Cultivating an attitude of gratitude shouldn't be just a once a year, last Thursday in November kind of thing. Gratitude is contagious. When's the last time you said "thank you" to your coworkers....your boss...your suppliers...your clients?

While most people would think about their clients, I probably surprised you when I mentioned bosses, coworkers and suppliers. Some people view the words "thank you" as a weakness, using them so sparingly that when they're said, it may feel as if a national holiday should be declared.

Every time we say the words, "thank you" out loud, it does a marvelous thing. The words travel from our mouth, circle around the air around our heads, and enter our brains again through the ears. That is, you say the words, you hear them, and it reinforces the good, the positive, and the positive connections between yourself and others.  (That's also why complaining is so corrosive; every time you complain, you're rubbing sandpaper across the happiness of your mind, wearing it down bit by bit).

On this t-minus two days and counting to Thanksgiving 2009, I invite you to take a moment today to reflect on what you have to be grateful for in your business life. My cup overflows with thankfulness.


Thank you for...

• my clients at Seven Oaks
• my readers of this blog
• all the wonderful writers, editors and business people I have met this year
• the ability for me to connect and communicate with people about aspects of business that I love
• 'firsts' this year - teaching my first teleseminar with Gerri Helms, planning new and delightful courses for 2010
• my suppliers at my equine art company, who go the extra mile
• my customers - all those who place their trust in me

Thank you. And thank you for reading this blog!

Yesterday I opened one of my favorite books, Emmett Fox's "The Power of Constructive Thinking." I opened it at random and found a passage eerily similar to another I'd marked in a spiritual book by Sri Daya Mata, a discipline of Paramahansa Yogananda.  Both Fox and Daya Ma offered the following analogy, which I will paraphrase since I'm too lazy to get up and find the exact passage. 

When you plant a seed, you don't pull it up to see if it's sprouted. If you did that, you'd kill the plant. Instead, gardeners plant seeds. They water the seeds. They watch them. But they let them be. When they see sprouts, they rejoice. If, after all their tender loving care the ground remains bare, they can either try again and replant the seeds or cut their losses and move on to another type of seed.

Daya Mata used this analogy for the spiritual path, and Fox was using it to describe one's attempts at mental changes, but doesn't it fit marketing, too?

Marketing is, in fact, sowing seeds. You know that I own a 17 acre farm; I garden on about 3 of those acres. I sow a lot of seeds! Sometimes I grow the seeds inside on little trays under lights. At other times, we scatter the seeds on the ground, or press them into the vegetable beds.

But at no time do I grab a shovel and dig in the dirt to see if the seed has sprouted.

Are you doing that with your marketing?  Do you start a marketing promotion, such as sending out an email campaign, and then when it doesn't get a respond within hours, tell yourself, "Oh, email doesn't work for me."

If I planted seeds, and watered them, but I didn't see a little tomato plant or pansy or whatever it is a few hours later, would I just throw out the seed tray and say, "Gee, these seeds aren't good....they don't work."

Like planting seeds, you sow your little marketing seeds in various soils: social networks, emails, direct mail, advertising, conferences.  Now seeds germinate at different rates. Lettuce comes up pretty fast, a perennial like lavender or Echinacea takes a few weeks. Same goes for marketing.  You'll probably get fairly quick results from emails, but other marketing tactics take longer.

How many times do you sow your marketing seeds? My friend Roman Kraus said yesterday on my Blog Talk Radio Show that in his opinion, it takes about seven contacts before a prospect feels comfortable enough with you to do business. It used to be about three, according to the estimates I was told by my professors back in marketing school.  I'm also seeing what Roman is seeing; people want to get to know you better now, and they might do that by revisiting your website a few times, reading your emails, or watching you on social networks before they approach you to do business.

Chances are, however, that you're like the impatient gardener declaring that his seeds are no good when in fact they just need more time to germinate. At some point yes, you do need to decide whether or not to keep trying - throwing good money after bad ever helps.  But give your marketing time to grow.

Don't constantly poke and pull at your marketing either. If you keep changing your messaging strategy, your prices or your ads, it doesn't give your marketing time to grow. It's like taking a trowel and digging in the dirt to see if the seeds sprouted. You'll end up killing the tender little plant; if you keep poking at your marketing, you won't let the momentum grow.

So how does your marketing garden grow?

Lately I'm seeing a slew of blog posts and articles from business coaches that are really troubling me. Most of them talk about "monetizing relationships" or monetizing social networks.

I'm a direct marketer by training and by nature. It's in my blood to try to find data to back up my marketing practices, and social networking is no different. Many people reading this follow me on various social networks: Linked In, Twitter, Facebook and others.  They follow me for a variety of reasons. I hope they follow me because they like what I write about or I've piqued their interest somehow. Maybe they're following me just to get a follow back and build their network up. Either way, that's okay with me.

I've seen lots of posts about how to quantify and find the ROI in social networking.  It's in my blood too to figure out what the ROI is for social networking. But there are ways to do this without jeopardizing friendships, and the coaches and consultants posting about this lately seem to be desperately pushing people into the danger zone between socializing and selling...and I'm in the camp that thinks that selling comes naturally after the socializing part.

We don't monetize our real life friendships, do we? I mean ick, isn't that awful? Can you imagine walking around saying you like someone just to make money off of them? I guess people do it all the time. That's sucking up to people. Yeah, I suppose folks do this all the time to get ahead....and I'm probably guilty of it many times over from my corporate life.  I won't be a hypocrite and say I never did it.  But I can't keep doing it.  I never did that with my social networks in real life, those people I call friends. Maybe I'm old fashioned and naive. I don't know. I just know that if all my friends wanted out of me was a buck or two, they'd be in big trouble.  I like to think my friends want to hang out with me because they like me.

We as consultants and coaches can't go around saying that the best way to use social networking is for networking and then tomorrow talk about monetizing those networks. It just confuses the heck out of people. We're talking out of both sides of our mouths and that never works. Either those coaches and consultants I'm seeing are just having a bad day and their writing isn't clear or they really do mean that you trick people into being your friend or connection for the sole purpose of making a buck.  Just writing that is making my skin crawl.

I'm always telling people not to send out hard sell posts on social networks, and I know that other coaches and consultants say the same thing. They're obnoxious and you wouldn't run around the networking event in person meeting folks for the first time, pushing your business card in their hands, and saying, "Buy my watches, they're 50% off today!"  I'd think you were a jerk of the first order and I bet other people would too. 

Most people intuitively recognize this and so they agree that social networking is for social interaction, communication, building bridges.  I and others advise our clients to share, participate, friend and otherwise put people first, business second, for success on social networks. Do what is right and the business will follow. It has for me without the need to "friend" people I don't like just because they have money.

Then today I open my email and I'm seeing new posts from other consultants about making money off their connections. Really folks, you can't have it both ways - you can't tell people to friend, share, participate and put people first and then go forth and monetize in that hard sell way.

Yes, you hope to do business with the folks on your networks. Yes, you want to know what your return on your investment is.

But people aren't commodities. Friendships aren't bought, sold, or pushed into money making opportunities.

Just for the record, I put friendships and relationships first. If you buy something from me, thank you and I welcome it. But I'm never out to sell first.

Call me old fashioned.  But I get nauseous when I see the words "monetize" next to the word "people."  That used to be called by very ugly names, not the least which is taking advantage of people. Or being a total phony.

What do you think?

Today I received a very interesting email from the Vice President of Chadwicks of Boston. In case you don't shop there, Chadwicks is an ecommerce store and catalog catering to women. Their usual fare includes chic, affordable business clothes for women with some sporty casual pieces mixed in. 

I've been a customer of Chadwicks since 1987, when my sister and I both ordered a bunch of value priced turtlenecks. Since then, their clothes have been the staple of my business wardrobe. I'd say that I wear something from their catalog at least once a week.

But things change, and when I moved to Virginia in 2007, my wardrobe changed too.  I spend my days working out of my home office, where business casual is the norm. I'm more likely to spring for another pair of my latest wardrobe staple, super-comfortable moccasins, or a good pair of Wellies to work in the garden than another business dress. I purchased only a smattering of items, most of them discounted from Chadwicks in the past year to update my wardrobe, but gone are the days when I completely refurbished my business wardrobe when I new trend I liked caught my eye.

There's another reason why I haven't ordered in a long time. I can't wear the latest fashion trends. They look absolutely awful on me. And Chadwicks has, over time, stopped carrying the classic pieces I loved and has begun instead to carry almost exclusively uber-trendy pieces I can find anywhere in town.

Nope, haven't shopped from them in a long time...and wasn't planning to. 

So when I opened this email today, I wasn't surprised.

"Dear Value Customer, We see that you haven't ordered in a while. Here is a $10 coupon to spend on anything you would like..."

Well and good. A $10 coupon is a nice thing.

However, Chadwicks missed a valuable opportunity here. You see, no one asked the most important question: "Why?"

As in..."Why haven't you shopped with us in a while?"

It could have been a million reasons. I started this entry today by telling you the real reasons: changing lifestyle and changing wardrobe, plus current trends that don't fit a curvy, 40-something with conservative tastes.

But what if I wasn't shopping with Chadwicks for another reason?  Perhaps...

• I'd had a bad shopping experience, and refused to buy from them again
• I did not like the quality of the garments I purchased
• I could not find my size or color
  
• I was looking for items they do not carry (check! doesn't anyone make pants that actually sit at the waist anymore?)
  
• Their shipping prices were too high
• The items I wanted were always out of stock, so I gave up shopping with them
• The trendy clothing they carry no longer fits my lifestyle? (check!)
• I liked shopping with a competitor better for (fill in the reason)
  

Do you understand why I  ask, "Am I really a valued customer to you?"

Instead of just sending me a $10 coupon, why not ask a truly valued customer what's going on? Set up a mechanism to collect data. How about a simple survey? A phone call? Is the call center really that busy all day? They have my email address...why not an email asking me why I wasn't shopping with them, with a form to collect the answers?

There are probably plenty more ways for Chadwicks or any other company to have used this as an opportunity for dialogue with their customers. Instead, they treated it like a transactional exchange.

I'm not a transaction. I'm valued customer.

But am I really a valued customer?

Yesterday, I got an envelope in the mail from the U.S. Post Office.  Inside the envelope were two of my business cards. The outer envelope was printed with a "sorry we destroyed your mail, here's what's left" kind of message.

Last month, a $300 horse statue sold through my retail company, EquinArt Creations, was returned to us with the notice that we had neglected to include the customs declaration form to ship the package to the United Kingdom. The problem, of course, is that we could not have even got the box into the postal system WITHOUT the forms...the postal clerk wouldn't have stamped the box, canceled the stamps, and given us insurance without the forms.

That happened four months ago, too, with another package bound for the U.K.

Did I mention that these packages cost me about $36 each to ship...and that the post office wanted to charge me double, because they had separated and lost my customs forms?

What about my two business cards? They came from my own direct mail acquisition campaign sent last month. I sent six custom letters, carefully crafted proposals and kits to companies I'd like to work with. Apparently after mangling my letters in the postal system, the only thing that survived were my business cards.  Each package cost me well over $1.50 to send out.

By my tally, I'm now out $73.50

The post office exemplifies the worst in government bureaucracy. EVER. 

Do you think they'd offer me a refund? Of course not. Somehow, 'blame the customer' is the name of the game with them.

You know me. I'm pro direct mail for marketing reasons. But if the post office doesn't get its act together very soon, we're all going to put aside our stamps in favor of the send button, and ever marketer will switch to email only.

Thank you to all who joined our teleconference last night on "A Spiritual Approach to Business."  Despite keeping candles and matches on my desk in case the power went out (thank you, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida), I had so much fun sharing with you what I know to be true...that running your business, whether you own a business or work for someone else, from a position of honesty, integrity and grace will make you better off in the long run. 

Here's a brief recap of our conversation last night, led by author and life coach Gerri Helms. 

• When Gerri and I both relaxed about acquiring customers and where our next dollar was coming from, and focused on SERVING our customers and HELPING people, doors opened to us that we never dreamed would open.
• A spiritual focus on business means aligning your business practices after connecting with your spirit. Whether this is through an organized religion (pathway or practice) or through private practices such as meditation, prayer or otherwise connecting with spirit is irrelevant. What's important, however, is combining spiritual approaches with action/work.
• Affirmations are important, but good intentions, affirmations and spiritual practices MUST be combined with right action, activity and hard work to achieve success.
• Running your business on honesty can take many forms - cash register honesty, fair work for fair pay, and being open with prospective clients is just one way Gerri and I try to exemplify honesty in our business dealings.
• Integrity means many things, but to me, it means holding your business practices up to your ethical beliefs - and following through. Mean what you say, and say what you mean. If you believe, for example, that people are more important than money, when it comes down to choosing between letting someone take a day off to take care of a sick parent or making them stay late and get that project done (because it means more money for your company) - to have integrity means that you honor your commitment to the person; you let them take the day off and find another way. 
  
• Grace is a connection with God. Having a grace-filled business practice can open doors undreamed of.

Both Gerri and I shared our personal journeys from chasing every dollar to following our intuition, inspiration and inner promptings to help people.  We'll share more in January when we launch our four week course, A Spiritual Approach to Business, and we share with you specific practices to connect with spirit and concrete ways you can infuse honesty, integrity and grace in your business practices.

For more information, please watch the Seven Oaks Website's new section, "Spiritual Business".  I will post a link to a recording of last night's call and the suggested reading list, which will be sent to all participants, as well as registration information for our new class.

Visit Gerri Helms' website at www.lifecoachgerri.com if you are interested in a complimentary coaching session. 

