Gee, Your Site Has Changed

Someone I knew from my happy and lengthy career as a Professional Organizers popped me an email yesterday. It was 13 years ago that he bought my early booklet materials. In his email he was gushing about my website, how my business had expanded and changed, the ease of navigation of the site, and on and on. What I realized and wrote him was that it was a lot of little changes over a long period of time. Yes, there were a couple times when some major change happened, like a basic redesign of the site about 18 months ago. Otherwise it's been a tweak here and a small change there.

I bring this to your attention for a few reasons intended to be useful to you. Whether you already envision a big picture of your business or are seeing things in the moment, your business builds over time. A new client this week told me about an elaborate big picture, yet the first tip for the booklet was not yet written. I encouraged the client to get one booklet done, and from that all things would flow.

Yes, down the road, your site will change, as has your life, one bit at a time.

Until next time,
Paulette - remembering everything happens in units of one
www.tipsbooklets.com

What Results Have Others Had?

It always fascinates me when someone asks about the results that other booklet authors have had as a way of determining whether or not to buy my products or services. What difference would somebody else's results have on yours? There's an endless number of variables between you and any/all other booklet authors. Here's just a few, in no particular order:

Determination and drive

Creativity

Comfort in communication

Selection of prospects

Method of approaching prospects

Flexibility

Consistency

Variety of products, formats, pricing

And these don't begin to scratch the surface. How could someone else's results possibly predict yours? Yes, you might get some ideas you hadn't considered or some new-found courage because if they did it, you think you can (which may or may not be true).

Allowing yourself to decide based on what someone else has done is, in my opinion, a way to stay in place and not move forward. Do what you feel comfortable doing, and keep doing it. Take the risks you're ready and prepared t take. If the results please you, continue what you're doing. If they don't please you, make some changes until you find the results that do please you.

Until next time,
Paulette - who still makes it up, every day, every step of the way, over a million copies later
www.tipsbooklets.com

Promotion Made Easy

Writing articles is an easy and effective way to promote your booklet and your entire business. Since you've already written tips for your booklet, you're ahead of the game. A simple way to do that is to open with a brief paragraph, a "hook" that presents a problem related to your expertise. Then add 5-10 tips to solve the challenge you introduced. Finish the article with encouragement to take action, including contacting you through what's known as a Resource box at the end. Let the reader know you have a booklet plus any other product or service relevant to the article content.

Until next time,
Paulette - making it easy to leverage your work
www.tipsbooklets.com

How Corporations Use Publications in Bulk

Last week I (and many people I know) attended a teleclass. It was about how a guy, unknown to any of us, sold over 5,000,000 (yup, five million) books to corporations. I was certainly interested, since it's part of my own history. Okay, I've only sold just over a million. You get the idea.

It's not unusual for booklet authors to be skeptical of the idea that corporations really do buy in bulk. This teleclass was yet more confirmation of what I already know. The person, whose name is Matthew, was able to sell 2 million copies of his "Maternal Journal" to Ross Labs because the company wanted a wayto incentivize expectant mothers to join their Welcome Addition Club. Babies-R-Us bought over 500,000 copies to give to moms who signed up for their baby registry. His book "Lifestyles of the Trim & Health" was given away to help sell an infommercial diet plan. He also sold over 600,000 copies of "Puppy & Kitten Journals" to be given away to encourage new pet owners to visit Veterinary Centers of America.

He made some very interesting and important points in his teleclass, points that I, too, could relate to. The biggest of those points was the length of time it can take to make a sale. Yes, the sales brought in some substantial pay days, and sometimes it took years for those sales to happen. Keep in mind these are books, and I (and many of my booklet authors) have done the very same thing.

The only solutions to having a thriving business with such a long sales cycle are:

• Keep the pipeline full so there is always someone ready to buy.
• Sell large enough quantities that each sale is a substantial profit to you.
• Keep going.

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Take a look at your choices and see if there's something to change so you, too, can enjoy results like these.

Until next time,
Paulette - basking in the warmth of confirmation
www.tipsbooklets.com

Turn Frustration Into Money and Marketing

"If I hear that question one more time, I might scream!" Do you feel that way when chatting with prospective clients or people who know little to nothing about your business? Those questions are really gold for you. They are the grist for booklet content -- booklets you can use for marketing and making money in your business. In fact, that last sentence you just read is an example of that.

It's not uncommon for people to ask me something about how booklets are used when I tell them the business I'm in. So that becomes a tip for me:

1. Use tips booklets for marketing your business. Selling those booklets can also bring you new revenue while marketing your business at the same time.

2. Notice the questions people continue asking you about your business. Those questions are the basis for becoming tips in your booklet.

3. Capture the questions and turn them into directives. The list of questions will probably become long enough for a 3,000-5,000 word tips booklet.

Get the idea? You will probably smile when you hear a repeat of a question the next time it comes out of a prospect's mouth or in an email, since you know they have just given you more content for your booklet.

A step-by-step roadmap for transforming your knowledge into tips booklets and other related information products is "How to Promote Your Business with Booklets," found in the Product section at www.tipsbooklets.com

Until next time,
Paulette - bringing more ideas for de-stressing
www.tipsbooklets.com

Act As If ...

...your reader is coming to your area of expertise for the very first time. I read a booklet draft yesterday that sounded as if the author was speaking with a knowledgable colleague in the field rather than a newcomer. And that was not the author's intention. The choice of words, the analogies, the assumptions were all way above the head of a novice in this information.

Do your reader and your own business a big favor by starting with the absolute basics. You can always go into more advanced concepts in future products you develop.

Until next time,
Paulette - builing a solid foundation on which to expand
www.tipsbooklets.com

Still Doing It, Are You?

At dinner this week, a colleague was marveling about how I am "still doing booklets," this many years later (since 1991, in fact). I'd brought a booklet to show her. This was not the typical booklet, though it looked like it from the outside. This was a Collection of Experts It contained a page representing each of 14 different people, one page per person. The page has 5 tips, 100-word backgrounder, and full contact info for each person. That meant that each person markets 13 other people in addition to themselves each time the booklet is distributed, sold, or put in front of a journalist.

I assured my colleague that this was part of the natural evolutionary process for me in my business, and that it was being received well. I saw a glimmer in her own eyes as she was contemplating how she could bring it into her own business with her own clients. And that's how this stuff works!

Go see for yourself at www.CollectionOfExperts.com Let's talk about whether you want to join a group that's forming or bring one or more groups of your own to this idea.

Until next time,
Paulette - bringing you new, easy, and inexpensive ways to market your business
www.tipsbooklets.com

Ignoring the Experts

As a first-born, natural trail blazer, I am fond of making my own way in the world. It's something I do naturally. I also know that when someone has found out where the potholes are with some process, it makes sense to pay attention to what they know.

It's a continuing source of amazement when people invest in my products and services and then ignore the recommendations. It makes no sense to me at all. It often costs them in time, money, and frustration.

Yes, I encourage people to put their own uniqueness into what they do, and also learn from other's experiences.

Until next time,
Paulette - who has paid a lot for her education
www.tipsbooklets.com

Time and Choices

This week has brought some interesting conversations about bulk sales of booklets, books, and other information products. Many authors want someone to sell for them. The authors either don't want to do the sales or think they don't know how. I've done all my own bulk sales over the years, as have some other people who have similar results to mine. The saying goes that no one will be as a good at selling your products as you. You know the product better than anyone else, you have the greatest investment in the sale, and you will be the most passionate.

That said, there are certainly sales organizations out there, companies whose sole purpose is to sell products of many and varied nature. Therein is a solution -- the variety. Sales organizations usually represent a line of products, not a single product. They make a living because they have choices to offer their prospects and repeat customers.

Yes, the sales cycle can be a long one, and at times it can definitely be much shorter. The odds of success are greatly increased when you can offer choices of titles, formats, and any other variable your market wants.

Until next time,
Paulette - encouraging you to sell your own range of products for best results and biggest profits
www.tipsbooklets.com

Sampling Your Own Booklet

A sample is all it takes for some people to feel completely comfortable purchasing your booklet or other form of your content. You can put one or two pages onto your site to satisfy that urge to see something.

Several months ago, one of the graphic designers who does a lot of work for our booklet clients took the initiative to put a page on her own site that includes the cover, the first two inside pages, and, in some cases, a product sheet. You can see that at http://www.coyotepressgraphics.com/tips4.htm

This is not always a substitute for sending a complete PDF or hard copy of the booklet. In many cases, though, it really is all that's necessary.

Until next time,
Paulette - looking at the simple things that can prompt success
www.tipsbooklets.com

How Far Do You Cast Your Promotional Seeds?

Whether you've been in business for decades or days, or your business is heavily weighted on products, services, or both, you know that marketing is the key to everything.

It's helpful to ask your clients how they learned about your work if you aren't already doing that. Ask them when you speak with them and ask them in the shopping cart on your website. Here's some examples of what people say about how they learned of my work:

• In someone else's book (about a dozen of them so far)
  
• In an article I wrote that was published on someone's website or in their ezine (dozens of articles by now)
  
• From a comment a participant made in a workshop that was recorded onto a DVD (absolutely loved that one!)
  
• From their coach (many of those, thank you)
  
• A link on someone's site in a resource section (colleagues stand together)
  
• From their colleague/friend/neighbor/family member(you never know who knows who)
  
• In a radio interview I did that was archived on someone's website(years later, that turned into the 4th language for my booklet)
  
• From hearing me speak in person or in a teleclass on the phone(too many to count)
  
• On a television or radio interview(again, too many to count)
  
• From chatting with me in a store (("What do you do?")
  
• Through a reference to my work on someone's blog or online discussion group (After building a pretty strong niche)
  
• From someone forwarding them my ezine (Think of the last time you did that)
  
• An affiliate link for one of my products on someone's site (Dozens of affiliates)
  
• Don't remember because they saw my name mentioned several places (Gotta love that one)
• Surfing the Internet (my name goes about 50 pages deep in a Google search, because of everything else in this list)
• My own ezine, blog, website (Developed one at a time, over time)
  

And these are only some of the ways. Keep in mind I am among those who have been in this business for a decade and a half, and have known about publicity forever. I've continued doing bits and pieces of publicity on an ongoing basis, and always say yes when anyone asks for anything that further promotes my work.

Yes, bits and pieces of promotion and publicity. It's the only way. One simple idea is another way of having others promote you when they promote themselves. See what I'm talking about at www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Until next time,
Paulette - who appreciates the power of promotion and publicity
www.tipsbooklets.com

Business Lessons from My Dental Hygienist

My dental hygienist recently left the general dental practice where I'd known her for 6 years, and went to work at a periodontal practice. She is solely responsible for dramatically improving and maintaining the health of my gums during this time. I like her, and I am grateful for what she's done. Yesterday I called to make an appointment with her for the first time at the new office, to learn the price in that specialized practice would be twice what I'd been paying at the general practice. Not acceptable, yet somewhat understandable.

She phoned me today after hearing of my unwillingness to pay the new price and left me an excellent message. She gave me some options, including seeing her once a year instead of my pattern of every other month, and she offered to look for another hygienist for me. Talk about customer service!

Her approach reminded me of the fact that there are always options to offer people in our own businesses. Someone may want more than they are willing (or able) to pay. What choices can you give them, to keep them happy and to keep them in your universe? You never know what they will decide in the future, especially after you've treated them so well.

Until next time,
Paulette - impressed by the options
www.tipsbooklets.com

Local, regional, worldwide, so what?

Speaking with a prospective participant in a www.CollectionOfExperts.com booklet who was insistent on being in a collection of people from the same geographic area, it fascinated me to hear the point of view. The person has a service business typically used by many people and lives in a highly populated metropolitan area. No matter what I said about the great likelihood of getting referrals from people all over the country and, in fact, the world, the person wouldn't budge.

I found myself wondering how much business is lost this way.

Until next time,
Paulette - re-reading an email from New Zealand, from someone who wants to do business there
www.tipsbooklets.com

Where Have You Saved Your Booklet?

If you've heard it once, you've heard it dozen of times -- back up everything on your computer. Do this regardless of where you are in the process of creating your booklet and other products, not to mention the inner, outer, under, and over workings of your business. And, by all means, capture alllll those passwords and user ID's.

Usually all that's needed is one computer disaster to learn that lesson if you somehow ignored this sage advice until now. You may also have heard of the concept of redundancy. Back things up in multiple locations, including offsite from your primary computer. That can be at a friend or relative or business associate's location or it can be through an electronic storage service.

Keep yourself safe from doing unprotected business. This reminder has been brought to you from someone who had 98% coverage, and is mopping up from that crucial 2% even as we speak!

Until next time,
Paulette - who realizes computer challenges can be like moving house or office - traumatic yet cathartic once it's over
www.tipsbooklets.com

Pre-sell Your Booklet

Pre-selling your booklet is a great business model. That can happen in situations where you already have a good relationship established with a client...or not.

One booklet author made a sale of several thousand copies of a booklet before a single word of it had been written. The client saw another booklet this author had done, and wanted a booklet on a different topic. The booklet author felt the new topic was a good one to add to the product line, and wrote it, knowing several thousand copies had already been sold and pre-paid!

Another way to pre-sell booklets or their derivatives without running any copies in advance is to develop a product sheet describing the various products. You may have a professionally designed PDF file to show the prospective client so they ca see the contents and the design quality. Many decision makers are perfectly content with the PDF and product sheet to go ahead in placing their order.

Until next time,
Paulette - preferring to sell before producing
www.tipsbooklets.com

I Don't Know How to Do That

You say you don't know how to write a booklet. I didn't know how to write a booklet in 1991. And you say you don't know how to sell a booklet. I definitely didn't know how to sell it. As you now know, I've done both. One simple 16-page booklet, over a million copies sold in various formats and languages without spending a penny on advertising. And just in case you don't know, my only formal advanced education is two degrees in music education. (yes, I taught stringed instruments for 11 years as my first career.)

Rarely a day goes by that someone doesn't present the idea of not knowing how to write and/or sell their booklet. There's many contexts in life that put forth the idea of only requiring the willingness. The same holds true with writing and selling booklets. All you need is the willingness. Since you know I know how to do this stuff, my company becomes a resource for you to tap. You need willingness to learn, to do, and to notice what's around you. How simple is that?

Be willing to take the next step in your learning journey. Contact me personally to find out how.

Until next time,
Paulette - noticing how much good comes from being willing
www.tipsbooklets.com

Doesn't Everyone Know That?

Two experiences this week reminded me about humans seeing things through different filters from each other. One was prompted when sharing my vacation photos with a friend. The other was from the mouth and mind of a new booklet author.

A couple months ago I finally bought a digital camera. Much of my life has included people very interested in photography either professionally or avocationally. I never got into it. The camera I got was an entry level PHD - Point Here Dummy. And that's what I did, over 200 times in 11 days. I didn't always (ever?) know what would come out, and there really were some decent shots after all, and in spite of my novice status. One shot, in particular, was almost an afterthought, and even more so when I later reviewed the photos. My friend, however, saw an element in that picture that she decided to edit and play with, to feature that element. She spotted that as a real find. I had almost deleted that shot. She cropped it, manipulated it, and did some magic with it. That's what she saw. I hadn't seen it that way before she put her hand to it. It went from almost-nothing to really something.

Then there was a consult with a new booklet author this week. As I commented on a couple of tips I thought were really outstanding and unique, the author replied with some variation of "doesn't everyone know that stuff?" Um, no, they don't!! The author lives with this content, as we all do with our expertise. I came in with new and different eyes and experiences, seeing that content for the first time. It looked interesting to me.

Keep in mind that your set of filters sees things differently than your reader or your client. Allow for and invite that element of discovery. It's what makes it all exciting, useful, interesting, and attractive to your world, and keeps you moving forward in sharing what you know.

Until next time,
Paulette - ready to see things differently through my camera and my human optics
www.tipsbooklets.com

It's All About Me ...NOT!

This week brought an email from a booklet author, asking for support in the new venture of starting a blog. Now I know many people really do like to be helpful, as long as they aren't asked for "support" each and every time they get an email from you. This client enjoys using that phrase, I've noticed. That was not the biggest infraction, however.

The email was heavily peppered with "I," "my," and "me." There were very few times I saw the word "you." I have told this client about such leanings in the past. Clearly, it hasn't sunk in.

Why does any of this matter? Well, think about this: you are on the receiving end of such an email, from someone who wants to introduce you to their booklet. THEIR terrific, fabulous, outstanding (and continue adding an endless list of superlatives) booklet that they spent endless hours creating in their busy life because they wanted to get the word out there, etc. and so forth. At no time does the person mention how the booklet can be helpful to you. That's what matters, and, in fact, is the only thing that matters. How can the booklet be helpful to you? It is all about the recipient, not the sender.

This booklet author is shooting booth feet at the same time, and is likely to never know why the sales are not coming. A pity, to be sure. The only thing your prospect needs to know about your booklet and any of your other products and services is how those things can be helpful to them. It doesn't matter how many or how high the mountains were that you climbed to produce the booklet. It is all about the recipient, not the sender. Period, end of story.

Until next time,
Paulette - who knows it's about you, not me
www.tipsbooklets.com

Go With the Flow or Make Your Own Rules?

When is the right time to send out a mailing, telephone a prospect, launch a new booklet, or do anything else you view as time sensitive? You will find as many different answers as people that you ask. Yes, there are some elements that can dictate your decision, some of those elements seeming very logical at that.

Let's say you have a lot of things on your plate at some given moment. Launching a new product that requires your attention needs to be scheduled at a time you can, in fact, give it the attention it deserves.

Studies have been done about the best times and days for press releases to reach journalists. For daily newspapers, it's Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Weeklies have a different schedule. And yet you may capture the interest of a journalist at some other time, "just because."

This week I am reminded of holiday schedules and the pattern of some people. This past weekend was the three-day Labor Day weekend in the US. It's the traditional ending of summer. When my electronic newsletter went out last night, there were a number of "Out of Office" autoresponders that came back to me. A number of my subscribers indicated a return to their office this morning and another group indicated September 11. Yes, that group was noticeable, however there's still lots and lots of people back at their desks today. By tomorrow, the past 3-day weekend will be a distant memory.

"Going with the flow" can sometimes be an excuse for not doing something, in my opinion. I've made some of my largest sales during the weekend between Christmas and New Year, when some people had the time to think through a decision without the typical interruptions of the regular business day because their own phone wasn't ringing quite so much and other distractions were absent.

You can make yourself crazier than you may already feel by searching for the "perfect" time for something. I'm not talking about jamming a square peg into a round hole, forcing something to happen. I am talking about throwing it against the wall when you are ready, because some of it will, indeed, stick!

Until next time,
Paulette - who usually operates on Paulette Standard Time
www.tipsbooklets.com