What is it that you hate about marketing? Let's have a conversation about that. Please comment or send me emails.
You see, I think you can fill your practice with desirable clients, without expensive brochures and humiliating cold calls.
If you are like many independent professionals and consultants, trying to find new clients can be frustrating. Maybe you are struggling with your marketing message. Or maybe referrals aren’t paying off like they used to. Maybe you are concerned about wasting time and money on unproductive efforts. If marketing seems like a lot of hard work with little or sporadic payoffs, you are not alone.
How would you like to attract more clients than you can possibly handle, without breaking the bank? The good news is the American Dream of creating a professional service or consulting business that provides a high six figure income is alive and doing well. That is, if you take the time to get the knowledge how to do it. Best of all, these techniques require a minimal investment.
Face facts. Other successful professionals and consultants have found the way. How can you model their success? To attract new clients, the best approach is the Educating Expert Model that demonstrates your expertise by giving away valuable information through writing and speaking. In addition, you can increase closing rates up to 50% to 100% by discovering and rehearsing the right questions to ask prospective clients.
Here are the five ways prospects judge you (Aaker, 1995, Strategic Market Management) and my views of how the Educating Expert Model is the perfect fit:
1. Competence. Knowledge and skill of the professional or consultant and their ability to convey trust and confidence (you demonstrate and prove your expert knowledge by speaking and writing)
2. Tangibles. Appearance of physical facilities, communication materials, equipment and personnel (you do this by the appearance of your Web site and how-to handouts)
3. Empathy. Caring, individualized attention that a firm provides its clients (educating people to solve problems before they hire you proves you care)
4. Responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service (when you promise to give people things like special reports and white papers, do it promptly)
5. Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately (prospective clients will judge you on how organized your seminars, speeches and Web site are)
Here’s how to determine if this is a good fit for you. Do you specialize in performing professional, scientific, and technical activities for others? If you are like most of our clients, your activities require a high degree of expertise and training. Do you provide any of the following? Legal advice and representation; accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll services; architectural, engineering, and specialized design services; IT and computer services; consulting and mentoring services; research services; public relations and advertising services; HR and recruiting services; translation and interpretation services; and other professional, scientific, and technical services.
If you fit this profile and have struggled with marketing, it is no wonder. Maybe you tried to emulate the marketing of big companies, a common problem for professionals and consultants. According to one Harvard Business School researcher, typical marketing not only doesn’t work for professionals and consultants it is actually harmful. Instead become an educator and attract all the clients you need.
Want to discover more strategies on how to create a high six figure income? Come to my two day training event in October 2008. Read about it at www.newclientmarketing.com
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Attract Clients With Marketing DNA
Attracting Clients With Marketing DNA
(Be sure to see the end of the article for a complimentary invitation)
Before you can begin attracting clients, you need to create a marketing genetic code that is attractive to clients. All of your marketing messages, from networking discussions to speeches, will contain the elements of this marketing DNA. Here are 10 steps that will help you create these all-important marketing genes.
1. Create a business name or a Web site name that gives potential clients a hint at the results you can produce for them. The worst possible name or Web site name is your name. Sorry to say, clients don’t want us, they want results.
2. Write a headline for your Web site and marketing materials that describes your audience and the results you produce for them. Do this in no more than 10 words. Mine is “We help professionals and consultants attract all they clients they need.”
3. Name your client’s pain. What are your client’s worries, frustrations and concerns that you help solve? This is also called the FUD factor: fear, uncertainty and doubt.
4. Describe your solution or methodology for solving these pains. What process do you follow to produce results? Offering a proprietary problem-solving process that you name and trademark is best. This answers the all-important question in their minds: “Why should I do business with you instead of one of your competitors?”
5. State the common misperception that holds many back from getting results. Why doesn’t everybody do what you named in step 4?
6. Tell your clients what they need to do in general to solve their problem. Pretend they weren’t hiring you and you had to describe the steps they should take for success.
