Marketing to Asian-Americans

An article in the September 2008 issue of Deliver magazine (a publication produced by the United States Postal Service to encourage direct mail marketing) highlighted the relevance of the Asian-American market as a demographic segment.

Author Vicki Powers writes:

Although Asians only represent 5 percent of the U.S. population, they are among the most educated and affluent U.S. consumers. But the Asian-American market, with its multiple sub-groups and diverse languages, remains a challenge to most marketers.

Asian Americans are one of the youngest slices of the U.S. market. Census figures show that the median age among Asian Americans is 34.8 years. Meanwhile, the rest of the U.S. population has a median age of 36.2 years.

Though they are largely concentrated in three states -- California, Texas, and New York -- Aisan American consumers nonetheless wield significant spending power. According to a University of Georgia study, Asian Americans spent $459 billion on products and services in 2007.

Asian Americans tend to be among the most educated individuals in the U.S. About 48 percent of Asian Americans have earned a bachelor's degree.

They are also among the most affluent Americans, with a median husehold income of $63,900.

If you work with clients virtually, Asian Americans are an excellent target market, because they are extremely technologically savvy as a group. Nearly 52 percent of Asian American adults who use the Internet bank online.

Google AdWords

Are you using Google AdWords to promote your business online?

I've been experimenting with them for the past few weeks (since launching a new section on my website focused on my resume writing services) and I'm amazed at the results. (No, not the click-throughs. Those have been a bit slow coming ... about one a day on average.)

No, I'm amazed when I log in to the AdWords site and it tells me that more and more of my search words are inactive because the price has gone up. I'm paying the same ($1.00 per click) for "Omaha Resume Writer" as I am for generic terms like "resume critique."

Now I know there are ways to reduce my costs by increasing the quality of my site, and that's something I'm working on ... and I'm still not to the point where the cost of the lead is prohibitive. After all, I pay about $40 a month for my Yellow Pages ads, and average 3-4 calls a week (and 1-2 clients on average) from that ... so paying $1.00 for a click isn't too bad ... but I'm still working on refining things.

Have some tips for me? Let me know. This is definitely a subject I want to do an article for Resume Writers Digest on.

Are You SEO Ready?

Are you one of the resume writers who considers advertising in the Yellow Pages so "last century"? Do you get most of your new resume clients online? Is your website ready to be a primary source of new business for you? Is it optimized to meet the needs of the search engines that drive the majority of visits to websites like yours?

If you're like me, you wonder how you can get your website to show up on search engines so you can keep attracting new clients. And how you can get more traffic using paid listing services -- but ensure that you're spending your money wisely. Nowadays, you're not just competing with other resume writers in your area, you're competing with writers around the world for clients. Are you ready?

This is one of those topics where we, as resume writers, are going to need to learn some new tricks if we're going to still be selling our resume writing services into the next decade ... so we might as well invest 90 minutes to learn the strategies that will keep our phones ringing (and e-mail boxes full!) for the future.

Kathy Sweeney, NCRW, CPRW, CEIC, CCM, is presenting a webinar tomorrow (Thursday, July 31) at 3 p.m. EDT that you should attend if you want to learn how to maximize the Internet as a source of new clients. If your website is producing the kind of traffic that has your phone ringing off the hook, by all means spend tomorrow serving those clients. But if your appointment book is less-than-full, invest the $39 and attend Kathy's webinar. (Even if you can't make the live session, you can receive the webinar recording and materials after the session -- but if you're a Mac user like me, you'll want to attend live -- see the technical note below).

In the webinar, you'll learn how search engines find your website, effective keyword selection, the importance of meta page titles and meta tag descriptions, the difference between "natural listings" and "paid listings" (and the different types of paid listings), how to submit your website to directories (many of them for free!), how to negotiate relevant reciprocal links, and much more.

Register for the seminar HERE.

The 90-minute webinar is just $39. If you're not able to attend the "live" webinar, Kathy will be recording the audio and the actual "on-screen" presentation of the webinar. So even if you can't make it on Thursday, you will still receive the recording, video, and materials at the conclusion of the source. (See the special note below for MAC users.)

About webinars:
Attending a webinar is not much different than attending a teleseminar. But instead of just using your phone, you use your computer to follow along. You must be at your computer and on your phone at the same time. You will need to be able to "view" the webinar
on your computer.

System requirements:
* PC-based attendees: You'll need Windows 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server or Vista. To view the recorded video from the webinar, you must have Windows Media Player, Version 9 or higher.
* MAC folks (like me!) you'll need MAC OS X 10.3.9 Panther (or newer) to see the webinar. Although Kathy will be recording the video and audio, if you're a Mac-based resume writer, Kathy suggests you attend
the live webinar, as you will not be able to view the webinar video afterwards unless you have access to a PC (or run your Mac dual platform, my husband tells me. *smile*)

If the link doesn't work, visit the Resume Writers Resource website and click on "Teleseminars and Webinars."

