• How do I find the best people for my business? When I find them, how do I get the best from them?
• When I do get the best from them, how do I make sure they don’t leave?
• If they leave, how do I make sure they don’t end up working for my competition?
• If they do end up working for my competition, how do I make sure they don’t steal clients or other employees?

The list can go on and on.

One of the most important but often overlooked areas for the average small-medium sized business owners are the areas of staff training and staff development.

This blog sets out to explain the importance of both in your business as well as:

1. Initial training
2. Ongoing training
3. One-on-one training
4. Team training
5. Telephone
6. Internet
7. Developing your staff

Initial training

Assuming you have put your new staff member through a rigorous selection process and you have recruited a talented individual with ambition, the way this person is now handled during the initial training period will go a long way towards determining how they will turn out for the life of their employment with your organisation.

The first seven days a new employee spends with your company will set the standard for how that employee views the business, as well as determining how this person will view their required level of performance.

Too many businesses don’t handle the initial training of new staff members anywhere near as well as they should. Below is a list of common mistakes made by a number of organisations.

• Inadequate training facilities
• Lack of appropriate training and reference materials
• Person conducting the training often not sufficiently qualified/experienced
• Training rushed in order to fit in with other priorities
• Lack of testing of trainees’ understanding
• Too much assumption of prior learning
• Too little recognition of prior learning
• Training often compartmentalised (i.e. the trainee doesn’t understand the BIG picture).

Ongoing training

During the initial training period it should be made very clear to the new recruit that Staff Training is a continuous and never-ending process within your business. A properly structured, weekly training program allows the business owner to:

• Evaluate performance of the individual and the team
• Review the previous week’s results while they’re still relevant
• Provide rank, recognition, prizes and bonuses if relevant
• Implement new initiatives
• Improve staff morale
• Increase staff loyalty
• Lower staff absenteeism

It’s a fact that many people don’t seek out higher learning. So conducting regular staff training will allow the business owner to stay in control of the learning process while at the same time, fostering goodwill among staff. It will also provide a forum where questions can be answered and staff grievances can be aired. This is an important point as many staff members can become disgruntled without regular contact, so weekly training can nip potential problems quickly.

If your business is one where your employees are in regular contact with your clients, a sales business for example, you should seriously consider holding daily meetings. However, for a lot of businesses this may be overkill; in this case, having at least a Monday morning and Friday afternoon meeting is a must.

One-on-one training

This is a very effective way for the business owner or manager to accurately pinpoint exactly where each staff member stands in relation to their desired state of development. Some other benefits:

• Provides a forum for each staff member to discuss specific issues relevant to that particular individual
• One-on-one is the right environment to criticise or question an individual’s work effort or results
• It is the best way to conduct performance reviews and set new targets
• It is a more concentrated environment, thus allowing for improved rapport-building opportunities.

Team training

In many organisations it’s more practical to run training sessions in a group to create a positive dynamic. Some of the other benefits include:

• Group interaction allows the business owner to identify leaders and followers
• Allows for a variety of training methods. For example, Round Robin/Give and Take, etc.
• Easier to motivate a group due to multiple energies
• Can set team targets and team incentives

Online store facility

Another often underutilised method of training staff is via the telephone. For staff who are on the road or who don’t come intothe office, this can be a great way to keep in contact as well as stay up-to-date with what’s happening in the field. A lot of companies are now using conference call facilities to run training sessions and launches. This can be a very cost-effective way to run your team. Early morning breakfast calls are a great way of launching daily competitions and firing up your team.

Internet training

Due to the ever-increasing popularity of the Internet, many organizations are now exploring this medium as a low-cost way to not only communicate with their staff, but also to run training sessions and numerous other initiatives.

Developing your staff

Assuming you have recruited your staff well and provided them with a structured and comprehensive initial and ongoing training program, all that’s left now is to focus on staff development.

What is staff development?

Staff development revolves around identifying the performance ‘gaps’ of your various staff members, understanding the prevailing reasons for the gaps and then implementing initiatives and programs to eradicate them.

Why do it?

Developing your people and taking them to the next level of their professional growth is one of the most important and productive pursuits of any business owner. Listed below are some of the reasons why it should be a major focus.

