Client Magnets Official Blog

Archive for March, 2010

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How to Create & Sell High End Products & Programmes

Several of my clients have been experiencing BIG breakthroughs recently – largely because they are launching and selling high priced products and programs. The best thing of all is that the results are FAST. One client sold her first $12,000 the very next day after her first coaching call, another had a $20,000 week using this strategy.

We really can’t keep this a secret any longer – I actually believe we have a DUTY to share with you how they are getting results like this, so we’ve put together a special call to show you how it’s done.

Here are the details …

Thursday 25th March

8pm UK time, 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific

On this call, you’ll discover:

• How much YOU are leaving on the table by not having a ‘Rolls Royce’ offer in place

• The 3 biggest mistakes people make when designing and launching big ticket offers

• How to create a CASH FLOW SURGE in your business THIS week. (It’s easier than you think when you have the right strategies)

• How to find and attract the ‘premium’ clients who are willing and able to pay top dollar for your very best services

• Why you can’t sell these products and programs like you do other services – the key sales strategies that make the difference

If you’re ready to SKYROCKET your income in just a few short weeks, this call is for you!

Register NOW, and attend for FREE

http://bit.ly/SellingSuccess

See you there!

Best Wishes,

Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

P.S The beauty of creating programs like this is it really does enable you to work with the VERY best clients and serve them at the HIGHEST level. You are missing out if you’re not doing this, so make sure to join us on this call and find out how it’s done http://www.clientmagnets.com/cashflowsurge/

Have you ever opted to purchase a package deal?  Maybe it was easier to purchase an entire car care package than to pick up each individual item.  Or maybe it was more cost-effective to purchase a year’s worth of housecleaning services, instead of paying month-by-month.

This mindset is a good one for you, the consumer.  But even more importantly, it’s invaluable for you, the business person.

Let’s assume for a moment that you’re selling financial coaching services.  Maybe the individual services are consultation, debt reduction, income building, and investment.  As an expert, you know that almost everyone that’s interested in your expertise will need every one of your services.  You could sell each service individually, but that would complicate your schedule with unnecessary red tape and sporadic appointments.

Customizing your services for every client can be exhausting.  Changing your plan of attack every time you receive a phone call or an email can take up more time than the actual implementation of your plan.  That’s why you need to devise a package and stick with it.  Sure, it’s often a good idea to tailor your services for your highest-paying clients, but for the general public, it’s best to “stick with the plan.”

Consider the benefits of package deals and pre-determined service plans:

• Efficiency. When you are able to follow a tried-and-true plan for every client, you become more proficient, and will emerge from projects as a professional.

• Predictability. Since you’re solving many of the same problems for numerous clients, the chain of events will likely be similar.

• Fashion Advantage. As you proceed with serving clients, you will learn about the most common client needs (and the most common pitfalls).  You can use this information to design future packages that meet needs before they become problems.

• Economics. Packages are less costly to implement.  In the financial coaching example above, there’s one invoice, rather than four.  There’s one schedule, established at the signing of the contract, rather than erratic, last-minute squeeze-ins.

• Organization. When you have a plan, you not only appear to be organized, you are.  There’s a chronological flow that is made known to every party involved.

• Value for the Customer. Packages carry value for consumers.  A package usually requires a smaller monetary investment than individually purchased items.

But remember, putting a package together isn’t about cramming as many services onto one contract as possible.  One product or service that is misplaced can ruin the appeal of the package.  When every component of your package solves a problem for your targeted audience, your total package will be impossible to ignore.

Remember a few simple points when building packages:

• Identify your perfect clients’ most common problems and solve each one with a package component.

• Don’t include services that might only appeal to part of your audience – just one unnecessary item could turn a portion of the population off.  If you’re selling five items, and one of them is seen as unnecessary, customers will opt to buy the other four items individually, complicating your job.

• Don’t leave a service out of the package. Your package should offer customers a clear and complete solution.  If a customer ends up having to buy additional items to solve a common problem, your package wasn’t a “deal” at all.

• Keep mutual benefit in mind. Consider convenience, cost-effectiveness, and time-saving factors for both you and your ideal client when creating a package.

