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You got to the page of business inspiration. This blog is devoted to the real stories about famous people who succeeded to run their own business. Let us verify their used secrets, motivations and devices for being whom they are now.

1) An Inside Look: Steve Jobs Teaches Business Strategy

Want to improve your business strategy? Try learning from the best.

BY JUSTIN BARISO

Founder, Insight@JustinJBariso

With some ingenious strategy, Steve Jobs and his team took about 15 years to transform Apple into the most valuable company in the world.

But while we are all witness to the end result, there was a lot of research and heavy thinking that went into developing that strategy. What if we could get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the Apple visionary at work?

We can.

The following video is the first in a series that Jobs targeted at NeXT's internal marketing and sales staff. If you're not familiar with NeXT, this is the company that Jobs went on to found after he initially left Apple in 1985. Although NeXT only shipped about 50,000 units and eventually dropped out of the hardware business, the company profoundly influenced the current generation of technology. In fact, NeXT software was used as the foundation for what we now know as OS X, iOS, watchOS, and the App Store.

Filmed at the NeXT headquarters in Redwood City, California, in 1991, Jobs focuses on marketing strategy--but along the way, he stresses some fundamentals that every business owner would do well to heed. (If you find this interesting, you might want to check out another behind-the-scenes post: How Steve Jobs Conducted His Legendary Meetings.)

The Context

In 1991, NeXT was focused on producing high-powered computer workstations. But figuring out the company's target customer was a challenge. Was NeXT competing with Sun Microsystems, which focused on the workstation marketplace? Or did NeXT want to compete with Apple and PC manufacturers for a piece of that enormous market? It took the company some soul-searching to figure it out.

As it turns out, the marketing team had a revelation just a few months previous. Jobs shares the profound insight:

There wasn't really just one workstation marketplace, but two.

The traditional half encompassed scientists and engineers. But there was a new market for workstations emerging that Jobs dubs "the professional half." These people included those working in the medical, legal, and higher-education professions, the high-end publishing industry, and others--namely, anyone who was not a scientist or engineer that desired the superior power of a workstation. Jobs and his team determined that they would focus on this market of professionals, with Sun Microsystems being their only real competitor.

Truth be told, NeXT's strategy didn't work so well ... at the time.

In reality, Jobs and his team were simply ahead of the game. Think about the primary users of high-powered iMacs and MacBook Pros today: the creatives, the writers and bloggers, the small-business owners. True, the market has heavily evolved in the past 14 years. Flexible working and a changing industrial landscape have blurred the lines between consumer and professional. But over that time, Jobs and his team built a strong and loyal following that gave Apple the reputation for best in class.

Lessons for You and Your Business

So what can you learn from all of this? After analyzing the video, I picked out the following four lessons.

1. You need a combination of market research, proven experience, and great vision.

Notice how Jobs defends his strategy: "The market research data that we have and also our gut feelings from many, many years in the industry say that this marketplace ... is gonna grow ... "

Takeaway: Everyone is data driven nowadays, and that's good. Good data can lead to good decisions. But you also need experience and vision--the ability to identify current trends and predict future shifts. If you lack that as a business owner, hire someone with a proven track record.

Then do everything you can to keep that person around.

2. Simplify.

Even 14 years ago, there was a whole lot of data to sort through. It took Jobs and his team months of analysis before they even figured out who their primary customer and competitor were. How did they do it?

By boiling everything down to the most important questions and answers.

You'll notice Jobs doing this repeatedly throughout his presentation. He structures it using just three questions, which he introduces within the first 30 seconds. As he addresses specific problems, he repeatedly focuses on the top three answers.

Takeaway: Simple, structured thinking leads to clear solutions--that can be tested as soon as possible.

When you or your team analyze data, start by asking all questions and naming all problems. But then realize, you can't focus on all the problems. Take two or three of the most important questions, and split up your team to concentrate on solving only one at a time. Initially, they should brainstorm as many answers to that one question as possible. But in the end, they should again reduce.

Choose only the top one or two solutions, and then work on implementing one at a time. Give the test a fair chance. But if it fails, move on to the next one.

3. Turn your customer needs and desires into your USP.

After outlining what drives customers to the category of high-powered yet user-friendly computing, Jobs goes on to identify NeXT's key competitive strengths against Sun, namely: the customer need for a specific custom app, the high quality of productivity apps offered, and a superior capability to communicate and network.

