! They used to come by postal mail, but now they also arrive via email. There are usually 5 names on the list, you need to move each name up a spot, removing the top name, and place your name at the bottom, and then send $5 to each name on the list and send it out to everyone you know. Highly illegal. There is also a version for online payment services like Paypal, you send $2 or $5 (the amount varies) to the people on the list, and others are supposed to do the same for you. Don’t get caught up in something like this, it can ruin your life.

Surveys & Mystery Shopping - While not all survey and mystery shopping companies are scams, there are quite a few that love to charge you a membership fee, claiming you can earn hundreds of dollars a day. When you sign up, you find more companies that want to charge you a fee to join, and companies that will pay you very little for your time and energy. There are some legitimate companies out there, and you don’t have to pay to find them. Also be aware that you probably won’t get rich from doing surveys and mystery shopping, but it can certainly bring in some decent pocket money.

These next few aren’t necessarily work at home schemes, but they bear mentioning because they’re so popular:

Bulk email - Usually these offers are sent by email, but you’ll see ads like this around the internet also. You can purchase tons of email addresses for a low fee. If you have a home business and you’re trying to get customers or subscribers to your mailing list, sounds like a great deal, right? Don’t do it. Most (if not all) of those addresses have been harvested by spambots. If you send out a mailing to them, you will likely be reported for spam. You can lose your internet service provider, your business, and even have to pay a huge fine for spamming. Not worth it!

Phishing - You get an urgent email from Paypal, eBay or even your bank stating that your account is in jeopardy and you need to update your account info immediately! You click on the link and go to a page that looks legitimate enough, but it’s actually a fake page. If you enter your login and password information, the scammer can now access your accounts. Don’t ever click on a link in an email like this. Open a new browser window and type the company website address yourself. Your account should show whether there is a problem or not. (Most companies would have a big notice in there if you need to update something.) These companies usually have a spoof email address you can send these “phishing” emails to. For example, spoof@paypal.com, or spoof@ebay.com. Simply forward the email with full headers to them. They will investigate and stop the scammer if they can.

Free merchandise - Have you gotten the emails claiming you can earn a free computer, phone card or other merchandise? What usually happens is you would have to pay a membership fee, and then get a certain number of other people to join and pay the membership fee also. Unfortunately, there is usually some little clause you weren’t aware of, and you never do get your free stuff. It’s a waste of time and money.

Nigerian scams - You get a long letter from someone claiming to be the son or daughter of someone important, and they need to have you deposit a huge sum of money into your own bank account, and then wire most of it to them by Western Union. You get to keep a nice chunk of the money for your troubles. The problem is that the check is fake, and takes a few days or even weeks to bounce, and you now owe that money back to the bank. Unfortunately, you don’t have it anymore, you wired most of it out to those people! Another Nigerian scam targets business owners. You receive a large order at your website, or they email to ask if they can order a large amount of goods, and they ask if you accept credit cards. Do not fall for this, the credit cards are stolen and if you ship the goods, you will be out the money AND the goods.

In closing, remember that scammers are after only two things: your money, or your sensitive information. If you refuse to give either willingly, you put them right out of business. For more information on common scams, do an internet search on the FTC Dirty Dozen.

Wendy Betterini is a freelance writer, web designer and owner of www.CreativeWorkAtHome.com, a resource center for home business owners and telecommuters. Visit today for information on how to make your work at home experience successful.

The focus of many pet owners seems to be directed towards their animals, which makes a great deal of sense in most cases. However, when trying to correct unwanted behavior in your dog you might want to point that finger inward sometimes and have a little glimpse in the mirror. It is easy to become annoyed with your pet when you feel as though you have tried everything and nothing seems to work. Maybe your Boston Terrier continues to chew on your shoes or other objects while you are not at home. Perhaps the Maltese in your life still has accidents in the house rather than letting you know she needs to go outside. On the other hand, possibly you have a Yorkshire Terrier that snips at strangers, even guests in your home when they try to pet him. All of these and many other undesirable behaviors that dogs may posses can leave a pet owner feeling frustrated and at their wits end with their furry little friend.

