Principle Centered Marketing - Page 9 of 11 - Business Growth Strategies by Larry Carey

Principles of Creating Your Path of Least Resistance

Creating the life you want involves understanding the Principles of Creating.

Once you understand Principles, there are “101” different tactics you can take.

Just remember this MAIN Principle: “Never Break the Laws of God or man.”

Energy moves where it is easiest to go – the Path of Least Resistance.

You are exactly where you are right now by following that Path of Least Resistance.

Just after I purchased my dealership, I hired two coach/mentors. One was Jay Abraham to help me develop my marketing skills and the other was Robert Fritz.

Robert Fritz had written a book called “The Path of Least Resistance” and created a system called Structural Thinking.

From this thinking I created 4 Principles of Creating:

Begin with the End in Mind
Honestly evaluate Current Reality
Take Action
Evaluate your progress & Adjust Actions and/or Clarify the End in Mind.

Robert Fritz taught me Three Important Insights:
1. You go thru life taking the path of least resistance.
We all do – all humans and all of nature.

You may try from time to time to change the direction of your life – your eating habits, the way you relate to others, your attitudes, etc. You may even succeed for a while, but eventually, you probably find yourself right back at the old habits and behaviors.

This is because your life – all of life for that matter – is determined by God’s Laws of Nature to take the path of least resistance.

2.The underlying structure of your life determines the path of least resistance. 97% of us are following old entrenched patterns.

3. You can change the fundamental underlying structures of your life.
Just as engineers can change the path of a river by changing the structure of the riverbanks so that the river flows where they want it to go, you can change your basic structure of your life (your business, relationships, etc) so that you can create the life you want.

How to Create the Results you want

Step 1. Begin With The End in Mind. Be very clear about WHAT you want. What does the Desired End Result look like? Ask why five times until you’re real clear and will recognize it when you see it.

Sometimes the idea is general and sometimes it’s specific.

Sometimes it’s like knowing you have to move in the direction of the mountain range you see 100 miles away and sometimes, you see the exact spot on the mountain where you want to End up.

Right now, you can only see the mountain range; the peaks of the mountains in this range are covered in clouds and fog.

But, you know where the mountain peak (GOAL) that you want is in that mountain range so you start moving toward it. As you get closer, you can see more detail; you can see the mountain you want so you move toward the base.

With each step, you can see more and more clearly. You adjust your course accordingly and start climbing the mountain and again as you climb higher, you see more details and eventually you come out of the fog and cloud cover and can clearly see the peak (GOAL).

The most powerful question you can ask yourself is WHAT DO I WANT?

It’s a question about results. What is the result or results I want?

If you focus on the “how” question before the “what” question all you can ever hope to create is a variation of what you already have.

Step 2. Honestly Evaluate Current Reality. Be very honest about Current Reality or the Actual State of things as they really are.
Honesty and Objectivity are critical. Good, bad, or indifferent, you need to develop the skill of viewing reality objectively.
It is critical you know what is going on with accuracy and clarity.

SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Paradigm Analysis: What is your worldview that affects the way you see/perceive things? REMEMBER: If you start with the wrong assumptions, you’ll come to the wrong conclusions.
Circle of Influence analysis. Who do you surround yourself with that influences the way you think? Remember this axiom? Garbage in/Garbage Out. Surround yourself only with people who really support you and your cause; and eliminate from your Circle of Influence those who do not.

Essentially you are asking yourself what Strengths do I have personally or in my life right now that will help me attain this goal?

What weaknesses might I have to be aware of or overcome?

What opportunities and what threats are there that might help me or prevent me from achieving this goal?

This is where you ask yourself Why? Why am I in the position I’m in? What have I done in the past that has stopped me from attaining goals.

What, in my environment or cast of friends has prevented me from attaining what I want?

What do I have to learn? Or unlearn? What associations do I have to stop?or start?

Who is accomplishing what I want to accomplish and how might I model them? This is not an exhaustive list of questions but a starter.

Step 3. Take Action. Create ACTIONS to achieve Desired End Result. Creating is about innovation, invention, and learning; as opposed to following convention. Some actions will help move you to WHAT you want, but some won’t, in fact maybe most won’t….and that’s ok.

Discipline yourself to Put 1^st Things 1^st
Test & Evaluate are keys: Test small; test often: sometimes the action works and sometimes it doesn’t. Failure is ok BUT learn to Fail Fast.
Learn to ask Smart Questions:
- What’s working?
- What’s not?
- What can I do better?
- What’s the Next Action required?

A good question to ask after you write out an intermediate DER/Goal or action step is “What is the next step required? “

EXAMPLE: One of your actions might be to take a class at your local technical college.

By asking yourself “What is the next step required?” you might answer “Call the school.” Again “What is the next step required?”

Answer: look up the phone number.

I have found this simple question to be tremendously beneficial.

It forces me to think “one step at a time”

You know the old saying “What is the best way to eat an elephant?”

Answer: One bite at a time.

Step 4. Evaluate your progress & Adjust Actions and/or Clarify the End in Mind. Plan – Do – Check – Adjust (Adjust the direction before you adjust your DER/Goal).

Here is the life-cycle of problem solving as taught by Robert Fritz and why it doesn’t work.

