 |
Our secret to success: dogged persistence
to overcome any challenge and being able to laugh at ourselves when we don't quite make
it. |
| Jane
Mark & Phil Basten |
|
Brought to you
in partnership with Rod Beckwith - http://mrjv.com
Education: Jane Mark, Master's degree in psychology; Phil Basten, diploma of
professional counseling
Year Started Business: May 2001
Type Of Business: JPE Advertising is an online ad agency (http://jpeadvertising.com). The
principals, Jane Mark and Phil Basten, star in the Internet's first radio "soap"
opera on the Internet marketing called Joe? Yes Mable? Are We Rich Yet? at http://joeandmable.com.
Target Market: "Our market is any online business. We can target any market
with our vast network of double opt-in lists (from a mailing as small as 5,000 to as large
as half a billion and anywhere in between). Our ideal customer is someone who has a market
they have researched and are convinced there is a market for their product or service.
From there, we can set up their Website, write their sales copy, and place their ads using
a wide range of advertising techniques, such as e-zine ads, solo ads, viral advertising
tools that we have developed, banner ads, power links using the latest state-of-the-art
online advertising techniques. We work with newbies and experts alike."
Number Of Employees: "We have two employees but work with a vast network or
JV partners, as well as several programmers on an independent contract basis."
Best Month (Gross Revenues): $35,000+
Hours Worked Per Week During Start-Up: "For the first year of our business,
it was non-stop almost 24/7 to get it up and rolling. Phil would work into the wee hours
of the morning and Jane would get up and continue on when he was asleep. We still work
seven days a week but we take time off now again to go to conferences and get some 'relax
time' during the evenings. We love what we do, so we don't view this as an impediment.
Both of us would rather be at our computers than almost anywhere else."
Favorite Business Magazines: Entrepreneur, BusinessWeek, and Money
Makers Monthly
Favorite Business Books Or Authors:
- Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill—the Bible for anyone who wants to know
how to approach building a dynasty
- 7 Secrets of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey - ideal for helping you
balance your priorities
- Mind Control Marketing, by Mark Joyner - No. 1 bestseller on Amazon.com; covers
the ins and out of the buyer's mind and how to tap into their natural instinct to purchase
online
Relaxes By: "We love taking time off in the evenings to write. We are both
prolific writers. Jane writes the first draft of the Joe and Mable Show. Phil
reviews it and turns it into comedy. We write articles for our weekly e-zine, the Webprotimes. Jane takes time out of the
day to work out and do some singing. Phil likes a walk on the Australian beach. Both are
busy with grown children and grandchildren, weddings, and family birthdays."
Keeps In Shape Physically By: Exercising daily (Jane); walking on the beach
(Phil)
Favorite Part Of The Job: Jane loves preparing the scripts for the Joe and
Mable Show. Phil likes writing the lead editorial article for their weekly e-zine.
They both love helping other people succeed on the Internet, and they spend time training
people in their online office:
Least Favorite Part Of The Job: "Beta testing our new programs that we
bring online can be hair raising. Phil has developed some of the most innovative marketing
tools on the Net, and when they first come online, even after we think we have tested them
to death, there are always glitches to fix and to change. It can often means long days and
nights of working with our programmers in distant lands. It passes, and calm gets restored
somehow."
Companies Admired:
- Microsoft, which made it possible for Jane to understand how to use the Internet
- Coca Cola, for being located in every remote place in the world and for its marketing
skills
- Google, the best search engine on the Web (but watch out for Zabang)
Favorite Quotes:
- You can get anything you want in life by helping enough other people get what they
want. -Zig Ziglar
- Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is only a promissory note. Only today is
legal tender and only now is negotiable. -W Clement Stone
- I've never sold anything to anyone, but I've sure helped a lot of people to buy.
-Fred Herman
The Person Who Most Influenced Their Lives: Jane—a French teacher who made
the language come alive by having the class give live performances at school. Jane gained
her flare for the stage and for comedy from this teacher and continued to use her flare
for being different in every business she engaged in. Phil—his grandfather, a
well-known Australian artist who took Australian landscape painting to new heights showing
the depth and reality of this stark land. Sitting on his grandfather's lap while he
painted, he instilled creativity and a love for art, which Phil uses in every Website he
creates on the Net today.
Heroes: Jane—Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Robert
Kennedy...this stems from her long involvement in the Civil Rights Movement after her
cousin and close friend, Andrew Goodman, was murdered in Mississippi along with James
Chaney and Michael Schwerner in 1964. These men were all leaders for advancing civil
rights in their own way and had a direct and strong effect on Jane's life.
