Dan S. Kennedy's Blog, page 17

Top Question Asked By Business Owners, Answered

Today, I thought I’d answer the number one question people ask me…

 “What is the most important thing I can do for my business right now to start getting more customers, clients or patients and making more money?”

Granted there is not a completely simple answer to this question, but I will give you four things you MUST do if you want to consistently attract more customers, increase revenue and eliminate competition:

1) Create a system. If you want to consistently attract your ideal customers, clients or patients you need to have a reliable, efficient and affordable system in place that will bring them to you like clockwork.

Without a system in place, not only will you throw dollars down the drain by not knowing which marketing strategies to spend your money on, but you’ll waste time trying to figure it out.

When you know exactly which media is most effective and have a plan for what you’ll execute, you’ll be able to predict your costs and you’ll also know what response to expect.  Plus a system set up to attract only ideal customers, clients and patients will mean you won’t waste your time and resources trying to sell to people who either don’t want or need your product or service, or can’t afford it.

2) Swipe from proven promotions. One of the biggest time and money wasters is creating everything from scratch. Trial and error promotions mean your system isn’t reliable.

Switch to swiping ideas from proven promotions and you’ll be able to accurately predict how many customers or clients or patients you’ll attract each time you send out a promotion.

3) Sell in a competitive vacuum. Set your product or service up as the only logical choice for your ideal customer. When you create marketing that showcases you in a unique light and unlike your competitors, you not only have a competitive advantage, but you have in built-in price resistance because consumers will see that no one else is doing what you are doing.

4) Be consistent.  One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is to run a campaign, get a bunch of business and then wait until they feel they need business again before running another campaign, which is usually too late. Put your marketing on autopilot and run your system continually so you will steadily attract a constant flow of customers.  Then you’ll never have to worry about whether or not you have enough business.

Putting a system in place that uses proven promotions, sells in a competitive vacuum and runs continually has taken members from the brink of bankruptcy to astounding profits.

And it will do the same for you, once you put your system in place following these four simple steps.

Take a deeper look inside these moneymaking strategies and more below in a FREE webinar were Dave Dee  reveals the secrets behind Magnetic Marketing. Even if you are well versed in Magnetic Marketing this is a great way to get a little refresher course and review the foundational principles of Magnetic Marketing. So go ahead and watch the video below now.

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Handling Objections and Making the Sale

When it comes to the sales process, there’s a standard set of objections that every sales person is going to hear, no matter what is being sold.

The secret to success is to be prepared for these objections. The best way to be ready for them is to script them out in advance, handle them and memorize them. Top sales professionals do this all the time.

An objection doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a level of conflict. An objection isn’t the same as saying “no”. The potential buyer is actually seeking more information, feeling a little uneasy about making the commitment, and looking for a compelling reason to go ahead and buy.

As a salesperson, it’s important to understand what the customer is really saying when they object and to keep moving forward with the sales presentation. So when that common objection comes up, you know what the customer is really thinking and more importantly, exactly how to handle the situation. And that’s where scripting in advance comes in. You know what to say and how to say it as you get ready to close.

“It Costs Too Much”

If you’ve done a thorough job of selling value-to-price, this objection is usually concealing another, deeper reason for resistance. The buyer is either covering up something that is hard to put into words, or they just don’t really know how to verbally express themselves.

Many times it means “I can’t afford it”, which is different than telling you something is priced too high. They may feel guilty about spending that kind of money on the product or service, feeling as if they really aren’t good enough or worthy of the end product.

If you are hearing this objection too often, you’re talking to the wrong prospects. Your marketing is attracting the wrong kind of prospect.

“No Need”

America is the richest country in the world. Millions of Americans really don’t need anything. They drive a nice car. Have a closet full of clothes, all kinds of entertainment devices and toys for idle time. They live in fairly spacious homes with many modern conveniences, at least compared to the way the rest of the world lives. In fact, the higher the affluence level, the less likely they are to really need anything.

What does “no need” really mean? It means you haven’t sold them well enough. Face it, most people buy enormous quantities and a diversity of things that they don’t need, probably to feel better about themselves and their situation. The truth is people buy what they want, not necessarily what they need.

