OMG! You've Got The Color Green Syndrome... and It's Killing Your Business, Absolutely Killing It!

OMG! You've got The Color Green Syndrome... and it's killing your business, absolutely killing it!
Table of Contents
1. Don't make the crucial customer disservice error Hale Groves is making. Pay attention! This article can save you thousands and a lot of customers, too. 2. The tattered old year of 2011 limps off and the new year of our collective hope arrives. For this we need Vienna! We need Strauss II! We need to dance! And so we shall... 3. Planning on making money online this year? Unless you avoid these lethal mistakes you haven't got a prayer. 4. OMG! You've got The Color Green Syndrome... and it's killing your business, absolutely killing it!
Don't make the crucial customer disservice error Hale Groves is making. Pay attention! This article can save you thousands and a lot of customers, too.
By Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. Have you heard of a citrus company called Hale Groves of Vero Beach, Florida? If not, you must be living in a cave. Their marketing is everywhere and in all places, online and off. They're spending the ransoms of two or three kings on it. But the poobahs who run the place have made at least one crucial mistake: they haven't tried to order their product.... and as I am here to tell you, the order takers they've got are most assuredly NOT in sync with the hot-shots in the marketing department. In other words, if it is not actually impossible to order some of their tasty product, it is very close to it. That's why I'm using as today's incidental music The Supreme's great tune "You keep me hanging on" because that's what the folks at Hale Groves have done to me... each and every time I've ordered. You'll find this1966 hit in any search engine. You can play it while you're on hold... Still, let's get into the right mood for this situation... and what Hale Groves and every other dysfunctional marketing machine needs to do before they irritate too many more of the most important people on earth -- good paying customers like me! The facts. My family has been buying from Hale Groves for decades... and no wonder. I grew up in the snow belt they call Illinois... I went to college in the snow belt they call Massachusetts... and when I graduated... having had insufficient punishment from snow, sleet, ice and attendant miseries, I stayed on in the very same snow belt that snuffed the Pilgrims. One of the things that made it all bearable was Hale Groves and the utterly delectable citrus... and, of course, I love getting the free citrus spoons, too. I have a drawer full of them. The Hale Groves shuffle. I like to place my citrus orders, indeed all orders, by telephone. Like a good citizen, I have my credit card out... and the special offer I want; the offer I am sure the order taker will want to make sure I get. Like most Americans I order when deals are good and pass when deals are not. But the great thing about Hale Groves is that they always have an offer... and I am always pleased to consider it. I am a citrus freak.... and pink grapefruit are guaranteed to brighten any day or palate, especially when the temperature is below zero and I curse the day I heard of Harvard and a frigid place named Cambridge. Order I would, if order I could. The citrus season begins November 1, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Hale Groves will have a special offer in your hand, an offer so good you wouldn't think of missing it. I want to see that offer... I want to take advantage of that offer IF Hale Groves will let me... for that is by no means a sure thing. Because memory is imperfect, as I dial the number I find my last run-in with them is not the first thing in mind; instead I am tasting in my imagination their citrus perfection... but first I must pay my dues by holding. It is a rule.
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Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012
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Like all good Americans I hate holding.... not just hate it but despise and disdain it. I'd like a choice... hold forever or allow them to call me back in (so many minutes); techies can easily tell them how many: "Your call will be returned in 7.5 minutes sharp." Okay, I'm on hold... and second by second I am working up a good head of steam, the better to craft a snide comment that they well and truly deserve. I mean, I don't begin to have the available time I have to wait for a competent order taker to emerge and assist me. Who does? But my torments have not even begun... Codes. Colors. Confusion. Choler. "I'd like to place an order from a mailing I just received." These are the words I am hoping I don't soon regret. "Do you have the offer there in front of you?" I do... and I say so proudly, even defiantly because I am hopeful history is not about to repeat itself. But we are, the order taker and I, about to enter the twilight zone in which the order I want to place... is the order the order taker cannot seem to take. And so The Rigmarole of ordering from Hale Groves well and truly begins, to the growing irritation of both parties. "Sir, please give me the special order code." Code, code, find the code. I have an envelope full of Hale Groves propaganda... colorful brochures... a special letter from their president extolling their many virtues... I do not see and cannot find a code... and what's worse