The More Clients Blog

Are You Challenge Weary?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

When you set big goals you inevitably face challenges.

In the teleclass from last week on "Marketing Change or Transformation?" I spoke about the fact that when you set a BIG GOAL that you will also face BIG CHALLENGES.

Building a ranch house will entail certain challenges, but building a skyscraper will multiply those challenges a thousandfold.

In my Mastery Program, I work with people who set big goals and subsequently face big challenges. And what happens sometimes is that they get "challenge weary." I guess it's akin to battle fatigue.

You know how it goes:

You set a goal and make a plan and set out with great hope and enthusiasm. It's all going swimmingly for awhile until you hit the proverbial bump in the road. "Oh, nobody's responding to that message that I thought was so great! What am I going to do next?"

Now you're a little warier, a little wearier. Should you stay on course, make some changes, try something completely different, or give up self-employment and get a "real job"?

Well, in this economy, real jobs are becoming scarcer and scarcer, so your options seem to be narrowing rather than expanding. You are not sure what to do as you don't want to squander your time and resources going in a direction that shows little promise.

What I've seen with so many Independent Professionals is they've all but given up on marketing. The above scenario has been repeated too many times and they're not just challenge weary, but resigned. Their marketing efforts become limited to a little networking and follow-up and of, course, doing the best job they can for existing clients, hoping for referrals.

Yeah, I know, kind of a depressing perspective.

Last week I talked about all the things an Independent Professional needs to do to market themselves successfully. But in the face of challenge weariness, this just looks like more work that won't lead anywhere. So why bother?

Today, I'm going to share several little things to combat challenge weariness. They work cumulatively. Take a few and run with them!

1. Write down one big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) and make it as real and as three-dimensional as possible. Think about it, write about it, draw pictures about it until it is startlingly REAL.

2. Write a very long list of associates and potential clients. Then call them up: one-person-at-a-time. Then say, "Hey, we haven't talked for awhile, what's up?" When I do this, amazing new opportunities open up.

3. Sit down with a friend to talk about your goals, dreams and plans about your business. You are not allowed to talk about problems or challenges - even for a minute.

4. Plan your week every single week. You have a million things to do, I know. But on your weekly list only write down the few things you are committed to completing that week. That way, when you get them done, you've won. And that's energizing.

5. If you get stuck, do The Work. Pull out a Getting Unstuck Worksheet and question your limitations. Get one here:

http://actionplan.com/apmc/Unstuck_Work.doc

6. Tell 1 or 2 people this week how much your appreciate them for the contributions they've made in your life and/or business.

7. Go away on a long weekend. Get some exercise. Dine out. Have some fun. A little vacation opens up your creativity but doesn't get you too anxious that you're away for so long.

8. Apply for the Marketing Mastery Program. Who knows, it might be the next big step for you. Go to this link, read the page and fill in the form: http://actionplan.com/apmmm.html

9. Join the Action Plan Marketing Club. It's free for the first month, but that will end after February. Check it out and jump in fully. http://actionplan.com/actionplanclub.html

10. Breathe.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you are challenge weary, you need to do some things off the beaten path and outside your comfort zone. You can have fun in your business, build your resilience and have breakthroughs if you take your attention off what doesn't work for awhile. Give yourself a new perspective in a number of ways and the weariness will fade.

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What do you do to overcome challenge weariness? Please share on the More Clients Blog by clicking on thr Comments link below.

The American Idol Effect

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

My wife and I have been hooked on American Idol for several years. It's a fun program and, by the end, it has us rooting for our favorites.

The formula still works and it's fun.

There are really two American Idol shows. The fist one is where the judges are screening the contestants in various cities around the country, and then the real singing contest that starts a few weeks later.

It's this first part that contains the most important marketing lessons.

If you've watched, there are three categories of contestants. First are the real contenders who have decent voices and presence and have a shot at winning. Then there are the ones who are OK, but real longshots.

And then there is category three, the "nut cases."

These are the people who often come across like escapees from a mental institution with voices that would shatter glass. They tend to be dressed a "little out there" and have eccentric personalities.

The other thing about category three contestants is that they believe very sincerely that they are the best singers on planet earth and that the judges will swoon over their performances.

In fact, often the worse they are, the better they think they are. It's kind of funny but also a little sad. They have no real idea of their talent or lack thereof. And they have no clue how bad they are at connecting with their audience.

