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1. NEW Group on LinkedIn for "Professionals Who Speak" - if you're a speaker, author, independent professional, corporate executive or entrepreneur, the conversations, resources and people you'll connect with here are top-notch. Join us here:

2. There is still time to register for Speaker Liftoff - the program begins Dec. 7 and all the details are waiting for you online here: 

One of the many pleasures of writing a book is writing the Acknowledgements section where you get to thank all the folks who have helped you at every point in your journey, whether it was last week, last year or all the way back to your childhood.

As you may know, I'm finishing up the final edits on my new book being published by AMACOM next summer. The Acknowledgements section has been top of mind for me this Thanksgiving week. 

Personally, I can't understand authors who write a slim paragraph and then end with "I have too many people to thank and their names could fill this book." REALLY? If that's the case, why don't you at least TRY?

I sure did...  and to celebrate this Thanksgiving week, here it is in its entirety - LARGE, LOUD, and PUBLIC!

Acknowledgements

The first acknowledgement has to go to YOU—for buying this book, for reading this book, and for applying its strategies, tactics and tools to grow your business.

After you, it gets harder to count all the individuals, friends, clients, collaborators, mentors, trusted advisors, and supporters who have made this book—and all the rest of my work—so easy, effortless and enjoyable. Unlike some authors who don’t even try… here goes.

First I’d like to thank my parents for not having a stroke when I announced I was leaving the pre-med program at Franklin & Marshall College to pursue a career in theater. Thank you to Dr. Gordon Wickstrom who modeled the highest gift of catalyzing the best in others while making them feel personally important and professionally capable. What do you get when you cross healing with drama? Of course, you get marketing.

My amazing partner, Vanessa Christman, gets a ton of credit for sticking with her lunatic husband through thick (my waistline) and thin (my hairline). Without you, none of this would be any fun at all. Truly.

My two awesome kids, Becca and Charlie, Woofie the Wonder Dog, and Mimi the cat also went to heroic lengths to put up with me long before, during and after the writing of this book. I love you guys like bananas.

Professionally, the list is even longer. Big thanks to my book agent, Michael Snell. He does business the old-fashioned way and it works amazingly well for all concerned. I’m grateful to my pal Gene Marks for sharing Mike’s genius with me. At AMACOM, Ellen Kadin is a rock star. She knows what works and she makes sure I DO IT. Her steady dedication to our shared vision of a “business book with attitude” shows up on every page. Big thanks and kudos to the AMACOM design team for realizing that vision with the bold design of this book.

And for you aspiring or experienced authors – especially those of you who, like me, HATE to be edited – meet my editor extraordinaire, Christopher Murray. Chris “got” this book right from the start and was an amazing collaborator, organizer and advocate for the business-building ideas you are about to profit from. Find Chris online at www.ChrisMurrayEditor.com and put your project in the hands of a supremely insightful editor and the best friend your writing ever had.

I deeply thank Dr. Michael Ray of Stanford Business School for introducing me to the Creativity in Business MBA course that changed my life. The very best advice he gave me was, “Stop starting things and get more into DOING.” The DNA of Michael’s wisdom runs throughout my work, my life, and by extension, this book!

Thank you to my pals from my corporate days: Sandy Frick, Trish Koons, Neal Duffy, Kim Nuzzaci and Benjamin Laden who were crazy enough to hire me, work with me, and recruit me away from one job into the next for a great 10-year run. I don’t know what you were thinking, but I’m grateful for all the fun we had “working for the man.”

Thank you to four very special people who helped me at every point in my entrepreneurial journey including the good, the bad and the ugly – in mind (Terry Fisher), body (Nick Odorisio), spirit (Scott Simons) and career (Ford R. Myers).

