By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

We'd all like to attract more clients and better clients who both paid us more and who are great to work with. 

And we'd all like to increase our incomes - not by a little but by a lot. However, for most of us this is just a dream because what we're doing to increase our businesses will never get us there. 

In order to see exponential increases in our marketing efforts we must work on increasing our marketing effectiveness in five key areas. 

Last week I got reports from several of the current and past Marketing Mastery participants who had accomplished these kind of exponential results. Here are brief reports from four of them:

Sal Sylvester - 512 Solutions: "I Just sold another $32,500 program (that makes 4 concurrent programs right now). Raised my price by $8,000. The next one will be in the $40k range. Revenues expected to be very close to $300K in 2012, and that will be almost $100k above 2011."

Jim Smith - The Executive Happiness Coach: "I Closed a $48K Culture Change program (a one-year program) a couple months ago... a product I used to sell "piecemeal" and for 1/4 of that price, before I learned how to package it as a Program and articulate the value of it." 

Sharon Rich - Leadership Incorporated: "It seems like what's happening for me is that I sell a component of my high-end program, which leads to the sale of other components, which leads to the sale of other components. For example: I sold a coaching program for 2 executives, that has now expanded to 5 execs, and keeps rolling over in 6-month increments. Value of the client so far: about $50K."

Liz Guthridge - Connect Consulting Group: "In 2010, I had one client that I billed in excess of $10,000. In 2011, I had four clients that I billed in excess of $10,000. (One new client’s billing was close to six figures.) Also, in Late Fall 2011, I sold a project to a new client for $44,000. The company and I had talked about a $7,500 project in Spring 2010." 

The question is, what are they doing to get these kind of results?

They are practicing these five marketing disciplines: 

1. Offering Higher End Programs. This is the central piece that so many miss. Sal Sylvester used to sell $5K leadership workshops. To earn $100K had had to sell 20 of these. Now, with a high-end program at $32 to $40K he only needs to get three clients for the same income. That gave him real marketing leverage. 

2. Better Marketing Messaging. Jim Smith couldn't sell a $48K program with the same message and promised outcomes as a $12K program. His new message had to be oriented around producing sustainable change for his clients as opposed to offering a process with unclear outcomes. 

3. More Visibility to the Right Audience. Sharon Rich concentrated her marketing efforts on the members of a high quality networking group whose members could refer her to her ideal clients. She got to know them and over time explained the kind of results she produced. Now referrals are coming in regularly.

4. More Appointments and a Higher Closing Rate. In her selling process, Liz Guthridge is now asking for and getting more better- paying clients. She is now using an orchestrated selling process that moves a qualified prospect into a paying client much more efficiently. And it's a process she can successfully repeat over and over again.

5. A Marketing Mindset Shift. These results were possible because all of these Independent Professionals did extensive work on getting past their limiting mindsets of what was possible. They are no longer stopped by fear of rejection, perfectionism, or a host of other thoughts and beliefs telling them these results are impossible. 

None of these skills came automatically. They were learned, practiced, implemented and perfected over several months. They have all taken the process of marketing and selling their professional services seriously, and are now reaping the rewards. 

Are you interested in getting these kind of marketing results?

Then I recommend our two marketing programs: 

1. The Fast Track Marketing Club

This is an online program with step-by-step tutorials, expert interviews and coaching calls designed to teach you the skills of attracting more of your ideal clients. All for a very low monthly fee of $29. And this week we've just added our new "Marketing Ball Score Keeper" program and app that lets you track all of your prospective clients using my Marketing Ball model.

http://actionplan.com/fasttrack

2. The Marketing Mastery Program

This is an intensive one-year marketing program where I work with a maximum of 20 participants to mentor and support them in actually implementing the above marketing practices until they are consistently attracting more high-end clients. Applications for this program, which starts in April, are now open. 

http://actionplan.com/advanced/mastery-program

I urge you to learn more about these programs and then take action to become a more masterful marketer of your services in 2012. Don't leave your marketing success to chance. Get the information and support you need to take your business and marketing to the next level. 

Cheers, Robert Middleton

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