Sandra Martini's Success Strategies

Get Off The Roller Coaster and On The Escalator – Sneak Peek

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For years, decades actually, you’ve been taught to create marketing “funnels” and “pyramids” and that these, in essence, create the backbone of your marketing plan.

Truth is, they don’t work.

Let’s start with the marketing funnel. . .

Wide at the top, this is where your prospects first learn about you – where awareness is created.

The thought is that you want as many people “falling into” your funnel as possible as only a few will make it all the way through. It’s considered a numbers game.

And the funnel bottom. . .narrow, designed to allow only a few through, this is where the high end programs, products and services are located, waiting for those lucky enough to reach the bottom of the funnel.

All the motion surrounding the funnel is negative. . .not the energy a conscious or heart-based entrepreneur is seeking.

5 Common Mistakes in Creating and Sharing Content

 

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As a business owner who’s marketing online, you’re told to create content. . .lots of it. 

Content for your newsletter, content for your blog, content for your videos, content for your podcasts...and that’s all before we get to the actual content of your products and programs. 

But what happens when you’re producing all this content and not seeing revenue come in as a result? 

(And, sadly, “Yes, this IS what’s happening for most.”)

First, we need to take a look at the most common mistakes in creating and sharing content: 

1. Giving too much – often times, entrepreneurs give and give and give and so there’s no reason for someone to actually purchase your products.
2. Common knowledge – super common, especially for those who give too much, is sharing the same ‘ole, same ‘ole, nothing new or original which leads us to
3. Being boring – either sharing the same stuff we’ve heard for years or trying to be so perfect that your material reads like a scientific research paper.
4. And, when your material reads like a scientific research paper, you’ve made it too complex and people will unsubscribe, close out, turn off their machines. . .anything to get away from it.
5. No call to action – what do you want your reader to do after reading your content?  Tell them...don’t make them guess. 

And, like most things in your business, what’s the “why” of creating a particular piece?  What do you want your clients to get from the content?

These common content-creation mistakes result in less clients signing up for your programs or purchasing your products.  You haven’t made it compelling for them. . . 

My Request to You 

While it would be easy for me to tell you to “do the opposite” of what you see above, it’s not always that straightforward. 

When creating valuable content for your readers, you want to ensure that: 

1. The content is simple to grasp AND take at least one immediate action on.
2. When you see an industry issue, you bring it up AND advance a solution (similar to how my Escalator Marketing™ concept replaces the out-dated marketing funnel and pyramid).
3. You keep the content interesting. . .share a story when appropriate, remember it’s more important to be “readable” than to have perfect grammar.
4. When promoting a program or product, provide great content AND let your readers know that this “is only the tip of the iceberg” (see my video at www.TotallyTeleseminars.com for an example of this).
5. Include a call to action to engage your reader.  Whether it’s an invitation to comment on a blog, reply to an ezine article, join a teleseminar, etc.  Never leave them hanging wondering what to do next as they’ll go elsewhere.

So, let me ask you. . .are you going to file this away, thinking you’ll “get to it when you have time” or are you going to take action now?  I’d love to hear your thoughts here. . .

Your Program's Sold Out -- Now What?

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“YES! Finally!”, you’re thinking as the “ka-ching” sound on your computer dings again and again and you see those “New Order Was Placed” or “You’ve Got Money” emails coming in again and again.

This is the moment you’ve worked so hard for. You built relationships, created a great program, marketed it properly and clients are lining up to purchase.

Another “ka-ching”.

And another happy giggle from you. After all, this is THE moment everyone talks about and that you’ve waited so long for.

Now you can buy that new laptop, pay down some debt, breathe a little.

When Leverage Becomes a Liability

The title of today's article sounds a bit like an oxymoron -- after all, leverage is that thing we all strive for in business. . .how can it possibly become a liability?

 

A few examples. . .

 

In coaching

 

There's been a trend over the past year or so to create high ticket "platinum" programs and hire someone else to run them.

 

It makes sense from a leverage standpoint -- less of your time (someone else runs the calls, answers the emails), more revenue (it's a high ticket program -- usually over $10,000 -- and is quicker than making/selling products) and you only show up for live retreats (built in celebrity status).

 

Clients join the program for access to you because of what you've done, your reputation, etc. The leverage you gain comes with the cost of how your clients feel about the arrangement.

 

From a client perspective, why would I pay a "high ticket" price to you to be coached by Coach X when I could hire Coach X on my own for less money and more personal access?

Are you taking a bandaid approach to a terminal disease?

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In chatting with a new client recently, she described the great teleclass series she hosted last month and how much revenue she earned from it and the one she has coming next month.

When going over her monthly revenue for the year-to-date, she quickly realized that she'd been bandaiding a much more serious problem in her business: the lack of consistent, month-after-month revenue.

Whenever she needed cash, she'd host a teleclass series, put on a webinar, offer a sale, etc.

