Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

I see broke people...

Here's a reimagined scene from one of my favorite movies, The Sixth Sense...

As a business owner, entrepreneur, or service professional, see if any of this sounds familiar to YOU - and if so, please share your experiences and advice in the COMMENTS area below...

COLE

I want to tell you my secret now.

Malcolm blinks very slowly

MALCOLM

Okay.

Cole takes an eternal pause. A silent tension engulfs them both

COLE

...I see people.

Malcolm just gazes quietly.

COLE

I see broke people...

MALCOLM

In your dreams?

Cole shakes his head, "No."

MALCOLM

When you're awake?

Cole nods, "Yes."

MALCOLM

Broke people, like beggars?

COLE

No, walking around, like business owners... They can't see each other. Some of them don't know they're broke.

MALCOLM

They don't know they're broke?

Malcolm becomes completely motionless. Works to hide his shock. He and Cole stare at each other a long time.

COLE

They tell me stories... how they used to land big clients without doing any marketing... how they wasted a fortune on a fancy PR firm... how they went into credit card debt to pay for a get-rich-quick internet marketing seminar...

Malcolm's words are extra-controlled. Revealing nothing.

MALCOLM

How often do you see them?

COLE

All the time. They're everywhere.

You won't tell anyone my secret, right?

MALCOLM

...No.

COLE

Will you stay here till I fall asleep?

Malcolm nods, "Yes." Cole pulls the covers up to his chin and turns to the window in the room. Malcolm is very still and stares at Cole.

MALCOLM'S EYES -- slowly turn and survey the room. They find nothing. Malcolm returns to watching Cole.

COLE'S EYES LOOK AROUND THE ROOM WARILY... WE MOVE IN ON THEM -- TILL HIS EYES FILL THE FRAME.

And then we see what he's staring at. Through Cole's hospital room window we look across onto a run-down housing project.

Rows of small offices are visible. In the windows are broke business owners... SOME OLD, SOME YOUNG... SOME ARE DRESSED IN MODERN NEW CLOTHES... SOME WASH THEIR NEW CARS...

p.s. If you want to STOP seeing broke people and build your marketing, sales, and business development muscles, we still have a few open seats for the Simple Marketing Success 10-Week Virtual Bootcamp experience that starts October 8, 2013. Let me know you're interested (email or call me 610.716.5984) and I'll forward you the application materials and program guidelines right away.

Here's a two-part interview with my pal, Corey Perlman of eBootCamp.com. 

We talk about... 

• Social media myths vs. reality
• Why your website still matters - big time
• Different social media approaches for different businesses
• The key elements to a digital marketing gameplan that WORKS
• A special time-sensitive offer to boost your marketing success

Part 1 is here... PLEASE STOP watching at 17:45 when our video connection blew up!

Due to hysterically funny technical difficulties, we put the last 5-6 minutes of content onto Part 2 here...

p.s. Corey is running one of his special 2-day intensive seminars in Michigan on 9/26-27 and you can get full details on that here. If you email him at corey@ebootcamp.com and put in the subject line, "David sent me" you'll qualify for a free electronic copy of Corey's bestselling book and "bring a friend" privileges to the event.

p.p.s. It's the best investment you'll make in your business this year. Corey guarantees it. And so do I. 

Watch this short video and see if you are making these same sales mistakes... 

[Click the "Enlarge" icon in the lower right corner to watch full screen]

Scary, right?

Needy, desperate, pushy, salesperson-centered tactics are so obvious and easy to spot when OTHER people (especially spammers) do them to us.

But how easy is it (and probably imperceptible to you) to fall into the same mode with YOUR own prospects, clients, customers, and buyers?

Stop chasing. 

Stop hounding. 

Stop bugging.

Stop "following up."

Start engaging.

Start inviting.

Start offering. 

Start adding genuine value.  

That's how professionals win! 

p.s. If you want to grow your marketing, sales, and business development muscles, we still have a few open seats for the Simple Marketing Success 10-Week Virtual Bootcamp experience that starts October 8, 2013. Let me know you're interested (email or call me 610.716.5984) and I'll forward you the application materials and program guidelines right away.

