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BE PREPARED!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
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Why Most Social Media Pages Fall Flat!
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Simple Rules for Successful New Hires Beat Procrastination With ‘The Science of Getting Started’ Looking to Make Magic in Your Career? Try Disney Institute’s New Online Courses
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12 FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Lead Nurture for the Long Haul
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Meet the World’s First Professional Bridesmaid
One year ago today, I was in a villa on a beach in Cancun. I was there for a week, went back to Idaho for a week, and then headed back to Cancun for another week off before school started for the kids. It’s crazy how much can change in a short period of time. Now, most of the world is off-limits to Americans from a travel standpoint, whole industries are closed, and new ones have been created or revitalized. Frankly, this isn’t the world I was living in August 2019. It’s as if we’ve entered an alternative reality. I don’t think many are a fan of this pandemic (maybe a handful of mask suppliers feel differently), but I do know, pandemic or not, that there is opportunity in the market right now. In fact, I see opportunity everywhere around me. The real questions are these: What is the best opportunity? What should an entrepreneur do to maximize profits?
In a time of radical change, there isn’t a crystal ball or a magic answer. But, probable answers do exist, and I’m going to share them with you. Make sure your business is focused on these 12 foundational business and marketing principles. 1. Make sure you’re capturing and nurturing your leads long term — not just for days or weeks, but for months and even years. Follow up online and offline with direct mail, phone calls, and text messages. 2. Make sure you have a system in place to retain existing customers. Right now, we have to keep everything we have and maximize those customers. Newsletters are
3. Trim the fat in
terms of employees. I know I’ve been guilty of keeping employees I simply don’t have the work for. You can’t do that right now. your sales team and lead-to-sale conversion. We have to have good numbers here, and if someone isn’t pulling their weight, unfortunately, you have to replace them. 5. Work to upsell more and/or sell new 4. Make sure you’re focused on products and services to existing customers. The easiest sale to make is to people who already know and trust you, so if you have that new product ready but haven’t gotten it off the ground yet, now is the right time to give it a push.
a perfect system, and they help in many of the other areas on this list as well.
Continued on Page 2 ...
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... CONTINUED FROM COVER
“... I SEE OPPORTUNITY EVERYWHERE AROUND ME. THE REAL QUESTIONS ARE THESE: WHAT IS THE BEST OPPORTUNITY? WHAT SHOULD AN ENTREPRENEUR DO TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS? ”
12. Work, work, and when you’re done, work some more. You don’t have time for Netflix. You need to make sure you’re working this list and working on your business as much as possible right now so that if a second wave hits, you’re prepared. Ultimately, no one knows what is going to happen. With any luck, the worst is behind us, but this is 2020. Who knows for sure? The way I see this, I’d rather be prepared for the worst, and if things go well the rest of the year, I’ll be so far ahead of my competition that they won’t even be able to see me. If things go bad, it’s likely I’ll be the last man standing. Either way, I win.
–Shaun
of this unique situation to hire some great people. 9. Set up deals with partners to create mutually beneficial relationships that grow both companies. People are willing to work together now more than ever before, so take advantage of that and push those partnership relationships. Find ways to promote each other and help each other sell more. 10. Take the content you’re already creating and reuse and recycle it. One of the biggest mistakes made in content from a social standpoint is that people don’t reuse enough of their best content. I know I’ve been guilty of this as well. It’s not always about new, new, new. 11. Kill all sacred cows. Just because you thought something was a bad idea, or things couldn’t be done a certain way, doesn’t mean that is still true. Don’t dismiss something simply because it didn’t work. Before all this, I was in Mexico, but now I’m not. Things change.
6. Building relationships with customers and vendors is more important now than ever before. We have no idea if or when there will be a second wave of lockdowns, and you will need those relationships to make sure you survive. You’ll also need as many customers as possible, which is why I told you earlier to focus on keeping your customers. 7. Invest more in marketing and lead generation, not less. As people flee the media or feel like they’re fat and happy because they had relief money, the smart money was on investing in growth, not pulling back. You should
P.S. I practice what I preach, and we’ve redone our entire product line so we can help more people. If you want to reduce churn, sell more, nurture your leads, and ultimately make more money, check out our brand-new newsletter packages, starting at just $599 per month. To get more info, just go to NewsletterPro.com/schedule and book a call with a Pro.
