Thrill Clients and Sell More Business with Your Book Tours
http://www.articlesdirectory.org/articles/96175/1/Thrill-Clients-and-Sell-More-Business-with-Your-Book-Tours/Page1.html
Donald Mitchell
Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through 2,000 percent solutions and receive tips by e-mail by registering for free at
http://www.2000percentsolution.com . By Donald Mitchell
Published on 9 December 2008
If clients like your business book tours, you'll have a winner. This article draws on my mistakes to help you be more successful.
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
--Winston Churchill
There's nothing quite like a business book tour to get you out of the office and meeting lots of new people. Naturally, you'll want to say hello to your clients while you are away in all those cities.
Be careful how you handle those contacts: They can either be positive or negative for your clients.
Here's what to do:
1. Bring new information that's relevant to your client . . . that's not in your book!
2. Make it clear that your client's needs and success are more important to you than your book and its readership.
3. Try to comment about local companies to the media in a way that will be flattering to your clients without giving away any secrets or confidential relationships.
4. Talk about your clients' interests when you are with them rather than your book and book tour.
Naturally, I didn't do those things. I did just the opposite. Here's the story of what to avoid doing:
Never before had so many clients seen me so often in their offices. Many of our clients work in corporate headquarters far from the financial centers. They were accustomed to visiting me in Boston when there to speak to investors or while in New York as we worked on projects together.
Suddenly, here I was coming to places like Denver, Miami, Phoenix, Montreal, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Houston, and Detroit. Naturally, clients were curious about what brought me to their town.
Business book tours were new to most of our clients. Most had hired us because of our skill and experience in corporate strategy and finance, not because we had written books about creating exponential solutions.
Many clients had not been to any of the 400 Year Project meetings, so these meetings during the book tour provided an introduction to that work for some.
There was a distinct look of amusement in most of their eyes as I recounted what had been going on and delivered an inscribed, autographed copy of the book.
I can only assume that many were thinking, "Has he lost his mind?" But all were too polite to say so.
Then they looked downright relieved when I noted that they could get an overview of the book in 15 minutes by reading the first paragraph of each chapter and glancing at the questions at the end of any chapters that interested them. I suspect that some feared that I would be calling back to discuss every page in the book until I provided those time-saving instructions.
Turning back to their situations and needs, it was clear that they had no immediate need at the time to talk to me about consulting projects. After all, I had asked for the meeting. They would have picked up the telephone and called if they felt a need to talk or meet.
I wasn't sure that I had enhanced any client relationships in the process, but I certainly enjoyed seeing their offices and meeting some of their colleagues. However, I decided I wouldn't ask for client meetings when I was out promoting books in the future unless those meetings would add a lot of value to those clients in following the four lessons I described in the beginning of this article.
--Winston Churchill
There's nothing quite like a business book tour to get you out of the office and meeting lots of new people. Naturally, you'll want to say hello to your clients while you are away in all those cities.
Be careful how you handle those contacts: They can either be positive or negative for your clients.
Here's what to do:
1. Bring new information that's relevant to your client . . . that's not in your book!
2. Make it clear that your client's needs and success are more important to you than your book and its readership.
3. Try to comment about local companies to the media in a way that will be flattering to your clients without giving away any secrets or confidential relationships.
4. Talk about your clients' interests when you are with them rather than your book and book tour.
Naturally, I didn't do those things. I did just the opposite. Here's the story of what to avoid doing:
Never before had so many clients seen me so often in their offices. Many of our clients work in corporate headquarters far from the financial centers. They were accustomed to visiting me in Boston when there to speak to investors or while in New York as we worked on projects together.
Suddenly, here I was coming to places like Denver, Miami, Phoenix, Montreal, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Houston, and Detroit. Naturally, clients were curious about what brought me to their town.
Business book tours were new to most of our clients. Most had hired us because of our skill and experience in corporate strategy and finance, not because we had written books about creating exponential solutions.
Many clients had not been to any of the 400 Year Project meetings, so these meetings during the book tour provided an introduction to that work for some.
There was a distinct look of amusement in most of their eyes as I recounted what had been going on and delivered an inscribed, autographed copy of the book.
I can only assume that many were thinking, "Has he lost his mind?" But all were too polite to say so.
Then they looked downright relieved when I noted that they could get an overview of the book in 15 minutes by reading the first paragraph of each chapter and glancing at the questions at the end of any chapters that interested them. I suspect that some feared that I would be calling back to discuss every page in the book until I provided those time-saving instructions.
Turning back to their situations and needs, it was clear that they had no immediate need at the time to talk to me about consulting projects. After all, I had asked for the meeting. They would have picked up the telephone and called if they felt a need to talk or meet.
I wasn't sure that I had enhanced any client relationships in the process, but I certainly enjoyed seeing their offices and meeting some of their colleagues. However, I decided I wouldn't ask for client meetings when I was out promoting books in the future unless those meetings would add a lot of value to those clients in following the four lessons I described in the beginning of this article.