Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees?

frqhuss · 29th Jan 2010, 11:24 PM

its great you have done good work even i did it when i was only 17...

slvrsrfr · 30th Jan 2010, 12:51 AM

Originally Posted by AP

You said "any" input, so here goes. Call me Simon Cowell ;-(

I'm here to help you make money, if it takes tough love, then so be it. BTW, I speak the same way to my clients. Blunt, gruff, even swear once in a while.

When I see a List like that I want to PUKE.

These are the type of lists my clients give to me and we laugh at it, honestly.

This post here AP, once again is pure gold. Your candor and passion for genuinely wanting to help us is refreshing.

More than that, it is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Jason

Dexx · 30th Jan 2010, 09:39 AM

Hey AP,

Would you say that your income is then mostly based around yourself then?

Like if you went on vacation for 6 months (and didn't touch the business), you wouldn't be able earn new income, just continue making money from the existing clients?

I've just been thinking lately how feasible it would be to train sales staff and have the systems setup (similar to what you described above, basically processes to take the clients through) and then train a team to actually work through each one of those steps with clients (similar to how you're training an army of people here on WF)

Do you ever plan to bring on people to do these things for you so your business continues to grow with or without your involvement? (plus the scalability of then having reps across the world doing this and bringing you the $$ on autopilot)

Just curious, trying to weigh the pros and cons of both...I just don't want to have to be "tied" to my business forever, y'know?

~Dexx

TheMagicShow · 30th Jan 2010, 10:50 AM

This thread is amazing! AP, anyone - you folks mention working the business inside and then outside.

Inside being their internal structure, non internet. Can you folks give a list on, what can be improved inside first and then internet mktg added last?

Also, AP how did you get your leads? I agree, it's best to have clients... come to you and not other way around.

TIA to AP-All

AP · 30th Jan 2010, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Dexx

Hey AP,

Would you say that your income is then mostly based around yourself then?

Like if you went on vacation for 6 months (and didn't touch the business), you wouldn't be able earn new income, just continue making money from the existing clients?

Hey Dexx, who would have thought that when I was the 2nd person to respond to your thread we would have this. Almost 700 replies and 24,000 views

This thread is getting over 1,000 views per day! You should have started your own forum for Offline, lol.

That's a trick question about my business based around me. Actually, the upfront work is definitely based around me, but then after approx 90 days my VA's do all the work.

But in reality my income is based around making my clients money. I have clients that I do very, very little work for, yet they still pay me monthly. The "pain of disconnect would be too hard for them." I'm like their Lifeline. Sometimes I wonder why my clients pay me at all, lol.

I'm not kidding about that statement. I'm bringing in about 60k a month now and some of my clients I do almost nothing. They are so busy running their companies and making money they almost forget about me.

Dan Kennedy talks about this, my clients are my herd of cattle. I have built a fence around them to keep out the wolves. They are my cattle until I blow it.

During my Questionnaire process I always find "profit leaks" that are costing my clients some serious money. I attack those Profit Leaks in what I call my "Fast Start Program." I tell the client we need to address those "profit leaks" immediately. This is the fastest way to generate savings and profits for my client. They see Immediate results.

Let me give an example. That client I did in Oct 2009, one of the first things we did was get someone else in his office to answer the phones.

The woman who was answering the phones was terrible, had a bad attitude, and wasn't converting enough Prospects into Buyers. This clients average sale is around $500. Replacing her with another staff member Increased the number of sales Immediately, within 24 hours.

This meant thousands of dollars of additional revenue per week. How did I know this, it was simple. I critique every angle of my clients business. Every time I called this woman who originally answered the phone was terrible. I told my client she was costing him over $100,000 a year in sales, guess what, I was right.

I trained the new woman for 1 hour, prepared a very simple phone script for her and sat next to her for another hour listening to her answer calls.

That did wonders for their revenue and my client was ecstatic. He said "I knew the former woman answering the phone was so-so, but I didn't realize she was costing me money.

I brought in an extra $100,000 a year to a biz that was only grossing 1M per year, a 10% increase in revenue. Duh! I'm charging him about 32k a year, he made up my fees immediately. My total time including driving, about 4 hours.

The next thing I did was have the client increase his prices 90%, yes 90%.

I told my client he was priced way too low relevant to his competition. He fought me on this, cried like a baby, said "AP, don't you know about this terrible economy?" I said "what terrible economy, I choose to ignore it."

We'll create enough value for your clients they'll be not only happy to pay your fees, but give you repeat business and referrals. The client went along because he said "I trust your opinion."

30 days later the client said to me "AP, you won't believe it, not one of my customers has complained about our new prices, I can't believe it." My CASH flow has gone thru the roof. Then he jokingly said "I probably shouldn't have said that you'll raise my fees, lol. I can actually Breath again."

But, to answer your initial question. Is Dan Kennedy, Perry Marshall, Frank Kern, business built around them? It's much easier and faster to Brand yourself than it is your company. I was having dinner one day with Perry Marshall and we talked about this for about an hour. I said to Perry, if you die or become disabled you're screwed. Perry Marshall Inc is toast. How can you possibly ever sell PM Inc.?

He sat back and said, ya know, maybe you're right. I then went on to say "how could you ever SELL Perry Marshall Inc if there is no PM? WE never really resolved that matter, Perry did agree that his bus is definitely based around him, even though he has about 6 full time employees including family members.

I'm kind of caught in his dilemma, do I market AP (my name) or do I market a company. I recently bought my name.com and several others. I'm thinking about being more of an Info marketer but I would also offer Services to my clients. Maybe that's why I'm answering so many questions here and giving away valuable info that took me years to develop.

I could offer my information to business owners alone thru modules, manuals, videos, mp3's, teleseminars, webinars, etc...

The one thing I know for a fact, every business owner I have ever worked with makes money. I find the profit leaks, fill the leaks, then the newfound monies can be used for more marketing. The business continues to grow and prosper giving the owner a better lifestyle in the process.

Maybe you or others here could lead me in the right direction. I would appreciate any feedback.

I'll still give away my info for Free on WF as I have been. My services would be to brick and mortar businesses not Offliners for training.

Thanks,

~AP

DogScout · 30th Jan 2010, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by AP

You said "any" input, so here goes. Call me Simon Cowell ;-(

I'm here to help you make money, if it takes tough love, then so be it. BTW, I speak the same way to my clients. Blunt, gruff, even swear once in a while.

When I see a List like that I want to PUKE.

These are the type of lists my clients give to me and we laugh at it, honestly.

A list means YOU are a commodity, it tells me you are selling a PRODUCT. Products can be bought on EBAY, Travelocity, etc...

Either sell the Lowest price product and be a whore like WalMart or sell the Highest priced product and give unbelievable service. In order to make money by being the lowest price requires deep pockets. That's why it takes a company with pockets like WalMart to be the Price leader. Mom and pop can't compete.

A prospect can't go to any website and shop for ME.

I choose to work with you, not the other way around. YOU can't hand me a check and get my services, it doesn't work that way. I advise you to do the same.

I can tell you I personally like all my clients, we get along great. They know I am the boss when it comes to marketing. They respect my opinion and I always allow them to voice their opinion. They usually tell me what they want to do, then I tell them why it won't work.

The Questionnaire I will send next week tells me everything I need to know.

My Questionnaire takes 1.5 to 3 hours to complete Face to Face with the business owner. It depends upon how much he wants to tell you. My longest Questionnaire went 5 Hours, yes 5 hours. Guess what?

Initially the (then Prospect) was crossing his arms, giving me mixed signals etc... About 30 minutes into it he STOPPED me from proceeding any further. He said "I need to tell you something before we go any further." I said "uh oh!" Then the prospect went on to say how my questions were so thought provoking that he truly started to understand why his company was so messed up. He said "AP, I'm literally hanging onto your every word and absorbing everything, my head is spinning."

My Questions actually bring about the P-R-O-C-E-S-S without showing them any steps, mindmap, etc... You'll understand when you see the Questionnaire.

The prospect said "now I know what I have been doing wrong, it's so obvious, duh!" 5 days later I picked up my set-up fee of $20,000.

This guy Hangs off my every word, every marketing suggestion I make, he NEVER disagrees. I told him I would like his input before we implement a new project, he said "why would I question YOU, you have my best interest in mind. Even if a marketing idea fails, I know you'll come up with another idea that will knock it out of the park."

It's almost embarrassing when a client says that to your face, plus you feel compelled to put forth your best work. This guy gives me a referral practically every week, lol. I turn down 90% but at least he makes an attempt to give me good customers.

I think you guys are placing too much emphasis on Internet type work. Websites, SEO, PPC, Article writing, Video, Soc sites, etc...

The first thing I say to myself is "what can I do to help this client withOUT the use of the Internet."

Yep, screw Google, can't you guys see that Google is taking your lunch money away? I don't know your financial situation, but I'm not a Billionaire.

Think of it this way. What if you could cut the Fat & Waste from a clients Advertising/Marketing budget and at the same time increase their sales 10, 20, 50% or more in 12 months withOUT any Internet.

Imagine now when you Toss in your Internet skills. Talk about Lethal...yep, that's my new name Lethal AP

Google is practically doing away with Free Local Maps, now they are Monetizing Maps. Most SEO for Local is now below Maps and below the Fold. If anything, I would start learning how to use Paid Traffic for your clients.

I'm not sure if everyone here understands this dilemma. Large companies can't rely on just Search Engine traffic, they have to buy paid traffic to make money. Just do it on a smaller scale for your client.

I don't want my income to STOP because of some Search engine Billionaires screwing me over.

I will work the clients business from the Inside out first.

Just a few of the following ideas can do Wonders for a small biz, below 5M.

Cut fat and waste from advertising. YP (rewrite ads, call tracking), print media, tv, radio, etc...
Answer incoming calls or walk-in traffic and convert more Prospects to Buyers
Train sales staff, even if you suggest they hire an outside firm to come in, like I do. I quit training.
Reactivate past customer list. Setup the Lowly AWeber and get RICH. Teach them how to collect emails and write autoresponders. (I outsource the writing for my clients, I pay)
Send out Monthly/Quarterly physical Newsletters (client pays)
Direct Mail campaign (client pays)
Do customer surveys via phone for follow up. (Client's employees makes the calls, secretary, sales staff, etc... when things are slow)
Change the Owners "Mindset" like I have you. Anyone who has read all 13 pages and still is trying to sell a commodity IMHO is leaving a ton of money on the table.

BTW, have you Noticed that the above work involves NO money out of YOUR pocket? NO outsourcing of work for websites, SEO, article writing, etc... Simply set-up an account with AWeber (15 minutes with their credit card) $19, Single Opt-in for Local. Double opt-in is not required with Local customers. These are not National or Global companies I'm working with, keep it simple and build their list. Then outsource their Newsletter (client pays for).

If you can show a client a ROI on most anything you recommend, they'll do it all and be Happy to pay you most anything reasonable.

The above is MOST of what I do, honestly. My average client pays me over 30k year and I am moving up to much higher prospects. I landed my first 100K+ client about 5 months ago and that definitely woke me up. Now I don't want to work anyone less than 50k, seriously. I feel like I'm losing money. Sounds stupid, but that's what my Mindset now expects.

