Have You Neglected YOUR Cash Flow? I mean… Clients!

When was the last time you got an email, letter or postcard from your retail therapy centre – as in your favourite store, restaurant, or the last shop you visited?

My guess is probably never. You might get the occasional flyer, but nothing personal or even interesting. The best you can hope for is boring cut-price offers.

There’s a big lesson here for all of us.

As business owners, we can never be good enough at following up with our customers. In the past I’ve been guilty of this as much as the next person.

But now I refuse to let a business owner moan to me about the Recession until they have a multi step follow up sequence of 7-30 touches or contacts (email, mail, postcard, telephone etc.) with everyone who comes into contact with their business as a potential or paying customer or client.

Funnily enough, when people do this, they tend to make so much money from increased sales, they just shrug off the Recession and stop talking about it.

As business owners, we can’t afford to make the big, costly mistake of not following up, because one way or another we pay good money to get leads, and if we let them disappear without them becoming customers, then it’s money we’ve wasted.

And just in case you have any doubts about how important this is, here are some scary statistics:

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect

25% of sales people make a second contact and stop

12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop

It’s staggering, but only 10 % of businesses make more than three contacts. This means they’re losing a small fortune.

Because…

2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

So if you’re like almost half of all businesses and make no more than one follow-up to your prospects… you’re leaving 98% of your income on the table for someone else to come along and pick up.

If that wasn’t bad enough, here’s why it’s even worse.

Here’s Why People Stop Buying From Businesses:

1% die.
3% move away.
5% follow a friend’s or relative’s recommendation.
9% find an alternative they perceive to be better quality or value.
14% are dissatisfied with the products or services.

And a massive 68% of people leave a business because of… indifference.

They take their business elsewhere simply because they do not feel valued.

Since you spend a lot of time, money, and effort to get a visitor to your business, if you let them leave because of indifference, you might as well be flushing $20 notes away.

They take their business elsewhere simply because they do not feel valued.

So, how often should you follow up? Most business owners I speak to follow up maybe once a month, if they use follow up at all. This is a mistake. You can quite safely send something once or twice a week.

See, it’s not the quantity of stuff that annoys people. What annoys them is if it’s boring, and nothing but requests that they buy something from you. As long as your follow up is friendly, personal, full of personality and fun, then you’ll be fine.

There’s a golden rule in Marketing that will make you wealthy. Once you have someone’s details keep on following up until they either buy, die, or tell you to stop!

To get your Free Report “7 Points To a Profitable Website” and Bonus “How To Generate Fresh Qualified Leads on Auto Pilot” Go Here NOW!

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler

“7 Points To a Profitable Website” and “How To Generate Fresh Qualified Leads on Auto Pilot”

Finally: An Automated Marketing System & Website Platform That…

* Systematically Generates Fresh Leads.
* Automatically Qualifies Leads and Prospects into Clients.
* Predictably & Easily Makes You Much More Money!

… All On Auto Pilot? All Those In Favour Of That Say ‘AYE’!

Get Your FREE Marketing and Website HEALTH & PROSPERITY Check! valued at $350 Here.

Lead Generation on Auto Pilot by Peter Butler of Smarter Websites

Lead Generation on Auto Pilot by Peter Butler of “Smarter Websites”!

James was absolutely rapt that already he’s generated 2 leads from his new “Smarter Websites” System and one of those ‘qualified’ leads has converted into a client already.

You need to understand that James hasn’t actually done any active offline marketing yet!!!

What does that mean in MONEY TERMS? Well, I’m not at liberty of disclosing James’ numbers but let’s use a nominal average client spend of say… $1500 to you over a set time frame. Is that a figure that you can relate to?

So even if you only pulled 4 leads a month (with no actual active marketing as such). Do the math! With only a 25% conversion, which is easy to achieve ’cause they’re ‘qualified’ leads that would be $18,000. Not bad when you’ve not done any active offline marketing yet and you haven’t yet got your sales pipeline finished. Gee, I think the recession is only affecting those who don’t do active direct response lead generation marketing.

