This post was written to give those whom I signed up as ERC
Brokers some ideas on what I have found effective in promoting.
If you are not a broker, or are a business looking for more details,
on ERC, please visit: http://ERCInsiderInformation.com
Use that form for either case.
Disclaimer: While these techniques are working for me, and I am
steadily adding both businesses (clients), and second-tier
Brokers into my pipeline, naturally I can’t guarantee your
results.
Before getting into ways to promote ERC, let’s address “the
elephant in the room,” COSTS.
Given that landing just ONE client with say 40 employees, can get
them a rebate of up to $1,140,000 (40X26,000) and that your 2% on
that would be $20,800, just ONE customer could pay for a LOT of
advertising campaigns in whatever form you choose!
FYI, the AVERAGE company, based upon statistics that Alfred has
shared on his training calls, is collecting $300,000. That’s
commissions of $6000 for the direct referrer, and $1,500 on the
second-tier. That’s enough motivation to keep me steadily
putting in the work 🙂
Also bear in mind that when you land one client, and tell them
about the income opportunity, they will happily tell other in
their industry about you and their experience.
Since they are insiders within their industry, they are usually
MUCH more effective than you are likely to be. So, that could
set off a chain of referrals.
Here are the methods that I use and recommend:
– Start with your warm market… people that you interact with
regularly like your barber, doctor, lawyer, or place of worship.
I mentioned place of worship because many churches, synagogs,
etc. WILL qualify. I personally reached out to leaders of several
churches that I’ve attended over the years. Not only are they open
to having you file, but as leaders of the “flocks” many of them are
now Brokers, and will happily tell business owners in their
congregations about ERC.
– Social Media Posts (Using Variations Of The Blurb Provided By
Alfred In His Welcome Email)
– Social Media Private Messages over platforms like Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter and MeWe
– List ERC as one of the products/services that you provide in
your social media profiles.
On Alignable.com. With the $30 per month upgrade from the free
account, you get a section where you can tell all about you,
listing as many of your products and services as you want.
You can also list EVENTS on your personal profile on Alignable.
I personally am also an Alignable Alliance Ambassador. In that
role, I’m expected to host at lease one virtual or face-to-face
Event for my city per month.
Alignable is all about business owners sending each other
referrals. So, in many places on the platform you are not
allowed to promote yourself directly. Instead you are expected
to make recommendations for OTHER business, but the reciprocity
is strong, and in the face-to-face meetings, you would be foolish
not to pass out your business cards, etc.
The Alignable Alliance Ambassador actually sets the location and
format for each meeting! In any event, as an Ambassador, you are
an influencer and leader in your local community, where a LOT of
business owners will get to know your name and TRUST you… and
look to you for guidance!
– Paid Email Blast In Industry Publications. Practically every
industry or profession has such publications and associations!
For example, here’s one for electrical contractors:
https://www.electricaladvertiser.com/advertising/power-sales.php
The Electrical Advertiser magazine reachwa over 80,000 Electrical
Contractors, Distributors, Facilities and Utilities nationwide
with its magazine. Email blasts and banners on websites also
available. https://www.electricaladvertiser.com/publications/
I mention this particular publication because that have a listing
in my barter club, which I’ll cover next. I haven’t yet, but will
likely purchase an ad for ERC in the above publication!
– My Barter Club @ ITEX.com which is comprised of 25,000+
business owners scattered across the U.S. and Canada. In your
business description, you can tell other members that you are an
ERC Broker.
I sell a variety of goods and services on ITEX. After making a
sale, if it’s for a physically shipped item, I simply include a
flyer in the package sharing ERC. If it’s a service or
digitally delivered item, I simply tell the customer via email
about ERC!
By the way, if you’d like an invite into ITEX, simply reach out
to me. You MUST be a business located within the U.S. Or Canada.
To invite you, I simply log into their site and submit your name,
email address and phone number. You can use your business or
personal info for the email and phone #. When I fill out the
form, an email invitation is automatically triggered.
My submitting your info vets you as someone that I think would
be good for ITEX, and its members to do business with.
I’ve been a member of ITEX for roughly 8 years, and will do
7-figures in business with fellow members over the next 12
months… just by listing items and services that I have for sale
(for barter dollars which I then spend with other members).
FYI, the most expensive service that I sell is copywriting, where
I charge $5,000 – $20,000 depending upon the complexity of the
job. I also charge $1000 per month to rent a custom-built lead
generation website, which I then rank near the top of the search
engines.
Some ITEX members do offer things like land, cars, boats for sale
from time to time. Our 25,000+ members span practically any
business you can imagine, so there are a ton of ways to spend
your barter dollars. You can also “cash-convert” your barter
dollars by buying things off of the exchange, and then reselling
them in “the real world.” I frequently do that.
