It’s my birthday – again!

February 8th, 2010

I’ve just finished a meeting with my team and Brandon, my customer service representative has informed me that many of you are ‘chomping at the bit’ to hear a replay of my ‘Virtual Birthday Party’ call I did last Saturday.

We know this call struck a chord with many of you who attended live. It got pretty ‘raw’ in places as I pulled back the curtain and revealed exactly how transformative the past 12 months have been for me.

Well the queen has two birthdays, so I can too! And the good news is we’re offering a one time replay of that call, this Tuesday 9 February.

Amazingly, many of the requests came from people who already attended the live call and simply want to hear it all over again. That’s what tells me this was a special call, because in all the years I’ve been offering teleseminars, I’ve never heard that request.

Here a just a few of the comments received:
‘I got off the phone feeling empowered for the first time in months.  So a HEARTY THANK YOU for all that you have been through, for sharing your story, for being a champion, and for giving me hope that I, too, will create a new reality for my life.  God bless you richly for your faith. You have truly inspired me today.’

‘Quick thanks for telling me about Bernadette and her Stepping Up programme. I participated in her teleseminar that she did this past Sat (on her birthday!) and a) felt a connection with her,  just like I did with you, b) was v. impressed by what she was offering and c) felt like she had read my mind (re: my goals for my business and myself) and was speaking directly to me!’

‘I want to congratulate for the call today , it was  – for me – 300% more valuable and the way you presented it gave me the confidence to be in the right place. I could relate to many things you said. And it is  – again — one of these amazing things of synchronicity that I came across your program ….’

Here’s where to register so you can get all the details of the call.
Click here for details and to register http://www.clientmagnets.com/steppingup/

This call was truly LIFE-CHANGING for those that heard it, so make sure you join us for the replay.

It’s my birthday – again!

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Posted in Business & Money, Business Plans, Business Success, Home Business, How To Make Money, Law Of Attraction, Marketing, Online Marketing, Success Secrets, Systems, Teleseminars | No Comments »

Increase Opt-In Conversions with Teleseminars

February 6th, 2010

The conventional wisdom for online businesses has usually involved offering some type of free report on your web page. The advice that expert marketers tend to give is for companies to have a squeeze page. This is where you would offer your free report. When potential customers land on your page, they’ll sign up for that free report. Now they’re on your list, and you have the means to follow up with auto-responders. You can now market and sell to them because they have given you their contact information.

Offering a free report is generally good advice because it gets the people who are truly interested to take the step forward and make themselves known to you. It means that you are marketing to people who have given you permission to market to them. So, on that basis, it is a sound practice.

The trouble is that when everybody does it, it starts to lose its effectiveness. How often have you personally had the experience of browsing online and landing on a site where something is being offered for free? Maybe this would have tempted you four or five years ago, but now you are wiser. And so are your prospects. They will think twice about handing over their email address to you now, because they know these free offers are a marketing approach.

What can you offer instead that would have a higher perceived value and almost compel people to give you their email address?

I am a huge proponent of teleseminars. They offer tremendous value for you and your business for a couple of reasons.

Think about how much great content you can give clients in a one-hour-long teleseminar. And, they can really get to know you, up close and personal.

Even if someone does download that free report on your web site, it may just sit in their inbox or on their computer. They might not ever get around to looking at it. You know how many things we all download and never actually read. It’s like the stack of magazines that sit unread on the end table, but without the actual clutter. Or, they might actually print it out, put it to the side to read later, and, well, later never comes.

But a teleseminar offers actual human connection. People are getting a lot more than just information from you. They are getting to know you.

A teleseminar allows your personality, sense of humor, and everything about you that is the reason for your business, to come across. It shows who you are, and that’s what’s important.

At the end of the day, people buy people. The beauty of the teleseminar is that it gives people a live experience of you.

And because it’s an hour long – certainly not any shorter than that – it’s an opportunity to pack in a lot of content. You can really convey a lot of knowledge and build up an intimacy with your audience in this amount of time.

Here’s another major advantage about teleseminars. They are time-limited.

If you are offering potential clients the opportunity to sign up for a teleseminar next Tuesday via your web page, they know they have to make a decision. If they click away from the opportunity, they miss out for good. So, they are less likely to hesitate than they would be with signing up for a free report. They know they can always come back for that later.

There are many people who get between 30%-40% opt-in rates from the free reports on their squeeze pages. If you get 100 visitors to that page, 30 – 40 of them will give you their email addresses. Many people are very satisfied with that. And that’s fine.

But if you offer a teleseminar instead, your opt-in rate could increase to 70%. Mine did. Just by switching one little piece of the lead generation process, and offering a teleseminar instead of a free report, you can double the number of leads you’re generating with no extra traffic.

