In this video I walk you through how to set up a simple automated sales and admin process so that your customer is well served and super satisfied. It’ll also help you reduce waste and work less.

Resources used and introduced in the video:

Infusionsoft – all in one sales & marketing software
Xmind – brainstorming & mind mapping software

The Little-Known Secret of Big, Bold Personal Branding

You can’t buy it and you can’t download it. But it is one of the most crucial elements to building a successful brand.

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? That’s right—I’m talking about Confidence with a capital C.

Believing in your self isn’t just a cliché. It’s serious business.

Your results (or lack-thereof) are determined by what you believe to be your capacity for doing big things, as Michael would say.

I’ve struggled with self-confidence in my life. I tried to get the little voice in my head to tell me I could achieve my goals but all I could think of was , “What if the little voice in my head is an idiot?” As you might imagine, this had a big impact on my ability to actually achieve my goals. If that’s not a catch 22, I don’t know what is.

Waiting for Approval is Wasteful

My time was spent (and by spent I mean wasted) waiting for approval. I was putting my business on-hold while I waited for someone to show up and tell me my ideas were worthwhile.

I was afraid to put my message out there. I held myself back and as a result I was broke. Not just financially but also (and maybe more importantly) mentally.  Have you been there? Are you there now?

Until I kicked this little, insipid, senseless, seriously stupid voice to the curb, my business struggled.

Why is self-belief so important to your brand and business? It’s simple. If you have doubt, so will your customers.

Confidence is Contagious

Do you want to do business with someone that lacks confidence in themself and their services? That’s a rhetorical question, of course.

People can sense desperation and insecurities in a heart-beat. You have to be confident in what you do. You must honestly believe that you are the best option for your ideal client. As Michael says, you have to be able to declare, “The best thing for you would be me.” No one is going to respect your opinions if you can’t say that (or at least think it).

Is it hard to build your confidence? Sure, maybe sometimes. But this is YOUR LIFE we’re talking about? It is worth it to work on this? It’s imperative. To dodge doing so demonstrates a lack of integrity.

Moreover, if you have limiting beliefs and self doubt then you hold yourself back when it comes to promoting your products and services. Being timid isn’t going to put your brand atop of the food chain. When you lack confidence you lack the courage to try new and innovative ideas; ideas that can propel your business—and your life—forward.

People gravitate towards brands that stand for something. Someone they can get behind and support. Something they feel they are a part of. This is why you must have an unwavering belief in what you stand for and full confidence in how you express yourself. This is how you’ll make your name in the world.

Passion, like confidence, is contagious. When you express yourself in a passionate way people gravitate to you. Passion creates an emotional connection. Once people connect to your brand emotionally, you’ve got it made. This is why anything holding you back from delivering your message to the world should be eliminated immediately. There’s no room for self-doubt in business.

Cockiness vs. Confidence

Now, let me stress that there is a difference between confidence and cockiness. Confidence is sexy. Cockiness is a turn-off. Believing in the value you bring to the table is respectable whereas a foolish, hyperbolic grandiose sense of self is arrogant.

People are attracted to confidence. Believe in yourself and the value you bring to the table. If you don’t, then you’ll always play the game too small.

The world needs you to play big. You owe it to yourself and to those you can help.

Take a moment to leave a reply that helps others increase their confidence. Maybe you have a story about becoming more confident over the years? Or maybe you can share some of your fears and doubts along with your desire to strengthen your resolve and secure your sense of self?

Not that I’m suggesting you actually say it, word for word, but rather, truly believe it.

This issue came up while working with a member of my Alliance Mentoring Program. I was asked, “What should I do to sell a book proposal to a big publishing house when I don’t yet have a big platform.”

In this case, the question was about a book proposal, but could have been about pitching/selling anything to anyone when you don’t yet have case studies to prove your worth or statistics to back up your promises. That’s what concerned my client; she felt she had not yet done enough to get the opportunity she was seeking. So, what’s to be done?

Sell yourself and sell the future.

When people — you, me, anyone — buy, invest, choose one thing over another, we weigh the odds of success. Almost every purchase is a gamble. We simply try to get the best odds possible. When we feel that we have better odds of winning with one choice over another, we’ll take that choice; we’ll put our money down and we’ll roll the dice.

Ask an editor or publisher why he chose to buy a book from one particular first-time author over another and he’ll tell you that he bought the author as much, if not more, than the book idea. He felt the author behind the book concept stacked the deck in his favor.

