Book Yourself Solid

The fastest, easiest, and most reliable system for getting more
clients than you can handle even if you hate marketing and selling

Author: Michael Port

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Date of Publication: 2006
ISBN: 0471783935
Number of Pages: 246 pages

The Big Idea

If you've always hated marketing and selling your products and services,
then you're in for a big surprise. In this book, Michael Port, author, business
coach extraordinaire and the creator of Think Big Revolution, shares with
you a turnkey system of getting new clients based on the Law of
Reciprocity. The book is filled with invaluable tips and techniques as well as
exercises that will help you identify key areas for growth. Learn why people
buy your services, how to develop your personal brand, how to best market
your services and so much more.

Published by BusinessSummaries, 3001-91, 11010 NW 30th St., Suite 104, Miami, Florida 33172
©2006 BusinessSummaries All rights reserved. No part of this summary may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior notice of
BusinessSummaries.com
 Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

Chapter 1: The Red Velvet Rope Policy

What is the Red Velvet Rope Policy? According to the author, it means selecting
those ideal clients who energize and inspire you and enable you to grow and give
your best. This endeavor allows you to fully enjoy what you are doing and show
off a positive image of who you are as a businessperson. Remember, you are the
company you keep and your clients are an extension and expression of who you
are.

Keeping those dud clients who you dread interacting with or bore you to tears will
drain your energy and leave you feeling empty. Whether you like it or not there
are personalities you just don't click with. It is much better for you to prune those
clients because you are not rendering them your best service.

Bear in mind that your clients represent you and will speak of your work to others.
If you have been at odds with them or just simply middle of the spectrum in terms
of service, that is what they will tell people. It is far better to be associated with
clients who have been immensely satisfied with your work. You will have room for
more ideal clients if there are fewer duds hanging around you.

Chapter 2: Why People Buy What You're Selling

The next step is to find out why people buy what you're selling them. There are
four steps you need to do in order to accomplish this.

Step 1: Identify Your Target Market. You need to identify your target market or
that group of people or business you're most passionate about serving because it
will allow you to determine where to find potential clients and to focus your efforts
on what is compelling and well-received.

Step 2: Identify the Urgent Needs and Compelling Desires of Your Target
Market. This is what prompts your target market to go in search of your services.
It's critical to be able to identify and address them when they come looking or
you'll miss your window of opportunity.

Step 3: Offer Investable Opportunities. Your services and products should offer
your clients a considerable return on their investments. The author believes that
clients should get a return of 20 times at the least. The potential returns on
investment must be clearly evident to your clients before they purchase services
from you. If they understand the distinct benefits and advantages, they will be
more than willing to purchase your services.

Step 4: Uncover and Demonstrate the Benefits of Your Investable

Opportunities. Benefits, majority of the time, are intangible; they're the effects
your services have on your clients' quality of life. Identifying benefits allows you to

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speak and be in tune with your target market on a deeper level. Always keep in
mind that people buy results and the benefits of those results.

Chapter 3: Develop A Personal Brand

Personal branding is how you want to be known in your market. It should be
compelling and unforgettable. A personal brand will help clearly and consistently
define, express, and communicate who you are, whom you serve, and why you
have chosen to dedicate your life and work to serving your target market.

Your personal brand is about your uniqueness, your distinguishing feature. It's not
about mimicking what worked for others but what will work for you. It's finding out
what you offer that's different and unique.

In one of the exercises he provides, Mr. Port asks you to examine the synergy
between your personal and professional intentions. Your purpose and intent
should be in harmony, otherwise conflicting intentions will eventually undermine
your success without you even knowing it.

Your personal brand will be composed of two things:

1. Your “who and do what” statement lets others know exactly whom you
help and what you can help them do.
2. Your “why you do it” statement differentiates you from the others who
share the same business as you. It says something about you and what drives
you.

Chapter 4: How to Talk About What You Do

The ability to communicate the solutions and benefits you offer is crucial in
building a thriving business.

Your “who and do what” statement serves as a fantastic jump off point for
conversation. The next step is to ensure that you captivate and actively engage
the person you're talking to in a conversation that elicits questions about what you
do rather than just polite acknowledgements.

When specifying what you do and the services you provide, note that it shouldn't
lead to a dead-end answer but instead to a rich discussion that allows you to
share your expertise. In order for you to do this, the author helps you build a
template for three types of dialogue: long, mid-length and short versions. These
dialogues build on all the previous discussions and exercises. It encapsulates in
an engaging manner your target audience, the critical issues that particular target
market needs to address, how you can contribute your solutions, and the benefits
your clients receive.

