Everyone is busy today. Stressed Out. Overwhelmed. Running in a hundred and one different directions. We’re all bombarded with information… ads, phone calls, flyers, emails, promotions, and offers of “bigger and better’, the “latest and greatest”.

With this as the operating landscape, the business who makes life easy wins… and creates wins for clients too.

Clients Want Easy Shortcuts

I’m convinced that everyone’s really just looking for a shortcut. Over the last 9 years of working with clients privately and in groups, the more I offer my products and services, the clearer I am that we all just want an easier way out. Well, not because we’re lazy; it’s more that we’re completely overwhelmed.

Half the time, I feel like I’m drinking from an information fire hose. If you’re anything like me, you’re bombarded, and I literally mean bombarded by information, all day long. There’s unwanted information (ads and pop-ups) and also WANTED information, stuff you asked for or paid for, and actually do want to get (like something you’re trying to learn to improve yourself or your business). I didn’t even mention the hundreds of emails I get per day that I can’t always respond to, even though my intention is there.

Problem is, we’re turning into an “attention deficit” society. Blame it on whatever you want (the media, the Internet, too many TV stations, spam, satellite radio channels, TiVO, etc.), we all don’t have enough attention to spread out to do everything we want, including the stuff we don’t. So we sometimes go into inaction mode and don’t do ANYTHING.

My motto has always been, “A strong focus now creates a different future later.” However, it’s getting harder to keep focused, harder to make decisions, and mental concentration on just ONE thing seems to be getting more and more rare (multitasking USED to be a good word in my book, but now I’m wondering if it’s actually detrimental to success).

But not just for me. For my prospects and clients too. I’m noticing the people I work with also have WAY TOO MUCH to pay attention to. In addition to their own clients, they’ve got families, responsibilities, email, bills, and personal and professional development they need to focus on. And we haven’t even talked about marketing yet. No wonder it’s the last thing they focus on!

I’ve noticed a trend. It’s called,

“Help-me-I’m-overwhelmed-with-info-and-I-need-help-to-make-sense-of-it-all!” In an age when we all have instant access to a ridiculous amount of information, making sense of it all and putting it all into place seems to be the hardest thing. And then we beat ourselves up about it.

That’s where you can come in. You see, because your prospects are inundated, overwhelmed, and unable to really focus on what they want, your job can now become that of making sense of it all for them. You can help them carve out the time in their day to achieve what they want, cut their learning curve to its barest essential, while helping them put one foot in front of the other. That’s what I do, among other things.

If you can communicate that in your materials, you’ve got it made. Show prospects you’ve got a system, that it’s foolproof, that it’s clear and easy to follow and (of course) that they’ll get results from it-well, with that, you’re way ahead of the pack and you can almost guarantee your success.

If you can reassure clients that you’ve got the shortcut, and you’ll help them implement whatever it is they’re after, you win. And they win. And then you win again. Here’s what I mean. If you can show them it’s easy to work with you, then they sign up with you (you win). Because you help them make sense of it all, they start seeing great results (they win). Once they see great results because it was so clear-cut and easy, they can’t help but tell others about you in a Raving Fan manner (you win again, because you get a ton of referrals and kick-butt testimonials that bring in new clients.)

Your Client Attraction Assignment:

Notice how you present what you offer. Is it convoluted? Does it seem like a TON of work? Are you making it easy for them or making it seem like they’ll work really hard and spend a lot of time doing it?

Start tweaking how you present what you do so that it becomes a paint-by-numbers approach. Show them that it’s really a step-by-step process, a one-step-in-front-of-the-other method. You’ve got nothing to lose in making everything simpler and everything to gain (lots of clients).

Step-by-step processes help clients get out of their own way and get you results quickly. Clients always tell me that, instead of feeling like they’re drinking from a fire hose of information, my materials are like drinking from a ladle. When creating a product, my goal is always on taking the FLOOD of information out there and laying it all out into a simple, easy to implement way that really gets results.

If you’ve been overwhelmed with Client Attraction, not knowing where to start, then it’s time to take action and invest in a step-by-step marketing system that will feel easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ avoids all the unnecessary stuff and instead gives you the most important things to do to find your niche, get out there in a big way, set up simple, solid systems, so you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. So easy. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

© 2008 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System®, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.

Dave Webb of Mission Driven Marketing started a Twitter conversation about this post at Business Week that’s stuck in my head all day:

Meet the Antipreneurs

They’re against advertising, corporate America, and globalization. That’s good for business

Oh really?

First of all Dave, having spent 23 years in Colorado, I always feel a special bond with my online Denver friends. Plus, I love your tagline: “Make a profit. Make a difference.” Thanks for raising my blood pressure in pointing out this article.

