Client Magnets Official Blog

Archive for the ‘Business Networking’ Category

Lists are a big part of marketing a product or event. Your list consists of everyone with whom you have marketing contact, either in the form of mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses. If you have a limited list, you have only a small pool of ready marketing contacts. However, you can still plan a successful event without a big list by partnering with people who have good lists.

Find a Joint Venture Partner with a List
If you don’t have a big list, you don’t have to avoid planning an event or selling a product; you just have to get creative about how to do it. For example, if you’re planning an event but you don’t have a list, partner with someone who does have a list and who can help promote your event. You might ask someone with a good marketing list to speak at your event, in which case your guest speaker will promote the event to their list.

Select Someone Whose Audience is Complementary
One of the best ways to promote an event with someone else’s list is to select a partner whose audience is complementary with yours; not necessarily in competition. A competitor probably won’t want to share his audience with you, because then there’d be nothing to prevent you from swooping in and taking the audience away. However, a complimentary business owner might be happy to cross-promote your event to his audience, because it is another way for him to provide value to his audience, and he may find it to be a money-making opportunity.

For example, if you’re planning an event on teaching businesses how to effectively utilize the Web for marketing, you probably won’t want to partner with a competitor who offers the same information to clients. Instead, you might want to partner with a more traditional marketing firm, who can then offer your Web-specific information and services to their clients. Or if you make and sell artist’s painting supplies, you might want to partner with someone who sells canvases; not someone else who makes or sells supplies. Think about who might have complimentary lists, and contact them about partnering in your event.

Be Clear about Terms
If you do bring on a partner to help with list marketing, be clear about the terms of your agreement up front. You’ll need to negotiate commissions and percentages on your joint venture. Have a proposal ready when you begin your discussions with potential partners, and know how much you’re willing to negotiate. If you’re not clear enough up front, you may find that you miss out on an opportunity to build your own list, maximize your income from your event or find yourself in the middle of a disagreement with your new partner. Know how much you and your event are worth, and make sure your new partner can respect that!

Even if you don’t have a big list yourself, partnering with the right person can give you plenty of instant contacts, and help you build a list of your own. Don’t let a lack of a list hamper your marketing efforts. Find a good partner with a good list, or even multiple partners, and move forward to make your event a success!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

What comes to mind when you see that the majority of your sales page visitors have left without purchasing?  You may choose from two schools of thought: you may consider them to be lost to the click-away, or you may consider them to be interested prospects that simply need to be followed up with.

Everytime a prospect visits your website – whether they purchase from your or not -  is an opportunity to increase your revenue and grow your business.   The key is in following up with each and every visitor.  But how can you do that?

You must first capture the information necessary for following up, and then you need to implement a plan that makes meaningful, targeted contact.

Your squeeze page, or opt-in page, is an invaluable tool for gathering contact information from your website visitors.  You can’t follow up with people unless you have the information necessary for doing so.    The best way to collect names, addresses, and other data is to make it a prerequisite to entering your site.  On your opt-in page, you ask for their details.  This information will then be used by you for following up with buyers and non-buyers in one or more of the following ways:

• E-mail Follows Ups. Your first contact with website visitors should be immediately after they register their details – a sort of “welcome to the club” message.  Autoresponder programs are more readily available, and less costly, than ever – and are the easiest way to accomplish e-mail follow ups.  You can try to orchestrate follow-up emails on your own, but it won’t be long before you find yourself buried under the weight of this task.

E-mail follow-ups shouldn’t stop after initial contact.  In fact, you should use your email list to stay in contact, to gather questions, to respond to feedback, and to stay relevant in the minds of interested parties.

• Snail Mail Follow-Ups. Standard mail is still relevant.  In fact, it can be a valuable tool for “switching things up.”  When a prospect finds you via the internet, and then receives a postcard with valuable information in their mailbox, you instantly establish yourself as a well-rounded and versatile business person.

Services are available, much like those of autoresponder companies, that can do this for you.  Traditional mail can be a great tool for driving traffic back to your sales page.