Does anyone here honestly NOT believe this will not significantly increase their sales and profits?

Now I’ll let you in on a Secret. By doing the above work, I have guaranteed my monthly check (for a lot longer than 12 months) because the client is guaranteed to make money. Now add in your internet skills and all Hell breaks loose.

Can you imagine what happens when you add a Website or a redesign with lead capture, SEO, PPC, Article Writing, Press Releases, Video, etc... make sure the business can actually handle all the new business, seriously.

I had a client about 18 months ago that was ticked off at me. He said "I don't know what you did AP, but whatever it was you need to Turn if OFF."

I told him "it's not as easy as you think, the wheels have been put in motion, there is no OFF switch. The client had a small service shop with 7 employees and he simply got Overwhelmed with work and he wanted to FIRE me. Yes, fire AP. Can you believe that? He said customers were mad at him because he couldn't keep up the workload, quality was suffering, workers were burnt out, and the damn phones wouldn't stop ringing.

Learn some basic skills and you can make a very comfortable living with NO outsourcing.

~AP

Edit: I forgot something very important. Even though my clients stay with me for a long time, most of MY work is completed within 90 days. This is when the Internet marketing takes over and my client continues to prosper. The key is that I put money in his pocket FAST.

Took the words right out of my mouth. A lot of people are NOT reading all the posts on this thread. In the end, THAT will be lethal!

Sell results, not commodities. It has been said in these 14 pages numerous times. Just as 'fear is the mind killer', 'commodity selling is the back-breaker' (and the deal-breaker!).

AP · 30th Jan 2010, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by DogScout

Took the words right out of my mouth.

A lot of people are NOT reading all the posts on this thread. In the end, THAT will be lethal!

Sell results, not commodities. It has been said in these 14 pages numerous times. Just as 'fear is the mind killer', 'commodity selling is the back-breaker' (and the deal-breaker!).

Thanks DogScout.

You're 100% correct. I have gotten over 300 PM and emails recently from this thread alone. Members keep asking me questions that have been answered by you, Dexx, Vagabond 007, and others many times in THIS very thread.

We are all giving away very valuable info that has taken years to develop, for FREE! I myself had read this entire thread several times.

If you are serious about the Offline World and want to make a serious income in a very short period of time, read this thread many times.

It's worth it.

~AP

slvrsrfr · 30th Jan 2010, 11:59 AM

I'm wondering AP if marketing yourself as a company rather that as AP would have you selling a commodity back to small businesses.

Not that it wouldn't work. You have enough experience and results that you could easily sell to hundreds of businesses through modules, mp3s, forums and webinars that even this hands-off approach I'm sure would work well for those businesses and increase their profits substantially.

You wouldn't quite be able to tailor specific approaches to specific businesses as you wouldn't be able to meet with hundreds of clients all over the country, so perhaps even though the results of a commodity based approach would work, perhaps it wouldn't work as well.

Now having said that, if you could get just a conservative 200 to sign up to your mp3s, webinar based approach at just $497 a month, you're still making better money than let's say 20 clients or so at around $2497 a month each.

Now I mentioned that perhaps the results achievable for businesses using your hands-off approach wouldn't be quite as good as having you actually hands-on as you are at least the first couple of months with your current approach. But I could be wrong. Maybe this business we're in can achieve 90% of the results without us actually being there. You'd know better than me, that probably 90% or 95% of the strategies and marketing plans you suggest to each business you work with are pretty much identical. For e.g. teaching how to answer the telephone and those sorts of things.

My suspicion is that is the case. That perhaps most businesses are not vastly unique in terms of the marketing plans and strategies they need.

In that case, what we're really selling currently with the hands-on approach and at a premium is not just results but the Saint's cloth if you will. The ability to have that relationship with you/us as their consultant and gain that confidence that it'll work, as we are there (physically) by their side. And this helps small business owner make those changes that can be, let's face it scary.

So I like the idea. And I hope that my questions and thoughts have been helpful. You will know with your experience if I'm hitting the mark or if I've drifted way off base.

Cheers,

Jason

fab · 30th Jan 2010, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by Magic Mel

This thread is amazing! AP, anyone - you folks mention working the business inside and then outside.

Inside being their internal structure, non internet. Can you folks give a list on, what can be improved inside first and then internet mktg added last?

Also, AP how did you get your leads? I agree, it's best to have clients... come to you and not other way around.

TIA to AP-All

Read the thread from start to finish. He just posted the list anyway:

Just a few of the following ideas can do Wonders for a small biz, below 5M.

Cut fat and waste from advertising. YP (rewrite ads, call tracking), print media, tv, radio, etc...
Answer incoming calls or walk-in traffic and convert more Prospects to Buyers
Train sales staff, even if you suggest they hire an outside firm to come in, like I do. I quit training.
Reactivate past customer list. Setup the Lowly AWeber and get RICH. Teach them how to collect emails and write autoresponders. (I outsource the writing for my clients, I pay)
Send out Monthly/Quarterly physical Newsletters (client pays)
Direct Mail campaign (client pays)
Do customer surveys via phone for follow up. (Client's employees makes the calls, secretary, sales staff, etc... when things are slow)
Change the Owners "Mindset" like I have you. Anyone who has read all 13 pages and still is trying to sell a commodity IMHO is leaving a ton of money on the table.

AP · 30th Jan 2010, 12:48 PM

Thanks for your quick response, much appreciated.

Originally Posted by slvrsrfr

I'm wondering AP if marketing yourself as a company rather that as AP would have you selling a commodity back to small businesses.

Not that it wouldn't work. You have enough experience and results that you could easily sell to hundreds of businesses through modules, mp3s, forums and webinars that even this hands-off approach I'm sure would work well for those businesses and increase their profits substantially.

You wouldn't quite be able to tailor specific approaches to specific businesses as you wouldn't be able to meet with hundreds of clients all over the country, so perhaps even though the results of a commodity based approach would work, perhaps it wouldn't work as well.

Great point.

Actually, I was going to go after 1 specific industry (they are all Identical businesses). Do the work Once and get paid over and over. I have a dozen of these businesses under my belt currently. Each one I have turned around in less than 30 days. They think I'm God.

Keyword research, phone scripts, training, etc... would be the same. Info marketing is HUGE business. I know an associate of mine who has 165 members paying him $1,997 per month, each. $330,000 per month/4M per year, he works part-time 20 hours per week. Not kidding.

Now having said that, if you could get just a conservative 200 to sign up to your mp3s, webinar based approach at just $497 a month, you're still making better money than let's say 20 clients or so at around $2497 a month each.

I could conservatively get 200 @ $797-$997+ month by offering additional Internet marketing services. My VA's could handle all of it. I only have 3 VAs now, would probably need 10 if I went that route. My avg VA is $400 month.

Now I mentioned that perhaps the results achievable for businesses using your hands-off approach wouldn't be quite as good as having you actually hands-on as you are at least the first couple of months with your current approach. But I could be wrong.

In most cases you would be correct. Most business owners will not implement much of what I recommend. However, instead of paying me $2,000 month, as you said, it may be $497. I know if the client implements just a few of my ideas he will see a return many times over and his business will be much better off.

Maybe this business we're in can achieve 90% of the results without us actually being there.

I think closer to 30-40%, but that would be a big improvement.

You'd know better than me, that probably 90% or 95% of the strategies and marketing plans you suggest to each business you work with are pretty much identical. For e.g. teaching how to answer the telephone and those sorts of things.

My suspicion is that is the case. That perhaps most businesses are not vastly unique in terms of the marketing plans and strategies they need.

As Dan Kennedy would say "your business is NOT different."

In that case, what we're really selling currently with the hands-on approach and at a premium is not just results but the Saint's cloth if you will. The ability to have that relationship with you/us as their consultant and gain that confidence that it'll work, as we are there (physically) by their side. And this helps small business owner make those changes that can be, let's face it scary.

Absolutely. My client back in Oct 2009 was absolutely terrified to raise his prices. I told him if he didn't try it for at least 2 weeks I would not work with him anymore.
I almost had to kick his A$$

So I like the idea. And I hope that my questions and thoughts have been helpful. You will know with your experience if I'm hitting the mark or if I've drifted way off base.

Your thoughts were spot on. Thanks for taking the time to think about this.
~AP

slvrsrfr · 30th Jan 2010, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by AP

Thanks for your quick response, much appreciated.

The least I could do for all you've offered.

Thanks again,

Jason

Dexx · 30th Jan 2010, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Magic Mel

Also, AP how did you get your leads? I agree, it's best to have clients... come to you and not other way around.

Sorry mate, this exact question has been answered multiple times, grab a strong coffee and head back to the start of thread and read until you get back this post...you'll find your answers =)

~Dexx

Dexx · 30th Jan 2010, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by AP

Hey Dexx, who would have thought that when I was the 2nd person to respond to your thread we would have this. Almost 700 replies and 24,000 views

This thread is getting over 1,000 views per day! You should have started your own forum for Offline, lol.

It is you who should start a forum! I know without a doubt the quality and energy of this thread would not have sustained without your invaluable feedback and advice, and I know as a group we all owe you a huge amount of gratitude for getting our brains and creative minds flowing outside our own perceptions of what is possible!

So I thank you greatly for your feedback and inspirational messages Sir!

Originally Posted by AP

That's a trick question about my business based around me. Actually, the upfront work is definitely based around me, but then after approx 90 days my VA's do all the work...

But, to answer your initial question. Is Dan Kennedy, Perry Marshall, Frank Kern, business built around them? It's much easier and faster to Brand yourself than it is your company. I was having dinner one day with Perry Marshall and we talked about this for about an hour. I said to Perry, if you die or become disabled you're screwed. Perry Marshall Inc is toast. How can you possibly ever sell PM Inc.?

He sat back and said, ya know, maybe you're right. I then went on to say "how could you ever SELL Perry Marshall Inc if there is no PM? WE never really resolved that matter, Perry did agree that his bus is definitely based around him, even though he has about 6 full time employees including family members.

I'm kind of caught in his dilemma, do I market AP (my name) or do I market a company...

Thanks,

~AP

Heh, then I think we're in same boat in at the moment...

Market the Person, or Market the System...

I guess in the end it all depends on what everyone wants to leave behind when they're gone...what legacy do they want to be known for...

Do you want a legacy similar to Henry Ford and his company, or perhaps market the person and create a foundation or charity that lives on in your name...guess that is the true question!

In the end I just know I want something that I can build and grow, and will provide for family for generations to come, y'know?

Cheers,

~Dexx

EMaria · 30th Jan 2010, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Sebulba

I think you may need to do 30 or 50 posts before you have the thank you button?

Seb

Maybe not ... I don't have nearly that many posts as you can see, and I have been able to give some thanks.

Can't rememeber exactly what I did, but I did have to be logged in, and I might have hit the "quick reply" button or something, and then the "Thanks" button showed up.

Now every time I log in, the "Thanks" button is there.

ShawnC · 30th Jan 2010, 02:12 PM

I honestly don't even remember if I've commented in this thread yet - but i've been following the whole way along and wanted to make sue I expressed my amazement at the quality of advice and ideas and simple confidence building that is here.

I want to stress something to anyone reading this thread that doesn't already have at least a few years of business experience and expertise in the arena that is being discussed in this thread.

