Listening Strategically

Written by Robert F. Abbott


Usually, we're most interested in communicating outwardly; getting our messages out to others. But finding ways to hear what's going on around us can be just as important.

Let's start by identifying three different types of listening we do. The first type - informal listening - comes naturally, as in listening to another person. I take in what you have to say, and how you say it.

A second type, competitive intelligence, is a systematic process for monitoring sources and gathering information. That information is aggregated, processed to bring outrepparttar important points, and distributed to others who can use it to make decisions.

In this article, we look at a third type, a less rigorous approach to competitive intelligence, one that falls somewhere between simple listening and formal competitive intelligence. Call it strategic listening, a relatively simple way to stay on top of issues that affect your organization.

Let's start with objectives, which we normally do when looking at something strategically. Ask two key questions, "Why are we doing this?" and "What will we do withrepparttar 139948 information we gather?"

The first question focuses our efforts by putting them intorepparttar 139949 context of our overall goals. The second question, "What will we do withrepparttar 139950 information we gather?" relates to more immediate issues. It helps us articulate how we will userepparttar 139951 material, and that in turn, affectsrepparttar 139952 way we see our objectives.

Secret Method To Explode Your Ebay Sales!

Written by Todd Reese


eBay is nowrepparttar 8th most visited site onrepparttar 139947 internet and it has just one purpose - sales. With 40 million visitors per month most eBay sellers are missing a golden opportunity. They are missingrepparttar 139948 opportunity to cultivate long term clients.

It is a proven fact in marketing that you will continue to buy over and over again from people and companies that you know, like and trust. Yet 95% of all internet marketers fail when it comes to eBay. Most are looking forrepparttar 139949 fast buck. They have completely missrepparttar 139950 opportunity to use eBay as a lead generation tool. They missrepparttar 139951 opportunity to create a list of people that will be willing to consume your products over and over again.

Lead generation on eBay can be accomplished in several ways. The most popular way is by usingrepparttar 139952 self liquidating ad. A self liquidating ad is one that pays for itself. In other words your customer directly pays your advertising costs. What they are purchase from you is really some form of advertising.

Let me give you an example of a self liquidating advertisement. Recently I saw in a magazine an ad for a pair of sunglasses. The ad claimed thatrepparttar 139953 sunglasses were free. You just have to payrepparttar 139954 shipping and handling costs.

My guess is thatrepparttar 139955 advertiser probably isn’t making much if any money onrepparttar 139956 sunglasses. But they also aren’t losing any money. The shipping and handling most likely cover their actual costs. What they really want is something far more valuable – your contact information and your “permission” to market to you. In other words they are looking for qualified prospects - prospects that are interested inrepparttar 139957 products and services they are selling.

Once this company has your contact information and “permission” to market to you, they will begin to establish a relationship. They will do this in a variety of ways including sending you ads for other product and services you may be interested in. Over time most customers will be worth many times more than their initial purchase.

Since eBay is purely commerce site it is a perfect place to do a self liquidating ad. Let’s look at an extreme example. Let’s pretend that you own a car dealership that only sells high end sport cars. We will assume that your average car sells for $65,000. One way you could use a lead generation self liquidating ad would be by “selling” a special report. For example you could sell a report on eBay entitled “18 Ways to Driverepparttar 139958 Car of Your Dreams for Less Thanrepparttar 139959 Cost of a Yugo”.

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