Client Magnets Official Blog

Archive for the ‘Success Secrets’ Category

 

Wouldn’t it be great if you could fast track along the road to success?  Do you want to know how to do this? A simple way is to follow the lives of other successful people. If there is one thing that is certain in life is that everyone makes mistakes. Even the most successful business people have made wrong decisions at some point in time. The difference is that successful people learn from their mistakes and turn them into something positive. In the same way they can be great as mentors. You can learn from their experiences, especially the positive ones that have made them successful.

The Bad, the Ugly and the Good News

As a business owner you will no doubt have made some mistakes along the way. I know that I have and in the process I have learnt some short cuts, some ways not to do things, and what things have the most impact on my business. As a business person I have experienced some of the bad and the ugly. I may be working just three days a week and have a million dollar business now, but I didn’t start out that way. My road to success has involved me having to overcome numerous obstacles. Personally I think I have probably overcome every obstacle you have ever faced or are likely to face. Each one of those has given me a renewed perspective and strategies for continuing to move forward. For you this is the good news. It means that you can learn from my experiences without having to make the same mistakes yourself. The strategies in the programs are based on solid experience. They can give you results, just as they have for many of my other clients. Buying into a business community can give you access to mentors and people with a vast depth of business experience. They can be your encouragement and support when you are facing challenges.

Benefits of Working with Successful People

•    Successful people often have high energy levels and this can be contagious. Their excitement about ideas and strategies can spur you on to achieving your goals.

•    Successful people have proven strategies which can often be applied to other similar businesses. This can help you fast track your business success.

•    Being part of a business community provides you with encouragement, support and accountability.

•    As you learn from more experienced people so you too can start developing your own strategies that other people may be able to benefit from.

•    Following proven strategies helps you to avoid common pitfalls and can speed up your business success.

•    Being in a business community allows you to interact with others who have had similar experiences and who understand the challenges of running your own business.

Even though you may be in business on your own, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to figure out absolutely everything on your own. Becoming part of a business community can give you access to valuable information, strategies and business tactics. Using other peoples proven success can help you to get on the fast track to achieving your goals.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you’d like to learn more about her amazing Mastermind group, click here: http://www.clientmagnets.com/marketingmastermind/

Register free to join her on her upcoming free Masterclass: http://www.clientmagnets.com/corporate/

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Have you ever been in a position in your business where an opportunity comes up and you know it will benefit your business to take it, but it’s going to cost. It may cost a lot financially and maybe you don’t have the cash in hand. Maybe it requires you to put your reputation on the line. Maybe it requires you to do something that you don’t quite feel equipped for.  When faced with these type of decisions ask yourself the question: “If I manage to get this right, how much will I have learned in the process?”

Taking Risks helps you to Grow and Expand your Capabilities

I have worked with many clients who hesitate and say to me: “But I have never done that before!” Fortunately most of them don’t allow that to hold them back. I have one client who had some expertise but he didn’t know how to package and sell it. I helped him to put it together and price it at a much higher level. I helped him to realize that his initial price point for the level of expertise that he was offering was far too low. The product sold for $5000 and it was my recommendation to sell the product from the stage. The idea terrified him as he had never presented on stage before and he certainly had no experience as a sales person.  The great thing is that he took on the challenge. He knew he would be risking his reputation and breaking new ground, but he didn’t let it stop him. When I followed up with him a short while later he had already sold 25 products and he was so excited about it. He learned that he could do something new. He just needed to be willing to take the risk and step up to the challenge.

The benefits of Taking Risks

•    Taking risks is a big part of being a business owner. Not everything can be carefully calculated. Sometimes you just need to go with your gut and risk it.

•    In taking risks you open yourself up to new opportunities. You can learn new skills or discover some that you didn’t know you had.

•    Taking risks is a way of expanding your capacity and your way of thinking. When you are willing to take on risks you tend to have a broader view on things and this can create many opportunities for you.

•    Taking risks helps you to gain momentum in your business. Because you have risked something it spurs you on to make a success of it.

