Booklets and Experiences

Give you reader an experience of something from your booklet so they can immediately imagine how that (and the rest of your booklets) would improve their life. Do this by creating some tips that start with the words "imagine" or "picture a situation where you ..." or other words that immediately place the reader in the midst of your content. Such subtle language goes a long way toward connecting your material and products with a potential buyer.

Until next time,
Paulette - imagining how helpful your information can be
www.tipsbooklets.com

How Many Times?

This post is a theme and variations of a post of several weeks ago. Ironically, it's about repeating a message multiple times.

One day this week I held a follow-up teleconference for an in-person class of a number of weeks ago. After the teleconference I got an email from someone in the group saying one of the best things about the follow-up session was learning about my blog, this very thing you are reading right now. It surprised me to get this message, and here's why:

1. The URL for this blog is in the signature file of each and every one of my emails. This person has received numerous emails from me and apparently never saw or absorbed that link.

2. I mentioned the blog in the in-person class, including offering a publication for sale that was the compilation of hundreds of posts from this blog for one year's time.

3. The person actually had my blog listed on their own blog roll and knows I am part of a blog discussion group that they are, too.

Yet, until yesterday's teleconference, it had not yet sunk in that this blog would be of use to the person's current efforts. I suspect there were probably a few more references to my blog that got overlooked as well. Regardless, yesterday was the time for it to connect.

Think about all of this when you are talking with someone you think is your ideal client or your perfect audience. Many if not most will take multiple exposures to absorb your message and see how it will be useful to them.

Your job is to keep putting it out there, in multiple formats and multiple times.

Until next time,
Paulette - who also needs to be reminded to repeat things
www.tipsbooklets.com

Who Bought What and When?

How good is your record keeping? This question applies to all businesses, yet many booklet authors fall short on this and miss opportunities. You probably have a range of products and services, with booklets being among them. How many booklets did a client buy? And how long ago was it? Have they purchased your other products in bulk? If not, how come? Is it because they didn't know they could?

Yes, this is basic sales stuff, yet I find it fascinating that many booklet authors are leaving many sales from being made. Look at the quantity and the particular product and the frequency of your orders from the clients you have. Contact them on a periodic basis to let them know what you have that would be useful to them (audio version of your booklet, digital versions of your products, licensing opportunities into other languages). Contact them by email, by telephone, by snail mail. You will probably be surprised to find quite a few sales sitting there waiting for you.

Until next time,
Paulette - reminding you to track and to ask
www.tipsbooklets.com

Bulk Booklets Testing

Many booklet authors think that selling 5,000 booklets to a single buyer is a very large sale. Like anything else, it depends on your perspective. It's a large sale when you're used to selling single copies or 100 at a time. It's a tiny sale when a company distributes millions of units of their own product. When Lillian Vernon Catalog licensed the rights to print 250,000 copies of my booklet, that, too, seemed like a large sale -- right up to the point where the comparison was made to the fact they sent out 17 million catalogs a year. They were testing a particular promotional campaign with the 250,000 copies they licensed from me. That's pretty common. Keep that in mind so you can further the conversation once the test results are in.

Until next time,
Paulette - thinking big, bigger, and biggest
www.tipsbooklets.com

Is Your Booklet Excellent or Perfect?

The conversation about excellence versus perfection
is far from new.Reading the following ezine reminded
me of the challenge I see many booklet authors
experience, from the writing, production, and marketing.
So here it is, one more time, for your consideration
in determining what works best for you.
==================

EXCELLENCE OR PERFECTIONISM? 

By Lloyd J. Thomas, Ph.D. 


Are you dedicated to excellence in your life?  Are you
striving for perfection?  The former will increase the
likelihood you will realize your envisioned future and
manifest your fondest dreams.  The latter is to be
caught up in a particularly nasty habit that consumes
your creativity and increases your stress level.




There is an important and critical difference between
creating with excellence in mind and neurotically striving
to perform perfectly (perfectionism).  To insist your vision
of success in any endeavor be implemented perfectly,
right now, in an imperfect world, is to be caught up in
perfectionism.  To realize excellence in your life and seek
to create it is to design a lifestyle of enjoyment and 
satisfaction.