Practicing these dialogues will help you become comfortable in expressing

yourself and what you do in a scenario with a variety of people. The author

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recommends that you talk to everyone you know and meet because everyone
knows someone who could potentially work with you.

The next step is to learn how to speak well. Enunciate with enthusiasm and show
your passion for doing what you do. If you're uninterested in what you do, no one
else will be. The enthusiasm you show will mirror to your clients your positive
energy.

Chapter 5: Who Knows What You Know and Do They Like

You?
Now that your foundation is built, it's time to establish yourself as a category
authority a well-known, well-liked expert in your field.

First, there are standard credibility builders that you need to do and have in place
to appear credible and professional. These may seem obvious but without them
you won't be taken seriously:
1. You must have a professional email address, no whimsical names
allowed.
2. Invest in quality business cards.
3. If you don't have a website, have one built now.
4. Have professionally produced photographs taken. Sloppy ones will not
inspire much confidence and demonstrate professionalism.
5. Obtain and showcase specific testimonials rather than general
testimonials.
6. Establish an advisory board. Associating with other recognized experts
will do wonders for establishing your credibility.

The following standards of services are next. They are essential for any decent
service professional to adhere to. Please note that these standards will not set
you apart; they are what every savvy consumers will expect.
1. Quality of service.
2. Methods and tools.
3. Responsiveness.
4. Credentials.
5. Client importance.
6. Lowest price. A word to the wise, offering the lowest price is not
necessarily going to help you establish credibility. In fact, many potential
clients may be leery if your prices are significantly below market value.

To truly become a category authority you need to learn everything you possibly
can about the one thing you've decided you want to become known for. It will
have a powerful effect on the success of your business and will be incredibly
rewarding.

To start, you need to identify what you'd like to be known for within your target
market. Doing this simplifies and speeds up your process by creating synergy

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among the services and products you provide and the techniques you'll be using.

In one of the exercises Mr. Port provides, he asks you to answer a few key
questions. Some of them are:
1. In what areas are you currently an expert?
2. In what areas do you need to develop your expertise?
3. What promises can you make and deliver to your target market that will
position you as an expert?

This exercise and a few more provided by the author will help you in the mental
shift of starting to view yourself as a category authority.

Lastly, becoming the world's foremost authority will yield you nothing if your
likeability factor is low. There's a powerful connection between like and trust and
your credibility. If a potential client perceives you as the most credible and
likeable, he will hire you even if you do not have the most experience or
expertise.

Chapter 6: The Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Process

The Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle has six keys. They will help you to
determine what you want to offer your potential clients in each stage of your sales
cycle and help you craft the most effective cycle possible. They are:

Key #1: Who Is Your Target Client or Customer?

You need to choose a specific person or organization that you'd like to bring into
your cycle. Focusing on a specific individual or organization allows you to make
the important emotional connection crucial in the initial stages of developing a
relationship with a potential client.

Key #2: What Are They Looking For?

If you don't know what your potential clients are looking for, you won't know what
kind of products or services to offer them in your sales cycle.

Key #3: When Do They Look For You?

What needs to happen in their personal life or work life for them to purchase the
kind of service that you offer? How high do the stakes need to be before they
decide to purchase the service you're offering?

Key #4: Where Do They Look For You?

Do you know where your market looks for you? Is it online? Thru magazines? By
referrals?

Key #5: Why You?

Why are they going to choose you? What is unique about you or the solutions you
offer?

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Key #6: How Do You Want Them To Engage With You?

Do you want them to call you? Or sign up for your newsletter? Most of your
potential clients need to get to know and trust you over time and establishing
communications is the first step.

Mr. Port also advises giving sample services to your clients. He calls this a no-
barrier-to-entry offer, a risk free opportunity for potential clients to have a taste of
what you know and what it's like having you provide your services to them.

The Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle process is a sequence of phases that allows
clients to enter at any point in the process, depending on their situation.

Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Stage One.

Your objective at this point should be simple and measurable. It is most effective
when used in conjunction with a keep-in-touch plan. Your list is made up of
people who have given you permission to communicate with them on an ongoing
basis. They are made up of your potential, current, and past clients, as well as
your colleagues and referral sources.

Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Stage Two.

Your objective at this point is to demonstrate your knowledge, solutions and
sincere desire to provide value to your target market free of charge. There should
be no barriers to entry and prospective clients should find it risk-free.

Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Stage Three.

You have two objectives at this juncture: 1) continuing your value added service
by helping your potential clients make the most of the information you gave them
in the previous stage and 2) making a sale by offering them one of your products
that you believe they are ready for (e.g. one of your books or CD).

Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Stage Four.

At this point, the author encourages you to go the extra mile when dealing with
your clients. If their previous purchase was a book then perhaps an invitation to a
workshop covering the same topic. Going the extra mile enables you to offer the
next level of your service.

Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Stage Five.

Lastly, keep in mind two things: 1) not everyone who goes through your sales
cycle will complete it and 2) their pace in going through the cycle will vary. This is
one reason why the cycle is effective. You're building your trust with people over
time, trust that is proportionate to the size of the offer you're making to them.

Chapter 7: The Power of Information Products

Nothing helps to build your credibility like products and programs designed to
serve your target market's needs and desires. These information products (such

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as e-books, a tips manual, and a CD course) not only allow you to express
yourself but also provide you with the following benefits:
1. Products create opportunities for multiple streams of passive income;
2. Products enhance your credibility and establishes you as an expert in
that field and sets you apart from your competitors;
3. Products can help you land more clients because they speed up the
sales cycle and
4. Products leverage your time giving you the opportunity to make additional
income.

Keep in mind that the number of people who are willing and able to buy
information products is greater than those who are willing and able to hire you for
your higher priced service.

Your particular information product should be something you're highly enthusiastic

about. And whether it's the first product or your build-on products, always
consider the target market to which you're selling it. This product should meet
their needs; otherwise, it will be a futile effort.

Here are the steps Mr. Port outlined to developing your information product:
1. Choose the role you are playing. Will you be an expert or a researcher?
2. Choose your product framework. Will it be modular or reference type?
3. Choose a title that sells.
4. Build your table of contents for ease of presentation and organization.
5. Create your content.

Chapter 8: Super Simple Selling

If you're uncomfortable with the sales process, it's likely that you view it as
unethical, manipulative, and dishonest. You think that if it comes easily and is
enjoyable charging others for doing it is wrong. To change your perspective, you
have to let go of the notion that you're not worthy of the money you're earning.
People who are successful get paid to do what they do well. And you don't
become successful doing something that you find difficult. Moreover, your self
doubts will reflect itself to your clients who may just start thinking that you're not
worth your fees.

The super simple selling system the author espouses requires a paradigm shift:
to stop thinking of selling as manipulating and simply presenting a canned
presentation. In fact, the opposite is true. To sell you need to become more polite,
considerate and understanding. You need to listen more to your clients, to
consider their needs before your own and to grasp the deeper meaning of their
words. Selling becomes an opportunity for you to give to others by providing them
the services that would move them forward.

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Chapter 9: The Book Yourself Solid Networking Strategy

The rationale behind networking is to sincerely and freely give and share your
resources, knowledge and information with no strings attached. It is about
building and deepening mutually beneficial relationships.

The author espouses focusing evenly on both clients and other professionals or
the 50:50 rule. He considers the latter, connecting with other professionals, to be
critical because it is a great window for growth. When connecting with both,
always remember to share what you know, whom you know and how you feel or
what the author calls as the intangibles. These three intangibles should remind
you to always increase your knowledge, to thank those who have worked for you
by providing them to others in the business and to be fully present when
networking.

Here are a few of Mr. Port's invaluable tips to keep in mind during networking
events:
1. Be punctual and arrive on time.
2. Do be yourself and be relaxed.
3. Do smile and be friendly.
4. Do identify two or three things you'd like to learn from the people at the
functions.
5. Do ask for a business card and keep in touch.

And here are a few don'ts:

1. Don't let what you do be the first question you ask.
2. Don't juggle multiple items.
3. Don't complain about networking or the event you're attending.

Lastly, keeping in touch with people is imperative. If you don't take the necessary
actions the whole exercise will be pointless.

Chapter 10: The Book Yourself Solid Direct Outreach

Strategy
A direct outreach strategy is most often employed at the start of your business
when you need to proactively reach out to potential customers. This strategy is
not about indiscriminately sending spam or junk email to mailing lists or
newsgroups. For it to be appreciated and acted upon it has to be targeted,
individualized, should have value and is legitimate.

Direct outreach tools involve the following:

1. Letters. Letters are great for making initial connections with your
prospective clients. When using this, do your homework and find out
everything you can about the person or the company. Ensure that it is
personalized and your objectives are clear at the onset.
2. Calls. Use phone calls to follow up with your potential clients and
after they have given you permission to contact them. Remember to be
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brief, direct and straightforward.

3. Emails. This is an amazing tool that allows you to connect with
anyone around the globe. Use it conjunction with other direct outreach
tools.
4. Postcards. They work best when its requirements are free and
easy and when you're giving away something of value.
5. Brochures and Flyers. These should be done by a professional
to instill in your prospective clients that you can deliver high quality
service.
6. Whatever-It-Takes Direct Outreach. These are campaigns of the
more creative variety designed to engage attention. Just ensure that your
sense of play keeps you in a flattering light.

Chapter 11: The Book Yourself Solid Referral Strategy

Referral-generated clients are often more loyal, consistent, and better-suited to
you than any other category of potential clients. Most of the time though, referral
opportunities are all around you that you just might be unaware of.

Below are the 8 steps to beginning a referral process:

Step 1: Identify Your Clients' Benefits. These are the reasons why they work
with you and why they would want to share it with others.
Step 2: Identify Why Others Would Refer Clients to You.
Step 3: Identify the Types of Referrals You Seek.
Step 4: Identify the Places Where Your References Meet Ideal Referrals. This
step helps your client understand who in their lives will benefit most from
your services and products where they cross paths with these people.
Step 5: Clarify and Communicate How Your Referrers Make a Referral. Your
referrers articulate what you do in a way that makes you stand out from the
crowd and will truly connect you to those you seek to serve.
Step 6: Ask for Referrals.
Step 7: Facilitate the Referral Connection. Offer to meet, consult with, or
advise anyone who is important to your clients.
Step 8: Follow up with Referrals and Referrers. Contact new referrals and
introduce them to what you have to offer in a meaningful, connected and
helpful way.

Chapter 12: The Book Yourself Solid Web Strategy

Having a web presence is a critical aspect of being able to start and continue
conversations with potential clients. It positions you as an expert, builds your
brand identity, reaches a global marketplace and provides an opportunity for self-
expression and learning.

But remember, a pretty website that comes with all the bells and whistles such as
flash animations, eye catching graphics, and the like, is ineffective if it does not

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convert a good percentage of the traffic that lands on your site.

To do this, the content and structure of your website should include the
information you wish to convey and how you organize and label it for easy
navigation. Always keep in mind your target market when developing your site.

There are a number of website homepage formats. Some of them are:

1. The Brochure. It is the online equivalent of a brochure and includes info
about you, your company services and resources.
2. The Menu of Services. It is a homepage that offers a list of scenarios that
you provide services for. Visitors, upon choosing one of the scenarios, will be
automatically taken to a page where the scenario will be discussed.
3. The Assessment. Offering an assessment is a wonderful way to create
immediate connection and help your potential clients gauge how much they
actually need your services. They're effective because they not only engage
the client but are interactive to boot.
4. The Testimonial. This is an effective way to create awareness for the
valuable services you offer. The testimonials should speak of the results that
your clients have received by working with you.
5. The Portal. Typically a portal site offers a catalog of web sites, a search
engine, large amounts of content about certain subject matter, or all of the
above. It allows you to present your multiple offerings so that visitors can
choose which product/service they want to learn more about based on their
needs.

To generate traffic in your site, keep in mind a few of the techniques and
strategies Mr. Port shares:
1. Get Listed in Search Engines and Optimize Your Site. The most effective
strategy is to build content-rich pages that your visitors want to see, pages
that are legitimately filled with the same keywords and phrases they use to
search for what you are offering.
2. Boost Your Link Popularity. To boost your link popularity it's important to
create relationships with other links that already have good web traffic and
status.
3. Leverage Your Email Signature. This is the information that you put at the
close of your email. It's a simple and effective way to tell people about what
you have to offer and to encourage them to sign up for your newsletter or any
other information or service you offer that will not require much from your
clients.
4. Promote Your Site Using Article Directories. This is a good method to
generate traffic to your website. The article serves as an introduction to your
readers and by including a brief byline about yourself at the end of your
article, with a link to your site, you can generate qualified traffic back to your
web site pages.
5. Cross-promote through marketing partners. It allows you to partner with
and promote other people you deem fabulous and vice versa. It makes it
easier to build relationships and potential clients this way. This type has great

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marketing potential because you and your partners can expand through your
respective client bases.

The last step is to give an opt-in request for more information. To help you, here
are the 5 principles of visitor conversion:
1. Enticement. Offer something of value to your website visitors as soon as
they land on your site in exchange fro their email address and permission to
follow up.
2. Consumption. Follow up to help them make the most of the valuable
information or experience they just received.
3. Endowment. Give or endow your services to qualified potential clients.
4. Enhancement. Offer additional products/services that will further the
benefits of your clients.
5. Abandonment. When people leave your site without buying you can opt
to ask them for information why they're leaving without buying something.
This is information you can use to further fine tune your strategy.

Chapter 13: The Book Yourself Solid Speaking And

Demonstrating Strategy.
Another strategy to reach your target market is to promote yourself or have
others promote you.

Self promotions can be of two types:

Conference Calls These are monthly or weekly client calls you initiate for them to
learn the benefits of working with you. Prepare new, timely, and relevant topics
each time.

Demonstrations and Educational Events They're similar to conference calls

except that they're conducted in person. These are ideal if your clients are
located in the same place and if your services are physical or location based.

The second type, getting promoted by others, involves speaking to associations

or organizations. This kind of public speaking is an opportunity for you to address
potential clients and to interest them in your offerings. Both you and the
organizers of the activity benefit: you get to market your services or products and
the association gets great content that serves their constituents.

When making presentations, keep it as simple as possible. To be an effective

speaker, you need to either teach your audience something that they don't know
or haven't fully realized yet. Here are some guidelines to help you ensure that
you put out a good presentation:
1. Plan Your Presentation.
2. Define Your message
3. Know Your Audience
4. Choose Your Role

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5. Know Your Materials

6. Be Prepared
7. Organize Your Information

Chapter 14: The Book Yourself Solid Writing Strategy

Writing articles and publishing them online and offline will help establish your
reputation as an expert and generate interest in your products, programs and
services at the same time.

There are 5 essential parts to writing an effective article:

Part 1: Deciding on the Subject. Observe this simple rule: write what you
know.
Part 2: Choosing an Ideal Topic. After determining the subject, narrow it
down to a more specific topic. This makes writing it more manageable.
Following the topic selection, establish a clear purpose or objective.
Remember this question, what does it intend to accomplish? Lastly, define
your target audience. This makes sure that the information you provide will be
of value.
Part 3: Creating an Attention-Grabbing Title. Without an interesting title, no
one will bother to read the rest of your article.
Part 4: Writing Your Article. When writing your material note that it should
have an Introduction (the main point in a nutshell), a Body (an expansion of
your title and Introduction) and a Conclusion (a summation of what you wrote).
Don't forget to add pertinent information about yourself and your business.
Most importantly, proofread your article.
Part 5: Getting Your Article Published. Upon completing your material, you
may opt to have it published on the Web (such as article directories, electronic
newsletters, niche web sites, etc.) or in print.

Chapter 15: The Book Yourself Solid Keep-in-Touch Strategy

This last strategy is the most important of all the techniques specified in this book.
The responsibility for maintaining contact with your potential clients naturally falls
on your shoulders. Make sure that you send them information that's relevant,
interesting, current, and valuable.

You can provide your prospective clients the following:

1. Industry Information. Sending relevant industry information to your list
that may not be widely known is excellent content. Your clients will appreciate
the information and the generosity.
2. Strategies, Tips, and Techniques. This is probably the most common
type of content. The information you provide will help a significant portion of
your list members.
3. Content from Other Sources. Providing this information allows for cross-
marketing. You get to offer your contacts and take a break from continuously

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creating content and your colleagues will appreciate the promotion and will
most likely return the favor.
4. Product and Service Offerings. We are what we purchase. We
purchase, especially when those things are adding value to our life or work.
Give the people you serve the opportunity to express their values by giving
them the chance to buy your offerings.
5. Cool Keep-in-Touch. This category can include any fun, different,
unique, or exotic method of keeping in touch with your clients.
6. Special Announcement. This type of information should be relevant,
important, and presented as a learning tool to your target market.

Upon selecting the type of information, the next step is to choose the content
delivery mode. There are a number of them but the commonly used are electronic
newsletters, printed newsletters, postcards and mailers and telephone calls. Of all
the methods, Mr. Port believes e-newsletters to be the easiest and most cost-
effective way to keep in touch with large numbers of people.

Keeping in touch is key to developing trust and credibility with your potential
clients. It will keep you foremost in their minds when they need you or the
products and services you offer.

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