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In this issue:
Marketing Article: How To Effectively Use Offline Advertising To Build Your Online Business
Marketing Article: Keeping Your Sales Team Motivated

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First of all let me say that having spent the past 20 years working closely with small businesses I know exactly what works when it comes to offline advertising.

What I have found today is that online businesses have a built in advantage when it comes to promoting their business offline. You already have a website and autoresponder in place to lead your prospect to. When you combine that fact along with the traditional capture methods of telephone and snail mail there is no reason any online business can't use offline methods to build their businesses and sell their products and services.

A lot of online based businesses forget about offline advertising. I know I have. It is important to combine offline and online advertising together in your marketing campaign. This will give you to a more well rounded approach to promoting as well as attract potential prospects and customers you might not otherwise get.

In all your offline advertising you want to include your web site address, e-mail or autoresponder addresses, and your phone number and mailing address. This gives you the appearance of a real bonafide business.

Another thing is to start selling products for manufacturers who offer co-op advertising for promoting their products. You can read a little more about this technique in an article I wrote titled "Why Are You Wasting Free Advertising Money?" http://sites-plus.com/articles/article2.html

Finally you need to view offline marketing as a long term committment. I've seen businesses over and over run and ad not get the response they were looking for and quit.

This will not work offline. Or online for that matter. You need to establish a budget and stick to it. That doesn't mean that you can't change the ad copy if your response is marginal. It just means if you are going to run classified ads for example that you run them for a period of time and allow them to do their job.

Here are 10 offline marketing ideas. Use as many of these as possible to move your business forward.

-Classified Newspaper Ads- Place classified ads in newspapers. Local newspapers often have great advertising rates that you can take advantage of to promote your business. Here's a great source for running classified ads. http://www.nationwideadvertising.com

-Put up flyers. They could be in computer stores, libraries, restaurants, car windshields, or anywhere you shop that allows flyers.

-Direct mail. A nice direct mail piece when done consistently over a period of time can bring tremendous exposure for your business. The biggest benefit of direct mail is it allows you to reach thousands of people at a bulk mail rate. You could not do this if you had to mail each piece individually.

-Buy time on local cable T.V. It is surprisingly affordable and if you commit to a block of advertising you can develop Top Of Mind Awareness. TOMA is being there when they want or need you. If you are an affiliate or in an MLM consider doing group advertising and spreading the cost out over several of you. You can have leads routed into one phone number and divied out to all advertisers or have each ad display a different phone number.

-Pass out your CD-ROM or diskette business cards at special events. It could be at trade shows, seminars, fairs, etc.

-Get 250 free business cards here and leave them everywhere you go. http://www.vistaprint.com -Hold a free offline class and teach people how to use their computer or how to use the internet. You could have your web site on display as an example.

-Give away promotional items such as free mouse pads. Put your advertising on the mouse pads and give them away at computer or internet events.

-Advertise in card decks. The card deck you advertise in should be targeted toward internet users.

You would also want to target your offline advertising to groups of people that will actually be interested in your product or service. If you're selling business books, you will want to market to business owners.

In conclusion, if you have a business that's only based online using offline advertising to make money online is a great idea because so many people today go online to get information about products and services they are interested in.

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Jeff Schuman is a 20 year veteran of sales and marketing and has made over $35 million dollars in sales in that time. His Team-Schuman.Com website contains the Top 5 work at home websites, make money fast websites, make money articles, a free classified ad service and more. Visit it here today:
http://www.Team-Schuman.com

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Sales managers frequently approach me for advice on how to keep salespeople motivated, especially when sales reps get into a rut — and seem to keep slipping deeper into it. Telling managers what not to do usually solves the problem. Most managers do things to de-motivate salespeople without even knowing it.

Let’s take the idea of funnels and forecasts, for instance. Funnels and forecasts are important aspects of running any sales operation. Both salespeople and managers need to know where they stand in terms of potential opportunities, and funnels serve to track those opportunities. No successful business can operate and properly plan for the future without accurate forecasting. In theory, these are absolutely essential to the success of any operation. In reality, however, few words strike terror in the hearts of salespeople like “funnel” and “forecast.”

For most salespeople, the term “funnel review” equates to micromanagement, probation and performance improvement plans. Just hearing the term is enough to shift a sales rep’s frame of mind from positive to negative. He or she suddenly loses enthusiasm and doesn’t know why. Many managers increase funnel reviews as performance slips, which causes performance to slip further, and in the end nobody wins. Endless funnel reviews, especially if they’re not positive, only serve to reinforce salespeople’s self-doubts and limiting beliefs.

Forecasts are a similar problem, but in different ways. Few salespeople forecast accurately. Nobody wants to fall short on their forecast, so they embellish, exaggerate and make sure the numbers add up to where they should be rather than where they really are. This results in managers who expect those numbers, and salespeople who dodge managers because they know they aren’t going to perform as forecasted. Then there are salespeople like myself who do the exact opposite — since I hated nothing more than having a manager constantly ask me, “When is this one going to close? When is that one going to close?,” I intentionally left good deals off my forecast. While it eliminated the problem of constantly being asked when all those deals would sign, it created another form of stress in having to deal with the consequences of a funnel that fell short of expectations.

Another word that instantly de-motivates salespeople is “activity.” Unfortunately, in the absence of any other viable advice, most managers simply blurt out, “You need to increase your activity” to anyone who isn’t at quota. This accomplishes nothing other than setting up the rep to believe that a series of funnel reviews and performance improvement plans are soon to follow.

Finally, I see entirely too many managers pushing too hard to spend extra time with salespeople who are falling short. While it’s necessary to spend time with these people, it’s not a good idea to keep asking them what they need help with and to insist on riding along with them. This only turns up the heat another notch on an already stressed-out rep. Nobody who is having trouble likes to be singled out, especially when the extra attention easily can be mistaken for micromanagement.

To keep a struggling salesperson motivated:

1. Keep the talk of funnels, forecasts and activity to a minimum.
2. Offer help without being overbearing.
3. Put your trust and confidence in that salesperson.

Stick with these guidelines and you’ll not only do a better job of helping those who are having difficulties, but you’ll see an overall increase in your sales team’s motivation and enthusiasm.

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Frank Rumbauskas is the author of “Cold Calling Is a Waste of Time: Sales Success in the Information Age.” He is the founder of FJR Advisors LLC, which publishes training materials on generating business without cold calling. He also owns a nationwide insurance agency. For more information, please visit
http://www.nevercoldcall.com.