Have you ever considered though when faced with one of these situations that the dog is trying to communicate something to you? Is it possible that Sparky just feels neglected during those long days alone at home while you are at work? Sometimes we can have a big impact on our dogs if we look at our own behavior and consider what the pooch may be trying to tell us through their difficult behavior. Obviously dogs can not talk or speak with us as a human can when they need to communicate their feelings. That is not to say that canines are not vocal because as many of us know they can express quite a lot at times through their barking, growling or whining. However, to really pinpoint what the issue is for your pet you may find that you are the one that actually holds the answers.

Dogs have a very keen awareness for their surroundings and the people in their environment. As most dog owners come to realize, the bond between your dog and you can be extremely strong. There are people who report that during a challenging illness or devastating time in their life that their dog responded as though they knew what was going on and they helped their owner through the rough time. Sometimes by just sitting near their owner or laying at their feet, other times dogs may whine and pace back and forth, especially when other people are around because they are trying to indicate that their owner needs help.

Experts have even confirmed that dogs do have an ability to detect several human emotions and many of them will respond in unique ways. For example; when there is a lot of anger or arguing occurring within a household your dog may respond by acting up in a number of ways, which is not a problem with the dog but rather your pet is responding to the hostility and unpleasantness it senses in the house. Everyone goes through difficult periods in their life and it is obviously impossible to avoid exposing your dog to any anger or hostile situations throughout their life. The important thing to remember is that your situation and how you handle it is not your dog’s choice or within their area of responsibility.

Dogs deserve and hopefully get, the majority of times anyway, a good, loving and stable home. They respond well to a structured environment, complete with rules and routines. If you typically get up each morning and walk your dog before you go to work and then you suddenly stop doing it all together, your dog will respond in some way, possibly a negative one. It is not the dog’s fault that you changed your behavior and they have no other way of communicating other than to chew up stuff or have an accident in the house as their way of saying, “hey what is going on.” In some cases dogs can even become depressed, this happens most frequently in situations where the dog was once loved and well cared for and then suddenly became ignored and forgotten about. It is really sad to see a dog that is in this form of doggy-depression because again, they did not ask to come to live with you, you chose them.

There are obviously other concerns you must deal with when you are going through a difficult time, like loosing your job or going through a divorce, and you should always take care of the important aspects related to these situations. It is understandable that a dog can suddenly become a lower priority in your life however, if you are unhappy with their behavior because they are acting out in response to their environment; take that into consideration before disciplining your pet or giving up on them all together.

Dogs may secretly harbor the desire to have all humans attend some sort of training school before they decide to become a pet owner, however, since that is not very likely to happen, remember to think about your own behavior when examining your dog’s. That precious pooch can sometimes be just what you need to get through a difficult time and maintaining their routine for their benefit can in many ways benefit you also.

Gary Allison is a third generation of professional dog breeders. It all started with his grandparents in 1970 with the Boston Terriers and has expanded to Maltese, Yorkshire Terriers, Pugs and Pomeranians. He is also actively involved with dog rescue and has a website that showcases the puppies he has for sale at http://allmypuppiesonline.com.

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard the radio commercial claiming you can get a mortgage despite having bad credit. Bad credit mortgages are better known as subprime mortgages.

Subprime

“Subprime” is a euphemism for a borrower who simply doesn’t qualify for a traditional home mortgage. Subprime loans used to be very difficult to get, but things changed in the 1990’s. Banks began to realize there were a lot of borrowers with less than stellar credit or other problems. More borrowers meant more revenues, so banks started creating subprime mortgages and the game was on. As a result of these new loans, home ownership in the United States has risen to all time highs.

One of the biggest determinants in qualifying for a loan is your credit score. A borrower’s credit history is analyzed using a “FICO” score, named after Fair Isaac and Company, Inc. Generally, a FICO score below 620 is considered an indication of bad credit. The borrower is then classified as a subprime borrower.

