What Makes Your Ideal Prospect Take Action?

Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless. ~Tim Blixseth

To be really effective in building your coaching practice as a viable business it’s imperative that you

• get your ideal prospect to take action to hire you as their coach, or to purchase your products so they can apply your coaching method
• develop an understanding of how to repeatedly get your ideal prospects to take action – so if you can get one new client, surely you can duplicate your efforts and enroll 10 new clients, right?

The reason some coaches have as many clients as they desire and sell thousands of dollars worth of product monthly (some even sell thousands of dollars worth of product daily!), and some coaches can barely get one client is because of the two statements above. The successful coach understands how to get their ideal client to make a decision and take action, and the successful coach knows how to repeat this formula for action to attract and enroll clients and/or sell more product.

Let me just say, there IS a formula. It is possible to make an outstanding income while inspiring others to take life changing action.

Psychological Triggers

Psychology is the study of the mind. There are many who have made a study of what causes prospects of particular markets make buying decisions. There are a few important keys when implemented as part of your product or service offering will cause your ideal client to effortlessly trade their money (yes, they will find the money even in this economy – sometimes especially in this economy) for your promise and your method of coaching.

Coach Dave of Coachville.com, is fond of saying, “A potential player, will only hire a Coach with more certainty than they have.”

There is a method for conveying your sense of certainty about your coaching method to develop the level of trust that your prospect needs to chose to become a client.

The human brain process is so many billion bits of information all day that it has developed efficient ways of processing information so that it can process quick enought to act in a timely fashion. For example, if you’re on a nature hike and something wiggles in the leaves you might jump with a start imagining a snake – but it might only be a twig. Your brain acted on the assumption that something wiggling in the leaves might be alive, possibly a snake and a quick leap away might save your life if it is indeed a snake.

We also process much of the information that comes to us in a buying experience. There are psychological triggers that quickly develop trust and confidence, as well as cause us to assume that this buying opportunity will supply us what we’re looking for.

As a business owner, a marketer – yes, coaches must be marketers to remain in business, must understand these psychological triggers to help the ideal prosect to take beneficial action.

No, I am not talking about manipulation.

This is the stuff that many of you that are NLP coaches understand. There is a language and action that will more often result in success with certainty.

I have coached brilliant coaches who run from any type of marketing and struggle the whole time to stay in business.

It is possible to understand the workings of the human mind and engage the triggers that help your ideal prospect to satisfy their own need with your method. You must help them take this action inorder to benefit from your coaching method. I would say if your message is of any value at all you have an obligation to deliver your information in the way that your ideal prospect needs it so they can take action.

This Friday on the Get More Business Show, I have invited MichelePW who is a master at getting ideal prosects to take action. She will share with me the 5 Psychological Triggers to Turn Prospects Into Clients (Warning: These are SO powerful you MUST promise to use them in an honest and ethical manner.)

I promise you that this is not about manipulation. This is about understanding human psychology and how we are “hard wired” to take action. I studied a few of MichelePW’s very successful sales pages for other coaches and have pinpointed these very triggers. I saw the formula over and over in each one. It is a beautiful process that is very complimentary to my ethics as a coach.

Join me on Friday, September 4th at 9 am Pacific / 12 pm Eastern on the www.GetMoreBusinessShow.com

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“What do you do?” Impact in 30 seconds or less

Recently I was invited to join a great coaching network on Yahoo called New Coach Connection. This morning I received an email from the group conversation that went as follows…at the bottom is my 2 cents to a great nugget of marketing instruction:

Re: Full Practice Wednesday: What Do You Do?

— In newcoachconnection@yahoogroups.com, Biana Babinsky wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> How do you answer this (sometimes) dreaded
> question, “What do you do?”

It’s actually pretty interesting.

4 examples from 4 different people to your great question, and EVERY ONE said the same thing.

