Would you date your clients?

by Craig.
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Would you date your clients?When deciding to date someone we don’t just pull a name out of a hat and decide they’ll do. We have a carefully selected criteria that the person we date must meet. And as we learn more about ourselves and other people we refine that list to become the model of our ideal partner.

So why don’t we put the same effort into selecting our clients? Most people spend 40 hours a week working and a large part of our days are spent interacting with clients and staff members. So why aren’t we as selective with our work relationships as we are with our romantic ones?

You wouldn’t choose a relationship by lucky draw…

I don’t think many business owners put much thought into who their ideal client is. The truth is I didn’t really think about it much until I found that I had one client in particular that sucked the life out of me. Nice guy in person but the tone in his emails just rubbed me the wrong way and it was a great day when I was able to decide I didn’t want to work with him anymore.

Which got me thinking about who I did want to work with. So I started to think about the clients that I really loved working with… the ones who gave me a buzz when I met with them or were just amazing people. Now I’m glad to say that my client list consists of only those people that I really enjoy working with.

If you don’t choose your clients… they’ll choose you

If you don’t put any thought into who your ideal client is you end up with any client you can find. If your ideal client consists of “someone who has money and a pulse” then that’s probably not a good place to be in. And if you’re now thinking that you’re desperate for any clients you can find then I want you to reconsider.

Pareto’s Principle states that 80% of our profits come from 20% of our clients. Or to look at it the other way 80% of our clients only account for 20% of our profits. So choosing your ideal client is deciding to focus on more on the 20% of clients that are fun to deal with, pay on time and generally make your business life happy.

Your  homeplay

Have a think about the characteristics your ideal client might have. Are there any people you deal with now who are already ideal clients? Then work out how you can attract more of those ideal clients into your business by speaking to them directly.

Posted in: Client Amazement, Marketing Foundations, Marketing Principles.
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What do you love?

by Craig.
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It’s my belief that a lot of us drift through life not knowing exactly what we want out of it. We get caught up in the daily grind and eventually lose the appreciation for what really makes us happy. We lose touch with our innermost wants and desires so life becomes a struggle to survive rather than something we enjoy every day.

Personally I found myself following the “get a good job” mentality throughout high school and the first two years of university. Then that summer I found a book lying on a bedside table where I was housesitting called “Rich Dad’s Guide To Investing” by Robert Kiyosaki. This book changed my world view completely and I was set up the path of the entrepreneur who was going to make the big bucks.

Now I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this path and all that’s it taught me but a few years ago I discovered a new flaw in my plan. I was working so hard to “get rich” (and reinvesting most of my money into it as well) that I wasn’t really appreciating life. I was missing out on all the little things in life because of this big goal I had… I firmly believe in delayed gratification but I was taking it to the extreme.

Taking a look at what’s really important

Doing an exercise from one of my mentors made me realise just where I was going wrong. The exercise was to find out what I really loved and I now repeat it every year as I fine-tune my life. Basically it goes like this…

You ask yourself: “What do you love?” and write down the answer.

You ask that question over and over again until you get a list of things you love. You want to do it without filtering or thinking heavily about it and just get your thoughts on to the page. Then later you can refine your list and remove all the random thoughts that came into your head during the process.

The result

This year I have a list of 11 loves and I make sure that I’m spending a lot of time on those loves. In fact I’m doing most of them on a daily basis. What was interesting for me is that nearly all my loves are quite inexpensive and easy to do. In fact the only expensive one is travel and when I break that down into what I love about travelling (friends, food and culture) I can also achieve that through inexpensive means.

So now I have a life filled with things I love and life is a lot more fulfilling. My business is also more closely aligned to what I love doing as well and I get to focus even more on my loves as I grow my team and get rid of tasks I dislike (to other people who like them). Through this I’ve also been able to work less and earn more because I love my work on a daily basis.

Your homeplay

Take a moment to step back and look at what you really love about your life. Do the exercise above and then compare just how much time you’re devoting to things you love so you can do something about it. It can also help to make a list of what you hate doing so you can find other people to do that stuff for you.

And remember that awareness is the first step to solving a problem. By taking stock of your life more often you’ll be able to make the subtle changes that bring you more happiness and fulfilment. It’s not a quick fix however with a little action you’ll move yourself step-by-step towards living a life you love.

