How a Business Coach Landed Clients and Profits With His Book

When I speak to prospective authors about the book they want to write, the conversation often turns to what they can expect when it comes to a return on their investment. As I work primarily with non fiction authors, I encourage them to look at the profits they will get from the doors their book will open and the opportunities it will bring, then on the actual dollars from the sale of their books in retail and online stores. One business coach has landed clients with his book, increased his branding and visibility and his bottom line, as you will see in the case study below; this result can easily be achieved by you too.

Part of the work I do is to strategize with clients about how to best leverage their book to grow their brand and their bottom line. It’s essential that as an author, you leverage your published book and make sure you are maximizing visibility for your book and encouraging opportunities.

A great example of how to do this, is from my client, business and money mindset coach Wei Houng. He is the co-author of the book, “Breakthrough Leadership – Conversations With Innovative Leaders.”

wei-at-barnes-and-noble-signingWei is an active business networker, and took his book to all his events. This became an easy conversation starter and instant expert positioning for him.

According to Wei, a few of the people he networks with regularly became interested in knowing more about working with him, once they saw the book. This lead to a new client from his existing network, in the first month the book was out.

 

 

[clickToTweet tweet=”The branding & positioning from becoming a published author is priceless – Wei Houng” quote=”The branding & positioning component from becoming a published author is priceless – Wei Houng”]

“So the book itself has received really good feedback and has been a great marketing and positioning piece. Since launch, I have personally sold about 200 copies as a way to monetize my speaking opportunities. This alone resulted in $2k in revenue.

As a result of those speaking engagements, countless leads were created which, to date, have resulted in thousands of dollars in new business…with, I’m sure, more to come. When all is said and done, I suspect, branding aside, the book will have been responsible for helping me generate 5 figures worth of new revenue in my business. And, the branding and positioning component is priceless.

So, thanks! Looking forward to experiencing more of the ripple effects!” – Wei Houng, Founder The 6 Figure Academy, Co-Author Breakthrough Leadership

Highlights of how Wei leveraged his book to add an additional 10k to his bottom line in the first few months of publishing his book:

Bring the book to every networking event he attends. It opens conversations and positions you in a new enhanced and elevated way as an authority, even with people who have known you for a while.

A Book Landing Page. This provides an online destination to send potential readers, as well as to build his email list.

Public Speaking – Wei enjoys public speaking, and uses the opportunity to engage with prospective readers /clients. He always mentions the book in his talk and has books available for sale. Wei always includes a call to action, which in his case, is an invitation to the audience to sign up for a complimentary strategy session. At a recent event, he had 30% of the audience sign up for strategy sessions [a nice increase from speaking gigs given before he was an author]

Publicity. Wei has used a simple PR strategy [our Author Visibility Builder system] to get podcast and radio interviews, as well as mentions on ABC, CBS, NBC. This helps him attract prospects from outside his own network. He always uses a call to action in his interviews, which also leads to book sales, inquiries, strategy sessions and ultimately clients.

Social Media. Wei uses social media regularly. He offers valuable tips via postings and Facebook Live videos, which help give a taste of who he is and the value he brings. He regularly mentions his book as where to purchase it. He also has been actively promoting his co-authors which helps put him in front of their networks as well.

As a business coach, becoming a published author can easily lead to landed clients and profits with your book.  The key is to have a plan and a strategy to maximize your book and leverage opportunities. You can start leveraging your own book to land clients, by signing up for my webinar on how to use publicity to land clients.

 

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Webinar:
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Speaking in Soundbites: How Nonfiction Authors Turn Readers Into Clients Using Publicity Register here

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5 Ways You Should be Using Your Nonfiction Book to Make Money

How a nonfiction book can make you moneyIt’s been said that your book is your best business card. In many ways it is, because as it introduces you, it also positions you as a credible expert.
Your nonfiction book can and should make you money.  There are a number of tactics you can use to help you convert more readers into paying clients. One of the easiest ways to do this, is to invite your readers to interact with you outside the book.

 

 5 Ways a Nonfiction Book Can Make Money

1. Build an email list.
You have probably heard the expression ‘the money is in the list.’ There are numerous benefits to having a list of interested prospects, before you publish and afterwards, so that you have a ready audience waiting to hear from you and buy your latest books or programs. It has been said that prospects now need as many as 12 touches [emails, social media…] before they are ready to buy. With an email list, it is easy to create those touches by sending out updates and information of interest to your audience.

