Posts Tagged ‘Dan Kennedy’

What Tim Tebow Can Teach You About Marketing…

By: Dan Kennedy on: May 9th, 2013 17 Comments

Lately, the recently waived NFL quarterback Tim Tebow has the media discussing where his next job should be.

He’s one of the most talked about players in the NFL. And whether you love him or hate him, you’ve probably talked about him too.

What’s interesting is how this player who has shown less than spectacular results in his NFL career, is one of the most popular players, not only in the NFL, but perhaps in the history of the NFL.

When Tebow arrived in New York, there was plenty of fanfare. There were billboards that welcomed him. Sandwiches were named after him.  And his jersey was one of the top sellers in the league before he even made his first snap in the NFL.

The question is why?

Over the past decade or longer, there certainly have been football players and coaches that have had far more success who never made it to the spotlight…and the money, the way Tebow has.

To prove my point, yesterday a football coach by the name of Larry Kehres stepped down as the head coach of Mount Union college. During his 27 year career, he has coached 359 games.  His record is three games ending in a tie,  24 games ending in a loss, and an incredible 332 games resulting in wins. And he won 11 Division III national championships.

He is the most successful football coach of all time, yet most people have never heard of him.

There is a lesson here if you look for it. What made Tebow into such a media sensation? What has made him one of the most talked about players of all time? And what has kept Kehres relatively abscure and unknown?

He’s an underdog. He’s likeable. He has a personality that is consistent and unwaivering.

One comment from a writer sums it up, “In America we love the story about the little guy. The guy who people believed couldn’t get the job done and then finds his way to do just that, and in dramatic fashion.” And this is what makes Tebow so memorable.

It’s an important point and one that Dave Dee made at SuperConference this past week.

If you tuned in to SuperConference via the web Saturday or were at the event itself, you heard Dave reveal the precise steps to take to dominate your market and transform your business.

You may have missed it when Dave revealed this secret during his presentation…

It came right at the beginning of Dave’s talk when discussing my number one recommendation for client retention – the print newsletter.

During his discussion of newsletters, Dave shared GKIC reader’s favorite part of the No B.S. newsletter.  You love to read the stories and political rants I write at the beginning of the newsletter… about what “pisses me off.” (I believe those are the words Dave used.)

This “reader favorite” is what has allowed me to keep customers hanging around for years.

Here’s the thing. The information you provide your customers won’t keep them for life. But the clue I’ve given you here is what keeps people coming back again and again and gives your business longevity.

In fact, adding a consistent personality to your copy is my number one copywriting secret that most marketers will never know.  It’s provided me with the privilege of keeping  customers for decades.

But it’s not just in your copy where you will benefit from capitalizing on your personality.

If you want to make your products and services more memorable and add longevity to your business, you have to inject it into everything you do.

In Florida there is a deckhand on a ferry boat named BJ Hart. Hart is a real character. He jokes with passengers, salutes people, sings, dances and is in my mind a big reason why the ferry, which is in danger of going under, is still operating. People ride the ferry just to see this guy.

Now I’m not saying you have to be the underdog like Tebow or sing like Hart or go on a political rant like I do, but you do need to develop consistent  interesting character.

Because if you’re going to go to the trouble of getting a customer, you want to keep them for life. And if you don’t inject personality into your business, then you’ll keep customers, clients and patients for maybe a couple of years. But if you want to keep them for life, you better figure out what Tim Tebow already knows—that to be memorable requires personality.

NOTE: Personally, after being in business all these years, not much gets my attention. I’m not easily impressed and it’s rare for me to proactively push myself into collaboration with someone. However next week, you’ll have the chance to see something new that was so different and memorable that I took the initiative to get involved.

Watch your inbox next week for a free video series that will show you how to use your personality to stand out, intrigue, attract, and be memorable. It’s something I believe you’ll find as intriguing and interesting to talk about as Tim Tebow.  Which is saying something.  And a good reason why you should tune in.

Are you an ‘indentured servant’ to what you’ve been conditioned to believe?

By: Dan Kennedy on: April 30th, 2013 1 Comment

“Indentured Servants Who Broke Free”

That’s the headline of a small section in Forbes May issue.

Highlighting entrepreneurs who served as apprentices before striking out on their own, the choice of the words, “indentured” and “broke free” is a reminder why you own your own business…

To not have anyone tell you how to do things, to be independent and in total control.

To be able to do business on your own terms.

That’s what you want, right?

The dentist that closes at 3:00pm on Tuesdays so he can go watch his kid’s baseball games. Or the info-marketer who does what he does so he can travel and do business from anywhere in the world. Or the mompreneur who likes her two-minute commute to her home office and works her schedule around her kids.

