If you follow my work, you know that I talk a lot about hubs. The idea that trying to reach people cold is suuuuper hard. So, it’s better to work through hubs. But there are a lot of ways to do it wrong. These are some great starting places.

3 Keys to Getting Bigger Players to Promote You
by Jesse Koren and Sharla Jacobs

Creating strategic alliances is one of the best strategies to use for reaching more people with less effort. When you combine your resources with a partner like this, the sum total is far greater than the sum of the parts, and your marketing efforts seem effortless in comparison to marketing to one client at a time. It’s like this: 1 + 1 = 11.

But what do you say? How do you approach them? How do you avoid saying the thing that would turn them off immediately (and make them think you’re an amateur)?

We know what it feels like to be ready and hungry to help people…and then to have the very person who can help you get the word out in a bigger way be right there in front of you.

If you’ve been to the Rejuvenate Your Practice 2-Day Intensive, then you’ve heard the story of how I (Sharla) signed up for a $15,000 mastermind program just to create a relationship with a woman who could introduce us to thousands of our ideal clients.

What you may not know is that I was a part of the program for ONE FULL YEAR before I had the guts to ask Ali Brown to promote for us! (Well, the truth is I was too nervous and lacked the confidence to ASK and it just so happened that Ali thought I had asked and reminded me about scheduling the teleseminar interview!)

That interview really kicked off our teleseminar career. We sold over $12,000 worth of product during that interview and got multiple invitations for more interviews, just from this one call.

So, we know what it’s like to not know what to say and not want to screw up the chance to get promoted by someone big in your industry. And we’ve seen so many coaches and holistic practitioners make some big mistakes when it comes to asking others to promote for them.

We want you to avoid these mistakes, which is why we are sharing these 3 keys with you for how to get bigger players to promote you.

Key #1: Show Up with your Best Energy

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone at a networking event and their energy was so low, you just wanted to run away? You don’t EVER want to be the person people feel repelled by, whether you’re in a conversation with a potential client or a potential strategic alliance.

Instead, you want to raise your energy and vibration to MATCH your potential strategic alliance.

As you’re about to head off to an event or about to pick up the phone to connect with a bigger player, ask yourself, “Do I like myself?” “Would I promote for myself?” If not, do whatever you need to do to change your energy state so that when you look in the mirror, you like the person who is gazing back at you.

You can:

• Dance
  
• Get a massage
  
• Meditate
  
• Visualize something that makes you feel great

We all have different parts of ourselves. Are you able to switch on your BEST self when you’re about to talk with a potential strategic alliance?

Key #2: Position Yourself

So you’ve turned on your best self, you’re feeling great and you’re ready to have a Heartselling conversation with a bigger player. But did you know they get approached by tons of other people all the time to promote their stuff? So how are you going to stand out?

The key here is Positioning.

What is positioning? It’s the art of creating a perception in the mind of your listener so they get that you’re a person worth talking to.

Here’s an example. If we met at an event and I was attending the event (rather than being a speaker, which by the way, gives you INSTANT positioning), and I introduced myself and told you we teach coaches and holistic practitioners how to make $10,000 per month seeing clients just 3 days each week, you might think that was interesting.

If I then told you that we’ve personally taught over 10,000 holistic practitioners or that about 40 of our clients were here at the event with us, what happens in your mind?

Do you see how simply sharing some powerful statistics about yourself can make a huge difference in the conversation?

Here are a couple of tips:

1. Make sure to position yourself as an expert within the first 30-60 seconds of the conversation. This changes the tone of the conversation immediately.

    

2. Put your best foot forward. You can do this in a few different ways. You can share a statistic of how many clients you’ve helped or who you’re associated with. (Hint: being associated with someone famous or a guru in your industry does lots for powerful positioning.)

You’ll find that when you position yourself early on in the conversation, the bigger player will automatically take you more seriously and is more likely to consider you as a possible strategic alliance.

Key #3: Show up in Service

If you’ve ever been in a conversation where you felt like someone was trying to GET something from you, you know how uncomfortable that can feel (and you know how quickly you want to exit the conversation).

However, when you’re with someone who shows up from a place of abundance and wants to serve you, you can stay in that conversation forever, right?

When you’re approaching a bigger player (just like a Heartselling conversation with a potential client), you want to think about how you can serve THEM, rather than the other way around.

Do you see how coming from service can lead to a beautiful partnership?

Next time you’re talking to a bigger player, ask yourself, “What can I do for them?” Perhaps they would like to be interviewed or featured. Perhaps you have some other gift to share that isn’t always about cross promoting.

Always be thinking about how YOU can add value, no matter what level you’re playing at.

If you are asking someone to promote for you, ALWAYS ask them to invite their people to something valuable and free so they can look like a hero to their people. They can invite people to a free interview, teleseminar, workshop or video. And then from there, you can take over with the self-promotion.

