Posts Tagged ‘new clients’

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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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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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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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What’s In It For Me?

Thursday, September 1st, 2011


Let’s spend a few minutes talking about…how to get people to do what you want.

The goods news is that it’s not terribly difficult. It’s more about changing how you “frame” what you’re communicating, than it is anything else.

So let’s put it into context.

Remember that the process of getting new clients is just that…a process. We need to move people through a series of steps. I’ll admit it would be great if we could shortcut the process, but the reality is that we can’t.

Step #1: Get them to pay attention to us. (Which falls into the category of “more difficult than one-would-think”. It’s not that people read or hear your message and reject it, they simply ignore what you’re trying to communicate.)

Step #2: Build trust and credibility. We don’t go from first date to marriage all in one evening (usually). High-value services can hardly be categorized as an impulse buy. That’s why the stay-in-touch-messages are so crucial. (Quick tip: Quit trying so hard to impress your readers, and focus on getting them to like you.)

Step #3: Get these prospects, who you’ve worked so hard to acquire and nurture, to actually hire you or buy stuff from you.

As most of you know, I’m a big believer in joining coaching programs. Back a few years ago I did John Carlton’s program. For those of you who don’t know him, John is a true persuasion master and holds the title of the world’s most “ripped off” copywriter. He’s an absolute genius at getting people to buy stuff.

John taught me something that’s literally enabled me to sell hundreds of thousands of programs, books, coaching and consulting.

The only problem with it is that it’s deceptively simple.

When I tell you what it is, you’ll claim to “know it” already.

In fact, you’ll probably say that you’re doing it already. But odds are…you’re not.

So here it is.

People will do what it is in their self-interest to do.

In other words they don’t give a squat about what you offer…

…UNLESS you can position it so that it’s in their self-interest to hire you or buy from you.

And how do you determine that?

One simple question.

What’s in it for me?

That’s the mindset you need when you sit down to talk to someone about your services.

Or, write copy for your website.

Or, write a sales letter or email.

Put yourself in the shoes of your prospect…pretend you’re that person, and ask, “What’s in it for me?”

Remember, your prospect doesn’t care a drip about what you do. They only care about what it can do for them.

Good food for thought,
Mark
Blatant Promotional Pitch…Please do not click here, I’m only trying to sell you stuff.

Really…this is just promotional stuff. You don’t need to learn more stuff. You need to DO more stuff.

Which if you a finally ready to do, then this link is the one you want to click.

Not this one.

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Stealth Selling

Monday, August 15th, 2011


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The answer is actually pretty simple.

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

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

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

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

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

Lots and lots of other stories.

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

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

Most everyone agrees that stories will help them sell better.

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

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

Wrong.

It takes preparation.

It takes practice.

But it’s worth doing.

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

Food for thought.
Mark

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

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

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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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Attracting Prestigious Clients

Monday, May 16th, 2011


In every market there are the most prestigious clients. Those that if you could attract them as clients, they would propel you into the elite.

The challenge becomes, why should they pay attention to you? What’s the best method for getting them on your radar screen?

In today’s video I share a strategy anyone can use to attract marquee clients:


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How To Get More Referrals

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011


If I asked you, “Where do most of your best new clients come from?” I’d imagine you’d tell me, “Referrals”.

I’d also imagine you’d tell me that you’d like more of them. So let’s help you accomplish that goal.

The biggest obstacle most people face when trying to get referrals is that they don’t do a good job of explaining what they do. If people don’t understand the benefits that others get by working with you, their ability to remember and refer you is severely compromised.

The problem when explaining what you do, is that we revert to what I call “comfortable shorthand”.

“I’m a lawyer.”
“I’m a financial advisor.”
“I’m a marketing consultant.’

Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with these answers. However, these are the types of answers that go in one proverbial ear, and out the other. Additionally, they don’t tell your listener what the ultimate benefit is from what you do. (That’s crucial and I’ll share an example shortly.)

The temptation to use these “comfortable” descriptors is considerable for a couple of reasons. First, this is how most everyone else describes what they do. Especially in social situations, we want to follow the cadence and rhythms of those we’re with. If everyone is using the “comfortable shorthand” to describe what they do, there’s a bit of psychological pressure for you to do the same.

Second, so many of the more elaborate descriptions sound, well…rather cheesy. You’ve probably cringe internally when someone who’s obviously completed some sort of second rate elevator pitch program comes up to you and says, “I’m the go-to guy in making your money grow.”

Ugh

An excellent answer to the ubiquitous question of, “What do you do?” needs to be both memorable and consistent with the image and class you want to known for. Unfortunately, developing precisely the right answer takes a fair amount of work. Even though the end result looks oh-so-simple, the reality is that there’s a good amount of mental-heavy-lifting that’s gone on behind the scenes.

I can speak to this personally, since it took me a long time to develop an answer that I felt comfortable with, and enabled people to remember me (and ultimately refer me business). For years I’d simple respond, “I’m a marketing consultant.” Certainly accurate, but it’s going to be hard for someone to refer me business based on that answer.

Here’s what I eventually developed when I’m asked, “So Mark, what type of work do you do?”

“In a nutshell, if you own a business and need more new clients, I’m the guy who shows you how to get them.”

Short. Memorable. My listener immediately understands the key problem I solve and the key benefit I provide.

I firmly believe that because of the way I describe what I do, I get a lot of calls that start with, “So-&-So suggested I speak with you…”

If you’d like to spend an hour with me working on how to describe what you do in a way so that people “get it” and can refer you business, simply send an email to barb@gentlerainmarketing.com with your phone number and the words “Consultation” in the subject line. For the modest fee of $250, I’ll work with you to develop a memorable, catchy (but highly professional) way to describe what you do.

Talk soon
Mark
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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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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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