So why does one message get heard and others ignored? Here’s a thought that I think will be helpful.

There’s an old saying in marketing that you want to enter the conversation that’s already going on in your prospect’s head.

The trick to doing this is that we really have to know our prospect-what their hopes, fears, dreams and ambitions are. Even though we may be sending our message out to hundreds or even thousands, we want the tone and content to be the same as if we were intimately writing to a single individual.

Thus, the more we can put ourselves in the proverbial shoes of our prospect, the more effective we’ll be at writing these types of messages. Here’s an exercise that I found helpful and I thought I’d pass along to you.

Take the time to give the following question some good thinking…from the perspective of your ideal client.

• John (or Jane) is my ideal prospect. He/She is __years old. His/Her three biggest frustrations are ___, ___ and ___. He/She is afraid of ___. Sometimes he/she even wakes up in the middle of the night worrying about___.

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

• His/Her biggest concern about hiring an advisor 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 1___, 2___, and 3___.

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

• The biggest reasons he would not buy from me would probably be 1___, 2___, and 3___.

• Right now he gets most of information about my topic from centers of influence such as 1___, 2___, and 3___.

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

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

Taking the time to answer these questions will enable you to write your messages with an intimate voice that will greatly increase the likelihood that they’ll be read.

Good food for thought

Need a guest for your next webinar, teleconference or event? My presentations are always content rich and tailored to your particular niche. Learn more HERE

However, outside of academia, and for a few elite others who fate has shined a kind eye on, expecting the world to beat a path to your door is a losing proposition.

I recognize that in an ideal world, you’d just like clients to magically appear so that you could focus on the work you most enjoy. Which is why the marketing siren’s call of “we’ll do it all for you” is so alluring.

But here’s the reality.

As the CEO you also bought (perhaps unwittingly) the role of CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).

And the sad but true reality is that you can only delegate those responsibilities after you’ve mastered them.

So the question becomes…how are you going to get up to speed?

Here’s one option

*Create a kick-ass free offer that would get prospective clients interested in what you do. And…

*Provide the content for the squeeze page that promotes it. And…

*Create a great video that you could sell for $595? And…

*Create a MP3 audio you could add to the video package and raise the price to $695? And…

*Create a content-rich booklet, you could add to the video and audio package and now price your information product at $795.

Or…you could just give everything away for free and have a monstrously effective lead generation machine.

All with about an hour’s worth of work.

Here’s how.

Rent a room somewhere. Might be at a hotel, or even better, at one of those office suites that are in virtually every city.

Invite some clients or prospective clients to come to hear you speak about your topic. (Maybe you charge/Maybe you don’t.) Try to get at least a dozen people.

Video tape the presentation. (Personally, I’d spend a few bucks to get it done professionally. It doesn’t cost a lot of money.)

Edit down the raw footage. If you use a Mac you can do it yourself using iMovie. I’m sure there’s a comparable program for those still using PCs. This becomes the video component of your information product.

When you do your presentation start off with an overview of what you’re going to be covering. This is the segment that you use on your squeeze page to promote the program.

Pay some kid a few bucks to strip out the audio portion of the video which you can then offer as a separate bonus. A lot of people like to listen to content rather than watch video, so it’s nice option to offer.

Pay a few more bucks to get the audio transcribed and now you’ve got a nice content-rich booklet to offer along with the video and audio.

If you don’t want to create an information product to sell, then just use the video of you doing the introduction as a hook to a free mini-course that offers segments from the rest of the video you shot.

If you line your ducks up in a row, this can basically be done over a weekend. I did a version of this when I created my Gentle Rain Blueprint program. You can see the final result here.

Food for thought
Mark
This free mini-course teaches you how to write a great sales letter.

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!

Hope that my finances will outlive my retirement. Hope that the next person I interview will be able to do the job I need to have done. Hope that the new distribution system will get my products to the customer on time.

Which is why the bright & shiny object syndrome is so insidious.

Maybe…just maybe…this will work.

We see a lot of the bright & shiny object syndrome in marketing.

*You’ve got to be doing Twitter!
*SEO optimization is a necessity!
*Data scraping puts you in front of a gazillion new eyeballs a day!

It’s not hard to understand why so many people just throw up their hands in surrender.

If you want to keep marketing simple and understandable, just remember that a very effective marketing system has two components to it.

1) Get people’s attention. Motivate them to tell you that they’re a prospective client by offering them something of interest for free.

2) Stay in touch. Send them stuff. Focus on making friends and building a relationship-rather than trying to impress them with how smart you are.

That’s all you need to do.

Seriously.

Food for thought
Mark
More about how to do just that.

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.

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.

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?

Here are some basic questions you’ll want to make sure you know the answers to about your clients, that will dramatically help you be more effective in the sales and marketing process:

This video may take a few seconds to load:

The Mindset of your clients from Mark Satterfield on Vimeo.

If you’re ready to take the next step this will be of interest.

Good food for thought
Mark
PS: I’m looking for a small number of qualified individuals who can learn our marketing system to handle the overwhelming demand for our services. MORE INFO HERE

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