My involvement in the National Speakers Association (NSA) and Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) has been an invaluable source of inspiration, insights and friendships. Thank you to my mentors, role models and friends Laurie Brown, Gideon Grunfeld, Michael Roby, Kirstin Carey, Steve Coscia, Avish Parashar, Michael Goldberg, Todd Cohen, Brian Walter, John Reddish, Marvin LeBlanc, Carol Fredrickson, Tom Stoyan, Toni Newman, Brian Lee, Scott McKain, Alan Zimmerman, Frank Bucaro, LeAnn Thieman, Thom Winninger, Patricia Fripp, Alan Weiss, Bob Burg, John Jantsch, David Meerman Scott, Brian Tracy, Randy Gage and Jeffrey Gitomer.

Thank you to my speaker bureau partners and friends – Andrea Gold, Shawn Ellis, Katrina Mitchell, and Nancy Vogl. You are the sharpest, most dedicated folks in the business and you model excellence and integrity in everything you do.

Thank you to my expert contributors: Jay Baer, Scott Ginsberg, Corey Perlman, Dan Janal, Mark LeBlanc, Barry Moltz, Mark Hunter, Henry DeVries, Tom Searcy, Melinda Emerson, Stephanie Chandler, Mary Foley, Gene Marks and Viveka Von Rosen. You are each superheroes in your own realm and I hugely appreciate your generosity of expertise.

Thank you to my colleagues in Vistage International, the world’s largest CEO peer group organization: Jose Palomino, Gerry Lantz, Chris Farias, Scott Messer, Brian Carney, Skip Lange, Carl Francis, Marcia O’Connor, Michael Gidlewski, Steve Van Valin and Jim Lucas. You’ve shared your insights and advice with me even when I didn’t want to hear it, didn’t follow it, and didn’t want to believe it. However, you were right four times out of five. I’m learning.

Thank you to my Do It! Marketing team members, past and present. Especially the uber-awesome Catherine Bernard, the ultra-amazing Katie Hanna, the super-productive Rachel Rodden, and Liz Crider aka “the one that got away.” I love working with you and appreciate you more than you know.

Thank you to my amazing clients. Man, when YOU work, this program works! I’m continually humbled and grateful for your confidence, your business, your friendship, and the credit that you bring to our work by DOING IT consistently, smartly, bravely, and quickly. You are the embodiment of my mantra that “Only action creates results.” Thank you for the privilege of working alongside you as you create your next level of success. 

Sooo... even if you're not writing a book at the moment, you will experience BIG gratitude if YOU write the Acknowledgements section of your (future) book. 

Let me know what you think in the COMMENTS area below. Happy Thanksgiving!

1. Tweet more regularly about resources, tools and ideas that link back to your website. Use tools like Hootsuite, TweetAdder and Buffer.

2. Create short 2-3 minute videos on YouTube and make sure to add titles near the beginning and end of the video inviting viewers to get more resources from your website.

3. Also make sure to optimize your videos' titles, descriptions, tags and use your full url (meaning include the http:// part!) as the first line of your video description so people see it right away without needing to scroll down. Example: Business Card Kung Fu

4. Get to know Pinterest. It is the fastest growing social media site in history and it's also a lot of fun. Visit my free marketing resources page and grab a fresh hot copy of "How to Use Pinterest for Business." Example: http://pinterest.com/marketingexpert/  

5. Slideshare: You know you've got 'em - PowerPoints. PDF's. All kinds of goodies probably littering your hard drive and you're not take advantage of ANY of 'em as marketing assets. But sure enough, you can start a free Slideshare account, upload your favorite 5-6 PPT or PDF documents, optimize the tags, titles and descriptions, and BAM - more web traffic for you. Example: http://www.slideshare.net/doitmarketing

6. Build an about.me page that collects all your important web links and can serve as an online "business card" or switchboard to connect folks to all your social media accounts in one handy place. Example: http://about.me/doitmarketing

7. Build a brand reputation profile on BrandYourself.com. It's a great way to monitor your online reputation AND build Google juice so you are more visible, more findable and more credible to folks searching for your type of product, service or expertise. Example: http://bobgarlick.brandyourself.com/

8. Boost the impact and SEO value of your LinkedIn profile. My pal, LinkedIn guru Viveka Von Rosen has 12 kickass tips for you on 12 Ways to Spice Up Your LinkedIn Profile. Hint: You also totally need to pick up Viveka's book LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.

