Client Magnets Official Blog

Archive for the ‘Money Making Ideas’ Category

When you’re running a one-day course, it’s important to understand group dynamics. In a one-day course, you must build rapport among attendees quickly so you can proceed with the underlying message of your course. Building rapport quickly is easiest when you have a little help.

Attendees’ Mindsets Upon Entering an Event
When attendees come to a course or event, they typically enter the event feeling a bit vulnerable or defensive. Your attendees may be worried that they’re going to be put on the spot, embarrassed, or humiliated. They worry that they may lack knowledge on a particular subject, and that lack of knowledge is going to be revealed. In business courses, attendees may be sent by managers and have even less confidence in their knowledge or attending an event. In other words, most attendees are a bundle of nerves at the beginning of an event. In a one-day course, you must overcome this initial discomfort quickly so that you can give attendees something valuable they can take away from the event.

Pre-Event Mingling
One way in which you can begin building the rapport and breaking through people’s insecurities is provide them with an opportunity to mingle prior to the starting of the event. Have coffee or snacks set up outside of the room prior to the session, and provide a comfortable area for people to sit and mingle. A breakout room where people can chat and interact with one another is a great criteria to include when you’re selecting a venue. This gives people an opportunity to overcome a little reticence before entering the event, and they’ll be more comfortable upon entering the room.

Bring an Assistant
At the beginning of an event, you’re focused on a thousand details. You’ve got to register all of your attendees. Your attendees may have questions, or needs that must be addressed. You may find that your attendees are too hot or too cold, and the temperature needs to be adjusted. What happens if the coffee isn’t ready, or if you run into a problem with registration or setting up the room? At the beginning of an event, you want to be focusing on the event; not the minutiae.

If possible, bring an assistant to help you manage these details. The assistant can help with registration, make sure everybody has their badges, check with the hotel about coffee, deal with temperature, and generally answer questions. A good assistant can also introduce attendees to one another and get them chatting; raising their comfort level and dispelling their initial fears. This frees you up to chat with attendees prior to the beginning of the event, or simply focus on the event itself.

The Secret to a Successful One-Day Event
The secret to a successful one-day event is to overcome attendees’ initial discomfort fast and build a rapport. This is easiest if you bring a good assistant who can help you field questions and concerns, and facilitate conversation among attendees. The right assistant can make your life a lot easier!

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Running an event can provide you with a substantial profit. You can earn revenue from the event itself, or from selling items during the event. With the many revenue options available for making money from an event, people still miss out on some great revenue opportunities. Here are some insider tips for increasing your event revenue that most people don’t consider:

Provide Tiered Pricing
If you want to open your event to the widest possible audience, consider creating a tiered pricing structure. You can quote a relatively low ‘entry-level’ price for just admission to the event. You can also add a ‘premium’ or ‘deluxe’ event attendance, with carefully-considered extras. You might add a product free of charge for attendees who sign up for the premium package. You might also add one-on-one time with the event organizer, keynote speaker or other key event guests.

In this way, you can provide basic entry to wider range of people, while still raising the overall cost of your attendance. If you provide basic entry for $100, or a premium attendance for $200, your average revenue will increase, depending on how many people choose the premium option. You can also add a pre-registration option at a lower rate, and then charge the full rate for registration at a pre-designated cutoff point.

Offer Trial Memberships
If you have a product that functions as a subscription, such as an information distribution service, you could offer attendees at your event a ‘free trial.’ A 30, 60 or 90-day trial is typically long enough to provide attendees with a good understanding of the service and its benefits. You’ll find that many people like the service and stay in the program; giving you an ongoing revenue stream once the free trial has ended.

Open Up In-House Opportunities
One great function of an event is to promote your in-house opportunities and services. Events are a great way to convey information about your services to attendees, and convince them that you’re the person with the expertise and systems in place to serve their needs. If you’re promoting in-house opportunities, though, your event can’t be planned exclusively around that. Unless you’re hosting a free event to reveal a new product, people expect to receive a certain level of value from your event; not an extended marketing pitch.