• Produces greater productivity
• Will help generate improved customer service and sales
• Will help lower staff turnover and, therefore, recruiting costs
• Will help improve workplace safety
• Improves morale
• In many instances, it’s a legal necessity

Any business owner who sets out to develop their staff will be rewarded by the improved performance of these people. It simply requires a disciplined approach.

Do I need to do it?

• Do you want to increase sales?
• Do you want to improve customer service?
• Do you want a more loyal workforce?
• Do you want to lower absenteeism?
• Do you want to reduce workplace theft?
• Do you want to reduce workplace accidents?
• Do you want a better work environment?
• If so, then the answer has to be, “Yes!”

How do I begin?

Staff development should be a key section within your business plan. Each staff member (including yourself) should have a personal file outlining their job description, ambitions, training needs along with any other relevant information pertinent to their current skill levels and relevant to the skills which need to be improved on. Each staff member should have their performance reviewed at regular intervals and a reward mechanism should be linked wherever possible.

What tools are available?

Implementing effective staff development programs isn’t difficult if the correct tools are available. Some of the tools at your disposal are:

• Honest and open two-way discussion
• Job description – written and agreed
• Performance evaluation systems
• Training – at the workplace and/or externally
• Literature and information
• Demonstrations
• Reward and incentive systems
• Career planning and personal growth

These days, you probably wonder where the time went. Why you spent 12 hours at work and barely make a dent in your to-do list. We already know that time is a key resource for you and your business, but it’s also a key resource in your life. Harnessing and leveraging time is the only way to enjoy life, and have a profitable business at the same time.

Most business owners carefully manage their financial and personnel resources, and pay due attention to their performance. Marketing plans and budgets are created, people are recruited and let go. What most business owners don’t realise is that time – and the time of all employees – requires the same attention and diligent management.

Time will never manage itself. The decision to make a pro-active effort to manage your time must come from you. Once you have committed to taking ownership for your own time management, there are a host of tools available to you. But first, you must understand how much your time is actually worth, and where you are currently spending it.

What is Your Time Worth?

Ever wonder what your time is actually worth? Here’s a quick way to figure it out:

Let’s look at it another way:

This is a very simple calculation intended to put your time in perspective. In reality, no one is productive for each of the 1,645 hours. Various studies have put actual productivity at anywhere between 25 minutes and four hours per day. Either way, there’s a lot of room for improvement.

This exercise isn’t intended to scare you, but bring your attention to the importance of choosing how you spend each hour you have available. It is a choice! By developing the skills required to manage your time, you will not only have a profitable business, but a rewarding and balanced life
.

Creating SMART Goals

SMART goals are just that: smart. Whether you are setting goals for your personal life, your business, or with your employees, goals that have been developed with the SMART principle have a higher probability of being achieved.

The SMART Principle

1. Specific

Specific goals are clearer and easier to achieve than nonspecific goals. When writing down your goal, ask yourself the five “W” questions to narrow in on what exactly you are aiming for. Who? Where? What? When? Why?

For example, instead of a nonspecific goal like, “get in shape for the summer,” a specific goal would be, “go to the gym three times a week and eat twice as many vegetables.”

2. Measurable

If you can’t measure your goal, how will you know when you’ve achieved it? Measurable goals help you clearly see where you are, and where you want to be. You can see change happen as it happens.

Measurable goals can also be broken down and managed in smaller pieces. They make it easier to create an action plan or identify the steps required to achieve your goal. You can track your progress, revise your plan, and celebrate each small achievement. For example, instead of aiming to increase revenue in 2009, you can set out to increase revenue by 30% in the next 12 months, and celebrate each 10% along the way.

3. Achievable

Goals that are achievable have a higher chance of being realised. While it is important to think big, and dream big, too often people set goals that are simply beyond their capabilities and wind up disappointed. Goals can stretch you, but they should always be feasible to maintain your motivation and commitment.

For example, if you want to complete your first triathlon but you’ve never run a mile in your life, you would be setting a goal that was beyond your current capabilities. If you decided instead to train for a five mile race in six months, you would be setting an achievable goal.

