In my customer service talks, I refer often to a French word which was used commonly among French Creole store owners in Louisiana.

It was used like this: a customer would order five pounds of sugar for example. The store owner would fill his customer’s bag with the sugar and then add one additional scoop while saying “lagniappe” (which is French for “a little extra”). :p

This, I submit, is the essence of great service. Giving a little more than is expected, a little more than paid for, is lagniappe. It is part of the secret to great customer service.

Think of some of the examples of companies who do a little more than what is normally expected. Who comes to mind?

Doubletree Hotels, for one, offers a warm cookie to guests when they check in. Just a little extra; it is their lagniappe.

Infiniti dealers wash their customers’ cars when they bring them in for service. In the northwest, a tire company has customers drive for miles just to watch their sales reps literally run to the cars when they pull into the parking lot. It is lagniappe….not expected, but awfully welcome.

It can make a difference in owning and renting your clients.

Let me give you an example.

Recently I was asked to speak at a breakfast meeting to a group in Nashville. The meeting was in a part of Nashville that I was not familiar with and I wanted to stay in a hotel as near the meeting as I could find so as to avoid rush hour traffic. The Internet solved that problem and I found the Hotel Preston. The rooms looked nice and reasonable so I made a reservation.

I wasn’t necessarily impressed when I pulled into the parking lot, but that was going to change.

I checked into a nicely decorated room with an enormous, comfortable looking bed. On the bed was a card welcoming me and stating that they realize that a good night’s sleep is important after a long day and offered a “pillow menu” from which I could select my pillow type for my stay….firm, soft, medium, or hypoallergenic. A little extra!

Do you think I have told that story? You bet!

What is your lagniappe? What do you offer that is just a little more than your competitor?

Here are some tips:

Lagniappe doesn’t have to cost money! It can be something extra that simply gives something to your client. For example, when you find a new restaurant that you like, drop a client or two a note introducing them to your new favourite place. Do the same for a new wine or cheese that you have discovered a good movie, or hotel.
If you want to spend a little money on your client, pick up a gift certificate for a dessert or cocktail at the restaurant you discovered and send it with your note. (Don’t be surprised if you get an invitation to join your client for dinner there.) Make sure your visitors feel especially welcome when they come into your offices.
Also, lagniappe is best when little attention is called to it.
Try to avoid signing off your note with something like “This extra is brought to you by ABC Companies, where you always get something extra”. Don’t call attention to the little extra that you give. It will call attention to itself.
Find the little extra that you can give to your clients.
Surprise them occasionally. You are going to find that not only will they appreciate what you do for them, but they will tell their colleagues about what you do. This is the best form of advertising and costs you nothing. You’ll find a terrific relationship based upon your culture of “a little extra” and you’ll own your customer.

