The Profit Center Mastermind

Marketing a Small Start-Up Business On a Shoe-String

By far the most important thing a fledgling entrepreneur can focus on is their marketing. Unfortunately, this is the one place where most business owners waste more time, effort and money than just about anywhere else.

Marketing is much more than just advertising; it is the sum total of all your communications with the marketplace. This includes your vendors, lender, investors as well as your customers and the community at large. It is what I call a “reluctant reality” that your marketing will be a bigger factor in your success than the quality of your offering.

By “reluctant reality”, I mean that most business owners would rather it not be so… but it is. We’ve all been brainwashed to believe in the old saw, “build a better mouse-trap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Trust me; it just isn’t so.

Savvy entrepreneurs know (even if they don’t like it) that a B product with A marketing will always beat the pants off an A product with B marketing. Obviously, the best combination is to couple an A product with A marketing – and that’s exactly what you should strive towards.

The first step in creating an A marketing plan is to differentiate yourself. This is the most important thing you can do. And, of course, you already know all the ways you are… but you’ve got to be different in the eyes of your customer. This is much more difficult thing to achieve. It is basic human nature to group things together as “alike” or “not alike”, with emphasis leaning strongly towards “alike”.

It takes a concerted effort to get out of this trap; but it is the most important thing you can do with regards to your marketing. For instance, think about how many Colas there are. The barriers to successful entry in the soft drink business are huge and mostly built of money. Since the dawn of time there have been two juggernauts; Coke and Pepsi. But there was only one “Un-Cola”. Even though they are all sweet fizzy drinks, most of them are brown but one was clear. Decades ago, that one small difference was enough to catapult 7-Up to the status of a mainstay competitor against the two giants while other “colas” launched with great fanfare and quickly died quietly, very expensive deaths.

Then there was Snapple, it wasn’t exactly “pop”; it was iced tea with weird flavor combinations. It wasn’t as sweet, for a while there was even some attempt at passing it off as a “healthier” alternative to regular soft drinks. By not trying to be just another pop, Snapple was able to grab significant market share and gain some staying power.

Today we’ve seen the same sort of thing with Red Bull. In essence it’s another soft drink, but instead it’s been branded as an “Energy Drink” (whatever that means). The company took great pains to differentiate it, even down to the size of the can. Now, instead of competing head-to-head with Coke or other regular pop, Red Bull is perceived as so individual that no comparison is possible. In fact, it has spawned an entire sub-industry of related “Energy Drinks”, which, as far as I can tell, are pops with some miniscule amounts of vitamins and which don’t taste as good.

These are examples of how the “little guy” can compete successfully against giants. Both Snapple and Red Bull started out as small specialty companies that were able to grow through being positioned entirely different from other mainstream soft drinks. You can do this too.

But you’ve got to have the time and energy to focus on being different… not just better. I have a mantra that goes like this; “Being Different is Better Than Being Better”. Unfortunately, being different is tougher than being better.

This means that you absolutely cannot be so consumed by your “trade” (doing the labor of your business) that you have no time or energy to focus on the frankly more important things going on in your business. Things like excellent marketing. This is the biggest trap that I consistently see new entrepreneurs fall into. One strategy that has worked for a lot of business owners is to set aside one morning a week to do absolutely nothing but focus on marketing. That one small adjustment in time and priority management has made some of my clients very wealthy entrepreneurs. You might want to consider it yourself.

Erik S. Olson is a syndicated columnist, author of “Create The Business Breakthrough You Want” and the creator of the “Return On Life Transformation” you can sign up for his free 7 step “Small Business Solutions Course” on the web at www.eriksolson.com

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Managing People For Entrepreneurs - Why Everything You Ever Knew About Managing People is Wrong

Ever wonder why there are so many books on managing people? Mostly because none of them work. They all promise to transform your employees from dull, unmotivated, uninspired “Meat Robots” into bright, shiny, vibrant, self-motivated mini-entrepreneurs. Yeah, right.

