Join me at International Coaching Federation luncheon Brisbane April 3

I'll be presenting an insightful presentation titled How to Use Online Social Networks to Grow Your Practice . Everyone is welcome - you don't have to be a coach. RSVP essential.

Brisbane
April 3, 2009
11.30am to 2.00pm
433 Logan Road, Stones Corner

View event details here

The Power of Focused Marketing

Yesterday I was presenting a 'round table' session for a small group from my business club.

We were talking a lot about online marketing options, and how all businesses can use their website to generate more sales, enquiries, bookings, or event registrations.

We spoke about how that even applies for businesses that may not appear at first glance to be 'online' businesses, such as accountants and coaches.

Side bar: I often find that business owners are overwhelmed by the choice of marketing tacics. And I don't blame them. As a marketing professional my head also spins with the amount of options available.

At the roundtable session I made the point that you - as the business owner - have to understand what your prospects need to have, know, or learn, to turn them from a looky-loo prospect to a paying customer.

It is that definition of 'what your prospects need' that should be driving your choice of which marketing tactics to use.

- Do they need educational information?
- Do they need to see proof of your credibility?
- Do they simply need the details spelled out for them?
- Do they already know what they want?

Too often it's easy to simply continue doing what you've done before. And that goes for your marketing activities too.

Just keep doing what you've done in the past. Or what your competitors do. Or what is 'done' in your industry.

But the world moves on.

In particular the marketing world continues to evolve.

Now there are more options to consider with all the social media services and tools available. And it's not just a fad. Many of these tools will be around far into the future.

What are your potential clients using, viewing or reading?

Twitter
Facebook
Flickr
LinkedIn
SEO
Blogs
and there's plenty more (these are just the well-known ones)

The question is... What should you focus on?

If you're not careful you can get washed away in the flood of new ideas, tools, gadgets, gimmicks, and hype.

But will it work for you?

Each business will need a different answer.

- Your answer will be partly driven by your business processes.
- Partly driven by what your prospects need.
- Partly driven by your marketing knowledge.
- Partly driven by your personal or business resources.
- And partly driven by your degree of interest in what is being done.

You need to fill any gaps in your knowledge, make decisions about what to do, and consistently implement those ideas.

TIPS:
Don't bite off too much to do at once.
Don't use tactics that are irrelevant for your prospects.

In this case, more is not always better.

You want to use the best combination of tactics to create the business results you are aiming for. Don't just do things for the sake of doing it.

Read. Watch. Listen. Learn.

Focus on what your prospects need to know to move from being a silent observer to becoming a regular happy client.

That focus will give you the power to make smarter marketing decisions, and the power to attract more clients more easily.

Note - If you need help to set and maintain your marketing priorities you may find my Marketing Mentor Program useful.

More Proof of the Power of Models

Yesterday I wrote about how to use a Service Delivery Model to win more business. In summary, your model is a visual representation of how you provide your services.

It gives you the opportunity to emphasise your competitive advantage - and to demonstrate your expertise - when talking with potential clients.

In his 103 Report newsletter Jeffrey Baumgartner discusses the benefits of using a 'Innovation Process Cycle' - check out the groovy cartoons.

His cartoons are a great example of how to simplify a complex process so you can discuss it clearly with other people.

Using a visual model - even in a cartoon-style format - can be a fantastic tool to help you explain your services to potential clients... and win more business.

Need help creating your Service Delivery Model?

Get the Service Delivery Model Toolkit here

How to Win More Business Using a Service Delivery Model

What is a ‘Service Delivery Model’? And why is it important?

For any business delivering a service or a complex or customised product, potential clients often have two major concerns:

1. How will you do what you do?
(In other words, how will you deliver your service?)

2. Will your process work for me?
(In other words, how can I be confident what you do will give me the result I want?)

To get your prospect to become a paying client you must satisfactorily answer those questions. You must minimise or remove those concerns.

The best way to do that is to explain your Service Delivery Model.

During your explanation of your Service Delivery Model you can discuss details of ‘how’ you deliver your service, or the steps you go through when doing work for your client.

Also, during that discussion you can drop in specific client success stories that get your message across and help your prospect see how they will benefit from working with you.

= = =
Keep in mind that 75% of verbal communication is quickly forgotten or misunderstood.
= = =

If you want to get a meaningful, and lasting, message across to your prospect you must do more than just talk about what you do.

To maximise the impact of your message, and highlight key areas, use a visual representation of how you deliver your service or how you create a customised outcome for your client.

This visual representation is your ‘Service Delivery Model’.

Your model could be in the form of a:
- Flow chart
- Mind map
- Detailed process chart
- Cartoon-style diagram
- Simple time line

The key to the success of using your Service Delivery Model is to make it easy to understand for your prospect – not too much detail – and to have a standard way of explaining it each time you tell prospects about it.

