Ever fantasized about writing a book?
Your name on a shiny hardcover.
But beyond the spine wrapping around your words, there’s another reason (a more profitable reason) for you to write a book.
My friend, author of 20+ books, and the founder of Plug & Play Publishing, Weston Lyon and I sat down to talk about how to build a business with a book.
Not a professional writer? Don’t worry about it!
Plenty of business owners and entrepreneurs have written about their experiences and expertise, because it matters. Ultimately, you don’t need to be a professional writer to have something to say.
My friend, author of 20+ books, and the founder of Plug & Play Publishing, Weston Lyon and I sat down to talk about how to sustain a business’s growth and generate leads with a book.
What Are You Doing To Support Your Profit Centers?
Hitting every avenue of your profit centers is going to be the key to unlocking your business’s unlimited potential. It’s also important not to neglect one over the other. As you may already know, running a business takes a semi-seamless tango of the two to keep your company running smoothly. In addition, focusing on both profit centers keeps customers happy, too.
Front-End Profit Centers
The front-end of your business is the part that current and potential clients are likely to purchase or order because it’s geared towards a new client relationship. Your front-end profit centers include business efforts related to marketing, public relations, how you make your sales, and so much more. In other words, front-end centers include pretty much anything that attracts clients to your company.
Deliverables, such as digital ads, printed brochures, and pamphlets, can all resemble front-end examples. These types of deliverables often take the cooperation of several people or departments to produce. However, as we’ve said before, it takes more than the focus of one profit center to keep up with a successful business.
How To Improve Front-End Profit Efforts
Consider how your business strategies help the front-end part of your business. If it’s been a while since you’ve evaluated your strategies and you seem to be hitting a wall in growth, it’s time to go back to the whiteboard.
A few items you should take a look at and expand upon include:
- Social media
- Blogs
- Website copy and design
- Email campaigns
- Additional learning opportunities to stay on trend
Back-End Profit Centers
Your back-end profit centers are going to relate to what happens behind the scenes of your business. This includes areas such as whoever deals with finances, administrative needs, and other forms of documentation. While this particular profit center isn’t seen by your customers, it’s where your profits lie. A back-end profit center that operates smoothly creates the flow of the business and sets the foundation for increasing its revenue every year. It’s essential and works in conjunction with the front-end to create a comprehensive business plan.
Better Support For Back-End Profit Centers
Similar to your front-end efforts, think about the last time you questioned whether your operations are running smoothly enough to continue to see growth. If you feel as though you’ve reached a standstill, it’s time to bring the team together and find active solutions.
Some areas of your back-end profit center you should focus on include:
- Time management and efficiency
- Gaps or areas of lost revenue
- Ways to support your departments and team members
- Software and applications used daily
- Sales methods
Allowing yourself to question and rethink each one of these can ignite inspiration and get you on the right track once again.
How To Generate Leads With A Book
A book at the end of the day is an authority builder. When I first met Weston Lyon, he asked for my home address. Even though I may have thought that was an interesting question (especially in today’s digital world), I was absolutely thrilled to find his book, Stop Chasing Prospects, in my mailbox.
Immediately, Weston jumped up as an authority. It’s one thing to be able to self-publish books for business leaders. It’s a totally different thing to work with a self-publisher who has also authored 21+ books.
So how do you go about generating leads with a book?
Give It Away For Free
This sounds counterintuitive, but wait a second. Because chances are, you’ve received items for free (or nearly so) that kept you going back to the source. And we know what you’re thinking. Giving your book away for free doesn’t have to include you standing in your own storefront passing them out to every person you see. There are a number of ways to get your book in someone else’s hands that doesn’t feel too pushy or salesy.
Ship It And Eat The Shipping Costs
Just like Weston did with me, you can be straightforward with the people you talk to and offer to send them your book free of charge. For starters, who doesn’t like receiving free stuff? Second, whoever you send it to is likely to be excited about it and feel valued that you’re willing to share something with them that is so personal to you.
Here’s an idea… say you’re not too comfortable with asking for this information in a one-on-one conversation. You can create a simple form fill page on your website asking for customer information with the incentive that they’ll receive a free copy of your book.
Worried about getting too many requests? Shoot an email with the page linked and say it’s only available for the first 20 people. Create a sense of urgency and you may be surprised at who jumps at the chance.
Position It For Free With The Person Paying For Shipping
Another way to bring your book to the forefront of someone’s mind is offering to send your book with a small shipping fee only. It’s better than asking someone to pay for the entire book plus shipping costs.
Don’t be afraid to make it a bit more enticing by offering a sneak peek (a page or two) of what you have to offer. Leave your audience hooked and wanting to know more. All they need to do is pay for shipping, and your knowledge can be theirs!
Include It Within A Subscription
Another good example of giving your book away for free is by seeing if you can include it with a subscription someone is already interested in. Audiobook and KindleUnlimited are just a couple examples of subscription-based services that also offer free books. This works because someone knows they want to pay for the service anyways, so why not get a free book with it? And if your book happens to help them out, all the better!
Sell It At Speaking Events Or Conferences
Finally, use your book to your advantage when performing at speaking events or conferences. The bottom line is people who are interested in what you have to say will be engaged enough to want to hear more. This is the ideal opportunity to talk about your book and lightly touch on its value without giving it all away.
Reach A Level Up As A Business Owner
If you can learn how to generate leads with a book, you can uplevel your entrepreneurial spirit. Don’t overthink it! Whichever route you choose, keep it simple and feel free to continue connecting with your customer base because you have a true passion for what you do. They’ll be glad you’ve shared your ideas and opinions, and who knows? They may even ask to hear more from you in the future.
Interested in writing a book to grow your business?
Access author of 20+ books, Weston Lyon’s eBook on the 27 reasons why business owners say you should write a book.
