The Marketing 24-7 Podcast: Recent Episodes
Peter Gianoli
Is your business being marketed 24/7, 365 days of the year? Sounds daunting I know, but if you seek to double, triple or quadruple your profits in your business you will need a Client Generation System that works relentlessly. This podcast will outline what I am doing for my business and my clients businesses to substantially grow their market share.
I’ve noticed something about consultants.
Most of them have the same frustrations when it comes to social media. I work with a lot of consultants and hear the same issues over and over again.
Do any of these sound familiar?
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“I’m putting a lot of time and effort into social media, but not getting any meaningful results.”
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“I feel stuck, my business is stuck, and I don’t know what to do to get unstuck.”
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“I don’t really have any plan for how to use social media so I’m just randomly posting stuff.”
If any of these resonate with you (and I bet several do), then you’ve come to the right place.
There are 13 social media strategies I can share - here are just 3!
I know these work because I’ve seen them work over and over again for all different types of consultant clients.
- Use fewer social media platforms.
You don’t need to use every social media platform. In fact, you shouldn’t.
Just because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, and a thousand other platforms exist doesn’t mean you have to use them.
Any one of those platforms has more than enough people on it for you to achieve success beyond your wildest dreams, so break from the feeling that you need to be everywhere.
- Follow fewer people.
Don’t follow everybody who follows you.
Don’t follow random people in the hope they’ll follow you back.
Don’t follow anybody you’re not genuinely interested in.
And don’t be afraid to unfollow people – often.
The fewer people you follow on any social platform, the better your feed will become as the algorithm will learn to better serve you.
- You don't need more followers, simply the RIGHT followers.
The first question I ask a consultant-client is always, “What are your social media goals?”
Their answer always includes some version of “I want to get more followers.”
That’s an understandable answer, but it reveals a crucial strategic flaw.
Because you don’t need more followers, you need the right followers to help you accomplish your goals.
If these 3 strategies made sense - read on!
If you’d like more hands-on helpwith these strategies, plus another ten more, visit my website petergianoli.com/social-strategy-for-consultants and download my latest resource. It's FREE!
People who grew up with Andy Warhol's art, music, and films will remember him for his famous line: In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes. Those who knew him personally recall a different message from the artist. "In order to survive," he reportedly said, "everybody will have their 15 minutes of fame." Nevertheless, I feel that those who are still well-known at the 16-minute mark are most worth paying attention to. The people who fit this bill best are those who have had their moment in the sun, their lucky break or a taste of success and have been able to return from the brink of rejection or disgrace with a fresh new take. These folks, those who can bounce back from adversity, are my kind of heroes. There's also another group of 16-minute notables whose fame comes from something no less heroic—surviving an extraordinarily difficult challenge. As somebody who has been working shoulder to shoulder with entrepreneurs in business, I'm always inspired by people who turn what is considered misfortune into an opportunity. And they seem to do it time after time with grit and tenacity (and the help of their peers).
I've compiled a list of 16-minute character traits that if acquired, will help you make an indelible mark on your marketplace: 1.Do what others won't do 2.Tackle your fears head-on 3.Bounce back from rejection or disgrace with a fresh new take on life 4.Find value in the values of others 5.Make it count when you're not in the top 6.Have a way of inspiring others who are down and out 7.Obsess the details—they matter most when you're in the top 8.Put yourself in check for fear of losing sight of what's real or being consumed by self-centeredness 9.Know when to tap out of the game to preserve your true values 10.Remain humble through your climb—you can be down without being defeated 11.Give back in large doses because there's always someone in need 12.Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you—they will push your limits 13.Create opportunities for others to make a name for themselves (and their company) 14.Unleash the gifts and talents of those around you 15.Don't cheat or cut corners in the pursuit of your goals 16.Never stop growing—it's what makes you better today than yesterday
So, there you have it; my list of 16-minute character traits will take you from the top to near rock bottom, then back up—if you can handle it.
When your marketing arrives in front of a prospect – email into an inbox, direct mail in the post, at somebody’s door or waiting room, a pattern interrupt on social media or as an advertisement; it can be perceived as either being an annoying pest or a welcome guest.
You are working from home
Imagine you are sitting, working from home. It’s around midday – and you hear knocking on your front door.
Chances are it’s someone like an Avon lady or the Jehovah Witness.
Because you have not invited anybody to come over, you think this is an annoying pest, and you are busy, so you ignore it, confident that if you ignore a pest, it will go away.
It will tire of trying to get your attention and move on to the next house.
The knocking goes on for a while, but you are stubborn and are good at this “ignore” game.
Next thing you know, this person has climbed over the back wall of your property, and they are now banging on the sliding glass door, which they can see you through…
So now you're kind of under an obligation to answer the door.
The message is, that all your shrubs in your front yard are on fire, and the flames are starting to lick at the front of your home.
His message was he’s called the fire brigade, but can you come out and help him fight the fire until they arrive?
A new impression
Now, at that second in time, he (the intruder) went from being a most annoying pest to a most welcome guest.
And the only thing that changed was…
Right message, right time!
In our world, the world of marketing, for a decade or so, our marketing has been losing its impact.
In our strategies to overcome this impact loss, have been clunky, ineffective, and annoying.
When stats like email open rates are down.
The marketer who was sending one email a day will now start sending two a day.
As open rates go down further. Send four. Open rates go down even further. Send eight until opens rates are zero.
The bottom line is, you can't really amp up being an annoying pest and get results.
It's hard work.
Therefore, we must work in strategising with our marketing to do everything in our power to show up as a welcome guest!
This is why I like to use mail and in particular FedEx a lot, instead of simply email, because interest level automatically goes up because it's an interesting piece of mail or a FedEx package.
But if you do have to use email, at least make sure it is easy to read, skimmable, and of course, fit for purpose to help the recipient rather than pester and annoy.
Pause, strategise and spend as much time as you like ensuring that you appear as a welcome guest and your marketing will cut through be welcomed and succeed.
Most business owners and marketers do NOT know their enemy.
Recently I have been looking to do some work for a financial advisor and I came across a comprehensive survey of 600 financial advisors, where they ranked their biggest obstacles to acquiring clients:
(1) Competition from other advisors 64%
(2) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online 16%
(3) Interference by family and friends 13%
(4) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them 7%
In another comprehensive survey of over 3,000 unconverted client prospects who responded to advertising, attended workshops or otherwise interacted with advisors and did not do business with them, here’s how those consumers ranked the same four obstacles:
(2) Competition from other advisors 32%
(4) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online 9%
(3) Interference by family and friends 15%
(1) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them 44%
Look at the advisors misperceptions:
(1) Competition from other advisors – OVER-ESTIMATED BY DOUBLE (32 POINTS)
(2) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online – OVER-ESTIMATED BY NEARLY DOUBLE (7 POINTS)
(3) Interference by family and friends – UNDER-ESTIMATED BY 2 POINTS
(4) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them – UNDER-ESTIMATED BY MORE THAN DOUBLE (37 POINTS)
Simply put, the advisors are WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING.
This is a caution for Marketers: NEVER believe your clients’ opinions about their own customers. Consider them, but do NOT accept them without question and, if possible, verification. Do all you can to distinguish between Fact v. Opinion or Belief. Beware the most zealous beliefs. Recognize that most “kings” create circles of belief reinforcement around them, and have little tolerance for “heretics” who dare challenge their orthodoxy. In fact a client of mine said he was paying a lot of money to be asked annoying questions. Over time, he stopped paying for this service.
The Three Most Common Mistakes of Opinion
#1: MOST now believe that what’s going on, on the internet, with “ratings” on Google or Amazon, etc., in social media is far more important and influential (with their customers and potential customers) than it actually is.
#2: MOST obsess over their believed, external Competition.
#3: MOST grossly underestimate their own “ugliness” and “scariness” and/or how dull and uninteresting they are.
In most cases, your most formidable competition is yourself and the negative emotional state of your prospect towards you and what you do. Not the business across the street with the bigger sign and cheaper prices or more 5 -star reviews.
It might seem strange, but you're better off appealing to a small group of loyal customers than trying to attract everyone.
There's a fundamental rule in marketing that takes some discipline and some getting used to, but it's undeniably true:
You can't be everything for everybody.
It is a mistake to try and be all things to all people.
In fact, it is a mistake to simply swell the numbers (for number's sake) – in many cases, growth is not automatically profitable, and in most cases, growth is achieved with new customers who will require cultural, product, service, and often price shifts – can serve to drive away your existence, your best, your longest serving and most certain customers can actually be a deal with the devil.
It is a mistake to favour short-term expediency over strategy.
I found this out the hard way during COVID.
In response to one of my clients putting their program with me on hold until they saw how COVID panned out – I reacted and started touting for business.
Because I am pretty skilled at Client Acquisition, and I had a functioning CGS – I opened the channels full throttle…
It didn’t take long to realise I had taken on too much, and a lot of it not really what and whom I like to work with.
It is a grievous mistake for a business to act or present itself absent a philosophy, a set of fundamental beliefs.
We become so vague that no one knows what we are offering, and our potential customers turn to other, more specific options.
Worse still, we end up accomplishing far less than we had hoped, which is exhausting.
As entrepreneurs, we end up running ragged trying to get it all done with limited resources. It makes us feel busy and productive, but again it's actually quite the opposite.
We are doing busy work that isn't generating the kind of results we were ultimately aiming for.
In business, temptations abound.
There is, for example, fear of losing even one customer, this creates pressure to be vanilla, to take no risks and play it safe, to avoid all criticism, and to be for all.
This fails in two ways.
First, the only way to be free of criticism and disapproval is to climb into a pine box and have it buried 6’ deep.
The idea of managing a pristine reputation with all is hopelessly naïve. Futile in fact.
Two, it castrates (I love that word for impact ���) a business’ ability to resonate with any core constituency of rabid fans.
In business, there is enormous temptation to choose tactical expediency rather than strategic effectiveness.
To see the dollar to be had today, but not the high cost of taking it over time. Resisting, even recognising these temptations, is not easy.
They sneak up on you. They mask themselves.
When we fail to recognize a temptation immediately, we often find it too late to resist it.
It takes a lot, to remain ever vigilant of and hyper-sensitive to temptations.
This is one of many prices that success demands, that many do not understand.
As an example, take fast food giant McDonald's. In response to diners who are increasingly seeking food that is fresh and healthy, and the explosion of fast-casual restaurants catering to this desire and giving them alternatives that are nearly as speedy as a Macas but are perceived as much healthier.
The company tried to take on these new competitors while also hanging onto its traditional business, and in doing so its menu grew bloated, and its pricing strategy became confusing.
Sadly, for McDonald’s, they found that wait times were getting longer at its drive-through windows as its menu grew increasingly long and complicated. Worse still, some restaurants didn’t have enough space in the kitchen to prepare such a wide array of dishes.
Consequently, the company had no alternative than to unveil a sweeping turnaround strategy promising to streamline its menu to fix the bottleneck.
