Marketing a Non-Profit Brand
Great overview of marketing for non-profits.
SMB Consulting: Change of Focus Imminent
During my solo afternoon bike ride before the rain hit, I was doing some thinking about the core competencies of my firm and what I could boil it down to in the simplest of terms. After some internal back and forth, I came up with “lead generation” is what everything falls back to. Search optimization is beneficial only when it generates more qualified leads. Same with advertising and marketing efforts–quality lead generation is the ultimate goal when a company engages in those activities. So that got me to thinking about some of the services we currently offer that don’t relate to that core of lead generation.
Technology consulting doesn’t really fit into the “new” mission of the business. Neither does strategic planning although there are strategic elements involved when trying to generate leads through marketing or advertising so it’s more of a complimentary aspect than part of the core. Same goes for business planning–it’s not critical to the core of lead generation although marketing planning is so I foresee a shift in approach coming there. Web design/redesign, however, is a precursor to lead generation because the web is a critical tool to utilize when trying to attract potential customers and generate leads so that is something to be more focal for us moving forward.
What all is really involved in lead generation?
Website Design/Re-Design
Copywriting (falls under website design & SEO if you break it down)
SEO
Marketing (SEO falls under marketing if you really break it down)
Advertising
Sales Training/Development
I’m sure I’m leaving some things out, but that’s a pretty good core list of services which doesn’t look all that related to the initial core list of services I envisioned when starting the firm two years ago. For some strange reason, I feel a sense of clarity after mulling through that during my ride today. I feel like the sense of purpose has now been defined and all future activities will have a greater meaning. Straying will be much more difficult, and it will be easier to make decisions about whether to take on a certain client, form a joint venture, partner, or offer another service.
In watching the first couple of DVDs of Mike Filsaime’s The 7 Figure Code, it talks about the “hedgehog concept” that is broached in Jim Collins’ bestselling Good to Great classic. I’ve read Good to Great, but I hadn’t revisited it in, well, two years so I was happy to have that topic come up again. My first “to do” after watching the first couple of DVDs was to figure out what I think this firm can become truly great at doing, and lead generation consulting is what I kept coming back to. Every business transaction starts with some sort of lead, and leads will never go out of “style” so this newly redefined mission could fuel the company for decades.
Moving forward, look for a shift in focus and offerings from our firm along with content that directly relates to the newly found focus.
What do you think of this approach? Good, bad, or indifferent–let me hear from you. I value all of the feedback I receive.
PS–So far, The 7 Figure Code has already stoked my internal coals to rethink everything from a more simplified place so it has proven invaluable after just 2 DVDs (16 total). If the next 14 provide as much thought provoking material, unbelievably great things are going to happen! I’ll post a more complete review of the package once I dig deeper into it–it just arrived yesterday (Thursday, 7/26/07).
6 Tips for Warming up a Cold Call
By Roger Bauer
Whether you’re new to sales or a grizzled veteran, the thought of making a true cold call is unlikely to be on your favorites list. Luckily, there are simple ways to warm up a call that don’t require major changes to your approach. Let’s take a peek at six of them.
TARGETED PRE-CALL LETTERS
One of the easiest ways to warm up a cold call is to send a series of pre-call letters to the decision makers you are trying to reach within a company. Yes, I said letters. Michael Boylan in his latest book “Accelerants” talks about a simple methodology of sending letters to each of the key decision makers within a company under the guise that they’ll talk to one another, and there will need to be a decision made as to whom the call should be fielded by once you actually do call. This turns the tables to where the decision maker actually expects your call versus being blindsided by it. Place a date and time to expect your call, and be sure to make the call on time. Often times, you’ll have a decision maker within the prospective company call you to where you don’t even have to place the call.
USE FIRST NAMES ONLY
When you finally do call that key decision maker on your list, try using his/her first name only when the gatekeeper answers the phone instead of their formal name. If the gatekeeper asks “who is calling?” simply state your first name in return. This will make the call sound more personal in nature and greatly increase your chances of getting through. If the gatekeeper asks if the decision maker is expecting your call, the answer is obviously yes if you sent the pre-call letter ahead of time.
DO A SOFT TRIAL CLOSE
When you cold call someone, your objective is to get the prospect to say “yes” to something (or many somethings). Instead of pushing for the hard close outright, try asking them if they’d like to hear more or if they’d object to hearing more. It’s a little “softer” and should lead to a positive response if there is even the most remote of opportunities. Once they’ve agreed to hear more, you can dive into the meat of your call to better qualify them and/or uncover more pain to position your product as a potential solution to that pain.
LEVERAGE THE WEB
Having your own website that captures basic leads is a must in today’s business climate. Don’t expect your employer to develop a website for you either. After-all, why should they? It’s your job to make sales so what is holding you back from having a website working to capture leads for you 24/7? The beauty of having your own website, aside from the obvious, is you can change it up should you change jobs, and the leads will go with you versus sticking with your employer. If you have a non-compete, you’ll obviously have to avoid the clients you signed for your employer for a set period of time, but your pipeline will be relatively full if you’ve done a good job with the site.
START A BLOG
The next step after setting up your own website is to launch a blog so people can keep up with you and your tribulations. Blogs are more personal or journal-like in nature so you don’t have to be as formal which will allow your personality to shine through a little more, and people will feel as if they know you better. Look at it this way, if your prospect is digging through information on each company pitching them today, your website and blog will set you apart from your competitors that don’t have such tools implemented. You’ll look more professional, and they’ll feel as if you’re in it for the long-haul versus a one time sale.
JOIN BUSINESS SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Sites such as Xing, LinkedIn, Spoke, or Tribe all provide social networking for the business professional. Even MySpace or Facebook are getting some corporate play these days because people want to connect and get to know who they are dealing with. The days are almost gone where someone is completely unknown so it’s probably better to embrace that fact than to fight it.
