Putting Your Marketing Genius To Work

Chapter 1: Is Your Business Working Hard For You... Table of Contents Or Are You Working Hard For Your Business?. . .......................................... 3 Chapter 2: How To Be Unbeatable In Your Marketplace. . ........................ 16 Chapter 3: Think Like A Marketing Genius.............................................. 30 Chapter 4: Date Your Business, But Love Your Client.............................. 49 Chapter 5: Uncovering The Hidden Assets In Your Business.. ................. 61 Chapter 6: The Key To Making Millions................................................... 75 Chapter 7: Is Your Pricing Structure Costing You A Fortune?................... 87 Chapter 8: Test Everything, From Headlines to Deadlines. . ..................... 102 Chapter 9: Messaging To Your Marketplace............................................ 112 Chapter 10: Why Referrals Rule............................................................... 125 Chapter 11: Leveraging Your Network . . ................................................... 137 Chapter 12: Finding The Right Endorsers................................................ 148 Chapter 13: Joint Venturing In Today’s Economy..................................... 157 Chapter 14: Becoming A Consultant. . ...................................................... 167 Chapter 1 Is Your Business Working Hard For You... Or Are You Working Hard For Your Business? “People who succeed at the highest level are not lucky; they’re doing something differently than everyone else.” Tony Robbins Monday morning, 7 a.m. Could there be a worse time to be alive? Not for Bill Bitters. At 7 a.m. Monday morning, Bill was preparing for what was sure to be another endless and mind-numbing week. He made a pot of coffee, threw a Pop-Tart in the toaster, and sat down with the morning paper to get ready to face the day. Bad idea. The headlines screamed one piece of bad news after another. Local shop owners closing their doors. Unemployment rates rising. Bill shook his head and flipped to the national page, then the business section. It didn’t get much better. The economy was still tanking. And more and more businesses were folding as the recession doggedly replaced sinking profits with stifling debts. Bill sipped his coffee, trying to silence the thought that had been eating away at him for months: I wonder if my business will be next? 3 abraham 101 : Chapter 1 Is Your Business Working Hard For You... Or Are You Working Hard For Your Business? Anyone who saw Bill on the street would never have guessed he was plagued by these kinds of worries. He drove an Audi A5 to the office and lived in a nice home. His business—which he had grown from a small Internet startup to a company grossing $300,000 a year—employed a staff of three full-time salespeople and media specialists, one marketer, and an office manager. He was married to a smart and funny woman working on her Master’s in Education, and they had two great kids. On the outside, Bill Bitters was the epitome of success. But on the inside, Bill knew that everything was not as it should be. Lately he’d been losing contracts, losing deals, and losing sleep. At the office, his salespeople were constantly making excuses for why their numbers were down. His list of inactive clients was growing longer by the day, and he couldn’t figure out why. Bill knew he was losing out on valuable business to his competitors, but he didn’t know what to do about it. And while his company continued to eke out a profit, he s