4. Relevant

Relevant – or realistic – goals are goals that have a logical place in your life or your overall business strategy. The goal’s action plan can be reasonably integrated into your life, with a realistic amount of effort.

For example, if your goal is to train to climb to base camp at Mount Everest within one year and you’re about to launch a start-up business, you may need to question the relevance of your goal in the context of your current commitments.

5. Timely

It is essential for every goal to be attached to a time-frame – otherwise it is merely a dream. Check in to make sure that your time-frame is realistic – not too short, or too long. This will keep you motivated and committed to your action plan, and allow you track your progress.

Autosuggestion + Visualisation

Autosuggestion and visualisation are two techniques that can assist you in achieving your goals. Some of the most well-known and successful people in the world use these techniques, and it is not coincidence that they are masters in their own fields of business and sport. A few of these people include:

• Michael Phelps (Olympic Swimmer)
• Andre Agassi (Tennis)
• Donald Trump (Real Estate)
• Bill Gates (Microsoft)
• Walt Disney (Entertainment)

Of course, each of these people have a high degree of talent, ambition, intelligence and drive. However, to reach the top of their respective field, they have each used Autosuggestion  and Visualisation.

Autosuggestion

Autosuggestion is your internal dialogue; the constant stream of thoughts and comments that flows through your mind, and impacts what you think about yourself and how you perceive situations.

Since you were a small child, this self-talk has been influenced by your experiences and has programmed your mind to think and react in certain ways. The good news is that you can reprogram your mind and customize you self-talk any way you like. That is the power of Autosuggestion.

To begin practicing Autosuggestion, make sure you are relaxed and open to trying the technique; an ideal time is just before bed, or when you have some time to sit quietly. Then, repeat
positive affirmations to yourself about the ideal outcome. Top sports and businesspeople will often practice just before a big game or meeting.

Some examples of positive self talk or autosuggestion include:

• I will lead my team to a victory tonight!
• I will be relaxed opento meeting new people at the partytonight!
• I will deliver a clear and impacting speech!
• I will stop worrying and tackle this problem tomorrow!
• I will stand up for my own ideas in the meeting!
• I will remember everything I have studied for the testtomorrow!

Visualisation

Visualisation is a complementary practice to Autosuggestion. While you can repeat affirmations to yourself over and over, combining this practice with visualization is twice as powerful.

Visualisation is exactly what it sounds like: repeatedly visualising how something is going to happen in your mind’s eye. Nearly everyone in sports practices this technique.
It has been proven to enhance performance better than practice alone.

This technique can easily be applied to business. For example, prior to any presentation or meeting where you must speak, present or “perform.” You can also visualise yourself being incredibly productive and effective in your office. Or, having a discussion with your spouse calmly and rationally.

Elements to think about during visualisation:

• what does the room look like?
• what do the people in the room look like?
• what is their mood? how do they receive me?
• what image do I project?
• how do I look?
• how do I behave? what is my attitude?
• what is the outcome?

So set your goals, write them down and use techniques to ensure you achieve your goals faster than you believed.

However, what most people do not realise is that the power of goal setting lies in writing goals down. Committing goals to paper and reviewing them regularly gives you a 95% higher chance of achieving your desired outcomes. Studies have shown that only three to five percent of people in the world have written goals – the same three to five percent who have achieve success in business and earn considerable wealth.

These studies have also found that by retirement, only four per cent of people in the world will have enough accumulated wealth to maintain their income level, and quality of life. As a business owner, it is essential that you develop a plan for your retirement. It is equally essential that you develop a plan for your success.

This blog focuses on the power of goal setting as part of your business success. In a further blog we will look at how to set SMART goals that are rooted in your own personal value system, and supporting techniques to achieve your goals faster.

What are Goals?

Goals are clear targets that are attached to a specific time frame and action plan; they focus your efforts, and drive your motivation in a clear direction. Goals are different from dreams in that they outline a plan of action, while dreams are a conceptual vision of your wish or desired outcome.

Goals require work; work on yourself, work for your business, and work for others. You cannot achieve a goal – no matter how badly you want it – without being prepared to make a considerable effort. If you are readyto invest your time and energy, goals will help you to:

• Realize a dream or wish for your personal or business life
• Make a change in your life – add positive, or remove negative
• Improve your skills and performance ability
• Start or change a habit – positive or negative

Why Set Goals?

