More New Clients, Without Advertising

You can build a thriving business on just a handful of great clients and referral partners.

It's simple, really.

Pick great people, serve them to the best of your ability, and put your long-term relationships with them ahead of any short-term sales.

That last part is vital.

The relationship must come first. When you take care of that, the money will follow. But if you put money first, you will churn and burn your way through clients and find yourself on a treadmill of costly advertising and funnels.

When you're talking to your best clients and referral partners by phone or in person -- email is NEVER a substitute -- listen for personal details that pop up in conversation.

Where did they go to school? What are their hobbies? Names of their spouse or children?

The more you learn about your best clients and referral partners personally, the better you can treat them personally, and the more they will reward you professionally.

This is how you go beyond intangible concepts like retention, and build a business on real and lasting relationships.

One more thing ...

If you found these ideas helpful, request your Free Client Cloning Kit at my website

How to Sell More in 45 Minutes

Want to sell more of your product or service this week?

With about 45 minutes of effort?

It's simple. Just do more of what's working.

Let me show you …

I just analyzed my sales data for the past year in my Salesforce CRM. (You DO have a CRM, don't you?)

Total time invested: 45 minutes.

What did I find?

Findings
----------
1. Of my last 18 sales, 10 of them were repeat sales to past clients. Not surprising.

2. Of my top 5 clients who paid me the most money, all 5 were referred by people I met at marketing events. Frankly, this was surprising.

Actions
----------
1. I booked my tickets to two more marketing events, to keep meeting high-level prospects.

2. I will add qualified prospects I meet at those events to my mailing list of printed newsletters (not email spam). The follow-up by U.S. Mail is helpful for them and automatic for me.

3. I will mail a gift to key past clients within 10 days, to show my appreciation. The gifts will be helpful for them and pave the way for repeat sales, which helps us all.

Takeaways
----------
1. Where did your last 15-25 sales come from?

2. How do you know?

3. What are you doing to get more sales like them?

One last thing. If you found these ideas helpful, please request your Free Client Cloning Kit at my website

How to Sell More With Amazon's $10-Billion No-Tech Marketing Trick

Did you know?

Amazon spends over $10 billion on digital marketing every year.

And Amazon sells everything under the sun.

Which means, no matter what you're selling, you could learn a lot from Amazon.

Case in point: Take a look at what just popped up in my Amazon Prime account today:

See what Amazon did there?
 
Instead of promising to save me money on future purchases (Gain) Amazon showed me that I lost $142.04 by not using their credit card last year (Pain).

Brilliant.

Now, here's why this matters to you: Amazon does nothing on a whim.

Their marketing, like everything they do, is driven 100% by data. Which tells you something. The fact that Amazon is using pain rather than gain in their credit card offer means you MUST consider doing the same in the offers you make to your prospects.

And here's the best part: No technology is needed. This marketing tactic is 100% psychological, based on the fact that we humans will run faster away from pain than we will toward gain.

Now. 

Let's turn these ideas into action.

Step 1) What exactly does your ideal client miss out on every day they haven't hired you?

Example: Let's say that you're a consultant. And the prospect you just spoke to by phone wants to make sell more of her $79,999 coaching program. (No, that price is not outlandish. I recently helped a client sell $1.1 million of her coaching at that price.)

If she's getting 10 calls every week from prospects and only selling 1 of her coaching slots at $79,999, but you KNOW you can get her to at least 2 sales from those 10 phone calls every week, then she's losing $79,999 every week she hasn't hired you.

Step 2) How can you make that pain very real in your emails, web pages, sales letters and other marketing?

Example: You could include a phrase like this in your follow-up emails: "Had we started 4 weeks ago when you first contacted me ... you could have received an extra $319,996 from the same phone calls you're getting now."

Powerful, don't you think?

One more thing ...

If you own a business with clients (not customers), in the U.S. or Canada, and you're doing at least $1 million in revenue, you're invited to claim a Free Client Cloning Kit here.

36 F- Words You Can’t Say in Business

(See the key below for what each F-word really means.)

Did you know?

Your business strategy is f---¹ important!

Unfortunately, it’s easy to be distracted by f---² tactics.

That’s why you need a strategic plan of action to stay on track. Otherwise ...

You’ll Be Seriously F---³!

But let’s f---⁴ recap shall we?

A tactical business owner works to make more sales today.

If you tell him (or her, I’m not a f---⁵ sexist) that it’s twice as hard to get an appointment with a prospect as it was 5 years ago, he’ll say, “F---⁶! I’m going to work twice as hard.”

By contrast, a strategic business owner works to make more sales today and tomorrow.

If you tell him it’s twice as hard to get an appointment with a prospect, he’ll say, “F---⁷! I’m going to make selling twice as easy.” In other words ...

The Tactical Business Owner
Chases Profits By Working F---⁸ Harder.

The Strategic Business Owner
Creates Profits By Working F---⁹ Smarter.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: How can I f---¹⁰ work smarter and make selling twice as easy?

Well, you should f---¹¹ realize that only about 3% of your prospects are actively looking to make a purchase right now, according to my f---¹² research. Out of every 100 phone calls or emails you get, only about 3 of them will say, “I want to f---¹³ buy today!”

The rest of your prospects (as many as 97% of those f--¹⁴ people) are not buying today. They’re only thinking about it. They might be interested or think they have a problem ... but they’re not sure how you can f---¹⁵ help.

