DECEMBER 2005
Greetings & Salutations:
By popular demand, here are some more Qs&As ... using
questions I have answered for wannabee publishers:
Q: If you didn't have
your contacts or reputation (but still had your knowledge), and
had to start all over again, what steps would you follow to duplicate
your current success?
A: Over the past 15 years,
I have told hundreds (maybe even thousands) of people wanting
to get into mailorder or Internet marketing that ...
"If I had to do it all over again, I would never create
my own products. -- I would simply sell other people's products
and eliminate the hassles of production, fulfillment, inventory
control, and other costs that eat away at profits."
In other words, I would only become an affiliate. dealer or
distributor for other people's products and services. -- I would,
most likely, make even more money than I have because my overhead
would be considerably lower and I would spend more time "selling"
and less time "managing."
Q: How would a young business
(say about a year old) go about obtaining private investors?
A: Okay ... I'm going
to share with you one of the best kept un-secrets in the business
community.
When most beginning business people begin looking for financing
from private investors they look in all the directories ... check
the telephone book Yellow Pages ... call financing companies
... and, generally, make a fool of themselves.
Here's the method used by knowledgeable entrepreneurs who
are just starting a new business ...
First ... of course ... prepare a business plan detailing
how much money is needed, how it will be used, how the business
will operate, the expected profits, and how much an investor
will receive in return for their investment -- then ...
Run a classified ad in the newspaper in your local area ...
or, the nearest large city ... something like this:
"Private Investor Wanted - $XXX needed for xxxxxx (type
of business; start up, expansion, etc.) ROI xx%.
Business plan available. Contact:"
Best to make the ROI (Return On Investment) far better than
the return available from the banks.
NOTE: Believe it or not, the best classification
under which to run the ad is in the "Personals" column.
Then, just follow up on the leads. Sell'em on your business
idea.
You may have to run the ads a few times but you will get results.
Q: Are there any online
MLM companies at all that you would want to be associated with?
A: Since I am NOT into
Multi-Level Marketing, I haven't investigated any of the current
MLM companies' offers - but ...
Before anyone does anything in MLM, they need to read my FREE
report on the subject, at:
mlm.html
My first experience with MLM was wa-a-a-ay back ... with William
Penn Patrick's Holiday Magic. At the time, I was selling "Avon"
(I was a ding-dong Avon "lady" out in the farm
lands of Kansas) at the time.
Holiday Magic was as good as Avon but their commissions were
better, so I picked up the line. Then, I started getting extra
commission checks when some of my satisfied customers bought
into the opportunity.
Some years later, I signed up for the "Koscot Interplanetary
Cosmetics" Mink Oil line (Glenn Turner). -- At the time,
I owned a chain of Women's Wig Shops across the Southeast and
simply wanted to sell the cosmetics in my shops. -- The first
month, the girls who managed my wig shops turned in over $25,000
worth of orders from the counter displays I had installed in
each of the shops. BUT ... I couldn't buy any of the cosmetics
from Koscot. All of the cosmetics were being used up to
make sales kits so there were none left over to "retail."
In 1978 (or was it 1979), I sold "subscriptions"
to the first business opps newsletter sold by MLM. -- I just
sold subscriptions to a good newsletter ... the customers signed
up for the opportunity ... I was making over $20,000 per month;
even after the newsletter quit publishing (which put the company
out of business for accepting payment for something they weren't
delivering).
The article I wrote was over 7 years ago after being approached
by literally DOZENS of promoters wanting me to help them create
MLM plans for their products. -- That's when I learned what the
industry was becoming. None of them really wanted to sell
their products. All they wanted was to "do a MLM" to
make some big bucks. -- Unfortunately, that experience threw
me into personal contact with some of the big name MLM con-men
and left a very bad taste in my marketing mouth.
I feel the new generation of "opportunity seekers"
need to know what they will be dealing with in the vast majority
of MLM deals.
Q: What have been some
of your major accomplishments in business?
A: Honestly, I don't have
any "major" accomplishments. -- I've never hit a homerun
... just a ho'bunch of singles and doubles, bringing in a lot
of runs; putting the money in the bank.
There are all too many "one-time homerun hitters"
who do it once and never again. They live off that one-time
big score for the rest of their lives - BUT ...
If you will investigate the VAST MULITUDE of "real"
marketing millionaires, you will find that not very many of us
have hit that "one big score." We have simply
kept on selling and making money on product after product ...
year after year ... adding to our stable of products and services
as we progress (discarding most; until we have a stable of steady
money makers).
