I hope you enjoyed the webinar I did with Michael Zipursky (CEO of Consulting Success) yesterday as much as I did. If you missed it, or just want to watch again, check out the replay here.
Michael explained step-by-step how consultants and coaches can set up a marketing system to consistently attract more clients.
At the end, he offered a way for you to get help with your marketingfor free. You see, Michael runs a coaching program where he teaches and guides you to create your own marketing system. And if you were paying attention to the case studies, his students often get massive results — almost immediately.
If you’re interested in talking with a top expert about your marketing and getting help to attract more clients, take action on Michael’s generous offer. This complimentary call is available on a “first come, first served” basis, and his schedule tends to fill up pretty quickly.
You may have noticed on the image above that Authority is the LAST step in the process. That’s almost the opposite of what you hear other experts say. The standard advice is to establish your authority right away, then you can start charging premium prices, etc.
Mr. Zipursky looks at it differently. He teaches his clients to take the long-view on authority. Yes, you should always be working on it, but a perceived lack of authority should never stop you going after what you want, making the biggest, boldest promises you can make (as long as you can deliver) and setting fees commensurate with the value you provide.
It reminded me of Robert Ringer’s book, Winning Through Intimidation. You don’t necessarily have to be the #1 expert to do great work. Always look for opportunities to provide the highest level of value you’re capable of delivering — to the clients who will benefit most and pay you accordingly. If you’re good enough to play in the “big leagues,” step on the field. Don’t worry about “paying your dues.”
2) There is a price for staying where you are.
We probably don’t think about business (or life) this way. We think of progress as moving upwards, mistakes and failures as going downward, and moving forward in a straight line when things aren’t changing.
During the webinar, Michael demonstrated how much we sacrifice when we don’t work with our ideal clients, on our ideal projects, on our terms. When we’re not charging as much as we’re worth, we’re throwing time and money away with every deal we sign.
If you’re not going up, you’re slipping down.
There’s also a price associated with progress. But isn’t success worth paying the cost?
I came across a way to consistently attract high-paying clients to your consulting or coaching business that I HAD to tell you about.
You’ve heard me talk about my “secret society,” an international group of marketing-savvy entrepreneurs and thought-leaders. You may have purchased the book I co-authored with some of them. Michael Zipursky has been in that group for a number of years. I’ve always been impressed with his business (appropriately named Consulting Success), and I’ve learned a lot from him.
We recently hopped on the phone together and had an awesome conversation. Michael shared with me a new business model specifically for consultants and coaches who want to attract more ideal clients consistently and get paid higher fees.
Michael’s clients have seen a 200-300% growth in their revenue within weeks of implementing this model. He shared with me how consultant after consultant and coach after coach is making this work in their business.
Michael said he would be willing to share the EXACT model with my audience. Naturally, I agreed. I always try to share the best information I can find with you, and Michael is a top-notch expert I deeply respect.
So here it is: Register for this special webinar, “How to Consistently Attract Ideal Clients and Significantly Increase Your Fees,” which we’re hosting Tuesday, May 5th at 1PM Eastern. That’s one week from today.
I don’t do many webinars. This is something I really believe you’ll benefit from. If you’re looking to remove the ‘trial-and-error’ from your marketing… If you want a straightforward way to attract ideal clients and earn higher fees… Don’t miss this special webinar I’m doing with Michael.
You’ll learn about the
4 biggest mistakes consultants and coaches are making and how to fix them right away
single most effective marketing method for coaches and consultants
6 step process that consultants use to DOUBLE and TRIPLE their revenues in weeks
3 common myths holding back your success and how to unlock your true potential
You’ll also hear about how this model has helped..
– A consultant go from $0 in revenue to over $100,000 in revenue in 7 weeks
– A speaker that increased her fees over 700% in 5 weeks
– A coach that added 300% to every project she lands.
The model Michael will share with you is the SIMPLEST way I’ve seen to for coaching and consulting practices to attract their ideal clients – and do it consistently.
To satisfy your curiosity, here’s a little more about Mr. Zipursky:
Michael Zipursky is the CEO of Consulting Success. He is an expert in helping consultants and consulting firm owners to create marketing systems that consistently attract their ideal clients and significantly increase their fees. Michael’s work has been featured in MarketingProfs, Financial Times, Huffington Post, HR Executive, Institute of Management Consultants, Consultant News, Macleans and many other publications. He is author of 6 books and publications on consulting including the best-selling Consulting Success System. Over 6,000 consultants around the world have taken Michael’s training and each week over 20,000 people read his consulting newsletter.