YOU NEED TO BRING YOUR A-GAME. This will not happen overnight, and you HAVE to be prepared to do the best work you've EVER done. Go seek out the absolute BEST websites you've ever seen. Seek out the BEST sales-letters you've ever read. And look at your own work and judge it against that. Don't just do the minimum amount of work to showcase yourself and then expect to charge the money AP talks about. Really elevate everything about yourself and your business.

Thanks again AP - and thanks Dexx for starting this thread. And thanks to everyone else that has been offering amazing advice! WOW!

sb · 30th Jan 2010, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by Dexx

It is you who should start a forum! I know without a doubt the quality and energy of this thread would not have sustained without your invaluable feedback and advice, and I know as a group we all owe you a huge amount of gratitude for getting our brains and creative minds flowing outside our own perceptions of what is possible!

So I thank you greatly for your feedback and inspirational messages Sir!

Heh, then I think we're in same boat in at the moment...

Market the Person, or Market the System...

I guess in the end it all depends on what everyone wants to leave behind when they're gone...what legacy do they want to be known for...

Do you want a legacy similar to Henry Ford and his company, or perhaps market the person and create a foundation or charity that lives on in your name...guess that is the true question!

In the end I just know I want something that I can build and grow, and will provide for family for generations to come, y'know?

Cheers,

~Dexx

I've pondered this myself and have not come to a conclusion. I've considered that Dan Kennedy markets the person, or persons now with Bill Glazer and that Gary Halbert marketed Gary Halbert. Considering the legendary status of these guys I put a ton of weight on marketing the person.

On the other hand Corey Rudl had The Internet Marketing Center. Thing is that his name was closely tied to his product/service. Whenever I thought of The Internet Marketing Center, I also thought, Corey Rudl.

In the end, I think the person holds the most weight but can be tied to the product or service, hand in hand.

In any case, I'm off to register my-name dot com since myname dot com is already taken. Of course, that could also be detrimental because I can imagine that a lot of people would leave out the dash in the URL and not get to my site. I do own myname dot me, so maybe that would be the better approach. I dunno...

ShawnC · 30th Jan 2010, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by Dexx

In the end I just know I want something that I can build and grow, and will provide for family for generations to come, y'know?

That right there I am sure, sums it up for a lot of us. At least - speaking for myself - is hitting the nail on the head.

I feel you can probably accomplish it both ways. Developing something around your name - and then also developing a few other things that are not name based. Or they ARE name based - but not person based (pen name based).

Thanks Dexx,
Shawn

ijohnson · 30th Jan 2010, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Dexx

I guess in the end it all depends on what everyone wants to leave behind when they're gone...what legacy do they want to be known for...

Do you want a legacy similar to Henry Ford and his company, or perhaps market the person and create a foundation or charity that lives on in your name...guess that is the true question!

In the end I just know I want something that I can build and grow, and will provide for family for generations to come, y'know?

Cheers,

~Dexx

Great point, Dexx!

I'm working toward building a successful business. I want to leave a legacy to my grandchildren. I want my daughters to work and grow with the business and see the value in it.

I want a business that's built on a solid foundation that will weather the storms and still thrive and produce. I want to tie my business into charitable organizations and causes and partner with those in the community to help those in need and to improve our community through joint efforts.

I don't know if it's synergy or what but things are falling into place nicely. I see uses for domains that have been sitting dormant for a year or more -- now, I see how they can fit into the great scheme of things.

You know what they say, "When the student is ready the teacher will appear!" Well, that thought enter my mind last week as I read through all the posts in this thread . . . "this student is ready . . . and the teachers have appeared! I'm ready to make the changes in my life necessary to move forward and enjoy the lifestyle I want for myself and my children. Everything's coming around full circle.

I will forever sing praises for my teachers here on this thread: AP, Dexx, DogScout, Vagabond 007, Mandulali, Andrew C, and Maria! THANK YOU for showing up at the right time in my life . . . when I'm ready to REALLY listen and learn.

Fernando Veloso · 30th Jan 2010, 02:47 PM

Just a quick update to this great thread.

Yesterday had to deliver a quote to a "new" customer. He came referred from a present customer to whom we created a solid web presence (couple months before this thread) and his income went up by 2-3K per month <<< web alone.

He's a happy fellow and gladly he's sending us his friends.

So, as I was writing the quote for this new customer I decided to just focus on systems.

Not a single service, Just SYSTEMS.

Guess what? Not only it was easy to reach a higher set-up fee BUT it was damn easy to set a monthly fee.

Example:

"System A - Exclusive System to reach more web users, keep them on your side and raise 35-55% your LEADS. etc etc etc"

"System B - Exclusive System to analyze, control and improve results from previous developments to keep raising conversions with your past and present customers. etc etc etc"

"System C - Exclusive System to reach new customers in social media using this and that. etc etc etc"

^^ (Just a raw clone, but you get the idea)

See the difference?

Using this new approach my set-up and monthly fees are way higher then my services prices. Way higher. From 2K (one time) to 2-3K set-up and 350/month.

What about your experiences with "Exclusive" Systems?

fab · 30th Jan 2010, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso

"System A - Exclusive System to reach more web users, keep them on your side and raise 35-55% your LEADS. etc etc etc"

"System B - Exclusive System to analyze, control and improve results from previous developments to keep raising conversions with your past and present customers. etc etc etc"

"System C - Exclusive System to reach new customers in social media using this and that. etc etc etc"

Frenando,

I think that sounds like a MUCH better approach, now your selling concepts (raised conversions, more customers, more leads,etc.) instead of selling the TOOLS you will use to realize those concepts.

An artist doesn't sell the act of mixing paint and applying it with a brush, he sells the end product - the work of art. We need to focus on selling not the tools (direct mail, autoresponders, article marketing, etc.) but rather the end product - more money for the business owner.

Dexx · 30th Jan 2010, 03:09 PM

Okay guys, I just updated the first post of this beast of a thread to reflect some of the key things, if anyone thinks there's some posts that MUST be identified ASAP by a new reader, feel free to PM it to me...keep in mind that people should be reading the whole thread anyways, but these are going to be the "golden nuggets" that shouldn't be lazily skipped.

Cheers,

~Dexx

DogScout · 30th Jan 2010, 03:13 PM

This is exactly what Dan Kennedy would have you do (& exactly what he told Bill Glazer to do with his mens wear marketing). Except he would have you break it up into several products.

The 1st being inexpensive and easy for a small business owner to implement and that would show unmistakable results. The 2nd being more expensive and slightly more work to implement but still with even more results. etc, etc,

As most people A-wont pay $500 for an info product from an unmet person and B-people are lazy and wont implement it if it is bought all at once unless they have a sizable investment to do so.

So selling an inexpensive and powerful info product 1st makes them want more even if it costs more and requires more work for the 2nd product because they already know how well the 1st one worked so well.

The breakdown would be like: Product 1- $47, product 2- $97 Product- 3 $497 product-4 $1997 and product 5- $3997. Of course, all product 1 buyers would be on an auto-responder series that would give good content and more in depth implementation explanation of the 1st product while hinting at and pre-selling product 2. Those buying product 2 go on a different series that helps with product 2, hints and pre-sales product 3, etc, etc.
Then he'd have a mega product for $5497 to $5997 that was just all 5 in one shot for people refereed to him by his customers who are pre-sold.

This is a series of products that with inexpensive upgrades could be sold forever. That WOULD make the transition from personal brand to company (with immortal personal brand owned by the company) that could be sold or passed down to a child.

Plus this further allows for discounts for various reasons... for example you come up with a 6th product for $997, you can discount products 3 & 4 $500 with the purchase of product 6 to every one that has bought the 1st 2 products or throw in products 2 & 3 for a special to people that have only bought product 1. (or a $500 discount and free product 1 to those on the AR (that opted-in for a free report) that have never bought. The possabilities are endless and the result is multi-millions. The stumbling block would be solved by increasing the price and value of each product and let's face it, this info is worth more than $497.

Originally Posted by slvrsrfr

I'm wondering AP if marketing yourself as a company rather that as AP would have you selling a commodity back to small businesses.

Not that it wouldn't work. You have enough experience and results that you could easily sell to hundreds of businesses through modules, mp3s, forums and webinars that even this hands-off approach I'm sure would work well for those businesses and increase their profits substantially.

You wouldn't quite be able to tailor specific approaches to specific businesses as you wouldn't be able to meet with hundreds of clients all over the country, so perhaps even though the results of a commodity based approach would work, perhaps it wouldn't work as well.

Now having said that, if you could get just a conservative 200 to sign up to your mp3s, webinar based approach at just $497 a month, you're still making better money than let's say 20 clients or so at around $2497 a month each.

Now I mentioned that perhaps the results achievable for businesses using your hands-off approach wouldn't be quite as good as having you actually hands-on as you are at least the first couple of months with your current approach. But I could be wrong. Maybe this business we're in can achieve 90% of the results without us actually being there. You'd know better than me, that probably 90% or 95% of the strategies and marketing plans you suggest to each business you work with are pretty much identical. For e.g. teaching how to answer the telephone and those sorts of things.

My suspicion is that is the case. That perhaps most businesses are not vastly unique in terms of the marketing plans and strategies they need.

In that case, what we're really selling currently with the hands-on approach and at a premium is not just results but the Saint's cloth if you will. The ability to have that relationship with you/us as their consultant and gain that confidence that it'll work, as we are there (physically) by their side. And this helps small business owner make those changes that can be, let's face it scary.

So I like the idea. And I hope that my questions and thoughts have been helpful. You will know with your experience if I'm hitting the mark or if I've drifted way off base.

Cheers,

Jason

Fernando Veloso · 30th Jan 2010, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by fab

Frenando,

I think that sounds like a MUCH better approach, now your selling concepts (raised conversions, more customers, more leads,etc.) instead of selling the TOOLS you will use to realize those concepts.

An artist doesn't sell the act of mixing paint and applying it with a brush, he sells the end product - the work of art. We need to focus on selling not the tools (direct mail, autoresponders, article marketing, etc.) but rather the end product - more money for the business owner.

Hey Fab,

Exactly what I am doing last weeks

I think the use of "Systems" is great to improve EVEN MORE our positioning.

After all, a "exclusive system" is not available in competition, right?

Hail-To-The-Redskins · 30th Jan 2010, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by Dexx

Okay guys, I just updated the first post of this beast of a thread to reflect some of the key things, if anyone thinks there's some posts that MUST be identified ASAP by a new reader, feel free to PM it to me...keep in mind that people should be reading the whole thread anyways, but these are going to be the "golden nuggets" that shouldn't be lazily skipped.

Cheers,

~Dexx

Dexx,

This is a great idea, and kind of what I have done for my own resources, although mine is on a larger scale. What I have done is I have copied all the posts so far and have then gone through them, keeping the ones with all the "juicy" and relevant content.

This is what this forum is about, helping people without an ulterior motif.

I for one have found this thread extremely educational, very helpful and a real eye-opener and I have already set a plan and list of objectives in order to ramp up my own business.

I have slowly learned over the past 12-18 months that taking action is the key - even if you get it wrong - as this is often the only way to learn - by your own mistakes.

One should never be afraid of making a mistake - just don't make the same mistake twice! lol.

