Gift of the Gab # 5

Great Signature Files

You don't have to just say easy sentences,you can write them too !

A cheap and easy way to send people to your home page is to use attention-getting signature files.Don't use boring signature files such as :

"The world's best home-based business opportunity with lifestyle enhancement features.Go to -- http://www.boringopportunity.com"

Now that's bad.

Instead,use your imagination.Make a signature file that creates curiousity and interest.

Here are a few examples :

* Click here to see a picture of my wife's stomach.

* Click here to see a picture of my boss' face when I told him I quit.

* Click here to see a picture of the new car I won.

* Click here to see how much weight I lost this month.

* Click here to see my 'before' and 'after' pictures.

* Click here to see a picture of my dog biting my...........

See the difference ?

Your prospects will click on your signature file and will go to your sales page or testimonials page.

Did you notice how I started each sentence with
"Click here to see a picture of ........."

There is Magic in that phrase.You'll learn more about that magic later,on prospecting over the internet.

More Gifts of the Gab later............

Gift of the Gab # 4

Try weaving these benefits into your own personal opening sentences and watch your prospects lean forward.

1.How to work half days and get full time pay.

2.How to spend an extra four hours with your children everyday.

3.I show people how to retire five years earlier -- but at full pay.

4.Take a six month vacation,twice a year.

5.How to get $500 a month raise without having to ask your boss.

6.How to fire your boss and start your own business.

7.How to get a 25% raise and never having to commute again.

You see,when your first sentence is good,your prospects will lean forward,and then the rest of your presentation is easy.

Most distributors think that it is their wonderful presentation that makes a difference -- it is'nt.

Prospects make up their minds very quickly -- so it is what you say before the presentation that will make all the difference.

So try to create your own first sentences that naturally and effortlessly get your prospects to smile and lean forward.

More Gifts of the Gab later................

Gift of the Gab # 3

I was at a restaurant in Mumbai with a friend of mine.After ordering our meals,my friend asked the waiter :

"Are you married to your job or are you open-minded ?"

Everyone wants to be considered as having an open mind,so the waiter responds :

"Yes,ofcourse I am open-minded.You know,this job does'nt pay enough for me and my family"

My friend gave the waiter his card and casually said :

"We'll talk later"

This opening sentence opens the door for you.Not only will the prospect be more receptive to hearing a presentation,your prospect will also try to give your presentation a fair hearing.


More Gifts of the Gab later.................

Gift of the Gab # 2

I was driving and listening to an audio by Jim Rohn.He shared one of the great ways he used to get people to become instant prospects

You can't use this everywhere,but just imagine you were paying for goods and you were talking with the clerk.

It went something like this :

Jim Rohn :
"Have you found the opportunity that will take care of you and your family for the rest of your life ?"

Clerk :
"Uh ! I don't even know there were such opportunities"

Jim Rohn :
"Well,then I have to ask you another question.How much time do you spend each week looking for it ?"

Clerk :
"I did'nt even know I should be looking."

Jim Rohn :
"Well,when you decide to decide to start looking,here is my card,give me a call."

Please notice there are two things happening here :

1.You create an instant prospect.
2.You upgraded your prospect from an ordinary prospect who would have just wanted to earn a part-time income...... to a potential leader, who wanted to create a lifetime opportunity.Neat,eh ?

So what do you do next ?

You could set an appointment to talk to them later.
.................... send them to a website.
.................... give them your business card.
.................... invite them to a tele conference.
.................... load them a DVD .........Lots of options.

Or just give them your "One Minute Presentation" and then if they are interested,you can talk longer.

So try using "Have you found the opportunity that will take care of you and your
family for the rest of your life ?"

And watch your prospect's eyes light up while they dream of a new life without being shackled to a job.

More 'Gifts of the Gab' later............

Gift of the Gab

To get an appointment for an instant presentation with a prospect,simply say this :

"I got a good story.Takes about two minutes.
Might make you a lot of money,might not.
Want to hear it ?"

Almost 100% of the people you talk to will want to hear your TWO MINUTE story.I love this sentence and it can make a fortune.

Why does this sentence work ?

1.Everyone loves to hear a good story.
2.If it is only two minutes,it is safe for them to listen to the story.

So what do you do next ?

Well,just give them your "One Minute Presentation" -- and then if they are interested,you can continue and talk longer.

So just by saying :

"I got a good story.Takes about two minutes.
Might make you a lot of money,might not.
Want to hear it ?"

And watch your prospect's eyes light up,while they lean forward eagerly awaiting your story.

More "Gifts of the Gab" later.............

Basics Of Success

YOU ARE WHAT YOU SAY!

I Believe in the concept of making a comprehensive list of would be prospects.
Please don't ask me 'HOW MANY NAMES ?'

Depends on whether you go out of your house everyday and meet people or you've stayed UNDER YOUR BED throughout your life and have not come out ever since.It also depends on how many people trust you.But it should'nt normally fall short of 500.

TOO MUCH ?

Now imagine you or your kids getting married[Depends on your age].How many people would you invite ? All the people you invite know you -- obviously you would'nt be inviting strangers.

THAT'S THE START OF YOUR LIST.

This first step is the most important one towards your success.Till the time your list is complete please don't discuss your business with ANYONE.

Now start polishing your product/services knowledge.This needs to be done over and over again.This exercise may seem pointless at the moment,but it arms you in three ways :
1.It builds your confidence.
2.It enables you to speak fluently & with gusto with your prospects.
3.It becomes a cakewalk when you handle objections.

Cakewalk reminds me -- Suppose you weigh,mix and offer all the ingredients of a cake [i.e.water,flour,sugar,raisins,etc.] to a person who has never tasted a cake before,telling him to taste a bit of 'YOUR CAKE'

ARRRGH!

What would be his reaction after he tastes it.
ARRRGH! [Once again--the first one was from me]

Be truthful.Will your reaction be any different if you were in your prospects shoes and were offered the SAME CAKE ?
I doubt it.

And the next time this person is actually asked if he would like to have a piece of cake by someone else,do you think he would say yes ? PROBABLY NOT.Unless of course he suffers from GHAJINIA -- Short Term Memory Loss,and has completely forgotton the cake tasting incident.

I don't blame him for his opinions.He has formed his opinions regarding something [YOUR CAKE],which it actually was'nt.But has he actually tasted a cake ?[The one offered by you]

I'm sure you've been able to grasp what I'm trying to put forward.So BAKE your cake well before offering it to anyone else.Infact I advise you to taste it yourself before you start offering.This is possible when you explain the presentation to your dog,cat or maybe fish before trying it on your prospects.Another advantage of pets is that there won't be any objections/rejections.

After you practice the presentation for the nth time,you would surprise even yourself with the newfound freshly cultivated CONFIDENCE.

The second plus which I mentioned earlier i.e.fluency comes automatically.

I'll give you an example.

How many of you guys DON'T KNOW the English Alphabets ?

Funny question,Right ?

WRONG !

Try to remember the days when you first learnt ABCD.For many a years,maybe 250 school days per year,you repeated the alphabets over and over again at least ten to twenty times every day in class alongwith your teacher and again practiced the whole thing at home,God knows how many times to make them sound easy today.

Don't you think you should be taking the same approach towards your business -- practice and master your presentation assuming them to be the alphabets of your future business ?
Let me know after you've practiced it a 100 times or maybe 200 times,how EASY or DIFFICULT it is.

DIFFICULT ! Did I say DIFFICULT ?

Now I'm JOKING.

Thirdly,when you know your subject well,any question on that subject would be easy to answer.After all when you are describing your products/services to your prospect,don't expect him to ask you why the rains have been late this year.

You may ask "Why all this preparation ?"

A genuine question.

Before I answer this question,let me ask you one.Suppose you open a restaurant.Surely you would want all your friends and relatives -- infact everyone who possibly knows you to visit the restaurant alongwith their friends.Right ?
Now when they come visiting your restaurant for the first time,what are the basics which should be in place ? You should be able to give them comfortable seats to sit on alongwith proper tables to have their meals on and aboveall comparitively tasty food to bring them back over and over again,apart from suggesting your place to friends.Without any of the abovementioned aspects,do you expect any of your customers to visit,even if they be your closest friends/relatives ?

I'm sure I don't need to answer that.

Similarly,in any business,you need to have the basics in place before you even start talking about it to anyone.
This is the time to review your list of names and group them in batches of 50.The first group of 50 prospects will be those who according to you won't join you anyways.And the last group should be those prospects who are extremely close to you and would join you just because they trust you completely and you told them to.When you first made the list it was just the reverse of this i.e.closest people first.

This way,when you present your products/services to the first group,you get live practice,probably making quite a few mistakes,which won't make any difference because your prospects from this group would'nt have joined you anyways.And if some do join,it's a bonus.

