Did you know?
Up to 90% of your success in business has nothing to do with external factors, like the economy or your competitors.
Instead, the vast majority of your success hinges on what happens inside your business. Your core values, daily operations, and decisions about marketing -- to name a few.
That's not my idea.
It's the finding of two very smart business consultants from Bain, Chris Zook and James Allen. Their book, The Founders Mentality, reveals that it's what you do INSIDE your business that really matters.
Because the best, most-profitable businesses get there by taking action on their own agendas -- not by reacting to their competitors or the economy.
And in my experience dating back to 1994, there are at least 3 opportunities to engineer a breakthrough in your marketing by making proactive changes inside your business:
1) Referrals. What are you doing to generate and reward more referrals?
2) Order size. What are you doing to increase the size and frequency of purchases?
3) Optimization. What are you doing to test and improve your marketing?
One last thing. If you found these ideas helpful, please request your Free Client Cloning Kit at my website
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Friday, July 12, 2019
How to Grow Your Business with the Phone
One of the fastest ways to build your business is with the telephone.
Here's why. Unless you're selling something for under $100, you're going to need to talk to someone at some point before they write you a check.
And a great way to have more conversations is by calling prospects and clients. But not just any phone call will do.
Tip: Whenever you make a phone call, be useful to the other person. Never, ever call to "check in" or "loop back," or "touch base." No, no, no.
When you call prospects, give them news, tips and tools they can use to grow their business. Which, in turn, will grow yours.
To illustrate, within the last 48 hours, I've spoken to 6 current and prospective clients. Every one of them was happy to hear from me.
As a result, they're going to take future phone calls from me and more sales will result.
Why?
Because I gave them a news item and made it simple for them to insert it into their emails, web pages, etc., to make their marketing more timely. Which will make their marketing, better whether or not we ever work together on a project.
Something to think about.
One more thing …
If you found this idea helpful, claim your Free Client Cloning Kit at www.clientcloningsystems.com
Monday, July 8, 2019
4 Marketing Lessons From The $105-Million Man
At $105 million per year, who has the highest salary in baseball?
Scott Boras.
Wait, what? Yes, that’s right. While Bryce Harper and Manny Machado each have contracts worth over $300 million, and Stephen Strasburg tops all annual player salaries, with $38.3 million …
... the man who takes home the most money every year in baseball is an agent.
Scott Boras rakes in $105 million annually from $1.88 billion in contracts for about 175 MLB players.
Here’s a look at how he taps into the real money in his industry, with marketing lessons you can profit from in your industry.
First, specialize. Boras negotiates only baseball contracts. As a result, he and his 75 employees -- many of whom are former MLB players -- have mastered the intricacies of negotiating 9-figure deals for clients.
Second, serve. Players describe Boras as a guy with their best interest at heart, like his first client, Bill Caudill, who said: “From day one, I knew I could trust Scott.” The Boras Corporation employs attorneys, sports psychologists, financial experts and others -- all to serve their clients’ wide-ranging needs.
Third, make it personal. According to an article on Managerskills.org, “Boras understands that the most important part of his job is maintaining human relationships [with] clients, talking to them about their injuries, their lives, their relationships, and their kids.” Which proves the old saying that nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.
Finally, work hard and smart. Raised on a dairy farm, Boras works long, hard hours. More importantly, he works smart. As a former minor leaguer, he knows baseball. As a former attorney, he knows negotiating. He got two of his first clients by selling himself as the only ex-lawyer and ex-pro player they would find as an agent -- a unique selling proposition that has proven, shall we say, lucrative.
So, there it is. A shortlist of tactics one man has used to tap the real money in his industry. I hope you use them to do the same in yours.
One more thing ...
If you want more clients like your best clients, claim a Free Client Cloning Kit here.
Scott Boras.
Wait, what? Yes, that’s right. While Bryce Harper and Manny Machado each have contracts worth over $300 million, and Stephen Strasburg tops all annual player salaries, with $38.3 million …
... the man who takes home the most money every year in baseball is an agent.
Scott Boras rakes in $105 million annually from $1.88 billion in contracts for about 175 MLB players.
 |
| Scott Boras (photo credit: MissChatter on Flickr) |
First, specialize. Boras negotiates only baseball contracts. As a result, he and his 75 employees -- many of whom are former MLB players -- have mastered the intricacies of negotiating 9-figure deals for clients.