Note: When you sign up for the webinar, you will be sent an "invitation" to register for the webinar. You must use the link Kathy will send you and "register" for the webinar or you will not be able to participate.

Ideas for "Prospering Despite a Downturn Market"

As I mentioned last week in my post on Free Continuing Education, Career Directors International offers free monthly "Best Practices" teleclasses to help resume writers and career coaches brainstorm best practices.

Yesterday, I cleared my schedule for an hour to listen to the most recent one, "Best Practices in Prospering Despite a Downturn Market." There were some great ideas. I was particularly interested in some of the strategies shared by career coach Laura Drew, of Carolina Career Coach, Inc.

One of Laura Drew's best practices is quite attention-getting. She ordered double-sided business cards from VistaPrint. On the back side is a list of teleclasses she offers. She also ordered a baseball cap that has "JOB HUNTING?" in all capital letters. On the business cards, she wrote the word "Hat" in the corner. When she wears her hat out in public (while she's running her errands, she notes), people ask her about the hat, and she gives them her "elevator pitch" and business card.

In one recent outing, she took 50 business cards with her; by the time she got home, she had distributed 47 of them. Those 47 cards turned into 13 paying clients.

That's just one of the ideas from the teleclass. There were more. Members of Career Directors International can access the MP3 audio files from all previous calls, including:

• Background Investigations Mega Trends
• Best Practices in Career Services Pricing
• Best Practices in Coaching Clients Using SWOT Analysis
• Best Practices in Creating Resume USPs
• Best Practices in Millennial Resume Writing
• Media Strategies Tips Seminar
• New Trends in Interviewing
• Paperless Resumes Mega Trends Report
• Resume Fraud Mega Trends Report
• Selling Career Research Services to Clients
• Social Networking Mega Trends Report
• Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) Q&A
• 2008 CDI Conference (Seattle, WA) Q&A
• World's Best Resume Writer Competition Q&A
  

And here are the upcoming free teleclasses from Career Directors International:

• July 22: Best Practices in Advertising Your Career Service Business
• Aug. 12: Best Practices in While Life/Office Organization
• Aug. 20: International Resume and Career Services Q&A
  
• Sept. 16: Best Practices in Resume Data Mining (Client Information Gathering)
  

Laura DeCarlo is offering a special CDI membership offer for Resume Writers' Digest readers: Join CDI by July 31 and save $25 off the regular membership. Use this link: JOIN CDI and type in "Resume Writers Digest" in the comments box. The cart will show $150, but your credit card will only be charged $125 (you save $25).

Here's another quote from a CDI member who also listened to the best practices audio:

"I just finished listening to the recording of the 'Prospering Despite a Downturn Market' teleseminar. WOW!!! An hour of my time well spent. Thanks, Laura, for giving us such an extensive list of great, mostly free, ways to market and build business. I'm glad I was keyboarding everything you said, so I didn't miss much. You offered a number of specific things to do and places to go to get them done -- things I can get moving on right away. Some are things already on my to-do list, some are new ideas to me. A terrific push to be proactive and work thorugh slow times. I'm all fired up and anxious to get started."
-- Meg Guiseppi, Executive Resume Branding

Starting Up, Starting Over

For many years, in my daily planner (I love my Franklin Covey planner), I had a page I called, "If I Had to Do It Over." On it were the steps I would take if I were starting my resume writing business all over again. I get a lot of inquiries from new resume writing businesses, wondering about success secrets from those who are making it work.

Here are a couple of ideas for those who are getting started -- or thinking about reinventing themselves.

• If I were starting this business today, from scratch, what would I do differently?
• If I ran a competing firm, how would I beat us? How would I distinguish myself? What weaknesses would I attack? (Price, service, customization, turnaround times?)
• What are you known for?
  

Guest Author: Turning Your Services Into a Product

By C.J. Hayden
Author, Get Clients Now

One of the biggest challenges in selling professional services is that what you are offering is intangible. Your product can't be seen, touched, or tasted. Until your prospective clients experience what you do, they have no way of knowing if it will turn out, whether they will like it, and how well it will work in their situation. To make a buying decision, the client must first trust that your work will produce the result that they need.

The most common way to package professional services is by the hour or day. The client pays for your time, and they keep paying until the project is declared complete. But clients are often resistant to this. You will hear them say, "I don't want to leave it open-ended," "That seems high for an hourly rate," "I'm not sure my budget will allow for this," or even "I'm not quite clear what it is I'd be getting."

You can overcome these barriers to making a sale by "productizing" your services. This awkward term simply means that you make your service look more like a product, so that it becomes easier for your clients to buy. You give it a defined scope, fit it into a limited time period, assign it a definite price tag, and attach a distinctive name.

Let's say you are an image consultant, and you've been selling your time for $75 per hour. Instead, you offer a "One-Day Makeover" at a price of $495, and include a wardrobe assessment, color consultation, and shopping trip. You're giving your clients a defined result with a clear timeframe and set price, making it easy for them to buy. Plus, you are able to let clients experience a range of the services you offer and suggest additional ways they can work with you.

