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By Terry Dean The normal business
process is to have a product, start looking for prospects, and make the sale. Guess What?
Normal businesses also don't work very well!
Let's turn business upside down!
If you would really love to have a radical change in your business, you are going to have
to make some radical changes in your methods.
One definition of insanity that I feel is especially appropriate for business owners to
understand is, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting to receive
different results."
If you continue to run your business in a "normal" way, you will always be
limited to "normal" results.
If you want to have "exceptional" results in your business, you are going to
have to put "exceptional" methods to work for you.
If you are like 99% of internet marketers I know, I will venture to bet that you have a
web site & product and that your biggest problem is building the traffic to your site.
I will also bet you aren't making very many sales!
What happens if we turn this process upside down?
What happens if we choose to find the prospects first...build a relationship with
them...and then find a product that they Dream about?
Everybody online appears to have a product. How many of them have an audience?
It is kind of funny...I always have people emailing me that they have an awesome product
they want to sell to the world. They just can't get anyone to visit their site.
I rarely ever have anyone saying, "I have too much traffic and I just don't know what
to sell." When they do email. I can guarantee you that those people are the easiest
people in the world to help.
If you have the traffic, all you have to do is ask them what they want. Then, find it for
them.
If you have a product, we have to figure out a way to get traffic to your site, set up the
sales process, and start making sales.
I am not saying this isn't possible. We do it all the time. What I am saying is that it is
the wrong way to do business on the net.
Let's turn it upside down.
Instead of starting out with a product, let's start out by figuring out what it is that
you are passionate about. What is it that is exciting in your life and that you have
experience and skills in?
What is it that gets your fire burning? Way too many people have decided to just follow
the pack instead of being creative and coming up with their own ideas.
Since the rest of the pack seems to be slowly moving away into oblivion (Over 95% of
internet sites are losing money), shouldn't you make a change of direction?
Once we figure out what it is that you love, let's decide where you can find other people
just like you.
Use the internet networking tools at your disposal...
Go to http://www.forumone.com to do keyword searches
of forums you can visit on this activity.
Go to http://www.dejanews.com to do the same for
newsgroups.
Visit http://www.liszt.com to find all the mailing
lists which deal with this topic.
Start visiting and subscribing to everything that has to do with your topic. Start
participating in the discussions which go on at these sites.
Find out what people are talking about the most in your subject. Which element is the most
popular? What is it that everyone is looking for online? If you don't find out by visiting
these groups, start asking some questions.
Spend some time at these sites...Start visiting web sites which come up in the
discussions. Make a list of things which each web site has - and what it doesn't have.
Once you know what it is people are looking for (from your participating in the discussion
groups) and have found out what it is that is lacking in most of the sites...
you now know how to get started. You can start building your business on Your USP (Unique
Selling Position).
Design a web site, or even better, hire a professional to do it for you. Make sure that
every part of it though deals with your chosen theme.
Note: I am very wary of giving specific examples in this article, because every time I do
I get dozens of people emailing me that they are going to do exactly what I wrote about.
Instead of following the theme of my article though, they all just want to set up the
business I gave an example of.
In this article, we are discussing the strategy itself, not any specific business or
industry. If you take time to start following what I am telling you here, every part of it
will become clearer as each step is taken.
Start having automated traffic tools such as free information, your own discussion
group or a specialized postcard site that deals with your theme.
Build up a community atmosphere and then invite visitors from all the groups you have been
participating in on a daily basis. Instead of trying to sell them something, just invite
them for the solutions which you have for free at your site.
Get the discussion group going on your site by picking a "Hot" element of
discussion that you keep seeing come up on the other boards. Have a specialized discussion
group instead of just a general one if you want to achieve high traffic from it.
Start up an Opt-In list where you will send out updates and free information on a daily,
weekly, or monthly basis.
At this point in time, you want to focus on building up a close relationship with your
visitors. You have not even chosen a product to have on your site yet. You are just
building relationships and loyal visitors.
After you have started building up this group, you can actually ask them what it is that
they want. Then, find it for them.
Either have it developed yourself or find someone who has it already. Then, do a Joint
Venture with the product owner and endorse the product to your list and your visitors.
Let them know how you sought out and found the best _______ on the market for them and how
you negotiated the best deal possible (10% off, A Free Bonus, etc.).
Note: This has to be real. You really do have to do your homework and find them the best
_________. You really do have to negotiate and try to get the best deal possible for them.
Don't let an ounce of deception come into play in any part of the process.
Watch your responses and sales skyrocket. What might have been a 1% sales response for the
original company now becomes a 10% response from your entire list of friends.
Once you have the traffic and the list, It isn't hard at all to find the products. They
will constantly be knocking at your door.
Would you rather be the person sitting back with his choice of people to work with or do
you want to continue to be someone with a product looking for a customer.
The average web site may not operate this way, but do you want the results of the average
web site?
Turn it upside down!
Terry Dean is the webmaster at
http://www.bizpromo.com To find out what I use to develop each of my $10,000 a month
interent ideas, go to http://www.bizpromo.com/internet.htm
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