The More Clients Blog

The Age of Thought Leadership

This eZine is the third in the series of steps that make up the marketing process. Familiarity and Information are the steps that follow Attention. Because these two are so closely connected, I'll cover them in this one issue.

Where did that old saying "familiarity breeds contempt," come from?

My guess is that it was coined by a cynic who felt that the better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them.

This may be true for some people and some situations, but as far as promoting your business is concerned, I've found just the opposite to be true.

This weekend I spoke at the IMC (Institute of Management Consultants) Confab. It's a conference of about 200 management consultants looking to improve their practices.

And I'm finding that familiarity is a very positive factor.

Many people there knew me from my weekly eZine, others had attended my teleclasses and others had purchased my online products. I felt like a celebrity! Some people approached me with ideas for joint ventures and wanted to brainstorm.

Let me tell you, familiarity is a whole lot better than obscurity!

A big part of marketing yourself is simply doing everything you possibly can to increase your familiarity or visibility. It's a process that needs to be ongoing.

I'm sure you know all the things to do - from networking to speaking to publishing online and off. By becoming known as an expert in your field, you increase your familiarity and trust level with prospective clients.

One of my colleagues, Steven van Yoder, who also presented at the conference, talked about 'thought leadership marketing' - a mindset based on earning trust and credibility, and building recognition as a trusted resource by educating your prospects, rather than marketing at them.

Yoder talked about going beyond familiarity and incorporating more valuable information in your marketing. It's no longer enough that people know who you are or have met you and feel you are a business person with integrity.

They need to become familiar with how you think, what you stand for, new concepts you've developed and the outcomes you've delivered for your clients.

On the surface this doesn't sound too hard. However, it takes some concentrated thinking to communicate those ideas.

But if you're going to really stand out in the age of thought leadership and become familiar and credible to your prospective clients, you really don't have a choice.

Where do you start?

With a single article. It can bridge the gap between an initial connection with a prospect (attention) and a meeting to explore working together. This might happen on your web site or in a face-to-face meeting at a conference:

Prospect: "What you do sounds very interesting. Do you have more information?"

You: "Yes, I've written an article titled 'The Seven Management Mistakes that are Killing Productivity.' Can I send you a copy?"

Prospect: "Sounds intriguing. Sure, please send it to me."

You: "Be happy to. And then I'd like to get back to you and find out more about your business."

Prospect: "Great, I look forward to speaking with you more."

This is the process of thought leadership in action! You have an interested prospect and you provided some valuable information, paving the way for follow-up.

Repeat this scenario in dozens of different ways (articles on your web site and eZine and distributed to other sites, transformed into presentations, blogs and teleclasses, etc., etc.) and before long, you're known as a thought leader!

In other words, don't wait until you have your "grand business model" all figured out. Write something, today and get it out there tomorrow.

Next week I'll take this to the next level - how to create a deeper experience of you and your business for your prospective clients.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: To develop trust and credibility these days you need to become a thought leader. You do this by utilizing familiarity and information to get your ideas in front of your prospective clients.

*

What does it mean to you to be a thought leader? What have you done to take the plunge? Please share on the Blog.

Tactics for Getting Attention

Last week I outlined the marketing model that results in attracting all the clients you want and need. You move prospects from Strangers to Affiliation to Attention to Familiarity to Information to Experience to Appointment.

And I also gave you the simple tactic for moving prospects from Stranger to Affiliation by joining organizations, associations and groups. OK, that was relatively easy. The next part is trickier.

You might say that the essence of marketing is getting attention. I've discovered four main ways to get attention. What I'm talking about here is clearly communicating your marketing message, not doing some crazy PR stunt.

The four ways are by communicating the following:

1. Who your ideal clients are
2. The problem your clients face
3. The solution or outcome you offer
4. A story about the above three

Now, you might use these to get attention for your business as a whole, or for a particular service you offer. You can use your attention-getting message either verbally or through the written word. But you must get attention and generate some interest or it's hard to take the next step (Familiarity).

An Action Plan Marketing Case Study

Perhaps the best way to explain how to develop an attention-getting message is by sharing a message I've been working on for awhile. It's for the seven-session teleconference program I hold.