Importantly, a FICO score below 620 is not the only reason a person may be classified as subprime. An infrequent borrowing history, new employment position or expensive home may also key the designation. In fact, nearly 50 percent of subprime borrowers have FICO scores above 620.

When a lender writes a mortgage, it is betting on whether the borrower will repay the loan completely and in a timely manner. The better your credit score, employment history and so, the better deal you will get from the lender. Obviously, subprime borrowers aren’t going to get the best deal. Instead, a lender may require a larger down payment and will certainly designate a higher interest rate than given to “good” borrowers. In addition, subprime borrowers may have to pay points just to get the loan.

The trade off of all of this, of course, is that you get a loan to buy a home. Home ownership has consistently proved to be one of the best long-term investments in the United States. While Americans are criticized for failing to save money, they are effectively doing so by purchasing homes and building equity in them.

Should you apply for a subprime loan if you have less than stellar credit or other problems? There is no right answer, so you should consider sitting down with an independent mortgage broker to analyze your situation.

Dan Lewis is with www.gwhomeloans.com - a San Diego mortgage brokers providing San Diego home loans. Visit www.gwhomeloans.com/services.html to learn more about options on San Diego mortgages from a San Diego mortgage broker company.

Handicapping is the only way to make us even steven on the course. We all could play Tiger Woods and beat him if given enough stokes. Even the pro’s carry handicaps. Not all the pro’s are “scratch” golfers but they must play scratch in all professional tournaments.

The only problem us amateurs have on the course is, how many stokes. The scorecard dictates the holes where we get the stokes. How many, that’s what I want to know?

Golfers that play for money on the course sometimes have the tendency to keep their handicap high, in order to get more strokes, and they obviously shoot low in order to win. This is called “chumming”. I personally hate to play with a guy that has a handicap of 16 and shoots to a 8. That’s 8 strokes he uses to win. It’s as illegal and unsportsmanlike as can possibly be but is done without conscience.

NFL, NHL, MLB and other sports have handicaps; it’s called the “spread”. Golf doesn’t have a “spread” until it comes to matchups, and then its a line.

I think to make golf even in the gaming world, they should have handicaps. That’s what I would do, give the big boys handicaps.

Let’s take Corey Pavin. He’s one of the shorter hitters on tour. I can make him even up with John Daly by giving Corey, say, 30 yards. Would anybody bet on Corey? 30 yards? Maybe, Corey has been known to hit the cart path.

I think all golf bets on tour should have a handicap. Therefore, we’ve evened up the playing field. You will probably never see it on a gaming site or Las Vegas. We need to make the field even.

Tiger Woods is going to beat Corey Pavin 10 out of 10 times both in scoring and driving distance. But, give Corey 5 strokes and 30 yards and I’ll take Corey every time. Now, the field is even.

All of us that play golf are in this predicament, know what I mean Verne?

I’ve played Golf for over 48 years and when I was in high school I was proud of my handicap being a 2 or better. That was back in the day when Golf was considered a sissy sport. Now, when I play with my old friends from school, I just take their money in the 19th hole. http://www.thepropsroom.com and see how Golf should be handicapped.

The line under your income on your pay stub is where these two systems differ. With the uneducated tax system, you deduct the three lines under your income and the remainder is what you receive. With the educated tax system, the first line is your reported income as with the uneducated tax system. However, the second line is the money you spent on the business, and you pay taxes on what is left. This is because when a business spends money it is called a business expense or tax deduction. Therefore, having your own business and being in the educated tax system, you can reduce your taxes by 40-70%. To break this down even further: If you are making $35,000 a year this could save you up to $10,000. That means it does not matter if you are making millions of dollars or a few thousand dollars. These strategies apply to you! A marginally profitable business can become a thriving business by applying these strategies.

