Are You Building a Successful Tax Practice?

Tax Work is a Blessing...

... and a Curse.

Everybody needs to file and pay their taxes.

Sure, lots of folks do it themselves with Turbo Tax.

Others, without time, or wishing to avoid the mind-numbing exercise of filing their taxes, or afraid to make a mistake...

Hire you...

To put the right numbers in the right boxes on the right forms.

Now... you can simply put the numbers in the right boxes on the right forms for your clients...

Or...

You can give your clients and edge and help them beat the IRS--- legally, morally, and ethically.

Offering Tax Planning positions you and your business to make lots more money preparing tax returns.

When you're the Tax Planning Expert, you break away from the brutal Tax Season, caffeine-fueled, 90-100 hour a week grind.

You ATTRACT satisfied clients who are happy to pay your fees based upon the VALUE you deliver... clients happy to refer friends and family to you.

Find out how TaxCoach works for your clients...

Find out how TaxCoach works for you...

What Are You Chasing?

Are You Chasing Income... or Building Wealth?

You see it all the time.

Folks chasing income.

Chasing income hard.

Shouting at you.

Interrupting you.

Calling you "friend", yet willing to "sell" you without knowing anything about you.

Yeah... of course it pisses you off!

To me, it's sad and "immature" and flat-out stupid.

Here's why:

To me, yeah income is important. It pays the bills. It buys me nice stuff. It allows me to play. Hey, I like nice stuff. I like to play as much as the next guy.

But...

Chasing income alone seems like I'm cheating myself... and no doubt pissing off lots of prospects and the potential to build long-term relationships with like-minded friends.

Dan Kennedy encourages you to "Think Equity, Not Income" in his "NO B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs":

"This is big.
Most entrepreneurs wake up every morning thinking about how they can make more sales, get more customers, and increase their incomes. These thoughts are ricocheting around in their heads even as they stumble toward the bathroom or coffeemaker. And most entrepreneurs devote enormous thought, time, and energy to these same issues all day long, all month long, all year long. At the end of each day, they try to assess how the day turned out in terms of income. But very few entrepreneurs give the same thought, time, and energy to increasing "value" and "equity".

Income is temporary and perishable. Value and equity can be built to last. Right now, your daily thoughts, your daily measurements are probably weighted 80%,90%, even 100% to increasing income, and only 20%,10%, or 0% to increasing value and equity. The right balance is 50%/50%.

How can you possibly manage and measure increases in equity daily, like you can income? Actually, there are a number of ways. One of the best is what I call "Future Banking".

... Here is a simplified summary. First, income is income and does not necessarily convert to wealth. In fact income is usually spent. Income increases do not translate to wealth either. Wealth is wealth. It comes from value and equity. Second, there is Present Banking and Future Banking. The really astute entrepreneur works on both simultaneously, not sequentially. He thinks about value, not just income.

... To the degree that the Future Bank value of whatever you do today matches or exceeds the Present Bank value, you set in motion wealth creation forces that will soon deliver a massive harvest. Further, when you see your Future Bank balance building exponentially, your sense of being wealthy grows, and that sense or (mental) state of being wealthy attracts more wealth. A big,accurately, and legitimately calculated Future Bank balance has all the same positive effects as does or would an equally large Present Bank balance. You think differently, feel differently, speak differently, act differently, and are perceived more favorably by others when you are wealthy, secure, and independent than when you are not. Your Future Bank balance can give this to you faster."

You're here today reading this... figuring out how to market your business...trying to get a handle of using the Internet to help you market your Financial Services Practice

The Internet is only one piece of your business-building... your wealth-building strategy.

And yes, to build wealth requires a "Strategic Mindset" rather than a "Tactics Mentality".

CHOOSE TO BE DIFFERENT!

Chasing Your Dream?

From 12 years old... to about to turn 77...

Golfers all over the world dream of a spot in The US Open...

Check out the latest US Open news


What dream are YOU chasing Today?

How DO You Serve Your Ideal Clients?

Napoleon Hill was an amazing author.

I'm a huge fan of his work; everyone should own
a copy of 'Think and Grow Rich'.

Last week, I found myself once again, re-reading "Think and Grow Rich".

I always get a new insight every time I read this book.

So, this time I'm thinking...

"Think and Grow Rich", the book
which was originally written in 1937...

... Napoleon Hill passed away in 1970...