You are now ready to speak to your prospects about your business,but make sure you talk to one prospect at a time -- I repeat ONE PROSPECT AT A TIME.

Please try telling them all together ONLY if you intend closing shop before you could even open it.You may be excited about your business,but at this point of time your prospect is'nt.

Next I'll give you some starters which you may use with your prospects,so that they eagerly do as you bid them to and literally have them eating out of your hands and you become MINI RULERS.

I call it 'GIFT OF THE GAB'

Get Ready..........

History of Amazon.com

Research on Amazon.com Inc.

We have all either heard of or are customers of Amazon.com,but most of us may not be aware of the History of this wonderful company.So please read on for information on Amazon.com,especially researched for You---Happy Reading

Type Public (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Founded 1994
Founder Jeffrey P. Bezos
Headquarters Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
Area served Worldwide
Key people Jeffrey P. Bezos
(Chairman), (CEO) & (President)
Industry Retail
Products Amazon.com
A9.com
Alexa Internet
IMDb
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Web Services
Revenue ▲ US$ 19.166 billion (2008)
Operating income ▲ US$ 842 million (2008)
Net income ▲ US$ 645 million (2008)
Employees 20,500 (2008)[1]
Website Amazon.com
Alexa rank <40>Type of site e-commerce
Advertising web banners and videos
Available in English, Chinese, French, German, & Japanese
Launched 1995 continued...


Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the internet sales revenue of runner up Staples, Inc.[2]

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 and launched it online in 1995. It started as an on-line bookstore but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs and MP3s, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, etc. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and Japan. It also provides international shipping to certain countries for some of its products.

On January 15, 2009, a survey published by Verdict Research found that Amazon was the UK's favorite music and video retailer, and came third in overall retail rankings.[3]

Contents
1 History and business model
1.1 Merchant partnerships
2 Locations
2.1 Headquarters
2.2 Software development centers
2.3 Fulfillment and warehousing
3 Product lines
3.1 Review and recommendation feature
4 Website
5 Acquisitions and spinoffs
6 Products and services
7 Controversies
7.1 Trademark infringement
7.2 Patent use
7.3 Labor relations
7.4 The Humane Society of the United States v. Amazon.com, Inc., et al.
7.5 Reader reviews credibility
7.6 BookSurge
7.7 Interfering with publishers' direct sales
7.8 Dispute with Hachette Livre UK
7.9 Lawsuits with the State of New York
7.10 Deranking of erotic, LGBT, feminist, progressive and sex-positive content
7.11 Taxes paid
8 Entrepreneurship by former employees
9 See also
10 Further reading
11 References
12 External links



History and business model
Amazon was founded in 1994, spurred by what Bezos called "regret minimization framework", his effort to fend off regret for not staking a claim in the Internet gold rush.[4] While company lore says Bezos wrote the business plan while he and his wife drove from New York to Seattle,[5] that account appears to be apocryphal.[6]

The company began as an online bookstore;[6] while the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores and mail-order catalogs for books might offer 200,000 titles, an on-line bookstore could offer more. Bezos named the company "Amazon" after the world's biggest river. Since 2000, Amazon's logotype is an arrow leading from A to Z, representing customer satisfaction (as it forms a smile) and the goal to have every product in the alphabet.[7]

In 1994, the company incorporated in the state of Washington, beginning service in July 1995, and was reincorporated in 1996 in Delaware. The first book Amazon.com sold was Douglas Hofstadter's Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.[8] Amazon.com issued its initial public offering of stock on May 15, 1997, trading under the NASDAQ stock exchange symbol AMZN, at an IPO price of US$18.00 per share ($1.50 after three stock splits in the late 1990s).

Amazon's initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years; the strategy was effective. Amazon grew steadily in the late 1990s while other Internet companies grew blindingly fast. Amazon's "slow" growth provoked stockholder complaints: that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the dot-com bubble burst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and, finally, turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million, just 1¢ per share, on revenues of more than $1 billion, but the profit was symbolically important.

The company remains profitable: 2003 net income was $35.3 million, $588.50 million in 2004, $359 million in 2005, and $190 million in 2006 (including a $662 million charge for R&D in 2006), nevertheless, the firm's cumulative profits remain negative. As of September 2007, the accumulated deficit stood at $1.58 billion. Revenues increased thanks to product diversification and an international presence: $3.9 billion in 2002, $5.3 billion in 2003, $6.9 billion in 2004, $8.5 billion in 2005, and $10.7 billion in 2006.

On November 21, 2005, Amazon entered the S&P 500 index, replacing AT&T after it merged with SBC Communications. On December 31, 2008, Amazon entered the S&P 100 index, replacing Merrill Lynch after it was taken over by Bank of America.

In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos Person of the Year, recognizing the company's success in popularizing on-line shopping.


Merchant partnerships
The Web site CDNOW (cdnow.com) is powered and hosted by Amazon. Until June 30, 2006, typing ToysRUs.com into a browser would similarly bring up Amazon.com's Toys & Games tab; however, this relationship was terminated as the result of a lawsuit.[9]

Amazon.com powers and operates retail web sites for Target, Sears Canada, Benefit Cosmetics, Bebe Stores, Timex Corporation, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, and Lacoste. For a growing number of enterprise clients, currently including the UK merchants Marks & Spencer, Benefit Cosmetics' UK entity and Mothercare, Amazon provides a unified multichannel platform whence a customer can interchangeably interact with the retail website, standalone in-store terminals, and phone-based customer service agents. Amazon Web Services also powers AOL's Shop@AOL.


LOCATION

Headquarters

Amazon.com's headquarters in the PacMed building in Beacon Hill, Seattle.The company's global headquarters is located on Seattle's Beacon Hill. It has offices throughout other parts of greater Seattle including Union Station and The Columbia Center.

Amazon has announced plans to move its headquarters to the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle beginning in mid-2010, with full occupancy by 2011. This move will consolidate all Seattle employees onto the new 11-building campus.[10]


Software development centers
The company employs software developers in medium- to large-sized centers across the globe. While most of Amazon's software development is in Seattle, other locations include:

Slough (United Kingdom)
Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
Dublin (Ireland)
Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad (India)
Cape Town (South Africa)
Iaşi (Romania)
Shibuya (Tokyo, Japan)
Beijing (China)
Tempe, Arizona (United States)

Fulfillment and warehousing
Fulfillment centers are located in the following cities, often near airports. Amazon offers warehousing and order-fulfillment for third-party sellers including large companies such as Target Corporation:[11]

North America:

Arizona, USA: Phoenix, Goodyear
Delaware, USA: New Castle
Indiana, USA: Whitestown, Munster
Kansas, USA: Coffeyville
Kentucky, USA: Campbellsville, Hebron (near CVG), Lexington, and Louisville
Nevada, USA: Fernley and Red Rock (near 4SD)
New Hampshire, USA: Nashua
Pennsylvania, USA: Carlisle, Chambersburg, Hazleton, and Lewisberry
Texas, USA: Dallas/Fort Worth
Ontario, Canada: Mississauga (a Canada Post facility)
In March 2009, Amazon announced plans to close three U.S. distribution centers: Red Rock, Nevada, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and Munster, Indiana.[12]

Europe:

Amazon.co.uk warehouse, Glenrothes.Bedfordshire, England: Marston Gate
Inverclyde, Scotland: Gourock
Fife, Scotland: Glenrothes
Neath Port Talbot, Wales: Crymlyn Burrows[13][14] near Jersey Marine[15]
Loiret, France: Orléans-Boigny (2000)
Loiret, France: Orléans-Saran (2007)
Hesse, Germany: Bad Hersfeld
Saxony, Germany: Leipzig

Asia:

Chiba, Japan
Guangzhou, China
Suzhou, China
Beijing, China

Product lines
Amazon has steadily branched into retail sales of music CDs, videotapes and DVDs, software, consumer electronics, kitchen items, tools, lawn and garden items, toys & games, baby products, apparel, sporting goods, gourmet food, jewelry, watches, health and personal-care items, beauty products, musical instruments, clothing, industrial & scientific supplies, groceries, and more.

The company launched Amazon.com Auctions, its own Web auctions service, in March 1999. However, it failed to chip away at industry pioneer eBay's juggernaut growth. Amazon Auctions was followed by the launch of a fixed-price marketplace business called zShops in September 1999, and a failed Sotheby's/Amazon partnership called sothebys.amazon.com in November.

Amazon no longer mentions either Auctions or zShops on its main pages and the help page for sellers now only mentions the Marketplace.[16] Old links to zShops now simply redirect to the Amazon home page,[17] while old links to Auctions take users to a transactions history page.[18] New product listings are no longer possible for either service.

