Posts Tagged ‘marketing coaching’

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What’s your competitive advantage?

Monday, November 21st, 2011

When it comes to attracting new clients, what’s your competitive advantage?

Is it that you’re using the latest social media?

Is it because you redesigned your website and made it SEO friendly?

Is it your sheer persistence and hard work?

I don’t think so.

While all of these are helpful, they aren’t what your true competitive advantage is.

Nope.

Your true competitive advantage is the message you communicate-the stories you tell.

So here’s an interesting exercise. Read over your message. Then Google the type of work that you do. Take a look at those websites. Is your message fresh, different and intriguing? If so, kudos. However, if yours sounds a lot like all the others, then you’re not taking advantage of your one true competitive advantage for attracting new clients.

And that’s a shame.

Learn more about creating great messages HERE

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What Myth Can You Debunk?

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Here’s a problem…

How do we get people to pay attention to us without doing anything silly or inconsistent with the professionalism of our services?

Here’s an idea.

What’s a myth you can debunk?

Let me share a quick example…

If you’ve picked up a copy of USA Today anytime over the past year, you’ve undoubtedly seen the ubiquitous ads run by Bill Bartman, former CEO of Commercial Financial Services. You may recall his story about how he went from dirt poor to billionaire, back to dirt poor, and now seems to be back on track to really-rich status. What’s interesting about his latest business iteration is his attention-getting hook about debunking the myths on how the dept collection business really works.

There’s no shortage of people offering debt reduction assistance, yet Bartman has vaulted into the front ranks largely by offering a free report that focuses on his perspective and opinion.

And that’s key.

If you want to break out of the pack, you need to have a philosophy. And it’s particularly attention-getting, if a part of that philosophy is why common held assumptions are wrong.

In my own case, Gentle Rain Marketing’s philosophy is that most marketing experts and gurus make implementing a system for attracting consistent streams of brand new clients way too hard and complicated. As you’ve undoubtedly heard me preach, “If you do what I tell you to do, there’s absolutely no reason why any company can’t have a highly effective marketing system up and running in less than 30 days for under $300.”

In fact, if you really focused your energies, you could have that same marketing system up in a week.

That’s my soapbox.

That’s the myth I debunk.

Sure it stirs controversy, but that’s OK. As Grandmother used to say, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.”

What myth can you debunk?

Food for thought
Mark
Do you belong to an association that is looking for a great speaker? If so, please pass this webpage along to them. Thanks!

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Why Do I Recommend You?

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

I recommend you because…

1) You helped me solve a problem.
2) You were easy to work with.
3) You care about my needs.
4) I feel smart when I use your services.
5) Others I respect recommend you.
6) Because you asked me to.
7) Because I like you.

There are undoubtably more.

But, if these are the reasons for why people recommend you, shouldn’t these be what you focus on in your business?

1) Are you the absolute master at what you do, or are you over-relying on yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems?

2) Is it easy to work with you? Have procedures crept into your way of doing business that are frustrating to your clients?

3) How do you demonstrate that you really care about your clients?

4) What experience do your clients have when working with you? Are you a Wegmans or Dick Dirts Discount House of Horrors? (This often overlooked point is especially crucial if you’re focusing on the affluent market or other hard to reach prospective clients.)

5) Are you taking proactive steps to become well known and respected in the niche community your serve?

6) Are you proactive in seeking recommendations and referrals?

7) Is your ongoing communication focused on building relationships and making friends or impressing others with how smart you are? Do you tell great stories about all the aspects of your business?

Good food for thought.
Mark
Yes, I’d love for you to recommend this blog to others you know. They can get on the list by signing up HERE. Thanks!

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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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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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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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If You Would Like For Me To Personally Work With You

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Obviously, I don’t know what business goals you’ve set for yourself.

As you might guess I believe the type of marketing system you need largely depends upon the type of vision you have for your company. Modest goals (and I’m not passing judgment) translate into modest marketing (or perhaps none at all). I know a number of business owners who although they complain about the feast or famine business cycles, have a business model that enables them to ride out the lean times. With extremely low overhead and limited expenses, they can survive and even turn a small profit with revenues under $100,000.

But certainly that’s not all of us. Others (and I would put myself into this category) desire for greater levels of success. Our vision is to influence a large audience, provide new thinking around our expertise and achieve a level of financial independence in which having the money to spend on the things your family wants is no longer an issue.

And to achieve that vision, one not only needs a plan, but one also needs to be able to implement the plan.