As Jobs puts it:

"What are our key competitive strengths against Sun? It turns out that they are exactly the three things that are driving people into the category in the first place!"

Takeaway: It all starts with asking why. Why do people want this product or service? Not necessarily your specific offering, but the product or service in general.

Once you identify those needs and desires, focus your resources on making your USP fit them better than anyone else's.

4. Never stop learning.

Jobs concludes his presentation with the following words:

"I hope this gives you a feel for what we've learned in the last 90 to 120 days. I have no doubt that we will continue to learn more and more together at an ever accelerating rate as we get more and more customers."

Takeaway: Albert Einstein reportedly said, "Once you stop learning, you start dying."

The same could be said for your company. Just when you think you've got things figured out, they've already changed. Continue asking tough questions and looking for answers.

Make sure to set the example, and you'll create a culture in which others are motivated to do the same.

PUBLISHED ON: NOV 4, 2015

http://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/an-inside-look-steve-jobs-teaches-business-strategy-101.html

2) The Secret Behind Trump's Success

The most successful entrepreneurs don't chase after money. They find their passion and follow it and let the money come to them

I just returned from giving a keynote speech to 1,000 enthusiastic members of the student association Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda. These young men and women are articulate, energetic, and ready to leave their mark on the world. Anyone with these qualities will be in high demand. But being sought after brings its own share of challenges. Many people will have opinions about what these students should be contributing to society. How many times will these students hear,"You should work here,""You should choose this as a career," or"You should help me sell this product."

In my speech, I reminded the students about something Apple (AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said in a Stanford commencement address. "Life is too short to live somebody else's dream." Follow your passion, I advised. You might make a living doing something you don't like, but you'll never be considered an inspiring leader. You see, as a leader, you cannot inspire until you're inspired yourself. And the only way to be inspired yourself is to do what you love. As a communications coach, I can teach rhetorical skills to help people speak, present, and pitch themselves effectively, but I can't teach passion.

Trump Makes Money Doing What He Loves

One business leader who knows a lot about passion is billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump. Trump is everywhere these days: in bookstores, on television, and making the rounds of speaking circuits. I enjoy listening to Trump because he reveals the secret behind his success whenever he is asked about it.

In Trump's own words, the secret to success is to "do what you love." I knew before glancing at Trump's new book, Think Big and Kick A** in Business and Life (Collins; October, 2007) that he would repeat the concept once again. Sure enough, in Chapter Two ("Passion, Passion, Passion!"), Trump writes, "Don't think about how you can make money. Instead think about what you can produce or what service you can offer that is valuable and useful to people in your community."

Anyone who reads Trump's books or attends his lectures might be disappointed that he doesn't outline a specific road map to get rich in real estate. That's because "real estate" in and of itself won't lead to success and happiness—it's following Trump's advice to find your passion that could do that. Once you do find your passion, says Trump, the money will follow. "It may sound simple, but I have become a billionaire many times over by sticking to this simple philosophy," Trump explains.

Recently, Trump shared his perspective with another man who encourages his viewers to follow their passion, Donny Deutsch, the host of CNBC's (GE) The Big Idea. Deutsch, a former advertising executive, has turned his program into a showcase of entrepreneurs who found success by following their passion. Deutsch has said, "If you love something, you'll be great at it; the money will come and everything else will fall into place."

Launching a Worldwide Craze

Throughout my career, I've interviewed inspiring business leaders and entrepreneurs behind some of the worlds' hottest brands. I'm convinced that each person's success as a leader could not have taken place until each was truly inspired by a company's service or product and how it improved the lives of customers. One man who recently appeared on The Big Idea and with whom I recently had the chance to work is Cranium founder Richard Tait. His enthusiasm for his company was so contagious that he persuaded partners, investors, and employees to follow his vision. Tait's idea was to create a board game in which all the players could excel in one category or another. Cranium became the fastest-selling board game in history and sparked a worldwide craze. It all started with one man following his passion.