The time, thought and generosity shown by a select band of you guys (you know who you are) in your posts is much appreciated.

Simon

ijohnson · 30th Jan 2010, 04:14 PM

COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!! COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!!! COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Cold calling" is my least favorite way to meet prospective clients to offer my services. In addition to networking, getting referrals and direct mail, what are some ways to approach a prospect to ensure that you will be "a welcomed guest" and not "an annoying pest"?

What approach renders the best results?

~Iris

jacquic · 30th Jan 2010, 04:31 PM

With regard to whether you go for you as a brand or keep under the hat of your business, it may well depend where you’re up to financially, and what motivates you.

For example, Warriors who are new to the game and/or cash strapped, may well be happy just getting in the money with personal branding a secondary concern, at least at the minute.

That said, some people I know who are very successful, still like to stay out of the lime-light. Others who are less successful are happy to get noticed – I’m included in the latter group because a) I enjoy it, and b) people always appear to react positively to me – I need/want the cash now, but I recognise personal branding will take me further. A mix will suit me: pockets and ego both satisfied.

Dexx, you said,

“Heh, then I think we're in same boat in at the moment...

Market the Person, or Market the System...

I guess in the end it all depends on what everyone wants to leave behind when they're gone...what legacy do they want to be known for...”

That’s certainly a factor, but one also needs to think about what they would do if no one else where watching or giving an opinion.

I wish these questions were mine; there not, but they’re so powerful, I will quote them here; I don’t know who first came up with them. They will help a bit with the business vs personal branding.

1. What is your number one priority?

2. Why did you pick that one?

3. Why is that important to you?

4. What would be the consequence(s) of not doing that?

5. Why would that worry you?

-------------------------------------

BTW, I’ve been copying the printable version of this thread into Word. Size 12 Calibri: now up to 471 pages! No wonder it is taking so long to re-read. I will be trimming it to the essentials if anyone wants a copy.

Jacqui

Sebulba · 30th Jan 2010, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by ijohnson

COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!! COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!!! COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Cold calling" is my least favorite way to meet prospective clients to offer my services. In addition to networking, getting referrals and direct mail, what are some ways to approach a prospect to ensure that you will be "a welcomed guest" and not "an annoying pest"?

What approach renders the best results?

~Iris

I would appreciate some exploration of this subject myself.

Based on information on this thread, IE, being chased instead of chasing. The early frustration may be getting the ball rolling so then we are being pursued.

Some thoughts that come to my mind are a 3 letter series like Dan Kennedy talks so much about. AP mentioned something I think about using letters to get people into his funnel. The only contact information is the website, so that they go there and automatically are put into the sales process by signing up for an email series.

I also like the idea of using Virtual assistance to call the business that you send a letter to after hours to see if they received the letter.

where I am located too, is not a metropolitan area, so face to face meetings are almost impossible. Phone and maybe online conference would be practical for meetings. Has anyone done it this way, and what are some things to know about this.

I would probably be willing to travel to the businesses location after they hire me. To start the actual work.

I'm kinda brainstorming here, would appreciate any input.

I am in the position of starting from scratch. So this seems like an approach that may be comfortable to me

Seb

ijohnson · 30th Jan 2010, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by Sebulba

Some thoughts that come to my mind are a 3 letter series like Dan Kennedy talks so much about. AP mentioned something I think about using letters to get people into his funnel. The only contact information is the website, so that they go there and automatically are put into the sales process by signing up for an email series.

Seb

Yes, I'm also thinking about "warming up" my prospect with a series of letters or postcards that hit on ways they can make more money. After doing my due diligence by researching their business and taking a look at their website, I would tailor my letters or postcards to offer information to help them improve in the areas I think would produce the greatest benefits.

I think I would include a subtle call-to-action on each mailing. Hopefully, the business owner would contact me before the series of letters/postcards come to an end. If the prospect has not contacted me by the time the series ended, I would call him (or have my "secretary" call him) to set up an appointment to discuss the information I mailed to them and ask if they have any questions. I would then offer to come in and do a brief analysis of their business at no charge to them.

Those are just a few ideas I'm tossing around my head when it comes to my initial contact with a prospective client. Has anyone else done something similar to this. If so, what were your results? What would you do differently?

~Iris

Vagabond 007 · 30th Jan 2010, 08:09 PM

When I have the time, too busy with life the past week or so, I have a bunch of info I'll post to help some of you.

AP, I'll address what you were asking about as well. About not being able to sell the business if we decide we want out. Because one day I'm gonna most likely want out. But as we know, if it's built around us, then that may be a problem. Curious if we can come up with something. I also want to talk more about the info business, something I've been thinking about lately as well.

Again, when I get some time (hopefully sometime tonight or tomorrow) I'll come back with a big post. Hopefully everyone gets some value from it.

I'll address the cold calling/pursue thing some of you are asking about. Hopefully by now you know that cold calling is not the best way to approach this. I'll better explain why later.

bwh1 · 30th Jan 2010, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by AP

I'm kind of caught in his dilemma, do I market AP (my name) or do I market a company. I recently bought my name.com and several others. I'm thinking about being more of an Info marketer but I would also offer Services to my clients. Maybe that's why I'm answering so many questions here and giving away valuable info that took me years to develop.

I could offer my information to business owners alone thru modules, manuals, videos, mp3's, teleseminars, webinars, etc...

The one thing I know for a fact, every business owner I have ever worked with makes money. I find the profit leaks, fill the leaks, then the newfound monies can be used for more marketing. The business continues to grow and prosper giving the owner a better lifestyle in the process.

Maybe you or others here could lead me in the right direction. I would appreciate any feedback.

~AP

Not so difficult to answer but it depends on your goals.

Do you have family and would like to leave some for them when it's time to step back ? Then you definitely should go and brand something you can sell or pass to others.

But your name can be a brand, why not. AP Inc. sounds good to me :-)

Your problem is that the kind of service you offer is very specific and focused on your person.

Impossible to OUTSOURCE the main part of what you are doing when you research and adjust a clients structure, procedures and marketing.

That's an gift only few have (besides good knowledge), even with an MBA under their belt.

I worked 10 years in a Multinational and 90% of all the MBA's just blow hot air and used the skills of others to polish their own balls.

This is NOT for wannabe Marketers. As great as your tips are (they REALLY ARE) but this level of Marketing Consultation requires a great amount of General Marketing knowledge, or some will screw up a bus completely if he just go out and "try this".

I tried yesterday to find a post form you about HOW you started your consulting firm, what's your background to be able to "analize and recognize" what's wrong and what was your first Offline contract.

Sorry if this was already answered, if so I will search for it.

Keep it coming AP, I appreciate and enjoy your posts very much, they are truly mind opening.

G.

Vagabond 007 · 30th Jan 2010, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by bwh1

I tried yesterday to find a post form you about HOW you started your consulting firm, what's your background to be able to "analize and recognize" what's wrong and what was your first Offline contract.

Sorry if this was already answered, if so I will search for it.

Honestly, if you ask the right questions it's pretty easy to figure out what needs to be done in order to help them.

A lot of it is common sense. But they are too close to their business to see it. They need a fresh pair of eyes.

I'll go into more detail in a later post. And perhaps AP will help you out before then.

I'm telling you guys, a lot of this is just having brass you know what and confidence. You obviously have to know your marketing, but I'd say 90% of this is mental.

bwh1 · 30th Jan 2010, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by Vagabond 007

Honestly, if you ask the right questions it's pretty easy to figure out what needs to be done in order to help them.

A lot of it is common sense. But they are too close to their business to see it. They need a fresh pair of eyes.

I'm telling you guys, a lot of this is just having brass you know what and confidence. You obviously have to know your marketing, but I'd say 90% of this is mental.

very well said

G.

JRG · 30th Jan 2010, 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by ijohnson

JR Griggs, what's the amazon system?

If you download AP's resource guide he recommends that wso for writing a book. It's a pretty good wso and has everything you need to get a book published.

JRG · 30th Jan 2010, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by White_Hat_Johnny

Great tips and great system!

Where find you this people? In google?

Seriously dude? :confused:

JohnnyB1SD · 30th Jan 2010, 11:54 PM

Thanks to all that gave insight to this niche

Curleyjohn · 31st Jan 2010, 01:06 AM

You know, it seems that there are people who still think that a "normal person" can't do this without an extensive education or experience. I just don't believe that to be true.

If you are new to business in general, then you can always promote your services without listing them as a commodity. Owners just want to see results. You can focus on driving traffic and call it business growth without having, yet, developed the ability to diagnose the problems of that business. To have staying power you need to then be learning how to grow the business from with in.

This thread in general came at a perfect time. I was in the process of changing my business model from commodity selling to consulting. I'm lucky enough to have owned two businesses in the past and have some decent exposure to running businesses.

In an attempt to help others and of course myself, I'm going to fall on the sword and offer my site up as a learning tool. Please keep in mind that this is a work in process. My header and logo will be redone shortly. Please skip the services pages, they will be changing, I just don't know to what. (Suggestions would be welcomed). I say fall on the sword, because having strangers with tons of web experience critique my efforts makes me nervous.

I have the ability to change out the video to one I have made that is just an over view of the company that can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/fatazbike Toledo Marketing Inside Out

The website is Toledo Web Design|Toledo Internet Marketing|Toledo SEO|Toledo Marketing
Business cards and other blogs/mini blogs/articles/social media are all pointing to this site and my report.

As a side note: I have been unemployed since May of '09 from the auto industry. I have created a lot of this content, but the website is a template that I bought here on WF that included the video and report. At this point I have very little capital to work with but I do have time. I've been working the social marketing aspect for leads with fairly dismal results. 3 opt ins in the last couple of weeks. My SERPs are good. I'm getting ready to do some direct mailings to companies with at least 1/4 page YP ads and poor organic results. I'm a little afraid of squandering the little money that I do have. Need to shock and awe but not quite sure how to do that without a book although I do have some reports and articles that I could probably combine.

Once again, thank you to all that have contributed to this thread. Especially to you AP, who I am eagerly awaiting the answers for our homework.

MarketingNinja · 31st Jan 2010, 05:18 AM

Originally Posted by ijohnson

LOGO!!!!!!! LOGO!!!!!!!!! LOGO!!!!!!!!! LOGO!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, Warriors:

I need someone to design a logo for me. Please give me the name of someone you have personally dealt with who is creative, fast and inexpensive! Thanks!!!!!

~Iris~

Hey Iris,

For great design work I recommend 99Designs dot com or go and check out Logoworks dot com.

99Designs is unique in that you can post a "contest" and how much you are willing to pay, and then you have a whole community of designers that will take a crack at the job for you. You then select the winner, and pay them for their work. You can get a lot of really cool perspectives that way.

Logoworks was bought by HP and they do amazing work. It's a bit more pricey, but they are pros.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Jeff.

Originally Posted by DogScout

no, It was free locally when I was gold, in fact there was a lady that used to come that wasn't a member of DK.com and so they used to just let her come.

Your local chapter may either be paying for speakers or paying for the meeting place or the leader might just be into making a side income, but it is my understanding that that is contrary to the 'rules' as I believe the leader is paid by GKIC national. Dunno what is up with your local, but still worth it. (Diamond is $239 a month but you get half off any product and at least 2, usually 3 conferences a year that add up to over 3-5k in savings if you go. (I think the info super conference in November is 5k alone, the spring conference was about 2500. and the OAW was a couple grand, but I paid only $200 for that. Yanik Silver was worth that alone!)

