Archive for October, 2008

Are you a small business owner looking to ATTRACT more REFERRALS?

If so then you will be interested in this …

For a short time only we are giving away a FREE CD by Referral Marketing expert David Frey titled ‘How To Get All The REFERRALS You Can Handle’.

This CD is a must for every business owner.

Request your copy before they are all gone here:

http://www.AttractReferralsCD.com

Popularity: 17% [?]

Many of you who read the Profit Minute Blog regularly will know that I am a great believer in creating TOMA.

What is TOMA?

It is Top Of Mind Awareness!

You want to own the mindspace of your customers, past customers, business contacts, target market, prospects for your business category.

When you effectively create TOMA you will start a flood of REFERRALS into your business leading to more customers, clients, cash flow and profits. It is the ultimate way to grow your business.

So I am constantly on the look out for ways to gain TOMA.

When I came across Send Out Cards (recently launched in Australia) I instantly recognised that this is the ideal system for all Small Business owners to create TOMA.

Watch this brief video titled ‘The REFERRAL Movie’ to find out how easy it can be for you to ATTRACT more referrals using Send Out Cards:

www.TOMASystem.com

Popularity: 20% [?]

I am currently studying the legendary copywriter John Carltons program ‘Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets of A Marketing Rebel’. If you are interested in learning to become a great copywriter then I suggest you check out John’s program.

Here he is talking about creating a USP for your business:

If you are looking for a copywriter to help you increase sales then why not find one who creates hypnotic copy? Take a look at:

http://www.HypnoticCopywriter.com

Popularity: 16% [?]

It is true I admit it …

Rumours of me being a trained Hypnotherapist are all true.

It is also true that I use Hypnosis in my marketing … and it is extremely powerful. I like to lead my prospective clients into a trance where you feel totally compelled to want to make a positive decision to say yes now.

So what is Hypnosis? How can it help you to attract more paying clients to your business? Is it ethical to use?

These are all good questions and I think you will find this article extremely useful. In fact it may even give you some insight into how to make your marketing efforts far more powerful.

Firstly … when I talk about using Hypnosis in marketing I am not referring to swinging a watch or having your prospects cluck like a chicken … all though that might be amusing occasionally. The classic view of the Hypnotist waving his watch around as he turns you into a helpless being at the mercy of his commands is not what I mean by Hypnotising your market place.

So you can relax

No … what I am referring to is the ability to influence your thinking. Its marketing below a level of conscious awareness and placing the right positive suggestions in your unconscious mind … that lead you to saying yes.

This of course brings up the question of ethics … is this ethical to do in your marketing?

My belief is if you have a product or service that provides genuine VALUE and your prospective client has a definite NEED for your product or service … then I believe you have a responsibility to help them get it. You have a responsibility to engage their DESIRE to WANT your product or service.

Take for instance the Attraction Marketing System - Home Study Program … my firm belief is that if you are in Small Business and you need more clients, and you do not have a well thought out marketing system … then you MUST get a copy of this program. Why am I so strong in this conviction? Well simply because I have seen the difference it has made in so many small business owners lives … Imagine going from no clue on how to find clients to becoming a magnet that attracts more clients than you can handle …

You see … I know that we give away more in actual value than we ask for the product and those who effectively implement it see great results and more money in the bank … so the question of ethics does not enter my mind. You need the same level of certainty.

So how do you hypnotise your market place?

Well there are two key things you need … the first is RAPPORT with your market and the second is the ability to communicate at both a CONSCIOUS level of awareness and talk directly to your UNCONSCIOUS.

Many of you will know Robert Collier author of the book ‘The Secrets of The Ages’. Well you may not know that Robert was also a very successful Direct Response Marketer. In fact he wrote one of the most important books on the topic called ‘The Robert Collier Letter Book’.

In that book he mentioned this … ‘You must enter the conversation already going on inside your customers mind.’

Think about this statement … what he is saying is you need to understand your prospective customer so well that you already know what they are thinking, feeling and desiring. You already know what their concerns, problems and challenges are. You already know what conversations they are having in their own minds … and you simply enter their conversation.

The way I would do this is by asking questions to engage your interest … questions like …

‘Are you sick and tired of STRUGGLING to find new clients?’

or

‘Are you great at what you do … but you are clueless about how to MARKET what you do?’