•    In the same way taking risks can energize you to think more creatively and find solutions to the challenges that you face.

•    The more accustomed you get to taking risks the more courageous you will get. With each risk that you take that pays off you learn the value in it, and this encourages you to look for other similar opportunities.

Many people shy away from taking risks preferring to take the safe and secure path to success. However, any person that has achieved a great level of success will tell you that they would never have got there if they hadn’t been willing to take risks. Taking risks can teach you so much about yourself and your business. Being willing to take risks will also open up many more opportunities for you to grow your business.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

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I may be known primarily as a marketing coach, but I am the first to admit that if you’re serious about growing a six or seven-figure business, it’s going to take a lot more than great marketing.

You can do all the right things and work hard, but if it’s not yet translating into results, it may be that your marketing strategies need tweaking, or you may need to work on your business model and your income streams.  But, it’s also a strong indication that what you really need to work on is your mindset.

If your mindset isn’t in the right place, you could be sabotaging your own success.

Perhaps deep down you don’t feel that you deserve it, or you doubt yourself or don’t trust yourself. Maybe you just don’t believe that you should have it so easy.

Wrestling with these issues takes a lot of strength. You have to make up your mind that you are stronger than the issues.

Every time you step up to a new level, there will be more inner work for you to do. There’s always more to face and to overcome and to step through.

Think about some of the workings of your mindset that are holding you back right now.

•    If you feel like you’ve got to do everything yourself in order for everything to get done, that’s a mindset issue.

•    If you doubt yourself, and think you have to slowly build your credibility before you can offer an expensive program, that’s a mindset issue.

•    If you aren’t willing to invest money in yourself by taking training courses, buying programs or hiring a coach, that’s a mindset issue.

•    If you think the only way that you can make money is by trading your time for it, that’s a mindset issue.

You need to shift your mindset. Being put in situations and even getting assignments where your old mindset is challenged and tested will help you to look at and handle things differently. Ultimately, you will blow apart all of the old ways in which you approach new things.  Working with a coach or a mentor specifically on mindset will help you a great enormously.  And I can personally speak from experience!

The change in your mindset shift is a little difficult to explain because it really needs to be experienced.   The bottom line is that part of mindset is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Everything you want that you don’t yet have is outside of your comfort zone. If it was inside your comfort zone, you would already have it. You have to step outside of that zone to get what you want – and deserve.

Once you shift your mindset, you will be comfortable with being the expert at what you do, delegating, believing in yourself and in the value you offer to your clients.

That is when you will achieve and surpass your business goals.

So go for it!  Join me in the journey and make this year your best year ever!

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

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Two business owners compete against one another in the same field.

Business Owner #1 has worked in his niche for 30 years; he has a massive list of contacts; his reputation is impeccable; his clients are among some of the most satisfied in the industry.  His expertise is unmatched.  Word of mouth has been a friend to his business, but his niche is very specialized, which means that his name doesn’t come up at many dinner parties.

Business Owner #2 is relatively new to the industry, also working in the same specialty niche.  She’s still in the process of building her contact list; her clients are largely satisfied, but the verbal buzz hasn’t elevated yet…she’s simply too new.

Which business owner do you think has realized the largest profit in the last 12 months?

Would you be surprised to learn that it’s Business Owner #2?

How could that be?

One word:  Marketing

Business Owner #2 invests whatever she can afford to lose in marketing campaigns, while Business Owner #1 simply can’t seem to get past the initial dollar amount of the marketing expenses, and so, simply doesn’t “get the word out”.

As a result, the first business remains steady, but stagnant.  The second soars.

Business Owner #2 possesses a Millionaire Mindset.  Here’s what’s going on inside her head:

• Marketing is an investment.  Even if one campaign costs $4,000 (which is a significant amount of money for her fledging business), she anticipates that just one resulting sale will pay for the ad.

• She views the campaign as an investment in her most valuable commodity – herself.  Because she has completed the research and knows that there’s a noted demand for her product, she purchases each new ad with a faith that can only come from believing in herself and her business.  She thinks, I’m the best investment I’m ever going to make.