A few months ago I interviewed Chris Gardner (BusinessWeek, 7/23/07), another entrepreneur whose success as a leader hinges on his passion for his work. Gardner is the real guy behind the character played by actor Will Smith in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. While Gardner was a pursuing an unpaid internship to become a stockbroker, he and his two-year-old son spent their nights in the bathroom of a subway station. When I asked Gardner, who in 1987 founded his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich, where he found the spirit to keep going, he said something so profound I think about it nearly every day because it's the secret to success. Gardner said he found something that he loved to do so much he couldn't wait for the sun to rise so he could do it all over again.

Trump, Deutsch, Tait, and Gardner—each of these business leaders have enjoyed stunning success—and they all share a consistent message: Do what you love, show the world why, and the money will follow.

Carmine Gallo, a business communications coach and Emmy-Award winning former TV journalist, is the author ofFire Them Up! and 10 Simple Secrets of the World's Greatest Business Communicators. He writes his communications column every week.

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2007-11-21/the-secret-behind-trumps-successbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

3) 10 Secrets For Success And 11 Rules For The Life Of Bill Gates

Adayaranumon Started The Discussion:

William Henry Gates III Was Born In The U.S. Seattle 55 Years Ago. Humanity Bill Gates Is Known As The Richest Man In The World, Earned Capital To Their Own Mind.

However, Success Overtook Him At Once. At School, He Had Serious Problems With Grammar, Citizenship And Other Subjects, Which He Considered Banal. For Bad Behavior In Elementary School, Gates Was Sent To A Psychiatrist.

In His Memoirs, He Explained This Computer Mania. All His Spare Time He Has Been Programming. Each Week, Bill Spends 20-30 Hours In The Computer Lab. One Day, His Access Was Blocked By A Password, Which Was Then Stolen. As A Punishment He Had Without A Computer All Summer.

Failure To Comprehend And Harvard University - Gates Was Expelled From The Second Year. Trouble Turned To Subsequent Success. Future Billionaire, Has Begun To Devote More Time Programming. Two Years Later The Company Was Founded Microsoft.

Two Decades Later, Bill Gates Has Earned More Than $ 50 Billion, Employing More Than 78,000 People In 105 Countries.

The Secrets Of Success That Has Developed By Bill Gates Are:

1. Study The Competition. Gates Has Turned Into A Daily Morning Ritual Of Visiting The Same Sites Of Its Competitors.

2. Be Firm. Superior Quality Manager Faces Up To Even The Bad News. Keep Calm, And Then Every Problem Will Be Resolved Quickly. First, Always Try To Learn The Bad News, Then Good.

3. Focus On The Internet. For Him The Future. In Coming Years, There Remain Only Two Types Of Companies: Those Who Are In The Network And Those Who Graduated From A Business.

4. Do Not Pay Attention To Success. He Is Deceptive And Changeable. Having Achieved One Goal - Not Sitting On The Ground, Immediately Take A New One. Competitors Are Not Sitting Idly By.

5. Create Conditions For Development. The Purpose Of An Experienced Manager To Create A Good Environment For Their Own Subordinates. They Reciprocate.

6. Start Today. If You Have Something Not Happy At Work - Create Your Own Business. Bill Gates Has Started A Business In The Garage. Take Time Just For What You Really Interesting.

7. Think. Several Times A Year, Hop Off The Familiar Environment To Reflect The Decision Of Accumulated Problems.

8. Afraid To Fail. Doubt The Correctness Of Their Actions Before The Commission, And After - Make Your Conclusions.

9. Rely On New Technology. Electronic Information Is Capable Of Performing Miracles.

10. Hop Off The Crowd. It Is Not Always The Right Direction. Always Choose The Way Of Development.

And Now The Rules For Life:

1. Life Is Not Fair - Get Used To It!

2. The World Does Not Care About Your Self-Esteem. The World Will Expect You To Accomplish Something BEFORE You Feel Good About Yourself.

3. You Will Not Receive $ 60,000 A Year Right After School. You Will Not Be A Vice-President With A Car Phone Until You Earn Them.

4. You Think Your Teacher Is Tough? Wait Until You Get A Boss.

5. Flipping Burgers Is Not Beneath Your Dignity. Your Grandparents Had A Different Word For Burger Flipping - They Called It Opportunity.

6. If You Mess Up, It's Not The Fault Of Your Parents, Not Hnychte, Learn From Mistakes.

7. Before You Were Born, Your Parents Were Not As Boring As They Are Now. They Got That Way Paying Your Bills, Cleaning Your Clothes And Listening To You Talk About How Cool You Are. So Before You Start To Save The World From Your Parents' Generation, Clean The Toilet In Your Own Room.

