1Man Brand

Why do you need it?

If you're like most small businesses you suffer from feast and famine - you're too busy to sell when you''re working and when the work dries up you have to pedal like mad to get some more work in. It's stressful - it's inefficient and you don't earn as much as you deserve. The dilemmas you face are lovingly explained this little story.

Chances are you don't like selling and you don't really understand marketing. But like nearly 4 million other small businesses in the Uk you have to be able to do it at least to some extent to stay in business.

And professionals make a big mystique out of it. But actually it's quite simple. Once you've hit on something that you know people want to buy all you have to do is to think about what the people you currently do work for have in common and then go and find more of them and talk to them. I know, I know - it's very time consuming - but we're going to do something about that.

Basically you need a story that connects you emotionally to the buyer - what pain of his are you going to make go away. Then you have to tell it everywhere you can. So that you're doing enough to generate the flow of warmed up enquiries that you want - saving you time, making you money and leaving you in control? Sounds good? Yes - of course it does.

So the course contains 4 easy to understand but powerful modules

1. What's your story?
2. Telling it in writing - this is mainly about how you can develop the copywriting skills you're going to need for web-sites, flyers, proposals and blogging (oops I'm getting ahead of myself - major problem for an enthusiast
3. Telling it face to face - this is about selling - you may not like it but it's part of the price of independence
4. Telling it on-line so you can automate your prospecting, and gather enough enquiries to meet your needs.

We're going to charge you £77 including VAT for the package - it comes on CD - the modules last for about an hour each - they're powerpoint presentations with a voice track so they act like distance lectures that you can listen to again and again. it comes with a comprehensive workbook and lots of additional materials to help you really get to grips with the material.

Once you have mastered the core programme there are some additional modules available which cover more advanced subjects. These are

• How to use PR effectively,
• Market Research and New Product Development.
• Copywriting and Database Marketing.
• Running Exhibitions and Workshops.

Additional modules on Email Marketing and Vision and Branding are in preparation. These are priced at £37 + VAT each and more details can be found here.

"I've attended Alans workshop and used his "one man brand" product to help me develop an understanding of how my services can be "market driven" and ethical. The result is that I have more customers from ecademy and elsewhere than before and am happier to sell to those customers than I was previously. Alans insights are valuable and will have an impact on your profitability if you apply the principles and tools in the products effectively." Dennis Barker.

So if you've made up your mind you can buy the Small Business Marketing Course here.

What does the programme cover?

 

1 Man Brand recognises that sales and marketing is the number one concern of most small businesses.. Most of us don't have a great deal of money to spend and we need to tell our story in the most cost-effective way. So we need to work out the best way of reaching the market with a story that relates us to our customers.

What's Your Story introduces you to the idea that not everyone sees the world the way we do ourselves. We look at some ideas from psychology about different ways of thinking, different value systems and different motivations. Sales and Marketing is an emotional process. You need to connect with your customer on some fundamental level if you want your message to resonate. This module encourages you to think about what your values are and what your customers are and gives you a step by step approach towards defining what your message is. Then you have to encapsulate it in in the sort of language you would use if you were having a face to face conversation with a typical customer. Attached to this module is the 1Man Brand Workbook which is a 28 page planning tool that works you through the steps of the course and includes a sample plan of how you might market a consultancy business.

Telling it in writing contains an introduction to the psychology of attention and covers the fundamentals of good copywriting practice for people who are going to have to write their own. It finishes with a crash course on the basics of PR - when and how to use it. This module's attachments include an e-book on copywriting, Subconscious Selling, plus examples of short copy, long copy and an example of a 1page mini-site.

Telling it Face to Face is about selling. People who are not used to selling make 2 critical mistakes in our experience. One is that they are not systematic about how they go about it. This means that when they finally do get to the stage of employing another salesperson they don't know how to hold them to account. The other error is that they don't realise that being themselves and using silence and listening are the most effective ways of getting results.

This module recognises that just because you are on your own doesn't mean that you don't have to deal with complex selling situations. It covers the basic and reviews useful advanced procedures like LACPAAC, SPIN and PowerBase selling.It talks about presentation and closing and finishes by explicitly telling you what you need to measure to be successful in sales and what procedures to follow.

Teling it On-Line is about internet marketing. This module is the fore-runner of Punch Above Your Weight - our internet marketing workshop. It covers the basics of how Google works and how to create and deploy ad-words effectively. It also covers blogging and a new tool called a Squidoo Lens. This module's attachments include 2 factsheets on Driving Site Traffic and Pay per Click plus a 100 page e-book version of the "Fast-Track to e-commerce" workbook that I wrote for business link for London.

This module is also available in e-book format as "Market On-Line". This version runs to 97 pages and costs £15 + VAT.

"I would recommend Alan's 1 Man Brand to anybody who is serious about moving their business on or for people looking to start any new venture. Fantastic product, best thing I've invested in this year - Lee Smallwood"

So if you've made up your mind you can buy the Small Business Marketing Course here.

How does the programme work?

It's shipped to you on CD. It's a set of powerpoint slides with voice over put together as a flash movie- like a distance lecture. There are some exercises embedded in it and each module lasts between 40 - 60 minutes. You can work at your own pace and revisit each module as often as you want.

If you want a flavour of what it's like have a look at this evaluation clip.

What else do I get?

You get about 200 pages of additional material including a workbook, an e-book on copywriting, subconscious selling, an e-book version of the 100 page workbook "Fast-track to e-commerce Success" plus samples of different types of copy and a couple of fact-sheets on Pay per Click and Driving Site Traffic. You will also be eligible for special offers from time to time as well as for follow up support via a special community of our customers.

Above all you get a 6 month money back guarantee.

How do I know it's worth it?

Well you can look at the evaluation programme and you can find out what other people said about it on the testimonials page.

The bottom line is that this course gives you the basics of how to work out a good story and helps you choose the best, inexpensive, mix of online, written and face to face activity. You haven't got a lot of time to spend on this so you need ideas that count.

That's what we're offering.