The Newsletter Pro - July 2019

The Newsletter Pro - July 2019

208.297.5700 JULY

2019 www.thenewsletterpro.com

GENERATE MORE LEADS Make More Money!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

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Are Your Excuses Keeping You From Achieving Your Dreams? Not Converting? Call the Phone Sales Doctor What Is Edutainment

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Marketing? Book Review

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A Simple Tool for 5-Star Reviews

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Catching Up With Pun McReynolds Disrupting Giants and Living to Tell the Tale

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For example, I have a mastermind client who is in functional medicine. He is advertising in a gym and does amazing things to help people lose weight. One reason people get stuck and can’t lose weight is because of their thyroid. Originally, his team wanted to make the ad all about keeping your thyroid in check, but this approach was way too narrow. If he’d gone that route, he would have literally eliminated over 98% of the people who have no clue they have a thyroid issue. So, even if 1,000 people had seen it, only 20 of those people would have known they have this condition. That would have been the best-case scenario. Of those 20, how many do you think would have responded? Not many. The offer was too narrow. To come up with a lead magnet, you need to go broad, not narrow. We can use other marketing and methods to filter at a later time. When I need to create a new lead magnet, I ask myself, “What is my prospect thinking about or worrying about 30, 60, and 90 days before they buy from me?” In the case of my mastermind client in functional medicine, leads are thinking about getting into shape and losing weight. After all, they’re at a gym. It is 100% guaranteed that a weight loss lead Continued on Page 2 ...

page or landing page they first arrive at. I just reviewed a landing page for a client, and the call to action on the page was to schedule an appointment. The mistake being made here is common and comes from days past. Think about how business was done in the ‘90s. When someone called or walked into your store, they were interested in buying something. That’s just not the case for someone hitting your landing page today. Odds are the website visitor is nowhere near the buying stage, so asking them to go from “This is interesting. Let me check it out” to “I want to schedule an appointment with a salesperson” is a massive jump, and it simply doesn’t work. To be a great marketer, you have to slow your process and be willing to help others get what they need to make a buying decision (mostly) in their time frame. The easiest way to slow the sale down — which ultimately results in more leads and more sales — is to make a lead magnet offer on your website or landing page. Lead magnets are simple in concept, but so many people get them wrong. The No. 1 mistake I see in lead magnets is that the entrepreneur makes them too narrow.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any length of time, you know I don’t write a ton about lead generation. It’s not that generating leads isn’t near and dear to my heart, because it is, but for most businesses, lead generation isn’t the issue. The issue in most cases is churn, poor sales systems, no systems or processes, or something else along those lines. But what if the thing your business needs most right now really is more leads? What do you do? Emails only have an average of an 11% open rate. ON THE FLIP SIDE, DIRECT MAIL HAS A 90% OPEN RATE ...

The first step in getting more leads is to review what you’re asking your lead to do on the home

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... COVER CONTINUED

If I were writing a lead magnet on losing fewer customers, I would point out that the No. 1 reason a customer leaves is that they feel like the business is indifferent to them. The best way to overcome this obstacle is to build a relationship with your customers and let them know more about who you are, both personally and professionally. Once they feel connected to you and feel like they know you on a personal level, that perception of indifference will go away, as long as you nurture the relationship. I would then tell people that there is one huge issue with building customer relationships: distribution. How do you build a relationship with someone without communicating on a regular basis? I would then point out that most other methods of communication are lacking. Emails only have an average of an 11% open rate. On the flip side, direct mail has a 90% open rate, so newsletters are an effective vehicle for building relationships and, in turn, lowering the number of customers you lose each month. Of course, the above example is a very abbreviated version. If I were creating a real lead magnet, I would have gone way more in-depth, but hopefully that example drives my point home and helps you see how to pivot the message of your lead magnet when you go wide. Many people overcomplicate lead magnets. I used to do just that, so I understand. The good news is that they don’t have to be complicated, they don’t have to take weeks to create, and they can have a profound impact on your company’s success. P.S. Have you ever wondered if a newsletter would make sense for your business? Do you want better relationships with your customers so they stay longer and spend more? Would you like to get more referrals? If so, chat with a Pro. We have some exciting new options that can take your relationship marketing game to the next level and boost your profits to new heights. Go to NewsletterPro.com/ schedule or scan the QR code here. To scan a QR code, just grab your phone, open your camera, hover it over the QR code, and watch the magic happen.