• She never invests more than she can afford to lose.  Financially, she only invests what her business can survive without.  Emotionally, she only invests what she can lose and still hold on to a sense of hindsight without depression.

• She doesn’t ruminate over the dollar amount of each marketing endeavor.  Rather, she concentrates on its potential return.  She understands that she’ll realize direct returns, as well as future, residual ones.

• She knows that she’ll never reach millionaire status by pinching pennies.

• She understands that by pulling out her cash and throwing it against the wall of cash that has become frozen in this, a stagnant, economy, she’s multiplying her chances of getting a return.  Unless she spends money, the wall of cash will remain rigid, eliminating a large portion of potential profit.

• Though it was difficult for her to accept the idea of investment versus cost in the beginning, she becomes more willing to spend money with each profitable marketing campaign.  Because of this realization, she has committed to educate her clients about the benefits of marketing, which will contribute to the stimulation of the economy.

Investment and return will never be a chicken and egg debate.  Without investment, there can be no return.  The return will never come first…in fact, it simply won’t come at all.

If you want to find your own millionaire mindset, you must separate yourself from the competition’s aversion to marketing and getting your name out there.

You could spend your disposable income on a new car, or a summer home, or a vacation.  Or…you could invest that cash in a marketing campaign…so you can afford all three.

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

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One of the biggest things that most often holds us back from achieving our full potential is permission to succeed, or the feeling that we’re somehow not fully qualified to offer our advice and expertise to others. Have you ever felt that way?

Whether you’re thinking of starting a high-end coaching program, marketing a new product or putting together a conference, the most valuable thing you can do for yourself is to give yourself permission to succeed. The people who achieve the most in life aren’t stronger than you, or smarter than you; they succeed because they give themselves permission to try.

Self-Doubt is Common, and Deadly To Your Success
Self-doubt isn’t an unusual problem to face when we begin new projects, or undertake new endeavors. When we try something for the first time, there’s always the question of failure. Sometimes people even wonder if they have a right to try what they’re trying, as though only other people can undertake massive projects.

One of the best things you can do for yourself is give yourself permission to try the big things you want to try. Most people know a lot more than they think they know, and have a great position from which to strike forth and begin a new endeavor.

For example, if you’ve been in your business for ten years and have built your business from the ground up, you’re absolutely qualified to talk to people about how to build a business like yours, or how to operate in your niche. The accumulated experience of those years is your qualification. You don’t have to be a coach or a guru to offer something valuable; in many cases, your personal experience is the most valuable thing you can share.

Successful People are Ordinary People Too
It’s important to understand that successful people aren’t magical, or special in some way that you’re not. Successful people are ordinary people, too. Successful people typically have talent and know-how, but the key factor that sets them apart is a willingness to actually do the things they do; not a unique qualification or special asset that other people don’t possess.

For me, joining Yanik Silver’s mastermind group was extremely valuable, because it quickly became clear that Yanik, one of the most successful people in his field, is just an ordinary person. He’s got a lot of talent and know-how, but he’s still a flesh-and-blood human like the rest of us. Getting to know Yanik was the key to realizing that an ordinary person can do wildly successful things, such as starting a high-end coaching program or organizing huge events.

Don’t make excuses to avoid starting your new projects. Don’t wait until tomorrow, or next week; don’t wait until you’ve taken that class or landed that big client.

These are all excuses that self-doubt uses to prevent you from succeeding. Do yourself the biggest favor of all: give yourself permission to try the important things. It doesn’t matter if you’re just an ‘ordinary person.’ We’re all ordinary people. It’s time for you to really start creating your own success!

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When you meet someone for the first time, you have a chance to make a real connection, or you can just pass on your name and be forgotten. Successful relationship-building requires more than just handing out business cards. To build long-lasting, solid and mutually-beneficial relationships, a little homework and a little thoughtfulness goes a long way. Here are my tips for making an impression that brings lasting results …

Research the People You’re Meeting

If you’re meeting someone in particular, research the person or people you’re meeting. Lots of resources exist that can give you both professional and personal reference material. The Web is a source of myriad information, with things like company websites, personal bios, work histories, resumes, portfolios; depending on who you’re meeting, you may be able to find a wide range of information about your contact.

