Monday, April 30, 2012

8 Thoughts On Bad Business Cards

Here's some valuable thoughts on how to have better business cards by Scott Ginsberg:

HELLO, my name is Blog!: 8 thoughts on bad business cards: The other day I was sifting through about 1000 business cards I've collected over the years. I noticed a few things that frustrated me: 1. N...

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Seth Godin: Purple Cow, Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable


What does a purple cow have to do with marketing? Seth Godin says everything.

How will you stand out in a world that is constantly overloaded with advertisements and cheaper and cheaper products? According to Seth Godin, the key is in creating extraordinary products. He explains how standing out is the only way to grab a consumer's attention, and succeed.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Referrals Defined. In a Way You and Your Boss Won't Like. | Jeffrey Gito...


Referrals defined. In a way you and your boss won't like.

QUESTION FROM A READER: I am taking a new business development job for a wellness and surgery center. We need doctors to refer their obese patients to us. Doctors seem so hard to get in front of, and they don't like sales tricks. Do you have any new suggestions besides networking and dropping off literature? Kelly

Kelly, before you go looking for referrals, as yourself: HOW REFERABLE AM I? WHY WOULD SOMEONE REFER ME? Do you interview each patient after surgery or treatment to ask about his or her experience? How the doctor's bedside manner was? What the administrative ease or pain was? Are you recording the interview? Is anyone posting on Facebook about their experience? Are you encouraging them to? You seem to be asking me for answers that your patients can give you - and can talk to their doctor about. Once the patient has debriefed the doctor about how amazing their treatment was, you can film it, and referrals will be automatic. BEST IDEA: Meet with doctors who are already referring and ask them WHY they refer. That will help you understand your present status, and give you reasons to share with other doctors. Best regards, Jeffrey

Kelly's question begs more questions and a longer response, because referrals are the single best (and most profitable) source for new sales. They are also the LEAST used source. WHY? They require work. Hard work.

REALITY: Most salespeople are not willing to do the hard work it takes to make selling easy.

QUESTION FROM JEFFREY TO READERS: Why are you (still) ASKING for referrals? ANSWER: You haven't EARNED them! SECOND ANSWER: My boss says I have to. REALITY ANSWER: When I ask a new customer for a referral, it makes them (and me) uncomfortable.

Salespeople and sales managers are always looking for the fast way out. Their two-word cry is: MORE NOW!

Maybe if I explained the one word definition of the word referral -- which is RISK -- you'd get a better idea. Your customer is willing to risk their relationship with someone else, and refer them to you. That's why they're hesitant.

What could you do to win more referrals? I just gave you the answers! You probably thought I was talking to Kelly. No, I was making a universal challenge to you about referrals, and the strategy used to obtain them. Lots of them.

Think about your referrals: How do you get them? How should you get them? Why are you still asking for them?

QUESTION: Do you really know, do you really understand, how a customer feels when you ask for a referral?

ANSWER: You are defined in their mind as a "taker." They don't just feel uncomfortable, they will now avoid your calls and not return your emails. You'll wonder why, and BLAME THEM.

How's that for building loyalty?

RULE ONE OF REFERRALS: Don't ask. SIMPLE UNIVERSAL RULE OF REFERRALS: Think EARN not ASK.

Anyone can "ask." Only the top salespeople "earn."

I love the pathetic line at the bottom of a card or email, "I love referrals." Even the softer version, "I appreciate referrals." What kind of a statement is that?! It's a begging one. A greedy one. The statement should be, "I earn referrals." Or "I earn referrals by giving referrals." Or "I love earning referrals."

Okay, so what CAN you do to make yourself more referable? • Deepen the relationship. Create regular dialog. Help them as much as you are able.

• Give weekly value via your email magazine. Look at mine (www.salescaffeine.com) as an example. Free, weekly advice to salespeople. Put yours together, and press send!

• Promote your customers in your social media. Post them and tag them --good news and compliments only.

• Create and offer incentives. This gives someone who really likes you a reason to go out of his or her way for you.

• Have coffee and a three-way -- you, your customer, and a potential customer for them. A referral or a great connection. Invite a prospect for your customer to breakfast and they will have a 100% on-time attendance record. By far, the best way to get a referral is to: Give a referral!