• The Teleseminar. In your chosen follow-up method, make the offer of free participation in a teleseminar.  This will give prospects the opportunity to hear your voice, ask questions, and to voice concerns.  The dynamic that occurs when you speak to a number of people at once is one that can electrify the transfer of information.  Additionally, you can use your teleseminar to make special offers to your listeners  – a limited-time offer, for instance, or an offer that’s only available to teleconference attendees.

Don’t fall into repetitive sales tactics.  Mix it up – send a welcome e-mail, then a special offer postcard, then an invitation to an exclusive teleseminar – keep them guessing.  No matter your follow-up plan, ensure that you gather all of the information necessary to facilitate it when your website visitors register their details.  You can’t send postcards without physical addresses, and you can’t send e-mails without e-mail addresses.

Use your site visitor statistics to your advantage.  Don’t view those who walk away as failures in conversion, but rather, as opportunities to follow up and build your turn-over numbers, and your business.

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. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Getting your target audience interested in your product or event, and interested in the price you want them to pay, requires a few basic steps. You must establish yourself as an expert. You must build confidence with your audience. You must convince your audience that your solution is the answer to their problems. Building empathy with your target audience is a fast way to accomplish all of these things …

What is Empathy?
For the purposes of creating marketing materials, developing empathy is the act of building a rapport with your audience. Show them that you understand their problem. Convince them that you, too, have the same problem, questions or needs that they have. Create a group for your audience, and then insert yourself into this group. By developing empathy with your audience, you’re making yourself ‘one of them.’ This is an extremely valuable step in creating a successful marketing campaign.

Build Trust Through Empathy
In many cases, your target audience may be embarrassed about their problem, or they may feel like they’re alone in needing a special solution to manage their issue. By establishing empathy with your audience, you show them that they’re not alone. You, too, have benefited from a special tool or event to handle the same problem they have. By building empathy with your target audience, you immediately go from becoming an untouchable expert to someone who has experienced the same problems and issues as your audience; someone much more accessible and less intimidating.

As someone who speaks the language of the target group, you build trust; they’re more likely to believe your pitch if they feel you’ve been through the same things they encounter. All of these things go a long way toward establishing yourself as a trusted source, which makes people much more inclined to buy your product or attend your event.

Solve Problems Through Empathy
One of the most effective ways to market a product or event is to establish that it solves a problem that your target audience experiences. If you can build empathy with your audience, and then establish that your product or event solves their problems, you’ve instantly crossed a boundary toward getting them to take action. An audience is much more likely to believe that the solution offered to them is legitimate if they believe the creator of the product has used it to solve the same problems they have.

For example, if someone who has always been thin tries to sell a weight-loss product to an overweight demographic, the overweight demographic may be disinclined to trust the thin creator. However, if someone who has successfully lost weight tries to sell a weight-loss product, he or she gains instant credibility by having successfully solved the problem that the target demographic experiences.

Build Empathy for Successful Marketing
Bottom line: build empathy with your target audience to create a successful marketing campaign. Become one of the crowd. Show them that you understand their problems, and that you can help them. If you’re able to establish empathy with your audience, you’re much more likely to sell your product or event to them.

Bernadette Doyle has attracted a loyal following who rave about her down to earth yet inspiring approach. If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love Bernadette’s marketing and success training products and programmes to help you develop a business that suits YOUR preferred lifestyle. http://www.clientmagnets.com

You’re gathering a database of prospects and marketing to those who have shown an interest in what you’re selling… you’re sending out direct mailings and e-mails, and you’re promoting your next event… you’re taking calls, you’re booking seats, and you’re realizing profits that are just short what you’ve dreamt of.

STOP. Every method listed above is a piece of the money-making puzzle, but there’s at least one element listed there that can be expanded to include an explosion of profits – profits of a caliber that you may have not considered possible.

