I hope the subject heading got your attention.

When a mentor said this to me a couple years ago he got my attention all right, in fact I was pretty darn pissed off.

Actually what he said was this: "Until you have products you what I consider a have a successful practice…nothing wrong with a successful practice…but you do not have a business."

I argued, "Look at everything I've accomplished. Look at everything I've learned. I actually made a profit last year. The IRS certainly thinks I have a business!"

"Those are all amazing accomplishments," my mentor said "but if, God forbid, you got hit by a bus and couldn't do any work for six months or longer what would happen to your business?"

"I'm the business," I replied, "If I can't work there is no business."

Exactly.

A Practice Begins and Ends with You

Even if you have an amazing assistant. Even if you have clients who love you and sing your praises: no you, no business.

One year later, two years later, there isn't even a vapor trail.

Now for a lot of people, this is completely cool. You may be reading this article and thinking "Hey its enough that I take good care of  my clients and my business pays the bills for me and my family."

You have a successful practice and that is something to be very proud of.

And the success of your practice depends entirely on your ability to show up and be present. If you can't show up, there is no business.

My dad was a dentist for over 40 years. He was a very good at his work and his patients adored him. When he retired he sold his practice to another dentist.

When my dad is at the grocery store or running errands people still come up to him and tell him how much they appreciated him and that they miss having him as their dentist.

I'm always impressed by the warm feelings my dad's former patients still express to him. You can't buy that kind of good will.

But the practice itself winked out of existence when my dad took his name off the door. Any special processes my dad knew, the things he said to calm nervous patients, the skills and knowledge he honed over the years; that's all gone.

It's About Influence and Making a Difference

This is not to belittle my dad's accomplishments. He taught me a lot about working hard and with integrity. I'm proud of my dad.

At the same time, when I close shop for my business, in addition to having contributed to my clients success, I want to have products: books, classes, software, and tools that hundreds of thousands of  people can use and benefit from my skills and knowledge.

When you create products, your business no longer depends on you because in a sense, you have replicated yourself. You've duplicated what made your business yours. The reason you got customers to begin with.

With products you can influence thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people. That's a LOT bigger than what any practice can do.

Not that the Money isn't Nice too

Most small business owners are attracted to creating information products because they love the idea of earning passive income from multiple sources.

It's a great reason to sell products. Not such a great reason for creating products.

Seriously. If you're into products primarily because you want multiple streams of  revenue, I've got one word for you: Affiliates.

Sell other people's products and make commission.

It's easy. Most of the e-commerce products I use: my web host, my email and list management, and my shopping cart all pay me a percentage when people find them through me.

And I'm an affiliate for several businesses whose programs I've used and gotten good results from including Amazon.com.

Again, remember, your own products will outlive you, affiliate products will not.

Bottom Line

Having a successful practice is huge accomplishment and you can make huge difference—as long as you're around.

If you want a profitable business whose influence goes well beyond the clients and customers you serve: then you want to create and sell information products.

It's the best way I know to take what you know and make money making a difference in the world.

A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. "I have nothing to give you", said the stranger. Then he asked, "What's that you are sitting on?" "Nothing", replied the beggar. "Just an old box. I have been sitting on it as long as I could remember". "Ever looked inside?" asked the stranger. "No" said the beggar. "What’s the point there's nothing in there". "Have a look inside", insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw the box was filled with gold.

– Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

I don’t know about you but I’m feeling almost battered by the stream of negative news coming out about the economy.

It’s hard not to feel like there’s not enough to go around. Not enough customers. Not enough money. Not enough to sustain you and your business.

Leaves you feeling like the beggar who sees only lack and hardship.

I would never tell you to ignore reality. As business owners, ignoring reality is a dangerous practice.

However, I do request that you pay attention to more than just the negative side of what’s going on.

There’s a positive side and it’s as real and as concrete as all the downer stuff we’re hearing.

Your Ability to Solve Customer Problems is Your Box of Gold

One of my teachers, Thomas J. Leonard , once said, “The more problems you have, the more opportunities you have.” As a small business owner, I would add “The more problems your customers have, the more opportunities you have.”

Meaning?

People don’t like pain: physical or emotional. If it’s bad enough they’ll do just about anything to make it go away.

• If you have a bad toothache, you will find a way to get to a dentist.
• If your car won’t start, you’ll find someone to help you figure out what’s wrong.
• If your biggest customer is thinking about going to a competitor you will want to at least see if you can get them to reconsider.

And you own a business because you’re good at solving some of your customers problems. Yes?

The Important Points are:

1. Your customers will always have problems
2. Your business offers good solutions to at least one of those problems
3. If the problems are painful enough, they will pay to have those problems solved
4. If they feel confident you can solve their problem and they likeyou and your solution better than the alternatives

You will get business

Marketing Opens the Box

To open the box so you can get the gold four things need to happen:

1. Customers need to know you exist
2. They need to know what you can do for them
3. They need to trust you and feel comfortable doing business with you
4. They need to know what the next steps are to hire you

The job of marketing is to enable these four things to happen so your customers can get the help they so desperately need. And you get the revenue you need to sustain your business.

Opening the Box of Gold for Your Business

If your business isn’t exactly booming, chances are that one or more of the four steps isn’t happening enough. Here are my suggestions to help you open your box of gold so you and your business can truly begin to prosper:

Step 1: Introducing More Prospective Customers to Your Business

You need to be visible before people can even consider hiring you. At a minimum they need to know your business name and the problem you solve.

This is why I strongly encourage business owners to make sure every way they might “touch” a prospective customer includes their business name, a tagline that succinctly describes who they help and the problem they solve, and your phone number.

Here’s a good example by my colleague, Jessica Reagan Salzman :

Jessica Reagan Salzman Behind the Scenes LLC
Helping entrepreneurs turn their bookkeeping problems into profits.
http://www.behindthescenesLLC.com/
phone: 781-688-0284

It’s also why I recommend that you give business cards to your customers, business partners, anyone who knows about the work you do and might come across someone who needs your help.

Step 2: Building Trust and Credibility

So many business owners skip this step. They want to close the deal and they figure it’s enough that their prospective customers know who they are and the solutions they offer. But you will struggle to get customers until they not only know who you are but trust you’ll respect where they’re at and can deliver the results you promise.

This is why I help clients develop mailing lists and encourage them to send emails at least once a month.

Other great ways to build credibility include using social media like Facebook and Twitter , blogging, participating in discussion groups, and offering free information products.

You have a chance to demonstrate that you care and that you can get results.

Step 3: Make it Easy for Them to Become Customers

One of the beauties of low cost information products is they may it very easy for your prospects to become customers. It’s an awful lot easier for a prospective customer to click a link and buy a $19 ebook than it is to sign up for $2,500 worth of consulting.
And if they really like your $19 ebook, they may very well sign up to take your $200 teleclass, your $500 workshop, and so on.

If you aren’t already offering one or two products under $50 (in addition to one or two free products) it is an excellent investment of your time to begin doing so.

Bottom Line

No matter what is going on in the economy, as long as you can solve problems that drive your customers crazy, your business can continue to support you.

This is the box of gold that is always available to you. And to open that box your marketing needs to be constantly making you visible to the customers who need your help, cultivating trust and credibility, and making it easy for them to hire you to get the help they need.

In 2002 I was interested in taking some classes on life and small business coaching and was trying to decide on a coaching school. If you know anything about the coaching profession, you probably know that there are tons of organizations out there offering training programs. I had narrowed down my list but it still felt overwhelming.

I ended up enrolling in Coachville's Graduate School of Coaching and one of the main reasons I chose Coachville was their straightforward money back guarantee:

"If you ever, for any reasons (even if you just changed your mind), you have a full year to ask for a refund, no questions asked."

The one time I asked for a refund because I couldn't attend a class I already enrolled in, Coachville quickly processed my refund, no questions asked. Just like they said.

The Real Reason to Offer a Money-back Guarantee

There is a certain amount of risk customers associate with buying most products and services. Sometimes, the risk is so minimal they're not even aware. For example, most people don't agonize over whether to buy Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke. 

When they're buying something expensive, something that requires an investment of time and energy to use, or something that exposes them to the judgments of others, risk awareness goes way up.

It's not just money. In fact sometimes money has little to do with perceived risk. These days when it seems like there's never enough time, customers hate to waste time and energy. And there is also Opportunity Cost. When your customer buys your product, they are betting that you will be the best solution. If you're not, they will be thinking about what they could have and should have done.

When prospects consider your purchase risky, they hesitate and wait for something to make them decide one way or another. Good money-back guarantees help your prospects get past this sticking point.

That's Nice But You Still Don't Offer a Guarantee

Maybe you know all this but you still don't offer a guaranteed refund.

The main reason business owners don't offer guarantees is the fear that so many customers will ask for refunds they'll go out of business.

Although I can't promise that this will never, ever happen to your business, there are several strategies to make sure your guarantee does its job: to encourage prospects to buy and keeping your business out of harm's way.

5 Strategies for Creating Win-win Guarantees

1. CONDITIONAL GUARANTEES

Coachville's guarantee was conditional; customers could get a full refund, no questions asked as long as they requested the refund within a year.

The key word here is fair.

For example, the conditional refund I offer for my More Referrals NOW teleclass is a full refund if participants aren't getting at least 50% more referrals. They become eligible for the refund 90 days after the last class.

Why 90 days? Because it takes time for enough people to become aware and interested that you begin getting results. If participants are consistently applying what they learn to their business, after 90-days they will start getting results.

Fair for participants; fair for me.

2. PRE-QUALIFY CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS

I want everyone who takes my class to get results. I get no satisfaction taking someone's money if they don't.
 
For this reason, I have people who are interested in the class to complete an application. That way I make sure the people who participate are at the right stage in their business and have the mindset that makes them a good fit for the class.

And of course, customers who are likely to succeed are likely to get good results and unlikely to request a refund

3. MAKE IT SIMPLE

The beauty of Coachville's guarantee was its simplicity. There was one straightforward condition: the one year term.

No matter how generous your money back guarantee, the more strings you attach, the less attractive it will be. Even a whiff of difficulty and your refund program will be about as popular as a tax audit.

4. TELL THEM IF YOUR GUARANTEE IS GUTSY

If you're willing to offer a gutsy guarantee, make sure you talk about it in your marketing. An extraordinary guarantee can transform an otherwise, boring "me too" product or service, into something noteworthy. And if it's noteworthy, people will want to tell others thus creating great word of mouth.

5. ASK FOR CUSTOMER FEEDBACK REGULARLY

Most customers will not tell you they aren't satisfied with your product or service. Some will suffer quietly hoping things will improve. You won't know this until they send you an email requesting a refund.

Not to mention the negative word of mouth which might be even more damaging than the refund itself.

Don't let this happen. Make it a practice to ask your customers for honest feedback. Getting negative feedback doesn't feel good but it's a lot less painful than sending refunds and dealing with negative word of mouth.

Conclusion

A good money-back guarantee is good for your business because by reducing perceived purchase risk, prospects are far more likely to buy.

If you don't offer money-back guarantees because you're worried all your customers will want refunds, there are five strategies that will enable you to get the benefit of higher prospect to customer conversion AND lower your financial risk.

Before you say, "no" to guarantees, consider whether one or more of these strategies would work for you.

Talk Back

What kind of experience have you had with money-back guarantees? In your own business or with other companies that you do business with. Click here and comment.

A couple months ago, someone sent me this email:

“Hi Judy, I am a personal trainer and I want to get more clients. What do you suggest I do?”

I really appreciate when people are interested in getting my advice and take the time to contact me.

But I get kind of stuck answering the question, “how do I get more customers?” because it’s a big question with a lot of potential answers depending on the asker’s particular situation.

There is No "Take Two Aspirins and Call Me in the Morning" in Marketing

There can be hundreds of reasons a small business isn’t attracting enough customers. For that reason, it’s really difficult to pinpoint one specific solution.

This would be like someone calling their doctor and saying, “I have a terrible headache, what should I do?”

Unless the doctor knows the patient very well, she is going to ask several questions to hone in on what may be causing the headache. For example, she may ask questions like:

• How long have you had this headache?
• Did the pain gradually get bad or has it been bad from the beginning?
• Have you gotten headaches like this in the past
• Is your vision blurred?
• and so on.

Asking these questions helps the doctor determine whether the caller's headache is because they missed their morning Starbucks or because of a potentially serious medical condition. The former situation can be solved by a couple aspirins. The latter can be a 911 emergency.

Although we joke that doctors always say, "take two aspirins and call me in the morning," no matter what the complaint, the truth is, they rarely do. They ask questions until they're reasonably sure it the problem doesn't require immediate attention.

The problem of not getting enough new customers is not a 911 emergency. It is, however, potentially threatening to the longevity of your business depending on the cause. This is why, I too, ask questions rather than giving a "one size fits all" answer such as "attend more networking events" or "hire someone so you get a higher page rank in Google."

The 10-Point Marketing Checkup

Getting new customers is the process of building a trusting relationship with people who need your products and services so that you have a strong foundation to do business. For this to happen, you need to

• become visible to people who don't know you
• cultivate credibility with those who want to learn more about you
• encourage those hanging out with you to become customers

If you aren't getting enough customers, your marketing isn't doing its job at one of these three points. The Marketing Checkup tells you where in the customer attraction process your marketing needs help. When you know where the problem areas are, you can take action to address them.

The ten questions are: 

1. How many strangers are learning about my business?

If you have a website, how many new visitors do you get each week. If you attend networking events, how many new people do you meet that you would like to get to know better?

2. Is the number of people learning about you getting larger?

For example, are you getting more and more first time visitors to your website?

3. How many strangers become prospects that you know about?

A prospect may know about you but it’s even more important that you know they know. Why? Because it’s hard to convert a prospect to a customer if you don’t have multiple opportunities to demonstrate what makes you credible.

4. Do you ask prospects how they found out about you?

5. Do get in touch with your prospects on a regular basis?

6. Do you offer free, no obligation opportunities that allow you to demonstrate how you help customers solve their problems?

7. When a prospect contacts you and is clearly interested in buying something from you, do you ask questions to learn more about them?

For example, do you ask them about the problem they need your product to solve, the results they want, the expectations they have so that you understand exactly what they see as “value added?”

8. Do you explain formally, in a proposal or informally, in conversation what needs to happen for your prospect to attain the results they want?

9. Do you have a way to clearly “ask for the sale.”

If you are feeling “yes, I can help this person get what they want” then you need to let them know that and what the next steps are.

10. Do you have a way to “close the deal” and tell your prospect what the next steps are?

Closing the deal means you both formally acknowledge “Yes we want to work together to accomplish this,” that your prospect knows what they need to do to start the process. Common next steps are signing an agreement, making an initial or entire payment, etc.

How Did You Do? 

Your results from taking the ten-point check up indicate where you need to work on your marketing program to attract more clients.

• If you don’t know how many people are learning about your business and checking you out, (Questions 1-3) you need to find out how many first time visitors (or new contacts) you are getting.
• And, if you’re getting a lot of visitors (strangers to prospects) who aren’t sticking around, you need to begin creating low cost, low risk opportunities to demonstrate to prospects what you can do for them.
• Finally, if you have lots of ezine subscribers, class participants, blog comments, who have not yet become customers, you need to do more to make it clear, easy, and rewarding to buy.

No matter where you are in the process, there are actions you can take to advance.

Talkback 

Did you find this article helpful? Did it bring up more questions? Do you have a totally different opinion? Click here and add your voice to the conversation.

That's because most small business owners err on the side of not asking for referrals. They don't ask because they're afraid to bug people, they don't want to appear needy, they're not sure what precisely to say, and so on.

However…

There are times when you should not ask for a referral. In fact there are times when asking for a referral would be detrimental to your business. Is this sacrilege at the alter of small business marketing? Read on.

1. Don't ask for a referral until you demonstrate performance

Several years ago, my husband and I hired a financial planner to help us manage our investments. About six weeks into the our work together, we received a letter in the mail from him asking us for referrals. Although I understood his reason for requesting referrals, the timing seemed wrong. Afterall, he hadn't actually done much for us beyond running a canned investment analysis. 

When would it have been appropriate for him to have asked us? Because we hired him with the intention of having a long term relationship, it seems waiting a year so that we could get a sense of his style and how well he managed our investments would be the minimum. 

It all depends on how long it takes to establish a track record. For example a hair stylist can easily asked for a referral after three successful visits. With one visit per month, that's enough for most clients to trust that the stylist really knows what their doing and the great cut they got on their first visit wasn't just a lucky fluke.

2. Don't ask for customers you really don't want

Take a moment and think about your clients or customers. Can you honestly say you enjoy working with most of them? Or do you feel mostly dread and resentment? If you answered the latter, chances are you aren't attracting the right customers for your business.

If you keep getting pain-in-the-butt customers…especially through referrals, stop. Please. Take some time to think through and write up an ideal customer definition. Give your definition to your referral sources and tell them these are the types of customers for whom you do the best work. That way, your referral sources send only prospects for whom you will do great work and who will appreciate your work. Those people will go back to your referral sources and thank for telling them about you. Your referral sources will feel like rock stars. It's a win-win for everyone involved.

3. Don't ask if you lack the resources to do a good job

When people ask about my More Referrals Now program, I always ask them if they have the time, people, and resources to handle double the business they have currently. For example, if a financial planner is currently working with 80 clients can he or she comfortably handle 160 clients within 6 to 12 months.  

This tends to be more of a problem for product-based businesses. For example, if you sell hand knit caps made by little old ladies living in  Lithuania (an aquaintance of mine has a company that does just this), when you sell out, you are sold out until your get another shipment of handknit caps. Yes people will wait, to a point, if your product is very special. But more often, they'll get annoyed and buy from a competitor.

But service-based business need to be careful too.  I used to refer people to a technical services consultant who did really good work but eventually he got so busy that he stopped returning phone calls and sometime completely forgot about appointments. I stopped sending him referrals because no matter how good he was, the referrals I sent became frustrated because he didn't seem to want their business and that made me look bad.

Bottom Line:

Although not asking for referrals is one the biggest mistakes most business owners make, asking for a referral at the wrong time in the relationship or for the wrong type of customer or at the wrong time for your business, can be every bit as damaging. Make sure your referrals are a triple win: for you, for your referral sources, and for the prospects they send you!

What do you think? Does your own experience match mine? Had different experiences? Have a different  opinion?

Talk back here or click here to contact me directly. 

Now most business owners I talk with like what they do to a greater or lesser degree. But this guy positively overflowed with enthusiasm for what he does. He actually managed to get me interested in the topic of 401k rollovers; a topic I usually find about as exciting as watching paint dry.

So I said to him, “Ryan, you seem like a natural for giving presentations and classes. It would be a great way to connect to prospective clients. Do you do anything like that?”

Ryan's face lit up and he said “I love to teach people and present!”

Then he said: “But I have no idea how to get started. How do I do that?”

Great question.

The topic of how to establish yourself as an expert speaker is a huge one. There are literally thousands of books, websites, classes, and coaching programs on the subject. But let's say you're like Ryan—you enjoy talking to groups and you want to try presentations as a way to promote your business.

I was in the exact same place as Ryan about two years ago. Since then I've learned a lot about using presentations as a way to promote my business to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

These six steps are the ones that got me started as a presenter. 

Step 1. Start with local membership organizations.

Most cities—large and small—have hundreds of organizations whose purpose is to support members and do so by offering education, training, networking opportunities, and so on. For this reason, they are always looking for ways to provide value to their members. If you can present a topic that members will find valuable and fits within the organization's mission, you are offering something desirable…especially if you have a fresh or unusual take on your topic.

Benefits of starting with membership organizations include:

• A ready and motivated audience (you don't have to fill seats)
• A regular meeting space (you don't have to arrange for and rent a space)
• An established meeting format into which your presentation fits (you don't have to organize or lead the meeting)

Step 2.  Brainstorm a list of topics you like to speak on.

If you're like Ryan and are using presentations as a way to introduce yourself to prospects, each topic should address a particular problem that you handle for your customers and a success story related to the problem.

As a financial planner, Ryan tends to encounter problems related to life transistions—voluntary and involuntary. For example, the happy occasion of a new baby also brings up questions such as: “Do we need a bigger house?” “Do we need to trade in our Mini Cooper for a mini Van?” and “Do we need to start saving for college?”

Step 3. Introduce yourself to the organization's Program Director

Call the program director (or whoever arranges events) and briefly explain your intention for presenting. If the organization needs presenters and the program director expresses interest, this is a perfect time to describe 2-3 topics that seem like a good match to the interests of the organization.

Note: If none of the topics you suggest interest your contact, ask them what their members consider “hot topics”. You may be able to adapt one of your topics to meet the needs of their members.

Step 4. Help the organization with promoting your program.

