In the end, clients want . . . a valued result. That’s what they’re buying from you.
How you make that desirable result happen for a client, while important, is less critical to generating a client than understanding what they want and why that’s important to them.
“I’m Getting a New Knee”
Some years ago, I received a call from my mother who had moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL for her retirement. She said, “I’m going to do it, Bill!” Mom seemed rather excited and I was very confused. ”You’re going to do WHAT, mom?” That’s when I learned that ‘it’ was a ‘total knee replacement’ –– a serious surgical procedure.
I was a little freaked out at hearing that. I asked, “Why are doing that, mom?” ”I just want a new knee”. Again, I asked, “Why?” Mom replied, “I just want to dance again, Bill”.
How It All Happened
Mom told me she’d been invited to a ‘lunch ‘n learn’ session sponsored by her church. As she entered the gym/theater of the church, she heard music playing and saw all these people (some of whom she knew) dancing upon on the stage! As people continued to arrive, the music and dancing continued. Apparently to the delight of those in attendance, I’m sure.
The Shortest and Most Expensive Presentation . . . EVER!
Mom told me that once everyone was seated, the minister welcomed the guests and introduced the doctor who was speaking that day. ”Dr. _______ (name not used to protect the guilty!) is an orthopedic surgeon at the Holy Cross Hospital here in Ft. Lauderdale. He’s an expert on Total Knee Replacement surgery. Blah, blah, blah . . . so now, without further ado, I give you . . . Dr. so-and-so”.
The doctor then stood up and gave a 1 minute presentation to the people at mom’s church:
“I won’t bore you with all the details of knee replacement surgery — as fascinating as that is to me. Instead, what I’d like you all to learn today, before you return to your lunch, is this: Everyone you saw dancing on this stage when you came in today . . . is a patient of mine. They had been unable to dance BEFORE they had knee replacement surgery. Many of them attended a lunch ‘n learn similar to this one today and, like many of you, required canes, walkers and even wheelchairs to simply get around. After surgery, they’ve been able to dance and do many other things they feared they’d lost the ability to do ever again.
Then, he ‘closed’ his presentation very simply (and highly effectively!): “If you have any questions about whether you may be a qualified candidate for knee replacement surgery . . . please see me before you leave. Thank you”.
And THAT . . . is all it took to get my mom to ‘go for it!’ and get the surgery.
KEY POINTS:
• Prospects for your services want to know the RESULT you offer, not the way you create it
• Gaining access to quality prospects in an ‘endorsed’ manner is a huge help
• Be laser-focused on your point — it means a shorter message and . . . better results!
There’s such a DIFFERENCE!
Skilled Expert: Going DEEP
Like most of us, you probably began your working career in some field — e.g. law, accounting, financial planning, etc. and developed a professional reputation and regard for ‘knowing your stuff’. Expertise in your primary field is a foundation . . . on which to build your professional reputation and regard. But it’s not enough if you aspire to build a long-term, trusted advisor relationship with your clients.
Valued Advisor: Going WIDE
Building on the foundation of being really, really good at what you do — i.e. ‘solving problems for your clients’ — you’ll next want to gain knowledge that is not directly applicable to the field of your primary expertise.
The primary value — to you — of gaining an education about topics outside of your primary expertise is so that you can see things from an entirely different perspective — unlike a skilled expert who ‘knows it all’ . . . and not much else.
An Example: ”Learning To Fly”
Some years ago I had the privilege of learning how to fly. Fortunately, I also had the aptitude to do so effectively. While not critical to my later work as an advisor to salespeople and managers in the financial services industry, my pilot training proved to be an ‘edge’ that other ‘equally skilled’ experts did not enjoy.
At one point, an agency manager I was working with asked me, “How will I know that my training of a producer on some skill was adequate?” What he really wanted to know was, “When can I ‘stop worrying’ about my producer and ‘assume’ she’s developed the competency I’ve been training her to have?”.
It was a good question. Fairly common, too. Because of my earlier flight training, I recalled — and shared — what I learned on the day I ‘soloed’ my training aircraft.
It was a cold January day in New England. Snow squalls were coming in from the west. Grey, overcast day. The kind you like to think about while you’re on a Caribbean cruise!
“Today’s your lucky day, Bill!”
My flight instructor had me doing the usual take-offs and landings (known as ‘touch-and-go’) in the airport’s landing pattern. Nothing too eventful. I felt I was doing OK. ”Make the next landing a ‘Full Stop’ . . .” I wasn’t sure why. I soon found out, though!
We taxied back to the hangar area. My instructor opened the door and said, “Bill . . . you’re ready . . . do three take-offs and make a ‘full stop’ after each. Taxi back to the active (runway) and do it again. I’ll be watching you from the hangar . . . don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Now GO!” With that, he got out of the aircraft and walked off toward the hangar area. I was not expecting that! But I felt excited at the thought that today I would fly the aircraft all by myself. Woo hoo!
The three take-offs and landings were (with one exception) ‘uneventful’ and (obviously) successful. After my third landing I taxied back to the hangar area. I got out of the aircraft and asked my instructor, “How did you know TODAY . . . was THE day to let me ‘go solo’?”
He told me, “Well, I sit in the right seat and I observe you. I want to see if you’re able to hold a steady heading and altitude. If you do, that’s evidence of your SKILL. If you stop holding either one, I want to see if you notice. If you do, that’s evidence of your AWARENESS. Finally, I watch to see if you correct the situation by using the controls and power to restore your heading and altitude. If you do, that’s evidence of your MASTERY. Once I know that you can:
1. make the aircraft do what it’s supposed to be doing,
2. spot it when it’s not, and
3. correct in a timely manner . . .
you really don’t need me to sit in the ‘right seat’ and today . . . you demonstrated all three factors so . . . I got out of your way of becoming the pilot I know you’re going to be”.
Wow! That was brilliant. I shared both that story as well as the lesson it taught me . . . with my agency client. Technically speaking, learning to fly had ‘nothing’ to do with getting his producer to generate more revenues for the practice.
But it had a lot to do with helping my client become more effective as an agency manager whose success reflected the quality of skills his producers were learning from him –– just as my own piloting skills reflected my talented and caring flight instructor from many years before.
KEY POINT:
Go deep AND wide. Deep = expertise in your primary field. Wide = broadening experiences in other (often unrelated!) fields. You’ll be more of a Valued Advisor and . . . more difficult to replace!
Theoretically, you could walk into a Best Buy store and buy a Sony flat-screen TV. The location of the store really doesn’t matter. The salesperson who helps you shouldn’t matter, either. And THAT . . . is a big reason why Best Buy refers to the people it serves as ‘customers’ and not ‘clients’.
It’s a Matter of Balance
When the solution being sold is more or less understood and tangible in nature — like a flat-screen TV is a ‘solution’ to not experiencing the Super Bowl in an exciting manner — it’s easy to see that buyers of that solution are more likely to be viewed as ‘customers’ than ‘clients’.
But when the solution being sold is more reflective of the applied expertise and insight of the provider of a problem-solving service — like the physician counseling her patient in the above image . . . then the relationship is less ‘customer’ and more ‘client’.
Advisors . . . Have Clients, Not Customers
When a solution requires an accurate assessment and expert insight into the buyer’s needs and situation . . . as well as the technical aspects of the solution being rendered . . . the relationship is decidely more ‘client’ than ‘customer’.
Consider the fact that if you were about to undergo a surgical procedure, you might be unhappy if you discovered — as you’re being wheeled into surgery — that your regular doctor had to leave on a personal emergency and ‘some other’ doctor would be performing your surgery. Granted, the ‘other doc’ is licensed by the state to practice medicine and has staff privileges at the hospital but the fact that you don’t know WHO this replacement doctor is . . . might be unsettling to you.
KEY POINT:
It’s your personal relationship with someone — as well as the technical expertise of whatever solution you offer — that makes you an advisor. And the people who seek you out for the solutions they want and you offer . . . are clients rather than customers.
There’s an old joke that goes like this: Two affluent ladies are meeting for lunch. One of them, who’s about to have her home remodeled with a professional decorator, asks the other, “What’s the difference between a bathroom with a motif and a bathroom with a theme? Her friend, who’s been there / done that before replies, “About $20,000″.
Being a Trusted Advisor vs. merely being an expert in your field — is kind of like that, too.
“Trusted Advisor”
This term is so overused, it’s become a cliche. But there is serious financial benefit and value in being seen as one regardless of the professional field you happen to be in — law, accounting, financial services, consulting, etc.
Relationship vs. Transactions
Advisors who earn the professional regard and respect of their clients are truly different from other vendors offering the same problem-solving expertise but without a deeper relationship in place. Being in the right place at the right time with the right answer will probably suffice to generate a transaction with you.