On the other hand, who hasn’t seen the transformation of an employee from a sack of lethargy into a raging ball of energy when he gets to talking about Bass fishing or tailgating… and wondered how we could harness that enthusiasm.

I’m not saying that “employee-motivation” seminars are a complete waste of time… after all, how else are professional speakers supposed to make a mid-6-figure income? I am saying that for the entrepreneur, there are a few iron-clad rules that will help take at least 80% of your people frustrations away.

Iron-Clad rule #1: You owe your people NOTHING and your people owe you NOTHING. The whole concept of “Loyalty” is a farce and lasts about as long as fish… 3 days and you’re done. That’s not a bad thing - it’s just reality. You must earn their respect every day… just as they do yours. Never forget: just as you compete for quality customers, you are competing for quality employees just as much or even more.

Iron-Clad Rule #2: It’s never the people you fire that hurt you. Entrepreneurs are forever getting caught up in the “should I or shouldn’t I’ trap. If you’re wondering if you should fire an employee, you already should have!

It’s sort of like when you put on a pair of pants and have to ask, “Do these make my butt look big?” You can bet they do.

The Number 1 trait of all successful entrepreneurs is the ability to MAKE A DECISION AND TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION. Sure, you might make a mistake now and then… but that’s NOTHING in comparison to the mistakes you’ll be making through inaction.

Iron-Clad Rule #3: Stop Trying To Motivate People. It doesn’t work and annoys the crap out of them. People are either motivated or they aren’t, and there’s not much you can do about it. It is the absolute height of arrogance to think that we can “fix” people by “kindly and gently” manipulating them.

On the other hand, naturally motivated people can quickly become DE-MOTIVATED. It’s your job to be vigilant in looking for and squashing these sources of DE-MOTIVATION.

Most people want to do a good job, but will quickly lose interest if they think you don’t care enough to support them… and that’s pretty fair to my way of thinking.

Iron-Clad Rule #4: Be Bigger Than Your Moods. Who hasn’t worked for someone that was as crazy as a Junebug in August? You never knew who you were talking to on any particular day - Dr. Jeckel or Mr. Hyde.

You owe it to your people and yourself to refuse to allow your behaviors to sway with your moods. Just because you had a fight with your spouse doesn’t mean you don’t have to react with genuine joy and support when an employee comes to you with a “Win”… nor that you can overlook a misbehavior simply because you’re in a good mood. You have a duty to be totally “here-and-now” present with them - no matter what else might be going on outside of work.

This can be challenging, but you’ll find that with practice, it gives you a sense of self-mastery and that you’ll command tremendous respect from your people… because you’ve earned it.

Iron-Clad Rule #5: Always Be Hiring

Can you imagine a pro football or basketball team saying, “Sorry, I know that you’re the most gifted and skilled player we’ve seen in 10 years… but we’re not hiring right now. Check back with us in a while to see if we’ve got any openings.” Absurd! Yet we do this all the time.

And then we get in trouble. An employee leaves suddenly for any reason and we’re automatically forced to scrounge around and try to plug the gap. The most common test we use is the classic, “Can You Fog This Mirror?” test.

Then, of course, we bitch about the quality of people available. Not exactly a recipe for success, is it?

The way around this is to recognize just how critical and important this part of your business is, and then treat it with that importance. That means you carve out a chunk of time each week to do nothing but recruit new talent. Period. And if you do find someone who’s stellar… hire them!

Iron-Clad Rule #5A: Interview to Disqualify. The most expensive mistake you can make as an entrepreneurs it a “bad hire”. How do you avoid making this mistake? Start by taking the attitude that the best thing you can do is to uncover the person’s “Fatal Flaw” and dis-qualify them. Really, it’s that simple. Instead of looking for reasons TO hire them… you are constantly looking for reasons NOT TO hire them. This makes a huge difference in how you approach the interview and will automatically force you to raise your bar.

Finally, the key here is to stop trying to “manage” people. You can’t, so don’t even pretend you can… but you can manage systems. And well designed systems help ordinary people produce extraordinary results. So focus your time and energy on creating the systems that support your people, become a complete maniac about finding and destroying “De-Motivators”… and lastly, remember to treat your employees as human beings - just like you.

Erik S. Olson is founder of The Profit Center, Inc. Author, speaker, syndicated columnist and radio show host, Erik has been at the forefront of small business thinking for over 15 years. Erik makes himself available on a limited basis each week for a one-on-one, complimentary Strategy Session. For more information, go to http://www.getreturnonlife.com

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Simple Sales Success: “No Resistance Selling”

Most people hate sales… they can’t stand the rejection. Typically, we’re told to “get tough” or “grow a thicker skin”, or just to “deal with it”.

But nobody likes to be rejected, even if they’re armor-plated and have the skin of a Rhino. So, the obvious solution is to eliminate the rejection. The million-dollar question is, of course, “How”? If we can figure that out, life as a salesperson would be very different indeed!

Martial artists have long observed that force will almost always be met with resistance. The harder we push, the more they resist.

Watch Tai Chi Chuan or Judo masters, facing an opponent. When the other person aggresses, they seemingly melt away and allow the opponent to beat themselves. Can we take this philosophy and apply it to sales?

Yes we can! But we must approach the entire concept of sales from a different angle. Instead of trying to “push” someone into taking an action that they haven’t specifically expressed interest in, we ONLY spend time with people who have previously shown that they are interested in the concept of what we offer through some kind of “opt-in” process.

In order to do this, we need to re-think the purpose of our Marketing. In most companies, Marketing is simply a way to drag warm bodies over the doorstep (virtual or otherwise) and then the Salespeople can sort things out for themselves.

But in our paradigm, Marketing is integrated into Sales, with the exact same goal; revenue. We also recognize the costs associated with each sales-presentation and are very careful of spending that time and money without some reasonable expectation of results.

This is completely opposite from most theories of sales. With commissioned staff, most managers tend to think that every presentation is “free” and so we should talk to anyone and everyone we possibly can, regardless of probability. Well, that’s just baloney!

I would rather have my salespeople sweeping the floor than talking to unqualified (and mostly uninterested) prospects. Salespeople are not numbers! There is a real and tangible cost in effectiveness to every rejection. And that’s why traditional sales is a very tough racket with depressingly high turnover.

But with the “No Resistance Selling” model, you only talk to people who have contacted you. Then you lead them through a process of discovery where you learn everything you need to determine “outcomes”, “fit”, and “willingness to make a decision and take action”.

Outcome: What are they trying to achieve and why? Uncovering their real motivation is a key component in this process, and it may have very little to do with the explicit benefits of your offer. Are they willing to be candid with you?

Fit: How closely do their desires match your offers? How likely are they to actually achieve their desired outcome?

Willingness to make decisions and take action: This includes timing and ability to purchase, but also; are they motivated to seek and create change? You can’t motivate an unmotivated person (or at least not long enough to actually accomplish anything). Are they willing to allow you to lead them through this change/growth?

This style of “Sales Interview” is the exact opposite of a “Pitch”. We never get rejected, simply because we never ask them to buy! How can there be resistance when there is no pressure?

Essentially, we are as selective of clients as they are of us… maybe more so! This changes the entire psychology of the game, forcing them to “qualify” to be our customers. A lot of people automatically assume we are engaged in a form of “take-away” selling, but there’s more to it than just a simple “technique”. The difference is, we really mean it. If they don’t qualify for any reason, there will be no “offer”.

Once you integrate ‘No Resistance Selling” you’ll experience several benefits. The first is a much higher conversion rate, with leads to better morale, much higher profits, better client profiles, easier delivery of value, better (and more) referrals, a limit to “deliverable creep” and a happier, more fun work environment. The beauty is that you
don’t have to invest in new technology, not one piece of new equipment… just a little bit of training.

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Secrets In Successful Marketing: Are You Hitting Your Customer’s “Pressure Points”?

Secrets In Successful Marketing: Are You Hitting Your Customer’s “Pressure Points”?

