Issue #2506

• WEALTHY: Why being stuck in a holding pattern isn’t all that bad (Rick Pendergraft)
• HEALTHY: Before you go to your doctor, beware (Kelley Herring)
• WISE: Rowan Atkinson on marketing

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

• When you have next to nothing to invest in marketing… (Paul Lawrence)
• Don’t make Carly’s job-searching mistake (Suzanne Richardson)
• It’s Good to Know… about "going like gangbusters!" (Jason Holland)
• Add "senescence" to your vocabulary

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The Waiting Place

By Rick Pendergraft

Indulge me for a minute, if you will. You see, I have three sons – and each and every night when they were too young to read for themselves, my wife and I read them a bedtime story. We are still doing it with the youngest. One of my favorite books to read to them has been Dr. Seuss’s The Places You’ll Go. I always liked the message of the story, and it was written in such a way that it makes sense even to toddlers. 

At one point in the story, there’s a warning about getting confused, losing your way, and winding up in the Waiting Place. The Waiting Place is full of people just waiting. "Waiting for a train to go / or a bus to come, or a plane to go / or the mail to come, or the rain to go…" And so forth.

But a waiting place isn’t necessarily a bad place to be. Especially when it comes to your investments. Right now, I feel like I am in a waiting place. Going through my charts each morning, I am finding it difficult to find trades that I am willing to send to my K.I.S.S. investment service subscribers. My gut tells me that we are about to see a huge rally in the overall market – and with the number of stocks that are oversold, it is difficult to recommend put positions right now.

So I will just wait patiently until I see a clear signal. Sometimes being in cash is the best place to be.

[Ed. Note: Wait it out - but you have to be ready to take action when the moment strikes. There are going to be some incredible opportunities out there, and market analyst Rick Pendergraft has put together an educational program that lays out the simple steps you need to take advantage of them. Not only do you get three months of Rick's best recommendations, you also learn how to make good investment choices yourself. Get the details here.]

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 "Marketing is what gets you noticed."

Rowan Atkinson

Piggyback Your Way to New Customers

By Paul Lawrence

It was 1992, and I’d been operating my ballroom dance instruction business for less than a year. I wasn’t actually starving, but times were tight. My car was very old and had no air conditioning. (In South Florida, where I live, this is a big deal.) And my diet consisted of lots of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

I desperately needed to bring in some new customers, but I had virtually no money to invest in marketing. I needed all the meager profits the business was generating just to survive.

Fortunately, I found a solution that allowed me to increase my revenues by more than 25 percent within 30 days. I call it the "Piggyback Method," because you climb on the back of another business to find new customers.

In my case, I took advantage of the fact that couples who are planning to get married frequently want to take dance lessons so they’ll look good on the dance floor at their wedding. So I contacted some large bridal shops and offered them a 20 percent commission on any business I got as a result of referrals from them.

The shops allowed me to set up a booth at some of their bridal shows. They also allowed me to set up displays with flyers in their stores. These flyers included a discount coupon that was marked with a different code for each shop. That way, I could tell where each new referral came from.

This same approach can work for many different businesses. The idea is to hook up with other businesses that attract the kind of customers you’re looking for, but sell non-competing products or services.

Here are some of the basics for making "piggyback" deals:

Step 1: Search out and identify businesses with a customer base that would likely be interested in your product or service.

To find potential piggyback partners, you’re going to have to do a little legwork (or phone work). If you are a masseuse, for instance, you might contact local gyms, sportswear shops, and beauty salons. If you are a party planner, you could contact paper goods stores, local bands, and event venues.

Step 2: Do some research to determine the right person to contact at each of those businesses.

Usually, the best way to find out who you need to talk to in order to make a piggyback deal is to make a phone call and ask for the name of the person in charge of marketing. Depending on the industry you’re in, you might also be able find the name you’re looking for in a trade directory.

In my experience, it is easier to sell the idea of a piggyback venture if you are willing to speak to these people personally (by phone or by setting up a meeting). But if you’re not comfortable doing that, a letter or e-mail will work. The important thing is to direct your inquiry to a specific person.

