Four True Ways To Be A Published Authority

One of my heroes, Guy Kawasaki, is out to democratize the spread of information with a new venture called Truemors. If anyone can change the world without firing a shot, it is Guy.
Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way.
I say I first met Guy through my friend Lisa Nirell (Chief Energy Officer of EnergizeGrowth.com) when he was writing the book The Art of the Start. In truth, I met him a decade earlier through the pages of a book I read over and over, his take on business evangelism called Selling the Dream. These are two business books I can’t say enough good things about.
According to his latest venture, www.truemors.com, you are invited to become a “citizen journalist/editor” and “tell the world”—within the bounds of good taste and the law anyway. Second, from a reader perspective, it puts you “in the know” about the latest news, rumors, and happenings, so that “you know better” without having to spend hours every day searching for information.
Simply stated Truemors is not interested in crap. Some crap, says the Web site, is easy to recognize: profanity, pornography, bullying, libel, slander, and advertising.
The content that Guy and his cofounders want are true rumors that are relevant, informative, and interesting. Reading them would make them a person more interesting. Gossip, by contrast, is less urgent, less useful, and almost always deals with people’s private lives.
In other words, says the Web site, if we wanted gossip, we would have called our site “Truessip” or some such drivel.
The Web site covers the evolution of information. A long time ago royalty and religious leaders had scribes. Around 600 the Chinese printed using negative reliefs. Around 1450 Johann Gutenberg combined hundreds of years of progress into the screw printing press.
Fast forward to 1985 when Apple (Macintosh), Aldus (PageMaker), and Adobe (PostScript) produced “desktop publishing.” A few years later people could create Web sites. Then blogging appeared on the scene. Still, people needed a computer and a blogging tool like WordPress or TypePad to disseminate information. Kawasaki believes he has created a better way.
You can post your information on Truemors in four ways:
Call 1-650-329-2020 and leave a voicemail. SpinVox will translate your voicemail to text and send it to our server. Incidentally, you can speak in English, German, Spanish, and French. Your message, however, will remain in the language you spoke.
Text “2020 ” to 55022.
Enter your message in an online form on the Web site
Send an email to post@truemors.com. FYI, this is a SpamArrest-protected email address, so you’ll have to confirm your address.
How much does it cost to change the world?

“In total, I spent $12,107.09 to launch Truemors,” Kawasaki said in his Change the World blog. ”During the dotcom days, entrepreneurs had to raise $5 million to try stupid ideas. Now I’ve proven that you can do it for $12,107.09.”
By the way, Guy has an honorary doctorate from Babson College, an MBA from UCLA and a BA from Stanford. To say thanks for writing the foreword to my new book with Chris Stiehl called Pain Killer Marketing, we invited Guy to be our guest at last fall’s sold out USC-Stanford football game. But he declined and chose instead to stay home to spend time with his four kids. He missed Stanford’s last second shocking upset of number one ranked USC, but as always he has his priorities straight. And that is the truth.
Places to Hear Henry Speak
3/6: Pain Killer Marketing for International Marketing, International Trade Advisory Board breakfast meeting, National University, Carlsbad, CA.

3/8-3/9: Networking with other authors and speakers asking to cross-promote books at the Alan Weiss and Patricia Fripp Odd Couple Seminar in San Francisco.

3/13: "Pain Killer Marketing for Consultants" for Institute of Management Consultants Orange County Chapter breakfast meeting

3/13: Blue Velocity Partners hosted event and video taping of Pain Killer Marketing workshop (coming soon to YouTube), 9:30 to 11 am at Sandler Sales Institute, 2091 Business Center Drive, Suite 230, Irvine, CA 92612

4/8: "Science of Clients" by Henry with Rhonda Sher to the American Association of Senior Executives, Irvine.

4/15: "Pain Killer Marketing for Direct Marketers" for San Diego Direct Marketing Association lunch meeting, Sheraton Hotel, La Jolla Village Drive and I-5. www.sddma.org

4/17: Book launch networking night in Silicon Valley at El Torito, 2950 Lakeside Drive, Santa Clara, CA from 6 to 9 pm. 408-727-4426. Free books to first 50 people who agree to read and review the book Pain Killer Marketing on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.



4/22: Book launch networking night in San Diego at El Torito across from UC San Diego, 8910 Villa La Jolla Drive, La Jolla, CA from 5 to 8 pm. Free books for first 50 people who agree to read and review Pain Killer Marketing on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

5/1: Book launch networking night with other W Business Book authors in Orange County at the El Toritos across from John Wayne Airport, 18512 Macarthur Blvd., Irvine CA 92612 6 to 9 pm 949-833-8230

5/16: Henry to present at Columbia University Consultants and Coaches Conference, New York City.

5/30: Signing books at the Book Expo in Los Angeles and attending author event sponsored by W Business Books.

7/18: Henry with Rhonda Sher to present an all-day workshop for the San Diego chapter of the Public Relations Society of America

Beauty and the Geek Present “The Science of Clients” Nov. 16 in Carlsbad

An all-day seminar on “The Science of Clients: How to Win Clients and Influence Referrals” featuring the pair dubbed Beauty and the Geek: Rhonda Sher, author of The Two Minute Networker, and Henry DeVries, author of Client Seduction, will begin 9 am Friday, November 16 at the Carlsbad Village Theatre, 2822 State Street, Carlsbad, CA 92018.

Why are these two authors nicknamed Beauty and the Geek? Sher and DeVries have been married for 27 years, but not to each other. He has an appointment at two universities. She has appointment every week to get her nails done. Both are professional speakers and authors who have teamed to train advertising, marketing, public relations and other professionals on how to find, keep and grow clients.

“You can call us Beauty and the Geek until the Fox attorneys file a awsuit,” says DeVries.

The session will cover how to get more clients, how to charge clients more money and how to smooth over client problems. Cost is $99 in advance at www.scienceofclients.com. For more information visit the Web site www.scienceofclients.com or email info@newclientmarketing.com or call 800-514-4467.

Meet Beauty and the GeekClientologist Henry DeVries, MBA is a best-selling author, marketing instructor at UC San Diego Extension, and founder of the New Client Marketing Institute (www.newclientmarketing.com). Rhonda L. Sher is the founder and owner of The Two Minute Networker, one of the nation’s leading networking training companies. Rhonda is the expert at teaching others how to “take the work out of networking.”

How to Be a Successful Author Without a Major Publisher Half-Day Seminar

For those of you who have dreamed of being a published author, check this out.

Only 10 days left to register! In the 21st century, the most successful authors aren't necessarily those signed with major publishers. With the confluence of Internet marketing, digital printing, online sales, and other current factors, it is entirely possible to achieve best-seller status on your own -- and authors are doing it. This information-packed seminar brings two publishing experts to San Diego who are on the leading edge of this publishing revolution. In this exclusive engagement, they'll teach authors exactly how to go up against "Big New York Publishing" and beat them at their own game. Jerry Simmons -- A retired Time-Warner Books vice president, Simmons will share his 25 years' experience in New York publishing, including surprising inside information about the big publishers they don't want authors to know. Based on this, he shares his method for successful authoring (using small and independent publishing avenues) with packed audiences throughout the U.S. on a regular basis. Debbie Allen -- Very few people have the expertise Allen has when it comes to self-promotion. Her knowledge of the subject has attracted thousands of people to her presentations in ten countries around the world. She has achieved best-selling and award-winning status as both a self-published and traditionally published author, and shares her techniques for success in her book Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters. Register today to reserve your seat as space is limited! This special event, hosted by Publishers & Writers of San Diego, will take place at the Encinitas Community Center, Saturday, November 17, from 9 AM to 1 PM. The fee is $97. For more information, go to www.PublishersWriters.org or email Andrew@PublishersWriters.org.

How To Get Prospects To Know, Like and Trust You

To attract new clients, the best approach is the Educating Expert Model that demonstrates your expertise by giving away valuable information through writing and speaking. In addition, you can increase closing rates up to 50% to 100% by discovering and rehearsing the right questions to ask prospective clients

Understanding the psychology of prospective clients provides critical evidence of the validity of the Educating Expert Model. Professional services and consulting are what economists sometimes call “credence” goods, in that purchasers must place great faith in those who sell the services (Bloom, October 1984, “ Effective Marketing for Professional Services,” Harvard Business Review). You build faith by being an expert who writes articles and gives speeches on how potential clients can solve their problems in general (they hire you for the specifics).

What does the research say about how prospective clients decide if they trust professionals and consultants? Here are the five ways prospects judge you (Aaker, 1995, Strategic Market Management) and my views of how the Educating Expert Model is the perfect fit:
1. Competence. Knowledge and skill of the professional or consultant and their ability to convey trust and confidence (you demonstrate and prove your expert knowledge by speaking and writing and by the questions you ask prospective clients)
2. Tangibles. Appearance of physical facilities, communication materials, equipment and personnel (you do this by the appearance of your Web site, book and how-to handouts)
3. Empathy. Caring, individualized attention that a firm provides its clients (educating people to solve problems before they hire you proves you care)
4. Responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service (when you promise to give people things like special reports and white papers, do it promptly)
5. Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately (prospective clients will judge you on how organized your seminars, speeches and Web site are)

Even if you believe in the Educating Expert Model, how do you find time to do it and still get client and admin work done? No professional or consultant ever believes they have too much time on their hands. However, nothing worth happening in business ever just happens. The answer is to buy out the time for marketing.

Please know this: the universe rewards activity. Start by asking clients about their pains. Gather information on how to solve those worries, frustrations and concerns. Be the expert who educates people on how they compare to their peers and the best ways to overcome their obstacles. The more prospects you inform how to solve their problems in general, the more will hire you for the specifics. In the words of motivational speaker Zig Ziglar: “You can get whatever you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want.”

How To Fill Your New Client Pipeline In Three Steps

Would you like to fill your pipeline with qualified prospects? Here is a three-step approach that works wonders.

Identify Target Prospects -- Step one is to find a potential market niche that will be profitable. In today’s market, clients demand specialists. You want fewer prospects to be interested in you, but much more intensely interested. This requires focus. It doesn't mean you'll turn down a client who doesn't fit into your two or three chosen verticals--it simply means you won't be actively shaping your marketing campaigns toward them. Evaluate your business. Have you sold most of your services to golf-ball manufacturers, pet stores, and electrical suppliers? Then THOSE are the three places to start thinking. But if pet stores in general don't have the budget for your services, you'll need to look harder.

Make Prospects A Promise -- Step two is to determine what promise you or your firm is making to your target market. This includes your unique selling proposition: what you do, who you do it for and how you are unlike competitors—all in 25 words or less. What measurable results do you obtain for clients? You need to decide what makes you different than everybody else, and you need to overcome fear of focus--the desire to want to be everything to everybody. People hire professionals who specialize. Very few people would hire a surgeon who says he can do everything from tonsillectomies to facelifts and open-heart procedures. When you're in pain, you want a specialist--not just somebody who's "good with a knife."

Harvest Emails on Your Web Site -- Step three is to create an easy-to-update Web site that demonstrates your competence, rather than asserts how great you are. The Web site is the cornerstone of the your marketing, and must not be a mere electronic brochure. Your Web site is the silent salesperson that prospective clients visit before making the decision to grant you permission to meet. There should be plenty of free articles with great how to advice for prospects. The home page of the Web site should have a headline that makes it clear who your target is and what pains you solve. The Web site should include an offer a free special report in exchange for the visitor’s e-mail address. This special report should contain valuable information that tells prospects how to solve their problem in general. Then e-mail these prospects tips and invitations to get more ideas from you at seminars, workshops and telephone seminars. Remember, the more people you tell how to solve their problems in general, the more will hire you for the specifics.

Marketing With Speeches and Seminars

Learn Trade Secrets of Turning Your Expertise
Into Great Business Leads

An independent professional I coach was able to double her revenue in a year (we’re talking well over $100,000 more) just by having different conversations about her pricing with potential clients. Actually, when she raised her rates, it was a signal to the business community that she was in demand and a hot commodity.

But alas, how to make even more money? Of course she realized there are only so many hours in a week (168, to be precise) and only so much you can charge clients per hour. To increase her revenue she needed to leverage her time. She created some self published guide books and started offering her expertise through workshops. Soon she added the power of affiliate relationships. This leverages her time and she is creating new streams of revenue.

