January 2005

It's a new year, and a new opportunity for a new beginning! As is the tradition, it's time to start making those New Year's Resolutions.

Throughout 2004, we have strived to make the Wholesale Marketer experience better for our members.

During the year, Wholesale Marketer has more than tripled in size! We have doubled the number of available wholesale drop shippers (three of those drop ship exclusively for Wholesale Marketer members), we've tripled the amount of available inventory, and even tripled the number of employees!

This means more people in IT to create new tools to help our members succeed. It means more people in Business Development to provide access to ever more drop ship warehouses. It means more people in customer support for faster and better customer service.

Overall, we feel that the substantial growth Wholesale Marketer has experienced in 2004 can only mean good things for our members! Each day as we hear more and more success stories from our members, it reminds us why Wholesale Marketer was started: to give people looking to work from home a real and legitimate business opportunity to make their dream a reality.

Looking forward, we're more excited than ever for 2005. We've brought on board with us some of the finest minds in business and created new working relationships with companies complimentary to ours.

Despite the tremendous growth and improvements we've experienced in 2004, we resolve to make 2005 even better! We resolve to continue toward the goal of becoming the only drop shipping service anyone will ever need. We'll achieve this goal through new technologies, new services, and new products!

And for our members, the start of the year is a perfect time to resolve to grow your business beyond your original goals, and to experience your best year ever!

We at Wholesale Marketer would like to wish you a Happy New Year, and best wishes for 2005!

- by: Stuart Lisonbee

Continuing from our discussion last month, we'll talk more about how to effectively use the "save me money" psychological switch.

As you may remember, this does not mean having the lowest price. Repeated studies have confirmed time and again that price is NOT king. Lowering your price does only one thing: take away profits!

Back to the subject. As you recall, last month I mentioned that when I build a computer, I always purchase the very expensive heat sink compound even though free compound is included with my heat sink purchase. Why do I shell out the extra bucks for the expensive stuff?

Since I like to overclock my processors, (making them run at a speed higher than what they are rated for) I use the expensive heat sink compound because it does a better job of reducing the operating temperature of the processor, which is running faster (and hotter) than it was designed to.

Lowering the temperature even just a couple of degrees can mean the difference between a high-priced (albeit very small) frying pan, and a processor that successfully gives me the extra power I need.

In that example, I save money two different ways. First, I buy the lower clocked, cheaper processor. I then over clock it to the same speed as the more expensive processors. The expensive heat sink compound allows me to over clock the processor faster than I would normally be able to.

Secondly, the heat sink compound keeps me from frying my processor, thereby saving me the cost of replacing it.

Keep in mind, the hope of saving money in the future is the number two biggest reason why people make a purchase! Take a good look at your product. Is there anything about it that would help your consumers save money? Sometimes this takes a little creativity. Generally, you shouldn't focus too much on the benefit of saving money unless it is a major feature of your product or service.

Remember the baseball bat? There's probably not much chance of promoting as a money-saving device. You're probably better off targeting your main market: baseball players. Better to concentrate on its ability to improve a player's game (review the August issue of Marketer Monthly for tips on how to do this).

However, you could mention that the durability of the bat means they'll need to replace it less often (and thereby save money on future purchases). Without making it a major issue, you've pointed out the fact that there is money to be saved, which very well could be the one thing that gets a consumer to make up their mind to make the purchase.

Remember in November when I said that "highest quality" is one of the poorest unique selling points you could use? This is how you can use the "highest quality" claim to your advantage. Show your customers that they will save money because of your product's high durability.

There are literally a million different ways you could market any product to show it can save a consumer money in one way or another. Some make sense, many don't. You're a consumer yourself. You know what makes sense and what doesn't. Stick with what does.

Next month: Yet another psychological switch that opens the wallet.

Stuart is an eBay certified consultant, former eBay employee and PowerSeller. He is also a successful Internet Marketer and author of How to Write Killer Ads That Get Customers to Put Money In Your Pocket.