Fresh Start Trust
Fresh Start Trust Lesson #5 How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success By Richard Geller Calworth Glenford, LLC dba www.financialsuccessinstitute.org
Disclaimer – this limits our liability – Read it! In plain English, I did my best to make this the best guide I could make it, for someone wanting to help others facing foreclosure, credit problems, financial difficulties, or just wanting to maximize protection of their assets. But I am sure that I left stuff out, forgot some important stuff, and made some mistakes. Plus, I can’t know the laws of your state, and the facts in your particular situation. And I’m not a lawyer nor do I play one on television. Some of this stuff MAY NOT WORK. Or it may be ILLEGAL. Who knows. So… You have to take responsibility for whatever you do or don’t do after going through my home study eCourse. Don’t blame me!! I am not responsible for what you do!! If I were you, I’d find a good attorney to advise me. And I’d check out whatever it is that anyone tells you to do – me, the attorney, your mother-in-law, whoever. Then I’d take my chances. Life is full of risks. You could do great following my advice. Or you could fall on your face. Who knows, maybe some of the stuff I suggest is illegal in your state. I don’t know. But regardless, you can’t go after me for telling you to do something or not do it – because I am right now disclaiming any liability. You are on your own!! And with that out of the way, read on… While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this eCourse, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this eCourse and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial
damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. And another important note – this one about ethics The techniques I outline in this eCourse – some of them anyway – may strike you as pretty outrageous. Unethical perhaps. You may find a few techniques that you can swear are illegal. I don’t advocate anything illegal. And I don’t want you to do anything unethical. These techniques exist. People do them all the time. I don’t want you do be at a disadvantage by not knowing them. So I tell you about them, no holds barred. I think it’s too easy to judge others when you haven’t been in their shoes. Some people are in frightful situations and they are frankly quite desperate. They need answers. I hope, if this is you or your clients’ circumstance, you find answers, some of them here. That doesn’t mean I think you ought to do things that are unethical, or that things you choose to do are right for everyone. That is for you to decide. Okay? And a final important note – this one about plagiarism! You DO NOT have permission to resell this information. You DO NOT have permission to give it away to someone else. This information is sold under a license that lets you read it, use it FOR YOUR OWN USE, but not give it away, make copies, sell it or resell it. For another copy, contact me at: www.financialsuccessinstitute.org Thank you!
Fresh Start Trust
Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU PRINT THIS OUT PRIOR TO READING The fourth lesson focused on helping you find a business you are passionate about. In this fifth lesson, you will learn how to market your business. Marketing is about much more than only advertising your product or services. Let's begin with a short definition of what marketing is about:
Putting the Right Product in the Right Place, at the Right Price, at the Right Time. Sounds simple doesn't it? In theory, it is but if you get one part of it wrong, it can be disastrous. Consider the marketing calamity Chevrolet created marketing the Nova in Latin America. Since no va means "it doesn't go" in Spanish, the Latin American car buyers shunned the car, forcing Chevrolet to embarrassedly pull the car off the market. You can't be everything to everyone in the marketplace. Before you do any marketing you need to decide: Who do you want to be in the eyes of the market? You can't be known as the least expensive and for having the best © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success quality unless you want to go out of business in the first six months. This is part of your branding. Defining how the market views you. Volvo is the “safe” car Wal-Mart is the “low-price” retailer Coke is “the real thing” in colas
Always Focus on the Customer Every businessperson knows or should know that putting the customer first is the cornerstone of business and that concept couldn't apply more than to marketing. Unfortunately, too many businesses focus on themselves with their marketing messages. Their marketing message boils down to: "Come buy this incredible product or service we created and offer for sale." The key to that being the wrong message is all in the short word "we". It makes the business the focus of the message. Your marketing message should always be telling potential customers how they will benefit - "This revolutionary online marketing technique doubled sales for 98% of the small businesses that tried it - it can do the same thing for you." The second example uses the word "you" and describes the benefit the potential customer will receive. That's the message you want to deliver. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Be Prepared At Every Opportunity You need a short, well rehearsed speech to give prospective customers that grabs their attention and makes them want to know more about what you do. It's known as an Elevators Speech. You only have about 30 seconds to make a first impression so make sure you are prepared. Here are the five elements of a good elevator speech: 1. Keep it short. 2. It differentiates you from competitors. 3. It needs to be specific rather than general – a good example works well. 4. A good elevator speech isn’t about your business; rather it's about benefits you provide customers or problems you solve for them. Use verbs like help, solve, and guide. Avoid words like sell and sales. 5. And a good elevator speech creates a bit of curiosity and intrigue. You want to leave the person with your business card and wanting to know more about exactly what you do. Let's say you have the good fortune of running into the owner of a midsize business in an elevator. You have that one elevator ride to make a big impression. If he or she doesn't ask what you do, you can start the conversation by asking. Most people will give a short reply and ask you the same © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success question. That's your opening. Here's an example of a good elevator speech for a management consultant: “I keep your company out of Dilbert's comic strip! I'm Leslie Franks, a national management consultant specializing in change. If your company has the good fortune of experiencing rapid growth or change I can offer experience and wisdom to keep your employees happy and your profits in the black.” You now have the main building blocks for marketing your new business: 1. Be customer centered 2. Use every opportunity to market your business Now, let's dive into the details.... In this fifth lesson, we’re going to discuss: the exact steps you need to take to have an unlimited number of customers ready and wanting to do business with you. After showing you how to securely finance your Fresh Start Trust business, the best business structure to use, and how to find the business that perfectly matches what you want to be doing, this lesson gives you powerful tools to develop a marketing plan that will make your competitors green with envy. You will learn the best methods to become customer eccentric and in return very satisfied customers will
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success not only do repeat business with you, they will refer you to everyone they know. Tricks, tips, and techniques that make people want to do business with you - without you ever resorting to a sales pitch. Finally, you'll be amazed that you can accomplish all of this at almost NO COST TO YOU.
Specifically, by the end of this lesson you’ll have the following things in place… How to develop a marketing mix - the four key elements you blend into a powerful marketing engine. How to be customer eccentric. How to make your business stand out from the competition EVERY TIME. The detailed questions that by you answering creates a marketing method more powerful than anything your competitor even thought about. A step-by-step process to develop a list of business prospects more than 60,000 names long - and that's only the beginning. A marketing method that works phenomenally well without you ever selling to potential clients again. The exact script that gets you names of 5 or more new prospects every time you make a single sale.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success This last lesson is just as action packed as the first four. Let's get going....
Understanding the Marketing Mix "Marketing Mix" is the catch phrase used to describe the decisions and actions that need to be taken to bring your product or service to market. The marketing mix is composed of the 4Ps. The 4Ps are:
Product (or Service)
Place (distribution)
Price
Promotion (advertising and branding)
A marketing plan begins by asking a series of customer eccentric questions about the 4Ps. You will need to develop specific questions around your product/service but here are some all around questions that will give you an idea of what to ask.
Product/Service What do customers want from the product/service? What needs should it satisfy? What features are needed to satisfy customer needs? Have any features been left out? © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Are there expensive features included that most customers don't want? Can the product/service be offered in different models with expensive features being priced higher in a deluxe or premium model? How will the customer use the product/service? Where will the customer use it? Will it deliver the experience that customers expects? How will it be branded?
High quality?
Inexpensive?
Faster than competitors?
More reliable than competitors?
What differentiates it from competitors?
Place Delivering product/service to customers can be very simple or very complex. The more complex, the more you will need to analyze the methods you will use. From © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success the beginning process of obtaining raw materials all of the way through to final customer delivery is known as the Value Chain. You have many opportunities to affect quality, price, and on time delivery at every step in the value chain. Questions you need to ask about distributing your products/services: Where do customers currently look for this product/service?
If in a store, what kind of store? A boutique? Grocery Store? Mall? Convenience store? Office complex? Internet? Mail order? Home direct marketing?
What scale will you deliver products/services on? Local, regional, national, or global? What is the shelf life of your product/service? If it's fresh cut flowers, it will make a big difference in how they are delivered. What distribution channels will you need access to? Examples include:
Wholesalers
Agents or brokers
Shipping from home office
Personal delivery
Delivery through multiple retailers
Craft or trade shows
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Through other businesses that make catalog sales
Rail cars
Importing by cargo ship from China
Multiple distribution channels
What impact will the distribution channel have on customer service and warranty work? Do you have access to the right or best distribution channels? Do you need a sales force? How do your competitors currently distribute product/services? And can you improve on it?
Price What is the most your product/service can cost and still attract the amount of sales you want? Will your product/service be acceptably profitable at that price? What value do customers place on your product/service? Are there less expensive substitutes on the market? Are there well-established price points for the product/service that you will have to abide by? Can you differentiate your product/service sufficiently to not have to abide by established price points?
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Are customers price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price bring more paying customers? Will a small price increase be over looked by customers to allow you a higher profit? Will discounts be periodically offered to increase sales? How often? At a specific time of the year? How much will the discount be? Will discounts be offered for repeat or bulk purchases? How do your prices compare with competitors?
Promotion While there is plenty of opportunity in all of the 4Ps for you to get creative, promoting your products/services offers the most opportunity to be creative. There are two basic promotional techniques. One Pushes the product/service to the customer and the other Pulls the customer to the product/service. Pushing the product is done with a sales force. A typical example is wholesalers pushing to retailers and retailers pushing to consumers. Pulling is done with advertising. If you successfully build demand for the product, consumers ask retailers to begin stocking it and retailers ask wholesalers to begin providing it. Questions to ask before beginning a promotion campaign: Exactly who is the promotion targeting? © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Are you trying to convert your competitors' customers to your own?
Are you trying to develop new customers that have never tried your product/service?
Are you trying to convince existing customers to buy more?
Are you trying to convince existing customers for one product to try a different one?
Are you going after a new demographic group?
Where and how is the best way to get your marketing message
across to the target audience? Is it at a sporting event? TV advertising? Buses on the route that goes to the local college? Telemarketing? Direct mailing? When is the best time to promote? Is it seasonal? Will
promoting during the off-season create additional and meaningful sales? You need to understand your targeted audience. Are they
more likely to see your promotion on TV or the internet or a billboard? What about your product/service has the strongest appeal to
the particular group you are targeting? What are the benefits they expect from the product/service? Does it offer benefits that they are not aware of?
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success How do your competitors promote products/services? Is it
effective? Will you gain part of their market share by promoting along side them? Will it be a single promotion or will it be part of a series or
on-going. Always remember that every promotion must focus on the customer and the benefits they will gain buying the product/service. You need to pay attention to every aspect of your promotions. Branding, packaging, and warrantees are just as important as the advertising message.
The Greatest Marketing System on Earth There is no stronger marketing system than word of mouth or referral marketing. When a satisfied customer endorses you, you immediately move to the front of the pack. And better yet, as long as you keep your customers satisfied, you will have an ever growing customer list as long as you remain in the business. Referrals are a powerful word of mouth form of marketing – the best type of marketing has always been word of mouth. One person recommending you © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success to another. But how do you pay for this kind of marketing? Or how do you make it happen? When you know the answers to these questions you will have the worlds most powerful marketing system at your finger tips.
The 250 X 250 Principle The goal is to build a list of 250 friends that can use your service or product and who can refer their 250 friends to you. In two or three months you have the potential for 62,500 new customers (250 X250). And all of those people have friends they can recommend you to. The length of your potential referral list is endless. No need to sell to them. Make a database of all the people you come into contact with that you think would be a good customer for your business. You simply tell them what you do. Find out what they do and why they enjoy it. Make a few notes about them and enter it into your database. Your database can be a simple as a spiral notebook that you hand write into. These are not FaceBook friends. These are business friends. There’s no need to sell to them. You don’t ask them for business but over
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success time, you do keep them informed about changes and developments in your industry and business. You make regular contact with them and ask if there is anything you can do for them. If you come across something they would enjoy you forward it to them. It’s about reminding them you are around and able to help them or their friends and family if the need arises. You contact them if you change careers to let them know what you are now working on and able to offer. There are two rules to this system. Rule #1 – Never make people uncomfortable. Rule #2 – Never cold call for prospects. Here are a few of the advantages: You’ll perform better when you are referred because you feel
obligated to the friend that referred you. People recognize your higher performance because of the
debt you owe to the referring friend. You can be true to yourself and feel good about what you are
doing. Disadvantage: It takes a few months to get enough people on your list to
get the system rolling.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success You can start getting business very quickly but it takes 3 or 4 months to snowball into the dominate source of all your new business. Then, you’ll have all the business you want - for life. The two questions you need to answer, to know if this is the right marketing system for you: Question #1 – Do you really believe in your product or service? You must believe and be dedicated to what you represent. Question #2 – Can you stay the course? The greatest marketing system on earth requires you to take consistent actions to make it work and to have consistent behavior. Even when you don’t get immediate results. Consistent effort is required. Four steps to building the greatest marketing system on earth. Your Action Plan: 1. Building your list. 2. Starting the frequent contact with your list. 3. Maintaining a follow-up system – maintaining the frequent contact. 4. Reaping the harvest of your efforts in approximately 3 months. Your goal: A list of 250 people that really like you and want to work with you or refer their friends to you. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Step 1 – Building the list Many people think this is the difficult part because they don’t know 250 people. The secret is in the referral script – it’s how you ask for referrals. Your mind works by association. Begin by listing all of the sources you have for friends: Family
In-laws
Friends
Postal carrier
Relatives
Handyman
Your neighbors
Vendors
Churches, synagogues,
Past employers
mosques
Past employees
Parents of your kids
friends Centers of influence are where you begin looking for business friends. First, write out the places and categories to find these people. Then use your minds ability to associate these categories with specific names to generate the list of names. No filtering or editing, just brainstorm an unfiltered list of categories. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Next, begin associating specific names with each category: Kids friends parents Michelle & John Williams Susan and Will Riley Neighbors John Phillips Ken & Barbie Trout Past employees Vonee Greene Buster Elks This is why you must totally believe in your product or service. You are going to use your personal contacts to grow your business friends list. Don’t do this for some get rich scheme. Have a product or service that you are proud of. This is not a list of your best friends forever. These are only people that you know their name. Charlie at the towel desk at your gym might not be your best friend but he knows you and names like these go on the list. Same thing with the waitress that servers you lunch 2 or 3 times a week. 250 names is not that big of number. It seems like it at first but once you get started, you’ll see that it’s © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success like compound interest. The people on your original list will provide plenty of new names to add to your list. Eventually, you are going to organize and automate this list but for right now, just get them written down in categories based on your list of sources. You can handwrite them in a spiral notebook or type them into MSWord or WordPad on your computer. The important thing is to get the list started.
Why and How to Get People to Give You Referrals Start with people that you talk to regularly. Those you’re comfortable with. Why people give you referrals: 1. Because they like you. Here are common ways get them to like you. Make eye contact with them. Mirror their body position. Dress similarly to them. Match their conversation style, speed of talking, and
energy level. Be attuned if people are more visual or verbally orientated.
Do they say things like “I hear you” or “I can really visualize what you are saying”.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Smile as much as possible when appropriate. Their problem is your problem but your problem is not their
problem. Like = Trust = Willing to do business 2. People will refer you because they are smart and can demonstrate they have an inside track. They are helping others make the right decision. It validates their decision to accept you. 3. They want to help their family and friends and other people. Reasons people fail to get enough referrals: They ask the wrong way. They wait to long to ask. They ask infrequently.
When to ask for referrals When you first meet someone. When you do business with someone. When you meet someone, ask them: “If you had a friend that needed X, do you have a good person to refer them to?” Fill in the “X” with whatever you are doing: © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Solving people’s credit problems. Mortgage loan modifications. Real estate short sales Business start up consulting
If they say “Yes, my wife’s father does that”, just thank them and move on. Remember, there’s no selling yourself using the greatest marketing system on earth. If they say something like “No, not really.” Ask them if it’s okay to stay in occasional contact with them. Those are the two magic questions. If they say yes, you now have permission to stay in contact – to market to them. Get their contact information. Hand them your business card. Always have something handy to write down their contact information.
Getting Referrals When You Do Business with Someone Tell your customers two things. I get paid in two ways. 1. First is the reasonable fee that I charge. I do good work and I trust you’ll be pleased with the reasonable fee that I charge. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success 2. Second is getting referrals. It
I Love Referrals
shows you trust me. It really is another form of compensation because I work 100% by referrals.
“Will you have any difficulty referring me to people that you know if I’ve done a good job you or if I am doing a good job for you and you’re confident in me?” You’ll get a ton of referrals if you are clear that is part of how you get paid and it’s part of your relationship.
Testimonials Ask people for testimonials. They are a great source of reference. Ask them to put it on their letterhead and sign it. You put it in a quality plastic sleeve and into a quality binder. Show the binder to new customers' right at the beginning of the relationship. Explain that you will work hard for them and soon hope to have them write a similar letter – set the expectation upfront. It shows that you take pride in what you do. Ask for permission to post them on a website if you have one. You can scan the letter in or retype it. Keep a database of all your referrals. Those you use often and those you use less frequently – all of them. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
More Scripts You Need to Know Here’s exactly what to say to get people to give you the names and numbers of people they are willing to refer you to. “I work, just like you do, by referral. I’m sure you know someone who can use this information. Someone from your church, a neighbor, a family member. I’ll give them a call and see if I can help them.” “So, I’d like the names and phone numbers of 5 people that can use my service.” Often they’ll look at you and say something like: “You want me to give you referrals now?” You just say “yes” and wait. Almost every time, they’ll start giving you referrals. Either from their cell phone, or rolodex, or from their email contact list. Another good approach is: “I’m sure you know someone in today’s economy that needs help solving debt problems.” -or“I’m sure you know someone with an upside down mortgage that needs help convincing a lender to accept a short sale.” © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Whatever it is you do, assume they know others that need your service or product. Next, give them a way to associate the names. “Perhaps someone from your church, a neighbor, a family member, or someone you went to school with.” This makes them start thinking of actual people they can refer you to by name. Next, tell them that you’ll be giving them a call to see if you can be of help. And that you’ll be mentioning their name. “So, I’d like the names of about 5 people.” Between 80% and 85% of people will do it right there on the spot. What works great is that knowing you’ll be mentioning their name; they’ll often call those people ahead of time to let them know they referred them to you. Now you have two referrals. They gave you the name and number and they pretty much introduced you to the other 5 by calling to tell them to expect a call from you. It’s kind of a verbal testimonial before you make your call. After you get a name, ask for a little background information – “How do you know them and can I have their phone number?” © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Then Another Pregnant Question “And who else?” Silence while they think or get the information. Repeat the entire process, always ending with… “And who else?” Lots of people will give you many more than 5 names. Make sure you get permission to use their name. It shows respect. That script is probably the single most important information in this lesson. Memorize it and use it. It will work for you. You’ll get tons of referrals using that specific script. This script has been fine-tuned over the years. Changing the wording will almost certainly deliver less than the stellar results it already achieves. Rehearse it, and record it. Play it back. Try role-playing with a spouse or someone else. Just get it right.
Making the Referral Call Wait a day to give the person making the referrals time to call the people. Then you start your call with: “Hello Dave, I was referred to you by Jim Smith, your neighbor two doors down.” © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success It’s no longer a cold call. Tell them what you do. As the conversation gets rolling, remember to mirror their conversation, tone, and pace. Get permission to keep in touch and follow through occasionally. What you want to do is build rapport. Discuss what’s in the news, the positive side of the news, or if you are face to face with them, what’s in the room. Or the weather, sports – make small talk. If you have met through a common friend, you can inquire about them or an organization that you both have in common. Try to find something personal to discuss – but not too personal. Maybe their kids or a recent vacation. This can all vary depending on your age and their age. If they are 20 and you are 40, they might not have kids. And won’t be interested in yours. Maybe they're interested in the newest technology. If they’re 60, maybe they want to talk about their grandkids. Next, find out what they really want. Here are the words you need: “What do you do? “ “What do you like most about what you do?”
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success “If you could start over, knowing what you know now, what would your typical day be like?” Once they respond, your reply is – “really, tell me more”. You’re looking for their hot buttons. What do they want to
change? What are they willing to pay for? It reflects positively on you because you care and take the
time to get to know them. Keep them talking, the more they talk and the less you talk,
the more favorable impression you will make.
Introducing What You Do “I take people from having bad credit to being financially secure in as short of time as possible.” “I take people from bad teeth to a white smile.” “I take people from having an unpayable mortgage to a comfortably affordable mortgage. “ You should script your own statement in advance. Leave it a little mysterious. This encourages people to ask how you do that. “I take people from ______ to ______.” Tell them in a few sentences the highlights of what you do. Ask them to keep you in mind if they or anyone they know needs that kind of service.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success End by asking if you can keep in touch with them on an occasional basis. Practice all of these scripts with a spouse and recorder. You now have all of the golden words to build your list of 250 business friends that in turn give you access to all of their business friends. The next step is staying in contact with these valuable people on a regular basis.
Contacting and Managing Your Referral List With your process for gathering referrals now established, it’s time to turn to communicating with your business friends on a regular but not too frequent basis.
Your First Communication The first step is to enter each new person's contact information into your database – more on that shortly. The same day or the day after you have contact information, you need to make the first contact with your new referral. You want to send them a card through postal mail. Not email. Postal mail is much classier than email and much more personal in today’s highly technological world.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success There’s an awesome website that I highly recommend for this. I’m not talking about electronic cards but a website that let’s you customize real cards and they will snail mail them for you. The site is www.sendoutcards.com They have a large and nice selection of cards in easy to use categories. For your first contact with a new referral, you probably want to select something from the “Nice to Meet You” category or from “Thank You”. You definitely want to add a personal message – don’t use some canned, standard message. Remember, your not selling yourself. The message should be personal. Something like:
Hi Mike, It was truly a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to getting to know you better over the coming months and hopefully years. I take my friendships seriously so you can always count on me to help you in anyway that I can. One of the things that I most enjoy helping people with is solving there debt problems during these troubled economic times and getting those that need assistance back on solid financial ground. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Just let me know when I can be of help in anyway. I look forward to meeting you again soon, Richard The message doesn’t need to be long, it only needs to be personal. One great feature from www.sendoutcards.com is the ability to send them your handwriting sample and they can actually print your message in your own handwriting – fully automated after you send in the sample. Of course, one of the standard cursive fonts will do a nice job of personalizing the card also. Everything appears to be extremely personal although it’s automated and easy for you to accomplish. Another feature they provide is the ability to add a small gift. Seldom is this necessary the first time you make contact but it might come in useful down the road. A small gift can be a nice touch the first time an individual makes a referral to you. Or for a major lifetime event like the birth of a child in the family or a marriage or a major career achievement by the individual. A few other features of the site that you might be interested in are: The ability to store your favorite cards to use over and over
again. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success A calendar and reminder system that notifies you of upcoming
events when you want to send out notes, send personal cards, or what ever your needs. An online contact manager to store and automate all of your
referral contacts if you don’t already have a system like Outlook, Act, Maximizer, or Goldmine. One thing that I should point out since I’m giving so many personal recommendations is that I don’t have any financial relationship with any of the products that I am recommending. They are my personal favorites – that’s all. Okay, let’s recap that first card that you’ll be sending out to each new referral you obtain: 1. Send a real card through the mail – no emails the first time. 2. Make it personal – no selling yourself. 3. Mentioning something they enjoy can be a good touch. 4. Do remind them what you do but without selling. 5. Offer to help in anyway you can. 6. Remind them that you’ll occasionally be in touch.
Managing Your List of Referrals Now that you have a list of 250 names, you’re going to need to manage it to get the most from it. I highly recommend going with an online contact management © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success software so that you can access it anytime you want. There are several good ones available and I’ve already mentioned a few. You need a simple rating system to keep track of those that are most able and willing to make referrals to you. Something as simple as A,B,C,D. A= Your biggest fans, those that truly want to help you at every opportunity. Of course, you need to reciprocate which is why you give then an A rating. B= Like you and will help you if you ask. Highly likely to have made referrals or will in the future. C= Not completely sure about you. Might be reluctant to help when needed. D= Deleted, someone that you don’t want to deal with after learning more about them, don’t want to be associated with them. Might being using unfair business practices or for another reason. You should have fewer As and Ds than Bs and Cs. The majority of the people on your list should be Bs and Cs. The objective is to sincerely convert the Bs into As and the Cs into Bs. Always searching out new referrals means you should always be adding to the B and C categories.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Backup Your List Often Back it up often and to multiple sources. Your list will quickly become one of your most valuable business assets. Protect it. First, back it up to a USB Flash Drive (thumb drive). You might even want to keep it on two thumb drives. One that’s easily accessible to you and another in a bank safe deposit drawer. Another good idea is to save it as an email attachment sent to a gmail or hotmail account. These email accounts reside on servers on the internet unlike most other email accounts that reside on your PC or Mac. Because they are on internet servers, they can be retrieved with any computer connected to the internet.
When to Make Contact First, stay in contact with all of the As, Bs, and Cs. Forget about the Ds. Whatever your reason, you’ve decide you don’t want a relationship with these people. You might even want to take a look if there is a common thread of where the Ds are coming from. Are they all coming from the same organization or from the same referral source? Probably not. But if they are, you might want to rethink your association with that referral source. For the As, Bs, and Cs, you want to send out personalized cards once a month. The real cards that we already discussed.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Once you have established a relationship with these people, you can send out an occasional email during the month, in between sending the real cards. Not too frequently but maybe one or two emails during the month. Remember – no selling, keep it personal. Maybe mention new developments in your field but no need to sell yourself. And don’t send the emails out as a mass mailing. Too impersonal along with the fact that it violates their privacy by you giving everyone access to everyone else’s email address – don’t do it. If you want to send a common message to people with common interests, you can write a form letter and send it individually after adding each person’s name to the top of the note and sending it individually to their email address. A more automated way of doing this is with an electronic tool called an autoresponder. You enter your list of names into the autoresponder and write your note following the autoresponder instructions. It will send a separate email to each person on the list and address it to them personally. If you’ve written your note well, each person perceives the email was sent personally to them. One of the most popular autoresponders is www.aweber.com And make telephone calls. Each week, you want to call 50 of the 250 people on your list. That’s only 10 short calls each day.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Just make small talk. Let them know you want to stay in touch. Talk about the news or sports or the weather. Always pick positive subjects to discuss and stay away from controversial subjects. Tell them true stories about how you helped someone out in a
big way. Ask if there is anything you can do to help them out. Leave a voicemail message if you don’t get a hold of them
personally. Try to be entertaining – people like to be entertained. Send a funny picture with the cards or in an email. Be personable. Big tip: tell them about your business in bite size chunks. Not selling but rather little bits of facts and interesting information about what is going on with you and the field you are in.
When You are Ready to Ask for Business A time will come when it’s appropriate to ask for business advice or for some type of assistance. This will probably be from the people you rated as A but it could be the way to nudge a B up to an A – it’s your judgment call. Here’s a script to get the conversation started: “I want to run some ideas by you. Some new ideas about how to get people out of debt. I hope they work for you and you believe in them and can take some positive action."
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success "But if not, no hard feelings. I promise you, I’ll be on my way and we’ll still be friends. Agreed?” If you build your list, follow the scripts you’ve learned in this lesson, and follow the methods given to you – in a few short months, you’ll be as busy as you can possibly be.
You now have everything you need to succeed in your new career. I want to congradulate you on completing the course and wish you the very best with your FRESH START TRUST and BUSINESS!
Your “Assignment” for This Module Read and familiarize yourself with the additional materials provided with this lesson. There is important information in those documents that you will want to know before promoting your business. Specifically, you want the advantages that come from conducting a SWOT analysis. You also want to develop your USP before you go any further with your marketing plan. Provide detailed answers to the Marketing Mix questions posed in this lesson. It's the place to start your marketing plan. Begin building your referral marketing list with the very next person that you meet. Send any questions or comments about the material to: [email protected]
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Keep your eye on your inbox, because you won’t want to miss the eye-opening tips, tricks and secrets coming your way soon!
Richard Geller Publisher, Fresh Start Trust P.S. Be sure to review all of the materials that are included with this curriculum package. You should have received three other files: 1. Fresh Start Trust Module 5 – Checklist 2. Fresh Start Trust Module 5 – SWOT Analysis 3. Fresh Start Trust Module 5 - Creating Your USP
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Disclaimer – this limits our liability – Read it! In plain English, I did my best to make this the best guide I could make it, for someone wanting to help others facing foreclosure, credit problems, financial difficulties, or just wanting to maximize protection of their assets. But I am sure that I left stuff out, forgot some important stuff, and made some mistakes. Plus, I can’t know the laws of your state, and the facts in your particular situation. And I’m not a lawyer nor do I play one on television. Some of this stuff MAY NOT WORK. Or it may be ILLEGAL. Who knows. So… You have to take responsibility for whatever you do or don’t do after going through my home study eCourse. Don’t blame me!! I am not responsible for what you do!! If I were you, I’d find a good attorney to advise me. And I’d check out whatever it is that anyone tells you to do – me, the attorney, your mother-in-law, whoever. Then I’d take my chances. Life is full of risks. You could do great following my advice. Or you could fall on your face. Who knows, maybe some of the stuff I suggest is illegal in your state. I don’t know. But regardless, you can’t go after me for telling you to do something or not do it – because I am right now disclaiming any liability. You are on your own!! And with that out of the way, read on… While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this eCourse, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this eCourse and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial
damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. And another important note – this one about ethics The techniques I outline in this eCourse – some of them anyway – may strike you as pretty outrageous. Unethical perhaps. You may find a few techniques that you can swear are illegal. I don’t advocate anything illegal. And I don’t want you to do anything unethical. These techniques exist. People do them all the time. I don’t want you do be at a disadvantage by not knowing them. So I tell you about them, no holds barred. I think it’s too easy to judge others when you haven’t been in their shoes. Some people are in frightful situations and they are frankly quite desperate. They need answers. I hope, if this is you or your clients’ circumstance, you find answers, some of them here. That doesn’t mean I think you ought to do things that are unethical, or that things you choose to do are right for everyone. That is for you to decide. Okay? And a final important note – this one about plagiarism! You DO NOT have permission to resell this information. You DO NOT have permission to give it away to someone else. This information is sold under a license that lets you read it, use it FOR YOUR OWN USE, but not give it away, make copies, sell it or resell it. For another copy, contact me at: www.financialsuccessinstitute.org Thank you!
Fresh Start Trust
Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU PRINT THIS OUT PRIOR TO READING The fourth lesson focused on helping you find a business you are passionate about. In this fifth lesson, you will learn how to market your business. Marketing is about much more than only advertising your product or services. Let's begin with a short definition of what marketing is about:
Putting the Right Product in the Right Place, at the Right Price, at the Right Time. Sounds simple doesn't it? In theory, it is but if you get one part of it wrong, it can be disastrous. Consider the marketing calamity Chevrolet created marketing the Nova in Latin America. Since no va means "it doesn't go" in Spanish, the Latin American car buyers shunned the car, forcing Chevrolet to embarrassedly pull the car off the market. You can't be everything to everyone in the marketplace. Before you do any marketing you need to decide: Who do you want to be in the eyes of the market? You can't be known as the least expensive and for having the best © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success quality unless you want to go out of business in the first six months. This is part of your branding. Defining how the market views you. Volvo is the “safe” car Wal-Mart is the “low-price” retailer Coke is “the real thing” in colas
Always Focus on the Customer Every businessperson knows or should know that putting the customer first is the cornerstone of business and that concept couldn't apply more than to marketing. Unfortunately, too many businesses focus on themselves with their marketing messages. Their marketing message boils down to: "Come buy this incredible product or service we created and offer for sale." The key to that being the wrong message is all in the short word "we". It makes the business the focus of the message. Your marketing message should always be telling potential customers how they will benefit - "This revolutionary online marketing technique doubled sales for 98% of the small businesses that tried it - it can do the same thing for you." The second example uses the word "you" and describes the benefit the potential customer will receive. That's the message you want to deliver. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Be Prepared At Every Opportunity You need a short, well rehearsed speech to give prospective customers that grabs their attention and makes them want to know more about what you do. It's known as an Elevators Speech. You only have about 30 seconds to make a first impression so make sure you are prepared. Here are the five elements of a good elevator speech: 1. Keep it short. 2. It differentiates you from competitors. 3. It needs to be specific rather than general – a good example works well. 4. A good elevator speech isn’t about your business; rather it's about benefits you provide customers or problems you solve for them. Use verbs like help, solve, and guide. Avoid words like sell and sales. 5. And a good elevator speech creates a bit of curiosity and intrigue. You want to leave the person with your business card and wanting to know more about exactly what you do. Let's say you have the good fortune of running into the owner of a midsize business in an elevator. You have that one elevator ride to make a big impression. If he or she doesn't ask what you do, you can start the conversation by asking. Most people will give a short reply and ask you the same © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success question. That's your opening. Here's an example of a good elevator speech for a management consultant: “I keep your company out of Dilbert's comic strip! I'm Leslie Franks, a national management consultant specializing in change. If your company has the good fortune of experiencing rapid growth or change I can offer experience and wisdom to keep your employees happy and your profits in the black.” You now have the main building blocks for marketing your new business: 1. Be customer centered 2. Use every opportunity to market your business Now, let's dive into the details.... In this fifth lesson, we’re going to discuss: the exact steps you need to take to have an unlimited number of customers ready and wanting to do business with you. After showing you how to securely finance your Fresh Start Trust business, the best business structure to use, and how to find the business that perfectly matches what you want to be doing, this lesson gives you powerful tools to develop a marketing plan that will make your competitors green with envy. You will learn the best methods to become customer eccentric and in return very satisfied customers will
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success not only do repeat business with you, they will refer you to everyone they know. Tricks, tips, and techniques that make people want to do business with you - without you ever resorting to a sales pitch. Finally, you'll be amazed that you can accomplish all of this at almost NO COST TO YOU.
Specifically, by the end of this lesson you’ll have the following things in place… How to develop a marketing mix - the four key elements you blend into a powerful marketing engine. How to be customer eccentric. How to make your business stand out from the competition EVERY TIME. The detailed questions that by you answering creates a marketing method more powerful than anything your competitor even thought about. A step-by-step process to develop a list of business prospects more than 60,000 names long - and that's only the beginning. A marketing method that works phenomenally well without you ever selling to potential clients again. The exact script that gets you names of 5 or more new prospects every time you make a single sale.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success This last lesson is just as action packed as the first four. Let's get going....
Understanding the Marketing Mix "Marketing Mix" is the catch phrase used to describe the decisions and actions that need to be taken to bring your product or service to market. The marketing mix is composed of the 4Ps. The 4Ps are:
Product (or Service)
Place (distribution)
Price
Promotion (advertising and branding)
A marketing plan begins by asking a series of customer eccentric questions about the 4Ps. You will need to develop specific questions around your product/service but here are some all around questions that will give you an idea of what to ask.
Product/Service What do customers want from the product/service? What needs should it satisfy? What features are needed to satisfy customer needs? Have any features been left out? © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Are there expensive features included that most customers don't want? Can the product/service be offered in different models with expensive features being priced higher in a deluxe or premium model? How will the customer use the product/service? Where will the customer use it? Will it deliver the experience that customers expects? How will it be branded?
High quality?
Inexpensive?
Faster than competitors?
More reliable than competitors?
What differentiates it from competitors?
Place Delivering product/service to customers can be very simple or very complex. The more complex, the more you will need to analyze the methods you will use. From © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success the beginning process of obtaining raw materials all of the way through to final customer delivery is known as the Value Chain. You have many opportunities to affect quality, price, and on time delivery at every step in the value chain. Questions you need to ask about distributing your products/services: Where do customers currently look for this product/service?
If in a store, what kind of store? A boutique? Grocery Store? Mall? Convenience store? Office complex? Internet? Mail order? Home direct marketing?
What scale will you deliver products/services on? Local, regional, national, or global? What is the shelf life of your product/service? If it's fresh cut flowers, it will make a big difference in how they are delivered. What distribution channels will you need access to? Examples include:
Wholesalers
Agents or brokers
Shipping from home office
Personal delivery
Delivery through multiple retailers
Craft or trade shows
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Through other businesses that make catalog sales
Rail cars
Importing by cargo ship from China
Multiple distribution channels
What impact will the distribution channel have on customer service and warranty work? Do you have access to the right or best distribution channels? Do you need a sales force? How do your competitors currently distribute product/services? And can you improve on it?
Price What is the most your product/service can cost and still attract the amount of sales you want? Will your product/service be acceptably profitable at that price? What value do customers place on your product/service? Are there less expensive substitutes on the market? Are there well-established price points for the product/service that you will have to abide by? Can you differentiate your product/service sufficiently to not have to abide by established price points?
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Are customers price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price bring more paying customers? Will a small price increase be over looked by customers to allow you a higher profit? Will discounts be periodically offered to increase sales? How often? At a specific time of the year? How much will the discount be? Will discounts be offered for repeat or bulk purchases? How do your prices compare with competitors?
Promotion While there is plenty of opportunity in all of the 4Ps for you to get creative, promoting your products/services offers the most opportunity to be creative. There are two basic promotional techniques. One Pushes the product/service to the customer and the other Pulls the customer to the product/service. Pushing the product is done with a sales force. A typical example is wholesalers pushing to retailers and retailers pushing to consumers. Pulling is done with advertising. If you successfully build demand for the product, consumers ask retailers to begin stocking it and retailers ask wholesalers to begin providing it. Questions to ask before beginning a promotion campaign: Exactly who is the promotion targeting? © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Are you trying to convert your competitors' customers to your own?
Are you trying to develop new customers that have never tried your product/service?
Are you trying to convince existing customers to buy more?
Are you trying to convince existing customers for one product to try a different one?
Are you going after a new demographic group?
Where and how is the best way to get your marketing message
across to the target audience? Is it at a sporting event? TV advertising? Buses on the route that goes to the local college? Telemarketing? Direct mailing? When is the best time to promote? Is it seasonal? Will
promoting during the off-season create additional and meaningful sales? You need to understand your targeted audience. Are they
more likely to see your promotion on TV or the internet or a billboard? What about your product/service has the strongest appeal to
the particular group you are targeting? What are the benefits they expect from the product/service? Does it offer benefits that they are not aware of?
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success How do your competitors promote products/services? Is it
effective? Will you gain part of their market share by promoting along side them? Will it be a single promotion or will it be part of a series or
on-going. Always remember that every promotion must focus on the customer and the benefits they will gain buying the product/service. You need to pay attention to every aspect of your promotions. Branding, packaging, and warrantees are just as important as the advertising message.
The Greatest Marketing System on Earth There is no stronger marketing system than word of mouth or referral marketing. When a satisfied customer endorses you, you immediately move to the front of the pack. And better yet, as long as you keep your customers satisfied, you will have an ever growing customer list as long as you remain in the business. Referrals are a powerful word of mouth form of marketing – the best type of marketing has always been word of mouth. One person recommending you © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success to another. But how do you pay for this kind of marketing? Or how do you make it happen? When you know the answers to these questions you will have the worlds most powerful marketing system at your finger tips.
The 250 X 250 Principle The goal is to build a list of 250 friends that can use your service or product and who can refer their 250 friends to you. In two or three months you have the potential for 62,500 new customers (250 X250). And all of those people have friends they can recommend you to. The length of your potential referral list is endless. No need to sell to them. Make a database of all the people you come into contact with that you think would be a good customer for your business. You simply tell them what you do. Find out what they do and why they enjoy it. Make a few notes about them and enter it into your database. Your database can be a simple as a spiral notebook that you hand write into. These are not FaceBook friends. These are business friends. There’s no need to sell to them. You don’t ask them for business but over
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success time, you do keep them informed about changes and developments in your industry and business. You make regular contact with them and ask if there is anything you can do for them. If you come across something they would enjoy you forward it to them. It’s about reminding them you are around and able to help them or their friends and family if the need arises. You contact them if you change careers to let them know what you are now working on and able to offer. There are two rules to this system. Rule #1 – Never make people uncomfortable. Rule #2 – Never cold call for prospects. Here are a few of the advantages: You’ll perform better when you are referred because you feel
obligated to the friend that referred you. People recognize your higher performance because of the
debt you owe to the referring friend. You can be true to yourself and feel good about what you are
doing. Disadvantage: It takes a few months to get enough people on your list to
get the system rolling.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success You can start getting business very quickly but it takes 3 or 4 months to snowball into the dominate source of all your new business. Then, you’ll have all the business you want - for life. The two questions you need to answer, to know if this is the right marketing system for you: Question #1 – Do you really believe in your product or service? You must believe and be dedicated to what you represent. Question #2 – Can you stay the course? The greatest marketing system on earth requires you to take consistent actions to make it work and to have consistent behavior. Even when you don’t get immediate results. Consistent effort is required. Four steps to building the greatest marketing system on earth. Your Action Plan: 1. Building your list. 2. Starting the frequent contact with your list. 3. Maintaining a follow-up system – maintaining the frequent contact. 4. Reaping the harvest of your efforts in approximately 3 months. Your goal: A list of 250 people that really like you and want to work with you or refer their friends to you. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Step 1 – Building the list Many people think this is the difficult part because they don’t know 250 people. The secret is in the referral script – it’s how you ask for referrals. Your mind works by association. Begin by listing all of the sources you have for friends: Family
In-laws
Friends
Postal carrier
Relatives
Handyman
Your neighbors
Vendors
Churches, synagogues,
Past employers
mosques
Past employees
Parents of your kids
friends Centers of influence are where you begin looking for business friends. First, write out the places and categories to find these people. Then use your minds ability to associate these categories with specific names to generate the list of names. No filtering or editing, just brainstorm an unfiltered list of categories. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Next, begin associating specific names with each category: Kids friends parents Michelle & John Williams Susan and Will Riley Neighbors John Phillips Ken & Barbie Trout Past employees Vonee Greene Buster Elks This is why you must totally believe in your product or service. You are going to use your personal contacts to grow your business friends list. Don’t do this for some get rich scheme. Have a product or service that you are proud of. This is not a list of your best friends forever. These are only people that you know their name. Charlie at the towel desk at your gym might not be your best friend but he knows you and names like these go on the list. Same thing with the waitress that servers you lunch 2 or 3 times a week. 250 names is not that big of number. It seems like it at first but once you get started, you’ll see that it’s © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success like compound interest. The people on your original list will provide plenty of new names to add to your list. Eventually, you are going to organize and automate this list but for right now, just get them written down in categories based on your list of sources. You can handwrite them in a spiral notebook or type them into MSWord or WordPad on your computer. The important thing is to get the list started.
Why and How to Get People to Give You Referrals Start with people that you talk to regularly. Those you’re comfortable with. Why people give you referrals: 1. Because they like you. Here are common ways get them to like you. Make eye contact with them. Mirror their body position. Dress similarly to them. Match their conversation style, speed of talking, and
energy level. Be attuned if people are more visual or verbally orientated.
Do they say things like “I hear you” or “I can really visualize what you are saying”.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Smile as much as possible when appropriate. Their problem is your problem but your problem is not their
problem. Like = Trust = Willing to do business 2. People will refer you because they are smart and can demonstrate they have an inside track. They are helping others make the right decision. It validates their decision to accept you. 3. They want to help their family and friends and other people. Reasons people fail to get enough referrals: They ask the wrong way. They wait to long to ask. They ask infrequently.
When to ask for referrals When you first meet someone. When you do business with someone. When you meet someone, ask them: “If you had a friend that needed X, do you have a good person to refer them to?” Fill in the “X” with whatever you are doing: © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Solving people’s credit problems. Mortgage loan modifications. Real estate short sales Business start up consulting
If they say “Yes, my wife’s father does that”, just thank them and move on. Remember, there’s no selling yourself using the greatest marketing system on earth. If they say something like “No, not really.” Ask them if it’s okay to stay in occasional contact with them. Those are the two magic questions. If they say yes, you now have permission to stay in contact – to market to them. Get their contact information. Hand them your business card. Always have something handy to write down their contact information.
Getting Referrals When You Do Business with Someone Tell your customers two things. I get paid in two ways. 1. First is the reasonable fee that I charge. I do good work and I trust you’ll be pleased with the reasonable fee that I charge. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success 2. Second is getting referrals. It
I Love Referrals
shows you trust me. It really is another form of compensation because I work 100% by referrals.
“Will you have any difficulty referring me to people that you know if I’ve done a good job you or if I am doing a good job for you and you’re confident in me?” You’ll get a ton of referrals if you are clear that is part of how you get paid and it’s part of your relationship.
Testimonials Ask people for testimonials. They are a great source of reference. Ask them to put it on their letterhead and sign it. You put it in a quality plastic sleeve and into a quality binder. Show the binder to new customers' right at the beginning of the relationship. Explain that you will work hard for them and soon hope to have them write a similar letter – set the expectation upfront. It shows that you take pride in what you do. Ask for permission to post them on a website if you have one. You can scan the letter in or retype it. Keep a database of all your referrals. Those you use often and those you use less frequently – all of them. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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More Scripts You Need to Know Here’s exactly what to say to get people to give you the names and numbers of people they are willing to refer you to. “I work, just like you do, by referral. I’m sure you know someone who can use this information. Someone from your church, a neighbor, a family member. I’ll give them a call and see if I can help them.” “So, I’d like the names and phone numbers of 5 people that can use my service.” Often they’ll look at you and say something like: “You want me to give you referrals now?” You just say “yes” and wait. Almost every time, they’ll start giving you referrals. Either from their cell phone, or rolodex, or from their email contact list. Another good approach is: “I’m sure you know someone in today’s economy that needs help solving debt problems.” -or“I’m sure you know someone with an upside down mortgage that needs help convincing a lender to accept a short sale.” © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Whatever it is you do, assume they know others that need your service or product. Next, give them a way to associate the names. “Perhaps someone from your church, a neighbor, a family member, or someone you went to school with.” This makes them start thinking of actual people they can refer you to by name. Next, tell them that you’ll be giving them a call to see if you can be of help. And that you’ll be mentioning their name. “So, I’d like the names of about 5 people.” Between 80% and 85% of people will do it right there on the spot. What works great is that knowing you’ll be mentioning their name; they’ll often call those people ahead of time to let them know they referred them to you. Now you have two referrals. They gave you the name and number and they pretty much introduced you to the other 5 by calling to tell them to expect a call from you. It’s kind of a verbal testimonial before you make your call. After you get a name, ask for a little background information – “How do you know them and can I have their phone number?” © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Then Another Pregnant Question “And who else?” Silence while they think or get the information. Repeat the entire process, always ending with… “And who else?” Lots of people will give you many more than 5 names. Make sure you get permission to use their name. It shows respect. That script is probably the single most important information in this lesson. Memorize it and use it. It will work for you. You’ll get tons of referrals using that specific script. This script has been fine-tuned over the years. Changing the wording will almost certainly deliver less than the stellar results it already achieves. Rehearse it, and record it. Play it back. Try role-playing with a spouse or someone else. Just get it right.
Making the Referral Call Wait a day to give the person making the referrals time to call the people. Then you start your call with: “Hello Dave, I was referred to you by Jim Smith, your neighbor two doors down.” © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success It’s no longer a cold call. Tell them what you do. As the conversation gets rolling, remember to mirror their conversation, tone, and pace. Get permission to keep in touch and follow through occasionally. What you want to do is build rapport. Discuss what’s in the news, the positive side of the news, or if you are face to face with them, what’s in the room. Or the weather, sports – make small talk. If you have met through a common friend, you can inquire about them or an organization that you both have in common. Try to find something personal to discuss – but not too personal. Maybe their kids or a recent vacation. This can all vary depending on your age and their age. If they are 20 and you are 40, they might not have kids. And won’t be interested in yours. Maybe they're interested in the newest technology. If they’re 60, maybe they want to talk about their grandkids. Next, find out what they really want. Here are the words you need: “What do you do? “ “What do you like most about what you do?”
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success “If you could start over, knowing what you know now, what would your typical day be like?” Once they respond, your reply is – “really, tell me more”. You’re looking for their hot buttons. What do they want to
change? What are they willing to pay for? It reflects positively on you because you care and take the
time to get to know them. Keep them talking, the more they talk and the less you talk,
the more favorable impression you will make.
Introducing What You Do “I take people from having bad credit to being financially secure in as short of time as possible.” “I take people from bad teeth to a white smile.” “I take people from having an unpayable mortgage to a comfortably affordable mortgage. “ You should script your own statement in advance. Leave it a little mysterious. This encourages people to ask how you do that. “I take people from ______ to ______.” Tell them in a few sentences the highlights of what you do. Ask them to keep you in mind if they or anyone they know needs that kind of service.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success End by asking if you can keep in touch with them on an occasional basis. Practice all of these scripts with a spouse and recorder. You now have all of the golden words to build your list of 250 business friends that in turn give you access to all of their business friends. The next step is staying in contact with these valuable people on a regular basis.
Contacting and Managing Your Referral List With your process for gathering referrals now established, it’s time to turn to communicating with your business friends on a regular but not too frequent basis.
