Writing Proposals

The client says, "Your recommendations sound terrific." That's good. Then the client says, "Can you put together a proposal? Something I can take to my boss, Mr. Sale Stopper?"

That's good too. Right?

WRONG!

Why? For a couple of reasons:

First, if you haven't already noticed, customers learn in "prospect school" that the best way to avoid buying is to procrastinate. When they do this, they are neither saying "no" nor "yes." The result is that they can maintain the relationship with us (the seller), continue to pick our brains (maybe even getting our expertise for FREE and buy from the cheapest bidder), all without making any sort of commitment. This sets the tone for the future relationship. A relationship that is "one-sided." A relationship where WE have to perform, yet they can continue to postpone, delay and maybe even not live up to their side of the bargain. Even if we do get the business, we can end up working like dogs while they drag their heels with decisions and pay us in their own good time.

Sound familiar?

The second reason to not just roll over to the proposal request is that it may give them reasons for NOT doing business with us. Since proposals are not an interactive process, we may inadvertently say the wrong thing and never even know why we lost the sale.

Here's the way I recommend handling the proposal request:

PROSPECT: "Can you put together a proposal for us?"
SELLER: "Sure, no problem. May I ask you a question?"
PROSPECT: "Yes."
SELLER: "If we are able to develop a proposal that is acceptable to Mr. Sale Stopper, what would happen next?"
PROSPECT: "We would do business."
SELLER: "Great! If I understand you correctly then, only you and Mr. Sale Stopper are responsible for making the final decision to move forward?"
PROSPECT: "Correct."
SELLER: "Sounds good. Let's review some of the things that we need to put in the proposal to make this happen. You mentioned our weekly service call. What else should we include? What are your key concerns? What are the best solutions? What is most important to Mr. Sale Stopper? Really? Why? What things will be important to you and Mr. Sale Stopper in the future? What would be the main reason Mr. Sale Stopper would not approve the proposal?"
SELLER: "This is great. Do you think we've developed a winning proposal so far?
PROSPECT: "It sounds good."
SELLER: "Perhaps I can help you further. Customer service is critical to our firm, and for this reason we have a policy on presenting proposals. Our company requires us to deliver the proposal and present it directly to the buying team. This eliminates any possible confusion, maximizes use of your time and gives you a chance to ask questions. When do you think we may be able to do that with you and Mr. Sale Stopper?"
PROSPECT: "Well, maybe next Monday at 10am."
SELLER: "Great. Now let's look at another scenario. Even with all the elements that we have included in the proposal, it is possible that Mr. Sale Stopper might not go for our proposal. In that event, what would happen next?"
PROSPECT: "Well, I guess we wouldn't do business."
SELLER: "Sounds fair. When would you anticipate making that decision?"
PROSPECT: "Well, a few days after the proposal, I guess."
SELLER: "That sounds reasonable. So if I understand you correctly, Mr. Sale Stopper and yourself will make a final decision on this by Wednesday, at close of business?"
PROSPECT: "I think we can do that."
SELLER: "Great. I'll be working on putting in writing what we've developed today. Can I ask one more thing?"
PROSPECT: "Sure."
SELLER: "Can I call you on Friday to just check in and confirm everything. Perhaps you and Mr. Sale Stopper might think of something else that needs to be added to our proposal?"
PROSPECT: "Sure."

With this technique, we have significantly increased our chances of developing a winning proposal, as well as lessened the chance of continued procrastination. Most importantly, this is no longer OUR proposal. It is the CLIENT'S proposal. We have strategically secured agreement in advance of putting things in writing. We have created greater value to the proposal on agreeing to a presentation time rather than just mailing or delivering the proposal to the client. And we set a deadline for the approval or denial of the proposal.

I will assure you that this technique works nearly every time. It does, however, require practice. If you are interested in learning how to implement techniques such as these, inquire about our upcoming class, "Out-Marketing the Competition." In this class we work on branding, differentiation, proposal development and how to make our marketing initiatives more persuasive, compelling, client-centered and profitable.

What's the Buzz

It's a HOPE business, our CEO bellowed in my direction. You HOPE someone sees your ad, you HOPE they call you and then you HOPE they buy something.

Cocky New Jersey Italian that I was (or am, I should say), I was now REALLY afraid to give my presentation. I was about to wax eloquent on the virtues of why our company should start advertising. I was a 28 year old junior executive in a billion dollar conglomerate about to take on the CEO at changing one of his long-held principles: NO ADVERTISING!

Well I lost that battle but I learned something more valuable. Traditional advertising rarely works. In fact I learned that the more NON-traditional the advertising or marketing the more dramatic the response.

That's why whenever I hear about some new type of buzz-marketing I get excited. Whether its Seth Godin's Purple Cow, the future that Tom Peter's is Re-Imagining, or Jay Abraham's latest guru strategy, I get goose bumps thinking about ways to make customers come to us rather than chasing after them.

But I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the article in this month's Fast Company magazine. Now if you're not a subscriber to Fast Company I recommend that you sign up for it ASAP because it is the coolest business publication on the planet. Check it out at www.fastcompany.com.

The article was all about buzz marketing. But this was buzz marketing like I'd never seen. A while back I wrote an article on this very subject that was picked up by a magazine and in that article I talk about how to create viral marketing buzz

I discuss how today's customers are suffering from information overload. They see and hear so many advertising and marketing messages that it becomes difficult to filter out what is valuable and credible through all the clutter and noise. As a result, customers are turning to their friends and associates for purchasing advice more that ever.

Well the article in Fast Company took buzz marketing to the limit. The author Linda Tischler talked about a consulting firm that companies actually HIRE to create buzz for their products or services - unbelievable!

The company is called; BzzAgents and they literally sell Buzz. When a client signs on apparently BzzAgents searches its database for "agents" that match the demographic and psychological profile of their target customers. They then contract with these 300 plus agents to spread the gospel, as it were. Agents receive information about the client as well as free samples. They have very specific goals in terms of creating positive propaganda and get this: they are NOT paid a dime! They do it because they actually believe in the product or service they are representing.

Now don't think you're going to rush out and hire BzzAgents. First off BzzAgents rejects 80% of the companies that try to hire them. Their founder says, "We can help a product that has value but we just can't help a product that's schlock" (his words folks, not mine). On top of that the average 12 week campaign typically deploys over 1000 agents and carries a hefty price tag close to $100,000. Recent clients include Anheuser Bush, Monster.com and Land's End. (Look for BzzAgents founder, David Balter as an upcoming guest on the Small Business Hour in the near future.)

Worry not. You don't need to sell you firstborn to create buzz. You can do it on your own in just a few months with a well thought out buzz marketing campaign and a few well chosen buzz agents.

How, you ask? It's quite simple. First you have to have something good to say - a unique story. Then simply start with a handful of loyalists. Give them something special - something that is valuable, in demand and limited in supply. Finally work at educating and inspiring them. Turn them into evangelists. Not for the sake of your product but for their own edification. Then get out of the way.

Bzzzzzzzz!

What's that sound? Shhhh listen.

It's somebody talking about your company, product or service.

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com

Mark Deo

Viral Marketing

Click here to view video

What influences customers and prospects? Is it what a company says about their product or service through advertising, marketing and direct sales?

Or, is it what other people are saying about the company's product or service?

Surely the later. Then why do we spend so much time and money on traditional marketing, advertising and selling, and so very little on word of mouth marketing?

From Your Mouth to Their Ears
Most marketing focuses on building a case for a better product or service. This is good and necessary but it ignores the fact that for many, purchasing is part of a social decision. People rely on invisible networks of friends, relatives and co-workers for recommendations. This is buzz. I have spoken before about establishing a unique identity, branding and differentiation. Buzz is the natural extension of a branding and identity campaign. And it is beginning to take a much more influential role in the purchasing decision.

Why Buzz Works
Today customer are suffering from information overload. They see and hear so many advertising and marketing messages that it becomes difficult to filter out what is valuable and credible through all the clutter and noise. As a result customers are turning to their friends and associates for purchasing advice more that ever. Marketing experts believe that the new customer, Generation Y - those born between 1979 and 1994 - shop by word of mouth. In the coming years, buzz marketing may that much more important.

Buzz works so well because talking is in our genes. As human beings, we need to talk. We talk to connect with people. Sharing information is essential to our make-up. We talk about the latest movie we saw, the car we test drove, the book we read and so on.

I did a presentation on this very topic at the C-Suite briefing we held a few weeks ago at the Queen Mary. To see a quick overview of the event, click on the image above. We will soon have this entire event available to view for FREE online, and will have DVDs available for purchase. Send me an e-mail at: mark@markdeo.com to let me know if you want to be informed when this is ready.

The Struggle Between Sales and Marketing

"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Walt Kelly, Creator of "Pogo", 1970

Many businesspeople use the terms "sales and marketing" as if they complement one another as agreeably as peanut butter and jelly, but that is rarely the case. In the same way many executives hold the title of "VP of Sales and Marketing," yet we often find that they will lean strongly toward one or the other discipline.

Everyone would agree that both of these functions are critical within every organization and at times must be managed on an individual basis. While many companies seem to achieve some kind of acceptable balance between sales and marketing it is often reminiscent of the way cats and dogs tolerate one another's presence in the same household. Yet imagine how powerful these forces could be if they truly DID collaborate and attempt to complement one another.

More often than not I have witnessed a struggle between each of these functions which often stunts the effectiveness of the both. For example, I have seen entire marketing strategies conceived, documented and implemented without even interfacing with the sales group. On the other hand, I have seen marketing plans that have been completely ignored by the entire sales force while that department pursued their own mission.

An equally problematic facet of the marketing/sales dynamic lies in document preparation. An investigation performed by "Executive Decision" an on-line professional resource interviewed Mr. Dave Fowler, senior vice president of marketing and business for Pragmatech, a software company specializing in proposal automation software. He reported that, "90% of content generated by marketing is never used by sales." Fowler attributes this statistic to a fundamental divergence in purpose. Marketing has little time for varied industries and varied levels. They are focused on broad-based documents and in a sense, ring the dinner bell for sales. Sales teams, in turn, must deal with a specific customer in a specific industry. Despite marketing's best attempts at document preparation, Fowler estimates that, "sales professionals spend 25% to 30% of their time finding, customizing and assembling content for clients." No doubt this represents a massive duplication in efforts!

Improving the disconnect between marketing and sales doesn't need to be complicated. Both teams are working towards increased market advantage. While it is a fact that 50% of sales reps currently do not fulfill their quota requirements; this statistic is being partly caused by a global marketplace with heavy competition for an already Internet-savvy consumer. The answer, then, as evidenced by the success of technology companies, may be found in the combination of old and new: by employing sound principles of viral marketing and communication supported by the benefits of new and ever an improving internal culture.

If we allow the struggle to continue, we might find that our biggest obstacle to improved brand position, market dominance and key client penetration will be that department across the hall. We may find that the real enemy resides in our own home.

Find out more about how to create harmony between your sales and marketing departments. Visit www.sbanetwork.org

Have a great week!

The Problem

I often talk about the second rule of attraction, "the problem is more important than the solution." This often strikes marketers as odd, since we have been taught to always speak in terms of the "solution" that we offer. In fact, this just drives people further away from us rather than attract them to us. I have noticed that more and more advertising is talking in terms of the problem rather than the solution.

Recently someone forwarded me a 30 second TV commercial that I think makes fabulous use of this rule. Take a look at it here:

It goes like this:

The scene opens with a man driving down the freeway traveling at 60 mph. His windshield gets some dirt on it and he flips on the windshield washers. Instead of washer fluid, black oil spurts out onto the glass therebycompletely blinding him. He loses control of his car and smashes into another car nearly killing himself and several other drivers. All this happens in a few seconds. The next scene is of a small boy, around 8 or 9 years old. It shows him on a little step-ladder leaning over the open hood of the car. He is pouring oil into the window washer fluid compartment. The announcer says, "a bored kid at home might be dangerous, keep them entertained this summer." Then the graphics for the "Children Crafting Guide" flashes on the screen.

This is a tremendous example of how powerful it is to tell our marketing message from the point of view of the client's problem. If the commercial would have talked all about how the Crafting Guide had hundreds of things for you kids to do, or showed a testimonial from another parent, no one would pay attention. Only by aligning themselves with the parent's potential "problems" can they get greater attention.

Think about the "problems" that your clients are having. How can you align your marketing message to their problems? By doing so you will create greater attraction and become far more interesting to your clients and prospects.

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com.

Have a great week!

The ONLY Solution

Print this article.

Jamie woke up with a scratchy throat, bloodshot eyes and a runny nose. While she knew she probably should take the day off, she had tons of things to get done before the holidays and a little cold wasn't going to stop her. As the day wore on so did Jamie. By the next morning she realized she needed to see a doctor.  When she visited her physician he prescribed some medication and told her to drink more fluids and get to sleep earlier. Jamie listened to his advice, took the medication and did exactly as he told her. Why? Because he's a doctor - a respected professional. He has received specialized training and has likely treated hundreds of people in the same way.  How about yourself? Are you not respected in your industry? Have you not received specialized education in your field of endeavor? Haven't you helped hundreds of people in the same way this physician has?
	Everything human beings do, they do for one of two reasons: TO AVOID PAIN OR GAIN PLEASURE
What Builds Credibility Why do we unquestioningly head the advice of professionals like doctors, lawyers and CPA's? First, we have to recognize that at the moment we seek assistance from these professionals we are more than likely experiencing some PAIN. At the very least we have some extreme degree of comfort. Our bodies are not at optimal performance or we are involved in a legal battle threatening our financial standing or perhaps the IRS is beating down our door. As we've discussed before, the problem is more important than the solution. Second, the institution of medicine, law and accounting has had hundreds of years to shape the opinions toward doctors, lawyers and accountants. They have created organizations, such as the AMA to create consistency and program physicians in how to speak to their patients in a professional detached manner. They have built a huge credibility for doctors and have thus created powerful "attraction" for customers. They have created the perception that "doctors" are not just a better solution, they are the ONLY solution. Think about it. Does such an organization exist in your industry? I would think not.
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Third, most professionals such as doctors begin their "interview" with a series of questions. In fact this is 99.9% if not 100% of the entire exchange between client and prospect (or patient and physician). In many cases the doctor may NEVER present a solution to the problem. The doctor's sole part in the communication is to ask questions. The patient's is to give answers. It would be rude and out of character for the patient to ask about the doctor's credentials or experiences. The institution of medicine has very wisely done all they could to make this the reality of the doctor patient relationship. Telling is Selling Oddly enough it is not what we tell people about our company, product or service that builds credibility. In fact the more we tell them, the LESS credible we appear. Telling is selling and no one likes to be sold. You may be thinking; "that's fine for a professional but I'm a simple service provider not an eminent physician or attorney."
	Finally my "Attract More Business" learning program is available. It includes a 150 page color manual, 9 CDs, and my personal Tele-Coaching. Check it out here:www.attractmorebusiness.com
My answer to you is that I think this strategy can be applied to any type of business whether you are a professional, a nonprofessional, large or small organization. For example, my wife and I were recently vacationing in the Bahamas. We like to snorkel and dive when in these tropical areas. Typically we prefer to rent our own small boat since we abhor the traditional "dive or snorkel boat scenes." However we also like to connect with someone who can give us the lay of the land - the good spots, what to avoid, dangers, where the fish are, etc. As you can imagine this is a very difficult thing to do. Most providers are trying to sell you their pre-packaged tours and almost none of these offer this type of service. When we disembarked our flight we saw dozens of flyers, posters and signs advertising typical snorkel trips, dive excursions and rental boats. They all looked the same. They all said the same thing. They all seemed to DO the same thing.
	Here's Jean-Michel Cousteau himself. I got to meet him and chat for a bit.

There was one that stood out from the pack:

Jean-Michel Cousteau's Out Islands Adventures - You build your own underwater adventure.

There were a few things that made this jump out at me. First, I knew that Jean-Michel Cousteau was the son of the legendary Jacques Cousteau. Second, I knew that the best snorkeling and diving was near the islands that were further off-shore from the main island. However most of the snorkel and dive boats did not go out that far. And third, the build your own underwater adventure was just too compelling to pass-up. 

So I called Jean-Michel Cousteau's Out Islands Adventures expecting Jean himself to pick-up the phone. Well he didn't however the person that did was cheerful, enthusiastic and very helpful. She gave me a brief 30 second description of how Jean-Michel Cousteau's Out Islands Adventures was different from every other snorkel/dive service. Then she asked me a series of questions that helped her understand precisely what I desired. I spoke with her for nearly 40 minutes and all she did was ask me relevant and open-ended questions. I did almost ALL of the talking. When I had finished she told me that she could "customize" a package for us and what the cost would be. 

Now while the cost was significantly higher than I had planned, we were so excited about this 5 day underwater dream vacation that we went for it without a second thought. I don't have to tell you that it was by far the best and most satisfying excursion we have ever had. They took us out for one entire day and gave us a personal tour of all the places that were important for us, a map of the areas we would be touring, a beautiful 20 foot Boston whaler stocked with food, water, gas, GPS, depth finder and even ship to shore radio. 

My point is we can all redefine our selves in the mind's eye of the customer if we follow this simple rule of attraction and find ways to position ourselves not simply as a BETTER solution but rather as the ONLY solution. 

Admittedly this requires proper branding approach. That's why I'd like to invite you to attend this Monday's Tele-Clinic on "Developing Brands."

Developing Brands - Monday, Nov. 29 at 1pm
While this article may just begin to address the subject of branding, I will be conducting a TeleClinic on Branding this Monday, November 29, 2004 at 1pm during which I will focus on the steps to creating a powerful branding strategy and how to put a branding campaign into action in a practical way. During this 30 minute TeleClinic I will be referring to numerous case studies and I will take questions as well. We will only be able to accommodate a limited number of participants for this telephone clinic so act now. TeleClinics are held over a standard telephone line during which I present detailed information on ways to improve your business performance. They are a great way to get your specific questions answered directly by me. The cost is only $29. To read more go to www.deoteleclinics.com, and to register, go tohttps://www.sbanetwork.org/learning/signup.asp.

Have a great week!

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com 

Mark Deo

The Mystery of Marketing Revealed

Today for small business operators as well as larger enterprises marketing continues to be a mystery. Often, the ad that generates record-breaking volume one month is repeated the following month and bombs. A campaign designed by the best ad agency may elicit a mediocre response. The same item sells like hotcakes after a 30-word classified ad, with abominable grammar, appearing on page 35 of an all-advertising shopper tossed on the front stoops of homes during a rainstorm! The mystery eludes solution but demands attention.

Your marketing results can be improved through a better understanding of your customers. Putting the customer first is probably the most popular phrase used by firms ranging from giant conglomerates to the corner barbershop, but the sloganeering is often just lip service. 

Marketing success, however, is more likely if you dedicate your activities exclusively to solving your customer's problems. Any marketing program has a better chance of being productive if it is timed, designed and written to solve a problem for potential customers and is carried out in a way that the customer understands and trusts. The questions and answers that follow will reveal the mystery of marketing by looking at ways we can put the customer first. These are questions that we often receive in our practice and some of the answers we give. I hope it helps you in your marketing efforts.

 

How can I set myself apart from the competition?
Client retention is key. The importance of "the relationship" with the customer never diminishes. For most small businesses, developing and exploiting the relationship is the one major advantage they have over the big players who don't have the time and energy for it in the first place. This boils down to added value. Customers crave it but don't get enough of it. When was the last time you gave serious thought to providing a value-added premium in customer transactions? Coupons, incentives, giveaways, special events - All of these are very effective when aimed at strengthening customer relationships.

How do I recession-proof my business?
Build a cash reserve. We have all heard the expression "save some for a rainy day." But what happens when a rainy day turns into a rainy year, or two? Many entrepreneurs and small business owners will be facing this situation in the coming months. The best way to prepare is to set aside cash during more prosperous times. There's a real benefit to having a long-term business plan that deals with the kind of cash requirements you'll need in case of a business downturn. For some, building a cash reserve may come at the expense of swifter business expansion. But the alternatives such as borrowing cash, taking out a loan, dipping into personal net worth, or shutting the doors are far less palatable. But wait, you say, isn’t this finance rather than marketing. True but without cash reserves to launch marketing initiatives a marketing program has no chance in getting off the ground. Many people believe that the best time to launch a marketing initiative is when times start to get tough. This is a fallacy. The most advantageous time to launch such a campaign is when times are GOOD. In this way we can invest both our time and dollars at a time when people are more apt to move forward. This approach may be the very thing to keep the recession from knocking on your door.

 

How can I get former clients back?
Recognize that all customers are at risk. Even satisfied customers can be persuaded to defect to the competition. Do not take any customer for granted. Consider that customer win-back strategies can be more effective than finding new customers. Many experts believe that win-back success rates are far higher than recruiting new prospects. Here’s a few that anyone can implement:

• Identify all of your products or services that could possibly be of value to your customers.

• Motivate your customers to use as many of your products or services as possible.

• Prove to your customers that your products and services offer value that they can not find anywhere else.

• Keep track of every sale and sort in a database

• Personally communicate with customers at regular intervals

• Establish some form of satisfaction rating system

• Sell peace of mind more than just product or service solutions

• Admit when you're wrong and pick up the pieces quickly and effectively.

Make your organization defection-proof. While everybody is talking about customer loyalty today few are taking real action. Preventing customer defection is surely the prime motivation for building customer loyalty, but it also gives us the ability to proactively develop strategies to improve our value and service in general. This is what prevents price sensitivity.

We can literally avoid price sensitivity by how we treat the client. Remember when you’re telling, you’re selling. No one likes to be sold. That’s precisely when they start focusing on the cheapest price. By asking questions we accomplish several goals. We discover valuable information about the customer. We bond with the customer by letting them do most of the talking. And we show that we care by being interested in their wants, desires and motives. This is the most effective way to overcome the price objection and redirect their interest to the relationship. 

You don’t need a fancy ad agency or marketing firm to improve your marketing performance. In short my advice is to place the focus on the customer. It’s really about doing the simple things and doing them consistently. Focus on the relationship. Add value to every transaction. Build a significant cash reserve. Keep current customers loyal and win back the old ones. And most critically ask plenty of questions. Show that you really care. I hope you’re starting to see that there really is no mystery to marketing. It’s about putting one foot in front of the other every day and always putting the customer first.

 

-Mark Deo

The Market Switch

When groups of consumers move from one type of product to another on a long-term basis, new business opportunities can result. Market switches create demands for new products and services.

Some Examples

The switch from traditional styles of children's bicycles to BMX bikes provided an opportunity for a bicycle shop to establish a BMX racing club and racing track. This racing involvement helped the shop to capture a large share of the BMX market.

A business woman took advantage of the market switch from record albums to cassette tapes by packaging cassette recorder-head cleaning kit.

To take advantage of the market switch from large to small cars, a company designed and manufactured bicycle and ski racks designed for small cars.

An office machine repair service anticipated the market switch from typewriters to word processors and began to specialize in repairing word processing equipment.

How To Do It

Discover major changes in consumer buying habits by:

• Reading marketing research reports and trade association research forecasts
• Observing current fads that could potentially turn into long-term changes
• Observing new products that are growing in popularity
• Analyzing changes in your own buying habits, especially when you stop purchasing an item that has become obsolete and begin to buy replacement items with entirely different characteristics.

Find products which are associated with a market switch by:

• Analyzing the advantage of new products to find those which are greatly superior and will likely replace more traditional items
• Looking for new technologies or new products based on new concepts which are revolutionary for an industry.
• Look for a major product or service that is needed to meet changing consumer demand, but has not yet been provided, and find a way to provide it.

When the major product in the market switch already exists, look for related services or products that can be used in association with the major product.

Ensure that there is a demand for the product/service you would like to provide.

Key Questions

1. Can I think of any market switches that have recently taken place?
2. Can I think of any market switches that may be occurring now?
3. How can I take advantage of these changes in consumer buying habits?
4. Can I address a current market switch by providing the major product or service?
5. Can I provide secondary products or services related to a new major product?
6. Have potential customers indicated a need for the product/service that I have?

Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

September 4, 1957- a fateful day in marketing history, as that was the day a brand new car debuted in showrooms across the country. Ads had predated the launch by months promising an exciting new car, one that would be different from all that had come before. This successful marketing campaign had generated so much buzz that people flocked to see the car of the future. What happened next came as a surprise to executives at Ford- no one was buying the new Edsel.

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There are numerous reasons why- it wasn't a revolutionary new vehicle as promised; the launch date ensured that it was priced as a 1958 model, while competitors were slashing prices on their 1957 models so it was seen as overpriced; mostly, however, it wasn't sold properly to the target audience. Ford had ignored all market research, and stubbornly stuck to their sales pitch despite the fact that it simply did not work.

How many of us today launch products and have this problem? Do we ignore what the market tells us because we know our products better than they do? Do we even test market our products in the first place?

Today we have a tremendous opportunity to test our ideas BEFORE we spend massive amounts of money turning those ideas into products. One of the most important, yet often overlooked, areas of testing is our sales pitch. 

How can we practically test out how we are going to sell a product before we have the product in our hands? Traditionally the answer would be to use focus groups. Focus groups, however, carry a number of inherent problems.

• They can be prohibitively expensive

• A small number of people are not necessarily representative of the market as a whole

• That small group can give feedback that drastically changes the vision of the product, causing you end up with a watered down version of your radical idea

• Focus groups rarely do a good job at testing whether people will buy an item based on a sales pitch

So what can we do if focus groups are not the solution?

Use the Internet.

We have a connection to millions of potential buyers, who often times are seeking out what it is we are thinking of creating.

So how do we connect with the people who are looking for the solution we may provide, and find out what works best to represent our potential products to them? Create a smaller version of your idea, offer that for sale on the web, and use Google AdWords to drive traffic to your site.

Let's say you have an idea for a better mousetrap. You can create a document that describes all the problems with current mousetrap technology, and how your ideas will solve those problems. Make sure that it contains enough information to let them know what it is you are proposing to create. Put this document on a website, and ask for feedback from people who read it.

Now to get the document in front of those people out there interested in new mousetraps, you can use Google AdWords. To those unfamiliar with AdWords, they are the little ads that appear on the right side of the screen when you do a search on Google. You place these ads, and every time someone clicks on your ad to visit your website, you pay a small fee. The mechanics of setting up a successful AdWords campaign are beyond the scope of this article, but for more information,please e-mail me and I will refer you to some resources.

With our mousetrap example, you may want to get AdWords for the search term "better mousetrap". This will allow you to drive a steady stream of traffic to your website of people who are interested in better mousetraps. Next comes the most important part- measure the results of what people do when they visit your website! Measure how many people view the main page, how many download your document, how many give you feedback, and make sure you gain their permission to contact them later with new developments. Now change the pitch you have on your site for this document about mousetrap technology. Change the text in your Ad on Google. Measure how those changes affect your traffic and your conversion rate. Continue to tweak the ads and sales pitch for maximum conversion rates. You may even get to a point where you can start to charge for your document!

Once you have optimized your site for maximum sales conversion, only then should you consider whether you should actually create the mousetrap! If you have been unsuccessful after 6 months at getting anyone excited enough to download your document, or your conversion rate is incredibly low no matter what you try, your idea may not fly with the market, and you should reconsider spending lots of time and money on your research and development. If you have a successful site, however, make your better mousetrap- you have an audience that is craving the item you want to produce, and you have honed your sales pitch well in advance. Now when you offer your product for sale, you know what works and what doesn't work when it comes to motivating site visitors to become buyers. You also now have a large e-mail list of people who have had their appetite whetted for your new product. Let them know when it arrives, and you can thus help avoid being known as the manufacturer of the Edsel of mousetraps.

This article was written by sales technology specialist Matt Walker. For more information about what has been discussed, please e-mail him at mwalker@sbanetwork.org or call him at 714-269-4123.

Test Marketing

It seems you can't turn on your TV lately without new bombshells being dropped in the BALCO scandal. Now Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi have admitted to using steroids in recent MVP winning seasons. Debate is raging about what this means for Major League Baseball, and they certainly have received a black eye in the public relations department. Many people are asking how they could have avoided this problem, but the more pertinent question should be, "What should they do now?" It seems time for organized baseball to follow rule 13 from the 14 rules of attraction: Learn the Discipline of Testing The Olympics have long tested for anabolic steroids, and have used this testing to create a culture in which cheaters are ostracized by their peers and the sports community at large. It seems time for baseball to finally implement a steroids testing program to root out this problem if they are to maintain legitimacy in the minds of their consumers, the fans. Because baseball didn't test for steroid use, and it wasn't against the rules of the sport, they likely can't take any action against admitted performance enhancing drug users. While baseball has it's unique problems, many small businesses run into problems themselves. They run marketing campaigns that fail, and are stuck wondering why. In most cases, it's also due to a lack of proper testing! The Importance of Testing Before running a full marketing blitz, it is important that we test our messages. If you ever send direct mail or run ads, testing is critical. How can you test these messages? One way is to use the Internet- I wrote an article on just that subject. Click here to read it. These same testing principles work for traditional ads and direct mail campaigns as well. Once you have designed your marketing piece and identified your target market, create a small mailing list that is a subset of your overall market. Now create a new variation on your marketing piece that includes an offer code that is different than what is contained on the original. Next divide your small mailing list into two. It is important that each half of this small list represent the same types of prospects as the target market as a whole. Send the original piece to the first half, and the new variant to the second. Use the same follow-up methods for both, and test your results! Based on the results you get for each offer code, you can tell which marketing piece is most effective. Now take the more effective marketing piece, generate a new variant on it, and test again. By repeating this process, you can find the most effective marketing message. At this point, you may wish to try variations in your follow-up to test the most effective means of taking the attention you have gained and turning it into completed sales. Now that you have tested to find the best marketing effort for your target market, go out and market yourself to your full target market. Testing is just one of the ways you can increase your chances of success in the market. Click here to read the rest of the 14 Rules of Attraction. To learn more about how to properly target a market with which to use this testing methodology, click here and sign up for the free 5 day self study course in Attracting More Business. Have a great week! I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com  Mark Deo Print this article.