Which leads me to a question I am frequently asked, “Mark, if I wanted to work with you personally, what are the options?”

Basically there are three options. Let me review them very briefly here. If any of them sound interesting, send me an email (mark@gentlerainmarketing.com) and we’ll send you some more information.

The first is my Platinum Level Consulting program. This is the program in which I partner with you to grow your business. Thus, I’m writing and designing website landing pages, free reports, stay in touch messages, sales letters, advertisements…everything you need to take your business to the highest level.

This is my premium service and I’ll be the first to admit, it’s only right for a small handful of my subscribers. The way it works is that I earn a commission on the revenues we achieve together and realistically I expect to make a minimum of $50,000 per project. So if you don’t aspire to grow your business by $500K+, this isn’t for you. And, in the sprit of candor, although my compensation is based on the results we achieve together, the Platinum Program does require a $15,000 retainer-payable in 5 payments of $3000.

However, if you’re looking for substantial growth, have money to invest in marketing and are looking for a partner to help you achieve your goals…then perhaps this may be worth considering. Email if you want the PDF that tells you more. (Put something like “Platinum Info Please” in the subject line so I make sure to send you the right information.

Second is my coaching program. This is where I advise and mentor you on how to put your marketing system in place. The big problem with marketing, the reason so many attempts fail, is because people do things in the wrong order. For example, they get all excited about generating traffic to a website that visitors just bounce off from. Dumb, dumb, dumb. My goal with coaching is to have your first marketing campaign up and running, getting your more business inside of 60 days. Although you can have a single session of coaching with me ($250) the best deal is 3 sessions a month for 3 months @$495 per month. There’s more information HERE or if you’re serious and want to have a half hour conversation with me to discuss precisely how it works, send an email (or call). The info to reach me is at the bottom of this post.

Finally, there are my a la carte copywriting services. Need a landing page written that makes prospects curious to learn more about what you do? Want a sales letter that will attract new prospects like the world’s most powerful magnet? Need a success story that offers social proof that you’re the real deal? If you need any of those…you need to hire me. Again if you’re serious, send an email and I’ll send you my portfolio and fee schedule.

Look, I know that there are lots (and lots) of marketing consultants out there. Choosing the right one for you isn’t easy. But, all false modesty aside, you should know that I’ve helped clients grow their businesses by $2 million+, I’ve mentored start-ups to quickly grow to the $200,000+ level and everything in between. No matter the size stage you want to play on, I can show you how to get there.

For those of you who are new to Gentle Rain and may not know that much about me…before I started Gentle Rain in 1992 I was a senior person at two of the best marketing companies in the world (Pepsi & Kraft Foods). I started my career as an advertising copywriter, I’ve written 7 books, won all sorts of awards, made my clients lots of money. But what I treasure most is what people like turnaround specialist Van Lanier says, “We tripled our inquiries from qualified prospects and doubled our contact-to-close ratio using Mark’s system.”

At the end of the proverbial day, it’s all about getting you more business and making you more money. That’s what I do best.

Let me know if I can help you do precisely just that.

And again, thanks for being a subscriber to Gentle Rain Marketing.

Talk soon,
Mark
mark@gentlerainmarketing.com
770-643-8566

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Would Someone Want To Buy Your Business?

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

I attended a “Congratulations” dinner last night for Sam Lockwood. Sam’s been a client for a number of years and recently sold his boutique consulting practice to one of the “Big 5” consulting firms.

Although selling his company was not his objective when we first started working together, it became clear about 2 years ago that this would become a distinct possibility if a few of the cards fell right.

And they did.

And today Sam’s net worth has been increased by a bit more than…(well, he asked me not to mention specifics but suffice it to say, Sam doesn’t need to work anymore.)

Anyway this got me thinking about why Sam was able to build such an attractive business in less than 5 years that he had not 1 but 3 bidders.

What I’ve concluded is that Sam thought differently about his business than most of my clients.

It also raises the question…Do you have what it takes to create a million dollar business that someone would want to buy?

You may think of yourself as a financial planner, HR consultant, executive recruiter, coach-whatever. But suppose you’re wrong? Suppose you’re actually a million-dollar business that could be attractive to a number of buyers?

What if by making a slight change in how you think about yourself and your business you could create opportunities beyond your imagination?

Now, in reality building a multi-million dollar business is not for everybody. It may not be for you. But here’s an interesting question…how can you know?