Although zShops failed to live up to its expectations, it laid the groundwork for the hugely successful Amazon Marketplace service launched in 2001 that let customers sell used books, CDs, DVDs, and other products alongside new items. Today, Amazon Marketplace's main rival is eBay's Half.com service.

Beginning August 2005,[19] Amazon began selling products under its own private label, "Pinzon"; the initial trademark applications suggested the company intended to focus on textiles, kitchen utensils, and other household goods.[19] In March 2007, the company applied to expand the trademark to cover a larger and more diverse list of goods, and to register a new design consisting of the "word PINZON in stylized letters with a notched letter O whose space appears at the "one o'clock" position.".[20] The list of products registered for coverage by the trademark grew to include items such as paints, carpets, wallpaper, hair accessories, clothing, footwear, headgear, cleaning products, and jewelry.[20]

On May 16, 2007 Amazon announced its intention to launch its own online music store.[21] The store launched in the US in public beta September 25, 2007, selling downloads exclusively in MP3 format without digital rights management.[22] This is especially notable as it was the first online offering of DRM-free music from all four major record companies.[23][24][25][26]

In August 2007, Amazon announced AmazonFresh,[27] a grocery service offering perishable and nonperishable foods. Customers can have orders delivered to their homes at dawn or during a specified daytime window. Delivery was initially restricted to residents of Mercer Island, Washington, and was later expanded to several ZIP codes in Seattle proper.[28] AmazonFresh also operated pick-up locations in the suburbs of Bellevue and Kirkland from summer 2007 through early 2008.

In 2008 Amazon expanded into film production and is currently funding the film The Stolen Child with 20th Century Fox.[29] continued...


Review and recommendation feature
See also: Recommender system
Amazon.com's customer reviews are monitored for all negative or indecent comments that are directed at anything, or anyone, but the product itself. In regards to the reviews lacking relative restrictions, Robert Spector, who is the author of the book Amazon.com, describes how "when publishers and authors asked Bezos why Amazon.com would publish negative reviews, he defended the practice by claiming that Amazon.com was ‘taking a different approach...we want to make every book available – the good, the bad, and the ugly...to let truth loose’" (Spector 132).

Reviews for different media of the same product are grouped together (e.g., the review page for a particular film, whether on VHS, Blu-Ray, or DVD, will feature reviews from all three products). Currently, there is no way to only look at reviews for one version of a product.


Website
The domain amazon.com attracted at least 615 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey. This was twice the numbers of walmart.com.[30]

Amazon allows users to submit reviews to the web page of each product. As part of their review, users must rate the product on a rating scale from one to five stars. In 2004 a software error accidentally showed the names behind reviews that were submitted anonymously, and some authors were shown to have written glowing reviews of their own books. Amazon created a feature in recent years that allowed users to comment on reviews. Amazon provides an optional badging option for reviewers, e.g., to indicate the real name of the reviewer (based on confirmation of a credit card account) or to indicate that the reviewer is one of the top reviewers by popularity. The U.S. site generally has the most reviews. A review posted on one site is not necessarily visible on another site.

"Search Inside the Book" is a feature which allows customers to search for keywords in the full text of many books in the catalog.[31][32] The feature started with 120,000 titles (or 33 million pages of text) on October 23, 2003. There are currently about 250,000 books in the program. Amazon has cooperated with around 130 publishers to allow users to perform these searches.

To avoid copyright violations, Amazon.com does not return the computer-readable text of the book but rather a picture of the matching page, disables printing, and puts limits on the number of pages in a book a single user can access. One author observed that his entire book could be read online by searching a few words.[33] Additionally, customers can purchase online access to the some books via the "Amazon Upgrade" program, although the selection is currently quite limited.

According to information in Amazon.com discussion forums,[citation needed] Amazon derives about 40 percent of its sales from affiliates whom they call Associates, and third party sellers who list and sell products on the Amazon websites. Associates receive a commission for referring customers to Amazon by placing links on their websites to the Amazon homepage or to specific products. If a referral results in a sale, the Associate receives a commission from Amazon. Worldwide, Amazon has "over 900,000 members" in its affiliate programs.[34] Associates can access the Amazon catalog directly on their websites by using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) XML service. A new affiliate product, aStore, allows Associates to embed a subset of Amazon products within, or linked to from, another website.

Amazon reported over 1.3 million sellers sold products through Amazon's World Wide Web sites in 2007. Selling on Amazon has become more popular as Amazon expanded into a variety of categories beyond media and built a variety of features to support volume selling. Unlike eBay, Amazon sellers do not have to maintain separate payment accounts; all payments and payment security are handled by Amazon itself.

According to the Internet audience measurement website Compete.com, Amazon attracts approximately 50 million U.S. consumers to its website on a monthly basis.[35]


Acquisitions and spinoffs
This section may contain an inappropriate mixture of prose and timeline. Please help convert this timeline into prose or, if necessary, a list.

In April 1998, Amazon bought the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
In August 1998, Amazon bought Cambridge, Massachusetts-based PlanetAll for 800,000 shares of Amazon stock. PlanetAll operated a web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service. In the same deal, Amazon acquired Sunnyvale-based Junglee.com, an XML-based data mining startup for 1.6 million shares of Amazon stock. The two deals together were valued at about $280 million at the time.
In June 1999, Amazon bought Alexa Internet, Accept.com, and Exchange.com in a set of stock deals worth approximately $645 million.
In 2003, Amazon purchased the rival online music retailer CD Now.
In 2004, Amazon purchased Joyo.com, a Chinese e-commerce website. It also debuted A9.com, a company focused on researching and building innovative technology.
In March 2005, Amazon acquired BookSurge, a print on demand company, and Mobipocket.com, an eBook software company.
In July 2005, Amazon purchased CreateSpace (formerly CustomFlix), a Scotts Valley, California-based distributor of on-demand DVDs.[36] Since the acquisition, CreateSpace has expanded its on-line services to include on-demand books and CDs, as well as video downloads. On July 30, 2007, the National Archives announced that it would make thousands of historic films available for purchase through CreateSpace.[37]
In February 2006, Amazon acquired Shopbop, a Madison, Wisconsin-based retailer of designer clothing and accessories for women.[38]
In May 2007, Amazon acquired dpreview.com, a London-based digital photography review website created by Phil Askey as his personal hobby website and Brilliance Audio, the largest independent publisher of audiobooks in the United States.[39]
In January 2008, Amazon announced that it would acquire audiobook provider Audible.com for $300 million in cash.
In June 2008, Amazon announced that it had acquired Fabric.com, an online fabric store.[40]
In July 2008, Amazon's IMDb subsidiary purchased Box Office Mojo, a site that tracks movie sales in theatres.[41]
In August 2008, Amazon announced it had an agreement to purchase Victoria, B.C. based AbeBooks, seller of new, used, out of print and rare books.[42] Later that month Amazon announced that it would acquire Seattle-based Shelfari, a book-based social network site, for an undisclosed sum.[43] As part of its acquisition of Abebooks Amazon also got an additional stake in Shelfari's competitor LibraryThing, which AbeBooks had previously purchased a 40 percent stake in, and whole ownership of Bookfinder.com, Gojaba.com, and listing-management service FillZ, all owned by AbeBooks at the time of acquisition.
In October 2008 acquired Reflexive Entertainment[44], a casual video game development company.

Products and services
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)
This section may contain an inappropriate mixture of prose and timeline. Please help convert this timeline into prose or, if necessary, a list.

Amazon.com has incorporated a number of products and services into its shopping model, either through development or acquisition.