Now how does all of this relate to marketing your services?

Over the years I've noticed something very interesting. Those who are the worst marketers of their services act as if they really know what they are doing while they continue to do the things that haven't worked, don't work now, and will never work.

In fact, they often do the complete opposite of what works. Let me give you a few examples:

• To generate attention and interest for their services, they need to talk about their prospects' needs, interests and goals. Instead, people talk about their service, what it does, how it works, etc.

• On their websites they need to speak the language of outcomes, solutions and results. But most speak about features and processes, with very little impact.

• In order to move the marketing game forward, they need to develop and implement follow-up strategies where it's always their move. What is more common is to avoid follow-up completely, hoping the prospect will get back to them.

• In selling conversations they'd get a lot further if they spent more time determining the visions, goals, and needs of their prospects. But it is much more common for them to spend most of the time explaining and pitching the services they offer.

Do you see the connection?

In singing, for many of contestants, it's all about them. It's about how good and wonderful they are, with little objective awareness of the impact of their singing. They are, in fact, deaf to their own voices.

In marketing, it's really the same issue. Many people are focused almost totally on themselves, their services, their benefits, and how great they are. But this is a futile exercise, as it connects with virtually no one. Ever hear this quote?

"Enough about me, why don't you tell me what you think of me."

I know this is a little brutal, but it's what I've seen over and over again over the past 25 years. Not everyone, of course, but a whole lot of people. And just like the judges on American Idol, who reject singers who cannot connect with them, your prospects will reject you if you don't make that connection.

Turn things around.

Focus solely on your audience and the messages and activities that speak their language. Heck, you don't even have to have a great voice! You just have to be obsessed with getting across a message that they can hear and resonate with.

And that message could be summarized as:

"I'm interested in you; I'll listen to you; I want to find out more about you and your needs; I'll relate stories about those like you, and I'll present services and program that will meet your needs and deliver the results you want."

And that is a song they will happily respond to.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: You need to become very aware of the song you are singing in your marketing. You may notice that they are all focused on you, not on your prospects. Then you need to change your tune and communicate in the language of the prospect: "I can help you produce the results you want."

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Are you communicating in a way that gets through to your prospects or do you need to change your tune? Please share on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

 

Change or Transformation?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I think that most of the people who join my Marketing Mastery Program are looking for change.

Change means improving your marketing skills, attracting more clients, or upgrading a web site. And when you look from the outside, that's what's happening. Change is going on and hopefully things are changing for the better.

But transformation is more important than change.

John and Wendy (not their real names) are partners in a coaching business in England and members of the MM Program. They are delightful, smart, and sweet people. I love working with them.

In a conversation a couple months ago, the topic of money and fees came up. It turns out they had some real issues about money. They weren't earning what they could and they seemed to have a big resistance to money - especially about setting higher fees.

If I focused on change I would have offered them more strategies to earn higher fees. But I knew they needed more than change; they needed transformation.

So we explored some beliefs and mindsets about money. And we discovered some good ones! It seems that the predominant belief for both of them was that the idea of making good money was seen as shameful. People who made good money were not good people. And they saw themselves as good people.

Can you see the big problems that this belief caused?

As good people they thought that if they raised their fees and made good money that they'd become the bad people their parents always warned them about. What a success formula!

All I had to do was to ask some questions about this belief and discover if it was true, if it was a belief that was working for them or not, and what the consequences were of holding onto that belief for such a long time.

They saw that this belief was a relic of their upbringing in poor families. They managed to get excellent educations and were successful at what they did - up to a point. But they could never bring themselves to charge what they were worth.

Within just a few minutes they saw that making good money was far from shameful, in fact it could be quite uplifting to earn more and a true reflection of the service and value they offered.

I don't do motivational or rah-rah sessions. We just look at the facts. Is that belief working for you? If not, what's a belief that might work better and give you the results you want?

That was the transformation. And then things started to change.

They told me last week that they had doubled their fees and that they were getting virtually no resistance from their clients. They started planning for much bigger projects and had become more positive and hopeful for their future prospects. They are well on their way to being extraordinarily successful.

This transformation that John and Wendy experienced reflected a similar transformation I had many years ago. I believed very firmly that nobody could afford my services! So I offered services at rates I thought they could afford and failed to offer them the services they needed to make a real difference.

