Internet Business Bench

“Sell the sizzle, not the steak!” I’m sure that whoever coined this phrase had the best intentions, but now this has become the battle cry for hypesters and hucksters everywhere: “Sell the sizzle, not the steak!” It’s become a cliche and it really ticks me off.

When I hear this, all I can think about are the infomercials selling some miracle beauty aid or some “get rich quick” info product. These productions will spend 29 minutes telling you what your life will be like once you buy the product and 1 minute on what the product actually is. (Don LaPre was a master of this…and look where it got him).

Like I said, I’m sure this phrase started out as an attempt at good advice. But it’s been mangled over the years and holds a negative connotation… at least for me. The phrase I prefer is, “Sell the benefits, not the features.” At first glance, this might seem to be the same thing. But look a little deeper.

“Sizzle” to me is synonymous with “hype.” And whenever I’ve heard anybody say, “Sell the sizzle,” it invariably means, “Hype your product until you think you’ve gone too far, and then hype it some more.” I don’t see this as being a viable long-term business plan. Unfortunately, there are more than a few marketers who do.

I recently saw a sales letter for a list building product. It extolled the benefits of having a list and talked at great length about the lifestyle you could enjoy if only your list was big enough.

It turns out that the product is a program to create HTML squeeze pages, something that can be done easily by hand or with any of a number of free products that can be found on the web.

I recently saw a sales letter promoting private label rights for a number of software products, making only a passing mention of what the programs were and what they could do. The message was that you could build a software empire and enjoy high income and a life of leisure if only you had your own software products.

It turns out that the programs were (with few exceptions) very simplistic, doing functions you could easily accomplish using free utilities found on the web. Not only that, but they were full of bugs and could not be sold as-is without inviting a plague of support issues.

Nevertheless, within days I saw another marketer promoting the same package with master resale rights using basically the same sales letter that was used to sell the original private label package.

“Sell the sizzle, not the steak!”

If you want to take the easy road to fast profits but eventually have your business crumble around you (like Don LaPre and his “tiny classified ads”), then by all means sell the sizzle… hype, hype and hype some more.

But if you want to build a sustainable business, one in which you establish credibility and a reputation for honesty and integrity, then “Sell the benefits, not the features.” Tell people what your product does and why it’s important.

If you’re selling an electric drill, don’t make wild claims that border on blatant deception. But at the same time, don’t just talk about the amp rating of the motor or the space age materials used to make it. These are features and are best left to the product spec sheet. Instead, talk about the benefits. Show your prospects how quickly and precisely your product can put holes in different materials and how long it will run with no maintenance, along with the proof to back it up.

Take the high road in all your promotions. I think you’ll find it more profitable and rewarding in the long run.

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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File this under the “just had to share” department…

My two youngest boys are 5 and 4. They have a well established bedtime routine:

• read a book
• brush their teeth
• into bed
• hugs and kisses for Mommy and Daddy
• good night song from Mommy and/or Daddy
• “super-hero” story from Daddy (don’t ask)

This has been the routine for as long as either of the boys can remember and it has worked very well until recently. Then, a week or two ago, the boys started calling for Mommy or Daddy after they had been in bed a while and should have been working on getting to sleep. When one of us would check on what was wrong, the answer would be, “We need another hug and kiss.”

It was cute at first, but then it started to be an every night thing. And then it started to be a several times a night thing. So, my wife and I decided to nip it in the bud and not give in to what was obviously a bid by the boys to stay up later than their set bedtime. We explained to the boys that they needed to close their eyes and go to sleep and that Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t be giving any more hugs and kisses after the “super-hero” story was done.

One day last week, our 5-year-old stopped me on the way out of the boys’ bedroom after the last story of the evening and asked if I could get Mommy to come back in for another hug and kiss. I told him no and reminded him of what we had talked about: no more stalling after story time.

He didn’t say anything right away, but I could tell he was applying some thought to the situation. So, I waited for a minute to see if he had anything else to say. He did. “Daddy, can I give you a hug and kiss to give to Mommy then?”

Now, what could I possibly say in response to that? Of course I would accept a hug and kiss from him to give to Mommy!

It didn’t occur to me until later, but my son had very effectively created a win-win-win scenario. When he got the initial “No,” he didn’t throw in the towel. He applied some creative energy and came up with an alternative where all parties would get something they wanted.

My son got to stay up just a bit later (not much later, but enough to satisfy him). Mommy got an extra hug and kiss (indirectly) from her son. And Daddy got another beautiful story to write in the journal we’re keeping for our boys about their childhood years.

