When Should You Give Free Consultations or strategy Sessions?

The most valuable commodity of any expert is your time. Why? Because as an expert, in only a few minutes, you are able to save someone a huge amount of time and headache by sharing your expertise.

A recent conversation caused me to w

rite you this post to assist you in your own business development. Learn from a mistake I made – and I should have known better!

The husband of one of my affiliates is considering writing a book. That in itself is a good thing! My affiliate told him that I coa

ch entrepreneurs on how to write a book, which of course is very

much true.

I broke one of my own rules, and I will not break it again.

This affiliate has not made a purchase from me. Why I mention this is because I offer a $500 value strategy session with me as a gift inside of my products. That means by the time you meet with me about author coaching or business mentoring or story coaching, you are already a buyer, not a freebie seeker.

Some business mentoring for you:

I don’t sell coaching through a sales page. only offer coaching after I’ve had a consultation. This allows me to decide whether I believe you are a good candidate for author coaching. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not up to the client to choose the coach, it’s important for the coach to screen and select the best clients.

When I worked for someone else, I inherited a LOT of “problem children” because he took anyone who would throw money at him, and many of those people were expecting too much done for them. (One of many reasons I am SO glad I work totally for myself is I get to screen my own clients instead of inheriting people who want me to serve them their completely formed business on a diamond-encrusted platinum platter when they are only paying for a guidebook for how to write a book served in a wooden goblet).

When I Offer A Complimentary Consultation

In the past, I used to offer a strategy session to

1. Anyone who bought a product/service from me.
2. Anyone at a live event with me.
3. Anyone who came via one of my trusted allies.

Now, I typically give free strategy sessions under only 2 circumstances.

1. I include a consultation as a bonus inside a product.
2. We meet at a live event and I give you a consultation/strategy session.

In other words, I do not generally (except that I broke my own rule last week) give a free consult to an ally or affiliate. Experience shows me that these are not necessarily good candidates. I have various ways for people to experience my systems in the form of free gifts, inexpensive products and classes first.

When you develop a system, stick to it!

as I said, I broke one of my own rules to be nice to an affiliate. I know better. Please don’t make my mistake.

Back to the conversation with the affiliate’s spouse. I met with him for about a half hour about his potential book-business. I gave him top-notch business mentoring during this time. At the end of the call, he asked for a discount, figuring he deserved one as the husband of an affiliate.

Warning bells went off in my head.

I should not have given him my valuable time.

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What I should have done was refer him to the Instant VIP Author Multimedia Home Study Program. (those are product links) Why? for several reasons.

The big ones are these::

1. Because he is not a proven buyer; he has not invested in himself and his book-business idea with me yet.
2. Because he immediately asked for a discount as if it were “owed to him” as an affiliate’s spouse, demonstrating he is more of a haggler than someone willing to truly invest in himself.,
3. Because he has not experienced any aspect of the teaching within my system.
4. Because a lot of his questions and concerns would be answered by knowing what and how I teach in the system and beginning to formulate his book idea before talking with me.
5. And remember, he would get a free strategy session anyway as a buyer of either the Instant Credibility ebook or the Instant VIP Author Multimedia Home Study Program. (both of those are links to my products available for purchase). So after either purchase, he would qualify himself to receive a half hour of my valuable time.

And here are a few other considerations as well. Keep in mind that coaching sessions are a half hour long and there is no “done for you” in it:

• I got the feeling what he wanted from coaching was for me to write FOR him or at least do some of the writing with him. That is an increased level of service, not coaching.
• I got the impression what he wanted was for me to read everything he wrote. Again, this is another level of service different from coaching.
• He wanted approval for his work. Deep down, everyone wants approval. However in terms of your book and business, approval is demonstrated by actions such as customers investing in you, media attention, and joint venture opportunities – not by your mentor.
• He wanted me to do his editing. Again, different service. Editing is not coaching.
• In other words, he would have treated coaching as if it were a “do it for you” service. I do offer ghostwriting and “write with you” services at a higher investment, and I am particular about the projects I take on.

What is coaching/mentoring?

For simplicity’s sake, I call the individual sessions where I guide you through writing your book coaching. People understand author coaching but not so much “author mentoring.” Not everybody has had guidance of that nature.

So, what is coaching?

I asked the would-be author if he ever had a child in little league or other sports.

He had.

“Did the coach ever pick up the bat and hit the ball FOR your child?”

“No.”

“Because that wouldn’t be coaching. That would be doing it FOR him. Coaching or mentoring is I teach you and give you the best possible tools, and you do the work.”

When I used to work on someone else’s team, he had a TON of clients who expected to pay for breakfast and be fed for a year. In other words, they bought a coaching package and expected their coach to spend hours and hours and hours doing things for them that they needed to do themselves.

There is no real way to guarantee coaching results, because I’m not coming to your house and forcing you to sit down at the keyboard to do your market research, formulate your business and write your book. Can I do that? Yes, but it will cost you exponentially more than hiring me to coach you. use the contact form to ask me about this extra special service.

the Deeper Issue for Many Would-Be Entrepreneur Authors

First understand that what I’m about to share is NOT a criticism of this person or anyone who feels similarly. Ultimately, this individual wanted things done for him because he lacks confidence in his message. He wants to write a book and simultaneously shrink into the background and hide behind someone else’s skill.

It’s common for a “messenger” who feels a strong desire to share your truth to feel uncertainty. After all, you’re about to be bold and brave and put your thoughts into print. You’re about to “take a stand” regarding what you believe.

Every entrepreneur author needs to develop your expert voice and your confidence. Remember, you are not only writing a book but building a business around it. You will share your message, promote your book, gain customers and in every other way grow your influence.

That means you are in charge of building your platform. Part of developing your business involves developing your expert voice. You gain confidence by speaking/writing/sharing your most important message over and over again.

I only take on ghostwriting or write it with you projects under certain conditions. Generally speaking, if you have an established platform and materials already “out there,” I will let you hire me, because you already have your business in place and your voice established.

The reason is because if I become your voice for you, I will cause you not to grow, and because you won’t have confidence in your message, you won’t get the media attention, instant VIP status, instant credibility, increase of customers and other benefits of becoming an author.

Although I might financially gain from taking on un-confident wannabe authors with no voice and no platform, I would not truly gain – and YOU would lose – because I would short-circuit your personal and business development.

My mission is to guide you through bringing out every ounce of greatness within you out into the light so you can be whom you are meant to be.

I hope that sharing how I re-learned a lesson I should have known will profit you.

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How to Write a Book Title that Sizzles

recently, I talked with Frank Liz (@SelfMadeMiracle on Twitter), one of my coaching clients, about his upcoming book. Naturally, he wants to be a #1 Best selling author, and he wants to sell a lot of books. Who wouldn’t? And he came to me to discover how to write a book that explodes his business and ensures readers come back to HIM for more.

We started talking about how to write a successful book. Your book needs these elements:

• It must be a good book.
• You must give more “use value” – way more benefit – than the cost of the book.
• You need to know your goal with the book before you start writing.
• You need to know your profit funnel before you start writing the book.
• You need to know your ideal customer better than he knows himself.
• You need to solve a BIG problem for your ideal customer.
• The book needs to be entrepreneurially sound so that it causes the reader to do business with you even if she doesn’t finish reading the book.
• The book needs a title that makes you drop everything to see what’s inside.

During our coaching sessions, Frank is developing his profit funnel, getting to know his customer, and choosing the big problem he is solving.

During our strategy session, we talked about these elements, and he asked me about a title. Naturally, you do not need the title before you write the book, but it is something any writer will consider early in the journey.

One of the books he mentioned was The 4–Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. This book spent 2 years on the New York Times Best Seller list and also hit #1 on both the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek Bestseller Lists.

What made that book such a hit? First of all, it is about a “sexy” topic. Who wouldn’t want to work less and earn more? Yet it’s not just about the topic…

But before any reader can dive into your book and get the most out of it, he has to see the TITLE. The 4-Hour Work Week is one of the best titles around because it’s speaking to a benefit is catchy and sexy.

The title of your book is a big deal. I am glad Frank Liz is working with me now VS later, because some of my clients have had HORRIBLE un-sexy, long, ungainly, unappealing titles (and have gone to #1 Bestseller anyway). But hey, let’s stack the odds in your favor.

The book title has an important job. It is the first thing you see (online or in a bookstore). And it MUST capture your attention enough so you will pick it up and check out the back cover.

I really love this video from Get Published TV:

 

• Short title (with subtitle).
• Long title.
• Shock title.
• Story/metaphor title.
• Twist on a common sayings.
• Series title.
• Personal brand title.

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Insider’s Look at the Instant Credibility System for How to Write a Book: How Can You Quickly & Easily Write a Book that Brings in Clients?

Ron Davies and I were talking at a live event recently. He told me that he had looked at someone’s authoring program but did not enroll.

“What stopped you signing up for the program?” I asked.

“I even talked to the guy for about a half hour, and he could never tell me what exactly was in his system.”

In an age of total transparency, you can’t be afraid to lay out your system. “Would you like me to share exactly and specifically what the Instant Credibility system involves?”

“Sure. Let’s set up a time.”

“Have you got 2 minutes right now?”

A beat. “Sure.”

“Then I have enough time to lay out the whole system. After that, you tell me if it makes sense to you. Is that all right with you?”

He agreed. I didn’t have a stopwatch, but I know the explanation took less than 90 seconds. Once I laid it out, I asked him, “Does that make sense to you?”

“Absolutely. And I see how it will build my business.”

“And does it sound like something you can do since you have the roadmap?” He agreed, and I told him how to get started.

And I’m about to share the whole Instant Credibility system with you now. Are you ready?

Read more

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