Business Coaching

How To Market Your Business For Next To Nothing

I had an email today from my friend Rob Warlow, about his marketing tips ebook

"How To Market Your Business For Next To Nothing: 119 Ideas and Tips On How To Market A Small Business On A Small Budget"

First I was reminded what a great title which cuts right to the core of the problem.

Most small businesses are sold advertising and marketing by media salespeople and it doesn't work - or at least not as well as they hoped. So marketing is seen as an expensive but necessary evil.

Eugene Schwartz Breakthrough Advertising

I am back to thinking about copywriting at the moment and while I have read many of the classics (e.g. John Caples Tested Advertising Methods, Claude Hopkins Scientific Advertising), one book I haven't read is Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz.

Breakthrough Advertising was out of print for many years and then Boardroom Reports (who Eugene Schwartz used to write for released it after second hand copies were selling on Amazon and Ebay for hundreds of dollars).

The Man's Guide To Marketing To Women

I am trying to get in touch with my emotions at the moment because I buy into the idea that people decide emotionally and then justify rationally at least 80% of the time.

But hey this is tough.

I'm

• a man
• British - and we invented the stiff upper lip
• a qualified accountant trained to analyse the facts and then make the decision.

I've suffered from "repressed emotion syndrome" for years and I suspect that many professional men have done as well.

Better Financial Control

I was having a browse around the Internet and in particular at the Frontline-Results.com blog of Louise Barnes Johnston, another business coach based in the UK.

Louise is putting me to shame because she is using BlogTalkRadio to bring valuable information to small business owners.

She's now up to broadcast 39 and it includes someone I know - and indeed help to promote - Judith Astles of JMA Solutions.

Referral Incentives & Rewards Motivate Your Customers

It is psychology 101 that if you want to encourage a certain behaviour, you should reward it and that certainly applies to encouraging your clients to give you referrals.

Referrals are recognised as the second best source of extra business (after your existing customers) but I know many businesses who provide a good to great service but are frustrated with how few word of mouth referrals they get.

The Profit Tipping Point ™

Why is it that so many businesses fail while others go on to great success?

I am planning to answer this key question in a special report, The Profit Tipping Point ™.

I believe that there are special factors which determine profit.

Dynamic factors some of which are controllable and some which can't be controlled but can be predicted, giving those who see them a chance to take proactive action and seize an advantage.

And you can get the information you need from The Profit Tipping Point.

Simple Sales Methods That Work - Free PDF

It's Monday and I thought I'd give you a gift - a free 20 page pdf called "Simple Sales Methods That Work".

This report is no longer available.

Discover:

• How to use simple postcards to generate low cost prospect leads
   
  
• Increase your sales by reversing the risk
   
  
• Four ways to get your prospect's attention fast
  

Referrals & Word of Mouth Recommendations

Are you unhappy that your customers and clients are not giving you the referrals and word of mouth recommendations that you would like?

Instead of blaming them, it is time to take action and come up with a few strategies to create referral opportunities.

If you sit back idly and hope that your customers are going to refer you so that you get new clients the easy way then I have bad news.

Some will you refer you but only when they are hit over the head with such a blatant opportunity.

What's Hot On The Blog - October 2009

Now that Typepad have made changes behind the scenes which allows me to install Google Analytics, I thought that I would start a feature "What's hot on the blog".

Not sure if I will do it every week but I think it will be interesting to see how the list develops.

In reverse order the top five pages in the last week were:

How To MasterMind For Profit - One Hour MasterMind

For some time I have been planning to start one (or more masterminds) as a sideline to my coaching and information marketing business. The problem was that I wasn't sure how to create a mastermind and run it for profit.

You may be familiar with the mastermind concept - it was popularised in Napoleon Hill book Think & Grow Rich although my impression is that the idea is much more common in the United States than in Europe.

I keep hearing about the gurus and their mastermind groups - I think you would be surprised how often they meet up and share ideas and help solve each other's problems.