Convey valuable information at your event. Answer important industry questions; questions that you have the expertise to answer because it’s in your field. Provide information about a product. Give your event a purpose beyond simply promoting your services or products. A good event coordinator can find opportunities to work in-house services into the event’s structure at key points, and begin to build a relationship with attendees to meet their ongoing needs.

Be creative in the ways you leverage revenue at your event. Offer a tired pricing structure, which typically yields higher event revenue than a single price. Provide trial memberships to subscription or ongoing services, to demonstrate the value to your attendees and create an ongoing revenue stream. Finally, find ways to promote your in-house services to your audience throughout the event.

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

Do you know what the most valuable page on your website is?

It’s not your “About Me” page. It’s not your “Testimonials” page.

It is the page where people give you their contact information and purchase your products or programs. That is the goal of your business.

To achieve that goal, you need to get people to opt-in. Nothing else can happen until they do this.  That is why the design of the page where they opt-in – your squeeze page – is so important.

Getting your prospects to hand over their contact info isn’t always easy, but if you focus on your squeeze page set-up, you will successfully obtain client information, build your list and make sales.  Use my tips below to maximize the effectiveness of your squeeze page.  These strategies work!

•    Make your homepage a squeeze page

To get maximum results, make your squeeze page your homepage. This will lead to a significant increase in your opt-ins and in your list.

•    Model successful squeeze pages

To get ideas for your new home page, model other successful squeeze pages. Look at other people’s pages with new eyes. Emulate the elements that make them successful while using your own unique copy that speaks to your own target audience.

•    The important information should appear within the browser window

The pages that are most attractive give the most important information at the top, without having to scroll down. Everything your visitors need to see should appear within the browser window in front of them. Don’t make them have to “lift a finger” to find the best of what you have to offer.

•    Use headlines and bullets to present your message

Announce your best information in the area that most people notice first – the headline. Develop a headline that will grab your visitors’ interest and get them to stay online to hear the rest of your message. Use a prehead and a subhead to deliver your best copy.

Successful pages don’t include one long paragraph of copy after another. A successful squeeze page presents its best content as great mini headlines in a bulleted format.

•    Make big, bold promises

Use numbers within your bullet headlines. State that you’re going to solve problems. Make big promises in your bullets. You’ve done the research, campaigns and surveys to determine what your target audience wants, now highlight that information in your bullets.

•    Make a personal connection

Your target audience want to know who you are.   Don’t keep your personality a secret. Make your squeeze page personal. People buy people. Although we’re all speaking virtually, on Twitter and on teleseminars, people want the personal human connection.

They want to know you. They want to see the person behind the site. At the very least, include a photograph of yourself. Add audio and video to increase the personalization.

•    Use a thank you page

Don’t lose that personal touch once your visitor has opted in on your squeeze page. Your thank-you page is a great place to further your relationship and offer your new client even more. You could make another sale just by asking for it on your thank-you page.

•    Remove Navigation Bar and Banner

There are a couple of web page staples that should not appear on a successful squeeze page. These items do nothing to help you get people to opt-in. So, strip out the navigation bar and ditch your banner. They should not be on your squeeze page.

•    Test, measure and improve your conversation rates

Make sure you test and measure your conversion rate on your squeeze page. Find out how many visitors are actually buying into your offer. Regularly measuring your conversion rates will tell you what’s working and what isn’t on your page.

When you apply at least one of these tips, and you will see an improvement in your conversion.

Make a checklist and work through it. Improve your squeeze page one component at a time and you’ll be in a much stronger position – I promise!

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

How much money do you want to make this year?

If you’ve answered this question with a round number, like, $100,000, or $1,000,000, or an, “I don’t know,” you don’t have a goal, you have a wish.  It’s imperative that you know your goal income numbers, specifically.  You must know how much you have to net today, this week, and this month in order to land the yearly salary that will support the lifestyle that you desire.