The Problem
Leads to action to solve the problem

Leads to
Less intensity of the problem

Leads to
Less action to solve the problem

Leads to
The problem remaining

What usually drives the problem is the intensity of the pain felt from the problem.

Once the intensity of the pain is lessened, 97% of us have less motivation to continue to act.

I run into this version of thinking all the time when I am helping people set and achieve goals.

The hardest part is getting them to admit to what they want, regardless of whether they think it is possible or not.

If I am dealing with someone who has never set goals, and I ask them what is the Desired End Result they want 5 years from now, or one year from now or next week, inevitably the answer is based on what they think is possible.

This limits your thinking. You want what you want. Go for it. Create a plan to achieve it.

9 Specific Steps to Attaining your Desired End Result or Goal:

Make a Commitment that you are going to reach your DER/GOAL.
Commit to daily accountability – You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Track EVERYTHING.
Every DER/GOAL has to be broken down into small daily actions.
Commit to no more than 6 BOULDERS a day.
Work on strengthening your strengths. We are all born with God-given talents and abilities. Some of these talents are a 2 or 3 on a 10 point scale; but every one of us has “NATURAL” talents of a 6 or 7;
Focus your lifetime on improving at least one of these talents/strengths to where you attain a 9 or better ranking.
It takes about 10,000 hours of practice to do that but the rewards are phenomenal.
A Talent of a ‘9” is worth about $1,000,000 a year.
Change direction before you change decisions.
Get all the help you can. I have never been without a coach, mentor or advisor in all my adult life.
Every day, think about your DER. Picture it; feel it; smell it. Make it as real-feeling as possible.
Whatever you want to Create, you must see yourself as already HAVING it, or BEING it or DOING
Always focus on what you DO WANT not on what you think is possible OR what you don’t want.
NEVER start your day without a clear list of PRIORITIES. Your To Do list. No more than 6 BOULDERS every day. Put 1st Things 1st.
Learn to be DIFFICULT when it counts. This means being Assertive; standing up for yourself in an honest, positive, appropriate way…Your rights, feelings, thoughts and opinions.
How to be assertive:
A. Think Win-Win…or No Deal. Understand that you have the right to walk away from a situation or relationship if it isn’t mutually beneficial.
B. You must have Self-respect before there can be mutual respect
C. Listen with the Intent to Understand, rather than simply listening with the intent to reply and Expect The Same in Return.
D. Think ‘C’ mode: controlled, calm, centered, charming, composed, collected, and coolheaded.
80/20 Rule: Identify the actions that contribute the GREATEST value. DO THEM. Eliminate or delegate all others.

For every minute spent in planning, you save 10 minutes in Implementing. That’s a 1000% Return on Investment.

The good news is that there is no rush to completing this Creating process.

There is actually tremendous benefit just in the process.

Make this a lifetime project.

I studied Qi Gong from a Master Chun Yi Lin. I once asked what the consequences were of doing a step incorrectly and he wisely said “There is no wrong way. There is good, there is better and there is best.”

If you are ready to take your life and your business to another level, contact me. I know of no way to do this without a coach.

History is filled with examples of individuals creating results that were previously thought impossible.

Our society puts a high premium on reasons and excuses.

Most people learn that if they have a good reason for not succeeding, they can sometimes avoid negative consequences.

Once you have learned the Principles of Creating thru Structural Thinking, you will naturally always follow the Path of Least Resistance.

Creating the Life You Want

One of the most substantial elements to Creating the Life You Want are the people you surround yourself with.

There is a saying: “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”

Every responsible parent knows how important the relationships our kids have is to their future.

Robert Fritz was a mentor I had hired years ago to help me create the success I desired for my auto dealership.

In his book “Your Life as Art”, he has a Rule of Thumb on this issue:

“Surround yourself with people who support you, support what you are doing, and root for your success. Avoid people who do not support you, do not understand you, do not like you, do not wish you well, and would like nothing better than to watch you fall on your ass.”

Life is all about relationships.

And as with everything else in life – Principles Rule.

Two very powerful and foundational habits, as taught by Stephen Covey, for cultivating and maintaining relationships that are positive rather than negative: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood and Think Win-Win…OR No Deal

The truth is each and every one of us would be better off having no friends than the wrong friends.

Sometimes you just need to take a stand for yourself.

How do you pick who to let into your Creative Circle of Influence:

They must be truthful and integrity based.

They must know you well enough to have valuable insight into who you really are – what motivates you, what your strengths and weaknesses are.

They must actually like you…just the way you are.

They care about your success….they care enough to be TRUTHFUL.

The Wisest (and Richest) man who ever lived – Solomon – has words on this as well: “The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” – Proverbs 12:26 (NIV)

In the end, it all comes down to our freedom to choose and our freedom to act.

We can choose to allow ourselves to achieve success or not by the choices we make.

I love the old story of a man who believes in God with undying faith.

One day a flood comes and water begins to rise and rise and he is forced to climb out onto the roof of his house.

Civil defense sends a boat to rescue him. He refuses to go and tells his would-be saviors that he has faith in God and that everything will be all right.

He then refuses help from a helicopter that attempts to rescue him.

