Handwritten Notes Can Help Your Clients Build Their Networks

Marketing expert David Frey shared the following story of how George Bush Sr. become president -- winning the ultimate job.

It's said that every person that George met, he kept in touch with.

It didn't matter whether it was interns, politicians, business people, or clergy, he and Barbara Bush would make sure they stay in touch.

The way he did that was with simple greeting cards and personal notes.

(This isn't a political story -- it's a networking story. Read on.)
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Handwritten Notes are King!
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Here's quotes and excerpts from six different, well-known professional business experts about the power of handwritten notes.
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1. “Short handwritten cards yield long results. In sales, never underestimate the importance of the personal gesture, and right at the top of the list of effective personal gestures sits the handwritten card.

Always send memorable cards and personal notes when you are reminded of a person.”

HARVEY MACKAY, Author of "Swim with the Sharks Without Getting Eaten"

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2. "Because I understood that building relationships is what selling is all about, I began early in my career to send thank you cards to people. I set a goal to send 10 thank you cards every day.

Guess what happened? By the end of my third year in sales, my business was 100% referrals!”

TOM HOPKINS, Auhor of "How to Master the Art of Selling"

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3. "Sending cards is one of the most powerful tools in building a huge network, both professionally and socially.

People with the most impressive networks are typically avid card writers.

It's one of the best techniques for long-term winning without intimidation. I suggest getting into the habit of immediately sending out cards."

BOB BURG, Author of "Endless Referrals"

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4. "Write customers personal, handwritten cards frequently. If you run into an old customer anywhere, follow up with a handwritten card.

In this electronic communication age of email, the handwritten card with a postage
stamp gets more immediate attention than ever.”

DANIELLE KENNEDY, Author of Seven Figure Selling

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5. Welch sent handwritten notes to anyone in the company who he felt deserved personal communication, whether to motivate, correct, or congratulate, from top management to laborers.

Much has been said in business books and magazine articles about Jack Welch's habit of sending handwritten notes to his GE subordinates.

Matt Lauer of the Today Show said, "Jack is a master of the hand-written note.

JACK WELCH, Former CEO of General Electric

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6. Joe Girard, the world’s greatest salesman -- listed in the Guinness Book of World Records -- sent over 16,000 handwritten greeting cards to past customers and clients every month.

As a result of that effort, Joe became the #1 car salesperson in the entire world for 12 years straight. Nearly every one of his sales came from referrals.

JOE GIRARD, Author of "How to Sell Anything To Anyone"

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7. "I cannot overemphasize the value of the handwritten thank you note. I believe it’s more important than ever, because so few people do it anymore."

SHELLEY KAEHR, Ph.D. Author of Sales 101: Simple Solutions for Sales Success

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Are You Convinced Yet??
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If you're not sending out handwritten notes, then you're really missing the boat.

I personally write between 2-6 handwritten notes a day to people.

That one small practice has changed my life and the lives of many others.

Writing notes endears you to people and sets you apart as someone who truly cares about others.

With all the competition out there in today's business world, the one thing that can set you apart is the small, kind, thoughtful things you do for people.

And writing notes is the fasest, easiest, and most effective way to reach out and touch people.

Now that you're convinced that you should be sending out handwritten notes and cards, David recommends this solution to help you keep in touch:http://www.ILovetoSendOutCards.com
David Frey is the CEO of MarketingBestPractices.com and the author of the Small Business Marketing Bible.

Marketing in a Down Market: Speak and Grow Rich

From the July/August 2008 issue of Resume Writers' Digest

This is the third installment in a series on Marketing Your Resume Writing Services in a Down Market. Here is the second blog post in the series.

"Speak and Grow Rich!" -- That's the title of a popular book by Dottie and Lilly Walters. But it's also a technique advocated by small business marketing expert Robert Middleton in his "Tips for Surviving a Business Slowdown" column in the July/August 2001 issue.

Middleton writes, "There are many, many organizations looking for speakers, but they won't give you a call if they don't know you exist. Put together a package outlining your talk and contact every business organization you can find. Send your materials and follow up."

What groups are a good fit for a resume writer looking for new business? Any professional organization, for one. Other possibilities are job search networking groups, school and church organizations, and even neighborhood associations.

The Walters outline three keys for success in speaking.

1. Target your market(s)
2. Pick topics that will help solve problems in this market(s)
3. Create title(s) for your topics that will grab the attention of your audience and buyers immediately

Remember, though, that the goal of your talk is to generate business for yourself. So don't give away the store! Many resume writers make the mistake of talking about resumes in free talks like these -- when they should be talking about jobs!

If the service you're selling is resume services (as opposed to career coaching or interview coaching), don't focus on how to create a resume as part of your talk. Instead, focus on the outcome of having a great resume -- generating interviews and getting the job! As part of your talk, you'll showcase some examples of great resumes for the target market you're working with, and even provide a few tips along the way.

