Archive for the ‘marketing services’ Category

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Are you Interested or Interesting?

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Although they’re not my favorite thing to do, I just returned from a networking event.

Have you ever noticed that you run into two types of people?

The majority are those who work very hard at attempting to be interesting.

The others are those who are sincerely interested in you and what you do.

If you’re like me, people who try oh-so-very-hard to impress me with how interesting they are, achieve the exact opposite result. Not surprisingly those who show a sincere interest, are the ones that I’m ultimately the most impressed with.

Goodness knows, I’ve fallen into the trap of trying to be interesting. It’s usually because I’m feeling insecure and unfortunately, it never seems to work. Whereas, when I relax, and really focus on the the person I’m speaking with, that’s when relationships starts to take flight.

On the one hand, this seems kind of obvious. But, if that’s the case, why do we run into so many people working hard at being interesting, and so few who really show that they’re interested in us?

Food for thought.

Talk soon
Mark
Part of what keeps our interest in a well told story.

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The Legacy of Steve Jobs

Friday, October 7th, 2011

With the recent passing of Steve Jobs, much has been written about the role he played as a technology visionary. While there is no denying that innovation and design elegance will forever be associated with him, for myself, his most enduring legacy are the stories he told.

His gift for storytelling was legendary. If you’ve not had the opportunity to watch his 2005 Stanford University commencement address, it’s an excellent example about how to convey a message, simply and elegantly, through the power of stories.

Jobs, and by extension Apple, also often told wonderful stories in their advertisements. You’re probably familiar with the “1984” commercial that introduced the Macintosh computer, and famously, only aired once:

However, the Steve Jobs/Apple Computer storytelling connection runs deeper for me. In 1983, Apple produced this commercial (featuring the yet-famous Kevin Costner). At the time I was working at Kraft Foods, and was beginning to feel the frustrations that would eventually culminate in my decision to start my own business. This ad, through it’s use of a simple story, conveyed an idealized vision of the type of life I wanted to have.

And eventually did.

Steve Jobs was truly a business pioneer, and his products and innovations will go down in the history books. However, I know for myself, it was the stories he told, that will be his most enduring legacy.

Unique Sales Stories: How To Get More Referrals, Differentiate Yourself From The Competition & Close More Sales Through The Power of Stories

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Why Isn’t He Remembered?

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

October 5th marks the birth anniversary of the 21st President of the United States.

If you’re struggling to remember who that was (Chester Alan Arthur, of course) and even after having acquired the knowledge, it still means little, you’re not alone.

But why is former President Arthur relegated those who held the office, but are largely forgotten?

My theory is that it’s because there are no great stories associated with him. And without stories, we just don’t remember Presidents, people or businesses.

Which brings up an interesting question. How memorable are you? What are the stories you tell (and that others repeat) that enables you to break out of the pack?

Stories are powerful, but ironically they’re one of those things we don’t do a good job of creating and communicating.

Which is why…(Blatant plug coming)…if you haven’t already, you should read my book on using stories to persuade others. You can grab a copy here.

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Facebook For The Affluent?

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Social media has found a new resource for those targeting the ultra-affluent, and ten nationally ranked firms, catering to the wealthy, have jumped on board.

Equilar Atlas contains profiles of about 250,000 chief executive officers, board members and executive directors at almost 5,000 public companies and 5,000 nonprofits.

Similar to LinkedIn, once your contact information is loaded into the system, you’re provided with an extended graph that illustrates how you’re connected to this very exclusive network of individuals.

But, it’s not an inexpensive network to join. The cost is $10,000 annually for unlimited access to the database for the first three users and $2,400 for each additional person.

Is it worth the investment?

Since people marketing services to the affluent already know who the wealthiest CEOs are, the database may be most helpful in revealing names and compensation for CEOs of smaller public companies that may be below the radar.

What has been your experience with using social networks for developing relationships with the affluent? Tangible results or is it just more hype than substance?

Private Consultations For Those Seeking To Implement A Client Attraction System

What’s really working for marketing to the affluent? Invite author and marketing strategist Mark Satterfield to speak at your next conference. Email Barb@GentleRainMarketing.com for details.

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Discover Your Hidden Potential

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

My Dad (who passed away earlier this year at age 89) was a part of an interesting study.

The Grant Study, is the longest ongoing study on aging. Now led by Dr. George Valliant, it began by following 268 Harvard students from the classes of 1939-1944. As a part of the study, Dad participated in ongoing interviews with the goal being to identify the characteristics of “healthy and happy aging.” (Since the mid-1980’s I’ve also been a part of the study as it moves into the next generation.)

Dr. Vaillant’s conclusions have been widely reported in numerous journals and in a surprisingly fun to read book, “Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development. (Available at Amazon)

One of the conclusions is that people who have the happiest “final third” of life, have a strong sense of purpose. Not surprisingly, this could come from different sources, however (especially for men) feeling connected to an area related to one’s professional career is often quite important.

