Why Great Companies Survey: Martian Logic!

 If an alien civilization from Mars was planning a friendly takeover of our planet they would seek to make sure they understood our way of life and our way of thought.

The only way they could accomplish their objective would be by asking questions which they could genuinely understand and then plan a strategy accordingly. Although this idea may seem outlandish, in my humble opinion, it is also what separates the great companies on our planet from the Wannabe's.

The greatest RISK in marketing lies in dealing with OPINION instead of fact. Stated another way, risk and the threat of loss is rooted in the idea that you think you already know the answer.

In my 25+ years in sales and marketing I have learned one very powerful truth that distinguishes the superstars from the amateurs. The great salespeople and marketers understand the power that lays within questions. The amateurs think they know all of the answers. Show me a great salesperson and I will show you an individual who knows and understand the power of questions. Show me a poor salesperson and I will show you an individual who has yet to understand that fact. Show me a great company and I will hypothesize that they have an incredible dialogue established with their customers.

How about you? Do you feel you know the answers to your customers most pressing problems, or are you genuinely in communication with them and listening to what they say?

I have seen salespeople blossom into superstars when they learned to ask questions. Likewise, I have seen companies turn from run of the mill endeavors to powerful marketing machines when they too learned to harvest the information from the questions which they ask. Questions are the only tools that permit us to genuinely understand problems our customers have. Questions are also the vehicles we use to establish our focus to resolve those problems. Stated another way, questions are a goldmine of valuable market information. The answers to the questions within surveys provide a roadmap for fulfilling our customers most pressing needs and desires.

We have a huge investment in what we have come to know. However, what we have come to know often has nothing to do with what we need to know to be successful. This is one of the key reasons why surveying of our customers is so important. A good survey will eliminate opinion and establish some factual evidence. Also, we are often so indoctrinated with what we think we know that we cannot see what "is" occurring. This is the main reason we survey.

There have been thousands and thousands of books written on the importance of surveying. I will attempt to summarize the best ones here with a one simple acronym which I created.

S Successfully

U Understanding

R Relevant

V Values

E Enhances

Y Yield

A survey gives us the opportunity to understand and take that understanding and apply it to creating a higher return on our investment. When we successfully understand our customers relevant values we can then create the solutions that will permit us to enhance our yield. A good survey allows us to be in communication with our marketplace.

The great companies have learned that customers will not tell you how you are doing unless you ask them. Asking your customers about what they like and want offers the best information to learn from mistakes and cultivate unique opportunities.

Great companies survey. Wannabes think they already know. Want to succeed in a big way, all you have to do is ASK... then shut up long enough to recognize that the answer that is coming at you has "GOLDMINE" written all over it!

Be careful what you agree with!

Harald Anderson is the co-founder of Artinspires.com a leading online gallery of Motivational Posters and Inspirational Posters. "When Art Inspires, Dreams Become Realities. His goal in life is to become the kind of person that his dog already thinks he is. http://www.artinspires.com

Why I'll Never Make Millions Of Dollars On The Internet...Adam Buhler Don't get me wrong, I make a decent living online. I have a passion for what I do, and my hard work has paid respectable dividends, both to me, and to my visitors.

The sad part is that what got me interested in making a living online just so happened to be the same empty promises, and the same "Get Rich Quick" hype countless crooked businesses and individuals use each and every day to lure in average, everyday people, looking for a legitimate way to earn a respectable living from the Internet.

These shady people make millions. I got lucky. Instead of "selling the farm" and dumping a boatload of money into the first deception I saw, I did a little homework. While a part of me wanted to reach for my wallet and become the next Internet success story, my common sense saved the day and urged me to explore my options first.

What happens to those who fall victim to these scams? The exact opposite of what they had hoped to accomplish. Instead of building a steady source of income, they use the funds that could have been directed at starting a legitimate business, and invest them into the false promises of Instant Internet Millions.

A lie, combined with something people want so badly, becomes a cruel and frighteningly powerful weapon.

I never was a good liar. Which brings me back to the reason I'm writing this article.

It doesn't matter that I publish a newsletter with information I've used to grow my business online, as well as listing legitimate resources that can be used to take some of the guesswork out of earning a living on the Internet.

I personally follow-up on every program submitted to my affiliate programs directory, by visiting the site personally, I can ensure that it holds value to my visitors. There is nothing more detrimental to your success online than recommending low value products and services.

I own a good percentage of the products I recommend myself. This helps me give a better description of a product's benefits, drastically reducing the number of lost affiliate commissions due to product returns from customers who had the impression they were buying a product beneficial to their business.

Bringing traffic to your web site is one of the largest challenges any Internet business will face. I experiment with what I know to work as well as what does not. Membership sites are a great way to reduce the amount of time spent on finding effective methods to grow your business. I belong to quite a few, yet I recommend only the three I feel offer a service that justifies the monthly fee.

By gaining membership to the good and the bad, I can avoid recommending a service that will jeopardize my credibility and eliminate future sales.

It's easy to offer your visitors a quality service and collect a check, but I place as much emphasis on pointing out programs that don't deliver the results they promise as well. It's important to keep your visitor's best interests in mind.

My web site has a list of the ten programs that have made me the most money on the Internet. This way, my visitors have an idea of what programs are capable of producing the best results. And if compatible with their business, maybe this will save them the time I spent searching for high-quality programs to promote.

I can't promise anyone success. What I can do is show them how I found mine.

For all of these reasons, I'll continue to make a good living on the Internet. These are also the painfully obvious reasons why I'll never make millions of dollars in the process.

My inability to exaggerate the benefits of my products, or sell my visitors a dream I couldn't possibly deliver, will ultimately keep my feet planted firmly on the ground. Right where I want them.

Adam Buhler is the owner of Affiliate Programs Directory: http://www.smokesoft.net. Adam is the author of the weekly newsletter "Affiliate Secrets". He is offering a free trial copy of what many are calling the "BIBLE" of selling on the net, "Make Your Site SELL!" for a limited time to new subscribers. Subscription details can be found at: http://www.smokesoft.net/newsletter.html.
adam@smokesoft.net