More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: How to get tremendous marketing leverage from the mistakes made in your industry.
Sell Your Mistakes
Last week I spent a few hours with Sean D'Souza a More Clients subscriber, card carrying InfoGuru and one of the more prolific contributors to the InfoGuru Support Forum.
Sean is a brilliant guy from New Zealand who has synthesized the ideas of many marketing gurus and turned it into a very successful business. He was in the United States for a workshop he's leading and we sat down to share ideas.
I think I did Sean one better in the meeting because I got him talking and I filled several pages of my notebook with great ideas. But his last idea was sheer brilliance and I thought I'd share it with you.
Sean pointed out that, for InfoGurus, our greatest business opportunities can come out of our mistakes, not our successes. He said we needed to start selling our mistakes. It might sound counter-intuitive but he's right on.
As a consultant, coach, trainer or other Independent Professional we spend most of our time telling prospects and clients how they can do things better:
- How you can make more profits- How you can keep your best employees
- How you can achieve your goals
- How you can attract more clients
This sounds well and good but these strategies for doing things better are never as compelling as talking about what they are doing wrong.
When you talk about how to do things better, you are pointing to a yet unrealized future. Sounds good, but it's often hard to grasp or believe. "Yeah, everyone says they can help us make more profits. What else is new?" Doubt and skepticism rear their ugly heads and the potential client loses interest fast.
But turn it around to mistakes and it generates a different kind of interest:
- Mistakes that decrease profits- Mistakes that lose your best employees
- Mistakes that prevent you from achieving goals
- Mistakes that actually push away clients
These ideas are more interesting to us because we want to know if we are currently making any of these mistakes ourselves. You're not pointing toward the future but to a painful current reality - one which many can easily relate to.
So how do you turn this into business?
Simply offer a report, program, consulting or training that outlines all the mistakes you and others have made and how they can avoid making those mistakes in the future. A simple mistake turns into something very substantial - and valuable.
- Five Big Mistakes IT Companies Are Making That Are Killing Profits - A program for IT managers.- The High Cost of Losing Key Employees - A white paper for the hospitality Industry.
- Goal Setting Techniques That Always Fail - A presentation for small business owners.
- The Seven Biggest Mistakes You Are Making With Your Marketing - A teleclass for Independent Professionals (sound familiar?).
Just think of all the mistakes you've made in the course of your career or, if you're perfect, some of the biggest mistakes made in your industry. If you have insight (and solutions) to those mistakes, you are very marketable.
Sean didn't say this exactly but I'm sure he'd agree: Start thinking negative a little more often and you'll start seeing more positive results!
More on "Sell Your Mistakes" in Marketing Flashes below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TeleSeminars - Past, Present and Future
I've gotten a tremendous response to these TeleSeminars that address issues vital to Independent Professionals. They are now available on CD.
I'm working to make these TeleSeminars relevant to Independent Professionals, practical with lots of hands-on tips and am partnering with top experts to provide the most up-to-date information available. And they are *very* affordable. Only $25.
Concerned that you aren't leveraging your time and knowledge to the maximum? Consider this TeleSeminar on CD: "Work Half the Time and Make Twice the Income With Virtual Action Groups."
http://www.actionplan.com/snncd.htmlFrustrated that you aren't building your email list fast enough? Learn about the TeleSeminar I conducted last week: "Inside Secrets to Quickly Growing a Massive, Responsive Email List."
http://www.actionplan.com/elist.htmlTwo coming up in the next month:
Wonder why you aren't getting as many referrals as you know you deserve? On Thursday August 26 I'll be offering a TeleSeminar with John Jantsch on "How to Create a Flood of Referral Business."
Are you mystified about how to get into big companies to sell your services? On Tuesday, September 26th I'll be conducting a TeleSeminar with Jill Konrath on "How to Sell to Big Companies (Without Cold Calling).
I'll open enrollment into the Referral TeleSeminar next week, so watch this space.
* * * *
Are You simply tired of struggling to attract clients?
Karen Millard sent me the following email:
"I can say that it was your "New Marketing Paradigm" (on the Action Plan Marketing web site) that sold me completely on the InfoGuru concept. When I read that, I had a complete "Covey style" paradigm shift. Everything about marketing, which had previously caused me immense grief precisely because of the supposed combative nature of it, suddenly became effortless."
If you are ready to make a paradigm shift in your marketing, it just might be time to check out the InfoGuru Marketing Manual for yourself:
Complete details and to order online go to:
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes on "Sell Your Mistakes"
* Compile a list of mistakes made in your industry. List them all, even the obvious ones. Prioritize them. Which are costing your clients the most money? Do you have solutions to these mistakes? Great, then you have something to build on.
* Write an article based on these mistakes and get it published or send it out in your newsletter or eZine. Make this an article you could use for years - one that will get your prospects thinking about what they are doing wrong (and what they need to do right).
* Turn the article into a talk or presentation and offer it to chambers of commerce, professional associations or groups that offer teleclasses. I promise that a mistake-oriented title will get more people to turn out.
* Take the same topic and turn it into a detailed report or e-book that you offer on your web site or sell at the back of the room after presentations.
* Now adapt that list of mistakes into a training class, a workshop or a coaching program. The only difference is that in this format it will cover the ideas in more depth and you can charge a substantial sum.
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."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