2. Put an offer inside your book.
It is very easy to put an offer inside your book. A client of mine put an offer inside her book for her biannual live event. She used a large graphic of a certificate, which entitled the reader to a free seat at her event. She started getting signups for her event months in advance [earlier than she usually has people signing up.] Once people get a taste of you and what you offer from reading your book, they want to meet you, work with you….

3. Offer a related bonus within your book.
With my coaching and consultant authors, I often recommend putting a worksheet[s] in their book, to help the reader get more value out of the book, and an introduction to their process. We offer the worksheet in the book, directing the reader to a webpage with a download link, which also signs them up the author’s email list. The worksheets are a great way to get started, but while using them, many people feel that they need personal coaching and help to achieve the results that they are seeking, so they realize they need to hire you.

4. Invite readers to events
Once your reader has a taste of your work via your book, they will want to know more. They may not be ready to hire you, but would welcome a chance to hear you speak and possibly meet you in person. Let them know that you give talks and workshops and have your schedule posted online, and give them the web address. I recommend creating a separate page for this in your book, so it doesn’t get buried within your bio, and stands out. Hearing you speak and meeting you in person or online, can accelerate the need for 12 touches, and can confirm for the reader that they want to work with you.

5. Let readers know how to work with you.
In your bio section or about the author section in your book, I recommend you put in information about how people can work with you. Let them know you offer consulting, workshops and presentations, group coaching, one on one coaching, complimentary strategy sessions, or any other ways people can work with you. It plants the seed of working with you, as well as taking the mystery out of how you work, and what options they can have working with you.

With a little thought and planning before you publish, you can build these simple tactics into your book to help you convert more readers into clients, so your nonfiction book can make you money. If you have already published your book, you can also revise it and republish it to include these. The reader was attracted to your book because it resonates with them. You just have to make it easy for them to see the possibilities and the how of becoming a client and working with you.

 

6 Ways to Get Readers Lined Up Before You Even Publish

Get readers lined up before you publish your bookAs I was watching the Bourne Identity the other night, I saw 6 ways to get readers lined up. I was seeing it for the umpteenth time and enjoying the commercial breaks for a change, because Matt Damon came on to talk about the soon-to-be-released movie Jason Bourne, and how the movies were made. He gave us some insights and behind-the-scenes looks into all Bourne movies, including the newest one.

It got me thinking about what a great job Hollywood does promoting movies and how there are lessons that can be applied to other products or services and particularly to selling books.

Here are 6 Ways to Get Readers Lined Up Before You Publish

 

Give a Sneak Preview

Create a preview and ‘coming soon’ content. Movies do this really well with trailers for upcoming features; we’re accustomed to seeing these before the main picture is shown in the theater. This starts to build interest and buzz for the upcoming movie. It let’s us know that it exists, and whets our appetite, so we start thinking about going to see it, before it even gets released.

This is something that many authors don’t take advantage of, and the results can be downright depressing. You work so hard to write your book, if you don’t offer some kind of preview, pre-announcement or information about your book to build buzz before it’s finished, you may publish and hear crickets. Not the way to go. You can take a page from Hollywood by giving away a sample chapter, making a video about your book, or talking about the writing process.

Create an Online Destination

A movie gets its own website and hashtag even before it’s released, so anyone interested in finding out more about it, can go to the site and find all the information in one place, making it easy for the interested audience to stay up to date, and plan to go see it.

Authors benefit from doing the same. Build an online home for the book; this can be a landing page,­­ a free-standing website, or a page within your existing website where people can go to find out information about the book.  You’ll want to include some information, preview content,  when the book will be available for sale. You want to capture email addresses of the people who are interested in your book, so you can notify them of updates as well as when you actually publish­­­­­. This is really key to making book sales right away on this book and future books.

Get in Front of  Your Existing Audience

Hollywood knows where their existing audience is… in the movie houses! They show the coming attraction trailers  in theaters, as they know they have an audience in those moviegoers – people who clearly like movies.

