Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

The power of attraction marketing

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I am going to show you how to use attraction marketing to attract leads and sales!  Please do not confuse this with the so-called ‘law of attraction!’

In fact, if you use the ideas I am about to share with you, you will never have to chase; business, income, sales, clients or leads ever again.

The power of attraction on people

Have you ever noticed what happens when a beautiful woman or a handsome man walks into a bar? That’s right – people look at them. In fact, people will often walk over and offer them a drink or simply strike up a conversation with them. The reason we call these people ‘attractive’ is because they (literally) ‘attract’ the attention and interest of other people.

What does this have to do with you and your business?

The most effective businesses use the power of attraction in order to attract sales, clients, readers and customers! Just like the attractive person who walks into a room and gets everyone’s attention, these businesses gain the attention and interest of potential clients by being attractive.

If you decide to use attraction marketing, you can quickly sky-rocket your results without having to make cold calls or ‘sell’ anything to anyone. It’s a wonderful, zero-stress way to grow your business.

Attraction marketing in action

For example, I use the power of attraction for 100% of my marketing! People find my blog and my marketing newsletter ‘attractive’, so they forward them to their contacts, colleagues and friends – helping me attract more people. These new people then do the same etc, etc…

Without me spending a penny on ANY form of advertising, (pay-per-click, affiliates or anything else), there are now millions of people who know all about my ability to help them produce great sales results. So, when my readers decide they want someone to look after their marketing, they give me a call.

Clients should be attracted NOT pursued!

Most businesses get it the wrong way around. They choose to ‘pursue’ new clients and customers; unaware of just how much they are damaging their chances of success and their reputation. Even though people are not responding to their mail shots, email marketing or calls; they just keep on grinding away regardless.

This approach costs a fortune and the results are dire!

That’s because people universally HATE being; pursued, pestered, hassled or chased.

  • This is why people are so rude when you cold call them!
  • It’s also why people hate being sent spam email!
  • AND why we all avoid over-eager salespeople!

Using attraction marketing in your business

Here’s an example, from one of the most competitive industries on the planet; the recruitment business. A client of mine used to call people and was often the 4th or 5th recruitment company to call that same person that same day!  He knew something needed to change, and quickly, because it was getting harder and harder to reach potential clients.

I suggested he set up a simple, low-cost website, aimed at candidates (people looking for work). The website was then packed with hints, tips and ideas that were designed to help people find the perfect job. He then wrote to the top 100 HR people in his target market – Not asking for business, but asking if he could interview them for his new website.

Guess what?

Not only did he manage to meet with stacks of powerful decision makers, many of them went on to become clients! The interview was an attractive proposition, which attracted a great deal of interest.  These powerful people actually CALLED HIM to arrange a time for their interview! It totally changed the way they positioned him and his company in their mind, compared to his competitors, who were hounding them for business in desperation.

A low cost website and the marketing power of attraction was all he needed, in order to achieve stunning sales results.

So, stop chasing new business

If people are not replying to your mail shots, marketing emails or returning your calls, they are telling you something.  They are telling you that your offer or marketing is NOT attractive to them!

Like my example of the recruitment company earlier, you must find a way to market your services so that you become irresistible.  You see, when you use the power of attraction to generate sales, you spend 100% of your time speaking with people who are:

  • Already interested in you and your services.
  • Already aware of the value you offer.
  • Ready to proceed.

Conclusion

No matter what industry or profession you are in, the power of attraction can slash your marketing costs, take the stress away from selling and transform the way your future clients think of you and your business.

Welcome!

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Welcome to my brand new marketing blog!

So, why a marketing blog Jim?

Unlike my website, when you read something HERE, you can share your thoughts, ideas and opinions with your fellow readers and myself.  Blogging is about communicating not broadcasting. It’s about 2-way or multi-way communication.  It’s about community and connecting with like-minded people.

When you see something here and want to get involved, your fellow readers and myself can respond to your comments and get a conversation going – something that’s just not possible via a traditional broadcast website.

As well as marketing tips and ideas, I will ALSO be using this blog to give you an insight into my day-to-day work.  The idea is to pass on anything I think you might find either useful, interesting or both!

So, why not say hello?

I would love to get as many of my website and newsletter readers as possible to leave a comment here in my ‘welcome post’, so please say hello.  Let us know your company name and where you are!

To leave a comment, just click the comment link below.

How to leverage a million in sales!

