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Write a Book to give to local businesses?

by PaulintheSticks
14 replies
I was just advised by my coach to research and write a "how to get your business online" book to give to prospects in the client acquisition process.

I have very little experience with offline consulting and writing is not exactly my forte. I think a better approach is to find a book that I could brand that's written by someone that has a lot of experience instead. Why reinvent the wheel?

Am I thinking straight? If so, anyone know of a good book, report, etc.?

Thanks.
#book #businesses #give #local #write
  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks View Post

    I think a better approach is to find a book that I could brand that's written by someone that has a lot of experience instead. Why reinvent the wheel?

    Am I thinking straight? If so, anyone know of a good book, report, etc.?
    Well, you can't just "take" a book that is already written and use it yourself, but You could find a ghost writer to write the book for you and then put your name and brand all over it and use that. Or find a book/report that provides PLR rights for you to put your name on it.

    I would proceed with caution though and make sure the writer is up to speed and writes fluent native English. If you cheap out on the writing, that would reflect negatively on you and your business.


    Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks View Post


    I have very little experience with offline consulting and writing is not exactly my forte.
    Just curious, but how are you going to handle offline clients and their needs if offline consulting is not your thing? (Guessing you have an outsourcing plan or your coach is handling that part?)
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    • Profile picture of the author PaulintheSticks
      Originally Posted by VegasGreg View Post

      Well, you can't just "take" a book that is already written and use it yourself, but You could find a ghost writer to write the book for you and then put your name and brand all over it and use that. Or find a book/report that provides PLR rights for you to put your name on it.
      I never said anything about "taking" a book.
      You must have missed the part where I said a book that I could "brand" (aka PLR)
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      • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
        Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks View Post

        I never said anything about "taking" a book.
        You must have missed the part where I said a book that I could "brand" (aka PLR)
        Sorry about that. I didn't mean it to come across that way. I was just making sure.

        PLR material is a great way to start as a shortcut. Just bend it and twist it to make it fit your personality and business style and you should be good to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vincenzo Oliva
    If you write a book then chances are you will fill in all the details that the businesses will need to know to market themselves successfully. You don't want that.
    You want to let them know all of the things that they could be doing if only they knew how (that's where you come in ;-)
    A short report is just enough.
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    • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
      Originally Posted by Vincenzo Oliva View Post

      If you write a book then chances are you will fill in all the details that the businesses will need to know to market themselves successfully. You don't want that.
      You want to let them know all of the things that they could be doing if only they knew how (that's where you come in ;-)
      A short report is just enough.

      Vincenzo... my man... love the hat!

      Gotta' disagree with you on this one though.

      Most people understand how to catch a fish, clean it, fry it in a skillet. They also understand how to mix up some dough, roll it out, bake it in an oven to create some buns.

      They also know how to mix egg whites and oil to create mayonnaise... and can even figure out how to grow cucumbers... and even let some grape juice sour into vinegar to mix with the cucumbers to make pickles... which get chopped and mixed with the mayonnaise to create tartar sauce.

      But when wanting a fish sandwich, they usually just end up at the drive-through and order one.

      Even businesses in the $50 million per year sales range are generally staffed with the expertise to manage and operate their core business systems. They don't necessarily have the wherewithal or need to staff up with subject matter experts that will be called upon only occasionally.

      It's even more dramatic with a smaller business.

      That doesn't mean they can't or won't educate themselves about the process. It helps them evaluate resources. It helps them understand how they got to the deliverable, and why it matters to their business system in the end.

      In fact, unless someone is trying to pull the wool over a business owner's eyes, there's no compelling reason whatsoever to NOT educate them. World class marketing and sales experts in the B2B arena are proving this over and over, and the trend for about a decade has been to move away from schmucky Herb Tarlek sales tactics, that don't work in a B2B environment (really they piss people off).

      So no, there's no harm in educating your customer - or "moving the free line" as many hitters like Seth Godin discuss.
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  • Profile picture of the author paulie888
    Paul, I believe I've come across at least one or two WSOs in here offering rebrandable PLR "offline" books that can be published, allowing you to physically put them in the hands of your prospects. The nice thing about PLR is that you can change the content however you wish to suit your personality and the message you want to convey to your clients.

    Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author John Callaghan
    I agree with your coach, having your own book (or information product) is a really important step in the client acquisition process. My business doubled after I created my first book.

    But I rarely give it away. I sell it on my site for $69 and then sell higher priced info products and services once they've bought the book.

    Creating a book is easier than you might think. In my case, I created a powerpoint presentation that outlined the Strategic Marketing Plan for <my niche>. Next, I recorded myself (audio only) presenting the slides. I then found someone on elance.com who would transcript the audio into text for $50. A little bit of editing work and formatting and I had my first book.
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  • Profile picture of the author redlegrich
    Ask any Internet marketer, the percentage of people who take action on the books and course people buy is very small, those that have real success are rare. I have two books (I wrote them myself) listed on Amazon. I used CreateSpace as my on demand publisher and they cost me about $2.40 a piece (130 pages). I sometimes sell them for $10 at an event, or I give them away if I think it will lead to some business.

    It's cool to say you are an author, it makes you a thought leader in your field and it impresses clients. And the best part is it's not that hard. There are tons of resources right here in this forum who can knock out the book and create a cover. I'll never write another whole book again. Develop a table of contents and let a ghost writer do the rest. Edit it, add some graphics and you'll be on Oprah in no time (OK, the last part is not really true).

    Don't worry the ones you give away will likely never get read, much less followed up on. They will call you!
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  • Profile picture of the author stevecane
    You could also outsource the whole project, the book writing and the distribution using Elance or the like?
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  • Profile picture of the author jrod014
    Hey Paul,

    You're on the right track. Be prepared to invest in you guide. I have experienced some business owners who are NOT internet or email savvy. So having a print out of your report handy is important.

    I would suggest looking into lulu.com or pelicanprint.com to publish your report.

    And if you have dvd/disc's to give to your prospects check out discmakers.com or kunaki.com

    If you do decide to go the PLR route, be sure to edit most of the content and add your insight to the report. This will help later if you do sit down with your client and go over the proposal. If you recap or mention something in the report, usually the business owner says "yeah, I saw that in the report". Which, in my opinion, gets their wheels turning.
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