Get More Clients Online

7 Strategies for Building Online Relationships with Industry VIPs

One of the most difficult aspects of being an independent service professional is being seen as credible and as a viable expert in your industry. Until recently, that process often took years and required an investment of much blood, sweat and tears.  Ultimately, it wasn't until you paid your dues that anyone of influence in your industry would pay any attention to you or be interested in speaking with you.  Thus, any hope you had of creating a strategic alliance or joint venture would fall on deaf ears because your potential VIP had no idea of your existence.

However, with the advent of Internet marketing, that time process has been greatly accelerated.  You can now become a person of influence in your industry and become known to other industry VIPs in a matter of months, rather than years.  Here are 7 strategies that will help you build successful relationships with your industry VIPs:

1.  Become the instant guru. One quick way to do this is by recording an audio.  You determine your target market and the top 3 problems that plague your target market.  Then, create an outline detailing solutions to those top 3 problems, and record an audio of yourself speaking about those problems and your proffered solutions.  Create an audio CD and CD cover and have the CD duplicated.  Offer your CD as a client attraction device on your web site and blog.

2.  Create your strategic alliance list.  Write down your ideal list of strategic alliances or product launch joint venture (JV) partners.  If you're just starting out, you might want to begin with a second- or third-tier list (i.e. those who are not as well-known as the industry gurus but have some standing in their own right).

3.  Use Web 2.0.  Use social networking on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter and follow/friend the members of your list.  Interact with them often, commenting on their status updates, videos, etc. Retweet useful information to your followers that they send out to their followers and friends.  Go to their blog posts and comment on those, as well.

4.  Become a customer.  Buy a product from your person of influence. Review the product on your blog or in an article and submit the review through your social networks.  If you purchase a physical product, take a photo of yourself holding the product and send the photo to your VIP or send the VIP a card containing your photo and some word of praise about the product.

5.  Attend live events. Many industry VIPs attend a number of live events each year. Because you're now following these industry VIPs  via social networking, they will tell you what events they plan to attend. Attending these same events and meeting these people in person helps them remember you, especially if you take a photo of yourself with that person and send it to them or post it to your social networking profiles.  Many times you can buy your VIP a drink or take them to dinner and have a 1:1 conversation with them.  Remember, if you don't ask, you'll never know!

6.  Become an affiliate.  If you love your VIPs products, become an affiliate and promote those products to your list.  If you can genuinely talk about how this product has helped you, you'll be of service to your list members and attract the attention of your VIP, as well.

7.  Stay in touch regularly.  Set up a direct mail "stay in touch" campaign.  Rather than using email or social networking exclusively, I think the most effective strategy at this stage is to send a direct mail card or postcard, as those get more attention as they are used far less often these days.

Begin your campaign today to increase your visibility in your industry by connecting with industry VIPs.  You'll soon discover how quickly your business will grow when you're in touch with those in the know!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

8 Secrets to Fill Your Business in 60 Days

Recently I was asked in an interview to imagine that I was starting all over again, and as a newbie, how I would fill my business in 60 days. Things have changed tremendously since I began my online business in 1999, mostly for the better. Most of the steps, however remain the same. Best of all, the strategies I recommend to fill your business are the same ones that can be applied to any business, and then applied again and again to other online ventures. Here are 8 secrets to filling the prospect funnel in your business in 60 days:

1. Success mindset. Don't gloss over this strategy -- it may be the most important of all. If you truly want to succeed in your business and are passionate about what you do, nothing will hold you back. This often means that you have to step out in faith that you'll succeed, and most importantly, believe in yourself as a success. Sure, you may stumble, or even fall, but you must be willing to pick yourself back up and persevere -- even without a safety net hanging under you.

2. Target market. The biggest mistake that business owners make is wanting to sell to everyone. If you've tried this, you have no doubt discovered that casting your net around everyone is a very difficult task. Narrowing that group to a more manageable number will actually serve you much better, believe it or not. If you can identify a smaller group of hungry prospects who are willing to pay for the solutions to the problems that keep them awake at night (or those who are willing to pay for more information about a hobby or interest that occupies much of their free time) AND who are reachable in groups (associations, membership sites, magazines, newsletters, discussion forums or lists, social networking groups, etc.), then you have made a key discovery that will catapult your business forward.

3. Client Attraction Device. You've heard it said time and time again that "the money is in the list." This still holds true today, as well. Without a list of interested prospects to whom you can market, you don't have a business. The quickest way to begin to develop a list is to give something away. Yes, you heard me correctly. If you have content you have already created, dig through that to see if you have something appropriate for your chosen target market.

If not, identify a problem of your target market, and create some content that answers one of those problems. Perhaps it's a checklist, a Top 10 list, an ebook or special report, an audio interview, a podcast, a video -- do whatever is easiest for you. Just ensure that it is in a plug and play format , i.e. don't make your prospect download some weird software that's not commonplace to read and view this material.

Make sure that your Client Attraction Device has some valuable content in it. Nothing is more frustrating to me than to read a free giveaway that only serves to remind me that I have a problem and offers no solution unless I pay for it. Don't be afraid to demonstrate your expertise by giving "how to" information away. Trust me, if you are truly good at what you do, there's no way that you can share everything you know on a topic in one short information product. Your Client Attraction Device starts your prospects on the like, know, and trust road that is imperative for them to travel before they will decide to buy something from you.

