Personal Trainer Marketing

5 Easy Ways to Massively Grow Your Prospect List

5 Easy Ways to Massively Grow Your Prospect List

Published by on May 20, 2010 | Leave a response

Hmmmm....do you have those TPS reports finished?

Hmmmm....do you have those TPS reports finished?

As an expert trainer you possess a lot of great knowledge, as an expert human being you are compelled to share that knowledge with others. By now we surely have those two things established. Now why haven’t you written your free report yet?

Seriously, I am assigning you home work. I realize we are heading into the long weekend so I don’t necessarily expect you to do it this weekend but I want you to spend a little time this weekend thinking about what you are an absolute expert on and what you are going to write about. There is a variety of things you can write on, it might be:

  • Your X# most important secrets for guaranteed weight loss.
  • The X# things you need to know about posture and why you are in pain.
  • A practical guide to improving your eating to feel better tomorrow.
  • What one thing you can do today to feel 100% better in 72 hours. (Yes, the magic of hydration.)
  • What is the one exercise you need to do to live longer and feel better.
  • How to get in great shape and quickly even if you don’t like exercise.

There, I’ve already done a whole bunch of the work for you, now get to work and write between 10-15 pages of your best information, even double spaced is ok. This free report can make you a superstar in mere days and earn you tens of thousands of dollars, here’s five different ways to use it:

1)      Post it on your website as an opt-in, people exchange their email address for a free copy of the report, add them to your marketing funnel provide more content for them and once in a while give them an offer to try your services.

2)      Use free classifieds such as Craigslist and Kijiji, offer this valuable info free to the world, just simply ask them to email you for this info and supply it in return. Add their contact info to your marketing funnel as above. The best places to post are: fitness trainer, classes, lessons, and therapeutic services. (One of my coaching clients is getting dozens of new contacts every week using this method.)

3)      Post this to your Facebook and Twitter status regularly. Email to find out why (report subject, then send them your report and add their info to your prospect list. (Have you noticed my weekly updates?)

4)      Create a Facebook ad that directs people to your website where they can opt-in for your free report, you can completely target this ad and manage your budget to never spend more than you designate. (We use this ongoing to generate new consult appointments.)

5)      Last but not least this even crosses over to other industries. One of my coaching clients is working in the financial services industry. They do a lot of cold calling, and with little success with their typical methods. However using your free report call conversion is much higher using a script something like this. “Hi I am Joe Bean, I am a local fitness expert and I just wanted to give you something today, don’t worry this is not a sales call. Because I believe in helping people I am sending people in my community this free guide on how to easily get in the best shape of your life even if you don’t like exercising. Would you like the email version or the hardcopy?” Get their email or mailing address and follow through. At the end of the report include your bio and website information, but no pitch. You will earn a tonne of credibility and can easily gain dozens of contacts per day. (Brand new and very cutting edge, this has potential to completely crush any competition.)

Once people are on your list you are compelled to keep educating them. The more you educate them the more they will trust you. A couple times a month if you begin to offer attractive trial programs you will be amazed at how predictable and easy it becomes to acquire new paying clients.

Get to your homework, and enjoy the long weekend!

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4…3…2…1…We Are Go For Launch!

Published by on May 17, 2010 | Leave a response

Did you wake up this morning full of passion and desire to succeed in a way that you have never felt before? Did you wake up with ideas and tasks swimming in your head that you absolutely need to attack and complete this coming week? Did you open your notebook to find that you now possess a complete 8 week, step-by-step plan detailing how even as a brand new trainer you can sell $100,000 in personal training and fitness programs in the next 8 weeks?

I know a number of individuals who made the trip to Edmonton, Alberta this past Saturday will be nodding a resounding yes to all of these questions. (That is if they have the time to even read this post.)

The Alberta average wage for a personal trainer in 2009 was just over $22,000, we can do far better than this. Our industry is growing faster and is needed more than ever. One of the biggest road blocks I’ve seen in new personal trainers is first understanding exactly how to improve their skills and acquire many new clients in the easiest, fastest, lowest cost manner possible.