We should all learn to look at problems in our lives more creatively and come up with solutions that benefit all parties. This, I believe, is the path to true success in business and in life.

And to think it took a 5-year-old to remind me of that!

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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Are you a fox or a hedgehog? This is an important question for anyone wanting to start or grow their own business.

In his book, “Good To Great,” Jim Collins talks about the parable of the Fox and the Hedgehog. The Fox is sleek, athletic and cunning. He seems to have every advantage over the Hedgehog who, by comparison, is slower and somewhat ungainly, looking like an unfortunate cross between an armadillo and a porcupine.

In the parable, the Fox plots and schemes to catch the Hedgehog. He comes up with a different plan everyday, but everyday the Hedgehog sees the Fox at the last minute and rolls himself up into a ball with his many quills sticking out in all directions. The Fox, faced with this impenetrable defense, invariably retreats, going off to plan the next day’s attack.

The point of all this is that the Hedgehog has mastered one thing. And that mastery allows him to fend off any attack from the Fox, no matter how cunning, no matter how shrewd. If we apply this parable to the business world, the Hedgehog would be the business that has completely mastered one thing in its market. The Fox would be a business that by all appearances should be superior to the Hedgehog business, but is unable to break into the Hedgehog’s market. The Hedgehog’s level of mastery in it’s niche is a high hurdle that the Fox is unable to clear.

But how does the Hedgehog achieve this mastery? By applying what Jim Collins refers to as “The Three Circles.”

The first circle is talent and ability (sometimes referred to as core competencies in the business world). The Hedgehog has identified all of his inherent talents and abilities and does not allow himself to be distracted by activities requiring talents and abilities he does not possess.

The second circle is passion. The Hedgehog knows what he is passionate about and only engages in projects that will fuel that passion and keep him focused until the project is complete.

The third circle is the economic or cash flow circle. The Hedgehog has determined which activities will make him money and which will not. He does not undertake any venture without understanding how it will produce income for him or his business.

Where these 3 circles intersect is where the Hedgehog can achieve complete mastery and market dominance.

So here’s your assignment today. Visit Jim Collins’ “Good To Great” website, read up on the Hedgehog Concept and then see if you can apply it to your own business.

Click Here To Visit Jim Collins’ Good To Great Website

Draw your 3 circles, find where they intersect and then design a business that (1) you can be the best in the world at, (2) you can be passionate about and (3) will make money for you.

Now get out there and find your hedgehog!

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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I recently received a helpdesk request that went something like this:

I’d really like to use EasyTrafficBar.com, but I have no website, no prospects and no products. What can I do?

This is one of many similar questions I’ve received lately and it’s exactly the kind of thing I was talking about yesterday. The obvious answer to the question is, “Do SOMETHING!” Doing ANYTHING is better than doing NOTHING. And you won’t progress until you start.

So, if you’re in the same boat and want to know what to do to get started, here’s my recommendation for getting the show on the road and it won’t cost you a dime:

1. Get a free blog account at Blogger.com. (Why Blogger.com? It’s the only free service I’ve found so far that you can easily add an EasyTrafficBar.com traffic bar to.)
2. Get a free autoresponder account from GetResponse.com or SendFree.com.
3. Get a free EasyTrafficBar.com account and add the traffic bar to your blog template.
4. In the members’ area of EasyTrafficBar.com, set up your autoresponder subscription form using the information from your free autoresponder account (from step 2).
5. Subscribe to your own autoresponder (I know, it sounds weird, but do it anyway).
6. Start blogging often (try to make it everyday). And every time you post a new article on your blog, send a note to your autoresponder subscribers to get them to come read the new article (even if it’s only you that gets the message at first).
7. Once a week (more often if you’d like), take one of the articles you wrote during the week and rewrite it. You might even want to use 2 or more of your posts to make one longer article. You want something about 600 to 800 words but it can’t be word for word from your blog. You have to rewrite it. Post that article on as many article sites as you can find and put a link back to your blog in the author’s resource box for the article.

This will get you started. Now, your next question will be, “What should I write about in my blog?” That’s up to you. Make it something you know a lot about or can learn a lot about in a short period of time.

You might want to do some keyword research to see how good the market is for your topic. And by “good,” I don’t necessarily mean “big.” A good market is one in which everyone shares some passion, problem or pain -AND- has money to spend on it -AND- has proven they are willing to spend their money on it.