Q: Do you have any tips
to share on how one can work more efficiently in less time?
A: Sure do. -- The system
I use is a little different than most but it serves the same
purpose.
All of the time management consultants tell you to keep a
notebook filled with things you need to do and when you need
to do them ... prioritizing them by importance. You are
supposed to refer to that notebook every day and do the things
that need to be done in their order of priority.
Me? -- I just make notes on those yellow sticky pads.
Everytime I decide upon something I need to do, I put in on a
sticky note and stick it to my desk ... most important on the
right; least important on the left, with space between for important
but not imperative. -- As each job is finished, I simply throw
that sticky note in the trash and move on to the next.
Very simple - but - powerful.
Q: How do you go about
finding relevant publications to advertise in offline?
A: There are countless
directories of periodical publications ... you'll usually find
them in your local public library reference section.
Those directories list periodical publications by classifications,
with reader profiles and circulation demographics.
When I was super active, I used to buy the directories and
keep them on hand for ready reference. Most people just
go to the library and read through them to find the classifications
and demographics that fit their product or service.
Q: What tips and strategies
do you recommend for effective space ads?
A: Rather than repeat
myself, I use the same method in my Free Report at: clssfd.html
... to determine where best to place my space ads.
Then, I use the method explained in the June, 2000, issue
of my "Business Lyceum e-Letter" ... Jun00.html
... to develop my ad copy.
Q: How do you plan your
marketing strategy and what is your formula for this?
A: Sorry ... I don't believe
in formula advertising
Like all the ol'pros, I just create a number of ads ... classified
or space ... run them in publications with similar demographics
to see which pulls the best. Then, I rotate the ads to
see if there are different responses in different publications.
-- Eventually, the best ads and the best publications raise their
pointy little heads and I know which way to go.
As I have said thousands of times, "testing" is
what separates the pros from the amateurs.
Q: What are the
Tools, Resources and Tactics you're using to make money with
*FREE* Affiliate Programs?
A: I thought I knew everything
about direct selling until I got started on the Internet - but
- as JOHN WOODEN said ...
It's what you learn after you know everything that
counts.
What I learned ... after I thought I knew everything
... was that I did know Everything I needed to know I just hadn
t adopted & adapted it to my Internet Marketing.
Over the past 30 years, I have (really) sold over $250
Million worth of products and services -- everything from Beauty
Supplies to Heavy Equipment ... Burglar Alarms to Sleeping Bags
... Fishing Lures to Women's Wigs ... Automobiles to Wheelchairs
... Seafood to Investment Opportunities ... Consulting Services
to "How-To" Courses - all by mailorder.
For the past 15 years, I have told hundreds (maybe even
thousands) of people wanting to get into mailorder or Internet
marketing that ...
"If I didn't already have the line of information products
I've developed over the past 30 years ... if I had to do it all
over again ... I would never create my own products. -- I would
simply sell other people's products and eliminate the hassles
of production, fulfillment, inventory control, and other costs
that eat away at profits."
In other words, I would only become an affiliate for
other people's products and services. (My life would
be a lot simpler.)
IF ... over the past 30 years, I had ONLY sold other
people s products and services, I would have; without do but,
still sold over $250 Million worth - BUT - because my overhead
would have been greatly reduced, I would have made a lot more
money.
There Are Only Three (3) Thing You Really Need To Be a Successful,
PROFITABLE Affiliate!
#1 -- Access to the web.
#2 -- A way to receive email.
#3 -- A way to send email.
That s ALL ...
You don t even need a web site.
If I had known back in 1999, what I know now, I wouldn
t have a web site ... with all its headaches.
Instead of spending all that time updating and maintaining
my website, I would spend 60% of my selling ... 5% of my time
finding new products to sell ... 5% of my time writing ad copy
... and 30% of my time building and maintaining my email list.
Why?
Because ... the one & only thing you need to succeed
in Internet Marketing is a good email list. - But ...
If you are going to be a successful and highly profitable
affiliate marketer, you MUST NEVER offer anything to your email
list that isn t of the highest quality.
Just because you can sell it and make $500 on every
sale doesn t mean you should do it just to make the money. --
If you, personally, cannot recommend the product or service to
your customers, DO NOT try to sell it.
NOTE: Every week I get hundreds of requests from
people saying, With your list of customers, you could make a
fortune selling my product. What they mean is, with my
good list of customers, I could make them a fortune selling their
product. -- SO ... my absolute rule is ...
