*
Highly Recommended *
On
Thursday, May 11th, 2006 Michael Masterson held a private dinner
party for a small group of his closest friends and colleagues
in Boca Raton, Florida. Following the lavish meal, he looked
around the table and realized that a very high proportion of
those associates had become wealthy and successful by utilizing
a single secret.
It's
a secret that he's now explaining fully for the first time...
and that could allow you to create a business that will make
between $1 million and $100 million a year.
You
can discover Michael's secret here.
-
Patrick Coffey
"The
advice that is wanted is commonly not welcome and that
which is not wanted, evidently an effrontery."
-
Samuel Johnson
If
I Want Your Advice, I'll Ask For It
By
Bob Bly
The
other day DF, a freelance website designer, sent me the kind
of e-mail I've gotten many times before.
"I
just visited your site, and it is not working for you as hard
as it could be," said DF.
He
then went on to detail a list of flaws.
Some
of them, being of a technical nature, I could not understand.
Others were things I was aware of but haven't addressed - either
because they are not relevant, not important, or I just haven't
gotten around to it yet.
Of
course, DF hinted that he could fix these errors and make my
site much better - for a fee.
Did
I hire DF?
Not
on your life.
Why
not?
Because
I hate getting unsolicited advice ... and many of your prospects
feel the same way.
As
with every other area of life, my rule for selling is simply
this: Never give unsolicited advice.
Why
is unsolicited advice as ineffective as a sales tool as it
is in personal relationships? There are four main reasons.
People,
by and large, only do business with people they like.
When
someone criticizes you - especially if you haven't asked
his opinion - does that make you like that person? Or does
it turn you off?
Even
solicited criticism can hurt and anger people.
For
instance, if your significant other asks, "Do these
pants make me look fat?" ... and you answer, "Yes,
they make your rear look huge" ... you will probably
be sleeping on the living room couch tonight.
If,
without being asked, you volunteer that your significant
other looks fat in those pants ... you will probably be sleeping
in the car.
Keep
in mind that when you tell prospects you don't like something
- say, the design of their website - you are telling them
that they goofed up, either by choosing the wrong vendor
or by doing the work poorly themselves.
It
should be obvious to anyone but an idiot that when a website
designer e-mails negative comments to site owners about their
website designs, it is a marketing tactic.
Therefore,
it's obvious that DF's goal was not to help me. It was to
drum up business.
If
I had hired DF as my Web advisor and asked him for his opinion,
I would have listened more closely. Because I asked for it
and was paying for it.
But
the recipient of unsolicited advice pays nothing for it.
And so, that's his perceived value of its worth: nothing.
-
Finally,
when a vendor calls a potential client with unsolicited
criticism, he is, by definition, making a cold call.
Cold
calling is rarely the best marketing strategy.
Reason:
The prospect thinks, "If this vendor is sitting at his
desk making cold calls, how busy and successful could he
be?"
Answer
in the prospect's mind: not very.
And
as consultant Howard Shenson noted in his "Busy Doctor" theory,
patients/customers want to work with those doctors/vendors
they perceive as being busy and successful - not with those
who seem hungry and need the work.
[Ed.
Note: Learn much more from Bob Bly about how to market your
product or service at this year's Information
Marketing Bootcamp: "Making a Fast Fortune on the Information
Revolution." And click
here to sign up for his e-zine, The Direct
Response Letter.]
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"You
showed up at the perfect time... We are new and we were just
finishing our first "short sell" ... I sure wished
I had known about private money sooner.
When
I saw those fees my mortgage broker charged me, I could have
cried. Oh well, that is water under the bridge or is it money
to help pay for my mortgage broker's house....
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But
Doctor, "I Really Eat Healthy"
By
Al Sears, MD
How
would you answer this question: "Do you have healthy eating
habits?"
I
just read a study which found that more than 75 percent of
obese people say they do.
This
study reminded me of a new patient, PR. She came for help in
losing weight. She weighed 230 pounds, with most of the extra
fat hanging around her waist. Her first comment when I asked
how she thought she could lose weight? "I know it can't
be my diet, because I eat healthy."
With
considerable prodding, PR's eating turned out to be far from
healthy in just about every way. She ate no breakfast, large
dinners washed down by a liter of Coke, processed snack foods,
and continuous between-meals "nibbles." In all,
it was a protein-poor, high-carb, high-glycemic, nutrient-poor
diet - a prescription for obesity and chronic disease.
This
is not always the case, but I am sometimes surprised by the
power of the psychological phenomenon of denial. It can completely
hide a problem from your conscious awareness.
If
you think you need to lose fat but don't know where the problem
lies, do this. (I've done it myself from time to time for years.)
Simply write down everything you eat for a week. Don't forget
to include snacks and drinks.
