On the inside - Day 2 at the Attract Clients Like Crazy Boot Camp
May 19th, 2007 by Allen Voivod
The days run away like horses over the hills at these boot camps, let me tell ya!
At the close of Day 2, I can now say I’ve “shared the stage” with Adam Urbanski and Melanie Benson Strick at a four-day boot camp event. (That’s me on the left, and Adam is standing center in the coat and tie.) As one of three ACLC Grad Spotlights, I had a speaking slot today, and as somebody who doesn’t really do public speaking, well…
I used to say, when our son was an infant, that there were two golden rules: 1) Don’t kill the baby. 2) Don’t hurt the baby. And as long as I met those criteria, everything else was bonus points. Of course, I wanted to be the greatest dad ever, but you have to settle for just good sometimes.
And that’s kind of how I felt about this speaking thing. As long as I didn’t embarrass myself, my family, or anyone in attendance, then it would be a success. And by that very ambition-limited definition, it was. Phew!
And when I wasn’t up in front, I was in a chair, madly scribbling every little “Aha!” in my notebook. Here’s the top three from today’s presentations:
1. Why are narrow niches not just okay, but exactly what you want? Adam threw out the example of the fragmentation of TV stations, and how there’s very few watercooler-type shows anymore where everyone’s seen last night’s episode. (Seinfeld may have been the last in recent memory.) But now we have 500 TV stations, all getting along with very narrow audiences. And your business can, too. Even with a mailing list of 2,000-20,000 people, you can do just fine.
2. What’s even more important than SEO for traffic and revenue generation? According to Adam, two things: 1) his relationship with the people in his database (his list), and 2) his relationships with his Centers of Influence, or COI. The COI are ten or so people with large lists, not necessarily in direct competition with Adam, who will need his services.
3. When should you stop following up with a potential client? Adam’s simple answer was, “#1, you are dead. #2, they are dead. #3, they tell you to buzz off, and even that’s negotiable.
Honestly, I’m completely wiped, and I’m calling it an early night. But not without having blogged - especially since I had the pleasure of speaking at length with Denise Wakeman of The BlogSquad about everything from S corporation filings to Internet radio shows and everything in between. On of the best things about this event is the opportunity for some intense networking, and it sure feels like I’m getting my money’s worth so far.
