Marketing is finding people who already want and are looking for what you have to offer.   The ‘sale’ is much easier if what you have is what they want.  There are a number of techniques used in marketing that I think should raise a red flag every time you come across one.  Be cautious because the following techniques work and work especially well with those uneducated in the ploys of marketing.

There are six methods I find to be the most obnoxious and could be called my biggest pet peeves.  Once you identify these six methods you will begin to see them used all over the internet and everywhere else for that matter. The more of the six used in one ad or web site the more likely the ‘product’ is a waste of your money and especially your time.

1. Branding is more than the logo or the name.  It is over time a reputation earned.  Great reputations can be lost with one bad act or mistake.  Some ‘brands’ make it an art form walking the line between great material and a con job.  You have seen the “TOP SECRET” promotions by “Guru” names promoting ‘must have’ information that without it you will continue to fail. Somehow the pages of marketing copy never say what ‘it’ is.

2. You may have already met the fiend of the hard sell. The fear of loss is an old technique now seen just after you take the bait and is most often used with programs you have no idea how it will work or perform. It is the One Time Offer or OTO that when you say no they have another one and often one more too good to be true after that and every time saying it will never be available again.  If you pay attention you will discover the OTO will reappear sooner or later with the same dire warnings. If what was being sold was really worth it you would never see it in an OTO.

3. The one technique that makes the least amount of sense is you ‘don’t have to do anything’ to make money except fork over a paycheck or some portion every month and they will do the rest.  What do they need you for if there is so much money why don’t they just ignore you and take the opportunity for themselves?

4. Guarantees have their place. You will begin to notice that the previous ‘do-nothing’ opportunity usually has a great guarantee.  Most of you know that the extended warranty is a money maker for the store and the salesman.   The longer the guarantee the less likely it is implemented.  Companies offer guarantees to secure your trust and when most are either forgotten or lost the vast majority did their job. They moved you to the cashier to spend your money.

5. The “Rag to Riches” stories of down to their last tube of ketchup and in the shortest time possible they are a millionaire are laughable! The got rich quick guys I know all spent years of preparation before they got rich quick.  Just because it’s too good to be true does not make it false. It does raise a red flag.

6. After seeing a fantastic movie your testimonial the next day to everyone you know sells some tickets.  They didn’t send you a commission either.  All too often, especially on web sites, you will see the same names and pictures supporting with their testimonial what a fabulous opportunity this is.  Tie this in with number one above and you will begin to notice a new trend in joint ventures where “Gurus” of all stripes promote and testify about each other’s great product.  Again this may not be wrong and if you have bought a book lately the cover jacket is full of testimonials by other authors of similar material.  Red Flag it and the more red flags a site has the less likely it could possibly live up to its copy banter.

There is nothing illegal about these six red flags and depending on the context it may only be a bright yellow caution flag instead.   Next time I will identify six flags to look for. There are flags like the checkered flag waved at the race winner or battle flags that are a sign of a group to be reckoned with and there are flags that we stand and salute.  There are at least six such flags in network marketing.

In three months what could you do with $2000 extra a month AND a 100 people who were in the same position as you that had you to thank? What if it took you six months? It’s free too!

Twitter is a huge party. Some people think they are at the hand-out-my-bizcards party. They may be just as boorish in real life as they are on line. Highly likely in my view.

When I began at twitter I researched and studied each person I followed and everyone who followed me back too. I followed and studied people with huge lists because I decided I would have a huge following also. At some point the amount of time I allotted for twitter would not support growing with the methods I was using. There is a lot of ‘noise’ around 5000 and it gets louder the more followers you have who you follow back. One way to eliminate the ‘noise’ is how Mike Dillard has done it. Others, with even larger followings, have done the same. Will I unfollow enmass? No, it does not fit into my Twitter strategy. You need to have one.

As the number I follow or who follow me reached 500+ a day it is not possible to nurture each seed like I did in the beginning. I noticed some things in the beginning though, that if you pay attention, you will notice for yourself. I spend a portion of the day on twitter following PEOPLE. I don’t follow dogs, or iconic letters, businesses or other non people. I follow people who fit my earlier study too and now I can tell who they likely are in just a ‘blink.’ Look closely and you will know who to follow also. As a general rule I follow back everyone who follows me, no matter who or what they are. If you invite me to your party, I will invite you to mine. If you do not follow me back in a day or so, I will return the favor. No attachment to who accepts your invitation means it doesn’t mean anything if they do or they don’t follow you.

When I am in ‘tweet’ mode I interact with many people at once. I have other tasks assigned to the day and do not let twitter out of its time slots. People interact on twitter using the @ sign and if they follow you, you can DM them. People also retweet (RT) tweets they like or appreciate others have tweeted. The people who notice me, I notice them. DM back, RT others and interact in real time are a few obvious ways to play on twitter.