So use these 3 keys when talking with bigger players and watch some magic happen for you!

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Dan Blank

And, recently, I’ve been seeing so many marketing workshops for authors and so I thought I’d do a little interview with Dan to get his take on it all.

Dan, what do you do?

I work with writers to help them build their brands and platforms, and with publishers to help them engage their communities. I do this via online courses, consulting, and I try to share as much as I can for free on my blog at WeGrowMedia.com

What are the top three blunders you see writers making with their marketing?

The top three mistakes I see most often are: not having a clear vision of what someone wants to accomplish with their CAREER. Writers need to look beyond just marketing one book, and beyond quantitative sales numbers that are not indicative of the effect they have on the world.

Now some people might say, ‘but having an impact won’t pay the bills. that sounds very warm and fuzzy but how do I make money!” how do you respond to that?

This speaks to another mistake I see people making very often: pursuing marketing tactic after marketing tactic, without a clear understanding of how it relates to their goals, the value to their business or financial needs, and the benefit to their audience or customers. So they run around like a hamster on a wheel, following the latest trends, or buying into the latest article they read on how to convert customers, but it doesn’t align to a core strategy – it doesn’t speak to their customer needs – and isn’t measured and implemented in a way that brings revenue. It’s easy to feel busy, but it’s better to feel successful. When you understand your specific goals, how that aligns to the specific needs of your audience, and take a long term approach. If there is one thing the recession should have taught all of us, it’s that quarter-by-quarter profit is tempting, but in the end, it doesn’t build a solid foundation for true success.

Second is having a clear sense of who their audience is. Oftentimes you find people are extremely general as to who their work might appeal to, in hopes that it appeals to everyone. But how can you build an audience and serve a community if you don’t know who you align to?

I talk about this a lot. how do you suggest people go about this? how does a writer go about defining their audience? can you give me three examples of writers and their audiences?

It can differ based on the type of writing or book – nonfiction, fiction, memoir, etc. For nonfiction, you can target industry organizations, societies, academic programs and leaders, conferences and events, online forums/blogs/etc – all laser focused on a very specific audience with very specific needs.

This is where books such as Malcolm Gladwell’s work (which I enjoy) do a disservice to other writers. Everyone now things that their book on sociology, or sports analogies, or observations on any specific niche, should have a broad mass market appeal. They may shy away from “just” building connections with a smaller niche because they have a grander vision for their work. But in the end, as the saying goes, if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.

Third is that they don’t know what to share. So they mean to connect with their audience in authentic ways, but often share too little, and go too quickly to overt publicity and marketing tactics, hoping to see quick results in terms of sales and audience size.

That’s interesting. i don’t think i’ve ever heard anyone talk about the dangers of marketing too soon. why do you see this as a mistake? what’s the worst case scenario here?

I think their is a difference between building connections to a community – building trust – learning about their passions and needs, and overt publicity and marketing. So it is definitely ideal to begin building connections to a community as early as possible. But if you jump right in with something to sell, you forfeit the opportunity to build real relationships that can last a lifetime. You are just someone selling something to them – a one sided relationship.

What are the top three hopes they need to let go of?

Romanticism seems to pervade many writers’ view of the publishing process. Publishing is a business. It is extremely hard work, whether you go the traditional route with an agent and publishing house, or out on your own self-publishing.

Yes, writers do get lucky – their work spreads like wildfire and magic happens. But for most, it is work – hard work – where every thing you gain is something you earned one small step at a time.

There are sooooo many ‘get your book on the best seller list’ seminars these days. what’s your take on them?

I like to consider what someone is building with their writing CAREER, not the performance of a single book.

You mentioned this before. can you give an example of how these two things might be different? it sounds like you work on the strategic level where as most of the marketing i see works on a very tactical level. can you share your thoughts on how their tactics might shift when they really consider their long term vision and strategy?

This comes back to goals and audience need. All tactics sound good in a vacuum, just as all stock tips sound good in a vacuum. But when you are balancing your own short and long term goals, when your audience has specific passions and needs, their own community practices, tactics alone may not give you the results you hope to find. This is where people can come across as “other” or insensitive.

How do you want your work to affect the world, how do you want to connect with readers. These things are not described in quantitative measures of sales. We get caught up in them though because they are easy benchmarks, and because we ASSUME that with that type of “success” other opportunities follow. But if you start off on your journey on the wrong path, seeking the wrong goals, then you can’t expect to find what you are looking for.

What are the top three foundational marketing approaches you would offer to a writer?

Do your research – know who you are writing for.
Share what you write, get it out of the drawer.
Connect with people – build relationships, not marketing channels.

To learn more about Dan and his fine work just go to:

http://wegrowmedia.com

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I just wrote a facebook note that got a school two new perfect (and much needed) teachers in less than two weeks.

And it reminded me about some important marketing principles.