The above was great for short-term, immediate cash flow, but did nothing for the long term success of her business. In fact, it hurt her business as she noticed that each subsequent launch was bringing her less and less cash.

You see, in addition to earning less revenue, her friends and followers were able to feel the desperation behind each of her efforts.

This is what I refer to as taking a bandaid approach to a terminal disease.

Terminal that is, until you decide to do something about it. . .which we quickly did.

If you find yourself in the position of adding a quick series, service, product or program whenever you need revenue as opposed to having it consistently come in day after day, week after week, you're suffering from the Entrepreneurial Myth.

The Myth that you can whip out a few products, host a few calls and become an instant millionaire and that the *next* product will be *THE* product.

Fact is, building and growing a sustainable business takes time and consistent effort.

Make It Real – My Request to You

Chances are, you’ve spent thousands of dollars buying products and attending workshops looking for that *one thing*, that one big idea which will catapult your business into the next income level, only to find that after finishing the product or returning home from the event, very little changes.

So what are you to do?

1. Write a business plan – I’m not talking about a 40-page monstrosity, but rather a very simple 1-2 page document which outlines your business focus, mission and revenue goal
2. Plot the revenue – so you want to earn $300,000 this year in gross revenue? WHERE is it coming from? What percentage of your revenue will come from product sales? Coaching programs? Membership/continuity programs? Speaking/hosting teleseminars? You want to start with 2-3 income streams (don’t worry. . .you can add more once these are up and consistently producing)
3. Write a marketing action plan – now that you know the “what” and the “how much”, it’s time to determine the “from where”. . .where will your clients come from? What specific steps will you take to attract new clients?
4. Determine your Extreme Client Care™ plan – GREAT! You’ve got the clients, now how are you going to keep them and have them referring everyone to you?

Ultimately, my request to you is to stop bandaiding you business and start building a long term, sustainable business which will exceed all of your revenue expectations. Are you ready to go for it?

Conversions What do they mean and why do they matter?

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We hear all the time that we need to "increase our conversions" or "get our numbers up". But what exactly does that mean and what else do we need to know?

"Conversion" is all about turning leads into paying clients and, when done well, more leads into more clients while doing it better, faster and with the least possible expense.

"Conversion" is also used to describe the result of desiring someone to take a step -- whichever step you want them to take -- whether signing up for a f'ree report, register for a strategy session, join a teleseminar or webinar, etc. -- the result is a desired action.

"Conversion Percentage" (sorry, just a little bit of math here) is defined as the "number of NEW sales" divided by the "number of leads" times 100.

And in the above case, "NEW sales" are people who are giving you money for the very first time (they're not repeat clients) and "leads" are people who have expressed, in some way, interest in what you're offering -- whether they visited your website, called your office, sent you an email, etc.

"New Client Cost" is defined as how much it costs for you to market to someone such that they give you money for the first time.

"Extreme Client Care(tm)" describes the process by which the better the care you provide to your clients, the less likely they'll be to switch to another vendor. (More on this in an upcoming series.)

Why do these terms matter?

Quite simply put, the better your conversion, the lower your new client cost AND the better your client care, the less new clients you'll need as existing clients won't leave your service and will refer others who cost almost nothing to market to (and therefore lower your new client cost even further).

You may want to read the above paragraph again to truly absorb the logic.

Make It Real -- My Request to You

Before we can even chat about increasing your conversions, you need to know where you stand today.

Ask your webmaster or assistant to get you signed up with a service such as Webstat if you don't already get statistics about the number of visitors to your site, blog, ezine sign-ups, etc.

After all, you need to know where you are in order to determine where you want to be. :-)

Does your business need a reality check?

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During a consultation last week, I was speaking with a 5-figure business owner who wanted to make $150,000 this year.

Doable?

Absolutely!

Doable with the plan she had?

Absolutely not.

So many business owners create good solid goals and then take haphazard action, constantly led astray by another bright shiny object or thinking the Law of Attraction will deliver it all to them.

The “reality check”?

It’s a combination of taking the RIGHT action in the RIGHT way at the RIGHT time WHILE maintaining a positive and abundant mindset that will propel you forward to your goals.

While you may think this sounds a little tough, it’s a whole lot tougher to close your doors and get a J O B working for someone else, especially after spending thousands of hours and dollars on programs and products, all designed to get you “to the next level”.

Make It Real: My Request To You

First, revisit your goals for this quarter (July through September) and this year.

Second, determine if your goals are REALISTIC given where you are now and your plans (HOW will you bring in the revenue, which projects, implemented when?) for the rest of the year.

Third, either revise your goals, your plan or both so that they’re in alignment and doable.

Fourth. . .take action. Now!

If you want help determining if your goals are realistic and building a plan you can implement to reach those goals (or others we set), you’ll want to see if a strategy session with me works for you.

Where do you go from here?