The number 1 rule in customer behavior: buying decisions are always 80% emotional and 20% intellectual. That rule should be reflected in all your marketing copy. Unfortunately, almost all of us find that it’s a lot easier to talk about “What We Do” rather than “What You Get”.

Here’s a depressing reality; most people don’t give a lick about what you do or sell. No matter how much you wish it were true, they don’t. However, they DO care immensely about the results of what you do or sell. So guess what you ought to focus on?

A few months back, my 3 year-old laptop finally bit the dust (in computer years it must have died of old age) and I found myself in a “Big Box” store completely bewildered by the options. A helpful young man came up to me and started to quiz me on what type of computer I needed. Fine so far, right?

He was very bright and knowledgeable, pounding me with questions about RAM, CPU options, video sub-processors and so forth. I stood and nodded as if I understood what he was talking about and finally replied, “I always thought that they stuffed little Keebler elves in there somewhere and I make sure that I sprinkle cookie crumbs on the keyboard to keep them fed and happy.”

I could tell from his eyes that I’d just lost my provisional membership in the “Geeks-R-Us” club and that I’d just become “One of Them”. Well, so be it.

The mistake that this fellow made is to assume that I had the same interest in the technology that he had, and naturally enough, asked me the same questions that he’d like to answer.

Most of us make the same mistake, face-to-face and (more importantly) in our marketing copy. The secret is to focus almost exclusively on our customers’ “Pressure Points”. These are the emotional triggers that create tremendous motivation to take action.

And, luckily enough, there are but two main “Pressure Points”. Desire for gain and avoidance of pain… or more simply put, “Greed and Fear”.

Further, the best marketing combines both of these, creating a huge perceived gap that the prospects are powerfully motivated to bridge. For proof of this, the next time you’re stuck in the grocery check-out line, thumb through the National Enquirer and look at the ads.

You might think that your offering is much more sophisticated than anything found in the Enquirer, but if you see an ad there more than twice; it is a sure-fire money maker. That’s because the National Enquirer commands some of the most expensive advertising real estate available. Simply put, emotions are not sophisticated, but they are enormously powerful.

By tapping these “Pressure Points” you’ll be attracting people who are motivated to take action (resolve the emotional tension that has been created) instead of people looking for more information (intellectual curiosity).

Don’t forget, the purpose of any ad is (or should be) to motivate the customer to make a buying decision and take action RIGHT NOW. More likely than not, that action will include pulling out a credit card, which is the ultimate measure of success for all your marketing.

Erik S. Olson is founder of The Profit Center, Inc. Author, speaker, syndicated columnist and radio show host, Erik has been at the forefront of small business thinking for over 15 years. Erik makes himself available on a limited basis each week for a one-on-one, complimentary Strategy Session. For more information, go to http://www.getreturnonlife.com

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The Easiest, Cheapest, Most Profitable Thing You Don’t Do…

Like every other entrepreneur, I’m constantly bombarded by things clamoring for my time. If I allowed it, I could be sucked up by phone calls, emails, breakfast meetings, lunch meetings, in-between meetings, teleconferences, texting, voicemails, twittering (whatever that is) and Instant Messaging. I’d be so damned busy, I’d never get anything done!

Instead, I’ve written 2 books this year, published a monthly newsletter, written my syndicated column, a weekly e-zine, created three new courses and done a mountain of client work. Want to know how I get all that done? I’ll tell you a secret…

I say, “No” an awful lot.

“No, I can’t meet you for lunch to discuss something very vague, or just to spend time together.”

“No, I can’t take your call to chat about how you want my input on some ill-defined project that I can’t really make a significant contribution towards”

“No thank you, I’m not going to get together for coffee and tell you about what I do.”

Does this sound a little harsh? Probably. But I don’t mean it in a snotty way, I’m just very clear as to what my time is really worth.

But I bet you aren’t.

Again, I’m not trying to sound like a jerk, but it’s long been an observation that most people are so unfocused, that they end up wherever the wind blows them. If the phone rings, they’ll drop whatever they’re doing… even their most important and profitable activity – all based on someone else’s agenda.

