Michael: Hi, this is Michael Senoff with Michael Senoff’s www.hardtofindseminars.com . Here’s a series of interviews with existing HMA marketing consultants. The number one concern from people interested in becoming a marketing consultant is how do I get my first client. Well, what you’re about to hear in the next series of recordings are interviews with existing HMA consultants that reveal exactly how they got their first client. I hope you find this helpful and I hope it gives you the confidence and the ability to go get your first client, even before you invest in the HMA system. You’ve got all the tools on my website to go out and prospect and interview and get paid upfront for a client for consulting. Enjoy.

[MUSIC]

Michael: I’m doing an interview with Bob Bly. He’s a great copywriter and I’ve got hundreds of questions that come and you know what the number one question by far is? How do you get your first client? And so, it gave me an idea to put together a little audio recording for people who are interested in the consulting business; stories of some of the HMA students who have signed up and how they got their first client or how they’re getting towards getting their first client because it seems like it’s something that is on everyone’s mind. That’s really the purpose of this call.

David, the purpose of this call, what I’m doing, I’m putting together a little promotional audio CD called My First Client. All the people I’ve talked to who are interested in getting into consulting, even though you’ve got a lot of experience, they want to know, how do you get that first client. So, I though what a better thing to do than ask some of the HMA students or people with consulting experience how they got their first client or how the HMA system has made it easier. Just any kind of advice or reality check that someone considering going into the consulting business can gain from your experience. So, why don’t you just start off by telling what your name is, what you do, and how you got into the little consulting business here?

David: Well, my name is David , White Bull Group, Inc. What I do is business consulting, business development on the website, as well as offline for small to mid size businesses. I do something called Taguchi methodology and that works with other businesses to help them increase their response rate. I was really interested in the HMA system because I saw that as rounding out or giving me further depth or breadth into my background. I am a salesperson, offers to $100 million in sales I’ve already done, but knowing the pieces and parts from the foundational standpoint as far as a system. A USP, going from that to be able to articulate your sales argument, put together the letters, develop the alliances; basically from A to Z was something I did not have. Getting the first client was relatively easy. It was as easy as walking into a business owner and saying how’s business going and him saying no so good and you say well we can make that better and here’s how. And then that one client led to another. Actually I engaged the client for $20,000 to help him with the Web, as well as the offline part of his business. And then I have another client coming right behind that one. If I do this wrong, it will be $20,000 a month and if I do it right, $100,000 a month. And all of that is based on just into the client base, doing the survey that’s talked about on the CDs, find out what the USP really is, find out not what you’re selling but what they’re actually buying, developing the proper alliances both online and offline, and then handling the conversions on the interim. That’s really all I’m doing, which is as easy as asking the question. I was at a conference in Dallas just the other week and a young lady said that she had a ski website and I said well how’s it going? She said, oh it could be doing better. I said maybe I can help you with those conversions. Here’s what I do. And she said let me have your card and subsequently I got a call.

Michael: When you say here’s what I can do, what’s your elevator pitch? What do you say?

David: My elevator pitch is I help you with the conversions on your website or with your business. Anyone can get people either to their website or into their business. That’s the traffic part. But if you don’t convert that traffic because you have a sales message, which is articulated very clearly and concisely and that doesn’t necessarily match the customer’s conversation, but aligns with it so you see a positive future, no profit comes out. So, it is basic formula of traffic plus conversion equals profit. I handle the conversion piece. That’s exactly how I illustrate it to people.

Michael: So, with this particular client, the one with the ski website, did you set up an appointment by phone or was it in person?

David: It was by phone. She was in another state. I met her at a conference. She took my card. She gave me a call. I used go to meetings, so went to her site and saw the obvious things…no headline, no articulated sales argument, no USP, no credibility elements on the site, no capture mechanism for any email address, no communication element; all those things that are standard and customary for a business to have if they’re going to enter into a sales process, she didn’t have. So, I turned around and said look for me to just work on this, this first part, it’s going to cost $1,500, but this may range if we keep on going at this, it may get upwards of $15,000 and she said fine, as long as I can see what each one of the steps are, then we’re good to go. So, the first thing was to start with the USP. What are you doing and why would someone want to buy from you. And then I asked her, I said I’d like to speak to some of your clients also to find out why they bought so we can take those names and put them in the sales argument and move forward from there.

