Carol Bentley

I am often asked what reference books I have on my office shelf, which ones I refer to frequently and what I would recommend to others.

Now - I have a confession to make - I absolutely love books; I get great pleasure out of exploring marketing books, copywriting books (I guess you expected that, didn’t you?) and sales or business development-related books… in fact anything that sparks an idea or gives me an insight I can use for my clients’ or my own promotions.

And I also enjoy fiction - I’m an avid fan of science fiction, historical novels and fantasy. Anything that gets the imagination going because it stretches my mind and helps me to be more creative when I’m writing.

I’ve just collated a list of the main reference books that are - literally - at my finger tips when I’m working. And I thought I’d share these with you. You’ll notice that I’ve included my first book in the list, which may seem a bit strange - but I constantly use it to refer to my favourite copywriting checklists at the back.

I’ve included the ISBN-13 code for each publication so you can find the books at your local bookstore or at an online book site, such as Amazon.

Here’s my list of Books Worth Reading

Enjoy.

~ Carol Bentley

Be honest - how many business people do you know who are as diligent in their sales follow up as they could be? And if they are not, how many times have they lost out without even knowing they have?

On her blog Karin describes one such business who appears to be throwing cash away. . . well, ignoring potential sales is effectively throwing cash away - isn’t it? Read Karin’s experience and my comments to her post.

Back-end sales, which come as a result of creating a relationship with new customers, is rather important to a business. Especially these days when they might be fighting for survival. And even if business is booming, it’s no reason to be complacent about keeping those communication lines open - is it?

So, have you got your system set up so everyone in your business knows what the follow up process is; how to keep your customers informed about your products or services and what you can do for them?

~ Carol Bentley

Whatever claims you make, however you describe your product or service, whatever testimonials you quote your honesty and trustworthiness is up for inspection.

And it doesn’t matter how big or small your business is because if you’re once caught out your credibility is blown and your customer will be thinking ‘once bitten - twice shy’.

That would appear to be the prospective situation for the company Fred Black is talking about in his blog post Follow this leader and KILL your repeat business

Here in the UK I suspect the advert Fred is talking about would have been reported as being misleading and the company would have been dealt with accordingly.

I think this is a rather blatant example of not thinking through the impact an advert may have; maybe it wasn’t deliberate but it was certainly ill-advised.

Enjoy Halloween if you are planning any trick or treat trips. Me? I’ll be curled up in front of a nice, warm fire tonight!

~ Carol Bentley

Speaking in public is one of the biggest fears many business people have. And yet it can be a very successful way of reaching out to new prospects, as Ed Rivis described in a post on his blog last week (Feel the fear and do it anyway).

The real shame is that the fear we have is often self-inflicted - and it can happen even if you are an extremely confident business person.

Our physiology affects how we feel and how we perform - you’ll see what I mean in the example I relate in a moment or two.

Reading Ed’s post reminded me of a business club - called Focus on Business - I used to run back in the 90’s - early 00’s. We had a quarterly meeting at which I organised a business guest speaker. And I also gave a useful presentation tied in with the theme for that event.

For me, it was not difficult - I am a trained Dale Carnegie coach and I did a lot of public speaking as well as training presentations.

Speaking with Confidence

This particular quarter the theme for the meeting was public speaking; how to be confident with public speaking and advice for creating professional PowerPoint presentations.

My guest speaker was set to give a good, polished speaking performance, with a well prepared PowerPoint presentation. I geared up to give an awful presentation, with the absolute worst PowerPoint slide show you can imagine. The intention was to show we can learn from bad, as well as good, presentations.

I also prepared a collection of speaking and presenting tips for the members. (It contains 46 powerful tips and you’ll be getting your copy - free - in a private, subscriber-only post on Thursday).

Now, let me set the scene… my very good friend, Business Psychologist and Professional Speaker, Marie Mosely was there. As was my ex-husband who had come along to see what the club was all about.

I started the meeting and introduced my guest speaker. After he had finished, I changed my jacket (so people realised something different was happening) and took the floor.

I wanted my audience to see what they should avoid doing; how things they do could make them feel very nervous, embarrass their audience and give a less than professional image.

So I broke all the rules...