Being a preferred provider — being someone whom a client would, all things being equal, prefer over others is probably the only sure way to operate profitably and productively over the long haul. Why? Because almost any thing a competitor in your field can offer a client creates a level playing field. That removes the competitive distinction between you and your alternatives. So what’s left? The unique relationship YOU offer a prospect or client.
In future posts, we’ll be exploring more about this opportunity to differentiate yourself in the eyes of your prospects and clients by becoming (or, more effectively communicating!) that you are a Trusted Advisor and . . . a Preferred Advisor, as well.
KEY POINT:
Experts who solve problems are going to get sales. Experts who solve problems and build relationships are going to get clients.
The fourth function in your client development process is . . . CONVERTING.
Some call it ‘Selling’ or ‘Closing’. It’s critical to the ultimate outcome you’re seeking — i.e. to go to your bank with a lot more more money than you’re putting in there now.
I just returned from a business trip from the west coast. It was a long flight – over 4 hours. Apart from occasional turbulence, nothing exceptional. Now we’re on ‘final approach’ to land. Seatbelts fastened. Check. Tray tables in their upright and locked position. Check.
About 50 feet off the runway, a gust of wind hit the aircraft and almost put one wingtip into the runway. Fortunately, the pilot recovered (Thank God!) control and the landing continued ‘as planned’. But what if, in the last 10 seconds of the flight, the pilot ‘lost control’ of the landing? The entire flight would have been deemed a ‘disaster’.
Selling is a ‘Mission Critical’ Function
Converting qualified opportunities into realized revenues is what really brings closure (no pun intended!) to your Client Development System. It’s the last ‘key piece’ of the puzzle that makes it possible for you to go to your bank. So you must do it as effectively as each of the three (3) previous elements — Fueling, Qualifying and Cultivating.
Use a SYSTEM!
If you have a business function that is needed repeatedly, done routinely and produces results that are critical to your success . . . please . . . don’t ‘wing it’. Do it by design, not accident. Otherwise, you’ll get the results you want sporadically and erratically instead of consistently and conscientiously.
KEY POINT:
If you’re seeking to gain the skills and attitudes needed to be effective at converting opportunities into revenues, I highly recommend you find a good sales training organization or coach and work on building the skills and attitudes you need to be effective in this key function. (Psst — if you need a good recommendation . . . call me! 860-798-6964)
The third function in your client development process is . . . CULTIVATING.
People Have The Attention Span of a Gnat
You know it’s true. We are being deluged with 3,000 – 5,000 messages bombarding us on a daily basis. It’s daunting! And, it’s so easy to simply tune out anything and anyone who does not present us with an immediate need for a response or an opportunity for possible gain.
Even Your Ideal Prospect Probably Isn’t Ready To Buy . . . Today
Regardless of how you come into contact with someone who satisfies the ‘Ideal Client’ profile for your services, there’s a very good chance that they will not have an ‘immediate need’ for your services.
You buy groceries weekly, you get a dental cleaning every 6 months, and you look at buying or leasing a new car every 3 – 5 years. 
In between those periodic ‘high need’ moments, you’re still a qualified prospect but you’re not a ‘HOT’ prospect, are you?
And THAT . . . is why you want to Keep-In-Touch to Stay-In-Mind with people who, sooner or later, WILL be buying what you’re selling.
Cultivation Makes You More Competitive
Maintaining contact with your prospects — especially when they’re in the early or middle stage of their buying-cycle — builds awareness of you and preference for your brand . . . so when they are ready to do business or refer someone who is, you’ll have a competitive edge!
KEY POINT:
If you’re not cultivating relationships with people who can buy and/or refer you to others who can . . . you’re missing out. Big time!
The second function in your client development process is . . . QUALIFYING.
Having The Right People Is a Good Thing
As you know, the real difference between your potential and your profits are the people you serve.
In terms of people, there are two key factors you’ll want to use to help you decide who is ‘qualified’ to take your time, money and energy for your business or practice.
1. Can someone BUY the products and services you offer?
2. Can Someone REFER or INTRODUCE you to people who can?
That’s it. Don’t make this complicated, my friend!
“Can You Buy From Me?”
This is an obvious criterion. If you’re not connecting regularly with people who will, sooner or later, want the kind of products and services you offer, you’ll never generate any revenues. And that’s unacceptable. So knowing whether someone can buy what you offer is a key to your success.
“Can You Refer People To Me Who Can Buy My Products or Services?”
Next to finding you have a viable prospect for your products and services, learning that someone is willing and able to refer people to you (or, introduce you) to people who can best understand, desire and afford the services you offer, is the next best thing.
People who are referring others to you are demonstrating their TRUST and RESPECT in you. That’s not to be taken lightly. Nor is it earned easily!
Ideally, you want to find people who will both BUY and REFER. But at least one of these two criteria is required to have someone ‘qualify’ to get into your Client Development System.
So Again . . . WHY Are You Qualifying People?
Building your business or practice requires clients –– and the revenues they suggest. Clients come from people who’ve come to know, like and trust you. Some of these people may need your services themselves. Others, for any number of reasons, may not need the products and services you offer. But they may still be able to refer people to you who will.
Regardless of what someone may be able to do for your ‘bottom line’ . . . if you can’t see how they can help you by buying and/or referring you to others who can . . . you don’t let them ‘in’ your Client Development System. Period.
KEY POINT:
Building relationships is the basis for building revenues. However, if you’re working with people who cannot (or, will not) buy from you and/or refer to you . . . you’re burdening your social relationships with a business expectation that’s simply not going to happen. Don’t do it!
The first function in your client development process is . . . FUELING.
Your Business or Practice is a Vehicle
You may find it helpful to think of your business or practice as a vehicle.
Vehicles are means of transportation. As a vehicle for you, your business can take you from where you are today to where you want to be in the future.
When you think of your business as a vehicle, it’s easy to see it taking you to a well-deserved retirement, dropping the kids off at a nice college or university along the way and maybe even trailering a nice big boat behind you to enjoy whenever you feel like stopping.
Your Vehicle Needs Fuel
Every vehicle requires fuel of some kind to operate effectively. To your business or practice, that fuel means people . . . who can help you grow your business . . . directly or indirectly.
You Need The ‘Right Kind’ of Fuel
As you know, you must be ‘choosey’ about the fuel you’ll put into your vehicle. Putting gasoline into a diesel engine or diesel fuel into a gas engine will cause you a lot of problems — and it won’t help your vehicle operate as you expect to take you where you want to go.
It’s no different with your business or practice. You want to begin your client development process with the most suitable people you can — assuming you want your business to operate effectively, efficiently and profitably.
You Need ‘Enough’ Fuel, Too
Your journey through life . . . from where you are today to when you send the kids to college and when you seek to retire . . . is a long ride! Getting from ‘here’ to ‘there’ will take some doing. And, of course, you’re expecting your business or practice will help you make the journey.
But if you lack sufficient ‘fuel’ — people who can buy or refer people to you — you may not be reaching your ‘destinations’ as you intend. In fact, you may have no choice but to settle for less . . . a less desirable lifestyle before you retire, a less desirable college for your kids, a less desirable quality of life in retirement for yourself and your spouse. Not a pretty picture, is it?
KEY POINT:
If you don’t have BOTH the quantity and quality of the people you need to operate your business or practice as you want, you may be working longer than you like, harder than you want and for far less than you deserve.
If you’re a self-employed individual, the owner of a small business or a professional practitioner whose problem-solving expertise and services are valued by others (i.e. your clients), I bet you know how good it feels to land a new client.
It’s a rush. A good feeling. Isn’t it?
But do you know how you generate a new client?
Mystery or Mastery?
Some people tell me, “I don’t know . . . I just seem to get them whenever I want them”. I’m sure that’s gratifying to their friends who aren’t wizards and aren’t able to ‘manifest’ clients on-demand!
But many business owners or professional practitioners find that generating clients (or, ‘rainmaking’ as some prefer to call that function) is more of a mystery than a mastery. They find that frustrating. Maybe you can relate?
The Client Development Process
Thankfully, there is a ‘method’ to address the ‘madness’ of discovering that, despite your ability to solve problems for your clients, generating clients for yourself as easily and adequately as you might like . . . may not be one your strengths.
The Four Functions
Generating clients requires four (4) functions all working consistently on your behalf:
FUELING
This generates the ‘raw material’ or opportunities for you to generate new clients
QUALIFYING
This separates your opportunities into two groups: ‘real’ and ‘OMG’
CULTIVATING
This builds the ‘know, like and trust’ factor about you with qualified opportunities
CONVERTING
This is where you realize the value of your cultivated opportunities
In 2012, we’ll be spending a number of posts on each of these functions . . . to help you become more effective at developing clients . . . by design, not accident. And, oh yes . . . you won’t need to be a ‘wizard’ to make this happen, either!
