Who Wants To Be An Internet Millionaire Contestants Could Be Shot
August 20, 2007
I think it was Freud who said that he preferred treating rich patients, as they no longer believe money will make them happy.
And I hope the Who Wants to be an Internet Millionaire contestants know this, and that Joel Comm has told them they risk a lifetime of unhappiness - and could even be shot.
Just look at Internet multi-millionaire John Donovan. He has been accused of actually shooting himself, in order to frame his son because of a row over money. This is sad, given that the guy probably has more money than he will ever be able to spend. He has founded about a dozen technology companies and one was valued at $1 billion.
And if the competitors manage to avoid being shot, they still need to worry about the possibilities of a messy divorce. Earlier this year, Australian millionaire, Adam Grollo was accused in court of hitting his wife whilst she was seven months pregnant.
They’re all at it. And a divorcing millionaire could end up paying big time. Just look at former happy couple Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. Twenty odd million quid wasn’t enough for her. And she accused him of physical abuse.
Hopefully - the Who Wants to Be An Internet Millionaire Contestants have better luck, or Joel may have to do a follow up - Who Wishes They Weren’t an Internet Millionaire Anymore?
How to Avoid the Internet Marketing Scammers
August 20, 2007
They’ll promise to make you rich - usually overnight and with very little effort. And the bad news is - the Internet marketing scammers are everywhere. And you won’t need to look far to find them - because right now, they’re looking for people like you.
Don’t give these snakes a single penny. Let me show you how to spot them and avoid being scammed. And if you’ve already bought one of their worthless information products - don’t worry - I’ll show you how to get your money back.
Click here to read the rest of the article.Â
Word of Mouth? You’re More Likely to Catch Monkeypox
August 18, 2007
If you’ve recently started a new business - you’re probably sick to the back teeth of people saying, “You’ll soon get lots of work through word of mouth.”
And do you know what? It is just not true. With the exception of some viral products - such as Skype and Hotmail, few businesses can rely on word of mouth for a huge part of their business.
I know what you’re thinking - it can’t possibly be true. If you’re offering a fantastic product or service, everyone will be talking about you right? No.
When was the last time you had dinner with friends, and waxed lyrical about the wonderful guy who unblocked your loo in record time? Or the amazing sales assistant who helped you pick the perfect matching pair of shoes for your outfit?
People just don’t talk about these trivial incidents all that much - and as time passes by - no matter how impressed they were with your business, they’ll even forget about you themselves. And as the months pass by, they’ll even forget the name of your business. But - don’t worry - you can stop your customers from doing this. There are subtle things you can do to make them come back to you every time - and send their friends to you too.
The truth is - it’s surprisingly simple to do. All you need to do is keep in touch with your customers on a regular basis. Mail them, email them or telephone - whichever you prefer.
Email is the cheapest way - and if you have a website, you can’t survive without an opt in mailing list. It’s simple to set up an autoresponder service and you can set up several follow up emails in advance then forget about them. I use aweber despite a slight disagreement with them last year. I was going to switch, but I couldn’t find another autoresponder company that could come close to offering the same value as aweber.
Keeping in touch will remind them you exist. And don’t think it won’t work - don’t assume everyone does it - they don’t. Only the savvy few do - and if you’re like me, they’re probably the ones who get your business each and every time.
Now, I know you might be thinking that a truly great business, or an established company shouldn’t need to do this. But, think about two of the biggest companies on the Internet - Amazon and Ebay. Are you customers of theirs? If so, you’ll know they keep in touch all the time. And it works.
Of course, you might be thinking - they don’t need to keep in touch - you buy from the all the time anyway. But, how many times have you opened those Amazon emails and went out and bought heaps of the products recommended especially for you? I know I’ve done it more times than I care to remember. Sometimes I have wondered if I should just sign over half my earnings to Amazon every month.
Ebay is the same. How many times have you made an impulse purchase on ebay after receiving an email from them? I know I have - in fact - I once bought a new car, after I’d accidentally clicked on an ebay link in an email. I hadn’t even been looking for a new car - but within minutes, I’d bid and won a nice people carrier (MPV to you Americans).
Well, you’re probably wondering what my point is. Will all this frequent customer contact encourage word of mouth? Well, the good news is - it will probably persuade your customer to buy from you again. But, the bad news is it’s still not likely to encourage a lot of word of mouth. But, you can do something to make it more likely.
Give your customers something so good that they’ll tell their friends? It doesn’t have to be something expensive. Just make it something they weren’t expecting. A bonus product or service - a small gift - something your competitors won’t be giving.
I’ve given several small gifts in the past, including small chocolate boxes, gingerbread - even sherbert dips. Right now - we’re giving all our Kwik Fix plumbing customers, and their friends a free washer changing service.
We encourage our customers to let their friends take advantage of this “free service”. And while they may not all rush round handing out our business cards to everyone they know - you can bet that when a friend mentions they need a plumber our customer will tell her that we provide this additional service at no extra cost.
If you don’t remember everything you’ve read here - remember these points: You can’t afford not to keep in touch with your customers - or they’ll forget you.
If you want them to tell their friends - you need to ask - and give them something to talk about - a specific message to pass on.
Give something a little extra - and they’re more likely to tell their friends.
Think Yours is the Best? So What?
August 17, 2007
Do you remember buying your first PC? Do you remember reading through lists of features like “X number megabytes of RAM”, and “gigantic hard drive”, and thinking - “So what?”
All you really wanted to know was what these gadgets would do for you, right?
Your customer will want to know the same. Lists of features don’t make people buy from you. They want to know what your product or service will do for them.
Sure, you could expect them to go and look it up in a specialist magazine like the early pc sellers did. They might do that too, if they have no choice, but the chances are - they won’t come back to buy it from you.
You must show your customer the benefits of buying from you. And to do that, you need to turn your list of features into benefits. So how do you do that?
Guy Kawasaki explained a really simple and effective way of doing this. Every time you try to describe one of the benefits of your products, imagine there is a little guy sitting on your shoulder saying, “so what?”, then respond to him. If you keep doing this, eventually you’ll be come up with a list of the real benefits of using your product or service.
Keep asking yourself “so what” until you come up with precise benefits. “We can get it to you faster”, isn’t specific enough. Think like Domino’s - 30 minutes or less, or Amazon - We’ll have it to you by 1pm tomorrow.
Do take your time to do this. If you can’t - your competitors will, and guess who will make the sale?
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