As we’ve already reviewed, setting goals and committing them to paper is the most effective way to cultivate success. The most important reason to set a goal is to attach a clear action plan to a desired outcome.

Goals help focus our time and energy on one (or several) key outcome at a time. Many business owners have hundreds of ideas whirring around in their heads at any one time, on top of daily responsibilities. By writing down and focusing on a few ideas at a time, you can prioritise and concentrate your efforts, avoid being stretched too thin, and produce greater results.

Since goals attach action to outcomes, goals can help to break down big dreams into manageable (and achievable) sections. Creating a multi-goal strategy will put a road map in place to help you get to your desired outcome. If your goal is to start a new business and make six figures a year, there are a number of  steps to achieve before you achieve your end result.

Success doesn’t happen by itself. It is the result of consistent and committed action by an individual who is driven to achieve something.
Success means something different for everyone, so creating goals is a personal endeavor. Goals can be large and small, personal and public, financial and spiritual. It is not the size of the goal that matters; what matters is that you write the goal down and commit to making the effort required to achieve it.

What happens when I achieve a goal?

You should congratulate yourself and your team, of course! By rewarding yourself and your team after every achievement, you not only train your mind to associate hard work with reward, but develop loyalty among your employees.

You should also ask yourself if your achievement can be taken to the next level, or if your goal can be stretched by building on the effort you have already made. Consistently setting new and higher targets will lay the framework for constant improvement and personal and professional growth.

Some of you may well have come across this concept in the famous business book the Emyth by Michale E. Gerber. In principal it is almost like treating your business as a franchise model.

It is important to create an entire turnkey system for your business, by identifying the opportunities where you can systemise your processes, and then implement them. Cement them into your daily routine so they produce measurable results for years to come.

And don’t just cement in one or two items… but apply this to virtually everything you do. Most business owners have some things they do well but they lack the systems to ensure that they produce consistent and optimal results from it.

Here are the ways to organize your business that will allow you to systematically implement this “science” within your business.

There are 3 Critical Distinctions you should be aware of:

1. The key to systemisation is implementation.
2. Systemising your successful processes first is the best way to begin the implementation process.
3. The results from this process can be staggering if you follow all the steps.

Here’s a quick overview of the steps:

Step # 1 – “Inventory What Works Well”

This involves taking an inventory of everything that is working well in your business – marketing campaigns, sales processes, lead generation techniques, up-sells, referrals, collections, stock management and so on. Then evaluate the potential opportunities for:

• Process Improvement
• Systemisation - where currently you are not doing things consistently but instead, doing them “most of the time”… or where every person does it his or her own way vs. modeling the best person.

Step #2 – Document Your “Best Practices”

This involves documenting the “best practices” that are supposed to be followed as they exist today. 
This requires breaking down the process involved in each task. Then determining who is doing it best. Then evaluating whether this “best practice” procedure is being followed consistently, if at all.

The goal is to create written procedures documenting your best methods.

Step #3 – “One-Up” Everything You’re Already Doing Well

Once you have identified your current best practices, even if they were never developed to be best practices, it’s time to identify incremental ways to improve them.  Remember that just a 2% increase in 10 areas = 20% improvement.  This process involves evaluating each step of the procedure and then brainstorming how to do each one better - i.e., change a headline… modify a script… change the timing of an offer… change the order of the process. Once you have developed ways to improve various procedures, you will then test each one and optimize.

Step #4 - “Cement in the Success Factors”

This final step involves setting up measurements and reporting that has built in automatic “alarms” that ensure you never have a big drop off in success.

The critical first step in developing any measurement system is to determine your “baseline.” That is, what are you producing now… i.e. 21% up-sell success, 5:1 leads to appointments, 7 deliveries per hour, 85% customer satisfaction, etc.

Once you know your baseline and can measure the change, you not only ensure the “alarms” go off every time you go off track but you also can effectively test improvements in order to optimise the results for every important element of your business.

By systematically implementing these four steps, you will transform your business and develop a success model for everything you implement in the future.