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be adding new and profitable campaigns once you’ve crushed all the points on this list.
8. Hire talent — it’s
on sale right now. With so many people out of a job, you can get talent all over the country for a one-off project or even full-time super cheap. Take advantage
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WHY MOST SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES FALL FLAT! BUSINESS HOW-TO
the odds of all of those things. This may seem counterintuitive, but it is how relationship marketing, like social media and newsletter marketing, works. As an example, I pulled up the page of another friend of mine named Chelsea Story. She is a local realtor who, after being in the real estate game for only a year, was just named the top real estate agent on social media in Idaho. Her accounts are great examples of how to create entertaining content that is also personal and connects with stuff about real estate. The business content she posts gets the least amount of engagement, but it’s enough to help her sell a few million dollars here of real estate. One of the biggest keys to being successful with content either online or offline is to just be yourself. Don’t try to be all buttoned up if you’re normally a goofy person. Don’t try and be a goofy person if you’re normally all buttoned up. Let people into your personal life a bit, but don’t feel the need to share every little deep, dark secret you have. Keep the content light and fun and post regularly so you’re top of mind. And remember, as luck would have it, the piece of content that is most likely to go viral always seems to be the one you made quickly, when your hair was a mess and the kids were going crazy in the background, not the professional video that’s totally polished and took four days and 342 takes to make. So, stop worrying, you can’t control this either. Do your best, have fun, be consistent, and the money will follow. –Shaun
Yesterday I was chatting with a friend of mine about social media, and they were complaining about the lack of engagement they're getting with their content. I listened to my friend go on and on about how they’re posting often but everything is pay to play, the system is rigged, etc. There is some truth to what they’re saying. The system is designed to be difficult to get critical mass, but like most things, it gets easier as your momentum builds. On some social platforms, it can make more sense to pay to play, but if you know your numbers and they work, who cares? After the complaining, I asked to see his social media accounts and found a major issue: His content sucked. The content was all work-related and contained almost nothing personal. It
wasn’t engaging, and it was focused solely on what my friend wants from social media — more leads — instead of what the social media user wants, which is entertainment, an escape from life, and maybe to learn something new. Newsletter content and social media content are similar. I see people who want to talk about their business and sell, sell, sell in a newsletter, and I have to constantly tell them that this isn’t the place for that type of content. About 75%–80% of the content that is going onto your social media accounts or in your newsletter should be interesting, entertaining, personable, light, and fun, and the last 20%–25% of the content can be about what you do. That limited sales content is all you need, and adding in more won’t help you get more leads or close more deals. In fact, it will actually decrease
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CLIENT SUCCESS
MARKETING HOW-TO SIMPLE RULES
“After listening to Shaun Buck talk about the newsletter process and hearing many enthusiastic recommendations from Ben Glass and the Great Legal Marketing community, I couldn’t resist signing on with The Newsletter Pro. Still, I wondered how many clients would actually be interested in what I had to say. But almost immediately, I received responses from my clients that put my anxieties at ease. "Life and business are about relationships. I’m eager for our clients to get to know my team and me better so we can get to know them better in return. The team at The Newsletter Pro has helped us do just that. I’m happy to recommend them, their excellent product, and their conscientious approach.” -James Monast Monast Law Office "If you or your company wants a professional newsletter done right and efficient, allowing you to do what you do best … then give these guys a call. THEY ARE AMAZING! You will not be disappointed!" -Todd Thurston Sales Manager at Hare Truck Center “Our clients love to talk to us about what they read in our newsletter, and we love hearing it because it lets us know it’s working!” -Dr. Kelly Brown Custom Dental USA Schedule a call with us! Visit NewsletterPro.com/schedule or call 208.297.5700
YOU MUST FOLLOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL WHEN HIRING NEW EMPLOYEES! One of the most complicated parts of running a business is hiring employees. I see businesses get stuck here all the time, which causes them to stop growing. It can also cause an entrepreneur to feel fear and kill their dreams. I know I personally got stuck here about 15 years ago (it makes me feel old to measure anything in 10- or 15-year time frames), so I want to tackle this question: How do you know if the timing is right to hire that first employee or create and hire for that new position in your company? The first indication that you should be hiring your first employee or for a new position is that you’re asking the question, “Do I need to hire someone?” In many cases, if you think you need someone, you actually needed that person or position weeks or months earlier.