Imagine when you’re up and running with this automated system you are pulling say, only 100 leads a month of which only half are warm leads. Of those only half again are what I call  “qualified” (actual shoppers) which is 25. Let’s halve that again to 12 that are what I call “highly qualified” (spend money soon). What if you only convert half again to actual clients -- that’s 6 @ our nominal figure of $1500 = $9,000.

Who Wants $9,000 a Month From Effortless Auto Pilot Marketing?

You can see how much of a happy chappy James is with Peter Butler’s “Smarter Websites” (Yes, we are in a pub but it was work, dear. We really were in a ‘mastermind’ session at JB O’Reilly’s pub -- great people the Irish)

Anyway, watch the video.

You can see James’ website “Productivity Coaching” right here.

To get your Free Report “7 Points To a Profitable Website” and Bonus “How To Generate Fresh Qualified Leads on Auto Pilot” Go Here NOW!

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler

“7 Points To a Profitable Website” and “How To Generate Fresh Qualified Leads on Auto Pilot”

Finally: An Automated Marketing System & Website Platform That…

* Systematically Generates Fresh Leads.
* Automatically Qualifies Leads and Prospects into Clients.
* Predictably & Easily Makes You Much More Money!

… All On Auto Pilot? All Those In Favour Of That Say ‘AYE’!

Get Your FREE Marketing and Website HEALTH & PROSPERITY Check! valued at $350 Here.

Is It Possible To Recession Proof Your Business?

Yes, you can ‘Recession Proof” your business through savvy marketing and the very best is word of mouth marketing, or a referral, where someone is essentially saying, “this person solved my problem….you should go to them so they can solve yours too”.

We all like referrals but most business owners are doing nothing proactive to get them.

In a Recession, that is very dangerous.

That’s why you need to blow your own trumpet as often and in as many ways as you can.

A huge example of this was in the West Australian Newspaper a couple of weeks ago (Sorry to those outside of WA but do read on)

John Hughes of Skippers, the huge multi brand multi yard car dealer in Victoria Park ran a 2 page spread absolutely chock a block full of testimonials. Forget the reams of car pictures and prices that all blend in to a blur of sameness of price competing car yards.

Think about it! What’s your biggest issue when you’ve been in the market for a car? Trust!

We all know the one about the ‘used car salesman’ right! Making sure you don’t get a lemon, that you don’t get ripped off and you want good after sales service.

John tapped straight into his prospects biggest fear and tackled it head on.

If you can remove the fear that people have around doing business with you… reduce those reservations… even remove that risk entirely… then just watch your business prosper. I know I’ve done a few posts now on testimonials but get over it. If you missed those you can read them here http://www.peterbutler.com.au/tag/testimonials

Here’s the question “Are you thrashing all of those good stories about you as much as you could?”

If you’re not then you’re selling yourself short. Don’t be lame either, get pictures, audio, video, before and after, facts and figures too.

If you don’t blow your own trumpet who will?

Speaking of thrashing and blowing your own trumpet here’s what Tony Inman said about his site ONLY 1 Week after we went ‘Live’ with his New “Smarter Websites” website and Smart Marketing System.

Remember, this site is only a week old so don’t give me grief. I’m just being totally upfront and transparent here. We’ve yet to plug in Tony’s lead generating and marketing system.

Hi Peter,

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for the work you have done so far on our Planet Inn website.

In today’s world it’s often hard to know who you can trust, especially when it comes to something as important as your business website, which is really the equivalent of the ’shop window to the world’ of your company.

In my case I was particularly wary, having had a bad experience once before with a web designer, but having met you in person, I felt confident that you would do a good job for us.

Just to be on the safe side, I called a few people who knew you and they were gushing in their praise of your professionalism.

I am happy to report that I have been extremely impressed with the thoroughness of your approach to our website project, with your ability to listen to us – the clients, and to adapt and modify anything necessary to suit our unique needs.

I know that my former web hosts also caused you no end of technical problems, which you overcame with consummate ease. No doubt they didn’t want to lose the business!