Somehow when I use the word "convergence" I want to break out in song, singing "Age of Aquarius" at the top of my lungs. It wouldn't be too awful - I have some musical training and am told my alto-range voice is pleasant on the ear, albeit I sometimes sound like Kate Smith with a head cold.

Today is the dawning of a new age...the age where social networking and online media converge.

Let me explain how these vibes of peace, love, joy and online marketing flowed to my desk.

On Monday morning, I opened my in box to find an email from one Mohamed, an IBM network engineer who works in an office park in Giza, Egypt.  He had found me through an article I write for a revenue-sharing website, Suite 101. This isn't the first time a connection has been forged through Suite 101 or the other revenue sharing sites I write for, but this had to be one from the farthest corner of the globe!

Mohamed wrote to me because he is a graduate student at the University of Cairo. He's writing a paper for a course on the connections between social networking and online marketing, and he was looking for resources and advice. He found me through an article I had written on social networking. I was delighted to share with him some white papers, presentations, and free E books among my treasure trove of marketing information squirreled away in the Seven Oaks offices.  He wrote back with thanks and I hope he gets an A + on his paper.

Mohamed is actually the fourth person who has contact me after reading something I've written on the Internet.  There was a professor of nursing in Juneau, Alaska, who wanted to reprint an article of mine for her class to show them how scientific information changes over time; a college student studying for her Registered Dietitian certificate in Iowa; and the head of a prestigious research foundation who contacted me after reading an article I'd written about one of the co-founders of her organization. That last contact led to an assignment and my first article published in a print journal since 1997! (I stopped writing for about 10 years to focus on my marketing career, and resumed my writing career in 2007, but focused mostly on website writing.)

Why am I sharing all of this with you? To demonstrate that Mohamed's thesis was actually proven by the very fact that he contacted me.  Here, in his email to me, was the confluence of online marketing and social networking, for I had used both tactics to share my credentials with the online world.  My Twitter posts, Linked In network, Facebook efforts and other social networking gave him and others a feeling that they knew me; I was approachable.  I was also deemed an expert in both arenas, which was flattering and I hope is modestly true in at least some respects.

The online marketing comes from my writing efforts for a variety of online magazines, websites, and content houses. While many writers scoff at the revenue-sharing sites like Suite 101, eHow, Helium, and the rest, I have found them to be easy to write for, fun, engaging - and profitable.  Each month, royalties accrue from my previously published articles and are paid like clockwork. When I have time, I add more articles to the sites I enjoy.

But more importantly than making revenues are the connections I have made by writing for these sites. I've listed all the people who have found me through Suite 101. If you Google my name, Suite 101 is one of the first things that come up.  On eHow, I've made friends with Barry Shaw, a wonderful giving entrepreneur who runs Work Home Union (www.workhomeunion.com) and who spends his days making money online and sharing what he knows with his readers.  It is through the Internet that I met Gerri Helms, the author and life coach with whom I am partnering on our "Spiritual Business" series, and Jay Miletsky at Get Perspectives. 

Each of these contacts, friendships, partnerships and business efforts represent just what Mohamed was looking for - the confluence and convergence of online marketing and social networking to forge a new world of virtual bridges spanning not rivers, but oceans.

I've got a new friend in Cairo, with an address listed as fairly near to the Great Pyramid at Giza.

How cool is that?

It is indeed the dawning of the age of Aquarius...or perhaps the age of Amen-Ra...who knows?

All I know is this; online marketing and social networking make it possible to connect with just about anyone, everywhere, and have changed the game for us all.

Give up that dream of sitting back and getting chocolate samples to taste and write about on your blog. The FTC just changed the rulebook.

On December 1, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission's new disclosure rules take effect.  This is the first change in 29 years, so it's a big deal. All advertising is affected, but especially bloggers and social networking marketers.

The new rules specify that bloggers as well as others writing about products must state clearly whether or not the writer was paid to endorse the product, whether he or she received samples, and more.  Even those diet ads with the ubiquitous "Results not typical" underneath them are gone.  That 'safe harbor' language loved by legal teams everywhere is going to get spruced up and probably need to be a lot longer. Great, just what we need - turning all ads into drug company ads.  ("Results not typical, and may include...")

Are you ready?  I never take a dime for reviewing anything on my gardening blog. I do sometimes get product samples from PR firms when I'm pitched for a story, so I have accepted copies of books I'm supposed to review, a vitamin sample here or there, herbs here or there. My closet is actually full of sample bottles, which makes me look like the hypochondriac of the year - all contributions from companies I've been asked to write about for major websites and magazines.

So how will this impact your advertisements or blog?

Sources

• Baker, Stephen. "The FTC's New Rules Tile Against Bloggers." Business Week,  October 6, 2009. posted to http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2009/10/the_ftcs_new_ru.html
  
• Kang, Cecilia. "FTC Sets Endorsement Rules for Blogs." Washington Post, October 6, 2009, posted to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/05/AR2009100503620.html
• Krol, Carol.  "DMers Work to Comply with FTC Freebies Rule". DM News, October 12, 2009 page 13

Mine.

The favorite word of two year olds everywhere is now the name of a new magazine and concept from Time Inc and American Express Publishing.

The concept is intriguing. Instead of paying for several magazine subscriptions, readers complete a detailed questionnaire about their likes, dislikes and interests. Content is then pulled from Time Inc.'s suite of publications and assembled into one original magazine that is custom-tailored to the reader.

It's an intriguing concept, isn't it? As a consumer, my first response was "I want mine."  Don't you think that would make a great slogan?

My second response was "Hmmnnn....."

I love the idea of a magazine filled with articles and ads I'm interested in.  Cooking is a hobby of mine, and I've subscribed to Cooking Light for several years now. Some months, the issue is dog-eared with pages smeared from my cooking attempts; there are more recipes than I can ever try. Other months the magazine just goes right into the pile and elicits only a snort of contempt from me.  Where am I supposed to find all those exotic ingredients out here in rural Virginia? I'm not driving two hours into Richmond just to find panko and crimini mushrooms (okay, Wal-Mart has panko - Japanese bread crumbs - but you get the picture.)  Wouldn't it be wonderful to get a magazine with only those recipes that have what I call normal ingredients, things I can find in our rural area?

But then I thought more about the magazines I subscribe to and their contents. Have you ever had the experience of flipping through a magazine and an ad catches your eye for a new product? That happened just this week. I was flipping through Hobby Farms and saw an ad for a chicken coop for under $300.  We've wanted to get some chickens for a long time, but I need to rely upon my long-suffering spouse to build the coop and enclosure, and he's not terribly enthusiastic about the project or about chickens in general. Suddenly I see a coop that even I with my limited carpentry skills could put together. It was also a very attractive little barn with safety features to keep out predators and little hatches to collect the eggs and clean the coop. Just what I wanted. I've now folded down that page for future reference. You know what you can get me for Christmas....

What if this new concept of "Mine" was in place with my magazines? Would the algorithm that drew content for my unique magazine have known my chicken coop dilemma?

What about advertisers? While some will welcome the targeted ads, magazines are going to have to radically rethink ad rates. Ad rates are predicated by circulation rates, and circulation rates are audited by one of the independent firms like the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) which gives marketers confidence that the information reported by the magazine is accurate.  If new magazines have custom content and custom selected ads, there's no way to accurately predict how many impressions an ad will make. Think about it. What if only 100 of the 30,000+ subscribers to Hobby Farms note on their questionnaire want an inexpensive, small, portable and easy to assemble chicken coop?  I'm not actively shopping for a chicken coop; it wasn't top of mind when I opened my magazine. The ad in this case inspired me to start thinking again about adding animals to Seven Oaks, our little hobby farm. 

It's a chicken or the egg scenario, pun definitely intended.  If people receive only ads and articles about what they want, advertisers can target ads better and perhaps see higher returns. On the other hand, if you don't get your ads in front of new customers, you lose an acquisition channel.

Egg-xcellent, my dear friends.  What do you think about such a new magazine and strategy?

If you're considering using direct mail as part of your marketing mix, it's vital to understand what constitutes a good mailing list as well as ways to manage mailing list rentals to save money.  The best mailing list you can use is your house file - the list of customers with whom you've already established a business relationship or who have inquired about your company's products and services. Hands down, a house file out performs a rented list almost every time. Throughout my many years managing direct mail for large for profit and not for profit corporations, I always tested the house file against rented lists, and it was usually two for one; the house file outperformed rented lists twice as well.

While house files have an important place in the direct marketing mix, they cannot help you with prospecting or reaching new customers. That's where rented mailing lists come into play. Mailing lists are never purchased but rather are rented for one or multiple times of use. Renters must enter into a contractual agreement with the list provider, promising never to sell or over mail to the list. How would they find out if you did? Each file is 'seeded' with names and addresses that are indistinguishable from the others on the list but contain the addresses of people employed to monitor and report list abuse. If you mail more than the amount of times you paid for, you will get fined by the list owner.

Before renting your first mailing list, there are five important considerations. Understanding each will not only help you save money on rental costs and mailings but can actually increase your response rate.

Five Mailing List Rental Considerations for Effective Direct Mail

 

1. Determine how many times you want to use the list.

Mailing lists are rented for a set number of uses. You cannot buy a list outright, nor can you rent it once and then use it multiple times without paying the list owner the appropriate rental fees. Consider renting a home. You wouldn't pay for one month's rent and then expect to live there your whole life rent-free, would you? List owners 'seed' mailing lists with recipients who track and monitor list usage. Begin your mailing list project by knowing how many times you plan to use your list. Most companies choose one time use until they know the list works for them.

2. Find the right list for your business.

Create a customer profile, outlining the demographics of the most likely customer. What are you selling? What do you want to get from your mailing? A pediatric dentist will rent an entirely different list from a hotel chain in a tourist town. Knowing your target customer and developing a specific profile helps you narrow down the myriad list choices. A basic customer profile outlines the gender, location, income, age bracket, and likes/dislikes of the customer. Companies that provide lists offer their customers many choices in selecting the right recipients. Often you will find selections along demographic information or recency of purchase or response. Choose the list selections that narrow down the target to the people most likely to respond to your offer. If the company offers names that have responded to offers in the last three months, a truism in direct marketing is that recent behaviors predict future behaviors, so it's worth spending some money to rent these names.  Companies who rent lists include InfoUSA, Walter Karl, and many others.

3. Order the appropriate output.

If you're printing and mailing from a vendor, order an electronic file. The standard addressing method today is ink jet. Names, addresses, and bar codes that are easily read by post office machines are ink jet printed directly onto the mail piece. Small businesses who plan to send their own mailings may wish to order peel and stick labels. Ordering preprinted labels saves time. If ordering an electronic file, the file format called ASCI (pronounced "ask-eee") easily converts into Excel, Access, or other standard software.

4.  Choose response lists over compiled lists.

What's the difference? A response lists is a mailing list based on purchasing behavior. Addresses on the list are from people who responded to various offers, whether it's ordering from a direct television commercial or catalog to subscribing to a magazine. It's a truism in direct marketing that past buying behavior is one of the best predictors of future behavior.  There's a greater statistical likelihood that people on the response list who bought gourmet cookware, for example, will respond to a cookbook offer.

The opposite of a response list is a compiled list. These lists are typically generated on publicly available data, such as telephone books. There's no indication of what the person may be interested in.  Basic demographic data is usually available and is based on appending records such as census data to a compiled list.  These may be useful for offers limited to a geographic area and of mass appeal, such as a new auto repair store opening announcement. In that example, the automotive store simply wants addresses from a particular local area and doesn't much care if the people at the addressses have bought car parts, accessories or other car related items. Chances are pretty good that folks living at the addresses have a car, so the compiled list may be worth using.

Compiled lists generally cost less to rent that response lists.

5.  Save nixies.

Nixies aren't little mythical creatures like fairies or elves. It's the direct marketer's lingo for returned mail. Many list companies offer a return policy. The policy varies according to the company, but some with whom I've worked have either given back pennies per bad address or a complete refund. Have a policy and system in place at your company to gather and process the returned mail. At the least, you'll need to correct any house file addresses that are bad; and if you can get a few pennies credit for each returned piece of mail, so much the better.

The next time you need to rent a mailing list, use these considerations. You'll get a better response, save money, and build your marketing efforts into a money making machine. When in doubt, consult with professional direct marketing experts to help you find and order the best mailing list for the job.

-- --

About Jeanne Grunert

Jeanne Grunert is a well known direct and online marketing expert and the president of Seven Oaks Consulting. For 20 years, she led marketing departments in the retail, financial services, and publishing industries. She helped companies save money and increase response rates - and profits - on their direct mail and online marketing efforts. Today, Jeanne shares her experience through her books, articles, coaching and courses available through Seven Oaks Consulting, focusing on low cost, high results marketing strategies. New clients welcome. For more information and a free consultation, please visit http://www.sevenoaksconsulting.com, or call 434-574-6253.

Today we're going to go channel surfing. Not the kind of channel surfing where you sit in a stupor on your couch, remote in hand, bowl of popcorn at the ready. I'm talking about marketing and sales channels.

Do you know where your sales are coming from?

Whether you sell widgets or gadgets, it's time to evaluate your channels as we head towards the final stretch of 2009 and begin thinking about 2010 planning.

Here are some ideas to monitor - remember that data is your friend.  Start looking at the following:

• Do you know where your website traffic is coming from? Which search engines do you customers use? What search terms are they using? Now that you know this, how will you use it?  Here's an example. Take the top 10 search terms people are using to find your site. Now create a page on your website optimized just for that search term.  See if it boosts hits.
• Are there peaks and valleys on your site traffic? If so, do you know why?
• Where are you sales coming from? What channels are producing the most sales? Is it mail order, website, telephone order?
• How about your advertising? What's producing - and what's not? Do you know?

