The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast

The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast! By Bernadette Doyle Please do not distribute this ebook to ot...

Author: Bernadette Doyle

18 downloads 648 Views 829KB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

The Emergency Action Plan

for Attracting Clients

Fast!

By Bernadette Doyle

Please do not distribute this ebook to others. It is for your use only. Additional copies can be obtained at www.clientmagnets.com -1Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]

The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast!

Table of Contents Welcome to ‘The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast!’ __ 4 Your Marketing Plan Made Easy _____________________________________ 8 The Market, The Message and the Medium __________________________ 11 Marketing Mistake #1: Trying to CREATE demand ___________________ 14 Marketing Mistake #2: Thinking that everyone NEEDS what you have to

offer______________________________________________________________ 17 Marketing Mistake #3: Believing that When You Do What You Love, the

Money Will Automatically Follow ___________________________________ 19 Align Your Gifts and Talents With a Market Need & Want_____________ 21 How do you know if you’ve found the right market? _________________ 24 You are More Magnetic When You Specialize________________________ 28 Overcome Your Fear of Specialising________________________________ 31 Your Most Magnetic Attributes _____________________________________ 33 The Market: Getting to Know your Clients___________________________ 37 The Right Audience _______________________________________________ 40 Getting People to ‘Raise Their Hands’ ______________________________ 44 Multi-Step Marketing ______________________________________________ 47 Multi-Step Marketing in Action _____________________________________ 50 What’s Your Birdseed? ____________________________________________ 52 Creating Your Free Report _________________________________________ 56 How to Create a Free Report that your prospects WANT to read – a great

title ______________________________________________________________ 61

-2Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]

The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast! How to Come Up With A Title That Starts A Stampede!_______________ 63 The easy way to create powerful and compelling headlines __________ 66 Lead Generation Advertising_______________________________________ 84 Matching the Right Lead Generation Methods to Your Market ________ 93 Where are Your Target Clients Congregating? – Online ______________ 96 Where are Your Target Clients Congregating? Offline_______________ 104 The Client and Customer Acquisition Business ____________________ 118 How to Turn Enquirers into Buyers ________________________________ 124 Make Your Offer Clear, Specific and Tangible ______________________ 126 ‘Make Me An Offer I Can’t Refuse!’ ________________________________ 130 Sequenced Mailings: A Three-Step Letter __________________________ 133 Tips And Secrets Of Sequenced Mailings __________________________ 147 What to Put in Your Sales Letters _________________________________ 150 How to Write Letters that Sell!_____________________________________ 153 The Easy Way to Write Sales Letters in Less Than 2 ½ Minutes! _____ 156 How Long Should Your Letters Be? _______________________________ 157 Above all - Ask for the order!______________________________________ 159 Letting the universe provide? _____________________________________ 162 Just Be You _____________________________________________________ 166 Distinguish Between The Concept And The Techniques ____________ 171 Start From Where You Are Now ___________________________________ 173



Welcome to ‘The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast!’ You have made a very wise decision purchasing this ebook, and

within 30 days from now you will be seeing positive results in your business.

In this guide we’re going to spend our valuable time focusing on YOU. Your business, your hopes and dreams, your challenges

and the solutions that are right for you. Yes, I will be sharing tools and techniques, but they will be tailored and relevant to your

situation, and ultimately you will choose the approaches which

will suit your personal style. You're unique, so it's understandable that what it takes you to become a Client Magnet may be very different from the next person.

This book is about marketing from the inside out. It’s a book

about you. You are your most magnetic resource. To become a

Client Magnet, you need to find the courage to allow your natural magnetism to shine through. This book will help you do that.

This is not just a collection of marketing and selling techniques. I know you want the action steps. You want those clients. You

want to jump right in and learn how to get the world beating a path to your door. The truth is, however, you don’t become a -4Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Client Magnet simply by going through a series of outer steps. Let me say right now that becoming a Client Magnet isn’t about just applying a bunch of techniques to get one over on the

competition. In the words of one of my teachers, ‘Every technique will fail you at some point. There is no wisdom in a technique’.

When we focus on techniques, we do so to the detriment of your most magnetic attribute – YOU! The techniques have just been

getting in the way. Think of them like layers of paint covering the natural beauty of a handcrafted wooden desk. You don’t need more techniques. You need less of them!

Being a Client Magnet isn’t something that you ‘do’. In actual fact it’s something that you already ARE. I once heard Robert Holden, author of Happiness Now, explain that he doesn't teach people how to be happy. He helps them remember how to be happy. I

feel the same way about helping you become a Client Magnet. I can't teach you how to be more magnetic, but I can help you to

reconnect with your natural magnetism, and through this book I'll be helping you identify and remove the blocks that prevent you from expressing it fully. You will also identify where you may

have unwittingly been pushing clients away, and may have even become a Client Repellent!

In The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast! You will discover specific tools to help you start attracting clients immediately.



I urge you to start right now Chances are, you’ve already invested hundreds, if not thousands in your own career and personal development to date. You really have invested in yourself haven't you? You've read the books,

attended the seminars, written the affirmations. Isn't it time that

people were seeking YOU out as the expert? Does it make sense that you're scrabbling around trying to make ends meet? Even if

you are living a materially comfortable life, you probably have the sense that you could be offering so much more.

If you are already in business, how many fruitless days did you spend last year chasing business, making cold calls, visiting

prospective clients, and writing detailed proposals that led to

nothing? Those days are gone forever. You can't buy them back now, but you can discover how to set things up so that you don't

waste any more time this year. Your time is too valuable to waste

hunting for business. You came to make a difference. Let me help you spend more time sharing your skills and talents with the world, and getting rewarded for it.

It’s time. You don’t need to wait any longer. You don’t need a

certificate or someone to come along and stamp your passport before you can become a Client Magnet. Don't wait for

permission. The process of becoming a Client Magnet starts as soon as you decide you are ready and willing to become one.



The world is full of talented and well-intentioned individuals who

deserve commercial recognition and success, yet aren’t achieving it because they haven’t found the confidence or ability to communicate what they have to offer succinctly to their

prospective clients. If you are one of those people, then please join me now we embark on your journey to becoming a Client Magnet.

Are you willing to take this step? Are you willing to become a

Client Magnet? A whole new way of doing business awaits you. I URGE you to take this step. Think of all the people in the world

who are ready to benefit from what you have to offer. Let me help you match up with them by taking this step now. Turn the page and we will begin right away.



Your Marketing Plan Made Easy Whether you are a consultant, coach, alternative practitioner,

trainer, therapist or in any other type of business, the following simple marketing plan is GUARANTEED to work for you. It consists of just 3 very important steps: 1. Getting the names of qualified an interested prospects

through placing ads, press releases, buying mailing lists or doing joint ventures.

2. Making sales to these leads or names on the lists using letter sequences (by snail mail or email)

3. Making additional (and ongoing) sales to the people who

have already bought from you by offering additional services, products or third party products and services.

That’s it. It’s really that simple. In fact for many people, it’s TOO simple. They think that nothing this simple could attract the business they want, so they start

messing with the formula and complicate and confuse things. In fact, if you aren’t attracting all the business you can currently

handle, chances are you are making one of the following errors. -8Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


1. You are cutting corners by attempting to make a sale at the

same time as generating leads (it’s really important that you keep these two steps SEPARATE)

2. You are attempting to make a sale to people who haven’t

actively demonstrated an interest in your product or service ‘raised their hands’.

3. You are generating interest and enquiries, but failing to convert leads into actual paying business because you don’t have a

proven system in place for converting that interest into business. 4. You are generating interest and enquiries, but failing to convert leads into actual paying business because you aren’t making a

clear and compelling proposition to those people who ‘raise their hands’. They are interested in what you do, but confused

because they don’t understand what it will do for them, how it works, and what it will cost them. (This is a VERY common mistake)

5. You haven’t got a low cost system in place for keeping in

contact with people who have ‘raised their hands’, and you are

therefore missing out on hundreds and thousands of pounds of potential sales.



6. You don’t have a system for retaining your clients and

customers and ensuring repeat business year after year, so you end up constantly having to search for new clients.

7. You are getting distracted by trying to put together all the

paraphernalia that marketing ‘experts’ tell you that you need to

start getting clients: a website, a brochure, a newsletter. Each of

these may assist you in attracting clients over the long term, but if your primary focus is getting clients NOW, then there is a much

faster way to accomplish this. You will discover this approach in this book.

The good news is, when you know about these common

marketing mistakes, you can avoid them, and, possibly for the first time ever, you will discover just how fun, enjoyable and PROFITABLE marketing can be.

With this system I take you by the hand and guide you through

the marketing maze as you develop a marketing approach that works for you and most importantly gets results QUICKLY.

You will benefit, and so will the people in the world who really need what you’re offering but haven’t even heard of you yet! Ready? Let’s get started!

- 10 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


The Market, The Message and the Medium If you aren’t yet magnetically attracting all the clients you want, it could be because you haven’t clearly distinguished between the market, the message and the medium.

I am regularly asked to critique brochures, websites or other

forms of marketing. In most cases by people who have invested a great deal of time and money, yet are disappointed with the

results they are achieving. If I could sum up the number one

mistake I see people making in their marketing materials, it is a failure to make distinctions between the market, the message,

and the medium. The MARKET is WHO you are aiming to reach

through your marketing materials. Remember, you aren’t trying to sell to everybody. It’s better that you speak to a few people

directly about concerns that are most relevant and pressing for

them, than to speak to a lot of people in a vague and unspecific manner.

The MESSAGE is WHAT you are saying to this specific group of people you have identified as your market. You need to be

specific about what you can do for them. How can you help

them? What specific problems can you solve? You also need to think about what action you want them to take having read your marketing materials. WHAT will the next step be? Do you want them to phone you, book an appointment, request further - 11 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


information, visit your website, or place an order straight away? The more specific you can be about the WHAT questions, the more successful your marketing materials will be.

The MEDIUM is HOW you will communicate your message to

your market. Will you approach them directly, via fax, email, letter or phone call? Will you reach them through advertising in a

magazine, radio or television? Or will your website be your main

channel of communication? Whilst not strictly MEDIUM questions, I also categorise questions about the size or colours of the

brochure or ad, as MEDIUM questions. Very often the first

questions I hear from would be client magnets are questions

about the MEDIUM, yet as you can see, before selecting the best medium you need to ask three key questions:

‘Who is this for?’ (this is a MARKET question)

‘What can I do for them?’ (this is a MESSAGE question)

‘What actions do I want them to take as a result of reading this?’ (this is another MESSAGE question)

In my experience, after spending time on these questions, the

answers to the MEDIUM questions (such as should I advertise or

use direct mail? should my brochure be in print or via a website?) become obvious. Trying to answer questions about the medium

before you have clearly identified the market and the message is very much putting the cart before the horse. Yet sadly this is

precisely how many people approach creating their marketing

materials. They start with the medium, perhaps because an ad - 12 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


salesperson is selling space in a publication, or they have heard that the internet or direct mail are good for business, or perhaps

they are constrained by budget, ‘I can only afford 500 A4 flyers’.

Then they try to squeeze the message to fit, and finally keep their fingers crossed and hope for the best that somehow through this

haphazard approach they will reach the right market and actually

generate some business. Is it any wonder that this approach fails to magnetize the desired results?

Spend a few moments right now clarifying YOUR market, then

think about the message you want to get across to this market. Having done this, it will become obvious which is the best medium to convey this message.



Marketing Mistake #1: Trying to CREATE demand Here’s how most people approach marketing: 1. Find, create or acquire some product or service 2. Pray you can find someone to sell it to

This is a backwards formula. It’s a formula for failure. The onus is on you to ‘get people interested’. This is HARD work. Here’s an easier way to approach marketing: 1. Find a hot target market

2. Find out exactly what they already want

3. Sell them exactly what they already want. Or in other words, always be market-focused, never product- or service- focused.

The majority of marketers do this: they come up with a product or service, and then they expect to go out and find people to shoe

horn into this product or service. In other words, they first decide

what they want to supply, and then they try and find or create the demand that this supply fulfils. This is really doing things the

HARD way. This is a massive mistake! If you’ve tried marketing - 14 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


seminars this way, then you know how exhausting, time

consuming and frustrating it can be. Not to mention that feeling of fear that grips you as you start to wonder whether you will even cover your costs, let alone make a profit. This typical method of marketing can work if you have an unlimited capacity for

spending money, wasting time, and have no concern for risk. But, if you’re like most of us who want to do things, shall we say, a little more safely and cheaply, then you need to change your

thinking. Because the reverse of the mistake I just told you about is absolutely, positively, the best way there is to make money marketing yourself.

Find the Market First, Find Out What The People Want, And Then…

Let Them Buy What They’ve Told You They Want! Make sense? I hope so, because you must not spend any time

thinking about your product or service until you’ve discovered the MARKET.

You have to find markets that really, really want things…really, really badly!

When you do, you tip the balance of supply and demand in your favour. Identify the demand first, and then create the product or service which meets that demand.



There are literally thousands of potential tightly-niched markets out there. Your first job is to find them; find what people

want…before you even begin to think about what product or service they might buy from you.

Pick a crowd you deeply, thoroughly understand, share

passions with, share a language with, and have empathy and credibility with. Finding a target market that you know well, will allow you to know people’s wants, then create or adapt your product or service around those wants.

Later on in this book, you’ll discover how to select markets which are a perfect match for your unique skills and talents, and are therefore most ‘magnetic’ for you.



Marketing Mistake #2: Thinking that everyone NEEDS what you have to offer There’s an old saying that you should find a need, fill it, and you’ll get rich. It’s not really true. You need to find a want and fill it.

People don’t always want what they need. They need to eat right, but they don’t. They need to stop smoking, but they don’t. They want to be more healthy.

You want to sell them what they want, but give them what they need.

Your prospects and customers are people just like you and me and they’re going to respond to messages similar to ones we

might respond to. They’ll get turned off by the same things and

exaggerations that we do. Filling their needs and wants typically

involve things that we’ve talked about - convenience, long-lasting, time-saving, better-looking, more functional stronger guarantees, better service, etc.

We never know which hot button is their buying button. We need to test one feature or benefit against another until we discover what their hot buttons are.

Your objective is simply one of matching your marketing mission to the functions of the products or services that your business - 17 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


offers. If your business offers products and services that by

design are problem solvers, then you need to use this function in your marketing approach.

You want to exaggerate and accentuate the types of problems

they may have because your product or service will solve them. Point out a problem in detail and tell just how your product or service is designed to solve that problem.

Here’s an example. A diet program. You don’t want to sell the powder or the vitamin, but you want to sell better confidence, better health, greater attraction, and long life.

How do you uncover their real wants and desires? If you listen, you’ll discover the customer talking back to you in many ways.

They might speak directly with you, your employees, the media, other customers. You have to pay attention.

You’ll hear more of what they don’t want instead of what they do want. They might say prices are too high or there’s not a big

enough selection or the quality isn’t high enough. That’s telling you the opposite of what they really want.

However and whatever they say - listen to them! You’ll learn something every time you do.



Marketing Mistake #3: Believing that When You Do What You Love, the Money Will Automatically Follow ‘Do what you love and the money will follow’ cries the title of a

best selling book by Marsha Sinetar. I beg to differ slightly. Over the years I’ve met hundreds of people who are doing what they

love, but the money is definitely not following. Apologies Marsha, but I would put it this way: ‘Do what you love, communicate this effectively to the people in the world who most need it and are

motivated to pay for it, and the money will follow’. The fact is you

can do what you love and be well rewarded for it, but you need to match up your own skills and talents with those people in the

world who most need what you have to offer. It’s not enough to

do what you love and simply hope that the right people will get to hear about you. As Julian Gresser puts it in his book, Piloting

Through Change, ‘We earn what we want by connecting our gifts to the concerns of others’.

The fact is, when you match up your skills and talents with the

people in the world who really need you, there isn't a lot of selling or convincing to be done. So aligning what you have to offer with those people in with world who most need it is a crucial element of becoming a Client Magnet. The key word here is alignment. What we need to do is match your skills and talents to groups

who are easily identified, who are already explicitly aware of an - 19 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


immediate need, want or problem, and are highly motivated to find a solution.

If you are failing to magnetically attract new clients towards you, it

could be because you are failing to speak directly to your targeted client. Even before this, you may have failed to identify your

target client. Of all the important steps you can take to become a Client Magnet, one of the first has to be to define the people in

the world who need your help and with whom you want to work.

This isn't an optional step. It is a must do. Over and over again I

see 'would be' magnets diluting their marketing by trying to be all things to all people.

Think you've already done this? If you already have a steady

stream of clients queuing at your door waiting patiently for your

services then you MIGHT be able to skip this step, but if not, the message is that you need to get even more specific.