... Napoleon Hill passed away almost 27 years ago and he's
changing my life right now. Today. April 23, 2007.

Incredible.

Put on your Nikes and let's run over here.

Let's talk about J.K. Rowling.

Do you know who she is?

She's that divorced, single mom...

... who authored the Harry Potter books.

Do you think in 100 years from today, that young kids and
adults will still be reading Harry Potter?

I do.

"Walt, this is interesting, what's your point here?"

Napoleon Hill and J.K. Rowling have built a LIFE MONUMENT.

They've built something that will SERVE OTHERS (inspire,
entertain) for decades, centuries.

Their life has been one of SERVICE and with service comes
riches and fulfillment.

What will be your LIFE MONUMENT?

What will you CONTRIBUTE to the world?

How can you serve the world and leave it a better place
than when you were born?

GREATNESS is about service.

The greats throughout the ages were the greatest
servants. They were the greatest problem solvers.

They solved problems for thousands, millions.

The world rarely remembers self centered individuals.

Tap into your magnificent obsession. Something you enjoy
doing.

Get out of yourself and start planting your magnificent
obsession into others' lives.

Ask yourself:

How DO I serve?

Through service comes success.

When you look back at your life, what will be your LIFE
MONUMENT?

Perhaps you're not writing books...

But your services do change people's lives.

How they live...

How they feel about their money… how they handle their money.

Think about it.

Attracting Your Ideal Client...More Than Meets the Eye

In any relationship between two people, there is a third invisible force in the mix. It's called Law of Attraction. This universal law works tirelessly 24/7. It brings together thoughts, people, things, and events that match each other.

It is like a cosmic lead generation service that knows everyone, knows what they want and desire, knows where they are, and knows how to get them together. It costs nothing and it is available to everyone. It is perpetual and eternal and it requires no effort from you.

Now this sounds a bit "out there" if you're one of those practical, concrete, "I believe only if I see it" types...

But The Law of Attraction works!

And...wouldn't you like to have this force on your side?

That's exactly what you're doing when you choose to systematically change the way you think about your business.

You are harnessing the power of Law of Attraction for the purpose of fulfilling your true desire for your business.

You choose to ATTRACT the exact clients you desire.

Take a Good Look at Yourself

Can you handle the truth of what's holding you back in building your practice?

Or, is it easier just to work like a dog and avoid it?

Maybe, just maybe, the answer to ATTRACTING all the clients you want is right inside you...



Authentic Marketing (and Success) Require You to Look Within

Let’s face it: being self-employed, our businesses are fundamentally a reflection of every part of us. It’s not like working for a corporation where you don’t really control the outcome of the business unless you’re at the top. Who you and I “are” as people literally affects our businesses, every day, every minute, every second, with every breath.

Knowing that the “inner” is directly reflected in the “outer,” it’s especially so for those working solo. If there’s turmoil or disconnection within you as a person, it will be reflected in your business. If there’s purpose, acceptance, and alignment, things come to you without struggle.

For me personally, this past year has been a year of reflection and re-gearing for the next level of my business, almost an incubation phase. I’ve come to the realization that I needed to stop listening to so many OTHER people’s opinions of the next journey for my business and needed to look inside. And that included seeing what’s authentic, what my purpose is, and what I’m here to do with my clients. It’s been about healing the past GUNK that’s often stopped me and about strengthening WHO I am as a person, to then best fulfill what I’m here to do (and create an even more delicious business doing it).

Years ago, I thought that attracting clients was 100% about fancy marketing. I was wrong. The longer I am in business and the longer I work on my own spiritual and personal growth, the more I’ve gotten clear that attracting clients and having the business of your dreams is actually more a 3-slice pie. Sure, Marketing is one of those slices, and a very important one (hey, you’ve got to take ACTION to attract clients. No excuses).

But, the other two slices of the pie are not always talked about openly. Honestly, I haven’t always talked about them in public either, for fear of sounding a little too “Woo Woo”, if you know what I mean. Most times I would just hint at them, hoping people would read between the lines and get the point. However, I’d be cheating you if I didn’t tell you more about those two other slices to Client Attraction success, because they’re so important.

