Productivity

A long, long time ago when Groupon was the shiniest object online, I knew a lot of business owners who tried it but didn’t like it. Groupon sales reps would woo these business owners with this promise: Instead of paying for advertising that doesn’t work, do a Groupon and get a flood of new customers…

Near the shores of the Mediterranean in Naples, Italy. After writing yesterday’s email about wine merchants in ancient Pompeii and their wise marketing, I recalled of story I once heard about a wise hotel owner. Like the wine merchants in Pompeii, he raked in more revenue by thinking differently about what he sells. This story…

Yesterday, a member of the Story Power Content Transformation Academy (I’ll call her “Nancy”) sent me a draft of her weekly email and asked for feedback. She does that every week — for every draft… …which has led her to create better, client-attracting emails with far less struggle. That’s one of the Academy’s many membership…

I met yesterday with a business coach who wrote an excellent book… …but is struggling to leverage it as a profit-generator. He sells the book ($20, plus shipping) on the front page of his website. “How many books have you sold from your site?” I asked. “Not too many,” he said. “Most of my sales…

I got an email this morning from marketing master Dave Dee who needed to get something off his chest. One of his clients “doesn’t see the value in building a list of prospects who need his service and doesn’t have a follow-up system to turn those leads into appointments and clients.” The result: The client is struggling…

I work with an attorney who attracts prospects with webinars and converts them to clients with complimentary consultations. Good strategy. But there’s one problem: Her calendar is filled with tire-kickers who ask her for piles of free advice, discounted services, and other profit-crushing gifts. The solution: Weed out the tire-kickers before they book a consultation.…

It snowed here in St. Louis on Friday. By Saturday morning, the melt was on. Melissa opened the front door to go for a walk. She began to step on the door mat, but stopped… …because she saw this… “Snowy Symmetry” she called it when she texted the photo to me. That diagonal line near…

If I had a Shekel for every time someone said, “it’s too hard to do…” when I suggested they create a lead magnet to attract qualified prospects… …I’d have a giant piggy bank full of Shekels! I get it. Seems like you have to work your tail off to create a lead magnet, promote it,…

This question generated a lot of buzz on a popular marketing forum this month: “Best Lead Magnets in 2024? What channels and lead magnets will you be focusing on..?” My least favorite answer came from a pitchy list vendor who said forget about lead magnets and buy a pile of leads. He directed readers to…