Second, serve. Players describe Boras as a guy with their best interest at heart, like his first client, Bill Caudill, who said: “From day one, I knew I could trust Scott.” The Boras Corporation employs attorneys, sports psychologists, financial experts and others -- all to serve their clients’ wide-ranging needs.
Third, make it personal. According to an article on Managerskills.org, “Boras understands that the most important part of his job is maintaining human relationships [with] clients, talking to them about their injuries, their lives, their relationships, and their kids.” Which proves the old saying that nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.
Finally, work hard and smart. Raised on a dairy farm, Boras works long, hard hours. More importantly, he works smart. As a former minor leaguer, he knows baseball. As a former attorney, he knows negotiating. He got two of his first clients by selling himself as the only ex-lawyer and ex-pro player they would find as an agent -- a unique selling proposition that has proven, shall we say, lucrative.
So, there it is. A shortlist of tactics one man has used to tap the real money in his industry. I hope you use them to do the same in yours.
One more thing ...
If you want more clients like your best clients, claim a Free Client Cloning Kit here.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
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.
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.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Ugly Marketing, Beautiful Profits
This marketing tactic is as easy to use as pen and paper.
In fact, it is pen and paper.
Here’s the tactic: Write your next sales letter by hand, with a pen. Then print and mail it.
When you do this, 3 good things happen:
1) You create a promotion that is instantly creative and 100% unique to you
2) Your recipients will appreciate the time you took to write a message “just for them” ... even if the original letter is mass-printed
3) Your recipients are more likely to read and respond to your letter
Here's an example, from one of my clients ...
When the dust settled, he earned $104,000 from $4,038 invested in that handwritten sales letter.
In fact, it is pen and paper.
Here’s the tactic: Write your next sales letter by hand, with a pen. Then print and mail it.
When you do this, 3 good things happen:
1) You create a promotion that is instantly creative and 100% unique to you
2) Your recipients will appreciate the time you took to write a message “just for them” ... even if the original letter is mass-printed
3) Your recipients are more likely to read and respond to your letter
Here's an example, from one of my clients ...
When the dust settled, he earned $104,000 from $4,038 invested in that handwritten sales letter.
That's an astounding ROI of 25.76 to 1.
I wrote the copy. He hand-wrote the letter. Then we printed and mailed it.
Why do hand-written letters work so well?
Think about it. Your prospects spend more of their life communicating by computer or smart phone than by pen and paper. Every day, they get credit card offers and bills in the mail. Maybe a catalog or two. But actual handwritten letters? Why, those are so rare, they're treated like gold ...
... which is EXACTLY how you want your sales letter to be treated.
A handwritten letter can work in any B2C or B2B market because markets don’t buy, people do. A person must read your promotion before they can respond to your offer.
And if you're thinking, "My handwriting is terrible!" -- sorry, that's not a valid excuse. Find someone who can write neatly. Start with your family. Do you have a teenager, as I do? Congratulations. You have child labor. And your costs to make a handwritten letter at home will be lower than Nike’s costs to make shoes in China.
Besides, you don’t need stylish handwriting. Ugly can be beautiful.
Case in point: The butt-ugly issue of my newsletter below ...
It was handwritten by me. And it's still the most-talked-about and responded-to issue I ever did. Ugly handwriting can be like a traffic accident -- people slow down to look at it. However, your ugly handwritten message must be relevant to your audience, or they will speed past it.
And here’s another twist: Hand-write your letter in crayon, instead of pen, and make the “author” one of your children or a relative’s child.
That’s what my client Bill Gough did for his insurance agency a few years ago. Take a look below. This is not hard ...
One more thing that should motivate you to try this: Your competition is, quite simply, NOT going to hand-write anything. Prove it to yourself. Answer this question: How many handwritten sales letters or messages of any kind have you seen from your competitors? I thought so. Now, do you see the opportunity?
Remember, when you turn the usual into the unusual, you can make your business remarkable, by creating an atmosphere where your prospects and clients tell others. When others are remarking about you to their friends, family, and co-workers, you are -- literally -- remarkable.
Now take the next step.
Click here to book a call with Kevin Donlin now
I wrote the copy. He hand-wrote the letter. Then we printed and mailed it.
Why do hand-written letters work so well?
Think about it. Your prospects spend more of their life communicating by computer or smart phone than by pen and paper. Every day, they get credit card offers and bills in the mail. Maybe a catalog or two. But actual handwritten letters? Why, those are so rare, they're treated like gold ...
... which is EXACTLY how you want your sales letter to be treated.
A handwritten letter can work in any B2C or B2B market because markets don’t buy, people do. A person must read your promotion before they can respond to your offer.