What To Do With Your Results

The first thing to do is see what’s not working. If an ad is getting a very low response (which means the profit margin from the sales is not at least paying for the ad), kill it.

Of course, you need to consider the lifetime value of your customer as well. If, after taking all factors into account and you’re not getting results, bite the bullet and stop running the ad. Every time you run this sort of ad, you’re literally giving away money. Now you have two options… channel your marketing funds elsewhere (like back into your pocket) or improve the ad.

If you choose option two, there are a couple of things you can do to make the task simpler. First, go back over your past ads and think about how well each one worked. Pull out the best two or three and see if you can pick out what gave them their edge. Next, read a couple of books on marketing, or at least browse through them. Finally, look at what your competitors are doing. Do they have an ad which they run every week? Unless they’re stupid, this ad must be doing ok. So what’s different about it when compared to yours? What ideas can you steal from it?

After all of this, write a new ad. Don’t do anything with it yet – we’ll get to that in a minute.

Go through this process with each marketing piece that doesn’t seem to be working (letters, Yellow Pages, referral systems, flyers and so on).

Kill, examine, modify. Kill, examine, modify.

Once you have a collection of these revised pieces, just hold onto them. There’s something more important you need to deal with first… the strategies that are working. Run through each of the working strategies in depth. Examine why they’re producing results and the others aren’t. See if you can pick out the one important attractive point about each. This in itself will teach you a massive amount about your business.

Next, think of a way to do each strategy on a larger scale. If it’s flyers, the answer is simple… drop twice as many flyers. That should bring twice the sales. If it’s an ad, run it in more papers, or increase its size. If it’s Yellow Pages, book a bigger space next time.

But whatever you do, don’t meddle. Just do the same thing on a larger scale. After that, test and measure for another 2 weeks. Notice if the number of enquiries remains the same or goes down. Also compare this with how much you’re spending on marketing.

You’ll probably find that you barely miss those dud strategies and the ‘larger scale’ working strategies are paying off nicely. If it’s not, return to the original size.

Conversion is the number of enquiries that become sales. You may find you get one in ten, 99 out of a hundred or anything in between.

Leave it for a month or so… just work on converting the supply of leads you have. A better conversion technique, plus more leads from a bigger scale of your successful marketing strategies should give your business a boost. The lack of dead money being poured into ads that don’t work should also give you a helping hand.

After running through this process, it’s time to pull your revised ‘dud’ strategies’ out of the drawer, and give them a run. Do one at a time, and track the results meticulously. Note exactly how many leads it brings you and how many of those turn into actual sales. Compare that with the marketing cost, and judge whether it’s been a good strategy.

If so, add it to your list of ongoing strategies. If not, don’t give up hope. Try it again… testing a different headline, medium, offer, look, etc. Change a meaningful part of it and measure the results.

If it doesn’t work again, give it one more try. If you get the feeling NOTHING is going to work, abandon the idea (it’s probably the wrong approach altogether) and concentrate your efforts somewhere else.

Very soon, you’ll develop a collection of marketing strategies that work, and weed out all the costly ones.

Now that’s a business success formula, and the real benefit of testing and measuring.

Once you know these things, you have the power to make decisions, and good ones. You know which marketing campaigns to kill, or improve, and which to spend more money on.

You’ll also know where your ‘key leverage point is.’ That is, the thing that you most need to improve. Perhaps your conversion rate is high but your leads are few. Maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe you’re doing well in both lead generation and conversion, but you’re not selling enough high priced items.

Once you know which area needs work, you can start to make some new, well-informed marketing decisions.

The 3 Most Important Things About Testing & Measuring

1. Testing and measuring is nothing new. You’ve probably been doing it all your business life. Remember the magazine ad you tried that ‘didn’t work,’ and the direct marketing campaign that ‘did OK?’

That’s all testing is. It’s about finding out what produces results and what doesn’t, then making decisions based on that.

2. You MUST start asking people where they heard about you. If you don’t, you’ll be in the dark forever. You may keep running an ad that never brings a sale, and accidentally kills a  good one. Customers usually come from so many sources, it’s impossible to judge how an ad is working based on sales alone. Perhaps you received more referrals that week, or there was an event in town.

