Yes, saving a wage is killing your business.  And, I mean that literally …

I know. I see the accountants saying, you have to run lean to get a decent profit, right?

That’s partly true. It’s also true you need to grow to make profit. You can’t cost cut your way to a fortune.

In business, it seems there are always two sides. For example, if you’re an owner of a retail business, you need to get product on the shelf and also get product off the shelf.

In a service business, you need to deliver the service, and you also need to manage your customer base from the sales and marketing side to build a demand for the service.

So, as an owner, faced with dealing with both sides, which of those areas should you focus on?

If you want your business to be big, you need to focus on getting the business, rather than managing it once it is brought in.

That means you have to get out of doing anything in your business that doesn’t contribute directly to both top-line and bottom-line revenue.

It also means you have to start hiring people to do the things you may be already doing – things that may be more comfortable for you than selling.

And don’t think you can’t afford to start paying those wages. Truth is, you can’t afford not to.

See, many owners hide behind the “managing” side of things, preferring that process to the sales side. They spend hours doing the books or creating spreadsheets or even answering phones in the misguided belief that “busy” equals “business.”

The reality, of course, is that sales equals business, and nothing in business happens until a sale is made. Many owners also have no idea how much their time is actually worth – causing them to engage in tasks or activities that do little or nothing to grow the business.

The way forward is to start delegating routine tasks to wage earners so you can start focusing on the top-line activities that will drive revenues. You need a plan to start, however, because delegation without a system is abdication. And for most owners, there’s simply too much abdication in their companies for anyone’s good.

How do you start? By following these five steps to make sure you are fully engaged on the “bringing in” business side of things at all times in your own company.

1. Know what your time is worth. First, you need to define your value in your business over time. What’s it worth? Twenty, $50, $200 an hour? What do you currently charge for your time in your business? What should you charge? These are key questions to defining the types of tasks you should be doing to leverage your own time and value in your company.Once you know your value, you can easily see how certain tasks can be outsourced to leverage your time.Say you’ve determined your time is worth at least $100 an hour. Will you still mow the lawn, iron clothes or clean the pool at home? Not if you can get those tasks completed for less than that rate – and you will soon discover you can.For your business, you can benchmark this rate against the “Lifetime Value” of your average customer. Say you have a customer who will spend on average of $5000 a year with you and will be a customer for 5 years.

   That customer’s Lifetime Value is $25,000. Now, at your rate of $100 an hour, will you continue to answer phones or work up your monthly financials?

   I’d hope not. Especially when your time is better spent finding more “average” customers.

2. Figure out where you spend your time. Keep careful track of how you spend your time in your business for a week or two, and you’ll have a better handle on how you can adjust your tasks and activities in more profitable ways. Most owners will find very little time goes into actually getting sales, while most of it is spent on delivering the product or service, administrative or managerial tasks and functions. Remember the 80/20 rule:  80% of all results come from 20% of effort. And if 80% of your efforts are managerial in nature, you can immediately see where your sales results are at.
3. Delegate routine, administrative or basic tasks. Once you have a handle on how you spend your time, start to find ways to systemize your most routine functions and delegate them to wage earners. Start from the bottom up, and make sure you have a system in place before you place an untrained person in a position.
4. Get more training – for yourself. Take an honest assessment of your sales and marketing abilities, and if you need help – go get it. You, of all people in your company, might be the biggest beneficiary of additional sales or marketing training. You can’t get additional learning and education if you are tied to the office doing books or answering phones. Again, pay the wage to someone who can do it better and for less money than your time is worth, and brush up on the skills you need to boost your business.
5. Just do it. Get off your backside and actually start to engage with your customers. Strike up a conversation. Call and ask how they are doing. After a while, they’ll be impressed enough to start referring your business to others – which is by far the best way to leverage your “sales” time in any business.

Then, once you get enough referrals coming through your sales pipeline, you can once again become a manager – this time of a fortune.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

Back when I was seven, my parents took me to a friend’s house for a BBQ and I knew him – he was our Milkman …

I didn’t know it, but I was about to get the best business lesson of my life from the Milko.