2001
Honor System and donations: The Honor System was originally launched in 2001 to allow customers to make donations or buy digital content, with Amazon collecting 2.9 percent of the payment plus a flat fee of 30¢. The service was discontinued on December 11, 2008.[45] It has been succeeded by Amazon Payments.
2002
Web Services: Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2002. The service provides programmatic access to many features leveraged behind the scenes on its website.
2004
Amazon also created "channels" to benefit certain causes. In 2004, Amazon's "Presidential Candidates" allowed customers to donate $5–200 to the campaigns of 2004 U.S. presidential hopefuls. Amazon has periodically reactivated a Red Cross donation channel after such tragedies as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. After the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Amazon set up an online donation channel to the American Red Cross, waiving its processing fee. By January 2005, nearly 200,000 individuals had donated over $15.7 million in the US alone.[46]

2005
Prime: Amazon Prime offers customers unlimited expedited shipping with no minimum purchase amount for a flat annual fee. The service also offers discounted priority shipping rates. Amazon launched the program in the continental United States in 2005, in Japan in June 2007, in the United Kingdom and Germany in November 2007, and in France (as "Amazon Premium") in October 2008.
Shorts: Launched in 2005, Amazon Shorts offers exclusive short form content, including short stories and non-fiction pieces from best-selling authors, all available for immediate download at 49¢. As of June 2007, the program has over 1,700 pieces and is adding about 50 new pieces per week.
Mechanical Turk: In November 2005, Amazon.com began testing Amazon Mechanical Turk, an application programming interface (API) allowing programs to dispatch tasks to human processors.
2006
S3: In March 2006, Amazon launched an online storage service called Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). An unlimited number of data objects, from 1 byte to 5 gigabytes in size, can be stored in S3 and distributed via HTTP or BitTorrent. The service charges monthly fees for data stored and for data transferred.
SQS: In April 2006, Amazon introduced Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), a distributed queue messaging service.
Discussion boards: In August 2006, Amazon launched product wikis (later folded into Amapedia) and discussion forums for certain products using guidelines that follow standard message board conventions.
EC2: In August 2006, Amazon introduced Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), a virtual site farm, allowing users to use the Amazon infrastructure with its high reliability to run diverse applications ranging from running simulations to web hosting. In 2008, Amazon improved the service adding Elastic Block Store (EBS), offering persistent storage for Amazon EC2 instances and Elastic IP addresses, static IP addresses designed for dynamic cloud computing.
2007
Amapedia: In January 2007 Amazon launched Amapedia, a collaborative wiki for user-generated content to replace ProductWiki.
Unbox: In March 2007, Amazon launched an online video on demand service, Amazon Unbox.
MP3 downloads: In September 2007, Amazon launched a new music store (currently in beta) called Amazon MP3, which sells downloadable tracks, all in the MP3 format and most recorded at 256 kilobits per second variable bitrate (VBR).[47] Amazon's terms of use agreements legally restrict use of the music, but Amazon does not use DRM to enforce those terms.[48]
Amazon MP3 sells music from the Big 4 record labels: EMI, Universal, Warner Bros. Records, and Sony BMG, as well as many independents. Previous to the launch of this service, Amazon made an investment in Amie Street, a similar music store with a variable pricing model based on demand.[49]
Vine: In August 2007 Amazon launched Amazon Vine, which allows top product reviewers free access to pre-release products from vendors participating in the program. Reviewers may either return the used product to Amazon, or post a review and keep the product, within a few months of receipt.
FPS: In August 2007 Amazon launched a payment service specifically targeted at developers called Flexible Payment Service FPS. Amazon FPS has facilities for developing many different charging models including micro-payments. The service also gives developers easy access to Amazon customers.[citation needed]
Kindle: In November 2007, Amazon launched Amazon Kindle, an e-book reader which downloads content over "Whispernet", a free EV-DO wireless service on the Sprint Nextel network. The screen uses E Ink technology to reduce battery consumption. In 2008 Amazon claimed its library had grown to 200,000 titles.
SimpleDB: In December 2007, Amazon introduced SimpleDB, a database system, allowing users of its other infrastructure to utilize a high reliability high performance database system.
AmazonFresh: In August 2007, Amazon launched an invitation-only beta-test for online grocery delivery. It has since rolled out in several Seattle, Washington suburbs.
2008
Amazon MP3: In January 2008 Amazon announced they would be rolling out their MP3 service to their subsidiary websites worldwide throughout the year.[50] On December 1, 2008, Amazon MP3 was made available in the UK.
SoundUnwound: At the beginning of September, IMDB and Amazon.com launched a Music metadata browsing site with wiki-like user contribution. [51]
Frustration-Free Packaging: In November, Amazon partnered with manufacturers including Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and electronics manufacturer Transcend to offer products in minimal packaging. This reduces environmental impact of the packaging and frustration with opening "clamshell" type security packaging. [52]
EC2 Windows Client: In Amazon Web Services launched a public beta of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud running Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server. [53]
Undated
Connect: Amazon Connect enables authors to post remarks on their book pages to customers who have bought their books.
WebStore: WebStore by Amazon allows businesses to create e-commerce websites using Amazon technology. Merchants can customize their sites using their own photos and branding. Sellers pay a commission of 7 percent, which includes credit-card processing fees and fraud protection, and a subscription fee of $59.95/month for an unlimited number of webstores and listings. continued...

Controversies
This article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) may mean the article does not present a neutral point of view of the subject. It may be better to integrate the material in such sections into the article as a whole. (April 2009)


Trademark infringement
In 1999, the Amazon Bookstore Cooperative of Minneapolis, Minnesota sued Amazon.com for trademark infringement. The cooperative had been using the name "Amazon" since 1970, but reached an out-of-court agreement to share the name with the on-line retailer.[54]


Patent use
The company has been controversial for its alleged use of patents as a competitive hindrance. The "1-click patent"[55] is perhaps the best-known example of this. Amazon's use of the one-click patent against competitor Barnes and Noble's website led the Free Software Foundation to announce a boycott on Amazon in December 1999.[56] The boycott was discontinued in September 2002.[57]

On February 22, 2000, the company was granted a patent covering an internet-based customer referral system, or what is commonly called an "affiliate program". Reaction was swift and negative. Industry leaders Tim O'Reilly and Charlie Jackson spoke out against the patent,[58] and O'Reilly published an open letter[59] to Bezos protesting the 1-click patent and the affiliate program patent, and petitioning him to "avoid any attempts to limit the further development of internet commerce".

O'Reilly collected 10,000 signatures[60] with this petition. Bezos responded with his own open letter.[61] The protest ended with O'Reilly and Bezos visiting Washington, D.C. to lobby for patent reform.

On February 25, 2003, the company was granted a patent titled "Method and system for conducting a discussion relating to an item on Internet discussion boards".[62]

On May 12, 2006, the USPTO ordered a re-examination[63] of the "One-Click" patent, based on a request filed by Peter Calveley, who cited as prior art an earlier e-commerce patent and the Digicash electronic cash system.[citation needed]

Labor relations
Amazon has opposed efforts by trade unions to organize in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

In 2001, 850 employees in Seattle were laid off by Amazon.com after a unionization drive. The Washington Alliance of Technological Workers (WashTech) accused the company of violating union laws, and claimed Amazon managers subjected them to intimidation and heavy propaganda. Amazon denies any link between the unionization effort and the lay-offs.[64]

Also in 2001, Amazon.co.uk hired a US management consultancy organization, The Burke Group, to assist in defeating a campaign by the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU, now part of Amicus) to achieve recognition in the Milton Keynes distribution depot. It was alleged that the company victimized or sacked four union members during the 2001 recognition drive and held a series of captive meetings with employees.[65][66]


The Humane Society of the United States v. Amazon.com, Inc., et al.
Amazon at one time carried two cockfighting magazines and two dog fighting videos although the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) contends that the sale of these materials is a violation of U.S. Federal law. The Humane Society of the United States has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.[67] A campaign to boycott Amazon purchases gained momentum in August 2007 after the much publicized dog fighting case involving NFL quarterback Michael Vick.[68]

On May 21, 2008, Marburger Publishing agreed to settle with the Humane Society by requesting that Amazon stop offering their magazine The Game Cock for subscription. The second magazine named in the Humane Society lawsuit, The Feathered Warrior, remains available.[69]


Reader reviews credibility
A 2004 glitch in Amazon.ca's review system revealed that many well-established authors were anonymously giving themselves glowing reviews, with some revealed to be anonymously giving "rival" authors terrible reviews. The glitch in the system was fixed and those reviews have since been removed or made non anonymous.[70][71]


BookSurge
In March 2008, sales representatives of Amazon's BookSurge division started contacting publishers of print on demand titles to inform them that for Amazon to continue selling their POD-produced books, they would need to sign agreements with Amazon's own BookSurge POD company. Publishers were told that eventually, the only POD titles that Amazon would be selling would be those printed by their own company, BookSurge. Some publishers felt that this ultimatum amounted to monopoly abuse, and questioned the ethics of the move and its legality under anti-trust law.[72]


Interfering with publishers' direct sales
In 2008, Amazon UK came under criticism for attempting to prevent publishers from direct selling at discount from their own websites. Amazon's argument was that they should be able to pay the publishers based on the lower prices offered on their websites, rather than on the full RRP.[73][74]


Dispute with Hachette Livre UK
In June 2008 Amazon UK drew criticism in the British publishing community following their withdrawal from sale of key titles published by Hachette Livre UK. The withdrawal is apparently intended to put pressure on the publisher to provide levels of discount described by the trade as unreasonable. Curtis Brown's managing director Jonathan Lloyd was quoted in The Bookseller magazine as saying: "I think the entire industry of publishers, authors and agents are 100% behind [Hachette]. Someone has to draw a line in the sand. Publishers have given 1% a year away to retailers, so where does it stop? Using authors as a financial football is disgraceful."[75][76]


