An Innovative Way to Get in Front of Clients

I had to smile today as I enjoyed my green tea and a scan through my emails.  I love when people start taking innovative actions when times get tough.

Humans never move when they are comfortable but watch them go when times get tough.

I loved what we can learn from an innovative way hotels are getting more guests in beds.

As it gets harder to sell hotel beds as less people travel the globe due to factors such as technology advances bringing people together virtually, a greater consciousness of the ecological damage the travel industry brings to the planet and overall the financial crunch means less spending in general.

So hotels are needing to get smarter.


We can learn a lot from this industry because therapists have exactly the same problem hotels have.  At the end of each day, any beds not filled are never available to sell again on that day.  Yes they can sell tomorrow’s beds, but today’s beds are never available again.

Treatment rooms or consults are the same.  If you didn’t fill yesterday’s diary - the opportunity to get revenue from those spots has gone.  So watching the way hotels think and market is a good habit to get into.

Springwise had a link to a service that scans twitter and picks up on destinations people have mentioned in their tweets.  The hotel sends those people some local area knowledge or a discounted room offer to that twitter account. 

Some hotels are reporting a 9% uptake on their direct twitter offers.  This is huge as most direct campaigns would celebrate if they got a 2-3% response.

Why the big difference?

They are adding value, saving their customers time and solving a problem for their clients. 

In some instances they are solving a problem before the client even thought too hard about fixing it.

This is marketing genius which you can replicate on a smaller scale.

It's our equivalent of dropping a flyer on the bedside table of someone who is about to get out of bed and complain of an ache and pain or emotional deficiency.  They are delivering a solution at a time of pain. 

Humans are lazy creatures.  

In most instances if a suitable solution comes their way at a price and service level suitable to them .... they will most likely take it.

The reason this campaign by hotels is working is because this is very targeted marketing.  The hotel knows its customers well and presents only one solution to their problem - a room in a hotel in the city they are visiting in the near future. 

Its your classic WHO & WHAT situation.  They know WHO their customers are and WHAT those customer want.

These hotels are getting under the noses of people solving problems AND saving them time.

How can you do that?

If you are very clear WHO you work with - simply figure out where your people are hanging out - what their problems are on a daily basis and get yourself, your message and your offerings in front of them, at a time when they are thinking about their problem.

People with a certain problem start seeking solutions in similar places

The golden question to answer is .... where do your people hang out????


But an even better question is ..... who else has my people?  This is the question the hotel has answered - they have figured out that their customers tweet their travel plans out to their network. 

Do people tweet or facebook their problems on a daily basis - YOU BET!  If you exactly solve their particular problem, then a simple google search to see if that person has a public profile and you could drop one of your flyers in the post to them.  It can be that simple.  If you are really brave you could make the offer directly in the post they've made - but truly I find that a bit intrusive.  You must discern what's the right level of contact for you. 

People leave clues everywhere - you need to get your intuitive super power glasses on and start seeing those opportunities everywhere.

It is so much easier to sell something to someone who wants what you’ve got.  You’ve just got to get very creative about figuring out where the problem YOU solve occurs in THEIR life.

For instance, if a child is having a hissy fit on the supermarket floor and the parent looks up and sees a flyer on the notice board for a hissy fit behaviorist or a golfer walks into the club room from a round of golf and finds a person who can improve their swing by loosening up their muscles - I reckon they will be pretty interested in at least hearing about your services.

Where are your people and what are their problems?

You can’t fly with eagles when you keep walking with turkeys

I feel like it has been a mad journey since October 2010 when I first made the shift to Infusionsoft, arguably the worlds greatest customer management system.

Then secondly I migrated my whole office from PC to Mac in December 2010 - I even have an iPad now.

Those who have followed my journey will notice I always take a quantum leap when I do things!

As usual I was overly optimistic about how hard this would be, and didn't fully factor in how long it would take. Infusionsoft was a beast of a thing to get set up, and I purchased just before they introduced all their cool new wizards. But now it's rolling I sit here daily and marvel at some of the things it does. I am really excited what it can do and I look forward to really being of much greater service to my customers going forward with all this awesome technology.


A strange thing occurred though as the technology bedded down.

As I started to get used to the new Macs (did I mention I have an iPad now) it has forced everything to a higher standard.

Same with Infusionsoft.

These companies can afford to employ some of the greatest innovative minds on the planet. So you either get into their mindsets and start to think like they do, or you have to return back to your old systems. I'm not a go back kind of gal!

There is a golden rule in the personal development industry that says, hang out with the people you want to be like, and a bit of them will automatically rub off on you ....... if you let it!

Another way of saying that is - you are the sum of the top 5 people you hang out with or even more simply - you are who you hang out with.

Or even more crudely from the Daggermouth song:

“You can’t fly with eagles when you keep walking with turkeys”

I have found this to be absolutely true, but until now, I hadn't fully realised that technology could have the same effect.

But its not just technology, it relates to everything.

When I've had clunky cars - I've been clunky myself. When the house is a mess - usually I have too much going on and no time to tidy up and the mess starts to drain me.

Your business is the same, if you aren't giving it the time, energy and effort it deserves, and implementing EVERYTHING I tell you, then you get naff results.

The only way to change a situation is to change something.

In the Attraction Program, one of the principles is to Tolerate Nothing. This involves going through and looking at every single thing that isn't working for you, from the button that is missing on your blouse, to really big things like relationships that aren't working for you.

Initially it seems a little bit negative to make a list of negatives!

But of course you become more attrACTIVE when you get more active and start changing or fixing the things on the list. So the idea is to switch the list to positives by systematically removing the negatives.

When I turn on "Big Mac" (with a 27 inch screen - bigger than my tv!) every morning, I save the TWENTY minutes it used to take for my PC to fire up. Big Mac is ready to go in under 30 SECONDS - I still marvel at that!

Imagine that: 365 days x 20 minutes = 7,300 minutes each year saved.

That's a whopping FIVE full days a year I DON'T sit watching a PC boot up. And no I didn't sit and watch it all the time, I would turn it on and go put the kettle on. That lead to multi-tasking and often I got drawn off to do other "stuff".

The difference is now, when I show up in the office - I am focused and working immediately. I find also I am thinking more clearly, planning more and getting more things done with ease, simply because my equipment is good to go when I am.

I am writing this on my iPad (did i mention i have one?) in bed, listening to the wind play through my trees and watching the sun send dabbled light into my room and enjoying the blue skies. Does that energy inspire and transmute to me - I'm reckoning it does.

I had been tolerating the waste of time and need to always be plugged into mains power for over a year as my PC died an agonising death.  That toleration was going on everyday as it crashed and burned it's way through the work load.

No wonder I was getting worn out!

I had been tolerating this for a very long time and it had been silently draining my energy.

Maybe do an audit of the things you have been tolerating and start cleaning them up as time and your budget allows.

Just about as attractive as my new iPad I reckon ........ did I mention have one :)

The Price of Perfection

Perfection is a wonderful thing when harnessed properly.

For most however, it is the personal curse they carry that stops them achieving all they could.

Perfection in and of itself is fine. Whilst standing alone it does not harm. Its when it gets between your ears that the problems start arising.

Perfection is the best friend of the “little voice” - that one that keeps telling you that you aren’t good enough.

So often I witness people who want something to happen really badly, but they spend so much time and energy waiting to get something perfect before they release it. What inevitably happens is that the project either stalls or they sabotage their success by creating a diversion around the release of their project.

Once sabotaged, it will never get to see the light of day, nor will it ever get to the right people to stamp their approval of perfection on the project.

I’ve seen people make themselves physically sick so they don’t have to go on stage. I’ve seen people manifest family disasters so they don’t have to release a project. I’ve seen people just disappear off the radar because their need for perfection overcomes their ability to deliver the so called levels of perfection they have set for themselves.

This behaviour is bogus because in business its not up to you to determine what is or is not perfect.

The people who are going to BUY what you are creating are the ones who determine whether it is perfect or not.

It becomes a very simple equation. 

If your customers buy your product or service or book a treatment with you and they don’t complain or they rebook or they buy something else in the future. Then your offering was perfect because it met their needs.

In business the only way you can figure out if your product or service offering is perfect - is to release it.

So why keep persecuting yourself trying to make everything perfect, when really you aren’t the best person to sit in judgment. Wouldn’t it be better to just get that product out to your customers and if it falls short of perfect, you can always tweak it until it is.

Some of the best things I’ve ever created took two or three goes to get right. It was the testing and tweaking and feedback that came from my customers that invariably created the perfection.

Of course I’m not asking you to put anything sub-standard out into the marketplace. All I’m asking is that you at least let it have a chance to be seen by others.

So what are you waiting for - get that thing out that you’ve been waiting to get perfect - dust if off - get it to a “good enough” standard and release it.

You might be surprised how perfect the imperfection in that action really is!

The power of silence to solve a problem

An old boss had this annoying theory called "do nothing". He used it a little too often for it to be effective but as I reflect back he was certainly onto something.

There are many times when action is the answer, but there is also a place for doing nothing or saying nothing.

Silence can be our friend in many ways.

As a speaker sometimes the most powerful moments are created in the space without words where you give the audience time and space to digest what you've just said.

In the movies sometimes the scariest moments or most poignant moments are when absolutely nothing is happening on screen.

The silence we create in meditative moments often gives us the clarity to take ourselves to the next level.

We rarely meditate on our business though and it can be a powerful tool when solving business problems.

My Back Deck Office

We also don't need to be on a mountaintop to meditate. Sometimes it can be as simple as making a cup of herbal tea and moving to a different spot. I have a back deck that allows me to sit quietly with my trees. When I remember to sit out there - solutions seem to arrive a lot faster.

Silence can be our friend in many situations.

A speaker uses silence to bring their thoughts together while the audience "simmer" in the soup of what has just been delivered.

My old boss when confronted with something he didn't necessarily have an answer for or an immediate solution to the problem or it was just too hard - did nothing in the hope the problem went away. Most times it did!

Our busy, overwhelmed techno world bombards us with constant information. We take in so much all the time and rarely get the chance to simmer on anything.

But doing nothing all the time is not the solution.

I know from my forensic days back in corporate that doing nothing can cause the worst nightmares, so it is important to not relegate everything to the "do nothing" pile. But even in those nasty corporate situations I often found the answer to problems no one else had been able to fix, simply because I was only focused on one thing. I was frequently relegated to the darkest corner in the office, often working solo. It meant I was surrounded in silence and could get perspective on the problem and had time to look at all the puzzle pieces. I find if have all the required information and you focus on something long enough, the answer comes clear.

So in the action vs silence conundrum it's about finding the balance.

That balance is frequently achieved when we go to silence first, gather our thoughts - then take the correct action.

Getting things right the first time is certainly a gift and going to silence and really thinking and planning out the next step means you often short circuit the problem you are about to create by going out with a firm path in mind.

Silence helps find that path.

Silence also helps if you have a problem. Going within, listening to your heart, gathering ALL the puzzle pieces (not just the ones you want to look at) and allowing the magic within the void that silences creates to do your talking, will frequently bring a solution.

Silence allows us space to gather our thoughts, gain clarity and calm our senses.

What problem do you currently have that could benefit from some silence?

I have just found and downloaded an awesome new app for my iPad.  It is called ShowMe. 

You can see my first attempt at a presentation here:



The app promises to learn and teach anything.  Its an open learning platform but also will be incredibly useful for me to use as an enhancement for teleclass learning and additional resources for ebooks.  You can make your lessons public or private and sharing is via a link or an embed code as I've used above.

It really is as easy as it looks.  In this first example I was simply using my finger to draw on the screen of my iPad.  I can see how it would quickly allow me to show a concept to a client or enhance a message I am trying to get across by adding audio and visuals to the way people can learn.

It is fast to upload and once I get it onto the ShowMe website, then it is easy to share.  I can chose to make the presentation public or private and sharing on social media is just one click away.

This is a fun, fast and easy way of layering the way that we share information which may in many cases be the difference between someone easily absorbing a concept or walking away confused.

Now if only I could draw :)

GET YOUR COPY OF MY NEW FREE REPORT

Getting started is the hardest part of growing a small business - the euphoria of being your own boss, doing it your own way and being able to run your own ship quickly wears off when you realise your great ideas and methods aren't manifesting the same glory in your bank account!

I created the NO GO to GET GO Fast Track Guide as a way for you to understand the types of actions you need to take in the early days.

All too often we have these great ideas and expect the Universe to pour people through our front gate and have them hammering the door down to work with us.  Unfortunately this is rarely the case for someone who has never had a small business before.

The sadder news is most give up even before they get a decent head of steam up and are left feeling like a failure.

The saddest news here is that these people often have the most amazing gifts of healing to offer the world, but their fears of being seen, judged or fear of success (not failure, we can all do that well but the thought of actually succeeding is new to many) and it stops them from achieving their dreams.

I am SO serious about people getting the right information at the start that I've filled this free report with the exact information that has kept me in the game.  When I started I didn't have a system and I wasn't appearing in the places I needed to appear.  I spent my first six months sitting at home developing brochures (which rarely bring large numbers of clients), developing logos (which is part of your brand and rarely brings clients in the early days) and I also spent a lot of time working on my website (needed but won't bring a bunch of clients hammering on your door the day it goes live).