As a first time author, you won’t have the same type of existing audience of people you know read your books, but you do have friends, family, and anyone in your personal and business networks who most likely will be excited about your book, want to support you, and will buy a copy.

Find New Audiences

Hollywood gets in front of new audiences by taking out ads in publications, and they are now using social media more and more, including promoting a hashtag for a movie before it’s released.

You can do the same for your books. If you don’t know where your new audience lives, what you can do is find a lookalike audience. If you write erotic books then you could see where people are talking about Fifty Shades of Grey or some other book in that genre. You can assert yourself in the conversation – don’t just promote your books and spam the audience, but join the conversation and find out how to become part of that community. By doing so, when your book is published, you can then engage those people, introduce your book, and turn them into raving fans for your book as well.

Share Social Proof

Social proof is really a key factor in building credibility. People don’t care what a Hollywood studio says about its own movie, but they care what the critics and public say. Movie trailers, posters and ads will feature positive one line accolades from the media such as “The must see movie of the year- David Denby, The New Yorker”. Trailers created pre-release, are updated to include these quotes and any award nominations the movie receives after it’s released, to reinforce the positive buzz about a movie and entice you to see it.

The same is true for your book; just like moviegoers don’t care what the studio says about their own movie, they won’t care what you say about your book. So as an author what you can do for social proof is you can get pre-publication reviews for your book. Before you publish you can ask people to review it and give you a review or testimonial. You can get endorsements from influencers or well-known people in their field, or experts on the book’s topic. You can include these on your book landing page, in your book, or in your book’s promotional materials, as well as on social media to add credibility and positive buzz.

It’s very important to take advantage of social proof, as well as all the ways to build buzz for your book and to get people excited about it, and get them over to your book landing page, where they can optin to your list. Once you publish, you can get readers by directing all promotions right to your Amazon book page to make it easy for them to buy a copy.

A Promotional Tour

Before a movie release, the lead actors will make appearances on television talk shows to raise awareness and build buzz for the movies. A carefully selected clip is shown as a teaser for the audience. The release date and locations will be covered, acting as the audience’s call to action.

As an author, you can create a promotional tour before you publish, and without even leaving your home. There are many podcasts that will welcome you as a guest, before your book is published.  Some blogs will also welcome you as a guest pre-publication. This is where your book landing page is key to capitalizing on the experience; when you create a call to action during your guest appearance, you’ll want to direct listeners or blog readers to your landing page, so they can sign up to be notified once you publish.

Do not make the mistake of waiting until your book is published before starting to put these initiatives in place.  It’s very depressing to finish the hard work of writing a book and not see any results when you publish. Set yourself up for success by creating a book landing page that captures the email addresses of interested potential readers, so you can notify them as soon as the book is available for sale. You will get lots of sales that way.

You may not be thinking of turning your book into a series like the Bourne books that the movies are based on, but the studio has done something really smart by building a franchise or a series of movies; they’ve built a ready audience for the next one in the series!

You don’t have to write a series of books to benefit from a franchise. By building an email list you have a ready audience for when your next book comes out, even if it’s on an another topic.

 Related Post:

Build a List of Book Buyers Before You Even Publish

Don’t Call Yourself An Expert

Don’t call yourself an expert, even though I know you want to be seen as one.  Saying I’m an Expert doesn’t always feel right – whether you have impostor syndrome and don’t think you are worthy of that title [even though you most probably do deserve to be called an Expert], or you fear being seen as being boastful.

The real reason calling yourself an expert doesn’t work, is because we live in a review or reputation economy. People don’t trust what you say about you. Sorry, that is the truth.

Here is what they do trust, according to Neilsen’s Trust in Advertising survey:

  1. Recommendations from friends and family
  2. Online reviews, recommendations and social proof [high number of likes, huge twitter following…]
  3. The media

Not mentioned in the survey, but they also trust:  Authors

Don’t Try this Trick at Home

i am the greatest

Muhammad Ali called  himself The Greatest, before he even believed he was.

It worked for him, but for 99.999999% of us, we would raise some eyebrows and be thought of as many things BUT the greatest.

To communicate that you are an expert to your network –  prospects, partners, social media, clients, and even your mom….

