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How to Penetrate Any Market As I begin to write this short report, I'm feeling rather thoughtful. Recently, I have been busy preparing for my wedding. And as you know, wedding preparations can be overwhelming at times. I wanted to avoid all that stress, so I signed up for a bridal package 9 months in advance so that everyone has more time to prepare for the events that are coming up. Unfortunately, things didn't happen smoothly. Without going too much into the details, let's just say that we had to eventually sign up with another service provider to put things right. On the bright side of things, the second batch of service providers delivered way beyond our expectations and we are very pleased with how things are going so far. Anyway, recent events got me thinking about the various aspects of running the business. I was sitting with my notepad in hand in the middle of the night and just wrote what came to mind. I started by asking myself... What is at the core of each business? A business is only possible, when the Law of Giving is in operation. It is not possible to run a business, if there is no one to give and no one to take. It's a simple law that states that the more you give, the more you receive. Let's see how that works in business. Imagine setting up a sales page that offers just 1 product at the price of $37. You drive a hundred targeted visitors to the sales page, and no one buys. So what do you do? (Assuming that you know you are getting targeted visitors.) You can either decrease the price, or improve on the offer. At $37 a pop, you won't be making much if you lower your price. So you decide to improve on your offer. You advertise two more additional (exclusive) bonuses in your offer, and then drive another hundred prospects to your sales page. Imagine that you get 1 sale out of a hundred targeted prospects. That's a 1% conversion rate. In a real world scenario, it's not uncommon to get a 1% conversion rate. To improve on your conversion rate, you simply have to offer more to your customers. Eventually, you get to the point when your offer becomes IRRESISTABLE. That's when you experience conversion rates that blow through the roof (as high as 5 to 7%). See how the law of giving is at work here? The more you give to others, the more you give to yourself. I guarantee it, you will find yourself making a lot more sales if you think of how to give more to your customers. Now the question becomes, "What can I really give to my customers?" That depends on factors such as your creativity and your willingness to give. The important point to remember here is that ideally, you should be giving something that you know your customer wants, or desire to have. That is easier said than done. Even large organizations have to come down to paying money (thousands of dollars) to get customer surveys done. And even then, some still get it wrong. If you are a small business owner, like I am, then you don't really have the resources to engage external consultants or survey companies to help you get into the "mind" of customers. But you can always bypass this costly process just by doing some "soul searching". Just sit quietly by yourself with a pen and paper in hand. If nothing comes to mind, just relax and reflect. If still nothing comes to mind, just set the pen and paper aside and continue tomorrow. Do that for ten to fifteen minutes each day. As you sit and reflect, you soon find that lots of ideas come to you. Just write them down in your trusty notepad. Eventually, you will arrive at answers that you never thought you would come up with. You will come to know what you have in you, that you can give to your customers. How do you think I come up with the materials for this report? I wouldn't have gotten any ideas for this report if I'm always running around like a headless chicken and keeping myself occupied with stuff that doesn't really matter. The ideas came to me a bit at a time, and I had them written down on my notepad. Now I'm just drawing on my previous thoughts and expanding on them. For a few minutes each day, I just sit, think, and reflect. You see, when I sat down and think about the 2 vendors who provided me with the wedding services, I was trying to pin down what went wrong. What is so different between the two service providers? Then it dawned on me that it all comes down to one word - conscience. CONSCIENCE Ultimately, as consumers, we will all choose the provider who can do a better job. What makes a provider able to surpass another in terms of doing a better job? Is it because one possess superior technical skills? No. Usually, after a few years in the business, most service providers would have obtained a fair level of experience and it's very hard to separate one from the other based solely on the level of skill. Is it because of money then? Is it a guarantee that a service provider who is better paid will definitely provide higher quality services? While it is true that the better service providers do charge higher fees, there is certainly no guarantee. Just think. How many times have you paid good money for something and later felt that you have been short changed? I believe you must have had that experience before. In other words, money is not the deciding factor when it comes to doing a good job. In my opinion, money has NOTHING to do with doing a good job. A good service provider with a clear conscience will ALWAYS strive to do a good job, regardless of the conditions. They understand that money is just a by product of doing a job well. So they focus all their attention on serving the customer, and getting the job done. They will set aside whatever ego they have, and do their best to do a good job. Money doesn't even come into the picture. The first bridal studio that we engaged forgot that people are they reason they are in business. They focused on the money and forgot about their customers. In the end, we turned our backs and walked. As I think back, maybe it was a blessing in disguise that we had to go through this experience. I learned some valuable lessons about business, and I now have a clearer picture of what I want to achieve with my online businesses.
