Free Consultations and Ezines Are Dead. Good Riddance!

Bad news: If you hope to attract prospects by offering a free consultation or a free email newsletter like every other business, your business will look like ... every other business.

In the eyes of your prospects, you will be seen as a commodity. And how do people shop for commodities? By price. Which sucks for you.

Good news: You don't have to attract prospects with the same freebies as everybody else. One way to stand out is to simply rename your materials.

Better news: When you do this, you can quickly become a Category of One in your market -- and bypass the commodity trap.

How?

Create a unique name for whatever you give away as a "free consultation" and/or "free email newsletter."

Instead of offering a "free consultation," you can offer a:

• Free Strategy Session
• Hidden Profit X-ray
• Complimentary Sales Blueprint

And instead of offering a "free email newsletter," you can offer a:

• Client Cloning Kit (my own unique name)
• Monthly Profit Builder
• Sales Explosion Bulletin

Note: Email itself can make you a commodity. You'll stand out much faster in any market if you send your materials by U.S. Mail. Don't doubt me on this one -- ask yourself: Do you want more email in your life, or less? And what about your prospects, do they want more email or less? Case closed.

Just as a small change to the rudder can change the course of a ship by thousands of miles, these two small changes to your marketing can change the course of your business by thousands -- or millions -- of dollars.

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.

Time Arbitrage: 75% More Profits, Without Working Overtime

Did you know?

You can earn 75% more profits this week, without working overtime, simply by changing how you manage your time.

That's because most things don't matter in your life, your business, and your marketing.

Based on the 80/20 Rule and my own 21 years of experience, only a few of your marketing efforts -- about 20% of what you do to grow your business -- really make you money. It could be referrals, trade shows, magazine ads, your blog, etc. But a high percentage of your profits -- as much as 80% or more -- come from a vital few marketing efforts.

The other 80% of your marketing (Facebook, the Chamber of Commerce, email blasts, etc.) don't work so well. They produce only about 20% of your profits.

Now. If the vital 20% of your marketing produces 80% of results, that's a 4x output. And if the trivial 80% of your marketing produces 20% of your results, that's a 1/4 output.

As a result, your vital 20% is 16x more powerful than your trivial 80%.

That means there's an easy route to dramatically higher profits staring you in the face: Spend more time, money, and effort on the 20% of your marketing that produces 80% of your profits. And don't say, "I don't have time for more marketing" ... because you DO have time. Remember? About 16 of every 20 hours you spend on marketing this week -- 80% -- are largely a waste of time.

All you need to do is determine your high-value 20% and your low-value 80%, then move time and money from your Trivial 80% to your Vital 20%.

This is easier shown than explained. So take a look at this picture of a calendar showing a 5-day work week ...

See those 4 nickels on Monday through Thursday? They represent how 4/5 (or 80%) of your time produces about 1/5 (or 20%) of your profits.

See those 8 dimes on one day, Friday? They represent how 1/5 (or 20%) of your time produces about 80% of your profits.

So, how do you get 75% more profits, from the same time worked each week?

Do this: Replace one day of low-value 80% marketing efforts (blogging, networking, etc.) with just one day of high-value 20% efforts (calling past clients, public speaking, etc.). Take a look ...

This is how you go from 100% to 175% of profits -- a 75% gain -- without working overtime: Do more of what makes you money in the time you now waste doing what doesn’t.

Like all great truths, this one is simple. We've replaced a 20% chunk of efforts (and profits) with an 80% chunk, in the same amount of time.

We haven't made more time. We've made time count more. I call this Time Arbitrage. And it's lever #1 of 5 levers that can multiply your marketing.

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.

Just a Reminder: Email is Evil

If you own a business -- especially if you're a solopreneur -- your time is incredibly valuable.

You have the same 24 hours as your competitors to do what matters. And whoever gets more big stuff done wins.

But you probably knew that.

But did you know? Email is evil. Because it's keeping you from getting big stuff done.

I've written before that email is your to-do list that anybody can get on. All they need is your email address and they can send you a message that you've got to answer. Poof. There goes one more minute of your life, up in smoke.

But here are two more reasons to treat email like cholesterol -- and cut back:

1) Checking email decreases efficiency.

Why? Because you're more efficient those fewer times that you do. There's a fascinating article in the New York Times called "Stop Checking Email So Often," in which people who checked email less often reported that they spent 20% less time answering their email -- they were 20% more efficient.

Here's a quote from the story: "Constantly monitoring our inboxes promotes stress without promoting efficiency. When it comes to checking email, less might be more."

2) Checking email increases stress. 

For people in a study who agreed to check email only 3 times a day, "The reduction in stress was about as large as the benefit people get from learning relaxation techniques (e.g., taking deep breaths, visualizing peaceful imagery)."

In other words, email = stress. Less email may reduce stress as much as picturing yourself lying in the sun on a tropical beach several times a day.

According to the article, checking email less can reduce stress by cutting down on the need to switch between tasks. Our brains can't do two demanding things at once, so flipping back and forth between tasks -- multi-tasking -- is a drain on cognitive resources. As a result, you are less efficient in each of the tasks you’re trying to do.

Bottom line: Limit email, or email will limit you.

Try cutting back to checking email just 3 times a day. You can do that. And when you do, you'll free up at least one hour of newly productive time every day.