Step 3: Create a detailed plan for getting the referrals.

When I promoted my ballroom dance lessons at bridal shows, I set up a TV and VCR that played a looping video showing me dancing with a partner, both of us dressed in formal wear. The video got people’s attention. And when they stopped to get a closer look, I handed them my flyer and answered any questions they had. As for the flyers displayed in the bridal shops, I’d drop by once a week to replenish the supply.

This arrangement required almost no work on the part of the businesses I was piggybacking with – and that’s exactly what you should aim for.

Let’s say you have a pest control service. You want to piggyback with a landscaper, and you’d like him to include your flyers with his billing statements. If you tell him that you’ll e-mail him a pdf file of your flyer so he can print it out and then have his people staple them to the bills… that probably won’t sound very attractive. On the other hand, if you offer to drop by his office with a stack of printed flyers and staple them to the statements yourself, he’ll be much more likely to agree to your deal.

It should sound like there’s almost no downside for the other business. All they have to do is give you access to their customer base, and substantial extra profits will fall into their lap.

Step 4: Draft a formal proposal that makes financial sense for both sides.

Before you can come up with proposal, you’ve got to figure out how much of a commission you can afford pay your piggyback partner – and you’ve got to make it worthwhile for them. In the case of my ballroom dance business, I gave the bridal shops 20 percent. (Had I offered them 50 cents per referral, they obviously wouldn’t have been interested.) At the time, I was charging $50 an hour for a lesson. But, though I earned only $40 for each one-hour lesson that came from their referrals, it was still profitable for me.

Even when times are tough, you can still build a thriving business without investing a lot of capital. The "Piggy Back Method" is just one of many low (or zero) cost ways to do it.

[Ed. Note: In the current economy, finding ways to stretch your marketing dollar is not just smart - it's a necessity. You can get more of Paul Lawrence's strategies for making money with little to no capital in his "Cheapskate Marketing" program. Get the details here.

For more marketing strategies that can add millions to your company's bottom line, pick up a copy of Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby's brand-new book, Changing the Channel.]  

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== Highly Recommended ==

I Can’t Take It Anymore…

When you are in the know about something – like I am about generating sales online – you can see right through the smoke and mirrors. You clearly see the true money-machine the Internet could be… in the right hands. Now I’m going to show you exactly how to make money online in 3 easy steps. 

Yes, it’s that easy. And some have been hiding the real secret all this time. Check out everything for yourself by clicking here…

A Surefire Way Not to Get Hired

By Suzanne Richardson

Jobs are hard to come by these days. So when my friend "Carly" was offered an interview a few weeks ago, I was really pulling for her. She’s smart and seemed perfect for the position – but ended up not getting the job. I believe it was mainly due to a common interviewing mistake she made. But you can boost your chances of getting any position just by learning from Carly’s failure.

When Carly called me after the interview, she sounded bummed. "I didn’t get it," she told me.

When I asked what went wrong, she said, "When the hiring manager asked me to go into details about what I liked about the company, I couldn’t answer him. I hadn’t really looked into it that much."

The fact is, the more you know about the job you’re applying for, the better. A Robert Half International poll of executives, reported in MSN Careers, found that most job applicants "display at least some knowledge of the company or industry."

Doing background research before your interview will not only show the folks who are doing the hiring that you’re interested in the job… it will also help you determine, specifically, how you can contribute to the company’s success. (And, trust me, knowing that will come in very handy during the interview.)

If you can’t find any info about the business online, do what Carly should have done: Call up the company and set up an "informational interview" with the head of the department you want to join. You can ask questions – and show interest – without the pressure of a traditional job interview. And then, when you’re ready to apply, you’ll be a much stronger candidate.

[Ed. Note: There's no reason for you to make the same job-search mistake Carly made. Pick up a copy of Automatic Wealth for Grads... and Anyone Else Just Starting Out. It's full of advice on how to pick the right job and how to ace the interview. Plus, it has chapters devoted to building your wealth outside of work. Get your copy today.]

