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Successful sales of a company’s product are usually the driving force behind the company’s continued growth. As such, companies routinely find it important to set aggressive sales targets for their sales teams, and monitor individual members’ progress along these goals. There are many tools available to company owners for keeping track of how well individual sales team members are selling. However, few, if any, contain the unique advantages for tracking information found in Visual Mind Mapping. With Visual Mind Maps, company owners can easily view sales numbers for a given time period in one intuitive, colorful, and spatially formatted diagram. This diagram, because of its non-linear layout and visually stimulating components, makes processing and conceptualizing the information contained in the map much simpler. Company owners can, thus, use Visual Mind Mapping to determine strong versus weak sellers, as well as what volume of their product is being sold.

What are Visual Mind Maps and How Are They Created?

A Visual Mind Map is “a means of organizing information that allows individuals to create diagrams, pictures, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information”.¹ With a Visual Mind Map, the creator makes use of colors and symbols to construct the map and represent his or her ideas in a non-linear format. When creating a Visual Mind Map, the individual usually begins by showing the key concept or main topic of the information as a graphic image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main idea are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central topic. Subsequent themes of less importance are then attached to these branches using “child branches”, and so on. The resulting diagram is a “map” of the ideas and information presented that includes the images, visual graphics, and colors the individual associates with each of the themes and ideas.

Using a Visual Mind Map to Track Monthly Company Sales

A company owner wants to track how well his sales team is doing on a monthly basis. He decides to make a list of each team member’s actual versus target sales using a Visual Mind Map. He begins his map by first placing a graphic representing company sales in the center of the map. He then lists the names of each member of the sales team on “branches” that are attached to the central graphic. Next to each member’s name, the owner may list his or her actual vs. target sales for that month. The owner makes sure to use pictures and other graphics throughout the map to clearly designate high performing sellers from low performing sellers, as well as make the map easier to conceptualize. When the owner has completed his map, it closely resembles the attached Mind Map diagram.

Improving Company Sales With the Visual Mind Map

As a result of his Visual Mind Map, the owner now has a way to easily and efficiently track company sales from month to month. In addition, he can also see who among his sales associates is consistently meeting his or her sales targets and who is not. Every sales team member, from highest to lowest performer, as well as their respective sales numbers, is neatly mapped out for the owner in one snapshot diagram. The owner can therefore, better improve company sales through motivating his sales team with incentives for exceeding their current sales. The owner may even want to represent the incentives team members receive on future Visual Mind Maps by listing a star or ribbon next to the team member’s name. By using a Visual Mind Map, the company owner finds he is able to manage his company’s sales, assess sales team members’ performances, and improve sales numbers simply and creatively.

1. Farrand, Paul; Hussain, Fearzana and Hennessy, Enid (May 2002). “The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique”. Medical Education 36 (5): 426–431.

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No one is born a famous Sales Copywriter note even successful businessmen the likes of Jim Edwards. The art of copywriting is something to study and practice. It is also not a profession to be taken up from one day to the next and can’t be learned by reading just one little book on your own.

Every sales copywriter has to go through some sort of training. So, if you were thinking of quitting your day job and sitting down to start writing some ads today you better think again. Even if you have a natural talent for putting words together right, you need to have some formal training. Copywriting is not as easy as you may think and is very different from writing a magazine article or an ebook.

Before you attempt sales writing, take some time to read online or at the bookstore about how to write sales copy. Once you understand the basics of writing to get people to buy, you will realize that it does take good training and much practice to be a good sales copywriter. A good place to start your research is online with places like Turn Words In To Traffic.

You can get training to become a sales copywriter in various ways. You could take formal college classes, you could get a successful copywriter to mentor you, or you could work as an intern at an ad agency. Working at an ad agency would give you a lot of insight into the real world of advertising. Taking classes would give you a formal education yet let you develop your own style.

Taking copywriting courses is the logical way to start a career as a sales copywriter. One type of course that can help you is to take a seminar or class from a successful copywriter who shares techniques he has learned from years of experience. You can choose courses that will help you in areas where you are weakest like general writing, copywriting, or technical writing.

A good place to start is with your local college. Even if your college does not offer a degree in copywriting, you will still be able to take classes that will help you in a career as a sales copywriter. You could take single copywriting classes or work towards a degree in journalism or advertising.

Even if you don’t have the time to attend local college or don’t have one nearby, you can still take classes by enrolling in an online school. That way you can attend your classes when it is convenient and work at your own pace. Just make a commitment to stick with it and follow through on your studies.

A very important part of becoming a sales copywriter, when starting a small business, is practice and time. It is not enough to just learn how to write sales copy. You must do it over and over. The more you practice, the better you become. Even if you just practice taking existing ads and making them better, any time you practice your writing style, it will improve. Practice is one of the best kinds of training you can have.

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It is likely that you think of a number of things when you hear the words real estate investing. You may think of real estate investing as real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans, or you might focus on short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. You likely also are wondering how these things factor into real estate investors’ roles in the current economy.

You can learn a lot about real estate investing. To get the most out of real estate investing education, be familiar with basic information ahead of time. Short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate and general real estate investor abilities all are improved by knowing some basics of real estate investing. Here are three main real estate investing concepts that many experts do not even know:

1. You will always end up with a positive yield when you invest in real estate investing education. Each real estate deal can represent thousands of dollars in potential wealth. The knowledge of how to get that wealth is the key to your success. When you know about real estate your odds of success increase with each real estate deal. A small investment in education has the ability to yield big results when it is implemented.