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

Increase Opt-In Conversions with Teleseminars

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Posted in Business & Money, Business Plans, Business Success, Marketing, Money Making Ideas, Personal Productivity, Teleseminars | 2 Comments »

Create More Cash With Open Courses

January 9th, 2010

For anyone selling their services as a small or solo business, you know the perils and pitfalls of cash flow.  From the time you make your initial contact with a prospect, to the time you get paid can be weeks, even months.  It’s amazing how few employers understand what it’s like for the self-employed and as a result, they tend to make assumptions about what is reasonable to ask of us before we get paid.

So, while you may have plenty of business in the pipeline, it’s not generating the cash you need to keep going.  You need to establish a steady flow of income.

So how do we generate quick cash?  The quickest way to generate cash is to hold an open course.  While off-the-shelf products are wonderful passive income generators and are income producing in the long run, they take production and creation time.  Open courses basically take one day AND you’re getting paid up front.

A very important realization in this process is to stop selling your time hour by hour to one client.  That is going to restrict your cash flow.  You need to sell your expertise, not your time.  Your time is too limited; it’s not going to generate enough income and cash flow.  Your expertise is another matter altogether.

Now, your first open course may not start off fully booked.  Direct response marketing takes time to figure out.  Back when I first started out, it took a little time to find out what marketing worked for me.    I was getting 16 people coming to a course and charging £250 a day per person.  One open course that took one day of my time was generating over £3,000 of revenue. Since then, I’ve topped those figures over and over!  But this will give you an idea of the results you can achieve, even when you’re first starting out.

Of course, you’re going to have some associated expenses such as the marketing material and the hotel bill.  I ended up pocketing £1,500 to £2,000 for a day’s work in which I was paid up front.  Compare this to your pay for a session with a client where you may need to wait weeks for payment.

If you plan one open course per month, you’re not just generating revenue; you’re establishing a regular cash flow.  Now you have something to count on so you can withstand the longer sales cycle of the typical sale.  But even better, you’ve given yourself an alternative.  You’ve made it easier to walk away if a client isn’t willing to pay your going rate.  If you have that alternative waiting in the wings, it shows in your attitude and mindset.

You’re going to be amazed at the transformation having this choice offers.  There’s going to be additional benefits besides establishing a steady cash flow, you’ve also increased your value.  You’ve created a mindset in which you have a choice and this choice also helps put you in the power position when you’re negotiating a sales contract.  It’s also going to be a factor when you’re setting your prices.

That’s what being a Client Magnet is about – it’s about taking matters into your own hands.  It’s about creating alternatives and putting yourself in a position where you can pick and choose your clients.  It’s about maneuvering yourself into a situation where you’re not desperate because of the slow or no cash flow.  It’s about selling your knowledge and expertise, not your limited time.  Now that you’ve determined that there are alternatives, you’ve taken the matter of getting paid into your own hands and as a result, you’ve taken a giant step towards becoming a true Client Magnet.

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

Create More Cash With Open Courses

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Posted in Business & Money, Business Networking, Business Plans, Business Success, Cash Flow, How To Make Money, Marketing, Money Making Ideas, Personal Productivity, Speaking, Success Secrets, target audience | 1 Comment »

Are Workplace Politics Affecting Your Sales?

December 28th, 2009

There’s one thing that many people who are self employed don’t miss about working in the corporate world and that’s workplace politics.  Well, unfortunately, those internal politics still affect us and how we conduct our business.  Ignore them at your peril!

The key to overcoming them is to understand them and know just how they play a role in attracting corporate clients.  Your traditional sales model is actually hindering your sales to big companies and on top of that, the internal politics are magnifying it!

Think about it, with traditional sales you make an appointment with the key decision maker, make your presentation and close with them.  If you’re selling to larger companies, more often than not, the final decision is made by more than one person.  The result is that you’re giving control to them, you have to rely on them to sell your services internally to their organization.  Who can sell your services better, you or your contact?

You may believe that an excellent working relationship with your contact is enough to get you the job.  They’re going to be your champion within the organization.  But having a champion in your corner doesn’t mean you’re going to close the deal.

I’m sure all of us have had great sales meetings, the ones where you walk away satisfied that the client is ready to close.  You’re waiting for their final decision and you think that it’s a ‘done deal’.  Next thing you know you’ve followed up with your client only to find that they’re putting you on hold.  It’s happened to the best of us.

How do you get around this?

What you need to understand is the delay is due simply to the nature of the behind-the-scenes decision making.  To address this, from your very first meeting, if not even sooner, flush out any concerns that other people within the organization may have to your service.

It sounds odd, why would someone object to a training to improve customer care or improve sales?  We’re selling change, and those in larger companies are frightened of change.  There are two ways to address the situation:

1.  Meet as many people within the organization as possible. Even if you’re just going to observe people at work, meet informally or interview employees, start building relationships.  The more people you meet, the more opportunity you have to win friends and influence people.  The sooner you can do this, the better.  If you wait until your proposal is submitted, it could be too late.