1. The slide presentation was garish, noisy, the bullets far too animated, the text too small to read.

2. I read the bullets out - every single word - whilst staring at the display screen, with my back to the audience!

3. I shuffled - and dropped - my notes; a huge pile of papers… can you imagine an audience seeing a presenter coming onstage with a wad of papers 1″ thick? How long would it take to get through that lot?

4. I deliberately spoke quietly and fumbled over my words - making it difficult to hear me.

5. I let my shoulders slump - as if I was really nervous and unhappy about being up there.

And guess what?

All this bad-presentation preparation; all this psyching myself up (or should that be down?) did the job.

I felt terrible, sick to my stomach. I was physically shaking, my voice was quavering - and I admit, I was shocked by just how much I had undermined my natural confidence.

I promise you I don’t normally have any problems with public speaking!

In fact, my ex had left the room just before I started this presentation and when he came back in he was so alarmed about the way I looked and sounded he thought I was having a diabetic hypoglycaemic attack (low blood sugars) until Marie told him it was a deliberate performance.

Unfortunately this is what many people do to themselves - they imagine the worst possible outcome of their public speaking, start to get sweaty hands, feel sick to the stomach and even start to shake - as I did.

Hate Public Speaking - But Sometimes Have To?

If you have a fear of public speaking; if you recognise any of the symptoms I’ve described but sometimes have to give a presentation - or would like to get rid of those energy-sucking feelings so you can use public speaking to promote your business - then this ebook collection of 46 tips on ‘How To Speak In Public… with Confidence’ will be an enormous help to you.

And you can pick up your copy on Thursday if you’re subscribed to this blog. The download link will be in a private post and will be password protected; the password will be delivered by email to subscribers (if you’re not subscribed and you want that ebook, then pop your email in the box following this post).

In the meantime, here’s the PowerPoint presentation tips I shared with Ed’s readers in the comments section on his blog post:

A Professional, PowerPoint Presentation

1. Don’t be tempted to use the all-singing, all-dancing animated effects you’ve got in PowerPoint (or any other slide presentation application). Having your bullets or graphics whizzing in with various sound effects is extremely distracting and unprofessional. I always advise my clients to only use the ‘Appear’ effect for each bullet point included.

2. Let your bullet points appear one at a time. This prevents your audience reading ahead, which could distract them so they don’t hear what you are saying.

3. Set the bullet point to ‘dim’ when you move onto the next one. This keeps your audience focused on what you are talking about as it draws their eye onto the next bullet.

4. Don’t read aloud as your bullets appear. It’s an insult to your audience - after all there’s a pretty good chance they know how to read. As a rule of thumb allow at least 1.5 times longer than you would take to read the bullet, remember it is new to your audience.

5. Keep your bullet text short; think of them as sub-heads or keywords to what you are planning to talk about (you can use your headline writing skills for these).

Don’t use long, explanatory paragraphs - that’s what will tempt you to ‘read it out’ because being silent whilst waiting for your audience to scan large amounts of text can feel extremely uncomfortable.

6. And my pet hate - please create a PowerPoint SHOW file. If you create a show file you can double-click the file and go straight into the first presentation slide - none of that ugly ’start up PowerPoint; open the presentation file and click the slide show button’.

It is smoother, more professional and your audience doesn’t get a quick preview of what your slides contain before you get started. It’s easy to create a show file; simply click File, select Save As and choose PowerPoint Show (*.pps)in the Save as type.. box.

And finally some ‘copywriting-related’ tips…

• Write your script like your sales letters; as if you are having a conversation with your audience. Preparing your material like this makes it feel natural and helps you remember the points you want to cover.
• Be confident and knowledgeable about your material and presentation content
• Learn the opening sentence to your presentation so you can deliver it faultlessly and give yourself time to relax
• Make sure your opening remark connects with the different language bases of your audience (as described in pages 18 to 23 of ‘I Want To Buy Your Product… Have You Sent Me A Letter Yet?’)
• Do not read the remainder of your presentation verbatim from a typed up speech - use keywords, prompt cards or the bullets in your presentation to act as a cue to what you want to cover.

Remember to keep an eye on your In Box for the email containing the password for Thursday’s post and your free gift.

