Ethical bribes, but still a bribe.

The hypsters out there will tell you that you don’t need to incent people to buy… they will just be attracted by your positive energy or incredible products and will whip out their credit cards for the pleasure to do business with you.

Realists will show you proof that plan is a sure-fire way to failure.

There was a great article I just read in the Huffington Post about a home owner who got FED UP with their realtor lack of results. Most realtors have that hope, wish and meditate on a sale until it happens BS. That’s why 97% of realtors out there make less than the waitress at your local diner.

…which is exactly the type of realtor this home owner was stuck with.

Since JUNE(!) they have had 3 showings of their home.

Less than one a month. Yikes – that is not how you sell a house.

So instead of listening to the renegade-realtor-who-does-things-oh-so-different, they took things into their own hands.

Right across the street was “Grandpas Bar & Grill” – a favorite watering hole for the neighborhood minglers.

And Grandpas place would be a friendly place to eat and drink for anyone who bought this house for sale.

The frustrated home owner had a brilliant insight and offered out of her own pocket a $1,000 bar tab at Grandpas!

Flipping brilliant.

Did it work?

A 300% increase in showings since her new promotion hit the street!

So it worked – not their wonderfully brilliant realtor just has to do half what they are paid to do…close the deal.

“We live in a place where restaurants and bars come within walking distance so we thought this was a way to cross-promote the neighborhood and our homes.”

How does this relate to you?

I hope you can see where I am going with this… if not, you need more help than I can provide )

Here are the lessons to be learned:

* Wishing and praying won’t build your business – YOU have to build your business.

* Look for complimentary businesses, products and services you can bundle in with your own products or services.

* Think outside of the basement here – how often have you seen something like this in your city? I doubt if you have ever seen a $1000 bar tab with home purchase offer before. Why not? It makes sense! Or a $1,000 restaurant gift. Or a $1,0000 maid service. Or a $1,000 credit towards movers. When you are selling a home worth a few hundred thousand dollars, a grand out of your own pocket isn’t going to kill you, or the deal. If you are selling a product or service worth $200 – a $50 gift certificate is worth it (especially when you factor in repeat business from the client once you get them into your marketing funnel – right?)

* The economy is still sluggish and people are not spending like they used to – so you had better think up some very innovative ways to get them to notice you, over the hundreds/thousands of others trying to get inside their wallets also.

* Many realtors are clueless when it comes to marketing your home – so pick and choose wisely. See if you can find one who has at least studied SOME direct marketing. It won’t be easy to find (I’ve looked)…but snag one if you find one.

This was a great example of an average everyday homeowner who got fed up with dismal results and took it into their own hands.

Not only have they tripled their prospects…

…the got MASSIVE media attention from this (Huffington Post, NBC Chicago, Sun Times, to name a few). That alone is worth a fortune for both the home owner and for Grandpa’s bar!

Last – she got over the hoping and praying phase that her realtor would perform for her – and she took ACTION to do it herself.

This is a very recent story, so we will have to wait and see how effective it is… but with 300% more prospects to talk to, odds are VERY good someone will buy soon (and they will have a hell of a good story to tell their friends and family about this home they bought which was in all these newspapers!)

Now get busy.

Troy

PS: We are just getting ready to launch the new and improved Cash Flow Calendar for 2012 – 15 months of done-for-you, pre-written marketing campaigns, and a TON of money making tools that you haven’t seen here before.

Watch for it.

In the meantime, there are a number of solutions here to help you grow your sales if they are slow http://www.blog.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/on-line-store/

Does your marketing look like it's buried in the clutter?

11  important rules you need to stick to if you want to succeed in your marketing:

1)      The purpose of your marketing is NOT to showcase your brand, your logo, (it does not need

to be for them to buy something, as it can be for them to take some kind of action like visiting a web page to get something for free)

2)      You MUST learn how to create compelling offers that get them to take those actions.

3)      Each of the marketing campaigns you launch will consist of a minimum of 3 steps.  In other words, when communicating with your clients and prospects, you must send at least 3 different pieces to them in order to call it a properly designed campaign (and one that will actually work and help you achieve goal #1 from above)

4)      No more cutesy sayings and vague one-liners that say and do nothing that take you closer to goal #1. Again, a cute radio ad is useless if it doesn’t generate you leads or make you money.

5)      You will learn how to become a more natural writer, and use those skills to further build on goal #1

6)      Your personality in your marketing is your greatest asset. Don’t hide the fact that you are a real live person, like most business owners do. They try and mask the size of their company… pretending to be a big company.  Putting your face and personality front and center in all your marketing will do more for your sales than anything else you do.

7) Effective advertising rarely looks like advertising.

8)      Effective advertising stops your ideal customer in their tracks and literally forces them to start reading your ad.

9)      Effective advertising always has some form of tracking mechanism in place so you know exactly if it is working, or not.

My first few years into copywriting, I had logged 2,000 hours of writing and studying from the masters (I tracked my hours).

Since discovering this thing called copywriting, I have a whole new world in front of me.  I see why most businesses struggle.  I see why people think marketing doesn’t work. I see why most people think advertising is a waste of money. And I see why some companies go on and accomplish amazing things in record time.

I have had the privilege to work with some incredible people, from all over the world. Movie stars. Bestselling authors. Public speakers. Inventors.  Real estate investors and developers.  Information publishers.  All said and done, there are probably 35+ industries I have helped now.  And have made them millions and millions of dollars in short periods of time.

Why do I share this with you? Because just 7 years ago I had no idea what marketing was or how it worked.  Today, I am an internationally-known entrepreneur who has helped thousands of people turn their businesses around.  Every week, my articles go out to thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners spanning the globe.  And I absolutely love seeing the look in a client’s eye when they hit their first grand slam in marketing. The pay doesn’t hurt either.

If I can do it, so can you.  I failed English in high school and university.  But I quickly discovered that real marketing doesn’t care about proper grammar.  As you will see in this article, real marketing breaks many of the rules of proper English.

Yet it works… and the results speak for themselves.

 

 

I LOVE your comments… good and bad.  Let me know what I can do to help you grow your business faster and more profitably.

Troy

Why?

Because ‘everyone’ is NOT online.

Because ‘everyone’ do NOT prefer email to print mail.

Because ‘everyone’ is not on Facebook and Twitter.

There is a huge opportunity to leverage the dinosaurs we call our postal service into your marketing.

And the United States Postal System just figured out one of Canada Post’s little secrets.

Yes, for many years now, astute marketers were using Unaddressed Admail in Canada. Direct to the door mail for 11.9 cents per household.

Fantastic for lead generation!

But until recently, the USPS didn’t have a service that would work like Canada Posts Unaddressed Direct Mail tools.

…Until now…

What it means to everyone is that there are now more options south of the 49th parallel.

And it also means it is TIME to get serious about using this tool.

If you need help – let me know.

If you want a webinar around this – let me know.

This is a fantastic tool for geo targeting of your prospects and clients.

Hope you are using it!!

Let me know your thoughts.

(I also have a product called Direct Mail Detox
that you will find helpful for generating QUALIFIED leads)

Troy

PS: I should also share the fact that I have seen some incredible results using this next-to-free direct mail tool. One client in a very competitive, commodity type business used a flier I did up and we used Unaddressed Admail to businesses – and got an incredible 12:1 return on their investment. Another sold a number of high end home products (average price of each piece if $800) for a whopping $300 investment in mailing and postal services.

This is a great way to find leads and make sales. Definitely worth your time to test.

I have been active in martial arts for years – but got out of it a number of years prior when I broke an ankle (not broken in martial arts – broke it jumping out of the back of a truck with sandals on – not smart).

Since then, the weight was adding up and I was really missing my martial arts.

But I didn’t want to go back to the place I used to.

Why?

- it was too rough for 6 year olds – it was Kickboxing and Muay Thai which is quite hard for 6 yr olds

- their teachers were more ring fighters than teachers for kids (Team Canada trained there – and they won 90% of their battles across the world as the training was excellent)

- they only offered 1 kids-only class per week

So, off I went in search of a new school.

This time though, the girls (my daughters) got to pick. At that age, it is tough to keep them interested – so I had to make sure the school and teacher were going to be a good fit for them.

The first couple places we went to were awful – nasty teachers with no real concept of being a decent human being towards children. While I understand the need for discipline in martial arts – there is a point where you draw the line and say enough is enough.

Critical, downright nasty statements out of the teacher was enough to scare the girls, and me, away.

Then we found Master Yu.

He has some excellent marketing techniques in use here:

1) by appointment only. No dropping in to see what they are doing – you must book an appointment and stick to your appointment (they called 2 times before to make sure we would be there)

2) must bring kids and myself – not just me as he wanted to meet the kids to see if THEY would be a good fit – turning the tables on us, in essence

3) he let them try some lessons – and made it easy and fun

4) he showed them all the other kids in his regular classes (kids have 4 classes a week – plus 3 family classes they could go to as well). NOTE: he has (on average) 30-35 kids per class – a sign he is doing something right.

5) he explained how they can get different colored belts

6) he refused to let us sign up for less than a year (too easy to quit after a month or two – give it a year and you are hooked)

7) he charges a big premium over others

8 ) has a print monthly newsletter

9) he caters to his ideal client (the kids) – make it comfortable for them and fun – and they are customers for years to come – AND, ultimately, he can get their parents in as well!

And, YES, he did get us all in – and took a sizable donation out of my bank account!

The girls LOVE the class (once they are there anyhow, they give me grief getting there, but once there they have a blast! There are also 2 other identical twin girls in the class about the same age, which definitely helps).

And I love it as well! Lost some weight already… that in itself is great for a month. My classes are great – during the lunch hours there are only a few people in the classes so I end up getting some excellent one-on-one training with blackbelts.

The big lessons I took from his marketing systems:

1) YOU, the business owner, should be the one setting the
rules for your clients – if they want to do business with
you, it is on your terms, not theirs

2) DO NOT make yourself too accessible – make them work to
do business with you (Dan Kennedy preaches this one
religiously)

3) give a test run – something free they can try – then they
can decide if it is for them

4) make the decision hard enough on the price point, but
with ample reasons why a premium price is better

5) constant communication with students (and, in this case,
their parents)

6) explain all the different offerings (belts) and what it
means to you personally

7) definitely NOT competing on price – a no-win battle – the
market for upper end products and services is THE FASTEST
GROWING market segment in North America.

Overall, I am really enjoying the martial arts – and in watching a master marketer at work! And of course, I will be finding a way to offer him additional marketing help in trade (got to always be looking for opportunities!)

Find a few ways to make these lessons work for your business…

Troy

PS: I also wrote and article about my experiences getting my black belt in Tae Kwon Do and you can read that article here (some great business lessons to be learned! this is also the reason for my Marketing Dojang program.)

At the time, it was great.  Out in the sun all day… making good coin… and no one watching over me (Don usually showed up at the start of the job then the end of it, with instructions for the next one).

Little did I know that this little “side job” would turn in my first sold entrepreneurial experience…

…and one of the BEST sales lessons I ever had the privilege to learn.

After painting houses for the year after graduation, and learning that being the painter wasn’t my life time aspiration… I decided school wasn’t all that bad.

So I squeaked in to the University of Calgary Bachelor of Commerce program (with the dismal grades I had back then – I wouldn’t have a chance these days… probably would have given the admissions staff a good laugh though if I did apply with my 49% in Physics and my 52% in English  (I excelled in Mechanics though, another aspiration I had when I was young – think I had a 89% or something like that in Mechanics – about the minimum overall grade you need now to get into school).

During my University days, in between parties, I found myself actually needing to eat (something other than barley). So off I went in search of a job – ugly jobs too.

Then I heard about this company called College Pro Painters.

Painting – I know how to do that! Off I went to their office to see what this was all about.  There I met with the general manager to see what they had to offer me.

This binder made me a bundle!

OWN A FRANCHISE?

I wasn’t thinking along those lines at first – but my dreams of mega riches from my new franchise glittered in my eyes – so I signed up and became a College Pro Painters Franchise Owner.

It was the smartest thing I had ever done!

Fortunately, I didn’t need to learn much about painting – - they even asked me to teach their new painters how to paint properly.

But I did need to learn more about management and door to door sales.

One of the ways we got painting contracts was door knocking.  Selling $2,000+ paintjobs by knocking on peoples doors… what a new world I had opened up!

Cold calling by door knocking was definitely not an easy thing… but damn I got good at it!  I could knock on enough doors on a Saturday to book myself up for a months worth of work.  Then I found out that all the other franchise owners hated door knocking… I smelled opportunity.

They hated it – I loved it – and I was good at it.

So they paid me to go out and get them leads – - – and I could easily make $300 or $400 knocking on doors for a day (back then, this seemed like a small fortune!).

So one day a month I would do my leads – another day I would do leads for them… it worked out great.  Looking back, I have to wonder what amazing things I really could have done in the lead generation field using direct mail.  I could have supplied the entire crew of franchise owners with leads – and not have had to knock on a single door!

That was one of many exceptional lessons I took away from owning a College Pro Franchise

I don’t see them around as much anymore, but they had some incredible systems in place that explain why they got so big so fast.

1)   They sold territory-exclusive opportunities for entrepreneurial minded college kids. We each had an area we could sell and paint in – and no one else was allowed to cross the boundary (I busted one other franchise owner painting in my area once – yikes did he get in some serious doo doo).

Question for you: Is there any way you can limit who buys from you based on city, location within the city, line of work they are in, etc?  When you create a more tightly defined niche to sell to, your sales process will be easier (everyone wants what they can’t have… and from the buyers side it is much easier to make a decision when you know they are trying to sell to someone with your experience and knowledge).  What smaller markets can you focus your marketing on?   (note: watch for something along this line that I am going to be discussing in  an upcoming article)

2)   They trained us to use systems in everything that we did. We used sales scripts for door knocking (which I modified to suit my style and which got me more leads). We used sales scripts for how we did the quotes. We had systems and forms we used for the actual presentation of the pricing (and a script to follow). We used picture books to show work we had done (proof). We were backed by a major corporation and told everyone that (further proof). We were taught how to pay our crews of painters (I had 8 painters in 4 crews that I managed)… how to teach them to paint… how to manage them… and how to keep them happy.

Question for you: What parts of your business should be scripted more or put into a better system?  I am reorganizing much of my own lead generation system and sales system they go through right now. Have you put yours on paper?  Why not?  It is one of the biggest areas you can see the holes, and implement immediate improvements that grow your business and profits.

3)   We used multi-media sales tools for those who answered the door (cold calling) and for those who didn’t. You will see below one of the very friendly forms we used to leave with people.  Note the flow… headline, subheads with explanation, guarantees, specific numbers (95% satisfaction), order form (with the infamous YES! copy),  checkboxes with choices (from best option to worst), a form with ample room to write on, mailing instructions (self-mailer they can instantly pop in the mail to get the requested information).  It does pack a lot in the little space it uses.

Question for you: Are you pulling out all the stops to make sure you stay in front of those who show immediate action, and with those who don’t?  I am revamping my entire sales and marketing funnel right now – when it is taken apart and re-organized – it’s amazing how many holes you will find in the system. One of the best things you could do is draw out on paper your entire sales system from lead to sale, then from sale to repeat sale right through to what you will do when a customer hasn’t bought in XX months.  This is a GREAT time of year to be doing this in planning for the new year.

The lowly flier... one of my most powerful tools when done right

4)   We had the ‘branded’ look and feel. From the shirts we wore – awful bright yellow things they were(!), to the clipboards we used, to the truck I drove (I have been trying to find some photos I had of that beauty!  Imagine a BRIGHT yellow Toyota pickup with College Pro on the doors, a MONSTER room rack that could hold, and was usually stacked with 10 or 20 ladders, bottoming out on the back from all the paint in the back, and pushing some serious blue smoke everywhere I went (sorry Al Gore).)  All the painters wore the t-shirts – all invoices and business cards were branded. We look real professional – and it paid off in the number of contracts I got signed.

Question for you: Are you consistent in your look and feel?  Do prospects and customers alike know who they are dealing with? Either you as the owner can be the brand you show, or your company name (if designed to tell them what you do right in the name, unless you have a multi-million dollar budget to sell people on a name that means nothing).  This is another piece I am re-inventing for the new year – something too few of us marketing through the internet pay as much attention to as we should.

5)   We had FUN!  From the houseboat trips all the franchise owners would take (from what I recall, there were some copious amounts of alcohol drank by all, sitting out on the lake in our houseboat), to the pizza nights with the painters, to the annual awards banquet (I won Most improved Rookie of the year my second year in the franchise).  It was one of the most memorable things I have ever done – and the skills learned there have been invaluable in my future businesses (unlike the skills learned in my University Marketing classes, which are pretty much useless in the real world of small business).

You may even recall my practical joke story I wrote not long ago about my fun days at College Pro?

Question for you: What are you doing to have fun with your clients, your prospects and your employees and partners?  What could you be doing?  For example, this December, I am hosting the Wild West Christmas Bash (www.WildWestChristmasBash.com) – a free nighttime event for clients and prospects to come out, network, have some fun and learn a few things about growing their business.  It is my first annual – so I will let you know how it goes.  The cartoons I have been using for the past year in my marketing of the Wild West Wealth Summit (affiliate link) have been very well received and people comment on them frequently.

6)   Direct sales was mandatory. We had to report in on a weekly basis how many cold call leads we had generated – basically forcing us to get off our butts and create sales – or hire someone else to do it for you.  This really made us ger serious – we had to be serious as we had some serious (22%) royalties to pay on sales!

Question for you: When was the last time you picked up the phone and CALLED some customers or prospects?  See firsthand what they are thinking and what is holding them back from buying more and more often.  Many times it takes the simple things in life for the big breakthroughs we all seek.

College Pro was a fabulous learning experience for me back then, and it still continues to teach me things as I reflect back on what happened over those summers.

I hope you take note and try a few of the things discussed here.

Troy

PS: You can still snap up my Mother Days Madness special… the weather
still stinks here so the special stands for now

http://www.blog.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/making-the-most-of-unexpected-events-in-business/

Except in this case!

People even get married there.

Believe it or not, their clients are so happy with the store and service, they have been married there (granted, they did meet there, but that has to be a first I’ve heard of).

Why are they so successful?

Their motto: “The little convenience store that could”

Some specifics:

• Coffee can’t sit for more than 20 minutes (WHAT? No more sludge?)

• Motivate employees using non-monetary means. They receive average pay, but they mobilize the hearts and heads of employees, and create a true pride in brand.

• Create wawa holics

• Make the customers feel part of the community (that sounds early like they practice good customer service).

• They are more than a convenience store in their customer’s eyes. They are a place where people know their name (from the website – Wawa has been called the “Cheers” of convenience stores by our loyal customers)

• Good service, good foods and drinks

• Its own line of ice cream (most probably a white label brand – which any and every business can do)

• They have sports pools on their websites (that is some rabid fans they are collecting there)

• Their own branded Visa card (plus you get 10% off anything if you use that card)

• Their CEO has a blog! Nothing revolutionary there – but good business practice.

• Celebrities write about them. Erin Hannon, Dunder Mifflin’s receptionist, on the hit NBC television show The Office even wrote an ode to WAWA.

There is an entire marketing lesson both on their website and in thinking about what they have done.

Turning a commodity type service into a leading edge empire is not a simple thing.

But their techniques are quite simple?

How could they apply to your business?

How could their vision apply to what you offer your clients?

Wawa’s vision is “to simplify our customers’ daily lives.”

How can you not only simplify your clients lives, how can you help them share YOUR story with their friends, family and business associates?

Give them a GREAT story to tell… that’s how!

PS: WAWA is actually a funny kind of a name that has a definhite ring to it. Did you know that Wawa is a Native American word for the Canada goose that lives in the Delaware Valley? Me neither… until now.

“A new survey among 1,237 affluents shoppers about their online shopping habits found that gift ideas and gift shopping is the second most popular reason they turn to the internet.”

and…

“The affluent shopper are the heavy lifters in the consumer economy. They make up only 20 percent of households, but account for more than 40 percent of all consumer purchases and more than 50 percent of all income and earnings. Where they shop, what they buy, how much they spend is critically important for marketers targeting customers at all price ranges at retail,” says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the upcoming book entitled Putting the Luxe Back in Luxury (Paramount Market Publishing, early 2011).

Affluent clients can improve your business profitability fast, but you have to know what you are doing.

Using the age-old technique of ‘faking-it-till-you-make-it’ doesn’t work here.

You must know exactly who you are selling to, and how best to sell to them (meaning they stay clients for years, even decades, to come – and they refer all their best contacts to you as well).

This is a specific area of interest to me as I am working for clients in a couple different niches that target the affluent.

2 other great resources I am reading, and recommend you do as well are:

- The Art of Selling to the Affluent, by Matt Oechsli
- Mass Affluence, by Paul Nunes and Brian Johnson

First, don’t over complicate this… the principles of marketing to the affluent are, in many ways, no different than marketing to the general population.

One of the best sources of tips and techniques for treating people right is the class, How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (also the headline of his blockbuster advertisement).

Here are just 3 of the principles from his book that apply to anyone you converse with, market to, or want to get to know:

* First, arouse in the person an eager want. He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way.

* Always talk in terms of the other persons interests

* Make the other person happy to do what you suggest

Not exactly rocket science, but so little focus is put on this by most of the businesses and sales people you see out there today.

In order to sell and market to the affluent, here are a few principles to run your business by:

(1) Don’t tell them about your product or service (and how great it is) – SHOW THEM. This is one demographic that will hold you VERY accountable to your promises and claims. So do not try and impress them with your big words or name-dropping… they don’t care.

What they care about the proof that you deliver on what they want. They care about the help you give them (before the sale), they care about your attention to details, and they care about the way you carry yourself in your business.

(2) If you run a service type of business, or they come to visit you in your office… practice your hospitality skills. Do not make them wait (pretending you are too busy to see them). Great them at the door (yes you, not your receptionist). Offer them tea – and do NOT serve it in a Styrofoam cup. Do not tell crass jokes or show off all the war-wounds you got at the rock concert you were at last night – be a professional.

Yes it sounds simple, but you’d be amazed how few people practice the simple things!

(3) One-stop-shopping. Never pass the buck to others when you are dealing with affluent clients. Always be the front person for anything and everything they need (within reason, of course). Put together a response team that fulfills the things you need done – but have you as the person that fields the requests from them. If you cannot do it yourself, make sure you have a top notch team in place that understands how to deal with the affluent, and how to be a professional on the phone.

[Note: in many cases, additional services should be provided free to your clients, unless it was agreed on early in your dealings. Few, if any, will take real advantage of you – rather the opposite – they will gladly send their friends to you if they know you are there for them, no matter what]

(4) Provide Ritz-Carlton Service with FedEx Efficiency (a phrase coined in Richistan). They want you to pamper them – every single time they see you. Explain to them every nuance of your business, how you deal with your clients, what they can expect from you, and what you expect from them. They will want to know how you make your money, and what they get in return for paying you the big dollars.
Now, how do you actually get to the affluent prospects you so dearly want as clients?

At times they will find you – but don’t count your livelihood on that.

1) You CAN find, and market, to them via advertisements, direct mail, and targeted prospecting. The numbers of those who fall into the definition of ‘affluent’ is growing. Depending on the source, ‘affluent’ typically starts with a minimum liquid net worth of $1 million dollars (not counting primary real estate holdings).

That said, the absolute best way to get to, and win over, the affluent client is through networking and word of mouth. You must do your research and find out where they frequent (private golf clubs, spas, private fitness clubs, associations, philanthropic events, theatre, etc.)

2) Plan your week properly. Marketing is a numbers game – the more marketing you do, the faster you grow your business. Every Sunday night, plan out exactly how many affluent prospects you need to meet, and then plan out exactly how you are going to do that this week.

Remember, when you are out meeting prospects, you are not there to sell them anything, other than to show them you are a genuine person, and that their best interests are front and centre.

3) Set up your prospecting plan. Design a 3 and 6 month marketing calendar that will lead you down the right path to meeting your objectives. Be specific here, and reasonable. If you cannot commit to 3 networking functions a week – don’t put it on your plan. Leverage all your team members as much as possible to make sure your marketing tools get implemented on time, and on budget.

4) Design your web page to appeal to this demographic. Not the place for a plane jane website with a white background and text only. What should you have on your site, and how should it look?

First thing you need to do is get busy on your research – which sites do your ideal affluent clients frequent? What parts are common among the top 5 sites they frequent? Make sure you look like you belong in the same league as the others they are used to visiting.

Some of the things that you need to cover on your site: no fancy, blinking lights type of sites, instant connection to customer service, ease of ordering (or next step, like filling out a simple request form – again, not asking too much of them the first point of contact), and make sure you have a secure site for their information – AND that they know it is a secure site for their personal information (one of their biggest concerns online).

Some things you can consider when designing your new marketing strategies for this market:

• How would you describe your ideal customer or client? Age, sex, work, family, hobbies, etc?
• Thinking ahead, what is the ideal relationship you have with your clients? How do you communicate with them? How often? How do they approach you? Remember, plan this for your ideal business… then build your business to match your goals.
• What do your ideal clients (or should they) value most about what you sell, and how you sell it?
• What do they value most that you do not presently offer to them? How could you offer it to them? What changes do you need to make?
• If you wanted someone else to act as your front-person, how would they describe your business to your ideal client? What, exactly, would they say? How would they describe the value you provide? How would your ideal client describe the value you provide to their friends and associates?

Some facts for you to consider (The Art of Selling to The Affluent):

- 72.2 percent of the affluent are married with children (either still at home or moved out).
- On average they work 60 hours a week
- 22.4% worked their way into the affluent group through their own business, 25.9% are self-employed professionals, and 44.9% come from the salaried or commissioned employee role (with only 0.6% of them coming from inherited money)
- Only 20.4% said that their bank was helpful with their cash management needs.
- 65.5% said that opinions of immediate family members and trusted friends had significant impact on where they start looking and researching their purchase.

Lots to consider here… but the end results are well worth it.

Plan your strategies to target more of an affluent client. Design your business around them, and what they want. Then implement on a massive scale.

The numbers are there – and they are more than willing to spend their money with you (remember, price is the least important decision making factor in this demographic). This is one of the fastest and easiest way to build your long-term profitability.

By living, playing and working with the affluent – it only makes sense that you too become one of them… right?

So get busy!

To your success,

Troy White

PS: I am compiling a new report on marketing to the affluent. If you sell to upper income people, please let me know, I would love to interview you. If you know others who sell to the affluent, please leave a comment below so I can interview them as well. Thx.

PPS: If you want to get much better at marketing to the affluent and writing with a passion, here is a brand new Monster Mailman Bundle for you:

(1) Sales Letter Success Class – a content packed event I put on for getting more results from your marketing.
– complete with pdf transcripts and 3 mp3s on how to write more effectively and persuasively

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(especially highly competitive industries). Includes positioning ideas, testing ideas, 1-2-3 blueprints for
marketing success, lead generation ideas, etc).

(3) My Cosmo Headline Swipe file in pdf – pure GOLD. These headlines have sold millions upon millions of magazines… every week.
Imagine what they can do to build your business!

(4) Story worthy desires that motivate people and keep them reading – in pdf

(5) Marketing and joint venture secrets for small businesses – mp3

(6) Story Selling Bonus Book

(7) The 31k Course – this will get you cranking out content for the next 31 days. Daily ideas to spark your writing genius and get you cranking out content you can use forever. Articles, blog posts, campaigns and Facebook updates – all of them you will uncover with this gem of a course.

Note – all of these are digitally delivered to you right away.

$49 for all of them – and amazing deal for getting your writing cranked up and your customer relationships at a new high.

Plus, if you use these systems and don’t make at LEAST 100 times your money back in the coming year – let me know and I will refund your money. $49 in and $4900 out – talk about a great return!

Get your Monster Mailman Bundle Here

Have a great weekend and keep on writing!

Troy

A couple quick examples show why stories are so important to build into your marketing:

A young couple from Canada had developed a very healthy cereal with a combination of chia, hulled hemp seeds, buckwheat, apples, cranberries, raisins and cinnamon.

Who doesn’t need a good healthy start to the day… right?

Well… it sounds good in theory… but what they quickly found was that rational reasons to buy weren’t enough.

They originally called their cereal HapiFoods… not exactly a sexy sounding name… but they still sold 10 bags or so online the first day in business.

As soon as people started receiving and trying their cereal, they noticed a trend that changed everything.

“… people were calling and saying, ‘Holy crap, this is great’” said Corin Mullins, one of the founders. Brian, the other partner involved picked up on this and made a quick decision… “let’s change the name to Holy Crap for the summer and see what happens”.
“We put it online and the first day it was Holy Crap, I sold over 100 bags,” said Corin. “It was the exact same recipe.”

1,000% increase in sales with changing the name

So they are off to the races and were put on the Dragons Den show in Canada (same as the Sharks Den in the US). Their flavorful cereal was snapped up by one of the Dragons immediately, and their sales went through the roof:

The deal was the fastest struck in the history of Dragons’ Den, said producer Molly Duignan. “[Jim Treliving] hadn’t even finished sampling the product and he basically made an offer.”

Orders for the cereal have been rolling in, jumping from an average of 10 a day to 10 every minute.

Over 5,800 online orders have been placed since Dragons Den, said Corin Mullins. Demand has been so great that the Mullinses hired five new employees. They even had to turn down NBC’s Today Show as the demand would have crippled their ability to supply.

Lesson learned?

Change your name!!

If a product isn’t moving as well as it should – try a new, more exciting name. In this case their customers handed them the perfect name on a silver platter. Other times it isn’t quite so easy. Sometimes you should be testing new names and new niche marketing ideas for products that DO already sell well.

Never know when you’ll find a winner.

But a product name is no different than a headline – a good name can and will see substantially more products or services. An attendee at one of my workshops told me she renamed her massage service to a 61 Minute Vacation and her sales immediately went through the roof. Same service – new name – HUGE boost in sales.

Try it out and test a new name out for a month or two. Market it to new people and see what the demand is like. You never know when you will find a winner and see a 1,000% increase in sales with a simple re-branding.

How about some cat poop with your coffee?

Did you see the movie… the Bucket List with Jack Nicholson? Well, one of the to-do items on the list was a drink of Kopi Luwak coffee. Cat poop coffee is basically what it is – and it is a HOT seller (steaming hot? Kidding).

The Wild Cicvik in Thailand is where the ‘beans’ come from for this coffee and it is an extremely rare (and expensive) type of coffee.

The Cicvik eats a certain type of wild cherry, passes it through, and the seeds are pulled out of the remains and used as the basis for this coffee.

Dubbed the most expensive coffee in the world, it recently arrived in Calgary, where I live. The coffee shop selling it loves the media attention this new addition is getting. They are almost sold out of the $25 a cup delight… and the residual business they are gaining by this will help them pay their bills for months, maybe years to come.

Notice something though?

In both of these cases, they have an interesting story that people want to hear.

They find their most important story (or title… or headline).

They master their story.

They share their story.

Sometimes they have to try new names, headlines, promises or guarantees to find the signature story.

Other times they have to look outside for new, innovative or controversial products they can sell as part of their story mix.

Both work… and both are just as feasible for you and I.

A new year is almost upon us, and there has never been a better time to step up and try doing more things that position you differently, more controversial, or just more weird.

People LOVE a good story… and are willing to pay for it.

If people are lining up to pay $25 to drink Cat Poop coffee… don’t you think there might be some kind of product or service out there that you can add to your marketing mix and position yourself as THE business to watch?

Of course!

For the new year (and even your holiday promotions), try bundling your products differently with a unique new name, and try adding in something that bumps your price up, and gives your customers a GREAT story they can share with their friends and family.

Never know when it will be your next big winner!

To your success,

Troy White

PS: This was originally written for Clayton Makepeace‘s blog, which I write the Small Business Mastery column every Thursday

This simple strategy works in every possible industry and country imaginable.

It will boost your credibility.

You will experience an influx of high-quality prospects, which are typically ready to buy at higher prices.

It adds an immediate cash flow stream.

It builds your database.

And it will most definitely make you one of the most credible in your niche.

What is it?

The simple printed book.

Before you go running off complaining about how you have no time to write a book, hear me out. The type of book I am talking about will take a small amount of your time, and is easy to put together.

…My first experience in this world began six years ago. I met a gentleman named Steven E. at an event and first heard his idea of
co-authoring a book with him. All I had to do was contribute a single chapter in the book telling my story.

This was the second time he had done this, and this one was going to be their first best-seller.

It was an honor to have my name listed next to Dr. Wayne Dyer, Mark Victor Hanson, John Assaraf … even Lou Ferrigno of “Incredible Hulk” fame.

The book was compiled and printed in what seemed like record time. We did the Amazon campaign that got the Wake Up… Live The Life You Love book #1 in a number of categories and my new life as an author began.

============================
My next experience began on a call
with the legendary Ted Nicholas.
============================

I was fortunate to get the chance to work with him on a few projects and learned an incredible amount from a man that has sold billions using direct response marketing.

On one of our conference calls, someone asked Ted a question that caused him to hesitate. What he said next inspired me to create
my own book. Ted mentioned one thing that he credited with his success, yet said that he didn’t like to talk about it much.

To me … this was GOLD.

Something so powerful it was responsible for his success, yet he didn’t want to talk about it? I knew there was something big
here.

============================
So I hatched a plan for my own book …
and Entrepreneurial Spirits was born.
============================

Based on the conversation with Ted, I knew this was something other successful people had in common, and I was determined to
bring it out into print.

So I developed a series of 5 questions and started asking people I already knew.

Ted Nicholas agreed to be in the book.

Joe Sugarman agreed.

John Assaraf agreed.

Joe Vitale agreed.

It took on a life of its own and, next thing I knew, 52 successful people from all over the world had agreed to contribute to the book.

Entrepreneurial Spirits was compiled quickly and put in print in the matter of a couple months … and I continue to reap the rewards from that simple idea.

============================
a couple years ago … it happened again.
============================

I was asked to be in a book called Money Making Marketing For Canadian$. There was no hesitation at all … I knew how simple it was and how powerful it worked.

So I invested four, maybe five hours on my chapter and sent it in.

The book came out not long after.

Surprise surprise … I quickly landed a very nice five-figure consulting contract with someone who had never heard of me before reading my chapter in the book.

As he said … “You were in a book, so I just knew you must be the real deal”.

Once again, this tool has paid itself back to me many times over.

============================
And here’s how it can do the same for you …
============================

1. Pick the niche you want to be known in.

2. Decide if you want to have a book with complimentary
authors, or competitors (both methods work … the one I was just
in was all competitors in the book). Let’s say you are a
plumber. You could create a book with all plumbers … or a book
with a single plumber, a carpenter, a roofer, a painter, etc.
This method is easier to do (and to convince the other authors to
contribute).

3. Pick a sexy title for your book. Use the formulas given
here on The Total Package for headline creation … and find one
that could easily be used as a book title. Alternatively, go to
Amazon and look at the best-sellers in similar categories. Use
the same formula the best-sellers use in your own title.

4. Put together a pitch letter you can send to the
contributing authors you want.

5. Give them guidance on what questions to answer in their
chapter, or what format you want to stick with (stories about how
they got started, or about the best tips for their area of
expertise, or the dumbest things people do when they hire a
______). Each author gets a set number of words they can
contribute, along with a bio listing their contact information.

============================
if you want to fast track it…
join me in the next Entrepreneurial Spirits book, details at http://www.entrepreneurialspirits.com
============================

6. Make it really easy for them to write the chapter (show
yours as an example). Give them guidance and ideas. And give
them a solid deadline to have their chapter in by.

7. And get busy going after your dream authors. Once you have
gotten the ok from the number of authors you want (10-20 is
perfect, 53 in mine was too much … almost Chicken Soup like).

8. Make sure you keep in touch with them during the writing
phase and make sure they are committed to the deadline.

9. Send it to a professional editor and cover designer.

10. Make sure YOUR name is the most prominent one on the cover
and spine.

11. I would suggest printing your first book in the standard 6″
x 9″ format … it is easier for the printer and the cost per book
is less.

12. Don’t worry about making it perfect! You are going to use
print-on-demand, so you can always get more printed if you find
something that needs fixing. The best part with a print-on-demand
company is that they can do small runs of 50, or 500 … and you
don’t end up with a garage full of unsold books (which happens
95% of the time with authors).

13. Print extra copies for your contributing authors. If they
are paying you to be a part of the book, give them 20+ copies.

14. Create an affiliate program so that your contributing
authors can sell the book through your program, or they can sell
them direct, as long as they buy them from you at $X per copy.

