The Highs and Lows of a Facebook Scam

Facebook users who mistakenly believe they can discover who's been checking their profile still make up the largest group of Facebook scam victims, says a newly published report.

According to the online news service TechNewsDaily, almost a quarter of all scams on the world's biggest social network were links to bogus websites offering to tell users who might be stalking them without being official followers.

The scam, which we have reported on previously, then tells victims they have to download a program that will give them the information they need. In reality, it uploads malware onto their machines.

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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Thieves Target Your Password, Your ID -- and Your Car

Password theft is back in the spotlight in this week's Snippets issue, with latest details of the worst ones straight off the crooks' own lists.

We also have the lowdown on two sneaky financial scams -- one targeting small business owners.

And we report on an unusual job scam that, in some cases, even takes victims south of the border.

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

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10 Ways to Spot a Fake Video

How many times have you passed on an amazing video clip that landed in your inbox, only to learn later it was a fake video?

The Internet is teeming with them, from phony UFO encounters to a bogus clip of a man who can supposedly sculpt faces on a lollipop in his mouth!

Some of them are incredibly convincing and painstakingly made. Some do not even start out as intentional hoaxes but are picked up by web surfers and attached to a hoax story.

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

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SELLING IS A CONVERSATION, NOT A PRESENTATION

In the new third edition of Get Clients Now!, I decided to change the name of the third stage of the Universal Marketing Cycle from "getting presentations" to "having sales conversations."

If you haven't read the book yet (or it's been a while), here's what I mean by "stages" of marketing. The Universal Marketing Cycle is an insightful diagnostic tool to help consultants, coaches, and independent professionals choose where to focus your marketing efforts. Picture your marketing opportunities as if they flowed through a water system. At the top are collection buckets for the prospects, contacts, leads, and referrals with which you are filling the pipeline (Stage).

Your marketing pipeline empties into a follow-up pool (Stage 2), which you dip into in order to move potential clients and referral sources further along in the system. With potential clients, you want to move quickly to having a sales conversation (Stage 3). If they say yes at the end of the sales conversation, you have a new client. If they say anything else, you have more work to do in order to close the sale (Stage 4).

At any given time, one of these four stages is likely to be a place where you feel somewhat stuck. That stage is where you need to put your energy in marketing and sales right now, as opposed to any other part of the cycle.

With that context in mind, let's look a bit more deeply into the third stage of the cycle, and why I felt it necessary to give it a new name.

I've noticed over many years of teaching the Get Clients Now! system that people tend to shy away from choosing Stage 3 as their area of focus. Filling the pipeline usually sounds like more fun. Following up often seems like it's an activity you've been avoiding and are now feeling ready to take on. Closing sales is something we all know we need to do. But that intervening stage between following up and closing the sale doesn't seem to get much attention.

I'd like to change that. I think we all need to pay attention to that third stage at some point in the development of our approach to marketing and selling. When it comes right down to it, the whole purpose of following up with prospective clients really should be to have a conversation with them about becoming a client.

But wait, isn't the purpose of follow-up to get prospects to BECOME clients? In other words, to close the sale? Well, no. At least not until you know if you want them to be your clients in the first place.

Selling professional services is not like selling vitamins or software or ebooks or home-study courses. When you sell customers a product, you don't necessarily have to talk to them first. But if you are going to personally deliver services to clients, they're gonna want to talk to you before they sign on. And, you should want to talk to them, too. How else will you know if they are even a fit for what you do?

Customers who are unhappy with a product are relatively easy to deal with. You tell them to return it, you refund their money, and they are out of your life. But clients who aren't happy with the service you are providing -- whether it isn't what they were expecting, it doesn't address their issue, or they just don't like the way you work -- will make your life miserable. They will drain your energy, distract you from the good work you are doing for your other clients, and can even harm your reputation.

Selling is a conversation. It's not a presentation. I've always explained Stage 3 of the Universal Marketing Cycle by saying it's the time and place where you ask your potential clients what they are looking for, tell them what you have to offer, and the two of you together see if there is a match. But calling this activity "presenting" your services has I think misled readers and students into thinking this could be done: a) in a one-way monologue, b) with a canned speech and/or PowerPoint, or c) by writing killer copy.

My hope is that a new name for this stage will bring it some of the attention it deserves. We need to have sales conversations with our prospective clients in order for them to screen us, and for us to screen them. Encouraging conversations like these must be part of our approach to marketing.

