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Do you have an income goal in mind that you’d like to achieve over the next 12 months?

Imagine—

• ‘What’ kind and ‘how many’ products/services you have to sell
• At ‘what’ price
• In a monthly and yearly basis to achieve your income goal

If you’re like most people, at this point, the waters start to muddy up and your vision of how you’re going to achieve the goal becomes less clear.

By playing the “Show Me the Money Treasure Hunt Game”, you’ll break down a large income goal into manageable chunks.

This helps you “get your head around” how you are actually going to accomplish the goal, making your chances of succeeding much higher.

Here are 5 easy steps to play the “Show Me the Money Treasure Hunt Game”:

Step 1: Write down your income goal for the next 12 months.

When formulating your income goal, also think about your desired lifestyle, financial obligations, as well as how much money you want to save and invest to build wealth.

As an example to play this game, let’s set an income goal of $125,000.

Step 2: List the products you currently offer for sale, and at what prices.

Simply make a list. When forecasting the revenue for your business, you’ll want to consider each of the different products and services you offer, as well as what price you are selling them. You can play this game if you have 1, 3, 5 or 15 products or streams of income!

For our example, let’s imagine you offer 4 products and services:

• An e-Book for $37
• A multi-part e-Course for $157
• A workbook and CD set for $497
• VIP 1-on-1 coaching services for $1,000

Step 3: Ask yourself, “Can I increase the prices if these products?”

Playing the money game is a good time to review the prices of your products and services. You certainly don’t want to be leaving money on the table if your products are as good or better than competitors’, but you are charging much less money. Check out your competitors’ prices for similar offerings, and “bump up your prices” a bit (if you can) to increase your income.

Step 4: Play the money game.

Draw 4 columns on a piece pf paper. Label them, from left to right:

• Product or Service
• Units to Sell per Month
• Price per Unit
• Annual Product Sales

List each of your products and prices below the appropriate headings. Then, simply multiply the number of products you forecast to sell, times the price of each product, times 12 months. By doing this you “map out” how much you have to sell of each product to achieve your income goals.

The beauty of the “Show Me the Money Treasure Hunt Game” is you can experiment with different quantities and prices of products to see what the result will be on your income.

Step 5: Implement a marketing system

To unlock your treasure chest of gold, playing the “Show Me the Money” game isn’t all you have to do to increase your income. You’ll also have to commit to implementing a marketing system to generate interest in your products, and boost traffic to your web site/offline business so those sales can become achievable.

Playing the “Show Me the Money Treasure Hunt Game” makes your vision of “how” you are going to achieve your income goal tangible. It is also a great tool to measure your progress on a monthly basis toward reaching your income goal!

What are your thoughts about how this exercise may help you?  Let me know if it did help you by posting a comment.

I am so happy you’re back visiting my blog!  Leave a comment on the blog, and make sure you join my FREE newsletter so we stay in touch, and I can learn more about what you’re creating!

Have you ever looked at your calendar, and panicked because realized you overbooked yourself, and can’t possibly accomplish everything you’ve committed to doing?

I recently had a week where I had multiple Platinum client coaching and follow-up activities to take care of, I was travelling out of town for a couple of days, and I had five different seminars to lead within two days time—with one of those seminars being entirely brand-new content.

I had a whole 4-hour time slot in my calendar to create my slide presentation and handouts, before a 7:30 am seminar scheduled the next morning.

Before some of you suggest I become a better time manager, hear me out.

The truth is I didn’t panic.

You see, I work at a high rate of velocity, and have learned how to accelerate the rate in which I can deliver and create high-quality, high-value content, whether it’s planning activities for a seven-hour coaching retreat, or a new seminar.

To create the same volume (and quality) of work I do, many people invest days, if not weeks, creating their plans, content, and materials.  I know this, because one of the things I routinely work on with my Platinum clients is accelerating the pace at which they complete work, so they increase their income more quickly.  Universally, there is usually some “reengineering” in the manner in which they get their work done.

What’s the result of getting things done more quickly?  You WORK LESS, ACHIEVE FASTER, GREATER RESULTS, which means more cash flows into your pocketbook.

Examples of where you can achieve results could be taking less time to prepare for your coaching clients you serve, creating workshop or teleseminar content faster, or even creating an information product in a fraction of the time, and getting it to market faster.

Most of us entrepreneurs have a habit of working on our projects MUCH longer than we need to.  Why do we do this?  It’s because of a phenomenon called Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law, stated in terms of time, says—

“The amount of time in which one has to perform a task is the amount of time it will take to complete that said task.”

Translation: If you need to make a video introduction for your website, you’ll as likely take four weeks to produce, edit, tweak, and post it, when you could have accomplished the task in less than one week.  Dragging completion out of this project means you fill time, which is unproductive, and reduces your income potential!

