It's All About ...

...them, not you and not your tips booklet or any other format of your product. That includes when you're talking with a colleague about possible joint venturing, or to a large-quantity prospect at a company or association.

Someone who has known of my work for many years contacted me last Friday afternoon to invite me into a joint venture with her. The entire time we were on the phone, the person made it all about herself and her achievements. While I agree it's useful to have some background about a potential business partner, there was no give and take, no balance, no real interest in a conversation as much as it being a monologue. Then she followed up on Monday with an email in the same way. What WAS she thinking? Even if there had been any remote match here in what she was proposing, there was less than zero interest in my part in doing any business with her. It's too bad, too, since I think she probably has a good product.

It is and will always be about them - whoever it is you are contacting. It is about how your products and services improve the business of the person you are approaching. There are endless ways you can positively add to their business. Focus on that and see the improvement in your business as a result of it.

Until next time,
Paulette - still trying to shake off the "stuff" this woman left all over me

www.tipsbooklets.com
www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
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So Many Booklet Prospects, So Little Time

Many booklet authors suffer an embarrassment of riches when it comes to prospective directions to go with their booklet and other information product sales. That was the case with a booklet author I recently spoke to. She created an excellent and lengthy list of directions to go to sell large quantities of her booklet and related info products. The list included companies, associations, websites, retailers, private practitioners, and more.

First we discussed approaching any of the private practitioners through their professional associations instead of individually. That immediately led to talking with people the booklet author knew, to get introductions to the associations and also to companies. The more the booklet author and I talked, the more people came to mind for her to approach, even though we started the conversation with "who do you already know to put at the top of your list to talk to?" It wasn't until we started exploring specific directions did specific names come to mind.

The more we talked, the more the booklet author came up with people -- family members, professional people she had gone to, neighbors, colleagues.

How do you streamline your process, especially when you have many, many directions to go? Sometimes it's a direct route to identify those people you already know, and other times it takes roaming around in your thoughts to be reminded of who those ideal people are. Regardless of how you do it, start capturing names and ideas so you always have a destination in mind no matter how you're feeling at any given moment.

Until next time,
Paulette - remembering how some of the least likely prospects turned into the biggest and best sales

www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
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Hot Topics and Hot Sales for Booklets

What's the hottest topics for writing tips booklets? It the one(s) you get most excited about. Simple as that. Many people talk about writing to topics in great demand. Some oldies and goodies are things like food, kids, pets, money, and sex. If you have to do specific research on a topic and it is a stretch for you to be passionate about it and it needs separate marketing from a business you already have, you are likely to have different (lower!) sales results than when you create products representing something that's meaningful to you and that you're already promoting. It will probably be harder for you to sustain your own interest over time.

In the past few weeks, a wide range of fascinating booklet topics have been birthed by people whose life is represented in their booklet. Here's a sample of those topics:

• How to Choose a Nursing Home - from a geriatric specialist who works in nursing homes
  
• Tips for Girls Volleyball - from a former pro women's volleyball athlete
• Selecting a Financial Planner & Managing Your Money - from a financial planner
• Self-Care for Caregivers - from a long-time spousal caregiver
• Guide for Single Women to Find Their Guy - from a single female author on the same topic
• Parenting the Troubled Teen - from a pediatrician who works with teens
  
• Creative Ways to Use Leftovers - from a military wife who does this for her family

While food, money, and kids are among the topics represented in that list, they are done by people whose lives are greatly involved in those areas.

The above list doesn't scratch the surface of the thousands of booklet authors, worldwide, who are writing and selling their booklets. These people have a passion for their information and have contacts they are approaching for large-quantity sales.

Next time you ask yourself what the hot topics are for booklets, ask yourself what it is you bubble over about anytime you've got the opportunity to share your knowledge with anyone who will listen. That is your hot topic. Start writing your tips!

Until next time,
Paulette - always happy to explore this with you to discover your hot topic


www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
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Print Catalogs Still Deliver Sales - Booklets Do, Too

An article in the October 16 issue of the Wall Street Journal captured my interest as someone who has been in the booklet business since 1991. The article was titled "In Digital Era, Marketers Still Prefer a Paper Trail."

