Sales Mavens

What Is Your New Years Resolution? (foreclosure help)

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By Chloe Ramsbottom

 The New Year, a time of making resolutions and weight loss procedures after an indulging Christmas time as speedily passed by. It is also a time of sales galore in most shops on the web and in top high street retailers as the ever popular January sales hit the news and lips of many a shopper.

The central question is what are the top 10 resolutions that are made and do we stick to them?

Maybe one of the imperative New Years resolutions is losing weight; many people put on a few pounds over the Christmas period with vast amounts of dinners, buffets and parties, and then feel the need to shed a few pounds in time for the summer weather where people will be visiting the beaches and sunbathing with their new figure.

In at second is the resolution where people decide they want to quit smoking, they want to commence a brand new year free from health problems and chest problems however the bulk of people that decice to do this dont even last longer than the end of the month and soon go back to the habit.

In at third is another well addressed resolution and that is to spend more time with family and friends, whether its joining in more with family activities and events or popping round for a cup of coffee when you have some spare time. Out of the top 3 this is the one that has a more flourishing rate and people are more liable to stick to this resolution. Other resolutions include getting out of debt, learning something new, stopping the consumption of alcoholic drinks, helping others and being organised in their daily schedule.

A lot of us make up resolutions at the start of each New Year but unfortunately at least 70% of us dont stick to them and even more of those that dont stick to them end up loosing will power before the end of the first month.

Article Source : Article King Pro - Free Reprints and Distribution

Chloe is a devoted journalist writing about bargains and discounts on behalf of John Lewis

6 Steps For Collecting Testimonials That Aren’t Stupid
By Karen Scharf

 My friend Sam is designing a new web site, and in reviewing available content I noticed there were no testimonials.

Sam told me he never bothered collecting testimonials since he always thought they were “stupid”. He claimed that reading testimonials never inspired him to make a purchase since they always sounded like they were made up anyway.

I’m a firm believer in using testimonials on your web site. Done correctly, testimonials should:

provide social proof - the credibility that your prospect needs to feel comfortable purchasing from you

position you as the expert, leaving you as the only choice for the product or service your prospect is looking for

answer any questions that your prospect has floating around in his head - even though he won’t come out and ask you, he does have questions

The problem many web site owners have with testimonials - the reason Sam didn’t want to use them on his site - is that most people go about the process in the wrong way.

Once Sam decided to include testimonials on his new web site, I knew he would have to create a “testimonial collection plan.”

Testimonial collection plans help to compile inspiring, effective testimonials that motivate site visitors to make a purchase.

This plan is easily adapted to your own web site endeavors:

Step 1

Compile a list of current and past clients that you would like to have testimonials from. Most small business owners simply choose their “high ticket” customers or the customers they are currently working with.

Review your clients and judiciously choose the ones you want to duplicate. Sam based his decision on the industries he most wanted to work with, the size of the company he preferred, the corporate culture he felt comfortable with, etc.

Many prospects are stirred by testimonials from people who are “just like them”. Be sure to stir the prospects who you most want to target.

Step 2

Go through your initial list and ask “What specific, quantitative benefit did I bring to this particular client?”

What is the purpose of this step? Testimonials are more effective when they’re specific. It’s OK to guide your customers in providing specific testimonials, so generate some ideas for steering your customers toward specifics.

Step 3

The third step is to generate a list of questions that the clients can respond to. When formulating your questions, keep your quantitative benefits from step 2 in mind.

You can craft different questions for each of your customers, and the logical answer for each of the questions points to the benefit that you originally identified.

For instance, if you know your product saved the ABC Company considerable downtime on the production floor, your question could be “How many man hours were you able to recoup with the Super Duper Luper Widget?”

Never use a question that could be answered with a simple yes or no. And keep in mind that some of your “guided answers” might require multiple questions.