When you successfully schedule a presentation with one or more organizations, help make the presentation a success. You can do this by providing a brief bio (1-2 paragraphs), a summary of your topic, and a photo of yourself. Most program managers ask for these materials in advance and use them to promote upcoming programs. You may also want to prepare a short introduction that the organization can use to introduce you to the audience.

Step 5. Earn your right to promote by adding value.

Have you ever sat through a presentation that was promoted as informational but turn out to be a thinly veiled sales pitches. Were you annoyed? Most people are. And this is why you focus on content first; promotion second.

The most effective presentations offer information that is genuinely relevant and useful to your audience. That allows you to position yourself as a provider of valuable solutions. 

You should, of course, make your contact information, email address and web address easy to find and use. I always include my full contact information on the last page of my presentation handouts. In addition, each page of the handouts has my business name and website address in the footer section.

6. Know what the next step is that you want your audience to take.

The biggest place where people mess up is on followup. They do their presentation. They chat with people in the audience. And then they leave hoping that members of the audience are so excited by what they learned that they will be calling the presenter the next.

But this is rarely the case.

So, you need to be very specific about what you want your audience to do and make it easy for them to take that action. This doesn't have to be anything complicated or fancy. A simple but effective approach is ask for their business cards in exchange for more information on the topic you presented. Give aways audiences like include a copy of the presentation handout, a list of resources, a helpful report, and so on.

You can then use the contact information as the basis for future invitations, mailings, and so on.

Important: If you use an email subscription list, I strongly suggest you add only those members who opt-in. In this way you are contacting only those explicitely agreed to become subscribers. If you begin contacting people who did not give you permission, you risk being labeled a spammer. Even worse, you risk losing credibility as a trusted expert.

Bottom Line

If you follow the six steps I've described and present a relevant topic in an engaging way, you'll have plenty of opportunities to present. Once you have some experience, you can refine your presentation topics and focus on organizations whose missions and membership are the best fit with the products and services you offer.

—

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Or if you prefer, click here to contact me directly.  

“The question I have is how do I turn the qualities of my ideal client into the specific niche or type of client/business that I work with? I tell people that I work with small business owners and entrepreneurs and I find that is so very general. I know I need more specifics.”   

—JoAnne, Virtual Assistant

JoAnne's question brings up a common issue faced by small business owners—most of us, when asked, can describe the clients and customers we most enjoy working with—but how do we go from "Jane, my favorite customer"
to a profile that helps us:

• Explain to customers and referral sources who we best serve (this is a perfect referral"),
• choose and refine the products and services we offer,
• create a compelling marketing message that attracts attention,
• show up where our best prospects are most likely to be?

Traditional marketing practice involves going through exercises such as defining your marketing niche using demographics (age, gender, geography), psychographics (attitudes, interests, values), products used, and media watched.

But for most small business owners, this approach is cumbersome, time-consuming, and frankly, not really necessary.

Here's my simple, common sense approach to coming up with a solid,actionable niche definition. Just three steps:

Step #1 Identify the Problems You Like to Solve

As a small business owner, you get the cold, hard cash because your products and services help your customers manage or eliminate problems. Your niche market is comprised of individuals and organizations whose problems:

• You excel at solving
• You find fun to solve

For example, the term, “virtual assistant” suggests someone who handles “administrative” problems. But what exactly are “administrative” problems? In my experience, administrative issues cover a wide range of problems including:

• Clients who are hopelessly overbooked making them miss/forget appointments
• Clients who are so busy with the details that they never seem to have time to work on "bigger picture" business issues
• Clients who never get around to following up with customers, saying thank you, and similar small but important activities that strengthen customer relationships
• Clients who are drowning in paperwork (for example, healthcare providers who spend more time completing insurance claim forms than actually working with patients)
• And so on…

Now let's say JoAnne's proudest accomplishments to date have been the following:

• One of her clients is a management consultant who is frequently doing workshops and training sessions. JoAnne helped this client set up a system to record the most popular workshops and make the recordings available on the client's website.
• She developed three email templates for another client so that his customer mailings were more inviting and easier to read. Because more customers were reading the emails and acting on offers, JoAnne's client enjoyed a significant upturn in repeat business.

Every business owner has a unique set of accomplishments. Another virtual assistant's proudest accomplishment might be his ability to quickly spot and correct misspelled words, grammatical errors, and style inconsistencies. And there are other virtual assistants who love nothing more than to divide and conquer a mountain of paperwork.

Step #2: Focus in on Professions/Industries

Once you get some clarity around the problems you excel at solving, you want to narrow in on the one or two professions whose members are likely to have the problems that you are so good at solving.

Continuing the example, JoAnne has learned that professionals who make their living as experts in their fields are good prospect for her because:

• They are interested in turning their expertise into products that will provide passive revenue. By sharing their expertise through recordings, books, articles, and similar products, they earn revenue that supplements fee-based projects.
• The success of their products depends on the customer's abilityto use and apply the ideas and information. Clear, easy to read emailsand web pages go a long way towards improving product usability.

Professions where JoAnne can find these experts include Management Consultants, Professional Coaches, Educators, and Professional Speakers just to name a few.

Step #3: Ta-Dah! Put it Together and You Have a Niche Definition

If JoAnne combines the problems she enjoys solve with the professions most likely to value what she offers she will
get something like this:

I work with

“Expert consultants who are interested in creating revenue sources that supplement their fee-based work but are too busy to create those products and services.”

Last Word: Use Your Best Guess and Expect Your Niche Definition to Evolve

One of the biggest errors I see small businesses make is the reluctance to define a niche because they're worried about missing potential revenue from prospects outside their niche.

Big, big mistake.

Inevitably, these owners are run ragged trying to be something to everyone. They never develop areas of greatness that allow them tostand out from their competitors and become more profitable.

I encourage you to use these strategies to select one or two niches that come closest to "ideal," develop marketing to attract customers from these niches and use your experience working with these clients to refine your niche description.

"Well, I guess I could be shameless and promote myself more…but it's not like I have anything special or interesting to say."

I was shocked because this client founded and runs an extremely successful consulting practice and works with an elite roster of Fortune 100 companies.

She also has two large binders stuffed with classes, workshops, and other valuable intellectual property she's developed over the years.

I think that's pretty darn impressive. Yet, she's asking me "what's the big deal?"

Upon further questioning, my client went on to tell me that, in her mind, "special and interesting" means you've done something truly exceptional and ground-breaking in the eyes of your peers and in the eyes of general public.

And she's not the only small business owner asking this question or its variant:

"Who am I to …?"

If you're asking yourself "what's the big deal" or "who am I to…?" you are not only doing yourself a disservice but you are doing a grave disservice to the many people and organizations that NEED your services and products. Plus, you're sabotaging your marketing because you're broadcasting a mixed message to your audience (Buy my service even though it's not all that great). For tips on getting clear about "why you" and how to use this information in your marketing, read on. 

Answering the question, "What makes me so great?"

You don't have to be a leading edge thinker in your field, a Nobel prize winner, or even a PhD to have something valuable and unique to offer. You just need to understand what it is that you do that makes a positive difference to your ideal customers and clients.

No matter how many companies "out there" seem to be offering the exact same thing as you, there are more than enough prospective customers for whom you are the best choice. For them, who you are, what you do, and how you do it is what makes you so "great."

Still wondering what makes you so great? Try this exercise.

Call 5-7 of your best clients or customers—your “raving fans” and ask them this question: “What is the value that you are receiving from our work together?”

Then listen and take notes.

If your customer answers in generalities that could apply to anyone, press a little further by asking them: “I’m glad to hear that but I’m wondering if I'm providing value to you in surprising ways—beyond my role as your _________.”

Again, listen and take notes.

When you do this, you will get, in your client’s own words, what makes you so special; why, in their eyes, it’s a big deal to work with you.

How to Use What You Learn

Understanding how you add value forms the foundation of all your marketing and promotion activities. Some ways I suggest my clients use this information include:

1. To remind them why they're in business. Keep the notes within easy reach for times when they're feeling some self-doubt and wondering "why me?"
2. As testamonials for the client’s marketing (this is, of course with the quoted person's permission.)
3. To use in their marketing messages. This is a little different from testimonials because it involves using words and terms used by clients in the copy rather than directly quoting what a client said.

Final Thought

There are prospective customers and clients out there who need your products and services. Don't do them and your business a disservice by holding back what you can do because you think “it's no big deal.” If you know that you can help your customers get more of what they want or less of what they don't want, to them, it is a very big deal indeed.

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I don't know about you but I don't like to wait…especially if I can do something to speed up the process.

