The More Clients Blog

The Thing That Bugs Me the Most

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Today an email from someone triggered a rather frustrated attitude I have about people.

People (including me) say they can't do something a certain way, and essentially it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

- I can't learn it that way

- I need to know this first

- I'm can't make it work because

- I'll feel rejected if this happens

- I don't have time because

- I don't want to look bad

- Writing is hard for me because

- I can't exercise in the mornings because

What bugs me is that all of this is total nonsense, yet we believe it with a religious fervor. We set up a picture of how we want a thing to be and then decide those conditions are impossible, so we then justify not doing it with a clear conscience.

You see, I can't exercise in the morning because if I get up a little late, then I have to exercise for less time than I want. So I'd prefer to exercise in the afternoons after work... but I'm feeling too tired to exercise then...

Of course, I try to conveniently ignore that, and actually believe I'll get around to exercising before too long... if only my back wasn't hurting these days...

The excuses I hear about marketing, I can see much more objectively because I'm not stuck there. From the outside looking in, the things people say sound pretty crazy. Here's one:

"I can't follow your instructions because I want to do it my way."

"Of course, "my way" isn't working to attract any clients, but what the heck, at least I feel comfortable! I'm dong it my way, just like the Frank Sinatra song. Who cares that my marketing is a total loss, a complete and utter failure? I did it my way!"

What can I say? Change is hard. And our little, limited minds make it even harder.

Glad I got this off my chest! Now back to avoiding exercise.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you make excuses for not doing something, you're just lying to yourself. It's as simple and as painful as that. The question is, do you want results more than the the comfort of avoiding results? Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow.

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What excuses do you give for not doing stuff you know you ought to do? Get it off your chest as well. (please, no exercise tips) Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

Beyond Killer Marketing Strategies

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

In marketing, everyone is interested in "Killer Strategies."

A killer strategy is something that works explosively to attract a whole bunch of perfect clients to your business in almost no time and with practically no effort.

Instant Riches! No Effort!

Don't you think that if a killer strategy existed, that everyone would know about it by now and be using it to grow their business? If these strategies were so easy and magically effective, I wouldn't be in business anymore.

I'm reminded of the time several years ago when someone bought my InfoGuru Manual and then a few hours later, after downloading it, asked for a refund. He told me that it didn't contain any "magic bullets!"

However, there are several marketing strategies that can create "Big Shifts" in your business. A big shift is when there's a convergence of knowledge, implementation, and trial and error over a period of time until - POW - that strategy is producing results for you left and right.

In the webinar presentation I'm giving tomorrow, I give an overview of 17 of those big shifts in my business that I've had the good fortune to be very successful with.

So although I'm going to share these in some depth in the webinar tomorrow, I'd like to share a few of the 17 here that had the biggest impact on my business.

7 of my 17 Big Marketing Shifts over 26 years in business.

2. Creating a powerful business vision.

My vision was "To be the Go-To person in the San Francisco Bay Area for self-employed people who needed help with their marketing." This vision helped me stay focused and on track and to only offer services and program that aligned with that vision.

4. Making speaking the cornerstone of my marketing.

I've been doing speaking for all of my 26 years in business and only email marketing has been more powerful. The opportunity to share my ideas about marketing to an attentive group has always generated new clients. To speaking I'd also add teleclasses and webinars, although my first love is speaking to a live group.

7. Writing my weekly More Clients eZine.

This big shift literally changed my life and business. It changed things in so many ways. I became better and better at my business and became better at articulating my value as I had to commit my ideas to writing. It also enabled me to explode my email lists to tens of thousands of people, which expanded my marketing impact dramatically.

9. Developing the Marketing Ball Model.

The Marketing Ball Model has been a mainstay since about 2000. I haven't found a better model for attracting clients and it's been extremely useful in teaching my clients the step-by-step marketing process. A whole lot of people have had big marketing shifts using this model.

11. Discovering "The Work" to get unstuck.

Perhaps my biggest of all the Big Shifts, Byron Katie's Work process has given me a tool to get unstuck no matter the circumstances. My periods of stuckness in my business now last a few minutes, at most. It's as if there are no longer any barriers to creating anything I want to create in my business.

13. Developing and leading group programs.

This was a big shift financially. I broke the $100K mark by doing group programs and stopped working with clients individually. The great thing is that not only did my income increase, but my clients got more value and better results than they did in working with me one-on-one.

17. Launching the Fast Track to More Clients Program.

This was also a huge big shift as I developed a way to serve hundreds (and in the future thousands), of people by providing online access to all my past marketing programs and products for one low monthly fee.

All of these big shifts entailed learning about a particular strategy, studying it, trying it out, fine tuning it, and ultimately mastering it.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Don't wait for a killer marketing strategy. Instead, make a commitment to learn the many marketing strategies that work brilliantly. All you need is patience and persistence and they will reveal their secrets to you - ultimately producing big shifts in your business.

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What long-term marketing strategies have you been using for years that continue to produce results? Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

Are You a Client Cheerleader?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

The most fun I'm having right now is being a cheerleader for my participants in the Marketing Mastery Group.

I'm a taskmaster, as well, but if that's all I was, I'd probably have a revolt on my hands!

The purpose of a taskmaster is to give your clients very specific directions and assignments. It's also about teaching the how-to's, giving examples, and sharing success stories.

But I discovered that if the main focus is holding your clients' feet to the fire, things will get done, but often reluctantly, perhaps with resentment and most importantly, with an abdication of responsibility.

If your clients always need you to kick their butt to get things done, what happens when your consulting or coaching ends? It's so easy to fall back into old habits and go back to past patterns of avoidance.

But if you also spend a lot of time encouraging, pointing out what's working, and acknowledging your clients for all the great work they've done and the results they've produced (no matter how little at the beginning), something else will happen.

They'll start to see the work you are supporting them in doing can be a fun game that they can win – one small step at a time.

In helping the Mastery Participants develop their marketing skills and practices, it takes time to get the hang of things. Results don't come instantly, and the work is challenging.

In Chip and Dan Heath's book, "Switch," they talk about finding the "bright moments" or successful practices that others in a program or group are using and work at pointing those out much, much more than talking about what's not working.

This leads to more success and momentum on the part of the clients and a lot less stress and struggle on your part.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you want to produce change and results with the clients you work with, you need to be both a taskmaster and a cheerleader. If you don't embody both roles completely, you won't see the results that are truly possible.

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What do you to to support clients in producing results? Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below:

A New Formula for Change and Growth

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Why is it so hard to change and grow?

You start out with the best intentions to learn something, or improve on an area of your life or your business. Of course, you've seen this with your clients over and over. 

Their exercise program, business, or their relationships, could all be much better than they are now. They know they need to change, but why is change so hard? Why so much resistance to change?

Two main things:

1. The force of habit. It's much more comfortable to continue doing the things you've always done. It's called your comfort zone. And even if the results are poor in your comfort zone, you continue with that behavior, even it it's self-destructive.

2. A state of denial. We can see the problems and mistakes others make and could offer endless advice for improvement. But we seem to be blind to our own shortcomings. The ego doesn't want to admit it's imperfect, so conveniently turns a blind eye to its many faults.

So given these self-imposed limitations to change, is it even possible to change - especially when it comes to things we're so comfortable with and in so much denial about?

Change or Die

I've been reading one of the best books on change ever, called "Change or Die" by Alan Deutschman. Based on extensive studies about change and our resistance to it, Deutschman lays out three deceptively simple principles for change. He calls them the 3-Rs: Relate, Repeat and Reframe.

Relate

Because we have so much built-in resistance to change, it's almost impossible to change unless we have the right kind of support. The key, as Deutschman say is, "...to form a new, emotional relationship with a person or community that inspires and sustains hope." This could be a coach or therapist for an individual, or for a business it could be an in-depth coaching, training, or consulting program.

And if you're going to help your clients make real change, it takes a lot more than information, even if the information is state-of-the art. It takes developing a powerful relationship with your clients where you sell them on the possibility of change, sell them on you as an agent of change and sell them on the approach you'll employ to effect that change.

We need to "sell the relationship" and then deliver on that relationship. Forming that solid relationship is at the very heart of helping your clients make challenging changes.

Repeat

Change takes time. It takes repetition and practicing new skills before the change becomes the normal way of doing things. And it's the relationship with the client where you encourage them to keep moving forward, step-by-step that makes the difference.

Nobody become a great athlete, mathematician, musician or marketer without this kind of long-term repetition and the guidance from a skilled coach, consultant or mentor.

Reframe

To change, it starts with your thinking, with your mindset, with your point of view. I've found that successful marketers, for instance, think completely differently about marketing than unsuccessful ones. Instead of a dreaded chore to be avoided, it becomes an exciting adventure.

And this process of reframing or shifting mindsets takes time, encouragement and support from an individual or group who has mastered this new mindset and has the patience to help someone discover these new, more empowering points of view.

How this model can transform your business

As a coach, consultant or professional service provider, you are hired to make change happen. And if you operate from these three simple change principles you are going to have a much easier time making change happen.

You'll realize you are the person who creates the conditions for change through a relationship where you are 100% committed to the the success of your clients. You'll see that it is up to the client to do the work; you can only support and encourage it. And you'll also see that changing mindsets is the key to changing behaviors and developing new habits that stick for a lifetime.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you want to see faster, more lasting change in your clients, follow this model of Relate, Repeat and Reframe. And I highly recommend Alan Deutschman's book "Change or Die." It has the potential to change your business, if not your life.

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What are you doing to help your clients change? Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below:

 

Renewing Your Past Clients

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

On Sunday evening I was sending an email to all of the people who had once belonged to the Action Plan Marketing Club (now the Fast Track to More Clients) and inviting them to renew their membership, given the impending price increase.

This reminded me that one of the very best marketing strategies is to work at getting old clients back instead of always focusing on getting new clients.

After all, old clients have experienced working with you, and hopefully like you and trust you. When you contact them, you are not a stranger to them.

But I've also noticed that a lot of people resist contacting past clients, thinking, "If they wanted to use my services again, they'd contact me themselves."

Well this is a little like a guy dating a woman for awhile, having a great time and then not calling her anymore thinking, "I've done all the calling up to this point, let her call me."

As the service provider, it's your job to do the follow-up, not the client. Here are a number of ways to make the client renewal process work:

1. Do a great job with all your clients and make sure you have closure after a project. That is, have a conversation or do an evaluation to learn what worked and what didn't.

Recently a client of mine called back a old client reluctantly because she thought they weren't happy with her work. The truth is they were delighted with her work but like most clients, didn't take the step to call her back just because they got busy.

2. Don't call with this approach: "Hi, this is David W., just wanted to check in and see what was happening with your company and wanted to know if you have any projects coming up."

That just puts the client on the spot and it feels like begging. You are adding absolutely no value with this approach.

3. Try this instead: "Hi, this is David W., how are you? I've been thinking about you, because a recent conversation with an associate reminded me of the project we did last year. I was really happy with the results we got and wondered how things were going, and if you got the long-term results you were going for."

So start the conversation to discuss the past and then move toward the future:

"I've recently created a new program called "Accelerating Management Success" that I've been doing in a number of companies very successfully, and I thought you might like to know more about it."

Then take some time to talk about a) the problems or issues this program or service addresses and b) the kind of results this program produces. Don't talk much about the process or structure of the program.

4. Offer to send some more detailed information about the program and/or offer to offer a complimentary strategy session to discuss their current situation, goals and challenges and to talk a little more about the program or service.

If you had a successful relationship with this client in the past, you are much more likely to get an appointment with them than with someone you haven't even met yet.

5. To make all of this work, you need a solid foundation which includes the following elements:

a) A favorable past experience with that client

b) A program or service that is new to that client

c) Some written materials about that program or service

d) A structure for an in-person "Strategy Session"

e) A willingness to pick up the phone and make the connection

Like marketing any services, if you have a clear direction and a plan like this, you have a much greater chance of success than just waiting around for a past client to give you a call.

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More Clients Bottom Line: Reach out and connect with past clients in an organized and persistent way. For every ten past clients that you connect with, you're likely to turn several of them into returning clients.

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What do you do to renew past clients? Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

By Jami Bernard - Barncat Publishing

This is a guest article by my friend and associate, Jami Bernard.

Being a multi-million-dollar success in your business is really quite simple. This is all you need:

• A multi-million-dollar bank account;
• A multi-million-name mailing list;
• A top-drawer staff to handle the overflow.

Okay, thanks for reading!

If you DON’T have those three things, there’s another option: Get the attention of quality prospects by writing a quality article. Nothing fancy — just a good, powerful, bullet-point article that speaks the language of your target, and serves as the perfect follow-up or a tease for your ezine. It does everything except the dishes.

It’s also surprisingly easy to write, even if you “hate” writing or feel you can never finish or get it into the right shape.

Robert likes to call this type of marketing currency the “10 Mistakes” article, because it often takes the form of “10 Mistakes to Avoid When …” Another term for it is the “bullet-point article,” because instead of slowly, painstakingly crafting your ideas into, say, an op-ed or an essay (MUCH harder to write!), you can group what you want to say into a set of rat-a-tat bullet points … as you just read above, in the intro to today’s ezine.

Yes, it really can be that simple!

To give you an example of how painless writing such an article can be, I’ll quickly show you how to take care of 4 Common Problems with 10 Mistakes Articles. (Notice that I am about to go into bullet-point article mode!)

• You’re not sure what to write about, or whether you have anything interesting to say. One exercise I do with the independent professionals I work with is to ask them: What do you privately wish you could say to potential clients who really need your services but don’t yet realize it? We’re talking fantasyland right now, not real life. For example: “Hey, bud, you’re doing all the wrong things!” “Watch out, you’re about to make a big mistake!” Now, back in the real world, try rephrasing those thoughts a little more politely, and you’ve got your main bullet points.

• You have trouble fleshing out each bullet point. All you need, really, are three sentences per bullet point. The first one says a little more about the topic, the second one turns it around to show readers how their lives might improve if they did things differently, and the third one can be an example taken from your own business experience or expertise. Example: “When I first met Robert Middleton, he was wearing funny shirts, and now he wears my special insignia shirts and gets so many more compliments.”

• You get stuck writing the intro and it turns into 70 pages of gobbledygook. Hey, you’re not trying to win the Pulitzer Prize here. If you just promised readers 5 Ways to Know if You’re a Genius, they want to get right to those 5 Ways! They don’t want to be stuck reading an endless introduction, especially since they already know the topic. Keep the intro short ’n’ sweet, and your readers will thank you.

• You don’t know how to end the article. No need to sum up, pontificate, philosophize or retread. Just give your Call to Action and you’re outta there! A good “10 Mistakes” article is fun to write and fun to read, and YOU can write one. In fact, you just finished reading one. That wasn’t so painful, was it?

Jami Bernard is the author of 10 books, and the founder and CEO of Barncat Publishing (www.barncatpublishing.com), where she helps writers and independent professionals who are struggling to finish, polish, and launch their books. Copyright © 2011 Barncat Publishing, Inc.

Poke Yourself

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Seth Godin just came out with a new book, "Poke the Box" that is all about getting started, not some day but NOW! But it seems that the pressures to delay are stronger than the pressures to act.

I had a big breakthrough several years ago.

I was sitting in my office under a dark cloud of procrastination and delay. I just couldn't seem to take action on anything. I was unmotivated, uninspired and just drifting aimlessly.

A huge pile of uncompleted things sat on my desk, hissing like snakes. I was afraid to even go near them.

"When will this end?" I thought. "What can I do?"

Well why not try Byron Katie's process that I had been reading about in her book, "Loving What Is"? If there ever was a test for this process that she called The Work, this was it.

First step: Identify the stressful or limiting belief behind my procrastination behavior. This took awhile. I tried many and they just didn't ring true. But after a few attempts I came up with this one:

"I'm just not able to handle everything I have to do."

That's exactly what I'd been telling myself, but hadn't been aware of it. I'd been acting as if procrastination was the flu and I just had to wait until it had run its course. But no, here was a big fat limiting belief staring me in the face.

OK, next step. Is that belief true; can I absolutely know it's true?

Well, it certainly felt true. I didn't feel able to handle all the things I had on my plate. I felt overwhelmed and discouraged. But is it absolutely true? No, I guess not. There have been many times I've handled a lot more than what I was facing now.

Next question: How am I reacting and behaving when I believe that thought?

That was obvious. I was staring at the pile of stuff and the list of things on my desk not doing anything. It was as if the belief was a command that told be I couldn't handle it and I had to act consistently with that command. Hmmm, interesting.

Last question: Who would I be and how would I behave if it was impossible to attach to that belief? If I could no longer think that belief, how would things be different?

This question put my mind on tilt for a few minutes. It was asking me to unthink the thinkable. I was thinking I wasn't able to handle everything and I was asked to project into a future where that thought didn't exist, couldn't exist.

My mind started to become quiet as I grasped the ramifications of this simple, yet profound thought experiment. Well, if I couldn't think that thought anymore, I'd stop procrastinating, I'd just take the next step that was in front of me.

Now the turnaround: Turn the belief around to its opposite. Okay, "I'm able to handle everything I have to do."

Now is that new belief just as true or truer than the original belief? Reflecting for a just a few moments it was clear that it was truer. After all, haven't I handled a thousand things in my life? Haven't I accomplished big things, certainly bigger than the things on my desk right now?

I sat at my desk in kind of a stunned silence. Wow, it was as if I'd hypnotized myself with that belief. I was believing something that was nonsense but that had such a powerful impact on my behavior.

And now I was waking up from that hypnotic trance.

"What to do now?" I said to myself as a feeling of calm, joy and quiet confidence spread throughout the whole of my being.

I looked down at the pile of paper and projects and they didn't look like hissing snakes anymore; they were just a list of things to do.

I dove in, one item at a time, and by the end of the day everything I'd been procrastinating on for several weeks was done. Complete.

And if that is all that had happened, it would have been a breakthrough, but that was the only start. For the next several months I literally could not find procrastination. It was nowhere to be found.

Instead, I had my goals, intentions, projects and list... and me getting them done! A huge period of productivity ensued. And it's rare since they that I get caught up in procrastination for more than an hour at a time. If I do, I quickly identify the underlying thought and it evaporates with little effort or struggle.

Is this work the only way to get unstuck? My guess is that there are many ways to free ourselves from limiting, stressful, fearful beliefs that are holding us back from taking action now.

But this is now the way I poke myself whenever an unconscious belief is telling me to get started later, to think about it more, to wait until I get more agreement from others.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: We don't start things now because we are constrained by hidden, unconscious beliefs that are interested in our safety and survival. These beliefs are more concerned with us looking good, not getting rejected and maintaining the status quo than they are interested in us being successful, making a difference or changing the world.

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When you get stopped from taking action on something, how do you poke yourself? Please tell us on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

Knowledge or Know-How?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

We all know way too much. And yet we want to know more.

And it seems that information is being generated in even larger volumes than ever before. Keeping up is impossible. Just try to link to a fraction of the blogs, resources, news items, articles and videos linked in the average Twitter feed over an hour or two.

That information alone could swamp you for days.

So we have this sense that we're getting behind. If we don't know the latest trend, marketing technique, inside scoop or insight from the latest guru, we feel inadequate.

So here's some news for you:

You don't need more information or knowledge. What you need is a way to apply what you already know. After all, once you've read those 19,583 links from Twitter are you really smarter, more capable, or more successful?

I doubt it.

We need to think about and filter information differently. And this starts with what we really need to both know and master in order to become more capable and successful.

We need to distinguish between collecting information and applying that information. Let me give you an example.

You can spend several hours consuming online information very randomly as it comes to you through email, Facebook, Twitter and Linked in. But this isn't much better than watching television.

The impact is minimal.

Or you can spend that same number of hours studying information on that subject, making a plan, and actually putting something into action. Now you've developed a useful skill that you can use for years to come.

For instance, you can decide you want to learn how to get more speaking engagements and leverage those speaking engagements to attract more clients.

Or you might take cooking lessons (instead of the food channel) or go on a vacation to a place you've always wanted to visit (instead of watching the travel channel).

Everyone complains that they don't have enough time for their marketing or quality activities. But they rarely see how much time they're frittering away collecting useless information.

Not only that, processing too much information not only triggers overwhelm but stress and exhaustion. And the more we think we can't live without it, the more we're addicted to it.

My suggestion:

Go on a very restricted media diet for a month. Spend no more than half an hour every day on social media sites and the Internet. Don't watch more than an hour of TV. Don't read most magazines and even most books for a whole month.

You'll discover that you have a whole lot of time on your hands to invest in more productive activities. Spend that time only reading or studying information that you can take action on.

Or spend that time on activities that engage, enliven and uplift you: Exercise, quality time with friends, gardening.

By the end of the month you'll have built skills that you can profitably apply for the rest of your career. And you'll have spent some of your spare time building memories that last a lifetime.

Good luck. I promise it will pay off!

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Start to realize that gathering more information is getting you nowhere. At best, it's entertaining you. Instead, you want to put your focus on applying information to build skills you can use for a lifetime. Substitute one for the other and you'll find you have all the time you need to become a more successful and fulfilled person.

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Are you ready to go on a restricted media diet for at least one month? Tell us your plan of what you will learn instead. Please tell us on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.

Are you Serious?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I don't know if this is the worst marketing mistake, but it may be close - and that's being too serious in your marketing.

But there are different kinds of seriousness.

There's "intentionally serious" and that's good. When you're intentionally serious, you are focused, committed to a result. You are serious about your intentions. You plan, prioritize, work and follow through. You are reliable, consistent, organized and dedicated to excellence.

Practice this kind of seriousness and you'll do well.

One of my ace Marketing Mastery Participants just sent an email about how she followed up with a prospect. The feedback she got from this prospect (soon to be client) was that he was very impressed with her, her qualifications etc., but also liked how she was so organized and methodical.