the order taker cannot direct me by uttering such reassuring words as "you'll find the code in big red letters at the top of page 1." Such essential words, calming to both parties, neither of us can find... and this is what that means. It means some bright folks in the marketing department have not tried to order the product themselves... and have certainly never bothered to train the hapless order takers who are about to feel the sharp lash of my tongue because no one knows who's on first and where to find that flippin' code. And so we sink into muddle, mayhem, a disordered morass. If this were a dance it would be a tango... and that for an order process is completely unacceptable. Finally, I say what I should have said at the first sign of trouble. "Why don't you take down my telephone number and call me when you've discovered where the code is?' But my tenacious order taker won't let go, won't do the sensible thing and will not proceed with the matter of doing what we both want: placing the order. In other words getting that code, no matter that neither she nor I could find it, had become more important than satisfying the customer. And that's why this order "process" is such a mess. But it got even worse... The order taker, unable to direct me to the code, put me on extended hold while she quizzed her colleagues about the location of that code. No one knew, which meant no one had thought it useful to instruct them on this matter... and so while I smoldered they, with every passing minute, proved that the one hand in marketing didn't know and hadn't bothered to advise the other in the order department, thereby generating bad feelings instead of the satisfied customer both parties wanted. Again, I advised the clueless order taker to take my number and call me back when she was http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012 4 of 14
organized and ready. But the poor woman had been instructed, perhaps with severity, to get the code upon pain of death. And she could not, would not get beyond this trifling matter... and so the matter ended in stand-off, no order, no business, and no future. Hale Groves will now bombard me for years with sales messages and tempting offers, too, too little, too late. For I have now discovered an excellent product from Del Monte, Red Grapefruit, SunFresh. No hassle. No waiting. Already peeled. And no need to deal with the misnamed order takers at Hale who, when needed, could not have been less ready. Which is why I suggest you try to order what you sell. It could well be your weakest link. Oh, yes, and call me to finish my order. *** Your response to this article is requested. What do you think? Let us know by posting your comments below.
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The tattered old year of 2011 limps off and the new year of our collective hope arrives. For this we need Vienna! We need Strauss II! We need to dance! And so we shall...
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. 2011. Not just a year or a moment in time. Rather, a collage of images that run the gamut from horrid to catastrophic. Except for lovers (who after all "Only have eyes for you, dear" and can always block out the world and its woes) this year will be hardly anyone's best year. Haven't we all seen better days? But the best of this disgruntling year is at hand... its end... And so, to mark the exit of this draining period of our human existence on our Third Rock from the Sun, I propose... and expect you to do your part.... a Grand Ball. An event! Brilliant! Epochal! Soul-stirring! Memorable from first to last.... and let's not forget, graced by every friend you've ever known and loved... food to die for (how did they know you harbored a secret fancy for Veuve Cliquot?) and of course the music that you will play for a lifetime whenever you think of this night! And of the music of Johann Strauss II who kept a doomed world dancing... even when life was hardly worth living. Such a man with such gifts is more than welcome at the human comedy... he is essential; and I have commanded his presence just for you. That is why you must now go to any search engine and play the overture to "Die Fledermaus." You will find many fine versions. Your biggest problem this day will be selecting your favorite rendition... don't worry. They're all delightful... lilting... all fraught with love... adventures... and a world without a wrinkle or a regret. Don't be late now.... your coach and six is awaiting... and the great imperial capital of Vienna -- with all its splendor -- is just outside your front door...! Vienna, 1874. I have found in my soon-to-be-65 years, that to know where you are -- at all times -- is a very good thing. And so, I introduce you not just to a city but to an idea. For more than a place, this city of cities was a notion. Other European sovereigns were part of dynasties that had capitals. But Vienna, only Vienna, was the home of an exalted family that had its own capital and an empire to go with it. This family was the Habsburgs... and Vienna was their pied-a-terre. Over time this family had added lands, lost lands, traded lands, becoming less Italian, more Magyar and Slavic, but always (even when you were stealing from them, as their neighbors regularly, flagrantly, unashamedly did) absolutely necessary to the prosperity, balance, and serenity of a Europe these Habsburgs understood better than anyone and which they graced and venerated. 