Archive for the ‘marketing services’ Category

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Small Business Marketing Strategies That Get You More New Clients

Friday, April 27th, 2012


Which marketing strategy for business is most likely to produce the greatest results for you? Not surprisingly, a large part the answer depends upon the type of client you want.

My focus has always been on those who offer high value services. This includes consultants, advisors, coaches and a wide variety of experts. The term “relationship selling” is not foreign to my clients, although how precisely to implement a strategy that focuses on building a relationship often remains elusive.

I’ve written before about the classic mistake many services business make when it comes to trying to get the initial attention of a prospective client. They focus too heavily on describing their approach…what their service consists of…why their service is superior…on and on. Unfortunately this is not what’s going to hook someone’s attention. That’s not to say prospective clients won’t be interested at some point in time in learning all about your system or approach-it’s just that they’re not interested in it immediately.

There’s actually a formula for what you want to communicate to hook attention and it’s pretty universal. Among all the small business marketing strategies you may have been exposed to, this is one you’ll want to incorporate into your communication strategy.

To briefly reiterate, what’s going to hook attention is communicating that you understand the problem they face. Thus, selecting the right problem is critical for this strategy to work. (Duh). However, that said, if you don’t get the problem exactly right the first time, that doesn’t wind up being a huge issue. In fact it’s a good idea to create a variety of hooks, each one focusing on a different problem. I’ve found that problems which I thought would resonate with my markets sometimes fell flat, while problems that I thought “weren’t that big a deal” generated huge interest.

As I mentioned, when communicating the problem there’s a structure that tends to work best. It’s pretty simple but here it is:

1) This is the problem.
2) It’s not your fault.
3) Lots of other people face the problem.
4) However, not solving the problem can cause lots of consequences.
5) Here’s what your life can look like if you do solve the problem.

That in a nutshell is how you want to communicate each problem. As you’ll notice, the structure focuses on the twin levers of pain & gain. In any sales or marketing communication, those are the two primary anchors we are continually moving between.

So here’s a helpful exercise. Pick a problem. Now write a short (300 word) article that follows the structure I’ve just outlined. My guess is that you’ll have the beginnings of a highly effective lead generation offer.

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Avoid Becoming Overwhelmed With Marketing

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012


I think the biggest problem many of us face when it comes to marketing, is that we simply get overwhelmed. There just seems to be so many moving parts that it’s easy to throw up one’s hands and say, “I give up.”

While that’s understandable, the reality is that you’re probably never going to get out of the feast-or-famine business cycles, or take your business to the level you desire, without some sort of marketing system in place.

And that word “system” is key.

The beauty of having a system is that once you set it up, then you can largely let it run on autopilot. But, (you knew there was a “but” coming) that doesn’t completely address the issue of how to set up your system without getting overwhelmed. Let me try to help-and keep in mind I’m a passionate believer in “simple” vs “complex”.

The Don’t-Get-Overwhelmed-With-Marketing approach starts with a simple philosophy; “Never sell to strangers.” What I mean by this is to focus on building relationships first, and only sell to people with whom you already have a relationship. Fortunately, setting up a system to do precisely just that is straight-forward.

There are 3 components, and you need to do these in order. (Please resist the temptation to worry/focus on step 3 before you do steps 1 & 2.)

Step 1: Go to your website. Is there a great “hooky” offer of free information that is prominently advertised on the page? (And no, I’m not talking about a “sign up for our newsletter” box.) This is the crucial step #1. According to those who track such things, up to 96% of visitors who come to your site, aren’t ready to buy or contact you for more information. That means that if you don’t offer this great “hooky’ free offer, you don’t have a chance of building a relationship with people who have a small amount of interest in you. (And if you do step #2 right, you’ll convert a whole lot of these idle prospects into paying clients.)

So the first thing you need to do is create that great free offer. (Remember “HOOKY” topics-not “Here’s what we do”. There’s a big difference.)

Step 2: Create great messages that you send after people request the free offer. Nope, this isn’t a newsletter (although you can certainly supplement the personal messages with a newsletter). You want to have your drip messages have a tone of intimacy as if they are being written to a single individual (even though they may be sent out to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people over time). This is crucial regardless of whether you’re selling b2b or b2c. Building the emotional connection is key and it’s these messages that will do just that for you.