When I saw that the home page of our website had a header explaining that the site was under construction, I became concerned about the length of down-time during our peak season. I was equally astounded and exuberant when you had the bulk of the website up and running the same day!

Obviously building a website is a never ending journey of tinkering as the quest for excellence is an illusive beast. I have seen enough already though to know that we have formed a mutually beneficial partnership that will stretch into the distant future.

The layout of the site is terrific. Your knowledge of how to make use of modern social media trends for commercial effectiveness is an attribute of paramount importance to keep pace with the tech-savvy generation who now form the bulk of our market profile.

On the one hand I would be delighted to sing your praises, should you require any references for prospective clients. On the other hand, I don’t want too many people to pull you away from the great job you are doing for us! That of course would be to deny the world!

Anyway, once again thank you and keep up the great work. I’m really looking forward to working with you on our other website as well once we have fully evolved this one to the levels we have targeted together.

Best wishes,

Tony Inman (Tonaldo the Inn Man – new nickname)

Club Red Pty Ltd
T/As :
Planet Inn
Backpackers Accommodation & Bar
www.planetinn.com.au
Club Red Cars – Car Rentals – Club Red – Tourism & Migration Services – Property Management Services
Tel +61 8 9328 2203

What is the difference between an Ordinary Website That Makes Virtually NO Money & An Extraordinary Website?

Ummm, it’s not a trick question – the MONEY and NEW CLIENTS!

To get your Free Report “7 Points To a Profitable Website and How To Generate Fresh Qualified Leads on Auto Pilot” Go Here NOW!

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler

“7 Points To a Profitable Website and How To Generate Fresh Qualified Leads on Auto Pilot”

Finally: An Automated Marketing System & Website Platform That…

* Systematically Generates Fresh Leads.
* Automatically Qualifies Leads and Prospects into Clients.
* Predictably Makes You Much More Money!

… All On Auto Pilot? All Those In Favour Of That Say ‘AYE’!

To find out more go to www.PeterButler.com.au or go here to get your FREE Marketing and Website Audit! valued at $350.

Dumb Marketing and Smart Lead Generation!

Last week I raved about how much money business owners are throwing away on dumb cinema ads. Here’s a classic dumb ad you’ve probably seen on TV already.

The heartburn advert! Opens with a guy shovelling into a wheelbarrow, then goes to him clutching his chest with a face shot of discomfort. It then pans to the roadwork’s sign and a stick figure bashing away at the pile of dirt which then erupts like a volcano. The dialogue running with all of this captures this guy’s pain very well.

“Getting People’s Attention Is Successful Advertising!”

By using all the right emotional triggers they’ve engaged the viewer with shots of the guy clutching his chest, another shot of belching, the volcano erupting to depict the burning sensation and using the sounds of gasses gurgling from inside.

Then the orator uses words that sufferers will relate to and starts to aggravate the problem with – “if left unchecked it can lead to other medical problems” and “with proper treatment it may end your discomfort for good”. The last shot is a bulldozer clearing the pile and a shot of the worker smiling and looking relieved getting back to shovelling.

Very emotive and engaging… especially if you’re a heartburn sufferer!

The ad finished with the orator directing people to “Talk to your doctor” or visit “www.heartburn.com.au”

This is a better than average ad model. They got my attention, held my interest and told me what they want me to do – Go see my doctor or go to the website. Those elements they got right. Very clear steps.

OK, I’ll go to the website – easy! Nice looking site, lots of good information but here’s the thing.

Why would you spend all that money on a TV ad, direct me to your site and not want to get my details? (Apart from a lame newsletter signup that was hard to find.) Why not have a compelling offer of free information that people get when they submit their details. If you have my details you can then market to me… forever!

“Successful Marketing Is What You Do With Them After!”

Flawed thinking! It’s a classic case of what I call a library site – lots of information and the business owner lives in the ‘hope’ that the prospect will call the business or maybe opt-in to the lamely named newsletter… maybe in your dreams.

