The More Clients Blog

Web Site Leverage

Ever go to a web site and find that after poking around a few pages you just click off and go to another site? Of course. It happens millions of times a day on the web. Why? Good question!

This is number seven in my series of "Dumb Marketing Mistakes" where the mistake I'lll explore is "Not Leveraging Your Web Site." This is an important one because if you can't get people to stick around your site and eventually contact you, your web site is just taking up cyberspace.

What does a results-producing web site need? Let's start with quality design, clear formatting and substantial content on every page. And you need to answer the "What's in it for me?" question every step of the way. But that's just the beginning.

Even sites that have all the bases covered often miss the key to turning visitors into clients. It's the difference between a web site that "just sits there" and one that gets a prospect to give you a call or send an email saying, "Can you help me?"

And that big key is called the "Call-to-Action." And you don't just use it once, but over and over throughout your site. Here are some important calls-to-action that you can easily add to your site:

1. At the bottom of every page tell people where to go next
Then include a link that points there. If you don't, your visitors will scratch their heads thinking, "Where do I go next?" and then scroll up to the navigation bar to figure it out. Don't make them think. Make it obvious where they should go next.

Your directions might say something like: "Now that you have a better idea of the kind of clients we work with, click here to learn about the results you can expect to receive from our services."

2. A "Contact Us" link, also at the bottom of every page
Who knows when the inspiration will strike to contact you? Have you ever been on a web site and wanted to contact the company but couldn't find an email address or a phone number? Bye, bye business. And make that Contact Us page more than a phone number, email and address. Tell them what will happen when they contact you. Make it easy to do business with you.

3. A response form at the bottom of every services page
Take an extra step here. Insert a small form that they can fill out to request even more information about that service. Get their name, email, company name and the answers to a few questions about their needs. Yes, people do fill out these forms. But keep them simple!

4. Have them do something that will get them involved
This is the psychology behind the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes. It would be easier to just have people mail back the form. But they found that the more involvement, the better the response. You might try a survey of some kind.

5. Have prospects apply to be your client
When I created the Marketing Action Groups, I decided, instead of a "payment link" at the end of the description of the groups, to put in an application form. This way I can screen applicants, as I don't accept everyone. Then I send an acceptance email to those I felt would get the most from the group with a payment link. The conversion rate is still very high. When I accepted individual clients, I used a similar application form.

6. Capture their name and email address
This is really the number one purpose of a web site. Offer a pithy article or report, plus an email newsletter (in that order) in exchange for their contact information. Once you have them on your eZine list, the marketing really starts. I call it "keep-in-touch marketing."

7. Offer ongoing calls-to-action in your eZine
I generate much more business from the eZine than from new visitors to the web site. Think of the web as the place where you introduce yourself to your prospects. And think of the eZine as the place they get to know you. Then invite them to explore your services in more depth (by sending them back to the web site).

Now go back to your site and start inserting all these calls-to-action. I promise you'll start getting better results!

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Every single marketing activity needs to include a call-to-action. But the web site is a "call-to-action machine" that moves people step-by-step through the marketing process. And this is true marketing leverage, because you don't even have to be there to do it.

Learn more how to create a web site that attract more clients at the Web Site ToolKit.

Please share how calls-to-action have worked to leverage your web site.

The Master Marketing Skill

What are the thoughts that rush through your mind when you think of getting up in front of a group and giving a presentation?

Are they fearful thoughts, worried that you'll make a mistake and look foolish? Or are they confident thoughts about the difference you'll make by giving this talk?

How you answer this question is kind of a "litmus test" on how successful you'll be at marketing and selling your services.

If your immediate focus was fearful thoughts, you're going to struggle a little more. You'll tend to avoid marketing and selling activities. However, if your initial reaction was enthusiasm at the thought of giving a presentation, you're likely to approach marketing and selling with a can-do attitude.

In this sixth, in the series of "Ten Dumb Marketing Mistakes," let's look at why "Avoiding Speaking" can be very detrimental to your marketing success and your financial well being.

First of all, I don't want you to think of giving presentations and talks as just one of many marketing strategies. It's much more than that. The ability to confidently give a presentation builds all your other marketing skills. You might call it the "master marketing skill."

When you give a great presentation, you will have demonstrated all of the following:

• Logically organizing your thoughts
• Knowledge of your topic
• Thinking on your feet
• Overall persuasiveness
• Courage of your convictions
• Ability to inspire and motivate

Aren't you more likely to buy from someone who demonstrates these qualities? And wouldn't you tend to avoid buying professional services from someone who didn't have many of these abilities?

