Marketing Turbo-Charge » Foundations for a Thriving Business

The Dirty Little Secret Behind Adding Info-Products to Your Service Business

Michele PW — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:40:05 +0000

You may have heard adding information products (or info-products) to your service business is a smart business decision. And indeed it is. There are many benefits to selling information products as part of your business.

However, there is a dirty little secret around selling info-products. The dreaded refunds.

You see, when what you’re mainly selling services, you rarely run into refund situations. You may run into other challenges with getting paid but not refunds.

But, unfortunately, the unpleasant reality is refunds and info-products go hand-in-hand. And when you’re first confronted with this, it can throw a lot of entrepreneurs for a loop. Even if you know intellectually you’ll get a refund here and there, emotionally it’s a much tougher pill to swallow. And what I’ve found ends up happening is people create “stories” around refunds that simply aren’t true.

So let’s take a moment and talk about refunds and bring this dirty little secret into the light.

First, let’s talk about what’s considered normal. A normal refund rate is 10%. And, in fact if you’re Dan Kennedy, you’ll go as far to say if you DON’T have a 10% refund rate you aren’t selling enough. (Isn’t that an interesting spin on refunds?)

If your refund rate is higher than that, you may have a positioning problem or you’re selling to the wrong ideal client or you need to implement some stick strategies. (Note I didn’t say your problem is the product is bad.)

So let’s assume your refund rate is at or below normal. Now let’s look at the top 4 reasons why people ask for refunds.

1. The product isn’t right for them.
Read that again. The product isn’t right for them. NOT that the product is bad. This is where a lot of the “stories” come in — entrepreneurs spend so much time and energy creating an info-product and then when someone returns it, this sends them into a tailspin because they immediately come to conclusion that there’s a problem with the product. If this is something you’re concerned with, I can assure you that your product is fine. How can I know that? Because you ARE worried about it. People who create bad or low-quality products are not at all concerned about the quality.

So why isn’t the product right for them? Perhaps it’s too basic or too advanced for where they’re at right now. Perhaps they’re not your ideal client. Perhaps they read the sales letter wrong and thought something was or wasn’t included and so it didn’t fit their current needs. Whatever it is, it has little to do with you and everything to do with them.

2. They have second thoughts.
Again, this has nothing to do with you. Perhaps they run into a cash flow problem. Perhaps their spouse gets angry with them. Whatever it is, they’ve decided the easiest way to fix the situation is to return your product.

3. Something unexpected comes up in their life or business.
Things happen. People get into car accidents, spouses get laid off or family members get sick. Whatever it is, it derails them from their current business plans and they have to put things on hold or rethink what they’re doing.

4. They want to take advantage of you.
This is a very, very small group but it bears talking about. The reality is there are unpleasant people out there who are looking for ways to get something for nothing. My advice is not to worry about them but know they exist.

So as you can see, it really isn’t about you. It’s about them. Refunds really are just the cost of doing business as an info-marketer and aren’t worth getting upset about.

The Dirty Little Secret Behind Adding Info-Products to Your Service Business is a post from Marketing Turbo-Charge

Build Your Business Through Public Speaking

Carma Spence — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:33:15 +0000

O.K. I’ll admit that I’m a born-again public speaker. What do I mean by that? Well, when I first took speech in High School, I was so painfully shy (and, I actually still am) that stepping in front of the room full of classmates who I just knew wanted to ridicule me felt like walking into a dragon’s lair and shouting, “Fresh virgin meat! Get it while it’s still moving!”

But apparently, I have the gift of gab, despite my introvert leanings, and was recruited onto the speech team, where I earned several 5th place awards and a block.

Later, I joined Toastmasters. There, I went from wanting to crawl under the table every time “Table Topics” came up (Table Topics are impromptu speeches that you give, if selected, on the spot with no preparation), to practically pulling an Arnold Horshack and leaping out of my chair to be chosen.

So, every time I have the opportunity to step in front of an audience, I experience a combination of elation and terror.

But why am I telling you this. Because I want you to know that although I know quite a bit about public speaking and am a total advocate for using this technique to grow your business, I’m not immune to the fear this lead generation method can engender.

