Posts Tagged ‘marketing system’

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Learning vs Doing

Monday, December 5th, 2011

For those who pay attention to such things, the season is upon us when selling coaching and mastermind programs is in full swing. There’s certainly no shortage of choices. In fact I’m wrapping up the program I joined last year, and it’s been a great investment of money and time. I attribute getting my book to #1 on Amazon in its category directly to what I learned.

However, I noticed that less than half of the participants from the first meeting, attended the second one. I’m sure there will be still fewer at the final session. I also notice that on the monthly conference calls, the comments are more about enthusiastic plans for the future, rather than what anyone has actually accomplished.

Which brings me to my point. I call it the “bright shiny object” syndrome.

Hey, it’s fun to learn new stuff-I’ll be the first to admit that. Especially when the “stuff” may contain the secret sauce that once we learn it all our problems will go away.

But, at some point in time we need to shift our focus from Learning stuff to Doing stuff. And that’s hard, for a lot of reasons.

*It requires that we actually do some work, rather than passively digesting information.

*In means engaging in that annoying mental heavy lifting, to determine how to actually implement the plan.

*It requires a willingness to take a certain amount of risk.

Yes, it’s far easier just to be a student. But, as my Dad used to say, “If you want to get hit by cars, you need to go play in traffic.”

Perhaps we need to spend less time learning new stuff and spend more time implementing what we’ve already learned.

Food for thought.
Mark
A Different Type of Coaching For Those Who Play In Traffic

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How To Get Your Messages Heard

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Let’s face it, the world is noisy. Lots of people trying to get the attention of the prospects that you want. Lots of noise.

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

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Bright Shiny Objects

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Ultimately, what most of us sell is…hope.

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.

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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

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You Have A Great Idea…so what?

Friday, July 8th, 2011

It’s a bit harsh, but having a great business idea doesn’t amount to much.

Sometimes it’s hard to get our head wrapped around that. Unfortunately “great ideas” are the proverbial dime a dozen.

The reality is that ideas aren’t the important part…execution is. And that’s where most business efforts languish.

As my friend and publicity coach Steve Harrison says, “It’s easy to get excited about a new idea. It’s very tough to stay excited.”

That’s the reason why it’s so important to place a stake in the ground. Focus on one project and put the business blinder on. Commit to launching this one project before you move onto the next one. And, yes, I realize that this is very difficult for any of us who have a strong entrepreneurial orientation.

For years I was guilty of getting excited but not following through. However, at the end of the year, I’d look at what I’d actually accomplished, and it was pitiful. Lots of whirling activity. Very little in terms of tangible results.

Which is one of the reasons I hired a coach (and continue to do so to this day). In many cases it’s not the “new insight” the coach brings as much as the accountability it forces to make sure you’re getting things implemented.

Great ideas don’t mean much. The real question is, “Can you execute it?”

Food for thought
Mark
For Those Serious About Execution

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Advanced Client Conversion Secret

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Now that you’ve gotten a new prospect to opt-in, what’s next?

It’s important to remember that successful marketing is all about having a system. Each step in the process leads to the next one. Unfortunately, there is sometimes a tendency to forget the “end goal”, and as a result, we don’t get the amount of new business that we want and need.

Here’s a common example.

Once someone has become a subscriber by requesting your free report or other offer, many people think the next step is to just “stay in touch.”

They’re sort-of right.

Obviously, we want to stay in touch. But, staying in touch, just for the sake of staying in touch, doesn’t actually get us new business. Sure, there will be a few people on your list who will become clients just because you remained visible, but realistically you’ll never get the results you want if you take this passive approach.

So here’s what I suggest you do.

Think about what’s the ideal “next step” in your client attraction system. For many of us it would be either a face-to-face or telephone conversation-the classic “initial free consultation”. Thus, that’s what we want to be driving people to do.

But it’s not as simple as just saying, “Call me now for your free consultation.” We’ve got to sell the benefits of why they should do this. And the most effective way to do that, is by setting up a one-page micro-site that’s devoted to this next step in the system.

You can see an example here.

Here’s a quick tip…One way of making this an effective page is to list the questions that people typically ask (and that you’ll answer) during the consultation. This is similar to a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website, without the answers.

