Engage With High Quality People

8/12/2019 Engage With High Quality People

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Issue 14 - March 2011

Published by: Michael Silk, Michael Silk Consulting,2 The Compasses, Leigh, Nr, Tonbridge, Kent. TN11 8HT. ENGLAND.

T. (UK) +44 (0)1892 871446 F. (UK) +44 (0)844 507 0076 E. [email protected]

2012 MichaelSilkConsulting.com 1 of 25

THE SILK REPORTWarrio r Marketing , Selling & Fee-Generation Strategies For

Independ ent Cons ultan ts, Coach es & Info -Marketers. ..

How To Connect & Engage With High-Quality People Who Can Funnel Prospects,

Projects And Payments Your Way From: Michael Silk.

Dear Reader,

T his issue of The Silk Report is a collaborative effort between myself and my double act partner, Alex Makarski .

Youll hear more from (and become very impressed with) Alex as we get deeper into thisstrategy report. B ut first, you have to put up with the warm up act me.

Listen, the other day I was reading that Twitter reached its 5th

birthday last month (March2011). Apparently there are over 200 million people on Twitter (who send an astonishing 65million tweets a day) and, Lady Gaga has the biggest Twitter following with 9 million people.Charlie Sheen started posting on Twitter last month and now has bragging rights to amassingthe largest Twitter following in the shortest amount of time (1 million Twitter followers in just24-hours of opening the account).

Apparently Facebook is pretty big also. As is LinkedIn . And Ecadamy . As are all the otheronline Social M edia mongrels. Also, according to something like 54 bazillion marketingexperts onlin e... if youre not using Social Media as a main artery of your marketing youare really missing the boat.

To which I say...

I Dont Give A Shit!

Blasphemy?

Probably.


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But heres my take on things.

As an independent marketing strategist and d irect response copywriter my core incomecomes from fee paying projects . And those fee paying projects come about after Ive been

able to connect and engage with a real human being

On The Good Old Fashioned Telephone

Or over Skype -- (I very rarely meet with people in person).

Question: Why do my clients choose to invest in my services?

Answer: People (clients) dont invest thousands of pounds in my servic es because I happenedto invite them on LinkedIn , corral them into following me on Facebook or Twitter or get themon my list. No way. Im not so much interested in building a herd as I am in

Giving Potential Clients AnOpportunity To Be Heard

Which can only happen over the phone (or Skype) through a human-to-human dialogue .

Only through an honest dialogue -- based upon mutual trust and respect will a prospectiveclient feel comfortable enough sharing their real concerns, problems and issues with me.

And only through that kind of two-way (real-time) conversation can we both determine ifthere is an agreeable basis for an economic relationship between us to develop.

Alas it seems to me that the proliferation of advancements in technological tools and theforever multiplying Social Media channels including text... email... instant messaging...tweeting... sending LinkedIn invites and Ecadamy invites... and Facebook pokes... etc, etc., has blunted peoples innate ability to truly reach out and connect (and engage) with other

people on a human level.

In some ways, I feel the advancements in technology are even turning our socialinteractions backwards. Im not alone. Distinguished U.S. social commentator ProfessorSherry Turkle has written three books about the revolution in communications and says:

We r e too busy commun icatin g tothink, to create and truly connect.

Amen to that.

Because if you want to put your future in your hands contacting people (or building up a big following herd -- on Twitter , Facebook , LinkedIn or on an email list) is not enough. Nowhere near enough. As a fee- generator (which Im assuming you are) y ou must get good atconnecting and engaging with real people to the degree where they recognise AND WANTTO INVEST IN - the unique value you have to offer.

That is especially true if you offer ( and want to get paid ) high-ticket service-based fees.


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BTW, there is a monumental difference between people who are INTERESTED in what youcan do (the vast majority of people on your list) versus the people who want (and will)INVEST in what you do.

My observation is many marketers are so head-strong on building up a large following of people (through email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.,) that although they may end up with alarge list (or following) they then cannot figure out why -- (apart from erratic product salefluctuations) -- they have a real hard time getting anyone to seriously INVEST in what theydo and more importantly who they are as a unique individual .

Me?

Given the choice between the two, and all things being equal

Ill Take 10 High Fee Paying ClientsOver 10,000 People On A List Any Day

See when it comes right down to it: I want to deal with 10 people who are INVESTED . Not10,000 people who are merely INTERESTED .

Anyway, h eres my prediction: With the continual mutations of Social Media its goingto become easier and easier for you to contact people (and build up your list or following); but,

because of the overwhelming clutter and constipated attention spans we all have to deal with in todays frantic paced life the best opportunities (and fees) will be handed to those rareindividuals who know how to authentically connect and engage other people on a value-based human-to-human level.

Unfortunately, it seems in this age of quick-fire technology

Fewer And Fewer People These Days Are AdeptAt The Real Art Of Connecting & Engaging WithA Real Human Being On A Value Creation Basis

And its a skill (a skill thats buried away inside most people) that I believe urgently needsreviving and resurrecting.

Why?Because (i n case I havent already made myself clear ):

All the projects and payments you will ever receive will be because other people decide theunique value you bring to the table is worth more to them than the investment (fee) they will

pay you.

And those people (clients) will only trust in you enough to put projects and serious fees yourway if you deal with them on a one-to-one, human-to-human, peer-to-peer level. Not becauseyou treat them like a number on a list.


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Therefore the rest of this strategy report goes right for the jugular on some practical (do ittoday) steps you can take to...

Connect & Engage With High-Quality People WhoAre In A Position To Funnel Prospects, Projects And

Payments Your Way

Lets get down to business, shall we?

Lets say you come across somebody (a stranger) who seems like a good prospect for yourservices. And lets say you feel inspired to connect and engage with that person withoutcoming across as a sales shark.

How do you do it?

Well, one way would be to do your homework on this person looking for some kind ofconnection point ( and not just contact details ).

For example, lets say after a bit of scooting around online you find (on Amazon ) a bookreview from the person you want to connect with . And lets say theyve left a 5 -star rating on a

book ab out... I dont know... maybe collecting pocket watches .

Well, what you could do to almost instantly go from unknown to part of the family is you purchase another (similar) book on collecting pocket watches. And what you do then issend that book (f rom you to them) gift wrapped through the post with a personal handwritten letter that explains how you know they have a real passion for collecting pocketwatches... and... as to how you thought they might like to accept the book youve purchased forthem as a gift. Then, your personalised (sincere) letter would segue into engaging them about amatter you would respect their feedback on (like maybe the matter of how you could add valueto their business). Doing so would create

I nstant I mpact, Instant Connection,I nstant Engagement

Another example:

Lets say the only connection point you can unearth on the person you want to connect and

engage with is where they live in the world.Just for the heck of it, lets say that location happened to be San Diego.

In that case, you could send them a fiction book that has a storyline that revolves around SanDiego. Like maybe The Dawn Patrol by Don Wilson.

Once again, youd send a folksy (not salesy) letter along with the book explaining as tohow you thought they might like to accept the book youve sent them as a gift a nd then (inyour personable letter) you could segue into an open question that would likely make themwant to engage with you further like maybe:


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By the way, I spent a bit of time on you r website the other day. I see you use I nf usionsoftand was therefor e wonder in g: Would you be able to handle 1-2 hi gh-payin g cli ents in a

couple of weeks? Give me a shout on XXX XX X if you can. Best. John.

Or some other kind of question that alludes to what you could do for them but would require

them to come back to you for more details and / or a full clarification of what you mean.

In other words, a good strategy is based on some observation of what theyre already doingor already have in place -- plant an outcome-based idea in someones head (with an open andsomewhat vague question) that their mind will automatically start to create a picture out of.However, because of the vagueness of the question they will not be able to fully completethe details of their mental picture until they get more details from you. Which will , of course,require them to come back to you whereupon you can (and should) elevate yourcommunication to a dialogue based communication on phone or over Skype .

You don t have to send a book to make your connection, either.

It could be a film or documentary on DVD.

It could be an artefact.

A picture.

A T-shirt.

A rare coin.

And so on.

Another (real life) example of the night -and-day difference between little -league contactversus big -league connection and engagement :

Back in the early 1990's "Guerrilla Bill" Myer's made a good income placing classified ads intargeted publications for "how to" video tapes he'd produced on a number of hobby subjects.

But Bill wanted to make a "big splash" in the direct marketing arena so lots of people wouldhear of his wonderfulness.

So Bill hatched a plan to get Gary Halbert (a big fish in the direct marketing fish-bowl) torave about Bill to all his legion of seminar attendees and newsletter subscribers.

Just one problem.

Gary had no idea who Bill Myers was.

And so, here's what Bill did...

Bill shot a video of himself talking about how Gary Halbert had been the inspiration behind

his business, and a lot of other neat things he'd learnt from Gary.


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His video to Gary then went onto explain as to how Halbert was missing out on a HUGEchunk of change by not taking advantage of "guerrilla how-to" videos.

And then Bill did something brilliant.

He suggested (on his personalised video to Gary) that Halbert's first step to getting involvedwith "how to" videos would be for Gary to allow Bill to videotape his upcoming $7,000"Seminar By The Sea."

But that's just what went into the content of the video.

Wait till you hear what Bill did to the packaging of that video to Halbert.

What Bill did was he printed an attractive label (showing a photo of Gary Halbert) to go onthe video. And he titled the video something like: "Gary Halbert Video Profits."

Bill then schmucked the video into an attractive gift box, and sent it to Gary Halbert via FedEx delivery.

What happened?

Oh, nothing much.

Except Bill Myers got invited to videotape Gary's "Seminar By The Sea" and went from being a virtually unknown marketer operating out of the backwoods of Arkansas... to...suddenly ( like overnight )...

Being Hailed By Gary Halbert As AMajor-League Marketing "Guru" People

Should Stop Still To Listen To

And that's how Bill Myers "put himself on the map."

W arm up act over.

Now Ill get out of the way and turn it over to my collaborative partner in this strategy report,Alex Makarski.

Perk up. Alex is about to show you some real life examples of how he (and his colleagues)have made a fine art out of connecting and engaging with high-quality people who can put

projects, prospects and payments their way. Alex (and his colleagues) are using a nifty tool(SendOutCards.com ) that really is push - button easy to use to design and send outimpressive communication cards that create unforgettable experiences in the lives of their

prospects and clients. And as youll see, in most cases the list in the real-life examples areanywhere from just ONE person to 40 people . Yet, the return on investment (R.O.I.) they areachieving makes email response rates look like a joke.

Take it away Alex:


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visit (and subsequent visits) to his office I discovered that this card wasnow taped to his desk facing the client. Which means that every client thatco mes to Chris office gets to see it. And almost invariably, a conversationstarts and my name comes up. And now that means that its has become veryeasy for Chris to refer clients to me. So far, I have received threereferrals from Chris, all because of this little card that cost me 93 cents,a stamp, and 5 minutes of fun/work .

Lesson: Make it easy for people to give you referrals with a tool thatcreates natural referral opportunities for you.

Heres how I would go about looking for a picture of, say, Barack Obama

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:


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Travel Cards:Whenever and wherever I travel, be it on business or pleasure, I take my

digital camera with me to snap some pictures. One of the easiest and mosteffective marketing tactics is a greeting card from your trip, sent to yourcontacts back home while youre still away. Ideally, you want to include apicture of yourself on your trip, or a picture of something funny you saw onthe trip, or, better yet, a funny picture of yourself.

There are two ways to go about a card like this, which we will callsincere and business.

The business approach would have a time-bound offer made in the copy ofthe card. A natural deadline for the special offer would be the first dayyoure back from your trip or, if its a longer trip, the date you reach aparticular destination.

The sincere approach would focus on simply reaching out in kindness ,staying in touch with your contacts and letting them know youre thinking ofthem even while you are away. See, in business, there is a time and a placefor promotion and then there is a time and a place to say thank you and Iappreciate you with no hidden agenda.

Heres a postcard we sent from the rim of the Grand Canyon on 3 -week longcar trip through some of the most beautiful parts of Utah, Nevada, Arizona,and California. I dont go anywhere without my laptop. And therefore I canget online almost anywhere, including the restaurant lobby at the village onthe South Rim of the Grand Canyon. See card over page:


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provided useful tax tips and had no overt call to action. When all was saidand done, Aaron had 10 (ten!) new clients because of this card .


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The success of this campaign has inspired Aaron to continue to explore thetopic of the connection between lower back and taxes. Heres a freshmasterpiece from him, fished out of my mailbox just a few days ago (theresults of this campaign are still pending but rather than wait for that, Iwanted to share this card with you because I think its extremely swipe -worthy.)

And heres the inside of the card:


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Holiday Cards:When the subject of holiday cards comes up, most people immediately think

of Christmas cards or the non-so- denominational Seasons Greetings cards.In fact, there is a large slice of the population that cannot think of anyother use for a greeting card in a business application other than a generic

and typically, boring, unoriginal Happy Holidays card bestowed on onesclients and prospects.


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Heres the truth (the exciting truth if you are a marketer): There are 365holiday opportunities available to us every year and about any of them is abetter marketing investment than Christmas. At least if we are talking aboutthe return on investment in a greeting card campaign.

Now, for the record, Im not saying Dont send out Christmas Cards. Imsaying, absolutely send them if thats in your heart. Just dont l ook at itas a marketing campaign, i.e., dont expect any perceivable increase inbusiness.

See, everybody and their dog send Christmas cards. And everybody expects toreceive a bunch of them. Its expected! Christmas is the time of year whenits the h ardest to surprise or wow anyone, especially with something assmall and inexpensive as a greeting card.

Here are just some of the biggest holidays to put on your marketing

calendar: New Year (resolutions, new plans, open new page, new beginnings) Chinese New Year The Groundhog Day (Feb 2 hey, did you see your shadow?) Valentines Day (Feb 14, show em you LUV em) The Spring Has Sprung Mardi Gras April Fools Passover / Easter Mothers Day (April)

Fathers Day (June) Independence Day (Jul 4) / Canada Day (Jul 2) The Dog Days of Summer (August) Indian Summer (September) Halloween (October) Thanksgiving (Oct in Canada, Nov in US) And here comes December, with Christmas, Hanukkah, and Seasons

Greetings.

If you are just going to send one card per year to your clients, send thema Thanksgiving card. When else are you going to get such a great chance tosay to those who know you, like you, trust you, and vote for you with theirwallets?

Generally, the more bizarre the holiday, the greater the chance it willwork for your marketing. There is literally a holiday every day of the year.And usually there is more than one. The two of my favourite holidayresources are:

Bizarre Holidays: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays

Today in History: http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidayshttp://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidayshttp://www.scopesys.com/anyday/http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays


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Heres a Halloween card I created some time ago (most of the copy wasswiped from one of Yanik Silvers campaigns thank you Yanik!)


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And this is the Valentines card that generates quite a bit of new businessfor me every time I use it (I just have to make sure I do not send the same

card to the same person the every year):


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Connecting Cards :

Business networking is something a lot of people love to hate: It is time-consuming, expensive, and in most cases very inefficient.

I can bear the time - consuming

I can even live with the expensive

If and its a big if it produces results! Which it typically doesn t.


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Most people who attend networking meetings are only interested inthemselves. They dont care about your product or service; they just want topitch you theirs.

Now, for the record, I am not opposed to networking: I am a member of theRotary Club, I am a Toastmaster, I visit various Chambers of Commerce and

Boards of Trade. I have and still do belong to several business networkinggroups. I also go to a number of industry shows and events.

So I am not anti-networking.

What I am is anti-networking-with-no-results-to-show-for-it.

Heres how I went from networking with no results to networking thatproduces a constant, predictable and measurable inflow of prospects for mybusiness.

I attended a breakfast meeting at the local Board of Trade. They had theusual: 30-second presentations by all businesses in attendance, the cookies

and the coffee, followed by natural networking.

