21st Century Marketing

Live the Outsourced Lifestyle - Outsourcing to the Philippines - part 2

2012-04-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

If you've read Tim Ferris's book the 4 Hour Work week you probably did it with some sense of doubt. If you are like me you probably wondered if Tim's story of outsourcing everything could actually be factual.

But I did know a few things Tim wrote about first hand...

I'm not very good at building web pages - making squeeze pages - writing blogs - doing database entries - sending out email broadcasts - scrubbing lists - doing graphic design.

I think that's good - because it reinforces what I - and you - already know. I need to be concentrating on working on my business - not in my business.

So I started doing some research. I learned there is a world of labor alternatives that are equally or better qualified to handle many of the tasks I try to do myself for a fraction of what I could get the same task done in the US.

It's cheaper to outsource to the Philippines - China - India - at least for now - for many tasks we as Entrepreneurs should not be trying to do ourselves.

This Blog will focus on the Philippines. I'll talk about others later.

You can outsource all the tasks in your business that you KNOW you should not be investing your time in for $2.50 an hour to $5.00 an hour in the Philippines. Much of the labor force has extensive US employment experience already.

And in the Philippines - unlike many parts of the world unfortunately - they still like the US - a lot.

Lest you assume we are taking advantage of people please understand the cost of living differences. In the Philippines $5,800 is the average annual income...and you can live on that because costs are so much lower.

In fact a lot of US citizens are retiring to the Philippines for that very reason - this link - http://www.ibourl.com/n73 is all about that

Here is a recently salary survey for the Philippines - it's very revealing http://www.ibourl.com/o60

Motorola - Yahoo - Siemans - Dell - InTuit - and scores of other large US companies have trained a lot of the workforce. Many of the Virtual Assistants that we hire used to work for one of those companies.

So what is the appeal of working for - say - Bill Bateman instead of Motorola? The Philippine Virtual Assistant can have some flexibility of hours and can work from home. Not only that because of the competitive labor market my $3.50 an hour may well be a significant raise.

Here's a USA Today article http://www.ibourl.com/o5z that talks about the Philippine work force.

There are 2 models that are common in outsourcing to the Philippines. One is the model that one of my partners Davin Michaels follows - and he has clients like Mark Victor Hanson and Les Brown. In his 123Employee model - you can see it here - http://www.ibourl.com/maf - Davin tightly controls the entire work process for you.

The Virtual Assistant you get through 123 is Davin's employee - not yours. He takes the responsibility and accountability issues away from you. However the pricing starts around $5 an hour.

The 2nd model is the one my associate John Jonas follows. With his company "ReplaceYourself" John teaches everything you need to hire your own VA in the Philippines. He tells you where to find the employees - how they are paid - cultural issues you should be aware of - everything.

The downside of this model is that YOU are responsible - these are your employees. The upside is that you have 50 to 100% lower cost than you do under the first model.

Are you still with me?...

John's done a great Facebook webinar for me that will tell you the whole story - www.ibourl.com/o5u is the link to get yourself up to speed.

With both models you can hire part time to start to gain experience.

Both of these are affiliate programs with 2 tiers. What that means is if you like you can join me in getting the message out and earning a fee just like I do. To join the affiliate program you do not need to be an Philippine employer but somehow I bet eventually you will be.

To your success - Bill Bateman

Could Outsourcing be the solution to your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) goals?

2012-03-29T19:00:00.001-07:00

Could your business be the master of Google - Yahoo - Bing?

Want to be the business "magnet" that grabs attention of both eyeballs & web spiders and then leapfrogs ahead of the competition? The attraction leader for people searching for what you do?

I'm guessing you know that good SEO will bring visitors to your site, customers to your doors, money into your bank accounts. Problem is it can also cost you a bunch.

What's worse is that unless you know what YOU are doing it's easy to be deceived by somebody who - unfortunately in many cases - only knows a little more than you do about the science and the art of SEO.

How do you know if they are doing the work they are billing you for? How do you know if the results you are getting is on par with the amount you are investing?

Some of the best tactics for SEO can be pretty labor intensive. Using Social Media like Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, YouTube, Google+, Digg, Reddit, MySpace, LinkedIn and a couple dozen potential others takes time.

