I’ve been asked many times whether my coaching program “works” and the answer to that is not so simple. It DOES work – when people GET SHIT DONE!

Nothing will work if you don’t DO the work. No sales are made sitting on your couch. No relationships are built by waiting for the phone to ring. Sure, we’re all busy, but that becomes our excuse. We blame “the system” that we were taught as “not working”, when really, it’s US not working!

1.5 years ago I got a VERY expensive coach. I knew I had to change, but I needed help. It cost $35,000 for a year. Wow. But I asked her, if I work SUPER hard, can I pay that back? She assured me yes, and so off I went. I paid it back in 3 months, and have doubled my business with what she taught me, AND I’m not even close to being done. I’ll be a 7-figure business by next year.

But if I’d just sat there and been “too busy”, that money would have been wasted and my business would likely have folded.

So what’s your “too busy” excuse? Got kids? I have 4. Lots of housework? Hire someone, or do it more efficiently. Have a full-time job that gets in the way of starting your own gig? Quit. You won’t regret it.

Guys, excuses are the death-knell of productivity. Don’t kill yours.

Get Shit Done.

This is a question I’ve been fielding for years, and there never seems to be a solid, easy answer. To be certain, everyone’s ad campaigns are totally different.

Knowing what to spend on Facebook ads can often stop people from even starting down that path. They’re unsure, they don’t want to screw up, and so in order to avoid screwing up, they don’t try at all. The classic “if I don’t try then I can’t fail” technique has been used by losers for millennia.

So I shot this short video to answer these questions. In it, I describe what happens if you spend too little, plus two of the BIGGEST mistakes people make when they find that their ad campaigns aren’t working properly.

So give it a watch and let me know what you think! I’m always interested in your thoughts and stories.

WATCH THIS VIDEO AND FIND OUT HOW TO SPEND WISELY ON FACEBOOK

In my world, not everyone is ready to plunk down cash to have me help them do their social media or lead generation programs. I’ve never promoted myself as the cheapest in the industry, and I don’t deny it. I hear what people say about me, and to be honest, while it does register, it’s not something that I hang onto.

So sometimes, sales take a while to close. Research shows that 80% of sales are closed in 12 or more touches, and so I have taught myself to be exceptionally patient and to NEVER assume that just because someone doesn’t close in 20 seconds that they’re a “garbage” lead.

I have a client who recently closed with me. I met him 3 years ago when I was doing a presentation, and he approached me and said, “I’m not ready for this, but when I am ready, I’ll come calling.”

Now, I’ve taught thousands of people since that day, and did I realistically think that I’d be able to keep track of that conversation? Nope. But before I left him those 3 years ago I made sure he was on my mailing list, I connected with him on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

For 3 years I didn’t hear from him. Not a peep. And then one day, I get an email from him, and right as rain he was true to his word: He had been watching me in the intervening years, and building up his business to the point where it made sense for him to engage with me. He was ready!

My point is that many businesses will look at that guy 3 years ago, and brush him off as an unworthy sale. He wasn’t ready to close so why waste my time?

But I was exceptionally glad I’d ensured that he was in my system, being nurtured in my lists, and connecting with him sporadically on the various social networks. But he was watching me the whole time, seeing if I was true to my word, and seeing how my services evolved into something he deemed to be useful.

Some sales I chase down almost daily because they’ve indicated that they’re interested right now. For those, I don’t let up until they (usually politely) say “no.”

But never EVER assume that just because someone isn’t ready today, that it means they’ll NEVER be a customer! Love them with emails that have value. Charm them with social media posts that make them laugh/cry/think/whatever.

If you don’t have this kind of system in your business, you could be losing tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenues simply because you’re not cultivating the hoards of “not quite ready” clients, who one day WILL be ready! Why would you EVER do that to yourself?

The moral of my tale is quite simple, but it is two-fold:

1. Automate your systems so that you can keep these prospects warm, loved and engaged.
2. You never know when they’ll be ready, and you never know who’s watching, so be consistent, authentic and real 100% of the time.

This has worked wonders for me, and I know it’s working wonders for many other businesses out there. Make it work for you, too.

Cheers!

Rebecca

I was reading an article recently about someone whose business was totally killing it. When asked about why his business had grown so quickly, his answer was that he prospects 80% of his time, and delegates the rest to his team.