Well I was going through the “ASK Axel” mail box today and found a few questions that should be addressed, as it seems MANY of you are struggling with the same problems.
Let’s jump right in and solve these issues today…
————————-Question 1—————————–
“I just can’t get up the excitement I’m supposed to have about my or any MLM any more. I just don’t believe it is going to make it big where I live. My warm market is all exhausted and uninterested.
I know this is a blockage to the success of my business but if I don’t see results, how can I get enthusiastic? My upline is supportive but, in the end, I am alone with a couple of reps to inspire. Where do I even start?”
—————————————————————
You’re simply making excuses to justify your non-involvement for another reason. It could be fear of success, fear of being judged, or self-pity… I don’t know. But in the end your reasons are not reasons at all, they are excuses. Where you live has nothing to do with anything when you have access to the internet and I’m sure that you know that.
You can make excuses or you can make money, but you can’t do both.
Enthusiasm has nothing to do with it. It’s desire. Do you think I was enthusiastic when I was living in my crappy apartment with no furniture, and waiting table for 2 years while I earned my stripes?
Of course not. I hated every moment of it, but it’s that hate and fear of failure that drove me to do whatever it took. Enthusiasm had nothing to do with it.
The last part of your question is also a concern… “I am alone with a couple of reps to inspire.”
If you want to find yourself depressed and unmotivated, keep trying to inspire your reps.
That’s no your job or your responsibility. Becoming emotionally attached or involved with your rep’s success is a recipe for disaster because 90% of the people you sponsor will end up quitting.
The good news is that you only need to find 5 to 10 who won’t. They are the people who produce and they never need your inspiration… Just a great example to follow.
Be that example and you’ve won.
————————-Question 2—————————–
“The network marketing company that I’ve gotten into, which is ********, has very strict policies and procedures. Is the book going to tell me to do a bunch of stuff I’m not going to be allowed to do?”
—————————————————————–
I’ve written about this before and it still drives me nuts.
Why in the world would you choose to build a business with a company that doesn’t allow you to advertise when they are plenty that will?
It’s like you were given a set of rules to follow and you’ve just decided to accept them by default. I don’t know if this stems from a past employee mentality or what, but it doesn’t make any sense at all from a business standpoint.
You need to evaluate and join an opportunity based on actual business criteria, and not just because you think it’s a good idea or because you like the products.
This is marketing business. Remove the handcuffs. Find another company that will actually let you market and you’re taking one giant leap towards success
————————-Question 3—————————-
“Why is it that you still have people who don’t trust this business? Why and what about it do they see wrong that we see right? How could people let this kind of opportunity go.”
—————————————————————-
Here’s the real question… Why are you emotionally attached to their opinions and views?
Why do you care what they see or don’t see?
Why do you care what they say or do?
What do those people have to do with your life, your future, and your prosperity in any way at all?
Why are you wasting your time and emotional energy worry about what they think?
It just doesn’t matter.
Period.
You see, it takes ALL kinds of people to make the world go round.
When it comes to your pursuit to be an entrepreneur, 90% will NEVER agree with you, share your views, or support you.
Why?
Because entrepreneurs are leaders, and leaders only make up 10% of any given society.
The rest will either follow you because they aspire to be like you or have what you have, or they will resent you because they believe they can’t have it or don’t deserve it.
The bottom line is that you’re focusing on something that is completely irrelevant and just doesn’t matter at all.
When you’re finally willing to just let these people go… Just let them be who they are. You’ll start to attract others who are like you and see the world the way that you see it.
You’ll become a member of our growing little club where the world is filled with limitless possibility and abundance.
Let them be grumpy and wallow in self-doubt, pity, and fear.
The best thing you could ever do for them is to live out your life to it’s fullest potential, and the only way to do that is to approach your life without fearing what others say or think about you.
They are here to test you and to bring down the weak who dare to achieve great things.
So how do you win?
Easy…
Ignore them. They disappear
————————-Question 4—————————-
“Hi Axel my name is Tony and how do you get people to switch from typical shopping to catalog shopping or online?”
————————-Question 4—————————-
You don’t.
One of the hardest things in the world to do is to change the buying habits of a person.
That’s why all the big “internet malls” that plagued this industry during the .com boom fell on their faces.
You don’t try to change someone’s habits, you cater to their current ones.
That’s Marketing 101.
Could you imagine trying to get the average person who’s been shopping at the same grocery store for 10 years to start buying their food online?
It would never happen.
People are creatures of comfort and habit. It’s a safety instinct.
Trying to push someone out of that zone into new, unknown territory is, on an instinctual level, a very uncomfortable experience that has the potential to put them at risk in some way.
Find out what they do now, and just enhance that experience. Cater to their habits.
—————————————————
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s issue… It’s going to solve a BIG problem that you’re probably experiencing right now when it comes to lead generation.
Have a question?
Just use the “ASK Axel” box at the bottom of this page!
Best wishes,

ASK AXEL@millionaire-makers-international.com

1. The Four Emotions that Can Lead to Life Change by Jim Rohn
Emotions are the most powerful forces inside us. Under the power of emotions, human beings can perform the most heroic (as well as barbaric) acts. To a great degree, civilization itself can be defined as the intelligent channeling of human emotion. Emotions are fuel and the mind is the pilot, which together propel the ship of civilized progress.