“I Need to Talk With …”

This objection comes up, particularly when a good sum of money is required, for instance, a down payment on a home, furnishings for several rooms, a new car or maybe a financial investment of some sort.

This one tends to be the result of lazy selling, or rushing to close a prospect that doesn’t have the ability to buy. There’s one way around this objection. The person who needs to be present (assuming it’s usually a spouse or significant other), needs to be there. End of story. It needs to be a mandatory part of a preliminary findings presentation. Otherwise, there’s no need to have the sales presentation.

Sometimes a sales person who is desperate, or possibly overconfident is going to say “just get me in front of someone, anyone, and I’ll close the deal.”

But that’s not the point. That just won’t work for anyone. It’s going to be ugly and uncomfortable, and possibly confrontational and certainly frustrating. In cases like this it’s important to qualify leads up front. Know in advance if some significant other also has to be in agreement before the presentation takes place and then make sure they’re in attendance, or the sale is going to fall apart right in front of you.

“This Won’t Work for Me”

Here’s another example of an objection that should be handled up-front during the preliminary presentation, when a sales person is qualifying the lead.

As far as countering this objection, testimonials are usually a strong weapon. If you’re taking your time and working your way through the script in advance, you’ll have plenty of ammunition in the way of customer/patient testimonials should this one come up.

Remember that the potential buyer is most heavily influenced by someone who looks like them, talks like them, walks like them, comes from the same neighborhood, same social-economic background, same religious beliefs and morals, etc. This is known as social proof or commonality. If you’re doing your homework you better be able to anticipate this kind of resistance and produce social proof or commonality as needed to match your prospect.

Hidden Objections

This is when a prospect believes in what you’re saying as a sales person. They believe the testimonials. But they don’t believe in themselves or trust in themselves.

It’s a hidden objection because most prospects are not willing to come right out and say this.

It all boils down to the “ghosts of disappointments past”. It’s the diet or exercise regimen they quit on. It’s the self-help book that they failed to follow through on. Or the online training course they didn’t get around to completing.

This objection may be the most valid of them all. It’s people realizing their limitations and recalling less-than-successful outcomes in the past. The best way to answer this kind of hesitation is to let your prospect off the hook. Tell them it’s not their fault and it’s in the past in a way that’s appropriate and encourage them to move on and remain positive and focused.

“I Have to Think About It”

This is similar to “it won’t work for me”. There is hesitation because of past failures. The blame goes on something that didn’t work out too well in the past, and it’s clouding the decision-making process, casting a dark shadow and stirring up uncomfortable memories.

You need to counter this with an answer that tells the prospect why this time is different. The prospect needs to rationalize this and come to an agreement with you.

It goes back to the prospect not having trust in their judgement. They are replaying a movie in their minds and the ending is bad. You need to help them move through that. You may want to try and get a conditional sale out of it. It’s one way to get them to move forward. Basically you’re telling them “let’s move ahead with this and then if you think about it and it isn’t for you …” As a sales person, you’re trying to make them move away from bad past experience and forge ahead with their life.

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The Power Of The Right Message

Genius is sometimes defined as the ability to make the complex simple. Certainly, “marketing” is a complex subject; so complex, it’s very difficult for many business people to ever get a handle on it. Its complexity is intimidating.

After years in “marketing,” I’ve finally found a definition that reflects the genius of simplicity.

MARKETING is simply making the right presentation of the right message to the right people.

With that simple definition as a guide, just about every businessperson can clearly see his past errors, and do a more effective job of marketing in the future.

The sad reality, however, is that most small businesses are out there with no message at all.

The fellow opens a restaurant or he opens a print shop or he opens a florist shop, name the type of business, and typically he spends a lot of time and energy worrying about what it looks like inside (which obviously nobody sees if we don’t get them there in the first place).

He worries about his sign and his name.

Then he opens the door and he waits for the customers to come in.

He hasn’t thought about what he’s going to communicate to the marketplace about who he is, what he is, what’s he’s all about that should make people want to do business with him.

A marketing message is a way of concisely and clearly saying to the right market, “here’s what I’m all about, and here’s why you should choose me.”

So, every business has to back up and start with, “What am I going to say to the marketplace? Why is what I say going to be interesting and appealing to the marketplace?”