So, what can you say to the 97% of your market to get their f---¹⁶ attention and start a f---¹⁷ conversation that leads to a f---¹⁸ sale, even if they’re NOT ready to buy?

Try this: Offer to educate them. Because everyone wants to make things better, but only 3% want to buy today. It’s just common f---¹⁹ sense.

Want proof?

Try this thought experiment ...

You walk into a car dealer. A tactical sales rep pounces and says, “Hi! Can I help you find a f---²⁰ car? We’ve got some f---²¹ beauties this week!”

What’s your reaction?

“No, I’m just f---²² looking.” You may want to buy a car, but instincts take over and your shields go up when you think you’re being sold something.

At another car dealer, a strategic sales rep greets you and says: “Hi! Have you seen our f---²³ car guide? It shows you how to avoid the 7 mistakes most people make when buying a car. It’ll save you money even if you don’t f---²⁴ buy from us. Here’s a free copy.”

What’s your reaction to that?

“Thank you! This is f---²⁵ great.” You’re now indebted to that sales rep for giving you real value before he asked for money. You may buy today. Or not. But you’ll certainly be more open to a f---²⁶ conversation with that sales rep. Which makes a sale today more likely.

And you’ll take his f---²⁷ car guide home and either buy from him in the future or use the guide to evaluate other sales reps, who will likely pale in comparison to the guy who tried to f---²⁸ educate you. 

So ...

That’s The F---²⁹ Power Of
Strategic Educational Marketing

By playing the long game and taking time to help buyers today, you can make more sales, more easily. Today and tomorrow. F---³⁰!

This is what I help my f---³¹ clients do to earn their prospects’ trust and respect ... generate more referrals ... preempt low-priced competition ... and position themselves as f---³² experts.

Now. If you’d like to enjoy those f---³³ advantages in your business, please visit my f---34 web site.

One more thing. I follow my own advice ...

Should you call me at 612-567-6642, I won’t try to f---³⁵ sell you something, okay? 

We’ll just have a conversation about your business and how it can grow bigger, faster with strategic educational marketing like this.

Thanks for reading!

F---³⁶ you,

Kevin Donlin

Copywriter+ Marketing Optimizer

P.S. Here’s the key to all those f-words:

1. forceful   
2. fanciful   
3. Flummoxed    
4. first       
5. fiendish    
6. Fiddlesticks    
7. Fine       
8. Foolishly   
9. Facilely   
10. finally   
11. first       
12. faithful   
13. Fearlessly
14. Fickle   
15. fairly       
16. fleeting   
17. feel-good   
18. fabulous   
19. Fiscal   
20. foreign    
21. fast       
22. fitfully   
23. free       
24. finally   
25. factually   
26. Facile   
27. fantastic    
28. faithfully   
29. Fiery    
30. Finally   
31. fearless   
32. faultless    
33. favorable   
34. Friendly   
35. foolishly    
36. Favoring

One more thing: I just created a new Cheat Sheet that reveals 4 ways to "force" Amazon to build your business, at NO cost. Click To Download Now

Marketing Optimization: Who Else Wants a $462,363 Windfall?

Marketing Optimization.

It's the process of getting more revenue from the time and money you invest in your marketing.

Everything you do to optimize and wring more dollars out of every visit to your web site, every transaction, every customer -- that's marketing optimization.

Lots of people talk about it. Few do it.

But I do it ...

... and by optimizing a web site for one of my clients, I just added $8,891 a week to his business.

Sales rate before Kevin: $18,899 a week.

Sales rate after Kevin: $27,790 a week.

Now my client, who we'll call Mr. X, is on track to add $462,363 a year EXTRA to his business from the same ad spend.

That's called a windfall.

Take a look at the graphic below to see the results of our optimization test ...

How did I cause a 43% surge in sales overnight?

I made a small change to the headline at the top of his web site. The version with banners was what he had been using for months. The new version, with no banners, was my suggestion.

We sent more than 1,880 visitors to each version of his web site to let the market decide which version was more profitable. This is called split testing.

The new version I tested took me less than 5 minutes to create ... but it was based on 20 years(!) of writing web page copy and building marketing funnels. Yes, I've been at this since 1995.

And the results speak for themselves -- 43% more sales from almost the same number of visitors. Without optimizing, that extra $8,891 a week my client will likely make, from the same amount of web traffic, would have never materialized.

(In a perfect world, I'd let that test run until reaching a 90-95% chance of beating the original. But other factors behind the scenes gave us overwhelming confidence above the 86.2% probability shown.)

Here's the thing: My client is an outstanding marketer. He advertises nationally and his ads are very good.

But his team wasn't testing systematically ... and they needed an extra pair of expert eyes. So he put me on retainer to optimize for him. Now there's no limit to how far he can go. If I don't add an extra $2 million to his business this year, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Takeaway: If you're not continually optimizing your marketing -- testing new headlines, new email subject lines, new scripts on the phone, new sales letters, etc. -- you are absolutely, positively throwing money away.

Just like a surgeon who can fix a broken hip with one well-placed screw, you can unlock big profits with the right tweaks to almost any website (along with the upsells, re-marketing, follow-up, etc.).

One more thing. IF your sales are between $500,000 and $20 million annually ... and you have a good website you know could be doing better ...

... we should talk about how I can optimize and supercharge your profits.  To schedule your Free Discovery Session, click here.

The Marketing Checklist: New Profits from a Paper and Pencil?

