The More Clients Blog

The Arrogance Trap

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I have to admit it. I'm arrogant.

I think I know everything, how to do anything and of course, what my clients and customers want.

I also have to admit I've been kind of lucky.

I've developed a lot of services, programs and products that have been very well received. Because I fit my "ideal client profile," I just think about what I would personally like and I create that.

But even that has its limits.

After all, there are infinite possibilities. When I was creating my Client Survey this weekend, I was amazed to see that I came up with a list of 28 different areas of marketing Independent Professionals could use.

In addition, I came up with 17 different kinds of programs, services and products. Right now I'm only offering three.

Last I checked I wasn't psychic, and although I think I know my subscribers, customers and clients pretty well, the truth is that I have no real idea what people are most interested in.

So I'm asking you to take a minute and fill out this survey and let me know. APM Survey

Ever overhear a conversation that went something like this:

"I can't believe they (added/removed) those features of that (service/product). Why didn't they just ask me? I've been using that (service/product) for years and I really know exactly what would make it better! Don't they care??!!"

But in our businesses, do we ask? Do we care? Or are you arrogant like me, putting together your service packages and programs, just trusting your "gut instincts" that they'll be right?

I actually did a survey last month for my Marketing Club.

I asked what people were using in the Club and what they'd like to see more of. I had no idea. People wanted more step-by-step how-tos. People wanted more support. A blinding flash of the obvious.

So I created detailed step-by-step checklists and added mastermind groups. We now have over 100 people in the Club who've joined a mastermind group. And it took very little effort on my part to set them up.

I still have a long list to work on...

It's funny how we know about something, have heard about it for years, and yet for some reason (must be that arrogance again), we don't check it out and give it a try.

The great little tool I knew about but never used was Survey Monkey. It's easy to use, free or very cheap, works flawlessly and makes it effortless to set up a survey. I did it from bed on my laptop on Saturday morning!

The theme of my eZines for awhile is "Marketing Strategies" and getting feedback is most definitely a marketing strategy. It's one I've personally avoided for years, but now I'm a convert.

And like all true believers, I want to convert you as well!

Ask yourself what useful data you could get from your subscribers, customers and clients if you did a survey. After all, if you can provide more of what they're looking for, isn't your business going to be better off?

Of course!

What could be more important in a down economy? Find out what people want and turn yourself inside out to provide it as quickly as possible. Developing most services takes some time but not a lot of money, so it's a low risk project.

Next year I think my main programs are still going to be the Marketing Club and the Marketing Mastery Program but when I get the results of the survey, I know I'll be creating a few more things to help you attract more clients.

Don't forget that survey: APM Survey

I'll share the results with you next week.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Find out what your subscribers, customers, and clients want by doing a survey. With a handy tool like SurveyMonkey.com you can develop a survey in a very short time and get some brilliant ideas that will help take your business to the next level. Do it!

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What kind of changes have you made in your business as a result of doing a survey? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

The Best Marketing Strategy?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

What is the most powerful and effective marketing strategy?

It's one you probably know about but seldom use. However, this is something you should pay close attention to and work on implementing as soon as you can.

This marketing strategy is so powerful because you use it to borrow the credibility and trust of another to promote yourself.

People call it different things: endorsement marketing, fusion marketing, affiliate marketing or joint venture marketing. Let me explain in the simplest terms how it works and how you can apply it in your business.

1. You first need to have a solid, proven service that produces consistent results for your clients. And you have to have this service well packaged (outcomes, benefits, structure, price, etc), ideally on your web site.

So, for instance, "coaching services" or "consulting services" usually won't cut it. Instead, you need a "One-Year Marketing Mastery Program" or a "Six-Month Management Intensive." You've taken the intangible and made it tangible.

2. Next you need to find others who have a client base who could benefit from this service. You might be in the same industry, however your service can't be competitive, but complimentary.

Start networking, search online, subscribe to eZines, and keep asking the question, "Who do you know that I could partner with in my business who could promote me or visa versa?"

3. You work together to create a marketing campaign with the endorsement of your partner to his or her list (which could include your email list, your customer or client list, etc.)

