Frank Kern makes a lot of good points for going “Old School” and has some impressive numbers to quote for sales achieved. And when you think about it, it makes sense. This is a “Direct Response Marketing” business, and maybe if you aren’t making much money, you are treating it differently – buying every shiny new toy and hyped-up technological 5-click wonder of the moment!

Frank says the trick is to go back to “Old School” techniques, build a solid business, create a high-ticket coaching program that will influence human emotion and generate a favorable decision. Technology can be used to deliver your message, but it won’t make you a better marketer. The key has been the same for hundreds of years: “the right message delivered to the right market at the right time”.

Hybridize Direct Mail techniques with Internet technology for a winning combination. Focusing on the new shiny technology alone is hurting us.

Direct Mail and Print ads are the oldest form of Direct Response Marketing in history. It takes lots of money to market through the mail, so every marketing piece is thoroughly tested and proven profitable before it’s mailed out. If you take the best direct mail material and infuse Internet marketing techniques into it, implementing these methods for a fraction of the cost, you would have a win/win situation!

Educational, informative, non-hypey ads have always worked in Direct Mail/Print Marketing. Not the obnoxious sales pitches we are seeing now. They were masterful creations – true art of ad copy. Now apply that to the Internet and use Video, which is the new evolution of “Print”. Refuse to use launches, affiliates, or any typical marketing “stuff”.

Be 100% “Direct Mail” on the Internet.

Follow the rules:

Discover what your audience wants.
Create something that helps them get it, or get closer to achieving it.
At the end of that content, make an offer for something that will help them even more.
Repeat until desired results are achieved.
Use stealth selling by positioning your pitch as something you’re offering as a favour to the viewer.
Stack multiple content/pitch pieces.

Make sure your content is something they can either benefit from immediately, or see themselves benefiting from, and make sure they want it more than anything!
Best: 5% Entertainment; 90% Useful Content; 5% Sales Pitch

Attraction Marketing encompasses educational marketing and we seem to have strayed from that path in recent months. Perhaps Frank has zeroed in on this problem and pointed out the oversight. Time to put more thought into our marketing and focus on the human element.

Reduce fossil fuel dependence by heating with wood – a renewable energy source.

A wood pellet stove is the most convenient and satisfying way to heat with wood. And pellet stoves are automatic: wood pellets are fed from the storage hopper into the fire. The heat output is adjustable or controlled with a thermostat when the warm air is circulated.
You reduce CO2 emissions by burning a renewable fuel. Trees growing now are locking up the sun’s energy and CO2 in a continuous renewable cycle.

Wood pellets are made from compressed sawdust, a by-product of the lumber industry. Nothing but wood is added to make fuel pellets. Under high pressure the natural lignin in wood acts as a glue to bind it together and form a tight pellet.
The small size of wood pellets results in very efficient smoke-free fire.
Although most fuel pellets are currently made from wood they can also be made from fast growing switchgrass. Pellets made from grass are the ideal renewable energy crop, since switchgrass grows on marginal farmland. The energy payback on pellet fuel is up to 14:1. For every one unit of energy used to grow, harvest and pelletize the grass, 14 units of heat energy are produced. Natural Heat, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Contact: sales@naturalheat.ca

New Pellet plants are continuously opening, and will provide sustainable fuel, keeping the costs and quality in check.

The pellet stove technology has progressed to become extremely reliable with very little service issues. Another issue we are all looking at is the ever increasing cost of fuel oil products along with the huge oil spills such as in the gulf and the environmental disasters accompanied with it.
At a bio fuel conference in New England a presentation indicated that the New England states spent over 6 billion dollars on heating oil. Most of that money left the country. Then a scenario was painted of replacing this fuel oil with bio fuels such as wood pellets which was readily available locally. Now the over 6 billion dollars stayed in the New England economy and excess of 6 thousand jobs were created and no matter what happened in the world their heating fuel was safe and controlled by the local people. Why would anyone not support that!

With the tax incentives in many areas, quality and abundant pellet fuel supply, quality stoves, oil spills in the gulf, environmental disasters, and continuous oil price increases there has never been a better time to switch to locally produced pellet fuel.

Most of us want to do what’s right for the environment. We’re more informed than ever, and want to make wise lifestyle choices. While we’ve had choices in energy efficient automobiles, now we can turn our attention to where we live, work and play.

Pellets from Biomass sources, are compressed by a mechanized process. These pellets can be made from wood shavings, various organics: grasses, recycled paper, nut shells, cardboard, corn stalks.

Everyone loves a fire for the ambiance, but the reality of it – the chopping and storing and constant stoking of firewood can be a drag. And the safety measures, sparks, making sure it’s all the way out before you retire. Plus, woodsmoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds that can affect your health and contribute to pollution. The wood pellet stove is a convenient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative.

