Chet Baker, a recommended trumpet horn player for Cliff to learn from.  Here is one of Charlie Walker’s favorite tunes done by Chet Baker, “So What” by Mile Davis:

Until recently, Cliff has been playing the “So What” song on guitar with the Bass part being done by the lead guitar to a funk rock Bass back beat.

I thank Michael Rhodes (a high school acquaintance)  for sharing the photo of the oak tree bark. It reminds me of the BIG oak tree in Grandma Margie’s backyard in Sacramento where we would visit and swing using a tire-on-a-rope hanging down from a large branch. The tree was so BIG that it cast enormous shade out over the lawn on hot summer days. We would play, the noise of children, until the cool of the night. There were acres of fields around the few farm houses where Grandma lived in Sacramento, and part of it was fenced off to keep in a few cattle and a bull. Chickens would scamper around the property, and usually nest to lay eggs in a wall of bamboo grown to block the north winds. Today, that old oak tree still stands, even after the fire of 1967 that burned down Grandma’s home and took out the bamboo. Most of the acres around that tree have succumbed to one form or another of property development, but that tree still stands as a memory of days gone by when kids played in the safety and comfort of its shade. On occasion, every few years, I go visit the old property to look for that tree, to remember how things have changed, and in 2009 it was still there looking as strong and reliable as ever. I pray it will be there next time I drop by to visit, to remember, because it encourages me to stay strong and endure the changes for the sake of those who are watching.

Here is a message for active, professional musicians who know the importance of frequently promoting themselves and their gigs. Consider for a moment, www.SoundCloud.com … it is interesting. But, I’m beginning to think that more musicians should try promoting their song samples using Traffic Geyser www.trafficgeyser.com because the musician can have one central marketing distribution point like www.Reverbnation.com which provides a great assortment of marketing tools, and use the Traffic Geyser to post samples of song clips to many audio / video / ipod / text distribution channels while having all those channel posts point with back-links to the central promotion site. This is a very good way to get high page rank and have one central promotional marketing site from which you can convert interested music consumers into buying customers. Think about it… check it out… give me call and chat it up!

While it is good to consider the well-being need of others leading to their care where and when society can, there must be critical discernment regarding the character of a sluggard (laziness, mediocrity and incompetence) whose influence on society must be limited and contained.  Undeserved bailouts are NOT the best response from society toward those who choose to be lazy and incompetent:

Let society assist (and bailout in times of disaster not caused by incompetence) those who choose to apply themselves through their proactive  demonstration of self-discipline, self-restraint and self-government in their effort to be competent according to their age, skill, health and willingness to re-educate and learn more about how to contribute toward improving and serving society!

Special thanks to Mr. Mat at Deheasa Charter school for bringing this to my attention when we were sharing about how to teach our children political principles and precepts.

Related articles

• They aren’t just lazy and greedy… they’re actually stupid and often incompetent [RealSteveHolmes Seven yrs on Ecademy] (ecademy.com)

I pray that Part II and Part III of the movie, Atlas Shrugged, does promptly get made and shown to the public, as soon as possible.  While I could never make myself read this book back in the early 70’s when it was introduced to me, I had to read that old book with its old, crisp yellow pages after seeing the movie Part I.  I read the last 10-pages of Part I in the book to make the connection where the first of the three movies stopped with Wyatt’s Flame, and I couldn’t put down the book for the next week through the holidays.  Since having just read the book, it has helped me with words that reflect the character types that I can clearly discern within today’s American society, and I have been using these words to encourage anyone who will give me a listen to watch the Part I movie for it great drama, and then I encourage them to get the book and read it.  Why?  Because in the context of the political times in which we all live today, Atlas Shrugged clearly communicates the nature and major attributes of three character types: Producers (people with a nature of industry, ingenuity, invention, and creation); Looters (people with a nature to extract from Producers the wealth and prosperity made by people with  industrious nature, using the methods of a Looter such as political manipulation to engineer a social order by laws, fear and guns, i.e. Many people with only a government job; they are nice people but they are not a Producer’s friend); and Moochers (people with a nature of laziness, lacking a motivation of industry, sometimes called a sluggard in biblical terms).  And when Looters and Moochers collaborate through the form of “Democratic Government, i.e. popular vote (versus the other government forms: Anarchy, Republic, Democracy, Oligarchy, Monarchy) for their perceived “good”, then the popular vote of combined Looters and Moochers will drive the Producers into legal and financial slavery. I believe the making of Part II and Part III of Atlas Shrugged the movie could very well teach viewers the valuable meaning of being a people of industry working for a common good within the state of a government Republic, for the people, by the people, based on self-government, self-discipline and self-restraint.   We are the Republic of theUnited States of America, but we have forgotten who we are and how we should behave.  Now is the time for a national revival of industrious character, and the complete trilogy of Atlas Shrugged the movie is a timely tool to help us all remember what this means.

