Sunday, June 30, 2013

Get Motivated by Success David Bach

Get Motivated By Success!

Posted on October 22, 2012 by David Bach

Check out this amazing success story I received from Julian Smith who decided to take action and apply the strategies in Debt Free For Life to change his life forever. It’s stories like this that keep me doing what I do and I hope inspire you to better your own financial life.
“Two years ago while flying from California to Charleston, S. C. I purchased David’s book Debt free for Life. This book ended up an epiphany for me. I had been sick with thyroid cancer for years undiagnosed and done a flip house and had charged up to $75,000 in debt. Spending thousand of dollars trying to find a cure for my illness and charging all this debt on a flip house in a bad economy. I was lost on how to get out of debt. After finding out what was wrong with me and getting the proper medical attention I was back on the track. Finding David’s book truly helped me get back in financial order.
I gathered all my credit cards and did a spread sheet and began paying off my debt using your DOLP system. This strategy paid off! Now two year’s have passed and all my credit card debt is paid off ($75,000!!). This was a very difficult time in my life and I did not want my family to know the situation with my debt. The stress of all that debt is gone.

My next goal is to pay off all my mortgage debt. I plan on using David’s strategies on paying down the debt and get free of all that debt and enjoy the rest of my life. I would recommend that all college students read this book or anyone having financial problems. It is truly life changing. Last week I read the book for a third time and went to the chapter on web-sites and free money. Well! I found an old insurance policy that was not returned to me and found money for 14 friends and family members. I have told many friends and business associates about the book. I look forward to meeting David in person one day to personally thank him for his help!
Thank you!
Julian Smith”
Share YOUR success story with me and help motivate others to Live and Finish Rich by CLICKING HERE
Live Rich,
David Bach

Design tricks to sell your home a la Dawn Thomas

Interior Design tricks to sell your home

by The Dawn Thomas Team on June 27, 2013

While the Silicon Valley Real Estate market is predominitely a ‘Sellers Market’ right now (low inventory and many, many over-qualified buyers) you still have to be smart about selling your home! Part of what makes a home desirable to a Buyer is a nicely taken care of/decorated home. Follow these tips to get the highest possible price for your home.
“While it might be a seller’s market, an interior designer’s views on how you can make your home more appealing to buyers can be invaluable. Extra touches can make a world of difference to attract the eye of an interested buyer, according to Associate Designer Anne Liu from GEORGE Interior Design. Here are her tips on how you can give your house a fresh look without breaking the bank. [click to continue…]

This blog is courtesy of The Dawn Thomas Team who is an award-winning Real Estate Agent team at Intero Real Estate Services in Los Altos 650-701-7822. We help nice people with selling and buying homes from Palo Alto to West San Jose!

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Dawn Thomas what is happening in RE part 37

Beyond the Headlines- What’s Happening in Real Estate Pt 37

by The Dawn Thomas Team on June 28, 2013

The Dawn Thomas Team is constantly trying to keep our clients and the inquiring public up to date on the goings-on of the Real Estate Market. These days there is so much information coming out daily that it’s hard to keep it all straight and not miss important articles. We’ve recently written about sellers, buyers, taxes and loans-all of these things are important factors in the Real Estate Market-a very integral arm of our current economic climate. So today we give you two articles–and a bit of advice– that we think are important for you, our clients and the public, to know. Read on! [click to continue…]

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Fed Bungle may contirbute to higher rates

Fed bungle may prompt higher mortgage rates

Commentary: Bond market no longer feels safe

Lou Barnes Contributor

Jun 21, 2013

Ben Bernanke image via Shutterstock.