9. Blog, baby, blog... Research from our partners at Hubspot proves that businesses that blog twice a week generate 60% more traffic and leads than businesses that blog once a week or less. Not every blog needs to be a novel. Short is good. Medium is good. Long is good. Not blogging regularly is bad. Ya dig?

10. Infographics. Love 'em or hate 'em - they're hotter than a Vegas sidewalk in August. How can you present a simple, visual, and valuable piece of content that your readers, prospects and customers would really appreciate? Example: 12 Home Page Must-Haves. 

11. Post to relevant LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn is THE social network for business. But all I see in your message stream is who you connected with yesterday, who you endorsed as a great accountant, and that you changed your photo (which is great because that brown tie wasn't helping you). Post LINKS to your great content. Post provocative, interesting questions. Post answers in relevant Q&A Discussions. 

12. Don't ignore PR: Do everything you can to put yourself in a position to be quoted, interviewed, linked to, and featured in relevant blogs, articles, publications and newsletters aimed at your target market. If you're not sure where to begin, start with PRLeads.com and PressReleaseSender.com

13. According to my pal Jay Baer of Convince and Convert, text is going away. Everything online is moving to pictures and video. If that's true (and trust Jay - it is), then your two new best friends will be... 

14. Flickr.com: Post pictures of you, your clients, your projects, your meetings, your team, your best work. Don't be shy - Flickr is a great place to strut your stuff in an immediately impactful way. A picture is worth a thousand words, yadda yadda. Here's a great example from my pal Scott Ginsberg.

15. Animoto.com: Video, baby, video. Turn your photos, video clips, and music into stunning video masterpieces to share with everyone. Fast, free, and shockingly easy! You can use these for yourself, your products, your services, your programs and your ideas. You can also export your creations to YouTube and optimize them further there (See point #3 above.) Example: Top 10 Differences Between Girls and Bodacious Women.

16. Don't ignore email marketing. One of the most common reasons you may be losing web traffic is simply because people who know you and like you have forgotten about how awesome you are. Email marketing reminds them. Not sure where to begin? Start with a Constant Contact free trial. 

17. Never Stop Marketing. That's both a mantra and the website of my pal Jeremy Epstein. But my point is... Never stop experimenting. Never stop testing. And only KEEP what works for you and generates results. You can safely toss the rest.

Go about your marketing with a sense of positive skepticism. Just because someone else says a strategy or tactic is great, doesn't mean it's great for YOU. There is no cookie cutter. You are no cookie.  

If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to read two closely related ones: 

Marketing Coach: "You Never Know" Will Kill You

Business Coach: 7 Keys to Help You Focus on Strategy Not Tactics

What do you think? 

Use the COMMENTS section below to share your insights, advice and recommendations...

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

Bad news: You are 9 days into the month and your website traffic is down 43%. 

Worse news: You don't even know about it. 

Why not? 

Because if you're like most small business owners, (non-web) entrepreneurs and independent professionals, you look at your web stats once a month - and almost always when it's too late. 

So the question for you and your organization is - are you looking at your web marketing game plan as a forward-looking fitness program -- or as a backward-looking autopsy?

The autopsy approach sounds like this: "What went wrong? Where did our site visits go? How come opt-ins dropped? Our bounce rate climbed again..." Sigh, worry, fret, fret, fret...

The fitness approach sounds like this: "It's been 10 days since our last blog post, we have to post more regularly - let's put something up this Tuesday and again on Thursday. Where's our SEO score card? I think we dropped back a few places on two of our keywords and it looks like we're back at #1 again for 'Poughkeepsie laundromat' - woo hoo! We need to load some fresh tweets to drive more traffic to our free report because it looks like opt-ins are dropping..."

DANGER: The fit get fitter. And the autopsy people are dead on the table. 

Where do your website stats stand today?

Please leave your insights, advice and recommendations in the COMMENTS section below...

Keywords: Marketing coach, small business marketing coach

One of my marketing coaching clients asked me last week, "David, are there rules for writing copy? I've written a ton of material about what we do and I never know what's going to work..."