Here are some get-specific Millionaire Mindset methods:

• What would you like to do in the next year? Move?  Take your dream vacation?  Send a child to college?  Hire someone to manage all of that stuff for you?  Or make it possible for your spouse to leave his or her job to come to work for you?

Don’t forget the smaller costs that go along with each large goal, like the cost of providing your newest employee with a company car and fringe benefits, travel costs, tuition, and your existing lifestyle costs.  Don’t estimate.  Make phone calls.  Get current pricing on airfare, college tuition, health care, or whatever bills you’ll have to foot.  Write it down…you’re going to need it.

• Now that you’ve done the addition, do the division. Break out the calculator and find out how much you’ll need to net in a month, a week, and a day.  This will give you a manageable and reachable goal path.

Lots of people say they want to be millionaires.  But if you ask them how much they need to make this afternoon to stay on track for that wish, you’ll likely be met with a dumbfounded look.  Once this step is completed, you will be distinctly separate from those with a wishing frame of mind.

• Challenge yourself in the pursuit of your income goal. If that means working an extra 30 minutes to meet your daily income goal, do it.  If that means negotiating on a deal, even if you’re not comfortable with negotiation, then do it.

When you know how much money you need to earn this week, in pursuit of the big goal, you’ll be encouraged to do the things that aren’t so desirable.  Every time you challenge the boundaries of your comfort zone, those boundaries will soften, and your comfort zone will grow.

A goal like, “I want to make a million bucks this year,” will never incite you to rewrite an email or to hold firm on your retail price for an item.  But if your goal is, “I need to clear another $50 today to stay on track,” you’ll push right through, because you will connect those little tasks with your big goals for yourself, your family, and your lifestyle.

• Successful business people always know their numbers. They rifle off their conversion rates, costs, costs of sale, and precise percentage profits.  Businesspeople who don’t know are probably losing money.

• If the thought of calculating, relating to, or speaking about numbers frightens you, then hire a business manager to do it for you.  Investing all of your energy in working in your business, without working on your business, will be detrimental to your income goal.

• The numbers might be simple now, but if your goal is to make a million dollars, or any other impressive number, you’ll have to expect the money flow, in both directions, to become more complicated.  Adopt a know-your-numbers attitude now, rather than jumping into a sea of number soup when your chances of drowning are high.

In short, know how much money you need to make.  Then know how much money you need to make this week in order to reach that goal.  Name it, and then claim it!

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

Mike Litman had a vision, but felt that he didn’t have anything of interest to offer his audience.  So he turned on his creativity and came up with the idea to borrow the expertise and credibility of notable millionaires.  He commissioned experts on money making for interviews, asked them how they got started and what they did to realize success, and then offered their stories on a teleseminar.  Eventually, those stories made their ways into his book, Conversations with Millionaires.

The teleseminars did well, but the book did even better.  Mike was successful because he crafted the idea that he could deliver the big names and the success stories that people wanted, even if that success wasn’t his.

I’m sure you would be happy to field that type of success with a teleseminar (and its resulting media), but you might wonder how you can possibly get your hands on the big names necessary for enticing prospects to sign on for your teleseminar.

Here are some points to keep in mind when pursuing that expert:

• Don’t be intimidated. You might be surprised at the level of expert who will agree to speak on your teleseminar.  It helps to remember that you have something they want.  They want exposure, and are often willing to use any type of available media.  Remember, more exposure means more sales for their current book, movie, or product.

• Use the expert to build your list. When you use the name of an expert in your teleseminar topic, you will likely attract a larger audience than you would have without that name.  Once a participant signs onto your “expert” teleseminar, you then have the right to contact that person for participation in future teleseminars of yours.  That’s called list building!  For this reason, it’s important for you to host and take sign-ups for the initial “expert” teleseminar.  That way, folks understand that they’re prospects, or clients, of yours.

• Don’t expect to pay the expert. A well-grounded expert will understand the value of the exposure that you are willing to give.  He or she will recognize that they can build their own list from your veteran teleseminar participants.

