Tag Archive for: Crush the Economy

NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE TO SELL TO? How to have eager prospects begging for next-day appointments

/0 Comments/in /by

Dan Kennedy, one of the top marketing experts frequently says that “one” is the worst number any business can have – one client, one source of revenue, one product, one lead source – you get the point. If you have only one way of getting leads, what happens if it dries up?

Let me tell you a story…

Tony, a friend of mine, has always been a hard working guy. He was in the Marine Corps, recon division, not afraid of much. When he got out he didn’t want to work for anyone else, had too much drive, so he went to business school. One day after class he asked the professor what businesses he owned. The professor said he never owned a business. Confused, frustrated and irritated Tony left. That was the last time Tony was ever seen there.

Tony is also a strong minded man so he decided he would learn business the way he learned to fight – in the trenches. He started up a yacht maintenance company and worked his tail off. Toiling day and night he finally landed a big account subcontracting for a bigger yacht maintenance company. Life was great. Big checks, steady year-round work, wife, kids, house, mortgage, car payments.

Then one day it happened… the bomb hit…

He showed up Monday morning to pick up his list of yachts to clean as he did many times before. This time he was told he was no longer needed. 90% of his income gone in the blink of an eye. It’s a hard pill to swallow, especially when you are a hard working man with a wife and kids looking up to you and depending on you.

I won’t bore you with all the details of what happened next but the short version went something like this…. hurt (crushed is a better word), confused, bills, anger, determination, prayer, supportive wife, strong work ethic, lesson learned, focused. Stayed in same business, printed flyers, hand delivered them, got a couple clients, provided un-paralleled value, knew his competitors were lazier, delivered superior service, treated his customers like gold (wow is that missing in businesses today!), got more customers, raised rates, hired workers, increased customer value by adding more services, continued to diversify, started brokering deals buying and selling yachts, bought a bigger house to support his bigger family.

You may be saying, “great story Chris, but how does that relate to me?”

If you don’t have multiple streams of generating leads, then you may want to start. Here’s the problem I see, too many businesses don’t have enough leads and so they start to look for ways to advertise or get their name out. Everything sounds so darn good that they try to do too much without much thought into anything. Nothing gets done.

Here’s the BIG lesson: develop focus. Draw up a marketing plan and focus on one source of leads at a time. (if you have an abundance of funds then outsource to get more done at one time).

Think about this, if you add one source of traffic every two months, then in the next year you will have 6 different sources of leads working for you, or 12 sources in 2 years. What do you think your business would look like if you did this? If you focused your thoughts and efforts and got one source going every two months, do you think you would have more success or would you be worrying about where your next lead was coming from?

Tony got focused and kicked some butt.
Now it’s your turn to kick some butt!

Hope you enjoyed this.

Blessings

Business Boosters to Crush This Economy – Part I

/0 Comments/in /by

I was at a meeting last night put on by marketing genius Bill Glazer. He has 25,000 customers that pay him every month ranging from $40 – $1000 (he also has some high end clients too). Do the math – he knows what the heck he’s doing.

That’s me with Bill Glazer. We are laughing because he had to bend down and I stood on my tiptoes so we could both fit in the picture. He’s a big guy!

Back to the talk… Bill shared 7 Business Boosters That ANY Business Can Do To Survive And Thrive In This Recession.

First a sobering thought…. Harry S. Dent Jr, who has a great track record of measuring and predicting economies, said that “the economy will get worse before it gets better.”

Maybe that’s too depressing for you. I hope that’s not the case with the economy. But if it is true, doesn’t it make sense to prepare and attack this the best you can? And avoid being a bloody corpse laying lifeless on the battlefield of failed businesses?

Do you have a better chance of winning a fight with your sword dangling lifeless at your side or unsheathed, in-hand, glimmering and ready for battle?

Here’s the worst that can happen with this outlook – you will survive this recession and will be in a position to own your market when the economy turns. Plus if the economy gets better rapidly, you will be raking in business hand over fist!

Back to reality – if you are not prepared with proven, reliable, yet new and dramatically different strategies for this new economy, you will get crushed.

So what do you do?

First, to deflate a big balloon floating around in la la land – forget the 4 hour workweek, or the 4 day workweek, and find something you love doing and do it.
Study, learn, and outsmart the competition. Take action. Implement. Test. Refine. And let them eat your dust. In cycling terms we call it “dropping them”. That’s where you start off together, exchange pleasantries, give encouragement, then put the hammer down and “drop them”.

Second – Be Ruthless!
You must be smart, tough and decisive. This is no time to be tolerant of status quo or slow.

Third – Develop Clarity.
Develop clarity of what you want in your life (isn’t that why we’re here?), your business and any other area important to you. This will allow you to cut out all the time thiefs and give you crystal clear focus. The more clarity you have, the more you accomplish at greater speed.

And lastly, and probably most importantly – Surround Yourself With A Tight Group Of People You Can Rely On.

Stop reading every piece of mail and email, unsubscribe from email lists if they don’t provide value, resonate with you or challenge you.  Pick out 1 or 2 or 3 people you like that know what the heck they are talking about and draw closer to them. Smart and successful business people focus on what they do best and outsource the rest. Shameless confession time – I used to be so proud thinking that I should do everything. Notice I said “should”. Fact is you and I “could” do everything. The wise question is “should you”? Figure out what you do best and find a tight group of people you can rely on that can provide the rest.

Follow these steps and you will survive. Focus on them and you will Drop Your Competition and Crush This Economy.

Look for my newsletter next week where I will reveal Part II – Business Boosters That Will Change Your Speed of Accomplishment to Such A Degree That Everyone Will Think You’re Cheating.

Until then,
Blessings

Chris