Taking Inspiration Global is the title of my interview with Inspire TV founder Rainer Dunkel.  He followed his passion to be a catalyst for positive change.

inspire.TV is based on four prominent pillars for success:

1. industry expertise
2. a trusted reputation
3. a worldwide mission of service, and
4. accessibility to the masses 

I just heard about a new product (full disclosure, that I have not yet tried) which sounds like a great solution for project/product launches and content management for coaches and consultants. It allows you to take your content; documents, audio, video and create modules, which you mix and match for each client’s needs. Sounds amazing.

Check it out here… (Not an affiliate link)

You need to know.

So what is your value proposition? What do you offer that will have your ideal clients running to your business? Two things are critical to answer these questions and make your business a magnet for your ideal customers:

1) Identify your ideal client/customer.

• The greater your clarity regarding who needs what you offer and why, the greater the likelihood of attracting your ideal customers.
• What are the critical characteristics of  your ideal customer?
• What do they care about?
• How do they behave?

2) Write your communications with these customers in mind.

This means craft things like your web copy, your sales letters, and your elevator pitch with their problems and needs at the center. Then you close with the fact that your business solves these challenges.

Most people won’t recognize the solution they need. What they will recognize are the problems they’re having. Speaking in terms of their problems is a much better way of capturing their attention.

Understand, your value proposition is based on the value you can deliver to the client. By crafting your messages based on solving their problems, you communicate how you can create value for them. Try these two steps as a start.  Let me know how it goes, I love getting your feedback!

I’ve decided to stop fighting the funk. Like any other pain we experience, funk is a warning signal that something is out of alignment. It may feel like a desire to be alone, edginess or just a bad attitude. When the funk steps up in your life, know that its time to take a break.

Everything natural has cycles; flowers, the moon, the seasons – why wouldn’t we? If you pay attention you’ll probably discover a pattern. So that when the funk shows up, you’ll know that it’s a good time to take a step back.  Funk time is a good time to allow yourself to receive. To be supported as opposed to doing all the supporting. Have a cup of tea; take a walk; go to the gym; take a nap….

I’m discovering with many of my clients that the practice of healthy receiving is a foreign subject. We need to do both – give and receive to maintain balance.

So, who takes care of you? Who will you allow to support you? Have you asked for help recently?

Asking for help is not weak, it’s really the only way to succeed.

You need a profit pathway

One of the most frustrating things for entrepreneurs is to have a vision of where we want to go, proceed to throw all energy, money and tactics at that vision, only to marginally move our revenue figures.

There’s a tool that can help you get a grip on what’s happening so that you can conserve your resources, use them to your highest good, and make more mon.ey.

It’s called a profit pathway.  I built it like a staircase, where each bar is like a range of products or services in your business.  The first bar, or in this case, stack of coins, is what you do for free;  activities that you engage in to broaden awareness and simply share your expertise. Think of it as goodwill. These items could be newsletters, public speaking, white papers, etc.

The subsequent bars represent “bands” or ranges of products that you offer with increasing price points (for service providers this also means increasing access to your personal time). So that, your customers pay more, for more of your time, or greater levels of expertise. You don’t have to have 6 bars, you could have fewer.

A range of bands might include:

• Free
• Lower Price Point with No personal contact; books, work books, self study courses
• Mid-range; group courses or more specialized products
• High range; private sessions or highest quality

The key is to actually build from the top down, focusing on current clients first. Its always easier to upsell an existing client, than to cultivate a new client. This approach to nurturing what you already have, is a great way to move your revenue needle with less effort but greater effect!

You have a product or service that does something. What I want to know is can you get me there? Can you get me where I need to go?

So often, as entrepreneurs we feel compelled to sell ourselves to you. Trying to pump you up with all our credentials, process overviews and oh yea, a list of the things we do. But do you want to know what consumers really want to know?