• Put limits on promotion. Come to an agreement with your expert about the balance of content and promotion.  Your participants will be disappointed if the entire teleseminar is spent listening to the expert tout his or her new product.

• Think about the future. Talk to the expert before the teleseminar about content rights for the future.  Both of you should agree (in writing) that recordings can be used for the future.  That way, you will be promoted to the experts’ audience, and you can use the recordings to generate more revenue for yourself in the future.

The expert whom you solicit to participate doesn’t have to be world-renowned.  He or she simply has to bear a name that will bring more people to your database.  But remember, you will be borrowing their credibility, so make sure that they have some to give.

Often times, you have to look outside of your own restraints to build your business.  And many successes have done that with the help of already-established names.

Human psychology dictates that we look to authority for answers.  We know that listening to experts gives us distinct advantages:  we save time, grief, and we gather more intelligence more quickly.  Provide your audience with those advantages, and they will give you the teleseminar dial-ins that you desire.

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

Would you rather be paid for your teleseminar, or give it away for free?  At first blush, your answer, of course, would be, “Get paid.”  But I must admit, I’ve presented you with a bit of a trick question.

The truth is that whether you ask for money for participation in your teleseminar, or you offer spaces at no charge, you can still harness money-making power.  A paid teleseminar will deliver up-front revenue, but free teleseminars also hold possibilities for making money:  from the subsequent selling of transcripts, recordings, packages, articles, e-books, newsletters and print books.

A common misconception is that people will jump on a free teleseminar just because it’s free; that sending out an email announcing it is enough to get participants – Not True.  If people view their time as more valuable than what you’re offering, they won’t set aside an hour to participate, even if it doesn’t cost them a penny.  For this reason, it’s important to realize that filling the phone line for a free teleseminar takes just as much effort as filling the line for a paid one.

When you use the word “free,” it’s important to put specifications on that freedom.  If a teleseminar is free to everyone, people might assume that it has little or no value.  But, if you make it free to members of a certain group (newsletter subscribers, new clients, current clients, members of your club, etc.), those people will see that they have earned the right to partake in its value.

It’s important to assign a value to every teleseminar, whether there’s a price tag or not.  Maybe participants are getting it at a discount, or maybe it’s free only to select people.  Either way, let them know what they would have paid.  This increases the call’s perceived value.

The free teleseminar has its advantages and its disadvantages. It’s up to you to allow its advantages to work for you.   Here a few pros and cons that might help you to find that balance:

Free Teleseminar Pros

• As long as the topic is exactly what they’ve been hoping for, people will be more likely to “invest” in a free call.

•  If the free call is marketed to members of a certain group, they will feel more inclined to partake in something they’ve earned.

• The law of reciprocity boosts your chances of selling post-teleseminar transcripts, recording, e-books, etc.

Free Teleseminar Cons

• If you don’t market the free teleseminar effectively, it could be dismissed as having little or no value, because it’s free.

• If you offer too many free teleseminars, you could find yourself being taken advantage of, for your free advice.

• Participants might not be serious about the topic, reducing your chances of post-teleseminar sales.  They might say, “It’s free.  I’ll take advantage of it,” and that will be the end of their commitment.

It’s also important to avoid making every teleseminar a paid-participation one.  It won’t be long before your audience is protesting (silently or audibly) that they never get anything for free.

To avoid finding yourself at either extreme of the free/paid teleseminar spectrum, it’s a good idea to offer a mixture of both free and paid.  This will prevent you from being taken advantage of, and it will keep your audience happy with occasional “free gems.”

Free isn’t a bad word.  In fact, it’s the root of freedom…which is at the heart of financial freedom.

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

The Receiving Zone: Get Cash Flow with what you NOW KNOW!

Thursday, 15 July, 2010
8pm UK, 3pm Eastern, Noon Pacific.