KEY POINT:
Generating clients is not a skill-set that you may have, BUT . . . you can learn to do it (and, we will!)
So it’s a NEW YEAR . . . and you may have made a resolution to use your social networks more in 2012 than you did in 2011. Good for you!
Keep It Simple . . . Join Groups and Discussions / Make Comments and New Friends
While there are many things you could do to leverage LinkedIn, a very basic (i.e. easy-to-do) tactic that is also highly effective is to:
1. Join / Explore relevant groups that interest you
2. Observe what people are talking about in the group’s Discussions
3. Comment when you feel you have something to contribute
4. Follow-up any meaningful response with a direct message
5. Invite the other person to connect with you
This is a very basic and DO-able process that will help you build your LinkedIn network with people whom you have connected to in a meaningful manner.
An Example:
Recently, I saw a post by someone in a group where I’m a member, made a comment and received a very nice response.
Here’s a follow-up message I received from another (new) connection after we connected on LinkedIn:
This happens far more often than most people realize. If you’re so inclined to grow your LinkedIn network, do it gradually. Set a goal to find and comment on someone’s post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. When someone responds, if it feels right to do so, invite them to connect — and cite the common connection you both shared. Slowly but surely your LinkedIn network will grow — as will the opportunities your LinkedIn community generates for your business or practice.
KEY POINT:
Growing Your LinkedIn Connections isn’t hard . . . just do the ‘basics’ consistently!
In my last post, I mentioned something might be MISSING . . . remember?
Lest you accuse me of dragging out the answer too long, let me direct your attention to the fellow with the megahorn as a final clue. Does that help?
After Attracting Visitors, You Want To Get Some Kind of Action!
With an inbound marketing approach, you’re anticipating what the ‘Next Step’ in your process must be and do for you. Let’s face it, although you want to drive traffic to your website (or, blog) . . . if that’s ALL you do, you might as well not even bother.
The next ‘step’ after attracting traffic to you is to ‘convert’ your faceless visitors into recognizable people whom you can invite to take the ‘Next Step’ until, after enough steps, the person becomes a customer or client.
Use a Call-To-Action
Once you have attracted a ‘qualified’ visitor to your site, you want to learn who they are so you can begin the ‘courtship’ process — going from a suspect to a prospect to a client. The mechanism for doing this is called a ‘Call To Action’.
This is typically a graphic button of some kind inviting you to do something to get an item of value . . . like a Special Report, a Buyers Guide, access to an exclusive video, etc. in return.
Call To Actions make it EASY to show you that a visitor has an interest in the value you have that they want. And, if your initial ‘offer’ doesn’t require too much effort or expense . . . you’re more likely to get a response and, when you do that, you’ll be converting more visitors into opportunities. Won’t that be nice!
KEY POINT:
Curious about converting visitors into opportunities . . . ???
OK, so yesterday . . . I made a post on this blog: “Inbound Marketing in Connecticut”.
Today — just one day later — I do a search on Google for what I’d like to think a prospective client might type into Google assuming, of course, that they were interested in ‘Inbound Marketing’ and entered (as many do) a geographic factor i.e. ‘Connecticut’.
Relevance Makes You Rise To The TOP!
Well, lo and behold . . . My post is found on PAGE 1 of the Google search for the phrase (some call it a ‘long-tail keyword’) that was the title of my post. (you can check it for yourself — click the image to open in a new window!).
What Were The Ingredients That Worked?
First, It was only 230 words (quality beats quantity in a blog post, folks!). Second, I used the keyword phrase ‘inbound marketing’ but in a meaningful and relevant way. Third, I included a video that was ranked well on YouTube. Fourth, I used the phrase (keyword) ‘Outbound Marketing’. Nothing magical there. Just basic SEO that you can do, too.
Something is missing from yesterday’s post, though. Can you tell what it is? If not, I’ll share it tomorrow.
KEY POINT:
Content attracts people who are looking for what you do . . . so plan to use it effectively in 2012.
Who doesn’t love a little red sports car?
I recall how my ‘favorite car’ was exactly that — a 1987 red Toyota MR2 . . . OMG I loved that car. But, I digress . . .
“It’s a chick-magnet”
That’s how the salesperson (a woman no less!) described it to me. Maybe she thought I was having a mid-life crisis and a ‘little red sports car’ was exactly what I needed. Regardless, I bought that car for my own enjoyment and boy, did I love that car.
And truth be told, that’s what most people understand a ‘hot-looking’ car is going to do for the owner. Of course, truth and fantasy blur easily and rarely does the latter influence the former. But that’s what most people still believe a ‘little red sports car’ will do for the driver.
What Does a ‘Little Red Sportscar’ has to do with ‘standing out’
One part (1/3, actually) of your marketing strategy is to ‘differentiate’ your self, business, products and services from the ‘alternatives’ your prospective client may consider, right? So how do you do that?
Leverage a Common Perception with An Uncommon Twist
Al Ries ad Jak Trout wrote a book called, “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind“. In it, they suggest adopting “a competitive mental angle”. That simply means you assume your prospect is aware of who your competition is and you use what people associate about them . . . to your advantage.
For example:
What if you wanted to promote your mini-van? It’s no little red sportscar, right? EXACTLY!
That’s why the common understanding of what a ‘little red sportscar’ is all about makes it ideal to use to make your reader relate to what your benefit really is:
” . . . BETTER at picking up women than an exotic and expensive sportscar!”
KEY POINT:
Differentiation is never done in a vacuum — always use a context your reader already understands and THEN . . . add an ‘angle’ . . . to make your benefit ‘stand out’ in their mind.
However you ATTRACT people to your website:
• SEO
• Direct Mail
• Advertising
• Word of Mouth
• Promotional Emails
• Blog Posts with inbound links
• etc.
you definitely don’t want to lose them.
You want to CATCH them!
Not literally, of course. But as we saw in a previous post, if you don’t learn who is interested in the benefits you offer, you may be extremely frustrated at the dismal contribution your website is (NOT!) making to your top-line revenues and bottom-line satisfaction.
Call-T0-Action + Landing Page = Success
Let’s assume someone finds you as a result of a Google search — a likely possibility — and they click your listing to gain, what they hope, is something useful . . . to them. That would be your content that caused Google to show you on the search in the first place.
Call To Action . . .
Keep this simple. It’s merely a mechanism . . . 
that invites a visitor to do something to get what they want . . . like learn your insights on how to address an issue in their life or business . . . better than they’ve been able to do.
Landing Page . . .
If a visitor doesn’t go directly to a landing page from a link in a Google search, your Call-To-Action button should lead a visitor to a page on your site that’s dedicated to the topic of interest to your visitor.
Once they are on your landing page, you want to use only as much copy as is needed to convince your visitor to give you their information — usually their name and email — in exchange for the low-risk, high-value information you have and they want.
KEY POINT:
Attracting visitors to your website is a critical first step in generating revenues for your business. But you must learn who you’ve attracted . . . so you can take appropriate actions to generate not only leads, but revenues as well.
Occasionally, far too rarely actually, I come across a truly brilliant marketing campaign that benefits not only the marketer but everyone else involved.
Enter . . . the Fourth Annual Holiday Feed It Forward™ campaign of Restaurant.com:
Here’s the Deal . . .
Each year around the holidays, Restaurant.com enables anyone to ‘give away’ $10 Gift Certificates to anyone they like . . . as a gift . . . absolutely FREE!
How / Why It Works . . .
Restaurant.com is a firm that helps roughly 18,000 restaurants generate customers. It does this by allowing people like you and me to buy its ‘gift certificates’ at a discount and these 18,000 restaurants honor the ‘face’ value of each certificate. The restaurants get more traffic, consumers get a good value (and, hopefully a good meal) and Restaurant.com gets a nominal fee for each transaction
That’s smart. Afterall, each participating restaurant only incurs a ‘cost’ of sales (the discount and fee) when this promotional tactic actually pays off. I love anything that changes the ‘pay now and pray later’ marketing media into one you only need to pay for when it actually works! That’s what Restaurant.com does — very nicely.
The 2012 Restaurant.com Holiday Gift-Away . . .
For the last four years, to help all the parties in the equation — restaurants and consumers — Cary Chessik, CEO of Restaurants.com has allowed anyone to give a ‘gift’ of $10 to people they know as a simple act of ‘feeding it forward’.
This is altruism and commercialism as it helps Cary’s restaurant clients by putting ‘butts in the seats’ for them. At the same time, it provides people like you and me with an opportunity to say, “Thanks” to many people in our lives in what may find this is a time that’s more financially difficult for more people than we may ever know.
