Dear Blog Readers, 

Since updating my website at actionplan.com I've decided to move the blog there as well. You can see my most recent "More Clients eZine" articles as well as blog posts at this address:

actionplan.com/blog

I will keep this blog up as it contains hundres of articles (going back to January of 2006) you may find useful but I'm no longer allowing comments to the posts. 

Thanks for visiting, and see you at my new blog!

All the best,

Robert Middleton
Action Plan Marketing

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

High-End Clients Marketing - Part I

Everyone wants to attract more clients.

But I think it's even more important to set your sights on attracting more High-End clients.

Right now, I'm working with 20 high-end clients through my Marketing Mastery Program. This transition from "average clients" to "high-end clients" over the past few years has transformed my business and my lifestyle.

I define high-end clients in the following three ways:

1. They are "ideal clients." That is, clients you can really make a difference with and whom you love to work with.

2. They are "long-term clients." These are clients with whom you can offer programs and services for a year or more.

3. They are "high-paying clients." They understand the value you offer and are willing to pay you more than average clients will.

By attracting a consistent stream of high-end clients you have several advantages over attracting average clients.

1. Both you and your clients will experience more fulfillment in working together. This is no small thing. When the experience of working together is one of partnership and possibility, your work doesn't feel like work. It's more like play.

2. By working long-term you will get to know and understand the needs of your clients much better. This often leads to even more long-term work. And of course, you'll earn more money than with short-term clients.

3. When you charge more, you'll feel that you are being valued for what you're worth. You'll be able to give better service and make a bigger impact, without feeling you are being taken advantage of.

So how do you attract more high end clients?

Well, all the marketing approaches I've taught over the years also apply to attracting high-end clients, but there are a few steps that you must follow:

1. To attract high-end clients, you need to design high-end services. It's like selling a Mercedes instead of a Ford. And you need to put in the commitment, time and energy into developing high-end services and programs that will deliver higher end results than you offered previously. The good news is that it's easier than you think.

2. Your marketing messages, materials, marketing strategies and sales processes need to communicate the message that you offer higher-end services. Perception is essential. Every impression you make should communicate: "I offer high quality, pay attention to details, follow-up professionally and produce great results."

3. Then you have gained the right to charge more for your services. After all, you've organized your business to produce higher-end results, and done it in a way that makes your clients feel special. They feel like they're at the Ritz Carleton, not the Holiday Inn and they'll be happy to pay fees that give them that experience.

Marketing and selling high-end services isn't something you can transition to overnight, but if you really want a sustainable business that makes a lot more money and is more fulfilling, there's really no other way to go.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Start now to plan to attract more high-end clients. Attend my complimentary teleseminar on Thursday, September 1st at 12 noon Pacific.

To learn more, go to:

www.actionplan.com/high-end

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

One of my not-so-productive pastimes is following politics.

It fascinates me to no end. You might say it's the best soap opera on television. Heros, villains, comedy and tragedy all rolled into one big messy melodrama. Live on CNN, FOX and MSNBC five nights a week, plus Sunday morning.

Everyone takes sides and each side turns the other into the most despicable character imaginable. And it's not just about who's right or wrong, it's about who's a deluded moron because of what and who they believe in.

This might be all in good fun when following football, but when our nation's future is at stake, does it really make sense to take things to previously unimagined extremes?

Compromise is nowhere in sight and the opponents are only interested in crushing each other to dust.

Most of us sit on the sidelines, taking sides and cheering our team on as we besmirch the opposition. Very few of us take any constructive action that makes any difference.

There is a parallel to this in your own business.

I don't know about you, but I went into business wanting to make a difference. Sure, I needed to earn a living, but whenever I just focused on money it never worked for me.

When I started writing this eZine about 14 years ago, the business purpose was to gain visibility, grow my list and attract more clients.

But it turned into a lot more than that. It became a mission to help my subscribers be more successful as Independent Professionals. The money became secondary.

I remember years ago exchanging emails with one of my subscribers, Debora Hood, who was really struggling. She couldn't afford my services, not even a copy of the InfoGuru Manual.

I told her to just keep reading the eZine and follow my advice as best she could. And that's what she did. And from struggle came a few wins and then some clients and ultimately a very successful business.

Ultimately she purchased my manual and I think some of my other programs. And what I remember was that I was just as excited about her business as those who were paying me thousands of dollars for hands-on-coaching.

I'm always very happy when someone takes action instead of sitting on the sidelines complaining about their tough circumstances and how it's so hard to market yourself.

