Some websites provides white labels to successful brands to enable them concentrate on services

The name has originated from the white labels image on the packaging where the trade dress of the marketer finds place. The origin dates back to vinyl records. At that time, DJs used to take out the label from a known record, concealing the actual source of that record from other DJs. In this way, they would create white label record.

Generic electronic products produced in bulk, like TVs and DVD players, generally use white label production. A number of companies keep a sub-brand for their products and these brands are particularly used by them. For example, you can sell a DVD player model-A from brand-A, which is also sold as model-B by brand-B.

Some websites provides white-labels to successful brands to enable them concentrate on services rather than investing in the creation of technology and infrastructure establishment. To list a few examples, Amazon.co.uk ran Waterstones website until recently, while LoveFilm runs Tescos DVD Rental services. Several companies provide their store brand and supermarket private brand products to multiple supermarkets that change their labels. Besides, a few manufacturers produce generic brand labels at low-cost, with just the products name, like Cola.

Credit-card operations are occasionally outsourced by smaller banks to larger banks. Cards are issued and processed by larger banks in the form of white label cards, usually for a fee. This process of outsourcing enables smaller banks to give a brand name to the cards without spending on the infrastructure, which would else lead to excessive overhead.

Affiliate marketing is very much like e-bay. Your web site features assorted products and for this, you receive a percentage from every transaction. There isn’t as much time and effort involved, few overheads, it sells 24/7, and what’s even better, it’s relatively easy to learn.

To start, you must determine what merchandise or market best suits your business style. A way of doing this is, determine solutions to issues a specific customer profile is experiencing, and then which solutions are on offer to help them. An effective method of accomplishing this is to find specific sets of narrow keywords; by and large customers search for these less, yet they convert far more into sales.

To get hold of these crucial keywords, use Micro Niche Finder or or a a similar application. Data collected from this program or similar applications or computer software results in a listing of related terms which you should focus on in order to get a head-start when it comes to placing on an internet search engine.

Additional data is supplied from the application, such as search frequency, the number of competing sites, and details on the competition as well. Last but not least, the info produced can help identify suitable domains, subject matter for your website, and also draw attention to the best sales opportunities. Putting together a website is next; however it will take more than just that. Getting a good performance on web based search engines needs the optimization of your website. This is where Seo Elite information and alternative programs comes in. Your rivals’ internet sites are analyzed by the software package which then provides advice on how to better search results.

In SEO Elite the data provided by the software advises you where to find links, what words to focus on, and information on where and how to upload articles. In a nutshell, the data obtained are much like to the data you might receive from a skilled SEO professional.

When you know which niche market you’d like to concentrate on, have your product advertisements, and your internet site has been designed, then it is time to reinforce your search engine rankings. You’ll collect a regular pay check and wonder why you ever struggled to make enough money!

Professional closers have certain attributes that set them apart from everyday salesmen. Most salesmen look professional in their behavior and appearance and they are punctual, well-groomed, courteous, reliable, smart and well-dressed like professional closers. But it’s not about appearance or behaviour. Being a professional closer is something deeper; it’s the “force from within” that makes a salesperson a professional closer, that inner confidence and absolute belief in himself. Here are the attributes that make the professional closer the best of the best and an absolute winner:

- A professional closer is ambitious for success. He has an insatiable hunger, a burning desire to achieve and to succeed.

- A professional closer is always in command of the situation and always aware of what’s happening around him. He’s able to think on his feet and demonstrates a lot of ingenuity when faced with an unexpected situation. He’s streetwise and shrewd, also honest and reliable and always delivers what he promises.

- A professional closer is an excellent listener and a convincing persuader. He has an acute perception and instinctively knows what to do next. He’s a natural leader; people listen to him, respect him and warm to him.

- A professional closer enjoys his own company as much as others’ and often works alone because he prefers it that way. But he is always there to help out his colleagues and train the new recruits because he loves what he does and gets a real buzz from his work.