As I do every year at this time I reread Michael Gerber’s wonderful book The E-Myth. I’m sure you’ve read it or are at least familiar with the basic argument he presents.

To put it far less eloquently than Mr. Gerber does, the reason so many businesses fail to reach their potential is primarily due to the fact that owners define their business as what they do.

I’m a financial advisor.
I’m a HR consultant
I’m a technology expert
I’m a leadership coach

Rather than thinking that they are in the Business of what they do.

That’s a significant difference as I’ll explain more about in a moment.

But first, let’s go back to the question I raised…Are you just a consultant, advisor or solo-entrepreneur, or do you have the potential to someday sell your business for a 7-Figure sum?

Here are 5 short questions that will help you determine the answer.

1. Do you believe you deserve this level of success?

I find it surprising that so few people really believe that they’re worthy of this level of success. Somewhere along the path of life something happened that made them believe that outsized success is for “other people”-not them.

What do you believe?

I’m very fortunate. From an early age Mom & Dad ingrained in me a fundamental core belief that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. While I never took success for granted, my goals have always been set high.

I was talking with a client the other day who wanted to write a book. I mentioned the books I had done for McGraw Hill and the writing I did for the Wall Street Journal. “No, no, no”, he said. “I don’t think I’d ever get published by a real publisher, I just want to self-publish this”

Well why the heck not!

If you are doing the book primarily to promote your business (as I’m doing with my next book Unique Sales Stories-which is designed to market my newest sales training initiative) self-publishing is fine. But that’s not what he planned to do.

No, he thought he could never get published by a large prestigious publisher because he wasn’t worthy.

Self-fulfilling prophecy.

You’ve probably read the study of the public school teachers in Chicago. A small group of them were told that they were going to be teaching the top 5% of the students in the public school system and that it was the school board’s expectation that these students be accepted into top universities.

The teachers took the task seriously and met the school board’s expectations.

Which was great.

Except for one thing.

The student’s weren’t the top 5%. They were randomly selected.

This was one of the first (and very powerful) studies on the role that positive expectations have on performance.

So, what about you? Does your belief filter send the message that you’re not worthy of the same level of success as my client Sam?

If however you said to yourself, “Yes I DESERVE to be just as successful as those entrepreneurs I read about who sell their companies for millions of dollars”, then CONGRATULATIONS, you’re taking the first step in making this a reality.

2. Do you have a dream?

Of course you do. Everyone does.

So let me rephrase this…Do you have a dream that so motivates you that you are willing to do whatever it takes in order to turn it into a reality?

And let me be specific here. I’m not talking about a dream of having a “successful” business. I’m talking about what comes along with the dream when you achieve it. The money…the prestige…the visibility…the freedom to focus on doing what you’re interested in doing-not what others dictate you should do.

If your dream is so strong that you will sacrifice and do what is necessary in order to turn it into a reality-then you have an excellent chance that you have what it takes.

3. Are you willing to learn what you need to know in order to be successful?

Sam is the third person I’ve been personally involved with who’s sold his business for large sums of money. One thing they all shared-and this is true about every successful person I’ve ever met…They were willing and interested in learning new things.

Obviously you know a lot about your particular area of expertise. But my question is, Are you willing to recognize that you don’t know it all-and are you willing to do what must be done in order to fill in the gaps?

Unless you have financial resources and can afford to hire top experts to do the work for you, you’re going to have to learn how to create a business plan and a marketing system.

For example, I often ask people who come to me for advice, What type of marketing budget are they working with?

I’m amazed at the small percentage who can formulate a coherent answer.

That’s the difference between an “individual contributor” and a business owner.

You need to know which media is most promising for promoting your services, what your most effective sales message and offer is…how to position yourself against your competition….

And much, much more.

The good news is that the sources for your education are all around you and the Internet has made learning so accessible that anyone with the desire can acquire the knowledge they need.

If you approach learning as a challenge…if it excites you to develop new knowledge-muscles…you may have what it takes.

4. Are you willing to take a risk?

Sure it takes money to build a million dollar business. But, it doesn’t take a million dollars.

To start takes very little. It’s mostly mental heavy lifting. How to position yourself? What offer to make? Websites, PDF reports, autoresponder services…they cost next to nothing.

However it does take some money to drive traffic to your micro-website. You need some chips in order to play.

Yes, you are going to have to risk some money and some time to get started.

So how does that make you feel? Anxious? Overwhelmed? Discouraged? If so do yourself a favor and don’t embark on the entrepreneur’s journey.

