Talking about your business is key and can literally transform your marketing and your income.

It transforms your marketing because it puts new words and phrases together in a real life setting. You may notice yourself describing what you do in a more powerful way and that alone can create dramatic results. Verbal processing does wonders for finding the best way to say something!

It transforms your income, because as you connect with more potential clients, people will say YES to you more often! That’s simple math, the more you get out there the greater your chances are of people working with you.

Here’s something I keep on hand that helps me keep track of conversations and results. It’s a 100′s chart.

It’s nothing fancy, just a 10×10 grid with the numbers 1-100 in each box.(I grabbed this one from About.com’s section on teaching elementary grade math)

Every time I have a conversation with someone interested in working with me, I put a little note in the 100 chart. I even color code it so I can see at a glance what resulted from my conversations. I love this and have even had challenges with friends to see which of us reaches 100 awesome people first. (Warm and fuzzy high achievers, take heed!)

Here are some other ways you can use a 100 chart for your business:

1. Use it to track conversations you have where you’re directly making an offer.

2. Use it to track 100 times someone says YES or NO. (Sales pro’s say you earn your wings after 100 people say “no”  to you)

3. Use it to track how many offline connections you make with your social media network.

4. Use it to track sales.

5. 100 Tweets - pick your angle: retweets, people sending you props, people using your hashtag

6. 100 articles or blog posts

What else?

I love this tool because it’s so dang simple, it’s visual, and it is very motivating. It doesn’t require much more than an pen and paper and it sparks action.

Like this idea? Have ideas to share on this topic? Drop me a comment!

“What’s your single biggest question about creating a PROFITABLE business doing what you love?”

This is one I got from Lisa R.

“How do I create exciting service “packages” that people will be attracted to and want to purchase.”

image from www.yevillagebutchers.com.uk

I love this question because it’s one that sounds sooooooooooooooo easy but can be brain-killing hard. Why? Because no single formula can help you create an offer that is so YOU, so perfectly matched for your ideal clients, and so easy for your prospects to scream Yes, Yes, Yes in wild abandon. (Don’t you love it when business gets sexy!)

I’ve seen people try to teach how to create a perfect offer and it looks like ordering from a Chinese takeout.

“Take 1 thing from Column A, add in 2 things from Column B, sprinkle in 3 things from Column C and you have a fool proof offer!”

Do you? Or did you just dump a bunch of useless stuff on your client’s lap in the name of “leverage”?

A killer offer doesn’t have to be bulky to be effective. The temptation to throw in the kitchen sink AND a Ginsu knife can be very strong. But resist.

First of all, how well do you know your ideal client? What keeps her up at night? What’s freaking her out Monday morning in traffic or when she gets on her computer or when the kids come home from school?

On a live coaching demo I did on a free call in December, one of my participants was Karen Bierdeman of The Guilt Free Mom. Karen’s ideal client is a Mom who has a pretty damn complicated life: work and/or a business, kids who tend to be high strung or high maintenance, and lots of responsibilities.

An ideal offer for her needs to be time efficient and flexible. She’s not the person to send your 24 CD audio series to supplement 4 one hour coaching calls a month… she can barely have the time to herself to listen to her favorite music.

Having that clear understanding of your ideal client is the first step. Next is really finding what is unbelievably attractive to her. That takes some market research, so start asking people how they like to consume information, whether they like to work in person or in groups, if they like to travel for retreats, etc. Once you get that information, your offers will practically create themselves. When that happens, you’re in for a big cash recalibration.

There’s obviously more to it than that. One of the pillars of my Profitable Essence(tm) approach is Creating the Profitable Offer. It’s going to really depend upon you, your market, and what will make that client scream with joy. But when you find that perfect offer… the heavens open up and the money pours with surprising speed!

What types of offers do you find yourself responding to? What are the deal makers (easy to say yes to ) and what are the deal breakers (easy to say no to)?

Drop a comment below and share your stuff!

Image from www.GirlScoutCookies.org

We just got our 4 color fold out poster/sign up form/incentive list, and my daughter immediately decided she wanted to sell 1000 boxes of cookies so she could get a Flip camera as a prize.

She’s 7. She’s had a lemonade sale before, she’s very persuasive naturally (I’m the one she gets to practice on), and has a bit of that Enneagram 3/ High Achiever trait as I do.

But still… she needs some training. Maybe I do too, because I’m motivated by her goal and have to remind myself it’s HER leadership training and HER sale… not mine. I wish they would sell cookies online which would make moving those 1000 boxes sooooooooooooo much easier, but they don’t and I’m guessing it’s because of the character building experience of actually selling face to face.

However, I can help and I’m coaching her to build the skills needed so she can reach her goal.

Here’s our sales strategy so far. And please… we’re open for ideas so comment away if you find more ways to coach this future leader to 1000 boxes.

1. The “You Owe Me One” Approach
We started with our dentist. For her we used the “You owe me one” sales pitch. I simply reminded her how we’ve been her loyal patients for years (read: I’ve paid you so many thousands over the years, hope you’re enjoying that nice Mercedes you tool around in, etc) and how nice it would be to show appreciation for our contribution to her nice life by purchasing some Girl Scout cookies. We even anticipated her objections (after all, she’s a dentist and should be telling everyone NOT to eat sweets), by offering her the Cookie Share option, which would take her money but instead send the cookies to the food bank or to the troops. She bought 5 boxes.

When we go see my anti-wheat doctor/acupuncturist, he’ll get ushered directly to the Cookie Share option, sprinkled with that knowing look of “I pay you so much money, you better buy these buddy!”. Hate wheat? No problem, we’ve got you covered.

2. The “Cute” Approach

How can you say no?

Not everyone feels obliged to buy cookies from us. For them, we go for “Cute”. Smiling child, boxes of cookies in hand, Brownie vest with 3 merit badges. We’re going for the “Awwwwww! How cute!” response. The Cute approach is saved for neighbors, people I network with, business acquaintances (ooh, that might be you reading this, how convenient!), family, and anyone who’s ever as much peeped an adoring word her way for the past 7 years.

My sister MASTERED the art of this many years ago when her girls were in scouts. She had a picture of her smiling scouts on a clip board, made the rounds at the Disney studios where she works,  and simply deadpanned: “How many?”.  Michael Eisner, CEO at that time, even chipped in for a few boxes.

Note: I realize that Approaches 1 and 2 are pretty Mom-centered, but we’re modeling, OK.

3. The “I’m The Future!” Approach
In a couple weeks, we’ll be tabling outside a grocery store trying to get busy shoppers to make eye contact and BUY! You know they’re practicing their reasons to say no the minute they see us, so our goal is to catch them off guard. They’re expecting “Hi would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?”, to which they can say No very easily. How about this: “Hi. I’m a future leader and Girl Scouts is helping me. When you buy cookies, you’re supporting your future and mine.” I think we should follow this up with an assumptive close “How many boxes will that be today?”

Any other thoughts on helping her reach her 1000 box goal? Coach the future of our world by leaving a comment.

Find out how to turn your followers into fans and your fans into pre-sold, ready to buy clients… without having to pressure, pitch, or spam your valuable contacts.

Click the player below to learn more

Program starts August 26, read testimonials, get bonuses and more. www.SoftSellingWithSocialMedia.com

The biggest misconception is that soft selling somehow removes the act of making an offer… and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Credibility and Trust

Soft selling doesn’t mean “Stop offering”.

When you use a soft sell strategy, you focus on building credibility and trust with your prospective clients AND maintaining credibility and trust with your exisiting clients. When you ultimately do make an offer (and don’t fool yourself- at some point you must know how to ask for someone’s business), it’s done from a place of knowing exactly who that person is and what the best resource is for them.

