Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Your Opt In: An Ethical Bribe

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Norm and ElizabethThe other day I was talking to a friend about her newsletter, she mentioned she’s working on an “ethical bribe.”  I had to laugh, because let’s be honest, that’s EXACTLY what an opt in IS!

Having an opt in on your website is a great way to provide value to your network and invite them to receive something of value from you FOR FREE. In exchange you get that 2nd most valuable piece from them: their email address. Now they’re signed up for your monthly newsletter and you KNOW they want to hear from you because they already downloaded your handy checklist or white paper.

Don’t Know Where to Start?

Neither did I. My business coach and I had been talking for a while about adding an opt in to my website. And then when I started doing more and more newsletters for clients, I created a checklist for clients so I had everything up front instead of asking for 5 different things in 7 different emails. After a while I realized that I could expand that checklist a bit and create it as a free download.

Is it perfect? No. Is it a good start? Yes. Are people downloading it? YUP. People I know? Sometimes! Strangers? YES!

What Else is There to This?

I setup some automation emails. A few days after they download the thing you reach out to them and introduce yourself, or ask them a question or two. Share some blog posts that relate to your download. Offer a 1:1 call with them if they get stuck. In my checklist I suggest they add me to their newsletter list. And at the end of the 4th email if they still haven’t sent one out I suggest they reach out and we setup a time to chat about it.

It’s time for an “ethical bribe” on your website if you don’t have one. And it needs to be really good content that you’re giving away for free. It’s not the farm, but something they can actually use.

Once they see the value in your knowledge when they have the resources, guess who they’re going to call?

5 Ideas for Better Speaker Follow-Up

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norm being difficult
I didn’t have a good pic for this post, so here’s Norm being a puppy

I was talking to a friend of mine a while ago about speaking and list growth. She mentioned when she talks she encourages attendees to go to her website to signup and download her giveaway and get added to her newsletter. Then she mentioned her conversion isn’t great for this. So we talked about an alternative to get more subscribers to her list when she speaks. Here’s what I suggested:

  1. Ask for a list – When I speak at an event I always ask for a list of attendees WITH email addresses. Let’s be honest, email is the currency of choice (besides cash, duh) when speaking. If I can’t get a list of attendees (which is OK) I ask if I can have a signup form passed around or I will do a drawing for a free phone consult or something along those lines. Pro tip – MailChimp has a sweet app you can download to save yourself a lot of time. 
  2. Pitch the follow-up email – When I speak I mention that I’ll send them a couple of things in the follow up email they’re going to get. “If you give me your card and write X on it, I’ll send it to you after the event.” “I’ll send you an example of this after the event, just make sure to give me your card.” Let them know they’re going to expect something after your talk.
  3. Write the follow-up email before you talk! You know exactly what you’re talking about and what you’re offering or pitching at the event. Save yourself the time and energy and write that follow-up email before you walk into the room. You’ll thank me later.
  4. Get that follow-up email out within one day – Ideally you’ll have time that afternoon to input all the emails into your newsletter program and hit send. If you’re using the MailChimp app it ‘s super easy to do this, if you have a box of business cards to input, turn on some Housewives, pour a “reward” drink and input those bad boys!
  5. Do the Follow-up – People this isn’t hard. If you’re speaking at an event make sure that if someone asks you for something specific or wants to buy into your program but has questions, DO your follow-up. Once you hit send on that email you’re going to get responses, so make sure you have time blocked out to do the follow-up from your event.

What other follow-up best practices do you have when you speak?

Good Busy v Busy Busy

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good busy
Make sure you aren’t too busy to walk the dog!

When I’m out networking I ask people how they’re doing and often the response is “busy.” Which is a lame answer. So, I ask “good busy, or busy busy.” And I’ll get mixed responses. And it’s fun to watch people stop to think about it. Here’s what I’m asking:

Busy Busy

Busy-Busy is running all over town for appointments you know could be a 20 minute phone call. It’s wasting time networking at events where your target market will never show up. Busy Busy is not having systems in place. Busy Busy is finding the need to stay busy so you can say you’re busy, but none of it is producing new clients or helping you to grow your business.

Good Busy

Good Busy is what we want! You have a full workload, you might be volunteering, spending time with family, work/personal commitments, etc. When you’re “good busy” you have your priorities in check, you’re really focused on what’s moving your business (and life) forward because you’re BUSY.

Good busy is what we all strive for when we’re “busy,” and it’s hard to achieve. It can also mean there’s down time when you aren’t good busy. There are afternoons where I can be done working at 1 because I’m done with my to do list and I don’t need to keep myself busy. When I have that down time it shows me that I have room to grow my business. And that’s AWESOME. So I start to figure out what my schedule will allow (2 new newsletter clients? a large scale marketing project client?) Because I continue to attend networking events that are with my target market, and I have systems in place (my newsletter for example) to touch my network regularly I usually have a pretty healthy pipeline that I can review and work with.

The next time someone asks how you are doing, actually answer their question. And if the answer is “busy,” ask yourself – is it’s good busy or just busy busy?