You see, when we arrived we pulled up to a massive house, with really expensive cars and I was really confused.  I asked my Dad, “Dad, is the Milko rich?”

He told me to go see his friend and ask him about it.  Being seven years old, I was extremely tactful of course.

“You’re our Milko right? … How does a Milko get to be rich …?”

The reply is what has set me up for where I am today.  Now, remember I was seven so this is paraphrasing …

“Son, you don’t make money selling milk, you make money selling milk runs.  I buy a milk run, build it up and sell it on, then I go and buy another run, build it up and sell it on.  Each time I sell a milk run, I have another big amount of cash to invest.  Most people think that running the same company all their life is the way to go, but it’s not, it’s about making capital every few years and investing it.”

The essence of what he taught me, and now you.

You don’t make money running businesses, you make money building them up and selling them.  You have to realize a capital gain to be able to use it.   Yes, of course the profit and wages you pay yourself along the way are great, but shouldn’t you at least examine what you might get if you put your business up for sale?

Many business owners we work with are amazed at what capital value their company has.  It’s often enough for people to retire on, but they don’t know it yet.

Think of it this way … If every couple of years you bought a run down house and renovated it and then on sold it, you’d make good money.  What if you bought a small beach shack and over many years built it into a beachside mansion, what would it be worth today?

I just think you should be looking at business the same way.  You have invested a lot of time and effort building an asset and it may be time to sell it and turn your skills to another business or opportunity to build.

The best part here is that unlike property, business values are solely determined by the revenues and profits.  Buying a run down or, as my Milko did, a business in a newly developing area and building it up over a year or two adds great capital value.

But for many business owners, what if you built it over 10 or 20 years, where would its value be?

Now, here’s the challenge, some of you have built yourself so tightly into the day-to-day of the business, it’s a trap.  In other words, the business won’t work unless you’re there.  So, when you go to find out how much it’s worth, the number will be a lot lower than you expected.

Not only that, if the value is lower than you expected, I’ll bet your not pulling anywhere near the profit you should be out of it month to month.

If you’d built it with a view to selling it, I’m certain you would have done a few things differently and made it not so reliant upon your skills, your ability and your work ethic.  Every business owner has a choice and, the ability to learn how to make their business work without them.

If your plan is to sell it, how can you over the next year or two extract yourself?  Who knows, if it runs without you, then maybe you’ll want to keep it.

Bottom Line … If you value your time in building an asset, then sell the asset and use your time to build another and another.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

I have a theory, and it’s a theory I have seen proven again and again in business.  And, it’s a theory that has made so many companies so much money, that it literally blows me away how few ever use it.

Think about this … who is the number 1 prospect to buy from you tomorrow …?

That’s right, the people who bought from you yesterday …

And that’s where my theory kicks in.

You see over the years, several reports have shown that most companies ignore my theory and spend 6 or 7 times more on chasing new customers than they do on getting past customers back.

And yet, the majority of profit in any company comes from repeat business.  Without repeat business a company will always struggle to grow and make profits.

So, back to my theory …

A company that doesn’t send thank-you cards to its customers leaves a lot of profit on the table …

It’s not just the thank-you card, it’s what sending the card shows me about how you do business.

Look at it this way, when was the last time you were sent a thank you note from a company you did business with … ?

If I’m right, it was a long time ago, if ever …

Big companies, small companies, they’re all as bad as each other.  They spend a small fortune getting you to come in and buy and when they have you right where they want you, they let you get away …

Most don’t even do the basics right.  But even if you get the basics right, let’s see how well you’re doing over all …