Below is a short video of a discussion we had on this topic at the Personal Trainer Business Ignition ($100k in 8 Weeks) Workshop. Watch the video and adopt the right mindset and if you’re lucky maybe some of the attendees will comment on some of the great things they learned! (Also if you haven’t already go to the form on the right an download Factor 3, this will push you in the right direction to becoming a Profitable Personal Trainer.)

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Do you have a mailing list? If so how many people are on it and when did you last contact them?

Do you have a mailing list? If so how many people are on it and when did you last contact them?

Published by on May 13, 2010 | 1 Response

Contact Management is essential for fitness marketing!

Contact Management is essential for fitness marketing!

As a follow up to my last post this is the next big step for you and likely also your website. You see as fitness professionals we’re pretty limited to the dollars we can spend on advertising and various fitness marketing strategies. For us relationship marketing is where it’s at, but as the world continues to move faster and faster we are all governed further by technology; traditional networking is becoming increasingly difficult.

As will be a major topic of discussion this weekend at the Business Ignition Workshop it’s critical you learn as many ways as possible to build a ‘list’ of customers and prospects. It’s quite common that when people start building a list they forget to nurture it only to become frustrated as they now possess a dead list.

You nurture you list by frequent contact, an example is the words you are reading at this very moment. I try every week to make sure I contact you on Monday and Thursday so we might engage for just a few moments and continue to build our relationship. As you will learn from my good friend Mr. X these relationships are extremely valuable and never just from the standpoint of making a sale.

This website and my attempt to gain regular contact with numerous fitness professionals has already brought me new colleagues and ideas that have allowed my training studio and other businesses to make huge strides forward. This is why of all the fitness marketing strategies you might learn; the idea of content, list building and continuity are the foundation principles that will determine your total success as a whole.

Anyways…back on topic, a key element for list building is automation through some form of contact management. If you can provide an easy way to provide regular contact with your list without spending a lot of time; you are free to keep performing the technical work that many of you are trying to grow beyond. (I mean let’s face it, if you’re a solo trainer you still have to train people, and yet you need to develop the systems so you don’t always have to train people, get it?)

By using a contact management product you save a lot of time, by using a website blog and publishing regular content that you then also distribute to your list you leverage further; you maintain regular contact and also attract new prospects with all the posted content. The icing on the cake is now you can put the two of those together to help build your list also, this is the opt-in. An example of an opt-in is the offer for Factor 3 up in the top right corner of this website. I have offered you some very valuable information in exchange for the trust of contacting you next week, my goal each week is to continue to offer you value in hopes that eventually we’ll find a way to help each other and grow our respective businesses.

Makes sense right? Now the question for those not super techno savvy is there an easy solution to handle this problem? Well, in my opinion yes, as a fitness professional you absolutely should have some form of contact management as part of your fitness marketing strategy, and an electronic product is by far the cheapest and these days most successful. Though you can use simple products like iContact, Constant Contact, or Aweber I hands down recommend FitPro Newsletter, you see as I have mentioned previously FitPro is the only product designed for fitness professionals, it’s completely customizable but the beauty is it’s also done for you. Their professional writers add great new articles to every issue so you don’t have to worry about it like the others. Come times like now where you are super busy training people you don’t even need to think about sending content to your list as they will all receive great new content every two weeks on your behalf. Now when you need to contact your list for other reasons they’ll even still remember who you are. J

The list is king! Grow it, nurture it, it is the key to your success.

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What Did You Add to Your Website This Week?

Published by on May 10, 2010 | 1 Response

Does your website give to others or does it glorify you?

Does your website give to others or does it glorify you?

Ok this post is a very simple idea, but it can easily save you thousands of dollars otherwise spent on advertising in the next year or make those thousands of dollars far more productive. After reviewing a number of personal training websites it’s clear that many of the trainers in Canada need to understand how valuable their website is and why they need to add content more often.

When did you last add content to your website? Was it a day ago, a week, a month? It’s critically important you regularly add more valuable content to your website at least weekly. By content I don’t mean adding a new picture of yourself or updating your services but rather information that answers the questions of your potential readers and hopefully prospects.

You see the only people that care about your service changes, new photos or other items of this nature are already your customers. As I’ve mentioned in other posts the best way to attract many new prospects to your website is by providing information your prospects are searching for in Google and the other search engines right now.