"So why does the catalog which helped Richard Sears launch his eponymous retail empire more than a centruey ago, continue to thrive in the electronic age? Because glossy catalog pages still entice buyers in a way that computer images don't. Catalogs, marketers say, drive sales at Web sites, making them more important than ever."

The article goes on to cite high sales statistics from paper catalogs, and talks about why mail-order catalogs will never go away.

There are two big points in mentioning this article to you:

1. You can find new ideas, reminders, and confirmation of your ideas for new business by reading newspapers, magazines, trade publications, Web sites, and your mail -- when you're open to seeing things through the filters of opportunity.

2. The mail-order catalog companies have used booklets to generate more business by offering a booklet (or other forms of information products) as a gift with purchase, usually for a certain dollar amount, or for any purchase in a particular issue of their catalog or for opening a new account, or in other ways. What catalogs are good matches for your topics?

Until next time,
Paulette - thinking back fondly on an excellent five-digit catalog licensing deal payment


www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
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Tell the Truth About Your Booklet

What value do you put on your booklet?I'm not only talking about the price you charge, I'm talking about how valuable you think it is in the life of those who receive it. In fact, the price you charge is often a reflection of how valuable you think it is to the recipient.

This week I got yet another phone call from a person who has called or emailed me at least once a year for about five years, a person who has yet to produce a booklet. This week she wanted to know if my prices had changed. She said she had written about 20 booklets in recent years (currently as Word documents, I believe), and still didn't have the several hundred dollars to have one, much less all of them, professionally edited and professionally designed. When I told her to start with one of those booklets and get a product sheet created to pre-sell the others before getting them edited and designed, it fell on deaf ears. I am sure of it from what I heard in her reply.

Now I am certain this person has had the several hundred dollars in question at various points in the past five years, as she told me about conferences she's attended and professional associations she's joined. What she hasn't had has been the courage or the commitment to move forward with her booklet.

She's been dishonest to herself with her story. The truth is that she's scared. She doesn't believe her booklets are valuable enough to bring the thousands and thousands of dollars they are likely to bring her once she starts talking to people who need and want what she's got. I'm not saying there is ever a guarantee in sales, because there isn't. What I am saying, though, is that this person is very unlikely to ever find out as she continues telling herself she doesn't have the several hundred dollars to move ahead.

What's your truth? What's your story? And, as Dr. Phil, the therapist on television is known to say, "How's that workin' for ya?"

Until next time,
Paulette - who loves most working with people who take action

www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
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Cut Corners and Cut Booklet Sales

• "I can edit and layout my booklet to make it more cost effective for me."
• "I have a friend/neighbor/relative who can edit and design my booklet."
• "My booklet is simple enough it doesn't need a graphic designer or editor."

If you have thought or said any of the above three statements or any variation of them, you are at high risk of shooting yourself in the foot, one foot at a time. It is a difficult thing to edit your own work. In fact, the editors I refer booklet and other written work to actually hire other people to edit anything they themselves write. That's partly because there are numerous specialties within the discipline of editing and it's also because the person who created the document is too close to see it objectively. We're talking about more than only proofreading, though that's very important, too.

And about the layout, it is nothing short of penny wise and pound foolish to think you can do your content the justice it deserves with an amateurish attempt at using the features of Microsoft Word to create some numbered pages and a couple of columns, with some graphic elements thrown in. You may get a pardon in this rant if you are, in fact, already a graphic designer or very well versed with a publishing software product.

Otherwise, do yourself the service of hiring people who do these things every day of the world so your content is presented at the high level it deserves. You'll find referrals to our tried and tested excellent service providers at
http://www.tipsbooklets.com/index.php?page=vendors.htm
You will make more sales when your good content is presented as well as possible.

Until next time,
Paulette - who has seen fewer and fewer catastrophes over the years as people learned how important this is

www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
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How to Talk to a Large-Quantity Booklet Buyer

"I've got something that will help your company/association make more money."

How would that grab your attention when someone starts a conversation with you that way? I'd probably at least let them get another sentence or two out, wouldn't you? It's all about the buyer and the buyer's needs/wants -- and it always will be.