Now. What can you do to market your business in one hour? Here are 3 ideas -- pick one:

1) Grab the phone and call your top 5 clients, for 12 minutes each. Ask how they're doing and what they're working on. Then ask if you can be of service somehow. They will tell you how to help or say, "No, thanks." Either way, they will be blown away by your generosity.

2) Mail a copy of a helpful article (magazine or newspaper) to your top 20 clients. Include a handwritten message with each that says, "Saw this and thought of you." Sign it.

3) Call to interview your last 3 happy clients, for 20 minutes each. Ask how are they using your product or service, exactly? What has changed for the better, exactly? How much more time or money do they have as a result, exactly? Then ask if you can transcribe their comments to use in a "mini case study" on your web site or newsletter.

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.

The Huge ROI of Increased Conversions

Today, January 1, is the start of a new year.

It's also the start of Financial Wellness Month, so you will hear a lot about finance and wealth.

Here's a sure-fire way to improve your finances: get richer, faster, with what I call The Best Investment on EarthTM.

That would be marketing.

The real estate market can and does collapse. So do stocks. Investment gurus can and will take your money.

That's why Marketing is The Best investment on EarthTM. Because, done correctly, the marketing of your business is a money making asset that pays you back more than you pay in, just like a share of stock, real estate property, or a piece of capital equipment.

What's nice about it is you can control the entire process. You don't have to bet on a hedge fund or give money to someone like Bernie Madoff who runs off with it.

And here's a way to improve your marketing and invest in yourself at ZERO risk: increase your conversions. Because anything you can do to convert more of the leads you've already paid for into clients who pay you will deliver an enormous return on investment.

Let's say you have 100 leads that it cost you about $1,000 to generate.

And let's say you currently convert about 2% of them into clients who pay you $1,000 each over their buying lifetime. So, from your $1,000 investment in marketing, you get back 2 new clients who pay you $2,000.

Now let's say you increase your conversion rate from 2% to 3%. First, congratulate yourself: going from 2% to 3% is actually a 50% increase  in conversions, so get happy. But more importantly, you now get 3 clients instead of 2 clients -- an extra $1,000 from that same initial $1,000 investment. Your ROI just shot up from 200% to 300%.

How do you increase conversions? It can be as simple as testing:

• a new headline in your ad or on your web page
• a new opening in your phone script
• a new closing in your sales presentation
• a better offer
• new payment terms
• a better guarantee, etc.

NONE of the above ideas is high-cost. Most are low-cost or NO-cost. That's the beauty of increased conversions. By getting more sales from the leads you already have, you mine a seam of gold, hidden in your business, that NONE of your competitors can ever see or steal from you. Your only cost is a bit of time and effort, systematically invested, to test new ideas.

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.

The Ugly Truth About Genius

Genius is the beautiful product -- the curves, shiny chrome, thrum of 310 horses under the hood, and other self-evident sexiness in a new Ford Mustang, for example.

Underneath all that, holding it together, is preparation: countless hours of wind-tunnel testing, engineering, problem solving, and other toil. It's ugly, invisible, and essential -- the foundation.

The genius of Thomas Edison -- the light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera, carbon paper, storage battery -- was evident in his products.

Beneath that, you don't see his preparation -- that he studied year-round with his mother after quitting school at age 8 ... read every book in the Detroit Public Library from age 15 ("I didn't read a few books. I read the library.") ... worked 18 hours a day ... or that he neglected food, friends, bathing, and bill-paying in favor of inventing.

You can hear the genius of Mozart's music. But you don't see his preparation -- that he was drilled for long hours on harpsichord, violin, and organ from age 4 ... or that he neglected food, friends, bathing, and bill-paying in favor of composing.

Henry Ford. Douglas MacArthur. Donald Trump. Steve Jobs. Their genius is evident, but their preparation is hidden; you have to dig for it.

Back to Edison. You're familiar with his quote: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Well, genius can be easy to miss, too ...

We may see the beautiful product and stop there. But don't miss digging for the ugly preparation underneath. You can never duplicate another person's unique products -- their genius -- but you can duplicate their preparation.

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.

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.

New Marketing Training for Consultants, Coaches, and Service Professionals

Do you own a business or sell a service?

If so, this is for you ...

Announcing a FREE Webcast: "Marketing Multipliers: 3 Secrets to More Leads, More Sales, and More Profits"

Here's the deal: You couldn't attend my in-person "Marketing Multipliers" session here in the Twin Cities. And that's too bad.

Because the people who came had comments like these ...

 

"I just attended Kevin's one-hour workshop and I got more great ideas I've never thought of before -- and frankly, I've read every book there is out there -- and I can use them right away. These are brain-dead simple to execute, and I can't wait to get started!" - Dan Janal, PR Leads

  

 

 

"I enjoyed it a great deal. Really nice, tangible things -- I've already got a list of things to do by the end of the day. A great session!" - Jim Reid, Bottom Line Business Advisors




But I'm doing a Live Video version of the training and you can watch it FREE at your desk.

No replay is planned, so please clear just 45 minutes on your schedule for this. You'll be glad you did! 

Learn more and save your spot here.

Move fast -- the first 25 to sign up get 3 Surprise Gifts after the Webcast.

Go here to register Free Now