Make it as easy as possible on your customer - don’t make him think or do the math. Here are a few ideas you can use to craft your own questions:

Prior to using the Super Duper Luper Widget, how much money were you spending each month on qizmoshmaltzkies? After using the widget, how much were you spending?

What problem were you experiencing that made you contact our company?

What results have you seen on your bottom line after putting the widget into use?

What was your income/sales/profitability prior to contracting with Sam’s Service? What is your income/sales/profitability level now?

What is the most important thing you learned from working with our company?

What single feature of the Super Duper Luper Widget has made the most impact on your business?

What aspect of our company were you most pleasantly surprised about?

Why would you recommend the Super Duper Luper Widget to other xyz manufacturers?

Step 4

Once you receive the responses you will have to edit them. You want each of the testimonials to be specific, brief and persuasive.

So take out any of the information that other prospects wouldn’t care about. Replace industry jargon with universal terms that all prospects could understand. And swap out a few of the generic words with strong, convincing power words.

Step 5

The next step is to run the newly revamped testimonial by the customer to make sure it has approval. You can do this the easy way - simply call each of the customers.

But rather than saying “Your testimonial wasn’t good enough…” start your conversation with “We loved the feedback you gave us about our company! Thank you so much.

Unfortunately, we don’t have room to reprint it word for word. Do you mind if we paraphrase it like this instead…”

Step 6

The final step is to plaster the testimonials all over your web site. Use them as headlines, in the sidebars, and even in your new email marketing campaigns.

I can’t say that testimonials are the only way to make your sales skyrocket. But they are definitely a good starting point, and an easy step for you to add to your marketing strategy.

Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who works with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She offers several whitepapers, free reports and checklists, including her FREE Can-Spam checklist and FREE email pre-flight checklist to ensure your emails get delivered, get opened and get read. Download your copies at http://www.ModernImage.com.

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Short Sales in Orem, Utah
By Art Gib

 One of the best deals for both investors and potential homeowners is a short sale. If you are able to find real estate to purchase in a short sale, you will be able to save a substantial amount of money on the cost of the home. This is a great way to purchase a new home, or to add to your investment portfolio. If you are looking for a short sale, there are ways you can go about it in order to find the property you are looking for.

Banks and lenders hold the keys to the short sale. They know what properties they will be willing to sell as a short sale. Typically, they will only negotiate a short sale if a letter of default has been sent to the home buyer. They will then negotiate a short sale in order to receive at least some of their money back on the loan. They know all of the real estate that has received a letter of default, so they know which properties they would be willing to consider for a short sale.

Because banks are the key to the short sale, you can begin the process by asking different banks and lenders if they have any property available for a short sale. This can be a trying process, as often banks are not certain if they want to offer a short sale on real estate or not. In most cases, if you approach them on your own, you will not be able to get the sale you are looking for.

On the other hand, agencies can communicate with lenders in order to help you find a short sale. Because of their relationship with banks and other lenders, you are more apt to find information about properties available for a short sale by using this method.

When you do this, you will team up with an agency and get inside information on short sales in regards to real estate. This information is invaluable as it will lead you to deals with sellers.

You can also go the route of a mailing list. Short sale lists are compiled and then mailed out to subscribers. When you get the list, you will be able to go through the properties and find the short sale property you would like to buy.

A mailing list is a great way to get the most up to date information regarding real estate short sales. You will get updates often, which means you will always have a chance to find more investment property or the home of your dreams.

If you want to save money on the purchase of real estate, be sure to look at short sales available in the area. With the current foreclosure rate, short sales are becoming increasingly popular. You can find a great deal and pay a fraction of the normal cost.

Decide on the method you want to use in order to find properties available for short sales, and then begin your search. Be sure to move quickly, as short sales find buyers very fast. Investors and home buyers look into these properties so they can get a great deal, which means you need to start looking in order to find available property.

Art Gib is a freelance writer for PayneSmootGroup.com (http://www.paynesmootgroup.com), a website featuring Orem Real Estate.

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Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 11:00 am and is filed under sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.