Is It Possible To Get Paid Big Money As An Offline Marketing Consultant?

27 replies
Do NOT hit the back button simple because of the length of this thread.

No BS, the information I am about to share can be the foundation to you making a lot of money in the offline world. I'll spare any additional hype as that's the last thing we need. But I'm serious, take a few minutes and read this thread if you have any interest in offline marketing.

I decided to start this thread after reading, posting, and reading other posts in another recent offline thread on here. It's clear a lot of people could use help in this area...real offline marketing. I'm talking about getting huge checks as an offline marketing consultant. And doing it without selling website design, SEO, autoresponders, etc.

The bottom line is, and I alluded to this in that other thread, the hardest part about getting large fee's as a marketing consultant is BELIEVING it is possible. And hopefully, after reading this thread YOU will believe it IS possible. Perhaps some great marketing minds like MichaelHiles, AP, JohnMcCabe, and Blase, will chime in as well to help you believe it IS possible and people ARE doing it.

Let's get started.

Beliefs are everything. Your belief system will govern your entire life. I could go on and on about beliefs and the proper mindset. But for now, please just trust me on it. And if you do want me to talk more about it, PM me and tell me.

Warrior member AP gave some great examples (in that other thread) of just how dumb most companies are. So trust me when I say this, if you read a few key books about direct marketing, you WILL know more about proper marketing than 90% of business owners out there. And even if they do know this stuff, they aren't using it.

AP mentioned this as well, and I agree, this stuff is easy. The ignorance of the businesses owners makes it easy.

I'll prove it to you. Below is a list of things to help you get started and to help you BELIEVE that YOU can help businesses and in the process get paid big bucks to do it.


Spending Tons of Money on Advertising and Ignoring Their Past Customers

It costs about 5 times more to get a new customer than it does to sell to an old one. This is probably the biggest thing I see businesses doing wrong. Most businesses are spending a ton of money running ads while completely ignoring their past customers.

Now that you know it costs 5 times more to get new customers instead of selling to past customers, doesn't it make sense that you should focus more of your time, money, and energy on, as Dan Kennedy puts it, putting a fence around your herd?

Obviously going after new customers is a good thing. But, not at the expense of ignoring old customers. One of the reasons people don't buy is lack of trust. If they have purchased from you in the past that means they trust you. So why do all of the work of gaining someone's trust and then only sell something to them once? You gained their trust enough that they got out their wallet and gave you money. That's a big step. Use it to your advantage. Sell them something else.

Takeaway - If a business is spending a ton on advertising to get new customers, stop the bleeding. Redirect their focus on selling to past customers. Then, use the extra profits from that and advertise for new customers.


Who Cares If You Charge $30,000?!

Obviously your job as a consultant is to make the company you are helping more money. If you can make a company $100,000 in the first year of working with you, do you really think it matters if you charge them $30,000 to do it? Selling is just an exchange of value. So if you can show a company how to make more money than they pay you, it's a win win. It's like they are buying money at a discount.

You may be asking "how can I be sure I can make them $XXXX?" That answer lies in....


Pre-Qualifying

Choosing who you DON'T work with is just as important as who you do work with. I don't care how much money is involved, sometimes it's in your best interest to not work with someone.

You also need to pre-qualify so you know you can help a business and get an idea of how much you can help them.

You find out how you can help a business by asking them questions. You can do this over the phone, in person, fax or email them a questionnaire, etc. I recommend emailing a questionnaire.

Their answers will tell you what they are doing, what they are not doing, what they could be doing better, how much their average customer spends with them, how many customers they have, etc.

As an example, if a business is spending 90% of their advertising budget on getting new customers and they are ignoring their past customers, you can EASILY make them a ton of money.

Remember, it costs 5 times more to get new customers than it does to sell to past customers. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS!

When they answer your questionnaire, you will see all of their numbers. So then you can run your own numbers. You can add small increases to their numbers and thanks to the wonderful power of compounding, you can get an idea on what you can do for them.

Small changes equal big profits. Again, thanks to compounding.


Positioning

This part is long because of the story I tell. But there are some nuggets in there if you are paying attention. It's also long because...

