Showing posts with label referrals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label referrals. Show all posts

Sunday, 3 March 2013

The Law of Attraction: Intention Law of Attraction



The Law of Attraction: Intention Law of Attraction: by Jason Li 2013 ©

As a sceptic... I originally thought the law of attraction was a load of rubbish...

In fact, an outright scam...

A way to take money off desperate people...

But I now believe it has worked in some ways.

Do you believe? Read on to see my story.

The Secret

I first came across this about three years ago when people and the media were raving about The Secret.

I thought, “Let’s be open minded and at least learn something new, even if I don’t agree.”

So here’s what I learnt.

In summary, if you believe good things are happening in your favour, soon your desires will be fulfilled, such as; you will be walking on a nice beach on holiday and feel the warm sun and the sounds of the waves; the universe will help you get there.

It’s based on vibrations.

So if you think negative things like: we don’t make many sales on a Monday or no-one calls our number anymore – guess what – the universe agrees and delivers your negative vibe... because it is what you want. 

(That’s right, time to gag that energy vampire in your office right now.)

“You get what you wish for”

You get what you wish for has been a known saying throughout time.

The law of attraction is mainly based on this philosophy, and you have to control your mind to ensure you only get what you wish for.

And it has happened to me.

I used to complain that I lived in an economic zone where jobs were low level unskilled  and low paid, so there were no decent graduate level jobs to apply for.

Maybe in a way I liked to prove this too.

Even though I desperately wanted a high paid graduate job, my negative vibes fed me low paid office jobs.

The Law of Attraction for more money

After managing and turning around a failing takeaway during the day as a challenge as an Interim Manager, while co-creating a board game each night and weekends, my attitude changed from looking for a low level job to looking to be a business advisor as I believed I was more than qualified to do so.

And so, not too long after winning a contract from Marks and Spencer to have 10,000 board games in over 200 stores in the UK, I got a job in a government funded agency and got to use my specialist marketing strategy skills.

I was unwittingly using the law of attraction.

I was focusing on what I want, mainly because I really believed I could help people, not just because of my Master’s Degree certificate, but because I proved it that I can both fine tune an existing offer (takeaway) and create a new product (board game) from scratch that beat many household brand name competitors.

So the law of attraction process started when I was ready to sacrifice in the short term an office career and go all practical in doing a business turnaround by running a takeaway, and sacrifice my nights inventing a new product.

“Money will come when you’re ready for it”

Now all this is in vain if you can’t get rich fairly quick.

We all want to have lots of money and free time.

It never happened for me in the past, I’ll admit that.

Again, I desperately wanted the money and the option to do what I want with my time.

Recently I heard a podcast and a very successful entrepreneur said a few years back he was poor and desperate to be rich. He was maxing on credit cards and working all hours, but his businesses were struggling.

And you know what... his mentor said:

“Money will come when you’re ready for it.”

He said he is ready for it. Of course he is; he’s desperate for it. But substantial money never came.

But now, money comes to him all the time, and it makes sense.

Law of attraction gratitude

Part of the law of attraction is gratitude.

Gratitude when you have an opportunity, whether it ends in a result you want.

So let’s say a prospect enquires. Even if they do not buy, be grateful and thankful (say thank you in your mind) that you had a prospect enquire, no matter what the outcome is.

This way you are telling the universe that you are thankful for what has been give to you.

It’s like when a referral has come from your network. It may not turn into an order. But you should thank them for the opportunity.

So if you think negative in a way such as: “I hate all these time waster callers.” Well guess what, the universe takes that on board and the prospects will start to reduce in numbers.

Now, at this point, for those new to this, it does all read a bit hocus pocus. I don’t blame you because I was in the same mind set for ages. So only you can decide to carry on reading this or re-read it again with an open mind.

Law of attraction leads to change

There are so many people who complain about unfortunate bad luck or how they just missed out.

So here is how the law of attraction gets you to where you want to be.

Remember above where I wrote that the law of attraction requires you to focus on where you want to be, the ideal result, outcome and feelings.

And also to show gratitude.

Well I have been focusing on the results of where I want to be.

In order to get there, I cannot carry on doing the same things I did yesterday, last week, last month or last year.

As you already know, doing the same thing leads to the same results.

And so I have to let the universe know I am willing to accept the changes to get to where I want to be.

It’s the only way my career and wealth can improve.

In order to take steps towards the results you desire, you have to say to the universe you are grateful for the changes that are presented to you.

If you don’t... then the universe believes you don’t want to change, and therefore you don’t want to achieve the better results.

No changey, no better resultsy: end up samey!

The law of attraction and this blog

So this blog was set up to give businesses ideas and tips to improve and get better results.

This can lead on to the human benefit of more free time as profit increases, more money to reward yourself and do more things in life.

But readers can only get to the results if they are willing to take a chance and try new ideas and new knowledge... to get to achieve a better result.