The following speech text may very well be the greatest written presentation ever submitted in support of the free market and capitalism.  It has taken me more than 30-years to get around to reading the book that contained this text, and I will not forget reading this laying in bed and not being able to put it down. After reading this I proceeded to lay and rest contemplating the significance of the speech in the context of my own life as a self-employed entrepreneur.  Every core value and principle I have worked so hard by in order to have a successful family businesses is described when reading this speech  from Atlas Shrugged.

I couldn’t make myself read the book in 1974, but this year in the closing month of 2011, I rented a copy of the DVD “Atlas Shrugged” (part I) and the viewing fully captured my interest by the drama of which the movie only covers the first third of the book.  Since the viewing, I have returned to my old 1974 copy of Atlas Shrugged and have not been able to stay away from reading it.

Because of the times in which we live with the obvious radio and TV news that demonstrates the pending conflict between industrialist entreprenuers and world wide governments whose full intent is to social engineer a global economy, it is highly recommened that  everyone read Atlas Shrugged.  With no regard to what your world view point may be, Ayn Rand was an incredible writer and philosopher who has masterfully prepared a text of political fiction drama that comes close to describing the events we read and hear about in today’s news.  After watching the movie, reading Atlas Shrugged became one of my 2011 goals before the year end.

This is now my favorite response to the question / statement: “[is] money [is] the root of all evil..”

“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

“When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor–your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?

“Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions–and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.

“But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made–before it can be looted or mooched–made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.’

“To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss–the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery–that you must offer them values, not wounds–that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade–with reason, not force, as their final arbiter–it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability–and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?

“But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.

“Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?

“Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth–the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil?

“Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?

“Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?

“Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money–and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.

“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.

“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another–their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.

“But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or to keep it. Men who have no courage, pride or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich–will not remain rich for long. They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt–and of his life, as he deserves.

“Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard–the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money–the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law–men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims–then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.

“Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.

“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’

“When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? You are.

“You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its life-blood–money. You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor. That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves–slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries. So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little to conquer, Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers–as industrialists.

“To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money–and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being–the self-made man–the American industrialist.

“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.

“Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents. Now the looters’ credo has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide– as, I think, he will.

“Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other–and your time is running out.”

This was gleaned as an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged, © Copyright, 1957, by Ayn Rand.

Ayn Rand

Russian born American novelist Ayn Rand is author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead and is originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. You can learn more about her life and philosophy at the website of the Ayn Rand Institute.

