Get Known BEFORE Your Book or Speech are Done or Perfect — It WILL Pay Off

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Sassy Soundbites and Audio Highlights from the Marketing with a Book and a Speech Summit

It was a full house at the Marketing with a Book and a  Speech Summit in Seattle in Saturday.  We laughed and learned from the likes of Henry DeVries, Bill Stainton,Mark LeBlanc … and yours truly.   Wish you all could have been in room, and reading this blog post is the next best thing to being there.

They Laughed and Cried and Couldn’t Put it Down:

• Dorthoy Wilhelm: “Dear Nancy and Bill, I just want to thank you two for doing the Northwest proud with your presentations yesterday at the Book and A Speech Summit.  There was so much valuable, usable information, and I think the fact that you could offer material so valuable to experienced speakers and writers, and beginners, leaving out no one in between was nothing short of incredible. It was as if I heard the last pieces I needed to put my new plan together.  Of course, Mark and Henry are wonderful – but you’re our very own!  Thanks again.”
• Jennifer Malocha: ” TREMENDOUS!!!!”
• Anna Goldworthy:  “Once again, Nancy has knocked it out of the park by hosting the Marketing with a Book and a Speech Summit at Verity Credit Union in Seattle. The presenters were top notch, inspiring, and held nothing back. The Summit wildly exceeded our expectations. Thanks to Mark LeBlanc, Henry DeVries, Bill Stainton, and the incomparable Nancy Juetten! The overriding philosophy of ‘write the darn book!’ has put Nina and I on track to publish our book in 90 days!”
• Tammy Lyon Westergaard: “My head is full of incredible info from the Marketing with a Book and Speech Summit today organized by the fabulous Nancy Juetten. I think I’ll just go ahead and outline my book now…

Sassy Soundbites from the Speakers to Propel Serious Authors and Speakers Forward:

• On writing a ‘warm up’ book for seniors:  “You can write a small book with big type.”  — Mark LeBlanc
• Give your audience everything, trust that the rest will work itself out.” — Mark LeBlanc
• “Don’t fall in love with your potential.  Take action.”  — Mark LeBlanc
• “Stay in the game and hurry up.”  Mark LeBlanc
• “Ask yourself this question.  What is my primary speaking topic for a defined period of time?” — Mark LeBlanc
• “When setting fees for keynotes and speaking, consider your fee range based on a variety of variables — length of program, geography, type of organization, number of people in the audience, the number of programs to be offered for the event (keynote, breakout session, etc.), and factors such as whether the organization will purchase books in quantity and how the organization prefers expenses to be handled.”  — Mark LeBlanc
• “Would you be open to a conversation?” is a great way to open the doors to new business.”  — Henry DeVries
• On project scope creep:   “Yes, we can do that.  And there is a cost associated with that.”  — Henry DeVries
• Before inviting questions and answers from the audience, say this:  “I’ve got one more story, but before I share it, what questions do you have for me?”  — Bill Stainton, on making sure every talk ends on a high note.
• “Practice the art of the pause when delivering humor.   And when you start to bomb, slow down!” — Bill Stainton

From me, Nancy Juetten:

• “People don’t want to by your program, they want to buy your results.”
  
• “To attract clients, focus on the who, how and wow.”
• “What can you offer that eases a pain for your audience that they need, want and will pay to get?”
• Of course there was a very sassy soundbite having something to do with what happens when you sleep with a publicist, but you would have had to be there to get the joke.  And it just about brought the house down.  (I wrote a press release for my husband Steve Juetten about Smart Money Rules from a Bellevue Fee Only Financial Planner, inspired by Downton Abbey that earned some very compelling results …)
• If you want to LISTEN TO my 30 minute talk, you can.  Here is the MP3 audio file.
• Here are more tips from yours truly around building your platform now so when your book, speech, either or both are ready, there is a ready audience of fans, followers and advocates standing by to invest wisely in what you have to offer.

A good time was had by all, and I can’t wait to see what happens when everyone takes action on what LeBlanc calls the “will do” list in the next 30, 60 and 90 days.    What is on YOUR list?  Share, and let’s keep you accountable for your results!

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How to Win Clients with Proprietary Research — Thank You Again Henry DeVries

As we count down the days until the Saturday, Feb. 2 Marketing with a Book and a Speech Summit at Verity Credit Union, here is another useful article from event co-presenter Henry DeVries.   Applications for the 40 coveted seats for this summit are being claimed quickly.  If you want to be “in the house” to benefit, click on the link, submit your application, and hurry before every seat is claimed at the “No Fee, No Selling, No Kidding” live event in Seattle.

