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Routing Biz Success Via Franchising

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Accessibility of diverse business opportunities is creating a lot of confusion among aspiring entrepreneurs to zero down on a single business opportunity. To add to this confusion is the increasing trend among brands whether service or product to opt for franchise route for expansion. No doubt taking up a franchise business opportunity is always preferred over opting for an independent business, still it is difficult to zero down whether to get associated with service franchise brand or retail franchising one. Franchising provides all the know-how and expertise of running a business successfully, which an independent business can never provide. From selecting the right location to recruiting the staff and from designing the logo to creating a brand image, everything will be done by the business owner which in not a case with franchising. No doubt franchising is successful business formula yet selecting the right business opportunity needs lot of care.
Franchising is divided into two major categories: Business or service franchising and the second one is Retail franchising. The brands that are providing services to the consumers are called service franchises and the brands that are providing product or are selling products or merchandise from a retail outlet and is expanding via franchising is called retail franchising.
The major sectors or industries that may fall under service franchising include food and beverages, education, health and beauty, play schools and activity centres, pre-school education, IT education and training, business services, consumer services, car care services and school education.
Retail franchising mainly include industries like apparel, footwear, jewellery, pharmacies, FMCG, consumer durables, furniture, electronic goods, home appliances and so on.
Some factors need to be considered before taking up a final call on the franchise business opportunity by the aspiring entrepreneur. Right business selection would definitely decrease the risk of failure and would elevate the levels of success. The article presents some measures; if taken care of at the initial phase of selection of business opportunity, the percentage of success is higher at least, if not guaranteed.
Search and research: Talk to various business owners for experience and knowledge in the areas that interests you. Understand the need of the market and ask questions.

Analyse yourself: It is very important to find out if you are a business person or not. Write down on a paper describing why you want to take up the business opportunity at all. Know your marketing and sales qualities and understand your family obligations.

Check your finances: Take a note on the kind of investment you can make. After having analysed the budget search for the business opportunities that suits you.

Check business model: Search for various business models available in the market. Make your mind if you would like to opt for franchising or independent business.

Select right industry: Having short-listed the industry for which you want to take up a business talk to experts and gather as much information as possible. Evaluate the opportunity in terms of investment required in terms of money and market value of the brand.

Take financial assistance: Talk to your accountant about income and profit projections made by the franchisors and talk to a solicitor about the franchise agreement.

Zero down on a wise decision: Analyse everything before taking up a final call. As you will be putting in your hard earned money in the business so do not just rush into the decision. Be 200 per cent sure, before making an investment.

Conclusion:
The availability of diverse business opportunities in franchising as well retail franchising on one hand offers plenty of prospects where as on the other creates lot of confusion, leading to lot of confusion. A self analysis followed by adequate search and research is the best foot forward for right business opportunity.

How To Structure A Sales Letter

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When your livelihood is writing sales copy for online and offline businesses, it’s absolutely crucial that your copy converts, or your clients simply won’t come back! A huge proportion of my work is repeat business, and a big reason for that is because over the last 7 years or so, I’ve developed a formula that works over and over again, for any product I’m asked to sell.

So if you can’t afford to hire a sales letter copywriter like myself, then here’s my formula for writing a profit-pulling, high-converting sales letter-

STEP #1 – The Headline

Sure, it’s a pretty obvious one, but it’s arguably the most important part of any sales letter, so neglect it at your peril! The fact is, if you want your prospect to remain on your sales page once they’ve landed on it, then your headline needs to grab their attention straightaway, and keep them reading down to-

STEP #2 – The Sub-Headline

As well as the headline, it’s also a good idea to include a sub-headline, too. This allows you to expand on the main benefit of your product offer, or even include another major benefit as well. A sub-headline essentially gives you room to include powerful pulls, without making the headline waffle on too long!

STEP #3 – Address The Prospect’s Problems

At the beginning of the main body copy, you need to address the BIG PROBLEM (the reason why the prospect is on your page in the first place), and then make it crystal clear that you’ll be providing a SOLUTION to this problem very soon. A popular method of doing this is to ask a few questions, like -do you wish that you could lose 10 lbs?- (for a fat loss product), or -are you fed up with always being broke?- (for a business opportunity or make money online type of product).

STEP #4 – Talk About The Benefits Of Your Product

After you’ve addressed the prospect’s main problem(s), then you need to make it clear that YOUR product will offer the solution they’ve been looking for, and if they stick around for a little while longer, you’ll reveal precisely what it is! This is the perfect place to list some of the main benefits of the product, in order to whet their appetite a little and keep them reading.

STEP #5 – Reveal Who You Are And Why You’re Qualified To Help

Naturally, If you’re reading a piece of sales copy and thinking about buying the product in question, then you’ll want to know who the product creator is, and whether or not they’re actually qualified to help you. So at this point you need to introduce yourself to the reader, and reveal your qualifications and experience. Only by doing this will you be able to build trust and credibility in the minds of your readers – a crucial thing to consider when it comes to selling anything online.

STEP #6 – Reveal The Product!