Thought Provoking Comments

1. The real quote from the New Testament,1 Timothy 6:10, is “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” It is often misquoted, apparently by Ayn Rand, as well. Although her points about money are well taken, the real quote does not require the same moral defense. It refers to the preoccupation with obtaining wealth for wealth’s sake.
2. There is absolutely no way that the product of hard work can be evil. That’s an incomprehensible lie taught by those who want to condition the masses to accept being fleeced as a virtue. This lie is obviously many, MANY centuries old. The idea that you must sacrifice the fruits of your labors to another party without your consent is slavery. It’s also very suspicious that the most highly revered religious books demand these types of sacrifices and threatens the worst punishment imaginable to those who refuse to submit. Charity is not charity when it is forced physically or emotionally through undeserved guilt. A person must be free NOT to give away the fruits of their labors – without guilt – otherwise they become a victim.
3. The REAL evil is the scheming of those who wish to steal the product of your labors without consensually trading something that they also worked to produce. The invention of paper money was undoubtedly the greatest fraud in history. It can be (and is) created in massive quantities – unearned – by the banking cartel and then given to a government in exchange for a mortgage on the future labor of entire countries of people.
4. Paper “money” is definitely evil, but real money (gold, silver or other commodities) is the best tool ever created by man for fair and honest trade between honorable individuals.

]]> http://www.gocliff.com/is-money-the-root-of-all-evil/feed/ 0 http://www.gocliff.com/rethinking-the-sales-marketing-funnel-a-structured-selling-method/ http://www.gocliff.com/rethinking-the-sales-marketing-funnel-a-structured-selling-method/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:20:34 +0000 Klyph http://www.gocliff.com/?p=505

Prospective customers will go through a sales funnel process with those vendors who keep a relationship active.

Today’s internet marketplace is flooded with web site marketing products and services! And as the producers of these products and services aggressively compete for consumers on the internet, the noise from all the advertising makes it nearly impossible to discern one product’s benefit from another’s.  We are an over communicated society! The authors of the book Positions (Al Ries and Jack Trout) state that in 2001, the per capita consumption of advertising is equal to $376.62 per year. “If you spend $1 million a year on advertising, you are bombarding the average consumer with less than a half cent of advertising, spread out over 365 days; a consumer already exposed to $376.61 & ½ worth of other advertising!”

            And as the internet marketing noise has gotten louder over the last decade, we find ourselves asking, how can one be noticed and heard in the overcrowded internet marketplace? Since communication is the problem, we need to take more time to communicate while distinguishing ourselves from the other advertisers. We do this by differentiating ourselves as someone who is courteous, truthful, reliable, stable, and into the relationship for the long haul. We need to develop and habitually use a means of building relationships in a frequently changing marketplace.

Not Markets, But Customers

          In previous years, Tom Peters and Nancy Austin told us their research discovered a sustainable strategic advantage observed in some organizations which was the group’s obsession with customers. It was not markets, not marketing, not strategic positioning, just customers. A market has never been observed paying a bill. Customers do that!

            Ultimately, it all boils down to a perceived, appreciated, and consistently delivered follow-up, service, and quality to customers. Sales is the outcome of talking with customers in a marketplace based upon good communication principles and relationship building, whereby you eventually sell your product or service.

The Apathetic Salesperson

            I am going to share with you a little story I once heard. This is a story about four salespeople. Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important sale to be made and Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. So, Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

            Many salespeople are playing a numbers game and attempt to increase their odds of “winning” by picking only the “cherry” accounts, the immediate decision purchases. However, they are not producing “double win” situations with long-term stability.

            Sales research has shown that, when considering all possible salespeople, 48 percent of them will give up after the first call and 25 percent more will quit after the second call. The salespeople are simply apathetic to the buyer’s need for a long-term relationship.

            The Center for Marketing Communications in Princeton, New Jerseyhas determined the typical flow of 1000 leads. Of the leads studied, it was determined that only 266 of the prospects are going to purchase in the next twelve months, 114 of these leads will get requested literature late or not at all, and 192 of the leads will receive no salesperson contact.

            After a careful inspection of many businesses and their sales practices, the following general observations can be made:

1. people who say they are interested in your product or service are interested
2. companies have trouble getting their request literature fulfillment out on time
3. salespeople treat leads apathetically
4. sales costs and intense competition continue to rise
5. profit margins are continuing to diminish

Choosing a System for Building Your Relationships

So, what do we need? What is successful today? How can we excite and attract people? How can we increase business through more sales?

