Wednesday, November 07, 2007

You want me to do what?

I was talking with one of my mastermind buddies. I was saying that when I work with my clients, they are always excited about the possibilities. They love the ideas we generate together. We always enjoy our time together. Then the reality sets in, who is going to do all this work? Most of my clients are Entrepreneurs who have limited staff and even more limited time. Each task we generate to be part of their business development strategy seems daunting at best. To me, it is like the saying "it hurts so good." You have to do the work, pay the price, invest the time. But who, where, when, what and how?

The task that is most daunting and needed is a way to communicate with their customers on a regular basis. How do you create an email with a call to action? How do you create an email newsletter? What about the whole email opt-in situation?

I have done my research and read lots of good material from forums and boards. I think for the novice who is serious about creating a culture of high touch marketing, AWeber is the way to go. Their pricing is great, they offer a money back guarantee and a free trial. The have a robust support system and indoctrinate you into their system by demonstrating to you the power of autoresponders the minute you sign up with them. Within an hour you could have an email campaign launched and producing for you. Aweber is the tool I chose to use.

The next question is who? Well to start I suggest you look it over and see what you are comfortable doing. The good news is there are lots of great Virtual Assistants (VAs) out there that can do this for you. They will set it up and update if for you as well as manage it. So it could be really not a burden at all. And the return on investment will be well worth any effort you put into it.

Go check out Aweber.com to see how easy it is to use.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Get Clients Now! It Works if You Work It

I had a great training session today with a group of 8 entrepreneurs. Each was unique in their offerings and business models. They all shared one goal, to get more clients. As we worked through the program and developed the plan, it became clear that they were feeling alone in their struggle to build their business; frustrated and feeling isolated. It was very nice to see the room relax and lighten up as each shared their struggles, goals and aspirations. It was amazing how they all had so much in common even though their businesses are so very different.

I share this because I think there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there thinking, no one understands what it's like to have someone hang up the phone on them. No one knows what its like to get rejected. And yet, I find that cannot be further from the truth. Owning your own business, being your own boss can be very rewarding and also very daunting. The key is to create a community so you are not alone. For me the Get Clients Now! program does just that. The eight people that sat at that table today will always have a connection. Whether they stay in touch or not, there is someone out there that knows what they are going through and is rooting for them. And if they are lucky, if they use the system, they are helping them stay accountable.