More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: How can you use distractions and other marketing challenges as an opportunity to make a bigger impact?
Going With the Flow
In the "early days" of Action Plan Marketing I worked hard to get the word out about my services through speaking engagements to various professional groups and service clubs.
I had developed a few standard talks about marketing and I focused on getting in front of as many audiences as possible. The groups needing speakers most often were service clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions, so that's where I spoke.
There were a few challenges with these groups. The first was that the talk could be no more than twenty minutes long, with ten minutes for questions and answers. It was a challenge to make a talk meaningful and impactful in such a short time.
But the biggest challenge was competing with dessert. Typically service clubs have lunch meetings and, so they can fit everything into their schedule, they introduce the speaker and then dessert is served immediately after.
The waiters don't care about the talk, they just want to get the pie or cheesecake on the table as quickly as possible. They would rush in and out, dishes clattering, and then return for a final serving of coffee.
And if it was a good dessert, the whole audience's attention went into gobbling it up, paying very little attention to me and my talk.
There were many ways to react to this hubbub. I could ignore it and continue stoically with my talk, hoping they would finally tune in. I could wait until the dessert and coffee was served, cutting into my time by five or ten minutes.
Or I could go with the flow.
The way I did this was to insert some humor into the beginning of my talk and actually make it an integral part of my presentation. I used the interruption of dessert to get my point across.
I'd say something like the following:
"Today I've come to talk to you about marketing your businesses. However, I have a challenge. I'm competing with dessert. And the dessert looks *really* good!" This would get a chuckle."You see, marketing is about communicating value, about demanding interest and attention. And in this case, it seems the dessert is doing a better marketing job that I am!" Another laugh, and now they're listening.
"If you could learn how to market your businesses as well as this dessert is marketing itself right now, you'd have more business than you could handle. And today I'm going to talk to you about five key marketing principles that will do exactly that." And with that I had their complete attention.
I've heard every excuse in the world about why marketing is difficult, why it's hard to get people's attention, why nobody is interested.
And what most people are doing is resisting the way things are, not going with the flow. You need to take into account that there are distractions, lack of interest, and dessert being served at the beginning of your talk.
In the TeleSeminar last week with Jill Konrath on selling to big companies, we were discussing the difficulty of getting through to a decision maker in a company. She assured us there would always be objections.
Her suggestion was not to resist the objections but to integrate them into your sales message:
Their objection: "Right now we have someone handling this for our company." Jill's response: "Of course you do, you're a big company! And the reason I want to talk to you is because there's a gap in what they're offering you that's very critical." And then she'd talk about that.They'll say, "I'm really busy right now." She'd say, "You bet you are and it's not going to get easier." It's always go with the flow.
What difficult circumstance are you experiencing now with your marketing? How can you start to go with the flow and make this challenge an opportunity to get your message across even more powerfully?
More on "Going with the Flow" in Marketing Flashes below.
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Selling Your Services to Big Companies - CD and Transcript
Last Tuesday I hosted one of the best TeleSeminars of the year when I interviewed Jill Konrath about Selling to Big Companies.
Jill focused on two areas.
The first was how to target, identify and then to reach out to busy decision makers in big companies. She stressed the importance of an "account entry strategy" which focused on very few prospects and utilized multiple attention-getting contacts.
The second area was how to use the InfoGuru marketing strategies I've been teaching for years to get qualified clients to call you. Jill shares the approach she used with her web site and well-placed online articles to get all the business she can handle.
You can order the CD and transcription right now and you'll get the Real Audio online so that you can listen to it just seconds after ordering.
http://www.actionplan.com/bigcos.html* * * * * * * *
InfoGuru Marketing = Go With the Flow Marketing
I think many people see marketing as manipulation. That is, persuading someone to buy something that really isn't as good as it's promoted. Marketing doesn't have a lot of credibility.
But in marketing and selling progressional services, this method will backfire quickly. InfoGuru Marketing is about education and sharing value. It's about authenticity and making a contribution to your clients. It's the polar opposite of most marketing.
When people start to grasp the concepts of InfoGuru Marketing the response I hear over and over is, "This is something I can do without sacrificing my integrity." All of a sudden, marketing becomes fun and enlivening as well as much more effective.
Below is a brief synopsis of what's included in the InfoGuru Marketing Manual. These fourteen points below will give you a good snapshot:
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html- 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 will transform your marketing. These essential principles 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 over 11 hours of audio files with teleclasses and interviews on the finer points of marketing your services. These audio files alone are worth the price of the manual.
- I've included a boatload of extras, including 150 pages of articles, dozens of resources and, most importantly, the InfoGuru Support Forum, where you can get any question about marketing your services 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 available in both digital format (.pdf file) for immediate download, and 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:
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes on "Going With the Flow"
* Use humor - Generally this works better for most people face-to-face or over the phone than in print. Get your prospect laughing by using self-deprecating humor. Resistance melts and a more open conversation follows.
* Start with where your prospect is now - You'll get less resistance if (in person or in written materials), you first talk about your prospect's situation and challenges before you talk about your solutions and services.
* Tell stories - Stories are always easier to relate to than concepts. People don't have to struggle as much to understand stories. They can put themselves in a similar situation and see the value more quickly.
* Get them talking - Too much of marketing is one-way communication. But people really prefer a two-way conversation in which they can discover if your service is for them. Ask good questions and really listen.
* Don't resist objections - Arguing will get you nowhere. "Yes, I can see that this would be a concern to you. Can you tell me a little more about your goals and priorities?" will go a lot further than, "You're wrong about that. Let me tell you why."
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."
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