Have you ever nodded off to sleep for just a few seconds – and somehow had an entire dream play out in that short span of time?
I think it’s happened to most of us at one time or another.
I don’t know the science behind it, but I don’t think it’s simply the result of an inaccurate perception of time that occurs when you’re sleeping (like the “dream in a dream” scenes from the movie Inception). Could it be that the mind is packed with energy, excitement and curiosity that is released the moment unconsciousness opens the door? The story doesn’t need to until in a logical, linear way; you brain looks at and plays with that curious energy from multiple angles. And it all happens in an instant.
Words are very much the same. When you read or hear a word, you immediately feel the feelings and remember the memories you associate with that word. You don’t think about the multiple ways Webster defines it. For me, “love” paints a picture of the Dina, the joy of my life.
We’re all like that.
There’s something similar at play in your business – or there can be. A well-articulated Unique Selling Proposition is packed with intrinsic meaning for the kinds of customers you serve. It resonates deeply with them.
You USP isn’t something you come up with so you can sound special, nor is it just something you think your target market wants to hear. It’s your story, stripped to its essence, at the point where it intersects with your customer’s story.
It’s not an issue of being unique for the sake of being unique. It’s about being uniquely-suited to produce the happy results your customers are searching for.
As John Carlton puts it, “This is the key to everything good that will happen in your business for the rest of your life.” It’s THAT important.
An incalculable number of forces conspire to prevent your should-be customers from buying from you.
The purpose of marketing is to neutralize all those obstacles preventing a potential customer from acting in his own best interest (that is, doing business with you).
But before it can do that, there has to be some compelling reason why anyone should buy from you. That is not a marketing function, per se. It’s a matter of creating an outstanding product or service.
“Advertising doesn’t create a product advantage. It can only convey it…No matter how skillful you are, you can’t invent a product advantage that doesn’t exist.” ~ Bill Bernbach
Compelling copy is extremely important. But most copywriters will admit…if they’re knowledgeable and honest… that presenting a great product to the right audience is MOST of the work.
– Great messaging for a worthless product won’t accomplish much in the long run.
– Strong marketing aimed at the wrong crowd will miss the mark.
On the other hand, if you offer a product that scratches a specific itch in that hard-to-reach spot on the back of a specific audience, any marketing message you create has inherent persuasive power. The Unique Selling Proposition itself grabs the attention and interest of the potential customer.
“This is EXACTLY what I need!” he might think to himself. That’s when he starts selling himself on the idea of buying from you.
That’s why it’s so critical for entrepreneurs, salespeople and marketers to discover their own USP and articulate it with clarity.
The point of marketing is not simply to sell whatever you’ve got. Marketing starts with making sure you’re selling something people want and need. Then you find ways to help your target audience experience the advantages of buying your product or service.
P.S. “A gifted product is mightier than a gifted pen.” ~ Gary Bencivenga
As people become increasingly savvy when it comes to weeding out ads, we have to get increasingly adept at communicating valuable messages about things that matter to people. That starts with having a gifted product, not being a wordsmith who uses flowery words to describe his crap.
By now you may have seen the Tesla “insane mode” video. It shows the reactions of unsuspecting passengers when the driver of the electric car takes the car from 0 to 60 miles per hour (96.6 kph) in just over 3 seconds — with no engine noise.
Your business has an insane mode, too. If and when you press the button, your sales can leap forward without warning. Profits can skyrocket. Marketing materials and sales pitches that used to fall flat start to perform like crazy.
I’m not the kind of guy who would present a “one size fits all” solution for success in business…but the one thing that can most consistently, most radically transform a business’ results is the discovery, articulation and integration of its unique selling proposition (USP).
“Yeah, I’ve heard this all before”
Fair enough. If you’ve been in business any length of time, you undoubtedly have heard about how important a USP is. You’ve probably even spent some time thinking about what your USP might be.
When you found out that the kind of thinking you have to do is hard work, did you press forward or quit?
When it seemed like there was nothing truly unique about your business, did you decide the only competitive advantage you have is quality and customer service? Did you really think that was a good enough answer?
You’ve heard it before, but how far did you go to enable your insane mode USP?
The right USP can change an entire industry. (Just ask FedEx or Domino’s Pizza.)
It can reverberate around the world for decades. (Everyone knows which candy melts in your mouth, not in your hand.)
