Bill Gluth, Creative Business Strategy Blog

The Cycle of Success 2008

If you observe sports you can learn that success takes:

1. Focus. Winners know their team’s style of play and strengths as well as weaknesses.

2. Strategy. Great teams have a plan and follow it.

3. Determination. No matter what, great teams keep trying until they find what's working best in a particular game. Then they keep doing what works to win each game, week after week.

So how does your business stack up? Come on now, be honest.

Do you know your strengths (from the client’s perspective)?

Do you have an ongoing, consistent method to tell your story and create sales?

Do you tend to put aside strategy and planning with the destructive self-talk of “I’ll get to it soon, but I’m just too busy right now?”

Do you understand what client’s value about your business?

Do you use that knowledge to reach more people like your most successful clients?

Do you embrace a “Better luck with the next lead” mentality, lose sales, and continuously underperform, year after year?

Success in life and business takes focus, strategy and determination. Without it your business is merely surviving rather than thriving in a niche marketing driven world.

Red Seven Offers New Idea in Office Computing

A networking friend and Creative Business Strategy subscriber, Michael Cady, owns a company called Red Seven Computer Sales and Service.

Michael is a creative mind that is always looking for an edge, so I always enjoy hearing from him. Today, he called me to tell me about his lastest innovation.

After the conversation was over, I was convinced that he found a BIG idea, in a VERY crowded computer world, that was well worth blogging about.

Michael's company now offers business computer users a brand new computer, complete with full tech support whenever it's needed for the ridiculously low cost of only $50 per month.

But it gets better.

Red Seven will also give you a new computer every 28 months as part of the deal.

So you get a new computer now. Tech support whenever you need it at your fingertips, and a new computer every 2-years for $50 per month.

This is an especially great idea for people who have many machines in their office. The cost of tech support alone is well over $50 per machine per month.

Now that's an idea worth spreading. You can read the article about this Red Seven innovation and see if YOU think this is an idea worth talking about.

The comment line is open.

Excellent and innovative idea, Michael. Thank you for sharing it with me today.

The Magic Formula for Building a Profitable Business

You spend hours working hard every day. But no matter how hard you work, your revenues don’t seem to match the effort you’re putting forth.

Sometimes it seems like there must be some kind of magic formula for building a profitable business.

In fact there is no real magic and sales don’t just happen. They are created intentionally by following a process consistently.

Follow these guidelines to create a winning sales process for your business.

Start by fully understanding and embracing the value you create in the lives of your best clients. If you don't know how they would describe the value you provide, ask them.

Have a consistent way to identify and target your best potential client categories. Focus on the tight niches that you serve most successfully.

Develop methods to “attract” these people into your sales pipeline. You will need up to seven unique “touches” to create interest and sales call appointments.

Monitor your closing ratios to ensure you are creating sales from 1 in every 5-sales meetings. Do not leave a sales meeting without agreeing to a clear and focused next step if the sales does not close.

Have a plan for following up; one week after every project is completed, one month later to check in and then weekly or monthly at minimum, with a personal phone call occurring at least once every quarter.

The benefit of doing it will be increased revenues, less stress and worry and greater happiness than you may be experiencing today.

Your Main Focus

If there is one main focus in business, it has to be sales.

Without sales there is no money.

Without sales there are no employees.

Without sales the value you create to enhance the lives of others can never be delivered.

Without sales you're dead in the water. My best advice is, go out and make sales happen today.

The Nike Golf Story

I enjoy playing golf as a way to take my mind out of the day-to-day world once in a while.

While I'm not a equipment junkie, nor am I a Tiger Woods wanna be, I do enjoy watching how golf companies market their products.

One of the latest trends in marketing is content and storytelling. Nike did a great job of  telling the story of a new putter they came out with.

On page 128 of the most recent Golf Magazine, there is a double page spread about Nike’s efforts to develop products that improve performance by blending into their scenery.

It made me go to the store and check out their new putter. While the putter didn’t really measure up for me personally, the Nike story definitely got me into the store.

Telling stories that your clients can relate to definitely works. Once they get their, the product has to measure up or there is no sale.

Check out the Nike example and try storytelling for your business.

The Power of Choice

At the start of every day, each one of us has a choice to make. That choice is, will we be happy and productive or will we simply hope to get through the day.

Happy and productive people live longer, enjoy life more, tend to have more free time (because they make it a priority and schedule it in) and get more done in less time.

They are also magnets that attract success into their life.

Choosing to live in a happy and productive state is simple and difficult at the same time.

It’s simple because all you have to do it change your mind and create a new outcome when things are stressful. It’s difficult for the same reason. When you’re in a “funk” it can be hard to break the pattern.

The easiest way to break out of a stressful state is to walk away.

Take a few minutes to sit quietly and close your eyes.

Breathe deeply.

After you calm down for a few seconds, picture the outcome you would rather create and imagine the steps you would take to get there.

Write down the steps you envisioned and follow them. By writing the steps down, you are creating an action items list.

All you have to do is simply choose to follow those steps instead of remaining lost in the confusion and stress of a moment.

You’ll find your mood lift. As you accomplish the steps, you will also find stress dissipates.

When is As Soon As Possible (ASAP)

Time drives us, it helps us keep score on how we’re doing with tasks and responsibilities. Time keeps us all in sync, both personally and professionally.

The problem is, when we need to get things done, we often put tasks off to a time called ASAP (As Soon As Possible).

But when is that?

It’s different for every situation. In a work environment it may mean as soon as I get another task done.

With your children, it could mean “In the near future” with no real set date or time.

For chores or to-do’s that you may not enjoy it probably means never or I’ll put it off as long as I can.

Here’s a strategy that I thought of for my book, 90-Minute Time Manager.

When you have a task that needs to be done ASAP, simply schedule the exact time and date you’ll do it.

Add it to your appointment book.

When the appointed time arrives, just do the task. Don’t wait.

Notice how you feel now that the task is accomplished.

First, because you scheduled the time and wrote it down, the burden of the task lifts from you mind. You don’t think about it again until it shows up on your calendar.

Then when the time arrives to do the task, you simply got it done. Task finished, benefit received, no need to worry about it further.

Think of the freedom of mind space you’ll gain when ASAP no longer take up the thought energy it does now.

You’ll feel great. You’ll be more efficient and overall, you’ll be happier.

Good luck with it and feel free to add a comment to the blog about your favorite story on time control.

Focus on Gripes for New Ideas that Sell

Wherever you are most days, you'll hear people griping about one thing or the other.

Gripes or complaining about something specific can be an excellent source of sales inspiration resulting in increased sales when you focus.

Focus on the complaint. What is it all about? Do you have a product, idea or service that solves the challenge?

Focus on the complainer. Who is this person, are there more out their like them?

Focus on a solution. How would you solve the challenge?

Very often we can see another persons solution clearly because we aren't caught up in the drama of the moment.

When you tie a solution you offer to a complaint you hear you'll be well on your way to increasing sales or creating a expanded offer that helps your business grow.

The Deciding Factor

How do you decide to purchase things? For most people it's a two-fold proposition.

1. How does this offer "feel" to me

2. Is there anyone else I know and trust that sees value in the offer and can validate my decision.

Feelings and outside validation are the keys.

As I have been promoting my upcoming seminar on creativity using Human Subtle Energy, I've found this to be true every time.

People talk to me, feel my enthusiasm for the topic and enroll.

People tell other people about the event, those people check it out, feel good about the class and enroll, which validates the decision to participate for the referring friend.

Two keys that are vital without a doubt

Your Talent is Your Brand

Recently, we talked about passion as the way to become a sales and marketing superstar.

Let’s face it, everyone enjoys doing business with people that are passionate about what they do.

What if you’re having a hard time discovering exactly what to be passionate about?

Here’s the answer.

Make your talent in business the brand that you sell. No matter what you do, when your talent is your brand you become so engaged, so engrossed and so enthusiastic that you become contagious.

In other words, your passion shines through so brightly that other people are attracted to you like a magnet.

The next question becomes, what is your talent in business?

While it may not seem simple on the surface, your talent in business is actually very easy to uncover.

First remember back to why you got into the business you’re in.

Then recount what you knew then with what you have learned over the years of doing the business.

If you’re like most people, you’ll remember the start up days with a bit of embarrassment.

“Man, I really didn’t know much about what this business at all when I started,” is commonly heard.

That specialized knowledge is the talent that you have developed. Very few people have it. That knowledge is a skill or “talent” that you and a few others in your industry possess.

When your talent is your brand you'll find both success and long term happiness in both your business and your life.