Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales

If a significant portion of your new prospects are not currently coming from online, you are missing out. In this podcast, business growth expert David Blaise discusses the importance of getting leads online and the 3 levels of content which will allow you to do so. This month, the focus of our Inner Circle training is about getting leads online. So often, I'm asked about websites: How important is my website? What kind of website should I have? How do I drive traffic to my website? But ultimately, the goal is not to drive traffic to your website, the goal is to attract qualified prospects and convert them into clients. Your website -- in fact your entire online presence -- should be geared toward doing just that: Attracting qualified prospects and converting them into clients. So ask yourself this question, what percentage of your leads are you currently getting online and how does that compare to last year at this time? The answer to that questions is a reflection of your progress; your progress at adapting to life online. In our Inner Circle teleconference this month, we discussed the importance of knowing your numbers (and which numbers you need to know.) We talked about focus. We talked about paid ads vs. free ads, and the fact that online, even free doesn't really mean free. We talked about the need for a lead capture mechanism and having a plan, because just being online and participating in social media is not a plan. If you're an Inner Circle or AIM SmartEQP member, I would encourage you to go back and review the audio or transcript for the teleconference, as we made very specific recommendations in there that you will find extremely helpful. But today in our podcast, I'd like to introduce you to a concept that you can put to work for yourself immediately, and it's related to the fact that there are really three levels of content you should consider when engaging in prospecting, social media, lead generation and getting clients online. The three levels of content are: 1. Free 2. Protected and 3. Paid Let's talk for a moment about each. First, your free content is material you make available at no charge to anyone. So if you have a blog, or a podcast, if you post content to your website that is readily available for all to see, that's your free content. All of your content should be designed to engage people, grab their attention and position yourself at the expert, and this begins with your free content. Do your Facebook posts, tweets and blog posts accomplish these things? Do they engage people, grab their attention and position you at the expert? If not, you're just schmoozing. If you want to take a strategic approach, you will realize that a primary purpose of your free content is to encourage people to register for your protected content. That's the second type of content. Protected. So what is your protected content? Protected content is material that you ONLY make available to people with whom you have established some sort of relationship. For example, if you put out a newsletter (print or digital) to people who sign up for it, that's an example of protected content. They only get it because they signed up. It's not available to just anyone. Protected content can also include things like special reports, white papers, videos and other content that you only make available to people who identify themselves to you -- providing contact information, ideally including at least a first name and email address -- so you can continue to reach out to them. Your protected content should be more in-depth than your free content, to further demonstrate your expertise, position you as the expert and encourage people to take the next step...

It's been a long time since our last podcast, but we're back and ready to go! In this episode, business growth expert David Blaise discusses how wrong activities and poor prospects can cause you to lose business to websites, local competitors and price-cutters. We started off strong with our first podcast back in 2005, making us either the very first, or certainly one of the first podcasts in the promotional products industry. We kept that up until about 2012 and it seemed like very few people were into listening to podcasts. So we began to focus our attention elsewhere. We produced an episode in 2015, but then went silent again, because it still didn't seem like there was enough demand to justify producing additional episodes. But now, since everyone has a smart phone, podcasts are big again, so we're back! If you have a question you'd like to have answered in a future podcast, just go to AskTopSecrets.com Top Secrets Live Training It was a pleasure seeing so many Top Secrets and AIM SmartEQP clients at the training events we conducted at the Expo in Las Vegas, and the ASI Shows in Orlando and Dallas. Trade show season is always a blast and this year was no exception. I'll also be conducting training at the ASI Show in Chicago in July of this year, so if you're planning to come to the show, be sure to attend some of my training sessions or stop by our Booth #1641 and say hello. Losing Business to Websites, Local Competitors and Price-Cutters? Today I'd like to talk to you briefly about one of the topics I covered in Orlando and Dallas: losing business to websites, local competitors and price cutters. If you find that happening more and more often, it's likely you are either: a. engaged in the wrong activities b. targeting the wrong prospects or c. all of the above. Examples of wrong activities include: * Providing phone or email quotes to unqualified strangers. Before you do that, qualify them first! * Setting appointments with non-prospects. Don't waste time on appointments with people who can't spend monty with you! * Focusing more on product research than client research. Because client knowledge is arguably a lot more important than product knowledge. * Providing quotes to price-shoppers. Very often a dead end. * Engaging in most bid processes. If you're great at bids, it may be a good activity for you, but go in with your eyes open. Examples of the wrong prospects include: * Cheapskates * Price-shoppers * Do-it-Yourselfers * Disloyal clients * Unpleasant people I believe that life's too short to engage with them. Leave them to your competitors... So with that said, I'd like to encourage you to think about the activities in your life, and also the people in your life. What are the activities you're engaged in that you may need to change or reconsider? And with whom are you currently spending your time? Are there any changes necessary there? Do you have BAD clients you know you should have gotten rid of ages ago, but you haven't done it because you're not completely confident you can replace them? If so, go to topsecrets.com/tsca and learn more about our six step process for customer acquisition. If we can help in any way, please be sure to visit us online at www.topsecrets.com or if you're a smart, focused, independent distributor doing a reasonable volume of sales and looking to take your business to the next level, check us out at

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