Now the question is what do you write about this week?

Well here’s what I sometimes do, I’ll go to Google and type in something like ‘Latest Fitness News’ and then visit a few of the results sites like MSNBC, CNN or CTV. You see a wise person once told me that if you want to really position yourself as an expert in your community, and quickly, then follow the coattails of other experts.

Chances are if it’s been talked about on CNN a local radio station might talk about it in their morning show segment, a local news channel may also feature this topic and undoubtedly a co-worker or friend will be excited about it and share the news. All of these situations now send other people to the almighty Google because they too want to know more.

So if you are writing about the same things as these so called experts and share this with people in any way you can; you come across as doubly smart when they hear these same words from local and global media.

Now if you are writing these types of articles for your website I do suggest a couple of things that just may improve your search rankings. Include your location and key content words in title and again in the first paragraph. Example, if I were writing about the benefits of carrots my title might be something like: A Personal Trainer in Red Deer Exposes the True Benefits of Carrots. And then my article might start with: Cabel McElderry, a personal trainer in Red Deer, believes there are many great benefits to carrots such as…

By writing my article in this format I have added some simple optimization. Google now has a setting to remember where you are geographically and can find relative local content for you. Additionally as your credibility grows people may begin to search for your name also so it never hurts to include it. The key words for the topic you’re writing on are critical as we know these words are going to have a high search volume thanks to the media.

Start by posting something new once per week and work toward multiple times per week. It only gets easier and easier and you will see your website traffic growing exponentially in no time.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure if you are using my strategy that you do work hard to write your own content, any plagiarism will not only destroy your credibility in a heartbeat but these days duplicate internet content is quickly detected by search engines and your whole website may be delisted as a result.

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2 Step Marketing: Get Rich by First Giving it Away!

Published by on May 3, 2010 | 1 Response

Remember a little while ago when I told you how we signed up over 40 people for our bootcamp in 72 hours? (Refresh your memory by clicking here.)

Anyways, that re-packaging strategy was the first half of a 2-step marketing process. As a fitness professional 2-step marketing is an incredibly powerful tool. Most personal trainers are thinking small time and would cringe at the thought of what I am about to tell you to do. So if it first you think I’m crazy relax because I can assure you right now, I am! But seriously this is not for the faint of heart, quite frankly it’s only for those that want to be super successful and absolutely dominate in their geographical area.

Ok here goes…

2-step marketing in a nutshell is just as it says; it’s an aggressive sales-generating program that requires two parts. We’re going to title these two parts as follows: Part 1 – The Pitch, Part 2 – The Close.

Two-Step Fitness Marketing can easily take you from zero to hero!

Two-Step Fitness Marketing can easily take you from zero to hero!

Part 1 – The Pitch

In the re-packaging promotion we ran for our bootcamp we used an aggressive deep discount price point and a short term program as our Pitch. Essentially we gave away real value for next to nothing, but there is a catch our key concept is the value. Next to ready, shoot, aim the next best concept I got from my coach was, “always give them your best stuff.” Now here’s where new and small minded personal trainers cringe. A free session doesn’t cut it! Give them real value, 10 free sessions, 2 weeks free, or 2 weeks for $2, something you know your competition will never offer real value. Give it sincerely without expectation, pour your heart out into these clients, leave nothing on the table, and trust me. Seriously if you are personal trainer who needs clients you should be training people, you should fill your schedule any way possible even if it’s for free. Here’s why, it’s simple economics, a busy trainer is worth more and considered more valuable than a slow one. Once you’re full, raise your prices, you now control the supply and you set rates to meet demand, that simple.

Part 2 – The Close

Ok now is the key part, as the trial period is coming to a close you should have established yourself as a hero to the client. They look to you as inspiration, they are already seeing results and it hasn’t cost them a dime! Let’s face it that alone should have them pretty much ready to write you a cheque. But don’t stop there; give them an offer they can’t refuse. For example in our bootcamp promo we discounted the next month to a lower rate than they paid for the trial, gave them an additional week free and threw in hundreds of dollars in bonuses. (Did I mention those bonuses cost us nothing? We simply talked to businesses in the community and told them we’d like to send them a bunch of customers and asked if they would be willing to extend our good customers a trial of some sort. Some businesses won’t, but the ones you want to work with will be pumped at the idea.) Now closing these new clients should be super easy, you are there hero and you have given them multiple times their initial payment in value, hell this is better than Wal-Mart rollbacks.