Then there are pushing out press releases, writing EZines and/or articles. All the basics of SEO are not rocket science but they are time consuming. If your time is worth more than $5 or $6 an hour - you're a candidate for outsourcing.

So what if you could outsource all your SEO to a company that had trained, low cost SEO expertise?

Better yet what if you had guarantees?

You have to have a workforce trained in SEO and all it's pieces and parts.

Take article writing for example...

Article marketing can give your online or offline business a huge boost in the search engines if the articles are written correctly, posted correctly and the proper keyword research is done ahead of time.

But...

outsourcing article marketing can be a disaster if the employees are not properly trained. When they are, you can save your company a boatload of cash utilizing the reduced manpower rates of an outsourcing firm. Researching, writing and posting can take lots of time. You can find free directories to post to from the web - it's a critical method of SEO and needs to be done - but again it is time consuming.

Cutting the costs of labor is the real key. But low cost labor still must be properly trained.

Have we said "trained" enough?

That's where we come in.

Our partners at 123Employee stay up to date on all the most current Internet SEO techniques. With the speed of changes online your have to have employees that are keeping up all the time. We do.

Our people ARE trained in keyword research, placement and densities to maximize your website's performance in the search engines. They stay on top of the upcoming trends. They are affordable - dependable - appreciative of their job and monitored onsite.

You get to save money on labor while you make money by boosting your websites in the search engines.

You knew this kind of service was out there - you just didn't know where to look - now you do.

Not long ago - Twitter - Facebook - YouTube - didn't exist. MySpace flashed big then all but disappeared. That was yesterday. Today Pinterest is the rage - tomorrow who knows. Can you & your staff keep you on top of all the upcoming trends?

I couldn't either - that's when I went looking and found 123Employee. Davin and his crew are some of the best in the world of outsourcing. Mark Victor Hansen - Les Brown and many others use 123 - to learn more and get your free guide on outsourcing to the Philippines - Click HERE - you'll be glad you did.

Now that is Pinteresting

2012-03-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

73 million people - over 80% female - are driving Social Media Site "Pinterest" up the Alexa Rankings and on to the radar of every marketing person in the world.

Pinterest uses what amounts to a virtual bulletin board that allows it's pinners to track all kinds of things - companies, automobiles, homes, motivational speakers, internet marketers, Presidents, Shoes, Golf Courses

You get the idea

I suspect that the female demographic will be diluted at some point - I know I'm doing my part.

Pinterest does not have - at least yet - the ability to communicate directly with others on the platform. Maybe it never will. You can comment but it's not interactive like a Facebook or Twitter. So you can follow people and you can follow "Pins" or any combination. If you like something

So, how can you use Pinterest in your business? Remember the Dan Kennedy motto "match message to market" What does your target clientele tend to like?

With many industries it's obvious. If you run a bakery your clients like cupcakes, bread, muffins, croissants - etc.

For other businesses Pinterest may not be a good fit at all. If your target market is a whiplash victim that was just involved in a car accident in the last 72 hours - this may not be a good media to use.

If you're convinced that you can or want to try using Pinterest it's very easy to use.

After you open your account you create what Pinterest calls "boards" for each of the areas in areas that might interest your prospects.

Let's say you sell Travel Insurance to people that Ski. A board to that audience would include some ski resorts in great locations. Maybe some articles on contrast of snow on skiing the Alps versus the Rockies. Another article "pinned" might be an article on what to look for in a travel medical insurance policy.

Again borrowing from Dan Kennedy you are endeavoring to position you as the expert. Keep that in mind when adding or subtracting from your boards.

You are also going to want - if this is for business - to have one or multiple pins that have your website or blog address. That way you are leveraging the enormous traffic of Pinterest.

Could Pinterest be a gold mine for your business? Hard to say at this point but no doubt it's traffic alone makes it worth checking out.

There will be multiple "Pinterest Gurus" popping up that will ask you to pay them way to much - buyer beware. This is an infant among Social Media and as such a lot of "Guru's" will just be someone who's spent a couple hours studying.