Lawsuits with the State of New York
In 2008 New York passed a law that would force online retailers to collect sales taxes on shipments to New York State residents.[77] Shortly after the law was signed, Amazon.com filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court objecting to the law.[77] The complaint wasn't based on whether in-State customers should pay tax, but was based on the long standing practice of it being the responsibility of the customer to report the sales tax (known as use tax in this case) and not that of the out of State businesses.[77] The lawsuit was tossed out of court in January 2009 when New York State Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten stated that "there is no basis upon which Amazon can prevail."[78]


Deranking of erotic, LGBT, feminist, progressive and sex-positive content
On April 12, 2009, it was revealed that some erotic, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, feminist and progressive books were being excluded from Amazon's sales rankings.[79] Various books and media were flagged as "Adult content" (including children's books, self-help books, non-fiction, and non-explicit fiction), with the result that works by established authors like E. M. Forster, Gore Vidal, Jeanette Winterson and D. H. Lawrence were now unranked.[80] The change first received publicity on the blog of author Mark R. Probst, who reproduced an e-mail from Amazon customer service describing a policy of de-ranking "adult" material.[79][80] However, Amazon later said that there was no policy of de-ranking LGBT material and blamed the change first on a "glitch"[81] and then on "an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error" that had affected 57,310 books.[82]


Taxes paid
In April 2009, BusinessWeek magazine reported that Amazon.com was one of 25 US companies that paid the least US taxes. Amazon.com paid a 4.1 percent annual tax rate, far less than the standard 35 percent corporate rate, based on an analysis of the company's financial figures for 2005-2008. According to SEC filings, this rate was caused in part by lower tax rates for Amazon.com's international subsidiaries. [83] Amazon.com did not respond to BusinessWeek's request for comment.


Entrepreneurship by former employees
A number of companies have been started and funded by former Amazon.com employees.[84] This is despite a non-compete agreement Amazon employees must sign that prohibits starting a company with another Amazon employee.[citation needed]

Hulu is led by Jason Kilar, a former SVP at Amazon.com.
Jambool/SocialGold was co-founded by former Amazon engineers Vikas Gupta and Reza Hussein.
TeachStreet was founded by Dave Schappell, an early Amazon.com product manager.
Trusera was founded by Keith Schorsch, an early Amazonian.
Twilio was founded by Jeff Lawson, an Amazon product manager.
Whrrl was founded by Jeff Holden, a former SVP at Amazon.com.
Wikinvest was founded by Michael Sha.
ZumoDrive was founded by David Zhao, a former Amazon.com developer.

See also
Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN)
Statistically Improbable Phrases: Amazon.com's phrase extraction technique for indexing books.
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
Barnes & Noble
Book Stacks Unlimited
Online shopping
Play.com
eBay

Further reading
Robert Spector (2000). amazon.com - Get Big Fast : Inside the Revolutionary Business Model That Changed the World. Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-662041-4.
Mike Daisey (2002). 21 Dog Years. Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2580-5.
Mara Friedman (2004). Amazon.com for Dummies. Wiley Publishing. ISBN 0-7645-5840-4.
James Marcus (2004). Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot.Com Juggernaut. W.W. Norton. ISBN 1-56584-870-5.
"A conversation with Werner Vogels", ACM Queue, May 2006

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For more information Click Here...

Marketing Tips Part 7

HOW TO CLOSE !

The "One Minute Presentation sounds great,but how do I close ?"
I like to use one of these three closes:

"Well,what do you think ?"

"And that's it"

"And the rest is up to you"

There is no need for high-pressure.

You have simply stated the facts in your one minute presentation,and now the next step is up to the prospect.And there is no rejection either.You simply stated the facts as if you were describing a good movie.Nothing bad happens if your friend does'nt go see the movie you like,and nothing bad happens here if your business just is'nt for this prospect.

Let's put it all together.

Let me give you a one minute presentation that is outside of your industry.This way you can see the one minute presentation through the eyes of a prospect.

Ready ?
"We are in the gangster business.You can earn an extra $100,000 a year and all you have to do is shoot people.Well, what do you think ?"

That was quick,was'nt it ?

Did you have the answers to your three basic questions ?
1."What kind of business are you in ?"
2."How much money can I earn ?"
3."Exactly what do I have to do to earn that money ?"

Because you received the answers to these three questions,you could probably make an immediate decision.You could answer:
1."Yes,my cousin does this already,so how do I join ?"
2."No,it's not for me"
3."I have a question.Do I have to use a gun ? Or could I use a knife instead ?"

And remember,a really bad one minute presentation is preferred by prospects over a perfectly scripted two hour presentation.

And what do prospects think after hearing a one minute presentation ?

They think:
"Hey,I can do this.And I won't sound like a salasman.I do'nt have to memorize a bunch of stuff.Yeah,I can do this."

Marketing Tips Part 6

THE THIRD QUESTION YOUR PROSPECT REALLY WANTS TO KNOW

Question #3
"So exactly what do I have to do to earn this money ?"

This is the most important question and most people don't answer this question.They conveniently skip over this question and now the prospect has to home and figure it out for himself.

This is one huge reason prospects say:

"I've got to think it over".....

We didn't answer this question in our presentation,so how could we possibly expect them to make a decision ?

Or we say something really lame such as :

"It's a sharing and caring business"

"Just talk to people"

We must describe exactly what the prospect has to do to earn that money.Only then can our prospect make an immediate decision.

I don't mean that you should describe the compensation plan complete with the bonus volume,staged level of achievement,etc.

The prospect simply wants to know approximately what kind of activity will be needed to earn the money you quoted him.

You don't have to be 100% accurate,read the policies and procedures,describe the 60 day volume required to earn the star trek commander bonus,explain the legal definitions of each term used,etc.

All you have to do is tell the prospect approximately what he would have to do to earn the money you quoted.

Want some examples ?

If you quoted your prospect an extra $300 a month you could describe his activity as this:

"All you have to do is : every day pass out a sample of our super moisturizing creme and a DVD describing how to use it,and at the end of about three months,you will have enough people using the super moisturizing creme that you would earn an extra $300 a month"

"All you have to do is between you,and everybody you talk to,and everybody they talk to forever and ever..........find about 25 families who want to drink the juice so that they wake up in the morning feeling great.And then you would earn an extra $300 a month"

"All you have to do is find three families every month who want to lower their bill payments and start having some free extra money to spend as they like.And then you would earn an extra $300 a month"

See the difference ?

Now the prospect knows exactly what he has to do to earn that extra $300 a month.

This is being polite as we are answering the question the prospect wants to know.

Sounds good ! The major problem seems to have been solved.But the main problem still persists.

"How do you close the deal ?"

I'll give you three best closes.They are short,low pressure and easy on your prospects.They will love it.

So put on your thinking caps one last time and start THINKING....................

Marketing Tips Part 5

THE SECOND QUESTION YOUR PROSPECT REALLY WANTS TO KNOW

Question # 2

WIIFM - Whats In It For Me ? or rather to put it simply "How much money can I make"

This is EASY.You will simply pick a figure that you feel matches your prospects desires.

For someone just looking to earn a few hundred dollars a month part time,you will simply pick a figure that you think matches your prospect's desires.
For someone who wants to quit his job and build a fortune,you will obviously quote a different income.
You'll have to match what your prospect is looking for.

If you quote thousands of dollar of extra income to someone earning minimum wages it may seem too unrealistic and unbelievable.
Conversely,if you quote $100 extra a month to someone looking for a full time business,it'll be discouraging.

So how do you decide how much income to describe ?

Use your COMMON SENSE !

But sometimes you may not know the prospect.
So in these times,CHEAT ! Just ASK.

Say sometthing like :

"If you were to have some extra income with our business,how much extra income would you be looking forward to earn ?"

However,most times you will know.For example,if the prospect is answering an advertisement that you place that offered $500 a month,you know how much income to describe.

What is the final Question that the prospect needs to know to make an intelligent decision ?

THINK AGAIN ......................

Marketing Tips Part 4

WHAT DO YOUR PROSPECTS REALLY WANT TO KNOW

But what does the prospect really want to know ?

That's the MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION.

For a prospect to make an immediate decision to:
1.Say he wants to join your business.
2.Say he does'nt want to join your business.
3.Say he has a question or two to get some clarifications.

You must answer THREE basic questions.
Thats it !

At this point in your career,your prospect only wants the answers to three basic questions.
If you answer these three questions,your prospect will have enough information to make a decision.
And if the decision is to join your business,all of those other facts,figures and information can be learnt later on in training.

SIMPLE,.......YES,VERY SIMPLE.