When I launched it, I had to come up with a name quickly as I was offering it to a large professional service firm on short notice. The name that emerged was, "The Marketing Action Plan Process," or MAPP for short. I came up with the name after the program was sold, so getting attention wasn't a big issue!

Then I promoted the same program to my subscribers and clients. And I immediately saw the weakness in this name. The name was a "process." And there is little inherent benefit in a process. It's not attention-getting as it doesn't answer the key question, "What's in it for me?"

Back to the drawing board.

The first part of this seven-step program is about getting past limiting beliefs about marketing. And in thinking about this, I realized that one of the biggest things holding people back from marketing themselves is fear (fear of rejection, doing it wrong, etc.). So the name changed to the "Fearless Marketing Program."

And that felt good for awhile until I looked at it more closely.

Someone commented that by calling it "fearless marketing," I was bringing up the idea of fear. Hmm, that's not good! And I also realized that although fear holds people back, it's not the only problem Independent Professionals have with marketing.

You see, when you're trying to get attention, it needs to be the right kind of attention. Your message, or the name of your service needs to hit on all cylinders. It needs to result in a "That's for me response!" from the majority of your target audience.

So I returned to the problem I address. For years I've used the message, "struggling to attract clients," but what's more specific than that? What is it about marketing that really bugs people?

Well, to many, marketing looks hard and takes a long time. It seems impossible to fit into a busy schedule and after all that work, it might not produce any results. People don't just struggle, they get bogged down with their marketing.

If you've used any of my products such as the InfoGuru Manual or attended a workshop or program with me, you know I break things down into doable steps that don't seem so difficult. I streamline and simplify marketing. So what's another word for that?

Fast Track!

I help people put their marketing on a fast track. You might call my overall approach "The Fast Track to More Clients." That's exactly what people get. It's benefit-oriented. It addresses the problem. It gives Independent Professionals what they want.

Does this mean I have to go back and change the whole program? Not at all. The program is great the way it is. The only thing that changes is the attention-getting message. It's now more accurate and addresses the outcome people actually want.

And now I have a whole new way to get attention for my business that goes beyond "ending the struggle to attract clients."

So, what are you saying to get attention for your business?

Is your message too focused on your process? Or is it focused on a peripheral message that's important but not central to what you actually provide to your clients?

If this is the case, you won't get the attention you desire. Time to go back to the drawing board and rework your marking message.

Next week I'll discuss the next step in the marketing process: What do you do once you've gotten someone's attention?

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: There's nothing more central to marketing than your attention-getting message. Work at getting it right and your prospects will start responding in a whole different way (they'll want to know more).

*

How have you changed your marketing message to attract more attention? Please share on the Blog.

http://www.actionplan.blogs.com

Marketing Tactics: A Seven-Step Model

In looking over my eZines for the past few months I noticed I've covered a whole raft of topics related to the *Mindset* of marketing yourself: Paradigms, perspectives, fearlessness, trust, risk, etc. All of these are incredibly important.

But so are marketing tactics.

So for a few issues I'm going to be sharing some of the most effective marketing tactics that I've learned over the years.

What exactly is a marketing tactic?

My best definition is: "A marketing tactic is any activity that creates a connection between you and a prospective client, which moves them closer to doing business with you."

If we look at the big picture of how a prospect actually becomes a client, the following seven-step model is very useful:

1. Strangers You want to approach a prospect, but you don't know them and they don't know you. Marketing to strangers usually means struggle and rejection. That's why the first set of marketing tactics are to form affiliations with those who are currently strangers.

2. Affiliation
You create affiliations or connections with prospects by joining organizations, associations and groups. Through this simple affiliation, you're no longer a complete stranger. Tactics that get the attention of those you've affiliated with come next.

3. Attention
Attention is gained through communication, either verbal or written. What you say must both hit a nerve and offer some hope. Once you have attention, you apply tactics that are designed to build some trust by increasing your "familiarity quotient."

4. Familiarity
Visibility leads to familiarity. Wouldn't you rather do business with someone you've met face-to-face or, at minimum, heard about favorably? The next tactics to implement are ones that inform your prospects about the many ways you can help them.

5. Information
Information can come in myriad formats: One-pagers, brochures, web sites, articles, reports, and CDs. Value-laden is the key. Prospects who respond to your information are now ready for tactics designed to give them a deeper experience of you and your services.

