Waiting for your fairy godmother (venture capitalist/ investor) to save you?

There are no EASY ways to do business. When talking with a client today, I realized something I had never really admitted before, BUSINESS IS TOUGH!

There is no magic bullet, no get-rich-quick. It’s about something much more.

Now, that’s not to say SOME people may find success by being in the right place with the right thing at the right time, but those times are far and few rather than the norm.

Expecting that fairy godmother to come and make all of your dreams come true is a great way to feel like a failure!

THE SMARTER AND MORE SURE WAY TO SUCCESS? FOCUS! Focus on the right things at the right time. Focus on serving your current clients/customers/patients better! Focus on making loyal followers, die-hard fans. (See my post earlier today about Facebook fans and their worth, if you are using social networking as part of your plan.)

Here’s another way to think about it, to quote our man, Seth Godin, “Delight the audience you already have, amaze the customers you can already reach, dazzle the small investors who already trust you enough to listen to you. Take the permission you have and work your way up. Leaps look good in the movies, but in fact, success is mostly about finding a path and walking it one step at a time.”

SOOOOOOOOOOO? How will this change your day, your month, your year?

C

Why having NO Money or Budget when you start your business can be an ADVANTAGE! A Seth Godin case study.

So, Seth Godin tells about this company that did not have the money to spend on a sign that truly describes the product type, and amazingly this probably contributed to MORE success!!

“When Blythe and her partners started Lula’s Apothecary, the best vegan ice cream stand in this hemisphere, they didn’t have enough money to afford the letters to put “Dairy free” on the sign in their window. They couldn’t even afford “vegan.” So the signage says nothing about what they don’t put in their ice cream.

What they discovered was that word among the tribe of vegans in the East Village of New York City (an even bigger group than you might imagine) spread fast. The product was remarkable enough that just a few happy customers were enough to spread the word.

The other thing they discovered is that non-vegans were willing to walk on in if the place looked cool enough. In fact, the lack of ingredient-declaration on their window actually helped them reach out to people who might have been scared away at the lack of milk.”

So, allow the LIMITATIONS of your budget or time or employees, to work FOR your benefit! Allow this limitation to equate to a WIN! See how this can work for you rather than limit you!

If you don’t have money for a sign, then how can that actually be a benefit?

If you don’t have the money to redecorate your retail store, how can you make this an opportunity?

When you don’t have an advertising budget, how can you use that to inspire improvement?

Change, improve, make this work for you!

I want to hear about it!

C

How to charge thousands and be absolutely worth it!

Be a linchpin!
Seth Godin relays this story to illustrate: I had a college professor who did engineering consulting. A brand new office tower in Boston had a serious problem–there was a brown stain coming through the drywall, (all of the drywall) no matter how much stain killer they used. In a forty story building, if you have to rip out all the drywall, this is a multi-million dollar disaster. They had exhausted all possibilities and were a day away from tearing out everything and taking a loss. They hired Henry in a last-ditch effort to solve the problem. He looked at the walls and said, “I think I can work out a solution, but it will cost you $45,000 if I succeed.” They instantly signed on, because if he succeeded, the project would be saved.

Henry asked for a pencil and paper and wrote the name of a common hardware store chemical and handed it to them. “Here, this will work.” And then he billed them $45,000. That’s quite an hourly wage. It’s also quite a bargain.

Read Linchpin to get ideas on how to be a linchpin, but the bottom line is: WHAT VALUE do YOU bring to your buyers?

The problem with us humans is that we over value what we do. You may fight to admit it, but it is a REAL problem.

If you don’t believe me, read Harry Beckwith’s book, Selling the Invisible.

So, IF you want to grow your hourly wage? OR just continue to justify it in a poor economy, then get honest, how much VALUE do you bring? And then concentrate on how to bring even more value. Under-promise, over-deliver! Thre was never a time where this was more important.

Ok, so here we are again, at the point where I ask you, what will this change, improve, alter, in what you do today, tomorrow, next week, month and year.

As you know, if you change nothing, you have gained nothing and you have lost the time you have spent reading (sigh), once again. SOOOOOO, get to it.