Here are five ways to get paid to market your consulting practice:

Keynotes and breakouts at association and trade group meetings. A keynote is typically 30 to 90 minutes and usually focuses on a broad topic of interest to all attendees. A breakout session is one of the side sessions at a meeting and last from 45 to 90 minutes. This is the glamour field of professional speaking. Competition is fierce and the big fees go to celebrities (the group is trading on their star status to attract attendees). I put speaking at Vistage groups (formerly TEC) of about a dozen company presidents for half a day at $500 per speech in this category.

Corporate training. These are typically half-day or full-day seminars and workshops conducted for a private client, usually a corporation, for a group of its employees. This might be the most lucrative field for speaking because there are many companies that have training budgets. Several of my clients who make hundreds speaking for Vistage make thousands when they deliver the same presentations to companies. This one-two punch has made several clients an extra $100,000 per year.

Sponsoring your own public seminars. This is typically a full-day seminar or workshop where registration is open to the public. You market the event and earn a profit (or loss). This business is about putting fannies in seats. Many times it is a break even proposition getting the attendees there, and then you make your real money selling information products and consulting services at the back of the room after the event is over. Fees can range from $800 to $1,000 per day per attendee all the way down to my three-hour Lunch and Learn seminars for $25.

Teaching at colleges and for public seminar companies. An alternative to running the seminar yourself is to find a sponsor. This might be for a company like Career Tracks or The Learning Annex. Or you might approach the adult education marketplace through a college or university extended studies program. Typically you might earn 25 percent of what the students pay all the way up to $1,000 for a day.

Speaking at fundraising workshops where you split the gate. Another alternative to running the seminar yourself is to approach a trade group or association and offer to stage a fundraising seminar. They promote the event to their constituents and you agree to split the profits (typically 50/50 and you may or may not offer them 10 percent of any informational products like books and CDs that you sell in the back of the room after the event).

These and other strategies will be covered at an upcoming workshop in Orange County, California.

“How To Win Clients Through Speeches and Seminars”
An All-Day Workshop for Professionals, Consultants and Small Business Owners
9 am to 4 pm Friday, March 30, 2007
Presented at Sandler Sales Institute
2091 Business Center Dr., Suite 120
Irvine, CA 92612 (near John Wayne Airport)

The best proactive business development strategy is to regularly demonstrate your expertise by giving informative and entertaining talks in front of targeted groups of potential new clients. Marketing expert Henry DeVries (best-selling business author, professional speaker and founder of the New Client Marketing Institute) will lead the workshop on how to speak for free and for fee to promote your business.

Normally offered at $495, the workshop is presented by the Southern California Emerging Business Association (www.sceba.org) in conjunction with the Association of Professional Consultants (www.consultapc.org), and priced at a discount. The early bird registration cost is $109 for APC and SCEBA members before March 15; $137 until March 22 and $177 at the door. The cost is $137 for non-members before March 15, $177 until March 22 and $200 at the door. A networking lunch will be provided and parking is complimentary.

Attendees also receive three free bonus gifts:

Special Bonus Gift #1 An audio CD entitled “Help and Grow Rich,” which demonstrates how to deliver persuasive presentations ($20 value)
Special Bonus Gift #2 A special report on “102 Rainmaking Ideas”($10 value)
Special Bonus Gift #3 A special report on “How To Become A Published Book Author In As Little As 90 Days” ($10 value)
Register with VISA, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal at www.newclientmarketing.com or call 800-514-4467.

Would You Like Some Media To Go With That?

Business owners and professionals eager to grow their businesses and profit from the power of positive publicity can access newly released information products from the Website for Nancy S. Juetten Marketing Inc. (www.nsjmktg.com) to get the job done. The products are filled with instantly-useful information and can also serve as marketing tools themselves.The “Media-Savvy-to-Go” tips booklets, audio CD’s, and E-workbook educate and empower business owners to harness the power of the media to their own reputation-building advantage.