I used to be like that. I was a charter member of the “Never eat lunch alone” crowd. I networked till my ears bled from the listening and my hands blistered from shaking. Breakfast with the Optimists, lunch with the Rotary and afternoons with the Chamber. I was constantly saying things like, “Give me a call anytime. We’ll get together for coffee and talk about it.”

To my astonishment, people did. I was so hopped up on coffee, I vibrated. Everyone knew me as the nicest guy who was always available for free advice. (Not that anyone actually took it… free advice, no matter how good, is worth exactly what it cost).

Of course, I never made any money from all of this. Nope. I had a lot of friends… just no cash.

Have you ever attempted to pay your bill with friendship or good will? Doesn’t work, I tried… banks are funny that way.

I remember the day when I’d had enough. Someone called me up, wanted to pick my brain for a while (for free, of course), and I said, “No.”

I’m not sure who was more shocked… them or me!

Somewhere, I got it into my head that it was a whole lot easier for me to do nothing for nothing, instead of beating myself up for nothing.

I stopped taking phone calls randomly. I checked messages once per day and only returned calls after 4:30pm. People who are counting down the clock are a lot less likely to want to hang on the phone for hours when it’s their time being spent.

I stopped returning emails immediately. Daily at best, more likely twice a week. I stopped going to lunch… even for free. Business and lunch do not mix.

I started charging for my advice… every time and always in advance. Every meeting was started off with an agreed upon agenda and a crystal-clear outcome. Sometimes, I’d have a potential client that “just wanted to bounce a few things off me”. Forget it; if we don’t have a clear goal and a definitive way to measure progress, it was a waste of time.

I pissed a few people off. At first I worried about this. Then I took a closer look at exactly who I’d annoyed. The same people who were too cheap to actually hire me were now outraged that I no longer gave an endless stream of free samples.

At first I was afraid they’d tell their friends… then I decided I HOPED that they’d tell their friends. They did, they’re friends stopped calling and it was wonderful.

I got a WHOLE lot of work done. It was easy! I didn’t have constant distractions interrupting me.

I made a WHOLE lot more money. Since I was better able to focus on a few key clients, they got far better service and were tickled to pay me more.
I ended up with a WHOLE lot more free time. At first, I didn’t even know what to do with it! My kids thought it was weird to have me home for dinner… unfortunately it was (for a while). I actually got to do some of the things I enjoyed outside of work… weird, huh?

And you can too! But I’m telling you right now, you’re going to ruffle some feathers. Some people are going to be wonderful and extremely supportive… some not so much. Go ahead and ruffle away.

Some people are going to resent the fact that you have limited your access. They are going to get annoyed at the fact that you are (finally!) placing a real value on your time… they’ve been happily sucking it up for free, and will be annoyed at you for actually charging what you’re worth. That’s ok, they can (should!) go away.

What does it cost to say, “No.”? Nothing. You don’t have to buy new software. It’s very easy (once you get used to it), there’s no training expense and you don’t have to hire any new employees in order to use this tremendously powerful tool.

In the immortal words of Nancy Regan, “Just say NO!”

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Case Study, Carolyn Yaggie-Heinen SUCCESS!

Story of Grand Success in one Entrepreneurial Slave to her Business TRANSFORMING into a Master with Huge gains in ROL, Return On Life. Congratulations Carolyn!

Click To Play

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Are you ready for REAL CHANGE?

Do you own your business… or does it own you?

Are you fantastic doing what you do… but your business isn’t as successful as you’d like?

Tired of struggling, feeling like you can never get ahead?

Are you working all the time, but feel you’re not getting anything to show for it?

If you answered “YES!” to any (or all) of these, you’re in the right place!

The Profit Center Mastermind will show you how to “Make Your Business Work“.

Discover why most businesses are “designed to fail” and what you need to do to change that.

Find out why you’re almost certainly working way too hard, for way too long at all the wrong things...

How would you like to make far more money, in far less time, doing only what you really enjoy?

If you said, “Sure!” then here’s what you need to do:

1.) Sign up for The Free Solutions Course on the right upper corner.

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Understanding The Business Wheel.

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