Wow! What a great meeting we had this month. In October at our very first meeting, we had about 7 people attend. If you weren’t at the first meeting, let me tell you: It was jam-packed with tons of great marketing and entrepreneurial ideas.
At our November meeting, we moved on up to having about 17 members/guests and the VIBE in the room was intense! So many great ideas shared, I don’t have enough room in this newsletter to touch a fraction of it!
First of all, I’d like to WELCOME and THANK our new Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle Gold Members, Ms. Suzanne Peters and Mr. Joe Mullich.
Want to do business with Suzanne or Joe? Please email Craig at Craig@GlendalePasadenaGKIC.com for their contact info.
Now on to the nuts and bolts of what happened at our meeting…
We started out with our Certified No B.S. Business Advisor, Ramon Vela, sharing his recent experience at the Glazer-Kennedy Information Marketing Summit. He shared three vital insights that can help you get your specialized knowledge into lots of different formats.
Here are three ideas that Ramon shared with us:
1. Niche your business; Create a niche within a niche (Microtarget); The broader you are the cheaper your price. You have to ask yourself, where can I win?
2. Don’t be cheap: Be willing to spend to acquire customers. Remember and calculate the “lifetime value of a customer”.
3. Trend: Add coaching to your business and importantly add “Done for You” type services to your niche market(s). People will buy packages and coaching (events are getting harder to sell, however the trend is that people want things done for them.
After a little Q&A about the Summit, we moved into talking about “Five Big Ideas” I found within the November issue of Dan’s “No B.S. Marketing Letter”
Being that it is the holiday season, Dan had a slant in the first part of the newsletter on BEING GRATEFUL. Here are big ideas we discussed:
* Be grateful for all you have. Sometimes its easy to say, “Woe is me” instead of, “Whoa! Look at all I have in my life.” Being grateful means, too, saying “Thank You” to everyone who helps you succeed. Dan had referred to Dr. Edward Kramer who ‘invented’ the Thank-U-Gram–. Every day, Dr. Kramer would make it a point to send out at least ten thank you notes to people who had earned it. How do you say “thank you” to your customers?
* Be grateful that your competitors are “stupid and sloppy”. Dan says that most businesses have no clue what’s happening in their business. They run expensive marketing campaigns and then don’t educate their staff on how to deal with people who inquire about it. You can be one step ahead by just doing “one thing better” than your competitors. Of course, by using Dan’s incredible marketing methods, you’ll be 10x’s better than your competitors!
* Pay attention to details! In the newsletter, Dan included a flyer that said, “Find the Fatal Flaw” on a postcard example. I don’t know if there’s still time to send in that flyer, but I’ll give you a hint: You need to have your name and phone number on everything you send out. The example given had a great marketing message… with NO CONTACT INFO ON IT! Be very careful when you spend your time, money, and effort on anything. Details! Details! What will you do differently to make sure you pay better attention to the details?
* Give thanks to the Calendar. Dan says to EXPLOIT the calendar. It give so many “on a silver platter” themes and “excuses” to make offers to your customers/clients. We discussed typing “Strange Holidays” or something like it into Google to get a list you can use. Remember this though, you don’t need an excuse to make an offer to your list. It just makes it a little more fun and memorable. How will you take advantage of the calendar?
And finally, the last Big Idea we discussed:
* Use GUARANTEES in your business. Guarantees are powerful, but so few use them. Sadly, even when some use them, they are boring, uncompelling, and don’t really help you set yourself apart from anyone else. If you don’t think you can use a guarantee in your business, think again! If you’re in a regulated industry that prohibits you from guaranteeing results, find something else YOU CAN GUARANTEE… something compelling and something that solves a common problem in your industry… like guaranteeing a return phone call within 24 hours; guaranteeing a waiting time in your medical office no longer than 10 minutes; or, guaranteeing your work will be done by ‘such and such a date’, or else it’s free!. There are many opportunities to take advantage of this awesome strategy. How are you or how will you use guarantees in your business to reduce the risk for your customers?
Once we were done with the FIVE BIG IDEAS, and wiped the sweat from our brow (there so many great ideas and concepts flowing, we were tired!). But, yet, there was one more exciting part of our meeting that everyone was waiting for: THE HOTSEAT
GKIC Gold Member Steve DePiro of “1 on 1 Follow Up” shared some private information about his business—including his TOP marketing challenge.
Steve’s business solves a Car Dealerships problem trying to get a previous customer back into the dealership by providing a solid FOLLOW UP SYSTEM that maintains a relationship with the customer over a 3 year period, while still making offers to keep them coming in each month.
Truckloads of ideas flowed throughout the room from members — including: Using testimonials more effectively and providing MORE proof, crafting more compelling offers, finding ways to speak to the REAL DECISION MAKER, designing his product for other niche markets, and, so much more!
Steve appeared extremely grateful to be able to share his challenge with fellow members AND reap so many valuable ideas to take with him.
Our next meeting is on December 18th at 6:30pm at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel on Los Robles & Cordova Avenues in Pasadena. Be sure to RSVP to Cynthia@GlendalePasadenaGKIC.com.
If you have friends or associates who own a business, are professional sales people, executives, or entrepreneurial thinkers, PLEASE INVITE THEM as your guest.
We are looking for a marketing intern or volunteer to help with some basic ‘before’ and ‘during’ the meeting tasks. If you know anyone who would like to help—and learn some valuable skills in the process, please email Ramon Vela at RVela@GlendalePasadenaGKIC.
Happy Holidays! And,
HAVE A SUPER-PROFITABLE MONTH!
P.S. Be sure to RSVP at www.GlendalePasadenaGKIC.com if you’d like to attend the 12/18 meeting!
