Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Why your company must have a designated nudge

Did you know your company has a open position which
needs to be filled at once? The absence of this person is
costing you money every single day. That's why
you cannot wait another minute to fill this vital post.

To help understand what this position is all about,
let's start at the dictionary:

Nudge (nuj) v. nudged, nudging. v. t. To touch or
push gently as with the elbow, in order to attract
attention, convey a meaning, etc. v.i. To give a
nudge. n. The act of nudging; a gentle push as with
the elbow. Norw. nugga, push.

Frankly, I think the  original Norwegian ("nugga") has it
right: push. The nudge is your company's designated
representative to push employees and associates for
more and faster results.

Why you need a nudge

Let's face it, you're human. You try to set goals. You
try to reach them in the time provided. You try to do more
and better, right?

But somehow you fall behind, miss deadlines, bobble
opportunities, trip and crash when  you should be sprinting
ahead. Isn't that about the size of it?

Which is why you need a designated nudge.

In a nutshell the job of the nudge is to

* check progress on existing projects and objectives

* ask how you are getting on with what needs to be done

* remind you what needs to be done and when
it must be done

* offer incentives for achievement

* make it clear what happens when achievement is
not forthcoming

And, in general,  spur, motivate, challenge, chide
-- and push.

The nudge must be organized, efficient, focused,
indefatigable, with a thick skin

Only a person of the utmost efficiency, clarity and
organization can be a nudge. After all, a nudge who
falters and fails is hardly going to make a success of the
position, much less deliver the benefits you have
every right to expect.

Beyond such skills, the nudge must be a person
who, above all, has a thick skin and who doesn't take
things personally.

Nudges are often regarded as people butting in where
they are not wanted...  perfectionists in an imperfect
world... annoying, interfering, pests; in short not the
most welcome of creatures.

That's why two things are absolutely necessary for
the successful nudge: a thick skin and immunity for
whatever they say.

The necessity for immunity

A nudge by definition pushes other employees...
and must therefore be protected from the comments
and reactions of all employees.

Consider this typical situation:

Nudge: Mary,  as you know your monthly sales figures
are a little off. What are  you planning to do to get back
on track?

I guarantee you that Mary is not likely to be very happy
when the nudge drops by with this message. However,
that is the nudge's job: to get Mary back on track ASAP,
to enable both Mary and the company to achieve their
clearly understood goals.

Mary may well be inclined to respond with a "get
out of here. I am fully capable of handling this matter
myself" comment.

But she cannot and must not.

The nudge's job is to remind Mary of what needs to be
done, when it needs to be done, what Mary is doing to
achieve the objective, and to give Mary all appropriate
help and directions, right up to and including warnings
and admonitions.

The nudge is constantly in motion and may appear
anywhere, at any time.

By definition, a nudge cannot be a stationary object;
the nudge must constantly be

* connecting with employees
* reviewing their progress
* making suggestions
* focusing employees
* recommending what must be done and
when it must be done.

The nudge must be supremely well organized
and must have a clear daily "to do" list.

This means

* knowing who must be contacted today

* calling and emailing such people (including
follow-up e-mails after all meetings).

* re-focusing employees, tweaking, adjusting,
reminding.

The nudge is a creature in constant motion...

* prodding Joe

* complimenting Neal

* chiding Sally

being clear on what each needs to achieve... and working
with each and all to achieve those objectives.

Start today

There isn't a company on this earth which wouldn't
be better off having a designated nudge on staff.
That's why you must start today.

* Review the nudge candidates you have. Who is
best equipped to contact each and every employee
and representative to improve results?

* The nudge must be in constant communication
with employees AND with management. 

* The nudge's conduct and mode of operation
must be reviewed at regular intervals. Remember
your Lord Acton: "power corrupts. Absolute power
corrupts absolutely." You must ensure that your
nudge doesn't develop arrogance and "big head"
problems, which can easily occur without periodic
intervention and oversight.

Review the nudge's results

A nudge who understands and is good at this
job is a  godsend to any company.  After all,  nudges are
clear on what is likely to deliver better results:

* allowing employees to go their own ways
without regular oversight and reminding, or

* having to report progress (or lack of same)
to a designated representative whose task is
to get people to produce more in a designated
period of time?