or “Get More Referrals.” If we don’t educate leads on why they would even want a newsletter, people disqualify themselves because they don’t know that if they lower the number of lost customers they have each month and get more referrals, they’ll grow faster. We live in a time when people want facts before they make any major buying decisions. With that knowledge, we can provide prospects with the information they want (how to lose more weight or how to lose fewer customers) while educating them on the information they need (how to get their thyroid tested or how sending out newsletters and relationship marketing helps them make more money by decreasing churn, increasing referrals, etc.). There is one problem with going wide: When you create your lead magnet, you have to seed it with information that both directly and indirectly educates people and leads them to the conclusion you would like them to draw.

magnet would get a far better opt-in rate than a lead magnet about thyroid issues. Plus, even if the prospect doesn’t have a thyroid issue, they may still want supplements and/or other treatments to get them into shape. Other lead magnet ideas include a service that helps people who have plateaued on gains or people who have too much stress, which is generic enough to appeal to a large portion of the population. Either way you slice it, fixing the thyroid isn’t a good lead magnet idea in a cold lead-generation setting. I use a book on newsletters as one of my lead magnets. It works well, but with totally cold traffic, it sucks. If you haven’t seen our shock and awe package, you can snag a copy as my gift to you at NewsletterPro.com/freebook or text REFERRALS to 208-269-9111.

–Shaun

When generating leads in cold traffic, we have to switch our message to “Stop Losing Customers”

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BUSINESS HOW-TO DO YOU REALLY WANT A LIFESTYLE BUSINESS, OR HAVE YOU SIMPLY GIVEN UP?

NOMORE EXCUSES

Do you really want to only have a lifestyle business, or are you tired of the struggle? What were your dreams when you started this business, and why have you given up on them? Are you actually able to have the impact on your family, employees, customers, and charitable causes that you desire? You’re an entrepreneur. You’re a risk taker and problem solver. You’re not paid for the good times; you’re paid for the hard times, and if you’re going through hard times right now, it’s time to step up your game and your paycheck. I assure you, there is an answer to your problem. You may have to dig a little to find it, but it is out there. Stop making excuses, and stop settling. That’s for everyone else, but not for you. Remember, you’re an entrepreneur. The rules are different for you because you’re willing and able to blaze your own trail. Don’t allow excuses to rob you of your dreams.

I also once said I had a lifestyle business. I worked about 10–20 hours a week and made in the low six figures. On the outside, life was amazing; on the inside, I was dying. I didn’t really want a lifestyle business, unless the lifestyle was that of the rich and famous. I wanted to grow a company. I wanted to see how big I could build it and what my limits were. Unfortunately for me, the business vehicle I was using was D-plus at best, so I made excuses. Are you doing the same in your business? Are you stuck somewhere and have accepted your fate? “YOU’RE AN ENTREPRENEUR. YOU’RE A RISK TAKER AND PROBLEM SOLVER. YOU’RE NOT PAID FOR THE GOOD TIMES; YOU’RE PAID FOR THE HARD TIMES ...”

I got into a discussion at my Scale-Up Bootcamp this week about having a lifestyle business compared to a regular business. Of course, there are some who set out specifically to have a lifestyle business but, from my experience, those who suddenly shift from “Let’s grow a company” to “I want a lifestyle business” are simply making excuses for why they’re not more successful. You and I both know business is hard, and there are times when your business can stall completely or, even worse, go backwards. Yuck! Unfortunately, when bad things happen in business, humans make excuses. And people make those excuses when they can’t figure out the correct answers, are unwilling to do the work required to solve the problem, or have a D-plus business opportunity they can’t quit or sell for whatever reason. I don’t care what you say publicly about your business, but I do care if you’re going to lie to yourself. Nothing good comes from forcing yourself to believe a lie.

–Shaun

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STOPWASTINGTIME, MONEY, ANDENERGYTO CREATEMOREPROSPECTS

MARKETING HOW-TO

How Chris Mullins Gets Teams Converting

EDUTAINMENT MARKETING To Make More Sales

When people speak of Chris Mullins, a truly positive force, they use words like “energetic,” “proactive,” and “amazing.” Shaun Buck calls Chris a “true friend,” and Stephen K. Brooks of Brooks Law Group says that because of Chris, his “intake department is like a Ferrari [...] a finely tuned machine [producing] fantastic results.”