Hard selling is when you’re more concerned with what YOU’RE going to get as opposed to the transformation your client needs. You see this everyday as people walk around in buyer’s remorse, feeling swindled after being convinced to sign onto something that didn’t feel right to begin with. If you’ve ever had a bad experience with a used car salesperson, you know what I mean.

You Still Have to Talk About Money

So if you think that soft selling means you never have to address prices, or you’ll never need to send a promotional email again… well, that’s way off course.

Yes, you still need to make offers BUT when you’ve provided value, proven your credibility, and gained the trust of your followers, then the process flows without force.

Social media is a tool that enables you to focus on value, credibility, and trust giving your followers more reasons to break down their “don’t pitch me” defenses and to actually hear what you have to offer.

At the end of the day it’s all about honoring and respecting the relationships you’ve formed with your target market and prospective clients.

This is barely scratching the surface of the topic but I have a great resource for more information.

Starting August 26, Natasha Allrich and I are presenting a 4 week teleseries called Soft Selling with Social Media.

We’ll teach you step by step how to attract and engage your ideal clients, then we’ll teach you exactly how to turn those hot leads into ready to buy clients.

The 1st 150 people who sign up for this program will also get a special invitation only call with a successful entrepreneur who makes incredible money using smart strategies with a heart based sensibility.

Soft Selling with Social Media is now enrolling. If you’re ready to grow your business authentically and learn how to connect with people who love your work, then this is for you.

Check it out, join this movement and do share your soft sell success stories with me in the comments!

Click here to learn how to transform your business with the Soft Selling with Social Media proven system.

The topic: How to Turn Your Social Networking Visibility into a Steady Stream of Profitability Without Ever Having to Spam, Pressure or Pitch

We’re making the audio available for the next day, so do click this link to learn more about our proven Soft Selling With Social Media strategy!

We outlined the 4 secrets step by step, gave great examples of best (and worst!) practices to turn your followers into fans and your fans into pre-sold, ready to buy clients.

Get the audio by clicking here (remember it’s time sensitive)

I’m down to two possible reasons why this is so prevalent:

1. Either hard selling works so well that it’s the reason everyone is using it,

or

2. people are so baffled at how to make money with social media that they fall back on old, tired tactics.

I’m leaning towards number 2, and I’ll tell you why.

When I run through my Twitter stream, 90% of what I see are pitches. Some have the same copy I find on tattered flyers waving at me from telephone poles:

“Work from home, earn extra money! click here”.

Others are straight up calls to action:

“Only 10 minutes left to get the 75% discount!”

Then there are the veiled pitches that pretend they’re conversational but are really just what they are… pitches.

“I so love working w/ incredible client$ helping them make buku $$$ and luv life!” (this one is followed by a link to join a  program or class)

So why am I against these?

First of all, they break my 3 proven ways to turn  followers into fans and fans into clients with social networking.

1. They don’t add VALUE to the network.

It’s a one way conversation and although it may be nice to join someone’s program or buy their product at 75% off, the message doesn’t inform or engage me.

2. They don’t boost CREDIBILITY.

This is serious, folks. Your entire business rests on your credibility. If you’re out there pitching furiously without real  engagement that provides something useful to your network, then you don’t have a strong platform to stand on. Credibility counts. Google the names of the people pitching you and see if it leads to a trail of credible authority or leads to a cloud of smoke.

3. They don’t build TRUST.

We buy from those we know, like, and trust. If you bypass this process, then your prospects will resist your offers and raise obstacles. The process of engaging and connecting with your social media friends builds the trust needed to open people up to buying from you.

Adding value, proving your credibility, and building trust are essential in any situation where people are going to buy from you. Having access to thousands of new contacts doesn’t mean you will have success pitching your offers to them.

Do you really want to click on a Tweet that reads more like a classified ad than a greeting? Do you rely on Twitter as a place to buy stuff or a place to connect?