First I’d like to apologise to all the ladies who, having read the title of this article, have jumped to the conclusion that I’m nothing but a sexist pig. I’m sorry, but the metaphor chosen seemed appropriate at the time and was the idea that sparked off this article. In the spirit of equalities please feel free to substitute ‘guys’ for ‘girls’ in my title.

Imagine after much time spent in bars, you reckon you’ve finally stumbled across the ultimate chat-up line. How would you have reached that plateau? And how would you know when you’ve got there?

To answer the first point, presumably you’ve worked your way through an extremely long list of the crummiest chat-up lines available. You’ve noted the responses received and systematically refined lines where you’ve got smiles, and dumped lines where you’ve had drinks poured over you. You know when you’ve finally reached your goal, because whenever you use the line, more often than not you end up with either a phone number or a date.

If you haven’t guessed yet, what you’ve been doing is testing and tracking. We test and track in every aspect of our lives. For example, to determine what food we like to eat, what clothes we like to wear and what cars we like to drive.

Just think about it for a moment and you’ll see I’m right!

Testing and tracking guide us in the right direction, and help us make the right decisions. So it stands to reason, we should employ it liberally in our business endeavours. But do you?

How are you ever going to achieve the most effective results with your business, if you don’t have a clue which advertising or promotion is working the best?

It stands to reason, if you’re running two promotions in parallel and the return on investment (ROI) of one is much higher than the other, your long-term results are going to be greater if you ditch the worst performer and concentrate all your resources on the other. If you didn’t know which was better you’d probably still be making some money, but not as much as you could have made.

You simply must know which promotions are effective for you and which aren’t!

There are 3 main ways you can track your ads:

1. Use Alternate Links
This method is fairly straightforward and can be achieved in a number of ways. One method is to create a new web page for every ad you place, that redirects to you’re offer page. You can then simply check your server logs to see which of your ad pages has been visited more often.

2. Install a Tracking Script
Take a look through the many script archives available online and you should find something suitable. There are both free and paid-for scripts that will do the job. If you’re not up to installing the script yourself, then you’ll probably need the help of a programmer to do it for you.

3. Use a Tracking Service
This is by far the easiest solution. Why spend a lot of time organising your own tracking, when for a modest fee you can let someone else do it for you?

Start tracking your ads and promotions today. Ditch the under-performers and pile your resources into the ones that have proved they work. Follow this simple strategy and begin to see your bank balance multiply exponentially.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: advert tracking, conversion, return on investment, site performance, testing

A gangster enters a darkened room with his lieutenant. In the corner, tied up and cowering on a small wooden chair sits his foreign accountant.

“Where’s the million dollars you embezzled from me?” barks the gangster.

His lieutenant steps forward, “Boss, the guy’s from overseas and doesn’t speak any English. I’ll have to translate for you.”

The gangster pulls out a hand gun and shoves its muzzle into the accountant’s temple. “Ask him where my money is” he commands.

The lieutenant speaks to the accountant in a foreign tongue, and in the same language the accountant yells: “Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you! The money’s hidden behind a false panel in my office wall, right behind my desk!”

“Well” says the gangster “What did he say?”

“He says you’re bluffing Boss and you don’t have the guts to pull the trigger” smiles the lieutenant.

There’s no doubt about it, not being able to make yourself understood can get you in an awful mess!

In my experience the root of most problems, be they in the workplace or in the home, rest with communication difficulties.

How many issues could be resolved quickly and easily if people just learnt how to communicate effectively with each other?

Poor communication is responsible for the breakdown in many relationships, both business and personal.

In the words of a past British Telecom advertising campaign encouraging people to use their telephones more often – “It’s good to talk!”

But even more importantly this should be developed to – “It’s good to be understood!”

If the other person doesn’t understand the message you’re trying to put across, it can lead to some pretty extreme results, as suggested in my opening.

Things can get a little easier when communicating face-to-face with someone. They have the opportunity to question and ask you to repeat things they don’t understand. However, where predominantly one-way communication takes place, as in the Internet business environment, things become somewhat harder.

So what strategies can you employ to overcome this hurdle?

Firstly, you can provide as many opportunities as practicable to facilitate the transformation of customer communication from a one-way to a two-way process. You could achieve this by prominently displaying you’re contact details and positively encouraging people to communicate their questions and concerns with you by telephone, fax or e-mail.

You could also expand upon this by using online services such as ICQ and Yahoo Messenger, which facilitate real time conversation.

Secondly, you could critically assess, review and edit the message that your website is communicating to your potential customers. This is not just a case of changing the text of your sales copy. The design and layout of your site can often transmit a strong message that may not always be positive in the eyes of others. However, the text alone is a good place to start.

Perhaps the easiest way of assessing the effectiveness of your sales copy is by trying it out on other people. Print it out and have your friends, family or colleagues read through it.

Do they have a question after reading it?

Are any passages confusing?

