Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

In honor of this sugar-filled yet frightful holiday, here are 17 things that should scare the heck out of YOU and any small business owner, entrepreneur, or independent professional...

1. Prospects who lie. And they all lie all the time.
2. Business partnerships. No, no, noooooo!!! Don’t do it. EVER.
3. Arrogance
4. Complacency
5. Inertia (Yours and your prospects and clients too)
6. Not having a sales process - or not sticking to the one you have
7. Nightmare clients from hell
8. Tire-kickers, price shoppers, and broke-ass losers
9. Social media overload
10. Making payroll every two weeks - even if it’s only paying yourself
11. Hiring, firing, and everything in between
12. Prospects who ask for free consulting
13. Not hiring a great IP attorney to protect your brand/ logo/ trademarks
14. Waking up in a cold sweat realizing your REAL job is sales
15. Prospects seeing your products, services, and programs as a commodity
16. Not outsourcing and delegating everything you possibly can
17. Collecting great marketing ideas - but never implementing them (Aaarghhhhh!!)

What would YOU add to this list?

Please leave a comment below and let's discuss...

Old is the New "NEW" - meaning, when it comes to marketing, everything old is profitable again! 

If you've been doing business (online or not) since the 1990's, today's marketing landscape should be eerily familiar... 

Check out these "retro" tactics - they're BACK and BIGGER and BETTER than ever... 

1. Online advertising - Google AdWords was the Granddaddy of them all... Remember when you could just buy some banner ads and the leads would pour in? (Yah, me neither. It was ALWAYS more complicated than that!!) Modern update: Advertising on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter (and yes, Google of course) is creating a whole new online ad boom - just like the good old days!

Why? Because they're proven, they work (if you know what you're doing), and they can make you a LOT of money. 

2. Pop-up ads and pop-up offers - long the scourge of the Internet, pop-ups (and pop-under, pop-over, PopTart and every other sneaky variation) were rampant in the 1990's and early 2000's. Until the pop-up blocker industry came along, made millions of dollars, wiped the evil pop-up off the face of the earth... until today when pop-ups are back, bigger and better than ever.

Why? Because they're proven, they work (if you know what you're doing), and they can make you a LOT of money. 

3. Teleseminars - 10 years ago, you couldn't spit without hitting some business guru offering free teleseminars to showcase his or her products, services, or programs. Or offering paid teleseminars to generate a lot of revenue quickly. Fast forward to today, yes we have webinars, Google Hangouts, and virtual training - but guess what? Old school teleseminars are back, bigger than ever.

Why? Because they're proven, they work (if you know what you're doing), and they can make you a LOT of money. 

p.s. I don't know much about online advertising or pop-ups, but you can grab a boatload of actionable information on teleseminars (both Teleseminars as Marketing - and Teleseminars as Revenue) in this free "Teleseminar Domination" video series. Enjoy!

Click below to grab your FREE videos...

Here's a training module (it's #1 out of 3 available FREE here) on why and how YOU can create, promote and profit from private coaching programs built around the expertise you ALREADY have - whether you consider yourself a "coach" or NOT!

To get the rest of this FREE "Private Coaching Success" video series, click here.

Shazam!!

Please post your comments and questions below. Hit the "Like" button above so that you get notified via Facebook when I post more videos.

I hate to embarrass people in public. Even if they deeply and richly deserve it. And I’m not about to start now, even though this story about an otherwise respected professional who wanted to start a private coaching program (for all the wrong reasons and with zero preparation) may send chills down your spine. All names have been removed to protect the goofy.

By the way, if you want to cut to the chase and find out how to do this right from the get-go, check out my new FREE video training series "Private Coaching Success" - grab some popcorn and go here. 

Back to our story... It all began with 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 is a combination of serious expertise plus 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? 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!!!

Tell you what - if you'd rather do this faster, smarter and better - then check out my FREE video training series "Private Coaching Success" - you can grab it right here.  

You'll be very glad you did. I guarantee it.