Turn Your Business Card Into A Lead Generation Machine

Your business card is the most often overlooked form of lead generation. In fact, most business owners never even consider the possibility that their business card should be driving prospects to them in droves.

And yet, it can be one of your most versatile lead generation tools for your business’s product or service.

What you need to know…

The key is to create a business card that gets your prospects to take a specific action rather than simply provide boring contact information.

There’s a formula to follow that will help you create powerful business cards that compel your prospects to take a specific action. That formula states that you must Interrupt your prospects (usually done with an attention grabbing headline), Engage them (by promising a solution to the problem the headline presented), Educate them (by providing compelling information that highlights the value you offer) and making them an irresistible Offer (a specific call to action).

The front of the card will look like a fairly typical business card. It contains your logo if you have one, your business’s name, your name and title, and at the bottom is your address with city, state and zip code. However, the last line on the card should be in red type and say… “see opposite side for special offer.” Who can possibly resist turning that card over to find out what that special offer is?

And since most business cards were received from the individual themselves, there is already a certain rapport, relationship or trust level established that increases the likelihood that they will respond to your offer.

Why you need to know this…

Your prospects are literally bombarded with marketing messages today. They basically tune them all out. The business card just described adds a “unique” flavor to the business owner who uses them. The card with the “offer” in red effectively Interrupts them. Then when they turn it over, they see another headline that Engages them by promising to solve a major problem, frustration or concern they tend to experience when doing business with a company like yours.

Since the business card itself isn’t large enough to effectively Educate them on what you do, the Offer must do double duty by educating them about your product or service as well as compelling the prospect to take a specific action. Both of these can be easily accomplished by making the offer an informational offer such as a report, a CD, a DVD, a teleconference call or possibly a webinar.

But consider one additional suggestion. What if a prospect COULD become educated from your business card? With the popularity and easy access to YouTube, try this. Video yourself being “interviewed” about your area of expertise. Just a short two to three minute clip is fine.

On the front of your business card, just below your contact information, insert this wording… “Check out my expertise for yourself!” Then add the video URL for them to enter into their browser. This video should be someone interviewing you “Larry King” style and automatically positions you as an “industry expert.”

But don’t stop there. Create a second video of approximately the same length, and just below the previous wording, insert this phrase… “Here’s how I can help you now!” Add the video URL for this video, and it should be you looking directly into the camera and offering them a compelling reason to take a specific action.

The cost to you if you fail to act…

When your clients can receive compelling information about what you do in a non-threatening way, they are much more likely to respond to your offer and eventually become a client.

So are you using your business card to generate leads?

Do you know how to structure the message on the card so it generates results?

Are you aware that every marketing piece, including your business cards, should always contain what is referred to as “persuasion architecture?”

Do you have the knowledge and skills to effectively create all of this?

All of these suggestions can turn your business card into a lead generation machine.

To take a Test Drive on our system visit http://ImpactMarketingUniversity.com/myguidedtour

To your success,

James Lawson & Angela Inzerillo

Can You Really Explode Your Revenue By 16 Times?

Add up your toiletries in your bathroom, and then count how many of them you use daily. You will discover you use about 20% of them 80% of the time. Your business is no different. 20% of what you do every day at work is producing approximately 80% of your total revenue. That also means that 80% of your daily activities produce only 20% of your total revenue.

What would happen if you could discover WHY 20% of your activities produce so much more revenue… and replace the remaining 80% of your non-productive activities with more activities like the 20%? You would see your revenue skyrocket by a factor of 16.

What you need to know…

If you can perform more of these “productive” activities, your revenue will explode. This explains why the wealthy work less and earn more… and why you need to learn how to work smarter, not harder. So why aren’t you currently performing these so-called “productive” activities?

The answer… you’re NOT doing the things you SHOULD be doing. You’re NOT doing the things that are your highest income-producing activities. It’s these activities that drive the revenue into your business.

Why you need to know this…

Answering the phone, responding to emails, ordering supplies, paying the bills, keeping the books, surfing the internet… are NOT high income-producing activities.

High income-producing activities are things like developing and creating new products or services, improving your current product or service, marketing that new product or service, developing joint venture relationships or affiliate programs, innovating your product or service so that it makes your business unique & superior, acquiring various elements of proof to use in your marketing such as testimonials or research.

These make up your highest income-producing activities… and these are the areas where you need to focus. Some of these you’re good at… you have “unique abilities” that lend themselves to these specific types of activities.

Others, you’re not so good at. The secret is to match them up properly so that you’re constantly performing your unique abilities in the areas that will produce maximum revenue for your business.

The cost to you if you fail to act…

Do you spend most of your day fighting fires instead of completing the vital few activities that will produce the greatest results… and the highest revenue?

