Best Wishes For a Safe and Happy Holiday
December 21, 2009
As we come down to the last few days before the Holidays we at Bay Area Mastermind want
to wish you and yours all the best this season and a prosperous New Year.
This time of the year is full of fun and excitement and unfortunately at times that can mean a trip to the emergency hospital if we are not careful. I recently came across several key points that physicians’ groups are suggesting we think about during these festive times.
“It’s important to make your health and safety a priority and to take some time to plan ahead,” said, Dr. Nick Jouriles, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians a group news release.
So Here are the 11 tips The physicians’ group offered for staying safe and healthy during the holidays:
- Be responsible when drinking alcohol. Always have a designated driver and drink in moderation.
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Be careful when using sharp objects to open gifts. Don’t use a razor blade when a pair of scissors will do the job. - Don’t leave food out for long periods of time because it increases the risk of bacterial food poisoning. Cook food thoroughly and refrigerate it immediately after a meal.
- Use proper-sized ladders when putting up and taking down decorations. Always have someone else help you, especially to hold the ladder.
- When tobogganing or sledding, wear helmets and stay in low-traffic areas with few obstacles such as trees, shrubs or large rocks.
- Clean all fireplaces and make sure all fireplaces, heaters and stoves have proper ventilation. Install and frequently check carbon monoxide detectors.
- Don’t overload your electrical outlets with decoration plugs. Doing so could start a fire or cause a serious electrical shock.
- Ensure that Christmas trees and decorations are secure, anchored down and sturdy, so that they can’t fall or be pulled down by children.
If you give your child a new bicycle, skateboard or similar gift, make sure you also give them a helmet and other appropriate safety gear — and then insist that they use it. Have aspirin available to you at all times in case of chest pains. If you feel chest pains, chew an aspirin and seek emergency medical help.
These 11 items just happen to be some of the most common issues that these physicians see at the ER during the holidays.
Happy Holidays and we look forward to seeing you at our next meet.
Creating a Unique Customer Experience
September 22, 2009
Last week my wife and I were invited to be a guest of CH Premier Jewelers as they hosted the Patek Phillipe watch collection. For those of you not familiar with Patek Phillipe, it is one of the worlds top luxury watch makers that can trace their origination to
1839. So, if you like complicated watches and have an eye for quality workmanship this is the brand that you look to set the standard. Therefore, when I received the parchment invitation I quickly accepted.
The event was first class from the beginning to the end. First of all the event was hosted at the incredible Four Seasons Hotel in Palo Alto. From the moment we arrived the staff of the hotel were making sure that we found the ballroom by walking us personally to the event room. There the service staff began to offer us
something to eat and drink as our hostess greeted us. In the ball room a small group of customers were mingling with the executive staff of Patek Phillipe and the staff of the San Jose store of CH Premier Jewelers. Throughout the room there were display cases showing off the best of this years collection.
To add to the feeling of exclusivity the Patek Phillipe president was on hand and
personally showing off some of the rare museum pieces that were brought in from Geneva.
Many of these time pieces that were part of the museum collection dating back over a 100 years and had belong to very famous people of history.
Finally, after serving a wonderful four course dinner, and having lively discussions with all the participants, CH Premier Jewelers concluded the evening with parting gifts for each attendee. As we left we overheard many customers commenting how wonderful this event was and how this was an example of why they purchased all their fine jewelry with CH Premier Jewelers.
This event is an excellent demonstration of providing clients with a unique experience. Of course, this event was over the top and not every business can do this at this high level.
However,today, more than ever it is important to develop a deep relationship with our customers. Developing a long term relationship begins with understanding the life time value of a customer and by doing that we can understand what the level of investment we must make with them.
Obviously, CH Premier Jewelers understands that purchasers of this type of time pieces can mean a significant amount to their bottom line for years to come. They understand that investing now in a time when most jewelers have forgotten who their best customer are, can mean locking in a relationship that will be loyal for years to come.
Another thing to take away from here is the use of joint ventures to create an event. We all have vendors and other business partners who would mutually benefit from such a gathering. By joining forces you can share the expenses potentially making the event even that more special. Likewise, each party can contribute expertise in the way of speakers or such items as the rare museum pieces.
Key to making these types of events work is focusing on the targeted customer needs and making sure that in the end all the things you do will build the relationship with those valuable customers.
Adventures with Strongman Logan Christopher
August 14, 2009
Last night after the first day of Srini’s Internet Income Summit, Logan, Mahesh and I went over to Planet Granite and played on the adult Jungle Gym. Logan and I climbed to the top of the rope with no hands, and then I learned how to climb a rope upside down. You’ve got to love circus tricks.
- What he did to start his information marketing business on the side
- How he transformed his off-hours business to his primary source of income
- The most effective forms of marketing that he uses
- How he tracks his marketing campaigns and results
- How to Start a Thriving Internet Business on a Shoestring Budget that’ll Allow You to Quit Your Day job
- Discover the 4 Levels of ‘Will the Market Buy?’ – How to be sure you are on Level 4 with a Homerun instead of Level 1 with a Dud (not just a Dud but one which has Wasted Your Precious Time)
- How to Legally Use Old Books to Make a Fortune
- 3 Different Methods of Increasing your Bottom Line by Selling Other People’s Products
- How to Make More Money with Physical Products Without Having to Worry About Producing and Fulfilling the Products Yourself
- The Two Biggest Lessons Any Newbie Must Learn
- Insider Tips and Tricks on How to be Successful with 4 Major Traffic Generation Strategies
- Easy Ways to Test and Track Results using Free Easy to Install Software
- How to Quickly and Easily Build Your Own Websites without HTML Knowledge plus How to Find the Answer to ANY Website Building Question for Free in Minutes
- The Power of an Email List – Press Send and Watch the Cash Flow In and much more…
The Power of Pass Along Marketing
August 12, 2009
This is a guest post by Srini Saripalli. Srini is a Info-marketer, speaker and above all a blogger dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed online. Srini spoke at the Bay Area Mastermind in July 2009 and practically mesmerized everyone with his knowledge and energy. You can read more about Srini at www.SriniSaripalli.com
It was indeed a pleasure and honor speaking at the Bay Area Mastermind. Even though I was there to talk about how offline marketers can benefit from taking their business online, my entire presentation was focused on three specific areas.
