Larry Chambers

The rich may be likelier to cheat is a flawed study

2012-02-28T23:06:43Z

LA Times writer Eryn Brown wrote the rich may be likelier to cheat.
This is a typical university study guilty of the confirmation bias. Meaning the author has a certain view of the world and looks for corroboration that justifies his bias.

The article is well written but the study is flawed. The study’s author (Paul Piff UC Berkeley researcher) has made the erroneous assumption that drives of expensive cars equals being wealthy. He tested his hypothesis with a driving experiment. Observers counted makes, models and years and conditions of bypassing cars. Then recorded which cars waited their turn. They found that drivers of more expensive cars were four times more likely to go out of turn. From that Piff made a correlation between the price of a car and the social class of its driver. He and his colleagues took the data and connected the behavior and concluded that people who drive expensive cars are more likely than others to commit other unethical acts because they are motivated by greed. What? How can anyone tell social status by observing the conditions of bypassing cars? What if those cars were all leased?

Effectiveness is the measure of truth; if it works it’s effective ... everything else is just BS.

In the mid-1970 I was a stockbroker building my business and I had this great idea. Like the UC Berkeley researcher I also believed that people who drive expensive cars must be rich. I took a step further, and figured away to contact these rich prospects. I had discovered that for $2 dollars per license plate the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) would provide me with name and address of the cars registered owners. With that knowledge I began collecting the license plate numbers from every expensive car in town. BMW, MB and Porsches were high on my most wanted list. My bubble was burst after receiving the DMV results that showed that every high priced car on my list was leased. Wealthy people are not in the habit of leasing expensive cars. Warren Buffet, still drives around a used pick-up truck. He’s wealthy because he knows that possessions are a horrible investment and leasing a car doesn’t build any kind of financial value.

Most individuals who drive expensive cars ‘lease-up’ meaning they get more automobile than they can really afford. In effect their cheating because they’re only acting rich. They’re not waiting their turn.

This is why we really need to rethink the whole higher education system.

Helpful Stuff

2011-12-16T03:15:15Z

The Free Market System

Most people look at life (politics) as if it were a zero sum game. They believe if someone wins and that means that someone else has to lose. What they don’t understand is in our kind of economic system benefits everyone. If I get rich because I invented the television, an internet, the automobile—that makes everyone also a little richer. If I’m Bill Gates and I got rich because I invented a computer program that increased your work output by a factor of ten than doing your work by hand, then we’re both richer. For democracy to work ‘capitalism’ also has to work. Capitalism provides privately owned resources and capital allocated through open markets and goods and services are acquired through supply and demand also known as the free markets.

Free markets are what fuel the movement of money through the economy, enriching its citizens along its way.

The “future” is an abstraction

It doesn’t exist except as a concept only future that has any reality is the one that you continually create for yourself through each day’s contributions, achievements, and results. Take advantage of every resource that is immediately available in order to achieve as many small results and make as much daily progress as possible. Work with every resource and opportunity at hand, and your confidence will continually grow.

Marketing

There are the two possible outcomes when someone types a keyword into the search box and presses that search button.
1. They will find you. 2. They will find your competitor. You need to have a present and a way of marketing that gets seen.

Break the rules. Our planet breaks all the rules. In theory, and in accordance with the law, Earth ought by now to be in a state of barren disorder. Five thousand million years of existence should have been long enough to reduce our hot young world to a tired one on which everything has leveled out and settled down. Our planet should be lifeless. But, of course, it’s alive. Our world hums with creative energy, and somehow we seem to counter the chaos. The ocean heaves and turns, rain falls, land rises, winds blow and life blossoms—all because something keeps our world stable despite the odds of time. I believe we all have a mission to do. Get it done!

Tips for telling your story

Don’t rummage around in your past for ‘important events- events you think are important enough to justify asking a reader to spend her weekend reading about them. Write about small, self-contained incidents that still vivid in your memory. If you remember them it’s because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognize in their own lives.

Knowledge Is Power We often hear that knowledge is power. But this statement is only a half- truth. Knowledge is only potential power. Knowledge is power only when put to use—and then only when the use made of it is constructive. Einstein was once asked how many feet are in a mile. Einstein’s reply was, “I don’t know. Why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?” Einstein taught us a big lesson. He felt it was more important to use your mind to think than to use it as a warehouse for facts.

Authors need a homepage. Yet very few know what to include on it. Many authors believe it’s simply a 24-hour advertisement for your books, requiring no more than an image of your book’s cover and a few jacket blurbs.

Those people are wrong!

Here’s the secret to a successful author website: It should be sticky. As the name implies, there should be enough content on your homepage to make people stick around for a while. Content comes in two forms: information and entertainment

Tips for writing your book

Don't make the same 5 mistakes that most people make when writing a book

1. Don’t have a premise

2. Don’t write to their target audience

3. Don’t have enough material for a book

4. Don’t test their idea or prove their premise

5. Don’t understand the publishing process

Tip Two - Becoming visible is a risk most people will never take. They’re afraid that someone might attack your ideas, be critical of what they believe, or find fault in their process and that stops most people. Being visible goes against all your natural instincts so its no wonder that most people have a caribou mentality; stick with the herd and avoid the risk of being seen. Being visible moves you into the completion free zone. You become visible giving a talk, writing an article or penning a book.

The marketing process works with all forms of social media, and conventional marketing programs. This process allows for the possibility for (Bigger) and unexpected outcomes. For example; A simple two-page how–to article placed in an industry trade magazine motivated a prospect to move his entire business ($63 million dollars in managed assets), which generated an annual recurring income stream of income ($630,000) to his firm. That one event literally transformed his small financial planning firm into a nationally recognized money management business making him and his partners multi-millionaires.

Tip Three - Extends you reach

A recession is a war of business survival. The worst thing to do is to hide in the shadows and wait it out. You must give consumers a reason to come to you and additional reasons for choosing you over the competition. The strategy works during a recession because it extends you reach beyond your marketing zone and locates those prospects that have an immediate need for your service. When that type of prospect comes to you the sales process is flipped around; instead of you selling them they have to convince you why you should work with them.

Tip Four - Don't let people tell you that publishing business is dead! Look at the number and you decide.

3,082,740: Total number of titles produced in 2010
2,766,260: Number of nontraditional titles produced in 2010
316,480: Number of traditional titles produced in 2010
169% Percentage increase in nontraditional output in 2010
5% Percentage increase in traditional output in 2010

1,062,803: Total number of titles produced in 2009

764,448: Number of nontraditional titles produced in 2009

288,355: Number of traditional titles produced in 2009

289,729 2008

284,370 2007

274,416 2006

251,903 2005

275.793 2004

240,098 2003

216,138 2002

Percentage change from 02 – 09 34%

But nontraditional titles from 2002-2009 increased by 2242% percent.

MAKING A LIVING as a Writer?

2011-12-05T21:16:51Z

This is from a KEYNOTE speech I made at the November Ojai Writers workshop.

Most people approach the writing profession as if it’s a hobby. Many have a lottery mentality about success and no idea of what it takes to make it in this business.

They will study hard, learn everything they can with the goal of finishing a novel, screenplay, or their memoir (which takes them forever to complete), and then once they finish writing their book, they jump into my world—and are subjected to the critical and often harsh judgment of a cerebral publishing world. In effect, their work is judged pass/fail—and the odds are that it will fail (at least at first). It’s not because they don't have the right connections, or because they don't have enough talent, but because they haven't learned the skill-sets needed to write on a professional level. That takes time.

Failure can be so painful that some of us would rather chew off a leg than experience that kind of agony. What’s missing is a better strategy—one that lets you feel positive and stay in the game.

What’s missing for the average writer is a plan for staying in the game!

I believe there are two reasons why most people don’t make money as writers. The first is that they haven’t logged enough hours at the writing game.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote about this in his book Outliers—The Story of Success. Gladwell found that the common factor among geniuses—whether Mozart, Bill Gates, or the Beatles— was the number of hours spent practicing their craft. He determined that number to be around 10,000 hours. When I began, I didn’t have 10 hours.

Instinctually, I knew investing more time in writing would increase my odds of success. Gambling casinos use the Law of Large Numbers to maximize their games’ probability of success—the more times a game is played, the more likely the overall results will match the statistical probabilities, which favor the casino. The casino will always be the big winner, but more players also means more winning players. The only way to increase your odds of winning is to play the game over and over again. That became my plan.

I also noticed that a lot of people wanted to claim they had written a book without actually writing one, and would gladly pay someone else to do the hard work. That observation led to my successful ghostwriting enterprise.

Ghostwriting gave me an entrance into the arena, where I could gather experience and learned the craft, which increases my chances for future success.

MY STORY

Most people are surprised when they discover I have ADD and dyslexia, that I
still make sixth grade spelling mistakes, and yet have written 49 books and 1000 plus articles. People often dismiss this accomplishment by saying it’s a gift. It’s not a gift. It’s a simple case of cause and effect. When you have to work five times harder to get the same results, you start developing qualities of persistence, perseverance, and tenacity. These are also the qualities that you need to get published, build a business, or make a living as a writer.

Because I had to start from scratch I had to figure things out on my own and piece everything together.

All throughout school I struggled with trying to put sounds and letters together in order to spell. Kids who could spell and who were good readers were rewarded for that ability. They received a lot of praise and experienced success, which gave them confidence.

Not me. My school experience was the opposite—filled with criticism, and shame. It wasn't until I joined the army that my life changed. Suddenly I was in a world full of people who had to move to think.

I moved alright. I moved to ‘the head of the class’ and thrived in a world where everything was immediate, action-driven and exciting; in less than six months in Vientam War I was given a battlefield promotion to sergeant—an advancement that during peace time would takes years. ADD hadn’t been invented in 1968—if it had, someone would have put me on drugs, got me to sit still, and stay back in camp.

Still, it would be 20 more years before I entertained the possibility of becoming a professional writer. I didn’t have a writer’s education. My background was a hodgepodge of work experiences (good and bad) mostly to do with starting and running small businesses. After my first book was published something strange started to happen. People reacted to me differently. Because my ideas were in print I became the expert. I had been responsible for managing millions of dollars of client assets, yet I had assumed I knew less than the people who wrote the books about money management. I happen to read about Money magazine’s staff of 60 writers—only three of them (at the time) owned a mutual fund. That got me thinking about how much they didn’t know and how much I did. I began getting invitations to speak at industry functions and conferences and the rest (as the ysay) is history.

Today I embrace being both ADD & dyslexic, by letting the traits work for me instead of against me; I bounce between six projects—and that’s just fine.

The following are the strategies that have helped me stay in the game and make a great living as a ghostwriter.

Strategy 1 -Stay in the Game

Strategy 2 -Re-Creating Success

Strategy 3 -Running a Writer’s Business

Strategy 4 –Detaching from the Outcome

Strategy 5 -Getting Paid

Strategy 6 -Documenting Your Value

Strategy 7 -Marketing Your Business (Hassel-Free)

The 1st Strategy – Find a Way to Stay in the Game

Change Your Thinking. No more thinking of the profession as a lottery to be won. Stop thinking like an amateur. Consider the differences between the two: The amateur writes for fun. The professional writes for many reasons, but one of them is always to get paid. To the amateur, writing is an avocation. To the pro it’s a vocation. The amateur writes part-time, the professional full-time. The amateur is a weekend warrior. The professional is at work seven days a week. The moment a writer turns pro everything changes.

When you think of yourself as a business entity, it gives you a healthy distance from yourself. You’re less subjective and don’t take things personally.

I’m the CEO of The Larry Chambers Company (LCC). At LCC I can promote the hell out of myself because I’m not me anymore. I’m Me, Inc .

The 2nd Strategy – A Process for Re-Creating (Copying) Success

I found the process of reverse engineering can be used to design anything, including a writing business, a book, or a marketing plan that works.

The purpose is to deduce design decisions from end products with little or no additional knowledge about the procedures involved in the original production. Reverse engineering has its origins in the military where it was developed in order to copy other nations' technologies, devices, or information that had been obtained by troops in the field or by intelligence operations.

Here is a three-step plan:

Step 1 - Begin with the end in mind (whatever end result you desire)

Step 2 - Break everything down into the simple manageable components or tasks.

Step 3 - Spell out who is responsible to deliver each manageable piece.

The 3rd Strategy – A Way of Running a Writer’s Business

Giving your writing business a name reinforces the idea of professionalism.

When I worked as a broker at EF Hutton, we had Monday morning sales meetings where we’d sit in a conference room as our manager reviewed the latest stock offerings the company wanted us to pedal in the coming weeks. When an assistant dropped the product list on our desks an hour later, we knew exactly what we would be doing for the coming week.

In my writing business, I have duplicated the Monday morning sales meeting—only it’s just me in attendance. I plan out my writing assignments storyboard style, and then I type them up on my Weekly Status Report. Then I post it on the wall.

As I finish each assignment, I cross it off; at the end of the week I cut and paste the whole week’s work at the end of my 2011 Accomplishments document. That way I have a running record of events in order of months. (This is in case I have to recall what was said or promised, or in case of a tax audit.) I have company stationery, business cards, and a separate bank account to run the back office operations.

Because I treat my writing practice like a business, I get to write off company expenses. I hire a CPA who understands tax law as it relates to artists and writers to do my taxes. I’m a pro.

Good Enough Organizing System

I have trouble organizing things. I have trouble organizing time. My objective is to always cut out clutter. Once a month, I’ll dedicate three hours to chipping away at the mess— that’s just enough time to make a difference without overwhelming me.

The 4th strategy – Detach from the Outcome There is nothing wrong with striving for excellence, but there is a big difference between excellence and perfection. Excellence involves feeling satisfaction in what you do. Perfection means not being satisfied—no matter what you do or how you do it. The biggest paradox about perfectionism is that it masks any real successes that

you have. Perfectionism is a formula for disaster. For a writer, motivation is lost and the resulting behavior is to stop writing. You stop because you feel anxiety.

Paradox defines one of the governing principles of the universe, which can be explained thusly: Whatever you grab for the hardest, whether it’s somebody else’s love, success, or wanting to write the next bestselling novel, you will fall in a tub of pig sh**.

My Nobel Prize-Winning Talk

I’d been paid to fly to Chicago and make a one-hour presentation on How to Use the Media As A Marketing Strategy to a group of 200 financial advisors. The event was held at The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. I was nervous. My PowerPoint slides were taking forever to download from the internet.

As I waited, I strolled down the open hallway that circled around the lecture rooms. On the hallway walls were photographs of University of Chicago’s Nobel Laureates. I read about their accomplishments in physics, chemistry, and economics. Unconsciously, I had been comparing my life and my attraction marketing ideas with the 87 laureates and I didn’t quite measure up. Suddenly, I started feeling miserable.

When the lecture hall door opened, my mind went blank. I stood there for a moment until I regained my composure. But once I did, I got way off track as I tried to deliver a Nobel Prize-winning presentation.

Then someone said, “You have one minute left.” I hadn’t even started to tell them what I had planned to discuss. I tried to wrap it up as best I could, but it was a disaster. Afterwards, I went over what had happened. I had made my presentation way too significant and important. I wanted to impress everyone with my vast knowledge on the subject of marketing but instead of staying on the point, I ran out of time.

Have you ever experienced writer’s block? It hits me when I need to do everything perfectly. I was taught to focus on outcomes, but that caused a lot of my stress in my life—both as a child and later as an adult. I couldn't allow myself to make a mistake, which jerked me out of the creative process. I was focusing on not making any mistakes, but the truth was I was scared to death that I wasn’t going to be the best, the star.

That idea that I absolutely could not fail triggered my ego. My ego consisted of all the things I had to be for me to be okay. If I became the best then I could feel okay about myself. The problem was the strategy didn't work. Being the “best” (code word for “hero”) meant that everything I wrote had to be a commercial success. That meant every single word had to be the perfect word. Even though I didn’t know the rules of grammar and spelled at a sixth grade level, I still needed to do everything perfectly. See, if I did everything perfectly, then I would no longer feel ashamed.

In order to be the best I had to be hyper-vigilant, always watching everyone and comparing myself to them. Whenever I saw that I wasn’t the best, I would feel terrible just as I had been programmed to feel. I discovered the secret to breaking this pattern was “detachment,” a cognitive strategy that enables you to keep your power instead of giving it away while pursuing your goals.

Detachment involves a simple mental maneuver that, when practiced over time, can immediately dissipate anxiety. Without the anxiety of failure lurking like a cloud in the room, you can be more creative. Instead of trying to control the outcome, you focus on the process.

Detachment is a mechanism that allows you to be objective, creative, and spontaneous. It is detachment that allows creativity to flow. Detachment creates lots of other opportunities.

People are finely tuned to sense detachment. We love people when they don’t need us. Detachment is what’s attractive, isn’t it?

Having a Plan B is the key for creating detachment. Plan B is my antidote for anxiety. Anxiety is about wanting. Deeper anxiety is having to have—OMG, this is the only game in town and if I don’t do really well they’re going to judge me and they’ll take everything away and I’ll be pushing a shopping cart and it will all be true, everything they said about me. By staying out of the shame/anxiety trance I get back into the creativity trance, which is a lot more fun.

All of those negotiating things out of the ‘80s, getting to yes, win-win, the Harvard negotiation project—you can boil it down to two things: always know your bottom line (your walk-away number) and always have Plan B. Here’s my standard for creating Plan B. Every time I get into a new business situation, my goal is to create a Plan B that is so juicy and sweet that if I actually get Plan A, I’m kind of disappointed.

My Plan Bs are the projects I want to work on! The projects I think are cool and interesting and fun. When I see myself as the idea guy, my life is full of fun and it works. That’s really the core of who I am. The real source of personal power is just how good we feel about ourselves, not whether people like us or not. Feeling good about myself allows me to detach.

The 5th Strategy - Getting Paid

I believe that charging by the hour limits your income and makes you look like everyone else. Most writers have never considered charging by the importance of the project.

I have prospective clients meet me in Ojai, CA and spend two days working away from the distractions of their businesses. For those two days, I charge a set fee. Before they arrive, I have them sign an agreement spelling out what will be covered during the two-day period. Once they accept my conditions, I add them to our agreement. I use my contract to my advantage by linking the work to payments. I always insist on a partial payment up front.

The 6^th Strategy - System for Documenting Your Value

Most writers are judged by the number of words they write. NOT by the value of those words. If you want to get paid more for your work, then you have to keep track and find ways to document the value of your writing projects. For example: In 1994, I was hired to write an article about a complex investment process. I wrote the article (bylined by my client), and placed it in one small industry trade magazine (30,000 circulation). We found out later that the article had been clipped out and sent to a business associate of a reader. What happened next took place over a period of several months. The reader’s business associate contacted my client and, after two subsequent face-to-face meetings, transferred $65 million dollars to my client’s management firm. That transformed both of our businesses. The fees on the $65 million dollars amounted to $650,000.00 of annual recurring income, which gave my client the resources to build his firm into a national enterprise, which they sold three years later for $25 million dollars. My reward, besides doing a good job, was the word of mouth referrals that come with a successful campaign.

The 7th Strategy - Marketing Your Business (Hassel-Free) Challenge these ideas, test them in practice, adapt them to your needs, and make them yours. Use these concepts to challenge and inspire your own success—and when something works, keep doing it.

Thanks

Larry

The Larry Chambers Writing Company Is a Certified Veteran Enterprise

407 South Signal St, (A)

Ojai, CA 93023

(805) 640-0888 / Larry@Lchambers.com

Why write a book? Let John Bowen answer that

2011-12-05T20:20:09Z

The following is a video interview with John J Bowen of CEG Worldwide, LLC one of my more successful clients. The video explains my ghostwriting process and highlights John's experience in our work together.

http://vimeo.com/ceg/review/33052834/fa8c58c576

Best
Larry

Tips for writing your book

2011-12-05T20:02:15Z

Tip One - Don't make the same 5 mistakes that most people make when writing a book

1. Don’t have a premise

2. Don’t write to their target audience

3. Don’t have enough material for a book

4. Don’t test their idea or prove their premise

5. Don’t understand the publishing process

A recession is a war of business survival. The worst thing to do is to hide in the shadows and wait it out. You must give consumers a reason to come to you and additional reasons for choosing you over the competition. The strategy works during a recession because it extends you reach beyond your marketing zone and locates those prospects that have an immediate need for your service. When that type of prospect comes to you the sales process is flipped around; instead of you selling them they have to convince you why you should work with them.

Tip Four - Don't let people tell you that publishing business is dead! Look at the number and you decide.

1,062,803: Total number of titles produced in 2009

764,448: Number of nontraditional titles produced in 2009

288,355: Number of traditional titles produced in 2009

289,729 2008

284,370 2007

274,416 2006

251,903 2005

275.793 2004

240,098 2003

216,138 2002

Percentage change from 02 – 09 34%

But nontraditional titles from 2002-2009 increased by 2242% percent.

History Doesn’t Reward Acts of Prevention

2011-08-12T17:01:53Z

Most people have very few real facts about America's part in the Vietnam War, and while they might feel sympathy for Vietnam veterans and the way they were mistreated upon returning home, they don’t realize that lies and misinformation have become embedded in America’s narrative history of the Vietnam War. Our mission in Vietnam was never to annihilate North Vietnam; just contain them and keep them out of the south, the same way our American forces had done on the other two fronts of the cold war; Germany and Korea. The Soviets had 40 Divisions of combat troops and tanks along the East German Border, and even today American keeps 30,000 troops stationed along the DMZ in Korea. In each of these battle zones, America’s military mission has been basically the same – contain the communist within their own borders, but that never seems to get mentioned in the press.

The Latte Factor

2010-01-13T20:44:00Z

The Latte Factor

Writing is valued by our culture as proof of intelligence, but who has the time?

In the time it would take ordering a mocha latte Starbucks (7-minutes) you could have written an article, about 500 words or 3 Pages.

The 7-Minute Author™ provides a structure that can quickly turn your experience and know-how into something your audience can witness. The Latte Factor gives you the time. Find a daily activity that you enjoy and substitute the time lost waiting with time spent writing.

Or, say your goal is to write a book. Just turbocharge the Latte Factor. By linking all of your Starbucks Latte moments they really add up; (5 days a week equals 60 pages or 10,000 words. In five months that 50,000 words, add a month for rewriting, and editing and in less than six months you’ve written a book. The average how-to book is 50,000 words.

You’ve got to look at more than just know how; today we need a plan and path to follow. The ADD Advantage

The 7-Minute Author™ method and The FAST Book are found at www.attractionbuilder.com

Author Larry Chambers, Ojai,CA.

Photo by Christin Chambers 2009

Working with The Media and Amazon

2009-08-14T22:26:00Z

If I wanted to utilize the media to market my practice what are the first 3 or 4 steps?

If you’re a published Author, you can syndicate your feed on your AmazonConnect profile. If you don’t have a book, apply to get your blog onAmazon Kindle’s subscription list—you’ll get a 30 percent cut from eachsubscriber’s fee.

Build a master feed of all your online activity. Head to FriendFeed.com and input your various social sites, blogs and other feeds to create a “lifestream” that can link people to all your content—and let them comment on it, too.

Create different widgets to put on your sites and profiles. Go to Widgetbox.com and enter your feed URL. Then add a custom header, play aroundwith the appearance settings and publish it on MySpace, Facebook or anywhere else you can paste some HTML.

Turn your blog into an e-newsletter. Sign up for FeedBurner(feedburner.google.com) and activate e-mail subscriptions, or set up aFeedBlitz.com newsletter so your audience can get daily updates from you in their inbox.

Don’t forget to look for other places you can drop your feed (like news services and social site profiles) to send links back to your site and build a dynamic online identity.

Books I'm Writing

2009-08-14T22:03:00Z

Here are a couple of the books I am currently writing.

1. How to Write the Book You Wish Your Dad Wrote

2.How to Monetized Your Past

Category - Marketing

2009-08-14T20:55:00Z

Some Advisers ignore the most important part of their business – Marketing!

Is your message what they want to hear? Think about it...

Category - Attitude

2009-08-14T20:48:00Z

I keep the following Attitude/Mantra in mind when going on interviews or meeting with potential clients.

"I will make more money for you than the other three slugs in the waiting room."

Category - Tools

2009-08-14T20:38:00Z

Edit a PDF. http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/pdfimport

FoxitPDF - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

Category - Business Building Referral Questions

2009-08-14T20:01:00Z

Q: I’ve always done business on referrals, yet on the phone call you said that is not an effective way to get new business…can you explain?

A: On the surface waiting passively for referrals seems like an ideal marketing model. It’s not. Consider a referral as a gift but not a marketing strategy. An unsolicited referral is out of your control and asking for a referral put the relationship off balance. How? Asking for a referral goes beyond law of reciprocity. Reciprocity is the belief that if I do something for you, I have a right to expect that you’ll do something of equal or greater value for me. The problem is as soon as an adviser asks for a referral, the trusted relationship is thrown out of balance. The person didn’t become a client to become a part of your marketing program – the client has fulfilled his end of the transaction by investing in your service.

You are supposed to leave your client feeling served, not asked him or her to serve you. Given the state of the economy there is no guarantees that you will see passive referrals again. A lot has changed. The market may remain uncooperative, and even though we realize that is not the adviser’s fault, referrals will slow.

In the future, investors seeking an adviser will probably mean selecting from among multiple referrals, including a local search of qualified advisers in their area the as well as from among advisers who have approached them directly. What can you do? You must go from passive to an active recommendation system by aligning your approach with the way your clients would want their friends to be sold. Make it easy for your clients to give you a referral. Don’t ask, enable. Integrate a referral-enabling system into your regular routine. Implicitly, a recommendation must be earned, which leads to the next point. The client, like every person, would like to be treated as if he were the most important person in the world. In a recent meeting with one of my advisers, I felt some pressure to give him some names. You know, that old "who do you know that can help me" routine. It made me feel a bit used and very uncomfortable. I had the sense that the whole purpose of the conversation was to help him on his road to success, that he was the important one. This interaction was a distinctly unpleasant experience for me. Most people refer down afraid of the risk that you lose them money. Your clients may perceive a risk in referring you to important people in their lives. They are afraid that their referral is going to come back to haunt them or that something beyond their control won’t work out and will negatively affect their relationship.

When you’re the expert and your clients refer you, their own status goes up. They benefit from the association with you the same way one benefits from being a member of an elite group, or knowing someone famous.Your best referrals are not given to you; they are given to another person on your behalf. Here is how it usually happens: People are in a social situation and an issue or problem comes up. Your client says, "You need to talk to my adviser. He can help you." That is the best way to get a recommendation. When that person calls you, you really have the sale well in hand.

Some advisers find a way to bring up referrals with every client contact; others may wing it. You want to have a process in place so when referral opportunities happen you are ready. Respond to referrals quickly professionalism is a trait everyone appreciates. Treat all referrals professionally and they may ultimately become yet another referral source!

Respond quickly to anyone who contacts you as a result of a referral. Keeping this a top priority on your “to do” list keeps the referral calls coming and ultimately saves you time. Even if you know the person contacted you because they were trying to gain your business, respond quickly. Send reprints and invitations to your seminars. Don’t forget to work in your positioning statement.

Give referrals don’t ask for themFind out how one client could benefit from another’s product or service. When someone thanks you, that is the best time to seek a recommendation. Here is what you might say: "Thank you. I enjoy working with people like you, and I would be grateful if you would recommend me to others." No pressure, no hassle, just an affirmation of the client, a word of thanks and an expression of gratitude. That's how you develop a great recommendation script.Clients don’t wake up thinking, Boy, I think I’m going to refer my financial adviser today, or I bet old Jim could use a good CPA.

The following eight concrete action steps will improve the odds of getting a referral from every client:

One - Plant the seed. Send out a confirmation letter before client meetings in which you mention that your firm is accepting new clients.

Two- Suggest that if your client knows anyone who might benefit, he/she can let you know at the meeting. Use newsletters or client letters to inform your mailing list that you are currently accepting new clients. This is even more effective if you can link it to a new partner joining the firm or the addition of staff.You may decide to ask for recommendations at your semi-annual or annual client meetings; you may mention recommendations in every client letter; or you may distribute a designated number of special mailings per year related to referrals.

Three - Allow them to control the initial contact A person may be unwilling to name names, but would be perfectly comfortable recommending you to others. If this seems to be the case, encourage them by providing a brochure or letter detailing your capabilities that they can pass on to potential clients. Provide a reply card that referrals can return to your office.

Four - Return Favors.When people do favors for you, they do not necessarily expect that you will return them; however, people appreciate it when you do! Two good things typically happen as a result of a returned favor: people want to do more favors for you, and they are more likely to refer you when the opportunity presents itself.

Five - Reward desired behaviors When your clients provide a referral, reinforce the behavior by sending a handwritten thank-you note or even a small token of gratitude. Showing your appreciation promotes continued referrals.

Six - Send a copy of your book and include an extra copy with a note suggesting they pass it along to a friend. Give them an easy way to responds “Call me if you know anyone” is not likely to generate a referral, so consider giving clients a postcard to return on which they list the names of potential clients. Follow-up phone calls or letters can also be productive. Raise their comfort level. Some people are deterred from referring others by concern that your actions might mar their relationship with those that they refer. Be clear about your intentions by explaining that you plan to contact the prospect by phone or mail in a non-invasive manner.Step Seven - Timing your referral requests is important. After reviewing favorable portfolio results, consider a statement such as, “We’ve done well this quarter. I hope you are pleased. Would you know anyone who might be interested in the quality of investment advice I’ve provided to you?” Present a referral request as an opportunity for clients to do a favor for someone. “Do you know anyone who might benefit from my service. It would mean a lot to have a positive recommendation from you?” and don’t forget to say – Thank you.

Eight - Make sure the prospects can find your sitePathways that lead backHow can prospects find your web site when they need information about your company, locate useful information within your site, and feel encouraged to contact you? If possible, a Web site name should be the company or organization's name (or appropriate abbreviation or acronym) followed by .com, .org, or .firm. Most people will try that before utilizing search engines. Make sure your meta tags (hidden HTML code that provides information for search engines) include critical key words related to your organization, and ensure that your home page title includes both your company name and major business category. For example, the page title for XYZ Company, which an HR software vendor would access, might read: "XYZ Company delivers HR software solutions to businesses worldwide." Include your Web site address on everything -- business cards, product literature, press releases, e-mail signatures, etc.

1. Keep it brief, especially on the home page. The home page should be simple, composed of a brief explanation of the organization and a telephone number with clearly labeled section headings such as: About the Company, History, Products and Services, Contact Information, Press Information, Staff Biographies and Site Map. These will provide a sufficient starting point for Web site patrons.

2. Include an "Your Company In the News" section with published media clips about your company, either scanned as images or keyed in as text. Providing published news about your company from third-party sources.

3. Revise and refresh. Post news releases and update corporate/product information regularly.

4. Organize site information based on the needs of your visitors. Prospects will return to your site if they find information quickly and easily. Provide a link directly from the home page to a page titled "New Client Information," which will in turn lead to appropriate send out package, press releases, success stories, and a calendar of the organization's upcoming events.

5. Serve as an information resource, providing valuable background that potential clients may need beyond basic information about your company. Offer value-add content beyond marketing rhetoric.

6. Enable interaction. When appropriate, include a demonstration. Perhaps a video clip of a client talking about the results they have achieved with your service, or a "request an interview/request a product to review" form.

7. Include key questions on the form such as the outlet, topic of discussion and questions, familiarity with the company, and if the media have a specific individual with whom they would like to speak.

8. Include biographies of staff members to further enhance their credibility. Include a guest book. Invite prospects to register online. Keep the request form brief to encourage prospects to take the time to reply: Include fields for name, outlet, phone, fax and e-mail. Ultimately, prospects need to obtain accurate information quickly. The home page should provide quick, easy reference points to efficiently lead the information they need.

Publishing-

2009-08-13T03:42:00Z

Q: Where should I try to get an article published?

A: You can have hope, lower expectation or create bypasses. If you’re a published author, you can syndicate your feed on your AmazonConnect profile. If you don’t have a book, apply to get your blog on Amazon Kindle’s subscription list—you’ll get a 30 percent cut from each subscriber’s fee.

Writing Articles by Larry Chambers

2009-08-13T03:11:00Z

What are the do’s and don’ts to writing an article?

I recommend doing the writing yourself, but if you give credit away and don't try to be the author. To me, the most efficient investment of your time is to take it to the office supply store printer, and make it into a booklet with a card stock cover, saddle-stitched. You can have the little book converted to a pdf. There are several pdf programs at low cost.The e-book has zero cost, but the booklet has far more impact and credibility. It’s huge. Printed material gets at least a hundred times greater response than the same information offered as an e-book. I’ve found the cheaper and simpler material works fine: reports, e-books, white papers, 15-20 pages that share the information in your mind with your prospects. Or you can always hire a professional writer to help you expand your outline. Do some research on the internet and find articles about what to do. Try a search called “free articles;” circle databases they are free, with proper accreditation. You could also go to your local radio station and pay them to use their audio equipment in the downtime. This broadcast could include helpful Checklists, charts, steps that they need to take, college checklist, consumer Hotline they should call to get the facts from you before they buy from somebody else. In the end, your piece should be full of helpful information. Information with a pervasive step that leads to your company—the face-to-face meeting, or ordering, ___ heavily promote and clearly indicate the emotional benefit your prospect will experience.

Being Creative -

2009-08-12T22:19:00Z

Do you have too many ideas? Create an Idea filter. Create a map/big blank sheet of poster paper, write your top 25 projects or ideas in no order. Then,look at them again. Begin crossing off, until you end up with the top six projects/ideas. Now, if your ideas/projects are for your business you can prioritize them by asking yourself, will this idea/project make money now, or in the future? Which one will make the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time? Once you have them in order based on your preferences/Goals start with your number one idea/project. I like to ask myself' How much time I am going to invest on this 1st project today and write this next to it. An example of this would be as follows. #1 Project - (3 hours spent on just this 1st project/idea, then a Reward! I have lunch, then I allow myself to work on my favorite project for one hour)

Effective Emails

2009-08-12T22:09:00Z

There are somethings that you can do that can increase your effectiveness with an email message.

Email has become a critical part of our communication infrastructure and yet, everyone expects there to be mistakes. It’s become the most forgiving form of communication. Forgiving, because sloppy is the rule rather than the exception.This is one more opportunity to be different. Before you fire off that next Email think about these seven tactics for better Emails:

#1 - Sending Emails Tip- The best day to send out an e-mail message to clients/prospects is Wednesday.

#2 - What is your point? What it is that you want to say to this person. Put that in the subject line.

#3 - Write as though you were speaking to them. Write in a friendly style, and type without your sixth grade English teacher looking over your shoulder, grading your sentences.

#4 - Never attach anything to your email unless you’ve got the receivers permission.

#5 - Make your email concise. Don’t be too wordy. Get to the point.

#6 - Your email should contain useful information.

#7 - Make sure that you answer the point you stated in #1, which is your main premise. Use that as your formula. If you do that, you won’t just survive, you’ll thrive.

I’m not a writer

2009-06-30T12:47:00Z

Larry, I’m not a writer….what 3 things can I do?

But I’m not a writer….what 3 things can I do?

1. Buy an Olympus digital tape recorder and find someone to transcribe your work.

2. Buy Dragon Natural Speaking the Lawyers version.

3. Hire a teacher, journalist or just stop telling yourself the story that I'm not a writer. If you learned how to tell a story, you can write. Writing is just your words frozen on paper.

The real problem is most people don’t have a big enough reason to learn how to write effectively. I’ll give you the reason and you’ll figure out the how.

Writing is valued by our culture as proof of intelligence. Let that sink in. Especially if you are providing a service wouldn’t you want your clients and customers to believe that you are smart?

Most people (mostly men) during their school years had a bad experience, couldn’t spell or got shamed by a teacher so they made the decision that they hate writing and would rely on their verbal language skills. It's true that good writing takes years but everyone can write.

The problems and the fixes; ‘I can't spell’ (that's a great, most creative people included myself can either. Work around it, hire someone to edit, I have three and keep them busy.

‘I don’t have the time.’ Get up earlier.

‘I don't know what goes where?’ Teachers call it grammar, I call it ‘structure’ - go to my 7-Minute Author chapter in the Attraction Workbook or look at my bookstore. The 7-Minute Author provides a structure that can quickly turn your ideas, knowledge and know how into something your audience can witness.