2.  Watch your words. If you’re using words such as transform and increase sales, you’re signaling that dramatic change is on the horizon.  That’s going to frighten many corporate types.  Temper your language.  What is most appealing to managers at the middle and senior level is offering solutions that are in line with existing processes, things that will blend in with what they already have.

From the outset of your sale, take every step you can to ensure buying at every level.  Have as many people within the organization attend your presentation.  Ask your contact if so and so from sales will be attending or if other key departments be present.  That gives you the opportunity to sell yourself to multiple levels.

Remember, it’s never too soon to set a strategy to build relationships throughout an organization.  There are strategies that you can employ from the start to play and win the internal politics game.

Here you thought you were free of workplace politics!

Are Workplace Politics Affecting Your Sales?

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Posted in Business & Money, Business Networking, Business Plans, Business Success, Marketing, Personal Productivity, Strategies To Keep Good Customers, Success Secrets, Systems | 2 Comments »

Inject Urgency and Get a Decision

July 25th, 2009

One of the biggest challenges with selling services is that often the client does not have the same sense of urgency that you do. Anyone who sells bespoke solutions has probably experienced this. There’s a good chance you’ve been in a situation where you’ve made a proposal, you’ve put hours of work into it, and then you’re following up and you hear, “Oh, next month,” or “We’re going to make a decision on that next week,” or “It’s on hold.”

It’s so frustrating isn’t it, when your prospects do not share your sense of urgency? So what can you do to stack the sales odds in your favour and get things moving?

When I started my fledgling training company back in 1996, one of the first hard lessons I learned was that I did not have the funds to finance long decision-making time, and unfortunately in some cases it was going to be 6 or 12 months before I saw any real business gains. I knew that I was going to be out of cash well before that point. So I needed a way to turn things around – fast.

So, in desperation, I said to myself, “Well, what if I just run a one-off day on my specialist subject, and do it as an open programme? I’ll hire a room in a hotel and do the training.” So I started offering a one-day training on cold calling.

I had accidentally stumbled across a valuable technique. I discovered that running my own open courses helped position me as an expert and gain invaluable experience ‘in the field.’ It gave me an opportunity to ‘showcase’ my expertise. There were some people who came on the course and said, “This is great. We need to do this in house.” And so it sped up the process of landing large sales contracts.

From the clients’ point of view, the advantage for them was that they could sample what I was offering at much lower risk. If they sent one or two people to an event and they didn’t like it, then there was no great loss. But imagine if the whole sales team had been taken from their usual duties to experience a training programme, delivered in-house, that wasn’t suited for their needs? That’s a nightmare that no sales director or training manager wants to contemplate. So you’ve got to lower the risk for them.

When you package your expertise and deliver it via a live event, you immediately change the sales dynamic. Instead of you having to wait for months for a decision, you gently nudge your contacts into taking action. That’s because, by their very nature, live events have a limited availability. If you’re selling in-house training or consultancy, the main frustration you experience is injecting urgency and getting people to act. But if the only way they can experience you is via a live event, you immediately have a built-in deadline and built-in scarcity.

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned about marketing and selling over the past 10 years is that you MUST give people a reason to act NOW. First of all you need to recognise that your biggest competition, whether you’re selling to organizations or individuals, is not the other training company or the other consultant or coach down the road. It’s the status quo. Most people would rather stick with what they know than take the risk of making a change and getting it wrong so it’s really easy to keep putting you off. One of the reasons open workshops, seminars and training courses work so beautifully for speeding up the decision making process is because they have two elements which have been proven time and time again to both give people a reason to act and increase urgency. 1. Limited availability 2. A deadline.

When you’re selling a bespoke solution, it’s a challenge to credibly build these elements into your proposal, but when you’re selling open programmes, they are an intrinsic part of the package. There are a limited number of seats in the room, and the course is taking place on a specific date. Once the places are gone, they’re gone! Once the date has passed, the opportunity is gone.

Now, most people who are selling training, coaching or consulting do not exploit these elements to their advantage, but if you do, you can transform your business.

So what happened to me, completely by accident, was that as I started packaging my in-house training into an easier to buy, off-the-shelf solution such as a one-day programme, it generated immediate benefits. I got the primary cash-flow coming from bookings for my training course, followed by the secondary benefits of bookings for in-house trainings.

If you are a trainer, coach or consultant, you MUST seriously think about offering your expertise via an open seminar, workshop or training course. Even if training isn’t your main service, and your long term goal is consulting clients, if you build an event around a technique or a skill that you can teach prospective clients, it WILL stimulate follow-on business. And, if you market it the right way and it will put immediate cash in the bank too.

Inject Urgency and Get a Decision

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Posted in Business Success, Cash Flow, Closing The Sale, Marketing, Money Making Ideas, Success Secrets | No Comments »