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!

 

This morning’s walk up the mountain was one of those crystal clear mornings when you can see forever in every direction.  On the way back down I detoured over to the vista that gives a spectacular view of the entire valley.  I noticed how much has changed the last six years. I noticed all the new buildings and the buildings that are old now but were not there six years ago.

 

I have a camera and seldom take it on the morning walk. I thought how interesting it would have been to take pictures every two three months over the last six years and be able to show the changes that have occurred in the valley.  The sadness of a missed opportunity was instantly present.  It pulled up the other failures and overlooked opportunities category that seems to come with the package called human.

 

I could see all the new construction and recognized how much will change over the next six years.  If I had I missed it, the future possibility had no chance against the past failures.  When I saw what was going to occur, whether I snapped a picture or not, I saw that it was time to live from the future and not in the overlooked, forgotten and missed opportunities of the past. Even the ones that went by yesterday, you know those that keep the category and path fresh and well used.  The path that keeps you and me locked into a future built on the past heading back to the past over and over.

 

I have wondered what stops people from pushing the ‘magic button’ that gives them everything they ever wanted.  Sometimes they push it once but then the path appears to all the lost opportunities they take credit for and the warm fuzzy, almost comfortable feeling of sadness wells up and they quit.

 

I am bringing a camera along on crystal clear days from now on and placing it where I will see it every morning so the opportunity stays alive.  You will be surprised how fast the future unfolds.

 

A friend and I built a new path that really works from the future.  Your future if you choose to enter. We added some more entrances this weekend and access to everything will only cost your name and an email. You likely will be drawn back into your comfortable past but the more often you turn to your future instead, you will keep returning to the future of your dreams.  Here’s a question for you to begin.       http://beam.to/aQuestion

 

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I am rereading “The Greatest Networker in the World” by John Milton Fogg. It has been such a long time since I read it last that it occurs as though I have never read it before. It is full of what I have come to believe and understand and in that sense it is an enchanting and fun read. One I will not let pass by again as long as I have.

‘There is nothing which you now know, and nothing about what you think you don’t know, that will help you create the success you desire.’ –John Milton Fogg

If all the knowledge that has ever existed and will exist or could exist was in one big round ‘Pizza’ pie [Dean Martin singing in the background] a small sliver of that pie is what you know. A little larger piece right next to it is what you don’t know. Being more accurate the first piece is what you know that you know and the second is what you know that you don’t know. I realized today that there is another piece that has gotten bigger as I have gotten older and it is what I don’t know that I used to know.

The largest piece and the piece John Milton Fogg is pointing to, the piece where every problem and serious malfunction you have ever encountered comes from is what you don’t know that you don’t know. In the book “The Greatest Networker in the World” the “GN” gives a book as a gift that contains all the answers to all your problems titled “What you Don’t Know that You Don’t Know.”

Your personal access to the realm of ’DKDK’ begins once you realize it even exists. It is where Alexander Graham Bell ‘discovered’ the telephone. Edison found the light bulb there and Tesla lived there. The rest of us go to school expanding the two pieces that we know taking from those pieces what others know that they know. Eventually we line up with a position about what is knowable and what isn’t. It is easier to let someone else know for you. That’s why we hire someone to fix our car, tend our gardens or whatever you have decided to leave in the piece that you know that you don’t know.

I believe that all of us are attracted to the bigger piece however. The juice and the thrill of life will only be found in what you don’t know that you don’t know. What we ‘DKDK’ is a mystery and dangerous and exhilarating. Some movies and a few television programs touch it from time to time. It is never found watching the news or reading a newspaper which only add to what you know you know or what you know to be false. The quickest access after realizing it exists is found in books. Visit John and me at GreatestNetworker.com. He will let you have his best seller as a pdf download too.

If you are on a tight budget you can start your success library here as well.

There is a way to spend 2 hours a day and have $2000/month income in 90 days.

If you have not visited NetworkMarketingPro.com do it now and catch up.

This 15 minutes of video is a small taste of what is possible for you.

Passion… Be Yours… don’t compare

Consistency… be UP and ON in public. [Plan your work, work your plan... HOURS/ day 5-6 days a week]

Focused … identify the actions that produce desired results… do them, improve them

Patience… it takes a large lump of coal serious time and serious pressure to become a diamond. I will on purpose. It is a 10,000 hour investment of focused time.

Hustle… work hard… the ‘work’ will inspire your passion and those around you. The payoff is lifestyle and who you become.

This is 42 minutes and a bit dry. Watch the first minute and the longer you think about it the more upset you will become.

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