Episode 26 - How To Get Yourself Booked Solid with Michael Port

Transcript

Robert Harrison: Hi everyone. This is Robert Harrison. Welcome to “Coaching the Life Coach”. And today we’re going to be talking with Michel Port of Book Yourself Solid. And Michael Port had been working with over 20,000 business owners in the last two years alone. One of his specialties is really helping service professionals like yourself, really starting to learn how to build your business and how to get clients coming in the door and obviously how to get yourself booked solid.

Michael Port: If your deepest connection to your work is about service, well then everything that comes along with the work that you do is heightened, it’s enhanced. It feels so much more expressive, so much more colorful. And that’s the direction that we’d like to go. There are tiny little things that you can do that build your network exponentially. So for example, each day I introduce two people in my network who I don’t think know each other, but might actually like to know each other. You don’t choose a target market that doesn’t already have a way of communicating with each other. A target market is a group of people who are already networked together somehow.

Robert Harrison: Hi everyone, this is Robert Harrison. Welcome to “Coaching the Life Coach”. And today we’re going to be talking with Michel Port of Book Yourself Solid. And Michael Port has been working with over 20,000 business owners in the last two years alone. I have personally read his book, Book Yourself Solid, I’ve listened to the audio CDs and I’ve actually taken the coaching course. And I recommend it highly.  One of his specialties is really helping service professionals like yourself, really starting to learn how to build your business and how to get clients coming in the door and obviously how to get yourself booked solid. Michael, thanks for being here today.

Michael Port: Thank you so much for having me.

Robert Harrison: Wonderful. It’s a pleasure. Really, really is a pleasure and I think this is going to be one of our very best shows. So Michael one of the first things I’m curious about…For those who don’t know you, tell us a little bit about your background. I know that you had some professional acting in your background.

Michael Port: I did. I get outed on that every once in a while. It’s something that I actually... I didn’t hide it intentionally, I like to think that I’m as transparent as I can be but when I first started my business I was a little uncomfortable with the fact that I had this career as an actor because I had this idea that people would somehow think that I wasn’t so smart. “Well, you know, he’s just an actor how could he know a lot about business?”  And of course I understand why somebody would make that assumption but I actually over time realized that it was something very special that I did which was unique and also very specific to me and one of the reasons I think I’m so good at what I do because of the experiences that I had as a creative professional.  And so then I started bringing it into my work more and it allowed me to flourish. And I say that because so many people when they are going into a new area, or being entrepreneurial in some way they often think, just as I did, that somehow their past is going to get in their way of what they want to do in their future. And instead what we should do, I think, is reconfigure what we had, or have, and turn it into what we want. So see how can we leverage every single aspect of what we’ve done, what we’ve created, what we’ve experienced in the past to turn it into what we want in the present and the future. Because even something like a professional career as an actor is valuable, say as a marketer, because you know how to tell stories. And marketing, ultimately, is about telling authentic stories.

Richard Harrison: Absolutely. And you know what’s interesting too, actually if you look at the psycho dynamic of, do personality tests and assessments, and things like this which we do in our business what I have found is half the tests that I have taken say either I should be an entrepreneur, own my own business, do something creative or be an actor. The actual personality complex of an actor and entrepreneur are almost identical.

Michael Port: It’s interesting. You know I took a disc assessment recently, I actually wrote about my experience taking a disc assessment because I’d been resistant to taking it for a long time but I wrote about it my blog at michaelportblog.com and I had such an amazing experience taking it then going through the evaluation of the assessment. And I came out, as you might imagine, as an extremely high I. Right? There’s no shocker there. But what was interesting is just what you said is that, often people who are in creative fields and people who are entrepreneurial are very influential. They have this very high I in the disc assessment. And another thing I was just writing about is an article that I saw…is an article that I read, rather, in the New York Times that was about a study that suggested that about 35% of small business owners or entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Which is a very, very high percentage compared to average people. And one of the beliefs…one of the theories that came out of the study was that many entrepreneurs or small business owners, they are very good at figuring out how to solve problems because somebody who is dyslexic needs to do the same. And they develop very, very good verbal communication skills.  And the same is true for many performers. Many artists. They tend to be very, very creative and great communicators but not always great writers. Although I’ve been fortunate to develop my writing over the years, I still can barely spell my own name, but that’s a whole nother story. And so there is this…it’s just very interesting to me that what I do now feels even more expressive than what I did when I was an actor. And that’s one of the reason I left acting because even though I was doing shows like Sex and the City, and Third Watch and Law and Order and All My Children and movies like The Believer, and Down to Earth and Pelican Brief and things like that, I wasn’t that satisfied because I found the work a little boring. It wasn’t like the work that I did when I was in graduate school as an actor where we got to do Shakespeare all the time and these incredible Tennessee Williams plays, and just really neat stuff. You go to work in TV, you basically you sit around in your trailer, you read the newspaper, and then you come out and you do a couple lines and you pretend to put out a fire and you dress as a fireman and then you go back in your thing. Whereas it’s really exciting in the beginning because you’re doing something so special and unique it seems and everybody wants to give you special attention because of it, after a while it’s…. you know, unless you’re doing really, really amazing stuff it can get, at least for me, I found it a little bit boring frankly. The lifestyle didn’t work out.

Robert Harrison: One of the things you touch on though, in terms of the art form, and this is really important, this is something we haven’t discussed on the show yet. Every really good service professional now…And when I was cruising the Internet, looking for different programs, one of the things I loved about your program and about the way you operate is your authenticity. And the people that are really good to me look at it like an art form. It is an art form to help people and get them from where they are to where they want to be and allowing that own creative intelligence to emerge. And that is something that you are really, really known for.  And I’m telling you guys, for those of you out there listening…if you go to bookyourselfsolid.com I first download the free chapter and the free audio. I downloaded that and if you just even listen to Michael Port’s voice, the way he talks and the way he presents his material you will get what I’m talking about. And this is something that most people miss out on. They’re so stuck in the form of what they’re doing; they’re so stuck in the mechanics of it they forget to really add that authentic human side of it. Can you talk a little bit about that, ‘cuz that is your specialty I believe.

Michael Port: Ultimately, you know, what I hope is that what I’ve created with Book Yourself Solid for the people that I serve, ultimately I hope it’s about respect, and dignity and authenticity.  And value. Because you know, if you’re a service professional, generally the operative word is service. Now, over time, sometimes people lose that sense of importance, or they lose that sense of service because they become maybe sort of bogged down with the day-to-day work, or they become frustrated with having to get clients and it doesn’t always end up being the way that you hoped it would be. But ultimately if your deepest connection to your work is about service, well then everything that comes along with the work that you do is heightened, it’s enhanced. It feels so much more expressive, so much more colorful. And that’s the direction that we’d like to go. So, you know, for me the whole idea of marketing and selling should be about respect, and it should be about dignity and it should be about truly only trying to serve the people you’re meant to serve. And the sort of traditional or typical tactics of direct mail, and cold calling and all that kind of stuff, whereas it has its place in certain circumstances I’m sure, never feels right for people who are in service of others. For example, I’ll give you a good example. Right here on my desk I have have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven –count eleven – post cards from a financial services insurance type salesperson at State Farm. Now the interesting thing is that I’ve worked for State Farm, meaning I’ve given keynote speeches to State Farm, different regions and their organization around the country, and I’m always trying to get them not to do this. I have not succeeded yet but I’m going to keep trying. Because there are 11 cards in my hand from this lovely woman named Maria, I won’t mention her last name on the air here, but lovely woman named Maria, offering me up to 40% off State Farm auto insurance. Now I’ve got great auto insurance, I’ve had it my whole life; I use the same company that my father used because he was in the service…

Robert Harrison: You and I have the same one.

Michael Port: …I get access to it because my father was in the Medical Corps and they’re great. So I don’t really have any need for this. But here’s the thing. There’s 11 of them on my desk. They are all addressed to somebody else or current resident at my address. None of these eleven are actually addressed to Michael Port. So this woman is obviously buying lists, or has some very, very antiquated database that is filled with 11 different names of people who have lived at this house in the last 60 years. That’s about how old my house is. But not me. And I’m the only one that’s going to help her at this address sell more of her insurance. So these kind of tactics when you’re in the service business to me seem so absurd. Look, I live in a small affluent town. I bet you I’m going to run into Maria at some point and her picture’s here and she looks nice and lovely and she’s really just trying to make her way through this business and I’m sure she’s relatively new and they told her this is what you should do. You spend the money on these card and you’re going to really annoy most of the people because you won’t have the right addresses for them and you’ll send a guy like Michael Port 11 cards but to the wrong person but don’t worry about that because maybe .01% of the people you send these to will call you up and buy something. I don’t think for most people, especially people who are really in helping professions, really want to be perceived as that kind of person, just going around buying lists.

Robert Harrison: And the shotgun approach really, not only is it ineffective, but it’s extremely costly.

Michael Port: It’s very costly. And ultimately… big problem here is that it’s costly to your reputation and it’s costly to your psyche. Because you don’t feel good about yourself and what you’re doing if that’s the kind of marketing that you’re doing.

Robert Harrison: Exactly. What we’re going to do is we’re going to need to take a quick break to support our sponsors.  This is Robert Harrison with “Coaching the Life Coach” Today we have the privilege of talking to Michael Port of Book Yourself Solid and we’re discussing really how to hone down those you are meant to serve. We will be right back.

Robert Harrison:  This is Robert Harrison with Coaching the Life Coach. Today we’re talking with Michael Port of Book Yourself Solid and bookyourselfsolid.com. You can get your free audio and free chapter there and I highly recommend that you do so. And Michael, just before the break we were really starting to hone in on those you are meant to serve and I know that this is one of the…like you talk about in the program the Red Velvet Rope policy and one of the first assignments we had in your coaching program was getting rid of the duds. And I’m just wondering if you can talk a little bit more for those of us, those service professionals out there, that are new into the game, how to really identify those who they’re meant to serve and how to hone in on that and some specific steps they can take.

Michael Port: No problem. My feeling is that we don’t need to do as much marketing as people often think that we do. And really what we need to do is focus on building a foundation for our marketing efforts and…well, I’ll say one thing…building a foundation for marketing efforts and then understanding how to build trust and credibility in your marketplace and with the people that you’d like to serve before you do all these marketing tactics or strategies. Because what is more important than the marketing tactics is this foundation that people look at when they meet you or they see your materials or they hear about you, and they say, “You know what? That foundation, that business, that individual looks solid. Looks like a place that I would want to…looks like a platform I would want to stand on. Doesn’t feel like it would make me nervous.” And so that foundation, the pieces of your foundation, what you mentioned, the Red Velvet Rope policy, understanding why people buy what you’re selling, developing a brand identity so you decide how you’re known in the world and being able to talk about what you do without sounding confusing or bland or like everybody else or using the, what I would consider, totally idiotic elevator speech. Those are the things that help people talk about you, that spread your word.  It’s actually a lot simpler but much more profound than most marketing tactics for somebody who is in the service business because so many of your clients are coming from referrals. And so that’s what I want people to focus on first.  So that they have this solid foundation on which to rest their marketing initiative. So that, look, there are probably seven core self-promotion strategies: networking and direct outreach, and referral strategies and web marketing and speaking and demonstrating and article writing, and keep in touch and follow up. Well, four of those are essential, three of them are optional. Meaning it’s essential to network, but not so that you get something but so that you give something. It’s essential to be able to do direct outreach to other people, just like you did to me. You contacted me and said, “Hey, I want you to come do this thing.” So that when you do direct outreach people say yes.  It’s essential that we understand how the referral process works and to be able to take care of the people who refer to us because that’s going to be such a big part of how clients come to us but it’s not essential that we do a lot of web marketing. Not at all. It may be appropriate to have a website that starts a conversation and helps you builds trust and is part of your sales cycle. But it’s not essential to be some sort of Internet marketing master. It’s not essential that you go out and give public speeches or demonstrations because that may not be something you want to do or are particularly good at. And it’s not essential to write articles if it’s not something you want to do or aren’t particularly good at, but it probably is essential, and I would say definitely is essential, to be able to keep in touch and follow up and build trust over time with the people you want to serve. So of the core self-promotion strategies, four of them are going to be things you do on a daily basis, they’re just part of your life: direct outreach, networking, etc., but then the other three are optional. So you choose one of those other marketing tactics and you do just that one. And that’s your very specific focus. But when you do just that one, let’s say you decide that public speaking is going to be your main marketing initiative, when you do it or even to get the opportunity to market to people through public speaking, you’ve got to have a foundation that is perfect, that is rock solid, that people understand and that they want to share that platform with you. And so if you’re trying to serve people that you’re not really ideal for then you’re not doing your best work.

Robert Harrison: Michael, I want to touch a little bit on that too because this is really important. We have, on practicefix.com, we coach service professionals and we coach hypnotists all over the world and one of the big problems that I see with people all the time is that they are so afraid of their marketing that what they do is they get in…their idea of networking is going to a zillion places, slapping the hand of someone, throwing a card at them and literally running in the other direction. I actually had one woman we were working with, who would go in a doctor’s office trying to promote her smoking cessation business, and it was literally like she threw the brochures and ran out the door. She was terrified. Henry David Thoreau said, “I cannot hear what you say because who you are speaks so loudly.” So we’re constantly telling these people: Listen. You got to show people what you can do. You got to show them what you can do. You can get up in front of 100 and 200 people but if you don’t show them what you can do, if you don’t show them who you are, if you’re not rock solid they’re not going to listen and they’re certainly not going to buy. Now, your website and the material that you have on your website, when I listen to those materials, and I read through that chapter it was clear to me that a) you knew what you were talking about and b) there wasn’t a lot of marketing, like “hey Robert, buy this. 75% off…any kind of junk like that. But you gave value and I’m wondering if you can talk a little bit about that because it’s so…I think it’s so critically important, and I’ve seen people transform their networking efforts, transform all their marketing efforts by simply putting the focus on making it about them, the customer, and showing them what they can do versus telling them.

Michael Port: Of course. You know, it’s interesting you mentioned the networking concept.  There are tiny little things that you can do that are so simple and take very little time but build your network exponentially. So for example, I do this five days a week and I’ve done it since I started my business and I will continue to do it for as long as I’m alive, I believe. Each day, and it’s scheduled into my calendar, five minutes a day, I introduce two people in my network who I believe – I don’t know for sure – but I don’t think know each other, but might actually like to know each other.

Robert Harrison: How do you do that? Do you do that via the phone or…?

Michael Port: No, I do it as follows: What I do is send an email. So let’s say I want to introduce you to say, a guy named Tim. I say “Hey Robert meet Tim. Tim meet Robert.” That’s the subject line. Right? And then I say “Hey Robert you should meet Tim because of this and Tim I think you should meet Robert because of this. I think you guys’d get along because you’re both really into golf.” Whatever. It doesn’t always have to be about business. Or it might be, “I think you guys are living in the same area and you’re a realtor and you’re a this and whatever. And I think you guys might have some stuff in common. Enjoy.” That’s it. No expectations. If they don’t want to follow up that’s their prerogative, but most people in my network do because they share similar values as I. And then what I do, right after I send that email, which takes just a few seconds, I then go into my send-out card system, which is an online system for sending out real greeting cards through the mail, and it uses my…they have my signature font on file, so it comes in my handwriting, the whole thing, and I will schedule a card to go out to each one of them three weeks from the day that I sent them the email And just say, “Robert, did you ever get in touch with Tim? Tim’s a really good guy. I think you guys would get along.” And that’s it. “Have a great day. Hope things are well.”  And I do the same thing for Tim. “Did you ever get in touch with Robert?” And then I…because the way the system works I can just set it today and it’ll go out in three weeks.  And then it’s done. And that whole process takes me five minutes. I do that each day, five days a week. If you want to see what it looks like to send out one of these cards bookedsolidcards.com and you can send a free card. Bookedsolidcards.com and you can send a free card.

Robert Harrison: We just used…I use send-out cards and we just…I just sent out 1000 Christmas cards to all of my customers, thanking them for trusting me in the last year and of course I threw in a 50% off coupon and it has been the most successful Christmas promotion we have ever done. And it’s so easy.

Michael Port: How long did it take you to send out the cards?

Robert Harrison: I put the card together and one push of a button, in fact, with our smokers that come through our hypnosis clinic, we have a two year follow up plan we do using what’s called the ultimate back end referral system but it uses send-out cards and it will literally follow up with them for two years, all personalized, all in my handwriting, all with my signature and it’s fully automatic. It is wonderful. And it’s so personal too. The thing is people always open a handwritten card with a stamp on it. Always. It’s like a laser beam. It just gets right through.

Michael Port: So, the idea is very different than what you were talking about before, with trying to press the flesh and shove business cards in people’s faces. And so the idea is that you are figuring out a way to be relevant to the people inside your network so that you are more valuable because you’re in their life than not.  So, that to me is networking. I don’t go to networking sort of events. I mean, obviously you’re always networking, you’re out on the street, you meet somebody, you’re at a party, you meet somebody, I go speak somewhere. I meet people. But I don’t go just “I’m going to go to network” because when you do that it’s often not even the appropriate time to be connecting with folks.

Robert Harrison: So for the people listening that aren’t really sure, let’s say they’re in a service profession, or maybe they know what their profession is, like they know they’re a hypnotist or they know they’re a coach, but they’re not really sure who they should be even targeting, they’re kind of wandering around in that. Michael, what would you recommend as a really simple first start to really get them going and to start to get themselves booked solid.

Michael Port: It’s very hard to follow the path of getting booked solid unless you know who you’re trying to serve. If you’re a hypnotist, it would be like trying to treat them but have no idea what their issue is. If you don’t know that they’re trying to quit smoking you don’t know to try to help them quit smoking. Try to help them lose weight not going to help them quit smoking. And if you look at almost anything in life you need to know…if you want to go to the supermarket, you need to know where the supermarket is in order to get there.  You can’t just get in your car and end up at the supermarket. You have to know where you’re going in order to figure out well, what’s the best route to get there. And so that’s why we must start with a target market. A very specific group of people or businesses we dedicate ourselves to serving. And if we do that, then we can focus, we can work on understanding why people within side that target market want to buy what we’re selling, and most importantly, we can sell what those people want to buy.

Robert Harrison: Say a little bit about the target market. I think this portion of the interview, for those people out there here’s how you know you suffer from the catchall syndrome. If you say things like  “we’re a full-service coaching clinic”, you know the…buzzwords of the catchall, “full service”, “we work with everybody” things like this. And I know it’s so counter-intuitive. People think gosh, if I narrow down I’m going to lose everyone. But studies have shown that if you pick something specific, like hypnotherapy for example. When we tried running huge ads for all-purpose hypnotherapy we got almost no response. When we started running ads for “stop smoking in one hour” we got flooded with business and it wasn’t just smokers. Can you say a little bit about that Michael and how they would really play to their strengths? And the other thing I’m just curious to hear you mention on. I know there’s some other marketers I’ve talked to that said never chose a target market that doesn’t have a list. And I’m just kind of wondering what your thoughts are on that.

Michael Port: I would say this: you don’t choose a target market, and maybe this is what you mean, but you don’t choose a target market that doesn’t already have a way of communicating with each other. Because you can’t…because a target market is a group of people that already are networked together somehow. So they’re either networked together by certain business associations or certain industry functions, etc. Or they’re networked together by community, clubs, country clubs or other types of clubs. They’ve got to already somehow be networked together. A group of moms at a PTA at a school is a networked group. So it’s very hard to market to a group that doesn’t talk to each other about the people and the businesses and the products that solve their problems and give them what they want. So if you’re in a situation where you’re going to get divorced or something you want to find somebody to help you in that situation you’re going to ask somebody who’s already been divorced. Well, what do I do and who do I talk to? They’re the people who would know. There’s got to be some network of people that are already connected dealing with these kind of issues.

Robert Harrison: Excellent. And that’s kind of where I think the idea of power partners is really important. But obviously you got to get out there, you got to get to know people and you’ve got to show them what you can do. I think it’s so important to do that. Now Michael, before we wrap up, you and I had talked just a little bit briefly… I don’t want to pull back the curtain too quickly here, but we talked just a little bit briefly about the Booked Solid program, and about perhaps for our listeners, ‘cuz we have a large network of listeners, maybe doing something a little bit special for everyone who’d be interested in checking out one of your programs. I’m wondering if you could just talk about that briefly and then also how they can get a hold of you, how our listeners can get a hold of you and take the next step towards really getting booked solid. And again I would highly recommend Michael’s programs. I know my good friend, Renee Stevens who’s also doing the weight loss radio show for Personalized Media and she’s a friend of my network, she took the program and that’s how I heard about you and the program has definitely helped my business. I wonder if you can just talk a little bit about how they can get a hold of you and maybe what you can do for our listeners.

Michael Port: Sure. There’s two primary ways to get a hold of me. One, as you mentioned before, is bookyourselfsolid.com. And you can go there and you can download a chapter, a free chapter from Book Yourself Solid it doesn’t say it on the page there, but when you do opt in to download that free chapter you also get a free audio of me talking about some of the Book Yourself Solid principles. So that’s a little bit of an extra surprise after you go ahead and take that free chapter. Again, this is a little hint…you sometimes want to surprise people with little extra things that you don’t even announce because it just makes people feel good. It’s like sort of giving a little unexpected…I would say unexpected gifts are always more appreciated than expected gifts. My attorney sent me a pen the other day. It was so unexpected. I didn’t for a second think this guy was going to send me a Christmas gift. I was thrilled. So anyhow. There’s that. And then also, I have a lot of videos that you can watch from me speaking live at big conferences around the world at michaelport.com and every single page of that website, in the top of the page, at the header of the page, there’s a big play button and every page has a different video. In fact, my blog at michaelport.blog.com, every time you go to the blog, every time you go back to the blog again, there’s a new video we’ll show up in the header of the page. And there’s a lot of videos to watch. So those are the two ways. But I do this course, which is what the book Book Yourself Solid is based on --and of course you can find the book at Amazon or any Barnes & Noble around the world -- and the course, Book Yourself Solid, is a 15-week intensive learning program.  And it is a course where I still actually teach it myself and I teach two hours every week to the people in that course all of the most important Book Yourself Solid principles and strategies and then coach all of the participants in that program over the phone. And we have a very comprehensive learning environment with guides and action steps and forums for communication and it’s really an extraordinary course. And I can only say this because I track the success statistics, so 93%…we found that – we’ve been tracking this now I think for four and a half years – we found that 93% of the people who fully implement what I teach in that course increase their revenue by over 40% within the first year alone. You know, it’s funny, I’m going to go speak at a very large conference for INC. magazine and the woman who was doing the booking called me and said I gotta come speak for INC. I said, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to come speak for INC. I would love to. I just want to tell you the reason I’m calling you is the reason I have this job at booking all the speakers for INC is because I read your book.” So, you know…it’s everything has got to be about results when you do the kind of work that I do otherwise it’s just sort of talk, right? And so we’re very specific and action oriented and accountability oriented in the Book Yourself solid learning program. So the next one’s coming up soon. Go to bookyourselfsolid.com. You can click on group coaching. And go check it out. And see if it’s something for you. I do preview calls often before a course is starting and if you opt in for the newsletter, if you go download the free chapter of the book, I’ll let you know any time there are previews calls about the course, and you can come learn more and if it’s something for you, you’ll come do it and I’d be really honored to serve you in the course. It’s really such a pleasure to get to do it.

Robert Harrison: Excellent, excellent. And if they mention Coach your Life Coach and that they heard about you on “Coaching the Life Coach” I think that you and I had talked about arranging a special discount for them too. Is that correct? And we’ll just let that be a surprise and they’ll have to call in to find out what it is.

Michael Port: Absolutely. You tell me what you want them to have.

Robert Harrison: Well, let’s give ‘em the full 25%.

Michael Port: You got it. 25% off. Just for being your friend.

Robert Harrison: You heard it there folks! See, it pays to listen to “Coaching the Life Coach”, folks. So Michael, listen, I want to thank you so much. I wish that I could have 20 hours of time with you to just keep asking you about the different aspects of the book and things. And for those of you who haven’t gotten the book, Book Yourself Solid there’s a surprise in that too. I won’t say what it is but there is a big surprise in that as well. And I highly recommend it.  This has been “Coaching the Life Coach”. I’m Robert Harrison, your host. Michael Port with Book Yourself Solid at bookyourselfsolid.com or michaelport.com has been with us today, sharing his skills and drills on how to build your business, add more authenticity to what you do and to be a better business professional. So remember folks, whenever you think about your business, take a deep breath and say, “that was easy”.  I know you know that one Michael! And until next week. For transcripts of the show just go to personalizedmedia.com. Remember we would love to hear your feedback, your questions on “Coaching the Life Coach” blog. Michael, thank you again so much for being here. I appreciate it.

Michael Port: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.