Jack Welch famously said, “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”What gives you the right to step onto the field to play with the big boys?
If you haven’t figured that out yet, you have some work to do.
Email marketing results are measured in a few different ways: open rate, clickthroughs, revenue, etc. Open rate is one of the most widely-used and probably the one we have the most control over as marketers.
Emails that don’t get opened don’t accomplish much else, so it’s a good place to start.
I wanted to share the best email subject lines I used in 2014, as measured by open rate. These results are from my own email newsletter. Subject lines from my client work went as high as 81%, which is more of a testament to the quality of the client’s relationship with his audience than my copywriting abilities, all the way down into single-digit percentages. I don’t like to talk about that part.
Here are my top five from last year, and why I think they worked so well. There is also a quick summary at the end with key takeaways you can use right away.
#1: Kindle Book Giveaway from Two of My Favorite Marketers – 47.3%
No matter how overused it seems, “free” still works. But in a time when there’s so much information available for no charge, even free stuff needs to be sold.
Because I’ve earned the trust of my subscribers, and they know I won’t put anything in front of them unless it’s valuable (or fun), they listen to my recommendations most of the time. Pointing to a helpful free resource sounded like a good idea to them.
Note: the 3rd highest open rate I achieved in 2013 also pointed to a giveaway, also a Kindle Book. “One of the World’s Most Trusted Email Marketers Wants You to Have This” got a 48.6% open rate.
#2: Why You Should Stop Thinking Big – 45.7%
Taking a position opposite what is popular also gets attention and generates curiosity. Common advice is almost always to think big. Saying that someone thinks too small is an insult.
Bigger isn’t always better, as Volkswagen has proven.
Subtly, this subject line also implies that the reader is doing something wrong, something they never even thought to question. Curiosity and self-interest practically force him to open the email to find out if he’s making the mistake of thinking too big, and how he can fix it.
#3: <First Name>, This Is Probably the Main Thing Holding You Back – 44.2%
This subject line also speaks to the reader’s self-interest. If you’ve felt held back at all…if you you haven’t made as much progress as you had hoped…you want to know why. And how to fix it. This wording implies that there’s “insider information” as to what’s preventing you from being as successful as you want to be and offershope that there’s a solution close at hand.
I believe the body of the email offered some darn good insights that helped my readers move forward.
Adding the recipient’ first name to the subject line may have also had an impact. I rarely do that, so this subject stood out as extra personal.
Taken in isolation, this is the most profitable single email I wrote all year.
A lack of assertiveness is a major pain point for me. A good portion of my list share some of my personality traits, so quite a few of them have the same problem.
On the other hand, many entrepreneurs, leaders and people in sales positions (who make up the majority of my audience) have no problem with being assertive, but they may worry about coming on too strong. I wasn’t aiming this email at that crowd, but I’m sure some were drawn in anyway.
In fact, I wrote this email because of how much havoc my passive disposition was causing in the way I managed my time. Because a lot of my readers are a lot like me, I researched and wrote for myself, knowing it would help them as well.
A lot of your readers are a lot like you, too. Or, they’re a lot like the persona you’ve created for your business, brand or spokesperson. That perception of interpersonal similarity and shared values goes a long way. Make the most of that resonance.
#5: Writing Copy to Sell Your “Crazy” Offer – 44.1%
My newsletter supposed to be about copywriting. Most of my readers connect with me for that reason. So it makes sense that subscribers would open an email that explicitly states it’s about writing copy.
Also, everyone on my list would like to get more sales. I’ve made a promise in the subject line to help them out in this area.
This subject also connects this email to the previous one. Anyone who had read the previous newsletter (which was the 7th most-opened email of the year) would see a connection and probably want to follow the “continuing saga.” The tie back to the last email opens a loop that can only be closed by reading the current email.
Speaking of crazy offers, have you heard about this one from Art Van Furniture?
Who wouldn’t like free furniture?
This store is driving action (sales) by making a crazy offer: if it snows more than 3 inches on Super-Sunday, anyone who buys furniture during the promotional period will get a full reimbursement.
Key Takeaways for Writing Subject Lines that Get Emails Opened
— Freebies still work. But just because they’re free, doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard to sell them.
Speaking of free, Creating Business Growth, a book I’ve co-authored, is available on Amazon Kindle for no cost until January 5th. It has already reached bestseller status in several countries. Get your copy here.
