Good Morning,
I’m the first one to agree that having things go wrong usually sucks when they’re actually going wrong.
You can see how being able to deal with the crap and respond quickly makes a real difference to your ability to succeed. After all, anyone who waits until the problem is fixed, and they’re all warm and cozy, before trying to learn from a fouled-up situation is going to fall behind the one who learns on the fly and lives with a little discomfort.
On that note, I’m tyring to learn how to use Trackbacks. Clayton did a blog post yesterday and I tried using a Trackback yesterday, but it didn’t work. I had to switch to using embedded links. That’s fine, but I still want to learn how to use a Trackback – they’re good for improving your search engine ranking.
So, if you’re good with Trackbacks – let me know. I’ll appreciate having some help on this one.
On the further note of a healthy butt-kicking – this is a preview to what I’ll write about tomorrow.
We all know the adage about everything being useful – even if only as a bad example. Well, I had a butt-kicking while setting up the Ultimate E-Book Tele-Workshop that was a bad exampe, but also quite helpful.
I’ll tell you about the butt-kicking tomorrow.
What I want to focus on is how it is helping me now to do the re-launch well.
I think I told you that guys like Bob Bly, Clayton Makepeace and Joe Vitale all said yes to the idea of doing the tele-workshop calls. The reason they couldn’t participate is that the schedule was too tight – they didn’t have the time.
What I didn’t mention is that a couple of people didn’t like my approach. One of them took me to task over it – publicly – but without mentioning my name. They also didn’t take the time to send me any kind of reply.
So now we combine those two things. Setting the re-launch for March, 2009, let’s me re-schedule the experts who have already agreed to participate. Those calls will take us through March and April so I can go back to the “big names” now and schedule them for May and June – lots of lead time.
Okay. But I want this to be a big event and a great value for everyone. That means I’m going to have to approach additional people. How do I learn from my faux pas from in the first effort and prevent another butt-kicking?
We all know the answer – gurus are telling us about it all the time. Networking.
It has lots of other names – viral marketing, word-of-mouth, referrals…
Here’s how I’m going to use it. The experts who have already committed can be asked to contact other experts. That’s one way. I can also ask them to recommend experts in specific areas. Then I make the contact using that recommendation as an introduction. Does that make sense?
Now, there’s another way to use networking here, too. You see, a lot of these experts (especially the “big names”) have Joint Venture Managers. The JVM’s job is to get all the information about a project like mine and decide whether it’s worth having the “big name” take a look. Do you see how that gives you and me a built-in network one step away from the network of “big names?”
What I’m going to do is approach two or three of those JVMs. They already know who I am and what I”m doing, so it’s easy to call them and talk. We introduced ourselves and started building a relationship the first time I approached them.
While they are helping me work out the scheduling for their “big name,” I’ll also ask them to speak to their counterparts working with other “big names.”
Your big question right now is probably: That’s okay for you, Conrad. You got Bob to give you all their names and contact information. How am I supposed to find these people?
Glad you asked.
All the experts have contact information on their web sites. There is a postal address, e-mail address and telephone number. That’s all the information you need.
Keep in mind that after Bob’s assistant sent me contact information for the experts, I went to the web site of each expert to prepare for calling them. You can bet I took the time to check the contact information I received with the details listed on the web site.
When the details matched, I knew my information gave me a general contact line. When the information was different, that suggested I had a personal contact line. Do you think I changed my approach based on the kind of contact line I had?
Sure I did.
When you have a general contact line, pick up the phone and tell the person on the other end you are looking for the Joint Venture Manager. Right away, you’re communicating your professionalism and showing you understand how the system works. That’s a big point in your favour.
Okay, I figure that’s about enough for today. You can probably get it done for yourself from here.
Thanks, everyone, for your questions. Keep tuning in – I promise to answer each question with a blog post. If you haven’t sent me a question (about copywriting, e-books, or general marketing questions) – you might want to get your stick on the ice.
There are enough questions now to carry me through to February. Wait much longer to send yours, and it might be June before you get an answer. Send your question to conrad@conradhallcopywriting.com.
Conrad