Personally, a close rival to the fascination I get from turning the words I write into money is the autonomy I have.

Having the freedom and independence to work where I want, when I want, how I want and with whom I want is one of the main perks for doing what I do.

As an entrepreneur and GKIC member, it’s an important idea for you and one of the biggest reasons for doing all the stuff we teach here.

Of course, doing business on your own terms is a marketing strategy in and of itself. (This strategy and the 19 autonomy factors are discussed further in Absolute Autonomy Blueprint.)

I do things in my business that others say would be “impossible” for them to do. For example, I only answer my mail once a week and if you miss that window, well you might have to wait a week or more to get a response from me.

I don’t do email or carry a cell phone. I use a fax machine to communicate.

I require clients to come to my office to meet with me. If they want me to come to them, I require a private plane and won’t fly on commercial airlines.

People give me all kinds of reasons why that “can’t” or “won’t” work for them. But let’s be clear about one thing. You’ve been conditioned to believe that you should be available to your clients or customers or patients 24/7. And the idea of not being readily and immediately available to them is in deep conflict with what you have been taught.

You’ve likely received pushback too…with people saying things like, “What makes you think you can close your shop early?” or “Do you really think the world is supposed to revolve around you?”

How available you are to clients, customers and patients is just one example of where you may be doing business on someone else’s terms instead of your own. I could of course list dozens more. But the truth I want you to get to is that the pushback you receive when you decide to do business on your own terms comes from people who have a problem with you having that kind of freedom.

In fact, if you are successful at all, if you are in control at all, everybody else who isn’t successful or isn’t in control or who doesn’t have the freedom to set their own schedule will have a problem with that. But that is their problem.

When you have worked hard, been responsible and smart about things. When you have invested in yourself and your business and created good marketing, you are entitled to independence and control. If you go to the lengths required to deliver exceptional service and quality, you deserve to be able to set up your business the way you want.

Examine all the beliefs you have about why your business is designed the way it is.  By constantly exploring all the options you have, you might be surprised to find that what you’ve been conditioned to believe is the only way to do things is not really the only way.

Think about why you do things the way you do. Whether it’s the hours you operate or how much you charge or who you sell to or how you deliver your products or services…be open to all the options you have—and realize you’ve earned the right to make the choice.

NOTE: If you’re like most business owners, you’re perhaps a bit frustrated with how fast time flies and how long it takes to lay down even the simplest foundations of business success.

A bright and prosperous future beckon… if only you could make the time to put in place a few key systems that would enable you:

* To create positive choices for you and your family…

* To provide the autonomy to work when you want, with the customers you want, and enjoy the income and time you want…

* To create the business and the lifestyle you desire and deserve…

If that sounds good to you, then I have some GREAT news!

This coming Saturday, May 4th at 2:55PM Eastern time, we’re opening the “virtual doors” of the SuperConference to give you LIVE access to a very special presentation by Dave Dee entitled:

“The No B.S., High-Intensity 12 Week Market Domination Blueprint: The PRECISE Steps You Need To Experience A Radical Business and Life Transformation”

Best of all, this is totally FREE and our gift to you.

All you need to do is click the link below to let us know you’ll be attending and we’ll save your spot and

get you all the information necessary.

“Yes, I’ll Be There!”

Don’t miss out on this one-time-only chance to catch  Dave’s presentation at SuperConference LIVE!

Three Ways To Increase Your Clicks & Revenues Online

By: Dave Dee on: April 23rd, 2013 7 Comments

Recently I heard sad news about a small business that has been an industry giant for decades.

I’ll refrain from using their name as it is one you would undoubtedly recognize. Their products are fantastic and have helped hundreds of thousands of people.

The company has done a great job building their subscription list. They send out emails and hold free webinars with formidable guests. They engage in social media and have hundreds of thousands of followers. Their posts are shared, liked, and commented on. They have even been successful generating viral activity.

And selling is, if not their top strength, close to it.

The thing is…unfortunately, this company is struggling and I’m afraid might not survive.

Why? It’s the same problem many small businesses suffer from…

Not only did they eliminate almost all of their direct mail activities and move the majority of their marketing online, they failed to use direct response concepts in ALL of their online marketing.

You see they didn’t quite understand that while it’s cool to have a big list and necessary to engage with people online…it’s really important that every aspect of online marketing is about hardnosed direct response marketing.

When you engage with a prospect, there must be a purpose behind it. Every time you…

  • send an email
  • write a blog post
  • direct someone to a page on your web site
  • make a post on social media…

…you should be thinking about how you can generate more clicks to your sales pages.

