What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas and join the conversation...
Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing speaker, marketing professional services, professional services marketing, blogging for business, marketing expert, professional speaker marketing, marketing strategist, marketing consultant, small business marketing, marketing for authors, blogging 101, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, content marketing, small business marketing coach
As you may know, a wonderful team of small business experts and I are organizing the inaugural America Talks Business Conference coming up on July 25. (Conference info is here and you can still register with early bird savings here.)
One of our media partners is Entrepreneur Magazine. When I shared this news with my friend Dan Janal of PRLeads and PressReleaseSender.com, his first comment was, "Looks good. Congrats on getting Entrepreneur magazine. You are one well-connected guy!"
I sent Dan back a note that said, "Not well-connected. Just fearless in asking."
And he closed out our email conversation with this brilliant observation: "Same thing, I guess!"
YES!!!
It is the same thing indeed.
So here are some questions for YOU:
1. Who do YOU need to be well-connected to?
2. Who do you need to fearlessly ask for help?
3. What's stopping you from asking?
4. What's the worst that could happen?
5. What's the best that could happen?
6. How much do you care about #4?
7. How much do you want #5?
8. Is it time for YOU to do some fearless asking?
p.s. The June 17 deadline is coming up for Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur of 2013 competition. You can't win if you don't enter. They are accepting applications for Entrepreneur of 2013, Emerging Entrepreneur of 2013 and College Entrepreneur of 2013. See if you qualify to join the ranks of other inspiring entrepreneurs: http://www.entrepreneur.com/e2013
Tags: marketing speaker, marketing strategy, marketing success, consultant marketing, thought leadership marketing, conference, small business conference, trusted advisor marketing, entrepreneurship, small business marketing expert, marketing strategist, speaker marketing, small business marketing, doit marketing, do it marketing, small business marketing speaker, doitmarketing, small business marketing coach, conference speaker, business conference
Guest post by Mark S A Smith
Image source: BellaDomainMedia.com
When you’re an expert on a topic, people want to learn from you, and if they can, they want it for free.
They’ll say, “I want to pick your brain. Let me buy you lunch.”
Worst case, they’ll take you to a fast food restaurant and buy you a $5 meal and get thousands worth of advice.
Best case, they’ll take you to a great restaurant, spend $100 and get thousands worth of advice.
While it’s great to meet new people, here’s how can you say, “No, I won’t have lunch with you just so you can get an hour of free consulting” without sounding like a jerk.
If you don’t want to discuss your expertise with them, reply with “Sure, but I have ‘no talking about work’ policy at lunch.”
Or say, “I’d love to have lunch with you. But, if you are looking for input on your project, I charge a consultation fee even if we’re dining. Otherwise, I never discuss work over food. What day works for you?”
Get them to do something that shows commitment and shortcuts the process before you accept their invitation.
Say, “Sure! I’m happy to meet with you if you’ll first…” Have them send you an email describing their biggest challenge. Or have them fill out your assessment form. Or, if you’re a content creator, have them first take one of your mini courses.
Guess how many people call to follow up? Very few. Those that do are serious. Those that don’t, aren’t. Do this, and you don’t waste your time on those who aren’t committed.
Say, “I’ve got a really full schedule for the next month, so why not check out my blog (or website) that answers many of the questions that I get when people invite me to lunch. So, take a look, and send me a list of questions, and we can then schedule something next month.”
If you’re an author, say, “I recommend that you first read my book. I specifically wrote it to answer the most common questions that I get. Whatever advice I have to give on [your topic], it’s in there. And it’s cheaper than lunch. So, jot down your questions as you read it, then call me and we can schedule lunch.”
Say, “Brain picking isn’t free and I don’t eat cheap food. Bring a $100 bill and buy me lunch at a nice restaurant. If you’re not happy with the value of my advice, keep the hundred.”
One of my colleagues does this and he always keeps the hundred.
If they object, say, “I tell you what. I’ll give you three free pieces of advice right now that will make you more successful. Your first free success lesson: never do free consulting. Your second free lesson: free advice isn’t acted on like paid advice. Your third lesson: if you don’t get value in exchange, there is no real value generated.”
And I invite you to pick my brain with free instant access to the questions I get frequently asked when people invite me to lunch. Go to http://CompetitionProof.com now to learn great ideas to sell more, keep more margin, and keep your competitors out of you accounts.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_S_A_Smith
What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on this topic and join the conversation...
Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing speaker, thought leadership marketing, marketing professional services, trusted advisor marketing, marketing expert, marketing ideas, marketing strategist, marketing consultant, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing
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.
Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing speaker, marketing for coaches, consultant marketing, consulting firm marketing, thought leadership marketing, trusted advisor marketing, consulting, professional speaker marketing, marketing strategist, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants
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.
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.)
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.
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...
Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing for coaches, thought leadership marketing, professional services marketing, trusted advisor marketing, marketing expert, marketing professional services firms, professional speaker marketing, marketing ideas, marketing strategist, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, marketing tips
Nope, this is NOT a post about that kind of soft, squishy "mission-vision" thing...
This post is about what's on your plate right now - today - right this minute.
My friend, Jose Palomino, sent me an email this morning about some website tweaking that he's doing. He wrote, "Getting the timing right and the sliders to stop rotating after the final reveal is today's mission."
Bam - that was his ONE thing for today. Was he doing other tasks? You bet. Was he developing business, calling clients, following up on sales leads, and doing paperwork? Sure... but he also had his "mission" for the day.
When it comes to being a small business owner, independent professional or speaker/consultant, you have a million things to do and a hundred priorities.
Wouldn't having a SINGLE mission for the day be great?
Well - you can. Many important tasks can be done in as little as 15 minutes -- and tackling ONE head-on might be exactly what you need to regain that most precious entrepreneurial asset - MOMENTUM.
Some examples to get you started:
Tags: marketing speaker, marketing success, consulting firm marketing, thought leadership marketing, marketing professional services, professional services marketing, trusted advisor marketing, entrepreneurship, marketing coaching, productivity tips, professional speaker marketing, marketing coach, marketing strategist, success tips, small business marketing, doit marketing, do it marketing, marketing tip, doitmarketing, content marketing
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...
Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing speaker, marketing strategy, marketing success, marketing for coaches, marketing concept, thought leadership marketing, marketing professional services, trusted advisor marketing, marketing professional services firms, marketing coaching, marketing ideas, marketing coach, marketing strategist, marketing mix, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, marketing tip, doitmarketing
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:
The wrong way(s) tend to share the following characteristics:
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...
Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing speaker, thought leadership marketing, marketing book, trusted advisor marketing, marketing coaching, marketing coach, marketing strategist, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, business book review, becoming an expert
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'
and17 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:
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:
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...
Tags: marketing for speakers, thought leadership marketing, professional services marketing, blog, trusted advisor marketing, blogging for business, professional speaker marketing, marketing strategist, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, business blogging, inbound marketing, internet marketing, inbound links
Ya dig?
Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on packing maximum VALUE into minimum WORDS...
Tags: marketing speaker, consulting firm marketing, thought leadership marketing, trusted advisor marketing, marketing professional services firms, marketing strategist, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, content marketing, brand strategy