And if you're thinking, "My handwriting is terrible!" -- sorry, that's not a valid excuse. Find someone who can write neatly. Start with your family. Do you have a teenager, as I do? Congratulations. You have child labor. And your costs to make a handwritten letter at home will be lower than Nike’s costs to make shoes in China.
Besides, you don’t need stylish handwriting. Ugly can be beautiful.
Case in point: The butt-ugly issue of my newsletter below ...
It was handwritten by me. And it's still the most-talked-about and responded-to issue I ever did. Ugly handwriting can be like a traffic accident -- people slow down to look at it. However, your ugly handwritten message must be relevant to your audience, or they will speed past it.
And here’s another twist: Hand-write your letter in crayon, instead of pen, and make the “author” one of your children or a relative’s child.
That’s what my client Bill Gough did for his insurance agency a few years ago. Take a look below. This is not hard ...
One more thing that should motivate you to try this: Your competition is, quite simply, NOT going to hand-write anything. Prove it to yourself. Answer this question: How many handwritten sales letters or messages of any kind have you seen from your competitors? I thought so. Now, do you see the opportunity?
Remember, when you turn the usual into the unusual, you can make your business remarkable, by creating an atmosphere where your prospects and clients tell others. When others are remarking about you to their friends, family, and co-workers, you are -- literally -- remarkable.
Now take the next step.
Let's talk by phone about growing your business. I'll give you as many insights as I can fit into 30 minutes -- a micro seminar, if you will :-) No obligation. No sales pressure. Click below ...
Monday, June 6, 2016
The Strange Marketing Power of Chocolate
Do you love chocolate?
I thought so.
Well, here’s one more reason to love chocolate: It can build your business.
Below is a transcript of a conversation I had with copywriter Tom Trush, from Phoenix, AZ.
I thought so.
Well, here’s one more reason to love chocolate: It can build your business.
Below is a transcript of a conversation I had with copywriter Tom Trush, from Phoenix, AZ.
Read it to discover the
strange secret of how chocolate can boost your profits ...
Kevin Donlin: "Tom, you had a story and it was kind of prompted from something you read in my Marketing Multipliers program where I often talk about creating new experience for your business using food, specifically, chocolate."
Kevin Donlin: "Tom, you had a story and it was kind of prompted from something you read in my Marketing Multipliers program where I often talk about creating new experience for your business using food, specifically, chocolate."
Tom
Trush: "I was talking to a client who was definitely frustrated. He had a big
deal lined up, so big that he had flown to Denver to meet with the prospect.
"He
thought the meeting went great and he followed up by email and it sounded like
it was just a matter of getting the deal signed. But the prospect would not
respond. He sent multiple emails over and over."
Kevin:
"So, the trail went cold. Lots of emails, but nothing from the prospect?"
Tom:
"Right. I know that you are a huge fan of direct mail, and I am, too. So I
told him to change the medium from email -- because it’s just so easy to ignore
-- and use regular mail.
"I
suggested to he should put together a package and take the same information
you’re sending by email, but change your format and send it by mail.
"Even
better, send it FedEx or UPS. That would show some urgency and show you’re
dedicated to this project.
"And
I remembered what you suggested, Kevin, about how including a food gift like
chocolate is an easy way to turn a direct mail piece into a sensory experience."
Kevin:
"So what happened?"
Tom:
"He popped some chocolates into the package and sent it off UPS ... and he
said within two days he was on a call with the prospect to close the deal."
"Changing
the format and delivering it via UPS really helped. But I think the chocolate was
a big deal, too. It’s such a little thing, but how can you ignore chocolate?
It adds an experience, you eat it and
you remember it."
Kevin:
"Right on all counts. Whether you send an express letter by UPS or FedEx, it
can’t possibly go into a spam folder. It has to be opened. Keep that in mind
when you compare the “cost” of email, which is free but increasingly ineffective,
vs. the “cost” of an overnight letter.
"Second
idea: Chocolate. When you’re eating chocolate, it’s impossible to be unhappy.
So when you’re grinning and you’re reading a letter, your brain is making a connection
between the two. It’s a powerful sensory experience.
"Compare
that to reading an email on a laptop, iPad, or -- worst of all -- a mobile
phone. That’s just text on a screen, visible for 3-5 seconds and then, poof!
Deleted or achieved. Not nearly in the same league as a tangible letter plus a
chocolate gift. And not nearly the same results."
Bottom
line: Anyone can execute this idea. Find your best sales message, print it, add
a nice gift of chocolate, and send it all FedEx or UPS.
