Follow The Money

You're in business to make mo*ney right? I hope so!

But here's a problem that I find with my small business clients.

They have not learnt to FOLLOW THE MONEY!

There are people that have been in business year after year after year and are struggling to make a profit, or attract the right type of clients.

Yet, they do not do an analysis of their business to find out not what's going wrong (this is a negative focus) however, but WHERE can we find those clients that have more money to spend and WHAT do we need to do to bring in more money faster.

In fact, I don't recommend that the business owner themselves do that analysis as they are much too close to the problem.

Hire a consultant or a coach to go in depth into your business.

Here are some questions that you may need to answer initially:

1. Do I need to move into a more affluent area to attract those clients I want to work with?

2. Do I need to change my business MODEL to do more business with my existing clients?

3. Do I need to focus on one target market rather than a wide cross section of people, thereby being recognized as the expert?

4. Do I need to CHANGE my target market entirely to one that will serve me better?

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Look at your business:

• your clients,


• your target market,


• your niche (this is what your focus is),


• your location,


• your business model,


• your revenue structure (how much are you making vs. how much you want to make),


• your lifestyle (is your business providing you with the lifestyle you want)

What do you NEED to do right now to FOLLOW THE MONEY?

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Service Professional Strategist, Chartered Certified Accountant, Published Author and entrepreneur, Sandra Baptist, F.C.C.A., teaches female financial professionals how to make more profit and attract affluent clientele while tripling their time off.

Visit http://www.SuccessfulFinancialWomen.com/ to secure your FREE Special report on the “New Insider's Secrets Revealed To Recession-Proof Your Financial Service Professional or Small Business."

Start a Club

The affluent are different. They expect more. They pay more. They want more. But they also want DIFFERENT.

The easiest way to offer something different and exclusive to your clients is to start a club.

Memberships are truly the best way to attract a more affluent clientele and charge higher
prices too!

In any type of business, whether you do this with your services or your products, you
should be able to create a membership around your offerings.

In any type of business, there will always be a certain percentage of people that will want
to upgrade to your top level.

There is a car wash that I know where you cannot just walk in to. They are too busy serving their VIP clients that book out the entire month before the start of the month!

In my accounting practice, we offer a certain level of services, including accounting, consulting,
admin work, payroll all bundled together for a certain price per month.

This is for the VIP clients. Membership is limited AND we make that known!

Our levels are Gold, Gold + and Platinum.

We also offer a Diamond level which is an annual pre-payment level where the client uses our services unlimited (between 9-5) for an entire year.

We call this the Ultimate VIP Club for Entrepreneurs and market the Club in the upscale magazines.

We don't market our regular retainer service in those media though.

This is crucial to remember - not to dilute your message to different audiences.


YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Look at your business.

How can you start a high-level club or membership in your business?

How will you limit the services or products offered so that everyone cannot or will not be able to have access?

What will you call the club?

Think exclusive or members only or VIP or elite...you get the idea.

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Service Professional Strategist, Published Author and entrepreneur, Sandra Baptist, F.C.C.A., teaches female financial professionals how to make more profit and attract affluent clientele while tripling their time off.

Visit http://www.successfulfinancialwomen.com/ to secure your FREE Special report on the “New Insider's Secrets Revealed To Recession-Proof Your Financial Service Professional or Small Business."

Offline expertise

Here's a scan of my latest article in the Business Focus Caribbean magazine that I wrote for the August/September 2008 issue.

(You may not be able to read the article, though).



But here's the point...



I have always written for this magazine because it targets entrepreneurs, small business owners and executives.



This time I had no specific article ready, but the magazine always has a theme. This issue was health.



What would an accountant or service professional strategist know about health unless that's my target?


Nothing!


Here's what I did.


I contacted the editor and request the theme, then I simply tweaked my article for the magazine. This is called repurposing which we talk about in my system as well.


What's important is that you get your name out there as at low a cost as possible to your specific target market. This is a necessary in your Direct Response Marketing approach.


Notice on the bottom right-hand side of the article I have included my bio (about 30-50 words) as well as my website.


This is probably the most important thing you can do.


Here's your assignment:

1. Know who you're targeting. Define your market.
   
   
2. See what magazines or newspapers they read (I actually prefer magazines since they have a longer shelf life than the daily or weekly papers)
   
   
3. Contact the editor and request their plan for the upcoming issues
   
   
4. Request if you can send them some articles you have written
   
   
5. TWEAK the article to whatever the issue is or the season they're in (just make it relevant so they publish it!)
   
   
6. Make sure that you submit it BEFORE their deadline!!!!!
   
   
7. Wait for the magazine to come out, then LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE.

After a few months of this, you'll be seen and known as the expert in your industry and therefore command higher fees!

*****************************

Service Professional Strategist, Published Author and entrepreneur, Sandra Baptist, F.C.C.A., teaches female financial professionals how to make more profit and attract affluent clientele while tripling their time off.

Visit http://www.successfulfinancialwomen.com/ to secure your FREE Special report on the “New Insider's Secrets Revealed To Recession-Proof Your Financial Service Professional or Small Business."

What On Earth Is Continuity?

After reading my new report (you can pick it up at http://www.successfulfinancialwomen.com/ ), some people emailed me with questions about "continuity". So let me break down this phenomenon further.

Do you remember the "book of the month" club? Or think of cable TV even?

These are examples of a continuity program.

Or this can relate even to those companies that auto-ship…you know that Proactiv™ infomercial, don't you?

What happens is that you purchase their products once and for a monthly fee they supply you with a set of products every month and they charge your credit card.

Continuity or a forced continuity program (the latter occurs when you AUTOMATICALLY are included in the monthly program unless you opt-out), is when you make a sale one-time and that one sale results in multiple charges over and over again.

Here are some examples I could think of quickly.

* a bookkeeping service consults with you on how to keep proper records and automatically charges you a monthly retainer to keep your books

* you get a facial and massage at a day spa and you are automatically charged $x per month every month for a selection of premium services at a discount

* a limo company picks you up and you are enrolled into their VIP programme where once a month you are driven to wherever you want to go

* a CPA performs an audit for a company, and then enrolls you for the next year into their monthly accounting service ...

You get the idea?

What's important here for YOU, the financial professional, is that your income is GUARANTEED every month!

Once you provide continuous value to the client or customer, they are assured not to cancel!

I guarantee you that continuity will change your life, your bottom line and indeed your bank balance!

Instead of making a sale once, then attempting to find new customers by advertising and marketing, set up a continuity program and make 3x as much profit or more!

Think about the products and services that you offer.

How can you use this model in your business?


*****************************
Service Professional Strategist, Published Author and entrepreneur, Sandra Baptist, F.C.C.A., teaches female financial professionals how to make more profit and attract affluent clientele while tripling their time off.

Visit http://www.successfulfinancialwomen.com/ to secure your FREE Special report on the “New Insider's Secrets Revealed To Recession-Proof Your Financial Service Professional or Small Business."