In 1994, after realizing that businesses were missing a crucial step in conversion, Chris started her telephone sales coaching business, initially specializing in providing prospect call “RMFD” (record, monitor, and feedback on a daily basis). When Chris started out, she worked with corporate clients who had the technology in place to monitor prospect calls. Unfortunately, no matter what she did, they rarely used it. With the tenacity she’s known for, Chris sought a solution. She tried everything from going to RadioShack and building her own call recorders for executives to making prospect mystery calls and transcribing them herself. Even with her persistence, clients still didn’t review the calls. As technology improved, most of her clients had their prospect calls recorded with tracking numbers. She could access the recordings, and she monitored and scored the calls for her clients. During this time, Chris developed a great relationship with Dan Kennedy, who describes her as the go-to “Phone Sales Doctor.” As a member of Glazer Kennedy Insider Circle (GKIC) and Dan’s VIP mastermind, Chris connected with more business owners struggling with conversion and quickly created a name for herself within the legal industry — an untapped market in terms of intake. Currently, 95% of Chris’ clients are law firms of all sizes and specialties. With her dynamic “teach to sell” speaking style, Chris is in high demand with law firms worldwide. She helps transform their intake process to convert prospects, and the results she delivers speak for themselves. To this day, Chris says, “Most clients still do not listen to their own prospect call recordings, and it’s 2019.” She’s here to change that. Chris has written three books, including “Monkey Business for Today’s Phone Weary Office,” an excellent resource for all businesses, and “Intake Specialists, The Unsung Heroes® of Law Firms Worldwide™.” Her newest book, “Law Firm Conversions™: Great Marketing Is Not Enough if Your Prospects Don’t Convert, ” is available on Amazon.com.

OUR BOOKSHELF

Have you ever found yourself wandering aimlessly through a galaxy of incomplete goals, unable to concentrate on a single one? Perhaps you’ve aimed for plenty of worthy targets, but you still feel directionless. “Black Hole Focus” by Isaiah Hankel is all about finding your purpose so you can live with gusto, motivation, and enthusiasm, and work towards the aspirations that matter most with a focus as powerful as a black hole’s gravitational pull. THE IRRESI PULL

What is a purpose? According to Hankel, purpose involves hope and energy. It’s more than an obligatory goal; it’s a concept you love. Your purpose should

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ed u tain ment Education-based marketing that is also entertaining. Have you taken notice of all the entertainment options around? Of course you have. Who couldn’t? You can now watch shows anywhere, stream the latest movies, watch reruns of your favorite TV shows, and instantly head to Facebook to see what’s going on in everyone else’s lives. Once you’re done spying on everyone, you can craft the perfect post to make sure everyone knows how awesome your life is. If all of that gets boring, you can jump on a video game and save the world. This happens to be one of my favorite ways to entertain myself. The crazy thing is that you can do all of these things from your iPhone. With unlimited options for entertainment, we are entertaining ourselves to death. Regardless of what anyone thinks of all the media and entertainment options we have, one thing is for sure: Society today has a shorter attention span for anything that is boring. It makes sense. There are so many options, yet there’s still “so little” on TV. I’m not sure how that is possible, but it seems to be true. As marketers, we need to make sure we are not only educating but also entertaining so that we can hold

When you’re creating your marketing or content pieces, you need to keep in mind that people don’t consume boring for very long. This is why I tell people that if they make a newsletter all about what they do and remove all the personal stories, entertainment, and edutainment, their campaign will fail. We simply have too many entertainment options to spend time reading, watching, or listening to anything that is boring, even for a few minutes. One of the most well-known women on the planet right now is Rachel Hollis, who has written a few bestsellers. I got to see her speak a few months ago, and she said that 75% of her content is entertainment and 25% is her message. Are you doing too much educating and not enough entertaining? How often do you use stories that are fun or personal but still have a business lesson? I know that having to both educate and entertain seems like more work. Frankly, it is. But there aren’t other options. You don’t have to like the fact that you need to communicate and advertise differently today than you did 10 years ago, but you do have to change your tactics in order to be successful.

the attention of our customers and prospects. The idea that people will only watch 97-second videos is false. The idea that people won’t read a long-form sales letter is also false.

What people won’t tolerate is boring media.

Millions of people will happily watch “Avengers” for three hours. Why? Because they’re entertained by it. Like it or not, all of us have been conditioned to constantly want and, in some cases, need to be entertained 24/7.

Continued on Page 6 ...

TIBLEGRAVITATIONAL F PURPOSE

Have You Heard the Good News?

“Ruthlessly evaluate your current position.” Knowing where you are is the first step to understanding where you want to go. Once you’ve got your bearings, it’s time to decide the destination. Then, get sucked into that purpose with a focus as strong as a black hole. “Black Hole Focus” is an invaluable resource for establishing your life’s purpose. Hankel offers over 25 suggestions to help you find and fulfill that goal. Hankel’s book is a motivational work of art. He manages to weave beautiful, abstract concepts with actionable steps in order to create a guide that channels the gravitational pull of practicality and never loses its black-hole-like focus.

be an “escape plan,” one that frees you from day-to-day humdrum. It’s who, what, and where you want to be. When it comes to purposes, one of the most important questions you can ask is, “Why?” Why have you chosen this specific purpose, and why should you focus on this goal? The question “why?” is fuel. You can have a beautiful vehicle, an ideal destination, and you may even be pointed in the right direction. But a goal or a purpose without a why is like a powerful sports car with no fuel.

