Building wealth starts long before you get a check in your hand.  Many business owners and entrepreneurs figure they will build wealth with what is left over at the end of the month, or worse yet, what is left over at the end of the year.

The excuses for this range from any of the following:

• You don’t understand my business is different
• My sales cycle is long, so it’s hard to know the profit each week
• My business is seasonal, it’s not possible to make money all year long
• And on and on

Having a great net income starts long before looking at your profit and loss statement.  A focus on building serious wealth starts long before that meeting with your accountant each year as well.  When you want to seriously build a business, that generates a NET income for you (far beyond a paycheck), then it takes knowing the numbers that will help you get you to your goal.

Now, before I share with you the questions to ask, I invite you to consider having a BIG goal for net income.  Set a goal that really gets you excited, something that may even make those you tell it to say something like “that’s not realistic”…then you know you are on the right track.

To get to the core of what will help you hit your big goal, ask yourself the following questions.

• What is an average client/product sale worth to me?
• How much does each lead cost me?
• How many leads do I need to generate to make a sale?
• What is my most profitable product/solution?
• What type of marketing is bringing me my best clients?
• How can I get the most out of my best type of marketing?

You might not have the answers to these questions immediately.  The important part is to dig deep within your business to uncover these answers.  You might even need to bounce the answers off of a business partner, coach, mentor, or mastermind group to insure the answers match up to your net income goal.

When you want to get the answers to these questions and be on the path to building wealth, I invite you to start today with my power-packed free Marketing Manifesto.

That crazy item between our ears can help you achieve massive success or it can prevent you from achieving the dreams that you have envisioned.  Before you think that this might be about “affirmations”, think again.  Affirmations can actually provide false hope and little direction.

To get to your goals, to build your wealth, requires avoiding common mindset issues that trap the majority of individuals.  Most people get trapped by these issues and they don’t even realize it is holding them back.  Master these two concepts and you will be on way to achieving the wealth you deserve.

What is Your Big “Why?”

Think for a moment, why do you need to hit a certain level of income?  Truly think why it is so important that you hit that number.  Common answers that most people usually share with me are “so my kids can go to college” or “I want to buy a bigger house”, but those aren’t big enough.  The reality is that even if you don’t hit your big number, your kids will still be able to go college.  And wanting that bigger house, well, if you don’t hit that big number it’s not like you will be out on the streets.

Each person’s “why” is different but it needs to be big, so big that you push yourself everyday to achieve it.  For example one of my clients makes the best musical instruments in their niche.  They earn industry awards, customers love them, and top musical stars play their instruments on stage.  Their big why isn’t building great instruments (they already do that); their big why is making sure great music can be made…that’s big.

How Much You Need or Want

When I ask people “What is your goal for income?” the response back that most people tell me start with “well I really need…” or “I want to make…”.  If you have in your mind how much you “need” or “want” you are falling into one of the most fatal of traps.

Instead of thinking about need or want, I invite you to consider what you HAVE to make.  Just starting out the sentence “I HAVE to make…” puts you in the right mindset.  This is the reason that people I help who have huge volumes of debt end up making the most because they absolutely HAVE to make more money, there isn’t an option.

Start your path to the right mindset and wealth building today by overcoming Fear in 4 simple steps in a free power-packed webinar.

The 14 steps outlined below, when followed correctly,
can increase your business by no less than 15.7%.
This is the exact process I take my clients through)

Step 1: A Powerful Marketing Message

Your business needs to have a powerful, unique,
compelling marketing message that separates you from
your top 5 competitors.

This message must explain to a complete stranger in
less than 10 seconds why they should do business with you.

Step 2:  Identify Your Dream 100

You deserve clients who want to purchase from
you regularly and buy your highest end product or service.
You should a set of “Dream Clients” your business.
They should be identified as your best, most profitable customer
and you should have a step-by-step system to go after them.

Step 3: Your Website Must Be An Asset Not a Liability
A website that delivers leads to you on a daily basis.
This website should be easily found on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
It must be easily updateable and friendly to the search engines.
Your current customers and strangers must also be able to
connect to social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, & Google
Plus to let their friends know about your business.

Step 4: What are the 7 Mistakes Your Prospects Face?