A market research consultant working with corporate clients at $150 per hour could instead provide a "Market Position Blueprint" for a flat fee of $2500. The package would include a comparison matrix of three key competitors, qualitative data from interviews with six loyal customers, and recommendations for improving the client's market position, all to be delivered with 30 days. Clients know in advance exactly what they are paying and what they will get for it.

When buying your services in a package, the client runs less risk. They don't have to worry about cost overruns or getting an unexpected result. They know how soon the result they are paying for will be delivered. There's also an emotional comfort factor in buying a package. Purchasing something with a name attached makes it feel much more tangible than simply buying hours.

For you, offering a package helps you get your foot in the door. Once you show a client what you are capable of, more business will often result. Even if you price your package at slightly less than what you would earn for working the same amount of time at an hourly rate, you will probably profit more because more of your time will ultimately be sold.

Many consultants find that fixed-price contracts are much more profitable than working by the hour. In a survey quoted by the late Howard Shenson in "The Contract & Fee-Setting Guide for Consultants & Professionals," consultants working exclusively on a fixed-price basis had 87% higher profits than those working on a daily or hourly basis.

To determine which of your services would be best to turn into a product, consider what your target market most often wants from you. Is there a specific set of steps you usually follow when first working with a new client? Activities that you perform repetitively with many people give you an opportunity to create templates, worksheets, and other tools that you develop only once and use over and over. This effectively allows you to charge for the same work more than once.

Be sure to spend some time on coining a unique name for your product. You want a memorable results-oriented name that will help you to stand out from the competition, and perhaps even allow you to trademark it.

To launch your first product, you may not need to do much more than develop a standard format for what you are already doing, set a price, and name your new invention. Taking this critical step toward making your services more tangible can result in easier sales, more repeat business, and more profitable engagements.

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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
To subscribe to the "Get Clients Now!" e-newsletter
visit http://www.getclientsnow

Top 10 Marketing Tools for Small Business

Marketing coach Veronika Noize has created a list of what she considers the Top 10 Marketing Tools for Small Businesses. Among them are some obvious items (web site, business card) … but do you use your e-mail signature line effectively? How about a script for when clients call?

Don't Strike Out With Prospective Clients

Marketing guru Robert Middleton has developed a marketing system for independent service professionals (including resume writers and career coaches) that is designed to help you attract more clients!

(Read more about it at http://www.actionplan.com)

He says it's important to analyze our sales process and identify WHERE you are losing clients.

For most resume writers, it's when the client asks, "How much does this cost?" Save the sale by trying different approaches:
• Ask lots of questions to understand their real challenges (most clients aren't as concerned about the cost as much as they are on the RETURN-ON-INVESTMENT. Will it be worth what they spend?)
• Direct them to your web site for articles, samples, etc. if they say they want to "think about it."

Guest Author: Five Myths of Internet Marketing

By C.J. Hayden
Author, Get Clients Now

There's more marketing hype published on the Internet in one day than P.T. Barnum generated in his lifetime. Like a worm swallowing its tail, the Internet marketing beast feeds mostly on itself. The vast majority of what appears on the Internet about marketing is designed to help you market products and services sold and delivered exclusively on the Internet.

So what does that mean for the independent professional whose web presence is primarily aimed at selling his or her own personal services? You know, services delivered the old-fashioned way, by humans interacting face-to-face or at least voice-to-voice. At best, the average professional is likely to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Internet marketing advice available. At worst, he or she is being seriously misled by it.

The problem is that marketing your own professional services is simply not the same as marketing a retail product or an anonymous business service. You can't sell corporate consulting like you do web hosting; nor can you sell life coaching the same way you do an e-book. If you try to market yourself by following advice designed for marketing Internet products and services, you're likely to make some serious mistakes.

Here are five Internet marketing myths that may be hazardous to the health of your business.

Myth #1 – It all starts with a great web site.

Actually, the place where it starts is with a well-defined service. If you don't have a crystal clear picture of who you are marketing to and exactly what you're selling them, the best web site in the world won't get you clients. Before you even think about building a web site, you should know who your target market is, how to describe your professional specialty, and what specific benefits your work provides for your clients.

The content of your site is much more important than the design. Yes, you should have a professional-looking site, but a brilliant design and dazzling graphics won't pay off anywhere near as well as a clear explanation of why a client should work with you. Useful material such as articles, assessments, and other samples of your expertise will go much further to persuade prospective clients than flash intros and interactive menus.

Myth #2 – More traffic translates to increased profits.

The only result that more traffic to your web site guarantees you is increased bandwidth use by your web host. Before spending money on banner ads, web directories, or pay-per-click listings to drive more visitors to your site, you need to be sure that they'll want to do business with you once they get there.

Ask your colleagues and current clients to critique your site. Do they understand what you are offering? Can they see concrete benefits to your target audience? Revise your site based on their feedback. Then personally invite some prospective clients to visit and touch base afterward. Do your prospects seem more inclined to do business with you after seeing your site? If so, you're on the right track. If not, you still have more work to do.