Ask a Venture Capitalist why she chose to invest in one particular start-up company over another and she’ll tell you that she bought the entrepreneur as much, if not more, than the particular business. She felt the person behind the idea stacked the deck in her favor.

It starts with believe in yourself. If you don’t believe that you will succeed, why should anyone else? It succeeds when you paint a picture of the future that makes the buyer believe in you and the thing you’re pitching. Your story confirms:

1. Why it’s going to work.
2. That it’s worth their resources (time, money, etc.).
3. That you are able to make the thing happen.

All of these critical selling points are about what WILL happen. Of course, past performance is one of the best indicators of future performance so use anything you’ve got that will strengthen your case. But in the absence of platform or experience, sell yourself and sell the future. Every success story started with a story of success that someone bought into.

How will you tell the story of success that compels the buyer to say, “The best thing for me would be you!”

Your marketing works when you know:

1. Who your target clients are.
2. What they are looking for.
3. Where they look for you.
4. When they look for you.
5. Why they should choose you.
6. How you want them to engage with you.

Key #1: Who Is Your Target Client or Customer?

Identifying and gearing your marketing to a specific individual (or organization) allows you to make the important emotional connection that is the first step in developing a relationship with your potential client. When you have made the effort to speak and write directly to your ideal client, she’ll feel it. She will feel as though you truly know and understand her needs and desires—because you will. That task alone will go a long way toward building the trust you desire with the clients you seek.

If you’re not super clear on whom specifically you’re targeting, whom you want to reach out to and attract, it’s going to be hard to develop a sales cycle that works because you’ll be chasing after every potential opportu­nity and you won’t be making a strong connection with anyone.

Key #2: What Are They Looking For?

You’ve got to understand what your ideal clients or customers are looking for—the kinds of products or services they think will solve their problems or help them reach their goals. It’s very important to be clear on your answers because if you don’t know what your potential clients are looking for, you won’t know what kind of product and service offers to make in your sales cycle. We usually make offers that we think are relevant. It’s time to put your target market first and work to truly understand what they know is relevant. Then you can decide what you’re going to offer them that will meet their needs, according to the amount of trust that you’ve earned, at various stages in your sales cycle.

Examples: In my case, they want a book that can help them get clients.  They want to read an article or report on how to use social media.  They want private coaching. They want to attend a marketing seminar. Etc.

Key #3: Where Do They Look for You?

Do you know where your target market looks for you? Do they search online? Do they read magazines? Do they call their friends for referrals for the kind of service that you’re providing? What other types of business professionals do they trust to get their referrals from? If you don’t know, survey your current clients. This should always be one of the first questions you ask a new client: “How did you come to find me?” If you don’t have any clients of your own yet, ask a colleague how her clients find her.

Key #4: When Do They Look for You?

When do the people (or organizations) in your target market look for the services you offer? What needs to happen in their personal life or work life for them to purchase the kind of service that you offer? How high do the stakes need to be before they decide to purchase the service you’re offering? They may be interested in what you do, and your offerings may resonate with them, but they might not need you at the moment they find you.

This is why the Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle is so important. You’ll want to make it easy for them to step into your environment and move closer to your core offerings over time. When their stakes rise, they’ll reach out to you and ask for you. But you’ve got to keep the conversation going.

What are the situations that are likely to drive po­tential clients to seek your services, products, and programs? When do they look for you?

Examples: They’ve lost their job. They’re starting their own business. They’re so disorganized that they’re losing business. They are experiencing extreme discord in their relationship. They’ve just had a baby and can’t seem to lose their baby weight.

Key #5: Why Should They Choose You?

That’s a big question. Why are they going to choose you? Are you a credible authority in your field? What makes you the best choice for them? What is unique about you or the solutions you offer?

For this exercise, it’s crucial that you set your modesty aside and express yourself clearly and with confidence—no wishy-washy answers to these questions. Think back to the last time you went in search of expert help. When you first spoke to the service provider to inquire about his ser­vices, his expertise, and whether he could help you, the last thing you wanted to hear was, “Well, I kinda know what I’m doing. I might be able to help you. I’ll give it a shot.”

While it may feel uncomfortable at first, you’ve got to get comfortable saying, “The best thing for you is me!”

Granted, saying you are the best may be a bit too bold for you, but at the least you’ve got to be able to say, “You’ve come to the right person. Yes, absolutely, I can help you. I’m an expert at what I do and this is how I can help.”