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I am going to show you a simple, high leverage way to generate stacks more sales super-fast; WITHOUT you having to invest a penny more on marketing! This is a step by step guide that anyone can follow, which can generate an almost unlimited amount of sales for you; with very little effort on your part.

Leverage leverage leverage…

When you study the the world’s most successful businesspeople and salespeople, you will see a word popping up again and again. That word is leverage.  Leverage, when referred to in marketing or business development terms, is all about getting the maximum return on everything you do.

I use leverage to get results in every area of my business and I want you to start doing the same from now on because the rewards are stunning!

Leverage an extra £500,000 in sales – for free!

Allow me to introduce you to a few people who can easily help you leverage your best sales, profits and turnover figures ever. These people have the attention of hundreds or thousands of new potential clients for your services – possibly even more!

You already know these people. . . they are your Accountant, Business Bank Manager and Company Solicitor.  How many local businesses does your Accountant work with 500 or 5,000?  And what about your Solicitor – another 1,000 or so?  Ok, what about your Company’s Bank Manager – 5,000 or 10,000 local businesses?

Of these thousands of local businesses, how many have a potential need for your services? If you are in a service industry; Recruitment, Insurance, Internet, IT or Training – there is potential for you to supply your services to almost ALL of these thousands of local businesses!  If you provide a product or a range of products, you will quickly know roughly what percentage of these local businesses are likely to have a need for your offering.  In either case, the potential here is massive!

Getting referrals and recommendations!

Speak with any group of businesspeople or salespeople and you will quickly learn that one of their most pressing marketing problems is winning new, high quality clients or customers on a regular basis.

Despite this, very few of them have actually held a meeting with their Accountant, Solicitor or Bank Manager to specifically request leads from their massive client base!

Business owners and entrepreneurs usually make the costly mistake of assuming that their Accountant, Solicitor and Bank Manager will ‘automatically’ recommend them and their services to their masses of clients and contacts. This is seldom, if ever, the case!  Accountants, Lawyers and Bank Managers are extremely busy professional people and unless there is some motivation for them to proactively pass leads to you – they won’t!

Leverage in action

What you need is a strategy that leverages the motivation of these professionals; making it easier for them to provide you with referrals than NOT to – and here it is!  These three great questions should be asked, preferably face-to-face, in the exact order they are given:

Question 1: How many clients do you have?
Question 2: How many of them do you think use (whatever you offer)?
Question 3: So, how many leads do you think you can pass to me over the next 30 days?

What these three questions do is extremely clever. Here’s the science behind each one:

Question 1: How many clients do you have?

This is what I refer to as the ‘foundation’ question. It forms the foundation upon which the rest of the questions stack.  People are proud of the size of their client base and are only too eager to show you just how hard they work and how successful their bank or practice is.

Question 2: How many of your clients do you think use (whatever kind of service/product you provide)?

This is what I refer to as the ‘focus’ question.  It causes the listener to focus on the profile of his or her client base and the nature of your product or service, before joining the two together. They know that you will have a very good idea of how many businesses, on average, have a requirement for your services or products – so their answer to you has to be realistic.

Question 3: So, how many leads do you think you can pass to me over the next 30 days?

This is what I refer to as the leverage question.  It causes the listener to review the two answers they have just given you and then give you a number.  It also sets up a time-scale and as the old saying goes; “what gets measured gets done!”

At this point you have just leveraged their motivation – making it far easier to pass you leads and far harder not to. Even if they fail to give you a definitive number, it is no longer easy for them NOT to provide you with regular introductions, referrals or leads. Now that there is a time-scale for when you will be expecting to have received some leads, they will find it easier to help you than ignore you.

Your Bank Manager, Accountant and Solicitor are trusted professionals and their recommendation is extremely valuable.  They will also know all about you and your business and they will know that you offer a great product or service – so there’s no barrier to them recommending you.

Each of these hard working professionals will be keen to help their other clients, and if they believe that your service will benefit their other clients, it’s only natural that they would introduce your services to them!

If you find it a little ‘awkward’ asking these questions, ask them in a playful way!

Amazingly, even if you ask these questions with a big smile on your face, as I always do, the impact is exactly the same!

Some numbers you will find interesting

If only one business in ten, on average, has a need for your type of product or service, it’s likely that your; Bank Manager, Company Solicitor and Accountant combined will have access RIGHT NOW to A THOUSAND new clients for you and your business.

If you only sold £500 worth of goods to these people each year, that’s a half a million pounds a year increase in YOUR turnover!