1874 was a good year for these landlords of Europe... whilst it is true they had added nothing to their valuable patrimony; neither, and -- this is the key -- had they lost anything or anyone of any importance either. And this to the Emperor Franz Joseph and his people was reason enough to celebrate; they had survived, and that to a Habsburg was something to cheer. For, after all, His Imperial and Apostolic Majesty (who was to become by the time of his extinction in 1917 the longest reigning sovereign in all of the European history his own family had done so much to make) believed with all his people, especially the true Viennese, that things were Significant, but not Important... and surely not as important as the next waltz from Herr Strauss... the man who kept this magic, unreal world entranced and dancing and so was crucial to the lives of all. "I beg of you. Do not, lieber sohn. become a composer. Do not, I entreat you, throw your life away on dance music." Johann Strauss II was born October 5, 1825, the son of Johann Strauss I, celebrated composer and conductor of dance music, a man who knew the (usually short) ups and (certainly the longer) downs http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012 6 of 14
conductor of dance music, a man who knew the (usually short) ups and (certainly the longer) downs of a musician's life only too well... and wished to shield his dear son from these wearing vicissitudes of a musician's life... and become instead that most unappealing of things.... a banker. But fate won out. One stolid banker the less there would most assuredly be... instead a million memorable evenings to warm the cockles of your heart forever. Yes, Strauss made the right decision. A lifetime of unadulterated pleasure for the whole world was the result. 1874 was a key year in his life and his repertoire, and it came with a musical called "Die Fledermaus," The Bat. It was the compilation of comedies and farces by the German playwright Julius Roderich Benedix, French writers Henry Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy, and a translation by Karl Haffner. There were, in short, too many cooks for this broth, and an explosive crop of.... egos, titanic, uncompromising, silly the lot of them, unless you must work with them like Strauss, who needed the patience and skills of a diplomat, so that his unmistakable genius could be born and dazzle. Had he been a banker with such skills he would have been an investor's dream come true. Instead he was working as fast as his nimble brain could work, composing music which, I earnestly hope, thrilled him as surely as it thrills us; which caused him to throw back his head and laugh aloud at his own fertile talent... and to pick up a chair or his wife and dance the latest captivating waltz which had been until a minute ago in his own head alone and was now written down and secure, soon to set the feet of this weary planet to dancing... every man, woman, and child, even that odd duck Crown Prince Rudolph (who sought in self-induced death the ecstasies even an empire could not deliver), all these were set to waltzing -- yes, even Rudolph -- by Strauss, Johann Strauss, the Master of waltz tempo... who composed the love which cannot fail when you are in the arms of your beloved, whirring ardently to a blissful destiny. April 5, 1874, Theater an der Wien. In due course, "Die Fledermaus" was finished, neither French nor German nor even Austrian. It was as quintessentially Viennese as Vienna's Golden Boy could make it... It is bright, cheerful, distinguished by one memorable tune after another. It had masks (and no city needed them more than Vienna which was only happy when in costume, looking back and reminiscing), false identifies, spurious titles, and an effervescence even greater than the champagne which Strauss' alchemy changed from mere wine into a musical vintage which intoxicated but skipped the dreaded morning after. This was a vintage indeed... and on April 5, 1874 it opened at the Theater an der Wien... .... And has had absolutely no difficulty in getting into our hearts ever since... but especially on New Year's Eve, for it has long since claimed its unshakable place on the calendar of things which must be done annually, and always just so. That is why on this New Year's Eve I shall have the pleasure to enjoy, yet again, the misadventures of Gabriel von Eisenstein, his incompetent attorney Dr. Blind; Eisenstein's maid Adele, Prince Orlofsky and Falke, Eisenstein's friend, and all the other characters, all immortal because of the genius of one man who disobeyed his father and became the toast of Europe; a man who knew that the waltz, more than any Fountain of Youth, is what keeps us young, optimistic, recharging each of us (and not a moment too soon) to face not just 2012 (with all that it brings) but of all the other New Years to come. And now, I advise you to do what I am about to... starting my evening of good friends, good food, and yes of the Veuve Cliquot I crave... with Adele's celebrated "Laughing Song". In a moment you'll be smiling; a moment more you'll be dancing... Happy New Year, from your author.... and from my esteemed Worldprofit colleagues George Kosch http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012 7 of 14
and Sandi Hunter, so dear to me, I could not have had better people to have danced with for so many years. *** What are your thoughts on 2012, we invite your comments below.