It’s 100% legit — I’ve used this myself already — and I hope you would use this opportunity to give a $10 Gift Card to up to 40 people each day between now and Christmas.
KEY POINT:
Marketing makes a difference in the lives of people by connecting us all. Use this ‘Feed It Forward’ opportunity to do the same with people in your world . . . all you’ll feel is good . . . and appreciated!
In the movie, “Jaws!” there’s a scene where the shark hunters are chumming — putting a vile-smelling concoction of fish parts over the side to attract sharks to the boat for a ‘great day of fishing!”.
As you may also recall, Roy Schneider’s character got a classic line when, after chumming, ‘Jaws’ rears his head out of the water startling Schneider and he says, “I think we’re gonna need a bigger boat”.
Bigger boat? Are you kidding me? How about a bigger HOOK or HARPOON or NET or . . . something to catch what you attract!
Attraction is Good . . . Catching is Better!
Attracting the shark was only 50% of their challenge’. The other 50% was actually catching it!. It’s no different for your business and your website visitors. If all you do is attract visitors to your website but you don’t catch them . . . all your work to attract them to you in the first place will be for naught!
Are You Capturing Your Website Visitors?
A recent survey of over 2.500 SMB’s by MerchantCircle/Reply.com revealed that ”SEO Is The Single Most Important Marketing Channel For Small to Mid Size Businesses.”
As the graph shows, SEO or Seach-Engine-Optimization was easily the most attractive option.
OK, that’s nice –– a nice START! Merely attracting traffic won’t put money in your bank. You have to ‘convert’ your visitors into qualified leads. If you don’t you’re wasting your time and money on SEO-only vendors.
KEY POINT:
If you ‘only’ attract traffic to your website but you don’t convert faceless visitors into viable prospects, all the SEO in the world will be for naught!
One of the more exciting developments to come out of my relationship with Duct Tape Marketing is a a program called The Marketing Catalyst.
It’s designed to give small business owners a simple, effective and affordable option for building a SYSTEM for marketing their products and/or services.
Here’s a brief video introduction about this from Duct Tape Marketing’s founder, John Jantsch:
Get a FREE ‘TEST DRIVE’ of this online, 24/7/365 on-demand program . . . click here
One of my Duct Tape Marketing colleagues, David Smith from Boise, ID and I were kicking around ideas on how to get and craft a good review — to support local marketing — a program David’s delivering to a group of Idaho business owners.
My input, while not the most academic, may be of some help to you as you consider the same issue:
Be Real . . . Be Counter-Intuitive . . . Start Off Negative
I find that ‘glowing’ reviews, i.e. overly positive are dismissed more quickly and easily than clients will like. An idea I picked up from a friend and colleague, Sean D’Souza is: ”Lead with a negative”. The CREDIBILITY of what follows is so much greater and it won’t seem like it was written by groupies on drugs stalking their favorite rock band. e.g.
“When I first heard about ‘Duct Tape’ Marketing, I thought, “What The Heck?” Then, I thought, “Oh boy, here we go again! Just gonna be another BS way of saying what everyone else is saying we ought to do only they’ll charge a lot more for it.”
That’s real. It’s what your prospects are probably thinking. So JOIN the conversation in their heads and THEN . . . bring them to know something you know that they probably weren’t thinking about . . . eg. “Well, BOY, WAS I WRONG! Dave Smith, the local Duct Tape Marketing consultant met with me and my team last week and I had to say, “Wow” . . .”
See what a credible impact that makes vs. a sugar-coated, lop-sided but utterly bland compliment that doesn’t stand out in a meaningful way?
Be Specific!
The other thing I believe is important to include in a review is SPECIFICITY of a VALUED OUTCOME. The luke-warm (i.e. ‘safe’) comments are useless because they sound like what everyone else is saying. e.g. “ABC’s food tasted great and the service was good.” (Well, I’d sure hope so!)
You’d be better to focus on a specific ‘outcome’ enjoyed from using (consuming) your product or service –e.g. “We used to have WWIII on our hands trying to get the kids up in the morning. Now, thanks to Tasty Chew Cornflakes, our kids are waking US up to make sure we’re in the kitchen for breakfast! Kind of refreshing, actually.”
Help People Give You a Great Review
It’s always helpful to end a review with a RATING and a CALL-TO-ACTION. Let your reviewers be your promoters — e.g. “Overall I’d give these guys a 9 out of 10 (and I never give anyone, anywhere a ’10′) so the next time you’re hungry in the KC area and the family wants to go out for a bite, be sure and put Oklahoma Joe’s on your ‘short list’ of ‘must-know-gotta-go’ places and get yourself a REAL pulled pork sandwich for a change”.
NEVER ‘Write’ Someone’s Review
You do, however, want to explain the ‘structure’ and provide an easy way to invite them to ‘bullet point’ their key points.
You may want to say, “Hey, can I write-up what I think you just said to me . . . and see if you approve the copy or would like to make some edits?” That’ll work every time!
KEY POINT:
People love being editors vs. writers. If you make their ‘job’ easier, you’ll make your reviews even better.
Listen Up! Marketers talk incessantly about ‘The Funnel’ . . . the iconic image that suggests the ‘Prospect Pathway’ that begins with a ‘lead’ and ends with ::::::drumroll:::::: a customer or client.
The problem is, this is so myopic! The notion of a ‘funnel’ implies that, once you reach the bottom and generate a customer, the process is over. FAR FROM IT!!
The FUNNEL . . . Isn’t Really A Funnel Afterall
In your business the ‘event’ of making a sale to a new customer or client marks the end of the initial ‘chase’. But it also marks (or, should!) the beginning of the ‘real’ relationship between your firm and your new client.
The Story of The Daily Rose
I have a cousin — Bill Murphy of Washington, DC. He’s quite the fellow. His wife, Sharon is quite the lady, too. They have a big, wonderful family and operate a foundation (Mary House) in ‘the city’ that provides homes to families who have been battered by bad spouses or cruel governments (think Bosnian refugees). President Bush even recognized Bill as one his ’1,000 points of light’. So yeah, he’s a cool guy.
But here’s why Sharon and Bill have such a great relationship. Every day, and I mean EVERY day since they were married (and they’re grandparents now, too!) . . . Bill gives Sharon ::::drumroll:::: a single rose.
There’s Light at The End of The Tunnel
What Bill recognizes is that there’s a BIG difference between a ‘wedding’ (one-day, one-time event) and a ‘marriage’ (the ongoing, day-in, day-out stuff!).
Getting married isn’t that difficult. The challenge is to honor the relationship you’ve started . . . so you stay married! Like Bill and Sharon Murphy of Mary House in DC.
The Lesson to Take-Away
Like a marriage, the relationship you formalize with a new client (marked by an ‘event’ – i.e. the first sale) holds the FUTURE POTENTIAL to give you many, many more sales. IF . . . you’ll honor and cultivate the relationship you’ve started with your new client.
That may not require a daily rose (but what a great idea, no?). But it does mean nurturing your relationships with clients, prospects and COI’s, too.
Keeping those who have demonstrated that they value what you offer . . . keeping them thinking of you first, foremost and most favorably the NEXT time they need what you offer . . . is what relationship building is all about.
KEY POINT:
The Duct Tape Marketing ‘hourglass . . . is our image that recognizes there’s far more than a single sale involved . . . there’s a lifetime of repeat sales . . . waiting for you if you just honor the relationships you start.
In a recent article in the prestigious Harvard Business Review, David Edelman of McKinsey & Company argues that publishing a regular flow of quality, market-centric content has a funny way of generating a regular flow of revenues. Of course, he warns, not to do so . . . is a choice made with potentially perilous consequences!
Four Ways To Publish Content
EDUCATION / ENTERTAINMENT — Sears posts cooking videos on Youtube, Macy’s and Target also have topical treatments (i.e. content, content and more content!) on topics they believe appeal to their market and will cause sales of their products. Seems to be working!
PROBLEM-SOLVING — Williams-Sonoma offers content on how to best choose food and wine, Home Depot offers DIY videos on all kinds of topics.
SOCIAL PROOF — LL Bean hosts ‘stories’ from actual customers and many bloggers are being encouraged to create content about topics that lead readers to (DUH!) learn about and purchase products these firms offer for sale.
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING / MAINTAINING -- perhaps the most challenging because it requires robust monitoring, ongoing analysis and immediate response. This is also the most potent and measurable means of marketing. Best example? Amazon.com
KEY POINT:
We advocate the publishing model as a key to modern marketing for many reasons. Here’s why — it works! Try it. You’ll like it, too!