That element is the “call.”  If you’re talking to one person on the phone, answering his questions and moving closer to a single booking, imagine the potential it could have if you were speaking to 50, 100, or even 150 people at once.  And furthermore, imagine if you were charging money for each of those people to participate in that call.

Hadn’t considered the teleseminar until now?   Here are a few points that demonstrate the profit-making ability of these super-calls.  You can:

• Charge a participation fee: When every person that’s participating in a teleseminar (or simply listening to you speak), has paid a fee (e.g. $50), you make a significant profit.  Just think, a mere 10 participants equals a cash realization of $500.  If you can book 150 participants, that a whopping $7,500 for 1 or 2 hours of your time!  $50 is a small investment for each individual caller, but equates to an astounding profit realization for you.

• Charge for transcripts. You can make participation in your teleseminar free, but then sell written documentations of the content after it’s over.  For this method, you must ensure that your content is so fascinating (and packed with indispensable information), that a generous portion of the audience can’t resist owning their own copies for future reference.

• Charge for recordings. Much like the selling of transcripts, you can sell recordings of your teleseminar.  Remember to make your seminar worthy of a second listen.

• Charge for transcripts or recordings in packages. Maybe a caller has dialed into her first teleseminar, and is so fascinated that she wants more information from past teleseminars.  Or, maybe your call times aren’t ideal for a few of your patrons.  In cases such as these, you can wrap up packages of transcripts and/or recordings and sell them to bring in profits.

• Recycle teleseminar information. Use your teleseminars to compile the information necessary for writing a book, an e-book, newsletters, or articles.  Again, you can realize profits above and beyond that initial call.

There are plenty of reasons to get excited about the teleseminar – including:

• the contagious energy that comes with speaking to a large audience
• the ability to take questions that simultaneously satisfy hoards of people
• the platform to spread the word about upcoming events
• and the chance to get the feedback that’s indispensable to your marketing plan

But possibly the biggest motivator?  The enormous cash-making potential of the teleseminar.

Utilize these tips and come up with your own ways of making teleseminars profitable for your business.  The goal is to do the work once, and to then develop ways to use that information again and again – and to generate profit with each turn.

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

Do you think your database of customers isn’t large enough for you to reach your sales goals? If you think that the only way you can make big money is with a bigger list, don’t believe that for a second longer.

Even if you have only a very small database, you can extract very large incomes from it.

Plenty of successful people started with no database and were able to meet their goals, including me and many of my mentors. I did not have a database when I began. I created one as I went along.

Don’t use what you perceive to be a lack of potential clients on your list as an excuse for not making the money you want. You don’t need a large database to make a lot of money. You can still reach your sales goals. You just have to want it badly enough.

What you need, more than a larger list, is to believe in yourself. If you present your product or service with a positive belief system, the customer list you have will pay the type of prices you’re asking.

One of my mentors, has a mastermind group with only 12 people. A very small list, but they pay $100,000 a piece. If only 3 of them sign on for a product, that’s significant earnings.

Of course, you can change the amount to a figure that more closely represents your product or service, but the message is clear. My mentor, believes his program is worth the price, and he believes his database will pay it. You should believe the same about yours.

As you go along, you will obviously learn how to grow your database, but your ability to make money is more about your self-worth.

Not only do you need to believe that you would spend the money on the product you’re offering, you have to believe that the clients on your list would spend that much money, as well.

Believe that, and it won’t matter what size database you have. Self-worth controls your income. Not the size of the database. Not where you live. Not the clothing that you wear or the people that you know.

If you increase your self-worth, everything can be taken away from you and you will instantly have it back overnight. You will always make money because your income is definitely directly tied to your own self-worth.

It doesn’t matter what your product is or how many potential clients are on your list. If you believe you’re worth a million, you will go out and generate a million.

If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Imagine that you own a designer clothing store.  You operate the register, taking money from customers and bagging up their items.  While you’re managing the flow of incoming money, you notice that the majority of visitors spend a significant amount of time thumbing through racks and trying on outfits – only to walk out of your boutique empty-handed.