Pinterest has a lot of appeal for any business that is marketing to that female demographic that is currently most of the audience.

Happy Pinning

PS - email me if you need an invite - eventually it will easier to join than it is right now

Stay "Alert" to new business opportunities

2012-03-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Google Alerts is one of those free tools you have in the Google platform that you tend to forget you have and - since you are not paying for it you probably forget to use it.

From Google - "Google Alerts are emails sent to you when Google finds new results -- such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs -- that match your search term. You can use Google Alerts to monitor anything on the Web"

If you are in a particular recruiting agents for a particular insurance company you may want to set up an alert about a competitor company that you know recruits the same type of agents you recruit.

Network Marketing products and programs are another example of business that can make laser specific use of Alerts.

If you have a product or service that might be useful to a particular industry or type of business you can use alerts to find likely prospects. Most "mainstreet" businesses could use Alerts to find more business - for the investment of a little time.

Here are some examples...

I want to sell LeadNetPro to other network marketing companies representatives. It gives them a perfect tool to find prospects and - it they like - they can resell the product to their own downline. I set up a Google alert for "SendOutCards distributor" just those 2 words - and I set up the alert to only "news". Now when an SOC distributor is mentioned in a news article - and it's a huge number - I get an alert - frequently with all their contact information.

Same Product - LeadNetPro - different target. This product also is excellent at generating leads for agents that sell worksite benefits. So my Google alert might be "AFLAC agents" or "Colonial Insurance Agents".

Experiment with singular or plural or set up an alert for each. You may get a little different results from "Agents" versus "Agent".

Spend a little time with this great free tool and you will find an endless source of new leads.

How to generate Online Traffic

2012-03-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

I'm a neophyte when it comes to generating traffic online. Especially compared to the "big boys" of online marketing - like Jeff Johnson. Jeff's made a lot of money online and he's also shown many others how to do what he's doing now. He teaches what's working now - not last year or 3 years ago.

He works with a small group and because he's done so well this is the last time he's going to offer his Lifetime Membership Upgrade - so don't delay. Like a really good Dentist who has to stop taking new patients at some point - Jeff's near that point.

The online principals translate well for Insurance and Financial Planners - who are my primary clients - they work equally well for people who work online selling information products or almost any type of brick and mortar business.

Just because I'm a fan as well as a student of Jeff's I "swiped" his email offer pretty much verbatim (with his permission) - I'm also a fan of great sales copy. So read and learn and by all means take advantage of Jeff's free offer.

Here's the email you might have received from me

Your free Nonstop Traffic Formula Cheat Sheets 2.0 are ready for download

Grab your free copy here
Jeff also created a new video tutorial for you.

He literally takes you by the hand and personally walks you
through… step-by-step… his best “Nonstop Traffic” Strategies
that are so powerful… even Google couldn’t stop you if they wanted
to.

Your free Nonstop Traffic Formula Cheat Sheets version 2.0 lay it
all out for you in a step-by-step fashion.

He’s definitely delivering some rock-solid content.

Grab your free cheat sheets and check out the video here:
Bill Bateman

P.S.

Just so you know…

Jeff’s proven Nonstop Traffic Formula can literally bring you
boatloads of highly-targeted traffic… most of it free… starting
today, right now… and he’s willing to prove it to you by just flat-
out giving you the Cheat Sheets and training videos for free.

It won’t cost you a penny to get started… your Nonstop Traffic
Formula Cheat Sheets and Training Videos version 2.0 are Free and
yours to keep forever.

He even shows you exactly how to implement his entire Nonstop
Traffic Formula using nothing but free traffic-getting tools and free
websites.

Grab your free copy here

Growing your business 3 ways

2012-03-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a Glazer-Kennedy local chapter meeting here in Albuquerque where once again I was reminded of a basic of business. Just thought I'd repeat this as an exercise for you to consider in your business....