8. Your School May Have Done Away With Winners And Losers, But Life Has Not. In Some Schools They Have Abolished Failing Grades And Give You As Many Times As You Want To Get The Right Answer. It Has Nothing To Do With Real Life.

9. Life Is Not Divided Into Semesters. You Do Not Get Summers Off And Very Few Employers Are Interested In Helping You Find Yourself. Look At Your Expense!

10. TV - This Is NOT Real Life. In Real Life People Actually Have To Go To Work And Not Sit At The Coffee Shop.

11. Be Nice To Nerds. It Is Not Excluded That You Will Soon Be Working For One Of Them.

http://www.citehr.com/334468-10-secrets-success-11-rules-life-bill.html

4) What Successful Businesses Have in Common

These 14 traits show up again and again when examining the reasons behind business success.

FEBRUARY 24, 2006

How does a small company become successful? Despite the bad news we so often hear about the number of small businesses closing or moving, the news really isn't all that bad: Thousands of small businesses startup every year, and a good percentage of those companies have learned what it really takes to survive the early startup years and become successful enterprises.

After working with dozens of small companies, I discovered that the successful ones share some common traits. Here, then, are the 14 qualities I've witnessed in many of the thriving small businesses I've worked with:

Company culture. Culture is defined as the "integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that depends upon man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations." For successful companies, culture is about attracting and hiring the people who would be most successful in that specific organization. And it's about driving the behavior that makes the company successful.

Customer service. Simply defined, customer service means taking care of your customers. Many companies integrate customer service into their business culture through training and the design (and frequent redesign) of relevant business processes. In most cases, the business plan dictates how they will provide quality customer service.

Attitude. As the owner of the company, you must have a positive attitude and accept 100 percent of the responsibility for the results of your business. When you accept responsibility, you can act to make the necessary changes to accomplish the desired results. Then, when success is achieved, you're generous in giving credit to others within the organization. Without exception, the most successful business owners understand that it's all about people: hiring and retaining the right people, eliminating ineffective people and providing the necessary resources for employees to master their tasks.

Business strategy. A complex strategy or business plan isn't necessary to achieve success. A simple one-page document will do, but it should be well thought out and well executed. A poorly crafted business plan that's well executed is far superior to the well-crafted business plan that sits on the shelf collecting dust. A good business plan defines and drives the activities and behaviors of the entire organization. Without it, the business becomes a ship without a rudder; it simply can't be steered and ends up going around in circles. A sound strategy should include a financial plan, marketing differentiators, and product strategy as well as a plan for employee retention.

Discipline. Discipline is all about executing the strategies and then staying the course. It's about staying focused on your core markets and measuring success as defined by your business strategy. It's not about overreacting to market changes and adjusting your core strategy to keep up.

Risk. Successful business owners aren't afraid to take calculated risks with clear outcomes in mind. Most owners who take risks do so because they recognize the need to change as the economic climates changes, and they understand it's disastrous not to embrace change. Successful business leaders understand that being in business is about managing and responding to change. Companies that succeed embrace change and respond to challenges presented by the market, the competition or changes in general business conditions.

Financial roadmap. An important attribute is the creation of a financial roadmap and budget--and then having the discipline to follow it. A financial plan reminds owners where and how to spend money, and it provides ways to measure progress or shortfalls. A sound financial plan is the cornerstone of a great business plan.

Business processes. Another frequently credited attribute of success is the streamlining of business processes. We call this "creating predictability." Unfortunately, this is probably the least understood task a small-business owner can take accomplish. Business processes are how things are done within a business. Every company has some processes; some are clearly defined, others are implicit. The intention here is to increase productivity and reduce costs while generating the same (or better) outcomes. Successful businesses understand the need to continuously improve their business processes: to become more efficient and productive, and to respond to market changes faster while providing better service to customers.

Information technology. While technology is important, it doesn't have to be complex or costly to be effective. Effective technology is probably the most important enabler for change that a company can introduce.

Marketing. Effective marketing efforts perform different functions around unique selling environments. For example, business-to-consumer enterprises have completely different marketing needs than business-to-business companies. Having a good understanding of the pains your clients are experiencing and how your product and services stop that pain can help you understand just how to market to your customers--and that's critical to business success.