Here's a simple way to improve your marketing and grow your business.

It is NOT sexy. It is so low-tech that it’s actually no tech. All you need is a pencil and paper.

It’s a productivity tool used by highly trained heart surgeons, airline pilots, even architects of multi-million dollar buildings ...

It’s a checklist.

You see, when it comes to growing your business, you probably know what to do already. You're just not doing it. The Jesuits have a term for this; it’s called a sin of omission.

Why are you not doing everything necessary to market your business?

Not because you’re a bad or sinful person. It's because as soon as you turn on your computer in the morning, your memory and judgment become unreliable. There are 1,001 distractions that steal your attention from the marketing tasks you need to do.

Signs of this are confusion, frustration, and an unpredictable cash flow in your business.

By contrast, when you have a checklist of things to do, you've got clarity, you’ve got focus, you've got confidence -- all of which give you more energy to get things done. And when you’ve checked off all your tasks, that feels good. So you do it again tomorrow, setting off a virtuous circle of improvement.

It's simple. There are 3 steps:

Step 1) Write down all the things you need to do every day to grow your business. It's probably going be a list of 5 to 10 things. Examples of what tasks could go on your list:

• Email qualified new leads and thank them for requesting info
• Call new clients and welcome them
• Write 250 words of next blog post/article

Step 2) Pick a time at least twice today to follow your checklist. For me, that's 7:30 AM and 4:00 PM for about 30 minutes each.

Step 3) Follow the damn checklist.

Checklists are not brain surgery, but they are used by every brain surgeon.

More importantly, I use a checklist to pull more prospects and clients out of my existing database than I ever could if I tried to make it up as a went along.

Also, none of the tactics on any checklist are set in stone. Just like a recipe, they can and should be modified any time you find a better way.

Give this a try for just one week and you will be astonished at how much you get done and, more importantly, at the results you see in your marketing -- and in your bank account.

The idea above is what I call a Marketing Multiplier -- a small action that delivers big profits. It is simple. It costs little or nothing. And you can implement it today.

If you own a business in the U.S, there's a box of 11 Marketing Multipliers waiting to be shipped to you. You can try it Free. Click here now.

The Marketing (and Productivity) Secret from Golf

"Golfers on green" by Sands Beach Lanzarote

 There's an unwritten rule of etiquette in golf: When you reach the green, repair your ball mark -- and one more.

That way, the green stays pristine for your group and the players who follow you. It's a great tradition, because it's quick, easy, and it works.

This idea of "and one more" has implications for your business, too.

Examples:

• send a follow-up email to a prospect -- and one more
• write and mail a thank-you note -- and one more
• call to be helpful to a client -- and one more

So, think of your tasks in marketing (or anything) as ball marks on a golf green. Fix one -- and one more. Because you can't finish anything you don't start. And once you start, it's easy to ride the momentum ... and do one more.

Now. 

If you want more new clients like your best clients, grab your Free Client Cloning Kit.

How to Script Your Own Success

How to Script Your Own Success

Last week, Ohio State beat the living snot out of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship, 59-0. They did it with a third-string quarterback making his FIRST career start. Ponder that for a moment.

Now ponder this: You can be sure that EVERY SINGLE play on their opening drive was scripted for that QB. See the play list below (read them from bottom up):

By scripted, I mean that each of the plays above were practiced in order, many times during the week, until the new QB and his players knew them cold. This gave them confidence that they could execute them on Saturday night.

Question for your business: Do you practice and script your phone calls? How about the presentations and sales closes that you make to prospects?

If not, pardon my French, but what the hell are you thinking?

Former NFL coach Bill Walsh, a pioneer of scripting the first plays of a game, once told The NY Times: “Scripting is planning; it's contingency planning. The fewer decisions to be made during the game, the better. You don't want to live by your instincts.” In the same story, Lindy Infante, former coach for the Indianapolis Colts, said: “We do not script here because we get into the game and get the feel and try to adjust.” Bill Walsh is in the NFL Hall of Fame. Lindy Infante is not.

Here's an example from my own experience: I was speaking to a prospect for my resume service years ago who sounded ready to buy ... until he uttered those fateful words: "I want to think about it."

I had heard that before. (You, too?) But, because I had heard that one -- and answered it -- before, I looked down at my phone script, which I had practiced before, and replied: "Two heads are better than one. Why don't we think about it right now?"

It turned out that he was concerned about price. I told him about my payment plans and money-back guarantee. He was sold, right there on the phone, and gave me his credit card number.

Now. I guarantee you he would have never called me back after "thinking about it." He would have been poorly served by choosing one of my inferior competitors or trying to fix his problem alone. And I would have been out one sale. Sales scripts pay you back. Big time.

Here's a note I got recently from a client in my Marketing Multipliers Club (thanks, Kathleen!), whom I worked with to develop a sales script:

 "Thanks to your outstanding sales coaching I snagged a reluctant Angie's List member. When I mentioned we do not charge diagnostic fees and just get to work, she was amazed. She then had ammo to ask competitors and found out our originally higher price was a real bargain ... even when compared to service providers within a mile of her house!"

To create your own sales scripts, start writing down anything you've ever said to a prospect that closed a sale.

Then, keep adding to your scripts as you develop new answers to tough questions. Practice your answers before making a sales call or whenever you have free time.

Key: When you write down and practice your words that sell, you'll have a script you can follow for higher profits.