My absolute best,

C

How To Create Something So Fascinating That People Can’t Help But Be Drawn In

Read this book with me, let me know how you will use these 7 triggers for your business benefit.

Or take the f score test, see which you use naturally and how to do that better! AND find out which you do not use by nature, and determine how to infuse a bit of that so as to grow the potential from that.
See a new video interview from mixergy, here, fascinating!

C

Retailers – You are losing buyers to the internet retailers! What are YOU doing about it?

Retailers – You are losing buyers to the internet retailers!

What are YOU doing about it?

ONE TOOL IN YOUR ARSENAL THAT WORKS LIKE NEVER BEFORE:

COUPONS!

A study by Inmar reveals that 2009 consumers used coupons at a faster clip than they did the year before – the first increase in coupon redemption in 17 years.

Online coupon access increased 92 percent and traditional newspaper inserts are still a stomping ground for bargain hunters – 89 percent of coupons are distributed that way, and the paper vouchers account for more than half of those redeemed at the checkout counter.

Many who never used coupons are now forced to use them – what about you and your household?

Are you maximizing your opportunities with these?

If you are not improving your business each and every day, internet retailers WILL and they offer coupons, everywhere!

SOOOOO, create an offer, a coupon, something to put online, on twitter, on facebook, in the newspaper OR all of these, GRAB THOSE customers today!

As always, my absolute best to you,

C

How to Name Your Business! Or Brand Your Image!

In working with  a client yesterday, we discussed at length HOW to name a new company. Many people get caught up in semantics, opinions from others, and what has already been DONE! The same issues happen with branding an image or company. And more often than not, time is lost striving in the wrong direction.

The key with naming a business is to understand the core concept that no one should do this for you, whether you are a soloprenuer, inventor, retail store owner, or doctor, because with time, generally you will see that this “definition” of who and what makes your business special will be inaccurate.

Seth Godin says that the problem with hiring a consultant or a company to find your brand essence is that “if you have to search for a brand essence, you are unlikely to find one”.

He goes on to say:
Standing for something means giving up a lot of other things, and opening yourself to criticism. Most people in the financial services industry (or any industry, actually) aren’t willing to do that, which is why there are so few Charles Schwabs in the word.

First, decide it’s okay to fail and to make a ruckus while failing. THEN go searching for the way to capture that energy and share it with the world.

Clothes don’t make the man, the man makes the man. Clothes (and the brand) just amplify that.

So, how does this help you name your company, brand your image, define your company?

Well, one is that it needs to be true and pure for YOU, not your colleagues, friends, or competition.

Second, the name is not EVERYTHING, but instead the ancillary information is going to support what you want your brand to be, that is the logo design, the exterior and decor of your location, the advertising and marketing pieces you put out to the world.

I believe one of the most important parts of branding and naming is to be bold! People today recognize and adore a strong opinion and personality in a company, if you think about some of the most profitable and successful companies, you will see this to be true.But, this discussion is for another day.

Last thing that is important, don’t feel like you need to EXPLAIN everything in the name. If you think about retailers or medical offices, if they explain everything in the name, then they are perceived and generally are value priced. So, unless you are offering value pricing, stay away from highly descriptive company names or marketing messages.

Instead come up with a name, it can even be obscure, then support the accurate definition of your brand with the ancillary words and styling.

I could write about this literally all day! SOO, more on this later!

C

Retailers keep the customers from buying on the net! HOW to win the WAR?

If you are in retail, then you are at WAR! The internet is always going to have a cheaper, faster, better resource for your prospects to buy from. So, how can you compete?

You can offer the one thing the internet cannot, the environment, the smells, sounds, what will keep buyers coming back. See how a bookstore competes with giants like Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Books-A-Million.

http://tinyurl.com/MontagueBookstore

How can YOU take this concept and WIN?

I want to hear about it!

Your coach,

C

Why companies/marketing/tactics fail!

The reality of the world today is harsh, whether we will admit it or not. It’s a killer situation for many businesses, destined to FAIL!

Why??????

They simply are not good enough! Average is not praised, noticed or bought anymore.