Start by thinking about the people in the world who are already

struggling with a problem or issue that you can help them solve. For example, I created the Client Magnet newsletter having met lots of consultants who were frustrated with the amount of time and energy it was taking to find clients. I knew I had ideas and

techniques that could make a difference, and so my business was born out of a desire to serve a group of people with whom I had

empathy, and who were facing problems that I knew I could help them solve.



Align Your Gifts and Talents With a Market Need & Want Despite the emphasis I’ve placed on identifying the market first,

don’t just predict what the market wants without being guided by

what YOU love and where YOUR skills and talents lie. You need an awareness of both market demands and your own unique

supply to become a Client Magnet. Just like a see-saw needs a

counterbalancing weight at both ends to stay moving, you need to focus on both areas to keep your business moving. Focus too

much on either area, and just like the see-saw, business will grind to a rapid halt.

Now before we get started identifying YOUR specialism, I have an important announcement to make. What I am about to say

next is one of the most important messages in this book, so to guarantee your attention, I am putting this in bold.

You already have an area of expertise that would meet the needs of a large group of people. It’s simply a question of identifying that group and then working out how to reach

them. There are people in the world who need what you have to offer, and you don’t have to suffer to either find or help them.

I truly believe that our talents and passions have been given to us

to meet and fill a corresponding need somewhere in the world. So - 21 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


instead of indulging ourselves in the questions like, who on earth

would be interested in anything little ol’ me has to offer. You need to start asking yourself these questions, Who most needs what I have to offer? Who do I feel most called to serve? What pay off do people get from my expertise? Who have I already helped? (even if you aren’t ‘in business’ yet, you may have already helped colleagues, relatives or friends) How have I helped them? What did they have in common? What common problems, goals, needs, wants or desires did they share?

This may look like a few harmless questions, but it's a powerful

exercise because it shifts your attention from what YOU think is important and focuses on those people who need your help.

Whilst you may be lucky and find that your specialism and your target audience is something that comes to you with a blinding clarity, you should also feel comfortable if it is something that

emerges over time. Don’t worry if this process feels untidy. My personal experience is that identifying a specialism feels more - 22 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


like the silhouette of a building emerging through fog than a neat, box-ticking process. You might want to spend several days on this process, allowing thoughts and ideas to mull until the answers materialise.



How do you know if you’ve found the right market? You can't meet the needs of everyone all the time. Who are you aiming to serve? Picture your ideal client or customer.

Demographics are all the exterior measurable facts about your clients or prospects. If you’re dealing with individuals it means

gender, age, income, education, location. If you’re dealing with

companies it means industry type, number or employees, age of business, location etc.

Psychographics are important too. These relate to the character, philosophy, psychology or your clients and prospects. What are

their hopes and fears? What are they concerned with? What are they NOT concerned with? What’s important to them.

You need to build up a profile that includes both demographic and psychographic detail.

In your opinion, they might ‘need’ your services, but do they want

them? Have they already shown interest in this subject area? Are they already using products or services related to your product or service?

How ‘reachable’ are they? Do they have something in common eg a sport, hobby, job or health issue? Do they subscribe to - 24 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


certain publications, or participate specific websites? Are they members of certain clubs or associations?

Are they already interested in your subject area or a solution

similar to the one you provide? Remember, the hardest thing in the world is to create interest.

Take an overall look at your lists. Are you being realistic? If you're interest is to offer baby massage to new mothers but also want repeat business, is your target group likely to have the spare income to be able to afford your services?

Yes, possibly, if you target working mothers, but then are they likely to have the time for your services?

Always remember to ask yourself these two key questions: 1. Can my proposed market afford my services or product?

2. Does my proposed market WANT my services or product? Remember, it’s not enough for you to perceive that someone

NEEDS what you have to offer. They have to WANT what you

have to offer and be motivated to buy it. You will exhaust yourself and you wallet trying to convince people that they need what you have to offer. This is not a smart or easy way to market yourself.

Focus your attention on groups who are ALREADY LOOKING for solutions that you can provide. This is marketing the easy way. - 25 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Jane was a client of mine who was a nutritionist. As she worked through this process, she started by saying that potentially

everyone stood to gain from her nutritional expertise. To a point she was right. But if we were to take a random sample of a

hundred people, there would be a few people in that group who would be more pre-disposed to come to Jane for help than others. Jane needed to identify what common threads

distinguished those few people. Certainly they would already

have an interest in health, and might already be taking steps to

improve their overall health such as working with complementary

therapist, or enrolled in an exercise class. Or perhaps there would be something significant going on in their lives such as pregnancy

or perhaps a health scare that would have made nutrition a higher priority for them. Or perhaps they were in a field where physical

health was an ongoing priority, such as competitive sports. Jane needed to explore these areas to get more specific in her descriptions of who she was most called to serve. Remember, the two key questions are: 1. Can my proposed market afford my services or product?

2. Does my proposed market WANT my services or product? If you can’t say ‘yes’ to these two questions, something has to

change - the market, the product/service or the price. Maybe you would be better off targeting another group, changing your price, - 26 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


or tailoring your service. Keep tweaking, keep adjusting until you have the right offer, for the right market at the right price.



You are More Magnetic When You Specialize If you want people calling you and saying things like, 'We really

need help with x right now. How soon could you start?' then you need to make your marketing communications much more

specific. You need to spell out a specific problem that a company or individual is likely to be facing and then demonstrate how you can help them solve it.

When you specialize, you get to do more work on your own

terms, and you can also justify higher fees. It's also much easier to become known as the expert in a given area, and therefore have more work referred to you and potential clients seeking

YOU out. When you've picked an area, it's also much easier to

target and reach the individuals and organizations who can most benefit from what you offer. Even if you decide that you want to work in one or two areas, it's a good idea to create marketing

materials for each of your target audiences as the more specific you are, the more effective your marketing materials will be.

When you focus on an area, you see the same problems over

and over, and eventually have a tidy batch of solutions for solving 90% of the problems your clients are likely to encounter. This gives you massive authority. Clients feel that you REALLY

understand their needs. That intimate knowledge of the variety of issues, circumstances that my clients faced came about as a

direct result of specializing. Running seminars on cold calling, the - 28 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


same issues kept coming up time and time again. Word for word

the same objection. I didn't do anything particularly amazing. I just took note of the most common problems and made sure I was

giving people solutions to them. I know I wasn't the world's best trainer, nor was I the best person at cold calling, but I was

outstanding at was getting to grips with the main problems that

people were facing and providing them with solutions that would work in the real world.

As you get more specific in your descriptions of who you are best equipped to serve, you become more magnetic. For example, I could say, 'I help people attract more clients', or I could say, 'I

help self-employed service providers who want to spend less time and effort chasing business and instead attract their ideal clients with ease.' Why will the second description attract more

business? Because I've made it easier for my target clients to

recognize themselves, and therefore the response rate from that particular group will be 50-100 times higher than if I just stuck with the first description. This is why specialization increases rather than decreases overall business. You become MUCH

more attractive to your targeted group because they feel that you are speaking directly to them. Your potential clients need to

recognize themselves in your marketing material. You need to

offer them something that resonates with them. In a later chapter, I’ll be showing you in more detail how to do this. In the meantime the message is FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS. Make your marketing message a laser beam, not just a light bulb. - 29 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Start matching your skills and talents to groups who are easily

identified, who are already explicitly aware of an immediate need, want or problem, and are highly motivated to find a solution.

Think about the people in the world who are already struggling

with a problem or issue that you can help them solve. I started the Client Magnet email having met lots of consultants who were

frustrated with the amount of time and energy it was taking to find clients. I knew I had ideas and techniques that could make a

difference. Then I started asking myself how to reach these same people in large groups. Where were they ‘hanging out’ in large

numbers? Who already had a relationship with the people I was trying to reach?

Give up trying to persuade people that you fit their criteria, and focus on finding and attracting those people in the world who

already need your help. When you do, you’ll rediscover a whole new area of energy and enthusiasm, and the process of finding

new clients will be enjoyable and easy instead of a hard struggle.



Overcome Your Fear of Specialising Many of us are scared to specialize on the things that are easy and enjoyable for us, because we think we would lose out on

opportunities. And yet the reverse is true. You don’t have to be all things to all people to succeed. You already have an area of

expertise that would meet the needs of a large group of people. It’s simply a question of identifying that group and then working

out how to reach them. There are people in the world who need

what you have to offer, and you don’t have to suffer to either find

or help them. To be a Client Magnet you don't have to pretend to be something that you're not, nor do you have to try and be

something that you're not. Quite the reverse in fact. As Marianne Williamson puts it in A Return to Love, 'A Tulip doesn't strive to

impress anyone. It doesn't struggle to be different than a rose. It

doesn’t have to. It is different. And there's room in the garden for

every flower.' There's room in the marketplace for you as you are.

There's room in the world for you as you are. In fact that's how we like you best.

Now in the time that I’ve been helping people like you to identify their specialisms and become Client Magnets, I’ve noticed that

this is a part of the process where people can get stuck. Perhaps you doubt that you have anything unique to offer, or maybe you

are terrified of choosing the wrong specialism. If you’re suffering



from any form of analysis paralysis, then the following thoughts may help you.

It’s worth reminding you that we won’t be casting anything in

stone. I am giving you official permission to change your area of specialism if you subsequently decide to! Remember, your

specialism may well evolve as you do. For example, when I first

entered the training business, I focussed exclusively on the area of cold calling by telephone and appointment setting. Using the

techniques and ideas I am sharing with you in this book, I quickly

became known as an expert in that area. Yet over time, I came to realise that although my passion was being expressed through

the form of cold calling training, the cold calling itself wasn’t my true passion. My true passion was helping people to find new clients, and also master an area which they had previously

avoided and found difficult. This is the underlying passion which

has fuelled the evolution of my business in its different forms. So the form through which I express my passion has changed, but the underlying theme is consistent. Today that passion is

expressed through a business which helps people like you to

become client magnets. And in a few years time, the form could be completely different yet again.



Your Most Magnetic Attributes Sometimes when identifying our area of specialism, we forget to focus on those areas where we can really make a difference. It seems to me that whilst many of us are comfortable describing

our skills and experience, we are more reluctant to describe the value that we TRULY bring to our clients.

A couple of months ago, I got a call from the training director of

an international news agency. We had met briefly 4 years before, and she was now looking for a trainer for a certain project.

"When I started to think about this project, you were the first person who came to mind, Bernadette." She said, "What I

remembered about you was your passion and enthusiasm." This call confirmed for me that our lasting memories for out

clients and contacts is not so much what we say and do, but our ENERGY. But it's hard to convey passion when you're trying to be somebody else.

And sadly, that's what I think many people are doing. Asking

themselves, who do I need to be like? How do I need to come across, in order to land the contracts and clients that I really

want? We look for success stories and role models and make it our business to emulate them. And that's where I see many - 33 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


problems and difficulties start. How many people do you know who are trying to be the next Tony Robbins? If you've been

encountering setbacks and frustrations, could it be that you're

trying to squeeze into a spot that is intended for someone else?

Can you imagine a Mercedes trying to park in a spot meant for a

Mini? Don't tell me! You're afraid that you're actually a Mini trying

to fill a space meant for a Mercedes! The point is, there is a place in the world that can ONLY be filled by you. If you don't take your place, then no-one will. As my good friend David Peet often says to me, 'Bernadette, so many people in the world are afraid that they are missing the boat. What they don't realize, is that they

ARE the boat!' I want to urge you to be the best example of YOU,

rather than a second rate version of somebody else. (And I've got a BRILLIANT exercise to help you with this, so stay with me).

I used to think that people came on my course to learn about the techniques that would increase their sales results by 157%, but

when I was re-reading some feedback forms recently, I realized that what people like most about my courses is the ENERGY – the feeling they have during and after the course. They are

inspired, grow in confidence and can see what practical steps to take to make their dreams a reality. This surprised me, because

I've always found Rah! Rah! Go For It Motivational Speakers a bit off-putting, and have attempted to make my own courses a bit

more gentle and 'real world' in comparison. I used to think that

the gift I had for my clients was my knowledge and expertise, and



whilst they are invaluable, my most magnetic attribute is my desire to help others succeed.

So this got me wondering about YOUR most magnetic attributes,

the things your clients truly value about you. There's a very good chance that you don't write about them in your brochure or on

your website, and yet they are the qualities that really make you unique.

I've got an exercise for you, and I think this could be a lot of fun.

But I warn you! Doing this exercise will make you more magnetic!

This will help you recognize, value and share your most magnetic qualities.

What are the gifts that you REALLY share with your clients and

friends? What are the lasting memories your clients and friends

have of you? What do your clients and friends really value about you?

I want you to reflect on this, ask your clients, colleagues and

friends, and then EMAIL your top three magnetic attributes to me: [email protected] By doing this, you will first of all

have recognized these gifts in yourself (the most important step) and then have had the courage to share them with another (Me!

And I'm really rooting for you!) You don't need to stop there. If you want to, you may start to think about how you can convey these



gifts in your marketing and communication with clients. It's

impossible to do this exercise and NOT become more magnetic. For some of you, the thought of doing this exercise may fill you

with dread. That's all the more reason to do it. Too many of us are hiding our lights under a bushel. Stop using 'modesty' as your

excuse not to show up. The world needs you. It's time you dared to shine.

Here's my example to get you started. As I look back over client

letters and feedback, the three things that come up time and time again are: Confidence Building, Inspiring and Enthusiastic.

What are yours? Remember to email them to me – and you can even post them at the Client Magnets forum if you want

www.clientmagnets.com Hey, why don't we even start a

revolution whilst we're at it? Isn't it time we started living in a

world where it's OK say, 'Hello. This is my name, and this is what I'm great at!' The more of us who find the courage to do this, the easier it will be for others. I want to live in a world where it's OK for everyone to be brilliant and talented and recognize it. Let's lead the way!



The Market: Getting to Know your Clients In the previous section, we started the process of identifying

those people in the world that you feel most called to serve. This is about getting to know them intimately. Marketing and selling are really about motivation. Ultimately, your goal is to get a person to take action, whether that is ordering a product,

registering their interest, booking a session, or calling you to find out more. To motivate them, you need to understand them. So

you need to understand, and connect with your prospective client. To really understand a person, walk a mile in their moccasins. Use your imagination to really put yourself in the customers' shoes. Before you write a word, get to know your clients.

Start by VISUALISING your clients… 'If you can really see your prospect, you can communicate successfully with him in print. I try to visualize my letter's recipient as a living,

breathing, feeling, walking, talking human being. I try to become one with my letter's recipient, so I can anticipate his thoughts and reactions.'

Dan Kennedy, The Ultimate Sales Letter When I'm getting ready to write new marketing materials, first I

get a clear picture of the prospect in my mind. Sometimes I think about an actual person I know who typifies the reader. At other - 37 -

Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


times, I picture an imaginary person who is in fact a composite. And before I sit down to write a word, I talk to this imaginary

person. I imagine what they would tell me about their problems

and concerns, and how I would respond to them. Sooner or later, I grab a pen and start capturing our conversations on the page,

before I know it, the first draft of my letter or brochure is written. I want you to know that it can be that easy, that simple. Many

people are intimidated by the writing aspect, but there's really no

need to be intimidated, because all you're doing is communicating what you would say to someone in person onto the page.

Incidentally, this is a great way of keeping your communication fresh, informal and direct. Your marketing materials are most

compelling when they are written in your own voice, and talking to your prospective clients in your mind before you sit down to write, is a great way of ensuring that you are using your own voice, not adopting a tone that you think you 'ought to'. …And Fall in Love with Your Clients… 'One of the biggest mistakes, probably the biggest mistake,

people make in any business is that they fall in love with the wrong things. They fall in love with their product service or

company. You should believe passionately in your product,

service or company. But you should fall in love with your clients.' Jay Abraham, Getting All You Can Out of All You've Got



There is no marketing technique that is more effective than

genuine, sincere concern for your prospective clients and a true desire to assist them in solving a problem and reaching their goals. Nothing.

Most people ask themselves, 'what do I have to say to get people to buy?’ Instead you should ask, 'What do I have to give? What benefit do I have to render? It has nothing to do with sales

gimmicks or hype. It has everything to do with what benefits you can offer your clients.



The Right Audience One of the main principles of the Client Magnet approach is that it’s easier to close a sale when a prospect has sought YOU out,

rather than when you approach them. One of the reasons for this is that when a prospect approaches you, the business

relationship starts out on a more equal footing. Contrast the

situation where a prospect approaches YOU with the built in

resistance and or scepticism you encounter when the first contact is made via a cold call or unsolicited mailing.

So to become a Client Magnet, it’s time to start focusing your

attention and energy on generating a response from those people who already have a need for your product. In earlier chapters we

started the process of identifying that group, now we need to turn our attention to attracting them.