Step 3: Now (and only after steps 1&2 are done-to beat a dead horse) focus on driving traffic to the page. There are lots and lots of options: SEO, paid advertising on google, facebook, linked in, article marketing, videos, slideshare, direct mail, speaking…the list goes on and on.

Although people tend to focus and obsess on traffic, it’s really steps 1 & 2 that are the most crucial.

Once you have this system in place (the hooky free offer and the drip marketing sequence) now you are in a position where you can put as much-or little-marketing muscle into getting people to the site. What you finally have is a SYSTEM. And guess what…?

That feeling of being overwhelmed just goes away.

Now, if you’d like some personal guidance on how to do this I’d recommend my coaching program.

Alternatively, if you’d like for us to create your hooky free offer, write all your emails, send them out, create the “eye-catching” ad for your website, well no big surprise, I can do that for you as well. Information about that is HERE.

Thanks and talk soon,
Mark

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The easy way to get a waiting list of clients

Saturday, April 7th, 2012


After 20 years of advising individuals and organizations on how to attract brand new clients, I’ve become a firm believer that most people make client attraction far too difficult.

If you focus on just 2 things you can have as many new clients as your business can handle. Remember the over-arching philosophy of Gentle Rain: “Build relationships first. Sell stuff second.” Or as my Dad would say, “Never try to sell to strangers.”

OK, so here’s how you do that.

First, take a look at your website. Is there a great free offer that would motivated visitors to opt-in and get it? Here’s why you need that. According to Direct Marketing News, between 95%-98% of visitors are not ready to make a decision to buy when they come to your site. Even if you offer a “free consultation”, the number of visitors who will take you up on that is still only 3-5%.

What this means is that most people are simply bouncing off your website without leaving any record of who they are. As one might guess, it’s a bit difficult to develop a relationship with people if we can’t follow up with them.

That’s why making the offer of some sort of “hooky” free report is crucial. However, the trick is determining what’s a great “hook”, one that will get people to request it. If you get that right, then the fist part of the equation is done. (You still have to put an eye-catching opt-in box on your website, but I’ll share a link that will show you how to do that.)

This leads to the second step of the process…convert these prospects into paying clients. We do that through the automated messages that go out after the visitor has requested your free report. But, here’s the speed bump people run into.

The messages need to have a tone of intimacy to them. They need to be written so that it sounds like you’re speaking personally to the reader. This is why traditional newsletters don’t produce the conversion results you want. They’re impersonal in tone, and what we want to do is build a relationship.

Secondly, people tend to send out messages too infrequently. Once a month just isn’t enough. Think once a week. And to answer the question that pops in your mind, “If the messages have the right tone & content, you’ll engage people, not turn them off.”

Nothing I’m discussing here is complicated. If you have both the time and the writing skills, anyone can do this. However…if you would like for someone to do all this for you, the information HERE is going to be of great interest.

Talk soon
Mark
PS: Remember if you’d like for us to set up and run a totally kick-ass lead capture and drip marketing system for you, GO HERE>

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Should Getting New Clients Be Free?

Sunday, March 25th, 2012


When I ask prospective clients, “How do you get new business?“, invariable the answer is “Word of mouth & referrals.”

Now there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. I think we’d all agree that a strong referral is the best type of lead, since the individual is often predisposed to wanting to work with you. A referral reduces the amount of convincing we have to do-which if you’re like me, and hate to convince people to do anything, referrals are a very good thing.

But, not surprisingly, there are a couple of problems with relying on word of mouth and referrals as your sole (or primary) method for attracting new business.

First, since you’re not in control of when referrals come your way, they tend to arrive when you don’t really need them, and are nowhere to be found when you do.
(I’m overstating it a bit, but you take my point.) This leads to the feast or famine business cycles that so many business owners are far too familiar with.

However, there’s another issue that is perhaps even more insidious. At first blush, the fact that referrals don’t cost hard dollars, would seem to be a good thing. And to a certain extent, it is.

But…

The problem occurs when one’s mindset latches onto the thought that “client acquisition should be free.”

That’s a very dangerous belief, since it will prevent you from investing in methods that can get you more consistent streams of new clients. The belief that it shouldn’t cost money to get a new client, can make you so cautious that you refuse to spend money on marketing unless it’s absolutely, positively, 100% documented in stone, the what you’re about to try…WILL WORK!