This is like asking, "Are there rules for romance?" YES, as a matter of fact there are. Check out http://1001waystoberomantic.com/

Are there rules for writing marketing copy? Hell yes. My go-to guy on this is the incredible Bob Bly. Check out http://bly.com/

And the best book on the subject is The Copywriter's Handbook.

But I'll do you one better - you don't even need to buy a book.

Here are 17 rough and ready rules that will make you a better copywriter in 10 minutes or less.

Zero guarantee of completeness. Your mileage may vary. Proceed at your own risk...

1. Write like you speak.

2. Speak like a person, not a marketing moron or a sales robot.

3. As you write, ask yourself - if this next sentence is the last thing they read, is it worth writing or do I have something more important they need to know? (You can write a 3-page sales letter this way that will sell like crazy!!)

4. Use short paragraphs.

5. Use action words, not learning words (nobody wants to learn, find out, or get information... they want to BUILD, BOOST, CREATE, INCREASE, SLASH, REDUCE, ELIMINATE)

6. If you start to sound like a late-night infomercial, stop. Ease it back just about 10% - that's where you need to be. 70% substance with 30% sizzle. Articulate your value, your outcomes and your benefits assertively - not aggressively.

7. Take them on a journey - your copy should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

8. The four most powerful words in marketing are:
  a. YOU
  b. YOUR
  c. BECAUSE
  d. SO THAT

9. It is TOTALLY impossible to overuse testimonials and third-party social proof. Do you have 100 written testimonials? Great - find a way to use them. Do you have 50+ video testimonials? Ditto. Do you have two fistfulls of scanned in endorsement letters on letterhead? Post them. (Examples of each are here for you.)

10. Engage, engage, engage... appeal to the senses. Make the experience of working with you as 3-dimensional as you can. What does it smell like? Taste like? What's the overall experience when people walk in to your store? Hire your accounting firm? Bring you in as their architect?

11. What frustrates the hell out of your prospects and clients? Talk about that - show that you understand their heartaches, headaches, pains and frustrations at the deepest levels.

12. Your copy needs to convey TWO and only two ideas:
  a. You know what they are up against
  b. You can fix it

13. Stop selling YOUR crap and start solving THEIR problems. Yes, even before they buy.

14. Call to action is key. What's the very NEXT step you want them to take? Is there a free offer? A bonus gift to download? A free assessment? A no-strings phone consultation?

15. Make sure your call to action is a GIVE and not a GET. An example of a GET is "Click here and a member of our sales team will contact you within 24 hours." Stupidest damn thing I've ever seen. Useless.

16. Show them how to go from ZERO to HERO. Paint the picture of the current gap - the missing piece - the shortfall - the misfires - the problems - the glitches. THEN show them success stories, solutions, fixes, wins PLUS the specific ways that people who bought from you are better off, richer, smarter, happier, sexier - or all five.

17. Your copy should deliver three things at the end - the acronym is giving your prospects a big HUG:
  a. (H)ope - to improve their condition
  b. (U)rgency - to solve their problem
  c. (G)ameplan - to start exploring your solution

You can do this - it's a lot easier than you think. (H)

In fact, if writing copy is a challenge, you may want to join our next SIMPLE MARKETING SUCCESS 10-week program which starts September 26. Early bird savings are still on - but not for much longer! (U)

If a group program is not a fit for you, I totally understand. Let's start with a no-strings, no-BS  Marketing Assessment. We'll talk for 20 minutes and you'll get 2-3 ideas you can use right away to grow your business whether we decide there's a next step or not. (G)

There - you've just been hugged. See what I mean?

What do YOU think? Share YOUR advice and experiences with writing marketing copy for YOUR business in the COMMENTS area below...

As a business coach, I love tools, strategies, templates and exercises that help small business owners sell more, more easily and more often. 

After reading this post, YOU will be able to build yourself one of the most powerful sales tools I've ever seen. (And I've seen a LOT of marketing/sales tools in my 20+ years in business.) 