How to Win Clients with Proprietary Research

By Henry DeVries

So you want to build a reputation to woo and win clients? Some of the quickest reputation-building routes are to host seminars, give speeches and write articles. But why should potential clients listen to you?

“Clients today are bombarded with articles, speeches and seminars that contain generalities and do not distinguish the author or presenter from any of his or her competent competitors,” says former Harvard Business School professor David Maister. In his highly regarded book Managing The Professional Service Firm (a must-read book for all professionals), he discusses how to demonstrate that you have something to offer that your competitors do not.

The answer, says Maister, is a neglected tool: conducting proprietary research on topics of interest to prospective clients. This can be technical or professional in nature, or it also can be general survey research. You can contact potential clients and ask to interview them for an article or book that you are writing.

Examples are abundant of this type of research from professional service and technology service firms. Consider some of these news articles:

• Cleveland and Nashville are among the ten cities that will be hot for hotel development in the near future, says hotel real estate consultants Laventhal & Horwath
• Clients list “creativity” as the most important criterion when selecting a new agency, according to the fourth annual Thomas L. Harris/Impulse Research public relations survey
• Most San Diego employers say they will generally hold the line when it comes to new hiring in the fourth quarter, according to the latest survey by staffing agency Manpower Inc.

Advantages of proprietary research

By conducting proprietary research, you obtain special information that prospective clients can’t find elsewhere. The foundation of client seduction strategies is to give away useful information that demonstrates to clients you have the expertise to help them. Giving away general problem-solving information is good, but it is not good enough.

The information that a potential client most wants to know is, “how does my company compare to others?” There is a hidden fear in the back of the mind of every executive: are we missing out on something? Nobody wants to be behind the learning curve, especially in today’s rapidly changing business environment.

Maister, who reportedly charges $15,000 per day to counsel professional service firms on how to improve their business, recommends surveying a cross-section of executives in a given industry. Ask them to prioritize trends they worry about most, list tactics that are of the most use to them, and name devices they use. Then you can report rankings of the most threatening issues and most popular tactics. For enhanced credibility, some firms get client industry associations to co-sponsor and help guide the research.

Let-it-flow-chart

Remember those lectures in science class about the scientific method? Well, it’s time to dust off that knowledge. The scientific method is about observing, forming a theory (or hypothesis) and then experimenting to test the results. Here is a flow chart to help with your proprietary research studies.

1. From your experience and observations, pick the three biggest problems you solve for clients and turn each problem into a research topic

2. Ask yourself: “Will this research be relevant to potential clients and trade journal editors?”

3. Review the literature of books, articles and published studies that relate to your research topic

4. Collect data through opinion surveys, focus groups, depth interviews and analysis of case studies

5. Analyze the data to draw conclusions and make recommendations

6. Write a summary report on the findings of your research (this can be as simple as a report or as elaborate as a book)

7. Use the research information in your seminars, speeches, how-to articles, Web site content and publicity

Professionals, consultants and technology entrepreneurs can use proprietary research to obtain clients, even during tough economic times.

# # #

 Henry DeVries, marketing scientist and ghostwriter, is an expert on typing and talking: how to maximize revenues by writing books and making speeches.  He speaks to thousands of consultants and service professionals each year, teaching them proven tactics that bring them new clients. Along with his best-selling books — How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett, Self-Marketing Secrets, Client Seduction, and Pain Killer Marketing — the buzz building tools of Henry DeVries have been used to dramatically increase revenues and leverage marketing budgets for two decades. In addition to authoring his own books, he ghostwrites at least four books a year.  His goal is to win the Nobel Prize in Marketing. As a ghostwriter and editor for professionals and consultants, he has worked on 43 book projects in the last six years. His proposals have earned five-figure advances for clients. His latest best-selling book, How to Close A Deal Like Warren Buffett, co-authored with Vistage speaker Tom Searcy, was published by McGraw-Hill in November of 2012 and was the #1 sales and marketing book on Amazon.com.  He has published with the top five publishers, privately published, independently published and association published, and personally knows the dos and don’ts of all current publishing options. He also has relationships with some of the most respected agents in the business and has launched and supported columns in Forbes.com, Inc.com, metro daily newspapers and CBS MoneyWatch helping clients to gain credibility, free publicity and larger reach. To apply for a no-cost seat at his private, invitation-only “Marketing With a Book and Speech Summit” on February 2, 2013 in Seattle, please go to http://www.authenticvisibility.com/marketingsummitfeb22013/

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The Bio Doc is In on Jan. 23 — Join Me and Get Real Help for Your Story

Here is a link with all the details.  Join me and Susan Harrow as “The Bio Doc” offers real help for those who are brave to raise their hand to receive it.

Bye-Bye Boring Bio.  Hello Opportunity!

These calls are super popular and earn rave reviews.  Listen in and experience why for yourself.

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Top Ten Ways to Attract Clients with Books and Speaking — Thank You Henry DeVries

In 1985, I enrolled in an Introduction to Public Relations course at UC San Diego.   That was a course that changed the trajectory of my life.  Henry DeVries was the instructor, and I still remember that first class as if it was yesterday.   There must have been 40 students in that classroom.  By the end of the session, he knew each of our names and something personal about each of us.   And Henry was able to demonstrate that, right then and there, by introducing us all to each other.  

Not long after that, there was this assignment to write a press release about the unusual sex habits of the Komodo Dragons at the San Diego Zoo.   You could say I hit the ball out of the park because Henry wrote a “teacher’s note” on my graded paper that said, “This is very well done.  You will go far.”   I saved that graded paper and considered it powerful fuel to catapult my dream to first create my boutique publicity company and later to create the publicity tools and training company I run today.  Here I am, still a fan of Henry DeVries as a teacher, mentor and friend.   I am proud to share a guest blog post from Henry DeVries to guide you to attract clients with books and speaking.  Henry, Mark LeBlanc, Bill Stainton, and me will be hosting our own Marketing with a Book and a Speech live event in Seattle on Feb. 2.  I hope you’ll consider coming. All details are noted in the link, and a short application is required.

Take it away Henry!

“With a book, you’re able to demonstrate that you understand like no one else the specific nature of the problems that your prospects face,” best-selling author Michael Levin recently told the New York Times. “I always recommend targeting a niche with a book instead of writing for the general public,” added the noted ghostwriter. “Write exactly for the people you’re trying to sell to. Show them that you understand their problems and that you offer solutions. In a book, you can lay out everything that you do to solve these problems. The goal is that if your book is generous enough with information, they’ll say, ‘I could do this on my own, but I would be much better off hiring the author to solve this problem for me.’ That’s the result we’re looking for. That’s why you want a book.”

What groundwork should you lay before you write a book? There is a proven process for marketing with integrity and getting an up to 400% to 2000% return on your marketing investment. At the Marketing With a Book and Speech Summit we call it the Educating Expert Model, and the most successful professional service and consulting firms use it to get more clients than they can handle. The findings of our 8-year, $2 million research study about how the most successful professional and consulting firms use this model were published in our book, Client Seduction.

Here is the Reader’s Digest version. Before you can begin attracting clients, you need to create a marketing genetic code that is attractive to clients. All of your marketing messages, from networking discussions to speeches, will contain the elements of this marketing DNA that positions you as the Educating Expert.

Here are 10 steps that will help you create these all-important marketing genes.

1. Create a business name or a website name that gives potential clients a hint at the results you can produce for them. The worst possible business name or website name is your name. I know, I know, McKinsey and Price Waterhouse are named after the founders. But you are not them. Sorry to say, clients don’t want us, they want results.

2. Write a headline for your website and marketing materials that describes your audience and the results you produce for them. Do this in no more than 10 words. Mine is “We help professionals and consultants attract all the clients they want.”

3. Name your client’s pain. What are your client’s worries, frustrations and concerns that you help solve? This is also called the FUD factor: fear, uncertainty and doubt.

4. Describe your solution or methodology for solving these pains. What process do you follow to produce results? Offering a proprietary problem-solving process that you name and trademark is best. This answers the all-important question in their minds: “Why should I do business with you instead of one of your competitors?”

5. State the common misperception that holds many back from getting results. Why doesn’t everybody do what you named in step 4?

6. Tell your clients what they need to do in general to solve their problem. Pretend they weren’t hiring you and you had to describe the steps they should take for success.

7. List any other benefits they get from following your methods. What other good things do people get when they do what you advise?

8. Elaborate on your track record of providing measurable results for clients. Be specific as much as possible. Use numbers, percentages and time factors.

9. Create a website with free tips articles on how to solve these pains. Each article should be about 300 to 600 words. What’s a good format? Consider the numbered tips approach you are reading right now (easy to write, easy to read).

10. Make prospects an offer of a free special report on your website. You are offering to trade them a valuable piece of information for their email address. Tell them they will also receive a tips enewsletter from you. Assure them you will maintain their privacy and they can easily opt off your list any time they want.

Henry DeVries, marketing scientist and ghostwriter, is an expert on typing and talking: how to maximize revenues by writing books and making speeches. He speaks to thousands of consultants and service professionals each year, teaching them proven tactics that bring them new clients. Along with his best-selling books — How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett, Self-Marketing Secrets, Client Seduction, and Pain Killer Marketing — the buzz building tools of Henry DeVries have been used to dramatically increase revenues and leverage marketing budgets for two decades. In addition to authoring his own books, he ghostwrites at least four books a year. His goal is to win the Nobel Prize in Marketing. As a ghostwriter and editor for professionals and consultants, he has worked on 43 book projects in the last six years. His proposals have earned five-figure advances for clients. His latest best-selling book, How to Close A Deal Like Warren Buffett, co-authored with Vistage speaker Tom Searcy, was published by McGraw-Hill in November of 2012 and was the #1 sales and marketing book on Amazon.com. He has published with the top five publishers, privately published, independently published and association published, and personally knows the dos and don’ts of all current publishing options. He also has relationships with some of the most respected agents in the business and has launched and supported columns in Forbes.com, Inc.com, metro daily newspapers and CBS MoneyWatch helping clients to gain credibility, free publicity and larger reach. To apply for a no-cost seat at his private, invitation-only “Marketing With a Book and Speech Summit” on February 2, 2013 in Seattle, please go to http://www.authenticvisibility.com/marketingsummitfeb22013/.

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Get Ready, Get Known, Get Paid — But How? This Interview REPLAY is Packed with Specifics!

Multiple Emmy Winning Writer/Producer and Rock Star Speaker Bill Stainton interviewed me earlier this year about exactly what I did to create success in my business. It was a very authentic, candid interview. If you didn’t hear it and want to, you can because the REPLAY is available for your 24/7 benefit.  Bill, thanks so much for being such a rock star host. This was among my favorite interviews this year!   I can’t wait to interview YOU in 2013.

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What Do “Chicken Run” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Wizard of Oz” Have to Do with Information Product Success?

Here is an article I wrote with some of my most powerful lessons learned along my information product journey. I hope you enjoy it. 

The Girlfriend’s Guide to Making a Living with Information Products: Real Life Versus the Fairy Tale

1)         When the star chicken in “Chicken Run” had a feeling that life could be better beyond the chicken coop, he was right.  But there are always naysayers.  You have to believe in the journey you wish to travel and keep moving ahead, even in the face of doubt.  It’s not easy to blaze a new trail.  My CPA looked at me sideways when I said I wanted to walk away from fee-for-service public relations consulting to launch an information products and training business.  I knew it would take time to make the transition, and I remained undaunted.  I am glad I made the journey because I how have better control over my own destiny and my income potential than before.  I have more control over my time and my life.  I enjoy my work more.   It’s been a good decision for me.

2)         Take a lesson from “Green Eggs and Ham” and taste a lot of options to find the perfect success recipe.  Your first information product may not be the key to riches. You have to keep revising the recipe to create tools that ideal clients truly need and are willing to spend money to enjoy.   I created a family of do-it-yourself information products over a period of three years before creating Bye-Bye Boring Bio.   This has become the best-selling item at my online store to date  and is the foundation for a suite of products and services that earn raves from clients in my own backyard and well beyond.   Read the rest…

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The $50 Gift at My Online Store Expires at Midnight Tonight, December 1 — Act Quickly to Benefit and Save!

The $50 Gift at my online store expires tonight. Enter 50Gift in the promotional box for any item valued at $97 or more, and you’ll save $50 on the spot.

http://www.authenticvisibility.com/bye-bye-boring-bio-premium
is a popular choice!

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Working Link for “Bio Doc is In” Session Tomorrow

Here is a working link so you can opt in to enjoy tomorrow’s “Bio Doc is In” session tomorrow from 9 – 10:30 a.m.

http://www.mainstreetmediasavvy.com/friday-november-30-from-9-1030-a-m-pst-bio-doc-is-in-office-hours/

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The Bio Doc is In This Friday from 9 – 10:30 a.m. PST – Let the Healing for Boring Bios Begin! Working Link

This is the last of the calls I am hosting for 2012 for “The Bio Doc” for 2012.  If you’d like to listen in, opt in to get the dial in details by following this link.

Buyers of Bye Bye Boring Bio Premium always go to the front of the line to get help.  And you can get yours for $50 less when you apply the “50Gift” code to your order on or before December 2.  This coupon code applies to all new purchases of products or services valued at $97 or more.  Enjoy!

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