I found the company name in tiny print in the footer and it turns out it’s a huge pharmaceutical company. It’s the classic branding style ad process. They spend truckloads of money on ads and strategies that are not directly measurable. Dumb or dumber? They are not leveraging off their website as they could. This is the marketing cancer of the big boys.

“YOU Have the Edge!”

This is how smart small to medium business owners can get the edge over the big boys. Here’s the ironic thing – people actually want to do business with people, that’s you! The trouble is that you are not making it easy for your new prospects to become clients.

You might not be running TV ads but why would you have a sexy website, then bust your gut getting people to go there without an offer of information in exchange for their details?

This is how the average business owner can take toll position and run rings around the big boys.

Here’s my number 1 question to all business owners!

Out of 100 visitors to your website how many are you now able to market to?

The answer should scare you!

If you want to know how to make a compelling offer for prospects details and generate fresh leads and actually convert your website from a glossy online corporate brochure that sits out there as internet flotsam then click here NOW!

I am offering a FREE Marketing and Website Audit valued at $350.00 for the first three, that’s 3 as in 1, 2, 3 ONLY! Why 3? – because they take a heap of time and frankly, that’s all I have time for.

So, has your website paid for itself yet? Find out what’s holding it back and how to jump start your automated lead generation – Easily! Click Here NOW to be the 1 of 3 ONLY Free Marketing and Website Audit valued at $350.00.

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler

“Discover the 5 Things You Can Do in the Next 17 Days To Generate More Clients & More Money!”

Finally: An Automated Marketing System & Website Platform That…

* Systematically Generates Fresh Leads.
* Automatically Qualifies Leads and Prospects into Clients.
* Predictably Makes You Much More Money!

… All On Auto Pilot? All Those In Favour Of That Say ‘AYE’!

To find out more go to Peter Butler or go here to get your FREE Marketing and Website Audit! valued at $350.

When the yellow pages rep came to see me…

When the yellow pages rep came to see me he started to tell me what I needed. I then told him what I wanted and showed him my ad. He then tried to change most of the ad.

I suggested that he change nothing and that I was confident that what I had would work. To cut a long story short the ad was left as is and he gave me a $600 discount on the original price.

The best part was that he booked for a cut and colour the next day. I guess the ad worked before it even went to print.

Jennifer Coleman of Snipz Hair Salon in Edge Hill.

Top Rankings in Google in Only 14 Days!

I just got off the phone with yet another rapt client. Jim’s site is only 14 days old, as in like the domain name was only registered 17 days ago – It’s a brand newie.

The reason I’m clarifying that it because quite a few of our clients have us rebuild their site which means the domain has been around for a while and Google has probably been there before, albeit not often.

You can find out easily if your site has been ‘indexed’ (visited) by Google!

… and even how many pages are indexed.

I had another client who had a domain registered for 9 months, they had a static holding page with their contact details and it got left like that for another 8 months.

I always like to do a bit of homework on a site before I change even one thing – Hey, you can’t measure a big improvement unless you have a starting point and a bench mark right?

It turns out that even after 8 months this site had not been indexed; now that’s sad.

Now, me being the show off that I am we took that site from obscurity, and I mean total website no-mans land, if Google doesn’t know the site even exists then how can it show up in any search results… ummm, it can’t!

Anyway, from obscurity to having 8 pages indexed within 5 days (there was only 8 pages at that stage) and I’ve just checked it now and all 40 pages are indexed… and only 3 days ago. I can’t give you the URL ‘cause the client watches his traffic closely and he’d kill me, sorry.

That’s why the “Smarter WebSites” model is so awesome.

Have a listen to what

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

, he’s a very happy man let me tell you.

Back to the pages index check – put this in the Google Search Bar (not the address bar)

site:www.yourdomainname.extension (obviously your domain name with the extension)

you will then get the results displayed like this in the top right corner

so for me that’s

site:www.peterbutler.com.au

These are my results

Results 1 – 10 of about 78 from www.peterbutler.com.au. (0.04 seconds)

So Google recognize that I have 78 pages. Don’t give me grief about my own site, I know, a few leaks here and there. It’s like the proverbial mechanics car – always left till last.