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Planning on making money online this year? Unless you avoid these lethal mistakes you haven't got a prayer.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. Like ABBA? I do. I think they produced some of the most clever, stylish and sophisticated dance music and rhythms ever. Like their mega-hit "Money, Money, Money" (released in 1976). It's not only one of the best jump-up songs ever, but it's got a message you may have to take to heart if you're still trying (but consistently failing) to make money online. It's this: "If I got me a wealthy man..." That's right, it may be time (and is probably way past time) to use your wiles and charm to snag a rich mate... because you're just wasting your time online... ... unless.... you take heed to the irrefutable verities about what you must know and do... and so finally turn the Internet into the cash hose it's long been for people like me, who make money online daily, while you can't even figure out who's on first. Must avoid mistake #1. Don't work alone. Working online all by your lonesome is just plain nuts. I credit my awesome success online to a crucial decision I made nearly 20 years ago: the overwhelming majority of online entrepreneurs need more skills -- technical, marketing, people -- than they've got. For such people (and I very much include myself) success is unlikely, even impossible if you try to go it alone. Don't. You're going to need cutting-edge tech experts; Internet marketing experts, and yes personnel to make sales and bring in the bucks 24/7/365. Have you got this team in place? Well you'd better get it together before you waste any more time and money. Must avoid mistake #2. STOP thinking, STOP believing you can built a profitable online business off free stuff. You can't. Say that again: YOU CAN'T! Bite this bullet here and now, once for all. It's going to cost you money to create a successful online business; just like it costs money to establish a successful offline business. If you've been trying and trying and trying to succeed online without investing you're probably beyond hope. But let's assume you've still got some of your little grey cells in place and functional. Use some of them to get the money you need to create a profitable online business. There's no way around it: it takes money to make money, and personally I won't even talk to the steady stream of folks who approach me without investment dollars in hand. That's the "bad" news; the good news is that it's still ridiculously cheap to start a profit-making online business that can net you the minimum 6-figure income it takes to live well these days. Must avoid mistake #3. Get educated about what you need to establish a money-making business online. Stop trying to "teach" yourself. If you knew how to make money online, I imagine you'd be making money, right? But you don't. And you will never know if you have yourself as your prime expert and instructor. Bluntly, you know and can do too little to justify that. There are many fine online business-building instructors. I swear by mine: George Kosch. He's been instructing me for almost 20 years now. He's smart about what you've got to do in the constantly http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012 9 of 14
changing 'net environment, a superb trainer and communicator.... good looking, too. I've made out like a bandit by putting my ego where it belongs (in some closet) and LEARNING from a man who guarantees you'll make money if you follow his proven system. I did... and I have. Must avoid mistake #4. You don't know how to generate unlimited traffic to your site...and until you do, YOU'RE DOA. That why you must become a traffic expert immediately, if not sooner. If you launch your online business without knowing precisely where your absolutely essential traffic will be coming from, you deserve what you get: Nada! Nothing! Zip! Yet to my utter consternation and astonishment, not a day goes by when some knucklehead tells me he hasn't got guaranteed traffic, doesn't know how to get it, but is a "survivor" who'll figure it out as he does. OMG! Such people probably believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. They are casualties just waiting to happen. Here again I want to pat George Kosch on the back. The guy is a walking encyclopedia of each and every way that exists to generate online traffic... and trains lucky folks like me to use these every single day. He does it in an amazing program called "Home Business Boot Camp"... and he guides you (with skill and patience) to get the traffic you must have... starting today! He's got a worldwide following who swear by his methods.... as I most assuredly do myself. Do you have a George Kosch in your life? No? Then book your space in the lifeboat today... you'll need it! Must avoid mistake #5. It happened again just yesterday. I was counseling a gent who told me he'd bought some traffic; sent it to his home page... and didn't get a single response! What did he do wrong? Just everything... The first rule of successful traffic and crucial list building is to direct ALL traffic to a landing page. Why? Because that's the proven way to get traffic, traffic, traffic and build the prospect lists that are crucial to online success. So, ask yourself this: do you know how to create and use landing pages? And be honest, totally honest with yourself, because if you get it wrong you're toast... (By the way, you won't be surprised to learn George Kosch -- there he is again -- writes my landing pages... and they're gold mines.) Well, I've run out of space, with lots more to tell you, but that'll have to wait for another day. Now, I'm heading over to my favorite search engine where that fabulous dance number by ABBA is waiting for me (and you). As I listen to "Money, Money, Money" I'll know I'm the rich guy you're looking for, the guy who can give you that cushy life you'd like. But why would I want an Internet loser in my life? After all, it's a rich man's world... ## What do you think? Let us know by posting your comments below.