Targeted emails, online sales letters, introductory events, teleclasses and complimentary sessions are all tactics that work for joint venture promotions.

4. Finally you develop and implement a conversion process whereby those who respond to the promotion are converted from prospects into paying clients.

Ultimately, you'll turn joint venture marketing into a system that can be repeated over and over to consistently win more clients.

And of course, you can do this process in reverse. If you have a good list, you look for those who have a complimentary program or service that you can offer to those on your list.

You should be doing both. And if you're not, you are missing out on a lot of business. Every single month I earn from $2K to $5K on various joint ventures and affiliate programs and I don't even put much time and effort into it.

A joint venture needs to be a triple win.

You win because you get more business. Your partner wins because they share in your profits as they offer additional value to their clients and associates and of course, the clients win because they get the benefits of the service you offer.

This past weekend I attended an "Internet Networking Summit" with Christian Mickelsen and about fifteen other online information marketers. We got to know each other, discussed our offerings and brainstormed ways we could help each other.

It was great to meet others who had complimentary services I could offer to my More Clients subscribers as well as those who could promote my programs.

The first one I want to make you aware of is a virtual conference called "Bridging Heart and Marketing." It's billed as the "First-Ever Soft Sell Internet Marketing Conference."

Jim and Judith, the couple putting this together, are therapists who are now involved in the world of online marketing for Independent Professionals. We have almost identical philosophies about marketing and I endorse them and this virtual conference without reservation.

You can find out more about it at this link:

tinyurl.com/heart-marketing

You'll be hearing more about Joint Venture marketing in the More Clients eZine, and I'm excited to introduce you to some great people and services that can help you attract more clients.

The question you should keep asking yourself this year is: "Who could I Joint Venture with?" If you put some serious focus on this, I predict it could be your most powerful overall marketing strategy.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Joint Ventures offer a triple win that can benefit everyone involved. But the key is to develop real relationships with those you work with, people with high integrity and excellent business skills. This isn't about pitching dubious fly-by-night money-making schemes. That will only hurt you.

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What joint ventures are you thinking of doing this year? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

Building Trust with Marketing Strategies

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Last week I outlined the three main marketing activities to attract new clients:

1. Marketing Message
2. Marketing Strategies
3. Selling Process

As I think I may have done marketing messages to death in this eZine, I'll be focusing on Marketing Strategies in several upcoming More Clients.

A Marketing Strategy is an activity that gets the favorable attention of an ideal client for your service and builds enough trust that they will want to explore doing business with you.

Remember, a Marketing Strategy doesn't sell. Only the Sales Process can do that, but it can prepare the ground by building that trust.

One of the biggest areas of confusion in marketing is which marketing strategy to use and in what order. This is solved by this chart on Building Trust Through Marketing Strategies:

There are four primary ways to build trust that are represented in the first column: Visibility, Credibility, Intimacy and Reliability.

And then for each of these categories, certain marketing strategies are employed. You want to implement one or more marketing strategies for each of these categories. This is not what is usually called the "marketing mix," which is only a random implementation of various strategies.

It's really a system designed to build trust step-by-step. Let's look at these categories one at a time.

Visibility - The primary marketing vehicle here is written (and graphic) materials. This forms the foundation of your marketing as it simply gets your name and message in front of your ideal clients on a consistent basis.

This includes your web site, blog, ezine, articles, and social media such as Twitter. It also includes things written about you (P.R) and even advertising.

Most professional services businesses should do a little of all of these. The hub is your web site which is connected to your blog. More active outreach is your eZine, Twitter and articles posted online.

Often this is as far as Independent Professionals go. Visibility starts to build trust, but not completely. Just think, do you buy a product or service after seeing an advertisement or someone's Twitter tweets only a few times? Of course not.

And the solution isn't to do more and more of this. The solution is to move to the next stage of building trust, by increasing Credibility and that's through presentations.

Crediblity - A presentation is any opportunity you have to communicate your ideas or the value of your service to a group, in an audio and/or visual format. Talks, intro workshops, keynotes, teleclasses, webinars, podcasts, CDs and video all build your credibility.

But it's also hard to do this if you don't have the feeder mechanism of an eZine, blog or social media.

