“My “”Year Of The Ox”" Prediction…

The ox is not a glamorous animal. It’s not as sexy
as a horse or as dangerous as a snake. But it’s a
hard worker… it’s dependable… it’s calm… it’s
modest… and it’s stable.

And I think its qualities hold many of the keys
to success in 2009.

In fact, according to some of the reading I’ve been
doing online this Chinese New Year ushers in a time
for us all to work harder regardless of the current
state of the economy.

Susan Tan, a member of the Buddhist Light International Association (BLIA) said “”You have to work hard to make
your life better. If you pray and do not do anything
nothing will happen to you.”"

“”This year is the year of the Ox, which is a very hard
working animal. We have to be like the ox so we have to
work hard so we can have a bountiful harvest”" she added.

And that seems like good common sense to me for 2009,
2010, 2011 and beyond. I think it’s good advice for
any year.

The reality is most of the people I have met over the
years who have been successful have done so with hard
work. At least in the beginning.

But there’s one thing I would like to add to that.

The most successful people are not only hard workers.
They are hard thinkers. And in my opinion being a hard
thinker is just as – if not more important as being a
hard worker.

For instance, let’s say you are using cold calling to
generate leads. And every 4 hours your telemarketer
is generating three leads. Now of course, you could get
more telemarketers. You could work harder. You could
get them to work more hours.

And you might get 6 or 12 appointments a day,
perhaps more.

But what if you followed the step-by-step recommendations, examples and templates I provide right here

and did this instead…

1.Created an advertisement offering a special report.

2.Got people to call for the special report

3.Followed up by automatically sending the report along
with a series of follow up sales letters

4.Added them to your newsletter database

5.Then had your telemarketer follow them up or take
their incoming calls

Two things are almost certain to happen…

Firstly, you’ll develop a greater amount of trust with
your prospective customer because…

a) he has called you to initiate the relationship

and

b) you have had multiple contacts with him before
your telemarketer has called.

Secondly, your telemarketer will be more productive
because everyone will want to speak to him when
you call.

The odds are good that instead of getting three appointments
in a four hour shift, you could expect to double or triple
these results once your system is set up.

Obviously there is some upfront work here, but once
you’ve set it up you can earn more money while being
lazier than the sales team who is currently banging their
head up against a brick wall of disinterested prospects.

More money and less work: isn’t that what we’re all
looking for? You bet it is.

So what’s my prediction for business in 2009: essentially,
it’s the same as it was for 2008 and 2007.

He who works hard AND thinks hard will prosper. The only difference is in 2009, due to the economy, you can’t
afford to slacken off. You need to be on the ball.

Just like the ox, it’s not glamorous advice, but it’s
advice that works.

All for now,
Scott Bywater