Five Deadly Sales Letter (or Website) Mistakes
Published August 5, 2011 | “I rarely syndicate someone else’s entire article, as it’s usually only parts of an article or blog post I want to convey in making a point myself. The following was written back in 2006 (ancient history in the online world), and specifically for “sales letters”, but I find the vast majority of the points made to be just as relevant today as then, and almost directly transferable to online content. IE, this is crucial knowledge to have when writing web content” – Mark Bullock
Five Deadly Sales Letter Mistakes
(Re-printed with permission)
By Ernest Nicastro
To be effective your sales letter must be opened, read, believed and acted upon. In order to do this it must attract attention, warm the interest of the reader, create a desire for your product or service and cause your prospect to take positive action.
Posted in Advertising, Blogging, Marketing, Sales | 
Blog Copy, Web Content That Sells, Website Copy | 
Leave a commentBlogging 101 for Practicing Professionals
Published March 2, 2010 | 
What is Blogging?
A Blog is either a special purpose Website, or a special part of a web site, that acts as an Article Archive on steroids. Publishing a Blog or “Blogging” as it is commonly called, is the act of writing articles – referred to as “Blog Post’s” and uploading them to the Blog Website/platform (Blogger/Wordpress/TypePad, etc.), where they are available for the world to read.
The (not so) Secret Formula for Success as a Practicing Professional!
Published March 24, 2009 | 
Several recent experiences, both personally and professionally, with my clients & others have deeply reinforced to me what I’ve held as an accurate & authentic formula for what it takes to be successful as a Practicing Professional. I assert it holds true regardless of the state of the economy, or almost any other forces we may encounter. In fact this (not so) secret formula seems to hold whether you are a practicing professional, a business owner or an employee. I assert that the (not so) secret formula, as it became more apparent to me a few years ago, is simply the following:
To be successful, you only really need to:
1 – BE People Centric
2 – BE Technology Literate
3 – BE Branding & Marketing Focused – And
4 – Do Great Work
Gain a Client or Lose a Client, the Choice is Yours
Published March 15, 2009 | 
In an Advisory, Consulting, Coaching model, potential clients often start out skeptical, then get enthusiastic when you show them the results that are possible for them when they engage with you. Then the reality sets in – that they will have to do something & be in action in ways that they are not comfortable or familiar with, and certainly they are not in the habit of doing things the way that you propose. Continue reading
Posted in Customer Service, Marketing, Sales | above and beyond, business coaching, commitment, do something, fear, objections | Leave a commentSecret Power of Social Networking Sites
Published October 13, 2008 | I only recently put myself up on LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace. This was after years of not really getting what the value was, and my concerns over the “professionalism” of my being on such sites. But, I bit the bullet and set-up my profile on each, and started wondering – now what?
The highest leverage client retention tool yet!
Published September 10, 2008 | 
What do your clients think about you, but aren’t telling you? What comes to their minds when they think about making an appointment with you? What do they unconsciously know they can count on from you?
Continue reading
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales | Branding, consistancy, Honor, Integrity, Marketing | 1 CommentMarketing after the sale?
Published September 7, 2008 | 
The cost of acquisition of a new client can be very high, both in $$ and your resources and yet the typical practice/firm puts out 80% of it’s marketing effort towards acquiring new clients and only 20% on existing clients. Marketers in the know – know you should reverse these percentages. The fact of the matter is you’ve already made the investment to reach your existing clients, develop a trusted relationship with them, and proven your value to them. – But – do they know how else and in what other ways you can serve them going forward?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales | Branding, client aquisition, Marketing, referals, Sales | Leave a commentRaise your rates, increase the value of your brand AND make more money!
Published September 7, 2008 | 
Several years back I had a tech consulting practice. It was reasonably successful ie. I was making a living. There was only one problem. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, working 60 to 80 hours a week, and frankly I was burning out fast. I was very much a generalist and charged an hourly rate that was a “bargain” in comparison to many of the other practicing generalists in my area. In short I was working my tail off for a modest income, and really didn’t enjoy working with many of my clients, most of which I struggled to get paid from, and I was doing an awful lot of unpaid work because I didn’t understand my own value….
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Sales | billable rate, brand value, Branding, Marketing, pricing | 1 CommentInvite people to attend the tradeshow where you’re exhibiting
Published September 5, 2008 | 
Ok, so you decided to bite the bullet and shell out the investment for a trade show exhibit. You got yourself a nice backdrop, table display, handouts, etc. You showed up on time, and “manned” the booth from opening to closing waiting for people to walk up to you. Now I’ll bet you’re very disappointed with the results. What did you miss?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Trade Shows | Branding, exhibiting, Marketing, Trade Shows | Leave a commentFlip every objection into your value – bring it up before they do
Published September 5, 2008 | 
Ever engaged a new client, enrolled a new customer in a service, or sold a new customer a product, only to have the customer back-peddle or worse – cancel after making a purchase commitment because they said – “You didn’t tell me…!!!”?
Posted in Branding, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales | Marketing, objections, Sales, trust, value | Leave a comment