So, what would you like to attract for your business?

What would you like to change to improve your business?

What will you be willing to do to improve your business?

What would you be willing to pay if you could achieve a better result of overcome that nagging problem?

Please share this article if you think it will help or inspire anyone you know.

Further reading:
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Sunday, 11 November 2012

Scaling up your business for multiple lead generation


Scaling up your business for multiple lead generation: by Jason Li 2012 ©

If you are a small business and working all hours of the day, but want more revenue as your reward, then scaling up your business is the next step.

Here are some answers if you’ve been wanting to generate a few more leads or customers every week for your business.

In fact, from what I’ve seen... being good at lead generation is vital to business success.

To help you scale up in terms of offering more for new and existing customers...

So that they can spend more money with you without adding much costs to you.

Scaling up

Scaling up your business is the way you can keep increasing your business so that it expands and brings in more revenue. So I’m going to share a several secrets that I’ve seen – and best of all they are all practically doable without needing too much training.

This can either be done yourself, or by working with other people.

Once you have found a way to begin scaling up, you can just keep on adding more add-ons until your business grows to a size that is much bigger than it is today.

Scaling up small businesses with more lead generation

When you are self employed then you do absolutely everything in the business...

In fact, small businesses with two or three people tend to work this way as well. So it can feel really hard to even contemplate ways of scaling up your business.

So here I’m going to share some kick-ass leverage and lead generation methods for those of you who think it would make a difference – because you’re busy and you want answers now.

Now scaling up a small business is not easy. I have seen businesses that have only one product range or a small amount of portfolio services or products on offer and really wanted to expand. Their only solution at the time was to maybe sell more of the same. An example would be a retailer locating another retail site so that they can now go from having one shop to two shops.

Obviously, this is great if you have a thriving business and can look to get a new retail shop financed with money in the bank. But not everyone can instantly afford to get another site up-and-running. What if you have no money? How long will you wait to get the money?

There is an alternative. I have seen many owners implement ways of scaling up small business in ingenious ways without having to wait years for a new site. In fact, just copying how the larger businesses do it in the following way will do you no harm.

Using ‘leverage’ in your business

Imagine you want to lift a boulder. Remember when you were kids and you came across sitting on swings and you went back-and-forth to get really high up; well in ancient times engineers used systems like these to move boulders with levers and ropes so they could move huge heavy objects that no human alone could move.

We are going to use the same practical method of using a lever to allow a small business or self employed person to leverage their business: so that a small amount of input using leverage will create a bigger output.

Leverage methods

The first and most important is using the internet: If you sell products then find a business that sells products in a similar nature to you on the internet and work out how you can apply it. Stick with this as it’s more than the obvious stated so far.

Let’s say you sell cartons of juice in packs of three, then you can start by looking at other juice etailers. Look at all the various methods they use to scale up. Next, look at businesses who sell other low cost items too that might not be juice but in multipacks; it could be packs of three tennis balls. How did they do things which your business can use as a solution? Look at the packaging, the offer, bundling with other products as examples.

Let’s say you are a dry cleaner, how could you get more passing traffic to stop and drop-off and pick-up? MacDonalds and car wash places have drive through mechanisms. Could your dry cleaner have one side of the business for drop-offs and one side for pick-ups in the shop? Could you even have a drive through for vehicles to pass clothes through a window on one lane, and collections on another window? Could you join up with a petrol station or grocery shop?

Your take away: leverage other business methods to increase your lead generation

Digital leverage methods

There will be a business out there with the same problem that came up with an internet solution that you can implement in your business. Imagine having an ecommerce site that worked in generating orders and leads without having to put money down on retail sites, or not waiting for another site in order to expand the business.

Is it possibly in any way for you to use the internet to leverage what you do? Read on for more ideas.

Digitise products

Is there any way possible for you to digitise what you do? What? Say that again? What I mean is, can you create a digital version of what you do; your products or services? Chefs and restaurants can create ebooks on how to cook meals that sell on the internet, teachers can create videos which students buy as standard lessons, teachers can provide one-to-one bespoke lessons on Skype, and businesses can create audio files to download to offer advice such as accountants, business coaches or nutritionists. These will reach people who have no time or cannot use your services immediately.

What about other products? If you have toys then you might have vlogs – video blogs - to teach kids how to do more such as Lego videos,  for business people on how to turn your smart phone into a business tool, or a hedge trimmer into ‘Average Joe’s’ favourite sculpturing tool.

Don’t just think of your local market, think country wide; worldwide even. Just think, your business could have a customer lying on deck chairs around a pool in sunny Monaco now, and she is telling her friends about your digital product that she can’t get locally.

Your take away: When you digitise, you get more people finding ways to use your products, reach more people, and give customers the opportunity to share with other people who might find your offer interesting.