Posted in: Mindset.
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My accidental Wealth Dynamics review

by Craig.
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This started as a regular post and then turned into a Wealth Dynamics review so I’ve just gone with it. I think you’ll find the insights useful even if you’re not interested in finding out more about Wealth Dynamics in the end.

As mentioned recently I’ve been looking at how my business runs and what I can do to make it even better and more fun by focusing on the areas I’m truly passionate about. Well I was reminded of a report I did a while ago and thought I would share it since I found it (and continue to find it) very powerful. It’s given me some great insights over the last few years and again over the last few days I’ve spent thinking about this stuff.

It’s a process called Wealth Dynamics that involves a questionnaire that reveals your natural path to wealth. It looks at the fact that everyone is different and what one person did to create wealth will probably not work for everyone (or at least it will be a struggle to do it). The result is your own personal profile that tells you exactly what you should be doing and what you should be getting others to do to maximize your results.

The key insight Wealth Dynamics revealed to me

I think the best part of looking at your Wealth Dynamics profile is the realization that there is nothing “wrong” with us. I could see a bunch of people out there who were no smarter or hard working than me and yet there results were much more impressive than my own. It was hard to see why we were doing very similar things and yet the results were not on the same level.

But once I understood my Wealth Dynamics profile I had a much better handle on why things weren’t always working for me personally and why I seemed to struggle to do what others did with ease. For example it explained why I loved starting new projects and sucked at finishing them off. It also showed me why I was great at creating new products, businesses and marketing material but was weak when it came time to do the repetitive work after the launch.

Now you might identify with the same problems or you might struggle with completely different ones. You might find it hard to come up with new ideas, to run a team, to create and manage processes or be in the spotlight promoting your business. In your Wealth Dynamics profile you learn all of these come from being out of sync with your true path to wealth.

The reality of creating a successful business

As much as I enjoy living the “work from home making money in your underwear model” (although I usually prefer to wear clothes) I’ve had to accept the fact that business building and wealth creation is a team game. If I want to leverage my efforts in any way at all I really have to work with a team. That’s the only real way to spend my time doing what I love while everything else that is also just as important gets done as well.

For example my friend and I recently launched a little product that did US$11,500 in sales over a few days. I created the product and the marketing which was very well received… but my friend set up all the technical stuff, liaised with affiliates to promote it, ran ads and handled most of the customer support. While in theory I know I can do all those things… the reality is I would procrastinate and it would take ages to launch while my friend simply set a date and it was done.

This was a great example about how a team can achieve greater results than the individual. It also reiterated to me that with a solid team to promote my products then money just flows into my bank account with very little effort on my part… especially since the work I did was all stuff I really enjoyed anyway.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever received about business

When James Schramko (a very successful internet marketer) asked what one piece of advice he would give people who wanted to become successful it was so simple it was brilliant…

“Do the right things”

Now there are many layers to this advice but the key take away right now is that we need to identify the right things to do and then do them. However as I’ve discussed above we all naturally work in different ways so when we’re trying to work out the “right things” they’re going to be different from person to person. But once you find those “right things” for you and focus your efforts then amazing things start to happen.

What this means to you…

I know this has been a bit of rambling blog post but here is my point in a nutshell:

You are different… so you need to identify your own key strengths and focus in on them. Start doing what you love and work out how you can leverage with others to maximize all of your results.

Personally I also found the Wealth Dynamics profile to be a key part in identifying my own key strengths and how to get myself into flow. It’s unlike any other personality profiling type stuff you’ve already done because it specifically focuses on business and wealth creation. I highly recommend doing it for yourself… it’s one resource that I’m always referring to when I’m making decisions about my life and business.

Check out the website to find out more about the various profiles as well – Wealth Dynamics

(I’m a Creator btw)

Posted in: Uncategorized.

Want to increase your website conversions?

by Craig.
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Most people want to improve their website conversions… and if they don’t then they probably aren’t clear on exactly what this means.

Basically every visitor that comes to your website has the potential to become a client. Say 1 visitor out of every 100 that visits your website decides to buy from you. That means you have a conversion rate of 1%.

Why website conversion is so difficult

We often see low numbers like 1% when it comes to website conversion because it’s so hard to sell anything online. Basically you’re a faceless website located somewhere out in the internet. It takes a lot of work to get a visitor to want what you have badly enough so they decide to trust you and take a chance on buying from an anonymous stranger.