A case study: One of my students, Stephanie, was making $50,000 a year. She took these strategies to her CPA who had been working with her families for years and always had her best interest in mind. He replied that although this program sounded interesting, he was already utilizing every deduction available able to her. Stephanie’s CPA agreed to participate in a conference call with me at Stephanie’s request. Stephanie’s CPA explained that she was paying $12,000 in taxes. While this was much less than the average person, she could have been paying even less. I introduced three strategies: helping her to reduce her FICA, deducting her healthcare, deducting education (both her and her daughter’s). We were able to reduce her total taxes paid to $800. In 15 minutes and with only three strategies, we were able to save her over $11,200!

I have had students save well over $100,000. Just think what you could do with that money!

We can start by converting your largest expenses into business expenses. We can teach you lesser known deductions (e.g. travel and entertainment, medical, seminars, books, etc.) and shift them over to business expenses. You pay them with pre-tax dollars and not after-tax dollars, reducing your taxable income.

During my years of law school, I completed an internship with a New York Supreme Court Justice and second legal internship with a law firm and also began investing in real estate. Immediately upon graduating law school and passing the bar exam, I opened my own law practice. From 1988 to 2001, I practiced with my partner under the name Miles and Gillard, where I concentrated in the area of real estate and business law.

Drew Miles

Find Out More:
www.pfbs.com

To grow your e-business and to stay ahead, you definitely need top rankings in Google, Yahoo and MSN. When people search using keywords through search engines, your site should feature in top positions in the search engine results.

The key to getting a high ranking in the search engines is to keep adding keyword rich, relevant content to your website regularly.

If you are updating your site all the time, the search engines will know they need to come back and spider it all the time. You need to get your website pages spidered and Indexed into all the MAJOR Search Engines… No Matter Who You Are, How Much Experience You Have Or What Kind Of Budget Your limited to.

CONTENT IS KING Give your visitors what they want, a theme-Based CONTENT Site. The latest research suggests that visitors will expect to find a keyword rich reference in the first 12 seconds of visiting your site. Do you need content to add to your web site? Or articles for use on your opt-in newsletters and e-zines?

Using Article content to get into Google and Yahoo listings can use a lot of method described by many so called experts. And quite true too. I want to remind one very sophisticated and elegant way to do this and believe me Google just love it. The method is Article marketing. And this is done by getting backlinks from a already listed website. In this Article can work wonder. There are many article publishing websites and ezines where an article is accepted free and after review get published.

Apart from these SEO aspect, articles are a great way to market and brand your own name. It establish you as an expert in that particular subject. Article marketing can help you to gain a good number of visitors who are highly targeted one. And these article can help you to get higher Google page rank.

Do you want a tool that automaticly picks up the articles you want from sites like those above and publishes them on your website. No hassle, simple .php script to set up and your away, leaving you plenty of time to focus on doing your business.

This is a tool that lets you:

Use an easy template to get everything set up

Use an easy template to get everything set up

Pick your own topics and where you’ll get content from

Gather as many as 1,100 articles

Turn the articles you pick into web pages

Publish those pages on your site

Keyword rich article content is King, step-by-step you can use this brand new, remarkable tool to gather keyword-rich articles, analyze their densities, and build separate web pages for each article collected.

The Internet has now become an important medium for product and service advertisements. Almost every company that can afford print, radio and TV advertisements have also ventured into placing ads on the Internet.

But with millions of websites out there being visited by millions of computer users, how can you make sure that your ad can be seen by your target customers and that your leads will be followed by these users? Here are a few tips.

1. Place an ad on the websites frequented by your target customers. Before doing this, you need to define who will be your target customers. Placing an ad on sites that they usually visit will increase the possibility that your ad will gain the attention and will be followed your target customers.

Also, consider the website’s search engine placement, traffic, external linking and the other ads placed on it. External linking will determine if there are other sites that link to this site. This will mean that people can get to the site where your ad is placed, even if they are browsing a different site. Check if many of your competitors have ads on this site.

2. Placing ads on some sites cost some money. However, there are also sites that can place a link to your site, product or service in exchange of having their link being displayed on your site. This is also true about the newsletters sent by site owners to its mailing list members regularly.