- A professional closer abounds with enthusiasm, he has masses of initiative and energy and gives each call 100% effort. He is the guy who after a long and difficult sale, when he is mentally sapped and drained of energy, is still somehow able to tap into his reserves and make that last call, when anyone else would have packed up and gone home.

- A professional closer never seems to get sick. Even when he feels under the weather, he still turns in for work. He’s eager and has a great attitude.

- A professional closer is well-organized, possessive about his tools and equipment. His records are always up to date and he’s forever updating his figures. He always knows where he is at.

- A professional closer has an air of authority about him that radiates confidence to his potential customers.

- A professional closer is a masterful actor who is superb at creating emotion and at expressing himself. He’s also an artist who paints pictures that are so life-like they become real.

- A professional closer never knocks the competition. He isn’t in the slightest afraid of it, instead he welcomes it, he enjoys the challenge. If he thought the competition was better somewhere else, he would be working there.

- A professional closer is always learning new material, always trying to better himself and constantly striving forward, towards his goals. He’s a winner.

- A professional closer motivates himself. He’s a go-getter, with determination, drive and a burning passion for success.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Sales Training

I am a big believer that great salespeople generally realize their greatness, rather than being borne that way. OK, sure we’ve all heard somebody in sales who told us that they’ve been in sales all their life. It all started when they were a kid, selling lemonade from their lemonade stand for a dime, or selling magazines door to door. But this is really more a reflection of the family environment that they grew up in that may have encouraged or necessitated this than anything else. Even if you didn’t sell seeds or magazine subscriptions door to door as a kid, you still have a chance at greatness in sales.

I gave this topic some thought because of a call I received today from one of my readers. She mentioned how the perception she had of salespeople growing up, was different than what she felt were her own personal strengths. So I thought today, that I’d share with you what I believe to be the primary characteristics of outstanding salespeople.

#1 - Results Focused

If you are selling for someone else, what they care about most is whether or not you get the sales that they ask for (i.e. did you make your quota or not). One of best things about being a salesperson is you have a tremendous amount of freedom and discretion in how you use your time. In return, you must be able to stay focused on the big picture and not let small problems or dramas distract you. If you sell for yourself and you are not focused on results, then you are not in business.

#2 - Courageous

We all experience fear at one time or another. Great salespeople are courageous in that they are able to act and move forward even in the presence of their own fears. Fear is the reaction we have when you know that you need to do something or that something is going to happen soon that you are not prepared for. This could be making cold calls or making a major decision that you believe to be right when you know that your management will not agree with you.

#3 - High Energy

This one is really simple. Despite all the lame jokes about salespeople being out on the golf course all the time, top performers work their asses off. Being able to kick-back and work 30 hours a week while making quota may sound great. But the true top-performers got that way by working long and hard to beat out their competition while the other guys were boozin’ it on the golf course. In short, you must be able to do “Whatever It Takes” to get to the top.

#4 - Knows People

Of all the characteristics that people attribute to salespeople, this is the one the one that people are most often talking about when they describe a “natural”. The ability to establish rapport and maintain rapport is probably the single most powerful skill a salesperson can have. The most flexible people can adapt and establish rapport with others from a multitude of backgrounds and cultures. The longer you can maintain rapport with more people, the more chances you will have to ask questions, uncover opportunities, and present solutions that make sales. And as with everything else in sales, this skill can actually be learned.

#5 - Committed To Growth

Great salespeople got that way by always looking for a better way. They are always improving their approach, their techniques, and their attitude. There are many philosophies on what the *best* approach to sales is. Some work better than others depending on one’s own personal style, the product you’re selling, and the customers that you sell to. Great salespeople know that they must look for the best examples of excellence, and adopt the individual aspects of this that they can use.