OUR BOOKSHELF
They say “to err is human,” but perhaps a better phrase to describe our mistakes is “to procrastinate is human.” We all do it, even though we aren’t always sure why. It’s just in our nature to wait to get things done until the very last minute we have to do them. Many chalk it up to laziness, others to fear or anxiety over the end result. Whatever the reason, procrastination is something many people are plagued by but don’t know how to correct. That’s exactly why Patrick King wrote “The Science of Getting Started: How KICK PROCRAS ‘THE SCIEN
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The next thing to look at is how much work you have for them. If you have 20–25 hours of work each week, you likely have more work that could be getting done but isn’t because someone doesn’t have the extra time to do it. It is also likely that the work that is being done isn't at the quality level it should be, and once you have an employee to oversee that work, you can make sure you’re doing the work right 100% of the time, which will fill more time.
The funny thing is that even if you’ve checked the above boxes, there is often still fear surrounding hiring your first few employees or for a brand- new position. That fear comes with taking on the responsibility of paying someone. Many times, I’ll hear people say something like, “I can’t afford an extra $40,000 per year.” That kind of thinking is incorrect, though. When you hire someone, you’re not promising to pay them their salary; what you are promising is to give an honest day's pay
for an honest day’s work. An employee making $40,000 is getting $19.23 per hour or $153.84 per day. The idea that once you hire someone you owe them a year’s pay is faulty logic, and in reality, it is just fear talking. If you make a mistake hiring someone, it is never fun to fire them, but that is the way the system is set up. If you think you have work but don’t, Continued on Page 6 ...
STINATION TO THE CURB WITH NCE OF GETTING STARTED’ to Beat Procrastination, Summon Productivity, and Stop Self-Sabotage.” King is a social interaction the reasons why we procrastinate, using biological and evolutionary science to illuminate exactly what procrastination is and how to get past it. King then equips the reader with an overview of their own
Have You Heard the Good News?
Romans 8:28 — “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Psalm 73:26 — “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” 1 Corinthians 16:13 — “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
specialist, a conversation coach, an international bestselling author, and an entrepreneur. He’s been featured in magazines like GQ and Forbes for his ability to help his clients succeed with their productivity in both life and business. His “Clear Thinking and Fast Action” book series is a tome of eye-opening insights and proven methods for achieving success. “The Science of Getting Started” is the first book in the series. It teaches readers how to work past their lazy tendencies so they can dial in to their productivity and achieve their goals quickly. It dives deep into
procrastination habits, warning signs to monitor work ethic, psychological tactics to trigger productivity, and simple methods for building and maintaining structure and schedule. King wants his readers to be able to rely on themselves and has proven that can be achieved by not leaving things until the last minute. If you’re looking for a surefire way to become more productive at a quicker pace, then look no further. “The Science of Getting Started” will truly help you get started.
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MARKETING HOW-TO CONTINUED ...
1. Your business is lacking training systems to teach someone how to be successful in the position. 2. You’re poor at hiring people. 3. You aren’t paying market rates and, in turn, are not getting the right people to apply. If you want to be able to really scale and grow your business, you have to get good at hiring, and the most difficult hire for many entrepreneurs will be the first employee or two or a brand-new position. If you can master these, you can grow your business bigger and faster than you ever could on your own.
you reposition them or you let them go. If they get in and don’t like you or the company, they quit. This is the agreement that both parties make at the start of the employment. If someone chooses to work for a small business, they are choosing to take on a level of risk in exchange for the rewards that come with working for a small company. Finally, people who are considering hiring often worry that no one will be able to do the work as well as they can. But that simply isn’t true. There are tons of people who can do it as well or better than you can. The truth is that if they can't do the job right, it typically boils down to one of three issues.