Sales. Every company's approach to sales is different. Some depend on building referral partnerships and strategic alliances, and this is the extent of their sales process. Others aggressively attack the market with direct-mail campaigns, cold calling and other forms of direct customer contact. The specific selling approach a company uses is usually defined by its marketing plan. Successful owners know that the concept of selling is a process that can be measured and improved, like all business processes. They talk about the importance of having a consistent, measurable and repeatable sales process, and they engage professional sales trainers (with flexibility to customize training to their selling environment) to help create consistency within their selling process.

Training. Because we live in a world of continuous change, it's more important than ever to implement a culture of continuous learning. For many successful owners, continual investment in training is a major contributor to success. For training to be successful, however, there must a direct link back to the business plan and an understanding of how training supports the successful implementation of the business strategy.

Team of advisors. Without exception, every successful business owner I've worked with has talked to about how having trusted advisors is necessary for success. They know they can't know everything and they searched out advisors they could trust. They usually preferred to pay for this advice because they were looking for someone who would challenge them, hold them accountable, ask them important questions and introduce them to others who could help them when necessary.

Work/life balance. Successful business owners understand that every person has just 1,440 minutes in any given day and how they spend this time directly impacts how effective they'll be in growing their businesses. Smart entrepreneurs successfully integrate their social lives into their business lives: The client who purchases a product today gets invited to the lakeside cabin the next weekend. Clients become friends, and co-workers become like family. These entrepreneurs build their lives around their business, and it's almost impossible to distinguish between their social lives and their business lives.

Ron Finklestein is a business coach and the owner of YourBusinessCoach.net. He is also the author of Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to a Successful Company.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/83764

5) 21 Quotes From Henry Ford On Business, Leadership And Life

Erika Andersen ,

CONTRIBUTOR

I knew, before starting to write this post, what we all know about Henry Ford: founder of Ford Motor Company, seminal proponent of mass production in the form of the assembly line, creator of the Model T and author of the tart line, “you can have it in any color you want, as long as it is black.” Then one of my readers, Sagar Adhikari, shared a great Henry Ford quote in a comment he made on one of my posts. I was intrigued, and started doing a bit of research.

As it turns out, Ford was a veritable font of pithy and insightful one-liners aboutbusiness and leadership – and a fascinating human being, as well. He certainly had his dark side (he seems to have been anti-semitic for at least part of his life, believing in a world conspiracy of “Jewish financiers”), but he was at the same time hugely progressive and forward-thinking in many other ways. For example, he hired African-Americans, women and disabled people long before most other business owners did so, and was passionately committed to the principle of paying good wages to hire and keep the best employees. He was a relentless technological innovator, based on his commitment to creating “the best possible goods at the lowest possible price.” He focused on making ongoing changes in design and production that would drive down costs while improving the product. For instance, the inaugural Model T, released for sale in 1908, cost $825 (about $22,000 in present-day dollars); by 1916, he had reduced the cost by more than half – to $360, while increasing safety, reliability and speed. And for better or worse, Henry Ford – more than any other individual – made us a nation of car owners; at one point over half the families in America owned a Ford motor car.

Here then, for your reading pleasure: 21 inspiring and very fresh quotes from this complex, remarkable man:

There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

Don’t find fault, find a remedy.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.

Employers only handle the money – it is the customer who pays the wages.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.’

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.

If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars.

Vision without execution is just hallucination.

There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say what is and what is definitely not possible.

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.

Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.

To do more for the world than the world does for you – that is success.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/05/31/21-quotes-from-henry-ford-on-business-leadership-and-life/

6) All You Can Eat Leads: 10 Ways to Generate More Leads for Less

by JASON LEISTER · 44 COMMENTS

Wanna have a successful and profitable business? Then you need leads… and lots of them.

Nothing happens without a lead. No sales, no revenue, no profit, no nothin’.

Below are 10 ways to generate MORE leads without spending a bundle.

But before we get to the list, there are a couple of lead generation ground rules you should be clear about. Without understanding these, you can end up wasting a lot of time and money.

Ground Rule #1: Build a Value Machine for the Long Term

WARNING: This is boring, far from sexy, and nothing even close to resembling a silver bullet lead generating solution. And THAT’S why it’s so effective

Don’t ignore it now or you run the risk of being sorry later.