In Dad’s case, he was working on the 3rd edition of his last textbook literally right up to the time he required hospitalization. (If you’re interested in learning more about Dad, MIT published a nice recap of his professional life here. )

Unfortunately many of us struggle with finding that professional “sense of purpose” in our 50s, 60s, 70s or beyond.

Part of the key appears to be to examine the environments in which you were the happiest. For example, a gentleman I know who served for many years as the CEO of a Fortune 50 corporation, said that his greatest sense of satisfaction came from the one-on-one career coaching he did as a small part of his overall job. We originally became acquainted when he joined my coaching program to learn how to start what became a very successful career advising practice.

Others I know feel a strong desire to give back. To serve as a mentor, coach or advisor.

As an aside, if you’re at the stage in life where you’re starting to think about options, my certified marketing coaching program may be of interest. There’s a great deal of information about it and how it’s structured here.

I think that one of the greatest benefits of Dad’s participation in the study, was that it stimulated me not to wait until some middle-age crisis hit before I realized what I should have been doing years ago. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

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Gaining access to the inner circle

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t know when I say that most prospects don’t respond well to the direct head-on sales approach. If for no other reason, it’s almost impossible to get into the inner circle that way.

Although the following video was specifically developed for my Gentle Rain Affluent Marketing subscribers, I think you’ll find the strategy helpful regardless of the type of services you offer. It’s in today’s video:

Talk soon
Mark

PS: Would you benefit from some personal coaching on how to attract more affluent clients?

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Desire vs Reality

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Desire vs Reality: Focusing on What’s Important

As most of you know, my niche market are those who offer expertise. You may be a consultant, a financial advisor, an author, or some other type of expert.

If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say that you truly love delivering your services to your clients. But…you are less enamored with having to find them.

In fact I’d further guess that if you could wave a magic wand, you’d wish that you wouldn’t have to spend any time getting clients. That you could just focus on delivering your services.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

In fact, that’s the primary reason so many people are employees rather than business owners. So they don’t have to, as one person told me recently, “Waste time trying to get business and just let me focus on the important stuff.” (By which I assume he meant, delivery of services.)

Perhaps you feel that way. That life would be great if you could just focus on clients and not have to worry about getting them.

And as I said, there’s nothing wrong with that.

As long…as you don’t own your company.

As long as you’re not in business by yourself.

Because if you are…then the “important stuff” is attracting, nurturing and keeping…clients.

That’s the big surprise that all business owners eventually have to wake up to. That the most important stuff is keeping the pipeline full.

Now don’t get me wrong. Delivering excellent service is crucial. But here’s the reality…it’s not enough. It’s assumed.

This is hard for a lot of people to get their heads around. They think to themselves, “There must be someway I can outsource getting clients. There must be some sort of magic-social media-direct mail letter-appointment setting service out there that will do this for me…”

“…so I can focus on the important stuff.”

And one of two things happens to these people.

They go out of business, or, they go to work for someone else.

Nothing wrong with that. (The working for someone else part.)

So, Fall is here. One of the interesting things about marketing, is that it’s, to a large extent, seasonal. Summer is a crappy time to spend money on marketing. So are the holidays.

Which means that you’ve got about 10-12 weeks of prime time to get your marketing implemented and running like a machine.

You.

Not someone else.

Because when you signed up to be self-employed or to be an entrepreneur, you (perhaps not knowing it at the time) signed up to be the chief marketer for your company.

If you just can’t get comfortable with that, you need to do yourself and your family a favor, and go to work for someone. Someone who understands that the leader/founder/CEO is also…the chief marketer.

And there’s no shame in that.

You may desire that consistent streams of clients will just come to you without having and implementing a marketing plan.

The reality is different.

Now’s the time to take ownership for the most important activity of your business.

Let me know if I can help

Talk soon
Mark
P.S. You need to be the owner of your client attraction system, but that doesn’t mean you have to be alone. I can show you precisely how to implement a kick-ass marketing system that will be up and running, generating the clients you need in less than 30-45 days. Info here

P.P.S. If you’ve ever thought about becoming a marketing coach, this might of interest.

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What’s In It For Me?

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

Let’s spend a few minutes talking about…how to get people to do what you want.

The goods news is that it’s not terribly difficult. It’s more about changing how you “frame” what you’re communicating, than it is anything else.

So let’s put it into context.

Remember that the process of getting new clients is just that…a process. We need to move people through a series of steps. I’ll admit it would be great if we could shortcut the process, but the reality is that we can’t.

Step #1: Get them to pay attention to us. (Which falls into the category of “more difficult than one-would-think”. It’s not that people read or hear your message and reject it, they simply ignore what you’re trying to communicate.)

Step #2: Build trust and credibility. We don’t go from first date to marriage all in one evening (usually). High-value services can hardly be categorized as an impulse buy. That’s why the stay-in-touch-messages are so crucial. (Quick tip: Quit trying so hard to impress your readers, and focus on getting them to like you.)

Step #3: Get these prospects, who you’ve worked so hard to acquire and nurture, to actually hire you or buy stuff from you.

As most of you know, I’m a big believer in joining coaching programs. Back a few years ago I did John Carlton’s program. For those of you who don’t know him, John is a true persuasion master and holds the title of the world’s most “ripped off” copywriter. He’s an absolute genius at getting people to buy stuff.