Simple? Yes. Profitable? Yes. That’s what makes scripts a Marketing Multiplier -- a small action or simple tool the delivers BIG profits for your business.

Now. If your business is doing at least $100,000 in revenue, my Free Client Cloning Kit can give you a slight edge -- and then some. It's NOT another download. This is a real business-building kit you can hold in your hands. Grab yours now, while you can.

5 Wealth Ideas I Paid $3,197 to Get (Free for You)

Twelve days ago, on June 11, 2014, I landed in Cleveland, Ohio for Dan Kennedy’s Advanced Wealth Academy, an event I gladly forked over $3,197 plus hotel and airfare to attend.

The two days I spent with 200 other entrepreneurs locked in a room with Dan, were, simply, incredible.

I’ve been to intimate training sessions with Gary Halbert, Brian Tracy, Jay Abraham, and others ... but nothing compared to this event for the sheer number of light bulb moments I experienced. It was like fireworks in my brain.

And you missed out.

Or did you?

You see, I’m a copywriter. I have to type fast and take excellent notes to do my job. And I took excellent notes at Dan’s Advanced Wealth Academy -- 17 single-spaced pages of notes, to be exact.

Now, I can’t share my entire set of notes with you, out of respect for Dan’s intellectual property (and fear of his attorneys). However, I can share what I believe to be ...

The Top 5 Things Dan Kennedy Said That Can Make You Rich

#1: Money is attracted to enthusiasm.
Sincere, passionate interest in what you do causes money to come to you. If you lose track of time and forget to eat, you’re enthusiastic about what you do. MOST people are in a business they don’t love, selling to people they don’t love; this cannot turn out well

#2: Money loves shameless promoters, self-promoters and salesmen.
There’s a little PT Barnum in all the wealthiest people. Trump and Buffett do things differently, but both are Barnum-esque. Peers hate rich promoters. Money tends to flow to the people who get things sold

#3: Money is attracted to speed demons.
You can’t get any traction while you’re parked. A HUGE difference between poor and rich people is a sense of urgency. When Dan was broke, it was an urgent matter for him not to be broke tomorrow, not someday. For maximum speed to wealth, invent less and implement more

#4: Money favors the rogues and renegades.
A LOT of money is made by recognizing that rules are for other people. Disregard rules, disrupt established order, and leap-frog up the ladder

#5: Monetize EVERYTHING.
By monetizing only the “now” buyer, you waste 50-90% of your money. Understand this: Your marketing dollars don’t just pay for every buyer; you pay for every website visitor, caller, walk-in, email, and contact. You need aggressive lead capture, follow-up, and schemes to get money from unconverted leads. There is often more money in what you’re not monetizing now than in the buyers you’re getting now

Pretty good stuff, eh?

Action Step: Which idea will you implement first? I’d love to hear how you plan to do it!

Example from my own business -- just 3 days ago, I helped a client rake in $115,000 (and counting) from a webinar that we promoted via email and other methods. Today I’ll write him another email to monetize his unconverted leads; if we don’t bring in an extra $10,000, I’ll be disappointed. This, along with better lead capture, conversion, “lost” client reactivation, and systematic follow-up, is how you monetize EVERYTHING (Dan’s idea #5).

Why not give me a call today to brainstorm how these ideas can work for you? Even though I can’t show you any more notes from Dan’s Advanced Wealth Academy, I can share at least 3 more money-making tips with you. Give me a call today at (800) 723-1503 or send me an email.

Announcing The Unadvertising Agency That Guarantees Results

Do you own or manage a service business, doing at least $500,000 in revenue?

If so, here's news ...

I’d like to help design a money-making plan for your business, identify your ideal clients, and show you how to compel them to ask you for help. This way you can bank more profits every month, without having to worry about where your next client will come from.

I offer this service because I’m a direct-response copywriter specializing in helping my clients boost their sales and profits …

… and there’s a good possibility that you already have a list of undeserved clients who are very responsive to the marketing plan that I’ll be giving you for free. It can make you TWICE as profitable.

If you find the plan that I create for you is valuable, you may wish to become a client of mine. If that’s the case, my rates start at $3995 per month, with no contracts or commitments.

How much new revenue can I deliver for you?

Rapid gains of $50,000 or more are possible. Keep reading to see how …

First, please understand I am not offering you a sales pitch in disguise. I promise not to pressure you or trick you in any way. In fact, if you feel I’ve wasted even one second of your time when we talk, just let me know and I will immediately write you a check for $250.

But before we go further, you need to know that I can’t help everyone …

There are 5 requirements to working with me. You must be able to say "Yes" to all of them:

1) Do you need help? If I think your business is doing all it can to maximize profits from your inactive clients, I'll tell you so. I'm not a know-it-all and you may be doing very well already.

2) Are you willing to let me create "unadvertising" that I know will sell? Except for legal or factual approval, I retain creative freedom. You, your spouse, or your Uncle Al can't mess with what I come up with.

3) Is your business doing at least $500,000 in revenue now? Any business below $500,000 doesn't have the volume to make this work.

4) Do you have a list of satisfied clients or customers I can speak with, to generate testimonials about you?

5) Are you honest, ethical, and do your references check out? I WILL call them. In other words, are you a "salt of the earth" Midwestern type who will honor an agreement to pay me when the money is due?

Now. You may be wondering, "Hey, what have you done for your clients?" Fair question.