7. List any other benefits they get from following your methods. What other good things do people get when they do what you advise?
8. Elaborate on your track record of providing measurable results for clients. Be specific as much as possible. Use numbers, percentages and time factors.
9. Create a Web site with free tips articles on how to solve these pains. Each article should be about 300 to 600 words. What’s a good format? Consider the numbered tips approach you are reading right now (easy to write, easy to read).
10. Make prospects an offer of a free special report on your Web site. You are offering to trade them a valuable piece of information for their email address. Tell them they will also receive a tips enewsletter from you. Assure them you will maintain their privacy and they can easily opt off your list any time they want.
(Be sure to see the end of the article for a complimentary invitation)
Before you can begin attracting clients, you need to create a marketing genetic code that is attractive to clients. All of your marketing messages, from networking discussions to speeches, will contain the elements of this marketing DNA. Here are 10 steps that will help you create these all-important marketing genes.
1. Create a business name or a Web site name that gives potential clients a hint at the results you can produce for them. The worst possible name or Web site name is your name. Sorry to say, clients don’t want us, they want results.
2. Write a headline for your Web site and marketing materials that describes your audience and the results you produce for them. Do this in no more than 10 words. Mine is “We help professionals and consultants attract all they clients they need.”
3. Name your client’s pain. What are your client’s worries, frustrations and concerns that you help solve? This is also called the FUD factor: fear, uncertainty and doubt.
4. Describe your solution or methodology for solving these pains. What process do you follow to produce results? Offering a proprietary problem-solving process that you name and trademark is best. This answers the all-important question in their minds: “Why should I do business with you instead of one of your competitors?”
5. State the common misperception that holds many back from getting results. Why doesn’t everybody do what you named in step 4?
6. Tell your clients what they need to do in general to solve their problem. Pretend they weren’t hiring you and you had to describe the steps they should take for success.
7. List any other benefits they get from following your methods. What other good things do people get when they do what you advise?
8. Elaborate on your track record of providing measurable results for clients. Be specific as much as possible. Use numbers, percentages and time factors.
9. Create a Web site with free tips articles on how to solve these pains. Each article should be about 300 to 600 words. What’s a good format? Consider the numbered tips approach you are reading right now (easy to write, easy to read).
10. Make prospects an offer of a free special report on your Web site. You are offering to trade them a valuable piece of information for their email address. Tell them they will also receive a tips enewsletter from you. Assure them you will maintain their privacy and they can easily opt off your list any time they want.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
How To Attract Clients With Speeches
Even though surveys consistently show that people would rather visit their in-laws than speak in front of a group, speeches and presentations are absolutely essential to long-term success for professionals and consultants who follow the Educating Expert Model.
To turn speeches into clients, I recommend you read From Contact to Contract by Dianna Booher, CEO of Booher Consultants (a communication training firm that counts among its client list 25 of America’s 50 largest corporations and 227 of the Fortune 500). Here are just three of her valuable tips.
1. Make Subtle Mentions, Not Blatant Plugs
A conference organizer’s greatest fear is that a session will turn into a blatant sales pitch. “Your audience will protest loudly if your speech becomes a sales pitch,” advises Booher. Still, you can (and should) create subtle ways to mention your services and organization. Choose case-based anecdotes to illustrate key points that showcase your expertise. Put descriptive slogans on your handouts and other reference material. And be sure to have the person who introduces you mention your organization and establish your credibility.
2. Provide Multiple Avenues to Your Front Door
When you do land a speaking engagement, you must give prospective clients in the audience as many ways as possible to contact you afterwards. In all likelihood, Booher points out, you won’t be able to speak with each one or answer detailed questions immediately after the session. Instead, offer several methods to let them get in touch later. Put your contact information on slides, handouts, and invitations to future events. Give them a good reason to visit your Web site (offer a download of your slides or other free information). Make it easy and beneficial for the true prospects in your audience to seek you out.
