Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

Good!

Quit!!

Please, for heaven's sakes - quit already. 

Over the past few weeks, I've come across way too many complainers, whiners, goofballs and goobers telling me how broke they are, how hard it is to be an entrepreneur, and how much they are struggling. 

Are you kidding me? QUIT NOW because...

• If you want to make an EVEN trade of hours for dollars - get a JOB. 
• If you want to be ASSURED of a paycheck - get a JOB. 
• If you want OTHERS to define your work and your value - get a JOB. 

However...

• If you want to MULTIPLY your own paycheck - be an entrepreneur.
• If you can PROVE your work has worth - be an entrepreneur.
• If YOU want to define your work and your value - be an entrepreneur.

So you should QUIT right now...

1. Quit whining
2. Quit complaining when your ideas and projects "fall apart"
   (HINT: It's YOUR job to pull them together!)
3. Quit saying lack of money is your problem
   (HINT: Lack of tenacity and creativity is your problem)
4. Quit going it alone
5. Quit hanging out with losers
6. Quit freeloading
7. Quit expecting "zero" investments (time, money, effort) to pay off
8. Quit following the herd
9. Quit relying on social media (it's the sauce, not the meat)
10. Quit believing your own negative self-talk
11. Quit playing the victim
12. Quit jumping from one hare-brained scheme to the next
13. Quit putting tactics before strategy 
14. Quit under-spending and over-hoping
15. Quit blaming others
16. Quit blaming yourself
17. Quit congratulating yourself on "the struggle"
18. Quit bragging about how hard you work and how little you sleep
19. Quit bragging (yes bragging!) about how little money you earn
20. Quit telling yourself you're doing your best, when you're not willing to do what needs to be done
21. Quit quitting when things seem impossible

Take a step back - breathe - think - regroup. 

This is no time to wimp out. 

Quit doing this destructive, dumb, demoralizing nonsense. 

And start turning things around. 

Today. Right now...  

Don't make me come down there and slap you upside your head! 

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 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... 

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: 

• Revise your home page copy
• Write an important email to a client or prospect
• Send an invoice you've been proscrastinating on
• Post a blog
• Submit an article to a trade journal or industry publication
• Respond to a media request
• Send out your email newsletter
• Circle back with a prospect who's on the fence
• Clean up your LinkedIn profile
• Post a long-overdue recommendation on LinkedIn
• Send a thank-you note
• Mail a book to a prospect, influencer or decision-maker
• Pick up the phone and apologize to someone important
• Ask for that referral you've been shy about pursuing
• Contact that virtual assistant you've been thinking of hiring 
• Post your internship job description with your local university
• Begin a research file or a Google Doc for your next book
• Make a list of 20 companies you'd like to do business with
• Clear off your desk (you can do this in 5 min. if you create a file folder called "Crap from Desk" and today's date!)
• Do a competitive sweep and see who's doing what in your industry so you can refresh your offerings
• Shoot a 2-minute video and post it to YouTube
• Buy my book and get $747 in bonuses right now (Shhh...)
• Erase the whiteboard in your office and create a "fresh start"
• Take yourself out to a coffee shop for a 2-hour strategic meeting with yourself, a legal pad, and a pack of Sharpies
• Take a nature walk and bring your pocket audio recorder or smart phone to capture ideas
• Reconnect with an old client, friend, or colleague
• Write an amazon book review for a book you admire in your field
• Call your tech wizard to fix a nagging technology problem you've been tolerating for way too long
• Leave a 45-second voicemail for a client just to say how much you value your relationship with them
• Visit your favorite bookstore or newsstand and buy a magazine to flip through for new business ideas

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...

Guest post by Scott Plum

Last week I made a visit to my neighborhood mobile phone carrier’s retail store and noticed a ‘No Solicitors’ sign in the window.  This gave me pause before entering.  I thought – “I’m a Solicitor, what’s wrong with me.  Why don’t they want me to come in?”

I peered through the glass like a school boy at a peep show, wondering what is going on inside that I was forbidden to see.  Others inside the store began to look at me and I finally mustered up the guts to pull the door open and walk in...

Read the rest of the story here...

Quick announcement for you - and a "mark your calendar"... 

You're invited to join me for a brand new teleseminar titled "Consulting Revenue Roadmap" on Wednesday May 8 at 12pm Eastern.  

Details are here if you want to cut to the chase. 

This is perfect for professionals who want to start a consulting practice or seasoned consultants who want to grow their practice and make more money. Also highly relevant for speakers, authors, coaches, high-fee experts, independent professionals, and senior executives.

What you will take away from this 60-minute info-packed program:

• Design the best consulting strategy for your particular expertise
• Discover and evaluate potential niche markets
• Get a simple, repeatable process for researching what types of consulting services and programs your target market will pay for - and use this strategy to start prospecting tomorrow
• Package, promote, and price your consulting programs to maximize profitability
• Set up simple backend systems to scale your consulting marketing AND delivery tasks
• Adopt no-hype, high-integrity methods of selling tens of thousands of dollars of consulting each time you work with clients and audiences of any size in any industry
• Develop a continuing stream of new prospects to fill your professional practice and your marketing database
• Build long-term recurring revenue into your business model with licensing and certification programs
• Do all of this in a specific, structured, and stepwise way to short-circuit any feelings of overwhelm and to regain full control of your business, your income, and your life!

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...

We had over 200 people register for yesterday's "Master the Cold Call Once and for All" teleseminar with Wendy Weiss. 

The program was excellent. And you have to remember, I'm a guy who HATES cold calling. 

The free recording of this 60-minute training call is available for you to download here:

http://www.doitmarketing.com/free-resources-cold-call

NOTE: The special offer on "The Sales Winner's Handbook" (which includes a soup-to-nuts telephone marketing strategy plus 53 context-specific scripts, templates and tools + over $200 in bonuses) expires at midnight tonight 4/18. All the details on that are online for you here. 

Invest in this cold calling mastery package and your spouse, significant other, dog, bookkeeper and accountant will all thank you.  

Keep an eye out for more sales-focused marketing programs in my "Do It! Marketing Summer Sales Seminars" series of FREE virtual events.

More details on that coming soon!