The combination of Visibility through written materials and Credibility through presentations is often enough to get an ideal client into a selling conversation. But it often takes an additional step that is more personal.

Intimacy - This is the big "X Factor" in building trust. When you meet and connect with someone in person, you convey things that can't be communicated through the written word or through presentations.

You've seen this happen hundreds of times. You meet someone and they tell you about their services. Their enthusiasm, knowledge and commitment build almost immediate trust.

This is why all Independent Professionals should also take advantage of opportunities to network, meet with prospects face-to-face, follow-up with teleclass participants by phone, attend conferences, brainstorm and mastermind, etc.

When you implement all three marketing strategies you create Marketing Synergy. The result of marketing synergy is Knowing/Liking/Trusting. When you are at that point, it is relatively easy to set up selling conversations with ideal clients.

There is one last step that may be the most important of all. It's actually the one that the majority of Independent Professionals rely on more than any other. This is Reliability, which is conveyed only by working directly with a client.

Your efforts to provide quality, consistent work, to keep your word, to follow up as promised and to communicate clearly and confidently can also be seen as marketing strategies.

After all, it's Reliability more than anything else that is responsible for clients referring new business to you. No matter how well you do with the first three, you can undermine all of those efforts if your degree of performance falls short.

In the next few weeks, I'll discuss specific marketing strategies in all four of these categories.

Thanks to Mark Slatin of www.truecolorsconsulting.com for his trust model and for being the inspiration for today's eZine.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: When you think of marketing strategies, you need to remember that their ultimate purpose is to build trust. These marketing strategies can be broken down into four distinct categories that build this trust step-by-step.

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Which category of marketing strategies do you need to work at implementing next? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

Basic Marketing Machinery

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

For quite a long time I've been focusing on the interior aspects of marketing your services, from making a contribution to marketing mindset to "big mind marketing."

As important as these topics are, with this issue of More Clients, I'm returning to the "Basic Machinery of Marketing."

Like any machine, marketing has many moving parts. And if you want to attract clients consistently, you need to understand how those parts work and interconnect.

Every Marketing Machine has three main parts:

1. Marketing Message

2. Marketing Strategies

3. Selling Process

Marketing Message

If a business was a person, this would be your name, your personality, your body type, your thoughts and feelings, in short this would be who you are.

Your Marketing Message includes the kind of clients you work with, the issues those clients deal with, and the solutions you offer to them.

In addition, this would include all your verbal and written marketing communications that conveyed all of the above. The job of these communications is to say, in essence, "This is my business, this is who I work with and how I help."

In order to attract clients, your Marketing Message needs to be crystal clear, cut through the noise and offer clear advantages and benefits of working with you.

So your Marketing Message is not a trivial thing.

It's the very heart and soul of your marketing. Think of it this way: If you don't know what your business is all about and are unable to express your message clearly, do you think your prospects will ever understand what you can do for them?

Marketing Strategies

Without Marketing Strategies, your business just sits there, hoping someone notices. Even if you have a great Marketing Message, you won't get much attention because you aren't putting this message out into the marketplace.

Most Independent Professionals use tactics more than strategies. That is, they do marketing activities in a haphazard, random way. A little networking here, a little social media there. This rarely gets the results you wish for.

If you want consistent results, your Marketing Strategies need to be designed and implemented as step-by-step action plans. The purpose of these plans is to systematically build relationships with prospective clients until they feel comfortable exploring working with you.

Marketing Strategies don't convert people into clients, they build a foundation of knowing, liking and trusting. And then you can move to the final stage of marketing, the Selling Process.

Selling Process

When a prospect is ready to explore working with you, the Selling Process starts. Essentially this is a conversation to see if the needs of the prospect match your abilities to fulfill those needs.

Selling isn't about manipulation, persuasion and closing. It's more about discovering if you can work together successfully or not. This is particularly true of professional services where selling is a process of discovery and building agreement.

About three quarters of the Selling Process is asking questions and learning about the prospect's situation, goals, and challenges. The other quarter is explaining how your services work and how you can help the client.

