Posts Tagged ‘lead generation’

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Overwhelmed By Trying To Implement A Marketing System?

Friday, May 6th, 2011

I think what prevents people from implementing a successful marketing/client attraction system, is that they simply get overwhelmed.

Which is a shame. (Especially since a lack of new clients is the #1 reason why businesses go out of business.)

However, becoming overwhelmed is easy to understand, and it can happen to anyone (for years I struggled with this very issue).

However there is an easy solution, and I discuss it in more detail in this short 5-minute video that you can watch HERE

Suffice it to say, the most common reason we get overwhelmed is that we get distracted and go off on tangents, We start by focusing on one activity, read about something else that sounds kind of interesting, and the next thing we know…zoom…we’re off on all sorts of different paths.

Unfortunately, we only get a third of the way down each of the paths, so the end result…which is to get us more new clients…is never achieved.

So what’s the solution?

I believe that the answer is to fully map-out what the steps are before we start. I know that sounds simple, but relatively few people actually do it for one simple reason…they’re not sure what the steps are.

As I share in my short video, there are only 5 or 6 steps you need to be focusing on. But…(and this is important)…you need to do the steps in order.

That’s where a lot of us get in trouble.

For example, we start focusing on lead generation too early in the process. Simply generating leads that go to a website that’s bland, looks the same as your competitor’s, or doesn’t make a great offer, just results in prospective clients ignoring you.

Naturally, that’s a big waste of time, money and effort.

However, if we map out the client attraction process in the beginning…create a blueprint for implementation…then there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t have a highly effective client attraction marketing system up and running, inside of 45 days.

So if you’ve been frustrated with implementing your own marketing system, I think you’ll find this 5-minute video to be of interest, and you can watch it here.

Talk with you soon
Mark
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Sales Letter To Send When You’re Ignored

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Here’s some quick advice on an effective strategy to take when a prospective client ignores you. After you’ve made a couple of calls to follow up this is a good tactic to consider implementing.

This video may take a few seconds to fully load.

Sales Cover Letter When A Prospect Ignores You from Mark Satterfield on Vimeo.

Want me to personally help you develop a marketing campaign or a great sales-closing presentation? Go HERE for more INFORMATION

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An Overlooked Branding Technique

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

In today’s video I share an often overlooked technique for branding and differentiating yourself. It doesn’t cost any money to implement and when done consistently it can be enormously powerful.

This video may take a minute to load so please be patient:

How To Get More New Clients Using Thought Leadership from Mark Satterfield on Vimeo.

Take The Next Step

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Two Types Of Referral Sources

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

If you ask most any advisor, consultant or provider of high-value services where their best clients come from, it’s likely you’ll hear, “referrals”.

However, as we know, not all referrals are equal. There are two primary sources for referrals, and while both are worth developing, only one is likely to provide you with consistent streams of the types of new clients you most desire.

Typically referrals come from either existing clients, or from professionals, (often referred to as Centers of Influence-COIs). According to a study conducted by the marketing research firm Prince & Associates, of these two sources, COIs outperformed existing clients both in terms of quality and number of referrals. When one thinks about that, it makes a great deal of sense.

For example, if one is seeking to attract more affluent clients, your current clients will tend to know a relatively small number of qualified and interested clients. However, the right attorney or accountant is in a position to refer you considerable numbers of the precise types of clients you most desire.

Now, this isn’t meant to discourage one from actively seeking referrals from existing clients, but it does shed some perspective on where your marketing efforts might be best utilized. This is particularly true if your goal is to upgrade the quality of the types of clients you take on. In that scenario, relying on client referrals can be highly limiting.

However, for most advisors and consultants it is far easier to rely on referrals from their existing clients, and in many cases this makes up the majority of the overall marketing effort. While that may be suitable for those offering relatively inexpensive services in which “everyone” is theoretically a prospect (such as plumbing or other household services), for those seeking to attract premier clients it’s likely you’ll “lap the track” on who they know relatively quickly.

This is why when one looks at the traits of consultants and advisors who earn in excess of $750,000 per year, one notices that they have almost universally focused on building a select network of COIs.