Start collecting your metrics. Numbers are your friend. Numbers don't lie! If you are putting 90% of your marketing budget into direct mail but online is producing 50% of your sales, it's time to consider new channels.

Go channel surfing.  What possible sales channels are open to you that you haven't thought about yet?  Online, offline, bricks and mortar, partnerships, joint ventures? New marketing channels -  content marketing, micro sites, blogging, what?

We're nearing the end of 2009....and it's just about the time when you should start making your marketing decisions and pulling together at least a rudimentary plan for 2010....so what's it going to be?

Base your answer on your current data, and you'll probably see a healthier, happier bottom line in 2010.

Go channel surfing today....and if popcorn helps, crunch away as you crunch those numbers.

I'm so sorry to burst your bubble, but there's no giant ATM in the sky.

Once again I'm taking a contrarian position to the coaches, gurus and pundits posting about all sorts of magical ways to make money. Normally, I let it go. This week has been an exception. I'm seeing an incredible rise in the number of seminars, blog posts, articles and products for sale promising money for nothing.

A blog post this week from a business coach denounced an emphasis on cost savings as a 'scarcity mindset.' Someone else is recommending "laser-like focus on profits which you offer up to the universe and demand a response." The list goes on and on.

So sorry, but the Universe is not a giant ATM machine.

There's a book called "Your Money or Your Life" which explains best what I think about money. Money is an exchange for life energy.  You give your time or life energy and get something in return.  Sometimes what you get is satisfaction, love and joy - such as giving your time to help a child read, to listen to the birds sing, to enjoy a great concert, book or movie. At other times, you give your life energy to write an article for payment, work a double shift at the hospital in return for overtime pay, or attend meetings all day.  The net result is that you have exchanged life energy (=time) for the green paper or equivalent which we call money.

And what is money? Someone very wise taught me that money is power. When you have money saved up, you have power. Power to choose what you want in life. Power to say yes or no to opportunities not because you need more money, but because they are right or wrong from you. When you have money in the bank, you do not have to rely upon the whims of fortune. You have choices.

A lack of money does NOT indicate a "scarcity mindset."  I felt my heart break a little today when I read a well known coaches' blog who seemed to be blaming people who do not have money for having a 'scarcity mindset.' Perhaps I read her post wrong, or misinterpreted it.

If you run a small business, you know that cost savings is key to keeping your business afloat. You can sit around chanting affirmations day and night, putting out your positive energy with laser-like focus, but if that's ALL you do....and you don't combine that with ACTIVITIES to support your affirmations...you get nowhere!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I believe in affirmations for business people, and positive thinking. But I also believe in very old fashioned values.  Thrift, for one. It's gotten such a bad rap.  I came of age during the heady "Greed is Good" Wall Street days of the 1980's, grew my career during the dot com boom of the 1990's, and rode the bubble with the rest of you into the crash of 2008.  The reason my companies survived is because I was thifty.  My companies were not leveraged to the hilt.  I did not rely upon affirmations only.  When business slowed and the recession began, we cut back on expenditures.  What we didn't cut back on was quality or service, even if that meant working double the amount of hours it took to give our customers the very best, both for our equine art business and Seven Oaks.

Being thrifty and cost conscious does not mean that my mind is filled with scarcity. My mind is filled to overflowing with abundance! Those who know me know that my favorite saying is, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Even if you are an atheist and don't believe in a Lord or deity, I'm sure you too feel gratitude for what you have.

Gratitude and thanksgiving are signs of prosperity.  But I don't think you get something for nothing.  Even if a windfall of a sudden gift of new business comes you way, it's because somewhere along the line you planted seeds of ACTION.  You did SOMETHING that obtained the customer.

You never get something for nothing.

Holding a certain "prosperity mindset" won't get new business to your door.

Combine loving service with thanksgiving creates the right mindset....and prosperity follows when you combine that mindset with actions: excellent products, superior service, and a thoughtful marketing and sales campaign that communicates your core values and benefits to the customer.

Yes, I'm old fashioned...but there's no giant ATM in the sky.  You are loved and your life is filled with abundance, and more abundance will flow to you...but you need to put ACTIONS behind the feelings.

So what do you think? Email me at jeannegrunert at dishmail dot net.

After announcing the November 12, 2009 free teleconference I'm co-hosting with author and coach Gerri Helms, "A Spiritual Approach to Business," I suddenly noticed a flurry of "spiritual business" type seminars.  Spiritual money-making, spiritual this that and the other thing....now I'm not so naive as to believe that people are copying me; I do think this is all on our collective minds. Noticing them is rather like the phenomena of someone saying, "Gee, I'm noticing a LOT more red-headed people on the subway these days." The next thing you know, every time you hop on the A train it seems as if the car is filled with carrot tops.  I started noticing similar-sounding seminars soon after announcing ours. My attention just happened to be focused on the topic.

I registered for one. I will keep the coaches anonymous.  But my experience listening to this call was the saddest experience I have had in a long time.

The series of free calls were actually pre-recorded, although promoted as if they were live. This in and of itself was quite a disappointment to me.  Why not just post all your recorded conferences? The hosts actually had the nerve to offer them on CD's for a huge amount of money.  So you could plunk down almost $200 and get badly recorded teleconferences to listen to at your leisure.

Next, after registering, I was taken to a web page chock full of screaming headlines, 20 point copy, lots of exclamation points, and hard sell messages for all sorts of "spiritual money making" products.  I started getting a bad feeling about it, to paraphrase Princess Leia.

I missed the first call but did catch one call from a coach whose work I have followed for over a year.

This is what made me so, so sad about their approach to making money:

• She described in breathy terms how rich she is now - how she spends her money. She listed all sorts of castle in the air things like sessions of body work each week, her hobby (which is an expensive one), a new mansion she has built. 
  I didn't hear about her services to the world, or the good she has done, which is to me an essence and a hallmark of spirituality...what are you doing with that money, aside from lavishing it on yourself? Has she made money? I suppose so, although I don't really understand how - or what she does to truly earn the money.  It made me queasy, like a get rich quick scheme or an investment in a diamond mine in Tanzania.  What does she actually do to earn such riches? I honestly can't tell you.
  
• Next, the instructions she and another coach were giving to the listeners to make money made me just shake my head in sadness.  Here is what they told people to do: "You have to have laser-like focus. Set your goal. Tell the Universe what you want! It is up to you to DEMAND what you want. I see it as sending my thoughts like beams up into the universe, and it's the universe's job to send me back what I demand...it works!"

Treating this magnificent, glorious, complex mystery that some call God, Spirit, or the Universe as the giant ATM in the sky (insert card - punch in secret code - money pops out) is just sad.

The coach then went into several New Age-type mental tricks that while in and of themselves aren't bad, are not at all what I believe is a spiritual approach to business. Perhaps it is used mental tricks to obtain riches. 

