So much has been happening lately, that I am a
month late in getting out my newsletter. So what I
have
done done is make this a bumper issue with
great
information, audio interviews and a 'must read' Ebook
on Search Engine
Optimisation.
If you enjoy the newsletter, please forward it to your
friends.
To get the most from the newsletter, view in HMTL
and
connect with the Internet to hear our audio clips.
Prospecting for New Business |
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Wherever I speak in the World, one of the areas that
sparks most interest is where and how to find new
clients and prospect for new business. In the next
few issues I will be addressing many ideas and
techniques on how to find new business. Whether
you are in sales, speaking, training, coaching and
have a large or small business, you need to analyse
where your new business is being found and how
much activity and effort is being channeled into this
area. If you are not constantly marketing,
prospecting and introducing new clients, your
business will be going backwards.
There are so many areas of finding new business:
cold and warm calling, referrals, social and business
networking, the internet, exhibitions, speaking
engagements (most of my conference speaking
engagements now come from speaking to decision
makers groups), periodicals and magazines, centres
of influence, observation and marketing yourself.
Right now, take a pen and paper and make a list of
where you can prospect more.
Let?s start with warm and cold calling. To me cold
calling on the telephone is still as daunting now as it
was 25 years ago, but it is the price I have to pay
for not doing all the other activities and having a
diary with gaps. The only difference now is that if
the occasion ever now arises for me to make those
cold calls, I do so with passion because I know they
will result in engagements or sales. Most of the time
these are as a result of obtaining referrals and this
makes calling so much easier. On my sales
programmes I tell people to phone when their energy
levels are highest, but the truth is that I will phone
anytime of the day now because I have the
confidence and attitude that the call will have a
positive result.
If you face a phoning session with a bad attitude and
body language, you are throwing away potential new
clients. All great sports people warm up before they
start; we need to do the same in phoning. Make your
first couple of calls to existing clients who you have
a great relationship with. This will do three things:
keep you in touch, put you in a positive frame of
mind and warm up your voice. Have an objective for
every call: is it to sell an appointment, or to follow
up with a prospect. If you try to start selling your
product or service over the phone, you will meet with
many objections. If this is totally a cold call, they
don?t know you, might not trust you and may dislike
a pushy person on the other side of the phone. You
need to develop rapport, trust and credibility and I
find that this can be done far more easily when I am
face to face with a prospective client. All I try to do
on the phone is sell the appointment.
I was fortunate enough early in my career to hear
possibly the best speaker on telephone technique in
the world. Many of you may now own his books as
Alan and Barbara Pease are best selling authors.
After hearing Alan speaking 20 years ago, I bought
his telephone programme and my ratios and sales
increased dramatically. Alan has analysed the exact
words and the psychology of the call and this
resulted in him making 954 appointments out of 1,000
cold calls, pretty impressive!! His script for
overcoming objections helped me to use only this
technique and even now I use it to overcome any
objection. Over the years I met Alan and got to know
him and Barbara and have asked him a big favour for
all my subscribers.
His programme ?How to make Appointments by
Telephone? sells for $125 or £70 & VAT on his site.
For the next 14 days only, you can invest in this
programme at a 50% discount only on my site at the
link below, but do it quickly as there is only a limited
stock. Order it right now and it will change your
results in the same way it changed mine.
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Inspired Leadership |
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Recently I was fortunate enough to be invited to
speak at a conference for Cobra Beer. This is the
third time I have spoken for them and it is one that I
look forward to each year as they are one of the
greatest teams I have worked with. (Another reason
is that when I arrive home my trunk is filled with
beers and wine).
I love seeing great leadership in action and certainly
one of the finest leaders I have ever seen is Karan
Bilimoria, CEO of Cobra Beer. Last year he was the UK
Businessman of the year and presently he is in line
for Entrepreneur of the year. He ?addressed the
troops? and had them and me mesmerised with his
talk. His philosophy with Cobra is to be different,
better and open to new markets.
Just think about that with your business, looking at
your competitors: how can you be different, better
and open new markets. Karan also told a story of
how his father told him that if he was ever asked to
do something, to do it with enthusiasm, passion and
then do a little more. Do something extra, something
that was not asked of him. He has also has the
motto ?never give up, never ever give up?. I left there
totally inspired as was everyone else in the company.
If you are running any type of organisation, always
be inspiring your people and making them believe in
themselves.
The way you treat your staff is the way they will
treat your customers. In the photograph you can see
one of Cobra?s new beers, ?King Cobra?. It is the
smoothest beer I have tasted and comes in a
gorgeous champagne sized bottle.
Take a listen to an interview with Karan which is also
available on my goal setting resource package ?It?s all
about you?.
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Technology - Get your website indexed in 24 hours |
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So, how do you get your website indexed within
24 hours?
- Go to Google and enter the broadest keyword you
can think of that's related to your website. Once
you've done this, you'll see a list of Google
results.
- Browse through each website and pay particular
attention to the Google Page Rank of the website.
Note: Google Page Rank is measured by the
number of websites and the "importance" of those
websites that link to your website. In general, the
more websites that link to your website, the higher
your Page Rank will be.
Note: Here's a quick definition of Page Rank.
Page Rank is Google's way of giving a specific value
to how popular your website is. It is based on the
number of "votes" other websites cast for your
website. A "vote" is simply when another website
places a link on their website that is pointing to your
website. Generally, the more "votes" or links you
have pointing to your website, the higher your Page
Rank (PR) will be. Page Rank is 1 of the many factors
that Google takes into account when ranking
websites.
In order to see your own Google Page Rank,
as well as others, you must have the Google Toolbar
installed on your computer.
- ? As you're looking at these top ranked
websites, you should try to find websites with a Page
Rank of 6 or higher.
- ? Once you've found several websites like
this, you should check and see whether or not they
have links pages. Usually you'll see links from their
index page that says (resources, links, related sites,
etc.) Now, you need to search their website for their
contact information
- ? Once you find their contact information you
should send them an email asking if they will link to
your website in return for you linking back to their
website. If you do this correctly and professionally,
they will respond and will place a link on their website
to yours.
If you can manage to get 1 PR6 website to link to
your website, you will be indexed by Google in under
3 days. If you can get 1 PR7 website to link to you,
then you will be in Google's index in under 24
hours!
This month I have an incredible give away, the 90
page Ebook 'Search Engine Optimisation Made
Easy'
by Brad Callenn'. It doesn't matter what business
you're in, this is a 'must read'.
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Media Tactics |
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Have you ever worked on a project that seems to
take forever? At the beginning of this year I recorded
a triple CD with on Media tactics with Michael Dodd
and have only now released the final product. I
guess part of it was my travelling and Michaels
schedule, he lectures all over the world on media as
well as at Westminster University and has a regular
slot on Sky TV. Although Michael lives in London, he
is from Australia and sadly he had to report on the
Ashes Cricket tour that England won.
The first time I had a TV appearance, I had no idea
what to expect, was terrified and decided
immediately that I needed media training. I joined
Michael?s programme and was amazed at how the
media can either glorify or crucify you. I also realised
the importance of media knowledge in business and
how this can enhance your company, brand and
increase profits (I love that phrase).
Here are some tips that I learned from Michael:
For Print Interviews:
- ? Find out what the angle is that the
journalist is pursuing.
- Ensure that the reporter understands your
points
- Provide good ?quotes?, this is what reporters look
for
- Remember, nothing is ?off the record?
TV and Radio
- Have a key message prepared
- Have 3 key points to discuss
- Have a headline to sum up your most important
point
- Sound confident and in control, especially in the
first 10 seconds
- Use stories as examples
- Mix emotions and fact
- Be warm and human, you are the star of the
show
- Never use one word answers
Finally
- Be as honest as you can with the interviewer
- Speak authentically
- Relax and have a good time
- No one-word answers ? ever
- Think detail, think colour, think story
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California Dreaming |
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I?ve recently returned from a speaking trip to
California where I spoke in Sacramento and San
Francisco.
It has been 20 years since I went to San Francisco
and it is as great as ever. As usual I took some time
out for sightseeing and covered 1,000 miles in a
week and discovered some hidden gems off the
beaten track. After a twelve hour flight from London
to San Francisco I collected my rental car and drove
for four hours to Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe has always
been one of my favourite places in the USA, in
summer an outdoor paradise and in winter a skiing
paradise. I bought a cute little jumper for our
Yorkshire terrier with the inscription ?Von Bitch? which
suits her personality perfectly.
I was told about a town between Lake Tahoe and
Reno called Virginia City and decided to see it. This is
an amazing place, like being back in the early
western days. All the shops, bars and the entire
town have retained the western feel and everyone
working there still dresses that way. I also saw more
Harley Davidson?s there in one day than I have seen
anywhere before. It seems to be a tourist paradise
and a ?must see? if you are planning a trip to Northern
California.
From there to Reno and a bit of gambling (sorry,
losing money) and then off to speak in Sacramento.
It was my first trip to Sacramento and what a lovely
city this is. It is ideally situated, close to San
Francisco, the Napa Valley (which I also visited to
sample the wines) and the mountains for skiing. The
people, hotels and restaurants were great and I will
definitely be visiting there again.
After that onto Highway 1 and the next discovery of
a picturesque town called ?Half Moon Bay? filled with
Art Galleries and tremendous restaurants (I have this
eating obsession) less than an hour out of San
Francisco.
In San Francisco I met up with my good friend
Michael Lee (photo above) who took me on a great
tour of the city,
Sausalito, the giant redwood forest and The Golden
Gate Bridge. My evenings were spent at my favourite
part of San Francisco, Fisherman?s Wharf and Pier 39
(great fish restaurants!!). All to quickly I had to
return, but I?ll be back?
My wife & I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary
together with a surprise 21st party for my son Jared
in Johannesburg in South Africa a couple of months
ago. For my friends that know my lovely wife
Candice, she has just undergone major surgery and
will be incapacitated for the next six weeks, but the
good news is that the operation was a success and
she is on her way to recovery. It has really brought
home the importance of enjoying life every day and
doing the things you love doing. We are going to be
spending a lot more time at our place in Spain and I
am going to start doing the things that I love like
playing tennis and musical instruments (not at the
same time) and not working so hard, although what I
do is not work, it is fun.
A question we all need to ask ourselves more and
more often is: are we still having fun, are we doing
what we have a passion for and if we have a dream,
are we pursuing that dream. When we meet our
maker one day, we should never have any regrets or
say ?I wish I had---?
The biggest thing that pulled Candice through her
rough journey this year was her incredibly positive
attitude, she inspired so many other patients and her
surgeons and nurses love her. We can change many
things about ourselves in life, but the most important
is attitude, with a positive attitude you can face
almost anything.
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