bonitarichter.com

To keep your “well full” of new clients, there are 3 easy steps you can take to create a lucrative, joyful business.  

Surprisingly, many women don’t do these 3 things, which keeps their businesses earning far too little income…and them working way too hard for too little money.

Here are 3 easy, ”must do” steps to keep clients flowing to you.

1. Market consistently

This seems like an obvious tip.  But, it is one of the most common problems I see as to why women entrepreneurs aren’t getting enough clients.

They speak once or twice a year (or not at all).  They send out an e-newsletter once every 3 to 4 months (or not at all).  The attend 1 networking function a month.

This is not consistent, nor enough marketing to build your business! 

To build your business you must market it every single day.

Choose 2 to 3 different marketing activities you will do consistently.  Do at least one of them on a daily basis.  To get the most impact, also attach a goal to the activity.  For example, if one of your chosen marketing activities is speaking, set a goal to book 2 speaking gigs on a particluar day.

If another goal is to publish an e-newsletter, then make a pact with yourself to publish it, at a minimum, bi-weekly.

2. Follow-up with people you meet

Networking, attending live events, and meeting people is a wonderful way to meet prospective new clients.  But, if they never hear from you again guess what happens?  You guessed it.  They never become clients.  Letting people “fall through the cracks” is another biggie mistake I see.

Keep track of every person you meet or speak with who is interested in your services.  Then, follow up with them on a timely basis after meeting them with a phone call, ‘nice meeting you’ card sent in the mail, or even email.

By keeping in touch, this comes across as caring, and is deeply appreciated.  Just because someone says, “not now,” doesn’t mean it’s a “not now” or “no” forever.  Continue to follow-up with them periodiocally.

3. Get people past FREE

I’m sure you’ve heard that once people invest with you one time, there’s a high likelihood they’ll invest again.  (like 80%!)

That’s why making a super high value, low cost, “no brainer” offer makes sense.  You want to get people investing with you so they can see first-hand how valuable your services and content are.

Get people over to the “land of the first purchase” as quickly as possible after meeting them or signing them on to your list.  You can do this by setting an autoresponder series of emails that begins a few days after someone new joins your list, or make an offer for a low cost teleseminar series.

With consistent marketing, follow-up, and intensely attractive, high value, low cost offers, you will experience steady income growth, and create a business you love!

Do you want to get up to 10 new clients in the next 30 days?  For a LIMITED time, I am offering my home study system, Breakthrough Secrets: How to Become Irresistible to Clients at an incredible 35% ONE-TIME savings that ENDS 11/22/11.  ($140 value).  Get this LOW-COST, HIGH- VALUE program here: http://bonitarichter.com/getnewclients-2/

Do you know why you’re marketing? The first thing many women entrepreneurs will quip when asked that question is, “To get clients.”

It may surprise you this is not the reason you’re marketing.

And, not knowing “why” you’re marketing puts you at a steep disadvantage to successfully getting clients.

Before you market and make a sale, you must have an authentic marketing MESSAGE that resonates with your ideal clients, so they line up and willingly say “yes” to your offers.

When this happens, making the sale is easy.

So, what’s your message? (and, I’m not talking about features, benefits, outcomes or results)

Going deeper, the message I’m talking about is what MOVEMENT do you stand for?

Definition: A movement is when group action is inspired by a passionately shared idea directed toward positive change. A movement is inspiring, and brings out your audience’s passion, as well as your own, to change the world.

Marketing flows with ease when we emotionally engage our desired audience in what we stand for— why we do what we do— and, how we can help them when they “come along with us.”

Taking a stand on an issue makes you stand out from the pack. Being outspoken and having an opinion will get you noticed. Appearing “plain vanilla” is, well… boring. By taking a stand for something; something you’d ‘go to the mat for’ makes you interesting, and gives your marketing message juice.

Your goal is to share your movement frequently, and effectively, that selling flows easily from your marketing. Here is my movement statement:

“I am a stand for empowering women to assert their natural gifts to the world, to be independent, and to make choices to live their lives on their OWN terms, by creating a wildly successful, passionate businesses that makes millionaresses of each of them!”

I feel strongly about this because I value independence, and I want women to be successful running their own business. So many women aren’t successful. They barely get by, barely make a living, or they give up.

I just want to yell and scream, “Get the help you need! Let me help you! You can do it if you take a stand for yourself! Be in charge of your own life.  You don’t have to be dependent on anyone else!”

Is this a strong statement? You bet!

The bottom line is marketing (and sales) strategies and tactics can work if you’re solid in knowing your movement, and you express this message authentically and consistently to your market.

To reveal your unique point of view to start your movement ask yourself the following 4 questions:

1. What do I feel strongly about?
2. “What would I “go to the mat for?”
3. What changes do I want to see?
4. What is my movement?”

To create a highly profitable and successful business that can make you thousands and even millions of dollars, start a movement, and make this the centerpiece of your marketing communications message!

For those of you who are ready to stop struggling to get clients, want to SIGNIFICANTLY raise your fees, make more money in your business, while marketing LESS, call (847) 989-0513 to inquire about coaching with me in a 6-month Private Platinum coaching program.  ONLY 2 OPENINGS AVAILABLE.  If interested, call now to inquire to SAVE $$$ until DECEMBER 31, 2011.  (my fees are INCREASING January 1, 2012)

“How do I get more clients?” is a recurring universal theme with most of the solo women entrepreneurs I work with.  They all seem to have a struggle or two around this topic, whether it be—

• Where to find prospective clients
• How to market and attract them
• How to enroll prospective clients once they express interest

I’ve chosen to focus on the “client-getting theme” because I see, without exception, this is the BIGGEST problem solo women entrepreneurs face in their businesses.

One of the eternal truths about marketing and getting clients is the simplest strategies are often the most effective, and the most overlooked.  

Forming connective, rich, heart-centered relationships is at the center of creating an authentic, and powerful system that embraces conscious selling.

Here are 10 tips how to authentically enroll clients in a thoughtful, serving manner into your programs:

1. Choose not to market to everyone

When you try to reach and appeal to “everyone” in your marketing, you reach “no one.”  A universal truth about marketing, no matter what you are selling, is you:

• Have to choose a tribe of people to connect with
• Have to choose a problem to solve

Create your programs for a specific person (market niche), and keep your programs simple when creating them.  What I mean by that is have your programs solve ONE problem at a time.  The simpler you keep your programs; the easier it will be for a prospective client to know the program is a fit for them, and more frequently, they will invest.

2. Stop planning and begin implementing

You can’t test your plan by constantly churning it around and around in your head.  At some point, and rather quickly, you want to test your plan.  You can always course-correct if you find things aren’t working out, as you’d like.  You have to make a decision to take action, and stop planning, in order to find this out.

3. Create an authentic story

Have you ever noticed many entrepreneurs, who are successful, have a “mess to success” story?  This story is important because it creates instant connection with people; others can relate to the story because they are at that challenging, frustrating place right now.  Seeing someone has overcome the challenges he or she is facing makes them feel they can do it, too. 

Think about what was the darkest, scariest time in your business.  How did you overcome this situation?  This is your “mess-to-success” story.

4. Tell your authentic story

When you tell your story, you express vulnerability and power to others.  This shows them that you are ready to support them in their journey from where they are now, to where they want to be.

5. You only need to be one-step ahead

You don’t have to be a mega-superstar-million-dollar-perfect coach or “have it all figured out” to get clients.  You only need to be slightly further down the path to help others create powerful transformation in their lives.  Sometimes just learning one thing we didn’t know before can make a life-changing difference.

6. Authentic enrollment conversations are born out of asking the right questions, not telling

Successfully enrolling clients into your programs means asking thoughtful questions so they reveal to themselves how much they need you, and how you can help.  This is so much more powerful than us “telling” people why they should invest in our programs.  1-on-1 conversations are healing conversations for your prospective clients.

7. Unlearn what you think you know about selling

Most of us have been programmed that selling is “icky,” manipulative, and is about “taking.”

Rather, know that selling is about being of service to others, and helping guide them through the transformation and positive change they are seeking.  They have come to you because they have a problem they are struggling with solving.  Approach a heart-centered sales conversation from the vantage point, “this is about serving them, not me.”

8. Our fees are a gift to our clients 

When there are low fees, typically little commitment is derived from both your client, and you.  Higher commitment creates greater value.  Exceptional value and transformation comes from:

• 10% expertise
• 30% presence
• 60% commitment

Without the fees to encourage commitment, transformation will RARELY occur.

9. Fail fast

Instead of mulling your plans over and over in your head, and churning your marketing activities, make a decision and move forward.  Failing fast means, you’re that much closer to where you want to be.

10. Make decisions from where you want to be, not where you are right now

What this means is if you know where you want to be, begin thinking as if you are already there.  A mentor of mine told me to always ask myself, “What would a million-dollar entrepreneur do?  What action would she take?”  This simple shift will make all the difference in your business about what you decide to do, and how to do it.

What’s the COST of NOT getting your next client?  Join me for a No-Cost FREE Complimentary training call, “5 Best Strategies for Effortlessly Enrolling 3, 5, or 10 Clients Even if You Think You’ve Tried Everything”.  Register for this no-cost call NOW  I strongly encourage you to attend this No-Cost call LIVE with me.  Call recordings will be made available to registrants.   Register now at http://5bestnewclientstrategies.eventbrite.com.

Do you struggle to get new clients?

If you’re like most solo entrepreneurs you give your fair share of free sessions … you have a website with a “free taste” … you keep re-writing your website and marketing copy hoping you’ll fall upon those *magical* words that’ll get someone to buy … you network like crazy …

Yet, nothing seems to work.

So…

“What’s the shortest, simplest, and fastest path to getting clients who truly value what you do…starting right NOW?”

To find out, join me on a NO-COST, complimentary training call.  It takes place Thursday, March 24 at 8pm ET / 7pm CT. 

http://5bestnewclientstrategies.eventbrite.com

Discover—

*********************************************

“5 Best Strategies for Effortlessly Enrolling 3, 5, or 10 Clients

Even if You Think You’ve Tried Everything”

http://5bestnewclientstrategies.eventbrite.com

*********************************************

In this No-Cost Training Call discover the Shortest, Easiest, and Fastest Path to FINDING and ENROLLING New Clients into Your Programs. 

You’ll discover the…

• #1 mistake solo entrepreneurs make that costs them thousands of dollars in lost income
• 3 fear-based and limiting beliefs that keep most solo entrepreneurs stuck at painful and frustrating LOW income levels
• #1 reason why most solo entrepreneurs can’t “close the deal”
• Most powerful OVERLOOKED tool for getting new clients
• Perfect way to gracefully eliminate frustrating client excuses like “I don’t have the money” or “I’m not ready, yet”  (learn a simple yet powerful secret) 
• 5 best strategies for effortlessly enrolling 1, 3, 5, or even 10 clients - in the next month, even if you think you’ve tried everyting or you’re just starting out in business

If you’ve been struggling to get new clients, and you’re ready to earn the income you deserve, do whatever it takes to be on this call with me.

Register for this complimentary call here:

http://5bestnewclientstrategies.eventbrite.com

But if for some reason you can’t make it live, sign up anyway and I’ll send you the recording after the call.

See you on the call!

Bonita Richter, MBA

PS: Because I care about you and your success, please know if you don’t have all the clients you want right now, then you’re undoubtedly missing something BIG that’s keeping you stuck and struggling.  If that’s you, please don’t cheat yourself.  Join me on this no cost, complimentary call so I can help you.

 PPS: Got friends and colleagues who could also benefit from this training?  Of course, you’re welcome to invite them to the call.  Here’s the link to send to them:  http://5bestnewclientstrategies.eventbrite.com

 And here’s a Tweet you can post  on Twitter:

Join @bonitalrichter as she shares her 5 best secrets to get new clients this month (I’ll be there!) http://5bestnewclientstrategies.eventbrite.com

Prefer to listen to this week’s article? Click the link below

I’ve been asked, “Bonita how is it that you’re able to get new clients into your programs and grow a lucrative business while working so few hours, and with such little marketing effort?

Is it because you have a huge list, or network like crazy?”

I can honestly tell you it is not because of either of the reasons above. My list is under 1,000 people, and I hardly network at all.

So, what’s my secret?

The secret is to carry out simple and consistent marketing and business-building activities on a weekly basis. Here are 3 things I do to get new clients, and build a lucrative, joyful business:

1. Consistent Marketing

You certainly don’t have to be doing every marketing activity you know about to grow a successful business. In fact, I tell my clients that I’d rather have them do one marketing activity consistently, rather than do 2, 3, 4, or more activities inconsistently.

If you network, network at events where your market niche or business referral partners attend consistently. If you speak, speak regularly. If you give preview workshops, have a pre-defined schedule when you deliver them. If you publish an e-newsletter, do it at least twice monthly (weekly is even better).

The truth is the only regular marketing I’ve done the past 18 months is publish an e-newsletter and attend carefully selected live events; the result—a 6-figure biz in 12 months, working an average 10 hours per week.

The take-a-way here is you don’t have to do every marketing activity you know about; you do have to be consistent.

2. Follow-Up with Everyone

Make it a habit to keep track of every single person you speak with about your services, as well as people who reach out to you. When you speak with someone and he or she doesn’t sign-up for a program, 99.99% of the time the answer is some form of “not right now.” A “not right now” does not mean a forever “no.”

So, if you keep track of the people who are the “not right now’s,” and follow-up with them in the future, this is a beautiful opportunity to build your business.

Think about how many “not right now’s” you’ve gotten over the last year, and how many of those people you’ve followed up with. Take action now, and reconnect with those people. Far from being pushy, this kind of follow-up is caring, generous, and deeply appreciated by people who need your help.

3. Move People past the “Freebie” Line

It’s been proven about 80% of people who have invested money with you, no matter what the dollar amount, are highly likely to do so again.

I’m sure many of you have people on your list who love the free stuff you give them, including the wonderful weekly, high-quality content of your e-newsletter articles—but they never spend a dime. The solution is to have a strategy to getting the “freebies” into paying clients. You do this by creating a system that gently guides your contacts over to the “Land of the First Purchase.”

A favorite and effective strategy of mine is to create a super-high-value, super-low-cost “no-brainer” offer, such as a teleseminar series. Offer this series monthly or bi-monthly, and set up an auto-responder email in your list management service that sends the offer a few days after someone new joins your list.

Another strategy is to set up an auto-responder series with a weekly tip and an offer for a free strategy session. This way, you provide value, and consistently encourage someone to contact you so that a conversation occurs where you can find out their needs, and talk about how you can help them with your services.

Getting new clients and building your business means working smarter. The simpler and more streamlined your systems, the more effective and powerful they will be to transform your business into one that generates the income you desire and deserve.

Watch for a No-Cost training call I am offering, “5 Best Strategies for Effortlessly Enrolling 3, 5, or 10 Clients Even if You Think You’ve Tried Everything.“    To register for this FREE No-Cost training call sign up at http://5bestnewclientstrategies.eventbrite.com.

Do your small business marketing materials, and the personal brand image you project make your spine tingle? Or, do you make excuses about how they look, apologize because they’re outdated, or find yourself saying to others you’re “working on getting new ones printed” soon?

A Story about a “Perfectly Polished” Woman…Almost

About a year ago, I met a woman at a business conference at a local college. She approached me to ask some questions about the small business coaching services I offer. She was a very attractive woman, tall, with classically refined features, and perfectly manicured and polished nails. She wore a well-cut designer suit, clutched a high-end handbag, and wore shoes to “die for”. I thought, “Wow, this woman puts on a winning image”, and I felt a little embarrassed, because I knew I was not as well “put together” that day.

Then, as she turned to walk away, I spotted it…

…a plastic tortoise shell hair clip.

Her dark, shiny hair was pulled back by a clip that looked like it had layers of hair grooming product residue on it. A corner piece of the clip was actually broken off.

Everything positive this woman had projected was immediately tarnished by
the negligent afterthought about her hair accessory.

I assumed the woman must have been in a rush that morning, and grabbed the first hair clip she could get her hands on…because she looked so fabulous in every other way.

Recently, I saw her again at another small business conference, and she looked
fabulous, just as before. We spoke for a few moments, and as she turned to walk
away, there it was, AGAIN…

…the dirty, broken tortoise shell hair clip.

I then realized that she had no idea the hair clip had a negative affect on her entire appearance. She must have thought no one would notice, or, because the rest of her outfit was so polished, it wouldn’t matter.

Wrong.

Details Matter

My point here is not to ridicule this woman: but, how one bit of negligence can ruin the the presentation of your entire small business marketing package, and, guess what…there goes the sale! (The same applies for men, too.)

Seeing her made me realize that I had a few “marketing package blunders” of my
own—especially when it came to the personal brand image I was projecting.

I realized that if I wanted to project being a polished, knowledgeable professional, and be on track to grow successful business, I had better start looking like one!

That’s what made me decide it was time to redefine and update my personal brand image, have professional photographs taken, create a new website for my small business marketing and coaching business, and invest in a few more high quality pieces of clothing for my wardrobe.

Even getting eBook covers professionally designed is part of my “marketing
makeover” plan.

I know my attitude, and the actions I am taking will pay off immensely. When I
started the Internet business segment of my small business marketing and coaching business, I was just “playing around”. Now, I’ve decided, it’s time to get serious.

Are you just playing around? Or, do you want to be taken seriously by your target audience. Do you want to set yourself apart from your competition, and sell a lot more products and services?

Assess the *Tingle* Factor of Your Marketing Materials

Take about 30 minutes this week and objectively assess what personal brand image you are projecting, and inventory the quality of all of your small business marketing materials. This includes your website, photographs of you, business cards, brochures, product packaging, business forms — anything that your prospects or clients see.

Do they look consistent, professional, up-to-date, and polished? Or, do some of
them look like your eight year-old child designed them? Do they make your spine tingle in a good way? If any of them give you shame, they’re your “marketing package blunders”, and need rework!

Make a list of:

1. Which marketing materials need rework.

2. What you’re going to do about them, and by what date.

3. Identify who can help you fix them.

I recommend you outsource and get some professional design work done on your marketing materials, or development of your personal brand image.

If you do, you’ll be more confident in the small business marketing image you
project, and you’ll see your business sales rise, as well.

Do you want a simple way to increase revenues fast?  By consistently using this marketing method, in a few short weeks you may experience your best month EVER in your business.

Are you curious about what is the powerful marketing strategy I’m talking about to produce such awesome, fast results?  Okay, here it is.  The #1 marketing strategy almost everyone overlooks, is the marketing strategy they’re already using! 

You’re probably thinking can it be that simple?  My response is, “yes.”  Here’s the deal…

Think about a marketing strategy you’ve used successfully in the past to create sales.  Was it an email promotion?  A direct mail postcard campaign?  Networking or direct selling?  Whatever that method was that produced some of your best sales, do it more often.  You already have a marketing strategy that works.  You simply need to make use of it more often.

When I meet with new clients who want to increase their sales, one of the first questions I ask them (besides who is your market niche) is:

• What tactics do you use to market your business?
• How frequently do you use these tactics?

I’m not a ‘betting woman,’ but I can predict with almost 100% certainty that one of the reasons my new clients’ sales are anemic is because they don’t market and promote with enough frequency.  For example, they send out less than one email a month to their list, they attend one or two networking events a month, or they lead one speaking gig a quarter.

Especially with email promotions, (which, by the way is a powerful way to leverage your marketing efforts to increase sales), many of my clients have a profound fear of annoying subscribers in their list, and getting a large number of unsubscribes.  Well, what I have to say about this is you’re probably underestimating how much your best clients and prospects love hearing from you!  Moreover, if people unsubscribe, they’re not your ideal clients, and never would have bought anything from you, anyway.

So, think about the method where you have you have experienced your best success in creating sales, and, use it more often.  My personal rule of thumb is to triple or quadruple the frequency you’re currently doing.  For example, instead of sending one email per month to your list, create a plan to send short, fun, and valuable emails to your list on a weekly basis.  By doing this, you’ve just quadrupled the frequency of contact with your list, and the opportunity to create more sales.

As entrepreneurs, many of us are addicted to being creative, and trying something new.  However, many of us wind up making things much more complicated than they need to be.  In most cases, keeping things simple is best.  More times than not, constant searching for the “next hot marketing tactic” means we overlook the gold already right in front of our eyes.

So, it’s now time to look at YOUR business. What marketing strategy has worked for you in the past?  Do you make direct sales calls? Ask current clients for referrals?  Post on blogs? Do interviews on radio, TV, teleseminars or webinars? Speak live? Send email promotions with irresistible offers?

Now, ask yourself, can you increase the frequency? Can you find more places to roll this strategy out in your business?  Again, my personal rule of thumb is to look at how often you are doing a marketing tactic, and triple or quadruple the frequency.  Does it feel like a stretch to do?  Great!  Then, this is the tipping point where you’ll begin to see results from your efforts.

Remember, often times the fastest, and most profitable marketing strategy is simply to do more of what already works.

Do you have some tried-and-true marketing methods that have worked for you?  Why not share them with our readers!

What challenges do you face growing your business?  What challenges do you want to overcome so that you can succeed?

Articulating your main marketing challenge by writing it down is a simple, but extremely powerful exercise.

Move closer to achieving your business goals by identifying the main marketing challenge you face to grow your business.  By identifying your main marketing challenge, you will accomplish more with the effort you put into implementing your marketing strategy.

So, what is your main marketing challenge?

Hmmm…if it were a simple matter of “seeing” where the problem lies, you would surely be solving it already, wouldn‘t you? That is why it is important to verbalize and write down the challenges you are facing. Otherwise, you will tend to focus on the symptoms of what is going wrong, and never quite get to the root cause of the marketing challenge you face.

To face your main marketing challenge, think in terms of unfulfilled opportunities.

Your main marketing challenge is usually tied into the marketing goals you want to achieve, which may be about how to:

•  Increase sales of your business
• Increase market awareness of your business
• Increase visitors to your website and/or stickiness of your site
• Get more new clients
• Get more repeat clients
• Achieve a certain brand image and perception

Examples of marketing challenge statements are:

• How do I double our sales in the next 12 months?
• How do I increase my Internet sales?
• How do I get more qualified leads?

ACTION STEP: Think about the main marketing challenge you face in growing your business.  Write down your main marketing challenge statement in the form, “How do I ___________________?”

Refer to your stated main marketing challenge often. If you do, you will powerfully focus on address your main marketing challenge, and will quickly move closer to achieving your vision, goals, and experiencing success in your business!

Let me know what your main marketing challenge is by posting it on my blog, and if this posting helped you identify where you need to focus energy in your marketing strategy.

What do you have to say to get your client’s attention?  What if what you had to tell them is critical to their success, and you have to get the message across—how would you say your marketing message to make sure they paid attention to you?

As business owners, and marketers, we are all faced with the dilemma about how to design a marketing message will be heard amidst the clamor of every other marketing message out there.

“If I could have your attention, I would love to point out the basic components in a marketing strategy that will help you grow your business.”

Did you already mentally tune out?  Thought so…

What if I said to you—

“Top-earning coaches/consultants do this one simple thing every day to grow their business.”

Did this statement create more interest, and curiosity in you?

The most basic way of getting someone’s attention is to break the pattern of predictable, and expected behavior. Common sense, or predictable messages, don’t attract attention because a person intuitively already ‘gets’ what they hear. People “tune out” because they’ve heard the same message many times before, and aren’t expecting any new information.

To get peoples’ attention, avoid the generic story everyone else is saying, and say something unexpected.

So, what are the key elements in getting peoples’ attention, and just as important, how do you keep their attention once you get it?

You do this by stirring two essential emotions—surprise and interest.

Surprise

When our ‘guessing machines’ fail at predicting what we expect to happen next, this creates the emotion of surprise.  Being surprised jolts us to attention, because we want to pay attention to learn about something we ‘missed.’

Unexpected, surprising ideas are more likely to stick in our brains because they force us to pay attention and think. We, as humans, want to find the answer, to solve the question of why we were surprised.

Think about the core, singular point you want to get across to your clients, such as, 1) how to increase sales, 2) how to get healthier, 3) how to get good grades, and so on. Break a pattern, stump people’s guessing machines about what they think you will say, and state something surprising and unexpected about the topic or situation.

Interest

To keep someone’s interest once you have it, the easiest way is to point out, or ‘open a gap’ in a person’s knowledge. You do this by generating curiosity, or creating a mystery.

You generate curiosity, and create a mystery by posing questions that lead the reader to think, What don’t I know that other people know?, What will happen next? How will it end? Curiosity occurs when we feel a gap in our knowledge. You, as a marketer, must open a gap in knowledge, before you close it with facts.

Our tendency is to tell people the facts. However, you must first convince them they need these facts. The idea is to get their interest, highlight some specific knowledge they’re missing, through:

1. Posing a question (How many moons does Jupiter have?)

2. Pointing out a knowledge gap (Which restaurant is the cleanest in ________?)

3. Presenting them with situations that have unknown resolutions (Who will win Men’s Figure Skating in the Olympics?)

To create interest is all about finding a way to spark and elevate interest about a particular situation or topic; and, by adding an element of surprise and unexpected behavior into your marketing communications, you’ll be able to successfully attract more of your desired clients’ attention!

Do you use any surprise and interest tactics like the ones I mentioned?  If so, can you give an example of how you’ve used them?  Make a comment on my blog.

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.