We can all work on this kind of seriousness and it can pay big dividends. We want to work with people who are focused and keep things on track and get things done.

But there's another kind of seriousness that's deadly.

And that's taking yourself too seriously. The problem is that we confuse the two. We think they're the same. Not at all. If we take ourselves too seriously, we start to resemble robots.

In trying to be so correct and professional it's easy to come across as stiff and formal. When this happens, a person's humanity gets suppressed, and it's no fun to work with people like that.

When I'm speaking to someone on the phone, considering buying their services, in addition to expertise, I want to deal with someone who is warm, authentic and who has a sense of humor.

In fact, if that doesn't come through, if we don't share any laughter on the call, I hesitate to work with them. After all, if they have no humor and warmth on the call, what's it going to be like when we start working together? Not so fun, right?

You have to find a balance. After all, there are also people with a great sense of humor and who are great to hang out with, but who have very little competence to get the actual work done.

When you find this balance (and it takes some serious work) it's easier to create rapport and connection and move the process of working together forward with ease.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: You might say that the best way to come across powerfully when speaking to a potential client is to take your work very seriously but not to take yourself so seriously. That's the kind of person that others love to work with. 

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Do you have any stories or examples of either kind of seriousness or the lack thereof? Please tell us on the More Clients Blog. Seriously!! Just click on the comments link below.

Intellectual Firepower

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Last week I interviewed Alan Weiss, "The Million Dollar Consultant" on his newest book, Thrive!

Thrive! is about success as Alan sees it. And Alan knows a lot about success. He's written more books about consulting than anyone else (not hyperbole, an actual fact). He writes more books in a year than most people read in a year.

One of my first questions to Allan was, "What are your rules for success?"

He was very forthcoming about his answer: Intellectual Firepower.

He was clear that this didn't mean having a high IQ. That was hereditary and out of your control. He was referring to our own efforts to study and learn what we needed to learn for success.

When he went to college he was amazed to observe that the majority of students seemed to be there "just to get by." Alan's perspective was different. "I felt I had this opportunity handed to me to learn whatever I possibly could. So I didn't read Cliff Notes or take shortcuts or cheat. I read every single book I was assigned and did all the work required."

Alan is still a voracious reader, having read over 5,000 books. And he reads for at least 90 minutes every day.

When you read a lot, you tend to pick up the skills of writing. Alan surprised me when he said he wrote most of his books in about four months and never went back and edited. He writes first drafts of everything and has an editor help a little with the organization of the book, if required.

That is intellectual firepower!

None of us may reach the heights of success as Alan has, but we can certainly spend more time reading and committing to becoming true experts in our field.

I've always been surprised when at the end of a workshop when I give people my recommended marketing book list, that invariably someone says, "What's the one book of all these ten should I read?"

I tell them, "Read all ten. Look, I've read several hundred business books and have narrowed it down to these ten. This is distilled wisdom. You don't have to read hundreds. Just ten. One at a time."

With that, let me give you ten business and marketing books you must read to increase your intellectual and marketing firepower. Yes, you must read all ten!

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - You should read this several times over many years. You'll always find something new.

Thrive! by Alan Weiss - This is a modern day Think and Grow Rich that will really get you thinking about what success is about.

Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki - The latest from a master of marketing on how to enchant clients and customers.

Cash Copy by Jeffrey Lant - The one book you need if you want to write better copy. Absolutely indispensable.

Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss - If you offer professional services for a living you must have this. And while you're at it, get Million Dollar Speaking and Million Dollar Coaching.

Become a Recognized Authority in Your Field by Robert Bly - Again, if you are a professional, this book tells you how to market and sell your services with a ton of hands-on strategies.

The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey -I'm still using ideas from this book twenty years after reading it.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie - This is an oldie but goodie with a ton of practical ideas about marketing and selling yourself.

Selling to Big Companies and/or S.N.A.P. Selling by Jill Konrath - Nobody is better at showing you how to get the attention and interest of larger companies than Jill.

Loving What Is by Byron Katie - Not a marketing or business book but a book about how to get past your stressful, limiting beliefs. Perhaps the most valuable book I've ever read.

That's it. Ten books that will help you increase your intellectual firepower in the realm of marketing and selling. Order your first one today on Amazon!

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you are looking for quick tips, strategies and silver bullets you'll never go deep enough to really understand how marketing works and how you can make it work for your business.

What other business and marketing books do you highly recommend? Please list them on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.