            First, we want to build a positive relationship. While being truthful and sincere in our representations, we want to make commitments and be able to fulfill them. Instead of short-term relationships marked with interruptions, broken promises, deception, and discourteous treatment, we want to be recognized for longevity, stability, truthfulness, courteous treatment, and fulfilled commitments. More importantly, we should design a system so that if we don’t fulfill a commitment, the computer will for us! This is just a matter of structure and a clearly defined sales sequence.

            There are at least three basic models by which we establish relationships and design our structured sales pattern: 1) Passive Systems, 2) Offensive Systems, and 3) Assertive Systems.

            Passive Systems are what most people use to build relationships. For example, they do some advertising and then wait for a response such as a phone call. Sometimes they do a long letter which typically makes up most of the junk mail and email we are accustomed to receiving. A long letter attempts to tell you nearly everything you could possibly want to know about the product or service, and frequently closes with “Please call if you have any questions or interest.” In this respect, a Passive System is much like a retail environment in which we sit back and wait for somebody to walk through the door.

            Offensive Systems are very much dependent upon face-to-face meetings. This method uses repeat visits to obtain attention. The visits eventually become interpreted as interruptions. Sometimes the Offensive System needs the use of a trick to get past the receptionist or the use of foods, giveaways, etc., to get attention. For example, a title insurance company might require its sales staff to make sixteen sales calls each per day. The complete strategy might be visit-visit-visit, going from one real estate office to the next, and buying donuts to get attention. However, this eventually becomes interpreted as a constant interruption.

            What we would really like to establish is an Assertive System: a proactive way to maintain relationships by means of a well-defined sales sequence of events that each new prospective and existing customer must pass through.

            The strategy of the Assertive System is to build sales systematically, which provides longevity. Our intent here is to remove the peaks and valleys of sales contracts and subsequently cash flow. Our strategy should also develop a relationship with each new prospect and continuing customer through multiple contacts and communications.

            We intend to keep the salespeople focused on the long-term relationship through a well-defined selling sequence. In this way, the sales managers can assist their selling staffs’ efforts in attaining superstar sales levels.

            The Assertive System builds a professional image in the mind’s eye of the prospect and the customer. The Assertive System ensures that literature and other requests are attended to in a timely manner, which demonstrates your ability to fulfill your commitments. Most importantly, the Assertive System makes sure that each prospect and customer is processed with the selling sequence so that no lead falls through the cracks!

            In general, most of us would prefer to buy from our friends and close acquaintances. We sometimes use our friends as consultants. We trust their recommendations because we have a relationship with them. We build relationships with clients in the same manner that we start relationships with our friends. It usually starts with a commitment we make together, and then we keep our commitment; we follow through. In other words, we don’t usually go out of our way to make friends with people who don’t keep their commitments with us. And it is no different in sales!

            Therefore, we want to structure a system that will not allow people to fall through the cracks. If we don’t follow through by delivering that brochure that customer asked for last week, then we begin to tear down the relationship. The customer will begin to feel that he or she cannot depend on or trust in you.

How to Start an Assertive Sales System

            The Assertive System is relatively easy to implement because most of us intuitively know how we would like to treat and tend to our customers, as well as how we like to be tended to. The sales sequence cannot be open-ended in that we cannot be all things to all people. So margins and limits must be defined and set so that the structure takes a form that is perceivable and obtainable. You can begin by concentrating on your most favorite customer. Take the time and actions to do all the steps necessary to properly, attentively, and assertively manage your customer’s needs.

            You have five stages of development that must be controlled and attended to. Picture yourself putting your customer on a conveyor belt at the beginning when he or she raises a hand and says “I’m interested in something you can do for me.” Your job is to keep this person from falling of the conveyor belt as it passes through the stages of:

• introduction to a new service or product
• obtaining an appointment to review the product or service
• post-appointment comparisons and decisions
• obtaining products or services, with post-purchase depression
• customer satisfaction, with requests for other products and services, and
• referrals to their friends

In short, you must take your customer from “I’m interested…” to “How many…” and this means impeccable follow-up with an eye for detail.