Fortunes have been built purely on the strength of great marketing messages and tremendous turnarounds in businesses have taken place as a result of great marketing messages.

I’ve long told the tale of Dominos Pizza – who build an empire off the simple message of “Hot, Fresh Pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less – Guaranteed.”

Coming up with your own unique and powerfully compelling message is mandatory to success – and I do recognize that it can be a challenge.

Which is why you should be excited by the fact that this coming Wednesday, December 9th at 1PM Eastern Time I’ll be covering the topic of “message” and a whole lot more in FIVE hours of FREE training:

“Discover How To Create A Flood of New Customers… How To Create A Cash Flow Surge… How To Magnetically Attract Prospects Who Are Pre-disposed To View You As An Expert And Trusted Advisor AND Buy From You… Plus Much, Much More!”

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Why “the Shrug” Matters To Your Business

I’ve recently I bemoaned a trend taking place all across society today… a sorry state of affairs afflicting enterprises great and small.

I called it “The Shrug”.

“The Shrug” is when a multi-million dollar NFL receiver drops a perfectly thrown ball in a crucial 3rd down situation… resulting in turning the ball over to the opposition with potentially season-ending consequences.

Yet all the receiver can do is “shrug.”

No grief. No anger. No self-recriminations at the lack of focus and dedication.

Just a shrug.

And it’s not just football. That same lack of passion and drive for excellence sadly seems to have taken a back seat to a kinder-gentler approach to self-assessment. “At least I gave it a good try.”

Pathetic.

As a business owner/entrepreneur you KNOW how dangerous this general sloppiness can be to your operations. Closing the sale has NEVER been more difficult. The great recession has made every dollar spent a serious decision in the mind of the consumer.

In such an environment, conventional wisdom and falling in line with “peer pressure” when it comes to marketing will only put your business on the fast track to oblivion.

Which is why NOW, more than ever, you need to have in place powerful strategies that DO-THE-JOB when it comes to attracting PRECISELY those prospects most likely to come, buy, and keep buying from you.

You can’t afford “the Shrug” happening at ANY point in your lead generation and sales cycle. You need to go the extra mile to make CERTAIN your business has in place reliable, proven systems built to achieve and sustain serious, positive results.

Anything less is unacceptable.

To help you make the fastest progress possible towards making that happen for YOUR business, we’ve set aside 5 solid hours for personal training from yours truly this coming Wednesday, December 9th from 1PM to 6PM Eastern time:

“Discover How To Create A Flood of New Customers… How To Create A Cash Flow Surge…How To Magnetically Attract Prospects Who Are Pre-disposed To View You As An Expert And Trusted Advisor AND Buy From You… Plus Much, Much More!”

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Join Me In Las Vegas

Come and learn how from of the top experts in the world on how to use Internet Marketing & Marketing Partnerships to grow your business. At this event you will be welcomed with an amazing party followed by two intense day of interactive learning along with some of our best global partners & customers.

In addition at the event you will have the opportunity to pitch your concepts and ideas to some of the best marketers on the planet. As a special bonus one lucky winner will win a Priceless Business Makeover from Powerteam International! The Ultimate Wealth Camp is A MUST ATTEND!

THIS EVENT USUALLY COSTS $4,997 TO ATTEND.  BUT WE’VE PRE-PURCHASED SPOTS AS A TITANIUM SPONSOR SO RIGHT NOW, THE FIRST 50 PEOPLE CAN GO ON US.  YUP THAT MEANS IT’S FREE TO YOU!  USE PROMO CODE “7777”.

For the last 20 years, we have created global success stories due to the fact that we offer the best coaching and training related to how to grow your business. There are many reasons why Powerteam has been able to give people the incredible results we’ve helped others create for their businesses:

• World Class Global Success Faculty

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It isn’t any one of those things that creates millionaires. It’s the combination, the System. All of these things together are the key to creating amazing success stories. Beyond the system, it’s the members that spend the time to find the answers to their questions inside of our massive library of training that make the difference. The ability to follow through on a success plan with capital helps people become unstoppable!

Come join us for fun and prosperity at the Ultimate Networking Party on Sunday, December 13! To kick off the Ultimate Wealth Camp, we are having a VIP Networking Party on Sunday evening. Come and learn how you can substantially impact your financial future by connecting with mega successful entrepreneurs, learn how to make money on the internet and discover the power of global joint ventures!