Do you know specifically those few things you need to do daily that produce big results? Do you know how to match those few things with your unique abilities?

Do you know how to get rid of the minutiae that’s controlling your everyday activities and taking up your valuable time and energy… and replace that minutiae with the high impact activities that immediately produces income for you and your business?

If you need help working through this process, check out our FREE test drive for the most comprehensive system of marketing tools and resources.

For our FREE 4 Video series on how to create a 10X increase using a lead generation magnet for your business go to Bit.ly/10xleads and start attracting the RIGHT prospects to your business!!

Please remember that at any time you feel ready and qualified to move forward and acquire the professional help that can enable you to build the business of your dreams, just click here and check out our E-Learning Marketing System™. It’s helping small business owners just like you get the answers and the help they need to build the business they have always wanted.

We created the E-Learning Marketing System™ with the perfect combination of online resources, tools and support to get you out of any financial distress you’re presently experiencing… help you get laser-focused on your highest income-producing activities… and help you develop and then apply the fundamentals that build multimillion dollar businesses. click here to see for yourself.

Regards

James.

How Optimism Can Kill Your Business

Apparently, we as humans, suffer from this little thing called ‘Cognitive Illusion’ – in fact, it affects almost 80% of the population! What is this and how does it affect me and my business?

Simply put, it means we are pre-disposed to ‘Overestimate the likely hood of a good event and underestimate the likely hood of a bad event’….

Based on research done by Dr Tali Sharot, we are far more ‘optimistic’ than we are ‘realistic’….and to make matters worse,we are totally OBLIVIOUS to it!

When questioning newly married couples, they were asked how many of them believed that they would stay married forever…every one said that they would even though statistically 3 out of every 5 marriages in the western world end in divorce! This level of optimism continued when asking an individual who smoked what he thought his chances of getting cancer were – he said 10% when in fact his chances were more like 30%, after getting this new information he was asked the same question, he changed his answer to, yes you guessed it, 13%!!

So what does this have to do with business?

For fun, I thought I would try this with a room full of business owners (ok I am  not suggesting this was an emperical scientific study but it did show how we can be blinded).

37 business owners in a room. We separated out those that had been in business more than 10 years which left a total of 28. We then asked them ‘how many of you will still be in business 10 years from now’?.  Everyone put their hands up. I told them that statistically, over 90% of businesses fail in the first 10 years..I asked the same question and all the hands went up.

In the 5 years since we opened our business I know of 12 business that no longer exist who were in their first 3 years of operation when first opened ours…I let them know this and asked the same question with the same result!

Even in the face of  ‘reality’ we choose to keep our optimism high. Business owners especially are prone to this because they may have been successful doing what they do for someone else, they believe that they can be more successful doing it but for themselves – they allow ‘optimism’ to cloud the realty that being good at the technical work is a recipe for success when in fact it is far from the truth. Facing ‘reality’ and allowing yourself to admit to your flaws and then seeking the help you need to overcome them is how you ‘increase’ your chances of success.

So, am I saying don’t be optimistic, of course not! What I am saying is keep it in check! Being overly optimistic in the face of reality will almost certainly lead to disaster.

If you want to hear more about this, click on the link below and watch Tali’s talk on TED.com

The Optimism Bias

James Lawson – Business Transformation Coach

To download you FREE 3 video series that will show you how to generate $5,000 to $10,000 in the next 90days visit: www.impactmarketinguniversity.com

Please remember that at any time you feel ready and qualified to move forward and acquire the professional help that can enable you to build the business of your dreams, just click here and check out our E-Learning Marketing System™. It’s helping small business owners just like you get the answers and the help they need to build the business they have always wanted.

We created the E-Learning Marketing System™ with the perfect combination of online resources, tools and support to get you out of any financial distress you’re presently experiencing… help you get laser-focused on your highest income-producing activities… and help you develop and then apply the fundamentals that build multimillion dollar businesses. click here to see for yourself.

Telemarketing is NOT the Anti-Christ

Today you’ll learn how to use direct mail marketing and, yes, telemarketing to your full advantage. I know, the word “telemarketing” might as well be four letters, but there is a way to help customers feel like they are getting personal attention and keep them from blocking your number!

With the success direct mail marketing has had and the availability of computers, these can be used as a powerful marketing tool for your success. Telemarketing is best for high priced, high margin products/services.

Here are the key steps to putting together a highly effective direct mail marketing program:

1. List all benefits customers will get from the purchase of your products and services.
2. Pick the single most powerful benefit out of that list.
3. Build an attention-getting headline around that benefit. Remember to use emotion-fulfill the desire to be young, wealthy, desired, popular or successful.
4. Develop a sales letter using the headline you created to grab attention, provide information and motivate customers to act.
5. Put together supplementary items, such as a brochure, order form, reply envelope or note that encourages them to read the letter.
6. Rent or purchase a mailing list.
7. Compare cost of mailing vs. cost per order.
8. Continue to test and refine your direct mail marketing plan.