By now, I know you’re convinced you can create results faster, in less time, with less effort, and produce high-quality work, to boot.  First, remember work expands to fill the time allotted.  Second, you have to consciously and deliberately create focused momentum.  Here are four tips how to increase the velocity of how fast you complete tasks:

1.  Be accountable to someone.

Whether it’s scheduling a workshop you’ve been meaning to lead for the last year, or signing yourself up for personal coaching, go public with the announcement or commitment.  Set a date.  Invest in coaching services and finally commit to growing your business, rather than saying to yourself, “I’ll do it when ________.”  Put some strong accountability in place so you have to get it done.

2.  Set specific time frames.

Be very clear and specific about a time, and date when you must “deliver the goods,” lead the seminar, or invest in you.  Also, set aside a specific amount of time to do the work.

My rule of thumb is decide how much time it will take you to complete a task, say 12 hours, and then cut that amount of time in half, to 6 hours.  By doing this you’ve just doubled the velocity of getting the task completed!

3.  Get focused.

Allow no distractions or interruptions during “creation time.”  This means no texting, tweeting, emailing, phoning, surfing the Internet, or straying off task.  Get focused, and committed to completing the task in the time you allotted.  (This will be easy if you stacked up your calendar with other “To-Do’s” and appointments.)

4. Believe in yourself.

This is probably the most important point of all, which is believing in yourself, that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to doing—and you will do it brilliantly well.

When pressed with a tight timeframe, don’t panic.  Just sit down, and get to the work.  When you follow these steps, you can easily double your results while working much less, which will mean a whole lot more cash in your pocketbook!

Action Steps to Accelerate Results:

1. What’s one profitable or income-producing task that’s been on your To-Do list for a while that you’re ready to tackle?  Write it down.

2. How can you pro-actively use the four steps I outlined above to achieve the task?

3. Schedule this task on your calendar, and get to it!

Creating an information product can be a high-payoff activity for you to grow your business, and income.  Specifically, information products are eBooks, CD, and workbook kits.

Here is a quick list of reasons WHY you need to get started creating an information product right away!

1. Builds credibility

When you author and publish an eBook, workbook, or CD product, many people will see you as an expert in your field.  It is perfectly appropriate to self-publish, and garner respect that used to only be reserved for authors published by the’ big’ publishing houses.  Taking the time to compile well-thought-out content will increase your visibility, and build credibility with your market.

2. Generates leads

People want to know what you have to offer, and buying an information product is a perfect way for them to ‘try you out’.  Your information product gives them a way to do that, with little risk of their time or money.

A bonus is many people who buy your product, will then desire to work with you more closely.  Having an information product is a perfect lead generator to sell your higher-end services.

My Platinum coaching clients, almost without fail, have purchased my information product from me, first, before they coached 1-1 with me.

You can also use your information product to get speaking gigs, and get radio or teleseminar interview invitations.

3. Creates passive revenue

Selling copies of your product from your website, though not the easiest way to earn money, it is a beautiful way to earn passive revenue!

4. Offers a Platinum-Style Program opportunity

You can create a Platinum Style Program focused on expanding and deepening your clients’ knowledge about your information product topic. You can also create a teleseminar or workshop from your product.

5. Creates a Joint Venture opportunity

Other people will notice you when you have a product, and will invite you to partner with them on their promotions and programs.

6. Gives prospective clients the opportunity to say “yes”

Getting clients onto your list with your free offer, and having them purchase an information product with a small investment will lead to some people leaping to a higher investment program, I assure you!

Creating an information product is a great way to leverage your knowledge, get more people saying “yes” to your offers, and grow your business and income.  To learn a step-by-step process HOW to create an information product, be sure to check out my 7-Step Easy-to-Implement R.E.S.U.L.T.S. Marketing Success System!

While the last eighteen months may have seemed like you’ve been riding an economic rollercoaster, there’s no better time than now to take control of your cash flow.  Wisely implementing simple strategies will increase how much cash flow you create, as well as how much you keep.

The trick is to take an active role in how you create the cash flow you want.  The truth is there’s plenty of money floating around your market is willing to pay you for your products and services.  This is why I’m sharing with you three simple tips to help you get a handle on your cash flow, so you can sit pretty in the “money driver’s seat.”

1. Where’s the money coming from?

How many income streams do you have in your business?  By looking at this, you may discover there are untapped opportunities for you to offer a wider selection of services, and create a flow of additional income-generating activities.

For example, if you typically offer 1-1 services, now may the time to add a teleclass, a 6-month group coaching program, or begin to offer 1-day intensives.  Doing this leverages knowledge and program materials you’ve already created, and dramatically increases cash flow with very little effort.

2. Raise the value and pricing of what you already offer.

If you haven’t changed your services in a while, then chances are you’re offering something that may seem like “stale bread” to your clients, and to top it off, you’re probably undercharging for these products and services.

One thing you can do is redesign your current offerings to “freshen them up.”  Rename a home study kit, or add new content to update your offerings so they reflect current hot trends.  Doing this will increase perceived value of your offerings, increase desirability and demand…which puts you in a position to charge a higher price.

Everyone wins because your clients get a better package, and you’re increasing your cash flow.

3. Start tracking your income daily.

Every day write down the total amount of money you bring in.  By paying attention to your daily cash flow, you increase your “cash flow awareness,” and when you see a gap, it triggers you to work on collecting cash owed you, or pushes you toward launching a program to generate cash.  By paying positive attention to cash flow, you attract more of it into your life!

Keep your approach to solving cash flow issues simple. Be willing to refocus on what activities you do to make money, and create cash flow.  Be willing to make the simple, but powerful, changes I noted.  Doing so will bring more cash flow into your life easier than you thought possible.

Let me know how these tips work for you, and which tip is your favorite!  Share your tips with our readers by posting on my blog.

Have you ever used the ‘ABC’ system of prioritizing tasks on your To Do list?  When you did this, did you end up with a list of all A’s, and being no closer to knowing what task to work on next?

Simply assigning an alphabetical code to items on your To Do list doesn’t work.  What does work is applying thought-out criteria to separate the A’s, from the B’s, and C’s.   By doing this you will effortlessly gain clarity about what activities you need to do to focus on doing in your business, and accelerate growth of your business with grace and ease.

The AaBC System

The criteria you apply to each of the tasks on your To Do list is the cornerstone of the AaBC System.  Following this system will make it crystal clear where you must spend your time on a daily basis.

A – Is for items that will 1) push your business ahead, 2) that only you can do, and 3) are time sensitive.  All three criteria must be met to classify an activity as an A activity.

A activities, by nature, are those activities that will grow your business, and leverage your unique brilliance and skills.

You should aim to invest 80% of your time performing A activities. 

Examples of A activities are—

• Creating a new product by a specific date
• Delivering services (such as coaching, consulting, teleseminars)
• Interviewing serious coaching candidates

a – Small a’s are time sensitive.  However, if they don’t happen, it will not be detrimental to your business.  Time sensitivity is the only criteria a items share with their big sister, A.

An example of small a activity is adding a few more presentation slides to a seminar you are leading the next morning.  If the task is not completed, it will not significantly affect the quality of your presentation.

B – Is for items that are 1) important, 2) will move your business forward, but, 3) have no time sensitive deadline.

Examples of B items are—

• Making contact with a potential business referral partner
• Writing a proposal for a grant program that is ‘rolling’ (has no due date for application)
• Following up on request to be a guest speaker with no specified date

B items are perfect activities to delegate to another person to do for you.

C – is for items that won’t any difference in your business if you choose not to do them. 

C items might include—

• Responding to inquiries for joint venture partnerships you’re mildly interested
• Recording a new MP3 download for subscribers to your e-newsletter
• Responding to an interview request by a reporter of a lesser-known publication

You can do C items if you have spare time, and enjoy doing them as “downtime” from A activities.  After all, we all need a break from brainy tasks from time to time!

Also, a good rule to follow is don’t pay an assistant to do C tasks.

Remember, they won’t make a difference in your business if you choose not to do them, so you don’t want to pay someone to work on these tasks.

Learn to say, “No, thank you”

We all love to help people, and do favors for others.  However, to grow your business, you’ll have to learn to say “No, thank you” to some requests of your time.  Your time is a limited resource; once it passes, it never shall return.  Learn to say “No, thank you” to requests such as speaking at groups with less than30 people.

Making choices and prioritizing how you spend your time in your business on a daily basis will powerfully move you and your business forward, and transform your business so you will achieve your most important goals!

What are your tips for prioritizing so you focus on what moves your business forward?  Share with our readers by making a comment.

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

Writing a special report, or “white paper,” as it’s commonly called, is a fantastic strategy for creating leads for your business.

A simple ten to twenty page document that people can request from your website will create a strong desire for people wanting to do business with you. Writing a special report isn’t complicated. In fact, even if you don’t like writing, you can easily and quickly write a report by following these seven tips.

1. State the “Big Problem.”

You’ll get your reader’s attention if you jump right into what their “point of pain” or problem is they’re experiencing. Demonstrate through writing that you:

• Understand the core problem they’re facing
• Care they are having this problem
• Understand how frustrating having this problem is for them

2. What is the cost of this problem?

People respond faster to alleviating problems and pain, than they do to the potential for gain. So, it is imperative in your special report you specifically communicate what this problem is costing them. Perhaps it is they are losing out on money they could be using to fund a desired lifestyle, to live debt-free, pay for their children’s’ college education, etc. Quantify this cost, if you can!