No matter your business, you can almost always find a way to implement the package deal.  If you bundle a number of identical items together, you save time and shipping.  If you bundle a number of related services together, you save paperwork, scheduling blunders, and headaches.

When you use simple packages that apply to the majority of your consumer audience, you’ll not only multiply the benefits that you’re offering, but you’ll multiply your available time and the money flowing into your bank account.  Now that’s a package deal!

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

What does your market really want?

Answering this question is your primary marketing challenge. One of the most direct methods of finding the answer is by surveying your market.

Studying surveys and gathering concrete feedback about what potential clients want – and how you can provide it – is a tried-and-true method of focusing your marketing in the right direction.

Surveys are a valuable tool in analytical marketing. The most direct way of conducting a survey is to contact your list.

One way you can do this is by sending an email to everyone on your list. Ask their opinion about your product. Find out what your contacts’ biggest challenges, problems or complaints are, and address those issues when you present your offering.

Ask what they most want help with. The answer might not be what you expected – but that is the point of the survey. Listening to the feedback will keep you from developing a product that users don’t really want.

If you are targeting a small market, use a telephone survey. Call the people you want to speak with directly. Let them know that you are putting together a product to help people in their situation. Ask them about any suggestions or requirements they may have. Depending on the market you’re in, that may yield better results than a standard email survey.

If you anticipate more than 100 responses, consider using tools that can help you with your survey. Survey Monkey and AskDatabase.com will help you analyze responses by collecting and collating them in a simple database for your review.

When you prepare a survey, craft open-ended questions. You don’t want to lead people to answer in a certain way. Leave room for them to respond with more than a simple “yes” or “no” and with no preconceived ideas that might prevent them from answering honestly.

Ask effective questions that will tell you what challenges your clients are facing and what you can do to assist them in your area. Open-ended types of questions will generate more useful answers.

Once you have identified what your market needs, unhook yourself from any pre-determined decisions that you’ve already made about the product you will offer. Be open-minded and evaluate your research. This is how you will know for certain what your market really wants and be able to deliver them the right product.

You have the potential to create an amazing life for yourself and others by delivering the exact products and programmes your prospects need and want.  Find out exactly what will make your product red-hot and irresistible by simply asking the right questions.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Do you believe that there’s no ceiling, or limit, to your earning potential?  You might expect me to say that the sky’s the limit, and it really is, but you have to be willing to bust the ceiling out of what you consider to be your current price boundaries.

It probably goes against the ethics that you’ve learned to embrace, but your earning potential rests primarily upon the highest priced item or service that you offer.

What’s the highest priced package I could order from you right now?  How many times can you sell that item or complete that service in one year?  Do the multiplication, and there you’ll have the ceiling to your earning potential.  You will never earn more than that unless you come up with a new, higher priced offering.

Want to increase your yearly earnings?  Then devise a more expensive service, or offer a higher-end product.

• Look for a way to expand an existing service, to make it more inclusive, or more productive – and most importantly, more expensive.

• Enlarge your largest package to include the newest, hottest, and most in-demand products – the products that you know your prospects will embrace as part of a previously-accepted package.

• Add a totally new product or service to your family of offerings – something that will still hold massive appeal for your audience, but is bigger and better than anything you may have previously considered.

• Or, appeal to a more affluent audience. Shift the direction of a portion of your marketing toward those who have the budgets, and the discriminating tastes, to pay for your new, pricey, option.

Yes, it’s really that simple.

It seems so obvious, but often, this principle eludes a great number of entrepreneurs.  Frequently, they’re fearful of being able to satisfy a high-paying client, or of scaring away prospects with pricey ticket items.  In truth, high-ticket items have a unique ability to bring many of the things that we savor to our businesses:

• Quality clients. High paying clients are almost always the best ones.  There’s less fuss, more expertise, and higher levels of good reference.

• More time. When each transaction yields higher financial benefit, you’ll have more time to devote not only to each customer, but to the other important things in your life.

• Raised bottom lines. Just because the bottom line is at the bottom of the page, doesn’t mean it can’t grow in an upward fashion.

