Your Questions About Business Online Services Group

Jere answers:

It’s always easier to sell to a pre-warmed customer, that is, someone who’s ready to buy. Prospecting is much harder. However, there are one or two things that can make it easier.

Referrals from existing customers are good. Ask who they know who’d also benefit from what you provide. One of the best times to ask is when they’ve just taken delivery of their software. Always ask for 3 referrals. That way you should get at least one.

Go to business networking events and build relationships with your fellow networkers. Tell them about the sort of companies you’d like to be put in touch with and ask who they have in their network that fulfils those criteria. You can also join online networking groups like Linked In and Ecademy.

When you’re cold calling and they say that it’s not the right timing, ask when they’re likely to be thinking about doing something about it. Make a note to call them back and make sure you follow up. Even when people say they’re going to buy something in the next 6 months, they often haven’t done anything within a year. By being in regular contact, your company will be the one that they think of when they’re ready.

Does your website capture people’s names and e-mail? Offer them a free report in exchange for their details. That way you build a database of potential customers. You can send them further e-mails and follow those up with telephone calls. Your free report should be something that gives them useful information. Avoid making it a plug for what you do.

Good luck!

Jere answers:

Some should be a separate schedule C such as peform sitting services OK.
Online sales surveys etc.should be another schedule C.
Scrap metal sales might need to be a separate schedule C depending on how big of business operation it would be OK.
Or just choose to combine them all on one schedule C and call it what ever you would choose to at that time in your life OK.
Miscellaneous income from all sources of income from my daily written receipt book and all of my 1099s combimed and added together for this tax year OK.
That should take care of all of them RIGHT.
Only one schedule SE would be required to report the NET PROFIT from all of the different types of your buisness operations and determine the total amount on your self employment taxes social security taxes for the tax year during the tax filing season for that pupose and time in your life.
Hope that you find the above enclosed information useful. 05/04/2013

Jere answers:

How effective this will be depends a great deal on the nature of the product or service. I’ve been in several “plans” and my dad was in Amway, always having meetings. I’ve still got a firm belief that there are GREAT benefits to this type of structure and that it is not necessarily a “scheme”. For example, isn’t it better to reward distributors instead of giving millions of dollars to advertising companies? I’d rather see the “underdog” rewarded for loyalty to a brand or product, than billions going to the next thing about to interrupt my favorite TV program.

The key, and the greatest potential flaw, is that the distributors/affiliates have proper training, especially in what sales techniques to avoid. For example, a potential downfall to an online business would be your website becoming a well-known source of SPAM as money-hungry affiates start promoting the product in all the most inappropriate, off-topic places.

This is true in the real world too. How many people have gone to Amway or Tupperware parties just to support their friend, and then avoid future contact because you know it will end in some sort of sales pitch? Word of mouth is great, but not if it turns distributors into some sort of social paria. I’ve actually seen Amway leaders telling new distributors that if their friend isn’t interested in a better life through their business opportunity, then they shouldn’t waste time with that friend anymore. Sounds more like a cult than a business to me.

So on to some actual TIPS…

Make sure that, after all the commissions and multi-level rewards, you still have a product that, at the stated retail price, is something viable that a consumer would buy even if they were not interested in “joining the business”. Because this is one area where many MLM plans have a bad reputation.

Then there’s the promise of income. People join because they see this neat structure where they tell 5 friends and THEY tell five friends and they tell THEIR five friends, then wow! That’s 5 x 5 x 5 or 125 customers already! When THEY tell 5 friends that makes 625. Pretty soon if you go down deep enough in the structure you’re getting commissions on millions of sales.

There is only one problem with that economic model… Pretty soon you will run out of people, because (thankfully) we don’t breed that fast.

One solution to this, which I plan on implementing in an affiliate system (I’m a web programmer) is a way to turn the structure on it’s head. Have release dates for new products, and when a new product comes out, the LAST people to join are given the FIRST opportunity to sign on to the new product. In effect, each product has it’s own unique MLM plan attached. I’m not sure how workable this will be, but the complexity should not be too much to handle when the whole thing is computer-automated.

So to sum up (for now), it seems that the ideal product for this would be one that had an extremely low production and distribution cost (downloadable online software or web access for example), something that could generate REPEAT as opposed to ONE-TIME sales, and that could still be sold at a competitive, even bargain, price, such that closing a sale would be almost a no-brainer.