Isn't it obvious?

For instance, no matter what your political leanings, I think you'd have to agree that our current President has much less talent in this area than his predecessor. And look at his approval ratings. They indicate that the country simply isn't buying his pitch.

I admit that some people may be more gifted in this area than others; but it is a skill that can be learned, developed and refined over the years. I'm a pretty confident speaker now, but I wasn't so hot when I began my business.

So I learned the basics of giving a good presentation. I knew I had value to share; I took the time and the effort to give a talk that would have some real impact. Here are a few things that worked for me that I recommend you try:

1. Get yourself booked for a talk (there are tons of good books about how to do this and also a lot in the InfoGuru Manual). When you're on the calendar, you're motivated to move into action!

2. Write a complete outline for your talk. Spend quite a bit of time on this. It will likely be a talk you can give over and over, so it's a good investment of your time and effort. Really think it through.

3. Practice your talk out loud. This is where the rubber meets the road. Do it in a mirror, video yourself or use a tape recorder. Might as well make a fool of yourself, while alone, than in front of a group of people!

4. Learn to put all of your attention on getting your ideas across to your audience. One of the best ways is to use stories and examples for every major point you make. Stories are the most persuasive marketing tool you have.

5. Do your best to take your attention off yourself. And this will be a lot easier if you do the above. If you are well prepared, excited about your message, and want to make a difference, you won't be so worried about how you come across.

6 Don't use PowerPoint slides as a crutch. Sure, a few slides for major points is OK, but presentations that include every word in a presentation are a disaster. This will never substitute for developing yourself as a speaker.

7. Get some support or professional assistance. This might be joining Toastmasters or the National Speakers Association. Or you might work with a coach who can help you both prepare and deliver your talk. All are good investments of time and money.

You can go through your business avoiding speaking for years. The payoff is that you won't have to feel uncomfortable or face being ridiculed. But what's the cost? Simple: A business that isn't as successful as it could be. Your choice.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Make learning how to give presentations and talks a priority in your development as a professional. It's a skill that will pay for itself thousands of times over in the course of your career.

Please share your thoughts on this topic, and your experience of giving talks and presentations.

Flabby Marketing Thinking

For the past several months I've been on an exercise program. The first thing in the morning I turn on the TV, insert a DVD and do either aerobics or weight lifting. It's not easy and it's not always fun. But it sure is getting results. I'm in the best shape I've been in 25 years.

In marketing, there's an equivalent to exercising and pumping iron and that's the topic of this fifth installment of the "Ten Dumbest Marketing Mistakes."

Marketing Mistake #5 - Avoiding Writing.

Yes, writing is pumping marketing iron. Writing builds your marketing muscles unlike any other marketing activity. If you want to be a better marketer, it's inescapable; you've got to write. And you've got to do it regularly.

I got into my exercise program because one day I had to wear some dress pants for a speaking gig and I couldn't fit into them. Yikes! My 36" pants weren't fitting around my 38"+ waist that had appeared, as if magically, overnight. I was getting flabby and it was time to take action!

Just as problematic is flabby marketing.

You may not be articulating your marketing ideas as clearly and as concisely as possible. And as a result you're not getting the kind of marketing results you want.

For example, here's a typical transaction between me and someone in an introductory TeleClasses:

Me: "Answer the question, "What do you do?" by saying who you work with and the problem they are experiencing."
Independent Professional: "I work with high tech companies to increase productivity and profits."
Me: "That's a solution, not a problem."
IP: "Hmm, OK. Well, I work with high tech companies who want to be more productive and profitable.
Me: "That's not a problem, it's an aspiration."

Flabby marketing thinking.

Some of the symptoms of flabby marketing thinking: Ideas not clear or well organized. Ideas that don't follow logically from one to another. Too many ideas jumbled together. Failure to use the basics of Marketing Syntax (problem - solution - story - credibility - process - action). Inability to get to the point.

To combat a flabby body you need to exercise. There's no alternative. To combat flabby marketing thinking you need to write. There's really no other way.

So what do you do? Where do you start?

Here's the most powerful marketing exercise I know of. Write the answers to the questions below. Keep fine tuning them until your answers have strength, flexibility and power.

