Dear [contact-First_name],

Ahhh! Spring! It's about time.

I just returned from a brisk walk with my next door neighbor, Linda. We are holding ourselves to our walking schedule of 3 miles, 3x a week. Darn it! No EXCUSES! We've been locked up in our homes long enough this winter!

Not only do we get to partake in the great outdoors, but we have some of the most interesting conversations about business & marketing. Of which I'm very excited to share with you! Read on!

All the best,


Donna Payne, "The Web Goddess", Creator of the Money & Time-Saving "QuickStart Web Workbook."

Web Coach Tip: Warning! Online Success Requires More Than Just Building a Website.
by Donna Payne, "The Web Goddess"

Many people are disillusioned with the “build it and they’ll come” theory where you painstakingly build a website (either yourself or hire someone). Get it done, see your name in lights and don’t bother to follow thru with a marketing plan. Tsk. Tsk.

Or worse yet; you’re led to believe if you participate in search-engine, or pay-per-click hocus-pocus that’s all you’ll ever need to do. Period. WRONG! If you don't know what you're doing, you could end up farting around with your time and hard earned money!

The #1 marketing secret to online success is to combine offline marketing techniques with your website.

In today’s world of solo-professionals and entrepreneurs many are combining Hi-tech and Hi-touch techniques by finding new ways to reach out and touch someone with outrageous success.

Does that make sense?

Here are a few examples:

1) A Marketing coach has combined email and traditional snail mail to increase customer loyalty and boost sales. She emails a weekly ezine to her list of 9,000 subscribers, where she promotes 2 of her own teleclasses a month. To everyone who signs up for the teleclass she offers a free mp3 downloadable recording after the call, AND she sends via regular postal mail an audio CD to your home. Nice added touch, eh? Certainly adds value to her services. Want to learn how? See my note about Dan Kennedy below.

2) An extraordinary Mortgage broker goes way above and beyond customer service; so much so that he has raving fans! His secret? Keeping the customer in the loop by sending small gifts with “status updates” throughout each step of their loan process. His customers are simply blown away because they feel appreciated and cared for.

3) Another small business owner offers such an outlandish guarantee you simply can’t say no. His pest control company offers a transferable, life-time warranty against the recurrence of termites. A LIFE TIME WARRANTY – against termites? In Florida, that’s unheard of! He even has photographs of refund checks in his sales letter to prove it. To most that seems like an incredible gamble, BUT he’s the best in the business and rarely has had to issue refunds. The increased revenue has far outweighed the risk.

Daniel opened a specialty retail shop on Main Street. His business is the classic “brick and click” meaning he markets just as aggressively online as he does offline. The other day I noticed one of his billboards along the highway. It gave his business location, a small blurb about “Get a free yadda-yadda at our website xyz.com.” Needless to say, Daniel is building his customer mailing list and getting tons of traffic, both online and in his store. Once he has you on his mailing list, he can reach out and touch you forever, promoting his products, services, special events, sales, etc…

*Side Note: Did you happen to watch "The Apprentice" last monday? The competition between the two bilboards for Post Cereals... remember why the gal eating right out of the box won (on the right)... Because it gave a really simple "visual" message and wasn't too cluttered.
By the way, I LOVE watching The Apprentice and so does my 11 year old daughter.

Each of these folks has demonstrated that with combined aggressive marketing, you can achieve remarkable success. So don’t think for a second that your ho-hum brick and mortar or website can ever stop marketing. Experts say a very large percentage of your time should be spent marketing.

Now it’s YOUR turn! How can you think beyond the box in terms of marketing? Online? Offline?

Simple adjustments can make all the difference in the world. Take time to review your marketing materials, you’ll be glad you did!

Dp

Do YOU have a favorite marketing tip? Please share it!
I'd love to know if you have had success that's changed your practice for the better. Please email it to Donna@thewebcoach.net, subject line: "marketing success".

©2006 Donna Payne

Want to read more articles like this one?
click here: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Donna_Payne

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Online Entrepreneur Donna Payne Is the Chief Marketing Goddess of Payne Publishing & Dan Kennedy Discounts, a resource for Direct response marketing, direct mail and web marketing information for any size business and entrepreneurs by millionaire maker, Dan Kennedy. To get details on over $300 in free bonus gifts Click here http://www.DanKennedyDiscounts.com

Why is it that some Independent Professionals charge (and receive) much higher fees than others?

Is it their expertise and professionalism? Is it their education and
track record? Is it the value they offer? Or it is a combination of
all of these? And is there a secret to charging more?

Yes, the secret is called "Value Pricing."

A good friend of mine, Patrick Summar, is a professional coach who works primarily with entrepreneurs. Most coaches charge about $300 to $500 per month for coaching. Patrick charges most of his clients $1500; he just got his first $3000 client.

What miracles does Patrick deliver that enables him to charge
five to ten times more than the average coach? Patrick is a good
case study; I think you can apply his value pricing approach to your
situation as well, whether you're a coach, consultant or other
service professional.

Here are some of the things Patrick does:

He sells a solution, not a process.
He realizes people are not buying coaching, they are buying an
outcome; they want to use coaching to get something they are not
able to achieve on their own. So in his initial conversations with
potential clients, he spends a lot of time exploring desired
outcomes. What outcomes are important to your clients?

He sees his fee in relationship to the outcome.
If a client can increase his or her income by more than $1500 per
month, they've at least broken even. But he looks at that as only a
starting point. He knows that, through his coaching, a client will
make certain changes in their life and business that will result in
short and long-term value that dramatically exceeds his fees.
What's the real value of your services?

He adds a lot of intangible value.
Patrick always comes to a coaching call prepared. He gives the
client a structure to extract maximum value from every session.
He has systems and teaching tools that help the client build new
skills. And he'll do things such as send his clients books or other
materials that support and inspire. What value can you add to your
process?

He has the guts to ask for more.
Remember that the client will never voluntarily suggest that you
raise your fees! You tend to get what you ask for. Patrick looked at
what he thought he was worth and decided to ask for it. As simple
as that. He feels he's worth it. He knows his service pays for
itself. And he knows the long-term value of his coaching will pay
off for years to come. So he asks for more and gets it. Are you
willing to ask for more?

The first and most important thing for you to realize is that you
can charge higher fees. You can charge fees based on the value a
client receives, not based on time spent. The second thing to
realize is that there are clients who will willingly pay what
you're worth, if you package your services accordingly.

It's not usual, however, that professionals consistently undervalue
their services. In fact they are often quite unaware of the true
value they bring to the table. Instead they set their fees based on
what most others in their profession charge (not enough).

If you charge this way, you're no better than a commodity. When
you start to think value, everything changes (as it did with
Patrick). Then clients start to see you as a valuable investment
that will help them achieve their most important outcomes. That's
quite a shift in perception.

It can be scary to change the way you charge for your services.
What if nobody will work with you anymore? What specific things
can you do to increase your value? How can you make this change
as soon as possible without making major mistakes on the way?
And how can you shift your view of yourself so that you value the
contribution you're making and feel justified in charging for it?

These and many other questions will be answered in the Monthly
TeleClass Expert Series with Alan Weiss, the author of "Million
Dollar Consulting." The date is Monday, March 27. You can attend
the TeleClass or order the Audio Program and Transcription.
Reserve your space at the link below today, and there's a good
chance you'll be making more money by next week:
http://www.actionplan.com/expertseries.html

The More Clients Bottom Line: You are worth more than you're
charging, in many cases a lot more. You can dramatically increase
your income if you commit to pricing your services based on value,
not time. It takes guts; but it can change your business and your
lifestyle faster than any other business strategy

Dan Kennedy, Dan Kennedy, Dan Kennedy!!! His name is everywhere!

No one on this earth is quite like him. He's a marketing genius and I had the pleasure of meeting Dan in person last month in Akron, Ohio.

I was first turned on to Dan when I signed up for a free trial 3 month subscription to his monthly "No B.S. Marketing Letter."

Dan has several books and products available, and by far my favorite is his "Magnetic Marketing System/Tool Kit" for ALL Business Owners. Read more about his system here: http://DanKennedyDiscounts.com

Newsletter Solutions for Coaches!

If you've ever run out of time to do a newsletter... struggled with writing articles, or longed for an affordable way to attract clients, Newsletter Solutions for Coaches is just what you need. Read more here: http://www.newslettersolutionsforcoaches.com.

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