Bragging is about comparing yourself to others and proclaiming your superiority. Declaring your strengths, your skills, your expertise, and your ability to help is not bragging. Expressing confidence is what your potential clients expect, want, and need to hear from you.

Why should your potential clients choose you? (Don’t you dare skip this one! Be bold! Express yourself fully. Remember, this is not the time for modesty.)

Key #6: How Do You Want Them to Engage with You?

Once potential clients have learned about your services, how would you like them to interact or engage with you? Do you want them to call your office? Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter on your web site? What is it that you want potential clients to do?

Naturally, you’d love for them to immediately purchase your highest-priced product, program, or service, but this is rare. Most of your potential clients need to get to know you and trust you over time. They need to be eased gradually toward what they may perceive to be your high-risk offerings. It’s often said that, on average, you will need to connect with a poten­tial client seven times before they’ll purchase from you. Not always, but if you understand this principle you will be on the road to booking yourself solid a lot faster than if you try to engage in one-step selling. “Hi, I’m a consultant, wanna hire me today?” isn’t going to be effective. That’s defi­nitely not the Book Yourself Solid way. Maybe we should call one-step selling one-stop selling because that’s what it’ll do—stop your sales process dead in its tracks.

How do you want your potential clients to interact or engage with you? (Note: Establishing a line of communication is the first step in developing a relationship of trust.)

In Conclusion:

Clearly defining these six keys will help you to determine what you want to offer your potential clients in each stage of your sales cycle and will help you craft the most effective sales cycle possible. Moreover, defining these six keys will also help you tremendously when implementing the Book Yourself Solid 7 Core Self-Promotion Strategies.

Note: this post is dedicated to David Meerman Scott and Scott Stratten. They’ll know why and smile.

We promote each other when we:

a) Like each other
b) Respect each other
c) Believe in each other’s work.

But it’s not my job to do it for you. And it’s not your job to do it for me. Especially when we don’t know each other.

No doubt, our success is primarily based on our ability to inspire others to spread our messages. No doubt, we need each other. And, no doubt, many business are based on partner marketing.

Case in point: my just launched DailySuccessDeals.com. The initial success of the site is, in large part, due to our partners’ willingness to promote it. Over time, the success of the site will be, in large part, based on the customer base that we’ve earned. We’ll then be able to return the support to our partners.

Why are our partners willing to promote?

For some, it’s because they like us AND will make money by promoting the site. However, for all, it’s because of the relationship we’ve developed over time. We support each other. We believe in each other. We respect each other.

But, it’s not their job to promote me. And, it’s not my job to promote them. We do it because we want to.

Partner Telesummit Breakdown

I bring this up because I was asked to participate in a “telesummit” where, my participation in the event required that I promote it. And, this is not the first time. It’s maybe, like, oh, say…the 500th time.

Here’s what happened. Since I didn’t know the host of the event, I asked my assistant to relay the message that I would be happy to do the event (and bring my A game) but that I would not guarantee a promotion to my email newsletter subscribers. That I might send out a few tweets and/or mention it on Facebook but that I would not guarantee any email promotion. Here is the response she received:

Hi Jaimie,

I very much appreciate your prompt reply to my invitation for Michael to be featured in my Summit in May.

Unfortunately, if Michael is unable to guarantee a solo promotion, then I will need to invite someone else in that spot. It is one of the conditions for participation and I want to ensure consistency with all my guests. I do look forward to potentially working with Michael in the future, in some different capacity.

Thanks again, – please extend my thanks to Michael for even considering this opportunity.

Sincerely,

Name redacted

The email was very respectful in tone and I appreciate the initial request to participate in the event. And, I respect that the host has a way of doing business that works for them.

I am grateful for any and all invitation to share my work. I never take them for granted. In fact, I’m honored when I get these invitations so please keep sending them.

Sometimes I agree to participate because I think it’s going to be a well-attended, impressive event. Sometimes I agree to participate because I think the host is sincere and talented and I want to offer my name and time in support. And, sometimes, I agree to participate just because a friend is hosting the event.

And that’s the key. Rarely do any of these telesummits, “increase my exposure” – as the invitation usually promises.

I’m happy promote, support, endorse the work of budding business owners as well as seasoned vets but, in either case, it’s not my job.

I guess the video that Scott Stratten and I made called, “The Biggest Mistake People Make When Offering Telesummits,” didn’t get enough exposure. Maybe we should do a telesummit?