You can have the best written marketing materials in the world,

but if you aren't getting them in front of the right people, it won't

make a jot of difference. If your current way of promoting yourself is placing ads or distributing leaflets or brochures, you have no way of measuring or assessing whether the right people are

reading them or not. Of the people who saw your ad or picked up

your brochure, how many people eagerly read your brochure and 'almost booked' but then got distracted? You can't tell. You have no way of measuring any of this, so you really don't know how

effective your brochure is. And what you can't measure, you can't control.



Let's say you were about to open a new fresh juice stand in your

local market. What is the one thing you would want most? Fresh, organic fruit? The latest juicing technology? Friendly staff? A great location? An endorsement from a local celebrity? An attention grabbing name? A positive review in your local newspaper?

The one thing you would want most is a thirsty crowd. Because above all that's what's going to guarantee the success of your business. All of the other things I mentioned have varying

degrees of importance, but none of them are as important as a

steady stream of people in the market for what you have to offer. In my opinion the majority of small business owners have not

found a way to identify or develop 'a thirsty crowd.' We need to find or develop a thirsty crowd for your business.

Every product, every service, every business either appeals or has the potential to appeal much more strongly to a certain

definable group of people than it appeals to everyone else. Yet

most of us approach marketing as though we are trying to sell to everyone instead of focusing on the definable group. That’s like getting a letter to my cousin in Glasgow by dropping 10,000 copies of my letter out of an airplane flying over Scotland!

The problem is this works just enough to convince us that it worth doing, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. The wastage - 41 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


is considerable, but even more damaging than the unnecessary financial cost is the emotional cost. It makes your marketing

random and full of uncertainty. That is damaging to you as a

business owner. It saps your confidence. It makes it difficult to

plan. You literally don't know where you're going to be from one week to the next.

You must make to commitment to market smarter by picking

better targets. This is not an optional step. What we need to do is devise a way for those people who have an interest in what you offer to make themselves known to YOU.

I want to introduce you to the concept of lead generation

advertising. A lead generation ad has one goal and one goal only. To get the highly qualified prospect to step forward and make herself known to you. What do I mean by highly qualified? It

means she's already interested and has needs that you are able to satisfy, you aren't going to have to spend a whole lot of time

educating her about what you do. She has a problem, condition or situation and is ACTIVELY seeking a solution.

If you try to do more in your lead generation ad, you'll fail. This is not the time nor place to build your image, create name

recognition talk about your particular therapy, explain how it

works. Your lead generation ad is to do one job and one job only, to get your prospect to respond!!!!



Think of your marketing messages as acorns falling from a tree.

The ones that hit concrete won't develop. Your acorns need to fall on fertile ground. Lead Generation Advertising can help you

identify that fertile ground, so you don't waste time or money

trying to convert people who aren't in the market for what you offer.



Getting People to ‘Raise Their Hands’ At the beginning of this book, I told you that an effective and profitable marketing plan consists of three simple steps:

1. Getting the names of qualified an interested prospects



3. Making additional (and ongoing) sales to the people who have already bought from you by offering additional

services, products or third party products and services. Right now we are turning our attention to how you do step one: getting the names of qualified and interested prospects.

Now a HUGE, and I mean HUGE, GINORMOUS mistake people make here is trying to identify prospects on a one-by-one basis and do it manually. In other words, they are spending all their time identifying prospects, and then have hardly any time or energy for converting qualified prospects into business.



There are a couple of reasons why this approach will work against you.

Firstly, when you make a direct approach to someone who you suspect may have an interest in what you offer, you are very

likely to encounter what I call ‘knee-jerk’ rejection. If you have

ever done any cold calling, you will know exactly what I mean.

This where the person is saying ‘not interested’ before you have

even reached the end of your first sentence. So it becomes really hard to have a meaningful two-way conversation and establish whether that person is really interested or not.

The second reason this approach is to be avoided is that it is hugely time consuming for you. If you are working your way

through a list and making contact on a one-to-one basis, whether that is by phone, email, in person or by letter, it still means that a HUGE amount of your time is spent sifting through prospects.

You have got MUCH better things to be doing with your time!

You cannot afford to spend the majority of your marketing

resources sifting through and identifying prospects. Your time is better spent responding to and building relationships with those

people who have already shown an interest in what you offer, are

qualified and ready to respond right now. But, I hear you ask, how do I do this if I haven't identified them in the first place? Well

that's where Lead Generation Advertising comes in. These are



devices which get people to raise their hands and say, 'I'm interested!

You are about to discover how to create a low cost lead

generation system that your target clients to raise their hands and say, ‘I’m interested’. The most important thing about this system

is that it is automated and runs itself, with minimal input from you. So instead of having to wade through directories qualifying

prospects one by one, you can focus your energy and attention on those people who are most interested in what you have to offer.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?



Multi-Step Marketing When I was first introduced to the concept of multi-step marketing seven years ago, it transformed my conversion rates and my

business. Multi-step marketing is at the core of the Client Magnet

approach, because it is selling to people who have contacted you and asked for information about your product or service.

Using this process, you seek an immediate response from your

marketing efforts by offering a free report, item, sample or service (what I refer to as your ‘birdseed’). People who ‘raise their hands’ in response are not unqualified prospects. They are indirectly being screened since, once they "show up," they are prequalified.

In your case, if you offer a specific product that caters to a target market, find ways to make your market come forward with

minimal effort on your part. The best way to do this is to offer a

freebie. It's a "try-before-you-buy" approach. One of my favourite types of birdseed is giving away "free reports." Your free report

doesn't have to be product-specific, industry-specific, or benefitspecific. As long as it targets an audience that fits within your demographics (and eventually your psychographics), you're ahead of the game.

Let's say you're in financial planning. Your product involves

investments, mutual funds, stocks, savings plans and mortgages. - 47 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Rather than place an ad that directly markets these services, you could advertise a small classified ad promoting a free course,

seminar or report helping people save money. Let's say you're a beautician. You could offer a free kit that may include a free

makeover, a sample makeup kit, a gift certificate, a free initial consultation or a free report on makeup styles that will match one's unique complexion.

Nevertheless, the idea is to have people come to you rather than you to them, and the incentive you offer doesn't have to relate directly to what you do or sell. In general, the portion of the

general public that fits into your product's demographics consists merely of suspects (you suspect that they might need what you

have to offer). When a portion of them comes forward to get your

freebie, you've isolated the prospects from your suspects. Then, if they want more, they're now expects (people expecting to do business with you).

Now, here is the beauty of Multi-Step Marketing. Now that those

people have made themselves known to you, you can focus your attention on following up with the prospects using a sequence of contacts. According to "Sales and Marketing Magazine," 80% of

all people who inquire about a product buy that product within one year, but not from the company that made the original contact.

Why? Because the company didn’t follow up. It generally takes at least five contacts with a prospect who showed interest in the

product or service you offer before they will buy from you. If you - 48 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


are successful with the initial mailing, you can expect 30 to 70

percent in leads turning into customers with follow up mailings.



Multi-Step Marketing in Action 1. Use some sort of direct response advertising to obtain your

leads. Your ads should have a powerful headline directed at your target audience that causes them to read the rest of the ad and respond. The purpose of your ad is to arouse the reader’s or listener’s curiosity, getting them to call. Always offer them

something for free. Your goal in step one is to generate leads.

Listen to my Lead Generation TeleSeminar which is ‘perfect

partner’ for this ebook for further ideas on how to do this.

2. Your prospect reads the ad and responds, by phone, return

coupon or email, leaving her name and address or she writes to you for more information. The goal in step two is to capture and record the contact details of your leads.

3. Now this is where you start selling! When you send your free

report or sample, make your direct response offer to the prospect. Depending on your business, your offer might be a face-to-face

meeting, a consultation, or it could be an actual product. I found that offering an actual product (eg a seminar or manual)

generated an immediate profit, and that I was invited to face-toface meetings off the back of these campaigns anyway. The

prospects you have harvested from your lead generation will fall into one of three categories. We’ll call them cold, warm and hot prospects. A Cold prospect is slightly interested; she is looking

and will not buy. These prospects represent a small percentage - 50 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


of your enquiries. A Warm prospect is very interested, but not

ready to buy. They represent the majority of your enquiries. A Hot prospect is very interested and ready to buy. They also represent a small percentage of your enquiries.

4. This is the step that most people miss, but can actually triple your conversion rates. Follow up. A few days after your initial mailing, follow up with mailings to prospects who didn’t buy.

Repeat this step again and again. This is multi-step marketing.

You might change your communication slightly, or emphasise a

different advantage of your product or service. As you incorporate multi-step marketing, and see the types of conversion rates you can achieve using this approach, you will truly understand the

value of every lead that you generate, and be much more willing to invest in that area.



What’s Your Birdseed? We’ve already established that somewhere in the world there is a group of people crying out for you and the solutions that you

provide. The only problem is, they have no idea that you exist.

We need to make you visible to this group of people. However,

being visible in itself isn’t enough. We also need to motivate this

group of people to move towards you. We need to get the people who are most interested in what you have to offer to raise their hands and say, ‘I’m interested.’

A metaphor that I often use to describe the Client Magnets

approach is the image of two boys in a garden. One of them is

frantically chasing after birds; the other just stands still holding out birdseed in his hand and waits. Instinctively, most of us recognise that the latter will be more successful. Yet most sales techniques

involve some form of ‘chasing’ with the net result that prospective clients are scared away.

If you are to adopt the latter approach, it’s important to spend

some time selecting the right birdseed. So what’s your birdseed? To answer this question you need to know who you are aiming to attract, so that you are offering the birdseed which is most tasty and appealing to your target clients.



Take a moment to think about your prospective clients. What are

their concerns and fears? What problems are they struggling with right now? What are their hopes and desires? Be willing to think laterally as you think about what is most important to them.

The next step is to align what you have to offer with their most pressing concerns and needs. How can you help your target clients even before they become a client of yours?

It’s important to emphasise that you already have skills,

knowledge and expertise that is valuable to your prospective

clients. The trouble is most of us take what comes naturally to us for granted, and completely underestimate the value of what we know to our prospective clients.

Not only is what you know very helpful, you could be using it to attract your prospective clients, by packaging your knowledge and expertise in a form that meets one of their current needs. A classic way of doing this would be to offer a free report or

information pack which answers a question or solves a problem that your prospective clients have.

For example, if you are a recruitment consultant, you have

probably noticed that some of your existing clients are more successful at attracting and retaining talent than others.

Now if you sit down and reflect upon this, you could probably

come up with five things that the companies who are successful - 53 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


at retaining talent do that others don’t. This could be based

entirely on your personal observations over the years. Voila! Flesh out your opinions and you now have a report, ‘5 ways

attract and retain talent’ or ‘What companies who are successful at attracting and retaining clients do that their competitors don’t’ This does not need to be a ground breaking piece of academic

research. I want to remind you that you already have an opinion on this, which may well differ from the mainstream view, and if I

asked you this question over lunch, you would have no problem in coming up with an answer.

Once you have your article written, you could offer this free report by placing a message or short ad in a place where your target clients congregate. I call this a magnet – something which

provokes prospective clients to raise their hands and say, ‘I’m

interested!’ By requesting your report, responders indicate that they are interested in this topic.

Now, not everyone who requests your report will be a hot

prospect, but there will be some potential clients within this group. The free report would just be the starting point of your

relationship. When you send your free report, make sure that you

make a compelling invitation for readers to take the next step with you, whether that is booking a face-to-face meeting, a phone consultation, booking a trial session, ordering your basic

package, attending your seminar, joining a teleseminar you are - 54 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


hosting, or whatever other step is the logical next step for you and your prospect. Some prospects will take that step straight away. Others may need more time or further contact before taking action.

This is a low cost way to generate leads and position yourself as an expert in your particular field. Yes, it takes a little

brainstorming, imagination and creativity on your part, but the

knowledge which shapes your ‘birdseed’ should come naturally

anyway, and the time spent thinking about the needs and desires of your prospective clients will never be wasted.



Creating Your Free Report Most companies focus on developing a brochure, a slick, 4-color

tri-fold brochure with pictures, the name of their company, phone number, etc. That’s actually how people treat it. It’s just a

brochure with very little meaning. It’s treated with low perceived value and usually ends up in the garbage. Most brochures

developed are full of “me too” or copy focused on the company itself.

Instead you can establish your expertise and put it into a vehicle like a consumer guide or report that the your target audience wants to read. By giving away some of what you know, you

demonstrate your credibility. You build interest and trust in your services.

You can develop it in an informational format. You put your

expertise, knowledge, background, and years of experience down in print. In other words, a 15-page “Inside Secrets” type of report that relates to the service you want to render has a much more valuable meaning to the reader than an actual fancy glossy brochure.

It also now becomes a book. Even if it’s a report, you can call it a book. It doesn’t matter. It’s a different look, feel, value, pages than a brochure. It also provides advice. This report will be skimmed over, read and saved or passed along to others. - 56 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


You need to treat the title of your report like you would the

headline of an ad. You want to create a title that keeps your

prospect interested. It should tell them what’s in it for them. It should give them a big benefit. You need to entice them into getting a copy of it now.

Some sample title reports would be, How To Hire A Contractor And Not Get Ripped Off 10 Things You Must Know Before Hiring A Contractor Little-Known Secrets Of Cutting Your Mortgage In Half How To Turn Your Hobby Into A Profit Producing Business 10 Steps To Getting More Customers How To Double Your Customers In 30 Days How To Get More Customers In A Month Than You Now Get All Year.

You don’t want to title your book or report, Acme Company, We

Value Your Patronage; Your Company For Life. You don’t want to come up with a title that gives them no reason to call you. You - 57 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


don’t want to put your company name in the title. If anything, put your company name underneath the person’s name so you are

listed as the author of this report or book or consumer awareness guide.

You can also add a photo on the cover. That also gives you

credibility and makes you be recognized as an expert in the field. This report or book needs to be written from your consumer’s

side, not your side. It needs to be written from their vantage point. They’re going to understand that you’re educating them about the industry’s weaknesses. You tell them right off the bat, “I know

there are some unethical companies, but before you make any choices, please read on to find out the key ideas you need to know before”, etc.

You become their advocate and advise them about picking the

right company. You will be perceived as “educating” them instead

of “selling” them. Try not to use the words “me”, “we”, “I” and “us.” Try to use the words “you” and “your” as often as possible.

Your reader doesn’t want to hear about your company. They want to hear about what this report can do for them and educate them. Then they’ll want to know about your company.



You need to create this copy so it doesn’t look like advertising. It has to position you as a helpful friend and expert in the field.

Don’t be touting your company or recommending your company. You need to describe the actions necessary to fulfil the promise

that’s in the report. 10 Easy Steps To Making Sure You Don’t Get Ripped Off By A Contractor, then spell out those 10 steps. Whet

their appetite. Tell them what to do, but not necessarily how to do it. What happens is they will contact you for more of your advice.

The final step should be to contact you for more information. Give

them a checklist or flow chart of the process so you are educating them. Try not to use too much industry lingo because they may

not understand it. You may even have a copywriter prepare this report.

You want to avoid using an advertising agency because they’re

more inclined to do fancy brochures and try to stick in some logos and other things that really aren’t needed.

You want to have it printed nicely. You want to have it

professionally laid out and typeset by a printer, but don’t make it

look like a brochure. It doesn’t have to be printed in 4-colors and on high glossy stock.

You can print a cover on heavier weight paper with the actual

report saddle-stitched (stapled) and folded. If you want, you can - 59 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


make the cover a different colour. That’s as expensive as you want to go.



How to Create a Free Report that your prospects WANT to read – a great title When you offer a free report, the title is very important. Ideally it

should be something that is closely related to, but not about, your main service.

If you’re in the retail business you can do a book or special report

on how to buy products. If you’re in the service business, you can write on how to select a service professional. If you’re in the

restaurant business, you can write on ‘How to Select a Good Restaurant’ or ‘How to Get the Most Out of Your Dining Experience’. The possibilities are endless.

This has the double advantage of narrowing down your target group, and the list that you build will generate higher rates of

conversion to sales. For example, if you offer sales training, your could offer a report called ’10 Ways To Motivate Your Sales

Team without Money’ and that would have wide appeal. But if instead you offered a report called, ’10 costly Mistakes Sales

Directors Make When Outsourcing Training, And How to Avoid Them’, you would give yourself a number of advantages.

Firstly, you are more likely to generate a response from someone who is thinking about, or in the process or, outsourcing their training. Secondly, you are narrowing your offer to Sales - 61 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Directors, not just Sales Managers who may not hold the purse

strings. Thirdly, with this report, instead of positioning yourself as just another sales trainer, you are positioning yourself as

someone who can advise sales trainers on getting the most from their sales training: a subtle, but important, difference.

What should you put into your report? Aim to provide practical ideas that the reader can put into action

immediately and start getting results. Your reader should feel that they have gained something valuable and useful. Lots of people worry about giving away free information, but this is an

unnecessary concern. You will discover that the more you give

away, the more your business grows, as long as you are making

a sales offer to your readers at the same time, which is covered in a later chapter.

