What Do You Think About Sales Training? Here's My Take...

The name of my upcoming course, book and workshop is “Sell More Stuff – How To Enjoy Selling Your Services, Get More Yes’s & Make More Profit.”  So who the hell am I and what gives me the right to train anyone in selling?

You have to understand that I’m a very private person.  To be honest I had to think more than twice about posting this.  On all the psychometric tests I score high as an introvert.  At age 17 I was diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer from fear – I was terrified of people. Remember I told you that…

My first business was at age 19 when moved from contributor to editor of a Superhero Fanzine, and actually made money!  It was an A5 stapled, black and white hobby magazine, we had contributors all over the world posting me their articles and material which I collated, edited, printed, and posted.  Eventually we got the thing turned into a full colour magazine which sold on the shelves of John Menzies [if you remember that shop].  Buyers paid their subscriptions by Postal Order [remember them?] and they were all enthusiasts about the niche.  They had an irrational passion  [that becomes important later…]

My Dad was a bank manager for The Trustee Savings Bank Of Scotland [now Lloyds TSB] and I watched him dealing with the public, taking Her majesty's prisoners out at weekends to visit their families, and knocking on doors to collect loan payments.  He was considered a pillar of the community.  We celebrated my 18^th birthday when he took me to a company called Northwest Securities and got me a car loan.  That was where the rot started. When he died in 1991 [on the same day as Freddie Mercury] there was no insurance, no savings and just debts.  Looking back i shouldn't have been surprised.

My first real job was in the Department of Social Security as a Pensions officer.  In that civil service role people had no choice but to come to us, but it taught me a lot about customer service and looking after people.  We dealt with State Pensions, Income Support, Death Grants [Here’s a whopping £30 Mrs Smith – sorry for your loss] and Widow’s Benefit.  The Department just wanted endless cases done efficiently and correctly, whereas I wanted to help people and feel good about myself.   They introduced a computerised system in 1989 and we helped pilot it.  Later we were asked [as we were now experts!] if we would conduct training sessions to roll it out through the other departments.  I volunteered because that meant I would have to stand up in front of my peers and run workshops.  Bricking it!  Turns out I loved doing it and the workshops went down a storm.  And I got a wee bonus in my salary for doing it [but was sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone].

By that point I was writing positive thinking newsletters for the civil service newsletter.  One night a member of the Benefit Fraud Team held me by the throat against a wall at an office party and told me to stop rocking the boat.  That was it for me.  I lasted seven years before I couldn’t take it anymore.

By this time I had a gorgeous black XR31 [remember them?], a flat, a stunning girlfriend and big circle of friends.  And even more debt.  And I’d just quit my job.  

Then a handwritten note came though my door “Earn Extra Income – phone this number.”  I was desperate so I called.  That was my introduction to MLM and my friend and mentor Alan.  Party plan style copy perfumes.  Seriously. Imagine a room lit by scented candles, me, 12 beauty therapists and a bottle of Anais Anais talcum powder.  Good times J  And how did I get those bookings?  I did what Alan did – I put hand written notes through people’s letterboxes, and put postcard ads up in  newsagents' windows for 50p per week.  Within a year I had a team and moved up the ranks, went to the ra ra conferences and wore my shiny Regional Director badge with pride.

My Dad had died, my brother was a struggling actor and I was up to my eyeballs in debt so I figured I needed to handle money – fast!  So I became a Financial Adviser cos I figured they knew how to handle money.  I started in Canada life - on a basic salary for 3 months then commission only, so it meant hardcore sales.  I went through [what I now know was outdated] sales training and it was pretty brutal.  Everyone had to stand on the desk and make calls and you could only get down if you got an appointment.  The XR3i had to go and I was parking my battered old Volkswagen Jetta where clients couldn’t see it.  Make calls, secure appointments, meet the client, complete the fact find, go away and prepare a solution, go back and see them and try to get a signature.  Hated every minute, but I needed the money.

Unfortunately my low level of sales didn’t justify them keeping me on, so I moved to Friendly Society based in Twickenham.   I was the only Financial Adviser for the whole of Scotland, doing 3000 miles a month.  This was more me, until I ploughed the company Peugeot 306 into a bus in Glasgow one day.   Generate leads, get the appointment, conduct fact finds, present solutions, ask for the order.  I had more autonomy and the jaunts to Twickenham every month were fun, but I still wasn’t happy in a suit and tie trying to sell life insurance – a product everyone needed but no one wanted.  They had an introducer in every prison in Scotland who made appointments for me [they got a finder’s fee of course] and I ran seminars [with a memorised script and teeny weeny projector slides – remember them?] for prison officers.  We had an irresistible offer of 8% pa interest and guaranteed money back so we went through shed loads of Bonds so it was a pretty easy sale.

Then I got an offer from Norwich Union – I would be fed warm leads by head office, all I had to do was turn up. Another week of albeit better sales training but still pretty old school.  Again covering the whole of Scotland in a gorgeous Vauxhall Vectra with the flared wing mirrors [remember them?] and a car phone.  A fricking car phone! Despite training with three different companies, the format was usually the same.  Memorising product knowledge, painful role-playing sessions and awful telephone scripts practised rote fashion by phoning from my hotel room to my manager in the room next door. The queue of jittery rookies watching you while you squirm in the spotlight.  I think lasted a year – long enough to get my Advanced Financial Planning qualification.