Here is a list of the categories from our ITEX Marketplace:
Recent Marketplace Ads
Accommodation & Travel
Advertising
Animals & Agriculture
Art & Antiques
Automotive
Business Products
Charities
Clothing
Computer Services
Cosmetics & Make-Up
Education
Entertainment
Food & Beverage
Furniture & Fittings
Health & Medical
Home & Garden
Industrial & Manufacturing
Jewelry
Legal Services
Marine & Aviation
Personal Care & Services
Printing & Stationery
Real Estate & Construction
Repairs & Maintenance
Retail & Shopping
Safety & Security
Sports & Recreation
Telecommunications
Transportation
– Physical greeting cards and/or postcards. I obtain mailing
list that often have all of the relevant information about a
business. I selectively send PHYSICAL greeting cards directly to
the business owners or decision makers. I personally use Send
Out Cards, a company that I have been an affiliate of, and USER
of their platform since 2004.
I cannot Recommend them enough. You can check them out and even
send a free card to test the system at: http://TheCardThingy.com
They have what they call their Unlimited Heart-felt Plan for Only
$97 per month. This plan allows you to send an UNLIMITED number
of greeting cards and/or postcards for that $97 per month, and
that cost includes First Class Postage to anywhere in the world.
These cards get through and get opened, unlike an email blast
which might hit spam filters, or just get deleted by the
recipient without them even reading your email.
NOTE: Even though the plan says you can send an “unlimited”
number of cards, their “Fair Use Policy” says that you can
only send 25 cards per day. That makes sense… In December
2022, I have set aside time in my schedule for sending 25 cards
per day, which will come out to 775 cards. Just the postage on
those 775 cards at 60 cents each comes to $465. So the company
definitely loses money with power users like me. However, I also
bring in so many new customers that they don’t mind. They also
know that most people will most-likely not even send 30 cards in
a month, so it balances out.
NOTE: Several members of ITEX are data or list brokers. I
purchase some of these databases from time to time.
For example, I have a list of every restaurant in the U.S.,
broken down by size of restaurant, number of employees, annual
revenue, and all of the standard contact information so that you
can reach out to them via email, phone, or direct mail. That’s
one of the ways that I use SendOutCards to spread the word about
ERC 🙂
– Volunteer to speak and meetings of civic organization,
professional/business groups, etc.
Ex: Kiwanis, Rotary, etc. Two local chambers of commerce in my
area GAVE me print-out of their memberships which included
contact info for many groups in my area seeking speakers.
– Be a podcast guest on business-related podcasts.
I host my own podcast which is on the topic of money… ways to
make, save and leverage it! Naturally, I have an episode on ERC
🙂 I’ve also done podcast “interviews” with ERC Brokers,
where I give them the rights to use the recorded interview as
they see fit. At the same time, I will share these interviews
with my podcast audience, and across my social media networks,
and in other places.
In other words, I’m willing to help my 2nd-tier ERC brokers to
build their businesses.
IF you would like for me to interview you on ERC… giving you a
video that you can share wherever appropriate, just reach out to
me.
– Create YouTube videos to share far and wide. Hint, YouTube
Shorts seem to rank higher, faster!
– Pass out flyers far and wide.
Example, Sam’s Club! I am a Business Member of my local Sam’s
Club. Business members are allowed in to shop an hour or two
before regular members. So, I can show up any day at the times
reserved for Business Members and just hand out flyers, or put
flyers on windshields, or hire some college kid, or even a
homeless person to do it for me 🙂
Another example, I sell items via eBay, Facebook Marketplace,
ITEX, and even in social media posts from time to time. Anytime
that I mail an item, it DEFINITELY has a flyer included in the
package. I get these flyers (as well as business cards and
banners) printed by ITEX members.
Side Note: I also use ITEX members to do the graphics, logos,
headers, etc. for banners, website headers and social media
profiles, etc.
– You should also build your second-tier, since you earn 1/2% on
the customers that they refer. So, for each 4 Brokers that you
refer, that equates to the same as you referring a customer (4 x
.5% = 2%).
You’re duplicating yourself, enabling you to reach more potential
clients.
– Help Wanted Ads on Craigs List and dozens of other online
platforms. The ad are for ERC brokers, and I recommend testing
variations of the text Alfred provided in his welcome email to
you.
– Help Wanted Flyers, the same as the ads except that I place
these (and business cards) in libraries, chambers of commerce,
and on bulletin boards in places like laundromats and
supermarkets!
As you can see, I have a LOT of lines in the water. Some work
better than others.
I also just talk to people that I encounter in my day-to-day
life. For example, one neighbor is an electrical contractor with
a fairly large firm with a ton of W2 employees. He connected me
to his boss.
Another friend that I encountered while out walking, owns a local
area restaurant, where I plan on hosting a few Alignable Alliance
meet-ups. This introduces new customers to his restaurant, gives
me the opportunity to both invite him to apply for ERC since he
has more than 2 W2 employees other than himself, and I’ve already
recruited him as a broker.
– USE the tools provided by LG Resources. Everything from flyers
that you can print out or share in PDF format, to business cards,
are already there, waiting for you to share with businesses and
potential brokers. They can also create custom, hosted landing
pages.You Do NOT need to reinvent the wheel.
Hopefully, this article gave you some ideas that you can use.
Now, it’s just a matter of getting out there and… JUST DOING
IT!
Willie