• Good reputations. When you give yourself the permission, and the opportunity, to serve high end clients, you reap the benefits of the good reputation that comes with those relationships.

There is, without doubt, hidden potential for creating bigger ticket items in your existing business.  There is always an area that masks hidden profits, or an aspect with the potential to grow and become more lucrative.  When you open your mind about your own potential, you open the avenues through which money can flow into your bank account.

There will always be an earning ceiling, but you can make the sky the limit if you take the steps to raise your ceiling into the clouds.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

You probably don’t talk to children in the same manner as you talk with adults. Your conversations with close personal friends are likely more intimate than those you have with professional colleagues.

Well, the same holds true for the language you would use to speak with corporate executives as opposed to their employees.

You need to identify the audience you’re working with and the environment you are working in, and then adapt your language and approach accordingly. The areas you focus on and the phrasing you use with end users won’t be the same as those you use with the decision-makers.

You need to understand who your client is and be very clear on what your message to that client is.

The words you use to attract the buyer – the company or the corporation – may be precisely the right words to persuade them to sign on for your services. You may offer them statistics about how poor feedback costs companies a lot of money, how aspects like ineffective meetings waste company time, or how poor communication and personal issues lead to low employee retention rates.

But, these are not the same words you would use when delivering your service to the end user. You don’t want to portray them in a bad light. Essentially, you’ve got two clients. The language that you use to sell your service at one level should be different from the outline of the training that you distribute to the staff.

It’s very important to have that awareness. What is going to motivate and excite the end user – the staff member – does not have the same value or criteria as what inspires the person who is signing the checks. You need to have the flexibility to understand what’s important to both groups and then separately speak to each group in way that motivates them.

The end result is the same for both. Ultimately your objective, and obligation, is to help to improve the company. And you are making life better for the person that attends your course or workshop.

If, for example, you know you can help companies improve the effectiveness of their staff meetings, you would present this to them in a different manner than you would to the employees who conduct and attend those meetings. Everybody wants to participate in more effective meetings, but everybody also wants to blame the ineffectiveness of their meetings on someone else.

In the language to promote the course to the company, you might cite statistics about how ineffective meetings waste X amount of money. You can even evaluate the cost of meetings. One unnecessary meeting could cost an organization thousands of pounds. Then you would sell the specifics of what’s covered in your course.

During the course, your focus wouldn’t be on the cost of meetings to the company, it would be on how employees can make sure meetings stay on track, how to handle confrontational situations or deal with difficult people. The focus would be on making the best use of staff members’ time and talents.

So you are, in essence, presenting the same thing – in this example, a course or workshop – to two different audiences. But, you can certainly structure your language and approach so that it meets with everybody’s approval.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

If you’ve got what you think is a million dollar idea, then that million dollars is already there waiting for you to receive it. If you have a need or a desire for a specific amount of money, that amount of money is already there for you.

Does that sound too good to be true?
Are you programmed to see the money and opportunity in front of you?
Do your beliefs allow you to perceive what is possible?

The universal law of polarity essentially states that everything in the universe, tangible and intangible, has an opposite side to it. So, it logically follows that if you have a need or a desire for a specific amount of money, that amount of money must already be there for you.

Once you have a profound understanding of the law of polarity, the door will crack open and allow you to accept a truth that was previously inconceivable to your mind. You will be able to see and achieve things that were once invisible and inconceivable to you.

You don’t have to think in terms of a million. Put whatever number on this that you want to put on it. But if you want it, that money is already there.

Your belief system may not be allowing you to accept this principle right now. If your initial reaction is skepticism and disbelief, that’s not unusual. Your beliefs control your perceptions. Once you alter those beliefs, you can take better control of your physical perceptions. Then you will see that the money is, indeed, already there.

Let’s use an everyday real-life situation as an example. You have a bill that needs to be paid, but not enough money in the bank. You need to find the money to cover the bill.

The first order of business is to be clear on what that amount of money actually is. There is generally a difference between what you need and what you think you need. Break down exactly what you need. This eliminates some of the fear of the unknown. Write down the exact amount of money that you need.