What most Independent Professionals miss in the Selling Process is the process part. There are many parts to this process, and if you want to succeed at it, you need to master each of these parts.

What's missing in your marketing?

These days, many Independent Professionals tend to worry about the pieces of the puzzle (twitter, blogs, ezine, teleclasses, etc) while missing the big picture of marketing success.

Do you need to work on your Marketing Message, your Marketing Strategies, your Selling Process or all three?

In the coming weeks I'll explore these three parts in more depth.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Nothing is more important to attracting clients to your business than understanding and implementing "basic marketing machinery." And the more you work on its three main parts, the easier marketing will become for you.

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What part of your marketing machine needs tuning up? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

The Perfect Marketing Strategy

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

If someone was to ask me what the most important thing to do in marketing a professional service these days, I might suggest a number of marketing strategies.

But what I'd emphasize, above all else, would be taking action on something, anything and not worrying if it was perfect enough.

Last last year I had an imperfect idea to launch some kind of membership service to provide marketing information and support to my More Clients subscribers.

Then I designed an imperfect Club and launched it.

I sent imperfect emails to announce it. I put on imperfect teleclasses to promote it. I did imperfect interviews with marketing experts. I led imperfect coaching calls with members. I tried several imperfect introductory pricing strategies. And the Club members are getting imperfect results.

I now have about 650 members, and that's perfect!

I will continue in my imperfect ways.

I just designed imperfect Mastermind Groups for the Club. And no doubt I will manage those imperfectly as well. (Club members, take a look and let me know.)

If you are waiting to do things perfectly before you get started, you may just be a perfect idiot! Perfection is something you strive for, realizing it is never reached.

And since this is Labor Day and I want to take off a little early today, I'm making today's eZine imperfectly short.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Got a marketing idea? Jump in and do it imperfectly. Your imperfect idea with the imperfect plan and the imperfect implementation may just attract all the clients you need.

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What do you do imperfectly and get great results anyway? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

Shifting into "Action You"

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Last week I talked about overwhelm and the power of stepping into "Focused You" who can't be overwhelmed, distracted or discouraged, no matter the circumstances.

But you might say the whole purpose of Focused You is to pave the way for "Action You." Action You is one of your most powerful personalities or selves. He or she is the one that gets out there and makes it happen.

Action You is all about results, not about excuses. Action You loves to work, implement a plan and toil long into the night if necessary to achieve an aim.

But how do you activate Action You?

After all, we're all subject to the law of inertia. If we get stuck, even just a little, we tend to stay stuck. And we might be stuck in overwhelm, fear, perfectionism, or discouragement.

Even more insidious is to be stuck in "Neutral You."

This is where you're just bored and apathetic. When you're in Neutral You, you tend to procrastinate, waste time, do busy work, or dream about what you'll get around to sooner or later (it's usually later).

It's a bit like having your car in neutral, just sitting there with your engine idling. You're using gas but not making any headway. The engine is being stressed but there is no release of energy that will take you somewhere.

We spend a lot of time in Neutral You. Watching TV, browsing the net, and of course, avoiding marketing activities.

You get the picture, but how do you move out of Neutral You and into Action You? After all, just the thought of taking some marketing actions makes you want to bury your head in the sand.

Here are two ways to move into Action You.

1. Make a promise and have consequences.

Tell your husband or wife: "Today I'm going to put together a talk and within a week, I'm going to contact ten organizations for speaking engagements."

And then you train your spouse to say: "OK that's great, I can support that. And if you don't don't this, what's the consequence?"

You say lamely: "Well, I'll feel badly about myself."

And they'll say, "You won't get off that easily, baby. If you don't do that project, you'll make out a check out to (name appropriate despicable organization).

And then you answer: "OK, I wouldn't want to do that. I'm on it!"

Now in order for this to work, you have to keep changing the consequences and make sure your spouse is a full partner in this. If not, the consequences will turn into dinners out at expensive restaurants and he or she will WANT you to fail!"

2. Find a Project Buddy.

This is where you team up with a friend of yours, also in business, and get together for a day or a weekend to do brainstorming and work on projects.