And keep in mind that a referral is way more than a sales lead. A referral is a report card. A referral -- especially an unsolicited one -- tells you that you did everything else great. They're rewarding you, and thanking you, for helping them.

Nice feeling in the heart, and in the wallet.

See more from Jeffrey Gitomer at www.gitomer.com

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Drew Curtis: How I Beat A Patent Troll


Drew Curtis, the founder of fark.com, tells the story of how he fought a lawsuit from a company that had a patent, "...for the creation and distribution of news releases via email." Along the way he shares some nutty statistics about the growing legal problem of frivolous patents.

Friday, April 20, 2012

My Timeshare Insider Book by Vincent Lehr

My Timeshare Insider is one of our clients. They are located in Las Vegas, NV and Vincent Lehr has recently published a very informative book about the Tips & Tricks of Timeshare ownership. See the video below:


My Timeshare Insider, Timeshare Tips & Tricks was written by an award-winning industry insider with more than a decade of experience with major companies. The book explains how to rent your timeshare, sell it, trade it for five-star resorts, and acquire reservations you never thought possible. Along with this valuable resource, readers can also consult the author's company, http://MyTimeshareInsider.com.


Also available on Amazon.com

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

On the Couch TV Show with Dr. John Demartini



Excellent information and advice on a variety of human subjects. I've read almost every one of John Demartini's books and I highly recommend any or all of them. -- Terry Minion

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Signs On The Internet And Getting Found On Page One Of Search Engines by Terry Minion


For almost 5 years, we've been working on getting our clients on page one of Google, Bing, Yahoo Search, and others. Everyone without exception seems to want that. Page 2 is not acceptable. We get it, yet there is a strange obsession with it at the same time.

Our company is Upward Trend Management Services, LLC. We go by Upward Trend because it is so much shorter and people remember us this way. We want to get all of our clients on a constant upward trend in getting noticed, getting attention, and getting more business. We do this organically without magic, smoke and mirrors, or paying for search hits.

We do it with content, which is organic, in the form of a website, blog, social media, e-newsletter, and video on YouTube. We do use a small number of meta tag keywords on the website, and we also do a small amount of search engine optimization, or SEO. such as Google Maps, Google Places, and some other Internet directories.

Sometimes people have unreasonable expectations of getting to page one of Google, and then they even expect to have several positions on that page too. If this were possible right out of the gate, we would be billionaires laying on the beach being served by a full staff. Yet, many people seem to think that just by having a website they will be immediately and forever on page one of Google. It would be the rarest of rare for this to happen that quickly, and it would have to be something so unique that there isn't anything else like it on the Internet.

The more unique your business or idea is, the easier it is to be on page one. I'll give you an example. I've had fun since I was a teenager with a name I made up, and that name is Delbert Farquart (far*kwart). So, when I signed up for eBay back in 2001, I used Delbert_Farquart as my screen name. Well, it is unique. Later, I also found someone in an Internet search with that name. I could hardly believe it, but it is true. Nonetheless, if you go to Google and type in 'Delbert Farquart,' I will be on page one. Unique is easy as pie.

Common is among the hardest to achieve the same result. The reason is that there are so many. If you do a search for, let's say, auto parts, and even if you put the name of the city and state you want searched, you will see the results are staggering. I just did this for Sacramento CA and it came up with 2,410,000 hits. Just as a comparison, Delbert Farquart had 30,200, and hardly any of those are actually farquart, but portions of that name.

Our name is unique if you use the whole name, but the searches don't work with the whole name unless you put quotation marks on either side of the name. Who does that? Upward Trend on the other hand is so common a phrase. Everyone would recognize that as a common phrase, yet we have been able to get on page one of search engines because of the number of signs we put out there, as well as the content. I'll elaborate.
 

Signs on the Internet

The simplest way that we explain the sheer volume of our services all in one package is to say that, when you decide to go into business, you put up a sign. If you want some more business, you put another sign at the end of the street, then one a few blocks away, then by the freeway, and so on. Pretty soon, you have signs all over town and people see them and know who you are even if they've never been in your business. We do this using a website, blog (another independent, yet linked website), social media including facebook, twitter, linkedin, YouTube channel and video and more. Over time we have so many signs for our clients out there on the Internet that have the potential to be found. Each post on facebook is a sign, each post on twitter, and linkedin is a sign, each post on the blog has its own URL (Internet address) and is a separate page on the Internet, the videos all have their own URL as well, and each page on the website has its own URL. The more signs, the better.