I wish I could say that I hit a home run every time, but of course, I can't. But overall, my clients do very well. Here are a few examples ...

• For a Real Estate Investor, I created a sales letter that he mailed to prospects already in his database. The phone started to ring and sales started to happen automatically. Previously, his best year was $200,000. In less than half a year mailing my letters, he's at $660,000.
  
  
• For a Technical Sales Professional, I advised him on a simple follow-up process. Within 24 hours, he made a few calls to existing clients One call netted a sale for $193,000.
  
• For a Computer Support Service, I created a letter to a 2-year-old list of past clients. The letter did so poorly that I never got another chance. I took the loss on all creative fees and my client paid nothing, in keeping with my guarantee.
  
• For a Strategic Consulting Firm, I created a two-page letter to mail to their past clients. It resulted in a windfall of $77,098 in new revenues, with more to come by year's end.
  
• For an Insurance Agent, I created a new print ad for him to run in the newspaper. By making just a few changes in wording, I increased his profits by 671%.

What should you do now?

If you’re interested and if you qualify, you can apply for a free Profit Discovery Session with me at this link

You’ll see a form there with a few questions about your business and what you’re hoping to accomplish. Once you submit that information, I’ll do some market research for you and set up a time to go over it together by phone.

Sound fair? 

If so -- and if you think your business could use a cash windfall of at least $50,000 -- please apply for your no-cost Profit Discovery Session with me at this link.

Sincerely,

Kevin Donlin
Copywriter + Marketing Strategist

P.S. -- A partial list of media that have interviewed me on marketing includes Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur magazine, New York Times, KARE-11 TV (NBC), WXYZ TV (ABC), KMSP TV (Fox), and WCCO Radio (CBS).

P.P.S. -- As a courtesy, I give past clients first right of refusal on anyone who may compete with them. So it may already be too late for you, if someone else has contacted me from your geographic area. Please schedule your free Profit Discovery Session with me at this link … before schedule fills up. After that, this offer will be withdrawn.

 

3 Ways to Get a Bunch More Sales: Part Two

Here's the second in a series of postings to help you grow your business faster.

To recap, we're talking about 3 ways to get a bunch more sale:

1. attract more prospects,
2. convert more of them to clients, and
3. sell more to them

Today, I'll help you with part two: How to convert more prospects into paying clients.

If you want to convert more prospects, 3 of the easiest and most effective methods are:


1. Change the game by changing the words
Look around. Most of your competitors' websites and advertisements probably offer Free Consultations, Free Information, and Price Quotes. You may be tempted to fall in line and do the same. Don't.

Because, if you want be noticed by more people, you have to stand out. That means you have to be different in some way. Let all your competitors look like apples. You can be the only coconut in town.

One of the easiest ways to do it is to use different words to describe what you do.

Example: Instead of a Free Consultation, offer a Free Gap Analysis, a No-Cost Strategy Session, etc.

Instead of Free Information, offer a Free Client Cloning Kit, a Free Savings Guide, etc.

Instead of Price Quotes, send prospects Project Briefs, New Revenue Outlines, etc.

Best part: You don't have to change what you do to change the game and be different. Just change the words.


2. Be useful
Few prospects will buy from you on the the first contact. They usually want to learn more about you, your industry, and their options before buying. That means you have to follow up with them.

You can be a pest, like most of your competitors, who email or call to say, "I'm just following up ... just checking in ... just seeing if you had any questions." Bleh.

Instead, do this: Be useful to prospects.

I first learned this idea in 2009, in Dan Sullivan's Strategic Coach program.

According to Sullivan, if you can bring confidence and clarity to people in your network, by researching their needs and then offering something useful -- product news, information about their customers, access to your contacts, expertise, etc. -- people will make time to talk to you. Because they will see you as an oasis in today's desert of awful economic news.

As a result, people will take your calls, read your emails, meet you for coffee ... and be more likely to do business with you.


3. Follow a sales script
By script, I mean proven responses to tough objections, like: "I can't afford it," or "I want to think about it."

At this point, you may be rolling your eyes. "I don't want to sound like a telemarketer," you think. Or, "I have to be flexible with every caller," or "Scripts don't work anymore."

Baloney. You're already using scripts -- right now.

Anytime a prospect asks you, "How much does it cost?" or "What's your guarantee?" and you reply with an answer you've used before, that's a sales script.

Why keep winging it? Why not plan and practice your words? There's no valid reason NOT to use a proven sales script, whether it's on the phone with a prospect or in person.

The good news is, if you’ve ever made a sale and can write down what you said, you have the basis for a million-dollar book of scripts. It all starts when you "can and clone" that first collection of winning words.

If you're worried about sounding stiff, here's a simple solution: practice your scripts, just like an actor.

And I'll even give you the words to use as a basis for your first sales script: How were you hoping I could help you?

Ask that question at the start of every sales call and watch your sales increase. Because it prompts prospects to cut to the chase and tell you what  attracted them to your business in the first place. This is a great place to start any sales conversation -- and convert more prospects.


Stay tuned for part 3 of this 3-part series tomorrow, when I’ll show you how to sell more to the clients you already have.

Meanwhile, if you want to more clients like your best clients, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your free copy now, while they last. 

Personal Branding That Works 24/7

My expert interview today is with Michael Roby.

With 40 years of experience in sales and marketing, he's forgotten more than I've learned about how to grow your business. Michael has been a sales and marketing coach, and a speaker, serving professional service firms such as broker dealers, banks, credit unions, and insurance companies.