Also, having helpful links placed on your site and having sites link to your pages help in boosting search engine ranking. This is similar to making a statement that your site’s content is important that other sites have links to your web pages.

3. Pay-per-click (PPC) is also a good method in Internet marketing. You will only need to pay for the ad if the link is clicked. If you prefer this method of advertisement, make sure that you are using services that set limits on daily expenses. There are also services that help you determine effective keywords and monitor the PPC results. copy and paste this url into your browser to get professional advice on PPC for FREE.

P.S. If you are running your business online get reliable web hosting, downtime is lost CASH…. Can you afford to lose sales? Website hosting services vary, choose your hosting company wisely. Affordable web hosting is the key for small business webmasters. At White Star business web hosting is the order of the day, offering a dedicated and personalised service to small business they are hard to beat. Copy and paste the url into your browser, click and your off to a very good start.

http://www.web-hosting.org.uk.tp

4. Choose your domain name wisely. It is still being debated if domain names matter when it comes to search engine placement. Whether it does or not, having product related domain names help consumers remember your domain, so that they can go back to your site even without the links. After you have sorted out your web hosting, because to get multiple free domain names you will need a domain name to redirect your web site traffic to, go here and get keyword rich domain names for FREE

http://www.tipdots.com

5. Make sure you have useful content on your sites. While keyword density is important in search engine placement, having useless information or annoying repetition of keywords will not increase your customer’s confidence in your site. It may even affect your sites traffic and can get your site removed from search engines. So make sure that keywords are used strategically.

6. When thinking of keywords, think like your target customers. What do you think are they going to search so they can get to your site? Also, use specific keywords or key phrases. Submitting a single word or a very general phrase to a search engine will not get you to the top of the search results compared to submitting specific keywords that describe your product and services perfectly. this is a great FREE tool for keyword research, go on to

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

This is a handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Its great - and its free

7. Track your ads. Always check how much you have spent on placing links on frequently visited sites and on PPC. There are services that allow you to monitor PPC transactions and how many of these end in sales. You always need to consider if the ads that you have placed on these websites are getting you to your target consumers and if these ads can lead to revenue.

One final tip on marketing products and services, sell the benefits. It will help your marketing strategies a lot if you highlight the benefits of choosing your products and services instead of merely discussing the product specifications. Product specifications may not mean much to customers, unless they know what these stand for (how these specifications affect the quality of the product or service).
Growing your eBusiness

Many people say getting to the top of search engine results is difficult since millions of websites exist, which can be using the same keywords. While this is true, this doesn’t mean that your website has to stacked under your competitors’ websites when presenting search engine results.

Increasing Sales Through Strategic Internet Marketing.

http://www.seotop10rankings.com

Strategic advertising and linking, together with useful content, can also get you to the top of the search results.

Elevator pitches are effective, quick ways of practicing your IT marketing daily. They key is to say something memorable and quick, and to use it whenever appropriate. In this article, you learn how to make your elevator speech stand out for effective IT marketing.

For example, you get in the elevator on the 20th floor and you see a man or woman that is very well-dressed. This person looks like an executive who could potentially be a good customer of yours. You’re both leaving the same cocktail party. She looks down at your name tag and says, “Hi Randy, how’s it going?” You say, “Okay, how’s it going with you?”

Most people are curious, especially at these networking events, and like many other people, she asks, “Where are you from?” This is where you need to reach in your bag of IT marketing tricks and respond with your elevator pitch.

“A company that repairs, builds, and upgrades computers.” If her computers happen to be a mess, she may ask for a card or ask you further questions.

Examples of effective elevator pitches

“I’m xxx with xxx and we make it our business to help small and mid-sized businesses learn how to get the best benefits out of their computers, the Internet and networking productivity.”

Another one is, “Our service team specializes in on-site business service and networking solutions. We also provide consulting in the areas of network development and ongoing maintenance.”

