Want It? Give It. The Giver's Gain Strategy

Here's a simple idea that can grow you, personally and professionally, faster than almost anything else I know.

It's this: Give what you want to get.

When you give of yourself to your marketplace, you put things in motion that I don't fully understand, but which never fail to make you and your business bigger.

When you are giving, you are growing. When you were giving, you are sharpening your skills and raising your profile.

When you are giving, you are gaining the attention and goodwill of your prospects and referral partners.

What to give? Whatever you want to get.

• Want referrals? Give referrals.
  
• Want leads? Give leads.
  
• Want people to buy your cookies? Give samples.
  
• Want attention paid to your blog? Give attention, by posting comments on other blogs.
  
• Want people to buy your business acumen? Give it away, on a blog, in articles, in free reports, in public seminars.

That last idea gets a LOT of resistance from marketing "experts" but that's understandable. It seems counter-intuitive. Until you realize something. Two things, actually:

1) Nobody does anything with free advice, no matter how good. That's why the libraries are full of people watching YouTube or playing video games instead of reading the books that can solve their problems. So don't worry. Nobody's going to get rich with your brilliant idea.

2) Everybody is impressed by good advice that's free. They think, "If that's the free stuff, his paid stuff must be awesome." So they buy. Because you gave your good stuff away and rose to expert status in their minds (and wallets).

It's not that easy, of course, but you get the idea.

Give what you want to get. At the very least, it will prime your confidence pump by putting you out in the marketplace among prospective clients, instead of home alone in front of a computer screen.

My business doubled last year and it's up another 80% this year largely as a result of this one idea.

Try it.

Meanwhile, if you want to put an end to "feast or famine" syndrome in your business, 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.

Lost Children and Lost Business

What if, heaven forbid, your son or daughter went missing?

You call their name and they don't answer. You can't find him/her anywhere.

Who do you call?

The police. They find lost children.

Could you give the police a clear description of your child, so they knew whom to look for? Of course, from the freckles on their nose to the color of their socks.

Now, what if, heaven forbid ... all of your prospects went missing?

You call them, but they don't return your messages. You can't find new leads anywhere.

Who do you call?

The people in your network. They "find" lost business by making new connections for you.

Could you give the people in your network a clear description of your ideal prospect, so they know whom to look for? Uh, oh. Probably not. A description like, "I'm looking for anyone who runs a small business," won't cut it.

So start there. When it comes to prospects, who exactly are you looking for? What is their:

• age?
• gender?
• industry?
• job title?
• income?
• etc. etc.

If you really want to find more prospects faster, use The Mackay 66 series of demographic questions. When you know your prospects that well, your network can make connections for you lickety split.

As a parent, I was hesitant to use the frightening analogy of lost children.

But, then I thought, if you could network with a fraction of the fervor you would search for a lost child, you could make all the connections you need in just a few hours.

Why not try it and see? (And give your kids an extra hug today for no reason at all :-)

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

How to Generate a Flood of Leads with Referrals

Jim Bear, Referral Expert

Here's a transcript of a fantastic phone interview I did with referral expert, Jim Bear.

Read it and reap big benefits for your business ...

Kevin Donlin: I am on the phone with a good friend, Mr. Jim Bear. Jim and I are going to spend a few minutes talking about a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s how to develop referral partnerships that deliver streams of ongoing, dependable revenue for your business.

We all like referrals. We want to get more referrals, but we stumble over how to get referrals. I have Jim Bear on the phone to come to our rescue.

So, Jim, welcome and tell folks why you are qualified to speak on the topic of referrals today? What’s your background and experience?

Jim Bear: I think I start off by saying I’m an expert in this area knowing that I don’t know everything about this topic, but I have learned a tremendous amount. I have seen the successes of what I’ve learned. I think I started this out of frustration because I always wanted to be in that wonderful place where you’re getting referrals on a regular basis.

I never knew how to get referrals. It was my quest. It was my longing to do it. It was probably I’d say 17 years in the making of wanting to figure this out. Finally, I stumbled across this system. I find that it’s pretty easy once you understand the language, the approach, and how to do it.

You can get people calling you up going, “Hey, I have another referral for you. Hey, I have another referral for you.” It’s obviously a wonderful spot to be.