You will learn about new ways to make money as well as be able to share your great ideas with some of the top marketers in the world! Now it is up to you to take action and take control of your success plan.

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7 Steps To Creating A Killer Sales Presentation

Today, I’m going to share with you the foundational steps that I use to create killer presentations that have resulted in MILLIONS of dollars worth of sales for myself, GKIC and clients.

If you use that you’re about to learn, this one blog post will be the most valuable thing you read all year.

Let’s get right to it:

Step #1: WHO IS YOUR SLAM DUNK CUSTOMER?

The goal here is to nail down as closely as possible what we call “an Avatar” for your perfect customer… the person who is the absolute “slam dunk” prospect for your offer – someone you can identify, someone you can reach either through your own list or one you buy, someone with whom you have a natural affinity – through age,

Occupation, hobby, lifestyle, condition, whatever.

Step #2: DESCRIBE YOUR MAGIC POWER AND PROVE IT

What is your SINGLE greatest magic power as it relates to the problems/pains facing your IDEAL customer? It’s important to pick a power that’s USEFUL to your prospect. If you can play guitar like a fiend, but they aren’t interested in that, it doesn’t matter.

So let’s say their biggest pain is hitting a drive down the fairway straight and long but they can’t and because of this, they are extremely frustrated.

In this case, your magic power could be that you can knock the ball 275 yards down any fairway regardless of wind, rain, or course conditions setting you up perfectly for my next shot…

AND you know how to transfer this skill to ANYONE with four easy steps!

That’s the important part… not only do you have the magic to solve their deepest heartfelt need, you can literally transfer that magic power to THEM!

So… What do you do that your prospects would find amazing and walk across broken glass to learn the secret to?

Step #3 DESCRIBE YOUR OFFER IN DETAIL

Important: Remember that all the components of your offer provide the gasoline that powers the transformation you enable in your prospects’ lives – whether it’s hitting that ball down the fairway straight, long and true… enabling them to retire at 55 with a boatload of cash that’s safe and secure… or whatever.

Bottom line on offers… look at it and make sure that it’s as powerful and as good as you can possibly make it. It should be so good … and so perfectly targeted to fit the needs and wants and heal the pains of your prospects that they would be out of their minds to let it slip from their fingers.

Step #4 DESCRIBE THE PROSPECT’S TRANSFORMATION

Based on finally being able to accomplish the “Magic Power” that you were able to bestow, what is the ultimate outcome/transformation someone is going to experience after going through your product, program or service?

Make sure to include not only the transformation that has occurred, but also go into the difference the change has made to their life.

For instance, “if I was suddenly able to consistently drive the golf ball long and straight down the fairway, I could lower my handicap dramatically…enter tournaments with the expectation of success…and best of all, totally STICK IT to my golfing buddies who’ve been ribbing me for years about yanking the ball into the weeds on every tee shot. Now THAT’s a result I can’t wait to experience!”

Step #5 – DESCRIBE YOUR TEACHING POINTS

The “teaching” part of the presentation is where you give out some “how-to” information – all tied directly to the offer you will make them at end of your presentation.

If you had to come up with 3 to 4 steps for helping your prospect achieve the outcome they desire most, what would those four steps be?

Step #6 – TELL YOUR STORY

In your killer presentation, you will tell your story of struggle, pain and frustration… which led eventually to success, joy, and fulfillment.

Your story should contain the following elements:

When you get started doing what you’re doing.
Describe why you started doing what you’re doing.
Use emotional language. Show your passion.
Identify problems that you had when you got started

Then talk about the solutions you looked for to solve these problems… talk about failures you had.

Talk about the breakthrough you had that enabled you to turn the corner and help you finally succeed.

Summarize your story in two to three sentences and tie it into the end result your product provides.

Step #7 – WHY WOULDN’T THEY BUY?

You’ve nailed down all the great elements of your offer – it’s features, benefits, transformational attributes, pricing, guarantee, etc. Now…

To make sure you can clinch the sale, you need to get inside their heads one last time and figure out all the reasons why they would NOT buy your product, program or service?