Every time someone buys, ask them this question… ‘By the way, can I just ask where you heard about my business?’ No-one, and I mean no-one will have any problem telling you.

3. Be vigilant and disciplined. You can’t test & measure half the time. You must do it every hour of every day. It’s not difficult… just remember to create a record after every customer interaction. And make sure your employees do the same. Stress the importance of it and absolutely DEMAND that they do. Also, tell them it’s essential that they’re honest.

Focusing on the 20% will always bring you a greater impact, and it’s also much more cost effective. If you’re spending £500/month on advertising, you’re using a “shotgun” approach to a broad market, 99.9% of whom will never buy what you have to offer. What if you could take that same £500/month and target the top 100 prospects in your area or niche?

You have to have your business go through the following progression in the minds of your market’s best potential buyers:

I’ve never heard of that business  =>  I think I’ve heard of that business  =>  Oh yes, I’ve heard of that business  =>  I want to know more about that business  =>   I like that business!  =>  That’s the business that I work with  =>  You have got to check out this business!

This is what Malcolm Gladwell talks about in The Tipping Point—bringing your business to the place where it’s the talk of the community and your popularity is unstoppable.

Your top 100 prospects might be only 25 people or it might be 250, but it’s always cheaper to go after the best and most influential buyers rather than all the buyers.

Your target group will now hear from you once a month—at a minimum. Most of the people on the list will probably throw your letter away the first 4 or 5 times they get it, but remember that you’re committed to building a reputation, not simply getting clients. Building a reputation is a strategic objective, not a tactical one. If you want to build one on purpose, this means that you must be targeting the people who will help you accomplish this faster. And who are they? The Best Buyers.

You’re going to get something out to these people every month, even if it’s only a letter or flyer. It won’t cost you a lot of money. Just the price of a stamp and an envelope (and maybe an attention grabber), but it will be very effective.

The first thing to do is send them a letter introducing yourself and offer them something free. Then you’re going to continue to contact them every month and you use that opportunity, not just to sell, but to show that you’re the industry authority. That means you use education-based marketing—telling them what’s happening in your industry, what to look for, what to avoid … and why you’re the most logical choice when they decide to buy.

Consider that one of the top 100 just might become your customer for life… and how that would change everything for you. Keep up the mailing campaign and you may land several new customers over the year. The key is always repetition.

What do you say? Do you talk about how long you have been in business,the history of the business, how many people work there? As Andy Bounds would say,  do you throw a lot of irrelevant jelly at someone hoping something useful will stick?

It is time to focus on the people you are talking to and the people they know!

What are their pains and aspirations?

What kind of results are they looking for in their businesses?

What do you do to provide solutions, benefits and results?

If you feel you may be talking too much about you, without really making it relevant to the people you are talking to, then why not try the template here for a 30 seconds introduction. If you are really tight on time, there is a 10 second version at the bottom too.

Try them, adapt them, try something new, but start talking to your contacts and prospects in a way that really means soemthing to them!

30 Second Elevator Pitch Template…

Do you know how… (list 2 to 3 negative emotions – frustrated, furious, overwhelmed, clueless, demanding, frightened, desperate, struggling, angry, concerned, worried)

(ideal client description – dog lovers, young adults, chronic pain sufferers, overweight men, homeowners, business owners, brides-to-be, new mothers) are

(what their hot button is - looking for a repair shop that is honest and fair, searching for a doctor who will spend more than 2 minutes with them, looking for long-lasting and possibly permanent pain relief, looking to buy that perfect “X”)

but they (list 2 – 3 major frustrations – have no clue if the price is fair, have no idea what they need, don’t know who to trust, have no way to know if they are being lied to or possibly ripped off).

What I do is… (action verb – help, guide, teach, review, provide, consult with, present) them with a

(overview of solution – tested and proven method, quick and pain-free solution, revolutionary new procedure) that

(solution to hot button – immediately attracts more client, instantly relieves their pain, puts them in touch with the help they need) so they can

(list 3 benefits to them - live a pain free life, build the business of their dreams, finally give the perfect gift, find a contractor that won’t rip them off).

