Business

Author : Margaret JamesMost clients who work with us try to begin rebuilding credit immediately, looking forward to the day that the bankruptcy will be removed from their credit reports Rebuilding your credit after a bankruptcy takes years, but it\’s never too soon to begin behaviors that could keep you from dealing with another bankruptcy when your credit is restored

Many of our clients who just saw their credit scores on the rise after their first bankruptcy are back in the same situation again Without a steady stream of savings or credit, the recession has been very hard on many families Lay-offs, medical emergencies, and mounting bills can put many families back into the same situations they were in just a few years ago

If you want to avoid a second bankruptcy after restoring your credit, look for and avoid warning signs that another bankruptcy could be on your horizon
Excessive credit card debt

If your first impulse after bankruptcy recovery is to obtain as many credit accounts as possible, you could be in for another bankruptcy before you know it It\’s a good feeling to be able to get credit cards with larger limits again, but be wary In a poor economy, banks are much more willing to take a chance on consumers with bad credit history who may not be able to pay their credit card debts Just because a high limit is offered doesn\’t mean it\’s a good idea
Dealing with high interest loans

If you\’re living from paycheck to paycheck, it\’s always good advice to be careful about how you use credit Taking out personal credit to meet your minimum monthly bills is going to backfire after some time Many families engage in behaviors such as taking out high interest loans or using cash advances when they\’re in trouble This could lead to a financial crisis situation for you and your family

Before working with high interest loan sharks, keep in mind that other alternatives may be available to you It\’s better in the long run to borrow from a family member than to ruin your credit dealing with a high interest loan you may not be able to pay on
Failure to use a budget

Many folks are headed toward a second bankruptcy because they weren\’t conscious of their financial situation Believe it or not, having an improving credit score after a bankruptcy makes many people feel like it\’s okay to overspend, or be less conscious of their finances

Developing a monthly budget and sticking to it is a great idea regardless of your financial standing Particularly if you\’re trying to improve your credit after a bankruptcy, sticking to a budget can give you control of your money by letting you assume control of your financial situation at all times

If you\’re recovering from a bankruptcy, becoming overconfident can have serious consequences for your future financial situation By watching out for these warning signs, you can avoid future financial problems for you and your family Blog.billyprice.net gives helpful tips for avoiding another bankruptcy.

Read full story

Author : Margaret JamesEvery year business executives all over the country make New Year resolutions to take care of themselves, to conquer bad habits and, of course, spend more time relaxing at home with their friends, family and loved ones You might not think that an air taxi rental service like Kavoo can be part of helping keep your New Years resolutions, but small plane rental service can be the perfect time-saving travel solution for business executives

Kavoo air taxi flights are perfect for hassle free business or pleasure trips to thousands of airports across the United States They specialize in personalized service in brand new, small, single-engine planes for one to three passengers Kavoo can take you almost anywhere in the Northeast United States and Canada Because Kavoo specializes in small, efficient airplane rentals, they can land at ten times as many airports than large planes or jets This equals the ultimate in convenience because there is likely to be an airport within twenty minutes of anywhere you want to go

Are you an executive traveler trying to rent a small airplane for a quick business trip from New York City to Boston? A leisure traveler looking to take a long weekend or a first class holiday with your special someone? Kavoo\’s small plane rental service can help make your travel easy and convenient Think of Kavoo as more than a luxury lifestyle travel solution or something you\’d see in a luxury magazine It\’s a private air taxi rental service that eases the hassle and inconvenience of air travel and gives you back one of the most valuable commodities there is time Time saved in airports and on executive business trips means more time for you to spend at home with the people who matter most

Kavoo is also an excellent solution for traveling first class with your loved ones Are you trying to figure out the perfect romantic get away to rekindle your romance? Do you want to take a private trip for two to celebrate a special birthday or anniversary? Booking a small flight will not only take the hassle out of your travel but will get you to your destination quickly and efficiently and let you get started on your vacation in style

Are you a frequent flyer who makes lots of short business trips? A CEO or business executive who wants the convenience of chartered travel? There\’s no better time to check out Kavoo air taxi flights and make your business and leisure air travel more efficient so you can spend less time traveling and more time relaxing with your loved ones
Flykavoo.com is a great resource for travelers who are working to get from one place to the other!

