Happy Day After Thanksgiving to you and yours! This blog is posting on Black Friday. Why do I have time to write a blog today? Because I’m NOT one of the 137 million Americans who will begin their Christmas shopping – either in stores or online this weekend. Yes, wholly 40% of Americans shop this weekend. But it’s not a tradition that I partake in. For all of you that DO – you’ll certainly be in good company. Enjoy and charge safely out there!
But the thought of Black Friday got me thinking about the concept of offering special deals in general. Should service providers like CPAs, attorneys and other professionals ever offer specials? I’m in the process of offering one right now. Not in my multistate business, but on the Rainmaking side of the house. And I’m still trying to decide if it’s a good idea.
Here’s the situation:
The multistate side of Miles Consulting Group has been my main source of revenue for almost 15 years. Last year, in addition to multistate, I launched a speaking and educational program called Jumpstart Your Rainmaking. It’s all about helping professionals who need to sell their services. I use my 20+ years of experience in selling consulting services to train colleagues on developing their sales mindset, identifying their perfect target client, selecting the best direct and indirect marketing strategies to get in front of that audience, putting together a viable written plan, and then keeping themselves accountable. The program is delivered in a variety of ways – live speaking presentations, customized training for CPA firms, and a three part webinar series. Each delivery format is a little different, and offers training to people in ways that make sense to them.
Right now, we are preparing to offer the three part webinar series – a three week commitment (an hour per week) in December. Webinar participants will benefit from the items mentioned above, and will also learn how to develop their 2017 revenue generation plan. Before January, our program participants will have an easy to follow, measurable plan which will help them generate revenue in their pipeline next year.
So, what’s the Black Friday deal? And why am I offering it?
In conjunction with Kat Jennings at TaxConnections, we are offering the entire 3 week series for just $99. That’s a discount of $200 off my “market price”! I’ll admit, I was a little hesitant to cut the price that much because I didn’t want prospective attendees to think it’s a “cheap” program. I think it’s a pretty good deal at $299! So, why the “sale price”? Because I’m a newbie on this block. People know me as a multistate tax specialist. I’ve been “State Tax Girl” for over 20 years, but I’ve only been “Rainmaking Girl” for a little over a year – even though I’ve got 20 years of experience in selling professional services! You just don’t recognize me as a sales/revenue generating/pipeline building guru yet! So, the sale price is an opportunity for you to get really good training, for a really good price, and get to know me in the process. Deal? Please take this opportunity to invest yourself over the next few weeks. Put together an awesome measurable plan for 2017. Grow your business. And pick up some skills that you can carry with you for a long time to come.
What can you learn from this?
Well, hopefully a couple of things…
- There’s a really good Jumpstart Your Rainmaking program coming up on December 7, 14 and 21st. And it can help you develop and stick to a good revenue generation plan for 2017. Click here for more information and to register. We’d really like you to join us.
- There might be a time in your business when you launch something new, or would like to highlight one of your service offerings. At that point, you might consider offering a “special” to draw attention to it or to bring in that first client to prove the concept. It may not work for every offering or every type of business, but it might be a creative way to draw attention to your services. Think about it!
- In the spirit of full disclosure – I’ll let you know how it goes. If we can all learn from this together, it’ll make us stronger.
So enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving weekend, including Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and leftover heating Sunday! And if you’re one of the 40% of Americans that are itching to get out there and spend money this weekend, again, here’s that sign up link. Invest a little bit in yourself this weekend. This will be the gift you give yourself – and that keeps on giving.
Thank you for reading!
Monika Miles is President of Miles Consulting Group, a firm specializing in multi-state tax consulting for middle market businesses. Clients include technology, manufacturing, software and SaaS based companies doing businesses across state lines. Miles Consulting Group assists them in determining the sales tax and income tax ramifications of creating a taxable presence in a state and how to address these issues with the various states. When she’s not assisting clients with multi-state tax issues, she passionately shares Rainmaking strategies with other professional services firms. Click here for more information.