As a side note, my own sites get indexed every day – the Google Gods have smiled upon me! That’s what the “Smarter WebSites” System will do for your site.

So for Jim – not only is he Page 1 in Google but position 2 and 3…

Click here to

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to Jim and I, you’ll pick up a tip on lead generation for your own site – “Like why else would you have a site but if not to generate leads, and then qualified leads at that? You’d be amazed at how many people forget that!

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler.

Finally: A lead generation and marketing system that generates a stream of “highly qualified” clients for small business owners and retailers that’s self managed so they ‘own’ it and it positions them as the experts in their area and ends all lame and frustrating and sometimes costly advertising and marketing methods.

All those in favour of that say ‘AYE’!

To find out more go to Peter B Butler on… Direct Marketing, Smart Lead Generation and Even Smarter Websites!

What! You Didn’t Read My Money Making Small Business Lead Generating Stuff!

Friday nights with good friends and a good wine is a great way to end a busy week.

And as you do with like minded entrepreneurial friends we were bouncing around our “take over the world ideas, million dollar breakthroughs and world changing ideological schemes”.

By the end of the night I’m sure we’d pulled at least 17 million dollars and solved all the worlds problems, it was hard work but obviously worth it.

The particular friend we were visiting is in real estate and although he’s not been in the industry that long he’s pulling good listings and sales and carving out a healthy career even against all the odds of the market being slow. A man of action and a quick learner and certainly open to innovative marketing stuff.

It turns out that he subscribes to my e-marketing newsletter so I started talking about my recent post on testimonials. He hesitantly confessed he hadn’t read the recent post knowing full well that I would get on my pedestal and rant… “What, you didn’t read my stuff?”

Even when I wrote the post I had visions of real estate agents with photos of ecstatic home owners putting ‘Sold’ stickers on the ‘For Sale’ sign out the front of their house with a big ‘thumbs up’. What a better way to show prospects that you get results… right!

(What, you didn’t read my previous post too?)

Or a photo of the buyers… with the agent, beaming smiles, keys in hand at of the front door of their new dream home.

Why would you go to all this bother? People look at pictures, hello!

Don’t you think an ‘imagery’ style testimonial is a lot more powerful than a whole heap of text? I’d like to think everyone reads my stuff but the reality is we’re all busy and you know the old adage ‘a picture tells a thousand words’.

Why do you think I place a picture in my posts? To try and get them read.

I heard a fellow marketer coin the expression – ‘results in advance’. Using picture testimonials in this way is exactly that. Use the right pictures and you are showing your prospects the outcome they will achieve by doing business with you.

With any transaction there is the process but it’s the outcome that people want – focus on the outcome. Get a mix of testimonials and photo’s.

Another point that needs to be made is that of ANY marketing idea you read or hear about the question should never be “Can I make that work for me?” but rather the question should ALWAYS be “How can I make that work for me?” Most ideas can be adapted so use your imagination.

If you add a twist to any marketing idea it is sure to make you stand out over all the other brokers… and isn’t that what marketing is all about? Standing out! Differentiating you from the ‘pack’!

So to subscribers… be warned… I will find out if you don’t read my stuff. We have ways…

Seriously, we all want the one idea that will bring us 100 new clients but the reality is… it’s probably going to be 20 ideas that pull 5 clients each time… but we still end up with 100 clients.

A side note… the marketing stuff we do and advocate can be systemised meaning that once it’s set up… it’s an auto-pilot lead generating prospect converting money making marketing machine… works for me!

PS: A colleague and friend made a comment on my last post… you can too. I’ll tell you why it good for you in my next post. Click on the blue headline in the post or right here to have your say now.

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler.

Finally: A lead generation and marketing system that generates a stream of “highly qualified” clients for small business owners and retailers that’s self managed so they ‘own’ it and it positions them as the experts in their area and ends all lame and frustrating and sometimes costly advertising and marketing methods.

All those in favour of that say ‘AYE’!

To find out more go to Peter B Butler on… Direct Response Marketing, Websites and Lead Generation!