Read full story

Author : claude whitacreThis is in the days of Videos, not DVDs This man sold vacuum cleaners and air purifiers I\’ve seen this idea work with both but let\’s take the air purifiers

He would put an ad in the newspaper describing how the indoor air pollution was up to five times as bad as the outside air pollution He offered a free video, and gave that video a value of $89 95

the ad said something like "Stop in to pick up your free video "How To Instantly Make Your Indoor Air Clean And So Fresh It Will Make Your Nostrils Tingle!"

His first few ads said that he would mail them the video He did, and nobody that received the video came in the store Something was wrong Eventually he realized that the video was answering the consumer\’s questions, and there was no need to come in the store

So here is the brainstorm; He said, in the ad, to come in the store and pick up the video
Of course, the only people coming in to pick up the video were people who were interested in how to clean their indoor air These were people who had a problem, usually pet or smoke odors, and wanted their problem solved as soon as possible

So they came in to pick up the video The salesman (sometimes me) told them that they could have the video, but could we ask a couple of quick questions first The answer was always "Yes"

You see, nobody really came in because what they wanted was another video What they wanted was to solve their problem So we would find it very easy to simply anser their questions, find the right solution for them, and send the best product home with them for a no risk two week trial
Id the air purifier wasn\’t everything they wanted, they could return it within two weeks for a complete refund Seventy five percent of the people kept the air purifier

But they wouldn\’t have come in the store unless we offered the free video

Of course, if they asked, we gave them the video whether they bought from us or not They were duplicated in quantity for less than $2 00 each

We ran the same ad, offering the free video, for over a year It was the single most profitable marketing idea that we implemented that year

So the formula is: Offer a free DVD (now) on a problem that really bothers some of your local market Make sure you sell a great solution to that problem Make sure they have to come in to get the DVD You can also deliver the DVD But never mail it, or you will lose the customer

That\’s it for nowSmall business advertising expert Claude Whitacre is author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can download a complete free copy at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com or you can just buy a copy at http://www.claudewhitacre.comSubmitted By ArticleUnited.com Submission Services

Read full story

Author : claude whitacreEvery small business owner thinks of the product first, before what the market really wants The real way to market (the way that almost guarantees success) is the approach "I have customers What do they want? What can I get them that will satisfy that craving? How can I let them know that I have what they want?"
Think about this It\’s hard to make someone want something It\’s infinitely easier to find out what they already want, and get it for them

For example We sell several models of vacuum cleaner in our local retail store Now, what do people really want in a vacuum cleaner?
Not what we think they should want but what they really want?
They want lightweight and easy to handle
If they have pets, they want it to pick up the pet hair

So that\’s what we advertise That\’s what gets them in the door Now, there are plenty of dealers that say "They should want Made In America They should want to buy locally The customer should want metal construction", and the list goes on
But it isn\’t what we think the customer should want that counts, it\’s what they actually want

If you sell a weight loss product; What should they want? Better health, longer life
But what do they really want? To look better to the opposite sex
If you advertise a weight loss product that stresses the benefits of better health, and longer life, the ad will fail

And what do weight loss ads show a lot of? Food Lots and lots of food Why? Because people who are overweight and want to lose that weight really want more food
The strongest appeal is "Eat everything you want, lose weight, and fit into that skimpy bathing suit " So successful weight loss ads get as close to that as they can without committing fraud

An advertising representative came in my store recently He wanted me to buy advertising space in a local magazine I showed him an ad that I would be willing to run He looked at the advertisement and told me that it didn\’t look like an ad that fit in with the other, brand building, ads I told him that I wanted sales, not brand awareness He was trying to sell me what he thought I should want, not what I wanted Unfortunately for him, the person handing over the money, makes the decision

Have you ever heard this? "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime" It\’s a beautiful sentiment And everyone you see should want to learn how to fish, but what do they really want? A free fish Ads that promise to teach you how to fish are harder to make work than ads that promise lots of fish Shouldn\’t we want to learn how to fish? Of course We should all learn more the benefits are endless But we don\’t do what we should do, we do what we want to do And appeals to what we should want to do, almost always fail

So the question you need to ask yourself is "What do my customers really want, and how can I deliver that?"

Small business advertising expert Claude Whitacre is author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can download a complete free copy at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com or you can just buy a copy at http://www.claudewhitacre.comSubmitted By ArticleUnited.com Submission Services

Read full story

Author : claude whitacreBuy what you sell Do you sell a product or service that is used my most people? Then you need to buy what you sell Very soon after you start selling, you\’ll be asked by prospects what you use You\’ll be asked if you own what you sell In every instance, your answer will either help or hurt your chance at a sale And don\’t lie There are a thousand signals you give off when you lie And most are visible on your face and in your body language If your lucky, buying what you sell may even count in generating sales commissions and count for contests If not, your brother needs one Buy it for him and borrow it forever

Listen to your sales manager Your sales manager has the experience to save you lots of time in your learning curve Do what she says until you know more than she does Her job is to help you make more money So it\’s a win-win

Ask to ride with an experienced rep Make sure that this person is the most successful person in the office A week should do it Offer to carry things, buy the coffee, and promise to keep quiet while they are selling Nothing you add will help them in a sales presentation The benefit you get is that you\’ll see that selling isn\’t unpleasant, nobody really yells at you, selling is a completely natural act, and you\’ll pick up pointers on how to make sales
Don\’t offer to go with the losers who aren\’t making money They can\’t help you and will kill any drive you have at the beginning If you hear them say "Oh, that doesn\’t work" it\’s a tip off that they aren\’t going to be of help to you

Don\’t hang out with the losers You\’ll be able to spot them right away They don\’t work hard, and they always blame someone else for their failure, usually the company They hang out together, and will do activities all day that have nothing to do with selling The unpopular guy, the one that\’s always out selling and breaking company records that\’s who you talk to

Stay with the company you are with The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence Why? Because you aren\’t looking closely As long as your company keeps it\’s promises to you, and provides a great product or service, you will always be better off staying with that company Legends aren\’t born by moving from company to company Reputations are killed by moving around The longer you stick with a company that keeps it\’s word, the more momentum you build with your customers Longevity with a company builds trust in the mind of customers Starting over, always starts with Zero Bloom where you are planted

Practice your prepared presentation As long as the company has a planned presentation, you should use it Soon you\’ll begin to see how every part of the presentation works to build the sale and speed up the selling process Eventually, you may not use the company presentation But to discard it because "It\’s just not me" is like an actor saying "Shakespeare? I\’ll wing it"

Use company visual aids Company visual aids, if provided, establish a credibility in the mind of the consumer You look more solid if you have company visual aids A presentation with visuals will keep you and the prospect on track toward the sale It will make sure most of the prospect\’s questions are answered before they become objections A company prepared presentation adds credibility to your company and in you Sharp looking visual aids create a sense of "Permanence" to your customer\’s vision of your company They look more "Official" than a presentation without visual aids Not using your visual aids is like having a hammer and saying " I can put that nail in better myself" and just throwing the hammer away Your visual aids are tools They make your job easier

Track your sales and sales activities Keep records of what matters to you I used to keep records of my sales commissions I knew where I was by the day, week, and month I knew if I needed to work harder, or if I could take a day off This income schedule included the sales calls and presentations Wouldn\’t you like to know how much money you earn for every sales call you make, whether they buy or not? How much you earn for every hour of sales activity? Just never lie to yourself These records are far more powerful as sales motivation than any motivational sales meeting What you measure, you can improve

Sell to your warm market Who else would you trust to take care of your friends and relative\’s needs? People want to deal with people they know and trust Wouldn\’t you want to buy from someone you know? If you get referrals from relatives, even close ones, you\’ll very quickly be talking to people you never met

Get rid of the Beginner Myths These vary by industry and type of selling In my industry (I sold in prospect\’s homes), the myth\’s were 1) They would buy later and 2) You didn\’t need to see both husband and wife together I couldn\’t break new people of these beliefs I just had to let them find out for themselves, and remind them after a few weeks of selling Your industry myths may be different

Be a selling student I was asked once about my education I finished high school That\’s it
Here is a reality that I like to point out When most people graduate from high school, that means they stopped reading and studying when they were 18 years old A college education means you stopped reading and studying when you were 22 or 24 years old That\’s the main difference
Study books about selling from people who made their fortunes selling, not books by people who think they know what selling should be like A hundred dollars invested at amazon com can build you a great sales library After a year of studying your sales craft, and applying what you learn, you\’ll be ahead of the rest of the pack, I promise
Small business advertising expert Claude Whitacre is author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can download a complete free copy at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com or you can just buy a copy at http://www.claudewhitacre.comSubmitted By ArticleUnited.com Submission Services