Consumers want to know if you can get them to salvation. To the benefit. To relief. Can you solve the problem? Here are 3 mistakes that you want to stop making:

1. Stop expecting consumers to believe your list of credentials as the reason to choose you. Lots of people list credentials some real, some manufactured. What they really want to hear are testimonials from the customers who love you.
2. Stop hoping that through digital osmosis, customers are going to understand the benefits of working with you. Consumers today are not taking much time to discern or decipher sales messages. So you must go straight for identifying the problems your product/service addresses and then benefits of solving that problem with your company.
3. Stop trying to sell based on your process. You can share your sequence once they’ve said “yes.” Otherwise you’re likely to lose their focus and attention. See reason #2 above.

You have the power to create dramatic change right away. Show them that you can get them there.

For most entrepreneurs, traditional advertising like TV, radio, and print ads are not an option. Generally, there’s no budget for it. I say, that’s just as well.

Traditional advertising was designed to send messages to a broad audience in the hopes that the target consumer would catch it. Advertisers have a formula that determines the number of times the “target audience” needs to see an ad in order to retain it. Usually it’s something like 3 or more times. What entrepreneur can afford to do this 3 or more times?

There’s a better way for entrepreneurs. 

To cut through the clutter and send potent messages to your ideal client you must:

1) Refine your core value proposition – this is messaging your core deliverable

2) Leverage what’s unique about how and why you work the way you do – this ties to your mission

3) Insert yourself in the world of your ideal client – this allows you to build relationships. Relationships are sticky. People like doing business with friends.

Regardless of how to get to this point, you must get here if you want your business to survive. Your message must be relevant and in alignment with who you are as the business owner, what is unique about what you deliver and how, and pointed at your ideal client.

If you’re ready and need to make these things happen in your business. I’m inviting you to be my guest at a teleseminar focused on step #1 above. Its called, “Is how you introduce your company closing the door to new business? Learn the 5 BIGGEST MISTAKES Entrepreneurs make when introducing their company.” To register follow this link

Then lead with it!

Why You Have To Name Your Expertise

People love experts.

They love experts who specialize in what they need, when they need it. Everyone, yes everyone, has an expertise. It may not be credentialed or certified but its something you do with precision and success over and over again. Want to know how to name yours? 

1)  Think about what you do in your work day, especially those repetitive tasks. Which are you really good at? Which do you also enjoy? Those tasks/actions that you are really good at AND enjoy point you to the name of your expertise.

2)  Refine that expertise. Clean up the language and think about how you can leverage it in your sales communication.

It’s not enough to just be really good at something because without the enjoyment your sales process becomes ten times harder. Have you ever tried to sell something that you were lukewarm about? Have you ever had to listen to someone try to sell something that they felt lukewarm about. PAINFUL.

Do yourself and your potential clients a favor, name your expertise. Then lead with it.

If you want to learn how to refine your expertise and turn it into a value proposition or use it to create a conversation-starting introduction, sign up for my complimentary teleseminar, “Is how you introduce your company closing the door to new business?” Register Here

Put your money where your mouth is, offer a guarantee.

Do you offer a guarantee? If yes, fabulous.  If no, why not? Guarantees are one of the best ways to neutralize objections to purchasing your product. The higher the price of your product or service, the more valuable your guarantee becomes.  Guarantees do a few things for your potential clients and you…

For your customer a guarantee demonstrates:

1)      Product/service integrity

2)      Your willingness to build a relationship with the customer

3)      Confidence in your work

For you a guarantee inspires you to:

1)      Show up for  your customer

2)      Commit to the quality and deliverable you’re trying to sell

3)      Build your own confidence

There are a few types of guarantees that you could offer:

• A Value guarantee, “If you don’t feel that this is worth every penny ….”
• A Results guarantee, “I promise if you_(i.e. follow instructions)_______ then _(result)______”
• A Performance guarantee, “I promise you’ll experience/receive ______”

Pick one, put yourself out into the world in a bolder way,  and then close a few more deals.

Here’s mine if you’re curious.