I agree. I'm a member of GKIC as well and their material is awesome. Heck, I'd pay my monthly dues just to get that sexy black Swipe and Deploy envelope every month

I definitely recommend checking it out if you're not a member of it already..

Cheers,

Jeff.

Originally Posted by Vagabond 007

If I were you I wouldn't be selling websites. I would be selling the autoresponder. And of course, don't call it an autoresponder.

The typical business owner won't see the value in paying you a few hundred bucks a month for that. They will see it as "I'm paying $297 a month for a website. That's too much, I can get it for much less". Everything you have listed in your packages is just gibberish to them.

But if you are selling the autoresponder, that just so happens to have a website attached to it, NOW there is value. It's no longer a website. It's an "automatic marketing system that communicates with customers at the click of a button!"

Now THAT I would pay $297 a month for.

Never sell what YOU want. Always sell what the CUSTOMER wants. Sell them what they want and then give them what they need.

Make sense? You are essentially still using the same things. You're just presenting it differently to the business owner. You went from selling features to selling benefits.

People don't want to pay $250,000 for a car. They pay $250,000 for a Lamborghini that DEMANDS attention every single time they get behind the wheel. They pay for the exclusivity. Bragging rights. Status. Etc.

At the end of the day it's still just a car. But you can't sell "just a car" for $250,000.

Brilliant! I love it. It's so funny how you can just shift perception like that. I would have never thought of that before. Thanks!

Jeff.

Originally Posted by bwh1

Cemeteries

G.

By the way AP, you are a CONSULTANT and not a Internet Marketer as most in here. What you offer goes way beyond a IM education and needs a deeper knowledge, most probably a MBA or a Marketing education on such level (I don't know what this would be in the US, where I come from this is called a "Marketing Leader" degree).

And thanks for your insights, really great contribution with lot's of good information.

I've got a degree in marketing and it's done me squat in the real world. Other than learning some fancy jargon, and some real basics, my knowledge of marketing is from all the greats: Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Jay Conrad Levinson, Gary Halbert, Seth Godin, Bill Glazer, Robert Bly, John Carlton, Derek Gehl, Michael Gerber, Larry Conn, Paul Hartunian.

Brad Sugars has some really great to-the-point books on increasing cashflow and profit, referral programs, systems, etc.

It's reading everything you can get your hands on by these guys where you learn the real marketing strategies that you can implement with business owners.

I'm kind of different too in that my background is offline, and only recently have I taken a huge interest and started pursuing online activities. But already from this post, I've learned some really great strategies to implement offline.

Originally Posted by Spadger

For those not to sure about how to contact clients, just create a DVD, send it to them and follow up in a few days with a call telling them you're happy to meet with them to discuss their needs etc. Most will watch the DVD at home where they are more relaxed and open to your pitch.

animoto [dot] com is worth a look just to see what you can create.

For even more "oomph" factor, you can pick up cheap DVD players at Future Shop or Best Buy for about $40. Open the box, put your DVD right inside it and then leave a small hand-written note inside that says that there is a special presentation pre-loaded ready to go, and then repackage it. Have a courier drop it off for you. This will get noticed. How often does someone come in to your business and drop off a DVD player for you?

Cheers,

Jeff.

Uh... okay, Imma just stand up right now and openly admit that I'm a total noob and that I couldn't figure out where all my replies were going cause I was obviously clicking way too fast to get back to this thread. So Warriors, please accept my humble apology for having like 5 or 6 posts consecutively in a row here. I'm embarrassed, and have learnt my lesson. :confused:

That out of the way, thank you guys and gals all sooooo much for this amazing thread. I've learned so much in short order. AP, Dexx (who lives like a few blocks away from me... lol) DogScout, Vagabond007, all of you, you've provided such amazing info.

I look forward to getting to know you all in the forum and uh, I'm going to leave and go to bed now, after making myself look like a fool here.

Heh, good night all.

Cheers,

Jeff.
:rolleyes:

DogScout · 31st Jan 2010, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by MarketingNinja

For even more "oomph" factor, you can pick up cheap DVD players at Future Shop or Best Buy for about $40. Open the box, put your DVD right inside it and then leave a small hand-written note inside that says that there is a special presentation pre-loaded ready to go, and then repackage it. Have a courier drop it off for you. This will get noticed. How often does someone come in to your business and drop off a DVD player for you?

Cheers,

Jeff.
:rolleyes:

That came in one of those sexy black envelopes a few years back. Lol. If I remember correctly it was DK trying to sell a marketing info product to lawyers and after trying everything from flowers to the receptionist to fed-ex envelopes was finally successful with the DVD players. Do love GK style marketing... never say die.

bwh1 · 31st Jan 2010, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by CurleyJohn

You know, it seems that there are people who still think that a "normal person" can't do this without an extensive education or experience. I just don't believe that to be true.

If you are new to business in general, then you can always promote your services without listing them as a commodity. Owners just want to see results. You can focus on driving traffic and call it business growth without having, yet, developed the ability to diagnose the problems of that business. To have staying power you need to then be learning how to grow the business from with in.

Guess you talk about my quote to better have a good foundation in business before you go out and offer consultation.

Here's the difference in what AP offers and what 99% of you guy's offer.

AP doesn't offer "a service", he offers a overall Marketing Solution to a biz, and that involves knowledge about how to analyze the business in first place (sales figures,processes, expenses, communication, advertising, logistics etc.) and experience in changing those into something what WORKS.

I give you an example: Communication is the most important part in improving sales FAST.
Phone, Website, AutoResponders, Advertising, Sales rep's and process, Fairs, Flyer's and Brochures, Product packages and manuals, maybe a wrong USP, trade fairs, company colors etc. are part here - where do you feel save to change something ???

AP's posts are PURE GOLD to learn and see what this difference is. He lays out all.

This is far more then "I buy some ebooks about affiliate marketing and call myself a IM" and knowing to build a website. That can be outsourced to others.

I don't wanna discourage anybody to get out and do this, but just be damn sure what you do before you change anybodies business because you are excited with AP's earrings and maybe screw it.

Originally Posted by MarketingNinja

I've got a degree in marketing and it's done me squat in the real world. Other than learning some fancy jargon, and some real basics, my knowledge of marketing is from all the greats: Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Jay Conrad Levinson, Gary Halbert, Seth Godin, Bill Glazer, Robert Bly, John Carlton, Derek Gehl, Michael Gerber, Larry Conn, Paul Hartunian.

Dito, I've a marketing degree myself and it helped zero ONLINE. But consulting Offline business is a totally different ballgame and you need to have the knowledge from BOTH WORLDS to see what's wrong in a company to change it to what works.

AP told that he FIND profit leak's during his questionnaires with the client BEFORE he is closing a deal.

That's the crucial point in this whole business which you have to manage. You have to know how much you can improve their situation before you close the contract.

Finally, close high priced deals with the argument that your work is actually FOR FREE !? yep. even asking for a fee of 20k is actually peanuts if you can make for the business a 100k in additional profits.

The profit should actually be split 50/50 :-)

G.

jacquic · 31st Jan 2010, 08:58 AM

Hi Curleyjohn

I went to see your website - brave of you, though don't worry, as people here are on your side.

I know you're changing the header banner, but take into account that the current one took a while to load (on my bandwidth anyway), and Google are looking at page loading times.

I noticed that the font changed near the bottom of the page.

I think you're right to replace the video. The one that's there comes across (to me) as slick and impersonal, patronising in tone, and not terribly helpful. Your video was much better :-) and felt more trustworthy. When you m

I downloaded your report - is it PLR? I seem to have seen it before. The sign up box is effective. A couple of suggestions: I wonder if you could change the cover to something reflecting your brand and add a few somethings in the text that say 'you'. In the footer, change the date to 2010, and maybe say something like: 'Got this report from a friend? Go to [your link] and claim your own up-to-date version for free.' That way, they'll get onto your list.

Maybe your services pages could have a few helpful traditional marketing and IM strategies but making sure you either show more 'what' than 'how', or doing it in such a way people think it will be so much work / too complicated, so they will ask you to do it.

Best wishes

Jacqui

Sebulba · 31st Jan 2010, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by MarketingNinja

I agree. I'm a member of GKIC as well and their material is awesome. Heck, I'd pay my monthly dues just to get that sexy black Swipe and Deploy envelope every month

:rolleyes:

Could someone expand on what this is?

Thanks

Seb

LouCyphre · 31st Jan 2010, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by Sebulba

Could someone expand on what this is?

Thanks

Seb

Sebulba

In GKIC every month, in addition to the newsletter, they provide an actual piece being used successfully by a marketer. So for example, one month they had a couple of nicely done glossy door hangers and how it was used. Another month was an x-ray piece, and so forth. They will also include an order/contact form a vendor that they recommend for that particular marketing piece.

So they make it very easy for you to take an advertising idea and run with it. Every month is a new piece, and over time you build your marketing piece swipe file with very nice examples that others have proven to work.

Chris

Curleyjohn · 31st Jan 2010, 11:19 AM

Guess you talk about my quote to better have a good foundation in business before you go out and offer consultation.

Not just you.

Here's the difference in what AP offers and what 99% of you guy's offer.

AP doesn't offer "a service", he offers a overall Marketing Solution to a biz, and that involves knowledge about how to analyze the business in first place (sales figures,processes, expenses, communication, advertising, logistics etc.) and experience in changing those into something what WORKS.

I agree with this in part.

I give you an example: Communication is the most important part in improving sales FAST.
Phone, Website, AutoResponders, Advertising, Sales rep's and process, Fairs, Flyer's and Brochures, Product packages and manuals, maybe a wrong USP, trade fairs, company colors etc. are part here - where do you feel save to change something ???

I believe that most mature business minded people would start with looking at what is going to have the biggest impact to the businesses image and or sales. If the lady on the phone is rude and costing sales then it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that it needs to be changed. (No offense AP

The experience comes in where and what to look and not necessarily how to change it. The how to change it comes from having a mind set of looking at each one of the items you listed from the customers point of view and not what is convenient to the business.

AP's posts are PURE GOLD to learn and see what this difference is. He lays out all.

Absolutely!

This is far more then "I buy some ebooks about affiliate marketing and call myself a IM" and knowing to build a website. That can be outsourced to others.

I don't wanna discourage anybody to get out and do this, but just be damn sure what you do before you change anybodies business because you are excited with AP's earrings and maybe screw it.

The thing to remember is that most are going to start with what they are comfortable with and grow in to a more comprehensive position in the future.

The real GOLD that he is teaching is that we need to position ourselves as experts, quit selling lists of items and packages that can be shopped around and make your business about creating results for the customer.

If we focus the customer on WHAT we are going to do for them and not HOW we are going to do it, then we will make more money in the future. If the new consultant is scared then start with conservative statements of expectations to your customers and build off the momentum.

AP's home work post is a real life example of the type of customers we will see. The goal in his post was to increase PROFITs by 30% and save on advertising. He made no claims to make that clients business run better or fix the problems. These extras that he throws in just reinforce his position and staying power with that client. By just raising prices (90% ?WOW) and probably cutting the spray and pray as well as YP he could achieve this. Some may have customers that aren't that obvious and will need to be more conservative with there benefit statements.