Systems that Nurture Growth

Last week we discussed Rule number 5 of our Fourteen Rules of Attraction, Reverse people's risk in changing.

This week we're discussing number 14, Create Standards and Systems that Nurture Growth.

Many people today are scared. They look toward the future and are worried about the impending changes that are invariably on the horizon. Where will the future take us? Will it be a good year or will it be a very difficult one? Others look toward the future and can't wait to get there. They see fresh opportunities, new potential relationships and perhaps a more effective or efficient way of achieving their goals. I believe much of this has to do with how we spend our time and with whom we decide to associate. For example, I'd like to share what I did this weekend. I hope that it might inspire you to think about the coming new year and how you may use the little time that we have left to prepare to make some changes - - changes for the better! I had the honor this weekend of being asked by CBS Radio to participate in delivering the 1st Annual Financial Fest at the Hyatt Regency in Anaheim, CA. Joining me as presenters were Doug Fabian, Gabriel Wisdom, and the "Professor" himself Tom Leykis. The event was attended by more than 300 listeners all coming out to learn ways that they can prepare to make 2005 the best year ever in terms of building wealth. Everyone walked away educated, inspired and equipped with a whole new arsenal of financial and business development tools. Leykis talked from the heart in a way that I have never before heard him speak. He talked about his childhood of nearly abject poverty. He spoke about how wealth as well as poverty begins in the mind and that it is our decision to change our thoughts as a the first step to changing our financial status. Doug Fabian used a SWOT analysis to help us define out strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in terms of our financial future. He talked about international opportunities, how to achieve a balanced portfolio and discussed ways of anticipating the performance of interest rates and the U.S. Dollar in 2005. Gabriel talked about various different industries and gave some warning signs for first quarter 2005. He talked about the resiliency of the market and the new tech boom! One of the things I talked about was Attraction Rule # 14: "Create standards and systems that nurture growth." In fact, rather than rehashing the talk in writing, our resident whiz kid, Matt Walker, has made it available as part of this Business Update in the form of a video file. I invite you to view it. In short it was a fabulous weekend filled with learning and collaboration. If you didn't have the chance to attend that's OK. However I'd like to encourage you to think about what you CAN do to begin to prepare for the new year. I believe we will have access to some tremendous opportunities next year and that yes - - - WE are in control of reaping the reward from these opportunities. Yet how do we do it? A large part of increasing our chances for success has to do with Rule # 14; Creating standards and systems that nurture growth. Let me take just a moment and break down this most critical rule: 1. Create some standards for yourself this year. These could be investment standards, ethical standards, relationship standards or even marketing standards. Standards give us something to measure ourselves against. 2. Focus on establishing systems of efficiency. There is always a better, faster, cheaper way of accomplishing any task. The more efficient we are the less waste we produce. Less waste means more profit and free time. I don't know about you but there's nothing better than time on your hands and money in your pocket! 3. Nurturing is not just for Moms! Webster's defines nurturing as feeding, educating, nourishing and growing. We need to do this for ourselves. We need to feed good thoughts into our hearts and minds. We need to educate ourselves about the changes in our industry, economy and society. We need to nourish our relationships with those that are potential mentors and advisors. And finally we need to grow in terms of our capabilities. We all must learn new skills. Take a class. Attend a seminar or two. Make a commitment to read one book per month. The future is dark only if you see it that way. A big part of this is learning to attract the positive. If you want to know more about how to attract what it is you are looking for ask me about my new program, "Attract More Business." Is available now and we're starting to get some great reviews. BACK IN PRIME TIME! Thanks to you, our loyal listeners and readers, we're back in prime time! Check out the Small Business Hour every Saturday at 3pm on 97.1FM in Los Angeles. You can still hear us on the internet at www.smallbusinesshour.com. Risk Reversal Tele-Clinic - Monday, Nov. 22 at 1pm  We can't deny that the future holds risk for all of us. How do we deal with risk? More important how can we reverse risk for ourselves and our customers? Due to popular demand I will be giving a Telephone Clinic on Monday, November 22 at 1pm. The title is "Reversing Risk in 2005." We will only be able to accommodate a limited number of participants for this telephone clinic so act now. Tele-Clinics are held over a standard telephone line during which I present detailed information on ways to improve your business performance. They are a great way to get your specific questions answered directly by me. The cost is only $29. To read more go towww.deoteleclinics.com, and to register, go tohttps://www.sbanetwork.org/learning/signup.asp. Have a great week!

Supernatural Promotion

If you walk into the wrong nightclub bathroom these days, you might get a scare. It seems that the producers behind the new show "Supernatural" on the WB have sent special mirrors to nightclubs across the country showing a frightening image of a ghost from the TV show. What do pictures of ghosts in a nightclub mirror have to do with TV shows? It seems that in the copycat world of television, the networks are even copying marketing ideas. ABC last year garnered publicity for such marketing stunts as messages in bottles left on a beach to promote "Lost" and for laundry bags used to promote "Desperate Housewives".

In a recent article in the Los Angeles times, Michael Benson, ABC's senior vice president for marketing, recently was quoted as saying, "If you do things right, you get higher 'talk value,'...It's about creating something that you want to tell your friends about, and show your family members."

Apparently TV execs are finally paying attention to Rule number 3 of the rules of attraction- "Create an exclusive community of super-users". By gaining hardcore audiences from the start, these viewers will actually go out and evangelize the show for them- which is far more powerful than typical advertising ever could ever be.

 

How to Create a Buzz Marketing Program
If you want to create buzz, you have to know your customer and how you are reaching them. It is easier to create buzz than you may think. Good buzz begins with a positive customer experience. There is no substitute for exceptional performance. 

First - Ask yourself the following: 
1. From whom do your customers learn about your products? 
2. What do people say when they recommend your products? 
3. In what invisible networks are your products discussed? 
4. What kind of information spreads through the networks fastest?
5. "How can you get people to experience your product or service without them making a big commitment? 
6. How can you giveaway a small piece of your product or service so that people will start talking about it?"

Second - Try to change your thinking from: 
1. "I need to get this sale," to "How can I get this prospect to talk about my product or service?" 
2. Don’t focus on under-promising but rather over-delivering. 
3. Don’t be afraid to give a little away.

 

By employing these evangelical marketing techniques, you can transform ordinary customers into devotees that spread your message for you.  Have a great week, and let me know what buzz marketing efforts you have employed in your business!

 

-Mark Deo

Suicide by Marketing

Traditional sales and marketing is suicide in today’s business environment!

Why? Because traditional media isn’t just LESS effective it actually pushes more customers AWAY than it attracts. In fact traditional methods tend to alienate target customers more than ever before.

Don’t Take My Word for It 
Check out what a recent McKinsey & Company study revealed about traditional TV advertising:

"TV advertising expenditures will be only one-third as effective in 2010 as they were in 1990." 

Briggs and Stuart, in their new book, "What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails" asserts that 37 percent of all advertising is wasted.

These are amazing statistics. They reveal how the world of marketing has gone through a radical evolution and most are still UNAWARE of this. They are STILL pouring millions of dollars into ineffective forms of marketing in which they have no chance of succeeding.

What does it mean to you? 
Imagine spending thousands or even millions of dollars on radio, TV, outdoor or print advertising, only to discover that you hadn’t gained even ONE additional customer from that expense let alone reap a return from your investment. That’s enough to ruin your day or your career!

This is precisely what is happening today. Every form of traditional media is in crisis. Radio stations, TV networks, newspapers and magazines are suffering from a double digit drop in business. They are lamenting the glory days of advertising when marketers waited on line, cash in hand for a "premium ad position" in order to tout their message. It was a volume game. The more you advertised, the more you sold. NO longer!

More Choice, Less Time
Today customers have more choices than ever before and they have far less time to MAKE these choices! What’s worse is that customers basically IGNORE most traditional advertising. It is all but invisible. Instead they listen to their friends, associates, the grapevine and the more "alternative" forms of media. 

This is why viral marketing is so powerful today. The most successful marketers are adept at creating a buzz. They align themselves with influencers or "sneezers" as some people refer to them. Then they "inoculate" the sneezers with their message or buzz and watch the word spread. The trick is to create a buzz that is pure and honest not salesy or promiscuous. Then to get that buzz to spread in a smooth and persistent way so it is amplified and creates what Malcolm Gladwell calls the Tipping Point. This is the point where every person in your target audience simply MUST have your product or service - like the iPod or UGG Boots.

Sneeze on Me!
Just as there was a formula for the successful direct marketing of the past, there is also a formula for creating a "buzz virus." 

I have created a 10 minute audio file on this topic and I’d be happy to forward a link to you if you are interested. It takes you step-by-step through creating a buzz virus, discusses the pitfalls and I give some examples of companies that have done so in a powerful way. If this interests you just send me an email that reads…

"NO MORE SUICIDE"

Have a great week!

Shark Proof Marketing

Be honest now... If this "new" economy has you feeling like a wide-eyed harp seal that's being circled by blood-thirsty sharks, raise your right fin.

• Unemployment is up
• Spending is down
• Production is falling
• Profits and stock prices are depressed
• Payrolls are being slashed
• Consumers everywhere are hunkering down.

The sharks are circling and there's blood in the water!

Well call me Chief Brody, but this just may be the best time to grow your business or start a new one. Think about it, everyone else is bobbing around in the water trying not to look tasty. It's the perfect time to swim out there and take a bite out of the shark.

Everything in our world - from marketing to technology to commerce - is changing faster than ever. Yet most companies are clueless about what is causing the change, how it might affect them, or what to do about it.

Successful businesses hate change. People with secure jobs hate change. Market leaders hate change. But we upstarts and entrepreneurs LOVE change. As small companies, we are in the BEST position not only survive but also thrive in an economic downturn. Small companies like yours and mine can CHANGE and change fast. We can modify our business model, diversify our client and customer base, test new markets and react quickly when economic winds shift.

But how do we create change on a shoestring budget?

Even more important how do we minimize our risk while cruising through these turbulent waters. In other words, how do we take a bite out of the shark without getting bitten first? I would like to offer a few ideas that I think will go a long way to "Shark-proofing" your business over the coming months.

The suggestions below are just a sample of what we offer in our "All Day Workshops." At these unique workshops you will learn how to avoid the negative effects of this economic downturn. This is not based on theory or blind optimism. It's based on the real world strategies, techniques and success stories that I've gathered from dozens of small businesses.

During the workshop I will help you to adapt them to your business so that you can turn this recession into a time of unparalleled opportunity. Here are some of the strategies that we will cover:

Pricing Strategies
When the economy grows sluggish and revenues begin to taper off, the first inclination may be to cut prices. For those selling non-commodities or even luxury products, such a move can do more harm than good. Even if sales do rise enough to offset the slimmer profit margins, a business that drops its prices risks cheapening its image. Boston Chicken found this out several years ago. The chain was riding high on a reputation for moderately-priced quality food when it began offering bargain meals. Rather than expanding its market, the move nearly erased the distinction between Boston Chicken and fast food, which alienated some customers and caused revenues to plummet. Instead of cutting prices for all customers, focus on rewarding the most loyal - the ones that will support you through the tough times. For example, during a recession you can mail targeted discount coupons, introduce a frequent-buyer program, send handwritten thank-you notes, or host a customer appreciation party.

Added Value 
Persuading customers to buy premium products or services at premium prices is a fundamental challenge, a task that becomes even more difficult during hard economic times. The solution is to add value. What exactly does that mean? "Added Value" means selling the selection of products, the quality of products, educating the customer, offering add-ons or a repackaging of the product or service. Added value can best be described as content or features that make the essence of the product being offered better than an existing version of the product or other products of this type. A good example today is the re-released of movies on DVD. In many cases, the added value to the consumer is the addition of new material or features that weren't possible using videotape formats. This is appealing to consumers who want to feel they are getting a better value. We will show you how to adapt this strategy to nearly ANY product or service.

Recession Planning 
Today, entrepreneurs face so many daily challenges that planning for the future may seem like a luxury. But running a small business without a recession plan is like buying an Oklahoma trailer home without twister insurance. If you're a small business and your financial resources are moderately limited...you have to prepare a plan, period. Those of you that have been my clients for several years know that we always are proactively planning for the best but also have a contingency plan for the worse scenario. Even as we lament the demise of the current economic expansion, it is important to remember that recessions, like expansions, have a limited life span. Bad things, too, must come to an end. It's important to plan for that too. At the seminar I will show you how utilize a powerful cash planning strategy that will literally ELIMINATE your financial risk.

Out-Marketing the Competition 
Plan an aggressive new business marketing campaign. This strategy has two parts to it. The first part, which seems blatantly obvious, is that when things are slow, you increase the percentage of your time spent on marketing and prospecting for new business. For instance, if you usually devote 10 percent of your time and energy to marketing and sales when things are fairly busy, you might increase this to 25 percent when things are slow. During a lull in business, you need to make this extra effort to attract clients, build relationships and explore new opportunities. The second part of the strategy may not be so obvious. To prevent a lull in business from ever happening in the first place, you should market consistently and aggressively all year long, every week--not just when you need the business. Planning an ongoing marketing campaign ensures a steady stream of new business leads. Marketing done today begins a selling cycle that will result in new business when you need it six months from now. For small businesses and start-ups I recommend developing consistent marketing communications that are cost effective and produce measurable results. In the workshop we will look at the types of marketing that work best during a recession.

Reactivate Dormant Accounts 
Stay in contact with clients that you are no longer working with. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to sit down with your list of past clients or customers, call them, say hello, and see what's going on. Don't make this a hard sell call. Tell them, "Hi, it's Jane. I'm calling just to check in and see how you're doing, since it's been a few months since we last spoke." You don't have to ask for work directly, but when you end the conversation, you might say something like, "Well, it's been good talking with you. Keep in touch, and if there's anything I can ever help you with, don't hesitate to give me a call." This lets them know you are interested in working with them again without putting the pressure on them to give you an order right then and there. You can also send a letter, perhaps calling their attention to a recent article about their business or industry. This accomplishes essentially the same goal to reconnect with the client and remind them of your existence, products, services, and availability. On average, expect one order or assignment for every 10 calls you make. But never say, "I'm not busy and need work right now or "Things are slow here." This is a terrible approach. First, the client or customer feels pressure, feels he has to come up with an "excuse" why they haven't given you an order lately. This is uncomfortable-and awkward for both of you. Second, it makes you seem desperate, and you do not want to seem hungry or needy. In fact, a key goal of all of these strategies is to make it clear that your purpose is to serve the client better and more efficiently, not fill a gap in your slow work schedule.

Create Demand for your Product or Services Help existing clients or customers create new assignments or sales for you. Usually, my clients come to me with assignments they want me to handle for them. But often times I recognize a need in their business that requires attention. If I'm really doing my job as a consultant then I may be more attentive to their business needs than they are. At that point I'm providing exceptional service to the customer as well as creating demand for my services. Many times I will recommend strategies that they can employ that will result in an increase in their profitability and/or market share. Naturally they will ask me to implement them which also improves my business. As we've discussed "change" is imminent in this environment. Get ahead of the curve by getting more involved with your customers. Market yourself and explain how you can contribute rather than waiting for something to happen. In the workshop we look at 10 ways to create demand.

Build a Cash Reserve 
We have all heard the expression "save some for a rainy day." But what happens when a rainy day turns into a rainy year, or two? Many entrepreneurs and small business owners will be facing this situation in the coming months. The best way to prepare is to set aside cash during more prosperous times. There's a real benefit to having a long-term business plan that deals with the kind of cash requirements you'll need in case of a business downturn. For some, building a cash reserve may come at the expense of swifter business expansion. But the alternatives taking out a loan, dipping into personal net worth, or shutting the doors are far less palatable. We will look at methods of building cash reserves and financing continued operations without going into debt.

Be Positive 
The most important thing about a slow period is not to be depressed by it. If you are depressed, prospects can sense your desperation and fear, and it has a negative effect on your dealings with them. Remember that everybody in business has slow times; those who say they never do are liars. You are talented and successful. The lull is temporary. Things will improve. Don't despair, and don't give up. It is possible to have 2, 3, even 4 or more slow months and get through it. If you follow the strategies that we've discussed, you can turn things around and become busy and profitable once again.

Also give yourself every opportunity for success this year. Check out our web site for our next Entrepreneurial Workshop and get pre-registered. If nothing else I guarantee that it will be a great way to start the year with a positive first step.

Those of you that have attended any of my classes know that they are energy packed and you walk out motivated and cranked-up! You DO NOT have to be the victim of a "slowing economy," an "economic downturn," or what the media calls a "recession."

Running A Better Business!

In this week’s business update:

• Interview More Effectively

• Making Advertising Work

• Attract More by Giving a Little

• Full Day Workshop

Interview More Effectively
One of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs today is attracting team members that match with our organizational culture. Interviewing more effectively can help to eliminate the mismatches. Today job applicants are doing more pre-interview preparation than ever before. They have rehearsed the best answers to the most typical questions. As leaders we need to ask better, more revealing questions like… “Tell me about a situation that occurred at your previous job when there was a conflict. How did you handle this?” By understanding how someone handles conflict we can gauge how they might match with our company culture.

Making Advertising Work

One of the biggest complaints I hear from business owners today is that advertising just doesn’t work the way it used to. Why? Primarily because everyone is saying the same thing. Both print and broadcast media are filled with the same old promises. Most ads, even those developed by agencies, focus on selling benefits or pushing solutions. Few ads focus on the problems that customers are having. Do you think that customers are more interested in YOUR solutions or THEIR problems? Check out the award wining ad at right that shows a smashed frog with the headline, “For those with an eye for assembly.” The ad is for the company Tamiya Assembly Toys. Tamiya specializes toys that are easy to assemble without breaking. These toys really are simple. Even I was able to assemble their solar powered car for my nephew. Get the idea? Check out our Attract More Business program for dozens of examples of how to apply a “problem-oriented” ad campaign to your business.

Attract More by Giving a Little

Here’s a company that has taken Rule # 4 of the Rules of Attraction (Giving away information without selling) to the max. What’s our most valuable commodity? That’s right, TIME! Now an organization has figured out how to automatically download the programs that you like directly onto your portable MP3 player without you doing a thing! Hey, that's a time saver. Here's what is best about it… It's FREE! iPodder has teamed with companies like Warner Bros, Microsoft, Oracle, ABC, NBC, Business Week, NASA, and even Paris Hilton to produce Podcasts. For a small fee, you can even brand the broadcast as your own. Check out iPodder at: www.ipodder.com and think about what you can give away to make yourself more attractive. You can also sign-up for the Podcast of our nationally syndicated radio show, Small Business Radio at:http://www.sbanetwork.org/radio

Full Day Workshop
Learn how to implement the Rules of Attraction in your business. Register before July 20th for my Monrovia workshop and before August 15th for my Long Beach Workshop to receive a FREE bonus ticket and bring a friend or business associate at no additional charge. The pre-registration cost of this event is just $299, a savings of $200 from the event cost of $499 at the door. Once one of my associates contacts you, if you mention that you are a business update subscriber, I'll even throw in a free telecoaching follow-up session so that you can get the most out of the event. That's a total value of $1148 available now for just $299. Go to:http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp to pre-register now!

Rule #2: Strategic Rejection Makes Us More Attractive.

How could a thing like rejection possibly make us more attractive?

Some readers are likely thinking, "Oh boy, Deo's really gone off the deep end this time." But it's true. The more people we REJECT, the more attractive we become to that small, discrete little market.

Consider this: What is the fastest growing franchise chain in the United States? McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks? Not even close.

Try: Curves.

From humble beginnings barely a decade ago, fitness center Curves International has expanded to nearly 9,000 locations. To put that growth into context, consider that it took McDonald's and Subway 25 years to open 6,000 franchise locations. Curves needed just seven.

How could this be? What is the secret of such exponential growth?

Strategic Rejection
If you're a body builder you definitely will not want to go to Curves. In fact if you're a man, I doubt you would be caught dead in Curves. Curves targets the soccer mom. Designed to appeal to an older, female demographic, Curves is a fitness center that differs greatly from other gyms. Instead of 50,000 square feet of saunas, pools and fancy equipment, a typical Curves franchise occupies 1,200 square feet and has 10 to 12 machines. It is simple and affordable for Mom.

Curves has effectively applied rules number one (Become a bigger fish in a smaller pond) and two (Strategic rejection makes us more attractive) of the Rules of Attraction. Together these rules have created breakthrough performance for the company. They have rejected the largest segment of the fitness market and thereby become a big fish in a small pond. In our Attract More Business program we look at how by targeting a very specific audience and rejecting others we make ourselves far more attractive. In fact we analyze some of the ads from Curves and see precisely how they and other companies have done this.

Oddly enough when we reject the larger segment of the market we end up being more important to our target audience and the result is a product or service that performs exceptionally well when stacked-up against the competition. When we are on a mission to add more business at all costs, however, regardless of how these new prospects match with our target profile, we risk devaluating our market position and reduce our competitive worth.

I have seen many occasions where management, in pursuit of meeting ever exceeding numbers, will oblige and make the requisite changes to land a new customer, ANY new customer. If you fast forward into the future and continue this behavior, you will end up with a company that has a great number of new customers but also a support nightmare (i.e.: too many different versions of a product which makes it difficult to maintain and support from a development and customer service perspective). In addition, you end up constantly delaying the next release of your product or service as precious resources get sucked away. You also have lots of features that the market does not want. You cease to be exclusively important to ANYONE. You become a "jack-of-all-trades" important to no-one. Finally, the profitability for each customer goes down significantly as you add new features just to close deals.

In the long run, having too many of the wrong customers can kill your business. The more experienced and disciplined strategy is to identify the "gap" in the marketplace (the need which is not being met) then developing a solution that so perfectly fits this need that it would be ridiculous to even consider any other solution. This is precisely what companies like Curves are doing. While they are incredibly important to the working, mature mother, they are ultimately useless to the average health-enthusiast, bodybuilder.

This does not simply apply to service-based businesses. It works the same way for industrial or consumer products as well.

Think about the iPod. It is probably the hottest consumer electronics product on the market today. Yet it has terrible features and ultimately (like many other niche-oriented, Apple products) alienates the majority of the marketplace. Consider this: If you don't care about low battery life, aren't fond of jogging, have ample disposable income, don't need to record/encode music portably, and want to purchase music downloads ONLY from the iTunes Music Store, then the iPod is the best the way to go. Is it me or isn't iPod REJECTING most buyers? Then why are they doing so great? While not ideal for some, it's still hands down the best-designed MP3 player in the world.

Now who's your niche audience? How can you reject the majority of customers, only to become so perfectly geared to that exclusive market that they would be idiots not to buy from you?

Interested in applying this technique to your business? Check out our latest workshop:

Attract More Business One Day Workshops 
By popular demand, we are now offering the Attract More Business one day workshop. This full day workshop incorporates content from our “Attract More Business” learning program and 8 week class. The workshop will be held from 9am to 5pm on June 11, 2005 in Long Beach, CAand August 25, 2005 in Pasadena, CA. Attendees of the workshop are eligible for 2 follow up 30 minute coaching sessions. As a special bonus when you attend the Attract More Business one day workshop, you will receive our audio CD on “Branding in the 21st Century.”

Sign-up at: Attract More Business One Day Workshop.

Reversing Risk

One day a father decided to go shopping for his daughter's birthday present. Melissa was to be nine in just a few days and she wanted a puppy - a Cocker Spaniel to be exact. Well, when the center of your universe wants a puppy there's only one thing to do - get her a puppy!

So the man visited a local pet shop. Cruising the isle of the sad, penned, baby beasts, the man spotted the most adorable Cocker Spaniel imaginable. Consulting the salesperson he asked the price of the puppy.

"That cute little one there is $150," the salesperson replied.
"Wow, that's some serious change for a dog," the father said.
"If you get her today, I can give you a 10% discount," the salesperson countered.

The father thought for a moment. "What if she can't handle a dog yet? What if he's disobedient? What if..."

Being a smart shopper the father thought he owed it to himself to visit at least one other pet store. He drove up the road and stopped at another pet shop. Low and behold if he didn't find the absolute twin of the Cocker Spaniel he saw at the previous store. Maybe this one's a bit less, he thought.

Once again questioning the clerk, "How much for this little guy?"
"Oh yes," answered the salesperson. "That little one there is $200."
"What?" the father exploded. "Two hundred dollars, why so much? At the pet shop just down the street the exact same puppy is selling for $150. That's nearly a third less! Why such a difference?"
"I understand how you feel," the salesperson replied. "You see, this is a very special puppy."
"How so?" asked the father.
"You see," said the salesperson. "This is probably the only Cocker Spaniel that you will find that is guaranteed to satisfy your daughter Melissa or he's FREE!"
"What do you mean?" asked the father.

Then the salesperson told the father, "Take this puppy home with you today and pay me nothing. In fact I REFUSE to take even a penny from you until you and Melissa tell me that you are both totally satisfied with this puppy. In fact let's talk again in two weeks. If you are NOT totally satisfied that this is the puppy and the ONLY puppy for you guys then I will take him back and you won't owe me a dime. To go a step further I will pack this puppy up for you tonight in a special ribbon-wrapped cage with two weeks free puppy chow, a food dish, water bowl and special chew toy."

Which puppy do you think the father bought?

Why?

Reversing Risk
If you guessed the more expensive puppy with the guarantee, then you are correct. But why spend more for the same puppy? Because that father was not merely buying a puppy, he was buying a guarantee of birthday joy for his little daughter. Saving $50 was less important to him than running the risk that he or his daughter would be unhappy with the puppy.

Why then are you still trying to compete based on price? Don't you know that your customers are just like that father? They are looking for the supplier that understands their motives. They are looking for the supplier with the best competitive edge.

Having a competitive edge doesn't mean having a lower price. On the contrary, having a competitive edge means that you have developed a way to make it easier for the customer to say YES to your product or service rather than NO. How? By removing or significantly lowering their risk.

RISK is the primary obstacle to making a purchase decision. Think about the last time you changed your mind when considering a purchase. Wasn't it because the risk seemed to outweigh the reward? What if the product or service DIDN'T perform as advertised? Could you afford to take that chance? What if that chance was eliminated?

Everybody can come up with some way to reverse the customer's risk. What ultimate results are your client's looking for from your product or service? If you can guarantee these either in part or in whole, then you have successfully come up with a powerful risk reversal offer.

Example 1:
I have a client that manufacturer's computer components. They pride themselves in their less than 0.15% error rate. This high accuracy rate really set them apart from their competition. But their competitors were grabbing-up market share because they were always under-pricing and out-bidding my client. The components they made would sell for just a few dollars but if they failed within the warranty period, the manufacturer would have to repair or replace the entire computer. My client was so confident of their component accuracy they began offering a guarantee that if one of their components caused the failure of a manufacturer's computer within the warranty period then they would pay for the repair or replacement of the ENTIRE computer. The guarantee allowed my client to regain their market leadership as well as reduce the replacement and repair cost for their manufacturing clients. It also improved customer satisfaction for the manufacturer and allowed THEM to claim a failure rate on their computers.

Example 2:
When visitors go to my web site, www.smallbusinesshour.com they find a very compelling offer. First, they can sample all kinds of articles and information on small business marketing and management improvement for FREE. Without spending any money at all they can learn valuable information, which may help them market their products or manage their business more effectively. Second, they can sign up to receive my 100-page Small Biz Success E-Manual, which provides even more information and heaps on more value. Finally when they decide to make a purchase of a book, tape, or learning program they receive a no questions asked, 100% money back guarantee. If they are unsatisfied in any way with their purchase within the first 30 days I will give them back every penny of the purchase price. I have yet to have any customer ask for a refund

When we reverse risk everybody wins:

1. It's a way to improve the level of service for our customers.
2. It holds our organization more accountable to peak performance.
3. It heaps on more and more value.
4. It adds to a more quantifiable return-on-investment for our clients.
5. It gives us the ability to more easily overcome the price objection.
6. It makes our solution unique and credible in an already crowded marketplace.

Think about ways that you can apply this "risk reversal" strategy to your business. I assure you every type of business can. If you need a little help in finding out how this can apply to your business, send me an email, or request my SPECIAL REPORT on "Risk Reversal." If applied, the concepts presented in this report are guaranteed to help you overcome the price objection within 30 days!

Reverse Their Risk

Last week we discussed Rule number 3 of our Fourteen Rules of Attraction, The problem is more important than the solution. This week we will examine Rule number 5, Reverse people’s risk in changing.