You want to answer all of your prospects objections during your presentation. In a future article, I will teach you the different ways you can do that. But for now, just write down every objection your prospect could have and then figure out how you are going to answer that objection in advance.

So there you have it, the 7 foundational steps for creating a killer sales presentation.

Yes, it is a lot of work but doing the work gives you all the ammunition you need to create an asset that can make you rich.

On Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET (12 CT, 10 a.m. PT) I’m conducting a live online class where I’ll be going in-depth on my step-by-step formula for crafting presentations that educate, entertain, persuade and create a literally stampede of orders. It’s free but space is limited, click here to register.

The Fallacy That Holds You Back

I’ve heard it said dozens of times by dozens of “Guru’s” and it’s complete and utter crap. 

They say it to try and be motivating, but in reality they are damaging one person after the next, and instead of helping you to make more money, the only one lining their pockets are them. 

Well I’m here not only to expose the lie, but also to show you the truth…and while the lie may sound good at first, below you’ll see why the reality of the situation is much less work, and much, Much, MUCH more lucrative!

In fact I’ll tell you three things you can do right now to make more money from the same or FEWER customers, clients and patients.

Ready?

Let’s go.

MTYH: “To make a lot of money, you just need to make $1 per month, per person on your list”

This is a line I’ve heard time and time again from so-called “experts” who are trying to sell you on their list-building product.  Their theory, is that if you want to make $10,000 a month all you need to do is attract 10,000 people, and they will show you how to earn, on average, a dollar per person per month.  Hence $10,000 a month or $120,000 a year.  That sounds fine and good at first but there are a few major problems here.

First off…have you ever tried to attract 10,000 of your ideal prospects?  It ain’t exactly easy.  Sure you could go out and collect 10,000 names and email addresses pretty quickly by giving some big offer, BUT they won’t be your ideal prospects.  Most of them will just be bargain hunters and will evaporate almost immediately leaving you right back where you started, just poorer and dejected.

The truth of the matter is to attract 10,000 of your IDEAL prospects, who’ll have a chance to turn into your ideal customers, clients or patients, takes well thought out strategies, follow-up plans and a lot of time.  So people who get sold on this “dream” often abandon it nearly immediately, because it’s WAY WAY harder than they are lead to believe.

Secondly…if you’ve been in business for more than say, five minutes, you know that earning $10,000 a month doesn’t mean you’re KEEPING $10,000 a month.  Even if you can attract 10,000 of your ideal prospects, it costs a lot to retain them.  Even if you’re an info-marketer, you probably are paying thousands of dollars a month in software, services and fulfillment of products.  Much less, the turn-over on your list is big, so you need to keep spending money to attract new prospects.  And for brick-and-mortar folks, or people with an office outside the home $10,000 doesn’t even keep the doors open in most cases.  So while $120,000 a year sounds nice…do some quick math (I know….numbers are hard) and see what that’d leave in your pocket after tall your expenses.

Finally…$1 per person per month means you’re leaving a TON of money on the table, and is quite dumb.  At GKIC on average we earn $16 pet person per month on our list.  We do this by truly understanding where the REAL money is at.  Here’s a little secret, it’s in the transformation, not the product, service or information!  More on that in a second.

Let’s say $16 per person per month is too much for you to do off the bat, but with the strategies below each one allowed you to double the $1 per month “dream.”  So after the first strategy you’re at $2 per month, the next $4 per month, and the third, properly employed, $8 per person per month.  Now instead of 10,000 ideal prospects you only need 1,250.  Much more doable, much more quickly!

In fact, GKIC member Paul Gough, at Info-SUMMIT said after stumbling upon info-marketing by accident, he’s a physical therapist, he’s now earning well more than six figures employing just two of the strategies below from a list of just 500 people.  Not to shabby.

So let’s go!

Strategy #1: Sell Transformation!

