Small Business Marketing News

In this issue:
Food For Thought
Top 10 Ideas For Setting And Achieving Goals
Online Marketing Tip
Business Books
Should Your Business Be Online?

Food For Thought:
excerpts from "The Treasury of Quotes", by Jim Rohn

Learn to help people with more than just their jobs; help them with their lives.

When you know what you want, and you want it badly enough, you'll find a way to get it.

Top 10 Ideas For Setting And Achieving Goals

You cannot pick up a book or participate in a training program today without the author or instructor teaching the power of goal setting. Yet, most people today spend more time planning a two week vacation than planning their lives by setting goals. It's been said that achieving goals is not a problem--it's SETTING goals that is the problem. People just don't do it. They leave their lives to chance...and usually end up broke by the time they reach retirement.

I thought that since this is such an important ingredient for developing a successful sales practice and since this is the beginning of the year, this was a good time to share with you some of the greatest thoughts about goal setting that I've discovered over the years.

So, here goes...the top ten best ideas for setting goals:

1. Make a list of your values.
What's really important to you? Your family? Your religion? Your leisure time? Your hobbies? Decide on what your most important values in life are and then make sure that the goals you set are designed to include and enhance them.

2. Begin with the end in mind.
Tom Watson, the founder of IBM was once asked what he attributed the phenomenal success of IBM to and he said it was three things: The first thing was that he created a very clear image in his mind of what he wanted his company to look like when it was done. He then asked himself how would a company like that have to act on a day-to-day basis. And then in the very beginning of building his company, he began to act that way.

3. Project yourself into the future.
The late great Earl Nightingale created a whole new industry (self improvement) after a twenty year study on what made people successful. The bottom-line result of his research was simply, "We Become What We Think About." Whatever thoughts dominate our minds most of the time are what we become. That's why goal setting is so critical in achieving success because it keeps us focused on what's really important to us. He then said that the easiest way to reach our goals is to pretend that we had ALREADY achieved our goals. That is, begin to walk, talk and act as though we are already experiencing the success we seek. Then, those things will come to us naturally through the power of the subconscious mind.

4. Write down ten things you want this year.
By making a list of the things that are important to you, you begin to create images in your mind. It's been said that your mind will actually create chaos if necessary to make images become a reality. Because of this, the list of ten things will probably result in you achieving at least eight of them within the year.

5. Create your story board.
Get a piece of poster board and attach it to a wall in your office or home where you will see it often. As you go through magazines, brochures, etc. and you see the pictures of the things you want, cut them out and glue them to your story board. In other words, make yourself a collage of the goals that excite you...knowing full well that as you look at them everyday, they will soon be yours.

6. The three most important things.
Decide on three things that you want to achieve before you die. Then work backwards listing three things you want in the next twenty years, ten years, five years, this year, this month, this week and finally, the three most important things you want to accomplish today.

7. Ask yourself good questions.
As you think about your goals, instead of WISHING for them to come true, ask yourself HOW and WHAT CAN YOU DO to make them come true. The subconscious mind will respond to your questions far greater than just making statements or making wishes.

8. Focus on one project at a time.
One of the greasiest mistakes people make in setting goals is trying to work on too many things at one time. There is tremendous power in giving laser beam focused attention to just one idea, one project or one objective at a time.

9. Write out an "Ideal Scenario."
Pretend that you are a newspaper reporter that has just finished an interview about the outstanding success that you've achieved and the article is now in the newspaper. How would it read? What would be the headline? Write the article yourself, projecting yourself into the future as though it had already happened. Describe the activities of your daily routine now that are very successful. Don't forget the headline. (Example: "Jane Doe Wins Top Salesperson Award Of The Decade.")

10. Pray and meditate.
As you get into bed each evening, think about your goal before you drop off to sleep. Get a very clear colorful image in your mind of seeing yourself doing the things you'll be doing after you've reached your major goal. (Remember to include your values.) And then begin to ask and demand for these things through meditation and prayer.

Copyright 1997 by Sales University All Rights Reserved
Hilton Johnson, hilton@salesuniversity.com
The Sales Coach http://www.salesuniversity.com

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On-Line Marketing Tips

Do You Know Who Your Target Market IS?

Do You Know What Websites They Are Likely To Visit?

You need to know who you are trying to target first. Once you have determined who your target market is, do a little research and see if you can find sites online that they are likely to visit.

Check those sites for message boards. Browse the posts and see if you can answer any questions or provide additional information to the readers of that site. Be sure to use a "signature" in your posts so that folks know who you are and how to get to your website.

If the site is not in direct competition with you, e-mail the webmaster and see if they are interested in exchanging reciprocal links. Try to give a few reasons why you think it would be beneficial to do so.

This process should become part of your ongoing online marketing campaign. If you do not have time to do it yourself, consider hiring someone to do it for you. I am sure that there are plenty of work at home moms that would love to help you out.

We also provide this service at: Gray's Internet Consulting. Visit us, request a FREE Consultation!

This week's tip provided by Terri Gray with Gray's Internet Consulting. You can email Terri at: grays@homeimages.com

Visit the NEW Small Business Bookstore - You'll find great information for starting your home-based business, plus marketing tips, motivational and self-improvement books and information on how to write effective sales letters. Check out the some of the tools available to help you succeed!

Go To: Should Your Company Be Online?

Next Issue: More Small Business Marketing Strategies On Shoestring Budgets!! Plus writing ads that pull.

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