1 Corinthians 2:11 — “For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” 2 Timothy 2:15 — “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 1 John 4:1 — “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

How do you find and fulfill your purpose? Hankel provides a plethora of ideas. The first:

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MARKETING HOW-TO CONTINUED ...

To be clear, I’m talking about your success in business. You can be the best, but if no one is paying you any attention, who cares? Here is the secret about edutainment marketing: Most people aren’t good at it at first. Many of us are good educators, but being good entertainers takes practice and guidance. One easy way to shortcut the process is to hire someone who can help you create this marketing, like The Newsletter Pro. I have 11 storytellers who interview and tell our clients’ stories, their brands’ stories, and their customers’ stories. If you’re more of a do-it- yourselfer, that is fine. The best advice I can give you is to become a good storyteller. That skill translates to all media. Even God used stories in the Bible to get his message across. It is time-tested. –Shaun

RESOURCE OF THE MONTH

DOESGOOGLE SAYYOURBUSINESS IS 3.5 STARS? REVENUEJUMP CAN CHANGE THAT

most customers, meaning they’ll only do it if they feel strongly about your service one way or the other. RevenueJump tackles this problem head-on by emailing or texting recent customers with simple, one-click surveys. This simple change has led businesses to see a 650% increase in positive reviews. RevenueJump helps the customers you satisfy every day add their voice to the conversation.

If you’ve read this newsletter before, you know we’re all about word-of-mouth marketing. That’s why we just had to take our hats off to RevenueJump, a software company that’s helping small businesses get the most out of online reviews. If you’re struggling to build (or clean up) your company’s online reputation, this is one resource you can’t go without. SHOOT FOR THE STARS Potential customers are judging your business before they’ve even come through the front door. According to the consumer analytics group Invesp, 90% of consumers check online reviews before visiting a business. Of these potential customers, 92% say they’ll use a local business if it has at least a four-star rating. But how do you meet this high standard when all it takes is one or two bad reviews to tank your score? That’s where RevenueJump comes in. THE FAULT IN ONLINE REVIEWS What frustrates most business owners when trying to build a positive online reputation is how unbalanced reviews can be. Leaving a review feels like a chore for

BEYOND THE RATINGS RevenueJump does far more than streamline the review process. Their analytics software helps you identify the areas of your business that are wowing customers and the areas that leave much to be desired. Furthermore, RevenueJump has an optional filter that will intercept negative reviews, giving you a chance to privately address a customer’s concerns before they’re made public. Last but not least, RevenueJump automates the referral process,

sending satisfied customers your latest referral offer through their one-click survey.

The tools RevenueJump offers let you take control of your business’s online reputation. By fostering an influx of positive reviews and giving you the power to proactively address customer concerns, this software is nothing short of marketing rocket fuel.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

How Pun McReynolds Makes the World a Better Place HERE TO HELP

direction. One day when my kids are older, I would love to go on a trip like this with my family. These kinds of experiences broaden our worldview, remind us to be thankful for what we have, and prove that we have the power to make a difference.” He adds, “The important thing to remember is that, while mission trips to Mexico and Guatemala are great, you don’t have to work with a church or go across the border to help people. There are so many opportunities to help others every day — we just need to look for them.”

community health projects. This month, we’re catching up with Pun right as he returns from building houses in Mexico. “I’m a leader of a high school group at my church called Anchor High that creates a positive environment for high school students,” Pun shares. “This trip to Mexico was for kids who wanted to give back in a meaningful way. It was really cool because I’ve been working with some of these kids since they were just starting middle school. Now they’re juniors in high school. It’s amazing to see how much they’ve grown and how hard they work to help others.”

At The Newsletter Pro headquarters, if you need a hand, a piece of sound advice, or an uplifting greeting to start your day, John “Pun” McReynolds will be there. The lead of Blue Team, Pun is the kind of person who will always go out of his way to help when he can. He prefers to work in the background without any of the pomp and circumstance. This is a noble trait, but, at The Newsletter Pro, we believe in celebrating people who go the extra mile.

At The Newsletter Pro, when we aim to find the best people, we don’t just mean people with skills behind the keyboard; we want people who can bring out the best in others, too. Pun McReynolds is this rare kind of person. We’re lucky to have him.

Even before Pun started doing volunteer work with his church, he wanted to help people.