Yesterday, we talked about the value of creating remarkable content that Google loves and regards highly.
Quality content will definitely help you attract visitors to your website, blog or landing page. But it’s only a start. Even the best content alone won’t increase revenues for you.
More Keys To Inbound Marketing Success
Inbound marketing is deemed effective when it does the following for you:
• Attracts qualified visitors — aided largely by your remark-able content
• Encourages them to engage and interact with you
• Positions your company favorably against your competitors
• Cultivates a relationship with you over time, and (should we ever forget!)
• Generates revenues for you
Key 2: Encourage Engagement and Interaction
Did you ever have a teacher who would call on you — at random: “Chris, what do YOU think about what Jane just said?”. I have! And it sure kept me on my toes in her class. That’s what you want your visitors to do after following your content back to a post or landing page.
Some good ways to do this include:
• Comments — allow and invite feedback from your readers to your blog posts
• Polls & Surveys — invite voting on topics you can address — and post the results!
• Video — short, focused ‘treatments’ build your reputation as an expert in your field
• Audio — like video — remember: “short and sweet” . . . is hard to beat!
• Whitepapers — focused content rendered into a ‘Report’ or ‘E-Book’ — very popular
Whenever possible, make your content relevant and download-able. Why? Because it helps you learn who’s been attracted to you and would like to get to know you better! We call this ‘conversion’. It’s why you have ‘landing pages’ where visitors can voluntarily (that’s key!) exchange their information for yours.
KEY POINT:
Attracting visitors with relevant and valued content is a good start . . . providing further options to engage with you helps boost your conversion rate (visitors / registrants) and THAT . . . fills your database of people who are getting to know, like and trust you. From there, you can make offers, close sales and collect revenues . . . by design, not accident!
Attracting Traffic!
Apart from a possible narcissistic indulgence, you want to be found by people who are seeking the knowledge and expertise you have in great abundance. Afterall, if no one knows about you, how will they ever do business with you? It’s not likely, is it? That’s why you have (I hope!) a blog and write posts. That attracts qualified traffic (i.e. visitors) to your site from the Internet.
Your Credibility and Relevance
Being found by prospects for your business begins by Google seeing your site as a credible and relevant source of information you offer on the topic being searched.
Keyword-rich Content
One of the first keys to getting Google to show you to people who want to know what you know is to publish information that Google feels fits the search.
To do that, you must learn the keywords and phrases (AKA ‘long-tail’ keywords) people are using when they conduct an online search for the problem-solving information you have to offer. There are several online tools that can help you here (e.g. Keyword Tracker). A quick search on Google will reveal a number of resources on the topic. Alternatively, HubSpot clients have this functionality seamlessly built-in to their sites — automatically.
Keyword-rich content starts with HEADLINES that are keyword-rich.
Here are some examples of how one firm, HealthBridge — is creating relevant content to be presented favorably by Google. Note how each headline reflects key words and phrases that are highly relevant to people who may require and/or provide in-home care for seniors:
- Home Care Support – VA Aid & Attendance Pension
- 6 Ways Health Care Reform Will Impact Seniors
- $250 Senior Citizen Stimulus Checks are in the Mail!
- 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Home Care Provider
- 5 Signs that You Don’t Have Alzheimer’s Disease
- How to Pick 8 Types of Dementia Out of a Crowd
- What Makes a Good Caregiver Great?
- Nintendo vs. Quilting in the Fight to Save Your Brain
- 3 Big Mistakes When Talking to Your Parents About Elder Care
KEY POINT:
Publishing Content Online — is a key to marketing effectively. Content that attracts quality visitors (traffic) must be credible and relevant to the people you seek to attract. That means learning and using keywords in the headline of every post you publish.
I get a daily email from HARO (Help A Reporter Out) — brainchild of Peter Shankman. HARO is a service that provides a venue for reporters and bloggers and sources of news and information to connect. It’s totally free and it’s made Shankman well-known and a hero to many of us who seek quality sources for our content.
Recently, he spoke at a blogging conference on how to build relationships online. He was a smashing success, holding the room spellbound for 90 minutes sharing his views on life as much as business. Here are 4 highlights from his talk:
Own It — whatever you do online with a project, share it. Things won’t always go as you like. It happens (or, something like that!). Do your best to make things right. To make things work. And if you don’t or can’t . . . own it. People will regard and respect you more than if you live in denial and seek to blame others for the situations you may find yourself in.
Be Relevant — building a base of fans requires that you offer what people want. People don’t care about you. They care about themselves. If you honor that by offering what they want, they’ll give you what you seek — support and attention and loyalty.
Learn How To Communicate — people have all the time in the world as well as the attention span of a gnat! If you want to attract and keep the attention of people, you must learn how to make your content not only relevant but rendered coherently as well.
Keep In Touch — it’s so easy to make connections online but it’s difficult to build them into relationships of substance. Peter suggests making yourself uncomfortable. ”Call people and say, “Hi, how are you doing?”. It’s going to be difficult. But it’s also going to make you stand out. In a good way.
I Have $2,500 worth of Value . . . Waiting For You to Download
No. I’m not kidding. If you’re seeking a wonderful resource that will truly help you market your business, products and services BETTER in 2012 than you are now . . . I have been authorized to give you a complimentary gift worth $2,500. Click the link above to get it!
All you must do is DOWNLOAD IT . . . before November 29, 2011
The ‘gift’ is a download of some 33 audio MP3′s and a workbook PDF that other business people paid $2,500 to enjoy. And now, it’s yours. FREE of charge. No strings attached.
WHY . . . you’re being granted access to this gift
The brilliant brain behind this offer is Sean D’Souza. Sean lives in New Zealand. He moved there from Mumbai, India. He heard doing so would allow him to live closer to Antarctica. Go figure. He’s had a stellar career in advertising and is passionate about helping business owners market their products and services more effectively. I am a client and a ‘Raving Fan’.
This is ‘Green’ Marketing . . . Recycling At Its Best
When Sean has a program like The Brain Achemy Masterclass sell sufficient ‘seats’ that he’s recovered his development costs many times over, he will use it to introduce himself and his approach to marketing to new prospects through . . . ta da . . . old clients. Most of whom are his ‘Raving Fans’. Like me.
What Sean is Doing Is Brilliant
Sean does not give his Brain Alchemy Masterclass away . . . without charge or strings attached. Sean’s clients do that. For Sean.
It’s Not About The Gift . . . It’s About The Gift-er!!
If Sean offered you a ‘Free Copy’ of his program or I offered you a copy, the net effect, financially speaking, is the same.
The difference in having a client like me give you this same ‘gift’ is because I’m adding my tacit endorsement of Sean. If I have ANY influence, prestige, potency, regard, etc. with you . . . then I am infusing that credibility into the offer I’m making to you . . . in a way that Sean, by himself, could never do.
Social Networks Offer Marketing Opportunities . . . IF . . . You Use Them Effectively
Each person in your world (or, network) has a network of their own. Some of their network contacts may be very qualified prospects for the problem-solving expertise and services you offer. So here’s my question, “Can you benefit from what Sean is doing?” Specifically, “Can you DO what Sean is doing here?”
Here’s the formula:
Create / Select an ITEM OF VALUE — preferably a high quality MP3 of PDF that reveals your problem-solving expertise
Craft an OFFER — that your ‘fans’ — prospects, clients and COI’s can share with their network contacts
Promote it to your NETWORK OF INFLUENCE — give them the ‘glory’ of gifting it because you’ll get their traffic soon enough
It’s a wonderful way for everyone involved to win . . . you’ll win with new people being favorably introduced to you by people whom they already know, like and trust. Your ‘fans’ win by demonstrating the value of being part of their network of influence. Finally, their network contacts win by finding out about a superb resource in your field — you.
KEY POINT:
Your Network is an asset . . . give the people who know, like and trust you a way to introduce you to their contacts . . . and enjoy the ride!
Publish or Perish
Successful marketing requires that you produce and distribute relevant content on a regular basis.
That’s why Step 3: “Adopt The Publishing Model” is so important to honor and practice.
Of course, once you embrace this reality, using a marketing calendar becomes an inescapable conclusion.
Lead Generation
At the same time, you’ll be engaging in many different activities to market your business.
In Step 5, “Orchestrate The Lead-Generation Trio” you’ll be focusing on advertising, PR and referrals. These marketing activities are not ‘one-off’ activities. They are most effective when you engage in a series of actions.
For example, an advertising campaign requires that you plan your creative message, select appropriate media, monitor results and modify your campaign accordingly.
Public Relations involves identifying and cultivating media contacts with useful information on a regular basis.
Generating referrals requires a systematic approach and carefully coordinated actions to produce successful results.