If marketing is one slice of the pie, Manifesting is another. And by manifesting, I mean the Law of Attraction, what you focus on with great feeling, you attract into your existence. At its most basic, here’s how it can be described: If you’re continually focusing on having a full practice of yummy clients who pay you what you’re worth, then you will start to attract that. If you’re focusing rather on the LACK of clients and you’re ticked off that people aren’t paying you what you’re worth, then you will attract that also (meaning, not having those clients or not making enough money). Simple, yet very powerful.

But, the other slice of the pie that rarely gets airtime is the Personal Growth slice: Clearing out the cobwebs. I’m talking about not worrying what people think as much and being willing to look within to either heal or change the things about you that stop you from being the successful person you were meant to be. It’s about being authentic and taking a really hard look at all the baggage and the unfounded fears you’ve carried around since childhood (trust me, I have them too) and doing something about it.

So, what are we searching for when we go within?

Fears, limiting beliefs, negative emotions, and other unresolved stuff like shame and resentments. The reason it’s so important to look within is that if that stuff is still lingering in your system, you have a more difficult time “manifesting” what you say you want. The fears and other unresolved stuff get in the way of you attracting what you wish for and essentially negate and cancel your wishes. OUCH.

Now, I am not saying you have to run out and see a shrink. That hasn’t been the fastest path to growth for me personally. Rather, it’s about being honest with yourself, really honest, about who you are. And getting to KNOW who you are. Calling out your fears, putting them down on paper. It’s about writing down the things you say to yourself that stop you in your tracks. The more you get clear on this stuff, the more direct your impact on Client Attraction and having the business you really, really want.

It’s about being authentic with yourself, in life, in business, and in your marketing. The more authentic you are in your marketing, the more Client Attractive you become. Whether you call it Spiritual Marketing or Authentic Marketing, it’s super important, because if you don’t do anything about it, you’ll continue to get the same results you’re getting now. Now for some, that’s fine, but I’ll bet that you’re not willing to be living the exact same life 30 years from now, let alone 5 years from now. You probably want an even better situation and you want your wishes granted.

Now, you could choose not to do anything about it and choose not to look inside. That’s what I did for a long time. I was really good at avoidance and denial. But what I’ve found happens if you ignore the “growth” slice is that you keep struggling on some levels, wondering why things you want aren’t coming to you faster. It can all seem to be an uphill battle and it can become really frustrating, making you want to throw in the towel and give up your business.

Well, when I started doing personal growth and becoming more authentic many years ago, the struggle started fading away and EASE started showing up. And the more I look at my long-ingrained fears and work on the other gunk that’s previously slowed the next level of success I’ve imagined, the more that success shows up for me.

It’s a process I continue ruthlessly, and help my clients with as well. Yeah, we talk about SERIOUS marketing, but this stuff too, because it all works. And it certainly pays off, in more ways than one. Sure, lots of clients and money are the payoffs, but you also get freedom, joy, and ease as a byproduct. That’s the real payday, if you ask me.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Begin by making the decision to look within and be honest about what you find. If you resist it, it will persist. Make a list of the fears and limiting beliefs, the old junk you’ve avoided or that keeps coming up and clogging the pipeline to the success you so dearly want. Be willing to take the same no-excuses approach we talk about with Client Attraction Marketing, and apply it to this as well. It takes a little courage at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. I know you can do it and the results will astound you. I promise.

As you’re working on that slice of the pie, don’t forget the Marketing slice. Remember, you’ve got to take ACTION too. And if you’re looking for the blueprint to marketing your business in a way that feels easy and authentic to you, then you’ll want to get yourself the Client Attraction Home Study System™. It includes everything you need to know to fill your practice quickly and close the sale consistently without ever feeling icky; no matter if you’re just starting out or have been in business for years. All the tools, scripts, templates and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. You can get it at www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com. (Why struggle when you can just attract clients easily?)

© 2007 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Expert, is founder of the Client Attraction System™, the proven step-by-step program to help you attract more clients, in record time and consistently. To sign up for her freebie how-to articles and no-charge teleclasses on attracting more clients, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.

What’s your biggest hidden asset in your business?

Most small business owners, most financial services pros, when they really think about this, will answer:

“My customers… my past clients.”

Yet, most small businesses, most financial services pros, fail to leverage this hidden asset.

Why?

They don’t ASK!

ASKING your clients questions… systematically ASKING for testimonials… having a process for ASKING for referrals… positions your business for magical growth, profits, and money in your pocket.

Yet many financial services pros don’t know:

· WHAT to ASK

· WHO to ASK

· WHEN to ASK

· HOW to ASK

OK... Let's start ASKING...