Yes, there was some indignation and chiding, but for every commenter that gave an example, (regardless of what fancy name they give it) what we all do is consistent:

You need a short (definitely less than 30 seconds – shorter is much better) statement which consists of the following parts:

• I
• (do what)
• (for whom)
• (in order to)
• (which results in) (also known as WIIFM- What’s in it for me)

The four examples (exact quotes with the above 5 points inserted):

I (do what) guide (for whom) people (in order to) to transform their negative states of perception,thinking, decision-making, behavior, and emotion into positive equivalents. (which results in) This raises their consciousness and vibrational frequency,
and thus their brain output and likelihood of success in all ways. With
this skill, they facilitate a renewal.

I (do what) help (for whom) successful executives (in order to) improve their performance and wellness. (which results in) This can result in:

Improved Corporate Performance

Improved Corporate Risk Management, and

Better Executive LivesI (do what) help (for whom) solopreneurs (in order to) attract more clients (which results in) and make more money.I (do what) love to help (for whom) holistic entrepreneurs and helping professionals (in order to) move
their small business to an exponential level. I help them (which results in) realize their goals and bring their life joy!

Have fun with your own statement!!

Best Regards,
Chuck Schroeder
All Things Coaching

I would add only one more thing to this

If you can put numbers or something specifically definitive of the result:

…30 days to your first client
…lose 10 lbs in the first 10 days
…increase net worth 300% in the first year

Often these specific results come out of the mouths of the people we have coached already. One new client recently told me that in just one hour of coaching I gave her 30 ways to monetize a live speaking event – many that she could easily implement immediately in her practice.

For my 30 second answer I would want to dissect this testimonial – maybe even more than one testimonial – so that I can use different compelling self introductions in different circumstances & to test to see which one provokes the most conversation after I’ve said what I do.

In September of last year I did an Internet radio show with Ann Convery who spoke with me about this very thing – It’s free to listen…

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Booklet Tips on Hot Topics to Write About

Food, kids, pets, money, health, and sex. Yes, these are each topics with large audiences and interest, at least in North America and some other countries of the world. You may have personal or professional expertise in one or more of these topics. Seems like any of those would be a great place to start writing a booklet, wouldn’t it?

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Join me and Paulette Ensign on Friday May 15th, 2009 at 9 am Pacific on the Get More Business Show as I interview her about how to use Tip Booklets for building a coaching business.

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I would agree, to a point. That point is marketing. Successful, easy, cohesive marketing is based on your level of enthusiasm about the topic you choose topic, and how it all fits in with the rest of your life. If your business is focused on one of those topics mentioned at the beginning of this article, then by all means, write about it and begin as soon as you can. If your business is NOT focused on one of those topics, and you are writing about it because of the ready market you think you’ll find, then you will probably be setting yourself up for conflict, chaos, and collisions.

What excites you in your business or in any other part of your life where you spend a large portion of your time and effort? Notice how readily you talk about that interest of yours, probably to anyone who will listen and for as long as they’ll listen. And that interest may not have anything to do with food, kids, pets, money, health, and sex. You might be an expert on road safety, like one of my clients. Is that a real sexy topic? To many of us, no, not even close.

I’ll ask you a different question. How do you feel about the results that one of my clients has experienced, selling over a million copies of a booklet on road safety to agencies whose mission it is to educate the population about that topic? That’s exactly what this client did.

Or your interest could be about creating acoustically well-designed meeting rooms. A sexy topic? Not to most people. However, the meeting planners, architects, speakers, and many other related people and organizations have a huge interest in the topic and relish a tips booklet on the various aspects to consider.

So, like I said, you already have a magic bullet. You will find it by noticing what gets your juices going, what captures your attention, what prompts you to want to know more than you already know about the topic and how it relates to your everyday life. It’s what drew you to the business you’re in or the cause you support.

When writing a booklet about a topic near and dear to your heart, you will see ways to market the booklet popping up everywhere you look. There will be manufacturers, retailers, publications, and associations who will want thousands and hundreds of thousands of your booklet. Their universe could require literally millions of copies.

It will be easy to expand your product line because your clients and prospective clients will guide you with requests for different formats of your content and you will be excited about it. You will have so many choices on your plate that the challenge will then become what to do first from among all the possibilities. Will you create audio products or card decks or foreign language versions of the tips booklet you just wrote? What about an entire electronically-published product line on your topic?