Aristotle, the Greek philosopher (384-322 B.C.) is
credited with saying, "We are what we repeatedly
do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
To put that in more contemporary terms, "It is not
what you know, or even what you do that determines
your success in life.  It is the content of your
character!"  What you consistently do is based
on the excellence of your character, not on some
standard of perfection you set for yourself.  You
probably already have all of the skills, talents,
abilities and contacts you need to be much more
successful than you are today. As a coach, one
of my jobs is to constantly remind my clients to
use their skills, talents, abilities and contacts
consistently and from the character quality of
excellence versus perfectionism.


Here are some important distinctions between
excellence and perfection: Excellence is a willingness
to be incorrect (imperfect) and take moderate risks
and learn from all mistakes; the perfectionist 
needs to be "right" and fears risking failure and
rarely recognizes mistakes...even fortuitous ones.
 



Excellence accepts "what is" and thrives on the
process of change and of engaging in new activities,
whereas perfection judges (usually negatively) the
current situation, engages in ongoing criticism of 
self and others and takes no joy in the process of
change and reluctantly or grudgingly engages in
any new activity. 



Excellence increases personal power and confidence,
decreases stress levels and fuels a deep sense of
fulfillment and satisfaction.  Perfection increases
frustration and anger/resentment and doubt, 
increases stress and pressure and negates any
satisfaction (perfectionists are never satisfied). 

Excellence releases all blame for outcomes, focuses
on "intention" and views the process of change
as a "journey."  Perfection regularly blames self
or others for outcomes, focuses only on "results"
and views creating as a "destination." 



Excellence does not depend on affirmation from
others, rather is self-affirming as life continues.
Perfection attributes success to "luck" and is
usually self-sabotaging.  Excellence reflects
respect for all undertakings regardless of their
size, whereas perfectionists imagine some
future state of completeness only for large
undertakings. 



Excellence acknowledges that "Now, at this
moment, I am good enough."  Perfection only
believes that "Then, at some future date, I will be 
good enough."  Sadly, the perfectionist is "never
good enough," because s/he always falls short
of perfection. 

Are you good enough?  Are your actions
chosen from the criteria of excellence or
perfection?  Is your personal character one
of human excellence or one of inadequacy
striving to be perfect?  Are you excellent
or perfect?  The choice is always yours. 


+++++++++++++

Lloyd J. Thomas, Ph.D. has 30+ years experience
as a Life Coach and Licensed Psychologist.
He is available for coaching in any area presented
in "Practical Psychology."  Initial coaching sessions
are free.  Contact him: (970) 568-0173 or E-mail: 
DrLloyd @ CreatingLeaders.com or LJTDAT @ aol.com. 


Dr. Thomas is a licensed psychologist, author, speaker,
and life coach.  He serves on the faculty of the
International University of Professional Studies. He
recently co-authored (with Patrick Williams) the book:
"Total Life Coaching: 50+ Life Lessons, Skills and 
Techniques for Enhancing Your Practice...and Your
Life!" (W.W. Norton 2005) It is available at your local
bookstore or on Amazon.com.

============
Until next time,
Paulette - who gave up on perfection a long time ago
www.tipsbooklets.com

Your Advice

Do you have people contacting you for advice, expecting it at no cost? And when you direct them to your consulting services it's the last you ever hear from them? It's not uncommon for consultants to have that experience. Usually the person asking for the advice loses track of the fact that advice is a consultant's stock in trade, the stuff that puts food on the consultant's table. Rarely is the person asking the question from the point of taking undue advantage of you. They just don't seem to know any better. You're an expert and they think they can just ask.

A tips booklet can be an excellent way to short-circuit the "I just have a quick question for you" syndrome. It can be comprised of the most frequently asked questions, an "FAQ" in booklet format. There are times it makes sense to give it away at no cost, or charge a small amount for a single copy, either as a PDF file or a hard copy. And there's times to say you'd be happy to schedule some consulting time "on the clock," something the person may not have realized was available. Either way, it's up to you to guide the advice seeker's path in ways that work best for both of you.

Until next time,
Paulette - who had a few more of those advice-seekers show up in today's inbox
www.tipsbooklets.com

Booklet Author Name Recognition

How important is it that you are known for your expertise as a booklet author? My answer is: minimally to not-at-all. It truly doesn't matter if you are a 'big name' in your field in order for you to sell lots and lots of your booklets. The decision-makers for bulk sales are more interested in how your booklet contents and presentation line up with a promotional campaign where they need a premium/incentive to help prompt more sales or accomplish some other goal. Who you are is quite secondary. Keep this in mind whether you are just entering a new field in your business or transitioning in some way or have been around for years and years. Name recognition when looking to sell your booklets and other related formats will not be a determining factor in your success. Your own persistance in making sales will determine your success.

