My Desk

January 19, 2008

The 7 Keys To Asking Clients The Right Questions

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 8:01 pm

The secret to successful communication in business and in everyday life is asking the right questions. Understanding the value of effective questioning is probably the single most dominant factor in achieving business success. The way to learn about what people need is to ask a question and then listen carefully to the answer.What do Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, and Barbara Walters all have in common? They are all great interviewers. They have the uncanny ability to make people feel comfortable and talk by asking the right questions. The bottom line is that customers and prospects will gladly volunteer information about what they think they want in pricing, products and services if you ask the right questions. The more questions you ask, the more the customer or prospect will talk, which allows you to uncover their ?hot buttons?. Remember, approximately 90 percent of customers and prospects think about themselves first.To start, you should always remember the 7 keys to good questioning. It?s a matter of being clever, and being direct. How better to accomplish this than to utilize these 7 keys:1.Why? For example: Why would you choose software A over software B for your small business expenses?2.Who? For example: Who would you recommend this product to and why?3.Where? For example: Where did you first hear about my small business?4.When? When were you hoping to have project A completed?5.What? What troubleshooting issues have you discovered while using this program?6.How? How do you feel about our new shipping policy?7.Is it? Is it alright if I contact you in the future if I need more information?You?ve probably already noticed that number 7, ?is it? isn?t one of the standard questions that you consider when you think of posing questions, but ?is it? allows you to verify what you have learned by listening carefully to the answers to keys number 1-6. Confirming and verifying what customers are saying demonstrates to them that you are listening carefully to what is being said, and reassures them that their input matters. It also allows you to better absorb and synthesize what is being stated so that you can put it into its best application.There is an art to asking the questions. While using the 7 keys to good questions does get you off to a good start, you have to remember to keep things well focused, so that the responses that you receive will be tailored to what you are seeking to discover. Most people have a natural tendency to pose very general questions. However, while conducting business, you need to aim to ask questions that are as detailed as possible, so that you will receive a better response, and so that the person with whom you are speaking will know you are a good listener.Keep in mind, also, that just because a question is detailed, doesn?t mean that it has to be verbose in any way. Rather, it must simply be worded in a way so that the right information is provided within the response.For example, if someone were to ask you ?how do you start a small business?? that would leave you in a bit of a lurch with regards to what to say and where to start. Additionally, it will necessarily lead to a number of other questions that negate the purpose of asking the original question in the first place: more detailed questions. Don?t waste the time of the person to whom you are asking questions, don?t waste your own time, and keep confusion to a minimum. A better question with which to begin may have been something more detailed such as: ?How do you start a small mail order business in Richmond, Virginia, that deals in laptop computers?? Notice the difference?The foundation to asking good questions and achieving a wealth of practical answers is to apply the 7 keys in a direct and detailed manner. They allow you to get to the root of your question, so that you will gain the information and direction that you need to take specific action.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

MLM Home Based Business - Staying Motivated

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 7:01 pm

Now that you have made your decision to start an MLM home based business, you are probably revved and ready to get going. That?s great! However, take a deep breath. There is plenty of time to start making your money, but you need to do a few things to be sure you can maintain the long-term success you want in your MLM home based business.Motivation is key to maintaining the long-term success of any MLM home based business. In the beginning, motivation is easy, because everything is new and exciting. However, there are going to be bumps in the road, and when those occur it will be harder to motivate yourself to keep your MLM home based business going. What are some things you can do from the start to help you with motivation down the road.One of the first things you should do is to write up a mission and goals statement, also known as a vision statement. This helps your MLM home based business have a direction and a goal. This also helps you get a clear vision for your internal motivation. You will find that your drive becomes more focused when you know where you want your MLM home based business to go and what you want to achieve.Hang your vision statement on the wall. Really. This will always keep your vision for your MLM home based business right in front of you. When times get rough, there is your vision statement reminding you of why you started your MLM home based business in the first place.You can also start keeping track of all the positive things you have done in your MLM home based business. Keeping a journal of your brightest moments will help you when your motivation is lacking. You can see just how far you have come from day one. Sometimes those bumps you experience in your MLM home based business can be rather rough, and they can create a pattern of negative thinking. By looking at all of your achievements, you can see ways to gain back that motivation.Remain focused and organized. One of the biggest detractors from motivation in an MLM home business is to lose track of what needs to be done. Disorganization requires you to change your focus, which can lead to a lack of motivation. You will be expending to much energy on re-organizing or sifting through information, so you will lose your motivation to do the important things in your MLM home based business. Keep careful track of records and tasks so that you can focus on the things that make you successful.It may not seem like the most important thing in your MLM home based business, but motivation is a key factor in success. You will have days, or even weeks, when your motivation wanes. This is when a lot of MLM home based business owners tend to give up. Yet if you put in a little effort in the beginning, you will find that you develop tools to get back that motivation to make your MLM home based business a long-term success.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