If the Web doesn’t yield any useful information, you could check with the company where your contact works, to see if they have any marketing information containing professional info about your contact. You could also check periodicals, such as magazine stories, newspaper articles or professional interviews. Depending on how public the person is that you’re meeting, you may be able to find everything from the name of a spouse to the first place he or she worked out of college.

Use the information you find when you meet your contact. Talk about common interests, such as being dog owners, adoptive parents, yachters; whatever common bond you can form with your contact can help you form a good relationship. Ask about things near and dear to the person’s heart – not just business talk – and you’re well on your way to forming a real connection.

Ask Questions and Show Genuine Interest

Get to know people to form real connections. Ask questions about everything; not just their professional life, but their personal interests and family life, too. The more you can show that you understand, know and really “get” the person, the better your relationship will be, and the more business opportunities you’re likely to gain. Be a real person to your connections, too – if your new business partner volunteers information about his wife, talk about your wife. The more personal you can make your relationships with people, the better your long-term success with those relationships will be.

Have Fun Making Connections With All People

Everyone can have fun building good relationships – all you have to do is be genuinely interested in people. Enjoy getting to know your business colleagues, or even that woman you met on the street the other day. Forming connections with people can help in all aspects of your life, and even random connections can help your business in unexpected ways. You never know when someone will refer a key contact; an affiliate who may have great products for your prospects, or a business or distributor that could make your product a high-demand success!

Don’t just see people as stepping stones to a better business. Form real, legitimate connections by getting to know people, and I promise good business will naturally follow.

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The thank you page is one of the most overlooked places of real estate on the web.

That quote, from one of my mentors, Yanik Silver, speaks volumes. There is so much opportunity to promote more business and further your relationship with a new client on your thank-you page.

That client has just indicated that they trust you by opting in to your offer. Signing up to your list is a sign that they want to hear more from you.   Don’t let them leave wanting; offer them even more before they click off your thank-you page.

When developing your thank you page, think about what you can do to increase your client’s involvement. Marketing research has shown that the more people are involved, the more likely they are to buy – again.

That’s one reason companies hand out scratch-off cards with prizes or discounts hidden beneath the ink. It’s called an involvement device. When someone physically has to do something, it increases their involvement, which increases response and increases conversion.

The content on your thank you page needs to be relevant to your target market. Think about what you want them to do next, where you want them redirected to, and if there’s an opportunity to make them another offer.

There are several key ways you can accomplish this.

•    Make another offer. While letting the client know you’re glad they signed up, also let them know about another offering. Make a special offer. Offer a special prize or a special bonus that new clients will receive, but only if they sign up there and then.   Remember to use language that encourages action.  For example, “This is the only time you will see this offer. It’s for new subscribers only and you won’t have access to it again.”

•    Ask for more information. Once a new prospect joins your list, ask them to describe their biggest problem. You can then direct them to other offers you may have to help with the problem, or develop that new offering if you don’t have one.

•     Create a “tell a friend” campaign. Invite people to tell three friends about your offering in exchange for a special bonus. “Congratulations. Your place on the call is reserved. But just before we continue I would like to offer you this free gift……..”

Everyone who opts in helps you spread the word to other people. This will make a massive difference to your opt-ins and really help to increase your list. You can automate this process using Viral Friend Generator software.

When saying “thank you”, the key is to include only one of these options on your page. Either attempt an additional sale by making another offer, ask new clients for more information, or create a tell-a-friend page.

Any one of these options added to your thank-you page will start increasing your sales immediately.

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

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Many entrepreneurs, small business owners and other professionals find themselves focused on earning an income, finding new clients and the day-to-day struggle to survive.  Having enough income and cashflow to grow your business rapidly is not an uncommon problem.  I often hear people talking about their expected income for the next day, weeks or months ahead.  They focus on knowing where the next paycheck is coming from because they don’t have enough confidence in their existing client base or cashflow.   They fear their income will dry up.

