284 – October 11
“By mistake, a man received his pay envelope without a check inside. He asked: ‘What happened? Did my deductions finally catch up with my salary?’”—Anonymous
It is critically important to do the math and count your money. This is particularly important in the planning stages of creating income either by opening a business or getting a new job. Doing the math is a simple process, but one I find that many people ignore. They get excited about an idea and dream of making a lot of money in their business. But as important as enthusiasm and dreams are, they don’t make you successful unless the numbers add up. It is amazing how often this simple step could save someone months or years of struggle.
Michael, an energetic young man in the seminar business, sent me his goals for the year, and outlined how he was going to the achieve them. His goal was to make $5,000 per month teaching seminars. He had three different seminars, and this was his enrollment plan:
- 15 people in Seminar #1 at $30 per person
- 10 people in Seminar #2 at $50 per person
- 15 people in Seminar #3 at $50 per person
As I looked at his plan, I noticed that he hadn’t listed the total amounts he would earn from each seminar, so I did the math:
- 15 people x $30 = $ 450
- 10 people x $50 = $ 500
- 15 people x $50 = $ 750
- Total Income: $1700
Try as I might, I couldn’t make this enrollment plan add up to a $5,000 per month income. It is $3,300 short! Clearly, this man would be constantly disappointed in trying to meet his income goal of $5,000 per month. He needed to enroll more people or charge more for his seminars.
Remember that the first three steps to financial stress reduction are:
- Think positive
- Send out ships
- Count your money
The first two are important, but you can’t forget about the third.
Today’s Affirmation:
“Money is piling up in all of my accounts.”
I’m always busy sending out ships. For all of you in sales (which is every freelancer, consultant, coach, writer, MLM distributor, small business owner) I sometimes do a couple of free teleclasses and I always get hundreds of people on the calls. It’s great marketing.
But marketing isn’t selling.
The sales of the workshop happen after that, when I called the people who were on the free teleclass calls. Most people don’t do this step, just relying on the information in their free teleclasses to sell their products and services – you know, the “Buy now! Don’t miss out! Click the button now!” emails. Unless your product or service is free or very low priced, that kind of marketing doesn’t work very well. There’s too many people doing it – and how many ways can you say you “help people make more money” and stand out from the crowd?
My 8-week telecourse is very personal, not inexpensive, and so I need to create a personal connection with each member of the small mastermind group that takes my class. On the “Confidence, Charisma and Cash” call, I actually taught people how to network and how to make the follow-up phone calls after that. So it seems natural to follow up the free call with a personal phone call, yes?
Most people were surprised by my call, and happy to talk with me, which was wonderful! I am always delighted chatting with them and getting to know them and starting a relationship. Some people seemed suspicious, as in “is-this-a-sales-call-I-don’t-want-to-be-pressured-into-anything” and got off the phone right away. One man hung up on me (maybe it was his wife who was on my call). Eeww. But then, so what? “Not My People” is the only reaction you should have to negative responses. Next!
When you make calls, you don’t know what you’re going to get. You can’t take it personally – it’s not about you. You’re reaching out to help people, but you don’t know who needs you.
Some people sign up right away, and some are waiting until later…and of course, some people will never actually take my class. That’s always the way it is when you’re in business and selling your products and services. But the secret is this: if you make enough calls, enough people will buy from you for you to make a living!
I wrote a sign that I put near my phone, and each time I look at it, I reaffirm what it is what makes it easy for me to make the calls. It says, “Somebody needs your help.” That’s what keeps me calling. I think of all the people who have been helped by my work, who are happier and more successful, and who send me lovely notes of thanks and blessings. Putting myself out there making the calls is the sacrifice I make on their behalf.
If you’re in a personal service business, you’ve got to reach out to your potential clients. You can’t just rely on emails or ads or websites or other marketing. After a while all the buzz words and hokey phrases all begin to sound alike. Everyone promises the same benefits – who are you going to believe really delivers?
Here’s what happens when you reach out and talk to people – I received this note from a woman I called:
“I’m one of those people who listened to your teleconference and was surprised and pleased that you picked up the phone to contact me afterwards. I’ve thought a lot about our conversation since then. It still makes me smile to know that you practice the techniques that you tell people about. I can’t say that’s true about a lot of people I get solicitations from on a regular basis. Generally they send me e-mails telling me how great their training program is and how I’ll fail if I don’t participate in this program. I’m required to reach out to them if I want more information or to sign up. They never take the time to find out whether the program is even a good fit for me or something I might use in my own classes. Shame on them!”
“You demonstrated what to do to get business. You took the time to talk with me and learn about what my needs are…so thanks for calling me and getting to know me. I appreciate that you ‘walk the walk’ and not just ‘talk the talk.’ I hope we have the chance to talk again sometime!”
So, there’s a little validation of my position. Gotta love it!
Wishing you big treasure ships in your harbors this week, Dolphins!