Don’t Call Yourself An Expert – Do this:

Display reviews, recommendations, media mentions and testimonials prominently on your website, in your social profiles, in your bio… [More about how to do this effectively in an upcoming post]

Let others do the talking for you. It’s much more effective and believable. And it doesn’t feel braggy or insincere as it does when you call yourself an expert.

Here is what this could look like in person. When asked, “What do you do?”  You could respond with something a client has said about you. I might respond as follows:

“My clients call me the ‘Make it Happen Maven’ – I help them get more visibility and authority positioning, and help them become bestselling published authors.”

Not only is it a lot more authentic and in tune with our review economy, it’s a lot more intriguing than saying, “I am an authority marketing and book publishing expert.”

Now, what do you do? Please comment below and let me know!

 

blue-02 Related Post: 5 Ways to Promote Yourself That Don’t Feel Icky

10 Ways to Use Interviews in Your Marketing

10 Ways to Use Interviews in Your MarketingOne of the strategies in your marketing toolkit today should be the interview process. The interview, or a simple question and answer session, can be very effective in facilitating the creation of a variety of valuable customer facing content such as blog posts or profile articles, to content that is strictly for internal company use.

The beauty of the interview process is that you can simply hold a conversation that you record and have transcribed into text. Speech to text software is now built into computers and smart phones, or you can use a transcription service. You now have both text and audio versions of your content. Both versions can be re purposed into additional formats including video and Power Points. You can get additional mileage by extracting short quotes or sound bites to use as social posts and tweets.

What works so well about this format is that most people are comfortable speaking about their business, product or service, than they are writing about it. Most people also prefer being directed and prompted. A blank white page with free range, can be very daunting.

Ask a client to write a testimonial for your business. They’ll wonder what to write about and put it off. Sending them 3 questions to answer about your business is a much easier and more comfortable way for them to respond, taking the guesswork out of it for them.

The beauty of the interview process is that it is a strategically designed set of questions that can help you elicit the story that you would like to tell. Whether you are interviewing a customer a strategic partner or one of your staff, by strategically designing the questions you get to shape the outcome, and can reap the benefits of 3rd party credibility – someone else telling your story and singing your praises.


Download our handy Interview Resource List

interview-b-w-600x397


Here are my Top 10 Interview Types:

1. Customer Input
Many companies do not take advantage of this simple and obvious activity. Your client will be more than happy to tell you what their biggest challenges are and what they would like help with; then when you offer that solution they’re sure to buy.

2. Testimonials
Clients are usually happy to give you a testimonial however many businesses don’t even ask. Create an easy format with questions that prompt the client’s response, and your clients will thank you. They are often uncomfortable not knowing what to write, so when you remove the guesswork it is easy for them to just get it done.

3. Case studies
This is an underutilized form of content for your business. Case studies are so valuable because they show prospects how you solved another company’s problem, which gives prospects the ability to see themselves in your existing client, and basically try your solution on for size. It is also a form of third-party credibility, which carries more weight than a description of that very same service does in your company brochure or website.

4. Product Research
Interview customers to find out what they like about your products, as well as features they would like to see added. Everyone loves to be consulted and offer his or her opinion. Your customers probably use your products more than your own staff does and have probably already thought of things that could be improved or features that will make your product better. Make this an ongoing each aspect of your marketing and product development and research

6. Industry Insight
Interview a partner or vendor about different aspects of your industry. This can create a thought leadership piece and help inform your customers and your prospects about your industry trends, inner workings and the state of affairs.

7. Interview a Recognized Expert or Thought leader
By interviewing a thought leader, you are giving people access to someone they know and respect, as well as getting the benefit of greater exposure due to your expert’s popularity. This also positions you as a top expert and a peer of the thought leader.

8. Interview Staff

A staff interview can create content that introduces your staff and the role that they play in your business. This personalizes your business, provides insight into who a customer or vendor will be working with, and helps deepen engagement with your brand. This helps create greater consumer confidence, as people buy when they feel they ‘know, like and trust’ the company.

9. Interview Yourself
The interview format works very well to generate content more quickly, so why not use it yourself, wearing both the interviewer and subject hats. If you decide to keep your finished piece in an interview format, no one needs to know who the interviewer was, however you can also turn the interview content into a general article.