However good you make your report, there is no way you can

possibly include all of your expertise and knowledge on a given

topic. Another reason for including top quality information is that it demonstrates YOUR confidence and ability to provide real value, and some of your readers will start to think, ‘If this is what he

gives away for free, the information that he charges for must be amazing!’



How to Come Up With A Title That Starts A Stampede! The most important thing about your report is that people are MOTIVATED to request it and read it, so the title is crucial.

I recommend that you come up with a compelling title first, and then write your report. A great title… ♦ Identifies a problem or lack that your target prospect has ♦ Makes a promise ♦ Offers hope

♦ Arouses curiosity

♦ Announces important news (which is another way of arousing curiosity)

♦ Is ‘how-to’, practical and descriptive Get ideas from best selling book titles ♦ How to…

♦ Seven steps to… ♦ Ten ways to…

♦ A New Scientific Discovery… ♦ The secret of…. ♦ Why…?



♦ What happens when…? ♦ Should you….? ♦ Are you…?

♦ How can you…?

♦ The proven way to…

♦ Your Guide to…

Use a title that will let your prospects know you promise results that will make a difference in their lives. They won’t be able to

resist requesting your report to find out how to fulfil that promise. Run your title past the following checklist: ♦ Is your title specific?

♦ Is your title attention grabbing?

♦ Is your title upbeat and positive?

♦ Does your title promise benefits? Remember these key motivating factors when coming up with your title

♦ Earning money

♦ Improving health ♦ Saving time

♦ Being appreciated by others ♦ Improving appearance ♦ Being up-to-date



♦ Avoiding criticism ♦ Avoiding pain

♦ Avoiding losing money ♦ Getting promoted

♦ Improving social status ♦ Having more free time ♦ Ensuring security

♦ Being more comfortable

♦ Being more attractive to others

♦ Avoiding losing what you possess ♦ Avoiding losing your job

♦ Avoiding work and/or effort In conclusion, there are really only two reasons why anyone does anything. It’s to gain pleasure or avoid pain. You want to be sure your report’s title appeals to either one.



The easy way to create powerful and compelling headlines Use this fill-in-the blanks template to create compelling and powerful headlines and titles

Start by answering these four questions 1. What will your product, service or report help the customer or reader do (the general benefit)?

Eg start an internet company, lose weight, find a partner, earn more money, save more money

2. How quickly can you help the customer or reader accomplish this goal? Pick a (time frame) as shown in bold

Eg 3 minute solution to…, in less than 24 hours, …in less than

30 days…

3. What are the expected results of reaching this goal? Follow the examples shown in bold (expected results)

Eg and save £2000, …and make £15, 164 in 30 days, …you can lose 15 pounds in only 30 days



4.How many steps or tips are you giving your customer or reader to help them? Write down the number and the type eg steps, ways tips as shown in the examples in bold (number)

Eg Learn…with these 5 proven steps, 67 ways to….,Discover

the 12 secrets of…,16 special tips to….

Your answers to the four questions will be as follows: 1. (the General Benefit) _______________

2. (Time Frame) _____________________

3. (Expected Results) _________________ 4. (Number) ________________________

Now use the answers to your questions to insert phrases in the

examples below and you will come up with several potential headlines or titles immediately!

How To (the General Benefit) ...In Less Than (time Frame) _________________________________

Who Else Wants To (the General Benefit) In Only (time Frame)? _________________________________

Who Else Wants To (the General Benefit) And (expected Results)?



_________________________________ (number) To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ To People Who Want To (the General Benefit) -- But Can't Get Started

_________________________________ To Men Who Want To (the General Benefit) -- But Can't Get Started

_________________________________ To Women Who Want To (the General Benefit) -- But Can't Get Started

_________________________________ It's A Shame For You Not To (the General Benefit) -- When These People Do It So Easily

_________________________________ Thousands Now (the General Benefit) Who Never Thought They Could

_________________________________ Great New Discovery Helps You (the General Benefit) _________________________________ - 68 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Great New Discovery Helps You (the General Benefit) In Less Than (time Frame)

_________________________________ Here's A Quick Way To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

What Everybody Should Know... About How To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ Free Book... Tells You (number) To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

Greatest Gold-Mine Of Easy "(the General Benefit)" Advice Ever Crammed Into One Product

_________________________________ (the General Benefit) In As Little As (time Frame) With These (number)

_________________________________ (number) To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ (number) To (expected Results) - 69 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


_________________________________ (number) TO (the General Benefit) In Just (time Frame) _________________________________

Thousands Now (the General Benefit) Who Never Thought They Could ...With These (number)

_________________________________ (number) To (the General Benefit) And (expected Results) _________________________________ The Secret Of (expected Results)

_________________________________ The Secret Of (expected Results) In Just (time Frame) _________________________________

Proven Advice To (the General Benefit) -- By An Expert _________________________________

Proven Advice To (the General Benefit) And (expected Results) -By An Expert

_________________________________ You Can Laugh At (the General Benefit) Worries -- If You Follow This Simple Plan



_________________________________ It Seems Incredible That You Can (the General Benefit) And (expected Results)

_________________________________ It Seems Incredible That You Can (the General Benefit) In Only (time Frame)

_________________________________ How I (expected Results) In Less Than (time Frame) _________________________________

How Often Do You Find Yourself Saying: "I Wish I Knew How To (the General Benefit)"

_________________________________ How Often Do You Find Yourself Saying: "I Wish I Knew How To (expected Results)"

_________________________________ You Are Guaranteed To (expected Results) -- Or We Pay You _________________________________

Everywhere People Are Raving About These Amazing (number) To (expected Results)

_________________________________ - 71 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Everywhere People Are Raving About These Amazing (number) To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ What Everybody Ought To Know -- About How To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ The Truth About How To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

The Truth About How To (expected Results) _________________________________

How To (the General Benefit) Today Starting From Scratch _________________________________

How To (the General Benefit) In Only (time Frame) Starting From Scratch

_________________________________ How To (expected Results) Today Starting From Scratch _________________________________

How To (expected Results) In Only (time Frame) Starting From Scratch



_________________________________ Dare To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ Dare To (expected Results)

_________________________________ A Startling Fact About How To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

A Startling Fact About How To (expected Results) _________________________________

A Startling Fact About How To (expected Results) ...In Less Than (time Frame)

_________________________________ A Startling Fact About How To (the General Benefit) ...In Less Than (time Frame)

_________________________________ Need To (the General Benefit)?

_________________________________ Need To (expected Results)?



Are You Willing To Follow (number) To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

Are You Willing To Follow (number) To (expected Results) _________________________________

It's A Shame For You Not To (expected Results) -- When These People Do It So Easily

_________________________________ Thousands Now (expected Results) Who Never Thought They Could

_________________________________ Great New Discovery Helps You (expected Results) In Less Than (time Frame)

_________________________________ Here's A Quick Way To (the General Benefit) In Less Than (time Frame)

_________________________________ Here's A Quick Way To (expected Results) In Less Than (time Frame)

_________________________________



The Shocking Truth About How To (expected Results)! _________________________________

The Shocking Truth About How To (the General Benefit)! _________________________________

(expected Results). It's No Accident. In (time Frame), I Can Show You How To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ (expected Results). It's No Accident. In (time Frame), I Can Show You How!

_________________________________ (number) To Keep Your Fears From Holding YOU Back - (the General Benefit) Now!

_________________________________ (number) To Keep Your Fears From Holding YOU Back - (the General Benefit) In (time Frame)

_________________________________ Would You Like To (the General Benefit)? _________________________________ Would You Like To (expected Results)?



Look Inside To Discover How To (expected Results) _________________________________ Here's (number) To (expected Results)

_________________________________ Here's (number) To (the General Benefit)

_________________________________ Look Inside To Discover How To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

Serious About Wanting To (the General Benefit)? Here's How To (expected Results)! Guaranteed... Or Your Money Back! _________________________________

You CAN (expected Results) In Only (time Frame) ...Guaranteed! _________________________________

You CAN (expected Results) With These (number) ...Guaranteed! _________________________________

Yes YOU Too Can Learn How To (the General Benefit) With Ease!

_________________________________



Yes YOU Too Can Learn How To (expected Results) With Ease! _________________________________

Yes These (number) Will Help You Learn How To (expected Results) With Ease!

_________________________________ Yes These (number) Will Help You Learn How To (the General Benefit) With Ease!

_________________________________ Yes These (number) Guarantee You Will (expected Results)! _________________________________

Yes These (number) Guarantee You Will (the General Benefit)! _________________________________

Yes These (number) Helped Me (expected Results) And They Will Work For YOU Too

_________________________________ Yes These (number) Helped Me (the General Benefit) And They Will Work For YOU Too

_________________________________ Proven Tips, Tools and Tactics To (the General Benefit) _________________________________ - 77 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Proven Tips, Tools and Tactics To (expected Results) _________________________________

The Complete Guide To (expected Results) _________________________________

The Complete Guide To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

The Complete Guide Of (number) To (expected Results) _________________________________

The Quick And Easy Way To (expected Results) _________________________________

The Quick And Easy Way To (the General Benefit) _________________________________

The Quick And Easy Way To (expected Results) In Only (time Frame)

_________________________________ The Quick And Easy Way To (the General Benefit) In Only (time Frame)

_________________________________



How To (the General Benefit) Quickly And Easily – 100% Guaranteed!

_________________________________ How To (expected Results) Quickly And Easily – 100% Guaranteed!

_________________________________ Imagine... You Can (the General Benefit) In Just (time Frame) _________________________________

Imagine... You Can (expected Results) In Just (time Frame) _________________________________ You Deserve To (the General Benefit)!

_________________________________ Proven Techniques Help You (the General Benefit) - Guaranteed! _________________________________

Proven Techniques Help You (expected Results) - Guaranteed! _________________________________ You Deserve To (expected Results)!

_________________________________ Don't Wait Another Moment! (expected Results) Now! - 79 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


The Easy Way to Write Your Free Report in Just 90 Minutes or Less! Your free report should not take you weeks or months to write, it

should only take about 90 minutes. After that, it may require some editing and fine-tuning, but the writing itself should be a very quick process.

How is this possible? Very simple. Use an outline and fill it in. You already have your compelling title. If you have selected a title which includes a specific number of

tips or steps, eg ‘5 Easy Steps To Losing 10 Pounds In Just 30 Days’, then your outline is the 5 steps: Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5



You simply name each step and then elaborate on each on in turn.

If you have selected a title which does not include a specific number of steps, you can use a generic outline:

Problem – Discussion of a common problem your target market experiences

Solution – What can be done to solve this problem Examples – What others have done

Wrap up – A few important points to remember That was easy wasn’t it? Now we can add some sub-topics 1. Problem – Discussion of a common problem your target market experiences

Scope of the problem

Some typical examples

What it costs financially and emotionally, immediate costs and implied costs, immediate costs and long term costs The root of the problem

2. Solution – What can be done to solve this problem Where you need to start

What you must take into consideration - 81 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Avoiding common pitfalls

Five ways that are proven to work 3. Examples – What others have done Case studies of individuals or businesses who have solved this problem

Their situation, what they did and their results 4. Wrap up – A few important points to remember & Call to action

Re-iterate the main points

Emphasize why this is important Call to action

Now go over the outline a few more times. Don’t worry about

getting it perfect, you’re simply drafting ideas and key points and arranging them in a logical order. When you feel you have a

decent outline that makes sense, start the writing – word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph.

Let go of your need to make this perfect. This is just your first

draft. If you get stuck on a section, move to a section which is easier to write. Just keep writing. You will be surprised how

quickly and easily the words build up. Forget about grammar.

Forget about style. Just get your ideas out of your head and onto - 82 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


the page or computer screen. After you have completed your first draft you can work on grammar and style.

You also might want to let this ‘mull’ and go about your business for a day or two before you starting writing. This gives ideas a

chance to ‘incubate’, and you will probably find that ideas start

popping into your head with very little effort. Allow this to be easy and enjoyable. Then when you sit down to write your report, you will probably find that the words flow easily.

That’s it. You can use this process and have your first draft completed in under 90 minutes. Do it now!



Lead Generation Advertising Now you have your free report and a great title it’s time to look at what goes in to your Lead Generation Ad so that you generate lots of requests for your free report!

Remember that this ad has one goal and ONLY one goal: To get your target prospects to ‘raise their hands’ and tell you ‘I’m interested!’

At this point it’s not important whether you place your ads online or offline, and whether your ad is something you include at the bottom of an article you contribute to a magazine, or a small

display ad that you buy in that same magazines. All of those issues are to do with the ‘medium’.

Remember when we looked at the difference between the

Market, the Message and the Medium at the beginning of this book?

Well right now, we are concentrating purely on the MESSAGE of your lead generation ad.

The secret is to follow this PROVEN five step formula when

creating your lead generation ad. This formula works when it

comes to converting your interested prospect into a buyer too, but - 84 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


right now, we will focus purely on lead generation: getting a response from an interested prospect. The formula goes like this: 1. Get Attention!

2. Arouse Interest and Emotion.

3. Tell an interesting story in a believable way 4. Offer an incentive to take action…NOW

5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it. On the following page you will see an example of how these 5 elements might work together in a lead generation message.

Don’t worry about where you might be placing this message yet, we will be covering that later. For now, you need to understand the 5 key elements of a lead generation ad.



‘Cold Calling made Easy’ Discover the EASY way to GUARANTEE proven results on the PHONE!

Do you fee reluctant and un-confident about cold calling? Is

cold calling a necessary evil and the least favourite part of your job? Do you find it hard to motivate yourself to pick up the phone after you have had so many knock-backs?

If you’ve ever experienced the frustration of trying to find new customers on the phone – WE CAN HELP YOU!

For a free information pack including tips and ideas that you

can use immediately to have more success on the phone, send a blank email to ……..or call xxx-xxxxx

Notice that no company name is mentioned. There is no attempt to sell a product or service. This ad has one goal and one goal

only: to generate a response. That’s all your lead generation has to do.

When you have generated a response and captured the address details of the responder, then you will have plenty of opportunity to make the case for your product or service.



Remember, the formula goes like this: 1. Get Attention!



5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it. Now let’s look at each of these 5 elements in more detail 1. Get Attention! The way to do this is with a powerful and compelling headline as explained in the section on headlines. 2. Arouse Interest and Emotion. Emotions stir up more sales than logic ever will. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your marketing is to use a straightforward, ‘professional’ approach that attempts to appeal to people’s sensibilities. Logical advertising is dead

advertising. Emotions are what motivate people to take notice and respond.

3. Tell an interesting story in a believable way



If your lead generation is boring, it won’t get read! Take a look at this little survey. Do any of these titles describe what you do? Any professional titles you hold? Accountant

MAS, CPA

Financial Planner

IFA, CFP

Counsellor/Psychologists PhD, EdD Life Coach

CCP

Now stop for a moment and think. Think about your

communications with prospective clients and customers. Think

about your website. The brochures and flyers you send to people. Are people beating down your doors and ringing your phone off the hook to get to you because of what you do..the titles you hold… or your attractive website? I doubt it. Don’t talk about WHAT you do. Talk about the RESULTS you

deliver. Describe the difference you can or have made in people’s lives.

That’s interesting. Listing your qualifications isn’t. - 88 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


4. Offer an incentive to take action…NOW You must give people a reason to ‘raise their hands’ to ensure

successful lead generation. Offering a free report that solves an immediate problem is a proven way to do this.

Offering a free consultation in your lead generation is unlikely to get the same reponse. Why? Because every business person in town is going to offer a free consultation.

The FREE REPORT concept works because it’s giving people a

reason to take action and take action NOW, because they WANT that information.

If you don’t give people a reason to take action RIGHT NOW,

you’re not going to get anyway near the kind of responses you

could and should be getting with your lead generation. Everyone needs a good reason to ‘raise their hands’. Make sure you give them one! 5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it. - 89 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


The action you ask for should be physically and emotionally easy for the person to take. Let’s talk about physical ease first.

‘Click here’ on the internet, is probably the easiest physical step for your prospect to take. It takes very little effort, there is very little emotional risk.

At the other extreme, ‘send an sae and a cheque or postal order for £2.50 to the following address’ takes more physical effort on

your prospects’ part. They have to find an envelope, get stamps,

write a cheque, write the address on the envelope, and so on. It is more complicated and takes more effort.

So choose action steps which take minimal effort on behalf of your prospects.

The other area you need to consider is the degree of emotional risk, you are asking your prospects to take. You want to make steps as non-threatening as possible.

So an action step such as ‘call our sales team now’ may prevent

people from responding. They may be concerned that they will be pressurised by the sales person. Similarly, ‘book a free

consultation’ is perceived by most buyers as booking a sales

presentation. This doesn’t mean you won’t invite prospects to

take this step after they have got to know you and you have built - 90 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


some trust and rapport between you, just that there are less threatening action steps for them to take at this stage of the process.

