Greetings everyone!

Power, time and information are variables that provide intuition to planning your marketing. Before you do anything you gotta have a plan to follow and a successful plan begins with being in tune with these variables.

The variable addressed in Part 1 is the Power variable. Power is a way of getting from one place to another. Power is something we just don’t say out loud that we need or want. We all can easily say we need or want money, but rarely hear someone say they need power. Power should never be “the” goal, but it is a variable that should be payed close attention to when developing your marketing plan, events, etc. . . for your business.

First, let me ask, “Does money come before power?” If someone had asked me that question several years ago my answer would have been yes. I learned from assisting marketing rainmakers that when you have the ability or power to plan, to create, to organize, to rally willing help from others and to successfully implement a plan, everyone will receive financial benefits. We need food to sustain our bodies, and gas for our vehicles to get from point A to point B. Food and gas are objects of power just as money.

When developing your marketing, list your power resources. Friends, place to organize, money, attitude, persistence, and any resource that can be used to produce your plan. Now assess the power resources of your competition. Are they steadfast, have persistent attitudes, and are they on top of the their game? Can your competition beat you to the punch because of better power resources? This is important. If you believe this to be true then it is time to explore, gather or capture other power resources and implement new plans and strategies.

Everyone has power! If you think you can, you are right and if you think you can’t, you are also right. Using your power to move objects like money, food, gas, and business ideas are within our grasp. Tap into your power resources such as:

Power of Attitude
Power of Persistence
Power of Expertise
Power of Commitment
Power of Risk-Taking
Power of Competition
Power of Legitimacy
Power of Investment
Power of Identification
Power of Rewarding or Punishing
Power of Faith

We explored the world of guerrilla marketing because the only resource we had was power. In the beginning was no money. Just the power of dreams and the ability (the power) to bring them to reality.

How do you create a business with no job and no money? Power!

Always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!  http://www.SweeThorn.com

Greetings everyone!

I get excited using what is effective and a money saver for my business. I recently have been testing a new video call service similar to Skype. I don’t think Skype has anything to worry about, but ooVoo definitely has features that has helped me communicate effectively with my clients.

I want to share ooVo, (a new video call phone service) to really connect with you all. Communicating via e-mail, sending comments and messages is great, but connecting via a video call is more effective and personal. Please download ooVoo and get acquainted with its features, it is FREE to use.

On Saturday, February, 07, 2009, will be the networks ooVoo day! Please call anytime that day starting at 8:00am. Speak face to face with friends. Meet others on the network for the first time. Make stronger business connections using this new video call service.You can find me by searching Lisa Henry. Add me! All members are welcomed to video call me anytime.

View more about ooVoo!

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See ya on ooVoo day! on SweeThorn.ning.com

Lisa

Greetings everyone!

Donielle posted a blog to the network (http://www.SweeThorn.ning.com) about public records, the information is very accurate.

About five years ago our bread and butter was direct mail marketing people who were in need of a criminal defense attorney. We acquired the names of people who were arrested daily through the county and city jail dockets. We targeted DUI, shoplifting, and possession charges, as those at the time were cash now cases. Back then, DUI cases went through the system faster so the attorney had a chance of being retained at least 2 weeks after the arrest.

I have seen my share of booking areas of jails. There are 82 counties in Mississippi and I am not going to break it down in cities. No exaggeration when I say I have been in over 85% of holding facilities gathering jail docket information. I wore out three vehicles to prove it. I said all that to say, there is money in acquiring public records.

The Freedom of Information Act allows the public, access to these records, in our case the jail docket of county and city jails. The Sheriff by law must keep a record of the (detained) who go in and out of their facility. Disclosure of this information is mandated by law.

We handled prospective client relations as part of our service. Translation: We answered the phone and screened who could pay for private legal help and who could not. This is known in the business as qualifying. If you hear the phrase, Do they qualify? Understand it means (Can you pay the fee?).

The calls received after each mailing presented one or two very very upset family members who wanted to know how did you get confidential information. If you didn’t have patience you didn’t answer the phone. When marketed correctly and effectively we generated 50 prospective calls weekly. I carried and answered a cell phone (24/7 call center) for over three years fielding prospective calls. I went to sleep witth a blue tooth around my ear. Please understand why I do not answer or use phones currently.

Attorneys were not the only ones benefiting from public information. Some jails generated revenue for themselves also by permiting the jail docket to be printed ONLY.   You must purchase the free information they printed for you. You could not have access to the book itself and some jails were proud of their list charging up to $50 for one list or $5 a page. In a small town, there may have been 3 people arrested on a $5 page. There is gold in public information.

If you think your information is private or confidential, think again. Visit  http://www.zabasearch.com search your name and a friends name and see how public your personal information is.

Always a blessing to share, Dream a World!

This is a comment from SweeThorn.ning.com in response to the discussion about attorneys who wholesale, bottom feed, plea mill, etc. . .  This is a must share. Got permission to re-post this from our member.

As one who has worked in law offices I indeed know what these terms mean. I have mixed feelings that lawyers operate using some of these methods. It used to be the standard practice of attorneys to quote fees to clients and expect payment to be made before the attorney actually began representation. They often commanded fees that required clients to make a substantial loan from the bank or other lending institution. Today there are lawyers on every corner which makes the bidding for clients more competitive, thus bringing fees down; a boon for the client. The lawyers are having a hard time accepting this change as it directly affects their income. The majority of them absolutely refuse to lower their fees and are starving because of it. Those that do accept cases at a reduced fee don’t always properly represent the client as they feel as if they are not being paid for full service, thereby doing the client a disservice. The attorneys are also resentful that they have to set up payment plans; yet another reason to not do your best such as seeking a plea (often not even the best plea that could be negotiated with the DA’s office.) A pleas means far less work as no trial is involved.

“Bottom Feeding”, the targeting of criminal defense clients, is slow to be accepted in the state as this takes extensive interaction and intense work on the part of the attorney and the legal staff to make this work. By tradition lawyers are not hard workers they just feel entitled because of the traditions of the profession. Except for a chosen few, thta day is over and the practice of law has to be operated same as any other business. There must be professional customer service by the legal staff, several avenues of advertisement (not just bill boards and the yellow pages, but also internet and direct mail to name a couple), client accesible attorneys and above all some real work and genuine interests in defending the client to the best of the ability of lawyer and staff.

In other words lawyers must be RAINMAKERS and make it happen for the client.

I see nothing wrong with being a “Case Wholesaler”. After all if an attorney is a successful rainmaker the practice will have more work than it can possibly do. So case referrals to colleagues of high standards and values would be the way to go. Still revenue for the referring firm!

I am sure that the average citizen is not aware of how the system works so I would advise anyone seeking legal advise to do your homework.

Always a blessing to share, Dream your world

Members of the the exchange are free to give opinions with no judgment. Join and share your opinion of the legal system.