And you're going to love his advice in my transcript of our interview:  personal branding that works.

Michael Roby, welcome!

Michael: Kevin, it is a privilege.

Kevin: Let’s talk about personal branding that works. This is an intriguing idea. Branding seems to be done to death by a lot of experts.

Tell us first of all, please define personal branding. Then, let’s talk about how it can really work, and maybe include some success stories.

Michael: Kevin, branding is poorly defined in a lot of cases. We’ll hear branding as logos or slogans, or we hear about the infamous elevator pitch. Here’s the challenge with that. Most people that I talk to -- and I’ve talked to a lot of financial advisors -- can’t even tell me what they do.

If people ask you what you do, what they really want to know is, “What’s in it for me?”

“I” is the single most dangerous word in sales and marketing because it’s not about you, it’s about them. They don’t want to hear you say, “I do this,” or, “I do that.” They don’t want to hear your title.

When I hear things like, “I’m a financial advisor,” my response is, “Really? I’ve never met one of those.” There are only 500 in my building. Or I’ll hear things like, “I’m a wealth manager.” Really? How much wealth have you managed people into in the last ten years?” I’m just asking.

People don’t care about titles. They don’t care about what you do.

People have always been coached that you should have an elevator speech. An elevator speech is about 30 seconds long. But here’s the challenge. Research shows that people make up their mind to listen to you in the first seven seconds. If you lose them, you are done. In fact, if you do lose them, in captive audience studies, they have found that people take an average of two minutes and 20 seconds to reengage with you.

What do we want to do in that first 7 seconds? Here’s the answer. We call this a 24/7 personal brand because you can use it anytime, anywhere. You can use it in copy. You can use it in personal conversation or marketing pieces.

The 24/7 personal brand is this: 24 words, in 7 seconds. Here’s what to do ...

First, identify your constituents. Second, give them the benefit of doing business with you. Third, give them a couple quick answers to make them ask a question.

Kevin: That’s a lot to do in 7 seconds!

Michael: It is. For financial advisors, who are the constituents? Most people, if you talk to them about the fact that you’re in the investment business, they’ll smile and they’ll be nice, but they’re not thinking investments. What do they do think when they hear the word “investments”? They think risk.

And if they think risk, they may be smiling, they may be nodding a little, but they are tuning you out. What you want to do is identify yourself as doing business with conservative investors. The conservative investor piece may be the way you lead. 

The 24/7 personal brand may go something like this: “Conservative investors choose to do business with me and my firm because we can help people reduce the risk associated with saving, investing, and managing money.”

Kevin: Intriguing.

Michael: Let’s unpack that ...

Conservative investors. When you’re talking about your target demographic, you want to go the lowest common denominator. Sure, you’re going to talk to people that like to speculate, but most people just want to save and invest for a comfortable retirement and send their children and grandchildren to college, create a legacy for future generations, transfer business.

Next, choose to do business with us. Notice I didn’t say, “I work with” – or, “My clients are,” because it’s not about me. It’s got to be about them.

Next, we can help people reduce the risk. There’s a pain point. And it’s related to the final part: associated with saving, investing, and managing money.

For most financial advisors, that’s the bulk of what they do. It’s saving, investing, and managing money. If you package that together -- conservative investors choose to do business with my firm because we can help them reduce the risk associated with saving, investing, and managing money -- most people on hearing that will ask something like this, “How do you do that?”

Kevin: Exactly. I know you have a winner there, Michael, because the first thing I thought of was, “Tell me more.”

Michael: When people start asking you questions, the game is over. The deal is done. Then you can dig a little deeper into the benefits and follow up with features. Say something like, “Because Mr. and Mrs. Client, we don’t advise based on prediction. I can’t tell you what time the sun comes up but we use principles."

“We use principles that always work for helping people achieve their long-term financial objectives.” Then you can talk about those things. See, we have them asking questions now. Then after making that secondary statement, I can say, “How do you feel about risk as it relates to your money?” or, “What keeps you awake at night when you think about your finances?”

Now we’re engaged in a conversation. I’m not pitching; I’m advising. I’m not selling; I’m interviewing. I’m having a conversation with my new best friend.

Kevin: Terrific. Just quickly, before we go, you mentioned earlier, there are advisors gross one to two million dollars using this formula?

Michael: Absolutely, because it’s simple. It’s simple and it’s a chain reaction type of marketing. You identify the constituent, hit the pain point, give them a couple of examples, and the conversation builds from there.

It’s conversational, it’s repeatable. It’s something that their clients will tell other people, “Hey Kevin, you should talk to my financial advisor.” “Why?” “She’s helped me reduce risk in my portfolio.” “How does she do that?” “Well, you need to talk to her.”

Kevin: Michael, that’s outstanding. Thank you! Before we go, how can people learn more about the 24/7 formula?

Michael: Send us an email at info -at -michaelroby.com. We’ll be happy to help people any way we can.

It’s interesting because while I work with a lot of really, really large firms. But I’ve been given some fabulous mentoring over the years, so I’m happy to share my ideas with people who need to do a better job at delivering products and services.

Kevin: Thanks, Michael. You’ve been great.

Meanwhile, if you want to more clients like your best clients, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your free copy now, while they last.

