Archive for the ‘marketing services’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

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.

Tags:
Posted in marketing services | Comments Off

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?

Tags: , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services, sales prospecting | Comments Off

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.

Tags: , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services, sales prospecting | Comments Off

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.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services, sales prospecting | Comments Off

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

Tags: , , ,
Posted in marketing services | Comments Off

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

Tags: , , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services, sales prospecting | Comments Off

You may be interested in getting this

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011


I just finished writing an article that you may be interested in receiving.

Although it’s titled Gentle Rain Coaching-Is It Right For You?, it’s really my observations on establishing a vision for your company, avoiding some of the traps that hinder our success, and the journey I took to take my business to the high six figures.

It’s also about some of the frustrations that are unique to those of us who run small consulting or advice-giving businesses.

If you would like to read it CLICK HERE

But do me a small favor? If you request it please take the time (it shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes) to read it. Regardless of whether you decide to become a coaching client of mine, I think you’ll find it contains a lot of good food for thought. Things to reflect upon. Things to consider as you as move forward on the entrepreneurial journey.

Thanks

Mark

PS: CLICK HERE to get it

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services, sales prospecting | Comments Off

Stealth Selling

Monday, August 15th, 2011


Without meaning to belabor the obvious, we all want to get more people to buy from us. Yet, for the vast majority of us who sell high-value services, the idea of aggressively “selling” makes us uncomfortable.

So, let me share with you today a strategy that will enable you to convert large percentages (around 85%) of your prospects into paying clients, without having to turn yourself into some sort of hyper-sales type.

But, before I share that, I think a bit of background will be helpful.

Keep in mind, that it’s my belief that most of us make marketing way-too-complicated. (I know for many years I was very guilty of that.)

Remember, a highly effective marketing system really only has two parts to it.

Part 1: Get prospects to join your list by requesting some piece of free information that you are offering. (Most effectively accomplished through a micro-site or squeeze page. You can see an example of one HERE.)

Part 2: Now that prospects are on your list, communicate with them (and that can be done via email, snail mail, personally calling them, or some combination of all three) on a regular and consistent basis.

Once you have this marketing system in place, that is targeting one of the niches you serve, you’ll discover that you never again lack new people to talk with about your services.

Which leads us to the original point of this article…how can I convert these prospects into paying clients without being salesy?

The answer is actually pretty simple.

What you don’t want to do, (and what I did for many years) is to talk-at your prospects about what you do, or the solution you offer. That’s just going to leave them cold and bored.

What do you want to do? You want to tell them stories.

Stories about the challenges others have faced, and how they overcame them.

Stories about how other solutions just didn’t quite deliver the hoped for results that were desired. (Otherwise known as preemptively striking at your competition.)

Stories about you…how you got into the business you’re in, your struggles and how you developed your own expertise. (Ultimately, clients hire you-not your company, so you want them to bond and connect with you.)

Lots and lots of other stories.

As an article in Fortune Magazine pointed out a number of years ago (more HERE), the key to selling “invisibly” is to use stories.

However…(and you knew there was going to be a “however”), there’s a problem.

Most everyone agrees that stories will help them sell better.

Unfortunately, hardly anyone prepares their stories in advance. (And when I say “prepare” I’m talking about developing stories that are specifically designed to overcome objections and move prospects from idly curious to highly motivated to do business with you.)

The reason? Since we’ve told stories all of our lives, we think we can just wing-it when we need highly effective sales stories.

Wrong.

It takes preparation.

It takes practice.

But it’s worth doing.

Especially if you want to convert large percentages of your prospects into paying clients.

Food for thought.
Mark

P.S. If you haven’t already you really should read my book on how to develop your own Unique Sales Stories. You can get it at Amazon HERE.

P.P.S. One of the things I’m really good at is working with my clients on developing their stories. Maybe I can help you. Info is HERE.

Tags: , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services | Comments Off

The Power of Sales Stories

Friday, July 15th, 2011


The power of using sales stories was brought home to me recently when Marian and I were house hunting.

We made the decision a couple of months ago not to move from Atlanta to Pinehurst NC. (It’s a delightful community but unfortunately just a bit too small for us.) With that decision under our belt we then realized that if we were going to be here for the long term, staying in a 4-story house just wasn’t going to work. (The joke we tell is that if you’re on the first floor and what you need is on the 4th, you either do without or go buy another one.)

We narrowed our search down to one community close by to where we currently live called Country Club of the South. Off we went to look at houses and I’ll admit that they started to blur together very quickly. I think our realtor sensed that we were going to have difficulty making a decision. So on the next house we visited (you can see a picture below) she decided to tell us a story.

It turns out that an Asian couple, who are staunch believers in Feng Shui, owned this house. For those not familiar with Feng Shui, it’s an ancient practice with many applications, one of which is determining the optimal location for your house. (Building a house on the earth dragon’s back is good, on the dragon’s head or heaven forbid, his eye, not so much.)

Now our realtor was very good, and had picked up clues that Marian might be particularly interested in Feng Shui.

Thus when we arrived at this house, completely overloaded from having seen too many houses, she decided to tell us a story.

And what a wonderful story it was.

How the owners consulted with a Feng Shui Master to decide which of 3 separate lots was the best one to build on. How the design of the house in a “H” created positive energy. How the arches were specifically designed to ward off negative spirits. And much more.

Guess which house stood out amid all the rest?

Guess which one we’re moving into the first week of August?

Intellectually, I think we all know that it’s the stories we tell that differentiate us from our competition. We understand that stories enable prospects to visualize in their minds the benefits we offer.

But…the reality is that most of us just don’t use stories as much as we should (or could).

So…What are the stories you should be telling?

Food for thought
Mark
PS: If you haven’t already you really should read my book on creating great sales stories. You can order it HERE

PPS: If you’d like to personally work with me to develop your marketing campaign with you but my Platinum program is outside your budget, here’s what you might consider. INFO

Tags: , , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services, sales prospecting | Comments Off

What Story Are You Telling?

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011


Adding to the list of things I’m determined to be mediocre in, I’ve recently taken up tennis. Which is probably part of the reason why I found the recent Wimbledon tennis matches so fascinating.

Aside from some great tennis, the Wimbledon matches also offered up some great examples of advertising. Not surprisingly, the best ads were those that told great stories.

Now I’ll admit that technology infrastructure design leaves me not burning with desire to learn more. But, IBM’s ad with the hook, “25% of the world’s food supply is lost to spoilage” put a very human face on what otherwise might be a “Do I really care?” business ad.

Being a long time Apple fan (in fact I’m probably the only person you’ll ever meet who actually has never used a PC) the story of the transformative iPad2 was equally engaging. “Now we can watch a newspaper. Listen to a magazine. Curl up with a movie. And see a phone call.”

But there were also misses. U.S. Bank, for example, tried to jam too many dispirit scenes into a 30 second spot. As a result, the emotional hook (and by that I mean getting the audience to care) was lost.

For all of us who are seeking to build our brand and attract new clients, the fundamental key is what stories are we telling? Disseminating stories is the easy part-developing the stories that will resonate with your market is the “mental heavy lifting”.

Which is why if summer is a bit slow for you (or even if it’s not), now is a good time to develop those stories that will differentiate you from your competition and intrigue your prospects to want to learn more about who you are.

Food for thought.
Mark
Need some assistance in creating great stories?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in guerilla marketing ideas, marketing services, sales prospecting | Comments Off

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »