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The secret to making your income grow by leaps and bounds is to have a simple system in place that organizes your list-building, marketing, and promotional activities.  It is important to invest time in managing these activities, because the size of your list, as well as the timing and quality of your marketing and promotional activities, directly influences the amount of your income.  

Having said this, the problem many entrepreneurs experience is managing all these activities quickly becomes overwhelming, because there are just too many different activities to manage.   

The solution to this problem is to create three different calendars to manage all activities you must do to grow your business.  These three calendars are:

1. List-building

2. Marketing

3. Promotional activities

Using these calendars will banish overwhelm you may feel at all you have to do to grow your business.  Having three calendars may seem like it complicates the planning process, but, it actually simplifies it. 

I found when I tried to combine all my list-building, marketing, and promotional activities into one calendar, I ended up with a massive calendar that was a paralyzing mess.  By breaking up these distinctly different activities into three simple calendars,   it made my list-building, marketing, and promotional activities easier to manage.  It will help you do the same, too.

Here are the three simple tips about how to create your own simple calendars, just like the ones I use to manage my business-building and income-generating activities with ease.

Tip #1 – List-Building Calendar

A List-Building Calendar will simply detail out for you the timing of all the different list-building activities you will do throughout the year to build your list of prospects. 

To begin building this calendar, take a pencil and write down on a piece of paper a list of the different list-building activities you intend to do.  For example, some common and easy to implement list-building activities include:

- Offer free teleseminars

- Offer to be a guest speak on other people’s teleseminars

- Write and submit articles online/print publications

- Launch Pay-Per-Click campaigns

- Speak at live events

- Blog

- Participate in various social media activities

- Submit press releases

- Networking

After you write down your list of list-building activities, plot these different activities on your List-Building Calendar.  I recommend categorizing this calendar by month, and then by week, such as January, Week one, Week two, etc.  Doing so will make it easy to see 1) how often, and, 2) what you are doing to build your list of prospects and potential buying customers!

Tip #2 – Marketing Cash Calendar

A Marketing Cash Calendar helps you to plan the different products and programs you intend to launch during the year to generate your planned revenues. 

To begin to create this calendar, first write down all the different products and programs you plan to promote in the coming year (or whatever is your planning timetable).  Then, create a goal for how many of each product or program you want to sell.  For example, you may have a product titled, ‘Information Product A,’ and your goal is to sell fifty copies at $100 each in January, for total estimated revenue of $5,000.   

Then, using the same calendar format as for your List-Building Calendar (by month and week), plot your planned launch dates for each product and program.  The launch date is the actual date you expect to be generating income from a promotion.  Also, include a column for ‘Total Monthly Revenue,’ so you can see what your planned revenue is by month, and then add it up all months at the bottom of the column to see your total planned revenues for the year.

You may want to plan a maximum of four, certainly no more than six, different promotions in one year.  The reason is it can become very complicated for you to manage promoting more than one product or program at a time.  In addition, people on your list will get confused about the different offers, become irritated, and unsubscribe from your list (which some will do anyway when you promote). 

Tip #3 – Promotional Activities Calendar

Looking at your Marketing Cash Calendar, use this calendar to plan the different promotional activities you will do for a SPECIFIC product or program launch.  This means you will have a different Promotional Activities Calendar for each individual planned product or program launch.   

To create this calendar, list each of the specific activities you will do to promote, such as:

- Mention in ezine

- Tweet about the promotion

- Write about in blog

- Lead preview teleseminars

- Write articles about the topic, addressing benefits/objections

- Send direct mail to existing clients

Then, look at the launch date, and work backwards from this date to plot out the timing, and different promotional activities you will do.  Allow a period of four to six weeks to ‘seed’ the program, and then two weeks for active promotion and launch. 

By keeping your calendars separate, and simple, this allows you to focus your energy on creating results, and increasing your income in a grander way.

NOTE: If you are a creative entrepreneur wanting jumpstart your income in 2010, I recommend checking out the Money and Marketing Magic Intensive VIP Platinum Retreat, where I will help you almost effortlessly plan your income streams, and marketing and promotional calendars for 2010.  Email me at Bonita@Bonitarichter.com for details and the application.  There is ONLY 1 opening left.

Isn’t it time to breakthrough barriers holding you back from achieving more income in your business?  What it takes to is confidence you can do it, courage to take action, and a solid plan and system to transform your business into something special.

Achieving extraordinary results in your business requires you to open up your mind, and do things differently than the way you’ve become accustomed in the past.  To help you start the New Year in a powerful way, I am sharing with you seven powerful steps you can follow to make 2010 a spectacular year for you and your business .

The seven steps to follow to achieve a business breakthrough in 2010 are:

Step 1: Discover you authentic brand identity

Step 2: Clarify your market niche

Step 3: Design a profitable business model

Step 4: Develop creative packages

Step 5: Raise your fees

Step 6: Build your credibility

Step 7: Increase your list of leads and prospects 

Step 1: Discover your authentic brand identity

Many entrepreneurs struggle with discovering their brand identity, which is something that communicates who they are, and how they want to position themselves to their market, relative to all other brands.  Without a brand identity, you look flat and lifeless to your market, and don’t communicate a personality or clear message to attract the right clients you will buy from you.

Your authentic brand identity captures the essence of who you are, communicates your values, personality, and what you stand for to your market niche.  By successfully communicating your brand identity, you will attract your ideal client, the person most likely to buy from you.   Also, what this means, is you will repel people who do not have anything in common with you, and will probably never buy from you.

Examples of strong brands and their archetypes we all know are Levi Jeans-Explorer, Lady Diana-Innocent, Nike-Hero, and Tom Petty-Outlaw.  Archetypes evoke strong, deep emotions that everyone can connect to, and understand.  The twelve ancient archetypes and primary attributes associated with them are:

1. The Innocent – Wholesome, pure

2. The Explorer – Seeker, adventurous

3. The Sage – Thinker, philosopher

4. The Hero – Warrior, change the world

5. The Outlaw – Rebellious, liberated

6. The Magician- spiritual, holistic

7. The Regular Guy/Gal – Not pretentious, straight shooter

8. The Lover – Seek True Love, intimacy

9. The Jester – Playful, trickster

10. The Caregiver- selfless, compassionate

11. The Creator – Innovative, artistic

12. The Ruler – Leader, confident

Which archetype are you?  Think about these twelve archetypes, their related attributes, and determine which one resonates most with you.

Step 2: Clarify your market niche

One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make, without fail, is they don’t have a clearly defined target market.  They think they do, that it is women business owners who have a service business, or work-at-home moms, or people who have household incomes of $150,000 or higher, or businesses involved industry “X.”  This information tells you very little about the buyer, how they make buying decisions, what motivates them to buy, and what values are important to them.  

Lack of clarity about your target market will keep your income level stuck at its current level, no matter how hard you market.  The reason is without a clearly defined market, you are marketing to everyone, and not reaching anyone. 

It is imperative to determine exactly who your market niche is, and where you can find them.  You need to know your market niche so well, that if you pass this person on the street, or you drive by their company, you can identify they are your ideal clients. 

Step 3: Design a profitable business model

Most entrepreneurs’ business models don’t work, simply because they consciously have never thought out a well-defined business model.  A business model is simply what activities you do to make money in your business.

Here are two some quick ideas how to create a better performing business model:

1. Decide on three core ways you will be paid for your topic, such as through teleseminars, workshops/retreats, and coaching programs.

2. Decide what percent of your income will come from each of these three core activities.

By doing these two simple steps, you will gain clarity about the activities you must focus on doing in your business to generate income, and you will also prioritize your activities.

Step 4: Develop creative packages

Packaging your services makes it easier for clients to make buying decisions.  The reason for this is think about your services you provide, and this includes paid-for services, as well as ones you provide for free, such as telephone and email support, a free consultation or needs analysis, etc.  It becomes quite a long list, doesn’t it?  Now, try to sell these services to your potential clients.  It becomes confusing, and overwhelming to your clients, as well as to you.  The end result is a buying decision is delayed or never happens.

