By Sharon Pearson
Old thinking says the money is in the products we sell. But if no one knows you have a widget to sell them, there's no money in it. So where is the money to be made? It has to be in the marketing of what you sell. Sharon Pearson, founder and CEO of The Coaching Institute and the Small Business Entrepreneurs Group, shares her top seven tips for business success.
The financial success came when I learned that the money isn't made in the talent or the product, it's making sure 'the talent' is getting in front of enough people who can spend money on it.
I've invested a fortune in my education, both formal training and in the mistakes I've made, to learn this lesson.
Marketing is not part of your business – it is your business. You either have people inquiring about you and your 'widget' or you're dead in the water. Here are the top seven strategies I've learned and applied that have taken our organisation from 'talented' to multi-million dollar business in three years.
Seven Keys to Business Success:
1. Marketing is everything to a business – especially in the tough times.
2. Be unique, not the best – being the best is a claim that is overused and difficult to substantiate. But being unique speaks for itself.
3. Don't try to make the sale straight up – it's much better to build a relationship first so your prospect can build trust for you and what you do.
4. Move the free line – you give away valuable, highly prized information that people would expect to pay for, and you give it willingly. The more you give, the more the Law of Free will kick in and the more trust will be built.
5. The dollars are in the list – you need to build a database of potential and actual buyers.
6. Guarantee your stuff, or don't offer it – and by guarantee, I mean give the money back if the buyer doesn't get what they wanted.
7. Give ten times more value than you charge – if you're going to ask for someone's money, the easiest way to tip them to a yes is to give them so much value for their yes that it seems completely insane to say no.You want to make it a 'no brainer' offer.
1. Marketing is everything to a business – especially in the tough times. When the going gets tough, no matter what, you keep making sure the leads are coming in so you have someone to get in front of and sell to.
I remember when we didn't get this, and a good month would have been one hundredth of what we do today. Same market, same opportunities, we were just relying on our talent to do the job!
2. Be unique, not the best – being the best is a claim that is overused and difficult to substantiate. But being unique speaks for itself. If you can be the 'only' you will appear to be a much bigger fish in the pond than those who are also-rans and one-of-many.
We used to claim we were the best, but how is this measured? Then we made sure we were unique, with huge points of difference that other coaching schools couldn't match. Our focus became on marketing skills for coaches. Anyone can claim to be the best coaching training, but few can back up the claim that they're theonly school that will guarantee you'll work with paying clients or your money back.
3. Don't try to make the sale straight up – it's much better to build a relationship first so your prospect can build trust for you and what you do. In the beginning there is low trust and low knowledge of you and what you can do for them. You need to build their trust through educating them for free, before you ask for money to change hands.
When we used to go straight for the sale, without educating our prospects, they were flying blind about whether we could do the job. I wonder how anyone managed to join. Now we educate and provide outstanding value before they have to do anything for us. Monopolise Your Marketplace is a website that give free stuff away, and taught me about the 'educational spectrum' where you educate in the beginning, and slowly build the right to ask for something in return.
4. Move the free line – this is one of the most powerful strategies we have ever used, and it's made us, literally, millions. You give away valuable, highly prized information that people would expect to pay for, and you give it willingly. The more you give, the more the Law of Free will kick in and the more trust will be built.
I used to find it difficult to justify giving away much stuff, because it cost money. I look back on that now and cringe. We give away thousands of dollars of stuff before anyone has to do anything for us. We run regular meetings on what else we can give away.
The best place I learned about this concept was Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.
5. The dollars are in the list – you need to build a database of potential and actual buyers. No matter how small the purchase, no matter how insignificant the twitch of interest, you must get their details, because as they build confidence in you they will become more inclined to buy. We have people joining our programs years after their first inquiry.
Russell Brunson teaches this really well. He gives away free stuff in return for your contact details, and then he builds trust through giving away free stuff.
6. Guarantee your stuff, or don't offer the stuff – and by guarantee, I mean be prepared to give the money back if the buyer doesn't get what they wanted. Internet marketers do this brilliantly. They offer a complete money back guarantee even if you don't like the look of the box. You don't need to go that far, but you need to come up with a guarantee that will make your hair stand on end.
This one was a big one for me to get my head around. Then I realised that what it actually guaranteed was that we would have to provide a phenomenally good program.
7. Give three to ten times more value than you charge – if you're going to ask for someone's money, the easiest way to tip them to a yes is to give them so much value for their yes that it seems completely insane to say no.
Sharon Pearson is founder and CEO of The Coaching Institute and the Small Business Entrepreneurs Group, author of “How to Coach Yourself to Success” and the “Business Blueprint” Program for small business owners. www.thecoachinginstitute.com.au
