Lloyd Williams

Creating a professional image is doing the small things right. Throughout my career we used a channel lock binding system to create hard cover presentations. ChannelBind is the best company on the market today. After you purchase your binding machine you can baind as many covers as you desire. We had the cover embossed with “Confidential” and our contact information so we could use them for any type of presentation.

The website includes a video that explains how the system works. This will separate you from the herd.

A client recently introduced me to 99designs.com and I am amazed at the quality of the design work. This site is a exchange where you can describe the project you need and thousands of designers will submit their designs, allowing you to select from the best.

The website says “99designs connects clients needing design work such as logo designs, business cards or web sites to a thriving community of 29,936 talented designers.”

If you need something designed this is the place to go first:

www.99designs.com

How do you handle client questions? Sometimes your business can be overwhelmed with questions that seem to be trivial or time consuming. If clients are asking a lot of small questions, there may be a trust issue. Deal with the disease and not the symptom. Build the trust and the questions will go away.

Some clients just require more information. The following are a few simple tools you can apply to your business today.

1. Create a series of answers to common questions and save them as keyboard macros. When a client calls have your assistant get the whole question and then in a few keystrokes you can answer the question by email.

2. save all the answers and put together a FAQ file in PDF that you can send out to your clients quarterly as an educational piece. That way over time they will realize that the answer to their question is probably coming in the next update.

3. Solve the problem proactively by doing a monthly email about the issues you know your clients will be asking about. This answers their questions before they call or email and ask.

## Keyboard macro programs

Keyboard macro programs allow you to type a few simple letter and the program replaces what you type with the text you desire. There are several programs on the market that allow you to manage your keyboard macros. On the Mac I use [TypeIt4Me](http://typeit4me.com/). For a Windows computer, a [Google](http://www.google.com/) search for “keyboard macro windows” will reveal a number of choices.

A good keyboard macro program will allow you to define any text and give it a shortcut. I use a number of these for responding to email with different standard replies.

## Examples:

“aaty” results in “Thank you, Lloyd”

“aasub” results in “You are now subscribed. Thank you, Lloyd”

“aats” results in “2007-01-18 - Thu - 11:53”

“aaattract” results in “Attract Clients: A Financial Advisor’s Guide to Building and Running a Practice”

What do you say when asked about what you do for a living? Your next statement will either intrigue the questioner and move the relationship forward or leave them wanting to run.

I flew a lot over the last ten years to different speaking engagements. There is very little conversation in First Class. Most of the occupants are road warriors and the last thing they want to do is talk with someone. But once the plane lands, in the final minutes as the airplane taxis to the gate, people introduce themselves to each other and ask what they do for a living? This is a time when I hear the elevator scripts of other people. Most sound generic, “I work for XYZ.” Occasionally a person pontificates how they help others do this or that. The former statement says nothing and the listener is left to define the person according to their own perceptions of that particular industry. The latter sounds like they are the creator, innovator, designer, or founder of the world’s most important organization and you ought to talk to them right now. My first thought is the person sitting next to them is glad they did not start the conversation at the beginning of the flight, otherwise they would have asked, “Does anybody else want to sit next to this person?” They are happy to be exiting the plane in a matter of minutes.

I conclude that elevator scripts tend to come in two forms: a generic statement that tells you nothing of interest or a statement that sounds so extraordinary or unbelievable it is dismissed. Additionally, they are stated in the first person present.

If the goal of your elevator script is to move the relationship forward the following are a few suggestions:

1. Change your statement from the first person to the third person. It’s not what you say that interests the other person, you are suppose to think what you do is important. Instead of saying. “I …” say, “What my clients say is *insert what your clients think is unique about you*.” There is nothing stronger than a third party endorsement. By moving your statement from first person to third person, you have brought your advocates into the conversation.

2. The script must result in a statement from the other person, “tell me more”. If your script is not intriguing enough to build that interest, change it. In those few moments you must be intriguing enough for a person to want to know more.

What is your elevator script?

I am often asked at workshops, what are the best questions to ask a client or prospect? Too often we make the process more difficult than needed. [John McPhee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McPhee), author and contributing editor for the New Yorker is known for his ability to interview by asking simple questions. Canadian investigative reporter [John Sawatsky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sawatsky) says reporters often ask the wrong questions. [37signals](http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/john_sawatsky_and_the_power_of_simple_questions.php) recently wrote an excellent synopsis of Sawatsky’s thoughts on interviewing. The following are a few quotes:

>The best questions, argues Sawatsky, are like clean windows. “A clean window gives a perfect view. When we ask a question, we want to get a window into the source. When you put values in your questions, it’s like putting dirt on the window. It obscures the view of the lake beyond. People shouldn’t notice the question in an interview, just like they shouldn’t notice the window. They should be looking at the lake.

>I can go into any newsroom and usually tell you who gets the best stories in the paper. It’s usually the reporters with the blander personality. They’re not the life of the party. They’re amazingly consistent if you eavesdrop on them during interviews: You’ll hear plain, neutral, bland questions. Colorless questions usually provide colorful answers.

See the original interview with John Sawatsky at AJR titled [The Question Man](http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=676).

The new website uses the latest technology to store and deliver content. In the coming weeks I will continue activating new features.

## Comments
You are now able to interact with the content and the other readers by commenting on the post. Just click on the comments link. Example below:


Your comments add value to the site and are encouraged. You do not have to identify yourself. We are using technology to remove spam from any posts.

## Searching
You can now search the entire site by any keyword using the search box in the sidebar. The search will return all relevant articles.

## Faster Updates
The new format allows for regular updates. New content can now be added with ease. In the past the updating was tedious and therefore seldom done. The new site no longer involves detailed page design and layout, using [Cascading Style Sheets](http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/) (CSS) and PHP I am able to quickly update and change the look of the entire site.

## Archiving of Past Posts
All post will now be [archived](http://lloydwilliamsinc.com/archives/) by date and category. The site can now be a reference source.

## RSS Feeds
Know when new content is add by [RSS feed](http://lloydwilliamsinc.com/2006/12/13/rss-really-simple-syndication/). Using a feed reader like Google Reader you will always be current.

## Coming Soon
* Interviews with Successful Teams and Special Guests
* Preview Chapters from Upcoming Book, *Let’s Talk: Marketing As a Conversation*
* Book Reviews
* Software Tools Reviewed
* Video Files Demonstrating Tools (client only pages)

## Improvements
I would like your input to improve the website:

* Do you prefer images in the post or text only?
* Do you know how to use RSS feeds?
* Are there specific topics you would like to see discussed?

What are your thoughts?

Today you can have your information served to you, your way. Websites now allow you to subscribe to the information you want to keep updated. This website works the same way. If you want to be updated every time a new audio file or post is added, you only have to click on the orange RSS feed symbol in the sidebar on the home page. You are able to unsubscribe any time.

Google Reader

I use Google Reader to manage all my news and blog feeds. This way I am not spending time surfing. Google Reader collects all the new posts in the background and I am then able to read them when I want, without having to surf all around. Google Reader is a free service. For more information about RSS feeds

continue reading…

One of the powerful features of technology is the ability to refresh or restart whenever needed. It cleans up the mess and starts everything over fresh. It would be nice to have a refresh button on our lives sometimes. For many years, I have used the first week of December to be my Annual Refresh time. Let us look at three specific areas and see how an Annual Refresh can energize our year.

continue reading…

In this new edition, I present the material covered in my popular 2-day workshops conducted in over fifty financial service firms across the U.S. and Canada. I begin with the importance of advocacy-based marketing in contrast to solicitation. Next, I walk you through the all-important First Conversation, which establishes the trust necessary to build deep relationships. Finally, I deliver the scripts, presentations, and tools required to build and manage your business. These are not just concepts to consider, but deliverables to implement in your practice today.

Lloyd’s new book is now available at Amazon

WHAT IS WRONG WITH GDP?

Since its introduction during World War II as a measure of wartime production capacity, the Gross National Product (since changed to Gross Domestic Product — GDP) has become the nation’s foremost indicator of economic progress. It is now widely used by policy makers, economists, international agencies and the media as the primary scorecard of a nation’s economic health and well- being.

Yet the GDP was never intended for this role. continue reading…