Often times the reason prospects are hesitant to change suppliers or service powders is because of the inherent risk in changing. Their concern is that if they make a change in favor of your solution, their situation not only may not improve, but also may even become worse. The goal is to reverse their risk so that they feel comfortable making a change. Most importantly we must create a way for them to feel that any “risk” involved in changing is eliminated. There are a few ways that we can do this: 

Guarantees
The more compelling the guarantee, the less risk your customer will perceive. It is important to understand that while you may be offering a strong guarantee, it doesn’t mean that all of your customers will take you up on it. In fact, studies have shown that less that 2%, of all clients cash in on the very guarantee that motivated their buying decision. You probably already have a strong guarantee that you’re not promoting.

Sample Guarantee
Let me tell you about a client that we’ve worked with that has developed an astounding service guarantee. The company is Pelican Products. Their claim: “You break it. We replace it. Forever.” This is not marketing hype. The company manufactures cases and flashlights that are virtually indestructible. The product is sold to the military, law enforcement, fire, and emergency agencies. This guarantee is unmatched in their industry and their competitors are stymied by their inability to match this offer. Even more amazing, Pelican tells me their return rate is less than 1%! How do they do this? By innovating the guarantee right into the product. How big is the market for industrial cases and flashlights? The company will do almost $100,000,000 this year. It helps to have a powerful guarantee.

Results Oriented Guarantee
Providing a guarantee of specific results is the most powerful type of guarantee. This might include a guarantee of timely performance, error free operation, asset depreciation, or financial value. The more specific the benefits or results, the less risk will be perceived. This requires citing some evidence so that prospects can understand precisely how the guarantee ensures the results. Here are a few examples:

A very common guarantee is: “Either you’re completely satisfied or we’ll give you your money back”. The reason this type of guarantee is so popular is that very few people take advantage of it. It’s more inconvenient and time consuming for people to request their money back than it is for them to suck it up and move on. Often times people will be hesitant to admit to themselves that they are dissatisfied with the purchase. Their egos get in the way. If they request their money back, they are admitting to themselves and others that they made a mistake in making the purchase. This kind of guarantee is often constructed using very powerful language such as: 

“I’m so convinced that you’ll be absolutely delighted with your purchase, that I’m prepared to give you an ironclad 120 day, totally outrageous take it or leave it guarantee.”

This type of compelling language and commitment often is enough to reverse the inherent risk for the buyer.

Non- Results Oriented Guarantee
Examples of these type of guarantees are “hassle free”, “personal guarantee”, “guaranteed customer satisfaction” and “conditional guarantees” (if you do this, we’ll do that). These type of guarantees are not as strong as “results-based” guarantees, as we discussed above. “Results-based” guarantees therefore do a much better job of reversing risk. I strongly suggest that you make your guarantee based on specific results.

Giveaways
Giveaways are very effective ways to reduce risk and to overcome procrastination. By giving away part of our solution, we build credibility with the buyer and allow them to try out our solution. This leverages two powerful forces in the marketing process. The first is utilizing the word FREE. While it may be overused, the word “free” still carries a powerful effect over those that hear it. The second is when we give something to someone, they automatically feel obligated to give something back. This is human nature. 

Examples of Giveaways
I have seen countless examples of this in action:

• The auto repair center that gives away free oil changes- these are valued at $69 each, but by giving these away they get an armful of new customers that purchase several thousand dollars in services each year.

• Consultants or professionals that offer a free introductory assessment.

• Software companies that offer free trial ware or “shareware”.

Combination Strategies
While guarantees help to reverse risk and giveaways overcome procrastination, imagine how powerful both techniques can be when combined. 

Here is a great example of a guarantee and a giveaway in the same offer for a search engine marketing company:

“Join our search engine optimization newsletter and you're automatically entered in a drawing for a Gold Search Engine Optimization Package valued at over $2,999. We're giving away one Gold search engine marketing package every month! We guarantee first page ranking on several major search engines. Click here to request a first page ranking proposal.”

Regardless of the type of guarantee you often, every product or service should incorporate a risk reversal strategy into their marketing campaign. We spend considerably more time on this in our Attract More Business program, Tele-clinics and in our one-on-one Tele-coaching. Think about how you can reverse the customers risk in changing.

 

Reversing Risk TeleClinic

To help you put the concepts discussed in this article into action, we will be holding a Reversing Risk TeleClinic on Monday, November 22nd at 1 PM.  To register, go to:https://www.sbanetwork.org/learning/signup.asp 

Special news for our Southern California Readers!
Can't get enough advice on reversing risk?  Be sure to stop by the FM Talk Financial Fest on November 13th.  I will be speaking on the subject of reversing risk in business.  Go to the KLSX website for more details.  You can also see Tom Leykis speak on amassing personal wealth, Doug Fabian speaking about investing through mutual funds, and Gabriel Wisdom sharing his thoughts on the stock market.  If you stop by, please say hi to Matt and Myself.

 

Also be sure to listen for the Small Business Tip of the Day on 97.1 FM KLSX, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the 8 O'clock hour of the Conway and Steckler show.  If you're out of the listening area, we will soon be posting these segments on our website for everyone to enjoy. 

 

 Have a great week!

 

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com 

Mark Deo

Passion Play

Do what you love and you will be successful.

We've all heard that before. But you have to admit there are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, what if, the thing that you love is offensive to some people? In that case you may not be all that successful. You will be relegated to serving a very small and select market. But this leaves you without the broad appeal that brings in the big bucks.

So how can we leverage "doing what we love" to create success, satisfaction and even wealth?

Few, I think would argue the fact that actor-producer-director Mel Gibson has accomplished this with his movie, "The Passion of the Christ."

There's no doubt that this film is on its way to being a blockbuster. But how could this be? Here's a movie that depicts the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life in excruciating detail. It is first off, politically incorrect (Christians are less popular than the gay community today), filled with more blood and gore than all Freddy Kruger flicks combined, and scripted in ancient Latin and Aramaic. Not exactly the formula for successful filmmaking.

Yet "Passion" opened in over 3,000 theaters, an unusually large release for a religious film with English subtitles and the sparsest of plots. Advance ticket sales hit $10 million and in the first weekend generated over $30 million in sales.

You've got to wonder with all this gratuitous violence, no dialog or characters to speak of, no advertising and NOT A STAR in sight, how Gibson ended up selling this movie?

Regardless of our religious beliefs, there's no doubt that Mel was passionate about telling this story. He was clearly doing what he loved in making this film. And he was employing that "remarkable marketing" that we talk about all the time in on our weekly radio show, in our classes, seminars, and in our weekly Business Updates. With everything against him he created something exceptional, new, interesting, compelling, worth noticing and worth talking about. He actually built the marketing right into the product itself.

Newsweek said of the film, "when all's said and done he's made what may be the most watched Passion Pay of all time. Putting his money where his mouth was, Gibson invested $20 million of his own cash in a film so divisive that no Hollywood studio would touch it."

Tom Peters said in his book, "The Pursuit of Wow," that the only products or services of the future will be those that are created by passionate people. Gibson used the hive mentality to create sneezers (the Christian community) to develop something virus-worthy. He didn't create an ad campaign catering to the masses. That would be trying to swim upstream. He went with the flow. He previewed the movie to evangelical media and church leaders.

Focusing on this small, self-contained hive market was very smart marketing indeed. There's no better organized subgroup. This was the market segment most influential, most profitable and most likely to sneeze. And sneeze they did - all over each other. Think about it, these religious groups have their own radio stations, TV networks, publications and web sites.

Not long after this, Churches from coast to coast reserved entire theaters for opening. According to People magazine, The National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 50 denominations and 43,000 congregations, even helped sell tickets on their web sites. The religious community embraced the film as "the best outreach opportunity in 2,000 years," according to the Rev. Rob Schenck, President of the National Clergy Council. Pope John Paul II seeing the movie said, "It is as it was." Billy Graham was so moved that he wept and called it a film "equal to a lifetime of sermons."

Now how would you like to enjoy these kinds of accolades for your business, product or service? I would not for a moment reduce Mr. Gibson's work to one that is aimed only to generate profit or business success. On the contrary, I believe that the film is enjoying the success it is particularly because of his passion and focus on making a product that is a tool for evangelism as opposed to one that needs to be marketed.

What about if we could apply these principals to our business? The good news is that we can. Here's my advice:

1. Identify the smallest most influential market that you can possibly find - a powerful, smooth subgroup that will have interest in what you have to offer. 2. Create a premium product or service that is so impressive and compelling and offer it ONLY to this group. 3. Figure out a way to give them a small taste of the product. Do so in advance of everyone else. 4. Empower the leaders of this group to make claims and statements to their community regarding the product that you have created. 5. Build your marketing right into your product or service rather than tagging it on as an afterthought. 6. Inject your own passion in what you do. Do it because you believe it. And if you don't believe it, don't do it! 7. Do what you love. Love what you do. Let it show no matter what anyone thinks!

Our thanks, Mel. Bet you never thought you'd be giving us a marketing lesson along with the Gospel?

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com

Mark Deo

Luxury or Necessity

In this difficult economic environment it is becoming more important that we fully understand the needs of our customer. In fact it is critical that we begin to see things from our customer's viewpoint now, more than ever.

Unfortunately today many marketers are looking closer at their income statement than at their customers. Many are concluding that because they offer a more "optional," high-ticket product, they are in fact offering what will be perceived by the consumer as a luxury purchase. This perception is the result of fear. This kind of fear is very dangerous to any industry. It has caused many marketers to cut back on their advertising, reduce their marketing expenditure, and even begin to slash the price of their products and services in the marketplace. These kinds of actions only result in lessening the value of our products and services in the eye of the customer. It makes the statement to the consumer that WE OURSELVES do not place a high value of the services we offer.

Webster's defines luxury as "something that is not necessary." Think of the telephone. A decade or two ago it was not uncommon to meet someone who did not have a telephone. Now it is unimaginable. Cell phones, pagers and Internet connections are becoming the same way. What were once luxury items are now necessities of life.

Itamar Simonson of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and Ran Kivetz of Columbia University surveyed 3,100 consumers about their attitudes on luxury purchases. The researchers asked participants to rate themselves in terms of how guilty they felt about purchasing luxury items in general. They found that more than 62% of the respondents felt guilt over purchasing luxury items. "Most people need to justify luxuries," Simonson said. Their findings suggest that people believe luxury purchases should be "earned." Is this the category that you want your products and services to occupy? Are we deciding for our customers, "what is necessary?"

It's very important that we do not position our products or services as luxury purchases. They need to be marketed as very necessary solutions to very real problems. People purchase your product or service because they seek solutions to their problems. The more that we can demonstrate our connection to the customers needs, the more valuable we will be to the customer.

Logo Vs. Brand, Part 2

This article is part 2 of 2.

 

3. Product or Service Mix 
In a sense the product or service that you sell is meaningless! Are you reading right? You are! The problem is more important than the solution. Too often marketers make broad assumptions when communicating their message to clients. This happens in both the selling interaction (face-to-face and on the phone) as well as the marketing interaction (with ads, brochures and web sites.) This is a natural tendency since as marketers we know far more about our products and services than our customers. In many cases we may know what the customer needs more than they themselves know. The danger, however, is that customers don't care about the benefits and solutions that our company offers. Let me repeat that: CUSTOMERS DON'T CARE ABOUT OUR BENEFITS AND SOLUTIONS! First off people today make buying decisions more emotionally than ever before. Our prospects and customers care FAR more about their problems than they ever will about our solutions! 

4. Exclusive Selling Proposition 
For years, marketers have learned the way to differentiate their company, product or service was by creating a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). I no longer think the USP is effective. We must create an EXCLUSIVE SOLUTION which is specifically tailored to solving the customer’s problem(s). This can only be accomplished by fully understanding the customer’s problem(s). Only then can we design the exclusive solutions to these problems. Ask yourself these questions: What do you do that is so different from your competitors that it makes you the ONLY solution to the problems you've identified? How can you use this knowledge to develop marketing language that emotionally speaks in terms of the problems that you have identified? How can you do this in an emotionally charged way that stimulates the right hemisphere of their brain?  Don’t be a better option, become the ONLY solution.

5. Positioning Statement
The position statement allows you to articulate all of these messages in a tight, economical phrase. Often time the right tag-line or Meme is born from the position statement. Mission statements are also developed from well expressed marketing position statements. The position statement is ultimately a summary of the above elements tied-up in a nice little sentence or two. It communicates how you exclusively solve the distinct problems for those in your target audience.

Making the Brand Tangible
Once this strategy is established we can then begin "packaging" to make the branding elements tangible to clients, prospects, affiliates and even members of the team. When we can create visual, pneumonic and auditory branding messages that are overlapping then we have the ability to influence people on more than just a "conscious" level. We can influence them on an "unconscious" level which is far more powerful. Brand packaging is comprised of these typical marketing communication elements:

• business cards and stationery

• web presence

• incoming call reception

• email delivery

• advertising and promotional material

• product ergonomics and packaging

• brochure or collateral material

• signage, point-of-sale displays and billboards

• trade shows presence

• gifts, premiums and giveaways

• sales approach and presentation strategy

In the coming weeks I will be talking more about branding and how a synergistic branding program is conceived, strategized, and implemented. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. That’s what I’m here for. My sincere desire is that marketers will begin to look at branding in a more holistic way. It’s not about your logo or tag line, it’s about your heart and identifying with your clients problems in a way that no one else is doing.   

Logo vs. Brand

When people think of a “brand” the first thing that often comes to mind is a logo. 

It is not surprising that someone would view a logo itself as the brand because it is the most identifiable visual element related to the product, service or company. However the logo is only a small part of a branding strategy. We think of the “swoosh” as the Nike brand yet the “swoosh” itself is the Nike logo and just a reminder of the brand, but what a reminder! In fact if you go to the Nike web site atwww.nike.com you will not even find the Nike name at the top of the site, you will find ONLY the little orange “swoosh!” The Nike brand conjures-up the desire to compete and win. It clearly communicates high attainment, no excuse environment – just do it! When we make a Nike brand selection we are stepping-up to a higher level performance and making a greater commitment to seriously compete. Consequently Nike products are more often perceived as being more valuable than the competition. They are positioned higher in the prospective customer’s mind. They are willing to make a greater investment and pay more for the product.

 

Heartshare

A well executed brand takes-up residence in the hearts of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the culmination of their experiences and perceptions of the company, product and service. The brand ultimately constitutes the promise to the client. This promise must be packaged in such a way as to accomplish the following goals:

• Clearly communicate the company, product or service message

• Strengthen credibility

• Emotionally motivate the buyer

• Solidify client loyalty

• Create a memorable identity

• Ensure distinctive positioning

By addressing these elements we can build a branding strategy that is more effective to implement. This, far more than developing a cool looking logo, is the true essence of branding. This is similar to one of the rules of attraction that I often talk about in my seminars, books, CDs and classes; “Heartshare is more important than marketshare or even mindshare.” Heartshare is the emotional reason that your company product or service exists.

 

Pre-requisites of Branding

Perhaps now you can see how branding extends far deeper than just a logo. Several aspects of the marketing mix must be addressed in order to develop a branding strategy. I have addressed these in a way that is different than most branding experts. However when implemented faithfully this strategy is extremely effective:

 

1) Target Audience – practicing “rejection”

There are more competitors emerging every day in every industry and profession. Because of this we might find ourselves chasing ANY type of business that we can get. In a highly competitive environment there is a tremendous temptation to take “what ever comes along” until you can find some kind of niche. This strategy is no longer effective because while we are taking whatever comes along, so are the rest of our competitors. This process pushes down the market price of the products and services being offered and ultimately results in price erosion and even creates technology or price wars wherein the weakest players are eliminated. Realizing this, it’s not surprising that U.S. Department of Commerce states that 95% of all new businesses fail in their first year! Far more important than identifying your market niche and the kind of business you “want” is identifying the kind of business that you DO NOT want! This is counter intuitive and difficult to grasp but once implemented it is extraordinarily effective. In short, if we can reject the kind of business that we DON’T want, we will automatically become more attractive to those that we DO want. The first step however is to fully understand the marketplace in which we compete.

 

2) Competitive Landscape

By fully understanding the competitive landscape and how our company, product or service integrates into it, we can identify the “GAP” in the marketplace. It is impossible to develop a powerful brand without identifying the GAP. The “GAP” is the area of product, service, quality, selection, application, delivery or price which is NOT being satisfied. When we understand the “GAP” in the market we can find the specialized need or needs which we can EXCLUSIVELY satisfy. If we develop our product to satisfy the “GAP” we have the ability to define a very tightly focused audience profile. This profile should become our exclusive focus.  By doing so we will only accept business that matches the profile of the type of customer we want to deal with. In order to ensure that our product or service matches the specific unmet needs of the target market (or the GAP), it is critical that we invest time in fully understanding our competition. I have devised a very simple way to gather intelligence about the competition.  It is completely ethical and devastatingly effective. The best way to understand your competition is to “become their customer,” at least for a bit.  Few entrepreneurs or business professionals do this, yet it is probably the most effective way to understand what your competition is all about.  Call or visit them and ask them plenty of questions.  Do not tell them you are a competitor; your purpose for becoming their customer is to learn what makes them tick.  I do this for all of my client’s noteworthy competitors.  It works magnificently. In our consulting firm, one tool that we use to understand our client’s competitors is what I call the “Competitive Landscape Profile” or the CLP.  The CLP allows us to plot the proficiency of each of our competitors on a chart that gives us a very clear picture of who they are, what they do, where they fit, and how they are different. When completed the CLP clearly tells us where the GAP is in the marketplace.

 

This article is part 1 of 2.  Read next week's business update for the conclusion.   

Let Me Entertain You

Have you ever thought about which occupations pay the most?

Is it doctors? No, managed care has taken care of that.

How about lawyers? They do OK but it's no guarantee of fortune.

What about CEOs of major companies? You can make a pretty penny when you get to the top, if the stress doesn't kill you first.

Then who?
ENTERTAINERS.

Think about it. From sports figures to pop stars to TV personalities to the icons of stage and silver screen, its entertainers that top the charts both in cash and glamour. They are also far more influential than authors, scientists and even Nobel Prize winners. Why?

Its quite simple really. Entertainers make us FEEL GOOD!

While knowledge is important in the new economy it is just the second step in building enduring relationships. The fact is that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. It all boils down to passion. How are you showing passion in your work. I'm not talking about sexual passion here. I talking about using our emotional state to let people know how we feel about them. It is only then that we will have a receptive audience

Think about kids. They do this all the time.

Recently Kathy and I were driving with a friend and we had her two six year old children with us. As we drove past the stores and restaurants the kids seemed quiet until those Golden Arches came into view. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the shrill of two squeaky voices in unison yelled out, "McDonald's." This caused me to think about McDonalds in a way which I never had. Why are these kids so excited about a fast food place? Is it because McDonald's has great hamburgers? Do they appreciate the clean, friendly environment? I don't think so. Six year olds could care less about good food or clean, friendly environments. What they care most about is - - HAVING FUN! Let's face it, McDonald's provides a great experience for kids. In fact EVERYTHING that McDonalds does is built around FUN! From the commercials to the menus, to the place mats, to the free gifts, to those giant plastic tubes kids crawl in and out of, it's all aimed at HAVING FUN! It's not the food or the service. It's the McDonalds EXPERIENCE. You've got to give McDonalds credit. They know their audience.

Other businesses are catching on to this trend -- and those that do stand out. I know a pediatric dentist that is tapping into this concept by creating a whole building called Tooth Zone. It, too, will have tubes and slides and other fun stuff. He already has free video games and a cool play area for kids. His practice is thriving because he gives patients an experience -- not just a cleaning. Kids in his practice can't wait to go to the dentist! He's turned something negative into a positive experience.

Adults are not much different than children. We want to have fun too. Maybe more so than the kids. The lesson that these innovative marketers have learned is people want to have fun. And business is about giving people what they want. Often times that's a special and unique experience. Recently I heard about a unique retailer in Fort Worth, Texas, that had a Mardi Gras Parade through the aisles of the store. They were providing more than shopping. They were providing a fun EXPERIENCE.

Creating a "fun experience" can be adapted to just about any business. Consider the most somber of services, like health care. I have a number of medical clients like doctors, hospitals and surgical centers. One of things I do is to try to help them to differentiate themselves. I try to work with the people and the processes within these institutions to help them to create a "fun experience" for their patients. Like the cosmetic surgeon that has a huge library of movies and state-of-the-art video games that patients and their family members can watch and play while they are waiting. I also work with a hospital that maintains a complete game room with pinball machines, video games and all types of fun stuff for adults and kids. This helps patients and guests to pass the time in a comfortable way.

How about the construction company that gives every customer a framed two foot by three foot caricature poster of their finished home or office with them standing on front of it. He actually has a book of them that he uses for evidence and shows prospects before and after pictures. They go nuts over the posters because they are personalized and funny. How about the business attorneys that have all types of trains running throughout their office. They have melded their personal life with their business life. Clients can begin to see them as people just like themselves and it removes the austere nature that often pervades the attorney/client relationship. Come into my office and the first thing you will see is a huge leather couch and a regulation size pool table. Clients can relax and entertain themselves by playing pool while waiting for their appointment or waiting for a job to be completed.

How are you tapping into the great American desire to not merely consume, but also have an experience at the same time? Look at your business. What can you do to provide an EXPERIENCE for customers? An EXPERIENCE in service. An EXPERIENCE in people's everyday world. You'll stand out and be noticed. The opportunity is waiting. E-mail me your about your business, and let's come up with ways to apply the experience economy to your situation.

Keeping It Fresh

I kept grabbing papers and magazines and stacking them up in the corner. It seemed like the supply was never ending.

Then I bound them up with string and made a nice bundle out of them. The salvage fellow said if I put them in neat bundles he wouldn't charge me as much to haul them away. Oh boy, aren't I lucky?

I thought about this for a minute. Here I am willing to pay someone to take away these newspapers when I myself had to pay money to get them in the first place. I calculated that I had collected approximately 75 papers that I had paid more than $100 to acquire. Now, these papers were worth LESS than nothing.

I came to the conclusion that yesterday's news is worthless. In fact the older the news gets, the less people want it. It ends up costing you money just to store it or remove it! Today's news is worth about $1.25 (per newspaper). But what about tomorrow's newspaper? What would tomorrow's news be worth if it were available TODAY? Everyone knows that. They'd be worth a fortune.

If you think about it, the more timely the information, the more value it holds.

Yet if you look at most web sites, or on-line marketing you will see old, expired, uninspiring and out-of-date information. Even in the brick-and-mortar world current, accurate information is scarce. Brochures and promotional material reflect worn-out ideas and concepts.

Businesses, it seems, will invest uncounted hours and thousands of dollars developing new concepts and ways to communicate them but will give not the least thought as to how to keep fresh these ideas and corresponding marketing mediums.

Are we so arrogant as to think that once we have established our idea in the marketplace that it will not be challenged?

Do we believe that the market that we occupy will be free of change over time? Or that our customers will always want the same thing?

Or are we so ignorant that we expect our competition to remain stationary?

I hope not.

Keeping our ideas fresh requires always improving and tinkering with our products, services and with the way we communicate with our customers and business partners.

Sometimes it's not about creating a new idea but rather communicating our idea in an entirely new way. This requires constantly re-framing our products or services for the market. Take Apple computers. They went from being the computers made exclusively for geeks to the computers that make a fashion statement.

Or what about the big tobacco companies? They have radically changed their advertising from a message that says: "Oh what a feeling" to "check out our great product stewardship and risk reduction efforts." They in fact have spent billions on these new communication initiatives and despite that fact, thousands of people die every year from lung cancer you can still buy cigarettes at your local grocery store. Don't get me wrong. I don't condone smoking, I am merely pointing out the fact that they changed their message and this has resulted in continued growth.

Think about your company, product and service. Here are some questions that you can ask yourself to ensure that you are communicating fresh ideas, and providing inspiring and up-to-date information. I have also included some examples of what we at the SBA Network are doing to put these principals into practice:

1. How "newsworthy" are the ideas that you are communicating? Do they reflect the current "thought-trends" in your industry? On our web sites we allow people to listen to our latest radio shows, on demand. They feature some of the leading business experts in the country. This can be done at any time and any place in the world at small business hour
   
   
2. Are you willing to give a little up-front in order to influence your constituents? For example we make our entire library of articles available to visitors by posting hundreds of articles on our web site in the Library of Business Development Articles section. These are completely FREE. In order to view these all someone has to do is give us their email.
   
   
3. How easy is it for people to connect with you? Are you visible enough or are you out-of-sight and therefore out-of-mind? I'm not talking about being pushy and constantly pitching your product or service. This will only push people away. I'm talking about sharing valuable insights, information, applications and FREE offers. One of the things we do to stay connected every week is to send this email that you are reading right now. It is non-pushy, yet informative, sometimes inspiring and often educational for our business partners. What can you do to stay connected?
   
   
4. Can others transfer your ideas in a smooth way? For example we offer site visitors 2 sets of our radio show CDs for FREE if they agree to forward this email to 10 friends. This is strictly on the honor system but people seem to follow suit non-the-less. And when they get their 2 sets of CDs what do you think they do with the second set? That's right, give it away. You can check out our free coaching cd's
   
   
5. Can people get small chunks of your solution for FREE? Some consultants and service providers are afraid of giving away too much of their solution. "Don't tell the customer too much. Then they won't need you." I totally disagree with this. Knowing the right thing to do is different than knowing how to do the right thing. Anyone can go to our web site and listen to a 20 minute audio workshop telling them How to Get More Appointments or How To Be More Productive or How to Motivate Their Staff. learning programs I'm not at all afraid of sharing this information with people. In fact I hope it helps them so much they DON'T have to hire me! Then they'll tell everyone they know about it. Share your information and secret ingredients freely and watch people become your loyal followers.

It's All About Trust

In the end, it came down to trust.

 

The fates of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, former Enron executives, always hung on the question of whether the two men were to be believed. With the guilty verdicts rendered thus past week, 12 Houston jurors said, resoundingly, that Lay and Skilling were not to be believed.
 

Clearly, these jurors listened intently to both sides throughout the trial. They heard the judge’s final instructions. They weighed and picked apart the evidence and arguments. But something else fundamentally consequential also went on inside the Enron jury room. In a case without a "smoking gun" — and one that was always a morality play, anyway — it came down to credibility.

 

Who would the jury trust more, the accused or the accusers?
 

Isn’t this precisely what happens in sales and marketing? We can have the greatest product or service in the world but if we fail to win trust then we FAIL. It amazes me how little emphasis is placed on trust and credibility today. Marketers can talk all day and night about their company, products and services. They think talking about themselves gets them credibility. They think it wins them trust. Yet in reality all it does is push more people further away!
 

How about you? Does your marketing focus on WHAT you do? - Bells and whistles? Or does it make a powerful argument for why YOU and your company is believable. Here are some ways that you can win trust in the credibility game:

• Be consistent. Nothing is worse than and organization that talks out of both sides of their mouth. Like the company that advertises how they are very customer-centric (now there’s a popular buzz word that make me nauseated) yet when you get a representative on the phone they amaze you with their apathy and unconcern.

• Focus on values. Values represent the deeply held beliefs within an organization and are demonstrated through the day-to-day behaviors of all employees. An organization's values make an open proclamation about how it expects everyone to behave. Values should endure over the long-term and provide a constant source of strength for an organization.

• Remember that integrity is more critical today than ever before because it differentiates us. As I say in the Rules of Attraction, “who we are is more important than WHAT we do.” I guess old Lay and Skilling missed this one.

• Use evidence when you make your point in your marketing material. It could be a statistic, a testimonial or some kind of analogy but evidence makes us more convincing.

• Speak in simple terms. Sometimes I read the copy on web site, brochures and even in advertisements and I am amazed at how we marketers make broad assumptions about the knowledge of our customers. Make your self understood to a third-grader. This avoid pretension and increases communication.

• Understatement is a powerful tool. Under-promise and over-deliver. Don’t make wild claims. This alone will make your message more persuasive and compelling and control the customer’s expectations increasing your opportunity to DELIGHT them at every turn.

I hope that helps you in crafting a believable marketing message. For more information about how to create more convincing and believable check out my Attract More Business program. Thanks to all and I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com.  

Have a great week!

Getting Attention

"Are you paying attention?"

This is what my parents always used to say when I was a child. "Yea sure Mom," I'd answer. But in reality I wasn't paying them any attention. I was preoccupied in my own little world. This drove my parent's crazy. Which made me a proud beastie of a son. (Aren't you glad I wasn't your kid?)

Do you sometimes find it difficult to GET the attention of others?

Is it a challenge to HOLD people's attention at times?

Whatever role you are playing in business, getting attention is absolutely critical. In many cases getting the favorable attention of customers, prospects, employees, team members, strategic partners, investors and stockholders can be the difference between winning and losing.

In spite of this, few recognize that attention can be managed like other precious resources. How? Now that I have your attention, I will get to that shortly. In order for us to fully understand this concept, let's first look at the types of attention:

Front-of-Mind Attention

This is the kind of attention that is demanded when we are writing a report, engaged in a business discussion, making a purchase or conducting a transaction. It is conscious, focused and explicit attention.

Back-of-Mind Attention
While you may be engaging your conscious through these front-of-mind attentions you are also using your back-of-mind attention to filter through all kinds of thoughts such as a spouse or friend, a shopping list and an upcoming vacation.