We’ll start off with the lead generation technique that most people will not have the discipline or patience to pursue. That is creating a REAL value machine for your market. This could be a blog you post to daily, or a video series you create daily… or something else.

Sounds simple, but it’s far from easy. I dare you, try it and you’ll see. Write a 100% value blog post every day for a month. This is work from top to bottom. That’s why it’s so effective, in my opinion. Because the majority of your competition is most likely lazy. Use that to your advantage— I am and I like the results.

Sometimes, however, you need leads yesterday so that you can put food on the table today. In that case, speed is what works, and we’ll get to that in a few moments. However, even if that’s the case, ALWAYS have a long term lead generation system running along side your short term campaigns.

Build your asset before you need it.

Ground Rule #2: Understand That the Money is Not in the List

It appears that one of my lists currently has little to no “money” hiding in it. That’s because I filled it with freebie seekers instead of potential buyers. I built a list before I had something to sell. If I had it to do over, I wouldn’t bother. Learn from my mistake. You build lists NOT to get leads, but to get buyers.

Unless you’re just lonely, you don’t want to be generating just any lead… you want to be generating leads that turn into buyers. It’s easy to build a list of people that just want free stuff. Those are not the kinds of leads you’re looking for.

Consider this: cast your lead generating net as wide as possible. But as quickly as you can, like on the “thank you” page, make it clear that you’re SELLING. You’ll totally scare away the folks who are only looking for a free lunch. As long as you provide value WHILE you sell, the true potential buyers will stick with you.

You are running a business, not a charity. So make that clear (unless of course you ARE running a charity), otherwise when you DO try to sell, it will be jarring because it will be totally inconsistent with what came before.

Ground Rule #3: You Don’t Have Time to Wait Around for a Relationship

People buy because they want things. They buy because they’re yearning for the perceived benefits of what you provide. Yes a relationship helps. But you can’t pay your bills or pay your expenses with relationships. So ask them to buy FAST.

Isn’t that why you’re in business? Don’t make excuses for it. Just sell.

OK, so let’s jump in to 10 ways to get you more leads:

1. Viral Video Works

Create a viral video and post it to Youtube®, or better yet, to both Youtube® and your own site. (if it goes viral, trust me, you’ll be happy you put it on your own site once all the link love starts coming.)

On the video page, make an offer for the NEXT video in exchange for the optin.

Go buy some cheap PPC ads on Facebook®, not promoting your offer, just promoting the video.

People (especially people on Facebook®) like to be entertained, so make sure the content of your video is clearly INFOTAINMENT. Don’t just teach… Teach, sell or pre-sell and entertain.

What you don’t know is if all these leads you’re attracting are going to be buyers. You won’t know that until you try it. (See item #3.) This is business, if you want guarantees, do something else.

2. Leverage Your Real Estate and Don’t Be Lazy

In my opinion, the jury is still out on just how profitable social media is for generating sales, but as for spreading ideas, it can be darn effective.

Give your leads the opportunity to spread your message for you. So on your “thank you page,” put a Facebook® SHARE button (not the Like button which hardly stands out on someone’s Facebook feed). Add in a retweet button and any other social gizmos that your market uses to spread things.

Better yet, if you know what you’re doing with code, make the “Post to Your Wall” pop up immediately. You can pre-fill it with a title, picture, link and message so people on Facebook® can spread it around with a SINGLE click.

You might pay for ONE lead, but that single lead might very well bring you 10 more.

3. Don’t Wait to “Butter ’em Up” Just SELL Them

Once you’ve leveraged a new lead’s ability to spread your message for you (and hopefully generate more leads), give them a test. Put an offer (hard or soft) in front of them right away.

Again, you don’t want just ANY lead, you want ones that buy. The more of them that buy, the more leads you’ll be able to afford.

4. Don’t Ignore the Simple Stuff

Please make sure you don’t discount simple ways to generate leads that are cheap and or free. For example, do you have an offer in your email signature? If not, get one.

5. Free Junk is Getting Harder to Give Away

I’m sure in the old days, you could offer just about any “freemium” as an enticement for people to join your list. Just saying, “Sign-up for my newsletter” could get some results. But the bar is getting higher, so sending your “Top 5 Tips For XX” just doesn’t carry the same weight it used to.