This means we have to be very good at communicating through our website. We have to create a sales message that not only builds the desire in our visitors but also builds a huge amount of trust. It won’t matter how much they want your product if they think you’re some scam artist in Nigeria.

Why people don’t buy

There are just 3 underlying reasons people don’t buy from you:

  1. They don’t want it
  2. They can’t afford it
  3. They don’t trust you

When we look at the first two they are really interlinked. People will use the excuse that they can’t afford it when in reality they’re just saying they don’t want it badly enough. If people needed money for their sick child they would find it somehow… it’s really a question of motivation.

How to build desire in your visitors

To get people buying you have to talk in terms they understand… namely “what’s in it for them?” How would your product or service add value to their life? Once you can explain your business’ value in a clear and compelling way then you’re going to dramatically increase your sales.

This means you have to stop talking about what your product or service does (its features) and start talking about what it does for the clients (its benefits). Adding on to this you have to dig below the surface benefits and start getting to the real emotional core of why people buy a product or service. Do you want a new car because it’ll transport you more effectively or because it’ll make your friends jealous that you now own a Porsche?

How to build trust

Now it doesn’t matter how good you are at building desire if people don’t trust you. If I promise you that because you bought my $27 ebook you’re going to make a million dollars you’re probably going to laugh it off and forget all about it (I hope!). It’s not that you don’t really want a million dollars… you just don’t believe how wonderful my ebook is (it’s great but realistic).

We also trust people that we like. While many websites try to appear all businesslike and professional the reality is we don’t relate to them. I’m a big fan of putting your personality into your website as then visitors can see you’re a real, likeable person and they’re much more likely to trust you.

How to learn more about this stuff

In order to become great at sales and marketing whether it’s online or offline you just have to get out there and do it. By reading my website and subscribing to my email list you’re going to discover a ton of information that you can immediately put to use on your own website. You’ll also learn a lot by watching the free “Seven Ways To Turn More Website Visitors Into Paying Clients” webinar.

The good news is that when you start to master these concepts then your business (and any business you’re involved in) will be able to thrive. Most businesses struggle to get enough clients but with the skills you’re learning you won’t be one of those businesses. We’ll also talk occasionally about the challenge of having too many clients and what you need to do to grow your business then.

Posted in: Conversion, Marketing Foundations, Marketing Principles, Sales, Websites.
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Communicating your unique message

by Craig.
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When we talk about improving website conversion and sales we often get tied up in the numbers involved. “I have so many visitors and I only get this many sales” etc. It’s easy to focus in on these numbers and lose sight of the big picture.

At the end of the day increasing your sales is all about improving your communication. If you’re talking to a prospective client face-to-face then you have a certain amount of time to communicate why they should buy your product or service. It’s exactly the same when it comes to your website… only about 100 times more difficult.

When someone visits your website they don’t have to be polite and listen to you ramble on. They can click the back button any time they want and go visit someone else’s website. That’s why your website should be the ultimate at communicating your message.

It’s like having your best salesperson record exactly what they say to prospective clients so it can be repeated over and over again. In person or on the phone it’s called your sales script. Online it’s called your website.

It’s also important that your message is unique to your business. If you’re simply saying the same thing that all your competitors are saying then you’re going to struggle online. When your competitors are just one click away from you it’s important to get your message right so the visitor wants to find out more.

So if your unique message has anything to do with the “best products” or “best service” you may be in trouble. Because all your competitors are likely to be saying the same thing. I haven’t met a business yet who honestly tells their potential clients they have the “second best products and service in town.”

Personally I find this time of year to be perfect for asking yourself the hard questions about your business. It’s often the time we think about what we’d like to achieve in the coming year and set goals for ourselves. So as you set your sales goals for this year ask yourself what portion you’d like to come from your website.

It’s also a great time to take a look at the message your business is communicating. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again because I still haven’t heard a more elegant question than Dan Kennedy’s…

“Why should I do business with you – over all other alternatives – including doing nothing at all?”

The answer to that one question is what your website should be saying to every visitor you have. Whilst it’s not always the easiest question to answer it’s worth taking the time to think about it. Because once you have this answer it becomes a lot easier to increase your website sales.