The days are getting shorter now, football closer — at least the Fed can’t take that away from us. Given its fantastic bungling this week, it might try.
First, let’s get the fairy tales out of the way. No, President Obama has not asked Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to leave; Bernanke is exhausted (which may explain some of this week), and orderly competition to succeed him began in January. And no, the market wrecks this week do not invalidate the quantitative easing (QE) campaign. It was exactly the right thing to have done.
Bernanke is an American hero, his inventiveness and courage without parallel in our peacetime history. However, the skills and instincts necessary to save us in the post-Lehman event are completely different from those required to manage a gradual tightening of policy.
Bernanke on May 22 did an expert and appropriate job of mumbling. Markets needed to be warned that QE might taper in the next several months, and be reminded that someday QE would end altogether, and in the long run Federal Reserve policy would normalize. The Fed chair’s muffled jawbone took the 10-year T-note from a broad range 1.7 percent-2.05 percent into June’s 2.08 percent-2.25 percent, mortgages just above 4 percent.
The economy may or may not be self-sustaining, but asset prices in 2013 might have begun to pre-bubble. Maybe. New Fed Gov. Jeremy Stein began to thump the bubble tub immediately on arrival. Household net worth jumped $3 trillion in the first 90 days of the year, all on stocks and houses. The delicate conundrum: Rising asset values were a principal purpose of QE and have the economy doing better; at what point do they become a bubble? Hedge the bet by bubble-burble.
The June Fed meeting concluded on Wednesday, and the written statement was harmless. Then in the post-meeting press conference Bernanke gave the most unfortunate public performance by a chairman in my memory. He is compelled to transparency and specifics of future intentions, which made QE work, but are disastrous in a tightening cycle. And he clearly does not understand why.

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In the press conference, regarding the jump in rates after May 22: “We were a little puzzled by that.” He went on into tired, old, tightening-is-not-tightening, “Just letting up on the accelerator, not touching the brake.” But the Fed is not a car, it is a two-button machine, one marked “Go,” the other “Not Go.”
QE began at Thanksgiving 2008. In herky-jerky stages since (Go, Not Go), the Fed by last summer finally convinced the bond market that it was safe to buy bonds. QE3 was open-ended — the Fed would keep the world safe for bonds until it got economic recovery. Along the way much academic jaw-jaw about whether the cumulative volume of QE was more important than the flow, but neither mattered to markets.
Treasurys and agency mortgage-backed securities in circulation are about $20 trillion, not counting infinite synthetics (swaps, etc.). Whether you buy $85 billion per month, half that, quadruple, or five bucks per month is immaterial. Are you going to keep me safe, or not?
Bernanke destroyed the game at the press conference by delivering a multiyear if-then, if-then economic/policy forecast leading to Fed normalization, and death for anyone invested in bonds. A tidy, academic schedule. He seems to think that the “ifs” — if the economy is not so hot, we won’t kill you — would cause bond investors politely to retreat on his schedule, each lining up quietly for a future turn at the guillotine.
That was bungling beyond imagination. The bond market’s mission is to collapse the future into the present. If you tell markets that it’s going to be unsafe to own bonds next year, then it’s unsafe now. Right now. Sell and keep selling, each stage exposing another layer, encouraging profit-taking, shorting and sell-hedging. Worst of all: There is no way the Fed can unbungle, to tell markets it’s safe again to own bonds. After this exercise it will be a long time before the bond market trusts the Fed.
At this instant, the 10-year has crested 2.5 percent, mortgages 4.5 percent-plus. Temporary pauses ahead, but no end to this until something in a real economy cracks, or the Fed conceives a sensible exit strategy, beginning by watching data and shutting up.
The 10-year through June 20 close, mid-morning June 21 is 2.5 percent.

The 10-year back to Lehman. There is not support between 2.5 and 3 percent.

The two-year T-note is predictive of a changes in the Fed’s overnight rate. Markets are neither stupid nor patient with a chairman’s plans.

The five-year — even the center of the yield curve wants out.

Gold. This chart is Niagara Falls back to deflation.

Bubble? You see a new bubble?

Over time, inflation prevention is the purpose of the Fed. See danger here?

Lou Barnes is a mortgage broker and nationally syndicated columnist based in Boulder, Colo. He can be reached at lbarnes@pmglending.com.

Storytelling helps luxury buyers see themselves in a home

‘Storytelling’ helps luxury buyers picture themselves in a home

Serving the ultrawealthy client

Bernice Ross Contributor

Jun 24, 2013

Story time image via Shutterstock.

