The challenge is that a lot of people never consider their process for executing simple business tasks. They take for granted the fact that if they were able to automate activities that are routine it would provide additional time for the important items on their to-do list.

Working Smarter

I had a client named Bob (named changed for privacy) who was using a spreadsheet to manage the times that he should be sending standardized emails in response to a customer signing up for a free trial. These were emails where the only information that changed was the first name and email address of the recipient.

After we mapped out his process, I suggested to Bob that he consider using an email automation system to deliver these messages. This would save him time for more important communications like selling the service to those who were using the system and customer questions and other types of support inquiries.

At first, Bob’s response was akin to if I suggested he get shot into space out of a cannon. It was like I was trampling on his contribution to the process and possibly jeopardizing his role in the organization. His perspective was that no person, or thing, could be trusted with getting these highly important communications delivered.

After we reviewed his process a second time, I pointed out that he had designed an elegant process for getting people interested in paying for the service but he was missing out on creating even better solutions for the conversion by spending his valuable time on something that is standardized and should be automated. I asked him to test out the system for 30 days and if he wasn’t benefiting from the system then he could always switch back.

Needless to say, he spent the 30 days a little nervous. Over the course of the month, Bob’s time was well spent as he had already brainstormed ideas for overcoming certain objections that his prospects had and even came up with solutions for how to automate some basic customer support questions. He was also a little shocked that people still replied to his emails even though he technically wasn’t sending them. After the 30 days, Bob was ready to consider automating anything.

I used this example because it illustrates an important point about using automation:

>> It is important to see results from a process before you make judgment.

So…Is it evil to automate? Add your thoughts in the comments below.

Stay tuned for more in this series. Next up: Automating Social Media.

This article was written by Kris Kiler and can be found online here:
Overcoming Your Fear of Automation: Pt 1

“On Valentines Day my family and I, along with some friends, were subjected to the most surreal, horrible, and scary experience at a local restaurant. We contested an $8 charge on our bill of over $250 and the owner and his friend blocked us in with his truck, cursed at us, threatened us with physical violence (fists and some sort of stick or club), and generally behaved unbelievably.

“My feeling of powerless was extreme, especially with my wife and children (and a 78 year old friend) at their mercy for over half an hour.”

Learn more here:

http://bingelela.info/

…and spread the word!

See Howie’s video at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoq815_bingelela-lodge-nightmare-bergville_travel

I know very little about fixing cars. But Pops does. If he trusted Chuck, I wouldn’t give the recommendation a second thought.

So we took him the van. He did his thing. He was fast and friendly. When I returned to pick it up, Chuck mentioned that the car wasn’t in perfect condition, but he had gotten the “Check Engine” light to turn off. As long as that light didn’t come back on, he said, I should be in good shape.

The drive home was smooth. I felt good about myself. I saved some money and supported a small business in my community at the same time.

But the next drive was not nearly as pleasant. By the third trip, the van was acting exactly like it had before Chuck worked on it.

I was baffled. What did that mechanic do to the van? Had he really done anything? I didn’t actually see him do anything, and he seemed to be finished faster than he should have…

And what about this Check Engine light? It hadn’t turned back on.

Maybe the only work he did was to remove the fuse for that warning light!

Can You Make Up Someone Else’s Mind?

To be honest, I never confronted Chuck about the work he did. He may or may not have actually done what I paid him to do.

Although it seems as if there’s quite a bit to learn from this story, I wonder if you detected a lesson that can literally transform your ability to sell whatever it is that you have to offer.

Do you see what happened with the Check Engine light? Chuck gave me a very specific and unmistakeable indicator that he had done a good job. The Check Engine light was off, so  he must have fixed the problem I asked him to take care of.

Those of you who have been around for a couple months or longer know about my penchant for education as a selling too. When done properly, I don’t know of a more effective way to get people to take action.

Looking back on the situation, I don’t think Chuck was aware of what he was doing, but he taught me how to appreciate his work. Here’s what happened:

1) I had a problem that I needed to solve,
2) I perceived Chuck to be an expert in his field (mostly based on the recommendation of my trusted father-in-law)
3) Chuck defined the criteria on which I would judge the quality of work done for me.