So, what ARE the hot topics to write about? Food, kids, pets, money, health, and sex? Only if it’s already a passionate part of your everyday business activities. Otherwise, I think you may have found you’ve got the magic bullet for the best topics for YOU to write about.

Take your topic to the next level with a step-by-step system so you can add to those hot topics out in the world.
© 2008, Paulette Ensign

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Paulette Ensign has sold over a million copies of her own tips booklet without spending a penny on advertising. For information on creating your own tips booklet and leveraging a booklet manuscript into other products, contact Paulette Ensign, Tips Products International 858-481-0890, San Diego, CA

Paulette has a complete home study course designed to provide overviews of writing, producing and marketing your booklets, and for in-depth marketing and delivery methods. We have another course focused on the advanced level of licensing. Choose one or both courses, depending on your comfort level, experiences, budget, and learning style.

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It’s Your Turn!

If you’ve been attempting to write the post, articles and facilitate the teleseminars but it’s not working it could be that you’re missing some vital behind the scenes info. The Coaches Profit Wheel Online Business Audit could help you identify what’s missing.

Tell me, what are you working on now? Leave me a comment – I still can’t read your mind!

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Coach Training Course: Promote a Blog Post [Day #3 - 31DBBB]

Remember – In this series I am writing follow up posts to Darren Rowse’s series on his website with my post taking off on his topic/task expounding on it for coaches who are building their coaching practice.

I really enjoyed this post by Darren today. I plan to put a bit more emphasis on some of the 11 ways to promote a blog post included in today’s instruction. About a year ago I started promoting all of my Get More Business Show Blog Posts (the one’s I lost when I didn’t properly back up my datebase when upgrading WordPress!). I used StumbleUpon (tip #3)  to review and bookmark every weekly Friday show post. I saw a huge increase in traffic not only to my blog but to my show as well.

Earlier this month I published an article at EzineArticles.com, Online Marketing Plan to Promote Your Coaching Business by Commenting on Other Peoples Blogs, tip #3 is same as #6 on Darren’s list – when I first discovered it it was quite a revelation to me – duh, I don’t have to link back to my home page…I can link to anywhere in my blog that is relevant! There’s no reason you couldn’t discover a great blog post by another blogger and respond to it on your blog, then go to the other blog and leave a comment with a link back to your post / response.

Understanding and implementing strategies like the ones described in the 31DBBB series are critical to the success of your online marketing efforts.

A tip that I didn’t see on Darren’s list, but one I’ve been thinking about for a year is one I call “TNI”. Think of the organization called “BNI - Business Network International”. My strategy is called “Twitter Networking International” (really could be called “SNI” or Social Networking International).

Here’s how it works:

A dozen or so (could be any number you decided) decide to strategically promote each other’s posts, articles, Internet radio or video shows with a set of social bookmarking tools.  Choose a particular day every week, at a particular time, to connect on Twitter. During the 30 minutes to one hour everyone tweets each other’s blog posts, articles, Internet radio or YouTube videos.

If there were a dozen members to a group, and each member tweeted just 3 of every other member’s blog posts that would be a total of 36 new back links each week; in addition to the increased exposure from each other’s Twitter follower list.

If you love this strategy, let me know. If you want to improve on this strategy, write a post on your blog and link back to this one.

 The important thing I want to emphasis is that for coaches, speakers and authors – these strategies and tips are the engine that will drive your business. These tips and strategies can effectivly replace newspaper ads, offline radio & television ads – and YOU ARE IN CONTROL of the reach and exposure…and it’s most cases these are things you can do for free or very small investment.

• If you’re a parenting coach, team up with other parenting coaches, or mom bloggers. Contribute to their blog as a guest or comment on their posts with a link back to your own.
• If you’re a business coach – Pitch mainstream media with your posts – include your take on current events – offer your blog as “the voice of an expert” they can include in their research for indepth topics.
• Team up with other coaches that share a similar market and cross promote each other’s content and online message.