But…if you pulse quickens with the idea of risking a few hundred or couple thousand in order to make tens or hundreds or thousands…or even millions, you may have what it takes.

5. Are you willing to be patient and persistent?

I’m an avid reader of biographies and memoirs of successful people. I’m absolutely fascinated with what they went thought before they were successful.

In every single case, without exception, no one who is successful today started out that way.

They all took risk.

They all failed at times.

But…they stuck with it

They didn’t give up.

They were patient for the success that ultimately came.

…So how did you do?

If you answered, “Yes” to all five questions perhaps you have more than just a individual practitioner business. Maybe you have the makings for building something that someone will want to pay you millions of dollars for.

As a reader of Gentle Rain you know that at a very fundamental level, Gentle Rain is all about direct response marketing.

Which is the best type of marketing to grow your business.

Because at every step in the process you know precisely how you’re doing. And that’s what prevents us from getting in too deep before we make a course correction.

As a direct response marketer and Gentle Rain reader you have the tools to make your company a big as you want.

So instead of thinking of yourself as a coach, consultant, advisor or expert…try thinking like an entrepreneur. It could be the difference between dreaming about a millionaire’s lifestyle, with all the independence and freedom that comes with it…and actually living that dream.

Food for thought

Talk with you soon
Mark

Resources related to this article:
Gentle Rain Blueprint
Gentle Rain Coaching
Gentle Rain Copywriting

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Where Do The Best QUALITY Sales Leads Come From? (Aside From Referrals)

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Let’s talk a bit about sales leads, and more specifically, the quality of leads that we get from different sources.

I think this is the best method (aside from referrals) for getting prospects that can afford to invest in your services…

What got me thinking about this was a recent marketing conference I attended. As is often the case, one speaker after another proudly proclaimed that a certain method generated the most leads. But after a while that got me thinking.

Sure it’s good to have lots of prospects interested in who you are and what you do, but it’s even better if your prospects actually have the budget to invest in your services. While that may seem to be a blinding grasp of the obvious, the reality is that lots of people are spending lots of time attracting prospects who, quite frankly, never will never become good clients for them.

I mean it’s wonderful to have a gazillion (real number) followers on Twitter and Facebook but the likelihood that those people are going to convert into clients, willing to pay substantial fees for your services is…well, not real good.

But I understand the appeal…the primary one is that it’s free. But the old saying that there is a relationship between the level of investment and the quality of prospect is true. I have yet to see any hard evidence that ether of these social media methods attract the types of clients the majority of my readers want.

Google is a better lead generation source but I’ll admit that it’s changed over the last couple of years. Whereas the quality of prospects that myself and the majority of my clients attracted two years ago was quite high, the percentage of “Qualified” prospects has dropped of precipitously. That’s okay, since (for now) staying in touch via email is free, but there’s a lot more separating the proverbial wheat from the chaff.

So where are the best quality prospects coming from? There are two methods I think you should consider but the one that I want to focus on today has consistently yielded the highest quality of prospects. Interestingly, as Google has diminished in the quality of leads it provides, this has actually gotten stronger.

Now in all candor I will tell you, that it will not generate anything close to the largest volume of leads for you. So if you have a sales team with a voracious appetite for new people to call, this may not be right for you. But if quality is what you’re after, this is where I would focus.

I’m referring to direct mail.

Now, direct mail has a lot of moving parts to it and it’s easy to mess up.

When you’re doing direct mail you need to keep in mind that you need 1) a great offer (and “call me for a free consultation” is not a great offer) 2) a great list (InfoUSA is OK but their lists get hit a lot so I stopped using them a while back) and 3) great sales copy in the letter.

Yes, I said letter not postcard, but that doesn’t mean that a postcard won’t work. But if your mailing is going to go through a screener, I would not use a postcard.

If you offer B2B consulting services, nothing beats a 1-2 page letter in an envelope with a first class stamp (lots of people-myself included-look at the postage before deciding whether to open something.)

And there are lots of other considerations. Should you put promotional copy on the outside of the letter? If so, what? Should you force people to go to a website or offer other methods to take advantage of your offer? What offer works best? What’s the #1 thing you can do after the mailing to increase conversion? Ect. Ect.

Yup, there’s a lot of things to consider but if you’re willing to do so, direct mail is still the best way to get the quality of prospects that you want.

Or at least that’s my opinion. I welcome yours.

Talk soon
Mark
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