Here are my 6 steps to getting your customers buying from you again and again …

1. Collect their details – and I don’t just mean their name and number.  You need to learn as much as you can about them.  Preferences, birthdays and anything else that will help you turn them into a regular customer.  One thing to make sure of, you need to have a great database system, but no use keeping names if you don’t use the next 5 steps …
2. Send a thank you card and invite them back – and do it in hand writing, even on something as simple as a postcard.  It’s crazy how simple and inexpensive this is, yet so few ever do it.  You can even include business cards they can give to their friends …
3. Plan future buying – this is so simple yet very rarely done.  What if you sat down and thought through, or even called or met every customer and discussed their future needs.  Just think of how easy I would be for a printer to remind you or even call you about the fact that you are running out of letterhead.
4. Inform your customers of your entire range – ever had customers say, ‘oh, I didn’t know you sold that’?  You want every customer to know everything they can buy from you.  Just think of how people have insurance with several different companies, when was the last time your insurer called and asked if they could offer you a quote on all the policies you don’t have with them.  You need to be more pro-active with customers.
5. Write a monthly or at worst quarterly newsletter – with everyone going to email newsletters I am of a firm belief that it’s back to the old way of written and printed newsletters that will get the results.  With so much technology, some times it’s the back to basics that works best.
6. Special Offers – if they’re not receiving offers, carrying a VIP card, or in some way made to feel important, then you aren’t getting as much from your customers as you should be.  Think of your favourite restaurant, could they send you a text every Monday with the menu specials for the week.

I’m sure you can think of dozens more ways to get your customers coming back.  It’s not about ideas though, it’s about action.

It’s about putting any or all of these ideas into action in your business now … and if you do nothing else … at least send someone, or everyone a thank-you note …

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

I want to teach you how it is that the very best companies and the very best salespeople NEVER worry about having a higher price.

In fact, if you’re great at sales, and great in business, you want a higher price.

You want to have to sell, rather than just accept orders.

You see, anyone who can only make a sale when they have the best price has, in my opinion, missed the whole point of selling.

Let me give you an example from my own life …

I needed new tires for my car. I opened the yellow pages and picked three companies to call.  Of course these companies had invested big dollars to have their advertisements placed, so you’d want their people to do a great job at answering the phone.

(Just as an aside, try calling your company and buying something, see if it’s hard, easy or somewhere in between.)

So I make the call, first company, what do I ask … “How much for a set of tires ... ?”

That’s what everyone asks, why …?

Because that’s how we’ve been trained - and even more importantly, what else do we know to ask about?  When I call to ask about airline tickets, do I ask about the pilots’ experience? No. I ask about price.

So, his answer … “That will be $X per tire plus fitting and balancing.”

I said, “Thanks, I’ll call you back.”

Of course I did, same line we all use, what other option did he give me?

Second call was the same, third guy must have been trained by me or Jeff.  He used my “magic line.”

“Yes sir, thanks for your call, just so I can help you best, would it be OK to ask you a couple of questions … ?”

How great is this? He makes me feel good, and then gets my permission to sell to me.

He then went on to ask VALUE based questions.  What type of driving I planned to do, how many passengers I carried and so on, until I blurted …

“So, what does all this have to do with a price … ?”

“Well sir, if I don’t understand your driving habits, I couldn’t possibly recommend the right tire with the right tread pattern, the right tire compound and that would mean your tire wouldn’t be safe and wouldn’t last as long as it could, and you wouldn’t want that would you sir … ?”

BANG … I’m shot dead, I can’t go anywhere …

Suffice to say he got the sale, but the whole point is …

Price only matters if you don’t educate your buyers …

If you let them think price is important, if your questions lead to price objections, if your sales literature focuses on price and if your sales skills are lacking …

Turn yourself into a performer …

Use questions rather than answers, let them show themselves why they should buy, design questions that lead to value answers not price answers …

You see, if you have a higher price, it must be because you are better. So find out why you are better and ask the customer questions about how important those things are to them …

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

Hiring an employee is kind of like dating. The interview can be all roses, but then on date #1, you really start to understand who it is you’ve hired.  And “Oh no,” you got it wrong.

In a big business, one bad employee won’t really kill them. But in small business, we need basically everyone to be a great performer if we are to build our revenues and profits.

So, how do we get and keep good people … ?

I remember when I was 21 and hiring people for my business right at start-up phase and I turned to my Dad for some wisdom and hopefully encouragement.

I said, “You know Dad, I just can’t seem to find any good people.”

To which he ever so bluntly replied, “You know son, you get the people you deserve.”

“Gee, thanks Dad, so motivational.”

Motivation I didn’t get, but a reality check I did.  The really great people didn’t want to work for me, yet.

So, over the years, I’ve come to realize that even though I probably wouldn’t be quite as blunt as my Dad, I would have to agree with him.  I have noticed that with my own companies and just as often with the business owners I’ve coached, Dad was right.

When you run a great company, you get great people.  When you are a great leader you get great people, and vice versa.

At the time I wasn’t a leader, I would have been lucky to be seen as an average manager, and thus I was rewarded with the type of employees who like working for a manager who really wasn’t any good.

So, how did I go about fixing it.  Pretty simple really.

I started to look at what sort of company a great employee would want to join, what sort of leader they really want to work with and learn from.  Then, and only then could I go to work to build a company that they would want to be employed by.

So, just to get you started, great team members (not staff) want to work in a positive, rewarding, successful organization where they have the ability to give input, get the job done and be recognized for their work.

They want a company that is going places where they can learn, grow and build a career.  If that’s not you yet, then keep building.

So, step one is building a great business they want to work with, step two is becoming a great leader who they want to learn from and work with.

I read every book, went to every seminar, got myself a mentor and went to work on becoming a much better leader of great people.

Finally I started to get the people I needed and wanted to help build a great company.

That said, even with all of that, in today’s market place, it’s getting tighter and tighter.  We are running out of great people.  With the labour market as tight as it is, we have to think of our help wanted ads as more of a marketing piece than ever before.  We have to almost sell people on why they would want to come work with us.

And they say the new IR laws are making it tough on employees. Crazy.

As small business owners right now, we’re paying the highest wages we ever have on average, we’re finding it harder to get good people.  That is if anyone will even show up for an interview and as I’ve always thought, when business is booming, the employees have it the best they ever can.

At least we do business in a country now where as a business owner you are allowed to let people go without the fear of them suing you and taking your whole business, or at the very least wasting hours of your time defending yourself anymore.  Across the ditch, the Kiwi’s only wish they had our Industrial Relations laws.

Yes, getting and keeping great people is vital, and yes it’s harder now than it has been in a long while.

But, the next time to feel yourself saying, “I just can’t get good people,” take a look in the mirror and ask yourself, what sort of company do the great people want to join, and go do it.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

Let's get to the facts ...

Facebook has more than 58% of all Social Media traffic or as I call it, Interactive Database traffic ... and it's growing just like any business owner would want it to.

Twitter has less than 2% and falling ... that doesn't accurately reflect Twitter's real growth but percentage decline ...

Myspace is dying at a rapid rate of knots ...

WHY ...

Let's go back to E-Bay ...

E-bay showed you how you could make money using it's system ...so we all signed up and used E-bay ...

Facebook allows us to find and create customers, it allows charities to raise funds, as well as allowing friends to communicate and meet each other ...

Twitter helps us grow our business, LinkedIN helps us grow our business ...

The benefits here are why companies hire people to sit all day and work on Facebook, Twitter and so on ...

As for MySpace ... if they could find a way to help business people make money, then I tell you, MySpace would have it's fortunes turn around pretty dang quick ...

Think of it this way ... business is the engine room of your customers, no-one will spend as much money with Myspace and business people, now maybe the music industry is a good  place to do that, but going after iTunes, Rhapsody, Zune and other music sites and systems that are firmly ingrained would be like saying I want to beat uTube when they already have such a massive lead ...

Something new MySpace, something new ...

I am giving away USD$1,000 to the three top entries and then listed below are all the entries that are also hot on the topic ...

The top 3 ideas in my opinion, each person wins USD$1,000 for their ideas ...

Mark Rattigan

You could advertise become a fan of Bradley J Sugars by wednesday the 26th and receive the "6 proven ways to get more fans on facebook for free" report valued at $318 for FREE.  August 18 at 10:08pm ·

I will adapt this 53 ideas into the top 11 or so after I test and meaure the results from them and use this idea ...

Michael Houghton

And, here's the other 50 great ideas ...

Mark Rattigan

The fact that brad offered $3000 to get fans means he is not getting them for free. He was looking for strategies on how we could get them for free.   But extremely good way for him to get fans for low acquisition cost whilst testing strategies to get them for cheaper. A win-win.  Wed at 1:37am ·

Adam Goudge

one word. Leverage. Launch a campaign like this and get other people to do it for you, just as you have done.  Wed at 4:47pm ·

Mike Smith

here's 30 ways YOU can improve your business CASHFLOW this month...for FREE..An article posted EVERY day for the next 30 days sent to every NEW Fb member (leverage off the stuff from instant cashflow that you already have)  Wed at 4:48pm ·

Mike Smith

OR get 3 of your high profile, highly followed , awesome educating buddies run a joint HOUR OF POWER free webinar using goto meeting which you intro and wrap up as well as sticking in your 15 minutes..could include business/property/Share Market (pick me!), and something else (could be money management/contribution/or investing in fine art or whatever). they advertise rego through this page ... Wed at 5:12pm ·

Troy Pollard

Got it! A Human Treasure Hunt. YOU create a list of let’s say 50 “Advisors” who would add value to ActionCoach as a resource. People with a specific skill set or talent who would be willing to assist others with their needs. Ex. Big 5 accountant, Google Adwords Expert, International Trade Lawyer, etc. Then, run a Treasure (Talent) Hunt and have people go find them! Make a list of the 50 skills and have the new “professional friend” put their name and skill, and who invited them. The winner gets $1000! Just a thought.   Wed at 5:46pm ·

Darin Scott

This isn't just about numbers ... it's about developing relationships ... so there has to be some personal contact. The next big thing over the internet will be 'vmail (video mail)', as a replacement for email.
So here's the campaign - offer a series of video/vmail messages with increasing value in each. Ask for vmail messages/testimonials from everyone already in your fan page to also include in your messages. Then escalate the offer by sending potential new fans to your fan page for even more value.  Wed at 6:58pm ·

Franky Kane

Easy! find people with a load of fans and offer to buy there accounts for cheap, then turn it into a Bradley J Sugars hub redirecting them to your main...then shut it down. BUY, BUILD, SELL.   Wed at 7:44pm ·

Mark Rattigan

We now have some great offers for our target market which are free whatever free advice offer is best or simplest. Now for distribution to business clients. Write some great articles or webinars and place them on your site/blog/facebook wall. At the bottom of the article place your details and offer eg. Free series of business ideas each week or other.

Then encourage your current fans to paste the link on their facebook/blog etc. This could be voluntary as it would add value to their business Having great content to share with their contacts or you could offer them something free for promoting it eg. 30 minute skype teleconference or free exclusive brad sugars webinars.

This way you are getting real fans that are interested in your service and have greater value to you, cost nothing but time, adds value to your current fans and showcases to those that participate how valuable your advice is, from the phone call or webinars, which might lead to sales for your existing fans.  Thu at 2:51am ·

Michael Houghton

Make a facebook app - perhaps the Business Health check as a facebook application. To use the app, you need to become a fan of Brad Sugars. That means you are not only gaining fans, but also leads! Facebook apps are so hot right now!  Thu at 6:28pm ·

Sara Lamond

Well personally Brad - I think you need to invite a Professional Event Photographer to EVERY seminar you have - that includes the free introductory ones! You know a picture speaks a thousand words - and we love to get our work seen by as many people as possible. Think of all the talking that would save you!!!!  Wed at 5:10pm ·

Amy Vale

Review all the touch points that you communicate to clients with... Then attach an offer that benefits the greater good. "For every person that joins my facebook page, I will donate $1 (or whatever) to XXX charity" It will not only encourage people to join themselves, but to actually forward it on to others. And when you make the donation to the charity, you can leverage it with press releases and get even more people to join!!!  Wed at 7:29pm ·

Wilson Yang

Create dozen landing pages for each of your free ebooks (utilizing the resources you already have) and each landing page target only on one issue (one and only one issue), for example, a page deals with people who has problem in putting classified ads on newspaper. The page will give them two or three free ideas to take action now with a special offer if they give you their email addresses or join your page and permission to send them the ebook for free.... Wed at 7:43pm ·

Nicole Hore

I'm putting on my FB page: Please be sure to give me your opinion on how easy you found it was to become a fan of Australia's No 1 Business Coach - Action Coach Founder, Mr Brad Sugars .http://www.facebook.com/BradleySugars P.S. Brad, when do you make your decision?  Wed at 7:44pm ·

Noel Roberts

Here is what you do. WRITE THIS DOWN. Ive seen it done and it has amazing results! Take any one of your email marketing campaigns. Just go to one of your lists, and send out a blast. Instead of sending the email from "Brad Sugars", go in and change it to "Facebook".

Make the subject: "You have a facebook fanpage request from Brad Sugars"

Now in your message, just put: (Name_fix), you have a received a request for friendship from Brad Sugars. Write something nice and sweet, and throw in some links to your page. ... I guarantee that this will massively grow your following every time you send out a blast.  Let me know how it works! and message me when i've won   Wed at 7:44pm ·

 Pauline Roberts

You need a reason why they want to join and there has to be something in it for them.. People love the idea of getting something free or winning something - you could decide on that.. and another thing all these funny you tube clips you love create on of your own with your family - you the girls and your wife, people love it if they think you are human as well, l not just some rich dude trying to make more money and have a joining place there - make it fun.. Wed at 8:42pm ·

Suzanne Murray

Create a game similar to mafia wars / farm town - but something like ( what would would suit you ?? ) property tycoon?
were you can build a portfolio - renovate, hold , negotiate prices etc that way you would actually be teaching them something as well , and those type of games have huge followings.  Wed at 8:49pm ·

Carlie Sanborn

create a site that you can forward out in emails etc.. and have it say something like watch free videos now from brad sugars ceo of action coach, expert of business advice etc.. and learn what steps to take to achieve financial freedom. click here.. and then have something pop up were they have to become a fan to your page before they can watch your videos!  Good Luck   Wed at 8:56pm ·

Michael LeJeune

How about offering a 1 hour coaching session with you (The Brad Sugars) for the person that becomes fan number 25,000 or some other other number that you are looking for? Value it at a few thousand $$$. Have all Action coaches post this contest on their facebook pages and in all business groups as well as email all of their clients. You could even do the prizes in tiers. Level one could be a signed book. Level two one hour coaching session with you. Level three could be a trip to Las Vegas to meet you.  Wed at 9:03pm ·

Michael LeJeune

Another idea is to leverage some of the newsletters from people like Jeff Gitomer and other great global speakers that have a following. I'm sure you could come up with a great guest spot on their site that already gets thousands of hits.  Wed at 9:06pm ·

Arthur Carmazzi

Here is a special invitation link: http://bz9.com/BradleySugars that can be put on any page, even Google. You may need to wait a moment for the pop up  Thu at 1:08am ·

Wilson Yang

I believe this method will work for people like you. It will not only getting more people to your FB network, but also giving infinite number of ideas for social marketing as long as you keep the site running. Here is how: Setup a single page website with copy or video (make sure they are short to the point) like: "Hi, I am Brad Sugars from ActionCOACH. I am going to give away $3000 every three months for the best ideas of getting people on social marketing networks, these ideas will be seen by all people in the networks and I will choose top 5 and let all members to vote for the top three and I will pay them cash" Join me in the network and post your ideas, the cash can be yours.This one-page website need to have domain name like, ideasforcash.com or something like that. the only message on there is "I am giving away cash for ideas to get people on to FB", but the idea itself will cause a lot of people to add you in order to be qualified in the first place.  Thu at 2:05am ·

Nicola Anne Mann

I think it has got to be FUN...... and a bit of a mystery as well. So, you entice people to join up to Bradley J Sugars Facebook page and promise that "You will REVEAL all" for FREE if they do so. That way it may have a naughty connotation but in all honesty your little bits of wisdom in your daily comments does reveal it all i.e. the secrets to success:-)  Thu at 3:42am ·

Shane Crosbie

Hey Brad lets not focus on the result.Social media is dominated by young people I went 2 your seminar in Brisbane and the majority of the Audience was over 30. So lets focus on attracting the Audience below that lets look at what they like as this could be your biggest growth area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo this video has 5 000 000... in 2.5 months.Lets get away from the business side lets show people about u,lets take them and show them something truly great about your life that we can sell too them and in return they will join your page just so they don’t miss out on what’s next and there chance to have what u have.That’s how u got me 4 years ago you were on ABC radio talking about ur 2 big screens one for the xbox and the other for the footy not business just lifestyle. Lets post some videos not as well budgeted as the one above preferable ones that don’t need a budget at all. How much extra would it have been 2hve a camera man at ur wife’s helicopter bash?  Thu at 4:03am ·

Margie Baldock

Do a fun comedy skit with me on You Tube ...I will write it (or have it written) ...it will be topical but still relevant to business owners...EDU-TAIN your way to a new audience...  Thu at 4:53am ·

Jan DeKeyser Allison

Have all of your coaches add a link to join your FB Page to their newsletters. The benefit to clients taking immediate action is to offer 3 months free coaching for a name drawn from new FB fans created during a certain time period. You pay the Coach that provides the 3 months free training and they may even get the benefit of gaining a new long-term client.  Thu at 6:26am ·

Brett Hore

Create, buy, borrow, beg but DON'T sell something of value to other people and offer it for free. Then promote it with all the avenues you have available to you. The cost of creating these new leads will be very low, if not free and by honing your conversion skills you will make them even more valuable.  Thu at 2:42pm ·

Brett Hore

Be the best "you" you can be. People are attracted to success. Don't lie, but put your best you forward. No matter if it is in person, via email, a website, a blog or here on facebook, you are on show and only have one chance to make a first impression.  Thu at 2:47pm ·

Brett Hore

Pick one of your products/services that would appeal to a laser focused market segment, build a page on your website specifically for that product and that demographic, then use a unique/niche way of driving that group to your site/offer. IE: You have a product/service that's indispensable to soccer moms with kids aged 8-9. Supply your local under 10's soccer, baseball, football or rugby team with balls with your website page address on it as well as mini balls with the same for each kid to take home. A hit counter on your page combined with recording your uptake on the specific product will also provide you with great info about the effectiveness of your advertising and your conversion rate.

Thu at 4:25pm ·

Nicole Hore

I will email out to the masses and post up via Internet/fb/twitter etc. "Become a facebook fan of World's Leading Business Coach, Brad Sugars, and I will pay him $1,000 to spend 10 minutes sharing VITAL business information with you via phone. Email me NOW for a link to his fan page." Then I pay you, Brad, the $1,000 and set up a Conference call for all who become a fan via me Details of the call will go out via email.  Thu at 4:33pm ·

Colin Ahearn

Hi Brad, you get more comments and conversations about your posts than anyone else that I know and follow. Through your photos and posts you allow us into the life of one of the most successful businessmen on the globe.
The massive link that Facebook has given us is the ability to use an electronic medium to still give personal referrals and recommendations.
If you can offer an each one reach one program where a post is a link to a free audio download of yours The link would take you to a form on your website where there is mandatory fields to be filled in, by people logging on and providing an (or lots) of email or facebook referral to your database they then win as well and get some up to date Guru information from the man.
I reckon the best thing you have on your posts Brad, is the fact that you are active on Facebook and you comment on what people say on your posts. You are reachable and real and this is fairly unique, I value that immensely and thank you for it. Col Ahearn  Thu at 4:47pm ·

Jeremy Carter

offer 1 hour of your time as a business coach (transferable or saleable) to whoever brings the most number of new fans to your page

Thu at 5:12pm ·

LaShan Arceneaux

there is a giftbuilder app here on facebook. we've garnered a lot of new business by creating garden trading cards. they can only unlock a certain number of gifts per day.
1. get everyone to join the fan page
2. for the gifts, have coaching cards with tidbits of info that people will find useful - business tips, etc. to open the cards, you have tosend them to other people. so they are spreading the word for you. make certain the link to your fan page is very visible on the gift page.
3. state that when your fan page reaches a certain number of fans, someone will be chosen for a free coaching session. they must be using the gift app and be a fan to be eligible.

Thu at 5:28pm ·

Sue Wickes

A great idea is to hide something on your Facebook page that people have to find. The first person to join as a fan and find it gets a phone consultation with you. Email the contest to friends and ask them to forward it to their friends etc. I borrowed this idea from the fabulous Mari Smith.  Thu at 6:22pm ·

Margie Baldock

I reckon you should give out random cash prizes to contributors on your facebook page for kick butt contribution of ideas....eg $100 a throw for something that delighted you or taught you something. And that faster than anything else will get people to start putting quality contributions and that in turn will get more people interested etc.

Thu at 8:05pm ·

Esteban De Gyvés

what if every ActionCOACH works with our clients and comunity and let they know that you are going to give us 7 webminars for FREE if we help you to have 1,000,000 fans?

Thu at 9:20pm ·

Brett Hore

Use the power of Geometric Progression combined with the 7 degrees of separation: Invite 10 current friends to invite 10 uncommon friends to invite 10 new friends and so on down the 7 generations. Thus 100,000,000 new friends. With the power of the communication networks we now have at our fingertips you will have it much easier than Stanley Milgram.

Yesterday at 2:40am ·

Michael Bowman

Keep giving to those who you inspire and by word of mouth via FB things will happen to an extent you can only imagine at present.

Yesterday at 3:16am ·

Kristine Wirth

Comment Contest - Ask a question related to your business and with a time-frame (2 days or so) to answer that question...the correct answer (or the one closest) gets a free book, a personal phone call, a free course, etc.

OR... The 1,000th person to become a fan of Brad Sugars on Facebook is the winner of....(freebies work wonders)  Yesterday at 10:27am ·

Sarah-Jane Hunter

Get us all to post it on our what we are up to on facebook and twitter accounts letting people have your link and chance of winning - you could ask us to do it and in return you will donate to charity and x amount or the likes - also an incentive for people doing it would b the person that drives the most traffic wins a certain amount... SJ

Yesterday at 11:09am ·

Scott Gassmann

Offer a low cost, high value product (i.e. white paper, e-book, audio - changed weekly for ongoing referrals by existing fan base) for current fans suggesting/referring your page.

Yesterday at 2:26pm ·

Sylvester Liddane

ask face bookers to pass this onto all of their friends as you never know who it will help. this way you have offered a service and a gaurantee at an awesome price $0.
Take Action Now.
learn why action coach is the worlds leading business coaching system by following brad sugars on face book. if you don't get any value, insight or inspiration in.7 days then we will get one of our amazing coaches nearest you to make contact for a free 1 hour session. not only do you get to see brad in action and the ability to ask him questions you also get access to stay upto date on his special tips tricks and thoughts pages where he details all sorts of how to manuals for business.

Yesterday at 5:50pm ·

Allen Tian

What ever you do it facebook, it must be consistant with the brand image u are trying to develop offline. You don't want to do something that is going against your brand imagae. Again, we need quality fans and not fans that just add up but dont really know about Brad.

What i am suggesting would be an addup to others strategies that you may use. Since you are selling thousand of book and giving away seminar each year. It would be better to include the suggestion to add facebook to keep in touch with you in the front cover of each books as well as mentioned it in podcast or seminar. It would'nt hurt to leverage existing media isn't it ??

10 hours ago ·

Tim Dollmeyer

But wait... there's more... all you need to do is to ask every fan invite all of their friends, including all groups and fan pages. If only 10% respond, you'll be there. Very simple. No contest or expense needed.  Yesterday at 8:46pm ·

http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#/BradleySugars

Here's the link to the article about Causes on Facebook and you'll see me about half way down ...

http://exchange.causes.com/2009/07/causes-raises-10000000/

All the Best ... Brad Sugars

I have enough trouble keeping up with Facebook and the posts of all my friends, let alone actually following the Tweets of more than 1,000 people.

Facebook we generally update once a day or so, Twitter people seem to do abut 6 a day ... no way to actually follow them in real life is there ????

Love to know your thoughts ... Brad Sugars