After you’ve addressed the prospect’s problems, listed some of the main benefits of your offer, and introduced yourself, the reader should now be very keen on finding out exactly what the product is. And this is the point at which you should reveal the product, and explain exactly how it’s going to help provide a solution to their problem.

STEP #7 – Build Value

Once you introduce the product, you should then be working on building value. This can be done by splitting up the product package into individual components, and assigning a value to each one of them, which when added together, far exceed the actual price. By the time the prospect reaches the order button, your product should represent a huge bargain.

STEP #8 – Include Bonus Products

Another great way to increase perceived value is to add free bonuses to the product package, which of course, must be strongly related to the main product. Including a bonus or two is a great way to convince -fence-sitters- to take the plunge and click on the buy button!

STEP #9 – The Price

After you’ve revealed exactly what the prospect will receive with their product package, it’s time to hit them with the price! And as I said, the price you list must appear very cheap at this stage, which it will (if you’ve done a good job of adding perceived value)!

STEP #10 – Include A Money-Back Guarantee

These days, it’s absolutely crucial that you include a money-back guarantee with your product, because it demonstrates that you have absolute faith in what you’re selling. More importantly though, it reduces the risk of buying, and therefore, makes it far more likely that the customer will go ahead with the purchase.

STEP #11 – Include A Post-Script Or Three!

At the end of the sales letter, it’s vital that you add a post-script, because studies have shown that after the headline, this is the most read section of any piece of sales copy! Therefore, you need to include the main selling points and benefits of the product. In short, if a prospect were to ONLY read the post-script, it needs to be strong enough to convince them to go back and read more!

And there you have it-

My 11-point sales letter copywriting formula!

Now, of course, this isn’t the ONLY sales letter formula that you can use, but it’s certainly a good one to go with if you’re not sure how to go about writing sales copy. And hey, if you want to sidestep all of the hard work and just get a professional direct response copywriter to do it for you, then feel free to get in touch!

Resource Box:

Plan an Electrifying Start to Your Information Technology Industry Career

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It seems that most people these days have a friend, relative or neighbor in the Information Technology industry. One could be forgiven for concluding that this popularity is a product of a well known process supplying the Information Technology industry with rejuvenated stock year in and year out. Nothing could be further from the truth, approximately 70,000 searches a month for the keywords Information Technology Career or similar variances on Google alone validate this claim.

Even with a University degree many graduates find themselves lost and confused about their career path. The problem that graduates face is that Information Technology is a broad description encompassing any and all industries involved with the storage, processing or delivery of information. Telecommunications specialists and hardware technicians alike call themselves “IT” professionals despite very different training and skill sets. As do developers, business analysts, help desk consultants, web designers and database administrators just to name a few others.

In an industry where knowledge is rewarded, opportunity awaits savvy students and trainees who focus their training sooner rather than later. Take our two example students whom Ive very imaginatively called Student#1 and Student#2.

Student #1 wasnt sure where his IT education might take him. He is bright and cruised through his course producing the following impressive results.

2007 High School Graduate
2010 Information Technology Degree (6.1 of a maximum 7 GPA)

Good results are great. But can we raise the bar without improving on the GPA?

Student #2 researched the industry very early into his degree; he spoke with appropriate parties including recruitment agencies and other IT professionals. He even volunteered for three weeks of work experience in his field of choice. He continued on a focused career track throughout his time at university and at the end of his degree his final portfolio of achievements looked like this;

2007 High School Certificate
2008 Systems Administrator (3 week work experience) Company XYZ
2009 Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Self Study
2009 Professional Membership AITP (Association of Information Technology Professionals)
2010 Information Technology Degree (5.6 of a maximum 7 GPA)
Major Infrastructure Technologies
Major Network Technologies

Student #2 focused his efforts towards a Systems Administrator role three years before he was scheduled to finish his degree. Apart from the additional experience he was able to get a first hand insight into the industry and learned that an MCP certification would be a valuable asset to his job hunting arsenal. Additional research also led him to join a professional association. Even his university degree shows clear intent and when you compare his achievements with Student#1 he looks a much stronger candidate despite a lower University GPA.

This is an example of well planned career development. The Information Technology industry excels in presenting unique opportunities and this is no exception. Forward thinkers and innovators stand up and get noticed Will you cruise through your studies or are you taking the bull by the horns?

Jumeirah Group Announces New Appointments For The Sales Team At Their Dubai Hotels

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The Jumeirah Group has announced the appointments of several new sales team members in the city of Dubai.

The Dubai-based company specialises in operating luxury properties for travellers seeking luxurious Dubai holidays as well as hotels and resorts in major cities all over the world including London, New York, Shanghai, the Maldives and Frankfurt.

It has been revealed that Daniel Weihrauch will be joining the hotel group as the new Director of Cluster Sales in Dubai. Weihrauch has worked within the luxury holidays sector for years and previously held roles at Kempinski Hotels and Resorts in Germany and Jumeirah hotels in Dubai and New York. His most recent role was at IHG, where he worked as the Director of Sales and Marketing at InterContinental Phoenicia Beirut in Lebanon.