"THE FIRST INDICATION THAT YOU SHOULD BE HIRING YOUR FIRST EMPLOYEE OR FOR A NEW POSITION IS THAT YOU’RE ASKING THE QUESTION, 'DO I NEED TO HIRE SOMEONE?'"
–Shaun
RESOURCE OF THE MONTH LOOKING TO MAKE MAGIC IN YOUR CAREER? Try Learning With Disney Institute’s New Online Courses
When it comes to magic, there’s no better expert than Cinderella’s fairy godmother — but when it comes to learning to create magic yourself, there’s the Disney Institute and their brand-new online professional development courses. Famed for its storytelling abilities, the brand has brought an entirely different kind of journey to life as current leaders across Disney’s organization lend their expertise to help you thrive in leadership and in business. Instructors come from all different areas within the many branches of Disney — some are from Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park management staff while others may be event managers for Walt Disney Motion Pictures. And the expertise these instructors offer is as varied as their roles are. In the Disney Institute, there’s something for individuals and large organizations alike. You’ll learn by doing as you follow their detailed micro-learning experience and gain inspiration and insight from Disney’s tried-and-true business practices over the past 60 years. With a full video library per course, you’ll find the accompanying reference tools and interactive resource materials extremely useful as you complete each course.
Professionals in any industry will find something new to learn in these extensive courses. In Disney’s Approach to Leadership Excellence course, for example, you’ll learn the best ways to execute several concepts that drive Disney’s leadership successes, like leading with your legacy in mind and establishing your values and vision and bringing them in sync. Because why wait until the journey is over to decide what your legacy should be? You’ll also learn how to sustain and protect your company’s culture, and the warning signs that can put your company values most at risk, especially during times of change. Two other courses include Disney’s Approach to Employee Engagement and Disney’s Approach to Quality Service. Courses are self-paced and total duration for each is between 3–4 hours. If you’ve never picked up a course from the Disney Institute, you’ll gain Disney Institute Alumni status and gain access to exclusively priced Disney Institute learning events, courses, and products. Creating magic isn’t a secret — train yourself with Disney’s own team and elevate your career to whole new heights!
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LEAD NURTURE FOR THE LONG HAUL MARKETING TIP
When it comes to converting leads and spurring growth in your business, the fundamentals are key. But the vast majority of entrepreneurs overlook the most basic principles, distracted by whatever new shiny object the business world is touting as the next big thing. For many businesses, sales are elusive. It’s difficult to nail down what’s working with customers, and they come and go with no rhyme or reason. Though the business is probably surviving just fine, it’s unlikely that it’s thriving. To fix this, I could rattle off a slick- sounding list of old sales gems you’ve probably already heard or try to outline some 10-point “system” that’s designed to work with every possible industry, but we all know it doesn’t really work that way. Instead, I’ll suggest you do just one thing that will guarantee you have more sales: long-term lead nurture.
newsletter in addition to an array of one-shot marketing campaigns and strategic phone follow-up. To even further encourage these prospects to convert, we made prospect-only offers using free-standing inserts in our newsletters to entice them. To be an effective marketer, you need to play the long game. Leads only “go bad” and forget about you if you let them. If you’re able to increase your follow-up touches, both online and offline, you’ll be at the forefront of your prospect’s mind when they’re finally ready to buy. Don’t be one of the businesses neglecting hundreds of “expired” leads. Keep in regular contact and discover the power of consistent lead nurture and follow-up. I’m confident you’ll discover your best business lies beyond 90 days.