Posted in: Conversion, Marketing Foundations, Marketing Principles, Sales, Websites.
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Why Most Marketing Fails

by Craig.
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Watch the video to find out the number one reason I believe marketing fails:

Posted in: Advertising, Conversion, Marketing Foundations, Marketing Principles.

Why Most Businesses Struggle

by Craig.
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Find out the reason I believe most businesses struggle and what to do about it:

Let me know your thoughts on the video by posting your comments below. I’m planning to do more regular videos like this and go into more depth about ideas and strategies that can help you increase your sales and grow your business.

Posted in: Uncategorized.

Why Your Ideal Client Is Critical To Success

by Craig.
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I believe that most people go into business backwards. They develop a product or service that they love and then try to find people to buy it. But it’s a million times easier to find people with a pressing problem or desire and fulfill it.

This is how my business started although it was more by accident than my incredible business mind. Someone I knew heard me talking about websites and asked if I could help her improve her website rankings. So I did (I started web marketing with search engine optimization) and managed to achieve excellent results for her.

Then she asked me the fateful question of what I could do next. Purely from my own gut feeling I thought we should rewrite the website to make it more friendly and easy to use. So I did that, her clients loved it and suddenly she started pimping me out to all her other friends with businesses as well.

Do you know your market inside out?

However since most people reading this will be in business already it’s a bit late to go back and start all over again from scratch. But we can make sure we get to know our market inside out. We need to have a picture in our mind of our ideal clients so we know what they look like when we meet them.

So ask yourself some simple questions like:

  • Who is your ideal client?
  • Who do you love to deal with?
  • Who makes you the most profit?

Describing your ideal client

The questions above will get you thinking and help you define your ideal client in useful terms. But I want to point out that you need to describe your client from multiple different angles. Because while most people focus on demographics I believe their psychographics are much more important for really being successful.

So what exactly does this mean?

Demographics

I think of demographics as all the statistical data you can collect on your market. Things like their age, income, location etc fall in here. But this is where most market research stops and I believe misses the real point of understanding your market.

Psychographics

While there are more technical definitions I view psychographics as the psychology of your market (funny that). This is where you really get in touch with your ideal client’s hopes, dream, problems, feelings and so on. This is where you really start to understand your ideal client on a deeper level.

I always find the best way to understand your market is to be part of it. This means that you’re solving a problem or fulfilling a desire for your clients that you once shared. If this isn’t the case then you need to do your best to feel empathy for your clients and really understand where they’re coming from.

Discover your ideal client’s story

I find a very powerful way of getting in touch with your ideal client is to write down their story. This means describing everything about them so you understand completely where they’re coming from. By doing this exercise you’ll have a detailed description of your ideal client and can then be on the lookout for them every day.

What you do next

Have a think about who your ideal client is and then really dig deeply into their psychology. From there you’ll have a lot more clarity about what drives them and be able to discover their story. Once your ideal client is in your mind you need to ensure you always communicate with this person throughout your business’ operations.

And if you’d like to learn how to really discover and connect with your ideal client then take a look at my Automated Selling Machine course.

Posted in: Client Amazement, Conversion, Marketing Foundations, Sales.
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Increase Website Sales By Building Better Relationships

by Craig.
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Increasing your website sales is all a matter of building better relationships online. Selling over the internet is one of the hardest ways to sell anything… simply because we don’t have that personal touch with the potential client. This is why we need to do our best to replicate an offline relationship when we’re operating online.

Sales is all about the relationship. When we think about it we generally buy from people we like and trust. How many times have you decided not to buy something you actually wanted just because of the way the salesperson presented themselves?

Now building a relationship face-to-face is a lot easier than doing it online but this doesn’t mean we can’t do it. You can also do ok selling online from a faceless website that builds no relationship. However if you want to amplify your results and make more sales then you’ll want to build better relationships.

The important thing to remember is that website visitors are not just some number you see in your analytics package… they’re people who want what you’re offering.

Becoming “unprofessional”

Most website owners seem to be scared about appearing “unprofessional” to their visitors… whatever that means. They like to pretend they’re some big faceless corporation that does millions of dollars of sales online. However the truth is most buyers prefer to deal with a real person as they know they’ll be looked after.

Think about some of the service providers you visit on a regular basis. You’re probably not shopping around for a new hairdresser every time you need a haircut as you’ve built a relationship with one in particular. This is probably the same for your car mechanic, dentist, doctor and even your favorite restaurants, bars and cafes.

