Have you ever been told that "the money is in the list"?
I hear it everywhere I go. And people fret over how many 10s or 100s of thousands of subscribers they have.
If you've been worrying about how big yours is, then fear not: in the world of professional services marketing, size doesn't matter anywhere much as you think.
There are people with lists of hundreds of thousands who are running out of cash, and people with only a few thousands of subscribers who have a fantastic business.
It's not how big it is that matters, but what you do with it.
And yes, this is starting to sound like a Benny Hill routine :)
But here's the thing.
Continue reading "The Money is **NOT** In The List" »
It was Isaac Newton who famously declared that he was "standing on the shoulders of giants", referring to the fact that all his knowledge was a development of ideas that other, greater, people had developed before him.
In that sense, it has a role to play in your positioning as an expert--however I think of it in a very different sense when it comes to running and growing your coaching, consulting or training business.
Continue reading "Are you standing on the shoulders of giants?" »
The coaching and consulting industry have traditionally been built on two ways of getting clients. And I think BOTH of those models are broken.
Continue reading "Are you a Journeyman, a Guru, or..." »
I've often told clients in my workshops about the way that Ritz Carlton hotels make you feel special by using your name as you check in. I know how it's done, and while it's amazing at the time, once you know the trick that's how you view it.
Today however I got very pleasantly surprised.
I'm in Lisbon, at the five star Onyria Resort in Quinta da Marinha. It's on the outskirts of Estoril, a fishing village that became a target destination for Europe's royalty around 1900.
And this hotel knows how to make you feel like royalty.
As the cab dropped me back at the hotel this evening after a day working with one of my VIP clients, the doorman opened then cab door and smiled. "Good evening Mister Cuesta. how was your day? Will you be using the pool again today? Remember the spa is open until 8 tonight."
I was flabbergasted. In fact, never has my flabbier been so gasted!
There was no reason why he should have remembered my name (and there was no luggage with tags to allow some sneaky detective work.
There was even less reason fornhim to remember that I had used the pool the night before.
Coming after a truly 5-star checkin experience (seated at a desk, rather than standing awkwardly at a counter) it has cemented the Onyria as one of my favourite destinations.
And here's the best bit.
NONE OF THIS COST THE HOTEL A PENNY.
All of this service was free.
Here's a question for you: how can you make your clients feel like royalty without spending a fortune?
A lot of my mentoring clients come to me terrified of competition.
It's easy to understand why - I was there myself at one point.
We've all been hypnotised into thinking like consumer brands. For a consumer brand, competition *is* bad. Here's why. In a typical consumer Market there's limited demand and over supply: in other words too many vendors chasing not enough buyers. So the law of supply and demand pushes prices down.
And many coaches put themselves into the same position by not specialising enough.
But imagine you were the marketing director of Aston Martin, eager to sell more cars.
Continue reading "Competition is good for you" »
