Issue #2155
- WEALTHY: An industry shakeup leaves choice stocks ripe for the picking (Rick Pendergraft)
- HEALTHY: 5 natural pain relievers (Shane Ellison)
- WISE: Mark Twain on babies
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- A 4-step process for getting chronic complainers to stop whining (Michael Masterson)
- "What’s that beeping noise?" and other teleseminar pitfalls to watch out for (Alex Mandossian)
- It’s Good to Know… about patriotism in the U.S.
- Add "scourge" to your vocabulary
Confidential Report: Disillusioned Trader Opens "Money-Floodgates" to YOU…
Rob Banks Legally… With an Inside Job!
Are You Ready for a "Smash and Grab" on the World’s "Hidden" Money-Mountain?
Great! The getaway car’s leaving…
Back Up the Truck
The mortgage meltdown made front page news for the entire month of August. Subprime lenders (who make loans to those with less than perfect credit) are disappearing faster than George Bush’s advisors.
What this means is that any financial company with a mortgage division got hammered by the markets. This included those that have subprime business, such as Countrywide (CFC), and those that don’t, including Washington Mutual (WM). I understand why Countrywide got clobbered, because their ability to generate profits by selling off their bundles of securitized loans to investors just took a serious hit, thus impairing revenues. But Washington Mutual, with little exposure (by comparison), seemed to get lumped in with the troublemakers and punished unfairly.
Since investors over-reacted and dumped shares of these stronger lending institutions, it offers the opportunity to pick them at the bottom and wait for the ride back up. And as evidenced by the Fed’s recently cutting the discount rate (the rate at which the banks borrow money from the Federal Reserve) and Bank of America’s $2 billion cash infusion to Countrywide (America’s largest mortgage lender), no one is going to let one of the country’s largest banks go belly-up. A byproduct of the shakeout in the industry is less competition for the big banks for mortgage business, and tighter lending standards should mean fewer write-offs in the future.
Look at the largest banks, such as Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and Wachovia (WB), since they have national exposure and aren’t concentrated in certain housing markets. Avoid regional banks, since they may be fully exposed to local housing market downturns.
[Ed. Note: Rick Pendergraft is a market expert and two-time winner of the "Top Trader" award at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In ETR's free e-zine, Investor's Daily Edge, Rick and a select group of market specialists will give you to-the-point analyses and tell you how you should act TODAY to make the most money with the least risk.]
"A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother."
Mark Twain
Dealing With Workplace Babies
What do you do with a chronic complainer, an employee who is always dumping his problems on you? Please note: I’m not talking about the industrious individual who has a rare and significant problem that forces him to come to you. I’m talking about whiners.
The ceaseless complainer takes your time. He steals your energy. And he diverts your attention. If you try to help, you discover that the problems seem to escalate. The more attention you pay to him, the more things he finds to complain about.
Your impulse to help him is human, but troublesome. It is based on some bad but commonly held ideas. For example:
- The employee’s job is to show up in the morning, willing to work. Your job is to figure out what he should do, show him how to do it, and motivate him to do it with enthusiasm.
- There is something in the relationship of boss/employee that requires caretaking. You are in a superior position. You make more money. You have more power. You have control over some aspects of your employee’s life. This creates for you a responsibility. If he needs help, you should be able to provide it. This notion is the workplace equivalent of noblesse oblige.
If you support such notions, you will get such behavior. The chronic complainer will show up in the morning. But with a bagful of problems. Unless and until you can solve them, he won’t feel like he has to work very hard. He’ll do what he’s asked, but no more.
Besides being misguided by the improper thinking described above, you may be tempted to take care of such a person because you are challenged by the problems he brings you. What is more fun than fixing something someone else can’t?
It’s fun – but don’t do it. If you make it a habit, you make two mistakes simultaneously: You waste your valuable time by taking it away from a more profitable endeavor, and you reinforce the nonproductive behavior of your employee.
According to the experts, workplace babies are caused by workplace mommies. If you resist the temptation to nurture and suckle each employee-child who comes to you, you’ll do yourself and your business a big favor.