A quick million

If you work in any of the industries I have already mentioned in this free guide; that figure will be closer to a million pounds a year in new business for you and your business!

The great networking lie!

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In my opinion, when it comes to winning business, ‘chamber of commerce style’ networking events offer extremely poor value.  Small businesses lose a fortune each year attending these networking events – when they could be getting far better results, for a fraction of the time and money they wasted on networking!

Business owners and salespeople regularly tell me that they get little (if anything) tangible from these dead-end events; often believing they are at fault because they are doing something wrong. Many then waste even more time learning ‘how to work the room’ – then finally realise, after being screwed out of their money, that it’s the actual networking events that are the problem – NOT them!

I have run a successful marketing business for over 14 years and have clients all over the world.  In my experience, I can think of no business gathering where you are LESS likely to make a sale or win some business than a typical ‘chamber of commerce style’ networking event.

Why?

  1. Firstly, very few people attend networking events to buy!  Just like you, EVERYONE in that room is there to SELL.
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  2. Secondly, because networking events are regarded as a sales and marketing activity, companies send their SALESPEOPLE along and not their BUYERS!  This is why all those dreadful “how to work a room” books and seminars are sold exclusively to salespeople and delivered by sales trainers.

In other words, you will be speaking to salespeople and not buyers at these events; people with not only no interest in buying from you BUT with no authority to buy from you either!

If you enjoy meeting people and want to find new potential suppliers, a traditional networking event’s worth considering. However, as a marketing activity I genuinely believe there are man, many better alternatives.

Marketing doesn’t work!

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Marketing has no favourites! If you market your business correctly you will thrive and if you market that same business ineffectively you will struggle.  That’s because marketing is based on cause and effect.

I received an email yesterday from one of my readers. He explained that he had been trying to generate meetings with prospective clients – but that his marketing had let him down.

I later received an email from a reader of my free marketing newsletter, who told me, point-blank that; “advertising doesn’t work!”

Stop blaming your tools

In both of these examples, the suggestion was that the failure of these people to generate business was not THEIR fault, but simply that marketing and advertising ‘don’t work.‘  Their problem was not, as they suggested, that marketing only works for some people – Their problem was simply that they were doing it wrong!  For example, a poorly written advertisement, placed in the wrong publication, is unlikely to generate a stack of enquiries or sales!  This does NOT mean that advertising doesn’t work!
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A pile of wood and some nails

Give my friend Tom a pile of wood and some tools and he will turn it into a beautiful piece of furniture.

Give that same equipment to me and I would end up with splinters and a couple of bruised thumbs!  That’s because Tom

is a master furniture maker, with over 40 years worth of experience and I’m a marketing professional with no furniture making experience or skills. However, when it comes to SELLING that beautiful furniture….

Some marketing advice worth taking

Most small and medium-sized businesses rely heavily on free marketing tips and advice from the Internet; at least in the early years of their business.  If you are going to market your business without specialist, expert marketing assistance, please make sure that:

  1. You only take marketing advice from proven, trusted sources.
  2. Take time to study marketing and make sure you don’t start until you understand each step you need to take.

First impressions count – even online!

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How many times have you heard that; “first impressions count”?  Well, it’s true – first impressions count for a great deal – especially in marketing.  This is because, the first impression a business or a person creates with a potential client, is what forms the foundation of their relationship with them.

If that relationship is built on a bad foundation, it will fail.  After all, no one buys from a person or business that they have a ‘bad feeling’ about.

For example

I was contacted online last week by a total stranger via my Twitter account.  This person’s initial message to me wasn’t an introduction or even a simple hello – it was a full on sales pitch!  What was this person trying to sell?  I have no idea!  I just deleted his message as soon as it was clear what he was doing.

Approaching a total stranger with a sales pitch, instead of a friendly introduction, demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of how sales and marketing works!

Affiliates beware

Sadly, this kind of shoddy marketing is used by the huge majority of small, online businesses.  I get emails on a daily basis from strangers who want me to become ‘an affiliate’ of their latest ‘wonder product.’  Even though these people have not bothered to call me or build a relationship with me, they expect me to attach my good name to their business and product – neither of which I know anything about!

If you want to make a stack of sales online or offline, make sure YOU focus on creating a great initial impression in the mind of your target market!  Then, ensure that everything you do builds positively upon that strong foundation.

By the way, you can contact me on Twitter any time.  My username is @jimconnolly