Interview with Bob Burg: Using a predictable marketing system

Selling Products and Services
Success
4Comments

Bob Burg headshotBob Burg shares how a subtle shift in focus is not only a more uplifting and fulfilling way of conducting business but the most financially profitable way, as well. For 30 years he’s helped companies, sales leaders, and their teams to more effectively communicate their value, sell at higher prices with less resistance, and grow their businesses based on Endless Referrals.

In this interview, we discuss why many experts have trouble with sales and what to do about it.

You can read a summary of the interview below this video. Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Succeeding with consistency in marketing: An interview with Kae Wagner

General Internet Marketing
Selling Products and Services
0Comments

kae-wagner-photoKae Wagner is a marketing and branding expert, with 20 years of experience in the offline and corporate world as well as the online world. She now works mostly with consultants, coaches, and entrepreneurs.

Kae helps her clients succeed by creating consistency in marketing. She a coach but also conducts amazing workshops in which attendees go away with documents specific to them so they can easily implement their goals. She has built a community of entrepreneurs who partner together to grow their businesses.

Watch the interview here. It’s about 12 minutes long. Below the video is a text summary.

And Kae has two free offers for you, so don’t forget to check them out at the end! Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

The difference between your goal and your mission

Success
Writing
0Comments

online-busniess-difference-mission-goal-1During a year-end planning session, I asked a group of online entrepreneurs what their goal was for the coming year. Some of the comments were:

“I want to reach women and help them gain self-confidence”

“I want to help people eat better so they can lose weight without dieting.”

These are not goals; they’re missions.

A goal is more specific.

A basketball team’s mission is to win the championship. They have smaller missions to win individual games. But they do that by getting balls in the basket — that’s the goal, literally.

In most cases, our goals aren’t as literal but we do need to know what they are.

Start with your mission

Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Trends for online marketing in 2017 and beyond

Events/webinars
Social Media
Success
WordPress/blogging
8Comments

How are you going to compete with all the marketing noise out there?

As I’m sure you know, the Internet is a busy place. Think about all the social media notifications you get, for example. What makes one stand out over the others?

And then think about how you can be the one that people remember! Be the turquoise when everyone else is gray!

Have you ever signed up for a free online report, gotten on someone’s email list as a result, but when you starting getting emails, you had no idea who they were from? That happens to me quite a lot and I end up unsubscribing.

How can you be memorable?

I have a coaching client who teaches mortgage loan officers how to be memorable so they can get more leads and close more mortgage loans. She creates quirky images that are very memorable. And her techniques are designed to keep her customers “top of mind.”

Here are some trends for online marketing that will help you be memorable, leading to more engagement and more sales.

1. Engage regularly

Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

Are you uncomfortable with selling?

Products/Services
0Comments

Internet market-For Sale signSome people, especially social and heart-based entrepreneurs, feel uncomfortable about selling. They feel comfortable giving out information for free, but not asking for money. Are you one of those people?

A friend of mine felt uncomfortable enough to write a draft email that said, “Warning — rare sales copy follows” and offering readers a free gift just for reading to the end. It was like apologizing for selling. (She removed that part from the final version.)

When you consistently send out valuable information, you don’t have to feel guilty about sometimes charging for a product!

Just make your product valuable, charge a fair price (both to your customer and to you), and offer it to your readers.

Think of selling as giving

When you create a product, you are giving useful knowledge and skills to your buyers. Just be simple about it. Explain the benefits, describe what buyers will get, offer a guarantee, and see what happens. You don’t need to be uncomfortable about this!

Ask your subscribers what they want

When you first start out, you have to make an educated guess about what product will sell. That’s because you don’t have a large list of people to ask.

Later on, it’s useful to ask subscribers what products would be valuable to them. You can do a survey. (I recommend SurveyGizmo.) Then build your product based on the results.

Try and try again

If people don’t buy your product, you can try 2 alternatives:

  1. Reword your offer. Sometimes, using a different heading or description will make a big difference
  2. Create a different product. Maybe something else will click with your audience

What has your experience been with selling?

by Ellen Finkelstein