This does NOT mean you should be “selling” or promoting in every online activity. Let me say that again in a different way, because it’s really important. It’s not always about making a sale, but rather about “selling the click.”

For example, let’s say you have an event coming up that costs $500 to attend. You can’t sell someone on a $500 event in a 140 character tweet; however you could send them to a sales letter.

Even better though, you could send people to an opt-in box to get a free video, a free booklet, or attend a free teleseminar that relates to a topic you’ll be talking about at your event. Not only will you get more people to click through to something that is free, but now you’ve captured their email address and can market to them about your event (and your products and services and future event.) This means that instead of getting one chance to get them to click through to your sales page, you have multiple chances.

When you start focusing on how to use direct response in everything you do online, you’ll increase clicks.  And when you increase clicks, you’ll convert more clicks into sales. Just imagine increasing your conversion rate from 5% to 10%. If you did that consistently you would double your revenues.

Here are three ways you can use direct response to increase your clicks…

1) Use Active Verbs. Many businesses will create a link and write something like, “This week’s specials” or “Calendar of Events”. Instead trying putting an action verb at the beginning…”Find out what this week’s specials are here” and “Explore our calendar of events.”

2) Add urgency. Give them a reason to respond right now. While you don’t want every email or social media post to be promotional, using urgency when you are doing a promotion is really effective. You can accomplish this in many ways including using a limited-time offer, scarcity, or a fast action bonus.

3) Make offers. One of Dan Kennedy’s Direct Response Rules is to always make offers.  Look at ways you can incorporate offers into more of your online activities. Offer the first ten people that post a comment on your blog post a copy of the template you mention in your post. Or offer a free webinar on the topic you discussed in your email in your P.S.

If you don’t have a plan that includes how you will insert links that click through to a sales page, your time is wasted. Even worse, you could be the next small business that “bites the dust” because you didn’t put enough focus on how to get people to take a specific action.

Study direct response and start looking for more ways you can implement direct response marketing into your e-newsletters, emails, blog posts and social media. When you do, you’ll see an increase in clicks, which will lead to more sales.

How do you regularly use direct response in your online activities? Share your ideas in the comments below.

NOTE: Do You Want To Discover The 8 Steps To Growing Your Business By 25% to 75% in Just 48 Hours?

Then come to one of GKIC’s Fast Implementation Boot Camps where you’ll walk away with the blueprint in hand of what you need to do to grow your business and see results almost immediately!  This event is totally FREE to GKIC Insider’s Circle Members.  Simply go to www.dankennedy.com/bootcamp to reserve your spot now.

Not a member?  Take GKIC’s FREE Trial Membership by going to www.dankennedy.com/incrediblegift now and get access to thousands and money-making strategies, this FREE two day workshop and best of all…full access to the GKIC Insiders Circle area online.

Are You Working Your Mind Like An Exceptionally Successful Person?

By: Dan Kennedy on: April 18th, 2013 6 Comments

The other day, the Wall Street Journal had an article about a successful restaurateur named Jodi Richards.

Richards competes in extreme trail races, triathlons and bike races such as the 64 kilometer “Ö Till Ö” island to island race in Sweden. The article discusses her workout routine (she uses two training coaches!) her diet and the cost of her training and gear which includes specialized high-tech fitness equipment.

For instance, she uses something called the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill that reduces a percentage of her body weight, helping her improve her speed and minimize the impact on her joints. The cost of the treadmill?  $55,000.

She also uses a Hypoxico training chamber that simulates training at a high altitude which costs about $28,000. She owns Guru Custom TT Cr-901 bike that costs $11,000. She pays a total of $330 a month for her two coaches and spends $120 per Pilates session.

Mind you these aren’t all of her training costs. It’s also noteworthy to add that this is for her hobby, not her restaurant business, Atera.

Ms. Richards is in continual pursuit of expanding what her body can do. She invests in a running, swimming and strength coach and a second coach for cycling and strength.

A lot of not-very-bright people would think this is wasteful. If she already has a strength coach, why does she need a second one?

Some might also question the rationale behind hiring a coach for running and swimming when she obviously is quite adept at both.

But having coaches, specialized gear and a special diet allows her to be able to do extraordinary things such as compete in extreme conditions and expand what her body is capable of doing far beyond a normal human being’s body. Coaches help nudge her into pushing her body farther. They help her unearth tweaks that allow her to shave off time during a race. And they renew her motivation when negative self-talk gets in her way.

Similar attitudes prevail when it comes to intellectual input.  Some excuse themselves from acquiring and investing in information, taking the stance, why invest in learning more when I don’t use half of what I know now?

But exceptionally successful people think differently. They think, “I want all the stimulation I can get because my mind is fully capable of expanding to meet, sift, sort and organize as much information as I can put in front of it.”