How to Triple Your Audience for Free -- a Simple Co-Promotion Secret You Can Use Today

I recently spoke with Paul Cummings, VP of Sales and Marketing at Impression Management Professionals in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

He told me how he was able to get 600 people on a recent webinar and produce more than 50 qualified leads for his business -- at no cost. 

You can do the same. Here’s how …

Kevin Donlin: Paul, thanks for joining me. Please describe Impression Management Professionals for anyone how doesn’t know you.

Paul Cummings: We help leaders and sales people use outcome thinking to transform the way they think, listen and speak, so their brains work offensively rather than defensively. It works great for high-pressure situations, like a presentation, a negotiation, conflict or even in the sales process.

Kevin: Okay, let’s get right to it. You were able to triple the size of your typical webinar audience with a very creative joint venture. And it’s something people can use to get more prospects for a teleseminar, live event, or even to subscribe to their newsletter. What did you do?

Paul: We’re part of an association of training companies that get together once a year. One of the ideas that came up was that we collaborate together and do a webinar series to benefit all of our clients. We know that we don’t necessarily compete with each other, but we may have tools and ideas that would help each other’s clients.

So we all said, okay, we’ve got 6 people here and we all agreed to send out marketing information to our client list, included in our Twitter, Facebook, social media, and our websites. Then everybody would agree to do that and promote each other for 6 months.

For example, the first month, it was our webinar, and everybody marketed us to their customer lists. Now this month it’s somebody else’s turn, and we’re marketing them.

As a result, we were able to triple the number of people that we reach on a typical webinar.

Kevin: Triple! That’s a nice word. What was the before number and what was the after?

Paul: We typically get about 200 people to attend our webinars and for this last one it was actually over 600 people.

Kevin: Very cool. And what were your costs for this promotion?

Paul: Other than time to promote it, there was no cost. And we did something important for this webinar to make it successful for us. We used surveys before and after.

Before the person could register, they had to fill out a pre-webinar questionnaire with very specific questions. For example, we asked:

• What do you want us to talk about?
• What’s your job title?
• Are you interested in any of our upcoming programs?

So we were able to learn a lot ahead of time, so that we could directly talk to that audience.

Then at the end of the webinar, we had a survey pop up through Survey Monkey, and that’s relatively inexpensive or free. We asked specific questions like these:

• Would you be interested in a special report?
• Would you be interested in this particular public seminar?
• Would you be interested in executive coaching?
• Would you be interested in something for your team?

So there were many different options. And then they would check those survey responses, and we also asked, “If you want us to contact you, just check this box” and we ended up with at least 50 people who we were able to follow up with.

Kevin: All right, let me stop you and recap. That’s really, really valuable stuff that you shared.

First of all, you used surveys two different ways. Before the webinar, to help shape the content – people answered questions when they registered, and you used their answers to plan the webinar itself.

Then, after the webinar, you used surveys for people to qualify themselves by telling you what they were interested in. So you got to qualify people and segment them by interest, which let you follow up effectively.

That’s very, very smart stuff there, Paul. Anyone can use this idea. Bven if you’re not using GoToWebinar, there are a couple of webinar solutions. So I don’t want people to feel intimidated and think, “Oh, I don’t have the correct technology.” There are multiple webinar solutions, or you can do a teleseminar, just get a conference call if you want to start this out, so there are a lot of ways to use these ideas and it’s a really valuable idea.

Let me ask one final question. How did you go about negotiating with these other 5 co-promotion partners?

Paul: Well, first of all, basically we’ve been going to the association with these guys for years, so they became friends and so it just naturally happened. So it was just a discussion and we said, “Hey, let’s not attack each other’s clients, but let’s see if we can add some value and take it from there.”

Kevin: I see. That’s very clever. Paul Cummings, thank you very much. These are great ideas that anybody can use, whether it’s a webinar, teleseminar, or a live event that you want to promote.

Bottom line: Find one or more non-competitors who are already talking to the people you would like to have as clients, and agree to promote each other to your clients. There’s no cost and you’ll probably get a favorable response, such as you got by tripling your webinar audience and getting 50 qualified leads you are now able to market your services to.

Meanwhile, if you want to more clients like your best clients, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your free copy now, while they last.

Sales Made Easy For People Who Hate to Sell

There's an old adage in business: The more you tell, the more you sell.

But I found a better one: The more you help, the more you sell.

Or, simply, Help and Sell.

Specifically, the more you can deliver value to prospects before they've given you a nickel, the more nickels they will eventually give you ... along with lots of dimes and dollars.

This blog is an example. I don't get paid a nickel to share ideas here every week. But it brings me plenty of search engine love from Google, not to mention an interview on Fox News a few months back.

Another way to "help and sell" is to deliver real value when you follow up with prospects. Don't pester people with empty-headed emails to "check in" or "loop back and see how you're doing." Pheh.

Instead, your follow-up messages should give people ideas they can use to improve themselves and their businesses. (You do follow up, don't you? Good.)

Here's an example: Just last week, I sent the following email to a prospect, because I thought the article I mentioned would be of genuine help to him:

Have you had a chance to consider my ideas from last week about writing a promo piece for you? Please let me know when you get a chance!

Meanwhile, here's an Inc. magazine article that's relevant to our discussion -

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/get-more-sales-from-existing-customers.html

... particularly numbers 6 and 7, which I can help you with on a monthly basis!

The result?

He called the next day to ask if he could hire me to help with number 7. "Sure," I said.

