Days 8-9 -- It's been slow

Yesterday, which would have been Day 8, was a "rest" day, though it was anything but restful. Thursdays are the days LifeRenewal Ministries meets, and my job is working with the tech stuff. One more Thursday and we will be out until fall -- and I'm going to miss it! I might have to work on Thursdays... oh dear!

So, all that to say that I did nothing on my business yesterday. And I didn't do much more than that today. I've been sick today, and the best thing I can say about that is that maybe I've lost a pound or two. One would expect so, anyway!!

This afternoon I did get some work done on my speech, and began my PowerPoint presentation. I also solicited a speaking engagement (informally) and got a very informal response of "that sounds like a good idea."

I also worked on my course this evening. And now I'm going to bed early. Tomorrow has got to be better!

Day 7 -- Wrapping up Week 1

The first week of a class like this is always a challenge because you really don't know if the Daily Actions you have set up are realistic. And some of mine weren't, so I've made a couple of mid-course corrections.

I am pleased, though, that I accomplished most of the things I set out to do. Of course, if you are looking at it in terms of a percentage, it's not so hot. 70%... 7 out of the 10 things I planned to do. When you put it that way, it doesn't look so good. But when you say, only 3 of my actions were left undone, it sounds much better, so that's the way I'll look at it.

I'm in to Module 6 of the 10 module Internet Marketing VA Certification program, and this is my favorite part -- Modules 5 and 6 are on Keyword Research. Delightful.

Day 6 -- Coming Down to the Wire

I'm feeling pretty good about what I've accomplished this week, even though I don't have everything marked off on my list of Daily Actions.

One of the Success Ingredients I'm focusing on during this Get Clients Now! Blitz is public speaking. My goal was to have one engagement booked by the end of the class (April 29), and that is already accomplished. Granted, it isn't because I solicited it, but it IS a result of actions I took during the last class, so I'm counting it.

Now, the problem with having that speech booked -- for next Wednesday, in case anybody wants to know -- is that the speech isn't written. So that's another one of my Success Ingredients, and I'm working hard on it.

As I'm looking at my Daily Actions, I see that while writing that speech is one of my Success Ingredients, I haven't slotted it into my Daily Actions. Hmmm. Since I'm spending time on that, could be why I'm not fitting everything in. Time for a mid-course correction. Think I'll take out "Add 5 contacts/week to SendOutCards Contact Manager" and add "1 hour/day on speech writing." Then, when the speech is done, I can work on those contacts.

And, after I give the speech, if everything goes well, I should have a handful of contacts to add anyway. Sounds like a plan to me.

I just finished Module 4 in my Internet Marketing VA Certification course. Modules 3 and 4 were on managing affiliate marketing programs for clients. It was the first time I had considered the whole idea from the POV of the owner of the program instead of the POV of the Affiliate. Quite involved -- maybe not something I'll seek out at this point.

What I'm really looking forward to are the next two Modules on Search Marketing. I love keyword research! What fun :-)

Day 5 --The Mother of Motivation

Funny how deadlines are the mother of motivation... I have committed to a speaking engagement next Wednesday, and while I know generally what I'm going to speak about, it's time to hang some meat on the skeleton. I have my title (tentative), my three points, and my take-away-point. I have some stats to give credence to what I'm saying... now all I have to do is come up with some examples and a compelling opening and closing! Piece of cake, right? I'll keep you posted.

And it's funny about marketing. The more consistently you work at it, the more work you get out of it -- and that leaves you with a narrower window to do more marketing. I think that's why public speaking is so effective. The same hour of work that makes one contact with a face-to-face meeting, or 2-3 contacts at a networking event, or a multitude of remote contacts by email will create an instant sense of relationship (know-like-trust) with a whole roomful of people.

So public speaking is pretty effective, and has a high ROT value... Return on Time. Hmmm... might need to come up with a different acronym. How about ROW? Return on Words. Or ROE -- Return on Effort.

Obviously time to go put my overworked brain to bed. Catch up with you tomorrow.

Day 4 -- A day of Rest

I've been thinking about the scoring system for the GCN tracking worksheet, and while there are certain things I really like about it, there are also things that don't seem quite right. For example, if I haven't done anything towards my goals on a particular day, but I haven't NOT met them, either, I still get to mark a "yes." So technically, I could mark yesses on most of those things that aren't daily, get a great score, but still have accomplished nothing -- and do it for several days. Of course, I'm only fooling myself (which is relatively easy to do), and nobody else really cares.

I don't want to think too hard about all that today because this is, after all, a rest day and I'm pointing my mind in other directions to let it rest a little. So all I did today was write here... and I didn't do much of that!

Day 3 -- Beyond the Niche

I had a discussion last night with a friend in our Get Clients Now! group, and we were focusing on finding a niche. There's a lot written about identifying your niche, focusing your efforts on it, and all that sort of thing, but I want to take a step back and think outside the niche for a minute.

In my friend's case, her business is mediation. Primarily, her niche is people who are struggling in a family relationship (often contemplating divorce). And while that's her target audience, she probably needs to focus her efforts on "intermediaries."