The water keeps rising until the roof is now underwater, and he is havingtrouble keeping his head above water.

In a last ditch effort, the Coast Guard sends in a small submarine to save the drowning man. He waves them off and says, “Don’t worry, I believe in God.”

As his last words are uttered, more bubbles than sound, he drowns.

He wakes up at the Pearly Gates.

When he realizes where he is and what happened, he is really mad!

“I had faith in God, and what does he do? Drowns me!!”

Saint Peter shakes his head, smiles and says, “God sent you a boat, a helicopter and a submarine. What more do you want!”

Surround yourself only with people who really support you and your cause; and eliminate from your Circle of Influence those who do not.

My challenge to you: How do these Principles and Rules apply to your business life?

Where you see the word “Friends” substitute “customers” or “Target Audience” when appropriate Learn More at Who Should You be Selling to?

Life/Circle of Influence = Business

Creating the Life You Want requires that you have a clear understanding of WHO should be in your life in the first place. Begin with the End In Mind.

Be a Big Fish in a Small Pond Principle

Our country was founded on the Principles of God and Two Common Laws

1. Honor all Commitments; Do what you said you would do.

2. Do not covet; Never encroach upon another’s person or property.

There are NOW tens of thousands of man-made laws and regulations in this country derived from man’s belief he can supersede Gods Natural Laws (Principles) and somehow fair better.

When you understand the Principles it is easier to spot the laws and regulations that no longer serve justice but rather simply serve the political system that is now in control.

My point is: A foolish person memorizes formulas. A wise person understands principles.

Wisdom doesn’t live by a set of rules, but in the understanding and applying the principles behind them

You can recognize a Principle because they are:

Universal – They work everywhere

Timeless – They work all the time; past, present and future

Self-evident – You can’t argue against them.

Especially as you start out in life, always look for the opportunity to dominate a small pond or market; and then keep either adding “ponds” that you dominate or move to slightly larger ponds and dominate them.

Find your niche; find your audience and become the “expert” that others flock to, to ask you to help them solve their problems.

This is about finding or creating ways to differentiate yourself and make yourself stand above the crowd.

When I first started to sell cars, I became the product knowledge expert in our dealership. When anyone had a product knowledge question, even management or other departments, they came to me first.

By becoming an expert in this niche, it gave me a lot of latitude, respect and eventually a management position…which eventually helped me to my purchase my own dealership.

When you are the Big Fish in a small pond it is easier to create lasting relationships, it is easier to demonstrate your worth and it is easier to stand out.

A critical Rule of this Principle is Constant Improvement.

Be a Big Fish in a Small Pond…and always be looking to seek or make a bigger pond.

This could be a geographic pond; psychographic, product, pricing, expertise, etc.
1. Pick a certain type of consumer. Example: Death Wish coffee has decided to market their coffee to the consumer who wants extra caffeine.
2. Create a different kind of experience when the customer visits you.
3. Constantly change what you offer – like TJ Maxx
4. Focus on Price and/or Value.

The possibilities are endless.

Principle of Big Fish in a Small Pond can be articulated in marketing like this: It is better to reach 10% of the market and persuade them 100% of the way than to reach 100% of the market and only persuade them 10% of the way.

There are three things we focus on when we help our clients and all of our plans are based on them.

Market – Who is your Target Audience and what is their “language”.

Message – What is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition; your story)

Media – Which media(s) are best suited for you at this time to give you the highest ROI

We believe in and understand Facebook marketing, email marketing and utilizing video in both to enhance your persuasion.

But, there are times media like newspaper, direct mail, radio and/or television are appropriate.

You can even utilize this principle when purchasing space and/or time on these different media platforms.

As a small business, you don’t have a huge budget to spend like BIG business so you need to spend wisely.

Always think ROI (Return on Investment) and how QUICKLY am I realizing this ROI in terms of profit and cash flow. Money I can put into my bank account TODAY! If you want immediate improvement to your bottom line, you have to implement Immediate Response Marketing regardless of the media you choose to use.

I learned marketing principles from Jay Abraham and hired him as my mentor for about a year when I first purchased my dealership.

His favorite saying to me was: It is better to talk to 10 people who want to hear what you have to say, than 100 tire-kickers.

Here’s the Principle to remember and burn into your mind:
It is better to reach 10% of the market and persuade them 100% of the way than to reach 100% of the market and only persuade them 10% of the way.

Principles Rule: Be Authentic

Be Authentic: “Only you can be you.”

We are all created UNIQUE.

Research shows that the average person has between 500 to 700 different skills and abilities – WOW!!

And no one else on earth can use these skills and abilities, in their combination, like you can.

DNA molecules can unite in an infinite number of ways – 10 to the 2,400,000,000 power. That’s 10 with 2 billion zeros after it!!!!

There never has been and never will be another YOU.

The secret to successful marketing is to uncover what makes you and your business Unique (your USP – Unique Selling Proposition) and then Tell your story to the world and tell it often.

Every woodworker knows that the most effective and efficient way to work with wood is to work with the grain rather than against it.

It’s the equivalent of “working smarter, rather than harder.”

The expression “Sawing against the grain” means working against oneself; not getting the most out of the effort you put into something.