Regardless of the price range in which you work, writing great ad copy is important. In the luxury market, it’s even more essential. What are the elements that distinguish features and benefits as opposed to telling a marketing story?
In a recent post on the Raise the Bar Facebook Group, moderator Michael McClure asked a provocative question: “A term that I’m starting to hear occasionally, and which is still very new to me within the context of selling real estate, is ‘storytelling.’ Can someone please enlighten me as to what this is all about?”
Laundry list or lifestyle?
In part four of this series, Rick Goodwin, publisher of Unique Homes Luxury Media, emphasized that when you are marketing a luxury property, you must do much more than just providing a list of features. Yet when you look at most real estate ads, including those for multimillion-dollar estates, this is what you will normally encounter:
“The main home features 11,420 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, a 2,000-bottle wine cellar, 6-car garage, security cameras, and a expansive game room with a full bar, cigar closet, media center and screen, and gaming machines. The outdoor kitchen includes two built-in big-screen televisions, an infinity pool and stream, a zip line and tree house for the kids, plus much more.”
Now compare this ad:

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“Enter your personal world of glamour and style at La Montana, a breathtaking new 6-bedroom and 8-bath masterpiece in Aspen. Lavishly entertain your guests in the baronial public rooms with 24-foot hand-carved ceilings or adjacent to the sparkling indoor pool overlooking jetliner views of the valley below. After a great day on the slopes, enjoy your state-of-the art home theater, work out in your fully equipped gym, or unwind in the sauna or steam room. Peace, relaxation, luxury — when you are at home at La Montana, you know that you have truly arrived.”
What’s the difference between the first and second ad? The first ad is feature-based and relies primarily upon adjectives. The second ad paints a picture of the lifestyle and how you would live in the house. The secret to “painting the picture” is to use verbs rather than adjectives. Only a small portion of both regular and luxury real estate ads use this approach. An even smaller proportion, however, tell the story of a home.
How to tell a story
How can you go about telling the story of a home? One of the most powerful stories I ever saw was an interview with a seller whose family had lived on a ranch for more than 100 years.
In the video, he described what it was like to live there when he was a boy. He also described how the area changed as well as what life was like for him and his family. As he spoke, a tear came to his eye. This type of unscripted moment is one of the most powerful ways to market a property. If the agent wanted to take this even a step further, he could shoot a video of the property while riding horseback.
Here’s another example: We have friends who live in Santa Fe, N.M., who built a “straw” house employing the same construction techniques used in the 1700s when this area was first settled. When you walk through the property, they have two different places where a piece of glass reveals the straw bales beneath the plaster.
The owners explained how a local artist created the vigas (the heavy rafters made from logs that support the roof in American Indian and Spanish architecture of the Southwest) using the original construction (cutting and curing) techniques from 200 years ago. They also explained how they had installed mud floors stained with ox blood, again, the same way they did in the past. The doors to the den came from a 300-year-old Spanish church that was being demolished.
The ultimate luxury marketing experience
One of the best ways to motivate a luxury client to purchase a property is to let them experience how the lifestyle fits their vision. Former Realtor Darlene Richert, who has extensive experience selling in the ultra high end in Scottsdale, Ariz., shared a great example that uses this approach. When a couple expressed an interest in a custom home site, she wanted them to see and feel more than just the raw land.
Given that there was no house to show, the challenge was how to provide the couple with a lasting memory that would motivate them to purchase. Darlene’s other goal was to position herself as the agent to whom this couple would always refer any future real estate business.
Her solution was to plan a champagne dinner on the property at sunset. She hand-carried a bistro table and chairs to the site and had a catered gourmet meal waiting. The clients arrived on site to discover the quaint setting and a special evening that Darlene had arranged. She took a quick digital photo of the couple and then departed so that they could enjoy the beautiful sunset while sipping a glass of the finest champagne.
The clients had an extraordinary experience, one that they would talk about for years to come. More importantly, it was the first dinner on the property where they would later build their dream home. Darlene created the ultimate real estate buying experience, as well as a story that would be repeated over and over by her buyers.
Would you like to know more about storytelling and how it applies to marketing luxury properties? If so, don’t miss part six of this series that describes how America’s top luxury builder uses storytelling to market his ultraluxury listings.
Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, is a national speaker, trainer and author of the National Association of Realtors’ No. 1 best-seller, “Real Estate Dough: Your Recipe for Real Estate Success.” Hear Bernice’s five-minute daily real estate show, just named “new and notable” by iTunes, at www.RealEstateCoachRadio.com.