~ Carol Bentley

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Continuing the theme of opening up communication lines I talked about in my post on 17th Oct, I came across an interesting post on a fairly new blog site I - literally - stumbled upon.

The blogger (Bizzie Guye) gives 9 suggestions on how to warm up a cold contact. Many of them tie in strongly with creating relationships - there’s a few I think are worth considering.

Suggestion number 6 is one I’ve frequently done - and I must admit I get a real buzz when it works out for everyone involved.

I’ll give you three guesses as to what I think number 10 should be.

Want to see if you know me as well as you think you do?

Then check out my earlier post ‘Do you have a (marketing) leg to stand on?’ my suggestion for warming up (or even creating a new) relationship is mentioned in that post.

Have a good weekend.

~ Carol Bentley

I received an email linking to an interesting article about segmenting your contact database and resurrecting early enquirers.

It is specifically talking about email marketing, but the principle applies equally to an offline database of people your business has dealt with.

The article (first of a series) describes how to interact more effectively with different groups of people by simply distinguishing between those who are more responsive and, for those who aren’t, how long it is since they first had information from you. The second article in the series goes on to give examples (both good and bad) of how to resurrect those original enquirers or, alternatively clean out your database. Check out email segmentation framework and the other email segmentation articles.

So is it worth doing this with your offline database? It could be, so here are a few points to consider:

1. Remember the ‘Recency, frequency’ rule. People who have purchased from you recently or who buy from you on a fairly regular basis are more likely to respond to any offers you make. Of course there’s a higher chance of this happening if you’ve kept in touch and they are used to getting your letters.

2. Keeping your database tidy reduces your mailing costs. Why continue to send expensive, printed packages to people who are no longer interested, or are not around for whatever reason?

3. Tidying your database maintains your professional image. If some of your addresses are rather old then the postcode you have may be out of date. Postcodes do change. Having an incorrect postcode rather shouts out that you have not been in touch for some time and raises the chances of your letter being discarded.

4. If you are targeting consumers (rather than business people) you want to avoid any embarrassment, upset and complaints you might receive if the person you write to has moved or is deceased.

Let’s look at tidying up your database:

If you have a mailing house you use for sending your mailshots out they can do this for you, at a cost obviously. But if your customer list is a pretty old one the savings you make on your mailings may justify that expenditure.

If you don’t have access to a mailing house you can do it yourself (or talk to Phil at Direct Mail Service if you are in the UK ). And of course, there’s an expensive DIY way and a more cost effective DIY way.

The expensive DIY way…

Engage a call centre - or set a few days aside for you or your staff - to call the people on your list and check their details. The advantage of doing it this way when your target audience is businesses is you can check if the person you’ve got as your contact is still employed there. However, if you are in the UK be careful. If the company has registered on the Corporate Telephone Preference Service you cannot make unsolicited calls. (Check out Corporate Telephone Preference Service and Guidance for Electronic Marketing (which includes telephone, fax and email)).

It’s even more difficult to do this type of checking with consumers because they are more likely to have registered with the TPS (telephone preference service) to avoid tele-sales phone calls. Don’t think because they bought something from you six months ago you can just call them up out of the blue. You can’t.

And if you do…. you risk £5,000 fine per unsolicited call and a possible jail sentence of up to 6 months for company Directors!

A better way, perhaps?

The easiest way is to let someone else do the work. Alternatively you can use the Royal Mail clean-up services on your database.

However, your database must be structured in a format that the Royal Mail service can use for comparison. So for example, if you’ve got your contact names and addresses laid out as labels in a Word document then you won’t be able to do a direct clean up (and neither would a mailing house).

Royal Mail give examples of why you should clean up your database in Royal Mail List Cleaner. The figures they give for improved response look very attractive, but bear in mind your results will depend upon how good your offer is, how persuasive your letter is and whether your reader is interested.

You can get a free audit on your database to check how accurate it is and then decide if it does need cleaning up. Incidentally the clean up service does not check contact names at businesses.

Breathing life into your list

Once you’ve cleaned up your database you can start resurrecting your older customers.

Work your list backwards. Contact a batch at a time and write to your more recent purchasers first. You’re likely to get a better response if they remember you, even if it was a little while ago that they bought.