When I work on projects, I process information by the pound. Searching and sifting for the one detail, the one gem that will make the package a winner and create higher profits. And I’m happy to find one nugget among the pile—because sometimes that’s all it takes.

Donald Trump gets up every morning at 5:30 am to read. Several daily newspapers, professional newsletters, books. I imagine the overwhelming majority of what he finds he already knows or has little interest in. However I’m confident he is hunting for that rare find.  Something he did not know or a fresh perspective that triggers profitable thoughts.

I’m fortunate to know a lot of very rich entrepreneurs. I can’t think of any who aren’t in constant pursuit of more information, ideas and inspiration.  And while they may complain on occasion of being behind in their reading, they’re always buying more books.

The wealthiest people realize the value of acquiring, investing in and processing information. The value does not only require revelations of brand new things—if the input…

  • reminds you of knowledge already in your possession
  • nudges you into acting on some slow simmering idea or intention
  • pushes you past procrastination on just one useful action
  • counters gloom ‘n doom media blather

…it earns its keep.

The ad slogan for the National Enquirer—“Enquiring minds want to know,” would make a great motto for the person who wants to join the ranks of the exceptionally successful entrepreneurs.

Because it would serve as a reminder that, to be exceptionally successful, you need to feed your mind and investigate regularly, constantly, continuously and enthusiastically.

NOTE: Do you aspire to be exceptionally successful? If so, one of the quickest ways to work your mind like an exceptionally successful entrepreneur and experience a fast victory is to attend a power event. They allow you to feed your mind rapidly and because events have the freshest, “what’s working now” strategies, you can avoid having to sift through methods that are no longer working.

Tomorrow, April 19, 2013 is the last day for you to save hundreds of dollars on such a power event—namely, SuperConference. Don’t miss your LAST CHANCE to save on what can give you the ability to unearth a revelation, idea or intention that can push you past procrastination, get you to act on a long-simmering idea, or produce the one profitable gem you’ve been searching for.

Check Out This Video With An Incredible Sales Letter From One Of GKIC’s Youngest Entrepreneurs


 

Bring your teen to the SuperConference and have them participate in the 3-Day Young Entrepreneurs

Register here now: www.DanKennedy.com/sc2013

Three Tips Guaranteed To Boost Your Productivity Instantly

By: Darcy Juarez on: April 16th, 2013 9 Comments

As a small business owner, one of the biggest challenges you have is getting everything done.

In fact, one of the things we often hear from new members is “how do we find time to read everything and implement all this stuff.”

A frustrating puzzle for many because they know if they read and implement our proven strategies, they will be more successful.

So what’s the solution?

What really holds business owners back are “time vampires,” procrastination, and productivity drain holes.

It is possible to boost your productivity to levels you didn’t think possible…so that you can get more done in less time.

Today, in order to help you start tackling these I’ve put together three tips on how to advance your business and avoid feeling like your day has slipped away without accomplishing much.

1)     Make productivity your top ambition. If you are going to achieve extreme productivity, it has to be top of mind awareness at all times and ensure your behavior is congruent.  To demonstrate, I’m going to use the idea of saving money. If your number one goal is to save money, you watch every penny you spent like a hawk. The same goes with productivity. It should be on your mind all the time—asking yourself if what you are doing is productive or non-productive and accounting for everything you do.  A minute wasted “here” and a minute wasted “there” can quickly expand and sink an entire day.

2)     Identify and plug your productivity drain holes. Temptations, habits, and lack of knowledge suck productivity from you. Identifying which drain holes you are victim to is the first step to becoming more productive.  For example, you might be super-efficient with your time, but using the wrong strategies. Once you are aware of what is causing the problem, you’ll find there are methodical ways to solve this. This can be one of the most eye-opening and profitable activities you can do for your business.  And most likely won’t take you long to identify as you’ll see yourself when you quickly read through the list.  (Refer to pages 7-11 of Extreme Productivity Blueprint for a list of the common productivity drain holes and how to plug each one.)

3)     Automate whenever you can. Automating allows you to literally be “two places at one time.” Case in point, last year the entire GKIC staff was heading to an event. We knew we would be busy and not have time to round up new members and sell things. Of course we have many automated series in place to attract new members, such as our Most Incredible Free Gift Ever series (This is a great example for you to study and follow in your own business, if you haven’t checked it out, I encourage you to go take a look at it here now.) However, in addition to attracting new members, we want to be able to sell things. So we created an automatic sequence that was able to triple our membership to one of our newsletter products while we were off at an event.

 

As you may already know the biggest strength I bring to any business I work with is my ability to automate. I strongly believe this is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, and your business to increase your productivity and profitability.