Kevin: Excellent. Let’s talk about how to get there. With all of your experience, you’ve seen a lot. What are some typical mistakes you see business owners making when they’re trying to go after referrals using what they’ve learned or what they think is going to work?

Jim: I think the biggest mistake I see out there right now is people have commission breath.

Kevin: Explain that, if you could!

Jim: Maybe you have a picture of someone in your mind right now. We get in front of our clients, and we turn our hands out and go, “Do you have a referral for me?” You get in their body space. It’s almost like, “You owe me a referral.” People go, “Get away, ooh, I’m smelling the commission breath on you.”

Understanding how to set the stage and build the relationship before you ask for that referral is so important.

Kevin: Excellent. I think I get commission breath any time I go to most networking mixers. I’ve been a member of several chambers of commerce. They’re good in many respects but whether it’s an event sponsored by them or other places, I dread going because you run into those people, the commission breath.

Jim: They’re usually the ones that hand cards out really quick.

Kevin: It’s like they’re carpet bombing the room with business cards. Not helpful. Anything else on top of commission breath that people make mistakes?

Jim: They don’t know what they want. A lot of people will go in there and say, “I’ll take anything. I’m looking for anybody or somebody.” If I’m at an event trying to help people network or I’m in a networking group, I listen to these people when they say they want a referral. I ask them, “What does a good referral look like for you?” They go, “Anybody.” What I do is look in my database under A. I’m looking for “anybody.” They’re missing, absolutely every time.

Understanding what it is that you’re looking for, and that’s what we teach when I go out and speak a lot. That’s usually my first step with people is to ask, "What is it that you want?" Let’s identify that first so we can now enter a room with confidence, knowing what you want and understand what profession is going to be able to find that client for you on a regular basis.

Kevin: Wouldn’t you agree most people don’t get to that stage in their thinking when they can define who they want? A, they just don’t want to think. B, they don’t want to say no to any segment of the population. It seems that those are two barriers.

Jim: I think you’re right because if they say no to that, they’re really saying no to revenue.

Kevin: Potentially in their mind.

Jim: Yeah, in their mind. I had to overcome this myself. For many years, I was an investment advisor. I was licensed to do so many things. I wanted it all. I tried to hog all those categories. Yeah, I could do it all but what I realized was I was never really an expert in all of it.

I was good maybe at one, maybe two segments but the rest of it, if someone said, “Hey, I’d like you to pull a quote together for some long term care insurance,” I’d have to go, “Let’s get back together in four weeks,” because it would take me time to get back up to speed and make sure I was making the right recommendations.

After awhile, I realized that’s just a liability. I needed to hone in on what I was doing. When I finally did that, my business exploded because I was an expert. As they say, people will come for miles to watch you burn when you’re on fire.

I also look at the Mayo Clinic, which is a big clinic in Minnesota. People travel from all over the world to come to Mayo Clinic. It’s not an easy spot to get to. You got to fly into Minneapolis. You have to get some ground transportation down there. But they are the experts at what they do. People will travel to do that. I’m sure they do very well financially because they are the expert. That’s what I want to teach people to be is the expert. Really, what is it that you do 70% of the time? Focus on that and grow that to 100% of what you do, and you will make more money doing that.

Kevin: Terrific. Two ideas here, we have the commission breath problem and people don’t know what they want. Let’s talk about how you help people overcome these mistakes. Let’s start with commission breath. How do you help people overcome that major faux pas in networking?

Jim: I help people get over that faux pas by shifting their focus from a hunter to a farmer. A hunter has usually their bow and arrow or their gun in their hands, and they’re looking for anything that’s going to move, they’re going to shoot it, and probably eat it.

Whereas the farmer starts the process, “Well, I’m going to harvest something in the fall so I better start in the spring getting my seeds in the ground, and probably even start sooner than that,” I’m not a farmer. They probably get their seeds in the ground.

They’ll water it, weed it, make sure they get enough moisture, and all that they do for that. It’s a lengthy process until they get the harvest. When they harvest the food, they’re never going to eat all the harvest. In fact, they’re growing food for people that they don’t even know and probably will never ever meet.

In networking, if we have that same picture in our mind, I’m planting seeds today, I’m building relationships because I might be able to introduce this relationship to someone along the path. It will come back to help me and only bless me later on, when I’m a giver and looking for ways to help other people.