Complaining and blaming, in politics and in business, gets you absolutely nowhere except to reinforce your rather limited point of view. And notice how deeply unsatisfying that is.

I could be wrong, but we just may be in for rough times in the economy ahead. I'm not preaching doom and gloom, it's just that the signs aren't very favorable right now.

The question is, what are YOU going to do?

Sit on the sidelines or move into creative action like Debora?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Will you sit on the sidelines, very adamant about why things are such a mess and blaming everyone and everything as things become more challenging, or will you take a page from Debora Hood's book and take one step at a time until you find a way to make things work?

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If you're ready to take action, I want to help. I'd like to give away a whole bunch of stuff for free that can help you grow your business, even in tough times.

I've put together a little video that will explain it all. It will also give you some valuable insights about what you need to do right now to start to attract more clients.

Take a look here:

www.actionplan.com/fasttrack

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

What's the hardest part of marketing?

In my Fast Track Marketing System I divide marketing into seven very specific modules:

1. The Game of Marketing

2. The Mindset of Marketing

3. Marketing Messages

4. Marketing and Selling Conversations

5. Written Marketing Materials

6. Marketing Strategies

7. Marketing Action Plans

All of these have their particular challenges. But in my experience in working with thousands of Independent Professionals, it's #7 that seems to be the hardest for most people.

After all, most of the other 6 modules are all about preparation to market yourself.

You learn the basics of the game of marketing, you work on your marketing mindset, you develop marketing messages, conversations, and written marketing materials, and ultimately choose the marketing strategies to get the word out.

And then the rubber hits the road. You have to actually get out there and connect with potential clients through networking, speaking, an eZine, social media, etc.

For most, the bottom falls out of their marketing at this point. It simply goes nowhere, or more specifically it goes into the infamous "Random Zone" where things are done haphazardly and inconsistently.

If people have worked to develop the whole foundation of their marketing first, know who their target market is, have put together a web site and have practiced their marketing and selling conversations, they are going to have more success.

But even the well-prepared struggle with implementation.

Why is putting action plans into action so hard? Here are three of the most common ones. Are they familiar to you?

1. As soon as you start reaching out, you face possible rejection. What if your message, your talk, your emails fall on deaf ears? What if your potential clients could care less? What if they outright rejected your promotional efforts?

We conjure painful mental images in our mind that stop us cold.

For this one we need to work again on our mindset, on our thinking, realizing that if we reach out and people aren't interested, that it's not personal. They don't hate us; either they are simply not good prospects right now or our message doesn't have the impact it could.

So reach out to new prospect and keep improving your messages.

2. It takes way more time and effort than you ever thought it would. We think of marketing as a few promotional things we do here and there. This should be easy, we think. But it's not.

Time to do a reality check. Any marketing activity takes time, effort and commitment to make it work. Marketing is a bit of an art and nothing works perfectly on the first draft.

You need to make detailed and realistic plans based on strategies that other have used successfully in the past. If you just make it up as you go along, your chances of success are very slim.

3. It's never good enough and although you might even know what you're doing, you put off your marketing launches until everything is perfect… but it never is.

What underlies this are beliefs about perfection, not being good enough and being judged by others. It's not so much rejection you fear, but disapproval. What will others think of you?

Well, if your marketing campaign isn't relevant to those you are targeting, it's not a big deal. They'll just ignore it. They won't think much at all. But for the ones that are looking for what you offer, they'll not only be interested, they'll respond.

Your prospects are not looking for perfection from you; they're looking for assistance and value. If you've got that, perfection is virtually irrelevant.

I've done a whole lot of marketing action plans that were rejected by most people, took me a long time to implement, and were far from perfect. And most of them have made me hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Marketing success is about know-how, value, commitment and persistence. Everything else is just a distraction.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: There could be a lot of other things stopping you from following through with your marketing plan as well. The question is, where are you going to focus - on your fears and worries about rejection, time, and perfection - or are you going to focus on the value and difference you make and give your marketing plans a real chance?

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What stops you from putting your marketing plan into action? Please share on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below. 

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

OK, so you're writing a book to get your message out.

And you want it to bring you new business, too.

Maybe you started it a week ago or even five years ago.

If you are like most authors, you probably have a few issues about getting it written, published and then using it to increase your business. For instance, despite the terrific professional and financial benefits a book can quickly give you and your business, the unfortunate fact is that many authors never finish the book they're writing.

Moreover, many of those who publish their book don't bring in as much new business from the book as other authors do.

You don't have to be one of those ugly statistics. According to my friend, publishing and marketing expert John Eggen, there are three key elements to writing a good book that are necessary if you want it to also attract new business to you.