Wood pellet stoves resemble wood burning stoves and fireplaces, but are electronically sophisticated appliances that offer an environmentally friendly and low-cost heating option for your home. In a time when environmental awareness is at the forefront and families are keeping a close eye on their finances, wood pellet stoves have become all the rage.

All wood pellet stoves require the same kind of fuel – the wood pellet. These pellets are the byproduct of sawmills and are made from recycled sawdust and wood shavings. The wood pellets look a lot like rabbit food and are considered eco-friendly because they’re cheap and easy to manufacture. Plus, they have a very low pollution rate. You can also buy pellets made of grass and corn, but they’re not intended for use in stoves specifically designated for wood pellets.
Tomake a better choice for our environment, you can find wood pellet stoves at Joy’s Choices

The Fashion industry is becoming more aware that using eco-friendly materials is more than just a trend, these fabrics provide many benefits.
Hemp is one of the oldest and most ecologically friendly fabrics in the world. Found in tombs dating back to 8,000 BC, and known for durability and strength it was utilized by Levi Strauss in the very first jeans that they ever made. As organic clothing, hemp provides superior durability, warmth and a natural softness making it an excellent choice for both comfort and wear and tear.

Many well known fashion designers are now turning to bamboo to design organic clothes for the eco friendly market. Bamboo provides a surprisingly luxurious softness that make bamboo clothes a pleasure to wear, besides being moisture-wicking and UV-resistant.

Effort Industries has been making organic clothing for the North American market since 1994, providing eco-friendly products to designers, wholesalers and retailers in Canada and the USA. With more than 30 years of manufacturing experience in the fashion industry they are experts in producing quality products at affordable prices, with friendly and responsive customer service.

I am pleased to offer these eco-friendly products, many of which are made in Canada, in Joy’s Choices, as part of my “Green Living” department.

Why is it getting harder to make sales online? Why so much Hype and so many 3-click miracle LIES!

Last season’s product is already dated and the novelty of email has worn off. Even Frank Kern in his “?” book says that his open rate is 1.7%!! Opening your email is a chore: no one has time to read all of the free e-books, articles, promotions, etc.

And scams have become so common that suspicion is the automatic response. We need a way to overcome this mindset and create a relationship with our lists. We need to remember that we aren’t talking just numbers, that there are real people on the other end of our emails, and make that human connection. Video Marketing is the solution!

Have we forgotten that selling online is an Art and that people buy from people? It’s a skill that few marketers are talking about. The attention span has gone from 45 seconds to about 3 seconds to catch their attention and engage their interest. We really need to work fast to connect with them and Video Marketing is the Solution!

Studies show that Video Marketing is the solution. It’s the cutting edge – fast to create, captures the attention and creates trust, overcoming the suspicion and cynicism, which are the natural response. We become the trusted friend, the experienced expert, who has their best interests at heart. Once they are acquainted with us in the introductory video, they are much more likely to open follow-up emails, because they know us and value our information, but it’s important to keep the human connection through subsequent video presentations.

That’s if we haven’t betrayed that trust with blatant sales promotions, but instead have offered valuable training and information, building our relationship. As the relationship grows you can begin to introduce surveys to determine needs, product reviews (affiliates), and the merits of your own products.

Your Videos make that human connection, eye-to-eye, and build a rapport with your audience, unlike anything you can achieve through any other medium.

No longer a guessing game, when choosing affiliate products to promote. CB Surge allows you to base your choices on scientific analysis. Newbie Affiliate Marketers, will find the learning curve has been smoothed out and you can follow a systematic process to choose the best products to promote. Considerable time, effort and money go into serious marketing of affiliate products and you want to be sure that it’s time well spent.

Affiliate Marketers searching the Clickbank Marketplace for products to promote have a given amount of information on which to base their choice, but still have to depend on a certain amount of instinct. They know which products are selling well, which offer the best commissions and Gravity indicates which products affiliates are making money with. But even for seasoned marketers, it’s a best guess situation and most would like more security in their decisions.

Brad & Matt Callen have developed a Free Firefox plugin. With step-by-step instructions, CB Surge is easily installed and a wealth of valuable information is immediately available, right on the product entry in Clickbank Marketplace.

· With CB Surge installed you can tell at a glance, which products are marketable as you scroll down through the list in the ClickBank Marketplace. The products are highlighted in green or red and a screen expands to give you more information.

· You have keyword search capability, including long-tail. It will tell you how the product ranks in Google so you can optimize your website to rank in Google as well.

· The plugin produces a ranking number, which indicates a viable winner or a pass.

· It provides Alexa ranking and also rates the site for features that will gain prospect’s attention when searching the marketplace.