Which emotions cause people to act? There are four basic ones; each, or a combination of several, can trigger the most incredible activity. The day that you allow these emotions to fuel your desire is the day you’ll turn your life around.

1) DISGUST
One does not usually equate the word “disgust” with positive action. And yet properly channeled, disgust can change a person’s life. The person who feels disgusted has reached a point of no return. He or she is ready to throw down the gauntlet at life and say, “I’ve had it!” That’s what I said after many humiliating experiences at age 25, I said. “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I’ve had it with being broke. I’ve had it with being embarrassed, and I’ve had it with lying.”

Yes, productive feelings of disgust come when a person says, “Enough is enough.”

The “guy” has finally had it with mediocrity. He’s had it with those awful sick feelings of fear, pain and humiliation. He then decides he is not going to live like this anymore.” Look out! This could be the day that turns a life around. Call it what you will, the “I’ve had it” day, the “never again” day, the “enough’s enough” day. Whatever you call it, it’s powerful! There is nothing so life-changing as gut-wrenching disgust!

2) DECISION
Most of us need to be pushed to the wall to make decisions. And once we reach this point, we have to deal with the conflicting emotions that come with making them. We have reached a fork in the road. Now this fork can be a two-prong, three-prong, or even a four-prong fork. No wonder that decision-making can create knots in stomachs, keep us awake in the middle of the night, or make us break out in a cold sweat.

Making life-changing decisions can be likened to internal civil war. Conflicting armies of emotions, each with its own arsenal of reasons, battle each other for supremacy of our minds. And our resulting decisions, whether bold or timid, well thought out or impulsive, can either set the course of action or blind it. I don’t have much advice to give you about decision-making
except this:

Whatever you do, don’t camp at the fork in the road. Decide. It’s far better to make a wrong decision than to not make one at all. Each of us must confront our emotional turmoil and sort out our feelings.

3) DESIRE
How does one gain desire? I don’t think I can answer this directly because there are many ways. But I do know two things about desire:

a. It comes from the inside not the outside.
b. It can be triggered by outside forces.

Almost anything can trigger desire. It’s a matter of timing as much as preparation. It might be a song that tugs at the heart. It might be a memorable sermon. It might be a movie, a conversation with a friend, a confrontation with the enemy, or a bitter experience. Even a book or an article such as this one can trigger the inner mechanism that will make some people say, “I want it now!”

Therefore, while searching for your “hot button” of pure, raw desire, welcome into your life each positive experience. Don’t erect a wall to protect you from experiencing life. The same wall that keeps out your disappointment also keeps out the sunlight of enriching experiences. So let life touch you. The next touch could be the one that turns your life around.

4) RESOLVE
Resolve says, “I will.” These two words are among the most potent in the English language. I WILL. Benjamin Disraeli, the great British statesman, once said, “Nothing can resist a human will that will stake even its existence on the extent of its purpose.” In other words, when someone resolves to “do or die,” nothing can stop him.

The mountain climber says, “I will climb the mountain. They’ve told me it’s too high, it’s too far, it’s too steep, it’s too rocky, it’s too difficult. But it’s my mountain. I will climb it. You’ll soon see me waving from the top or you’ll never see me, because unless I reach the peak, I’m not coming back.” Who can argue with such resolve?

When confronted with such iron-will determination, I can see Time, Fate and Circumstance calling a hasty conference and deciding, “We might as well let him have his dream. He’s said he’s going to get there or die trying.”

The best definition for “resolve” I’ve ever heard came from a schoolgirl in Foster City, California. As is my custom, I was lecturing about success to a group of bright kids at a junior high school. I asked, “Who can tell me what “resolve” means?” Several hands went up, and I did get some pretty good definitions. But the last was the best. A shy girl from the back of the room got up and said with quiet intensity, “I think resolve means promising yourself you will never give up.” That’s it! That’s the best definition I’ve ever heard: PROMISE YOURSELF YOU’LL NEVER GIVE UP.