It's about getting some idea of what may be helpful to them, and then verifying that with them. Yes, it can and is as simple as that. The size of the booklet, the length of it, the number of pages, the cover design, the number of ink colors on the cover are all much later in the conversation.

First it is and will always be about how your product can make your buyer's life more (revenue/profit), better (position out in the world), or different (from their competition). When you address the buyer's wants and/or needs, you start a relationship, one that can last for years.

Until next time,
Paulette - reflecting on the fact it's about them not you/me

www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
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Booklet Marketing Collaboration at Its Best

The following article is from a colleague and client of mine, Beth Woodward. It exemplifies the point she is making by doing collaborative marketing right here.

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When I think of marketing I first look at what makes me sing. I market through my strengths, which promotes a lot of positive energy. For me, collaboration is key along with helping others gain visibility and giving back. Let me give you an example.

One marketing vehicle I chose to use is ‘article collaboration’ across the globe. It is very simple. The first collaboration is swapping articles to benefit your readers through your ezines or blogs. I’ve established guidelines to article submission and you’re welcome to use mine. http://marketingontheplayground.com/articles/Article-Guidelines-2009.pdf

The point is, your article will drive traffic to your website and here begins the 2^nd part of the collaboration.

Driving traffic to your website for what? Increasing your database is one good reason and another is to bring visibility to the booklet you want to sell. Here is where the 2^nd part of the collaboration is really key. Invite professionals to be a part of your booklet promotion. This is where I have the opportunity to help others gain visibility. At the bottom of your article you have a signature line that leads your reader to your website. Here’s an example.

• Create a website page with free offers to register in your database.
  See this link. http://marketingontheplayground.com/articlepromo.html
• Create a thank-you page with free offers from other professionals when they purchase your booklet.
• The professionals’ free offers lead to their products, giving them visibility
• A percentage of the proceeds can go to help an organization you are passionate about. This is the ‘giving back’ portion that I enjoy.

Now, you can also do the opposite. You become one of those professionals donating your booklet to a product sale. You can…

1. Give your booklet away and use it as a marketing promotion to further your business.
2. Create a tips sheet on how to make a booklet for your give-away promo. On your thank you page let them know about your booklet. I have combined my thank you page with my sales page for my e-storybook, Marketing Ideas For Women In Business (the guys like it too)

What type of marketing do you enjoy? Bring that up front first and create your marketing steps from there. Article marketing happens to be one of the top ways to build your business.

Receive your complimentary 5-Step e-Course On Marketing YOUR Way. http://tinyurl.com/ye34h6j

Beth Woodward, CPCC, Chief Executive Kid

Marketing On The Playground

beth@marketingontheplayground.com

www.MarketingOnThePlayground.com

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Who can be good collaborators for you? Approach them today like Beth Woodward did with me. Look what happens!

Until next time,

Paulette - delighted to bring you good stuff from other people

www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
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Booklet Buyers and Timing

What story are you telling yourself about the perfect time to contact large-quantity buyers? You might be saying it's too late or too early or the wrong time of year or the perfect time of year. In some industries, yes, there is an ideal time to approach them. If you miss it, you'll probably need to wait a year for the next point in their cycle. Calendar companies are a perfect example of that. They are more than a year ahead in planning, manufacturing, and distributing their calendars. If you have a booklet or other product you want a calendar company to consider, that's the kind of lead time you're looking at.

Sometimes logic gets in the way of taking action rather than supports it. A booklet author who wrote a booklet for college students was happily surprised when a college made a fast decision to purchase a quantity of his booklets in the spring for the incoming students arriving in late summer. The entire transaction took about 6 weeks - record speed for such a purchase. Other colleges could have a similar process that happens in January or some other point in the year. This particular one happened in the spring.

Let your clients and prospective clients be the ones to tell you what their timing is about rather than you attempting to second-guess it. Stay in motion, filling your pipeline with people and organizations who are interested in what you have when they are ready.

Until next time,
Paulette - who can't even count the number of guesses that have been off the mark, in a good way

www.CollectionOfExperts.com
www.PublishingProsperity.com
www.tipsbooklets.com
Follow me www.twitter.com/pauletteensign