More Info About The
Apprentice Program..
Hello!
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I am developing a program that I intend to sell for $300 to $500 AFTER some of my students have had success with it.
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Until that happens I'll be working with a small group of them to provide an incredibly valuable service to small business owners.
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They'll be doing all the work from home and getting clients by sending email.
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Here's the primary reason I think this is a perfect service to offer...
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THE CLIENT WILL BE MAKING MONEY FROM OUR SERVICES BEFORE THEY HAVE TO PAY US!
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That's huge.
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I know a lot of business owners.
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They are constantly approached by people wanting to sell them something...mostly advertising...all promising to bring them new customers.
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Constantly.
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The latest was a local medical school wanting one of my restaurant clients to buy an ad in their graduation yearbook.
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No. What a waste of money.
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Yearbook ads are OK for the local business in the local school district but not for a restaurant 20 minutes away from the school.
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I didn't get the sales pitch but there isn't anything she could have said to convince me to run the ad unless it was..."we'll run the ad for free and you only have to pay us if you make double the cost."
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In that case, I would have said "SIGN US UP" because there was no risk.
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No print advertising outlet is going to make that offer because they know most of the ads they run lose money for the advertisers, although they'd never admit it.
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They'll say you're getting EXPOSURE for the business...people die of exposure and so do businesses! 🙂
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Anyway, we're not here to bash print advertising, we're here to help you and businesses in your area make some money!
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Marketing guru Dean Jackson shared a great question in a video I watched...
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"What would you do if you only got paid when your client gets a result?"
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As someone who provides services to clients who expect a positive result, that's a scary question and one I've had in the back of my mind for a couple years.
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I knew if I found a great way to do that...have my clients make money BEFORE they paid me, my business would explode.
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Text message marketing is the answer.
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In case you don't know, text message marketing is when a local business sends an advertisement via text message to their former customers.
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You may be on lists like that but it's likely you're on a list of one of the major corporations rather than a mom and pop shop.
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Another thought provoking quote from the video I watched said...
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"It's less expensive to deliver the result than it is to convince people to give you money to deliver the result."
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What does that mean?
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When you're trying to convince someone to give you money, there is time, energy and money involved.
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You might need a big beautiful, expensive website with lots of fancy graphics and pictures.
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You'd probably need fancy, expensive brochures to hand out in the hopes someone called you and wanted more information.
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You have to spend time talking to prospects, worried that you might say just the wrong thing and turn them off.
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You'll probably have to meet them in-person because you're new and don't have any testimonials on your site or other credibility proof...so you've got the time and expense of in-person meetings.
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And frankly, the rejection is painful to your ego and your wallet...all that wasted time, energy and money.
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As the manager of text clubs for businesses..."It's less expensive to deliver the result than it is to convince people to give you money to deliver the result." means you can spend your time and energy handing out FREE TRIALS.
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Your one page website can explain the deal and they can sign up or not.
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You can send emails to businesses in your area offering the free trial....directing them to your page and giving them a number they can text to see your service in action.
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While spending money at any local business you can ask..."do you do text message advertising?"
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You're spending money with them...they'll politely answer your question. If they're interested you follow-up via email or give them a card with your web page with all the details.
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So how much does it cost to deliver a result with text message advertising?
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1 penny.
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That's how much texts cost. So if you send 100 texts for a client on a free trial, it costs you $1...200 is $2 and on down the line. (If you join the apprentice program your first 500 texts are covered)
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That's much less expensive than websites, brochures, in-person meetings etc.
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It would be unusual for you to spend more than $10 for a free trial month on any one client.
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The final quote from the video is...
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"A compelling offer is 10X more powerful than a convincing argument"
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"Fresh Hot Pizza Delivered in 30 Minutes or It's Free" was the compelling offer that made Domino's Pizza a billion dollar corporation.
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"I'll advertise your business for FREE and you only have to pay me if it makes you money" is a compelling offer that looks great on a business card AND sounds great to a business owner.
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Is this better than your loyalty club stuff?
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Yes. And not because loyalty clubs aren't valuable. They are. And you should consider offering an email loyalty club as an upsell to your clients after you have them happy with texting services.
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But with text advertising, there are far fewer hoops to jump through for the client and you.
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For an email club, the business owner would have to get the staff to encourage people to fill out the form and then I have to stop in on a regular basis to get the names and type them in and then design emails and send them off...etc etc etc.
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All very doable and I get paid well for it but...
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In practical application, and you know this if you've done the loyalty club stuff...businesses don't collect the emails.
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One of my clients had a PACKED house on New Year's Eve...turning people away.
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Guess how many new names were collected that night for the email club? None.
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Contrast that with a sign on each table that might look like one of these...
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No staff involvement at all.
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Of course, we don't know how many people would have joined the list on New Year's Eve but it would have been more than ZERO!
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Are you starting to see why this is the perfect home-based income stream?
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Low cost to start and run.
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EASY to provide RESULTS-IN-ADVANCE. They'll see people coming in and spending money almost immediately.
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When it comes time to start paying you they won't want the flow of customers to stop so you'll get paid.
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No need to actually meet clients in person so you aren't limited to where you can get clients from.
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How much can you make doing this?
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The classic...it depends. Business guru Dan Kennedy says get whatever you can while keeping a straight face. 🙂
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You really can charge whatever you want.
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Because I don't have any client testimonials for texting yet, my starting point is going to be $97 per month (after the free trial) and that will include 2000 text messages. If they need more they can pay as they go until the next month when they'll get 2000 more. Text credits don't expire as long as they remain a client.
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You may want to charge more or less. You could charge $47 and make them pay for each text they send. Your cost for the texts is 1 cent so you can charge that or anything you want.
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When you have some feedback from clients and have more confidence in this actually working you can certainly charge more...my goal is $197 per month for most clients.
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If it's a doctors office and she'll only use it for appointment reminders, then it will be less.
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Walk Me Through A Client Set Up?
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So you've gotten someone to say yes to your FREE TRIAL. What's next?
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You have to get the client to decide on an incentive to get people on the list. Actually this is optional but it improves response.
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Second, you'll go into your dashboard and set up the KEYWORD you'll be using for that client and offer.
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"Setting up the keyword" means you set up the first message that will go out when one of their customers decides to join the text club.
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Here's what that might look like...
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CRAG is the "keyword" and you see the automatic message they got.
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Next you'll have to make some signs they can use around the business. I'll have some you can modify as part of my apprentice program. You saw examples like of these signs earlier on this page.
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They'll get a quick boost in list members if they have a Facebook and social media presence and post about it there. I'll show you how to make those graphics using a free online tool.
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You can email the signs to them or get them printed yourself and drop them off. You can email the social media graphics.
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Hopefully, you don't have to keep after them to get the signs up and the social media posted. The sooner the signs go up the sooner they start making money.
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Ask for the contact info for their social media person so you can send the graphics to them.
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That might actually lead to you getting that gig...posting on their social media. Another nice bit of income for no heavy lifting!
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Until then you wait. You're waiting for the list to grow and for people to start using the coupons.
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In the meantime you can research what similar businesses have done texting wise and offers you might use.
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This way you're becoming a trusted resource for the business owner.
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"Hey Tom a business like yours did a 2 for 1 text promo on Super Bowl Sunday last and increased business 123% that day" is a helpful bit of info for the business owner.
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A week later, after the list is starting to grow, you'll send the first of the weekly texts.
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You do this until the month is up.
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Then you check in to see how it's going...you'll probably want to do this during the month.
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If you send COUPONS, you yourself will be able to track how it's going because the coupon will be REDEEMED at the business and each redemption goes into the record on the dashboard.
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So instead of wondering how it's going, you can tell the business owner how it's going.
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"We sent 487 texts last week and got 24 redeemed."
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Let them know the FREE TRIAL is ending soon along with a payment link from Paypal to get them set up on a recurring basis so you get paid every month.
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Lather, rinse, repeat.
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Where do we look for potential clients?
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Excellent question!
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First, here's a list of businesses that fit best...
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-Car wash
-Auto detailers
-Restaurants
-Bakeries
-Bars
-Bowling alley
-Coffee shops/Cafe's
-Deli
-Diner
-Night Club
-Live Theater
-Movie Theater
-Pizza Shops
-Liquor Store
-Beverage Center
-Gym
-Spa
-Hair Salon/Barber
-Nail Salon
-Golf Course
-Live Music Venue
-Mini Golf
-Dry Cleaner
-Bookstore
-Cigar Shop
-Vape Store
-Pet Groomer
-Pet Food Store
-Shoe Store
-Clothing Store
-Massage therapists
-Sandwich shops
-Yoga Studio
-Churches
-Florists
-Oil change place
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Here's a list of businesses that could also use texting but not as frequently as the list above.
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-Dentist
-Doctors
-Chiropractors
-Physical Therapists
-Auto dealers
-Boat dealers
-Opticians
-Pharmacy
-Insurance agency
-Apartment complexes
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I'm sure there are more that could fit on both lists.
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What you'll notice about list #1 is that customers could conceivably do business with all of them, multiple times per year.
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Trouble is, most businesses don't have a good way to get in front of them to remind them to come back.
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That's where we come in. We get them back in on a regular basis with our text marketing services.
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The businesses on list #2 don't typically see their customers very often.
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A medical professional might use text messaging to send out appointment reminders.
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Missed appointments cost doctors money and we're helping avoid that.
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Unless you work for, live with or are related to someone on list #2 skip it for now but know that you can provide those services if they approach you.
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Back to list #1.
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First, go down the list thinking of who you'd go to if you needed their products or services.
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A. Write down some names....owner names not business names.
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Now, looking at that list of names, rank in order of how well they know YOU.
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If you ran into them on the street would they know you?
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As opposed to the restaurant owner you notice when you're dining there.
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B. Next, go down the list again and make note of the places you actually frequent but don't really know anyone there.
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C. And finally go down the list and think about people you know who WORK at these type places...even if they are NOT in your area.
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Your cousin Billy Bob who owns a nail salon, for example. 🙂
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In my opinion you should focus first on the group in List B.
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Start looking for ways to contact those businesses...Google, Facebook, their websites etc.
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Start a database using Google Docs if you don't have any sort of database program.
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Start sending emails.
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People in the Apprentice Program will get exactly what to say in those emails to increase the chances of you hearing back.
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And they'll also get other strategies for finding prospects...
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Since this one popped up just after I wrote that last line, I share it with you.
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On Twitter I noticed this...
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This book store has 4700+ Twitter fans and they got 6 likes of this tweet.
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I noticed it 11 hours after they tweeted and 5 hours after they closed.
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If they had a text list they could have sent it out and had over 95% of the list see the message immediately.
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I will be contacting them offering to help them get a text list going.
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In other words, be on the lookout for situations like this where you can send an email to someone who needs your help.
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Another example...just talking to a friend who lives in a condo complex who will have to move her car by 9AM so the area can be plowed.
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Each condo owner pays over $200 per month for plowing, mowing, garbage, etc...they can spare $97 for the ability to instantly contact residents! 🙂
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Opportunities are everywhere when you're looking for them.
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The Apprentice Program is closed for the moment but if I decide to re-open it, you'll get first notice.
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In the meantime, here is that presentation by the guy who built an $8,000,000 texting business before 2014 when it was a lot harder to do.
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https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/commando-marketing-with-dick-larkin/e/32779552
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If you have the Stitcher app on your phone look for the "Commando Marketing " show and you'll find it.
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I listen at double speed on the app so for me it's much more efficient to listen on my phone rather than a computer.
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T
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Any questions? Email leoshelpdesk@gmail.com