The above has now become my guiding principles. Yes, in business, you have to make money. Otherwise, you can't make a living. But understand that it is also perfectly possible to be making a good living, while still having a clear conscience. I highly recommend that you make these your guiding principles too. I promise you, your business will grow and grow and grow. Let's see how the above principles apply to a real world situation. Ever heard of the health, fitness and weight loss niche? Here is what I hear most people say when they encounter this niche.
And the list of excuses go on and on and on... While these naysayers are making up all those excuses, entrepreneurs like Carolyn Hansen are plugging away to gain headway in the marketplace. So who is Carolyn Hansen?
Carolyn is a client (and now a good friend) of mine who is very active in the health and fitness niche. Like everyone else, she started out knowing nothing about Internet Marketing. But she isn't going to let that stop her from doing what she wanted to do - which is to genuinely help others obtain the health and beauty that they are looking for. As a fitness center owner for 3 decades and an ex-bodybuilding champ, she is in a very good position to provide the answers that the market is looking for. So she started learning as much as she can about Internet Marketing with complete dedication. Check out some stuff that she does for her clients (without her clients knowing):
Is her hard work and dedication paying off? You bet! Her website, Fitness Weight Loss now ranks on page 1 of Google for the keywords "fitness weight loss" (without quotes), out of over 59 million results.
And she has numerous press releases and hundreds of articles published all over the Internet. She has also started making sales on a consistent basis from the traffic she receives, and from the relationships that she has built up with other partners. She now has 5 completed products, and a fitness coaching program - a few of which has been accepted by Clickbank. If you are interested in helping Carolyn promote her work, just visit Fitness Weight Loss and send her an email. She's a friendly person to talk to :) Carolyn is also organizing a give away event on the 14th of August, 2009. At the event, she is giving away some of her best stuff so that everyone can have a preview of what she has to offer. The products will be available for download at no charge whatsoever. So mark your calendar - 14th of August, 2009 and visit http://healthandfitnessgiveawayevent.com I brought up Carolyn as an example because she is the perfect role model. Here is living proof that you can penetrate any market as long as you are
As you read this, you probably realize that I didn't include any marketing "mumbo jumbo". The truth is, you can penetrate any market you want with these simple guidelines. I remember a millionaire once commenting, "Business in itself is simple. It's human beings that make it complicated." So don't over complicate things. Always remember that you are in business to help others. When you figure out how to provide solutions, and be of real help to others, the money follows you automatically. Start doing things for your customers, even if on the surface, nobody seems to know. But at the end of the day, your customers WILL know what you have done for them. Your efforts will be "written" all over your business. Trust that others will see. When they see what you have done for them, they will come and do business with you again and again. Just go deep within yourself and ask if you would like to be served by such service providers. You already know the answer. So if you want to penetrate a market or if you want your business to grow and grow, then be a service provider with clear conscience and complete dedication. Allow me to re-emphasize that you CAN penetrate any market you want. Your customers will get to know you at a more personal level, and feel you as a genuine and sincere person. Ultimately, you will be creating solutions, helping more people, making more money, and leading a more fulfilling life. I am not going to wish you success. I KNOW that you are successful. How successful you want to be is up to you to decide.
P.S. If you are looking to build more links and partnerships, you can always use the Blog Marketing Tool. It now has over 80,000 blogs in the database. |
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