When you think about it, how much do your customers know about what you do? They should understand the benefits of buying from you, but do they know how you achieve the results you deliver? Do they even want to know?

In other words, most of your prospects and customers are a lot like I am when it comes to fixing cars: I know I need help, but I don’t have a clue how mechanics do their job. I just know that when it’s done, I’m looking for the thing that was wrong to be repaired.

That means, I don’t really know the difference between a good mechanic and a great one. When I’m having car troubles, I can either rely on referrals from people I trust, or I pick whoever’s the cheapest or closest.

From the car shops’ perspective, they’re relying on factors outside of their control (random word of mouth or having the lowest prices) to determine the fate of their business. That’s not a recipe for success. It’s hoping and praying that the dice rolls your way time after time. No wonder over 90% of businesses fail in their early years!

Take Control of Your Sales Process and Marketing

One of the biggest advantages of selling though education is that as an authority figure, you can tell your prospects what they should look for when choosing a product or service.

For example, if you were a mechanic, and your website featured an article or special report about “6 Misconceptions About Car Repairs that Can Cost You Thousands of Dollars,”  how easy would it be to define the process of fixing in a way that highlights your distinctive benefits and subtly disqualifies your competitors who operate differently?

What about a dog groomer who gives presentations on how proper care extends the health and life of pets? Not only can you define the buying criteria for anyone looking for a groomer, but you also position yourself as someone dog lovers can trust to take the best care of Rover.

There is nothing manipulative about this method, as long as you’re telling the truth. So, of course, there is the danger of con men and swindlers using education to misinform people and rip them off, but you’re not that kind of person.

During a presentation I gave last month, I joked (…promise…) that the way you hire the best copywriter is to look for the ones whose first and last names start with “D” and “B” respectively. That’s a joke you can use, as well as an example of what not to do as you educate your market.

Leveraging the power of education is one of the most important ways businesses can maximize their growth in any economy. It takes extra effort, but if you do it correctly, I can’t think of a better way to boost the results your sales people and marketing materials are producing.

This is one of those strategies we talked about putting into place last month. Strategies are less fun than tactics, but without a strategy, you’re back to hoping and praying again. Is that where you want your business to be?

Over six years I managed to collect enough pancake-sized bruises, bell-ringing whacks to my head, and accidental groin kicks to earn myself a brown belt.

I’m pretty proud of that, but it took me a good 3 years before I could start dishing out more punishment in the sparring ring than I took.

It was around that time that, almost overnight, my fighting style went from resembling two rams smashing their horns together over and over again (where basically they guy with the highest pain tolerance won), to reminiscent of Bruce Lee having his way with a low-level henchman.

Well, at least I felt as nimble and powerful as Bruce Lee – I got hit a lot less, and started landing nearly every punch and kick I threw.

And, in addition to my increased confidence, I limped a whole lot less too.

So what made the difference?

Among the few breakthroughs that turned things around for me was a technique I learned from one of the senior black belts, or sempai, of the dojo, Michael Jai White.

If you’re not familiar with the name, you’d almost certainly recognize his face from movies such as “Spawn”, “The Mike Tyson Story”, and “The Dark Knight”.

Unlike many other Hollywood stars that rely on their stunt doubles and fancy editing to make them look like action icons, Michael is a bonafide butt-kicker, having mastered more martial arts styles that my kids have Dora the Explorer toys (which is a boatload).

He didn’t have a name for the little lesson he shared with us that night, but I call it the “Flying Karate Cam”.

Michael described how inexperienced fighters basically have one strategy: looking directly at their opponent standing in front of them and charging straight ahead, head down, fists-a-blazin’.

This approach, he explained, wasn’t effective because every opponent, from the day they put on their white belt, is trained from day one to block everything that comes straight at them.

“You’ve got to go beyond the 3 or 4 targets your physical eyes can see right in front of you.  Imagine that there’s a small camera flying all around your opponent, that transmits everything it sees directly to your brain, allowing you to see all the vulnerable areas that you opponent isn’t thinking about protecting.”

Now, although I wasn’t a big believer of out-of-body experiences, who was I to argue with a guy that’s wiped the mat with virtually everyone he’s fought.