3 Best Tips For Using LinkedIn!

I started using LinkedIn about a year ago. Probably like most people I set up my profile and did nothing with it. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what else I should do.

You do need to build up your connections. Check your friends ‘connections’ too and ask for the introduction to like minded people.

It is a valid networking and lead generation tool and I’ve generated 1 hot lead through it already so I’m good with that. A friend even had a job offer last month too!

Here’s the share on a few tips and tricks that could help.

First up is your Public Profile URL… Edit it.

The default link looks something like this – http://www.linkedin.com/pub/XX/xxx/XXX which is pretty ugly and random.

What makes a lot more sense is to use the word or term you want to ‘rank’ for with the search engines. So change it to something like this http://www.linkedin.com/in/thepeterbutler but it could be your business name if you like.

It will help in Google World. Your name should still appear in the search results regardless but if the text link contains the actual words, like your name or business then that’s all the better for the search results.

Increase Your Public Profile!

I’d also recommend placing this as a link on your website. The more links on your site to other sites about you will increase your overall profile on the internet.

A point to consider, when people click on that link and they’re redirected to your LinkedIn page the sexier URL will appear in the address bar, much more professional rather than some generic random line.

It’s easy to edit. Just hit ‘edit my profile’ and click on the text. Your name might be taken already so be prepared to slip in something that sets it apart. You can use a digit or perhaps ‘the’ as a differentiator.

I have both my LinkedIn and my Facebook profiles as links under a category link ‘social media sites’. My take is this, people want to do business with people and this shows them that humanness side. You should have decent profiles set up on both Facebook and LinkedIn.

Your Own Personal Built In Website Feature!

This is huge. Click on ‘Applications’ in the left navigation bar and you have 10 applications at this point ready to ‘plug in’ to your profile.

The biggest for me was the Wordpress plug-in. This feature means as I make a post to my site it appears in my profile automatically. So my last 3 posts are sitting in there with no effort, getting more exposure and all the while telling my story and adding to my credibility. That is a very cool tool.

Yup, it has a Built In Slide Show Presentation too…

The Slide Share Presentations will be my next set up – this will be a real boon for a lot of people too. I show my wares via Power Point so this will work particularly well for me.

What plug-ins will suit you?

Depending on the nature of your business as to which other plug-ins will be most useful to you. This is the short list of other tools – Google Presentations, Blog Link, LinkedIn Polls (cool), Trip-It, Reading List by Amazon and some online collaboration tools.

It seems the issue for most people is time, to learn how it all works or committing to ‘building that network’. It’s the same for me so my take is to do this stuff in my ‘slow’ time or at least not my ‘peak’ productive time. I’ve even sat there with my laptop while I catch a TV show to get through it.

So, go to it and get LinkedIn!

While your there let’s get connected too. The more ‘connections’ we all have the better.

Here’s my public profile link: http://www.linkedin.com/in/thepeterbutler

See you on LinkedIn!

Committed to Generating “Highly Qualified” Leads and Making You More Money,

Peter B Butler.

Finally: A lead generation and marketing system that generates a stream of “highly qualified” clients for small business owners and retailers that’s self managed so they ‘own’ it and it positions them as the experts in their area and ends all lame and frustrating and sometimes costly advertising and marketing methods.

All those in favour of that say ‘AYE’!

To find out more go to Peter B Butler on… Direct Response Marketing, Websites and Lead Generation!

Will 2009 Be Your Year?

I know that at the beginning of 2008 I thought… “THIS was going to be the breakthrough year for me.” I’d done the hard yards over the previous few years and it was “my time”, 2008 was time for a breakthrough for me!

Was that your take on 2008 for you? I know it was for a lot of friends and family.

It turned out to be a tough year though- economically and emotionally it was a tough one… for a lot of people.

Here’s the thing though.

What are we going to do differently this year to actually make it different?

At a business ‘connect’ group that I’m a part of we have an equation, I’ll draw it for you.

Responsibility
—————————–
Lay Blame & Justify

This is what most people do – find a reason why things are the way they are and lay blame for that and then justify it.