My friend, Avish Parashar, just launched his "Speaking Expert" podcast and I was honored to be his first guest. 

Check it out here. 

As you know, it's smart friends that will make or break your success.

I'm lucky to have smart friends like Avish - and he's lucky to have smart listeners like YOU who will take all the strategies from his podcast (this episode AND all the upcoming ones, too) and implement them. 

Remember, only action creates results. 

YOUR results start here.

Enjoy!

p.s. We still have a few open seats for the Simple Marketing Success 10-Week Virtual Bootcamp experience that starts October 8, 2013. Let me know you're interested (email or call me 610.716.5984) and I'll forward you the application materials right away. 

Build the Tribe Before the Tent

Have you ever wrestled with these problems?

• I want more leads from my website
• I need more subscribers to my newsletter
• I can’t seem to generate any comments on my blog
• I’m not getting any traction in my LinkedIn Group
• It’s a huge struggle to fill my public workshops or events
• I built an e-learning or video course but sales are disappointing
• My Facebook business page is a ghost town
• I wrote a great book and nobody’s buying it

I’ll stop there so you don’t get too depressed, OK?

We’ve all been there. And we all know that “Build it and they will come” is the last great false hope of the entrepreneurial class.

But in that statement also lies the answer.

Think about: “Build it and they will come”

Who’s “they”?

No, really - ask yourself this question.

Maybe even write down your answer on a piece of paper.

WHO. IS. “THEY”?

Most executives and entrepreneurs I work with who want to do a better job of marketing themselves and sell more products and services will come up with these answers:

THEY is:

• My customers
• My clients
• My buyers
• My prospects

OK, let’s take this one step further - who are your customers, clients, buyers, and prospects?

Here are some clues:

1. They’re not strangers
2. They’re not going to buy “sight unseen”
3. They’re not going to buy on first contact

So what does THAT mean?

1. They know you and your value proposition
2. With them, you’ve built up visibility and credibility
3. They buy (usually) based on a relationship, not on a single transactional impulse

Frankly, we all WISH buyers would buy ALL our products and services on a “transactional impulse” but that almost never happens, unless you’re running late night infomercials for knives - or insomnia cures. That one phone call - that one sales page on your website - that one email - that one postcard is almost NEVER going to make the sale.

Whatever product, service, or program you’re selling - the bottom line is simple:

You have to build the tribe before the tent.

Rather than this sequence:

1. Invest time, money, effort, and energy (lots) to create a new product/ service/ program
2. Offer it for sale
3. Crickets. (Silence.) More crickets 

What if you created this sequence:

1. Be as helpful as you can to as many people as you can as frequently as you can
2. Build a loyal, fast-growing tribe of followers, fans, subscribers, and friends
3. Offer value and invite engagement
4. The next time you create something to sell, they’re lined up, credit card in hand, eager to buy the moment it’s released for sale

Who does this?

Rock stars. Artists. Gurus.

How?

They built the tribe before the tent.

• Your website = your tent
• Your keynote speeches and seminars = your tent
• Your professional services offerings = your tent
• Your newsletter = your tent
• Your coaching and consulting programs = your tent
• Your blog = your tent
• Your LinkedIn Group = your tent
• Your workshops, conferences or events = your tent
• Your e-learning or video courses = your tent
• Your Facebook business page = your tent
• Your book = your tent

At the beginning, who and what are inside these tents? Obviously - it’s you. And a small fire. Just enough to keep you warm.

Now imagine yourself running around between these ELEVEN different tents, frantically tending those eleven fires, scrounging around finding enough wood to keep each fire alive.

• How much room is there in each of these eleven small tents?
• How available are you to welcome visitors into any one of those tents?
• How much of a success (or failure) would you feel like if you occasionally got between 2-3 visitors in each tent to sit down and tell you their story or enjoy a toasted marshmallow with you?
• How much time could you spend with THEM before running out to one of the nine or ten empty tents and leave them to entertain themselves?
• How long do you think they'll stay in that empty tent without you to serve as host and with the fire slowly sputtering out in your absence?

Hmmmmm... interesting questions, right?