Concentrate on each stage of development as a mutually exclusive task and write down all the things you would do for this favorite customer. Do this for each of the five stages of development. Be sensitive, too, and aware of opportunities where an action on your part will reinforce and improve your relationship with the customer. Your list of things to do in each stage should include letters of communication for staying in touch as well as cover letters for special requests and literature requests. Your list of things to do will also include status checks and phone calls to the customer to confirm or note changes of status and decision making.

This is the premise of an Assertive System and will help you define your sequence of events in the course of a sale. There is much more to the implementation of your structured selling method, which includes time management techniques, the use of a personal planner, production procedures, and most importantly a personal commitment to develop and stay with new habits.

Depending on the volume of people you attempt to pour through your sales sequence, the use of simple Personal Information Manager (PIM) computer software similar to Rolodex® card files can effectively be superseded by real Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software that provides for automated sales-track processes.  However, a computer-assisted Assertive System requires an eye for detail and past experience in preparation so as not to come across to the customer as a computer-contrived relationship! Also, a computer sales system should automate the communication process, not just be a tickler and reminder that it is your turn to do something. An automated system takes actions for you!

  If all you want is a tickler and reminder, then save your investment in a good computer information system (possibly put on the internet cloud for  global access) with focused customer relationship management software that automates many tasks.  Save on the cost of time to learn and master a good CRM system and the additional monthly recurring expense to have it automate important processes.  Instead, buy and learn a good personal resource system (time planner) or use your smart phone apps to constantly remind you to do something and habitually live by it!

The Big Close

Whatever your company’s vision, you know it is effective when the salespeople take personal responsibility for achieving it. And nothing makes more of an impression on your customers than the appearance that the salesperson is taking personal responsibility for the success of whatever enterprise he or she is affiliated with. Think about that. People know. People want to make a commitment. Americans are aching to make a commitment as long as they feel free and comfortable in the environment you build in which to do so. And the word gets around fast about which companies are nourishing their relationships with their customers.

Remember that the individuals who live by the existing sales system are within their comfort zone, and your new ideas will cause them to change this environment. But during times of change we have extraordinary opportunities, leverage and influence – individually, professionally, and company-wide – when we have a clear sense, a clear conception, a clear vision of our sales intent and the road ahead.

Wow, what a great time to be participating!

Thank you, Robert Michael, for sharing this with me.

About the Song

While at the mall a couple of years ago, my then four year old nephew, Spencer, saw kids lined up to see Santa Claus. Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, he asked his mom, “where’s the line to see Jesus”

My sister mentioned this to my dad, who immediately became inspired and jotted words down to a song in just a few minutes. After putting music to the words, and doing a quick recording at home, he received a great response from friends. He sent the song off to Nashville without much response, except for a Christian song writer who suggested adding a bridge at the end of the first chorus. My dad then asked if I wanted to record the song to see what we could do with it. I listened to the song, made a few changes to the words to make it flow better, and we headed to Shock City Studios.

It was at the studio where Chris, owner and producer, rewrote the 2nd verse and part of the chorus…with goose bumps and emotions high, we were all hopeful and felt like we had something special. The demo was recorded in just under 2 hours and sent off again to Nashville …still no response.
Then 2 weeks before Christmas last year, my cousins Greg and Robbie decided to do a video to see what we could accomplish on YouTube. The first day we had 3000 hits and it soared from there. We received e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages from people all over asking for the music, CD’s, iTunes, anything…we had nothing. After a couple of meetings with Chris following the amazing response, we got serious. We headed back into the studio this past spring…this time with guitars, drums, bass, pianos, choirs… the real deal…. and here we are today.

Getting iTunes set up, a website put together, and loving that thousands upon thousands of Christians have come together… remembering the true meaning of Christmas. Out of the mouths of babes come profound truths that many adults can not understand. Hopefully Spencer’s observation will cause people all over to reflect on the love of Jesus, and that one day we will all stand in line to see Him. We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father to have this chance to share our music with you.

