FEBRUARY 2006
Greetings & Salutations:
Guess what? -- I just found another batch of Questions &
Answers from a couple year ago - so - here they are ...
Q: You grew up on a farm and used to go to the
library to study books on business. So you learnt the arts of
marketing and making money early.
A: The Public Library is still one of the best
kept secrets in the business community. Most small business
people spend time & money searching for the information they
need to get their business started when all they really need
to do is go to their own Public Library. Ads in the back of comic
books provided me with opportunities ... the books in the library
taught me what to do & how to do it.
Q: What should the person who is just starting
out today study? If they could get just a handful of books out
of a library, what should they be?
A: I tend to forget the titles of books ... even
the ones I've written. My suggestion to anyone interested
in getting into business is to look for any of the books by E.
Joseph Cossman or Dan Kennedy. -- Joe's books will teach them
how an entrepreneur thinks. Dan's books will teach them
the art & science of selling. -- Why should they study selling?
Because "selling" is the ONLY thing a business must
do to survive & thrive.
Q: How important would you say positive thinking
and visualization are to achieving business (and life) success?
A: A Positive Mental Attitude is a requisite
to success - but - being "motivated" is like having
a 5-gallon can of gas. Without a vehicle, having the gas
won't get you anywhere. In other words, "motivation"
without something with which to accomplish your goals is useless.
Q: What positive thinking/visualization books
or courses would you recommend (if any)?
A: I've read them all - but - my favorite is
"The Magic of Believing" by Claude Bristol. Everytime
I pick it up ... even after 40 years ... it gets my juices flowing.
Q: You have firm roots in direct marketing.
Could you sum up the key elements of a successful direct mail
campaign - the "must-dos"?
A: When it comes to direct marketing (mailorder),
EVERYTHING you've read is right - but - EVERYTHING you've read
is also wrong. -- There is no cut & dried, one-size-fits-all
formula to success in direct marketing.
Each of the mailorder marketing gurus can only tell you how they
did it. They really can't tell you how you will do it.
-- What worked selling information products won't work selling
pocket knives - but - everything you can learn about mailorder
can give you ideas you can adopt & adapt to your specific
products or services. -- Then, you have to test to see if what
you have learned will work for you ... in your circumstances
... with your product or service.
The ONLY thing you "must" do to be successful in mailorder
is to test, Test, TEST, then Test-Some-More ... until you find
something that works for you. -- It only takes one good mailorder
campaign. Once you have something that works, just keep
on doing it, over & over & over. -- If a 1,000 piece
mailing produces a $100 profit, a 10,000 piece mailing will produce
a $1,000 profit ... you just keep mailing. The more you
mail, the more you make.
Unfortunately, most beginners quit before they succeed. -- They
try a mailing; actually making a few bucks, but, because it isn't
the big bucks they were expecting, they quit.
Q: What, in your personal experience, has sold
best by direct mail? What was your biggest success?
A: You probably think I'm going to tell you it
was information products but it wasn't. -- My greatest success
was selling Financial Services. -- I launched a service providing
affinity banking services back in 1982. By 1986 we had
nearly 250,000 customers with over 20 financial institutions
providing services to them. -- By 1989, almost every bank in
the country had its own affinity program.
There is no "best" product or service. If there
were, everybody would be selling that product or service and
nothing else.
Remember, there are millionaires in any kind of business you
care to name. (I, personally, know a multi-millionaire
garbage collector.) It's not the kind of product or service
you sell, it's just a matter of building a strong customer base
of people who will buy that product or service from you.
Q: You currently market your products via a combination
of direct and Internet marketing. Direct mail order
marketing remains the biggest earner. But what would you
suggest someone starting up should do - mail order or Internet?
A: Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?
-- It's totally subjective, depending upon your personal tastes.
Whether you start in mailorder or Internet marketing, a person
has to look at the advantages they are seeking and the disadvantages
they are willing to accept.
Actually, if you do it right, you can start a mailorder business
for about the same it would cost you to start an Internet marketing
company. The people who say mailorder is too costly just
aren't doing it right.
Q: Bearing in mind it is very cheap to set up
a website and a CGI form to collect leads - $50 will do it.
A: Yes - but - how long will it take to make
any money from the $50 website? -- If you used the same $50 to
place very selective classified ads in very selective publications
... directed at a well defined niche ... you could see profits
within weeks (rather than months, or years, for a web site).
Q: Your newsletter is one of the best on the
web. How did it all begin? And how did you go about
building a subscriber list?
A: Thank You.
To begin with, my e-Letter subscribers came directly from my
paper & ink newsletter subscribers. I just told them
it was available and they signed-up. -- Today, I use every Internet
marketing method I can find, adopt & adapt to gain readers
- but - I still include my URL on each & every mailing piece
that goes out.
Q: Many of our readers are completely in the
dark about how to get subscribers to their newsletters and mailing
lists. -- I failed miserably with my newsletter when I relied
on search engines, but a few targeted print ads did the trick.
A: Actually, your readers probably already know
everything they need to know about Internet marketing - but -
their problem is they try a little of this, a little of that,
some of it works a little but none of it works a lot. What
they don't realize is, if they would just keep doing the things
that work a little bit, they would slowly but surely build a
following.
I never have got BIG responses to any of my Internet marketing
- but - I just kept adding a few subscribers here; a few subscribers
there ... in the end I have ended up with a fairly big following
(nearly 20,000 now).