So what’s a non-threatening action step? Well requesting a free report, obviously, which is why I have

recommended this approach to you. ‘Visit our website’ is also

very non-threatening for the prospect, but with this step you don’t get the chance to capture the address of the person requesting further information, so you can’t follow up with everyone who responds.

If you want to make requesting your report super non-threatening, you can have your prospects request the report by email – and then you can follow up using an auto-responder.

Or you could set up a recorded message on a voicemail line (which you can rent from a third party at low cost), so the

prospect knows they aren’t going to have to speak to a live

person on their first call, and therefore can avoid the risk of being subjected to high pressure sales techniques)

Or you can have your prospects respond by fax. Whichever

method you use, the most important thing is that it’s an ‘easy next step’ for your prospect to take. This means that it takes minimal effort and is also emotionally non-threatening. - 91 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


As you put together your lead generation ad, remember the proven 5 step formula: 1. Get Attention!



5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it.



Matching the Right Lead Generation Methods to Your Market As you can see, when you have specified your target market, it

becomes much easier to discover where they are congregating

online and offline. Now we have identified the MARKET for your lead generation, and developed the right MESSAGE, it’s time to select the right MEDIUM for your lead generation.

In this section, I am demonstrating how I generated leads for some different campaigns. The reason for providing these

examples is that each of them generated business FAST, and that’s our goal here.

You will also notice that for each campaign, you must start with specifying the market need and your solution before you plan where to place your ads. Market Need:

Complementary Therapists Who Need More

Solution:

One day seminar called ‘Attracting Clients

Clients

With Ease’

Lead Generation

Where are the

Email newsletter

Paid classified ad

Congregating

www.healthypages.

newsletter –

target Clients

Healthy Pages,

in email


The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast! Online?

co.uk

Where are the

Monthly Magazine

target clients

congregating

Positive Health

offline?

generated 112

enquiries

Article with offer of free report (and the

magazine paid for the article!)

Market Need:

Trainers and consultants who need more

Solution:

Two day workshop ‘How to Become A Client

Where are the target Clients

Congregating Online?

clients

Magnet

Discussion forum

www.ukhrd.co.uk Website/ezine

www.magentacircle. co.uk

Lead Generation

Two responses in discussion forum

to queries posted, mentioning free

report –generated 177 enquiries

Submitted free tip to ezine with offer Where are the target clients

congregating

Monthly Magazine Effective Consulting

of free report

Article with offer of free report

offline?



Market Need: Solution:

Salespeople and businesspeople who have to cold call and hate it

One day seminar ‘Secrets of Effective

Appointment Making’

Manual ‘Opening Lines Made Easy’

Audio Tapes and Manual ‘Secrets of Effective Appointment Making’ Where are the target

Clients Congregating Online?

?

Lead Generation

Fax broadcast to rented

list

Where are the target

Monthly Magazines

Regular articles with

offline?

Sales Director

generated 50 enquiries)

clients congregating

Winning Business

offer of free report (one



Where are Your Target Clients Congregating? – Online Now we need to think about where you will be placing your Lead Generation Ads.

Whether you want to reach your target audience online or offline, the key question to ask yourself is : who already has a relationship with the people I want to reach?

Here’s a tip that can help you identify where your target prospects are congregating on the web. This can provide you with crucial

information about where to post messages, place ads or submit articles. And best of all, it’s very, very quick and also free!

The resource is called www.alexa.com. Alexa provides a wealth of information on web sites you visit, including traffic, but most importantly from our point of view, it also shows related sites.

In less than 30 minutes this morning, I have identified ten new websites that may provide promotional opportunities for www.clientmagnets.com

So how did I do this? Well I started by typing in the names of two sites that I know are frequented by Client Magnet subscribers. When you do this, Alexa provides information including traffic ranking. One of them is ‘People who visit this page also visit’.

Very quickly I generated a list of additional sites which are visited by my target prospects.



How can Alexa help you? If you already have a website, Alexa

can show you which other sites your visitors are visiting. This can give you a better understanding of their needs and requirements. It may also identify opportunities for links that you haven’t considered yet.

Even if you don’t have a website, you could type in the name of a website that you know is already frequented by your target prospects, and see which related sites come up.

So where’s the promotional opportunity? Well out of the list of

sites I generated, some of them were what are known as vertical portals. Vertical portals (also known as vortals!) are sites that have been developed to meet the needs of a very specific

market. A vertical portal strives to meet the needs for information, products and services by becoming the online resource for that specific market. www.healthypages.co.uk is an example of a vertical portal. www.theautochannel.com is another one.

Vertical portals offer two significant opportunities for would be Client Magnets. Firstly, if you can find a vertical portal that is

already attracting the people that you want to get into relationship with, they may be perfect sites for placing small lead generation ads. Placing lead generation ads can help you identify those

highly qualified prospects people who are most interested in what you have to offer.



The second opportunity is less obvious. In order to achieve their mission of becoming known as the online resource for a specific

community, vertical portals need a constant stream of strong and valuable content. That dovetails nicely with a need that you and I have which is to be recognised as an expert in a specific topic

area. The long term key to getting recognized as an expert is to

share valuable, practical useable information on your topic over a period of time and in a variety of formats. So if you find a vertical portal which is attracting your target clients, you could offer to provide articles or ‘how-to’ reports on your area of expertise.

Make sure that your contact details are included on any content you submit, and you could even encourage people to request

information from you by offering a further free report that people request from you via email.

This is a small step, which won’t cost you a penny. What do you have to lose?

Ezines Whilst having your own email newsletter is a great marketing

method in the long term, starting one now is unlikely to bring you business in the next 30 days.

What may bring you business faster however, is reaching your target audience through other people’s ezines. - 98 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


If you can find ezines that are already aimed at your target

audience, try submitting a free tip. I found a couple of publishers who were very willing to include content at no charge. Here’s an example of one that was placed in www.magentacircle.co.uk TIP –MAGNETISE YOURSELF – Describe the results you

deliver, not what you do. Whether it’s in conversation or on your sales literature, don’t talk about WHAT you do, talk about the

RESULTS you can or have produced for others. A statement of

results captures the value that you can provide to your prospect. For example, don’t say: ‘We provide sales training’, instead say ‘We help sales teams in the IT industry to reduce lengthy sales cycles.’ Instead of, ‘I provide financial training’, say, ‘I help

companies to reduce debtor days by as much as 35%’. Look over your client list and experience. WHO have you helped? You don’t need to name drop. Think of the types of businesses and

individuals you have helped. And HOW specifically have you

helped them? This will help you generate a statement of results that get prospects responding.

This tip was provided by Bernadette Doyle of Client Magnets.

Bernadette is offering a free report on ‘How to Become a Client Magnet’ to Magenta Circle members. Email [email protected]



Discussion Forums These can provide a great way of becoming visible and building

relationships with your target audience. Traditionally contributing to discussion forums is thought of as a longer term marketing

strategy, but I have achieved some immediate business results through this channel.

Now, obviously you don’t just place a blatant ad for your service. I

suggest you ‘lurk’ until someone posts a question which relates to you area of expertise. This is what I did at a forum called

www.ukhrd.co.uk and someone actually posted a question which

asked about sales training for freelance trainers. What a gift! Here’s the first message I posted

‘In response to Nicole Farrow’s request for sales training for freelance trainers.

I have a course called ‘How to Become a Client Magnet’, which

has been designed to help independent consultants attract more of the business/clients they really want. Please email me on [email protected] if you’d like to know more’

Now this message generated some enquiries, but a few days

later, someone posted another question about leaflet drops as a method of marketing. Here was my reply:



‘In response to Bernie Walsh’s question on using leaflet drops to market yourself.

My own experience (I’ve been a self-employed trainer for 6

years)is that untargeted mailings can be costly and demoralising. After spending lots of money trying various direct mail

approaches, I’ve come to the conculsion that the most effective marketing is to get someone who has a need for what you’re

offering to raise their hands and say, ‘I’m interested’ and then focus your energy and attention on converting that group into clients.

I’ve written a repost on how to do this called HOW TO BECOME A CLIENT MAGNET. I’m happy to share this with you and any other readers of UK-HRD. Please email me [email protected] for a copy’

Interestingly, this email offering a FREE report generated more than 7 times the number of responses than the first message

which just offered course information. Just goes to show those free reports really work! Results

The tip in Magenta Circle and these two messages generated

171 enquiries, and resulted in 6 bookings worth £695 each for a two day course I was offering, 5 bookings for later courses, 3



requests for consulting services and one request for an information product.

All in all, these three messages brought in £7,500 worth of

business in just 5 weeks. And I did all this without even having a website.

You, too could be using these no cost methods to get your target audience to ‘raise their hands’, and attract clients quickly.

Paid Classified Advertising in Ezines If you have found an ezine which is written for your target market, you might want to consider paid classified advertising.

Here’s an example of an ad I placed when I was promoting a seminar for complementary therapists who were marketing themselves.

‘There’s nothing enlightened about being a gifted healer and living in the poorhouse’

Healthy Business has been created for complementary therapists who want to attract clients with ease. For a free report, including

tips and ideas you can apply immediately to grow your business, send a blank email to,,,’

This ad only cost £35 to run, and each time it ran it brought in

about 100 enquiries in less than 2 days, a significant proportion of whom booked onto the workshop I was offering. - 102 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


What I like about these ads is that they produce immediate results.

Here’s an example of another one I have run recently ‘How to Make Money Marketing Public Seminars, Workshops and Training Courses’

Get more bookings for your events and avoid expensive

marketing mistakes with this FREE REPORT which tells you the

7 most common mistakes people make when marketing courses and how you can avoid them. Send a blank email to [email protected]



Where are Your Target Clients Congregating? Offline Now we need to think about how you are going to reach your

target clients offline. Again the key question to ask yourself is:

who already has a relationship with the people I want to reach?

Professional Association Newsletters and Magazines

It’s not unusual for a professional association to send out a

regular newsletter or magazine to their members. These can be a fabulous place to send articles, press releases, ads or inserts, and can often be a VERY cost effective way of reaching your target audience too. If you form a relationship with the

organisation, they can even end up endorsing your product or

service to their members, so bear these in mind as a joint venture opportunity too.

Don’t just think of professional groups in your field. Think of

professional groups OUTSIDE your field too. There’s a good

chance that your product or service could be tailored to meet their needs. Marketing guru Dan Kennedy built his business

specialising in two fields: the speaking profession (his own field), and chiropractors (outside his field). His core message on

marketing remained the same, but he tailored it to suit the needs



of two distinct groups. You may actually uncover additional target audiences by doing this.

Newspapers and Magazines Think about what newspapers your ideal clients would read. Even if you are selling business to business remember that your customers will also read consumer press too.

What about consumer magazines and trade magazines? Which

ones are they likely to read? Consult a guide like The Writers and Artist’s Handbook which includes lists of publications. Take a trip down to your local library to see what publications they stock. If

you have a business library nearby even better. Make a list of the

publications and magazines that may be suitable vehicles for lead generation advertising.

On a longer term basis, you may want to generate P.R in these publications. THE expert for helping you with this is Paula Gardner of www.doyourownpr.com

However, P.R is a longer term strategy and in this guide we are focusing on what will bring in business in the short term, so I won’t be exploring P.R any further in this particular guide.



Placing Classified Ads and Display Ads in Publications

Classified Ads and/or small display ads in publications that are READ by your target audience can be a great way to generate leads. The key with these ads is to TEST, and keep track of

responses, so you know exactly how much business they bring in.

The content of your classifed ads in newspapers or magazines

will be identical to the content you use for classified ads in ezines as described on page 53.

The two formulas to know are: Cost per lead = Cost of Ad/Number of Responses Cost of sale = (Cost of Ad + Cost of Fulfilling Responses)/Number of Sales

Start small. You don’t need to risk your shirt to start benefiting from these ads.

Test, and you quickly discover which ads are profitable and which one’s aren’t.

Remember, wherever you place your ads, the proven 5 step formula for lead generation is:



1. Get Attention!



5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it. I’m just reminding you, because you WILL be tempted to veer

from this proven approach. Maybe you will attempt to sell ‘off the page’ and skip the step where people ‘raise their hands’. Or you will try to do both at the same time. Or you will find a publication that is so ‘perfect’ for you, that you invest in a full page colour ad which provides you lots of

opportunity and space to talk about what you’re offering in the hope that will bring in more business. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. I know about most of these mistakes because I’ve made them myself.

You can benefit from what I learned the hard way and paid hard earned cash to discover.

Take it from me. Stick with the 5 step formula. - 107 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Fax Broadcasting Unsolicited fax broadcasting is probably the most controversial

type of lead generation. Some people HATE being approached in this way, and there are legal restrictions too.

In the UK it is illegal to send unsolicited faxes to the following groups:

• Individuals

• Sole traders

• Partnerships (except in Scotland)

• Companies that have indicated a desire NOT to

receive faxes and that have joined the Fax Preference Service (FPS) or who have notified you directly that they do not wish to receive further faxes from you.

At the same time, if you are targeting businesses, this can be a

very effective method of building a targeted list.

A couple of years ago I was marketing appointment setting seminars to salespeople. Whilst cold calling is seen as a

necessary by many salespeople, the challenge I had was

reaching those people who were actively cold calling. After all

some businesses don’t use cold calling at all. (And you can be one of them if you follow the suggestions in this ebook !)



Here’s the lead generation fax I sent to a couple of thousand businesses

‘Cold Calling made Easy’ Discover the EASY way to GUARANTEE proven results on the PHONE!

Do you fee reluctant and un-confident about cold calling? Is

cold calling a necessary evil and the least favourite part of your

job? Do you find it hard to motivate yourself to pick up the phone after you have had so many knock-backs?

If you’ve ever experienced the frustration of trying to find new customers on the phone – WE CAN HELP YOU!

For a free information pack including tips and ideas that you

can use immediately to have more success on the phone, return this form now.

COMLPETE THIS FORM AND FAX FREE TO 0800 XXX XXXX Name………………………………………Email……………………………

Company Name……………………………………………………………… Address………………………………………………………………………

Phone Number……………………………..Fax Number…………………



Notice, like all the lead generation examples I have given, this fax focuses on generating a response. No company information. No attempt to sell.

Just free information in return for completing a form Several hundred people responded. My real goal was to generate leads for my seminars, but to cover

the costs of the fax broadcast and subsequent mailing, I enclosed an offer for an information product I had written called ‘Opening Lines Made Easy’.

I wrote to each person who responded three times. By this stage 10% of the people who had responded to my initial fax had

bought ‘Opening Lines Made Easy’. This in itself generated just under £8000 of product sales in a matter of weeks.

In addition, this piece of marketing generated a number of further enquiries along the lines of, ‘You obviously have expertise in this area, and we need training, can you help?’

So my little fax brought in immediate (and welcome) cash flow, and resulted in a further £10,000 of training contracts. So although there was a financial investment made in fax

broadcasting, the product sales more than compensated for the - 110 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


costs, and most importantly the whole exercise generated some long term clients.

Now do you see why it is ABSOLUTELY achievable to generate paying clients within 30 days?

If you are interested in using fax broadcasting, a great site is www.promofax.co.uk

Not only do they have great information and articles on fax

broadcasting, they provide a VERY low cost service. They will send out 10, 000 faxes for you for a cost of £250.

One word of caution. If you look at the examples on their site, you will see that many of their customers attempt to sell in just one

step, as opposed to the multi-step approach I am recommending to you.

Don’t get distracted. Use fax broadcasting for Lead Generation,

and THEN you will have ample opportunity to follow up and make the sale.

Just one more time, I’m going to remind you of the proven 5 step formula.

Your fax broadcast should: 1. Get Attention!


3. Tell an interesting story in a believable way - 111 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


4. Offer an incentive to take action…NOW

5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it.

Mailing Postcards to Rented Lists The final method of reaching your target prospects offline

QUICKLY is to send a lead generation postcard to a list that you

‘suspect’ may be in the market for what you have to offer. Those people who ‘raise their hands’ in response will then become prospects.

This method takes the largest investment, so make sure that you have a clear and compelling offer to make to responders, and a sequence of great sales letters to make your offer to maximise your return on investment.

www.marketingfile.com is a list broker who rents lists for one time

or multiple usage. You can select your list on a number of criteria, and they also have specific lists such as Affluent Directors at their Home Address or Business Women at Home. Explore their lists as there may be one which is a perfect match with your target market.

What I like about marketing file is that there is no minimum order,

so it gives you a chance to test different types of lists, or focus on a very specific local area. It is also VERY easy to download your



selected list onto label which you can stick straight onto you postcards.



Here’s an example of a postcard layout

FREE SPECIAL REPORT

9 remarkable ways massage therapists can grow their

To:

Put the address label here

client base and make more profits

Don’t miss out on these free

tips that can help you grow a thriving practice quickly and easily.