Or if you only have 10 seconds to get your message across, try this format……

10 Second Elevator Pitch Template…

(I / We) (action verb – help, guide, teach, review, provide, consult with, present, aid, assist, support, grant, give, award, evaluate, assess)

(negative emotions being experienced – frustrated, furious, overwhelmed, clueless, demanding, frightened, desperate, struggling, angry, concerned, worried)

(ideal client description – dog lovers, young adults, chronic pain sufferers, overweight men, homeowners, business owners, brides-to-be, new mothers)

who want to (what they want – increase their profits, find an honest plumber, purchase that perfect diamond, find the relief they need, find the best deal)

(solution – discover a process, learn a fast and easy way, create the perfect solution, uncover the best method, determine the number one reason, realise the best course of action, find the dramatic solution, locate the best deal, position themselves, place themselves first, find out everything they need to know)

to / so that they can (list 3 benefits – live a pain free life, build the business of their dreams, finally give the perfect gift, feel they’re getting the most value for the money they pay, pay the lowest price, receive the highest value, obtain the best guarantee, receive award-winning service, receive the highest level of expertise at the lowest possible price).

Lead generation involves the finding of prospects and convincing them to provide you with their name and other data. Done properly, it identifies your highest quality leads and locates where they can be found. When you know the proper strategies and tactics required to get them to respond, your revenues, sales and profits will soar.

First, you MUST know and understand what marketing is really supposed to do:

• Grab the reader’s attention
• Facilitate their information gathering & decision making process
• Provide a specific, low risk, easy to take action that helps them make a good decision

All marketing must grab the prospect’s attention. If it doesn’t, it’s worthless… they’ll never read, watch or listen to the rest of the ad. That means you have to have a great headline if the ad is in print. If it’s on the radio, it’s the first thing they hear… if it’s on TV, it’s the first thing they see and hear.
When you’re communicating with your prospects, the “headline” soto speak is your bold claim.

Second, every prospect… no matter who they are or what they’re buying, is always looking for the best deal. That doesn’t mean lowest price… it means the most value for the price. They will pay a higher price for increased value. In order to know if something is the best deal, they must have decision making information.

Your marketing MUST help the customer gather information that aids them in their decision making process. That’s why the target customer profile and their thought process are so important. Without these fundamentals in place, you won’t know the right information to provide them.

And third, your marketing must contain a low, or no risk offer to further facilitate their decision making process.
You have to give them a compelling…yet safe way to take the next step. That next step may be to buy what you sell if you sell a lower priced product or service. If you sell expensive
items, that next step may be to simply request additional information.

These three principles must always be present if your marketing is going to be effective.

One of the best ways to generate leads is to make a bold promise of results that can be achieved in a very limited time frame. This instantly captures the attention of your target prospects. A bold promise compels them to want to know more about what you sell.

Perhaps offer them an assessment of their current situation or problem, along with the claim you can provide a solution to that situation or problem within a limited time frame. This could also be accomplished using a tele-seminar, a webinar or a free report. Here’s the basic process you want to follow:

Step 1, communicate to them your “bold claim.”

• Identify a way that will allow you to demonstrate your value
• Show you can help the prospect in X minutes (or at least convince them you can)
• If done correctly, you can convince them to give you additional time
• At the very least, use this limited time demonstration to obtain a second appointment

The basic premise of your demonstration is to convince them in XX minutes that there are four things they can do immediately that will produce Y results.

Step 2, create a compelling script that builds interest in your offer by promising them there’s a solution to their problem or situation.

(The bold claim in step 1 focuses on their problem… step 2 promises them a solution).

Consider this potential voice mail script…

If you’re considering jumping back into the stock market because you’re fed up with the low interest being paid on CD and other financial instruments, then
there are 3 things you MUST know to keep you from losing your shirt. When it comes to high return investing, Guaranteed Return Stock Trading is the best method you can use. It’s making fortunes for those who are currently using it. It’s simple to learn and easy to apply, and I can show you the exact process in just 18 minutes. During that short time frame,
I’ll teach you three trading secrets used by the pros that you can use to immediately increase your net worth by at least 25%.