Q: Also, what were your main reasons for starting
the newsletter?
A: I set up our web site in September, 1999,
when more & more of my paper & ink subscribers were asking
where they could buy my products online. -- I started the e-Letter
at the same time simply because I have preached for years that
the best way to get and keep customers is through a newsletter
(even before the Internet gurus discovered it).
Since I have morgue files filled with over 300 books, booklets,
reports & articles about doing business that I have written
over the past 30 years, I figured I had enough information to
make a viable product each month.
When my website was in profit by January, 2000, I decided to
take a look at actually doing some Internet marketing. -- Today,
over 80% of my revenue comes from the Internet.
Q: There's a lot of "bull stuff" information
out there on Internet marketing. -- I wonder... is there a course
or book you would recommend on the subject?
A: The best of the best; of course, is
my own Affiliate Marketing Course.
As with all of my writings, I didn't write it until I was
making a fortune doing it. The others tell you "what"
to do, I tell you "how" to do it ... step
by step, point by point. -- A method you know will work for you.
Then, all you have to do is keep on keeping on ... doing more
& more & more of the same; over & over again.
Q: Or would readers do well to get your mailorder
book and apply it to the web (using ingenuity and imagination)?
A: I'm prejudiced ... I know my mailorder course
--
-- is the BEST on the market - but - I have read; and still do
read, them all.
All you need to do is read & study everything you can find
on the subject of "selling" ... whether by mail, on
the Internet, or door-to-door ... adopt & adapt those methods
to your business ... then, test to see if it works for you.
Unfortunately, most beginners in business test once then quit.
Those of us who have had some modicum of success just keep testing;
sometimes logging loser after loser, until we finally find something
that works. Then, we keep on doing it, to keep the money
coming in, while we adopt, adapt & test even more methods
... discarding the losers & adding the winners to our stable.
Q: Is there ONE THING that has made your Internet
business work so well?
A: I really & truly believe the key to success
on the Internet ... or in any business, for that matter ... is
to treat your potential customers as equals. -- Don't talk down
to them. -- Never get the idea that you are superior to any of
them. -- Always remember that YOU started out asking dumb questions
because, like your customers, you really needed to know.
Guess what? -- With time, you will learn, as I have, that some
of your customers are more successful than you are and many of
them know more than you do.
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."
Then, one of my customers asked:
Q: I just read your finders fee course --
-- and I have a question for you. How do I know if the
buyer and seller that I put together actually goes through with
the deal or not? Isn't it possible that after I allow contact
between the buyer and seller, they could say the deal didn't
go through. Is there a way I can know for sure?
A: Your question is one of the questions I receive
most frequently from young entrepreneurs and beginners in the
business world.
Unfortunately, all they have to go by in their business thinking
is what they have seen on TeeVee; or in the movies, or read in
newspaper and magazine articles. Most of which depicts
business as "dog eat dog." -- Young entrepreneurs &
beginners simply can not understand that the people who write
the TeeVee & Movie scripts and the newspaper & magazine
articles have never done it. Those writers are "spectators"
on the business community and add to their writings their own
mentality of lieing, cheating and stealing to get ahead ... maybe
because that's what they have had to do to get where they are.
As my Daddy used to say, "You can only see another man through
your own eyes. What you see him doing in a given instance
is most likely what you would do if the roles were reversed."
In the "real" business world, "real" business
people don't cheat their salesmen. -- If they did, soon no one
would want to sell their products.
Although a Finder is not a salesman, the Finder is the person
responsible for bringing the buyer to the knowledge of the seller.
Therefore, the Finder is paid the fee to which they are entitled
because, if the fee is not paid, the seller soon won't be able
to get anyone to sell anything for them. -- As long as the fee
has been agreed to and not just in the imagination of the would-be
Finder (as taught in my Finder's
Fee course), of course.
Beyond that, in my Finder's Fee course, I advise you to build
an on-going rapport with your clients and your contacts. -- Get
to know them. Let them get to know you.
In the "real" business community, it is always acceptable
to ASK ... for confirming information ... for proof of whatever
needs to be proven ... and whether or not a deal was made.
"Real" business people will provide whatever is needed.
-- They know they must give in order to receive.
One way to tell whether or not you are dealing with a "real"
business person is by simply ASKing for the information you need
... but, ONLY the information you need to do your job; there
are some things even the best of business people won't tell you.
-- If the person you are dealing with balks at providing information;
or details, necessary to your job, you can bet your bippy they
either aren't really in business; they are doing a con-game;
or they are beginners themselves.
Then again, be very sure that you conduct yourself as a "real"
business person ... exposing yourself to other business people
as a straight shooter, willing to give in order to receive.
Well ... that's it for this month. -- In order to make every
issue responsive to YOUR needs, please send me your questions;
or tell me what sources or resources you need to build your business;
or give me any thoughts you want to share with your fellow members.
Believe it or don't ... I ain t a mind-reader. -- If n you
doesn't tell me what you need, I may never touch upon the information,
sources or resources you need.
This is your publication for you to use to your benefit ...
I am just your moderator.
Until next month, keep well ...
J.F. (Jim) STRAW
Grande Panjandrum
Thought For The Month!
" Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin'
you none." -- An Old Farmer's Advice
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 - 2006, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.