Bonus…how to leverage these clients and get even more clients.

These new prospects from your 2-step marketing program will be so warm and excited about your program you won’t have to sell them, but even better because you have given them so much the Law of Reciprocity says they will likely even feel like they owe you. So simply tell them if they like what you are doing, if they would be willing to refer someone else you will give them the exact same deal.

Soon you will be so busy you either won’t need to do programs like this or you will simply have to charge for the trials because you are too busy.

That’s it go kill it! By the way if you’re coming to the Business Ignition Workshop on May 15 and received the free bonuses they not only give you step-by-step instructions, but also scripts, artwork, and everything else you need to execute another 2-step marketing promotion. These concepts alone can double, triple, quadruple your revenues easily, One-to-1 Fitness has proved that easily 3 years in a row.

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Killer Classifieds and Ad Copy 101

Killer Classifieds and Ad Copy 101

Published by on April 19, 2010 | Leave a response

I see so many crappy classifieds it’s unbelievable.

“Hi, I’m Shawn, I am a personal trainer, I will get you in shape, I was Hercules in the TV series for the last 14 years, and I won Mr. Some Obscure Place and was crowned king for a day and I charge $50.00/hr. Contact me here….”

Do your classifieds create a connection?

Do your classifieds create a connection?

Does this look and sound familiar? What’s funny is I read this and it makes me think of my bodybuilding days and the stereotype of bodybuilders being these egotistical clowns that never leave the mirror. Anyways not only are these ads me centered they have absolutely no attraction point to your audience and as a result generate little to no response.

In one of the mastermind groups I have participated in the topic of discussion was “Why do people buy?” The following list summarizes the buying action very well:

• They’ll buy when they feel understood.

• They’ll buy when they are referred.

• They’ll buy when they see social proof.

• They’ll buy from people they know, like, or trust.

• They’ll buy from those who are authentic, because authenticity is the NEW currency.

 

When you are generating ad copy or content of any kind it’s really important to keep these things in mind and try to encompass as many as possible.

Specifically when it comes to writing ad copy the following is a list of criteria I subject pretty much all my copy to as an effort to rate its effectiveness. Writing ad copy is about connection and emotion, without that you got nothing.

What is important to customer?

Meaning, what is their pain? How do they feel about their current situation, being overweight, in danger of heart disease? Your headline and opening sentence should hook their interest based on what is important to them.

 

What do they need to learn?

Explain why it’s not their fault, it’s because they don’t know…help them understand what it is that they need to learn to achieve the success and good feelings they are looking for.

 

What are core elements to producing result?

Specifically what things will you teach them and focus on that will achieve the result. This is your spot to share your best knowledge and validate the above while earning their trust.

 

What do they want to hear? Provide the solution.

Here is where you get to deliver your pitch, explain the solution and specifically how you will provide, ensure or create that solution. It’s important to validate rather than brag, rather demonstrate your success but then show them how it’s absolutely attainable.

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What does Doggy Daycare have to do with Personal Training?

Published by on April 12, 2010 | 1 Response

What does Doggy Daycare have to do with Personal Training?
What does Doggy Daycare have to do with Personal Training?

Last night my wife and I went to visit some really good friends of ours, they are solid gold the kind of people that would drive a hundred miles to help you in a snow storm just because. In fact when we first opened One-to-1 Fitness they put in countless hours with us on a volunteer basis just fixing the place up to finally get the doors open. Now nearly two years ago they took the big step to also open their own business. They are not personal trainers or even in the same industry. I have never met anyone more passionate about and better with animals, they began with sincerity, passion and a dream, a true foundation for success…they own a doggy daycare and provide pet supply and dog boarding.

Now here’s the really cool part, based on their natural affinity for animals they established their business with their sincerity alone but as growth has slowed it’s time to develop and learn to market the business to continue their stream of growth.