None of what these coaches were recommending is bad in and of itself.  I do believe in the power of positive thinking, in goal setting, and using affirmations. I do many of these tasks daily. But I don't believe we can - or should - be so focused on our own demands that we treat the universal spirit like a giant ATM in the sky. Insert card, punch in the right code, take the money and run.

If you constantly send your demands up to the universe, I think you are closing yourself off to many, many possibilities.

What if you demand to make $100,000 in sales this year? You send that up day after day to the universe. Lo and behold, you make $100,000 - so you think this way works.

But what if the Universe had in store for you $500,000 this year? If you are so focused and demanding on the $100,000, aren't you closing yourself off to the limitless possibilities?

So many times when faced with a seemingly insurmountable business task, I turn it over to God (my word for the term "Universe" that the coaches used on their call. Others call it Spirit or by another name. Let's agree that it is an all powerful, kind, gentle and giving spirit and leave other terms and definitions to the religious folks).  Answers some from out of the blue, where I least expect it.

Here's just one example from my life of how I used this in business.  I was running communications for a big state contract my non profit had with the government of one of the biggest states in the USA.  I got a call from my contact in the governor's office, and she sounded upset.

"The governor needs [list of specific people] for a video he wants to use in his state of the state address."

"Isn't that next week - ?!"

"Yes."

It was impossible to get exactly the people he wanted, get a video crew all around the state, get the film ready, and produce a high quality video that would be broadcast on statewide, perhaps national television.  What in the world was I going to do?

With knots in my stomach, I turned the problem over to God and went to bed. I admit, I tossed and turned that night, but each time I wanted to give up, I just turned the problem back into the hands of God.

The next morning, I woke up with an idea.  I would call J, a contact in the state. I called her. I gave her part of the problem - lining up the people the governor wanted interviewed.  "I can do it," she said, and by 2pm - she had!

Next, I pulled out my Rolodex....I felt an intuitive tug...and there was the card of a videographer in that state who I had used, and loved.

Could she drop everything and work on this project for me?

Yes, she could - and gladly.  She said on the phone that she owed me a favor, which I had totally forgotten about.

We got that video done.  People said it couldn't be done.  Everyone was amazed at how it came together.

You see, by turning the problem over, I relaxed into it....and let God (or my unconscious mind, whatever you believe in) pull together the plan and nudge me, through intuition, into the solution.

Did I focus with laser like intensity on MY proposed solution, send it to heaven, and demand a response?

No....I melted into the flow, and with it came the answer. A spiritual approach to business.

That's how I define a spiritual approach; I connect with God, I wait for the answer.

If you believe this is something you would be interested in learning more about, I urge you to email me and register for the free teleconference Gerri Helms and I are running on November 12, 2009.  We're following it with a class to teach you step by step how to work this into your life, your business practices and more.  For more information, please see Spiritual Business on my website.

With respect to the coaches running the teleseminar mentioned earlier in this post, I wish you success with your endeavors. Someone may learn from your approach.  But your approach doesn't fit with my approach, so I will not be attending - nor buying your overpriced information products.

Direct marketing is measurable and accountable. What that means is that for every dollar you spend on marketing, you can figure out if you made money. In today's tough economic climate, direct marketing should be the last thing you cut. It's the only part of your entire marketing budget that you can show that for every action, there is a reaction - and that reaction boosts profits or losses. It's that simple.

I once managed a catalog for a large non profit corporation. When I took over the catalog, it was in a sorry state of affairs. Two consultants familiar with the industry had been hired to fix it but with each mailing, the response great grew worse and worse. As a last ditch effort, my boss tossed the catalog and a great mound of files on my desk. "Here," he said. "See what you can do with this."

It was the end of the fiscal year, and like many people working in non profits, my budget would mysteriously and suddenly go POOF and disappear at the stroke of midnight on the last day of the fiscal year. Just like Cinderella's pumpkin coach.  Back to a gourd and horses back to mice.

The first thing I did with that catalog was make ugly into pretty. Ugly rarely sells (unless it's Ugg boots or Crocs, both of which I will never wear upon my feet - ever).  The original book catalog was a black and white affair with long, dull lists of words and no pictures.

Using the internal group of graphic designers at the company, we transformed it from a portrait orientation to landscape, added a colorful cover and lots of product shots inside, and updated the copy.  We re-categorized the books, added an index so that customers could find topics of interest, and coded the ordering and response mechanisms so I could track which customer segment responded most favorably. The little bit of money I could squeeze out of the marketing budget I put towards increasing the print run, gambling that our new catalog would do better than the old one.

The results were staggering. We shot past the financial target until we garnered five times the original response rate!

When I went to present these findings to the CEO and the Senior Vice Presidents, I had all my spreadsheets with every little financial detail I could muster up. I had samples of the catalog. I started going over the numbers. I was astonished when the CEO said, "I think we should cancel the catalog.  It costs us $100,000 to print it!"

"But we made $500,000 in profits!"

"We should put it on the internet."

"It is on the internet...but [customers in this industry] have told us they prefer print catalogs."

He stubbornly persisted that we should discontinue the catalog, while the senior sycophants - I mean, vice presidents - all nodded.

Except my boss, the VP of Sales.

Slowly, my boss took out his wallet.  He thumbed through it. The CEO glared at him. My boss smiled across the table. "Do you have a dollar?"  Clearly annoyed now, the CEO opened his wallet and pushed a dollar bill across the table at my boss. Now I was annoyed. What was this, a diet cola break? Was my boss running to the candy machine now that the meeting had stalled? Was he leaving me high and dry to defend a catalog that was profitable?

My boss took the dollar. With a smile, he extracted a five dollar bill from his wallet and pushed it across the table at the CEO.

"That," my boss said to the astonished CEO, "is what Jeanne's catalog does for this company. For ever dollar we spend, we make five back. Do you still want to discontinue it?"

I've heard the catalog lasted ten years after that day, but I'm not sure. What I do know is this; direct marketing is the language of numbers. But sometimes numbers alone aren't enough. The numbers tell a story, but sometimes you have to illustrate the story quickly and clearly.

Mathematics may be the instrument of reality, but storytelling is as old as the hills.  And everyone loves a good story.

The next time you are presenting numbers, I challenge you to get creative - not with the numbers, but how you illustrate them!

Wednesday night is television night at Chez Grunert. It's our night to indulge in (good clean) junkfood for the mind. My favorite Wednesday night show is "Ghost Hunters" on the SyFy channel, but recently we've gotten into "Destination Truth".  The best part of Destination Truth is watching the crew travel to some remote location that even the natives have trouble getting to.  Surly camels, jeeps that break down, and boats that capsize are all part of the fun.