2. Real estate investing success is possible in any economy. Many people think (wrongly) that you can only succeed in real estate when the economy booms. You should remember that a bad economic situation is not usually bad for real estate investors. You can often buy properties at deep discounts. You could also locate deals that would not exist in a booming economy. Real estate investing may also turn the tide for a poor economy. When the economy is not so good, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate are great. You can save yourself and others from major financial woes if you know how to do these deals.

3. You do not need lots of your own cash to be a successful real estate investor. You can make a success of real estate investing no matter how much or little money you have. There are lots of deals that you can use other people’s money to do. If you are a good investment private lenders may let you use their money. A good investment will know as much as they can about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

Real estate investing is a great way to create a good amount of wealth. You can create an income in any economy. Using a knowledge base of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you will be able to make success for yourself. Knowing the basics of real estate investing will help you succeed as a real estate investor.

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Selling More Music With Affiliate Marketing

Musicians are naive today when they think they have created a long term business plan by selling CD’s and playing some local events. This is like backwards running. This has been the traditional model of music marketing and sales strategies created by major labels over the past century and it did work pretty good. This system has created everyday artists like Elvis and Willin Nelson. New age pop stars like Jay-Z and Bon Jovi have used this type of sales process.

Musicians need a real business as that disc does not provide any long term value. The ideal situation would have musicians creating a catalog filled with backend products, upsells and cross sells, getting their fans prepped to take full advantage of their credit card limits. This creates a strong business and allows for elements of lifestyle design.

Smaller and indie bands can not do this. They do not have a back catalog and have a hard time funding the recording of a few solid tracks to burn on a disc. They are also in a hard spot to manufacture thousands of CD’s and hundreds of t-shirts, hats and other merchandise items.

Fogetting having a ton of stored products, the next great idea to add income to your bottom line while giving value to your customers is with affiliate marketing. The solution is affiliate marketing.

In lamen’s term, affiliate marketing is telling somebody about a service and getting some form of compensation if someone decided to buy the item. The leader in affiliate marketing was Amazon, who grew instantly through an army of affiliates. This lead to the company growing by leaps and bounds in just a short period of time.

Bands have the ultimate opportunity to create a gigantic backend by recommending products to their core fans. Bands have a high influence over their fans, the people that come to their shows and believe in their words and actions. Bands can start small, joining a program like Amazon Associates and selling music from bands and groups they like. Who wouldn’t like it if Jay-Z send you an email saying he was in love with the new Miley record and he is a link to get it.

Taking this to the next level would be to recommend music instruments, concert tickets, clothing and other cool aspects of being in a band. This creates a strong physical bond with your fans. If you give your fans more of what they need and become a resource, you will win.

The next time you are getting ready to launch a campaign, think about using affiliate marketing to bolster your online music marketing and your overall sales. You can easily see your stats, promote links, manage accounts and see how much money you have maid. The result is the ability to put some cash in the band’s bank account and give your customers more value. This is a win-win situation.

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Presenting the findings of a research study to the client is the apex of the entire research process. Working out how to present these findings in a way that the client can easily understand, is, therefore, a crucial part of any market researcher’s job. Using a Mind Map is one way to present these findings. A Mind Map is a means of organizing information spatially, rather than linearly, by “mapping out” the information using words, images, pictures, and phrases. Because the Mind Map uses spatial, visual and image components, it is believed to engage more areas of the brain, making the information easier to process via the brain’s natural functioning. Mind Maps can therefore be an advantage when presenting research findings to clients, because they offer a visually stimulating, easily understood, representation of the results.

An Example of Research Findings Organized Using a Mind Map

Imagine a scenario in which a researcher has just finished fielding a study for his client on her new product, the Big, Beefy, Juicy Burger. The client wants to know how well her product did in a taste and naming test. After reviewing the data, the researcher discovers that the product did well taste-wise among all age groups except those18-24 years old, and poorly in terms of the product name among females in general, 25-34 year olds, and those age 50 and older. In addition, male respondents and those age 34 and younger said they were more likely to buy the product if sold than females and those 35+. All of these findings contain information that the client would want to know. How can the researcher organize these findings using a Mind Map?

The researcher might first begin by listing the main research objective, to find out how well the Big, Beefy, Juicy Burger does on the dimensions of taste, name preference, and intent to buy, in the center of the Mind Map. He next could list each of the three dimensions stated in the research objective on “branches” that are attached to the central image. The dimension fields would have “child branches” labeled “Like” and “Dislike” stemming from them. Lastly, flowing from the “Like” and “Dislike” “child branches” would be the main groupings of the respondents surveyed, the age and gender groupings, depending on how well that dimension did with the group. For instance, if 60% or more of respondents in a group liked the product name, that group would be attached to the “Like” “child branch” of the name preference dimension.

The researcher should be as creative as possible when constructing the Mind Map to make it both visually stimulating and easy to understand. Simply put, the client should be able to understand the research findings just by looking at the map, without any explanation from the researcher. Attached is a Mind Map showing the stated research example and findings “mapped out” in the manner described.

Easier Delivery of Research Findings to Clients

In the attached example, a Mind Map showing the findings of the research study was constructed using a very simple process. However, as the attached Mind Map exhibits, the findings are clearly identifiable, and are shown in colorful, visual, take-away representations. The inherent clarity and intuitive nature of the Mind Map makes it easy for the researcher to present his or her findings, and give any subsequent recommendations based on these findings. By beginning with a clearly constructed diagram of the findings, the researcher has now made the final step of delivering them to the client a much simpler process.

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