…and since nothing can be so guaranteed, there’s a huge tendency to do nothing.

And the feast or famine cycle continues.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not advocating spending money without careful due diligence, and yes, you can invest in programs that given the benefit of hindsight, you shouldn’t have.

BUT…saying that you’ll only invest in getting more new clients, “once business improves” is a bit like saying, “I’ll start exercising once I lose some weight.”

The key to success for any business is to approach it…as a business. Thus, if you haven’t developed a budget for marketing, you need to set one up.

Food for thought

New Service/Limited Availability: We’ll write your free report with a great hook, create a promotional opt-in box that we’ll put up on your website and write/send out 3-4 autoresponders per month. Complete turnkey drip marketing service. Info by emailing barb@gentlerainmarketing.com

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Famous In Your Niche

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012


I’ll admit, when I first thought about trying to become famous in my niche, I had two distinct reactions.

On the positive side, I thought it would be kind of cool (for lack of a better phrase) to be one of the well known experts in my field. I envisioned that if I reached a certain level of visibility I’d get a lot more prospects calling me, rather than having to chase after them. And, the reality is that this really does happen, once you’ve become one of the recognized experts in your field.

But, I also wondered if this was something that really could happen for me. I’m a bit of a skeptic and when I hear about people who have achieved all these great accomplishments, in the back of my mind I think, “Sure, that’s great for other people-but that’s other people-I would never get that.”

I mean, after all I’m just a very niche player in Atlanta, there’s no way.

But here’s the interesting thing. It really can happen. And I’m telling you this because it happened to me and I believe it can happen to you.

However, there is a catch (as there always is). And the catch is, You’ve really got to want it. I’m not making a judgement call here, but there are a lot of things I’d like to have happen-if they just dropped into my lap.

When it came to getting famous in my niche, I made the decision 14 months ago that this was something I really wanted for myself and my business. But what I needed was a plan…a roadmap for getting there.

In a nutshell that’s why I joined Steve & Bill Harrison’s Quantum Leap program, and why if you’re serious about getting extremely well known as an expert for what you do, I encourage you to consider it.

I don’t make recommendations lightly-I think you know that about me. I’ll only recommend something that I personally have used or experienced. The reality is that I can’t think of anyone on my subscriber list who wouldn’t benefit from what they teach us to do. (Especially those of us who have limited marketing budgets, since using the media to promote ourselves is free.)

Steve & Bill are beginning enrollment for their next class of Quantum Leap and I think this is something you should learn more about. You can sign up to get the information by going HERE.

Whether or not you decide to participate, you should at least get the information. Trust me, it’s worth learning a bit more about.

Talk soon
Mark

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Focusing on what’s important

Thursday, March 8th, 2012


It’s easy to get seduced with technology, especially with the increased focus on social media.

But here’s something to keep in mind.

It’s not that you Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

It’s what you say.

The key is to be interesting or at perhaps a bit controversial. Which means you shouldn’t be afraid to share information about who you are, how you came to do what you do. I’ve found that people are genuinely interested in the backstories of others.

Of the 8-12 stories I think we all need to develop, the one that tells the backstory of who you are is the first one I’d develop. Once you have it, you’ll be amazed at how it accelerates the relationship building process.

Food for thought.

More Here

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The Elevator Speech is a Dumb Idea

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012


Here’s a contrarian viewpoint. I believe that trying to develop an elevator speech, in which you attempt to summarize what you do in a single sentence, is an amazingly dumb idea. Lord knows, I’ve spent enough time working on one for myself and trying to develop them for clients.

Finally, it occurred to me that it was a complete waste of time.

Think about what’s typically developed.

Either it’s what I call the Yellow Page classification answer…”I’m a financial advisor”…accountant…butcher…baker…candlestick maker.” Exceeding dull and only serves to check off our list of polite chatter, “I’ve said what I do.”

Or it’s incomprehensible to anyone who doesn’t live in your business world…”I’m a supply chain consultant.” (Come again?). “I integrated proprietary networking systems into legacy based infrastructures.” (How nice for you.)

Or, we attempt to get creative…”I help people live their dreams.” “I turn potential into gold.” Blah, blah, blah. (As an aside, how does anyone actually say that stuff with a straight face? It’s a rhetorical question-so if you are someone who uses a “creative” elevator speech, there’s no reason to write me an angry note.)