Well, I'm not waiting and you don't have to either.

Getting more referrals is like any marketing activity. There are strategies, tools, and specific steps you can take to make sure your referral marketing program gets results. And you'll learn those strategies, get the tools and resources, and take the steps in my four-week More Referrals NOW Teleclass which begins October 3.

If you've been in business for a year or more and it seems like your referrals are still trickling s l o w l y;

Or you're getting referrals but your struggling to convert them to paying customers;

You'll want to join us.

If you're thinking this sounds pretty good; even if you're just curious, click here for more details and to complete an application.  

P.S., Register before September 18 and take advantage of the early enrollment discount and save $30! Click here for details.

FALSE

Don't feel bad if you answered, "true." Most people do.

So often, I've seen someone start a new business, with the assumption
that their friends and colleagues would send lots of new business
their way. Three months, sometimes six months later, these new
business owners are still waiting for the phone to ring. And even if
the phone does ring, only a small percentage of those calling end up
converting to real paying customers. Sadly, many of these businesses
don't make it.

The owners of these failed businesses aren't dumb or niaive. Many
have owned successful small businesses in the past or had successful
corporate careers. They know how to get things done.

So what's going wrong? Why do referral marketing programs so often
fail to produce results?

First, business owners simply don't ask for referrals. Often this is because the business owner assumes that others "know" they need more customers. Unfortunately, the folks outside their business often assume the opposite; that if a business owner isn't asking forcustomers, they probably don't need any! It's easy to see how this dynamic undermines the referral marketing process.

Business owners may also resist asking for referrals because theythink they're “bugging” people or haven't earned the right to ask for referrals.

Regardless of the reason, the consequence is the same: if you don't ask for referrals, you won't get them.

The second reason referral marketing programs fail is because when
we do ask, we leave it up to our referral source to figure out who to
send us. So often, we ask for referrals in a vague, general way
(“uh, do you know anyone who needs my services?”).

Asked in this way, people almost always say, “no, can't think of
anyone.” Why? Because they're running through their mental contact
list, a list so large for most folks, that they rarely think of
someone specific when asked.

The third reason referral marketing program fail is because people
forget your request. Let's say someone has agreed to send you
referrals and they are completely sincere in their desire to help you.
Unless they immediately call the person they want to refer to you,
chances are they will forget because they're busy and there are more urgent things demanding their attention.

Unfortunately, if they don't remember you, they won't send you referrals.

At this point you may be thinking, “Sheesh, this is harder than I thought, maybe I should tattoo my company logo on my forehead after all,” don't be discouraged. With the right skills, know-how, and a little creativity, your referral marketing program can thrive. Read on for strategies that will take the number of referrals you receive from “blah” to “VROOM.”

Four strategies to getting more referrals:

1. Don't assume anyone knows what your business needs. Ask for referrals.

2. Understand why people give referrals and, in particular, why they will give you referrals.

Put simply, people give referrals to look good.

Think about it when you are the referrer. Have you ever referred a friend to your favorite restaurant and your friend ends up loving the place? They probably thank you every time they see you and you feel pretty great—like you let someone in on something very cool and special.

That's why people give referrals for everything—plumbers, realtors, pediatricians, electrical contractors, you name it—they get to be a hero in a small but significant way.

3. Make it easy for people to refer you.

To send you referrals, your referral sources need to remember you when opportunities arise and they need to know what to tell the person about your business. For example, compare these two referrals:

"My friend, Ann is a realtor"

"My friend Marion is a realtor who will buy your house if it doesn't sell within 90-days."

See the difference? Which is more memorable? In a tough seller's market, who would you rather refer? If this were all I knew about the two realtors, Marion is the one I'd refer.

4. Follow up and acknowledge.

If you assume people don't care whetheror not you say thank you, you assume wrong. When you call your referral source and let them know how your meeting went with the prospective customer they sent you, it reinforces their involvement in your success and their ablity to make things happen.

In addition, sending a note of appreciation regardless of whether the referral works out, encourages your referral source to send more.

When done right, referral marketing is, without a doubt, the most inexpensive AND most effective way to get the word out about your small business. Although it requires more of your time upfront in terms of planning, developing a strong message, and educating your referral sources, remember that—every dollar—every minute—you spend on your referral marketing program will pay for itself many times over in terms of the high quality new business you attract.

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