They are:

1. You need to write a quality book on the right topic for the right audience.

2. You need to manage your time and your mind if you want to actually finish it.

3. You need to package your book appropriately inside as well as outside to attract business.

Each of these things is essential to a successful book. Below are John's Three Book Writing Strategies to ensure that you not only complete your book, but also create a quality book that will attract more business to you.

These strategies are based on his decades of experience in helping independent professionals as well as gurus to succeed in publishing:

1. Write the Right Book

If you want to write a book that not only is meaningful to your reader but also attracts business to you, then you need to start by setting an intention to write a book that will serve people in your business' target market.

The next step is to pick a topic that appeals to them.

The best way to usually do that is to identify the biggest business pains and dreams your target market has for which they also have a history of paying for solutions.

Then choose one of them as your book topic.

One shortcut you can use is to ask yourself, "What information do I have or have access to that, if my target market knew I had it, they'd hire me instantly?"

John says that this shortcut often leads to a great topic for a business-attracting book.

2. Manage Your Time and Your Mind

You can write and publish a book fast--in the time you already have--if you do two things: make productive use of the time you have and tame the gremlins in your mind (from overwhelm to negative self-talk to self-sabotage).

To get your book done in the time you already have available, write your book like the pros do.

For instance, write your first draft "stream of consciousness" without any editing until after the draft is done. This puts your analytic mind aside and opens your creative flow.

Multiply your results simply by writing in short uninterrupted 30-60 minute bursts.

To get it done even faster, speak your book into print rather than writing it. There are many ways available to do this.

John says if you combine these three time management tips, you can do your entire book draft in just 8-9 hours total for most books.

However, for ultimate success, you must also manage your mind. When obstacles and setbacks occur, how we choose to respond determines whether we continue or get stuck.

John says many authors never finish their book because they don't know who to turn to when they need help. Others silently succumb to those gremlins of their own mind.

The solution is to know who to turn to for help when you need it and make sure you'll have access to them to get the support you need when you get stuck.

3. Package it Inside and Out

If you want your book to not only communicate your message meaningfully to your reader but also to attract new business, then both your book text and cover need to be developed appropriately.

Regarding your cover, John says nearly 100 years of market testing has discovered there are nine cover elements that can make or break sales from a book.

By priority, they are: your book's title, sub-title, testimonials, back cover headline, back cover benefit copy, author bio, cover color, cover design and spine treatment.

However, unbeknownst to most authors, publishing insiders also use many tasteful marketing methods within the pages of their books that are very effective in attracting new business.

An easy one to start with is to add back matter pages to your book that tastefully but compellingly promote your services and other offers that serve your readers.

When you are writing your book, use these three of John’s strategies to help you succeed.

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More Clients Bottom Line: Just like a three-legged stool needs all the legs to stand up, your book needs all three of John's Book Writing Strategies to succeed. Be sure to write the right book. Manage your time and your mind. And appropriately package it inside and out.

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Free TeleClass: "Write a Good Book Fast that Attracts New Business"
 In an eZine article, we can only touch on a few of the ideas John has used successfully with his clients.

In fact, more than 255 of my subscribers and clients have worked with John in his quick-start publishing programs. And they have been very successful.

So I asked John to offer a TeleClass that would go into more depth about how to write a quality book that can attract new clients and generate multiple income streams.

Live case studies will also be provided during the call by actual book authors who are my subscribers and have used John's time-tested system to write their book.

And there will be live Q&A to answer your questions, too.

If you've started writing a book (or are thinking of it), I highly recommend you attend.

It's on Thursday, July 28, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific/8:00 p.m. Eastern

Click here and reserve your space now:

mypublishingopportunity.com/actionplan5/

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

One of the biggest ah-has you can have in marketing is to realize that the purpose of marketing is not to get clients - it's to get Strategy Sessions.

A Strategy Session is a meeting, under favorable circumstances, with a qualified prospect who is ready to explore working with you. A Strategy Session is also called a "Selling Conversation."

Ultimately the more Strategy Sessions you set up, the more clients you'll get. So the ultimate challenge in marketing is to discover how to get more of those Strategy Sessions.

In today's eZine I'll share 15 secrets to doing just that.

1. There is a step-by-step process to conducting Strategy Sessions, but don't worry if your process is perfect. The more Strategy Sessions you set up, the better you'll get.

2. To get more Strategy Sessions, you need to engage in some marketing activities. Networking, speaking, and emails to your list are the most effective. Your goal is to get a response from someone who has an interest in your services.

