InvestIdeas

Advice for Selling to Boomers By Craig Ballantyne

One of my mentors recently gave this advice on selling high-priced products to men over 50.

He said it was okay to share as long as his identity was kept secret. Enjoy!

"If you’re selling to the leading aged boomers and above, particularly if they are more Conservative than Liberal, then they are all having this conversation every night about their adult children and the state of society in general.

They believe most people are lazy and society is crumbling. You don’t have to put it in their heads. It’s going on all the time.

So all you have to do is link to it by:
a) Flattery that this thing you are offering is only for them because they have classic American values such as a good work ethic, ambition, and opportunity, while the young ‘uns are too dumb and lazy and too busy playing their video games to even pay attention to it;
b) A nostalgic link of any similar offers. For example, “This investment harkens back to…”

That approach also works."

Source: ETR

This is the #1 secret to achieving financial security

by Mark Ford

Source: Palm Beach Research Group

http://thecrux.com/mark-ford-this-simpl ... last-year/

This is the #1 secret to achieving financial security

by Mark Ford

Source: Palm Beach Research Group

http://thecrux.com/mark-ford-this-simpl ... last-year/

"A business is successful to the extent that it provides a product or service, that contributes to happiness in all of its forms."

-- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Two Lessons From the Co-Founders of Staples

Thomas G. Stemberg co-founded Staples in the '80s. He passed away recently from stomach cancer at the age of 66. He envisioned a Toys ‘R’ Us or Home Depot for office supplies. That’s how Staples was born.

But his business was poorly named. "I’m thinking about names,” he recalled in an interview with Fortune Small Business in 2002. “Pencils? Pens? 8 ½-by-11? Staples? Staples! Staples the Office Superstore. That was it. The bad thing about the name was that when we started out, we had to explain to everybody what it was.”

His advice for young entrepreneurs? Find growing markets in which they could distinguish their new ventures, but he also urged them to learn people skills and management fundamentals, like motivating their employees, from a well-run company.

“There are the rare birds like Bill Gates who have the talent to succeed without experience,”he told Inc. magazine last year. “But they’re like the guys who go straight to the NBA out of high school. Works for some, but for the vast majority, it doesn’t.”

Source: NYTimes.com

Self-made millionaire: 15 ways to boost your charisma

by Mark Ford

Source: Creating Wealth

http://thecrux.com/15-ways-to-boost-you ... -business/

"The value decade is upon us.

If you can't sell a top-quality product at the world's lowest price, you're going to be out of the game."

-- Jack Welch

The richest man in private equity has one piece of advice for entrepreneurs, and it's not what you would expect By Lucinda Shen

I told him there's nothing wrong with expanding, but you have to do it totally in your comfort zone....

Don't go into something you actually don't know much about, in the hopes that you're going to get really financially successful and rewarded.... even though people think you're like terrific."

Source: Business Insider

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/richest-m ... 00180.html

Who is this for? By Seth Godin

Who is the product for? What do they believe? Who do they trust? What do they seek? What are they afraid of?

Most inventors and marketers start with what they have (the stuff) and try to work backward to the 'who is it for' question.

It makes a lot more sense to go the other direction.

Identify a set of fears, dreams and attitudes and then figure out what sort of story fits that lock in a way that delights the consumer. Then go build that.

Source: ETR

Forget stocks and bonds… This is the most important financial move to make in 2016

by Mark Ford

Source: Palm Beach Research Group

http://thecrux.com/heres-your-1-financi ... -for-2016/