Then apply the law of polarity. The money must be there because you have a need for it. But, how is it going to get to you? Write down every idea you can come up with as to where this money could possibly be.

It could come from a bank loan. It could be from some business opportunity. The money could come from something that you’re going to sell. A friend or family member could loan it to you.

It really doesn’t matter where the money comes from. What does matter is that you write the ideas down and act on each and every one of them, all the way through to the end.

You will discover that the money is indeed there. Just be careful not to trip yourself up. You might consider applying for a bank loan and simultaneously think that you don’t have enough credit for the bank to give you a loan. You might be reluctant to ask a family member. In an instant you could literally talk yourself out of the universe bringing you that money.

Your mind can do powerful things that can work both for and against you. Use its powers to your advantage.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. She publishes a free, weekly newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

When you’re just starting out in business, one of your biggest goals is to develop the much-coveted client list. That grouping of potential clients to whom you want to market your product or service.

While it’s very nice to already have an existing list to work from, don’t worry if you don’t have a list right now. I myself didn’t start out with a big customer list. Remember, we all have to start somewhere.

There are still plenty of ways to find the market you want to address. As you implement each one, your list will automatically develop and grow.

1. Set aside your preconceptions
If you think you already know who your market is and what they want, you will miss obvious opportunities. Clear your mind of its preconceived notions and your options, and your list will expand tremendously.

2. Listen
The first area you should focus your attention on is listening to the people around you. Hear what people are complaining about and zero in on responding to those complaints.

Think about all the opportunities you have to listen to people’s gripes and grievances. Visit forums. Participate in networking groups. Then, really listen. What are the members worried about? What are they asking questions about?

Look for the patterns. Look for the issues that come up again and again, and that fit your area of expertise and your interests. You may find a market right there under your nose.

3. Survey.
As people begin to show interest in your product or service, delve a little deeper to see what is attractive or important to them. If they visit your web site or sign up for a service or purchase a product, include a second page where you ask them a question. For example, if you are offering a teleseminar, asking for their name and email address will build your contact list. Then, ask them to take a brief survey before the transaction is completed so you can grow your business from the input of your existing clients. Your lead-in page could say something like, “Congratulations! Your registration is almost complete. But because I want to make sure the information I’m covering is most relevant to you, what is your biggest question about…”

4. Present yourself as a leader.
No matter what your area of expertise, being the leader in your field is the best way to sell your products and help your clients. Listen to the market. Pay attention to their needs and problems .Once you identify those needs and problems, establish yourself as the leader who provides help and answers.

Right now, within a ten-mile radius, there are people struggling and suffering with problems that you can solve. By listening to them with an open mind, and finding out their needs, you will find the market that needs you to lead them toward resolution of their problems.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

How good are you at receiving? How much experience do you have with receiving money? Logic dictates that the more experiences you have, the better a receiver you will be.   Your current financial circumstances are merely a reflection of how much you’ve been allowing yourself to receive up until now. To increase your income by becoming a better receiver, you need to create continuous opportunities for people to give you money.   It’s up to you to create those opportunities.

One way to create those opportunities is to put structures in place that allow you to receive money 24/7.  Set systems in place that allow you to make money while you sleep.  For example, by offering products and programs on a web site, you are increasing your ability to receive.  You are giving your prospects and clients the means to give you money.

If you don’t have simple and continuous methods for people to give you money, your capacity to receive is only as big as a pinhole!   You need to turn your receiving pinhole into a wide open chasm and watch your income soar …

Here are a few things to consider:

•    Do you have an ecommerce website yet?

•    Are you in a position where someone can come to your website and find out about you?

•    Can a potential client book a session with you and pay for it on your website?

•    Can potential clients buy something on your website, right then and there?

•    Do you have a way for clients to automatically pay you for your product or service?

By implementing these elements in your business you will increase your capacity to receive, and in turn increase your income.

I’ve often talked about mindset and how it is so important to work on yourself from the inside – to analyze why you are limiting yourself and your capacity to receive.

Well, today I’m asking you to also work it on the outside? How about putting that external structure in place to be the metaphor for you becoming a better receiver?”