The page has a sign up box that enables people to request their free consultation. That information goes automatically into your autoresponder system when they fill out the form. (The one I recommend is here).

Now, this next step is important…

Once someone signs up for the consultation, the autoresponder sends them a message thanking them and asking them to answer 3 or 4 questions. That will enable you to determine who’s serious, and who’s just signing up because it “seemed like a good idea at the moment.”

If you use a good Natural Sales Closing presentation, you should be able to convert 85% of those who you talk with, into paying clients.

Hope this helps. Talk with you soon
Mark
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Staying In Touch With Prospective Clients

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

When marketing services you need to focus on both how to get prospective clients interested in what you have to offer, and then how to convert them into paying clients.

However, how often to stay in touch is a tricky question. Too frequently and you become a pest. Not often enough, and people forget who you are. This video shares some guidelines you’ll find helpful.

As a reminder…this make take a few seconds to actually begin running.

Staying In Touch With Prospects from Mark Satterfield on Vimeo.

Ready To Take The Next Step? That Information is HERE.

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Eliminating Marketing Frustrations

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Here are some motivational thoughts that I think will be helpful-especially if you’ve been frustrated in the past with your marketing results.

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

Eliminating Marketing Frustration from Mark Satterfield on Vimeo.

Want To Take The Next Step?

Blatant Pitch For Something To Buy

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Why Your Marketing Doesn’t Work

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Unfortunately, the reality is that most marketing doesn’t work. Doesn’t produce the results people want.

However, the reason “Why?” is actually fairly simple. In fact it boils down to a surprisingly small number of variables. Here’s the biggest one.

You focus on Activities rather than on a Marketing System. Let me briefly explain about what I mean.

Ask most people what they are doing to get more new clients, and what do you hear?

“We’re updating our website.”
“We’re doing social media.”
“We’re doing some email marketing.”

Sound familiar?

But, let’s drill down a bit.

OK, you’re updating your website. But how are you driving traffic to it? What’s the call to action once people are there? What do you want people to do? (Call you for a “free” consultation is too big a request for someone coming to your site for the first time-you need to make an offer that’s easier for them to say “Yes” to.)

OK, you’re doing social media. But do you really know what that means? “Social Media” has quickly morphed into a generalized term. It’s a bit like saying, “Let’s go eat American Food”. Way too general.

Social media encompasses everything from blogs to LinkedIn to Twitter to Facebook to countless other resources. What REALLY is going to be most effective for you? (And despite what the zealots say, Twitter is not a great investment of energy for many b2b businesses.)

But even more important is…there are a lot of dots that need to be connected between setting up a Facebook page or opening an account on LinkedIn and getting those people to pay you money for your services. Do you know what the dots are? Do you know how to connect them? If you don’t, it’s likely you’ll become “Socially Popular” but see nothing added to your business bottom line.

Finally…OK you’re doing some email marketing. But to who? Where are you buying the list? How are you going to get it opened and read? And…most importantly…what are you asking readers to do? Again, “Call you” is way too big a request. Hardly anyone will respond.

Here’s what you need to do.

STOP focusing on ACTIVITIES (websites, social media, direct mail, smoke signals, whatever) and START thinking about a MARKETING SYSTEM.

It’s not that complicated. Especially if you remember that marketing has two distinct components.

1) Get people to opt-in to your list…get them to express a tiny bit of interest in who you are and what you do by OFFERING THEM SOMETHING OF VALUE FOR FREE. (The easiest thing is some sort of article, report or mini-course. You can see an example HERE. Believe it or not, this page alone attracts 15 new opt-ins a day.)

This is how you get people into your Circle Of Relationships.

2) Once they’re in the circle (and not before) THEN you can start selling them on why they should do business with you.

That last sentence is very important. I would argue that not following that principle is the key reason why so much marketing doesn’t yield the results you want.

Trying to sell people on doing business with you, when you don’t have a relationship with them, is the definition of cold selling. The rejection rate is huge, and it just crushes most businesses.

So to reiterate…

Step 1: Get people into your circle of relationships by offering them something for free.

Step 2: Once they’ve opted-in and raised their hand, then send a series of messages that are design to build trust, credibility and convert them into paying clients.

