If you missed Step 1 of this series read it here: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-171769.0.html

Here's Step 2,

Rule 2/Step 2: Start Making Friends & Influencing People

The greatest power a business owner can wield is the power of influence.

Too many small and home based business owners do not understand this simple fact.

Every Fortune 500 company knows this and operates based primarily on this.

If they can not positively influence those who can help their businesses grow (whether it's their prospects, customers, associates, employees, shareholders, bankers, publicity contacts, suppliers, consultants and so on), into going ahead and doing always and only that which is in THEIR companies' best interests, they know they can easily kiss their profits "see ya"! And that's why they take all the pains and spend all the big bucks to hire full time PR consultants who can get them into the public's good books and get them out of a jam whenever that is required.

Politicians the world over thrive on the above as well. The Power Of Influence -- It Is Probably THE GREATEST POWER A HUMAN CAN HAVE.

The latter in part explains why Dale Carnegie's classic "How To Win Friends & Influence People" has so far sold over 500 million copies and is still going strong after several decades in book stores all over the globe.

The problem is this however, millions of people (probably yourself included) think that possessing the power to positively influence people who can help their businesses grow is an art form that can not be easily learned. And the truth is, they (and you) are just downright mistaken. Fatally so in fact.

To prove it, take a look at some of the most successful people the world has ever known, so many of them had nothing more than their skills, talents, or wits to offer for recognition. They became household names not because they splashed thousands of dollars around advertising themselves (that would definitely help anyone, even them), but what many of the well known "Greatest contributors to humanity" all have in common isn't their advertising budget, but the fact that they developed the ability to influence those closest to them in such ways that those people were able to influence those closest to them (and so on), into taking the steps required to help our heroes grow into household names.

It may sound complex, but it really isn't. Human beings were built to naturally pass on information to one another. It's the main reason we can speak while other creatures have only sounds and gestures etc, to guide them in understanding each other. The power of speech however allows you or anyone to pass on valuable information about anything on the face of the planet within seconds and with the advent of powerful technologies like the telephone and the Internet and TV and radio, other people all the way across the world can get their hands on the exact same information within a matter of minutes or even seconds.

USING THE POWER OF INFLUENCE TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS

Now, imagine that you can wield that same power within your own market. All you have to do really is say something to someone or a group of people that they would instinctively want to pass on to someone else, If you can convince them to do so, they will. If you can convince them to get others they can influence to influence those they know to do what is in your business' best interest, and they do, you would have easily hit the mother lode and it may never cost you more than your normal working hours and/or a few thousand dollars to achieve this status.

What you really need is to provide people with something they WANT to talk about with someone else and that someone else will want to talk about with someone else and so on, It's not that hard when you sit down and think about it,

For instance, when was the last time you were able to convince someone to say something nice about you?

All you have to do to achieve that status is be nice to the people around you, become the one person they can't do but say nice things about, Influence them with your good nature and people will rush to share the good news with their own friends.

A very important point you should NOT forget to attach to this step is to try to stay in contact with as many of your new found friends, prospects and customers as possible,

Remember, in order to be able to positively influence people, you have to be able to CONTACT them. If you don't have my cell phone number or email address for example, you can't possibly expect to say anything directly to me half way across the world and have me hear you. Same goes for your marketing,

Collect the names, email addresses, phone numbers etc of your new friends, acquaintances and customers every time you have a chance to (just don't force people into being on your contacts' list, that will always backfire, trust me, no one likes being forced to do things they don't want to do).

Once you have their permission to contact them, use that opportunity to be nice to them, and do it from the bottom of your heart, because the human psyche can smell B.S. ten miles away. So just be real about it all.

People will appreciate your good deeds, kind heart, fairness, great content, great information, great products and great service so much that even if they don't tell anyone else about you, they will stick with you just to keep enjoying the good stuff, And those who will talk will only have glowing things to say, Build your business from the start in this way. Build the audience for a product from the start in this way.

I promise you, you can never go wrong when you plan to positively influence those who can help grow your business and if you're smart, you'll always ask them for a way to stay in touch so that you can continue to build on that relationship. It's a no brainer, but then again, how many times have no brainers ever been the most obvious line of action?

Don't let this one pass you by, You won't only regret not having this circle of influence, you'll PAY FOR IT UP FRONT. Guaranteed.

Look out for Step 3 - "Prepare To Deliver 1st Rate Products/Services" -- Coming soon

This is for any struggling web marketers out there,

Making money online really isn't hard when you follow 7 very basic rules.

I first discovered these rules in '99. I used them. I made money. Others used them. They made money. The rules have not changed since, and won't. Use them. Make money.

Rule 1/Step 1: Hard To Sell Products Are A No No

You may think it's obvious and people don't need to be told not to try to market hard to move products. You'd be wrong. At least 50% of the products being marketed online are hard to sell products. Why? Simple. The product owners usually have to work round the clock trying to get their site visitors to pay them for those products or services.