Blogging to promote your coaching practice is just the start of a much bigger impact. Don’t let it overwhelm you, break these tips down in to daily, or weekly tasks that are on your schedule – eventually you’ll be able to turn some of the less personal duties over to a VA. These activities should be a part of your daily rhythm of business.

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Coach Training Course: Your Unique Coaching Message [Day 1 -31DBBB]

In this series I am writing follow up posts to Darren Rowse’s series on his website with my post taking off on his topic/task expanding on it for coaches who are building their coaching practice.

Day 1 – Today Darren’s topic/task is “Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog” . Go there now and read his post and do the task assignment.

Two statements that I want to highlight from Darren’s post are:

One of the most important reasons to do this exercise is that to develop an elevator pitch YOU as a blogger to have thought through and crystallised in your mind what your blog is about.

In fact almost every task that we’ll be doing in this next 31 days should flow from this task.

Your elevator pitch for your blog should be consistent with your Unique Coaching Message. We’ve talked about how important this is before.

Since your blog is the #1 way to gain ground as an expert it’s imperative to invest your time into developing your unique coaching message for your blog. There’s a few things I’d like to add to the starting points that Darren shares in his post – I won’t go through all of them – so be sure you read his post to get the good information:

1. Solve a problem or a need – My addition to this would be to say “be specific”. Don’t over generalize the problem or need that your blog meets.  The more focused your solution the move attractive your message will be.
2. Define your Audience – More of “be specific” – Don’t try to reach too large of a market by lumping several markets together.
3. Be clear - Take the time to research how someone who is looking for the solution that you provide would be searching online. What words and phrases does your market place use to describe their problem and the solution they’re looking for? Use those words in your elevator pitch.
4. Be intriguing – Use anumber, word & phrases that indicate results in your elevator pitch if possible. For example: “I help small businesses reduce employee turn over by 20%” or “Parents that coach with me tell me they spend more than 20 minutes a day engaging with their teen over important topics – and they don’t end the conversation screaming at each other”
5. Consider using a question – Questions are a coaches best friend! One of my favorite lines used by Jeannette Maw, Good Vibe Coach on her voice mail is, “What would you like to happen next?” Obviously this is a question but it’s also intriguing. How could anyone not ask her to tell them more!?
6. Be ready to Expand upon Your (blog) Pitch - The point Darren makes here is that your elevator pitch is a conversation opener; it should make your listener want to know more. If you’ve really spent time developing your coaching message this should come easy – but, still be prepared with what to say when someone, “Really? Tell me more.” or “How do you do that?”

This is the starting point for everything you will be doing for the rest of these 31 days. Let me invite you to take the time to do this now – even if you have a blog. Is your existing pitch the best it could be for perpetuating your Unique Coaching Message around the world from the plate form for your blog?

Please share your new or improved elevator pitch for your blog and your coaching business.

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Coach Training Course: Blogging the Platform for Your Online Business Promotion

In a previous post “Online Marketing: How important is blogging to building your coaching business?” I talked about your blog being the hub of your online business promotion – in fact, your blog is the #1 way to gain ground as an expert. So, if your blog is so important it makes sense to spend some time understanding how to:

• make it an interesting read so that your visitors return
• implement strategies to get the visitor to get to the site
• create a conversation with your audience that spreads
• generate more leads / sales for your coaching & your products

One of my favorite blogs to read and learn from is Darren Rowse’s Problogger site. He just recently launched a wonderfully interactive “conversation” classroom style over at his blog called “31 Days to Build a Better Blog – join 9100 other Bloggers Today!“  His basic ideas is to daily post (for 31 days, of course) with:

• a brief instructional post
• a matching task to carry out your learning experience
• and…he invites you to come post a link to your home work on his blog (wonderful link back to your blog from high traffic site!)

Okay, so here’s my twist on this learning experience. I am going to post a matching post for each of his with some suggestions and / or examples that are specifically related to coaching or online marketing for coaches.

