MILK YOUR WINNERS, DROP YOUR LOSERS

Written by Nick James


Copyright 2005 Nick James

In my previous article How To Be 100% Sure That Your New Product Is A Winner We have discussed dropping losers.

I hope I have given yourepparttar message strongly enough. Butrepparttar 136228 same principle applies to milking winners. When you get a winner in-demand product, it is a license temporarily to print money.

You will have so much ofrepparttar 136229 folding stuff pouring through your letterbox or credit card numbers blocking up your email account... that you will hardly know what to do with it.

HOWEVER: Every product has a strictly limited life-span. It doesn't matter how wellrepparttar 136230 product performed inrepparttar 136231 early weeks,repparttar 136232 response will gradually tail-off over a couple of months - year to a point whererepparttar 136233 product starts losing money. There are two big factors which cause this:

1. Everyone has seen your marketing material (emails, web-pages, direct mail letters, postcards, newspaper ads etc) a hundred times, and those that are going to buyrepparttar 136234 product, have, inrepparttar 136235 main, bought it already.

2. You 'lucked-into' a mood ofrepparttar 136236 moment. For example, everyone's suddenly worried about car security at exactlyrepparttar 136237 moment you advertise your steering-wheel lock. This mood will rapidly pass asrepparttar 136238 population (driven byrepparttar 136239 media) move on torepparttar 136240 next area of worry or concern. (What a terrible cynic I am.).

I have seen people make lots of money on a product, and then hand up to 50% of it back torepparttar 136241 newspapers as they attempt to breathe life into a dying market. I have seen a single advert in The Sun take one thousand orders for a £49.95 product. Then, six weeks later (afterrepparttar 136242 product has been heavily advertised), I have seenrepparttar 136243 identical advert pull in only eighty or so replies (and of course, lose big money). You must listen whenrepparttar 136244 market says it has had enough of your product. Getting out early is a sure-fire way of keeping most ofrepparttar 136245 money you have made.

It'srepparttar 136246 same withrepparttar 136247 stock market. Everyone aims to sell at exactlyrepparttar 136248 peak ofrepparttar 136249 market, and buy at exactlyrepparttar 136250 trough. But, of course in reality, these peaks and troughs are impossible to predict accurately. The stock-market winners sell early, and buy early. The losers sell too late and buy too late - they stay onrepparttar 136251 roller-coaster too long. They hang on to a rising market out of greed, thinkingrepparttar 136252 market will rise forever.

The same is true of product development and direct marketing. When you get a winner, it is tremendously exciting. But your greed can make you hang ontorepparttar 136253 product long after it should have been dead and buried.

Want to know a sure-fire indicator of when to pull out?

Quite simply, you should pull out when allrepparttar 136254 other developers and marketer boys (and gals) start piling in after your initial campaign. This takes tremendous self-discipline, but pays enormous dividends. The strong temptation is to hang on, and hang on. If an advert fails, you attribute it to something funny about that particular issue ofrepparttar 136255 paper, or day ofrepparttar 136256 week. You advertise again and again, spurred on byrepparttar 136257 glint of gold.

Also, another factor comes into play here (and I'm telling you 100% solid truth); it isrepparttar 136258 distraction factor. You see, you don't run this huge mail-order organisation, do you? There is no 'packing and shipping' department; that's YOU inrepparttar 136259 shed/garage, late at night. So when you get a winner,repparttar 136260 chances are that you will be overwhelmed trying to keep up with sourcing and shippingrepparttar 136261 product. This will take 100% of your time. Meanwhile, every newspaper from Golden Labrador Weekly, to Clay Pigeon Shooting Times will be onrepparttar 136262 phone pestering you for an advert. The danger is that you will just say 'Yes, yes, yes' to all these people, and end up spending tens of thousands of pounds on a dying product.

The solution is to keep your eye firmly onrepparttar 136263 ball. Retain your policy of only taking adverts inrepparttar 136264 mainstream press I advised. Don't go too crazy withrepparttar 136265 adverts, as this will alert allrepparttar 136266 other mail-order boys, and pushrepparttar 136267 rates up. As soon asrepparttar 136268 papers see that you have a winner, suddenlyrepparttar 136269 rates go up, and adverts become hard to get away. You must play a double-double bluff game here. Above all, never let on to anyone how well your advert is doing. If asked by someone trying to sell you space, you tell them thatrepparttar 136270 response was lousy, but that you are going to give it one more go. Could they offer a cheaper rate? When you have a mail-order winner, bewarerepparttar 136271 fatal combination of:

Get Started Now- Why the Time is Right for Internet Business

Written by Karen Walker


If you have long dreamed of getting your piece ofrepparttar Internet business pie but have held off due to fear, lack of skills, shortage of money, or any other reason underrepparttar 136125 sun, now isrepparttar 136126 time to get going. There are four reasons whyrepparttar 136127 time is right to get going on line: general acceptance ofrepparttar 136128 Internet, maturity of on line resources,repparttar 136129 abundance of resources on which to build a business andrepparttar 136130 fact that anyone can afford to start an Internet business now. Let’s take a look at why this is so.

First, overall use ofrepparttar 136131 Internet continues to grow, not only in this country, but worldwide. Technology we may find confusing is taken for granted by our children, and even grandma and grandpa now get on line. Consumers across all demographics are shopping, and often buying, onrepparttar 136132 Internet. Statistics show growth rates inrepparttar 136133 number of Internet users at over 20 percent per year forrepparttar 136134 past ten years. Recent U.S. Department of Commerce statistics report on line consumer sales of $117 billion in 2004, just 3.3 per cent of total U.S. retail sales of $3.6 trillion dollars. But, while total consumer sales grew by 6.8 percent in 2004, on line sales grew by 26 per cent. By all indications, this growth rate will continue to increase asrepparttar 136135 ‘www’ generation becomes more comfortable with Internet buying due to improved customer service habits of on line vendors.

The second reasonrepparttar 136136 time is ripe to get going with an Internet business isrepparttar 136137 maturity ofrepparttar 136138 Internet. That is, businesses that survivedrepparttar 136139 ‘dot com’ bubble or have come on line after that time tend to be more stable than their predecessors. More traditional business models, focusing on customer service, advertising, and reliability have been incorporated into web business practices. Serious business people value a good Internet reputation. This benefits everyone working on line.

The third reason to get your Internet based business started now isrepparttar 136140 ease at whichrepparttar 136141 average Joe can now create a web presence. From purchasing a domain name to creating an actual website, getting a business on line has never been easier. There are web hosting businesses that will take you step by step throughrepparttar 136142 entire process for a very reasonable price. If you prefer to ‘do it yourself’, there are software programs available, such as Microsoft Front Page or Web Studio to guide you through setting up your website.

And lastly, this isrepparttar 136143 time to start on Internet business because right now this is one ofrepparttar 136144 least expensive ways to have a business of your own. Withrepparttar 136145 cost of setting up a traditional storefront business inrepparttar 136146 thousands of dollars, and considering that about half of new small businesses fail inrepparttar 136147 first five years,repparttar 136148 thought of risking it ‘all’ for a traditional business is only forrepparttar 136149 most hardy (or fool hardy, depending on how you look at it!). Franchises are somewhat safer, but not only can they also have huge startup costs, a significant portion ofrepparttar 136150 business profits will be paid torepparttar 136151 home office forrepparttar 136152 privilege of using their name, reputation and training.

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