Phil's—Norman Vincent Peel, Abraham Maslow, and Watchman Nee...Phil is an avid
reader of both spiritual and psychological books, which explains his calm and serene
manner.
Special Business Achievements/Honors: Phil earned a creative writing award for
powerful and masterful writing from an international writing school in Australia—a
skill he utilizes in his copy writing skills at http://jpeadvertising.com/killersads/.
Months Before Achieving A Profit: JPE Advertising started with capital of 7,500
and was profitable in the second month of its operation
Books/Tapes/Reports Authored: Jane and Phil are the authors of Joe? Yes
Mable? Are we Rich Yet?, an e-book on how to think outside the box when you are
creating an ad campaign. This book can be purchased at http://jpeadvertising.com/jandm.
Phil is the author of a resource book on marketing called How to Succeed Anytime You
Want. It is a free download that clients can give away, or it can be branded with
their own links. You can find it right here: http://jpeadvertising.com/secret/. Also, Jane is the author of a very
unusual online audio cookbook. It's the world's first hilarious, audio cookbook for
serious cooks called Mable's Almost Healthy Recipes. It even contains the world's
first Smellometer! To find out what that is, you will need to buy the book—
http://www.joeandmable.com/recipes/.
Contact Jane or Phil At:
New York Office:
Jane Mark (CEO)
JPE Advertising
e-mail: jpethanks@yahoo.com
address: 736 Broadway, 4th Floor, NY, NY 10003, USA
Phone: (212) 475-6001
Fax: (212) 228-3819
Australian Office:
Phil Basten (President)
JPE Advertising
e-mail: jpeadvertising@yahoo.com
address: 8/9 Holdfast Promenade, Glenelg SA 5045, Australia
Phone: +618-8376-6086
Fax: +618-8376-6168
GETTING STARTED TIPS
I'm starting a home business next month. I have a maximum
of $3,000 in start-up capital. Where should I invest it?
If you have $3,000 to invest in your business, invest at least $300 of it reading about
the product or service you intend to sell. After you do your research on what you want to
sell, you must get your hands on every effective marketing book you can find. Many of them
are free, and you can do a search on Google to find books and reports related to your
particular business. Next, make sure you hire a great web designer and copywriter who can
give you not just a Website but a sales site so that when you begin to advertise, you have
something that will capture people's attention. You can get a simple Website design and
sales copy page for $1,200 to $2,000 dollars, and this is essential if you want to succeed
on the Net. This leaves you $700 to start your advertising campaign.
If you want the best buy there is on the Net go to: http://jpeadvertising.com/killerads/.
Here, you can get a varied advertising campaign including solo ads, e-zine ads, banner ads
and traffic and a FREE ad written by Phil. Phil is known as the "Adman" on the
Net, and getting a free ad from him (which you can use in any of your future ad campaigns)
is worth its weight in gold. The total cost of this package is $297.
Next, start a list. You must have an opt-in list where you can mail to your contacts
and nurture and grow your list over time so that you can continually communicate with your
clients and develop a relationship of trust with them so they will buy from you when you
recommend a product. You can jump start a list right here: http://jpeadvertising.com/yourlist/.
This list will cost you $295 for a list of 1,000, and you can keep this list forever and
mail to it. You may want to start an e-zine so you can grow your list over time. You can
do that right here at: http://provensecretsalestools.com
for $39.95 per month, and you should start that immediately .
I've just started a home business. My spouse has given me
six months to make it work. Any advice?
Yes, tell your spouse that that is not enough time to develop a successful business.
Most businesses need at least 12 months (if you are lucky) and, more likely, 18 months to
two years to develop to the point where they can be called "a living." For the
first six months, you should be putting back into your business any profits you realize so
you can continue to grow. You will also need to put aside money for emergencies, refunds,
legal advice, advertising, sales copy, conferences, and continuing education. Six months
is too short a trigger. Tell your spouse to have some patience—too short a vision
does not a good business plan make.
They say it takes money to make money. Should I try to get
a small-business loan for my start-up capital or just try to get by with my own limited
finances?
Whenever you start a business, you need to ask yourself some pretty pointed questions.
Do you have the persistence to keep going when times get tough (and they will). Are you
comfortable using OPM (other people's money). If so, by all means take out a loan.
However, if you are just dabbling and don't know if you will see your new business
through, it is best to save and use your own capital. You will sleep better at night.
TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS:
How quickly do you adopt new technology for your business?
We develop most of our marketing tools ourselves in response to our clients' needs and
our own advertising needs. For example, when randomizers were all the rage last year on
the Internet, we hated them. We developed an anti-randomizer, virally advertising tools
where people could get their ads shown in front of thousands with a very low, up-front
cost. In fact, our headline for this tool is: $12.50 buys your FREE advertising for life.
We call this tool the ravertiser, and it has been one of our most successful affiliate
programs. You can take a look at it here: http://jpesafelists.com/magnet/index.php.
Phil actually developed the first safelist submitter on the Internet called ELP when
people needed to mail to masses with one click. We have since refined that submitter and
we have developed four submitters for people to reach large markets. They are can be found
here: http://www.jpeturbomailer.com/classified/,
http://www.jpeturbomailer.com/ffa/,
http://adboardblaster.com/, and http://jpeturbomailer.com/basic/safelistsub.html.
Also, as e-mail has become an ever-increasing hassle with less and less e-mail actually
reaching its destination, we developed "Hi Traffic Ads" (http://hitrafficads.com). This is new
technology that gets around e-mail and can't be blocked. It launched in the beginning of
October and it is sky rocketing with over 7,000 members joining up in just two weeks.
Our motto at JPE Advertising is: We create the marketing tools others copy.
Do you use a fax machine with a dedicated line? How do you
use it?
We do have a fax machine with a dedicated line. We use it mostly to receive copy
information from our clients and to deal with accountants, attorneys, etc. We have a
dedicated fax in both our N.Y. and Australia office, as we need to keep in constant
contact with our clients wherever they are in the world and whatever time zone they work
in.
How do you use e-mail in your business?
Our business is entirely online. We use e-mail in every way you can think of. Phil
developed the first integrated safelist script on the Internet called Damnsmartmail (http://damnsmartmail.com). This is a
group of safelists that we host with over 200 safelist owners on the network. We use our
own lists on the network (some 90 lists) to mail our solo ads to both contact and list
e-mail addresses, which our members have agreed to receive. We also use e-mail to send our
weekly e-zine, The Webpro Times.
We publish the newsletter on a Website and send our subscribers to our Website. We use
mass mailings to millions of targeted, verified, double opt-in leads through our own
online service called "Mass Mail to Millions" (http://massmailmillions.com).
How do you utilize the Internet?
We utilize the Internet to get the word out about our ad agency service and about the
marketing tool products that we develop. We do this in a variety of ways. Certainly, we do
mailings as listed above. More importantly, we do joint ventures with other online
marketers. Our most successful joint venture has been the Joe and Mable Show. This
show is based on our e-book Joe, Yes Mable? Are We Rich Yet? We created the Net's
first Radio "soap opera" and then got some of the Web's top marketers to star in
our episodes. The show has had appearances by Mark Joyner, Joe Vitale, Mike Glaspie, Shawn
Casey, Jim Daniels, and many other top marketers. The Joe and Mable show got us vast
exposure in a short period of time, which has led to many other successful business deals.
You can join up for free and enjoy the fun at: http://joeandmable.com.
How many of your own Website(s) do you have?
We have so many Websites, I think we have lost count by this time. Here are the basics:
And here's Jane's all time favorite: http://bonjourmable.com—This
is a complete departure from our ad agency services. Jane sells Mable's Caftans. They are
luscious and fun. Watch the video, and you will see what we mean.
There are probably 20 others, but these will give you the idea.
Do you use autoresponders? How do you use this tool in your
business?
We actually don't use autoresponders to any great extent. We do use them when we are
signing people up to our e-zine and giving away free bonuses and, of course, welcoming
people to our lists. Most of our business is very hands on, and we like to give our
clients a lot of personal attention and support. We answer our own phones. We answer all
of our e-mail personally. We find this keeps our clients coming back for more; they
appreciate the personal support.
If you use voice mail, what is your primary use for it?
We use voice mail on our phone so we can check our calls and return them as promptly as
we can. And, of course, we get in a plug for the Joe and Mable Show in our voice
mail message.
Describe your computer system and how you use computers in
your business.
Since we are an online business, we use state-of-the-art computers. We have two Gateway
laptops, which are networked. They have 1GB of memory each and run on 2.9GHz CPUs. We use
Windows XP Professional and DSL when we are in our offices but utilize wireless hookups
when we travel. We use a digital camera to meet with clients in our online office. We have
state-of-the-art speakers in addition to the ones built into our computers so Jane can
listen to music, which is her passion, as well as some political radio shows thrown into
the mix.