Cold calling can become warm calling with a few minor changes that turn the tables more in your favor. Try a few of these tips to see if they can improve your success rates.
SEO Teleseminar Series
Just a quick note to let you know I’m in the process of developing a weekly one hour SEO teleseminar series with some of the industry heavyweights that should begin sometime in August. Stay tuned for the lineup and sign-up information. This promises to be a doozy! If you are one of the lucky ones to get signed up and attend the entire series, the knowledge you’ll gain will be tremendous and extremely profitable. I hope to “see” you on the calls as they progress.
If there are burning SEO questions you’d like answered, please submit them below in the comments section. We’ll be sure to address them pronto!
More to come . . .
PS–I’m also working on some SEO training videos to compliment the book used in the recent training seminars. These will eventually be available for purchase on a site yet to be determined. If you’d be interested in becoming a beta tester for the videos, let me know in the comments section below.
Do you have what it takes to make a 7 figure income?
Let me ask you a quick question–are you interested in generating multiple streams of revenue to eliminate the reliance on your day job as a sole source of income? If so, I believe I just purchased a product that can help with that which I’ll gladly review objectively on here once I’ve had a chance to view it myself. The reason I’m posting today however is to share a link to the product so you can save $300 before Friday hits. I’m really excited about receiving this thing!
If you’ve been around the internet for more than a few years, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Mike Filsaime. I recently stumbled across a few of his products over and over while doing research, and I was initially skeptical as I am of most internet marketing products. The more I viewed his videos and read about him in forums, it became apparent that he’s serious and a for real guy.
If you’re looking to tell your day job to shove it, as I was a couple of years ago, you might want to take a look at his new product called the 7 Figure Code. This is a package of 16 DVDs and a book that will step you through generating a 7 figure business as Mike has and includes advice on how to:
- Outsource at the right time and the right way
- Utilize Adwords to your advantage
- Down sell someone to capture some revenue even if your main product doesn’t appeal to your customer
- Use One Time Offers (OTO) to upsell
- The eight most important questions to ask before embarking on starting your own million dollar business
- And much, much more . . .
Mike has brought in a lot of the internet marketing “heavy weights” to share their stories and help others start their own successful internet marketing company with this package. After weighing it out for a few days, I took the plunge and plopped down the money to get this thing last night, and I can’t wait to check it out. I wanted to share this with you before the price goes up to $797 at the end of the week as it’s currently $497 which is honestly a pretty good deal if Mike delivers on his promises. All of the research I’ve done on the guy indicates he will so I don’t feel like it’s a big risk to shell out this kind of money if it propels me to generate $1 million per year or more (the objective).
If you like the sounds of the package and want to start knocking the cover off the ball financially, I highly encourage you to check it out at 7figurecode.com. Hopefully we’ll rise to 7 figure heights together to the point we can team up to do seminars, podcasts, and webinars to share our story with others and help them achieve great things.
PS–if you do end up purchasing the 7 Figure Code from one of the links provided, drop me an e-mail. I’ll send you a copy of the SEO Book I spoke of the other day for free along with some other e-books that may be of interest to you.
Business Dilemma: Can You Help Me?
First off, I would like to apologize for not posting much of late. I’ve got a LOT of coals in the fire at the moment, but that’s no excuse not to share something worthwhile every now and again.
Here’s the thing: as many of you know, I’ve been teaching SEO classes here in Louisville while trying to attract some students in other locales, and the feedback has been great thus far. I am in the process of taking the book I wrote for the classes and turning it into an e-book to possibly sell online. I’m at a little crossroads as to how to best go about that in order to:
1) Gain the most exposure for the consulting firm
2) Educate people to the point they could do their own SEO campaign if they so desired or help them realize that SEO is not a one time event or an easy process (it’s very time consuming!)
3) Encourage people to spread the word about the book and the firm while also not shorting the consulting firm’s long term viability (i.e. don’t give away the milk in order to sell the cow)
In order to achieve those objectives, I’ve been wrestling with the following scenarios:
A) Give the book away and encourage people to pass it around because that would generate the most buzz and increase awareness of the firm rather quickly
B) Develop and/or obtain videos, podcasts, and other material to include with the book to sell online at various price points (each package would be a little different). Currently, I’m thinking price points of:
- $67 for just the book and one or two other related e-books
- $97 for the book and several other related e-books
- $197 for the book, videos, podcasts, and other related e-books
There might be a ten day introductory period at launch for each package where each is $20 off to gain some momentum, but then everything would settle into the price points outlined. If the response is great enough, those price points may increase, too.
It’s tough for me NOT to charge something due to the fact that I’m giving away “trade secrets” so to speak. Yes, there are a lot of SEO books sprinkled throughout the market, and some of them are free (even some good ones), but I believe this is a little different from the other stuff out there (it’s very hands on and specific about what to do to be successful).
One theory suggests that if you give something of great value away, you get it back two fold. Another theory suggests that it is unlikely the people who would be buying one of the e-book packages would subscribe to one of the SEO subscription packages offered by my firm as they are more interested in doing everything themselves. I see both sides of the coin, and the business side of me says “you HAVE to sell the thing for money somehow,” while there is another part of me that says “you’ll make more in the long run if you give it away, and the firm will be recognized as a viable resource for many years to come.”
My question to you is: what would you do and why?
Please let me know by commenting below or e-mailing info@smbconsultinginc.com, and no reply is a bad reply–I’ll share some of the best responses in a week or so and again as the time gets closer to sell or give the book away. I’m going to stew on this for the next month or so. I appreciate your input in advance.