If you’re thinking, “That sounds too easy!” or “I already know that!” you’re probably right on both accounts. But there’s a big difference between knowing you should do something and actually doing it. Most business owners use a short-term strategy without even realizing it. They make contact with a prospect and follow up once or twice over a couple of months. Then, they get impatient and throw the customer out of their pipeline. Last year, our company generated $1,300,000 in new customer revenue from customers who had been on our list for more than 12 months without purchasing a thing. Even after a full year, we turned these skeptics into buyers by focusing heavily on the importance of nurturing our leads. We followed up with prospects for several months with our weekend reading emails and our print
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BUSINESS PROFILE
How One Savvy Entrepreneur Found Her Get-Rich Niche in Chiffon How much do you think the average American wedding costs? According to TheKnot.com, data from 27,000 recently married couples reveals that including MEET THE WORLD’S FIRST PROFESSIONAL BRIDESMAID
In her shoes, some women might have started turning down invitations, but Glantz saw an opportunity. She was a fantastic bridesmaid, and she was repairing dresses, warming cold feet, and writing speeches for free — so why not cash in on that demand? The Bridesmaid for Hire business grew from this question: “In the $300-billion wedding industry, why is there no one whose job it is to be there, really be there, for the bride?” Back in 2014, and in typical old-school style, Bridesmaid for Hire started with a Craigslist post. In it, Glantz offered herself up as a professional bridesmaid to brides and grooms in New York City. That single posting could easily have gone under the radar, but Glantz used her background as a poetry major to make it funny, compelling, and shareable. Within two days, she had responses from 250 people who wanted to hire her. She’d found her niche. Today, Bridesmaid for Hire has become a full-time job for Glantz and her team, who have provided bridesmaid services at more than 150 weddings and been featured by more than 500 media outlets. Glantz was smart on two counts. First, she chose millennials as her demographic. According to The New York Post, 27% of millennials self-describe as friendless, and 1 in 5 don’t even have acquaintances. That means they’re desperately in need of bridesmaid services, either for empathy and support or just to round out their wedding pictures.
Second, she offers packages that can be customized to individual
brides or even maids of honor. Brides can get a full-on bridesmaid for hire, which includes wedding planning help, drama patrol, advice, and a constant shoulder to lean on through the bachelorette party, bridal shower, and wedding. Or they can sign up for a one-on-one wedding vent session or hire a wedding coordinator just for the big day. Glantz and her team will also help maids of honor plan bachelorette parties and write speeches. In addition to those services, customers pay for secrecy. Often, only the bride knows that one of the people in the wedding party is on the clock. “I’m like the personal assistant, on-call (unofficial) therapist, social director, and peacekeeper for the person who hires me. It feels like I’m doing a job that people need but are scared to admit they need,” Glantz wrote in Business Insider. “That’s why they keep it a secret.” Now the author of two books on the subject — “All My Friends are Engaged” and “Always a Bridesmaid for Hire” — Glantz also helps other entrepreneurs start their own wedding businesses. Her coaching company, Jen & Juice, is gaining just as much traction as Bridesmaid for Hire. She’s living proof that with the right timing and strategy, even a seemingly crazy business idea can become a moneymaker. To learn more about Glantz and her companies, visit JenGlantz.com.
the ring (but not the honeymoon), it comes to a whopping $33,900. Considering that hefty price tag, it’s no wonder weddings have made nonstop headlines since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Across the country, brides and grooms are scrambling to change their plans, wrestle back their deposits, and trim their guest lists. This total upheaval has been disastrous for businesses like large venues and catering companies, but it also means that niches are opening up in the wedding industry for savvy entrepreneurs. Elopement planners, for example, are popping up everywhere to meet the demand for tiny, socially distanced weddings, and virtual weddings are the new big thing. But these innovators aren’t the first to find a creative way to cash in on the concept of a bride’s big day — in many ways, they’re following in the footsteps of Jen Glantz, the world’s very first professional bridesmaid. If you’ve seen the movie “27 Dresses” starring Katherine Heigl, then you have a pretty good idea of what Glantz’s life was like before she started her company, Bridesmaid for Hire, in 2014. As she puts it in a 2020 article for Business Insider, “Early in my 20s, most of my friends got engaged — and I quickly became the walking, talking, pastel dress-wearing cliché of always being the bridesmaid .”
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