Marketing and Human Behaviour!

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Marketing should not be confused with purely sales, neither is it an assembly of various tactics aimed at persuading your prospect to purchase something (anything!!!) from you.

Let’s go to the very beginning. At the core of our interactions as humans are emotions and feelings. These will always play into whatever we do and how we interact with each other. Marketing can be boiled down to the processes enabling an exchange of value between people or groups. If I focus on helping people to solve their problems and/or get what they want, I find that I will usually obtain what I want: at the very least, something of value. My core offering is service. I would not want to find myself persuading some friend or anyone else to buy something just because I will make a profit, especially when it is of no use or benefit to them.My main aim is to find out what their issues or challenges are and see if I can help address them. This is done with an open mind, so I may not get a tangible reward out of it, though I would probably get the satisfaction of helping someone.

Generally, we are more likely to make a purchase from people we like, know and trust. if any of those components are missing, our options are: 1. Return the items if possible. 2. Stop further purchases. 3 Communicate our displeasure or lack of satisfaction directly to the agent or anyone who will listen (disastrous!) including through various media and most especially to our friends. It is far easier and cheaper to sell something to an already satisfied customer than it is to a completely new one. People with referral based businesses are far more successful than those will concentrate on getting new customers through their doors. They tend to compete solely on price, their customer service is shoddy, and it all collapses soon. It is fairly obvious that the better model is to concentrate on the value and service offered to your customers. It is free advertising! How often have you found yourself, having had a great meal at your local restaurant, watched a great movie like I did the other day (The Intouchables -French movie with subtitles – a must see!) or returning to the same store or car dealership, simply because you got such great service from them? You had other possibilities, some of which where more easily accessible, but you had already formed a relationship with this store or a dealership. When I go to my local business supply centre, I usually seek out the nice young man who has helped me with various purchases, and will often wait until he is available. If you think like that and offer the same level of satisfaction to your clients, you will be successful.

It is important to have an abundance mindset. You are not in competition with anyone else but yourself, so raise your game! There is enough for everyone – there are 7 billion people and counting on the planet and you are only aiming to solve the problems of a minuscule percentage. Focus on that and do it very well. It is in doing it well that you distinguish yourself from everyone else. This does not mean doing your best, it means doing what you have to do as long as it is legal, ethical and moral.

How can I help YOU?

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And what about network marketing?

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As a business person, it is important to objectively explore and research options that will help your business portfolio. For those in the home-based business industry, there is a large segment engaged in network marketing, otherwise known as MLM. This is clearly separate from pyramid schemes. which depended on inflow of money from the recent recruits to pay out to the earlier entrants, in other words, a Ponzi scheme.

In my opinion, the main reason to join a network marketing company is because the business opportunity is sound. Some people join because they love the product. Underlying all this is the relationships within the network. The opportunity will usually be introduced to to you by someone you know, like and trust, hence the name network marketing. There are over 60 million network marketers worldwide, of which there were 15.6 million in the US in 2011. Worldwide sales are over $100 billion in this rapidly expanding industry, estimated to involve 50% of US households by 2015. Almost 25% of the companies are in the wellness niche.

In network marketing, you market the product directly to your network, instead of the item being sold from store shelves. The person who sponsored you is called your up line and the people you sponsor are in your downline.
Your income (compensation) comes in varying proportions from your direct sales of the product, including autoships, as well as from the sales and autoships from your downline and a portion of their initial buy-in. The autoship is a monthly automatic shipment of selected products from your company. There is usually a minimum amount to remain an active distributor. You will also be assembling your own team of distributors – critical mass is considered to be around 1000, after which, sponsoring becomes almost effortless.

It is important to note that network marketing has become extremely popular due to the relatively low buy-in compared to investing on other businesses or franchises. The initial buy-in usually comprises of a starter package, including marketing materials and often your own website with a back office, to track the essentials of your business including your team. You also get a selection of of your companies products for yourself, as samples, and to start off your sales. Because of the relatively low buy-in, a significant number do not treat it as a business and tend not to work as hard as is required to make it work, resulting in a relatively high attrition rate. You will find people jumping from one company to the other, instead of focusing on one or two well selected companies and doing the necessary work.

Do your research first – and make a BUSINESS decision!

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Set your GOALS to SUCCESS.

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Having a goal is a vital step in achieving your dreams! You have something to aim for – a target. While there are no guarantees, it has been reported that your chances of success increase significantly when you write out your goal, verbalize as well as feel it – immerse yourself in the sensation you would feel on its achievement. The more senses you can integrate into your goal setting, the better.
Think about it: everything in existence was once someone’s dream. The Wright brothers dreamt of flying and started doing everything towards it until they did; so much so, the people who first heard about the flight thought it was a hoax.
By popular accounts, Edison took 10,000 tries before he produced the incandescent light bulb. The principles were there but no one had put them together until he had one particular Eureka moment.
It took the goal and commitment set by Godfrey Hounsfield, an electrical engineer, Allan Cormack and their team in England to bring the CAT scanner to reality, and propel medicine into the digital era and a new phase in diagnosis, for which they won the Nobel prize.
Where would we be without airplanes, lightbulbs and CT scans if someone hadn’t first dreamt of the possibilities?