John taught me something that’s literally enabled me to sell hundreds of thousands of programs, books, coaching and consulting.

The only problem with it is that it’s deceptively simple.

When I tell you what it is, you’ll claim to “know it” already.

In fact, you’ll probably say that you’re doing it already. But odds are…you’re not.

So here it is.

People will do what it is in their self-interest to do.

In other words they don’t give a squat about what you offer…

…UNLESS you can position it so that it’s in their self-interest to hire you or buy from you.

And how do you determine that?

One simple question.

What’s in it for me?

That’s the mindset you need when you sit down to talk to someone about your services.

Or, write copy for your website.

Or, write a sales letter or email.

Put yourself in the shoes of your prospect…pretend you’re that person, and ask, “What’s in it for me?”

Remember, your prospect doesn’t care a drip about what you do. They only care about what it can do for them.

Good food for thought,
Mark
Blatant Promotional Pitch…Please do not click here, I’m only trying to sell you stuff.

Really…this is just promotional stuff. You don’t need to learn more stuff. You need to DO more stuff.

Which if you a finally ready to do, then this link is the one you want to click.

Not this one.

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Why Aren’t You More Successful?

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

It’s a question most people gloss over-or certainly don’t spend much time thinking about.

And who can blame them?

Because from a practical perspective most people never achieve the level of success they envisioned for themselves.

Oh I suppose that’s a bit harsh. If that was really true, hordes of folks would be shuffling along, head hung low, softly singing “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen…”

And we don’t see a whole lot of that.

So what really happens?

People adjust their expectations…downward. They give up on the vision of success they once had. They resign themselves to whatever plateau they got to.

Which is a shame. Because this is what I believe.

I believe that you can have it all. You can have a great career. Own a thriving business. Have great relationships. Have the time to spend with those you love, doing the things you love doing.

But it takes work…it takes commitment…and, quite frankly, most people just don’t want to work that hard. The TV beckons. Achieving all the goals they set out for themselves just isn’t important enough. At least not important enough to put in the effort necessary to get to where they want to be.

That’s the tricky part. As my friend Steve Harrison says, “It’s easy to get enthusiastic about something. The difficult part is staying enthusiastic.”

But that’s why so few people achieve their goals. They don’t “stay enthusiastic.”

Oh sure, there are lots of excuses. Lots of reasons we tell ourselves for why we’re not more successful. But the simple fact of the matter is that you give up. At some point in time you say (consciously or subconsciously), “It just isn’t going to happen for me.”

Self-fulfilling prophecy.

It’s been my good fortune to meet a lot of very successful people. Interestingly, they share one trait in common.

They identified people who had achieved the level of success they wanted, and emulated them. Talk with them and you’ll hear about the “blueprint” they followed that enabled them to achieve the success they achieved.

Do you have a blueprint? Is there someone in your field whose career you’re modeling?

If not, you’re making life very hard for yourself, and dramatically reducing your chances for success.

I certainly don’t know how to do many things very well. I’m not a gifted athlete, my quantitative skills are mediocre at best, there are lots and lots of things that I’m, quite frankly, not good at.

But I am good at a few things. I’m a really good marketer-I know how to attract new clients. And I’m also very good at teaching others how to do that. Which is why, all false modesty aside, I’m one of the top marketing coaches in the country.

I’ve got a new program I’m launching in which I’m going to personally and individually work with a small number of people and launch them as Certified Gentle Rain Marketing Coaches.

If, on the off chance, your dream is to be a coach, mentor, advisor (call it what you will) you might want to check it out. It’s certainly not for everyone, but it might be right for you.

But regardless, aren’t you a little too young to be giving up on your dream? Go find someone you can model…create that blueprint for personal success. You only get to do this once.

Let me know if I can help.
Mark
Here’s the link again

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An Alternative To Free Reports

Monday, August 29th, 2011

By now I’m sure you’re in agreement that the easiest way to start the relationship building process is to give your prospects something for free.

It’s rather hard to argue that this is not a good idea.

Although there are a number of different mediums you can use to disseminate your information, (I’m a big fan of video), reports are still the workhorse that most people use.

But, let me share with you an alternative that you may want to consider.

Instead of a single report, consider breaking your content into a series of communications and offering it as a “mini-course”. (You can see an example HERE.)

Why would you want to do that?

Remember that the primary reason we offer free information is to get people onto our subscriber list so we can send them ongoing messages. Those messages are what’s going to convert prospects into paying clients.

These messages are most typically going to be sent out as emails, so we want our prospects/subscribers to get in the habit of opening and reading our email messages.

An easy way to accomplish that goal is to have the first few messages you send them be the mini-course they just signed up for. This not only gets them in the habit of reading your emails but you can insert sneaky marketing messages into the text. Like this:
******************************************
I’m aggressively looking for a small number of qualified people who can learn our marketing system to handle the overwhelming demand for our services. Learn More Here.
********************************************
Food for thought.
Mark
Jump start your Fall Marketing by doing this

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