99.5 percent of local business consultants fail. The reason why is because of the difficulty of customer acquisition. Customer acquisition is actually made up of the following 5 activities:

• Prospecting
• Selling
• Servicing
• Managing
• Upselling

If any of these aspects are neglected or poorly executed, this spells failure. The failure may be of slow death of an organization, or in the worst case immediate loss of viability.

What happened to the Internet marketing lifestyle? Why isn’t the money just coming in on auto pilot, like you’ve heard it would? Let’s look a little deeper into the 5 activities needed in any enterprise.

Prospecting is the first step and the easiest. All that you’re selling in this step is a presentation. The most critical aspect of prospecting is “attention getting.” This is why techniques such as the “pattern interrupt” are so vital. How do other forms of advertising accomplish a pattern interrupt. In the Internet advertising, the typical pattern interrupt is a “free offer.’

Selling activities include the offer, the presentation, and your audience. All of these must be present, relevant, and effectively delivered in order to be successful. In addition, Jason Fladlien suggests memorizing closes that can be applied “by rote,” only applying the right amount of pressure. Knowing that too little pressure is the most common mistake, Jason recommends intentionally applying a little too much at first and then “ratcheting down” as needed.

“You want to have an offer that is easily demonstratable as far superior to what people are already begrudgingly paying for.” Jason Fladlien

Servicing involves all fulfillment and customer support activities after the sale. Servicing can be a daunting task and even the thought of having to fulfill on the sale can psychologically cripple an entrepreneur. Perhaps this is why most Internet marketers spend more time on building websites and other preparatory activities, e.g., buying all the latest “shiny objects,” rather than prospecting for new customers.

Managing clients can be a time-consuming task. For most businesses, the first employee after the owner is an administrative assistant who can help with customer management.

Upselling is a natural part of the backend servicing and managing process. Most sales will be derived from satisfied customers and their referrals. The backend is where most of the money is actually earned, once the customer is familiar with the quality and effectiveness of the products and services already purchased.

 Jason Fladlien and Dan Holling’s new One Minute Formula  is a system designed for offline consultants who don’t necessarily want to grow their own business, but rather prefer to operate as an advisor to connect their clients to the Rapid Crush sales and fulfillment processes.  A consultant can spend one minute in the prospecting process and earn a lifetime of backend residuals and possibly enter the coveted Internet lifestyle.

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