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Betties Book Brief – Magnetic Marketing

October 28, 2019

Another month, another Book Brief! This time, we’ve read Magnetic Marketing: How to Attract a Flood of New Customers That Pay, Stay, and Refer, written by Dan S. Kennedy. This read had such an abundance of value that it may be our longest Book Brief yet! From general rules to rules of copy and creating your offers, we’ve picked our top takeaways and share them with you below.

Magnetic Marketing Key Points

Know your customers’ psychographics. What are their habits and hobbies? What is causing them pain right now as it relates to your service? What do they secretly and privately desire the most? The last question is the deeper reason that a client chooses your service – touch on that to really speak to their deepest desires.
Match your target market to your budget. Trying to market to every single adult in Detroit could cost $300k when our budget is only $600. Shrink your target market to the resources you can commit to and be repetitive with.
What do your customers really want? An auto shop repairs cars but customers don’t want auto repair – they want to not have to be at the auto shop. When they have to, they don’t want it to disrupt their lives. As a lawyer, the number one thing you sell is an advocate. You may be the only person showing up in court that believes in them and is willing to advocate for them. No matter your niche, they want to know you’re on their side!
Create an irresistible offer. When the Stratosphere in Las Vegas was equivalent to a Motel 6, they had an ad for a 2 night, 3 day stay in a deluxe suite + a bottle of champagne, unlimited drinks, and $600 to gamble with – all for $396.

Rules to Follow

There must always be an offer.
There must be a reason to respond right now.
Instructions must be clear.
There must be tracking and memorability. For every dollar spent, you must be able to clearly identify how much comes back as a result.
Brand building should not cost a penny. Ever.
Follow up. No excuses.

Creating Strong Copy

Strong copy is written backwards. Start with customer interests, desires, frustrations, fears, thoughts, feelings, and experiences – then journey forward to reveal a solution tied to your business.
Write to your audience like you are sitting across the table talking to a friend. Use the same passion and speak from your heart with emotional appeals.
Be bold in your claims and promises. Zig Ziglar says, “Timid salesmen have skinny kids.”
Split test the same copy with different headlines. Test, monitor, adjust. Gradually achieve the best possible results.

Always Have an Offer

Every piece of content should have an offer attached.
A 10 year old should be able to understand it.
Every offer should be an irresistible value.
You must include a discount or premium.
Always explain your offer: “My team thinks that I am crazy to extend this promotion but I want to build our portfolio of mobile websites. After December 10th, the price goes up by $500 so take action today!”
You offer should give a sense of urgency. An offer isn’t an offer without a deadline!
Include a call to action – Fill out this form, click below, etc.
Assume all of the risk and offer a guarantee.

Whew! That was a lot of great information and we are really excited to start implementing some of it into our marketing.

What’s the most valuable takeaway you’ve gained from this book? Clearly we couldn’t narrow it down so we would love to hear your thoughts! Leave us a comment on this post or on Facebook.

Betties Book Brief – Sell or Be Sold

September 24, 2019

You know the drill by now we’re sure, but just to reiterate, every month the Back Office Betties team reads a new book and shares the value we’ve found in it. We love this opportunity for personal and professional development! This month, our virtual receptionists dove into the extremely valuable writing of Sell or Be Sold: How to Get Your Way in Business and in Life by Grant Cardone.

Grant Cardone uses humor and experience to sell you on why and how your beliefs and convictions allow you to excel in sales. If you’re not selling them to someone else, they’re selling you with them! We’ve come up with an extensive list of takeaways for this resource that can truly help anyone, entrepreneur or not.

