I've been coaching my Platinum clients on ways to build their list a lot lately because they understand that the more you increase your list, the more you increase your in^come.
There are many ways to build your list, with authenticity and integrity, but I wanted to share with you one of my favorite and most effective ways to do so.
One of the quickest ways to draw attention to your business is by conducting interviews of people in your niche whose name is familiar to your target market.
This is one of the fastest and easiest ways to add loads of targeted subscribers to your email list, and it can be a lot of fun, too!
You can interview them over the phone and record it, offering the audio as a way to entice people to sign up for your list (and you can ask if your interviewee would be willing to do the same – most will). Or you could do a written interview via email and offer the written transcript as a bonus to those who sign up for your Free Taste.
Here's the steps to how you do this:
1. Make a list of 10 well-known people in your niche who you could potentially interview.
To find them, search your inbox to see whose lists that apply to your niche that you're on, look on websites in your niche, Google for others you don't know about yet, ask your lists for recommendations and referrals, look in your industry magazines, books within your niche, and go to Amazon.com, search for and create a short list of authors who would be interesting to interview for your market.
2. Once you have your initial list, Google the name of each person.
See if they have a website and if they do, visit it and see if they have a list – you'll know if they do if they offer a Free Taste! Put a star beside the names of the people who have both a website and a Free Taste.
3. Compose an email (which you can use over and over) that invites each person to be interviewed by you on the topic you choose.
Obviously it needs to be a topic that your target audience is interested in learning more about. What you want to make obvious to the potential interviewee is that you are offering to give them free publicity.
The names with the stars beside them are the first people you should contact via email. Then work your way steadily down the list.
Remember, as you build your stash of interviews with leaders in you niche, you are becoming well-known as well. Don't be surprised if you in turn get invited to be interviewed by someone else using just this technique, which again, benefits you and your list.
And if you continuously implement this strategy (say one interview a month or a quarter), it will build momentum, and could eventually build a nice package of future products for you to offer!
Would love to hear what you think about this strategy. Please leave your comments below!
Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches entrepreneurs how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.clientabundance.com/
As I've been coaching clients lately who are eager to move away from the exhausting 3 or 4 calls a month model of coaching their own clients, but are still working out the details of how to move smoothly over to the platinum-style format I've taught them, there is a nice fill-in option.
It's the virtual VIP Day and it's my new love. 🙂
Not only are VIP days easy to put into place, they also create additional revenue which will give you the financial freedom to decide when you can move more fully into the platinum-style format.
A virtual VIP day is just like being in a private in-person retreat with you, except you meet over the telephone, or via video call – which is my favorite way to do VIP days – where you focus on your client's outcomes.
This format means you don't have to find a location to meet, make travel and lodging arrangements for your client, and it typically is easier to get a VIP day on both your calendars than an in-person meeting.
I’m coaching my Platinum clients on how to offer this super-simple and super-lucrative in^come stream and delighting in the successes they're experiencing already.
Here are my favorite tips for adding VIP days into your business model, quickly and easily:
Tip #1: Plan Your Time
A good time frame for a VIP day is from four to five hours. During that time, you'll be delivering content, coaching, consulting, and giving the client exercises to work through periodically. Plan to take a few short breaks as well, to stretch, use the restroom, or get some nourishment.
Tip #2: Plan Your Content
The beauty of the VIP day is that you can offer a specifically designed program of your own, or let the client tell you the specific outcomes they'd like.
For example, I offer VIP days on the topics of "Creating Your Signature System and Profit Pyramid", "Branding with Archtypes" and "How to Charge What You're Worth and Get it".
Or perhaps your client is intent on completing their marketing and launch calendar during their VIP day, or developing a detailed promo campaign for a specific launch. You can design your VIP day around those outcomes instead.
Just be sure that there is a concrete focus for your VIP day so your clients are sure to walk away delighted – and happy to share their experience with others.
Tip #3: Plan Your Worksheets
I'm a worksheet fanatic, and I've found that my clients appreciate them as well. Include worksheets for each exercise you do with your client during your VIP day, even if it's a simple 1-page document with your branded header at the top and one question for them to answer. This nicely increases the value of their experience.
Tip #4: Plan Your Payments
Knowing that everyone appreciates a payment plan, be sure to offer one for your VIP days. But remember to make certain that your fee is paid in full BEFORE the VIP day to keep the transaction nice and clean for everyone.
So if you want to make the move from the traditional coaching model and are still working on putting your platinum-style program together, adding virtual VIP days are a great way to go in the meantime.
I'd love to hear your thoughts about adding this in^come stream to your current business model. Please leave your comments below.
(c) 2010 Alicia Forest
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
I think if you've been a survivor of any sort, you can relate to Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. Sure, she used her womanly wiles to get what she wanted, but hey… who hasn't? (And men, you've got 'wiles' of your own, so don't think you're off the hook.)
When Scarlett tore down her mother's green velvet drapes to make the dress that ultimately saved Tara from the tax collectors, it was 'necessity is the mother of invention' in action. It's sheer ingenuity to look at those curtains, one of the only things left by the Yankees, and see a fancy dress that could be the solution to her problem.
Scarlett was smart, savvy and had the spitfire spirit of her successful entreprenuerial-minded immigrant father. Over and over, Scarlett relies on her wits to maneuver her way out of predicament after predicament. And maybe some of her actions weren't those of a lady playing nice (like marrying her sister's beau) – but to her, the end result always justified her behavior. She took care of herself and her 'folk' with no apologies – and she made riches from it.