3. Be Stingy With Your Business Cards
When a prospect asks you for your card after the presentation, turn the tables unexpectedly and ask for their card instead. Why? Because if you give them your card, you’re dependent on them taking the next step. Booher points out that when you have their card, you’re in control of the follow-up process. Furthermore, she says, you should avoid exchanging cards, too, because that gives a prospect reason to say “I have your contact information; if I have a need, I’ll be in touch.” What you want, of course, is the opportunity to help them understand they have the need in the first place.
To turn speeches into clients, I recommend you read From Contact to Contract by Dianna Booher, CEO of Booher Consultants (a communication training firm that counts among its client list 25 of America’s 50 largest corporations and 227 of the Fortune 500). Here are just three of her valuable tips.
1. Make Subtle Mentions, Not Blatant Plugs
A conference organizer’s greatest fear is that a session will turn into a blatant sales pitch. “Your audience will protest loudly if your speech becomes a sales pitch,” advises Booher. Still, you can (and should) create subtle ways to mention your services and organization. Choose case-based anecdotes to illustrate key points that showcase your expertise. Put descriptive slogans on your handouts and other reference material. And be sure to have the person who introduces you mention your organization and establish your credibility.
2. Provide Multiple Avenues to Your Front Door
When you do land a speaking engagement, you must give prospective clients in the audience as many ways as possible to contact you afterwards. In all likelihood, Booher points out, you won’t be able to speak with each one or answer detailed questions immediately after the session. Instead, offer several methods to let them get in touch later. Put your contact information on slides, handouts, and invitations to future events. Give them a good reason to visit your Web site (offer a download of your slides or other free information). Make it easy and beneficial for the true prospects in your audience to seek you out.
3. Be Stingy With Your Business Cards
When a prospect asks you for your card after the presentation, turn the tables unexpectedly and ask for their card instead. Why? Because if you give them your card, you’re dependent on them taking the next step. Booher points out that when you have their card, you’re in control of the follow-up process. Furthermore, she says, you should avoid exchanging cards, too, because that gives a prospect reason to say “I have your contact information; if I have a need, I’ll be in touch.” What you want, of course, is the opportunity to help them understand they have the need in the first place.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
How To Find More Clients In Three Easy Steps
Would you like to fill your pipeline with qualified prospects? Here is a three-step approach that works wonders.
Identify Target Prospects -- Step one is to find a potential market niche that will be profitable. In today’s market, clients demand specialists. You want fewer prospects to be interested in you, but much more intensely interested. This requires focus. It doesn't mean you'll turn down a client who doesn't fit into your two or three chosen verticals--it simply means you won't be actively shaping your marketing campaigns toward them. Evaluate your business. Have you sold most of your services to medical device companies, energy companies, or home builders? Then THOSE are the three places to start thinking. But if home builders in general don't have the budget for your services, you'll need to look harder.
Make Prospects A Promise -- Step two is to determine what promise you or your firm is making to your target market. This includes your unique selling proposition: what you do, who you do it for and how you are unlike competitors—all in 25 words or less. What measurable results do you obtain for clients? You need to decide what makes you different than everybody else, and you need to overcome fear of focus--the desire to want to be everything to everybody. People hire professionals who specialize. Very few people would hire a surgeon who says he can do everything from tonsillectomies to facelifts and open-heart procedures. When you're in pain, you want a specialist--not just somebody who's "good with a knife."
Harvest Emails on Your Web Site -- Step three is to create an easy-to-update Web site that demonstrates your competence, rather than asserts how great you are. The Web site is the cornerstone of your marketing, and must not be a mere electronic brochure. Your Web site is the silent salesperson that prospective clients visit before making the decision to grant you permission to meet. There should be plenty of free articles with great how to advice for prospects. The home page of the Web site should have a headline that makes it clear who your target is and what pains you solve. The Web site should include an offer a free special report in exchange for the visitor’s e-mail address. This special report should contain valuable information that tells prospects how to solve their problem in general. Then e-mail these prospects tips and invitations to get more ideas from you at seminars, workshops and telephone seminars. Remember, the more people you tell how to solve their problems in general, the more will hire you for the specifics.