Obvious, isn't it?

And so we come back to the original Norwegian word
"nugga", meaning push. The nudge is your company's
secret weapon, who by simply showing up and pushing
and prodding employees will achieve better results day after
day.

Cherish nudges, for they are a source of endless
benefits to you and  your organization.  Far too many
employees are slow, slothful, disorganized, inefficient.
Apply the magic of the nudge to the solution of these
problems and deficiencies. The results will most
assuredly please you!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! Republished with author's permission by Dallas Cousins http://FunEasyHomeBiz.com.

Top 5 Mistakes made by Online Marketers. Don't make these mistakes and sabotage your promotional efforts

Today I am tackling one of the BIGGEST problems faced by new online marketers. The problem is this, the inability to market effectively. This causes so many marketers incredible frustration! The result, they throw up their hands in despair and quit long before they see any results.  

This is what I hear from people day after day in my role as an online Home Business Consultant. "I am posting, and promoting but not getting any leads or sales! Help me!" If this is you, keep reading, I am going to tell you what you need to know about marketing.

It is true that you can be promoting every day but if you are making one or all of the 5 common mistakes I've outlined here, you won't get the results you want. Take note, this is important stuff if you are really serious about making money online.

1.  The first mistake made by new online marketers is this:

Not knowing WHAT to market.

I talk to people daily, nice people who want to sell something online and earn some extra money. They sign up or this and for that, they get Affiliate Memberships all over the web hoping to get better results by being involved in everything they can get their hands on. There intentions are good, they are motivated but they stumble right off the bat by not knowing what to market.

Here's a quick guide for you on WHAT to Market:  -Pick products to market that are DIGITAL. Digital products are those that can be bought and sold instantly online. You get your commission sooner, the buyer gets their product instantly!  It's no-fuss no-muss and the best way to start your web marketing experience and see some results. -In most cases there is no cost to be a product Reseller or Affiliate - hurray! -Pick Reseller products from a reputable long-standing company that specializes in helping vendors connect with affiliates to sell products online -Pick products or affiliate programs that provide advertising copy, banners, and sales aids along with referral links so you can easily promote the products -Pick products that catch YOUR EYE!  Newest releases, products with catchy names, trendy topics, those with positive buyer feedback, and return guarantees are best! -Look for Joint Venture releases so you can be one of the first to promote the products when first released for sale  Finally, FOCUS! Keep your eye on the prize - profits - don't spread yourself too thin. Narrow your efforts to a few products and put 100% effort into your campaign.  

2. The second most common mistake made by new online marketers is this:

Not knowing HOW to market.

I am always surprised at the answer people give me when I ask how they are marketing online. They look at me perhaps thinking what a ridiculous question that is! They tell me they are sending out their website address.  When I look at their website I see a site that is oh so boring!  It reads like a brochure with company history, and a few pages of fluffy copy. Yes, of course it is important to promote your website address BUT if you wish to capture leads you must do this - get the prospects contact information!

Getting the contact information from a prospect is often very difficult to do with a standard corporate site. The answer to this problem is to create what are called LANDING pages, or Squeeze pages. These are single page sites that have one purpose and one purpose only - get you a LEAD - and better yet lead to a sale!   Some companies provide Landing Pages for you when you become a Reseller for their products.  Landing pages help you build your marketing list. Every person may not be a buyer today, but on your mailing list they may enjoy future products you offer.  Offering an option to join your mailing directly on your Landing Page gives people 100% control over opting in to your mailing list or not.  You build your list while ensuring that people have voluntarily joined your mailing list.

Here's a quick guide to creating responsive landing pages:

-They should be FAST Loading! Skip any animation, video or annoying distraction that just makes people click OFF! -Use images that are colorful, directive, and related to the theme of your product -Your copy MUST be short, punchy, laden with benefits - speak directly to the reader -Your copy should tell readers what they get if they ACT now! Limit the offer, even better! -Capture the contact information of the reader so you can deliver what they asked for -The more goodies, freebies, offers, and cool stuff you can give people the BETTER the response!  -Always include an option for people to join your mailing list and give them GREAT reasons to want to do so!