Make productivity your top priority. When you become laser-focused on productivity and make it your top priority, you’ll soon find more ways to replace manual labor with automatic systems. You’ll eliminate your time vampires and you’ll produce more, make more and experience a lot less stress and struggle.

NOTE: One of the things I’ve observed is that people who succeed have honed their mastery of focus and ability to implement. If you struggle with these, you won’t want to miss a very special presentation by success trainer, consultant and author Lee Milteer.  She has helped thousands break free of limiting beliefs, unproductive habit patterns (including procrastination, timidity, negative response to change, etc.) and poor and unfocused business strategy.

In her presentation, “How Super-Effective Entrepreneurs Sail Through Squalls While Others Stall & Sink!” she’ll lead you to breakthroughs and help you replace your ingrained, conditioned, habitual thoughts, strategies, and behaviors with more creative and productive ones.

Be sure to catch her presentation at SuperConference May 2-4th. For more information click here.

And remember, ALL discounts end this Friday, April 19th. So get in and save on SuperConference while you can. www.DanKennedy.com/sc2013

Four Key Factors You MUST Know If You Want To Hold Onto Your Online Audience

By: Dave Dee on: April 11th, 2013 2 Comments

Last week I was in Ohio with Dan Kennedy and a packed room of entrepreneurs at the New A to Z Info-Biz Blueprints event.

I’m amazed that after 17 years of reading and studying and attending everything Dan does, I still discover new “ah-ha action items” for me to implement.

While I won’t be sharing my action items here today, I do want to talk about the psychology of how you get clients to continually come back to you.

Whether it’s getting your prospects and clients to come back to your events or come back to your website, there are specific ways to accomplish this.  Things you’ll want to implement ASAP because “returning prospects and customers” are key to growing your income.

Today I’ll discuss four ways specific to your online marketing.  It’s important to…

Understand the difference between the way customers view online and offline media.  The Internet was not created to sell. It was created by the U.S. military as a communication system and was later made available for academic institutions.

The idea was to create a place where people could connect and share information, not to sell.  And if you think about what most people do online, they go there to search for information or connect with people on social sites like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

This means they are in a very different mindset when they read something on your website versus when they read something you’ve sent in the mail.

Reading a sales letter that came in the mail, they may be more relaxed and sitting in their easy chair. But online, people are more alert and searching for specific answers. Make it simple and easy for them to find the answers they are looking for and don’t waste their time with copy that is focused on  branding your product, service or company.

Create specific landing pages. Online your customers compare prices. Offline they don’t. The truth is online audiences do price comparisons… frequently. This is bad news for you.

To help avoid price comparisons and drive your customers to your website, try sending something offline that drives customers to a specific online landing page that then drives them offline again. (KEY POINT: drive your audience to a landing page created specifically for your offer. Do NOT send them to your home page and make them search for your offer or you will lose them.)

For example, an offline postcard could drive people to a landing page with a specific low cost or no cost offer that requires them to enter their address to receive a CD mailer, report, etc. This gets them to raise their hand and say they are interested and gets them offline before you start talking price, thus avoiding the price comparison online.    The next step would be to send them what you promised with an offer to buy your product or use your service. By taking this approach, you’ll have a captive audience and loyal audience that are more apt to buy.

Have a system for capturing email addresses and use auto-responder emails. Another way to get people coming back is to use autoresponder emails. There is always a large portion of people who won’t buy your product or service the first time they find you.

Be sure to include an email capture box on your website so you have a way to continue marketing to them. Then create a series of emails designed to send prospects and customers back to your sales page for your product or service.

Be relevant. Always. If you are looking through the business section in the newspaper searching for information on ways to market your business, you’d expect to see ads about business, travel and things which aren’t related to marketing your business. But online, if you typed in Google, “Ways to market my small business” you’d expect to find exactly what you are looking for, right?

Your content on your web pages, in your emails, etc. should be very relevant to what your reader is looking for and not wander off topic. Because it’s much easier for people to click away from your website than it is to find another book, magazine or newspaper on your topic. This means if you stray they are gone.

Of course these are just four of many things which will help you keep readers returning to you online. If you want to be profitable online, you’ll want to beef up your understanding of the online reader’s mindset. Concentrate on learning and using online marketing strategies that make it simple for you to not only capitalize on this audience, but keep them coming back for more.

NOTE:  I’ll be leading a panel of marketing titans, expert in and using online and social media such as Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and more. These experts create and keep online audiences coming back for a variety of products, services and businesses. They’ll be sharing how to quickly use online marketing to create something today, test it tomorrow, and have profitable results and knowledge almost immediately.