Until next time,
Paulette - whose name is quite unknown by most people, over a million copies now sold
www.tipsbooklets.com

Tell 'em, Tell 'em Again, and Tell 'em Once More

Teachers, parents, and sales people all know it's vital to say the same thing multiple times and often in multiple ways. Your booklets and other related information products are the perfect combination for doing that. There are times a booklet author has expressed concern about that, wondering if the customer will feel short-changed in some way if the same thing is presented again.

What I've been seeing, hearing, and personally experiencing with audiences, clients, prospects, and the general public at large is that human beings typically need exposure to information multiple times before it sinks in. It's as simple as that.

It has amazed me lately when someone asks a question in a workshop I'm presenting, and I just gave the exact information they asked within the previous few minutes. They didn't hear it or absorb it. They were somewhere else in their thoughts or the information flew past them before they were able to take it in, or something! Be willing and prepared to give your information multiple times in multiple formats.

Until next time,
Paulette - staying tuned to the human condition
www.tipsbooklets.com

Booklets from Fiction

More people typically arrive at creating booklets and other relevant merchandise from non-fiction sources than fiction, in my experience. However, there's no reason at all to ignore the vast possibilities with fiction.

One suggestion is to consider the story line and the setting of the fiction. Does the main character enjoy scrapbooking, making it an easy leap to create a tips booklet about how to do scrapbooking. That excellent suggestion was offered to me last night after a speaking engagement from my wonderful colleague, Sharon Goldringer ( http://www.detailsplease.com/peoplespeak )

Or the story might be set in a location that prompts a booklet about travel or exploring that particular region.

Depending on the ultimate topic of your booklet, you will be able to find large-quantity buyers who can use your booklet as a promotional tool, giving you much more mileage and money from your original fiction material.

Until next time,
Paulette - realizing opportunities in just about everything
www.tipsbooklets.com

Audio Recording Your Booklet

It's a common suggestion to expand your product line by audio recording your booklet. When you do record the tips, make conversational connections between them, as if you were just talking with someone one on one, and sharing this great idea you had or a "by the way, I want to be sure to tell you about..." or add some anecdote in about some of the tips now and then. You can do that with the audio without the same kind of limitations a booklet has. It's like the difference between a movie and the book from which it was made.

And remember the audio recording now gives you two more products not just one. You have the digital file of an MP3, and the hard copy file of an audio CD.

Until next time,
Paulette - talking your way into expanding the products you offer
www.tipsbooklets.com

Run Away from Human Resource Departments

For years I've said to run as fast as you can from selling booklets in bulk to human resource departments of companies. The report of a recent event confirmed that one more time. Yes, I know some corporations have tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of employees. And those employees can definitely use what you've written to improve their life in some way. All seems very logical and reasonable, you're right.

Then comes the rub.

HR departments have a different mindset and a different budget than the sales or the marketing departments of that same corporation. A sale to the HR department squarely sits on the "expense" side of the ledger, and is historically a much smaller and harder sale to make. A sale to the sales or the marketing department or to a product manager has the ability to bring more revenue to the corporation because your product is being used as an incentive attached to a sales campaign. And the universe for the sales or the marketing department or through a product manager is much bigger than that of HR. The folks in sales and in marketing know they have to spend money to bring the company money. HR doesn't have that point of view.

It looked like a particular booklet author was lined up for a large sale during this past month. The decision makers all liked the booklet a lot. Even though we heard that the booklet was being reviewed with the intention of distributing it to employees, the sale came looking for the author rather than the author looking for the sale. What was unknown until a couple weeks into the dealings and diminishing response about the progress was that there was internal fighting about who should pay for the purchase -- human resources or IT (information technology). We have no clue how IT came into this, but they did. The sale is now on indefinite hold. It may surface at some point in the future, though it would be surprising if it did.

Keep this in mind as you are formulating your own marketing efforts. If a sale lands in your lap from an HR department, by all means, fill the order. Otherwise, there's many other fish to fry in the sales, marketing, and product manager arenas.

Until next time,
Paulette - preferring to make life (and sales) as easy as possible
www.tipsbooklets.com

How Deep Are Those Pockets?