Twitter Tips

Take a look at these 10 Twitter tools I think you may find some of them useful:

http://makemoneyonlinenowtoo.blogspot.co.uk/

1. Nearby Tweets - nearbytweets.com
This is a nice twitter tool that lets you see tweets that are in your area. You can choose any location though - but the biggest feature is you can search for certain keywords in that area. So you can find people who are tweeting about what your business does.

2. Qwitter - useqwitter.com
Qwitter is a service that lets you see who unfollowed you on Twitter. It will send you an email at the end of each week telling you who unfollowed you.

3. TweetDeck - tweetdeck.com
TweetDeck is an application you install in Windows that will give you a wide overview of all the things you can do in Twitter. It's divided into columns that feature live feeds of.....for full article visit our blog here:===>> http://makemoneyonlinenowtoo.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope you find these useful.

All the best,
Mili & Paul

Week's market update

Greetings! Here's your Daily Commentary report compliments of
Alan Russell & Princeton Capital!
Call me today for current rates and market information at (650) 947-2296.

This week brings us the release of only four pieces of relevant economic data that may influence mortgage rates, but two of them are considered to be highly important. In addition, the Independence Day holiday falls in the middle of the week again this year, so we also have an early and full-day closure to work around.

Unlike many Mondays, tomorrow does bring us some very important economic data. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) will post their manufacturing index for June late tomorrow morning. This index measures manufacturer sentiment by surveying trade executives on current business conditions. May’s reading that was posted last month surprised many when it came in at 49.0. A reading below 50 means that more surveyed executives felt business worsened during the month than those who felt it had improved. Analysts are expecting a reading of 50.5, indicating slight improvement in manufacturer sentiment. Good news for the bond market and mortgage rates would be another decline in the index, signaling worsening conditions in the manufacturing sector.

The Commerce Department will post May's Factory Orders data late Tuesday morning, which is similar to the Durable Goods Orders report that was released last week. The biggest difference is that this week's report covers both durable and non-durable goods. It usually doesn't have as much of an impact on the bond market as the durable goods data does, but can lead to changes in mortgage pricing if it varies greatly from forecasts. Current expectations are showing a 2.0% increase in new orders from April's levels, pointing towards sector strength. A decline in orders would be considered good news for the bond market and could help lower mortgage rates slightly Tuesday.

May’s Goods and Services Trade Balance will be released at 8:30 AM ET Wednesday. It is the week's least important data and probably will not influence mortgage rates. It measures the size of the U.S. trade deficit and is expected to show a $40.8 billion deficit. This data usually does not directly affect mortgage rates, but it does influence the value of the U.S. dollar versus other currencies. A stronger dollar makes U.S. securities more attractive to international investors because they are worth more when sold and converted to the investor's domestic currency. But unless we see a significant variance from forecasts, I don't believe this data will lead to a change in mortgage rates Wednesday.

The U.S. financial and mortgage markets will be closed Thursday in observance of the Independence Day holiday. They will also close early Wednesday afternoon ahead of the holiday and will reopen Friday morning for regular trading hours. We could see bond traders sell some holdings before the 2:00 PM ET close to protect themselves over the holiday, which raises the possibility of seeing an upward revision to mortgage rates Wednesday afternoon.

The last data of the week is arguably the single most important report we see each month. The Labor Department will post June's unemployment rate, number of new payrolls added or lost and average hourly earnings early Friday morning. These are considered to be very important readings of the employment sector and can have a huge impact on the financial markets. The ideal scenario for the bond market is rising unemployment, a large decline in payrolls and no change in earnings. Weaker than expected readings would raise concerns about economic growth and likely help boost bond prices and lower mortgage rates Friday. However, stronger than expected readings could be extremely detrimental to mortgage pricing as it would help support the theory that we will see good economic growth later this year. Analysts are expecting to see the unemployment rate remain at 7.6%, with 165,000 jobs added and a 0.2% rise in earnings.