This all makes perfect sense and on one level is hardly “new news”. While the importance of building relationships with COIs is well understood, the competition is intense. Again, according to a study done by Prince & Associates, attorneys and accountants (just to name two strategic referral sources) averaged 5.1 solicitations every 6 months from someone desiring to do work with their clients.

To make matters worse, most of the time the pitch is mind-numbingly predictable and undifferentiated. Thus it’s of little surprise that all this effort results in very little return. After a few half-hearted attempts, the majority of advisors and consultants simply decide to give up and go back to concentrating on referrals from their existing clients, and continuing making the rounds at various networking events.

So what does it take to build relationships with COIs? Keep these two points in mind.

First, think small numbers. Most referrals programs teach a “spray and pray” approach-try to develop some sort of relationship with as many COIs as possible. Even in the best-case scenario, this only results in very casual affiliate-types of relationships. These may result in an occasional referral on a sporadic basis, but hardly what one wants from a true strategic partnership.

A far better strategy is to focus on deep relationships with a small number of COIs. How many is “small”? According to research done of advisors earning over $750,000 per year, the number never was greater than five. Again, if one thinks of developing true “partnering” relationships, that small number makes perfect sense. Anything above that becomes both unwieldy and unpractical.

The second key element is to approach building strategic partnering relationships with the mindset of COIs as clients. Again, this is intellectually understood, yet often missing in execution. A simple exercise I learned from consultant Brett van Bortel illustrates this.

Take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. On the left hand side put the initials of one of your best clients-the type of client you wish you had more of.

In the second column put the initials of a professional who has either given you a great referral, someone you’re cultivating as a referral source, or someone you know could provide you with the types of referrals you want.

Now, write down the answers to the following questions for both people:

*What is the name of their spouse?
*What are the names of their children and how old are they?
*Where did they go to college?
*What types of pets do they have?
*How do they make their money?
*What are their interests outside of their jobs?
*What is the best and worst experience they’ve had with people offering your types of services or advice?

Typically, people are able to do a good job answering these questions for their very best client. (If not, that’s a data-point in and of itself.) However, most of the time, people do not do as good a job with the answers when it comes to the referral source. In other words, they are not treating the COI as a client. And as Shakespeare says, “therein lies the rub”.

It’s one thing to intellectually acknowledge that one should cultivate relationships with referrals partners in the same way as you would your best clients, but in reality most consultants and advisors don’t really do so.

This is but one component of the overall marketing strategy for developing strategic partnerships with a select number COIs who can refer you consistent streams of new prospective clients. It’s a topic that I’m working on with many of my coaching clients.

If this is a focus for you, perhaps you should consider Gentle Rain coaching. Additional information in HERE.

Thanks and I look forward to speaking with you soon
Mark
mark@gentlerainmarketing.com
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This Was A Helpful Exercise

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

One of the interesting things about marketing is that if you do it right, it will actually get you what you want.

And although that sounds like a “blinding grasp of the obvious”, there’s a point I want to make.

Although I’m not a particularly “new-agey” type of person, I do believe that the more you have a clear picture of precisely who you want to attract, the easier it is to attract them. (And, from purely a pragmatic perspective, having this clarity of vision also makes it a lot easier to write messages that they’ll actually read.)

I’m a part of a mastermind group, and a while back went through a very interesting exercise that I thought I’d share with you. It helped me focus on the types of clients I most wanted to attract. I’ll admit that I did this exercise reluctantly since I was pretty sure I already knew who I wanted as clients, but it turned out to be a eye opening experience.

It’s called Developing the Prospect Profile and all you need to do is fill in the blanks. (But WARNING-this does require some serious thought-that pesky mental heavy lifting I’m always referring to.)

Here goes…

John (or Jane) is my ideal prospect. He is ___years old. His three biggest frustrations are ____, ____ and ____. He is afraid of ____. Sometimes he even wakes up in the middle of the night worrying about____.

If he could snap his fingers and make three specific outcomes happen immediately, he would want the following three things to happen:

1.

2.

3.

The event which happens to get him interested in what I can do for him probably is____.

His biggest concern about hiring a solution provider to solve this problem is ____.

