By “professional contacts" I mean other contractors of your type, general contractors, and specialty contractors.
On some of these contacts that you know, give them a call and say, “Just wanted to remind you that I’m still in the ____ business and I’m never too busy to take your work."
Go through the phone book and call contractors, or go to contractor websites. There are no shortage of contractors for you to contact. As an example, there are over 25,000 contractors in the Los Angeles area. If your specialty is installing backyard water features, you can make cold calls and say something like “My name is _____ and my company specializes in installing natural ponds, waterfalls and streams and I’m never too busy to take on a new customer." You can also ask, “Who do you have building your ponds and waterfalls now?" Then ask if you can send them some info from time to time and get their email and fax and voila, you have just captured a new identity.
When you are driving down the street and see a new home being built, go in and talk to the contractor and tell him what you do. Give cards to the sub-contractors there working at the job. New construction sites are a great place to make contacts. Ask them if they are considering a pond or waterfall and if possible get them to go through your presentation book.
When you are at a home show go around to all the booths and introduce yourself to all the other contractors there at the show. Even if you don’t have a booth, find the next show in your area and go to it to meet contractors. Hand out business cards and any other literature you may have.
Join the CLCA (California Landscape Contractors Association) or other associations for your contractor specialty. There are at least a dozen CLCA chapters just in Southern California.
Find the local ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) in your area and go to their monthly meetings. Interior designers are now designing exterior living spaces that need ponds and waterfalls. Many of them have a yearly tour of homes. The one in Los Angeles has over 15,000 people that tour 5 homes in a weekend. Build a pond for them at one of the homes and pass your card out to over 15,000 home owners. Building something along the lines of your specialty for one of these showcase houses is a great way to show off your skills and get new business.
Society For Marketing Professional Services
The Book Yourself Solid Always-Have-Something-to-Invite-People-to-Marketing-Strategy is simply the most effective marketing strategy on the planet for the professional service provider.
Your services have a high-barrier for entry. They are rather intangible and expensive (whether you think they are or not) to a potential client. Especially to someone who has not used the kind of services that you offer or to someone who has, but did not have good results with other service providers. Unfortunately, that does happen and you have to manage for that.
People hate to be sold but they love to get invitations. Don’t you? What if I could virtually eliminate your need to sell with this one solution? Would that be exciting to you? I bet it would. In my first year of business, this one strategy literally doubled my income.
When I use The Book Yourself Solid 7 Core Self-Promotion Strategies: Networking, Web, Direct Outreach, Referral, Keep-In-Touch, Writing, and Speaking, instead of trying to sell something through these efforts, I use these self-promotion strategies to create awareness for the solutions I offer to the very specific urgent needs and compelling desires of my target market by making a compelling offer that has no barrier for entry.
Remember, it’s, "who knows what you know" that's important when attempting to Book Yourself Solid. Do you realize how many more clients you could be serving if they just knew what you had to offer? That you had the solutions to their problems, the answers to their questions, and the keys to their salvation?! Alright, maybe I’m getting carried away. But in order to promote yourself, your services and products, your ideal clients need to know what you know on a deep and meaningful level. They need to know that you have loads and loads of invest-able opportunities that are based on their urgent needs and their compelling desires. The best way to do this is to have at least one compelling offer that has no barrier for entry.
I’ve been offering a free tele-seminar every Monday at 12pm Eastern for a while now that helps people think bigger about who they are and what they offer the world (it’ll also help you get more client). I even gave it a name. It’s called The Think Big Revolution. Every week I come to this conference call (which can hold hundreds of people at a time) with a topic that will help those who call in think bigger about who they are and what they offer the world. Sometimes the topics are specifically related to getting more clients and sometimes they are related to other principles and strategies that will help the callers be more successful in business and in life.
But here’s the thing - membership is free And I invite everybody that I meet to join. I’d like to invite you. I bet you’ll love it. And if you don’t you won’t come back. It’s simple. You get an opportunity to participate in something that should add great value to your life and test me out at the same time. And for me, well, it’s fantastic because I don’t have to “sell" anything. I can offer really great value to the lives of potential clients and customers at no risk to them. And then they have the opportunity to ask me for more business help if they are so inclined. There are tons of ways that you can set up this type of ‘always have something to invite people to’ self-promotion strategy. You are only limited by the lining of your imagination.
Oh, if you want to join the Think Big Revolution go to www.ThinkBigRevolution.com and sign up there. See how easy that was? No selling, just a generous invitation.
Of the 93% of my clients who successfully book themselves solid each and everyone one of them used this strategy. And by the way, when I started doing these calls about 6 people came to the call each week. Now, there are over 5000 members of The Think Big Revolution.
Are you starting to get how the ‘always have something to invite people to offer works’? The value you add in your offer meets the needs and desires of the people you serve. This no-barrier-for-entry offer is the first stage of the Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle. Then as you continue to build trust over time by offering additional value and creating awareness for the services you provide, you’ll attract potential clients deeper into the sales cycle; closer towards your core offerings.
Both Terry Morrill & Michael Port are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Terry Morrill has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Family and Landscaping. Terry Morrill is CEO of Pacific Outdoor Living Pro Division (), a distributor of Aquascape pond equipment and products,. Terry Morrill's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.
Michael Port has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Infidelity and Information Technology. Get more clients with Michael Port, expert marketing coach for small business owners and professional service providers. Free small business resources, networking opportunities, articles, advice and coaching on professional services marketing at. Michael Port's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
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