I met 13 new people at that meeting. I came back to my office with 13 newbusiness cards in hand. Once I entered all these contacts into my list, Isent them a simple greeting card that said this:

###

Dear [name of the person],

If was nice meeting you at the networking breakfast earlier today.

I really enjoyed our conversation about [topic we have discussed]Id like to lear n more about your business so as I could know who is a good referralfor you. Please call me at (000) 000-0000 when you receive this card.

Thank you & I look forward to speaking with you.

###

One week later, 6 people called me to thank for the card I sent them.

Let me tell you something important about my business: It DOES matter whocalls whom first. In this case, they called me, something that has neverhappened before! 6 people out of 13 thats 46%! Not too shabby in my books.

With such a response rate, this is serious business.

And as of the time of writing this, out of these 6 people, 2 became clientsand one has referred a number of other businesses to me. 2 out 6 is 33%! Anyway you slice it, its a fantastic ratio.

Heres another example of a connecting card after attending an event:


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Introduce a Professional Card :Debbie is an insurance agent, who, as is the case with many agents, was

looking for a way to start getting more referrals for her clients. During myconversation with her, we came up with a plan.

She was to think about a small handful of her clients who were also friendsand raving fans of hers. Those who rooted for her and would want to helpher, as long as it was something they could do relatively easily. For ourexperiment, we decided to pick only one client of Debbie; Sandra.

Debbie was to set up a pre-paid account for Sandra with SendOutCards.com .And Sandra was to think about a few of her closest friends and send them asimple greeting card introducing Debbie to them.


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Sandra sent out a total of 11 cards to her various friends. Debbies coston this project was 62 cents per card plus postage (less than $15). Whatsinteresting about products like financial planning and insurance is that

people only look for them when they need to. I hope you didnt expectDebbies phone to start ringing off the hook. People took the time to call

Hi John and Mary,

We just wanted to give you the contact information for Debbie Snider, our financial

advisor and friend.

She is a financial advisor with Watson Snider Financial. Shes been very good atgetting us the best insurance options for medical and travel and weve been very

happy with her service and fees.

Debbie has reviewed our life & critical illness insurance, kids education funds, as

well as other products we have and given us very sound advice. Shes professional,ethical, and easy to work with.

We thought you might also benefit from her services. Her phone number is (416)235-2516 and her email is [email protected]. (We are sending

you this information in a card so that you have it when you need it.)

Cheers,

Sandra & Craig


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Im not much of a graphics designer so it took me quite some time to figureout how to work this New York Times Bestseller vignette into the image.

(Today, I wouldnt even try to do that myself. Id just outsource it tosomeone a lot more capable than me on Fiverr.com for $5.)

Two years later, I was speaking with Joe on the phone about anotherclients project where I needed his support. Not only was Joe ready andeager to help, he made a point of mentioning that my card still sits on hisdesk and he looks at it every day.

J Squirrel Card:

Finally, heres my J Squirrel card , a shameless swipe of Bill Glazersexample in one of his newsletters:


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###

Thank you Alex. You know, Im starting to feel sorry for all those marketers online that areforever chasing their tail trying to build up a large herd or tribe or cult or whatever

buzzword some guru has been pontificating on. Unless youre just promoting information products (which in my educated opinion is a HUGE mistake and is going to becomeincreasingly difficult to make a sustainable business out of) then building up a big email list orTwitter / Facebook following etc., is a labour of Sisyphus.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know call me on (U.K.) +44 (0)1892 871446 , I even answer myown phone, whatta guy!

Warmly,

Michael Silk.

PS. BTW: Alex Makarski has agreed to extend to you (through me) a free 14-day trial account withSendOutCards.com. As well as setting up your trial account Alex will also make himself available to you for 20minutes or so (free of charge) over Skype to brainstorm with you the best type of message to put in yourconnection card(s) based upon the person(s) you intend mailing to and the type / level of relationship etc., youhave (or dont yet have) with them. At the end of that call with Alex, your first card will be created, writtenand on its way to your intended recipient. To take Alex up on this special offer just shoot me an email andIll hook you up with Alex. My email is: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Engage With High Quality People

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