When you start to develop that lifestyle, I believe people come to you. They recognize what a giver you are and they want to help you. They want to do business with you because they see that. That’s not as predominate as it probably should be out there in the business community.

That giving piece of it, learning to be a farmer instead of a hunter will help tremendously get more referrals.

Kevin: That’s terrific. I think that’s a major mind shift for most people who just stampede and want to leave every networking event or every one-on-one meeting with a purchase order. Not going to happen. So your idea is outstanding -- changing the mentality to becoming a farmer from being a hunter.

What about for people who don’t know what they want when they’re looking for referrals? What do you say to those people to help them?

Jim: Sometimes, that outside perspective can pull it out of people. That’s what I do when I present is we spend a portion of our time talking about who is your ideal client. You usually get, “Well, I have many ideal clients.” “That’s great, I appreciate that. Let’s just for fun zero in on the one client, that if you had the ability to clone them and every time you got a referral from someone, it was that situation all over again, just a different name.”

Get them thinking just a little more focused on that and expand off of that. That’s where we start. Maybe we’ll do that two, maybe three times to get a couple examples of what those clients are. Then we have some traction.

Maybe we’ve never slowed down enough to articulate what a good client looks like. Maybe when we did it one time, maybe we look at it now, it could be different. I remember the first time I did this exercise on myself. It was Ken. Ken was my ideal client. I loved, loved, loved the whole experience with Ken.

After awhile, I realized I met Larry and Sue. That was even a better experience so I changed my focus there. I bet if you were to ask me in six months, I might even change that name again because I’ve had better experiences and I know what I want.

Sometimes, we don’t know what we want but when we get into this and realize, “This is really want I want,” as I hear myself talk, “This is really what I want.”

Kevin: That’s important because people can change their profile of their ideal client. It’s not a lifetime commitment.

Jim: You’re absolutely right. You can change. It’s okay, we give you permission to change.

Kevin: I think a lot of people resist finding it’s called an avatar or an ideal client profile, defining who their ideal client is. They think they’re going to get roped in, boxed in, or what have you but you’re saying that you can have multiple ideal client profiles and you can change those profiles over time. Both of those are okay?

Jim: Absolutely, it is okay. You need to understand what the group of your clients look like. Focus on that. Know what you’re going after. Become an expert to that group and people will come from miles to come talk to you because you’re the expert.

Kevin: This is terrific stuff. Final question for you, if people get a chance, why should they come see you present these ideas live in person?

Jim: I think if they could come in and hear me speak live on this topic, I think you’re going to walk away with a clearer understanding of what it is you want. You’re going to come away with a clearer understanding of what profession would be a great profession to network with and will have a whole database of your ideal clients.

I do believe you will walk away with a referral because in our workshop, what I do is I make sure we pair up into groups of maybe two or three. We do some brainstorming. Usually what comes out of that is a referral or a meeting with this person to have a one-to-one to maybe get into their database a little more or maybe a really good referral partner that can send clients to them on a regular basis.

We usually get jump starting on this process of getting to the end result, a room full of your ideal clients.

Kevin: Also depending on the venue, I’ve seen you do this, you’ll brainstorm and draw up an actual referral partnership map for people. I don’t know if that’s the right term. It’s literally a road map.

Jim: It is. The person who might be listening to this right now, if they attend, they might be lucky enough to be picked for this exercise. We call it mapping as you described, referral partner mapping where we have you stand up in front of a room full of your peers.

We ask three very strategic questions and elicit some suggestions from the audience on what they think might be good referral partners for you. I’ll let you in on a little secret. We’ll ask them, “Do you have any names to go with those referral partner suggestions?”

They most likely thought of the name first. Then they may go, “Yeah, I know that.” Then I’ll ask, “Would you have any objections to introducing that name to this person?” Usually, they’ll go, “I’ll be fine with that.”

Then I say, if I see you have a little resistance or reluctance, “That just tells me you don’t know this person. Would you give this person an opportunity to get to know you and vise versa? Maybe something good will come out of that.”

Usually, they do. Usually, they meet. We jump start that relationship and get some referrals and/or referral partners starting to flow back and forth.

Kevin: That’s a big part of the value of seeing you talk about  this live is you have so many other minds in the room. You can’t imagine how many ideas you’re going to hear. You can’t fathom it because you’re going to have unlimited number of viewpoints yourself.