Let's ASK the tough questions…The questions that if you knew the answers would change how you market...

Hey, Let me ASK you a question...

What questions do you want to ASK your clients?

Gary Halbert: Marketing Legend

Gary Halbert... R.I.P.

Thanks Gary...

You are an eternal marketing legend.

(Note: Check out Gary's prophetic YouTube article)

Thanks for sharing your letters at your website. They are the greatest gift to marketing, sales, and copywriting... anywhere.

John Carlton has said it all...

(Damn... Carlton always says it better than all of us)

And Gary, your quote summed it up beautifully:

"A sale is a very fragile thing."  Gary Halbert

So is life, Gary... so is life.

How Aggressive is Your Marketing?

One guy who's taught me tons about marketing is Dan Lok.

Today I share an article Dan recently emailed to me and his fans.

As Bill Cosby once said:

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

If You're Not Pissing Somebody Off, You're Not Marketing Aggressively Enough

One of my mentees just sent me an email.

He told me he felt worried and concerned because he received a complaint from one of his customers. I see this a lot, people getting upset or people who feel worried they will piss someone off if they market aggressively.

You have to understand something.

If you want to succeed, this is an important point you must take to heart.

You Can't Please Everybody!

Not everyone will benefit from what it is you have to offer or say.

Only a small, select group of people will benefit from your products or services. An isolated group of people that will like what you have to say.

So don't panic because you get an isolated complaint, or even two or three complaints.

There will always be some people that won't like you, won't like what you have to say, or won't like your product.

Look at me.

First, there is NOT a day that goes by where I don't get at least two hate emails. I'm being serious here. People hate me. And, you know what? I like it.

It means I am getting readership. If someone complains, at least I know they read my stuff. I am getting attention. That is never a bad thing. That is exactly what you want.

Number two: if you are not getting some sort of response from your marketing or hate emails from people, you are not marketing aggressively enough. If you are not pissing someone off, you are not selling hard enough.

The Key To Direct Response Marketing Is Creating
A Response From Your Target Audience.

You will only get a response if you hit someone emotionally. Sometimes the emotion is negative, and the person won't like what you have to say. That's ok.

Who cares, it doesn't matter.

These people, the negative people, won't buy from you anyway. Receiving negative emails or complaints is just a part of any business.

It doesn't matter if you have the greatest product on earth, you are going to have someone that is unsatisfied. Someone that wants to return the product they bought. It is just part of business. It is completely normal.

So don't try to please everybody, because you are NOT here for everybody you are just here for somebody.

And, if you aren't pissing someone off, then you aren't marketing aggressively enough, I guarantee it. So go ahead, piss someone off. It means you are doing a good job of tapping into people's emotions. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Money Talks, Bullshit Walks!

Dan "The Man" Lok

P.S. I'll probably get another 5 or 10 hate emails because of this article. ;-)

Ready to start "Pissing off some Prospects"?

Grab Dan's FREE CD... The Single Greatest Marketing Secret HERE TODAY

Do You FOCUS...

...on ATTRACTING Your Ideal Client?

Are You ATTRACTING Who YOU WANT to Your Financial Services Practice?

Use the power of FOCUS and ATTRACTION in your business.

Here’s the formula to double triple or even quadruple your profits:

1. Identify your target market and double your profits.

2. Identify your niche market and triple your profits.

3. Identify your most profitable client and quadruple your profits.

Yes it IS possible to double, triple, or even quadruple your profits in less than 90 days.

Think about this:

• How much does your average client spend with you?
• How much does your best client spent with you?
• How much would that client YOU WANT spend with you?

To ATTRACT the clients YOU WANT, you need to do to six things:

1. Identify your most profitable niche market.

2. Develop a marketing message that speaks directly to your most profitable client.

3. Provide those clients the exact information they're looking for in plain, easy- to- understand language.

Next, determine who has access to your client:

4. Identify your most profitable referral industry.

5. Identify your most profitable referral partner.

6. Provide those referral partners with your marketing tools to put in the hands of the clients YOU WANT

How much more money would you make right NOW, if you knew:

• Who is your most profitable client?

• Where they are?

• Who already is communicating with them?

Get FOCUS. ATTRACT!

Are You Keeping it Simple?