The new revised strategy was that despite trying to respond to the desire for fresh food with items such as salads and wraps, these items didn’t sell particularly well. It found its real Macas consumers wanted to come to McDonald’s for burgers and chicken nuggets just as they always have, but instead Macas are now preparing those dishes more healthily.
Most of my business and financial mistakes, past, recent, and I am sure next, are not actually or simply misjudgements or errors; they are likely to be victories by temptations.
It may even be that the percentage of temptations succumbed to vs. those recognised and resisted is the secret math to that of success and failure.
If only somebody will invent an app for this, with an alarm bell or, better still, an electric shock triggered by every temptation, and a tracking of one’s percentages of surrender and resistance.
It is a fact - It's impossible to build a business and market a brand in a way that serves everyone. First of all, you can't possibly please everyone all the time and, secondly, you can't possibly offer everything that everyone would want all the time either.
It's simply impossible.
If you Google the term marketing consultant, you will get 748,000 results pop up.
Each describing themselves as a marketing consultant and each attempting to describe themselves slightly better in one way or another than the other 747,999 of them.
What a tough gig – what a failing proposition.
So if you are a marketing consultant you have no choice but to put some energy into differentiation.
You do not want to be what all the others are.
So my first problem if I was touting for business through Google is I would have to confront how I describe myself.
Same goes for a client of mine who is an accountant (385,000 search results in Perth WA alone), sure his practice is Xero certified but so are 70% of the other 385k.
Here too a point of difference is desperately required.
In fact, describing yourself as Xero certified is the wrong way to present yourself for two reasons.
One, nobody really wants that. They want outcomes. They want benefits, they want assets. They want things that work. They want information. They want the ability to manage their business effectively. Those are the things they want.
In my world, everybody says, I can do your marketing, I can do your this, I can do your that as well. But that, simply tells us what not to say.
What I do for clients is i make a list of the 10 things everybody in the category is saying, and then I know what to rule out in the messaging.
You have to position yourself as something other than what everybody else is saying.
Being just a marketing consultant or being a Xero certified accountant, or whatever it is, is simply a tool in the toolbox rather than what you are.
In my case, I am there to help my clients exploit an opportunity or to drive growth, expansion, revenue improvements, or profit improvements.
Nobody really wants just marketing.
And if they do, they're buying it as a commodity from the cheapest provider that they can get it from.
So I'm never starting from the position of, well – “I do marketing for food”.
One of my biggest clients – started as wanting a brochure.
5 solid years later and they have expanded into international markets and diversified from B2B and now into wholesale direct, I have become an integral part of their business. And guess what – that didn’t happen with just a brochure.
Back to my Accounting client.
The second thing is it only matters that there's 385,000 other accountants of which 70% are Xero certified in Perth WA, if you are being seen, if you are showing yourself to, or presenting yourself to the same people as they are, at the same time as they are.
If you play that game, it is somewhat like a Tinder profile.
That puts all the power on the other side. 50 guys all in a line. Where there's eight women looking, is not a good scenario, unless of course, you are Brad Pitt.
So it's not the situation you want to put yourself in, and that's why you need what I call a client generation system, a means of extracting a prospect out of the market so that they aren't paying any attention to the other 385,000 and are only paying attention to you.
In this fashion, it doesn't matter if there are 385 or 3,850, and it doesn't matter if they're all saying the same things. It doesn't even matter if you are saying the same things, as long as you're the only one saying it to them at the particular moment.
So, this is about, picking target markets, getting people in them to raise their hands, step forward and, step into your web.
Typically, I like to do this by having them request information to solve a vexing problem or to exploit an opportunity, and then I will slam the door behind their back, and I am the only one communicating with them, again and again and again over some period of time until they take action.
When you have that type of system in place, it greatly diminishes the importance of needing a differentiated message.
So in my feeder system that brings me a client, there's actually what I like to call nine points of entry or doors into it.
Prospects come into my world knowing about me, or at the very least heard of me and how I do things.
Preferably it is via a referral, or maybe it was through my newsletter, maybe through one of my books, maybe by hearing me at a seminar, or perhaps even by listening to this podcast.
Generally, they have met me, encountered me, or at least read my stuff or heard my stuff or better yet heard from people who are my clients,
Thus!
I don't really need a big, differentiated message about me.
I really don’t need to spend too much energy in explaining my background, my education, my credentials, or why I'm better than any other marketer. The importance of all that diminishes enormously because by the time they are talking to me about marketing for them.
I'm the only one they are talking to, and they are not even thinking about shopping me and my price around.
So there's two pieces to this puzzle. There's the message piece of what you say about yourself. How you position yourself in terms of beneficial outcomes, not tools in your toolkit.
The second piece of this puzzle is how you feed potential clients into a closed room where you are the only one talking to them in your category.
And when you combine those two things, you really have a lot of power in the marketplace.
Why is scarcity powerful?
The girls all get prettier at closing time. At least according to American country music artist Mickey Gilley in his 1976 hit. As opportunities, and the items they present, become scarcer, they are perceived as more valuable. This principle accounts for studies showing that: Tasters rated cookies as more desirable when they were scarce rather than abundant; Consumers rated phosphate detergents as better once their use was prohibited by government decree; College students rated their cafeteria food higher when they learned that it would not be available to them for two weeks; And young lovers rated themselves as more in love with their sweethearts as long as their parents tried to keep them apart.
Scarcity marketing is the idea of limiting the supply of a product, whether it be through restricting availability to a certain timeframe or decreasing production—oftentimes both. The principle is sound—we all want what we can’t have and love to flaunt when we have something others don’t. Scarcity marketing takes advantage of this desire, creating demand through mystique and enticement. It’s an excellent way to ensure that a product is swept off the shelves with the hype that every brand wants to create.
We tend to associate limited availability with exclusivity. If things are difficult to get, we know it’s because they’re better than the things we already have. As such, consumers use an item’s availability to decide on the quality of the product. People don’t think about the fact that it’s a psychological reaction that’s causing us to want something. We know we want it. And because we need to make sense of this feeling, we assign the item positive qualities to justify our desire. In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini argues that the idea of potential loss plays a role in how we make decisions. How often have you been more motivated by the prospect of losing something than gaining something of equal value? More than a few times, right?
Take Black Friday as an example. People wake up at inhuman hours. They get in line for hours in the freezing cold. Why? So they can get their hands on the new LEGO Star Wars set that’s on sale for $49.99 before it’s sold out. (I actually have no idea what Star Wars LEGOs cost so don’t take me up on this). We know this phenomenon as the fear of missing out (FOMO). 68% of millennial consumers say they would buy something after experiencing FOMO, most often within 24 hours. No one wants to feel left out, especially if a good deal is up for grabs. But there’s more to scarcity and FOMO than great deals. Now that you know why you should use scarcity, let’s take a look at... 6 Scarcity Marketing to Try Today 1.The Few-Items-Left Tactic 2.The Limited-Introductory-Price Tactic 3.The Limited-Bonuses Tactic 4.The Order-Before-XX-Today Tactic 5.The Limited-Products Tactic 6.The Device-Limited-Sale Tactic Use some of these strategies and focus on the exclusivity of your product. Get people to buy now instead of later (read: never) and watch your sales soar.
Sales are like legs day. Hard and brutal.
Punishment! Yet, when you work out legs, you're also activating muscle fibres in the rest of your body, arms, shoulders and even back. Just the same fashion, when you work in sales, you're activating muscle fibres in your marketing skillset as well.
So, the best advice you could ever give a business owner is to start doing some sales.
The tension between marketing and sales
In most struggling organisations, there is tension between the sales team and the marketers.
Sales team complain that leads are lousy and insufficient. Marketing complain that sales want everything handed on a plate.
Enter the entrepreneur to adjudicate.
Time to get back into the gym.
Before making a call, to side with marketing and or sales, at least "sharpen your saw".
Do a small amount of selling, take a half day "ride along" with one of your sales team. It will fire up your other skills, like marketing. Learning to better understand your customers and knowing how to cut through with messaging will be forever helpful.
With time, this will make you a better business person.
The bizarre habit
Why is it that so many people brag about legs day on social media?
Very amusing!
Yet, there is a million-dollar sales and marketing lesson embedded in the legs versus arms debate.
A lot of people build their upper body and neglect their legs. Fact. Unfortunately, doing this sets them up to fail. Same for entrepreneurs who focus only on marketing and place no effort in sales!
Look at business like a play or a music concert. You create the show, hire the actors and the producer and the director, build the set, and perform three or four times in your hometown city. You’ve spent all this time and energy putting on an awesome performance. What happens next? You take the show on the road.
Podcast TranscriptLook at business like a play or a music concert. You create the show, hire the actors and the producer and the director, build the set, and perform three or four times in your hometown city. You’ve spent all this time and energy putting on an awesome performance. What happens next? You take the show on the road.
Taking the show to different locations, you make more money because you keep tapping into new audiences. Online we call that “changing the channel.”
The problem is that a lot of business owners get bored selling the same thing over and over. We want to create something new and sell that instead. It’s our entrepreneurial desire for creativity and variety. And we lose out on all this extra revenue because instead of spending energy on more selling, we turn our attention to new inventions.
How can you change the channel and take your show on the road? If you’re heavily on Facebook and killing it, don’t start a new product. Move onto Instagram or Twitter or Pinterest or YouTube, or try direct mail or podcasts. Go to each new channel, bring your offer there, and continue to make money.
If you wonder why everything made is defective, why everybody makes so many mistakes, why nobody can concentrate, why people seem stupid, and why productivity sucks, here is the very simple answer: according to recent research reported in Business Insider, the typical person checks their smart-phone at least 2,617 times a day. Also, 72% of people grab their phones immediately after waking up.
In a 16-hour day; hours awake, there are 960 minutes. That’s all. If the stop, check something on smart-phone, re-start other activity requires an average of only 10 seconds (which I doubt), then 436 of the 960 minutes are now consumed by the smart-phone. 46% of a person’s day. Nearly half.
The attention span of ferrets is falsely maligned. To ferret (verb) means to tenaciously search something out, named after the ferret, used in Europe to hunt rabbits, because of their ability to concentrate and pursue. The single-mindedness of the Willy Wagtails in my front yard is equally as fascinating. The ones readying for spring work diligently, systematically covering the entire area, unearthing nuts or twigs, etc., taking them to their under-construction nests. If there is a strange noise, they can freeze in place for many minutes, listening. If Willy Wagtails checked their smart-phones 2,617 times a day, they’d never breed, be extinct or be eaten.
American entrepreneur and author Jim Rohn said you can erase the mystery of the highly successful person by following them around all day, every day for a week.
You’ll say: wow, look at EVERYTHING they do.
My bet is you won’t catch many disrupting their days checking their smart-phones 2,617 times. Not part of everything they do. You really have to decide whose behaviour to adopt. If the goal is exceptional success, adopting behaviours of the typical person or typical company, is likely a bad idea. Let’s be blunt: the typical person in general, in your industry, in your circle of family, friends, neighbours is likely not a super achiever or winner.