So, here are some questions to think about...

1. Who (what group) has the power to help you succeed? Who is it that holds the power to influence the behavior of your target audience?
2. How can that group help you succeed? Are they in a position to recommend you above others in a well known field, or are they perhaps in a position to educate people who need what you offer but don't know it is available?
3. What do they have to believe in order to advocate for you? That you offer a valuable service? That you are the best in the area? That you bring a specialized skill set that is perfect for those they deal with? That your experience qualifies you?
   
4. What message must you get across to change or reinforce their belief? General education? New perspective? Process? Price? Your experience? Something else?
   
5. What is the best way to get your message to them? Direct contact? Promotional materials? Public speaking? Service? Consistent follow-up? Networking? Sponsoring events?

The beauty of considering these questions is that it is often much easier to approach someone about who they know who might need you than it is to directly approach them as a prospect. That's part of the premise behind organizations like BNI. Those you develop relationships with in your group may need what you sell, but the greater potential is in all the people they know.

Let's go back to the mediation example. Suppose your target market is couples who are getting divorced, and suppose you are in a networking group of 30 people. Let's suppose 3 of them are struggling in their marriage -- but even then, not all 3 of them would probably need your services...

However, let's look at the population that they know. If each of those people knows, on the average, 50 people well enough to be in a position to recommend a mediator, that's 1500 people. And if 10% of them are struggling, or even 5% -- that's 75 potential clients! Would it be worth considering how you could help them understand your message?

So, think about who influences your niche and how to get to THEM. It might be worth the effort.

Day 2 -- Rest Day, Sort of...

Rest day is a bit of a misnomer, actually. While I didn't "work," the day was anything but restful. It was the initial lab/EKG/doctor's appointment for my husband, Earl, at the Tampa VA Hospital. A full 8 hours from the time we walked out the door till the time we got back home.

But, even with that, I did get something accomplished. I met this evening with another member of our Group, Kathy, and we discussed our strategies and how things were going. That was very encouraging, and not only that, it counts as meeting with a referral partner this week! :-)

I intended to put the quote from Jay Conrad Levinson in my post yesterday, but didn't. Here it is:

I hate to admit this, but mediocre marketing with commitment works better than brilliant marketing without commitment.

I like that because nothing I'm doing is brilliant -- but my intent is to be consistent.

Day 1.5 -- Thoughts on Filling the Pipeline

Okay, so I said I was going to write once a day, and technically this is still the first day and I'm writing twice. Call it margin. Or being proactive... Tomorrow is pretty full, and I'm not sure how much I'll get done, so I'll get this off my plate early. And actually it's almost tomorrow anyway!

Why am I making excuses? Get a grip!

So, according to our book, there are four primary areas in the sales process:

• Filling the pipeline
• Following up
• Getting presentations
• Closing sales

I'm working on Filling the Pipeline because while I have lots of contacts, as I've really tried to narrow my focus on the what my ideal client is like, I think most of my contacts are not it. Now I'm not sure I could articulate who my ideal client is tonight (it's very late), but knowing who it is NOT is valid, too.

The strategies I've chosen to fill the pipeline are:

• Direct contact and follow-up
• Public Speaking
• Writing and Publicity

And, I'm working on all of those.

I finished Module 2 on my certification project. It was on Website Analytics, and got pretty heavy. I passed the test, but I need to go over it again, I think. There's more there than I anticipated, but then if I already knew everything, why would I need to be taking a course??

Day 1 -- Starting the journey

First let me say that I realize the world doesn't need another blog. With (according to a quote from Technorati) over 175,000 new blogs a day... well, need I say more?

My goal is to write daily for 28 days as I go through the Get Clients Now!TM group coaching program with Kim Avery, who is a certified trainer for GCN. Learn more about how Kim helps entrepreneurs and those seeking a career change (by choice or otherwise) at her website:

www.CareerBuildersPlus.com

Our group started two weeks ago when we "met" for the first time on a conference call, six of us and Kim. We identified where we felt stuck in our marketing cycle, and where we wanted to go. During the following week we choose our Success Ingredients and mapped out our Daily Actions. On yesterday's call we shared those and talked about how we would move forward.

Because I know that writing/journaling my progress is critical to my success, I've chosen to chronicle this 28 day journey in a blog. And I chose a blog because it would be much easier to let the exercise slide if it were a physical journal... So here we go!

I've filled in my Tracking Worksheet and will be sending it to Kim this morning.

The last time I went through this class, I choose Thursdays as a rest day because that day was devoted to the weekly Bible Study class I'm involved in (LifeRenewal Ministries). I have to be honest -- I love working my business, and almost always do something on it every day. So rest "day" might be a little off the mark for me. But I think as long as I get it all done... it will work out just fine.

Okay, off to work on my other daily Actions. If you are reading this, I would love you to join in the conversation. Feel free to think of this as a co-journaling effort, and update us on your progress, too. If we all work at pushing this snowball down the hill, who knows what will happen!