Because of my involvement in the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS), I've been fortunate to develop personal friendships with some of the smartest and most successful business speakers, sales experts and marketing gurus in my field.

One of these folks is known as Canada's Sales Coach - his name is Tom Stoyan and he is also a member of the Speaker's Hall of Fame (HoF). When Tom and I were co-presenting at a convention almost three years ago, he kindly participated in a small part of my program and I participated in his. We thought we'd compare notes and both learn a thing or two.

Tom picked up some ideas around social media and inbound marketing and I picked up a Million Dollar Idea called the "Why People Buy from Me" worksheet.

It is a structured process that walks you through 5 key questions - which require 10 (ten!) answers to each, giving you an arsenal of 50 selling points. You can use these in your marketing materials, sales conversations, website copy, phone calls, emails, and anyplace else you need to PROVE to your buyers that buying from anyone else would be a HUGE mistake.

At the risk of being self-serving (get over it - it's an example, OK?) here is mine for the marketing coaching part of my business.

Note I cheated on Question #3 because I did this exercise from a personal perspective, not an overall company perspective. If you work for an organization larger than yourself, DO NOT SKIP Question #3. Seek help from your boss and co-workers to answer it - or call Tom Stoyan and he'll help you answer it as part of his program!

1. Why should I buy your product/service?

1. Because you're terrible at marketing
2. You don't make time for marketing
3. You've read too many books yet implemented too few ideas
4. Because without proactive marketing, you're the best kept secret at what you do
5. Because you don't need marketing information - you need marketing implementation
6. You don't know what you don't know about marketing your services
7. You're tired of throwing money in a marketing black hole
8. You want to regain control of your marketing and sales results
9. You're tired of spinning your wheels and you're ready to commit to marketing success
10. You realize that for every marketing dollar you spend, you should get at least $3 in return

2. Why should I buy from YOU?

1. Because of my brilliant testimonials from some of the top entrepreneurs and consultants in the US
2. Because I've been the talent, bought the talent, and sold the talent so I've sat on all three sides of the table!
3. Because I give you the strategies, tactics, and guided implementation you need to generate results
4. Because my materials, advice, articles, and presentations are splattered all over the web! (You've already heard of me so I must be doing something right - what if YOU could do the same in your prospect base?)
5. Because I've been quoted or featured in the New York Times, Investors Business Daily, Fast Company, Selling Power, Sales & Marketing Management, Business 2.0 and Entrepreneur Magazine (with a picture!)
6. Because I'm the author of 3 books on marketing and professional services, including The Manager's Pocket Guide to Using Consultants (HRD Press, 2007) Do It! Marketing (AMACOM, 2013) and 21 Secrets of Simple Marketing Success
7. Because I've delivered over 600 presentations since 1992 and I've worked with 44 of the Fortune 500
8. Because I have an application process that you must go through before we work together - I don't work with any warm body with a checkbook
9. Because my programs are consistently among the highest rated at national conventions and association chapters nationwide
10. Because I have over 40 video testimonials on YouTube so you can see I'm the "real deal"

3. Why should I buy from your company?

My company and me are one and the same. See reasons above.

4. Why should I buy your price?

1. Because I have a 1000% guarantee as follows: "I'm better than anyone who's cheaper; and I'm cheaper than anyone who's better."
2. Pay one price for unlimited coaching - I'm more concerned in getting you to your destination than running the meter.
3. The fee is the fee - and if you're not making back 3-10x my fee after our work, one of us is not doing his job... and it's not usually me.
4. Everything is too expensive until you want it* (*T. Stoyan, 2012)
5. People won't spend $50 to fix a $5 problem. But they will spend $1 million to solve a $10 million problem
6. If you're not comfortable spending big money with me, why would you expect your prospects to spend big money with you?
7. If you ask anyone I've worked with, 90% of them will tell you that working with me was some of the smartest money they ever spent. The other 10% didn't do the work. 
8. You shouldn't work with me if marketing and growing your business is not a serious priority for you
9. You shouldn't work with me if your business is struggling - get sales coaching first (I'm serious!)
10. You can spend less and you'll get less - and you can also spend more and you'll still get less. I over-deliver like crazy (see testimonials) because once you're "in" with me, I have nothing more to sell you and we can get to work!