IT Consulting: Considering The Hidden Costs Of A Start-up

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 2:01 pm

In IT consulting, what does a $75 an hour consulting business equate to in the long run? What happens if your rate structure extends beyond that?If you keep carrying something like a $75 or $85 level beyond the grand opening special to get your first couple of clients, your business will become more of a hobby or non profit-type organization.Consider Overhead and ExpensesYou say, “How can that be? Why doesn?t $75 an hour equate to $150,000 a year?” Wrong, $75 an hour in running your own IT consulting business doesn?t come out to $150,000 a year because you can?t bill 2,000 hours a year.New consultants often fail to consider all the overhead and expenses that usually come up as an IT consulting business matures. The uninformed person just starting out usually believes that $75 an hour times 40 hours a week times 50 weeks a year is $150,000 a year in IT consulting revenue because they think they?re going to bill 40 hours a week every week.Know There Will Be InconsistenciesIt?s not going to happen unless you?re working 100 hours a week, and it?s probably still not going to happen every week consistently, for many reasons. Starting an IT consulting business sounds great on the surface. You?re thinking, “I?m going to work from home. I?m going to keep my overhead as low as possible.”Consider Your Utilization RateYou need to consider what?s called your utilization rate. It?s the reality of only being able to bill out, on average, about 75% of the 40 given hours in a week. It still can take you six months to a year to even get to that level consistently.The Bottom Line about IT ConsultingFinally, one of the most important things new IT consulting businesses overlook is the question of what happens as your business grows and you want to scale up? In setting your rates, you need to consider these factors.Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Biz Tech Talk. All Worldwide Rights Reserved.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Inspirational Goals - A Source Of Unquenchable Passion

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 1:01 pm

Would it be useful if all of your goals in life created such a passion and inspiration within you - so much so that you could not fail to achieve the result you desired?All successful entrepreneurs develop passionate relationships with the projects or ventures they are developing and this passion becomes the source of all-conquering energy that drives them to succeed.No matter how complicated your goal setting process is this technique will help you create habitually inspirational goals.All successful Entrepreneurs work on pre-defined goals. Some may do it more formally than others but nevertheless they always have a clear vision of their end-game or outcome.These goals will ultimately have a degree of detail to them to enable their effective fulfilment but, more importantly they will be a source of passion and inspiration for the entrepreneur - a passion which is obvious and infectious to those they come in contact with.We all have goals in life, although most of us have condemned them to be ‘Got’ To-Do’s instead of ‘Want’ To-Do’s and when thinking about our goals often do not check-in on how passionate or inspirational they really are.Similarly, even successful entrepreneurs sometimes get stuck when creating new goals or trying to develop interim goals to help them achieve a greater outcome.This simple (but not simplistic) exercise will give you a chance to unburden yourself of the inhibiting ‘Don’t want’ stuff that most of us carry around, it will then gently lead into more creative thinking before taking you into the ultimate, passionate and inspiring goal setting zone.Please give it a try and feel free to pass it on to someone else that you know who may be able to benefit from it. It’s also great to try out with children when they are stuck finding something to do or need some inspiration.Have a pen and some paper ready then take a few minutes to write as many things as you can think of after each question (no more than 3 minutes on each).** To get the most benefit from this please do each question in turn - write each question at the top of a fresh piece of paper - enjoy! **1. What don’t you want?2. What do you want?2. What do you want less of?3. What do you want more of?

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Hello world!

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 9:22 am

Welcome to Actualblog.net. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!