rod burkert

Turn the practice you have into the practice you want!

Let’s connect …

Why are we on LinkedIn? Because that’s where our audience is! But which audience?

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In case you missed my last post: The Five Ones … or The Five 1s … or The 5 Ones. Do you sometimes feel like your business model is too complex? The more stuff you have going on, the more scattered your energy. And the harder it is to build your practice … and the longer it will take to grow it. On the other hand, a simple(r) business model requires a similar amount of energy, but has a focused direction. As a result, your efforts multiply your results faster.

 On to this week: When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton is said to have replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” And social media is where our audience of leads, prospects, clients, and referral sources is. But oftentimes, that audience is split among different platforms, and there is little crossover between them. So who are you trying to reach? Whose money are you after?

Some BVFLS practitioners won’t touch social media marketing with a 10-foot pole. For others, it’s the be all, end all for attracting people who need our services. Either extreme will allow you to win friends and influence people (you’ll find your tribe). But neither extreme will likely serve you well.

When it comes to social media, it’s crucial to select one platform (maybe two) to focus on. Because creating, running, and following up on campaigns on multiple platforms—and making them equally effective—is almost impossible, at least without help.

For many years, most of us have chosen LinkedIn as the one (and only) platform to focus on. So let’s look at that first.

LinkedIn is where all of our referral sources hang out. But at the end of the day, we are tripping over each other on LinkedIn … trying to win the same audience of accountants, attorneys, bankers, insurance people, wealth planners, etc. We’re like a band of Hare Krishnas surrounding a lone street pedestrian. They see us coming and duck or hide.

An alternative tactic would be to play in a sandbox that few other BVFLS professionals are in. So consider Facebook. Or Instagram.

Business owners are obviously prime candidates for our services … if we can get to them. They are likely to have a LinkedIn profile. But if you scour your LinkedIn feed … how many business owners do you REGULARLY see posting on LinkedIn? My experience is hardly ever.

But they are likely to have Facebook and Instagram pages for their businesses. And they hang out there … a lot … or have someone at the company hang out on behalf of the business and monitor the traffic.

So why not use LinkedIn to go after referral sources?
And try Facebook or Instagram to attract business owners?

Just one word of advice. Regardless of which platform(s) you choose as your weapon, you want to be authentic. The best way to do that is to be you. And the authentic you is the one that traditional business manners told you to suppress under the guise of “professionalism.” Be mint chocolate chip, not plain vanilla … and people will appreciate you for that!

Don’t be good. Be great.

 

 

 

 

 

PS – Whenever you are ready, here are 4 ways I can help you build/grow your BVFLS practice:

1. Join Practice Development ROUNDTABLE
It’s a Facebook community for BVFLS professionals who are collaborating on how to turn the practices they have into the practices they want.

2. Download this Find Your Niche infographic
The riches are in the niches, as they say. But what’s missing is a process that can help you identify your niche. This infographic is the missing process.

3. Take a free Practice Self-Assessment
I have 10 quick questions, and your answers will help you get a sense of how well your practice is working for you.

4. Work with me privately
If you’ve hit a time and income ceiling and want to level up, email me and tell me a little about your practice and what you’d like to work on together. Then we’ll talk.

The Five Ones … or The Five 1s … or The 5 Ones

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In case you missed my last post: Exactly when do buyers buy? You probably have a segment of people in your Outlook/Gmail contacts and LI connections who you hear from on a regular basis. And another, likely much larger, segment of people who you rarely or never hear from. Would you still consider this latter group to be a potential source of new business? You probably guessed the correct/logical answer is “Perhaps,” but are not sure why. Read why.

On to this week: Do you sometimes feel like your business model is too complex? And your calendar—the days, the weeks, the months—is crazy busy full? The more stuff you have going on, the more scattered your energy. And the harder it is to build your practice … and the longer it will take to grow your practice. On the other hand, a simple(r) business model requires a similar amount of energy, but has a focused direction. As a result, your efforts can multiply your results faster.

We constantly hear that the world is getting more complicated.
And, of course, we need to conform to that greater level of complexity … or do we?

If you’ve been on that path, and stressing out, are you ready for a reset?
Here are five actions you can take … to simplify … in order to multiply.

#1 – Pursue ONE target market.

You can’t be everything to everyone, not successfully anyway. Figure out the clients you like serving—and that’s your one target market to go after.

#2 – Aim for ONE service.

That target market (e.g., automobile dealerships or family law attorneys) is likely to have a similar problem set. Figure out the work you like doing best—and that’s your one service to sell that delivers results.

#3 – Have ONE traffic source to attract leads.

It doesn’t do you any good to be an expert if no one knows you exist. You can attract traffic to your conversion tool organically (e.g., free newsletter), paid (e.g., LI or FB ads), or via an affiliate partnership (e.g., NACVA teaching).

#4 – Use ONE tool to convert prospects into clients.

You can speak or write or broadcast … what are you best at. Use that messaging platform to educate leads about who you are, what you do, and why they should hire you.

#5 – Give it ONE year.

Whatever metric you are trying to get to, e.g., practice revenue, implement the above … test, tweak, and improve as needed. Then give yourself one year to get there.

That’s it.
What about your practice is too complicated?
How can I help?

Don’t be good. Be great.

 

 

 

 

 

PS – Whenever you are ready, here are 4 ways I can help you build/grow your BVFLS practice:

1. Join Practice Development ROUNDTABLE
It’s a new Facebook community for BVFLS professionals who are collaborating on how to turn the practices they have into the practices they want.

2. Download this Find Your Niche infographic
The riches are in the niches, as they say. But what’s missing is a process that can help you identify your niche. This infographic is the missing process.

3. Take a free Practice Self-Assessment
I have 10 quick questions, and your answers will help you get a sense of how well your practice is working for you.

4. Work with me privately
If you’ve hit a time and income ceiling and want to level up, email me and tell me a little about your practice and what you’d like to work on together. Then we’ll talk.

Exactly when do buyers buy?

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In case you missed my last post: What do you promise clients? Many BVFLS practitioners get pulled in many directions … because they say they provide so many services—offering so many benefits and solving so many problems—that they end up juggling too many promises. The most successful practitioners are not jugglers … rather, they are focused on keeping one strong over-arching promise. What’s yours?

On to this week: You probably have a segment of people in your Outlook/Gmail contacts and LI connections who you hear from on a regular basis. And another, likely much larger, segment of people who you rarely or never hear from. Would you still consider this latter group to be a potential source of new business? You probably guessed the correct/logical answer is “Perhaps,” but are not sure why. Here’s why.

Research (from Dan Kennedy, founder of Magnetic Marketing) shows people’s buying activity breaks down like this:

First, let’s collectively call or label ALL of your contacts and connections your list.

If your list is a “typical” audience, 50% of them will reach out to somebody—eventually. The other 50% will never reach out at all—to anyone.

So there goes half of your potential sources for new work—but they make up a portion of everyone else’s sources, too! But what about the other 50%—the 50% who will buy from somebody? How does their buying activity break down?

Well, it seems that about 15% of that 50% are predisposed to buy right now, i.e., say in the next 90 days—assuming you have the right offer. To grab that 15%, that right offer must also be combined with the best way of communicating it to your list, else how will they know about it?!

[Note: the word “offer” is code for the service you sell, which is typically your traditional BVFLS services. If your list isn’t buying from you now, it’s likely because those traditional services aren’t relevant to your list during these stressed times.]

And the other 85% of that 50%? Well, it seems they are predisposed to buy from you later, i.e., say between 90 days and 2 years—again, assuming you have the right offer. BUT you must pay attention to that 85% until they are ready to buy.

You need a “system” for nurturing that 85% so they will engage with you when they are ready. (Prospects hire us when they need our services, not when we need their business.)

What’s my “system”? It’s what I call the “PS – I Love You” message, and it appears at the end of my lead nurturing emails and LI direct messages.

[See the end of this post for an example.]

The key point is that my email/message offers are for the 15% of my list who are ready to buy now from me … and the “PS – I Love You” is aimed at the 85% of my list who will be motivated to buy from me whenever they are ready.

I imagine all of your email and message offers are crafted for the 15% of your list who are ready to buy now from you. But what do you offer the 85% of your list so that, when they are ready, there is something they are interested in?

Don’t be good. Be great.

 

 

 

PS – Whenever you are ready, here are 4 ways I can help you build/grow your BVFLS practice:

1. Join Practice Development ROUNDTABLE
It’s a new Facebook community for BVFLS professionals who are collaborating on how to turn the practices they have into the practices they want.

2. Download this Find Your Niche infographic
The riches are in the niches, as they say. But what’s missing is a process that can help you identify your niche. This infographic is the missing process.

3. Take a free Practice Self-Assessment
I have 10 quick questions, and your answers will help you get a sense of how well your practice is working for you.

4. Work with me privately
If you’ve hit a time and income ceiling and want to level up, email me and tell me a little about your practice and what you’d like to work on together. Then we’ll talk.

What do you promise clients?

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In case you missed my last post: The 5 KPIs I track for my work and life. Considering I have an MBA with a concentration in Finance, a CPA license, and a CVA designation, I have never felt like I was much of a numbers guy. But when it comes to my valuation practice, my coaching business, AND my quality of life, I do believe in monitoring numbers that matter. So I track five KPIs on a monthly basis that tell me how these things are going.

On to this week: Many BVFLS practitioners are pulled in many directions. Because they say they provide so many services—offering so many benefits and solving so many problems—they end up juggling too many promises. The most successful practitioners are not jugglers. They are focused on keeping one strong over-arching promise. What’s yours?

Your marketing—i.e., the activity that creates awareness—should reflect your laser focus on that over-arching promise. You do that by being clear on the one thing you do best … the one problem you solve and, the one promise you make, regardless of how many services you offer.

When offering too many services holds us back

A coaching client was having trouble explaining to her leads and prospects the various valuation services she offered (and implying she was an expert in all of them). She wasn’t landing clients.

She asked me: How specific do I need to be in articulating the services I offer, the problems I solve, and the promises I make?

If you offer multiple services, that can help you create features- and benefits-driven content, which allows you to spread your net wide and address the problems of a diverse audience. This will create visibility and credibility and steer opportunities your way. This is marketing.

But when it comes to interacting 1:1 with a prospect, you need to distill it down a bit. You don’t want to overwhelm that person by communicating all of the services you offer when s/he only needs one specific service to solve one specific problem. This is selling.

Identify your umbrella promise

One way to get around all of the potential confusion is to identify your “umbrella” promise, i.e., that one over-arching promise that covers all of your services. I admit I have an easier time of this than most practitioners because I am pretty niched.

For example, the promise I make in my valuation practice is to help individuals, businesses, and attorneys determine or resolve questions of value. I do this by solving the problem of estimating the fair market value of a business or interest for tax purposes for manufacturers and distributors.

In my coaching program, the promise I make is to help BVFLS practitioners get more time/money/freedom from the work they are already doing. The problem I solve is that I work with BVFLS practitioners who want to grow faster and smarter.

In both cases, I have established my ideal client/target market … the specific problem I solve … and the umbrella promise I make.

The benefit of a specific promise

One clear and simple promise allows you to market your services in a way that is relevant to more of your target markets. By describing your umbrella promise in succinct terms, you are able to appeal to a larger market.

Then, when you connect with a prospect, you ask questions that help you get more specific about their unique problem. You will then understand which stream of a general problem they are swimming in. Then, you can unpack your promise and create a specific solution for them.

And once you start selling a solution based on the prospect’s specific problem, there’s no need to mention all the other services you offer and the problems you solve.

Don’t be good. Be great.