Packaging your services makes it easier for your potential clients to conceptually understand what your offerings are, makes it easier for them to make a buying decision, and it makes it easier for you to sell your products and services.  Offering three different levels of packages, at three different price points, also offers more opportunity for your clients to say yes to your offerings. 

Step 5: Raise your fees

Many entrepreneurs give away too much of our personal services for free, and I have to say I have been guilty of this for years.  We give away free coaching, free consulting, free design work, and then we wonder why people don’t buy. 

The best way to raise your fees is to determine the value of the results you offer your clients.  This will convince you to change your fees overnight!

For use coaches and consultants, we typically do a needs analysis and assessment, by which our client then knows exactly what needs to be done to fix the problem.  This has to stop, because you are giving away your coaching and consulting for free.  To have confidence to increase your fees you must first determine the value of the results you create for your clients.  A simple way to do this is brainstorm a list of thirty results clients can expect by working with you.  Those results for your client could be:

• Raise your fees so you can potentially double your income in 2010
• Learn a sales process that gets people to effortlessly say “Yes” to your offers, making you more sales, a higher conversion rate
• Identify your brand archetype so you authentically and easily communicate who you are, and take out the guesswork about how to brand yourself
• Identify the right words to use to attract your target market
• Increase confidence and eliminate doubt

 Think about the top result your client ultimately wants to get from working with you, such as ‘increase income,’ and quantify the result, if you can. 

Step 6: Build your credibility

Another way to charge higher fees is to build your credibility, by being known and sought after as an expert in your field.  The more people who know about you be seeing, hearing, and reading about you in different places, the easier it ill be for you to command higher fees.  There are a number of ways to build your credibility, including:

•  Submitting press releases
• Being interviewed by a reporter
• Speaking in public
• Conducting teleseminars
• Being a guest on other peoples’ teleseminars
• Writing and publishing articles
• Writing and publishing a book
• Posting entries on popular blogs
• Becoming active on social media networks, such as Twitter and Facebook

Not only are these activities powerful ways to build your credibility, but they are also easy to do.  Pick a few activities to focus on, build your credibility and celebrity, and raise your fees.

Step 7: Increase your list of leads and prospects

Be increasing your credibility and celebrity, this will give you an opportunity to increase your list of leads and prospects, people who may buy from you.  Make sure you have a way to capture leads, people who are interested in learning more about your products and services.  Without a way to capture leads, you will have no way to follow-up with them, and they will be gone forever.

Once you capture a lead, have a very strong follow-up strategy in place.  Following up means determining how you will stay in touch with your leads, and how often.  Some ways to stay in touch and follow-up are through an ezine publication, direct mail, thank you cards, birthday cards, special offers for customers only, email promotions, or calling and emailing directly, etc. 

These seven powerful steps will position you to transform your business, and achieve spectacular success in 2010! 

P.S. To find out how I can help you achieve breakthrough results with my Money and Marketing Magic Intensive VIP Platinum Retreat request an invitation Letter and Application directly from me at Bonita@BonitaRichter.com.  This program is designed to deliver a high level of intense coaching in a short period of time, so you can make powerful decisions about your business, and take powerful action towards achieving Vision of success very quickly.  It will move you forward fast.

A major issue for many small business owners is they do not have enough qualified prospects in their sales and marketing pipeline.   Without prospects, there is no one to sell to, and no revenues are created.  It takes time to generate leads, something which the average small business owner is already short of having.

To compound the problem, once a lead is generated, a weak or non-existent follow-up strategy exists.  So, what happens is a once-warm lead is forgotten, and a sale lost.  Meanwhile, the small business owner gets back to generating new leads.  Talk about a merry-go-round and a frustrating experience!  What a small business owner needs is a leads generation solution which takes the least amount of effort, and works. 

Before embarking on a journey of finding new prospects, the first thing to do is choose a target market to direct your prospecting efforts toward.  To do this, look at your customer history, and determine who your Best Buyers are—your Best Buyers are the 20% of your customer base, whom give you 80% of your business. 