Every day people also unfollow me. Everyone has their own reason. It may matter to some but not to me. The majority I unfollow in return. Something about birds of a feather rings true for me. I unfollow people first also but usually after some kind of interaction. What people tweet can be easily taken out of context and I need more info. Personal interactions that violate me or my party will have me unfollow and in rare instances block someone.

Twitter, in my view is a great way to meet new people, engage in conversations and maybe, just maybe make a difference with those who want to play full court. Play with me at Http://Twitter.com/Iceburner

“Master your instrument, Master the music, and then forget all that *!xy!@ and just play.” – Charlie Parker

You are the instrument. What is your music, your passion? …dreams are made of this. http://GoBeGreatNow.com

For the first two decades of my life I was a bean pole. No matter how much I ate I could not gain weight. I remember nonstop eating of anything within reach and by the time I was varsity football I could not put on weight. Oh those were the days. A concoction, I have forgotten the name, promised I would gain a pound a day, every day I drank one can. I liked the chocolate taste and drank two or three a day for two weeks. Nothing happened and chocolate didn’t taste as great for a long time. Life then was about moving too. Up early, run a couple miles, school, run a couple miles, yard work, outdoor games and non-stop movement until your head hit the pillow. Even attending college, activity was the norm. Sitting in class was difficult when the snow was falling and the ski slopes petitioned your presence. I spent another dozen years at my ‘ideal’ weight. Living the military lifestyle, especially aboard submarines, gave me great food and plenty of time to exercise. Then a couple things happened.

I had a phase change; I got older and I got sick. A couple years of discovering how to rid myself of the illness also included a couple 200mg tapers of prednisone. I still had some of those tendencies to work the see-food diet beyond normal too. I loved buffets and donuts. Pots of coffee and giant porterhouse steaks followed by combination desert trays and heck, I got big.

Ten years ago I saw a picture of me and was shocked. I exercised daily, ran 3-5 miles most days and I felt good. The scale was worthless and it was a guess how much over 250 I was. A second scale, standing on both, suggested somewhere between 325 and 350. I needed a new sports coat around that time. A size 55 with a 22 inch neck and a 44 inch waist made me an NFL tackle at 6’2” but I was already 10 years past playing any football.

The picture suggested, in the strongest possible way, I needed to make an abrupt change. I had quit smoking 15 years earlier, 21 Feb 1984, after noticing my internal dialog had me paying attention to some voice telling me to smoke. Experiencing being used by something, noticing I didn’t smoke cigarettes but cigarettes smoked me, made quitting easy. The voice suggesting I eat is different somehow and I began studying me and food. Over the next six months I lost a hundred pounds easily. I felt better and returned to an earlier wardrobe. I practiced a modified personal version of the Atkins diet. Lots of beef, coffee and an occasional salad and breakfast was bacon, eggs and cheese. I thought I would continue back to my ‘ideal’ 195 pounds.

I agree that ‘diets’ don’t work. Especially the one used to put on the weight. A temporary, even a year of temporary, change will ultimately return you to your current place. A new life style is in order. Finding a certain way, a new way that supports you is the real challenge. Maybe a diet like only popcorn or bananas has its place to make you aware of eating or have you appreciate food again. If when you reach some weight loss goal and return to your previous life style, your previous weight will return too.

Over the last 10 years I have gone from 250 to 220 at least 4 times, maybe 5. I rediscovered 210 once too. I am back to 250. What will it take to return to 200 permanently? I learned a lot during my hundred pound loss and that has been over ten years ago already.

First, can we agree that if you consume fewer calories than you burn a day, you will lose weight? Another way to say it is, to lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more. If you are still not losing fast enough eat even less and exercise everyday more. OK, eat a LOT less. That will work for a short period of time and eventually you will be back to where you began. It has been my favorite torture.

My basic method now is two meals a day. Breakfast, my favorite first meal of the day and one other usually around 4 or 5pm is workable for me. When I spent a couple hours a day at the gym I could eat more and more often, when I was younger I could eat more and I still like to eat a real meal. No seconds it another rule. I also fast on Wednesdays. The conversation for food is really loud on those days. You will not starve to death or hurt yourself and if you do sneak a pear or peach, well, you will just want another or something else. It is an easy way to see who is in charge of you, the refrigerator, your mind or a commitment to keeping your word in the matter. I walk each morning before breakfast. A short hike up one mountain road or another with our street dog Menta takes about an hour and it increases my metabolism the rest of the day.

I lived aboard submarines for number of years and the norm at sea was 15 minutes or less to sit down, eat and leave. I suspect I had the wolf down you food habit long before submarines. I have found if I put the fork or spoon down between bites and chew a half dozen times longer until I notice there is no food left in my mouth, I am not interested in seconds, the food tastes better and over time my portion size has gotten smaller without feeling deprived. This eating style has taken time and attention along with intention to put into place.