Using this approach will discover potential for communications breakdown that can be resolved quite simply. If you can anticipate what people want to know and provide the answers before they ask the questions, you’re well on the way to establishing effective communication with your customers.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: being understood, communicating, communication

Author’s Note: I wrote this article some years ago after returning from Jamaica where we went to celebrate my wife’s birthday.

Yes I’m back! Refreshed and revitalised after a much-needed holiday on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. And being the sad bugger I am, didn’t miss the opportunity to find some inspiration for another article to entertain you.

I returned with many great memories of this lush green Isle. But perhaps the aspect that most impressed me was the general attitude of its inhabitants to the world and the challenges of their life. The common response to almost everything was “No problem!”

“Could I have one of those please?”

“No problem man!”

“How do I do this?”

“No problem man!”

“Where do I need to go?”

“No problem man!”

Get the idea?

And just to emphasize the fact, the phrase is also emblazoned on many of the T-shirts found hanging outside souvenir shops to entice the tourists.

Unlike the requisite “Have a nice day” you may often here, I really believe that the “No problem” response is really meant and actually engrained in the culture. I spent some lazy afternoons enjoying the sun and the company of some of the locals. Their laid-back approach to the challenges of work and life in general has a lot to commend it. I wonder how their statistics for stress-related heart disease compare to other parts of the world?

As you’ve probably guessed, I found their attitude refreshing compared to what I’ve been used to. It got me thinking “How could I reflect this concept upon the business world?”

I guess it most closely relates to the concept that it’s OK to make a mistake, it really is no problem! In fact, when you think about it there are no mistakes only learning opportunities. I mean, you never learn anything from doing things right all the time!

Yes it’s OK to have failures, as long as you learn from them and take that knowledge forward. Remember, you never learn much from a mistake the second time you make it.

Don’t let problems or failures defeat you. You’d be very lucky indeed if you went through life and things never went wrong for you from time to time. On those occasions when the proverbial does hit the fan just chill! Try to be philosophical about it and retain your optimism.

Don’t misunderstand me here! I’m not proposing that you should move to the other end of the spectrum, where you’re so laid-back you’re horizontal. You know what I mean, fast asleep and snoring. In that position you probably wouldn’t care about anything, which is a dangerous place to be.

There’s an important difference between not caring and not been phased by anything. You can’t make it in business unless you do care. You need to care about many things, like your customers and the service you provide them. Just don’t let it keeps you awake nights.

Try it on for size. The next time something happens and you think the world is out to get you, don’t react. Don’t think of the challenge as a problem, think of it as an opportunity to learn and grow. It’ll be one less problem area you’ll have to deal with in the future.

I hope you find this approach brings you comfort and positive opportunities. If it doesn’t, then hey, no problem man!

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: learning, opportunity, positivity

I remember a particular relaxing family holiday in Portugal. And yes it was very agreeable, thank you for asking. One afternoon I was lazing by the pool, as you do, and for want of something else to do began thinking about ideas for an article. As time goes on, it certainly seems harder trying to think of original and entertaining ideas to write about. But I digress.

Anyway, I was lying there sleepily gazing at my surroundings and longing for inspiration. Not that a hundred bloated pink bodies lying around a swimming pool in the mid-day sun are very inspirational.

I wasn’t one of them by the way, bloated and pink I mean. Well, I may have been a little bloated, but you have to partake of the local hospitality don’t you? It’s the polite thing to do isn’t it?

The Sunlight was flashing off the surface of the pool, interrupted by occasional ripples from the half-hearted strokes of a solitary swimmer. Then I had a thought! What is there, if anything, about water that could inspire us to achieve more in our lives?

I know, sad aren’t I?

When you think about it though, water is one of the greatest unstoppable forces of nature. It’s simply undefeatable. You just can’t get rid of the stuff! It never gives up, never shows any quarter. It just keeps coming back for more.

Throw it away and it’ll come back and rain on you. Try and imprison it behind the most technically advanced dam and you still have to let some of it escape for fear of it overcoming its captor and causing devastation.

The stuff has very few equals. Are you with me?

What a remarkable quality to have. If you could emulate anywhere near that sort of resolve, then how could you possibly fail at anything?

There is only one thing that’s ever certain in business. If you give in, you will definitely fail. You must be strong and self-disciplined, and come back fighting again and again just like the water. As long as you stick with it, you will eventually reap your rewards.

It’s easy to give in, but then it’s always easy to fail. It’s so very much harder to find your success. If it wasn’t, then everyone would be a success and nobody would be striving for anything. What a dismal prospect!

You have a choice. You can achieve success in your personal and business life if you really want to. But you have to be persistent and stick with it until all the pieces of your own personal jigsaw fit into place.

Just think about that, the next time you pour yourself a cool clear glass of water.

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: determination, perseverence, self-belief

The technique I’m going to explain in this article may be considered pretty radical by some. But before you decide I’ve gone to the bottom of the garden to visit the fairies, please hear me out.