Captive Attention

These are things we MUST give our attention simply because we have no choice. They include cinema advertising, work assignments, poor weather, our boss's crummy jokes and so on.

Voluntary Attention

These are things we CHOOSE to pay attention to like TV/print advertising, hobbies, glancing through a magazine. These are typically less explicit stimuli.

Attractive and Adverse Attention

These are things that stand out among the typical experiences in our day. Attractive attention stimuli includes seeing an attractive women or man pass by, a shooting star, a rainbow or a dolphin frolicking in the waves. Adverse attention stimuli includes seeing a car accident, a highly unattractive person, getting bad news.

The ultimate attention-getter draws on all five types of attention simultaneously. These are experiences that characterize the most intensely rewarding and enjoyable moments of our lives. Think of extreme sports like skydiving, hang gliding, scuba diving, rock climbing. These use all 5 of the areas of attention focused on one activity. It seem that what people really love is to have every area of their attention totally saturated.

How can you saturate your audience's attention? What can you do to get their "Front-of-mind" working, stimulate their "Back-of-mind" attention, "Captivate" them, get them to "Voluntarily" give you their attention and stimulate both their adverse and attractive attentions?

How to Get and Keep a Person's Attention
Here are some great tips on how to get and keep a person's attention regardless of your circumstances:

1. Make a change - One way to keep attention over time is to make changes. This is true for employee management, advertising, web media, public speaking and even relationships. Make changes to your content, format, tone, and involvement level in order to keep people more interested.
2. Tell a story - We stay in movies and finish novels because we want to find out what happens to the characters in the story. Give your audience a story and they'll stay with you.
3. Keep it real - Informational messages that are lifelike and realistic are more likely to keep attention than those that are not.
4. Don't stop - If you have an audience's attention already you have a good chance of moving to the next topic or location without losing them. Don't let your written or spoken messages drag.
5. Alter the flow - The most successful attention- structure tools hold our attention long enough to give a message but also make it easy for us to change the informational context. Look at the most successful web sites for example.

There is no doubt that we live an in age of information overload and attention deficit. This is why relationships are so important today. Use the above guidelines to get more favorable attention in your written and spoken messages, advertising, marketing, personal and business encounters. This will help you to build stronger relationships and offer more value to your clients, team members and personal associates.

Full Day Attraction Workshop

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How Attraction is Different
Imagine that you are a gazelle and you are face-to-face with a bloodthirsty, hungry cheetah. 

What do you do? 

Run like the wind - blood pumping in your veins - lungs nearly exploding. Run faster and harder with fear in your heart. 

You know that the cheetah will chase you until you tire and fall from exhaustion and then you will surely be devoured.

But wait, at the last second the cheetah is distracted by an older, slower, less agile gazelle. You escape as the cheetah is diverted. You live to see another day.

Later you are grazing on the same plain not fifty feet from the very same cheetah and her entire group. The cheetahs lick their chops. They are stuffed and tired from the hunt. But you and your gazelle pals are no longer afraid.

Why?

BECAUSE THE CHEETAH IS NO LONGER ACTING HUNGRY!

A New Mindset
Let’s face it, no matter who or what you are, when someone is chasing you, your first impulse is to run.

I have found that people often feel like that gazelle. They feel like they are being hunted, stalked, and eventually chased down. It happens in personal relationships as well as in business. I guess that’s because we are taught to act hungry. When we want something, we take it (assuming it’s legal and ethical).

This is particularly true in business. Traditional business practices have, for the most part, remained self-centered and manipulative designed to get someone to do what you want them to do. That could be buying your product or service, performing the tasks you have outlined or taking the actions that you deem important to achieving your ultimate goal. Make no mistake; business today is still about pursuit - the hunter and the hunted. It’s about overcoming obstacles, circumventing roadblocks, and tricking or trapping your prey. There is always a “winner" and a “loser.” This is still the sad reality of our economy. We battle for share of market or share of mind. 
There is Another Way
But what if we were able to break out of this paradigm? What if we were able to present our ideas or solutions in such a way that people sought us out, rather than us having to chase after them? What if we could apply this to marketing and motivate customers and prospects to choose our company, product or service over the competition? What if team members and business partners decided, on their own, that they WANTED to, “Do it the RIGHT way” rather than being told over and over again to correct their behavior?

How valuable would it be to your business if you could ATTRACT the right kind of employees, affiliate relationships and alliances? How about customers? Imagine attracting your ideal prospect without spending a dime on advertising or putting on a big sales pitch?

All business leaders like to believe they have a unique solution. They are confident they are different from the competition. Yet when you get right down to it, most marketing communication says the exact SAME thing. It talks about what the company, product, or service DOES. At best, it may promise some generic group of benefits in which buyers MAY be interested. Even the best marketing materials (web sites, brochure, flyers, ads, radio or TV spots, promotions, interactive CDs or videos) attempt to communicate to the customer why their product, service or company is better than the competition. 

Few focus on the PROBLEM that the customer is having. Few have designed solutions that are so customized to their target audience that they would have to be insane to even think about another option. This is the core of the attraction mindset.

 

So take a step back in your business- stop chasing customers, and start attracting them to you.  

Seeking a way to put this into practice for your business?  Come to our Attraction workshops!  Go to: http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp for more information!

 

Our New Attract More Business Full Day Workshops will be held on:

• August 27 in the Long Beach area

• July 23 in the Pasadena area

Sign-up NOW!

Free Pig With Your Next Purchase

The sixth rule of attraction is “Give information away without selling.” I found this article on ABC TV’s web site which I think takes the spirit of giving just a bit too far!

'Free pig with every property sold'
A housing developer in Britain is offering a live pig as a pet to anyone who purchases a property from him.
A spokeswoman says the unusual offer from developer Jeremy Paxton has already attracted two buyers to the Lower Mill estate in Gloucestershire, south-western England.
The rare Gloucester old spot pig will be fully house-trained before it is delivered to its new family.
Those who do not fancy getting trotter marks on their carpets can opt to have their pig kept on a farm and turned into pork chops or rashers of bacon.
"It will make a change from having a Labrador," the spokeswoman said.

Let’s face it, giving something away can be a good way to motivate prospects to try our solution. But it is important that our premium is relevant, valuable and in good taste. The above example surely fails this test.

We need to create a marketing contact system which includes a premium that allows our customers and prospects to easily understand how we might meet their needs. Not every prospect is ready to buy when they receive our material. This is why it is important for us to have a system that ensures we will continue to influence the prospect in the future. I don’t mean bug them but rather create interest, give them something valuable, get them on our list, and stay in touch.

It also helps the selling process to flow in a smoother and more effective fashion. Marketing systems give our sales people the tools they need to capture our company’s passion and expertise. These tools can include audio tapes, videos, CDs, reports, white papers, etc. With powerful sales tools, even the weakest link in your sales staff can be far more productive. In short, a systemized approach helps us to move our clients through the “Marketing Cycle.”

Step 1: Create Interest
This is where we can develop the interest of our customers by acknowledging their problems, empathizing with them, asking questions that bear on their need, and suggesting some action that reverses their risk. Forms of communication can vary from brochures, web sites, mailers, email notices, faxes, print ads, radio, outdoor ads, and others. 

Step 2: Give Something Away
This is where we offer a sample or valuable information to the customer that will help them to experience the product benefits or learn about how they can solve their problems on their own. It also opens their minds to possible solutions that they themselves haven’t thought of before. 

Step 3: Get Them on Your List
This gives us the ability to maintain contact with the prospect on a continuing basis. In this way we can build rapport as well as educate the customer. In order to effectively launch an information-based marketing program, we must craft a NO cost, NO risk, HIGH benefit offer that provides prospects with an incentive to sign-up with you. 

Step 4: Stay In Touch
In this step we must plan to consistently stay in touch with our prospect base. This involves providing information to our prospects on a regular basis. This could be monthly, weekly or even daily. The information must NOT be sales oriented. It must offer very clear benefits that are customized specifically for the target audience.

Following the “Marketing Cycle” gives you the ability to automate a system whereby the moment someone even EXPRESSES mild interest in your product or service, they receive information that instead of being aimed at selling them is designed to leverage their curiosity? Then, based on their area of interest they get more information and perhaps free samples? And all of this is done taking THEIR interest at heart. 

That’s better than a pig in a poke anyday!

Four Keys to Effective Marketing Communication

In our business update last week we looked at how product re-engineering is at the heart of marketing. This week I want to focus on the communication aspects after we do re-engineer our product or service. Below I have outlined the four simple keys to effective marketing communication.

1. Communicate the Benefits
It is difficult for customers today to determine how your product or service is differs from your competition in terms of benefits. This creates a big problem in understanding and application. Therefore your marketing goal needs to be to clearly show how you provide uniquely different benefits. Stop talking about the features and capabilities of your product or service. Customers are interested in the end result. Instead of talking about WHAT your product will do, talk about the results that the customer can expect. This restores the consumer's trust and confidence and gives them a reason to buy.

2. Refine the Articulation
This is where we use communication tools to refine the articulation of the message. What will be our "exclusive claims?" What specific evidence will we use? How will we build conviction? How will we position the solution so that the client or prospect has no other logical or emotional choice but to select us over the competition?

3. Use Repetition
Repetition is the mother of learning. Successful marketing campaigns are well-thought out programs that are executed with timing and precision. Therefore selecting the right media and the ways in which the message will be communicated is so critical. Systematically getting our message out in front of prospects and clients allows us to plant the seed and water it.

4. Be Consistent
A consistent marketing message is critical to building brand recognition, top-of-the-mind-awareness and all of the other psychological factors which are necessary to persuade someone to choose YOU. Assuming we do have something remarkable and worth recommending we must find a way to encourage our partners and stakeholders to communicate this consistently.

To all of my clients, subscribers, listeners and class members have a blessed and happy holiday season. I look forward to a great new year with exciting challenges and rewards for all of us.

Focus on the Problem

"Ding dong," chimed the doorbell, so I ran to open the door. I was shocked to see a vampire, witch, and football player all standing on my doorstep. Creepy music blared in the background, with muffled screams audible under the sounds of creaking doors, howling wolves, and the song "Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett.

"Trick or treat!" came the cry from the costumed children.

I threw some candy in their bags, and off they went.

This is a cycle that is repeated time and time again on Halloween. Wouldn't it be nice if getting business was that simple? Imagine if we could waltz into a prospects office and say the “magic phrase” and they would hand over the business like candy. Unfortunately in the real world competing effectively involves more than simply asking for the business. In fact the more we chase customers around, the further they seem to retreat. Yet what if there were a way to “attract” customers without chasing them?

It is for this reason that we have developed our “14 rules of attraction.” Last week we sent out a brief overview that listed all 14 rules. This week we will examine one of them in more detail. 

Rule number 3, The problem is more important than the solution.

Too often marketers make broad assumptions when communicating their message to clients. This happens in both the selling interaction (face-to-face and on the phone) as well as the marketing interaction (with ads, brochures and web sites.) This is a natural tendency since as marketers we know far more about our products and services than our customers. In many cases we may know what the customer needs more than they do themselves. The danger, however, is that customers don't care about the benefits and solutions that our company offers. Let me repeat that: CUSTOMERS DON'T CARE ABOUT OUR BENEFITS AND SOLUTIONS!

I can imagine people everywhere are reading this right now saying that I'm crazy. Traditional sales and marketing methods teach that we should elaborate on our features and benefits, and prospects will see how they can be helped by our solutions, and they will logically decide to buy. This assumption is the root of why most sales and marketing attempts fall on deaf ears. First off people today make buying decisions more emotionally than ever before. Our prospects and customers care FAR more about their problems than they ever will about our solutions! 

It is important that we speak to our prospects and customers in terms of their problems! By doing so, they become comfortable with our solutions, not based on logic, but based on their emotional reaction to the fact that we actually have taken the time to understand their problems. The solutions we offer then become the natural choice to help solve those problems.

This is why it is important that we focus on the problem, instead of on the solution. How do we do this? We have developed a four step method for creating a problem mindset, that you can use to speak intelligently with your prospects and customers about their problems.

Step one:
Identify the major problems your prospects and customers are facing. Put yourself in their shoes. Brainstorm with your colleagues. Even better, ask some of your existing clientele what THEIR problems are. Chances are there are many prospects just like them.

Step two:
Figure out what exclusive or unique solutions to these problems you offer. Why is what you do different enough from your competitors to make it the only solution to the problems you've identified? How can you use this knowledge to develop marketing language that speaks in terms of the problems that you have identified?

Step three:
Analyze the problems and your solutions to find what you can do that reverses the risk of using your company to solve their problems. Reducing their risk will be your ace in the hole when it comes to presenting a solution once you have made your prospects realize that you understand their problems.

Step four:
Find some evidence you can offer that shows that your exclusive solution actually works. Once you have shown a prospect that you understand their problem, that you have an exclusive solution, and that there is little to no risk in using your solution, your evidence will build credibility for all of the claims you've made. Use testimonials, examples, demonstrations- any form of evidence you can to back up all of your claims. 

Whether you are talking to prospects in the selling role or preparing marketing material that will be used to create attraction, I encourage you to go out and find some problems that your prospects are facing. Focus on these problems when you prepare your message. This is as close as a marketer can come to saying "Trick or Treat" in the business world.

Special news to our Southern California Readers!
Listen for the Small Business Tip of the Day on 97.1 FM KLSX, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the 8 O'clock hour of the Conway and Steckler show. If you're out of the listening area, we will soon be posting these segments on our website for everyone to enjoy. And if any of you are planning on attending the FM Talk Financial Fest on November 13th, please stop by and say hi to Matt and Myself. Have a great week!

 

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com 

Mark Deo

Experiential Branding

I thought I'd take a moment to talk about branding from a different perspective. That is "experiential" branding. Branding must be more than just making sure your clients recognize your logo or tag line. A brand should make a bold statement or take a stand. We must create an emotional association with our brand. This could be a feeling of success, happiness, or relief which our clients experience when they own or use our product or service. This can be a direct experience or an indirect experience.

Direct Experience
An example of a direct experience would be a brand which is created when someone eats at a restaurant or takes a test drive in an automobile. Their "experience" directly influences how they feel about the product or service. This is why many marketers communicate their brand in the form of samples or in trying to deliver at least part of the solution to clients or prospects before they even make the decision to buy. It allows the client to lower their risk in changing vendors by "experiencing" your product or service without making a major investment of time or money. For example, software companies often do this with trial programs. Consumer products such as cleaning solutions, magazines and even snack foods do this by sending free sample in the mail which will hopefully communicate a positive brand experience. But imagine if gardeners did this by landscaping one small corner of an office complex or if real estate brokerages and agents did this when showing at open houses. What could be the results?

Indirect Experience
On the other hand "indirect experience" is much harder to convey in the form of branding. By it's sheer nature it requires the client or prospect to make an investment. In many cases it requires that they purchase the product or service in order to experience the brand. For example, Budweiser sponsors sporting events to encourage viewers to associate Budweiser products with the fun and excitement of the sport. Companies also create slogans ("American Express: Don't Leave Home Without It," or "Built Ford Tough") and use them everywhere. TV commercials, magazine ads, and billboards are all indirect messaging. But this form of branding needs repeated exposure - conventional advertising wisdom says that a message isn't effective until the customer has received it at least 10 times. This can be too costly a method of branding particularly for the smaller business. In order to make this type of branding more effective we must focus on narrowing our marketplace.

Obviously direct experience branding is far more powerful and cost effective than indirect experience branding. Certainly a combination of tactics is most critical. In short I would encourage every marketer to think about ways that they can create a positive branding message both in the direct experience the customer has in engaging with their product or service or indirectly, the message they receive through the company's marketing and advertising.

For more information on how to do this in your own business, check out our program on branding in the 21st Century. You can see more information on this program by going to:http://www.sbanetwork.org/attract/branding.asp

Also I have written many free articles on branding. Here are links to a few:

http://www.sbanetwork.org/articles/articles_view.asp?id=53

http://www.sbanetwork.org/articles/articles_view.asp?id=202

http://www.sbanetwork.org/articles/articles_view.asp?id=248

http://www.sbanetwork.org/articles/articles_view.asp?id=249

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com.

Have a great week!

Event Marketing

Regardless of the type of business you have, event marketing is an effective way to build client loyalty and maintain top-of-the-mind awareness. Event marketing creates excitement around your company, products or services by creating something out-of-the-ordinary that entices people to think about you. More than simply encouraging people to make purchases you are educating customers and prospects alike. Sponsoring these types of activities allows us to leverage Attraction Rule #4: "Give information away without selling." The tips below can help you create memorable, profitable events:

Demonstrate expertise Create events that take advantage of the expertise of you and the people on your team. The idea is to educate your customers about a particular subject while reinforcing the image that your company is the place to go to for expert advice and products on this subject. For example, a home decor store can sponsor a workshop on creating window treatments. The demonstration provides instruction about the design trends, while emphasizing that the store’s staff understands these trends and the store's inventory includes all the latest products you need to accomplish the task. Influence rather than sell I recommend focusing your events on educating, influencing, and inspiring attendees. Teach them something new and valuable. The more practical and usable the skill is the better. For example, I know several financial consultants that have had tremendous success doing financial seminars. It's more about winning their hearts than simply getting people to make a purchase. The event itself should not include a hard sell component, but everyone who attends should know how to purchase what they need. If you hold workshops or other classes, offer handouts that list relevant information and how they can order the products or sign-up for the services. Consider offering attendees discounts or other incentives to encourage to get started at the seminar. Involve customers Get customers interested in events by stimulating the senses. Let people touch, try, see, hear, and smell. Showing how to use a new set of knives? Don't just put a person at a chopping block - have him cook up an Asian stir-fry that smells, tastes, and sounds delicious. Use a PA system so everyone around can hear what is being said. Demonstrating fly-fishing equipment? Involve customers with a small "fishing derby" and a contest for catching the biggest fish or tying the nicest fly. Having a local band come in to sign its latest CD? Set up a small stage and have a short concert before the signing. It's good for the musicians, the customers, and you! Work with your suppliers When you hold an event, you may not have to go it alone. Talk with your top suppliers or business partners about co-sponsoring an event. This can take many forms - a clothing store can have a special designer trunk sale; a photographer can have a special "clean your camera" day with service reps from a particular camera maker. In some cases, co-sponsorship will also include increased co-op advertising funds or other supplier incentives. Speak with your suppliers to find out how and if you can qualify for these programs.  Promote Don't hold events in a vacuum. Advertise and promote them to drive traffic to your store and build additional excitement around your events. Promote them with your current customers, on your web site and to friends and family. I even recommend sending some announcements to your vendors. Alert local media to get listings in "events" columns or other mentions. Send postcards to your mailing lists. Mention events in your ads. For example, a bookstore can put a list of upcoming readings or book signings in its customer newsletter, while arranging pre-reading profiles of the featured authors in the local arts press.  Mark Deo Event I try to take my own advice and implement what I recommend for others. With that in mind, if you want to learn more about this form of marketing attraction I'd like to invite you to attend a FREE event. It's our Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage Reunion and Refresher and it's happening on February 7th in Long Beach California. If you're like me you really love it when you run into a fellow DCSA (Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage) graduate. It reminds you of all the great things you learned in the class and how motivating it was seeing your fellow class members achieving their goals (not to mention your own). Well you will have that opportunity again very soon. Because at the suggestion of a one of our graduates we will be sponsoring a FREE Sales Advantage Reunion and Refresher!  The reunion will be a time of sharing our successes, networking, and sharpening our skills. We will even learn some new sales and marketing strategies. I plan to do a summary of our Cold Call Seminar. I will also be previewing the Breakthrough Communications and the Winning Sales Presentations Class. In addition, I will introduce my new, "Attract More Business Marketing Program." Matt and I will also be doing the most hilarious sales talk presentation you've ever seen. So come join us and bring a friend.  Sales Advantage Reunion and Refresher Date: Monday, February 7, 2005  Time: 6:06PM  Place: Dale Carnegie Classroom - 2525 Cherry Avenue, Suite 106 Long Beach, CA 90755  Cost: FREE, Zippo, Nada, Zilch! (Just bring your good attitude.)  Door Prizes:  1. Scholarship to an upcoming Dale Carnegie Cold Call Seminar  2. The 150 page Attract More Business Program including 9 CDs and Tele-Coaching Session  3. Enrollment in one of our upcoming Tele-Classes  RSVP: Reply to this email or call Dale Carnegie Training to RSVP at 562-427-1040 by February 2 (Confirm your attendance with Keva Williams at extension 202.)  My very best to you and I look forward to seeing all of you there! Have a great week! I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com  Mark Deo Print this article.

Evangelists

Evangelical marketing might sound like some new religious recruitment scheme but what we are really talking about is finding ways to educate, influence, and inspire those in our network. There are three different aspects to evangelical marketing:

1. Informational marketing
2. Collaborative programs 
3. Buzz marketing

Informational Marketing
Most often informational marketing takes the form of eBooks or eZines as they are called. It can also be streaming audio or video, free samples, or trial versions. Informational marketing is revolutionizing the world of online publishing because anyone can easily publish and distribute their content in an electronic format. An example of informational marketing is the "Business Update" that you are now reading. 

There are a myriad of uses for informational marketing and they have some distinct advantages over printed medium or typical brochures or advertising. Informational Marketing (as opposed to traditional, interrupt marketing) is the process of marketing information to a niche market, which provides a solution or solves a need of that market. The information, then, helps you to create a relationship with those clients, where they give your permission to tell them about your product or service (Opt-In). 

Information marketing is the key to success on the internet as well as the brick and mortar world, for one main reason: The number one people get on the web is find information, not to buy a product! Some examples of the uses of, and ways to market, eBooks (or any informational product) on the internet are:

* As a system or training program for business to customer or business-to-business functions. 
* As an attachment to an auto-responder that sends the informational product after a request or an order.
* As a lead generating tool to build your Opt-In list.
* To establish you or your company as credible and an expert on the particular topic of the informational product. 
* As a stand-alone product, to make you money
* To create a catalog of your products 
* To put it on a CD-ROM with a color label to distribute to your customers and potential customers 
* To use in attracting joint venture relationships and affiliates
* As valued added items as an incentive or reward for a customer's order.

The bottom-line is that a creative, consistently implemented informational marketing program will produce a dramatic return on investment in a very short time.

Collaborative Programs
Collaboration can help us to attract more business and increase our productivity by multiples. Collaboration is the process of working with others. More and more marketers are finding that customers are demanding bundled solutions. By partnering with others, we can become far more important to prospects and customers. We can also create a stream of referrals from credible partners. These types of referrals tend to be a higher quality and are more qualified. 

Co-opetition
Many people think that business is war. Under this scenario there are victors and vanquished. As Gore Vidal said, "It is not enough to success, others must fail." Listening to the way people talk about business you wouldn't think it's a war at all. We talk about relationship marketing, listening to customers, working with suppliers, creating teams, empowerment, strategic partnerships and so on. The truth is that there are few victors when business is conducted as war.

Price Wars
Just look at what happens in price wars. Nobody wins. The price leaders drive the market price down squeezing out competition but in the end, these victors lose their profitability and value in the mix. A good example of this was the airline price wars. Between 1990 and 1993 they lost more money collectively than they made in all the time since Orville and Wilbur Wright!

The Solution
Business is cooperation when it comes to creating a pie and competition when it comes to dividing it up. In other words, business is War and Peace. You have to compete and cooperate at the same time. Your success does not require others to fail. You can compete without having to kill the competition.

Think Compliments
A compliment is one product or service that makes any other more attractive. The classic example of compliments is computer hardware and software. Faster hardware prompts people to upgrade. Powerful software motivates people to buy faster hardware. Just look at Windows and Pentium chips. Thinking compliments is about finding a way to make the pie BIGGER rather than fighting over how to slice up a tiny Scooter Pie. 

So how do we identify competitors and complimentors?

A player is a complimentor if customers value your product MORE when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone. Example: Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs and Guldens Mustard

A player is competitor if customers value your product LESS when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone. Example: Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola

Some examples of partners in success are Disney and McDonalds, Universal and Burger King, Sears and Allstate, Visa and Airlines, Perfume Makers and Department stores and do on.

How to Launch a Collaborative Program
1. Develop a profile of potential collaborators.
2. Identify at least five non-competitive partners that you can collaborate with and create a pre-approach plan.
3. Pick only the very best people in each area. 
4. Be very selective Do NOT compromise on values or philosophy 
5. Ensure that there is mutual benefit. A one sided relationship will only breed resentment and contempt 

These collaborative strategies can transform your business, help you capture greater market share, improve your profitability, or even help you start a new business and reduce your financial risk in this difficult economy. They are just NICE IDEAS until we put them into action.

Buzz Marketing
Today customers are suffering from information overload. They see and hear so many advertising and marketing messages that it becomes difficult to filter out what is valuable and credible through all the clutter and noise. As a result, customers are turning to their friends and associates for purchasing advice more that ever. Marketing experts believe that the new customer, Generation Y - those born between 1979 and 1994 - shop by word of mouth. In the coming years, buzz marketing may that much more important. 

Buzz works so well because talking is in our genes. As human beings, we need to talk. We talk to connect with people. Sharing information is essential to our make-up. We talk about the latest movie we saw, the car we test drove, the book we read and so on. 

The last era of marketing started with the TV screen. It was all about watching advertisements and marching to the beat of Corporate America. Advertising quickly flowed from television into the rest of our lives. Everywhere we looked, from restroom urinals to the names of our favorite ballparks, we were surrounded by corporations shouting messages at us. Some companies were even paying individuals to "act" normal while pulling stunts such as wearing logos shaved into their heads. We naturally began to "tune out" and ignore the messages. Enough was enough!

Then something happened that none of us predicted. The Internet.
In the beginning, the Internet was supposed to be the new all-powerful marketing channel ("television for the next generation"), but that didn't happen! Instead, the Internet became a giant chat room for all of us. The Internet changed how the world communicates. It opened the door for people to share opinions with each other quicker, more effectively, and more honestly than ever before.
That is bad news for traditional advertisers ... but good news for all of us!
The new flow of information between people means a new phase in the history of marketing. To put it simply, we are living in a new era - the era of word-of-mouth marketing.

When Hotmail launched its Web-based free email service, it experienced the fastest adoption rate of any product ever introduced. Subscriptions went from zero to 12 million in just 18 months. Each person who signed up helped to recruit other members because a message was sent with each email. The power of Word-of-Mouth (or Word-of-Mouse) to the "n"th degree!

In the past few years, companies like BzzAgent (check them out at www.bzzagent.com) and other Word-of-Mouth advocates have proven that honest opinions are more powerful than interruptive marketing messages. When you are creating buzz, you are at the very edge of marketing. Word-of-Mouth has long been considered the most effective form of connecting people to products, but, until now, nobody has really captured its essence and power. Listen to my interview with the CEO of BzzAgent at Small Business Hour.

How to Create a Buzz Marketing Program
If you want to create buzz, you have to know your customer and how you are reaching them. It is easier to create buzz than you may think. Good buzz begins with a positive customer experience. There is no substitute for exceptional performance. 

First - Ask yourself the following: 
1. From whom do your customers learn about your products? 
2. What do people say when they recommend your products? 
3. In what invisible networks are your products discussed? 
4. What kind of information spreads through the networks fastest?
5. "How can you get people to experience your product or service without them making a big commitment? 
6. How can you giveaway a small piece of your product or service so that people will start talking about it?"

Second - Try to change your thinking from: 
1. "I need to get this sale," to "How can I get this prospect to talk about my product or service?" 
2. Don't focus on under-promising but rather over-delivering. 
3. Don't be afraid to give a little away. 

Every business large or small, regardless of the industry should have some type of evangelical marketing program in place. I hope this helps you to establish an evangelical marketing program. If you are having trouble adapting this to your business, send me an email and let me know how I can help. 

I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Networkassists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com 

Mark Deo

Eliminate the Competition

You're at a party.

You talk to EVERYONE there, but you say the exact same thing to all of them. 

Do you think any of them will care what you have to say? Probably not. 

Now imagine:

You're at the same party but you only talk to THREE people there. Before you do, however, you try to honestly understand their desires and interests. You find out what makes them "tick". You say something to each of them that is specifically customized to who THEY ARE

Now what are the chances that they'll care about what you have to say? Probably close to 100%! 

Few people realize it but this is exactly what Target Marketing is all about. By shrinking our market size, we become far more valuable to those remaining in our market.

So how can you apply target marketing to your business? Do you need to hire a team of consultants to do market research and spend a fortune one focus groups?

NOT at all!

I like to say (Rule # 1 of the Rules of Attraction): "Become a bigger fish in a smaller pond." These days you can use the principles of target marketing quite easily in ANY business without spending a dime. The key is doing the right kind of investigation by working smarter, not harder. All this requires is a little bit of planning. 

Breaking it down into a few simple but very powerful steps:
1) Think about the kind of clients you're looking to attract. Are they local? Small businesses? Homeowners? Do they pay their bills on time? Do they work weekends or just during the week? What makes them different from other people in the same profession? These are just a few things to consider.

2) Brainstorm some questions that you might ask. For example, if you're an accountant, you may want to define the income-holding of the different segments of your prospect base, how they earn income, what their tax needs usually are, etc. If you are a tailor it might be discovering how far prospects are willing to drive to get to your shop, how much they typically spend on alterations, and who they perceive as being the "expert" in your area.