Sell or Be Sold

Everyone is a salesman. Regardless of your profession, learning how to sell can benefit you in any area of your life.
A commission doesn’t have to be cash. It can simply be that you are getting your way.
Objection of price really means they’re having other objections. Is this the right service for me? Is this company going to take care of me? Will I really even enjoy the service? Am I better off buying something else better that might come out next week? Will this be a mistake like other decisions I’ve made?
Offer a better solution. If someone says, “it’s too much money”, they really mean it is too expensive for the solution being offered.
The customer is never the problem. Salespeople are the problem 100% of the time. Give the potential new client (PNC) a product that solves his problems.
Always agree with the prospect. If a prospect states that they need to think about it, agree with them before selling. For example: “Absolutely, this is an important decision and you’ve got to make sure you’re hiring someone who is going to take the best care of you. I don’t blame you for wanting to think about it and I’d like to help you and guide you in the right direction. I know that after doing your research you’ll find that I’m the best at what I do and you won’t be in better hands with anyone else. I know you’re eager to move forward and get things going – spending time interviewing attorneys can be so time-consuming! The sooner you make your decision, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing that a great lawyer will take care of all of the hard work for you.”
Problems equal opportunities for future sales.
You will lose 100% of the sales you don’t ask for. Don’t be afraid to keep selling and asking for a sale. Give value, give value, ask for the sale, and be consistent – even when you’re inconsiderable. Grant responded to someone who felt pressured with, “Please do not mistake my enthusiasm for pressure! I know this will do xyz for you and that’s why I’m so enthusiastic. Now let’s do this.”
Go to lunch every day with a prospect. At the very least, call and say, “Hey, I had something cancel. Are you available for lunch today?” Most of the time they’ll say no but you’ll be top of mind and they’ll remember those times you called and invited them out.
Learn from every opportunity. Take full responsibility to avoid the negativity of doing the opposite. Examine what went wrong and walk away thinking about how to get better rather than sitting with rejection.
Unreturned calls and emails don’t mean anything. They don’t mean that your prospect is not interested, they just mean not right now. Keep at it and stay in front of them.
Debrief after sales calls. If someone asks something you’ve never heard before, write it down and come up with something to respond with in the future.
There’s always time for learning. “If you can’t find an hour in your day, you are not in control of your day.”

Thoughts on this read? Do you agree or disagree with our takeaways and the sales advice given by Grant Cardone? Let us know over on our Facebook page!

How to get Law Firm Answering Services for (Nearly) FREE

August 21, 2019

Your phone has been ringing off the hook all day long as you repeatedly hit *ignore* so you can focus on the research you’re doing for an existing client’s case. Maybe 20% of those calls leave a voicemail – 80% of callers don’t think anyone will even listen to their message. Once you have time to call those few people back who bothered to leave you a message, they let you know that they’ve already found representation.

Sound familiar?

When your phone isn’t answered, you’re losing out on clients and money. BT Business estimated in 2014 that one missed phone call averaged out to a loss of about $1575 USD. Obviously this will vary from business to business but it is an alarming amount to lose from one missed call. Don’t let this happen to you!

You don’t need to exhaust yourself and interrupt your important work to answer phone calls, though. You also don’t need to hire a full time receptionist. A legal specialized answering service may be just the thing for your firm!

How to get law firm answering services (nearly) free

When you take into account the loss that is attributed to missing a call, compared to how many calls you let go unanswered, it’s likely that just having those calls answered by Back Office Betties will actually save your firm money and will definitely save you face. At the rate noted above, you only need about 3 new clients to pay for our services for the entire year! Factor in that you won’t have unhappy customers running around declaring that you never answer the phone (Americans tell an average of 15 people about a negative experience) and you can imagine the client growth you’ll fall into.

If you’re interested in giving this option a try, our 7 day free trial is your best option to make sure it’s a fit. Simply enter in some information about your firm so that we know how to answer the phone, who to transfer certain calls to, and what format you prefer for messages. We will then contact you to set up your service and your phone calls will no longer go unanswered!

If for any reason you decide that this service isn’t for you, feel free to cancel right then and there. Once you see the benefits and start hearing the feedback on how professional your firm sounds now, though, we will be here to continue answering your calls and create relationships with your new clients.

Our services are offered through a few different plans, and we never round up, so you aren’t paying us for more time than you actually need.

How many of your calls go unanswered each day?

Find us on social media and let us know!

Radical Candor – July’s Book Brief

July 31, 2019

As you know, the Betties team reads an enticing new book each month in order to share our notes and takeaways with you. This month, we read Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott.

This guide to being a better boss offers a simple ideation that you have to both challenge and care. Without one or the other, your management style is severely lacking and not nearly as effective as you hope to be. Kim Scott has a reputation of leading at Google as well as Apple, where she developed a class on how to be a good boss. Her real-life stories and insightful advice truly round out her expertise in being an effective manager to give us this fabulous book.

