Maintain a Success Circle in Direct Sales & Relationship Marketing

Posts Tagged ‘online business’

A customer is anyone for whom you provide a service or sell a product and the names or terms customers are referred to may differ depending on your market.  A customer may be called a client, a purchaser, a buyer, or even a student. A customer who has not yet made a purchase or exchange of service or product may be referred to as a prospect.  Regardless of the terminology unique to your business the bottom-line remains the same: your customer if the lifeline of your business.  The service that you as the business owner provides will have a direct impact on the success or failure of your online business and so it becomes critical to be sure that you always provide superior customer service. This is a part of building your personal brand.

In building your brand online your goal should be to be recognized as someone who goes over and beyond what is normally required to take care of their customers.  I happen to like the term ‘over-deliver.’  No one usually complains if you over-deliver.  This is the kind of reputation that will set you apart from the pack and make you stand out.  On the other hand using underhand tactics and not keeping your promises is the way to go to experience the death of your business.  Pete Blackshaw says it very well in the title of his book, Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today’s Consumer-Driven World. Read the rest of this entry »

This may seem like a silly question because if someone does not know how to do a job it should be easy to correct it my asking someone else for information.  Shouldn’t it?  Perhaps. This is our 4th and final in the series to help Paula and she will have to confirm if this is what has been holding her back in launching her online business.

Does the idea seem far-fetched that a sharp, savvy and successful (offline) businesswoman would allow her lack of knowledge in a particular area to cause her to procrastinate?  For someone who is successful in other areas the idea that they are not able to master everything perfectly could become a motivational block.  Pride for one could prevent her from recognizing that she needs help, or even worse to admit to herself that she needs help.  Subconsciously this results in avoidance or even developing an aversion for the task. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we continue to help Paula, a savvy, sharp businesswoman who has had a successful business offline for many years, determine why she has not completed a very important task necessary to launch her online business. We shared the points regarding fear of success, failure and completion with her and while she acknowledged she had some fears, she did not feel they were enough to paralyze her.

Could it be that even though Paula knows this activity needs to be done she has not wrapped her mind around that it needs to be given high priority?  The fact that it is on her “Most Important Things to Do” list means that it is important and in talking with Paula she recognizes that someone has to do it.  She also realizes that it is not something that should be assigned to someone else; it’s something that she needs to do.  But what has happened everyday so far?  She has found something else to do in that time slot, which means that she has procrastinated each day and given something else priority. Read the rest of this entry »

Creating a presence online may take different forms as the internet provides a smorgasbord of options.  You may be in Direct Sales and already have a static website provided by the company you represent, you may be a stay-at-home mom or dad who is looking for a way to reach out to others, whether for friendship, or to find money-making opportunities.  You may be a self-employed professional or the owner of a brick and mortar store who wants to expand his/her reach, or you may be an employee looking to transition.  Regardless of your background, there is one important point to keep in mind:  Exercise care in what you say and enter on various websites because once they are there they are like marks made by a permanent marker or indelible ink that cannot be erased.  They may be submerged, but can always be found with a little effort and can come back to haunt you later on.

We will discuss how to build your brand in another post, but today we are going to look at some reasons why it is important to build your brand.  What is a brand?  Wikipedia.org defines brand as a name, sign, symbol, slogan or anything that is used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service, or business. From the outset branding sets you apart and distinguishes you or your business from others who may be marketing the same product or offering a similar service.

If you are new to the internet you will become aware that you can start in various places; for example, many persons will encourage you to start by joining one of the social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.  There is value in doing so because you can observe and eventually participate in interactions, become aware of groups that you can join, create networking opportunities and expand your reach.  However, on each of these sites you will be asked to create a Profile.  What will your Profile say about you?  When people click on your profile what will they find?  What do you want people to know about you and how much of yourself will you reveal?  It is truly important to be authentic, but at the same time caution should be exercised that you do not reveal information that could make you become a victim of ID theft.