I don’t care what you do, how good your product, service, or information is, but I can guarantee you people don’t want it!!!  Let me explain and give you a few examples.  My favorite restaurant in the world is Alinea in Chicago.  It’s about $400 for a single meal and when you walk in you have no idea what your meal is going to be.  All you know is that you’re going to have the best meal (14-18 courses), paired with the best wines, that you’ll ever have, AND…AND you’ll have an experience you want to tell the world about.  See they don’t see “food” or “wine” even though their food and wine IS literally the best.  They sell transformation.  You come out of that experience with a whole new outlook on what food and dining can be.  You have not one story, but a dozen (ever had a helium balloon made totally out of apple?) and you tell everyone you know about it.  It’s an experience and transformation, not a meal.  In fact last time I went, less than three hours later I went to a local burger joint because I was hungry!

Think about it, no one joins a gym because they say, I have too much time and really want to spend it at a place with hundreds of other sweaty, smelly people, straining my body and pushing myself to my physical and mental limits.  They simply want to look good by losing weight and gaining muscle and if they could do that by pushing a button or taking a pill, they’d do that instead.

You NEED to sell the transformation, not the product, or service and you’ll see your dollars per person per month soar!

Strategy #2: Continuity!

At GKIC right now we have continuity programs starting at $59 per month and going up to $997 per month.  Right now, I can count seven different programs that you can be a part of where each month, for a specific outcome, you’ll gladly invest your money.  It’s much nicer to start each month knowing that 200 people are part of a program where they are happily exchanging $199 month for insider access to our most successful campaigns, and the best of the best in copywriting.  This is the  Copy Confidentials program and with just 200 people it’s a $40,000 a month revenue generator.  200 people for $40,000 a month or 10,000 people to earn $10,000…which is more appealing to you?

But it doesn’t work for just GKIC, John Warrilow, in his book “The Automatic Customer” (which is one of Nick Loise’s, GKIC’s VP of Sales, favorite books on the subject) goes over Nine different continuity models, at least one or two of which could be used by ANY industry or business.  The restaurant Cooper’s Hawk, has over 100,000 people (and it may be many more by now) in it’s monthly continuity program.  It’s so much easier to attract a person once, a deliver results again and again and again, rather than constantly needing to attract new prospects.

Strategy #3: The Big Ticket Item!

Before I was with GKIC I sold $40,000 done-for-you programs.  $40,000 dollars!  Quick math…how many clients did I need a year to generate $120,000 in revenue? Yup…just THREE.  I could have tried to attract 10,000 people and get them to pay me $1 per month each to generate that same $120,000, but I kinda liked my strategy.  Attract just THREE people and get them to pay $40,000 each.

In every business or industry there’s something you can offer as a big ticket item that a small percentage of the population will buy from you.  While millions will sit in front of their TV tomorrow and watch their favorite NFL team from home, which generates some amount of commercial revenue for the team, there are people who’ll be spending six figures on a luxury skybox to watch that same exact game.

Info-marketers have the ability to have high-end coaching and mastermind programs where people will pay $10,000 – $30,000 a year to be a part of.  I know one mastermind group that’s $10,000 a MONTH and has a waiting list.  One person to generate $10,000 per month or 10,000 people, which model do you like better?

Just a few days ago one Hong Kong Billionaire spent 77 Million Dollars on two diamond rings…for his 7 year old!!!

The point is, having a big ticket item that appeals to the top of the pyramid can increase your average customer spend per month in huge ways even when just a few people take advantage of it.

This weekend GKIC is offering it’s course Moving Money Up The Pyramid which goes over these concepts in great detail and it shows you how you can put these strategies into your business.  Click here to get all the details.  Also, making more money, with smaller lists is important to you, when you invest in Moving Money Up The Pyramid, through midnight on Monday you’ll also get, for FREE, the not-yet-released bonus “The GKIC Model.”  This will debut in two weeks for $797 but this weekend only, you’ll get it for free when you invest in Moving Money Up The Pyramid.

So don’t believe the fallacy that you need 10,000 people or 20,000 prospects in order to live the life of your dreams and have a successful business.  Just by using the three strategies above, you could see your revenues soar, and you’ll be working LESS with LESS new clients, customers or patients.

So go out and make Mucho DEEnero!

Why Don’t My Customers Refer Me Automatically?

You’re considered a nice guy or gal. You got kids, a mortgage, a car note ‒ pretty much like everyone else. You do a good job, at least in your mind. Your customers all seem satisfied. So you’re probably wondering how come your customers don’t just automatically refer you to family and friends.