It took me a few days to get used to it, but soon I began to see open spots all over the guys I was fighting – hands too far from the head, elbows hovering just high enough to expose the rib cage, feet spread too wide to respond to a quick kick.

Even better, the more openings I saw, the more my opponent had to worry about defending himself from my punches than throwing his own.

While they probably wouldn’t think of themselves as martial arts masters, the best marketers and copywriters I know have their own version of the Flying Karate Cam.

But rather than searching for the best angle to deliver a roundhouse kick, their cameras are trying to find the best angles to deliver their offer.

You see, the common approach used in most marketing is some head-on variation of “Here’s what I’ve got to sell you, now buy it!”

But prospects have their own natural defenses from such attacks: skepticism, the recycling bin, banner blindness, “skip this commercial” buttons on their remote controls, or just simply ignoring them altogether.

And these defense mechanisms have been conditioned to fire on hair-triggers since people are bombarded with these direct-buy messages thousands of times a day.

Your job is to set your Flying Marketing Cam loose to find creative and effective ways to bypass those defenses and deliver your message.

Take a good look at your current marketing efforts and see if they’re selling straight on, going right for the sale.

How is that approach working out for you as measured by your response rates, closing ratios, retention, and refunds?

What other angles and “less head-on” methods could you use to improve your numbers?

Cheers to your success!

Philipp

P.S. If you’re ready to discover new approaches you can use to bypass your customers’ defenses and massively improve the results of your marketing efforts, you’re in luck.  I’m working on a series of trainings that will reveal a handful of strategies that are working today that do exactly that. So keep your eyes peeled for those announcements.

P.P.S. What’s the top defense mechanism that your customers and prospects use to block your marketing messages?  Do your email open rates stink?  Are you wasting your time on too many tire-kickers?

If you would like some help guiding your Flying Marketing Cam to find solutions simply COMMENT BELOW describing your problem and I’ll be sure to address it on one of the upcoming trainings.

Farm Cats (Not pets, God help anyone who mistakes them for pets.)

Date: 2012-02-07, 8:29PM CST
Reply to: bkv6w-2840298169@sale.craigslist.org

If you must continue flagging this ad, please at least read it first, and maybe drop me an email and just let me know why. Is it because you think I’m selling pets? I’m not selling these cats, (they’re free) and they are NOT pets. They are highly trained, elite killing machines with an insatiable lust for blood. Do not mistake them for pets! These are working farm animals…

Barn Cats -

Feral, ferocious and bloodthirsty barn cats, free to a GOOD HOME. These vicious demon spawn cats will rain down hell fire and bring genocide to all rats and mice on your property. Free, if you can catch them. Not responsible for injuries. Bring gloves, they will cut you.

Call Alex, (901) 299-xxxx

But if you take them, YOU MUST BE SWEET TO THEM. I am. I bring them each a saucer full of sweet milk every morning, and they bring me the heads of small animals (and disturbingly less small animals) to show me what will happen if I don’t.

(…If I am breaking any rules here, I’ll stop. Just communicate with me, help me understand. I’m not breeding these cats for profit, not mistreating them – they have a good home, they’re happy cats. Don’t they look happy? It’s just that my property is now free of mice and rats, there are no more squirrels, rabbits, lizards or snakes to be seen within a mile, birds don’t come anymore, and the woods around my place are now creepy and silent. They are running out of victims and starting to eyeball my goats. I’m afraid to leave my wife at home alone. We are terrified in our own house. They’re not even hungry, they just want to kill. Please help.)

**These pictures are not of the actual cats I’m advertising. The actual cats cannot be photographed. They don’t even show reflections in mirrors. And there are countless legions of them, not just four.

• Location: Holly Springs
• it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

That’s INSANE. But most of what happens on Wall Street is blind lumbering herds of animals getting roped by mercenary cowboys. What matters to you is how this is going to change the landscape.

Bottom line facts: Facebook’s operating expenses on their $3.7B are about $2.7B. They’re making about a $1 billion net income.

If their IPO goes super great, and they do get valued at $80 billion, then if they don’t get their ad sales up to $10 billion+ in the next couple of years, Mark Zuckerberg is gonna get a nasty spanking from the stock market.