If you have not set a goal, you are much less likely to do anything. You have a passing thought which floats away, only to be recalled when you see something on television or an awards show and think “I had that idea a few years ago. I could’ve been the person getting recognition for that invention or concept.” Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda!!!!
You will not be rewarded for a dream that stays in your mind as a dream: but if you bring that dream to reality or at least move strongly in that direction, you will feel rewarded both by the journey as well as the destination. Most successful people will tell you that their greatest enjoyment came from the challenge; the journey, and not the destination itself.

My belief is that we all have a purpose and our job is to figure out what that purpose is and set that as our goal. It may mean being a great parent, a caring teacher or a rocket scientist. Whatever that is, is unique to you.

There is a great quote from Alice in Wonderland which sums up my thoughts about goals. It is a conversation between Alice and the Cheshire cat. Alice asks “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” The Cheshire cat answers “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” Alice responds “I don’t much care where.” To which the Cheshire cat replies “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go!!”

Start immediately – Write down your goals!

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Provide Value!

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Boiled down to its essence, whenever you have a cordial exchange (ideas, services, products etc) between people or groups of people, the exchange has been valuable to both sides. There may or may not be an exchange of money. If there is money exchanged, one person will be doing the paying, the other will be providing the idea, product or service which has an intrinsic value to the purchaser, who is therefore willing to pay an agreed amount for it. Value exchanges are all over whatever we do – only a small amount results in the exchange of money.

Successful people have provided a large amount of value to the people around them, including their clients who have therefore been willing to pay them for that product or service. First and foremost, your thoughts should be how to provide value to someone. The money will follow as surely as night follows day.
Think of it – if you offered ice to someone in the Arctic, it is of no value to them and they will probably reject it, having laughed at you first! If on the other hand, you were concentrating on offering value, you would offer something like heat conserving clothing or housing. You are more likely to have several eager takers. Empires have been created with such simple exchanges.
Essentially what you want to do is to help people get what they want and need, not what you think they want, or what you think they should have because you have lots of it and need somebody to buy it to provide some cash to pay for your latest gadget, fancy home or car!

It is time to examine your business practices with a microscope and find out if you are indeed providing value to your customers or if you are just trying to make some money regardless of what your customers feel. If the latter is the case, it should come as no surprise if what ever success you have, if indeed you have had any success, is short lived.

The next time you are itching to sell something, pause for a few seconds and think: What value is what I am offering going to be to the person I will be speaking to? If the answer is that it is a valuable, go right ahead!
Be aware of the fact that, even if you feel this will be of value and change their lives, erase their debt and turn them into multimillionaires, the other person is under no obligation to accept your offer. It may not be the right time, the right colour, the right size, or the right country!!! They may have a myriad of reasons why they will not accept your offer, but you should not be tied to their purchasing it from you. That puts you in a position of need – a weak and negative emotion. If you are indeed providing value, you will appreciate that it may not be the right time for them. It may never be the right purchase for them and you should be OK with that. What you want to find out is in a simple question:

How can I help you?

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Let’s start the journey to SUCCESS!

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As I was about to begin writing this blog, I wanted to make it perfect: I wanted it to start out with a bang! I have so much I want to write!!! I want to take you all along with me on being successful. Then I pinched myself – it is far more important to START than it is to aim for perfection from the very beginning.

“We must be willing to make an intelligent compromise with perfection lest we wait forever before taking action.”  ~ David J. Schwartz, from The Magic of Thinking Big

Perfection is one of those things that serves as an excuse for us to disguise procrastination as being acceptable, as having higher standards than the other person. It is nothing of the sort – there is arrogance buried in all that claim that you will not do anything unless it is perfect – you are essentially saying that someone else who took action, though not perfect, did not have your high standards! What!!!!

For any successful person, procrastination is the enemy. Procrastination is rooted in fear: fear that our skills are not up to scratch, fear that we will be unable to carry out the project, ultimately, fear that we will fall on our faces! For the majority of the people, this is enough to stop them. For a successful entrepreneur, it is vital that you stare down those fears and move beyond them, almost having a casual relationship with it. You just have to figure out how to get beyond the fear, but you know it cannot stop you.

Time is our most valuable asset and cannot be recovered. Each of us has the same 24 hours in a day, the same 60 minutes in one hour and the same 60 seconds in 1 min. There is no way to add an extra second to a day.

What will serve you better than waiting till everything is “perfect” is ACTION – not just any action, but inspired action. You are taking action following some preliminary thoughts and investigation which suggests that this may be a good idea. There is no guarantee that it will work, but there is a 100% guarantee that it will never happen if you never start. Because you start, taking small steps as you go from task to task, you are more likely to succeed.

And so I’ve started………..

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Welcome To My World

I am a successful & experienced healthcare professional, fortunate enough to
be able to combine it with my love of travel –  getting to

see really wonderful places and meet lovely people.
As part of my professional practise, I realized I enjoyed teaching, and could communicate complex topics in a more easily understood format. Simple has proven better and more powerful in the long run. It is such a joy to teach and motivate.
Over the years, I have developed a strong interest in wellness – its practices and products, including optimal nutrition, exercise, therapies and supplements that will aid a healthy and long quality of life.
I also have an unconventional business background – from my mother, who runs a very successful business that continues to expand.
My current “big” project aims to provide valuable, high quality health and wellcare to less privileged people in developing countries.
I believe success leaves clues and I am passionate about helping people reach their dreams and goals.
Welcome to my world!
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