Have you ever felt like that?  If that sounds like you, then it’s time to STOP focusing on your income.  It’s time to start focusing on a long-term plan for success and diversification.  But how?  How do you free yourself from the day-to-day financial worry and really start to thrive?

The answer simply lies in starting your own high-end coaching program.   A high-end coaching programme (when designed and delivered the right way) will provide enough guaranteed revenue to enable you to stop worrying about money and be free to focus on your long-term success!

This is how the strategy works …

Sell Once a Year to Generate Guaranteed Revenue

• With your high-end coaching programme, if you market and sell the right way, you will only need to focus on the selling once and then you’re done for the year.

• Create a program with a limited number of spots, and you’ll only have to sell long enough to fill those spots and then you can focus on serving your clients and creating alternate revenue streams.

• Create a program with a fixed time limit, such as my annual programme, and you only have to sell those spots once per year. Then you’ve got the commitment for the income, and you’re free to focus on other areas of your business. No more worrying month-to-month whether you’ll have enough cash for next month; with a high-end coaching program, you can earn enough money to free yourself up for other pursuits.

Free Yourself Up to Look at the Big Picture

One of the biggest benefits for you and your business of creating a high-end coaching program is freeing yourself up to look at the big picture. If you’re like most people, you spend countless hours per week working on finding enough business, and the rest of your time goes to satisfying your existing clients. You never have time to think about the long-term plans for your business, or how to diversify your revenue streams.

Once you have the committed income of a high-end coaching program, you can stop spending so much of your time selling yourself and your services because you have a guaranteed revenue stream. Instead, you can focus on creating the other steps to achieve success in your business, and put together a long-term plan for your business!

In order to truly become successful in your own business, you’ve got to stop focusing on immediate income so you can begin to build a road map for long-term success.   Worrying about your day-to-day income is short-term thinking and can seriously hamper your long-term business success. When you start a high-end coaching program, you get financial commitments for a large portion of your revenue and begin looking at other ways to improve your business success.

So if you want to see an end to your day-to-day financial struggles and the beginning of long-term success, it’s time to start your high-end coaching programme!

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

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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

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By declaring your goal, whatever it may be, you are taking the first step toward achieving it. Taking that first step is a good start. But, the very instant you make the decision and take the step, something is going to come up – a challenge that you will likely need to face. It could be a fear, an obstacle, or an external challenge or circumstance you didn’t foresee.

When fears, obstacles and circumstances arise, it’s easy to go into panic mode and contract and retreat. If you do this, you will end up feeling like you’ve tried and failed.  And when you feel like that, you’re actually worse off than when you started. In addition to not achieving the goal that you wanted, you’re also left feeling bad about yourself.

Here’s something truly valuable you need to learn about change. It’s so important to grow bigger than your obstacles or unwanted circumstances.

This is what people who are consistently successful do. They take the step. They still experience the obstacle, fear or external circumstance that comes up. But, instead of shrinking, successful people make a decision. They choose to grow bigger than their problems. They expand – and the solution becomes visible.

Richard Branson, a hugely successful businessman who is admired by many, went through this scenario early in his career. He found a loophole where he didn’t have to pay taxes on the store he owned – or so he thought.

He ended being fined an enormous sum of money, with his only options being to pay his fine or go to prison. Branson made what appeared to be a crazy decision. His solution was to open another store to make more revenue to pay his fines.

In that instant, he chose to grow bigger than his problem.

That is partly what makes him such a successful businessman, and such a tremendous contributor to society on a global scale.

To make an impact like that, you have to learn to be comfortable with managing your fears and challenges. When you encounter an obstacle, grow bigger than the problem.  When you learn to do this, nothing is out of your reach.

When obstacles and challenges and fear come into play, you need to find new ways to handle them. Ask yourself, “What do I need to learn?  What do I need to do differently in order to fully step into my new life?”

The instant you do, the solutions will become visible. They may well have been there all along, but you couldn’t see them before. As you grow bigger than your problems, new opportunities will appear because you are doing things differently.

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

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