3) Once you have the questions written down, call a number of prospects and existing clients and ask them to lunch. Let them know you will not be selling them anything during this visit. This is CRITICAL! You simply want to understand THEIR NEEDS a little better. Taking them to lunch is an informal way to discover the criteria that will help you to narrow your core market (make the pond smaller). Take notes! If it makes sense for your prospect base, offer them a copy of your findings when you are done interviewing others in their industry.

4) Use any research that is already available. Look for studies on the prospects on which you are focusing your efforts. I talk about this in my Attract More Business seminars and in my new Target Marketing program. If we can fully understand the "GAP" in the marketplace then we can customize a solution that is inextricably tailored to fit bridge this gap.

5) Now compile all of the information you have gathered and review it to look for commonalities between your prospects and clients. This is where the greatest opportunity exists. Chances are this is where the least price sensitive opportunity exists as well. What a fabulous way to eliminate price erosion.

By following this method, you will learn FAR more about the motivations of your ideal prospects than just by surfing the web, reading trade journals, or simple guesswork.

Let's take a look at an example of this in practice:
In the early 90's my firm, the SBA Network decided to focus on the growing cosmetic surgery field. We launched an exhaustive research effort to learn everything we could about cosmetic surgery. We purchased several research studies for a few hundred dollars. The agency from which we purchased the studies told us we were one of only 12 organizations that had purchased the 2600 page study. This gave us an inordinate amount of information about the history of the industry, where it was heading, the most popular forms of surgery, technological advancements, changes in the demographics and psychographics of patients electing surgery, practice management issues, insurance and managed care issues, and the predicted potential reduction in the associated costs. 

Additionally, we interviewed 30 different physicians and learned about their perceptions. We even talked to the president of the American Medical Association and invited him on our Small Business Hour radio show. I want to stress that although they all would have been great customers, we did NOT pitch ANY of these doctors. With all the information that we gained we were able to write several articles quoting all kinds of statistics about the future of various forms of cosmetic surgery. We were able to speak intelligently about nearly every area of this field. We became MORE knowledgeable in marketing and managing a cosmetic surgery practice than any plastic surgeon. 

Because of months of research and a few hundred dollars, we were soon viewed as the EXPERTS in cosmetic surgery practice management and marketing. We were asked to attend an upcoming medical conference in Sacramento where I gave a speech on the future of cosmetic surgery. It was unbelievable. We gave seminars on practice management and marketing. We were asked to be editorial contributors to the industries' trade publication. We were even asked to do a radio show by the massive pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Merck, which we did for 18 months on CBS radio. 

As you can imagine, we were able to easily attract some of the most successful, well financed, and well respected cosmetic surgery clients in the industry in just a few short months. In fact, they begged us to take them on as a client! Companies like Sword Medical Center, Cedars Sinai Hospital, Plastico, Boston Medical, and Cosmetic and Laser Surgery all came to us. No cold calls, no mailings, no fancy brochures. We were able to secure a strong position in the market as the leaders in cosmetic surgery consulting. Can you do the same? YES, YES and YES!

It is far better to spend some extra time and money on understanding your prospects than to throw good money after bad on ad campaigns and mass marketing efforts where you hope to reel in some business. With just a little effort you can apply this mindset to your business. When you do, you will become the life of the party in your target market, rather than the boring guy that has to put a lampshade on his head to get their attention. Not to mention your bank account will grow significantly!

TAKE ACTION
If you live in Southern California and you're looking to make this work in your business, sign-up for my Attract More Business Full Day Workshop in Long Beach or Pasadena. We will personally work with you to show you precisely how to apply this directly to your business. At the seminar we will not only teach you the rules of attraction, but we put your hand to paper and MAKE YOU develop a highly targeted attraction plan. I guarantee that every attendee will walk out of this workshop with a specific next step that will result in REVOLUTIONIZING your marketing efforts. In fact you will NEVER think about marketing the same way after spending a day with us.

The best part is if you sign up in the month of May we will GIVE YOU - that's right, GIVE YOU our new Target Marketing Learning Program (a $99.00 value). This includes 2 CDs, a 50 page manual and our interactive forms all facilitated by me, Mark Deo teaching you exactly how to make this work in your business. This is a great preparatory tool for the workshop and can very well be the one-two punch that your business needs to make achieving your goals this year a reality.

Sign-up here: Attract More Business One Day Workshop.

Effective Networking

Networking is probably the most misunderstood method of marketing yet.

What is networking?

How should we go about it? Is networking just for acquiring new business?

Does it work for only certain types of businesses?

How have people built their entire business based on networking?

I set out to answer these questions and I welcome feedback and comments from everyone.

The Purpose of Networking?
Successful networking is neither art nor science. It is a result of commitment, determination, and plenty of hard work. The ability to succeed in this area, is not innate. Like any new behavior, the more you practice the skills of networking, the easier they become. Oh yes, there are skills to effective networking. Of course like anything else, networking requires constant attention. That means having a proven networking strategy, keeping sharp, staying in touch with people, and maintaining communication in a sincere and genuine way. We will look at methods of successful networking, how to develop your own business network, and how to make sure that you are never more than one phone call away from getting what it is that you need.

Networking Defined
"A business relationship formed to meet the needs of two parties or more on an ongoing basis."

Networking's Bad Rap
Today, it seems that networking has a bad reputation. Many dismiss networking as a viable marketing medium. It's not surprising really. Just attend one of the many networking meetings in your area and fend off the jackals that hungrily compete for your business or contact list. Often times I've found myself being eyed up at networking meetings only to feel like a goldfish in an aquarium full of piranhas. Will I be chewed up or just swallowed whole? To say the least it can be a real turn off. Most people go to these events with one thing on their mind, "getting business for themselves. NOW!" How naive they must be to think that people will give up their trusted contacts after having just met them! But networking is far more than just exchanging business cards over coffee and doughnuts.

Don't Be Afraid To Give It Away
Over the years, I have come to realize that networking is about building long term relationships that are based on trust, credibility and genuine concern for the other person. Believe me, it's not about how many business cards you have, or even who you know. It's about who wants to know you. True networking begins when people really want to know you, and when people call you for advise or to get your opinion before they make a change in their business. But how do we attract people to us? What will make people want to know us? The old adage applies here. What's in it for them? President John F. Kennedy said, "It is not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." But, how can we help others? The same is true in networking. What do we have to offer that may be valuable to others?

Step One
The first step is to identify business categories that you want to build a relationships in. For me, as a business advisor these include CPA's, financial consultants, designers and ad agencies, attorneys, media representatives and more. What are the categories for your business? The trick is to meet these people and build a relationship BEFORE you need their help.

Step Two
Our next step is to perform a self-inventory of our skills, abilities, talents, and contacts as they relate to our fellow networkers. I suggest creating a chart which includes in formation such as our fellow networker's name, type of business, specific needs and desires as well as their talents, abilities, contacts, memberships and so on. Some of the abilities, which could be valuable to others in your network, may have absolutely nothing to do with business. For example, I'm fairly good at golf. I found out that someone in my personal referral network was interested in finding some golf partners. I have invited that person to play golf in our foursome several times. Not only have we had the pleasure of including them in our activities, but I have had the opportunity to find out more about their business and talk to them about what it is I do and how I help my customers. As a result, I have received a referral for a fairly large printing job, which we are working on at this very moment. I am also a classical guitarist. I was playing a tape in my car one day while taking a fellow networker and prominent Real Estate Agent to lunch. She heard the music and told me her daughter was getting married and she wanted to have that kind of music for the cocktail hour at the wedding. When I told her that it was me and I would play for free at her daughter's wedding, she was ecstatic. She reviewed her contact list with me and wrote a letter to every person on the list introducing me as a resource for them.
What talents, abilities, contacts, and skills do you have? How can you exploit them to HELP others!

Step Three
The third step is know what to say when in a networking situation. Helping the other person is of course foremost, but we also have to make sure that our fellow networkers know and understand what it is that we do and HOW we have benefited our clients. I like to boil this down to what I call a "Benefit Profile." The "Benefit Profile" should be no more than 30 seconds, NOT sound like a sales pitch and include the following:

1. Your typical client
2. Client challenges
3. Client benefits
4. How you are different

My Benefit Profile is as follows:
My customers are typically companies in the $2 million to $10 million range. They have exceptional product quality and responsive service. In the past they were very profitable but now find they face price competition from cheap imitators. They like that our marketing and management consulting programs go beyond just preparing ads and promo material. They say we're more affordable because we're NOT paid based on a percentage of advertising. Our mission is to propose creative solutions, influence direction and generate greater profitability for our clients. (Learn more about how to build powerful "Benefit Profiles" in my upcoming Dale Carnegie Class in Long Beach, CA starting this December).

Know Where the Bodies Are Buried
As Harvey Mackay states in his book, Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, "Networking may not be rocket science, but studies prove it works with rocket scientists." Consider the scientific community. Scientific superstars are typically perceived as loners, nerds in white coats. Nothing can be further from the truth. The reality is that scientist and engineers are the best networkers on the planet. They know who to dial-up when they need to find grant or research money. When they are stuck with a problem they can call on the experts in the field to get their opinion. They even know how to become celebrated in the press to promote themselves and new discoveries.

Some may be familiar with the movie Six Degrees Separation. It refers to the theory that there's a chain of no more than six people that link every person on this planet to every other person. That means if we know the right people and they respect, trust and admire us we can get to know just about any other person we need. It's all about people.

Taking a Risk
Taking a risk is critical when building an effective networking team. By taking a risk, I mean allowing yourself to fail. This gets back to the concept of giving for the sake of giving and expecting nothing return. Of course we want to network with those that have the capacity to help us in the future, if not now. But if others know that we are giving to them strictly for the reason of helping them, they'll be much more inclined to refer us to those that might have the capacity to buy our product or service.

Educational Marketing

You have two choices when you select a marketing message. You can choose traditional selling-based marketing, in which you take on the role of a salesperson and deliver a message of features and benefits. Or you can choose Education-Based Marketing, in which you take on the role of a consultant and educate prospective clients about their problems and the potential solutions.

Selling-based marketing is built around a selling message, sometimes called a sales pitch. The sales pitch is often delivered using methods that reach out to prospective customers, such as telephone selling, direct mail and door-to-door sales. Education-Based Marketing is built around an educational message, which replaces the sales message. The educational message is commonly delivered to prospective clients through educational means. These include written materials, media publicity (articles and interviews), advertising, seminars, newsletters, audio and video tapes, and Internet web sites. Frankly, you can educate your prospective clients using any method through which they can get your information and advice.

Typically, your Education-Based Marketing program works like this: You create an educational message, which you first put into the form of a written handout. Then you offer your handout to prospects who are interested in your services. Prospects call your office to get your free written materials. You respond by sending the materials and inviting prospects to an upcoming seminar. In addition, you keep prospects educated through your educational newsletter.

You put your message in front of your prospects through paid advertising, articles in newspapers and magazines, and interviews on radio and TV. In addition, you communicate with people on your mailing list and invite them to attend your seminar and bring their friends and associates.

Selling-based marketing creates these problems:

1. Prospects go out of their way to avoid you because they are tired of selling and sales pressure. They don't like to be approached by salespeople who have something to sell.
2. Prospects don't think they can trust you because all of us have been burned by salespeople who gave us "inaccurate" and even false information in their eagerness to earn a commission.
3. Prospects are defensive and protective because they expect you to try to pressure them into buying something they don't want or need.

Education-Based Marketing provides these solutions:

1. You give prospective clients what they want, information and advice -- and you remove what they don't want, a sales pitch.
2. You maintain your dignity because you never make any effort to sell.
3. You establish yourself as an authority because prospective clients see you as a reliable source of information.
4. You don't seek out prospects; instead, they call you.
5. You reach prospects during the first stage of the decision-making process, often before they call your competitors.
6. You identify even marginal prospects who suffer from phone-call fear, but who aren't afraid to call for your free information.
7. You prove that calling your office is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it's a positive experience.
8. You save money because you don't need expensive brochures.
9. You receive calls from qualified prospects who are genuinely interested in your services and you screen out people who are not your prospects.
10. You establish your credibility and make a positive first impression by offering helpful information rather than a sales pitch.
11. You save time by answering common questions in your materials and seminars, rather than answering the same questions over and over.
12. You begin to earn your prospect's loyalty because you've made an effort to help him, even if he or she doesn't become your client.
13. You know precisely how well your marketing works because you can count the number of prospects who respond -- and the number who go on to become clients.
14. You gain a competitive advantage simply by using this method because few, if any, of your competitors currently use it.
15. You benefit from the synergy of several educational methods that reinforce each other.
16. You earn a true profit, rather than just creating more work and more overhead.

Educating Customers

As small business owners, we usually can't afford to compete with the big boys on price or selection. They have economies of scale a small business can't hope to ever match. When competing with Wal-Mart, Fry's, Deloitte & Touche, and numerous other giants, your point of differentiation usually comes down to the knowledge and hands on approach you take. How can you leverage your knowledge to keep customers coming back, and better yet, tell others about your business?

Here are some tips on ways to better educate your client base and give them a reason to keep doing business with you instead of the low price leaders:

• Provide prospects and clients with what they want, information and advice- and remove what they don't want, a sales pitch.

• Maintain your dignity because you never make any effort to sell.

• Establish yourself as an authority because prospects and clients see you as a reliable source of information.

• Reach out to prospects during the first stage of the decision-making process, often before they call your competitors.

• Prove that calling your office is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it's a positive experience.

• Screen prospects that are genuinely interested in your services and only do business with those whom you can genuinely help.

• Establish your credibility and make a positive first impression by offering helpful information rather than a sales pitch.

• Save time by answering common questions in your materials and seminars, rather than answering the same questions over and over.

• Earn your prospect's loyalty because you've made an effort to help him, even if he or she doesn't become your client.

You gain a competitive advantage simply by using this method because few, if any, of your competitors currently use it.

As an effort to keep you, our readers, informed, please note that our weekly Radio Show, Small Business Radio, can now be heard on the web live directly through the KLSX Free FM 97.1 website. Just go to: https://www.radiomat.com/register.php?action=register&station=KLSXFMand register to listen live to KLSX at any time! You can also find podcasts of our most popular shows at: http://www.sbanetwork.org/radio. 

Have a great week!

Don't Be Out Marketed

"If you know the enemy as yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt."

-Sun Tzu

Have you ever worked hard at getting a new piece of business? Maybe it was with a customer that perfectly matched your target profile. Or maybe your product or service fit their need so perfectly that it seemed like there was no other solution. Maybe you quoted a price that was far and away the deal of the century. But still they chose your competition. Why? How did it happen?

There is only one reason we lose business:

We are OUT MARKETED!

The competition knew something we didn't. Regardless of how convincing our pitch or how great our product, service, price or delivery, the client made their decision based on something more. And that particular out-weighted all of the others. Maybe the odds were so heavily stacked against us we didn't even have a chance and we didn't even know it. We may have been outsold while happily pitching features and benefits or perhaps the decision was made from the start. Either way we never addressed the real issues or created the right kind of influence and we lost.

Good Marketing Skills are NOT Enough
Conventional sales and marketing techniques help us in only two dimensions of the selling effort. They focus on the relationship between the seller and the buyer. This is only part of the equation. It also makes the customer the threat in the process. It's US and THEM. The real world is three- dimensional:

Dimension One - Seller
Dimension Two - Buyer
Dimension Three - Competition

When we leave the competition out of the picture we get a warped view of reality. Kind of like a two dimensional view of a three dimensional world. The real threat in the transaction is the competition. Now, I'm not here advocating some kind of hostile relationship with the competition. Nor am I saying that it's not possible to collaborate with your competition. Under the right circumstance complementary competitive relationships are good and appropriate. But in most situations your competition wants that piece of business as much as you do. Typical small business marketers, however make no provisions for the competitive threat.

Good Products are NOT Enough
While it is true that superior products will produce more potential marketing advantages, it is possible to win the business even with an inferior product. If you judge yourself and your efforts by the strength of your product then you may make the fatal mistake of judging your competition's potency by the strength of their product or service. Unfortunately most marketing and selling campaigns don't focus on building demand, strengthening relationships and infiltrating deeper into the prospective client's organization. Exceptional marketers find ways to become viable with prospective clients despite product or service deficiencies. They play down the product's deficiencies while playing up the political and philosophical compatibilities between themselves and the prospect. They might even find ways to bring in other vendors under the guise of a "networked solution" to fulfill the prospect's motive. Or they may strategically muddy the waters not so much to make themselves more attractive but to make YOU less attractive to the prospect.

Imagine if there were a way to weaken the competition's footing while at the same time strengthening your own. Well there is. Here are a few suggestions about how to "prepare" to infiltrate and influence prospects more successfully. Some are marketing oriented and others are sales directed. But in either case they require good coordination of resources and a strong plan:

1. Shop your competition as if you were a buyer. Get their marketing material. Subscribe to their newsletters and analyze their advertising. You can't come up with a plan to thwart the competition if you don't know who they are or understand their motives. Remember they are the "third dimension" of the sale.

2. Early on in the marketing campaign it is critical that we build relationships at varying levels in the prospect hierarchy. I'm not recommending "going over the head" of your key contact but rather to look for ways to bring value to others in the organization BEFORE you try to close the deal.

3. Connect with people within the prospect's organization who have a clear vision of the future of their company and for whom your relationship transcends the current selling situation.

4. Seek for greater "political alignment" rather than just a good fit for your product or service.

5. Don't meet competitive price cuts with further reductions. When your competition cuts their price at the 11th hour, they are doing you a favor. Give your prospect something to think about. Have a discussion as to why the competition would wait until now to offer a drastic discount? Could it affect their service in the future? Will they be paying in some other way? What will they be giving up? It is important that we do this in a casual way without disparaging the competition.

6. If you are a victim of disparaging comments, you could also use this to your advantage. Early on in the relationship you will likely talk with the client about their background and they will ask about yours. Don't respond like most with your job history, alma mater and so on. Instead tell them about your values. How important ethics are and how you would never want to work for a company that made disparaging comments. Do this without mentioning the competition. Tell them why you like working for your company. This is subtle but very powerful. Everyone likes to feel as though they are ethical, have integrity and they want to associate with those who do.

Sun Tzu's twenty-five hundred year old admonition to "know your enemy" is still good advice for small business marketers and professionals today. In order to win, one must prepare to win and one must first win in their mind.

Defining Your Target

Target marketing is the process of choosing smaller market segments at which to aim your marketing efforts. It is the process of locating specific groups of people that have reasonable commonalities in terms of their description and needs.

Target marketing is a "vertical approach" to increasing your influence and market share. The brands with the most highly focused target audience are usually the most successful. 

Here are the rules to selecting a target audience:

• Choose one target audience first. My recommendation is to work on penetrating that audience for one year before moving on. You can not be everything to everyone.
• Choose your target audience based on their revenue needs and budget capabilities.
• The tighter your focus, the more often you can provide them with relevant information and the more that this information will be beneficial.
• Choose you target audience based on you own interests.
• Choose the type of people that you like to do business with.
• Quality is far more important than quantity.
• Be Picky
• Experienced marketers know that if you are rejecting the kind of business that you don't want, the more attractive you will become to those that are part of your vertical strategy. This also gives you the ability to become experts in your business as it relates to THEIR business.

Research Works
Don't be afraid of doing some research to understand the vertical market that you select. There are some tremendous resources for this today:

• Vertical industry publications
• Trade magazines
• The Lifestyles Market Analyst
• FIND/SVP
• Nexus/Lexus
• The Internet

Demographics
The first step is to define WHO are target audience is. What do they look like? This is called demographics. An example of demographics are:

• Age of prospect or target company
• Gender balance
• Size of the business
• Revenues
• Location
• Industry type
• Type of customer base

Psychographics
But this isn't really good enough. We also need to know WHY they make good prospects. In other words not just demographics but psychographics:

• Company or personal mission
• Management style
• How they make decisions
• Industry reputation

Example of my demographic profile:
Our weekly consulting clients are Southern California businesses involved in marketing growth oriented services. They typically generate from $3 to $10 million in revenue and yield a minimum of 20% gross profit. While we work with the entire staff, we primarily help owners make better management decisions.

Example of my psychographic profile:
Our clients have good reputations in their industry but seek to overtake their competitors who are typically old-line industry leaders. They have an informal management style but are committed to improvement, training/education. The desire to make better management decisions and become influencers in their industry.

I encourage every small business to spend the time to develop their own demographic and psychographic profile.

Define Your Core Business

One of the most important issues facing entrepreneurs and small business owners today is how to GROW their companies. This is the focus of my consulting practice, my weekly radio show, my web site and my sales and marketing classes.

Achieving sustained and profitable growth is extremely difficult without having at last one strong and differentiated core business on which to build. The need for a strong core business to support a growth strategy requires defining both what a business IS and what it is NOT.

This is true for small companies as well as large ones. Even as a very small organization, Dell Computer Company established its market differentiation and eventual industry leadership by recognizing the potential for "direct selling" rather than the VAR (value added reseller) distribution channel typical for the computer industry. Today, 35% of computers are sold direct to consumers and Dell now dominates this channel.

Often times companies stray from their core business in pursuit of other adjacent opportunities. This can be motivated by industry turbulence, downward price pressure or specific market demands. Take the ophthalmic giant, Bausch and Lomb. Throughout the mid-1980s they leveraged their hold on the market by creating a new technology that made soft contact lenses affordable. The result was an astounding 40% market share. Competitors began attacking their position with newer technologies. Bausch and Lomb responded by diverting their attention from their core business into other adjacent products such as electric tooth brushes, skin ointments, and hearing aids. They developed no obvious linkage to their core lens business and as a result lost their dominance and eventually declined to only 16% market share.

It is important to define your core business in its clearest terms. It should be defined as that set of products, capabilities, customers, distribution channels and geographies that embody the essence of what your company is or aspires to be in order to GROW revenue in a sustained, profitable fashion.

I know that's a mouthful. But let's break it down using my company as an example.

My little company offers the following CORE PRODUCTS:

• Business consulting
• Advertising services
• Training classes
• Management coaching
• Marketing planning

Our CORE CAPABILITIES include:

1. Creating change from the "Inside-Out" - - Working directly with small business owners to gain the willing cooperation of their staff to establish systems, set goals, measure progress and improve performance.
2. Creating change from the "Outside-In" - - - Establishing a unique position in the market for the company, develop product/service differentiation, and strong brand value and client response.

Our CORE CUSTOMERS are entrepreneurs and small business owners

Our CORE DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS are our exclusive Internet-based Virtual Consulting Sessions. group training classes, business development programs and one-on-one coaching and consulting.

Our CORE GEOGRAPHY is Southern California.

Using this as an example, begin to define your CORE STRATEGY. If you are interested in learning more about core business strategy development, enroll in our new class, "Out-Marketing the Competition."

Customers as Salespeople

About a week ago, I was glued to my computer, clicking the refresh button on my web browser over and over again. What causes this kind of silly behavior? Something known in the world of nerds as a "Woot Off". I've written in the past about my favorite on-line shopping site, Woot.com. 

What makes Woot special is that they only sell one item at a time on their web site. As I write this, they are offering a universal remote control for sale. This item will remain for sale until they either sell out, or until they list their next item at 12 Midnight Central Time. This policy of "One day, one item", however, changes once in a blue moon to a mode called a "Woot Off". During a "Woot Off”, they sell limited quantities of items at great prices, and as soon as one is sold out, they list another for sale. When their allotment of computer video cards sold out in five minutes, they listed a backlight keyboard that sold out in seven minutes, followed by other rapid sellouts. 

As a fan of random technology gadgets and products, I couldn't wait to see what was next, hence my constant refreshing of my web browser. This went on for a few hours, until a bread maker went on sale. Since the typical customer of this site is for lack of a better term a "computer geek", a bread maker was not exactly tops on the list of items to buy. Instead of a rapid sellout, I was dismayed to see the bread maker sit on the page seemingly with no end in sight. One hour passed, then another, and yet another. Would someone please buy a bread maker so we can get back to USB drives, cell phone headsets, and robotic lawnmowers?

Rather then sit idly by, the customers of Woot.com went out and began posting about what a great deal this bread maker was on all kinds of websites. They mobilized on message boards, by e-mail, and even began calling friends who might be interested in the appliance. Some customers went so far as to "take one for the team" and buy a bread maker, just so they would sell out faster, despite not wanting one! Eventually, enough bread makers were sold and the "Woot Off" resumed.

Think about what happened. Customers who didn't even want to buy what was being sold went out and actively sought new customers for this website! They became a de facto sales force for an item just so they could buy something else from them later that same day. Now THAT is customer loyalty.

Now for most businesses selling only one item at a time won't work, but you may be able to inspire your customer base in a similar way. What can you do to mobilize the good will you have with your customers? I'd love to hear the ideas you come up with. And if any one wants a great deal on a bread maker, let me know and I'll be sure to call you the next time they're holding up a "Woot Off".

 

This article was written by SBA Network Sales technology Specialist Matt Walker.  You can reach him at: mwalker@sbanetwork.org or 714-269-4123.

Have a great week!

Co-opetition

"It's a war out there Mark," I often hear people say. "Business is war. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. Fight the good fight. And may the best man or women WIN!"

Some think that business IS war. Under this scenario there are victors and vanquished. As Gore Vidal said: "It is not enough to succeed, others must fail." But does that philosophy really work? Does this really get us more business and loyal customers? Do we have to defeat our competitors to become more important to our customers? Let's look at the flip side. There is also plenty of talk about relationship marketing, listening to customers, working with suppliers, creating teams, empowerment, strategic partnerships and so on. Aren't these precepts mutually exclusive? Should we strive for competition or cooperation?

The truth is that there are few victors when business is conducted as war. Sure there are those players with whom we are in direct competition. But there are far more that we can cooperate with to benefit the market as a whole. We can do both... co-opetition.

Price Wars
Just look at what happens in price wars. Nobody wins. The price leaders drive the market price down squeezing out competition but in the long run these victors lose their profitability and value in the mix. A good example of this was the airline price wars. Between 1990 and 1993 they lost more money collectively than they made in all the time since Orville and Wilbur Wright!

The Solution
Business is cooperation when it comes to creating a pie and competition when it comes to dividing it up. In other words, business is War and Peace. You have to compete and cooperate at the same time. Your success does not require others to fail. You can compete without having to kill the competition.

Collaboration is the process of working with others. More and more marketers are finding that their customers are demanding bundled solutions. By partnering with others we can become far more important to prospects and customers. We can also create a stream of referrals from credible partners. These type of referrals tend to be a higher quality and are more qualified.

Think Compliments
Seek out those that compliment your business. A compliment is a product or service that makes any other product or service more attractive. The classic example of compliments is computer hardware and software. Faster hardware prompts people to upgrade. Powerful software motivates people to buy more faster hardware. Just look at Windows and Pentium chips. Discovering "Complimentors" is about finding a way to make the pie BIGGER rather than fighting over how to slice up a tiny Scooter Pie. So how do we identify competitors and complementors?

Complementors
A player is a complementor if customers value your product MORE when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone. 
Example: Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs and Guldens Mustard

Competitors
A player is a competitor if customers value your product LESS when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone.
Example: Coca-Cola and Pepsi -Cola

Typical partners in success have been:

• Disney and McDonalds
• Universal and Burger King
• Sears and Allstate
• Visa and American Airlines
• Perfume Makers and Department Stores

Who are good complimentors for your business? As a business advisor, good complimentors for me are attorneys, CPA's, designers, Internet professionals, computer consultants, training companies, TV and radio stations, magazines, newspapers, printers, and more. I challenge you to brainstorm a list of 5 to 10 complimentory businesses. Then make a list of specific contacts within those categories that could currently be utilized. First see what you can do to help them. Then watch the magic of co-opetition unfold!

Companies are People Too

Last week news broke about K-Mart purchasing retailing giant Sears. It sounds unbelievable but it is happening. This made me think about Attraction Rule #11: Who we are is more important than what we do. Does K-Mart know who they are? Better yet does K-Mart understand who the public THINKS they are?

