Four easy ways for consultants to get published

If you want more clients, you need to speak. If you want to speak more, you need to publish a book. Here are four new books that provide valuable lessons on how to get more clients through a get published strategy.

 First the workshop, then the book.  That is the path two of my favorite people took. Cathy and Gary Hawk have just published “Creating the Rest of Your Life: An Atlas for Manifesting Success and Excellence in Life and Work.”  Before you try to write the next bestseller, see how many people you can attract to a one-day workshop. Refine your material there. Cathy Hawk is the founder of Clarity International, and for more than a decade she has inspired visionary people from all walks of life to find and answer their calling. Some of her workshops last seven and 10 days (now that is a great workshop leader). During her workshops she began to draw a map of a river that illustrates the journey you must go on to follow your vision.  With her partner, Gary Hawk, an experienced coach of business owners, the river map was turned into a powerful guidebook that I recommend highly. First you have to win the inner game of business before you can win the external game. If you want a free CD of Clarity principles, just drop an email to [email protected].

Find a great title for your book or speech.  One of my favorites is from Sherri McArdle and Jim Ramerman who wrote “Why Dogs Wag Their Tails:  Lessons Leaders Can Learn About Work, Joy, and Life.”  The book juxtaposes the stories of people with related stories of dogs, with the objective of gaining practical insight into becoming more effective leaders. The book features  more than 20 stories that revolve around central themes such as finding clarity, managing your emotions, achieving goals, earning credibility and more.

Don’t be afraid of ghosts. Another new book I endorse is “Thriving Latina Entrepreneurs In America.” The author is Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, the founder of LuLu’s Dessert.  Sobrino says “with determinacion you can reach your American dream!” The book is written with Mirna Medina, which is a great strategy. You can employ a ghostwriter to help you and their help is anonymous, or you can give credit to a cowriter. You don’t think Bill Gates, Jack Welch or any other successful CEO has time to sit down and write a book, do you? In this great book Sobrino and Medina share Sobrino’s story of more than 30 years as a Latina entrepreneur. They also tell the stories of seven other successful Latinas who share their experiences.  Great idea, because now those CEOs are part of promoting the “Thriving Latina Entrepreneurs in America.” The book is opening up many speaking opportunities for Sobrino, especially among groups of women and those of various ethnic backgrounds.

Provocative sells. There is an old adage in marketing that you can bore them into buying. The first rule is to capture attention. That is what impressed me about the book “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager” by Lee B. Salz. So here is a book that gives sales managers the bird. On the cover an executive is trying to climb a ladder but he is being held back by a dodo bird. Now, that stops you and makes you want to find out what the book is about. The book says that most sales managers are hired or promoted because of their individual selling ability, not because they know how to assist others in doing so (Wait a minute, I think this is also the premise of the TV show “The Office”). The dodo is applied to sales managers because they and the bird are tragically flawed in their ability to adapt to their environment. “The responsibility falls to you as the salesperson,” says Salz.

If you want to know about my book mentoring program, please call me at 800-514-4467 or email me at [email protected]. I coach you through every step of the way. We start by writing how-to articles (either by you or a ghostwriter we help you find). Those articles turn into client-generating speeches, seminars and workshops. Eventually, you gather the articles and publish a book by selling the concept to a traditional publisher or through a strategy called print on demand self publishing (we’ve done it under 90 days and for less than a $1,000 for clients). Does it work? Here are a list of business best-seller titles by professionals and consultants that started out self-published (Source:  Southwest Airlines Spirit, March 2005):

• The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson: picked up by William Morrow & Co. This has sold more than 12 million copies
• In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters (of McKinsey & Co.): in its first year, sold more than 25,000 copies directly to consumers—then Warner sold 10 million more.
• Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, by Weiss Roberts: sold half a million copies before being picked up by Warner.

 By this time next year, you could have your book in your hands.