Your Questions About Email Marketing Tips

Jere answers:

You can go to ebay for a tutorial on how to be a seller:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/getting-started.html#learnsell

The basics in getting started can be found via online tutorials and books. But to get to the nitty-gritty of listing an item:

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One-sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive (read higher priced) an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors

PICTURES:

ALWAYS include at least one picture, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Prospective bidders don’t want to know what kind of cereal you eat or what kind of kitchen table or bedspread you have. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. However, there are certainly items that won’t show well on a light backdrop. In these cases, use a darker backdrop. And for gosh sake, don’t even think of using a plaid blanket as a backdrop for your pictures as I once saw on ebay. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

COMMUNICATION / CUSTOMER SERVICE:

GOOD Communication is a must – Always notify buyers when you mail their items. It is not only a courtesy you would want and expect as a buyer but it is also both good customer service and good business practice. After all, you are the ‘President & CEO’ of your ‘company’ running your business but using ebay as your selling medium. In short, conduct your business so that it reflects well on you as a person. Treat everyone as a human being, not a living being, and this includes people who have inquiries about your items, not just your buyers. They could be your buyers and repeat customers.

You may want to use an email along these lines after you mail the buyer’s item:

Hi Buyer’s FIRST NAME HERE,

Just to keep you updated……………………….

Thanks for your payment! I mailed your widget this morning via USPS Priority Mail from Schickshinny, PA. You should receive it Saturday or Monday. I have also posted positive feedback for you. Please do the same for me if everything is satisfactory when your widget arrives. If, however, you are displeased with your purchase and you feel the item is not as I described it, please email me. I will rectify the situation to your satisfaction.

Again, thanks for bidding and congratulations on winning!

It has been a pleasure!

Regards,

Your name here

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Do not limit your payment options – Offer all of them. Sellers who offer only PayPal or only money orders or money orders and checks are further limiting their potential market and, in turn, reducing their potential to maximize profits. Some people will not bid on items that do not have PayPal as a payment option. Then you have a smaller percentage that refuse to use PayPal and prefer to pay by check only or money order only.

NOTE: Effective late October 2008, ebay will no longer allow payment for items by checks or money orders.

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of four or five.

More expensive, similar items are best sold separately to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets, estate sales are obvious as are ‘junktique’ shops. If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

If you want to do your listings OFFLINE, download the TURBO LISTER program free from ebay. Once you have finished with your listings, you can upload them anytime or schedule a date and time when you want your auctions to start.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only one or two items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

Jere answers:

Everyone who joins ebay starts with 0 feedback and yes, prospective buyers are reluctant to bid on items from such a seller, especially if the items are higher priced. It is best to establish some feedback for yourself by first buying 4 or 5 items and paying for them in a timely manner. Once you’ve established a 100% feedback rating, even it is for only a handful of items, then you can start selling.

You can go to ebay for a tutorial on how to be a seller:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/getting-started.html#learnsell

The basics in getting started can be found via online tutorials and books. But to get to the nitty-gritty of listing an item:

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One-sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive (read higher priced) an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors

PICTURES:

ALWAYS include at least one picture, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Prospective bidders don’t want to know what kind of cereal you eat or what kind of kitchen table or bedspread you have. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. However, there are certainly items that won’t show well on a light backdrop. In these cases, use a darker backdrop. And for gosh sake, don’t even think of using a plaid blanket as a backdrop for your pictures as I once saw on ebay. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

COMMUNICATION / CUSTOMER SERVICE:

GOOD Communication is a must – Always notify buyers when you mail their items. It is not only a courtesy you would want and expect as a buyer but it is also both good customer service and good business practice. After all, you are the ‘President & CEO’ of your ‘company’ running your business but using ebay as your selling medium. In short, conduct your business so that it reflects well on you as a person. Treat everyone as a human being, not a living being, and this includes people who have inquiries about your items, not just your buyers. They could be your buyers and repeat customers.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Do not limit your payment options – Offer all of them. Sellers who offer only PayPal or only money orders or money orders and checks are further limiting their potential market and, in turn, reducing their potential to maximize profits. Some people will not bid on items that do not have PayPal as a payment option. Then you have a smaller percentage that refuse to use PayPal and prefer to pay by check only or money order only.

NOTE: Effective late October 2008, ebay will no longer allow payment for items by checks or money orders.

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of four or five.

More expensive, similar items are best sold separately to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets, estate sales are obvious as are ‘junktique’ shops. If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

If you want to do your listings OFFLINE, download the TURBO LISTER program free from ebay. Once you have finished with your listings, you can upload them anytime or schedule a date and time when you want your auctions to start.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only one or two items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

Jere answers:

I would suggest Vancouver, Canada. Purchase a condo downtown – the vacancy rate is below 1%, and the rents are relatively high. A one-bedroom condo in downtown will cost you about C$300,000 and can rent for around $1200 – $1500 per month, which should cover most of your expenses. With the 2010 Olympics coming, there is still plenty of growth left in the market.

You can look for property on http://www.mls.ca

If you need a good realtor there, email me – the realtor my husband and I used when we purchased our condos there, is outstanding.

Jere answers:

Here is how to be a good receptionist.

1) A certain type of person is meant to meet and greet clients and answer phones. The employee who never has a bad thing to say about somebody, is friendly and upbeat and loves to please people is the best fit for this position.

2) A good receptionist will answer phone with a unique flair, emphasizing a certain word. Phone should be answered with smile on face and genuine interest in what person on other end has to say. Usually offices rely on voice-mail systems. That is a sure way to lose out to a happy, friendly, live voice on other end of the line.
You need a receptionist that will dress to impress your clients and take pride in his or her office area.

3) It is important for good receptionist to be buffer to employees. If staff is really busy, receptionist should know it. Receptionist who is informed can help employees avoid unnecessary last minute drop-ins, without denying legitimate appointments.
It is appropriate for a receptionist to invoke a discussion with clients, as long as it isn’t controversial. You don’t want your client assuming the receptionist’s philosophy is reflective of the company as a whole. General questions and small-talk topics are fine.

4) The receptionist should be an extension of your marketing team. Keeping track of important dates, giving out information you want your client to know, but giving it out in way that makes your client feel special is a gift, and a good receptionist will have it.
The receptionist should make sure company brochures are at the coffee table and keep the coffee pot full and fresh, the candy bowl loaded, and the clients moving through the reception area smoothly.

5) If you haven’t established a communal calendar so the receptionist has access to view scheduled appointments, it would be a good idea to make that happen. You can do this easily if you are networked; simply allow the receptionist on your network. If your email system doesn’t allow that, you can set up a calendar on the Internet and ask everyone to post appointments the receptionist needs to know about on the site.

Jere answers:

Hi,

What many network marketers are doing to find people for their team is online lead generation. You can’t rely on your company’s replicated website because everyone else in your company has one. What you need is a simple blog or website that talks about your company and what your doing to make money at your opportunity. Then you set up a “squeeze page” that will get people to put in their contact information and then you can call or email them about your opportunity.

Be sure to check your company’s policies and procedures to make sure you can build a website or blog using their name. If not, that’s okay because you can still create a website that makes people curious about your opportunity so that you can call them and let them know what it is.

I hope this isn’t too confusing. Here’s an article that explains in more detail what I am talking about: http://simple-internet-strategies.com/network-marketing-internet-business.html

Good luck with your new business!

Healthy Mom