The real question is can Kmart and Sears together work enough magic to pull in new customers? And can they together establish two viable store brands that stand for something distinctive in consumers' minds? Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing's for sure: It won't be easy.  Every company has a personality. While the people inside the company have personalities, the company itself has a personality. For example when you think about Starbucks, you think a fun place to meet and "hook-up" with people. It's casual but trendy. On the other hand when you think about getting a cup of coffee at Denny's, the personality is altogether different. Denny's is a place to have a good inexpensive breakfast. It's great for one-on-one private meetings. Their personalities or "brands" are very different from one another. The Branding Statement Everything that we do and say both internally and externally should revolve around our Branding Statement. For obvious reasons I will NOT refer to the Branding Statement in its acronym form as BS. I think we are all sick of hearing BS from the sugary sweet-talking of those slick marketers. The last thing we want to do is have some contrived little sound byte that makes our ads and brochures read like proto-typical marketers. We should use our branding statement internally to help us construct our marketing message that will be communicated in every aspect of our business. Then when we do deliver the branding statement in our material, we do it in the course of highly targeted marketing material. We are Influencers, NOT merely Marketers Our goal is not to SELL or, market to our customers, but rather to influence them. When we SELL them, they move away from us, because they are fearful of being coerced into making the wrong decision. We must earn the right to influence them by aligning ourselves in a way that sets us apart as a friend, advisor and confidant. Then we will become the ONLY solution to their needs. Speak in Terms of THEIR Interest As the great master of human relations, Dale Carnegie, said, "speak in terms of the other person's interest." We need to be willing to give a little. The reason people are running away from you is that you are trying to TAKE. Be willing to give. What can I give, you ask? It doesn't have to be about tangible items you give away- in fact, it is best if you don't give away trinkets, but rather knowledge. If nothing else, give them an education. That's right. EDUCATE your prospect, and you will create a customer for life! Here's a great example of how a branding statement works: http://www.sbanetwork.org/articles/articles_view.asp?id=53 10 Key Criteria for Developing the Branding Statement Express your exclusive marketing position Targeted to specific audience Let them visualize you in action Express a benefit oriented solution for the prospect that alleviates some pain Positively influence the customer rather than try to SELL them Align yourself with the customer Speak in terms of their interests Educate the customer Deliver the branding statement in a friendly way Give examples of client successes The bottom line is "who we are" or what people perceive we are is far more important than what we do. This is true for K-Mart as well as Sears and it is true for you and I. Chances are your competitors are doing the same thing that you are doing but they can never be the same person or have the same personality as you. As with individuals, companies have personalities. Is your company's personality bland, unrecognizable or "me too?" Or is it bright, vibrant and hard to forget. I hope the latter.  Developing Brands - Monday, Nov. 22 at 1pm While this article may just begin to address the subject of branding, I will be conducting a Tele-Clinic on Branding next Monday, November 29, 2004 at 1pm during which I will focus on the steps to creating a powerful branding strategy and how to put a branding campaign into action in a practical way. During this 30 minute Tele-Clinic I will be referring to numerous case studies and I will take questions as well. We will only be able to accommodate a limited number of participants for this telephone clinic so act now. Tele-Clinics are held over a standard telephone line during which I present detailed information on ways to improve your business performance. They are a great way to get your specific questions answered directly by me. The cost is only $29. To read more go to www.deoteleclinics.com, and to register, go tohttps://www.sbanetwork.org/learning/signup.asp.  BACK IN PRIME TIME! Thanks to you, our loyal listeners and readers, we're back in prime time! Check out the Small Business Hour every Saturday at 3pm on 97.1FM in Los Angeles. You can still hear us on the internet at www.smallbusinesshour.com. Have a great week! I hope that this "Business Update" has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com  Mark Deo

Collaborate Rather Than Compete

Print this article.

This week’s business update is focused on Rule #10 of the rules of attraction.  We will be discussing all 14 rules of attraction and working on building an action plan for each participant at our upcoming Attraction Workshops.  Go to:http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp to read more and to register.  As an added bonus, all paid attendees will receive their choice of our Attract More Business programs on Branding, Target Marketing, or Generating Ad Response for FREE!

Siemens, the global communications company, announced in 2004 that it would cooperate withtheir BIGGEST rivals, Motorola and Ericsson, with the goal of developing a standard for so-called “push-to-talk” technology. Now why would these competitors cooperate on such a mission critical technology? Aren’t they afraid that one competitor might hold back a key ingredient? Or that one competitor might use information gained to try to damage or eliminate the other competitor once and for all?

Not at all! They have far bigger fish to fry. You see, push-to-talk allows handsets to be used like walkie-talkies – a feature mobile phone operators believe will significantly increase their revenues by encouraging users to talk more. Apparently, the three companies will conduct tests to make their technologies totally compatible with each other, enabling customers of different operators to talk to one another – something that is essential if push-to-talk is to penetrate the mass market. Do you think this will have a negative or positive effect on revenues and client satisfaction of each player? Do you think that this will increase the “attraction” of each of these players? You bet! In fact it could literally revolutionize the telecommunications industry makingEricsson, Siemens and Motorola the only games in town.

Many would say that our entire free-economy system is built on the foundation of competition. Competition drives the supply and demand curve, it is the catalyst in pricing models, and it fuels the need for innovation. Yet some have suggested that cooperation and collaboration with our competitors can be valuable. Co-opetition, the book by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuffof Yale Business Management School makes a powerful case that under specific circumstances there is greater value in cooperating with certain customers, suppliers and even competitors rather than competing.  The central concept is that we can create complimentary product or service relationships that allow products and services to become more important when purchased TOGETHER rather than separately. This relationship results in a reduction of marketing costs and ultimately in an increase in marketshare, client loyalty and even brand value. Using “game theory” the authors demonstrate how complimentary related products can lead to expansion of the market and the formation of new business relationships.

In order to increase our attraction we must seek out those partners that compliment our business. A compliment is a product or service that makes any other product or service more attractive. The classic example of compliments is computer hardware and software. Faster hardware prompts people to upgrade. Powerful software motivates people to buy faster hardware. Just look at Windows and Pentium chips.

Recently I needed to make color copies of a report so where did I go? Kinko’s. We all know Kinko’s as a reliable, convenient and cost effective place to get your reports printed, copied and bound.  But when I drove to the store I was shocked by what I saw. The name on the front of the store no longer said, “Kinko’s.” It said “FedEx/Kinko's.”  Prior to acquiring Kinko’s, FedEx spent millions on testing the concept of combining locations. The test was so successful that FedEx eventually bought Kinko’s, lock, stock and barrel. It makes sense. If you are going to a store to design, develop, print and copy business or personal communication material, doesn’t it make sense that you will want to SHIP it somewhere? For FedEx, collaborating with Kinko’s turned-out to be a tremendous windfall.

Discovering "Complimentors" is about finding a way to make the pie BIGGER rather than fighting over how to slice up a tiny Scooter Pie. So how do we identify competitors and complimentors? A player is a complimentor if customers value your product MORE when they have the other player’s product than when they have your product alone.

Let’s revisit our example of FedEx and Kinko’s. Customers value Kinko’s MORE now that FedEx is located directly inside the Kinko’s location. What used to take visiting two locations (a Kinko’s and a FedEx store) now takes ONE visit. This makes things smoother for the customer and increases value for both partners. 

A player is a pure competitor if customers value your product LESS when they have the other player’s product than when they have your product alone. An example of this would be Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. Either you have one or the other. You would be hard-pressed to find someone going to a convenience store and ordering a Coke and a Pepsi at the same time. One is valued in EXCLUSION to the other.

Here are some typical partners engaged in successful complementary marketing relationships:

 · Disney and McDonalds 
 · Universal and Burger King 
 · Sears and Allstate 
 · Visa and American Airlines 
 · Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs and Guldens Mustard

These represent collaborative relationships at the “end” of the supply chain. That is to say the collaboration occurs in the arena where marketers cooperate to increase the potential opportunity for each player. Collaboration can also be used at the “beginning” of the supply chain to significantly reduce the cost of manufacturing, development, or delivery. Suppliers and end-users can collaborate on technology, applications, processes, and even supply chain in order to make themselves more attractive as an industry.

Ed Marien, director of logistics and transportation management programs at the University of Wisconsin School of Business has made a career out of studying collaborative strategies. He said in an interview with Supply Chain Brain, an industry publication that “collaborative alliances are a means of sharing strengths.” He cites Federal-Mogul, a piston maker for the automotive industry that is using its buying power to purchase sheet metal for many of its suppliers at a lower cost than they could negotiate alone. How about process collaboration? ConsiderBridgestone/Firestone, which began mounting its tires on wheels at the request of automotive assemblers. As is happening in many cases, this activity has been spun off into a whole new business unit that now is mounting not only its own tires but also those of Bridgestone’s competitors. This unit has become one of the company’s fastest-growing and most profitable divisions, illustrating how alliances can lead companies to develop core strengths they did not previously have.

Who are good complimentors for your business? As a business advisor, good complimentors for me are attorneys, CPA's, designers, Internet professionals, computer consultants, training companies, TV and radio stations, magazines, newspapers, printers, and more. I challenge you to brainstorm a list of 5 to 10 complimentary businesses. Then make a list of specific contacts within those categories that can currently be utilized. First see what you can do to help them. Then watch the magic of co-opetition unfold!

With all these changes taking place in our society we are seeing the emergence of work-groups, virtual teams and alliance, affiliate and even cooperative competitive relationships like co-opetition. The way collaboration is being used in business today is literally smashing the traditional concept of supplier, vendor, and competitive relationships. The line between partner, competitor and supplier is blurring. In order to be more attractive we all must find ways of using Rule # 10 of the rules of attraction more effectively. We must collaborate rather than compete.

Seeking a way to put this into practice for your business?  Come to our Attraction workshops!  Go to: http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp for more information!

Category Killer

Curiosity killed the cat.

Sometimes we business leaders can be like cats. We become a little too curious for our own good. Like cats our curiosity finds us "straying" from the core products and services that provide profit and growth to our business.

I spent the first ten years of my career in the consumer electronics business. In the early eighties I found myself running the U.S. operations for a high-end audio company called Nikko Audio. Nikko was a prime manufacturer of, what we referred to in those days as, separate components. We specialized in separate power amplifiers, preamplifiers and tuners. We also sold receivers, tape decks and (Uh Oh - I'm dating myself) turntables. But the "separates" were our core products.

This was well before the days of the electronic super stores. At that time the consumer electronics marketplace was dominated by small, independent, and salon type retailers. At Nikko we had built a reputation for providing a great deal of training and support for our retailers. When we pursued a retailer we would spend a considerable amount of time educating the owners and managers, training the sales people and even requiring every retailer to put at least one salesperson per location through our Nikko University. The cost of acquiring new clients was astronomical but we maintained a very loyal retailer base. We were enjoying steady annual growth, strong brand recognition and higher than industry-average profits. Our retailers were also enjoying a high profit margin and the consumer was getting a great product.

Disco Days
In those "disco days" the one-brand audio system was gaining popularity. Companies like Fisher, Sony, Pioneer and JVC were packaging amplifiers, tuners, tape decks and turntables into one box in order to lower the price for consumers and provide greater profit margins for retailers.

At that time I was the V.P of Sales and Marketing for Nikko Audio. I was receiving a great deal of pressure from our sales force as well as my manufacturing counterparts in our Tokyo office to enter the one-brand system fray. They agreed that our higher-end separate components were our core products and should receive our primary focus but they believed that many consumers could become audiophiles by starting with the one-brand system approach and then "growing into" higher-end separate components. They argued that many consumers simply could not afford our separate components and that the one-brand approach gave them the ability to at least have an experience with the Nikko brand. They also said that this could expand our brand recognition and top of the mind awareness with general consumers. They felt that if we satisfied the consumers need for a one-brand system then they would remember us in the future and choose our brand when their audio palette became more discerning or they had greater resources. They also felt that this would allow us to collaborate with speaker manufacturers, CD makers, cabinet companies and so on thereby making Nikko more valuable to a greater number of retailers and consumers. They argued that these large suppliers were not competitors but rather complimentors to the Nikko brand.

Convincing Argument
These sounded like very persuasive and compelling arguments. They made sense on the surface. But all of my instincts told me this was the wrong solution. My feeling was that this would water down our core products, lower our position in the market and destroy our point of differentiation in the industry. In addition, I was concerned about alienating our loyal retailers when these "low cost" systems hit the street. I was concerned about losing our leadership in the market. The Nikko line of audio components were designed for discerning audiophiles NOT the average consumer. I argued that with our current cost of acquisition, the reduction in margin of these "one brand systems" would quickly chew up our profits. I even gave them projected profit and loss statements showing this potential outcome.

Unfortunately I lost this debate. Nikko did introduce a line of "one brand systems." They sold like hotcakes and I ate crow. However, it was the calm before the storm. Within 12 months the marketplace was flooded with these systems and the price war began. It was a blood bath and we couldn't stop the bleeding. Our warehouse was full of one-brand systems that were simply "me-too." Our pricing was 30% too high, we were losing money and we had alienated our loyal retailers. Without trying to, we had abandoned our core product selection. Our curiosity in this "one-brand" system approach KILLED the demand for our core category of products. In short, it was the "curiosity that killed the cat."

The First Deadly Sin
We made the first deadly sin of product marketing. We abandoned BEING the leader in favor of FOLLOWING the leader. The only people that won were those companies that we collaborated with - the companies that supplied us with the speakers, CD players, cabinets and so on. We lost, the retailers lost, even the consumers lost in the end.

Less than a year later the bubble burst. Nearly every company that entered the one-brand category showed red ink. Companies like Sansui, Marantz, Rotel and others literally went out of business. Thank God I gave those projections to the CEO in Japan. Within months ALL of the executives at Nikko (US and Japan) were fired and those projections saved by skinny butt in the end. But Nikko was left only a shell of what it was in the past. The company was sold to Yamaha electronics for (you guessed it) the "high-end separate component" technology. I was tasked with managing the transition.

Maybe you are being seduced by an attractive collaborative relationship. Tread carefully. While I am a huge supporter of collaboration, I urge you to carefully investigate the impact on your core product categories. Remember collaboration only works when it COMPLIMENTS your core product category.

Beware of Wolf in Sheep's Clothing!
As Adam Brandenburger says in his book, Co-opetition, "know the difference between a complimentary relationship and a competitive relationship."

Complimentors
A player is a complimentor if customers value your product MORE when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone. (Example: Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs and Guldens Mustard). No one buys Guldens Mustard INSTEAD of Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs. Guldens is only beneficial if it's WITH Oscar Meyer products.

Competitors
A player is a competitor if customers value your product LESS when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone. (Example: Coca-Cola and Pepsi -Cola)

Also measure the reward basis. Does your profit grow when you are selling your collaborators products or does it shrink? If it shrinks, then this is not a complimentor, likely this is a competitor. Today collaboration, affiliate marketing and co-branding are very much in vogue. Many small business owners and entrepreneurs are becoming involved in what they see to be complimentary relationships when in fact they are just sharing their customer base with the competition. Take particular caution of the large market leaders. They often prey on small players under the guise of collaboration. This is very dangerous and as you can see, for Nikko, it was disastrous.

Don't Follow the Leader
Finally, find some small way that you can be the leader NOT the follower in your market. I see so many businesses making decisions based on the move of a leading competitor in their market. When I ask them why they decide on a specific course of action they tell me, "well that's what the competitive leader is doing." This is the very reason NOT to follow the competition. If you do this you will always be a follower - a brand that has nothing unique to offer to your customers. In fact there is greater wisdom in doing the OPPOSITE of your competitor. David Yoffie and Mary Kwak in their book, Judo Strategy talk about how to turn your competitor's strength into your advantage. They say that the best way to defeat your competition is by NOT copying them. They recommend building your own collaborative relationships not mirroring theirs. They site example such as Real Media, Capitol One, Palm Computing, CNET and Handspring. All of these revolutionary market leaders were born from doing the OPPOSITE of the mainstream.

In short product marketing success is about being different, remaining a leader, protecting your core and knowing the difference between complimentors and competitors.

Buzz Marketing

What influences customers and prospects? Is it what a company says about their product or service through advertising, marketing and direct sales?

Or, is it what other people are saying about the company's product or service?

Surely the later. Then why do we spend so much time and money on traditional marketing, advertising and selling, and so very little on word of mouth marketing?

From Your Mouth to Their Ears
Most marketing focuses on building a case for a better product or service. This is good and necessary but it ignores the fact that for many, purchasing is part of a social decision. People rely on invisible networks of friends, relatives and co-workers for recommendations. This is buzz. I have spoken before about establishing a unique identity, branding and differentiation. Buzz is the natural extension of a branding and identity campaign. And it is beginning to take a much more influential role in the purchasing decision.

Why Buzz Works
Today customer are suffering from information overload. They see and hear so many advertising and marketing messages that it becomes difficult to filter out what is valuable and credible through all the clutter and noise. As a result customers are turning to their friends and associates for purchasing advice more that ever. Marketing experts believe that the new customer, Generation Y - those born between 1979 and 1994 - shop by word of mouth. In the coming years, buzz marketing may that much more important. 
Buzz works so well because talking is in our genes. As human beings, we need to talk. We talk to connect with people. Sharing information is essential to our make-up. We talk about the latest movie we saw, the car we test drove, the book we read and so on.

How to Create Buzz

Here's some simple ways to create buzz about your product or service:

1. Good buzz begins with a positive customer experience. 
There is no substitute for exceptional performance. The key here is to underpromise and over deliver. Try to change your thinking from: "I need to get this sale," to "How can I get this prospect to talk about my product or service?"

2. Give a little away. 
Ask yourself, "How can I get people to experience my product or service without them making a big commitment? How can I giveaway a small piece of my product or service so that people will start talking about it?" When Hotmail launched its Web-based free email service, it experienced the fastest adoption rate of any product ever introduced. Subscriptions went from 0 to 12 million in just 18 months. And each person who signed up helped to recruit other members because a message was sent with each email.

3. Work at building trust
Let's face it at the core most customers and prospects are just plain skeptical. They don't trust us. To begin with, they don't know us. They don't know our values, our history, or our background. The more we tell them how great we are and how wonderful our product and service is, the less they trust us. Instead of pushing our product or service, let the product spread itself through the invisible customer networks through good buzz.

4. Know your customer. 
If you want to create buzz, you have to know your customer and how you are reaching them. Ask yourself the following: From who do your customers learn about your products? What do people say when they recommend your products? In what invisible networks are your products discussed? What kind of information spreads through the networks fastest?

Branding the Stones

We’ve been talking about branding in the last few Business Updates and as Plato said, “the example teaches.” With that in mind we thought we’d take a look at some of the most famous and successful logos over the last few decades.

The first logo I’d like to discuss is the famous lips and tongue. It was suggested to me by one of our subscribers, Tim Mehloff, that the Rolling Stones “lips and tongue” logo would be an interesting case study. As Tim put it, “I mean, how many rock and roll bands had a logo back then?” More importantly the lips and the tongue came to mean something far more than just the Rolling Stones. It came to stand for a generation weaned on rock and roll. It also came to symbolize the party-like, free attitude that dominated the 60s and early 70s.

Where did the logo come from?
It all started at a party in New York in 1969 when Andy Warhol casually mentioned to Mick Jagger that it would be amusing to have a real zipper on an album cover. A year later, Jagger proposed the idea for Sticky Fingers, the first release on the new Rolling Stones label.

Album packager Craig Braun had also suggested releasing the album in a clear plastic jacket with heat-sensitive liquid crystals inside -- "so you could make your own little Joshua Light Show," he says -- as well as with a mammoth foldout cover of Jagger's castle in the sound of France. But Jagger knew what he wanted: The packaging of Sticky Fingers proved the Rolling Stones had not lost their gift for outrageousness and, as their first post-Altamont studio album, very shrewdly moved the Stones away from what Braun calls "the evil thing" and into a more sexual mode.

Sticky Fingers
Sticky Fingers also debuted the famous Stones logo: a caricature of Jagger's lips and tongue. The heavily merchandised image was soon incorporated into pendants, key chains, belt buckles and even tattoos.

Warhol took the cover shot; though many assumed the model was Jagger, it has often been rumored to be a hanger-on at the Factory, Warhol's studio, named Joe Dallesandro. Then Braun realized there had to be an extra layer of cardboard to protect the record from the zipper; that layer features another Warhol shot of a different man, possibly the twin brother of Warhol's "boyfriend" and assistant Jed Johnson, this time in his jockey shorts.

But it turned out that during shipment the zipper would press into the album stacked on top of it (invariably damaging "Sister Morphine"); Atlantic Records threatened to sue Braun for all the damage. Braun came up with the solution; pull down the zipper before the album was shipped -- then it would dent only the label. Braun never did figure out how to keep Sticky Fingers from scratching other album covers.

You can brand anything!
While this story may be interesting, it proves that you can brand pretty much anything. I can think of no more than 4 or 5 rock and roll groups that actually have logos even today, not to mention memorable, influential ones. But this is true for most products and services. Few are meaningful let alone memorable. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or marketing guru to create a brand. All you need is honesty, creativity and a viable, interesting product. A good brand creates attraction and tells a story that’s worth telling. A good brand “takes a risk” in the story it tells.

Think about your own company, product or service. Whet male’s it interesting? How can you be brutally honest in the way you communicate its meaningfulness? How can you visually communicate this in a creative way? And just like that…. You have your brand!
 

Thanks goes to the web site: www.superseventies.com for providing their fabulous historical input and to our subscriber Tim for his idea for a retrospect on the Stones logo.

Big Fish, Small Pond

Remember Steve Martin’s, “Let’s Get Small”? That was a funny skit but it taught me a lot about marketing. The first time I saw it was in the early 70’s when I myself was in college taking marketing classes to supplement my core science courses. Little did I know that marketing, not science would become my primary field of study. 

Think Small
Target marketing is the process of choosing smaller market segments at which to focus your efforts. It is the process of locating specific groups of prospects that share a common description and needs. Target marketing is a “vertical approach” to increasing your influence and market share. The brands with the most highly focused target audience are usually the most successful. 

Rules in selecting a target audience 
Choose one target audience first. Work on penetrating that audience for one year before moving on. You cannot be everything to everyone. 
Choose your target audience based on their revenue needs and budget capabilities.
The tighter your focus, the more often you can provide them with relevant information, and the more that this information will be beneficial.
Choose your target audience based on you own interests.
Choose the type of people with which you like to do business.
Quality is far more important than quantity.

Be Picky
Experienced marketers know that if you reject the kind of business that you do not want, you will automatically become more attractive to those that are part of your vertical strategy. This also gives you the ability to become an expert in your business as it relates to THEIR business. Let’s face it, every business is competitive. Because of this, entrepreneurs might often find themselves chasing any business they can get. I talk about this at length in my “Attract More Business” program:

1. Understanding the marketplace

2. Benchmarking

3. Competitive Intelligence

By fully understanding the competitive landscape and how our product, service, and company fits into it, we can find a specialized need in the marketplace that our product EXCLUSIVELY satisfies. For this reason, we should only accept business that matches the profile of the type of customer we want to deal with.
 

Examples:

1. I know a financial consultant that works ONLY with teachers. Now that might sound ridiculous. Teachers, however, have very specialized financial needs. They exclusively qualify for special tax treatment and a larger share of their assets can be sheltered. Additionally, teachers typically have at least two sources of income: teaching and summer jobs or a side business. This requires specialized knowledge and advice. This person has become an EXPERT in the area of financial consulting for teachers.

2. Even the IRS has entered into the world of specialization. They just announced their, “Market Segment Specialization Program” which focuses on developing highly trained examiners for each particular market segment. A market segment may be an industry such as construction or entertainment, a profession like attorneys or real estate agents or an issue like passive activity losses. An integral part of the approach used is the development and publication of Audit Techniques Guides. These Guides contain examination techniques, common and unique industry issues, business practices, industry terminology, and other information to assist examiners in performing examinations. Oh goody, just what we need tax cops with practical industry knowledge!

3. Professionals such as doctors and lawyers have been specialists for years. Today you would be hard-pressed to find a doctor that claims to know how to treat all types of illnesses. In fact, I have become somewhat irritated in trying to get an answer on health issues from just one doctor. It seems today that even the specialists end up referring you to a specialist.

Research Works

Do some research to understand the vertical market that you select. There are some tremendous resources for this today:

• Vertical industry publications or trade magazines

• The Lifestyles Market Analyst

• FIND/SVP - Nexus/Lexus

• The Internet

• Hoover’s

An added bonus to this strategy is that in your research, you will likely come across many prospects that fit your profile. 

Example:
In the early 90’s my consulting firm made the decision that we were going to specialize in specific areas. One of the first areas we selected was the cosmetic surgery field. We had a hunch that this would be a profitable area to focus and so we launched an exhaustive research effort to learn everything we could about cosmetic surgery. We purchased several research studies for just a few hundred dollars. I remember the agency we purchased them from told me that I was one of only 12 people that had purchased the 2600 page study. This gave us an inordinate amount of information about the history of the industry, where it was heading, the most popular forms of surgery, technological advancements, changes in the demographics and psychographics of patients electing surgery, practice management issues, insurance and managed care issues and the potential reduction in the associated costs that were predicted,. 

Additionally, we interviewed 30 different physicians and learned about their perceptions. We even talked to the president of the American Medical Association and invited him on our Small Business Hour radio show. I want to stress, although they would have been great customers, we did NOT pitch ANY of these doctors. With all the information that we gained we were able to write several articles quoting all kinds of statistics about the future of various forms of cosmetic surgery. We were able to speak intelligently on every area of this field. We became MORE knowledgeable in marketing and managing a cosmetic surgery practice than any plastic surgeon. Because of months worth of research and a few hundred dollars, we were soon viewed as the EXPERTS in cosmetic surgery practice management and marketing. We were asked to attend an upcoming medical conference in Sacramento where I gave a speech on the future of cosmetic surgery. It was unbelievable. I was being treated like some expert and I couldn’t even spell liposuction 60 days prior. We gave seminars on practice management and marketing. We were asked to be editorial contributors to the industries trade publication. We were even asked to do a radio show by the massive pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Merck, which we did for 18 months on CBS radio. All this happened well before the TV rage of “Extreme Makeover, “Nip Tuck,” and all of reality show follow-ups. 

As you can imagine, we were able to easily attract some of the most successful, well financed, and well respected cosmetic surgery clients in the industry in just a few short months. In fact, they begged us to take them on as a client! Companies like Sword Medical Center, Cedars Sinai Hospital, Plastico, Boston Medical, and Cosmetic and Laser Surgery all came to us. No cold calls, no mailings, no fancy brochures. We were able to secure a strong position in the market as the leaders in cosmetic surgery consulting. Can you do the same? YES, YES and YES!

Think about your own business: 
Who are the best clients for your business? Why?
What makes them good prospects?
What are some potential target markets that match with these profiles? Why?

Thinking small is the key to big success. The smaller, more tightly confined your marketplace is the better your chances are for success. Locate the smallest pond that you can find. Then figure out how to become the biggest fish in that pond.

Become the Problem

McDonalds has granola, Arby's has yogurt, and even Jack-in-the-Box has fresh fruit. What the hell is going on here? All this healthy eating is making me sick!

Burger King introduced the “Have it Your Way Healthy Options,” McDonald’s launched their ”Balanced, Active Lifestyles Initiative” and even the Cookie Monster is crumbling to a healthy diet with Sesame Street’s “A Cookie is Sometimes Food.”

Let’s admit it, there’s nothing tastier than fast food! Americans have always loved digging into a bucket of chicken, chomping on a Big Mac or downing a Whopper. Then how did the food pyramid ever find its way into the drive-thru? 

I guess it’s because consumers have demanded a healthier diet from fast food operators, right? Wrong. 

Oh, then it’s because our government is forcing fast food operators to be more responsible for planning healthy menus, right? Wrong again!

Ok, then it must be that serving healthier food is more profitable? Not quite!

No one has imposed any “solution” on these operators. Nor should they in my opinion, this is a FREE enterprise system.

Let me introduce you to Morgan Spurlock, a little man who intimidated a multi-billion dollar industry to change their entire business strategy with his award winning documentary, Super Size Me. I loved the movie, the marketing, and the message and you will too. As one critic said; "It will wipe the smile right off your Happy Meal."

How did he do it? He used the second Rule of Attraction. He focused on the "problem." In fact he BECAME the problem. As a result, fast food operators were FORCED to make a change. 

What did he do? He decided to eat ONLY at McDonalds for 30 days to see what would happen to his body. No problem there. Right? Wrong yet again! He almost killed himself. He gained 30 pounds, his blood pressure jumped, his cholesterol went through the roof, lipids and liver enzymes were at all-time danger levels and he developed NASH, (non-alcoholic, steototic hepatitis). Nice job Morgan!

How successful do you think he would have been if he had gone to McDonalds with a solution to the problem? Or lobbied congress or written letters to the FDA? Or created a study of the positive effects of changing their menu to healthy alternatives? Not very! They wouldn’t have given him the time of day. 

The first rule of attraction is to become a bigger fish in a smaller pond. In order to accomplish this we need to understand the problems and challenges of those we are attempting to influence

 

Rule #2: The problem is more important than the solution.

Too often marketers make broad assumptions when communicating their message to clients. This happens in both the selling interaction (face-to-face and on the phone) as well as the marketing interaction (with ads, brochures and web sites.) This is a natural tendency since as marketers we know far more about our products and services than our customers. In many cases we may know what the customer needs more than they do themselves. The danger, however, is that customers don't care about the benefits and solutions that our companies offer. Let me repeat that: CUSTOMERS DON'T CARE ABOUT OUR BENEFITS AND SOLUTIONS!

I can imagine people everywhere are reading this right now saying that I'm crazy. Traditional sales and marketing methods teach that we should elaborate on our features and benefits, and prospects will see how they can be helped by our solutions, and they will logically decide to buy. This assumption is the root of why most sales and marketing attempts fall on deaf ears. People today make buying decisions more emotionally than ever before. Our prospects and customers care FAR more about their problems than they ever will about our solutions! 

Do you think there would have been ANYTHING Morgan could have shown those fast food industry execs that would have convinced them to change? Not until some pain was inflicted. “There is no change without pain,” I like to say.