Wow.

I loved that answer, because so often I come up against people who are so insanely busy with their work that they don’t have time to prospect. This is a myopic way to run a company, because, as we all know, if you don’t seek out new business, eventually you’ll ground yourself out. Game over.

But in today’s day and age, when we have to be doing so many things and wear so many hats, how do you find the time?

I have some ideas.

How to Prospect Like a Boss

Prospecting and getting new business takes a lot of time. At any given point in time, I’m following up with between 10-20 potential new clients. Some will convert quickly, whereas others take a lot more time, a lot more touches and a lot more love and convincing.

Some people believe that prospecting is just getting the new leads. While that’s the first step, it’s certainly not the last. You have to keep following up with those people, sometimes for a loooong time, to get them to convert. Check out my blog here on follow up and why it’s so important. (/2015/12/the-follow-up-disaster/)

Here are the 3 steps of prospecting, and how you can do it right:

1. Getting the leads

Referrals and Repeats

I will not lie: this is the key part of the process. You’ll get a lot of your clients through referrals and repeats, which is awesome. Never be afraid to ask for the referral. The worst they can say is “no.” Go back to past clients and see if you can help them (this works well in high-transaction industries like real estate). The more you stay top of mind with your past clients, the greater the chance they’ll think of you when they’re having a conversation with someone else.

Use Social Media

You can use both your personal profiles AND business profiles to get new leads. On the personal side, post really great content. Let people know that you’re the expert. Give your information away for FREE! People want information, and they’ll engage with you for your business when they want a customized solution. If you can deliver that, your business is sound.

Then use social media advertising. Facebook currently has the widest audience and cheapest ads, so learn how to do it properly, using the right image, text and target audience. Then tweak and adjust the ads once they’re running to constantly optimize them for maximum performance. Drive the leads to a landing page that offers the visitors information that is super useful and actionable, and for which they have to hand over their name and email address to get. If it’s worth it for them, they’ll overcome their fear of giving you their info in exchange for YOUR info. Match made in (online) heaven!

Use traditional methods

I know you hate cold calling, or door knocking, or whatever seemingly archaic type of marketing is deemed “traditional” in your industry. But don’t count them out. There are creative ways to do some of these. For instance, when door knocking, have some useful information to hand to the people you meet, and use it to start a conversation. Leave something behind that gets their attention – a mini car, mega blocks Lego with your logo on it, sachets of flower petals (by the way, I’ve seen ALL of these used to generate an insane number of leads).

The WORST thing you could do

Be creative and think about what people need from you – and deliver it multiple ways. The WORST thing you can do is to only do one of these things. I’ve had clients who think the social media lead gen stuff I do for them is the be all and end all – it’s the ONLY thing they are doing. This will never work. You have to stump for your business. You have to be hungry for it.

Outsource if you need to in order to ensure you are spending at LEAST 50% of your time prospecting for new clients. There are lots of freelancers and part-time help available to you, virtual assistants and more. If you need names, I have a bunch, across many business needs.

Listen guys, I’m not a huge fan of prospecting either, but I’ve automated most of my system, and I do presentations, email marketing, events and more so that I’m constantly getting new people into my business. I have a super awesome team that assists me in the parts of the process I hate, but I DO manage most of it myself.

Prospecting like a boss means you take ownership of the process, and push it forward every day. Gary Vaynerchuck calls it “the hustle” and I love it.

So hustle out there, and prospect like a boss. Your bank account will thank you.

Rebecca

Every once in a while, my husband stops me in my (verbal) tracks. Today, it was a conversation I was having about my business, and about how one of the services I offered was causing me unending problems. It’s a good moneymaker, but holy smokes – it was taking up all MY time and the time of others on my team.

“I’m so mad at myself for failing at this. I look around and everyone seems to have their shit together!” I was saying to him.

“Stop. You have failed at nothing. Look at what you’ve accomplished so far. That’s not failure. That’s an out-of-the-ballpark-success honey.”

So I actually stopped talking (a rather incredible feat) and realized he was right.

There’s Only One Way to Fail: To Quit

Everything else is just trying, and fixing, adjusting, renegotiating, and trying again. That’s not failure. It’s fixing things that just aren’t working.

Thomas Edison laughed at those that said he “failed” 3,000 times to invent the light bulb. “I did not fail,” he said. “I just tried 3,000 times and it didn’t work.”

For a lot of my clients, I build sales funnels that deliver a steady stream of leads. These are cold traffic leads, the ones that take the MOST time, and so I help them build automation sequences to ease the follow-up requirements.

HOWEVER, at some stage it’s up to them to pick up the reins and wrestle those cold leads into warm ones, and then into hot, sweet, profitable clients.

Perseverance = Conversions

It’s not particularly fun sometimes to follow up endlessly on these leads, but 80% of new business is closed on 12 or more touches, so suck it up, buttercup, and get going! I never stop bugging my prospects until they tell me to heave-off – and neither should you.

Failure is not when things don’t work. It’s not when you nearly go bankrupt (been there – twice). It’s not when your clients are yelling at you. It’s not when the program you spent years working on doesn’t take hold with the people you thought wanted it.

Failure is quitting in the face of these obstacles.

As long as you never quit, you CANNOT fail.

How’s that for motivation? Go be awesome. I can’t wait to see it.

Rebecca

When I was in Grade 7, I ran in a 400m race. I was up against bigger, older and much faster girls. I still don’t know why my coach put me in that race, but there I was, fresh off of another heat from another race and ready to rumble. I knew my chances of coming in first were slim, but hey. I showed up.

Off we went and halfway through, I realized that no one was in front of me. Where were they??? I started looking behind me, trying to find them. I just couldn’t believe I was out front.

And I slowed down.

In that moment, my coach, who happened to be standing just past that mid-way point screamed with all her lungs, “If you look behind you, you’re going to lose! Don’t slow down! Face the finish line!”

She was right. My competitors were hot on my heels and if I continued to worry about them, they’d overtake me. So I put on the gas, and came in first. It is still, to this day, one of the most poignant memories of my childhood and a lesson I have never forgotten.

Success is a Mindset

But why am I telling you this? This is one of the most critical mistakes businesses make. They worry about what their competitors are doing so much, that they forget the value that they themselves have to offer.

They mentally destroy their businesses because they figure that “oh well, someone is already doing it,” or “There’s no way I can compete against them. They’re too big!” and on and on and on.

Let me lay this on the table and please, don’t forget it:

SUCCESS IS A STATE OF MIND.

It’s a mindset. It’s an attitude.

Why your competitors don’t really matter

Do you have something of value? Can you explain HOW what you offer is at least different from others that are in your field? I help my clients with this ALL the time, even the ones that hum and haw about how, “Everyone sells the same shit, I’m not different, the industry is commoditized, my competitors are too big,” blah blah blah.

If I took on that attitude I never would have started my business. A social media consultant and coach? Are you kidding me? There are HUGE personalities out there that are making HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! And you, little you, want to take them on???? (that was my conscience speaking)

Yes. Yes, I do. And I have. And I will.

When you understand that success is about building value for your clients REGARDLESS of what anyone on the PLANET is doing, you’ll succeed.

Don’t look left. Don’t look right. And certainly don’t look behind you.

Instead, put on a t-shirt that says, “If you’re behind me, that means I’m winning,” and race off into the sunset.

Success is a mindset.

Rebecca

This is a million dollar question (pardon the pun). All my clients ask me: “How much should I spend on Facebook advertising?”

Before I can even answer, that question is then quickly followed by, “What results can I expect for that money?”

These are incredibly important questions to answer, but you can’t start there. So I decided that for today, I’m going to help you guys walk through the process of figuring out exactly how much you should spend on your Facebook (or any digital) ads.

Step 1: What are you selling and what is its value?

How much money do you make when you make a sale? For me, it varies. As you know, I’m running my Facebook course, and it costs $250 per person. But I also have an elite coaching program that costs $10,000 per person, and then I have a bunch of services in between. My profit margins also vary, so take those into account as well.

Step 2: How many sales do you need to pay back your marketing costs?

Steps 2 and 3 are a bit of “chicken and the egg”, so pick which one you want to start with and run with it. You’ll get the same result. I normally do a bunch of scenarios so I can test a few ideas and spend levels.

If I’m going to spend $2,000 on my $250/person course, I need 8 people to break even. Anything on top of that is gravy. How likely is it for me to get 8 people on an ad spend of $2,000 – and then more in order to actually make a profit?

This is simple math, but very important math. If you’re only making a $50 profit off of each client that you get through your advertising, and you’re going to spend $1,000 to get new clients into that program or to purchase that product, you’ll need to get 20 new clients just to break even. How likely are you to be able to achieve that?

A simple product can fly off the (digital) shelves, but a more complicated one might take longer to close. Your sales cycles and timelines are also important to keep in mind.

So Step 2 is really about setting your goals of how many clients/sales you want to get from your marketing efforts. Then you go to Step 3!

Step 3: Set your budget

This is your grand leap of faith. I participate in a lot of high-ticket-sales groups on Facebook, and there are millionaires who talk about the feeling of investing a LOT of money in Facebook ads, and how their hearts are in their throats because it just feels like it’s so MUCH!

There’s a coach in the US who spends $25,000 per month on advertising. BUT, he generates $100,000 per month so it’s worth it. But he wouldn’t get the $100,000 if he didn’t advertise at $25,000.

So you see, you need to spend money to make money.

Whenever I’m setting my ad budgets, I go through these three simple steps, and when I get to the last one, I push my ad budget just beyond my comfort zone. Did I want to spend $2,000 for my Facebook course? No! But I wouldn’t have it already mostly full if I hadn’t, would I?

To ensure you get the best results from your ads, you have to ensure you do them properly. If no one likes your ad, no one gets into your sales funnel, and you’re dead in the water. That sucks!

So, as a shameless plug, if you want to know how to get the Facebook ad part right, and set up your funnel for success, sign up for my course. It opens Monday March 7th, but I’ll be running it every 2 months.

Click here to register!

And now go out there and sell, sell, sell!

Rebecca

In my dream, I feared that NOT using video was going to hurt my business eventually. Why? Because to build relationships online, with people who in many cases have never met you, they need to become FAMILIAR with you.

You can’t really do that in any other way OTHER than video. And so, I was stumped.

But then, in my dream, I realized something (my dream was VERY motivational).

My authentic self IS a slightly messy-haired, un-made up, simple person who just wants to help others do better in their businesses. Just because I THINK that, because I’m a chick, I need to be made up in a certain way doesn’t mean I’m RIGHT.

And so, the other day, I posted this on my Facebook page:

I posted it because I knew I’d be sending out this newsletter, and it was the first step towards making a promise – to you as much as to myself – that I will not hide behind being “safe”. I will not hold back. I will not feel insecure about how I look or sound, simply based on my own pre-conceived bias and fear.

This may seem like a small thing, but when I woke up, I was so energized by this thought. So I’m going to include some of these videos in newsletters. I’ll put them on my YouTube channel and post them on other social networks.

Because “authentic” is not defined by ANYONE but yourself.

Have a super day!

Rebecca

I work with a lot of clients, either coaching or managing their social media worlds, and driving a ton of leads their way. Initially they’re happy. Leads! People! They want to talk to me! Wow!

But here’s the thing about internet leads: while you’ll get people who show interest, because most of these leads are cold (i.e. they have no prior relationship with you) it will require diligent follow-up on your part to close them.

That means you’ll have to chase them.

It might mean you have to find alternate ways to get in touch with them other than just email or Facebook.

It might mean that it’s a bit frustrating at times, because while you got initially SUPER excited about a rash of people expressing interest in what you do, there just seem to be so MANY of them that don’t turn out. They’re tire-kickers. They’re not “serious” enough for you.

So you drop them.

And that is what I consider a Follow-up Disaster.

Digital lead generation is the way of the future, so you’d better get a grasp on it pronto, but it’s equally or MORE important to set the right expectations for yourself. On average, about 1-2% of your cold internet leads will close. Yes, it’s that low. I’ve seen digital marketers jump for joy at 3%.

The Follow-up Solution

So what do you do?? It sounds simple, but I will tell you that it will require WORK (yes, hard work, not just medium-level effort). So here are some ideas on what you can do to ensure your follow up generates the best results – and avoids sucking too much time out of your day.

1. Automate it!

You will need to automate your follow-up to a certain degree, because it will become too difficult for you to remember on your own. You’ll get a ton of leads if you do it right, and you need to ensure that each and every one gets your attention, and receives some sort of acknowledgement that you know they exist.

2. Rank your leads

If you just paint everyone that comes in with the same brush, you’re not doing it right. Send out a short questionnaire, or have them fill one out on your landing page. Ask 3-4 important questions that you believe will determine how serious they are. If they ARE tire-kickers, they get the information drip campaign. If they’re any more serious, they get YOUR attention. Right away.

3. Have the drip campaign for tire-kickers

You have no idea if a tire kicker will turn into a client, so don’t just abandon them. That’s email snobbery and it’s awful. The businesses that keep at their leads, no matter how serious they are or not, are the ones that win the long-term digital marketing game.

4. Have a kick-ass database system

You’ll need to ensure you’re keeping track of your leads carefully and diligently. I use Infusionsoft for mine, as well as other technologies that allow me to carefully segment my email database. The more personally you can manage your leads, delivering messages that are relevant, timely and meaningful, the more business you’ll close.

So don’t be a Follow Up Disaster. It’s eventually going to kill your business because someone else will scoop all the leads you’re getting, simply because they followed up with them. I could share disasters of people with databases of only about 100 people. They did zero follow-up for 2 years. Guess what happened? A total of 42% of them re-purchased (this was a realtor, so in this example, they bought another home). Do you know how much that guy got of the 42% who bought another home? NOTHING. Would he have gotten all of these people? Not likely, but come on! He’d at least have had a chance!

Your job is to not only get leads and do your happy dance… you need to nurture them, segment them, and never, ever let them go.

But today is different. Today, I am sharing some advice on what you should AVOID posting on social media. Let me explain.

We all know that social media has a dark side. It can be a vicious place, where instead of building each other up, we end up tearing each other to bits.

So, in the spirit of kindness, authenticity and protection of fragile egos (yes, all our egos are fragile) please review this list and DO NOT POST anything of the kind: They’re called Passive Aggressive posts.

Passive Aggressiveness has NO PLACE on Social Media

I have witnessed this more times than I care to admit. So someone makes you mad…you take to Facebook and rant about that “someone” who did that “something” to you. Your community jumps to your defense, sometimes making violent threats against the perpetrator.

I’ve seen people threaten to throw “shame parties” and invite the perpetrator, unwittingly, so they could shame them for what they’d done.

I’ve seen threats of physical violence.

I’ve seen threats to destroy their business, or steal their customers.

Mostly it’s been seething insults that make me cringe.

And all these from the “victim’s” friends – who don’t know the story, but come to the “victim’s” defense anyway. Sigh….

This actually happened to me. I started up a business (since then I’ve left it) and was accused of stealing logos, ideas and branding. It was ludicrous because I’d never seen the product from the ones making the accusations. But I logged into Facebook and there it was: the meanest rant I’d seen to that point since starting out in the social media world. But I wasn’t mentioned by name…could it be me they were talking about? Why didn’t they come to me directly?

Everyone on Facebook knew they were talking about me, and that’s the point: when you passive aggressively talk about people on Facebook, THEY KNOW. And THEIR FRIENDS KNOW. And it’s really, really upsetting. And embarrassing.

So here’s what you should do: If you have a problem with someone, talk to them in person, or at a minimum on the phone. Facebook is NOT the place to air those grievances. If you see someone doing it, post a comment along the lines of “perhaps the best advice I could give you is to stop this thread and go talk to the person in question.”

There are times when you will feel 100% justified in doing something like this. There are times when people seriously do you wrong. But before you blast about it on Facebook, ask whether there’s a chance to speak directly to the person/business and solve it that way.

If you post passive aggressive garbage on social media, you’re a troll. You’re a cyber-bully. And it’s cowardly.

You know why? Because there is a chance, just like what happened with me, that you’re wrong. That the person didn’t know they were hurting you. That the business wasn’t aware that someone on their team had done something wrong or made a mistake that affected you. But instead, you tear them down. Maybe you cause them to lose business. A bit vindictive, no?

You know, when I launched that business, someone high up in the industry approached me and asked me questions that I believed, at the time, were rooted in an interest in the product.

I now realize that they were likely fishing for answers, or to see if the allegations from my detractors were true.

It was years ago, and it still hurts.

So the next time someone truly pisses you off: take a deep breath, pick up the phone and tell them, to their face (or voice if it’s on the phone), what you feel about what they did. Find a way through.

There’s a solution for everything, but passive aggressive social media posts is NOT it.

Be safe out there. Be kind. Karma is a bitch.

-Rebecca