So lets take a look at question #1.

QUESTION #1

'What kind of business are you in ?'

Tell me,will you ever join a business if you did'nt know what kind of business it was ?

Of course not.
And if you were confused or unclear about the type of business you were asked to join,you still would'nt join.
We must be perfectly clear about the type of our business or our prospects will delay their decision only because we did'nt answer the question clearly.
I'm sure you have all heard your prospects say 'I've got to think it over'

So what type of business are you actually in ?

Insurance? Sport fishing? Farming? Circus performing? Soldier of fortune? Landscaping? Nuclear medicine? Shoe repair?
Your prospect wants to know.

At a training session of a networking company a networker gave the following reply to the question 'What type of business are you in ?'...............

He replied:
"I am in the global search for entrepreneurial talent for time freedom and financial freedom,whereby they can enhance their efforts through multiple streams of residual income,thereby improving their lifestyle........."

Do you get the point ?
No wonder this networker was having a tough time sponsoring.The prospects had no idea what kind of business he was in.

How do you describe your business?

Do you say:
"I am a distributor with this Wonderful company,from this Wonderful city,started in this Wonderful year of 1994 by Mr.Wonderful who is a Wonderful,Wonderful family man,and we have Wonderful products,Wonderful employees,Wonderful shipping,Wonderful uplines,Wonderful Blah,Blah,Blah,.........."

Or do you say:

1."I am in the skin care business"
[And the prospect thinks you make bandages for cuts,or maybe you do skin grafts].

2."I am in the health and wellness industry"
[And the prospect thinks that you change bed pans at the local nursing home].

3."I am in the financial services industry"
[And the prospect thinks that you are a bank teller].

If you don't know how to describe your business,here is an easy way that should help.
"WHICH MEANS"

When you describe your business,you should use the words "which means" to connect your business to one of your products or services.This helps the prospect understand exactly what you do in your business.

I'll give you some examples.

Try this:

1."I am in the skin care business which means that we have this wonderful moisturizer that makes your skin glow and look 20 tears younger in only 45 seconds a day"

2."I am in the health and wellness business which means that we have a delicious juice that people drink that helps them wake up an hour earlier every morning feeling like a million dollars and fall asleep at night within seven minutes of their heads hitting the pillow"

3."I am in the financial services industry which means that we help families lower their mortgage,credit card and car payments so that they have more money for fun things and retirement"

See the difference? Now your prospect knows exactly what kind of business you are in.
Don't forget those magic words 'which means' as they will guide you to a better description of the type of your business.

Now for the SECOND QUESTION.What could it be ?

THINK....................

Marketing Tips Part 3

GIVING A PRESENTATION IN ONE MINUTE

How are you going to give an entire presentation in just ONE MINUTE.
There are only two ways to get your presentation down to ONE MINUTE.

1.Learn to talk really,really FAST.
2.Take some things out of your presentation.

If you decide to opt for the first way out,i.e.talk really,really FAST,and assuming that the whole presentation consists of approximately 4000 to 5000 words,you need to master uttering about 150 words per minute.Try it or better still RECORD IT and then listen to it.Did you understand a word of what said.What I'm trying to prove here is that even if you finally do master the art of talking really,really fast,do you think it'll solve the problem ? NO & NEVER --because your prospect won't understand a single word of what you say,leave alone the whole presentation.

So lets work with the second option i.e.taking some things out of your presentation.
Most of our presentations are filled with facts,figures and information.
But if a prospect is going to become a customer or join you,he can learn about most of these facts,figures and information later on.

For instance if you talk about your company,you can take out the name of the company founder,the company founder's credentials,the name of the board of directors,the profit and loss statement for the year 2009,the number of distributors appointed in the month of May 2009,the size of the executive conference table,and we don't have to read out every article ever written about how wonderful the company is.And yes, we don't even have to show the Power Point slide that shows a picture of a window on the tenth floor of the office building.

Whew ! What a relief.

Because if the prospect is'nt going to buy,he does'nt require all the data.
And if the prospect decides to join you,all this information may be given later.
If you talk about your products,or services,you can take out the name of the rock formation in China where the special herb is grown that is picked by a Male Fairy at midnight when the dew point is just right,the type of ink that is used on the label, the number of employees who wear Lab Coats on thursday afternoons, the 1300 testimonials,the 123 page research report from the university of Wisconsin,etc.,etc.

But the prospect does'nt require all these details if he is not going to join you or buy your product.
And if the prospect joins you ,all the information can be told about later.
And what about all the time/words we use describing the compensation plan or profits ?

Do you describe the qualifying volume,the bonus volume per product, the number of qualified customers needed to advance to the next rank ?
And do you mention every position in the compensation plan ?

Now let me ask you a question.......

Did you understand all the points in the compensation plan or all the details about the products the first time you heard it ?

Most probably NOT.

And do you understand it completely even now ?

In many cases --- NO !

So lets take out the compensation plan.This will work out for most prospects except of course the Engineers,Accountants and Trivia Collectors.

Because again if the prospect is not going to join you,he does'nt even need to know all the details of the compensation plan.
And if the prospect is going to join you,then all the details could be explained later.

By taking out all of these facts,figures and information,we can now get our presentation down to ONE MINUTE.

But what information does the prospect really want to know ?

There are basically THREE questions we MUST answer in every presentation to get an IMMEDIATE decision from the prospect.

What are those questions ?

THINK.............

Meditation Miracle

Brainwave technology is a fascinating field with many potential applications. With properly designed audio technology, you can dramatically enhance your mind's performance and discover your own potential for perfect health and well-being.
Brainwave States
The CDs developed by the Immrama Institute use a specific type of audio technology to guide your brain into various brainwave states. To recognize why this detail is significant, it is important to understand how the brain contributes to a person's state of mind and level of consciousness.
There are several types of brainwave states. Your brain consistently cycles through each of these brainwave states many times throughout the day and night. It is a completely natural biological occurrence in every human being.
Your brain does not operate in only one brainwave state at a time but instead pulses in all these brainwave states simultaneously, with one of the states being dominant at any given time. The dominant state indicates your "state of mind" or level of consciousness. Because different areas of the brain may have different activity at any given time, you may have activity in one brainwave state in one area of the brain while at the same time a different brainwave state may be more active in another area of the brain. Each of these brainwave states occurs in a specific frequency range.
Beta
The Beta brainwave state is associated with a heightened state of alertness and focused concentration. When your mind is actively engaged in mental activities, the dominant brainwave state will be Beta. A person in active conversation, playing sports or making a presentation would be in a Beta state. The Beta brainwave state corresponds to frequencies ranging from 13Hz to 40Hz.
Alpha
Alpha brainwaves are slower in frequency than Beta brainwaves and represent a state of relaxed mental awareness or reflection. Alpha brainwave states are typically associated with contemplation, visualization, problem solving and accessing deeper levels of creativity. The Alpha brainwave state corresponds to frequencies ranging from 8 Hz to 12 Hz.
Theta
Theta brainwaves are even slower in frequency and represent a state of deep relaxation and meditation, enhanced creativity, stress relief, light sleep and dreaming. Theta brainwave states have been used in meditation for centuries. Research has proven thirty minutes a day of Theta meditation can dramatically improve a person's overall health and well-being. Theta meditation has also been known to cause the need for less sleep. The Theta brainwave state corresponds to frequencies ranging from 4Hz to 8 Hz.
Delta
Delta brainwaves are the slowest in frequency and represent a state of deep dreamless sleep. Delta brainwave states have long been associated with healing. While Delta brainwave states usually only occur in deep sleep, it is possible to train yourself to remain awake while reaching the Delta state to experience even deeper levels of meditation and awareness. The Delta brainwave state corresponds to frequencies from 0Hz to 4Hz
Gamma
Gamma brainwave states are the most rapid in frequency. They have received the least attention and research, although more attention is currently being paid to them than in years past. Research has indicated at moments when bursts of precognition or high-level information processing occur, your brainwaves briefly reach the Gamma state. The Gamma brainwave state corresponds to frequencies of 40Hz or higher.
With the help of our audio technology, you can guide your brain into any of these brainwave states naturally and effortlessly, simply by listening to an audio CD using stereo headphones. No special equipment is required. As long as you are using stereo headphones, you can listen via your stereo, a portable CD player, or even your computer's CD-ROM drive. The choice is yours.