On the flip side of Rohn’s observation is discernment. There’s a difference between “everything they do” and trying to do everything there is to do.
Let this message be a call to more discernment.
Who you listen to, read, associate with. What you try to do. Where and how you invest your resources all need to be carefully guarded.
One of my best clients came to a meeting with four pages on which to take notes, each with a heading denoting the nature of information he was looking for, relevant to the projects he was working on. He told me when he heard something that fit one of those four, he captured the ideas, contacts, etc. – anything he heard that didn’t fit one of the four, he ignored.
This is the same kind of discipline (few have ) that is required to actually make money.
Everybody thinks that in their business they have to be immediately and constantly accessible.
I say they are wrong.
Listen to this podcast to find out why!
Taylor Swift puts Travis Kelce on the map
After months of rumours, speculation, and internet detectives using circumstantial evidence and the tiniest of bread crumbs to determine the validity of Kansas City Chiefs' tight end Travis Kelce's romance with pop star Taylor Swift, the 33-year-old megastar finally showed up to a game.
Though this does not confirm the rumours, Swift's presence right next to Travis's mom, Donna Kelce, and enthusiasm as Kelce pointed to her in the stands as he ran out of the tunnel and after he scored a touchdown definitely give the rumours more ground to stand on.
According to a report from TMZ Sports, Kelce jerseys are "selling like hotcakes" after Sunday's game. Fanatics told TMZ that Kelce was one of the five highest-selling NFL jerseys over the last 24 hours and saw a 400 percent increase in sales in that span.
Travis Kelce already knew stardom all too well. Not only is Kelce an eight-time Pro Bowler, four-time First Team All-Pro, and two-time Super Bowl champion, but his podcast New Heights with his brother, Jason Kelce, a center for the Philadelphia Eagles, has been one of the most popular sports podcasts in America for several months now. Landing Taylor Swift just sends Kelce from a 9 out of 10 on the celebrity scale to a 20.
Boardroom also noted that Kelce saw his Instagram following increase by 250,000 this past week, with 80,000 followers jumping on board Sunday.
A tripwire offer is something that’s so amazing, so good, and so super cheap that people feel compelled to buy it.
A lot of amateur marketers spend so much time on their big profitable offer, they leave the crumbs for the low-end offer.
That’s a mistake.
Podcast Transcript
A tripwire offer is something that’s so amazing, so good, and so super cheap that people feel compelled to buy it.
A lot of amateur marketers spend so much time on their big profitable offer, they leave the crumbs for the low-end offer.
That’s a mistake.
Tripwires are so amazing when they are done right because the HARDEST sale is always the first one.
Once you get someone in the buying mood, they will start buying upsells and other products.
Because of this, your tripwire has to be insane. So irresistible it would be idiocy to say no.
Once I bought a How to Make Money as a Consultant Book from the marketing legend Frank Kerns.
It was a free + shipping offer. For $3, who would ever say no to such a thing?
As soon as I purchased it, I was hit with three upsells—and I bought them all: an audible version to listen to whilst I was driving, a workbook with templates of the strategies, and…you know, I don’t even remember what else (I think it was 5 or 6 videos). I was in a buying mood because the tripwire had set me up.
Your tripwire can be set up one of two ways.
You can give a person something free (like a course or a PDF download or a newsletter) and on the thank-you page, offer your tripwire.
Or you can make your tripwire part of a free + shipping offer.
This is so powerful because you’re using the word “free” so even though the client has to pay for shipping, there’s this sense of getting something for nothing. Now this may not be what you are offering or have to offer so think how you can use it for your business.
Remember tripwires are different to 100% FREE bribes or giveaways – tripwires are designed to get you to buy – even though it’s a little buy it is still about having you commit to a purchase.
Tripwires are not designed to make you money. They are used to help you break even and acquire a lead or prospect who buys for free.
If you spend $5 a day on Facebook ads and it gets you one customer, they might spend $7.95 on a tripwire. That $8 goes toward the cost of the tripwire ($3) and the Facebook ad ($5). You’ve now just acquired a customer for free and everything they buy from here on in is all profit.
And remember the critical point, now they are in a buying mood!
Each year, in Lahore, Pakistan, the Punjab Youth Festival features a variety of extreme and odd competitions. In one, martial arts practitioner Mohammad Rashid set a new speed record for breaking walnuts by smashing his forehead on them, the walnuts lined up on a table, he smashing his head down from a leaning position: 155 walnuts shattered in 60 seconds.
I hold the slow record for banging one’s head against things.
It’s a fair description of much of my business life. But it is also an exercise I strive to avoid and have gotten better and better and better at doing so, as years have passed.
Just for example, I recently declined a potentially high value, ‘whale’ referral from a friend – gently explaining that I was not interested in big, dumb companies run by committees, where I would have to start convincing skeptics.
Reaching way, way back in time, I was, even then, fairly decisive and quick about exiting bang-head-against-wall situations. After the successful guy I was working for sold his company to a publicly listed Australian corporate I pretty quickly exited and I switched to a business using many of the same skills and strategies, but where my pay relied only on others’ consumption.
As a consultant, the first time I fired a client was in 2007, when I could ill afford it financially. The last time I fired a non-compliant client was about 10 weeks ago.
No matter how cautious, tough-minded, avoidance-minded and swift sword swinging, overall, in a broad sense, my time has still been about banging my head against walls.
The business of getting other people to think better yields something between a 1% and 5% success rate. It’s 95% exercise in futility. And that leaves lumps. They never completely recede either.
A lot of businesspeople unnecessarily bang their heads against walls, in many different ways. You have to be ever-vigilant, stop yourself or catch yourself, and act decisively when you do find yourself engaged in such self-punishment.
Many stay on un-fertile land as if rooted there. They suffer fools, corporate political animals in their employ, procrastinating endlessly over the inevitable.
And so on.
Ultimately, only you can call you on your head banging. Only you can decide what of it is inescapable and worth living with. But no one else will step in and make you see what of it you can put an end to, either.
Most attempts to liberate others fail; most hopes of being liberated by others disappoint.
Liberty is personal.
Having a USP is one thing, using it effectively is another. In this episode I take you through some of the genius of radio creative Garry Dean from NOVA 93.7 in his use of the USP for the WA's Big Butcher launch ads.
Podcast Transcript
Big Butcher (Grand Opening)
*MV has a big, deep voice
Sfx: Large butcher’s knife being sharpened
MV: Big Butcher here …
No prizes for guessing how I got my nickname.
Yes I’m big. Yes, I’m a butcher!
For me, it’s all about the CUT.
Premium cuts of meat … at cut prices … because I cut out the middle man …
… and bring ‘Margaret River Fresh’ meat direct from the paddock to your plate.
Sfx: Butchers knife slams down on heavy duty chopping board
MV: Come to my GRAND OPENING on October 10th!
39 King Edward Road Osborne Park.
BIG BUTCHER .com.au
For more information on how you can develop a unique and razor sharp USP for your business please visit petergianoli.com/usp
A strong USP provides a solid foundation for differentiating your product and giving you a leg up on the competition. These famous USPs have worked well to promote products and services successfully.
Podcast Transcript
A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a unique selling point or slogan that differentiates a product or service from its competitors. A USP may include words such as the "lowest cost," "the highest quality," or "the first-ever," which indicates to customers what your product or service has that your competitors do not.
Using a USP is a great marketing tool to help position and sell your product. Some marketing experts go even further and believe that unless you can pinpoint what makes your business unique in a world of homogeneous competitors, you can't target your sales efforts effectively.
A strong USP provides a solid foundation for differentiating your product and giving you a leg up on the competition. These famous USPs have worked well to promote products and services successfully.
Avis
We're number two. We try harder.
This USP does a fantastic job of turning a drawback into a benefit. For a long time, Avis was the second-largest car rental company, after Hertz. In fact, Avis was struggling just to stay afloat.
As part of a total image makeover, Avis hired the famous ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach to come up with a new ad campaign. The campaign was so successful, Avis' market share went from 11% to 35% in just four years.
Fed Ex
When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.
FedEx no longer uses this slogan, but while it was in effect, it was a perfect example of a compelling slogan. In very few words, FedEx was able to convey the message that it guarantees that it will deliver your package on time. FedEx replaced it with the slogan “The World on Time,” which is vague and doesn't contain a USP.
Mars
The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
The slogan for M&M's is an example of how even a rather off-beat USP can be catchy and compelling. Who would think of making a selling point out of the fact that a product doesn't melt if you hold it? Mars did, and it worked very well for them.
For more information on how you can develop a unique and razor sharp USP for your business please visit petergianoli.com/usp
A razor sharp USP sets you apart from your competitors.
It is your point of difference.
It is what do you have to do to have your clients easily talk about you and recommend you to others.
And how can you best describe your business, service, or your offering so that it resonates best with potential clients.
Podcast Details
This podcast is audio extracted from a video I have created on the topic.
To watch the video please visit my website CLICK HERE
If you would like more training on developing your Razor Sharp USP please CLICK HERE
All people are not created equal. That’s a philosophical or religious belief ie. opinion, but
any doctor can disprove it in minutes. There’s this thing called genetics. LeBron James
and I was not created equal. But it’s not an important argument, if it can be won.
Genetics and innate talent impose certain real limitations, but most people stop way
short of those limits in their own ambition, initiative and attempted achievement.
People make themselves unequal in all sorts of ways. Financial inequality is very visible.
Most of it is made by individuals’ choices and behaviours, and is subject to their own direct influence.
For entrepreneurs it is your job to find and attract people who have the financial ability to buy what you sell at the prices you wish to command, and who have high interest in it and a willingness to buy it.
In a recent, lengthy article, a professor criticised QANTAS for raising its ticket prices after COVID and the world became safe to travel again.
Of course! Airlines adjust their prices based on the principle of supply and demand, just like any other business should do. When travel demand is high, prices go up. The more people are looking to travel, and airlines needing to manage their limited seats and resources will raise prices. Just like when they have an empty seat and offer bargains, grab them now at low prices.
Change in customer demand and in offerings and prices to match the changes in demand are essential, not a matter of evil-minded elitism.
The people atop QANTAS are doing their job, as defined above. ARE YOU?
If you aren’t, and you stay too long not noticing the queue for your services outside your door, your doing so won’t benefit anybody. It’ll just kill you.
Hence the old axiom: the first, best thing you can do to help poor people is not be one of them.
Lately, in various places, I’ve been talking a lot about differential customer value. In short, different customers turn out to be profoundly unequal in value, often depending on source, marketing used to attract them; on who they are – intellectually, emotionally, philosophically and, of course, financially; how appropriate they are to the business getting them and vice versa, and so on.
I have been working on a project where new customers from Instagram at a 7% response rate to Facebook at a 22% response rate, same campaign.
Over 3 months, the ones brought in at the 7% response rate, thus acquired at much higher cost proved 270% more profitable to own than those acquired cheaply with the 22% response rate.