Partnership Leverage methods

Partner with other product suppliers: Let’s say you are a photographer, could you create a website that includes promoting the photographic studio you use for a referral fee, partner with a wedding planner, partner with a video recording service, or add on a gallery to sell your product and exclusively other peoples stock, or partner with a camera shop to provide camera lessons to enthusiasts, or partner with a walking group, or partner with a site seeing tour.

Your take away: partnerships give you multiple ways of generating revenue and more touch points with potential clients.

Cash flow

Digital products allows you to scale up without having to spend lots of money upfront.

 In partnerships, as customers use other partner products and services, you can be promoted to them as a trusted partner. Doing it this way might be of no cost to you when using partners.

If it really succeeds, then it also provides you great feedback, and much more revenue. If you have a channel (partner) that brings in plenty of new customers then you will know what this type of customer likes. So if your leads keep coming from a walking group and they want your photography expertise you can expand on this area.

So how much can you scale up your business to a higher level from these ideas and practical methods?

Will any new lead generation ideas bring you new streams of income and more revenue? Will ideas like these add value to your business?

If you know of any businesses that may find the information here worth reading, please Pay It Forward.
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Friday, 7 September 2012

How free business advice from Networking will save you £1000s annually

How free business advice from Networking will save you £1000s annually: by Jason Li 2012 ©

Businesses all want free business advice...

That’s why successful business people speak to other staff and their business network for ideas...

Even millionaire’s get advice in cigar rooms...

It’s a great way to improve your business for free...

In fact, I worked as a business advisor for a business advisory agency that was an offshoot of Business Link. Clients that wanted help found we saved them thousands of pounds from the advice, and possibly hundreds of hours in guiding them in terms of knowing pitfalls to consider.

Recently I was listening to an entrepreneur who just sold one of his businesses in the last couple of years for a few million dollars - and he is still reading every day for new ideas to improve his other businesses. So if he is still learning, then there really is no excuse for anyone else to put in an hour or two a week in learning more.

Free business advisory help

When was the last time you asked someone to help you with something that has been bugging you? There must be something that you want an answer to but have just never asked anyone. You know, something you see every-so-often or makes you wince when you hear it from customers.

There’s always people you know, whether its businesses on your street to people in your network who can help you – at no cost. These are resources that may have had the same problem as you and tested out different solutions. Imagine the feedback you can get from these people to save your investment in time and money so that you can get to the right solution quicker.

Free business help

How often do you go to a networking event to meet both people you know and new people? Is it all based around just selling to each other; you know: “Everyone’s selling but no-one’s buying”. In groups of three or four people holding a drink just waiting to be asked, “So what do you do?” and then you’re off the leash like a dog in the biggest greenest field, alas – free running with your pitch.

But no, it’s not your turn to bore people stupid. Remember you were looking over their shoulder while they were feature dumping you everything possible about their product or service, so what makes you more interesting? Try giving a summary of what you do, then...

”Why not try to ask each person to help you at your next event with two problems that you want solving by the end of the month. See what happens. What is there to lose?

If you want broadband that does not go down or has quicker upload time, ask people for advice.

If you are struggling with book keeping or expensive and difficult book keeping software, ask other owners how they do it better or make it easier.

In business, we all want to improve revenue; but improving business operations is also important. So next time you speak with people, don’t just pitch your service, ask for knowledge to improve your business too. It’s also more productive for you to use a contact as a referral sale for your business and as a productivity contact. Plus your contact will feel really good if they help you, and it may solidify your relationship.

‘You can now get two benefits out of each contact: for a referral sale and productivity advice’.

Free business services

Some places have advisors like your local business support agency or wealth managers so use them for free advice. And they also hold events. These are great to meet new important contacts.

Every contact has something which can add value to your business.

Or you can set up your own event. If you have the mindset of seeing each business contact as a valuable information source for you then you will reap the benefits.

Free business information

Another important way to gain leverage from your network is to give them free business information. As you can see from this blog, I give out information to people who read about business ideas and practical methods. It’s something I enjoy, and I hope to pass on as much knowledge as possibly, especially from other business people with valuable business ideas so that readers can always improve their business. People who like my blog will one day refer to their network to visit my blog which benefits me in the long run.

Can you use free business advice from networking to save money?
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Tuesday, 12 June 2012

“How to generate more leads for my business?”

“How to generate more leads for my business”: by Jason Li 2012 ©

“How do I generate more leads for my business?” is one of the biggest business questions of all time, and I’m not foolish enough to say I have the definitive answer. But you want to know how to get more business? Well I can provide you some ideas that get you closer to where you want to be.

Everyone in business will be at a certain stage in their growth cycle and want to get from A to B. B is the goal. What I can offer are ideas on how to get to B that I have seen work for some businesses.