If you “cut against the grain” the resulting board is not as strong as one that was cut with the grain.

In the same way, when you act in a manner that is “against the grain” of who you are, or not authentic, it creates negative tension. It requires you to expend more effort and energy which in turn produces less than the BEST results possible FOR YOU!!

When you act, speak or write consistent with the way you were Created, in other words – authentic; you experience fulfillment, satisfaction, and the Best Results possible.

Being authentic means “Doing all the Right Things Right all the Time.”

This by the way was Vince Lombardi’s definition of a Winner!

What are the Rewards of being Authentic?

The quality of your life improves

“Doing (and saying) the right thing for the right reason in the right way is the key to the quality of life, and that can only come through the power of an educated conscience that aligns us with vision, mission, and true north.” – Stephen Covey

It puts you in control of the situation rather than the situation controlling you.

“The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy will be put to forced labor.” – Proverbs 12:24

“People can get many good things by the words they say…;
– Proverbs 12:14

“The deceitful walk a thorny, treacherous path; whoever values life will stay away.” – Proverbs 22:5

“In the end, people appreciate frankness rather than flattery.”– Proverbs 28:3

You get the respect, admiration and trust of those in your Circle of Influence.

Being authentic is being honest. It’s being real. It’s being courageous.

It’s human nature to follow the “path of least resistance”; To just “go with the flow”. To always look for the easy way; To avoid conflict by telling people what they want to hear rather than the truth.

This is true in marketing as well.

We have come to accept that most ads are exaggerating the benefits and minimize the risks to prospective clients.

Heck, as a society, we have come to accept and condone lying at the highest levels of our government leadership. Look at Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair and the gyrations around the truth and the public thought nothing about it.

What we learned as a society was that a person can lie and cheat and lack moral character – and yet not forfeit his political career.

We see broken promises (lies) every day at the highest level of our leadership and the majority of people accept it as “normal”.

But…to be a 3% er, you have zig when others are zagging.

A Leader is TRUSTWORTHY.
Trust = Competence plus Character/demonstrated over time.

Since that is not “normal”, can you only imagine what rewards awaits a trustworthy person?

When I was selling cars for a living, I always understated rather than overstated benefits.

I later created a Rule for myself and my employees of UnderPromise/OverDeliver.

When we followed this Rule, it was easy to Honor every Commitment we made. Which created trust.

The worst kind of deceit is self-deceit. It is impossible to be authentic while at the same time practicing self-deceit.

We cannot be one person in our private life and someone different in our public (business) life.

Why is it so easy to lie?

Everyone of us is guilty of dishonesty at one time or another.

We lie to promote ourselves, to protect ourselves or to manipulate others.

Deceit comes in a number of different categories but can be summed up in two distinct forms:

Distortion of the truth
Outright hiding of the truth

There are always consequences to deceit.

Deceit causes never-ending stress in your life.

Having to constantly think about the lies and when you told them forces you to constantly think about them so that you don’t get caught saying something contradictory that would expose those lies.

Sooner or later, all lies are found out, and when that happens, your Circle of Influence diminishes, and the quality of friends and customers diminishes with it.

It’s the Birds of a feather syndrome.

Being Authentic is an easier way to live and conduct business and the rewards are higher because there are fewer people at the top to have share them with.

Change the Way you Think

When you change the way you think you change your results because all thing are created first in your mind, then in reality.

“If you want to make minor, incremental changes in your life, work on behaviors, practices and attitudes.
But, if you want to make significant, quantum improvements, work on the way you think, your paradigms.”

And Learn to ask Smart Questions because the Question is Always the Answer.

What would your business look like if you changed your thinking from a “Customer Service” philosophy to “Customer Helping” philosophy?

This is the Principle of Servitude Heart: You can get everything in life that you want if you’ll just help enough others get what they want.

What do customers want? Help!

They want answers, they want information, they need service, they want to place an order, they want a solution to a problem…they want HELP!

How would your business be better if you focused on Principles NOT policies & rules?

With rules (or policies and regulations) you, or more importantly, your employees, only have two ways to do something, the right way and the wrong way (according to whoever wrote the rules).

Rules are like sticks, they’re unbendable. You can use them to prod, threaten or even beat someone with but when a rule doesn’t work, your employees only choice is to “break” it…and likely suffer the consequences. It’s classical two-dimensional thinking.

Principle-centered thinking on the other hand is three-dimensional thinking in that it allows you to stand apart and see the whole terrain.

Principles will act as your compass in that they always point you toward True North whereas rules, policies or regulations are more like a map. They are only good as long as the terrain or the market doesn’t change or you haven’t been given the wrong map.

Stephen Covey defines a Principle saying they are:
Universal – They work anywhere.
Timeless – They work all the time.
Self-evident – You can’t argue against them.

Another way to view a principle is to see it more like a rope. They conform to the changing circumstances without having to be compromised. You can lead easier with a rope than a stick, especially if your terrain is chock full of obstacles. It allows for a certain amount of flexibility, while never allowing to get off course.

What would happen if you spent as much time, effort and money on keeping existing clients as you do creating new ones?

Do you know what the Lifetime Value of your customers or clients is? See my blog What Are Your Clients really worth?