Besides belief, this is probably the most important aspect of whether or not you can command $5,000 a year or $30,000 and up.

If you are selling a commodity, then charging higher prices is not going to work. This is why a lot of IM'ers that get into this "offline gold rush" struggle. They are selling commodities. They are selling websites and SEO. Truth is, a lot of people think that they can just hire their neighbors, aunt's, uncle's, hamster's, 14 year old owner who is a "computer whiz" to make them a website for $200.

Fact is, all other things being equal, people will choose the lower price. If you allow an apples to apples comparison, you're screwed. Now that you know this, what does that tell you?

You don't allow them to compare apples to apples. Be an orange. (who came up with these silly fruit analogies anyway?!)

I used to sell mortgages. I was selling a commodity. I was handed "warm" leads and told to "smile and dial". What a pain in the a$$ that was. I remember sitting at my desk day after day pounding the phone "hoping" someone would pick up their phone and do business with me.

There was a few problems with this. First off, the leads sucked. They went "warm". More on that (leads) later. Second, even when I did happen to get lucky and people actually talked to me, I felt as if I was trying to convince them to refinance. Keyword being "convince". I was in the convincing business. Let me tell you, it's a terrible business to be in.

Even worse, if I did a good enough job convincing them and got them interested, I then had another hurdle.

Pricing.

After talking about how much my fee's were I always got "those fees are too high" or "ok, well I'm talking to another company as well and their fees are less" or "ABC company offered me a lower interest rate." So what did I do, I lowered my fees. Makes me sick thinking about this now. If I didn't lower them, you know what would happen. I'd lose the deal. Which meant going to back to pounding the phones looking for my next deal.

Only this time I was worse off because I was getting desperate. People can sense when they are your next car payment.

Anyway, as you can imagine if I did land any deals with this approach I didn't make much on them. And I had to deal with a lot of bs to even get the deal.

Luckily, I wised up one day and realized that something had to change. I realized what I was doing wasn't working and set out to change that. I set out to learn about marketing. Best move I ever made.

I changed the entire way I did business. First, I picked a niche. In this case it was bad credit refinance. I then created my own leads by using direct mail. Letters, tearsheets, FSI's, postcards, etc.

All of my marketing pieces directed the reader to either my free recorded message ($5 a month), website, or call me (which actually went to an answering service called PatLive).

The free recorded message and website were more of a credibility booster. Obviously the ultimate goal was for them to call me. The website had testimonials and told them what I could do for them. The free recorded message, same thing.

Do you see what I did here? I positioned myself as the guy to call if you had bad credit and needed to refinance. People were now calling ME. Not the other way around. Remember before I was calling them. And I was trying to convince them to do business with me. And I was competing against other mortgage brokers.

Not anymore.

People started pursuing me. I just threw out some bait with the direct mail. Then they came after me. People would thank me up and down for returning their calls..."Thank you so much for getting back to me." Before, when I was calling them it was "stop calling me, I'm not interested!"

On the phone I would interview THEM. I of course HAD to get certain information from them do to the nature of my job. But at the same time I was qualifying them. Not the other way around.

They no longer were shopping around. They no longer questioned my fees. In fact, I started charging about 3 times more than I was before. But it didn't matter. They were just happy that I was helping them.

And at the end of the day that's what it's all about. Helping people get an end result. And in return you get paid for it. I mean really, does it get any better than that?


80/20 Principle


Basically, 80% of your results comes from 20% of your efforts. In business, this means...

80% of your profit comes from 20% of your products
80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers
80% of your profit comes from 20% of your sales staff
80% of your problems come from 20% of your employees/customers

I should note that it's not always an 80/20 split. Sometimes it's 70/30, 90/10, 95/5, etc. Either way, the fact remains that most of your results comes from only a small percentage of your efforts. You basically want to separate the critical few from the trivial many.

How can you use this to help businesses? Here are some examples...

Do they sell more than one thing? If so, dig into the numbers and I bet you find that some products sell a lot more than others. If this is the case, I would consider focusing more on the products that are selling and less focus on the ones that aren't.