Myth #3 – Do whatever it takes to build your list.

There's no question that a substantial opt-in mailing list is a valuable marketing asset, but the quality of names on your list is much more important than the quantity. Acquiring names through giveaways of other people's material, trading lists with joint venture partners, or purchasing them from a vendor rarely provides qualified buyers truly interested in your services.

Absolutely, ask your site visitors and people you meet to join your mailing list and offer them something of value in return. A well-written ezine, helpful report, or informative audio are all effective premiums. But, your premium should be directly related to the services you provide and also serve to increase your professional credibility. Names acquired from promotional gimmicks or unknown sources seldom turn into paying clients.

Myth #4 – Killer copy is the secret to sales.

Hype-laden web copy may be effective in selling certain info-products or courses, but it hardly inspires trust. You're not going to convince anyone to hire you individually as a consultant, coach, trainer, designer, or financial advisor by offering "not one, not two, but three valuable bonuses" as if you were selling steak knives on late-night TV.

Your Internet marketing persona should reflect the same professionalism as the work you do with your clients. If writing marketing materials isn't your forte, by all means hire a professional copywriter. But be sure you hire one with experience writing for professionals like yourself. The copy on your web site should inspire feelings of confidence about your abilities, and communicate your reliability and solid qualifications.

Myth #5 – Just follow the winning formula and you will get rich.

There's only one surefire recipe for Internet wealth I know of, and that's the business of selling surefire recipes. There seems to be an infinite number of buyers for every new get-rich-on-the-net scheme that is invented, but paradoxically, a precious few people actually making money on the web.

The Internet may be a different medium for marketing professional services than making calls, writing letters, or speaking to people in person, but the same time-honored principles still apply. There is no new winning formula. The secret to landing clients is what it always has been -- build relationships and get people to know, like, and trust you.

If your web site, ezine, and other Internet-based activities contribute to building long-term, trusting relationships with prospective clients and referral sources, you'll get business on the web. But if you blast your message out to anyone who will listen, aiming for a quick profit, the Internet won't bring you any more business than standing on a street corner with a megaphone.
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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
To subscribe to the "Get Clients Now!" e-newsletter
visit http://www.getclientsnow

Be in the Right Place at the Right Time

Resumes generally are impulse purchases, which is why the Yellow Pages can be an effective tool for capturing new clients.

Think about most of your new clients. Chances are, it was a specific trigger that led them to seek out your services. Maybe it was a layoff or merger. Perhaps he or she got a new boss. For college students, it's the impending graduation date. A spouse's relocation is not an unusual motivator. Being in the right place at the right time can help you win new clients.

Average Resume Writer Profile: Marketing/Advertising/Public Relations

Speaking of marketing and public relations support, our “average” resume writer has a couple of thoughts on the process.

She’s been in the Yellow Pages for years, but her ad isn’t as big anymore. That’s because the kinds of calls she gets as a result of the ad aren’t as good as they used to be … there seems to be more price-shoppers and tire-kickers than before. Her Yellow Pages rep keeps trying to sell her an upgrade to an “enhanced” online listing, but she’s not convinced by the numbers he’s throwing out.

Online is the place to be, she thinks, but I think I can do more with my money on my own. She’s got a website. But it’s mostly an “online brochure,” and she updates it about once a year. She’s got some information about the services she offers, the logos for the professional associations she belongs to (even the ones that she used to belong to – whoops, forgot to take the logo down when the membership lapsed). Organizations change, but her website is stuck in time… there’s a reference to the Professional Resume Writing and Research Association (PRWRA) – now Career Directors International, and she followed Wendy Enelow’s advice to put the Career Masters Institute logo on her site … but now it’s “The Alliance” and she still has the CMI logo on there … even though she forgot to send in her renewal last month (or was it the month before that?)

She’d like to build her network, but who has the time? She’s sure there are some groups out there she could speak to and possibly get some business out of, but has no idea where to start the contact process. She did one speech last year to a Kiwanis group, but it seemed to be a lot of self-employed folks (insurance agents, doctors, lawyers) and she didn’t get any new clients from it.

She’s heard PR (public relations) can be a good way to increase her profile with prospective clients, but when she sent out a news release last year, they didn’t print it – but she did get a call from someone in the newspaper’s advertising sales department, wondering if she’d like to run an ad. Come to think of it, though, they did run a short item in the “Business Profiles” section of the paper when she got her CEIP certification, and while her neighbors noticed it, none of the prospects who called in the next few weeks mentioned it. There was also the call from the reporter on her voice mail message after she got back from a four-day weekend, but when she called him back, he said the story he was interviewing for had already run.

One of her biggest challenges (after generating leads) is converting prospects into customers. When people call on the phone, they seem really interested, until she tells them the price. Some of them do decide to buy, but a lot of them say they are just starting the process and aren’t ready to buy yet. She thanks them and tells them to call her back when they’re ready to get started (but she usually doesn’t get their e-mail address or phone numbers). If she does get their e-mail address, she sends them information about her services, and some of those people end up calling her back to engage her services.