Remember to Talk Benefits

IT marketing is all about the benefits, so it’s important you give them to the people you’re speaking with. You’re talking about how you provide business services and you provide network consulting and if you can talk a little more about the types of problems that you help people solve, it might intrigue them a little more. You might even consider a call to action at the end, like ask them for an appointment for a consultation.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Business Computer Consulting .com. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Joshua Feinberg helps small business computer consulting firms get more steady high-paying clients. Sign-up now for Joshua’s free one-hour audio training on Small Business Computer Consulting secrets at www.SmallBusinessComputerConsulting.com

When a business is engaged in a marketing campaign and it is obvious things are not going correct it is often better to stop the marketing campaign immediately rather than to continue and try to evaluate and fix the problem gone bad.

Why you ask? Well simple really if you continue and you are confusing your customers, then you are diluting your brand name and changing a perhaps longtime image in your customer’s mind and you can actually lose customers?

Additionally we have all heard the saying that you only get one chance to make a first impression, so if you screw it up those potential customers you attracted will be turned off and those potential customers who heard about your marketing campaign slogan or saw an ad may be convinced that it is not what they thought it was or even what they would ever want. While had they never heard of the marketing campaign or saw an ad, they may have eventually walked into the outlet out of curiosity you see? So losing customers can be at stake and if you are a marketing professional and you see trouble, pull the plug and save the brand name.

The brand name capital is at risk and that is more important than your job. Although I have often watched marketing executives keep trying when something was not working and they ended up losing both anyway. Their regional brand image and then their job. Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

What could be more welcoming than the spicy smell of hot apple pie to receive you into a brand new neighborhood full of people you’ve never met? Hopefully you life has been full of warm, hospitable neighbors wherever you’ve lived. Perhaps not…

If you’ve ever had a bad experience with a neighbor, you know just how much those invisible people really know about you. Maybe they peer through the curtains every time you leave the house, or have a secret spy chain… who knows how they gather their ill-gotten knowledge? Fortunately, nosy neighbors aren’t all bad news - for the marketer anyway.

The facts are that regardless of whether we trust them to watch over our possessions or are afraid to leave our possessions unattended in our absences, neighbors seem to know a lot about us. They know when we are usually home, and when we’ve been out past our normal bedtime. They’ve probably received mail meant for us, and know which catalogs we read. Hey, this knowledge is a goldmine in the hands of a savvy marketer.

Name dropping takes on new meaning when used in the context of the “keep up with the Jones” or “keep tabs on the Jones” philosophy - whichever the case may be. All you have to do is casually mention that Sally Jones across the street uses your product or service, and you can watch calculating interest immediately spring into the eyes of your prospect.

Imagine the success this could add to your next direct mail campaign! Heck, when your prospective customers know some one, intimately or casually, who’s on your customer list it adds credibility to your claims. They can simply step next door to find out more about you. You supply a link that connects them to you, and increases the odds enticing them to give your product or service a try.

3 Steps to Converting Neighbors Into Loyal Customers

1. Make a List
Print a detailed list of your current customers and their addresses.
2. Do your Homework
Research a local criss-cross street directory online or at your local library, and create a list of the neighbors on each side and directly across the street from your current customer.
3. Put it in the Mail
Send out simple form letters that allow you to include the name of the neighbor you count as a loyal customer.

The formula for successfully turning neighbors is pretty simple. You do the math…

1 Customer + 4 Neighbors = Double Your Current Customer List

It’s a sure-fire way to win credibility and cash in on natural instincts. I’ve never met a marketer who wasn’t ready to jump at the chance to double their customer list and convert it into profits.

You may have a filing cabinet full of the dynamite that will blast your business into a brand new level of success this year. It’s a good reason to dust the cobwebs of the files that have been laying around and not doing their fair share for years.

Who is Allyn Cutts, and why should you care?
Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers. Allyn is a marketing and sales fanatic, providing measurable marketing solutions that drive huge results for small-to mid-size business clients. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at www.AllynCutts.com and you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I love calling qualified leads! To me they are the easiest and most effective way to increase business. People have made fortunes from doing it and so can you. The key is to mentally prepare yourself and step out of the box of conventional thinking and doing.