Managing Your Web Presence
In Step 3: “Create a Total Web Presence” you’re managing your social media profiles — definitely not a ‘one and done’ kind of activity! Creating and using a ‘listening post’ to monitor your brand’s mentions involves a number of orchestrated actions. And let’s not forget the ‘big driver’ of your content is your blog — which requires definite planning to maintain a quality level that will generate traffic to your site.
Marketing is a NEVER-ending function of your business
Once you begin to implement your marketing, you quickly realize that consistency in your actions, over time, is best managed by creating a marketing calendar. The annual marketing calendar is not only a great planning device for campaigns and product launches, it’s also a great tool to organize and schedule all your time-sensitive projects and actions.
Creating projects and breaking them down into daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly actions, helps you maintain focus on your marketing and the results you’re seeking from doing your marketing . . . by design, not accident and consistently and conscientiously rather than sporadically, erratically and ineffectively.
KEY POINT:
Ask, “What would happen if I started to manage my marketing ‘by the calendar’?”
Trust me, you’ll like the answer!
In football, the Red Zone is the last 20 yards a team must cross to reach their goal and get points on the scoreboard.
Marketing gets you into your revenue Red Zone. Getting people to know, like and trust you is not enough to generate revenues — but it sure puts you in an excellent position to do so.
Once you’re in a position to score (or, sell), your focus turns from marketing to selling.
“Ya Gotta Have a System to Sell”
Here’s another way to look at things. Let’s say you fly from London to New York and have a ‘picture perfect’ flight until . . . you’re about 50 feet above the runway at JFK when your pilot loses control and crashes. It matters not how good the flight was before your landing. The entire flight is still a total loss. No matter what else you do, if you don’t sell effectively, you lose!
Systems and Procedures . . . Systems and Procedures
Once you’re in the Revenue Red Zone, you’re at the point in the Duct Tape Marketing Hourglass where you can leverage the know, like and trust you’ve developed to make an offer to a well-qualified prospect.
Early stage prospects may give you a ‘try’ with offers involving no-cost and no-risk. As prospects become better qualified, your offers can be for low-cost, low-risk ways to use your services.
Later stage prospects, who really know, like and trust you are your best candidates for significant purchases.
Selling is to Marketing . . . as Marriage is to Dating
You won’t marry everyone you date. And, you won’t sell everyone to whom you market your services. But once you convert a prospect into a client, you can leverage that relationship to generate a number of transactions with your client over time. That’s the basis for what we call ‘lifetime value’ — the sum total of all the transactions a client relationship offers you over time.
KEY POINT:
Selling is a revenue-related function no less important than other aspects of your marketing system. It deserves an equally sound systematic approach to be effective.
The popular belief is that you do ‘marketing’ to ‘fill your selling pipeline’. True enough. But your ‘mix’ of:
1. referrals,
2. advertising, and
3. public relations
varies with your Ideal Client, target market and available budget.
So the way you’ll choose to use referrals, advertising and PR to generate selling opportunities will, of necessity, be unique to you and your business.
Marketing Synergy . . . When The Whole is Greater Than The Sum of The Parts
Marketing pros have long held that someone needs to see or hear about you 7 times BEFORE they’re likely to even be aware of you much less consider responding to your marketing offers. While the numbeer of contacts required may vary, the basic principle is sound.
A marketing ‘contact’ can result from seeing your ad, getting a referral to you via word-of-mouth, reading your special report, attending your webinar, reading your client case studies or client testimonials, and so on.
Together your lead-generation trio helps you build the ‘know, like and trust’ your prospects need to take action on your offers to ‘try or buy’ what you’re selling.
KEY POINT:
Referrals, advertising and PR can easily fuel up your ‘lean, mean marketing machine’ — if you use them consistently and conscientiously.
To paraphrase the famous words penned by the English poet, John Donne (1572 -1631) . . .
“No Website Is An Island”
Your website can not long exist, much less thrive if it is not connected to a larger system of online (and, offline!) media.
Wayne Gretsky, the hockey legend said, “I go where the puck is going to be . . .”. That’s your goal, too — be everywhere you can be online (and, off) so prospects can find you easily.
You Never Know When or Where
or How
People who are prospects for your products and services are on all kinds of media. They’re on social network sites like facebook and Linkedin. They send and receive tweets on Twitter, they read posts on blogs and they’re constantly searching online using Google.
This is why your business must be easy to find and connect with online. This requires creating quality content that’s Google-friendly and easily promoted on social media.
It also means dovetailing your online presence into your offline marketing activities, as well.
KEY POINT:
The entire web is an opportunity to build your presence and traffic — use it or lose it!
Time Magazine’s ’Man of The Year’ award in 1982 went to the “Personal Computer”. It was a shocker. A game-changer. A harbinger of things — BIG things — yet to come.
Content is ‘King’
Today, ‘Content’ is where the focus of marketing has shifted due to the role of a little company in California called . . . Google™.
The real ‘power’ in marketing has shifted away from the marketers and into the hands (or PC’s, tablet computers, smart phones, etc.) of consumers seeking useful ‘content’.
Access to Information is Everywhere
With access to ‘the net’ being so easy and available, consumers have the power — to learn anything they want, the moment they want it, from anywhere they happen to be. They simply use ‘Google’ to search online and, Voila! — it’s done!
Attraction, Not Interruption
As consumers, we’re conditioned to search for answers to our questions on our terms, when we want to know something. The days of ‘pushing’ an ‘intrusive’ message on ‘everyone’ that most find ‘intrusive’ are fading fast. And if you tenaciously hold on to that model of marketing, you’ll be gone before too long, too!.
The New Model: ”Be Found, Not Obnoxious”
Getting found by consumers when they search isn’t difficult. Ask Google. They invented ‘Adwords’ and PPC (pay per click) advertising that places your online ad in front of ‘qualified’ consumers based on ‘keywords’ in what they’re searching for. And it works. Very well. But it gets expensive, quickly.
The Better Approach: ”Organic Search”
It’s obvious you want to be found by consumers who are searching for what you do. But you want to do it both effectively and affordably. Right? OK.
Then you want to publish relevant information that Google will show to a prospect when they search online — using a blog (like this one you’re reading now) as your publishing platform.
Why Google Loves Your UN-PAID Content
The more consistently you publish relevant content, the more Google loves you! That’s also why Google shows your content to consumers far more often than sites that don’t publish relevant information on a consistent basis. Here’s why . . .
Even though Google makes a ton of money from ‘paid advertising’, they know consumers want quality information. So in order to keep people using Google as the search engine of choice, they must offer the highest quality content they can — along with the paid-for advertising — or consumers won’t be using Google and their advertisers will go bye-bye, too.
Ironic, isn’t it? Google’s paid search model (Adwords / PPC) is actually dependent on providing consumers with relevant and quality content that doesn’t (directly!) generate revenues for Google.
In Biology, you learned a term: ‘symbiosis‘ –– two entities that, while different, each benefit from associating with one another. It’s why Google loves you — even if you don’t pay them to promote you.
Don’t Fight Reality — Go With It
Modern marketing is largely about helping prospects find you / your firm when they’re searching for information you have that they want.
Publishing useful information on a regular basis builds your authority in the eyes of Google and makes them show your content to prospects more frequently and more favorably than the content of your competitors who don’t. Yes, it’s THAT simple.
Publishing Content is an Ongoing Commitment
Being found online is only the beginning of your courtship with prospective clients. Quality content in the form of case studies showing how your clients enjoyed success because of your expertise, testimonials that provide ‘social proof’ of your value and capabilities, insightful e-books, Special Reports, blog posts, video, webinars, recorded audio and the like are all forms of ‘content’ that help you attract traffic to your site and then . . . position you as a ‘trusted advisor’ who, when the need arises for what you do, will be seen by more and more prospects as the ‘Preferred Provider’ of the services you offer.
KEY POINT:
Commit to publishing content consistently and relevantly. Google will love you for it and show you to prospects who will get to know, like and trust you. That generates business — for you — at the expense of your competitors who are either too ignorant or indolent to adopt the publishing model as a key factor in marketing simply, effectively and affordably.
This is either:
A) a really bad trip on an illicit drug
B) a ‘worm hole’ somewhere in Space
C) what Alice saw upon entering Wonderland
D) a Marketing Hourglass — top view looking down
The answer is . . . “who really knows?”
Personally, I like to think it’s a worm hole in Space!
Like a worm hole, the Duct Tape Marketing Hourglass™ suggests that one side of the funnel, is going to be a mirror image of what you’d find on the other side.
The Traditional Funnel
The typical sales / marketing funnel is depicted as being wide at the top and narrowing at the bottom. That metaphor suggests how you put a lot of prospects in the top of the funnel — thanks to your lead-generation tactics — and then work those leads until you ‘squeeze’ clients out of the other end.