There are two very broad reasons for this.

First of all, almost nothing happens automatically except for bad things. Think about that new car warranty you got. You know once it expires things will start to go wrong with your vehicle. It’s like clockwork. And, of course, these things all worked fine when the warranty was in place. But once the warranty expired, you had that car in the shop on a regular basis. You probably got to know your mechanic real well. And he got to know you pretty well, too, considering you were helping to pay his mortgage and feed his kids.

The second reason is it’s not their job. Your customer is not your sales person. Their job is to give you money and they are fulfilling their end of the bargain. They’ve got other things to do.

Most business owners just don’t understand why their customers don’t automatically refer them. But giving a referral is a much higher threshold of risk and pain than it is to continue to patronize your business.

In fact, people will continue to patronize businesses even if they don’t do a very good job. It’s a matter of habit, and they figure the devil they know is better than the devil they don’t. It’s just plain inconvenient to seek out someone else, so they stay where they are even when they’re less than satisfied or pleased.

You probably have a favorite restaurant in your neighborhood. It’s not part of a chain ‒ more likely it’s owned by a family or someone who takes real pride in the place. You go there regularly. You and your wife both love it. You end up recommending it to some friends.

Time goes by and you haven’t seen your friends. But sure enough, the next time you do see them the first thing they bring up is that crummy, hole-in-the-wall dive of a restaurant you referred them to.

This is a loud-and-clear reminder to never make that mistake again.

Sometimes referrals happen only by request. “Hey, I’m new in the area. Where do you take your cleaning?”

That’s a question most of us will answer, but we’re not about to go around telling people about our dry cleaner. That’s a very high threshold.

Another reason why customers don’t refer is because there is no motivation in it for them. No reason for them to do this. Their feelings about your business are pretty neutral, ambivalent. They consider what you do for them to be “okay” or “fair”. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but you’ll do.

You mistakenly think their continued patronage is a sign of ecstatic approval for which you are entitled some kind of extra reward ‒ like referrals.

You are kidding yourself. You are projecting something that really isn’t there at all.

Plus, there is no system or mechanism or process in place to refer someone. So even if I appreciate the services of my accountant, barber, landscaper there is nothing in place that I can act upon.

The last reason why you don’t automatically get referrals is expressed gratitude. Let’s say one of your customers actually overcomes all of the obstacles previously mentioned and actually sends you somebody.

What happens? They are not recognized and rewarded for this behavior.

Or maybe they are recognized with a half-hearted thank you, or an email or some cheap, off-the-shelf “thank you” card.

So the person who provided the referral thinks “That business owner really doesn’t value this. Why should I bother?”

When you actually recognize and reward, you get more of the behavior you recognize and reward.

Have you ever provided some referrals, not been recognized, and actually stopped patronizing the place or person you recommended?

This can and does happen. Things can go bad quickly. When someone provides one or more referrals there is an expectation of some sort of expressed gratitude. When this doesn’t happen there is disappointment, sometimes even bitterness.

A prompt thank you is expected. Not something that happens weeks or even months later. If the thank you is delayed it either has no impact at all or it could spark bad feelings.

Every business person understands the need to spend money to get new customers off the street. But for some reason they think referrals should be free.

Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.

What you need is a Referral Machine. It’s something that’s intentional. This means there is a process in place that happens the same way every time. It is an investment. Most businesses have no problem spending on external marketing but don’t believe in internal marketing. A Referral Machine costs money to build, and there’s an investment to be made in running it continuously. It’s also integrated meaning it is a regular part of a business. It’s integrated for both customers and staff. It’s a part of your culture.

This weekend’s web deal is The Ultimate No B.S. Referral Machine. It features tested and proven systems designed to attract and maintain a steady flow of referrals to your business. Order it by midnight Monday, September 7th, and you’ll also get a great bonus extra: Magical Culture: How to Wow Your Customers and Excite Your Employees. This presentation by Travis Miller and Jimmy Vee was a big hit at SuperConference 2015. This bonus is yours FREE this weekend only when you sign up for The Ultimate No B.S. Referral Machine.

The Golden Rule of Lead Generation

There’s an old saying that “you shouldn’t believe your own press.” The point being that you need to think accurately about the reality of your business, and not be sucked into buying any kind of “happy happy” spin – even if it’s spin that you’ve worked hard to concoct and broadcast to the world.