Michael: So, on your pricing, are you charging per step, like Richard recommends, or are you doing any contingency? What’s your philosophy on pricing? And I know you’re an experienced, seasoned sales pro. A lot of the consultants coming in don’t have the experience you have. For instance, we just talked to a gentleman who quoted someone $600 for a USP. And I know and Richard knows and you probably know the difference in what you charge can be two things; who you’re talking to and your level of confidence. And it’s easy to understand you have that confidence in you because of the experience you have behind you. But what would you tell someone, I guess who’s starting out and maybe doesn’t have as much confidence, what would you advise them as far as charging and what’s your philosophy on pricing your services?

David: It does really depend on who you’re dealing with. You can’t squeeze blood out of a rock. I mean if there’s no money in the business, then either you have to make the decision you’re going to reduce your pricing and get it done for them so that they get a result so they can continue to pay you or you just don’t do business with them at all. For me it’s deciding is it worth my time to work with that business. What is the potential? I do, do contingency. It’s really not a contingency. I’ll do a retainer of a minimum of $5,000, plus when I make my promise, I get the rest of it plus I usually cut in the backend on any increases they were able to see. Now, a lot of the work I do is online and I have tools that allow me to track and test to make sure that I’m above their baseline when we started. So, it’s very easy for me to have that contingency backend because I can see what’s going on. In an offline business, especially if there are phone calls going to an office, it’s more difficult. So, in that case, you charge a flat fee, get it done, whatever promise you made as far as increase, I have to listen to the tape, but it’s saying between 25 and 200%. Although with the technology I can use, I can sometimes get it up to 700%. The 25 to 200 makes people very comfortable, but it lowers the threshold at which I have to perform. So, when I get the 200, 300, 400% increase by stacking media or going offline and online, optimizing the website, using advanced testing on any of the pieces of the sales process. It’s just better for me because that backend is tied to that. I’m tracking that all the time.

Michael: Richard, do you have anything for David?

Richard: David, you mentioned right at the beginning it’s as easy as walking into a business and just saying how are things going. Have you done any prospecting for business? Have you done any workshops or anything like that?

David: Well, I’ve been very fortunate. I speak in seminars now and I’m being called to speak at different seminars around the country. I’ve been in Chicago twice. I was in Washington just yesterday speaking on my expertise. And from that business development comes. So, I really haven’t done any prospecting so to speak. I am thinking about going to the local Chamber of Commerce because the businesses that I get on a plane and go see in the other parts of the country are in here Nashville. So, I feel like I need to probably stop and go to the local Chamber of Commerce because now I have an information product, which speaks for me. I’m speaking at seminars. So, I probably will start trying to be home a little because I’m a celebrity outside of my own hometown now.

That one situation where I was at the conference, it was just as easy as asking the question what business do you have and how is it going. A business owner, most of the time the guy or gal is not going to say it’s great. It’s always it could be better. And if you can tell them that you can get them 25% more than they had before minimum, what are they going to say, no. As long as their product or service can hold my fee and that’s what I look for too, what are they selling? If they don’t have the volume and the profitability to hold my fee, obviously, it’s not worth it. And I have turned away some clients because they were selling an e-book for $98. That’s not going to do anything. But when you get to the folks who are selling something upwards of $2,500 per unit sale, they can easily hold the fee. I was speaking to a dentist this morning. I told him that my fee -- what he asked me to do is going to be $20,000. He said done. Within 30 seconds with no problem.

Michael: Do you have them pay you all upfront?

David: No. Usually what I do is I do half when I start because I have people I need to pay to get things done and then half upon my promise. The nice thing is with this particular situation -- this is a pilot -- the reason I’m doing this one so cheap is because this one is a pilot and that person has a center of influence of upwards of 2,000 individuals that he would want this work done for. So, I’m in the process now setting up an affiliate that will bring me more business without me having to go out and prospect. It’s got to really be nichey. And that’s people with websites in a particular area, high-ticket items because those folks can pay me. I even have a client now -- a hosting company -- that I’m looking to work with now that has like 78,000 customers. Never surveyed a one of them. Has not communicated at all with any of them. So, that’s a gold mine. He has email addresses, names, addresses, phone numbers, and those people are paying him on a year-to-year basis.

Michael: What’s this HMA system going to mean for you down the road? How has it put things together for you or did you already have a lot of this knowledge before you got it?

David: I knew of Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy. I’ve been an avid student of both of those. When I was put in my territory I’d use those direct marketing and those points while I was working corporate America. In corporate America, I learned how to be on the sales side. Now, they don’t teach you a system. The HMA system is a system. So, now I have something to weave all the other skills sets, the sales, the marketing, all the different skill sets are now woven into the HMA system. HMA is a great foundation.

Richard: It just gave you a way to package everything.

David: Right. I went through the paperwork first. I kind of spot went through the DVDs. The USP, I think I went through four times. That is the most important part. Everything else after that becomes mechanics. Can you develop the joint venture? Can you get a letter written? Can you get into the mail? My expertise is in the testing part of it, so I don’t ever write a letter and say this is the letter. This is the letter we’re going to try and we can try that letter until we get it right, but now I have a better copywriter, web designer, graphic artist, traffic developers for the online market space, pay for click folks that now when I need these folks in place, I just plug them into a project, as long as the project has enough money to hold them. It’s a great system. It’s great. I need to go through it again to see if I’m missing anything, but so far so good.

I mean you could really take just one piece of the HMA system, like just the joint ventures part of it and go to a business and say hi, you’re in business, who else has customers that want what you’re selling. You could make a career just with JV piece of it. You could make a career with the JV piece…

Richard: And you can make a career with just the USP.

David: Oh, absolutely.

Richard: And you could make a career just with database.

David: Oh my gosh, yes. I was at a database conference in Washington. I had no idea that there are companies out there that have more traffic than they know what to do with, more content than they know what do with, and they still can’t figure out how to convert. And I’m sitting there…oh my gosh…they don’t split-test, they don’t do anything, and they’re saying we wish we knew how to convert. Oh my goodness. So, I have a training package now on nothing but testing; how to convert, when to convert, what method to use, what tools to use. I’ve had other tools created. So, now that is my segue into just about any business now. Whatever you’re doing, you could probably be doing better or better yet, let’s just get your baseline. Just getting a businesses baseline is worth a lot money there because they don’t know where they are.

Richard: That’s right.

David: This is great because I’m starting with the testing piece and the HMA just -- now I’m business development as opposed to just testing. So, I can talk to a dentist today and say well what is it you’re trying to do. Well, I’m looking to put something together for the Web and offline, CRM. Well, I can help you with that. Really. Well, how much is that going to cost? Well, that will be upwards of $20,000. Oh, okay. That was the whole conversation. That was it.

Michael: David, I know you’re busy and I really appreciate it. I’m glad I was able to connect. You’re a hard guy to get in touch with. David, thank you very, very much.

David: No problem. I appreciate it. Richard, good to talk to you finally.

Richard: You, too, sir. Thank you.

David: Thank you. Talk to you soon.


[END]


Michael: If I could just ask you some questions and you can just share your experience and Richard you can offer any kind of commentary and feedback.

So, tell us your name and where you’re from and how you fell into this HMA consulting business?

Peter: My name is Peter. I’m from the greater Detroit area. And I have been pretty much a student of Jay Abraham for probably the last ten years and it’s been just an evolving trail. Started out with Jay’s stuff and then got into the PEQ with Chett Holmes and along the way I’ve been self-employed and had two or three businesses and I sold them out about five years ago. Semi-retired and wanted to do some of the marketing stuff that I had learned. Did some stuff around the Detroit area, moved down to Florida for a couple of years, worked with a couple of companies down there, and really didn’t know how to totally put it all together. The PEQ really helped me as far as organizational and how to structure, things like that, but I was still kind of vague on the marketing end. And then when I was talking to you, you and I went back and forward on some things and HMA came along and I kind of synthesized it all together where it made sense to me. It gave me a template. I really like the outline. In fact, when I go talk to client, I take that with me.

Michael: Now, what outline is this? The Opportunity Analysis?

Peter: The Opportunity Analysis, yes. I just sit right down with it and they watch me fill it out. It helps. It’s a lot more professional because they’re not expecting that. They’re expecting someone to come in there and start schmoozing them or…

Richard: Selling them a product.

Peter: Right. And you start asking them the hard questions and the thing that really has impressed me the most and kind of the light bulb went on. Well, when Chet in the PEQ talked about the stadium pitch, the stadium pitch and the USP are kind of related. The stadium pitch is kind of a longer version of the USP. That’s what I’m finding when I talk to people. They just have no idea what business they’re in. That goes right by them. So, the three clients that I’ve had, that has been the light bulb going on for them when they really stop. It’s hard for people, too. A lot of people don’t have any idea. I’m a carpet cleaner, but why am I cleaning carpets.

Michael: Can you go back and kind of bring us into the involvement of very first client?

Peter: I was in Florida until last October and I came back. The company I was working with had some financial problems. One of our larger clients went Chapter 11 on us and I using the PEQ down there. I had totally organized that company and we were doing really well until this client puked on us. Then I got back here and was fixing the house up. I have a residence up here and I also lease a place down in the Sarasota area. And I had a friend of mine who had three businesses. He had an insulation business. He had a light manufacturing business, commercial lighting. And he was starting a new operation, which was in the training area or the health fitness area. It was called My Training Card. It was a plastic card that workouts were put on it and it was computerized thing, Windows, and it printed out and we’re still working on that. But anyway, we were talking when we were on his boat in October and he’s like what are you doing and at this point I was just getting into the HMA because I knew I was reading material on it and to be honest with you Michael, I’m like everybody else, I’m there trying to read this thing and glean as much as I can without having to buy the darn thing. How much material can I get out of here that’ll help me without having to buy the thing? It was titillating enough that it gave you enough information, but not enough. You needed the analysis worksheets and the videos and stuff. So, that was October. So, he flat out just hired me because I had enough information just from what you put free on the site to actually start it. And I knew the USP was the first thing you had to do and I went into his lighting business and he was kind of all over the place and we developed the USP for that and he was really happy with that. It helped us out. He’s a manufacturer and it was kind of a direct sales situation and we evolved from there into a sales rep regional model. And we are actually going around the country now setting the reps up. The USP has helped us with that because we need to get all the material down for them and they need to get it to those people that are buying.

Richard: Peter, how are you finding these reps?

Peter: The industry is kind of small. In other words, like Lithonia is the huge guy on the block and Cooper Light is the other big manufacturer. And that’s the distribution model for the lighting industry. They’re based on representatives in regions. So, you merely look in the Yellow Pages, who’s the rep, who’s the Lithonia rep and you go to that person. You say I have another line of lights. We don’t compete directly with them. We have an indirect commercial light that is patented by this gentleman that I work with that puts out 25% more light and it saves on installation. It’s indirect lighting, which is a little different than direct lighting. I often build the USP around that.

Richard: So, how many reps will he try to have?

Peter: Right now we have 16 reps mostly covering the Eastern and Southern part of the country. We go as far as Oklahoma right now. Pretty much like Oklahoma, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana.

Richard: And these reps just take the product on, on a commission basis?

Peter: Right. Like a representative might be handling 50 lines. You’re just one more line and your job is to get him to sell your line.

Richard: But you had to track those down one at a time through the phonebook?

Peter: Yes, pretty much that’s what you would do. On the Internet you’d click on lighting representative. There are sites that will categorize them for you and give you the rep by state.

Richard: Okay.

Peter: You call them and, of course, they’re happy to take a line on. It’s no skin off their nose, another line. But again, the key is getting them…to educate them to sell your line. That goes back to the USP because you don’t have much time with these people and it’s like you’ve got to impress them right away.

Richard: That’s right.

Michael: How were you able to close the deal with this first client?

Peter: What you do is you start asking questions. Oh, how’s business going? Oh, it’s going all right. Well, are you selling as much as you might? No, no. no. Well, why not? Guys can’t put the finger on it. It’s like I’ve got this great product, but nobody wants to buy it and they don’t understand it’s because they don’t have a USP and they don’t know how to communicate that.

Michael: Did you take him through the Opportunity Analysis?

Peter: Oh, absolutely. Yes, what I did is I go through the Opportunity Analysis part and then he actually hired me on a salary basis to work for him. So, I’m working with him now on a salary on a regular basis and I’m still picking up other clients on the side. And what I do because of the fact that when I retired I really didn’t need this as a source of a first income is I’m really tuned in more to joint ventures and I went through the thing you sent me. It’s one of the bonuses with the 250-page joint venture. And that’s kind of how I approach it. When I go for a client now, I’m really looking at equity stake in their company. I don’t need to waste my time doing a little bit of consulting for them for a couple hundred bucks. I really like to see what I can do. And the thing is, too, it’s almost like cheating because you go in there and you ask them these questions and they’re providing you with all this information. It is very valuable and they have no idea how valuable it is. So, these guys are divulging, yeah I have a customer list of 5,000 or 10,000 customers. What do you do with those? Oh, well nothing. I think we mailed them once. And you’re sitting there going, oh okay and you know that’s revenue just sitting there.

Richard: That’s right.

Michael: What’s the biggest challenge of doing this consulting?

Peter: The biggest challenge I think is getting people first of all to believe you; that what you’re telling them is true because no one’s ever told them that. And the second is to get them out of their comfort zone because some of them are just kind of comfortable doing what they’re doing. They’re making enough and they’re paying their bills and they don’t want to go to that next level. They’ve got kids. They’re busy. They need to find somebody that’s really, really hungry or you need to go into larger companies, which Richard was talking about on the video. But what happens when you get into larger companies, like you say over $10 million, they start getting…you’re butting heads with marketing departments and things like that. The guy I’m working with now, he’s doing about $5.5 million and he was right at that point because he had a couple people that were on the outside. He had a copywriter and he had a graphics person, but he didn’t have anybody internally that was driving the marketing. It was all coming from him. Nobody telling him what he needed to do. So, that’s kind of where I came in. I said here’s what you need to do. You need the USP. You need to integrate it into everything. You need to get all your salesmen on the same page. And then from the PEQ background, which I throw that in for free, it’s like you need to systematize this. You need to train these guys. It’s just a lot of the PEQ stuff kind of comes in over the top of the HMA from a structural standpoint.

Michael: Do you have any challenges that you want to discuss with Richard?

Peter: How many other consultants do a lot -- what you do as far as the meetings like the Chamber of Commerce stuff and things like that?

Richard: Well, for example, I’ve got a client in Fargo, North Dakota. We put on a workshop. He sponsored it. He was with a manufacturing association group and he sponsored it with the local business development center. We had 25 people there representing about 11 businesses and these businesses were across the board in manufacturing, in service, in professional. And we scheduled for that client 10 appointments to follow up and give assessments to those 10 businesses. He’ll either close them on one-on-one consulting or he’ll put them in a group and use the training materials. So, the workshops really, yes Peter, it just depends on where you’re at in your career.

Peter: Some of the people that are doing this are pretty much…this is what they’re doing and they’re geared to it and they want to go right through it. I’m kind of…have been around. I’m 55, been there, done that.

Richard: Well, let me just say this. What he did say was most critical and I will say that and that is you’ve got to go in and just start talking to them about their business and asking a lot of questions -- that is why we have the Opportunity Analysis -- so that the client doesn’t feel like you’re pushing some kind of solution or product, but rather you’re helping him solve his problem. Then the other thing that Peter said that’s critical is the guy’s got to feel and believe he’s got a problem. If he’s not motivated, don’t waste your time. The guy that Peter met was motivated. He was ready to change his situation. And it’s also clear that some of these guys are so comfortable where they’re at, they’re not motivated enough to change. So, to all of the HMA guys out there who are looking for their first client, spare yourself a lot of energy by not going to people who are not motivated. That will only discourage you, you need to just find out and make sure these guys are kind of in a mindset ready to make a change. Is that right, Peter?

Peter: I totally agree. I think like you were talking about in South Dakota, North Dakota, there’s not the opportunity that’s available. I’m in a metropolitan area of 6 or 7 million people. I could go down right now five houses off to my main street right here and go down there and there’s 100 businesses. And I can walk into any one of them I want or I can do mailings to them. That was probably going to be my next move because I’m not that comfortable calling people on the telephone. Just for myself, I like the mailings where you just mail them out.

Richard: Well, I’ll tell you what Peter, send me an email with your mailing and we’ll work on it together.

Peter: Okay.

Richard: I’ll certainly help you with that.

Michael: I remember talking to you about those cards for the gym. Did you get that guy as a client?

Peter: That’s who it is. That’s his third business.

Michael: Oh, that’s his third business.

Peter: That’s Internet based and we’ve been waiting to get it totally squared away on the Internet and just last week our tech guys got that all set. So, we actually have a meeting a week from Thursday with the person that has 40 fitness facilities in the Detroit area and he’s very excited about looking at our products. So, we’re going to go in and do a presentation. I’ll do the presentation, like a Power Point and see if we can sign him up. We went out to Vegas. We took the product up to Vegas to the big ERSA show, which is the International Racquet, Health and Sports Show. Premiered it out there and got a lot of good feedback. We’re doing a lot of follow-ups, but nothing concrete. Everyone wants the Internet version and like I say, that’s just coming out now.

Michael: I like to talk about good stories, but have you done an Opportunity Analysis where it just bombed?

Peter: Actually what I did is I think I told you about this, the gentleman who was the racecar guy, Roy Booth. I mean this guy was just perfect for this. He had a warehouse. Distributed out of his warehouse. He was up to like $4 million three years ago and business just stinks now. He’s down now to about $1.5 million and he ripe for this. He’s got a name recognition he doesn’t use. He’s got mail order he doesn’t use. He’s got a whole database of clients he’s not using.

Michael: So, you got in and did an Opportunity Analysis?

Peter: I did the opportunity for him, Michael, and he was kind of excited and I did the analysis. What I do is I do a whole binder for the person. I fill out the Opportunity Analysis and what’s the other one. There’s the Opportunity Analyses, then there’s the actual implementation where you tell them what you’re going to do.

Michael: The prospectus?

Peter: A prospectus. I fill that out and I type that all out specifically for them, putting their names in the different spots and everything. I had them that in a binder and I couldn’t land the guy.

Michael: What did you price it in?

Peter: I told him I would do the USP for $600 because I wanted to get my foot in the door because I knew that once I got going, I could take a percentage, especially with the Internet stuff because he hasn’t started any Internet stuff. I don’t know if I was too strong and scared him or if he just looked at it and said it looked like too much work.

Michael: It is a numbers game and you’re not going to get everyone.

Peter: I’m going to go back and ask him. I’m going to wait a little bit and go back and say why didn’t you do it.

Richard: That’s a good idea Peter.

Peter: That and also there’s a photographer and his wife. They do commercial photography and sat with them and they were excited about it and they admitted, yes we don’t have a USP, we’re going the wrong direction, things aren’t that great. Did a one-hour free consultation with them. Left them the same thing, material and everything. I sent him a follow-up and he was busy. You know how that goes. And then I saw at a social function three weeks later and he was like I really appreciate everything and we’re really going to get going with this, I’m really going to call you and I haven’t heard anything from him. I’m the kind of guy that if you don’t call me, I’m not calling you.

Michael: I put an interview of me doing an Opportunity Analysis with George, the owner of a tanning spa and I put it up there on my site at www.hardtofindseminars.com  on page H. It’s one of the first ones. In the beginning, I stated this is the perfect type of client because it’s clear as I interviewed him, never meeting him, just all by phone, he was such a perfect client. He was so willing. He had studied the Abraham stuff. He had all the materials, but he couldn’t put it together and he wanted an expert to do it for him and that’s why he hired me right over the phone. And this is the type of client that makes doing consulting a pleasure because one someone say yes, you really have a business partner. That’s the way I look at it.

Peter: It goes back to low hanging fruit, too. I mean I could see this was going to be a more difficult one and there are a lot out there that they’re like low hanging fruit. You can just see it. They’re just not doing it right. You could make them more successful quicker and that’s kind of what I’m looking for. I really do appreciate everything you did and you put it together. I mean you put it so that it’s understandable and that people can take it and actually make money with it.

Richard: I appreciate that and that’s exactly all that happened is we just packaged it in a way that you could step by step make some money with this.


[END]


Michael: Well, Bill, I’d mentioned to Richard that you’ve been a consultant for some time and you kind of got a little bit active and got de-active, but you had just shared with me that you got your first client, which you’re really excited about. And the reason I’m doing this call is the number one question most people ask me is how do I get my first client. I think it’s on everyone’s mind. I want to get that first client, get my investment back and I thought sharing some of the stories with some of the HMA consultants on how they did that and the feelings and the fears and all that, that went into that would be a help for anyone considering becoming a HMA consultant. And Richard agreed to get on the phone and interact with some of the consultants and so, why don’t you just say who you are, where you’re from, and kind of your story; how you got into the consulting and then lead up to your very first client that you were excited to tell me about and tell me how that evolved.

Bill: I’m Bill Milliken. I’m in Mansfield, Ohio. My career has been over 30 years in consulting with small business owners, but relative to their accounting and business systems like their computer system. And in all of that time, the only people I’ve talked to are people that own their own businesses and their employees. Our business -- in doing computers -- kind of came to the point where we were no long current with how things are done these days. We grew up with mainframes in the 60s and through the 70s to about 2000, we’re working with minicomputers and things that are no longer that big a deal. And what we’ve always done…there is a very difficult to find a market for now, but it occurred to me after we’ve been thinking about what to do instead. And I finally realized that my expertise, along with writing software, has been sitting down and talking with the owner of a small business and finding out what he needs and then filling the need.

And so, after studying the HMA system, I finally realized this is right up my alley to do this. It’s just in a different segment of small business. So, last year when I did the HMA course in the winter of 2005, I had a couple of clients I talked to and they have been my clients…one of them a computer client for 30 years and the other for 20 years this year. And I spoke with them about doing an HMA approach with them because they’re businesses are not growing anymore. Both of them, though, kind of blew me out of the water because their response was I’m tired, I’d rather sell it than work on it, which is really disappointing to me because I know all about them, I know all of their like oozing hidden assets. I mean they have all of the assets just sitting there and they could be doing wonderful things, but they don’t want to. That was disappointing and I had sky-high hopes with that. And the one of the two, actually both of them, but the one that’s been a client 30 years even told me exactly what kind of a joint venture would make all the difference to her business, but she didn’t want to do it because she’s rather sell it and she’s tired.

So, I was even excited about my very first client then. Even had a joint venture deal and I had the solution to the joint venture with yet another former computer client and I even talked to him and it was all set up. But then it fell through for those reasons. Then I’ve been fussing with doing Internet marketing since then and then a couple months ago, I thought, I really need to get back to this thing that I understand and get going with HMA again. So, I’ve been restudying, re-watched the DVD course.

One day at lunch…there’s a little restaurant we go to and I was sitting there and we’ve been kind of friendly with the now owner of this little restaurant for a long time. He was the manager of a different restaurant and we got to know him there. We’re in his restaurant one day a month ago, I asked him what is he doing to ask people to come back to the restaurant and why do people keep coming here. And he said I don’t know, but he’s had the business now for six months. It’s a very old business. It’s been there 15-20 years. It’s a family business in a small town near here. Since he bought it, he and his wife, they haven’t done anything. The way he says it is, I haven’t done anything yet to make money. What he’s been doing is learning exactly what the business is before they start changing it or doing things to increase their profit. And just by being there, they’ve done a little promotion and increased their business by over 50% in the last five months, which is pretty good and they’re happy with that. But he wants to go yet another 10% over that this year, which will end up being close to 100% from where he started. But he was just starting to think about how do we do this and I happened to be there and I started asking questions about it and I suggested a couple of things like since you don’t know who your customers are, you can’t mail to them, you can’t promote them. You can only talk to them while they’re here, but you can’t send them something or whatever. The advertising they have and had success with are the little throw away marketing newspapers. There’s one here call ICBM, which a little 8-page advertising business card size ads of things. And he’s been doing that in three or four publications. But when he doesn’t do it, the people come in anyway and say well I can’t come as many times this month because where was your coupon. And it turns out, it’s a lot of people who are fixed retiree income and they wait for that coupon because it lets them go out to eat. So, we’ve been exploring things like what could we do instead of those coupons so that they know they’re getting maybe a better price because they keep coming in’ maybe a member card, frequent eater card or something. So, then we started talking and I said I’m doing this for a living, helping small businesses increase their sales and profits without spend