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The Virtual Consulting Discussion List [VCDL]
http://www.TheVCF.com/vcdl.phtml
Saturday, July 24, 2004 Digest #17
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ...
---> [NEW] <---
#1 Pricing Strategies That Make Sense
- Thom Winninger
#2 How to Convince your Visitors to Return Often
- Judy Cullins
#3 A Hacker Inside Your Computer?
- Jim Edwards
#4 The Top Twelve E-Mail Mistakes That Can Sabotage
Your
Career
- Lydia Ramsey
---> [CONTINUED] <---
---> [RESOURCES] <---
#5 Copywriting Resources
#6 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Resources
#7 More Products and Resources 4 Your Resale
Business
---> [NEWS] <---
---> [INTRO] <---
---> [HELP WANTED] <---
---> [ADMIN] <---
************* [NEW] ***************
#1 Pricing Strategies That Make Sense
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date sent: Thu, 27 May 2004 21:39:46 -0700
From: Thom Winninger
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
* Pricing Strategies That Make Sense
by Thom Winninger
Low pricing is not a strategy! May I repeat?
It is not strategy to
discount price and give up your margins. Value
pricing is a strategy
and one you can count on to bring you business
and continued success
in the price war battle.
There are a number of ways to price and in my
opinion, bold
faced discounting is not one of them! Too many
businesses are
giving into the pressure of discount pricing and
end up losing
the battle when, if they applied some solid pricing
strategies,
they could retain loyal customers and gain new
ones who shop
for value and not price alone.
I understand we all must at one time or another,
face the issue
of discounts and competitive pricing but it does
not need to be
at the sacrifice of the profit margin. Two solid
strategies that can
aid you if you find yourself in a price wars game
are:
Package Pricing
Value Pricing
This time around we will focus on Package Pricing.
Package
Pricing involves using a tactic called "lead
item pricing". This
involves pricing an item comparable with the discounter
in your market
and then offering your customers "package
pricing" when they get in
the door. So in other words, if I am pricing an
item at $999.00
because ABC Discounts down the street has it priced
at $999.00 as
well, I want to make absolutely sure that the
item I am pricing is
something for which they will want to add items
immediately. This does
not mean selling accessories to add on to the
price, or the next time
around, but showing them the way to have the other
items they will
need right away at one price.
How do I accomplish that? I merchandise a like
item right next
to the "lead price" item but it is "packaged
priced" at $1499.00.
Yikes! Most customers will choose the "discount"
item, right? Not
necessarily! If I do my job right, I will show
them that for $500.00
more they can get so much more VALUE, the price
difference
disappears.
I have elevated the higher priced item off the
floor, put spotlights
on it and gave it more attractive signage, placed
well dressed
mannequins around it and my customer thinks, "Wow,
for only $500
more look at all I get!" Customers see value,
not price. You don't give
them the opportunity to just "think"
about the options they would like
to have; you package them together so they perceive
they "must" have
them and can get them all at one easy, value priced
package. It's what
we call, "price point perception". The
$999.00 item gets their
attention, but value does it's job, rises to the
surface and gets you
the sale and the added profit margins.
If you can "package" your products
or services together for a
great value, the first time purchaser is far more
likely to walk out
of your business without ever giving the discounted
single item a
second thought. After all, you've made the price
difference pale in
comparison to the value. Although I discourage
discount pricing, if
you find yourself in the market with discounters,
"price point
perception" can work for you. Customers must
not perceive that you are
so expensive they won't even check with you to
see what you offer. The
strategy is this: pick out an item that you can
effectively promote
that has a price point comparison with the idea
in mind that your
customers will never buy that one anyway. They
will buy the packaged
one, but you have won the opportunity to get them
in the door. The
rest of the job is up to you.
The second level, or Part B of Package Pricing
is to do away
with the "lead item" and present your
customers with the
$1499.00 package right up front. The key here
is that you have
to be very good at this. You must be able to identify
for them
what they are getting for that price. In this
pricing structure
you are "selling the difference." The
customer must be able to
easily identify or answer for himself what he
is getting for
$500.00. Ideally, he should be able to get 3 times
the value
compared to the price. So for $500.00 in "price"
he should
perceive at least $1500.00 in "value".
Value cannot equal price. Value
perception must exceed price reality. In doing
so, you can effectively
give your customer true value and still maintain
important margins.
