Marketing YOUniquely eNewsletter
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November 06, 2007
Volume 2, Issue 16Published the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.
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¨ In this Issue:
==================================Snoopy,
Here's what's in your Marketing YOUniquely eNewsletter this week:
- A Note From Craig: Are you #1!
- Feature Article: "What's your answer to The Million Dollar Question?"
- 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!
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¨ A Note from Craig
==================================Dear Snoopy,
I am a devoted fan of both the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. The Sox just won the World Series, and the Pats are undefeated with a 9-0 record. They amaze me. But, they haven't always been #1 as far as wins go. They've struggled, failed to win games. However, no matter how they've done, they've always been #1 in my book.
In business, being #1 in the minds of your prospects and clients is very important. You have to position yourself and become "the obvious choice" so they don't even think twice about using someone else for benefits you provide, whether you do great or you mess up once in a while.
How do you do get to be #1? I believe it starts with how you communicate what you do to your prospects. Today's article focuses on that by asking you, "How do you answer The Million Dollar Question?"
As always, if you are stuck in your marketing efforts, or you want to really take your professional business to the next level, why not give me call? I'd love the opportunity to help.
Until we speak again, have a super-duper-profitable day!
Craig :)
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"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak." - Jay Leno
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¨ Featured Article
==================================How Do You Answer "The Million Dollar Question?"
by Craig Valine, "The [Former] Struggling Consultant"If you’ve been in business for any length of time, most likely you’ve been asked “the million dollar question” about a hundred times or more, right?
How you answer it is critical to the success of your professional practice. It can literally make the difference between having a practice that struggles financially month after month, or having a thriving, dynamic practice that will make you wealthy. Yet, if you’re like most professionals, you’ve never given your answer a moment of serious thought.
When asked “the million dollar question”, you simply reply automatically, never realizing how much you could be costing your business. So, let me ask you “the million dollar question” once more. I’m not going to tell you what is right here. Instead, let’s do a little exercise.
Imagine you’re at a business networking function or any other function where you’d meet other professionals. As it always does, one of the first questions to come up in The Million Dollar Question. Take a second and answer it now, just the way you’d answer it if you were at one of those functions:
Answer The Million Dollar Question:
“So, what do you do for a living?”
Go ahead, answer it. Now, look at it carefully and ask yourself, “Is my answer to this question helping or hurting my business?”
So, how well did you answer this critical question? I can tell you with absolute certainty without even knowing your answer. Why? Because there’s a simple way to gauge your answer that works wonders every time.
Here’s how it works. Imagine again that you’re at some social function or industry event. Only now, instead of someone asking you The Million Dollar Question, you’ve just answered them and you watch how they respond.
If they reply, “That’s interesting,” then go on to quickly change the subject, you’ve given a business-killing answer. However, if they reply, “Really? That sounds like something I could use,” you gave a hands-down winning answer. Another variation of a reply that indicates a winning answer is, “Tell me more. I have a friend who could definitely use your help.”
Now, do you see why I’m calling it The Million Dollar Question? Because the success of your business depends on you being able to answer 0 with one clear, tight statement—in a way that elicits the second type of response. And you must be able to do it, without fail, every time someone asks you, “What do you do for a living?”
Answers to the Million Dollar Question
that May be Harming Your BusinessLet’s take a look at some of the answers you may have given to The Million Dollar Question. Unfortunately, most of the typical answers professionals give are quite harmful to their practice. Here are just a few examples:
The first, and most common, practice-damaging answer is saying what you are. Ex. “I am a management consultant here in the Pasadena area.” Or, “I am a CPA.” This kind of answer makes the person you’re talking to say to themselves, “Ok. Let’s move on now.”
The second practice-damaging answer is the kill them with my credentials answer. “I’m the Vice President of ACME Financial Consultants, who help small business owners with their finances. Tomorrow I meet with the CEO at Small Businesses-R-Us to make more money with Bonds, Stocks, and Dividends.” This kind of response will probably alienate anyone you’re speaking to.
Next on the agenda is the hard sell, close’em now, take-no-prisoners answer. “I’m in mutual funds. You know the market is performing well right now. Are you invested? Would you like to get a rate of 10% on your investments? Or, are you happy with a 3% CD?” This type of answer makes people hate the very thought of marketing. It totally turns people off because you’re closing before you’ve developed any sense of rapport or needs.
And, for my final example, there’s the mystery man (or woman) answer. “It’s really hard to say what I do. You see I do a lot of different things for my clients and no two of them are alike.” Great, it was nice talking to you. If you ever figure out what the heck you do, I’m sure we’ll have a dazzling conversation.
These are just some of the most common mistakes people make when answering The Million Dollar Question. There are many more that we’ve been subjected to (and used ourselves), but I’m sure you’re starting to get the picture.
If you’d like to stop losing potential clients or get some help on enhancing the performance of The Million Dollar Question for your business, why not hire me for an hour? My 60-minute Rapid Fire Coaching is just what you need to help you achieve a specific result in the shortest amount of time.
For more information on my 60-minute Rapid Fire Coaching Session, visit:
http://www.craigvaline.com/coachingprograms.html
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
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¨ 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
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¨ 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
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Toll-Free Info & Customer Service: (877) 405-0015
info@craigvaline.com · Fax: (626) 507-8504Copyright © 2005-2007 Craig A. Valine. All rights reserved
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Toll-Free: (877) 405-0015
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