You can only live on “Hey everybody, I’ve got 800 billion people, woo hoo!” for so long. Eventually you have to sell ads.

So here’s what’s gonna happen. Facebook has NO CHOICE but to get serious about their ad platform. They might get ‘er done with a carrot, or do it with a stick, but they WILL do it. They have no choice.

Practically speaking, businesses with a www.IsFBforMe.com score of 8-10 find FB advertising reasonably easy now. (If and only if they’ve read my book. I know that sounds like chest beating but it’s true. Facebook is NOT as straightforward as Google ads.)

After Facebook makes a bunch of upgrades they should’ve done 2 years ago, people with scores of 5, 6 and 7 will be able to generate biz on FB easily too.

If your score is 6+, you need to pay attention TODAY, not wait a year or two. Now is the wild west, when you can get 160 free acres of land. That window will rapidly close.

I do not advise you to buy Facebook stock. That’s what the dumb money’s gonna do. Here’s what the smart money does: Build real estate on the cheap land.

My advice to you is: Use Facebook to profile your customers. Find the fishing holes on Facebook that bring you new leads. Take Facebook Firestorm when we offer it (coming in March) – sign up for notification here.

I repeat: There will be smart money and there will be dumb money with the Facebook IPO. BE THE CONTRARIAN.

Perry Marshall

“All of your communication seems so cozy and personal etc but all your Infusionsoft messages have this statement at the bottom of them. I can’t help but think how “impersonal” and automated it looks and sounds especially when I know you have gone to great effort to get personal.

Just wondering….am I missing something here?”

Tony

Dear Tony:

Great question. When you send out 50,000 emails at a time, you’ll find out real fast, why we do this.

Once upon a time, the email address all those broadcasts come from was manned, and we answered messages that merited an answer. However when you let people indiscriminately send emails, you get all sorts of spam and nonsense and bitching and irrelevant remarks, along with “out of office replies.”

Less than 10% of that noise deserves a reply, and worse, inevitably we miss stuff that’s important. People send the occasional message like “please cancel my subscription” and we miss it…. then a month later they’re mad because we have “lousy customer service” and are “ripping them off.”

One of the problems with the Internet is it’s sooo eeeaaasssy to communicate that people communicate when they have nothing to say.

So, in Planet Perry, if you have something you need to say, open a support ticket and say it.

Along the same lines – ever walk into a retail store and have to wait while the clerk ignores you and answers the phone? And all the while you know that a breathing human being physically inside their store is worth a lot more money than a phone call? Annoying, isn’t it?

We give our best customer service to people who jump through the hoops, buy things, join memberships, come to meetings. We try to ignore spammers. So should you.

At Roundtable last month, Stew, who sells replacement parts for industrial equipment, revealed his #1 discovery in 2011: His customers will pay what to him seemed “exorbitant” prices, for next-day delivery of hard-to-find parts.

Today he’s getting $500 for parts he used to sell for $150, simply because he’s the only guy who’s figured out how to ship the stuff in 24 hours instead of five weeks. It’s a bargain for the customer because otherwise a costly machine sits idle.

This is only one example of how he’s re-engineered his biz during the last year. Almost none of it has been “copywriting” or “optimization.” He’s changing the game instead. Last year he tripled his profits; in June he took an 11-day vacation to Alaska and the business hummed along without him.

Are you using all the perfect techniques and best practices – but fixing the wrong problem?

http://www.perrymarshall.com/roundtable/

Perry Marshall

Did you know there are 63,920 people;

• who live in the United States,
• who live within 50 miles of San Diego, CA,
• age 18 and older, and
• who are in the category Small Business Owners.

If you’re in the accounting industry you’re probably already targeting local businesses for tax season. Are you advertising on Facebook?

Certain types of attorney’s might be interested in knowing that there are 442,620 people;

• who live in the United States,
• who live within 50 miles of San Diego, CA,
• age 18 and older, and
• who are married?

These couples might be interested in living wills, trusts, or in the unfortunate need of a family attorney for issues around divorce.

On Facebook, these individuals have already defined their interests. If they match your criteria, then they are more likely to click your ads. I know businesses that have spent $25,000 a year on Yellow Page ads and were not afforded the luxury of knowing who was going to see their ad.