The premise is there are only 3 real ways to grow a business

#1 - Grow the number of customers you are serving

Here's a quick list of ways to find New Customers/Clients

Direct Response Mail, Broadcast Telemarketing, One on one Telemarketing, Newsletter marketing, Search Engine Optimization to drive traffic to web page, email marketing to drive traffic to website - or to create inbound phone calls, Referrals - (must have a system), Joint Ventures, Banner Ads online, CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) ads on & offline

#2 - Increase the Average Sale per customer and/or help your customers buy MORE products/services from you

Can you "add fries" to the order? McDonald's learned long ago to ask for the add on sale with a simple "do you want fries with that?" Later they packaged meal eliminated the need to even ask the question. What other products or services do your clients need that you can help them with? I'm an Insurance Company Manufacturer's Rep - I recruit agents to sell Life Insurance for several companies. Over time I teach agents to sell larger policies, then go back and ask their customers to "add on" Disability Income Protection, Long Term Care Insurance, Critical Illness Protection and 11 other lines of insurance. Over time I also realized my same agents needed auto-responders, Websites, birthday cards for their clients and blogging services. I sell them those too.

#3 - Increase the frequency of purchase and/or the longevity of your client

Can you get your client to send 1 direct mailing a day instead of 1 a week? Can you get your customer to visit your restaurant twice a month instead of once? In the insurance business - since we are usually paid a renewal commission when a policyholder continues to pay their insurance - retention is a big way we can increase the "frequency".

This one may take some thought but almost every business has a frequency "multiplier" they can find and take advantage of.

Let's review - Any of these 3 things will build your business, however learn to implement all 3 and you can see that seemingly "viral" thing happen where business explodes. Now go get your yellow pad, close yourself in a room for 20 minutes and brainstorm.

Bill Bateman - 21st Century Financial

Online Lead Generation

2011-11-11T07:33:00.001-08:00

LeadNetPro is an online "power tool" for generating leads....well online

If you go to the link you can view a 4 minute video that demonstrates a real time lead generation "extraction"

At the core of this online tool is a powerful "web crawler" - you tell it what you want online and it "crawls" - at what seems like light speed through the directory you tell it to. You can tell your online "Robot employee" to search YellowBook - MerchantCircle - Google - Yahoo - Craigslist or Backpage.

Those are the United States choices - Their are some differences for Australia - United Kingdom and Canada

In Canada it's Google Canada - Canada Directory or Craigslist Canada

In the UK it's Google UK - UK Directory or Craigslist UK

In the land down under it's Google Australia - Australia Directory or Craigslist Australia

It puts the emails and the phone numbers in an Excel Spreadsheet - one spreadsheet for emails - one for phone numbers. Now LeadNetPro got these from commercial websites SO.... you can call them and/or email them without violating can spam or do not call!

But wait - there's more...

LeadNetPro also contains a powerful automated dialing function. You simply upload your list - record your message to your audience - or pay someone with a better voice to do it - tell the system whether you want it to give your message only to live people - only to answering services - or both. The system charges you 1.8 cents per minute billed in 6 second increments - so a 30 second message would cost less than a penny.

5,000 thirty second calls would cost you $45!

So how would you use this tool? First of all don't be boring on montone and secondly understand that this is very much a numbers game.

Here are a few ideas from real list campaigns

Commercial Property Casualty Agent

This is Randy Weist from the Steidley agency and we are auditing Workers Compensation rates for Albuquerque General Contractors. Because we've found in this economy - more than ever - Contractors are overpaying on their Workmen's Compensation Rates. If you'd like to know how much we can save you just hit the 7 key now to be transferred to our office.

Worksite Benefits Broker

Hi - This is Cecelia Webb - Webb Insurance - and I apologize for the impersonal nature of this call but we wanted to get the word out quickly to Albuquerque Non Profits about how Obamacare will be affecting your healthcare on January 1st. If you are not sure if your in compliance with all the new regulations just enter the 7 key now to be transferred to our office.

Church Elder

This is Bill Bateman with Sandia Presbyterian and I just wanted to remind you that we will be having a general meeting on Tuesday the 7th at 6 PM in the Family Living Center. The dinner menu is hamburgers and hot dogs and we will be voting on upcoming changes so we'd love to see you and your family there. You can contact the church at 856-5040 if you need more information and may God bless you and yours

Dentist Office

Hi this is Charley Eklund your dentist and my staff just told me that we haven't seen you for a checkup in over a year. We know the economy is a little tough right now so we are offering a holiday special for check-ups and cleaning - please enter the 7 key on your phone and we'll give you all the details.

