Welcome to Business Consultant Weekly

Vol. 2 Issue # 24 June 14, 1999

In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: "I'm an ENGINEER, not a DOCTOR!" by Commander Mark D. Petersen-Overton, USN, MSME

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MARKETING MINUTE: Fundraising -- Free Advertising for your Business while Helping Others by Laura Peterson

If you'd like to read previously ran tips and features, go to http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html

Today's feature article walks us through several steps for making our online businesses successful. Here's some practical advice from Paul Myers of TalkBiz News that can get you started setting your steps into motion:

"Goals: Set, and Forget"

One of the biggest time wasters is worry. It's usually centered around something we think we should be doing, and aren't. There's a simple way to beat that trap. Turn your goals into processes.

Once you have set a goal, figure out each and every step you need to take to make that goal a reality. Work backwards to do this. Ask "What needs to happen before this result is achieved?", and make your "map" based on the answers. Break the whole thing down into very small steps.

Then simply forget the goal, and concentrate on each step. Do a little bit each day, and you'll be surprised at how fast you get to where you want to be.

Concentrate on the process. You'll need to make adjustments, and they'll be easier if you're not thinking about the entire result when you make each one. Just the next step...

When you do this, you form habits, and habits are stronger than you usually remember, until one of them gets a hold on you.

How do you move mountains? One shovel full at a time!

Reprinted from TalkBiz News. To subscribe (It's free), send any email to mailto:Newsletter@TalkBiz.com

"I'm an ENGINEER, not a DOCTOR!" by Commander Mark D. Petersen-Overton, USN, MSME

I'm no marketing genius, I'm not a doctor...and I cannot fix your Internet marketing problems with some miracle cure or even snake oil. I certainly AM an Engineer, however, and as such, I like things black and white...cause and effect, etc. I like things to be predictable, calculable, or as close to that as possible. I've worked home businesses over 12 years and I certainly think that it is difficult to predict marketing results in a traditional marketing environment (at least for the average "do-it-yourselfer.")

Since I've been working my "on-line" businesses, however, I believe that results are now MORE predictable than they ever have been in the past (at least for me). Maybe they are the same...but on-line marketing is so much easier and less painful, that I didn't even notice that I'm essentially doing the same thing as I used to do with direct mail--just a lot better, more consistently and a lot cheaper.

To me, it seems a simple process to create a profitable Internet presence. That doesn't mean it's easy!! In fact, no it is NOT easy. Quite the opposite. It takes work!. I'll list what I believe are the keys to success. Keep in mind, this list was created by my "pencil neck" black and white engineer's approach to marketing. There are tons of much more talented marketers out there who know a lot more than I do about this.

Step 1: Clearly, you need to be able to SELL something. Money cannot come to you without dispensing a product or service in exchange. That's called selling. If someone ever promotes a money making opportunity and chirps in "no selling," run the other direction because you are simply doomed. Everything in life is really some form of salesmanship or other. Even courtship is the ultimate sales job. Anyway, for my purposes, we'll presume that you understand that money is transferred in exchange for a product or service. Let's also take a leap of faith and presume that WHAT you are selling is worth about what you are asking for--that it's a quality product/service. Naturally, that's a judgment call, but YOU can probably best judge this for yourself. Are you selling the product/service, or the opportunity, or both? Only YOU can answer that. However, I can absolutely guarantee that if the product or service is valueless, you are doomed to failure. Period.

Step 2: Traffic. You've got to get lots of it to get the necessary exposure to item 1 above. No salesman can succeed without a steady source of sales prospects (there's that 'sell' word again). By the way, don't open up your Internet store in a Nebraska corn field--you won't sell a darn thing because your traffic will stink. Make sure you've researched the traffic generation features of your domain hosing company before you plunk down any money. I've done quite a bit of work in that area and will be happy to help. Mailto:webmaster@profitstation.com with your questions.

Step 3: You MUST have an email newsletter or Ezine. It's the best way to communicate with your customers and to create new ones. It's also the best way to SELL.