Yeah, I know, it sounds stupid - and it was!

I can't remember my transformational moment. I think it took a lot longer than John and Wendy, but after a time, it just came natural to charge what I was worth, and to offer huge value to every client. My income went from close to the poverty level to a six figure income in very short order.

Do you want to make more money in your business? Do you want to attract more high-end clients and get paid what you're worth? Of course, but it will happen very slowly if you focus solely on just making marketing changes.

Instead, if you look more closely at the thoughts and beliefs that are holding you back, and then seriously inquire into the value of those thoughts and beliefs, you will soon discover new thoughts and beliefs that serve you a whole lot better.

That's what transformation is - a change in the way you think. And once you have a change in the way you think, then making changes in the actions you take follows naturally.

Another Mastery participant who found marketing to be no fun, turned around his thinking and discovered it could actually be VERY fun. That transformation propelled him into massive action. Playing the game of attracting clients become a game that he's now becoming very proficient at.

What's the thought or belief that's holding you back that you'd like to transform? Focus on that first and change will come relatively easily.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Change is a process. Change will come whether you're transformed or not. Things will go up and down, get better or worse but you won't have changed inside. And even if you're successful in marketing, it will still be a struggle. Transform your thinking about marketing and it might become the most fun you have in your business. And of course, when something is fun, it's also much more successful.

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What thoughts about marketing/business/success do you want to transform this year? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

 

Six Big Goal Secrets

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Last week in More Clients I offered a "simple plan" to double your business in 2011. But ultimately, no plans are simple. They are always more complex than they seem.

And after all, as one blog commenter remarked, "How many consultants can actually HANDLE 17 to 19 new clients a year? I certainly can't." Quite right. Then that's not the plan for you.

The bigger question is "What do I really want and how can I create a plan that works for me?" And just as importantly, "How can I create goals and plans that I'll actually implement?"

These days, I'm reading a lot of Napoleon Hill. I read a chapter each day of "Think and Grow Rich" and have also dipped into his magnum opus: "The Law of Success."

Hill, who is the father of every success and motivation book or program since the 1920's, with few exceptions, comes back to the idea of goals and plans over and over in his writing. These ideas are mentioned in virtually every chapter and are at the very core of his teachings.

Beyond the Formula

Most of us think we know how to set goals. My observation is that virtually nobody knows how. Perhaps you're familiar with the S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting formula. Goals should be:

Specific - Measurable - Achievable - Realistic and Time Specific

This formula is useful, but not much. Yes, you need all of these elements but you need more, a lot more, and that's what few understand. This formula doesn't propel you towards your goals.

Making Your Goals Real

For a goal to be real, it needs to become a deep desire, a passion, almost an obsession. It needs to be something you think about all the time, work on a little bit every day, and something that is in total alignment with your larger purpose and values.

So when people say they'd like to double their income, the goals may fit the S.M.A.R.T. formula, but they're as about exciting as a dead fish. The question is, how to you magnify your desire and passion for a goal?

There's no such thing as a perfect formula for achieving big goals, but I will share some of the things I've done that really make a difference.

1. First of all, your goals must be authentic. You must have a genuine reason behind every goal. If you want to make more money what do you want to do with it? You need to be in touch with your values, your passions, what is essential at your very core. What do you want to accomplish before you die and why? If there is little emotion to your goals they will never catch fire.

2. I notice the only goals that really motivate me are big, almost impossible goals. Several years ago I had the goal to make $25K per month. And at the time, in the mid 90's, I think I was making less than $5K/mo. These day's I'm surprised when I don't make $25K each month.

The goal was big, scary, impossible. But I really wanted it. Now that doesn't mean I didn't have interim goals and benchmarks. And it took me quite some time to figure out how to do it, but I never lost sight of that goal.

3. I think about the goal from every side, from every angle. And I write a lot. I've filled notebooks with ideas related to my goals. And the more I write, the clearer the goal becomes and the plans to achieve that goal start to pop into my head. You're going to have more inspirations if you are actively engaged in the goal.

4. Of course, the biggest impediment to goals are the thoughts that say we can't achieve them. Before I'd think of a big goal and then shoot it down immediately. Once I started using Byron Katie's work several years ago and applied her process to my limiting thoughts and beliefs, big goals came more naturally. Now I think about a goal and get excited about the possibilities much faster with less struggle and resistance.