Final note. I say “yes,” to 90% of the invitations I get. And, often let the people I serve know that I’m participating in the event. I just respectfully request that you honestly tell me why you want me to participate up front and how it will help you. You don’t need to tell me why it will help me. Let me make that determination.

Sales Resources

If you’re just getting started and your need more clients or you’ve been in business for years and you need improve your sales to close more business, this list of sales resources will ignite your passion and help you accomplish your dreams.

• Improve Email Opt-In Conversion by 167%. Here’s How…
• How to Sell More When You’ve Got the Skinny
• How to Use Free Sessions to Book 65% More Business
• Why People Buy – Anything and Everything
• Super Simple Selling (the Book Yourself Solid Way)
• The 8 Types of Buyers and How to Successfully Sell to Them
• How to Promote More Than One Product or Service at a Time
• The Difference: Low Price Point vs. High Price Point
• How to Create a Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle (plus audio)
• When (and How) to Raise Your Prices
• Bait and Switch Sales-Sky Radio Network and American Airlines
• Give Them More to Love
• How to Overcome Objections
• Save the Sale with Service

Continue to Close More Sales

These sales resources and articles about closing sales will help you no matter what stage of business you are in.

Featuring Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid, and hosted by Karl Staib of WorkHappyNow.com this Twitterific party also boasts VIP guests, Liz Strauss, Liz Marshall, Andrea J Lee, Dr. Mollie Marti.

Mark your calendar now: Thursday, January 20^th, 2011 at 2pm ET.

Learn more about how to participate.

Your target market is the group of people you serve, and your niche is the service you specialize in offering to your target market.

For example, you and I might both serve the same target market, say, service professionals, but offer them different services. I might specialize in getting clients and you might help them create systems for their business.

There are three primary reasons to choose a target market.

1. It helps you determine where to find potential clients who are looking for what you have to offer. If you have a target market, you know where to concentrate your marketing efforts and what to offer that is compelling and well received. You know what associations to speak to, magazines and journals to write for, and influential people with whom to network—you know where your potential clients gather. Voila! You now know where to show up.
2. Virtually every target market already has some kind of network of communication established. For your marketing to work, your clients need to spread your messages for you. If they already have a network of communication set up, they can talk to each other about you and your marketing messages can travel that much faster. What are networks of communication? Environments that are set up to help a group communicate—as I mentioned earlier: associations, social networking sites, clubs, various publications, events, and more.
3. And, finally, choosing a target market lets the people in that target market know that you’ve dedicated your life’s work to them.

In order to reach the people you’re meant to serve, you’ve got to know where to find them. That’s why an essential step is for you to identify a very specific target market to serve.

Marketing and sales isn’t about trying to persuade, coerce, or manipulate people into buying your services. It’s about putting yourself out in front of, and offering your services to, those whom you are meant to serve—people who already need and are looking for your services.

No matter how much you might like to be everything to everyone, it’s just not possible.

Even if you could be, you would be doing a disservice to yourself and your clients in the attempt. You can serve your clients much better, offer them much more of your time, energy, and expertise, if you narrow your market so that you’re serving only those who most need your services and who can derive the greatest benefits from what you have to offer.

If you’re just starting out in your business, or if you’ve been working in your business for a while but are not yet booked solid, you may be tempted to market to anyone and everyone with the assumption that the more people you market to, the more clients you’ll get. While narrowing your market to gain more clients may seem counterintuitive, that’s exactly what you need to do to successfully book yourself solid.

Think of narrowing your market this way: Which would you rather be—a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond? It’s much easier to carve out a very lucrative domain for yourself once you’ve identified a specific target market. And once you’re a big fish in a small pond, you’ll get more invitations than you can handle to swim in other ponds.

There are two primary ways to grow a service business.

1. You can choose a target market and, over time, continue to add new products and services to this same target market. For example: if your target market is fitness professionals, and you’re currently offering them web design services, as you grow, you might start offering them search engine optimization services and then pay-per-click advertising services.
2. Alternatively, once you get booked solid in one target market, you can begin to market and sell the same services in additional vertical target markets. So, if you currently serve wood floor manufacturers, you might offer the same services to manufacturers of tile flooring. Once you get a foothold in that market, you might then begin to focus on carpet manufacturers.

