Are You Playing Checkers or Chess
When you think about how to attract more clients for your professional services, are you playing checkers or chess?
You’re playing checkers when you…
* Attend a networking event and expect it to generate business
* Invest thousands of dollars in direct mail and expect prospects to eagerly call about your services
* Treat your vendors poorly by not paying them on time or not communicating with them in a timely manner
* Misunderstand the differences between advertising, PR, and promotion - and what they can and cannot do for your professional service firm
* Underestimate how important it is for your to address your clients’ PERCEIVED need (i.e., what THEY think they need) vs. what you know they need
You’re playing chess when you…
* Understand that there are right clients and wrong clients for your firm, based on where you want your firm to be in one year, two years, five years - and that your definition of “right” will change over time
* Consider what the right kinds of clients look like for your firm and then carefully develop a roadmap for all marketing activities that align with your definition of “right”
* Use a combination of carefully crafted “touches” to move prospects through your relationship pipeline from Stranger, to Acquaintance, to Friend, to Lover, to Loyal Partner. Are looking six moves ahead, instead of at the next move. Whether it’s developing your website, deciding what committees or networking groups to join, if you should invest in a particular piece of marketing collateral, or where to publish your next article…chess players see the connections between today’s marketing decisions and their impact months and years ahead.For a game plan to avoid checkmate, try these things:
* Consider where you want to be in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 36 months. Identify the big steps to get you there. I organize my actions by “theme of the month.” For example, within 6 months, I want to be well into developing an online platform to launch subscription-based marketing tools. So January and February are Research Months. I’m attending two related conferences to quickly assess the latest approaches, make some good contacts, and scope the competition.
* Your time is precious, so why squander it on marketing activities that don’t fill your pipeline with the right kinds of prospects? Decide how or if to invest time in a particular action (networking, developing a brochure, sending thank-you notes, writing a newsletter, giving a talk) based on how it aligns with attracting attention from the right kinds of prospects. I’ve recently joined a Steering Committee because, in addition to loving the cause it supports, I’ll be exposed in a leadership capacity to my target audience.
* When following up after an initial contact or introduction, you’re nowhere near making the sale. The game is just beginning. Make your goal one of learning more about the other person’s condition so they feel comfortable you’re tuned into their needs. Moving from Stranger to Acquaintance to Friend to Lover takes several “touches,” including telephone conversation(s), face-to-face meeting(s), email, sending them to your website to dig around (because you’ve stocked it full of valuable freebies), seeing you in action as a speaker, or reading about you in the press. Put a predictable system of “touches” in place and run everyone through it.
* Set a huge, “unattainable” goal and then connect the dots to reach it. In 2005, I have my eye on penetrating specific major organizations and creating partnerships for national distribution of my marketing education programs. I’m envisioning what these relationships look like in the end and am taking much smaller, practical, “doable” steps now to get there. These include attending conferences where I can meet key contacts that I’ve already identified (and where I’ll get the lay of the land to speak at next time), putting the wheels in motion for a series of books (the ultimate business card!) to build credibility and exposure, experimenting with local prototypes (where the sales cycle is shorter and there’s not a lot of expensive travel involved to make the sale), and building a solid relationship slowly with VIPs before jumping the gun.
Ready to play chess? Your move!
(c) 2004 TurningPointe Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.
Marketing educator, Kelly O’Brien, is creator of the “Create a
TurningPointe!” Marketing Bootcamp. To learn more about this step-by-step
program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and 20-page marketing
guide, visit http://www.turningpointemarketing.com
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Have Something Good To Say
If you don’t get this right, you can just forget about everything else…your advertising will fail miserably if you don’t have something good to say. The great business philosopher Jim Rohn probably summed it up best in his lecture about communications. He was talking about personal communications, not about advertising, but I think the principle holds true. He says to be a master communicator, all you’ve got to do is follow this three-step process: First, have something good to say. Second, say it well. And third, say it often.
In terms of advertising, here’s what that means: Having something good to say means that you’ve innovated your business sufficiently so that you’ve got something of value to the marketplace that’s worth advertising in the first place. Saying it well has to do with taking what you well and saying it in your advertising in such a way that it gets people to notice and take action. We’re going to show you how to use the power of writing and articulating to get more results for the same money spent - say it well. And as for saying it often, that refers to executing your advertising and follow-up marketing in a systematic format that allows you to build brand equity and cost-effectively turn prospects into customers.
So before we get into the how to say it well, let’s spend just a few minutes talking about the first step to successful communication: “Have something good to say.” Some people don’t expect that they have to actually innovate their business to be successful. But so far, in my years of experience, it’s been the best strategy that I’ve seen. You’ve probably heard the old saying that if you build a better mousetrap that the world won’t necessarily beat a path to your door. That may be true; but here’s a strategy that I’ve seen fail a thousand times: Trying to use catchy advertising, tricky words or fast-talking to try and sell the same old, boring mousetrap that everyone else is offering. I think whoever said that line about the mousetrap and the world not beating a path to your door just didn’t understand the principles that govern successful marketing and advertising.