Most business owners don’t know the average profit they make from a customer over their lifetime and it’s costing them a fortune.

Start with…Yes!
When a customer or client makes a request or asks a question or complains…give them the hope of help.

Words are important and your first response has to be one that gives them a sense of hope that is focused on the positive, the creative, the willingness to help them find a solution.

Answer the way you would want to hear it if it were you asking the question, offering a gripe or making a request.

It’s all about your First Response…use words like:
Yes! Let’s figure out how to…
Great!
No problem!
I’m sure there’s a way we can…
I love challenges.
Cool!
Let’s see what we can do.
Or…
You bet, the best way to handle that is…
The fastest way to get that done is…
The easiest thing to do is…

The words you use, the tone of your voice and your body language start with your intent. Your intent has to be one of servitude.

Is that the Best we can do?
At the end of every day ask yourself these questions:
What did we do right today?

What did we do wrong?

What could we have done better?

It’s Constant Improvement mentality of Is that the Best we can be?

Change the way you think and you change the way you behave which changes your results.

Four Things Every Business Owner Has in Common

Every Business Owner Has These Four ‘Pain Points’ in Common

Not enough time – personal and business
Uncertainty & inconsistency of income and cash flow
Not enough clients or more accurately, not enough of the “right” clients. That is the 20% of your customers that generate 80% of your revenue and profits.
Not enough of the “right’ employees. That is the 20% of the employees that generates 80% of the results.

Far too many people go into business for themselves because they have a talent or passion and they just don’t want to work a J-O-B anymore.

Admirable…but all too often, all that happens is they swap one job for another.

It doesn’t have to be that way. But it takes courage and the ability to THINK DIFFERENTLY.

One of my coach/mentors, when I first started my own car dealership, told me to never forget the only way to make money was to sell something.

Selling always has to be your number priority every day because when you are successful and making money, and cash is flowing, whenever a problem arises, it’s a lot easier to make decisions when there is more than enough cash in the bank.

In other words, if you can afford to write a check to make a problem go away, write it. He was talking about always having experts on my team.

Find the best people who can do what you can’t and pay them to do the job.

The reason small business owners have these four common “pain points” is because you end up wearing so many different hats that you aren’t skilled in and have no passion for.

Here are some of the Many Hats a Business Owner has to wear at one time or another.

CEO/General Manager. This Hat makes you the decision-maker, risk taker and the strategist who gets to write all the business plans.

You are also the one in your business responsible for staying abreast of your industry news, regulations and educational material by reading a wide variety of business publications and newsletters or running off to seminars and meetings just to stay informed.

You are responsible for recruiting the best employees, suppliers and partners you can. You are cheer leading and training your employees, inspiring and keeping them motivated to the mission and vision of your company – which, by the way, you also have to come up with.

CFO/Chief Financial Officer. You track and manage your Key Performance Indicators to make sure your margins, salaries, accounts receivable, and payables are current.

When this hat is on, you are using your financial projections worksheets to make sure your projections are staying on course. You are tracking cash flow needs. You are responsible for inventory control and probably ordering as well.

COO/Chief of Operations Officer. When this hat is on, you are making sure your product or service is delivered to your customers in a timely and effective way.

You are watching how quickly you are responding to an order, keeping the customer informed of progress, and taking care of delays and complaints. You are watching inventory levels, shipping times and expenses.

Marketing Manager. With this Hat, you get the job of figuring out who your target audience is, where they are, how to reach them, what to say when you do get in front of them and how you can sell to them.

If you want to stay ahead of the game, you must read a variety of business and marketing publications to stay abreast of what’s happening in your industry and which marketing strategies are likely to work for you.

Advertising Manager. Now that you’ve created your marketing strategy you get to decide when and where to place your ads, and what type of media to place your advertising.

Copywriter. Since you must write the copy that goes into the company’s marketing and advertisements , you will need to constantly hone your writing skills by studying the finer points of copy writing.

Production Manager. You get to make the work schedules and determine the quality control standards of your products and services.

Actual production Worker. Many times you probably have to jump in, roll up your sleeves and be the technician, the salesman, the waiter, bartender, trainer, and the chief cook and bottle washer. All-the-while meeting the above-mentioned quality control standards.

Secretary, Receptionist and Customer Relations. You get to order office supplies, sign for packages, compose and type the business letters, handle customer complaints, answer phones.

And you get the job of figuring out what to do with the mountain of paperwork everyone else in the company is generating every day!

Bookkeeper. You will keep inventory records and post all income and expense figures to the company’s journals and ledgers–after you have set them up, of course.

You will also approve and pay bills, balance the checkbook, handle payroll, and organize and file all receipts for tax purposes.

Accountant. You will analyze the books and handle whatever the bookkeeper can’t do, such as fill out government forms for tax deposits or payments, do paperwork related to employees, and prepare quarterly and annual financial reports and tax returns.

You must also stay abreast of changes in tax laws that might affect your business.

IT/Computer Expert. With this Hat, you become the computer expert. You make sure your information systems are secure and your web site is providing the information your customers and clients want in order to make intelligent buying decisions.

If your business needs to be on the Web, you’ll have to spend hundreds of hours learning how to navigate the Web, do business electronically, and set up and maintain a Web site.

You need to be thinking of the most effective way to use social media to communicate with your customers and drive qualified traffic to your store front.

Whew! I’ll bet you can add a few things.

Now ask yourself: What would it feel like to have all of these things?
• More time – both business and personal
• Less unanticipated problems which will mean less headaches and less stress
• Consistently improving results which will mean consistently improving income and cash flow
• Relationships of trust with every employee, vendor and client.
• Customized Solutions that work for you. Every business and owner is unique.
• Personal 1-on-1 mentoring where you can rely on someone with Competence and Character to help you to ask the right questions, come up with the right solutions, to help you anticipate problems before they happen

The top producers in every field of endeavor have never been without a coach, mentor or consultant.

And the job of every coach, consultant or mentor is to make you a lot more money than you pay them.

The good ones will make it easy for you to make that decision to hire them so that you no longer have these four things in common with every other business owner.

When you know these following Essential Elements about your business, you can leverage your time, effort and money in ways your competition can’t, because they will be managing out of fear.

1. Who your Target Audience is; read more about that HERE

2. Lifetime Value of Your Customer; read more about that HERE

3. Unique Selling Proposition (USP); read more about that HERE

4. 80/20 Rule: Knowing your 20% that generates 80% of your profit. Learn more HERE

Knowing Where to Put the ‘X’

Principle: “Knowing where to put the ‘X’ in each part of your life is a critical determinant of everything you accomplish.”

There’s a story about a nuclear power plant had a malfunction that their own engineer’s couldn’t solve.

The plant management finally called in one of the nation’s top consultants on nuclear power plants.

For two days, the consultant walked around the plant, studying hundreds of dials and gauges, taking notes and running calculations.

At the end of the second day, he took a marker out of his pocket, climbed up a ladder, and put a large black “X” on one of the gauges.

“This is your problem,” he explained. “Repair and replace the apparatus connected to this meter, and the problem will be solved.”
He then left.

The plant engineers did as he suggested and sure enough, this fixed the problem.

About a week later, the plant manager received a bill from this consultant for $10,000…for “services rendered”.

The plant manager was surprised at the size of the bill.

After all, he reasoned, the consultant had only spent two days, walked around a little bit, placed a “X” and left. $10,000 seemed like a lot of money for such a simple job.

He wrote back to the consultant, “We have received your bill. Please give us a break down and itemize your charges.

It seems all you did was to write a big ole “X” on a single gauge. Ten thousand dollars seems excessive.”

A few days later, the plant manager received a new invoice from the consultant. It said, “For placing an “X” on gauge: $1.00. For knowing WHERE to put the “X”: $9,999.”

Having a clear and honest understanding of who you are, and what’s important to you is what separates the superior from the average.

It requires Honesty to step back and look at ourselves objectively to see what Current Reality really is in regards to these talents AND then be comfortable enough to be AUTHENTIC in our thoughts, actions and words.

Brian Tracy, in his book – “Focal Point” – says there are Two Steps you need to do to double your income.

First – Identify the things (the 20%) you do that contribute the greatest value to your earning potential.

Apply the 80/20 Rule or Principle – which states 20% of your actions contribute 80% of the value.

Then resolve to spend MORE time on those 20% activities.

Stephen Covey called them “Boulders” or First Things.
It’s learning to do The Hard Things First.

Second– Identify the 80% of your activities, customers, employees, products or services that provide low to no value and resolve to spend less time, effort and resources on them or better yet, eliminate them altogether.

Success is a choice.

There is an Abundance of Opportunities for everyone but only a small percent will ever find them – Why?

Because of CHOICE.

Those who become DOMINATE their market are Proactive.
They take Personal Responsibility.

Accepting Personal Responsibility means you refuse to make excuse or blame others for anything in your life that you’re not happy about.

Accepting Personal Responsibility is the very foundation of high self-esteem, self-respect and personal pride.

When you make excuses, blame others, complain or criticize, you essentially give away all your power to someone or something else.

These are all Principles or Natural Laws of God.

Here is the best definition of a Principle I’ve seen:

Principles are:
UNIVERSAL: They work everywhere.
TIMELESS: They work all the time. Past, Present and Future.
SELF-EVIDENT: You can’t argue against them.

Know what’s important. Know where to place your ‘X’.

Is Facebook for Me?

If you have a doorknob that customers can turn, Facebook is for you.

If you sell something that is Unique, Facebook is for you.

If you sell to consumers, Facebook is for you.

If you sell a fun experience, Facebook is for you.

A high ticket business, like an auto dealer is probably at the top of the list of businesses that can benefit from Facebook Direct Targeted marketing, but frankly just about any brick & mortar can benefit.

What if you could predict, with uncanny accuracy, who was likely to buy from you and who wasn’t.
Would this be a huge competitive advantage?

What if you had a way to know more about your clients and potential customers than they knew about themselves?

What if you could spend pennies to reach large numbers of people then have the ability to easily sift thru the whole lot and cherry pick the ones most likely to buy from you?

The Facebook marketing application is the ultimate sales tool to accomplish any and all of this, because selling & marketing is all about relationships and Facebook is the ultimate relationship building tool.