But instead of talking about "Resumes for Accounting Careers," you could do a talk about "Networking to Your Next Job in Accounting," or "How to Make the Numbers Work: Salary Negotiation Strategies for Accounting Professions." Or even "Interview Tactics for Accountants: Get the Job and Get Paid What You're Worth!"

What materials do you need to market yourself as a speaker? It's pretty simple, actually. You can create a one-page handout that includes the following:

• The title of your presentation
• A brief description of the talk (2-3 sentences) and a list of the key "outcomes" attendees can expect
• A line or two about your key qualifications on this particular subject 9you will also want to create a standard "bio" with your full affiliations, work experience, and credentials, but you don't need to send that along with your initial materials)
• Your contact information
• Your photo (optional)
• Other groups you've spoken to and testimonials, if you have them

Next, you'll want to assemble your list of prospective groups. You can Google "Professional Associations and (Your City)" or find a Directory of Associations at your public library or at Marketing Source (You can purchase a 30-day subscription and get up to 200 records a day -- currently just $6.50 a day.)

Among those listed in my state are: Nebraska Association of Nurse Anesthetists, Nebraska Broadcasters Association, Nebraska Council of School Administrators, Nebraska Society of Independent Accountants, and the Nebraska Nurses Association.

Prepare a brief cover letter outlining your interest in speaking to their group (for free) on the topic you've developed and include your one-page flier.

Next topic: Expand Your Network

Marketing in a Down Market: Write! Publish! Perish! (Part II)

From the July/August 2008 issue of Resume Writers' Digest:

One of the most effective ways to land new business is to write about what you do. In 2001, the emphasis was on print newsletters. This is still an effective marketing tactic, but today's emphasis is online. Publishing a monthly e-newsletter is one thing, but weekly posts to your blog or contributing articles to websites and e-zines can be equally effective.

Writing articles can be used to keep in touch with clients and referral sources, to showcase your expertise, and even subtly promote your services to current and prospective clients.

In 2008, many people have adopted a "green theme" -- and it's applicable here too. You can also "recycle" what you've written, using the articles in your media kit, as handouts when you deliver workshops, and including them with other information you provide to prospective clients (either in person or online).

The key in writing articles is to inform, not sell. You want to establish a long-term relationship with current and potential clients. Your recipients will appreciate the information, and you'll be building credibility at the same time.

What should you write about?

You can provide career-related tips or strategies; introduce new services; provide professional advice (a "Q-and-A" format is particularly effective); and offer inspirational quotes.

Don't get too ambitious. In an article on client newsletters in the July/August 2001 issue of Resume Writers' Digest. Tracy Bumpus, CPRW, JCTC, of RezAMAZE.com, talked about the content of her monthly opt-in electronic newsletter targeted to high-tech professionals and engineers.

"I usually have one primary job search or career-related article that I write myself," she noted.

Her newsletter also features "Humor Byte" and "Nuggets from the Net," a compilation of relevant information culled from various tech sites.

You can also write for professional association newsletters or provide articles for their websites. Consider trading articles with professionals in other industries, such as accountants, attorneys, real estate agents, and even mental health therapists (especially those that provide career testing and coaching, if you don't).

Whether using a print or electronic format, keep your articles short, simple, informative, and helpful. If you're producing an online newsletter, remember that consistency in publishing is critical.

"Getting my name out there plays a significant role in referral rates, marketing standing, and branding," Bumpus adds. "If I only distributed it every six months, I'd be wasting my time."

Next in the series: "SPEAK AND GROW RICH!"

If you'd like to purchase this issue of the newsletter, the cost is $3. Order here.

Excerpt: Effectively Marketing Your Resume Writing Services in a Down Market

From the July/August 2008 issue of Resume Writers' Digest:

Resume writing is a truly recession-proof industry. In a good economy, job seekers look for "greener pastures," trading in old jobs for new. In a bad economy, worried job seekers update their resumes to prepare for layoffs.

How you market and price your services during a downtown or recession may different, however. Clients who would be willing to pay for "the works" (resume, cover letter, interview coaching), when times are good may be reluctant when times are tough. But in a competitive hiring environment, "pulling out all the stops" may just be what is required to set the jobseeker apart from the crowd.

However, instead of selling a complete package upfront, all at once, you may sell it in stages -- first the resume and cover letter, then the interview and job search coaching, and finally, salary negotiation coaching -- perhaps paid weekly or via installments on a credit card.

In a tough economy, the job search also takes longer, and your clients may need more reassurance along the way. Consider starting a monthly e-mail newsletter, geared towards helping clients with their job search as much as drumming up new business.

To provide guidance on time-tested strategies that work in a challenging economy, I turned to the Resume Writers' Digest archives -- to issues from 2001 and 2002, when resume writers faced similar economic struggles. I also incorporated in new tips, particularly in regard to online and electronic marketing techniques, since technology has changed quite a bit over the past 6-7 years.