You might be thinking: “If I specialize and only work with a specific group of people, or specific types of companies within a specific industry, won’t that limit my opportunities? And what if I get bored?” Let me answer the second question first. If you’re someone who gets bored easily, you may have that problem no matter what you do. You may want to spend some time reflecting on why you’re not able to stay focused on what you’ve chosen to do. Or, it may be that you’ve chosen a target market that doesn’t excite you, that you aren’t passionate about or interested in.

Over time, you can move into other areas. When I started my business, I helped fitness and wellness professionals get booked solid. Once I was fortunate enough to create demand for my services, I leveraged the reputation I built servicing the fitness industry as a springboard into other vertical target markets, like financial services, and others. As you establish your expertise and reputation, if you choose, you can broaden your target market. (I now serve virtually every type of service professional because my reputation and proven track record affords me that advantage.)

But, if you want to increase your speed to getting booked solid, choose a very specific target market and stay with that target market until you are booked solid. Then you can move into other markets if you like or stay with your original focus and grow your product and service line.

A primary reason that many professional service providers fail to build thriving businesses is that they struggle to articulate in a clear and compelling way exactly what solutions and benefits they offer. They don’t know how to talk about what they do without sounding confusing or bland or like everyone else — and without using an elevator speech. You know, that 30-second commercial that’s supposed to wow someone with what you do in the time it takes an elevator to go from the first to the fifth floor.

No one wants to listen to your elevator speech

I’ve been polling audiences of thousands for years on this issue. During each speech I ask, “How many of you love, love, love listening to someone else’s elevator speech?” No hands go up. I then ask, “How many of you love, love, love giving your elevator speech?” Same thing. No hands.

So what gives? If we don’t like listening to or giving the speech, why is it still being taught? Because, of course, we need to be able to talk about what we do — I get the concept. However, in this case, the elevator speech has been inappropriately appropriated by the service professional. Not only does it not work well, it makes us look foolish, or, worse yet, obnoxious.

The elevator speech does not help sell professional services.

The elevator pitch is designed for the entrepreneur to pitch an idea to a venture capitalist or angel investor in the hopes of receiving funding, not for the service professional to try to build a relationship of trust with a potential client.

Venture capitalists often judge the quality of an idea on the basis of the quality of its elevator pitch. Makes perfect sense, in that situation. But this is not how a relationship develops between a client and a service professional. You’re trying to earn the status of a trusted adviser, not trying to raise money to create some new product like metal-detecting sandals. Totally different context. Totally different dynamic.

So, how do you talk about what you do?

By using this crazy concept that I call a conversation. You know when two people actually care about what the other has to say? Shocker, I know. Creative — but not scripted! — conversations will spark curiosity and interest about you and your services, products, and programs. If you know, and I mean really know, who you help, what challenges they face, how you help them, and the results and benefits they get from your services — you can talk about what you do any which way ’till Sunday; thirty seconds, three minutes, three hours, it doesn’t matter.

Or, you could go with an overblown, high-falutin, hyperbole-laden elevator speech that’s supposed to make you look like a rock star in 30 seconds. Unfortunately, I doubt the excessively exuberant elevator pitch is going to compel the listener to whip out his credit card right then and there.

Developing Your ‘Book Yourself Solid‘ Dialogue

Let’s put it all together with a simple five-part exercise that will help you talk about what you do.

Part I: Summarize your target market in one sentence.

Part II: Identify and summarize the three biggest and most critical problems that your target market faces (what they want to get away from).

Part III: Identify and summarize your target markets’ three most tangible desires (what they want to get to)

Part IV: Identify the number one most relevant result you help your clients achieve.

Part V: List the benefits your clients’ experience as an outcome of the result you provide.

You now have an outline that will help you clearly articulate what you do without sounding confusing or bland. In fact, you’ll sound like a superstar because you can use this outline or framework to have a meaningful conversation with another human being.

Reminder: this is not a speech. Don’t stay married to the format. Be sure to improvise. Using the structure can be helpful but you may not need to go through every element of this framework in every conversation. The person you’re engaged with might end up doing all the talking and even supply your side of the dialogue accurately. Then you can just sit back and relax. The point is, if you’re prepared with these five elements, you have the required ingredients for talking about what you do so you can cook up a sweet and tasty business, booked solid with high-paying, high-value clients.

——–

Called “an uncommonly honest author” by the Boston Globe and a “marketing guru” by The Wall Street Journal, Michael Port can be seen regularly on MSNBC and is a New York Times Bestselling author of four books including Book Yourself Solid, now in it’s second edition, Beyond Booked Solid, The Contrarian Effect andThe Think Big Manifesto.