What software do you consider in the "must-have"
category?
Quicken for your books, Microsoft Frontpage for html editing, Cute FTP for uploading
Websites, Audio Edit Delux for sound editing, Audio Generator for recording, Microsoft
Image Composer for graphics, Logo Creator to make your own logos, and Paintshop Pro More
for graphics and design.
What other technology do you use in your business?
We are computer nuts. Jane personally hates cell phones and made Phil throw his away so
people would not bother us when we were in the car or out for dinner.
Name up to five personal favorite business URL's our
readers can benefit from:
Of all the technology you use, rank the top three. Why do
you consider these to be the top three?
Audio, video, and online marketing tools. We use a variety of audio and video tools
that have increased our business up to 30% on every Website where we have them. To record
the Joe and Mable Show, we use Armand Morin's Audiogenerator system (http://www.audigenerator.com).
We also use the video recording studio and online meeting room from World Profit (http://www.worldprofit.com),
which are excellent tools to make contact online in what is otherwise a very anonymous
world.
MARKETING/ADVERTISING:
How do you market on the Internet?
The first place we market is to our own personal lists, which are now over 300,000
members. We always let our list members know about a product or a service first. We will
then often go to our JV contacts and set up special deals for partners where they can get
a good head start on our products. If the product warrants it, we will do mass mailings in
the millions through one or more of our JV partners. We arrange for ad swaps with partners
where we give them the product to try and, if they like it, they will mail out a
recommendation to their lists. This gives us an ever-widening market. We use our own
blasters that we have developed. We design and place banners on sites that we use. We
arrange for link swaps with similar sites and we place our new product or service on all
of our main Websites to link out to. We use exit pop ups on many of our sites so that we
capture the visitor's e-mail if they leave our site without purchasing. That way we can
contact them with other products or services in the future. We develop specialized lists
of people who have purchased our ad campaigns or our software or our scripts or copy
writing and when, we have a new product that we think will interest these groups, we get
it out to them first.
Approximately what percentage of your sales originate from
Internet marketing?
100% of our income is from Internet marketing.
What other kinds of marketing do you utilize?
We use our Joint Venture partners to help us market our services and our products. We
also use free bonus give always to create additional value for our products and services.
We provide discount specials for our repeat clients. We brand our name using JPE with
almost all of our products so people associate JPE with value. We do this with Joe and
Mable as well. We go to conferences when we can and network with other marketers. This
is one of the best places to make business deals.
We have brought all of our Websites into the 21st century by using video and audio to
let our clients know about our products and we have created an online office where people
can meet us personally to talk to us. These tools have increased our sales up to 30% on
each Website where we have placed them.
Where do you market? (locally, nationally, internationally,
all three?)
All three.
THE HOME OFFICE:
How should someone set up his/her home office to maximize
its effectiveness?
The first thing you need to do in any serious business is organize your office. You
need comfortable chairs if you are at your computer 10 or 12 hours a day. You need
state-of-the-art computers and DSL or broadband if you are serious about a home business
online. You need to plan out your space so you have enough room for your speakers and cam
corder and pens and pads. You need the proper surge protectors and sufficient outlets to
accommodate your computers and accessories. You need to plan for networking your computers
if you use more than one so you can share Internet connections and printers. Also, you
should have a computer tech on call for emergencies that sometimes crop up so you can get
back to business as soon as possible.
You should have at least two phone lines so when one of you is answering the phone, the
other can still fax or make outgoing follow-up calls. Ideally, you have a phone system
that provides for conferencing and that lets you put the caller on speaker. You should
have a comprehensive filing system and file drawers. We still hard copy a great deal of
our important papers and file them just in case.
Both in our NY and Australia offices, we have separated our office from the rest of the
living area. While Phil and I like to spend almost all of our waking hours at the
computer, when we quit, we like to get away from them completely, and we found that having
them in a separate area does the trick most of the time.
What, if any, ground rules have you established for
yourself and family in order to operate a successful home business?
If you are not neat, you are headed for defeat. This is Jane talking now. If you have a
male partner or men employees, be sure you lay down the law. You cannot run a successful
business in a mess and I think men just naturally have a "mess" gene. I insist
on no eating at the computer, although we do allow drinks and coffee. I insist that our
computer stations be cleaned every day and that papers we are using be filed at the end of
the day. A disorganized work station is the sign of a disorganized mind. It is not
something you want to bring into your business.