To get this FREE report, call xxx-xxxx

FREE Special Report

‘9 Easy Ways for Massage

Therapists to Grow Your Client Base and Make More Profits’



Why Bother With The Postcard? Why not send your offer immediately?

Yep! Once again you may be tempted to skip the lead generation step and make your offer directly to the list. Here’s why you DON’T want to do this. Let’s say you rent a list of 300 names. If those 300 some will be ready to buy what you have to offer immediately. Some will

NEVER buy no matter what you do. The bulk of the list may be interested, but, for a variety of reasons, not ready to buy right now.

If you don’t give people a chance to ‘raise their hands’ first, you

will have no way of identifying who those ‘interested, but not right now’ people are. So every time you want to make a sale to the

list, you will have to mail the WHOLE list, including those people

who will NEVER buy from you. Not only is this wasteful, it can be expensive.

You need some way of identifying those people who are

‘interested, but not right now.’ It therefore makes more sense to

generate a response first and then focus your follow up on those people who have ‘raised their hands.’

Don’t be tempted to skip the lead generation step. - 115 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


And remember, when you plan your message for the postcard, the 5 step formula is…..(sing along now!) 1. Get Attention!



5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it. A word about writing articles and giving talks Two other great methods of reaching your target market offline – especially when you combine them with the 5 step formula and offer free reports, are writing articles and giving talks. I have

found both useful in building my own business. However, they are also approaches which deliver results over the long term, rather

than immediate paying business, and as our goal in this guide is to attract paying clients within the next 30 days, I won’t be elaborating on these methods here.

So don’t rule out these activities, especially for long term success, but for the next 30 days, there are better things you could be doing with your time to bring in immediate paying business.

If you are scheduled to give a talk, or write an article in the next month, then make sure you invite your audience to ‘raise their - 116 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


hands’ by offering a free report at the end of your talk or article using the proven 5 step formula.



The Client and Customer Acquisition Business This chapter has been inspired by a couple of conversations I’ve head with people who were expressing fear or reluctance to

financially invest in growing their business. Now whilst I am the

first to agree that you can build a business via word of mouth, and there are people who have succeeded without spending a penny in advertising, I also have to say that my training business really took off when I stopped thinking about myself as being in the

training business and started thinking about myself as being in the Customer Acquisition Business.

I stopped thinking of myself as a salesperson or marketer, and

started thinking of myself as someone who was in the business of buying clients and customers.

This shift in thinking can be the most profitable thing you’ll ever do for your business and that is to understand exploiting the

actual value of your customer. It’s been called the Marginal Net Worth and the Lifetime Value.

What is the current worth of one of your customers or prospects? It’s the total profit of an average customer over the lifetime that they do business with you. That includes all subsequent sales minus advertising/marketing and your fulfilment expenses.



Let’s say the average customer brings you £75 profit on the first sale. They re-purchase 3 more times in a year. Their average

order amount is £300. On each £300 reorder, you make £150

gross profit. The average life lasts 2 years. Every new customer is worth £975.

You reach the £975 by adding the £75 initial profit to the 3 other

purchases each year of £300. Only £150 is profit, so £150 times 3 equals £450. If they do that for 2 straight years, that’s £900 plus the original £75.

If this is our average customer and they’re worth £975 in profit and it only costs you £30 through your advertising/marketing

expenses to get them, every time you spend £30 you receive

£975 back. Every time you ‘buy’ a customer at a cost of £30, you are acquiring an asset worth £975.

You would be foolish not to increase your advertising/marketing and promotional budget to produce as many of these £30-cost

customers so you would spend £30 over and over and over again to get £975 back.

Theoretically, you could spend £975 to get that customer

because you know they will come back and spend £975 and you will break-even. Of course, we don’t want to do this. Remember, this is an average customer. Some will buy more and some will buy less. This is an average number. - 119 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Now you know you can spend up to £975. You could just as

easily be spending 100% of your £75 profit just to get that first

sale because that’s just the first sale’s profit, so you’ll still end up with £975 over the next 2 years.

If you offered to give that £75 service for free and it doubles your customers, it would double your profits over the next 2 years.

Less than one in 100 business owners think about this. You want

to spend everything you can justify to bring in a customer as long as that customer costs you less than they earn you. If you can’t afford to spend more than the entire profit from the first sale,

remember you’ll be making money just in a few months from

them. Start out spending what your cash flow can justify. After a

quarter or several months after their re-order profits come in, then you can step up your ad budget.

Another advantage is that most competitors have no idea what

their customer is worth. If their marketing budget is a percentage

of their sales, during a recession they might cut their ad budget. If you continue advertising and marketing at your current level, you’ll get their customers.

If you haven’t yet calculated your customer’s worth, here’s how you do it:



1. Compute your average sale and your profit per that sale. 2. Compute how much additional profit a customer is worth

to you by determining how many times they come back and buy. Be conservative.

3. Figure out precisely what a customer costs by dividing your marketing budget by the number of customers it

produces. If you spend £1,000 on marketing and you get

1,000 customers, they’re costing you £1 a piece. Prospects are the same. Maybe out of that £1,000 you get 10,000 prospects for £0.10.

4. Compute how many sales you get for so many prospects;

the percentage of prospects that actually become customers. This will be your “Closing Ratio.” If you get 10,000 prospects and you have 1,000 customers, that’s a 10% Closing Ratio. 5. The Marginal Net Worth of a customer is computed by

subtracting the cost to produce that customer from the profit you expect to earn from them over their lifetime.

Ultimately, we want you to spend less and less getting the

customers – in other words, your Acquisition Cost – but this

method is a way to generate customers short-term. If you were to go out and do business for free on that front-end sale, you’d be



getting customers left and right. Eventually, you want to cut back on that and slash how much it cost to get them.

Everybody wants as many new customers as they can get, but

nobody really knows how much a customer is worth so they don’t know how much they can spend to get one.

When you spend your money, you need to get value for your

investment and you need to get an asset. That asset will be an

asset or client that you can turn into a long-term business value. One of the worst mistakes 99% of the businesses make is letting prospects and clients come and go with no thought as to how

valuable they really are and how valuable they are to the future

security of your business. You need that answer, which is the net worth of the customer.

Every customer is going to buy. How many times throughout the

year? How long? If you don’t figure out these numbers, you really aren’t in business because you don’t have a valuable asset. Your

business lacks value. It might have cash flow and you might have some money, but it’s fleeting and short-term.

Some people never want to spend a penny on advertising or lead generation and want to grow their business via networking,

writing articles and giving talks or free sessions. That’s fine, but

recognise that there is still a value on your time, so even though - 122 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


you aren’t physically putting your hand in your pocket, there is still a cost to you.

In the early days of your business you may be time rich but cash poor. As your business grows that balance will change, and you

could find that spending £50 on a lead generation ad gives you a better return on investment than driving to a networking meeting, and spending an evening there away from your family.

Whether your cost is in time or money, you need to keep track of

what brings results and what doesn’t OVER TIME. What appears to be a minimal return in the short term, could be to your long

term profit. For example, when I first started running workshops, one of the first that I ran barely broke even. I covered my costs, but got nothing for my time. 18 months later, when I tracked all

the business that had come in over the previous years, I realised that I had received £18,000 worth of referral business from one person who had attended that workshop.

Invest. Invest in your business. Invest in yourself. I am not talking about blind and wild spending, but shrewd inevestment that delivers healthy and consistent returns and that puts you in

control of your business instead of the uncomfortable position of your business controlling you.



How to Turn Enquirers into Buyers So now you’ve got people to ‘raise their hands’, how do you convert this interest into paying business?

You need to make the path from ‘I’m interested. Tell me more!’ to ‘Great. Let’s go! How do I pay you?’ as smooth and easy as

possible. You need to really understand the process that your

clients go through as they evaluate you and make the decision to buy from you. The better you understand this process, the more you will be able to convert prospects into paying clients.

You may also need to install systems that make it physically

easier to buy from you; this could mean automating the buying

process on a website, hiring staff or a virtual assistant to process orders for you or being able to take payments by credit cards.

You may also need to think about the way you package what you offer. For example, when I first became a trainer I had no track

record (credibility) and little visibility. I realised that it could be a very lengthy sales cycle to get hired as an in-house training

consultant by an organisation. How did I get round this? I started offering public courses. This meant a lower initial cost and less risk for my prospects, and because each course had a finite

number of places available plus an inherent deadline, it effectively nudged my prospects into making a decision. This is a contrast

from selling an in-house training programme which might happen - 124 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


at any time in the future subject to business priority and budgeting.

You need to think carefully about the form in which you provide

your services to make it clear, compelling, specific and tangible for people who have raised their hands.



Make Your Offer Clear, Specific and Tangible This one step will make all the difference to you attracting new clients within the next 30 days or not. You need a clear and

compelling proposition to make to those people who ‘raise their hands’.

If you just send the free reports, and hope that prospects will call

you and say ‘you obviously have lots of expertise in this area, can we talk?’, you will miss out on hundreds of opportunities.

It is YOUR responsibility to decide specifically what you are

offering and help those people who have ‘raised their hands’ to make an informed decision.

This is especially important when you are selling a service. You will have most success when you make your product or service tangible.

Let me give you an example. Chris was a P.R expert who came to one of my workshops. He understood the concept of getting

prospects to ‘raise their hands’ and knew how to do this, but was unsure about how he could convert that interest into business. As we explored what he could do for clients, the strong theme

that emerged was that he could uncover thousands of pounds worth of free publicity for businesses. - 126 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


I recommended that Chris made that his offer. After some finetuning, the way he expressed his offer was ‘Give me one hour,

and I will uncover thousands of pounds worth of free publicity for your business’. In his sales letters to prospects that accompany

his free reports, Chris needs to make this offer to businesses and spell out all the benefits and advantages of taking this step. If he makes this offer free, he will increase his response, and can use the face-to-face meetings as a platform for offering his P.R

services. Alternatively, he could offer the hour for a fixed fee, which may lower the response, but have the advantage of

bringing in immediate revenue. If he still uses the meetings as a

platform to introduce his P.R services, he will cultivate long term business from this too.

By doing this Chris has done a couple of important things: 1. He has found a way of packaging his expertise to meet an immediate market need ‘thousands of pounds of free publicity in just one hour’

2. By doing this he has turned his service into something tangible that is easy for his prospects to understand

3. He can make it really clear to prospects what the next step is: ‘Call me now to arrange your free one hour session’ or ‘Book your session now for £250’ - 127 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


This approach is a huge contrast to how most service

professionals respond to people who have raised their hands.

Typically the service professional will send out lots of information, but fail to make a clear and compelling offer to their prospects. The onus is therefore on the prospect to identify what the next

step is, and invite the seller to take this step. If you approach your marketing like this, guess what will happen? The people who

have ‘raised their hands’ may be very interested, but if they don’t know what the next step is, they’ll do nothing.

A favourite method of mine is to package my information into a

workshop, seminar or training course for a certain fee, and offer

this to people who have ‘raised their hands’. A good proportion of responders book onto my events immediately. I really like this

method for converting interest into paying business, and this was how I got started back in 1996. It is absolutely one of the fastest ways I know for generating significant sums of income quickly

AND I attracted several consulting opportunities off the back of these events. I still favour this approach today.

If you are a complementary therapist, your offer might be an

introductory session. Give it a title that makes it clear to your

prospects what to expect. Julia, a homeopath you are about to meet in a later chapter, found that when she started offering a

‘Pre-Birth Consultation’ for a fee, not for free, she immediately started generating bookings.



Do not take another step until you have determined what your

customer or client proposition is. What results are you offering

them? How long will it take? How much will it cost? Can you give it a snappy name or title that sums up what you are offering? I

used to offer my clients one-to-one coaching. Now I offer them a coaching programme called ’90 days to becoming a Client

Magnet’. Can you see how one is vague and unspecific and the

other is clear and tangible? Can you tell why the second one will generate much more response than the first one?

Without a clear proposition, your prospective clients won’t know what you are offering, so they will probably end up buying from

someone who does make them a clear and compelling offer. The interest you generated will come to nothing.

You also need to know what you are aiming to get them to do, because then you know that the goal of your sales letters is to take that prospect from Point A to Point B.

This would be a good point to get some input from me. When you have clarified your offer, feel free to email it to me

[email protected] and I will give you my feedback.



‘Make Me An Offer I Can’t Refuse!’ You will make your offer even more compelling and irresistible if you offer free bonuses as part of your package. Offer bonuses

that have a high perceived value to the client, but may be at low cost to you. I did this earlier this year, when I offered unlimited

coaching in connection with a seminar. The fact is, I have always provided this sort of follow up, but never before quantified the value of this to my prospects.

You can see the difference that quantifying the value can make

by comparing the ‘before and after’ examples below. The ‘before’ offer generated just two bookings. The ‘after’ offer ensured that

the seminar sold out within six hours and I had a waiting list of 12 people! Before (This text was buried at the end of a lengthy description of the

workshop)

The next one day workshop is running at the Plaza Hotel,

Hyde Park on Thursday 23rd September. The fee is £295 + VAT. This includes your comprehensive course manual,

lunch and refreshments, as well as UNLIMITED follow up by phone and email after the course to help you as you implement the steps to becoming a Client Magnet.



Only ten places are available, so please contact me immediately if you are considering attending. After (This aspect of the workshop was highlighted in my weekly newsletter)

Only ten people can attend this workshop, and everyone who does will receive UNLIMITED coaching from me after the

workshop. This will guarantee that you will implement the

ideas and suggestions and quickly establish yourself as a

Client Magnet. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a case of IF

the people attending this workshop become Client Magnets, it’s a case of WHEN. Remember, this ongoing coaching is

FREE, for as long as you want it. This bonus isn’t something I will be offering on future workshops, so if you were at all

considering joining us on 23rd September, then NOW is the time to jump on this chance!

To quantify the value of this offer, the coaching package

bought separately would cost £250 per month. That means, for example, that if you just availed of 12 months of

coaching, your bonus is worth £3000. The workshop costs £295. So you pay £295 and get £3000 worth of coaching

free. Remember, the coaching is UNLIMITED, so you might want to stick with the coaching for two years. That’s a value - 131 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


of £6000, again included in the workshop fee of just £295.

Now you can probably see why I’ve limited the numbers to just ten participants.

What can you do to make your offer even more appealing and

irresistible to people who have ‘raised their hands’? How can you

make this an offer they can’t refuse? Could you give them the first part free? Could you offer bonuses that exceed the value of their initial investment? Can you offer a money back guarantee?

Go back to your offer and keep working on it until it is irresistible!



Sequenced Mailings: A Three-Step Letter This is probably one of the most important things you will learn in this entire course - sequenced mailing:

The Power Of Repetitive Direct Response To Leads,

Customers, Clients, Patients (Active and Inactive) And Outside Referral Centers Of Influence!!

This marketing secret is one of the most powerful and important

things you are going to learn - in any business. This is one secret that most people who are marketing themselves, fail to grasp, understand, and certainly fail to utilize.

This is a secret that, once learned, can transform some mediocre or modest success into great and profitable, successes!

This particular secret is one that is resisted with great vigour by

most people. And, because they do resist it, they are hampering their ability to make incomes they want and deserve. What am I talking about? I am talking about the secret of sequenced-step, direct

marketing. Let me explain what I mean by way of an example. - 133 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


You know the concept of using multiple steps to get lead generation to the highest level.

What we were talking about there was the idea of having an attention-getting headline to get people interested in the ad, having them then read the ad, and having them take a non-

threatening step to get their name and address, and then sending out the report.

The idea of the steps there is you are not asking people to do too much at any one particular step, and you are only designing the step to gain the advantage of what that particular step is supposed to accomplish.

In other words, we don't want the ads to sell your products or

services, we just want the ads to have people give ‘raise their

hands’. So that's what we were talking about there as far as multisteps. Using simple steps to gain responses.

The next thing you are going to discover is the idea of the

sequenced marketing, which is a continuation of the multi-step lead generation approach, but one that takes it on to a much

higher degree. It changes the way your direct response marketing will work. It will work because of these sequenced steps. So, let's

continue this thought process through. You will be making a big



mistake if you only mail your report or other materials to people only one or two times.

YOU MUST MAIL TO PEOPLE THREE TIMES! AT LEAST!

SOMETIMES, IT WILL TAKE SIX OR SEVEN OR EIGHT OR TWELVE OR TWENTY OR MORE CONTACTS TO REACH

YOUR PERSON! ONE OR TWO MAILINGS IS A TOTAL AND COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!!!

There isn't a sales letter in the world that will deliver all the results it is capable of delivering in just one mailing. People need to be reminded and nudged along. The whole thing will be a failure if you only mailed them one report!

Why does just about everybody think direct mail is a waste of

money? Because they tried it once or twice with a poorly done ad

or letter and mailed it out just once! When they get little response, they assume the medium is bad.