So, how does Scarlett's smart and savvy personality relate to your business?
Your biggest client decides to quit working with you, for no apparent reason, leaving you with a huge in^come hole to fill. Your shopping cart bills your customers three times for a single purchase. Your virtual assistant decides to fly off for a spur-of-the-moment week away, leaving you with hours of admin nightmare to deal with.
There isn't a businessowner around who hasn't been surprised by these or similar challenges once they've been in business for awhile.
Yes, it would be nice to be prepared for all of our worst-case-scenarios with back-up procedures and the like, but please… especially if you're the creative/idea type – who's going to deal with all that detail for the 'just in cases'? Not me…
When Scarlett turned that green velvet from drapery to dress, my heroine didn't know she was carrying out a perfect example of exactly how to zig-zag your way very quickly from problem to solution:
Here's how:
1. She stayed focused
Scarlett didn't let herself get all spun up about only having one dirty dress to wear, picking cotton herself, or having no food to eat during the war that was going on around her. What she did was stay focused on the task at hand: saving Tara.
All the decisions she made and actions she took came from focusing on that single goal.
2. She quickly shifted priorities when necessary
Scarlett's mantra of "I can't think about that now. I'll think about it tomorrow" kept her focused and on task, and allowed her to shift her priorities when necessary.
3. She was willing to fail quickly
Scarlett made a decision and took action. If things didn't work out the way she wanted them to, she took stock, made another decision quickly, and took action again. By being willing to fail quickly, instead of trying to figure out and manage all the potential pitfalls beforehand, she was able to rebuild her life on her terms much more quickly.
4. She was open to receiving
So maybe marrying two gentlemen she wasn't in love with for all the wrong reasons doesn't speak well of her heart, but Scarlett saw both marriages as a solution to a current predicament.
She wanted to stay close to Ashley Wilkes so she married his brother-in-law. She wanted $300 to pay the taxes on Tara to keep it, so she married her sister's beau to get it. She wanted the store and mill to make more mo*ney, so she did business with those who were willing and able to pay, even if it was with the Yankees and carpetbaggers.
5. She didn't let anyone stop her
Whenever Mammy protested Scarlett's plans, Scarlett persisted. When her sisters protested her behavior with her gentleman callers, she persisted. When she wanted to hire convicts as laborers for the mill, and both the men in her life told her it was wrong, she did it anyway.
If you know that a solution you've figured out is right for you, don't let anyone talk you out of it. Even if it doesn't work out, at least you know you stuck to your guns and your integrity to yourself is intact.
And lest you think I'm blind to some of the deeper layers of Miss Scarlett, let me assure you that no one is more satisfied than I when Rhett tells her, "Frankly, my darling, I don't give a damn."
And yet you can't argue with her results.
I'd love to know what you think… please leave your comments below.
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
Writing a regular ezine (online newsletter) can sometimes feel like hard work. So if you're putting in the time and effort to give your readers valuable content, consider implementing at least a few of the strategies in this article to help your efforts pay off in profits.
Here are 4 ways to help your ezine make you more money:
1. Self-promote
Besides giving valuable content in each issue of your ezine, don't forget to add a little self-promotion as well. After all, it is one of your best marketing tools, and you want to make sure that you're letting your subscribers know what products and services you have available for them. It's best to do this in a separate section of your ezine, instead of in the copy of the article you write for your readers. A short blurb about you and what you offer, as well as a bit about one of your products and services with a link to more information is all you really need to do.
Depending on the method through which you are publishing your ezine, you can track how many times your links are clicked on, which gives you valuable market research information about what your readers are interested in finding out more about.
2. Give Options
If you are a service professional, know that there are many people who would like to hire you one-on-one but that option doesn't fit into their budget just yet. If you offer them other options, and promote those offerings in your ezine, you'll turn some of those prospects into paying clients.
For example, if you coach or consult one-on-one, consider offering a group coaching program with a price point that would be much more accessible than your private fees would be. Or take your knowledge and package it into an ebook, or a series of teleseminars, or an ecourse, and price them reasonably. Then promote them in your ezine.
3. Offer specials
Your readers may find the content of your free ezine valuable and would really like more, but they might need a bit of encouragement to buy from you. So give your subscribers a special discount on something you offer, with a time limit for purchasing (which really does encourage people to "act now").
For example, offer a 2-for-1 deal on your ebooks, or 20% off one of your programs if they register within a week. This strategy will move some of your readers from the "free" part of your funnel into the "fee" part of your funnel, which is exactly what you want.
4. Offer recommendations
I get so many questions about the services I use in my business that I periodically give recommendations in my ezine. These products and services are ones I truly believe are of high quality, because I have used them personally or because they come highly recommended to me by my mentor coaches. Some of these I am a reseller of (an affiliate), meaning I make a small commission on every sale I refer, and others are products and services I love and know would be of value to my subscribers.
Don't forget that your number one priority with your ezine is to provide valuable content for your subscribers. Proportion 10-20% of your content with promoting you and your offerings, and you will be working smarter and not harder.
Which one of these strategies are you willing to try – or do more of? I'd love to know via the comments link below.
© 2005-2009 Alicia M Forest and ClientAbundance.com
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
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