Join me and this incredible panel for an IN-DEPTH discussion with absolutely practical, 1-2-3, step-by-step instructions so you can make immediate, practical use of these. We’ll be holding this discussion at SuperConference May 2nd-4th. Go here to register now www.dankennedy.com/sc2013.  ALL discounts end NEXT week on April 19th. Don’t miss your ABSOLUTE LAST CHANCE to save.

Get an “Unfair” Advantage Over The Competition With These 7 Event Strategies

By: Dan Kennedy on: April 9th, 2013 2 Comments

Over the past week, I spent three days conducting the first of only four live events I’ll do this year.

Although I’ve considerably shrunk the number of events I do, I still consider there to be no substitute for getting people together in a room. Never underestimate the power of holding live events for your customers, clients and patients. You sacrifice a lot when you don’t get them in the same room with you.

Years ago, Gary Halbert held a seminar in Key West, Florida. It was about as easy to get there as hooking up horses to a wagon and taking three days to haul yourself there.  I said to Gary, why not have it in Miami? You like Miami. There’s an airport that flies right into Miami. But Gary didn’t budge. He knew the people who were serious about their business would come, no matter where he was at. He knew they were the truly ambitious, the ones most likely to succeed.

Holding events allows you to identify the people you should pay the most attention to. These are the people who are searching for solutions, committed to finding answers and willing to do what it takes to solve their problem. These are the people you should focus on and engage with the most. And they will come to you no matter where you’re at.

At the New A to Z Info-Biz Blueprints event I spilled everything I know about what I’ve discovered over the past 40 years to work as well as what doesn’t work in Information Marketing.  The positives and the negatives in boom times and in bad times. The good trends and the evil trends. How to find the right combination to “the vault.” Key factors when considering a market for entry or expansion. Blueprints for everything from product development to presentation of price to lead generation and more. I gave insider information that you won’t find in writing and will be stricken from any audios or videos made.

Rewarding customers, clients and patients with information or other items they won’t get from you any other way, not only makes your customers, clients and patients feel special, it gives them an advantage over others. This will improve your bond with clients and create better retention.

It wasn’t until I attended a Gary Halbert event that I realized I could charge royalties for my copywriting. Until I heard Gary say he charged royalties, it hadn’t occurred to me that I could get them too… despite me being well aware that writers are often paid royalties on other types of work such as books. Events allow people to see firsthand that they can be successful using your methods. This can prove very valuable to them (and to you.)

You also create fraternity and community while facilitating connections. I’m accustomed to hearing stories from members about alliances formed and money made as a result of meeting someone at an event. One year at SuperConference (click the link now and check out the latest video!) Ed O’Keefe struck up a conversation in the bathroom that was later worth $1.5 million to him.  I’d tell you the details, but you kind of had to be there.

For years I’ve attended events just because it allowed me to see friends that are separated from me geographically. It’s much easier and frankly less expensive for me to see everyone by attending an event.  Similarly, your customers will form a fraternity too.

You’ll often hear, just as we do, that your clients, customers and patients don’t have time to trek off to a conference, seminar or event. But make no mistake, conducting live events and seminars gives you an enormous advantage over your competition. And it gives those who attend your event an enormous advantage too.

NOTE: Dave Dee and “Mr. X” will be holding a FREE Webinar on April 11, 2012 at 3:00 PM EST/2:00 PM CST on How To Turn The Coming Crisis Into Extraordinary Wealth. “Mr. X” has more than 20 years of successful entrepreneurial experience in a wide range of industries including information and event marketing and teaches others how to create wealth and prosperity for themselves based on principles he personally uses. Click here to register for this FREE event.

Dwindling customers? How to make more money FAST

By: Dan Kennedy on: March 28th, 2013 12 Comments

A recent article about one of the world’s largest ferry boat systems says they are swiping money from one program to keep another program afloat.

Why are they forced to do this?

Increased  costs coupled with a dwindling customer base.

A cry all too familiar to many businesses these days.

Swiping money from Peter to pay Paul may keep them afloat – but only temporarily.  It’s a stop-gap method that eventually catches up to every business.

Did your business lose customers last year?

If “yes,” my guess is you can’t say for sure how many you lost, who you lost, why you lost them or where they went.

But one thing is for certain…

If you do nothing different, I can send you this same message next year too.

In stormy economic seas, investors turn more attention to preservation of capital vs. growth or yield.

The next four years provide tremendous opportunity, but also are filled with tremendous risk.

Business owners must give more attention to preservation of their business’ equity—which actually lies almost entirely in their relationship with their customers, and, of course, their personal capital: their time and energy.