15. Write your winning sales letter using the tips on my
blog.

16. Get busy promoting the book! Use it as a business card.
Mail it out to your clients and prospects. Use it as a bonus
with your product shipments. Do everything possible to get your
book to distributors, catalog houses, on Amazon, and in the hands
of other entrepreneurs who want to bonus your book with their
product shipments. (Book promotions are a whole other subject,
one that I can’t cover here … even needing an entire course
around the subject!)

This is a simplified version of the entire process … but it can be done quickly and efficiently using this formula.

============================
Don’t overcomplicate it …
this formula WORKS.

If you want to fast track it…
join me in the next Entrepreneurial Spirits book,
details at http://www.entrepreneurialspirits.com
============================

The books you now have are the PERFECT promotional tool.

They will enhance your image and will attract your perfect clients. A single chapter made me five figures in a month since its release … imagine what it will do over the next few years.

And don’t cheap out and go for strictly the e-book version.

I love e-books … especially selling them. But there is something different about a physical book that you cannot match with a PDF. If you start now, you can have this done for early in the New Year Entrepreneurial Spirits

I would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks again.

To your success,

Troy White

PS: If you want to fast track it…
join me in the next Entrepreneurial Spirits book,
details at http://www.entrepreneurialspirits.com

PPS: This is the ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS PRESENT for the entrepreneurs in your life! If you are giving it as a gift, let me know and I will package up something special for under the tree.

The Perfect Christmas Gift for Entrepreneurs

…and the rapid demise of a CEO.

One of my best friends works with the Calgary Health Authority. At the top of the chain was their CEO, Stephen Duckett. They are both numbers geeks. They LOVE crunching numbers, looking at statistics – and analyzing hidden trends that the numbers reveal.

But, Stephen got fired this week.

And it really was his own fault.

All from one stupid mistake.

The Health Authority is under mass scrutiny right now and the Alberta Health system is in serious trouble.

Not because of Stephen… but because of some serious slashing and burning the previous government (and bureaucrats) had done to the health authority.

It left them short in doctors, operating rooms, nurses, beds…

…and it gained them 8-12 hour wait times in emergency departments across the province.

Stephen was brought in to fix the mess others had left him.

Pretty well an impossible task…

…especially when the the bumbling government morons get involved.

Set up to fail.

Recently, the Heath Authority decided to give the media what it wanted and it published the up-to-date statistics that showed the real status of wait times in emergency.

At least they would have a baseline to work from…right?

Well – it was just further fuel to the fire and all the ‘geniuses’ in government decided that they are brilliant enough to fix the entire problem in a couple weeks – so why can’t the executives in charge do it?

If the bureaucrats had their way they would wave their dainty little Harry Potter magic wands and the problem would fix itself overnight, with a little help from some magic fairy dust conjured up by the opposing government officials.

“We can fix it easily!”

…a $14 billion dollar organization completely redesigned and repaired overnight.

…nothing wrong with this fantasy, is there?

So the media was ALL OVER Duckett lately.

Which is their job.

Duckett’s mistake that cost him his career: “Dissing the media”.

Not a smart idea.

There was a big meeting taking place with all senior level people, and the media wanted to know what happened.

They found Stephen coming out of the meeting and started asking questions.

All Stephen could say was “there is a press meeting in 30 minutes – can I please finish my cookie?” (he was eating a cookie at the time).

The media kept after him, asking more questions – trying to get some answers and ignoring his request for a few minutes of privacy.

He kept repeating the “I’m eating my cookie” as the films rolled and the reporter persisted.

At the end of the day, Stephen looked very, very unprofessional on film. Within hours the videos were up on Youtube and the media outlets informed.

This was all on November 19th at 5pm.

By Saturday, “Cookiegate” was PLASTERED all over the news. Youtube had seen thousands of views (now over 200,000) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DxeCK5Ne_Q

By end of day Wednesday, November 24th, Stephen Duckett was relieved of his position as CEO.

I am not writing this to debate Stephen’s leadership with the Alberta Health System. I am not writing this to debate whether or not Stephen could turn the system around.

Everyone has their own opinions on all of that.

…And we all know what they say about opinions )

But what is VERY important to note here: if the media is hounding you for an answer – give them one. Especially a high profile guy like Stephen – it’s part of his job.

All he had to do was take 2 minutes – give some brief answers to their questions – and say he would answer all of their remaining questions at the press conference scheduled in 30 minutes.

All he had to do was give them something they could use.

…Then he could have eaten his cookie.

But he chose to shut them out and treat them like a nuisance. They were doing their job and asking for some little tidbit they could publish.

Never ever treat a media personality like that – nothing good will ever come of it.

His refusal to work with them cost him his job… and every ounce of dignity or respect he once had.

All by one stupid mistake.

We all mistakes – but only some learn from them and make sure it doesn’t happen again – or to them.

Media attention can be a GREAT thing – but it can also destroy your life, reputation and business if you do it poorly.

This was unfortunately a very visible example on what can happen when you do it wrong.

Please learn from it. I did. And I would hope I never do something like that when given the chance to be in front of the media!

Troy

PS: There are 10 spots open for the Entrepreneurial Spirits book… are YOU ready to be an author? Nothing beats having your name in a print book for credibility boosting. The perfect marketing tool and the ultimate lead generation companion. Details are at Entrepreneurial Spirits