Fuzion Web Blog

Without an answer to the question “Why should I buy from you?” your company will continue to be seen as a commodity provider. It doesn’t matter if you think you have better quality, service or products – it only matters if your buyer does.

Want to get the name and website of your small business in front of thousands of potential clients AND honor the gift of gratitude? Easy…give enthusiastic, honest, “results-based” testimonials.

At first, I had no idea this strategy could be as powerful as it is. It wasn’t until I started hearing how new clients enrolled in my success coaching programs “found me” via testimonials I had done for other small business owners’ websites.

Here’s how this internet marketing tip works: Say you purchase someone’s information, see them live in a workshop, read their book or work with their small business directly. You like their information so you offer to write a testimonial describing the results and your experience of the value they offer. Your testimonial then appears on their website, along with your name, your website address and possibly a photo.

But, here’s the catch: this “money and soul” lead generating strategy ONLY works IF the testimonial you give is authentic and honest!

For example, I volunteered several testimonials for one Internet marketing expert I really like and value, until, I was asked to give a testimonial for a product I had purchased and with which I was, quite frankly, more than a little disappointed. I declined the offer to appear on their website supporting that product.

But, can you give too many testimonials?

Not likely. 

Think of it this way: the more you give of your support and endorsement of someone else, the more you increase your feeling of gratitude, which brings in more abundance to you. Plus, being seen on multiple websites is a great lead generating and credibility boosting strategy! This is the essence of the “money and soul” approach to your authentic business brand.

So, whose products or programs have you experienced that you feel positive and enthusiastic about? My coaching request to you is to choose a woman small business this week, then draft a testimonial and send it to them in an email, along with how you would like your name, company name, title and website address to appear. Offer to send a photo. 

An important element of this internet marketing tip is: make sure that your testimonial describes what problem you had before you used their information or service and how great your situation is now that you’ve implemented what you learned. If you can give specific numbers or percentages, even better. 

For example, let’s say you’re a success coach working with busy, corporate women and you recently purchased an audio program on parenting. You loved what you learned and have a hunch that many of the author’s readers would also make great clients for you. So you pen a testimonial that says something like this:

“Before I read this book (title), I couldn’t get my boys to bed without a struggle every night. Now, thanks to the three little (but oh so powerful!) tips you shared, bedtime is now our favorite time to connect as a family. Thank you for helping me be as good a parent as I am a success coach!” 
(your name, website address and title)

In your email, let the  small business expert know that the reason you’re sending in your testimonial is because you value them and their information. Be generous in your personal note, and honest in your testimonial and you’ll be sure to get authentic attention and website leads directed to you, while spreading gratitude to someone else!

Sales and Profits  In the Coming Year Should Be Expectations Not Goals.

Almost all “self-help experts” offer advice about goal setting. There is a huge difference between goal setting and having the mindset of already achieving certain milestones. Those include revenue and profit milestones and on the personal side often include health milestones and relationship  milestones.

Once you clearly see the results you will achieve it is then simple a matter of time phasing backward the actions needed each day to achieve those results. Unless you have the daily, weekly, monthly action plan and implement that action plan, next year this time you will again be sitting down and saying “I must make my list of goals for next year now.” You might as well save the paper holding the ones you wrote last year or the year before because it is likely very little has changed.

The people making huge leaps in there business and personal lives already see the achievements in there mind and have the plans in place for the tasks required to achieve those results. You must  have the time phased action plan and  implement that plan to reach the results that are important to you.

You run an ad in a newspaper and it's either profitable or it isn't.
Because businesses look at marketing as an isolated event, they tend
to judge the process based on the results of a single ad or sales letter.
If an ad fails, many businesses will wait forever, sometimes months,
before they try again. Some will even discontinue their marketing
strategies completely. Whereas, if the ad succeeds, they probably
will run it again. I say probably, because we all have the tendency
to try something new, and not rerun the ad, or even use it as the
template to test against. Or, as soon as the results begin to diminish,
they bail out of the marketing process. But, the highly successful
businessperson realizes that marketing isn't a one shot thing.
It must be ongoing and be a continuous process. To begin with,
you must set systems you can run over and over again. This is the
easiest and most effective way to implement and manage this process
of marketing.

If you are walking down the street and a stranger pushes you, they get your attention!  Of course, the attention you are giving them is 100% negative, because people don’t like being pushed!

If your sales or marketing is based on pushing, you can expect the same negative attention from the marketplace.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Does your product need some explanation or would it sell better if customers could see it in use? Then consider using a picture to promote your product or service in your ads and flyers. Remember, you often have to see it to believe it.

Impose a deadline. Counteract one of the biggest obstacles to closing a sale known to mankind: procrastination. To overcome the natural human tendancy to deliberate, postpone, and delay, it’s often necessary to inject a sense of urgency into your ads, sales presentations, and marketing messages. Marketing Tip: Whether supplies are limited or prices are going up at the end of the month, some prospects need to have a deadline or an incentive to motivate them to take action now.

The first challenge for professionals and consultants is creating new clients. There is a proven process for marketing with integrity and getting a 400% to 2000% return on your marketing investment. To attract new clients, the best approach is the Educating Expert Model that demonstrates your expertise by giving away valuable information through writing and speaking. In addition, you can increase closing rates up to 50% to 100% by discovering and rehearsing the right questions to ask prospective clients