Binaural Beats
Binaural beats were originally discovered in 1839 by German experimenter H. W. Dove. He discovered when signals of two different frequencies are presented separately, one to each ear, the brain detects the phase variation between the frequencies and tries to "reconcile" that difference.
In doing so, as the two frequencies mesh in and out of phase, the brain creates its own third "phantom" signal — a binaural beat — equal to the difference between those two frequencies.
For example, if a frequency of 100 Hz is presented to the left ear, and a frequency of 105 Hz is presented to the right ear, the brain "hears" a third frequency pulsing at 5 Hz, the exact difference between the two frequencies.
Research has proven that introducing a binaural beat will cause the brain to begin resonating in tune with the frequency of that beat. This is called the "Frequency Following Response" and was thoroughly researched and tested in 1973 by biophysicist Gerald Oster at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. His research on binaural beats and the frequency following response was published in Scientific American and paved the way for further development in the area of auditory stimulation to enhance brain functioning.
Since that time, binaural beat technology has been endorsed by scores of doctors and scientists around the world.
The Frequency Following Response
By introducing a binaural beat via stereo headphones, you can guide your brain into very specific brainwave frequencies via the Frequency Following Response.
For example, by listening to a binaural beat pulsing at a frequency of 5 Hz — a low Theta frequency — you can trigger your brain to resonate at that same 5 Hz frequency, automatically inducing brainwaves in the Theta range. By listening to a binaural beat pulsing at a frequency of 10Hz — an Alpha frequency — you can effortlessly guide your mind into the Alpha range.
When your brain begins to resonate with the binaural beat, or "follow" along with the beat, it is called the Frequency Following Response.
While the scientific effects of binaural beats on the brain were not formally studied until the past century, various cultures have been inducing the frequency following response through more primitive means for thousands of years.
By introducing a harmonically layered combination of frequencies and binaural beats to your brain via the audio technology developed by the Immrama Institute, you can effortlessly induce amazingly powerful states of focused concentration, deep relaxation, intense creativity, and more, while stimulating various parts of your brain to work together in synchronization.

Whole Brain Synchronization
When both hemispheres of the brain begin to resonate to the binaural beat in synchronization, this is called "whole brain synchronization". This is also sometimes referred to as "whole brain functioning" or "hemispheric synchronization".
Whole brain synchronization occurs when the various parts of your brain begin to work together, resonating at the same frequencies and causing neural pathways to fire more rapidly.
The left and right sides of your brain begin to work in concert with each other. Electrical activity and energy patterns in your brain become more widespread throughout the brain instead of remaining confined to certain areas. Your brain reaches extraordinary levels of performance not normally attainable without years of practice.
Research has indicated this type of "whole brain synchronization" is present in the brain at times of intense creativity, clarity and inspiration. EEG patterns recorded from various test groups comprised of extremely successful individuals also displayed an extraordinarily high level of "whole brain synchronization".
By listening to the audio technology offered by the Immrama Institute, you can train your brain to function at this high level of synchronization, opening up the way for positive and beneficial effects. From the moment you first listen to the CDs, your brain will begin the process of reorganizing itself for higher thinking and enhanced levels of performance.
Stimulate New Neural Development
While using the audio technology, electrical activity and energy patterns in your brain become more widespread throughout the brain instead of remaining confined to certain areas.
When this type of stimulation to the brain occurs, your brain begins to create new neural pathways. The neural stimulation encourages new dendritic growth within the brain. New dendritic growth allows for faster and smoother neural communication in the brain, and also provides more "processing power" in the brain. The dendrites are the many branching fibers extending from the neuron/cell body. These fibers increase the surface area available for receiving incoming information. The more dendrites the brain has at its disposal, the more quickly and smoothly it can process information.
Dendritic growth is a process that occurs throughout our lifetime. Whenever you learn something new, such as learning to play the piano, new dendritic growth occurs as a result of stimulating the mind in a new and different way. At the same time, old dendritic connections can become inactive and dissipate. (The shortening of dendritic branches and the reduction of the number of branches is associated with senility in the elderly.)
One of the goals in using the audio technology is to stimulate dendritic growth to occur on an ongoing basis to provide an ideal situation for the brain, allowing the brain to operate at its maximum possible potential rather than only using a portion of its potential, and allowing the brain to establish dendritic growth for long-term benefits, including benefits that work to counteract the debilitating effects of aging.
Through this type of neural development and whole brain synchronization, the brain eventually learns to achieve more powerful states of performance on its own, so that in time these states may be achieved at will.

Harmonically Layered Frequencies
At the Immrama Institute, we worked for several years to develop and test our proprietary harmonically layered audio technology — a new more advanced and more effective form of binaural audio. We call it the "next generation in brainwave technology."
Most companies offering binaural audio recordings stop with one frequency, introducing only one binaural beat that may gradually raise or lower your brainwaves into a specific frequency over a period of time, usually in anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes.
What's wrong with using only one binaural frequency? Your brain typically operates not in only one frequency but in all brainwave frequencies simultaneously, with one frequency typically being the dominant one at any given time. Every moment of the day and night, various brainwaves in your brain are pulsing in delta, theta, alpha, beta, and even gamma frequency ranges, all at the same time. Your brain has its own individual brainwave patterns, incorporating a combination of all the frequencies pulsing in your brain. Just like your fingerprints or vocal patterns, your brainwave patterns are unique to you.
Our CDs don't use just one binaural frequency. Instead, we have developed a unique new form of harmonically layered audio technology that works to create actual patterns, not just single frequencies. Our binaural frequencies are combined in a way that replicates your brain's natural way of functioning, with frequencies that interact with your own brainwaves to evoke the most powerful response on all levels for a dramatically improved listening experience.
Not only do we layer our binaural frequencies based on the way your brain naturally functions, we also use a form of harmonic layering with a foundation in the principles of music science. Even though the binaural frequencies are placed beneath the sounds of natural rain, and are embedded below the audible level and therefore not heard out loud in the same manner music would be heard, the brain still responds more effectively to binaural frequencies that are blended together in a harmonically pleasing way that is soothing to the ear and mind. This enhances the effectiveness of the audio technology and allows your brain to resonate smoothly and comfortably with the binaural beats.

Binaural Beats in History
From the droning chant of Tibetan monks to the rhythmic beat of a Native American drum, sound has played an important role in healing and spiritual practice throughout history. Primitive cultures were aware of the powerful and beneficial effects of binaural beats on the brain centuries before modern science recognized those same effects.
Research conducted by Melinda Maxfield, PhD, demonstrates how the drumbeats found in the rituals of various cultures beat at a steady rate of 4.5 beats per second, inducing a trance-like state in listeners. This trance-like state is a result of the brain's shift into a 4.5-beats-per-second brainwave pattern, a low Theta brainwave state.
Using repetitive beats or chanting, Native American shamans, Hindu healers, Tibetan monks, Sufi dervishes, and practiced Yogis have been able to induce an entire range of brainwave states for healing and the attainment of higher levels of consciousness. In India, there exist songs and mantras created specifically for use in curing illness and disease, practiced by Babaji — Hindu healers — to heal even such medical problems as arthritis and smallpox.
Everywhere we turn, in every culture throughout history, binaural beats have been a powerful tool in the healing process, as well as a guide in spiritual ceremony and ritual. At the Immrama Institute, we've taken the research and those thousands of years of proven effects and paired them with the power of today's technology.

Focus 2-Disc Set
The Focus 2-Disc set is designed to help you achieve powerful states of heightened focus and alertness, mental clarity, concentration, and creativity.
Simply by listening to an audio CD through stereo headphones, you can:

• Improve your levels of focus, clarity and concentration
• Enhance your memory and experience higher thinking
• Improve your retention of information while studying
• Increase your focus and attention while reading or working
• Dramatically enhance your creativity
• Develop problem-solving and brainstorming skills
• Achieve a mental zone while exercising
• Improve your thinking speed and performance
• Improve concentration and attention in adults or children with ADD or ADHD

• Students - Use the Focus CDs while reading or studying to improve concentration, and to improve retention of information. Click here to read more about research proving the effectiveness of binaural audio technology in enhancing mental functioning and improving test scores.

• Use the Focus CDs while exercising or working out to achieve the "zone" described by athletes.
• Use the Focus CDs while working on the computer or in the office to increase your levels of focus and concentration.
• Use the Focus CDs for brainstorming and problem-solving.
• Artists and Writers - Use the Focus CDs to enhance creativity.
• Help for ADD/ADHD - Use the CDs to improve attention and concentration. Click here to read more about research proving the effectiveness of binaural audio technology in treating patients with ADD/ADHD.

The audio technology, embedded on a CD beneath the sounds of rain, uses our proprietary harmonically layered binaural frequencies to guide your mind into a highly focused and attentive mental state that is extremely conducive to higher-level thinking. Using the CDs in the Focus 2-Disc Set, you can easily and effortlessly attain a state of intense clarity, enhanced concentration, and superior focus.