The medium works fine; it is the message that is bad! The best way to use the three-step approach is to have each

mailing "build upon" the previous report. (And remember, you're now only going to be dealing with an interested list of people to

mail to!)



For example, the second mailing should say "SECOND NOTICE" or something like that, and it should refer to the fact that you had sent them out a piece before.

The third mailing should be headed with a bold: FINAL NOTICE! Just like a series of collection notices in reverse! I recommend you mail at least 3 times to your leads. And each prospect who wants information about your product or service

should receive a minimum of at least 3 mailings spaced out by about 15 days.

This may sound like a difficult process, but it really isn’t. You don’t have to send out a completely different mailing piece every 15 days.

Here are 3 ways that work very well: #1

piece.

Use a different cover with a copy of the original mailing

You keep your cover letter to 1 to 2 pages and the basic thrust

is, I want to remind you what you missed by not taking advantage of the original offer.



#2

Use the original letter or a different cover letter, but

include more incentives.

Additional incentive terms might be better payment terms, more

bonuses, reduced price or a stronger guarantee. #3

Change only the opening of your original letter and keep

the remainder of the letter the same.

Slap on a “Second Notice” at the top of your salesletter and

change the opening to, “Since we haven’t heard from you, we’ve sent you this second letter.” As it goes on, it’s the exact same

letter. It’s really the same as the first, but the headline and first

couple of paragraphs can be a little different to let them know this is the Second Notice.

The third package changes the headline to a Final Notice. You

can change that opening paragraph also. It’s been proven to

double your response by just sending these second and third letters.

Then, you can start sending postcards or newsletters or newspaper or magazine articles or whatever.

You can test different sequences with different steps and different timing.

Just as long as you understand that the repetitive mailings will double or triple your business! - 137 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


If you only send out one letter, you will only get a fraction of the business that you are capable of getting, and will get, from the

sequenced-step follow ups.

I discovered this several years ago. It didn't sink home with me until I actually tried it.

Once we started mailing out to people a second and third time,

we discovered some amazing things were happening. We were getting more business.

We found that people who got the second or third or fourth or fifth mailers often called after receiving those subsequent

mailings. Why? Because either they didn't read the first mailer, or they read part of it, or they didn't get a chance to respond to it, or who knows what reason.

All I can tell you is what David Ogilvy said many years ago, that "life is a moving parade." See, people's lives change. And if they have expressed an interest in receiving your

materials, receiving your first marketing piece does not indicate whether people are either going to buy, or not going to buy...based on the one piece alone! - 138 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


99.99% of marketers - even very sophisticated direct marketers still only use one contact to try to get a prospect to do what the marketer wants.

This particular point is so important that I am going to stress it over and over again.

The concept of sequences is really very simple. It just means that every so often, on a periodic basis, somebody who has

responded to your FREE report requests or who is already a

client, or an inactive client, or whatever receives something else from you.

For example, let's say that you send out a first report, and you get no response from a majority of the people. This is not unusual - in fact, it is to be expected in most cases.

See, just because somebody expressed an interest in getting a FREE report does not mean that they are interested in buying something. No - not even anything of the kind.

In most cases, what you are getting are people who are anywhere from "somewhat interested" to "very, very interested"...and everything in between.



Now, when you send out your first reports, the people who are "very, very interested" and like the report, and who make an

emotional connection with you, they might respond immediately. Might.

Even the most highly motivated prospect may blow you off

initially, for any number of reasons. But, they still are your best prospects...and, the ones most likely to respond right away.

But the number of people who are "very, very interested," out of all the leads from one effort, is usually very small.

The majority of the people responding generally range anywhere from "somewhat," to "kind of interested," to--maybe--"very interested."

But, that whole group of people, if they are not ready to do

anything right when they get the report, are going to be people

who you are going to have to continue to contact often to build up enough psychological, critical mass to cause them to eventually respond.

For example, let's say that someone sees your lead

generation marketing, and they respond and get your report. Let's say that this person is "kind of interested", but are

really not ready to do anything right now. So they read the

report, and they like it, but because they haven't been really - 140 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


incapacitated, they are not ready to respond. You are not

going to make a sale or get an appointment or whatever with this person because they are not ready to do anything.

Now, each month goes by, and every thirty days you are sending out another piece to them - it could be a second or third copy of

the report, it could be some postcards, it could be articles, it could be newsletters, anything of interest.

But for now, just get the concept that every thirty days (which is the time we normally recommend because it is easier to keep track of), they are receiving something from you.

Remember, what they are getting from you wouldn't be anything boring, or some image type brochure, or personal promotion

piece. Only interesting, curiosity-provoking things, which provide

real value and demonstrate your expertise, whether ads for other reports in the form of postcards, or newsletters, etc.

So this person gets something from you every thirty days. Six

months down the line, something changes in their life and they

need to buy what you sell. And a couple days later, your sixth or seventh piece shows up in the mail. Who do you thing they are going to call?

See, three things that have to happen for any marketing to work. You have to match the right message to the right - 141 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


market at the right time. Now, if you have the right message, which we are assuming you will, using the materials we are providing you...materials that are psychologically

interesting. Not boring. Just materials that stimulate feelings of compassion and empathy.

So that's the "right message" part of the formula. Now, we assume you have the "right market" because people

said they might be interested in whatever you offered. They have "raised their hands" by responding to the ad or postcard or

whatever you used to get their attention. Out of the whole market out there, these people are probably better to market to than anyone else.

So, the third step, "the right time." This one can be a problem because you don't know what the "right time" is. You've got the message and the market, but what is the "right time"?

See, statistics show that it takes a minimum of three to five

contacts before somebody buys anything. Responding to your ad, of course, may happen instantly, because you have peaked their curiosity, and the act of requesting a free report is non-

threatening. However, this is not the same as actually buying



something from you, or making an appointment, or whatever it is you’re trying to do with them. This is the whole deal. If all of your leads don't buy or make appointments or whatever

right away, don’t give up on the system. In fact, be prepared for the fact that the majority WON’T buy right away. That would be

ridiculous for me to imply or say. What's happening is that you are building the best follow-up/mailing list you could ever get your hands on:

A list of people who are interested and have told you so by asking for the report!

The real magic is that a small portion of the leads will buy from

you or make appointments right away. Others will do so later. And still more will do something with you much later. As long as you fill your pipeline with these interested parties, and never stop

following up with a non-threatening, non-salesy approach, and never resort to only doing one thing and diversifying your

efforts...you will see a whole new world in a few months. Often as quickly as a few weeks!

How many people are you missing, if you don't continue to mail

(and/or phone) people. We think that the combination of mail and phone follow-up is going to be your best bet, by the way. - 143 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Now, you are about to see some suggested sequences. The key here to understand is that you have to follow up with these people! !

Keep in mind, when you are spending money getting people

to raise their hands and say they are interested...you have to decide how much money you are willing to spend to keep after those people, until they do become customers or clients.

For example, let's say that it cost you £12 to get the lead from

your advertisement. And let's say that it costs you £1 to mail each follow-up piece each month for printing, postage, handling and so forth.

So, in the course of a year, you have £12 for the first contact, and you've got an additional £12 tied up with that lead. (That's when you are mailing them once a month.)

Now you have a total of £24 invested in that lead. Let's say, then, that out of every ten leads you get, two become a client. So for

ten leads, you are going to spend £240 in lead costs and follow-

up mail/phone costs to get one client. In this example, if your one client is worth £900 in your pocket, or £1,800 for the two clients the question I have to ask is:



"Would you spend £120 to get one client?" The answer is, most likely, "Of course!"

But if you only mail once or twice and stop your follow-up, you will only be spending £14 or £15 per lead, and out of ten leads, you

only spend £150. Let's say, because of the poor follow-up, £150 gets you no Clients. On the other hand, by spending £240 and

sending twelve mailers, you're far more likely to get at least two clients. Which approach makes more sense?

I am going to say this again - you can not maximize your profits

without doing spaced, repetitive, continuous mailings and phone calls to your leads. Does this make sense? Do you see how

critically important it is to continue following up with these people because you want to be there - in their Mailbox, or their inbox, or both, when they become ready. In our opinion, you should

contact people a minimum of twelve times, at least once a month.

Some people want to stop after three times. Some people want to stop after six times. That's up to you.

Understand that people's lives change, and often they move from being a "little interested" (hand and fingers are a little numb) to

"very interested," literally overnight! (They can’t pick up a pencil,

and are really scared and concerned.) If you're systematized, and keep those leads in the loop, many of them will have a change that moves them from "slight interest" to "deep and immediate



interest" just like that! If you give up, when the change occurs, someone else will get them, but not you.



Tips And Secrets Of Sequenced Mailings To increase the response of your sequenced mailings, you can add more testimonials to each salesletter in the cycle.

You can tell the reader, “This is what this reader has done since the last time you received a mailing.” It reminds them that they

could have gotten similar results if they responded. Then remind them they lost out since they didn’t take action.

The recommended method is to provide separate sheets of

testimonials. Also, spot testimonials throughout your salesletter. If you’re selling a product with a high profit margin, you might

include an audio or video tape in the subsequent mailings. This

will lend credibility and authenticity to your testimonials because they are from your customers.

I want you to keep in mind that the function of this sequenced mailing process is really to move the relationship along and

create familiarity with you and the sales process. Once they feel comfortable with you, then they will open up their wallets and spend some money.

A real secret is that there are different types of buyers. Your first

mailing will pull the aggressive responders that are willing to take - 147 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


a little more risk even though you have a risk-free guarantee, but they’re ready to buy right now!

There are just as many people who aren’t ready yet as there are who are ready to buy. They’re interested. They wouldn’t have

responded to your lead generating if they weren’t. The second

mailing brings in the stronger “Maybes.” These are the ones who kind of like your product or service, but weren’t sure about it or the timing wasn’t right.

Subsequent mailings bring in even more of the “Maybes.” These

were originally skeptical, but now you’ve created some familiarity and reinforced yourself with testimonials or an audio tape and now you’ve broken down their buying resistance.

The big question here is how many mailings are right for your product or service? The answer is, I don’t know. You want to

keep mailing until it’s no longer profitable. If you make money by

sending out that second letter, you should send out a third. If that third makes money, you should send out a fourth.

You want to factor in that if you know your customer value and

you know how much back-end you are going to be able to sell,

then you know how much you can spend to get a customer and

you can keep sending letters even if it might become unprofitable.



For the most part, continue sending the letters. Remember to test and find out how many cycles make the best sense for you.

I will guarantee this. You will be more profitable by increasing the number of mailings that you make to your prospects. In fact,

some very successful direct marketers are doing 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 steps before they stop sending out letters.



What to Put in Your Sales Letters We’ve talked about letter sequences, but we also need to talk about the CONTENT of your sales letters.

Remember, a good sales letter is effectively selling in print. A

good letter should meet your prospect where they are, take them by the hand, lead them to your solution, and motivate them to take action.

In fact you can use the following formual for your sales letters (seen this anywhere before? ) 1. Get Attention!



5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it. Let’s look at each of these elements in turn as they relate to an effective sales letter. 1. Get Attention This means arresting the reader’s attention with a powerful and compelling headline. Yes, you do need a headline. It’s a crucial part of the overall message.



2. Arouse Interest and Emotion One way to do this is to ‘agitate the problem’. Is that negative?

Not at all. People will act to avoid pain as much as possible. So describe the problem that your reader finds themselves facing. But don’t stop there. Agitate the problem. Really stir up their

emotions and get them to realize that nothing they are already doing will work to solve their problem.

3. Tell an interesting story in a believable way Having ‘agitated the problem’, now you can offer the solution to

the problem. You are like a white knight coming to the rescue to

vanish their troubles. Give examples of how people experiencing

identical difficulties have solved their problem using this solution. This really works. All the best copywriters in the world use this formula.

4. Offer and incentive to take action…now. Now you present your offer. Make your offer irresistible. Give them an incentive for acting NOW. Spell out what the reader

needs to do. Remind them of what they will gain when they do act. Remind them of what they will lose when they don’t.

5. Ask for action, and make it easy for people to do it. - 151 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Think about how you can make the next step as easy and

painless for your reader. Remove the threat and risk inherent in taking action.



How to Write Letters that Sell! 1. Write just like you talk Use plain, easy to understand English. Write as though you are talking to a friend over a cuppa. Be friendly and personable in your writing.

2. Put passion into your letter Since you won’t have the luxury of seeing your prospect eye-toeye to guage their reactions, you need to put extra passion into your message. Even if you think you are overdoing it when you write, you letter will read as understated. Get enthusiastic! 3. Write to one person Try to think of your ideal prospect as you are writing and make the message just for them. Even if your letter will go out to

hundreds of people, every person will read it one at a time. Use ‘you’ and ‘your’ liberally. Focus on them and not on yourself. 4. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short Keep your sentences and paragraphs short and simple. Use one word sentences if you want. Or two. Paragraphs should be no



more than 5-6 lines. Make your writing look easy to read with lots of ‘white space’. Make it inviting. Long blocks of words are scary. 5. Use plenty of compelling subheads. Like mini-headlines. Use them to break up large bodies of text. Subheads should give a complete selling message by

themselves. That way even people who scar the letter can be motivated to buy.

6. Play with formatting Bullets, numbering, underlines, ALL CAPS, bolding, italicizing, boxes, highlighter

7. Eliminate excess wording. Simplify. Convey your message in a clear and concise manner. This doesn’t mean that you have to keep the letter short. 8. Use action verbs wherever possible. Sentences using action verbs are more powerful. 9. Keep people reading



The purpose of your first sentence is to make people want to read the second sentence. And the purpose of the second sentence is to make people read the thid sentence etc. 10. Read it aloud Because th person reading your letter will be reading it to

themselves in their mind. By reading your work out loud you’ll

discover all the trouble spots and places where the reader could lose interest.

11. Don’t forget the P.S After the headline, the P.S is the second most read part of the

letter, so it makes sense to come up with a compelling P.S You

can use the P.S to reinforce a key selling point or tell people not to miss out by a certain expiration date.



The Easy Way to Write Sales Letters in Less Than 2 ½ Minutes! Even if you can't write and don't think you have a creative bone in your body you can create powerful, money-making sales letters for your business/practice - just by filling in a few blanks!

I'm talking about something I just came across – and purchased -a great, inexpensive way to write brief sales letters in 2 1/2 MINUTES!

One GOOD sales letter can bring in thousands of pounds worth of business.

This brand new fill-in-the-blanks letter template system is really good (and I should know -- I've studied the subject for over a decade). The letters are pre-written for

various kinds of businesses and situations. Read more at http://instantsalesletters.com/?36271



How Long Should Your Letters Be? Usually in your copy, the more you write, the better. We receive

one-page salesletters all the time for products and services and they don’t have enough room to tell us what they’re offering.

There always is a debate whether a long salesletter works better than a short one. People will say they don’t like to read a long salesletter, but they are not the customer.

There is no debate whatsoever, without exception, a long sales letter outsells a short one.

The ones that like short copy are the ad agencies because they like to write snappy slogans and fancy copy and win awards. There’s one major drawback to award-winning marketing

campaigns. The awards are based on how creative and clever

you can be and how pretty the marketing campaigns are. What does that do for you? They look great, but they don’t sell.

The only award you want to win is with dollars that are invested in your company by your customers. Short salesletters don’t make

sense. When you take time to think about it, if you were going to

send a salesman out to do his job, you wouldn’t say, “You have to do this in one minute or less. You can only talk to the prospect for one minute.” Or, “You can only say up to 100 words.” If you don’t



do that to your salesmen, why would you do it to your salesletter?.

One thing that you want to start thinking is that all salesletters are is salesmanship in print. You wouldn’t limit your best salesperson to one or two minutes to make the pitch. The same goes for

writing salesletters and getting people to read it. If what you offer is truly interesting to your prospects, they will keep reading and

want more information to help them make their decision. You owe it to yourself to tell them as much as possible.

The rule of thumb is that your salesletters or sales material

should be whatever length it takes to complete the selling job. It shouldn’t be any shorter than that or any longer than that.



Above all - Ask for the order! Having a compelling and irresistible offer is just one part of

converting interest into paying business. Presenting your offer in

an effective sales letter is the second part. But these two steps on their own aren’t enough.You need to ask for the order too! This was an email I received recently:

I came to your workshop 'Attracting Clients With Ease' for

alternative therapists last April and came away very inspired.

I left with the message that I was an invisible homœopath and

that people didn't consult me because they didn't know what I do. I spent a very enjoyable few months deciding what I do and

designing a new brochure and getting it out to where I thought it needed to be. Unfortunately, it hasn't brought me any more clients’ Julia, Homeopath

Mmm. Time for a chat. I asked Julia to call me as I sensed that between us we could uncover a missing piece of her magnetic marketing system. On the face of it, she was doing everything

right. She was focusing on a niche that she felt passionate about.