If you could stop those people in the parking lot and ask them why they didn’t buy, without scaring them away from your establishment forever, would you do it?  If you found out that your product was perceived as low quality, you’d look at your designers more closer, you’d check the quality of your garments, right?  Or if you learned that the styles you offer aren’t current enough, you would reevaluate your stock, wouldn’t you?

There are two points of truth to be drawn from this example.  First, the majority of your sales pages visitors will click away without buying…that’s statistical.  And second, you may never know exactly how to solicit more sales unless you ask for feedback from non-buyers.

The prospect majority (the ones who haven’t purchased) are a valuable trove of information for the improvement of your conversion rate.  When you can use what they tell you to compile a list of common objections, you can then use that information to revamp your website, your FAQ page, or any other aspect of your business.

You might know how to ask for feedback from paying customers, but how about those who have merely previewed your product?  Here are some pointers for getting plenty of constructive feedback from non-buyers:

• Maintain a low-key tone. The language that you use in your feedback request should be one of curiosity…an unassuming appeal.  Make it clear that you only want to know why they chose not to buy.

• Be honest. Be frank with your prospects.  In your request for feedback (most often done via e-mail), let them know that you’re new to the business, or that you’re working on redesigning your website, or that you’re throwing around the idea of editing your product list.  Let them know that their opinions will be priceless in your effort to make the experience more pleasurable for future customers.

• In your written request, remind recipients of your website address. That way, they can revisit and refresh their memories, in case they have forgotten your business’ specifics.

• Offer a no-strings incentive in exchange for feedback. Never use a feedback request as an attempt to make a sale.  Instead, offer a one-time gift (like a free report) that requires no obligation.

• Do not interrogate prospects. Never use the feedback that you receive as ammunition to get them to buy at a later time.  When you receive feedback, simply say “thank you” and use it to make improvements.  Do not personally pursue the prospect.  Curiosity may drive them back to your site (to see if their feedback was utilized), but if you hunt them down, you will drive them away.

• Send feedback requests as soon as possible (within a week of the prospect’s first visit).  A person’s motivation is highest right after they’ve visited your site for the first time.  If you allow time for that motivation to fade, you will be less likely to receive feedback (and less likely to feed the fire of interest in your product).

You’ll probably be astounded at the amount and quality of feedback that you’ll receive.  People all have opinions – but will rarely voice them unless they’re invited to do so.  Many times, they’re so glad to have the opportunity to be heard, that they will be honest and blunt – perfect for your goal of gathering business-changing information.

Asking for feedback can seem a bit strange, even intimidating, at first, but once you receive your first dose of eye-opening criticism, you’ll be glad that you took the time to question the departing majority.  And you’ll learn to see objections for what they really are – opportunities for improvement and optimism for future conversions.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, then sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Do you manufacture, sell or promote a product?  Do you offer coaching, professional or specialist services?   Chances are you have accumulated a great deal of specialist knowledge and expertise in your industry.

I’m going to show you a way you can turn your expertise into big profits!  And it’s as simple as sharing your expertise with others to help them become successful in your field.

1.  When sharing becomes profitable  …

The knowledge and expertise you have gained over years of working in your industry is VALUABLE.  It’s especially valuable to those people who want to learn from your years of experience to build their own businesses just as you have done.  By sharing your knowledge, experience and resources you are helping people to make money and create a better life for themselves.  People are willing to pay you big money to help fast track their success.  If you’re willing to share what they want and need, there are people willing to pay you to do that.

2.  Decide how you’re going to share your expertise

Hosting an event and turning it into a big pay day is a perfect way to share your expertise and help others succeed while making big profits for yourself!
A big payday event may take many forms. One of the most common forms is a seminar or conference where you share your secrets and tips with people who want to learn about your field.  You can also conduct workshops, give speeches or run specialist programmes.