Now I already know that 43.9% of my target market feel that their number one problem in their business is finding new clients. If you are like many small business owners it is constantly on your mind. The uncertainty of not knowing where your next client will come from is unsettling to you so I know that these type of engaging questions will get your ATTENTION.

Once you have someones attention and you are talking directly to them about their problems, challenges and concerns they very easily fall into RAPPORT with you. When you get a sense that finally someone understands you and what you are experiencing then that rapport deepens.

So once you are in RAPPORT with them … what next?

Well …

The next step is to use the power of positive SUGGESTION to lead them towards making a positive decision. You need to use language that leads them towards one conclusion only which is to say yes.

First though let me give you an example of negative suggestion. I admit that I am getting up early and following an exercise program right now. Part of that is a few times a week following along with the personal trainer Jillian Michaels ‘The Biggest Winner’ program. Now I think what she does is great BUT … one thing that really bugs me as I am sweating, huffing and puffing is when she keeps saying … Don’t you STOP RIGHT NOW … Don’t YOU QUIT ON ME … Don’t YOU GIVE UP JUST BECAUSE YOU FIND IT TO HARD …. etc etc

Now whilst Jillian’s intentions are good … what message is she really placing in my unconscious mind? At the conscious level she is motivating me to keep going … but at the unconscious level she is really giving me the SUGGESTION to STOP …. QUIT …. GIVE UP … and let me tell you that is the last thing I need when I am 20 minutes into it

Here is the thing … the reason why you may have failed to get results from your marketing in the past is because you have placed the wrong message in the unconscious mind of your prospect … even though you may have been attempting to convey a different meaning at a conscious level.

Does this make sense to you?

Can you see how learning to be in RAPPORT with your target market and then effectively inserting the right SUGGESTIONS at an UNCONSCIOUS level can help you to ATTRACT more clients than you can handle?

This is an introduction to how to be highly ATTRACTIVE to your target market using hypnotic style marketing … in future newsletters I will give you more ideas on how to put it into practice. We will look at the power of stories and metaphors, we will consider the artful use of language, and we will discover the power of embedded commands.

Stay tuned … it could transform your business …

By the way … if you are looking to attract more clients than you can handle then I suggest you grab a copy of The Attraction Marketing System - Home Study program while its on special. You will begin to understand and implement the key strategies to attract more clients.

Get the Attraction Marketing System here www.TheAttractionMarketingSystem.com

Popularity: 12% [?]

Recently I was asked by a prospective copywriting client the following …

‘How Much Do You Charge Per Word?’

Needless to say I was a little taken aback by the question … I had never thought of the copywriting work I do as being a certain amount of money per word. Seemed like a crazy idea to me … I mean if it is just words she was after I should have replied with $1 a word and handed her the dictionary. After all its packed full of words and I could have gone on a nice holiday.

It got me thinking though about you and your business. More importantly about how you view the work you do, how you value it and therefore how do you charge for it.

To many people in service based business charge for their services based on a rate per hour. Having come from the coaching industry I know that when coaches get together the conversation nearly always turns to the question of how much do you charge per hour.

This is akin to the question how much do you charge per word.

Here is what you must understand … your prospective customers do not want to buy words or hours of your time. What they want is a SOLUTION to their PROBLEMS!

So you must begin thinking about the VALUE you provide to your customers.

You need to ask them what it is worth to them to have the SOLUTION.

Knowing this information you then price your services based on the VALUE of the SOLUTION to the customer or client.

Let me give you an example from my business …

When interviewing prospective new clients one of the key peices of information I am interested in is the life time value of a new customer. So in other words if I help my clients develop a new marketing system that just attracts one extra client to them … what is that client worth to them.

Let us say I am talking to a Mortgage Broker who has an upfront commission of say $2,000 for each new client they bring on board. This means if I can help this Mortgage Broker to find just one new client then that puts $2,000 into their bank account … important information to know, right?

So in knowing this information I know that if I can help them find just 3 or 4 new clients then that will pay for my services. The way I then position it to my prospective client then is this … i explain to them that when we start working together if I can help you find just 3 or 4 new mortgage clients then I am free to you … and everything else after that is a bonus.