I’d love to expand on this already somewhat-lengthy answer with anyone who has an interest. See my Yahoo Group, MLM Strategies…

Jere answers:

Here are some common jobs that a CIS (or equivalent) graduate could apply and qualify for:

Computer Technician – Works on computer hardware at user location or in service center. (entry level IT Job)
Service Center Coordinator – Schedules the repair of user community computers, orders spare parts, schedules staff, establishes priorities, maintains loaner laptops and non-US laptops for travel outside of US.
Help Desk Staff – answer questions and resolve problems for the user community. (entry level IT Job – Tier 1 support)
Storage Administrator – in charge of mass storage servers and devices.
Network Administrator – Works on routers, switches, hubs, cables, load balancers and all the other hardware that handles LAN and WAN network traffic. Also, may be responsible for IP phone service.
Systems Administrator or Systems Engineer- Works with servers, laptops and desktop computers to keep them free of problems and secure the data they contain. Responsible for Security group creation and memberships, server patching, anti-virus protection updates, password changes and any automated mechanisms that make these changes. These positions may be divided into server and desktop teams. Tier 2 support.
Enterprise Administrator – Handles Enterprise support and design issues. Tier 3 support.
Active Directory Administrator – Designs and administers Active Directory infrastructure, AD policies, access permissions, roles, group policies, separation of duties.
Exchange and Messaging Administrator – maintains mail systems servers, other mail related devices and the company messaging infrastructure.
Backup Administrator – Maintains backup devices and determines backup strategies so data that was deleted accidentally or intentionally can be recovered. Design and control how and when data is backed up, where the backups are stored and how long the backups are retained. They will test to be sure backups are valid and usable.
Disaster Recovery Specialist – Plans for disaster events so the company data and infrastructure can be brought back online as quickly as possible after a fire, flood, earthquake, terrorism or other disaster event. Plans for failover of services to alternate locations, if the primary location is not available.
Database Administrator – Maintains the company databases which may include customer and sales records, billing information, inventory and other data.
Computing Security Specialist – A company’s biggest asset is its data and the Computing Security Specialist will work to try to keep that data protected from loss. They may be dealing with and defending against viruses, hoaxes, malware, keyloggers, phishing attacks, internal attacks and domestic and foreign intrusion. Develops monitoring and interception systems, filters and strategies and works with appropriate government agencies.
Ethical Hacker – performs intrusion and vulnerability testing of systems. Works with Computing Security to insure intrusion prevention systems are working correctly.
Corporate IT Acquisition Specialist – Works with acquired outside companies to establish migration into the corporate computing infrastructure.
Data Center Administrator – Maintains the data center facilities where the company’s servers and other devices reside. They are responsible for physical security and may review badge reader and camera information to be sure that only individuals with proper access are getting close to the company’s servers and other critical devices. Also, maintain backup power devices (UPS or generators).

In a small business the list of jobs above might be performed by one or two people doing all these jobs. In a large Enterprise environment this could be hundreds of people.

Best wishes!

Jere answers:

The consulting companies noted in other responder answers aren’t necessarily innovative, but they do help companies market and strategize products and service offerings. In terms of “revolutionizing” an industry or how a product is brought to market, the following entities come to mind:

Applied Minds (Glendale, CA)
A think tank and innovention company, noted for their speech scrambler product (Babble), an online search and collaborative system (Metaweb), and other innovations.
Http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,67951,00.html?tw=wn_story_top5
http://www.appliedminds.com

idealab (Pasadena, CA)
These people are best known as a startup incubator and venture capitalist firm. You might be familiar with some of their current and previous holdings such as: Commission Junction, Cooking.com, Tickets.com, NetZero/United Online, WeddingChannel.com, ClearMesh Networks, or Evolution Robotics.
Http://www.idealab.com

General Electric (multi-industry, diversified products)
http://www.ge.com/en/company/companyinfo/innovation/index.htm

3M (also known for product innovation)
http://www.3m.com/about3M/pioneers/innovChron.jhtml

Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation
http://web.mit.edu/deshpandecenter/about.html

NASA Commercial Technology Program
This focuses on the transfer of NASA technology to the private sector, benefiting global competition and the economy. The resulting commercialization has contributed to the development of commercial products and services in the fields of health and medicine, industry, consumer goods, transportation, public health, computer technology, and environmental resources.
Http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/

Reader’s Digest runs a story every year about the 100 best innovations. You can read more about this here:
http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=26486