When you write - if your database structure allows you to pull the information out - remind your reader of what and when they last bought from you. If you happen to have a note of any feedback they made at the time, you can mention that too to remind them it was a good experience - it was, wasn’t it?

As you reach your older contact records the response rate will probably drop steeply. And at some stage you have to decide that the ROI (return on investment) is no longer justified. In which case simply remove those older contacts from your database and promise yourself to keep the communication lines open more frequently with your existing and new prospects and customers.

~ Carol Bentley

There was a knock on my door. And my PA popped her head around and said. . .

“We’ve just had a delivery from DHL”

“Oh yeah, I said” feeling quietly excited.

She handed me the plain, brown cardboard package - and I quickly tore it open. Yes!!

It was what I was expecting… the first printed copy of my new book; the one you helped me to write by following this blog.

It’s 2.5 times thicker than my previous book so it’s going to take some time to go through it.

And that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend… proof-reading and checking it over - once I’ve calmed down… I know, I know it’s probably very silly to get so fired up but I can’t help it when I think of how many people could find the marketing lifeline for their business in its pages…

Then - provided it looks OK, and I’m pretty confident it will be - I’ll be placing the first edition orders for the people who pre-ordered their signed copy and got the digital version free.

It’s not too late

to be part of that elite band… get your request for a copy in before I place the print order on Monday 13th - afternoon (i.e. after 2p.m.) and you too can get a signed, first edition - plus you get the digital version immediately.

Simply pop over to Beat The Recession book page

Have a good weekend… it’s a triple-celebration on Monday speak to you then.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you are a subscriber to this blog, did you get the private message I sent you on Wednesday? There’s only a few left.

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You have probably read before that I believe one of the most effective marketing tactics, to demonstrate your expertise, is to publish a book.

It goes without saying - or at least it should - the content must be interesting, relevant and informative for the target audience. But before the book is even opened (or purchased) it is like any marketing material - it has to attract attention and, like a letter, get opened.

That’s the crucial job your book cover does. And the importance of the design as well as the book title cannot be underestimated.

Finding a talented designer who understands that and produces quality creative work can be difficult… and expensive. So I’d like to share with you how I found the perfect designer for my new book.

You may have noticed the book at the top right of this blog. I wanted a design that would have global appeal and would look good in the Amazon listings. That’s part of the specification I gave when I posted my request for a book cover design at Design Outpost.

Need A Designer?

If you are about to publish a book and have not yet got your cover artwork created then I recommend going to Design Outpost.

The website runs a ‘competition’ for your job. When you post a design request any designer can offer their creative ideas. You choose which designer’s examples you like best and then you liaise with your chosen designer to complete the final design to your satisfaction.

Finding your designer this way means you see different artistic styles and approaches as well as getting a wealth of creative ideas for your project. Plus it is a very inexpensive way of getting your artwork completed very quickly - my design took 5 working days from when I posted my request to finalising the artwork and receiving the files ready for my printer.

Here’s the completed artwork for the full cover:

You can use Design Outpost for other design work - not just book covers. Take a look, check some of the designs supplied - you can view the public posts in the Project Forums (there is a private clients section if your design work is confidential and/or sensitive).

I’ll let you know when the first printed book with this newly designed cover arrives.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. The links above are affiliate links but if you’d prefer not to use those the direct URL is www.designoutpost.com

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Earlier this year I gave away digital copies of my first book and one reader, who was puzzled about why I was doing this and why I give away so many copywriting and marketing insights on this blog, sent in a question.

The answer I gave him then probably applies even more now when we are looking for marketing advantages over our competitors.

Here’s his question..

Dear Carol

I am interested to know why you are providing free information to businesses on how to write promotional material instead of promoting your own services as a copywriter?

Surely, if your book is as good as you say it is -you are going to do yourself out of a job!

I’m not being facetious, I’m really curious - this is a genuine enquiry, and I would really be pleased to hear from you.

Should I, for example, market my chef-recruitment business in the same way?

With kind regards
Alex

and here’s my answer…

Dear Alex,

You have made a very good point in your question and on the face of it my approach may seem a bit odd to you. But, there is ‘method in my madness’

Without going into an ‘out and out’ lecture, I’ll give you a brief inside look at what I’m doing.