3.  Leverage your event to make serious money

Registration fees are a starting point to making money from your expertise.  But you can generate far more revenue.   A big payday event can generate six figures.  Think big!  Your event provides you an opportunity to monetize your business in new and exciting ways…

• You could turn your big payday event into an opportunity to launch a new product or programme for your company.

• Your event also gives you an opportunity to align yourself with different industry leaders. By inviting others to speak at and promote your event, you build credibility through association.

• Think of ways you can use your event to diversify and increase revenue streams.  Consider ways you can include residual income from product sales, setting up new marketing or money-making coaching programs, and establishing lucrative relationships with new clients.

• While your big payday event provides you with a great opportunity to branch out into new areas, you can also use it to build your existing business. Use your big payday event to connect with new clients, or to convince fence-sitters that your product or service is the ideal solution.

If you’re ready to share your expertise and help others on the road to success, it’s time to think about hosting your big pay day live event.  It is possible to generate a six-figure payday; just by sharing your expertise.  I know because of have done it.  Use these tips I’ve shared with you to think big!    Start planning today and everyone wins!

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

What if you could enjoy genuine client abundance: all the clients you want, whenever you want, paying the fees that you want?  One answer is to only target those people who are truly interested in what you’re offering – those people with their hands raised in response to your proposed solution.

Though rejection is an inevitable part of business and life, it doesn’t have to be a dominating factor.  In fact, it can be a miniscule, barely noticeable speck in a sea of limitless clients.

You can’t sell to everyone.  You don’t have the time or resources to do so, and no single product will appeal to every member of any population.  In order to identify those who are most likely to buy, you need to devise a method to pick out the prospects with their virtual hands raised, who are ready to accept your single solution to their shared problem.

There are two types of disappointment when you try to sell to people who just aren’t interested.

• First, you might feel that you, yourself, have been rejected. It’s easy to convert rejection of a product into rejection of yourself, and without the tools to manage those feelings of rejection, negative effects can flow into your business dealings.

• Second, you might be able to sell your product to people who aren’t truly in need of it, or aren’t interested in it, simply because you are a smooth operator.  The consequence of this scenario will most likely leave you with a sleazy feeling, knowing that you’ve manipulated other human beings into doing something they weren’t comfortable with.

In order to increase your bank of yes and deplete your bank of no, it’s important to ask the population, “Who’s interested?”  When you do that, a percentage of the population will raise their hands.  Consider that group of raised hands to be your new sea of prospects.  Don’t worry about those who have kept their hands in their pockets – they would have had no choice but to say “no” anyway.  Though your product might be a God-send for some, it’s never going to be right for everyone.

Isolating the group with hands raised saves you time, effort, and the fortitude that it takes to recover from rejection.

Here’s the progression – from getting those hands up in the air, to optimizing their potential:

• Find a lead generation system that plants the seed, poses the thought-provoking questions, and sparks enough interest to spur interested people to raise their hands.

• Offer a free report. Ensure that your report aligns fluidly with your product.  Like a chain with all links unbroken, your message must be kept uniform and in order.  This way, you’ll ensure that the people you’re attracting are the same people who are likely to buy. Remember, your initial contact with prospects must align with what the market is searching for.

• Shift your marketing focus to those who show an interest in what you’re selling. They are your true ‘prospects’.  This is the group that is predisposed to buy.

• Tell the people with their hands raised why their instincts are correct. When hands are raised, it means that the owners of those hands have a problem, and they think you might have the solution.  Let them know they’re right.

• Keep your message (your solution to their problem) uniform from first taste to final sale. Your execution must be as groundbreaking as your great ideas.

Your product is wonderful, problem-solving, ingenious…and there is a group of people out there just waiting for it.  It’s your job to find those people.

Make the effort to isolate the hands that are raised, using a message that not only attracts, but delivers.  Doing the right things, in the right way, in the right order, puts money in the bank.  When you execute seamlessly from the beginning, you will learn to view the raised hand as a springboard to raised revenue…a virtual deposit slip for your growing bank account.

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

FREE TELESEMINAR

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/

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