So when I heard Dr Ben Mack (branding expert and StomperNet faculty member) had created a one hour mastermind process which could be used to help a small group of people focused on a common interest I was very interested.

Getting Customers To Choose YOU Over Everyone Else

The details of the first panel interviews for The League Of Extraordinary Minds have been revealed on "Getting Customers To Choose YOU Over Everyone Else: Leveraging Credibility, Believability, and Trust in Everything You Do".

I talk about the need for prospectives to know, like and trust you before they buy from you but I am sure that the panel interview will go much deeper than I do.

Just look at the quality of the first League of Extraordinary Minds panel.

Introducing The League of Extraordinary Minds: Your First Experience

The League of Extraordinary Minds is a very special brain trust of many of the best business experts in the world and it is launched today at 3:00 pm Eastern.

The League Of Extraordinary Minds - affiliate link

54 business experts are being featured in 9 panel interviews focusing on:

How Your Market Makes Irrational Decisions

Very interesting - and funny-  video from Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational (affiliate link).

How To Be A Product Launch Manager

"Paul I am thinking about becoming a coach, either starting my own business or buying a franchise. What do you think?" says John

"What about training to be a product launch manager? That could earn you a lot of money and get away from some of the frustrations of being a coach" I reply.

OK I made up the brief conversation but I do get regular phone calls from people who are thinking about becoming a business coach, a marketing coach or a consultant.

And from today I will be suggesting the option of becoming a product launch manager.

Jay Abraham Advanced Marketing Programs

A couple of days ago marketing master Jay Abraham announced a promotion for the DVD home study version of a series of three master level programs Jay has been developing in Asia.

If you read my blog you will know that I am a huge fan of Jay Abraham and I have managed to collect an impressive set of his training resources.

7 Wastes aka TimWood - From Lean Manufacturing To Services

Today I want to introduce you to a concept that comes from lean manufacturing called the 7 wastes which can be remembered by the acronym TimWood.

I don't write about systems and processes as often as I probably should but I see big potential for taking the techniques that have been developed in world class manufacturing organisations and adapting them to smaller service based businesses.

The Billionaire’s Secrets: OPM, OPR and OPC

I am really pleased to be able to feature another article from Dan Kennedy.

The Billionaire’s Secrets: OPM, OPR and OPC

(You may need them now, more than ever.)

Up in the air. It’s a bird, it’s a plane – no, it’s SuperDan. By the time you read this, I will have flown to four cities and presented my ‘no-fail follow-up seminar’ and autographed books for four groups in L.A., Chicago, NYC and Orlando. And boy, are my arms tired.

At age 20, this might have been fun. It still beats working for a living in a job.

But it is annoying every time I hear politicians, particularly a certain recent presidential candidate, demonizing me for my success and suggesting that the Grand Canyon gap between my high income and others’ low incomes is evil and must be narrowed by government theft. 

Business Book Reviews August & September 2009

My Business Book Blog has been quiet in the last couple of months but I do have some terrific books to point you towards for marketing, sales, management of people, customer service and time management.

These include books by Dan Kennedy and Jay Conrad Levinson.

Traditional Selling In Trouble - Sales Person's Crisis Report

I read a fascinating 50 page report yesterday on the crisis that is overwhelming the traditional selling approaches called "The Sales Person's Crisis" by Sean McPheat, the UK's leading expert on modern day selling.

Renegades of Persuasion Dave Lakhani

My fascination with the art and science of persuasion and influence is growing after buying Mind Control Marketing, Mind Control Ninjas and the Catalog of Esoteric Psychological Lore

About nine months ago I invested in Dave Lakhani's seminar DVDs, the Renegades of Persuasion.

Dave Lakhani is recognised as one of the masters of persuasion and is the best selling author of "Persuasion: The Art Of Getting What You Want" (affiliate link). Several weeks ago I published various persuasion videos of Dave Lakhani on this blog.