This is why it is important that we speak to our prospects and customers in terms of their problems! By doing so, they become uncomfortable with the status-quo and our solutions become much more palatable. This is not so much a logical choice, but rather based on their emotional reaction to the fact that we actually have taken the time to understand their problems. The solutions we offer then become the natural choice to help solve those problems.

All marketers like to believe they have a unique solution. They are confident that they are different from the competition. When you get right down to it, however, most marketing says the exact SAME thing. It talks about what the company, product, or service DOES. At best, it may promise some generic group of benefits in which buyers MAY be interested. Even the best marketing materials (web sites, brochure, flyers, ads, radio or TV spots, promotions, interactive CDs or videos) attempt to communicate to the customer why their product, service or company is better than the competition. Few focus on the problems that the customer is having. This is at the core of the attraction mindset.

Interested in LEARNING how to focus on the problems your customers face? Check out our latest workshop:

Attract More Business One Day Workshops 
By popular demand, we are now offering the Attract More Business one day workshop. This full day workshop incorporates content from our “Attract More Business” learning program and 8 week class. The workshop will be held from 9am to 5pm on June 11, 2005 in Long Beach, CA and August 25, 2005 in Pasadena, CA. Attendees of the workshop are eligible for 2 follow up 30 minute coaching sessions. As a special bonus when you attend the Attract More Business one day workshop, you will receive our audio CD on “Branding in the 21st Century.”

Sign-up at: Attract More Business One Day Workshop.

Back to Basics

This current economy offers advantages to small business that we may not see for quite a while. 

Advantages? What planet am I living on, you might ask. Unemployment is up. The stock market is tumbling and all we seem to be hearing lately is more gloom and doom. 

I'm talking about advantages that allow you to set yourself apart from the competition like never before. While everyone else is crying the blues you can be taking positive, decisive action. Here's the kind of simple actions that get you results in this difficult economy:

Create Revenue
In most environments today, particularly business-to-business, the demand is for more sales. That's what clients want to hear. If you have a legitimate, credible story as to how you can help a company generate revenue, management will clear the calendar with great haste to hear what you have to say. This message is a particularly strong door opener for consultants and service providers. What's your revenue improvement story?

Don't cut marketing
Particularly advertising support. It's the first thing that most companies do in an economic downturn because it is the easiest course of action. But all it does is concede the playing field to the competition. Statistics clearly show that marketers who increase their spending during a recession experience sustainable long-term gains in market share and profitability. Think about how you can beat your competition in reaching your target market more effectively?

Market to your base
Revisit your loyal customers, the ones you have probably taken for granted and ignored as of late. Now is the time to consider instituting a workable system that will help you identify and nurture that loyal base by maintaining an ongoing communication channel with them. What are you currently doing to stay in touch with your customers? 

Start sponsoring
In times of stress, consumers gravitate to the familiar. Your job is to be there as a touch point. That means event promotion, cross-promotion, cause marketing, all of the in-the-trenches, one-on-one, hard-working marketing labor that many companies forsake for the ease of an advertisement or commercial. It's not a matter of either/or, but both. How can you be creative in sponsoring network marketing and event promotions?

Try something new
Consider test markets, new products/ service introductions and any new revenue stream that got put on the back burner when times were flush. If the old revenue streams are drying up, where is the risk in experimenting? Remember, no guts, no glory. How will you "dare to be different" this year?

Think vertical
For small businesses in particular, understanding and mining a vertical segment makes good sense. 
Dig in and dig deep. Capitalize on the credibility that you have built up and sell it aggressively, particularly through referral and word of mouth. Don't be afraid to leap frog from segment to segment when you think you have a translatable story to tell. What new markets can you penetrate? How can you make your solution more important to that selective client base?

Client retention is key
The importance of "the relationship" with the customer never diminishes. For most small businesses, developing and exploiting the relationship is the one major advantage they have over the big players who don't have the time and energy for it in the first place. This boils down to added value. Customers crave it but don't get enough of it. When was the last time you gave serious thought to providing a value-added premium in customer transactions? 

Be the "Terminator" of new business
Now is the time to undertake that aggressive, long-term new business program. Segment the prospects; maintain a disciplined follow-up program (contact management system, direct mail, telemarketing, e-newsletters); and remember that it is a process of consistent and persistent approach and attack. Don't hesitate to contact prospects out of the blue with an idea as to how you can legitimately impact their business. In focus groups, prospective buyers quite often remark on how little they get called on or approached with a legitimate, new perspective about their business. How can you adopt this strategy?

Don't forget self-promotion
When times are tight, most small businesses tend to give up on self-promotion. Now more than ever we should be super-aggressive about telling the world how good we are by seeking high-visibility clients, taking on select pro bono assignments, hitting the speech circuit and chasing "ink." The best line on the subject comes from Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi: "Consumers don't stop buying when economies go through down cycles. They look harder for value." 

The job of the survival marketer in 2002 will be to identify that value, proclaim it loudly and go after the thinning customer herd where others show fear and give up. In this economy so many customers are having reservations about getting a good value on whatever product or service they are buying.

Anti-Attraction

The Top 10 Ways NOT to Attract New Clients

They say marketing has a bad name. But I maintain that NOT marketing has a much worse name. If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner interested in attracting new clients, are you still committing any of the 10 deadly sins listed below?

10. Make sure nobody can really understand what business you're in. Use buzz-words and industry jargon. Never share the results of what you do or mention how you've helped your clients. Make people really work to figure out how you can help them.

9. Talk only about features and processes in your marketing materials. Don't include any benefits or case studies of successful clients you've worked with. Throw in lots of impressive industry jargon and don't worry about professional design or paper. Using 20# copy paper is fine.

8. Put up a quick-and-dirty website with most of the pages still under construction. Make sure to design it yourself and make it look as amateurish as possible. Of course, obscure navigation, huge graphics files and pages that lead nowhere will keep 'em coming back.

7. Forget about spell check and proofreading. People don't care about typos or if you spell their name wrong. Whip out every e-mail as fast as you possibly can. And never put a signature line on your email, let alone a subject line that means anything.

6. Don't ever network. Make sure nobody ever gets to meet you in person and learn who you are and what you can do for them. And if you do happen to show up at a networking event, make sure to sit in a corner with a beer and lots of hors D'oeuvres, away from pesky prospective clients.

5. Don't write any articles or do any talks demonstrating to the world that you're an expert and really know your stuff. Make sure to keep all of that a big secret. Also never share one bit of your expertise with anyone unless they pay you first.

4. Don't ask questions when meeting with a new prospective client. Just give them a long, detailed presentation on all the technical aspects of your work. If they don't understand you, they probably wouldn't be a good client anyway.

3. Do substandard work as long as you think you can get away with it. Strive for mediocrity and make sure your clients pay for it through the nose. Why should you work so hard when they end up making so much money from your expertise?

2. Don't return phone calls - ever. Just wait for them to call you back. If they really need your assistance, they'll keep trying until they catch you in. And when they do reach you, make sure to sound impatient and too busy to help them.

1. Disappear. One you've completed a project, make sure they never hear from you again. Heck if they really need you, they'll call. But don't make it too easy by ever giving them your business card or putting your name in the yellow pages. You don't want to look like you're begging. Have some dignity, for goodness sake!

If any of these symptoms are present in your business, its time to think about making some core changes to your marketing effort. At the Small Business Advisory Network we like to say that we influence decisions, improve performance and inspire change. That's what our consulting, workshops, web site, weekly articles and The Small Business Hour Radio Show are all about.

Alliance Marketing

You may have seen a recent commercial on TV in which men in lab coats stand before a table that has national brands of both french fries and ketchup on it. They sample the ketchup alone, and conclude that it is good. They then sample a french fry and conclude it is good. Then they try the two together, and determine that it is better than either one. This commercial is a very effective example of alliance marketing hard at work. 

Instead of a ketchup company going it alone and promoting their product or a french fry maker buying all the air time themselves, they have combined efforts to present the idea that while their products are good on their own, they are better when eaten together. This is the classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

I can hear people out there now saying, "Sure, it works if you're Heinz Ketchup and have a multi-million dollar ad budget, but I'm just a small business! I don't have tens of millions of dollars to risk on just getting people hooked on other products when they should be spending their money on my product instead!"

For those doubters I'm going to have to invoke two of my Rules of Attraction to show how alliance and affiliate marketing can help a small business even more than a larger one:

Rule #10 - Collaborate rather than compete

Rule #4 - Give information away without selling

Collaborate Rather Than Compete
Instead of viewing other products and services as competitors, look for ways in which you can join efforts to help each other's business. I do a number of seminars every year with the Christopher Howard Companies, and he is a frequent guest on my radio show. Some may say or are competitors. I teach people how to be more successful and so does Chris. So why help out a competitor? Because Chris is more of a complementor than he is a competitor. While we both target the same audience we teach completely different Methods of success. Chris works on the subconscious and I work on the conscious. Working together we are able to reach a greater market as a whole entity than either one of us could reach independently. In addition my methods are more powerful when coupled with Chris’s technologies and his are more powerful when coupled with mine.

You can find collaborators in your industry that you can team with to create a collective solution that attracts a larger audience than any one element could effectively attract on their own. If you make luggage, find someone that makes luggage carts, if you repair cars, team with car rental services, if you sell musical instruments, find a rehearsal studio bands can use and work together to cross promote. Always be on the lookout for ways in which you can work with other entities, rather than ways in which you can compete with them.

Give information away without selling
I'm going to use an example now that I'm sure you never thought you'd see from Mark Deo- while most of my readers have probably never listened to anything from Death Row Records, they are one of the most successful record companies in history, known strictly for their hardcore "gangsta" rap artists. Why bring them up? They also had some brilliant marketing techniques that helped launch the careers of artists that have since sold hundreds of millions of records. How did they do this? By giving away information without selling! With each album they released by an established artist, they included elements in a few songs that featured a new performer. Some songs on their CDs don't even have the person on the CD cover in them for more than a few seconds! What they have done is given the fans of one performer a free taste of another they are likely to enjoy as well.

When you go to the dentist, do you get a free toothbrush? I bet it's a specific brand that that dentist is getting for free to provide you with a positive impression of this brand. This leads to you possibly buying many more of them in the future, based upon the lended credibility and positive overall impression you get about this item. How can you do this in your small business? Do you have free samples of collaborative products and services you can bundle with yours that make your solution more attractive?

How to Make It All Work
Perhaps you’re thinking, “that sounds like a good idea, but how do I get started?”

That’s where my attraction workshop comes in. At the workshop I will take you step-by-step through developing an attraction-based affiliate plan. We will work on crafting your affiliate and alliance strategy. This will include:

• Brainstorm partner potentials (in places you never dreamed)

• How to get the best partners to “come to you” without even chasing them

• What to say and why it works nearly “every” time!

• Use guarantees and risk reversal to your benefit

• How to structure the alliance to ensure that both parties benefit

• Integrate alliance efforts into your overall marketing plan

• Use an alliance to look ten times bigger than you already are

• Use affiliates to overcome price objections

• Numerous case studies and the “in class” examples of success stories

Pre-registration is now available on-line at:http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp. 

Register before July 15th for my Monrovia workshop and before August 15th for my Long Beach Workshop and receive a FREE bonus ticket and bring a friend or business associate. The pre-registration cost of this event is just $299, a savings of $200 from the event cost of $499 at the door. Once one of my associates contacts you, if you mention that you are a business update subscriber, I'll even throw in a free telecoaching follow-up session so that you can get the most out of the event. That's a total value of $1148 available now for just $299. Go to:http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp to pre-register now!

Affiliates, Alliances and Collaboration

Two heads are better than one. This is the phrase that comes to mind when I think of collaborative business relationships. There are several types that we see today. These include affiliates, alliances and joint ventures. This is such an overlooked yet incredibly powerful area of business growth that I thought I would give you just a preview of what we will be working on in our upcoming one day workshop on August 6th in Monrovia. I believe the best types of collaboration are those that both reduce costs while creating an additional income stream.

The Joint Venture
A Joint Venture is where two or more businesses share resources to create profitable new income opportunities, which otherwise would be too costly for only one of the businesses to achieve on their own. This structure can be found anywhere, any many industries seem to be practicing this type of collaboration today. One example is the Wal-Mart Super Center. When you walk into a Wal-Mart Super Center you see clothes, furniture, groceries, electronics, movies, etc. Imagine, with all the all different categories what it takes to merchandise this store.

 

In reality, Wal-Mart's products are merchandised through a joint venture with the many manufacturers of the products they sell. In the end both Wal-Mart and the manufacturers are profiting. Various brands can showcase their products and sell them, and Wal-Mart earns a portion of the sale for allowing them the use of their storefronts. They also save money on the need for specialized labor and merchandising costs. Wal-Mart knows how to outsource. This is truly a 'win-win' collaborative relationship. 

Business within a Business
Even more creative is the store within a store concept that is cropping-up. We are starting to see various outlet type stores operating inside of a larger retailer. Just today I was in a local grocery store and I saw a video arcade, a Bank of America, a hair salon, and a Starbucks all in one grocery store! Think about how much sense this makes: Parents come to the grocery store to shop, and they leave their kids to play video games and pick them up when they are finished. They can do their banking, get their hair cut, have a coffee or a snack. This lowers costs, provides rental income, increases convenience and creates a better customer experience.

 

With all of the changes taking place in our society we are seeing the emergence of creative alliance, affiliate and even cooperative competitive associations. The way collaboration is being used in business today is literally smashing the traditional concept of supplier, vendor and competitive relationships. The line between partner, competitor and supplier is blurring. In order to be more attractive we all must find ways of using Rule # 10 more effectively. We must collaborate rather than compete. Think about what you can do to create collaborative relationships that lower costs while increasing income.

Full Day Workshop
One of the things we will be working on in the full day Attract More Business Workshop is marketing collaboration. Attendees will learn how to build affiliates, alliances, joint ventures and how to develop collaborative relationships. Register for the August 6th workshop by this Friday, July 29th and receive a FREE bonus ticket for a friend or business associate at no additional charge. The pre-registration cost of this event is just $299, a savings of $200 from the event cost of $499 at the door. If you mention that you are a business update subscriber, I'll even throw in a free telecoaching follow-up session so that you can get the most out of the event. That's a total value of $1148 available now for just $299. Go to:http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp to pre-register now!

A Reason For Listening

"A little to the right. Okay. Good. Take a step back. No not that far. Yea 

right there. Now smile. Say cheese!"

Click - Whrrr - Rip.

That was the sound of my Polaroid Swinger camera. It was the summer of 1968 
and I had just captured my best friends on film hamming it up at the beach.

I loved my new instant camera. It was like magic. In just a few minutes I'd 
have captured the memories of the best summer of my life (I'll be it in 
black and white).

I had bugged my Dad about getting me this camera for weeks. When I had seen 
one of my buddies take my picture and it developed before my very eyes in 
seconds I was amazed.

I never heard of the company - Polaroid. I never saw a commercial. I never 
saw in ad in the paper. I just knew my coolest friends had this camera and, 
spoiled kid that I was, I needed one too. In fact if I had seen an ad on TV 
or in a magazine, I probably would have paid little attention to it. No 
price concession or glitzy promotion would have incited me to run out and 
buy the product. Yet the influence of my friends was a powerful motivator. 
Just seeing them leading a "happening" as we called it in those days 
(remember it was the sixties) was enough to get me to beg my Dad for that 
camera

The success of the Polaroid Swinger was not based on some clever marketing 
campaign. It was based on getting people to take pictures of their friends 
and share the fun of seeing them develop. The more this happened, the more 
successful the product became. Polaroid had unwittingly created a powerful 
marketing machine that would allow the "good news" of their product's 
benefits to spread like wildfire. And they did this without hiring a big 
shot agency or even spending one dollar on advertising. Rather than the 
marketer advertising to the customer, they created an environment where 
customers could market to each other, and far more effectively than Madison 
Avenue.

Hotmail did the same thing in 1999. They not only figured out how to get 
people talking about their product so they didn't have to advertise, they 
created a product that when used WAS an advertisement. And they figured out 
how to make it free. As a reward they were able to reach the same number of 
users in one year, which took radio 38 years and TV 13 years.

As marketers we expect people listen to us yet we hardly give them a good 
reason to do so. The institution of marketing has evolved into one where we 
sell or advertise by interrupting people. And consumers are getting fed up 
with it.

Think about yourself. Do you not look for ways to avoid marketing messages? 
What happens when a TV commercial interrupts your favorite show? If you're 
like most people, you get up to get a snack. Think of how many times you see 
an advertising message for something that you need before you take action. 
And that's for something that you NEED!

As I've said many times, traditional marketing just doesn't work anymore. 
And it's not just me that says so. The father of traditional marketing, Mr. 
Madison Avenue himself, the Bill Bernbach agreed. Just before his death, 
twenty years ago, he was asked about the future of advertising. He said, "We 
must realize that we cannot sell a man who isn't listening. The future of 
advertising is word-of-mouth. Dullness won't sell your product, but neither 
will irrelevant brilliance." Ultimately we must give people a reason to 
listen. We must show respect for them rather than interrupt them.

My mentor, author of "Unleashing the Idea Virus" and recent guest on my 
radio show, Seth Godin, says that, "marketers can no longer survive by interrupting 
strangers with messages that they don't want to hear about products that 
they aren't interested in ways that annoy them." Almost 100 years ago Dale 
Carnegie said we have to "earn the right" to get peoples attention.

Whether you are a business owner, marketing executive, salesperson or 
advertising professional I would like you to consider the following:

• How you can "earn the right" to get people's attention?
• What can you do to get your customers to talk to other customers about your product or service?
• How can you stop marketing AT people and get them to market to each other?
• What reason can you give them to listen to what you have to say?

A Little Help From Your Friends

Strategic Alliances

The number of strategic alliances in the U.S. is surging. More than 20,000 new alliances were formed in just the last 4 years, compared with 5100 between 1980 and 1987 and 750 during the 1970s according to Keeley, Kuenn & Reid (a Chicago based law firm with government relations affiliates in Washington, D.C.).

Nearly 6 percent of the revenue generated from the top 1000 U.S. firms now comes from alliances, a fourfold increase since 1987. Alliances generally achieve a higher return on investment (17%) than U.S. industry in general (11%). The higher return is a direct result of leveraging partners' resources and assets, requiring lower investment to produce greater incremental returns. Alliances also showed a greater success rate (60%) than outright acquisitions (50% success) or venture capital arrangements (25% success). 

Types of Alliances
There are many types of strategic alliances. Basic types include: 
Licensing technology or intellectual property 
Joint research and product development 
Cross-purchase agreements 
Manufacturing arrangements 
Sales/marketing arrangements

I will primarily be dealing with the sales and marketing type of alliance in this presentation and how we can build complementary relationships that inspire collaboration, joint selling, host/beneficiary agreements, mutual marketing and endorsements.

Think Compliments
Let's take a look at the type of alliances that you may be able to build for your small business and how they might be structured. 

The best way to determine the type of organizations with which you should be building alliances is to evaluate where each partner may compliment the other. A compliment is one product or service that makes any other product or service more attractive. 

The classic example of compliments are computer hardware and software. Faster hardware prompts people to upgrade. Powerful software motivates people to buy faster hardware. Just look at Windows and Pentium chips. Compliments is about finding a way to make the pie BIGGER rather than fighting over how to slice up a tiny Scooter Pie. 

So how do we identify competitors and complimentors?

A player is a complimentor if customers value your product MORE when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone. Example: Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs and Guldens Mustard

A player is competitor if customers value your product LESS when they have the other player's product than when they have your product alone. Example: Coca-Cola and Pepsi -Cola

As we mentioned above some of the classic examples are: Disney and McDonalds, Universal and Burger King, Sears and Allstate, Visa and Airlines, Perfume Makers and Department stores and do on.

How to Select an Alliance Partner 
These collaborative strategies can transform your business, help you capture greater market share, improve your profitability, or even help you start a new business and reduce your financial risk in this difficult economy. They are just NICE IDEAS until we put them into action.

1. Develop a profile of potential partners.
2. Identify at least five non-competitive partners that you can collaborate with and create a pre-approach plan.
3. Pick only the very best people in each area. 
4. Be very selective Do NOT compromise on values or philosophy.
5. Ensure that there is mutual benefit. A one sided relationship will only breed resentment and contempt.

How to Put Alliance and Affiliate Programs into Action
Some of the specific things that you can do to make alliances more effective:

• Informational Alliance Marketing 
  Write a newsletter that can be branded as coming from the partner. This allows each partner access to the other's sphere of influence. It is important that valuable information is communicated in the newsletter. If this is merely a sales pitch it will not be nearly as effective.
  
  

• Train Affiliates
  Write a sales training manual- something that has the questions to ask prospects, and fact/benefit charts. This is a great way of preparing partners with the information necessary to endorse your product or service. The more prepared your partners are the more effective they will be positioning your product or service for the customer. I might even suggest holding some formal training sessions hosted by one partner for the others. Each partner could take turns being the trainer. This creates continuity and rapport as well as mutual education.
  
  

• Create an Ideation Session
  About 15 years ago I had the great fortune of working with the American Express Company as a consultant specifically retained to provide soft enhancements for their retail credit card services. We held what we called "ideation sessions." These were brainstorming meetings where we came up with all kinds of wild ideas and discussed their merit. I traveled to N.Y. two or three times per month for nearly a year and we would hold up in what was once World Trade Tower One and kick around all kinds of programs. We finally stumbled upon the "Buyers Assurance Program" which became the "Big Daddy" of all credit card enhancements. It essentially doubled the warranty of any product purchased with an American Express Card. We thought, "let's outsource EVERYTHING!" We found an insurance company to carry the risk, a national service provider to handle exchanges and repairs, a customer service company to handle the telephone calls and a mail center to handle the response. Everyone got a little piece of the pie and AMEX just skimmed the cream off the top. Sometimes it is the process of discovery which is most valuable in alliance and affiliate marketing. Great ideas often need the right environment and enough time to be born. How about getting your partners together and letting the sparks fly. Maybe you'll create a hybrid solution, a revolutionary product or new service.
  
  

• Mutual Marketing Affiliations
  You can also provide ad designs that partners can brand as their own. In this way you will create an effective ad, then let any affiliate stamp their logo on it and run it in selected media. This is similar to the co-op advertising concept but broadens the appeal for both partners. It also helps both partners get a bigger bang for their advertising dollar. We often see this in automobile business. Auto manufacturers create fabulous advertising for dealers to use. Dealers then "tag" their name to these print ads, TV commercials and radio spots and they run them in their local area. The exceptional production quality adds credibility to the message and ad effectiveness soars. Think about how you could do this in your business. Could you benefit from tagging your affiliates to your ads? How about the reverse?
  
  

• Seamless Strategies
  Create exclusive offers that are smooth and seamless for your partner's clients. These can be offered in a variety of forms. Take for example Quick Book's resource site. If you want to order checks or envelopes you can do it seamlessly on the Quick Books web site. But you never even realize that you are actually purchasing from another company until the shipment arrives. This may be a bit misleading but I for one was happy to know that the checks and envelopes I purchased were compatible with Quick Books and it was fast, easy and cheap. I'll probably do it again when I run out. How could you apply this to your business?
  
  

• Web Alliances
  This brings up another strategy which is applicable to what we like to call host/beneficiary relationships. This is particularly effective for Internet media. How about actually building websites for affiliates? This is a very powerful way to ensure that your host's clients are locked into your solution. We can essentially build a captive audience on the web yet branded as the host's site. Visitors are not at all aware that you are the beneficiary of their purchases. In fact they are not even aware that they are on another web site since it looks the same as the host site. This is similar to the Quickbooks example but as the beneficiary you make the investment in building a web site for the host. 
  
  

• Free Goods
  Create a free introductory sample only for your partner's clients. These can be marketed via brick and mortar as well as on the Internet. The free sample is a great way to introduce your product or service to what would otherwise be a lost prospect. This is made even more valuable by the fact that the person receiving the free goods has a predisposition to be interested in your product or service by the relationship with your affiliate.
  
  

• Super Referrers
  How about using the affiliate strategy to build a network of "Super Referrers?" I know a plastic surgeon that helped to recruit the most powerful potential influencers in her community into supper referrers. She asked the local day spa, massage therapist, nail solon, beauty center, cosmetics retailer and more to donate samples and discount coupons. Then she partnered with a gift basket company and created a beautiful gift basket including all kinds of free samples donated by her new partners. She then gave this basket to all of her new patients. Of course they were thrilled since the basket and it's contents was massive and was valued at over $1000! The patients couldn't wait to visit all of the partners and use their coupons. This obviously helped the doctor's partner's increase their business but it also helped the doctor to ensure that all of her partners exclusively refer to her. Everyone wins!
  
  

• Targeted Discounts
  Offer a discount coupon to a special subgroup of your partner's clients in order to gain access to a highly targeted audience. HP and Staples office supplies has successfully run this type of program where Staple gives a $50 gift certificate to every customers but it can ONLY be used by Teachers. The hope of course is that these folks will give their coupons to teachers.
  
  

• Symbiosis
  Every kid has seen the movie Finding Nemo. Yet few realize the fantastic marketing message that it contains. You see, Nemo is a clown fish. Clown fish depend upon the sea anemone to protect them. While the anemone is deadly to all other sea life, the clown fish is resistant to it's venom. On the other hand the beautiful colors of the clown fish attract sea life for anemone to sting and devour. The clown fish gets the leftovers. Many companies have adopted this type of symbiotic relationship. Have you walked into the grocery store lately and been surprised to see a Starbucks or a branch of the post office or your bank's ATM machines sitting between the canned goods and the paper towel aisles? These are also symbiotic relationships. Who can you symbiotically partner with?

There are many other things that we can do to create powerful alliance programs. I hope this has at least inspired you to think creatively.

The Capacity for Change

My hand firmly grasping the remote, I was "couch surfing" the other day. You know how it is - over 2000 channels and still... there's nothing worth watching.

Suddenly I came across the Crocodile Hunter battling some prehistoric-like creature in the Aussie brush. I thought, here's my old friend Steve Irwin, animal enthusiast, environmentalist and master marketer, dead and gone, yet his show is still in reruns.

But wait... this wasn't a re-run! This was new. It was being narrated by Bindi, Steve and Terri's little daughter. She was articulate, interesting, and REAL. This was just another extension of the fabulous enterprise that Steve had built.

When I was last in Australia, I was told by many that they believed that Steve had done more for the country economically than the last two Prime Ministers had. Now his daughter is carrying on this enthusiasm. Not only does Bindi, all of nine years old this year, host the Crocodile Hunter but she has her own TV series on Discovery for Kids dubbed "Jungle Girl," she has released her first CD of her music and she even has a line of clothes for kids called "Bindi Wear!"

Crikey! What a capacity for change Steve has. Even in death, his brand is unstoppable.

But not everyone has a high capacity for change. According to Rick Maurer, author of Building Capacity for Change, only one third of all change succeeds. Most approaches to managing change ignore or trivialize the need to build commitment to changes such as continuous improvement, training, re-branding, re-engineering, and new software systems. We live in an age of rapid and chaotic change. Failed changes cost organizations dearly. Research indicates that resistance is the main reason why so many new initiatives go way over budget or get implemented in ways that really weren't worth all the effort and cost. Are you or your employees resistant to change?

I myself have battled change over the years. For example, as many know I have had a radio show on the CBS Radio Network for over 10 years that I have recently abandoned in favor of a brash new change. Many have told me that I'm nuts! Perhaps they are correct. Nevertheless, our NEW show, Small Business Radio, debuts this Friday on one of the largest Internet radio networks in the world. The show airs LIVE every Friday at 4pm Pacific time. We will take your calls and every week we will feature a business expert. Just click on the link below to access the show LIVE or hear archives of past shows. Or just go to www.markdeo.com to tune in.

So what's your capacity to change? Are you too busy to commit to improvement?Are you kidding yourself and just coasting, hoping that things just don't change too much? Or are you like Steve Irwin always battling a new predator and conquering change even from the grave. I hope the later. I trust this helps you to begin see change as a friend and as the precursor to growth.

Have a great week!

-Mark Deo

Short Change

The funny thing about change is that most people are unhappy with the way things are, yet few want to go through the pain of changing. In a way this amounts to SHORT changing ourselves.

Change is upon us. Ready or not, here it comes- politically, socially, economically, and financially. The question is not if will we be facing change in the coming year, but, "how will we deal with it?"

I like to believe that if we approach change from the standpoint of "attraction" then we can transform "adapting to necessary change" into LEADING revolutionary change! This is one of the reasons that I have created my "attraction principles." I believe that with the right knowledge, mindset, and discipline we can actually "attract" a positive, desirable change, rather than being swept-up in unwanted change. 

Over the next few weeks, I would like to share these principles with you, my clients, class members, subscribers, and listeners. It is my hope that they can help you "take control of change." Each week I will focus on several principles and discuss how practicing them can help us to create sustainable change, win deeper relationships and become more influential to those within our sphere of influence.

The 14 Rules of Attraction

1. Become a big fish in a smaller pond.

2. Strategic rejection makes us more attractive.

3. The problem is more important than the solution.

4. Give information away without selling.

5. Reverse people's risk in changing.

6. Don't be a better option, become the ONLY solution.

7. Create an exclusive community of "super-users."

8. No one has time to read so let design and color speak.

9. Traditional advertising is a HOPE business.

10. Collaborate rather than compete.

11. Who we are is more important that what we do.

12. Create standards and systems that nurture.

13. Learn the discipline of testing.

14. Plan your dive. Dive your plan.

Helloooooooo Tom!
We have been invited by CBS radio to participate in an event to help small business owners and entrepreneurs prepare for 2005 and all of the changes that are coming.