— “Curiosity is the strongest human incentive.” Claude Hopkins
— Appeal to the self-interest rather than the coolness of the thing you want to talk about. (E.g., this email is about email subject lines that have worked well for me, but I’m writing it because I know you’re looking for ways to continually improve your email marketing results.)
— Solve problems. Offer hope.
— Remember the values you share in common with your subscribers. More than we tend to realize, people are looking to connect with people who are like them. When they see themselves and their values reflected in others, it’s naturally attractive. As C.S. Lewis said, “Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself…'”
— Email series work well. Leaving open loops from one message to the next increases readership. Talking about your chosen topic more than once also helps drive the point home.
— Make big offers. You can’t bore people into opening your emails.
For exclusive training to help you write better emails, faster than you may think possible, check out Inbox X-Factor.
My international secret society is officially coming out of the shadows.
Twenty-one of us have collaborated to write what’s sure to be one of the most useful books you’ll read in 2015. Creating Business Growth is focused on effective lead generation, but you’ll learn a ton of information that can be applied to other parts of your business.
This isn’t an ordinary marketing book written by academics. Some of the smartest entrepreneurs I know reveal the secrets they’ve used to grow their own businesses and make their clients very happy people. My co-authors include a TED speaker, contributors to the Washington Post, CNBC and BBC World Services, a Clinton White House speechwriter, several best selling authors… the list goes on.
Because we feel passionately about marketing and we want to help as many people as we can, we’ve decided to give the book away gratis. Amazon will only let us do that for a short period of time. So from January 1-5, the Kindle version will be free.
Remember: you don’t need to have a Kindle device. When you download the ebook, you can pick up a free app for your phone, tablet, laptop or PC. Easy as apple pie.
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.” ~ Steuart Henderson Britt
Marketing your business using the same methods everyone else is using isn’t much better.
One of the biggest problems any business has these days is getting and keeping the attention of their should-be clients and customers. Another problem that many of entrepreneurs and solo professionals have is that they have no idea what to do to stand out from everyone else who’s trying to get attention (not just the competition).
Many also fear doing something they’ve never done before or something that seems risky.
During times like these, being bold enough to take risks and step outside of your normal comfort zone may be what it takes to make your marketing work. A lack of courage may leave you unnoticed and under-appreciated as the expert you are.
In his constant quest to share practical marketing insights, tactics and strategies, Steve Lahey invited me to share a few “outside-the-box” marketing ideas with his audience. Check out the 30-minute interview, Creative Marketing Ideas for Solo Professionals.
In the half hour, Steve and I spoke about 3 proven tactics that are rare enough to be ridiculously effective:
direct mail
“best buyer”/influencer outreach and
a unique kind of live, in-person event.
If an injection of fresh thinking might rekindle the spark in your promotional efforts, I think this is a pretty good investment of your time. Even if you don’t use the techniques mentioned, the thinking behind them and the reasons they’re effective are sure to be thought-provoking and inspiring.
My personal philosophy of business and marketing comes out pretty strongly here, too.
I’d love to hear your feedback on the interview. I’d also love to hear about your favorite outside-the-box marketing ideas in the comments below.
“If the woman howling from the backseat of Agent Carson’s black SUV weren’t already dead, I would’ve strangled her. Gladly.”
So begins Darynda Jones’ latest book. But the book is captivating even before the opening line. The title instantly sends your mind on a journey of curiosity.
Seventh Grave and No Body.
To be fair, I haven’t read anything other than the first page of the book. The book cover caught by attention yesterday at Barnes & Noble. My imagination isn’t ready to stop thinking about where the story might go.
That’s what sizzling content does. It grabs your attention and puts it in a headlock. It activates the movie screen in your brain and reaches down to pull on the ol’ heartstrings, at least a little bit.
This is not the kind of writing we were taught in school. The style we mastered between K and 12 is almost the polar opposite, when you think about it: matter-of-fact, even clinical in it’s lack of emotion. Without personality. Yet, a large percentage of business owners and marketers carry this dry, academic style over into their attempts at sales and marketing.
Then they wonder why no one opens their emails.
Now, I know YOU don’t have that problem. But there’s a good chance that you feel like your writing could be stronger. You’d like for your content to be more persuasive. You want your marketing to pack more punch in whatever media you’re using.
If so, I hope you’ll join Jeff Zelaya from Triblio and me for “How to Write Content that Sizzles and Sells,” a Google Hangout On Air tomorrow (Monday, November 17) at 1 Eastern. We will discuss turning your articles, blog posts, video scripts, etc., into “page-turners” your potential clients will have a hard time ignoring.