When he goes to the Internet to find a solution to this problem, he’ll usually enter keywords into Google such as ___, ___, and ___.

If he is going to do business with me, he needs to believe ___, ___, and ___.

If he is going to buy from me, he needs to be in one or more of the following emotional states (i.e. anger, fear, hope, desire of gain ect.) ___, ___, ___.

The myth he believes (which I will shatter) is ___.

The biggest reasons he would not buy from me would probably be ___, ___, and ___.

Right now he gets most of information about my topic from centers of influence such as ___, ___, and ___.

In trying to solve his problem, he’s not able to___.

The perfect way to help him overcome his biggest frustration would be to ______.

To help him achieve his specific outcome #1, I will offer him______.

To help him achieve his specific outcome #2, I will offer him______.

To help him achieve his specific outcome #3, I will offer him______.

***
Now I’ll admit that these are not necessarily the easiest questions to answer, and it will likely take some thought, reflection and even some research. But I am a big believer that when it comes to marketing, we get what we aim at, and this exercise was very helpful to me.

Hopefully it will be to you also.

Talk with you soon
Mark
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Micro-Targeting Your Niche

Friday, February 18th, 2011

Let’s talk today about micro-targeting your niche. And for the purposes of this discussion-I’m going to use financial advisors and the affluent market as the illustrative example.

(But before you say, “I’m not a financial advisor”, or, “I don’t market to the affluent”, bear with me since the point I’m making is applicable to everyone. However if you are a financial advisor and/or target the affluent market, you should be reading the sister blog to this which you can by going HERE)

So for example…Ask most any financial advisor who they target, and it’s likely you’ll hear, “the affluent market.”

However, the reality is that the affluent market breaks down into many different sub-groups. The more that you can position yourself as meeting the needs of a specific group-the greater the likelihood is that people will pay attention to you.

Remember…getting ignored is the biggest challenge you face when trying to initially develop brand new business relationships.

So how does one subdivide the affluent market?

Certainly one way of doing so is by level of affluence.

At the “entry-level” of the affluent market, one has the Mass Affluent. These would be roughly defined as households with a minimum net worth of $250,000. This segment is the youngest and most diverse of the affluent classes.

The next level would be what I call the Truly Affluent.-Households with a minimum net worth of $1 million. This group has a very specific outlook on the world that one needs to understand if you are going to successfully attract them as clients. They don’t want to be lumped in with the “entry-level affluent’ crowd, yet they don’t want to have their needs overshadowed by those whose net worth is significantly above theirs.

The third tier are the Ultra-Affluent: net worth in the $3-$10 million range. This is the wealthiest 10% of US households according to the Federal Reserve. As an interesting fact these 11 million households earn 36% of all US income, and control 70% of the U.S.’s net worth. Again, there is a different marketing strategy that one wants to use to attract this segment.

Which brings us to the final group; the Super Affluent; net worth starting above $10 million, but the majority falling into the $20-$50 million dollar range. Not surprisingly, this is the oldest segment of affluence, with an average age of 57 years.

In addition to segmenting the affluent market by net worth, they can also be subdivided by specialty market groups such as Affluent Baby Boomers, Affluent Gays & Lesbians, Affluent Heirs, Affluent business owners, Affluent Women, Affluent African Americans, ect.

The point is that each subgroup has its own unique challenges & issues, and views affluence from a unique perspective. The key in marketing to any segment of the affluent marketplace is to mirror the way they perceive themselves in your messaging. Thus the more you micro-target specific segments, the greater the likelihood that your message will resonate.

Food for thought
Mark
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Capturing Attention & Building Trust

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Not that it comes as any great surprise-but the goal of your website (whether it be a one page micro-site or your more extensive “corporate” website) is to capture the interest and curiosity of your visitor.

Naturally the question becomes, “What’s the best way to do that?”

There’s two things to keep in mind. What you say and How you say it.

Let’s talk about the second one today.

The good news is that we have a couple of different options. By that I mean we’re not limited to just text based websites. In all candor, if you really want to accelerate the relationship building process, and get a lot more people to opt in to your list, video is the way to go.