Here are 7 ways to do that.

1. Call your leads when no one else is - During so-called “quiet” times

There are certain periods of the year, for example summer, that many will say is a slow time. And they’re right … because they say it’s slow. And because they say it, they believe it and what they believe happens. Others will say it isn’t slow… and they’re right too. And THAT is what makes the difference between mediocrity and greatness!

Let me ask you this. If you had a regular business and you closed it down for 3 months in the summer, what would happen to the momentum, profitability and goodwill of the company? The answer is obvious. So why is it so many Distributors’ take the summer off? Wouldn’t the same thing likely happen?

So make the summer, and other so-called “quiet” times, a stellar time to be in the market and expanding your business. Unlike fall and winter, the field is clear… there is less competition, and you have more time to find, nurture and train your new downline.

2. Calling leads from a lead list is NOT cold calling!

If you’re a little nervous about calling, remind yourself you’re calling someone who has requested you do so. This is because they are looking for something and you might have the solution.

A cold call is calling someone you have never met and don’t know about. It’s like pulling a name randomly out of the phone book. So do yourself and them a favor… return their request as soon as possible and discover what that is.

3. Expect Positive Responses

People don’t think what you think they think. If you start your call with the negative expectation that you will get a lot of resistance - the chances are you will! Why? Because you get what you expect!

People are mostly kind and receptive. Just like you, they’re looking for ways to make their life easier, more fulfilling, etc. That’s why they invited you to help them.

Again, change your thinking to one that your lead is expecting you to call.

4. Discover What’s Missing In Your Lead’s Life

Whatever you do, don’t get into the trap of thinking that it’s all about “educating” or “giving them information”. It’s not. It’s about allowing them talk in detail about what they want and why they want it.

Having this frame of mind is so important. See yourself as a problem solver… as someone who has potential solutions to the problems your leads are facing. How do you do you do that? By getting into Dialogue with them by

1. Asking questions

2. Listening without prejudging

3. Feeding back based on what you’ve heard them say.

Then you’ll find every call you make will end with a positive result. Why? Because people love talking about themselves, and they will always feel good about you and listen to you… if you listen to them first!

5. Go Slow To Go Fast.

Spend time here helping you and your lead qualify each other. Ironically, the more time you spend, the faster you will build your business.

Relationships take time. If you don’t have time when you call - when will you find time? THIS is the time to find out their ‘Why’. Not later on. Your lead will give you all the time in the world. Why? Because they are talking about their favorite subject… themselves. Time just flies by.

6. Qualifying.

Did I say in #5, “helping you and your lead qualify each other”? Yes I did. The answers to your questions are just as much for your lead to think about… ponder and perhaps shift their beliefs over… as they are for you!

Contrary to a lot of conventional opinion, selling is not about qualifying your lead in the first 15 seconds. It’s impossible to find out about anything from most people in 15 seconds and you’ll lose more opportunities than you will gain if you take this attitude. Spend the time.

7. Don’t Wait to Get Good

Most Distributors’ wait to be good! As someone I know says, “1 degree of temperature can turn boiling water into steam”. Raise yourself by one degree and you’ll turn yourself into the star that’s waiting to be released.

These 7 tips will help you get the most from your leads. So, take action and call NOW! The sooner you speak with people, the quicker you’ll build your business and get the results you’re looking for.

Michael Oliver is the author of “How To Sell Network Marketing Without Fear, Anxiety or Losing Your Friends!” and an internationally recognised speaker and trainer. Each year he helps thousands of Network Marketers, Independent Distributors and Direct Sellers achieve outstanding business and personal results. In 2004 and 2005, Michael was voted “Best MLM Trainer” in the annual “MLM Insider” poll.

You can find more details about Michael’s books and audio programs at http://www.NaturalSelling.com?c1=article&source=ezine