Building your brand is important because -

1) You need your brand to create an effective presence on the internet
2) Your brand builds credibility, which can only be achieved over a period of time.
3) What will be your USP – Your Unique Selling Proposition?  It’s important to identify this so you can express it clearly.  The first person who asked me that got a ‘Huh?” answer as I had no idea what they were talking about.  This is one thing that will set you apart from others and identify your brand.
4) Deciding on a niche may take time, but is a highly recommended step because you cannot be all things to everyone and it’s important to determine what or where you will focus on. Your niche will be one of your branding tools.
5) One of the basic items you will need for your online business is a Domain Name.  You can select a domain name with keywords that reflect the brand you will be building, or you can select your own name.com.  You will also need to determine how you will brand your name.  What do you want people to associate your name with?

From the foregoing, you can appreciate that to have an building your brand is important.  Tomorrow we will discuss how to build your brand in order to have an effective presence on the internet.

This is the 2nd part of How to Move Forward in Your Online Business.  Here is the link for Part One :  http://mysuccesscircleonline.com/how-to-move-forward-in-your-online-business-part-1/

5.  Avoid being a procrastinator. People usually procrastinate as an avoidance strategy.  Identify the reasons why you procrastinate and take steps to correct them.  If you are putting off writing posts for your blog because you don’t like to write, ask yourself how important is it that you learn to do so?  You may be able to use PLR articles to provide you with the foundation for your posts allowing you to build on the ideas.

6.  Moving Forward in Your Online Business Requires FOCUS. It is hard when you’re just getting started to focus, because you’re quite likely still searching. But herein lies failure.  Without a focus you get easily distracted and like a butterfly flit from one “promise of gold” to the other without accomplishing anything meaningful. I don’t recall where I read this but someone suggested that you should try something for 90 days and if it doesn’t appear to be working, try something else.  There’s nothing dogmatic about that, but the point is that you need to give a particular tool or method time to prove whether it has merit or not; rather than jumping from one thing to the next.  Remember FOCUS = Follow One Course Until Successful!

7.  Have a plan: I’ve written in other posts that a plan is essential to your success.  However, many persons new to internet marketing feel that they cannot really devise a plan because they do not know all of what is involved. This is true, but remember that your plan can be modified or even changed altogether to meet your specific needs.  The key is to have a basic outline or framework of where you are at the outset, and determine where you would like to be as far as knowledge and income in the short-term and long-term are concerned.  As you gain more knowledge you will become more equipped to set the steps in place that you need to effectively to move forward in your online business and reach your desired goal.

Here’s an example:  You are brand new to the internet: 1) In your research you find that one of the quickest way to get started online is to set up a blog rather than have a static website.  Your next step would logically be to research where you can set up your blog by learning about blog platforms.  Once you’ve gathered your information, then you take action.  You can set up a blog on a free platform like blogger.com or you may learn that typepad.com offers a better solution.  Your research may also reveal that a hosted blog on wordpress.org may be even more effective.  Make a decision then set up your account.

2)  After learning what blogs are, including the fact that Google loves blogs, you also learn that blogs allow people to get to know, like and trust you.  Your next step would be, to decide what you will write about?  My advice would be to start with something you know something about, something you will enjoy writing about, and something that there is much to write about.  It wouldn’t make sense to select a topic that after a few posts you run out of things to write about.

3)  Once you develop a pattern and become familiar with the process, you can continue investing time in learning, not necessarily money, until you get to know who you can trust to provide solid information.  I say this without reservation based on my own experience.  When I first came on the internet I wasted lots of money on courses and ebooks that turned out to be ‘fluff’ and did not provide solid “how to’s”.  My hope is that you will avoid that happening to you.

As you get started and continue your research your knowledge will grow so that you are able to continue building your plan for success and learn how to move forward and get beyond the “Newbie” phase.

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The definition of an Internet Newbie is very subjective.  For some it could mean just getting started; for others they consider themselves a Newbie until they have made their first $1,000 from their marketing efforts.  Still there are others who consider themselves Newbies even though they have had a presence on the Internet for more than a year.

Regardless of where you are in the “Newbie” stage, your desire should be to move forward in your online business.  No one wants to or can follow a parked car…it’s going nowhere, and unless you are on online just for fun or as a hobby, you will want to take steps to move forward.