But she’s tired of justifying her prices to people who call her, so she per her prices up on the website and created a PayPal link so people can just order online instead of calling to ask her how much she charges. No one has ordered using the link yet, but she just put it up a few months ago, so it’s still new.

Next Time: Average Resume Writer Profile: Professional Conferences

Average Resume Writer Profile: Existing Client Base

Having been in business for a number of years, our “average” resume writer has worked with thousands of clients – yet she doesn’t have a formal strategy for client retention and reactivation. Heck, she doesn’t even have an updated database of clients. She’d like to create a program to tap into those clients – like a $8/month continuity service that provides an annual update, an online archive of the client’s documents, access to job search information, and a discount on related services (like background checks, salary reports, and resume distribution services)… but it’s not something she wants to develop or administer.

She’d also like some marketing support. One of the biggest challenges of working by yourself is balancing the workload. She’d like to send out a quarterly newsletter or postcard, but what if she got 30-40 returning clients all at once? She’d be swamped. Plus, updates don’t pay as well as new projects – even if you charge by the hour. So it feels better to just keep focusing on getting new clients.

Next Time: Average Resume Writer Profile: Marketing/Advertising/Public Relations

Resume Writer's Action Plan - Part 4

Here's the fourth installment in our series. For part 3, click here.

16. Talk to real estate agents. Agents are often the first to greet someone new to town -- and they are delighted to recommend a qualified resume writer to help a "trailing spouse" find a job.

17. Send a letter to your friends and family members. Put your word-of-mouth marketing network of relatives to work for you. A supply of brochures and business cards may be all you need if you send a stack to chatty Aunt Cathy.

18. Celebrate the holidays. In addition to Christmas/New Years, consider recognizing other "traditional" holidays -- such as Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Halloween. Or, celebrate an offbeat holiday, such as Groundhog Day, or Earth Day.

19. Make contacts for outplaced employees. When you read about a local firm that will be laying off employees, call the company. You might be able to line up a seminar on job skills -- or a company-paid subsidy for resume writing. At worst, ask if you can send along brochures and business cards.

20. Target specific markets and contact them directly. For example, if you have a background in nursing, your specialized knowledge of medical terminology and nursing functions makes you a great choice as a resume writer if I am a nurse. For professions that are licensed -- like nursing -- you can often rent a list from the state. Or, write an article or place an ad in industry newsletters or trade journals.

Guest Author: If You Want to Get Clients…

...You'll Have to Talk to Them

By C.J. Hayden, MCC
Author, Get Clients Now

"I've done everything I can think of to get clients," a desperate self-employed professional writes. "I printed a brochure, I have a web site, and I've placed ads. But no one is hiring me. What am I doing wrong?"

This unhappy business owner has made a common mistake. He seems to believe that investing money in placing ads and creating marketing materials will somehow produce clients without the direct involvement of the business owner.

Perhaps professionals who make this mistake are trying to follow a big business model. They hide behind a company name, expensive marketing literature, and a web site. They spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on ads, directory listings, and trade show booths. Far too many self-employed professionals don't even disclose their own name in their marketing.

But people don't buy professional and personal services from an anonymous company; they buy them from individual people they have learned to know, like, and trust. The more personal -- or the more expensive -- the service you offer is, the more likely this is to be true.

If you are a career counselor, life coach, or massage therapist, you are asking people to trust you with the most personal areas of their lives. If you are a web designer, IT consultant, or corporate trainer, you are asking your clients to trust you enough to spend thousands of dollars with you. You don't earn people's trust by sending them a brochure.

Here are the five things that work best for most professionals to get clients:
1. Meeting people in person -- at events or by appointment
2. Talking to people on the phone
3. Sending personal letters and emails
4. Following up personally over time
5. Speaking to groups at meetings and conferences

And here are the five things self-employed professionals most often try that don't work:
1. Placing ads in the Yellow Pages or local newspaper (Editor's Note: Yellow Pages ads still work for resume writers, depending on the clientele and geographic market you are targeting.)
2. Distributing flyers around their community
3. Mailing mass-produced letters or brochures to strangers
4. Sending their newsletter to people who haven't asked for it
5. Posting their brochure on the Internet and calling that a web site

The main difference between these two lists is that the first list requires you to talk to people. On the second list are anonymous activities that allow you to hide out and never meet the people you are in business to serve.

If you want people to become your clients, they need to get to know you, learn to like you, and believe they can trust you. And for that, they really do need to meet you.

It is understandable why so many business owners gravitate to the least effective marketing tactics -- they are so much easier! To buy an ad, all you have to do is put up the money. To send a letter, all you need is an address and a stamp. It's much more challenging to go out and meet strangers, or to call people on the phone and ask for their business.