So to say that someone with out specific marketing and consulting experience can't do this, IMHO, just isn't accurate. But I believe now what you are saying is that everyone should be careful of what they promise and wary of treading were we may not have developed a level of experience to operate.

Dexx · 31st Jan 2010, 11:44 AM

Hey AP,

I'm curious as to what your business cards etc. define you as?

Like I've been using "Website Marketing Specialist" on my business cards, but on further though I think that is putting me in the "I do website stuff" box and enough in the "marketing consultant" box.

Do you just call yourself a marketing consultant? marketing specialist? etc.

What about the rest of you, what do you refer to yourselves as?

~Dexx

ShawnC · 31st Jan 2010, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Curleyjohn

Guess you talk about my quote to better have a good foundation in business before you go out and offer consultation.

Not just you.

------------

So to say that someone with out specific marketing and consulting experience can't do this, IMHO, just isn't accurate. But I believe now what you are saying is that everyone should be careful of what they promise and wary of treading were we may not have developed a level of experience to operate.
[/COLOR]

I'm probably included in who you are referring to.

You're right, someone with out specific marketing and consulting experience CAN do this. But should they? Should they to the level that AP is talking about? I don't have specific University of College trained marketing or consulting experience. However I've been in business for myself as a web developer and video product for 11 years. And I sucked when I first got started. In many areas, I still suck.

But my point was exactly what you finished off with: Careful what you promise (and charge for) if you haven't developed a handful of experience in the area. The reason the Web Design industry isn't regarded the same as the graphic design industry is exactly because of that. People hopped into it because they had Photoshop and Dreamweaver (not even because they were good at using them) and then charged a LOT of money for their services. Now all I come across is people that hate their previous web designer.

And the problem grew because their Web Designer became their marketing consultant. Did their Yellow Pages ads. Soon the web designer was doing as much as they could, for very little pay.

What AP is talking about is to forget about the internet first. Don't even make a single promise or commitment regarding the internet. That's huge, that's crazy talk for all us web and IM people!

But what he is describing, to demand the money he is talking about - requires confidence and an understanding of an industry far beyond IM and Online stuff. It goes beyond knowing how to get backlinks or knowing how to put a city name all over a website. It starts with knowing how to ignore the internet first. I don't know about you, but that's gonna be hard for me to do - and I know AP is right.

MurphSmurf · 31st Jan 2010, 11:53 AM

This has been an awesome thread. It's been more valuable to me than most WSOs.

Quick question: If a business is listed on Google Maps, they're pretty much at the top of the search listings. So why would they want to give you money to get them to the top of Google ... when they're already there? Doesn't Google Maps kinda throw a wrench into this whole idea?

Quick question #2: Has anyone been successful getting clients living in a somewhat rural area with a smaller population? It seems like there would be endless opportunities living in a city, even a smaller city, but how many options do you really have when you can practically count all the mom&pop businesses in your area on your fingers and toes?

In that case, do you think it would be worthwhile to travel to more populated areas once or twice a month in order to get clients (even if it means not technically being "local" or being freely available for meetings/consultations)?

Okay, now that I have that out of the way...

I really want to start up a business integrating both online / offline strategies.

Here's basically what I would offer:

Website packages (domain, Wordpress, a couple pages of content, on-site SEO, submission to search engines & Google maps, with monthly fees for hosting on my own reseller account & maintenance)

Marketing packages (on-site SEO, keyword research, Press Releases, articles, submission to web directories, backlink building, submission to search engines & Google maps, link wheels, etc., with monthly fees for whatever)

Rather than offering personalized services to each individual business, they would have to choose one of these premade packages. No promising to get to the top of Google or get 10,000 visitors each month. They're just getting whatever the package offers. I would charge less than most are charging in this thread -- website packages would go for $300-$400, marketing packages probably $500-$2000 depending on what's involved.

To get clients, I would:

-Post on Craigslist and other classified sites
-Take out ads in the newspaper (both local and provincial papers)
-Direct mail marketing (not sure how to do this)
-use PPC (local search terms only)
-Offer a free / discounted website & marketing package to my parent's neighbors (optometrist & his wife who runs the business) in exchange for testimonial & referrals

Once I've built up enough confidence and earned a few good testimonials/references, I can start doing the whole door-to-door thing, but I'd prefer avoid it initially if I could. If I can manage to educate my boyfriend on SEO and internet marketing, I could send him to do the sales since he's much more charismatic and persuasive than I am.

So does this sound like a good business plan with great potential, or should I just suck it up and concentrate on a more direct, face-to-face method of getting clients?

(I don't mean to derail the thread or anything, I just wanted to ask for a bit of advice because you guys really seem to know this business inside and out

)

Curleyjohn · 31st Jan 2010, 11:54 AM

Hi Curleyjohn

I went to see your website - brave of you, though don't worry, as people here are on your side.

I know you're changing the header banner, but take into account that the current one took a while to load (on my bandwidth anyway), and Google are looking at page loading times.

I wonder why a JPG file would take so long?

I noticed that the font changed near the bottom of the page.

I think you're right to replace the video. The one that's there comes across (to me) as slick and impersonal, patronising in tone, and not terribly helpful. Your video was much better :-) and felt more trustworthy. When you m

I'm leaning this way too.

I downloaded your report - is it PLR? I seem to have seen it before. The sign up box is effective. A couple of suggestions: I wonder if you could change the cover to something reflecting your brand and add a few somethings in the text that say 'you'. In the footer, change the date to 2010, and maybe say something like: 'Got this report from a friend? Go to [your link] and claim your own up-to-date version for free.' That way, they'll get onto your list.

I'm guessing that it was a PLR but I figure that most offline businesses haven't seen it though. No one in my area is offering any type of helpful report at all.

I hate playing with photo shop but I had thought about changing the cover too.

Maybe your services pages could have a few helpful traditional marketing and IM strategies but making sure you either show more 'what' than 'how', or doing it in such a way people think it will be so much work / too complicated, so they will ask you to do it.

I agree that this is probably a great way to go with these pages. Thank you for taking the time to make these suggestions.

ShawnC · 31st Jan 2010, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by Curleyjohn

I wonder why a JPG file would take so long?

Check to see what you've got your compression settings at. A good % is between 65 and 80. Play with that to see what looks the best vs. file size. Typically a photo takes more compression to look better than a 'graphic'. Also - red is a colour that looks horrible with compression so when you use it know you need to turn the settings up to have it still look good.

jacquic · 31st Jan 2010, 12:22 PM

My pleasure, Curleyjohn

Your Banner JPeg: it depends partly on its size/how it's been compressed. I suspect the real reason in this case is my slow (broadband) Internet speed - common in many parts of the UK, especially those of us without cable. If that's not a problem over your way, then I guess you could just ignore that.

If you have any sepcific queries over (e)book writing or getting a product made up, just PM me.

Jacqui

Curleyjohn · 31st Jan 2010, 12:42 PM

I'm probably included in who you are referring to.

You're right, someone with out specific marketing and consulting experience CAN do this. But should they? Should they to the level that AP is talking about? I don't have specific University of College trained marketing or consulting experience. However I've been in business for myself as a web developer and video product for 11 years. And I sucked when I first got started. In many areas, I still suck.

Maybe not at his level but at that person's unique level. I would say that using your unique experience in business will be enough to get you and others started. For the straight up tech folks that haven't put together offers, or done much marketing I agree it will be harder. But most of these can do autoresponders and seo. This is the starting point to building a bigger business if it is marketed from a benefits focus and not a commodity.

For example:
I was headed down the commodity route at first too but realized that if I incorporate "my" Perpetual Salesman system, that I had the upper hand over others just offering an auto responder. Sure it's just an auto responder but my specific relationship building mindset is what is proprietary. It's not just a newsletter which, if anything is being offered at all, is being used.

But my point was exactly what you finished off with: Careful what you promise (and charge for) if you haven't developed a handful of experience in the area. The reason the Web Design industry isn't regarded the same as the graphic design industry is exactly because of that. People hopped into it because they had Photoshop and Dreamweaver (not even because they were good at using them) and then charged a LOT of money for their services. Now all I come across is people that hate their previous web designer.

And the problem grew because their Web Designer became their marketing consultant. Did their Yellow Pages ads. Soon the web designer was doing as much as they could, for very little pay.

What AP is talking about is to forget about the internet first. Don't even make a single promise or commitment regarding the internet. That's huge, that's crazy talk for all us web and IM people!

Capturing customers with an auto responder is supplementing the business growth process and not internet based, per say. Doing some price comparisons and suggesting a 4% increase that will profit more than that at the bottom line isn't IM based. Combining products to create an upsell isn't online based, offering a continuity program based on services that can be provided by the customer isn't either. Listening to how phones are answered or if they are answered makes a huge impact and doesn't require writing an article or photoshop.

See, I believe it's about using what you know and then reading and studying what you don't, till you build confidence.

But what he is describing, to demand the money he is talking about - requires confidence and an understanding of an industry far beyond IM and Online stuff. It goes beyond knowing how to get backlinks or knowing how to put a city name all over a website. It starts with knowing how to ignore the internet first. I don't know about you, but that's gonna be hard for me to do - and I know AP is right.

I agree that he is a master and we won't command his prices at the start but with just a little practice and mostly confidence we will make good money.

If you got a client that gets 100 customers a week.................100
And you can then do a AR to resell 20 of those a mo................20
You have just given them a 20% increase they didn't have.........$$$

You don't have to fix the business you just have to make a difference.
Even at a $40 ticket avg. you have increase sales by $800mo & $9600yr

I want a $10,000 raise this year

Charge$1400 set up and $300 a mo and they still make decent money depending on margins. 10 customers is $3000 residual a mo, 36,000yr and 14,000 up front and your at 50,000 a yr. No, not AP's check but a start.

Now, with out any sarcasm intended, do you think that it can be done?

29th Jan 2010, 11:24 PM	#651
frqhuss HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2010 Location: Shahabad Gulbarga Posts: 353 Thanks: 25 Thanked 15 Times in 15 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: its great you have done good work even i did it when i was only 17...