Your Marketing Plan, your blueprint for business success, is a simple three step formula-not page-after-page of useless, boring crap:

1. Define Your Ideal Client-dig in and truly understand their problems and desires... and benefits your service or product offer.

2. Identify 5-10 ways to get visibility with Ideal Client prospects and generate new leads.

3. List all the ACTION Steps you must take Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. Assign Specific Deadlines and Outcomes for each step.

Your Marketing Plan boils down to a single page... one clear, concise, tightly-focused page... that serves as a constant reminder of as Lou Holtz stresses...

What's Important Now--- WIN!

Coffee Conversations with Your Ideal Clients

Wanna know what makes your very best clients tick?

Imagine positioning yourself to attract more of your most profitable clients...

Here's a step-by-step "Top-of-the Table" strategy...

First of all... roll up your sleeves.Take some time. Dig in.

Look long and hard to find your most profitable clients in your business.

Analyze how they are alike: demographics, socio-graphics… and their psycho-graphics.

(Looking for a tool to profile and determine your Ideal Clients? Email me for a no-obligation initial consultation for your financial services practice… walt@make-your-marketing-work.com with “Ideal Client” in your subject line.)

Once you’ve done the work and you've identified who your Ideal Clients are, pick up the phone, call, and get together with them. You want to pick the brains of those clients that you identified as "Ideal" and affluent.

Invite them to coffee or lunch individually or as a small group. Explain your straight-forward request to pick their brains about your business and your marketing. Conduct a small focus group interview. You'll get valuable information, and as a bonus, more than likely receive a couple referrals, or additional investments or requests for insurance coverages that they'd like you to do for them. Most people regardless of their stature are flattered and pleased when asked for their opinions and advice and don't mind being asked to help.

Here's your sample script:

"You are my Ideal Client and frankly you're more affluent, more concerned with quality of service than the cheapest price, and are more sophisticated than the majority of my clients. In fact, if I could have 10, 20, 50 more clients just like you, I'd be the happiest guy on Earth. So I want to pick your brains to help me.

I'd like to talk about three key things:

What is it about my business that attracted you, and what was most important to you?

If you were in my shoes and wanted to mount a concerted effort to find and attract more clients like you, how would you go about it?

What can I do to motivate you to work with me, to endorse me, to help reach out to people in your sphere of influence?"

Here are some additional questions to ask these clients:

When you approached me for guidance and input, what did you expect to occur?

What kinds of issues did you have that I needed to solve for you?

What would you say is my special gift or talent?

What would you say to someone else in describing what to expect from me?

In a word or two, how would you expect to feel following an interaction with me?

What's your sense of how I might be excluding potential client opportunities?

Why might someone not choose to purchase my product or service?

What measures could I take to create more opportunities, and establish a stronger identity and image in your mind?

Picking the brains of your clients will help you learn what you stand for. You'll discover your promise in the marketplace--- not in your words, but in the words of your clients. They'll tell you the difference you make and the value you bring to your chosen client market audience.

Based upon what your clients say about you will lead you to determine the core of your marketing message:

Why should I buy from you as opposed to all my other options...

including doing nothing?

You're in business because you want to provide your unique value to people in how you differ from all people in your field. Without that unarticulated core message, your message in the marketplace---- the reason for your prospects to buy is no good reason other than... because you need the money.

Your core message needs to focus on:

· The client's point of view.

· Real benefits not processes.

· Your specific claims.

· Identify your best clients.

· Sound like you.

· Tell the truth.

· Say something positive.

· Push emotional buttons.

· Make people say : "Wow... how do you do that?"

Take notes and carefully record and pay close attention to the words and phrases that your Ideal Clients use in answer to these questions. You'll want to capture these and play them back in your future marketing messages to attract more of these Ideal Clients to you. Also you'll notice that what they're telling you will match up with what you discovered in your analysis that you conducted in Profile Your Ideal Clients. (Again, for a no-obligation consultation to learn the powerful secret of your greatest hidden asset in your practice, shoot me an email: walt@make-your-marketing-work.com)

Start having Coffee Conversations with your Ideal Clients today. They’ll thank you with great insights about how to tell your marketing story… and you gotta work at NOT getting referrals from them.

Hummmm… why not make it your referral system?

12 Deadly Marketing Mistakes

Mistake #1 – Lack of Marketing Mindset

Confused about what marketing and selling really are, most
financial services pros shiver with disgust on a mere thought of having to promote and market their service.