Alright… here we go…

I make no apologies. I’m in business to make a profit. What drives me is my idea, my vision of how the profits from my business give me the opportunity to make a difference. It’s not a responsibility I take lightly. It’s something that’s very personal and highly motivating to me. A cause greater than simply making money for my own comfort and ego satisfaction. But, to put it out front and use it to market my business, while something I could do just as easily as some animal-loving Vegan shoe store, seems somehow crass and shallow.

And what I sure as hell don’t need is Business Week, a big business media dinosaur, preaching to me about how to run and market my damn business. And trying to play some dumb-ass, shallow guilt-trip on me.

I’m an entrepreneur and a free market capitalist.

Anti-preneurs? Real cute. Real clever. It sucks.

Now, in addition to all the taxes, regulations, insurance, and all the other productivity sucking stuff I must do to stay in business, somehow I need to work in “politically correct” capitalism?

So let me see if I understand your point here Jeremy Quittner… if I “advertise” my business, yet give a larger percentage of my profits to the local battered women’s shelter, I’m less socially responsible somehow than the business who exploits word of mouth with a targeted group of wealthy, and guilt-ridden, environmentally-conscious hypocrites?

BTW Business Week, nice touch on the hyperlinks to Nissan and Nike, plus loading up your page with banner ads and Adsense. Sure makes me want to come back real soon… Hey, at least you had the sense of context not to interrupt me with the usual forced- play vid of some damn gas-sucking SUV ad before I could read the article. But, your freaking annoying Verizon Video kept loading as I’m trying to read the article. Oh yeah, great job in throwing a little link luv at the “Anti-preneurs” you profiled.

Business Week: Zero street cred on this topic. This piece is another dumb, lame old media attempt at linkbait.

Psst, Business Week, let me tell ya a little secret…

You wanna know the truth about why small businesses don’t advertise?

They don’t know how to do it effectively. It takes a marketing pro not to piss off your prospects, yet still drive sales.

Never mind. You guys don’t understand. Or care.

________“Inside the Ropes”________

__________________________________________

Steve Yastrow has acquired a singular reputation among business decision makers as an outside partner who challenges organizations to take a fresh look at themselves from the inside out. He offers clear action steps to improve business performance through Brand Harmony and ideal customer relationships.

As a consultant, speaker, and writer he encourages his clients, audiences, and readers to reinvent how they connect with customers. Steve pinpoints the make-or-break ideas that will unleash the full potential of the business other than brute-force marketing, cost cutting, and ruthless deal making. He focuses on building a strong internal alignment that creates powerful and compelling beliefs in the minds of employees and customers.

Turning customer loyalty upside down

The most astute comment on customer loyalty I have ever heard was uttered during a workshop by Carlo Stuart, who works banquets at The Hotel Allegro in Chicago.

I was leading the participants in a discussion of what it means to be engaged in the moment with a customer. Carlo said, “It means I’m loyal to my customer.” I asked him to explain. “It’s like tunnel vision,” he continued, moving his hands in parallel from his face to where his customer would be. Carlo was describing how he gives complete focus to a customer when speaking with that customer.

We usually think of “customer loyalty” as something our customers do for us. But in a JFK-esque twist, Carlo turns this around and describes it as something we do for our customers.

No wonder so many “customer loyalty” programs are really nothing more than customer bribery programs. If the company behind a loyalty program is only focused on how they benefit from customer loyalty, they’ll have to pay off customers for more business. What a fresh idea to think about how your loyalty benefits the customer. You can almost hear Carlos saying, “Ask not what your customers can do for you…”

One of my clients, DentalCare Partners, operates a collection of 80 dental offices, known as “DentalWorks.& quot; Of 200 dentists, the number one producer of business is Joti Johal, of Gastonia, North Carolina. She’s extremely busy, seeing patients non-stop, day after day. It’s not uncommon for Dr. Johal to have patients in three chairs at once, with her working on one, while another is being prepped for a procedure and the third is waiting for novocaine to kick in. I asked Dr. Johal’s office colleagues what her secret is. Shelly, manager of the DentalWorks Gastonia office, said, “When she talks with a patient, she gives complete focus to that person. The patient can tell that they are the only thing in the world that Dr. Johal cares about in that moment.”

Carlo Stuart and Joti Johal teach us a valuable lesson. If you want your customer to be loyal to you, first focus on how you can be loyal to your customer.

It is obvious to customers when they are means to our ends. If they perceive that we view them merely as instruments for transaction, they will view us similarly in return. The loyalty they give us will not be real loyalty. It will be nothing more than barter. There’s nothing wrong with barter, but it isn’t loyalty. Loyalty lasts, bur barter is only as good as the current transaction.