Want to learn more tips for filling your pipeline with qualified prospects? Here is a way. Attend our two-day growing your business conference in Irvine, California on October 17 and 18, 2008. You will leave with an action plan. For details visit http://www.newclientmarketing.com/html/october2008conference.htm
Identify Target Prospects -- Step one is to find a potential market niche that will be profitable. In today’s market, clients demand specialists. You want fewer prospects to be interested in you, but much more intensely interested. This requires focus. It doesn't mean you'll turn down a client who doesn't fit into your two or three chosen verticals--it simply means you won't be actively shaping your marketing campaigns toward them. Evaluate your business. Have you sold most of your services to medical device companies, energy companies, or home builders? Then THOSE are the three places to start thinking. But if home builders in general don't have the budget for your services, you'll need to look harder.
Make Prospects A Promise -- Step two is to determine what promise you or your firm is making to your target market. This includes your unique selling proposition: what you do, who you do it for and how you are unlike competitors—all in 25 words or less. What measurable results do you obtain for clients? You need to decide what makes you different than everybody else, and you need to overcome fear of focus--the desire to want to be everything to everybody. People hire professionals who specialize. Very few people would hire a surgeon who says he can do everything from tonsillectomies to facelifts and open-heart procedures. When you're in pain, you want a specialist--not just somebody who's "good with a knife."
Harvest Emails on Your Web Site -- Step three is to create an easy-to-update Web site that demonstrates your competence, rather than asserts how great you are. The Web site is the cornerstone of your marketing, and must not be a mere electronic brochure. Your Web site is the silent salesperson that prospective clients visit before making the decision to grant you permission to meet. There should be plenty of free articles with great how to advice for prospects. The home page of the Web site should have a headline that makes it clear who your target is and what pains you solve. The Web site should include an offer a free special report in exchange for the visitor’s e-mail address. This special report should contain valuable information that tells prospects how to solve their problem in general. Then e-mail these prospects tips and invitations to get more ideas from you at seminars, workshops and telephone seminars. Remember, the more people you tell how to solve their problems in general, the more will hire you for the specifics.
Want to learn more tips for filling your pipeline with qualified prospects? Here is a way. Attend our two-day growing your business conference in Irvine, California on October 17 and 18, 2008. You will leave with an action plan. For details visit http://www.newclientmarketing.com/html/october2008conference.htm
Friday, August 8, 2008
How to Find Clients Like Dale Carnegie
How To Win Clients and Influence Referrals
To attract new clients, the best approach is to prove your expertise by giving away valuable information through writing and speaking. Actually, that isn’t technically true. You should sell the information if you want to win clients and influence referrals
Independent professionals, management consultants, corporate trainers, executive coaches, marketing and creative firms, and HR and recruiting consultants can fill a pipeline with qualified prospects in as little as 30 days by offering advice to prospects on how to overcome their most pressing problems. But don’t do it for free. Charge for your seminars and the information will be valued more by your potential clients. The burden is also on you to research great information.
This also helps those people who know, like and trust you enough to refer business to you. You can make these people a special deal: if they know someone who would value what you have to say, then your referral source can offer comp admission to your events on a space available basis.
Look what this does. You make the referral source feel special because they can hook people up. The prospects who attend still value the information more because there is a charge for it, and they feel even better because they didn’t have to pay.
Unfortunately, many professionals who learn this truth find the idea of writing and speaking too daunting and even mysterious. Most feel this is only for a select few, but that is a miscalculated view.
First comes the problem, then comes research, and finally presentation. Dale Carnegie wrote that he had searched for years to discover a practical, working handbook on human relations. He started by reading every scholarly book and magazine articles he could find to ascertain how the great men and women of all ages had dealt with people. Then he interviewed scores of successful people and to discover the techniques they used in human relations.