Think about it! How long should a baby try to learn how to walk? How long would you give the average baby before you say, “That’s it, you’ve had your chance”? You say that’s crazy? Of course it is. Any mother would say, “My baby is going to keep trying until he learns how to walk!” No wonder everyone walks.

There is a vital lesson in this. Ask yourself, “How long am I going to work to make my dreams come true?” I suggest you answer, “As long as it takes.” That’s what these four emotions are all about.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Question:

What should one consider when it comes to investing in the Apartment markets (particularly Auckland and Wellington central)? My understanding is that investing in apartments are vastly different from investing in houses. What are the things that should be included in the evaluation of potential attractiveness of an apartment as passive cash-flow generator?

Answer:

The apartment market is certainly a niche market, that has many differences to other types of property. I live in an apartment, but have not yet bought one as an investment, although I have been looking into the possible opportunities. From my (limited) knowledge, here are a few things to consider:

- financing can be a big issue with apartments. Many lenders, especially banks, have different criteria for apartments, and you may (depending on the size etc of the apartment) find it more difficult to get high levels of finance (above 80%).

- a cost to be taken into account with apartments is body corporate fees. If these are high relative to the cost of the apartment, they can skew cashflow etc significantly even if yields seem high;

- each apartment block/building has it’s own body corporate, and some are wildly different in fee levels than others, so you need to find out the level of fees, what owners could have to contribute to in the future, and the ability of the BC to raise the fees etc;

- many apartments (especially near the Auckland waterfront) are leasehold - so you need to consider all the issues involved with such ownership rights - check the lease to see the lease amount you need to pay and how this can change/be raised in the future and to what levels etc;

- as apartments generally have little or no share in any land, even if property prices in general rise across the country, apartments may not experience the same capital gains - in a supply and demand market, an increase in available apartments could adversely affect your rental and consequently the value of your apartment;

NOW, do all these things mean that apartments are not a good investment? Certainly not. There was a very interesting article in the recent NZ property magazine about a Canadian immigrant who’s established a large portfolio founded mainly on small inner city apartments in Auckland, and he claims to have barely used any of his own money, even with lenders’ requirements for higher deposits on apartments. So like anything, just because the majority or the media may shy away, doesn’t mean that you couldn’t make money.

As always, it comes down to the numbers. With apartments there are other things to consider that will affect those numbers - but once you get that info, like always, run the numbers, and if they work for you and your investing goals/criteria, then jump on in!

Happy investing.

1. Publish testimonials for your free stuff. It would increase their value and if they’re viral marketing tools, you’ll have more people giving them away.

2. Give your visitors a good time so they will visit your web site again. Use a few jokes, humorous graphics and funny stories.

3. Make money from web sites that don’t have an affiliate program, by doing a joint venture. Set up the affiliate program through a third party for them.

4. Build rapport with your potential customers by teaching them something new. Provide them with free ebooks, articles, tips, courses, etc.

5. Allow your visitors to collect things from your web site so they will stop back again and again.
It could be a series of software, ebooks or articles.

6. Keep each page of your web site consistent or similar. Use similar text fonts, colors, graphics and background on every page.

7. Build a popular directory of freebies. It will draw tons of traffic to your web site and you can request that submitters place your link on their web site.

8. Create traffic generators that people can add to their site without doing all the work. It can be an article directory, freebie directory, web tool, etc.

9. Challenge your visitors to buy your product or service. People love a good challenge. Tell them if they can find a flaw you’ll give them a refund.

10. Form a strategic alliance with other related but non-competing businesses. You’ll be able to beat your competition by selling to a larger audience.

Quote of the Day:

“When you have too much month for you paycheck, then what you need to do is realize that there is abundance all around you and focus on the abundance and not your lack and as night follows day abundance will come to you.” — Sidney Madwed

Warm regards,

Your Belief Becomes Your Reality
By: Brian Tracy

The Determinant of Your Success
Perhaps the most powerful single factor in your financial success is your beliefs about yourself and money. We call this the Law of Belief. It says simply this: Whatever you believe, with feeling, becomes your reality. Whatever you intensely believe becomes your reality. That we have a tendency to block out any information coming in to us that is inconsistent with our reality.