30th Jan 2010, 09:39 AM	#653
Dexx Offline Consultant War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 1,918 Thanks: 674 Thanked 664 Times in 334 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Hey AP, Would you say that your income is then mostly based around yourself then? Like if you went on vacation for 6 months (and didn't touch the business), you wouldn't be able earn new income, just continue making money from the existing clients? I've just been thinking lately how feasible it would be to train sales staff and have the systems setup (similar to what you described above, basically processes to take the clients through) and then train a team to actually work through each one of those steps with clients (similar to how you're training an army of people here on WF) Do you ever plan to bring on people to do these things for you so your business continues to grow with or without your involvement? (plus the scalability of then having reps across the world doing this and bringing you the $$ on autopilot) Just curious, trying to weigh the pros and cons of both...I just don't want to have to be "tied" to my business forever, y'know? ~Dexx

30th Jan 2010, 10:50 AM	#654
TheMagicShow Success Is No Illusion! War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 857 Thanks: 40 Thanked 98 Times in 68 Posts Blog Entries: 1	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: This thread is amazing! AP, anyone - you folks mention working the business inside and then outside. Inside being their internal structure, non internet. Can you folks give a list on, what can be improved inside first and then internet mktg added last? Also, AP how did you get your leads? I agree, it's best to have clients... come to you and not other way around. TIA to AP-All
	" You can either give a man a fish and feed him for a day OR teach him how to catch a fish and it will feed him for a lifetime"

30th Jan 2010, 11:59 AM	#658
slvrsrfr Peaceful Jedi Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 108 Thanks: 154 Thanked 31 Times in 18 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: I'm wondering AP if marketing yourself as a company rather that as AP would have you selling a commodity back to small businesses. Not that it wouldn't work. You have enough experience and results that you could easily sell to hundreds of businesses through modules, mp3s, forums and webinars that even this hands-off approach I'm sure would work well for those businesses and increase their profits substantially. You wouldn't quite be able to tailor specific approaches to specific businesses as you wouldn't be able to meet with hundreds of clients all over the country, so perhaps even though the results of a commodity based approach would work, perhaps it wouldn't work as well. Now having said that, if you could get just a conservative 200 to sign up to your mp3s, webinar based approach at just $497 a month, you're still making better money than let's say 20 clients or so at around $2497 a month each. Now I mentioned that perhaps the results achievable for businesses using your hands-off approach wouldn't be quite as good as having you actually hands-on as you are at least the first couple of months with your current approach. But I could be wrong. Maybe this business we're in can achieve 90% of the results without us actually being there. You'd know better than me, that probably 90% or 95% of the strategies and marketing plans you suggest to each business you work with are pretty much identical. For e.g. teaching how to answer the telephone and those sorts of things. My suspicion is that is the case. That perhaps most businesses are not vastly unique in terms of the marketing plans and strategies they need. In that case, what we're really selling currently with the hands-on approach and at a premium is not just results but the Saint's cloth if you will. The ability to have that relationship with you/us as their consultant and gain that confidence that it'll work, as we are there (physically) by their side. And this helps small business owner make those changes that can be, let's face it scary. So I like the idea. And I hope that my questions and thoughts have been helpful. You will know with your experience if I'm hitting the mark or if I've drifted way off base. Cheers, Jason
	What would you do IF you could do it? After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, "No hablo ingles."

30th Jan 2010, 02:12 PM	#665
ShawnC MoreThanAWebmaster War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 62 Thanks: 43 Thanked 9 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: I honestly don't even remember if I've commented in this thread yet - but i've been following the whole way along and wanted to make sue I expressed my amazement at the quality of advice and ideas and simple confidence building that is here. I want to stress something to anyone reading this thread that doesn't already have at least a few years of business experience and expertise in the arena that is being discussed in this thread. YOU NEED TO BRING YOUR A-GAME. This will not happen overnight, and you HAVE to be prepared to do the best work you've EVER done. Go seek out the absolute BEST websites you've ever seen. Seek out the BEST sales-letters you've ever read. And look at your own work and judge it against that. Don't just do the minimum amount of work to showcase yourself and then expect to charge the money AP talks about. Really elevate everything about yourself and your business. Thanks again AP - and thanks Dexx for starting this thread. And thanks to everyone else that has been offering amazing advice! WOW!
	+ Sample Memorandum of Understanding Templates -- Get it in writing, without involving a lawyer. + Mobile Game Design Template -- When you're going to create a mobile game, you need a well thought out and structured Game Design Document. This makes it simple. + IgnitionDeck Sales Plugin -- Fund Projects Your Way.

30th Jan 2010, 02:47 PM	#669
Fernando Veloso Portuguese Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Good Old Europe Posts: 4,035 Thanks: 1,616 Thanked 1,059 Times in 708 Posts Blog Entries: 7	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Just a quick update to this great thread. Yesterday had to deliver a quote to a "new" customer. He came referred from a present customer to whom we created a solid web presence (couple months before this thread) and his income went up by 2-3K per month <<< web alone. He's a happy fellow and gladly he's sending us his friends. So, as I was writing the quote for this new customer I decided to just focus on systems. Not a single service, Just SYSTEMS. Guess what? Not only it was easy to reach a higher set-up fee BUT it was damn easy to set a monthly fee. Example: "System A - Exclusive System to reach more web users, keep them on your side and raise 35-55% your LEADS. etc etc etc" "System B - Exclusive System to analyze, control and improve results from previous developments to keep raising conversions with your past and present customers. etc etc etc" "System C - Exclusive System to reach new customers in social media using this and that. etc etc etc" ^^ (Just a raw clone, but you get the idea) See the difference? Using this new approach my set-up and monthly fees are way higher then my services prices. Way higher. From 2K (one time) to 2-3K set-up and 350/month. What about your experiences with "Exclusive" Systems?
	People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.

30th Jan 2010, 03:09 PM	#671
Dexx Offline Consultant War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 1,918 Thanks: 674 Thanked 664 Times in 334 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Okay guys, I just updated the first post of this beast of a thread to reflect some of the key things, if anyone thinks there's some posts that MUST be identified ASAP by a new reader, feel free to PM it to me...keep in mind that people should be reading the whole thread anyways, but these are going to be the "golden nuggets" that shouldn't be lazily skipped. Cheers, ~Dexx

30th Jan 2010, 04:14 PM	#675
ijohnson Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 499 Thanks: 344 Thanked 150 Times in 126 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!! COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!!! COLD CALLING!!!!!!!!!!!! "Cold calling" is my least favorite way to meet prospective clients to offer my services. In addition to networking, getting referrals and direct mail, what are some ways to approach a prospect to ensure that you will be "a welcomed guest" and not "an annoying pest"? What approach renders the best results? ~Iris
	Make every day count!

30th Jan 2010, 04:31 PM	#676
jacquic HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Location: Suffolk, UK Posts: 322 Thanks: 267 Thanked 121 Times in 75 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: With regard to whether you go for you as a brand or keep under the hat of your business, it may well depend where you’re up to financially, and what motivates you. For example, Warriors who are new to the game and/or cash strapped, may well be happy just getting in the money with personal branding a secondary concern, at least at the minute. That said, some people I know who are very successful, still like to stay out of the lime-light. Others who are less successful are happy to get noticed – I’m included in the latter group because a) I enjoy it, and b) people always appear to react positively to me – I need/want the cash now, but I recognise personal branding will take me further. A mix will suit me: pockets and ego both satisfied. Dexx, you said, “Heh, then I think we're in same boat in at the moment... Market the Person, or Market the System... I guess in the end it all depends on what everyone wants to leave behind when they're gone...what legacy do they want to be known for...” That’s certainly a factor, but one also needs to think about what they would do if no one else where watching or giving an opinion. I wish these questions were mine; there not, but they’re so powerful, I will quote them here; I don’t know who first came up with them. They will help a bit with the business vs personal branding. 1. What is your number one priority? 2. Why did you pick that one? 3. Why is that important to you? 4. What would be the consequence(s) of not doing that? 5. Why would that worry you? ------------------------------------- BTW, I’ve been copying the printable version of this thread into Word. Size 12 Calibri: now up to 471 pages! No wonder it is taking so long to re-read. I will be trimming it to the essentials if anyone wants a copy. Jacqui
	Last edited on 30th Jan 2010 at 04:39 PM. Reason: Formatting went wrong; Ipasted from Word

30th Jan 2010, 08:09 PM	#679
Vagabond 007 Dark Horse War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Outside Philly, PA Posts: 486 Thanks: 84 Thanked 801 Times in 124 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: When I have the time, too busy with life the past week or so, I have a bunch of info I'll post to help some of you. AP, I'll address what you were asking about as well. About not being able to sell the business if we decide we want out. Because one day I'm gonna most likely want out. But as we know, if it's built around us, then that may be a problem. Curious if we can come up with something. I also want to talk more about the info business, something I've been thinking about lately as well. Again, when I get some time (hopefully sometime tonight or tomorrow) I'll come back with a big post. Hopefully everyone gets some value from it. I'll address the cold calling/pursue thing some of you are asking about. Hopefully by now you know that cold calling is not the best way to approach this. I'll better explain why later.
	The Ultimate Sales & Marketing Mind Map (Just updated - now twice as big!) - scott_krech - "Quite possibly one of the BEST WSO's ever." www.UltimateMindMap.com

30th Jan 2010, 11:54 PM	#685
JohnnyB1SD New Warrior Member Join Date: 2008 Posts: 30 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Thanks to all that gave insight to this niche

31st Jan 2010, 01:06 AM	#686
Curleyjohn Profit Margin Marketing Join Date: 2009 Location: Glass City Posts: 121 Thanks: 119 Thanked 48 Times in 26 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: You know, it seems that there are people who still think that a "normal person" can't do this without an extensive education or experience. I just don't believe that to be true. If you are new to business in general, then you can always promote your services without listing them as a commodity. Owners just want to see results. You can focus on driving traffic and call it business growth without having, yet, developed the ability to diagnose the problems of that business. To have staying power you need to then be learning how to grow the business from with in. This thread in general came at a perfect time. I was in the process of changing my business model from commodity selling to consulting. I'm lucky enough to have owned two businesses in the past and have some decent exposure to running businesses. In an attempt to help others and of course myself, I'm going to fall on the sword and offer my site up as a learning tool. Please keep in mind that this is a work in process. My header and logo will be redone shortly. Please skip the services pages, they will be changing, I just don't know to what. (Suggestions would be welcomed). I say fall on the sword, because having strangers with tons of web experience critique my efforts makes me nervous. I have the ability to change out the video to one I have made that is just an over view of the company that can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/fatazbike Toledo Marketing Inside Out The website is Toledo Web Design\|Toledo Internet Marketing\|Toledo SEO\|Toledo Marketing Business cards and other blogs/mini blogs/articles/social media are all pointing to this site and my report. As a side note: I have been unemployed since May of '09 from the auto industry. I have created a lot of this content, but the website is a template that I bought here on WF that included the video and report. At this point I have very little capital to work with but I do have time. I've been working the social marketing aspect for leads with fairly dismal results. 3 opt ins in the last couple of weeks. My SERPs are good. I'm getting ready to do some direct mailings to companies with at least 1/4 page YP ads and poor organic results. I'm a little afraid of squandering the little money that I do have. Need to shock and awe but not quite sure how to do that without a book although I do have some reports and articles that I could probably combine. Once again, thank you to all that have contributed to this thread. Especially to you AP, who I am eagerly awaiting the answers for our homework.
	Toledo Business Development Coach- Toledo Internet Marketing Last edited on 31st Jan 2010 at 01:08 AM. Reason: Link mistake

31st Jan 2010, 08:58 AM	#690
jacquic HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Location: Suffolk, UK Posts: 322 Thanks: 267 Thanked 121 Times in 75 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Hi Curleyjohn I went to see your website - brave of you, though don't worry, as people here are on your side. I know you're changing the header banner, but take into account that the current one took a while to load (on my bandwidth anyway), and Google are looking at page loading times. I noticed that the font changed near the bottom of the page. I think you're right to replace the video. The one that's there comes across (to me) as slick and impersonal, patronising in tone, and not terribly helpful. Your video was much better :-) and felt more trustworthy. When you m I downloaded your report - is it PLR? I seem to have seen it before. The sign up box is effective. A couple of suggestions: I wonder if you could change the cover to something reflecting your brand and add a few somethings in the text that say 'you'. In the footer, change the date to 2010, and maybe say something like: 'Got this report from a friend? Go to [your link] and claim your own up-to-date version for free.' That way, they'll get onto your list. Maybe your services pages could have a few helpful traditional marketing and IM strategies but making sure you either show more 'what' than 'how', or doing it in such a way people think it will be so much work / too complicated, so they will ask you to do it. Best wishes Jacqui