But, we do have to say something. So what’s the answer?

Here’s what I think.

The goal for what you say is to stimulate curiosity. If they’re interested in learning more, they’ll let you know. That permission then enables you to tell them the short story about what you do.

I recently saw a great example of this from, of all people, a lady involved in MLM/Network marketing. As a group, these people are usually the worse at this sort of thing, but this lady had a great answer to the “what do you do?” question.

“I help mature women look as attractive as possible.”

I was intrigued and followed her around the room for a bit. Virtually everyone she said this to, asked a follow up question. That question then gave her permission to tell her story about how she started selling this product. (Did you catch why this line works so well?)

The lesson? Get them curious.

For years I told people some version of “I’m a marketing consultant.” The alternative I used, “I assist business owners attract more new clients with no cold calling” was OK, but never flowed as smoothly as I desired.

One day it occurred to me that one of the primary ways I attract clients is through my books, and that I spend the majority of my time preparing, writing or promoting them. Thus, I shifted my answer to, “I primarily spend my time writing books.”

What a change in reaction.

“What types of books?” “How many have you written?” “What are they about?” “Where can I get them?”

This naturally enables me to transition into the story about how I became an author, how I speak, train and coach people on using stories to sell.

Rather than just blab at people uninvited about what we do, or attempt to be cutesy with our elevator speech, focus instead on making them curious. That way you’ll be invited in to tell the longer story about how clients benefit from your services.

However…figuring out what precisely will make them curious requires that pesky mental heavy lifting I often refer to. But, if you’re planning on using networking events or other social engagements as a tool for meeting new clients, it’s certainly worth the effort.

Good food for thought.

PS: Would you like some assistance is developing your Anti-Elevator Speech? GO HERE

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Quit Selling

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012


Imagine for a moment that there was no pressure on you to sell anything…that you were free from the constraints of producing revenues.

In this mythological scenario, your focus is now 100% on building relationships.

No pressure to get them to actually buy anything. All you’re charged with is getting their attention and building a relationship.

How would you communicate differently?

The answers probably vary, but I’d imagine that there would be a lot less focus on you. Your solution. Your features. Why you are better/different/cooler than the competition.

My guess would be that you’d focus more on the person with whom you were speaking. What their challenges are. What they’re worried about. What they desire.

Now pause for a moment and put yourself in the shoes of that person. Who are you more interested in? The person who’s pushing their solution on you, or someone who is genuinely interested in you? (I realize the answer is kind of obvious.)

But here’s the point. In our desire to get people to buy, we tend to revert to a default mode that says the quickest way to do so is to evangelically preach at them about what we have to offer.

Once we’re out of the actually selling situation, we know that we should invest the time to find out needs and desires. But, once we’re actually in the white-hot fire of the sales conversation, WHAM-out come the big guns of WHY YOU SHOULD DO BUSINESS WITH ME. Let me preach at you until you see the light!

Curious, isn’t it, how we know we should do one thing, yet under pressure do something different?

I believe the reason why we don’t actually do, what we intellectually know we should, is because we feel under pressure to close the sale…make the money…meet the quota. And here’s where irony comes into play.

Which is…you’ll sell better if you just don’t care whether the person says, “Yes” or “No”. (Or at least not care too much.)

Of course, having that distance, that ability not to care, means that you have to have lots of people to present your case to. Lots of times at bat. And that’s what a great marketing system should get you-lots of “at bats”.

So you don’t have to care about making the sale (or at least not care too much.)

Food for thought
Mark
Here’s how to implement a marketing system in less than 45 days for under $300.

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Get Your Clients to Brag About You

Thursday, December 15th, 2011


Imagine that there were hundreds, or even thousands or people who were all recommending you. What would the impact be on your business? Granted that’s somewhat of a rhetorical question, since the obvious answer is “Damn that would be great!.”..but it begs the question: How precisely can we get people talking about you?

Here’s one idea from (of all places) the world of antique collecting-and don’t immediately turn off because you’re not in that business. I really believe it’s going to be helpful to you, regardless of the type of business you’re in.