But first, let me drop some science on you. There’s a chemical compound in chocolate, called phenethylamine (PEA).
PEA mimics the chemistry of your brain when you’re in love. Maybe that’s why chocolate is said to be an aphrodisiac. In any case, the chemicals in chocolate make people HAPPY ... and if you can make people HAPPY in business, you can do WELL in business.
Now, if you don’t see the value in investing $20 for all this, especially when it could make you back many hundreds or thousands of dollars ... well, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby. And you should stop pretending otherwise.
PEA mimics the chemistry of your brain when you’re in love. Maybe that’s why chocolate is said to be an aphrodisiac. In any case, the chemicals in chocolate make people HAPPY ... and if you can make people HAPPY in business, you can do WELL in business.
Now, if you don’t see the value in investing $20 for all this, especially when it could make you back many hundreds or thousands of dollars ... well, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby. And you should stop pretending otherwise.
One more thing.
If you found this idea helpful … and you want more clients like your best clients ... claim your Free Client Cloning Kit at www.clientcloningsystems.com
If you found this idea helpful … and you want more clients like your best clients ... claim your Free Client Cloning Kit at www.clientcloningsystems.com
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Referral Rewards: The Simple Way to Grow Your Service Business
Here's an outstanding way to encourage more referrals to your business, especially if you sell a service.
Take a look at this issue of the newsletter published by The Prouty Project:
They're doing two smart things to encourage referrals, both of which you can emulate ...
1) Publicly Recognizing Referrals
Too often, we forget to thank the people who send us referrals. Which is a mistake.
William James, the father of American psychology, wrote: "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated."
When you give people appreciation for their referrals, they will give you more referrals. Because you get more of any behavior that you reward.
And when you reward that behavior with public recognition, by publishing photos and quotes from clients who refer, you "super size" this process. Your clients will save that issue of your newsletter with their picture in it ... and they will likely talk about it and show it to other people. Which naturally leads to more referrals.
2) Rewarding Referrals with a Charitable Donation
There are many ways to incentivize referrals: you can offer a cash reward, gift card, discount on a future purchase, or some combination of those.
But The Prouty Project goes beyond typical rewards by offering a $1,000 donation to charity for one randomly chosen referrer. Then, they take it one step further by letting the winner select the charity that receives the money.
This is a triple play: The Prouty Project wins by supporting a good cause; the winner wins by choosing a charity to support; and the charity wins by getting $1,000.
To power up your referral rewards program (you do have one, don't you?) use these two ideas: publicly recognize referrals and reward referrals with donations to charity.
A smart referral rewards program is a true Marketing Multiplier: Small actions that deliver big profits. This is so low-tech, it's practically NO-tech. And you can create one today.
One more thing: If you own a service business in the U.S., you can get a box of 11 Marketing Multipliers delivered to your door at no cost, if you hurry. Learn more at www.MarketingMultipliers.com
Take a look at this issue of the newsletter published by The Prouty Project:
They're doing two smart things to encourage referrals, both of which you can emulate ...
1) Publicly Recognizing Referrals
Too often, we forget to thank the people who send us referrals. Which is a mistake.
William James, the father of American psychology, wrote: "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated."
When you give people appreciation for their referrals, they will give you more referrals. Because you get more of any behavior that you reward.
And when you reward that behavior with public recognition, by publishing photos and quotes from clients who refer, you "super size" this process. Your clients will save that issue of your newsletter with their picture in it ... and they will likely talk about it and show it to other people. Which naturally leads to more referrals.
2) Rewarding Referrals with a Charitable Donation
There are many ways to incentivize referrals: you can offer a cash reward, gift card, discount on a future purchase, or some combination of those.
But The Prouty Project goes beyond typical rewards by offering a $1,000 donation to charity for one randomly chosen referrer. Then, they take it one step further by letting the winner select the charity that receives the money.
This is a triple play: The Prouty Project wins by supporting a good cause; the winner wins by choosing a charity to support; and the charity wins by getting $1,000.
To power up your referral rewards program (you do have one, don't you?) use these two ideas: publicly recognize referrals and reward referrals with donations to charity.
A smart referral rewards program is a true Marketing Multiplier: Small actions that deliver big profits. This is so low-tech, it's practically NO-tech. And you can create one today.
One more thing: If you own a service business in the U.S., you can get a box of 11 Marketing Multipliers delivered to your door at no cost, if you hurry. Learn more at www.MarketingMultipliers.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)