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Dear
Friends and Colleagues,
Even though we're in the middle of
the relaxed, lazy days of summer, the contents of this
newsletter are anything but relaxed.
In this month's newsletter, you'll find a
plea to give out your catalogs for free AND a call on
the stamping companies to take action against members who sorely
deserve it.
In between, we have some great news for
work-at-home-moms with kids home for summer vacation AND the
really great news that close to 100 SIMB clients qualified
for SU's Hawaii Incentive Trip! Awesome!
Finally, be on the lookout next week for
announcements about the new SIMB Blog AND the next
free call!
Warmest
regards,
John
Sanpietro
Certified
Professional Development Coach
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In
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How To Keep Your Work
Schedule
When The Kids Are Home
From School |
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With the kids home from
school, it becomes exceedingly difficult for
many stamping business owners to maintain their
regular work schedules.
As a result, their
businesses suffer and everyone is stressed.
Last summer, I asked my
wife, Liz, a newly-minted work-at-home mom with
17 years of teaching experience, if she had any
ideas for my clients.
"Several," she said.
She went on to explain
that she used to see the same problem in her
classroom at the end of the year. Not only
would the work-at-home parents be worried about
the upcoming summer break, but her students
weren't looking forward to it either. They knew
they'd be bored.
As a remedy, Liz would
share many of the independent activities she
used in the classroom with the parents and
suggest they try them at home to keep the kids
occupied AND free up valuable time they could
use for their business.
So, I asked her if she
could put all of those activities into a book
that we could offer to work-at-home moms.
She could... and she
did. It's called:
MOM NEEDS TO WORK!
Mom Needs To Work!
is a 90-page e-book filled with 44 different
independent activities for your child.
The activities are
divided by subject and are designed to stimulate
your child's creativity and reasoning skills,
while providing you with the free time you need
to effectively run your business!
For more information, or
to order Mom Needs To Work!, visit:
http://www.momneedstowork.com
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Bad Idea of the Month:
Offering Your 20%
Company Discount To Your Customers All The Time
When Will The
Stamping Companies
Take A Stand!? |
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I've been seeing this more and more lately. In
fact, a stamping business owner recently started a
website who's sole purpose is to publicize the fact that
she offers her company discount to anyone who wants it.
I don't think I have to explain why
this is a bad idea. It's obvious that people who
do this not only have no regard for their fellow
stamping business owners, but no regard for their
company, as well. Obviously, they see no reason
not to devalue the product and damage the company.
I certainly hope nobody who's reading this is is one of
the guilty parties, but more importantly, I urge the
stamping companies to take action against these
individuals and protect your brand's value!
The stamping business community is watching. And
the longer the companies wait to take action, the more
individual stamping business owners they're going to
have to take action against.
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Have
YOU Taken The SUDSOL 2-Week Trial? |
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Last month, I talked about SUDSOL (Stampin' Up
Demonstrators Sharing On-Line). They're a fantastic group of
business-minded Demos sharing their ideas and helping
one another overcome their challenges.
Over the last couple of days, we've
had an invigorating conversation about pricing your
classes. Here's an except from one of my messages
about whether or not your location determines how much
you can charge:
I truly believe geography
is no excuse. Every location has a group of people
who aren’t afraid to spend money. If you look at the
demographics of any town, you’ll see a median income for
that town. That means that approximately half of those
people make more than the median and half make less. In
that half that makes more, there are some who make a LOT
more, regardless of geography! Those are the people you
should be marketing to.
And one of the simplest forms of marketing is your
price!
When you charge so little for your classes, you don’t
attract those high-end people. You attract the people
who are more interested in low prices (the
bargain-hunters). Remember, price is perception. A low
price-point leads to the perception that you’re a
bargain offering. Not a quality one.
If you'd like to get in on this,
and many other conversations, I encourage you to click
on the banner above for your free two-week trial.
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Now Booking
Late 2008 and 2009
Live Presentations! |
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 "John
is the BEST business speaker in our profession!"
- Glenda Travelstead
The calendar is filling
up! We are now booking live presentation dates for
this Fall and Winter, as well as the rest of 2009.
All SIMB presentations
are designed to inform, motivate and inspire your
downline or group to define their goals and build their
business.
Unlike many other
speakers, however, SIMB presentations are designed
exclusively for stamping professionals - not the
entire direct sales industry. John understands the
unique challenges stamping business owners face, and
is able to address them specifically.
We also understand the
financial difficulties stamping business owners face and
have priced these presentations accordingly.
John will share concrete
steps everyone can take to make their business a success - whether they just
want a self-supporting hobby, or a full-fledged stamping
business!
If
you would like more information about booking John for an appearance in
front of your group, send
us an e-mail, or select
here for more information.
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Sample
of the Month |
Submitted
by:
Kathleen Bender
Stamp Sets: Sincere Salutations
C/S: Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Versamark, Le Jardin
Designer Series Paper, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Gold
Embossing Powder
Congratulations
to Kathleen, who wins a $10 SIMB Gift Certificate! As
part of our efforts to continually improve, I'm happy to
announce the NEW & IMPROVED SAMPLES SECTION.
Utilizing blog technology, the new samples section
features a search function which allows you to look up
samples by a particular stamp set or theme. You
can also click on each sample for an even larger
version. In total, WE
NOW HAVE OVER 500 SAMPLES and are adding more and more
every day. Use
this link to view the new
Samples Section. We
are now looking for
Summer,
Fall
and
Decor Elements
samples!
If
you would like to submit a sample to be considered for
Sample of the Month and the Samples Section, just send
me a scan via e-mail, or mail your sample to: John
Sanpietro, Stamping Is My Business!, 36 Fir Street, Jay,
NY 12941. Please
include your name, e-mail address, phone number and all
materials used to make your sample.
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Stamping
Business Q&A
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Should I Make My
Customers Pay For The Catalog Or Give It To Them
For Free? |
Let me say this in the
strongest possible terms...
DO NOT MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS
PAY FOR THE CATALOG!!!
It just goes against of
doing business in the 21st century! Think about
it... how many catalogs have YOU paid for in the last
six months?
It borders on offensive to,
essentially, say to your customers, "you have to pay
me for the privilege of seeing the product that I want
you to buy!"
But what about the fact that it's
not just a catalog... it's an idea book, as well?
Yes, there are ideas in this book,
but let me ask you this...
Are there a thousand other places
your customers can get ideas for free? Is there
any other place our customers can see your product line?
The bottom line is, the catalog is
much more valuable to you as a catalog than to your
customers as an idea book.
There's a right way and a wrong way
to give out the catalog. Make sure you do it the
right way.
Before you give out the catalog,
or even make a decision about giving out the catalog,
please
read the article I've written on the topic.
PLEASE READ IT IN FULL!
It'll answer all of your questions AND give you all
of the info you need to increase your sales, as well as
the percentage of customers you do business with!
(If
there's a question you'd like answered, or a topic you'd
like me to cover, feel free
to
send
me an e-mail)
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Testimonials... |
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AS OF JULY 10TH, CLOSE TO
100 SIMB COACHING CLIENTS (GROUP,
1-ON-1 AND ALOHA HAVE
QUALIFIED FOR THE INCENTIVE TRIP!
That means, about 1 out of
every 5 people on the trip is an SIMB Client!
Congratulations to everyone!
I DID IT!!!
-
NC, Louisiana
Thanks so much for this Aloha Group!
And thank you for helping me get to Hawaii. I'm so excited!
- JR, Illinois
Thanks, John, for all of your help this
year. You got me off to a great start in July and that carried me
through.
- MA, Tennessee
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Quick
Links...
Order
the Electronic Version of "Stamping Is My Business!"
Order
the Printed Version of "Stamping Is My
Business!"
Order
one of the SIMB Training CDs
Join the Stamping Business
Coaching Group
Find out how to book John to speak live to YOUR group
Learn
more about the SIMB Referral Program Sign
up for 1-on-1 Coaching
Sign
up for an @StampingIsMyBusiness.com e-mail address
Order
the "Stamping Is My Business!" Tote Bag Stamping
Is My Business! Homepage
E-mail
Me
Past Newsletters
June, 2008
May, 2008
April, 2008
March, 2008
February,
2008
January, 2008
December, 2007
November, 2007 October,
2007
September,
2007
July,
2007
June,
2007
May,
2007
April,
2007
NEWSLETTER
ARCHIVE
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Companies I Use
People
always ask me what companies I use to run my home-based
business. The links below are all companies I work with
and recommend:
 
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