We like familiarity and this is what our relationships provide us with. We know what to expect before we arrive. And the irony is that you probably have businesses that you visit that don’t even give you great results but you still visit them anyway because of the relationship you’ve formed.

But I digress… here are some ways to help build personal relationships with your website visitors:

Unleash your personality – Your personality is your strongest point of difference in your arsenal. It’s something your competitors can never replicate (although they may try) and can help you stand out. So never be afraid of using your personality when it comes to communicating through your website.

Be a real person – We’re surrounded by marketing that is based on a world of make believe. Now while everyone likes to live the fantasy it’s always nice to come back to earth and deal with a real person at the end of the day. Present yourself as a real person with warts and all to deepen your relationships even further.

Be unique – As you present your personality to the visitors remember to pick out what makes you unique to make yourself really stand out. It’s most effective if your uniqueness also resonates with your visitors but not necessarily. You’ll be amazed at some of the random things I put into my content and the responses I receive.

Be genuine and authentic – I want to be clear that we’re not inventing a personality to fit your market as eventually you’ll be found out. You want to take natural parts of your life and share them with your visitors. You should always come from a place of authenticity as our aim is to build trust… not destroy it.

I should also mention that you’re going to find some people on the planet who don’t like your personality and uniqueness… that’s just a part of life. The good news is for all the haters you attract you should be attracting equal (and hopefully greater) amounts of people who love what you’re doing. So don’t mind the haters and keep on fighting the good fight.

What you do next

Look at how you’re communicating with your visitors at the moment and decide right now how you can make it more interesting. The next step is to simply jump in and see what kind of results you receive. Just note that some people won’t like the transition while others will love it… as I said above this is just a fact of life so keep going and the results will follow.

And if you’d like to learn more ways to achieve better relationships with your website visitors use my Automated Selling Machine course.

Posted in: Conversion, Influence, Marketing Foundations, Sales, Websites.
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How To Measure Website Performance

by Craig.
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As the famous management guru Peter Drucker stated “What gets measured gets done.” Now why we are quite capable of measuring results and still not doing anything about them… measurement is the first step. The chances are if we’re not measuring then we’re not improving or at least not improving at the rate we could be.

By first knowing where you are this will help move you towards your website’s goals. It’s like deciding you want to go to New York but not knowing what city or country you’re in at the moment… this makes travel very difficult. In a similar way by setting goals and knowing your current position you can plan out step-by-step how you’re going to grow your website.

What do you measure?

There are a whole ton of things you can measure for your online business. However some people get so tied up in measuring everything they can that they forget why they’re really measuring… to get results. I believe you’re much better off to start by measuring a few key things and then building on it from there.

Not to mention that starting with only a few Key Performance Indicators make you much more likely to follow through and actually use them. So I break down the things you should measure into three simple categories:

  • Traffic – How many visitors do you have and where are they coming from?
  • Conversion – How many new subscribers do you have? How many sales?
  • Client Amazement – What client feedback are you receiving? How many refunds are being requested?

These should give you a good overall picture of your website that you can add to as you feel is necessary.

How do you measure?

Probably the best (and free) tool for measuring your website statistics is Google Analytics. Just sign up for a free account and you’ll be able to track your website visitors, where they come from and even how many are converting into subscribers and sales. It also gives you a wealth of other data that you can use to make improvements.

You’ll also want to know your sales figures and gather client feedback through surveys and other means. The idea here is not to overwhelm yourself with lots to do but create some nice simple systems so you have all this information easily available. After all it’s no good having it if you’re not going to look at it.

I use what I call a Web Business Dashboard to keep track of my key figures. Every Friday I have one of my outsourcers go and find out the necessary figures and add them to a spreadsheet. Then I look at the spreadsheet first thing on Monday morning as I plan my week. All it takes is a quick glance to see how each website is doing and whether anything needs further action.

What you do next

I suggest you create your own Web Business Dashboard so you can easily see what’s going on with your website. Then make an appointment with yourself at a particular time each week to review it. It’s definitely worth it and you should feel some excitement as you watch your website’s performance improve as well.

If you’d like some help setting up your Web Business Dashboard and turning your website into a lean, mean sales machine then drop me an email and let’s chat.

Posted in: Conversion, Marketing Foundations, Websites.
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