Look at this list.  Do these buyers share any common characteristics, such as age, gender, income level, stage of business, type of business, geography, problem, etc?  This buyer has already proven they are attracted to you and your work, so go find more buyers like this!  So, look at your customer history, and write down a profile of your Best Buyers that you will prospect.

Top Lead Generation Systems

Generating leads can be a combination of both offline and online activities.  Following are some of the most effective and best ways I have found to generate solid leads.

Direct Mail

You can start a direct mail campaign using postcards.  Direct mail is not that hard to do, nor as expensive as you may have heard.  This is especially true if you send post cards, and use a targeted approach to your mailings.  Here are some quick tips to help you run your own post card direct mail campaign:

1. Identify a group of 25 to 100 people who will hear from you at least one time per month

2. Send a monthly postcard offering your free gift to get them on your list   3. Have a clear place to send them to, such as your website, to sign up on your list

An alternative approach is to send out one postcard, each week, for four consecutive weeks.  Then begin your monthly mailings.  This approach is called a ‘blast,’, and shortens the amount of time to build name recognition of your brand.

Pay-Per-Click Search Engines

Another approach is to buys leads from Internet search engines, through what is called ‘Pay-Per-Click Search Engines’ (PPCSE).  The two best PPCSEs are Google AdWords at google.com/ads, and Overture at overture.com.  This strategy puts your website directly in front of people who are actively searching for what you are selling.  You only pay for leads when a person clicks on the ad through to your website.  Running a PPCSE campaign isn’t that hard, but there are some tricks to it.  I recommend reading Google AdWords for Dummies to learn more.

Teleseminars

Another way to build leads is to offer free teleseminars to your target market.  Teleseminars are an excellent way to build a relationship and trust with your audience, because they can hear your voice, experience your style, and get to know your personality. 

When planning a teleseminar, be sure you are offering it to a very specific market, and the teleseminar addresses a specific problem your market is struggling with, all-the-while making the seminar content very broad.  In the program, talk about ‘why’ people need to know ‘what’ information you is presenting.  “How’ information is always reserved for your paid-for services. 

When hosting a teleseminar, consider listing with the following services for added exposure and increased sign-ups; teleclass.com, planetteleclass.com, seminarannouncer.com, and cculearning.com. 

Speaking at Live Events

One of my favorite ways to generate leads is to speak at live events, where you can present your signature topic to a group.  Whether you are presenting for free, or for a fee, this is a golden opportunity to collect leads.

An easy way to collect leads is to prepare a flyer that details your ‘irresistible free offer.’  If people attending the event are interested in receiving your free gifts, have them put their business cards in a basket you pass around.  By doing this you’ve easily collected a group of leads!  When you get back to your office, have your assistant add the people to your list, and send them the free gifts they requested.  (If you have a double opt-in service, they will have to opt-in to receive the gifts.  You may want to mention this at the event where you are collecting leads.)

Referrals

Getting leads by referrals is the most cost-efficient, fastest, and most loyal leads you will generate.  People referred to you tend to buy quicker, negotiate less, and refer more business to you.  The key is to have a proactive referral system in place, and not leave this powerful lead generating system to chance. 

Some ways you can generate leads by referral are by simply asking for them before you deliver services to your client, by making this request part of your contract.  You can position this by saying to your client that you guarantee your services, and want them to be 100% pleased.  Being that you expect this to happen, ask them if they are happy with your services, if they will offer you three referrals.  Most people will say “yes” to this request.

You can also build a dynamic ‘Business Referral Network.’  Simply identify 10 occupations that already do business with your target market.  For example, a wedding planner may identify a printer, baker, dress shop, stationary store, etc. as business referral partners.  From each of these occupation groups, identify 10 ten individuals you want to develop relationships.  Doing this will yield you a total of 100 business referral partners (10 occupations x 10 individuals = 100 partners).

These lead generation systems are effective, fast ways to generate leads for your business, and take the least amount of effort to yield startling results.  Try just one method, or try all of them.  Doing them on a consistent basis will help you increase revenues of your business.

Copyright 2009, Bonita Richter