If I haven t, personally, reviewed the product or service,
and found it worthy, I WILL NOT try to sell it to my customers
... no matter how much money I could make selling it.
The secret of success as an Affiliate Marketer is to figure
out who wants your products, and deliver your message to them.
-- Don't waste your time and money trying to reach anyone else.
Sell to desire. Don't try to create it.
In the words of the second-century scholar; Simon Ben Azzai
...
"In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining
that thou has attained it thou art a fool."
Q: How would I go about
marketing my products and services to just local businesses in
my home town?
A: Of the three available
marketing vehicles in most communities ... newspaper, radio &
television ... the very best, by far, is the local newspaper.
But ... it is also the one most ill-used by local businesses.
Unfortunately, most small local businesses rely upon the newspaper
advertising staff to prepare their ads. Those people, although
sometimes well-versed in the "mechanics" of newspaper
advertising, most often know little or nothing about "selling."
All too often, they just copy ads from their clip sheets an paste
in the local business' name and location.
Back when I owned a local retail business, the absolute best
ad I ever placed in the local newspaper was very simple. -- At
the very top ... in 60 point type ... was the word
"SALE!" -- Below that was a line drawing of the product
on the left side of the ad. On the right side of the ad
it said: "Regular Price $19.95 Sale Price:
$8.95 Friday & Saturday ... August 1 & 2 ... ONLY!"
NOTE: People who came in on Monday were told the sale
was over & they had to pay the $19.95 price. -- Why?
-- Because, if you get a reputation for allowing people
to buy at the sale price AFTER the sale, soon no one will
come to see you when you advertise a Sale or Special
Price ... they'll just figure they can get it from you at that
price any time.
I had run the very same ad before but never with the
success that ad had. -- Wanna know why? -- Only one thing was
changed. -- Instead of a picture of the product, I used
a line drawing. -- Don't ask me why but people prefer line drawings
over pictures in advertising. (Have never really been able
to get that point across to the advertising & marketing gurus
even though I have proven it in practice over & over
& over again.)
By the way, believe it or don't, people will sooner buy from
an ad with a black & white picture of a person than they
will from the same ad with a full-color picture of
the same person.
Of course, you can use the same method in the Free Report
above, to make up Classified Ads to run in your local newspaper.
-- Just go back to old issues of the newspapers
from anywhere and everywhere to find ads that ran over
& over & over for businesses like yours.
Just after he came home from WWII, an old friend of mine started
his own Plumbing business. -- He told me that he
wasn't too bright about advertising, so he just told the
newspaper to run a Classified Ad every day saying, simply,
"We do Plumbing. Joe Smith Plumbing. Phone:
555-5555" -- That was the only ad he ever ran - but
- when I met him in the early 1970s, his Plumbing business was
the largest in the state. -- Why? -- Because, after
seeing his little ad; day after day, month after month, year
after year, when anyone even thought about Plumbing,
his was the only name that came to mind.
Radio & Television advertising are best used when you
have money enough to run the ads for the sole purpose of
glorifying your business ... image advertising ... to build your
local brand recognition. -- They ain't much good for "selling"
stuff in the local economy.
Can you stump the old master? --
Betcha can't!
Over the past 40 years (man and boy), I have made bundles
of money in direct selling, service contracting, wholesale merchandising,
entertainment (I was a professional Trumpet player, vocalist
& Radio Announcer), freight forwarding, import/export, retail
merchandising, warehousing, real estate, electronics manufacturing,
finder's fees, closeout merchandising, financial brokerage, business
consulting, steel fabrication, gold and coal mining, offshore
banking, mailorder, writing, and publishing. -- That being the
case ...
No matter what business you're in ... whether you're just
starting, well on your way, or at the top of the heap ... I've
probably been where you are, done what you are doing. -- So ...
Anytime you have a question about 'how' to do something in
your business - or - if you have any comments about anything
I've said in issues of this e-Letter; or if you want to add your
2 cents worth ... just "ask" me or "tell"
me.
Send your Questions, Comments or 2 Cents Worth
to ...
with "Question" - "Comment"
- or, "2 Cents Worth" in the SUBJECT.
If I, personally, don't have an answer to any question you
may ask, I will contact some of the professionals in your field
of endeavor (I will probably know one or more personally) to
get the real 'skinny' for you.
Note: If you want to ask a question anonymously
just tell me so when you send in the question. -- Nobody but
you and I will know who asked the question.
Copyright - 2005, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.