If you aren’t analysing your own differential customer value and then using it for backwards engineering, for lists, media, messages, you’re derelict in duty; you just aren’t doing your job.
Welcome to another episode of "Marketing 24-7," where we explore the world of marketing, business and entrepreneurship. I'm your host Peter Gianoli, and today we'll be discussing an important aspect of running a successful business: the power of focus.
In a world filled with shiny new ideas and trends, it's crucial for entrepreneurs to refuse distractions and stay focused on what truly matters.
Today, I present to you three essential mandates to live by: count, count constantly, and count cash.
Imagine yourself as a business owner. You have dreams of growth, innovation, and success. Along this journey, you come across countless distractions that divert your attention from what truly matters. It's easy to fall into the trap of chasing after every new idea or trend particularly in marketing, but successful entrepreneurs know how to block out the noise and keep their focus laser-sharp.
Let's delve into the three mandates that can help you achieve just that.
Mandate number one: count.
In business, it's not enough to rely on intuition or guesswork. Numbers tell a story, and it is through analysing those numbers that we gain actionable insights into the health and progress of our businesses.
By counting key metrics such as revenue, expenses, customer acquisition costs, and conversion rates, we gain a clear understanding of what is working and what needs improvement. Counting allows us to make data-driven decisions, identify trends, and adjust our strategies accordingly.
For example, an e-commerce entrepreneur might analyse their conversion rates to identify areas for improvement. By counting and understanding these numbers, they may discover that a specific product page has a low conversion rate. Armed with this insight, they can make data-driven changes, such as optimising the page layout or improving the product description, to increase conversions and drive revenue.
Mandate number two: count constantly.
Counting once is not enough. Successful entrepreneurs understand the importance of constant monitoring and measurement. By regularly reviewing and analysing our metrics, we can detect potential issues or opportunities early on.
It's not about being obsessed with the numbers, but rather using them as a compass to guide our decision-making process. Counting constantly allows us to stay proactive, adapt to changes, and stay ahead of the competition.
For instance, imagine a software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup that offers a productivity tool. By constantly counting metrics like user engagement, customer churn, and feature usage, the startup can gain valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences. If they notice a decline in engagement or a high churn rate, they can dig deeper to understand the underlying reasons. This continuous counting allows them to adapt their product, marketing, or customer service strategies proactively to retain existing customers and attract new ones.
Mandate number three: count cash.
In the end, cash is the lifeblood of any business.
While revenue and profits may seem impressive, if we fail to manage our cash flow effectively, we can find ourselves in a tight spot. Cash flow management involves forecasting, monitoring, and controlling the movement of cash in and out of our business. By counting cash, we can make informed financial decisions, ensure sustainability, and seize opportunities that align with our long-term goals.
For example, a restaurant owner needs to count their cash not just in terms of daily sales but also by closely managing expenses such as inventory, wages, and utilities. By counting their cash and tracking their cash flow regularly, the owner can ensure they have enough funds to cover expenses, pay suppliers on time, and invest in business growth.
Remember, it's not just about making money; it's about managing it wisely.
So, there you have it—three powerful mandates to live by in order to refuse distraction and stay focused in business.
Count, count constantly, and count cash.
By adopting these mandates, we can navigate the ever-changing business landscape with clarity and confidence.
Remember, it's not about being swayed by every shiny new idea or trend; it's about staying true to our vision and leveraging data-driven insights to drive success.
Hello, fellow marketers and entrepreneurs. Welcome to another episode of "Marketing 24-7"
Today, we have a very special topic to discuss – the eight greatest words to become a marketing success. So grab a pen and paper because we're about to dive into the world of infotainment and its power to revolutionize your marketing strategy.
Now, we all know that capturing and maintaining the attention of your audience is crucial in marketing. Whether you're a copywriter, a marketer, or an entrepreneur, there are eight powerful words that can transform your game and propel you towards success. These words hold the key to engaging your audience, creating impact, and achieving marketing greatness.
"You've got to keep them from falling asleep."
These eight words are perhaps the most profitable ones any marketer can ever hear.
Think about it – from writing compelling copy to engaging with customers, from crafting social media posts to delivering captivating presentations, the goal is to prevent your audience from losing interest or becoming bored.
You must strive to infuse your content with passion, emotion, and infotainment – a combination of information and entertainment that leaves your audience hungry for more.
Now, let's take a moment to explore the learning curve of infotainment in the context of luxury fashion marketing.
Mastering the art of infotainment is a journey. It's a progression through four stages of competence: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and finally, unconscious competence.
In the beginning, we may not even be aware of the importance of keeping the audience engaged and entertained. But as we practice and apply the principles of infotainment to every aspect of our marketing, it becomes second nature.
To truly grasp the power of infotainment, let's delve into the world of luxury fashion marketing.
Imagine a luxury fashion brand that has mastered the art of infotainment. One of their strategies is to create immersive and interactive fashion shows. They incorporate the latest technology, stunning visuals, and engaging storytelling to captivate the audience. Even if the audience may not fully comprehend the intricate details of fashion design, this immersive experience leaves them spellbound and thirsty for more.
Authenticity plays a vital role in infotainment. It's not about being fake or putting on an act. Instead, it's about amplifying your unique personality traits, injecting enthusiasm into your content, and becoming a dramatized version of yourself.
In the world of luxury fashion, we've seen renowned designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Donatella Versace embrace their distinctive personas to connect with their audience.
It's about staying true to yourself and highlighting your standout features, injecting passion into your presentations, and creating a captivating persona that resonates with your audience.
Luxury fashion marketers, need to constantly ask themselves, "Does this have even a modicum of a chance of letting them fall asleep?" If the answer is yes, it's time to infuse more emotion, rhetoric, imagery, passion, and storytelling into their content. Same goes for our endeavours - every sentence, word, and visual element should be infused with the power to captivate our audience.
By infusing every aspect of our marketing with infotainment, we can create an experience that is akin to a symphony, a blockbuster movie, or a vibrant cartoon. Our goal is to leave our audience spellbound, eager to engage with our brand, and ready to take action.
As we master the art of infotainment, we will witness a transformation in our marketing results. Our target audience will be captivated, our message will resonate, and our business will thrive.
So, let's embrace the power of infotainment and take our marketing to new heights.
Whether we're writing captivating product descriptions, creating visually stunning campaigns, or delivering influential brand presentations, let's captivate our audience, leave them spellbound, and unleash our marketing potential.
As we conclude this episode of the "Marketing 24-7 " Podcast - I want to leave you again with the powerful 8 words. They are in fact a quote from the renowned Academy Award winning American movie and scriptwriter Philip Yordan –
"You've got to keep them from falling asleep."
Embrace the power of infotainment, let your passion for luxury fashion shine through, and watch as your marketing efforts soar.
I hope you found these eight words and the concept of infotainment valuable for your marketing endeavors. Remember, infuse your content with passion and captivate your audience at every turn.
Join me next time as we delve deeper into the strategies and techniques that unlock marketing success.
Until then, keep your audience engaged and unleash your marketing potential.
In the 1800’s, 95% of the Australia population worked on farms. Today, 5%. The industrialisation of the nation. Today, farming itself has been industrialized, and we eat more industrial chemicals than we do food. Yet our life expectancy has lengthened, due to the industrialisation of medicine.
My early years were in an area dominated by market gardens – lettuce, tomatoes, other produce, grown in the rich loamy soil.
People mainly migrants Italians and Croatians worked, hard, during work time; played games only evenings and part of weekends. If there was an emergency at any one place, a whistle summoned – not a tweet, and the entire community came running. There was a real community. That’s all over now: that produce comes from elsewhere at lower costs. Corporate conglomerates replaced the independent, small farm owner and the family business. Robots and automation are replacing humans. The farmer, a dying breed.
Now, we live during the technology-isation and internet-isation era. It was supposed to make us ALL rich and raise us ALL to a life of easy work, leisure, milk and honey. But it is doing the opposite. It is sucking wealth out of many hands and putting it into fewer and fewer. Corporate conglomerates are replacing independent, small businesses. Amazon is what Kmart and Target was, but on steroids.
Entire new fiefdoms born, like Google. A new cyber-road to serfdom. In the past 2 decades, the average white collar worker has added 10 to 20 hours to his workweek, not subtracted it –by the constant connectivity they work everywhere, all the time. For blue collars, wages have stagnated and, more importantly, jobs are being erased at a 6-to-1 ratio vs. new jobs created. For most business owners, complexity and work-week hours increased; incomes have not. And the sacrifices paid for all this – in privacy, personal safety and security, homeland security, mental health, etc. – are extreme.
Of course, it’s been and is an amazing wealth generator for some of us, me included. But on par, in balance, the most destructive force ever unleashed on society yet to reveal the full extent of its ruination.
As with all things, you can’t really control “it.” You can only control you.
Evil in any form can’t exist where it is refused welcome. Our life is the mirror reflection of all the decisions we make – sure, some random chance and “circumstances beyond our control” tossed in, but mostly, personal.
A cyclone may come, but you choose where you live, how weak or strong a structure you live in, with or without a basement, attention paid to weather alerts, and you can greatly affect your odds.
I am not a gambler but I can appreciate odds. You should think hard about how to lessen the odds of bad things happening to you and increasing the odds of good things happening, with everything you do.
Remember: a hammer can be a very useful tool or a very dangerous weapon.
It’s NOT up to the hammer.
One of the most profound concepts I came across recently was attributed to a Ty Cobb quote (arguably one of the best baseballers ever) that is easily applied to marketing and business:
"Speed is a great asset; but it's greater when it's combined with quickness and there's a big difference."
He was talking about positioning yourself in a game, so you don't have to be necessarily fast, but you are already "there waiting" before the pitch because you are gifted enough to read the cues.
But in business this concept can be as simple as leveraging others with bigger, more prestigious, and more celebrity-like brands.
Are certain Nike shoes any more intrinsically valuable because Michael Jordan's name is on them?
No.
But with that name, they ooze value, prestige, and talent. Thus, people line up at night to pay through the nose for them.
Same with a brand Kim Kardashian promotes on Twitter or Instagram. She has created entire million-dollar brands for brand new Startups just because she advertised it, and not because the brand is any better or even is any good (aka her recent crypto promotions).
This is how you cut in line (or speed things up) on your way to success in marketing.
You can spend years and decades slugging it out or you can find ways to get there faster.
One way to do it faster is to only associate, do business with, and joint venture with high quality, prestigious, & expensive offers, businesses, or brands.
Don't sell cheap, appeal to cheap, or be anything but hostile and antagonising towards all-things cheap.
That alone can elevate your business by default, and you are actually expected to charge more.
It would be a weird disconnect if Michael Jordan's name was slapped on a pair of $10 sneakers or if Kim Kardashian promotes a $17 bag you can find at Kmart.
That's how you want your own brand to stand out: as high quality, high prestige, and, yes, high priced.
This is why the front of magazines always has the glitzy brands in the first 6 or so pages. They all need to be seen with each other.
So here is the question - who are you or your business seen with?
Think about the answer it matters a lot.