See, once you have created something that people want - or as the common expression goes, sells itself - then advertising becomes infinitely easier. There’s a man named Rossier Reeves who was one of the most successful advertising men in the early days of the business. I know you probably haven’t heard of him, but you’re probably familiar with lots of things he created, even way back in the 50s and 60s; he most famous for M&M’s - “They melt in you mouth, not in your hands.” Anyway, Mr. Reeves pointed this out, “Have something good to say,” way back in 1965: Here’s what he said about writing good advertising:
“The business owner should bring the advertising writer a product or service that deserves to be on the market. It should have significant points of difference from other products. Then the idea behind the advertisement…is very, very easy to find. For example, if a manufacturer brings you car that can go 500 miles on a gallon of gas, you don’t have to look very far for an idea for the ad. The idea is right in front of you. If on the other hand, you have an Edsel that’s not very different from any other car, you are doomed to failure in advance. I don’t believe any advertising brilliance could have saved the Edsel.”
In case you’re not familiar, the Edsel was the greatest embarrassment to the Ford Motor Company in the 50s. They spent record amounts of money promoting it, hyped it to the ends of the earth, then nobody wanted it. Why? Because, despite what the promotion said, it was just another average, ordinary car. Here’s the point: Spending money on marketing, advertising, and the greatest of copywriters of the day didn’t compensate for the lack of confidence or lack of perceived value in the consumer’s mind.
So think about it right now. Do you have “something good to say?” Are there things that you do that make you a better value for the money than your competitors? If not, then why is it that you expect to win in business? If I trotted out the local high school varsity football team to play against the reigning Super Bowl champs, would you expect the varsity to win. Of course not. You’ve got to create something so unique, so good, so unparalleled that it makes your prospects say, “I would have to be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else.”
Rich Harshaw is the founder of the Monopolize Your Marketplace system and CEO of Y2Marketing Business Marketing Strategies
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How to Turn Your Promotional Products Expense Into a Profit Center
If you use promotional products you probably already know the power of giving away freebies. You may use them to thank current customers, or to give incentives to potential customers.
When most people think about promotional products, they tend to think pens, keychains, t-shirts, mugs, caps, etc.
Did you know there are products that put pens, mugs and keychains to shame? They can cost less and bring measurable profits. Sometimes, these profit-producing promotional items may even be free.
How can this be?
Instead of ordinary promotional products, think “infopromotional products”. An infopromotional product is an information product that you use as a promotional item.
What can you use as a infopromotional item? You can give away
-tips sheets
-articles
-special reports
-audios
-videos
-books
-ebooks
-teleseminars
Now you could spend time creating your own information product - but I’m not suggesting that. That takes time and money.
Consider joint venturing with an expert whose advice your customers would find valuable. The expert can give you a special educational item that you give to your customers. Let’s say it’s a tips sheet. At the end of the tips sheet, there’s an offer for the expert’s books, tape set or seminars. The customer can only get the special offer by mentioning your name or special code.
Where can you find experts? You can find them in your city or search for them online. Think about what your customers might appreciate and look for experts in those fields.
Are your customers business owners? Search for marketing gurus, cost-cutting consulants, automation experts.
Are your customers homeowners? Search for home improvement experts and real estate experts.
Are your customers concerned about health? Look for fitness and self-improvement experts.
How much will your infopromtional product cost? If it is a physical product, your joint venture partner may pay for some or all of the cost. Why? Because it’s a marketing expense for him. The expert’s company is reaching a highly targetted market - your customers. That can be a good thing for your joint venture partner, you and your customers. You’ll see why in a moment.
If your giveaway is delivered online, such as an online video, you may be able to get it for free. So now, you have a high-perceived value item to give to your customers at low or no cost to you.
Let’s not stop there. This article is about turning an EXPENSE into a PROFIT CENTER. Here’s how:
The key is that your joint venture partner has an offer and a tracking mechanism so you get paid for your referrals. If your customers are online, tracking is as easy as using a affiliate code. Now your customer gets to sample your joint venture partner’s expertise in the infopromotional product and get a special deal, your partner may get new customers and you get a fee for each of your referrals, all because you gave a gift to your customers.
Try infopromotional products and you may never give away another pen again.
Resource: Internet Marketer Raynay Valles specializes in joint venture marketing strategies. Find out more about using joint venture infopromotional products, visit http://www.raynayvalles.com/jointventures or email her at rvalles at raynayvalles.com