She had formed relationships with midwives, she had arranged to give talks on homeopathy to expectant mums when they came to visit the hospital, and yet she wasn’t getting clients.

As we talked, I could hear a reluctance and uncertainty in her

voice. Julia, I said, are you ‘asking for the order?’ ‘I don’t think so.’ - 159 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


She replied. Eureka! We had uncovered the missing piece. Julia was doing everything right up until the point of agreeing the next step with her prospective client. By failing to give her prospects clear directions, they were simply confused and unsure what to

do next. I’ve met lots of would be Client Magnets who are scared

of being too directive in their marketing materials or conversations with prospects. Afraid of being perceived as pushy or

manipulative, they want the client to make up their own mind. But according to Jay Abraham in Stealth Marketing, ‘People are

silently begging to be led’. We simply forget that our prospective clients are relying upon us to provide them with some direction.

Your prospective clients need clear, specific directions on how to proceed. It’s not enough to generate interest, you need to tell

them what the next step is. This is all about making ‘the next step’ clear and manageable so that you and your clients feel

comfortable taking it. In Julia’s case we agreed that at the end of her talk she would offer a Pre-Birth Consultation. She put

together a simple page which explains the consultation, the

benefits and the cost and instructs her expectant mums how to

book. I advised Julia to talk her prospects through this at the end of her homeopathy talk. Guess what? She started generating bookings immediately.

If, like Julia, you feel that you are generating interest, but failing to

convert that into paying clients, think about how you can give your prospects clear directions that makes it easy for them to take the - 160 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


next step. You may need to add in additional steps to make the process easier and safer for your prospects. Stop feeling selfconscious about asking clients to take the next step.



Letting the universe provide? Now when I start talking about ‘asking for the order’, this is a point where things can start getting uncomfortable for would be client

magnets. I start hearing things like, ‘I don’t want to be pushy’, or ‘I don’t want to force or manipulate anyone into becoming a client, so I am going to let my business grow organically by word of mouth.’

On the face of it, this statement looks like the words of a trusting, evolved soul, willing to ‘go with the flow’ and let the universe provide. Is this not the most ethical way of developing a

business? Yet in my experience, when I hear clients say this,

more often than not it’s a cop out to avoid actively engaging in the process of marketing. If you have ever found yourself uttering, or

even just thinking, anything like this, you need to get very honest with yourself, and determine whether this really is putting your

trust in the universe or simply an excuse for remaining passive, and refusing to put yourself ‘out there’.

I am reminded of the joke about a man who suddenly found

himself in the middle of a flood warning. His neighbours were

hurriedly evacuating their homes and urged him to join them. He refused their offer of assistance, saying simply, ‘The Lord will provide’. As the water levels grew higher, he retreated to the

upper floors of his home, soon enough a rescue boat came by. ‘Get in quick!’ called the rescuers. But the man refused, simply - 162 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


repeating, ‘The Lord will provide’. Soon enough the water levels were so high that the only safe place was the roof of his house.

Suddenly a helicopter full of marines appeared. ‘Grab hold of the rope ladder!’ they called, but the man refused, saying ‘The Lord will provide’. Before too long, this man found himself in heaven

face to face with God. ‘God! I put my faith in you and you let me

down. Why didn’t you save me?’ he asked. To which God replied, ‘Well I sent your neighbours, I sent the rescue boat, I sent the marines….’

It’s all well and good saying that we will let the universe provide, but we need to be willing to act upon the opportunities that are being offered to us several times each and every day.

Time and time again I have discovered that people who claim that this is their preferred method of developing business are actually masking a deeper reluctance to market themselves, which can manifest as failing to respond to phone enquiries, avoiding

following up leads or simply maximising opportunities that are presented to them on a plate.

Bob was a client of mine who wanted to grow his training

business organically. He explained to me that he simply wanted

to inform prospective clients of what he had to offer, and let them make up their own minds. On the surface this appeared a very

ethical and respectful way of doing business, but I sensed Bob

was avoiding something, so we delved deeper. Years previously he had worked in a ‘hard sell’ environment, where manipulative - 163 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


and coercive sales techniques were commonplace and actively encouraged. Whilst he was financially successful, Bob hated having to be dishonest with clients. Choosing integrity over

money, Bob eventually resigned from his job vowing never to

sacrifice his values in the pursuit of success. Bob knew he had

the ability to persuade and influence, yet his fear of pressurizing his prospective clients as he had in the past was holding him

back. With my help, Bob came to recognize that his desire to ‘let the universe provide’ was simply a form of marketing reluctance masquerading as faith in the universe. With encouragement, he

came to realize that he could market himself actively and ethically and did not have to choose between success and integrity. Like Bob, you may have been reluctant to market yourself

because 'selling' and 'ethically' aren't words you usually put in the same sentence. Perhaps you feel that if you became 'too

commercial' you would somehow lose the heart and spirit of what you offer. Just about all of us have had the experience of being

on the receiving end of pushy sales or advertising techniques and

the last thing we want is for people to see us like that. The trouble is, in our eagerness to avoid coming across as too 'salesy', many of us go to the other extreme and find it difficult to describe the genuine value we bring. Or we avoid selling and marketing

activity altogether, telling ourselves that we would prefer to have

our business grow by word of mouth and recommendation, even if it takes years.



Yes it's true that there is a lot of manipulative marketing in the

world, but that doesn't mean that you have to market yourself that way. You can market yourself with integrity. The fact that there is manipulative marketing out there at the moment is precisely the reason why more of us need to get into the marketplace and be examples of integrity. But avoiding the marketplace, or

considering yourself superior to it, does nobody any favours. To succeed as a client magnet you need faith backed up by

inspired action. In my experience, as we take steps to bring our

unique contribution to the marketplace, the universe WILL back us up in the form of co-incidence, luck, and perfect timing. It is exciting and delightful to start recognizing and responding to

these small signs that surprise and encourage us along the way. But we need to take the action, and we need to be willing to get into the marketplace. In the original Greek, agoraphobia means ‘fear of the marketplace’. If you sense that you have been

suffering from this particular phobia, you have a choice. You can sit at home and nurse your fears, or you can start taking small,

simple steps. As Marianne Williamson says, it’s easier to act our way into a new way of thinking, than it is to think our way into a new way of acting. Start now.



Just Be You Place a magnet next to a pile of iron filings and watch the filings

rush towards it. The magnet doesn't have to do anything but be a magnet.

Could it really be that easy? So why aren’t clients rushing towards you like that eager pile of iron filings? Well one reason is what I

call the 'invisible wall'. That barrier which stands between us and

our clients and stops us from exploiting our magnetic potential. It

comes between us, and blocks new business just like an invisible wall preventing the iron filings from reaching the magnet.

But before I talk about the invisible wall, we have to talk about YOU. Do you fully accept and appreciate your natural

magnetism? I fear that most of us don't. Over the past week my in-box has been full of questions about what techniques

subscribers 'should' be using to become Client Magnets. Let me say right now that becoming a Client Magnet isn't about just applying a bunch of techniques to get one over on the

competition. In the words of one of my teachers, 'Every technique will fail you at some point. There is no wisdom in a technique'.

When we focus on techniques, we do so to the detriment of your most magnetic attribute -YOU! The techniques have just been

getting in the way. Think of them like layers of paint covering the natural beauty of a handcrafted wooden desk. You don't need more techniques. You need less of them! - 166 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


Being a Client Magnet isn't something that you 'do'. In actual fact

it's something that you already ARE. Take a moment to reflect on those times in your life when you have been utterly irresistible. Think you don't have them? We ALL have them. Years ago I

attended a on presentation skills, and during the talk, the trainer

asked the group, 'Have you ever seen a two year old walk into the room, completely happy, with an attitude of 'Isn't it great for you

that I'm here?' Ian was describing that natural charisma that we all have as children, and if you give yourself a chance, you can remember lots of moments in your life when you exuded that natural attractiveness.

Yet somewhere along the lines we got sold a faulty bill of goods.

At some point we stopped believing that we were good enough in our natural state, that to be attractive to others we needed to

amass qualifications, attend the right courses, dress a certain way, use the right language (and for those of us who have

studied NLP we learned to adapt our language too!). We also

convinced ourselves that there were things that we couldn't say or do. For example, how many of your clients have seen more than a glimpse of the humour you share with your close family and

friends? How many of your clients get to see the REAL you? (And I don't mean the you that you're afraid you are, I mean the who you TRULY are.)



Every single thing that we 'do' to present ourselves as attractive to clients signals an underlying belief that we are not good

enough as we are. So the things we do, plus the limiting beliefs they are covering, as well as all of the things that we hold back from our clients are just adding to the invisible wall that comes between us.

Still not convinced? Think of your favourite and your least

favourite TV presenter. What's the difference between them? I'm

willing to bet that the one you like best is the one you feel is 'really themselves'. You feel that you really know them. In contrast, the

one you like least you consider to be 'false' or 'pretending'. There you go. That's the invisible wall.

And just as your least favourite TV presenter is unaware that they are placing this wall between you, so too are there times when

YOU are unaware that this invisible wall is repelling your clients

instead of attracting them (and I'll be the first to raise my hand to this).

So how do we dissolve this invisible wall? You can start by

recognizing that you still have that natural charisma you exuded

as a two year old. It's time to start letting your clients and potential clients see it. (This doesn't mean you have to start wearing nappies -or diapers for our U.S readers!) Stop doing things

because you think you're supposed to, and have the courage to guide yourself by your own inner compass.



The next time someone shares with you a sales or marketing

technique, evaluate it first by asking yourself, 'Will this add to, or

reduce the invisible wall that comes between me and my clients?' And then choose for yourself. Not because some guru told you so.

And I invite you to apply the same test to the advice in this guide too!

This is in connection with your sales materials also. Let people get to know YOU. It will greatly increase your sales. In fact,

having a strategy in your marketing materials of always featuring the business owner often builds credibility.

Create a down-to-earth feeling and let people know who they’re doing business with. Who wants to do business with a big,

nameless, faceless corporation? Tell things like they are. Don’t

exaggerate. Use your own words. Sooner or later, customers will find out the truth about things anyway, so you don’t want to

promise things you can’t deliver. Tell the truth and be down-toearth. It lets people get to know you.

When they know you, they trust you. You will have credibility. When they trust you, they are more likely to buy from you.

Besides, if you are always honest, down-to-earth, tell the truth, tell it like it is, then you are going to reap more than just sales



benefits. There are many psychological benefits which allow you to sleep at night.

When someone uses your services, let them get to know you and let them on your personal side a little bit. When someone reads one of your salesletters, they should feel like they are talking to you directly. This is all part of just being you.



Distinguish Between The Concept And The Techniques Finally, I want to distinguish between the concept and the

techniques. You’ve probably heard the expression, ‘If you give a

man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for life.’ That’s the difference between learning a technique and understanding the concept. Once you have

grasped the concept, it is easier to select the techniques that are right for you. Also, you stand a fair chance of coming up with a technique that no one else has thought about yet.

In this book I have shared with you several techniques to help

you attract paying clients within the next 30 days. But ultimately, the concept behind these techniques is the simple one I shared with you at the beginning of this ebook.

It consists of just 3 very important steps: 1. Getting the names of qualified an interested prospects





3. Making additional (and ongoing) sales to the people who have already bought from you by offering additional

services, products or third party products and services. That’s it. It’s really that simple. If you try to apply every technique offered up by marketing

“experts”, you will end up spending as much time on marketing

and selling as you did in the past. Only the techniques will have

changed. Instead of cold calling, you will be laboriously submitting articles to search engines. That is not what we are aiming for. Our overall goal here is for you to spend less time selling and more time doing the work you love.

This is how my approach is different from others. I don’t want you to become too reliant on techniques because firstly not every technique will be appropriate to you, and secondly every

technique will fail at some point. If you are reliant on marketing

techniques you will be stuck, but if you truly grasp the concept of

becoming a Client Magnet, you will be able to find countless other ways of applying it to your business. This isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach. When you grasp the simple concepts behind this

approach, you will be able to develop a path to becoming a Client Magnet which is just perfect for you.



Start From Where You Are Now As you create your marketing materials such as lead generation

ads, your free reports, your sales letters or brochures, there may be moments when things come screeching to a halt, and you hit

what Julia Cameron, author of the Artist's Way describes as 'the Wall':

'The Wall is the point where doubts sets in. No longer writing just for the sake of writing, no longer happy just to splash in the pool,

suddenly we think about all those other people in the pool with us, whether they are faster, better, stringer, showier. In short, we begin to compete, not just create.'

There is a way to get through this point, but it’s not by pumping

yourself up with motivation, or chaining yourself to your desk until you finish. Just be willing. Be willing to get it wrong. Be willing to do what's necessary to bring this creation to completion. In the

words of Cameron, 'I am willing to write badly. I am willing to do

the work to finish this project whether it is any good or not.' (Julia Cameron, The Right To Write.)

You see, in this book I've been talking about techniques and

approaches, but I've left the most important ingredient of your

magnetic marketing materials until last. Whatever words you use, your lead generation messages, free reports and sales letters will carry and reflect the energy you put into them. If you create with - 173 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


love, they will exude love. And love is the most magnetic marketing ingredient of all.

If your primary intention is to please or impress others, then at

some level your marketing materials will communicate that need. If you create out of obligation or fear, then at some level your

marketing materials will carry that energy too. Imagine having a conversation with a person who was paralysed by self-

consciousness and fear. It would be a stilted and awkward

conversation to say the least, and that's exactly what it feels like

for your prospective clients if you create a brochure feeling fearful or self-conscious. Is that how you want them to feel?

So create your marketing materials with love. Love for your work. Love for the people you are called to serve. Love for the process you are going through to make your dream real.

You see, your marketing materials are metaphors. Often they are the first manifestation of your dream in the real world. Just as

writing down goals is the first step in bringing them into reality, so your marketing materials are the point where your dreams meet reality.

Despite all the tips and techniques I've been providing in this

chapter, I have to say this: If your intentions are pure, and you

create with love, then you can break every copywriting ‘rule’ in the book and you will still have a highly magnetic piece of marketing. - 174 Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Doyle. All Rights Reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in any format without express written permission. [email protected]


As I said at the beginning of this chapter, your marketing

materials are a mirror of your belief system about yourself, the

product or service you are selling, about the world in which you are selling it and about money. So you might think, well I'll just

carry on working on those beliefs and eventually I'll be ready. This is just a delaying tactic. Don't wait. Don't delay. Be willing to do what's necessary to create your first draft, even if it's a 'bad'

version. A writer friend of mine says, 'Don't get it right. Get it

written!' We are all works in progress. If we all waited until we were perfect before creating our marketing materials, there

wouldn't be a brochure anywhere in the world! Create the most

beautiful magnetic marketing that you can today. It will be good enough, just as you are.


The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast

Literacy Action Plan

Attracting Anthony

Biosecurity A Comprehensive Action Plan

Climate Code Red The Case For Emergency Action

Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action

Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action

Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action

CLIMATE CODE RED the case for emergency action

Get That Home Deposit : An Action Plan for Buying Your Home Fast

Action Plan for the Conservation of Wolves in Europe

Emergency Action for Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents

Emergency action for chemical and biological warfare agents

Emergency Action for Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents

Attracting Anthony

Attracting Anthony

Investment Counseling for Private Clients

Education For Patients and Clients

An Action Plan for Outcomes Assessment in Your Library

Emergency Preparedness for Libraries

The REBT Pocket Companion for Clients

The Key: The Missing Secret for Attracting Anything You Want

Get A Job In 30 Days Or Less: A Realistic Action Plan for Finding the Right Job Fast

The Key: The Missing Secret for Attracting Anything You Want

Fast

Therapy To Go: Gourmet Fast Food Handouts for Working With Child, Adolescent and Family Clients

The Plan

Emergency Planning for Industrial Hazards

The Emergency Action Plan for Attracting Clients Fast

Literacy Action Plan

Attracting Anthony

Biosecurity A Comprehensive Action Plan

Climate Code Red The Case For Emergency Action

Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action

Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action

Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action

CLIMATE CODE RED the case for emergency action

Get That Home Deposit : An Action Plan for Buying Your Home Fast

Action Plan for the Conservation of Wolves in Europe

Emergency Action for Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents

Emergency action for chemical and biological warfare agents

Emergency Action for Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents

Attracting Anthony

Attracting Anthony

Investment Counseling for Private Clients

Education For Patients and Clients

An Action Plan for Outcomes Assessment in Your Library

Emergency Preparedness for Libraries

The REBT Pocket Companion for Clients

The Key: The Missing Secret for Attracting Anything You Want

Get A Job In 30 Days Or Less: A Realistic Action Plan for Finding the Right Job Fast

The Key: The Missing Secret for Attracting Anything You Want

Fast

Therapy To Go: Gourmet Fast Food Handouts for Working With Child, Adolescent and Family Clients

The Plan

Emergency Planning for Industrial Hazards

Recommend Documents