Here is the question … would you give me 3 of your clients and in return I develop for you a marketing system that will attract a life time supply of new clients?

Naturally they nearly always say YES!

Can you see how pricing your services based on the VALUE of the SOLUTION can be so powerful?

So how do you establish the VALUE of the SOLUTION you provide to prospective clients?

Well you ask them …

Lets suppose you are a Personal Trainer …. the type of questions you could ask are …

”What is it costing you not having the energy you need each day to enjoy greater success?”

A Recruitment Consultant could ask a prospective client …

“How much does it cost you each time you employ someone who is not right for the role? What does it cost you to replace them?”

A Taxation Consultant might ask …

“If I can get you $3,500 back on your Tax return … what would you do with the money?” and get the client talking about all the great things they could do that maybe they can not afford to do right now.

The key is to ask a lot of questions and have the prospective client establish the VALUE of your services for you. You need to know what are the right questions to ask of course so it requires a little planning and thought.

If you can get to the point where your prospective client is telling you what you services are worth to them … ie what the solution is worth to them, then you can easily price your services based on the value of the solution.

Now the real key to making this work is having unshakeable BELIEF in you and the service you provide. In coaching clients I find that one of the biggest shifts I can make with them is installing greater belief in their worth to the marketplace. In doing so they shift their thinking from how much can I get per hour to what is the VALUE of the service I provide and how can I price my services based on this VALUE.

How can you apply this to your business?

Popularity: 21% [?]

Success in business takes time … and it also takes strategy.

There are many businesses that have been around for a number of years BUT have operated with the wrong strategy. If you strategy is wrong you wind up in an endless pursiut of your goals with little chance of achieveing them.

In my seminars I often give the analogy that if you were to fly from Melbourne to London and you are one degree of course then you will wind up somewhere … it just won’t be where you had hoped.

A few years ago I was involved in the National Speakers Association as I had a strong desire to become a professional speaker. After careful observation though of a number of the more seasoned and experienced speakers I concluded that the strategy being taught was fundamentally wrong for the goals I hoped to achieve. Why? The core strategy being taught was the pursiut of speaking engagements were you might be paid anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 to deliver a speech (or training). Problem with that? Well … after you collect your money you are back to ZERO!

So many small businesses suffer from a similar flaw in their strategy.

Here is the real flaw … they are too focused on the immediate profit to be made on a new customer and not focused on the future profits.

What do I mean by that?

Well with the wrong strategy a new customer is worth whatever dollar amount you can sell to them on the initial purchase … and that is about it. With the right strategy a new customer has a value that may not equate to money in the back immediately but the total profits from that customer in the future will be substantial.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy has often stated that most small business owners believe that the purpose of getting a customer is to make a sale (ie profit up front), when in reality the correct strategy must be that the purpose of making a sale is to acquire a customer.

This strategy is what is known as Future Banking.

It is a strategy where all of your marketing efforts are designed to acquire customers that have a future bankable value to your business.

So your initial sale to the customer may not make you money … you may just break even on them. The profits live in the back end of your business. The accumulation of large numbers of customers that have future bankable value is where the real wealth is in your business.

There are a few different ways to implement the future banking strategy. Lets consider two of them now:

1/ Front End, Back End - The first way to implement the future banking strategy is through the development of a well thought out marketing funnel that has both front end products or services, and then an ascending array of back end products or services. The objective is to have new customers join your marketing funnel by taking up your front end offer and then progressively and systematically ascend them through your back end products or services.

2/ Continuity Income - The second way to implement the future banking strategy is to develop a product or service offering that features continutiy of income. In other words you charge your customers at frequent recurring intervals (ie monthly) until they tell you to stop. Often you will either lose money, or break even on the first month acquiring the customer and profit on the on-going fees. The Attraction Marketing Inner Circle is an example of this where you can join as a trial member for $1 today which then goes to $97 per month thereafter.

So here is a good question for you … after you have finished providing your customers with the product or service they buy from you what is the future bankable profits from that customer? Are there any future bankable profits … or are you back to zero?

If you are looking to build wealth into your business then you will want to begin to think about and plan to implement future bank strategies today.

In the Attraction Marketing System we explain these concepts in more detail and explain the marketing funnel concept and how to implement it.

Popularity: 15% [?]