 

 

 

PS – Whenever you are ready, here are 4 ways I can help you build/grow your BVFLS practice:

1. Join Practice Development ROUNDTABLE
It’s a new Facebook community for BVFLS professionals who are collaborating on how to turn the practices they have into the practices they want.

2. Download this Find Your Niche infographic
The riches are in the niches, as they say. But what’s missing is a process that can help you identify your niche. This infographic is the missing process.

3. Take a free Practice Self-Assessment
I have 10 quick questions, and your answers will help you get a sense of how well your practice is working for you.

4. Work with me privately
If you’ve hit a time and income ceiling and want to level up, email me and tell me a little about your practice and what you’d like to work on together. Then we’ll talk.

The 5 KPIs I track for my work and life

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In case you missed my last post: Why BVFLS pricing is cratering (not for all, but for many). If the value we deliver to clients is obvious and similar to what others like us do, we are likely providing commodity services and competing on the basis of price. But if we can deliver hidden or even unexpected value that differentiates us from what others do, we can earn “excess profits” that are not likely to be eroded by competition.

On to this week: Considering I have an MBA with a concentration in Finance, a CPA license, and a CVA designation, I have never felt like I was much of a numbers guy. But when it comes to my valuation practice, my coaching business, AND my quality of life, I do believe in monitoring the numbers that matter. So I track five KPIs on a monthly basis that tell me how these things are going.

Here they are.

#1 – Leads and prospects

Incoming leads and prospects are the lifeblood of any practice.
A lead could be an email address, a voice mail, a LinkedIn message, a Facebook message (for those of you prospecting on Facebook), or a booked sales call.

It doesn’t matter which one you choose, just pick a source of future business that has the most meaning for you. And then commit to tracking and growing that number every month.

#2 – Revenue

The next monthly number I track is revenue collected.
I don’t think this one requires any further explanation.

#3 – Profit

I track profit, both as an absolute dollar amount and as a percentage of my revenue. Bringing in a lot of revenue is great, but as some have said: revenue is vanity, profit is sanity.

The major cost in my valuation practice is reference and research subscriptions.
The major investments in my coaching business are virtual assistants and educational materials.

#4 – Focus days

Focus days are a concept Amy and I got from our time at Strategic Coach. They are the number of days I spend focused on my top income-producing activities. To concentrate my efforts, I have structured my typical workweek so that all of my income-producing activities generally happen on Mondays and Tuesdays (and the first Friday of each month for my INSIDER interviews).

The goal is to spend as much work time as possible as focus days.
Time spent doing admin, CPE, etc.—though necessary for keeping the doors open—does not count here.

#5 – Free days

This is another Strategic Coach teaching. Free days are days not spent thinking about work, dreaming about work, or checking email, voicemail, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Just time spent with family, friends, or developing hobbies.

This one is hard (as a solopreneur, any/every day can be a work day if I let that happen), yet free days are super important. Because I can’t be at my best for my clients unless I am rested, relaxed, and recharged. One way I try to create more free days is to take off the 13th week of every quarter and go off-grid. It’s currently my Achilles heel (i.e., I don’t always succeed), but I’m working on it.

 

That’s it for me … those 5 numbers.
What about you?
What are the metrics you faithfully track?

Don’t be good. Be great.

 

 

 

PS – Whenever you are ready, here are 4 ways I can help you build/grow your BVFLS practice:

1. Join Practice Development ROUNDTABLE
It’s a new Facebook community for BVFLS professionals who are collaborating on how to turn the practices they have into the practices they want.

2. Download this Find Your Niche infographic
The riches are in the niches, as they say. But what’s missing is a process that can help you identify your niche. This infographic is the missing process.

3. Take a free Practice Self-Assessment
I have 10 quick questions, and your answers will help you get a sense of how well your practice is working for you.

4. Work with me privately
If you’ve hit a time and income ceiling and want to level up, email me and tell me a little about your practice and what you’d like to work on together. Then we’ll talk.