Small Business Success | Small Business Mentoring

Last weekend I drove all the way over to Fort Worth to the Texas Christian University campus to attend a writing class with a wonderful woman named Carmen Goldthwaite. As I pulled up to the beautiful campus dotted with beautiful, expansive oak trees I could feel that this would be a special day.

I entered the class to see seven other smiling faces, including Carmen’s. She has been writing stories about Texas Women Pioneers in all fields for her new, statewide newspaper column, "Texas Dames^(TM)," and her column will soon be a book by the same name.

I signed up for the course when I received the TCU continuing education catalog. There was something that really drew me to it, and as I sat there, another woman mentioned the same feeling and said, "It just kept coming back to me."

For many years I have read books about how to submit magazine queries, how to get your PR noticed, yet most of my success has come from face-to-face talks with reporters. The class would offer another perspective… how to submit cold and get published.

Carmen shared wonderful insights and practical tips about how to work in the publishing field. I enjoyed her colorful stories and how she shared about her colorful friends…"He is profane, so I won’t share it just like he said it."

I enjoyed Carmen’s information so much that I wanted more at the end of the two hours.

I approached her after class and asked if she had anything else I could have that would give me more of the wisdom she shared in the class. At the time I signed up for this class, I also signed up for her class about "How Not to Sit Alone at a Book Signing," but since more people dream of writing a book than actually do I was the only one who signed up and the class was canceled. After hearing her wonderful information, I definitely wanted to know what she was going to say in the next class!

"Do you have any books or programs with more information?" I asked giddy with excitement and yearning for more.

"No, I only teach classes," she replied with a warm smile.

"Okay, thanks. I really enjoyed the class!" I said as my heart dropped.

On the long trek home (while we live in what is known as the DFW Metroplex, Fort Worth is nearly 50 miles from where we live), I thought about my experience. It suddenly struck me that we all have an opportunity to offer our wisdom in many different ways (which wasn’t new), and that if we never offer them then that isn’t our loss, it’s our clients’ losses (that was the new part). The more roads to revenue you have, the easier it is for people to ‘buy’ into you. The more people can experience you, get a taste of you, the easier it is for them to stair-step up and up and up.

I have heard other consultants say it is our responsibility to serve our clients and prospects by making it easy for them to buy what they want, but I also have seen many people create all kinds of products just to have them sitting on the shelf collecting dust!

I thought about how I’ve bought things in the past. There are about a dozen or so people that I have bought virtually everything they have ever produced. I thought of these people and thought about how I used these products.

This is how they appeared in order of revenue spent. Which one of these do you fall into and what are your clients experiencing?

$$$$$ Has a Solution to My Problem & Created a Memorable Experience I Enjoyed and Wanted to Experience Again and Again – One particular person I spent thousands of dollars with offered a solution to a problem I had, and I enjoyed the experience so much that even if my problem wasn’t completely solved I still felt like I got value. I’ve purchased this person’s books, CDs and such and really don’t enjoy those as much – it’s the person that draws me. I feel that I am similar to this person in many ways and on many levels. I have referred this person thousands and thousands of dollars of business over the last few years. Value Rating: *****

$$$$  Has a Solution to My Problem & Creates a Fun Learning Experience – This person is a master teacher. In books, in seminars, in CDs, in DVDs… this person helps me see differently, which is something I enjoy doing.  I feel I am similar to this person in many ways, but not in every way. I have met this person in person and the persona didn’t ‘match’ the books and such. Value Rating: *****

$$$    Has Information I Find Useful – This person helps me see what I do for my clients. We think very similarly in how we market and how we approach business. I am not going there for an answer to my problem, although I may do this in the next year or so as I make more changes in our business. Currently, I see this person as a resource, but I do not devour the information like I do the first two. I can let this information stack up. I feel that I think like this person and my be a bit like this person in other ways, but I do not feel a kinship. Value Rating: ****

$        Has a Solution to My Problem & Provides Useful , Timely Information – What I purchase from this person is one of the few things I tear open when I see it in the mail. This deals directly with the publishing industry, and is what I would call "insider" information presented in a way that appeals to my marketing brain. The key here is that it is timely. I would most likely buy more of this, but this is all that is available, and the next step up from this $50 product is nearly $7,000. Value Rating: *****

$        Has Information - This is the category for a book that can offer a solution. It has information. It offers no entertainment value. I might or might not find it useful. And I certainly wouldn’t refer people to it.

So what does all of this mean for you? Well, which level are you serving on?

Information only? Trying to compete with others who have similar information or, more importantly, what people perceive as the same information?

Solving a Problem? Are you solving a problem in a way that makes clients swoon? How can you make your experience more memorable? Are you doing it the way YOU want to do it or how your clients prefer to do it?

Creating an Experience? Are you creating an experience but doesn’t have the problem solving to back up the experience?

Solving a Problem Through An Experience? This is the one that builds buzz, keeps people talking, and gets you more referrals.

We could slice and dice this until the cows come home, but take these basics and ask yourself some questions and give yourself some HONEST answers about what you are offering your clients. Problem solvers will typically garner quite a few referrals. Useful information will draw in a hungry crowd. Combine useful information that solves a problem with a memorable experience and you have the basis for creating something big!

Here are some ways that you can turn your uniqueness into different Roads to Revenue – be sure you have an offering at every level!

Free – Always have something to give away that also solves a problem. Lots of people give away things for free that people could care less about.

$25 Bucks or Less – Give them a book, a CD, a DVD, anything that hits on the "everyone if they really wanted to can afford this" level.

$97 Bucks or Less – Offer more of you and your problem solving, useful information in a more in-depth, more personal style. Really give them a feel for who you are and what you can do to serve them.

$497 Bucks or Less – Create a program that puts your genius in a box. If you do something over and over again
that is something that you charge $2,000 or more to do, then put your brain on paper and let people have access to it for a fraction of that amount. I have met more people in the last 90 days that are looking for passive revenue, and this is the level to focus on if you want passive income!

$2,997 Bucks or Less – The more you are with people, the more it costs. Create an intensive workshop where people have more access to you. This still falls into the problem-solving area, but it highly valuable to clients.

$19,997 Bucks or Less – This is where you transfer your genius to others so they can know what you know. Mentoring programs and such allow people who already believe in you to learn from you.

As a consultant, over the years I have stair-stepped my way up the dollars for hours value, but nothing can compete with taking your genius and putting it in a package where people can experience you without paying for you to show up!

It would have been nice to have a $97 Bucks or less product to buy, but that may not have been her intention for teaching the classes. She might have been there so that people could get to know her and then want to attend her Creativity Retreat. While I might have wanted to buy a product, that might not work for her to create products and such.

The thing to remember is to create a business where YOU and your clients are happy with how they purchase ‘you.’ You can bet that I’ll be looking to attend Carmen’s retreat… I have a feeling she has a lot of wisdom to share!