you sow. Partnering and nurturing relationships with other businesses will plant seeds that reap a great return.
● What is different and better about you? What makes you unique?
● What awards have you won?
● Have you been featured in any media – radio, TV, print, etc.?
● “Best of…”
● If you are a franchise, what awards has your franchise won? You can use that borrowed credibility.
● What about reviews?
● Google reviews
● Yelp
● Better Business Bureau
● Merchantcircle
● Yellow pages
● Client testimonials
● What do you do better and differently from your competitors?
● What special giveaways do you offer?
● Do you have a customer loyalty or rewards program?
● Why should someone buy from you?
● Why should someone come to your event, show, concert, or exhibit?
● Have you invented or patented a process or technology?
● Are you first to do what you are doing?
● Have you been in business a long time? How long?
● Have you been practicing your craft for a long time?
● Have you served a lot of clients, delivered a lot of speeches, or performed a lot of concerts? If so, how many?
● Do you have any celebrity (or reputable) endorsements?
● If you authored a book, did any VIPs, celebrities, or reputable people endorse your book?
● If you are a speaker or trainer, did a Fortune 500 or Fortune 100 publicly traded company, VIP, or reputable entity give you a positive survey or review?
● Has a food critic reviewed your restaurant and given you a positive review?
This is such an important question that you need to be able to identify the answer as soon as possible. I am a business owner myself. I know you might feel like saying, “Everyone or anyone,” but that is too broad of a stroke. You should not take a shotgun approach to your business. A precise focus on your targeted audience is very important.
● Who are you trying to attract? This is going to be very different from business to business and situation to situation. But I am going to list a couple of examples with principal questions that can be applied to your specific situation.
● Car salesman (sells Chryslers in Swedesboro, New Jersey)
● What are the demographics in Swedesboro, New Jersey, and the surrounding area (20–30 miles)?
● How large is the population?
● Who buys your cars?
● What is their average income?
● Are they men or women? (Women have over 80 percent of buying power.)
● What kinds of cars are they buying? New or used?
● New? Which model(s)?
● Used? What year, make, and model(s)?
● Are there any large companies in the area for “macro” selling?
● Are there any military bases?
● How far are you from a major city?
● Who spends the most money?
● Who is the best repeat customer?
● Who provides the most referrals?
● Jiu-Jitsu academy (martial art school in Philadelphia)
● Who wants to train in martial arts/karate?
● Hardcore fighters or brawlers
● Fans and enthusiasts of UFC/MMA
● People trying to lose weight and stay healthy
● People interested in self-defense
● Women for rape prevention
● People who love competition and competing
● People trying to be active and social with a group of other like-minded individuals
● Parents who want to put their children in kids' classes because:
● They want them to be able to defend themselves from bullies
● They want their kids to develop discipline and self-control
● They hope their kids will be active and healthy (to get them off of video games)
● They want them to develop self-confidence
● They want them to interact with other kids and develop social skills
● People who are looking for work/life balance
● People who need to vent and need some stress release
● Professional speaker (keynote/workshop):
● What do you speak about?
● What is your niche?
● Are you a motivational speaker?
● Do you speak about leadership and management?
● Do you specialize in digital marketing?
● Do you get bookings from speakers bureaus (or would you like to)?
● What industry are you in?
● Automotive sales
● Real estate
● Education
● Hospitality
● Entertainment
● Medical
After you have identified who your audience is, you now need to know where your audience is – whether you want to break it down by:
● Demographics
● Geo-targeting
● Niche
● Industry
● Associations or organizations
● Gender
● Interests
It doesn't really matter. Once you identify who they are, it will then be relatively easy to find out where they are. The question now becomes, do you want to go after them, or have them come to you? You might be confused by this question and tell yourself that this doesn't make much sense, or that it just doesn't seem possible. How can “they,” my potential audience, come to me? That is exactly what this book is going to teach you. I call it reactive selling. Let them come to you. Why exert more energy for minimal return when you can exert minimal energy upfront, for a stronger (more gross) and easier close later.
Cold-calling someone is a much harder close or a much harder sale compared to someone (an individual, company, association, bureau, etc.) coming to you for your product or service. If you are being approached, it says the person is (1) interested, (2) a serious buyer, and (3) looking to purchase relatively soon. Picture yourself going fishing. You've got your fishing gear on, fishing pole in hand, and bait all ready to go. (If you are not the fishing type, humor me. Trust me, there is a point here.) Imagine two ponds in front of you. You can choose to fish in either one. The first pond is empty, but you have the opportunity to draw the fish to you with your selected bait. The second pond is already full of fish. All you need to do is throw your fishing line into the water and boom…you've got your fish. What pond are you choosing? I would bet it is the one full of abundance,