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Obtaining Self-Confidence
A reader recently asked me the following: "I enjoyed the information you provided on your website, however you never mentioned how important Self-Confidence is in a sale. I have been told that I am an excellent sales person, however I lack the self-confidence to close the sale. Self Confidence is not easy to 'obtain' therefore for those us with this problem, we can never be successful in sales." Self-confidence is a very important in sales. It seems to be one of those areas that people believe "you just have it, or you don't." Many people think that you are either a natural, are born talented, or you are incapable. My belief is that whatever one person can do, another person can do (what a person WILL do is another issue). I also believe that what humans have yet to accomplish, can be realized through ingenuity and persistence. I want to discuss how one comes into a state of self- confidence. To do this, I am going to focus in on a couple of important pieces of what DG said. I think it would be useful before I do that though to define what self- confidence is. Obviously it is a feeling. A feeling of being able to do something. A feeling that one can accomplish what one sets out to do. Reading my dictionary, I noted the following two definitions of self-confidence: The state of being certain, Trust or faith in one's abilities. So when DG says "I lack the self-confidence to clo

launched his company, Sostre & Associates, which manages 25 active websites.

He has integrated the earnings per 100 clicks (EPC) model of advertisement from Commission Junction in all his websites – an important statistic that correlates actual sales to clicks/traffic. Knowing the "conversion rate" ensures that Pedro promotes products and services that are in demand, and suggests when to change promotion strategies to increase EPC.

His websites target specialty markets such as travel, cosmetics, audio books, book clubs, and financial services. His websites in this way drive traffic to the numerous advertisers of Commission Junction, and Pedro earns commission as a result. He makes his living based on the commissions generated by his websites.

Pedro says the secret of his success is based on three keys, namely, providing value to customers, collaborating with advertisers, and taking advantage of Commission Junction's sophisticated reporting capabilities.

He says, "Your site needs to be attractive and valuable to existing and potential customers. Make sure they have a good experience once they are there." Kerri Pollard, director of publisher development for Commission Junction, declares, “Great publishers like Pedro make our network the best in the industry. We wish every publisher would follow his practices as they are truly great examples of how to run a top-notch program.”

Affiliate Program Success Story #4: hollywoodvideo.com - An Amazon Associate

Sales Training Speaker Rates Sales Prospecting Training
Have you identified the key sales performance indicators that are dragging you down? I conduct Sales Performance Evaluator™ web-cast meetings across the country to help sales management diagnose were they are weak and were they are strong, all pointing to unique systematic training processes to gain more sales revenue in less time. The evaluation is based on real sales performance numbers in line with revenue objectives, so it’s ultimately an objective review versus a subjective approach.My findings show that 90% of the time the sales force under the 'sales performance microscope' is not achieving enough new sales appointments to have a ‘right to win’ in line with their sales objectives. Simply put, they are not putting enough logs on the fire to keep it burning.Simply put, they are not putting enough logs on the fire to keep it burning.Does your sales force ‘put enough logs on the fire’ in line with your current key sales performance indicators and your sales objective? If they are not, you should be looking closely at what I term the #1 sales competency in sales; the conversation-to-appointment ratio.Let’s take a close look at the Conversation-to-Appointment ratio. This is the number of conversations it takes to generate a single sales appointment. Most sales organizations do not measure, let alone emphasize or train around the “Conversation-to-Appointment Ratio.” Most do not know what it means.Consi

All businesses benefit, if not rely, on word of mouth advertising and a systematic method to generate referrals. Consider an owner of a gym, for example, who offers one free month of membership to any member who refers a friend; two months may be provided gratis if two friends are referred and so on. In essence, this gym owner is not only helping to retain his - her current list of members by offering an incentive but adding to the customer base through the efforts of others.

Online business owners similarly attempt to increase their visibility and profit by enlisting others to offer lead generation, increased traffic and sales and, as such, reward those who do. Those who promote a merchant's website (known as affiliates or publishers) via the use of websites, blogs, emails, search listings, etc., reap the fruits of a revenue-sharing program provided by the merchant (also known as an advertiser).

Any visitor who visits the affiliate's website, for instance, can see the merchant's offering (labeled as an advertisement), click on it, and is redirected to the merchant's website via an internal link attached to the advertisement. If the visitor buys or performs any required action on the merchant's website, then a predetermined commission is paid to the affiliate by the merchant for referring the visitor to the merchant's website.