Regrettably, many do not pay nearly enough attention to these things until forced to by adverse circumstances.

Most businesses get this wrong. They think it is easier to just keep trying to attract new customers. Aside from the fact that there is a finite pool of new customers, in truth, a great way to make more money is to stop losing customers.

This will require accurately determining what a customer is worth and what the cost of replacing a customer really is…so you can decide how much you are willing to invest to NOT lose a customer.

Next taking that investment and deciding how to apportion it, between programs for customer retention and winning back customers. Then designing, re-designing, beefing up and actually implementing both programs. Then testing, evaluating, improving, again and again.

In my own work and you’ll find in GKIC’s strategy, that a lot of time, money and work is spent in doing exactly this, even though we already have low loss/high retention and sophisticated multi-step, multi-faceted “stick” programs for new customers, and “keep” programs for continuing customers, and “rescue and recovery” for lost customers.

Do you?

But we continue and will continue to add to, experiment with, refine and hopefully improve all three.

Will you?

Often we will implement twenty or more different adjustments in a ninety day period. Some minor, some simple, some painfully complex.

How many are you testing in your three programs by June 30?

Every year, I’m somebody’s lost customer. Many don’t even realize I’m lost. I guess they think “gee, he hasn’t been in, in a while,” or perhaps they don’t even know I’m gone. Every year, national companies and local shops lose me as a customer. I can’t recall even one, ever, doing anything proactive and significant about their loss.

That is just one very practical suggestion for making a lot more money fast. Here’s another: upgrade customers before you lose them. You’ll then lose less automatically. This idea alone is worth giving a lot of thought.

You ought to HATE and I mean HATE—losing customers.

The athletes and teams who win a lot hate losing, even more than they like winning. To win races, you’ve got to hate losing. Winning is not sufficient motivation. You NEED to understand the true economics of losing customers.

You NEED to get yourself highly motivated and passionately committed to invest aggressively in not losing customers.

No business exists solely on its owners’ ability to get customers. Successful businesses sustain themselves only keep them.

NOTE: Over the past week you’ve heard me talk about truly becoming an authority in your field.  Well my good friend Ryan Deiss’ AuthorityROI is live but only for a VERY short time.

Here is your personal link:
Click Here Now To Watch Now!

Watch it now!

There is a LIVE event coming up too, details are inside on the same page.

The Only Sustainable Advantage For Local Business, Use It Or Fail…Permanently

By: Dan Kennedy on: March 19th, 2013 16 Comments

 

In January, Forbes published key trends to watch regarding local marketing in 2013.

Among their predictions was that Facebook paid advertising will continue to be “a flop” with most local service businesses. They also said national brands with multiple locations will transfer more of their marketing dollars to local marketing and away from branding.

There are two key items to pay attention to in these predictions. The first is that the promise of new media, while seductive will continue to disappoint.

The second is that big companies – your competitors – will be investing more money in advertising and marketing. That means if you don’t want to be eaten by all the “wolves at your door,” you need to beef up your special bond with your customers, clients, or patients NOW.

A new report from the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Council reveals that senior marketers indicated that it is essential to engage in localized marketing for lead generation and revenue to stimulate business growth and profitability. Yet surprisingly only 7% rated their ability to activate local audiences as being highly evolved.

In other words, companies are failing at local marketing.

In my book, No B.S. GrassRoots Marketing, co-authored by Jeff Slutsky, I discuss the fact that the strongest, most profitable small businesses are owned and operated and promoted by people who rely predominately on what Jeff calls “grassroots” marketing. This is magnetic marketing done at the street level, by direct connection by integrating with their customers, their community, and their daily activities.

When you think of it, this is very similar to politics.

In politics, it’s the guy with the most doors knocked on, the most yard signs and bumper stickers that wins. So, one of my big pieces of advice for local small businesses is the same today as it was 35 years ago when I began giving it: Get up every morning and act as if you were running for mayor.

Being a local business has one advantage no big box retailer or big company or distant discounter can match – the  customers, patients, or clients who you’ve formed a special bond with consider themselves ‘customers for life’ and in a monogamous relationship with you. Examples of these are the car repair shop owned by Joe who’s lived in the community all his life, or the dry cleaner on Main Street or the corner restaurant.

Despite hard times and discounter competition, people prefer to shop at locally owned, independent retailers. A small business survey from American Express found that 93% of respondents believe it’s important to support local businesses.

This advantage however can become a huge hazard, and even more so in light of the movement of marketing dollars from big companies to your local market. The hazard? This may be the only sustainable advantage available to you and if you fail at it, you fail entirely.

NOTE:  Up until now, we’ve had to keep the identity of our local marketing SuperConference speaker, Mr. X a secret. But, for the first time, Mr. X is allowing us to reveal his identity as Ryan Deiss!!!