6. Experience
Presentations and talks, teleclasses, and a regular eZine can all deepen the experience prospects have of you. Trust and credibility build. The final set of tactics complete the marketing process by initiating appointments to explore working together.

7. Appointment
Follow-up isn't hard if your prospects already have a favorable experience of what your services can do for them. Once you're meeting belly-to-belly, then a whole new process begins: Selling. (More about that in a future series.)

These seven steps concisely outline how the marketing process actually works. Want more detail? Okey dokey.

Starting with this issue of More Clients (and continuing with five more) I'll be covering each step in depth. The first step is, perhaps, the easiest.

From Stranger to Affiliation

One of the most frequent questions I hear is, "How do I get an appointment with a top decision-maker in a company?" My answer: "You can't get there from here!"

You don't go from stranger to appointment as your first marketing step. After all, do you eagerly wait for phone calls from strangers who want some of your valuable time? Don't you want to get rid of them as fast as you possibly can?

Instead, you go from stranger to affiliation. An affiliation is any meaningful connection between you and a prospect. An affiliation adds a smidgen of trust. An affiliation opens the door a crack.

The fastest way to build affiliations with prospects is amazingly easy: Join organizations, associations and groups. You can be immediately affiliated with hundreds (or even thousands) of people by simply writing a check for your membership dues.

This first tactic sets the foundation for everything to follow; seek out groups whose members either consist of prospective clients, or those who could refer you to them.

These organizations include, (but are not limited to):

Chambers of commerce
Professional organizations
Business associations
Alumni groups or clubs
Networking or leads groups
Charitable organizations
Online communities like Ryze or Linked In
Groups within your religious denomination
Women's groups; Men's groups
Hobby/Interest groups (gardening/writing/bicycling, etc.)
Country clubs; health clubs

America is a country of associations. People like to mingle with others who share similar interests and passions. Despite the Internet, people love to congregate in person. Always have, always will.

So implementing this tactic is a cinch. There are literally hundreds of thousands of groups out there waiting for you to join them. It just takes two steps:

1. Start searching for groups. Talk to your friends and associates, look in the business calendar section of your daily paper, visit the library, and check Google under your geographic area. They are out there waiting for you to discover them.

2. Call one organization at a time. Find out about their next meeting, and go and check them out. Don't join yet. Chemistry, as in relationships, is also important in groups. If attending feels good, go again. If you feel the group is a fit after three connections, then join.

That's it. You've initiated the process of moving prospects from Stranger to Affiliation. Next week we'll explore the key tactics for getting the attention of prospects in these various organizations.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: Marketing is a process of moving a prospect from a Stranger to someone who you have an Appointment with. And the very first tactic to employ is creating affiliations with those who are currently strangers.

*

What are some organizations, associations and groups you've found valuable to affiliate with? Please share on the Blog.

The Two Million Dollar View

Why aren't you making a million dollars a year in your business? And if you don't aspire to make a million (or more) per year, then why are you still struggling to make the amount you'd like to make?

For you, this may be fifty thousand, one hundred thousand, a quarter million or half a million. It doesn't matter. But have you noticed that it seems like an uphill battle to get there, no matter what the goal is?

Now you may think that the answer I'm going to give you is that if only you were a better marketer, you'd make the amount you want with less struggle.

Not exactly.

True, one of the things you'll probably have to do on the way to reaching your goal is implement some effective marketing and selling strategies. But that's a bit like saying, "If you want to run a marathon, you'll have to do some running."

Kind of goes with the territory.

But notice that there are a lot of people who can run - and are pretty good at it - who never run a marathon. So you can actually get darn good at marketing yourself and even attract clients on a consistent basis and still struggle to make the money you'd like to make.

Let's say you'd like to make a million dollars a year (substitute any amount that you'd really like to make). And say that right now you're making half that amount. Your goal is to double your income and do it in a year.

Just imagine that and feel what it's actually like to have that goal. What's it like? Is it fun, exciting, scary, stressful, overwhelming?

Are the feelings primarily positive or primarily negative? Do all kinds of thoughts pop up such as, "I could never double my income in a year." or "That's just to much money." or "I don't know where I'd start." or "It would be way too much work and commitment."

OK, now imagine that you are at the bottom of a mountain looking up. This is the view from below. The mountain is five thousand feet high and it looks pretty steep. If your goal is to ascend this mountain, you may have thoughts and feelings similar to doubling your income.