Overall, I am expecting to see another fairly active week for the financial markets and mortgage rates. We have a small improvement in rates waiting for us tomorrow morning due to strength in bonds late Friday. The most important day of the week is Friday, but tomorrow could also be a key day in determining whether rates move higher or lower on the week. With two of the week’s three full-length trading days having key economic data scheduled for release, I strongly recommend maintaining contact with your mortgage professional if still floating an interest rate.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now...

Alan Russell
161 South San Antonio Rd. | Los Altos, CA 95022
Ph: 650-947-2296 | Fax: 408-335-1118
alanrussell@princetoncap.com

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Fed talks drive markets

Fed Speeches Drive Markets

It was another incredibly volatile week as investors attempted to determine the impact of last week's Fed announcement on mortgage rates. Early in the week, mortgage rates continued to move higher, but soothing comments from Fed officials caused mortgage rates to reverse direction. After all the daily swings, mortgage rates ended the week a little lower.
A number of Fed officials made speeches this week, and the common theme was that investors overreacted to last Wednesday's Fed statement. Fed officials were surprised by the magnitude of the increase in yields on Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and the resulting increase in mortgage rates, as demanded by investors. Their comments were effective. MBS prices improved and mortgage rates reversed some of the recent increase.
Based on the results of their weekly survey, Freddie Mac reported that mortgage rates rose this week and did so by a record amount. As mentioned above, rates this week actually moved lower. The difference comes from the timing of the Freddie Mac survey. Freddie Mac collects its data early each week. The increase they reported this week is really comparing mortgage rates pre-Fed meeting to post-Fed meeting. When MBS prices and mortgage rates are as volatile as they have been recently, the Freddie Mac survey results can be misleading.

Also Notable:

Core PCE inflation was just 1.1% higher than one year ago
First quarter GDP was revised lower from 2.4% to 1.8%
New Home Sales rose to the highest level since July 2008
Gold prices dropped to the lowest level in roughly three years

Average 30 yr fixed rate:
Last week:	+0.45%
This week:	-0.10%

Stocks (weekly):
Dow:	15,000	+300
NASDAQ:	3,400	+75

Week Ahead
The big story next week will be Friday's Employment report. As usual, this data on the number of jobs, the Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation will be the most highly anticipated economic data of the month, and it will carry even more weight than normal due to how it will influence Fed policy. Earlier in the week, ISM Manufacturing and Construction Spending will be released on Monday. Factory Orders will come out on Tuesday. ISM Services, ADP Employment, and the Trade Balance are scheduled for Wednesday. Mortgage markets will be closed on Thursday in observance of Independence Day.

Big Week for IPOs yields mixed results

Biz Break: Big week for IPOs yields mixed results

By Jeremy C. Owens

jowens@mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/28/2013 02:49:33 PM PDT

Updated: 06/28/2013 03:16:38 PM PDT

Today: The last of a bevy of initial public offerings reaches Wall Street, with investors showing more enthusiasm after Thursday's fizzles. Also: Apple (AAPL) bounces back slightly but stays lower than $400 in calm day for markets.

The lead: IPOs find welcoming investors Friday after earlier issues in busy week

Nine companies made their market debuts this week, the busiest week in recent memory for initial public offerings, but many of the companies that went through with their IPOs had to price their stock lower than originally

Specialist Ronnie Howard works at his poston the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the close of trading, Friday, June 28, 2013. Stocks are ending mostly lower on Wall Street as the market closes out a turbulent month. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) ( Richard Drew )

thought, and investors seemed cold on the shares when they reached the open market.
Renaissance Capital reported last Friday that 11 companies planned IPOs this week, but two -- GDC Technology and Regado Biosciences -- did not follow through. The companies that did price shares and head to market experienced mixed results, with the biggest first-day gains coming for the companies that debuted Friday.
Noodles