Sport Psychology has become extremely important in the sporting world. But don’t be misled into thinking that this is only something that’s of interest to sports men and women. There are many aspects to sport psychology, and I believe some can assist even the humble online entrepreneur to achieve massive success. The most useful I’ve found is the idea of ‘visualisation’.

The human brain is a complex organ that’s capable of many tremendous feats, but it can also be fooled. In particular, the brain can’t tell the difference between reality and something that’s vividly imagined. To demonstrate what I mean, try the following simple experiment for yourself:

Close your eyes and imagine you’re holding a large juicy ripe orange. Now imagine yourself starting to peel that orange. Imagine the thin spray of juice from the peel as you insert a thumbnail. Imagine the sharp fresh aroma of orange that fills the air as you pull sections of peel from the soft juicy flesh. Now imagine the sticky juice running down your fingers as you pull away one of the moist orange segments, and the sharp sweet taste exploding on your tongue as you take your first bite.

If you’ve been able to vividly imagine these things taking place, then you’ll almost certainly find yourself salivating wildly. I know I am, and that’s just by writing this passage!

Your brain’s reaction has been no different than if you’d actually peeled that orange. It’s been unable to distinguish this as just your imagination, and has reacted by sending a signal to your saliva glands to expect something delicious. Now this example may have nothing to do with your business, but it ably demonstrates my point.

So come on Jeff, tell us how we can use this phenomenon to make ourselves a fortune?

Choose a particular skill or area where you wish to improve, or simply choose one of your goals. You do have goals don’t you? Spend at least 5 minutes everyday relaxing in a quiet place, visualising yourself completing your task or goal. That’s all it takes, but you must do it regularly.

One of the reasons why this technique is so successful, is that you’ll normally always imagine yourself being successful in whatever you choose to think about. I mean, why would you want to imagine yourself failing or doing something badly? Doing things correctly time after time is a necessity in any learning process, and is a tremendous confidence builder.

When you come to perform your chosen task in reality, your subconscious mind will be expecting you to perform it perfectly, as you have many times before in your imagination. You’ll automatically have the confidence of an expert.

An added bonus is that while your imagining your new found successes, you’ll also be building a strong positive mental attitude. It’s an inescapable fact that you become what you think about. So, if you think you’re going to fail all the time, then as sure as eggs are eggs you will.

You may think this idea sounds totally foolish, but don’t dismiss it out of hand. With a little creative thought you can employ this technique to improve your performance in many business skills and help you achieve your goals. You do have goals don’t you?

I’m not suggesting that visualisation can replace traditional practice and experience. However, when used in conjunction with it, you can rapidly accelerate your progress and success. I’ve used this technique myself and am convinced it makes a difference. It could seriously make you a fortune. Go on, have some fun and give it a try!

Be successful!

Technorati Tags: goals, visualisation, visualization

There’s an insurance company here in the UK who’ve been using an interesting marketing tactic in their television advertising recently. Now the casual observer may take the view that they’ve “lost their tiny minds”, because to the uninformed it may seem pretty crazy.

“So what have they been doing?” I hear you cry.

Well, when a customer rings them up for a quote if they know they can be beaten on price then they refer that customer to the competitor who can offer the best price.

I first came across this marketing tactic in a film called “Miracle on 34th Street”. This was the 1994 remake of the original 1947 film and starred Sir Richard Attenborough as Kriss Kringle. In the film ‘Dicky’ is employed by a top New York department store as Father Christmas. He is chastised by his employers when discovered referring customers to other stores who sell the toys that parents really want for their children.

I actually think this tactic is very clever; let me explain.

With easy access to the Internet it’s very easy for customers to do quick market research and price comparisons before they part with their hard-earned cash. Any sensible company must realise this and make allowances for it in their marketing strategy.

So our clever insurance company knows that when a customer asks for a quote there’s a very good chance they’re going to be contacting their competitors as well. If they can’t win the price war then they lose a sale and derive no benefit from the transaction.

But what if they could lose the sale yet still win something out of the situation.

And that’s exactly what the insurance company is doing. By referring customers to their cheaper competitors they are winning the good will of those customers.

Who do you think the customer is going to remember; the company who sold them cheap insurance or the company who referred them to the cheapest provider, thus saving them a load of effort?

There’s a good chance that the customer will return in the future when the company might be better placed to do business with them. There’s also a good chance that they will tell their friends and family how great that company was to tell them where they could save money. And as you should know customer recommendations and referrals are priceless.

Is there a way you can take advantage of this tactic in your marketing?

It might take a little thinking outside the box, but I’m fairly sure that there are a number of ways this can be employed in Internet marketing. For example, clawing back an affiliate commission rather than just losing a sale. Give it some thought!

Be successful.

Technorati Tags: customer service, marketing tactics, referrals, testimonials