Now here is the really cool part, during our visit we began to discuss some ideas and quickly came to agree that most (if not all) the things I am telling you to do can be easily adapted to their business.

They asked me what little things they could do to really increase business.  I started by looking at their website and plunking a few searches in Google. Now because I know many of you are in the same place with a very basic website this will be really useful for you too so I decided to post their ‘to-do’ list for you also.

First how do people find your website? Punch in a few keywords and phrases into Google and see if you can find your website on the first or second page. Keep a list of all of, what you think, would be the most likely words or phrases to find your business. Now here’s what you do in order of importance:

 1) If you haven’t already, sign up for and download my free report, there is so much great step-by-step knowledge in here.

2) If you have a website (or if you don’t) and it’s not a blog look at www.wordpress.com and consider changing your website to a blog. Blogs are incredibly versatile, adaptable, super easy to manage and search engines love them. (About as hard as writing an email.) There are many free wordpress themes to choose from and when the time is right I can refer you to someone who can do a custom theme and really make it shine. (However more importantly would be to first buy optimized content which you can for about $5 US a page, 20-40 pages will drastically improve search term rankings, in fact I bet it would begin paying for itself in mere days.)

3) Buy a few keyword domains, for instance one of the high ranking search terms I use to find people like yourself is ‘Personal Trainer Certification’, you’ll notice if you type in www.ProfitablePersonalTrainerCertification.com you will end up right back here. Key word domains, any words or phrases someone would type in google to search for your business. Point these to your website; this is another inexpensive way I have gained local first page listings. If you live in a big city with multiple regions within your drive radius you can even buy a few domains that might allow those in neighbouring regions to find you a little easier.

4) Your page title, right now what does it say in the top right corner? If like my poor friends it says ‘Home’, change this ASAP. This is the first tag the robots will read, make sure it’s keyword rich, something you know a lot of people are searching for. (One of the ways you can test your key word phrases is by going to www.wordtracker.com and using the free service to see how popular searches are.)

5) You need an opt-in, something people can get off your website for free of high value to get leads and contacts, for me it’s my report, on our PT website it’s the free newsletter, building your list is mission critical. Always be developing your list and building your relationship with your list, just like I am doing with you each week. I gladly give you as much value as possible each week and hopefully at some point maybe we can do business together or I find a great product to tell you about hopefully you will consider buying it from me. For this you could use: www.icontact.com, www.aweber.com or www.1shoppingcart.com (to name a few) the first 2 are really simple, probably aweber is the best for simple, shoppingcart gives you the most options if you eventually want to sell online. (Selling online costs about $500 to setup and about $100/monthlyish)

6) Your website needs lots of content. Most of us start with a simple website that’s like, “hey here’s my website, now buy from me.” These kinds of websites get people’s attention for like 10 seconds and then they leave and never come back. For instance, why are you on the internet? If it’s not for Facebook it’s because you want to know something, the answer to a question. For your website to add to your business and create sales it needs to provide the answers. Add content (and ultimately value); teach your visitors something as chances are they came across you looking for answers not your services.

7) Facebook; fan pages are better than groups, something to do with the search engines, not to mention Faacebook has become the new word for procrastination, that’s where everyone is, go to the people. Every time you post something new on your website link it on your fan page and send the update to your fans under the edit page function. With a properly configured blog this can almost be entirely automated.

8) Offline, get client testimonials stick these on your window for people to read and then give complimentary businesses a discount coupon of some sort, something that seems really valuable to the customer but costs you next to nothing, the best items are consults or service trials (has to be more than 1 session though, create real value) these seem really valuable to the customer but have little physical cost.

These 8 things will easily create thousands of dollars in new sales, I could go on but I think I have given you enough to do.  🙂

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Regain Control of Your Life, Insure Survivial, and Have Your Clients Excited About It!

Regain Control of Your Life, Insure Survivial, and Have Your Clients Excited About It!

Published by on April 6, 2010 | Leave a response

Ever want to have a place of your own? This is how you build a financiable business

Ever want to have a place of your own? This is how you build a financiable business

This week is a simple raw how-to get it done item. By now you have heard me on multiple occasions discuss the value of monthly, reoccurring, electronic billing, or the industry term EFT. If your business is not using EFT or if you are not in the midst of setting this up I’m sorry but you are sitting in a sinking boat and your bucket has a hole in it.