If things are so tough then how come some people in business are doing fine?

You do know that don’t you? Not everyone is suffering; In fact, some people have positioned themselves well and are actually prospering as a result of these ‘bad’ times.

The short story version without being all soft and fluffy is because they took responsibility for their affairs and business and took some action and made it happen.

We really are masters of justification us humans. So many times we’ll find a reason for ‘why this happened’ or ‘why that didn’t happen’. We’re good at it, like I said, masters. By the same token there’s no use beating ourselves up about stuff. We just need to recognise it and be prepared to do something about it.

It’s like the definition of insanity – doing the same thing and yet expecting a different result. We all know this definition right? Thing is… most of us still get caught.

So what’s your take for 2009?

Are you going to operate on the definition of insanity model? Where do you stand with the

Responsibility
—————————–
Lay Blame & Justify

ABOVE the line? …or

BELOW the line?

You know what the ‘correct’ answer is right?

Obviously above the line because you know damn well it’s the only way that you will come even close to making 2009 the Year for YOU!

But what are you actually prepared to do to make it happen?

I just want to backtrack for a moment on the last few years for me.

In mid 2006 I’d sold a business that I’d built up over the previous 10 years and I did well out of that, I was a happy chap but it was time for a new quest, a new venture. I knew what I didn’t want to do in business but wasn’t 100% sure of exactly what I did want to do.

I spent 2006 and 2007 checking out a few different options, managed a few projects for people in different businesses and created a business marketing system. I started to see a few gaps in the market place.

There was a definite need for niche lead generation in certain industries.

So I started laying down the tracks as it were and I gotta be honest here, a couple of hundred thousand dollars later and a couple of years of some really long days and nights of hard slog, study and sharp lessons on direct response marketing and creating business building products and it all started to come together.

I’d found my niche. Lead generation that would work in pretty well any business. But I knew the power was in specialising to a specific industry or niche. A niche within a niche as it were.

The second revelation for me was that in my previous business I could very well have created this niche within a niche and achieved a new business which was my original goal.

The moral of the story is like the story of the diamonds in the field. Don’t go looking too far from home before you change what you do. Maybe you just need to change how you go about your business rather than change the business too much.

That’s why the business owners and mortgage brokers we help are rapt. With all the changes that have gone on in 2008 most are feeling discouraged and totally frustrated, some are seriously pissed off even.

It’s time for a breakthrough and with direct response marketing and the right lead generation techniques there is no reason why you can’t take that command position in your area.

To find out how you can apply those same principles in your business right now so you get off to the best start ever This Year click here to find out more.

Don’t go insane and make sure YOU stay ABOVE the line for 2009!

With the right amount of focus, new knowledge and the right systems in place you can most certainly make 2009 YOUR YEAR!

What action will you take?

Business Building 101

This is the fundamental business building premise but it still needs to be mentioned.

So many people get caught up in a lot of “Business Building Activities” and forget this one simple principle.

There are only three ways to grow your business:

1. get more new clients

2. get your existing clients to come back more often

3. get your existing clients to dig deeper and spend more each time you do business

That’s it, there are no other variables.

What you may not know is that steps 2 and 3 are cheaper and easier to do. It is far cheaper and easier to have your existing clients return to your store more often or to have them spend more money with you than for you to go chasing new business.

The sad news is that most retailers spend most of their advertising and marketing dollars on the first step… and get stuck there.

Don’t misunderstand us, we are all for having new customers. We’ll talk about that shortly and we have some great strategies for that too.

The big bonus with having your existing clients return is that you have already established trust and therefore they tend to spend more on their second and subsequent visits with you.

The first step in getting new clients is where most people focus their energy and their marketing and advertising dollars. Getting new clients is great, however it is far more expensive to market towards gaining new clients than it is to market to your existing clients.

We know from experience, that a lot of people are thinking at this point “But my business is different” or “We tried that and it didn’t work” or “I just can’t see how we can make it fit our business”.

Would you be interested in learning strategies and techniques that make this easy?