Read full story

Author : claude whitacreDid you ever work as a salesperson in a large sales organization? If you have, you\’ll remember the rah rah sales meeting complete with company songs, slogans you repeated in unison, and the big sales contest Sales organizations rely on these events far more than any other profession

Do doctors, dentists, plumbers, engineers, CPAs, teachers, electricians, retail store owners, truck drivers, or florists have rah rah meetings before each day of doing their job? No Why? Because they are fully trained They are completely secure in their ability to do their job
In most cases (but not all) sales motivation is a substitute for real training Sales company CEOs love these types of meetings because they think motivated salespeople sell more, and they do, for about a day

Sales motivation doesn\’t last for the same reason laughing at a joke doesn\’t last The emotional connection to the moment lasts, well, for only a moment

What lasts? Comradery Feeling like you are a member of a close knit group Company picnics help in this area Soldiers will fight in battle a little because they are defending our country and a lot because they never want to let their fellow soldier down

One of the smartest investments I ever saw was a company weekend in Texas There were 1,500 company reps there The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders entertained us (They are tiny girls, all the exact same size) There were "on time drawings" for $1,000 New cars were given to top producers And there was beer and barbeque for the whole weekend They filmed highlights of the event, and sent all attendees a copy, complete with Texas music, and full of shots of virtually everyone having a great time with their group We left bonded to our fellow salespeople The stories that we told about that weekend echoed for a year A few million dollars well spent, I think Do you know who wanted to go the next year? Everybody The motivation that meeting provided, lasted

A reality for most of us is that selling is something contrary to the way we were brought up For many of us, trying to get someone to give you money, even for a fantastic, needed product, is an unnatural act So companies try to motivate us past that uncomfortable hurtle

Here is an exercise I used in a sales meeting that made a big difference Try it
I had every salesperson in the room write out a list of features that our product (we only sold one product) had We all joined in this discussion The list was long, maybe 150 features
I then had everyone privately list all the benefits to each single feature Personally, I came up with more than 500 Almost everyone had 200 or more in total
I then asked everyone to check off the single benefits that would, by themselves, justify buying the product In other words, if the product gave only that one benefit, I would personally buy it I came up with six The answers were private I then had them count groups of benefits until the group of benefits would persuade them to buy I think I personally had thirty or so groups of benefits that would justify my buying

Then I said "Now you are armed You now have more reasons to buy than any prospect has to not buy " I told them to keep this list (most were several pages) and look at them often if they don\’t feel motivated to sell that day I helped well enough to include it with every group of salespeople I\’m training

Activity replaces the need for quick motivation I always paired up a new salesperson with an experienced one The experienced rep could brag about how he did things (a genuine need in some people), and he would show the new guy that selling wasn\’t dangerous, evil, dirty work The new guy made the experienced guy actually work The older rep had to work, to show the new guy how it was done Win-win

Selling is also a pro-active profession Making cold calls isn\’t fun for any of us except the purest sociopath Making calls is fraught with rejection More people say "No" than say "Yes" if you call on them And the national Do Not Call lists make calling strangers harder

So we designed our marketing so that prospects called us You may not have the motivation to pick up the hone to make a call, but you have to pick up the phone to answer it, no matter how motivated you are And when they call, you just about have to make an appointment, or you would be rude Sales success is practically forced on you

And when prospects call you, it\’s a completely different dynamic It\’s vary hard to hang up on you, if prospect call you They can\’t call you a "Pushy Salesman" if they called you

We just offer a great gift if they will take a look at our product They call, and we set the appointments for when it was convenient for us We found that the more in demand the gift is, the better our sales The better the referrals, and the more money we made

Learning how to qualify prospect changes everything in the selling world Instead of you trying to figure our how to sell your product, you ask questions to decide if you want to show your product

Learning how to show the prospect how your product or service fits them perfectly is a key to generating a high volume of sales I would simply point out every feature that applied to them, and show them the benefits that applied to them I would either ignore or just briefly state the features that didn\’t apply to them directly

A truth is, if the product is everything they want, and they sit on the edge of their seats because if fits them so well, and the value they see is twice the asking price, closing is an afterthought

Salespeople need skills The motivation comes after selling becomes easy
Small business advertising expert Claude Whitacre is author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can download a complete free copy at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com or you can just buy a copy at http://www.claudewhitacre.comSubmitted By ArticleUnited.com Submission Services

Read full story