From all that material, he prepared a short talk. He called it “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and it soon became a 90-minute lecture. Then the teacher learned from the students. Carnegie asked attendees to share their stories of how the principles helped them. First he put the rules down on a postcard, that grew into a leaflet, then a series of booklets, each one expanding in size and scope. After 15 years of experiment and research, came the book by the same title as that original short talk. Of course, it has been a best-seller ever since (if you haven’t read it, you really should).
During those 15 years of research Dale Carnegie became the go-to guy for human relations. Thousands attended his training each year and he prospered. This also resulted in many consulting contracts. He is long gone, but his training company has continued to this day.
So decide what niche you want to be the master of, then begin the research. As Robert Bly once wrote, “Slice off a segment of the world’s knowledge that you can realistically hope to master—and then convince others of this mastery.” You can start small. You can start wherever you are. But by all means start now.
To attract new clients, the best approach is to prove your expertise by giving away valuable information through writing and speaking. Actually, that isn’t technically true. You should sell the information if you want to win clients and influence referrals
Independent professionals, management consultants, corporate trainers, executive coaches, marketing and creative firms, and HR and recruiting consultants can fill a pipeline with qualified prospects in as little as 30 days by offering advice to prospects on how to overcome their most pressing problems. But don’t do it for free. Charge for your seminars and the information will be valued more by your potential clients. The burden is also on you to research great information.
This also helps those people who know, like and trust you enough to refer business to you. You can make these people a special deal: if they know someone who would value what you have to say, then your referral source can offer comp admission to your events on a space available basis.
Look what this does. You make the referral source feel special because they can hook people up. The prospects who attend still value the information more because there is a charge for it, and they feel even better because they didn’t have to pay.
Unfortunately, many professionals who learn this truth find the idea of writing and speaking too daunting and even mysterious. Most feel this is only for a select few, but that is a miscalculated view.
First comes the problem, then comes research, and finally presentation. Dale Carnegie wrote that he had searched for years to discover a practical, working handbook on human relations. He started by reading every scholarly book and magazine articles he could find to ascertain how the great men and women of all ages had dealt with people. Then he interviewed scores of successful people and to discover the techniques they used in human relations.
From all that material, he prepared a short talk. He called it “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and it soon became a 90-minute lecture. Then the teacher learned from the students. Carnegie asked attendees to share their stories of how the principles helped them. First he put the rules down on a postcard, that grew into a leaflet, then a series of booklets, each one expanding in size and scope. After 15 years of experiment and research, came the book by the same title as that original short talk. Of course, it has been a best-seller ever since (if you haven’t read it, you really should).
During those 15 years of research Dale Carnegie became the go-to guy for human relations. Thousands attended his training each year and he prospered. This also resulted in many consulting contracts. He is long gone, but his training company has continued to this day.
So decide what niche you want to be the master of, then begin the research. As Robert Bly once wrote, “Slice off a segment of the world’s knowledge that you can realistically hope to master—and then convince others of this mastery.” You can start small. You can start wherever you are. But by all means start now.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
How To Obtain Endless New Client Referrals
What is the best way to network with people at business functions, like Chamber of Commerce mixers or association luncheons?
According to Bob Burg, author of the bestselling book Endless Referrals, “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, people they know, like and trust.”
One key to quickly establishing this type of connection is showing interest in other people by asking them questions. Burg has developed a series of questions to ask people at networking events that are not sales-oriented in any way. These are fun questions to ask and fun questions to answer.
While you will never need or have time to ask all of his questions during a conversation, Burg maintains it is good to have an arsenal to choose from. Here are four his 10 questions:
1. How did you get your start in the widget business?
2. What do you enjoy most about your profession?
3. What do you see as the coming trends in the widget business?
4. What one sentence would you like people to use in describing the way you do business?
Burg’s next question is the one that is key in getting the person to feel as if they know, like and trust you. “How can I know if someone I’m talking to would be a good prospect for you?” That final question shows you are concerned about them. You may be the only person who asked them this question during a first conversation.