This is how we got a very common phrase like Upward Trend to reflect our company on page one. Plus we have links on all of our clients sites, so that is compound signage. Still, it took us about a year and a half, maybe two years to get on page one organically. Some names are even more common than this, and may take longer. For those types, it may serve to also create a budget for adwords on Google so that you can work ahead of the results organically.

See the rest of this article: Signs on the Internet

Saturday, April 14, 2012

10 Ways to Finance and Start a Business


Here's some great information about starting your business from the legendary Brian Tracy

Click here http://www.briantracy.com/noexcuse for a FREE chapter of my book No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline. One of the key questions that first-time business owners ask is how to finance a business. Watch this video to learn the 10 best and most common ways to help finance your business, whether it is for a small business or a big company.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Upward Trend Welcomes Precision Concrete Cutting of Northern California As Our Latest Trend Setter Package Client


Precision Concrete Cutting is the leader in uneven sidewalk repair. Our patented process stretches your budget, makes sidewalks ADA compliant, and eliminates trip and fall liability. Our sidewalk repairs typically save our clients 70-90% compared to sidewalk replacement.

With branches in San Mateo, Manteca and Sacramento, this northern California franchise of the national company Precision Concrete Cutting has just become the latest Upward Trend client for the Trend Setter package.

We will be building a new website focusing on the Northern California operation, also we will be adding a new blog, social media including facebook and twitter, a monthly newsletter. SEO optimization, video and a YouTube channel. Their current website is part of the nationwide corporate website at www.safesidewalks.com.

Look for more about this great company very soon.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Upward Trend Welcomes ABC Music Store & Academy As Latest Trend Setter Package Client

ABC Music Store & Academy is dedicated to providing you with an exceptional musical experience. Whether you are starting music lessons, continuing music lessons, renting a musical instrument, buying musical instruments, buying sheet music or music supplies, we are here to help.

We supply top quality musical instruments for school band programs and maintain a great selection of acoustic guitars, electric guitars, drum kits, violins, and pianos. All of our musical instruments are available for sale or rent-to-own.

Our facilities are conveniently located in the Southampton Shopping Center in Benicia and on First Street in Downtown Livermore. Each music store has over 2000 square feet of floor space that includes seven private music instruction studios and one large group music studio.

ABC’s music instructor faculty includes over 25 experienced professional musicians who are active in national and international performance. In addition, over a dozen of our music teachers are credentialed with PhD, Masters, or BA Degrees. We offer full in-house repair services for most musical instruments and provide classes on care and maintenance.

Upward Trend is pleased to announce that ABC Music Store & Academy has become our latest Trend Setter Package client. Their current website is www.ABCmusiclivermore.com. We will be building a brand new website, adding a new blog, managing and expanding their social media including facebook, twitter, linkedin, adding a YouTube channel, providing video and a monthly email newsletter, along with SEO and consulting all for one low monthly amount.

Look for more about ABC Music Store & Academy very soon!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Personal Philosophy & The Idea Of Competition by Terry Minion

Our personal philosophy is but a collection of experience and repetitive thought. It is what we currently believe. It is also our attitude. Our attitude is how we view and respond or react to the world around us. I've always liked the analogy of what an airplane pilot learns. The pilot learns that the airplane's attitude is always relative to the horizon. Level flight is equal to the horizon, whereas, any other position of the plane is something that should be being done on purpose.

Our attitudes are like that as well. If instead of the horizon, we call it feeling good or our natural well-being, then anything other than this is in some manner away from how we truly want to be. You may have even heard people say such things as, "they're in a nose dive," or "they're going to crash and burn if they don't change," or "fly straight and level."

Truly, our attitude is simply how we choose to look at the world or at something, and this determines our response or reaction in every circumstance. The key word here is choose. At any time are choosing to react or respond, to be angry or happy, sad or joyful. Our attitude comes from what we believe and a belief is just a thought that we keep thinking over and over again until it becomes dominant within us.