That said, I’d like share with you my top 5 reasons why you should consider public speaking as a prospect attracting tool, as well as a revenue generating profit center for your expertise-based business.

Personal Branding
Speaking in public can increase your brand awareness. People learn of you online, then they see you offline and it reinforces your brand. An a coach, speaker or information marketer, your brand is intimately tied to YOU. It is amazing how powerful speaking can be in building your personal brand.

Lead Generation
Public speaking gets you in front of more people who will either hire you, buy your products, refer more business your way or even book you for another speaking gig. You’ll even meet prospects who would have found you no other way.

Expert Status
Regardless of what you may think of yourself and your qualifications, the minute you step in front of an audience, you are given expert status. Why else would you be speaking before them? Of course you are an expert! As a speaker, you are seen as knowledgeable and, perhaps, even a thought leader. This underlying respect can do amazing things for your business.

Self Confidence and Esteem
Getting a few successful speaking engagements under your belt can really boost your self confidence and esteem. This, in turn, makes you a better business person and can translate into better service provided to your clients.

Profit Center
How many marketing techniques do you know pay you directly? You can actually work it out so that you get paid to speak to a group and then sell to them, too. Now, of course this is a careful balancing act, but can be done. Public speaking really should be a part of every expertise-based business owner’s marketing funnel.

One of the faculty of Marketing Strategies for Promoting YOU! is Arvee Robinson. Arvee is a Master Speaker Trainer, Persuasive Speaking Coach, Author, and International Speaker. She teaches Business Owners, Service Professionals and Entrepreneurs how to use public speaking as a marketing strategy so they can attract more clients, generate unlimited leads and grow their businesses, effortlessly. She teaches a proven system for delivering persuasive presentations, and easy formulas for creating a killer elevator pitch and a magnetic self-introduction. Arvee has helped hundreds of individuals to win clients and close more sales every time they speak. During her session, she addresses how public speaking can fit into your marketing funnel and what a speaker’s marketing funnel might look like.

Does Not Having a Marketing Funnel Hurt Your Practice?

Carma Spence — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:26:49 +0000

Ms. Sally Jo Coaching Prospect knows she needs some help in her life, but isn’t sure what it is. In her search for answers, she stops by your website and is intrigued with what you have to offer. Then she sees the price. She doesn’t know anything about you and doesn’t feel comfortable spending that kind of money on someone she doesn’t know like and trust. So, she moves on to another website.

This website offers her a free special report in exchange for her name and email address. The special report speaks to her needs, so she happily enters the information and downloads the report.

A day or two later, she receives an email asking her how she liked the report. “How thoughtful,” she thinks and goes back to the website to check out what other goodies this practice has to offer. Within six months, she’s spent thousands of dollars with this business.

So, are you the coach with the first website? Or the second?

A marketing funnel is a tool, a technique and a business model that helps business owners build relationships with their prospects and clients over time. Think of a marketing funnel as a path of breadcrumbs where the crumbs get bigger and bigger the longer you follow the path.

Marketing funnels are especially helpful for coaches, speakers and other expertise-based business owners whose core products and services are usually rather pricey. When you develop a marketing funnel, you are building a path of breadcrumbs that your prospects can follow to become clients and your clients can follow to become raving fans. It is a gentle way to build up the “know, like and trust” factor for you and what you have to offer.

Each prospect that comes across what you have to offer will be at a different level of comfort in spending money with you. Having a marketing funnel filled with products and services that come at different price points gives you leverage to offer something to every qualified prospect that comes your way.

Without this marketing funnel in place, you most certainly missing out – potentially even driving away – those who could very well benefit from what you have to offer. And that’s how not having a marketing funnel hurts your practice without you even knowing it.