It is also obvious to customers when we are loyal to them. Show your customers that your interest is them, and not what you get from them, and you automatically earn their loyalty in return.

Take Notice

With all the regulations and limitations on the above loyalty card, who do you think is really benefiting, the customer or the company? This card seems to be a way to trick customers into buying more smoothies, not reward them!

Think of the loyalty programs in which you participate as a customer. These companies are trying to encourage you to be loyal to them…but are they showing any loyalty to you? When they engage with you, do you have the feeling that they are 100% directed towards that engagement, or are they more focused on what they can get from you?

How do you compare?

Now, think of your company, and consider how your organization views customer loyalty. In addition to encouraging your customers to be loyal to you, do you and your colleagues focus on being loyal to your customers?

Try this

In your encounters with customers over the next week, practice being loyal. Think of Carlo Stuart and Joti Johal, and, with their inspiration, offer your full attention and display your complete interest in the customer. Ask not what your your customer can do for you…

yastrow.com
steve@yastrow.com

________“Inside the Ropes”________

__________________________________________

http://flickr.com/photos/rstebbing/

Well, maybe “hate” is a bit strong, but as Alan Rosenspan explains here today…

People Don’t Like Marketing

And they used to love us…

According to the Direct Marketing Association, people receive over 5,000 marketing messages a day. They appear in their mailbox, inbox, TV, cell phones, movie theatres, radios, public bathrooms, airports – the list goes on and on.

It’s like Visa; except it’s everywhere you don’t want it to be.

This dislike of marketing is relatively new, but it has spawned new products and even new technologies such as TIVO, Satellite Radio, spam filters, and more. That will only increase in the future.

Before I talk about what you can do about it, let me share a letter that I came across recently. I can’t vouch for it’s authenticity, but it rings true to me.

The letter was from an 86-year old woman to her local bank manager:
_____________________________________________________

Dear Sir:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month.

By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it.

I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years.

You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.

I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, — when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity, which your bank has become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contract, which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.

I will issue your employee with a PIN number, which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:

IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH

#1. To make an appointment to see me
#2. To query a missing payment.
#3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
#4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping
#5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
#6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
#7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier.
#8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.
#9. To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.
#10. This is a second reminder to press* for English. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year?
Sincerely,
Your Humble Client

_____________________________________________________

What can you do to make people not resent your marketing?

There’s really only one answer, and that’s to add value to every communication.

* Give them information they can use.
* Treat them with intelligence and respect.
* Show them you value their time as much as they do.
* Focus on them, and not on you.

Alan Rosenspan is the president of Alan Rosenspan & Associates, an award-winning direct marketing creative and consulting firm. You can (and should) subscribe to his newsletter and receive his Free Report, “101 Ways to Improve Response” at alanrosenspan.com.

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

Invest 70 minutes of your time and listen to this audio from Chris Haddon and David Garfinkel.

It’s a mini-Recession proof plan for your small business.

You’ll learn how:

• Cutting your “good marketing” speeds up your slowing down.

• That people are still buying things, they just are more careful. What do you need to do in response?

• Cutting your price is one of your weakest strategies.

• With today’s online marketing tools of social media, audio, and video, you are armed to win the Recession battle.

What’s your plan to Recession-Proof your business?

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

Seth’s posts usually get me thinking about my marketing strategy… (I like posts that raise more questions than provide me with quick-hit answers)

In promoting your blog, products, and services…

Do You:

1. Keep repeating, and repeating, and repeating. Drive home your message as long as you’re rolling in the cash?

2. Offer up interesting and educational information to keep your core clients coming back for more?

Is your business focus on fast and easy current income?

Or…

Are you looking to build long-term “equity” relationships with your clients?

What’s your online (and offline, if you play in that world too) marketing strategy?

…even (and perhaps especially) on your “Freebies”?

Yep, Cory Miller, the designer of this “Direct Response Web 2.0 Free Word Press Theme” I use here…

“Gets It!”… and practices exceptional service. Before the sale.

Within less than 5 minutes of posting on his blog about a problem on my blog, Cory visited my blog, took a peak, and shot me an email.

Cory, big props to you…

Hey Marketing- Tools and Tips readers…

Show Cory some love.

Visit his blog, Corymiller.com

Take some time and look around. Read his posts. Share your comments. Subscribe to his feed.

Take a serious look at his products and services.

(BTW, Cory works with some of the top online marketers… guys like:

Ray Edwards

Michel Fortin

Duct Tape Marketing)