EnTrends

I met Rod at a Chamber of Commerce
function in 1998. While everyone else
took turns introducing themselves to
the other business owners at the table
telling them about their business, Rod
was massaging my neck and
shoulders. By the end of the morning
I was asking him for his phone
number.

Now before your mind races too far
ahead, let me tell you that Rod owned
a business providing Shiatsu
massage. And he didn't just massage
my shoulders - he worked his way
around from one person to another
during introductions. While we
hawked our businesses nervously
putting on our best sales pitch, Rod
enabled us to FEEL the value of his
service.

What did it cost him? Nothing. Now,
we don't all have the luxury of being

able to let prospects sample our
services so easily, but if we're creative
we can help prospects FEEL the
benefit of working with us.

Most of us work so hard developing
our sales pitch, creating and refining it

numerous times over the first couple
of years as we obtain a sharper focus
of exactly what we want to do in our
business. But, ultimately, all of this
hard work results in the same type of
pitch - "Hi, my name is Kimberly and
I'm a Business Coach. I work with
business owners to help them increase
their sales, profits, and rate of
success."

Okay, that sounds fine. Quick and to
the point. But, what did you really get

from it? You know who my target
customers are - business owners. You
know the results they will achieve by
working with me - increased sales,
profits, and rate of success. But,
what's missing? Do you know what
it's going to feel like when your sales
increase? Do you know how
exhilarating it will be when

your business is growing faster? No.

You hear what I say, but it's still a
gamble for you. These days, coaches

are everywhere promising all sorts of
things from helping you find your
spiritual center to helping businesses
to deal with the impact of the
economic downturn on their staff. So
how do I enable business owners to
FEEL the benefit of working with me
as a Business Coach?

I offer them an opportunity to
participate in a free 4-week MiniSeries
of my FastTrack MBO (Mastering
Business Ownership) Program. I
invite them to experience exactly how
business coaching and a structured
learning program will increase their
sales, profits and overall rate of
success. This is my offering of a trial
or sample. This is how I give them an
opportunity to FEEL the benefit of the
service I offer.

There are a million examples of this
concept at work all around us
everyday. My local Starbucks tempts
me with a tray of cut-up cookies and
muffins on the counter. Several photo
studios sent me freebie coupons to
capture the image of my beautiful new
baby last year. A month ago, I saw a
salon offering free haircuts at an
outdoor fair. A virtual assistant I met
offered prospects two free hours of
work to help them feel the true relief
that comes with delegating
administrative tasks.

This has been going on forever. I
remember the story I was told when I
was first hired by the corporate offices
of Circuit City. Sam Wurtzel started
the company in 1949 when he saw the
first television tower being
constructed in Richmond, VA.
Television was just being introduced
in many cities. He would go door-to-
door to offer families the free use of a
television for a week. During that
visit, he would have a nice chat with
the family making sure to find out
what show was their favorite. If they
accepted the offer to keep the

television for a week, he would wheel
it into their living room right there on

the spot. Now, these were times when
most families had never seen a

television, so this was big news. The
family would start telling all of their

friends and neighbors about this
wonderful new television they got to
use for a week for free with no strings
attached. They would invite family
and friends over to watch their
favorite show all together. It was an
event.

But guess who showed up right
before the show came on? That's
right - Sam. From there, it went
something like this � "Well, I'm here
to pick up your television. I hope you
enjoyed it this week. Oh, your
favorite show is just coming on? I'm
really sorry, but I have to take the
television back now." You get it. He
approached them exactly when their
interest was at its peak. They knew
how it felt to watch television, and
they liked it!

What can you take from Sam's story
to apply to your business? What
could you do to enable prospects to
FEEL the benefit of your business?
Provide a limited-time trial? Offer a
product sample? Give them a free
hour of service? Be creative.
Brainstorm with other business
colleagues to come up with ideas for
each of your businesses.

Just remember - you can TELL
prospects all you want about yourself
and your business. It's when they
FEEL the benefit that they'll start
calling you.

Kimberly Stevens is a Business Coach
who developed the FastTrack MBO
(Mastering Business Ownership)
Program as a series of ebooks and
teleseminars to help business owners
increase sales, maximize profits &
improve their overall rate of success.
Learn how you can experience the
MBO Program for free by sending a

blank email to: mailto:kim4-20129
@autocontactor.com or by
visitinghttp://www.askthebizcoach.co
m/fasttrackmbo.htm