You
will be surprised by what your food log will reveal. If you're
eating something that's making you fat, it will draw your attention
to it - and you'll be able to correct the problem easily.
[Ed.
Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician and the author of The
Doctor's Heart Cure and 12 Secrets
to Virility, is a leading authority on longevity, physical
fitness, and heart health.]
Confidence-Building
101
By
Ilise Benun
Being
unsure of yourself and your abilities can interfere with both
your career and your personal life. How do you build self-confidence?
Here are five ways:
1.
Stop comparing yourself to others.
We
all evaluate ourselves in relation to others. The problem
is, you don't really know what's going on with another person.
You can't know why they do what they do or what motivates
their behavior. In fact, someone who looks "confident" may
just be another shy person covering up his own insecurities
and doubts.
Instead
of focusing on others, shift your attention back to yourself.
The only reasonable comparison to make is between your past
and your present performances. Bring your attention to your
goals and to the actions you need to take to achieve them.
2.
Set Self-Confidence Goals.
Use
Michael Masterson's goal-setting program to help build your
confidence. Choose one area that needs work, and break it
down into small, manageable, measurable steps or actions.
Let's
say your goal is to get over your shyness when it comes to
starting conversations with people who could advance your
career. The actions you could take might be something like:
Strike up a conversation with one stranger per day ... Call
three headhunters ... Attend two networking events per month.
Write
them down and post them on the bathroom mirror or next to
your computer. Review them every morning. With persistence
... a little here, a little there ... you'll be starting
conversations with ease.
3.
Take time to prepare.
Don't
waste time trying to talk yourself into "feeling" confident.
Instead, focus on preparation. The better you know your stuff,
the more confident you will feel. No matter what the event
or activity, make sure you set aside time in advance to practice
or to think through all the possible scenarios and how you
would respond to them.
4.
Visualize another reality.
Before
a stressful event, take a few minutes to create a positive
mental picture for yourself. Instead of imagining yourself
being singled out and interrogated at a staff meeting, imagine
yourself among a circle of colleagues who are all there to
work together. Instead of picturing the company holiday party
as an intimidating mob scene, think of it as a series of
one-on-one conversations over a glass of your favorite red
wine.
5. Think
small.
You
can't expect to suddenly transform yourself into a gregarious
networker. But you can do little things that will gradually
get you to your goal. For example, when talking on the phone,
smile. The person on the other end will respond to the positive
energy in your voice. And get in the habit of systematically
stretching yourself and expanding your comfort zone, a bit
further each time. For example, when you meet people for
the first time, greet them with a firm handshake, smile,
and look directly into their eyes for a moment longer than
may be comfortable for you.
[Ed
Note: Pick up a copy of Ilise's new book, Stop
Pushing Me Around: A Workplace Guide for the Timid, Shy, and
Less Assertive. And be sure to sign up
for this fall's Information
Marketing Bootcamp: "Making a Fast Fortune on the Information
Revolution", where Ilise will share her
secrets of effective networking.]
Notes
From Nicaragua: A View to Surpass All Others
By
Michael Masterson
K
and I find ourselves strolling down the streets of Managua,
Nicaragua's capital, darting in and out of little shops and
drinking in the salty air. Managua (the safest capital city
in Latin America, according to the Harvard Business School)
is only about a two-hour drive from our place in Rancho Santana.
"I
came here to visit and never looked back," one recent
Nicaraguan convert said to the Miami Herald. He opened
up a barbecue restaurant in San Juan del Sur, a beachside town
at the southernmost tip of the country, and spends his weekend
nights playing guitar in a rock band.
"In
the modern world, it's hard to imagine being an explorer or
pioneer," Tyler Tibbs, a 27-year-old former Oregon resident,
told the Miami Herald. "But in Nicaragua, you
can find the rougher edges of life. It's liberating."
We,
too, have found Nicaragua to be a place of incredible opportunity
... and beauty.
Back
in Delray Beach, Florida, we live across the street from the
Atlantic Ocean. It's a beautiful home, with great first- and
second-story views of the beach and sea. But our Nicaraguan
casa sits on a hill about a hundred and fifty yards from the
ocean. We are protected from storms and flooding there, and
enjoy a view that's better than the ones we have in Florida.
In fact, it may rival anything I've seen anywhere in the world,
including Hawaii.
Maybe
some day, like many others, K and I will settle here for good
...
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Word
to the Wise: Bibelot
"Bibelot" (BEE-buh-loh)
- a French word related to "bauble" - is a small,
decorative object without practical utility.
Example
(as used by Simon Barnes in the London Times): "They
break in expecting to find a collection of bibelots, objets
de vertu, exquisite porcelain, Elizabethan miniatures,
18th century Italian fiddles, cabinets of curiosa, shelves
of first editions, rare erotic manuscripts, rooms full of exquisite
things: the fine and delicate treasures of a fine and delicate
creature."