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Just yesterday I was talking with a new client who’s invested thousands of dollars on programs, plans and info products and came to me asking “What should I do?” as she was so overwhelmed with all the options and wanted to get the *right* things done in order to achieve her goals.

In a time when information – good and bad – surrounds us and we’re hit (it actually feels like I’m being hit sometimes) with thousands of marketing messages every day around what we should do with our business, it’s no wonder you’re confused about the best way to get where you’re going.

Mapquest gives you a choice when it comes to driving directions:

• Shortest distance or
• Scenic route

I’m guessing you want the “shortest distance” to your business goals as opposed to the longer scenic route.

Knowing that, it’s time to decide which steps, in which specific order will get you there:

1. Write – don’t type -- a list of all your goals (there’s a greater connection to our desires when we write them out)
2. Put each goal on a separate piece of paper
3. Write the projects which will culminate in the completion of each goal
4. Decide which goal you want to work on FIRST (now I know you want more than one, but you can only do one thing well at a time, so pick a #1)
5. Decide which project within that goal you want work on FIRST
6. Write a list of tasks/action steps for that project – complete with timeframes
7. Delegate what you can to your team
8. Do what only you can do (if you don’t yet have a team, prioritize the tasks – there is usually a natural order to these)
9. Take this goal as far as you can and move on to the next

It’s key to remember that no matter how much you “want it all”, you’ll get there quicker by picking one thing, getting it done and moving on to the next. The “all” will come before you know it.

And if you’re confused about which goal/project to start first?

Answer this one question: “What *pain* keeps you up at night or which goal makes you giddy with joy?” and you’ve got your first goal.

If you want help sorting out which priority is THE priority or need to brainstorm the right steps to get you there, you’ll want to see if a strategy session with me works for you.

[SmarTini Tip] Expert Credibility: How to let your clients give it to you

If you've been around the "online world" a while, you know that "content is king" -- after all, it's generally expected that you should:

* publish a weekly/biweekly email newsletter

* "touch" your clients in offline ways

* post 2-3 times a week to your blog

* host your own teleseminars and be guests on others

* contribute daily to Facebook and Twitter

and the above is all *at a minimum* and we haven't even discussed videos.

Assuming you're here to connect and build relationships with others in a true and meaningful way (and if you're not, you may as well stop reading now) and aren't in it for the "quick sale", where do you find all the information to post/send out?

After all, the quickest way to build your expert credibility is to share "expert" information with others.

So how do you "know what you know" in order to share it with others who are looking for that very info?

Here's one of my favorite strategies. . .

Marketing Your Business -- The Line Between Effective and Annoying

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In marketing your business, there's a line *out there* between what's effective for your ideal clients and what's just plain annoying.

That line is different for every one of your ideal clients and for every business owner (even in the same industry).

I recently heard a very successful business owner say "These days you have to market your heart out and I'm going to hammer my list with. . ." and the name of the latest program.

While I agree that you do need to market your business, and do so effectively, I completely disagree with "hammering" people, even knowing the business owner above meant it in the sense of sending tons of promotional emails.

There is a point where your marketing becomes annoying and not worth the benefit your readers otherwise receive.

So how do you know when you're getting close?

1. Are you seeing more "unsubscribes" than usual?
2. Are clients leaving your membership programs -- while this absolutely relates to the quality of the program and your relationship with members, it also relates to your client's overall perception of how you do business. I've left good programs simply because I didn't like the way someone marketed their business.
3. Are you out of integrity somewhere with what you say versus what you do -- are you walking your talk?

These are all signs that you're getting close to "that" line.

Keep in mind however, that as long as you're providing valuable content in your communications with your readers -- ezine articles, blog posts, tips and strategies or resources they can use in their business, etc. -- the "price" of all that f.r.e.e. information is that you will also share info about your programs, products and services.

It essentially comes down to two things:

• you CONSISTENTLY providing ENOUGH valuable content so that even if your latest product or service isn't right for your reader, they stay on because another product or service may be just what they're looking for and
• you remember the adage "Do unto others. . ." when it comes to how much promotion you're sending out.

Make It Real: My Request to You

I mention above that there's a point where promotion exceeds other benefits to your readers -- it's important to remember that this point is:

1. defined by your readers, not you and
2. different for everyone

Your responsibility is to decide what's appropriate for you, in your business and then "live up" to that responsibility.

One way to promote your products, programs and services without overwhelming your readers is to mix up the media. Include some:

• email promotions
• blog posts
• video and audio snippets
• direct mail
• fax and voice broadcasts (be sure you're in compliance with the law)

By mixing up the media, you have a great chance of getting through all the *noise* out there without overwhelming or annoying your ideal clients.

And the best part?

Once you create a plan, dare I say it. . .a SYSTEM, for the above, you simply have to follow the steps for each promotion.

Remember, this is about making and keeping it simple. . .