Independent Insurance Agent to current client

Hi this is Joe Alvarez from Poms Insurance. Just wanted to say thank you for your business insurance and remind you that we have recently started offering Dental Insurance at very affordable rates. If you would like more information just hit the 7 key on your phone and I'll give you all the details.

HERE's what LeadNetPro Won't do - It won't sell anything for you - it's a tool. And it won't SEND emails for you. You have multiple choices besides sending them the old fashion way from your own email account.

One of my favorites - especially for higher volumes - is HyperMail - they offer a free trial last I know.

The cost - sorry - almost forgot - LeadNetPro is very affordable - $399 is the set up fee and - If you call me at 505-450-1574 I'll schedule a free consultation in November to help you set up or answer any questions. The ongoing monthly cost if $19.95 - less than the cost of 1 good quality internet lead that's probably been sold to 3 different agents.

PS - we are looking for resellers - if you have client's that could benefit from this tool you can make some extra revenue referring them - call me for details

2011-11-11T07:00:00.001-08:00

In January 2011 - while the economy continued to tank - I went on a nearly year long quest to find the best ways for agents to generate leads at a lowest possible cost - with the highest possible ROI. I spent a LOT of time looking at everything from the basics to the sophisticated. Like life I found 80% worthless 20% useful 4% GOLDEN.

I’m working with more brokers who are struggling to generate their own leads. With the “do not call” rules for residential customers, the outrageous restrictions on Medicare Advantage Sales, the new Fax prohibition rules a lot of agents are struggling to generate leads without the expense of direct mail.

How do YOU generate leads? Here is my list of Insurance Agent “how to” generate leads. My “sweet 17” I'll be reviewing each of them in coming posts.... stay tuned

Referrals
Direct Mail Leads
Telephone Leads
Networking for Leads
Print Media - Newspapers/Magazines
Blogging/SEO/Website
Personality Marketing/Speaking
Internet Generated Leads
Television
Radio
Joint Ventures/Affiliate Marketing
Trade Shows
Seminars/Webinars/Telenars
Event Marketing
Social Media/Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook
In Person Cold Calling
Specialty Advertising (Calendars/Business Cards/Doorknobs)

Are you social? Feel free to connect with me

Twitter LinkedIn FriendFeed Facebook flickr Insurance Campus

MySpace Plaxo Plurk Brijj Delicious

Let's get started

2011-11-11T06:14:00.001-08:00

I got in the Insurance business in 1979 representing Farmers Insurance Group in Battle Creek, Michigan. My marketing consisted of cold calling names out of the phone book, asking them if I could give them a quote on their car insurance - recording the date it renewed and then calling them back to "give 'em a quote".

Hard to believe I survived.

I was 20 years old - I looked like I was 14.

When I sold something - over the phone usually - the customer had to come to the office to fill out the paperwork and pay the first premium. More than once the customer asked me where my dad was.

Ah the good old days.

Fast forward ten years to 1989 and I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico selling health insurance for American Western Life. This was the start of the PPO era. Our rates were great, the concept was "cool" and I was making money fast. I started recruiting agents. My huge 2% override went from nothing to $10,000 a month in 2 years.

One Friday the phone rang - American Western was closing it's doors on Monday - Reinsurance problems with CNA. All my eggs were in that basket. Not good. Time for some massive action.

In 90 days I had contracts with 20 companies and had recruited twice as many agents. I spent 15 hours a day on the phone. I had no life.

Fast forward to 2011 and at 51 I'm starting over again - Theft from the Bookeeper - United Health Care's takeover of American Medical Security & Obamacare cleaned me out. But I'm smarter and I've got a great family and I'm finally straight with God - most days.

My mission is to help insurance agents and financial advisors grow their business. I'm the go to resource if you want more business and more free time. I'm never retiring but when this recession is over I intend to be rich.

Bill Bateman - 21st Century Financial
Leandra's husband - Max & Gus's dad
800-658-6737 in Albuquerque, NM