4. Email marketing system. You must have some way to collect your prospect's information and a system by which you can stay in contact with them. The best way to do this is by purchasing email marketing services. I use GetMoreClientsAutoresponder.com.  Do not use a free service for this, nor try to send emails out of your Outlook program. If you want to be a serous online business owner, invest in the most important asset in your business -- your email marketing system.

5. Blogsite. A blogsite, which is a website/blog hybrid, is the quickest way to build an online presence. The two most popular blogging platforms, the fee-based  Typepad and open source software,  Wordpress, can be used to create a blogsite very quickly. If you want either of them customized with a particular look or feel, that may take a bit longer and require a greater investment. However, either will work well to get you started, and both will permit you to enter your email marketing system's signup code onto a page so that you can immediately begin to collect contact information from prospects who have requested your Client Attraction Device.

6. Stay in touch. Whether you do this by submitting regular blog posts or publishing an email newsletter (or both), you need to reach out and touch your prospects at least weekly (or several times a week if you are blogging). Give them some insights about what's happening with you personally as well as sharing some aspect of your expertise with them by creating a content-rich article or answering their questions. And, don't forget to sell -- offer some product or service in each email newsletter, or submit regular blog posts that remind your readers about what you are selling.

7. Social networking. Never before have we had the opportunity to connect with others online easily and inexpensively as we do now with social networking. Create profiles on the social network(s) used by your target market, do research to add friends/followers in your target market, and use the status updates to be useful to your followers, i.e. by sharing resources, asking questions, and updating them about how you help clients/customers.

8. Drive traffic to your site. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but my favorite starts with writing an article. Once it's written, I publish it in my ezine, my blog, and to my website and syndicate it on article directories all over the Web through GetMoreClientsArticles.com. Then I have the option of making a podcast with the content; creating a screencast video or "talking head" video from it; writing and submitting a press release; creating a teleclass; create a Q&A radio show interview opportunity; breaking up the points as separate Twitter posts, or Tweets, and tweeting them to my followers; or sharing it on my Squidoo lens or other information-sharing portals. The point here is to work once and profit, profit, profit. Repurpose one article as many ways as you can to drive traffic back to your blogsite and thus get more and more prospects to sign up on your list and ultimately convert them to customers.

The advent of the Internet makes it easier than every to create and promote a business online with very little startup capital. And, if done correctly, the strategies will results in you filling your business in 60 days with eager and willing prospects ready to buy what you are offering.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.OnlineBizU.com

10 Conversation Starters for Introverts Who Want to Network Successfully

Many of you know that I'm a card carrying introvert on the MBTI scale (INFP), and as such, business networking isn't high on my lists of things I love to do.  Or, should I say, networking as it's traditionally carried out -- big room, lots of people, mixing and mingling over drinks and inane cocktail party-like conversations -- is not my favorite activity.  I'd rather have a tooth pulled, I think, than be subjected to this type of networking activity.  However, if you put me 1:1 with someone, or even with a small group of people around a table, I have a good time and make great contacts.

However, organizations around the world seem to believe that the "big group" networking is most effective, so they sponsor many of these events during the course of a year. Sometimes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone to achieve your goals, especially as a business owner, and that can be a very scary feeling.  Consequently, I have dragged myself, sometimes kicking and screaming, to more of these events than I care to count.

I'm here to tell you that if you never choose to challenge yourself in any way, the success you'll have in growing and developing your business will be slow and stagnant, at best. What you resist most is usually what you most need to learn, and resistance around networking can be tied to lacking confidence in yourself and your abilities, or, if you're an introvert, it can tied to not knowing how to handle these types of events in a manner that's consistent with your personality style as an introvert.

What has made this process easier for me is that I go in with the attitude that I'm seeking to build relationships and find out as much as I can about the others with whom I speak, as I do love to help people out by connecting them to other people or resources that will help them accomplish what they want to accomplish.

Now, before going to a "big group" networking event, in an effort to psych myself up, I think of 3-4 powerful questions I could ask the people there to best help me get to know them and what they do and perhaps lay the foundation for an ongoing relationship. This technique is much more effective than talking about sports scores or the latest celebrity scandal, believe me!

Here are ten questions that I've used to help me begin to develop deeper relationships at a networking event:

1. What is the product or service your business provides?

2. Tell me about your ideal client and how I might recognize him/her.

3. What projects are you working on right now?

4. How did you decide to go into this business?

5. What do you find most challenging about (your industry) these days? I fill in the industry name in with banking, computer maintenance, financial planning--whatever is appropriate to the person with whom I'm speaking.

6. Tell me about your community involvement. In what other professional or civic organizations do you participate and what role do you play in the organization

7. How is (some current event) impacting your industry/business right now?

8. What do you most enjoy about what you do?

9. I'd love to hear one of your client success stories--how did you make a difference in the client's life or business?

10. Who would be a good referral for you at this point?

People love to speak about themselves and are flattered when they're asked deeper questions. This technique takes all the pressure off of me, as my focus is the other person. This strategy makes all the difference in the world for me. And, by digging a little deeper with the person, there's a greater possibility that we might find the common ground on which to begin to establish a working relationship. You'll also find that the other person will more than likely want to hear your answers to some of these same questions, so be sure that you've developed answers for them for your own business as well.

So, ye introverts, be not afraid and go forth and network!