This means that our personal philosophy, our attitude, and our beliefs can and do change as we learn and grow. Many times people hold onto beliefs and attitudes that no longer serve them--even holding them for many years and causing them to react in a way that causes them pain and is away from their natural well being.



My own personal philosophy has changed in one area that has changed my entire life and that is changing from the idea of competition to one of creating partnerships.

Competition is generally fear. It is a belief that there is scarcity or not enough and we must compete over what exists in order for us to survive, or win whatever it is we are currently competing over. This view of lack permeates our society when if we but look around us in nature, there is such abundance that it is beyond counting.

Consider the air we breathe, the grains of sand, the water on this planet--not only the surface area of it, but the depth of it as well. Consider that there are things in motion that we have nothing whatsoever to do with. For example, we don't make trees grow, or plants, or flowers bloom. The most we can do is tend to them or not. Indeed, there is such abundance when we begin to see abundance that to look at the idea of having to compete for what little there is becomes ridiculous.

Yet, we are taught this idea of lack and the need to compete. We are taught it from birth, and even as we grow and get older it continues. It is something that it appears that the majority of the world believes in. It is on the news, the radio, the television, sports--it is everywhere. Or so it would seem. Truth is that there are many who believe in abundance and have lived their lives that way. It is absolutely a choice.


Competition versus partnering

I spent most of my career in the automobile industry at the dealer level in sales and sales management. In that environment competition is the name of the game; however, instead of competition, I have come to believe more in abundance and one of the ways that I practice this is by partnering instead of competing. I've now been practicing this since the early 1980's. Here are some examples:

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Upward Trend Has A Redesigned Website


Jean and Christian, our awesome graphic designers have updated our website with a whole new look. Check it out at www.upwardtrend.org or www.trendsetterpackage.com

Thursday, April 5, 2012

New Alpha Alarm and Audio Inc Blog Is Now Live


Upward Trend has just completed Alpha Alarm & Audio's brand new blog. Check it out at http://alphaalarm.blogspot.com. And check out their website to learn more about Alpha Alarm & Audio, Inc. at www.alphaaa.com

Monday, April 2, 2012

Wendy VanHatten Is A Personal Writing Coach



Writing is a labor of love as well as a journey. It’s how you get there that matters. Throughout my career, I have been a magazine and book editor, author, freelance contributor, travel writing course consultant, professional blogger and even a college professor - but I have not done it alone. I have utilized a writing coach.

To a serious author, the value of a writing coach is priceless. It is an investment in yourself. A good coach helps a writer with character development, story lines, prompts, critiquing, and overall skills, but a great coach is serious about taking you to that next level. There is a difference between sympathy and empathy on your writing journey. I know. I have been there.

I will help you with the journey. My personal writing coach program is ideal for fiction writers, essayists, nonfiction authors, and bloggers. From your first idea to the final edit, I personalize my work with you and draw upon my experience to help you reach your personal writing and publishing goals.

No matter what you are doing…jump starting your novel, becoming more serious about getting your memoir on paper, turning your blog into a readable book or eBook or finishing your how-to manual…as your writing coach, I will:


·         help you identify and prioritize your writing goals
·         show you how to overcome challenges that interfere with your writing progress
·         offer suggestions and critiques to improve your writing
·         hold you accountable to drive you to the next level


You will get my personal time and investment with:

·         three feedback emails per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for six months
·         one half-hour phone session per month regarding your writing
·         my review of 20 pages (double spaced, 12 font) of your writing per month
·         additional suggestions and prompts regarding your writing


Additionally, as you continue in your journey, you can use: 

·         Free writing guide to assist you in tracking your writing
·         A 10% discount on proofreading and editing services
·         A 10% discount on any additional critiques
·         A 10% discount on any online writing courses offered by me
·         Referral bonus. Refer friends and colleagues to me and once their program is paid in full, you receive your cash back bonus.


My rates are affordable and can be customized to fit your specific needs.  

·         One to one phone or face to face consultation: $50 per hour (one time per project or manuscript)
·         Creative editing or critiquing with recommendations: $50 per hour (one time per project or manuscript)
·         Complete Personal Writing Coach program: $100 per month for six month period


Contact her at wvanhatten@gmail.com or at 707-685-9478 to discuss your needs and where you are in your process. From there she will work together with you to formulate the best plan for your journey.