(Note: Having a ‘standard way of explaining it’is very important.)

Why does using a Service Delivery Model work?

Firstly:
It shows your prospect you are an ‘expert’, because you can detail and clearly explain what is required to deliver a successful outcome.

Secondly:
The conversation you structure around the explanation of your Service Delivery Model gives you the opportunity to provide more details about your service, and enables your prospect to get to know you and trust you.

Thirdly:
By structuring your explanation properly you will also identify and remove any concerns the prospect may have about using your services.

• Be seen as an expert.
• Build trust.
• Remove concerns and objections.

A Service Delivery Model is an essential component for your marketing success.

Download your Service Delivery Model Toolkit here

Be Ruthless About Your Sources of Revenue

In December it was reported that Apple will be pulling out of exhibiting at the famous Macworld Expo, held in January each year.

As you can guess from the name, the Macworld Expo always relied on Apple as the big crowd-puller. They exhibited every year and provided the keynote presentation, usually from Apple founder and CEO, Steve Jobs.

But not any more.

A press release from Apple said, “Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers.”

In other words, for Apple trade shows aren't worth the effort and the money. Times have changed.

Wow… strong words from Apple.

But smart words.

Words you can learn from.

Are you spending your time, and your marketing effort, in the right places?

Are you working on your top priority prospects?

Or are you spreading yourself too thin? Doing a bit of this… and a bit of that.

A real life example…
Recently I was working with a client and we got to a point where they had clearly identified their target audience (their key source of new business). In their situation they needed to be promoting to, and working joint ventures with, people in the travel industry.

However – even though they had some idea of doing this four years ago – they had not yet focused on this area. Their marketing continued to be ‘this and that’ with some sponsorships, some advertising, some signage etc etc.

Nothing was clearly defined in a meaningful way for their key audience group – the travel industry.

To their credit they quickly came to understand the power of focus. They developed a suite of targeted marketing activities and sharpened their message.

Time, money, and marketing effort become very productive when you have clear outcomes in mind.

> Ditch those low potential markets.

> Be ruthless about where your best opportunities are.

Have the courage to focus on, and put effort into, those sources of revenue that hold the keys to your business success.

How to Give a Guarantee That Attracts New Clients... and Doesn't Put You at Risk.

I was working with my client David (not his real name) - the principal of a sports psychology business - to review their marketing program. I asked David "Do you offer a guarantee?"

David thought for a moment and then replied, "No... We can't really give a guarantee."

Do you think the same thing about your business?

When I asked why they didn't offer a guarantee, David explained that in their business it was up to their clients to achieve results.

For example, David and his team couldn't go out and play on tour for their clients.All David's competitors felt the same. No one offered a guarantee.

You see, David's clients are high performance athletes and sports stars, as well as up-and-coming junior players. David and his team felt they couldn't guarantee what they did. They felt they were at the mercy of each clients performance.

But wait... I suggested to David that they were focused on the wrong outcomes - that is, that their clients would win more games, or win more prize money.

Sure, winning is important. I agree that David and his staff can't play the game for their clients. Of course they can't.

Then we discussed that many of David's clients also had objectives about personal satisfaction, and improving performance when under pressure. It wasn't always simply about 'winning'.

Then I probed further. I asked David 'if' his clients followed the advice given, and 'if' they put in the required effort, would he be happy to guarantee that his clients would be more likely to achieve their goals.

Think about your business... If your clients give you honest and
accurate information, follow your advice, and put in enough effort, (and other
factors remain the same) can you guarantee they will increase their chances of
achieving better results?

After a short pause, David said... "Yes, I suppose I can guarantee that".

They key point here is that David can guarantee his 'process' works to help clients achieve results. Of course he can't guarantee clients will always reach their goals. In his case, that is up to every client to work on.

Example of wording for David's guarantee:

If you follow our guidance, put in the work required, and be honest with us about your commitment, we guarantee you will have better prospects of reaching your goals. We'll do everything we can to help you realise your potential.

Important Note:

The guarantee includes specific information about what the client has to do for the guarantee to be applicable. You don't want to make a general guarantee that requires no contribution or effort from your client, if that is in fact a critical partof a successful outcome.

The main point of a guarantee is that you demonstrate faith and confidence in the process, services, or products you are offering.The objective is to remove, or minimise, the perceived risk in buying from you.

Especially if you offer services where clients won't really know if what you do works for them until they have received it. Prospects get worried about making the commitment. They think it is risky.

You need to encourage prospects to become clients by giving a guarantee.Studies have shown that only a very small, tiny percentage of buyers ever call on the guarantee. From my own experience offering guarantees for my sales training programs - after hundreds of delegates I've never had one call on the guarantee.

(Of course you need a quality service, process, or product.)

What can you guarantee for your clients?