Bill Gluth's Creative Business Strategy Blog

The Human Race is Not Really a Race at All – Or is it?

Aristotle once said, “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

You may think that happiness is those fleeting moments that you enjoy for an instant, in between running, meeting obligations and striving for a “better life.”

Therefore, you keep running on the track of the human race; thinking the faster you run the quicker you’ll get to where you want to be.

An interesting idea is that life is a game that you create everyday based on your thoughts, actions and efforts, or lack thereof. You win the game  when you achieve happiness in your daily life.

With that said, you soon realize there is a choice. You can create the game as a race or as something else.

Everyone is most happy when they are creating values. One way we play as adults is by creating a business that adds value to the life of other people.

I doubt that anyone wants to race. They simply feel they must to survive. The human race is really a race for survival.

For now, stop racing for a moment. Sit down and think about the true value you offer that enhances the life of other people.

Write those ideas down. Knowing the value you create is step one.

I Can't Afford It -- A Lie

Seth Godin makes an excellent point today on his blog.

When prospects tell you they can't afford it Seth observes, "That's not true.

"At least it's not true almost all the time. Very few of your prospects literally can't afford it. What they are really trying to say is, "it's not worth it." As in, it's not worth reprioritizing my life, not worth the risk, not worth what I'll have to give up to get this, not worth being in debt for.

"One response to repeated cries of "I can't afford it" is to lower your prices. A better response is to tell a better, more accurate story, and to tell it to the right people. The best response is to make something worth paying for."

Great points Seth, as always, excellent observations of modern business ideas.

"At least it's not true almost all the time. Very few of your prospects literally can't afford it. What they are really trying to say is, "it's not worth it." As in, it's not worth reprioritizing my life, not worth the risk, not worth what I'll have to give up to get this, not worth being in debt for.

"One response to repeated cries of "I can't afford it" is to lower your prices. A better response is to tell a better, more accurate story, and to tell it to the right people. The best response is to make something worth paying for."

Great points Seth, as always, excellent observations of modern business ideas.

Purpose, Principles and Outcomes

The outcomes you’re experiencing in business and life is a direct reflection of the purpose you see for yourself in the actions you take and the principals you follow in creating those results every day.

The question then comes up, “What is my purpose?” Here is the short answer.

Your purpose in life or business is the difference you make in the lives of other people.

Your purpose in life can change at any time you see a greater value to create. You will feel a pull deep inside to change so that you can develop this new idea.

Following that desire will ultimately make you feel good, so go for it. Just remember; you may feel frightened to make that leap. That’s normal.

That’s why being an entrepreneur business owner can be so rewarding and so challenging at the same time.

When developing your purpose, always base your actions on the principles you want to live your life by.

When you do, your outcomes will meet your desires. Before you know it, you will feel more fulfilled, no matter what you are doing.

That Darn Bobby Elderidge

I am learning a TON about client care from Bobby Eldridge.

First he showed me how powerful a simple phone call follow up can be to a new client.

Next he showed me a great way to under promise and over deliver.

I purchased a months worth of golf lessons from Bobby.

On day 1 he asked me what I wanted to achieve. Then he told me how we would go about achieving it.

Before I left that day, Bobby gave me the tools I would need to improve my golf game.

It was a bucket of about 200 balls, a golf ball “picker” and unlimited access to the club he teaches at.

Guess what happened. I was motivated to practice because I had a better playing system AND the tools and location to practice.

And it all started with a couple videos I purchased from Pure Point Golf. Great job, Bobby. I’m looking forward to learning much more from you.

Balance, Satisfaction and Profit With Freedom

The one common denominator most people want when starting a new business is to ultimately achieve balance, satisfaction and profit with freedom in their life.

All you have to do to achieve it is:

Admit what you want out of life. What brings you joy?

Admit what you would do whether you were paid for it or not.

Admit how hard you really want to work.

Then create a life in business that supports those goals and provides all the things you are seeking.

As author Seth Godin says, it’s not hard, but it can be difficult.

Click the Comment link at the bottom of this post and let us all know what brings you joy and total happiness in life.

Reflect on what brings you happiness and experience what it feels like to create the ultimate goal in life; balance, satisfaction and profit with freedom.

Then simply choose to create it or not.

Customer Care, Bobby Eldridge Style

I booked a series of golf lessons recently with veteran Master Golf Instructor Bobby Elridge.

Bobby has a series of videos he created that I purchased recently. I found them helpful and when I found out Bobby teaches in Scottsdale, AZ I jumped at the chance to work with him.

Bobby is a noted golf instructor and I'm sure a busy guy. One thing that struck me though was when I booked my lesson through his office, he personally took the time to call, thank me for scheduling and made sure I knew how to find the course.

He was accessible and cared enough about my business to personally call and thank me.

That is exceptional in our busy world today and something we can ALL learn from.

Thanks Bobby!

Bobby Eldridge's Web site is at www.purepointgolf.com. Check it out.

Selling is the challenge that keeps him poor

A client and friend of mine wrote a book called Being a Starving Artist Sucks. He heard from one of his readers recently asking for help. The reader said “I suck at selling.”

The Author asked me how best to help him, which inspired this email replay and post. Here it is:

I suck at selling is his problem. He needs to close the doors; he doesn’t have a prayer UNLESS he gets his selling head on straight.