& Co., a so-called fast-casual dining chain akin to Chipotle, found so much demand that it boosted its proposed range for shares, then priced its stock higher than that range Thursday night, at $18 a share, to bring in nearly $100 million. When the shares hit the Nasdaq trading floor, they experienced the largest first-day "pop" of 2013, outdistancing the 78 percent gain San Mateo's Marketo received earlier this year by more than doubling, closing at $36.75, 104 percent higher than the IPO price.
Friday's other offering, Dutch drugmaker Prosensa, had an added bonus Friday: It received "breakthrough status" from U.S. regulators for one of its drugs just a day before its first shares hit the open market. Prosensa priced its shares at the top of its proposed range, $13, to bring in $78 million, and that price rose nearly 50 percent in Friday trading, closing at $19.25.
Friday's gains were a welcome reprieve from Thursday's rough start for five companies that went to market on the same day: Four of the companies priced their shares below their proposed ranges, and the fifth priced at the bottom of its range.
The largest offering of the week belonged to HD Supply, Home Depot's former wholesale distribution business, which was spun off and sold to investors in 2007. The company brought in nearly $1 billion -- $957.6 million -- by selling shares for $18 apiece, but that was well below the company's initial range of $22 to $25 a share. Bringing down the price proved to be the right move, however, as investors were unwilling to pay much more on the open market: Shares closed at $18.66 Thursday and $18.79 Friday.
CDW was the only company to price within its range, but that was because it had previously revised its hopes down, from an original range of $20 to $23 to $17 to $18. The Illinois tech company brought in $396 million at that price, then closed with a decent gain at $18.37 Thursday and $18.62 Friday.
Tremor Video, a New York company that deals in video advertising, had the worst first-day performance, falling 15 percent from its $10 asking price to close at $8.50. The company did raise $75 million in its IPO, and shares recovered slightly Friday to close at $9. Pet-medicine developer Aratana Therapeutics had to take the biggest pre-IPO cut, pricing shares at $6 apiece instead of the proposed range of $11 to $13, but it boosted the number of shares it sold from 4.3 million to 5.8 million to make up some of that difference. The Kansas company experienced strong gains of nearly 40 percent Thursday, closing at $8.26, but fell to $7.56 at the close Friday. New York investment manager Silvercrest Asset Management Group sold 4.8 million shares for $11 each, below its range of $12 to $14, to raise almost $53 million; the stock closed at $11.83 Thursday and $12 Friday.
Earlier in the week, Michigan drug developer Esperion priced in the middle of its range at $14, but increased the size of its offering from 4.5 million to 5 million shares, pulling in $70 million. The price seemed right, as shares closed at $14.50 on its first day, Wednesday, and closed Friday at $14.10. Seattle's Nanostrong was not as fortunate, pricing its offering at $10, lower than the initial proposed range of $13 to $15, then taking a big plunge on the open market: Shares closed Wednesday at $8.06 and Friday at $8.
While the varied reactions to the week's bevy of market debuts leaves little room to determine a trend in the IPO market, Fortune's Dan Primack saw the disappointing performances of HD Supply and CDW as signs that the market may be wary of private equity-backed IPOs, and Renaissance Capital research analyst Greg Leffert told The Associated Press that the sheer number of IPOs that got off the ground could mean a more bountiful market ahead.
"It's definitely good that these were able to get done and it bodes well for activity picking up in next quarter," Leffert said.
That could be tough, Renaissance reported Friday afternoon that the second quarter of 2013 was the most active quarter for U.S. IPOs in nearly six years, with 61 companies raising $13 billion total.

SV150 market report: Valley stocks outpace market as Apple finally gains

A late dive for the Dow Jones industrial average Friday broke the market's run of three straight positive trading sessions, while the Standard & Poor's 500 had its first losing month out of eight. Tech stocks performed better, however, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq the only one of the three major indexes to gain Friday, and the SV150 increasing 0.2 percent thanks to a slight turnaround for Apple.