Like you, Ryan knows the wealth in your business is in the lead flow. The more people who know about your local business, the more opportunity you’ll have to win against Mr. Big Box  and Mr. Discounter.

The problem is how to compete against the marketing dollars these big companies are now throwing at local advertising. Ryan Deiss will show you how to get thousands of leads in just a few days using a new strategy which is based on a model I believe EVERY business needs.

In addition to Ryan Deiss, this year’s SuperConference will give you ample opportunity to arm yourself with what your business needs to win the “mayoral” race in your local community. In an entirely new presentation I’ll be introducing ‘The Specific-Customer-Focus Process®’ which will show you how to attract the hugely valuable customers within your market.

We also have three presentations that will give you three fast and easy strategies that’ll drive more leads to your local business so you achieve more certainty, sustainability and control in your business.

The last time you can reserve your room block at the lowest possible price is THIS MONDAY, April 8th, 2013.  To get the lowest price and best deal possible, Register now.

Are You Hunting In The Wrong Place?

By: Dan Kennedy on: March 12th, 2013 9 Comments

I’ve been in the advice dispensing business for 40 years.

Throughout my career I’ve been paid millions and millions of dollars by CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, small business owners, even my peers, professional speakers, authors and consultants.

Whether the economy is good or bad, I remain fully booked and in demand.

On occasion I have run up against ‘professional norms and guidelines’ dictated by some association or certifying organization, and had my fees and the fees I recommend others charge criticized. Some say they are unethical, some say they are impossible to receive.

Nevertheless, I’m fully booked with demand left over.

And people I’ve guided routinely command premium prices in return for their products and services.

I’m not telling you this to brag.  My ego doesn’t need the boost.

I’m telling you this to let you know that these sort of opportunities exist and are there for the taking by people who may have never dreamed they could command such, “aggressive compensation.”

(I reveal how I’ve done this in detail in my course Super Powers of Price Elasticity which right now you can try for just a single dollar by clicking here!)

And at no time is it more critical than right now thanks to the rising costs of marketing and customer acquisition and the overabundance of marketing streams fighting for people’s attention.

Right now you may be asking yourself, “Given the habits of consumers seemingly flocking to pay the lowest price is it still possible to find consumers willing to pay top rates?”

It is, I assure you. In fact, I guarantee that hugely valuable customers exist for every business. It may just be you’re looking in the wrong place.

The truth is if you lack the kind of customers, clients or patients I’m talking about, you are most likely lacking specific customer focus and using ineffective approaches that are dangerous to your business’ long-term survival.

Amir Karkouti, owner of a successful group of restaurants in San Diego and an author, speaker and mentor to other restaurant owners wrote this letter…

“It wasn’t that long ago that my restaurants were going to fail and I was losing hope. I spent the last money I had to go to the SuperConference, and I went home determined to utilize everything I learned from you and all the other marketers.

I went straight to work. I got lists, created letters, improved my copywriting.

I realized that my business wasn’t failing—I was failing at marketing it. “

Amir says since that time his restaurants are booming. He’s been written up in publications, began speaking to and coaching other restaurant owners, and written a book on how restaurant owners can market their business to explode their profits. He developed a Marketing System that includes a turn-key, automated email marketing program, the “4X2 SECRET”- which brings customers back 4 times within 2 weeks and The Restaurant Sales Letter Template.

Amir used specific-customer focus—targeting the right customers—and combined that with effective marketing strategies to get him out of peril and onto a prosperous path.

Any business owner can attract higher value customers and clientele. Ask yourself, if you could double your net profit, without getting any more customers, wouldn’t you want to do it?

NOTE: Is your business positioned properly? At this year’s SuperConference during one of my two entirely new presentations, I’ll show you how to rate and judge your positioning strengths and weaknesses and help you determine whether consumers see you as a one-of-a-kind business that people can’t ignore or one that is swimming to keep up with the competition..

Find out how to correct your course and locate, target and attract those consumers which will be highly valuable to your business. Plus the five X-Factors found in exceptionally successful businesses that “own” much higher value customers or clientele than 90% of their competitors or peers.

You’ll also have a chance to win free advice from me and an all-expenses paid vacation in sunny Florida in our Marketer of the Year competition.

And if you have a great business or product idea that could use a surge of cash or “brain capital” to get it off the ground or take it to the next level, enter “THE TANK.” I along with Barbara Corcoran and the other GKIC Sharks are giving you a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to pitch us on giving you cash, investing in you, or providing “brain capital” for your business.

Don’t miss these opportunities and your last chance to save over $1000 on registration.