What are some of the advantages to working at home? What
are some of the disadvantages?
Neither Phil nor Jane find any disadvantages to working at home. They both have grown
children so they are free to use their time as they like. When young children are
involved, it is much harder to get yourself off the computer and to divide your time
between your work and your family but that is true no matter what business you are in or
what job you hold.
MANAGEMENT STYLE:
What part(s) of your work do you farm out?
We farm out almost everything—programming, accounting, and legal help. Phil and I
love being in a business where we can have our space to ourselves. The only person who
regularly invades our space are our wonderful housekeepers, Gabriela in New York and Tess
in Australia. If we need help, we farm it out.
What part(s) do you feel should never be farmed out?
Our business runs on our personal attention to details in our support system. No one
has an e-mail unanswered. No serious person gets turned down if they need help. We feel
you should never farm out your support system. If you call us, we pick up the phone. If
you e-mail us, you get an answer from us. We run a business that exists on help and
support and no one can do it the way we do, so we will never farm our support out.
Do you encourage or discourage Partnerships?
We look for good partners everywhere we can and we constantly looking at JV proposals
that come across our desk. Many of them are junk, but some are gems, and we are open to
listening and looking and learning all of the time. JV's on the Internet are essential
part of success. You cannot do it all by yourself.
Do you encourage or discourage hiring family members?
Hiring of family is a completely individual thing. Jane learned everything she knows on
the computer from her software engineer son, Andy. If he wanted in on the business, she
would hire him in a New York minute. Motorola grabbed him first. Phil has a daughter who
builds computers and has been doing that since she was young. If she wanted in, we would
jump. She has her own great job at an Australia programming company. If your family
members are smart, hard working and willing, it's a great idea to hire them. If not, it's
probably better just to let them to their own thing.
When legal issues arise, what's your usual response?
When legal issues arise, we first try to approach the party that has raised the problem
and work it out directly with them. If it seems it can't be worked out, we will get our
lawyer involved. Make sure you have the smartest lawyer wherever you are working. Bad
lawyers can get you in a lot of trouble and build your bills up out of control. Good ones
look for where to make a deal and cut your losses. We prefer the latter. Life is too short
to spend it fighting around with people or in court. We find the best thing to do when
someone threatens you legally is to let a day or two go by before you respond. Write the
angry letter you feel like writing and then throw it out and take a deep breath and tackle
the problem with honey rather than vinegar. It can get you out of a lot of sticky
situations.
MONEY & INVESTMENTS:
What are the advantages of earning a lot of money. What are
some disadvantages?
Money is a tool. It gives you the freedom to do what you like. Phil and Jane love being
able to travel between their two countries and to own homes in both N.Y. and Australia,
but it does take some doing to accomplish this and without the ability to earn a
substantial income, it would be almost impossible. You always need to decide what
lifestyle you want to live and then decide how you are going to achieve it. We have
achieved our first goal in business, which is to live the way we want to live. Our next
goal is to see if we can help some others do the same. We don't see any downside to
earning gobs of money. It simply depends on how you use it.
Best general tax advice?
Pay Them. Phil and Jane have a simple philosophy. If you earn money, you can afford to
pay your taxes. We pay them in two countries, so we are not very sympathetic to people who
complain about their taxes in either country. Having said that, you should work with a
great accountant who can steer you to all of the deductions you are legitimately entitled
to. When you run a home business, there are many expenses you can write off, and you
should become familiar with all of them where you live. Our best advice is to get yourself
a great accountant and work with him. Before you even set up your business, you should
seek advice as to what the most advantageous structure for you should be (i.e. sole
proprietorship, corporation, partnership, s-corp. etc.). These are important decisions for
which you should seek professional help.
Best general investment advice?
Phil and I invest in our business. Whenever we have spare cash, we reinvest it in
development—our programmer who lives in Russia is living the good life. However, this
is not to say that you should not be investing a portion of your profits in sound
investments for the future. Remember, a home business generally has no built-in retirement
funds, no health care coverage. You will need to plan that into your business plan for
your future protection. Again, we are big on consulting professionals and using the
expertise of those in the know. If you have investment funds, seek out a great investment
counselor in your area and take it from there.
You're in business already, and you've just received a
windfall of $20,000. What would you do with it?
We would take it and plow it right back into the business and develop at least 20 more
marketing tools for our clients. Why? Because we know we will make that money back 10
times over by offering new products to our clients.
NETWORK MARKETING ADVICE:
What do you lead with - your company's products or the
business opportunity?