Now imagine that there is another mountain beside the first mountain and it's twice as high. Ten thousand feet. Next you jump in your helicopter and land on the top of the big mountain and look down on the smaller mountain.

Doesn't the change of perspective alter everything? The five thousand foot mountain doesn't look so tall anymore. And your thoughts and feelings about ascending it start to change. It now looks possible, where before it looked impossible.

Let's go back to your financial goal. Imagine that you've earned twice your goal. In other words, in a year you've already earned four times what you're earning now.

From that new vantage point, look at your previous goal.

You've already earned two million and you're looking at a goal of one million. Now ask yourself, "I've already earned two million in a year, what would it take to earn just one million?"

Take a little time to think from this new "Two Million Dollar View."

You may notice that things don't look so scary, stressful, and overwhelming anymore. With a change of perspective, your attitude, mindset and thinking may change dramatically.

To earn twice what you are earning now, without a massive amount of struggle and effort, you MUST change your perspective. Reaching that goal must seem not only possible, but relatively easy. Inevitable even. (Just as you now feel it's inevitable that you'll likely earn about the same next year as you've earned this year.)

This is just one approach to changing your perspective. It's actually quite powerful. Almost immediately you see how small you've been thinking and how this thinking has shaped your strategies and actions to achieve your goal.

And you see quite plainly that changing perspective can change your sense of self, what you believe, and what you can and cannot do.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: The master key to change is first changing your perspective. When you see that something is in fact possible, from a new vantage point, it becomes possible in reality.

*

What perspective is holding you back from achieving your goals? Can you create a new perspective? Please share on the Blog.

Trust is a Story

This week a subscriber asked me if I'd do a More Clients on the topic of trust. This is an important topic, in fact marketing is all about trust. It's about how you create it, build it and maintain it.

But what is trust anyway?

We all know that trust is about keeping our word and doing a great job and maintaining our integrity. But that's only the foundation. All of that is required just to stay in business.

Much more important is understanding that trust is a story you tell your prospects and clients every day. And if you tell the right story, the ultimate outcome is that people feel good about doing business with you (and then tell others).

Very few people actually think, "Can I trust this person, can I trust this business?" And even fewer people ask for solid evidence on which to base this trust (credentials, education, track record).

No, instead we listen to the story the business is telling us. And if the story fits the way we see the world, if the story is authentic, and if the story makes us feel good, then trust grows automatically.

In fact, we make decisions about trusting a business or a professional in just a few moments. You see, the story of a business is conveyed by every single visual, verbal and sensory message delivered to the prospect.

And the reaction is almost instantaneous.

You shake someone's hand and they don't look you in the eye. You come to their web site and the design is dull. You read the headline on the site and you feel confused. When you send an email asking a question, the answer takes days and doesn't really give you the information you were looking for.

How does all of this make you feel?

Any brilliant story about your services was drowned out by the delivery of that story. Trust plummets. And it doesn't matter to the prospect how great you are at delivering your service or what wonderful results you've had with past clients or how many diplomas are hanging on your wall.

The story you communicate goes way beyond the content of the story. The story, as far as the prospect is concerned, is the way the story is packaged. In fact, the story IS the package.

So if you want to build trust, you've got to tell a story that makes your prospect think, "Wow, this makes sense, this feels good, this feels right, this is exactly what I'm looking for!"

And then you need to keep telling that story at every single step of the marketing process: when someone asks what you do, when they look at and read your web site, and when they call you with a question.

When you do all of this, believe me, they'll end up doing business with you and telling others, because it FEELS GOOD doing business with you. You'll be giving them exactly what they want and they will put themselves completely in your hands.

Now that's trust.

Make it your highest priority to build trust by telling stories that engender trust. Make your story authentic. Make it passionate. Make it sincere. Make it fun. And realize that, above all, your story goes way, way beyond words.

What story are you already telling your prospects? Look at how you're presenting your business in person, on the phone, on the web, in print, and by email.

If someone else were telling the story you are currently telling, would you trust them? Or would you run the other way?

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: You communicate trust through the stories you tell. And if the story engages your prospect and makes them feel good, you can consider yourself a master marketer.

*

What story are you telling your prospects that makes them trust you? Please share on the Blog.