A friend of mine called Pete has made a fortune on-line.

While most people reading this article will probably be working from inspiration and passion, Pete is the opposite. He works from logic. The result is he gives people what they are looking for, rather than offering what he is passionate about offering. Following this method has made him a fortune.

I’m not saying Pete isn’t into what he does. He is. He likes following trends and patterns and plonking his products right where demand flows.

But who of you can combine your passion with logic? That then becomes so much more powerful… so this is what we’re going to look at.

Pete will tell you a passion won’t make you money unless there’s a market. He’ll tell you there is no point creating a product unless people are looking for it. And he’ll also tell you all he does is find where the money is flowing and he then puts his offer in front of that flow.

Put in economic speak, he follows demand, checks out the supply, and if competition is low, in he jumps.

Sir Richard Branson follows a similar philosophy with Virgin when looking at new markets to enter. Where there is demand and where the suppliers have been abusing the customers and giving poor service, Virgin will step in and offer something innovative and revolutionary to that industry.

Clearly whereever there is a need and where the market recognises that need, demand for a service or product will be high. There may even be fierce competition, but if the competition is poor, unorganised, unprofessional, lacking a process or a system, then you could quite possibly be the one to turn that industry on its head.

Best wishes
Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

How will you know when you’ve learned what your market really, really wants?

You’ll know, because that’s when people buy more easily, because they just see what you offer them is a good fit.

It will be such a revelation to learn how easy selling your service or products can be when they’re what your market wants.

Once that happens, you’ll begin to hear from your clients how grateful they are for your products. Everything about how you do business will be transformed, because you’ve taken the time to learn what your market wants. You’ve made the effort to step into their shoes and understand what makes them tick. And that effort pays off in products that really meet the needs of your market.

So, if you’re still struggling to sell your products, or it feels as though you’re pushing people into buying what they don’t want, it’s time to take a time-out and really understand what it takes to attract or pull a client towards you, rather than push.

You are attracting (pulling ) clients towards you when you:
1. Understand what keeps them awake at night
2. Know what is most important to them
3. Know what end result they expect from working with you

To be clear, a push marketing strategy involves selling and promotional activity to create demand for a product, while a pull marketing strategy might involve advertising or web promotion to build demand and will typically have customers coming to you and asking all the right questions, as opposed to you creating a sales presentation opportunity where you show them what they don’t know they might need.

I come across more people today wanting to build pull marketing strategies and not getting the income they really want and a big reason why they have this problem is because they really don’t know their customers.

So if you prefer to attract customers to you, you really have to get to know who you serve.

Best Wishes
Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

One of the reasons a lot of people struggle is because of poor marketing copy. If you look around the Internet you’ll see lots of sites that are poorly written.

You can spot the poorly written websites very quickly because they mostly focus on the web site owner… their experience, their knowledge and how their product or service works.

Some of this is important information, but unless you relate this to how all that knowledge and experience or how your product or service is really going to make someone’s life easier or better, it’s not going to compel someone who is interested in becoming invested in your product or service.

The example here is websites, but it could just as easily be any other aspect of marketing.

As a customer, when you or I read something, we’re subconsciously hunting for: what’s in this for me? Can I get what I need? Can this person or business solve my problem?

And these days… when you have so much competition… and it’s all easily accessible… especially via the Internet… it’s the people writing the most engaging, compelling copy… that draw in the crowd.

And you’ll know how well you’re doing with compelling people to buy from you based on how your bank balance looks… and I say that with lots of love and I say that because what you put down on paper, or on a website, is probably also a fair reflection of how you verbalise the difference you make…

There are no short cuts to writing good copy. It is an art. But there are three options open to you as I see it:
1. You can invest in getting someone who knows how to write marketing copy – I charge £1000 for a web page (to give you an idea)
2. Get someone who does marketing and says they are a copywriter, (usually a few hundred pounds)
3. Learn how to do it yourself

Whatever you do, don’t take short cuts with your marketing copy… it’s your lifeblood.

Best wishes
Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

In writing any good marketing copy there are 7 essentials you have to take care of – without getting overly technical. I’m going to give them to you here, because I want people reading this newsletter to write copy that engages readers and finds them a stream of clients.

So, let me take you through the 7 essentials:

1. Title – this has to make a promise about what you’ll deliver and it must speak to your audience

2. Sub-title – the subtitle builds the picture up more – it expands on the title

3. Rapport/Credibility piece – Speak in the language of the people who will buy from you and let them know why they should listen to you.

4. Benefits – put these in a bullet point list… it makes it easy to read and suggests value, value, value

5. Social proof – testimonials, show other people what they got from you. Use names where you can. Use pictures if you can get them. And the more specific you can be the better.

6. A call to action – this is about telling them what to do next.

7. Contact details (either get theirs using a contact form on your website or give yours if you are using flyers or another advertising method.

For an example of a webpage using these all 7 steps visit: www.communitysoulbusiness.com

When I first wrote the copy in the link above, I had it critiqued by a group of people I mastermind with. Then I rewrote it. I invested around £3500 in hard cash in that copy and then a further £1000 in my own time writing it.

So you can see, it’s not something I just threw together in a few minutes. The title took several attempts and yet when I look at it now it looks really simple. And that’s the way you want it to read. Simple.

The copy was hacked and rewritten. But that page has resulted in around 2000 people signing up for the offer we make.

Just using the seven essentials will give you better results in from your marketing efforts, but that’s not the be-all-and-end-all in copywriting. There is a lot more for you to learn… and it never stops!

Best wishes
Neil

http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

What happens when you don’t invest in good marketing copy….

One of the reasons a lot of people struggle is because of poor marketing copy. If you look around the Internet you’ll see lots of sites that are poorly written and you can spot these very quickly.

If your website is one of those websites, then what happens to the visitors?

An uninterested website visitor clicks away if they can’t find what they want in seconds. That means that whatever your website costs you to create, host and manage costs you money.

So, how do you draw a crowd with your marketing copy?

One of the topics I covered with my Insiders Secrets group recently was what is important and why and how to write it and we went into a great deal of depth on the subject and that’s not something I can cover in an article.

What I can share here is that there is information you must get across and you have to put that in a way that is going to compel someone, who is interested in being your customer, to become your customer.

As a customer, when you or I read something, we’re subconsciously hunting for what’s in this for me? Can I get what I need? Can this person or business solve my problem?

And these days… when you have so much competition… and it’s all easily accessible… especially via the Internet… it’s the people writing the most engaging, compelling copy… that draw in the crowd.

And you’ll know how well you’re doing with compelling people to buy from you based on how many people buy from your web pages and how your bank balance looks… and I say that with lots of love, and I say that because what you put down on paper, or on a website, is probably also a fair reflection of how you verbalise the difference you make, too…

In the last 2 years we’ve run five really big events. And these are the events where we’ve really pulled out the stops on on the  marketing front. And these events have pretty much all been sell outs. In one case we had 1000 people register, in another more than 1800. On two other occasions, we couldn’t get any more people in the room.

And this was mostly due to the marketing copy we used to help people get along to these events.

Best wishes
Neil

What are the 3 MUST-KNOWS of writing Compelling Marketing Copy?

First, there’s a saying, that to become a good copywriter, you have to become a good copy reader… that means reading good marketing copy and learning.    This is one of my habits.

Because I have developed good copy habits and a process for writing, I never have to scratch my head and wonder where to start.

In fact in my newsletter to my Insiders Secrets group recently, I mentioned to them that I spent 15 minutes writing copy that sold 3 products in 90 minutes while I prepared a presentation and gave it.

The people on that call know something, though – my marketing copy is never just thrown together. I was able to create that copy so quickly because of the habits I have developed.

The second must know is: know your customer.

And I know that you know this, but I’m mentioning it here, because even though I know that you know, that you need to know your customer, so many people forget this or resist clearly defining who the customer is.

And if you never define who your customer really is how will you ever know the third must know of good copywriting…

The third must know of good copywriting is to be clear on what your customer REALLY wants – which isn’t always what you offer, or at least not the way people often offer it.

And unless you have these 3 Must-Knows clearly in your cells, you shouldn’t even start a website or a brochure, because you don’t know who you are offering to, or why or how to write the copy.

Interestingly enough, I was talking to Alan Forrest Smith a few weeks ago, and Alan is one of the world’s most sought after copywriters, charging thousands to write your marketing campaigns and the the first thing he asked me was “Who is your customer?”

Now if that’s one of the world leaders in marketing and copywriting asking that question, we all need to pay attention.

Best wishes
Neil

——-

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit his website and register for his free newsletter at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

I recognise a number of people reading this article are just not getting the results that you want from your brochures, flyers and websites.

These brochures, flyers and websites are marketing that never sleeps and it’s your marketing copy that for many people determines if you have people queueing up at your door or not.

To attract business we have to represent ourselves well on page because it’s our written material that sells us. And the more you automate your marketing through websites, auto-responders and emails, the more important your copy becomes.

You may also want your marketing copy to compete with the best in the field. To do that there are some essentials, and if you include them, that can set you apart from so much of the competition and have you recognised right up there with the leaders in your field.

There are also things that set ordinary marketing copy apart from great copy which sells quickly and easily.

Creating great marketing copy is something I’ve invested in. I write much of my own copy, but I will always run it by either a mastermind group who understand marketing copywriting, or I’ll talk it through with a mentor or an expert.

Doing these things has raised the bar, with many of our pages now getting results of 38%-84%.

In the last year we’ve invested thousands into this area of development, but I have to be honest and admit I made a big mistake…

When I first looked at at how much copywriting cost, I decided it was too expensive. In making that choice I failed to look at what it would cost me if I didn’t invest.

Looking back this is something I would have invested in much sooner.

Have you invested in copywriting? Or is that another area of your business where you are saying you can’t afford to invest? What is failing to invest costing you longer term?

Best wishes
Neil

When I first became self-employed I needed new clients and repeat business. What I was offering was a service to householders.

In order to have them buy from me I had to knock at their door and ask – cold calling and door knocking… something most people might like to run away from…

And it gets worse…

Each month I was knocking on a thousand doors and what that meant is that pretty soon I ran out of doors to knock on… and you know what that means…

Yes. I had to start again and re-knock on the doors who said no to me the first time round. But there was something surprising about this…

You’d be amazed to know that the second time around I got more yeses than the first, and the third time was about as good as the second. By then I was calling on every 2nd or 3rd house in some streets and that’s when something magical started to happen.

What happened was – word began to get around, and that meant referrals began coming to me. And this is what we call client attraction.

Attraction is simply when you pull customers to you, rather than push. Advertising is a form of push marketing, recommendation and referral is a type of “pull” marketing.

Attraction happens where you’re not projecting your business out there, yet you’re drawing business to you. And there’s something else you should know…

Before I enjoyed people coming and asking if they could be my customers, I had to undergo something.

Before attraction happened, I first had to go through rejection. Had I given up after my seventh straight no, I’d have never got to number eight and had them be my first customer.

If I’d given up too soon, I’d never have built that company. I set a goal, I found a strategy that worked and I kept working it.

Sometimes I fell behind my goals. But did I give up? No. And that’s the spirit people who succeed carry – on-going… never giving up…

Something all of us Conscious entrepreneurs have to keep in mind is that our source of wealth is created where our customers needs meet our ability to serve. When we have a great service and are 100% in our conviction about that service, customers can’t wait to get that service. When we can’t wait to give and we ask for opportunities to give, customers can’t wait to receive. What goes on on the outside of your business will be a perfect reflection of what’s going on on the inside.

Best wishes

Neil

————-

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. To find out more, visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

There is one way to have more people become your customers. It’s often overlooked. In this article I’ll share it with you.

It’s actually not rocket science, but it is something that lots of people in business need to address. And it’s simple…

Just do this exercise. Make a note of how many people you asked asked to buy from you today. Now jot down how many you asked to buy from you in the last 7 days.

If you haven’t got enough clients right now, this is almost certainly because you’re not having enough “sales conversations”.

If you’re not asking for business this can be about about your belief in what you offer. It can be about not handling rejection well. It might be that you think it’s unspiritual or pushy.

But think of it this way… there are people out there right now who need what you do. What you offer will change their lives, yet if you’re not asking them, they stay at home or in their office, still in pain or in need.

I want to encourage you to move past your personal blocks, because it denies people in need and in pain – and some people are in so much pain they might not react or even notice you until you ask them for the umpteenth time.

All it takes is a shift from a belief that selling is bad to a 100% conviction that someone may lose out or be in pain because you’ve held back and failed to ask for the business.

In business you have to be prepared to ask people if your customers are ready to buy from you.

If you don’t ask, people who might have bought from you might not have realised they could get this service from you or they might think you’re so busy you wouldn’t have time to fit them in.

So while you think you’re being pushy, or spiritual by allowing them to make up their mind, they’ve made up their mind that they want what you offer, but you’re not able to help them, because you didn’t say so.

All it takes is: “Can I help you with that?” or “Would you like me to book you a session?” or “Would you like to go ahead with that?”

Just think that by asking that question, you might instantly transform your clients’ and customers’ experience of life that day. And that’s a beautiful thing to do! Plus they’ll pay you too! Win-Win-Win!

Best wishes

Neil

Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. To find out more, visit his website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

If you could spend 12 hours with 12 great visionaries and spiritual philosophers, how would that transform your life?

You have a chance to find out by registering for this FREE Telesummit – an intensive week event that will immerse you in the MUST HAVE knowledge and techniques that you can put into place from day one and every day thereafter! You’ll walk away with new advantages in life, regardless of what’s been happening in your life or the outside world right now. And here’s the best part: You can listen from the comfort and privacy of your home; you don’t have to leave your home or office to participate.

12 visionaries and spiritual philosophers!

Live Life on Purpose

May 10-14, 2010

Click here for more information

There are 12 reasons why you will really want to join these visionaries…

1. Learn how to turn what you know into what you do
2. Get equipped for life with the Sixth Sensory Tool Kit
3. Supercharge everyday of your week and enjoy life
4. Discover the secrets that will transform your life
5. Create what you want and avoid what you don’t want
6. Access the health store in your body
7. Apply the 3 key behaviour’s of vital and healthy living
8. How to let go when you really need to
9. Uncover the moment when shift happens
10. How to use food as your rocket fuel for a spirited life
11. Find out how to raising spirited, kind, compassionate and confident children
12. Getting to grips with the principles that create a fulfilled and happy life

Remember – It’s not what you know…it’s what you do with what you know, and this summit is deliberately run over one week so you’ll be able to listen, take in and apply what you learn from one day to the next.

I look forward to you joining me on this life-changing telesummit!

——–

Neil is the founder of CommunitySoul, an organisation that helps individuals and businesses get life on track with principles, while making profits.