We generally lead with the company's product. We are an advertising agency. Our clients
are looking for ways to advertise their own business. They want results, and we want to
let them to know we have the tools and the products that will give that to them. Our
Websites are usually product specific and stress the benefits of a particular marketing
tool. We do have affiliate opportunities on about 25% of our sites, and we always offer
that business opportunity to our clients where available but, generally, not as the lead.
Rank the following traits in order of their importance in
building a successful network marketing business: enthusiasm, persistence, knowledge, and
communication skills.
Persistence is the top of our list. People who give up on a business plan and don't
have what it takes to see their goals and dreams through are destined to fail. This, to
us, is the quintessential entrepreneurial trait.
Knowledge is next. If you don't learn everything there is to know about your particular
service or product, your competition will eat you alive for breakfast or steal your ideas
and do them better. You must continually stay on top of your game.
Enthusiasm. If you don't love what you do, you will not find the persistence it takes
to see it through. Phil and Jane find that enthusiasm about your business is what sells it
to other people. Clients sense when you are absolutely convinced that you have found the
best product since sliced bread and you are offering it to them. Your enthusiasm is your
salesmanship and people know when you are full of bologna. One of the things Phil and I
insist on doing with our JV partners is having them test our products before they use
them. If they don't have the same "holy cow" feeling about our products as we
do, they probably won't be able to sell them well and we move on.
Communication skills are essential in any business, but that doesn't mean you have to
be the world's best writer or speaker. What you must do is follow up every e-mail, every
lead, every client so they know you are alive and well and working on their needs. How you
do that is not as important as simply doing it. But, for goodness sake, if you are
communicating in writing, make sure you spell check your letter or document. You may not
need to be the world's best communicator, but you do need to be professional at all times.
Having now ranked these traits, we are going to take most of this back and say that
most serious business people have all of these traits and they are all essential for your
success.
How long were you in business for yourself before you saw
your first four-figure commission check? Your first five-figure check?
JPE Advertising was successful in it's second month and we had our first four-figure
check in hand in month two. Our first five-figure check came in month three. Having said
that, we do not want to leave you with the impression that you can create a successful
business in three months. Phil and Jane did a lot of prep work before they actually put
their business in place. Phil had been working on the Internet with moderate success for
six years prior to the formation of JPE Advertising and had done his homework. He knew the
best programmers. He honed his skills as a copywriter and Website designer and knew what
he wanted to accomplish on the Net. Jane had 20 years of business development under belt
having run two successful companies in New York City. It was when Phil and Jane combined
their talents that their company really took off. We call it the ultimate joint venture,
"The Australian, American Alliance." So in one sense, our success was very rapid
but in a more realistic sense, it was years in the making.
What's more important - the initial contact with a prospect
or the follow-up?
The follow up is always the most important element in your business. It is a well-known
marketing fact that people usually don't buy something from you on the first exposure. If
you e-mail an ad to someone or call them on the phone, it may take five to seven
follow-ups before they commit to the sale. Your first contact is just to get the person
familiar with your product. Your follow-ups should be designed to develop a relationship
with your prospect and then to get them to trust you. It's tough to make that first sale,
but once you do (and assuming you have a great product to offer) you will have made a
lifetime customer who is likely to buy from you over and over again. We have a very simple
philosophy: a prospect is always a prospect unless they are dead.
You've just recruited a promising new distributor, how do
you help him/her get off to a good start...or do you consider that the new distributor's
responsibility?
Whenever you get a new distributor, reseller, or an affiliate, you must take the time
to train them. If you just have people sign up to your program and leave them in the lurch
as to what steps to take to become successful, they will just jump on board another
program or offer where they can get this training and direction. We keep in constant
contact with our affiliates. We provide them with banners and ads to use in their
marketing of our products. We let them know what works for us and if we are giving out
free bonuses with one of our ads, we give them to our affiliates to use as well. Follow-up
with your affiliates or distributors is just as important as follow-up with your clients.
A good sales person for your company is worth their weight in gold, but you need to work
with them constantly, encourage them, train them, and give them the tools that actually
work for you.
How do you get your best leads?
Our best leads come through our own programs of mass mail to millions, building opt-in
lists and guaranteed sign ups. These are the programs we offer our clients, but only
because we use them ourselves and they work for us. These are the leads programs that work
for us:
I'm planning a big local meeting; what's the best way to
fill the room?
If you want to fill a room, make sure you offer people something of value to be there.