I’ve seen this over and over with you. You have 15, 20 people in the room. People get dozens of referral partnership ideas out of this because it’s that good.

The other thing, I don’t want to forget this, is that people need to ask themselves, “What’s one new client worth to you over their buying lifetime?”

If you sit down and do the math, just one client who stays with you for three years or five years, it’s typically thousands of dollars, depending on your business. Then, alright, what is one new client a week extra?

Jim: I was visiting with one the attendees of a workshop I was at. He was in the insurance industry working for Northwestern Mutual. We started to brainstorm a little bit on what I had just taught about.

He said, “I’m getting a little stuck on what a good referral partner is.” “You work in the arena of life insurance. That’s your ideal client, life insurance?” “Yeah.” “Do you do anything with the charitable giving?”
“Yeah, I have a few nonprofits that are near and dear to my heart.” “A great referral partner for you would be the planned giving department of that nonprofit because they’re going to receive life insurance policies as gifts and they have no idea if these policies are going to be enforced for a year, 20 years.

“You can audit these policies and tell them how long it’s going to be enforced so they can plan accordingly. Do you have any nonprofits that are near and dear to your heart that you’ve thought of?” He said, “Yeah.” He pulled out his phone and goes, “Yeah, I have this person right here. I better call them right now.”

I said, “You better call them right now.” Sure enough, he called them and set up for lunch. I have to check in with him to hear the other piece of that story but he was like, “It’s clear to me now. Now I see where you’re going with this.”

People many times come out of there with a plan of attack. They start getting on the phone and making appointments and getting business. That’s the fun part of what I do. I know it’s fun for you too when you’re up there speaking, to see the light bulb turn on and go, “Excuse me, I have work to do here. I got to do it quickly.”

Kevin: Jim, I think you’ve clarified a lot of things for a lot of people and there is going to be a lot of value. Anyone who gets a chance to come see you speak, I highly recommend it.

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.

Dinner and a Limo with Harvey Mackay

I had dinner with Harvey Mackay at his home last night, along with a group of folks helping promote his new book, The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World.

He shared dozens of anecdotes about business and life, many of which you'll find in his books.

(Writing was in Harvey's blood even before sales -- his father was a correspondent for the Associated Press in St. Paul for 35 years.)

My favorite story was about the chance meeting in a limo that helped make Harvey a best-selling author ...

In 1988, after publication of Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, Harvey found himself in the same New York ad agency as Larry King. Each was there to shoot publicity photos.

Harvey wanted to ask Larry King to book him as a guest on his TV show, but missed his chance. Quickly, the shoot was over and Larry headed out the door to his limo.

Harvey, dejected, walked out to hail a cab. Suddenly, the window rolled down on Larry King's limo -- "Where ya headed?"

"The Carlyle Hotel," replied Harvey.

"Hop in!"

Taking his seat, Harvey remembered a lesson his father had drilled into him as a kid: "When you shake someone's hand for the first time, ask yourself: 'How can I help this person?'"

While engaged in small talk, Harvey's mind raced: "How can I help Larry King?"

Nearing the hotel and running out of time, Harvey had an idea. "Larry, do you want to sell more books?"

"That's why I write 'em!" he said.

"Well, I've made quite a study of the publishing industry in the last year and I may be able to help you," said Harvey.

Just then, the limo pulled up at The Carlyle, but Larry told his chauffeur to turn off the engine and wait. "Go ahead!" he said.

About 15 minutes and 7 ideas later, Harvey had given Larry plenty of help. And Harvey had an invitation to appear on Larry's TV show.

Harvey's first appearance on "Larry King Live" sold 50,000 copies of Swim With The Sharks, and led to a spot on Oprah ... that sold another 50,000. The rest is publishing history.

So, next time you're talking to someone who can help you, resist the urge to brag about yourself or kiss up to them. Instead, ask yourself: "How can I help this person?" Then let the answers guide your conversation -- you may be very happy where it ends.

Bio: Kevin Donlin can help you grow your business and enjoy the breakthrough results your hard work deserves. If you're interested in boosting your revenues and profits, please click here.

Beyond Networking: Being Useful

Hate networking?

So do I.

I dread networking events, which is why I attend so few.

Will I waste my time again? Will I have to fake a smile for 3 hours? Will I get cornered by some guy with bad breath who wants to recruit me into his MLM scheme?