You can even ask content marketing, writing or persuasion questions and we’ll try to answer them.
P.S. I want to quickly emphasize a takeaway we learn from the book I mentioned in the beginning of this post.
The title Seventh Grave and No Body, is pretty interesting all by itself. Even more than the words themselves, this title is engrossing because of the mental associations the reader carries while he reads. The title doesn’t mention anything about crime scenes, tricky murder investigations or elusive serial killers. You read that into the words on the page. The pictures created in your mind have more to do with your own personal experience than anything else.
The meaning of a word is greater than its definition.
Leveraging the power of mental associations is an advanced writing technique we’ll be covering during the Hangout. You’re not going to want to miss this.
“It’s not a question of how. It’s a question of what. If no one told you that bullets flew straight, and I gave you a gun and told you to hit the target, what would you do?”
Do you remember that scene from the movie Wanted? Wesley, the protagonist, was training to become a Fraternity assassin. Part of the training was learning to curve bullets. Wesley was clueless as to how to make that happen. Sloan (played by the always-dapper Morgan Freeman) described the difficulty as a belief problem.
In the movie, bullets fly straight because the shooter believes that’s how they should act.
An assassin’s belief in his ability to shoot bullets in impossible trajectories makes it possible.
In the same way, your should-be clients’ belief in you, your products, your industry, etc. — and his own ability to “curve bullets” — plays a huge role in their buying decisions.
I hesitate to talk about this…
The concepts of belief and the suspension of disbelief are advanced and powerful; in my attempt to treat the topic properly, I’ve taken forever putting my thoughts on “paper.”
I’ve just recently started sharing this info with private clients, but we’ll talk about it briefly here today. After all, I am committed to helping you win more ‘yeses’ from people who will benefit from your products and services.
Going Beyond Credibility
It should go without saying that a sales message MUST be believable if it’s going to have any kind of positive effect.
Proof elements such as testimonials, scientific or clinical evidence and demonstrations help clear away doubt about whether or not your product does what you say it will.
Most sales pitches work hard to establish the credibility of the salesperson, service provider or manufacturer. They mention degrees earned, awards won, longevity in business and the fancy magazines they’ve been featured in.
All of this is good stuff. Important stuff. People don’t buy when they don’t trust. But credibility in itself isn’t the stuff breakthroughs are made of.
Consider this. Whenever you step into a movie theater or turn Netflix on, you engage in a subtle volitional activity: you flick off the unbelief switch in your brain — or at least put it in standby mode. You know you’re watching a movie…you know parts of the plot are totally unrealistic (in the real world, no man is THAT romantic)…but for the sake of enjoying the story, you accept these things as truth.
That’s why Morgan Freeman can tell us — with a straight face — that the laws of physics don’t matter. That’s why we believe him for 90 minutes.
As in the theater, so in the marketplace (to paraphrase Bill Jayme).
Your marketing message or sales pitch has to strike at the emotional heart of the hearer/reader and create a vision in his mind. For a moment, he has to dissociate from the “real world” and see himself enjoying the benefits he’ll receive after buying from you.
He has to SEE the bullet curve.
You have to create a story and help him watch the plot unfold — with himself as the main character.
He has to see HIMSELF bending the trajectory of the bullet.
How do you make him envision that?
Briefly,
Talk about a topic the potential client wants to believe, or approach the topic from an angle he wants to believe. Desire forms the basis for vision and belief. (See Business of Belief by Tom Asacker)
What’s the “big idea” behind the thing you’re offering? Let the story do the heavy lifting. The statistics play a supporting role.
Say unexpected things. You have to slap people out of their haze to earn their attention. Then keep earning it, or the audience will tune out. Predictability is boring, like in any other story.
Dig in for the long haul. Be prepared to use a series of messages, because in many cases, the first exposure may not do the trick. The more a person is exposed to something, the more likely he is to believe it (look up the illusory truth effect and mere-exposure theory).
Be a character. Strong personalities take us on journeys and activate the imagination. Polarizing figures force us to make choices. Don’t you feel like you know the characters on your favorite TV shows personally? You probably have similar feelings about some brands and business people.
What’s the difference between store-brand bottled water and Fiji or another high-end brand? The story. That’s some serious suspension of disbelief at play going on there!
(If you’re interested in learning more on this topic, you may enjoy my in-depth article Belief-Based USP.)