But the reality is that this is what it takes. Even if you have the world's best web site, it's a rare client who finds their way to it, reads it, and decides then and there to work with you. The same is true for a brochure. Both of these marketing tools are simply that -- tools. Just like a pair of pliers, they need a person holding them in order for them to work.

What clients want is to get a sense of who you are as a person. They want to see your face or hear your voice, to get to know you over time. If you don't have enough confidence in your business to speak to people in person about it, how will they ever have enough confidence in you to hire you?

What you'll discover if you begin to meet clients in person, talk to them on the phone, and ask directly for their business, is that it gets easier the more you do it. It will build your confidence in yourself -- and the confidence your prospective clients have in you -- at the same time.

If you're in the business of serving people, your best marketing tool is your own voice. So put it to work and start talking to them.

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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
To subscribe to the "Get Clients Now!" e-newsletter
visit http://www.getclientsnow.com

Guest Author: From Prospect to Client in 30 Seconds

Editor's Note: When you're selling a $300-$1000 service over the phone, you can't expect people to make a decision right away (at least not always!) Be sure to collect contact information from prospects and develop a follow-up strategy to convert some of these prospects into clients in the longer term.


By C.J. Hayden, MCC
Author, Get Clients Now

The process of converting a prospect to a client can seem like it takes forever. You meet a prospective client, follow up with him or her over time, and hopefully have a chance to make a sales presentation or schedule an initial consultation at no charge. Then you follow up some more, trying to close the sale. Months can pass, or even years, between your first encounter and getting the prospect to sign on the bottom line.

How do you keep following up for all that time without being a pest? Is asking prospects over and over, "Are you ready to buy yet?" the best way to go about it? How can you build the trust of your prospects enough that they become willing to take the risk of hiring you?

The answer to these bothersome questions just might be found in this simple idea. Treat those prospects as if they were already your clients -- they just haven't paid you yet.

Imagine what it would be like to treat every prospective client you encounter as if you were already working together. Every time you contact your prospects, you offer an article they might be interested in, an introduction to someone who might help them with a goal, or an invitation to an upcoming event in their field.

When you meet with them, you listen to their problems and recommend solutions. When you contact them after a meeting, you suggest resources for helping them address the issues you discussed. The solutions and resources you recommend may include your products and services, of course, but you don't stop there. You also offer answers that don't involve hiring you.

The impact of this kind of generosity on your prospective clients can be dramatic. Instead of considering your calls or e-mails an interruption, they will welcome hearing from you. They will no longer count you as a salesperson or vendor, but rather as a valuable resource and important person to know.

I'm not talking about giving away the store. I don't recommend providing the client with free training, spending hours addressing their issues at no charge, or otherwise practicing your profession without pay. It is completely appropriate to ask for and expect payment for doing your professional work.

But what I am suggesting is a shift in your attitude, to being of service instead of selling a service. Give your prospects a taste of just how valuable you could be to them if they were to hire you. Be generous with the information and contacts you already have at your disposal. It only takes a few minutes to pass along a phone number, clipping, or helpful web site, but the impact can be unforgettable.

The effect of this shift on you can be just as significant as the effect on prospective clients. You will eliminate those dreaded sales calls from your agenda and focus instead on what you do best -- helping people. You will no longer fear or resist making contact with prospects, but will begin looking forward to it. Instead of selling, you will be serving.

The fastest way to turn a prospect into a client may be simply to change how you think about them.
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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
To subscribe to the "Get Clients Now!" e-newsletter
visit http://www.getclientsnow.com

Resume Writer's Action Plan - Part 3

Here's the third installment in our series. For part 2, click here.

11. Tap into the college market. Send a letter of introduction to college career planning departments in your area. While many offer assistance in finding jobs for new graduates, most don't help grads write resumes. They are even more likely to refer alumni to you, as they are often stretched thin by simply serving currently enrolled students. Send along brochures and business cards. Be sure to mention you are an alum of the institution (if you are).

12. Write articles that target the needs of executives and submit them to your local business journal. Research a trend or statistic relevant to employment for executives and quote yourself as an expert.

13. Generate publicity in general-interest publications as well by writing a short article featuring a hot topic or trend.

14. Speak out! Target a specific profession and seek opportunities to speak at their conventions or seminars by hooking up with a professional association, or target a more general audience (church groups, community organizations, etc.)

15. Improve your client acquisition rate from cold calls. Develop a script to answer common questions and make your pitch for the sale. You'll feel more relaxed if you can focus on the person you are talking to .... and not wondering what information you need to know from the client.

Guest Author: 10 Ways to Get Your Marketing Unstuck

By C.J. Hayden, MCC
Author, Get Clients Now

Have you ever found yourself knowing exactly what you need to do about marketing your business... and then not doing it? You are not alone. Many self-employed professionals find that the hardest part of marketing isn't figuring out what to do. What's hard is actually doing it.

Marketing yourself can be a confronting process. Making phone calls to strangers, writing marketing letters, and talking about yourself and your accomplishments can bring up fear of rejection, harsh commentary from your inner critic, feelings of incompetence, and the discomfort of performing unfamiliar activities. If you let them, these inner saboteurs can stop you dead in your tracks.