Founder, President, and Chief Publicity Officer Nancy S. Juetten created this line of information products so business owners and professionals can create their own media buzz without incurring the expense of retaining a public relations agency.“Every growing company has its own unique story to tell, yet many lack the media savvy or skills to bring their stories to the media’s attention in a winning way,” Juetten explained. “These products demystify the media relations process and offer 147 powerful ways that business owners can build their businesses and profit from the power of positive publicity,” she added.Best of all, the booklets can serve as premiums for clubs, organizations, and associations to offer to their members, clients, and sponsors as valuable promotional tools to advance everyone’s business building interests.

Paulette Ensign, the founder, CEO, and chief visionary for Tips Products International (www.tipsbooklets.com), has sold over 1 million copies of her booklet, “110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life.” In fact, she said that the Lillian Vernon Catalog Company licensed her content to create 250,000 tips booklets that compelled catalog shoppers to buy more merchandise from within the catalog. Ensign said that the company tracked a 13% sales increase specifically to the booklet offer. Juetten said, “Results like these are what business owners today are hungry for, and our new “Media-Savvy-to-Go” tools can help them achieve any variety of revenue-generating benefits.“Whether bulk buyers use the booklets to thank their customers for their business, offer them to prospects at trade shows, or package them as a value-added bonus with a product or services they sell, they can earn client appreciation and loyalty as they apply the information to their own business building advantage,” she added. Best of all, booklet orders of 250 or more can be customized with organization or sponsor logos and marketing offers and information.
National publicity mavens such Joan Stewart and Susan Harrow have reviewed Juetten’s tips booklets favorably.
“Don’t spend any more time or money on your publicity campaign until you read these booklets. When it comes to forming strong relations with the print, broadcast and online media, Nancy Juetten clearly understands that getting publicity is all about building relationships with the media, and Publicity Hounds everywhere need to read her tips. These booklets are a fabulous crash course on how to be media-savvy.”
Joan Stewart, The Publicity Houndwww.publicityhound.com
"Solid, sound advice from writing an ezine to handling a media interview. Nancy Juetten's booklets give you a quick checklist of everything you need to know about doing a publicity campaign."
Susan Harrow, Media Coach, Marketing Strategist and Authorof Sell Yourself without Selling Your Soulwww.prsecrets.com

How To Reach C Level Clients

Professional speaker and author Lisa Nirell has been added to the lineup of an all-day workshop on “How To Win Clients Through Persuasive Speeches and Seminars” to be held 9 am to 5 pm on Friday, December 15 at the Orange County campus of Pepperdine University, 18111 Von Karman Ave., Suite 209 in Irvine.

Nirell, founder and CEO (Chief Energy Officer) of EnergizeGrowth in Sunriver, OR, will speak on “Ten Ways to Reach C Level Audiences.” She helps successful entrepreneurial leaders who are missing out on new growth opportunities. Through her strategy workshops and highly interactive learning programs, Nirell has helped clients secure $83 million in new business within just two years.

Nirell has designed multimedia programs around the results of her two-year study of over 200 high performing business owners, and from exclusive interviews with leaders such as Dr. Stephen Covey and Guy Kawasaki. She is an award winning business columnist for several publications including The San Diego Daily Transcript, Vistage (formerly TEC International), AFSMI's SBusiness Journal, Women in Technology, and Renaissance Executive Forums.
Her Web site, www.energizegrowth.com, provides over 32 free audio programs and articles. These are tailored exclusively for entrepreneurial leaders who are ready to take their growth to the next level.

According to workshop leader and marketing author Henry DeVries, research studies consistently show that the best proactive business development strategy for professionals, consultants and relationship-based service businesses is to regularly demonstrate expertise by giving informative talks in front of targeted groups of potential new clients.

The Dec. 15 workshop is presented by the Southern California Emerging Business Association (www.sceba.org) in conjunction with the Association of Professional Consultants (www.consultapc.org) and hosted by the Orange County Chapter of the Pepperdine University Alumni Association. The early bird tuition is $137 for the general public before December 7, $177 until December 14 and $200 at the door. Discount admission is available to Pepperdine students and alumni, SCEBA members and APC members. A networking lunch is included and parking is compliments of Pepperdine University. Attendees also receive an audio CD on persuasive business presentations and white papers on “102 Rainmaking Ideas” and “How To Become A Published Book Author in 90 Days.”

Register at www.newclientmarketing.com or call 800-514-4467.