- Internet Marketing & Changing Dynamics
- How to attract a lot of traffic to your website, build lists and make money in the process
- The self discipline needed to build a thriving online business
If you are just thinking of starting a business online and you are exploring to learn more about how to go about it, I have bad news for you. You will be inundated with information along your journey. There is too much information out there. Over time, people are often caught in the crossroads worried, perplexed, confused and puzzled as a result of information overload.
The internet is changing and it’s changing fast. Many established solo marketers are finding that money is not flowing through domains anymore. This is also my observation, a point that I made heavily at the live event. Money is in referral marketing, email marketing and other derivative forms of “Pass Along Marketing”.
Pass Along Marketing is the main reason why social media sites are thriving. Imagine this: you want to hire a baby sitter for your kid, Where would you find the baby sitter? Would you go to google or facebook? Certainly facebook because that is where your friends are, that is where your connections are and a referral from a friend is more valuable at this time and in this context. You see the power of this.
I know folks at google are brain storming how they can go social with their search. So expect some big acquisitions from the giant.
Does it mean that you cannot create products and sell online or take your offline businesses online? Absolutely NOT. The opportunity to create, market and profit from your products online is bigger than ever. Its just that your products have to be authentic, solution driven and timely. Needless to say they have to bring tremendous value for your customers.
List Building
We internet marketers are always under a push to make offers. We have little or no patience to nurture our lists. In the process of making an offer we tend to make wrong offers. Making NO offer is better than making a wrong offer. This is the primary reason why 1% of marketers seem to make 99% of the money online. They understand the pulse of their list to such an extent that they can practically predict the outcome of their launches.
Self Discipline for Success
The single most important skill that is need to succeed online is “Self Discipline”. The good news is this can be learned. The bad news is that nobody can teach this skill to you. There are a ton of techniques, strategies, and blueprints that if you follow you will become successful.
The problem is many marketers do not go the entire 9 yards. In other words, they don’t do what it takes to become successful.
The need of the hour is volume. You need a lot of traffic, you need to have a bunch of products to offer, you need to exhaust every traffic source. Above all, you need to saturate every available channel to promote your products or services online.
I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts at the Bay Area Mastermind in near future.
Web Traffic & Conversion Secrets for Offline Marketers
July 31, 2009
Last night’s Bay Area Mastermind Business Networking Mixer featured locally based and internationally famed online marketing expert, Srini Saripalli who presented on Web Traffic & Conversion Secrets for Offline Marketers.
The room was packed with standing room only when the meeting got started, and there wasn’t a still pen in the room. Srini’s presentation was full of incredible stats, facts, resources and actionable items that we’ll each be implementing in our online businesses.
Bay Area Mastermind Members will get access to a video of Srini’s presentation shortly. Non-Mastermind members can pickup a DVD of his presentation online.
There were plenty of new faces, and we had a great event. We look forward to seeing you next month for August’s Bay Area Mastermind meeting
where we’ll be grilling local strong man Logan Christopher on how he
went from a stock boy in a local grovery store to a niche info-marketer
with a thriving online business.
In the mean time, here are some photos from the event!
Peter, Mike and Rosemary discussing IT. Lisa and Dennis
talking about lists. Robert discussing auto-responders with David and
Kevin. Srini presenting to the group on online marketing.
For more information on upcoming bay area networking events, visit our events page.
Bay Area Mastermind Networking Mixer a Hit!
June 26, 2009
Last night, we had a great networking event at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara! Thank you for joining us for an evening of networking and a presentation on what’s been happening in the economy and 7 Tactics for Marketing in a Recession.
Robert’s insight into the economy and the current market conditions was well received and Jeremy’s tactics for marketing in a recession sparked many an idea in the group.
We’ll see you next month for our next networking mixer on July 30th on the topic of Internet Marketing and How the Rules are Changing. For more information, visit our Networking Events page.
For our Mastermind Members, a video of last night’s presentation will
be posted shortly in the Members Only section of the website, and if
you’re not a Mastermind member, you can pick up a DVD copy of the presentation online.
Here are some photos from the presentation after the mixer:
For more information on upcoming bay area networking events, visit our events page.
7 Tactics for Marketing in a Recession – June 25th
June 2, 2009
Join us on Thursday, June 25th
for an evening of networking with other bay area entrepreneurs and
business owners, and a special presentation by local marketing experts
Robert Estupinian and Jeremy B. Shapiro on the 7 tactics for Marketing
in a Recession.
At this networking mixer, you’ll have a chance to:
- Network and connect with other Bay Area entrepreneurs and business owners
- Meet members of the Bay Area Mastermind who are making it
- Find out why (and HOW) some businesses are thriving in this economy
- Discover what other business owners are doing “in the recession” to seize market opportunities and drive long term success
- Learn what kinds of marketing are no longer working, what is working, and why
- Explore
how to stretch your marketing dollars in this market and keep your
existing customers, clients and patients coming back again and again - Get out of working IN your business for an evening and take some time to work ON your business
Pre-registration is required and can be done online here.
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