The Austrian national, Katja Graf, has been promoted to Director of Sales Leisure in Dubai and has 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry in Europe and the Middle East. She previously worked for the InterContinental Hotels Group in Vienna and Dubai and she was the Business Development Manager for Atlantis, The Palm Dubai.

Olinda Morais is the new Director of Sales, Groups & Events Conversion, Dubai and she has worked for Hilton in France, Brazil and Venezuela, as well as the Madinat Jumeirah The Arabian Resort.

Jan Kaspar Rienermann has worked for the Jumeirah Group since 2005 and is the new Director of Sales, Groups & Events, Dubai. The German national was the Cluster Associate Director of Sales for Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts in 2009.

Jad Doumet is now the Director of Sales, GCC & Government, Dubai and he has plenty of experience working for Dubai hotels after his time at the Armani Hotel, Dubai as the Director of Sales; Crowne Plaza Dubai as the Director of Sales in 2009; and InterContinental Dubai Festival City as the Senior Account Manager.

Jumeirah boasts a portfolio of upscale hotels, resorts and high end properties for luxury holidays in Dubai and cities across the world.

Some of the groups most famous hotels in Dubai include the Burj Al Arab with its iconic ship sail structure, fleet of Rolls Royce vehicles and 24-hour butler service; Jumeirah Emirates Towers with 400 rooms and suites, 15 bars and restaurants and private beach access; and Madinat Jumeirah the Arabian Resort with two boutique hotels and Courtyard summer houses, 44 restaurants and bars, and two kilometres of pristine private sandy beach.

Do You Have What’s Needed To Be A Successful Salesman

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So you have decided to go into sales, first you need to make yourself a very important question: do I really want to do this for a living? On the answer to this question depends your future as a salesman. Know the eight key factors that will help you discover if sales really is for you.

1. Determine why you want to be a salesman. If you were in a conversation with someone and you were asked: ‘Why do you want to go into sales?’ what would you answer? A lot of people answer that money is their motivation, and quite frankly that’s not the best answer. If this is your case, be careful! If all you want is money and you’re not doing something you really like, it’ll be twice as difficult for you to get the economic rewards you want. Remember: money is only a consequence, a byproduct. If you set yourself to do something you really like, something you fell passionate about, then everything you see, read, listen to, study and do you will do it with joy, hence you’ll be very good at it and money will find its way to you.

2. Can you easily reject other professions? Don’t be distracted and focus. What would happen if in this very moment you were faced with an alternative to perform a professional activity other than sales? Would you take it? If your answer is ‘no’ then you have taken the best choice. Commit yourself to what you like to do. Don’t waste your time in other activities you’re not really interested in.

3. Know your strengths and exploit them. It’s always better to develop a person’s strengths than trying to complement his or her weaknesses. Try to identify your strengths and devote yourself to develop, grow and perfect them. If selling is your vocation, this is the most effective way to become a notable sales professional with excellent economic results.

4. Dedicate yourself to what you really like. Where there’s joy there’s success. Consider how satisfied you are with the professional activity your performing now and evaluate if this is really what you wish for. If it’s not then it might be worth it to change the path. Many times we can have what we want right under our noses, but we go out some other place looking for it. Ask yourself: what I do right now, is it really what I dream of doing?

5. Learn the secrets of great salesmen. There are four characteristics that define the best:
* Passion for selling. This is the inner strength generated by a person when he or she is motivated and commitment to his or her activity. Passion and conviction go hand in hand.
* Persistence. You must be able to achieve what you want and avoid giving up at first sight of hardship or failure.
* Ambition. A salesman who is not ambitious is not a winner. You must have the profound desire to discover, keep and broaden prospects and clients.
* Preparedness. A salesman who does not know how to sell and doesn’t know his or her product will definitely not be successful. He or she might have passion, might be persistent and ambitious but if the client asks for a comparison with a competing product and the salesman doesn’t have enough information or doesn’t possess the skills to do it then the previous traits will be of no use.

6. Recognize in yourself a successful salesman. Successful salesmen are successful because:
* They have clear, honest and ethical ambitions.
* They know the best techniques and have the necessary skills.
* They take interest in the success of all three: the client’s, the company’s and his own.
* They don’t have to be salesmen, they want to be salesmen!
The causes salesmen fail can be found in the following five:
* They are not doing what they want to do.
* They feel obligated or forced to be in sales.
* They lack interest in the well-being of his or her prospects or clients.
* They are not prepared and are not honest to themselves.
* Because they have to be and don’t want to be.

7. Are you willing to have a 24×7 workweek? If you’re willing to be ‘in touch’ with your clients 24 hours a day 7 days a week then you’re on the right path. If you’re not then you might be better off doing something else, not sales. Dare to seize every opportunity you get to contact new prospects but don’t just forget about the ones you already have. New prospects can help generate new sales, but if you are careful and build relationships with your current prospects and clients they are sure to generate sales after sales month after month.

8. The power of professional and economic rewards. Remember that when you love what you do, success, fame and fortune become natural consequences, not the objective. If this is not your case, look for you passion, your vocation and pursue self fulfillment in that field or activity, If you do then life will be more fun, more prosperous and with less visits to the doctor.