"People become babies because we let them. They’ll kick up a fuss so we’ll do whatever they want," says Hank Trisler, author of No Bull Selling and No Bull Sales Management. And Larry Schulz, author of Selling When You Hate to Sell, says, "A child is quick to blame someone else. It’s up to the manager to point the employee in the right direction."
You don’t have to be rude to the complainer. But you do have to let him know that his complaints will not work with you. Listen briefly, but don’t indulge him. The main thing is to give the chronic complainer the message that business is not about him and his problems. Let him know that the solutions must come from him.
In the sales arena, most objections are merely camouflage for a deeper problem: The complainer is afraid of something in the sales process. He masks his fear by mentioning objections that he hears – and the objections never end. The real problem is that he hasn’t the guts to close the sale, but he’s afraid to say so.
"Lies are convenient because they keep [salespeople] out of action," Steve Chandler, author of 17 Lies That Are Holding You Back, told Selling Power magazine. "But a good sales manager can point out these falsehoods and allow someone’s self-esteem to keep climbing."
I’ve run into my share of chronic complainers over the years, and I have tried all kinds of ways to respond to them. Basically, nothing works except a firm and direct reorientation. You have to let them know that your job is not to sympathize with their troubles but to demand and receive performance from them. Ask them if they can understand that. If they cannot, fire them. If they can, tell them very directly that the next time they have a problem they need to do the following things before coming to you:
- Ascertain the real problem. You don’t want to waste time and energy fixing situations that aren’t really broken.
- Define the problem as precisely as possible. The finer the definition, the easier it will be to discover a solution.
- Come up with at least three possible solutions.
- Decide which is the best solution, and explain that decision.
Make this a formal procedure and enforce it. You may get a little grumbling at first, but before long your complainer will be trained to solve his own problems, and you’ll hear from him less and less as time goes by.
If you are lucky, he will retrain himself to be good at overcoming objections. This will make him a much stronger salesperson or problem solver.
[Ed. Note: Get Michael Masterson's insights into becoming successful in your business and personal life, achieving financial independence, and accomplishing all your goals on his brand-new website. You'll find updates on all of Michael's books, news on upcoming ETR events, Michael's blog, and room to send in your comments and questions. Check it out today.]
Every family has secrets.
Most are none of your business. But when Vanguard’s family secrets could make you richer, it’s your business to learn them. Learn a few of the Vanguard Family Secrets revealed in this little book, and it will become clear to you how you can double your profits and cut your risks in half! And it’s absolutely FREE. Let Dan Wiener prove it to you. Get your new report now!
Reader Feedback: "Thank you for the advice."
"Thank you for the advice in your "Pet Psychic Asks Wrong Question" article. I appreciate it greatly. In addition to the psychic pet readings you mentioned in the article, I teach meditation & animal communication, along with pet first-aid. (Hence the need for a classroom that you questioned.) If you are in a nutty mood one day, you are welcome to call for a free reading."
Erika Alexander
3 Common Teleseminar Problems – and How to Solve Them
Teleseminars are a fast, easy, and extremely economical way to increase your sales and profits. Best of all, as I explained on Saturday, you can conduct them from the comfort of your home, your office, a hotel room, or virtually anywhere else in the world.
As easy as teleseminars are to put together, there are a few pitfalls that can ruin your callers’ experience. But by knowing about them ahead of time, you can prevent them from becoming a problem.
1. Annoying Entry Beeps
It’s common for people who are participating in a teleseminar discussion to pop in and out – and the last thing you want is for that telltale "beep" to announce their arrival. Not only does it interfere with the listening experience for your callers, but if you package and sell the recording you’re going to have all those beeps. To prevent this, I always mute the participants. That way, if someone arrives late – or comes and goes – it doesn’t distract from the discussion.
2. Starting a Call Late
If you set a teleseminar for 4:00 and it doesn’t get underway until 4:10, your callers will think you’re disorganized. Plus, because they’ve blocked out a specific hour for the call, they’ll be frustrated if (a) they don’t get the full hour’s worth of ideas or (b) the call ends late and interferes with the next thing on their schedule. To make sure this doesn’t happen, I tell everyone to go to time.gov to "synchronize their watches."