My friend Patrick Summar and I do this every quarter. Last year, knowing I needed some support, I told Patrick, "I'll come to LA twice a year and you can come to Boulder Creek twice a year and we'll work on moving our businesses forward.

In fact we just met this weekend at my place and we went into overdrive. There's something about the presence of someone else who is supportive to catapult me into "Action Me."

On Saturday I designed Patrick's web site and then he started to work on the content. Then I worked on a marketing checklist for the Action Plan Club. We then watched a movie and I was so into Action Me that I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. completing the checklist.

The next day Patrick continued to work on his web site content and I designed a survey for the Action Plan Club. We also spent time brainstorming, going out to lunch and having a great time together.

Results and fun! What's not to like?

Your Action You needs to be challenged with goals, and there needs to be a game with consequences in order to get out of neutral. Also creating dynamic conditions of support keeps Action You in gear and on track.

Ask yourself, what conditions work best to get your Action You out of neutral and into motion? The great thing is that once you're moving, momentum kicks in and it's amazing how much productive work you can do in a short period of time.

Neutral You or Action You; who will you be today?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: No matter how much work you do on your mindset, if you don't move into action, your business and marketing isn't going to move forward. Realize however that Action You is a mindset. It's a fully formed personality waiting to be unleashed. Create the proper conditions and it's unstoppable.

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Tell me about your Action You. How do you get it out of neutral and into action? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

The Overwhelm Prescription

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I don't think the biggest pandemic these days is swine flu.

No, the virus that's going around these days is overwhelm (the American strain is Overwhelmus Americanus). If you're not sure you have it, here are the most common symptoms:

Feeling buried or drowned by a huge mass of information, ideas and to-dos. The huge mass includes email, articles, Twitter, the media in general, the recession, and probably my Marketing Club.

The general response is: I have too much to do! There's too much to read! I don't know where to start! What if I miss something? I can't handle all of this stuff! Get me outta here!

Look, I understand; I know.

Not only am I infected with overwhelm, I'm one of the carriers. I know that this eZine, and emails from me inviting you to a teleclass, or the aforementioned Marketing Club updates, can send susceptible people into an out-of-control spiral of overwhelm.

But I'm recovering from overwhelmitis, and you can, too.

So, first of all, put down everything else, take a deep breath and take just two short minutes to read my Overwhelm Prescription.

First of all, I'm not going to give you a long list of things to do. I started with that and then thought, "What am I doing? that will only overwhelm people more!"

No, the solution to dealing with overwhelm has little to do with doing, but a whole lot to do with who you are being.

A ton of email, information and projects triggers overwhelm, but they're not the cause. You are the cause. That is, part of who you are might be called "Overwhelmed Janet" or "Overwhelmed Bill."

When those triggers happen, "Overwhlemed You" goes into full overwhelm mode. You feel stressed, confused, panicked. Your heart rate goes up and blood supply goes to your limbs for the "fight or flight" reaction. You're not thinking too clearly. You want to run away, or better, go to sleep.

Overwhelm is simply a reaction that is protecting you from a perceived danger, triggered by all that stuff on your desk, in your email box and on your to do list. All that stuff's not out to get you, but it seems like it!

These days, it's possible to live in an almost a constant state of overwhelm. And if this is the case, productivity plummets, creativity ceases and your business stops being fun.

The best response we usually have to overwhelm is to get organized. And there's nothing wrong with that. But all you are doing is temporarily removing the triggers. But triggers have the habit of popping up again. You face 100 emails one morning and overwhelm is looming large again, bigger than life.

So, is there an ultimate solution to overwhelm?

Yes, don't focus primarily on the triggers, but on connecting with another You. Let's call this "Focused You." Focused You is more resourceful, more calm, more present, more balanced.

Focused You, is a part of you that is already developed. You have the skills and the ability to act from Focused You whenever you want. It's just that you forgot. Overwhelmed You took over and reigns supreme much of the time.

If the purpose of Overwhelmed You is to keep you safe from harm, then the purpose of Focused You is to act with clarity and intelligence. Focused you is interested in getting the job done, making a contribution, even doing marketing activities.

When you step into Focused You, even in a chaotic situation with a lot of overwhelm triggers, you can still be calm and centered. Then you can calmly make your priority list, handle your email, and get on with your work.