After four straight negative days this week that took Apple down 4.8 percent to its lowest closing price since April, the Cupertino company's shares gained 0.6 percent Friday, but still couldn't eclipse the $400 mark, closing at $396.53. Those proclaiming that Apple is headed to its demise can join a long string of such soothsayers, however, dating back decades.
Intel (INTC) gained 0.8 percent to $24.23 as it lost a key executive and new CEO Brian Krzanich promised to speed up Intel's rollouts of new technology. Google (GOOG) gained 0.4 percent to $880.37 after reports that it is developing a video-game console and smartwatch based on Android; the Mountain View search giant also sued the IRS seeking refunds from a denied deduction in 2004. Yahoo (YHOO) dropped 1.3 percent to $25.13 after Variety reported that it was out of the running for Hulu, the streaming-video site that several big names are bidding for; Quartz reported Friday that satellite-television company DirectTV was the front-runner for the acquisition. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) gained 0.1 percent to $24.80 after retaining a $3.5 billion contract with the U.S. Navy, and Oracle (ORCL) moved 0.9 percent higher to $30.71 after CEO Larry Ellison publicly ended his feud with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Thursday afternoon; Salesforce dropped 1.7 percent to $38.18. Facebook gained 0.9 percent to close at $24.88 while announcing that it would stop placing ads next to content that could be deemed offensive.
Up: SolarCity, Electronic Arts (ERTS), SunPower (SPWRA), Juniper, Pandora, Yelp, Facebook, Oracle, Intel, Apple, Gilead, Intuit (INTU), Google
Down: Palo Alto Networks, Zynga, Netflix (NFLX), Tesla, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Cisco (CSCO), VMware, Adobe (ADBE), eBay
The SV150 index of Silicon Valley's largest tech companies: Up 2.35, or 0.19 percent, to 1,222.03
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Up 1.39, or 0.04 percent, to 3,403.25
The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Down 114.89, or 0.76 percent, to 14,909.6
And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 6.92, or 0.43 percent, to 1,606.28

Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.

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Heidi Sloss blog on Marketing

Marketing Strategies that Work: Having an E-Newsletter or Blog

Uncategorized No Responses »

Jun 262013

A few weeks ago I introduced a designer client of mine, looking to improve her business with marketing strategies that were doable, effective and profitable in Marketing Strategies that Work: Global Analysis of Your Business.

First we identified 5 easy and effective marketing strategies to reach her intended target market. Then we outlined what specifically she would be doing for each. In this week’s post, we will focus on: Having an e-newsletter or blog.
She saw the benefits of being able to stay in touch and follow-up with both prospects and past clients electronically by regularly educating and entertaining them, while periodically sharing information about her services. For setting up this strategy we started with focusing on who she was trying to reach, then what she wanted them to know and finally how she wanted to communicate it to them. I don’t have the space to detail out all that this entailed, but here are a few snippets.
Since her prospects and past clients were all homeowners and all living in a specific geographic location (The Bay Area), we focused her posts on areas of interest to this population. She was very concerned about how often to send it out so I assigned her to poll some of her past clients and we decided on every two weeks to start with. Please note, that I recommended more often, but this was what her comfort level was, and the big picture was to get it going.
Then came content creation. She started and then I finished a 9 month supply of posts for her. All short, most under 500 words, all original content, lots of photos and most with some sort of call-to-action: usually a link to click to, but sometimes something else as well. In less than a month’s time we created about 18 posts that were relevant and meaningful to her list.
She had set up a blog and an e-newsletter, but was confused about when and how to use both. I found the following info online that I share with clients when contemplating the different between the two:

“At the core, a blog and a newsletter is simply a webpage. Each communication format can contain text, images, and formatting styles. The important distinction between blogs and newsletters from general websites is that they are time based and are for an intended audience. Blogger and WordPress are a few examples of free tools that will allow you to quickly create your online newsletter. Most content management systems can also be structured like a blog and provide many of the same Web 2.0 features.”

While there are a lot of people talking up the distinctions between the two, for most businesses, that does not matter. Since her website was using WordPress, we decided to use the blog feature as a newsletter—this gave her the benefits of both. The point of her communication was to keep in the minds of the people on her list while providing useful and meaningful information without making it difficult for them to follow her.

