Is the problem that you can't sell or that you don't have anyone to sell to? If you're like most agents your number one problem is generating qualified leads. By qualified leads I mean someone who fits your description of an ideal client, who wants what you have, who can make a “yes” decision, who has the money to do business with you, and who is ready to make a buying decision now.

If you had an appointment book filled with these people, and you couldn’t help at least 90% of them to buy, you also have a sales issue that needs immediate attention. The reason you struggle to fill your appointment book is because: you don’t know how to market yourself, you don’t know what to do to market yourself, and you’re scared to try to market yourself. Well, in this article I’m going to share 23 ways you can market yourself, and market yourself extremely effectively when you do it well.

  1. Go to your existing client database and market to them. You’ve sold these people once, and they’re the most likely people to buy from you again.
  2. Develop and implement a referral system.
  3. Prepare an offer to cross-sell, up-sell, and/or down-sell every buyer.
  4. Develop and implement a client appreciation program.
  5. Develop your own proprietary mailing lists and implement a direct mail marketing campaign to generate leads.
  6. Develop and implement a drip marketing campaign.
  7. Develop lead response advertisements in print/TV/radio with a clear response mechanism.
  8. Prepare a marketing message in alignment with associations based on trades/recreation/ethics & beliefs.
  9. Convey your marketing message through the use of case studies, testimonials, & stories.
  10. Get leads through newsgroups and forums.
  11. Use direct mail to generate leads.
  12. Develop a newsletter with response mechanisms, and enough value that people will share it with others.
  13. Develop and implement an education based marketing plan utilizing workshops/seminars/tele-seminars/training.
  14. Get known and have a memorable message (not a gimmick or slogan) spread through press releases.
  15. Develop a website to capture leads and develop a relationship with prospects.
  16. Publish articles.
  17. Generate leads from either having a booth at a trade show or from attending trade shows.
  18. Generate leads through your relationship with other businesses who sell to the people you want to sell to.
  19. Interview other people or get interviewed and use the audio from these interviews as a lead generation mechanism.
  20. Build a relationship with prospects through electronic follow-up messages that provide valuable information to the prospect.
  21. Generate leads through effective networking.
  22. Use white papers/reports/check sheets/tip sheets/guides to generate leads.
  23. Attract interest and attention through controversial editorials published in publications read by your target market.

There are more ways to market yourself, but this should give you a pretty good start on some ideas about how to get out and market yourself. Will one and only one of these ways to market yourself fill your appointment book? Maybe, but in all likelihood you’ll have to use several to keep your appointment book filled with the number and kind of appointments you want.

Will it be hard for you to do it? Not once you understand who you’re marketing to, what they want, and how to communicate to them how your solution helps them to easily get what they want. At that point you’ll have people in various stages of the buying process reaching out to you.

Does it take time to develop a marketing plan and system? If a message works it works immediately, but it will take you time to develop a message that works and use that message to develop a systemic marketing plan. But once you stop wasting your time meeting with prospects and learn how to market yourself developing reproducible systems it takes a whole lot less time than what you’re spending now with few results to show for your efforts.

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