3. If you want to get Strategy Sessions you must be proactive. That is, you must follow up with your marketing. One of the most effective tactics is to offer an article or report and then follow up after they've read it.

4. A simple article script: "I've written an article on "Seven Reasons Managers are Terrible Leaders." Can I send you a copy? Great, and can I then call you to get your reaction to it?"

5. Send the article and follow up in a week or less. The avoidance of this simple follow-up call may be the biggest reason Independent Professionals are not earning the money they could. Do the follow-up call. It works and it won't kill you!

6. In the follow-up call you'll have a "Marketing Conversation." A Marketing Conversation is a brief discussion you have with a prospect. Get their reaction to the article and learn something about their situation, goals and challenges.

7. Asking for the Strategy Session is the "Punch Line" of the Marketing Conversation. When you get a good sense that they have a need and that you can help them, invite them to take advantage of a Strategy Session.

8. Asking for a Strategy Session is a matter of timing. Ask too soon and you'll scare the prospect away. Ask too late and you'll miss the opportunity.

9. Don't wait for prospects to ask you for Strategy Sessions. They won't! This is an invitation you need to make.

10. The simplest scripts are the best: "From everything you've told me, it sounds like I could help you achieve your goals. What I recommend next is that we have a more in-depth Strategy Session to learn more about your situation, goals and challenges and see if the services I offer are a fit for you."

11. Never try to close on a Strategy Session with someone who isn't qualified to buy your services. If they show slight interest, clearly have no money, or show little motivation, a Strategy Session will be a waste of time.

12. If a prospect has a clear need and shows interest and motivation, but doesn't seem to have the money, do the Strategy Session anyway. Often perceptions of ability to pay are incorrect. They may have other resources you know nothing about.

13. Once you set up a Strategy Session, give the prospect some preparation work to do. Send them more information on your services (usually a link to services on your web site) and also a questionnaire to fill out.

14. A questionnaire, like the article, is a secret weapon that engages the prospect and prepares them for the Strategy Session. Simply include questions that will let you know if they are a qualified prospect. Ask questions about their current situation, goals and challenges.

15. Finally, practice you Strategy Session as seriously as you'd study a part in Shakespeare. Don't wing it, rehearse until you feel completely confident that you can turn a Strategy Session into a new paying clients.

Note that this process works equally well with individuals, small businesses or large corporations. My clients have closed 5 figure contracts using this exact process.

Next Week: Conducting the Strategy Session.

Bonus: Get my article "From Contract to Contract" that goes into this process in even more detail. It's part of the Fast Track Program and you can get access to it and our complete system for attracting clients to your business. Get free access for a full month at this link: actionplan.com/amember/signup.php

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Getting new clients is not a matter of random luck. It all comes down to a step-by-step strategy. There is no strategy more important than learning the art of getting Strategy Sessions with qualified prospects. Master this and you'll never worry about where your next client is going to come from.

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Are you making Strategy Sessions a central part of your overall marketing strategy? Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below. 

 

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

For Independent Professionals, there are at least five different types of marketing. Understanding and applying all five of these approaches to marketing can be much more effective than applying just one or two.

Using them all creates marketing Synergy where the whole is more powerful that the separate parts.

1. Passive Marketing

A website may be the most powerful passive marketing strategy ever. It just sits there, 24/7 waiting for visitors to drop by.

The key to this marketing strategy is to develop a high-quality, content-rich website that engages your visitors and enables you to integrate your site with the other types of marketing that I'll mention below.

It's important to realize, however, that most people will visit your website for a just few seconds and then click off to go somewhere else, never to return. And that's a little too passive!

2. Visibility Marketing

Networking and social media are the primary visibility marketing vehicles used by Independent Professionals. Getting seen, being recognized and building trust this way is an important strategy, but you need to tie it to other strategies to be effective.

The weakness with visibility marketing is that it rarely asks for action. Even in networking, most people exchange cards, but the follow-up tends to be pretty inconsistent.

And the flurry of Social Media will get some attention, but it's up to those who see you on Facebook or Twitter to check you out and follow-up. And that never happens enough.

3. Keep-in-Touch Marketing

The most effective keep-in-touch vehicle is an eZine or email newsletter (same thing really). This pushes your information out to an opt-in list of people who are familiar with you.

Of course, email is getting pervasive thee days. It's getting harder and harder to get people to open your emails and actually read what you've sent. But it still works; I've sent an eZine every week for the past 14 years and it still gets me new business.

One of the big keys to keep-in-touch marketing is to use your website to get your visitors to opt-in with their name and email so that you can build your list over time. The bigger your list, the more powerful your marketing.