Merry Christmas every listener!

Some of the finest music comes from performers who have developed their technique using a soft touch.  Developing the soft touch musical technique in your daily music practice should help produce a broad range of dynamics in your song.  Here is a good and astonishing example:

Playing La Toccata de Bach with wine glasses

Choosing Your Membership Platform

A membership site platform is simply the type of membership website you intend to use to offer your business service and / or goods, whether it’s free or paid as well as how you plan to deliver the goods and communicate with your subscribers.

To begin, there are many different options available to you and depending on how you attract business from your market you will determine what membership platform and its options is likely to work best to achieve your sales goals.

Keep in mind that it is important to thoroughly evaluate the platform that your competitors may be using. The obvious reason for this is that people get used to certain things and not everyone adapts easily to change.

If subscribers are used to logging into a traditional membership platform, where they enter in their username and password to access content on a monthly basis, you might want to stick to this format, simply because it will save you a lot of time and work explaining how a new concept or format works to the same subscriber base.

That doesn’t mean that your actual content or your overall sales sequence process should be a replicated version of a competing company’s site. What we are talking about now however, is in evaluating the layout and platform of competing sites, such as whether they are offering a free membership site with upgrades, a traditional site, and so on.

For now, let’s take a quick look at the different formats that are most common within the membership industry:

Traditional Login & Access Format

This is where a subscriber creates an account, chooses a username and password (or your system assigns one automatically to them), and then logs into a protected members area where they can download or view restricted content. This material is available only to paid members, and subscribers are able to pay for access on a regular basis (weekly, monthly etc)

These types of membership sites have no end date, they can continue for many years to come provided that the content continues to be updated.  This is by far, the most popular platform for membership based sites online.

Fixed Term Membership Format

A fixed term membership site typically only runs for a specific period of time before terminating.  With a fixed term, members can either pay a flat fee to access the entire length of the membership site, or they can choose to pay in specific intervals (6 months, 12 months, etc).  This works best for sales markets where developing ongoing content or products may be difficult, or for membership webmasters who are more interested in creating a batch of content or products that recycles, rather than having to consistently create new material, new products or service updates.

You can also choose to run your fixed term membership sites using auto responder services, eliminating the need for costly membership software.  In fact, just by using an email marketing program like Aweber you can create your short term membership site and set your content to be delivered automatically through your auto responder service.

Email based Membership Format

This is where you use an auto responder service, like Aweber mentioned above, to power and run your entire membership program.  You can choose a fixed rate/term format, or even a traditional membership site, provided that you consistently add new material to your outgoing email sequences.

Using the email based membership format, you can get started relatively quickly and easily just by subscribing to a reliable auto responder service and injecting a series of emails set to be delivered on specific times and dates, as each subscriber signs up for your service.  The down side to an email based membership site however, is that it is often harder to create a community feel to your membership site, which can be a huge benefit in retaining subscribers.

If a member joins your website and meets other subscribers and becomes used to constant interaction via a community forum or private area, they are far more likely to log in regularly and stay subscribed in order to continue gaining access.

If you do decide to use the email based membership format, consider offering your subscribers with an additional bonus of being able to access a private members only area.  This area could feature a private forum or chat area that allows your subscribers to interact with one another as well as with you directly.

There are benefits to many of the different membership formats we’ve just covered.  With traditional membership sites, the benefits are in being able to build an ongoing community, where you can build and grow a solid base of customers on an ongoing basis.

With fixed rate / term membership sites, the benefits are in the simplicity of its set up.  You only have to create a specific batch of content that recycles as new members join and previous subscriptions expire after each member has received the material.

Regardless of the format you choose, you will want to make sure that you have the following check list of items prior to launching your membership site:

Ready Made Content

This is where you either have 2-3 months of content available to members right away, either by allowing access to all of it instantly, or the current months content available with two months of archives being sold as an upgrade.  You could fill your membership site with fresh material using reports, articles, interviews, audios, videos, ebooks, graphic packages and so on.