Which leads us to the next question-“What type of video should I create?”

The answer depends in large part upon what you’re promoting. Your company? A brand? Yourself?

If you’re in the advice-giving business, the emphasis is most likely to be on yourself. In that case, a short video of either you talking directly to the visitor, and asking them to take the next step in the process (i.e. request your free information), or the “interview” model in which you discuss an key issue the visitor is likely to be working on…either of these can be very effective.

Here’s an example of what I refer to as an interview format video. (Please be patient this may take a minute to load. If you get frustrated you can also watch it HERE)

Affluent Marketing Advice from Mark Satterfield on Vimeo.

In the consulting and professional advice business, it’s all about demonstrating competence and building trust. Competence is developed by the content in the Gentle Rain Drops that you send out after your prospect has opted-in to your list.

Video-since it’s an opportunity for people to actually see you, helps considerably in building trust.

Of course not everyone feels comfortable in front of the camera. In that case a corporate video that encompasses music, graphics and other visuals can be extremely effective. (In an ideal world you would do both.) Creating these corporate videos is a pet project of mine, but they tend to be more appropriate to the higher-end services providers since they’re somewhat expensive to produce, edit, score ect. (But that said, if you’re interested drop me a note and we can chat about it.)

Food for thought
Mark
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The 3 Most Powerful Methods For Marketing Your Business

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Without a doubt, the biggest question I get asked is, “How can I get more visibility without breaking the bank?” And, although it’s a simple question, the success of your business depends upon the answers you come up with.

Personally, I think there are 3 options you’ll want to pursue-especially if your goal is to grow your business as large as possible (or to become one of the highly recognized experts in your field).

The first is what I call “traditional” marketing. I’ve written a lot about that and if you want to learn more about it, I’d suggest you go HERE.

The second is social media. I’m particularly focusing on Linked-In, which for those of us who offer either B2B or high-value services, I think it’s the place with the most opportunity.

The 3rd leg of the stool is publicity and quite frankly, up to just recently, this was the weakest area for me. I didn’t need to be convinced that getting on radio, TV and in print had enormous benefits, I just didn’t know how to do it.

I hired two PR people over the past 5 years and might have well just flushed the money down the toilet. But, as I’ve shared with a number of you, my publicity efforts have recently started to gain enormous traction, and I owe it to one person-Steve Harrison.

Steve’s belief is that we can be our own best PR person if we learn a few basics, and I’m living proof that he’s right. I mean, what’s a guy like me doing on ESPN talking about Super Bowl ads? But there I was, and it’s all because of some simple advice I received from Steve and his team.

Which all leads up to my suggestion that you listen in to Steve’s free teleseminar this coming Thursday in which he and his guests talk about what it takes to get on the national publicity stage. Whether you have a book or not…whether you want national recognition, or just to be the proverbial big fish in a small pond…I guarantee that you’ll find the teleseminar valuable.

You can sign up HERE

As I hope you know, I only recommend people to you when I personally use their services. Steve is absolutely an “A” level player in this field (he’s actually the guy who launched Rich Dad/Poor Dad onto the national stage) so if you’re the least bit interested in getting the media promoting what you do, he’s someone definitely worth getting to know.

And the best way to do that is by sitting in on his teleseminar this Thursday which you can do by going HERE.

Trust, me-it will be a good investment of your time.

Talk with you soon,
Mark
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Play Offense

Friday, January 7th, 2011

Obviously the last couple of years have been challenging. For many businesses, a hunker-down-bunker-mentality took hold. And while that may have made sense short term, at some point you have to stop playing defense and start to play offense.

Here’s something to think about…and let me sum it up in one word…Trends.

What are the trends that are taking place, and more importantly what are the long-term trends that are just beginning?

Getting in front of long-term trends is one of the most effective methods to make a lot of money over an extended period of time.

So how do you find these trends? Here’s one way.

What are the baby boomers doing? They are the proverbial basketball in the middle of the garden hose. If you look at business history, the greatest explosions have been products and services that were just in front (and that’s key) of that group.

