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More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: Nine key marketing lessons that you
need to learn if you want a consistent flow of new clients.
Nine Marketing Lessons
Over the past six months I've worked with four different
Marketing Action Groups, 47 people in all. We've worked
intensively to develop marketing messages, create materials,
launch campaigns and close new business.And along the way, we've all learned a great deal about how
marketing works.If I was going to sum in a few pithy paragraphs the most
important lessons participants have learned, I'd present the
following nine:1. Keep your focus on the pr ospect. Perhaps the biggest mistake
Independent Professionals make is putting the spotlight on their
business, their services, themselves. Prospects care about what
you can do for them, not about who you are or what you do.2. It's all about response. No matter what marketing you create, if
it doesn't get response, it's no good. Period. You can't fall in love
with a web site or a letter or a presentation. You have to ask
objectively, "Is it producing results?" If not, change it.3. Familiarity breeds credibility. Even if your marketing is great,
if no one sees it, nothing's going to happen. But if people are
exposed to you consistently -- from an ad to an appearance at a
networking group -- your credibility multiplies.4. People like to receive free stuff! Often this is a revelation.
When you start to offer free information to your prospects they
will invariably respond. When you've captured their interest,
they'll raise their hands and say, "Tell me more!"5. Relationships are powerful. When you can forge a connection
with another who can provide an introduction to his or her client
base, your prospects are unlimited. Those who leverage relation-
ships will always be more successful than those who don't.6. Don't sell until you've marketed. You need to get someone's
attention, interest and trust before you start to sell. People will
actually invite you to sell when they're ready. If you push too
hard, you'll get dis-invited.7. Make powerful offers. Once you're invited to sell and you've
learned the problems, needs and objectives of your prospects,
you'd better have a valuable, solution-based offer to present. If it
doesn't excite them, why should they commit to you?8. Proposals are about objectives, not actions. Most proposals go
to great lengths telling what you'll do for the prospect. Instead,
spend more time letting them know the specific objectives you'll
accomplish working with them.9. Taking care of clients is part of marketing. It may, in fact, be
the most important part. You need to make promises and keep your
word. If you're vague about your promises, misunderstandings
arise and no amount of hard work can compensate.I could write a book about these nine points. Well, I actually have,
called the "Infoguru Marketing Manual." But these points, in
shorthand, are really the essence of being a successful marketer
of your services. Take some time to think through each one and
ask yourself how well you are currently applying them to your
marketing.More on applying the "Nine Marketing Lessons" in Marketing
Flashes below.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A forty times income increase in three years...
Guy Levine bought the InfoGuru Marketing Manual in 2001 when he
was 21. He called me last week and told me he was making about
$3K/yr when he bought the manual. He diligently applied its
lessons and, three years later at 24, he's making $120K per year.Another customer, Jim Rooney, sent an email yesterday saying.
"The technique from the InfoGuru Manual of sending a series of
articles with a hand-written note has been very helpful. I was
able to get a training contract for $17,000 and we are discussing
doing more. It has worked for smaller sales also."Two more living examples that applying the ideas from the manual
most definitely works to attract more clients to your business.Why is the InfoGuru Manual for you?
- It was developed exclusively for Independent Professionals such
as consultants, coaches, trainers and other service professionals
who are great at what they do, but have a hard time consistently
attracting clients to their businesses.- The manual is based on a few powerful marketing principles that,
once you understand them, might seem obvious but are missed by
almost everyone (and implemented by even fewer).- The marketing principles contained in the manual will help you
increase interest in your services, build trust and credibility with
prospects, get prospects wanting to learn more about what you do,
and create a steady stream of word-of-mouth business.- It goes way beyond theory, vague generalizations or concepts, and
contains hundreds of hands-on marketing strategies and action plans
that are easy to implement, even if you have no marketing experience.- It includes foundational marketing information on things like creating
an attention-getting marketing message, and then goes into depth on
the most recent marketing techniques of web marketing and eZines.- You can read it like a book -- you can go through it slowly and
do the exercises like a home-study course -- or you can refer to it
whenever you have a question about marketing your business.- It comes with a boatload of extras, including audio files, articles,
and the InfoGuru Support Forum, where you can get any question
about marketing answered for free.- The Support Forum can be used to answer questions, provide
resources, and get "peer-review" of marketing materials, web sites,
proposals and sales letters, as well as explore the more complex
and confusing aspects of attracting clients to your business.- It will help remove the mystery and struggle about marketing
and selling that so many Independent Professionals experience,
and will help you realize that marketing can actually be fun.- It comes with my unconditional guarantee. Get it and try it. If you
don't think it's worth much more than what you paid, tell me and I'll
refund 100% of your purchase price.- Unlike most marketing information sold on the web, the manual is not
only available in digital form (.pdf file) for immediate download, but for
just a few dollars more you can get a printed manual as well.- The InfoGuru Marketing Manual was published in February of 2001,
and it's just as relevant today, because I add to it regularly with updates
of the manual that can be downloaded repeatedly at no additional cost.- If you are looking for one tool that will help you attract clients with
an approach and methodology that is highly effective but doesn't
compromise your integrity, you've found it!For complete details and to order online go to:
www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes on "Nine Marketing Lessons"
It's easy to read these nine lessons and have them go in one ear
and out the other. But what if they were really your key to fame
and fortune as an Independent Professional? They are. Here's how
to apply them to your business.* Score yourself from 1 to 10 on each lesson. This will be a quick
reality check of your marketing. It will also let you know the
areas where you need to focus your attention.* Next look at the many ways each lesson applies directly to your
business. For instance, in what ways are your marketing
materials talking about you and your services, not about how your
prospects benefit from your services?* Now zero in on one specific thing you could do to improve your
marketing communication. Perhaps it's the home page of your web
site that really gives very little idea of the benefits prospects
would receive if they worked with you.* Now do a little research, looking at several other web sites in
your field and subjecting them to the test - is it more about them
or is it more about the benefits of their service? When you find a
good one, study it very closely.* Now put a concerted effort into making changes to your home
page so that it communicates powerfully how your services will
benefit your prospects. Get some feedback, fine tune and post the
new home page.Congratulations, you've taken a conceptual marketing lesson and
applied it to a very specific marketing communication. Do this
one step at a time on every aspect of your marketing and,
ultimately, you'll have great marketing that gets results.Until next week, all the best,
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Helping Independent Professionals Attract More Clients~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2004 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free
to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part,
as long as you include complete attribution, including live web
site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit
Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional
marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional
service businesses."* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