The Baby Boomers are once again proving they are ready to spend.
Despite central governments and banking institutions making a concerted effort to slow the economy and rein in inflation by raising interest rates. Baby Boomers are still proving to be a major source of consumption in the current economy.
Baby Boomers – generally referring to those aged 55 and over – are a demographic targeted by many businesses as they possess the financial resources to purchase goods and services.
Research has shown that Baby Boomers have a propensity to shop more and often carry larger amounts of disposable income compared to other age groups. Given the power of Baby Boomers to stimulate the economy, businesses large and small need to be focussing on this niche in an effort to continue to thrive in a slowing economy.
Despite traditional consumer forecasts predicting slowdowns in the real estate and housing markets, Baby Boomers continue to spend.
What’s driving Baby Boomers’ spending?
There’s no single answer, but some suggested motivators include a focus on buying quality over quantity, a desire to travel more, and an increased emphasis on health and wellness.
For entrepreneurs, this is an opportunity to capture a larger share of the Baby Boomer market. By understanding their preferences and tailoring their products and services accordingly, entrepreneurs can make an impact in the sector – and get a slice of the Baby Boomer spending pie.
Businesses may also want to consider including other elements to their customer offerings to attract Baby Boomers. This could include tailoring packages to suit the Baby Boomer lifestyle, offering flexible payment options to fit their budget, and providing helpful resources or advice that Baby Boomers could find valuable.
The Baby Boomer market is a valuable and powerful one, and entrepreneurs should consider investing their time and resources into actively engaging Baby Boomers in their products and services.
Don’t overlook the Baby Boomer market—there’s a lot of money still being plus waiting to be spent.
Welcome today we are doing a deep dive into the world of rebranding and explore why it’s necessary, the benefits it brings, and what you need to take care of during the process. So, let’s get started!
If you take a look at this podcast album cover you will see that we have undergone our own rebrand.
It is in 3 parts : 1) my new look 2) the highlighting of Luxe Marketing and 3) a more modern look and feel.
Rebranding is a process that many businesses go through at some point in their journey. Generally it involves changing the way a company presents itself to the world, including its name, logo, messaging, and overall visual identity. But why do businesses choose to rebrand? Well, there are several reasons.
First and foremost, one of the most common reasons for rebranding is to stay relevant in a rapidly changing market. As industries evolve, consumer preferences shift, and new technologies emerge, businesses must adapt. Rebranding allows companies to update their image and align themselves with the latest trends and customer needs.
Another reason for rebranding is when a company wants to change its reputation or perception. Sometimes, negative publicity, a scandal, or a shift in public opinion can tarnish a brand's image. Rebranding provides an opportunity to leave the past behind and create a fresh start, rebuilding trust and showcasing a new direction.
Additionally, rebranding can be crucial when a company undergoes significant changes, such as mergers, acquisitions, or expansions into new markets. By rebranding, businesses can ensure consistency across their various entities and create a unified identity that reflects their new vision and goals.
Airbnb for example were originally known for offering air mattresses in people's homes, Airbnb underwent a comprehensive rebranding to become a global hospitality brand. They introduced a new logo, website, and brand messaging that focused on the idea of belonging and unique experiences. This rebranding helped Airbnb expand beyond its initial niche and become a trusted platform for travellers worldwide.
While rebranding holds great potential, it's essential to approach it with caution. There are a few things to keep in mind to ensure a successful rebranding process.
Firstly, thoroughly research and plan your rebranding strategy. Understand your market, competitors, and most importantly, your customers. A well-informed strategy lays the foundation for a strong rebranding effort.
Secondly, maintain consistency throughout the rebranding process. Ensure that your new visual identity, messaging, and values are coherent and aligned across all touchpoints, from your website and social media to packaging and customer service.
Rebranding can have widespread impact – handled properly it can rejuvenate employee morale and company culture. A fresh brand identity injects excitement, energy, and a sense of purpose into organisations. It unifies teams around a common vision, boosts employee pride, and even attracts top talent who align with your new brand values.
Better yet, rebranding allows for better alignment with your target audience.
As consumer preferences change, it's crucial to ensure your brand remains relevant to your ideal customer. By conducting market research and understanding your audience's needs, desires, and values, you can tailor your rebranding efforts to resonate with them on a deeper level.
By refreshing your visual identity and messaging, you can attract new customers, regain the attention of existing ones, and stand out from your competitors.
Are you an awesome entrepreneur, consultant, accountant, or career coach?
Whatever your business, how do you expect people to find out about you and your talent? Promoting your work opens up unlimited opportunities because your valuable product or service sees the light of day.
Being modest, introverted or humble and not self-promoting, is holding you back.
Your less competent competitor is about to get the business.
True, we are all afraid of sales. The perception. The idea of being pushy.
Many people equate sales with making people buy things they don’t want, don’t need, and can’t afford. Daniel Pink, in his bestseller, "To Sell Is Human" states that 1 in 9 roles has a formal sales title. But 9 out of 9 roles involve selling to other people.
Teachers sell to kids. Doctors sell to patients. Authors sell to readers. If your work involves other humans, you are selling.
Finding ways to help others.
Want clients? Start talking to your network.
Find out how they are doing, how business is going, back and forth with ideas without any expectation of anything materialising. None of this costs anything but time.
But it is not a cost, it's an investment that can pay your business in spades, short term and long.
Some home truths
Truth #1: If you operate on the assumption that people will benefit from using your products and services, then sales is entirely about helping others.
Truth #2: How you sell is with the value you create for the customer.
Truth #3: Everyone is selling in some capacity — even if they don’t think they are — so we might as well get good at it.
Don’t run from sales. Embrace sales as the engine powering all business.
I was taken aback when I received a desperate phone call from a potential client who had gone through the process of starting a business.
The client had set up the business but their attempts at gaining new customers were fruitless. I offered support to the client, giving them many ideas to attract clients. It was in this moment that the client confided in me; he had spent 8 years of his life studying and working in the commercial field, however, he had never been given guidance on how to target customers until now.
This struck me as concerning, as a lack of marketing knowledge is a common issue amongst new entrepreneurs. In response, I have created this podcast, outlining the key techniques that successful businesses use to get more clients.
In this week’s podcast I go through the 4 key things I do when I take on a new marketing client. I believe you too, should do these 4 things in your business. Especially if you are looking for more clients, quick wins and some instant cash flow.
These are the same 4 things that I implement with my fee-paying clients which is on average $50,000 each and you are getting the advice for nothing thanks to this podcast.
All you have to do is listen and implement – go on I dare you!!
Here is the link to the blog post
https://petergianoli.com/low-cost-ways-to-market-business/
This episode is about doing things differently.
I was talking about podcasts with my wife over breakfast and she said something that struck a chord. She said that she gets annoyed by the jingles played upfront in most of the podcasts she listens to.
Whoops! That's exactly what I have in my Marketing 24-7 Podcast. Should I continue them?
I recently wrote an E-book called 7 Trigger Marketing Guide to Fast Money and Entrepreneurial Success. Specifically, trigger number 2 is called defy industry norms. Ironically this is a perfect example of where I hadn’t challenged an industry norm.
Take a listen to the latest podcast episode to find out more.
Most entrepreneurs like to...Ready, fire, aim!
That’s good.
It’s what makes us wake up in the morning, get our products out there, and change the world. So, a word like foundations is boring. Definitely not sexy. BUT so essential!!
When you stop to learn something like marketing foundations, you may feel like you’re slowing down or taking a step back, but it’s crucial to lay a good foundation so you can build a big house.
After all, the foundation you need for a $100 million-dollar business is going to be a beast compared to a foundation that will support a $1 million-dollar business.
A solid foundation multiplies and maximizes your efforts. It means that when you’re ready to go out there and sell, everything you do will be stronger, faster, and more profitable…even if you don’t exert more effort.
Good foundations build and sustain businesses during all the ups and downs, so don’t skip the chance to learn and shore up your business foundation.
It appears that despite the doom and gloom in the news, there is a "Spending Class" that is currently thriving and growing.
The West Australian newspaper reported that all Lamborghini V8 and V10 series cars for circa $400k have been sold out for the next 18 months - and these are only just one example of the luxury spending happening in the world.
Phyllis Narula, who purchased her third Lamborghini, remarked that the cars were a treat to herself and a status symbol of all the hard work she has achieved over the years.
At the same time, the emergence of wealthy shoppers and demographic changes have combined to produce an even larger "Spending Class", making now the ideal time for entrepreneurs to be prepared to tap into this market and understand its potential and uses.
It's not just about the money that can be made, though - it is also about understanding who these consumers are, what they need, and how to position your business for success.
Bearing this in mind, it is important to get to know and target the ideal customer if you want your business to be profitable and grow. The ideal customer is not one who is put off by high prices but is willing to pay the premium for quality products and services.
To do that, you need to figure out who these customers are, where they're located, and how to reach them.
Once you understand all of that, you can create unique and effective marketing campaigns designed to bring in these customers as well as enjoy greater profits.
So, if you are looking to make the most of all the wealth and luxury spending happening in the world at the moment, taking the time to strategically target and understand the "Spending Class" is key.
Focus on this and put in the hard work now and you can ensure success and long-term sustainability for your business.
If you're used to spending big on exclusive purchases, then the Bugatti London Cafe is likely to be right up your street.
Here, you can buy a shot of espresso for a whopping $60 US.
But what exactly is it that makes this purchase so special?
For starters, it's all about the rarity factor.
Rare items always command a high price, simply because they're so hard to come by. And when it comes to prestige purchases, it's all about the bragging rights. After all, not everyone can say they've been to the Bugatti London exhibition centre and bought a shot of espresso for $60!
As featured in the Robb Report, a $60 espresso grants you access to what was previously an invitation-only location. The Ettore shot (named after the company's founder and patron Ettore Bugatti), is served in a cup made from the carbon fibre that usually adorns Bugatti's cars.
Now that you have your espresso, you are permitted to savour it with full access to the showroom and it's lounge. One of Bugatti's latest hyper cars serves as a cafe' backdrop, and the showroom is fitted with the Bugatti's Home Collection furniture. The Bugatti chairs are specially designed with the same leather and blue-tinted carbon fibre found in and on their spectacular vehicles.
But it's not just about the money.
There's also a psychological element at play.
When we make exclusive purchases, we're buying into a lifestyle, a certain way of life that is only accessible to a select few. In doing so, we feel more special and unique. And that feeling is priceless.
Of course, the person buying a $60 cup of espresso maybe isn’t the same person buying a $3 million Bugatti. But you are treated as such, and if you are interested in further repping the brand (or bragging about the experience), the Mayfair London showroom is one of the only locations that features the company’s full range of merch, including hats, clothes and watches.
One can definitely lift a carbon-fibre cup to that.
So, if you're into crafting a unique and special experience, a Bugatti espresso is definitely an investment worth checking out.
Sun Tzu is credited with the phrase “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.”
I have recently had a business deal go sour on me and unfortunately I did not heed this important lesson.
Listen to this podcast and you will hear all of the ins and outs of the deal – but the long and the short is I really should have not reacted quite so quickly to an email calling our agreed deal off.
Yes, it was poor, yes, it was a disgraceful act…
But…
With a bit of diplomacy on my behalf – I probably would have gotten my funds which were sitting in Escrow – back easier and sooner.
Lesson learnt 😠
The link to the podcast My First Million is https://www.mfmpod.com/
Just as unlikely as Collingwood football club's charge to the top of the table - is the Magpies becoming everyone's second-favourite team.
Even Collingwood veteran Scott Pendlebury concedes the prospect of that truly becoming reality is far-fetched.
But the Magpies' enthralling and improbable charge up the ladder has at least made rivals respect them.
Under popular coach Craig McRae, Collingwood has introduced a style of football that is exciting.
But more significant has been the superb standard of sportsmanship they have exhibited.
"I feel like if you don’t go for Collingwood, you don’t hate us as much as you used to," Scott Pendlebury has said.
"People don’t mind us at the moment, so if we could be everyone’s second side, which is probably unlikely, I wouldn’t mind that."
There are some valuable lessons in this sporting makeover that can also apply to your business. Take a listen to my latest podcast to find out more.
For some reasons retailers think nowadays that if they look and feel the same the shopper will be happy.
Maybe this is true for convenience shopping like grocery shopping but for normal retail shopping I think it is a terrible mistake.
In particular with =in big shopping malls – sadly they are all the same. This episode is being recorded in Singapore “the home of shopping”, and with some time on my hands between appointments – here are my findings…
Oh, I mention a Tony Soprano business lesson,
Here is the full script from the show…
Soprano analogy
Juliana Skiff met Tony Soprano in S6 E8 because she was a realtor working for Century 21 and was trying to purchase a building owned by Tony (Caputo's Poultry) in Newark, New Jersey for juice chain Jamba Juice. She was persistent in pursuing the deal, contacting Tony at Satriale's and the Bada Bing and over the phone.
Tony got into his "be a real loss for the neighbourhood schtik.
Tony understands that small mom-and-pop shops like Caputo’s are what give the old neighborhood its character and authenticity. He is thoughtful enough to recognise that corporate retail stores have a soul-squashing, culture-killing homogeneity about them.
Juliana Skiff, a representative of Jumba Juice, shows up at Satriale's. She offers to purchase a building owned by Tony, which houses a small business run by one of the Italian locals, for expansion by the Jamba Juice franchise. Tony bristles against it, wanting to hold onto the Little Italy that he remembers.
Dialogue
1st meeting
Julianna Skiff, Century 21. You got a minute? Sure. Cannoli? No, thank you. You own the building at 217 Franklin, right around the corner, currently occupied by Caputo Live Poultry. I represent the Jamba Juice Company. They're interested in purchasing the property. Jamba Juice... wants to put a store in around here?
Well, you must have noticed the area's on an upswing. You know the old glove factory across the park, over by the cathedral, beautiful renovation. I just bought a loft there myself. Person like yourself's a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. Jamba Juice is willing to pay $175 a square foot. Public records show the building at 1,800 square feet. So that makes a purchase price of $315,000.
You ever buy eggs from Caputo? Frankly, I'm not wild about the smell in there. Let me tell ya, his eggs taste 10 times better than any of the ones you get in the supermarket. Chickens too. Businesses relocate all the time. No, this would be a real loss for the neighborhood. Don't you live out in North Caldwell? Yeah, my family made the trek up Guinea Gulch. Bloomfield Avenue. But my roots here go way back. My grandfather came from Avellino like most of the people around here, and I grew up right over there. My father was an early community leader. Mm-hmm.
How about you? Where're you from?
Upstate New York. Binghamton. How'd you wind up here? My parents have a catering business, something to leave to the kids, right? Only I didn't see myself making Salisbury steak for the next 30 years. So I left home at 17. Rebellious. Just a low tolerance for boredom. So... interested, not interested? I'm interested.
But as far as the property's concerned, 175 a square foot's a little low. And... I don't wanna sell out from under the guy.
There was a time when coffee was coffee. Ice cream was ice cream. A phone was a phone. Even a pair of jeans was, just a pair of jeans.
There are still businesses stuck in this time warp, continuing to conduct business as if people still purchased products.
Today, that cup of coffee comes with more options than a Porsche. A double shot, soy milk, almond milk, extra hot, topped up, half strength, in a takeaway cup because it tastes better. Thus, the $5.50 price for the 50 cents cup of coffee.
But even that is only half the story.
Breaking the price - product link
The profit margin of the double shot of extra something far exceeds the profit margin of the cup of coffee itself. The Prada Shearling Tote selling for $4,450 does not cost 200 times more to make than the tote at kmart for $20. This is a path to profit and to greater acceptance by affluent consumers. But as I said, it is only half the story.
Ordinary products morphing into their own category
Like them or not, Starbucks altered the coffee drinking world.
It redefined itself from a coffee shop to the "third-place" - home, office, Starbucks in between. It positioned itself as a merchant of feelings, of status, and most of all, of experience. A new category. And many other businesses have followed. Dean & Deluca (groceries), Under Armour (undies), Varsity Burgers and my favourite Burning Man (a camping trip in the desert with a bit of music ), have jazzed up their offerings to be in a new stratosphere with luxury pricing to match.
Price is no longer tied to product.
Far more appealing to "people with money"
As soon as you disconnect price and product in your own mind about your own products and services, you'll be liberated to make a great deal more money and to have much greater success appealing to the affluent and the top-end-of-town.
I think Tarantino is a genius.
Before his movie “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” was released, Quentin Tarantino said something very intriguing I believe all business people should take to heart in an interview he did with Deadline.
The context:
The plot of the movie is about a Hollywood actor and his stuntman in the late 60’s.
And to make sure the movie is as authentic as possible, Quentin literally wrote 5 episode scripts of the fictional TV show the actor starred in, in the movie (the audience who sees this movie will never see), as well as wrote out the main character’s entire fictional back story and filmography, film by film, as well as every single director he worked with, and all the little stories, quirks, and anecdotes on the sets he worked on, how he got his roles, who the casting directors were, which movies worked, which bombed, etc etc etc.
Why did he do all this extra work?
And, why did he do it even though the audiences won’t see it?
Because, as he put it in the interview:
“[The audience] need to know that I take this mythology this history seriously, and that there are answers to these questions. I don’t have to vomit it out but if you ask, I could tell you. The writer needs to know that mythology backwards and forwards. You need to be able to throw it off with the expertise of an expert.”
Lots of meat in that paragraph.
It’s like a crash course in writing school in some ways — especially for marketers, copywriters, and anyone in business wanting to dominate and control a niche.
But, like any skill, you still have to work hard at learning and mastering it first.
Thus, it’s completely incompatible for those who waste all day nattering on about nonsense in free Flakebook groups. Or the person who buys everything but uses nothing. Or the marketer who lacks the character to commit to anything that ejects them from their comfort zone.
i.e., 95+% of most so-called marketers.
The takeaway is that enough is never enough. If you really want to stand out in your business, you have to dig deep, pay attention to all of the little details and refine things striving for perfect.
Best summed up in a tale about another great Steve Jobs
He pored over every tiny detail of every product, every ad, every store, every thing related to Apple.
His attention to detail and craft came from his father who told him it was important to craft the backs of fences and cabinets even though they would never be seen.
Are you up for it?
Some of the meanest people I know are the wealthiest I know.
Strange isn't it, that while many wealthy consumers can easily afford high-fee cosmetic dentistry, luxury cars, first-class travel, designer fashions they find the price tags too big to swallow.
A $70,000.00 sticker on a car, a $35,000.00 fee quoted by the dentist, a $12,000.00 airline ticket are all so in-your-face. On the surface, the difference between the $70,000.00 car vs. the $35,000.00 car isn't so great; a car may feel like a car. On the plane, all the seats arrive at the same time.
I am sure you have heard this logic before.
Oddly however, these same people are easily wooed by little luxuries.
For what seems like a small uptick (which is a very big increase in profit margin) they can feel special without guilt.
The fact that you can pick up two litres of ice cream at the supermarket for about the same price as a tiny cup of ice cream at a Gelateria is more disconnected. The experience is dramatically different. At the creamery, you pick out your flavour, your ground up cheesecake crust and chocolate chips, and watch your dessert being made for you on a granite slab. The price is still easily found in pocket or purse. It requires no thought, is done on impulse, feels good, and is easily rationalised. If I need had a hard day, I deserve it.
These little indulgences do add up.
Allow me to introduce you to a concept called luxflation.
Termed by author Pamela Danziger it is the inching up of price. A form of self-induced inflation, experienced by consumers willing to pay what seems a little more for much better experiences - when, in fact, that little more may be a 500% to 5,000% premium.
It's ironic that the government, economists, and the media sweat bullets and display great angst over inflation creeping up by a half of a percent while consumers cheerfully accept 500% inflation in dozens of purchases every day.
This is important to grasp, as it affects every business.
If you cultivate these opportunities, these little indulgences can really add up for you in your business.
Luxflation is not new.
The story is now a legend of how "burger chains" use the point-of-sale strategy, where the cashier responds, "Do you want fries with that?" ATS (average transaction size) is one of the most important numbers to know, manage, and work at improving in many businesses, whether you sell burgers to frequent customers or motor vehicles to very infrequent repeat customers.
Let's say we own an ice-cream stand where the cashier responds to each order by presenting the offer of a double flavour shot and an extra scoop of fresh fruit. If half say yes to the extra $4, and they serve 200 ice-creams a day, that's $400 added to revenue. But we may have increased the profit margin, invisibly, by much more.
If we can alter the whole experience to support a higher price, still add the extra fruit, and add a big chocolate chip cookie, well, we might take our $9 average transaction to $15. On a grander scale, we may turn our ice-cream stand into a much-talked about, much preferred destination rather than just one of a dozen same-as places in town.
Being in the little indulgence business in a big way, can lead to much bigger profits, but even to something more valuable:
Sustainable unique positioning in your customers' minds and lives.
In my business I like to use the content I create in articles, blog posts, white papers, podcasts and interviews to develop a position in marketing called omnipresence.
Omnipresence means your prospects can't look in any direction bumping into you. Somebody is talking about you, somebody is showing them you, you are in the media they see you on socials.
The most effective thing you can do for yourself is to put yourself in the centre of the right group of people who you want talking to each other about you. This will lead to a mass of potential clients to “swim upstream” into your network and start paying you money.
To evidence the power of this phenomenon, I outline my client acquisition data from the last full year of the consulting arm of my business.
For the year I attained 76 new clients. 10 of them came to me directly from my marketing, two found me through my wife and eight others had worked with me over the years but are now in their own business or are fronting a new business and sought out my services. The “eye popper” a whopping 63% of last year’s new clients amounting to 45 businesses “swam upstream” via my network (of which I am in the centre of).
Eleven (11) came from purchasing a book. That too is a little deceptive, because most of them said they bought the book as the second thing after hearing about me somewhere in a newsletter they read, or someone mentioning me to them. They then went to Amazon and bought a book.
There are two things about these numbers that I think are extremely instructive.
One is that upstream is a significant strategy.
Meaning you should find ways to put yourself in a similar position. Whether it is builders feeding clients upstream to a Mortgage Broker or a fabulous restaurant finding ways to get other types of businesses with the right customers, feeding clients upstream to them.
Keep in mind, I specialise in advertising and marketing and yet 63% of my new clients came from someone else. What is more when I drill down into the 63%, there is no source that is really good by itself. One from here, one from there. two from here, three from there. It would have been nice just to have one or two sources that they all came from, but that is not the case. (In fact, it wouldn’t be nice because “one is the worst number” you can have in business – as I have already talked on about in multiple podcasts.
In my world, I like to provide my referral network with great content and resources to use for their purposes. I trade on the fact that everybody is lazy when it comes to content creation and, they welcome good content that they do not have to create themselves. This provides a positive benefit for them. In doing this what I have essentially created is around a hundred influencers who expose me to their customers on a regular basis.
From this, the best customers swim upstream.
The smartest one’s swim upstream.
The biggest spenders swim upstream.
The most common comment I get is, I have heard about you here, heard about you there, so I decided to go to the source, and find you for myself.
The second thing to understand is that if you assume that the 45 new businesses are worth on average forty to eighty thousand dollars in annual value as customers, that is a pretty big number. Which all came to me from simply stitching together little numbers, which cumulatively became a solid number.
This strategy takes work, this strategy is not for the faint hearted and at times this strategy requires you to get out of your comfort zone, but a considerable number of my clients that have adopted the same “swimming upstream” strategy conclusively swear by the results.
To find out more about my Fast Money for entrepreneur strategies please visit petergianoli.com/fast-money
I’ve noticed something about consultants.
Most of them have the same frustrations when it comes to social media. I work with a lot of consultants and hear the same issues over and over again.
Any of these sound familiar?
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“I’m putting a lot of time and effort into social media, but not getting any meaningful results.”
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“I feel stuck, my business is stuck and don’t know what to do to get unstuck.”
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“I don’t really have any plan for how to use social media, so I’m just randomly posting stuff.”
If any of these resonate with you (and I bet several do), then you’ve come to the right place.
There are 13 social media strategies I can share - here are just 3!
I know these work because I’ve seen them work over and over again for all different types of consultant clients.
- Use fewer social media platforms.
You don’t need to use every social media platform. In fact, you shouldn’t.
Just because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, and a thousand other platforms exist doesn’t mean you have to use them.
Any one of those platforms has more than enough people on it for you to achieve success beyond your wildest dreams, so break from the feeling that you need to be everywhere.
- Follow fewer people.
Don’t follow everybody who follows you.
Don’t follow random people in the hope they’ll follow you back.
Don’t follow anybody you’re not genuinely interested in.
And don’t be afraid to unfollow people – often.
The fewer people you follow on any social platform, the better your feed will become as the algorithm will learn to better serve you.
- You don't need more followers, simply the RIGHT followers.
The first question I ask a consultant client is always, “What are your social media goals?”
Their answer always includes some version of “I want to get more followers.”
That’s an understandable answer, but it reveals a crucial strategic flaw.
Because you don’t need more followers, you need the right followers to help you accomplish your goals.
If these 3 strategies made sense - read on!
If you’d like more hands-on helpwith these strategies, plus another ten more, visit my website petergianoli.com/social-strategy-for-consultants and download my latest resource. It's FREE!
When a person goes for a job interview or when they are introduced to someone for the first time, the impression that is known as "first impression" is critical in determining how things will go.
In fact, research says that the first 40 seconds is what can make or break a job interview.
And this: In a jury trial, the first impression of the defendant is 40% as important as all further impressions put together.
"First impression is a lasting impression" - Oscar Wilde.
We have all heard it said that if you give off a positive first impression, then people will see you in a better light and your life would be made easier for having done so.
And this: when a person falls in love, they may say that it is love at first sight.
So let's look into this thing called "first impression" and see if we can find out why it lasts. Just how does one make a good first impression? What is the magic in making a good (or bad) first impression? And what is all of this got to do with marketing and your business.
Well this, you either hook or lose a prospect with your marketing piece, not when they read it, but when they first look at it.
Now, of course this rule is not 100% accurate. Sometimes a person will read your piece, see it again sometime later and be hooked. Sometimes they hook themselves by reading through.
But most of the time that is not what happens. Most of the time when they get your email, or if they are sitting in front of someone pitching them with all their might, its this first impression that sets the tone for everything.
So, what does this mean when it comes to creating marketing? Since you only get one first impression, then ensure that your marketing piece has a powerful message in it and this will usually be the case when all emphasis is on the hook.
The good news for marketers is that most people tend to miss detail when they are looking at something for the first time. They tend to see "the forest" rather than “the trees".
This is why you will read a piece once, and if you like the “forest” you will decide whether you will read it again. Then as you reread it and get more out of it you are now seeing "trees" instead of "forest".
So, if this is true, then how can marketers use this? Again, your first impression must be powerful enough to keep the person hooked. So that when they consider it again, then there is a good chance that you will have another opportunity to hook them when they read it or hear it for a second time.
Just remember this: "First impressions last".
And don't forget this: If you fail to leave a powerful impression on someone at first meeting, the best ad copy in the world will not help you.
Have you ever watched professional poker players, constantly looking at their opponents eyes when they draw a card? What they are looking for is a specific micro-expression that can indicate whether the player has just drawn something good or if they have just drawn something bad.
This is because the eyes, like all other parts of the body, do not lie and will give away any secret or "tell" like behaviour before it happens. Poker players try to pick up on this nonverbal behaviour and try to make use of it themselves.
Well, I have a theory about all of this. What I believe is that most (or many) of our decisions about how we like or dislike something are not made in 40 seconds, or the first 4 or 40 minutes but rather in the first fraction of a second that we see something new.
And, I further believe that we unconsciously spend the rest of our so-called decision making time not really making a decision after all, but instead searching for justification for the decision we have already made.
And, that's why it is so difficult to get people to see your product, service or idea from a fresh perspective.
The mind remembers things that are associated with strong emotions - it will forever remember the "first time". Think about the intensity of emotion you experience when you first fall in love. And then think about how powerful that can be 10 years down the road.
I think that if you can get your prospect to get an instant lift out of your marketing, you'll be several steps ahead of the game.
Remember: The mind remembers things that are associated with strong emotions - it will forever remember the "first time". Get a lift or get lost!
This is why I say: "Every Marketing Piece Has to be fresh, has to be unique and has to have a Hook In It"
Until next time..
Jerry McGuire is one of the best business movies ever produced.
Jerry's life changing mission statement scene is six minutes of pure entrepreneurial gold in this episode I outline why!
Show Links
Click HERE to watch the scene
Grab some great USP training here petergianoli.com/usp - How to Develop a Razor Sharp Unique Sales Proposition for Your Business to Stand Out From a CROWDED Market!
Boomers are rich.
They bought houses when they were affordable and sold off at the right times. They purchased hovels downtown, they sold for millions. Didn’t know how to pick stocks so invested long-term, a boring yet profitable strategy.
Patience and delayed gratification have been virtues.
As the wealthiest generation in history, Boomers currently hold $2.6 trillion in buying power.
Today, Boomers are RE-INVENTING their lives.
They are finding NEW places to work, NEW places to travel to, NEW ways to spend their days, NEW ways to spend time with their children and grandchildren, and NEW ways to stay vital and connected as they age.
Each choice represents enormous business opportunity.
Today's boomers are planning their full retirement at 80, not 65, and are looking for second, third, or fourth careers or new businesses.
Shrinking, fixed incomes, minimum spending are out the window.
Ken Gronbach, author of Common Census: Counterintuitive Guide to Generational Marketing states:
"They know what they want. At this point in their lives they want only three things:
- Life made easy.
- Time saved.
- Not to be ripped off.
Boomers already own a lot of stuff.
Their needs are getting increasingly fewer, thus they are less interested in or seduced by things.
Boomers are service consumers more than product buyers. They want nothing as a thing; they want a thing that gives time, convenience, freedom, or ease.
Boomers still think in terms of "classic credibility".
Brand names matter, credible, relevant celebrity endorsements matter, years in business, professional affiliations, access to live humans for resolving problems all matter.
Above all else.
Boomers have had enough life experience to have been disappointed or felt ripped off by a number of purchases and marketers. And they are not eager to repeat the experience.
We all know that a key component of any marketing strategy is to get your customers to talk about you and share what they have purchased with their network. But did you know this goes both ways?
It takes more than just getting people to buy from you, it also means making sure they actually consume or use the products that they purchase from you as well!
This is important because if a person does not use or consume what they have purchased from you then they will not experience any of the benefits. Hence, there's no reason for them to tell anyone else about it. As we all know referrals are an essential part of any business marketing mix. And by encouraging consumption or utilisation of your product or service, you are making it easier for them to refer others to you.
So, let’s look at a company that does this exceptionally well. Apple!
I love opening my latest Apple purchase, do you?
Why?
- Because everything is beautifully packaged.
- Once you open the box - everything is intuitive as to what to do next
- Once the product is turned on the instructions are clear, simple and bold.
- Thanks to their exceptional marketing, I know the pleasure that lies ahead of me when I use it.
In fact, consumption starts with the marketing. I like how Gene Schwartz said it, where “your ad is simply the functional product - details of what it does for them - sent to them in advance of the product itself”.
And while a lot of businesses are just glad to get a sale, and hope nobody refunds, that is playing not to lose instead of playing to win.
Fact is that great marketers always think of two "sales" you have to make.
(1) The product sale, and (2) the sale of them consuming the product or service.
So how can you encourage your customers to consume what they have purchased from you?
There are a few ways:
- Offering educational materials or tutorials that show them how to use the product in an easy and fun way.
- Making sure the product is easy to use, and if it's not give them support as well.
- Make sure there are clear instructions that show how to do what they want or need to do with your product or service.
Once again, Apple does this exceptionally well - they are always innovating and creating new products that not only look great but are easy to use as well. And thanks to their exceptional marketing, customers know the pleasure that awaits them when they open the box.
You can see this in action with the iPad - what's inside the box is just as important (if not more) than the product itself!
So, if you want to sell your products or services, make sure that there are no barriers between your customers and their enjoyment of them by encouraging consumption every step of the way.
One of the things we must keep in mind is that once a person makes a purchase in your environment, like in your store, on your sales page, in your Instagram feed or at a conference or in a sales office. When they return into their world the stresses and strains of their environment return.
Often, they purchased your product to improve their lives, but now their normal environment is what gets in the way of them using your offering. So, you need to have a plan to overcome this.
- A way is to follow up with them and remind them of the benefits of using your product or service.
- Showcase how others are using your product or service in an inspiring way.
- Use client testimonials to show how they overcame the same struggles by using your offering.