We may be able to fill our pipeline with impersonal or one-to-many tactics like social media posts, sending broadcast email, postcards, or running ads. We may even be able to follow up with mass-produced communications like emails, online posts, and cards. But at some point, if we want prospects to become clients, we need to talk to them.

If you've been focusing your marketing on any of the other stages of the Universal Marketing Cycle -- or maybe all three of them -- without getting the kind of results you'd like, perhaps it's time for you to put some attention on our newly renamed friend, the sales conversation.
Copyright © 2013, C.J. Hayden

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The 5 Most Important Internet Security Tools

Internet security is, or should be, the number one consideration for all online computer users. Let your guard down for a second and your finances, and even your way of life, could be dangerously at risk.

Yet, with just a handful of "tools" you could be almost totally secure. We say "almost" because, of course, no set-up, not even government computer systems, is infallible.

When it comes down to it, there are just five tools that will provide most of the protection you need Internet security software, a password manager, a firewall (we'll talk more about this in a moment), virtual credit card numbers, and privacy settings.

Click here to read the full article. 


©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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IS IT TIME TO RESET YOUR MARKETING PLAN?

Is your marketing plan producing the results you need? When was the last time you evaluated your plan to see if it is leading you toward success? Are you even using a marketing plan at all? Here are four questions to help you determine whether it's time to reset your plan.

1. Are you getting in touch every month with at least three times as many new clients as you need? Not every prospective client will say yes. You need to have a marketing pipeline filled with prospects, contacts, leads, and referrals that you can draw from. If your marketing activities aren't connecting you with three or more times as many possible clients as you want each month, your pipeline won't be full enough to support you.
2. When you sit down to work on marketing, do you know what to do next? Many entrepreneurs find themselves spending more time thinking about how to market than actually doing it. Or simply reacting to outside influences (event invitations, ad solicitations, etc.), rather than proactively choosing what to do.
3. Are you spending the majority of your marketing time using the most effective approaches to get clients? For independent professionals, the best ways to get clients all involve building personal connections and establishing your expertise. Posting or emailing promos for your business, running ads, or designing a website no one visits are examples of activities that don't accomplish this.
4. Do you feel excited and motivated about marketing your business? There's no boss looking over your shoulder making you spend time on marketing. When you don't feel engaged and positive about your own marketing, you're more likely to neglect it than to embrace it.

If you didn't answer yes to all of these questions, it's time you had a marketing plan that truly serves you, instead of one that takes up time and money without producing results. Here are some steps to start building a powerful, focused, compelling plan:

• Identify the two or three marketing strategies MOST likely to be effective with your target audience, and spend most of your marketing time using just those strategies. Focus on strategies that help you build connections and position yourself as an expert.
• For each marketing strategy you plan to use, choose the tactics you feel most comfortable with employing. If you plan to reach out to prospects by phone, warm calls may be more comfortable than cold calls. Networking can be accomplished with one-on-one coffee dates rather than attending mixers filled with strangers. When you choose activities closer to your comfort zone, you'll be much more likely to actually engage in them.
• Make a written plan that states exactly what you will do, how much of it, and when. Plan your marketing activities just once, then do them many times. Saying you will "network" is not a plan. Writing that you will "attend one live networking event per week," then putting those dates on your calendar -- that's a plan you can truly use.
• Measure both your progress and your results, and re-evaluate your plan monthly. Track your progress by noting which activities in your plan are completed each week. Then you can reward yourself for what you've done, or see when you need to allow more time for marketing. Set a goal each month for new prospects or new clients, so you'll have a benchmark to evaluate how well your plan is working.

You don't need to be a marketing expert to create an effective business-building plan. You just need to follow a few basic principles like those above. This time next month, you could be on track to having all the clients you want.
Copyright © 2013, C.J. Hayden

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5 Ways to Avoid a QR Code Scam

The QR code, those boxes full of digital dots and square blobs that you see on so many products and ads these days, has become the latest tool for spammers and malware crooks.

If you own a smartphone, you probably already know QRs, using your built-in phone camera to scan the code and then using a code reader to take you to a website where, supposedly, you'll get more information.

"QR" stands for "Quick Response" (sometimes also "Quick Read") and that's exactly what these multidimensional barcodes are for. They're supposed to save you the time and trouble of making a note of a website address by taking you straight there.

Click here to read the full article. 


©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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