Duct Tape Marketing’s Upper Funnel
In our Duct Tape Marketing hourglass, we have a ‘mirror-image’ or ‘double’ funnel. It recognizes that you go to work getting people to know you, like you relative to your competitors and trust you (your brand) sufficiently to try you — i.e. find a way to work with you at some level involving, initially, no or little risk.
Duct Tape Marketing’s Lower Funnel
Once you have a client, our funnel continues — to expand — suggesting your new client relationship is adding to a growing base of brand advocates and referral partners whose lifetime value to your firm is realized in the form of up-sells, cross-sells and re-sells as well as referrals to others who can best understand, value and afford your services.
Our marketing hourglass vs. the traditional sales funnel focuses intensely on building relationships as well as transactions. If you do that, you’ll generate more revenues!
This approach also requires special attention to the use of systems and processes that move your prospects along the path of know, like, trust, try, buy, refer and return.
Apologies if this graphic is ‘too big’, but the key point behind today’s post deserves it!
The 7 Steps Have Been Updated!
Yesterday, I mentioned that the book: Duct Tape Marketing (the worlds most practical small business marketing guide) has been changed to reflect the evolution of marketing as a ‘mission critical’ business function.
There’s been a shift away from marketing that interrupts and toward marketing that attracts. Some refer to this as ‘inbound vs. outbound’ marketing or ‘prospect-initiated’ vs. ‘seller-initiated’ marketing. Why? In a word, “Google”. As Wayne Gretsky once said, “I go to where the puck is going to be . . . not where is is now”. Similarly, marketers want to be found by prospects when they (prospects) are ready to buy (or, are seriously looking for information to help them do so in the fairly near future).
STEP 1: Strategy Before Tactics
The ‘old’ Step 1 was “Narrow Your Focus”. The idea behind that is still sound — find your ‘ideal client / market / niche’ and go for it. The idea was that by not seeking to be all things to all people, you’d stand out or differentiate yourself to the people you most want as clients.
The ‘new’ Step 1 is “Strategy Before Tactics’. Now, in addition to defining your Ideal Client and market, you also want to be really clear about why your firm would be seen — by your Ideal Client — as a ‘preferred provider’ of your problem-solving expertise. We call that ‘differentiation’ and part of that is clarifying your ‘Message’ so you’ll stand out to your Ideal Client.
As the above graphic shows, this combination of aligning both your Mission / Message with your Market is the basis of your Strategy.
Strategy is the FILTER for Your Possible Tactics
Once you have a laser-tight clarity about:
1. WHO you want to attract / sell and
2. WHY / HOW you can stand out to your Ideal Client
you have found your Strategy!
Tactics Without Strategy . . . Is a Problem . . . for You
Using any Tactic without the benefit of a coherent Strategy, is like trying to build a house without a blueprint. Your workers may show up and they can hammer wood and nails all day long but . . . in the end, it may not look like what you want nor will it serve the purpose you had in mind.
It’s easy to just pick a(ny) tactic . . . and ‘go to town’ with it. Business people do it every day! But without a strategy to help you decide if it will support your long-term business goals, you may be spending more time and money than you like and getting less ROI for that than you want. (Ouch!)
Your Marketing Strategy . . . Helps You Decide What’s Relevant
. . . and, what is not. Once you have your Strategy defined, USE IT — as a filter to see which marketing tactics will ALIGN with your goals and SUPPORT you in achieving the success in your business you desire.
If any tactic — and they’re all intrinsically good at some level — is going to support you and your success, then you should consider using it. If it won’t, don’t. Simple.
KEY POINT:
Effective marketing reflects an ALIGNMENT of the DECISIONS you make (Strategy — WHO / WHY) and the ACTIONS you take (Tactics — WHAT / WHEN / WHERE / HOW) to market your services. And THAT . . . is why we say, “Strategy BEFORE Tactics” at Duct Tape Marketing.
Tomorrow, another change in the 7 Steps . . . and, why!
Yesterday, I shared what I truly feel is a quantum leap forward in how I, as a Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, can bring you the collective wisdom of Duct Tape Marketing’s founder and recognized leader in the field of small business marketing — John Jantsch.
Today, I’d like to touch on how John’s Ultimate Marketing System, described in his book (Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide) has been updated to reflect the way the world of business and marketing is evolving and how it’s making our program known as The Marketing Catalyst . . . a whole new ballgame . . . for you.
Old is New (Again!)
The original Duct Tape Marketing Catalyst program was based on John’s well-recognized ’7 Steps’ to small business marketing success:
1. Narrow Your Marketing Focus
2. Find / Communicate Your Core Difference
3. Package Your Solution/s
4. Create Marketing Materials that Educate
5. Establish Your Lead-Generation Trio
6. Automate and Dominate
7. Live by the (Marketing) Calendar
Due to recent changes in how marketing is being done in 2011, the new seven steps are:
1. Strategy BEFORE Tactics
2. Embrace the Marketing Hourglass
3. Adopt the Publishing Model
4. Create a Total Web Presence
5. Orchestrate Your Lead-Generation Trio
6. Drive a Lead Conversion System
7. Live by a Marketing Calendar
As you can see, the basics are still there, but there are some significant changes as well.
In the coming days, I’ll take each one of these significant changes / improvements in the ‘old’ 7 steps approach and explain not only HOW but WHY we’ve made the changes we have.
KEY POINT:
The world is dynamic, fluid and constantly evolving — your marketing is no less so!
I just returned from Kansas City, MO. That’s where the annual ‘Gathering’ of Duct Tape Marketing is held. My fellow DTM Consultants and I meet to renew alliances, build new ones and share the ‘best and the brightest’ ideas with one another.
This year, John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing shared a remarkable update to a venerated old standard — The Marketing Catalyst.
What Makes The New Catalyst . . . ‘New and Improved’?
Couple of things are readily apparent. First, the program is now fully online. That means that access to the participant materials is a close as your web browser and available 24/7/365. “ON Demand . . . with the Brand (Duct Tape Marketing) that’s IN Demand”.
As you can see . . . the ‘new’ Catalyst is based on Duct Tape Marketing’s Ultimate Marketing System. The ten (10) sessions provide a comprehensive approach to small business marketing that you can access — along with the guidance and support of SellMore Marketing –– over a period of time that ranges from 6 months to a full year depending on the needs of a client.
I also love that John’s made the program extremely ACTION-ORIENTED. This is not an academic or philosophical program. You’re going to work. Hard!
Each ‘session’ is based on specific behavioral ‘assignments’ that you must complete to ‘pass’ that session. And there’s no place for shirkers, either! If you’re serious about growing your business revenues by improving your marketing . . . this is a program you’ll love.
Here’s an image of the ‘Action Items’ for just one one of sessions:
Small Group Participation OR . . . 1-on1 Consulting — YOU CHOOSE
This version of Duct Tape Marketing’s Catalyst program is only available through a Duct Tape Marketing Consultant (like SellMore Marketing). If you prefer to work through the new Marketing Catalyst in a small group of your fellow business owners, that’s easily arranged. If you prefer to work 1-on-1 with your Duct Tape Marketing Consultant, that’s easily done — using the online Catalyst site as your ‘base of operations’ while ‘we’ get you through the program content, assignments and to the improved results you’re seeking from doing your marketing — simply, effectively and (very) affordably.
My point — it’s comprehensive, and it’s easily used. I sincerely believe this is one of the best things to come out of Duct Tape Marketing in quite some time!
Tomorrow, I’ll share what’s ‘new’ about the ‘old’ Catalyst. John Jantsch has been hard at work making serious improvements in how we help our clients approach their marketing. It’s very uplifting and, these days . . . that’s a message of HOPE we can all benefit from having!
In The Last Year . . . Have You Referred Us to Others?
There’s an old adage, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”. I like this one, too: “Clients Vote With Their Wallets”. Both are very true.
The value of knowing that your clients are referring you to others / others to you is a SYMPTOM or EVIDENCE of how well you’re performing for your clients and how committed your clients are to you.
No business will please everyone 100% of the time. But you can assess your performance periodically and use the likelihood of clients referring you as a benchmark of the experience you offer your clients.
Frederick Reicheld, a partner in the prestigious consulting firm Bain & Company, developed what he calls the Net Promoter Score. This is a metric reflecting the overall effect you’ll enjoy (or, suffer!) based on how many of your clients will (net of those who won’t) promote you and your business to people in their networks of influence.
KEY POINT:
Learn your Net Promoter Score . . . and make it move ever higher!
What Can I / We Do BETTER?
This question is designed to help you learn what you can do to increase your ATTRACTIVENESS FACTOR to the kind of people you’d like to have as your clients.