This was the time I launched my part time side hustle.  I called it 'Therapeutic Interventions' cos I had no idea what to call it.  My brilliant marketing strategy [because it had worked before] was to put postcard adverts into every newsagent window along Great Western Road in Glasgow.  My fee was £25 per hour only because the longest running Hypnotherapist in Glasgow was charging £20 per hour and I figured it was time for a new kid on the block.  I picked exam stress, learning problems and Photoreading as my offerings.  Little did I realise I was advertising 2 months before the exams in the student district of the city.  I was inundated.

By this point [thanks to the network marketing] I was addicted to personal growth audiotapes [remember them?] NLP especially -   Neuro Linguistic Programming - and all of the aforementioned  cars had been my “universities on wheels.” By 1997 I had attended 3 different NLP Practitioner trainings and was qualified by three different companies.  Their sales techniques were more consultative and were built of the basis of unconscious rapport and eliciting the client’s buying strategies.  Fascinating stuff and still leading edge in 1997.  The rapport skills changed my life.  Seriously.

One of my highest values is freedom [that’s important later] and with my girlfriend’s blessing and encouragement, I quit my last employed job and launched my own full time therapy business. In my first month self-employed I made the same money as I had the previous month employed.  By month two it doubled.  And it just kept going up and up…  In my first year I earned £9813.  If you can’t make a MINIMUM of £9813 in your first year self employed then I’ll have ZERO sympathy for you.  See I was enthusiastic about my service, I gave public workshops and talks, and tried every marketing method I could think of.  All of my therapy clients had pain and urgency.  That helps.

Having burned out my school-learned terror of public speaking in the DSS and in every prison in Scotland, I started doing public seminars in the areas of personal development that I was so passionate about.  All of my self-help workshop attendees were passionate about self-help.  This felt like easy street.

Later I broke into corporate training mainly from corporate employees doing my public workshops then going back to their boss raving about it.  I sold myself into Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Virgin, and many other household names.  For four figures a day.  And after they’d signed the contract they’d always say “OK so now you’ve got the sale, tell me what you were doing with the foot tapping thing!"

NLP Trainers Training in 2001 taught a model of marketing your business and it fitted me very well – less working one on one, more working one on many.  I also joined the local BNI chapter [Business Networking International] as a Hypnotherapist/Life Coach.  That was a hard thing for them to understand but I learned a lot about networking and it filled my practice.  At this point I made a mistake and quit the networking group because I was too busy, when I should have trained some associates and grown the business.

In 2003 I hired one of the UK's most expensive business turnaround experts and worked with him for 3 years.  He had his own sales methodology and considering he once filled a room with 55 business owners each paying £35,000 a head for a five day course, I knew he was the guy to model.  My NLP course was £1500 for 7 days so he was a good role model.  As a result of working with a Coach my income doubled.  We were jetting off to Hawaii every 6 months, I started writing books…

Then the 2008 recession started to hurt my business and at the same time I could see the oncoming decline in demand for NLP, so I had to reinvent or “pivot” and grow a whole new business from scratch by offering something every business needs - marketing.  Let me tell you a quick story about how the 2008 recession slashed my income by 60%  But now I never have to worry about the economy ever again…

I was trying to keep my business going while the credit crunch was crippling my industry, clients were holding onto their money as the impending crash loomed closer and I was a first time Dad into the bargain.  I was struggling with juggling work, business and family all at the same time.  I was getting more and more anxious and burned out.  I was also frustrated and behind on my bills.

Then the bottom fell out from under me when all of my corporate clients started slashing their training budgets and the big 4 figure paydays vanished.  Which meant I couldn't give my new family the life I promised them.  I’d told my wife it was fine for her to give up work permanently and be a stay at home mum cos the business was growing on average 30% per year, every year.  Until now.

But I wasn't ready to give up on my dream of having work/life balance, the freedom of running my own business on my terms, and going to Hawaii every 6 months.  Throughout my career I have studied and used advanced influencing techniques.  Then I discovered the truth about why people buy – the psychology of sales - and everything changed.

• First of all I mastered training other people in how to send me all the warm introductions I wanted.
• I also learned how to create sales messages that drove people to action and got them to click "BUY" on my 17 websites
• Plus I already knew how to build trust and rapport with virtually anyone… so my appointments halved and my sales doubled.  This meant I could now live my dream of working from home with a rejuvenated business.  

Ultimately I’ve been able to make a huge difference in people's lives in many different areas, including my wife and son's.  This meant I now had the power to use my passion for learning and training to have a huge impact on the business world.

I even returned to BNI in 2010 and in my 7th year became chapter president of the top performing chapter in the region, one of the 2 Regional Trainers responsible for teaching networking skills to all the new members and a Director Consultant recruiting members and launching chapters.  I also went back into MLM and in my last network marketing venture I built a team of 104 people and qualified for a free car in 37 days.

By 2017 I was in the top 3% of BNI members, before being conned out of thousands of pounds by 2 fellow members.  Unbelievably I got dismissed by email then told I was essentially gagged for 2 years and couldn’t use my training anywhere else.  Must be some good shit if they didn’t want me teaching it to anyone!  To think I had breakfast at silly o’clock with the same group of people every week for 7 years and only one of the 25 members kept in touch.  Classy.  BNI likes to portray stories of chapters rallying round their fellow members but all I got was bad mouthed.  

Karma's a bitch though, isn't it?

Hurt and gutted to the core, I nursed my wounds for two months then joined ClubFive55 networking group, and my business quintupled! I get to sleep longer, make more money and meet nicer people!

Nowadays I use speaking, networking and marketing and only work with clients who know what I do, want what I do and can afford it.