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Look Out for "One-Size-Fits-All" Advice

By Kelley Herring

When you visit your healthcare provider, beware of a one-size-fits-all approach. Advice should be tailored to your current health concerns, past history of illness, and any significant genetically based illnesses in your family history.

A good example to note here is soy. While it may seem like an innocuous little bean, soy poses a number of potential health issues – and should always be avoided by women with estrogen-positive breast cancer.

Be selective when choosing a healthcare professional. He should listen carefully to your health concerns and respect your thoughts on treatment options. I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard about doctors who make their patients wait an hour, only to breeze in for a five-minute visit – just long enough to write a prescription. Or doctors who become defensive and indignant when their patients come armed with information or pose questions about alternative treatments.

If your doctor will not spend the time and make the effort to understand your personal situation and history, or if he is offended by your wish to educate yourself about your treatment options, seek a new doctor. Immediately. Likewise, if the advice you receive seems one-sided, or the doctor seems to be a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of guy, go elsewhere.

Evaluate your doctor the same way you would evaluate any service professional. You wouldn’t go to a financial planner who is destitute. Nor would you put much faith in a personal trainer who is obese. And neither should you patronize a doctor who appears not care for his own health.

[Ed. Note: One of the best ways to protect your health? Arm yourself with knowledge. You can get the latest health breakthroughs, inside information from leading health experts, and easy-to-follow strategies for improving your fitness and diet with ETR's natural health newsletter. Get a free subscription when you sign up today.

The holidays are coming up, and nutrition expert Kelley Herring can help you sail through them without ruining your waistline. Check out her brand-new recipe e-books - Guilt-Free Desserts and Healthy Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres - for more than 60 healthy recipes you can easily make at home.]

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It’s Good to Know: "It’s Going Like Gangbusters!"

By Jason Holland

"What, exactly, does ‘gangbusters’ mean?" asked Michael Masterson. "And where did the expression ‘going like gangbusters’ come from?"

We were in a meeting, on page three of a new promotion we were reviewing.

"I’m not sure," admitted the copywriter. "I’d never heard it until recently."

Gangbusters. Another one of those words in the English language that we use all the time… but have no idea where it originated.

Well, Gang Busters was a radio show in the 1930s that featured "G-men" busting criminal gangs. The violently noisy opening was full of machine gun fire, sirens, etc. Based on that, "like gangbusters" became a common expression at the time for something that was aggressive, forceful, or energetic. Its use continues today.

== Highly Recommended ==

There’s a New Gold Rush… and This Time It’s Sweeping the Internet – Those Who Know Where to “Pan” Are Getting Rich

It seems like everyone is dipping their hands in the Internet money-making river, and finding a few “gold nuggets” here and there… But a few people are extracting wagon loads of money from one secret spot.

And, as much as those “lucky few” are frantically scooping up their share, this secret spot keeps growing by leaps and bounds every year, and there’s no way they can keep up.  Truth be told, there’s too much “gold” here to take home in several lifetimes – even if thousands of people find this spot.  This could very well be the mother lode of online business profits. 

Think I’m making this up?  Try this number: $170 BILLION.  That’s how much was ready to be scooped up last year.  This year, the pot will only get bigger. Much bigger.

So, come get yours.

Word to the Wise: Senescence

"Senescence" (sih-NES-uns) – from the Latin for "to grow old" – is the process of aging.

Example (as used by Randy Kennedy in a New York Times review of Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba by Tom Gjelton): "As the long senescence of Fidel Castro winds down, revolution seems to be back in the air, or at least cigar-smoked memories of it, from Havana to Hollywood."

[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.]

Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008

Similar Articles:

• Piggyback Your Way to New Customers
• It’s Going Like Gangbusters!
• Issue# 2438 Break Out of the Crowd to Get Free Publicity
• The Waiting Place
• A Surefire Way Not to Get Hired