• Notice above that your promise MUST be specific
• You MUST deliver on your promise within the allotted time frame
• You MUST stop at the time you said you would or risk losing your credibility

Step 3, you want to come up with 3 or 4 questions capable of providing you with the information you need to provide your prospect’s with the value you’re promising

(create a short form assessment questionnaire)

Show them how you CAN deliver X results… or how you COULD have delivered X results based on historical data

Step 4, overcome any objections. (Most prospects are initially sceptical of bold claims, and rightfully so. The limited timeframe you’re promising is designed to convince them to give you the chance to prove yourself).

Develop a script that says something like this…

“Listen, I know this may sound too good to be true, especially since everyone today is telling you they can help you achieve remarkable results, and then of course, none of them ever
do. I want to assure you the results I will help you achieve in that short time frame are real and substantial, and I can produce these results in just 18 short minutes. Here’s how I’m going to do that. We’ve developed 3 fundamental trading strategies that every investor should be using for every trade they make… but not one of them do.

As we’ve worked with hundreds of stock and day traders, our experience has been that less than 5% know anything about these strategies. By simply implementing them on your next trade, they increase the average trade value by at least X%. I can get you these exact same results in just 18 minutes, and I only need to ask you 3 simple questions.”

Step 5, you MUST stop at time frame you set

If you promise to deliver specific results in 18 minutes, you MUST be able to do exactly that. You can bet your prospect will be timing you to see if you keep your word to them. After all, they have granted you this time because of that limited time promise you made to them. You might say something like this…

“Well, I’ve just noticed we’re at the 18 minute mark. When we started, I promised you I wouldn’t take up any more of your time. Unfortunately, I was just getting to
an additional strategy that I felt would add an additional XX% of profit to your daily trades. May I continue for an additional minute or two?”

Or

OK… we’re at the end of the 18 minutes I promised you. If you recall, my objective was to deliver 3 strategies we use to help stock traders make more money… and that those 3
strategies would help you increase your daily results by XX amount. Do you now see how you can easily attain these amazing results?

If yes… great, so now you have two choices. I can continue on while your situation is fresh in my mind and I can show you the entire program so you have all the information you need to make an informed decision… or we can schedule a second meeting and go over everything then. If I continue now, I only need an additional X minutes, but I want to make sure I have your permission first.

If they say they don’t have time… set up a specific follow-up meeting or whatever specific action would be appropriate as the next step (send them a report, attend a webinar, etc).

If they agree to a follow-up meeting, be sure you send them an email or direct mail letter and outline your discussion with them… highlighting the results you uncovered for them and
reinforce the major benefits they will receive from what you’re selling.

Say something like…

“Hi (fname), it was certainly my pleasure speaking with you today. I’m looking forward to our meeting next Monday where I can show you how to
achieve even greater results than what we uncovered in our 18 minute meeting.

During that meeting, we discovered that you weren’t following the 3 strategies I outlined and explained to you, and as a result, you were losing on average $XXX dollars per day that you could have been putting into your pocket instead. We also managed to determine that if you immediately implemented our 3 step program, you would see an instant revenue increase of XX% every month through your trading account.
And we did all of that in only 18 minutes. Do you realize that we’re just getting started? Wait until you see the results I can help you get after our next meeting.”

It’s also a great idea to send them an additional email the day of the actual meeting to again reinforce the benefits and keep their interest level high.

Remember, your job is to provide every prospect you meet with or speak to with massive value using a demonstration. I worked with a chiropractor once who said…

“I help massive pain sufferers who have been told by their doctor that they suffer from Fibromyalgia… the most misdiagnosed illness on the planet… to discover if they really do have this dreaded disease by offering them a revolutionary new diagnostic procedure that has a 97.3% accuracy rate in properly diagnosing this horrible condition. Give me 7 minutes of your time and I’ll set your mind at ease and help you get rid of the real pain for good.”

You can also use a similar script as a phone survey. Call prospects toask them about the things they want or need that can improve their situation, solve a problem or better their life… like the Fibromyalgia sufferers

“We’re looking for 10 Fibromyalgia sufferers to participate in a free clinical study that can finally confirm their diagnosis as well as dramatically relieve their pain. May I have your permission to continue?

Have three or four specific questions scripted out that will grab their attention and get them interested in participating with you