5. Why should I buy NOW? ("Now is a relative term" -- T. Stoyan, 2012)

1. Because it's rare that I have openings in my client roster - you can get in now or typically wait 3-6 months.
2. Because the longer you delay getting your marketing house in order, the longer you'll be in a state of confusion, inaction, and overwhelm
3. Because "waiting til my business picks up" to invest in marketing is like saying "I'm sick as a dog but I'll wait til I feel better to go to the doctor." It's never going to happen
4. I've never seen a marketing plan that starts with "Generate enough sales to afford marketing plan"
5. Maybe you should never buy - and you might not qualify to work with me.
6. What would it be like if your next year's revenues were much like your last year's? If you're OK with that, there's probably no reason for us to work together.
7. Are you sure you have a marketing problem and not a sales problem? Maybe Stoyan is a better fit for you. Would you like his number?
8. Because the money you're NOT making week after week, month after month, is a larger number than the money you'd be investing to restore your revenues to where you'd like them to be
9. Because you want to stop the "feast or famine" revenue cycle and get a proactive handle on your marketing process before you hit your next dip
10. Because someone you know and respect recommended we chat and I'm the answer to your prayers. (In addition to... I'm one of the most humble people you know!)

See? I told you it was self-serving.

Until now.

Because NOW - it is YOUR turn. Here is your assignment:

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

As a business coach, I've observed time and time again the tendency that strategic business owners are focused. And tactical business owners are scattered. 

If you want lasting and profitable business success, the key is to marry a small number of highly focused strategies with a variety of tightly aligned marketing and sales and operational tactics. Here are 7 keys to help you get started. 

Please use the COMMENTS area below to answer some of these questions or to share your own advice, insights and recommendations. 

1. Tactics are easy - and it's tempting to confuse executing tactics with moving your business forward. Ain't always the case though, is it?

2. Strategy is the WHY TO and tactics are the HOW TO. If you stop focusing on your "WHY" even for a short time, you'll fall into the trap of getting really good at creating and selling projects/services that you don't want to be doing. How are you trapping yourself with off-strategy successes?

3. It feels good to execute tactics - and it feels hard to create strategies. This is because you have to come face to face with the time-space continuum. You can't execute everything you want to do all at once. And you probably shouldn't try. How have you subconsciously let yourself be overwhelmed with not enough strategy but too many tactics?

4. Tactics pile up - there is always more to do. Strategy is a limiting factor. Strategy shows you what you should NOT be building, selling, and offering. Strategy serves your business as a filter. With no strategy, every tactic looks reasonable. How have you buried yourself in tactics while starving yourself of strategy?

5. Business owners and entrepreneurs LOVE talking to each other about tactics. What's worked? What hasn't? What's next? They rarely talk strategy. They rarely talk about things they want to stop doing. What questions could you ask your colleagues to find out what they have pared down and eliminated to help them increase their strategic focus?  

6. We're too busy for strategy. Really? How about escaping to a coffee shop for a morning with a notebook and a set of colored Sharpies to have a strategic meeting with yourself? In less than two hours, you can do a data dump, a project review, a client review, an "ideal business model" exercise and create several lists such as "Low-payoff activities that take too much of my time" and "High payoff activities that I need to create more time for." Take your notes back to the office, summarize and categorize them, and begin to put them into action. When's the last time you had a strategic meeting with yourself?

7. Email is not a strategy. Email is not a tactic. And email is not a high-payoff activity. Yes, you might get a few client emails a day. Or customer service emails. Or a handful of leads. Other than that, email is a deadly distraction. So stop. Make a sign over your desk where you can see it from your computer that says, "EMAIL IS NOT MY JOB." How has email stolen your strategic focus lately?

Grab your FREE copy of the Strategic Marketing eBook

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

Here's the problem for you:

• you have integrity
• you have smarts
• you have standards
• you have ethics
• you have conscientiousness
• you have detail orientation
• you have an innate desire to only deliver your best work

Why is any of this a problem? 