If you are a coach (this won’t be for everybody), and:

• you are serious about jump starting your coaching business online
• you are ready to take action now and consistently until you begin to see the results you’re looking for

Then You are invited to join me for the next 31 days. Here’s how you can participate:

• Go subscribe to the Problogger announcement email for “31 Days to Build a Better Blog – join 9100 other Bloggers Today!“
• Come visit my blog and read what I’ve targeted the topic for coaching
• Leave both Darren and I a comment with a link to your homework
• Share any questions or challenges that you might have about the lesson so that I can develop follow up posts to answer the questions.

What if you are new to blogging?

You should at least have a blog set up. I recommend setting up selp hosted Wordpress Blog – but don’t let it stop you if you don’t have a self hosted blog. Go get a free blog at www.wordpress.com and you can transfer to something ’self hosted’.  Or it’s extremely simple to register a domain, set up hosting and set up a blog. You could have a basic blog set up in about an hour. Personally I use My Small Business Website.com for my blog and domain registrations.

What if you already have a blog and have been posting for a while?

Consider this like blog audit. This is a great time to make sure that your doing what you know and discover what others might be doing that might be new to you.

We’re three days behind, so let’s get started. Watch for a response to Darren’s first three posts in the next three days.

Remember, my posts will be similar to Darren’s but aimed specifically to coaching or examples of how the strategies are implemented by coaches.

It’s never to late to get started!

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Welcome to Building Your Coaching Business!

Teaching you to build Your Coaching Business is the most important thing I do!

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What do you Squidoo?

Squidoo is the world’s most popular site for building free, single pages about your passions.

Highlight books, blogs, vids, online shops, or just spread the word about stuff you love. Bonus: you raise money (for you or charity) at the same time. It’s fast, free, and supereasy.

Squidoo is a network of user created lenses or single pages that highlight one person’s point of view, recommendations, or expertise. Lenses can be about anything, such as ideas, people or places, hobbies and sports, pets or products, philosophy, and politics. Lenses aren’t created to hold content, but rather they are created to recommend and point to content elsewhere on the web.

So, maybe by now you’ve heard of Squidoo and maybe you even have a lens or two. Today I interviewed a man that has over 300 lenses and expects to be earning about $2000 per month in passive revenue by year end.

Joe Dillon, also known as, “Captain Squid” is a Giant Squid on Squidoo. This means he is recognized as one of the best lensmasters around. Joe was on “The Small Business Guru & Gadget Guy” Podcast today, as our guest and expert on Squidoo.

<side note>A Giant Squid, by the way, as the story goes is a lensmaster that has published 100 quality lenses. Geez, these guys must have a lot of time on their hands or there must be a financial strategy to all this lens making.

Today Captain Squid - uh, Joe, gave us the basics on Squidoo. You can download the show here. We had a couple of short conversations prior to the show and let me tell you there is some serious strategy behind every lens this guy builds.

Over at the Captain Squid website there’s a gold mind of information. The basics are free. You can find video tutuorials in the Captain’s Training section.

It’s a facinatingly interactive alternative to Article Marketing – well maybe not an alternative because as Joe pointed out on the call it’s actually works the same as article marketing in creating a viral spread of your links but it’s more because it’s so interactive.

Oh, and there are angel Squids that give blessings – blessings boost lens ranking. Why is that important? The more popular the ranking the better the payout is from the revenue share. Oh, didn’t I tell you? Not only is it free to create a lens, and create as many as your heart desires, but Squid Inc shares the revenue from Google Adsense, Amazon, Ebay and the like.

I must confess, I too have become addicted to Squidoo. I’ve just begun, with 6 lenses now published and two more as WIP (works in progress). I’ve been reading the Captain’s “Lens Publishing Checklist” (you’ll have to subscribe to get your own copy). I’ve got much to learn but you can be sure I’ll be posting again on Squidoo.

Come take a look at my lenses and join as a favorite so you can see what I am up to on Squidoo.

First is my Lens for The Small Business Guru, and then…

• Press Releases on the Internet – about how the Internet has changed Press Release submission; along with how and where to submit.
• (of course) Get More Business Podcast – contains all my show listings
• Referral Marketing Best Practices – many resources on how to build a business by referral
• SmBizGuru Favorite Lenses – I had to have a lens where I saved and shared my favorite lenses that I really liked.
• and just for fun I created a “SquidWho” page for Beth Moore - one of my favorite people. I have YouTube Video’s up on the lens for Beth.
• Next I’ll begin creating a lens for each of my guests that I’ve had or will have on my Get More Business Podcast. This is going to be fun!