Every prospect of yours should know the 7 mistakes
that can happen to them should they choose not to do business
with you. This report should be in audio and written format.

Step 5: A Bullet Proof Phone Script

A bullet proof phone script that your newest employee
to your most experienced can use to turn a prospect into a
customer. This script can’t sound rehearsed or like a
script yet it needs to work effectively every time.

Step 6: Rock Solid Presentation

Nothing beats face to face sales. A rock solid face to
face presentation for you and your team. This presentation
should be able to be used when they are meeting 1 on 1
or even presenting to groups about your company.

Step 7:  24/7/365  Sales Ability
A sales presentation that can run for you
regardless of what you are doing. This sales presentation
should be in a webinar format and easily available for prospects to
see how doing business with your company is in their best interest.

Step 8: A 6X Referral System

Right now the customers who have
purchased from you can increase your sales 6X when they are
communicated with correctly. A 6X referral system
will communicate with your past customers via e-mail, mail,
phone, and even in person.

Step 9: A High Converting Sales Letter
A powerful sales letter that turns your target market
into customers. This letter should be 6-8 paragraphs and
explain to your prospects how they are missing out by not
calling you first.

Step 10:  Ads that Work Online & Offline

Offline and Online Ads that you can use to generate
business any time you desire. These ads need to work on Facebook,
Google, & Bing. These ads should bring your company more
Dream Clients.

Step 11: Print Media is Not Dead You Just Have to Know What to Do

Powerful postcards that bring you new clients and generate
referrals. These postcards should communicate your marketing message
in 10 seconds or less.

Step 12: Compelling Company Brochure

A powerful company brochure that compels prospects to take
action. This brochure needs to have your company logo and the best
testimonials of your favorite customers.

Step 13: Automatic Follow-up

Automatic customer and prospect follow-up. You have enough
to do in your business and your employees are already busy. All of
this needs to be done automatically so your business can grow without
additional work.

Step 14: Free Publicity

A free publicity campaign that announces to your market how
you can solve their problem. This needs to have your company on
blogs, websites, radio, and even TV.

To increase business this year these 14 steps need to be accomplished
in the next 90 days. You may want to know how to put these 14 steps
into action for your business.

Ok, you've seen people speak at seminars...

or do coaching in different industries...

But did you know that YOU can make a second income doing this?

It's true...

I've been fortunate to have spoken at seminars all over the world - 

and trained/coached over 25,000 agents in the last 20 years...

I can say this is one of the highest paying skills in there is. 

ONLY IF YOU DO IT RIGHT!

However, most speakers and coaches have no clue how to do this.

Listen to this...

*************************************************************
I'M TEACHING MY PRIVATE SPEAKING, TRAINING & COACHING SYSTEM
*************************************************************

Many of my top clients have already signed up to learn how I do it. 

I want to show you too.

For those who have ever thought "I would like to
teach, coach, consult" without giving up your
regular business I want to have a conversation with
you.

E-mail me at toddbatesmarketing@gmail.com or call me
at 303-841-8008 and we can have a conversation.

To your success,

Todd

P.S. A quick conversation is all it's going to take
to discover how to add an extra income stream without
having to give up your primary business.

2012 is upon us.

Right now businesses across America are faced with the question:

“How do I grow my business in this economy?”

Asking the “How” is a great question. Businesses that fail to grow will cease to exist in 2012. I am not being harsh it’s just the reality of the marketing.

When your business isn’t growing it’s dying. Just the other day I had a conversation with a business owner who runs a mailbox store operation. They aren’t a franchise. They are a business that has been around for 7 years in their area. They asked me the question:

“Todd how do I just hold on and keep the same level of sales?”

The unfortunate answer that I had to give them was you can’t hold on you must grow. When the protested I asked them the following questions:

• Does your business license cost more this year than last? – Answer YES
• Are your labor costs going up or down? – Answer: UP
• Are your material costs going up or down? – Answer: UP

As people grow in their business and professional careers they tend to seek professionals to help them.  No one can make the road to success in business by themselves.  Whether your goal is $100,000 or $100 million you will end up having people around you that will help you get to the next level.  For many entrepreneurs the challenge of selecting the right people is what prevents them from achieving success.

The process that most people use to select professionals that help them is pretty simple.  Generally the process goes like the following:

• Ask for referral from a trusted friend/advisor
• Accept referral

While this may get you someone to help you in your business in the short term it won’t necessarily give you the RIGHT person to help you get to the next level.  Your friend might be well intentioned, but they might not truly understand the level of success that you desire to achieve.

Let’s take the process of finding your accountant.  The right accountant will keep you on the path of wealth building while the wrong one can end up with you receiving ugly notices from the IRS.  Most of the time people choose their accountant too quickly and without asking the right questions.  When many people go into a prospective accountant they ask questions such as:

• How long have you been in business?
• How many clients do you help each year?
• How much are your fees?

These are practical questions but they won’t reveal the big picture or even reveal if they are the right match for you.  Before selecting an accountant ask a challenging question that digs deep on whether or not they can truly help you.

How much money do you make each year?

It’s a telling question.  You certainly don’t want an accountant to help you who makes less than you.  Even more, you don’t want an accountant who struggles on their own bills!  The phrase “do as I say, not as I do” is not one that you want in an accountant (or any professional you hire for that matter).  When it comes to hiring a professional you want someone who can help you reach hire in your goals, not keep you maintaining the status quo.

Discover more about how you can put systems into action that will help you increase your business and wealth today with my free Marketing Manifesto.

Envision logging in to your bank account and seeing the number at $149.23.  Would you consider yourself wealthy?  Would you consider yourself on the path to building true wealth?

It’s likely that looking at a small number in your bank account wouldn’t make you jump for joy.  You might even consider packing in your business because who wants to work 70+ hours a week to end up with a net income of so little?

The path to building wealth isn’t one that is based solely on a number in your bank account.  Even more, should you be focusing on just 1 bank account you will find it too difficult to build a NET worth.  While most people focus on Gross Income or may shout from the rooftops about 1 killer sale, they will fall short of building true wealth when they are looking at just a single number.

Put 3 bank accounts to work for your business

Now, what if I told you that the $149.23 number was just 1 of your bank accounts?  How would you feel about that number now?  What if I told you that when you looked at your 2 other bank accounts, they each had over $30,000 in them and that was just for a single month?  Does the outlook on your wealth building goals seem a bit different?

While most business owners may separate their business and personal accounts (tragically some still don’t) they still aren’t taking their wealth building serious enough.  Growing your wealth takes discipline and one of the easiest elements of discipline to put into action is the aspect of creating multiple bank accounts.  I invite you to consider the following bank accounts that will keep you growing a NET income.

1. Business
2. Taxes and Debt
3. Lifestyle

Just creating these bank accounts isn’t enough.  In order to protect yourself from bad habits your accounting should be done weekly.  While major corporations may run the numbers at the end of the month, quarterly, etc, if you aren’t looking at each account weekly, you just mind end up with $149.23 in all of your accounts.

Each week, I challenge you to “bankrupt” yourself.  By emptying your business account weekly (yes pay yourself, vendors, etc) you will be FORCED to get to the next level.  No longer will you rest easy on that “big sale” you made as at the beginning of the week you will be at $0.  And by the way, don’t give some excuse that “my sales take longer” or “my deals take 60 days to close” as those are merely excuses that will keep you broke.  Even when you have a longer sales cycle, putting these systems into place will keep you growing your net worth and growing your sales (i.e. if your sales take 60 days, you better make sure you have enough in the pipeline to close at least 1 a week).

Discover how you can build systematic wealth with the power of 4 marketing systems.  Take the first step today with my free Marketing Manifesto.

When most people think of making money they focus on sales, growing their business, or even they might even look to get a raise if they are still holding down a job.  The focus on gross income is a natural one.  Every news media outlet touts the new contract numbers from professional athletes and annually Forbes releases the list of the top earners across different industries.

While gross income may be attractive and even fun to talk about at parties, it is your NET income that helps you build the business and lifestyle that you deserve.  In order to increase one’s net income many people look to cut expenses; however, cutting expenses too far can lead to destroying your business.  No, I am not suggesting you spend wildly or that you even avoid looking at expenses, I am merely suggesting you apply the right rules to looking at items that many business owners think of as an “expense”.

Just 1 simple number can help you run your marketing systems

In tough economic times many people look to cut their “marketing budget”.  If it was up to me, the term “marketing budget” would be eliminated.  The simple aspect that people look to budget for their marketing is what makes them look at it as an expense instead of what will drive income.  Marketing, when done correctly is the sole factor that drives more income.

One of the first questions that I ask business owners, entrepreneurs, and a sales professional when they want to increase their net income is the following:

What is a customer worth to you?

The usual response that most people respond with is “it depends”.  They then go on to tell me that “every client is different”, “some customers are worth $X and some are worth $10x”.  When they struggle with what a customer is worth, I know they haven’t figured out the formula to building their wealth.  They are getting lost in the details instead of figuring out a rule that they can apply consistently to their business.

When you want to start generating more income and actually keeping a NET income at the same time, I would invite you to consider the 7% Rule.  The 7% Rule is simple:

Your Average Sale * 7% = What You Spend on Marketing

This rule, when used consistently, will make your business a cash machine. The only question that you have to ask is “how much money do I want to make?”  For each business owner, type of product, the style of marketing can be different.  As market conditions change you might have to change your marketing, but your net income will be there as long as you focus on the 7% rule.

Discover how you can put marketing systems into action that lead to you building the wealth you deserve in business and personally with my free Marketing Manifesto.

Generating sales is great. A great way to generate high quality leads that are easy to turn into sales is through referrals.

My goal for you is that you have a group of complimentary businesses that send you leads you can turn into business. You might be an insurance agent, orthodontist, dentist, real estate agent, or business consultant. There are always different groups that you can network with and gain referrals from.

What you will discover in this training is:

• How to generate sales from businesses that you currently network with in minutes without having to spend a fortune.
• Why a different approach to business networking is required in the current economy and for the next 36 months when you want real results.
• How to build a solid network of businesses who can send you highly qualified leads that will generate results in the next 37 days with less than 3 hours of work.

At the end of this training I invite you to call me directly at 303-841-8008.

To your success,

In Just over 6 Minutes Discover 4 Components To Incorporate as Part of Your Newsletter

Newsletters have been part of many businesses marketing strategies for years.  Some proudly display their monthly newsletter on the counter of their store, some mail out hundreds (even thousands) monthly, and still other business owners blast their email list with their digital version.  While many people are flooded with “junk mail” both in their inbox and at home, still some business owners are sending the same tired newsletter.

As a marketing piece, the newsletter is one that often breaks the 7% rule.  Business owners hold on to sending it because they always have a story of that great customer they would have lost if they stopped sending it.  To help you get the most of your newsletter (or even help you get results if you are just starting one) I invite you to incorporate the 4 methods below.

1. Make it Simple – Look at the front of your newsletter, is it engaging?  Does it draw people in and make them want to turn the pages?  From a powerful headline, to images (with a caption) that quickly engage your audience make it easy for someone to see what is important to them.
2. Have a Clear Goal – As a part of your marketing strategy a newsletter can’t simply be to “provide information”.  Each month your newsletter should target a specific goal for your business.  The goal could be more in-store visits, more phone calls, more internet sales, etc.  With a clear goal in mind it will help you adjust everything from your layout to your copy.
3. Speak to them Normally – Whether you are talking about finance or R/C airplanes make it simple.  A newsletter that is too confusing, uses too much jargon won’t get read.  A complex newsletter will only catch your prospects glance as they throw it in the trash can.
4. Have a Clear Call to Action – Preferably your call to action is on every page.  Make it easy for someone to order, call you, or even go to a specific page on your website (hey those QR Codes can sometimes come in handy).

Whether you are sending your newsletter by email or printing it for mailing it is costing you time and money.  To ensure that your newsletter earns it’s keep as part of your overall marketing strategy run it by this checklist to see if it passes the test.

Discover how your newsletter can be just 1 system in your 4 marketing systems that bring you business with my free Marketing Manifesto.

When you are tired of searching the web, downloading reports, and reading endless blogs, call me direct, on my cell phone at 303-841-8008 to discover how I can help you get your business to the next level.