The previous question reminded you of how difficult it is to see yourself as others see you. That’s why knowing how and where your customers would like you to DO BETTER by them is so valuable to you as a marketer.
When you ask this question, LISTEN . . . see if you can place the answers you get fall into one of the following categories of response:
1. Something you should . . . STOP DOING
2. Something you should . . . START DOING
3. Something you should . . . DO BETTER
If you think about it, these are the only three (3) ways that a performance GAP can be described. So if you want to be better, you’ll find the answers you seek must fall into one or more of these three (3) approaches.
Kind of makes life simple, doesn’t it?
This question will reveal ways for you to remain and grow increasingly attractive to people who fit your Ideal Client profile.
KEY POINT:
Learn what you can DO BETTER . . . as your Ideal Client sees it!
Marketing is both an art and a science. Let’s stay with that for moment, OK?
Science is very orderly. And so, I would hope, is your marketing.
“Live By The Calendar”
That’s what John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing’s founder wants you to do. It’s true. Just as a magazine needs structure in the form of an editorial or publishing calendar to produce content on a regular schedule, your business will benefit from using a calendar, too.
As a committed marketer, you’ll find you can quickly (too quickly and easily?) acquire so many ‘good things’ to get done that you feel overwhelmed. Once that happens, you can easily decide that all this marketing ‘stuff’ just isn’t worth it and you’ll stop. DON’T!!!
The Most Important Calendar You Have: Keeping-In-Touch
As you attract prospective clients, not all (not even most!) will be ready to do business at their first contact with you. So you’ll want to cultivate a relationship with them. Or, as some say, ‘nurture a lead’. Regardless, that takes repeated contacts over a fairly long time. If you’re not prepared to do that, you probably won’t. And there goes all the goodwill you wanted to leverage for yourself! But a good CRM software or service can make sure you do what you plan and reap the benefits when you do.
KEY POINT:
Marketing requires a lot of coordination of many details and actions . . . get a system to put order into your marketing and you’ll see the benefits of that very, very soon!
Media is a very important part of your marketing.
In days gone by, that term meant mass media — radio, TV and print media. Today though, that’s all changed. Radically!
Modern Media Means . . . The Internet
There’s some good news here. Especially if you don’t have a lot funding for a ‘massive media’ campaign.
It’s the online media that you’ll find is increasingly important in helping you get your Message to your Market and it’s a key to attracting new prospective clients to you, as well.
I just received an email today and it said, “Bill, every time I search anything business related on Google somewhere on my first search page I see you have posted or commented a relevant article thru Google +. However last night I was searching “extra long retractable dog leashes” and there you were again! Bill get off the computer and spend some time with your family”.
I replied, “It’s the fact that I have an active BLOG (modern media, right?) that causes me to get that kind of media exposure. I don’t spend time away from my family. I just blog consistently and that . . . is paying off in increased traffic and conversions on my site.”
KEY POINT:
Media is increasingly online and that makes it effective and very affordable. Learn to harness the internet and you’ll be glad you did!
How do you communicate the essence of your Mission to your market? Your Message, of course!
Actually, there are many messages you can use to do that . . .
Message
You’ve heard, I’m sure, about ‘Elevator’ pitches — the short, pithy ‘commercial’ you can use with a stranger to help them think you’re ‘All That’? Well, that’s not the same ‘message’ I have in mind here.
Behavior Speaks Louder Than Words
There are messages and then there are messages. I’d like you to think about this. You want to find a way to be so clear about your Mission that your Market really understands why you’re a better provider of what you do than others in your field.
I worked with a remodeling contractor once. He paid his workers to wash their trucks each night, paid for them to dryclean their uniforms (yeah, he gave them uniforms, too) and insisted that they always put on surgical booties before entering a home to do a proposal or actual work.
What do you think all that did? It gave a lasting and memorable Message that this man cares about what his customers care about . . . their home! Think you can find some ways to get your Message across without using a big neon sign? I hope so!
KEY POINT:
Messaging isn’t always about words said or put on paper . . . Actions speak for themselves!
Once you have some clarity on your Mission, you’ll want to find the Market of people who can best understand, value and afford the valuable beneficial difference you can create in their life.
Market
This is just a group of people who truly ‘get’ what it is you can do for a client. Not everyone can. So your market is not ‘everyone’. Why? Because not everyone will value, understand, desire, afford, etc. who you are and what you do.
Funny (but true!) example of a Market
I love the story about a young dentist who graduated and quickly realized he would be ‘new kid on the block’ and ‘low man on the totem pole’ if he joined an established dental practice as an associate. So he figured out how to open his own office and do so without the heavy investment of capital he certainly didn’t have right out of dental school.
He approached a local dentist and asked, “How much money is your operatory making after you close your doors each night?” The dentist said, “Nothing”. The new dentist said, “I’ll change that and help you retire earlier and better, too”.
He was located in a manufacturing center in the midwest. The 2nd shift workers typically didn’t find dentists open when they’d get off work. So he opened up the other doctor’s office from 11 PM to 6 AM and pulled in a unique group of factory workers — his market. Why? Because his mission was to be the dentist who’s “ready when you are”. It worked very well and he found a market who loved his mission.
KEY POINT:
Market . . . is a group of people who best understand, value and afford the value you offer!
This week will be focused on five (5) keys to getting better at marketing the services you offer.
First up: MISSION
Sure, it sounds like you’re about to launch off the deck of an aircraft carrier. But sorry. No. You’re not going to have to do anything like that.
What you will do, however, is find what is known as the ‘Beneficial Difference’ you make in the life of your client.
It’s WHAT you do ‘for’ someone and, it’s WHY they care to part with their hard-earned funds and hand them over to you.
One of the best ‘Missions’ I’ve ever heard:
You’ve probably heard the VP at Craftsman — the Sears subsidiary that argued, “We don’t sell hand-drills . . . we sell holes” or the executives at Kodak that said, “We don’t sell film (well, not anymore!) . . . we sell memories”.
But the ‘top prize’ has to go to Helena Rubenstein, the cosmetics mogul who once was reported to say to a reporter, “I am not in the cosmetics business, dear . . . I’m in the “I want to get lucky on Saturday night’ business . . . and if I forget that, I won’t sell very many cosmetics!”
KEY POINT:
Mission . . . is the beneficial difference you make in the life of your client
Emil Brolick, the new CEO of the fast-food restaurant chain Wendy’s, has some excellent observations on his new position and the challenges he’ll be facing as the CEO.
Vision . . . is Always a ‘Good Start’
“A leader has to bring a vision to an organization . . .” Agreed. But you also need the strategies to achieve the vision or your vision won’t happen and your staff will feel disengaged very quickly.
Keep Your People Focused and Involved
I’m fond of saying, “The difference between your people and your profit is their performance.” Management is often defined as, “Getting things done through other people”. Those ‘other people’ are your staff.
Communicate Your Expectations
If other people are to help you carry out your strategies, they must ‘buy in’ to your vision. They must also understand — and that’s your responsibility — what their roles require and how they support the achievement of the strategic vision you have created for your business.
Appreciate Your Employees
As the leader of your firm you want to recognize your staff as the essential asset they are. Also, make sure they know that the performance of the business reflects their collective performance. “All for one and one for all” is very true.
KEY POINT:
Brolick says it well . . . “A leader has to define reality and give hope”. Amen, Emil!
” __ __ __ __ Happens!!”
Yes, it does. There’s even a bumper-sticker based on that truth! A colleague and I just lived through our own little ‘train wreck’. We weren’t responsible for it. But we were able to respond and recover from it.
In fact, there’s a good lesson here on how YOU can make the most of a difficult situation when the __ __ __ __ hits the fan!
Step 1: Don’t Blame
It’s tempting. But it won’t change the situation. It usually makes it take longer to resolve.
Step 2: Take Ownership of The Recovery Process
A personal commitment to do ‘whatever’ it takes to correct the situation is vital. It forces you to focus on the future (under your control) vs. the past (not under your control). That’s positive. And, productive.
Step 3: Commit To Specific Individuals That You’ll Correct The Situation
Seek out the people who are most compromised by the situation and pledge your personal commitment to make them whole, again. Write them a ‘check’ to fix it. Then, ‘cash’ it.
Step 4: Make a Plan of Action to Correct The Situation
Learn why the problem developed. That helps you develop a set of actions that will correct the current situation . . . and prevent it from happening in the future.
Step 5: Implement Your Plan
Once you know WHY the problem happened and WHAT you must to do to correct it . . . DO IT! Nothing changes until your intentions become true actions.
KEY POINT:
Stuff happens. After that, anything else that happens is really up to Y-O-U.