A quick story…

Hanging in my office is an antique sword formerly owned by Jeanne Pierre Robinette. Monsieur Robinette was the finance secretary for Napoleon I, and since his role was administrative and not military, the sword is actually rather wimpy. Nice to look at, but it would probably break in half in a real battle. However, when he was sworn into office, Monsieur Robinette was the only member of Napoleon’s court not to have a sword, so he commissioned one from the great sword craftsman Angelo Del’Amico of Seville Spain. Unfortunately, the first time he wore the sword in court he was made fun of by Napoleon’s Chief of Staff. Tempers flared, a duel ensued and Napoleon was soon is search of new accountant.

I know this story because the person, who sold me the sword at Red Baron Antiques, here in Atlanta, told it to me. Since Marian and I entertain a lot, I’ve told that story dozens of times over the years.

In all candor, being able to tell that story is one of the most pleasurable aspects of owning the sword.

But here’s the important part.

At the end of the story I also, instinctively, include the part about how I first learned the story when I purchased the sword at Red Barron Antiques. (As I just did once again.)

And here’s the even more important point.

I also instinctively) go on to talk about Red Barron and how cool it is and how all the items they sell have these great stories behind them. (As I seem to be doing once again.)

I’m sure you see my point.

I’m bragging on Red Barron because they gave me a great story I could tell. And what I notice is that if I tell the story to someone here in Atlanta, they invariably start to tell me the story about the cool thing they bought at Red Barron. Lots of people seem to have a Red Barron story.

Obviously, there’s no shortage of antique shops. Quite frankly, Red Barron isn’t the most convenient place to get to, and the parking is often a pain. BUT, it’s become the antique shop of destination.

And a large part of the their appeal is that they arm us with great stories we can tell to others about the cool stuff we buy from them.

So…what are the stories you want your clients to be telling about the services or products they receive from you? Is it something about the experience clients have the first time they visit you? Is it something about the great information you share with them? Is it about events and activities they get invited to once they’re a part of your circle? Is it the personal handwritten note you send?

Lets make our clients proud of the fact that they’ve selected you. Let’s give them stories they’ll want to tell to others.

Food for thought
Mark
I hate to keep reminding you, but if you want to learn how to tell great stories you need to read my book. Get it Here.

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Patience

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011


There’s a small rock sitting on the bar in my poolroom with the word “Patience” carved into it. I think my Sensei gave it to me, or it could have been my wife, or my neighbor…apparently there’s a long list of people who feel this is something I need to work on.

If truth be told, I don’t think I’m alone. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff you would do, if only it was simpler.

Unfortunately, simple answers usually only exist for simple problems. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I find that the more challenging the problem, the more we have to think “deep into the game”, as the chess masters say.

For example, let’s take the topic of getting more new clients.

On the surface the answer should be simple…Just ask them.

“Hey you. I realize we’ve never met, and you don’t know me, but wanna buy my stuff?”

OK, perhaps we say it a bit more elegantly, but haven’t you been guilty of that? I know I have.

It’s what’s called selling to strangers.

Does it work? Sure-if you’re willing to talk to enough people. It sort of reminds me of my strategy in the ‘70s of going up to women in the disco and asking them to go home with me. (Hey it was the ‘70s, I was young-gimme a break.)

Did it work? Sure. All right…occasionally. But what about the quality, you ask? Well…that was a bit suspect.

The problem is that if we blindly put our nose-to-the-proverbial-grindstone, asking strangers to do business with us, not only do we get a lot of rejection, but we also have no filter on the type of clients we eventually wind up with.

Granted, if you have no clients, the idea of having any clients, regardless of how bad, sounds good. But I think it’s important to remember that the goal is to have both quality and quantity.

So how do we accomplish this? Is there some sort of magic bullet/answer that if we only learned it, all of our client attraction problems would go away?

Of course not.

But…there is a strategy that will make the process a lot easier.

But…it takes a bit of patience.

Here it is…

Stop trying to sell to strangers.

That’s it. It really is that simple.

Stop trying to sell to strangers and focus instead on building a relationship with those who can either hire you, buy from you, or refer you to others.

And the way to do that?

Bribe them.

Give them something that’s interesting for free. A tip. A suggestion. Something helpful. Answer a question that people often ask you. But most importantly…

Focus on building a relationship…Not trying to sell someone something. There’s plenty of time for that down the road.

Patience & Best Regards
Mark
Want me to help you develop your marketing strategy or work with you to create your unique message? Info HERE.

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