Some affiliate programs pay for the number of clicks, visits or leads generated. The calculation of the number of visits, clicks or leads is based on proprietary software of the merchants who track the status of their advertisements on the affiliate's website. This tracking enables them to determine the total commission payable to the affiliate.

Affiliate Advertisement Models

The various models adopted by popular affiliate programs are presented below:

Pay-per-click (PPC) or Cost-per-click (CPC): Here, the affiliate earns a predetermined commission if any visitor clicks on the merchant's advertisement and is redirected to the merchant's website.

Pay-per-impression (PPI) or Cost-per-thousand (CPM): Here, an impression means a single view of the advertisement. Hence, if the merchant's advertisement has been viewed, then the affiliate earns a predetermined commission, generally on a cost-per-thousand impressions basis.

Pay-per-lead (PPL) or Cost-per-lead (CPL) or Cost-per-action/acquisition (CPA): Here, if any visitor from the affiliate's website follows the linked advertisement of the merchant to the merchant's website, and performs a required action like account creation, newsletter subscription, form filling, etc., then the affiliate earns a predetermined commission. Banks selling financial products (for example, loans, credit cards, mortgages), cell phone manufacturers and Internet service providers usually opt for this model of affiliate marketing.

Pay-per-sale (PPS) or Cost-per-sale (CPS): Here, the merchant pays a predetermined percentage of the sale if any visitor referred from the affiliate's website makes a purchase on the merchant's website. This is the most common model and is widely followed by online retailers.

Pay-per-call (abbreviation not yet formed): This is a new model and is still in its infancy stage. Here, the merchant pays a predetermined commission for each phone call that is received by the merchant from the visitor who has followed the merchant's linked advertisement placed on the affiliate's website. The latest call-tracking technology is used to determine the source and number of calls. Today there are thousands of affiliate programs available. There are "affiliate program directories" that collect and supply affiliate programs. There are also affiliate networks like LinkShare and Commission Junction which connect the affiliate to hundreds of merchants offering such affiliate programs. There are Affiliate Program Managers (APM) and Outsourced Program Management (OPM) who link affiliates to different affiliate programs and also track their performance. These are third parties who act as intermediaries between the merchant and the affiliate.

Success Stories Abound

Numerous success stories have materialized by participating in affiliate programs. Here's a brief study of several success stories:

Affiliate Program Success Story #1: Jason Calacanis - A Google AdSense Affiliate

Jason Calacanis is the owner of Weblogs, Inc., which is a conglomerate of about 100 independent bloggers. The blogs are based on several topics like consumer technology, luxury goods, automobiles, etc. Industry experts and enthusiasts author all the blogs ensuring that the presented content is exemplary. Authors consistently provide new material, pinging Weblogs when they update their blogs. Jason gives a stipend to all the bloggers along with a portion of the AdSense earnings with respect to their blogs. Collectively, over 60 million page views a month are accumulated by the blogs of Weblogs, Inc.

Jason signed up for AdSense in September 2004 and in about six months time, the AdSense revenues grew from $200 to more than $1,000 to $3,000 a day. This was achieved by successfully using AdSense channels and the link unit ad format where a list of ads are displayed, pointing to corresponding areas of the site.

Jason advises, "Set goals for yourselves around traffic, number of ads shown, ads per page, number of clicks and as you optimize AdSense, the revenue will follow." He has written his success story because his testing was systematic and meticulous; he experimented and tried one or two new things at a time, always aware of the changes that were fueling the site's continued growth.

Affiliate Program Success Story #2: Chris B. - An eBay Affiliate

In May 2003, Chris B. joined the eBay Affiliate Program. He adopted the "natural search" model of eBay, wherein he created websites dedicated to particular products such as the Puma trucker hat, and established a good ranking for his sites in natural search engines like Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.

Visitors who clicked the natural links from those search engines were directed to his site, featuring the related items available on eBay with photos, prices, and listing ending times. From there, the visitors clicked on any product that aroused their curiosity. Thus, they were directed to the eBay site where they could register, bid, and/or buy that product. This way Chris referred traffic to the eBay website and earned eBay commissions.

He makes his living out of these commissions. Chris succeeded because he found out niche products with little competition so that his websites could have a good ranking in the natural search engines. He also made his websites in such a way that they could attract visitors to click on the products displayed and thereby go to the eBay website. In addition, he made a good decision to become an affiliate of an established and prominent company - eBay, and thereby ensured that his websites had a diverse range of products to highlight, leading to a "parent site" with a high degree of recognition.