Overwhelmed You or Focused you, who will you be today?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Once you're coming from Focused You, you can take the steps to get organized, create systems, do planning and other things that will mitigate some of the triggers. But you'll know that it is Focused You that is in charge and that no matter what happens, you never need to let Overwhelmed You take over again.

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Tell me about your Focused You. How does this You work to help you produce results? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

Marketing Change or Marketing Transformation?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I've spoken about shifting paradigms in this eZine before. These days this is the main thing I'm thinking about - both as it relates to my life and to my marketing and business.

We're seeing a lot of change these days, but a paradigm shift isn't just about change. Change is the end result of a paradigm shift. A real paradigm shift is about transformation.

Change is about doing things differently; transformation is about thinking and perceiving differently. Change results in different methods and different technology. Transformation results in different attitudes and different mindsets.

Change rarely leads to transformation, but transformation always leads to change. That is, all real paradigm shifts start with the way we think, what we believe, and our underlying assumptions.

And so it is with marketing our businesses. We think that a paradigm shift in marketing would mean things like the Internet, smart phones, blogging and social media.

And if these changes, these new tools help us grow our business, that's fine, but it's no big deal. There will always be new tools that change the way the game is played.

"The more things change, the more they remain the same."

But transformation happens in the mind and in the heart.

That's the paradigm shift that really counts. And if you don't have a paradigm shift or transformation in your marketing, you'll be caught in the same old struggles as before. Your business will be stagnant and your efforts will yield meager results.

What would this transformation look like?

Something I used to say at the beginning of talks was, "Does anybody here wake up in the morning, excited and enthusiastic about connecting with total strangers about what you have to offer in your business?"

I didn't get a lot of hands!

But THAT is what transformation would look like.

You'd have no fear, you'd be excited about getting the word out. You'd find the time and you'd take the risks. You wouldn't be obsessively concerned about being rejected or making mistakes; you'd be fascinated about how to communicate your value in ways that got your prospects' attention.

This would be a paradigm shift from "dreaded activity" to "exciting adventure." It would feel like a fun and challenging game, not a distasteful chore.

And with that transformed mindset, you'd find all kinds of ways to do things differently. You'd embrace change, adopt technology, and apply new strategies and techniques. And your marketing would take off in unexpected, exciting directions.

You'd actually apply all those marketing techniques and strategies I've been talking about for the past 25 years! There's nothing really hard about these techniques and strategies. But your mindsets MAKE them hard.

It's not just one mindset you want to transform. In working with clients over the past few years I've identified these FIVE that give us the most trouble:

Fear - perfectionism - scarcity - overwhelm - impatience

And they manifest in these ways and more:

Fear - "I'll be rejected, I'll do it wrong, I'll be ridiculed."
Perfectionism - "I can't start until I know exactly what to do."
Scarcity - "I don't have enough time or money or skills or..."
Overwhelm - "There's so much to do, I don't know where to start."
Impatience - "I want it now, and I want things to be different."

Transforming these isn't that hard. In fact, like everything else, it's easy if you know how. What would your business, your marketing, your life be like on the other side of these five mindsets?

On Thursday the 21st, I'm doing two teleclasses on this topic. But I'm not going to give you the link; they're already filled to capacity. But on Saturday, I'll give you the link to the recording.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you want change in your marketing (i.e., faster and easier ways to attract more business) the first place to look is transforming the mindsets that are holding you back from implementing these changes. Transformation makes change easy. And transformation is easier than you might imagine.

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What's the mindset you'd need to transform to take your marketing to a whole new level? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below:

Embracing Your Shadow Self

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Today I interviewed John Scherer for the Action Plan Marketing Club. It will be posted on the Club site next week.

John's book, "Five Questions that Change Everything" taught me some things I had never even thought of before. More specifically, he taught me that my dark side or shadow was where my greatest opportunities for growth lie.

In today's interview we got into this topic in some depth and I'd like to share the essence of what we explored together.

John asserts that we all have a "persona" and a "shadow." This "persona" is our winning formula, all the good stuff we try to project to the world. He suggests not putting a lot of effort into trying to improve that. This is what we've been doing all our lives.