What Successful People Believe
What we’ve discovered is that successful people absolutely believe that they have the ability to succeed. And they will not entertain, think about, or talk about the possibilities that they’ll fail. They do not even consider the possibility of failure.

Positive Thinking Versus Positive Knowing
You always act in a matter consistent with your beliefs. The most important belief system you can build is a prosperity consciousness where you absolutely believe that you are going achieve your financial goals. We call this positive knowing versus positive thinking. Positive thinking can sometimes be wishing or hoping. But positive knowing is when you absolutely know that no matter what, you will be successful.

The Foundation of Willpower
Another principle related to your beliefs is willpower. We know that willpower is essential to any success. Willpower is based on confidence. It’s based on conviction. It’s based on faith. It’s based on your belief in your ability to triumph over all obstacles. And you can develop willpower by persistence, by working on your goals, by reading the biographies of successful people, by listening to audio programs, by reading books about people who’ve achieved success. The more information you take into your mind consistent with success, the more likely it is that you will develop the willpower to push you through the obstacles and difficulties you will experience.

Beat the Odds on Success
Remember that success is rare. Only one person in one hundred becomes wealthy in the course of a lifetime. Only five percent achieve financial independence. That means that the odds against you are 19-to-1. The only way that you’re going to achieve your financial goals is if you get really serious. To succeed, you must get serious. You must get busy. You must get active. You must get going. Remember, everything counts.

Resolve to Achieve Greatly
Self-mastery, self-control, self-discipline are essential for anyone who wants to achieve greatly. And control over your thoughts is the hardest exercise in self-mastery that you will ever engage in. See if you can talk and think about only what you desire and not talk or think about anything that you don’t want for 24 hours. Then you’ll see what you’re really made of. It’s a hard thing to do but with practice, you can reach the point where you are thinking about your goals and desires most of the time. Then, your whole life will change for the better.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to build a belief system consistent with the financial success you desire:

First, continually repeat to yourself the words, pictures and thoughts consistent with your dreams and goals. Whatever you repeat often enough, over and over, becomes a new belief.

Second, set a goal for yourself to think and talk only about the things that you want for the next 24 hours. This will be one of the hardest things you ever do. But if you can keep your mind on what you want and off of what you don’t want for 24 hours, you can begin to change your entire future.

An independent overview of Transfer Factor by the American Medical Review



More Transfer Factor info

1. Sell more back end products to your existing customer base. You already created rapport, trust and proved your credibility to them.

2. Make it a practice to up sell to new and existing customers. After they decide to buy one product, offer them another product.

3. Cross promote your products and services with other businesses that aren’t competition. You will reach a wider audience at less cost.

4. Create joint venture deals with other businesses.You can expand your product line and target other profitable markets at a lower cost.

5. Start an affiliate program for your business. You will be able to spend less profits on risk advertising and spend more money on guaranteed sales.

6. Trade advertising with other businesses to save revenue. You could trade e-zine ads, banners ads, links, print ads, etc.

7. Out source part of your workload. This can save on employee costs, equipment costs, taxation costs, expansion costs, etc.

8. Add low cost bonuses to your offer that have a high perceived value. It could be ebooks, members only sites, consulting, e-reports, etc.

9. Use viral marketing to promote your business on the internet. Give away free stuff with your ad copy include on it so others can give it away.

10. Follow up with all your prospects. You can use a free e-zine, a follow-up autoresponder, an update or reminder list, etc.

Quote of the Day:

“The basic principle of turning ideas into big money is to seize every money building idea and work with it until the idea fits your purpose, decide on the steps needed to make it work, and then proceed to do it as soon as possible.” — Duane Newcomb

Warm regards,

Test Marketing Your Product or Service
By: Brian Tracy

Six Ways To Get Fast Feedback
How do you test market a product or service? How do you find out if people are actually going to buy it? First, make or get a prototype. Create or get a sample. If it’s being manufactured somewhere else, get a sample of it. If you’re going to manufacture it yourself, create a prototype so that you can show it, demonstrate it, photograph it. So that you can let people see it, touch it, feel it, and get an opinion from it.