Notice how often "I" appears above. I, I, I -- pretty self-conscious, isn't it?

That's because networking makes us self-conscious. It's like being back in 9th grade with a zit on your nose, on picture day. Maybe that's why we dislike networking so much.

Is it any wonder, then, that you and I don't network as often or as well as the experts tell us to?

That's why you might want to try something different to build your business.

Instead of networking with other people ... try being useful to other people.

I first learned of this idea in 2009, as a client 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 -- or send business to you.

The difference between networking and being useful is like night and day. Or work and play.

Networking is a bothersome chore -- you wish you were someplace else while doing it. Work.

Being useful is fun and easy -- you forget yourself while doing it. Play.

Try being useful to other people for just one week and see where it leads you.

Bio: Kevin Donlin can help you grow your business and enjoy the breakthrough results your hard work deserves. If you're interested in boosting your revenues and profits, please click here. 

A Cure for the Common Business Card?

In a world of flat paper business cards, this stands out like a ... big pill bottle full of M&Ms.

Because that's what it is.

It's the un-business card that doubles as a clever keepsake from Sue Guggenberger at The eBill Group. Her company does billing, bookkeeping, and cash flow management for physicians in the Twin Cities and beyond.

No, you can't put this in your wallet or file it with the other 373 business cards in your drawer, but that's the point. This is impossible to ignore or stack anything on. It has to sit on top of your desk or on a shelf by itself.

It literally stands out.

Keep Sue in mind if you're a busy doctor who wants to streamline your practice.

And keep her un-business card in mind if you want an alternative to the typical, dull-as-dishwater business card.

You'll find more ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing. 

2 LinkedIn Hacks: Silly and Useful

I've been called a "Forrest Gump" in online marketing.

And I won't argue -- I keep finding myself in the right place at the right time.

In addition to:

• selling what may have been the first ebook on Usenet (1994), 
• working as webmaster for FedEx.com when the site had 6 web pages (1995-1996), 
• writing some of the first PPC ads at a penny per click on GoTo.com (1998),

... I was invited to join LinkedIn on November 10, 2003 (member ID #40,961 of 100,000,000+).

Over the years I've learned a few things about marketing yourself and your business using LinkedIn -- some of it useful, some not.

Want to learn something productive, or pointless (but fun)?

How about both?

Okay, here you go ...

Pointless, Fun LinkedIn Trick
If you ever want to know what your member ID number is, you'll find it in the URL of your profile.

Here's mine: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=40961

The number after id shows I was the 40,961th person to join.

You can find that number in anybody's LinkedIn profile -- just look after id= in the URL in your web browser, like this example:

See that? Steve Jobs is number 125,679,346 on LinkedIn.

Now for the ...

Productive LinkedIn Tip
You can use LinkedIn to store notes about any of your first-level connections. You then have access to this information anywhere you have access to a computer. It's a great way to store call notes for later reference, for example.

And you don't have to pay a dime (as of this writing) -- it's available on all free user accounts.

But you've probably never used this feature. Here's how ...

First, here's a screenshot of my friend Allison's LinkedIn profile page.

When you scroll down a bit, you find this Notes box on the right side of her profile (or anybody else who's a first-level connection) ...

I got an email from Allison yesterday that I wanted to save part of to her LinkedIn profile, so I could refer to it on any computer with Internet access.

So I copied the text from my email and pasted it into the Notes box, like this:

Now I can always remember whom to introduce her to in my network, because those notes are on her always available to me on her LinkedIn profile.

This is a great way to record important data about clients or referral partners (hobbies, sports teams, favorite restaurants, etc.) so you can refer to it when you're on the phone or responding to emails.

I hope you find at least one of these LinkedIn "hacks" useful as you build your business.

You'll find more ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing.

Business Referrals: How to Dig a Well

If you're an entrepreneur, you know how important referrals are.

Among the thousands of small business owners I've met over the years, referrals are usually their #1 source of new business, bringing in anywhere from 50% to 100% of revenue.

Dozens of excellent books have been written on referrals, and I've read most of them.

But I want to share a new idea (for me) on referrals and networking that I learned last week in a seminar led by Jim Bear

Here's the idea: Stop going after glasses of water (single referrals) and start digging wells (referral partnerships).

Let me explain ...

According to Bear, average networkers ask for referrals. Master networkers ask for referral partners. 

What's the difference? It's huge ...