A couple of months ago, I got to reconnect over drinks with two old school mates Rachael and Netta (pictured right).

We went to a Waldorf  School together.

Waldorf is an alternative school that based on the idea of educating the whole child. It was a beautiful thing for me.

And then a few weeks later Netta emailed me asking if I knew anyone who might be a good candidate to be a Waldorf teacher. No one immediately came to mind but I thought I might if I really sat down and thought about it. I looked through my calendar a began to feel that stress you feel when you really want to help someone but can’t find the time. She needed a teacher in two weeks.

“Could you come by the school while we do work on the new building and we could talk about it then?” Netta asked.

That worked. Anything that combines things is usually a win for me. I get to hang out with an old friend, see the school I’ve meant to visit for the past three years and felt immensely guilty for not checking out and help her out.

The next week she came and picked me up and as she painted walls I busted out my laptop and started plowing through my facebook friends list looking for potential candidates. In the end, I came across 15 potentials and one I was ridiculously excited about.

So I created a facebook note (see below), posted it and tagged the people in question.

Within two weeks they had their teachers (including the one I was most excited about).

Here are the six marketing lessons I want you to get from this:

1) Social Media: Word of mouth works best when things are easy to share. That can mean everything from a simple URL, to tickets people can pass on, to a simple story that can be easily repeated. Or it can be a facebook note that’s easy to share. Social media has made sharing things so easy. One of the teachers who got the job was my friend who I tagged. The other was someone with whom this note was shared. Someone I’ve never met.

2) Hubs: If you want the word spread about something important, it’s worth it to do whatever it takes to get hubs to help you. They are already well connected to and well respected by people in the communities you’re trying to reach. Netta might never have reached these two teachers by herself. And they might have been more suspicious and unsure if the endorsement hadn’t come from me. If you’re struggling to reach people, stop struggling – take a hub out for coffee. You might know know how to reach the people you need to reach, but there are people who are. And it’s worth treating them to dinner, paying for their time for their contacts. It will save you so much time and money.

3) Headline: Notice this headline is not “can you help out my friend?” or even, “teaching job”. I am speaking right to the person reading it. The headline’s ONLY purpose is to get their attention and establish relevance. Period. So, first, I name WHERE it’s relevant to since it’s on facebook. Then I name that it’s a teaching job at an alternative school and that the money is good (important!).

4) Is it a fit?: I think any kind of sales letter or notice or homepage should have a piece about ‘this could be a good fit if . . .’ where you list the criteria. I did this recently on my new workbook on how you can get more people on your email list. Carrie Klassen talks about doing this on your homepage in her new workbook about creating a homepage your ideal clients would love.

5) Tell a story: I told a story to give people the feeling of the school. Most people don’t use stories enough in their marketing.

6) Ask for the action: At the end, I explicitly ask them to take an action. I ask them to spread the word. I give them the email of the person to reach. Als0 – here’s a subtle bonus distinction: don’t always write your promo pieces asking the reader to sign up. Sometimes I think it’s even more effective to say, ‘do you know anyone who wants _______?’. I think there’s less pressure in that approach and less assumption – but anyone reading it for whom it is a fit will still resonate with it.

Here’s the note:

Jaime: I totally want to see you do a Become a Super Hub workshop
have it be really hands on
that would be so much fun

me: i’m thinking of organizing a hubs gathering in Ontario in the fall (maybe the spring?)

Jaime: ohhhh do a workshop first

me: but like a gathering for people like you, me, alex, rhonda etc
a 2-3 day retreat to get to know each other better and learn from each other

Jaime: that would be AWESOME

me: but yeah. i totally want to do a workshop like that.
i was super bummed i really missed out on covering the hubs stuff at my last RBI. grrrr.

Jaime: you know what would be a cool article
all the different ways to approach a hub and build a relationship

me: oooh. nice
let’s brainstorm now
1) comment on their blog
2) send them an appreciative email

Jaime: Twitter

me: 3) offer to take them out for lunch

Jaime: Offer to do something to help them out
so I heard a great one yesterday
so a blogger website did regular webinars.. a long time participant approached them and offered to make an add on product for what they were already doing – cliff notes and mindmaps for every webinar
they created it into a membership site
and made it an upsell

me: i love it. invite people to their events – become their unhired promoter

Jaime: connect them with good people and opportunities.. for example when I was interviewed by The Globe and Mail, I put them in touch with a local hub so she was featured too
You could also send them things that might be interesting or helpful..
someone emailed me yesterday to let me know of a spelling mistake on my site.. her intention was to be helpful, not to correct me

me: nice.

Jaime: for me it’s about helping them get what where they want

me: i think there’s also a subtle wrinkle here of not being a suck up. not coming to them from a needy place

Jaime: right

me: if someone comes to me from a solid place of self respect but also appreciation then i’m open to them
but if they’re pedestalizing me that feels really uncomfortable.

Jaime: you have to be thinking about planting seeds of a relationship instead of getting something

me: totally.
i just spoke with someone the other day about the whole idea of ‘being of service’
and how that can feel gross
that ‘serving people’ can be a subtle way of ‘trying to get something’

Jaime: yeah.. you can feel the intention

me: and that can be trying to get ‘influence’ or ‘approval’
or
‘money’ or ‘status’. so many things

Jaime: yeah status is a big one when people don’t understand what it really means
that your status raises with people when you make them feel good about themselves.. when you want something they go into defensive fight or flight
me: so i think there’s something about not overdoing it. staying in integrity. like years ago there was a potential funder i was trying to woo – and so i spent a lot of time just helping him with things and getting to know his mom etc. and then he totally sniffed out my intention of getting his money and he totally vanished

Jaime: right.. it happens with guys with relationships all the time.. the second they smell commitment…
it’s the same thing thing though.. pushing an agenda at the inappropriate time can kill any type of relationship.
so maybe there are roads to accessing a hub
1. become friends.. no agenda at all, but later it could come up.
2. be a connector for them – help them, send them opportunties and introductions etc.. become their peer.
3. Business partners.. out right proposition them about business, but do it with integrity so it’s Win/Win and they don’t feel like their was any alterior motive

me: totally.
nice!
can i post this convo on my blog?

Jaime: of course

me: woot!
i have to run but talk soon

Jaime: send it when you post it
I’ll share it

 

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The other day, she was browsing my blog and came across my blog on the phenomenon of Hijacking in business. And that inspired her to add her brilliant thoughts . . .

Tad wrote a great post about Hijacking that talked about the 4 major ways that people hijack at events and in business social situations:

How to be a Hijacker

1. Hijacking a table – people who leave cards or brochures without permission of the organizer.
2. Hijacking a brand – using a competitor’s brand to try to promote their brand.
3. Hijacking conversations – when someone jumps into a conversation without understanding what it was about and then taking it somewhere else.
4. Hijacking people’s wisdom – using other people’s content without permission and passing it off as their own.

I would like to add two more to the list:

5. Hijacking people’s inboxes:

This happens after the event.  You have given your card to someone and they add you to a mailing list without your permission.  Usually, there is no way to get off the list without emailing them directly because they aren’t using proper mail management software like Mailchimp (check it out if you don’t have one – it’s free until you reach 500 subscribers).

Apart from being rude and forceful, it’s actually illegal to send a commercial message without permission being granted by the recipient or without a way for them to unsubscribe.  For full details of this you can see the Bill C-28 .

6. Highjacking Facebook threads or other online social forums:

Tad and I ran a workshop together a couple of years ago.  One person came to the Facebook event and started posting her own stuff about her cause all over the page – she added pictures, links and all kinds of stuff.  It was rude, inappropriate and completely out of context.  We deleted it all, but it left a very bad feeling.

I’ve also noticed that some people don’t take the time to visit people’s walls and post updates.  Instead they just see something in the News Feed and post it directly on to that conversation.  An extreme example of this was my partner Krister had posted an update asking to borrow something from his network.  His mother then threadjacked to give an update that ended with his grandmother having cancer.  No one was going to post after that.  It killed the thread and he had to repost it.

I think everyone has experienced hijacking in one form or another and it doesn’t feel great.

How to become a Rainmaker

1. Become a Giver

Generally, people hijack in business situations because they think it’s going to get them something.  The problem with this behaviour is that it comes from energy of taking, instead of giving which is far more effective in building business relationships.

To be a giver, you can’t have expectation of getting anything in return.  You might, you might not.  If you do, it could be tomorrow or it could be in 2 years.  Usually relationships take time to build and hijackers think about the short term, rainmakers build relationships for the long term.

2. Stop looking for clients

It’s unlikely you are going to get a client at an event by going out there and pushing your services, so change your focus.  Instead, work on boosting your profile by getting well known in your niche or networking to find referral partners.

The best referral partners are people who also serve your niche but don’t compete with you and who you can also refer business to.  If you met someone who could be a good referral partner, you can initiate a follow up conversation by saying “I have clients that need your services.  Let’s get together for a coffee and explore this”.

3. Introduce Yourself To The Organizer Before The Event

• Phone the organizer and introduce yourself.  Ask questions about the event and find out who will be in the room.  Ask them if there is anyone they recommend you meet.  This simple step will help you get more out of the event no matter what happens.

• Offer to share the event with your network on Facebook. This doesn’t cost you anything if you are going anyway.  You can simply post “Hey everyone, I’m going to this event, it looks great because of X.  Does anyone want to come?”  By mentioning it to the organizer, you now have made them aware that you have shared it and that could invoke feelings of reprocity from them.  They may go out of their way to introduce you to people at the event.

• Offer them something (they will want).  Depending on the situation and your business, you may be able to offer them something that has a mutually beneficial outcome.  For example, if it’s a day long event, and you are a massage therapist, you could offer to give 5 minute seated massage during the lunch break.  Or if you are a holistic practitioner, you could offer to bring a healthy snack where you could introduce it with the health benefits.  If it’s a networking event you could offer to donate a door prize.  This type of offer usually allows you to usually allows you to stand up in front of the room and introduce yourself.  I’ve found it’s the most effective way for everyone in the room to know your name and what you do.

4. Be an Ambassador at the event

An ambassador acts like a host to help make other people comfortable.  They ask a lot of questions and don’t try to dominate the conversation.  They find ways to include others and introduce new comers to the conversation.  This is the true meaning of “working the room”.

People love to talk about themselves and their passions.  By finding out about them, you are helping them become interested in you.  If they are interested, they will ask about you.

I find it very helpful to take notes about people discretely because if I met 20 people, I can’t always remember everything.  Don’t do it while they are talking to you and definitely don’t write on their card as this offends some people.  Sometimes I do it straight after the event while it’s still fresh in my mind.

My ultimate goal is always to get in front of as many people as possible and the best way to do this is to speak in front of the room.  At one business group I attended as a guest, there was a series being done on getting great testimonials.  I went to the to person who had been doing it and told him my best tips and he asked me to stand up and share them with the room.  When I offered them to him, I didn’t expect him to give it to me, I was happy to let him use them, but it turned into a great outcome for me.

4. Follow up sincerely

Follow up in email the next day with the following 3 types of people:

• Potential Partners – people you met that could turn into a great business relationship.  Start by reminding them about you through referencing something you talked about because they may not remember you.  If you discussed a follow up coffee at the event, remind them, if not ask them now if it seems appropriate.  Try to give them something in the email, like a link to an article or a resource they will like based on what you talked about.
• Potential Clients – only follow up with potential clients to offer a follow up consultation or phone call if they specifically asked, otherwise, send them something useful based on what you learned about them and ask if they want to connect with you on Facebook or Linkedin.  Then make sure you share great stuff with your network and comment on their stuff.
• The Organizer – email the organizer and thank them for the event and tell what you enjoyed about it.  As someone who has organized events, I have received very few thoughtful thank you messages afterwards.  They will be grateful to hear it and it will help you to continue your relationship with the organizer.

If you’re needing help with your online presence (e.g. website, facebook, twitter, linkedin etc) then I can’t recommend contacting Jaime Almond enough. She’s brilliant.

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I saw this poster on a mailbox in Toronto the other day and it made me think about the whole effectiveness of posters.

Posters are often used to ‘get my name out there’. In fact, a lot of marketing is used in that way. Networking, handing out business cards, placing regular ads in magazines etc.

But ‘getting your name out there’ is different than building up a following (e.g. email list, facebook page, blog etc). Do you really want to get your name ‘out there’ or would you rather get their name ‘in here’ (e.g. on your email list)?

This is a vital distinction.

Here’s the big challenge with them. They work, for the most part, on the ‘cold’ level. The people who see it have never met you. There’s no relationship and no trust.

Ask yourself this: When’s the last thing you’ve ever bought something from a poster?

Exactly.

And when’s the last time you bought something because a close friend recommended it?

Double exactly.

Another challenge with posters: they are one directional (Marketing 1.0). It’s you talking at them. But, unlike with a blog or social media – they can’t talk back. And marketing has moved away from pitching into creating conversations (Marketing 2.0).

But! Here’s where posters can kick ass: when they’re placed in locations people are already looking for what you’re offering (e.g. a poster for your raw chocolate making class on the bulletin board of the local organic grocer). But random posters on random poles and mailboxes won’t work that well.

And even if it did have a lot of people call you – they’d be calling you cold.

Remember this: People who are referred are better. They haggle less. They walk in already liking and trusting you (or at least being open).

Do you want people to just see a poster and be curious? Or would you rather they called and started engaging with you? And when they come in for an appointment – do you just want them to be curious or would you rather have them already trusting you because you’ve done such a great job building a relationship with them and have already given them such great free value?

People being curious about you is seriously over rated.

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Photo from the Toronto 2009 Green Grub and Gather

So, I think parties are one of the best marketing tools ever. I’ve been talking about it more and more – and here’s some proof! This is an excerpt from an interview I did with Joel Monk (JM) and Laurens van Aarle (LV) of Coaches Rising in Amsterdam. I think you’ll dig it.

JM:            So tell me more about this hot marketing because you’ve really got me going here. Did you say about hosting your parties and stuff?

TH:            Yeah, one of my big things these days has been this idea of parties as marketing. And where this came from was I was in Toronto doing a workshop and I heard about this guy in L.A. who on the Saturday night of his workshops, his business marketing workshops, he would take everyone out for dinner at this Italian restaurant.

I just always thought that was the coolest idea. I felt like, that’s so classy. That’s so nice.

What I liked about it, too, was it created a social setting that wasn’t there at the workshops. Because the workshops I do are super-interactive but it’s still a workshop. It’s not like hanging out with people.

One time I did that and it went really well. I really loved it.

What I found is we went to a restaurant and everyone basically sat at their tables. They were in a big, long row but nobody moved so people were just mingling with the people sitting directly next to them and that wasn’t what I was wanting.

So I tried a few more restaurants, same kind of thing and eventually moved to a house party called the Green Grub and Gather. But as that transition was going, I remember sitting there right before the dinner thinking about, “Oh, I’ve got these other clients of mine who I would love to—from past workshops who I really love—and they should come to dinner.”

So I fired off a few texts and a few of them came. And then it really occurred to me that there are people in Toronto who are super successful already and have just no interest in coming to my workshop. Like there’s a guy, in Toronto who’s a green realtor. He’s incredibly well known, super tapped in in the Toronto green scene. He’d never really come to my workshop. He doesn’t need my workshop. But if he knew about what I did, it would be useful.

People might ask him, say, “Hey, Chris. Seen this marketing workshop for hippies and green businesses. Is this worthwhile?” And if he says, “I don’t know.” That’s one thing. But if he could say, “Yeah, it’s totally worth your time,” that’s a really solid endorsement to have.

And how do I do that because he’s not going to come to my workshop to check it out but he might come to a party. So it eventually evolved into doing house parties for like 40 people. Everyone at the workshop, and I had like 20 people at the workshop so maybe 15 of them actually show up and can make it.

And then I invite my favorite alumni from that area, plus people who are hubs, people who are influencers, people who are connectors in the scene in that area. And that party has been awesome for me in terms of building relationships, building connections with people who I normally probably wouldn’t have had a reason to connect with. Yeah, I could have gone to lunch with all of them but that would have taken a lot more time so I did that.

JM:            I love the idea of getting them all in one place. Because a party’s so relaxed, isn’t it? You’re at a party to have fun and people just let down a lot of those boundaries. It’s just a great place to make a friendship with someone. I could see that being really—I’m thinking about how we could do that. Everybody loves a good party.

But yeah, I don’t know what you think, Laurens, but I love this idea of just having a party. It takes away all that pressure, doesn’t it? You’re just going to have fun. Everyone wants to hang out and maybe get some good music on. What stands out for me from what Tad said is even if you just speak to that guy for five minutes, you’ve already made a connection. He’s already put a face to your name. He knows what you do and he’s probably going to be pretty impressed that you’ve put on a party like that.

LV:            Yeah, it sounds like a great way to both have fun, market, connect, make that human connection with people, expose everybody to what you’re doing and at the same time, just enjoy great food, music and company.

My day started off with a massage. I’ve decided this is a great way to start ones day.

After that, I grabbed lunch with my friend Amber at the legendary Mondragon Cafe. Says there website . . .

Mondragon is a political bookstore and vegan restaurant located in Winnipeg’s historic exchange district. The word Mondragon comes from the Euskadi (Basque) town of the same name meaning “Dragon Mountain” in English. Located in Northern Spain, Mondragon or Arrasate in the Basque language, is known for its extensive network of workers’ cooperatives, and has been the subject of numerous books and articles.

Inspired by this and many other examples of alternative economics and workplace democracy, our bookstore and coffeehouse is organized as a workers collective. We have no manager, and all worker members, regardless of starting skill or seniority, earn the same rate of pay. We call ours a “participatory” workplace, after the participatory economic model developed by co-authors Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert, and we feel that this structure is consistent with libertarian socialist principles.

Amber is a realtor and getting into the focus on ‘green real estate’. She’d been at my workshop on Thursday night and we got to talking about this whole niche thing.

As we spoke she tossed out that she was thinking of focusing on ‘single women in Winnipeg’.

“I would focus on that group instead of making ‘green real estate’ your thing. ‘Green real estate’ is how you do what you do but it’s not who you’re trying to reach. But ‘single women in Winnipeg’ is a pretty clear group – with lots of subgroups obviously – but it’s a great start. It meets my criteria for a niche market – a community of people with a shared set of needs and experiences. There’s so much you could do with it.”

As we munched on our food (I got their Dragon Bowl which was alright and she got their Burrito) we explored things you could do with that kind of group to become a hub for them. You could . . .

• host a shopping day – rent a bus and show women all the places to shop to get amazing things for their homes at a bargain and meet shop owners
• host a series of fun self defense classes for single women
• negotiate a wicked deal with a gym or yoga studio for your clients
• host relationship/dating workshops
• host workshops on ‘how to make your home safe’ (since single women are more concerned about this than single men)
• host a ‘how to green your home’ workshop. My sense was that women are more likely to care about these issues.
• host a workshop with a local feng shui expert – or get your clients a ‘free consult’ with one as part of the package in working with you.

And so many more things.

It’s what I always find – once we find a niche – there’s an endless stream of ideas.

After lunch, I wandered down to Hollow Reed to receive a consultation from Chad (he’s amazing FYI – book a session if you can).

And then my old friend from Edmonton, Jackie Avent, and I went to the Winnipeg Green Drinks. This was exciting for me because I help to host the Edmonton Green Drinks through e-sage. They host it at this place called the Lo Pub – which is a vegan, local food pub. Pub food – but local and vegan. Very cool. Sadly I couldn’t stay long because I was hosting my second workshop at Hollow Reed that night.

And it was such a great workshop! Again – an amazing group of folks (pictured on the right). The folks who ran The Aquarian (a spiritually and politically progressive newspaper) were there. It’s an amazing thing – it’s already been going for twenty years – they were so ahead of their time. Other folks were into local food, performing arts, yoga, furniture business. A real motley crew.

I invited Beth Martens to sit on the hot seat that night (something I’ve only just started doing with my workshops and I really like it).

I asked her which target market she wanted to jam on.

“People who have someone in their life who is struggling with a serious illness like cancer.”

“And are you wanting to help the person with cancer or the person who’s helping them?“

“Both, in a way. I’m a cancer survivor myself, so this is close to my heart.“

“Okay. Sometimes that can be a good strategy. Sometimes people won’t reach out for help themselves and you need to reach out to the people most affected by them. Instead of trying to sell bride’s a ‘stress relief’ CD – sell it to the bridesmaids. You know?“

I pointed out how incredibly important empathy is in marketing – the ability to speak to people where they’re at vs. where we wish they would be. I invited the group to speak to the typical experience of a caregiver. “What’s it like to be them?” I asked.

The answers came: stressful. exhausting. overwhelming. you can begin to resent the person you love. hopeless – you want to help them more but don’t know how to.

“And if you could wave your magic wand – what result would you most want them to have?“

The answers: peace, a sense of control, feeling connected – not so isolated, understood, a sense of direction and hope, a sense of being okay no matter what happened.

I asked the group what kinds of offers she could come up with for this kind of group. And they delivered a bunch of great ideas:

• a spa day or weekend for the caregiver where they could be pampered and connect with other caregivers who were in a similar boat and not feel so alone.
• a workshop on how to deal the stress
• a communication workshop so they can relate to these people better

“And what would the hubs be? Where would you find these people?“

• support groups for specific diseases
• other holistic practitioners
• doctors

“So Beth,” I said. “Let’s pretend that you were to focus only on this group – and not saying you should – but can you see how this would develop a reputation and help word of mouth? Imagine it, a practitioner is talking with a client and the client is going off about how hard it is to be supporting his wife. And they say, ‘Oh! You need to talk with Beth Martens. She specializes in this.’

This is why having a specialization is one of the top ten things a practitioner needs to become a trusted advisor.

But check out my workshop in a single picture – this is what my whiteboard looks like at the end of my workshop. Pretty much everything I cover in my full weekend The Radical Business Intensive is captured here.

Tomorrow we’re having a secret party! I’ll tell you all about it soon.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

I am in love with Winnipeg.

My old friend Jeff Golfman picked me up at the airport today (arriving from Tour Stop #1 in Calgary yesterday.

And he drove me straight to Woolsley.

My friend Jeff's loft.

Woolsley is the cool, hippy neighbourhood in town. It’s full of old quaint houses and big old trees that are covering the streets and yards with their beautiful autumn leaves.

I am completely charmed.

Winnipeg: will you marry me?

But, it gets better.

I’m staying at Jeff’s 5000 sq ft. office and loft apartment (pictured on the left). It’s gorgeous and the perfect space in which to relax and catch up on emails. And Saturday night we’re having a secret party here! Woot.

Tonite I led my first workshop at the incredible holistic center that is Hollow Reed Holistic (pictured here). The Hollow Reed started five years ago as an herbal apothecary. It’s run by Chad Cornell (a Master Herbalist) and his wife Nancy Hall and overflows with the best and most welcoming community vibes. Two months ago they opened up a broader holistic center with a group of other practitioners and they’ve got this neat little workshop space.

They’ve clearly become a hub in Winnipeg for cool, holistic things.

Chad Cornell

I showed up earlier today to check out the space and make sure everything was okay – only to be warmly welcomed by Kalee who worked there. And then Chad (pictured to the left) came out of his session and made me some amazing tea blend to help with my cough. Plus this incredibly bitter root to chew. It’s terrible tasting so it must be good medicine!

And then at I led my ‘Marketing 101 for Green and Local Businesses‘ workshop to a packed crowd. We got 30 people in the space – and I don’t think we could have fit too many more folks in there.

I talked about Niche Marketing, coming up with Irresistible Offers, Hub Marketing and Word of Mouth.

Part way through, I invited Chad to come up to the front to be ‘hot seated’.

I asked him to share his ‘top three target markets’ he’d come up with during an exercise before the break. They were:

1) People really into natural medicine.

2) People who are ready to do the work.

3) People willing to pay for the work.

I asked the group, “Which of those is the clearest?“

They unanimously voted for #1 – people into natural medicine.

Presenting at Hollow Reed in Winnipeg on Thursday Night

“Numbers two and three,” I pointed out. “Are great as criteria of your ideal client. They’re qualities you’d want in any client. But they’re not ‘target markets’. They’re not communities with shared needs or experiences.”

This is a huge distinction that most people fail to make – they confuse the ‘best client criteria’ with what a ‘niche’ is.

Your best client criteria are things like: they show up on time, they pay on time, they refer people, they do their homework, they refer people, they are open to feedback etc. It’s all the things you expect of your clients.

A niche is something like: doctors, lawyers, backpackers, vegans, Doctor Who fans, Buddhists, Burners, Crafters etc.

Big difference.

A niche is a tribe. The rest are the things you’d want in any client.

So, then we explored the first group: people interested in natural health using my philosophy of ‘Big Circle: Little Circles’ (which I promise to write about soon). I asked the crowd gathered to list all the specific groups that would be into natural healing. And the group delivered: holistic practitioners, yoga students, meditators, folks in the native community, folks in the Indian community etc.

I asked Chad to pick one of those more specific groups. He picked Yoga Studios.

So, we started to explore what kinds of ‘Offers’ he could make to connect more deeply with that crowd.

Presenting at Hollow Reed Thursday night.

Jackie Avent, a friend of mine there, came up with a great idea of him going to Yoga studios to offer workshops on ‘cleansing’ since he works so deeply with herbs. I thought that was a great idea. If he even did one presentation per year at every yoga studio in town – he’d be connecting with a whole new crowd of people. And, if he came up with some sort of ‘next step’ offer for people after the workshop that could get them into his studio that would be great.

That ‘next step’ could be as simple as inviting them to join his email list, or offering them all a free 30 minute consult with him (and the chance to upgrade when they book), or perhaps it would be an invite to another workshop at his space.

And, on the theme of ‘becoming a hub‘ I also offered the idea of his hosting a gathering for all of the yoga studio owners and teachers in town to come to his space for a party or an intentional conversation around ‘how do we get more people in Winnipeg doing yoga?‘. And he could be honest about his intentions, ‘Yoga students are great clients for us – so, the better the yoga scene is doing – the better we will do.’

It was a beautiful night.

The Crowd at Thursday's Workshop at Hollow Reed

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in this business is to create a loyal following of paying clients… from scratch. It’s so difficult, in fact, that I don’t recommend you put a lot of effort into it.

Instead, try asking yourself this simple question…

“Who already has access to large numbers of my ideal clients?”

One of the most important Strategic Objectives for your workshop and seminar business is to create and maintain Joint-Venture Partners. Often I’ll refer to these as Strategic Alliances, or Super-Affiliates. Whatever you choose to call them, it’s important for you to create mutually beneficial, financially lucrative relationships with other people and other businesses that have already done the work of attracting YOUR ideal clients…

… and LARGE numbers of them.

You’ll want to have an active process that is solely dedicated to recruiting and maintaining these Joint-Venture Relationships. Just like you would have one person solely dedicated to doing administration for your company, or one person dedicated to setting up the room at your workshop… you also want to have one person or role in your company solely dedicated to finding, contacting, setting up and maintaining Joint-Venture Relationships.

You may be asking yourself, “OK, great, but how the heck do I find people to Joint-Venture with?”

I like to start by asking 3 questions…

1. What does my Specific Audience (ideal clients) buy… directly BEFORE buying from me?

Once you identify products/services/programs these people are purchasing BEFORE they’re in the market for what you offer, you want to get in touch with the companies that are offering THOSE products! Approach these companies about sending you referrals.

2. What else does my Specific Audience buy… WHILE buying from me?

Again, once you identify what products fit this description, it’s just a matter of approaching the companies that are offering them. Now you have an opportunity to both send referrals to them and to receive referrals from them… this type of relationship has even more opportunity than the first one does.

3. What does my Specific Audience buy… directly AFTER buying from me?

This one may seem a bit more limiting, as it really only has the potential for you to send referrals… but there is more potential here as well, for you also have the option of creating and offering these products to the market!

I have one last great little tip that will help you find potential Joint-Venture partners. Using Google, search for keywords related to your topic, and try adding words such as…

‘book’, ‘ebook’, ‘seminar’, ‘coach’…

… and simply see what pops up! Pay special attention to the paid advertisements on the right-hand side of the page… these are businesses that are making a profit in a similar market to you, so it’s likely they could be a great potential Joint-Venture partner!

For more good stuff from Callan check out her blog and join her email list – I did and I like what she has to say.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.