So what got left out of this list? The two words we’ve probably heard more often than others to describe salespeople are “aggressive” and “enthusiastic”. The first definition in my dictionary for aggressive includes the word hostile in it. I don’t know anyone these days who can effectively sell in a hostile manner to their customers. Customers are not enemy territory to be “taken”. As for enthusiasm, I believe it has a time and a place. If you run around like a cheer-leader for your company all the time, you’ll annoy people, and you probably won’t be listening very well. Bottom line is both of these words describe behavior that can destructive to the lifeblood of sales, building and maintaining rapport.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown’s sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

In sales, there’s a fine line between persistence and stalking. In my experience, with the exception of prospects who are already in the sales cycle, that line is usually drawn at about once every 6 weeks. So given that you only have once every 6 weeks to make a direct impression on your “B” and “C” list prospects, how can you make sure those follow-up calls have the greatest possible impact?

Let’s go back to the science of sales, and dissect a typical opening call that I hear 80% of the time when I’m coaching sales people:

“Hi Mary, this is Colleen from Engage Selling. How are you today? Great. I’m just calling to check in and see if anything has changed since the last time we spoke?”

Did you spot what’s wrong with this opener - and why? I see at least three big mistakes, any one of which could cost you a potential sale.

Mistake #1: “How are you today?”

Please, please, please never use an opening statement that starts with “how are you today!” Why? Because all it does is remind your customers of all those dinnertime calls they receive from telemarketers. Are you a telemarketer? I didn’t think so. So don’t act like one!

Besides, do you really believe that your customers actually think that you are even listening to the answer? Are you listening to the answer? Of course not. So remember: your prospects see through this opening question just as easily as you do whenever a telemarketer (or less professional salesperson) calls you.

Instead, try this rapport-winning phrase: “Did I catch you at a bad time?” This works well because it points out the obvious, and that makes the customer laugh. Of course it’s a bad time! Any non-scheduled call is an interruption, and no interruption ever comes at a “good” time. After all, if all your customers spent their days just waiting at their desk for you to call, then sales would be too easy!

Mistake #2: “I’m just calling to check in and…”

Are you their mother, or their sales rep? Seriously, are you really calling just to check in or check up? If so, either you’ve got a lot more time on your hands than I do, or else it’s time to seriously consider a career change!

First, start by removing the word “just” - it makes you sound unimportant, and your call seem like an afterthought. Instead, replace it with something like: “The last time we spoke, you….” By taking the customer back to the last time you spoke, you remind them of your relationship, and prove that you are carrying through on what you were asked or promised to do. Nothing builds rapport better than a promise kept. And as we know, rapport leads to trust, and trust leads to loyal customers.

Mistake #3: “…to see if anything has changed since the last time we spoke.”

Don’t be vague. These days, your prospects don’t have the time to try to decipher why you’re calling - and neither do you.

According to a study conducted by the American Association of Professional Organizers, the average executive has over 52 hours of unfinished work on their desk every day. Our experience in today’s market shows that if a prospect doesn’t understand the purpose of your call within the first 30 seconds, 99 times out of 100, they will simply lose interest, stop listening and start looking for a way to get you off the phone. (Does the phrase, “Please send me some information,” sound familiar?)

State up front exactly why you are calling, and your prospects will appreciate your openness. To complete what we started in the response to Mistake #2, try tying your opening statement back to something specific the client requested on your last interaction, like: “The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you wanted me to call before we had a price increase…” or, “The last time we spoke, you mentioned you were looking for consultants with experience in the banking industry.”

Breaking the rules

By the way - there are ways you can stay in touch with your prospects more often than once every 6 weeks, and still not be considered a stalker. Just use a combination of direct contacts (the phone) with indirect contacts (email or mail).

In fact, I’ve found that using the phone exclusively is generally not the best way to stay in touch with prospects. Instead, I recommend that sales reps use a variety of means to reach their prospects.

Mix up a phone call with an email, and then later maybe send them an individualized hard copy mail piece - not a generic corporate brochure, but something that’s relevant to them, like an article you clipped from a magazine with a personal note, a celebration card recognizing their company anniversary or an invitation to your open house.