Regardless of how good you are at what you do if you can’t get enough visibility and not enough people are interested in your products and services, you’ll have a mediocre business at best and always struggle to stay afloat.

You are in business to solve other people’s problems profitably, and marketing helps you “get exposed” to more people and make them “hungry” for your solutions.

Make a commitment to become a life-long student of marketing and continually apply what you learn. Soon your business will soar.

Mistake #2 – Shotgun Approach

Poor strategic planning, lack of a clearly defined target market, niche and ideal client result in confusing marketing messages and costly “hit and miss” promotional tactics that fail to deliver the desired response.

Evaluate who your best clients are and invest time, effort, and money into only those strategies that help you best reach the largest number of prospects who can potentially become your Ideal Clients.

The more precise and targeted your promotions become the more successful and profitable your business will be.

Mistake #3 – Confusing Marketing with Sales

Before you can have a paid client you must have a prospect. And before you have a prospect you must have a lead!

Lack of effective, systematic lead generation strategies and trying to jump from “stranger to client” keeps the business pipeline very dry for most service professionals!

Make lead generation one of the core activities of your business. The bigger you can build the database of qualified prospects the more relaxed you’ll be about the future of your business.

You’ll also become more effective in pursuing only those potential clients who are the best match for you – resulting in creating a more fulfilling business for you and better results for your clients.

Mistake #4 - Under- or Over-Spending

Without knowing the value of each client there is no appropriate marketing budget. Promotional efforts are abandoned all together, or there is too much money wasted on tactics that eat up all potential profits.

Track each client’s spending habits. Over a period of time you’ll be able to determine the value each client represents to your business. This number is critical in your marketing efforts. Without it you never know how much you can really afford to invest in your new client acquisition strategies.

Mistake #5 - Failing to Keep In Touch

A lack of consistent contact causes valuable client relationships to suffer, and results in increased attrition and permanently lost sales.

At times we all forget that people buy when they are ready not when we need to make a sale. Developing ways to keep in touch with prospects and clients generates six-figure windfalls for me every single year.

Often my clients reveal to me that they have been reading my tips for years before ever investing a dime in one of my products.

Start an ezine. Send out a monthly postcard. Write and publish an article a month. Start a blog.Create a FREE MySpace personal community page. Host a monthly teleseminar. Get into podcasting. Whatever your method – find a way to frequently and regularly connect with current, potential, and past clients.

Mistake #6 – Refusing to Brand Yourself as an Expert

A close relative to “shotgun approach.” Being a Jack (or Jane) of all trades confuses your potential clients and diminishes the perceived value of your services and products.

Analyze your strengths and the market you serve. Can you identify a specific service or product that is more popular than others you offer and that you are really good at and passionate about? Can you notice a trend that some clients tend to get better results with you than others?

If so, make a conscious effort to position yourself as an expert who offers only specific solutions to a specific audience and in the upcoming months and years become better than anyone else at doing it.

Most of us prefer do deal with experts. So the time and effort you invest in positioning yourself as one will pay huge dividends; you’ll effectively differentiate yourself from others offering a similar service, and gain a competitive advantage that’s nearly impossible to beat!

Mistake #7 - Engaging In Price Competition

Failure to properly position and differentiate your services from competitors forces financial services professionals to sell their skilled service at too low, "hours-for-dollars" rates.

Often prospects can't tell the difference between one mortgage broker from another, one insurance agent from another, one financial adviser from another… and base their decision on price alone.

Unless you don't mind being treated as a commodity and making only a fraction of the money you really could me making, you should take steps to clearly communicate you HUB (Hot Undeniable Benefits) of doing business with you.

Mistake #8 - "Winging it" Sales Process

Not understanding the proper syntax of an enrollment conversation, most financial services pros practice the "show up and throw up" sales method, which easily "turns off" even the most eager potential clients.

Develop a set of five to ten "must-have-answered" questions that illustrates your expertise and ensures you this prospect is the right type of client for you.

It's important to remember this: While you are engaging in sales conversations about your product or service all the time, your potential clients only do it once in a while and they rely on you to guide them through this process.

Don't disappoint them and rob them of the opportunity to work with you by being lousy at closing the deal!

Mistake #9 - Over-Depending On Referrals

Not knowing the difference between getting referrals and a strategically developed word-of-mouth marketing system many financial services pros can't understand why satisfied clients don't refer them to friends and colleagues - but they don't know how to solve this problem.