Now imagine things the other way...

You have a thriving tribe...

• You offer them value
• You invite their engagement
• They start to follow you around
• First 5 people - then 10 - then 25
• And pretty soon 50, 100, 200 or more...

At some point, these folks will want to sit down - they’ll get hungry - they’ll get cold.

So you build something for them - a tent - and they welcome the opportunity to sit down with you around a blazing fire. They’ve each brought a log. One has a lighter. Another brings out some hot dogs. Someone else brought baked beans. Others start to break out the marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey bars - S’mores for everyone!

There’s ONE tent. It’s not YOUR tent. It becomes OUR tent. You’re the leader. The provider. The sherpa. The guide. They gladly follow you for two reasons:

1. The experience you provide when they follow you (value, resources, stories, ideas, guidance)
2. The community you’ve built around them (the tribe, the relationships, the company of like-minded friends)

This is a much larger conversation -- and it’s tied to a very exciting project that we’re working on with some of the coolest small business experts on the planet. Can’t say any more than that for now. But stay tuned and you’re sure to hear more about it soon.

But the question YOU need to ask for the moment is…

How can YOU build the tribe before the tent?

Because sitting around in a small empty tent, exhausted, cold and alone… well, that just isn’t a lot of fun, is it?

What do YOU think? What are some examples of “building the tribe before the tent” that you’ve experienced? Are there some people YOU admire whose business fits into this model? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your thoughts and experiences…  

There are only three problems that you, as a small business owner, entrepreneur or professional service provider, are ever going to be in a position to solve.

You may sell the world’s greatest widgets… You may have patented the most efficient doo-dad your industry has ever seen… Your flagship service may be the most effective on the planet with the only 100% bulletproof guarantee in the business…

Hard truth:

• None of your prospects has a widget problem
• None of your prospects has a doo-dad deficiency
• None of your prospects stay up at night searching for a bulletproof guaranteed service

Let’s reframe your sales conversations as a delicate balancing act of investigating your prospect’s most important priorities and connecting your product or service to solving those specific problems or advancing those specific goals.

For the executives and decision-makers you’re selling to, at any given moment in time, their priorities might fall into one of three categories: Solving people problems, process problems, or profit problems. Which of these 63 sales triggers do you use the most? (Please use the COMMENTS area below to chime in...)

People Problems

People problems come in all shapes and sizes, but here’s a starter list so you can probe them more intelligently during your next sales conversation with a prospect:

1. Recruiting top talent

2. Retention of top talent

3. Employee engagement

4. Recognition and reward

5. Staff utilization

6. Leadership

7. Teamwork

8. Communication

9. Coaching

10. Collaboration

11. Succession

12. Silos and turf wars

13. Gossip, gab and the grapevine

14. Delegation

15. Micromanagement

16. Perfectionism

17. Negativity

18. Entitlement

19. Arrogance

20. Complacency

Process Problems

Process problems show up as inefficiencies, gaps, missed opportunities, too much wasted time or effort, too many steps, too much waste, too much bureaucracy or paperwork or too many layers between customer and company.

There were entire industries built around business process innovation and a handful of fads from the 1950’s to the 1990’s didn’t help – the total quality movement, business process re-engineering, outsourcing, insourcing, rightsizing, you name it.

Let’s cut to the chase and catalog a brief list of potential sources of process problems that you may want to discuss with your prospect in order to get their attention focused on the desired impact of your products or services.

1. Accounting

2. Billing

3. Call Centers

4. Contracting

5. Customer Service

6. Delivery

7. Distribution

8. Engineering

9. Facility management

10. Finance

11. Information Systems

12. Innovation

13. Inventory management

14. Manufacturing

15. Marketing

16. Operations

17. Payroll

18. Product development

19. Regulatory compliance

20. Research and development

21. Sales

22. Strategic planning

23. Workforce diversity

Profit Problems

Profit problems come in many shapes and sizes.

What’s important is that when you are marketing and selling your products and services that you do NOT overlook this vitally important problem that is NEVER far from the mind of any serious prospect.