For example, a retailer may offer a gas grill
at $395.00 that
Walmart sells for $295.00. The customer must be
able to
clearly answer, "What am I getting for $100.00
more?" If the
retailer uses package pricing the customer will
go home with a
full tank of gas, a set of utensils and a cook
book, plus a
coupon good for 2 steaks at the local butcher.
He doesn't even
have to show a lower priced item and then try
to sell up, the
savvy retailer just packages the value and sells
it right up front!
Despite today's competitive discount price wars,
package pricing is a
very valid and successful strategy.
Thom Winninger
Member: Speakers Roundtable
Web site: http://www.speakersroundtable.com
Email: office@SpeakersRoundtable.com
Speakers Roundtable is a consortium of 22 of
America's
foremost professional speakers, sales trainers
and seminar
leaders. All members are dedicated to serving
their training,
motivation and consulting clients with pertinence,
excellence
and extraordinary value. FREE Ebook - Success
Secret
available at http://www.speakersroundtable.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
#2 How to Convince your Visitors to Return Often
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date sent: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 15:49:37 EDT
From: Judy Cullins
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
How to Convince your Visitors to Return Often
Judy Cullins ©2004 All Rights Reserved.
One visit does not make a sale. Be sure to make
your Web site
attractive to your visitors so that they want
to come back. You don't
win their trust right away. It may take 4-7 visits
before they buy.
Here's Five Ways:
1. Check and Correct What's Not Working
First, be sure you don't have long passages of
bio or information
about yourself on your home page. People don't
care about you and
they want information short and sweet. They want
solutions to their
challenges and they want free information.
Second, test all of your links often to make
sure they work. Nothing
discourages buyers more than disorganized copy,
links that don't work,
and difficulty getting to where they want to go.
2. Upload New, Original, and Useful Content Often
On every Web site page put a notice "Bookmark
our Web Site. We
update material weekly."
Follow up by uploading new "free articles,"
book excerpts, ezines, and
tips as promised. Blatant ads such as banners
turn visitors off. Give
them original information they can't find anywhere
else, and make it
free. Giving freely is a proven online marketing
philosophy.
3. Publish Your Own Ezine
Without an original ezine, you can't stay in
touch with your potential
buyers easily. They want regular, ongoing information
to develop the
trust it takes to buy. You need to prove you are
the industry expert
and a savvy friend. If you don't stay in touch,
your readers will
forget you and your products.
Start with a monthly ezine then see if bi-weekly
works for you. Start
writing short tips and articles to include. You
can later recycle
these to the opt-in ezines and other Web sites
that want free, new
information. If you think you lack content, start
subscribing to
ezines in your targeted market. Other authors
gladly allow you to use
their information when you include a signature
file.
If visitors like your ezine they will recommend
it to others.
4. Offer a Questions and Answers Page
To get visitors to return offer them answers
to typical questions they
may have. Freely given, you not only establish
yourself as the expert,
you gain their trust and support.
5. Offer a Navigation Bar of "Useful Links"
Your visitors will appreciate the ability to
contact others in your
field. These links add value to your site because
people like the
convenience of checking out products and services--all
on one Web
site--yours! This method also may raise your standing
with the search
engines. An added benefit--you meet others to
network with, to support
as they will you.
Web visitors appreciate new content and contacts
to make their quest
for information, service or products easier. You'll
reap many rewards
when you accommodate them.
===============
Judy Cullins: 20-year
author, speaker, book coach Helps entrepreneurs
manifest their book
and web dreams eBk: "Create your Web Site
with Marketing Pizzazz"
7000 Melody Lane, La Mesa, CA 91942 FRE.E "The
Book Coach Says..." or
Business Tip of the Month www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml
--
mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
Orders: 866/200-9743 -- Ph: 619/466-
0622
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[Now back to our "regular scheduled programming"
...
-----------------------------------------------------------
#3 A Hacker Inside Your Computer?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 17:24:43 -0400
From: Dr. Rachn D. Jain
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A Hacker Inside Your Computer?
- by Jim Edwards
http://www.TheNetReporter.com
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Imagine this nightmare scenario...
You check your e-mail program and it reports
your username
and password as no longer valid. You call your
Internet
service provider (ISP) to discuss the problem
and they tell
you they turned off your account due to "abuse".
"Abuse!"
you cry to the customer service operator, "What
are you
talking about?"
"Someone used your computer this past Saturday
night in an
attempt to hack into a government computer system.