There are several ways to to do this. First, you can offer a bunch of free bonuses of
value in order to get them there. You can offer nifty prize drawings to people, and you
can make sure the people that are running the meeting are high visibility people in their
own field. You can also write your publicity in such a way as to make it clear that if
they are not at the meeting, they will have missed one of those great moments in life.
People never like to feel they have been left out of the crowd, so your PR should play on
those emotions.
I need to generate a hundred leads within 60 days; what's
my best strategy to achieve this?
What we do when we need new leads is to put up a new splash page or lead capture page
that deals directly with the target audience we are seeking. You can do this is a number
of ways. Certainly you can purchase your leads all over the Internet. Or you can use your
lead capture page to mail to your existing lists and capture the names, e-mail addresses,
and phone numbers of the people on your lists who are particularly interested in what you
are currently offering. You can also purchase your own list where you name the list and
target the list to you product. You can do that at: http://jpeadvertising.com/yourlist/.
Most importantly you should be generating new leads daily by placing pop under ads on
every one of your Websites. Whenever someone visits your Website, even if they do not buy
anything from you, try not to let them leave your site without leaving you their e-mail
address and name. You can offer them free bonuses to fill in your form, but be sure to do
something to make it worthwhile for them to have you contact them in the future.
How many distributors must a person recruit each month to
succeed in network marketing?
There is no set number on how many distributors or affiliates you should recruit in a
month. You may be far better off having one good reseller than 1,000 duds in your
downline. It is well known that at least 80% of the people who sign up for most programs
do not carry through or put any work into sales. In fact, it is usually only 1% of your
resellers who ever really produce for you. This means you could do a ton of advertising
and recruit thousands of people under you but not get very much return for your effort. It
is far better to be on the lookout for the go-etters you are working with and provide them
with the training and encouragement they need to succeed.
Best tips for surviving rejection?
Rejection goes with the territory, especially if you work online. People who work
online feel that what they say in an e-mail makes no difference and, if they are
frustrated or angry, they will try to hit you over the head with their words. We try to
figure out what in tarnation made them so angry and we respond with honey not hatred. We
find that many times you can overcome people's objections to what you are offering with
some kind words that speak to their frustration or confusion. This doesn't always work,
but it beats stewing over rejection. If you are unable to turn the rejection around, just
put it behind you and move on. If you spend a lot of energy worrying about whether you
will be rejected or not, you will paralyze yourself and never take a risk or take action
in your business. You might as well bury your head under the covers at that point.
Do you recommend that new distributors prospect close
friends and family?
We never work with our close friends or family on projects on the Internet. First of
all, 99% of them haven't a clue what we do and thought we were nuts when we started an
online business. More importantly, you don't want to risk your friends and family's time
or money in ventures they may not be well equipped to handle. This is not a hard and fast
rule. If you have a family member who shows a sincere interest in what you are doing and
you know has the gumption to follow through, then that's a horse of a different color. I
think we all have a pretty good sense of where to draw the lines with family and friends.
It's probably wise to follow your instincts in this matter.
THE ROAD AHEAD:
In five years we'll be...
Doing exactly what we love to do. We will be writing, helping others succeed on the
Internet, taking care of our families, enjoying our grandchildren, singing old Peter,
Paul, and Mary songs in harmony together, and loving our work.
In 10 years we'll be...
The same. We absolutely love what we do, and so we will probably be doing more of the
same. Will we be earning more money? Probably. Is that the thing that drives us? No. As
long as we can provide the lifestyle we love and have the freedom to do what we love,
neither of us really cares how much money we have. What we would like to do in 10 years or
sooner is take the Joe and Mable Show on the road and do lectures on how to succeed
in business. We can do this in a fun and whimsical way while imparting some good
information and wisdom, so I suppose that is where we are headed.
POWERFUL IDEAS:
What was the motivating factor that drove you to start your
own business?
Both our families felt we were completely whacko. They had not a clue what we were
really doing and laughed every time we tried to explain it to them. They are not laughing
now.
What motivates you now to continue building your business?
We love the ebb and flow of our business. Jane is an early riser and runs to the
computer at 4 AM to see what orders came in and who needs help with what and to work on
another Joe and Mable episode. Phil works late hours into the night perfecting new
Websites or talking to our programmers in Russia and England and our partners all over the
world. We simply love what we do, and we want to be eager to create whatever is around the
next corner.
What's the best thing about being self-employed?
Being able to do whatever you want when you want to. Most of the time we are working
because that is what we want to do, but when we want to take four days off, we book a
luxury boat up the Murray River in Australia, and we don't have to account to anyone for
our time. It's fabulous.