· Finally you have a graph of the performance of the product, showing its conversion and the trend of its performance. This is a factor in your decision to put time and effort into the promotion of a product.

This Free Plugin, CB Surge is a definite time-saver, since all of this information is available at your fingertips, without leaving the Clickbank Marketplace, and it’s a welcome addition to your Firefox browser.

You can upgrade for additional benefits if desired. It will tell you the Top Gravity, Top Movers and Top Shakers, and also give you the performance graph over a much longer period, for more informed planning of your campaigns.

CB Surge Elite puts your affiliate link on your referrals’ CB links with cookies to pass the credit along. And you can customize your affiliate link with text instead of numbers: choose a name to brand your CB Surge copy.

In the Member’s area, Brad provides added bonuses of coaching classes in Keyword Research and Landing Page Domination which are enlightening and well worth exploring.

http://www.cbsurge.com/download/Choice-CB-Gift.

Ann Sieg advises Coaching/Mentoring to speed our learning process and move our businesses into application mode.

With product launches coming thick and fast, it’s too easy to become the perennial student. Everyone’s product is newer, better, sexier and the only way to win is to get to the finish line (the application) faster.

A coach can look at our resources and tell us where we need to put our efforts to complete our goals. We may not need to buy another course, just organize and utilize the material we already have. For some people, this is the normal approach: they are set up with files and indexes from the start. The rest of us have to work harder at it.

If we are going to make a project of learning and go it alone, we will need to do a complete review of our materials and cross-index our information for easy access. We may be surprised to find that we have bought the same information twice!

We can manage this information by previewing it – just a summary of the contents, chapters, topics, etc. You should also download specifics to ipods, etc or copy pages for a manual that you carry for reference. Always carry learning material with you and a notebook for ideas.

Speed-reading would be an advantage and you should take every opportunity to learn and process webinars and lectures. Over-learning by increasing the speed and still absorbing the material is an excellent exercise for mental growth. And science has proven that we don’t need to settle for limits or loss of that faculty. A study-buddy or a master-mind group works very well.

Your brain is your biggest asset and you should treat it with respect, the proper nutrients and exercise. Use it or you lose it!

Being in constant study mode is a form of procrastination. You can always put off the day you actually “have to perform”, when you are still learning the business. But that isn’t putting any money in the bank. Ann Sieg uses some terms about learning, which are very apt: “just-in-time and just-in-case.” I’m sure you can see that some of the learning you are distracted by can be categorized as “just-in-case”, and you can safely lay that aside for another day and concentrate on what needs doing right now to get your business moving.

So, good luck with your fall cleaning and filing and moving on to successful business! Joy
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A Net.work Marketer must be a professional in this industry and the newcomer will need coaching to develop the mindset. A mentor can help the newcomer achieve the skill-sets to be able to reach each new level and eventually the true freedom of the entrepreneur.

Even if you haven’t reached a 7-figure income, if you have spent months of training with these top-level earners, your knowledge base is far above most people beginning an online business, and you are in a position to help them. In fact, you are closer to the problem and know exactly what they are struggling with.

You will be able to clarify their direction and strategize their actions and you will know which skills need to be upgraded: prospecting, marketing, etc.

You know that environment plays a big part in success: get rid of the TV, keep peaceful surroundings and eliminate negative energy. It’s important to keep a positive mindset and eliminate insecurities – a fearful person can’t produce, so it’s important to master one’s psychology.

For a free 30-minute consultation, please contact me:
joy@marketing-wellness.ca

I would like to share this talk with you. Diane was asked to speak to our group of Avon Representatives at our Awards Dinner – our President’s Club Tribute. She was asked to share her enthusiasm with Avon‘s elite team of Representatives, and she is a guest author here.

Diane said that she had a variety of jobs in her career and when she left her last position two years ago “I was sad, because I truly knew I would miss the customers and staff. I am very much a people person.”

“Sooo! One day my husband and I were watching TV and an AVON commercial came on ‘Looking for Representatives in your area’. My husband looked at me and said ‘Hon, you would make a great Avon Sales Representative, you’re not afraid to approach people and should have been in sales a long time ago’. I looked at him and said ‘You’re right’. From that time on it was Game On! I must say it has been a laugh ever since! (in a good way).

We meet with a great group of women every Monday morning at a local restaurant for coffee and good conversation for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Our manager keeps us informed about new and exciting products coming up, stats, recruiting, get-to-gethers, etc.

I also have made friends with my new team. We do networking together, advice on how to help our business grow and help each other at functions.

I have used AVON since I was a teenager. My mother bought Avon and was a representative for 5 years. My sister-in-law sold it for 44 years, until health issues with cancer affected her ability to continue. My sister-in-law was so excited for me, when I called to tell her I have joined the AVON team.