Because you're competing with idiots who have no hesitation to: 

• charge more (way more in some cases)
• deliver less (way less in MOST cases)
• shoot faster
• shoot more often
• brag and boast with nothing but hot air and smoke
• overpromise and package their offerings with more sizzle
• underdeliver but become brilliant at evasion and deceit
• game the system to win meaningless awards, garner inflated reviews, and continue to deceive the world that they are better than you.

Truth: they're not better than you at all. Not for a second.

But here's the rub: perception is reality.

Let me repeat that: perception IS reality.

You're fighting the wrong war.

• You're trying to win the wrong game
• You are who Google says you are
• Your clients see what your LinkedIn recommendations tell them to look for

You are really fighting a two-front war:

1. Managing the perceptions of you and your firm

2. Managing the reality of you and your firm

The fakers are better at FAKING it.

So you better be better at DELIVERING it.

For real. Every minute of every day.

If perception is reality, then the sooner you get busy changing your perception, the sooner your prospects and clients will appreciate your reality.

Keep it real, people.   

It's amazing to me how many professionals fall right into the marketing trap of overt self-promotion, pathetic begging, and self-commoditization. 

What am I talking about? 

I belong to several online forums, special interest sites and private message boards for organizations like the National Speakers Association and Vistage International, the world's largest CEO organization. 

At least weekly, there are requests for referrals to various types of speakers, consultants, coaches and training firms.

And sure as the sun goes around the moon, there are desperate goofballs who emerge from the murkiness and respond to these like hungry sharks chasing chum in bloody waters. Instead of positioning themselves as experts and giving the REFERRALS as asked, they see these as opportunities to play their favorite game of "Pick me! Pick me!"

Here is a recent example: 

===

I'm working with a client who needs a keynoter on growth (franchise-related, if possible). Can anyone recommend a fantastic and engaging executive-level speaker on this topic?

===

Response 1: I am a professional speaker with topics from communication, diversity & personal & business growth. My firm has grown 15% in the last year, so I have some insights into the topic. [Excerpted]

Response 2: We work extensively with franchise organizations on business growth, strategy, and marketing. I'd be happy to explore whether the vast body of knowledge we have about franchise growth in our industry might be adapted to your client. [Excerpted]

Response 3: I'm a former VP with Hilton Worldwide. Specifically for the Homewood Suites by Hilton brand. I played an integral role in helping double the Brand's size - from 75 properties to 150 - in a four year period. Not sure if the hospitality industry would be an optimal choice for your client, nonetheless I'd be happy to hear more about your client's needs to see if there's a fit. [Excerpted]

Response 4: There is a fantastic niche bureau in the franchise world run by my pal Katrina Mitchell - some of these folks are extremely well-versed in the franchise world: http://www.franchisespeakers.com/ Also T. Scott Gross would be a home run for this type of group as well - which is why he's among the folks Katrina works with!!

Response 5: I'm both a speaker and a retail franchise owner, so I may be a good fit if they are still looking. I'm a leadership keynoter who focuses on building trust in teams. I also own two franchises, and am in the process of expanding into a third. View my profile for more info if I can help.

===

I'll stop there only because to quote more of these people would make me nauseated. 

Lesson: There was only ONE "trusted advisor" answer in the whole bunch. Can you see which one it was? It was the one that gave the requester what she WANTED - namely, a REFERRAL and not a self-serving sales pitch. 

The definition of a trusted advisor is a professional who puts their client's interests before his or her own.

The folks who respond like #1, 2, 3, and 5 position themselves as PEDDLERS, not PARTNERS. 

Remember: Chasing Chum Makes You a Chump

Don't do it.

What's a smarter approach? There are three:

1. Ask one of your clients for whom you have done similar work to visit that forum and post an honest recommendation of your work. A third-party endorsement means a TON more than a self-serving sales pitch.