The Focus CDs swiftly ease your mind into a highly focused brainwave state that will take your mental processing to new levels. Each time you listen, the audio technology will work to stimulate your brain while in this highly focused state, triggering neural pathways to fire, enhancing communication between various parts of the brain and bringing your brain into a state of hemispheric synchronization. Research has indicated that this same state of brain synchronization is consistently found in the brainwave patterns of highly intelligent, creative and successful individuals.

By listening to the Focus CDs while reading, studying, or working, you can dramatically improve your levels of concentration and clarity, significantly increase your memory retention, and enhance your mental functioning.

The Focus collection is comprised of two discs. Each disc works in a unique way to enhance your focus, clarity, attention, and concentration for a variety of situations.

The tracks are designed with long running times (ranging from 22 to 72 minutes) in case you would like to read, work, study, or exercise for a long period of time, but you do not need to listen to a track in its entirety to obtain the benefits. You may listen to only a portion of the track if you'd like. The frequencies were also arranged with continuous peaks to keep you as focused as possible if you need to concentrate for long stretches of time.

Disc 1 contains one 72-minute track titled Clarity.
Clarity is intended for listening in situations that require relaxed concentration, such as reading or engaging in a hobby. Clarity may also be used during an exercise session—while jogging, for example—to assist you in achieving the "zone" described by many athletes. Clarity utilizes the Alpha brainwave state.

Disc 2 contains two separate tracks:
The first track, titled Focus, is a 50-minute track intended for listening while performing tasks that require heightened attention, such as working, studying, or any situation requiring specific attention to detail. Focus utilizes the Beta brainwave state. The second track, titled Envision, is a 22-minute track to be used whenever a creativity boost is needed. Envision may also be used for quick problem-solving and brainstorming sessions in order to trigger creative and innovative solutions. Envision utilizes the Theta brainwave state.

Both the Clarity and the Focus tracks may be used to trigger enhanced mental processing and higher-level thinking. Several research studies have proven the effectiveness of using Alpha and Beta brainwave states to enhance mental performance.

Binaural audio has been used in the classroom to enhance learning ability. Under the direction of psychologist Devon Edrington, students taking an Introductory Psychology course used audio tapes containing binaural beat technology to influence learning ability. The study found that students who were taught, studied, and took tests while listening to the binaural audio tapes did significantly better than a control group not using the tapes. Students using binaural audio tapes scored, on average, approximately ten points higher than students not using the tapes. (Edrington, D., 1984, A Palliative for Wandering Attention, research paper.)

In studies conducted by Harold Russell, Ph.D., and his associate, John Carter, training of the brain hemispheres of students was found to significantly improve the students' performance scores on the WAIS I.Q. test. In a 1984 Megabrain Report, Dr. Gene Brockopp reported that "coherence of high frequency EEG (brainwave) patterns is apparently related to increased intellectual functioning."

Research indicates that brainwave audio technology can improve concentration and help fight memory loss.

The Focus 2-Disc Set may be used by adults or children with ADD or ADHD to improve levels of concentration and clarity, offering a drug-free alternative to enhance attention and cognitive functioning. In the past two decades, several research studies have proven the effectiveness of binaural audio in increasing attention, improving concentration and focusing skills, and treating ADD.

In 1991, at the annual meeting of the Association of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Harold Russell, Ph.D., presented research showing that Beta frequencies improved the cognitive functioning of children with ADD. In addition, the results of a 1997 study conducted by the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center indicated binaural audio is effective in increasing cognitive performance. The study reported that "binaural auditory stimulation can affect both the task performance and changes in mood associated with the task…Binaural beats in the Beta frequency range were associated with improvements." (Lane, Kasian, Owens, Marsh; 1998, Binaural Auditory Beats Affect Vigilance, Performance, and Mood; Physiology & Behavior, Vol 63, No. 2)

The track called Focus on Disc 2 of the Focus set swiftly eases your mind into a highly focused Beta state. The CDs can be used while reading, studying, working, or even exercising.

The Focus 2-Disc Set may also be used for long-term mental enhancement in the prevention of mentally debilitative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease. Robert Cosgrove, Jr., Ph.D., M.D., an authority in biomedical engineering, noted that technologies that alter brainwave patterns "have been observed by us to be an excellent neuropathway exerciser." Dr. Cosgrove went on to say "As such, we believe it has great potential for use in promoting optimal cerebral performance...Furthermore, the long-term effects on maintaining and improving cerebral performance throughout life and possibly delaying for decades the deterioration of the brain traditionally associated with aging is very exciting." (Hutchinson, Michael; 1996; Megabrain: New Tools & Techniques For Brain Growth and Mind Expansion )

To learn more about how our brainwave technology works, we encourage you to visit the Brainwave Technology section of our web site.

Insight CD

The Insight CD is an extraordinary tool dedicated to helping you reduce stress, improve sleep, achieve deeper levels of self awareness and personal insight, and much more. The CD is designed to promote long-term personal growth and improvement.

Our audio technology, layered beneath the soothing sounds of natural rain on an audio CD, can help you achieve dramatically powerful states of consciousness. The Insight CD offers you a voyage into the innermost depths and outermost reaches of your mind, allowing you to explore higher levels of consciousness and deep layers of self-awareness you never knew existed.

Simply by listening to an audio CD through stereo headphones for less than a half-hour each day, you can:

• Achieve profound states of deep meditation and relaxation
• Significantly reduce stress and anxiety
• Improve your sleep and increase energy and vitality
• Awaken your potential for long-term personal growth
• Dramatically increase your self-awareness
• Take your inspiration and motivation to new levels
• Experience higher levels of consciousness
• Develop your intuition and expand your personal insight
• Reach deep into your subconscious mind for life solutions

The Insight CD will help you enhance your mind's potential, guiding you into a profoundly deep meditative state. The incredibly relaxing meditative state evoked by listening to the CD has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety, to dramatically improve the quality of your sleep, and to promote long-term improvement in mental and emotional well-being.

The Insight CD is so relaxing, it is even used by massage therapists to soothe and relax their clients during sessions.

The audio technology developed by the Immrama Institute can guide you to reach new heightened levels of awareness and help you take your mind to the next level. The audio technology, embedded on an audio CD beneath the soothing sounds of natural rain, works to guide you into profoundly deep states of meditation and awareness.

Not all brainwave products are dedicated to helping you achieve long-term personal growth and improvement. Many products offer temporary effects, but do not help the listener achieve long-term benefits and results. The Insight CD is designed to help you improve your mental and emotional well-being for long-term results.

While it would take years, possibly decades, of training to achieve these positive results through traditional meditation techniques or other personal growth programs, our listeners are experiencing the same results and more in an incredibly accelerated timeframe. Our audio technology will assist you in reaching levels of consciousness as deep and often deeper than those reached by experienced meditators, Zen monks, and Yogis who have been practicing meditation for years.

Right away you will feel the physical response to this deeply relaxing state, the very first time you listen to the CD. But the physical response is only the first thing you'll notice. Within only a few days, you'll see an improvement in the quality of your sleep. You'll begin to notice you feel more calm, relaxed, and refreshed, and that's only the beginning.

Each time you listen, the audio technology will work to stimulate your brain while in this deeply relaxed meditative state, triggering neural pathways to fire, enhancing communication between various parts of the brain, and bringing your brain into a state of hemispheric synchronization.

Research has indicated that this same state of brain synchronization is consistently found in the brainwave patterns of highly intelligent, creative, and successful individuals. This state of synchronization is the ultimate goal of many meditators since it allows one to tap into levels of consciousness and mental performance not normally reached in everyday life.

You may even be saying to yourself "Nothing in life is completely effort-free. Everything requires some kind of effort in order to work," and you're right. In order for the Insight CD to work, the participant does need to spend time listening to the audio CD each day.

The CD is composed of three separate tracks, each 24 minutes long. You have the option of listening to only one track each day, for a 24-minute listening experience, or listening to multiple tracks for a longer listening experience.

How long you spend listening each day is completely up to you. The only requirement is that you listen using stereo headphones. You can listen via your stereo, a portable CD player, or even your computer's CD-ROM drive. The choice is yours.

There is no special equipment to buy, and while similar — and often inferior — products are being offered by other companies for prices ranging from $99 to $160 or more, the Insight CD is only $34.95.

The Insight CD works to guide your mind gently from the Beta state down through the Alpha state into a deeply meditative Theta state, then gradually guides it further into the deep Delta range. This state of mind provides scientifically proven physical and mental benefits — including reduced stress and improved health — and is also wonderfully conducive to the exploration of higher levels of consciousness and deeper layers of self awareness. Click here to learn more about the science behind how our audio technology works.

The power to live your dreams already exists within you. You need only awaken that potential to experience life-changing results.