I joined at the start of November 2009 and have achieved the Prestige Award ($18,000 sales). This has allowed me to grow my business even further. Not many places will give you a discount of 40% – 45%. I put approximately 25 – 30 hours per week into my business and enjoy every minute of it. I have done 3 Avon-On-Locations, two for Breast Cancer and one for Recruiting and have three more booked for the upcoming months. Pamper Days go over very well and I am having eight Avon shows before the Holidays. The end of January, I will be having an Open House with great prizes and discounts. I have draws at the end of every month to keep my clientele interested.

I promote product that I know will be a hot item and get orders before the brochure is available, so that you can take advantage of the AOMMs. I know I like a good product for a great price, so if I’m excited about it my customers are too. I am currently working towards Leadership. Hopefully with all the shows I’m having before Christmas, I will be able to make contacts. I’m always trying to get a larger base of customers, currently have 230 brochures out every two weeks. I live in a wonderful small community and the people are very friendly. People in general feel good when they are greeted with a smile…

Oh, one last thing:
My philosophy in life is “You get what you give”.

Sooo – NOW IS THE TIME TO SMILE!

Notes for Newbies, Seniors and Boomers

Why Swiss Cheese? That’s what my Internet knowledge looked like until a couple of weeks ago. I just turned 70 and I’ve had migraines and meds all of my life and with fibromyalgia, of course there’s “fibro fog”, but I believe that if you stop learning you might as well give up the ghost. Maybe I could choose something a little more elegant, like lace, with all of those embroidered flowers and sequins to represent the nuggets of information I have gleaned from the courses and systems I have joined. But there were still a lot of spaces, where things just didn’t add up for me.

So, I signed up for one more….. After all, for 4.95, what did I have to lose? And I fell into a treasure trove of information, explained from the ground up to fill in all of those gaps! You aren’t dumped into the middle of a task and told what to do with it. Chris Farrell explains the whys and wherefores to give you the basic understanding, so that you really know what you are doing and when you complete that particular task, you own it.

The present generation has an advantage over boomers and seniors. They are learning the language and skills along with the alphabet. It’s all second nature to them and they don’t have the struggle of the mature adult learning a second language.

I have had success with the Renegade System, learning procedures through step-by-step tutorials, which are extremely well presented (good screen magnification and verbal descriptions). But I found I had loads of notes for individual steps and often didn’t have the means of linking them together.

A couple of months ago, I crafted a pdf eBook – quite proud of the accomplishment. But it sat on my computer and do you think I could figure out how to get it on a document of any kind, where I could offer it as an opt-in gift? Or find any information, anywhere, that would tell me how to do it? Chris Farrell explained it simply.

Chris makes Kompozer and FTP a breeze! And a 20-minute tutorial cleared the fog on keyword tool usage. He gives you a valuable eBook, which you can re-brand and give to your prospects. He gives you free hosting if you decide to join his membership after your 14-day trial, and I’ve already tested their support, which is excellent.

You can get a lot of questions answered in the 4.95 14-day trial, but the Chris Farrell Membership site has hundreds of videos and tutorials – far more than you could access in 2 weeks. I can highly recommend this service and it has been voted the #1 Service on the Internet. Feel free to contact me with any questions: joymiles@cyg.net.
Please visit the site and take advantage of the trial – see for yourself: Chris Farrell Membership

Or does that bring back nightmares of corporate days?

An important part of any project is the analysis procedure: a review of the results to determine the reasons for success or failure. When dealing with team members, this may be viewed as the dreaded “performance review” that they quit their job to escape! But hopefully as entrepreneurs and Attraction Marketers, we approach this subject more humanely.

We have systems to automatically track and report on our ad campaigns and we struggle to learn SEO and make the most of Social Media, but how do we measure up in our personal performance? How do we score points for our efforts in the field? Where is the “plugin” to measure that?

I think it all comes back to personal development. To be an entrepreneur is to be a leader. No lone wolves in this game. If you didn’t start with Napoleon Hill, you missed the foundations of your education and the development of your golden rule: “give without want”. This rule should be extended to your team as well and should form the basis of your management policy.

You need to be aware of the elements of responsibility as well. If you blame others, you don’t see your own responsibility, but if you take on too much shame, you don’t respect yourself and no-one will respect you. Beware of justifying your mistakes, because then you stay where you are today; you need to live where you want to be- above the mean. Don’t just want…expect.

We must remember to celebrate every accomplishment, not just the big scores, as these daily successes are the building blocks to the major achievements. When you focus on what’s wrong, you see more of the same. You need to open your eyes to what is right. Pay it forward, not back.

Apply the performance appraisal to yourself, not just your team, but most importantly celebrate every accomplishment, every day.