Seth Godin puts it well: “The biggest mistake companies make is that they chicken out.  If your idea doesn’t become a virus, it’s most likely because it didn’t deserve to become a virus.”

I blog and rant about it all of the time, if you aren’t innovative, you will not make it in this economy! So once again, I implore you, stand up, be counted! Be deserving!

Your coach,

C

Give gifts to recieve! Happiness, more revenues, loyalty…

I regularly recommend to my clients that they give gifts freely. Seth GOdin ahs a brilliant explanation that really gets us thinking in the right direction with this giving!

Read here, his post:

If I sell you something, we exchange items of value. You give me money, I give you stuff, or a service. The deal is done. We’re even. Even steven, in fact.

That’s fine, but it doesn’t explain potlatch or the mystery of art or the power of a gift.

If I give you something, or way more than you paid for, an imbalance is created. That imbalance must be resolved.

Perhaps we resolve it, as the ancient Native Americans did, by acknowledging the power of the giver. In the Pacific Northwest a powerful chief would engage in potlatch, giving away everything he owned as a sign of his wealth and power. Since he had more to give away, and the power to get more, the gifts carried real power, and others had to accept his power in order to engage.

Or we resolve it by acknowledging the creativity and insight of the giver. Artists do this every time they put a painting in a museum or a song on the radio. We don’t pay for the idea, but we acknowledge it. And then, if it’s particularly powerful, it changes us enough that we become givers, contributing to someone else, passing it along.

Sometimes we resolve the imbalance by becoming closer to the brand or the provider. We like getting gifts, we like being close to people who have given us a gift and might do it again.

When done properly, gifts work like nothing else. A gift gladly accepted changes everything. The imbalance creates motion, motion that pushes us to a new equilibrium, motion that creates connection.

The key is that the gift must be freely and gladly accepted. Sending someone a gift over the transom isn’t a gift, it’s marketing. Gifts have to be truly given, not given in anticipation of a repayment. True gifts are part of being in a community (willingly paying taxes for a school you will never again send your grown kids to) and part of being an artist (because the giving motivates you to do ever better work).

Plus, giving a gift feels good.

So, here is my favorite place to order gifts for , they will even wrap it for you and ship it with your special note! Shipping and the gift are under $10!

I can even get you a discount, if this is your first order and you are one of the first 12 to order with this Blog code, get a dollar off of each gift! Coupon good till Feb. 28th, 2010 – Code to enter at checkout: Blog0210

www.LittleSomething.com

Think about gifts you have received from companies, unexpectedly… how did it make you feel? Did you refer more often? Spend more money with that company?

Wouldn’t you like to create raving fans of your own?

I would love to hear your stories and about what you sent!!!

C

Seth Godin’s TWO approaches to How to Respond to the “Bad Economy”

So, the economy has affected us all. Many companies are looking to cut expenses, payroll, budgets, everything and anything that will lessen the outflow to attempt to balance the lack of inflow!

BUT, is this a SMART business strategy? Well, if you would like even less customers, revenues, clients, then yes.

If you want to grow your business, NO.

Seth Godin illustrates this well today:

One way to think about running a successful business is to figure out what the least you can do is, and do that. That’s actually what they spent most of my time at business school teaching me.

No sense putting more on that pizza, sending more staff to that event, answering the phone in fewer rings… what’s the point? No sense being kind, looking people in the eye, being open or welcoming or grateful. Doing the least acceptable amount is the way to maximize short term profit.

Of course, there’s a different strategy, a crazy alternative that seems to work: do the most you can do instead of the least.

Radically overdeliver.

Turns out that this is a cheap and effective marketing technique.

So, how should you respond, as the business leader? How can you overdeliver? How can impress the socks off of your current clients, customers, patients?

What will that create in referrals, word-of-mouth, and media attention? Whether in your marketing videos, on twitter, facebook, face-to-face with your clients/customers/patients, how will that change the interaction and the reaction and the after affect?

Look at Tom’s Shoes or other companies who seem to just give, give, give! Do they suffer financially? Absolutely not!

So, whatcha gonna do about it?

C

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