Last night's show took our intrepid crew into the deserts of Chile, a hauntingly beautiful location, to seek the Roswell-like aliens who apparently think a Native American mine is Earth's vacation spot; there are tiny aliens living in the mine.  As we watched, the crew unearthed what looked like a headless chicken skeleton in the mine shaft, saw mystery lights in the mine, spotted a huge, flowing orb over the canyons, and heard weird noises through their equipment - all of which was unexplainable and awaiting 'further tests'. Although they showed photographs of the skeletal remains to two reputable biologists, they did not get a DNA sample. ("What!" Hubby and I exclaimed to each other - "Okay, so they couldn't exactly smuggle a headless skeleton through customs, but doesn't Chile have a good university they could contact to get the darn thing examined by an expert and a DNA sample taken?")

At the end of a fascinating half hour, we were left with green lights in the night sky, a headless skeleton, noises, and lots of people running around on screen.  Aside from what this says about my television watching habits, and possibly how low my intellectual capacities have sunk lately, last night's Destination Truth got me thinking about marketing plans.

I'm often at odds with fellow consultants and those so-called (a-hem!) gurus who think marketing plans are as old-fashioned as spats and quill pens. These new-thinkers tell clients they can just jump right into marketing activities, no plan needed.

Here's why I think differently:  "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

I think many people are under the mistaken notion that when a consultant says "you need a marketing plan", it's going to be a million dollars, six months, and a beautiful binder that sits on a shelf - what we used to call "credenza-ware." It dresses up the fancy credenza in your office but has no practical value.

That's not at all what I mean when I say a marketing plan. I believe that a good marketing plan becomes your guide, linking marketing activities from pricing strategies to promotional activities so that they form one seamless communications and outreach program that works better than plopping little individual items out into the marketplace.

A simple marketing plan is an outline, with quarterly milestone markers, of what you will say, what you will do, and why you are going to do each thing.  You don't need a huge document as your plan. You need something that works, and I love pulling these together for entrepreneurs.

So why is a marketing plan like Destination Truth? Many people immediately reject out of hand the notion of having a marketing plan. I urge you to investigate the usefulness of a plan yourself. 

Ask people who are successful whether or not they have a plan, even a basic one. They probably do.

Now why is this like Destination Truth?

• Can you imagine if the crew of Destination Truth had heard about that mine in Chile...and just stopped their work in Los Angeles, shut down their computers, grabbed their passports, and headed out the door?

Isn't that what you are doing every time you drop a random postcard into the mail without any thought of what you will say, how people will respond, and even why they should care?

• The TV team had to map their route carefully. The mine shaft was in a very arid, remote place reminiscent of the southwestern United States and the Badlands Region of the Dakotas.  Endless rock cliffs and stunning vistas, but no water or food.  The team gathered their resources.
  

You need to gather your resources - and well before you set out on your marketing journey.

• Before the team pointed the Jeep into the desert, they stopped to talk to the Indians living nearby.  They brought an interpreter with them and sat with a man who told them what he had personally seen. He pointed out the canyons where they would have their best chance at spotting the alien lights. He told them of what he and his friends had found digging in the mines.

Like our friends on Destination Truth, you need a guide.  Someone who lives in the area and knows the terrain. Someone who can point you to the right canyon so that your Jeep won't get stuck in the sand and you won't miss the mouth of an unmarked mineshaft.  If you know where to look, the mineshaft can lead you to riches (your answers) - or you can fill in and break a leg. This is an experienced marketing person.  Not just someone who woke up one day, slapped the label 'expert' or 'guru' after their name and hung out their shingle.  If you can't afford a consultant, find a book or other resource - but go with the advice of someone who has experience, please. Otherwise you are going to fall into a marketing mineshaft.


Now you see where my night of television watching gets me? Right back to thinking about you, of course, and how you can improve your marketing.

I've got a radical new marketing strategy. 

I'm calling it "Ask - and you shall receive." Which I obviously borrowed from someone a whole lot greater, smarter, and better than me. 

All kidding aside, you'd be surprised at how often this very simple marketing strategy works.

On November 12, 2009 I'm hosting a FREE teleconference with the amazing author and life coach Gerri Helms.  Now, Gerri is someone I have admired for a long time. She reached out and asked me if I'd like to partner with her on this ground-breaking message; that you can have a business infused with spirit, a life of honesty, integrity and grace.

Gerri asked...and I said yes.

Then I knew I wanted to reach a wider circle than my current contacts. So I screwed up my courage - and asked. I asked three website owners if they would promote our free call.

They said yes.

And so it goes. Why didn't I ask before? What kept me from asking for what I needed?

When it comes right down to it, it was probably fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of being laughed at. Fear that I wasn't "good enough" to host such a workshop, or write a guest blog post, or any of the other things I want to do.

What is holding you back? What fear keeps you from asking for what you need to start, grow or prosper in your business?

Have you tried the simplest approach - asking?

It works.

One of the most interesting stories I came across this week was this article in the Washington Post, "On Web, A Most Novel Approach." Author Kelly Corrigan managed to do a suite of self-promotion activities for her book, and spent $3,600 on self promotion.  That's peanuts compared to what major publishers used to spend (and some still do) on major authors like John Grisham, Nora Roberts and the like. The result? Corrigan's book made it to the New York Times Best Seller List!

According to the article, authors must behave like mini-entrepreneurs these days. As an entrepreneur, marketing consultant AND a writer, I have to say that I agree. 

Even if you manage to land that coveted book contract, you must be willing to promote your own work.  In today's word, publishers no longer assign you a marketing and promotions manager. With hundreds of new titles out, you've got to do your part to get your book sold.

At a minimum, I recommend:

• A website. Reserve your personal name URL now if you have not already done so. Even if you aren't ready to build a website yet, have your name reserved so no one else can snatch it up.
• A blog.  A blog feeding into your website updates the contents frequently. It also gives readers insight into what makes you tick.
• Social networking.  Whether you want to Twitter or connect through Linked In, social network is a powerful force. Kelly Corrigan made videos for You Tube. She made a trailer for her book using free online software and music (girl after my own heart!).  I partner with Kraus Creative to make PowerProfiles (TM) that do even more.  Kelly also had someone video tape her doing a book reading.  If you're doing an author signing, a book reading, or a speaking engagement, have someone take a few photos and video you.  It will come in handy.
• Press kit: You can make your own. Send it out. Call on local media. I live in a small town (population somewhere around 5,000, but that spans a huge area of mostly farmland, cattle and pine forests).  One of our local authors just published an engaging mystery novel called The Canaan Creed. She's been interviewed in the local paper, has flyers up everywhere, and has done readings and speaking engagements locally at book shops, coffee shops and the local college campus.  You should do the same.

If you're an author or an artist, you need to learn the basics of marketing - particularly from the standpoint of the entrepreneur. Yes, it takes time and takes time away from your day that would otherwise be spent writing. But no one is going to do it for you (unless you hire Seven Oaks, and then we are glad to do it for you!).