Now maybe you are willing to buy into what I am saying and ready to try to make the transition. The first major roadblock you are going to face that will completely shake your confidence is…your clients. I know I didn’t even have to write that, you didn’t have to mention it to them, you instantly thought of it and the wall of resistance sprung up in your mind.

The simple truth is if you present it the right way your clients will not only not resist, they will thank you for it. Let me ask you a couple of things:

1)      Do you want more monthly bills? No, of course not, no one does.

2)      Do you like writing cheques? In fact do you even know where your cheque book is? Nope, I sure don’t.

3)      Do you like good your service? Duh.

4)      Do you think your clients would like more of your attention to their needs and goals? This is the easiest final exam ever isn’t it?

Ok here goes, if you are a personal trainer working on your own and you have more than 3 clients you are wasting a lot of time on paper work or at least thinking about things you don’t need to be. Most trainers (including myself back in the day) sell the notorious 10 session package. More often now I see the 24, 36 or whopping 72 session packages for $4998! What a deal. Point is these all suck, you and I both know that your client isn’t going to get anywhere with just 10 sessions and now every few weeks or month you have to: track their sessions, prepare invoicing, deliver paperwork to them, accept that they forgot payment that day, remind them next time, collect and process the payment, rinse and repeat. Or; if you figure the bigger bunches of sessions fix this problem you’re wrong, you still have to do it, just less often. Even worse you will miss out on piles of clients that can’t or won’t pay such a large sum up front, divided payments same problem.

The answer EFT, its better value, better service and as a free bonus ensures your survival and delivers your freedom.

You see the value for the customer is significant. Now they don’t ever have to stress about payments or remembering payment for you. More critical and valuable is no one wants to hire a trainer that is distracted by whether he remembered to invoice, collect payment or prepare statements. And no one wants a portion of their session tied up every couple of weeks for paperwork or collecting payments. So forget hiring an assistant that you can’t yet afford and automate the system. By moving to an EFT system you have effectively offered your clients more value and better service.

In addition you know have a tangible business with repeat and reoccurring income that shows steady cash flow. If you ever want to open a studio, gym or for that matter think that one day you might sell your business this is critical. Steady cash flow also allows for monthly budgeting and the ability to work on your terms, take holidays and generally take back control of your life. EFT is essential to your success and that is how it needs to be presented to your clients.

A sample script is as follows:

“Jane, I’ve recently restructured my services to provide you more value and better service. Because I know you are committed to improving your health and fitness with this lifestyle I have stopped selling sessions and just bill my clients monthly for their services.”

“This whole process can be completed automated so you will never have to worry about remembering your cheque book and I can be much more focused on you and your goals because I won’t have to prepare invoicing, collect and process payments and generally spend so many hours on things not related to your fitness and nutritional programming.”

All you need to do further is re-assure them with a simple cancellation process/policy and assure them that missed sessions with proper notice will also be credited to them accordingly. But we can discuss that in a future post.

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Why do you do what you do?

Why do you do what you do?

Published by on March 29, 2010 | Leave a response

Developing effective relationships will do more than improve your business.

Developing effective relationships will do more than improve your business.

Guest post by: Mr. X

In a job situation, most people think the easy answer is “the money”.  When you think about your work, I guarantee that your pay check is not the first image that pops into your mind.  If you are in a positive work situation, it is the people that jump to mind.  If it is a negative situation, it is usually the people as well.   You spend most of your life surrounded by people.  Have you taken an account of those relationships that are most important to you and do you invest the time required to grow those relationships?

So the first step to building a great relationship is time.  You build great relationships over time. Who are your 3 best friends?  How much time do you spend with them in a month?  How do you stay in contact with those best friends?  Is it only by email?  Do you get together for coffee?  Do you get your families together regularly?  Different means of contact and the amount of time invested makes the relationship stronger and more memorable.

Do opposites really attract?  There are many people who believe that opposites attract.  I would want to look closer at the attraction because you usually see a quality in someone that you have as well or that you want to develop.  If you read many self improvement books, you will know there are 4 main personality traits.  We have all seen the successful marriage of the loud obnoxious person with the shy quiet one.   You point to this as proof that opposites attract.  If you dig a little deeper though, you will find the core values of those two people are similar.