Join me on Saturday, November 13 at the Hyatt Regency in Anaheim with fellow talk show hosts: Tom Leykis, Doug Fabian, and Gabriel Wisdom for the first Financial Fest sponsored by 97.1 KLSX, the FM Talk Station. 

Throughout the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jam-packed day, you'll be treated to a panel discussion with business and investment experts talking about small business, building wealth, real estate, and more. At the Financial Fest, we will be available to answer questions and will be giving away one set of our "Attract More Business Program."

TeleClinics to be held every Monday at 1PM
To provide additional benefits to our subscribers, in November and December we will be holding a series of TeleClinics aimed at improving your attraction quotient.

11-15-04- How to Avoid the Typical Mistakes Marketers Make
11-22-04- The Exclusive Marketing Position
11-29-04- 10 Key Criteria for Developing a Branding Statement
12-06-04- Getting Commitment with Risk Reversal
12-13-04- Rules for Writing Headlines
12-20-04- Bull's Eye Ad Design and Layout

To register for any of these Tele-Clinics go to https://www.sbanetwork.org/learning/signup.aspor call 310-320-8190. For more tools of "attraction" go to www.markdeo.com.

Don't short change yourself in the coming year. Let's focus our energy on attracting precisely what we are looking for. Remember we have to TAKE control in order to be in control.

One Step Beyond

You may faintly remember it or perhaps you've seen the re-runs: One Step Beyond.

It was that old science fiction TV series where the implausible became the possible, right there in your living room. Supposedly the stories were based on fact. I don't know if they were or not, but it made the show more fun to believe the stories were true. The host John Newland, would give you some spiel about ESP, teleportation, automatic writing, bi-location or some other questionable science and launch into another "true story."

I remember one episode in vivid detail. A woman keeps having dreams of a plane crashing through the ceiling. Overcome with fear, she and her husband move into a hotel - and once settled there a plane crashes through the ceiling of the hotel. But the pilot is saved and the couple gets out of the way when they hear the plane coming in.

Today that episode sounds a little too much like reality.

But it made me think about how we as entrepreneurs and small business owners can become fearful of the INEVITABLE. At times we fear the inevitable so deeply that we find ourselves rushing headlong into the very thing we've been trying to avoid! The women's dream created an irrational fear that prompted her to leave her home for a place of safety only to find that it was her fear that placed her in the most dangerous situation.

Business circumstances can be like that. We try to escape the inevitable conditions of a difficult economy, fierce competition, the dot-com implosion or a maturing product lifecycle by running from them rather than facing them head-on.

I have seen more than one example of otherwise talented and energetic individuals paralyzed by fear. They procrastinate or even completely avoid taking on projects that would benefit them and their company. Their inevitable excuse: "I am dealing with too many problems right now; I know I (we) should do this but I can't deal with it with everything else that is going on." This is classic conflict avoidance. Avoiding conflict will only serve to produce more devastating symptoms and ultimately end in disappointment or worse.

There are many people in business today that have never been tested by an economic downturn. They have little experience with difficult times. It is easy to succeed when times are good. What differentiates the experienced business owner from the naive is doing what must be done when times are tough. Successful decision-makers redouble their efforts to outpace the pack when it is most difficult. They are willing to go "One Step Beyond."

Here are some pointers to help you go "one step beyond" in your own business. Are they easy to implement? No, but they are powerfully effective when combined with persistence, enthusiasm and sweat:

No Risk, No Reward - Playing it safe isn't necessarily playing it smart - even in cautious times. Don't be Afraid of Risk. To not take a risk is to risk being ignored.

Plan to be a Lot Better - You can't win in a competitive market by doing things "a little" better than the competition. You have to be a lot better or completely different.

Stand Out from the Crowd - You can't simply sound like everyone else. You MUST be unique. How can you change your process? What additional service can you provide?

Zero In - Who can you exclusively target? What part of the marketplace is most precisely suited to your product or service? Or maybe, more importantly, which type of prospects do you NOT want as customers? Sometimes it's easier to eliminate the chaff from the wheat.

Don't Be Afraid to Take Action - Remember the good moves you DON'T make can be as consequential as the bad moves you DO make. For many business leaders inaction is the worse course of action.

Get Emotional - Emotion grabs attention and ultimately sells your product or service. Tell your story in such a way that your product or services becomes totally relevant with your customers lives.

Do the Unexpected - Remember while you're sitting with your staff trying to think of what to do next so is your competition. If you can make an unexpected move then you may have the most important element of success: SURPRISE.

Cultivate a Culture of Learning - The fastest way to failure is to stop learning. Make learning a habit for yourself and for the people in your organization.

Seek to Create Change - Many consultants and business pundits today are advocating all kinds of methods of "coping with change." I wholeheartedly disagree. This makes it sound like change is biting at our heels. Put yourself in a position to CREATE change. There is an amazing advantage in being the creator of change rather than the one who has to cope with it.

You may be hearing that buzzing of a plane in the distance. It could be your competition or the economy or even the groans of an industry in travail. But don't turn and run. Face your foe head on with confidence and self-assurance. In doing so you will fuel growth and profitability in your business. By embracing change you will crush fear and go "one step beyond."

Learning to Learn

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance, one cannot fly into flying.

-Friedrich Nietzche

As an amateur percussionist for 19 years, I can remember when I first heard a tape of Buddy Rich playing drums. It was a tape of the Buddy Rich big band recorded in the mid 70s called "Ease on Down the Road". I was amazed at the intricate patterns he was able to play, both by his creativity and by the physical ability he had that allowed him to produce these sounds.

At the time I had only been playing drums for about a year, but I sat down at my set inspired by what I had heard and tried my best to play along. As you may guess, I was unable to keep up with what he played- I sounded much more like Buddy Hackett playing drums than Buddy Rich. As a beginner I had no chance at replicating a pattern played by the world's greatest drummer. What I took from that experience was the knowledge that if I ever hoped to play like Buddy Rich, I had better practice - a lot. So I dedicated myself to becoming a better drummer, and I practiced every day; I just about wore out that tape from listening to it over and over again, hearing something new in it each time I listened.

After a few years of practice, I was able to play a few of the riffs Buddy played on that tape. It brought me incredible satisfaction to finally be able to play along with it. What enabled me to play along was my years of practice, and to me, they were worth it. That practice also brought me the opportunity to play in an honor orchestra at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, an honor band in the Rose Parade, and led me to later play drums in a bagpipe and drum band with some of the best players in the world. Not only had I achieved the goal I set, the work I put in brought other rewards; I ultimately enjoyed the side rewards far more than being able to play along with my tape.

In our businesses, we sometimes see competitors who appear to be so far ahead of where we are that it can be discouraging. We are made to feel that no matter how hard we work we will never beat Wal-Mart or Amazon.com at their own game. By looking to these businesses as inspiration, rather than as behemoths who are trying to crush us, we have the opportunity to learn how we can be more like them.

What makes Wal-Mart such a dominant force is not just the volume discounts they get as a huge chain, but their reputation for great customer service and friendly employees. Amazon frequently is more expensive than their rivals, but they sell more because of their extremely easy to use ordering system. As a business consultant for the Small Business Advisory Network I have learned that these elements are more important than price to the success of a small business.

I've learned that developing a reputation as a company with excellent customer service can be much more valuable to your business than having the cheapest price for your products. I've learned that having an easy to use shopping system is critical to e-commerce web sites. Knowing that these are the reasons people buy from your competitors is insufficient.

Just knowing that I wanted to play like Buddy Rich however, was still short of making me actually sound like him. I knew that it would take a lot of work to just play along with a tape, let alone ever create music like him. So what do we do? If knowing what we want our business to be like leaves us with lots of work to do, is it worth it? Most entrepreneurs will say that they're too busy to practice - it's hard enough trying to just run their business.

Douglass Adams wrote, "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." This is proven true time and time again.

But as W. Edwards Deming wrote, "Learning is not compulsory; neither is it survival." We need only look to the bankruptcies of Kmart and pets.com for examples of businesses that refused to learn from their competitors. They surely knew what their competitors did better than them. They might even have wanted to do those things themselves. But they didn't put in enough practice to make these changes.

Target and Barnes and Noble, however, are two examples of thriving businesses that DID learn from their competitors. Instead of just seeing how their competitors operated and hoping they could be more like them, they actually put in the time and effort it would take to change, and are now reaping the rewards of doing so. Learning only occurs when we see what we want to become and work toward becoming it.

I encourage you to figure out what your bigger competitors do better than you. Then decide how you can practice these skills to get better at them so you can use these new skills in your business. While you may never beat your competitors at their own game, you can learn some of what makes them successful. By using these skills along with the things you already do that make you unique, you provide a better overall option to prospective customers.

This "Business Update" was written by SBANetwork Sales Technology Specialist Matthew Walker.

Killer Complacency

Change.... Who needs it!

Most of us would be happy campers if things would just STAY THE SAME. Sometimes it seems if we ignore a problem long enough then it will go away. Or we may look at a circumstance and say, "it's not precisely what I'd like to see, but I guess I can live with it." Surely this is easier than making a CHANGE. Ughhhh! Anything but change. Let's "wait and see."

I see many entrepreneurs and small business leaders become complacent after having several successful years behind them. However, today's economic environment, political situation and competitive landscape are shrinking profits for businesses nationwide. Dominant competitors are much more powerful, financially adept and possess more resources then ever before. Often times they can offer a similar product or service at a lower price. If we hold steadfastly to the ideals of the past and resist change, there is a good chance that our business will suffer severely.

As entrepreneurs and small business professionals we can not afford to make very many mistakes. It is not enough that we recognize problems WHEN they occur. We must develop systems that help us to quickly identify signs of impending trouble. By doing do we will ultimately save our company long term problems and expenses in a relatively short period of time. We must be ahead of the curve. We must influence change BEFORE serious problems emerge. 
There are many reasons that business failures are at record levels, but I believe the primary reason is the inability or refusal to adapt to a rapidly changing economy. Studies show that more businesses fail or regress due to lack of attention to early warning signs then any other reason. The signs are almost always there. You do however, have to be willing and able to see them, accept their reality, and deal with them NOW! The major problem I see is that they are not perceived as "real" signs only short term problems that will be fine in a few weeks or months. They also may be seen as related to "uncontrollable or external factors" where nothing can be done, while the competition is being proactive to these same factors because they recognize that this is the real world and they still have to do business in it.

A while back I was fortunate enough to take a cruise. Kathy and I marveled at the magnificence of the cruise ship. We decided to take the tour of the bridge of the ship and I noticed the officers hovering over some instruments and discussing something. When I asked our tour guide what they were doing he told me they were making a turn. Apparently in order to turn the massive ship they had to begin to negotiate the turn several minutes in advance. Our businesses are like that. If we decide to hire someone today, in all likelihood that person will not begin to be fully productive until two or three months. They will need to be trained, assimilate into the company culture, and become proficient. This is why knowledgeable, experienced management is so critical in small businesses today.

I'm NOT talking about experience in an industry, product or trade but "decision making" experience. A demonstratable skill in making decisive, proactive business management decisions is at a premium today. Companies now run lean and mean and there tends to be a shortage of management, not an overabundance. Simply put, even if there are people on the payroll that are capable of solving the problem, they are usually bogged down daily putting out fires. They are almost always willing but due to time constraints not able. Important long-term projects always get back-burnered to current fire-fighting. This is unquestionably detrimental to the near and long term future of the company.

We all have this feeling of infallibility. It can't happen to us, maybe the competition, or all the people we read about in the papers and business journals everyday but not us. WE know what we are doing! But when we procrastinate making changes it leads to a decision delay that costs the company much more in the long-term then a positive (albeit difficult) decision would now. Often times the easy choice may not be the right one. This kind of complacency is the biggest killer.

I hope this motivates you to take action by:

• Removing complacency from your decision making process.
• Becoming the catalyst for influencing change in your business.
• Developing systems that allow the warning signs to become visible.
• Getting outside, experienced management help early on.

Fuel for the New Economy

I remember my 1966 Mustang. I sold it for $600 in 1976 before going to grad school and Im still kicking myself over that! Everyone loved Ford in those days. But its not easy to believe in Ford these days. The auto giant has lost over $15 billion, closed factories, shed tens of thousands of jobs, sold-off Jaguar, Land Rover and given-up the No. 2 position in sales to Toyota!

Their new Chief Marketing Officer, James Farley formerly with Toyota was rehearsing for his speech to dealers, stockholders and company leaders. As the lights dimmed, Mr. Farley didnt calmly announce his future plans or quote statistics. Instead, he spoke from the heart, revealing a depth of passion for Ford that turned the room dead silent. He became swept up in the emotional power of the moment. I believe, in many ways, the future of Ford is the future of our country, he said. The work here is simply more important than the work I was doing at Toyota. When he finished, the dealers rose for a standing ovation that left Mr. Farley momentarily stunned. After the applause died down, he savored the reaction. They were waiting for someone to believe in.

Computers, automation and mobile connectedness has had a strange impact on people today. It has caused a desensitization of emotional response. We want to quantify and analyze everything. It is draining the passion and heart from all that we do. I would like to encourage business leaders today to let their true emotions show. Cry real tears, quake with true laughter and shake with anger if you must. Dont downplay the power of REAL EMOTION. Your team is depending on your genuine emotional display to motivate them. It is the fuel for their continued belief and a precursor to talking action!

Have a great week!

Fight Back

So much has already been said with regard to the horrific incidents in N.Y. and Washington that I am hesitant to even broach the subject. While I thankfully did not have anyone close to me killed or injured in the blasts, I offer my sincerest condolences to those who have.

I do however feel a personal assault in that I spent quite a bit of time in these buildings when I was working with the consulting firm Walker Group International. My client, American Express, had offices at One World Trade Center. I would ride the elevator to the 76th floor and marvel at that incredible structure. I remember the folks at American Express teasing me the first time I felt the building sway. They told me it was going to tip over and they got a big laugh out of my reaction.

I am saddened by the loss and like many others, angry enough to take up arms and fight back. But I'm sure our military will do just fine without my assistance. After thinking about this however, I have come to the conclusion that there is another way that we can fight back.

Our enemies are expecting us to cower, cringe and shrink. Their goal is to destroy our economy, crush our way of life and show the world the folly of Western civilization. But we can deal them a powerful blow. We can push this economy up a notch. That's right, we can turn our depressed economy and somber demeanor into a time of unprecedented prosperity. How confident are you in America? Are you confident enough to put your money where your mouth is?

Up until Tuesday morning many small businesses and entrepreneurs had plans of expansion, reinvestment and improvement. As a result of the events this week some may plan to delay expansion and take a "wait and see" attitude. This may appear to be prudent at first glance but the impact on our economy would be even more disastrous than this week's horrific events. This would be caving in to these fanatics. It would be granting them the provocation of "terror" that they so deeply desire.

DON'T LET THEM WIN!

Make the decision to fight back.

How?

1. Plan even greater expansion of your business. Small business drives this economy. Your positive actions will fuel economic growth and confidence.

2. Don't cancel planned initiatives. Go to those trade shows. Buy that new software. Hire those people. Launch that new marketing campaign. Place those new ads. Push for greater market share.

3. Speak confidently about our future. Tell your clients, vendors, employees, colleagues, friends, neighbors and relatives that everything will be OK - nay in fact - BETTER than before. Let the words you speak be evidence of your confidence and determination.

4. Buy stocks. Support every company you believe in. Execute those trades early and often. If our markets soar on Monday, we will stun the world and prove that we are serious. That message will be very clear: If you want your fortune to be safe, invest it in America and its industry.

My small business friends, this is the clearest message Americans can send the world. It says that we are determined not to be pushed around. We will put our money where our mouths are and stand up for our economy. We will stand behind our way of life, which is exactly what the enemy aimed at when they flew those planes into the World Trade Center buildings.

We are not helpless! Let's support our military in their fight with their weapons of destruction. But let us fight with what we have: our wealth and determination. This may be as close as we can get to pulling the trigger on our enemies.

Creating Change

Any major transformation within a company will awaken "change." This change creates emotions and fears among the members of the organization.

Change is stressful. But stress is a stimulus that can be positive or negative. Studies have shown that stress in the workplace most commonly occurs in one of three situations:

1. When there is a high demand placed on employees
2. When employees are being closely watched
3. When employees are concerned about their competence

As a leaders it is our job to quell those fears. When we operate in the management role we must balance our passion, execution and sensitivity. It is good to be passionate about where we are taking our organization. But even more important is translating this belief into action. Taking part in the execution process makes a big statement to your team. The best generals have led their troops into battle at the FRONT of the lines. You won't win cooperation by calling the plays from the sidelines. This will create resentment and reduce morale. Finally be sensitive to the emotional and behavioral issues involved in change. Get in touch with how the change is affecting each of the critical members of your organization.

In order to truly put these precepts into practice, we need to understand the way change works. As Jeanie Daniel Duck says in her book, "The Change Monster," organizational change consists of five basic stages:

1. Stagnation
2. Preparation
3. Implementation
4. Determination
5. Fruition

Stage 1: Stagnation
This first phase can be summed up in two words: demoralization and denial. A demoralized company exhibits the same symptoms as a depressed person: general slowness, difficulty in making decisions, and a lack of motivation. Stagnation can be caused by poor strategy, lack of leadership, too few resources, conflicting goals or poor execution. Before you can implement a sound strategy, however, you have to modify the culture of the company - it's beliefs, attitudes and habits. In most cases these are the elements hindering growth. To burst free of stagnation, you need to ask yourself: "What outdated beliefs and behaviors are preventing us from conceiving or executing a winning strategy?"

Stage 2: Preparation
During this stage, many operational issues are addressed. This often results in a new structure for the organization, new employee roles. New responsibilities are designed, and management determines which products or services will be most critical in the future. The goal in this stage is to align and energize our management team around a corporate strategy and vision. As leaders we must all consistently articulate the SAME vision. In other words, we all need to be on the same page as to where we're going and how we plan on getting there. Only then will it be clearly understood and executed by others. We also need to be careful of becoming too dictatorial with our precepts. The goal is to develop a group thinking about change. This can't happen if the leader isn't open to hearing criticism of his or her ideas.

Stage 3: Implementation
Implementation is different in every organization. Leaders are responsible during the implementation phase for managing expectations, energy and experience. Asking people to change can create resentment, embarrassment and tension. Here are some ideas to reduce the barriers to change among team members:

• Test before deployment - If a new process is being implemented, try it in one department or with one product or service group before rolling it out.
• Build behavior first - Focus on a SINGLE OBJECTIVE and ask the employees for input. This allows us to empower our team by letting them SHOW YOU how they can come up with the solution.
• Plan replication - Duplicate your successes. Transferring change from person to person takes time. Let change spread rather than forcing it on your team.

Stage 4: Determination
Because change does take time, many of the former champions of change may have developed second thoughts. At this time it is not unusual to see conflicts arise as a result of change. Often service levels drop, sales falter, production problems deepen, and profitability wavers. It is critical that leaders have the determination to see change through. We can be tempted to throw up our hands and say, "That's it! We're going back to the way it was. Nobody is doing what we told them to do!" Don't mistake your own perceptions for reality. People are finding a new way to accomplish their goals. One that is more dependent on their efforts rather than their leaders support. Conflict is not necessarily bad. Conflict produces change, a reorganization of priorities and self sufficiency.

Stage 5: Fruition
No change is easy. But achieving long-sought-after goals is rewarding. Once a targeted goal is reached, success often begets success. This is the time to reward people for their success. Reward in public and punish in private. The great Dale Carnegie said, "Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise." Also, put your money where your mouth is. Give performance bonuses based on achieving specific goals

Conquer Fear

Are You Waiting...

for someone to lead and inspire you?
for the boss to recognize you?
for clients to thank you?
for coworkers to help you?
for prospects to find you?
for the world to hail you?

Well here's a news flash.... They are all just sitting there waiting for you.

Someone recently asked me, what I felt was the biggest challenge for marketers today? My answer was complacency. Websters dictionary defines complacency as contentment and self satisfaction. You might say, "Hey hold on there Deo! Isn't that what we are striving for as entrepreneurs and small business owners? Shouldn't it be our ultimate goal to be content and satisfied with our business, finances, family and life?"

I say, NO.

When we become content and satisfied, we no longer have any motivation to get better.We drop our guard. We become OK with achieving the minimum. Unfortunately in today's competitive environment achieving the "minimum" in the short term may just not be good enough to "survive" in the long term. This can be very dangerous in the fast paced, high risk, volatile economy of the 21st century. You may be thinking, "that sounds a little scary, Mark."

It is.

Many people today are saying that fear is bad. I agree that too much fear can be debilitating, just as a complete lack of satisfaction can create disappointment and disillusionment. There are no absolutes. But if we completely eliminate fear from our lives, we lose some of our most base instincts. Think about when you first started your business or your first day on the job. Weren't you a bit apprehensive? Didn't you have some fear? You probably found yourself asking questions like, what if this doesn't work? What will I do if I fail? What if my coworkers or clients don't like me? Can I really compete? Do I really have the skills necessary to succeed at this?

I think you would agree that this is the GOOD kind of fear. The fear that drives us to greater levels of performance. Fear that motivates us. It's the kind of fear that makes us have more apprehension for things staying the way they are rather than bringing about change.

What does this have to do with marketing, you might ask. Successful marketing must allow us to significantly differentiate ourselves from our competition. We need to look different, sound different and be different. We need to go beyond the expectations of our clients and prospects. We must be willing to always be a bit uncomfortable with the way things ARE if we want to change. We can not be content with waiting for change. We can not be satisfied with the most comfortable option.

Here are some very specific things that you can do to make fear the friend that you consistently court, rather than the foe that you chronically avoid:

1. When things look bleak don't deny reality, accept it and begin to develop some options. Write them down and take action to change things rather than waiting for them to get better.
2. Don't allow yourself to be forced into change. Make the decision to bring about change BEFORE you are swept-up in the maelstrom.
3. Find someone that you can mentor. Taking this leadership role with even just one person will allow you to see the power of fear and change in another person. In the end, this will make it much easier for you to cope with fear and embrace change.
4. Look for situations where others are positively dealing with fear and change. Give them the recognition they deserve for coping with their changing environment. This will reinforce your own values.
5. Change the way you celebrate achievements.Typically, we set goals, we work hard at achieving them, we reach them and we celebrate. We are content and satisfied with a job well done. Hopefully when the party's over we set new goals and the cycle starts all over again. But shouldn't we be setting new goals BEFORE we pop the cork on the Champaign?
6. Be an evangelist for your company, product or service. Ask yourself, how YOU change peoples lives for the better. Focus on this. NOT features and benefits.
7. Be a catalyst for change with everyone that you meet. Look for ways that you can help them to cope with the fear and change in their lives.
8. Don't try to eliminate all stress in your life. Like my old boss, Sue Schneider used to say, "Stress is good, DISTRESS is bad." If we try to completely eliminate stress and fear in our lives we will be sadly disappointed. On the other hand if we find ways of coping with stress and fear, we will amass for ourselves resources of great value.
9. Be the first. Decide from this day forward that YOU will be the first to initiate change in your organization and even at home. You will lead and inspire. You will give compliments and provide recognition. You will thank your clients and vendors. You will lend a hand to help fellow workers. You will seek prospects whose businesses and lives can be improved by your company, product or service.

Business Success Quick-Tips

This week, we wanted to provide you with three quick tips that can help your business and expand your thinking. They revolve around your cash flow, thinking non-traditionally, and becoming a master at collaboration.

1. Know your cash position at all times! More important than your profit and loss statement is your cash flow statement. Many companies can operate at a loss for years if they're able to manage their cash flow. Know your projected flow at least 3 months from now. If you have a solid grasp on your income and expenses, you have a much higher chance of survival!
2. Think non-traditional sales and marketing. Most advertising does not work. Think of your last encounter with a salesperson. Traditional selling often pushes more people away than it attracts. Use the Internet, search engines, affiliates and alliance relationships to effectively build your business rather than running ads.
3. Become a master of collaboration. You may not have the right answer or solution for your clients but chances are someone within your organization or within your sphere of influence DOES. When we collaborate we broaden our expertise and are able to deliver more effective products and services to our clients.

Listen to the Small Business Hour this Friday at 4 pm PST. We will be interviewing Dr. Brad Smart, author of the bestselling book: Topgrading. He will be discussing how to attract and retain 90% "A players" in your company, eliminating unproductive workforces. In addition, we will have our Marketing Corner, Leadership Lesson, and much more. This will be an exciting show! If you can't listen live, you can listen to a replay at any time online. Go to www.smallbusinesshour.comto tune in.

A Four Letter Word

One late autumn evening a father came into his home with a small gift, which he partly concealed in his hands. Before his two sons could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, as expected, it flew across the room till it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor. It was a little toy, known to scientists of the time as a "helicopter." It was so delicate that it lasted only a short time in the hands of the two small boys, but its memory was abiding.

Later in the late 1800s the boys faced difficult economic times, fierce competition in the bicycle business (they couldn't give them away), not to mention being the laughing stock of all of Ohio. But in 1904 they revolutionized the world by creating the first flying machine. They were willing to risk ridicule. They were willing to risk the very high likelihood of failure. They were willing to risk profitable careers and pursue a hobby that started with a childhood toy! Yet if not for the risks they embraced, our world would be a very different place today. The boys were young Orville and Wilbur Wright.

I will always remember visiting the Edison Tower in Menlo Park, New Jersey where I grew up as a child. At the top of the tower is a replica of Thomas Edison's workroom. It is filled with all kinds of inventions, most of which are, to this day, useless artifacts. While in Menlo Park, Edison received over 400 patents on items, which were never put into production. In short they were failures. But Edison thought of these disasters as learning opportunities.

One time his lab stove went out in the dead of winter. Many expensive chemicals froze. Another time unprotected chemicals were damaged by sunlight. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Edison stopped all other projects and thought of ways to solve the problem. He learned to change the makeup of some of the chemicals. He was not afraid to take risks and he never gave up when a project failed. Few people know that Edison started hundreds of companies between 1868 and 1928. Most of them were failures. But he would brush himself off and start something new. Edison learned that risk-taking was a good thing. He learned that without taking risk he could not achieve success. He learned that it's okay to fail. That failing is not the end. It is rather a new beginning

When did RISK in our society become a four-letter word? Maybe it was after the dot-com implosion or the tragedy of 9 -11 or the Enron debacle. Whatever the reason, "risk" has become a dirty little four-letter word in our business culture today.

A few weeks ago I talked about how we should go "one step beyond" with our business initiatives. It takes the commitment to exceed the performance of yesterday to succeed tomorrow. But it also requires that we be willing to take reasonable or even sometimes unreasonable risks. Was it reasonable that the Wright brothers would create a machine that could fly in 1904? Was it reasonable for Edison to say in 1876 that, "in the future electric light will be so cheap that only that wealthy will be able to afford candles?" Likely not. Both Edison and the Wright brothers knew that without risk, there is no reward. Are we any different today? Can we really afford to hunker down and take a "wait and see" attitude when technology, the marketplace and the world around us changing faster than ever before? I think not.

As I have said in the past, playing it safe isn't necessarily playing it smart - even in cautious times. Don't be afraid of risk. To not take a risk is to risk being ignored. "Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It's not a thing to be waited for, it's a thing to be achieved." Let's go from a "risk aversion" business culture to a risk sharing and reward innovation culture.

In short, risk-taking is as much a part of good management as smart product development, effective marketing and strong leadership.

15 Recession Proof Strategies

In a previous article I talked about how we need to get back to basics by adding value for our clients. I mentioned that I would be discussing the specifics of HOW we can do this at my all-day entrepreneurial workshop. As a result I received a number new registrations for the workshop, but I also received a few emails from people asking for more specifics about the content of the workshop.

The 5 Recession-Proof Management Strategies

1. Have a Clear Destination 
Develop an exit plan first. This will help establish long, mid and short-term goals Decide on what you will do to proactively position your product or service this year. Have a plan to finance new initiatives and contingencies if you don't get the cash If you're a start up, have a professionally developed written business plan with quarterly goals that you can review in just 15 minutes every week.

2. Do the Job of 2 People in Half the Time 
Do the most difficult things first. Do two things at the same time whenever possible Set aside time specifically for "planning your time." Balance the various activities in your life based on their importance to you.

3. Put Everything in Order 
Establish a place for everything and always keep everything in that place Make kinetic economy work for you. This is the process of accomplishing the maximum amount of activity by expending the minimum amount of energy. Make a commitment to improve your organizational skills Establish systems and hold people accountable to working within them.

4. Automate or Stagnate 
Calculate your rate of pay by activity. Are you paying yourself $100/hr to perform secretarial functions? Enjoy the efficiencies of off-the-shelf technologies like ACT!, Goldmine, Outlook, QuickBooks, Filemaker, etc. Put in place automated electronic solutions that will save you time and money. Use the Internet to gain efficiencies like online inventory reconciliation, credit card and check processing gateways.

5. Outsource and Delegate 
Make sure that your outsourcing plan ensures residual profit, productive efficienc