Affiliate Program Success Story #3: Pedro Sostre - A Commission Junction Affiliate

Pedro Sostre is a brand consultant helping companies to establish and maintain an online presence. He has vast experience working with many companies, including large entities such as CBS Sportsline, the NFL, Motorola, BMW Motorcycles, and Reebok. In 2000, he launched his company, Sostre & Associates, which manages 25 active websites.

Affiliate Program Success Story #4: hollywoodvideo.com - An Amazon Associate

Selecting a Venture
The basic rule is simple: "Find a market need and fill it!" The process of finding the need, and the method chosen to fill it are where the difficulties arise.Based on our opportunity scan, does the market need a product or service that is not currently being provided? Is there a needed product or service currently being provided in a less than satisfactory way? Is some particular market being underserved due to capacity shortages or location gaps? Can we serve any of these needs with some competitive advantage?Remember that a business idea is not a business opportunity until it is evaluated objectively and judged to be feasible. You may wish to choose two to five of the ideas that seem most promising for more detailed study. Trying to consider too many would spread your time, energy and focus too thin. At the same time, if you focus too early on only one business idea, you are more likely to become “attached” to it, and could lose your objectivity.Testing the feasibility of your top business ideas involves time and effort to collect key information. A first pass might consist of consulting recent journal articles that evaluate the market of interest; most libraries have computer-based indexes of periodical articles, such as InfoTrac. Other useful library resources include industry trade books, directories, and other sources of industry statistics.Data collected from industry sources and journal articles is often referre

-per-click (CPC): Here, the affiliate earns a predetermined commission if any visitor clicks on the merchant's advertisement and is redirected to the merchant's website.

Success Stories Abound

Numerous success stories have materialized by participating in affiliate programs. Here's a brief study of several success stories:

Affiliate Program Success Story #1: Jason Calacanis - A Google AdSense Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #2: Chris B. - An eBay Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #3: Pedro Sostre - A Commission Junction Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #4: hollywoodvideo.com - An Amazon Associate

Job Compliments That Reach Employees
As a manager you are responsible for the smooth running of company affairs. You know that this takes the effort of every person who reports to you.When an employee has brought a big project in on-time and on- budget you may want to express your gratitude in a personal way that shows total understanding and appreciation.You may want to provide a compliment that will motivate him/her, as well as to thank them for the work that they have already achieved.Here’s how to make your compliments reach their heart, not just their head, to impart a positive affirmation that will make them feel that you really understand and care.There are three parts to a successful compliment, namely: the Reason, the Feeling and the Result. Putting these parts together will send a message to your employee that will lift their spirits and send their ego flying!THE REASONTo give a successful compliment you need to identify what the other person did that encouraged you. Why do you want to give the compliment? What did your employee do to warrant it?You need to pinpoint the reason why you want to give them a compliment so that your employee can understand why you are giving it.Describe the project that they were working on. Don’t use only a single sentence – provide at least three sentences to describe your employee’s involvement with the project.When you see exceptional work performance there is reason to provide a

e and Commission Junction which connect the affiliate to hundreds of merchants offering such affiliate programs. There are Affiliate Program Managers (APM) and Outsourced Program Management (OPM) who link affiliates to different affiliate programs and also track their performance. These are third parties who act as intermediaries between the merchant and the affiliate.

Success Stories Abound

Numerous success stories have materialized by participating in affiliate programs. Here's a brief study of several success stories:

Affiliate Program Success Story #1: Jason Calacanis - A Google AdSense Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #2: Chris B. - An eBay Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #3: Pedro Sostre - A Commission Junction Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #4: hollywoodvideo.com - An Amazon Associate

Personalized Rubber Stamps
In an ever-expanding corporate environment, the need to have an individual identity is a must to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. There are several ways of making this statement such as brand advertising, promotion campaigns and a personalized logo. However, a very subtle yet effective method used to highlight a person or organization’s individuality is the use of personalized rubber stamps.A personalized rubber stamp allows the users to craft their own design, logo, slogan or signature for the stamp. The engravings in the rubber base are made exactly according to the need of the user, adding to the tailor-made approach. These rubber stamps also make the perfect gift for any occasion.Personalized rubber stamps come in various shapes and sizes and focus on the minutest of details. Wood handle stamps are one of the most unique personalized stamps. Unlike other commercial stamps, these stamp handles are custom made to match the size of the rubber die. Other variations include personal signatures, images and logos. Since these stamps are made for a specific individual or organization, their size and shape can also be customized.Personalized rubber stamps are usually made with real red rubber using laser engraver process. This process helps create the finest details in any stamp, may it be text based or an image. Personalized rubber stamps maybe used for a variety of purposes, such as stamping important documents, decoratin

time, always aware of the changes that were fueling the site's continued growth.