That level of self-awareness and accurate thinking underlies what some might call the “Golden Rule of Lead Generation,” which boils down to this:

Ya gotta know how much Gold it REALLY costs.

You HAVE to be able to accurately assess the “REAL cost of lead generation” in your business. Because if you’re successful in generating leads, you have to apply metrics to ensure it’s making solid business sense in accordance with your strategic goals.

Take a lead gen media such as Google Adwords, which can still prove extremely lucrative. Most marketers only count the cost of the Pay-Per-Click spend itself. But your time to manage this needs to be factored into the investment as well.

For example, if you check your stats once a day times 5-minutes, that’s 5 minutes x 365 days = 30 hours a year, times whatever your hour is worth. Mine is worth $3,000.00, so that would be an investment of $90,000.00 for me, requiring a direct return of at least $180,000.00 to even get considered.

Same as with any labor: when I was getting new customers by speaking, I could make myself feel rich beyond imagination if counting only the hour giving the speech or even the several hours on site – or I could opt for accuracy and count the day of travel on either side plus the day of the gig, plus the opportunity costs of not being at home doing other productive work.

The key point here is that there’s no strategic leverage in media that must be managed, massaged, even re-created and labored over every day. An oil well that needs to be drilled anew each morning isn’t much of an asset.

Where you’ll find REAL LEVERAGE is with media that can be put to work and then left alone to work again and again over some length of time. That’s why establishing leverage in all of your lead generation efforts is so important.

In a few days, I will cover EXACTLY how to achieve this kind of leverage in a presentation I’m calling:

Open the Floodgates: The Hottest, Most Powerful Methods

for Generating a Gusher of Qualified Traffic!

It takes place direct from Info-SUMMIT, this coming Friday, November 6th at 12PM ET.

Imagine never having to worry about lead generation or whether it’s making sense business-wise, because you’ve designed everything to work on autopilot according to plan. That’s exactly the kind of scenario you want to experience.

If you’d like to make this happen in your business’s lead-gen efforts, I suggest you CLICK HERE now to learn more and save your seat.

A Simple 3-Step Test to See How Well You Know Your Customer…

My contention is that truly understanding the targeted prospect/customer is more important than any other element in marketing success. Yes, a true pro like me can often create offers, pitches, copy, etc. that will get satisfactory results even with a market I have little understanding of – but it’s not a very good situation.

When I take on a project, I do my best to get in sync with the market. But quite truthfully, there are a handful of markets where I get much better results than with all others, because I truly understand those consumers as thoroughly as I know that man I see every day in the mirror.

I am dismayed when a client, when challenged, cannot describe their “ideal customer” in copious detail. Here’s a simple 3-Step test to see how well you REALLY know your customer.

First: Take a sheet of paper and write out the most detailed description you can of a TV character from one of your favorite shows – such as Tim Allen’s “Mike Baxter” from ABC’s Last Man Standing.

Second: Write down answers to at least the following: where does he live, how does he dress, what interests him, likes/dislikes, what does he think about money, sex, etc.? Fill both sides of the page.

And now the kicker…

Third: When that’s done, try and write out just as detailed a description of your customer.

If you find it easier to profile the TV character than your customer, that tells you a lot.

I absolutely guarantee: the more you know about your customer, the easier it will be to use lead generation methods to attract them cost-effectively and the easier it will be to actually close the deal once they arrive at your doorstop.

Fortunately, in a few days, Dave Dee will reveal his most closely guarded secrets to not only UNDERSTANDING your “perfect customer,” but also how to ATTRACT literal floods of them – to your website, to your storefront, to your phones – in a LIVE presentation he’s calling:

Open the Floodgates: The Hottest, Most Powerful Methods

for Generating a Gusher of Qualified Traffic!

It takes place direct from Info-SUMMIT this coming Friday, November 6th at 12PM ET.

Imagine what it would feel like to never again struggle with trying to figure out “the best way” to attract just the right customer, client, or patient. Well, you don’t have to imagine – Dave’s going to spill the beans on what’s working NOW to do just that.

You can learn more and even grab your seat by clicking here.