1. How to Avoid 6 Sales and Marketing Rip-Offs

RIPOFF #1: Following a Sales and Marketing Program From People Whose

Credentials are from Academic Institutions and Not From Experience In The Real World this is one of the greatest rip-offs today. Just because someone has an MBA from a prestigious institution, or because he has studied sales and marketing from school and plans to implement these principles, or has numerous degrees after his name does not give him the right to charge ludicrous amounts of cash to pose as your Sales and Marketing company! Run as fast as you can from these types of people and companies. You want a company who will use their expertise which has been tested and refined in the real world. You want a company that will use the same marketing principles to help you that they used to dominate their market.

RIPOFF #2: No clear program of execution…(Cookie Cutter vs Tailor Made)

Marketing and sales is all about execution and focus. These two areas are the major areas of difficulty that entrepreneurs have. You need a sales and marketing company that will work with you to implement a systematic and precise plan of execution. This plan of execution will not involve just “getting your name out there.” This is another major marketing blunder made today by business owners. “Just getting your name out there” will leave your bank account divorced from profit.

RIPOFF #3: Giving you more information without helping contextualize content

 One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make today is in the acquisition of more information. Information is your enemy. Information prevents your from taking action. The reason for this is because information or content is not contextualized to your personal situation. In a world where the average person receives over 4500 marketing messages per day, it is imperative that your message is crafted to clearly delineates you from your competition. There are five areas that will differentiate you from your competitors and it is imperative that the sales and marketing company you work with focuses on each of these areas. Contextualizing your content means you will distinguish yourself from your competition in the following five ways: your product, your process, your personality, your service, and your marketing.

RIPOFF #4: No way of tracking results

Most marketing companies will not show you how to track your results for the long term. Ask your marketing and sales company what kind of metrics they will help you track (there are over 50!). Check to make sure your marketing company knows and understands these.  To find out what they are, make sure you contact Glenn (1.866.203.6787) and he will make it available for you.

RIPOFF #5: Not responsible for the results once they are paid

You want a sales and marketing company fully vested in you and not themselves. How can you tell? Do they listen to you? Will they take you through a questionnaire involving over t0 questions that are solely focused on your sales and marketing. Are they asking relevant questions focused on you and your specific market? Or is the sales and marketing company just interested in getting you into some “program” where one size fits all. Avoid these companies like the plague. They are using the same sales and marketing techniques they have used with other companies. Unless you get your message out there that is focused on solving your target market’s problems and unless it causes an interruption in the thinking patterns of your target market, you will be wasting your money. Be especially aware of media companies whose sole purpose is to sell you their media even when they know it is not in your best interest. Do not spend money with any media without consulting an independent company!

RIPOFF #6: Thinking Corporate Fortune 500 marketing will work for small companies

Most companies follow this because they see top companies doing this. Marketing for hese companies is only concerned with brand recognition. Try this and your marketing will fall flat on its face. And so will your business. Guaranteed! To a trained professional, this is a huge mistake…and yet most businesses do this day in and day out. Just check bill boards, buses, subways and what kind of marketing do you see? Image based, corporate Fortune 500 marketing. These cutesie gimmicks create short term excitement. But they do not affect the purchasing habits of people. Know this once and for all. Short term memory is erased by sleep. You want a marketing company that uses the latest in the psychology of human behaviour and science to help you with messages which will go from the short term electrical impulses to a long term, chemically and neurologically entrenched desire to do business with you.

In order to get paid for hosting affiliate marketing links on your website, sometimes you will have to fill out an application. Frequently, those applications require sensitive information, such as your social security number. As you may be aware, once someone has your social security number, they basically have access to any and every type of information available about you.

If you are considering making a living on affiliate marketing, it is crucial to realize just how enormous the problem of identity theft has grown, and the kinds of things thieves will do to get your personal information. Therefore, when approaching an affiliate marketing venue, you will need to evaluate the reputability of the site. More often than not, you are better off simply not using your social security number for these sites.

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to protect your social security number is to create a dBA business, and then apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). Once you have the EIN, you can use that number on any applications that you use for affiliate marketing. It is also crucial to never apply for a credit card using an EIN that may be compromised in this way. You may also want to form a corporation in order to further protect personal assets.

When it comes to identity theft, even if someone tries to use your EIN to open a bank account or apply for credit, they will have a much harder time. Consider that when you open a business account, or apply for business credit, you have to produce a lot more financial and identifying information than what is required for individual needs. Chances are if someone tries to impersonate your corporation, they will get caught more easily than if they try to steal information stolen based on your social security number.