“I feel like helping people is something I’m meant to do,” Pun says. “For a while, I wanted to be part of a disaster relief team who goes out to help after major storms. I haven’t gotten up the guts to do something like that yet, but these trips are a step in that

The last time we featured Pun, he had just gone on a trip with his church to Guatemala, where his group aided in

KEEP UP

With Our BEST POSTS

If you’re looking for more great content — like what you’re reading in this newsletter — to drive your business forward, take a look at these articles on our blog. Cisco Saves the Earth NewsletterPro.com/cisco-saves-the-earth/ Why Your Marketing Campaign Isn’t Working in a Good Economy NewsletterPro.com/marketing-good- economy/ What to Do When Your Business Experiences a Slow Season NewsletterPro.com/business-slows-down/ Don’t Fear Chaos — Get Great by Choice NewsletterPro.com/great-by-choice/

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BUSINESS PROFILE

How One Company Changed the Home-Cleaning Industry for the Better A METHOD TO THE MADNESS

since they were going up against giants like Clorox, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever. Thus, Method wasn’t just about differentiating what was inside the bottle; they were also focused on differentiating the bottle itself. So, they brought in renowned designer Karim Rashid to help. Rashid is a star in the design world; he has art on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and partnerships with Audi, Estee Lauder, and Samsung. Within two years after Method’s founding, they had products on store shelves, namely Target, and instantly, consumers were intrigued. They focused on defining their brand and developing a product that stood out, and it worked. A few years later, Method was a $100-million company. In 2012, a Belgian company, Ecover, bought Method. Ecover was founded in 1980 with goals that aligned with Method. They, too, set out to create environmentally friendly cleaning products. Ecover wanted to expand into the North American market and saw Method as the way to do just that. The partnership was a success, and Method went from racking in $100 million a year to $200 million a year. Then, in 2017, S.C. Johnson & Son bought Ecover and Method, ultimately making the Method brand even bigger. Today, they have over 150 products on store shelves that match their original idea. And to the environment’s benefit, many other companies are following suit. If you walk down the cleaning aisle at your average grocery store, you’ll see countless products touting their environmental friendliness — and Method set the stage. When it comes down to it, Method’s success story can be traced to smart branding. They figured out their product, differentiated their brand, and went after their long-established competition. They understood the underlying narrative of environmentalism that grew in the early 21st century. As a result, consumers responded and helped make the brand a resounding success.

nonprofit called B Lab. This organization works with companies around the world to meet certain standards, including standards of sustainability, accountability, and transparency. In order to become certified as a B Corp, companies are assessed by B Lab for social and environmental performance. Each company must meet certain scoring thresholds in order to get certified and maintain that certification. Method has baked these criteria right into their business model. Everything they make and do revolves around environmental performance. But how did such an innovative and progressive company start? Way back in 2000, Method was founded by friends Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan. They started with an idea to “disrupt” the cleaning industry. These days, when you hear the word disrupt, the response is usually an eye-roll. But Lowry, a chemical engineer, and Ryan, a marketer, had a plan. First, it was rethinking what cleaning products had to be. For a long time, there was a stigma that environmentally friendly cleaning products couldn’t match the cleaning power of traditional soaps and solvents. And, at one point in time, that was true. Traditional products, the ones we still see on store shelves today, are effective, but they’re also made with harsh chemicals that have to be handled with care. They work, but using them comes at a destructive cost. To address this problem, Lowry and Ryan experimented with ingredients that instead were friendly to the environment, both in everyday use and in the way those ingredients were sourced and manufactured. Method became a showcase for global environmental awareness by looking at how their ingredients and manufacturing process affected individuals and communities.

It’s good to be clean. Today, Method’s products are a ubiquitous presence in the cleaning and hygiene aisles. You may have seen their products, if you don’t already have a few in your home. From dryer sheets to body wash, Method makes just about every type of home-cleaning product you can think of. But it’s not just cleanliness that they have down to a science; Method has redefined what it means for a company to be environmentally conscious. Every single one of their soaps and cleaners is biodegradable and won’t harm plant or animal life. On top of that, they source all of their materials in the most environmentally friendly way they can, and they make improvements each year. It’s all part of a plan built into the way Method does business. Visit Method’s website (methodhome.com/benefit-blueprint) and you’ll find their “Benefit Blueprint.” This blueprint essentially breaks down their philosophy of environmental awareness and showcases what they are doing to achieve their goal to be a healthier business. As part of their mission, they are a certified Benefit Corporation, aka B Corp. B Corp is a private certification that was established by a

As they developed their products, they knew they also needed to develop their brand. This was key,

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