3. Talk about the general solution.

First, start out by giving a “big picture” solution to solving the problem, such as hiring a coach to accelerate achievement of desired results, or implementing a solid, results-oriented marketing strategy.

Second, talk about how people have tried other solutions, have failed, and why. Examples of reasons why could be “programs are too complicated to understand or are incomplete” or “includes too much technical jargon.” Providing the solution in this format sets you up as THE solution to the problem!

4. State your specific solution.

Lay out your method or system to the reader. This section should be a minimum 50% of your entire special report, and is where you briefly communicate your process for solving the problem. Perhaps you have a seven-step marketing system, or a five-step method for attracting the perfect mate.

It is important in this section to tell your reader what you do—but, not how to do it! The “how” is what you want them to pay you for (solving the problem). However, give the reader some tips and strategies they can use to start solving their problem. This helps build a relationship, and their “like and trust” factor with you.

5. Prove your solution works.

Share the results of your solution by sharing case studies of actual clients you’ve worked with previously. A great formula to use to tell a case study is the P.A.R method – Problem, Action, and Result, and works like this:

• State the Problem a client had before they worked with you
• Show the Action your client took, and how the problem was solved.
• Tell the Results the client experienced; quantify results, if you can.

6. State your credibility.

What are your credentials? What is your success story? How did you discover the system or methodology you use? You can include this information in a one-page biography to establish your authority and expertise on the subject.

7. Tell the reader what to do next.

By now, your reader should be aching to work with you, and excited to take the next step. Point the reader in the right direction, and clearly, specifically spell out a call to action. Give them an irresistible offer they can’t refuse, and a time limit for them to take advantage of the offer.

One final tip…make you special report conversational. As you are writing, think about a specific person you would be writing this to, like a friend or person you know. The purpose of your special report is to build a relationship between you, and your lead. This builds their “know, trust, and like” factor with you. Moving them closer to doing business with you!

© 2009, Bonita Richter

Do you feel your business is just “sputtering along,” and not gathering the steam you’d like to fuel it’s growth?

If this is true for you, designing a profitable business model includes some key components and lead generation activities you may be missing.

A business model is simply what activities you do to make money in your business. Missing just one major element jeopardizes the ability of your business to achieve the income results you desire. The good news is a viable, profitable business model isn’t hard to create. I have clients who’ve used the same tips I’m about to share with you to grow their own businesses into multi-6-figure empires.

Following are some quick ideas and tips you can use to compare your current business model and lead generation activities. If you find you have some gaps in your money-making plan, simply apply the following ideas, and you’ll be on your way to creating a better performing business:

Define Your Business Model

• Decide on three core ways you will be paid for your topic, such as through teleseminars, workshops/retreats, and coaching programs.
• Decide what percent of your income will come from each of these three core activities.

Identify Your Signature System

• Create a signature system; be known for something (such as how to help others make more money in their service business, or how to create a brand identity).
• Think about steps you take a client through to achieve a result; this is your signature system.
• What are your clients repeatedly asking for? This could be your new information product.

Create Your Profit Pyramid

• Create a profit pyramid for each product and service your offer; include a minimum three levels, at three different price points.
• Example: the first level will be your free gift, the second level will be an eBook or home study system, and the third level is your “big ticket” item.

Create Your Website, eZine, and Blog

• Be sure you can collect the names and email addresses of people who visit your website. These people are warm leads.
• Start publishing an eZine so you can keep in touch with your prospects, develop a relationship with them, and eventually promote and sell to them.
• Start a blog. Google loves the contemporary nature of blogs, which will help with your Google ranking.
• A blog gives your readers a chance to respond to you, comment and hold conversations with each other, which in turn builds relationships and strengthen the bonds of your “tribe“ or followers.

Build Your List

• Leverage your list-building activities. Think about how you will connect with the most people, with the least effort.
• List-build in any number of ways, which may include; offering free teleseminars; be a guest on other peoples’ teleseminars; offer a free special give-a-way, such as a bundle of your articles, templates, etc.; launch a direct mail campaign; advertise; use Pay-Per-Click campaigns; and get a strong business referral network working for you.
• Also consider public speaking, press releases, and social networking.

Develop Your Customer Service Strategy

• How will you create raving fans? Think about what would delight them, offer it, and reward them for buying your products and services.
• Read Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service, by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles

Use the tips above to increase momentum, and fast-forward you toward creating a profitable business model that’ll help you achieve the income goals you desire. To learn about more tips, templates, and checklists how to create a recipe for marketing success visit www.bonitarichter.com/7-step/.