3. No Back-Up Recording
Not recording the call is not an option. For one thing, you want to be able to promise participants that they’ll get a copy. Plus, you can use the recording to create an additional product. If your primary recording source fails or gets messed up by something like a lightning storm, all that valuable content will be lost forever – and you’ll look bad because you won’t be able to keep your promise to your participants. So I always hire someone in another part of the country to create a back-up recording.
Keep an eye out for these common pitfalls and your teleseminars will run smoothly and pull in plenty of money.
[Ed. Note: Alex Mandossian, CEO of Heritage House Publishing Inc., has generated over $233 million in sales and profits for his clients and partners via "electronic marketing" media such as TV infomercials, online catalogs, 24-hour recorded messages, voice/fax broadcasting, teleseminars, webinars, podcasts, and Internet marketing since 1991. You can get Alex's insights into information marketing this fall at ETR's Info Marketing Bootcamp. To get free instant access to Alex Mandossian's blog on Electronic Marketing, please visit AlexMandossian.com.]
Hidden Aspirin Facts – Safe Alternatives to Troublesome Pain
By Shane "The People’s Chemist" Ellison
Instead of popping open a bottle of aspirin the next time you have a headache, consider that aspirin may not be the best thing for your pain.
Contrary to popular belief, Bayer did not "invent" aspirin. Mother Nature did.
Thousands of years ago, humans witnessed injured animals gnawing on the bark of white willow trees. Those early "chemists" found that drinking a tea made from the bark got rid of pain. And around 200 B.C., Greek physician Hippocrates prescribed willow bark to his patients to reduce pain and fever. Eventually, Big Pharma got their greedy hands into the mix with the synthesis of a molecule known as salicin – one of many ingredients found in white willow bark.
Big Pharma could not market salicin as their own because it is a natural ingredient, so they had to alter it a bit. Chemist Carl R. Gerhardt was the first to do so in 1853 by synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (ASA). Bayer trademarked this drug as aspirin in 1889 – but it is not nearly as safe as white willow bark. A small molecular change made for big dangers.
Aspirin depletes the body of life-saving nutrients (including folic acid, iron, potassium, sodium, and vitamin C), which can lead to anemia, birth defects, elevated homocysteine (a risk factor for heart disease), headache, depression, fatigue, hair loss, insomnia, diarrhea, shortness of breath, pale skin, suppression of the immune system, and even internal bleeding or death. The side effects are so severe that they can cause a higher death rate relative to those populations who do not take it.
Fortunately, you can get aspirin’s pain-relieving capabilities, and any purported cardiovascular benefits, without risk. Simply use the forgotten white willow bark tea. Other natural pain killers include ginger, cayenne, high dose MSM, and glucosamine sulfate. I’ve used them with great success for broken bones and the rare hangover.
[Ed. Note: Shane Ellison is an internationally recognized authority on therapeutic nutrition. Get his "Foundational Health Education" program to beat obesity, heart disease, and even Type II diabetes by clicking here. You can also read Shane's insights into what you can do to lead a healthier life by signing up for ETR's FREE natural health e-letter here.]
It’s Good to Know: About Patriotism in the U.S.
About six out of every 10 U.S. citizens own Americans flags, according to the National Retail Federation. Nearly four in 10 have patriotic bumper stickers.
Turn A Single $100 Investment Into A $2,000-A-Week Profit Machine
In the next seven days, 4,589 people will leave their jobs, never go back… and have all the money they will ever need.
I would tell you that these people are “very lucky,” but the fact of the matter is that there is no luck involved.
It’s happening everywhere. Ordinary people – including people who never finished school – starting their own businesses…and making in the neighborhood of $40,000… $60,000… even $100,000 or more a year.
Even though all these people are “ordinary” in some ways, one thing is certainly “out of the ordinary” about them:
Many used the same secret to start a business on less than $100. You can do it, too. Here’s how.
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Scourge
A "scourge" (SKURJ) – from the Latin for "thong" – is a whip used to punish or torture. It can also be a cause of widespread devastation (war, famine) or a person who inflicts severe suffering, vengeance, or criticism.
Example (as used by David Corn in a New York Times review of Bobby and J. Edgar by Burton Hersh): "Bobby [Kennedy], the family’s complicated sourpuss, hooked up with the redbaiting Joe McCarthy, then spun off as a crusading and corners-cutting scourge of labor corruption."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
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