Affiliate Program Success Story #2: Chris B. - An eBay Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #3: Pedro Sostre - A Commission Junction Affiliate

Affiliate Program Success Story #4: hollywoodvideo.com - An Amazon Associate

Keeping the Books: Have-to and Ought-to
Many feel that once an entrepreneur has gotten a business up and going, they are bored by operating the business and ready to move on to their next startup challenge. In fact, the proof of the entrepreneur's mettle is in demonstrating that the plan for the business was sound, and that the strategy was executable.This often requires that they stay with a business for several years to prove the concept, before selling or going public, and possibly bringing in longer-term professional management. In any case, the quality of the records kept by a business can be a significant factor in taking the business to such a "liquidity event," that is valuing the business in a way to convert equity to cash. Some generally accepted principles for this record keeping include:• A business should have financial reports prepared at the end of each calendar or fiscal year, with interim reports during the year. Use of the "natural" business year as the formal accounting period has been increasing. The natural year is the 12-month period ending at the lowest point of business activity for the period.• Since many business transactions will be incomplete at the end of any accounting period, some estimates will be necessary. Such estimates are an acceptable part of financial reports as long as they are made according to procedures that have proved reliable in the past.• Each business is considered a separate accounting unit, with the affairs of

launched his company, Sostre & Associates, which manages 25 active websites.

Affiliate Program Success Story #4: hollywoodvideo.com - An Amazon Associate

Amazon.com calls its affiliates, its "associates". It has over 1,000,000 members and thus can offer a range of advertisers from personal blogs to massive sites of Fortune 500 companies. Hollywoodvideo.com is a content site and is enjoying success serving as an Amazon associate. The site is primarily comprised of an exhaustive list of movies and the visitor is encouraged to learn more about these films through their sister site, reel.com. Visitors can then purchase the flicks, starting with a click of a link to Amazon.com. (Visitors can also buy videos directly on the hollywoodvideo.com site by clicking a relevant link, leading to the same destination: Amazon.com.)

The site's success may be attributable to the following reasons: It features the latest movies, the movies to come soon, top 10 movies, and even enables visitors to create a movie wish list of their own. Users are offered games, gift cards, and a store locator where they can buy or rent videos of their choice. The updated site content, providing a personal touch by the creation of a wish list and personalized movie recommendations, ensures repeated visits, thereby retaining old visitors as well as attracting new visitors. The more visitors, the more clicks leading to Amazon.com, and the greater the number of affiliate sales.

Affiliate Program Success Story #5: Robert Marcus - A LinkShare Affiliate

Robert Marcus likes to listen to music while jogging and so he came up with an idea of a website that would have extensive links to songs which joggers could listen from their iPods while jogging. He created the site JogTunes.com for music-paced running in 2005, and featured links to LinkShare merchant, Apple iTunes. The site became an instant hit and Robert attributes much of his success to LinkShare. As he says, "Thanks to LinkShare, music-paced running is an idea that is off and running."

The strategy that worked for Robert was that he identified a need of joggers. Indeed, if the music matched the pace of jogging, then jogging would become a more enjoyable, if not a more sustainable, activity. He fulfilled this need by providing joggers with music as per their choice, via links to one of the most reliable iPod compatible song providers, Apple iTunes. Furthermore, to ensure that his links would be correctly tracked and his payment would be received, he became an affiliate of an established and reputable affiliate network, LinkShare.

By examining the aforementioned affiliate marketing success stories, one can acquire valuable lessons, use some of the tactics employed and modify them when necessary. Indeed, learn from the masters of affiliate marketing to become one yourself.

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In the industry for your products and services, there may be many existing elements like symbols, colors, or other visual images that are very familiar to the people who buy and use the appropriate products and services. Your mission is to find those elements, adopt them within your identity, and become an integral part of the community you to intend to serve.

Despite all our best efforts at “managing”, we have very little control over other people’s actions, including the people that work with or for us. We can inspire, motivate, guide or threaten them, but the choice to act in a certain way is up to the individual.

Involving your staff in team-based activities may increase customer satisfaction

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