I was gutted every time I spend months working my heart out only to find it didn't bring any results!  I just didn't know the RIGHT things to do in the early days!

Little did I know the three activities I was focusing on were the three worst things I could have done.  You can imagine how stunned I was when someone told me you could still get clients without the three things (logo, brochure and website) that I had spent most of my time, energy AND MONEY developing …. but sadly bought me NO clients.

So the NO GO to GET GO Fast Track Guide has ALL the information you need to understand before you go out into the world of small business.  What it's not is a where to put your brochures type of document - this one gives you - for free - the actual strategies that will work for you.  When you realise where you need to spend the MOST time in the early days, you will be much more productive in your early marketing attempts and when you understand which activities actually get you the clients - then you can just focus on them in the early days.

Don't be tricked by the simplicity of the material - once you are established you will understand the gold in this report - for now - just do what it says and watch your business change!

So - you've got nothing to lose - its free - its string free - no ra ra - simple concepts - in simple plain language - I urge you to read it cover to cover and then sign up for my 90 Day Challenge and then really get serious about growing that business that is currently living in your heart and soul!

What You Need In Place When A Big Online Opportunity Comes Calling

Many experts and online entrepreneurs dream of the day when someone with a big fan base or database mentions them or promotes them.

Few are ready for what might occur next.

This week a client released her first product and the night before it was released her WordPress site got hacked. When she phoned up the people at the help desk of the company who hosts her site she may have well of been speaking Swahili.

They a) couldn’t even see the problem and b) even if they could – they would have had no idea how to solve her now massive and stressful problem.

When big opportunities come our way – we must have good systems in place and be ready for the onslaught of visitors.

I have an even sadder tale to tell – I remember I had something going off one time = people were hitting my site AND purchasing AND my scummy hosting provider automatically shut my site down because my plan ran out of bandwidth. It ran out because abnormal numbers were hitting the site.

At the time I didn’t even know what bandwidth was, but I suddenly became very aware of the consequences of not having enough because people stopped buying!

When you consider that you pay for a service that allows people to hit our sites, you might expect that they might give you some time to sort the problem out before shutting you down.  Most will send an automated reminder to tell you that you are nearing your limit and if you are getting loads of visitors, that little extra you had up your sleeve is gone in 5 minutes due to high visitor numbers and BANG they shut you down!

So to make the most of the dream of hundreds of people visiting you and your website – this is the minimum you need in place to ensure you don’t get shut down or that your system doesn’t fold under pressure.

Back up – Back UP – BACK UP!

A hacked or attacked website usually means one thing – a complete reload from a clean source to ensure everything has been removed. If you don’t have a backup of your current website files (yes including that small change you made yesterday that took hours to complete) then you may need to re-write the whole site! OUCH!

I have all my files on my GoDaddy* server, on the hard drives of my TWO Macs and then use Dropbox to store all my hard drive files using cloud technology. Total overkill *yes* but it means I can access my files anywhere in the world that has the Internet if I need to reload my site.

Extreme perhaps – but you will thank me the morning your site gets hacked and now looks like a porn site and you are due on stage in 30 minutes to sell a big event and your website is the point of entry for the hundreds of people in the room.

Pay for unlimited bandwidth

I still don’t know what bandwidth is, but I don’t have to care because I’ve got the problem covered - again GoDaddy* sorted that for me. All you need to know about bandwidth is that you need a lot of it if you do get a rush on your site so it won’t fold.

My best advise is to pay the price for an unlimited service and never worry about it again!

Get reliable hosting

Use a company to host your website that is available 24/7 AND their staff are experienced.

I have the GoDaddy* unlimited bandwidth and website package. They promise to fix your problem on the first call and have 24/7 support staff who have always fixed my challenges in one phone call.  There are many other great suppliers you can use – and these days the cost is very low – it truly is a case of invest before you need it.

Who ever you use, make fine sure they are set up to handle big volume traffic – and be aware most hosting companies are set up to take the traffic like you might expect the local hardware store to generate. Ensure all your suppliers can take a worldwide online product or event release.

Its also good policy to have some of your eggs in one basket.  Most tech companies will start blaming each other when you have multiple suppliers.  There are pros and cons from having one supplier host everything - but when there are problems it is nice to know a) they see how everything is functioning together and b) they can't blame third parties and c) you won't end up the one with a massive problem and no idea how to solve it.

Capture those hot leads!

Have a way to capture visitors to your site by way of a free product or offering that collects their email address so you can stay in touch once the hoop-la dies down.