How often do you read books and/or listen to or watch tapes
for improving your business skills or knowledge?
Phil's an avid reader of books of all kinds. He has a tape playing most of the day
where he is listening and learning from people on the Internet. Jane likes to get her
continuing education from tapes of people on the Web and from e-zine articles, which she
reads avidly. If you don't keep up with your field and what's going on, it will pass you
by and you will be on permanent vacation.
The most underrated activity in business is…
Planning. We can't tell you how many people we talk to in the course of a week who tell
us they want to make it on the Internet.
" That's nice" we say but do you have a business plan? "
" A business plan?" they ask. "What's that?"
Oops. No business plan, no business. You must know how much money you have available to
invest in your business. You must know how much time you have and be disciplined about
investing that time. You need to have researched your business and have done some studying
of the area. You need to set some financial goals and know where you are heading. You must
know what business structure you are going to operate under (i.e. sole proprietorship,
corporation etc.). You should talk to an accountant. Does your product or service have
unusual legal exposure like, say, a health or wellness product? Then maybe you had best
consult an attorney and so on…We find that even creative people with very good ideas
about a product or service online haven't a clue what a business plan is.
The most overrated activity in business is…
The most overrated activity in business is the idea that everything is fun and
challenging and that there are no boring tasks that have to be accomplished. There are
plenty of uninteresting, routine, and repetitive tasks that you have to be prepared to
deal with. There is the filing of sales tax forms. For us, that is double duty both in the
states and in Australia. There is the routine of running the same ad for someone five days
in a row on the same lists to the same people. There are the endless support e-mails that
must be answered with care and concern, even if you have seen the same question over and
over again. Not everything you do in your business is instantly rewarding or fun, but if
it gets you to your goals, you do it everyday and whenever required.
What was the biggest obstacle you had to face when you were
launching your own business? What's your biggest obstacle now?
The biggest obstacle we faced is how to work across two oceans 10,000 miles apart. We
solved that problem by deciding to split our time between the two countries. It is not a
prefect arrangement. We invariably miss someone's birthday and we can't spend Thanksgiving
or Christmas in two places. But we have managed somehow to make our families understand
and to keep in touch with them often, and that seems to do the trick most of the time.
This is still the most sticky problem we deal with.
What was your worst business decision?
Our worst business decision was to buy computers for both our New York office and our
Australian office. For some reason, neither of us ever thought of using laptops at the
time and so we spent double the money we had buying computers, large monitors, speakers,
and all the perks for both offices. We now use laptops and take them everywhere we go, and
we have given away all the other stuff we bought. However, we invested a good $10,000 more
in our business right near the beginning when a little foresight would have saved us a
bundle.
What was your best business decision?
Our best decision was to break off a relationship with a partner that we had early on
in our business. Phil had been working with someone before Jane entered the picture. He
turned out to be dishonest with us and his dealings with our clients was becoming
disastrous. We had to cut him loose in order to move our business forward. This meant
leaving some very lucrative scripts and programs behind since he had the source codes and
we did not. We bit the bullet and disentangled ourselves from him and the business took
off . We left about $50,000 or more on the table, but it was worth it in the long run.
What do you consider to be the main keys of your success?
We love what we do and in some ways that's contagious. People sense that we know what
we are doing and that we believe in the products we offer and they respond to that. In
addition, the Joe and Mable Show, which has given people a good laugh and is great
fun for us to do, has given us a terrific name on the Web (or maybe it's notoriety), but
whatever it is, is seems to work for us.
What's your success philosophy?
Never fail and never give up. We've hit some rough points over the three years we have
been in business. There were times when we did not know if we would make it through some
of the months without having to choose between food or paying the server bill. The server
bill always won out. We refused to quit—ever—and we think that's the attitude
you must have in any business.
What about you has changed the most since finding success
in business?
We haven't really changed since we have had success. We are proud of our business and
our reputation, but we never went into our business to own mansions or a yacht. Mostly, we
just wanted an outlet and a business that would let us utilize our talents, and JPE
Advertising has provided that for us.
Of course, we are in a unique position. If we don't like who we are at any one moment, we
just change characters and become Joe and Mable, make each other laugh, and go on from
there.
What is the legacy you hope to leave?
We both have children and grandchildren whom we adore. We hope that they will look up
to our success and strive to attain it for themselves in their own fields of interest. If
we accomplish that, it will be a great blessing. Jane, of course, may want to run for
political office, but that is another story. |