The way I sell myself now bears no resemblance to the way I was taught to in my financial services days.  That was more a source of what NOT to do.  Having a phone sellotaped to my head until I got a sale.  Tasked with making 100 sales calls a day.  Horror stories that most people have heard, some have experienced, [and some even enjoy] but if I’m honest, I LOATHED and DETESTED every minute of it.

Most of what I was taught in traditional sales was Seduction.  What actually works in the real world is Attraction.  And that’s what I’m going to share with you here.  “Sell More Stuff” is my latest thinking on selling skills and sales training – but with a difference.

So I honestly feel I've earned the right to train people in sales skills that work today. I’ve used the last few weeks to put together a FREE Cheatsheet and video called “Why They Buy – How To Attract More Paying Customers” which goes into the psychology of what makes people buy stuff and gives you the exact criteria you need to pull in more eager clients who are ready to buy from you.  Email me at admin@instantedge.co.uk if you’d like a copy because it absolutely can transform your customer base if you let it. 

Fear-Based Decisions Are Bad for Business

At one point, every business owner will find him or herself in a troubling situation. Revenue is down. New clients are scarce. Profits are falling, and a peek at the financials is enough to bring on a full-fledged anxiety attack.   

Unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates, chances are you’ve experienced that sinking feeling of a business that’s trending downward, too. But how you handle it can mean the difference between continued success and business-killing burnout.

Here’s where a lot of business owners start to self-sabotage. They start to worry about money, and that worry leads to poor decisions that ultimately have a negative impact not just on finances, but—maybe more importantly—on morale, too. Or feeling surrounded by competition and giving up the ghost.   Maybe you know what I’m talking about.

Wasting hours of your life enduring Business Networking meetings and coming away with nothing to show for it.  Or fruitless meeting after meeting and you dreading coming home for you partner to ask how it went…

You Take On the Wrong Calibre Of Client

Let’s be honest here – we might hate to admit it, but we all know there IS a difference between low-end clients and high-end clients. In my experience, the customers who plead poverty and haggle prices with you cause you the most grief and are the most demanding.  The clients who didn’t even ask about price are prompt, do their homework and are delightful.  [Makes you wonder what kind of customer YOU are…]

Now when money is tight, it can be tough to keep your ideal client avatar in mind. Instead, you jump at the chance to work with anyone who comes along. The trouble with this scenario is you are so desperate that you pounce at the slightest whiff of a sale.  There’s an old saying that “Bad salesmen have skinny kids” because the client can smell your desperation.  That also makes you feel awkward and sleazy in case you’re coming across like a predatory double glazing salesman from the 70’s.  Then you can find yourself with a roster full of clients who:

·       Aren’t willing or able to do the work you ask them to

·       Spend all their time telling you why your ideas and advice won’t work, or finding fault with every detail

·       Drain your energy and make you dread your office, or cringe when their name appears on your phone.

True story - When I wrote my first book “Ignite & Unshackle” in 2006 I had this one chap who hounded me to get one of the first copies.  I mean he emailed me daily, phoned every other day, chasing chasing chasing… for 3 weeks.  As soon as the box arrived I carefully packaged the book up in its cellophane wrapper, inserted a thank you letter and the 3 free CD’s that went with it into a padded jiffy bag and took it to the post office, paid extra to send it recorded delivery and emailed him to say it was on its way. 

Three days later I got the book back in the mail, still in its cellophane, with a post it note saying “I changed my mind.”  But he kept the free cd’s!  Jeez man if you just wanted the cd’s you could have asked for them!

You Stop Creating

And who can blame you? With profits down, you have to pull back. You can’t afford to spend time and money creating new programmes or offers, so you recycle the ones you’ve already produced.

Now, this would be ideal if you were repurposing with a positive intent. Turning your e-book into a group coaching course? Perfect! But that’s not what your fearful brain is telling you.

Your fearful self is saying, “Just re-release this same product again, so I don’t have to have new sales copy written or record new videos.”   And while this might help bring in a bit of cash short-term, it won’t do anything for your reputation or your self-esteem.

Errr… no. That’s no way to operate a business, but that’s just what a fear-based mind-set can do to you. Better (much better) to make a MINDSHIFT and hold out for that perfect client. And while you’re waiting, take what you’ve learned from your drop in sales and create the killer product your audience is clamouring for!

That’s what I’ve done – I’ve used the last few weeks to put together a FREE Cheatsheet and video called “Why They Buy – How To Attract More Paying Customers” which goes into the psychology of what makes people buy stuff and gives you the exact criteria you need to pull in more eager clients who are ready to buy from you.  Email me at admin@instantedge.co.uk if you’d like a copy because it absolutely can transform your customer base if you let it. 

No more wasting time on low probability prospects who just use up your time or suck you dry.  These 7 factors will get you more yes’s, make selling feel more like helping  and fill you with confidence knowing you’re helping your ideal clients solve problems which they gladly pay you for. 

Sales Techniques To Make More Money From Your Business

Try the Profit Growth Calculator for yourself at https://instantedgeonline.com/newprofit

Leadership

A collective group of 10 like minded entrepreneurs who decided not to wait to be told how and when they should come out of lockdown...



https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leadership-growth-hotseat-tickets-111561980888

Leadership & Growth Hotseat

 Are you feeling the effects of Mental Lock Down? Move from a stuck Mindset to a flowing Mindshift with a collective of ambitious thinkers to help grow your business...



https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leadership-growth-hotseat-tickets-111561852504

Virtual 360 Tours Of Your Location

Glasgow Business Coach Shares The £150k Treasure map

Latest Podcast outlines the £150k game plan I came up with for a client

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 7 - Creating A Meeting Continued

Here's the next video I recorded a year ago on using Zoom - hope you find them useful

5 Ways Writing Your Book Will Build Your Marketing Nous

Writing a good book is the first step. The next step is actually selling some copies! Gone are the days when the big publishers scheduled book tours for you,  booked you television interviews, and secured radio appearances. Big name authors still get these perks, but most "mere mortal" authors are responsible for their own marketing activities, so having a game plan up front gets you out there, and might even land you a publishing deal.  

Here are 5 things you can do...

1. Get yourself in the spotlight. No more skulking behind the keyboard if you want to make book sales! Be proud of what you’ve achieved and tell the world. Nobody will know about your new book unless YOU tell them about it, using your social media channels, maybe a press release, and any other publicity events you can manage. And a quick reminder: You can’t please everyone so keep your target audience avatar in mind. Don’t listen to the prophets of doom - pay attention only to the feedback from your fans.

2. Well written press releases and buzz-worthy news. What better way to tell the world about your new book than to write a press release. But to prevent your press release from getting forgotten at the bottom of the pile, learn how to write one so your book is seen as newsworthy. In media pitches, mention how you are different from the competition and why you’re the best choice as the ideal interview guests. Of course you want the publicity, but craft your releases and pitches so they come across as a win-win relationship.

3. Practice your diary management. Scheduling interviews, in-person book readings, book signing events, a book launch party, and social media promotion takes a fair bit of planning and patience. Add some travelling into the mix and you may want to consider hiring a virtual assistant and/or travel agent to handle flights and accommodation. Guest interviews can be cancelled or booked at the drop of a hat so your plans can change with one email. Always have a Plan B if a scheduled event is cancelled so your time isn’t wasted.

4. Continue connecting with your social media fans. Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to growing followers online. It’s all about know, like and trust so your fans feel that you are credible and not trying to 'buy' them. Build that relationship, share parts of your personal life and/or business, be human, and naturally enthuse about your book. Just don’t post "buy my new book" every 5 minutes.  Show them behind the scenes [ in-to-me-see]  that you’re a normal, approachable person who cares about helping them more than about book royalties.

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We have a programme that turns you into a published author with your own book, your own webinar, your own social media presence, your own online course and a whole lot more.  Get our £150k treasure map at 

https://instantedge.lpages.co/guru-factory/

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5. Start planning now and use a mind map to structure your marketing plan. Authors need to market as hard and as long as they wrote.  If you want to sell books and expand your fan base, a marketing strategy is important. Start early by brainstorming your ideas and then decide which of these ideas you do in which order for your book launch. Consider outsourcing any tasks you don’t know how to accomplish so you can do what you're good at. Save those tasks that you love or at least know how to finish for yourself.

If you’re overwhelmed by this solo marketing approach, consider hiring help, either an assistant with marketing and publicity experience or a Marketing Coach. Stick to a budget but make sure you get news of your book out there in as many ways as you can.

Final point - if writing is part of your business, remember its best selling book, not best written.  Amazon doesn't care about the content, it cares about number of sales first, reviews second.

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 6 - Creating A Meeting

For anyone still trying to get their head around Zoom

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 5 - Adding free users

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 5 - Adding free users to your paid account

Business Networking For Introverts - Part 1

Business Networking For Introverts - Part 1. Extract from my "Turn Your Contacts Into Contracts" online course, which applies as much online as it does offline.

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 4 - Calendar Your Meetings

Nifty way to turn normal diary appointments into Zoom meetings

Beginners' Guide To Zoom Part 3 - Meeting Settings

Here's part 3 in my Beginners' Guide To Zoom video series  -this time looking at your meeting settings

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 2 - Zoom Plans and Pricing

Here's the 2nd video in the series of beginner's guide tutorials on how to use Zoom to make video calls, create information products like online courses and hold webinars.   Please comment if you found it useful, like the video and share it with anyone who needs to keep in contact with friends, family and colleagues using video conferencing.

Beginner's Guide To Zoom - Part 1 Overview

If you're looking to stay in touch with people right now, you might be hearing about Zoom.  Here's a quick overview that I made a year ago to help Zoom newbies

Money book launch and blatant bribe...

I'm launching my new "Meant To be Rich" book shortly and I'm inviting you to join my early bird list, and as a blatant bribe you get my 7 Ways To Manifest More Money challenge free...


 https://instantedge.lpages.co/book-vip-7-ways-challenge/ 

#moneymindset #moneymanagement # money #moneymaker #savingmoney

Easy Way To Turn Debt Into Success...

FACT - after the Christmas and New Year sales, thousands of shoppers end up with more than a sickening hangover.  

According to The Guardian, one person in eight has no idea how they're going to cover the costs of the festivities after the dust has settled. In fact, almost 2 million people who used credit cards to Christmas shop in 2019 will STILL be paying off their Yuletide bills in December 2020.

So what's your gut reaction to that? My hunch is that being broke and fearful of the future is the opposite of what you're looking for. And all of my business colleagues are being careful about what they buy, because let's face it, we're just been through a very expensive time of year...

In an online survey that I'm currently running the biggest stressor people complain about is never having enough money. People want to know the quickest, legal way to get out of debt, and how to make more money. 

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

If you haven't taken part in the survey, you can do so at the link below. There's a chance to win a free seminar place in February just for taking part

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/T7HLF8T

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

These are just two of the solutions I'll be covering on my 7 Day FREE Facebook Challenge starting January 20th. 7 WAYS TO MANIFEST MORE MONEY In Your Business

If you want to get back in control of your money instead of it controlling you, please give yourself this gift. You can sign up to take part at zero cost at

https://instantedge.lpages.co/7-ways-challenge/

Trust me, I've been there. I passed my Economics exam in 6th year. I was a qualified Financial Adviser. My Dad was a Bank Manager, and yet I've parked my car 3 streets away so it wouldn't be repossessed. I've had to hand back a loaf on the conveyor belt in the supermarket cos I didn't have enough. I've dreaded the red letters coming through my door. If that rings any bells with you then you need to be there. On the other hand, if you have plenty of savings in the bank [assuming your bank is still in business], your investments are growing [hopefully] and you owe nobody nothing, then you don't need me.

Now the last time I ran this seminar was 4 years ago, and a lot has changed since then. This new version will be better. We've already got the number of attendees we wanted, but there's room for a couple more if you're quick. 

Hope to see you on the 20th :-)

Take care,

Jonathan

P.S. How big will your credit card bill be at the end of January? 

5 Ways Writing a Book Will Help You to Unshackle Your Latent Creative Genius

How often have you told yourself, “I’m not a creative person?” Have you gaped at the creativity of young kids playing together, wondering where on earth they conjure up these fantastic ideas? Creativity doesn’t wither and die completely as we grow up; we just don’t use it quite as much as we did as children. Mainstream schooling also doesn’t place a priority on creative arts because teachers are made to prioritise the curriculum and marking papers. If you want to kindle your creative juices once again, write a book.

Naturally, before you start writing a best-selling epic fantasy series, it helps to prepare an outline and know what topic you’ll write about. You get pantsers and plotters.  Pantsers make it up by the seat of their pants.  Plotters like structure and a skeleton outline so they can fill in the blanks.   I recommend you use the latter approach.  If you’re knowledgeable in a particular area, it makes sense to write about your expertise so your business will grow. But even if you want to try your hand at a fictional novel, its best to approach writing a book [like any other project] with a solid plan.

Here are five ways you can ignite your latent creative muse by writing a book:

1. Use the brain dump method to empty your head of too many ideas. 

Studies have proven that multitasking actually diminishes productivity, so rather than trying to write your book while all these other great ideas are floating around in there, take a notebook and just start writing everything down. Capture EVERYTHING, including calling the dentist for an appointment to calling your mother for a chat. Whatever is taking up space in your brainbox should be downloaded onto that paper. A great phrase I heard years ago – “Llet paper remember so you can forget”.  Now that you’ve released these thoughts onto paper, focus solely on writing your book. You’ll discover the writing process is easier when you’re able to focus on just one task instead of two dozen to dos.

2. Open the creativity box to release other ideas. 

So often we get stuck with one idea in our minds and it’s difficult to focus on anything else. Transform that one great idea into a book… then pay attention to related creative ideas that bubble to the surface afterward. There’s an unconscious reason why you can’t move past your book idea and focus on other things; it’s your mind’s way of telling you to follow through and see where it takes you. When your book is finished and you have some time to chill out is often when you’ll get your next inspirational eureka moment.

3. Writing itself is a creative problem-solving process. 

When was the last time you made a pros/cons list to help you make a decision? Or a to-do list to track your daily tasks? Or mind mapping to plan the growth of your business? These are simple examples of how writing is used to solve challenges. Writing out the details of our problem allows us to clarify exactly what has to happen when and it’s then easier to see connections and solutions to these problems.  I mindmap everything!

4. Practice makes perfect. 

Even though there’s no such thing as perfection, this old adage holds true. The more you write, the easier the process becomes. Writing content for your audience will become easier because you have the practice and you’ve done the research to know what your audience is seeking. TIP – what are your prospects’ top five headaches?  Write about that.

5. Embrace the idea of learning something new every day. 

The best books are those that are well researched, so embrace that research phase to unleash your creativity. Discover new facts, new resources, or new theories. Carry this idea over into your personal life and mix up your daily routines to try new things. Listen to audiobooks on Audible.  Read Kindle books on your phone.  Explore your surroundings, take the long way route from the gym, or explore a new town you randomly choose from a map. Your brain will thank you for making it work differently, simply because you stirred things up.

Creativity is latent inside all of us. The process of igniting that creativity and using it to create a business you love will be unique for every person but promises to yield great rewards.

We have a way to get a non-fiction book written and ready to sell on Amazon in 3 hours.  Get in touch if you’d like to talk to me about how that’s done.

5 Ways to Become a Local Celebrity with Your New Book

Even if you have built your business mainly online and that’s where you uncover the bulk of your clients, local marketing should not be overlooked. In addition to your online marketing strategy, promoting your new book in the local area can bring you “local celebrity” status while boosting your following.

Bear in mind, these tips may not bring in boatloads of book sales but they’ll go a long way to growing your name recognition within your local community. As well as book sales, you might attract some new clients and you’ll definitely gain more social media fans.

1. Hold local book signings at libraries or book stores. Don’t forget your hometown roots! Publishing a book is quite an achievement not everyone can claim, so blow your own trumpet to the people who know you best. Meet and greets at any location allow you to promote your book while also building your fan base.

2. Appear at Community events. Many local communities or towns hold Community events and festivals during the summer and autumn months. Review those calendars well in advance and be prepared to invest a small fee to set up a table with your book available for purchase. Print out bookmarks or other handouts that include your social media handles so they can connect with you after the event; I always found that raffles and prize draws offering your book as the prize gets the best types of leads.

3. Speak at local schools about your journey to becoming an author. Many schools hold career days so watch for those events or call the schools directly to volunteer. This isn’t so much a chance to sell your book but to talk about your path to becoming an author. Carry handouts with your name, book title, and social media handles so the kids can pass them along to their parents. This is also a great opportunity to leave information at the schools for the faculty. You just never know where your next client will come from!  It's all about visibility.

4. Volunteer locally with your Chamber of Commerce or other business networking groups. Many Chambers have different committees on which to serve and other business networking groups (such as Club Five55) have top table positions available every year. Again, these types of positions are not about selling books but offer you the chance to contribute to your community while expanding your name recognition.  Local business networking groups are bringing money into that community.

5. Use your book as a fundraiser. Choose a cause that’s dear to your heart and dedicate a percentage of sales to be donated. Donating to a local charity or hospice may stir more interest because of the hometown roots. Or donate a copy or two of your books to auction events held by local PTAs, scouting troops, or religious organisations. Very often these organisations will distribute a list of their benefactors, so that’s yet another way to increase your name recognition.

Marketing your book should be a continuous discipline, both online and offline. The more people you can reach through the differing avenues, the more likely you’ll see increases in sales, new clients, and social media fans.

At The Instant Edge we help authors whose books aren't the spectacular success they hoped they would be, and budding authors who want to get published and build a platform so they can get paid well to share a message and make a difference.  Learn more at http://www.instantedge.co.uk/

Congratulations, 2019 NaNoWriMo Winner!

Very proud of myself - 55,000 word novel written in November during National Novel Writing Month, all very late at night and at weekends.

 

5 Ways to Get 1,000 New Fans with Your New Book

Now that you’ve got your book written, you might be wondering what comes next. Now is the time to start shouting from the rooftops about your new baby because if you don’t tell folk about it, they simply won’t know it exists. And contrary to popular belief, just because your book is available on Amazon doesn’t mean it will show up in gazillions of Amazon searches.

Part of becoming an author nowadays also means becoming a marketing expert. Most authors think that all they have to do is write a book and gold bullion will fly out of their laptops! WRONG! You need to market for as long and as hard as you wrote the blooming thing! Hiring a public relations Company is certainly one option, but for many authors – especially first time authors – PR firms are just not affordable. The key is to gain recognition and get your name seen by as many people as possible, which means writing pitches to those influencers who have access to your ideal audience.

 1. Schedule a real or "virtual" book tour. This "take a deep breath" campaign requires lots of footwork and research combined with some travel expertise to be successful. Target big bookstores as well as independent bookstores in areas where your ideal readers are located. Bookstores are interested in how your book will bring people in to their shops so include a synopsis of your book in your pitch. Also outline your social media plans and how they will align with their current social media campaigns. Bear this in mind: Scheduling tours in big cities is best done well in advance because big name authors do a lot of these. "Virtual" book tours are webinars or Facebook lives held every week for a set number of weeks and the whole thing is done online. No travel, no seedy hotels and no sore feet.

 2. Schedule television and radio interviews. While planning your book tour, make the effort to reach out to local television and radio stations to land interviews; of course, finding the best contact is paramount so you’re not wasting time. Decide which type of segment or topic you’re best suited for and do your research on specific programmes, hosts, and producers. Most of this will be available online, or start listening to local channels in the car more! Make yourself stand out from the rest of the pitches by including any relevant fun facts or ties to that local area. And don’t think any show is too big for you to land; I know a virtual assistant who landed a an interview spot on a major radio show simply because she took a punt and answered an open call specific to her niche

 3. Arrange blog tours and podcast tours. This is another version of the "virtual" tour - Don’t discount blogs or podcasts as part of your promotional campaign. A blog tour is simply a written interview which is published on a blog but they usually include contact links to your website. Podcasts are audio recordings, similar to traditional radio talk shows, available for free from platforms such as iTunes and Anchor. Research who the influencers are in your industry and check out their numbers of readers and listeners. Many blogs or podcasts have national reach so those are the ones to target with your pitch.

 4. Create social media events around your book launch. You already have a following so don’t forget about inviting them to watch parties or other local live events. Tell them about your new book; go live and read a chapter aloud to build interest; create custom hashtags and ask you followers to share about your book and live events; create an online panel discussion with other authors or colleagues to discuss your book’s topic. Being consistent and present on social media when your book launches is vitally important to build up your momentum. All of your fans want to know more about you so don’t disappear.

 5. Embrace new social media platforms and/or advertising avenues. Utilising as many social media platforms as possible will greatly increase your chances of gaining new fans but only if your target audience uses those platforms. The first rule of fishing is to find a river with fish in it. Perform some market research first before learning another platform. If you’re happy with your current social media accounts, focus instead on their advertising features. Facebook, for example, offers ads along with Sponsored Posts. Knowing the difference and how best to use them to target your audience will find you many more fans. You have an awesome book, now it’s time to show the world how much you know on the subject and how much you can help your audience with this information. Planning any kind of national publicity is time consuming but a worthwhile effort when you think about how many people you’ll attract to your brand.

 And yes we can help you do all of this as part of our Guru Factory programme. Take a look and let's chat http://www.instantedge.co.uk/

Glasgow business coaching

Have more people like you more

     Rapport is that state where you connect, know, and trust somebody.  You’ve probably had times when you’ve clicked with people, you’ve instantly hit it off and you get on, yes?  You’ve probably also had times where you’ve talked to somebody and it’s just not happening – you think "who is this Martian?"  And you just can’t relate to this person at all, right?

     Rapport is a skill, and it’s the ability to create that connection with a complete stranger anytime you want to.  And the nice thing about it is, it’s not some kind of fluffy philosophy or technique or willy-nilly idea, it actually genuinely is a series of things that you can do, and you can tell when it’s working cos you get direct signals – you get signs that come back that are quantifiable and instantly visible and feel-able, from the person you’re getting rapport with, or the people you’re getting rapport with.  It works just as well in groups as it does face to face with one individual.

     Which tells you whether or not you’re getting on, which means you can tell if it’s working.  Now there’s an old quote that says everything in life you want is either owned by someone else or you’re going to need someone’s help to get it, so you’d better be good at building rapport.  It’s a fundamental skill.  Especially if you’re going to be doing therapy, coaching or consulting, because they’re only going to tell you their deepest, darkest fears if they know you, like you and trust you. 

     If you’re going to be using NLP & HGE™ for marketing and sales, then people will only do business with you cos they know you, like you and trust you.  If you’re going to be teaching or presenting, then you want your audience to know you, like you and trust you.  And quite frankly, as a teacher or trainer or educator, it’s much nicer to be standing in front of an audience who like you rather than an audience who don’t.  And you may know how that feels.

     In essence, Rapport skills are one of the fundamental skills that we teach on a training course because we firmly believe that if you have rapport, it makes your life a hell of a lot more pleasant and easier.  Which is the bottom line with all this stuff – the bottom line with NLP & HGE™ is that it lets you get more of the results you want in life more often, in more easier ways…

     OH and by the way, this is NOTHING to do with "make more eye contact" or "smile more".  Please!

    

     As a trainer or speaker, if you're going to stand in front of a group of people, you better have rapport with them or they will tear you to shreds.  At the least it will be uncomfortable for everyone.  Awkward silences,  no engagement, jokes fall flat and the students can't wait for it to be over.  And trust me if you're in front of a group like that and you're not hitting it off, it feels horrible.  Trust me, I've been there!

     As a Financial Adviser I used to have to do a fact-find, then go away and prepare a proposal, then come back and try and get the sale.  After I learned about Rapport, my appointments halved and my sales doubled.  When my manager asked me what I was doing, it led to my first proper paid training gig.

     As a Master Hypnotherapist I had to be able to create a "sacred space" where my new client would feel safe and trusting enough to tell me their deepest, darkest fears and concerns. That's ESSENTIAL  in helping professional context.  Some people are just people people who click with anyone.  I had to learn how to do that.

     When I did my Coaching training over 3 years back in 2001, they didn't cover Rapport anywhere!  If you're going to be that client's secret weapon and confidant, cajoling them, questioning them, holding them accoubnatble and walking with them as they reach their goals, YOU MUST HAVE RAPPORT.  many a coaching client is lost on the initial phone call or the first meeting because there's no rapport.

     

     OK so have I hammered this point home yet?  No rapport, no coaching.  No rapport, no checky :-)

     If you'd like to learn how do do this stuff, come and join me on Nov 10/11th - click here for details

For people who are serious about their personal growth...

  Maybe you’ve tried all the goal setting, the achiever, “if it’s to be it’s up to me” syndrome.  You’ve had the house, the car, the money in the bank, the social circle, the good job……and yet there’s still something missing?  

You see, goals without a higher purpose lack passion or deep meaning.  At some point you’ll ask yourself “Who I am?  Why am I here? What should I be doing with my life?”  Perhaps you have an inkling…..a hunch…that something more spiritual is the place to go next.  

Maybe you, like me, have a “calling” – that something calls to you for some inexplicable reason.  There’s a great quote that once said “Religion is what people do to avoid going to hell.  Spirituality is what people do once they’ve been there!”

  Now I’m not a psychiatrist or psychologist – but I have spent 25 years in personal development helping people transform their lives – I’ve learned and taught advanced techniques like NLP and Hypnosis.  But after a while I got frustrated with the lack of depth, there was something missing.  There had to be more….do you know what I mean?

  For me it was always about making changes.  If you’re not happy with the results you’re creating, then change what you’re doing.  Whining and complaining won’t make it any better, and nobody’s going to come and rescue you.  The sooner you realise it’s you, the better.  It’s what you do that counts.  So initially I did private therapy, and then started doing workshops to try and share this mindset with as many people as possible.

  Then in the late '90's I came across the blossoming field of Life Coaching, and saw a natural extension to what I was already doing.  NLP helped me to help my clients clear up the mental clutter and limitations that hold us all back.  Life Coaching looks at the external factors that make you who you are – your health and eating habits, your family relationships, your intimate relationships, your management of money, your environment, and your career.  Now I had ways of dramatically improving my own life, and the lives of others, on both the inside and the outside.

However, in a completely unregulated industry, people could simply read a book and call themselves a Life Coach.  Oh dear.

  Then you start to hit your late thirties, and true to the model you’re about to learn, the idea of spirituality starts calling to you.  Now it takes different forms for different people, and for me it was in a concealed body of knowledge and wisdom that had been banned until 1989, until laws were passed that allowed the Hawaiians to teach their original ways again.  Something about Huna attracted me, and for the first time in my life I could relate to what people often term “a calling”.  

  Huna balances you out, and gets you down out of your head and into your body again, grounding you.  Instead of being “the NLP guy”, I started to teach other concepts and principles that I’d picked up that seemed to make sense, and more importantly, consistently worked with everyone I shared them with. 

  That was always my core drive, and still is.  To help people.  Now I’m not a complete altruist, because it’s my business and I expect to be paid.  But that was my passion – Maybe you’ve seen “Star Wars”, when Obi Wan Kenobi told the Imperial Storm troopers “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for” and they let them pass, instantly changing their minds.  “Wouldn’t it be really cool to be able to do that!” I thought.  Imagine someone comes to you with a problem like “I’m depressed”, and with a wave of your hand you tell them “No you’re not” and they wouldn’t be.  That would be magic!  Real magic.

  And if you study every philosophy, every theology on the planet, certain key concepts keep coming up.  Rituals.  Physical exercise.  Energy.  Numbers.  The Five elements.  Taking responsibility.  Being at one with yourself.  Life being a mirror of you.  There has to be something to that if they keep showing up, throughout history, throughout the planet.  Mark Twain once said “The ancients steal all our best ideas”.

  My friend and teacher Tad James had once suggested to Richard Bandler, the co-creator of NLP:

“What if all NLP is, is tying up the conscious mind with a technique, while you give suggestions to the unconscious mind?”

 In Huna, the Kahuna would often create a ritual or task for the patient to undertake, and in so doing they gave their unconscious mind permission to make the change.  It’s almost like the conscious mind needs to be convinced by doing something tangible, while the unconscious mind does what it already knows it can do, but needs the conscious mind’s permission.  Think of the placebo effect in medicine.  Or being dunked in water to feel cleansed, or anointed.  The ritual works better if you use real water…

  Milton Erickson, the world’s leading Hypnotherapist, often gave clients tasks or ordeals to do, and by doing then, they “fixed” themselves.  Hmmmm…..

  I knew I was on to something.  It was also painful to watch people study, and teach, NLP as a bunch of techniques that claimed to be able to cure everything from nail biting to HIV, but then get disappointed when it didn’t work.  Or worse, blame the NLP practitioner when it didn’t.  There’s more to it than that.  You can’t expect someone to come along and “fix you”. You have to be the source of your own change.  Because then you get all the pride and achievement of having taken charge of you mind and your behaviours too!

  It was a shame to watch people spend four days with (in my opinion) the world’s greatest presenter and teacher, Tony Robbins, get all psyched up to change the world, and then crash down to earth a week later.  Not only were they disappointed, they’d had a taste of how good they could feel and they couldn’t recreate it themselves.    They’d have to spend even more money becoming seminar junkies, just to recapture the high.  As one client of mine once said,

“How much more money do you have to spend before the penny drops?”

  To make matters worse, the world of NLP was renowned for its competing developers who spent more time arguing about who the genuine leaders of the field were, than in advancing and improving the technology for the betterment of its enthusiasts.  Too much emphasis was placed on legal actions, copyrighting, jargon, cyber squatting and whose signature was on your certificate, which is ironic when one of the basic beliefs promoted by NLP is to “respect everyone’s model of the world.”  It was a world of politics, cliques and possessiveness where the self-styled governing bodies had practically no regulatory authority, and no way of enforcing their code of conduct.  Basically anyone could buy their way up the ladder and call themselves a Trainer, regardless of ability, flair, depth of knowledge or integrity.

   Intriguingly, all of the most successful leaders in the field of NLP got into esoteric studies and spirituality.  Richard Bandler lived in Hawaii for years.  John Grinder used animal forms during training courses.  Tad James is my Huna teacher.  Tony Robbins calls himself a “force for God”.  The “heart” that was missing from the NLP model could be found in the ancient teachings of the earth.

  And yet, having done thousands of hours on one to one therapy, working with hundreds of clients on the phone, by email, in person or in groups, over 25 years of personal experience in dealing with human beings and their fears, hang ups, hopes and desires, I’ve realised that the main and final reason these hard working, well-meaning individuals suffer set backs, self doubt and turmoil, is because they did not know what I know about how to tap into their “inner life manager” and finally realise that the answer is never “out there” – it’s not going to be handed to you in the next book, on the next tape or the next seminar.  It’s inside you right now, you either

1. Don’t know that it resides inside you behind a locked door
2. Don’t have a key!

My job was always to tentatively reveal some elements and core essentials of this approach to these people, and take them through some safe and gentle ‘training sessions’… ‘tentatively’ because I was unsure how easily they would accept the truth.

I was wrong to worry.

  The results of these sessions (usually an hour at a time) are already evident and there’s pages and pages of testimonies on my websites and in my client files – they are happier, healthier, in better jobs, in more passionate relationships, making more money.  Personal success is suddenly realistic instead of a hyped up cosmetic “hope”.

  But not for everybody.  I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said every client I’ve ever worked with dramatically turned around.  That’s not the case.  Some put the phone down on me.  Some weren’t prepared to do the work.  Some wouldn’t spend a few hundred pounds to make their ill-health symptoms disappear.  Some walked out of my office and never came back.  Some made appointments but never showed.  That’s life.  People are people.

  BUT, the ones who kept their appointments, invested some money in themselves and were willing to put the effort in, every one of them blossomed, flew and transformed in a matter of hours, weeks, months at most.

  NLP had to evolve. Hypnosis alone wasn’t enough.  Life Coaching is more than just hiring a personal trainer.  Huna was too ancient and esoteric and turned some people off.  There needed to be a comprehensive and ecological model which was simple and straightforward to use in your daily life.  After all, it’s what you do consistently, and persistently that shapes your life.  You can’t have a bath once and be clean forever.  To that effect, I want to share what I’ve found with you, and I’ve called it HGE™

Join me on November 10/11th in Glasgow where I'll teach you more.  Way more...

Click here