First up is "WRITE! PUBLISH! PROFIT!"

Marketing Your Resume Writing Business

A steady stream of new clients ensures the success of your resume writing business. But how do you get new clients? How do you get your phone to ring?

There is no secret formula or magic bullet in marketing your business. The key to success is to select a few, simple, effective tactics and do them consistently.

One common mistake is to think that advertising and marketing are the same thing. They are not. Advertising will get you results, but it is not as effective as marketing your services.

In order to build your career services practice, you need to cultivate relationships -- with prospective clients, new clients, and referral sources (other resume writers, members of the media, career and life coaches, real estate agents, human resources professionals, etc.).

Tell people what you do -- over and over again. And get your message to the same people over and over again -- because consistency creates familiarity.

People do business with people they know, like, and trust.

And don't wait until things slow down before you market! It is better to be overbooked. You want to consistently cultivate a pipeline of prospective clients.

For more of this article, purchase the Spring 2009 issue of Resume Writers' Digest ($3).

Using Your Client List

If your appointment book isn't full, the first place to turn to is your existing client mailing list.

Here are some tips for how to use your client list to generate repeat business as well as stimulate new clients.

• Find New Customers Like Your Best Customers. Look at your mailing list and analyze our customers. Are you doing a lot of business with 35- to 45-year-old women who are looking for MORE out of their careers? Think about how you can reach these women and you'll tap a whole new group of prospects.

• Do More Of What You Do Best. Look at your last 50 projects -- what kind of work were you doing for these clients? You might find that there's an opportunity to target a niche of prospects. For example, if you did a handful of follow-up letters for these clients, you might decide to contact ALL of those past clients and offer them a special on follow-up letters.

• Get Feedback. "Out of sight" is out of mind in business too. Contact customers to ask how their job search is going. You can write a letter or send a survey. These types of contacts help keep you top of mind and bring customers back (and generate referrals!)

• Offer an Annual Check-up. Your dentist does it ... so does your car repair shop. Contact your customers at least once a year to offer a resume "tune-up" so that they're prepared if the perfect opportunity comes around ... or the unthinkable happens, and they lose their job unexpectedly.

• Reactivate Inactive Customers. If someone hasn't done business with you in a while, send the person a special offer. It reminds them of your business and may help spark a renewed business relationship -- or a referral.

5 Habits of Highly Effective Postcards

I love postcards. You've probably received one from me in the past year touting my special report, "Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor." Postcards have a number of advantages over other types of direct mail -- and they get attention!

The United States Postal Services' "Simple Formulas" series offers an excellent analysis of the advantages of postcards. Here's an excerpt:

1. They're simple.
A postcard has to get someone's attention while they're going through the mail. And a disorganized mass of information just isn't going to do it. Simple headlines work best. Don't write a book. Make believe that every word is costing you $1,000.

2. They're timely.
When asked what was the most effective mailer he ever created, a highly regarded copywriter pulled out a postcard. On that postcard, in big bold type it said, "Your warranty expires October 26." Do you have a timely message for your customers? Use it.

3. They're printed on both sides.
What are you supposed to do now that your warranty is expiring on October 26? The answer to that question is on the other side of the postcard.

Your postcard has two sides. Use them. But that doesn't mean fill every inch. You may want to use one side like a poster and the other for a few details. Or put an ad on one side and a personal message on the other. Just remember to keep it simple.

4. They're attractive.
In some ways, the design of a postcard has to work harder than the design of any other media. There are no envelopes to open or gimmicks to play with. Your postcard doesn't necessarily have to be a work of art, but it helps to make it attractive.

5. They're measurable.
A postcard can also be a coupon, a gift certificate, or a ticket to an event. Ask people to present the coupon to take advantage of an offer or promotion. Counting coupons helps you measure the effectiveness of your promotions. That way you can better understand what worked and what didn't.

Get more business-building tips at http://www.usps.com/directmail

You can order inexpensive, effective postcards using a service like VistaPrint:

50% Off All Postcards

Website Basics

Last week, I gave a presentation to about 30 small business owners on marketing their services. One of the hot topics was websites. I think websites are an important took for small businesses, but they are certainly not the "be-all, end-all" of marketing.

So it was with great interest today that I came across this website, ResumeAnswers.com, and it reminded me of some of the basics that resume writers should remember when developing their website.

These are:

• Make it easy for prospective customers to contact you. Maybe it's my browser, but I can't find a phone number or e-mail to contact the site owner/business owner -- despite several statements about "contact me for 'x'".
• Establish your credentials. I get the feeling that this individual works in a recruitment agency, or maybe in hiring in general. But I don't know who he or she is, or any of their credentials, because they're not spelled out anywhere on the site.

There are certainly more, but looking at this site, these were two very obvious "basics" you should remember. Make sure your phone number (at a minimum) is on every page of the site.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
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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