Have you been working hard to establish your business, but the rewards don’t match all the efforts you’ve been putting in? Are you tired of trading time for money – and want to discover new business models that can help you turn your expertise into more money – and free up your time. Do you feel that you’ve ‘paid your dues’ but are yet to collect?

My friend Kevin Nations and I are in the Receiving Zone, and between us have an impressive track record of helping our clients to get into the Receiving Zone too, and now it’s YOUR TURN.

So register now for this ONE TIME call:  http://www.thereceivingzone.com
On this special call that we’ve called “The Receiving Zone: Get Cash Flow with what you NOW KNOW!”, we’re going to show you:

• How to get others to see that what you have is WORTH investing in (price objections will be a thing of the past when you master this)

• The ABC formula that may be costing you cash (HINT you might be following this formula without even realizing)

• Why some of the BUSY WORK you are currently doing will not produce results (and may even be holding back your success)

• What you need to do RIGHT NOW to get into the ‘receiving zone’ and finally get the recognition and rewards you deserve

JOIN US as we explain why all your hard won expertise and efforts WON’T pay off – unless you get into THE RECEIVING ZONE. Spaces on this call are LIMITED. So reserve your spot right now by going to http://www.thereceivingzone.com

Best Wishes
Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

Looking for an opportunity to shine from the depths of the direct mail slush pile?

Though it might sound a bit cliché, everyone, even those of you who feel encumbered by a limited budget or a relatively small business volume, can do that.  Whether you’re sending out 10 pieces of mail per week, or 1,000 pieces, you can not only entice people to open your mail, but you can keep their attention with a creative, lumpy insert.

Maybe you have, at times, felt intimidated by the “big boys” – the companies who have thousands or millions of dollars to spend on direct mailing.  But, despite what you might have come to believe about these huge corporations, you actually have an advantage over them for creative direct mailing.  If you have an inventive idea for lumpy mail, you don’t have to sit in countless meetings with marketing committees, pitching your idea, enduring criticism, and perhaps, ultimately, having your idea shot down.  You are your final decision maker.

When you’re creative with your lump mail insert, you can spur your recipients to action.  Here are few examples to stimulate your imagination:

• If you’re intent on helping companies and individuals to find their own hidden treasures, you might consider including an old-fashioned scrolled treasure map with your promotional letter.

• If you consider a message to be of the utmost importance, you might want to stuff it into a bottle before mailing it.

• If you’re hoping to entice inactive customers to fall back in love with your company, you might insert a boomerang with a message like, “Boomerangs always come back, don’t they?”

• If your company has a mascot, you can have a lovable likeness of him or her reproduced as a lump.

• If your company helps people to find resources, for instance, you might want to include an ornamental needle-in-a-haystack.

• A complete comprehensive service might be accompanied by a small, silver platter and the statement, “I’ll give you everything you need for start-up on a silver platter.”

• Fortune cookies can be purchased, complete with customized messages inside, that deal specifically with your purpose or promotion.

If you’re stumped for lump ideas, there are resources that can help.  Two examples are www.LumpyMail.com and www.ImpactProductsMarketing.com.  There, you’ll find lots of creative ideas for lumps.  Maybe you want to announce a promotion, invite inactive customers back to the fold, broadcast an upcoming campaign, publicize a grand opening, or announce a new product or service.

Simply using bulk to create a piece of lumpy mail will, indeed, prompt people to open the envelope, but if you want to stay with them for longer than it takes to empty your promotional pen of ink, or to use that pad of custom sticky notes, you’ll want to put some innovative thought into your lumpy insert.

Make your mail memorable with creative lumps…because when your lump is specific to your purpose, and unlike any other lump, it deems you memorable, worthy of the call or the click, and the investment.

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

People are busy.  When scheduling a teleseminar, it’s crucial that you choose a topic that will make people stop, adjust their schedules, and make a date with the telephone.

And what, you ask, is the best way to accomplish this magnetism?  Emotional Appeal.

When you respond to something that people want, they will allow you to give it to them.  Don’t tell them what they need – their mothers can do that for them.