They
made the attempt at 1:20 a.m. from your account,"
replies
the rep. "Look in your windows registry for
a file called
QAZWSX.hsq."
You punch a few keys and sure enough the file
stares right
back at you. "What is it?" you ask,
scared to know the
answer.
"Someone used a Trojan Horse virus to remotely
control your
computer and cloak the identity of the hacker.
Here's how
to get rid of it, just..."
What you just read happened very recently to
someone I know
quite well. A computer hacker found an open port
on his
computer when he switched over from a dial-up
Internet
connection to an "always-on" high-speed
connection.
The hacker used a robot scanning the Internet
for available
"ports", openings in a computer that
allow data to pass
back and forth from a network connection like
the Internet.
Once the hacker found an unprotected port on my
friend's
computer he simply inserted a Trojan Horse virus
that rides
along with Windows Notepad, a handy utility used
by just
about everyone who makes web pages.
When my friend activated the notepad program
he also
activated the virus. The virus in turn transmitted
all of
my friend's security information to the hacker
and allowed
him to gain access and control his victim's computer
in the
middle of the night.
Count me as the last person to sound paranoid,
but, as
always-on connections through DSL, cable, and
T-1 lines
proliferate, this story will repeat itself over
and over
until people learn to protect themselves.
Most people underestimate or are completely ignorant
about
the importance of information they send over the
Internet
when surfing websites and checking email. Even
if you only
use a simple dial-up account, you can unknowingly
transmit
a significant amount of sensitive information.
You can analyze the security of your web connection
for
free by going to http://www.symantec.com/SecurityCheck/
.
You can also verify the presence of any known
viruses or
Trojan horses on your computer. The information
I saw when
analyzing my personal computer frankly shocked
me. I saw
data I didn't even know existed staring me right
in the
face after I performed this analysis.
To protect your computer hardware and sensitive
data you
should obtain a software package called a "firewall".
A
firewall, when combined with a good anti-virus
program,
helps stop unauthorized access on your computer,
prevents
virus infection, and "cloaks" your data
ports against a
hacker scanning for openings.
Symantec.com and McAfee.com both offer excellent
personal
firewall and anti-virus software from their websites
or you
can buy them off the shelf at your local office
supply
store. A wise investment for anyone on the net...
before
it's too late!
- Jim Edwards writes a syndicated newspaper column
in plain
language for non-technical people about current
Internet
issues, challenges, news, HOT new tools... and
much more!
"The Net Reporter" ==> http://www.thenetreporter.com
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[Please Note: You may find more ways to help
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at:
We hope this this all helps you all protect all
of your valuable computer resources! :)]
-----------------------------------------------------------
#4 The Top Twelve E-Mail Mistakes That Can Sabotage
Your
Career
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 12:01:09 -0700
From: Lydia Ramsey
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
You return to your office from an afternoon meeting
and decide
to check e-mail. You wonder where your day went
after spending
hours downloading messages, reading some, deleting
others,
crafting replies and filing those that you want
to work on later. Your
e-mail box was full when you arrived at work this
morning and tomorrow
promises to be no different.
What is this e-mail explosion? Was there a point
in time when
the entire world decided to use the Internet as
their business
communication tool of choice? Are there rules
for managing
these messages and being a professional and polite
user of
electronic mail? There are, but not
everyone has gotten the word.
Your e-mail is as much a part of your professional
image as the
clothes you wear, the postal letters you write
(assuming you
still do), the greeting on your voice mail and
the handshake you
offer. If you want to impress on every front and
build positive
business relationships, pay attention to your
e-mail and steer clear
of these top twelve e-mail mistakes:
1. OMITTING THE SUBJECT LINE. We are way past
the time
when we didn't realize the significance of the
subject line. It makes
no sense to send a message that reads "no
subject" and seems to be
about nothing. Given the huge volume of e-mail
that each person
receives, the subject header is essential if you
want your message
read any time soon. The subject line has become
the hook.
2. NOT MAKING YOUR SUBJECT LINE MEANINGFUL.
Your header should be pertinent to your message,
not just "Hi" or
"Hello." The recipient is going to decide
the order in which he reads
e-mail based on who sent it and what it is about.
Your e-mail will
have lots of competition.
3. FAILING TO CHANGE THE HEADER TO CORRESPOND
WITH THE SUBJECT. For example, if you are writing
your web
publisher, your first header may be "Web
site content." However, as
your site develops and you send more information,
label each message
for what it is, "contact info," "graphics,"
or "home page." Don't
just hit "reply" every time. Adding
more details to the header will
allow the recipient to find a specific document
in his/her message
folder without having to search every one you
sent. Start a new
message if you change the subject all together.