People have too much junk on their hard drives already. So make the “Free” thing you give away something that actually has inherent value. Some suggestions: software your leads can USE, a definitive resource (101 tips for XX) that they will come back to again and again, something that solves a real point of pain for the people you are trying to attract.

In other words, to get more leads, you should be offering them something that is MORE and BETTER than anything they can get elsewhere.

Raise the bar or you will be left out.

Editor’s note from Derek Halpern: When we launched the Thesis blog, I wrote an in-depth ebook that taught people how to use nonverbal communication online to get leads and subscribers. It converted extremely well for us. The first day we had a 70% opt-in using this page.

6. People Want What They Cannot Have

If there’s one pillar of sales psychology, this is it: people want what they cannot have. So how can you build THAT into your lead generation campaigns? How can you add an element of scarcity?

Perhaps you could create a new “freemium” each and every month. Once the month is gone, that “freemium” disappears and gets turned into a product for sale.

Again, it’s work. But people who are willing to work hard have a built in competitive advantage.

If your funnel is always open to everyone, everywhere, what’s the reason they should contact you TODAY and not 4 years from now? It helps to have a good answer to that question.

7. Detach Yourself from Results and Think Bigger

I’d have to say that most of my lead generation campaigns stink. They don’t produce much. This is a numbers game. So figure out ways to use that fact to your advantage. Instead of doing a single lead generation campaign, why not launch 10? Create one squeeze page with a killer offer on it. Then launch PPC, banner ads, articles, press releases, forum posts, blog comments, SEO, videos, guest blog posts, interviews, etc. Get creative and work hard.

If you’re looking for a quick fix silver bullet way to generate leads, you’re in danger of having your lunch eaten by the entrepreneur who is just willing to do the real work.

If you’re going to win, you need to give yourself enough chances to win. Think bigger.

8. Think 4 Steps Ahead

When opportunities show up at your door, always be asking yourself, “How can I leverage or repurpose this to create 10 times the impact with the same amount of work?” Did you get asked to be interviewed on a blog? Can you secure the non-exclusive rights to turn that interview into a product or a lead generating “freemium” for you? To fully develop the potential of all the opportunities you have, you have to be thinking ahead. It’s a habit that takes time to develop.

Start today.

9. Link Bait Works

I’m not talking about the link bait that comes from attacking someone or publishing something sensational. Link bait doesn’t need to be controversial, it just needs to be valuable.

Could you publish something TRULY valuable and timeless for your prospects? Ask yourself this: “What could I create that my prospects would consider in their best interest to spread around to OTHER prospects?”

Again, think four steps ahead… you don’t just want leads, you want sales. So work backwards from the sale: select your offer, consider any things that have to happen to remove obstacles to the sale, create your linkbait, etc.

I recommend this advice because I’ve ignored it more times than my ego would ever allow me to admit.

10. Don’t Let Shiny Objects Take You Away from the Basics

Success comes from executing the basics WELL. Generating leads is not complicated, it takes 3 things:

a great offer
putting that offer in front of the right people
a reason to act now

Rinse and repeat.

http://diythemes.com/thesis/10-ways-generate-more-leads/

7) What Leads Are and How To Use Them to Your Advantage

What Are Leads?

Leads are arguably one of the most important tools your business can use to increase sales, stay in contact with customers, and improve your overall sales strategy. A ‘Lead’ can be defined as any individual or organization that expresses interest in your product or service. To wrap it up in a neat little bow for you; Leads are your potential customers.

In order to assure that your leads are qualified, your marketing strategy should take steps to ensure that your leads are eligible buyers. In other words, you need to make sure your leads are capable of purchasing your product or service. Otherwise, your sales team will not return great results. In fact, you may even severe a chance at selling to a customer simply because their lead wasn’t qualified. What’s more annoying than going to the store without money? Being asked to buy something when your wallet is empty. That’s why it’s incredibly important to generate qualified leads. Qualified leads make sales and opportunities.

How Do You Get Qualified Leads?

A qualified lead comes from creating a quality lead magnet (advertisement, e-letter, handout, etc). Creating a quality lead is harder than it looks, though. There are a few things you should take into consideration before trying to create your own:

Do You Know Who Your Customer Is? Who would want to buy your product? What are their interests? What would they use it for?