But the shadow is a different story. This is the stuff that we're trying to hide from the world. This is a conglomerate of negative characteristics and beliefs.

John went on to explain that a great way to have access to your dark side it to find a famous person (living or dead) who embodies the shadow side. This is the last person you'd want to be (or associate with, for that matter).

I picked Donald Trump. I see him as manipulative, self-centered, greedy, arrogant and full of hype.

Now as marketing coach and consultant to professionals, I don't see these as positive characteristics. Neither do most of my clients. They don't want to be seen as "high-end used car salespeople," which is how many people perceive Trump.

But then John turns the tables on this. He said, "Robert, now you want to look at Donald Trump, and if you stripped away all that was despicable about him, what would you have left?

Well, I'd see a lot of positive things. I'd see that he was a good dealmaker, and was good at building an organization and delegating. He's good with his people and has many loyal employees. He gives a lot of money to charity. He took big risks, many that have paid off. It's not to hard to see a lot of very positive attributes in Mr. Trump.

Then John told me to make a list of all those negative characteristics that I didn't admire and that were such a turnoff, and to find the positive part of those characteristics.

For instance, if you scale back "manipulative" you get the more positive aspect which is "results producer." They are simply two ends of the same stick. One end is detested while the other end is admired.

But here's the thing. If manipulation is an issue for you, even being results-oriented can also be an issue. Your style will be to just let things happen. So producing results consistently is a stretch for you. This is an area you want to develop.

So your shadow side is pointing out to you where you need to grow and stretch if you want to go beyond where you are now.

Let's look at some of the other Trump characteristics.

Self-centerdness. Let's turn down the volume a little and you get to "taking care of your needs." This is something a lot of self-employed people have problems with. It's give, give, give until you hit burnout.

Greed. Greed is seen as negative but scaled down you get "abundance and sufficiency." There are a lot of self-employed people who haven't saved a dime. They are so focused on others that they often fail to handle the basics - like a savings and a retirement account.

Arrogance. This is a turnoff but at the other end is "boldness and confidence." In our resistance to arrogance, we fail to demonstrate much self-confidence in the fear that people will think we are too full our ourselves.

Hype. This is a big one when it comes to marketing your services. At the other end of the spectrum is, "clear and interesting communication." Certainly a good trait to develop, but in our resistance to hype, we tend to market blandly and boringly.

Now Trump may not be your nemesis, so take a minute to think who it is that really turns you off. It might be a past president, an entertainer, or a business person.

And then go to school on that person. First, strip away the negative and look at the positive that's left over. That's what you have to work on, to aspire to.

Next, make a list of all the negative characteristics of this person and find the "crucial stretches" of each characteristic. You are not looking for the opposite. For instance, the opposite of arrogance is nice. But you're already nice!

Is that really getting you where you want to go? The stretch is boldness and confidence. And that (and other stretches) can take you to wonderful new places in your life and business.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: This conversation about one's shadow and discovering the crucial stretches that are essential for growth, is an important one for self-employed professionals. If you are resisting marketing, avoiding taking risks, communicating with little excitement, and fearing rejection, it may be because you are denying your shadow self.

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What are some of your shadow characteristics and what are your crucial stretches? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

Big Mind Marketing

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I've been reading some great books lately, and the most recent one by Genpo Roshi, "Big Mind, Big Heart" is groundbreaking.

I'd like to share the essence of this book in today's 25th anniversary eZine and demonstrate how you can use the Big Mind process to take your business and marketing to the next level of success and fulfillment.

Yes, marketing and enlightenment. You knew I'd get to this sooner or later!

First of all, Genpo Roshi is a real live American born Zen Master and had been for many years before he discovered this process. He says that it's the biggest breakthrough in Zen thinking in 2,500 years. Quite a claim.

But like all brilliant things, it's stunningly simple.

Roshi asserts that we all are essentially a collection of personalities or voices, if you will. We tend to become identified or attached to many of these voices without really being aware of them. They speak us more than we speak them.