1. Do you treat your internet marketing as a business? Then you must do something in and for your business everyday.

2. It’s often said, “Your attitude determines your altitude.” Are you a self-starter and are you self-motivated?  You must take action to implement what you re learning.  Sometimes you could over-analyze the pros and cons for so long that it leads to paralysis.  I was guilty of this for a long time, not only in my online business but also in my Direct Sales business several years ago.  A simple statement by a Direct Sales leader helped to get me to see beyond my own limiting beliefs.  She pointed out that all the lights are never going to be green at the same time, but you keep going and will eventually reach your destination if you don’t let the red lights stop you altogether.  Simple illustration that had a big impact on me.

3.  F.E.A.R – False Evidence Appearing Real. So many of us struggle with fear of failure.  Oddly enough when you take the plunge, many times you realize that the fear was much worse that the reality.  Do not be afraid to fail forward. It’s unavoidable but you can learn from your mistakes. Each time you fail or fall view it as a training ground, sometimes a hard one, but the experience will make you stronger and less likely to make the same mistake. Think of the gymnast or ice skater who takes home the Olympic gold.  He or she did not get there without some tumbles, but they never gave up; they got up, and kept going. Will you?

4.  Stop being busy with tasks unrelated to your business.  Ask yourself, Is what I’m doing going to take me to the next level or stage in my business?  There’s nothing wrong with taking care of administrative tasks but they must be done after your key tasks for your online business are completed. An area I still struggle with is releasing tasks by outsourcing them.  And this may be something you cannot afford to do initially, but as soon as you can take advantage of Virtual Assistants who can save you lots of time so you can focus on what is going to make you move forward in your online business.  I’m finally working with a Webmaster as I recognize that he can do things much better and faster than I can and that’s helping me to move forward in my own business.

Look for Part 2 in 3 days.

Everyday new businesses are started on the internet.  Some persons start an online business for fun, some with the intent of making some ‘extra money’ while others have a purpose in mind: that of starting a ‘real business’ to provide a regular income online.  Regardless of the reasons, one factor that most persons omit to take into consideration is the need to have a business plan.  What is a business plan? http://www.google.com/url?q=http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/business_plan describes a business plan as “A summary of how a business owner, manager, or entrepreneur intends to organize an entrepreneurial endeavor and implement activities necessary and sufficient for the venture to succeed.”  Your business plan for your online business should clearly explain the what, why, when, who and how of the project.

Based on the above I can hear someone saying, “I don’t need a business plan.  After all an online business is not like a brick and mortar business…”  And that’s true.  However, by setting up a business plan, you are laying out a roadmap to success. It will help you to develop your business goals and strategies, as well as provide you with a better understanding of the marketplace. It will also highlight any business strengths or weaknesses that you may have, as well as providing you with an opportunity to take a close look at your competitors. While this is optional at the outset, it would do no harm to include financial projections, historical data and growth expectations into your business plan.  If your goal is to make money, you will need to document what your resources are at the outset, and what it’s going to take to reach your goal.

One vital concept of your plan for success in an online business endeavor is to identify your target audience.  This way you will know how your service, your product, or your knowledge can specifically meet or exceed the expectations of your audience.

Your business plan may be broken down into the following seven sections:

1. Business summary – The product or service you want to provide.

2. Market analysis – Research on the product or service and how the competitors are doing.

3. Product positioning – How to make it more prominent compared to your competitors.  Or, what need is not being filled in your area that you can fill.

4. Market strategy – How are you actually going to market it? Every business must have a marketing plan otherwise you are setting-up yourself for failure.

5. Customer analysis – Look at what the customer wants or needs.  How will you find out?  Feedback, surveys, etc.

6. Financial analysis – What you need to invest in order to set up the business and to keep it going while it is just getting started. You’ll need at the minimum a domain name, a hosting service, and an autoresponder.  I use and recommend GoDaddy.com for domain name registration, and AWeber.com for e-mail autoresponder service. Click on the links to take you directly to both sites.

7. Overall business goals – What you hope to achieve in, say, a year’s time or even 5 years’ time.  Short-term and long-term goals.

Although you may be thinking  you need pages and pages of information, which could cause you to hesitate, keep in mind that the sections listed above can be condensed into just about two pages.  This is for your reference, and should serve as a guide which you can refer to from time to time in order to determine your progress.  And, above all, make it your determination that once you have created a business plan for your online business you will stick with it.  As your business evolves, you can amend as you see fit.

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