For example, real estate exploded as the baby boomers entered their first home buying years, and then collapsed (at a jaw-dropping rate as some of you may remember) as developers, late to the game, built homes for a group that had already passed on by.

Timing is everything.

So here’s something to ponder…

How does what the baby boomers are doing (or not doing as the case may be) impact your business? The answer to that question may open up some very interesting ideas for either getting more attention for your business, or even new products/service that you might want to offer.

In my case, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this, and have reached a conclusion that is going to have a significant impact on Gentle Rain.

I believe that the number of self-employed and small business owners is about to explode. There are a couple of reasons for my thinking.

First, baby boomers don’t want to retire. An important part of their DNA is to stay relevant. Thus, retiring-in the traditional sense-just doesn’t fit with how they view themselves.

However…the less-pleasant reality is that they are often being kicked out of Corporate America to make way for the younger players. From a practical perspective, the odds that a 55 year old will pick up a new job in Corporate America, is somewhere between the proverbial slim & none.

Perhaps some will become franchisees, but my guess is that many will hang out their shingle as advisors and consultants. That only makes sense. They want (and I think this is great) to provide value to companies or consumers by sharing the collective knowledge they’ve develop over the years.

But the one thing they don’t know how to do is…get consistent streams of new clients.

Nor do they realize the reality that getting new clients isn’t as easy as they think it will be.

Which is why so many of the self employed and small business owners struggle so much.

Obviously, Gentle Rain meets a need in this regard. Simply put, I know how to teach someone to put together a very effective marketing system in under 45 days that costs less than $600 to implement.

The second reason I think that the self employed and small business market is going to explode is because Baby Boomers just can’t afford to retire. The sad reality is that lots of people got completely hosed in the economic melt down, and they’re not back where they once were financially.

Again, the same scenario follows. In this case they NEED to work, but what are their options? Starting their own consulting or advising business is going to be a very attractive path.

But…they’ll still run into the same challenge I mentioned before about how to attract consistent streams of brand new clients.

Over the past year or so I’ve seen a dramatic uptick in the number of new solo-consultants and small businesses. I also believe that this is the beginning of a significant 15-year trend.

Which is why I’m launching my Gentle Rain Affiliate Licensing program next week. (You can sign up to join me on the kick-off teleseminar by going to the blog entry that immediate precedes this one, or clicking HERE. )

I’m looking for a small group of people who are interested in partnering with me to both assist these Baby Boom Business Advisors achieve the dreams they have for their businesses, AND earn a lot of money.

I’ll be explaining how the program works, who I’m looking for, the training (and it’s very comprehensive training), the compensation (and I think for the right people you can make a lot of money by partnering with me) as well as addressing many of the questions I know people have.

However, regardless of whether partnering with Gentle Rain makes sense for you or not, I encourage you to engage in a bit of “mental heavy lifting” and think about how the trends I’ve discussed, can lead to positive business opportunities for you.

And for those of you who are intrigued about possibly developing an alliance with Gentle Rain, I look forward to having you on the call next Wednesday.

Talk with you soon,
Mark
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The 3 Basic Things You Need

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

I think we tend to make marketing way too complicated.

Which is a shame.

Unfortunately there are lots of business that could end the feast-or-famine business cycles, who don’t, simply because marketing just seems too overwhelming.

Really all you need are…

A one page website that motivates prospects to opt-in and learn more about who you are and the services you offer. More HERE

A simple stay-in-touch system (AKA, autoresponder) that enables you to automatically send messages to those that opt-in. (The one I use and recommend is HERE)

A simple tutorial on how to set it up and then get lots of targeted prospects to come. (That’s HERE or if you want some personal assistance on how to set it up my coaching program may be a good fit. Some info is HERE.

That’s all you need.

My point is that you don’t want to sit on the sidelines hoping the economy will improve, and that the waters of prosperity will raise all boats.

I think you know that’s just not a viable strategy.

I also know that marketing can be a bit of a “black box”, and often times just too confusing. You don’t know where to begin so you simply…do nothing.

However, if you take it step by step, there is absolutely no reason why you can’t have a very effective marketing system up and running, generating you consistent streams of new clients in less than 45 days.

Let me know if I can help.
Mark
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