Unlike the “gurus” who tell you to stay away from the business-to-business and work-at-home crowds, I will tell you straight up that this is a “good” market. People in this market share the same passions, problems and pains. By-and-large, they have money to spend. And, most importantly, they have proven over and over again that they are willing to spend it.

But, you’ve got to ask yourself what you really know about this market? Do you know something about making money online that few others do? Do you have some technical expertise that you can share with people in this market? Can you build tools to help people promote themselves and their products? Your competition can. Be prepared.

I’ll be posting more information on getting started online in future articles, so stay tuned.

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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Most people have fears:

• Fear of spiders…
• Fear of snakes (on a plane!)…
• Fear of high places…
• Fear of caves…

Some of our fears are healthy. They keep us from doing stupid or dangerous things.

But there’s one fear that is completely unhealthy and counter-productive, and yet it is one of the most pervasive. This fear is the reason that so many people never achieve the success and wealth for which they were created.

What I’m talking about is the Fear of Failure.

But, why are people so afraid? Failure is a natural part of life and an essential part of learning.

When we are kids, we test constantly. We learn to walk by doing it, not by thinking about it. Sure, we fall down a lot at first. But eventually we get the hang of it and pretty soon we are running!

We learn to speak and read by doing it, not by thinking about. Yes, our words are garbled and unclear at first. But we eventually get the hang of it and pretty soon verbal and written language become our primary means of communicating with others.

Why, then, when it comes to starting a business, creating a website, publishing a blog or creating an information product do we allow ourselves to become paralyzed by fear?

What are we REALLY afraid of?

• Embarrassment?
• Ridicule?
• Financial loss?

Let me tell you what we SHOULD be afraid of: DEFEAT!

Some definitions:

• Failure - the condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends; ex: the failure of an experiment.
• Defeat - an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest; in the military sense, ruination and destruction.

So, a failure is basically an unsuccessful experiment. Why do we perform (do) an experiment in the first place? To LEARN! If the experiment succeeds, then we’ve learned how to do something right. If the experiment fails, then we’ve learned what not to do and we can try something else. But defeat is the end of the road. There is no “next experiment” once you’ve landed on defeat.

And guess what… defeat only comes when we choose it! Defeat only comes when we give up! As long as we don’t give up, as long as we don’t quit, we are not defeated. And failures? Those are just the stepping stones that bring us closer and closer to success!

Thomas Edison ran 10,000 unsuccessful experiments before finding the right combination of materials and construction techniques to produce the first commercially viable electric light bulb. What if he had given up after 10 trials? Or 100? Or 1000?

But, he didn’t. He saw each failure for what it truly was–an opportunity to learn, and a stepping stone towards success.

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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Happy Easter!

On this Easter Sunday, I’d like offer you this following message of hope and triumph over adversity.

• Don’t be afraid to challenge what you “know”…
• Don’t be afraid to question the rules…
• Don’t be afraid to succeed!

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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One day, a business guru took a vacation to a beautiful tropical island. While he was there, he met a native islander and the two started talking.

“What do you do around here?” asked the guru.

“Well, I lay around in my hammock for a while. Then I play with my kids. I drink coconut milk. And I fish on the beach to feed my family,” said the native.

“Really?” asked the guru. “How much time do you spend fishing?”

“About an hour a day,” said the native.

“And you’re able to feed your whole family that way? That’s great!” said the guru. “Well I can teach you how to build a very successful fishing business so you can be rich.”

“Really?” asked the native. “How could I do that?”

“Well, since you’re already catching so many fish working just an hour a day, you could work 6 hours a day instead. That way you’d catch enough fish to sell back to the mainland. And with the money you make from that, you could buy a boat, get your family to help out, and catch more fish. And with that money, you could buy another boat, hire some other natives to help out, and catch even MORE fish!” said the guru.

“That sounds great!” said the native. “Then what?”

“After 10 years of this, you’d have an established business and you could sell stock in your company for millions of dollars. With that investment money, you could buy more equipment and hire more help and grow your business even bigger!” The guru was really getting excited now.

“Boy! Millions of dollars, huh? Then what?” asked the native.

“In another 10 years you’d have the most successful fishing business in the region and you could sell your stock in the company for a 100 million dollars…” And at that, the guru stopped and looked a little embarrassed.

The native said, “Go on…then what would I do?”

“You’d take the 100 million dollars….”

“Yeah?”

“…and retire to a tropical island where you’d lay in a hammock, play with your grandkids, drink coconut milk and fish on the beach.”

The moral of the story is that the business you build shouldn’t be just another job. Build a business that you can have fun with every day, not just 20 years from now.

Enjoy The Journey!

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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