When choosing a topic for your teleseminar, remember that you need a strong, satisfying hook that will make readers say, “That’s exactly what I want right now.”  In other words, you must promise to satisfy a profound want that they have.  If a teleseminar topic sounds like one more add-on to their busy schedules, you won’t make the cut.  But, if a teleseminar topic sounds like something that they simply can’t live without (or the answer to a prayer), you will easily take the timeslot.

Every prospect has a need.  It’s your job to find out what the overwhelming emotional needs of your audience are.  Every member of that audience will want at least one of these elements:

• good health
• wealth
• extra time
• popularity
• good looks
• confidence
• respect
• comfort
• success
• enjoyment
• parenting success
• personal prestige
• contemporary style
• pride in possessions
• efficiency
• authority
• more / better sex
• satisfied curiosity
• no more embarrassment
• attractiveness
• knowledge of secrets
• intelligence

Now you might be asking, “How will I know what the emotional needs of my audience are?” The answer is simple:  Listen.

When you get questions and feedback from your audience, take notes, determine where the biggest emotional desires lie, and use that data to create a teleseminar topic that satisfies the wants of a large portion your audience.

For instance, if you’re coaching sales people, you might assume that their biggest motivations are making money.  But if you read their e-mails and listen to their voices, you will uncover the deeper emotional needs beneath that desire.  Maybe you’ll find that a large portion of your audience is competitive – that they want to outperform their coworkers or their competition.  In that case, you would put together a teleseminar that hits on the notes of success, envy, and personal prestige.  More people will sign on, because you have chosen to focus on them (and their wants).

Even if you’re only getting comments and feedback from a portion of your entire client base, the statistical data will still ring true…listen to the emotional revelations of the majority.

Your topic is the foundation, and the biggest determinant of financial success, for your teleseminar.  It must fill an emotional need, no matter how buried beneath the surface that emotional need might be.

Don’t tell people what they need; cater to what they want. Know your audience as intimately as professionally possible.

You should never have to guess on a teleseminar topic.  If you listen closely and carefully, the pain in your audience’s words will determine that topic for you.

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

Are you setting your goals according to what you truly want or what you think you should get?

There’s a very big difference between those two. If you’re only setting your goals according to what you think you should get, you are probably missing out on so much potential for your business.

Here’s one way you can figure out if you’re setting your goals too low. If I were to sit down with you in a coaching session and ask, “Tell me how much money you want to make this year,” how would you respond?

If your answer is vague or your answer is more in the form of a question, your goals are more in line with what you think you should get rather than what you want to make.

When you set a vision for your business, get this kind of thinking completely out of your head. The potential for your business is so far greater than you could perceive if you’re only looking at it from what you think you can do or what you think you have to do.

One way to avoid getting caught up in this mess is to do projects that you want to do; not projects that you think you should do because they might be the right way to launch a program or sell something.

Doing business this way will afford you the life you think you should have – living in a moderate home, making good money while working 6 days a week, always thinking about but rarely going on a real vacation.

Your goals have to be based around what you truly want. When you truly want something, you have what is referred to in Think and Grow Rich as a burning desire. If you don’t have a burning desire to achieve your goals, it is not going to be enough.

Here’s why that burning desire is so important. When you’re setting after something that you haven’t had previously – something that is a big, daring goal for you – you’re going to hit challenges. You’re going to hit obstacles because anything you want and don’t have is outside of your comfort zone.

On your way to achieving the things that are outside of your comfort zone, you’re going to be stretched. That’s the moment when you will be most tempted to give up, unless you have a really strong burning desire.

This desire, that yearning for something more, is like your higher mind calling you to your true potential.

So, when you’re setting your goals – both revenue goals and lifestyle goals – consider what it is that you truly want.

The bigger house? The 3-day work-week? The 3-month dream vacation?

If these are the goals you truly want, set them. Once you name what you want to achieve, once you know what is your burning desire, we can figure out a way for you to achieve it.

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