2. Take the conversation offline. Connect the referral requester with the person you'd like to refer (or if we're back to promoting yourself, then simply connect your past client with the requester's contact details and ask them to get in touch directly.)

3. Trade referrals and endorsements. This is one of my favorites - smarter than self-promotion and easier than connecting back with previous clients. Establish a trusted circle of 5-7 experts, consultants or professional services providers whose work you believe in and would gladly put your reputation behind. Offer to tee each other up regularly for opportunities like the one above. 

in my circle, for example, I have: 

• A women's leadership guru whose message focuses on women's sanity, confidence and fun
• A NY Times bestselling healthcare author and Hall of Fame speaker
• One of the nation's top experts on building sales culture
• A top-notch trainer on presentation skills (virtual and in-person)
• One of the funniest motivational humor speakers on the planet
• A networking and referral marketing expert in financial services
• A small business leadership expert, bestselling author and Hurricane Katrina survivor

Stop chasing chum and you'll stop looking like a chump.

Question: Who is in YOUR referral circle? Get busy and create yours today!

Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your referral and lead sharing advice, success stories and feedback.

Independent research with over 700 professional services firms proves that the #1 source of business is “Making warm calls to existing clients” – no surprise there.

But the #1 source for generating NEW clients is “Speaking at conferences, seminars and trade shows.” (Wellesley Hills Group, Trends in Professional Services Lead Generation Report)

So if you want to win NEW business from NEW clients, speaking is your most direct path to that goal.

Yet if yours is like the majority of firms, you haven’t yet cracked the code on how to put all the pieces together to make speaking pay off for YOUR partners, YOUR executives and YOUR team to consistently attract YOUR best prospects and clients.

By the time you're done reading this post, you will understand how to unleash the power of 3PR in your firm's business development efforts, including the #1 strategy - speaking.

Question: As a professional services firm principal, managing director, CEO, partner, or practice leader... Is this you?

• "We often get beat up on price because we have no credibility with prospects who've never heard of us before"
• "I'm constantly asked for new marketing tools, brochures and presentations but nothing seems to help"
• "How do I know which marketing strategies and tools will help us close more sales?"
• "There has to be a more systematic way we can market our services"
• "There are so many new ways to reach buyers these days; should we be using social media, blogs, podcasts, video? And do any of those even work in our industry?"

If any of the above statements sound familiar then it makes sense for you to explore the power of 3PR -- Personalized Professional Public Relations. 

3PR is a combination of strategies, tactics and tools designed to help you and your professional services firm accomplish one or more of these seven key business objectives:

1. New Lead Generation
2. Building Credibility and Brand Preference
3. Connecting with Media & Industry Analysts
4. Opportunities to Engage Your Top Talent
5. Management Development
6. Thought-Leading Content Creation
7. Contribution to Your Professional Community

Let's unpack specifically what we mean by 3PR - Personalized Professional Public Relations: 

• Personalized: Your firm is made up of individuals. Each member of your team has specific strengths, capabilities, preferences and personalities that can be leveraged in marketing, positioning, and amplifying the messages your firm wants to impress on your prospects, your clients and your influencers in your target markets.
• Professional: 3PR has one goal - professional exposure for your firm's expertise, products, services, and value proposition. Many professional services firm partners and practice leaders shy away from the spotlight of 3PR saying, "It's not about me." While this is true, it certainly IS about YOU providing value, expertise and guidance to help your target market succeed. 
• Public: Your team may be top-notch with proven expertise that generates amazing results for your clients. However, if you don't make your expertise public, you will suffer what many small and midsized firm principals describe in frustration as "Best Kept Secret Syndrome." 3PR puts your expertise in front of prospects -- exactly where it belongs if you want to generate new business more easily and more often.
• Relations: Stop thinking in terms of "closing the sale" and focus rather on building relationships with your audiences, readers, followers and fans. The content that you share in a typical 3PR campaign is useful, valuable, actionable, specific and insightful. Do this consistently and you'll build trust, likeability and a reputation for excellence. So when a need arises, you and your firm will be on speed dial and your prospects will consider it a serious mistake to hire anyone else.