Often placed at the end of a chain reaction of internal and external variables (where your products and services come into play), when you talk about solving your customers’ profitability problems, the outcomes almost always end up with YOU using the following “so that” phrases:

1. So that you sell more…

2. So that you sell more often…

3. So that you sell at full price…

4. So that you avoid discounting…

5. So that you open new markets…

6. So that you expand your product line…

7. So that you cut costs…

8. So that you manufacture and distribute more efficiently…

9. So that you speed up time to market…

10. So that you cross-sell…

11. So that you up-sell…

12. So that you open new channels…

13. So that you raise prices…

14. So that you boost your margins…

15. So that your per unit cost goes down…

16. So that you franchise…

17. So that you license…

18. So that your stock price goes up…

19. So that your revenues increase...

20. So that you conserve more cash…

Use these 63 checkpoints and you’ll be better equipped to isolate your prospect’s real issues - and you’ll more quickly identify the “problem behind the problem” and position your products and services in the context of solving the root cause of your prospect’s current challenges.

Do THAT and your sales conversations will become more successful in the short term and much more profitable in the long term.

___________

Want hundreds more marketing, sales, and business development ideas, templates, and tools? Buy the Do It! Marketing book and get over $747 in business-building bonuses. You'll also get a kickass marketing book that might be exactly what you've been looking for to take your business from average to awesome. Buy the book now then grab your bonuses from this link.
You can thank me later. Rock on! 

Disclosure: I never badmouth anyone in public. EVER. Even if they deeply and richly deserve it. And I’m not about to start now, even though this story may send chills down your spine. All names have been removed to protect the goofy.

First, check out this exchange (via Facebook message) between me and a successful international keynote speaker with whom I am friendly (and who earns in excess of $20,000 per speech):

• HIM: hey you do ongoing coaching type programs, right? 
  like you get clients that pay you X per month or year for telephone time or something else?
  im asking because i was approached recently by a CEO who wants me to do executive coaching/mentoring for him.  do you have some sort of outline i could follow please? i havent structured a deal like this before

• David Newman
  I do marketing coaching, not “executive coaching” but many of my clients DO - usual structure is 2-3 phone meetings per month with email access to you in between and for CEOs I wouldn't charge less than $5k per month. 7500-10k per month if the meetings are in person. Normally you'd lock them in for a 6- or 12-month commitment.
  That's all you need to know to close the deal. Boom - you owe me a Pepsi.

• HIM: lol thanks. but what do they get for their money ? in terms of time commitments etc and i dont have any formal program structured. or is it pretty informal? they call and you just shoot the shit?

• David Newman
  If the content of the expertise you're trying to sell isn't in line with what the CEO needs or expects, you're toast - you can't just charge for something and "wing it" - don't mean to be harsh, bro - but are you playing to your strengths here??

• HIM: he approached me, not the other way around
  he was in my audience recently and came over to me and said he wants to hire me to be his executive coach
  so i certainly havent promised him anything i cant deliver
  but i dont have a bunch of papers and programs and checklists or any formal program, because this is not something i normally do.

I’ll stop there simply to spare you the pain and embarrassment of more.

What’s wrong with this picture? I could go on and on but I promised myself this would be a short post.

PLUS I want to hear from YOU in the Comments section below about your reactions and advice in avoiding this type of train wreck.

Here’s my 6 cents on what is dangerous and crazy about this exchange:

1. Someone who can deliver a killer keynote speech (regardless of fee level) does NOT automatically qualify as an executive coach. Totally different skill set. It’s like hiring a virtuoso pianist to build a custom stereo - yes, they both make music. But the similarity ends there.
    
2. “Do you have some sort of outline I could follow?” Imagine this question coming from a jet fighter pilot, a brain surgeon, or a trial attorney. There is no outline -- it’s a skill set that takes YEARS of study, serious expertise, and deep experience. You don’t “follow an outline.”
    
3. “I don’t have any formal program structured.” Here’s your first clue, Sherlock Holmes - if you don’t have a formal program for what you’re trying to sell, then you have no business selling it. Holy cow, do I really have to spell this out? Shouldn’t this just FEEL wrong? Apparently not...
    
4. “They call and you just shoot the shit?” Umm, no. I just gave my friend some pricing guidance that a high-level executive coaching program is at least $5,000 per month. And he asks me if that money goes toward “shooting the shit”? Seriously? (Maybe I should reconsider going into the executive coaching business after all.) Meanwhile - there are serious, committed, high-value executive coaches that just read this and their foreheads are about to explode. And I don’t blame them.
    
5. “But Dad - HE started it!” OK, that’s not exactly what he said. It was “he approached me, not the other way around” as if THIS makes it OK to charge money for a service that my friend is neither qualified nor prepared to offer. But wait. we’re not quite done - it gets worse...
    
6. “I don’t have a bunch of papers and programs and checklists or any formal program, because this is not something I normally do.” Again, let’s transplant this statement to a different profession - forensic accounting, cancer research, or defusing bombs. You’d probably want each of these professionals to show up with more than “a bunch of papers and checklists” to fulfill their responsibilities, correct? And you might even be more nervous to learn that “this is not something they normally do.” The lesson? THEN DON’T DO IT!!!

Not to brag, but I’ve presented over 600 marketing keynotes, seminars, and strategic work sessions since 1992. I’m certainly not a $20,000 speaker like my friend, but I’m pretty damn good at what I do in front of a group.

I’ve also served as a marketing coach and marketing mentor to nearly 400 executives and entrepreneurs both individually and in my group programs since 2002. I’m pretty awesome at that.

(By the way, if all this seems too bragalicious for your personal taste, I would challenge you that if you don’t understand what YOU are truly GREAT at, you’re going to have a hard time getting clients to pay you premium fees that reflect your value.)

Bonus question: As a marketing coach, do I have a “bunch of papers and programs and checklists”? As a matter of fact, I DO. But guess what? It’s not those that MAKE me a marketing coach. They simply make my clients BETTER clients - and more successful, too.  

What do you think of speakers who offer coaching "just because"?

Please use the COMMENTS area below to chime in with your advice, insights, and experiences on both sides of this equation - as the speaker or coach AND as the client who may have had a “disconnect” experience with a professional who was GREAT in one delivery mode and surprisingly disappointing in another?

Many of my marketing mentor clients want to boost their online presence - in the words of my pal Henry DeVries, they want “more blogs, more buzz, and more business.”

So how - exactly - do you generate more buzz around your online platform?

One of the easiest ways is to host conversations and dialogue on your blog by proactively inviting your readers, subscribers, and visitors to leave comments.

There are two paths to doing this - and one is a whole lot more effective than the other. But either one is better than doing nothing at all. More on that in a moment...

How to Generate a Ton More Blog Comments in 10 Seconds

Approach #1: Ask! (General)

End each of your blog posts with an invitation to comment. Don’t just ask “What do you think?” - you have to be more explicit and TELL people to use the comment feature on your blog - and then tell them what to do to get there.

Example #1:

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas and join the conversation...  

Approach #2: Ask! (Specific)

One of my favorite clients, Integrity-Based Leadership expert Richard Melancon, recommends taking this one step further. Rather than asking broadly for comments at the end of your blog posts, Richard is a fan of asking very specific questions directly related to the content of the blog ideas you just shared.  

Example #2:

For my recent post, “I’ve Quit and Here’s Why” I took Richard’s advice and used the following at the end of the post:

What have YOU changed up in the last 3-6 months to STOP doing what doesn't matter and start DOING more of what matters most? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your specific changes and how they've freed up more time or made you more money...

Example #3:

On my previous post, “17 Keys to a Great Sale and a Great Date,” I used this:

What do you think? What parallels do you see between dating and selling? How have your best sales conversations unfolded? Please share your advice, insights, and experiences in the COMMENTS area below...

Big difference, right?

There’s no right and wrong here - you may want to try both approaches and see which one generates more comments, more dialogue, and more good conversation with your fans, followers, and readers. The proof is in the pudding.

As for me... well, you can see what I’ve decided to do below.

What do you think about inviting blog comments in a general way or a specific way? Have you gotten better results with one or the other? Please share your own blog commenting philosophy in the COMMENTS area below and...