WELCOME...to our new motivating moment. I hope you enjoy the thoughts and ideas included.

My personal goal is to keep you informed of critical and not so critical news. This newsletter is filled with good ideas for increasing your sales opportunities.

I hope you will take the time to share any future topics you have an interest in.

Joe Stiles

Jeffrey Gitomer (www.gitomer.com) is the master of getting his message out to the general public via books, tapes, corporate training and public speaking seminars.

How do we, collectively, get our message out? For what are we best known? How do we serve our fellow man and woman in our business and our personal lives? Perhaps we can be a resource of

How about publishing some specific information on your industry or your personal interests? Does the thought of publishing your information seem overwhelming? How about starting out with a few type-written in a booklet form that you can print from your PC?

• Information
• Friendship
• Moral guidance
• Emotional support

I attempt to share my (mortgage) industry knowledge in the form of short and informative corporate Lunch & Learn programs on credit scores, stolen IDs-prevention and cures. I also offer some fun and motivational programs on getting referrals and mastering your elevator speech.

NOW that you are sufficiently motivated, go forth and "Stand Up...To Stand Out!

The three-step method of building confidence in prospects and customers are:

• Find out what they want
• Give it to them
• Say it in a believable way

The "secret" of building your case is how you differentiate your business from your competitors. We have seen an automotive repair firm advertising that "we do it all" or "we use only quality part." What makes this company's message distinctive? Not much differentiation here.

As an example, one of our advertising consultants had his fence rebuilt in his back yard. With very little knowledge about fences, he selected 4 companies from the Yellow Pages and obtained bids ranging from $2,500 to $3,300. Our consultant realized that selecting a fencing company based purely on price was not always the wisest decision. Upon getting all the bids, our consultant called the lowest bidder and asked about the company's available installation schedule and informed the company about the competing bids. With that information, the fencing company began a short and thorough education on what someone needs to know when comparing fencing bids. The discussion contained such specifics as pressure treated posts and rails, 4 hinges rather than two, 2X4 rails rather than 2X3 rails.

In this real-life example, the fencing company took the time to share industry knowledge that allowed the consumer to make the best possible and informed decision. The company shared information on the most important features when building a fence and built a case for how special his firm was to the consumer.

The punchline is to:

• Uncover what is most important for your customers
• Evaluate your customer's options
• Say your message well

Danny Barron is reachable at Texas 6 Alliance 713/278-6950

As a big fan of Jeffrey Gitomer, one of his recent newsletters included an article on WHAT and WHERE is your brand.

Now picture this in your business. You seek council of many, plan your brand, develop a strategy of marketing your brand and allocate a certain amount of dollars to get the word out to your prospective clients. In Gitomer's lead article, he uses an example of his experience at a local hotel in which each room has the nicest fluffy towels (even better than the ones he has at home). He brought the towel to his program, held it up to the hundreds of attendees and asked the audience what was missing. The answer was the hotel's brand and/or logo.

Gitomer's point was that the hotel had missed a marketing opportunity for its brand. When a service company spends tens of thousands of dollars on providing for its clients, it should be proud and quick to offer its brand to those clients.

Gitomer's challenge in the newsletter was "how are you displaying your brand on everyday items that others see, buy or use - even if you have to buy the items from an ad speciality company?"

That very point caused me, personally, to re-review all my marketing efforts and my stuff. The purpose in my re-review is to make sure my brand is on everything that customers may read and/or keep in front of them forever (or at least for a long time).

What is my suggestion to you?

Look at your stuff, look at your marketing efforts and determine that your brand is prominent and well placed on everything.

I recently picked up the book no B.S. Sales Success - The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners & Make Tons of Money Guideby Dan Kennedy.

Th following are just some of the topics of the book: I encourage you to pick up the book for some REALLY great ideas for opening doors to your personal sales approach.

• The Process of Personal Packaging
• Proof: The Most Important Tool for Exceptional Success in Selling
• You Can Get Rich Making the Complicated Simple
• Positioning, Not Prospecting

When you need a mortgage banker that works as hard as you do, let me introduce you to MORTGAGE FINANCING WITH...STILE

Are you looking for new new business development opportunities? Be sure to ask me about the Lunch & Learn Program and how it benefit you, directly.

• www.joestiles.com

• Soaring with the Eagles vs. Pecking with the Chickens
• Referring a Referral
• Your 30 Seconds of Fame - Mastering Your Elevator Speech

JOE STILES has over 20 years mortgage experience and lives in West Houston with his wife, Linda, a dynamic professional speaker and communications trainer (www.lindastiles.com). Joe earned a BBA degree in Marketing from the University of Houston/Downtown, where he was awarded membership in the Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma honor societies. Joe is also a graduate of the School of Mortgage Banking at Northwestern University. Joe remains active in the Houston community through Second Baptist Church and numerous civic organizations.

Joe frequently speaks at many Houston-area organizations and at local firms on Credit Scores, stolen IDs - Prevention & Cure and several other funny and motivating topics.

Network Funding is a Houston, TX based mortgage banking firm that has 160 branches in 32 states.