By the time we worked on this strategy, she had already had several months working three of her other ‘new’ strategies: Updating her Website, Networking with Great Referral Sources, and Implementing a Follow-Up System. These new ones, along with an already sizeable database, helped to grow her list even larger. With a 3 to 5 year timeline for prospects in her pipeline, she needs a large list to keep people moving through her sales/marketing funnel.

Do you have a blog or e-newsletter? What are you trying to accomplish with it? How is it working for you? Do you get comments on it? Do people share it with others? Would love to hear your thoughts on using this strategy, please post below. Thanks!

Yours,

Heidi BK Sloss
Marketing Strategist & Follow-Up Expert
Best-Selling Author of Fortune is in the Follow-Up®
hsloss@heidisloss.com
www.heidisloss.com
650-248-1545

Marketing Strategies that Work: Implementing a Follow-up System for Past Clients

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Jun 262013

First we identified 5 easy and effective marketing strategies to reach her intended target market. Then we outlined what specifically she would be doing for each. In this week’s post, we will focus on: Implementing a follow-up system for past clients.
This one is such a critical strategy – not just for my design client – we all need to make sure that we are following up with both new people we meet AND our past clients. Too many business owners and sale agents spend their time, energy, and resources trying to grow their contact list when they rarely if ever work their past client contacts. This is shame because it takes much less time and work to re-convert a past client than it does to go through the whole sales cycle with a new one.
Follow-up with past clients when done right, should yield you more business as well as referral sources. How well are you doing either of these with your past clients? How often do you keep in touch?
For my design client, it varies for each client. Before we started working together, she had a mish-mash of activities, but nothing systematized, so this one did not require a lot of heavy lifting, just a bit of tinkering. Now, when she starts working with clients, she always finds out if they have other projects in mind for their property, even if they are not ready to proceed at the time of her first engagement. She dutifully marks her calendar about 6 to 9 months before they identified when they might be interested in their next project. And then starts that follow-up for that project well in advance of when they might proceed.
Additionally, after every project is completed she sets up several actions to happen.
1) Every client receives a survey within 2 weeks of the job being done. We tinkered with the timing, but for her projects, 2 weeks was the best time. It will be different depending on your industry and the nature of the work completed. Each survey asks questions that we developed. We find out what went well, what didn’t, what they liked about the experience, who else they considered hiring, and why they chose her. The information is then used to improve her services, if necessary, and to market her services to others just like her past clients. Their words are much more compelling to others like themselves when compared to anything she could have come up with.
2) All past clients are also signed up to receive quarterly gifts for the 1^st year, semi-annual gifts for the 2^nd year and then yearly gifts after that. These gifts vary depending on the taste and preferences of past clients. So far they have been met with great enthusiasm and excitement and have yield many more referrals than she has had in the past—something we had hoped for! Some of the various gifts have been through wine clubs, fruit clubs, cheese clubs, and flower clubs. She uses an outside vender for gift buying.
3) Of course her follow-up system also involves regular phone calls and meeting with past clients that she now has integrated into her calendar system. For this strategy, it was never a problem on what to say, but rather when to schedule. After every phone call and/or meeting with a past client, she now enters in the next phone call or meeting with them so that it does not fall through the cracks. She has blocked off time in her calendar on a weekly basis to make the calls and/or meetings. This has allowed her to be much more organized which gives her confidence when contacting her past clients. It has also helped her feel more comfortable asking for referrals and to propose new projects.

There is so much more to follow-up than I have space for here. For more information about systematizing your follow-up and creating customer surveys, see chapters 3 and 4 of my book of my best-selling book, Fortune is in the Follow-Up® for everything you wanted to know about follow-up, but were afraid to ask

The other follow-up strategy that she implemented was a regular and consistent e-newsletter, which I will tell you about next week.

Yours,

Heidi BK Sloss
Marketing Strategist & Follow-Up Expert
Best-Selling Author of Fortune is in the Follow-Up®
hsloss@heidisloss.com
www.heidisloss.com
650-248-1545

Alan Russell | Sr Loan Agent

Sunday, June 30, 2013