How about, 20% of their sales team is responsible for 80% of their sales/profits. My suggestion then, focus your time and energy on those 20%. It's obviously wise to treat everyone with respect, I am not saying to ignore the other 80% of their staff. But, by focusing more on those 20% and investing more time and money on them, since they are the ones bringing in most of the business, there's a great chance sales will increase even more.

You can, and should, use this 80/20 principle in your own consulting business. Perhaps 20% of your clients are taking up 80% of your time. Consider firing them! Or, raise your fees to make it worth the hassle. If they don't like it, see ya!


Up Sells and Cross Sells


You are probably already familiar with this as you see it in IM. Well, it works in the offline world as well.

This technique is free to use and it will increase profits for a business like you wouldn't believe! Some examples...
Window Washers- Can clean the window sills and screens for an extra fee.

Pizza/Deli/Any Food Place- After a person orders, ask them if they would like XYZ product as well. Think McDonalds "Which you like fries with that?" Or, tell customers about a special you are running today.

Carpet Company - Upgraded to a better carpet or padding.

Paint Store - Person comes in to purchase paint, ask them if they need brushes.

Car Shop - Person is buying tires for you, ask them if they need brakes.

If a business sells anything online, they can use an up sell on their thank you page.

Infomercials have the up sell technique down pat! Ever order something off the TV? I can pretty much guarantee they will upsell the heck out of you when you call and order. They have to. It's hard to make money just selling the one product because TV air time and the cost to make the commercial is so expensive.

I would like to add that timing is important when using the upsell technique. It's best to ask AFTER the customer has committed to purchasing. Ask after you have payment confirmation (credit card number) when they are in the timing state.

Cross sells are similar. You are just selling customers a related product or service. Or at the least, letting them know about other products or services, even if it isn't related. If you sell widgets A, B, C, and D make sure your customer is aware of all 4. If they buy B, tell them about D. If they buy A, tell them about C. So on and so forth.


Final Thoughts

I could go on and on about this and give more advice (USP, testing, systems, improving the sales process, etc). But I think that is enough for now. It's a lot easier than you think. You just need the confidence that you CAN help businesses with your marketing advice.

Here are a few book recommendations on to learn enough to be deadly.

Marketing books to get you started...

Dan Kennedy - Everything he has written. Grab his No B.S. series books to start off.
Chet Holmes - The Ultimate Sales Machine
Michael Masterson - Ready, Fire, Aim
Larry Steinmetz - How To Sell At Prices Higher Than Your Competitors
Michael Gerber - The E-Myth
Neil Rackham - Spin Selling


Mindset, get your head straight books...

Dr. Robert Anthony - Beyond Positive Thinking (my favorite book of all time)
Dr. Maxwell Maltz (Dan Kennedy now owns the rights to it) - Psycho Cybernetics
Anthony Robbins - Anything by him (awaken The Giant Within, Unlimited Power, etc)

Tim Ferriss - The 4 Hour Work Week (could probably fit in both categories)


That is only a VERY TINY fraction of great books out there. But reading them is not enough. You must apply your new found knowledge or the books will be worthless to you. As always, take massive action.

Would post more but I have to run out to a hockey game. I coach a local middle school team. Wish us luck!

Any questions on this topic, fire away.
#big #consultant #money #offline #paid #selling #seo #websites
  • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
    You can see how easy it can be. Some of the advice I shared you may already know. It's nothing ground breaking. But businesses aren't doing it!
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    The Ultimate Sales & Marketing Mind Map (Just updated - now twice as big!) - scott_krech - "Quite possibly one of the BEST WSO's ever."

    www.UltimateMindMap.com


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  • Profile picture of the author onlineballa
    wow what a big post and I am sure it has some great information. Going to read it in a minute and I think I really could become a consultant in a few years and this will give me a little motivation. thanks.
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    • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
      Originally Posted by onlineballa View Post

      wow what a big post and I am sure it has some great information. Going to read it in a minute and I think I really could become a consultant in a few years and this will give me a little motivation. thanks.
      Why wait a few years?

      2010 is right around the corner. I'm in the process of revamping my business and creating a new game plan to start the new year off with a bang!

      No reason you can't do the same. Even if you are new to marketing. Go grab some books on the subject. Start small if you have to in order to build your confidence.

      Either way, there is no need to wait a few years.
      Signature
      The Ultimate Sales & Marketing Mind Map (Just updated - now twice as big!) - scott_krech - "Quite possibly one of the BEST WSO's ever."

      www.UltimateMindMap.com


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  • Profile picture of the author Dexx
    Great post Vaga!

    I completely agree, and I think your post can be summed in three key points:

    1) Don't just offer a service/product that can be easily found with a cheaper competitor...find a way to be Unique and THE person to deal with regardless of price.

    2) Expand your knowledge from just SEO, linkbuilding, and other internet information, and expand into reading books specifically about direct marketing, and personal development of the mind and sales skills.

    3) Believe you are worth a higher payment threshold and you will obtain it. Treat your service like a fast food meal, and you won't reach Steak-dinner status pricing.

    I probably butchered that, but either way powerful info that I completely agree with!

    PS - Another great book that I just finished reading is "Think and Grow Rich"
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  • Profile picture of the author deknem17
    I enjoyed reading your article so much! Thank you for great tips and info
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  • Profile picture of the author Handsome J
    Vaga,

    Thats a well written post. Excellent contribution with informative information.

    I will be in touch with you this week regarding the PM you sent. Thanks again man.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeHumphreys
      Great post!

      Self-confidence can definitely be a factor. Another part which is overlooked is realizing the value that you are providing or giving your clients.

      If the marketing weapon or marketing piece you create for them creates an additional $100K/year in sales then your fee of $3000... $30,000... or whatever you charged them looks like a bargain.

      Take care,

      Mike
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      All I can say is --- Wow!

      I'd like to throw a couple of suggestions at your reading list...

      The Greatest Networker in the World and Conversations With the Greatest Networker in the World, both by John Milton Fogg.

      While John wrote them for the multilevel/network marketing crowd, what he covers is just as appropriate for consulting. Things like listening to people (this is a big one). Building a network naturally. Creating a vision for the business and for life (borrows from Maltz's approach). Both books are a quick read, told in novel form.

      By the way, if you can find any of the interviews John Fogg has done online, listen to them. John is a master interviewer. Some of the IM gurus like to talk about grilling subjects and holding their feet to the fire - John gets them to peel off their shoes and stick their own feet to the coals. Learn that style of interviewing and client interviews become memorable events.
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  • Profile picture of the author desmond11
    Thanks for taking the time out to deliver such an informative post. Cheers,

    Des.
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  • Profile picture of the author LifeScout
    Wow,

    love the article.

    We tend to compartmentalise offline and online businesses, and clearly many offline businesses would do well to learn a few online must-dos.

    Regards
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  • Profile picture of the author iw433
    Well clicking on the "Thanks" button was just not enough. Thanks great post. Will file away for use. Worth gold.

    Bill
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    Bill Skywalker Edwards
    Address-O-Lite

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  • Profile picture of the author nealh
    Wow, what a beast of a post. Some great info and a good read.

    Thanks.
    Neal.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    Good stuff in that post.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cryp
    All I can say is - Well done and more plz!
    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author Juris
    Vagabond 007 big thanks for this amazing post.

    You have made me aware of yet another GREAT opportunity of business.
    Creative thinking kicks a$$

    And the books thanks for them too! I'll start with the second category because I need to get my mind right.

    Thanks, thanks and thanks again!
    Signature

    The Only Way We Can Truly Heal The World Is To Heal Ourselves First

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  • Profile picture of the author joshril
    Great stuff, Vegabond! Your post is spot-on. I haven't read "Beyond Positive Thinking"... I think I'll give it go...

    Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
      Originally Posted by Dexx View Post


      PS - Another great book that I just finished reading is "Think and Grow Rich"
      Ahh, how did I forget that book?!

      Thanks for the reminder.


      Originally Posted by deknem17 View Post

      I enjoyed reading your article so much! Thank you for great tips and info
      You're welcome.

      Originally Posted by Handsome J View Post

      Vaga,

      Thats a well written post. Excellent contribution with informative information.

      I will be in touch with you this week regarding the PM you sent. Thanks again man.
      Hey,

      No problem on the PM. I'll keep an eye out for it.


      Originally Posted by MikeHumphreys View Post

      Great post!

      Self-confidence can definitely be a factor. Another part which is overlooked is realizing the value that you are providing or giving your clients.

      If the marketing weapon or marketing piece you create for them creates an additional $100K/year in sales then your fee of $3000... $30,000... or whatever you charged them looks like a bargain.

      Take care,

      Mike
      Value is key. All you are doing is exchanging value.

      Good reminders, Mike.

      Originally Posted by desmond11 View Post

      Thanks for taking the time out to deliver such an informative post. Cheers,

      Des.
      No problem.

      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      All I can say is --- Wow!

      I'd like to throw a couple of suggestions at your reading list...

      The Greatest Networker in the World and Conversations With the Greatest Networker in the World, both by John Milton Fogg.

      While John wrote them for the multilevel/network marketing crowd, what he covers is just as appropriate for consulting. Things like listening to people (this is a big one). Building a network naturally. Creating a vision for the business and for life (borrows from Maltz's approach). Both books are a quick read, told in novel form.

      By the way, if you can find any of the interviews John Fogg has done online, listen to them. John is a master interviewer. Some of the IM gurus like to talk about grilling subjects and holding their feet to the fire - John gets them to peel off their shoes and stick their own feet to the coals. Learn that style of interviewing and client interviews become memorable events.
      Hey John,

      Never heard of John Fogg. I'll have to look him up and grab some of his work. Thanks for the tips!


      Originally Posted by iw433 View Post

      Well clicking on the "Thanks" button was just not enough. Thanks great post. Will file away for use. Worth gold.

      Bill
      Thanks Bill. Glad you enjoyed it.

      Originally Posted by nealh View Post

      Wow, what a beast of a post. Some great info and a good read.

      Thanks.
      Neal.
      You're welcome, Neal.

      Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

      Good stuff in that post.
      There he is! I always enjoy your reading your posts. Always full of nuggets.

      Originally Posted by Cryp View Post

      All I can say is - Well done and more plz!
      More is coming.

      Originally Posted by Juris View Post

      Vagabond 007 big thanks for this amazing post.

      You have made me aware of yet another GREAT opportunity of business.
      Creative thinking kicks a$$

      And the books thanks for them too! I'll start with the second category because I need to get my mind right.

      Thanks, thanks and thanks again!
      You're welcome!

      Originally Posted by joshril View Post

      Great stuff, Vegabond! Your post is spot-on. I haven't read "Beyond Positive Thinking"... I think I'll give it go...

      Thanks!
      Yeah, give it a read. It is a great book! I've read it a few times now. Always pick up something new each time.
      Signature
      The Ultimate Sales & Marketing Mind Map (Just updated - now twice as big!) - scott_krech - "Quite possibly one of the BEST WSO's ever."

      www.UltimateMindMap.com


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  • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
    I will be adding some more info a little later tonight. Maybe tomorrow if I don't get around to it tonight.

    I am going to show you an example of just how easy it is to increase profits for businesses. If you look in my first post, there is a sentence, about half way down, that is the key to all of this. Do you know what it is?

    Stay tuned...
    Signature
    The Ultimate Sales & Marketing Mind Map (Just updated - now twice as big!) - scott_krech - "Quite possibly one of the BEST WSO's ever."

    www.UltimateMindMap.com


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    • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
      Originally Posted by Vagabond 007 View Post

      I will be adding some more info a little later tonight. Maybe tomorrow if I don't get around to it tonight.

      I am going to show you an example of just how easy it is to increase profits for businesses. If you look in my first post, there is a sentence, about half way down, that is the key to all of this. Do you know what it is?

      Stay tuned...
      I'll play.

      The sentence is "Sell them something else".

      I used to do training in the restaurant business, I can tech most restaurants to increase their check price an additional 20% by creative upselling. I worked with a salon and taught them to increase their business by 38% by changing the breakdown and the way they charged for everything, and adding a simple question that was easy to say yes to. I worked with a computer repair/consulting firm and increased the average ticket price by 63% by the simple question, "While I'm doing this, do you have anything else you want me to look at".

      Once you have the lead in the door, it's easy to sell them something else. And of course that goes as well with keeping your herd and marketing to them over and over again.

      Just my opinion,

      Marcos
      Signature
      We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up ... discovering we have the strength to stare it down. - Eleanor Roosevelt

      Your opinion of yourself becomes your reality. If you have all these doubts, then no one will believe in you and everything will go wrong. If you think the opposite, the opposite will happen. It’s that simple.-Curtis Jackson- 50 Cent
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      • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
        Originally Posted by MRomeo09 View Post

        I'll play.

        The sentence is "Sell them something else".

        I used to do training in the restaurant business, I can tech most restaurants to increase their check price an additional 20% by creative upselling. I worked with a salon and taught them to increase their business by 38% by changing the breakdown and the way they charged for everything, and adding a simple question that was easy to say yes to. I worked with a computer repair/consulting firm and increased the average ticket price by 63% by the simple question, "While I'm doing this, do you have anything else you want me to look at".

        Once you have the lead in the door, it's easy to sell them something else. And of course that goes as well with keeping your herd and marketing to them over and over again.

        Just my opinion,

        Marcos
        Hey Marcos,

        Not what I was referring to, but you bring up another great way.

        I'm curious, what was the simple question for the salon to ask?
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        The Ultimate Sales & Marketing Mind Map (Just updated - now twice as big!) - scott_krech - "Quite possibly one of the BEST WSO's ever."

        www.UltimateMindMap.com


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        • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
          Small Changes Equal Big Profits

          Here is an EXAMPLE of just how easy it is to increase profits for offline businesses. By the way, if you have been at the IM game for any amount of time, then what I'm about to share with you is nothing groundbreaking. Just more proof that offline consulting isn't as hard as you may think.

          For this example, here are the details of the business you are helping.

          They do lead generation to sell a product. Lead generation is done by mailing 40,000 direct mail pieces per month. Leads call into a live person at their office. They do NOT offer any kind of up sell. On average, customers buy once a year from them and are a customer for 4 years. For the sake of simplicity, each sale is $150. So all this means a total of 4 sales at $150 per sale over a period of 4 years. LTV (life time value) of each customer is $600.

          With me so far? Good.

          Currently, they get a 1% response rate to their mailing
          Conversion rate on that 1% who call in is 15% (I'm being very conservative)

          So...

          400 people (40,000 x 1%) respond and call
          60 (15% of 400) buy
          60 sales at $150 each
          For a total of $9,000

          Now you start working with them.

          You increase their response rate to 1.5%. Obviously you may be wondering how you do that. But that could be an entire thread in and of itself. If you read any book on marketing that's worth its salt, a small 0.5% increase is not that difficult. Stronger call to action. Incredible offer. Scarcity. Better headline. Sell benefits instead of features. You get the idea.

          You increase the buy rate from 15% to 20%. Same thing as above, how you do that is another thread.

          You also had them increase their price by 5%...I'm being REAL conservative here. So product price is now $172.50. By the way, this price increase goes for every purchase over the 4 years a person is a customer.

          You also have them offer an up sell. No need to get into exact details, but let's just say the up sell is offered for $30 and is only available during the phone conversation (one time offer) when a person is placing their order. Urgency/scarcity at play here. Let's say it converts at 25%.

          So the new numbers become...

          600 people (40,000 x 1.5%) call in
          120 (20% of 600) buy
          120 sales at $172.50 each
          30 (25% of 120) take the up sell at $30 each
          Total of $20,700 plus the up sell....
          Grand total of $21,600

          Just like that you more than doubled their sales. An extra $12,600 per month from just a few small increases. That's $151,200 per year!! Now do you see why it doesn't matter if you charge them $30,000+ per year?!

          Run those numbers out over 5 years and that's additional $756,000.

          Keep in mind the direct mail costs stayed the same. They are always the same no matter if you get a ZERO percent response or 10% response. So it's not like part of that extra revenue was used to pay more expenses.

          Also keep in mind, the LTV of each customer is now $690 instead of $600. And the up sell didn't really add much to the totals. But again, I used a conservative 20% and only a small price of $30. Both of those numbers could be increased.

          Want to kick it up a notch? You can always teach the business how to sell to their existing customers even more. Which is another thread all together. But even if you added one additional sale per year, that's even more money!

          For the sake of argument, let's say you teach them to get just one extra sale a year. Let's be conservative and say it's only a $50 sale. But over 4 years that's an extra $200 PER CUSTOMER. That really starts to add up.

          I' also like to remind you of something. NOW that they more than doubled their sales, thanks to you, they can use that additional revenue to expand their business if they'd like. Perhaps there is an opportunity to mail 80,000 direct mail pieces a month instead of only 40,000. If they do this, they double their sales AGAIN.

          Or, as I just mentioned, they can spend the additional money on selling more to their past customers. Putting a "fence around their herd" as Dan Kennedy calls it.

          Of course, you could, and probably should, looks for ways to improve their response and buy rates even more. You do this by TESTING. The most important thing in marketing.

          Test. Then test some more. When you are done testing, test again.

          I hope you now see that it's easier than you may have originally thought. Imagine the numbers if you increase their response rates more than a measly 0.5%. Or increased their product price more than the tiny 5% I used as an example. Or got the up sell converting at 35%.

          This example has shown you the power of compounding...

          Small Changes Equal Big Profits.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Wells
    I am not a offline consultant, but I do understand alot about BELIEVING.

    The OP is correct about believing, no one can rise above their believing, no one can go beyond what they believe is possible.

    This OP has written probably one of the best posts this forum has seen in a long time.

    This thread makes me want to be an offline marketer.............
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    • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
      Originally Posted by EWGQDD View Post

      I am not a offline consultant, but I do understand alot about BELIEVING.

      The OP is correct about believing, no one can rise above their believing, no one can go beyond what they believe is possible.
      Exactly!! You can not live beyond your self image. Which is why it is crucial that you have a great self image.

      If you truly believe you only deserve $50,000 a year, that's all you will make. Your self image will not allow you to make more than that $50,000. I know this may sound crazy to you if you have not been introduced to this kind of thinking before, but trust me, it is fact.

      This is why I stated in another thread that I wish the self improvement/mindset part of this forum was more active. Improving your mindset IS the shortcut to your success. Not looking for the next magic bullet. Or how to outsmart Google. Or any of that crap.


      Originally Posted by EWGQDD View Post

      This OP has written probably one of the best posts this forum has seen in a long time.
      Wow, thanks for that. I'm glad to see everyone is getting something from this thread and it's not getting buried a few pages back.


      Btw, I'll have to add that extra content tomorrow. I was busy playing with my new Kodak Zi8 HD camera I got in the mail today. And now I'm exhausted and heading to bed.

      Look for my update tomorrow. Again, I will show you just how easy it is to add big profits to the business you are working with.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Faber
    Vagabond, you are so right! Great post. Never compete on price. There is always someone who can and /or will sell cheaper. Make sure the comparison never comes down to who is cheaper, or you'll either lose, or wish you had. When bidding for construction jobs, we always used to say that the winner was the one who could afford to lose the most money. Not a great position to be in. If you win based on price, you are also doing two other things; devaluing your services, and lowering your own expectation of what you are worth.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jag82
    Originally Posted by Vagabond 007 View Post

    Marketing books to get you started...

    Dan Kennedy - Everything he has written. Grab his No B.S. series books to start off.
    Chet Holmes - The Ultimate Sales Machine
    Michael Masterson - Ready, Fire, Aim
    Larry Steinmetz - How To Sell At Prices Higher Than Your Competitors
    Michael Gerber - The E-Myth
    Neil Rackham - Spin Selling

    Awesome post.

    I like to add some materials to the mix.

    Brian Tracy - The Psychology of Selling

    Ari Galper - Unlock the Game

    Jacques Werth - High Probability Selling

    These materials have a lot of influence towards how
    I approach selling offline.

    Jag
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    • Profile picture of the author Okane
      Thanks a lot for taking the time to share so much valuable information.

      Your post would be a good start for an "offline marketing" all-in-one thread.


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