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

NEWS!  Mark your calendar for Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 8pm eastern time.  Life coach and author Gerri Helms and I will be conducting a FREE teleconference called, "A Spiritual Approach to Business".  Yes, you can make money with honesty, integrity and grace. Nurturing your spirit doesn't have to be separate from your business life!  Both Gerri and I walked away from the shackles of corporate America and have lives filled with joy and abundance. We want you to have that too!  Please email me at jeannegrunert@dishmail.net to register.  It's FREE. 

Many people believe that marketing is magic. "Get me sales."  When I worked in corporate America, I was often called into meetings and invited to lend my marketing expertise AFTER a project had launched...after a product was built...or when there was trouble a-brewing.

At that point, marketing becomes crisis management, the business Band-Aid (R). 

It's like trying to hammer in a nail with your shoe. Can you do it? Sure. Have I done it? I admit, yes, once in my office in Manhattan I got so annoyed that building maintenance took six weeks and 90 requisition forms to put a nail in the wall to hang my cork board up that I took off a loafer and used the heel to hammer nails into the wall board. Was that the best way to do it? No. Not only did I permanently damage the heel of one of my favorite pair of loafers, I ended up making kind of a mess.

Marketing isn't magic.  It all starts with thinking about the most important thing first: your customer.

Who is your customer? Does he or she have a name, a face, a voice? If I showed you 100 photos of people of all different ages, races, creeds, colors and genders, could you pick out the ones that look most like "your" customers?

What does your customer need? What keeps her awake at night? What is her heart's desire?

"But Jeanne," you say. "I sell toilets and plumbing fixtures. My product doesn't focus on needs, wants and desires."

Au contraire. Everything hinges upon satisfying customer needs, wants and desires.  Do your plumbing fixtures work better? Resist becoming a breeding ground for germs? Flush more? Easier to clean? Harder to clog when a three year old stuffs his Star Wars action figures into the drain pipe pretending it's the Death Star?

Even your toilet customers have wants, needs and desires.  It's up to you to find them.

What about business to business sales? You're not selling to a business. You're selling to someone making a decision to buy. 

When I was in the purchasing seat leading marketing departments, I reviewed countless proposals and presentations. I talked to people every week who cold called out company looking to get in as graphic design firms or printers.

What always impressed me were people who had taken the time to learn about the company.  Some even got to know me a little. I was open and candid with them about would persuade me to buy from them.  Those who responded with respect knew me and understood how to sell to me. Those who continued to hard sell using slick, canned pitches rarely got beyond the first phone call.

You see, the smart ones took time to know me and my company...to understand what we did and how we did it....and their marketing came from an authentic place.

Authentic marketing starts with knowing your customer.  It builds by knowing who you are, what your product is and what it isn't, what your service is and what it isn't.  It acts through marketing channels that speak honestly to your brand and your customers' wants, needs and desires. Then marketing activities are successful, because they help connect a product or service with someone who needs it.

It isn't magic.  But it can feel like magic to those who assume marketing is running an ad, mailing a flyer, or filling the world with trickery and splashy campaigns that say much but mean little.
 

I've always been of two minds when it comes to soft marketing techniques, such as those espoused in the movie "The Secret" and by various consultants. On the one hand, I studied metaphysics for over a decade. I trained in meditation techniques under disciples of Paramahansa Yogananda. I believe firmly in positive love - the power of prayer, the power of meditation, the power of positive thinking. I believe that thoughts are things.  Spiritual things are as real to me as the telephone on my desk, the pencil in its holder, the pad of paper at my elbow.

So have I lost you yet? Why is this business woman, your mentor, a lady who likes to remind you non stop about her 20 years of marketing experience, her various advanced degrees and similar tangible things straying into esoteric territory today?

Because even though I believe in these things personally...it always surprises me when they work professionally.

I bought Fabienne Fredericks's E Book last weekend. It was a spur of the moment decision. I love Fabienne's free CD ROM with Client Attraction tips (get a copy by clicking here - it's free and she won't spam you to death).  I used some of the techniques she shares in the free CD ROM with mixed success.  When I downloaded and read the E Book, I was a bit disappointed at first. It was filled with a lot of suggestions for affirmations, mental imagery and other "attraction" suggestions that hearken back to my days  studying the power of thought under the SRF teachers.

But I know Fabienne is successful, and so I put aside my doubt and tried two of the techniques she suggests in her Quick Start Guide.  These mental techniques seemed to spur me to take a few additional tangible steps too in order to market my services. They also helped me focus my core mission more tightly so that I refined my company's marketing message.

Within a week, my phone rang.  I spoke at length with a gentle, kind, caring entrepreneur whose business is a runaway success - but so runaway, she is having trouble  managing it. Would I have time, she asked, to coach her? To create a marketing plan for her? And would I be willing to write many articles for her?

I almost fell off my chair.  Talk about watching Client Attraction WORK.

I had attracted a new client...

• from one of the industries I focus on - and that meets my criteria of providing a service or good that makes the world a better place
  
• who was the type of person I enjoy working with
• with work I enjoy doing
  
• who needs my skills
• who has the budget to pay for them

We begin work next week on her project.  And I have dutifully opened Fabienne's E Book once again and am making time to do every single step she recommends daily. Including step #3, which I find hokey but Jack Canfield also recommends...so it's on the list. (NO I cannot reveal it to you...that's not fair to Fabienne!)

Key Takeaways
You know I hate the word "guru" when applied to marketing, and now that you know that I studied with a real, honest to goodness Indian guru (or his works through his disciples) for a decade you can understand why it troubles me to hear this term bandied about casually. I'm also skeptical of so-called "prosperity" teachers because I know that thought without action isn't as powerful as action + thought + willpower + align your will with your Higher Power + more action = success.

I believe and have seen the power of many teachings in my life; the power of prayer, positive thinking, and positive living.  Applying it to business was a stretch for me. I had to get over my own self-imposed mental limitations. Somehow, I still had that thought, buried deeply in my subconscious, that business should operate on a different, perhaps "lower" level that other aspects of life.  Applying what I knew about mental imagery, positive thinking, and affirmations to a business situation seemed wrong somehow.  But it's not wrong if done for the right reasons. If done without the thought of manipulation or greed, it is a pure desire to help others, and it can work.

I still do not believe in short cuts. Please don't get me wrong.  My use of Fabienne's techniques was coupled with ACTION. Look again at the formula above. It doesn't just say "think and it will happen." 

When I asked the lovely lady on the phone how she had heard about me, she said "I Googled a few [industry terms] and you were all over the place...your name came up every time....and then I saw your client testimonials...and I called one of them, and she talked about your integrity and honesty, and that is exactly what I want in a person to help us grow to the next level."

She found me because I had taken action. My work was out there for her to review, as well as clients who had liked my work.  I really believe this happened because I followed my own formula for success - action, thought, spirit, aligning will to HP, more action.

But I can't help but wonder if the power of mental techniques attracted her like a magnet. I think they helped me focus on exactly what I wanted, so that my action steps were all done in accordance with my strongest marketing messages.

If you're curious about the Client Attraction tips I used, please use this link to learn more about the Quick Study Guide.