These days just offering a newsletter isn’t enough – you need something unique and appealing to your target audience and you need to be able to follow up. People don’t start to purchase until they have had at least 7 “touches” from you. If you haven’t friended them or collected their email address you can’t touch them again – the magic is in the follow up.

Stay tuned

Be around to respond quickly to queries or problems that come up – just before an event or product release is not the time to take that vacation or go sit on a mountainside to chant.

Use companies who already have big name clients and are used to high volumes.

You MUST HAVE a good customer relationship management system (CRM)

OK so you’ve got it all down to date – you have a robust website that will take whatever is thrown at it – you have a free product and the visitors are sucking it up like ice cream on a hot day and BANG! Your CRM tells you that you have reached your capacity and it has stopped letting visitors sign for your free program.

When this happens anyone who comes to your site will visit and go and you have no way to stay in touch with them in the future – in fact you won’t even know who came by!

Mail Chimp is an excellent free service that allows you to store up to 2,000 people for free. Those numbers make most people think its "enough", but when you consider at any given time there are millions of people on Facebook and there could be millions watching an ad roll past and decide to click on it, then 2,000 people simply isn’t enough.

You are going to fold pretty quickly if your system won’t allow those people to give you their email details so you can stay in touch with them in the future.

I have a system called Infusionsoft and a package that starts to tremble at 500,000 people – no that’s not a typo that’s half a million people securely stored before it even starts to get antsy.

There are many other great CRM systems out there but always be certain you can talk to someone who can answer your questions very quickly. Always check their customer service hours and rates before you sign up.  Some now charge you big bucks if you want to speak with them – they have you over a barrel if something does go wrong and this then becomes an expensive mistake on every level.

Don’t just sit idol

Be promoting the event yourself, just don’t sit back and leave it to the promoter – help the promoter promote you by promoting them! It’s a win for everyone if you do.

Ensure you are wired to stay in touch

Link up your Facebook, twitter, newsletters, blogs etc to your website (tell me you have those!) – we want to create as many opportunities for new people to interact with you as is humanly possible.

Are You Mobile Friendly?

High numbers of people now view your website via mobile phone devices or iPads - make sure they can see you and not just a jumble of rubbish that they will click out of fast.

You have 10 seconds or less to impress

Stats show you have around 10 seconds to interest and hold the attention of a new web site visitor. Ensure your site is ready to serve immediately – that your core message is communicated within the first 10 seconds - hello and welcome – is not a good opening – they need to understand immediately what’s in it for them to stay.

If you fail to captivate and capture that 10 second opportunity you can be assured it will be a lost opportunity unless you can figure out how to get them back.  Think about it, why would someone return to anything that failed to appeal the first time - this really is the time to get it right the first time.

Form meaningful relationships

Then once all these wonderful opportunities are harnessed – you need a way to go back and form meaningful relationships with your new Facebook friends, Twitter followers or newsletter subscribers - or by whatever means you have captured them. Again if you want to keep these new people in your circle of light for the next few years, you are going to have to start reminding them who you are and how you can serve them …. without scaring them away with hard sell tactics.

If you've built it - they can come!  

Great opportunities need to be taken seriously and you need to take yourself seriously.

If you want to be seen as an expert and present yourself to the world as someone worth working further with, you need to be ready, have invested in systems that not only work but will take the load.

Now is not the time to rely on free services that are patched together with band aids.  If you want people to take you seriously, you need to take your  IT seriously and learn what you need to do to be successful out in the big wide world of the internet.

All too much??

Best book a complimentary session with me if this overwhelms you but you know you need to get this right.  Not being ready for opportunites can cost you in SO many ways.  It may be the one time in your whole career where you have the world come to your doorstep. You need to be ready to offer a big slice of home made cake and a big soft comfy sofa to sit your guests on.

Most fail to offer their internet friends and visitors even the most basic of hospitality and wonder why they don't stick around for a chat.

Show em you care, form meaningful relationships and give extreme value and they will stick around for a very long time ….. and isn’t that what we are about – being of service to others for a very long time?

*GoDaddy’s CEO has taken a lot of flack from PETA over the elephant shooting incident. I don’t condone the shooting of anything, but sometimes things get so far out of whack I can at least see why it is necessary to protect villager and their food supplies. You can read his response on his blog and discern if his product is right for you. As for the racy ads – well those women have choice and they are being well paid for the sponsorship and why should the guys always get these highly paid sponsorship deals – again discern if this is right for you.