Have you heard about the story of the horse pull competition?  The two top horses each pulled 2000lbs, individually.  The farmers decided to see if they hooked them together, how much could they pull?  Bets were places between 4000 and 6000lbs but everyone was surprised when together the team of 2 pulled 11,000lbs.   We will naturally cultivate relationships with people going in the same direction and  have similar core values.  This will add to your life and your energy.  We enjoy investing time with people who are like us.  When you are with people you want to enjoy a deeper, more profitable relationship with reinforce your similarities when you invest time together.  It might be hobbies, family, culture, interests, or career.   The core principle of building relationships is we like those who make us feel good about ourselves.   Great relationships take time, effort and consistency.

Use this small thought experiment to see how important relationships are:

What if because you took the time to read this article, I would build your dream home for you and pay for it.  Imagine your dream home.  What would it look like?  Where would it be?  Imagine the parties you could throw with your friends.  However, the only catch is that you are the only one allowed through the front door.  Do you still want the dream home?  I know I wouldn’t but why not have it all.  To be honest, the people in my life, the mentors I have chosen, have built solid relationships with people in life where they want to be.  They have the fruit on the tree.  I would trade everything I have materially for more time with these people because when you have those relationships, it will not be long before your dreams come true.  I encourage you to develop a vision for the most important relationships in your life starting in these 3 areas: spiritual, family and business.

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“Secrets to make millions…PLUS a smoking hot blonde!”

Published by on March 26, 2010 | Leave a response

Earlier this week I was shopping for a couple of new keyword domains on GoDaddy.com and I noticed an image in the left hand column it read like this:

The secrets I used to sell online and make millions…PLUS a smoking hot blonde!

Now as you can likely figure out if you are reading this blog I read a lot of different books, blogs, etc about sales, marketing and related topics. So naturally being a 34 year old male the addition of “smoking hot blonde” took my interest level beyond a casual notice or interest in the topic to the point of actually clicking on it. Now that might sound bad but when you are considering how you reach your niche this buyline illustrates a basic human behaviour and an effective connection point to the targeted prospect.

Or at least that’s my opinion, here’s a brief idea of what I think his target prospect might look like and how he used this buyline to attract them:

1)      A large number of internet start-ups are by males, mid to late twenties to early forties. Those that are more likely to embrace technology, are excited about the prospect of having something work for you rather than actually working, likely single and not afraid to risk what resources the have or to attempt to make a lot with a little investment. The buy line now appeals to this demographic in many ways: secrets used to make millions, hot blonde. Strong connection to the illustrated demographic.

2)      The description in the sentence creates a subjective judgment, targeted at a male audience, “what is this guy’s definition of smoking hot? And what is he using sex to sell? Well I might as well see what these supposed SECRETS are also.”

Now even if you have no interest in selling products online this is a great video for you to watch. It’s a really good example of an entertaining presentation of simple truths that will bring success in any service based business model. I’ve embedded it here to make it easy for you to take a look.

The other point to make about this is that if you haven’t noticed, video is taking over the internet. YouTube is now one of the largest search engines next to Google. If you haven’t already incorporated the use of video into your website, you should. Now if you’re like me my initial thought about video was: time consuming and too much money. Truth is it doesn’t have to be either. Last year while presenting at a fitness conference in California I was introduced to the FlipCam (that is now catching on like crazy everywhere.) A small USB re-chargeable camcorder that is smaller than your cellphone and has it’s very simple to use editing software built right into its internal memory. You can shoot a video, edit it, and have it on YouTube in minutes. In fact almost all the video on any of my websites right now is made with a FlipCam, and far cooler stuff can be done with a little creativity. Though a video like the above looks nice, is fun, and entertaining a much simpler video can still be equally effective.

Video will set you apart from your competitors, it will provide a dramatically improved connection with your virtual customer or prospect, and with the addition of keyword rich titles and descriptions YouTube will become another traffic centre driving prospects to your website.

Anyhow that’s a brief little bonus for a Happy Friday. Have a great weekend everyone!

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