Bonus Packages and Special Offers

Provide your members with a combination of bonuses, whenever possible. Once again, these should be exclusive to your website and relevant to your topic, service or product line.  You should have at least one unadvertised bonus package featured within the member’s center.  This is to be a package not listed on the sales page and not advertised elsewhere. This is where you over-deliver and give them more than they thought they were paying for. This will help address buyer’s remorse immediately after someone subscribes to your website.

1-2 Back End Products

You want to be able to squeeze every dime out of your membership site, and in order to that, you need to create 1-2 back end products that can serve as upgrades, add-ons or special ‘member only’ deals.  You want to present this to your subscriber immediately after they join your site, and are still in buying mode.  Make sure to create a simple process where they can either upgrade their membership account to gain access to extended downloads, or they can simply purchase directly, using a digital delivery processor to ensure that the content is sent independently to each member who elects to purchase it.

Important Membership System Characteristics (Elements)

After choosing your membership format, you will need to determine exactly how you intend to deliver your content, service, products and material to paid subscribers.  If you elect to go with an email based membership site, then all of your content will be sent through your auto responder service.  But for material products, a traditional delivery service will be needed, and it is possible to integrate the shipping process with your web site, i.e. UPS tracking, UPPS tracking, delivery charge calculator, etc.  With traditional based membership platforms however, you will want to choose a scalable, solid membership based software program that will make it easier to manage and grow your entire consumer community.

A few things to keep in mind when evaluating potential software or scripts that will power your front and back end, is that you need to be able to control every aspect of your community, including:

1) Time Release Content

Also known as trickle-feed delivery, you will want to be able to ship or deliver content on specific intervals, rather than all at once.  The reason should be obvious, if a subscriber is able to gain access to all of your informational content instantly after joining, there is very little motivation to stay subscribed to your service.

So, with information based service or content, you want to be able to control the delivery flow so that a new subscriber is only able to gain access to a specific content package, or if you are running your membership site on a monthly basis, you would want only content from the first month of joining to be visible to each subscriber.

2) Content Management System

Unless you are proficient with HTML and coding a website yourself, you should look for a software solution that offers a built in content management system.  This way, you can create pages directly from within your administration panel without hiring a webmaster programmer.

If you are interested in simplifying this process, you could consider using a WordPress based website, where you can plug in membership protection while reaping the benefits of using a ready-made free solution to building feature rich websites.

3) Auto Responder Integration

Whether you choose to incorporate an email based membership site into your program or not, you will want to be able to add every subscriber to a mailing list.  That way, you can follow up each time you update your site but more importantly, be able to build a profitable back end system that offers additional upgrades, content packages, one time offers and special downloads.

4) Full Scale Affiliate Program

In order to jump-start your membership site and power it up with fresh subscribers and attract targeted traffic from prospective consumers, you absolutely need to integrate an affiliate program into your business plan and website so that both guests and members can earn commissions by referring their friends as new members to your business.  Tell-a-Friend social technologies, such as FaceBook, are an exceptional method of generating fresh leads on a regular basis, while taking your online business to a whole new level of increased sales. There is no other method of maximizing exposure that even comes close to what an active affiliate army can do for your business.

Membership Software Options

With membership sites, you need to automate as much of the process as possible, freeing up your time and resources.  When it comes to membership software, there are many options to choose from, with some ranging from simple processes, to others that offer a full scale, all in one solution.

If you can afford to, you should consider one of the more feature- laden solutions, so that you can offer an enhanced, well managed community for your subscribers.

This would include:

• Managing archives and protecting content.
• Releasing content at pre-set times.
• Extended administrative options and control.
• The ability to offer upgrade packages and add ons.
• Allow you to create various levels (Gold, Silver, etc)
• Managing subscribers, access, updates.
• Auto responder integration options.
• Forum integration options.
• Built in affiliate program management