The basic method works well until the holidays appear. Holidays arrive every three or four months it seems. Weekends seem to have way (weigh) too many opportunities for growth too. As the pounds fall off people say, “You look good! Oh, you don’t want to lose more weight, you’ll be too skinny” and other similar gallery comments abound. I have not learned how to redesign their meanings to encourage me to lose even more. Being a food addict may be the most difficult addiction to break.

I used a method promoted by Arthur L. Kaslow and discovered soy and onions, two foods I ate almost daily, were to be eliminated. No small task but living in Colombia makes it easier to avoid soy or vegetable oil. Look at a label and soy is often the first or second ingredient for many products sold at your grocer. Recently I have been looking at Peter D’Adamo’s blood type diet, “If you eat according to what your blood type prefers, then you will be able to perform at optimal levels and lose weight in the process.” Combined with my experience with Kaslow I have added more foods to my do not eat list. Considering I really like most of these and I tend to eat them way past ‘that’s enough’ stage, no matter how long I chew, this will make losing the last 50 pounds permanent. I have to quit eating corn, buckwheat, wheat, lentils, peanuts and sesame seeds; in fact all nuts are now off limits. Pork and chicken appear to throw my system out of balance. I can eat rice, all the dairy I like and beef. This will be interesting. We normally have meals that include only the foods I am not allowed to eat. Enrolling the rest of the family into this will be the most difficult part. None of them are my blood type.

There is one other component that needs to be addressed. We all know what we need to do and we do not do it. Somewhere along the line our subconscious mind missed the lecture on what to do, especially what we want to do. It is a mind of its own. I have discovered a couple different programs that offer a solution. We own both and there is a lot of overlap. Look over the “Super Mind Evolution” and the “Program Yourself Thin” to see if one or both is exactly what you are looking for. They have helped me begin reprogramming my subconscious. Once you reprogram your subconscious, eat the foods your body thrives on and exercise appropriately everything will just fall into place and the weight will fall off. Nice sounding formula at least and it isn’t a fad diet. Hey, I can eat bananas!

Who are we missing?

If you have done the work of network marketing you know it is inviting someone to attend an event or watch a video presentation or just open an introduction email.  You know if they could see, get, grok what you see, get, grok they would absolutely tear it up, be the world’s hottest runner and all would be well.

Who you invite and how you do it is critical. 

First is who…

While everyone breathing is a suspect and a name and some way to contact them turns them into a lead, the invite at this stage is a poor sales pitch and the level of rejection too high to calculate.The conversation and process that takes a lead to qualified prospect is not the invitation.  It is an interview, a way to identify if they are part of your target market.  (You DO have a target market don’t you?!)  Your qualified prospect is someone who will become a friend, more than a mere contact or acquaintance and someone you will want to spend time with and they with you.   This is who you invite to your opportunity.

After your invitation they say yes, no or counteroffer.  If you are offering something they and you know they want and are actively looking for, what is an acceptable negative response rate?  We all know zero is our expectation.   For many of us this is true.  If it is not true why are you asking people who say no to what they want? 

The effectiveness of your invitation is in how many actually show up for it honoring your request.

Second is how…

You invite 100 of your best friends over for a world premiere movie 3 days before anyone else in the world has access.  They will view it on your new 98 inch plasma 1080p XXX HDTV, catered, with the best Colombian beef hamburgers, pizza only sold in Sicily, CT and Papa Murphy’s Hopkins, MN along with all the their favorite drinks agreed upon before they arrive.  Two days before your event you let them know that special Mexican Chorizo tacos and hot and sweet Italian sausage pizzas will be on the menu too.  What are your expectations for people coming to your event?  If no one showed up, without even an explanation are they your friends?  What happened that dashed your hopes and dreams and your party?  

Reality is many of your 100 best friends would have called asking if they could bring someone else! If you created the experience for them before they arrived, they will do whatever it takes to be there.  We know how to invite people!   What are your results inviting people to view your programs presentation?

When no one comes to your event what happened? I invited a dozen people and they all said they were coming. None of them are here! I don’t understand it?  Sound familiar or experienced it yourself?   How do you create invitations that have your guests bring guests?  What is the science and what is the art of this equation in your experience?   I am not looking for great sales lines or how to close 97% of my prospects. 

The invitation is offered to those most likely to accept and honor it.  The presentation is designed to provide enough of the opportunity for either a yes, no or maybe. If they know that beforehand would that make any difference?   Increasing the effectiveness of each invitation made has more people look at the program.  The more that see the more will say yes. Who does the invitation part of this better than anyone? What is the recipe?  Is there one?  

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