On Monday, Nov. 3, at 11 am Pacific, my guest speaker for the second series of Turbo-Charge Your Marketing calls will be Milana Leshinsky. Milana is an entrepreneur, author, and business advisor to life and business coaches, and entrepreneurs who want to add coaching to their business. She has made her name turning a coaching practice into the ultimate lifestyle business and a passive income machine and show others how they can, too. She is the founder of the Association of Coaching & Consulting Professionals on the Web (ACCPOW), a place for coaches to learn and acquire the tools for building a global business, and author of Coaching Millions: Help More People, Make More Money, Enjoy Your Ultimate Lifestyle. I will be talking with her about why marketing funnels are crucial to expertise-based business and how coaches, speaker and other expertise-based entrepreneurs can develop their first marketing funnel.

To received the call in information, visit www.marketingturbocharge.com. Live calls are free to attend!

Does Not Having a Marketing Funnel Hurt Your Practice? is a post from Marketing Turbo-Charge

Expand Your Empire

Carma Spence — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:24:04 +0000

One way to get the word out about your products and services is to offer derivative courses at local community colleges and through online educational sites. These are usually not big money-makers, but they do get you in front of potential clients who might hire you as their coach, book you to speak at their event and/or buy your products and services.

If you are a beginner, it also gives you an opportunity to hone your speaking skills in a smaller group setting that is relatively safe. It is rare to find hecklers in a continuing education course! It forces you to collect your thoughts about your content, as well as the market you wish to serve.

For example, I’ve offered a version of the Marketing Strategies for Promoting YOU! course at one of my local community colleges, Paradise Valley Community College. I’ve also offered online versions through several resources:

The Long Story Short School of Writing at Colorado Free University offers a variety of online courses for both fiction and non-fiction writers. Since this is a target market I wish to reach, I created versions of the Marketing Strategies for Promoting YOU! course for these two audiences: fiction writers and non-fiction writers.

I’m also offering a version of MSPY that has been tailored for professional organizers at The Professional Organizer’s Toolbox.

I’ve even created a special VIP Gold Group through PodClass!

All these opportunities add to your marketing funnel, making it more diverse and robust. This, in turn, makes it healthier and better able to support you in your business mission.

Expand Your Empire is a post from Marketing Turbo-Charge

Marketing Funnels Are the Key to Your Info-Service Business

Carma Spence — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:11:19 +0000

One thing that many coaches, speakers and other expertise-based business owners seem to have in common is a lack of understanding a basic concept of marketing: The Marketing Funnel. Since the next series of Turbo-Charge Your Marketing teleseminars (the first week in November) will be focusing on this key concept, I thought now would be a good time to start talking about it.

The idea of a marketing funnel, sometimes called a product funnel, marketing pipeline or product pipeline, is this:

At the widest point of the funnel, the mouth, your business draws in prospects. This is where you have your attraction tools — your bait or lures that attract suspects and prospects into your business.
In the middle of the funnel, you have your mid-prices products and services.
At the end, the smallest point or spout, of the funnel, you have your highest-ticket products and services.

The idea is to get as many people to go through the funnel and come out the other end.

The problem is … many coaches, speakers and other expertise-based business owners don’t have anything in the middle of the funnel! For some reason, they expect prospects to move from a free or low-cost product or service, such as a free consultation, to a high-ticket product or service without the relationship-building process that the middle of the funnel creates.

Although some prospects will make this leap, you are pushing a whole lot of potential clients out the door by not having the middle of your funnel fully developed. It is in the middle of the funnel where client relationships are developed and trust is built. It is in the middle of the funnel where your nurture clients, transforming them into evangelists for your business. And, it is in the middle of the funnel where you educate prospects, helping modify their attention and attitudes so that they realize how much value you offer them.

In the first four calls scheduled for Nov. 3 and 4, my guest speakers, which at this time include Milana Leshinsky, Karen Capello and Arvee Robinson, will go into greater detail about how you can develop your marketing funnel. But, to give you a head start, here are some suggestions:

Group coaching or mentoring programs — these can offer many of the benefits of your highest-ticket services, but at a lower cost

Membership and continuity programs — very similar to group coaching, but for a longer period of time

E-books

Audio programs

Supportive products, such as flash cards, posters, etc. that help people interact and review the information you provide in your other products and services

These are just some of the products and services you can provide that fill up the price points between free and your highest-ticket, velvet rope products and services. Be creative — remember, you can re-purpose information you’ve already created into another format to help you develop these funnel fillers.