To get you started, try the following schedule:

- Week 1: Follow-up call with action items noted for the next direct contact.
 - Week 3: Company email newsletter, announcement or article. It doesn't really matter what, provided it is content-rich and NOT an advertisement. After all, this contact is intended to increase your credibility, not weaken it.
 - Week 4-5: Another indirect contact such as a birthday or anniversary card, a note in the mail with a newspaper clipping they might be interested in, or an email with a newsworthy article about their industry. This contact is designed to strengthen your personal relationship, and help you build rapport.
 - Week 6-7: Follow up again with another direct phone call.

Finally, a last piece of advice: when making a follow-up call, make sure you’re never in a position where you’re still thinking about what you’re going to say while the phone is ringing. Even if you’re a veteran salesperson, pick up a pen and script the first 45-second “opener” of your next call right now. Then, look in a mirror and say it out loud.

Would you listen to you? If not, hang up, and try something else!

Colleen Francis is the Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions, which delivers sales solutions that realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise the client’s bottom line. Reach her at http://www.engageselling.com

If you work as an organizational consultant, you are sure to hear all types of request from clients. Instead of consulting with you the client actually brings you a solution that he or she wants implemented. You know that it is the wrong thing to do and more importantly it will not provide them the results that they are look for. So, what do you do?

This is the story of one of my favorite client engagements. I call it “Disconnecting the Phone Doctor.” Take a look at the client’s request and you’ll understand why.

THE TRAINING REQUEST
The manager said that he had 125 people in the technical center and that they had recently experienced an 8% drop in our customer satisfaction and responsiveness ratings. Customers reported that the phone rang too many times before being answered, the hold times were too long, and sometimes there was no answer at all. The customers said that they had to call back to get an issue resolved.

Could you please deliver “Phone Doctor” training?

The “Phone Doctor” is a training class to teach people better phone etiquette. This was a sophisticated telecommunications network center staff with telecom specialist, engineers, and systems professionals. The center was responsible for building client networks, monitoring the networks, and troubleshooting network failures.

MY IMMEDIATE THOUGHT
If performance was good what caused the 8% drop. I don’t seriously think that it is because people don’t know how to answer a ringing phone or speak when they answer it. After all they all had telecommunication or information technology degrees and they had communicated well enough to get the job.

THE FINDINGS
This manager had hired 15 new people within a 45-day period. Someone had the bright idea that the best way to get the new people up to speed was to immediately expose them to the types of issues that they would be handling. Management decided to assign the new people to phone detail. They were to answer very technical telecommunication network calls from experienced technicians at their client locations.

Without knowing what to say, the new technicians would place people on hold and walk around the center looking for assistance. Though they would try to repeat what was told to them much was lost in translation. They did not know the job, the processes, the terminology, or the needs of the clients.

THE RECOMMENDATION
I immediately refused to deliver Phone Doctor or any other type of verbal communication training. I suggested people be removed from the phones. The manager agreed with the first part but said it would take time to reassign people.

THE PLAN

1. I grabbed two more team members from my group and asked the manager if we could have eight hours to gather information from the people. He agreed.

2. In about six hours we conducted face to face meetings with the five top people in the group. We learned that there are five common technical problems and reasons why customers call into the center.

3. We spent time with five new people to understand their challenges and what they absolutely needed to know.

4. We created job aids for each of the five call types. We developed the 5 questions that are usually asked by the customers and prepared the answers. We included directions as to when the “newbie” should go for help and how to position that with the customer.

THE CLASS
Two days later I returned and taught a full-day class on the 5 primary calls and how to handle them. I made sure that the new techs had the right tools to answer the questions and also knew what to do when they were stuck. I allowed 1-hour for them to interact with existing techs to ask questions.

THE RESULT
1 day of assessment, 2 days of development, 1 day for delivery.

• On hold times went down.
• Calls were answered in fewer rings.
• Customers were more satisfied with the answers.
• Customer made fewer calls back.

• Employee confidence went up.

• Employees were more engaged.
• Employees learned a great deal in a short time.
• Employee increased their own learning with every call.

Valarie is CEO of Think 6 Results — a knowledge broker passionate about learning and improving performance in organizations. She’s a writer, presenter, and executive coach on a mission to get every employee and organization focused on and thinking about the SIX business driving goals that matter.

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