Years ago a colleague/friend shared his belief with me that school systems had no money to hire him as a consultant, so he wouldn't go anywhere near them. That was right up to the point where a particular school district contacted him with what turned out to be a $50,000 contract to consult with that district's administrators. I did pause a few moments before choking on my saliva while laughing, allowing me time to come up with some brilliant invitation to pass along that $50,000 to me if he didn't want it.

Yesterday I wrote about non-profits. The commonly-held belief is that non-profits also have no money. Well, that may be true for some of them, and it may be true for this immediate moment. However, booklets can be the ideal starting place to a different reality for the non-profits that have limited cash flow today. There are so many ways to get beyond that. One of the best ideas I like to share with non-profits of any flavor is that they can be a conduit between the supplier of some product (booklets or other deratives of information products) and the sponsor of a large-quantity purchase of said products, with the non-profit keeping some or most of the money in between. The non-profit researches the costs and details of the product, then turns around and seeks sponsorship to pay for purchase and distribution of the product, with the sponsorship at much high cost than what the non-profit paid. When the sponsor is the best match, this campaign allows them to reach a wider range of people in a more appealing way than they are likely to do with their own direct marketing and advertising efforts.

This is not a new concept. It may be new for a particular non-profit who just hadn't seen it that way before. And it may be new substance for non-profits who want to reach new sponsors, or current sponsors with new ideas. There's so many ways to connect these dots that it can be a delightful creative exercise that brings outstanding results.

Until next time,
Paulette - thinking more about who REALLY has the money even if they don't think they do
www.tipsbooklets.com

Profitable Booklets for Non-Profits

Non-profits are frequently (always!) looking for ways to generate revenue beyond what they're already doing. Booklets and their derivative formats can be ideal for that. There are a models all over the place to duplicate or modify. Here's just a few to consider.

1. The collaborative church or synagogue cookbook of favorite recipes
2. The "Public Broadcasting System" model - get this gift for this level of donation
3. Vendor sponsorships of giveaways at association conferences

These don't begin to scratch the surface of possibilities as much as they give many people a starting place from something fairly well known. There's lots of dots to connect with both the creation and the marketing/sales of the products. For instance, the church or synagogue cookbook is merely one form of how that product can be made available. It can also be put into a card deck of a single recipe per index card or delivered electronically as a recipe a week through email. And it can be sold way beyond merely individual members of that congregation. It could be presented to a cookware manufacturer who would like to use some form of that content as a "value-added" gift with purchase, or to stay in front of their own prospects or clients.

The PBS model already has a range of related products bundled, allowing for various levels of contribution. Vendor sponsorships of giveaways at conferences can be a great blend of the cookbook and the PBS model.

Any non-profit can use these ideas and more, regardless of the mission or context of the non-profit. There's gold in those hills!

Until next time,
Paulette - easily excited by information applications
www.tipsbooklets.com

Professional Stretching

You may feel vindicated by what I am about to write today, or you may smile. Earlier this week, some colleagues held me to a higher standard than was comfortable for me. It involved online technology. We are doing a joint venture and they were giving me excellent suggestions on how to make good use of technology to market what we are doing. They went beyond my personal technological skills, by just enough to make it very uncomfortable for me. It was second-hand, old-hat, easy stuff for them. For me, I was scrambling to fully grasp it, much less implement it.

It occurred to me in the midst of this that it's probably how some or many of my own clients feel at times when I start giving suggestions of ways to expand their product line beyond a booklet and approach new markets. To me it's logical, easy, reasonable, and completely do-able. I'm sure that's how my colleagues felt about their suggestions to me this week, too!

My colleagues were truly very kind yet persistent. I hope my clients feel the same about me. My colleagues did not stop, nor will I. There's things I learned this week, or enlisted the assistance of someone else where it was literally beyond what I could personally implement. Either way, I'm further ahead on the journey than I was a week ago, knowing there will undoubtedly be more stretches in the future. I promise I'll prompt the same for you.

The particular joint venture mentioned above can be found at www.webmarketingbooklet.com Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff (aka The Blog Squad) are absolutely terrific people to work with, and I'm grateful to have them as colleagues and friends.

Until next time,
Paulette - happy to be on the other side of the recent expansion
www.tipsbooklets.com

Booklets and Network Marketing

Whether you are or are not a fan of network marketing (aka multilevel or MLM marketing), there's huge universes in that industry ripe for bulk booklet sales. Many of these companies are forever looking for ways to keep their distributors educated and motivated. Depending on the topic of your booklet, it can be the perfect low-cost, high-impact solution. Find the person who is responsible for making the decision to buy from you by going to the company's website, phoning the company directly, or asking a distributor you know to help you identify the appropriate person at corporate headquarters.

