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Welcome to Local Business Online ================================================================== Helping You Reach Financial Freedom Through Your Local or Home Based Business May 31, 2004 Editor - Rocky Tapscott ================================================================== In this edition -
Welcome to you all. Thankyou for taking the time to read my Newsletter. I was driving home the other day and I started thinking about the good times I used to have driving the Billy carts I used to build and ride down the big hill out the front of my home when I was young. The kid next door and I would spend hours every day dreaming up, building, riding and wrecking Billy carts for what seemed like years. Then it hit me...that was over 30 years ago! It seemed like it was last month - it's amazing how quickly time can get away from us when we drift along aimlessly and let the events of our lives dictate our actions. I looked back at what I have achieved over those 30 years and I have to say that I could have done better financially, no doubt a lot better. I started to feel a little sorry for myself, and then I thought, damn it, that's not going to help anyone...let's make the next 30 years something to remember, not just by me, but by others. It's time to make a contribution that will outlive me into the future. So, the plan is to build several Businesses online that create ongoing passive income long after I am gone, spend some of the money making myself and my immediate family comfortable, and give the rest away to people and causes I am passionate about and who really need it. Hey I've got another 30 years or more to do it! So with this in mind, how could you make a difference that will make your memory live on long after you are gone? It doesn't have to be a financial difference of course - that's one of my giving goals and there are others as well, but is there an area of your life that you love pursuing that could also give many other people a great deal of pleasure? Do you paint? Or write? Or teach English to people who speak another language and want to learn? What could you do to make a difference? I'll leave you with that thought for now, but we'll re-visit the idea of giving in the future as we spend more time together. And if you get to the stage where you are making more money from your Business than you can spend by employing some of the strategies I share with you on the website and in this Newsletter to create multiple streams of income, consider giving some away - boy it feels good... I hope you enjoy reading this issue of the Newsletter, Until next time, Kind Regards, Rocky ====================================================================== What's Your USP? - You've Gotta Have a Powerful USP To Set Yourself Apart... The vast majority of Businesses have never seen their USP. What's a USP, I hear you ask? Well many Business advisers call it a Unique Selling Proposition, but Best selling author Robert Allen has changed it to mean something much more powerful. Your USP, according to Robert, means - U - Ultimate advantage - what is the ultimate advantage customers get from using your product or service? S - Sensational offer - Your offer really has to be great. After drowning under the weight of up to 3000 marketing messages every day, most people have just become desensitised to anything that looks like it is trying to sell them something. Your offer has to astound them and force itself into their consciousness immediately. P - Powerful promise - If you have convinced your customers that you have an ultimate advantage over your competitors and you have made them a sensational offer, then making a powerful promise that takes away the risk for them will usually guarantee the sale. A powerful promise is more than just a limp statement like 'satisfaction guaranteed'. It means 'powerful'; a promise that removes any doubt in the customers mind that you are taking all the risk in the transaction and they either love what you offer or it's not going to cost them a cent. Let's explore developing your USP further. Firstly, what's your Ultimate Advantage? Big companies spend millions on developing and promoting the USP. Shouldn't you follow their lead (without spending millions, of course ;-) I bet you know the USP of these Companies - Volvo - of course, it's Safety BMW - the Ultimate Driving Machine Ipec - when it has to be there Overnight Mercedes Benz - means Outstanding Quality So, what is your Ultimate Advantage? Are you faster, more reliable, have friendlier staff, use more pure ingredients, cheapest in your field...what is your Ultimate Advantage? To determine your unique Ultimate Advantage if you aren't sure, think in terms of 'You Get' Say to your customer, "When you deal with us, You Get"...what? What makes you different to the thousands of other Businesses selling the exact same products and services as you? Do you get -
Your Ultimate Advantage has to differentiate you from everyone else. Imagine looking across the African plains and watching 10,000 flamingos standing together around a water hole. That's your Business in the eyes of your customer. Would you rather be like one of those flamingos or the hippo standing in the middle of the sea of pink birds? Your Ultimate Advantage has to make you stand out in the sea of other similar Businesses and let your customer know that if they want this benefit or product, you're the people to see. Then, promote your Ultimate Advantage in every piece of communication you do. On your Business cards, letterheads and stationary, your advertising and marketing campaigns, everywhere. You are different - point it out and make sure that your customers know it. What exactly is a Sensational Offer? A Sensational Offer is one where your reader or prospect sees your proposal as a 'No-Brainer...' Something that they would be foolish to pass up. Now most Businesses think that people only buy on price, and for some customers, this is true. But many more are looking for Value, they don't want to get ripped off, but they will happily pay a higher price if they perceive the value to also be much higher. So, let's have a look at some sensational offers. Ken Evoy at Sitesell makes a truly sensational offer with his Solo Build It! web Business building package. After giving you everything you need to create massive, measurable success online, then giving you hundreds of examples of other small Business people who are doing it including specific case studies, and with follow up through regular Newsletters and a dedicated and experienced support team, if you can't make a go of it online or it's just not for you, you get your money back! Not that too many people ask for it. Many people buy multiple SBI! websites when they realise the power that the system gives them in building free traffic from the search engines and them converting that traffic into dollars in the bank. If you haven't done so yet, take a few minutes to read through Ken's website and see what a sensational offer looks like for an online product. To visit the site and study how Ken does it, Click Here. Another sensational offer is made by Brian Winters of Push Button Publishing. Read through this website and feel the emotional triggers that make subscribing to his service if you want to publish information products, and the sensational offer at the end, almost irresistible. To visit Brian's website, Click here. That's fine I hear you say, but I'm selling stuff off-line, what can I do to make a sensational offer? What can you offer to increase the perceived value of your offer to make it irresistible? You could offer -