Show It To Potential Buyers
When we brought the Suzuki 4-wheel drive vehicles into North America, we bought three of them. We brought them in and drove them around to about 20 or 30 dealerships and let people look at them, test drive them, see them, touch them, smell them, feel them. And went on to sell thousands and thousands of vehicles. So get a prototype or a sample. That’s the starting point.

Determine the Correct Prices
Second is get accurate prices and delivery dates from your suppliers. If you’re going to show the prototype or sample, if a person says how much is it, or how long will it take to get it, be sure that you have the answers.

Ask A Buyer
Number three is get a buyer’s personal opinion. In other words, go to somebody who you will want to buy the product or service and get their personal opinion. Say, would you buy this? And at what price could you sell it? And always call on the individual who makes the buying decisions. Always call on the person who can sign the check.

Compare Your Product With Others
Number four, compare your product or service with other products on the market. And be sure to ask this question, “Why would someone buy from you instead of from someone else?” Number five, if it’s a retail product, try a 1-store test. Go and see if you can’t find a store who will carry the product on a limited basis and see how customers respond to it. Try a 1-customer test. If it’s a product or service, try to find one customer who will use the product or service.

Start With A Great Idea
Now Ross Perot, when he started EDP Industries, only had a thousand dollars. He had a great idea that would cost an enormous amount of money to implement, and he was able to sell his first customer on paying him in advance for the services that he was going to sell them. With the money that he got in advance, he was able to deliver the services, to prove that they worked and that they were cost effective. And the rest is history. Ross Perot went on to build one of the most successful businesses in America.

Take It To A Trade Show
A sixth way to test market a product or service is take it to a trade show. There are 15,000 trade shows per annum all over the country. Sophisticated buyers go to trade shows and they will tell you rapidly whether or not you have a winner.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into practice.

First, get a sample or prototype of your product or service and show it to as many people as possible, especially to potential buyers. This will give you fast feedback that can be very helpful to you.

Second, look at all of the other competing products or services on the market and be very clear why someone would buy from you rather than continuing to buy from someone else. This can be the most important question you ask and answer.

1. Allow other e-zine publishers or web site owners to republish small nuggets or excerpts of information from your ebook with your byline or ad included.

2. Make extra profits from selling monthly updates of your ebook. You could also back end sell the extra never released chapters of your e-book.

3. Give away a free ebook and then give people an option of buying the paid version of the ebook. Also let others give away the free version of your ebook.

4. Divide your ebook content into reports then give people the option of just purchasing the info they want.

5. Purchase reprint rights to other people’s ebooks an combine them with your in a large package deal or private ebook library web site.

6. Change the benefits on your ebook ad copy into links. When people click on it take them right to the order page. It’ll give them a urge to buy your ebook.

7. Charge people a cheap price to read half of your ebook. If they like it, they can pay full price to read the other half.

8. Offer freebies that are related to the ebook your selling. It could be free monthly ebook updates, free e-zine, free consulting, etc.

9. Show your prospects a sample page out of your ebook. Just black out some of the important info. This will make your prospects curious to buy.

10. Provide a low and high priced version of your ebook. Show benefits of each version side by side. People usually spend a little more for extra info.

11. Offer the reprint rights to your ebook. You can sell the rights with the regular purchase price or as a separate higher price.

12. Make your ebook available for offline people. Your could turn it into a print book, report, video, audio book, print newsletter, etc.

13. Redesign your ebook for specific niches. You can create multiple profits with very little work. Ex: Turn a business ebook into a craft business ebook.

14. Give your prospects discount coupons on other products when they purchase your ebook. It could be your products or others that you made deals with.

15. Divide your ebook into online newsletter issues. You could charge a reoccurring monthly subscription for people to view each issue.

Quote of the Day:

“The day, water, sun, moon, night — I do not have to purchase these things with money.” — Titus Maccius Plautus

Warm regards,