Let's say an average networker asks for one referral to a new client every week; about 4-5 every month. With a closing ratio of 50%, in a year they get 26 new clients.

That's good.

Now let's say a master networker asks for introductions to a specific referral partner every week; about 4-5 every month. With a closing ratio of 50%, they get 26 new partnerships in a year. However, each referral partner sends 4 new clients every year to the master networker, which works out to 104 new clients.

That's better.

What does a referral partnership look like?

Think of an orthodontist. How does s/he typically get new patients? Through referrals from a dentist, who sees kids before they need braces.

Dr. Cindy the dentist typically tells a parent, "Your child needs braces. I recommend you see Dr. Bob the orthodontist down the hall. I send all my patients to him." The parent thanks Dr. Cindy for the referral, and will almost certainly give their business to Dr. Bob.

Hint: You want to be in Dr. Bob's position -- with referral partners sending you qualified prospects.

Action Step: Start asking for introductions to people who see your clients before you do. All you need are a half dozen solid referral partnerships to fill your calendar with qualified prospects.

Of course, you must find a way to reciprocate, or the referral partnership falls apart.

If you can't send business back directly to your referral partner, find somebody else who can. That way, everybody wins.

Example: Dr. Bob the orthodontist can't send new patients to Dr. Cindy the dentist. But he can set up partnerships with real estate agents (whose clients need help finding a dentist), the pediatrician (who sees babies before they have teeth), and others.

All it takes is a little imagination and effort. The rewards -- in the form of never-ending revenues from referral partners -- are worth it.

You'll find more ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing.

How to Find Clients by Reverse Stalking (a.k.a. Networking for Smarties)

Hands up -- who loves networking to find new clients?

I thought so.

Networking (as most people do it) forces you to talk to strangers and ask for help, two things most of us hate to do. But why do what most people do? That would just make you average.

Instead, keep your eyes peeled for new ways of doing old things, like networking.

Example: an article in The Wall Street Journal has advice on dating you can use when networking.

After Lisa Jenkins, 42, a Clarkston, Wash., marketing consultant, got divorced several years ago, she came up with a method she calls "reverse stalking." Once or twice a week, she frequented places she found interesting—bookstores, art galleries, a bistro, a charity—at about the same time of day. "People who might be interested in you know where to find you when they finally get up the courage to ask you out," she says.

While volunteering on a fund-raiser for a local college art center, she met another volunteer, who asked her to lunch. Three years later, they are engaged. "I am very glad I didn't leave it to chance," Ms. Jenkins says.

Get that?

By appearing regularly where she might find single men with the same interests as her, she met her ideal match.

Questions: Where do your ideal prospects hang out? And how can you start appearing there regularly?

Example: If your ideal client is educated and earning over $100,000 per year, where would they hang out? Try your college alumni club -- wealthy, successful people often take leadership positions in such organizations. Volunteer for a project, appear regularly to help out, and you may find some new business.

At the very least, "reverse stalking" as a volunteer will raise your profile while helping others. Win-win.

(More ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Want My Business? Tell Me How to Use You

At a networking event two days ago, one business owner did something very smart.

Instead of telling the group what she did, she told us how to use her.

Instead of saying, "I'm a portrait artist, specializing in caricatures," she said: "A great way to use me is at parties, corporate events, or to attract a crowd at your trade show booth when I draw pictures of people."

Wow. Heads began nodding in agreement among the roomful of potential clients for her service.

Unlike, say, mimes or clowns, nobody doesn't like caricature artists.

Think of it: While everyone else is handing out pamphlets or brochures at a trade show ... you could be handing out personalized portraits, drawn while prospects wait in line (where you have a chance to chat them up and soft-sell your company).

Now. What other uses can you see for this "Tell me how to use you" style of networking pitch?

Let's try an accountant.

Instead of, "I provide full-service bookkeeping and accounting" (YAWN) ...

... you could say, "A good way to use me is to free up your time and energy for money-making activities while I take care of reconciling your daily receipts and other drudgery" (YAY).

Get the idea?

Instead of telling people what you do, and hoping they will figure out a way to use your services ...

... cut to the chase. Tell people exactly how to use you, what it looks like, and the benefits they'll enjoy by doing so.

The easier you make it for people to see the benefits of using your service, they faster they will buy your service.

You'll find more ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing.