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| Case Study: The Exit Planning Institute |
Why Professionals can’t afford NOT to write a Book…
We decided to write a book about our firm and its unique process
for a very simple reason. We wanted to make money. As investment
bankers, credibility is important. It's what differentiates us
from everyone else in our industry. As a result, we wanted to
enhance our credibility. To do that we needed to get additional
coverage in the media, have reporters think of us as experts, and
be able to demonstrate to clients that we knew what we were doing.
Hence the value of writing a book about what makes us unique.
Publishing a book is a sure fire way to help your business.
You’ve seen what happens to professionals who gain notoriety in the
media because of their books. They’re swamped with business. Why?
Because their book has given them the credibility, the notoriety
and the celebrity that makes them in demand. Write a book and you’re
recognized among your peers, among your professional colleagues, as
THE expert in the field. No more trying to convince a client that
you’re good -- you’ve “written the book” on the subject!. Client
referrals, career offers and industry accolades are just the
beginning.
In addition, we do not give our book away (although that is an
option). We charge for it and realize a profit on book sales.
Writing a book doesn't need to be difficult either. Remember,
as a professional, you already know much, much more than your
clients. In addition, you probably already have a great deal
of the substance in your marketing materials, deliverables,
internal manuals, policies and procedures. Our 237 page book took
approximately 6 months to write working a few hours a day.
In total, I estimate that it took approximately 240 hours of
professional time.
Writing our book had one surprising side-benefit. It gave me an
opportunity to look at our business through the eyes of a potential
reader. That gave me a unique chance to see how we could improve
our value proposition and our internal procedures. Our book is
now one of the cornerstones of our marketing activities and has
led to speaking engagements, publicity, interviews, articles,
and media coverage - and our book won't even be on the bookshelves
until early April, 2005.
Richard E. Jackim
President
The Christman Group LLC
4811 Emerson, Suite 210
Palatine, IL 60067-7417
www.thechristmangroup.com
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Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) to purchase Clayton
Homes for $12.50 in cash per share. Deal worth $1.7 Billion.
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From an article in the Knoxville News Sentinel -- a University
of Tennessee professor sent Warren Buffett the self-published
autobiography of James Clayton as a gift. Less than 14 days after
receiving the self-published book, Buffett contacted CEO Kevin Clayton,
(James's son). After only three conversations, Buffett was expressing
his interest in purchasing Clayton Homes. Another short two weeks
later, the deal was in place.
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The Ultimate Calling Card
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Interested in creating a way to communicate your legacy, build value
and credibility, stand out from the crowd, and increase your company's
value in the market?
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How do you get the word out about your business -- in a way that someone
will listen? How do you let your clients and investors know that
you and your company are
truly experts at what you do? Believe me when I say the correct
answer has nothing to do with traditional business sales and marketing and publicity
techniques. The real answer? Self-publish a book showing off
your greatest skill sets, distribute it for free to your core clients
and trade associations, use it as a sales tool in all your
prospecting efforts, and sell it anywhere you can -- and in the
process, hopefully, create an awareness that you and your
business are truly the experts to contact when information
is needed about a topic in your industry.
Your book becomes the ultimate calling card for you and your
sales staff. A self published book cuts through all the clutter
that your clients receive from dozens of companies just like yours.
Cold calls are are a timeless way of creating sales - but wouldn't
they be much more effective if you could have created a lasting
impression of your credibility and value before your salesperson
ever picked up the phone? Maybe you'd
rather keep sending that "full-color flyer" or tired logo coffee mug.
Your book is far more than just a basic marketing tool or replacement for
other marketing strategies -- but you might find it easier to focus
on getting it done if you schedule and budget it in as part of your existing campaigns.
The ultimate cost of producing your book can vary widely, but
it will typically be based on the number of pages in the book,
its trim size and format (for example paperback or hardcover) and
how much assistance you need in publishing a book.
Publishing costs break down in to two categories - Publishing Services
and Printing Services. Publishing Services through Dog Ear
Publishing, for example (almost regardless of page count), will cost
between $3499 and $699 depending on
the level of editorial assistance needed and the degree of "retail"
marketing support you want for your book. Each Publishing Package includes
some number of books, and Printing Services for a typical 150 page paperback
book will cost approximately $3.98 per unit. Other Internet self-publishing
outfits are priced similarly, but when you
buy copies from them, they charge you substantially more than Dog Ear
and they pay you a "royalty" on each book sold, rather than letting you
control the process and have access to all your profits. Many other companies will
charge $12,000 to $30,000 to produce your book traditionally (meaning
you need to purchase thousands of books from them upfront).
Thousands of
successful self-published authors have proven that a strong case
can be built for deciding to self publish a book. The argument can be made that
publishing should be a cornerstone of your campaign to build your company's
credibility in the market (and thereby increase
overall revenues or revenue-per-sale) or, it might just be that you'd like
to add a high-return
product to your overall marketing strategy. Or it might be that your efforts for small business
web publicity haven't paid off as you'd like.
An example of this process at work is cited in the June '04 issue of FastCompany --
a New Jersey market research firm spends its time developing all the data
it can regarding the purchasing habits of those folks who buy at the ultra high end of
the market. These consumers inhabit the most wealthy zip codes, send their children
to the ultimate in private schools, and spend $50,000-plus on their cars. You would
be quite right in thinking that the market for a book on how to
successfully conduct focus group for these people and identify their purchasing habits
is extraordinarily narrow. But, what if your company provided these types
of services to the companies who needed it? Tiffany's, other high end retailers, and
ad agencies that cater to these retail establishments. The customers who can profit
from the sort of information in this book are willing to spend quite a bit to get
to it... The owner of this research firm self-published a 150 page book that sold
primarily through their Web site -- at $275 per book! Average sales were reported to
be less than 250 copies a year -- yet that's around $70,000 in book sales - what
piece of business marketing and publicity material do you have that actually more than pays for itself?
There are of course no guarantees that your book will work (as with any marketing piece
-- but you'll have a great book on your bookshelf that separates your and your
company from the competition.
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| For More Information - or to get started: |
Check out our 3 Publishing Packages
- or create your own!
Click here to review the publishing services we provide, or call us to review
your options and answer any questions you might have.
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