OK, this post is going to allow me to cover a couple of common themes that have been popping up over the past three weeks.
Recently, I have gotten at least seven different emails from seven different Gurus pointing me toward two of the same NEW products.
Both were HUGE NEW discoveries there were going to make me millions. 🙂
Wrong Advice
1. The first one was that long copy sales copy and even copy was dead or did not matter, and that screen shot videos were the only way to go for sales pages.
Well, right off the bat I would have to put that in the Wrong Advice Column. Long copy has been proven time and time again to out-sell short copy by several hundred times and copy always matters no matter what media you use. So, the alarm bells went off on that one, so write that one off.
As far as doing screen shot videos for sales pages as a new thing, well, I put down that technique in detail in my eBook, The Muse Blueprint and The 4 Hour Muse back in 2007. So, nothing really new there at all. I also went over it in detail a few years back at a big event for Internet Marketers in LA.
And to top it off, I also have an updated version of how to do this in my new Book “Start On Monday”. It is supposed to be released this week and I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one.
Late To The Party
2. The other New Discovery was that Brick and Mortar small businesses need help with marketing was a is a huge market. Well Duh, I have been in that market for several years now. All I have to say is, you guys are really kind of late to that party and it is not all that new to anyone that has been paying attention for the last 15 years. 🙂
They are also talking about getting 1st page Google results using Videos… Hmm, Oh, they couldn’t have looked the series of blog posts I did two months ago could they? LOL
Guess what, that is in “Start On Monday” as well. Except you don’t have to pay $2,997 for it. It is only $27. I swear that are charging that much for it. Arghhh..
Seriously, call me up and I will tell you what to do in 20 minutes for $100 and give you a couple of tricks they won’t teach you to boot. Or better yet, just buy the book.
How To Pay For The Right Kind Of Help
I have to be a bit careful here on this one because I work with some of these folks. But if I hear of another PR / Marketing company that won’t put there compensation on the line and guarantee results or claims to be a Social Media expert and only has 1,000 followers on Twitter, my eyes are going to pop out. Or if they don’t use their Blog for SEO and can’t show me how they tie in with the clients marketing and sales, then in my book, you are wasting my clients money.
This is especially goes for Marketing companies. If you won’t take a retainer on a monthly basis (OK, this can range from $500 to $50,000 depending on how the big the job is) and then work off a percentage of sales, you are full of it to put it bluntly.
Seriously think about it. And this especially goes for some of the bigger companies. When I take on a Marketing client or someone that has a PR firm, I ask this simple question.
How are they going to show your Return On Investment, and are they working off percentage of sales? If not, they are probably not worth it period.
I have worked off of percentages from 10% to as high as 60% of sales. But guess what? I pay for myself in every single case and if I don’t produce, the client does not pay me squat.
So if I bring in $500,000 in sales to a client, I might get $100,000 t0 $250,000. Here again, they probably would not have gotten those sales in the first place or gotten them as fast and so in essence, it is about as close to free money as you are going to find. If someone came to you and said” Hey, I am going to bring in $500,000 in sales and it will only cost $100,000 to do it but you only pay me after I bring in the money”, would you take them up on it?
Of course you should not have to think about it for even a nano-second as the answer should be ” Yes, sign me up for 10 of those please right now”. If not, then you really need to do some soul searching and do it quick.
Why?
Because you are probably not going to be in business much longer if your competition is one of those people that said yes. If you really did not say yes. Please think about it for a few minutes. You have some issues that need addressed pronto.
Firing Clients
I would like to discuss this as it is perhaps counter-intuitive.
The customer is not always right. If you find yourself butting heads with one, fire them. It will make your life easier and you can spend more time with the ones that you do get along with and you can more than make up for any lost revenue by spending time with them instead of the client that is an idiot or won’t listen to you, or you simply don’t get along with very well.
It does not even have to be any negative connotation. Sometimes, there is just not a good fit or there are communication issues. That is fine. You will be doing your client and yourself a favor by removing yourself or them. I used to try and stick with the client no matter how bad of a fit even only a few years ago. Now I don’t.
The same goes with hiring consultants or service providers. If you have one that you butt heads with or just can’t communicate with, get rid of them. It is that simple. I have been on both ends of the equation and stopping a situation like that sooner is usually better for both parties. I always try and do this amicably, because you may want to work with them in the future. They might just not be right for right now.
Now, on the other hand, you don’t want to hire a yes man or woman, because that can be even worse. Because if you hire someone that is good, you are not going to agree with everything that they say or do, but on the other hand, you more than likely need to do something different or you would not have needed to hire them in the first place right?
When all else fails, trust your gut.
Hope these things help just a bit and start some ideas rolling around in your noodle. but most importantly, add profit to your bottom line.
Cheers,