Until next time,
Paulette - utilizing any and all appropriate opportunities
www.tipsbooklets.com

Booklets For Women?

Years ago, early in my booklet journey, I came upon a magazine produced by an association of the same name. Then John Kremer of www.bookmarket.com
mentioned it again this week in his ezine. It can be an excellent magazine to contact for excerpting from your booklet if it is a topic useful to women. Here's what John included:

===========

Women in Business Magazine

This bimonthly magazine features articles of interest to women in businesses and professions. The January 2007 issue featured an excerpt from Take This Book to Work: How to Ask for and Get Money, Fulfillment, and Advancement by Tory Johnson and Robyn Freedman Spizman.

Send suggested excerpts and/or review copies to Mia Katz, Senior Staff Writer, Women in Business, American Business Women's Association, 9100 Ward Parkway, P O Box 8728, Kansas City MO 64114-0728; 816- 361-6621; Fax: 816-361-4991. Email: mkatz@abwa.org. Web: http://www.abwa.org

==============

Until next time,

Paulette - sharing resources that work

www.tipsbooklets.com

Booklets Take Time

How long does it take to write a booklet? That's a fairly common question. My response is often something akin to "how long is a piece of string?" My own booklet took me about two weeks to write. That was mostly because I didn't know what I was doing at the time. I've known of one booklet author who put himself into a hotel room after taking my full-day workshop, and wrote his booklet in 24 hours. Yes, it's completely do-able. There have been other booklet authors who have taken 6-12 months. So, it comes down to "it depends." It depends on how many times you feel the need to review and revise. It depends on how easily the ideas flow out of you. It depends on what else gets in your way. It can take you as long or as little time as you decide it will. And that's the truth.

Until next time,
Paulette - who likes to get things done so they're salable
www.tipsbooklets.com

Literary Chop Shop

I've often talked about how an author can slice and dice their book, making more money on the parts than they can on the whole thing. This week I was reminded of that very fact when I had the opportunity to visit an automobile junk yard for the first time in my life. What an experience that was!!

First off, there had to be about 25 different junk yards all located pretty much in one place. Junk yard heaven, for those who would see it that way. Then, to see neat rows and rows of cars up on cinder blocks, as well organized as any filing system I ever created when I was a professional organizer.

I needed to replace the disintegrated sun visors in my convertible, and had no reason to purchase them brand new, since my car is now in its middle-aged years and is likely to replaced in the next 10,000 miles. The junk yard was the perfect answer. While waiting for the guy to remove the sun visors from their car, I thought about the fact they were charging me $40 for the sun visors (a bargain for what I was finding elsewhere), and how many zillions of other random parts, large and small, there were in that junkie car before it would no longer exist. Yes, the owners of that junk yard would make mannnny times more selling the parts than they would ever get for the whole thing.

Now, your book is far from junk nor does it belong in a junk yard. I'm sure you realize that wasn't the common thread here. It was the part about the parts -- selling parts of your book as booklets and in other formats, THAT's the point.

Until next time,
Paulette - who can now say she's gone to a junk yard and doesn't really need to repeat the experience again
www.tipsbooklets.com

Boring Booklets

You think one title or topic is boring. Someone else thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Like so much of life, there is no accounting for taste. The difference is your own enthusiasm about what you've got. When you get excited about it, even if the topic doesn't fully engross someone else, they can't help but take a moment to see what all the fuss is about. And there is most definitely someone(s) who WILL be interested in what you've got. It's merely a matter of finding them. So when all is said and done, there really are no boring booklets. It's all about finding your audience.

Until next time,
Paulette - who sold over a million copies of a booklet about organizing your business life
www.tipsbooklets.com

Tips Sell More Than Catalogs

One of the attendees in a workshop I presented last week in Sacramento, California gave us the subject to this blog post. Within his company, they have already created a tips document that they give away on their website. He said they have meticulously tracked the conversion rate of how people buy on their site. They noted a dramatic difference (increase) in sales after people received the tips than after they received a catalog of products for sale on the site. That's very telling, don't you think? The recipients of the tips got a peek, a preview of what the information was about. They felt more comfortable making a purchase once they got that sample. They felt more comfortable than reading even the best product descriptions in a catalog.

Until next time,
Paulette - passing along some vital wisdom collected from real life
www.tipsbooklets.com