I have two target markets:

1) The smaller business who needs to have effective sales letters but cannot afford to pay for a good copywriter.

2) The larger business who has the same requirement but has a budget for outsourcing their copywriting requirements.

Let’s look at the first market…

These people are hungry for knowledge; anything that helps them get that sale is welcome. By teaching them copywriting techniques it gets them started, even helps them to get results - as I’m frequently told - and they come to trust my expertise, experience and knowledge. And, consequently look for more products and services from me.

As I develop and release more material I have a hungry market ready to invest in their ‘education’ in copywriting and marketing skills by buying these products.

In addition when these businesses grow to a larger size and it’s no longer practical for them to write their own material (or they just don’t want to) they already know the best person to approach to provide that professional service for them.

In the second market - these people do not do the writing themselves.

They are always on the look out for professional copywriters who know how to create direct response sales letters and can get results for them. They already understand the power of direct response copywriting.

My book clearly demonstrates my expertise in this area and has brought lucrative clients I would never have found without it. If I had published a book that didn’t help ordinary business people get the results they want, it would not make the right impression on these prospective private clients and they would not have approached me.

As regards your recruitment business, the answer is “No and Yes”.

By that I mean, No - you can’t give your services away and your prospective clients wouldn’t expect you to. In fact they would probably be extremely suspicious if you offered to find an ideal chef without asking for payment.

And Yes - you can give information that is helpful to both your clients and your applicants (in fact you’re already doing that on your website by advising your applicants how to create a good CV and how to prepare for an interview).

You could create a ‘Recruiting the Ideal Chef Guide’ for your prospective clients, describing selection guidelines to help them find the right chef. Or you could offer a report ‘10 Things You Should Ask Before Engaging a Chef Recruitment Agency’.

You are still giving information away that demonstrates your expertise and attracts clients and applicants to you.

And Alex’s response to that…

Dear Carol

Thank you for answering my questions so promptly, I appreciate that very much.

I now understand your approach and can see how well targeted your own marketing is. I also realize there’s more subtlety to the art of marketing than I knew.

Your idea for me to offer free advice guides is something I’m certainly going to consider. This sort of thing is obviously working wonders for you!

Many thanks and all the best

Alex

Gifting useful material to your customers doesn’t mean you give away the main service or product you supply… for example I don’t give away my expensive copywriting services.

And, tied in with that, rewarding your customers (and regular readers) with special offers - either before general release or at a price not generally available - creates a greater sense of trust and loyalty.

And next week I’m planning to give something I believe will prove to be a timely and valuable offer for you. But you only get the offer if you are a subscriber to this blog or are on one of my other subscriber lists.

~ Carol Bentley

Watching the news and reading the media is enough to make any business owner feel suicidal. It is all doom & gloom!

And yet I cannot help wondering if…

• I am not with Northern Rock or Bradford & Bingley (in the UK)
• I do not have shares on the stock market
• And I do not watch, listen or read any news media…

would I notice any direct affect?

Well, yes, I’d notice the fluctuation in fuel prices - especially if I have a large transport fleet or rely heavily on a vehicle to run my business. And - on a more personal note - I’d be aware of the increase in food prices and, maybe, my mortgage costs. But I wouldn’t be exposed to all this negativity.

I have a real concern that many businesses will, as one of my readers said, “do a Lehman” almost by default because of a mindset that can paralyse.

Allowing so much pessimism to seep into our minds does put us in a dangerous and vulnerable situation. When negative thoughts start to ‘become the norm’ it is crucifyingly simple to slip into constant worry. And worry cripples us - it prevents us taking action and gives us sleepless nights which drains our energy.

A Golden Book

I have in front of me a little golden booklet. It was originally printed in 1936. And it’s contents still hold true today. I got my copy in 1988 when I first got involved with the Dale Carnegie Organisation (Dale Carnegie is the author of ‘How To Win Friends and Influence People’).

Half the booklet addresses worry - and how to prevent its devastating effect: here’s a sample of the questions it tells you to ask yourself…

• (a) What is the Problem? For business people I’d suggest a big problem they’re facing is keeping orders high and cash flow strong. Making sure their business rides high on the waves of this economic turbulence.
• (b) What are the causes of the problem? Now that’s a question only you can answer in your particular situation. The crucial thing here is to take ownership of what is happening to your business. If you don’t take ownership how can you possibly solve any problems you may have?

  For example if sales are low, why are they low… have you done everything possible to generate more business? If orders are high and cash-flow is sluggish, why? Do you need to change your payment terms?

• (c) What are the best solutions? Again the most effective solutions for you depend upon your answer to (b). If the problem you identified is lack of sales then changing your marketing approach may be high on your list. (That’s where the posts on this blog can help).
• (d) What is THE BEST solution? If you’ve come up with a number of solutions; actions you can take - such as a number of marketing techniques - then you need to form a plan of action to decide which is the best one to implement first.

It’s important not to just think positive - it’s also crucial to take positive action.

A few final words from the book:

“Fill your mind with thoughts of peace, courage, health and hope.”

“Count your blessings - not your troubles.”

“Once a decision is reached, ACT!”

And another thought - if all the news in the media is depressing you - try not watching / reading it until you are in a better frame of mind and can shrug off the negativity.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you want the recession-busting tactics I’ve shared with you over the last year, constantly at your fingertips in an easy-to-search volume, pop over to www.copywriting4b2b.com/btr-blog.html

P.P.S If you are concerned about house prices take a look at this interesting article about media hype on the housing market.

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I think Kenny B describes my new book rather well, so here it is in his words. . .

Hey Guys and Gals

It’s Kenny B here with some fantastic news… our copywriting friend Carol Bentley has just distilled a year of her blog posts into a new book and tell you what…it’s awesome.

All that precious info in one handy volume… got a copywriting/marketing problem, need a solution to help your business beat the recession…

Then pick up a copy right away… it’s a steal.

£19 to recession proof your business… no more hours of hunting the web for answers or weeks searching all the possible keyword combinations on Google to find (if you’re lucky) a tenth of what you need.

Save yourself the hassle, Carol has already done all the hard work for you… and bless she’s laid it out on a plate in her new book, the best part is - all for less than the cost of a good dinner.

Go figure my friends… the world economy is seriously in the stink can and us entrepreneurs need every scrap of help we can get if we want to avoid doing a “Lehman” with our businesses.

Buy it, try it, use it and if it ain’t no good Carol will refund all your dinner money… guaranteed no questions asked.

My bet is you’re more likely to be queuing up for her next volume…

For such a small price…get into this piece of action right now, order your copy before you make another move.

And if it works for you just a half of how good it did for me… remember it was your old mate Kenny B told you where to get your copy…

pass the word forward.

Thanks Kenny - couldn’t have put it better myself! If you’d like to contact me I’d be happy to pop a link from this post to your website.

BTW - when you purchase the book you get a full 100% money-back, 365-day guarantee to give you plenty of time to read, thoroughly absorb the tactics, take action AND enjoy the results. Of course it won’t take anywhere near that long for your results to start showing.

So there’s no pressure, other than making sure you beat that recession with the help of these marketing gems!

Pop over to get your copy of Beat The Recession: Proven Marketing Tactics

And when you have got it, come back here and tell me what you think.

Oh! Almost forgot to say - there’s a time sensitive offer that expires on Tuesday September 30th at 6p.m. BST - so make sure you check it out before then.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you are a subscriber to this blog please use the private URL in your special notification email.

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Am I off track? Why I ask is because of the reason I got from someone who decided to unsubscribe from this blog. It gave me the incentive to make 2 decisions that could help you.

You see, the reason he gave for unsubscribing was “Not enough copywriting - too much internet marketing guru b***s!” [I replaced the word he used with **s ].

I replied to say I was sorry he was disappointed and gave him some direct links to specific copywriting tips I’d posted previously that would probably be more like the material he was hoping for.

And then I thought - “Maybe he has got a point. He’s only been a subscriber since late July and my posts during August were not that regular (I’ve just checked there were only 3) so maybe he didn’t get the advice he was looking for.”

And of course, with the global economic downturn everyone is talking about, getting pertinent advice that helps a business grow in spite of any recession is crucial.

But it also highlighted what I’d long suspected… people rarely search through old articles on a blog… it takes too much time.

So, I’ve taken 2 decisions…

DECISION 1. The most obvious one; one I’ve frequently suggested you follow. I’m going to ask YOU…

“What do you need to know about copywriting - right now?”

Ask your question now using the comments link below or, if you prefer to ask your question privately, use the Contact Form. I will post the answers on this blog, but if you’ve used the private contact form then I’ll be sure to keep your confidential details out of the post.

DECISION 2. I’ll shortly make the recession-busting tips I’ve shared since starting this blog available in a downloadable e-book. It will contain:

• My copywriting, marketing and business tips blog posts which includes…
• 28 Writing Tips To Make Your Sales Letters Zing
• 27 Direct Marketing Insights To Boost Your Sales Results
• 37 Articles Save Time & Deliver Valuable Business Resources
• 11 Inspirational Pearls of Motivational Wisdom
• 13 Web Marketing Tips To Expand Your Global Reach (yes I’ve included web marketing because copywriting is a crucial element on web sites so I believe there is a connection!
• 19 Added-Value Articles From 10 Contributing Authors. These are the blog posts I’ve linked to in my posts. And some of those authors have kindly agreed to their material being included in the book
• Active links to the 12 free gifts I’ve given in the past in the private posts (you could only get these if you were subscribed at that time because you needed the password delivered in the email to open the blog post)

Because having all this material easily accessible in one file is a valuable asset - especially for businesses looking to beat the recession - there will be a charge for it. However, as a subscriber, when it is ready you get a direct link to a private web site where you can get it for a vastly reduced figure.

Of course, if you’ve been a subscriber since day 1 - or since the early days - you don’t need this recession-beating PDF reference because you’ve already noted all the crucial posts you wanted to use, haven’t you?

But if you have not been following this blog for very long or you just want an easy access reference document, then look out for the extra email that will be coming your way within the next few days.

The special offer email will only be sent to subscribers

The public-access URL for the book will be posted here for non-subscribers, so you can still get your own copy.

So - that’s it… I suspect the most valuable decision for you now is to ask your question. I look forward to sharing more insights with you.

~ Carol Bentley

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If, like me, you have ever held (or plan to hold) any public event… whether seminar, workshop or training course then one question uppermost in your mind is ‘how do we get the room filled; how do we get bums-on-seats?’

Anything that makes achieving that a little easier has got to be worth looking at, would you agree?

My guest blogger, Andrew Ludlam, is a regular reader of this blog. When he sent an email to me last week commenting on a post, I took a look at his website (I can’t help being nosy - I’m a woman! ) and I was intrigued by what he had to say so I downloaded his book.

It contains such a down-to-earth, ‘oh my god, that’s so-oo obvious’ type of marketing approach to getting people interested in seminars (one that very few people use) I wanted to share it with you. Which is why I invited Andrew to write a guest blog, provided he let you get your own copy of his book…

Discover The Secrets To Marketing And Selling Your Seminars SUCCESSFULLY!”

There is without doubt one thing… And only one thing, that can truly make a difference to the success, or otherwise, of your seminars or workshops. Essentially it all comes down to the marketing.

You see, I find that most consultants, trainers and coaches market their seminars in terms of what they would like to deliver. This strategy is essentially always flawed, because everything is focused on the deliverer and not the attendees. In fact many businesses follow this concept: falling into the trap of thinking, it’s all about them… Let me tell you now, it’s never about them, it’s all about their clients.

Your client does not care about you, or your training. All they care about is acquiring some sort of result or solution to their ‘problem’. Simply demonstrate how you — and your training — are the right choice, and further, the only choice, to solve your prospect’s problem.

However to begin with, you must follow a correct and effective, plan of action. You see most business owners get it all back to front… For example, a date for the workshop is decided upon, then a very nice (and expensive) room at a local hotel is booked. Marketing materials are printed, adverts are placed… Time is getting on… And you still haven’t had a booking! Not a nice feeling.

So what’s the first thing you must do?

Your first and major priority — before you do anything else — is to build a receptive, and passionate audience: a large number of people who would leap at the chance to attend a seminar or workshop. Then… You market the event to ‘your list’. A list that will be hungry from the very start to hear and learn more from you!

And one key strategy is all about positioning. Positioning yourself as the expert in your field; this simply means that clients come to trust, respect and acknowledge you. In fact, they place a high value on the information you give them, and most important of all, are willing to compensate you very highly for your products or service.

Okay, so how do you do this? Well you can discover this, as well as many more profitable strategies and techniques needed to successfully market and sell your seminars, absolutely FREE, simply click on the link below for more details on my latest book “Discover The Secrets To Marketing And Selling Your Seminars SUCCESSFULLY!” And – as I said - best of all, this A4 content-rich book, valued at £45, is 100% FREE… Plus, you will also receive a free 10-part ‘mini seminar marketing email course’ delivered to your inbox each week!

http://www.maverickmarketingconsultancy.co.uk/cboffer.htm

There is no ‘theory’, theory has never paid the bills, or filled seats! Instead you have the opportunity (for a limited period) to gain practical — profitable — steps you can take to ensure that every seminar, workshop or training programme you run from now on, is marketed purposefully and effectively.

To your success… And do let me know how you get on!

Guest Blogger: Andrew Ludlam
Maverick Marketing Consultancy

Does this approach seem familiar? It should do because, as I’ve said many times before, it is the basic foundation of any successful business’s marketing; building relationships that deliver value to your customers and prospects both before and after making a sale.

Thank you Andrew, for sharing this valuable guide - I’m sure the content will inspire many business owners who plan to run these type of events for their clients.

~ Carol Bentley

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On page 18 of his business manifest Rich Schefren asks a crucial question every business owner should be able to answer instantly.. but very few can. And then he explains why knowing this is so critical to any business success. More importantly he then shows you what you can do about it.

So why have I brought this up today? Because the manifesto I’m talking about was originally released in 2006 and is just as relevant today. But Rich is about to release an insightful update and, as a preamble to the new material, he is giving the original Internet Business Manifesto away again, FREE.

Now don’t let the title put you off. Let me explain why I rate this guy and his reports…

There are only a few people whose products I feel comfortable about sharing. You’ve seen a few names come up in previous posts on this blog, including Rich Schefren’s. I always grab any material he freely offers - it’s too valuable to miss as far as I’m concerned (in fact I’ve got a lifetime membership of his Business Growth System; it has a stunning amount of business material and support).

Rich treats - and teaches people to treat - Internet Marketing as a business, not just some ‘get-rich-quick’ type of scheme. It means all the insights he shares apply equally to offline, as well as online, business growth.

His original Internet Business Manifesto clearly demonstrated this approach.

Now - as I mentioned earlier - he’s planning a new release and for anyone who has never seen his original report (and if you haven’t then I guess you must have missed my previous posts that suggested you go get his downloads) you can get your own copy now.

The 31-page PDF explores areas like:

• OBSTACLES TO ACHIEVING ‘BIG BUSINESS’ SUCCESS
• DO YOU KNOW WHAT AN HOUR OF YOUR TIME IS WORTH?
• THE EASIEST, MOST CERTAIN WAY TO BOOST YOUR HOURLY RATE
• WORKING LESS AND MAKING MORE
• HOW TO MAKE YOUR OUTSOURCING RELATIONSHIPS 10X MORE PROFITABLE
• SKYROCKET THE RESULTS OF YOUR BUSINESS

That’s just a sample I’ve pulled from the contents page, including the question I referred to at the beginning of this post.

You can download your personal copy of the Internet Business Minifesto and learn a bit more about the new materials he’s about to release, starting with a free tele-seminar of case studies on Tuesday 9 Sept.

Coming up…

Tomorrow I’m going to give you an example of ‘how not to run customer services‘ - is this an example of a company getting ‘too big for its britches’ and forgetting exactly who it is makes it possible for the company to thrive? See what you think.

And Wednesday is when my guest blogger shares revealing insights to getting seats filled at your next seminar/workshop/training event.

Phew! A bit of a busy week coming up, isn’t it? Just as well I’m taking a break next week!

Have a good week,

~ Carol Bentley

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