- What exactly is your service and why should I be interested?
- Is this service for me? Will it work for me and/or my business?
- What kind of results can I expect with this service?
- Who else has used this service and what were their results?
- How exactly do your services work? What's the process and structure?
- Are you credible? Do you have the experience to help me?
- What do I have to do next to get and use your services?

It may or may not surprise you that the average Independent Professional (maybe you) doesn't do a very good job of answering those questions. But spend some serious time answering them in writing, and your clarity, certainty and confidence will build slowly but surely.

Your flabby marketing thinking will start developing some muscles.

For example, many people who have used my Web Site ToolKit report that they not only have a great web site now, but they are communicating much more powerfully about their business. The ToolKit took them step-by-step through all those questions above.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Time to fight flabby marketing thinking and start pumping marketing iron. Start answering the key questions about your business in writing and you'll discover a whole new level of persuasive power.

Share your thoughts on this topic and your experience of fighting marketing flab with writing.

The Networking Challenge

My friend Andrea Nierenberg has a saying. She says that the opposite of networking is "not working." Another way to put it is that if you're not networking, you're not marketing.

For Independent Professionals, networking IS marketing. And that brings us to the fourth biggest marketing mistake: failing to master networking.

I've been on vacation for a week (Yeah, we bought the condo!), and I've been thinking how not to make today's eZine a boring recitation of all the reasons you ought to do more networking.

Instead, you could listen to the recorded TeleClass with me and Andrea. It's not boring, and it will get you thinking about networking in a completely new way. So if you just want to get on with it and take networking to the next level, get it now: Networking TeleClass

For those of you who are left, let me tell you how Robert E. sold us the condo.

There are really two parts to this story. 1. My wife made me do it. She wanted it and convinced me we should get it. She should really get part of the commission! 2. Robert showed us the right unit. It was amazing, had a great view, and cost about half of what we were first looking at.

Again, I've got to give credit to Robert for doing two very smart things: Having something great to sell (he sold six units the week we were there), and really being passionate about what he was selling.

But how did Robert get that way, you ask? Good question. And, of course, it ties directly into networking. (You knew I'd come around to it, didn't you?)

You might look at networking as simply the opportunity to tell your story to as many people as possible until you finally get it right. Like Robert, he told the story of Costa Bonita so many times to so many people, that before too long he could communicate it effortlessly.

He told me that he was originally a prospect. He was interested in buying a condo himself and the salesperson was so inept that he actually tried to talk Robert out of buying it!

How many times have you done the same thing?

Sounds ridiculous, but in working with clients over the years I've often asked them to tell me exactly what they said when explaining their service to someone. And a good part of the time they talked me out of it as well.

Why? Because they simply hadn't had enough practice. They hadn't been out there networking like mad, testing their Audio Logo and Ultimate Outcome on every warm body they could find until it came naturally, effortlessly.

Instead, they were sitting at home worrying about marketing their services. Sound familiar?

So here's the ultimate, but very simple, "Action Plan Marketing Networking Challenge" I gave to many of them and will also give to you:

Get out there and talk to 50 people about your service this week. Not 10, not 20 or 30, but 50. Make a plan and just do it. Or at least give it an honest try. And I'll tell you what will happen:

1. Before long (after the 5th or 6th person), you'll start to get it about the Audio Logo and Ultimate Outcome. You'll actually start saying something that gets people's attention.

2. By the 10th or 15th person you'll start to develop some serious inquiries and you'll realize that you need to give them more information and actually follow up.

3. By the 20th or 30th person you'll have set up a few appointments, either with prospects or associates who could lead you to prospects.

4. By the 40th or 50th person you'll either be very close to getting a client or two or will have closed some business. You'll be well on your way.

Now, you can be like most people: talk to two or three people a week and stretch this process over twenty weeks or more. But why not accelerate the process and connect with 50? (OK, OK, I'll give you two weeks. That's just five conversations a day.)

I know you think I'm nuts, but I promise you that people like Andrea Nierenberg and Robert E. don't. They get it. They are out there talking to people. And because they've done it so much, they are masters of saying the right thing at the right time.

And not only does the passion come through naturally, both have more business than they can handle.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: You have a great service. It makes a difference. You have a basic plan. Now stop thinking and get out there and get your message to as many people as humanly possible as quickly as you can. (P.S. You don't need to do this forever, but it sure gets the ball rolling!)

Please share your thoughts on this topic and your experiences of networking with passion.