Lead generation software

Is lead generation software or a lead generation service the answer? Certainly if you find a good vendor for either method and it works then you have done very well. As you can see in the article about the sales funnel... no new prospects equals no business. We all need new leads and new prospects. So if you have found help in generating leads then definitely use it, as long as it is profitable.

Website lead generation

However, in the modern age, there is a more permanent way to generate business for your business, and that is with a website. With a website that contains the right targeted content to keep your prospects in your targets niche segment interested, you can keep all the prospects engaged in your products and services so that when they are ready to buy, they are likely to buy from you.

With a well constructed and written website, you can also find prospects on other sites and direct them to your web site and move them through your sales funnel.

Best of all, you are in control of the lead generation asset. A website is an asset owned by your business – whether or not you develop it or you or another outsourced vendor is the administrator.

But firstly let’s double check how does this compare to other lead generation methods?

No more cold calling, networking and gatekeepers

In an ideal world we wouldn’t need to do the above anymore and just sit back and rely on the website to generate leads. But I’m not advocating this too in a contradictory way. You see some people are brilliant at getting leads from cold calling or networking, so why stop. In fact, if you are good then do more (See the Pareto Principle) as you have found an effective lead generation method.

So yes, if you are a cold calling guru, keep going if it gets you results. But keep in mind that even cold callers use websites to search for information when they were looking to buy a certain product or service. A website has also helped a cold caller out there in some way decide who would be their vendor when they wanted to buy. Imagine now if you could also generate a few inbound leads for yourself too.

You should see websites as a great add on to your existing lead generation method. Any enquiries you get should be further advanced in your sales funnel. Especially if the prospect has decided they want a product or service like yours and are actively looking for a vendor to fit. And guess what, after being on your website they know about you and trust you more than many of your competitors, so you will be ahead of the rest at this point in the funnel.

If you’re worried about having a website that educates a prospect and then they go elsewhere; well don’t. If you are worried, it means you have just created a general educational brochure site and have failed to create any added value for why the prospect should use your products and services. Keep on reading to see how to combat this.

Keep visitors sticky on your website

The only way to make sure prospects are interested in returning to your website is by making it sticky. If you have problems such as people visiting your site and then leaving after looking at a few pages or never returning again, then possibly your website is a half hearted job.

Remember the articles I have written about creating value and marketing, the reason your website is not helping the prospect to buy from you is that it is offering nothing to be of meaningful use or value to your prospect.

Your website might also be too general and try to capture everyone who ever logs online. Have you ever come across someone who says if I start a full English breakfast cafe then I will get everyone who eats breakfast. It’s just not possible. If you look at my sales funnel article, you will see that your website has to be targeted.

It is not easy. I have a background in marketing strategy and worked with entrepreneurs on marketing strategy. I’m not as conceptual as some consultants who want to draw out the award winning big idea and concepts into weeks of consultation, I’m a bit more let’s get down to basic marketing strategy and fundamentals before jumping to slogans and concepts. If the big idea fits, then great. But that’s not the sole major objective when pleasing the customer. But if you cannot have a really good grasp of marketing strategy and understanding the consumer then you’re going to end up with possibly a website which is maybe well written and pleasant looking but not effective. Then when you look at the results a few weeks down the line you will say it can’t be the website as it looks really cool and reflects how I like to see a brand to be seen.

Unfortunately, this is where I have to let you know that you will have to get a person with a very good understanding of marketing strategy involved in making sure your website has the right targeted information. Of course, you want the website to have nice design too. But cool design and a good looking website alone will never get you leads. If this was the case, every good looking website will be owned by a multi-millionaire. All graphic designers or website designers would be millionaires. The most expensive looking websites would take the most market share.

Relationship building

Websites built on good marketing strategy with targeted content will keep prospects in your sales funnel. Some prospects can take a long time to admit they are ready to buy. Some will simply wait for their current supplier to upset them enough before they “can be bothered” to change. But over time, people make the change.

A good website will be automated in keeping prospects interested in working with your business when they are ready. In marketing it is simply “top-of-the-mind-awareness”. You are already talking in their language. The prospect knows that you can help them achieve their goals, whether it is a good hair style to be more attractive to finding pet food that keeps their pet healthy to software that helps their business productivity.

Once a prospect is on your site, you can keep them engaged longer in your products and services until they are ready. They may even move themselves through the sales funnel by sharing your information with other decision makers. You might find a web page which is read the most and tells you scientifically what it is that gains people’s interest.

Referrals

Once you have a prospect converted to a customer, how do they let others know about your business a year down the line? Well it’s easy for the new customer to tell a friend...because they spent a long time looking and reading your information you created for them which is of high value. So you are harder to forget.

Moreover, you’re on the internet so their friend can also learn about you in their own time and take themselves through the sales funnel.

Could a website help bring you and your prospects closer to being a customer? If this has website has given you new ideas or angles to look at your business, would you make a referral to a friend?
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