Marketing YOUniquely eNewsletter
How-to Strategies, Opinions, Resources...
A Mini-Workshop in Every Issue!www.CraigValine.com
October 16, 2007
Volume 2, Issue 15Published the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.
You are on our list because you subscribed to it at our website.
To change your subscription, see link at end of email.Sign Me Up for This Ezine!
NOTE: If you find typographical or grammatical errors in this email, they're here for a purpose. Some people actually enjoy looking for them and I strive to please as many people as possible. :)
==================================
¨ In this Issue:
==================================Snoopy,
Here's what's in your Marketing YOUniquely eNewsletter this week:
- A Note From Craig: Always Deliver Your Best!
- Feature Article: "Find Your True Target Market and Prosper"
- Craig Recommends: "Stuff" to make you more successful
Please add "info@craigvaline.com" to your white list or address book in your e-mail program, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues!
==================================
¨ A Note from Craig
==================================Dear Snoopy,
As you may know, I'm a member and Past President of the California Junior Chamber of Commerce (aka "Jaycees"). If you're not familiar with the organization, it is a member-service organization with a purpose of 'leadership development through community service".
Simply stated, the premise behind the current organization is to help men and women, between the ages of 18 to 40, develop skills that improve their value in the marketplace...by helping others and their community.
This past weekend kicked off the first of three weekend candidate forums for members running for officer positions on the Executive Board of Directors for the organization. Being a Past President, I was asked to facilitate the first of the three forums (which happened to be about a 5 1/2 hour drive from where I live).
The event was held at a castle. Yes, a castle - way out in the middle of farm-crops, about 17.5 miles from the freeway, where almonds, cabbage, and grape vineyards grow. It was a unique setting for a candidate forum, that's for sure.
The candidate forum was not well-attended. Basically, there are two candidates running for President and four candidates running for Vice President. There were only a few general members (who will do the voting in a few weeks) who attended to learn about these candidates. The rest of the people attending were either there to support the organization as a whole, or were there because they were supporting a particular candidate. Counting the candidates and a few other supporters, there were about 12 people there.
So, we're out in the middle of nowhere, in an unfinished "castle" (being built by one man, one brick at a time) with only a handful of people to witness these candidates tell us why they should be elected to office within our great organization.
So, what's the message here?
They say "it only takes two to have a meeting". If that's true, then here's the message:
No matter how many people are attending your meeting, speaking engagement, or tele-seminar, you've got to give your best.
It doesn't matter if there were fifty people there or two people there. If those two people came to hear what you're about, and you have to sell them on why they should choose you over your competitor, you'd better deliver your best presentation on the benefits and advantages (to them) of choosing you.
When it comes to your clients, my teacher Jay Abraham says it succinctly:
"It's all about them. It's never about you."
These candidates knew what they were doing and did present themselves very well. As someone who has gone through that process, both in business and with the Junior Chamber, I was proud to be there to see them in action.
Always present what you have to offer in the best way possible - no matter how many people you're speaking to!
Have a conviction of excellence in doing the very best you possibly can at every given moment. You are sure to win over even the toughest client with that winning attitude.
Until we speak again, have a super-duper-profitable day!
Craig :)
=================================
"Do what you do so well people can't resist talking about you."
- Walt Disney==================================
¨ Featured Article
==================================Find Your True Target Market and Prosper
by Craig Valine, "The [Former] Struggling Consultant"Who is your target market? Who is that highly-defined market segment that you cater to better than anyone else?
Let me ask this tough question: Do you have a target market you are serving? Or, are you of the mindset "everyone needs my product or service?"
My teacher Dan Kennedy says, "if you try to do business with everyone, you'll do business with no one."
I believe him!
When I was a struggling consultant I tried doing business with all types of businesses. After all, every business needs help with marketing, right?
Perhaps. But, let me shed this light on you. I believe it's much better to be a 'big fish in a small pond' than a 'small fish in a big pond'.
What I mean by that is, I believe you must find a highly-targeted, refined, and maximum opportunity niche market to serve to be a successful professional service business.
Many of my clients argue this point, mainly because they fear that there won't be enough business in a smaller niche market.
I disagree.
Think of it this way. As a generalist in a large market, you're a commodity, really. Let's say you're a CPA who does taxes for everyday consumers. If someone can pick through the Yellow Pages and find 100 of you in the same category, how does that serve you or the customer?
Let's refine your target market to fit a more specific category. Let's say you're a CPA with 12 IRS-trained agents working for you?