4. Proactive Marketing

The very best proactive marketing strategy is giving presentations, which include live talks, teleclasses and webinars. As the most potent communication is voice-to-ear, this kind of marketing provides a stronger connection than written media.

But the first three types of marketing can also be proactive. The key is to include a call-to-action in every single marketing vehicle you use.

5. Direct Marketing

For Independent Professionals the best direct marketing vehicle is email, however this marketing is most subject to abuse. You may have signed up for an eZine, but if you start to get an email every single day (or more often) you will eventually start to tune out.

But used judiciously, direct email to your opt-in list is amazingly powerful. You can sign up people for teleclasses and webinars, and also direct them to sales pages on your website to buy various programs and products.

When you integrate all these types of marketing, you get visibility, credibility, word-of-mouth, responses to your marketing and ultimately more of your ideal clients.

Don't just rely on one marketing vehicle, it just won't get you the results you're looking for.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Start with a great web site. Have an opt-in on your site for an eZine. Send out an eZine at least monthly. Build your social networks. Offer teleclasses and webinars. Send everyone to offers on your website where they can sign up for a taste of your services or actually buy a program or product.

How about video? Glad you asked. I put up a short video covering the material in this eZine that will demonstrate that even a short video can have more impact than the written word.

actionplan.com/mkt-synergy

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What mix of the various types of marketing do you use? Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the link below. 

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I've said a zillion times that most marketing is random.

Most professionals don't have a step-by-step system for attracting clients, despite the fact that this is the only approach that works.

But an organized system can be very free-form in the way you connect with initial prospects. There are probably hundreds of ways to do this.

The name I've given this is "Stream of Business Marketing."

The relates to every connection you make in the stream of everyday business. You might meet someone at a networking event or connect with a couple sitting beside you at a restaurant. You may be having a conversation with an existing client, or you might get a message by email or through Facebook.

The thing all of these stream of business connections have is that every one of them have the potential to be a new client (or a new service to an existing client). The thing is, we don't take advantage of those connections. We might talk, exchange cards or emails, but most don't take the proactive step to move things forward.

In two conversations last week, with members of my Marketing Mastery Program, they told me perfect stream of business stories.

The first one happened when G.G. was at the doctor's office and stuck up a conversation with a fellow patient in the waiting room. One thing led to another and she followed up with the patient, ultimately got a meeting and turned that meeting into a new paying client.

The other one was similar. J.K. met someone at the business center of a hotel and asked him if he was attending the same conference as my client was. The answer was yes, and the conversation continued with learning more about each other. In a few minutes my client had a business card and an appointment the following week.

What's important to note is that both connections were tied together by affiliations. Fellow patients and conference attendees had something in common and struck up conversations that led to new business.

But even more importantly, both of my clients leveraged a random stream of business connection into something more because their "organized marketing system" kicked into action.

Here are the steps:

1. Strike up a conversation and spend more time listening than talking. When you find things in common, the conversation is engaging and you build trust.

2. Ask what they do before they ask you what you do. Be interested, not interesting. Find out about their business. And hold yourself back from talking about your business.

3. When they ask about your business, use a good Audio Logo with "a hook." For instance, "I work with big companies who are missing One Big Thing that's preventing them them from succeeding at an even higher level." The hook almost forces someone to ask what that one big thing is.

4. If they show some interest, continue the conversation, still avoiding talking too much about your services. If you do talk, the best thing is to tell a success story or two: "A recent client started to apply that one big thing and went from no profit to 20% profit in less than a year."

5. Now the big key: Don't just exchange cards and hope something will happen. No! Set it up so that you can follow up later. And the best way to do that is by offering an article: "I wrote an article about this called, 'The One Big Mistake Companies Make and Seven Ways They Can Correct It.' Can I send you a copy?"

6. Then follow up a few days later: "Hey, this is Robert, I sent you that article on the One Big Mistake. I wondered if there were some things in that article that you could relate to your business?" Then continue the conversation to see if this person is a qualified prospect or not. Then, finally...

7. Offer them a "Complimentary Big Thing Strategy Session" where you'll explore their current situation, their goals and vision and the challenges they are currently facing. And of course, you'll also let them know about your services that help companies with that One Big Thing.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Turn random connections into meetings with qualified prospects by following this step-by-step strategy. To make this work, you need to be prepared with listening skills, an Audio Logo, an article, a call-to-action and a Strategy Session.

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What do you do (or fail to do) when you meet a prospective client in your everyday stream of business? Let us know on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the link below.