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by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author's program note. Are you one of the billion or so people worldwide who's been blaming the recession for all your woes, including that pimple on your back you popped... but should have left alone? Then this article is for YOU... and not a moment too soon either. In it, we're going to examine just what you did yesterday to make money and whether you were focused on what you should have been focused on... or whether you had succumbed to one of the greatest of business maladies of all time: the pernicious Color Green Syndrome. To put you in the mood to deal with this problem and to root it out of your business and life, I'm calling up Stevie Wonder, particularly his 1982 song "Do I Do". (Go find it in any search engine; use the long -- 10 1/2 minute -- version that features Dizzy Gillespie.) It's guaranteed to get you up, breathing deep, gliding across your floor with a practised dexterity you didn't know was in you. Good! For this article and the resurrection of your business you need all the right moves... and Stevie is going to help you get them... as I am. Are you suffering from The Color Green Syndrome? I bet you are... and it's killing you. What is this condition that's worse than any plague, that'll knock you for a loop faster than any flu... yea verily, that will cripple your enterprises more assuredly than the IRS or any other government intervention? Listen, my children, and you shall learn it here, find out how to perceive it, deal with it, eradicate it forever and so soar.... The heart and soul of your business is two things, just two things you must know and do EVERY single day without fail, every day that is when you want to use your business for what your business is for: making money, making money, oh yes, making money. Ou la la! Okay, let's dig in, in the spirit of medical research and solution. The two things you must do EVERY day in your business are to 1) generate prospects and 2) close those prospects. Nothing -absolutely NOTHING -- is as fundamental to your success as this. So, let's take a sustained gander at what you did yesterday to grow your business and reap rewards from it... and whether The Color Green Syndrome laid you low. How the Syndrome got its name. According to my trusty and much used dictionary, syndrome is defined as an aggregate or set of concurrent symptoms together indicating the presence and nature of a disease. One of the most destructive and insidious of these syndromes is the subject of this article. Here's how it was discovered and named. A person not unlike you came to visit me one day, asserting with vehemence and vigor that he wanted to make money online. To do so he knew he needed tools, training, traffic and ongoing help, and he paid me to provide them. I got down to business with a will; I am a man who believes in action, action now... and so in due course I presented him with a website that was 100% focused on stopping prospects in their tracks, motivating them to take notice, leave complete follow-up details (the better to have and develop those essential prospect lists) ... and move like greased lightning to get the stupendous offer I had persuaded him to make. But things, begun so auspiciously, slowed to a snail's pace -- or slower -- at this moment. Why? "Because the green you selected for the background color isn't the green I want. Show me some others." http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012 11 of 14
And so began the descent into madness and the unraveling of a great enterprise with a killer website standing at the ready to make lucre, and a lot of it. The client didn't like the green... but wanted to show his partner... who definitely didn't like the green... One requested one green; the other requested another. And while they reviewed, considered and discussed the virtues and winning attributes of greens ranging from apple green... chartreuse... hunter green... Islamic green.... fern green... Paris green... Shamrock green and several dozen other greens, far more greens than either you, me, or the customer even knew existed... their business stopped. So important was getting just the precise shade that all other matters, including the prosaic little matter of generating prospects, closing prospects, making money fell by the wayside... prospects ungenerated, offers unmade, sales non existent... until just the right green surfaced, was seen, discussed, selected, and shown off. "So sad, but what has this to do with me?", you ask. You will recall that a syndrome is an aggregate of symptoms... and so it is here. The Color Green Syndrome can easily morph into any of the following conditions: "I cannot generate prospects, call prospects, close prospects, until..." * I have 2 cups of coffee, not a drop more or less; * I have watched my favorite television program, never missing a minute or an episode: * My dog is walked, my newspaper read, my toast prepared just so (and oh if my favorite jam is gone). "I cannot generate prospects, call prospects, close prospects until I've...." * called my children; * fluffed my pillows; * considered lunch and dinner menus. And several million other situations, conditions, "really important things" that (by definition and sanctified usage) are important, way more important than doing what's necessary to generate prospects... contact prospects... close and make deals with prospects. Don't say you aren't subject to this malady. This is Dr. Lant you're talking to, your friend, ultimate realist.... and we both know better, don't we? You've got a bad case... and blaming it on the recession just passed -- or anything else -- just isn't good enough.... So, unless you're prepared to let The Color Green Syndrome (in any of its many manifestations) continue to undermine your business, you've got to change your ways... today... and I've asked Stevie Wonder to assist. START with the two essential money-making activities --- generating leads,calling leads -BEFORE you do ANYTHING else. Treat the prospects you'll generate like this: "When I see you on the street My whole body gets weak." In short treat that all -important prospect like the lover you cannot wait a single minute to contact... and make this kind of offer: http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012 12 of 14
"Yes I got some honey suckle chocolate dripping kisses full of love for you." Go on, try it. It's the only way to eradicate The Color Green Syndrome and focus on the only green that matters in business... the green backs your new moves and attitude are sure to deliver. Now turn up Stevie Wonder... and dance! After all, as soon as you generate and call all those prospects, you're going to make a whole lot of money today.... and that calls for boogie!
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Resource
About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.
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OMG! You've Got The Color Green Syndrome... and It's Killing Your Business, Absolutely Killing It!

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OMG! You've got The Color Green Syndrome... and it's killing your business, absolutely killing it!

Copyright Christopher Ninnis - 2012

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