That's a bit more specific, isn't it? If someone is having challenges with the IRS, and the client needs help in dealing with them, who are they going to choose? A generalist CPA firm to solve their problem, or a CPA firm that has 12 IRS-trained agents on staff?
Let's get more specific.
What if you're a Life Coach, and let's say there are 1000 of you trying to reach all the people who want to improve the lives of everyday people? How to do you separate yourself from the other 999?
There are some strategies on how to do that, but you can't really command the higher fees when you're 'generally' being compared to the other 999.
You CAN command higher fees, however, if you cater to a smaller, more refined niche market.
What if, for example, YOU as a single mom yourself, decided to be a Life Coach who specifically helps other single mom's improve the quality of their lives both personally and professionally?
Do you think that with your experience as a single mom - someone who has gone through pains, challenges, and strife these other single mom's have gone through, who broke through it and is living a successful life might pay a little more for this coaching, than let's say, a generalist Life Coach, who might be man, who helps anyone?
You can easily position yourself as 'the authority' because you speak "single-mom-speak' like no other Life Coach can, thus commanding the higher fees with more clients.
Does that make sense?
To clearly articulate this in the best way I can, who do you think commands a higher salary at a hospital? A General Practitioner or a Neurosurgeon? It's axiomatic. The Neurosurgeon, of course.
The more specific your target market - the more you share your specific, relative experience - and the more you can provide specialized skills to a highly defined target market - the more money you'll make in your professional services business.
If you don't have a highly-defined target market, ask yourself these questions now:
- What do I do well?
- Of the things I do well, what do I love to do the most?
- What are the individual characteristics of my clients?
- What are the geographic characteristics of my clients?
- What industry type do my clients typically work?
- Do my clients have specific job titles or job descriptions?
- What is my clients purchasing history?
- What market conditions cause people to become my clients?
- What is my clients purchasing level?
Define your highly-targeted, refined, niche market and you create the opportunity to position yourself as an authority in that market. Keep trying to play in a generalist market, and you'll get lost in a sea of 1000's of others vying for the same clients.
So many professionals miss this opportunity. Don't YOU miss it! Whether you sell coaching or consulting services, or you sell candles, promotional products, or memberships in a fun organization, your way to prospering is by finding a specific market to serve.
About the author: Craig Valine is a Marketing Performance Coach who helps anyone in the advice business position themselves as an authority in their target market. To learn more about how he can help you, or to subscribe to his free Marketing YOUniquely eNewsletter, visit his website at www.craigvaline.com
==================================
¨ Craig Recommends
==================================Here are a few tools that I use (or have used) to help me earn more in less time.
- "Sell your knowledge, not your consulting services!" is what many of my teachers tout, including Dan Kennedy, who has just written a great new book on how to do just that based on examples from his and his millionaire students' experience. Create your own information products and prosper! http://snipurl.com/1s8r8
- Discover the Most Reliable, Easiest, Cost Effective Tool to Capture Visitor Sign Ups, Send Unlimited Follow Ups and Newsletters Increasing Your Profits - http://tinyurl.com/2yf299
- Introducing the world's first step-by-step, 'do this, then do that', 'color-by-numbers' plan for making money online in 33 days or less! http://tinyurl.com/2ovxxd
- GET CLIENTS NOW! - a 28-day results-oriented marketing program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches. This book is the basis for the Get Clients Now! Coaching Program. - http://tinyurl.com/24erp4
==================================
¨ About Craig Valine
==================================Craig Valine is an entrepreneur and Marketing Performance Coach who helps independent consultants, coaches, and solo-professionals GET MORE CLIENTS, make more money, and have more fun in their professional entrepreneurial businesses.
Craig offers FREE audio classes, reports, workshops, coaching, and other resources to help professional entrepreneurs market themselves and build ultimate success. Learn more now at http://www.CraigValine.com
Enhanced Marketing Performance
556 S. Fair Oaks Avenue, #469 · Pasadena, CA 91105
Toll-Free Info & Customer Service: (877) 405-0015
info@craigvaline.com · Fax: (626) 507-8504Copyright © 2005-2007 Craig A. Valine. All rights reserved
Did you like what you just read? Every issue is just a little bit different.
Click here to Subscribe Now!
Home | Articles | Marketing YOUniquely Blog | Free Article Submission Sites | Fact Sheet
Coaching Programs | For Jaycees | AdvertisingUniquely.comCraig Valine, Marketing Performance Coach
Enhanced Marketing Performance
556 S. Fair Oaks Avenue, #469, Pasadena, CA 91105
Toll-Free: (877) 405-0015
Email: questions@craigvaline.com© 2007 Enhanced Marketing Performance