Then, wrap up the conversation in another surprising fashion: Instead of offering them your business card, ask for one of theirs. Follow up by sending them a thank you in the mail containing your business card. These techniques might just land you in their database of preferred contacts.
In Burg's bestselling book (over 150,000 copies sold), he updates many of the principles and techniques that resulted in ENDLESS REFERRALS becoming an underground hit within numerous niche sales industries such as network marketing, and insurance, and a staple for salespeople new and veteran everywhere. Visit http://www.burg.com for more details.
Burg regularly appears on the business speaking circuit featuring speaking legends such as Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, CNN's Larry King, Dr. Denis Waitley, Mary Lou Retton, Coach Lou Holtz, Radio Legend Paul Harvey, Les Brown, Brian Tracy, former U.S. President Gerald Ford and many others.
Want to learn more about how to double your revenues through endless new client referrals? Come to our two-day New Client Generation Conference October 17-18 in Orange County, CA. For details visit http://www.newclientmarketing.com/html/october2008conference.htm
According to Bob Burg, author of the bestselling book Endless Referrals, “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, people they know, like and trust.”
One key to quickly establishing this type of connection is showing interest in other people by asking them questions. Burg has developed a series of questions to ask people at networking events that are not sales-oriented in any way. These are fun questions to ask and fun questions to answer.
While you will never need or have time to ask all of his questions during a conversation, Burg maintains it is good to have an arsenal to choose from. Here are four his 10 questions:
1. How did you get your start in the widget business?
2. What do you enjoy most about your profession?
3. What do you see as the coming trends in the widget business?
4. What one sentence would you like people to use in describing the way you do business?
Burg’s next question is the one that is key in getting the person to feel as if they know, like and trust you. “How can I know if someone I’m talking to would be a good prospect for you?” That final question shows you are concerned about them. You may be the only person who asked them this question during a first conversation.
Then, wrap up the conversation in another surprising fashion: Instead of offering them your business card, ask for one of theirs. Follow up by sending them a thank you in the mail containing your business card. These techniques might just land you in their database of preferred contacts.
In Burg's bestselling book (over 150,000 copies sold), he updates many of the principles and techniques that resulted in ENDLESS REFERRALS becoming an underground hit within numerous niche sales industries such as network marketing, and insurance, and a staple for salespeople new and veteran everywhere. Visit http://www.burg.com for more details.
Burg regularly appears on the business speaking circuit featuring speaking legends such as Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, CNN's Larry King, Dr. Denis Waitley, Mary Lou Retton, Coach Lou Holtz, Radio Legend Paul Harvey, Les Brown, Brian Tracy, former U.S. President Gerald Ford and many others.
Want to learn more about how to double your revenues through endless new client referrals? Come to our two-day New Client Generation Conference October 17-18 in Orange County, CA. For details visit http://www.newclientmarketing.com/html/october2008conference.htm
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
How to Build Trust With Questions to Prospective Clients
A good diagnosis is the result of asking the right questions. When you meet with prospective clients, you need to monopolize the listening, not the talking. Professionals and consultants must ask questions to uncover problems and budget. Not only is it polite to talk about money at this point, it is essential. By all means you should set the ground rules for the meeting, and the ground rules are mutually agreed upon by both the prospect client and the professional or consultant. In its most basic form, it’s critical to determine the following before the meeting gets too far along:·
Meeting agreements are an effective tactic for giving the professional or consultant control of the selling process, while permitting the prospective client to control the content. They help lower the prospect’s fear of being sold something they don’t want and are an excellent tool for building trust and rapport.
- The time allotted for the meeting·
- What each party’s expectations for a successful meeting would be·
- What will happen at the end of the meeting if there is or is not a fit
Meeting agreements are an effective tactic for giving the professional or consultant control of the selling process, while permitting the prospective client to control the content. They help lower the prospect’s fear of being sold something they don’t want and are an excellent tool for building trust and rapport.
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