31st Jan 2010, 11:19 AM	#693
Curleyjohn Profit Margin Marketing Join Date: 2009 Location: Glass City Posts: 121 Thanks: 119 Thanked 48 Times in 26 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Guess you talk about my quote to better have a good foundation in business before you go out and offer consultation. Not just you. Here's the difference in what AP offers and what 99% of you guy's offer. AP doesn't offer "a service", he offers a overall Marketing Solution to a biz, and that involves knowledge about how to analyze the business in first place (sales figures,processes, expenses, communication, advertising, logistics etc.) and experience in changing those into something what WORKS. I agree with this in part. I give you an example: Communication is the most important part in improving sales FAST. Phone, Website, AutoResponders, Advertising, Sales rep's and process, Fairs, Flyer's and Brochures, Product packages and manuals, maybe a wrong USP, trade fairs, company colors etc. are part here - where do you feel save to change something ??? I believe that most mature business minded people would start with looking at what is going to have the biggest impact to the businesses image and or sales. If the lady on the phone is rude and costing sales then it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that it needs to be changed. (No offense AP The experience comes in where and what to look and not necessarily how to change it. The how to change it comes from having a mind set of looking at each one of the items you listed from the customers point of view and not what is convenient to the business. AP's posts are PURE GOLD to learn and see what this difference is. He lays out all. Absolutely! This is far more then "I buy some ebooks about affiliate marketing and call myself a IM" and knowing to build a website. That can be outsourced to others. I don't wanna discourage anybody to get out and do this, but just be damn sure what you do before you change anybodies business because you are excited with AP's earrings and maybe screw it. The thing to remember is that most are going to start with what they are comfortable with and grow in to a more comprehensive position in the future. The real GOLD that he is teaching is that we need to position ourselves as experts, quit selling lists of items and packages that can be shopped around and make your business about creating results for the customer. If we focus the customer on WHAT we are going to do for them and not HOW we are going to do it, then we will make more money in the future. If the new consultant is scared then start with conservative statements of expectations to your customers and build off the momentum. AP's home work post is a real life example of the type of customers we will see. The goal in his post was to increase PROFITs by 30% and save on advertising. He made no claims to make that clients business run better or fix the problems. These extras that he throws in just reinforce his position and staying power with that client. By just raising prices (90% ?WOW) and probably cutting the spray and pray as well as YP he could achieve this. Some may have customers that aren't that obvious and will need to be more conservative with there benefit statements. So to say that someone with out specific marketing and consulting experience can't do this, IMHO, just isn't accurate. But I believe now what you are saying is that everyone should be careful of what they promise and wary of treading were we may not have developed a level of experience to operate.
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31st Jan 2010, 11:44 AM	#694
Dexx Offline Consultant War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 1,918 Thanks: 674 Thanked 664 Times in 334 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Hey AP, I'm curious as to what your business cards etc. define you as? Like I've been using "Website Marketing Specialist" on my business cards, but on further though I think that is putting me in the "I do website stuff" box and enough in the "marketing consultant" box. Do you just call yourself a marketing consultant? marketing specialist? etc. What about the rest of you, what do you refer to yourselves as? ~Dexx

31st Jan 2010, 11:53 AM	#696
MurphSmurf HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: British Columbia Posts: 138 Thanks: 16 Thanked 26 Times in 16 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: This has been an awesome thread. It's been more valuable to me than most WSOs. Quick question: If a business is listed on Google Maps, they're pretty much at the top of the search listings. So why would they want to give you money to get them to the top of Google ... when they're already there? Doesn't Google Maps kinda throw a wrench into this whole idea? Quick question #2: Has anyone been successful getting clients living in a somewhat rural area with a smaller population? It seems like there would be endless opportunities living in a city, even a smaller city, but how many options do you really have when you can practically count all the mom&pop businesses in your area on your fingers and toes? In that case, do you think it would be worthwhile to travel to more populated areas once or twice a month in order to get clients (even if it means not technically being "local" or being freely available for meetings/consultations)? Okay, now that I have that out of the way... I really want to start up a business integrating both online / offline strategies. Here's basically what I would offer: Website packages (domain, Wordpress, a couple pages of content, on-site SEO, submission to search engines & Google maps, with monthly fees for hosting on my own reseller account & maintenance) Marketing packages (on-site SEO, keyword research, Press Releases, articles, submission to web directories, backlink building, submission to search engines & Google maps, link wheels, etc., with monthly fees for whatever) Rather than offering personalized services to each individual business, they would have to choose one of these premade packages. No promising to get to the top of Google or get 10,000 visitors each month. They're just getting whatever the package offers. I would charge less than most are charging in this thread -- website packages would go for $300-$400, marketing packages probably $500-$2000 depending on what's involved. To get clients, I would: -Post on Craigslist and other classified sites -Take out ads in the newspaper (both local and provincial papers) -Direct mail marketing (not sure how to do this) -use PPC (local search terms only) -Offer a free / discounted website & marketing package to my parent's neighbors (optometrist & his wife who runs the business) in exchange for testimonial & referrals Once I've built up enough confidence and earned a few good testimonials/references, I can start doing the whole door-to-door thing, but I'd prefer avoid it initially if I could. If I can manage to educate my boyfriend on SEO and internet marketing, I could send him to do the sales since he's much more charismatic and persuasive than I am. So does this sound like a good business plan with great potential, or should I just suck it up and concentrate on a more direct, face-to-face method of getting clients? (I don't mean to derail the thread or anything, I just wanted to ask for a bit of advice because you guys really seem to know this business inside and out )
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31st Jan 2010, 11:54 AM	#697
Curleyjohn Profit Margin Marketing Join Date: 2009 Location: Glass City Posts: 121 Thanks: 119 Thanked 48 Times in 26 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Hi Curleyjohn I went to see your website - brave of you, though don't worry, as people here are on your side. I know you're changing the header banner, but take into account that the current one took a while to load (on my bandwidth anyway), and Google are looking at page loading times. I wonder why a JPG file would take so long? I noticed that the font changed near the bottom of the page. I think you're right to replace the video. The one that's there comes across (to me) as slick and impersonal, patronising in tone, and not terribly helpful. Your video was much better :-) and felt more trustworthy. When you m I'm leaning this way too. I downloaded your report - is it PLR? I seem to have seen it before. The sign up box is effective. A couple of suggestions: I wonder if you could change the cover to something reflecting your brand and add a few somethings in the text that say 'you'. In the footer, change the date to 2010, and maybe say something like: 'Got this report from a friend? Go to [your link] and claim your own up-to-date version for free.' That way, they'll get onto your list. I'm guessing that it was a PLR but I figure that most offline businesses haven't seen it though. No one in my area is offering any type of helpful report at all. I hate playing with photo shop but I had thought about changing the cover too. Maybe your services pages could have a few helpful traditional marketing and IM strategies but making sure you either show more 'what' than 'how', or doing it in such a way people think it will be so much work / too complicated, so they will ask you to do it. I agree that this is probably a great way to go with these pages. Thank you for taking the time to make these suggestions.
	Toledo Business Development Coach- Toledo Internet Marketing

31st Jan 2010, 12:22 PM	#699
jacquic HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Location: Suffolk, UK Posts: 322 Thanks: 267 Thanked 121 Times in 75 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: My pleasure, Curleyjohn Your Banner JPeg: it depends partly on its size/how it's been compressed. I suspect the real reason in this case is my slow (broadband) Internet speed - common in many parts of the UK, especially those of us without cable. If that's not a problem over your way, then I guess you could just ignore that. If you have any sepcific queries over (e)book writing or getting a product made up, just PM me. Jacqui

31st Jan 2010, 12:42 PM	#700
Curleyjohn Profit Margin Marketing Join Date: 2009 Location: Glass City Posts: 121 Thanks: 119 Thanked 48 Times in 26 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: I'm probably included in who you are referring to. You're right, someone with out specific marketing and consulting experience CAN do this. But should they? Should they to the level that AP is talking about? I don't have specific University of College trained marketing or consulting experience. However I've been in business for myself as a web developer and video product for 11 years. And I sucked when I first got started. In many areas, I still suck. Maybe not at his level but at that person's unique level. I would say that using your unique experience in business will be enough to get you and others started. For the straight up tech folks that haven't put together offers, or done much marketing I agree it will be harder. But most of these can do autoresponders and seo. This is the starting point to building a bigger business if it is marketed from a benefits focus and not a commodity. For example: I was headed down the commodity route at first too but realized that if I incorporate "my" Perpetual Salesman system, that I had the upper hand over others just offering an auto responder. Sure it's just an auto responder but my specific relationship building mindset is what is proprietary. It's not just a newsletter which, if anything is being offered at all, is being used. But my point was exactly what you finished off with: Careful what you promise (and charge for) if you haven't developed a handful of experience in the area. The reason the Web Design industry isn't regarded the same as the graphic design industry is exactly because of that. People hopped into it because they had Photoshop and Dreamweaver (not even because they were good at using them) and then charged a LOT of money for their services. Now all I come across is people that hate their previous web designer. And the problem grew because their Web Designer became their marketing consultant. Did their Yellow Pages ads. Soon the web designer was doing as much as they could, for very little pay. What AP is talking about is to forget about the internet first. Don't even make a single promise or commitment regarding the internet. That's huge, that's crazy talk for all us web and IM people! Capturing customers with an auto responder is supplementing the business growth process and not internet based, per say. Doing some price comparisons and suggesting a 4% increase that will profit more than that at the bottom line isn't IM based. Combining products to create an upsell isn't online based, offering a continuity program based on services that can be provided by the customer isn't either. Listening to how phones are answered or if they are answered makes a huge impact and doesn't require writing an article or photoshop. See, I believe it's about using what you know and then reading and studying what you don't, till you build confidence. But what he is describing, to demand the money he is talking about - requires confidence and an understanding of an industry far beyond IM and Online stuff. It goes beyond knowing how to get backlinks or knowing how to put a city name all over a website. It starts with knowing how to ignore the internet first. I don't know about you, but that's gonna be hard for me to do - and I know AP is right. I agree that he is a master and we won't command his prices at the start but with just a little practice and mostly confidence we will make good money. If you got a client that gets 100 customers a week.................100 And you can then do a AR to resell 20 of those a mo................20 You have just given them a 20% increase they didn't have.........$$$ You don't have to fix the business you just have to make a difference. Even at a $40 ticket avg. you have increase sales by $800mo & $9600yr I want a $10,000 raise this year Charge$1400 set up and $300 a mo and they still make decent money depending on margins. 10 customers is $3000 residual a mo, 36,000yr and 14,000 up front and your at 50,000 a yr. No, not AP's check but a start. Now, with out any sarcasm intended, do you think that it can be done?
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