I know…I know…YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS.

But, here’s the question…

Are you doing it?

Odds are you’re not.

And you really should. It’s not that difficult if you take things step by step. In fact after 18 years of doing this, I’m more than ever convinced that anyone can have a marketing system up and running inside of 45 days.

The time to start taking steps to achieve your 2011 goals is now.

Isn’t this the year that you finally put in place a marketing system that generates consistent streams of new prospects and then turns large percentages of them into paying clients?

Isn’t this the year that you finally end the feast or famine business cycles?

I hope so.

As always, let me know if I can be of assistance.

Talk with you soon,
Mark
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Building A Bond With Your Prospects & Clients

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

It’s all about building relationships.

Intellectually, I know that you understand that.

But if that’s the case…why does most everyone insist on SELLING people at the very first opportunity?

Maybe it’s that old Glenn Gary/Glenn Ross bit about ABC (Always Be Closing). Great theater, but lousy sales advice.

I’m not saying that it can’t be done-I just know that if I try to use hyper-aggressive salesmanship I’ll wind up looking like a complete idiot. (And believe me I did get seduced a couple of times and tried selling using someone else’s “voice” and it was damn embarrassing.)

Here’s my belief…Getting people with whom you don’t have a relationship to buy from you is VERY HARD.

Selling to people who don’t know you requires an awful lot of work. A lot of “convincing” people to do business with you.

Personally, I don’t like having to try to convince anyone to work with me.

So I don’t.

The interesting thing is that by the time that they talk with me, they’ve already sold themselves on working with me. I don’t have to “convince” them.

Which is a good thing since I’m not a particularly good salesperson.

But I am a good marketer.

You can be too. Here’s a secret…

If you never want to have to “sell” anybody again, you need to develop a little bit of patience.

I’ll tell you what I mean.

Think 3-Steps rather than One.

Right now, odds are that you’re thinking one step. “Find a person who needs what I offer and sell it to them.”

My suggestion is that you replace that with,

1) Find a person who needs what you offer and make them curious to learn a little bit more about you.

2) Communicate with that person so you start to build a bond with them.

3) Then, and only then, can you sell them on the benefits that they’ll get from working with you.

I know, you’ve heard that before, but the reality is that hardly anyone does it.

Which is somewhat ironic.

The reason people don’t do it is because they think it will drag out the sales cycle.

The reality is that not having a multi step process actuality makes your sales cycle much longer. You tend to sell too hard/too early. (Even though you know you shouldn’t.)

So, start off with creating interest and desire in what you offer. The easiest way is to offer a really interesting free report.

In my world that was my Gentle Rain Free Report that teaches a process for getting lots of new clients with no cold calling or hard selling.

That was my first report and it’s still the workhorse. Every day 30 people on average come to my site and opt-in to get it. Over time I’ve added additional free offers, the most recent being my book Unique Sales Stories.

But, what I never do, (and this is the reason why none of us have to ever get into the “selling” business unless we want to) is to attempt to sell people who are not on my subscriber list.

And the reason is simple.

I don’t have a relationship with them.

And since I don’t, I’d have to ‘convince” them to do business with me.

Which sounds very unpleasant.

I suppose at this point, since I do have a relationship with you, I should try to sell you something. Unfortunately I don’t really have anything new at the moment.

I am thinking about conducting a live event in Atlanta in mid-November. It would be a one day live workshop on creating your unique sales stories and then how to publicize them. If I did it, I’d keep the group small so we could actually get a lot of work done and get feedback on our sales stories. I’d want to make sure everyone walks away with great sales stories they can use immediately one-on-one, or in sales letters, or on their websites. I don’t think I’d charge a lot-maybe around $250 a person.

Might be fun.

Anyway it’s something I’m playing around with. If you think you’d like to attend, shoot me an email and let me know. If there’s enough interest I may go ahead.

But, the real important point that I want to leave you with is that although we intellectually understand it’s all about building relationships, you’ve got to have a process in place that enables you to build a bond with your prospects and clients. The good news is that if you take it step by step, it’s not that hard to accomplish.

The biggest obstacle is getting started.

But isn’t that always the case?

Food for thought. Talk with you soon.
Mark
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