Step 4: You must get the E-mail addresses of your visitors. If you don't get these...your efforts simply will not work. How do you do it? Subscription forms, incentivizing enrollment, etc. Whatever--just get as many visitors to voluntarily enroll in your Ezine as possible. You cannot succeed without it. Additionally, it's the only way to follow up with your customers--which is a vital step in every selling process.

Step 5: Make offers. Call them "sales" or "blue light specials" if you like, but you must present your products and services in such a way that the customer knows that you are offering a valuable commodity at a reasonable price, that you offer post sale service, and that you are providing a bunch of incentives to purchase the product/service RIGHT NOW!. These incentives must be something that is appealing to your subscribers. (FREE advertising, for example).

Step 6 through ?: Test, test, and test. Send offer after offer and see what works for you. Keep track of results and re-use the ones that work, modify the ones that don't.

Final (never-ending) step: Follow up forever. Keep touching base with the customers that have expressed an interest in your product/service. DON'T STOP until they tell you to--and then ask them WHY--and then tell them some more. Finally either make the sale, or remove them from your list when requested. Probe, follow up, promote, sell, and never EVER stop. Most people don't read everything every day. They may go weeks before hunkering down and reading what you are offering. If you don't repeat the offer, they will miss it and you'll miss the sale.

There are huge variations of these themes, of course, but you can't really win if you leave any of these steps out. When you take these steps, you'll be able to realize a consistent sales percentage--and then, of course, predict your revenue. Internet marketing becomes less of a game and more of an effort in statistics. Treat it like an enjoyable game, however, supported by solid statistics, and you'll not only have fun, but you'll realize solid results, and best of all, be able to predict those results which allows you to make intelligent decisions about your marketing efforts.

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Mark Petersen-Overton, mailto:webmaster@profitstation.com is an active duty Naval Officer with over 20 years military experience. Mark is also a part time author, Internet marketer and entrepreneur who specializes in placing ordinary people into a profitable Internet presence. Mark particularly enjoys working with current and former members of the military services all over the world. His web site, ProfitStation (http://www.profitstation.com) hosts over 20,000 hits per month. Mark offers $300 worth of FREE advertising to all new Ezine subscribers.

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Questions to Ponder

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Fundraising -- Free Advertising for your Business while Helping Others

An often-overlooked marketing strategy to sell to people in your community is the Fundraiser.

Fundraising is easy to do. It is a win/win proposition -- your business gets new customers with the help of a charitable organization, provided you donate part of your profits to that organization.

Here's an example: Suppose you want to donate money to your child's school. First, contact the school by mail or phone, offering to do a fundraiser at the school for a percentage of your profits. Request a table to display and sell your products at the next book fair or PTA meeting. Insert a flyer in the next school newsletter advertising the fundraiser. The flyer should describe your products and ask potential customers to donate money to the school by purchasing your products. Be sure and write a "catchy" headline -- for example, if you sell personal care products, "Help ABC School buy New Computers, just by Washing your Hair!

You can also mail flyers to the families in the school directory. In addition, pass flyers out to all the teachers to send home in students' backpacks.

Send a press release to the local newspaper about the fundraiser. The editor may want to write an article, or list the fundraiser in the community events column. This will generate even more free advertising for your business.

During the fundraiser, have products available for people to sample. Offer a raffle for a free gift (especially if you do party plans). Keep the names and addresses to contact in the future for more sales and/or parties.

Give the principal and school secretaries free thank you gifts -- this helps pave the way for future fundraisers.

Fundraisers are great exposure. They get you and your business in front of potential customers, generate leads, build word-of-mouth advertising, are a lot of fun and very rewarding.

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Laura Peterson is a free-lance writer and publishes a free Internet marketing newsletter - "An-Internet-Business Ezine" - http://www.an-internet-business.addr.com/an-inter.htm She also sells Watkins Natural Products - to order a free catalog visit <http://www.an-internet-business.addr.com/> You can also email her at mailto:ronpete@prodigy.net

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