For instance, some marketing voices you may be familiar with: Controlling, Procrastinating, Fearful, Confused, Struggling, Don’t Know How, Don’t Have Time, Must Do it Right, I’m Not Worthy, I Can’t be Rich, I’m Not Marketing Type, This Won’t Work, I Can’t Succeed.

Roshi doesn't recommend you try to get rid of these voices, but to accept them and get to know them by dialoging with them.

But perhaps more importantly, you can get to know and dialogue with your more expansive voices as well: Allowing, Proactive, Fearless, Clear, Ease, Know How, Have Time, OK to Do it Wrong, I Am Worthy, I Can be Rich, I Am the Marketing Type, This Will Work, I Can Succeed.

This is not about affirmations. Far from it.

It's an exploration where you discover new worlds that were already there but inaccessible to you. The key is for a facilitator to simply ask to speak to that voice and for the voice to answer. >

Let me give you an example. Let us take a voice that may not be in your everyday experience, but that is right there for everyone, ready to express its truth. We'll call it Big Mind Marketing.

Facilitator: May I please speak to Big Mind Marketing?

Big Mind Marketing. Speaking, I'm here. How can I help you?

Facilitator: What is your purpose, your job as Big Mind Marketing?

Big Mind Marketing: My job is to communicate true value to the world in a clear and authentic voice. My job is to get the attention of those who could benefit from my services and demonstrate the difference my service will make to them.

Facilitator: Aren't you concerned that most marketing is seen as hype, as dishonest, or at least as stretching the truth?

Big Mind Marketing: Some people see marketing that way. But that's not the way I see it. And if I worry about that I'll just get distracted from my true purpose. And that's to make a lasting contribution.

Facilitator: Isn't marketing self-serving, though? Isn't it to enrich yourself, more that others?

Big Mind Marketing: It's an honest exchange. Yes, you trade your expertise and time for money but ultimately it's about forming mutually rewarding relationships. A service that is high quality and provides something that is needed by people is worthy of communicating about. Hype isn't needed, but clear and honest communication about the value is.

Facilitator: What about word-of-mouth marketing? Isn't that the best? 

Big Mind Marketing: It's very important. But to get word-of- mouth business you also need to communicate about your services with clarity, and demonstrate to your clients why it's a benefit if they direct their friends and associates your way.

It becomes what someone dubbed a "virtuous circle" where value is given and received and those who receive naturally share. Then you facilitate the sharing to make it easy for your clients. 

Facilitator: Doesn't marketing one's professional services take a lot of time, effort and money? How can someone really make it work for them?

Big Mind Marketing: If you're committed to the value of your service, you'll find the time to communicate about it. Ever notice how someone who is authentically excited about what they are doing is naturally magnetic? Marketing isn't about pushing something down someone's throat. When you are speaking from Big Mind Marketing, it's less effort and takes less time.

Facilitator: How can your subscribers use the Big Mind Process to help them with their marketing?

Big Mind Marketing: Just like I've done here. Interview Big Mind Marketing. Ask him/her how to make it work. Don't think it out, just answer naturally. This interview only took a few minutes. It didn't come from the small manipulative mind or the scare mind or the fearful mind.

Facilitator: And everyone has access to Big Mind Marketing?

Big Mind Marketing: Absolutely everyone. It's natural. It's an internal knowingness that everyone has.

Facilitator: And how will this really help one's marketing? 

Big Mind Marketing: When you are in touch with your more authentic voice, your attitude shifts, your tone shifts. You see possibilities. You see opportunities where there once were obstacles. You are open to learning and risking. You step out of fear and into fearlessness.

You will actually experience marketing yourself differently. Your marketing will be transformed.

Facilitator: Thank you Big Mind Marketing.

Big Mind Marketing: You're most welcome!

P.S. "Big Mind, Big Heart" is available at Amazon. Highly recommended if you really want to understand and use this powerful process to expand your life and business.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Big Mind Marketing is a place you can come from about your marketing. It's your choice. All you need to do is give it voice. From a big, expansive place, tell the truth about marketing and it will become real for you. Your fears, hesitation and doubts will tend to dissolve.

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Tell us about your Big Mind Marketing. Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments like below.