That's the whole point of marketing: To cause people to call or email and ask, "Can I hire you?"

So, this week, try to help more -- and see if you don't sell more.

Resource: If you want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business, the free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your copy here. 

How Do I Implement New Marketing Ideas?

That's a question I hear regularly at seminars I lead or attend. And it's essential to answer. Because ideas without implementation are nothing but wasted time.

To implement any new marketing idea, ask yourself: "How can I use this to get just one more client, one more sale from a current client, or one more referral?"

By aiming to succeed just once, you force yourself to analyze, plan, and implement that idea.

If you can't profit from a new idea once, either it isn't for you, or you've done it wrong. And until you can make an idea work one time, it won't work 10 or 1,000 times, so you might as well find out early.

But ... if you can make a new idea work just once to grow your business, get happy. Because you may be on the threshold of a major breakthrough.

Here's an example from my own business, to illustrate ...

Back in 2003, I attended a 3-day marketing seminar led by my hero/mentor, Jay Abraham. One of the speakers was Dr. Donald Moine, who talked about sales scripts. I was so impressed with the idea that I bought a book of sales scripts and took them back to my business.

For the unfamiliar, a sales script is your sales presentation, written out ahead of time; use it on the phone or memorize it before meeting a prospect in person. Your sales script should include the most-convincing lines you've ever said, including answers to typical objections, with room for you to customize your answers.

Even Lawrence Olivier used a script. You couldn't tell, because he practiced and internalized the words until they flowed naturally.

The truth is, we all use scripts, even you -- right now. Because we all have responses that we fall back on when talking to prospects. According to Dr. Donald Moine, if you're going to use a script, you might as well create and use a good one.

That was one idea I took from the Jay Abraham seminar to build my business. And I set the bar low. I aimed to use scripts to get just one new client. Which I did, about 2 weeks later ....

A prospect called after reading one of my ads. He sounded excited about going forward. But when I asked for the sale, he replied, "I want to think about it." Ever heard that one before?

Prior to using a sales script, I would have said, "Okay, I'll call you in a day or two to follow up." But those phone calls never got answered and those prospects all went their own way without buying.

This time, consulting my new script book, I replied: "Sometimes two heads are better than one. Why don't we think about it together right now? Tell me what questions you still have."

He then said that he wasn't sure he could afford my services.

Again consulting my script book, I said: "If you could afford it, would you work with me?"

He said yes.

I replied: "Great. We can split the project into 2 installments, 30 days apart, to make it easier on your budget."

"Sounds good," he said. He gave me his credit card info right there on phone. He went on to become a very happy client, who profited a great deal from my work. And I've used sales scripts ever since.

But none of that would have happened had I not tried to get just one new client using that new idea I heard in a seminar.

Fact: Every huge breakthrough in business starts out as a small success -- one more client, one more sale, or one more referral.

To take your success to the next level, ask yourself: "How can I make this new idea a habit (so I easily repeat it) or a system (so it gets done automatically)?"

Your ability to systematically grow your small successes largely determines your fate in business. What are you doing to make this happen?

Resource: If you want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business, the free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your copy here. 

What's Behind All Great Marketing?

Ask any pro painter what the most important part of the job is and they'll answer with one word: preparation.

Do it right and the job goes smoothly. Do it wrong and you're looking at a disaster.

Which is counter-intuitive, right? After all, when you think of painting, you think of the results -- the color, shine, texture, etc. You don't see the preparation. Yet, it's the foundation of all great painting.

It's the same with your marketing.

When you think of marketing, you think of the results -- leads in your pipeline, emails or calls from hungry prospects, dollars in the bank, etc. You don't see the preparation. Yet, it's the foundation of all great marketing.

So, what makes for great marketing preparation?

Three things, at least. Here they are ...


1) Create a product or service that's better than your competitors' 

This is NOT a sexy idea for most marketers. At. All.

It's way more fun to get "creative" with ideas to find and get new clients than it is to ensure you're offering them an outstanding value for their dollar.

But: If your marketing is brilliant and your product/service is crap, you'll only implode faster as more people find out you're no good. Which is not what you want.

Take heart. You don't have to sell the BEST product or service in the world. Just be better than the other guys. Like the hiker putting on running shoes as a bear approaches him and his buddy, you don't have to outrun the bear -- you only have to outrun the other guy.


2) Choose a clear target

Joe Polish warns against what he calls "blind archery" -- shooting arrows randomly without knowing the target, hoping you will eventually hit something.

But most marketers don't have a clear target of their ideal prospects. As a result, they're a danger to themselves and their bank accounts.

You must choose your target before you fire your marketing arrows. And that entails preparatory thinking.


3) Set up a follow-up system

This is also NOT sexy. But essential.

By follow-up system, I mean what will you do to systematically touch all prospects until they buy or die?

Don't launch any marketing effort that doesn't have follow-up built into it. If you fail to follow up, you leave at least 50% of your cash on the table.

As I explain in the guide I created on Followup Marketing, I have never seen a follow-up system fail to pay for itself since 1996. In fact, I doubled sales -- twice -- for my first business by doing nothing more than using GoldMine to literally mine the gold from inbound emails and phone calls.

Bottom line: Doing the necessary prep work before you launch a marketing promotion is not always fun or exciting. Neither is flossing your teeth or wearing your seat belt. You can skip it. But don't complain about the outcome if you do.

Resource: If you want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business, the free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your copy here.