5. I talk to others who are most likely to support me achieve my goals. It's a big mistake sharing your big goals with people who will poke holes in them or react indifferently. Goals need to be cultivated and nurtured. Another big idea of Hill's is to work with a mastermind group who can give you support, encouragement, ideas and resources to achieve your goals. I've been in many mastermind groups and they make a huge difference.

6. I read and absorb the ideas of others who have achieved similar goals. I read a lot of books and articles, attend workshops and sometimes get professional support. There is a vast library of success literature but nothing better, in my opinion, than Hill's body of work. I find these ideas get me thinking in new and exciting directions.

Setting goals is much more than a mechanical process. That's the barest of foundations. If you want to achieve big goals, you need to get your mind vibrating at the level necessary to actively and enthusiastically take the actions towards those goals.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: For the most part, big things get done by people with a big purpose, big vision and big goals. And these all need to be constantly nurtured. You need to create the conditions, the atmosphere, the support structures, and the mindset where big goals are embraced fully. Only then do you have a chance of making these goals real.

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What's your big goal for 2011? Please share on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

 

Double Your Business in 2011

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Since it's the beginning of the year, I thought I'd share the 5 things I recommend you do if you want to attract more clients in 2011. And I'll show you how improving your skills in these five areas can actually double your income.

1. Think Bigger

I have no idea what the economy is gong to do this year, but I do know one way to combat hard times is to think more expansively - set bigger goals, make bigger plans, involve more people. Above all, don't "hunker down" waiting for things to get better. Instead, be responsible for making things better.

2. Be More Visible

A very simple marketing maxim is that people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. And that will never happen unless you're more visible. Marketing activities like networking, social media, publishing articles and speaking make you more visible to your target clients. You can never slack in this area.

3. Be Consistent With Your Message

If you ask your best friends and business associates what you do, you may be surprised by the answer! In almost all cases, they'll give you a vague answer, such as "something about finances." And it's not their fault - it's yours! Find a consistent and attention-getting message and use it in all verbal and written marketing messages. You'll get tired of it long before your potential clients do.

4. Do marketing campaigns, not random activities

It's not enough to be visible and use good marketing messages. That will only get you so far. A marketing campaign is an organized plan to communicate to specific potential clients about a specific service that you offer with the intention of setting up one-on-one selling conversations. The more qualified selling conversations you set up and the better your conversion rate, the higher your income.

5. Formalize your selling process

When someone is interested in meeting with you to talk about your services, the hard work of marketing is over. But the work of selling has just begun. Most don't have an organized step-by-step selling process that predictably converts prospects into paying clients. Don't leave this to chance. Start working on it now.

Formula for doubling your income in 2011.

If you apply the above ideas in your business, you can double your income this year. First, you start with where you are now. Here's a possible scenario:

Currently you have 10 clients who pay you an average of $10K each/year = $100K total income. To get there you did certain marketing activities and got a total of 20 sales meetings, of which you converted 50% of them into paying clients. (Adjust the figures to fit your actual situation.)

Here's the new scenario:

By improving your marketing activities you now are able to get 25 sales meetings. That's a 25% increase. And with a better selling process you are now able to convert 75% of those meetings into paying clients. That's a 50% increase, and very doable, especially if your marketing is now attracting better prospects.

Finally, you increase your fee per client to $12,000 per year, a 20% increase. When you add all this up, you now have 17 to 19 new clients paying you a total of over $200K per year.

This is an approach that really works. It's called working smarter on your marketing. Yes, you need to improve your skills in several areas, but isn't the result worth it? Your alternative is to simply work harder and see only incremental gains.

I challenge you to look at your current marketing activities, your selling process and the financial results from last year, and set a goal to double your income in the coming year with this strategy.

For those very serious about doubling your business this year, I invite you to apply to the Marketing Mastery Program where I work with you hand-in-hand to learn the skills and implement the steps that will produce the results.

You can learn more about the program and listen to a few introductory audios at this link. Next week, on Thursday, Jan 13th we'll be opening the program to applications.

http://actionplan.com/apmmm.html

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you'd like to double your income this year, you need a plan. You can't leave it to chance as most people do. However, this simple plan results in better marketing, leads to more sales meetings, and turns those meetings into more clients. Add a modest increase in your fees, and doubling your business is a reality. 

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What is your plan to increase your income in 2011? Please share on the More Clients Blog.