10. Interview to create a book
This one is possibly my favorite. Use an interview format to create a book. Many professionals, entrepreneurs and the public in general are interested in writing a book, yet it’s a daunting project that often gets put off repeatedly for that very reason. Using a strategically designed set of questions, it’s easy to create the content for your book through an interview. Your book can be published keeping the interview format, as I do with the books that I publish for my clients, or you can turn your answers into prose. Either way, it helps you get your book written much more quickly and efficiently so you can reap the benefits of being a published author.

The interview format is incredibly versatile and can be included in your marketing and content toolkit to help you create the variety of content that are required in today’s marketplace. Using interviews in your marketing can help grow all aspects of your business.  The value of the interview format can be clarity. Simple questions, answered directly. I recently interviewed a colleague who runs a unique marketing service, for a profile in an online magazine. After reading the published interview, one of her prospects commented,

“Now I really understand what you do and the value of your service.”

That is the power of asking the right questions. Ready to put interviews to work for your business?

Note- this article was written using an interview format [I interviewed myself using a speech to text software] then edited the text for the final article.


Download our handy Interview Resource List

 

business2community-logo  This post first appeared in Business2Community

Inspiration From Successful Entrepreneurs

William on stage
I’m still inspired a week later……..and can’t wait to share with you some truly great things…  A week ago I was attending the Entrepreneur Magazine 360 Conference here in New York City, getting inspiration from successful entrepreneurs.

 

It was a very energizing day hearing from a variety of entrepreneurs ranging from:
Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas to Daniel Lubetsky founder of Kind Bars, Olympic Skier/NFL player/Philanthropist/Entrepreneur Jeremy Bloom, to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanion.

I was inspired, impressed, validated and educated-  I still am, here are some of the highlights and takeaways from the event:

 Are you a Visionary or an Operator?

 success_what it really looks like

Les McKeon gave a great presentation on the journey a business goes through. He demonstrated why:

“You are either a Visionary or an Operator – you can’t be both.”

Will.i.am was intelligent, innovative, inspired, visionary, awesome…. He hardly spoke about music, and spoke more about his company  i.am+  which is going to compete directly with Apple with its wearable tech.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Entrepreneurial ideas come frm fusion = Mixing + inspiration + needs + community.@iamwill ” quote=”Entrepreneurial ideas come from fusion = Mixing + melding inspiration + needs + community.”]

In 2015, everything is going to be wearable and functional. Maybe a jacket instead of a phone.

<<< >>>>

Sometimes you miss major success by 1 Inch

Jeremy Bloom- Olympic skier, NFL football player, philanthropist and entrepreneurs founder of a 100 million dollar company, had a 22 second shot at making Olympic Gold… yet missed by 1 inch. It’s what he did after missing that was so inspiring!

You may have heard the expression Fail Fast. Jeremy gave himself 48 hours to have a pity party. To replay in his mind all the things he could have/should have done differently and then he moved on with his life.

<<< >>>>

Daniel Lubetsky, founder of Kind bars, proves you can be successful and be kind [pun intended]

When you move from a skeptic to an evangelist, nobody can stop you. 

There were so many wonderful ideas, inspirations and insights! I hope these examples have inspired you as well.

One more thing… all these entrepreneurs have one major accomplishment in common. Can you guess what it is?  Please place your guess in the comments below. The first person to post the answer wins a special prize!

Whenever you have the opportunity to be around and get inspiration from successful entrepreneurs, grab it. As Daniel Lubetsky said, “Entrepreneurs are probably the most fun at a party.”

What all the entrepreneurs who spoke at the Entrepreneur 360 Conference  have in common is that they are all authors.

 To your publicity success!

Your Customer Experience Equals PR

Customer Experience = PR

Customer experience is a part of your PR. A very important component.  

Studies have shown that there are two types of customers who talk about your brand and your business – ones that are raving fans and love you and those who are very unhappy with you or the experience they’ve had with your company.

What is the experience people have with your company?

Your customer experience equals PR for your brand

A few examples – Let’s start with the happy experience

Fat Witch Brownies, make the yummiest brownies I know. I like to send a box of their brownies as a gifts to help celebrate happy occasions and to thank business colleagues for referrals or other generous actions.

I had recently ordered a gift box of brownies to thank a business colleague for his help on a project, when they didn’t arrive at the recipient’s office, I found out that I had used the wrong address.

I called the Fat Witch and asked if there’s a way to check on where they had delivered my order to, and if there was a way to get them rerouted. I fessed up that I had made fat witch tin boxa mistake with the address. They said no,  unfortunately they couldn’t trace the package, however they would gladly send the brownies again and only charge me the shipping.  This had been my mistake, and yet they were willing to share some of the cost to resend my package.

Customers who encounter positive social customer care experiences are nearly 3 times more likely to recommend a brand. Source: HBR

The bad customer experience

I went online to use Haiku Deck, a presentation software that I had been using for awhile. After spending over an hour creating a new presentation I saved it and went to export it. A window popped up telling me that to export it into Powerpoint, I would have to upgrade to the paid version for $9.95. This was a new requirement, but I was fine with paying to use their service – that is until I completed payment and returned to my work area on Haiku Deck only to find that my hours worth of work hadn’t been saved.

Yes, technology is great when it works.

I was extremely frustrated, first about the the loss of time, but also that I had just paid and was now left with nothing. I contacted customer service whose response was that I had done something wrong. They had tested the software therefore I had done something wrong.

95% of dissatisfied customers tell others about their bad experience. Source : Dimensional Research.

Time lost in creating the presentation. Time lost talking to customer service. Not a happy camper. Now the mere mention or thought of Haiku Deck brings up the unpleasant experience, which is now imprinted on my brain.

 71% of customers say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide good service.  Source: Forrester 

Now back to how customer experience, and particularly customer service is part of your PR.

Public relations by definition is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization and the public.

Consumers trust recommendations from friends and family, online reviews, and the media – in that order. Consumers make buying decisions based on recommendations online reviews and companies they read about in the media.

If your if your customers are going online and writing about you, posting on social media, or making recommendations to friends and family, what are they saying?

Remember, like me your customers remember the excellent and exceptional experiences and the terrible ones, and that’s what they will talk about.

I know which experience I want my customers to have and what I want my customers to be talking about.

The Fat Witch, has a made me even more of a raving fan. I just had to go and tell a few friends on social media to show my appreciation.

Related content: Customer Experiences – A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

Customer Experiences – A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

How do you show up to yoScreen shot 2015-04-20 at 2.20.03 PMur audience?

How you show up, and the customer experiences they have with your brand, can make all the difference to you personally, to your business success as well as your satisfaction in life.

Here is a tale of two entrepreneurs.
When you do a lot of marketing and networking online, as I do, it’s exciting to actually get to actually meet a fellow entrepreneur in person or speak to them via Skype.

I was at a marketing conference last year and was entering the ballroom after the break, when I recognized a guy in front of me, a fellow marketer, whose list I had been on for a few years after buying a few of his training products. Waiting until he finished conversing with another attendee, I approached him, excited to have the opportunity to meet him in person. I introduced myself to him and told him who I was and that I had been on his list for a while. To my great disappointment, I didn’t even get a smile. I got a grunt of acknowledgement before he stepped up his pace to catch up with the buddies he had been with, or to get away from me faster.

 People will forget what you said, People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel – Maya Angelou

The second marketer.

I was on a webinar with a marketer whose list I have also been on for a few years after buying an info product from him at one point. I was interested in the offer he was making and I had a question about the bonus.

I sent him an email, expecting that the response I got would actually come from his customer service person. Here is the email that I received:

Hi Jane! 🙂

It always makes me smile to see your name pop up in my inbox. I think you’ve been one of my longest customers. Thanks 🙂 I really appreciate it. 🙂

Roxie (my wonderful head of support / affiliate manager) has everything put together in a package so I’m going to forward this e-mail to her and she’ll take care of it.

Thanks again & I hope you’re well. 🙂

Have a great day

Cheers

– Adam

Wow. Isn’t that lovely! It made me feel warm, fuzzy and appreciated. Adam has a customer for life, as well a [an even more] raving fan.

How are you showing up and treating your prospects and customers? I know which interaction I prefer to have – the same customer experience I strive to deliver.

As for the first marketer – I came home from the conference and unsubscribed from his list.

Related Content:

PR is Part of Your Customer Experience