The good news is that you don't have to completely eliminate these internal roadblocks in order to move forward in marketing. It is possible to feel afraid or uncomfortable and still take useful action despite the presence of these feelings. Here are ten ways to quickly break through internal barriers and get your marketing unstuck.

1. Recreate your vision. When you're feeling blocked from moving forward, remember why you wanted to go there in the first place. What was your original vision of the business you are trying to build? Who will your work benefit? What fulfillment or satisfaction will it provide you? Write down your vision of a successful business, or if you've written it down before, pull it out and re-read it. Allow your own words to re-inspire you to do the necessary hard work.

2. Design a reward. Sometimes your vision may seem a bit too far off, and you need some more immediate gratification. Choosing to reward yourself for a job well done can provide you with a positive near-term benefit for effort that might not pay off for a while. Promise yourself simple rewards for completing difficult marketing chores like making follow-up calls or writing web site copy.

The prospect of a special dinner, a movie with your significant other, or a new gadget for your favorite hobby can help you to push past the blocks and get things done. Rewards don't even have to cost money. Sometimes the promise of a bubble bath, walk in the park, or an hour reading a good book is all the incentive you need to take on a tough marketing challenge.

3. Tame the inner critic. Often when you're feeling stuck, what's going on in your head is a conversation with your inner critic, who seems to have a lot to say about sales and marketing. It's difficult to work on promoting yourself when you are hearing a constant stream of comments like: "You're not good enough," "They won't like you," or "Who do you think you are?"

It can help to remember that the inner critic often says things that simply aren't true. One way to counter this negative dialogue is to respond with the objective truth. For example: "Clients tell me I'm good at what I do," "Many people say they like me quite a bit," or "I'm a competent professional, thank you very much." When you answer confidently with statements of fact, messages from the inner critic often begin to lose their power.

4. Face your fear. One of the most common obstacles to being successful at marketing is fear. Marketing activities may evoke fears of rejection, disapproval, embarrassment, and a host of other catastrophes. Instead of pretending the fear isn't there, or attempting to ignore it, you may find it more effective to confront the fear directly.

Try to identify exactly what you are afraid of. What do you fear will happen if you make that call or go to that meeting? If you can identify the specific fear that is blocking you, it may be possible to soothe it by providing reassuring information or positive experience. For example, fear of rejection can often be lessened by setting up practice selling sessions where a role-playing partner responds with "yes" to every suggestion you make.

5. Get a pep talk. When you become discouraged, don't be afraid to ask for outside help to cheer up and start feeling positive again. Ask a friend, colleague, networking group member, or your coach to give you some words of encouragement. Sometimes all you need to hear is: "It was tough for me in the beginning too... Eventually my efforts paid off... You're doing all the right things... I know you can do it!"

6. Complain and clear. Feeling frustrated and negative can sometimes immobilize you. One method of clearing negative thoughts is to voice what you are experiencing to a caring person. Spend a full five minutes complaining about everything that's going wrong with your marketing, making sure to say exactly how it makes you feel. Then ask your listener to reflect your feelings back to you. Knowing that someone else hears and understands you may be all you need to let go of a negative attitude and get back to work.

7. Read your fan mail. In the regular course of serving your clients, you've probably received thank-you notes, grateful voice mail messages, and other evidence that you're doing a good job. Make a habit of saving these in a "fan mail" folder, and when you are feeling low, revisit all the nice things people have said about you. Remembering what a good job you do when you are working can encourage you to do the necessary marketing to get more work.

8. Quit; then start fresh. There may be days when you feel discouraged enough to just throw in the towel. Maybe you should do it. The act of quitting can be very cathartic. Proclaim: "I quit!" Perhaps even write yourself a resignation letter. Then take off the rest of the day, and don't even think about work. It's a good bet that after you have a chance to blow off some steam, you'll be ready to come back the following day re-energized.

9. Change the scene. Marketing can feel difficult and lonely when you're always slaving away by yourself in your home office. Try carrying out some of your challenging marketing tasks from a different location or with some company. Make cold calls from the patio, write a marketing letter in a busy coffee shop, or take turns with a colleague helping each other set up a good contact management system. Seeing a different view or enjoying companionship while you work may help you to complete tasks you have been avoiding.

10. Act as if. Whenever you feel incompetent about some area of marketing, you may be able to tackle those activities anyway if you simply try to act as if you were competent. Try playing the role of someone you admire. For example, what if you were Lauren Bacall? How would she make a follow-up call? Or how about if you were Martin Luther King? How would he introduce himself in front of a group? A short time pretending to be someone you think of as confident and capable can make those qualities rub off on you.

The next time your marketing feels stuck, try one of these methods to help you get back into action quickly. Marketing tasks are really only as hard as you think they are, so if you can find an easy way out, why not take it?