It's like I told an associate of mine recently,  "If you could just come up with one service or product idea that didn't require you to market it past the initial awareness creation stage -- which is usually between 1 month to 10 months after a product is released -- you'd have hit on your own little rainbow road to hidden pots of gold".

You see, what most people (and you may be one of them, I know I once was), try to do is figure out what their passion is and then try to look for a market interested in the same thing. That's fine -- as far as hobbies go.

But, if you want to really be making money hand over fist, or on auto-pilot, or if you want to enjoy the finer things in life (just to mention a few cliches), then you can not afford to look for markets that are created around your desires, whims or caprices.

What you want to do is look for a market that will chase after something you create for them to chase after,  whether it is your passion or not.

Listen, it helps to be "tres" passionate about what you're selling, but if you're "tres" passionate about something few people or nobody wants to pay for, you will remain "tres" poor for a long long long time. It's a simple fact of life.

Examples of Hard To Sell Products

I had thought to list a ton of products and services that are hard to move but then I might offend someone's sensitive feelings So, rather than do that, I thought I would give you a general but holistic picture of what not to sell online or offline for that matter.

Here goes,  You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you have to,

1. Dig for hours and/or days through search engines looking for sites that already have a congregation of potential buyers.

2. Search for more than 30 seconds (at least) for people selling similar products you're planning to sell. There is an exception to this rule as with most rules. The exception is, if you happen to be the first to come out with a truly valuable and/or revolutionary concept, then you still can have a winner even when no one else is selling something like what you want to get started selling,  truth though is, revolutionary concepts are NOT that common. So, rather than spend all your life looking for one, get started with something people already want to pay for but have no one interested in or capable of providing for them. You can spend your spare time thinking up that one great revolutionary idea once you have money in the bank, food in the stomach and bills all paid up -- it's smarter that way anyways, though the choice is yours in the end.

OK. Moving on,  You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you have to,

3. Convince YOURSELF that people are going to want what you got to give. Again there may be some exceptions here,  for instance, if you are a risk taker by nature, you will probably ignore my advice here,  and that's fine,  just be sure you're not taking miscalculated risks based on selfish desires simply to see a pet project come to life. It is usually not worth the risk to blindly create things people won't want in the end just because you've got that super stubborn, "I'm really a genius" streak in you,

Ah, what the heck,  many more lessons left to share, here we go,

You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you have to,

4. Spend far more time and money creating something than you can make from selling it within at least 3 months of releasing it. In short, if you have to wait too long to see profits online, you will get discouraged and chances are you will pack up long before the results do come in. And even if that doesn't happen, you know you have to explain to your spouse and/or family what the heck you think you're doing spending money and not making a dime,  most people don't last under that kind of pressure. So, avoid it if you can.

You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you have to,

5. Ask a ton of expert solutions for finding ways to market that product online or offline. Seriously, marketing is the easiest thing to do when you have the RIGHT product and have already located the RIGHT market. Most people create a product and start asking for magic pills to drive "traffic" to their site. If you do it right from the beginning, you won't have that problem in the first place. First find a market. Second find a product the market wants to, is willing to, and is able to pay for. Third make it brain dead easy for them to know you're the guy or gal who's made it ready for them. And finally, tell them how, when and where they can get their hands on it. All of this stuff is really simple if you would just do them in the right order. Bottom line: Marketing should be a no-brainer. And is when done the right way.

OK. Moving on,  You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you,

6. Can't easily write a convincing business plan and marketing strategy for that product/service out on paper in under 2 hours give or take a few minutes. Seriously, if you can't explain what you want to do to even yourself (talk much less of a 3rd party) on paper, you have a serious problem lurking in the shadows waiting to kill your business.

You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you,

7. Can't make your calculations (sales, profit forecasts etc) work on paper in the first place.

You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you,

8. Need more than a couple thousand dollars to get started and be seeing a profit within months. Most web business ideas can be launched on far less to almost nothing. So, if you get hung up on an idea that will cost you over $2K to launch, you'd better have the back up funds to make it worth your while in case things back fire. In the end though, my advice is unless you're setting up a fancy big shot web 2.0 site, don't go spending too much on new ideas at least until you have some test results to go on. Just be careful here.

You know you most likely have a dud in the making if you,

9. Find it hard building an affiliate force or a willing "followership" (i.e. people who don't care about getting paid to promote you) that will market your product WHILE you sleep. This one is self explanatory --

And finally,

10. The most obvious point would have to be this one --- If there are already a ton of people selling EXACTLY what you want to sell or a very similar product or service, you're only setting yourself up to spend a ton more of your time and/or money to get the attention of your prospects. Which is fine if you have that time and money to spare.

That's all for now,  I will continue with Rule 2/Step 2 - "Start Making Friends & Influencing People" same spot tomorrow -- Look out for it.

Cheers,

Kunle Olomofe

.Copyright 2008.