Some of our most valuable takeaways include:

1. Every team needs rockstars and superstars.

A rockstar is like the Rock of Gibraltar and you can always lean on them and depend on them. They are steady and brilliant at what they do and they are not gunning for the next promotion. A superstar does an equally great job but they will go absolutely crazy if they are still in the same job a year from now. Use this to build a strong team that will grow with you.

2. Create a path for growth for frontline workers.

Give them a path that comes with better wages and opportunity, without having to be a management path. Make it more attractive than the management path, because people will often gravitate to that thinking it’s their only choice. This is how to nurture your superstars.

3. Avoid a shit sandwich.

This goes against everything we have always been taught but there is no good bad good balance that should be sought out. Praise the good and be candid about the bad. When you force yourself to package something like the s*** sandwich, it’s insincere and people will see right through it.

4. Encourage discussion of problems.

This is where creativity is at its finest. When you tell people to bring you solutions, it shuts down the creative process of having that discussion around the problem. Create a process for suggestions with something like a vote up or down, then provide feedback to your staff on what happened to their idea.

5. What can I do (or stop doing) that will make it easier to work with me?

Ask this of your subordinates, and during skip meetings, ask team members the same question of their manager. Always work to improve in the way you manage your staff.

6. Make it your personal business to find out the hopes and dreams each of the people who work under you.

Whether it’s business or personal, if you find out what they want to do and then can coach them or somehow tie that into what they are doing now, it gives them purpose. For example, a girl at Google wanted to run a spirulina farm (which is a far cry from her work at Google). Her manager listened to her dream and offered to mentor her on being a leader. When she’s ready to leave and start that farm, she will be a capable leader.

Have you read Radical Candor?

How has it helped you improve your management style?

Branding Your Business: The Do’s and Don’ts of Videos

May 2, 2018

In our world of social media, branding yourself has become a critical component in business. Using videos can be a wonderful way to boost your brand. One of the most common platforms you will see for videos is YouTube. YouTube is widely accepted because it is easy to use, it creates a promotion, and it is ideal for quick reference.

Creating a YouTube channel for your business will promote what you have to offer while giving knowledge of those who want to learn more about your business. But before you go running off taking those videos, here are some of the do’s and don’ts of creating videos.

Do’s

Content

In the beginning, you may need to take some time to develop content. It is crucial that you have prepared content in mind of the message you want to convey. YouTube is a great platform for micro-learning so ask yourself – what do you want your viewers to learn from your video? Think of ways to keep your content fresh and entertaining. Often, if you do not get the attention of your audience within the first 10 seconds of your video they will move onto something else.

Visually Attractive

Creating thumbnails and banners will help to make content more visually appealing, not to mention increasing your brand awareness. Often this can be time-consuming and many do not add this extra step in due to time constraints trying to learn something new. Consider outsourcing this task to save yourself the time, companies like Podcast Memes can create widescreen banners and thumbnails to incorporate on your YouTube channel.

Be Consistent

Think of your YouTube channel as your personal television station. If you want to build and audience, then you must be willing to commit to providing content consistently. Consider providing content on the same day and time every week – just as if it’s their favorite TV show every week! Be sure to align your other social media formats to publicize the date and time of when your videos will be showing.

Don’ts

Poor Audio

Double-check to make sure your audio is good, and people can hear you clearly. Try to make sure there is not too much background noise if you are filming outside or at a location with people. Do a test run to make sure your sound is sharp, and your voice is clear when speaking.

Movement & Position

Consider using a stand to hold your recording device when filming your video. A big pet peeve for audience members is a lot of movement on the video and if the position of your video is not in the upright position. This typically happens when recording a video from a mobile device and it has been turned horizontally. Many new devices will allow you to rotate the footage afterward, so be sure to edit before uploading.

Order Of Content

Content that you produce will always be the more important part of your videos. While it is very tempting to put your most popular content, try to refrain from doing so. Your YouTube list shouldn’t be listed by the most popular video, but by what you think your audience wants to see. If necessary, create playlists of related videos to keep things organized.

Make It A Learning Experience

No matter what your target market is, take the time to produce quality videos that will be a learning experience for your audience. Many consumers now go to YouTube to find tutorials or information on a subject. For them, this is cheaper than buying a book or guide. Give them content they can use and benefit from, they will appreciate the resource and refer people to your channel as well.

Happy Filming!