Think about how much you have been allowing yourself to receive, but don’t stop at the thinking. You need to act on it. Take the next step to implement the necessary structures in your business. Don’t just analyze.  Thinking and talking about receiving and how you can improve, won’t be as effective as doing something externally. You may hit obstacles along the way but with persistence, the right support, coaching and advice you will succeed!

Yes, work on the inside but also work on the outside.

Continue to step up through those obstacles until the elements for you to receive are in place. Get the advice and expertise you need to make it happen!

How to be yourself, have fun and sell a ton on stages and teleseminars!

I want to introduce you to a friend of mine, Lisa Sasevich, also known as the Queen of Sales Conversion.  She’s about to rock the “speak to sell” industry AGAIN with her BRAND NEW teleclass!

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
9pm UK * 2pm Pac * 5 PM East

Lisa is going to reveal a BIG AH-HA she recently had about what she REALLY did to sell over 7-figures speaking last year (and it’s the OPPOSITE of what you’ve likely been taught!)

Here’s what you’re going to learn on this revealing free call:

• Discover the ONE THING Lisa did differently than everybody else that caused her to not only have a 7-figure year but ALSO enjoy the most amazing clients. (She did the opposite of what you’ve likely been taught to do when you speak-to-sell…and it worked!)

• EXACTLY what you need to have in place to putting together a life-altering talk that feels GREAT to share without giving away the store! (AND has your ideal clients WANTING to invest with you.)

• How to instantly create hunger and desire for your products and services without being “salesy”

• Lisa’s BIG secret to attracting 100% of EXACTLY the perfect clients and none of the, well, not-so-perfect ones

• A simple technique that Hollywood uses to capture attention and sell tickets all the time that will work for you too!

And much more….

Here’s the link to reserve your spot in this complimentary teleclass…

http://bit.ly/sellingsecrets

Best Wishes,

Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

When planning how you’re going to outsource, it’s helpful to draw an analogy from personal relationships. If you’ve got a life partner, it’s unlikely that that life partner meets all of your social needs.

Perhaps your partner doesn’t have the same interest in art that you do, or prefers to stay indoors while you go hiking. You probably still have friends that you go to the cinema with, or to art galleries or the museum. It’s almost like you build up a team of friends to fulfil the different needs of your life.

Just as we have different people in our life that resonate with different parts of us, it’s the same with business. It’s unrealistic to expect that just one person will be able to fix everything. You’re going to get frustrated because you’ll end up with a person who is good at some things but weak in other areas.

When I started my business, I had a list of tasks that either I didn’t want to do, or that were not cost-effective for me to do. But one of the things that I did wrong was to try to find one person who could take over all of the tasks. Instead, what I should have focused on was to build a team of people around me who could assist my business.

You need to remember that business is a team sport. You should think about the tasks you want to outsource, and match them to the right people. You need to build up a team of assistants to look after the many aspects of your business. This is what I call my “virtual team”.

Outsourcing to teams allows me to be more flexible. I used to outsource transcription of my teleseminars to an individual, but whenever she got a backlog of work or whenever she was on holiday, I had a delay in getting transcripts back. I like to get transcripts of teleseminars up ideally within a week of the teleseminar, so I decided that would work better if I could hand it over to a team of assistants, rather than one person.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t have one person with whom you work more than any other, or who helps run your team of virtual assistants. You just need to make sure that they don’t become indispensible for your business.

Right now, I have a team of virtual assistants around the world who work for me without me having to do it myself. The beauty of it is that even if my key person were to leave, I wouldn’t be left high and dry. We have a manual that I can hand over to the next person that explains how my business operates.

The other important message is not to think that a “virtual team” only applies to a small business. Eben Pagan runs workshops around building virtual teams, and has built a large business around the idea. The interesting thing is that while he has a virtual team of 80 people and his turnover is $20 million, he doesn’t have a company office. So he has the benefit of 80 people working for him, but his business doesn’t have the huge overhead that comes with providing office space for them all.

Your ultimate goal should be creating a team around you that would allow you to action today’s ideas tomorrow.

So create your team and start scoring some goals!

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com