We have an Essential Elements Discovery process where we help every business owner figure out their target market before we start helping them with their Marketing, Selling and Business Practices.

One of these Essential Elements is determining who your Target Audience is. Learn more here:

One of the greatest strengths of Facebook marketing is your ability to target specific consumer groups who are highly engaged. In fact, Facebook is 89% accurate in their targeting capabilities. It’s almost scary how accurate they are.

Determining your Target Audience:
To market and sell your business, product or service properly, the very first thing you must do is get clear on WHO your ideal customer is, where they are hanging out, what their challenges are, etc…Every marketing piece must know what your clients and potential clients “hot buttons” are; what’s important or relevant to them.

People only care what’s important to them, not what’s important to you.

Your customers and prospective customers are always asking, WIIFM? (What’s In It For Me)

Once you find who the target truly is then you can know what their hot buttons are.

Facebook marketing helps hone in on the following:
Demographics like:

Geographic location
Income
Gender
Education
Language
Occupation
Religion
Age
Political affiliations

Psychographics like:

Spending habits
Hobbies
Values
Concerns
Desires
Lifestyles
Interests, hobbies and activities
Type, style model of vehicles owned
Who is a likely new or used vehicle buyer within the next 365 days, 6 months or next 90 days.
Leads, warm leads and HOT leads!
What brand they are most interested in
Age of vehicle they now own
You can hone in on your competitors customers and market area
General shopping behaviors (grocery, retail, etc.)
Where they get their digital information from
Travel habits
How recently did they purchase a home
Who is likely to move within a certain time period…(you set the time parameters)
Who has recently moved
Likely to purchase a home with a certain time period
Type of charitable interests they have

Just to name a few…

If you are one of the few that actually collects customer data and already has an email marketing strategy, we can supercharge your marketing by downloading your customer’s emails or phone numbers into Facebook and create a custom audience within Facebook for you.

Then, to sweeten the pot even more, we can take this list of your existing customers and create a “look alike” audience of potential clients that have similar likes, interests and behaviors.

This is where knowing your 20% that generate 80% of your revenue and profits (the 6th Element in our Essential Elements Discovery Process) really starts taking your business and personal life to a whole ‘nother level.

The thing about Facebook Direct Marketing is that the possibilities seem endless, and in a way maybe they are, because they are constantly changing and enhancing their marketing tools.

Caveat: Unless you are doing this full-time, the typical business owner wouldn’t and shouldn’t do this on their own.

To further your understanding of this Essential Element, read my blog here: Who should you be selling to?

We help small business owners Work less and Make More money by helping you to:
• Leverage your time
• Increase your cash flow & profits
• Identifying and focusing on the Right clients, employees & products/services

How: By implementing the 80/20 Principles of Marketing, Selling & Business practices, strategies and techniques.
• Essential Elements Discovery Process
• Automated Email marketing
• FB marketing
• FB retargeting
• Video marketing
• 1-on-1 “Do It For Me” coaching, consulting, mentoring

It is better to talk to 10 people and convince them 100% of the way then to talk to 100 people and only convince them 10% of the way. – Jay Abraham

Always Make it Easy to Do Business With You

One of the biggest business advantages you will ever have over your competition is to always make it easier for your customers and clients to say YES than it is to say NO.

Principle Centered Marketing, Selling & Business practices is holistic and encompasses not just your marketing but also your selling and business practices and systems.

It never ceases to amaze me how many businesses that I visit in person, on the phone or the internet, seem to have never looked at their business and practices from their customers perspective.

Every day, look at a different part of your business from your businesses practices to your signage and everything in between and ask yourself these questions:

How easy is it for someone to find your store or your website?
Once they arrive, how easy is it for them navigate and find what they want?

How diligently do you follow-up on inquiries, sales requests or orders?

How diligently do you keep your customers informed on the progress of their order with you?

How knowledgeable and friendly are all your employees?

Jay Abraham says we need to remember these 6 Things about our business:

1. You cannot serve too much.
2. You cannot educate too much.
3. You cannot inform too much.
4. You cannot offer to much follow-up and follow-thru.
5. You cannot make placing an order with you too easy.
6. You cannot make calling, visiting your website or coming in to your place of business too desirable.

There are two absolutely Essential Elements you need to have and tell the world about if you want to make it easy for your customers to say Yes!

One: You must have a UPS (Unique Selling Proposition) – see my article on that subject right here; USP! What is Your Unique Selling Proposition?

The more clearly you communicate what makes you the better choice (benefits, advantages, guarantee, etc) the more often people will choose you over your competition and see you as more valuable.

You can easily tell people why they should choose you in your marketing.

All your marketing should be built around explaining and reinforcing your new USP to your prospects.

Every business, every business owner and/or every product or service they sell is Unique.

You have a story to tell. Tell it to the world.

What makes you Unique is that distinct and appealing idea that sets you apart from all of your competitors.

Here’s a Key thought: Always realize that your clients and prospective clients are asking…WIIFM (What’s In It For Me).

How does what you offer Benefit me? How does it solve a problem I have?

If you can’t articulate your USP in 60 seconds or less, neither can your clients and prospective clients.