The only way he can ever succeed at any business is to be able to sell what he creates.

SO

What is the Unique proposition he is selling (USP) what makes him so darn special? If he answered “design” he doesn’t know what he has to offer.

Who does he work with most effectively? Who buys into his vision of design most readily? Pick 1 or 2 groups. Make a decision.

What do they (or would they) say about his work and service? Establish the value they receive

Can he find a list of people like those he best serves? Try the Yellow Pages, it’s free! Try Linked In, it’s free to look at least.

Check out Spoke

Check out Press Releases in the newspaper, look for companies making relevant announcements in industries he works with. Google the industries he serves and see who might need help.

If he could stand in front of a room full of those people what would he tell them?
Take the message from point #5 and make it a letter.

Desk Top Publish the letter and send it to 100 of the people on that list per week or month.

Gamble $42 ONLY if he’s going to call each person he sent the letter to every day. That would be roughly 25 letter follow up calls per day. Yes, always leave a message using the script below. It's a marketing touch.

Here's the call script after sending the letter. “Hey I work with people just like you, helping them with [Value he offers]. I thought you might need that kind of help too, so I thought I’d call and introduce myself. Can I stop over and show you examples that have earned business owners [RESULTS] in your industry?

Go show them examples of the work.

Ask them what they think and how they make a decision to use design services. Get a clear and focused next step at this meeting. Don’t leave with out a next step that all parties agree to.

Follow up to either make the sale or pull them from the list because they said NO NEVER GO AWAY. Keep calling until you get YES or that answer.

Once he gets to YES, sign a contract, deposit the check in the bank and do the best job he is humanly capable of doing.

When the job is complete ask the new client; " Did I keep all my promises, did I exceed your expectations?"

When the new client says YES, you are great, ask for a referral. If they don't say that, redo the job.

Repeat for the next 20-years.

This fellow needs to make a choice:

1. Get selling today

2. Starve to death and get a divorce (his wife is angry at his lack of success)

3. or get a government job where he never has to sell ANYTHING and retire one day with a low dollar per month pension, wishing his life was more fulfilling.

I know it’s harsh, but if you suck at selling you cannot be a freelance anything. All he’ll ever do is fail. So it’s better to know that now rather than struggle and eventually lose everything.

Selling is the challenge that is keeping him poor

Here's Where Sales People Fall Down -- HARD!

I am sourcing vendors for a client company who has a rather large project to complete. Each vendor wants to make the sale, obviously.

2 out of 4 vendors took the "Get the group together and I'll sell ya!" approach.

Bad idea.

A better idea is to ask one simple question. "Tell me how you go about making a decision like this when selecting a vendor."

You are not going to make a sale until you tell me:

What I need to know about you. Trust

What you're going to do for me that puts money in my pocket. Interest

Who have you done this for before and how well did it work. Credibility

What's in it for me. Projected ROI

All packaged in a way the company I'm working with wants to see this information.

Without interest, trust  credibility and a reasonable ROI there is no sale. Trying to jump over me to get to someone you think has more authority is a huge mistake ...

... unless you understand exactly how the decision will be made.

The Power of Your Personal Genius

What is the one force in the world that is available to everyone equally is often left unused for a lifetime but can change the outcome of your life in the blink of an eye?

If you answered, personal genius, you are 100% correct.

Here’s how to use your personal genius effectively.

When confronted with a challenge, stop for a moment. Reflect on the idea that “If I knew what the solution to this problem is, what would it be?”

Write down the first thing that pops into your mind.

Ponder the answer your personal inspiration gave you and imagine the results of your actions should you follow this idea.

What happened as a result?

How would it affect other people that are involved?

What are the actual steps you would need to take to bring this imagined result about?

If you are pondering a business question, you may want to imagine the cash consequence of following your inspired idea.

Once you clearly ‘see’ the result in your mind’s eye, simply spring into action.

Here is an interesting side note. Most of the time, you already know what to do; you simply do not do it.

Why?

Because you don’t fully trust the power of your personal genius.

Rules Lead to Success

I have been working on a project with a client that involves developing a sales process and training their sales team.

With this group, I developed the process, conducted the training, did follow up training and put them to work.

In the field, the new reps succeeded but then let down after a few months.

“HHMM why did that happen,” I thought.

“They have the tools, they are good at what they are doing, they have already broken company sales records; what’s the problem?”

I spoke to each one individually. Then the company CEO and I sat down for a brainstorming session.

He told me that in vertical industries, selling to the same type of clients, the companies have extremely strict rules and procedures that are followed every day.

That was the one thing we were missing. Having done higher level, B2B sales management, I have always worked with motivated people who have their eye on what it takes to succeed daily. They learned what to do and then did their job well without the need for strict rules.

But this was a different industry. These people needed firm guidelines.

So, we developed the rules.

We enforced them without exception.

Lo and behold, sales team behaviors changed.

The rules, while too stringent in my opinion, brought the team around.

The negative people left, new people are being hired now and the remaining members feel  empowered and energized. They know what to do to succeed.

Rules WILL lead to success. Try it on yourself. Then help your employees succeed with firm, unwavering boundaries.