Take a good look at the bonuses offered on Brian's website and think of how you could offer something similar in your marketing. If you can get your customer's email address by telling them that you will send them their bonuses via email and let them know that you will be making regular discount offers as well, you have their permission to offer them products or services forever until they unsubscribe from your list. If you keep making Sensational Offers to your list of customers, they will stay with you and buy from you many, many times. Imagine sending an email to your list and within 24 hours banking loads of cash. With email marketing, it is very possible, and a website makes it easy to do this. The thing I like about a Solo Build It! website is that it removes the need to understand the technical side of things and lets you concentrate on building content and marketing instead. All you have to do is write the articles, collect the email names and make the offers. But you need to start collecting those email names and addresses now, before your competitors do... Then, build a relationship with your customers by offering great services and making sensational offers, and you should see a great improvement in your bottom line. Creating a Powerful Promise You've told your customers about your Ultimate Advantage, you've made a Sensational Offer and they're interested, but they still won't buy. What's going on here? The reason they won't sign up is that they still feel this thing called risk. They have been taken advantage of before...and it doesn't feel very nice. They took some sales persons advice and they were sold a lemon. They don't want to take the risk of that happening again. What can you do about that? You need to reverse the risk - you have to put all the risk on you. If you have done your job right earlier and sold your prospects on the benefits of owning what you offer and the consequences of not buying it, they should be seriously considering your proposal. Reversing the risk will push them over the line nearly every time. So, what do I mean by reversing the risk? I see so many Businesses with signs up saying something like, "Please choose carefully, as we do not exchange or refund simply because you changed your mind." Why would anyone say that? They have to be nuts! The risk to the buyer is horrendous! If they make a mistake, they are stuck with it no matter what. How many potential customers do you think might have purchased if they had the peace of mind that comes with a money back guarantee or the ability exchange the product. This is such short sighted thinking. The top marketers have reported a massive increase in sales with a minimal increase in returns simply by offering a money back guarantee on everything they sell. Of course, your product or service has to be good or you will be inundated with returns, but if your quality is not in question (and of course, it shouldn't be) then your profits should naturally increase if you are selling more. One of the masters of marketing, Jay Abraham, has taken this step of risk reversal even further by letting his customers try out or use his services, manuals or seminars for 30 days before being billed. Many other marketers are starting to do the same thing and recording sales increases of up to 400%. Of course, they have a 400% increase in returns as well, because the same percentage of people will still send the product back, but the huge increase in sales means that their profits are still much greater. How could you apply this to your Businesses? Take the time to study these two websites again and see how they reverse the risk, then work out how you can do the same. If these top marketers are using this technique, how can you benefit from it also? To visit Ken's website, Click Here. To visit Brian's website, Click Here. Study the psychological triggers they use. Take notice of the sensational offers they make, see how they take all of the risk. Then imitate their strategies. It works! I hope this article had given you something to think about. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me by using the contact form. I will be happy to answer them for you if I can. ====================================================================== Welcome New Subscribers - I want to extend a warm and very
special welcome to you as a new Local
Business Online subscriber. I will never rent, sell or exchange your email address with anybody. Your privacy is important to me, and I sincerely thank you for becoming a subscriber. Have you read through the Subscribers-only Bonus Reports? These Reports are available only to subscribers. I know some of you will share them with your friends and that's OK, but they are for your benefit, not just anyone. The lessons discuss several additional strategies you can implement in your Business to immediately increase your income - remember, your goal should be creating Multiple Streams of Income, so that if you lose one, your lifestyle isn't put in jeopardy. Please write and let me know if you find these additional Reports helpful, and if there is anything else you would like explained further or added. You can read these additional articles by clicking on the Back Issues link in the email I sent you to let you know that this Newsletter was available, or by Clicking Here ====================================================================== Inspiration - Most great men and women are not perfectly rounded in their personalities, but are instead people whose one driving enthusiasm is so great that it makes their faults seem insignificant. Charles A Cerami ====================================================================== Contact Information - I welcome your questions and feedback, so please feel free to contact me. I do my best to get back to everyone ASAP, but can't guarantee a timeframe for my responses. (Never make a promise you don't intend to keep). If you have any ideas or suggestions for future articles, these would be most welcome. To get in touch, please send me an email using the form on the Contact Page. If you feel you have learned something from the articles in this Newsletter, please forward the introductory email or this page from your browser on to friends and associates. If you have been forwarded this Newsletter by a friend, and would like to subscribe yourself, you can do so by Clicking Here. Again, thank you for reading this issue of my Newsletter. As always, Expect Success, Rocky
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Please Note - All the articles in this Newsletter and on our website are copyrighted by Tapscott Properties Trust and Rocky Tapscott So read this carefully PLEASE! I know I said in the Terms of Use that your couldn't copy or use anything you saw on this website, but I would like to make a small exception here. In the spirit of good networking - You may use anything you like from this Newsletter - on or off the web, provided you follow our ONE and ONLY request. On The Web All we ask is that you use the article as is with all links in place, and include with the article, the words - © Copyright 2004 Rocky Tapscott and prominently display (no less than 12 pt type) a link to our main page http://www.localwebsolutions.com at the end of the article. It would be nice if you let me know where you are going to use the article - we’re always interested in feedback about what people do with our stuff. Please email us by using the Contact Form. Off The Web If you want to use our stuff off the web we just ask you to make sure the copyright symbol © Copyright 2004 and Rocky Tapscott appears along with our web address - see above. Many thanks and success in your business. We wish you all the good things you wish for yourself.
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