I’ve got more ideas than I can type fast enough! Gee I wonder if Squid Inc is still awarding Giant Squid Status?

Many lensmasters use their lenses as a tool for affiliate marketing. Not a bad idea!

Tune in to our next show – date, time and guest will be posted at the TalkShoe page soon. Check it out here.

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The Ultimate Referral System Webinar

“If You Only Had $500 In Your Budget and You Needed To Double Your Customers, What Would You Spend It On?”

I’ve been asked that exact same question hundreds of times from business owners who are frustrated with their marketing results.

My simple answer is, “Referral Marketing!”

In a study done by our company with 2,134 small business owners, we found that over 55% said that they received the highest return on their investment from referral marketing. Referrals are the lifeblood of your small business. You know it and I know it. Without referrals, our businesses would dry up and blow away.

That’s why I’ve developed the “Referral Marketing Best Practices Webinar.” This is a one hour webinar in which I share with you what the best referral marketers are doing to generate more referrals. I want to invite YOU to attend one of my webinars.

If you’ve been frustrated with your ability to get more referrals or to motivate your clients and customers to talk about you, then you must attend this webinar.

It’s not too late to register for tomorrow’s event – Wednesday January 30, 2008 at 1 pm Pacific (3 pm Central, 4 pm Eastern)

We will be using GoToMeeting for the Webinar. Go here to register for this fr.ee event: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/893400884

There will be a special bonus announced at the end of the event. You don’t want to miss this.

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How to Choose a Profitable Niche Market

Does it always seem like others find all the profitable markets…while you’re stuck slaving away looking for a good opportunity? On January 4th, 2008, Terry Dean, Author & Marketing Coach will join me on Get More Business Podcast to discuss what he’s called a “virtually fool-proof method of chooosing slam dunk markets.”

Terry Dean is an Internet Business Coach Focused on Helping Small Business Owners Use the Internet to Earn More, Work Less, and Enjoy Life. He started his first online business way back in 1996…an eternity in Internet time.

Before he started online, he was delivering pizzas for a living at LIttle Caesar’s for $8 an hour. Using the power of the Internet, he was full-time in business online in less than 6 months. Two years later he started teaching others on how they too could use the Internet to grow an online business…whether they work from home or run a local business marketing to a local audience.

One of his most memorable moments was sharing how to profit online in front of live audiences…producing as much as $96,250 in sales from a single email to his list during a weekend conference.

His Netbreakthroughs membership site was a Whos-Who on Internet Marketing Experts and Gurus. He sold this consulting business in 2004 to take time off and now concentrates more on using his knowledge and background to coach others to success online.

Download Terry Dean’s special report for Virtually Foolproof Method of Choose Slam Dunk Markets. Here’s what you will learn in this special report:

• How to Come Up With Ideas for Markets
• Come Up With Ideas Off the Internet
• Affinity Markets or Objective Markets
• Is It Cost Effective to Reach the Target Market
• Some Markets Are Not Reachable Online
• Is There Enough Money In The Market
• What About the Competition
• Survey Your Market to Know Them
• How to Estimate Your Future Cost Per Sale With Surveys
• Survey Questions You Should Use
• Choose Your Market Eight Step System
• Choose Your Market Flowchart

I was stunned when I saw how easy it is to use tools on the internet to discover where the money is flowing – who’s buying what and where.

You can listen live on Friday at 9 am Pacific. Join in on the call with Q & A at the end of the call. If you miss the call listen in to the archived podcast.

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It’s really easy to set up your own web site with My Small Business Website. Affordable domain registration, web hosting, shopping carts, email accounts that match your domain and more. We even have simple templates for the beginner. All this and 24/7 support! Hosting as low as $3.99 a month!!

 Related Entries:

The Ultimate Referral System Series
Referrals, Get all You can Handle

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