You can see how direct mail marketing can help you find a local or even country-wide target market to send letters or postcards to and draw in new clientele and customers. Fine-tuning your marketing campaign will bring better results and therefore lower the overall  cost of the campaign.

To be successful in telemarketing you need to:

• Put together a plan, so you know exactly what you want to accomplish during the call.
• Develop a list of topics to discuss and the questions you want to present around these topics.
• Input verbiage checking to see if you are calling at a good time.
• Include enough questions to keep the conversation interesting, but not too many to sound like you are interrogating.
• Start with broad questions and narrow your focus as the conversation continues.
• Offer feedback to show them you are paying attention and appreciate their time.
• Don’t insult their intelligence or manipulate them.
• Listen first, talk second.
• Be relaxed and conversational.

Telemarketing doesn’t have to be the trauma it’s made out to be. You can put together an honest, personal and effective telemarketing campaign that is endearing, informative and gets the job done. Think of how you would want to be treated on a marketing call. Ask your friends and family what they hate most about the telemarketing calls they get and work hard to craft your plan in a better way.

“When selling by telephone, you have approximately thirty seconds to convince the customer to listen to you. You need an opening statement that captures their attention, conveys who you are, what you want and why the prospect should listen.” Jay Abraham

It’s easy to see how direct mail marketing and telemarketing can positively affect your business by bringing in new customers and increasing the level of awareness about your products, services and company branding. Our FREE test drive offers the resources and tools you need to work through these processes and put together the best marketing plan you can.

James Lawson – Business Transformation Coach

To download you FREE 3 video series that will show you how to generate $5,000 to $10,000 in the next 90days visit: www.impactmarketinguniversity.com

Please remember that at any time you feel ready and qualified to move forward and acquire the professional help that can enable you to build the business of your dreams, just click here and check out our E-Learning Marketing System™. It’s helping small business owners just like you get the answers and the help they need to build the business they have always wanted.

We created the E-Learning Marketing System™ with the perfect combination of online resources, tools and support to get you out of any financial distress you’re presently experiencing… help you get laser-focused on your highest income-producing activities… and help you develop and then apply the fundamentals that build multimillion dollar businesses. click here to see for yourself.

Is Your Business YOU Proof?

Is Your Business You-Proof?

Whether you’re planning to sell your company sometime soon or sometime in the future; now is the time to ensure that your business isn’t all about you. From the latest Sellability Score* research involving 2300 companies from around the globe, here are two key factors that are linked to the probability of getting an offer for your business when it’s time to sell.

#1: You’re almost twice as likely to get an offer if your business can survive the “hit-by-a-bus” test.

If you were out of action for three months and unable to work, would your business keep running smoothly? The more your staff and customers need you, the less valuable your company will be to a potential acquirer. One good way to start making your business more independent is to begin spending less time at the office.  Start by not working evenings or weekends, and don’t reply if employees call. Once they get the picture, the best ones will start making more decisions independently. The shift will also expose your weakest employees, the ones that need training or that need to find another job. As for you, it might come as a shock to find out how much your business has become such an essential part of you; but if you’re going to sell your business one day, you need to look at it as an inanimate economic engine, not as something that defines who you are.

#2: Companies with a management team (as opposed to a sole manager) are getting offers at almost twice the rate.

If you don’t have a management team, hiring a 2iC is a good first move. A second-in-command can help you balance the demands of running your company and advance your targeted exit time.

Here’s a four-step plan for hiring a 2iC, thanks to advice from Silicon-Valley-based Bob Sutton, author of Good Boss, Bad Boss. 

1: Identify someone internally. “The research is clear,” says Sutton. “Unless things are totally screwed up, internal candidates have a strong tendency to outperform external leaders.”

2: Give your 2iC prospect(s) a special project, one that allows them to demonstrate their leadership skills to you and the rest of your team. If your candidate or one of your candidates excels, it will be clear to your team why he or she was selected.

3: Communicate your choice. If you pick a 2iC from an internal pool, explain your choice to the rest of your team. At the same time, wrap your arms around those you passed over and make it clear how much you value their contribution.

4: Shift from manager to coach. “The transition from manager to coach is a gradual evolution where the goal is to ask more questions, spend more time listening, and spend less time talking and directing,” says Sutton.

Please leave any comments in the box below!!

How would your business score in the sellability stakes?  take this 14min quize to find out – Sellability Score

Follow me on Twitter : @vabizcoach

James Lawson is a Business Transformation Coach and author located in Fairfax, Northern Virginia. He works with and helps business owners TRANSFORM their businesses from where they are to where they ultimately want to be.

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