Some of the things that make you Unique are because of:
The buyer you serve
What you sell
An unusual angle
What your product or service does not do
The time frame you offer
Your Risk Free Guarantee

And that brings us to the second Essential Element: you need to provide a Risk Free Guarantee

Look at every aspect of your business from the products or services you provide to your clients and even your employees and make a list of all the obstacles that could prevent any of them from purchasing from you, dealing with you or choosing you over your competition.

Here are the categories to pay attention to:

Financial reasons – What could it cost you if the relationship or transaction didn’t work out?

Emotional Reasons – What emotional withdrawals could occur if the relationship or transaction didn’t work out?

Measurable reasons – Can it be measured so your clients can see the actual impact on their personal, business or financial life?

I know a car dealer in Canada that dramatically increased his business by offering a two week, 100% money back guarantee on any new or used vehicle purchased.

Now, in the state of Wisconsin, offering that on a new vehicle is tough because the very minute the customer drives away from the car lot, that vehicle now must be sold as a used vehicle, BUT…put your thinking cap on.

Bottom Line: The biggest secret to success in your business is to always maintain an edge in everything you do.

And the best “edge” you can have is to make it easier for your customers to say YES than it is to say NO!

We help small business owners Work less and Make More money by helping you to:
1. Leverage your time
2. Increase your cash flow & profits
3. Attract and keep the Right clients, employees & products/services

How: By implementing the 80/20 Principles of Marketing, Selling & Business practices

Essential Elements Discovery Process
Automated Email marketing
FB marketing
FB retargeting
Video marketing
1-on-1 “Do It For Me” coaching, consulting, mentoring

Contact me here

Larry Carey
Principle Centered Marketing, Selling & Business practices

6 Ways to Disqualify Tire Kickers

These are based on the Marketing Principle: It is better to talk to 10 people who want what you have to offer than 100 tire kickers.

In marketing, we teach our clients that it is better to Reach 10% of the Market and persuade them 100% of the way than to Reach 100% of the market and persuade them 10% of the way.

When you are in the business of selling, you better be good at figuring out as quickly as you can, these 6 things.

Here are 6 Ways to disqualify the tire kickers.

1. Are they the decision-maker? Do they have the ability to say yes?
Don’t waste your time making a presentation to an audience that can’t make the final decision.

2. Are they a member of your target audience? Every business has customers or clients that can be broken out according to the 80/20 Principle.
20% of your customers are generating 80% of your profits.

By the way, this principle holds true for your employees and your products/services you offer.

If you want to be more effective, you have to separate these and start focusing on the 20%.

Let’s say you have 3,000 active customers.
This Principle or Natural Law will show you that 600 of those are generating 80% of your profits. And ultimately, you will want to know who the 4% are that are generating 64% of your profits.

Helping you discover this 20% is the 6th element of our Essential Elements Discovery process.

See my article on this subject here: “Who should you be selling to?”

3. Do they have the money?
My two main businesses have been the automotive retail industry and real estate.
Two big ticket items. You better be good at qualifying whether your prospect can afford what you have to offer.

In the auto industry, there are “tire kickers” and there are “buyers”.

When you are strictly on commission, you better learn how to quickly and respectfully qualify your audience.

4. Is there a sense of urgency? Do they have an immediate problem that they need a solution to?

Twenty or so years ago I spent a year having Jay Abraham teach me his marketing principles. One of his pieces of advice that really stuck was “It is better to talk to 10 people who want what you have to offer than a 100 tire kickers.”

Jim Rohn had a similar approach when he said “the best advice I can offer is for you to realize that you have permission to ‘talk about what matters’ only to people who care.”

5. Do they want what you have to offer? Does your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) match what they want?
A unique selling proposition (USP) is your unique answer to these questions:
• What does your product or service do that your competitors doesn’t?
• Why should I buy from you instead of anybody else?
• What guarantee can you make that nobody else can make?

These are the things that make it easier for them to say Yes rather than No!

Effective marketing/selling gets people to raise their hand and say “I want what you have to offer.”

It’s the difference between chasing leads versus having them chasing you.

Which one sounds like more fun, easier and more lucrative?

Read my blog on this issue here: USP! What Is Your Unique Selling Proposition?

6. Do you have a solution for their problem?
Whatever you sell needs to be in harmony with the natural and existing forces in their life right now.

The sooner you learn how to disqualify the 80%, the faster you will dominate your market.

Two huge mistakes almost every business makes

1. They don’t capture the contact information on everyone they come in contact with, name, address, phone number, email address are the basics.

But if you want to excel at this, learn as much as possible about them as you can so that in your future communications, you can share things that are of interest to them.

I used to find out all of the demographic and psychographic information I could.

2. Businesses have no consistent marketing strategy for follow-up.

Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up with things that add value to their lives.
That is why, over the course of time, the more you know about who you know, the better and more trusting your relationship with them will be.

Effective marketing/selling is all about creating trusting relationships.

How badly do you want to not only DOMINATE your market within your industry but do it with less time, effort and money invested?

How badly do you want to have more personal time and more consistent cash flow and higher profits?

Remember this: It is better to reach 10% of the market and persuade them 100% of the way than to reach 100% of the market and only persuade them 10% of the way.

Stated another way: Ten sales are better than 100 “be-backs.”