Your First Communication The first step is to enter each new person's contact information into your database – more on that shortly. The same day or the day after you have contact information, you need to make the first contact with your new referral. You want to send them a card through postal mail. Not email. Postal mail is much classier than email and much more personal in today’s highly technological world.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success There’s an awesome website that I highly recommend for this. I’m not talking about electronic cards but a website that let’s you customize real cards and they will snail mail them for you. The site is www.sendoutcards.com They have a large and nice selection of cards in easy to use categories. For your first contact with a new referral, you probably want to select something from the “Nice to Meet You” category or from “Thank You”. You definitely want to add a personal message – don’t use some canned, standard message. Remember, your not selling yourself. The message should be personal. Something like:
Hi Mike, It was truly a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to getting to know you better over the coming months and hopefully years. I take my friendships seriously so you can always count on me to help you in anyway that I can. One of the things that I most enjoy helping people with is solving there debt problems during these troubled economic times and getting those that need assistance back on solid financial ground. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Just let me know when I can be of help in anyway. I look forward to meeting you again soon, Richard The message doesn’t need to be long, it only needs to be personal. One great feature from www.sendoutcards.com is the ability to send them your handwriting sample and they can actually print your message in your own handwriting – fully automated after you send in the sample. Of course, one of the standard cursive fonts will do a nice job of personalizing the card also. Everything appears to be extremely personal although it’s automated and easy for you to accomplish. Another feature they provide is the ability to add a small gift. Seldom is this necessary the first time you make contact but it might come in useful down the road. A small gift can be a nice touch the first time an individual makes a referral to you. Or for a major lifetime event like the birth of a child in the family or a marriage or a major career achievement by the individual. A few other features of the site that you might be interested in are: The ability to store your favorite cards to use over and over
again. © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success A calendar and reminder system that notifies you of upcoming
events when you want to send out notes, send personal cards, or what ever your needs. An online contact manager to store and automate all of your
referral contacts if you don’t already have a system like Outlook, Act, Maximizer, or Goldmine. One thing that I should point out since I’m giving so many personal recommendations is that I don’t have any financial relationship with any of the products that I am recommending. They are my personal favorites – that’s all. Okay, let’s recap that first card that you’ll be sending out to each new referral you obtain: 1. Send a real card through the mail – no emails the first time. 2. Make it personal – no selling yourself. 3. Mentioning something they enjoy can be a good touch. 4. Do remind them what you do but without selling. 5. Offer to help in anyway you can. 6. Remind them that you’ll occasionally be in touch.
Managing Your List of Referrals Now that you have a list of 250 names, you’re going to need to manage it to get the most from it. I highly recommend going with an online contact management © 2011 Financial Success Institute. All rights reserved.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success software so that you can access it anytime you want. There are several good ones available and I’ve already mentioned a few. You need a simple rating system to keep track of those that are most able and willing to make referrals to you. Something as simple as A,B,C,D. A= Your biggest fans, those that truly want to help you at every opportunity. Of course, you need to reciprocate which is why you give then an A rating. B= Like you and will help you if you ask. Highly likely to have made referrals or will in the future. C= Not completely sure about you. Might be reluctant to help when needed. D= Deleted, someone that you don’t want to deal with after learning more about them, don’t want to be associated with them. Might being using unfair business practices or for another reason. You should have fewer As and Ds than Bs and Cs. The majority of the people on your list should be Bs and Cs. The objective is to sincerely convert the Bs into As and the Cs into Bs. Always searching out new referrals means you should always be adding to the B and C categories.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success
Backup Your List Often Back it up often and to multiple sources. Your list will quickly become one of your most valuable business assets. Protect it. First, back it up to a USB Flash Drive (thumb drive). You might even want to keep it on two thumb drives. One that’s easily accessible to you and another in a bank safe deposit drawer. Another good idea is to save it as an email attachment sent to a gmail or hotmail account. These email accounts reside on servers on the internet unlike most other email accounts that reside on your PC or Mac. Because they are on internet servers, they can be retrieved with any computer connected to the internet.
When to Make Contact First, stay in contact with all of the As, Bs, and Cs. Forget about the Ds. Whatever your reason, you’ve decide you don’t want a relationship with these people. You might even want to take a look if there is a common thread of where the Ds are coming from. Are they all coming from the same organization or from the same referral source? Probably not. But if they are, you might want to rethink your association with that referral source. For the As, Bs, and Cs, you want to send out personalized cards once a month. The real cards that we already discussed.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Once you have established a relationship with these people, you can send out an occasional email during the month, in between sending the real cards. Not too frequently but maybe one or two emails during the month. Remember – no selling, keep it personal. Maybe mention new developments in your field but no need to sell yourself. And don’t send the emails out as a mass mailing. Too impersonal along with the fact that it violates their privacy by you giving everyone access to everyone else’s email address – don’t do it. If you want to send a common message to people with common interests, you can write a form letter and send it individually after adding each person’s name to the top of the note and sending it individually to their email address. A more automated way of doing this is with an electronic tool called an autoresponder. You enter your list of names into the autoresponder and write your note following the autoresponder instructions. It will send a separate email to each person on the list and address it to them personally. If you’ve written your note well, each person perceives the email was sent personally to them. One of the most popular autoresponders is www.aweber.com And make telephone calls. Each week, you want to call 50 of the 250 people on your list. That’s only 10 short calls each day.
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Just make small talk. Let them know you want to stay in touch. Talk about the news or sports or the weather. Always pick positive subjects to discuss and stay away from controversial subjects. Tell them true stories about how you helped someone out in a
big way. Ask if there is anything you can do to help them out. Leave a voicemail message if you don’t get a hold of them
personally. Try to be entertaining – people like to be entertained. Send a funny picture with the cards or in an email. Be personable. Big tip: tell them about your business in bite size chunks. Not selling but rather little bits of facts and interesting information about what is going on with you and the field you are in.
When You are Ready to Ask for Business A time will come when it’s appropriate to ask for business advice or for some type of assistance. This will probably be from the people you rated as A but it could be the way to nudge a B up to an A – it’s your judgment call. Here’s a script to get the conversation started: “I want to run some ideas by you. Some new ideas about how to get people out of debt. I hope they work for you and you believe in them and can take some positive action."
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success "But if not, no hard feelings. I promise you, I’ll be on my way and we’ll still be friends. Agreed?” If you build your list, follow the scripts you’ve learned in this lesson, and follow the methods given to you – in a few short months, you’ll be as busy as you can possibly be.
You now have everything you need to succeed in your new career. I want to congradulate you on completing the course and wish you the very best with your FRESH START TRUST and BUSINESS!
Your “Assignment” for This Module Read and familiarize yourself with the additional materials provided with this lesson. There is important information in those documents that you will want to know before promoting your business. Specifically, you want the advantages that come from conducting a SWOT analysis. You also want to develop your USP before you go any further with your marketing plan. Provide detailed answers to the Marketing Mix questions posed in this lesson. It's the place to start your marketing plan. Begin building your referral marketing list with the very next person that you meet. Send any questions or comments about the material to: [email protected]
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Lesson #5 - How to Market Your Business Into a Huge Success Keep your eye on your inbox, because you won’t want to miss the eye-opening tips, tricks and secrets coming your way soon!
Richard Geller Publisher, Fresh Start Trust P.S. Be sure to review all of the materials that are included with this curriculum package. You should have received three other files: 1. Fresh Start Trust Module 5 – Checklist 2. Fresh Start Trust Module 5 – SWOT Analysis 3. Fresh Start Trust Module 5 - Creating Your USP
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