4. NOT PERSONALIZING YOUR MESSAGE TO THE RECIPIENT.
E-mail is informal but it still needs a greeting.
Begin with "Dear Mr.
Broome," "Dear Jim," "Hello
Jim," or just "Jim." Failure to
put in the
person's name can make you and your e-mail seem
cold.
5. NOT ACCOUNTING FOR TONE. When you communicate
with another person face to face, 93% of the message
is non-verbal.
E-mail has no body language. The reader cannot
see your face or hear
your tone of voice so chose your words carefully
and thoughtfully.
Put yourself in the other person's place and think
how your words may
come across in Cyberspace.
6. FORGETTING TO CHECK FOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR.
In the early days of e-mail, someone created the
notion that this form
of communication did not have to be letter perfect.
Wrong. It does.
It is a representation of you. If you don't check
to be sure e-mail is
correct, people will question the caliber of other
work you do. Use
proper capitalization and punctuation, and always
check your spelling.
Remember that your spellchecker will catch misspelled
words, but not
misused ones. It cannot tell whether you meant
to say "from" or
"form," "for" or "fro",
"he" or "the."
7. WRITING THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL. E-mail is
meant to be
brief. Keep your message short. Use only a few
paragraphs and a few
sentences per paragraph. People skim their e-mail
so a long missive
is wasted. If you find yourself writing an overly
long message, pick
up the phone or call a meeting.
8. FORWARDING E-MAIL WITHOUT PERMISSION. Most
everyone
is guilty of this one, but think about it. If
the message was sent to
you and only you, why would you take responsibility
for passing it on?
Too often confidential information has gone global
because of
someone's lack of judgment. Unless you are asked
or request
permission, do not forward anything that was sent
just to you.
9. THINKING THAT NO ONE ELSE WILL EVER SEE YOUR
E-MAIL.
Once it has left your mailbox, you have no idea
where your e-mail will
end up. Don't use the Internet to send anything
that you couldn't
stand to see on a billboard on your way to work
the next day. Use
other means to communicate personal or sensitive
information.
10. LEAVING OFF YOUR SIGNATURE. Always close
with your name,
even though it is included at the top of the e-mail,
and add contact
information such as your phone, fax and street
address. The recipient
may want to call to talk further or send you documents
that cannot be
e-mailed. Creating a formal signature block with
all that data is the
most professional approach.
11. EXPECTING AN INSTANT RESPONSE. Not everyone
is sitting in
front of the computer with e-mail turned on. The
beauty of Internet
communication is that it is convenient. It is
not an interruption.
People can check their messages when it suits
them, not you. If your
communication is so important that you need to
hear back right away,
use the phone.
12. COMPLETING THE "TO" LINE FIRST.
The name or address of the
person to whom you are writing is actually the
last piece of information you
should enter. Check everything else over carefully
first. Proof for
grammar, punctuation, spelling and clarity. Did
you say what needed
to be said? How was your "tone of voice"?
If you were the least bit
emotional when you wrote the e-mail, did you let
it sit for a period
of time? Did you include the attachment you wanted
to send? If you
enter the recipient's name first, a mere slip
of the finger can send a
message before its' time. You can never take it
back.
E-mail makes everything easier and faster including
making a powerful
business impression and establishing positive
professional
relationships. The businessperson who uses the
technology effectively
and appropriately will see the results of that
effort reflected in the
bottom line.
(c) 2004, Lydia Ramsey. All rights in all media
reserved.
Lydia Ramsey is a business etiquette expert,
professional speaker,
corporate trainer and author of MANNERS THAT SELL
- ADDING THE
POLISH THAT BUILDS PROFITS. She has been quoted
or featured in The New
York Times, Investors' Business Daily, Entrepreneur,
Inc., Real Simple and Woman's Day. For more information
about her programs, products and
services, e-mail her at lydia@mannersthatsell.com
or visit her web
site http://www.mannersthatsell.com
*************** [RESOURCES] ****************
#5 Copywriting Resources
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004
Do you have Great products and/or services, good
web site traffic, but still less than optimal
sales?
Perhaps your sales, ad and/or web copy could
use some improvement, huh?
We have collected some Copywriting Resources
for you at:
