Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

As a consultant, author or thought-leading professional, have you considered building long-term recurring revenue into your business model with licensing and certification programs?

Obviously, this is a huge topic but I wanted to at least get you started thinking about it in this post because the potential is so great. This is your ticket to breaking free of the time-for-money trap once and for all.

Imagine a handful of certified consultants delivering your programs for clients large and small all across the country – or even across the world.

Now imagine a dozen of them. And then imagine two dozen. And then imagine a hundred of them. You can see where this is going… pretty exciting for most of us to consider.

If your empire is based on “Responsible Leadership” – you could have a small army of “Responsible Leadership-Certified” Consultants. This is exactly what my friend John Jantsch did with Duct Tape Marketing – what John Maxwell did with his “John Maxwell Team” and what dozens of training firms – who are now multi-million dollar corporations – have done, like Dale Carnegie, Franklin Covey, AchieveGlobal and many others.

But my point is that it started with the first licensee. The first certified consultant. And even before that, it started with things YOU can start to put in place tomorrow – the first subcontractor. The first remote coach. The first on-demand consultant who goes out to your client to deliver your program under your brand.

And who makes you money that is suddenly NOT connected to your personal time, attention and presence.

There are two steps to this piece of your entrepreneurial puzzle – productizing and systematizing. You have to have all your consulting products buttoned down. Training manuals, consultant toolkits, leader’s guides, audios, videos, whatever is part of your flagship package.

And then you need to document all the processes, delivery systems, timelines, backoffice operations, and client-facing experiences that need to happen to deliver the consulting results you are promising to deliver.

Does this take a fairly significant up-front effort? You bet.

Does it pay off handsomely if you are committed to seeing it through? Definitely. 

NOTE: Join us for the "Consulting Revenue Roadmap" teleseminar on Wed. May 8th to get a whole slew of ideas for boosting your consulting success. Register right now so you don't miss out. 

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I often work with clients who are seasoned entrepreneurs. They've been doing great work for good clients for years - sometimes decades. 

And in the technology world, they call these longtime clients who are using your longtime services "legacy" clients. 

Here's the problem - legacy clients can hold your business back.

You need to learn how to let go so you can grow. In this post, we'll explore how to do that. But first, here's the bottom line on the problem:

Legacy clients want to keep using your legacy services.

These are services, products and programs that you really don't want to sell any more. Because you don't want to DO them anymore. Regardless of the money. 

Yes, let me repeat that - REGARDLESS of the money. (The fact that they may be generating a lot of revenue but very little profit is a topic for another day. For now, think about that and see if it's true for YOU.)

An interesting paradox

Most business owners, entrepreneurs and independent professionals get all excited about ADDING new products, services and programs to their business. They do so with great relish, enthusiasm, and fanfare. 

Here's the problem - you can't keep adding. It doesn't make sense.

If you're a coach, consultant, speaker, or professional services provider, having two different investable opportunities might be good - having three might be better - having five may be challenging - and having seven may be disastrous. 

How to let go so you can grow

When you realize that your business has grown in too many directions with too many ways people can use your services - yet not enough focus, clarity, momentum, or profits for YOU - then it's time to LET GO. 

Time to cut back. Lose some branches. Prune the tree back so it can grow healthy again - and straight in the direction you want it to.

Naturally, you can't go "cold turkey" (although really, you can - more on that in a minute...)

So here is a stepwise plan to help you get rid of parts of your business that are holding you back so you can make room for the new, profit-rich, and on-strategy offerings that reflect the current focus of your business, your desired client base, and the revenue targets you want to hit.

1. Let your internal team know that your legacy services and programs are no longer accepting new clients. This will hold YOU accountable for not selling any more of them, no matter how tempting it may be. The first person you need to convince that you're not in that business any more is YOU.  

2. STOP selling, marketing and talking about your legacy services. Don't take them completely off your website or marketing materials yet, but if they are featured prominently, make them less so. 

3. Put your NEW offerings front and center in everything you do. Lead every marketing and sales conversation toward your new services and investable opportunities. Talk about them with your referral partners, influencers, advocates, business friends, past clients, and new prospects. 

4. For current clients, use the "Switch or Stop" technique. As legacy clients finish their programs - or at a natural stopping point (for accountants, the end of the quarter - or for consultants, the end of a project milestone for example), bring up the subject of transitioning your client from the old service model to the new. Put a deadline on the calendar for making a decision to "switch or stop." Make it OK for them to stop and not feel bad or awkward. And don't leave them in the lurch - always have a referral in your pocket for someone else they can use if they want to continue with a service similar to the one you are discontinuing. 

5. Take advantage of natural attrition as you ramp up. As an example, you might gradually go from 10 legacy clients down to 7, then eventually 4, then the last 1 or 2. All the while, your main job is to fill your client roster with NEW clients using your NEW services. If you time this right (always the tricky part!) you'll get more new clients before the old ones transition out. This is one of the more uncomfortable phases of the process because you'll feel like you're trying to ride 2 horses at once. And you'll be torn with second guessing yourself that "maybe these old services aren't so bad after all..." Don't listen to that voice. It's the voice of fear and scarcity. Block it out. 

6. Rip off the Band-Aid. Once you've made the transition as smooth as you possibly can - both for yourself and for as many of your legacy clients as possible, it's time to rip off the Band-Aid in one quick, if somewhat painful, move. Have a heart-to-heart conversation with your remaining clients and make it clear that: 

a. You value their trust and friendship.

b. You appreciate their long-standing business over the years.

c. It's time to switch to your new model or you'll help them find another resource.

d. They can always call you for friendly advice, insights and recommendations and you remain in their service because you care about their success. 

That's the very best that you can do - and it's what a trusted advisor does.

Easy? No.

Necessary? Very.

Benefits: Huge.

This is nothing short of the roadmap to the future success of your business. 

And you can't get there if you're stuck looking in the rear-view mirror. 

Look up ahead - the sun is rising over the horizon of your new (ad)venture. Focus forward, hit the gas, and let's GOOOOO!!!

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

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I'm often asked "How can I pump out content the way you do?" or "How can I be as prolific as David Newman?" [Thank you to Julie Cohen for the question!]

Here are several ideas to get you started:

1. Pay attention. You have great ideas all the time. It's just a matter of capturing them for future reference and writing enough down "in the moment" so you can revisit and flesh the ideas out later. (See Blogging 101: 7 Ways to Capture Ideas Like a Ninja)

2. Repurpose. If you are a speaker, coach, author, or independent professional, your clients are asking you for your best content all the time. Whether it's audience questions, client challenges, questions you answer by email, or advice that you give to folks you coach or mentor, it's all there to be repurposed and redeployed as part of YOUR content empire. 

3. Repackage. Got a book? You have 50-100 blogs. Got a great presentation or training seminar? There are 20 articles hiding in there. Do you write a column? Each column read out loud with some verve and energy could probably make for an awesome podcast. Got smart friends? Boom - there's your video interview series. Content repackaged from one medium into another takes ZERO development time and just some intentional repackaging time. 

4. Ask. Use your social media accounts like Twitter or Facebook (or even better - simple survey tools like SurveyMonkey) to ask members of your target market what they are hungry to learn. What answers are they seeking? What advice are they hungry for? What problems are they wrestling with? 

5. Riff. In all the newsletters you receive, blogs you read or videos you watch - there are seeds of content that you can riff on, respond to, share an opinion about, or take in a whole new direction. What books are on your nightstand? What industry publications are in your mailbox? What conferences do you attend? Take those ideas and wax, wane, agree, disagree, rant, rave, and otherwise opine with YOUR best advice, insights and recommendations. 

What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below to share your own experiences with becoming prolific and creating and posting top-notch content to share with YOUR followers, fans, prospects and subscribers... 

The new marketing is all about Ask and Give. 

What does that mean? 

• Ask for attention
• Give value
   
• Ask for engagement
• Give relevance
   
• Ask for help
• Give relationship
   
• Ask for support
• Give community
   
• Ask for insights
• Give advice

Two great examples you can adapt in your own business:

1. My friend Karyn Greenstreet is Asking for your input. And she is Giving 26 business building bonuses for answering her 6-question survey about how small business owners and entrepreneurs like to learn. It will take you two minutes or less to share your opinions. The GIVE is far greater than the ASK. 

2. Here is an amazing story from the world of music - notice how everything Amanda did (and does) is based on Asking and Giving:

What do YOU think of the approach above? Please share your advice, insights and recommendations about the value of ASKING and GIVING in the COMMENTS area below...

My friend, Karyn Greenstreet, is an amazing marketer and small business coach. You can learn from her - and so can I. Here's how...

Imagine sending an email like this to YOUR subscribers (and please do TAKE Karyn's 2-minute survey too!)...

_______

Subj: Your help with 2-minute survey + 22 gifts

I'm asking for your help to find out exactly which ways you like to absorb new content, learn new skills, acquire new knowledge for your business and professional life.

We're asking small business owners to take this quick, 2-minute survey with six easy questions.

But even 2 minutes is a lot when you're busy, so we're making it irresistible by offering you 22 practical, helpful free educational bonuses, just for completing the survey.

Can I ask you the favor of taking just 2 minutes from your schedule today to take our survey?

Here's where you can take it online: http://bit.ly/152avHr

Thank you for your help!

_______

It is short, to-the-point, value-rich and specific to the needs of small and solo business owners.

You also get 22 amazing gifts - not for BUYING anything, mind you, but for sharing your opinions in a 2-minute survey. Wow. Genius.

By the way, please do take the survey - and get the gifts - this is a REAL offer in exchange for your REAL opinions. Karyn is not only very smart - but she's very generous as well.

Let me know what you think of the approach above - and please share your advice, insights and recommendations about surveying YOUR audiences, prospects and subscribers in the COMMENTS area below...

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I work with clients who are themselves gurus in their own fields - executives, entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, and consultants. 

If you're like these folks, you are maxed out - very busy with your own projects, books, speaking schedule, and consulting clients. 

And - at the same time - if you're doing things right, you are being asked to do more. Guest posts on other people's blogs, endorsements for other people's books and programs, contributing to online groups, etc.

You can't do it all - and you shouldn't.

You simply have to say no.

After asking hundreds of people for hundreds of favors in my professional career - because you can't do anything great alone - I've come to realize that there is a RIGHT way to say no - and many WRONG ways to say no.

The right way(s) always include the following:

• Brief
• Not about your ego
• Fact-based
• Honors the person asking for the favor

The wrong way(s) tend to share the following characteristics:

• Long-winded
• Centered around your ego
• Filled with hype about your own "big" projects
• Diminishes the person asking for the favor

Here's a template you can start to use that meets all the criteria of the right way: 

=====
From: You
To: Recipient asking you for favor

Thank you for your email and kind words - much appreciated.

Unfortunately, my schedule is jammed and I'm unable to add any new projects or commitments. Sorry!

I wish you tremendous success with your [book, blog, conference, project]! 

-- [Your name]
=====

* A version of this note originally came from the awesome Guy Kawasaki when I asked him for a book endorsement for the new Do It! Marketing book. He said no - many other gurus whom I respect generously said yes. 

Side note #1: Along the way to asking many smart, busy people for some pretty big favors, I picked up several key patterns about success and successful people. First among those - and this surprised me - some of the biggest names answer their own email. No gatekeeper, no screener. You send an email. They get it. They respond. (Rumor has it they also put on their pants one leg at a time.) It was the mid-level gurus (still NY Times bestselling authors and 5-figure speakers, mind you) who had the team of minions and assistants.

Side note #2: The true professionals respond to requests FAST. It almost seems that the more email they get, the faster they've learned to filter, sort, process and respond. Again, it was more the has-beens and the wannabes who took a long time to respond. Or didn't respond at all. 

Side note #3: Gurus need favors, too. On several occasions, the gurus I asked for help, in turn, asked me to help them. One multi-million copy selling author asked me to post a review on amazon of the book that I genuinely praised in my initial note. Another guru asked me to blurb his newest book. A third asked me to spread the word on his newest Kindle ebook during it's free promotion. Important: These return favors were NEVER presented as pre-conditions or requirements for me to get what I wanted. In all these cases, the guru provided what I asked for. And THEN they asked for my help. It was the true law of reciprocity in action. Never assume that you have nothing of value to offer the rock stars in your world.

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

Don't take this personally but... you're making a BIG mistake. 

Yeah... it's bad.

And you don't even know it. 

But it's costing you money, time, relationships, and ultimately it's impacting your bottom line in ways that you cannot even imagine. 

In a word, it is... 

LAZINESS. 

Yup. Sorry. Truth-telling time. 

You're a lazy bum.

What do I mean?

You're marketing mindset is set to "bulk mode."

Over the last two weeks alone, I've had several of my smart, professional, experienced and (otherwise) emotionally intelligent clients either ask me about (or worse - tell me that they already did) the following: 

1. Send out a mass email prospecting for a six-figure consulting program
2. Use a LinkedIn status update to request LinkedIn Recommendations from their 900 connections
3. Use a bcc email to about 20 high-profile authors, speakers and experts soliciting blurbs for their upcoming book

In each of these cases, my reaction was swift and simple -- and as painful for them to hear as it was for me to convey:

This is jaw-droppingly stupid.

Even if you needed to communicate with 100 high-level decision makers at one time (and you don't) - do you think you'd get better results if you sent a private note OR if they see that you put in ZERO effort to reach out to them INDIVIDUALLY because at the bottom of your note it says "Click here to unsubscribe or change your email preferences - Sent by Constant Contact."

Come ON, folks... 

Similarly, would you be more likely to help someone who sent you this LinkedIn Recommendation request via 1-on-1 email...

===

Lisa,

Thank you again for inviting me to keynote for your GPPCC Mini-Summit last week. So glad to hear that Bob is recovering from his accident and that the direct mail project we discussed is off to a roaring start!

Would you be wonderful enough to write a few sentences by way of a LinkedIn recommendation for me based on your great feedback you shared with me right after our program last Friday?

Thank you in advance for considering it and let me know how I can be helpful to YOU. 

-- David

===

...OR someone who posted this as their LinkedIn status: 

===

I'm collecting testimonials or recommendations from my past work. If interested in contributing, please email a testimonial that I can use on my website and other marketing materials... I am positioning for a new book... more to come soon! Many thanks in advance!

===

Not even close, right? 

Here's the math you need:

1x100 is 100X Better than 100x1

Send the same core email - personalized and tailored to each person - to 100 people. 

Do NOT send 100 generic emails to a list and hope for anywhere near the results you want. 

I don't care if you're asking for sales, asking for leads, asking for referrals, asking for book blurbs, asking for help, asking to sell Girl Scout Cookies, or asking for a date.

If you don't make THEM feel special and worthy of your precious time, you can be sure they will reciprocate with the exact same level of effort - aka ZERO - in helping you get what YOU want. 

Not the outcome you're after.

Final note: I've had salespeople and internet marketing types tell me, "Yes but you can personalize those emails."

Come on... your clients, customers, advocates, allies, referral partners and friends aren't stupid. They can tell the difference between a true PERSONAL email (the good kind) and a PERSONALIZED email (the bulk kind). Doesn't matter how cleverly you disguise it.

They. Can. Tell.

Want one more cautionary tale? See this post for a great way to NEVER get a referral. 

Anytime you need a reminder - just print this out and post it in your office where you can see it nice and big (right-click the graphic and select "Save Image As" to save it to your desktop):

Tags: sales mistakes, 1x100 is 100x better than 100x1, doit marketing, marketing speaker, marketing coach

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Use the COMMENTS area below to leave your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas and join the conversation...

One of my favorite sales gurus is Scott Messer of Sales Evolution. Not only is Scott a good friend, he is a sales expert and master sales coach.

This post will help you solve Your Biggest, Nastiest, Stupidest, Most Expensive Sales Mistake... and give you several of Scott's brilliant sound bites to help you improve your sales success.

We're talking about a BIG sales mistake you probably made last week, will make again this week, and -- unless you heed Scott's wisdom -- will make next week again. 

All of which will cost you THOUSANDS if not TENS of thousands of dollars in lost sales. 

Scary, right? 

What is this big, nasty, pervasive, expensive sales mistake? 

Here it is: Not being a fanatic about collecting decisions from prospects.

Scott says selling is 100% about collecting decisions.

It's not about getting yeses, it's not about closing gimmicks. It's simply about being tenacious about taking prospects down a path (aka your sales process) to help them make a clear and definitive DECISION. As in "Yes" or "No."

Not "Let me think about it" - not "I'll get back to you" - not "circle back with me next week" - not anything other than a firm date and time on the prospect's calendar for you to hear "YES" or "NO." 

How do you do this? Simple - Scott recommends that at every step of the sales process, put a date and time on the calendar for a "decision call." Here's how to ask: 

• Let's put a date and time on the calendar for us to discuss your decision
• Let's put a pushpin in the calendar for us to reconnect about your decision
• Because you and I are both so busy, let's put a date and time on the calendar so you can tell me "Yes" or "No" or to answer any final questions you may have for me

Scott recommends that you forget about your sales pipeline - forget about your number of first appointments, forget about your number of "hot leads" - there is ONE and ONLY ONE measure of how healthy your sales pipeline truly is. 

That measure is - how many decision calls are on your calendar? A decision call, by the way, needs to be not only on YOUR calendar - it needs to be on your PROSPECT'S calendar because it is their responsibility to make one AND communicate it to you on that call. 

Example: I had a prospect call me two weeks ago. Let's call him Paul (which is cool because his name is really... Paul.) 

All was going well. Then I got a little derailed when he asked for references. Ordinarily, I would set a decision call by asking him, "When will you make time to call my reference folks? Let's make a time to discuss your decision after that." 

But I goofed. I was in a hurry. I let Paul wander off with no decision date on the calendar. When I called him this morning to circle back, he told me that he had gotten "distracted" and had not called the references at all. He then said, "I'll get back to you within three weeks." 

I laughed. 

Instinctively, I said, "You'll get back to me in three weeks because you're the kind of guy who likes to take lots and lots of time to make a decision and have people like me chasing you endlessly and leaving message after message and email after email when the real answer is no." 

Yup, I said that.

Out loud.

Right to Paul's face. 

Why? Because to quote another Scott Messer sound bite - "You can't blow up a good prospect." 

Paul laughed and admitted that he did NOT, in fact, enjoy being chased endlessly. 

So I put Paul out of his misery and fired him as a prospect. Here's how that sounded: 

"Paul, I'll put you down as a "No" for now. If you'd like to revisit working together, you know where to find me." 

He was perfectly cool with that. So I knew the deal was dead.

I've used that "No for now" line in the past and GOOD prospects will jump in with "No, no, no I definitely want to work with you. I just need more time to..." and they put themselves back into the active prospect column.

What do I do then? You guessed it - we set a decision call on the calendar. 

Anyway, back to Paul... I wanted to put a nail in the coffin so I sent the following email after we hung up the phone: 

===

Paul,

Because you are no longer an active prospect, please do NOT call the folks I sent as references.  

As I'm sure you can appreciate, references are precious and I do not want to burn out my reference folks by speaking with less than 100% committed prospects. (I probably should not have given you references this early in the process anyway. My mistake.)  

Best of luck on your adventures and thank you in advance for respecting my wishes.  

-- David

===

So the lesson is - be relentless with setting your decision calls. There is no other single determining factor that's more important to your sales success.

Trust me - I make more money when I relentlessly implement Scott's "decision call" philosophy. And I make less money when I don't!

Tags: sales prospecting mistakes, big nasty dumb stupid expensive sales mistake, doit marketing, marketing speaker, marketing coach

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Use the COMMENTS area below to leave your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas to boost your sales success...

Want to get more marketing juice out of your business blog? 

Don't tell me - the answer is... Yes!

Ha - knew it!!

Sooooo... what should you be doing on that good old blog of yours - BESIDES blogging? 

Here are FIVE big ideas you can implement in FIVE minutes or less... and generate some pretty serious results FAST. 

1. Optimize past post titles. Based on your keyword and search engine optimization strategy, you probably have some great blog content with titles that are not optimized. For example, as a marketing speaker and marketing coach, two of my SEO key words (in case you couldn't tell!) are marketing speaker and marketing coach.

Sometimes, I'm good about including those keywords in my blog titles right when I post them. For example: 

Marketing Speaker: 5 Books You Oughta Buy NOW  

and

Marketing Coach: 17 Ways to Drive More Traffic FAST  

And sometimes, I'm not. For instance: 

23 things to say when you're asked for 'free consulting'

17 great answers to 'How much do you charge?' 

So if you go back to some of your older posts and change the titles to be more in line with your SEO keyword strategy, you'll attract new traffic and more traffic to your older (and probably underappreciated!) posts.

2. Add or update Calls to Action on your posts - including adding or updating the calls to action on your most popular posts which continue to generate a healthy volume of regular traffic.

A call to action is NOT a sales pitch - it's a way to OFFER value and INVITE engagement. For example, good calls to action for your business might include: 

• Subscribe to get regular updates
• Download this free eBook
• Get a free assessment
• Contact us for a No-BS initial consultation
• Take an interactive quiz
• Register for this free teleseminar
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

This is the simplest and fastest path to convert visitors to leads to sales.

3. Reblog your golden oldies. If a topic worked really well, got a lot of comments, inbound links, and social media love the first time around, it may be time to revisit that topic.

Grab your old content and use that as a starting point for an updated new post - using 80% of the proven material from before and simply adding to it, enhancing it with newer examples, adding video, audio or other multimedia enhancements like Slideshare or Animoto. 

Add links to resources from other experts that relate directly to your content. Make sure to optimize the post's title, tags, categories and metadata to get some zesty Google juice, choose an eye-catching photo or graphic from Shutterstock.com or your favorite stock photo site and boom - you're done!

4. Use your blog to test new offers. Sometimes you want to put an offer out there to see what kind of response it might generate WITHOUT hitting your email list with a blast that might send more of your subscribers scurrying for the "Unsubscibe" button.

Your blog is a great place to send up "trial balloons" for new products, new services, new programs and new investable opportunities that you're not 100% sure are ready for major promotion via your ezine or email marketing efforts.

It's perfectly OK to "soft sell" occasionally - or even better, launch a short 3-question survey - on your blog to gauge your audience's interest in working with you in a new way.

5. Review older posts and find places to cross-promote your newer blog posts, your social media postings, your Flickr photos, your YouTube videos, or your other multimedia assets.

This is a great opportunity to build what are called "internal links" - links from one of your web pages or blog posts to another - to create a "web" of interlinked content and to boost the SEO of your overall site using anchor text that describes the content you are pointing people to.

For example, you might add the following to your older blog posts:

• Check out this YouTube video on effective business card design
• Here's another post you might like titled "What is inbound marketing?"
• Here's a screencast about How to Generate 10X Traffic on LinkedIn
• Want to get better at generating referrals? Read this post on Building Your Referral Blurb

Tags: blogging for business, business blogging, doit marketing, marketing speaker, marketing coach

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Use the COMMENTS area below to leave your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas to breathe new life into your blog...

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I'm often asked to review my clients' proposals to help them land 5- and 6-figure training, speaking, and consulting contracts. 

The #1 most powerful strategy that will increase your hit rate no matter what you're selling is to be clear and explicit about your client's expected Return on Investment (ROI) -- using their OWN numbers. 

For example, take a look at this suggestion I made to one of my amazing management consultant clients last week... and see how YOU can model a similar section on page ONE of every proposal YOU send out...