Who Can Afford Your Product? If someone cannot afford your product, the you should not consider them a lead. It’s okay to disqualify people from becoming a potential lead. Chances are, they won’t be ineligible forever.

How Are You Going To Generate Leads? Take a look at your business. Where do consumers interact with your product most? If the answer is social media, then the best decision would be to advertise your lead magnet through Facebook, Twitter, and other accounts your customers interact with.

Another great perk to generating leads: Your business is given the opportunity to create a customer relationship. Customer relationships increase the probability of your lead buying from you again, and your ability to further your reach to other potential leads. If they personally enjoyed your product or service, they will tell their friends. In many cases, it’s wise to incentivize your customers to share your business with their friends in order to receive coupons or future benefits.

Altogether, generating and maintaining leads is something your business cannot afford to skip-out on. Even if business is good now, what will you do when your current customer pool has run out? You won’t. Thats why it’s so important to continuously generate and gather leads for your product or service.

http://ciriusmarketing.com/leads-use-advantage/

8) THE ADVANTAGES OF LEAD GENERATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Lead generation or lead-gen is a marketing term for creating or generating the interests of prospective customers in a product or service being offered by a seller. Lead generation serves a number of purposes to many different industries which are using lead generation services.

Lead generation is a simple process where the qualified leads or paid leads agencies developed a website or in more cases are partnered with other lead generating agencies. With its series of websites various sellers' products or services are promoted to these potential customers. Here the customer's interest in the products or services being offered is confirmed. The lead generating done on these paid leads directories or qualified leads informational sites the customer completes an online quote request form.

Here the Lead Generation process is confirmed by the information taken in the online quote request form is matched with the appropriate sellers offering their products and services. These qualified leads are the Emailed to the prospective providers with full contact information and purchasing requirements.

Lead Generation can be a useful marketing tool to any business. Lead generation is being used currently by insurance agencies, education institutions, and in all types of marketing online MLM leads generation, generating mortgage leads, and creating insurance agency lead generation trends are predicting that lead generations popularity will be increasing in the future particularly in the service orientated businesses.

There are two type of leads in the lead generation process you have your sales leads and you have your marketing leads. The two are quite different sales leads which are commonly used by internet marketers are generated by targeting various demographics FICO score, age, HHI more targeted to a certain type of customer that is the buyer of that product or service offered by the seller. These qualified leads or paid leads can be purchased more than once.

Your marketing lead is a different type of qualified lead or paid lead in the lead generation process. Marketing leads are brand specified for a particular advertiser offer. Transparency is necessary for generating marketing leads. The optimizing of marketing leads can be done by mapping the leads to their source.

Some of the benefits of Lead Generation, lead generation are a benefit to both parties. The buyer can do some detailed information gathering on several providers at once. The seller is pitching their product or service to a buyer who has already given them permission to do so. This is why in the internet marketing industry Lead Generation which is producing targeted qualified leads in most cases increases the conversion rate.

Lead Generation, paid leads, qualified leads the providers of these services popularity is increasing because Lead Generation agencies have a price set per lead, choice of the product or service they wish to market. Your paid leads can be targeted to your niche market. Plan available where you can purchase what your monthly budget allows. And you pay only for those sales leads or marketing leads that you want.

The range of the cost per lead ranges from $5.00 to $25.00 paid leads and qualified leads these services usually have an annual maintenance or set-up fee ranging from $50.00 to $200.00. Paid leads, qualified leads should be treated like any other marketing method. You are basing it on ROI so you want to do some split testing and lead management on your campaign.

http://www.evancarmichael.com/library/graylin-sanders1/The-Advantages-of-Lead-Generation-for-your-Business.html

Author:graylin sanders.

9) What Advantages can Sales Lead Software give your Business?

8 Answers

Christoffer Moen, Fulltime Marketer / Growth / Content / B2B

324 Views

You buy their expertise. If you don't have much experience in building your own list, it can be time-consuming and expensive. Especially if you try and dabble in landing pages, PPC etc. Even scraping can take a long time and you might not be able to scale it well.

Use a company like http://leadgenius.com, you know that you will get quality leads again, again and again. What I like about Inspire Beats as that they'll even help you out with the initial outreach and not just hand you an excel spreadsheet full with contact info.

Updated Dec 27 • View Upvotes

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