Your good clients want to refer you to their friends they often don't know how to do it. Unsure about how aggressive you'll be in pursuing the contacts they give you, they prefer the safer option of not giving it to you at all.

Know when it's best to approach clients about referrals (hint - it's not at the end of your engagements!). Educate them about your follow-up process to make them at ease with your practice. Those two simple tweaks alone will make a huge difference in your "referral-ability".

Mistake #10 - Misusing Technology

Many financial services pros mistakenly assume that the "Internet is a business". They either refuse to get into "that business" all together and miss out on huge marketing possibilities, or try to over-convert their business to be 100% Internet based for their leads. Both are costly mistakes.

Savvy professionals recognize new business development opportunities that the Internet makes possible so they make online marketing an important part of their strategy, but they don't drop everything else.

Employ the power of online marketing to make your business easier to find, and to keep in touch with current and potential clients. But also give your promotions a healthy "multi-dimensional" appeal with offline strategies like postcards and phone calls and watch your business explode.

Mistake #11 - Being a "Lone Ranger" and a "Super Hero"

Lack of delegation skills, not having a support team, and working alone without access to a community of like-minded peers who are committed to our success diminishes the opportunity to creatively brainstorm new ideas, explore new opportunities, or uncover blind-spots.

Admittedly, lack of good delegating skills is my personal biggest vice I continue to work on. It's also what keeps most financial services pros and entrepreneurs from building a more successful business.

I'm finding that better planning, reminding myself of the value of my time, and constantly improving my delegation skills is very helpful.

Also, forming my personal board of advisors (mastermind) and being able to seek their counsel when needed is very powerful tool to keeps me focused and on track to achieve my business goals.

Mistake #12 - Lack of Business and Marketing Systems

Too much creativity negatively impacts profitability. Constantly working on new one-shot strategies and reinventing the wheel results in larger than necessary workload, overwhelm, and diminished profits.

Remember that many of your business growth strategies can become more profitable as you implement them again and again and tweak and perfect them over a period of time.

Bigger payoffs can be generated from focusing on one strategy, optimizing it for best results, and systemizing and automating it than from chasing a half a dozen of ideas that never get fully implemented.

Make it one of your business goals to create systems that can be duplicated, automated, or delegated and free your time to focus on money-making aspects of your business - like improving your marketing and generating more leads.

What's your biggest single "hidden" asset of your business?

You, my friend, are sitting on a fortune in your client herd...

You see, lots of financial services pros focus so much time and effort
on the first sale or the "front-end" sale and spend a
disproportionate amount of time looking for new clients when
the real fortune lies in the "back end" sales or continuing steam of sales.

You've probably spent a lot of money acquiring your
clients. Not only do you miss out on lost revenue when
you ignore them, but you also flush your return on investment
from acquiring your clients right down the tube.

If you have convinced a person to do business with you it
means that they have already given you a vote of confidence. If
you've provided good service and met (or exceeded) their
expectations, it's very likely that they would be willing to give
you a second vote of confidence or third or fourth.  If you're
good you may even get their lifetime vote of confidence.

___________________________________________________________

The Rancher's Care and Feeding of The Herd
___________________________________________________________


You must be able to contact your clients in order to
market to them.

One of the first things you need to "feed your herd"
is to capture your client's contact
information at the point of sale.

This process is done
automatically in some businesses, but in others you must ask
for your client's contact information.

If you have ever purchased an item at Radio Shack you know
that the clerk always asks for your name, address, and phone
number. They don't even give you a reason, they just ask for
it.

They just assume you will give it to them, and you know
what?

98% of Radio Shack customers do give it, without any
question. The process is so automatic that you feel that giving
your contact information is just part of the purchasing
process.

No doubt as a financial services pro, you're getting client contact info...

But make sure you ALWAYS  go one step further:

You MUST be capturing your customer's email address as well.
(assuming they have one).

Capturing your customer's email address is the "holy grail"
of marketing because you can market to your client again
and again at no cost.

If your client is reluctant to give you their email address,
give them a tasty "carrot" such as a free information report,
coupon for discounts at a local restaurant, or
something else of value.

The effort to obtain your client's
email address will be re-paid many times over.

________________________________


Come back again... we'll talk about how you build "on-line
relationships with your clients...