Unlike a website, a landing page should be EXCITING, BENEFIT-LADEN and accomplish this:

Look reader! You get this! Do this to get it! Do it NOW and also get this BONUS!

3. Here is the third most common mistake I see new marketers making:

Not KNOWING WHERE to Market

Marketing is NOT simple but if you know what you are doing it can be.  The key is to find the sites, the niches where you can target your market. Market to the right people instead of the masses with solid products and you will get instantly better results.

Here's a quick guide to knowing WHERE to market:

-Do a Google search to find sites related to what you are promoting, then target those sites for your marketing campaigns -Use every available niche market you can find and post there, this includes Forums, Classified Ad Sites, Banner Exchanges, Twitter and Social Networking and Bookmarking sites. -Do not discount FREE and low cost advertising options like Safelists, and Traffic Exchanges. These are excellent ways to target a specific market -You do NOT have to spend ridiculous amounts of money on advertising. Find the sites where your target market exists, then place low cost ads including safelist posts, banners, and classified ads.  Don't even think about buying pay-per-click ads at sites like Google unless you have deep pockets and know what you are doing. -Learn what backlinks are and why they are SO VERY important to generating traffic and achieving better search engine indexing for your site, products or business. -If any of the terms above are foreign to you, you have some homework to do, I have included some resources below.

4. Are you ready for the fourth and perhaps most fatal mistake made by new online marketers?

Not knowing how to TRACK your promotional campaigns

If you are going to spend time and money to promote a product or service you MUST, you absolutely MUST know where you are getting your results. Ad Tracking is a 100% requirement!  If you are not tracking your ads, and the clicks you get and from where, you are promoting blindly.  What happens when you don't watch what you are doing? You can fall in a hole! Online this can be a hole where you fall in and throw your money into wasted ad campaigns.  I've seen more people allow paid advertising to eat up their entire budget than I want to think about. Smart marketers that get results know exactly the ad campaigns that get results, and the sources they came from.

Get an Ad Tracker Tool.   Some advertising sites provide you with data on number of clicks to your ads, or impressions.  This is important, just be sure you understand what those terms mean. A click is usually far more powerful for you then a "view".  You want ACTIVE respondents, real people actually clicking on your ad to see it.  This is much different than an "exposure" or a "view" with the latter being considered passive and very weak marketing, often provided free.  For best results you will ALWAYS get better results from paid advertising than from free advertising but don't discount free promotion, it is a good way to earn advertising credits if you have a small advertising budget. If you buy advertising be SURE you get some kind of way to validate the promotion, the click rate, and actual IP addresses of unique respondents to ensure the hits are legitimate and not computer generated.  Make sure your respondents will be geographically specific too,  from countries that you wish to target. For example, Canada or the USA.  If you have your own domain you are fortunate, as you can benefit from an Ad Tracking tool that tracks all your promotional activities and traced to your website domain address.

5.  The fifth common mistake I see online marketers making is very straight-forward.

Not being realistic or giving it enough consistent time and effort to see results.

I know we live in an instant gratification world but if you are new to online marketing you will need to be more realistic.  Promotion takes a lot of CONSISTENT effort using a number of strategies at a number or web sites.  By tracking your ads you can see instantly where your efforts are being productive.  Be prepared to try various copy, be cognizant that some products will sell better than others, some advertising resources will deliver better than others.   Vary your offers, change up your products as needed, update landing pages, post to a number of sites and track the results.  Take some time to learn about some of the terms used in this article. Be honest with yourself about what you are doing. Are you serious about earning money online or are you doing this as a hobby? Your level of hunger and ambition to succeed will be your motivator.    The good news is that once you have built your mailing list, and found niche sites and advertising resources that work, your job to promote gets easier but NEVER goes away.
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Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., a company specializing in hosting, online tools, training, ad tracking, and marketing resources for small and home business. Established modestly in 1994 off a kitchen table, today Worldprofit is known as the Home Business Experts and the number one resource for all things related to home business. Republished with author's permission by Dallas Cousins http://FunEasyHomeBiz.com.

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