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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
To subscribe to the "Get Clients Now!" e-newsletter
visit http://www.getclientsnow.com

Guest Author: Marketing the Real You

By C.J. Hayden, MCC
Author, Get Clients Now

I often wonder how the practice began of pretending to be someone else in order to market your business. You know what I'm talking about -- it's the marketing face, the selling voice, that you often put on in order to attend a networking event or make a sales call. Who taught you to do that?

I have a suspicion where we learn this behavior. Most of us spend a lifetime observing showroom salespeople, product spokespersons in the media, and hucksters on street corners. What we see demonstrated there is artificial enthusiasm, manipulative use of language, feigned interest, and in some cases outright deception.

Sounds awful, doesn't it? So why copy any part of this distasteful way of selling?

Psychologist Abraham Maslow said, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Perhaps we believe this is the only way we can sell because it's the only way we know. I'm not accusing anyone of consciously deceiving prospective clients. What I'm suggesting is that what we do unconsciously and automatically is to behave inauthentically around them.

Intuitively, many of us feel as if something is wrong with this way of operating. When we have to sell ourselves, we find it unpleasant, disagreeable, even repulsive. But what if all those negative feelings were simply because we hate the artificiality and manipulation we think must be a part of selling?

Imagine what it would be like to go to a business networking event as yourself. No facade, no pretension, just plain you. When someone asks your reason for coming, you tell them the truth. You don't have to claim you wanted to hear the speaker (if you didn't). You can come right out and say, "I'm hoping to make some contacts that will lead to business for me."

You wouldn't have to invent reasons to start a conversation. You can walk up to someone who looks interesting and say, "Hi, I haven't met you yet." If you're shy around strangers, you can tell the first person you meet, "I'm sort of a wallflower and feel awkward at events like this. Could you introduce me to some folks?"

Now imagine placing a follow-up call to a prospect where you are completely honest. You could say, "I have some days open on my calendar soon and I'm wondering if this would be a good time for that project we've been discussing." Or, "We haven't talked in a while and I'd like to find out if you're still planning to look for a new job."

I see so many professionals and consultants struggle with trying to find an "excuse" to call a prospect. You don't need some manufactured excuse. You know the reason you're calling. Most of the time THEY know the reason you're calling. Just say what it is.

Let's extend this same principle to making a cold call. Instead of stumbling around awkwardly trying to make a polished -- but unnatural -- sales approach, imagine yourself saying, "I'm not much of a salesperson, but I'm really good at what I do. Can we have a conversation about what you need and see if I'm the right person for the job?"

If you've been working from a cold-calling script that makes you flush and get a tight throat every time you read it, throw it out. Come up with one really good opening line that feels authentic and gets directly to the point. Then decide how you will answer -- honestly -- some of the typical questions prospects ask you. My bet is that your calls will immediately get easier.

In fact, the more you become honest, direct, and authentic in all of your marketing, the more appealing selling will be to you, the more effortless it will become, and the more success you will ultimately achieve. Because most business results from building relationships, and how can you develop a relationship with someone when you never reveal who you really are?

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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
To subscribe to the "Get Clients Now!" e-newsletter
visit http://www.getclientsnow.com

Your Website: What Is It You Do Exactly?

As a careers professional, you might offer other services besides resume writing. Many resume writers also offer career coaching, typing services,administrativ eassistance/desktop publishing, recruiting services, commercial/freelance writing,etc.

But you might be driving clients away if your other areas of specialty are too diverse. I try not to point out specific examples of bad marketing, but this is a website that has several problems.

The company, Charity Design Publications, offers desktop publishing, printing, transcription services, and resume writing. So far, so good (at least as far as the service offerings go). But they also offer web hosting (as a reseller) and the link to the "Online Store" is what drove me over the edge. Selling things "As Seen On TV" may be one way to increase your income from your website, but it's not going to attract you a lot of credible prospects to your resume writing service.

Ironically, the resume services page of the website includes this sentence:
"A first impression is everything when it comes to job hunting."

I'd argue the same is true when cultivating clients for your professional resumewritingservices too. (CDP Resumes offers a 1- or 2-page resume, including a free1-on-1 consultation and free revisions) for $25 (with a 24-hour turnaround time). (I guess it's no wonder they have to offer so many different services ... it's hard to make a living at $25 a resume.)

Free Marketing Plan Start-Up Kit

Robert Middleton has been a contributor to Resume Writers' Digest for many years. Now he's sharing a special resource with my readers: A Free "Marketing Plan Start-Up Kit."

This Marketing Plan Start-Up Kit will remove the frustration and struggle you may experience with marketing your services. It shows you how to start playing "Marketing Ball." If you have clients and want more of them, the Marketing Plan Start-Up Kit will make it a whole lot easier.

The Start-Up Kit includes an 85 minute mp3 Audio Tutorial and 22-page Workbook - everything you need to build a client-attracting marketing plan.

It's a step-by-step guide to attracting more clients. No matter what kind of self-employed professional you are, this Marketing Plan Start-Up Kit will help you become a better marketer.

To receive your free kit, click here.