You can literally target anyone on Facebook.

Page Basics – Setup, Branding, and Content

This is essential-and free! Your Facebook Page can host a variety of content (video, download links, promotions coupons) and your customers can Like your page or “check-in” (if you have walk-in customers) to let all of their friends know they are at your place of business (great viral marketing).

__Yes __ No — Do you have a Facebook account? (No? Really? – get one here.)

__Yes __ No — Have you secured your Facebook Page yet? (click here to create a Facebook page)

__Yes __ No — Are your competitors on Facebook?

Suggestion: Make a list of your top 5 most successful competitors and map out their social profiles. Are they on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google+? Are they engaging with their customers on a regular basis?)

__Yes __ No — Are you able to customize your Facebook content so it presents an accurate picture of your brand to your customers? (customize your logo, add photos, set up your content to auto post)

__Yes __ No — If NO to the above — do you have the resources to pay someone else to customize your Facebook Page?

__Yes __ No — Have you identified what challenges your customers are facing and how you can help them?

Suggestion: Create and send a survey to your customers to discover more detail about their situation, industry, and needs.

__Yes __ No Do you have a plan to create content or identify the types of content you’d like to share with your fans?

Suggestion: Your plan doesn’t have to be extensive, even some quick notes about websites that might have some great content or other items you want to share with your customers (quotes, pictures, new products/services..etc). You can’t always post “selling” type of links.

Goals – Why Are You Using Facebook?

__Yes __ No — Drive more traffic to your website

__Yes __ No — Build your email list

__Yes __ No — Sell more products/services

__Yes __ No — Announce special offers and promotions

__Yes __ No — Announce events

__Yes __ No — Share news

__Yes __ No — Provide value to your prospects and customers

__Yes __ No — Share photos and videos

__Yes __ No — Get feedback from clients and prospects

__Yes __ No — Improve your relationships with your prospects and customers

__Yes __ No — Improve Search Engine Optimization

It’s useful to have some clear expectations about your Facebook page and/or advertising. Because of the popularity of Facebook Advertising it’s difficult to produce results on $1 a day (we recommend at least $100/month for ultra-low budgets) and you can’t expect to get 5,000 fans if you’re operating in a small market. Set realistic expectations and understand the tool and how it will be used in your overall marketing.

The bottom line is that you need to be on Facebook.

Whether you post a few times a week or use their advertising platform you need to have a presence on Facebook and start thinking about how you’re going to utilize the social platform to start driving business and giving your customers something to “Like.”

We’re preparing a new NetOneClick special report on Facebook.

Please comment below and let us know…

What questions do you have about Facebook Pages and the opportunities available to you with the Facebook advertising platform?

What does that mean for you?

AdWords has finally reached a spot where the “water level” is even with other media. AdWords is still the most amazing advertising machine in the history of the world, but click costs have leveled out.

There’s no such thing as a true monopoly in the 21st century. Not for Google, not for Ebay, not for anybody.

Up till now they’ve been able to tweak the algos (widening their kimono on broad match for example, soaking uneducated advertisers with low quality clicks) and meet their Wall Street forecasts.

They can’t do that anymore. They’re in what Thomas Friedman called “The Golden Straightjacket.” They have to work for their dinero.

Is that good for you?

Sure is. If they have another quarter like this, banned accounts are going to start getting phone calls from a friendly Google rep. They might even up the customer service an IQ point or two.

The other thing Google is doing is extending ad relevance tracking to ALL Google properties. Your Gmail messages will influence what you see on YouTube and everywhere else.

Huge news for Display Network advertisers. I LOVE the display network, it’s the Google playground for advanced practitioners. The privacy people are having a fit (for no good reason, really) but bottom line is:

The quality of your YouTube and Gmail clicks is going to go UP.

—> I’ve told people for YEARS they need to expand into other media like offline, print, email, direct mail. Compared to a $7 click, a 45 cent stamp starts to get attractive. Blending online and offline has ALWAYS been one of the most profitable moves you can make.

Tomorrow in Part 2 I’m gonna talk about Facebook…..

Perry Marshall