The important thing is to never stop encouraging your customers to consume what they have purchased from you. This will create a stronger connection with them and make it more likely that they will refer others to you in the future.
Let me give you another example...
Recently I signed up for an online course called Ship 30. It is about content creation and it doesn’t start until next month. For the record it wasn't cheap and like any buyer it wasn't long before I started feeling buyer’s remorse.
But thanks to some well-timed, well thought out emails, preparing me for next month I am now fired up and ready to get started.
It didn't take much, some links to helpful videos, some case studies of what others like me have achieved and it’s a wrap.
What about services how can you encourage consumption?
The best way to overcome the resistance that people have to consuming what they purchase, especially services, is by helping them see how easy it is to get started.
- Offer a free consultation or trial period so they can try out the service.
- here too, provide educational materials. One great example from a local health club is to introduce 30-day or 14-day challenges for members with built in rewards and incentives.
If you are looking for great examples just watch what Netflix and Spotify do to encourage consumption. Being continuity services where you can easily cancel at the end of a month - these services are the master of keeping you engaged and of course subscribing.
So, in a nutshell, encourage customers to consume what they purchase from you, both in the moment and after the fact.
The key takeaway here is that it's not enough to simply make a sale; instead, you need to think about your customer's consumption habits as well so that they will use what you have sold them and become fully satisfied with their decision.
As has already been said - the only way you will grow your referral network is by having satisfied and fully engaged customers and clients.
The wealthy person is a complicated creature.
Research indicates the typical top-end-of-towner seeks incremental steps up, in a lot of things, makes major steps up, in one to three things, and remains unmoved by luxury, brand, experience or other factors in many other purchase categories.
The wealthy are selective in what they indulge in.
Price is literally out the window in the care and feeding of the poodle, but the wealthy often recoil at the price of a Lexus, often preferring a Toyota.
This makes marketing to the wealthy a strategic undertaking.
Clever brands have worked this out.
Luxury-goods have caught on and are engaging in a strategy called "luxury drop-down".
Luxury goods like Mercedes or Coach bags have created lower-priced products - usually smaller, with fewer features, but of the same quality and bearing the brand name - encouraging the affluent consumer to cross the luxury line without qualm.
Further, some luxury brands have found enormous leverage in leaving a huge chasm between their top-priced items and their new lower priced merchandise.
Women who can't afford one, and even those who can, might blanch at a $10,000 Vera Wang dress but be quite happy to pay $199 for a Vera Wang blouse. But without knowledge of the $10,000 dress, they'd balk at such a high price for the blouse.
It serves to have an ultra-expensive offering.
Some marketers, even go so far as to create and promote red-herring-priced goods or services they hope no one buys, only to set a standard that makes their actual prices seem imminently reasonable by comparison.
Take a look at the Fullarton Singapore’s wine list for a perfect example of this!
Most consultants post on their social media channels like episodes of a reality show — here’s what I think, here’s what I’m doing, here’s yet ANOTHER selfie.
That’s fine if it’s compelling, but in general it’s more effective to approach your social media channels as a magazine editor would.
Try to make your social media about more than just YOUR life.
Magazines aren’t all about their publisher’s life.
Instead, they feature curated content that represents the viewpoint of the publisher and is designed to provide value to a specific target audience. Not every one of your social posts needs to be about you (and they probably shouldn’t be).
Take a magazine approach and curate as much content as you create.
Curation of great content is about creating value for your followers.
Magazines that are niche specific are making a revival.
Developing and curating niche content specific to your industry or market is a successful social media strategy. Doing so will make it easier to attract an audience and easier to provide value to them more frequently because you don’t have to create every single thing you share.
Become the purveyor of your niche's quality information.
Share stuff and watch your influence grow.
Important note!
I’m not suggesting you steal content from others. Share stuff with credit and drive attention to others — don’t pass it off as your own. No need to be an ass. But don't just flick out links - add interpretations, opinions, advice and your social media success will grow.
Treat your social media feed as your magazine!
If you’d like more social media strategies, visit my website petergianoli.com/social-strategy-for-consultants and download my latest resource. It's FREE!
In this week’s podcast, I go through the 4 key things I do when I take on a new marketing client. I believe you too, should do these 4 things in your business. Especially if you are looking for more clients, quick wins, and some instant cash flow.
These are the same 4 things that I implement with my fee-paying clients, which are on average $50,000 each and you are getting the advice for nothing thanks to this podcast.
All you have to do is listen and implement – go on I dare you!!
Here is the link to the blog post:
https://petergianoli.com/low-cost-ways-to-market-business/
Stop being safe…
Once upon a time, during the baby boomer era, being different was a badge of honor. Yes, guys wearing scholls, long hair, playing in your own band and we even had surfers at Hamilton Hill High School the home of the bogan.
In my opinion, this is one thing the baby boomers definitely got right. But their kids, brought up in an era where you get a trophy for just participating and playing football and netball with no scoring, are afraid to stand out. They are all about their network of friends and do not want to be ostracised.
Everyone’s afraid to lose friends. Everyone’s afraid to stand out. Everyone’s afraid of criticism. Kids don’t raise their hands in class because they don’t want to be seen as different, as know-it-alls, and better off playing dumb.
The conundrum, however, is to get ahead in business, or marketing, or in your art, we are looking for the new and different and if you don’t have people dropping their jaws, chances are you are not going to last, you probably won’t even be noticed.
Furthermore, just because no one likes what you are producing doesn’t necessarily give up right away. If you are not experiencing at least a little bit of resistance or if you don’t find people trying to reign you in, chances are you are not aiming high enough and will never cause a jaw to drop.
Dare to be unpopular… because that is where the germ of true popularity begins.
The difference in results of your marketing is around the willingness to do deep thinking about your customer. To not be lazy, to not be sloppy, and above everything else not be guilty of Lazy Marketing.
Podcast Transcript
Here’s an example. You take two people.
They each make $300,000 a year. They each live in $1 million houses.
So demographically they’re affluent.
Now we’re going to market to them.
One of them travels incessantly. Five days a week on the road. Which they now hate. He’s overweight, unhealthy, eating bad food in airports, his relationship is in trouble.
The other one works from home, he loves it.
His desk looks out his window at his park across the road. He takes time off every day to take his dog for a walk. His marriage is in good shape.
Now - Do they feel equally affluent?
Demographically they’re affluent but we don’t want to be marketing to them the same way.
We’re going to fail with one.
Odds are we’re going to fail with both.
Bad advertising, bad marketing is simplistic and it’s lazy.
It always tries to lump too broad of a spectrum of people into one group and then to talk to them in a mass advertising mass marketing kind of way.
So, there’s not that many differences in structure in how you market to the affluent. In a broad sense there’s not much difference in what they want and what they don’t want than anybody else.
But there are nuance differences that really have big impact.
Remember they automatically have more choice.
So the more discretionary money you have to spend, the less price matters to you in a category, the more choices you have in that category and you can be more selective.
So marketing to them now means about being identified as for them and not for everybody else.
The difference in results is around the willingness to do deep thinking about your customer.
To not be lazy, to not be sloppy and so here’s a litmus test and it’s kind of the survey what do you know about your customer.
I can sit here, and with my customer I can talk to you about them for around three hours about who that customer is. I know that person intimately. I - so I can tell you demographics things. I can tell you psychographic things. I can tell you geographic things. I can tell you their pain buttons. I can tell you their desire buttons.
So if you can’t sit and tell me about your customer for three hours without running out of useful and relevant things to talk about, then I would say you’re not prepared to market to them effectively. If you have to put or you are putting a big umbrella over them you don’t have intimate enough information and your marketing could do a lot better.
Sales are like legs day. Hard and brutal.
Punishment! Yet, when you work out legs, you're also activating muscle fibres in the rest of your body, arms, shoulders, and even back. Just the same fashion, when you work in sales, you're activating muscle fibers in your marketing skillset as well.
So, the best advice you could ever give a business owner is to start doing some sales.
The Tension Between Marketing and Sales In most struggling organisations, there is tension between the sales team and the marketers.
Sales team complains that leads are lousy and insufficient. Marketing complaints that sales want everything handed on a plate.
Enter the entrepreneur to adjudicate.
Time To Get Back Into The Gym Before making a call, to side with marketing and or sales, at least "sharpen your saw".
Do a small amount of selling, take a half day "ride along" with one of your sales team. It will fire up your other skills, like marketing. Learning to better understand your customers and knowing how to cut through with messaging will be forever helpful.
With time, this will make you a better business person.
The Bizarre Habit Why is it that so many people brag about legs day on social media?
Very amusing!
Yet, there is a million-dollar sales and marketing lesson embedded in the legs versus arms debate.
A lot of people build their upper body and neglect their legs. Fact. Unfortunately, doing this sets them up to fail. Same for entrepreneurs who focus only on marketing and place no effort in sales!
I’ve noticed something about consultants.
Most of them have the same frustrations when it comes to social media. I work with a lot of consultants and hear the same issues over and over again.
Does any of these sound familiar?
-
“I’m putting a lot of time and effort into social media but not getting any meaningful results.”
-
“I feel stuck my business is stuck and doesn’t know what to do to get unstuck.”
-
“I don’t really have any plan for how to use social media so I’m just randomly posting stuff.”
If any of these resonate with you (and I bet several do), then you’ve come to the right place.
There are 13 social media strategies I can share - here are just 3! I know these work because I’ve seen them work over and over again for all different types of consultant clients.
- Use fewer social media platforms. You don’t need to use every social media platform. In fact, you shouldn’t.
Just because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, and a thousand other platforms exist doesn’t mean you have to use them.
Any one of those platforms has more than enough people on it for you to achieve success beyond your wildest dreams so break from the feeling that you need to be everywhere.
- Follow fewer people. Don’t follow everybody who follows you.
Don’t follow random people in the hope they’ll follow you back.
Don’t follow anybody you’re not genuinely interested in.
And don’t be afraid to unfollow people – often.
The fewer people you follow on any social platform, the better your feed will become as the algorithm will learn to better serve you.
- You don't need more followers, simply the RIGHT followers. The first question I ask a consultant-client is always, “What are your social media goals?”
Their answer always includes some version of “I want to get more followers.”
That’s an understandable answer, but it reveals a crucial strategic flaw.
Because you don’t need more followers, you need the right followers to help you accomplish your goals.
If these 3 strategies made sense - read on! If you’d like more hands-on helpwith these strategies, plus another ten more, visit my website petergianoli.com/social-strategy-for-consultants and download my latest resource. It's FREE!
I’ve noticed something about consultants.
Most of them have the same frustrations when it comes to social media. I work with a lot of consultants and hear the same issues over and over again.
Does any of these sound familiar?
-
“I’m putting a lot of time and effort into social media but not getting any meaningful results.”
-
“I feel stuck my business is stuck and doesn’t know what to do to get unstuck.”
-
“I don’t really have any plan for how to use social media so I’m just randomly posting stuff.”
If any of these resonate with you (and I bet several do), then you’ve come to the right place.
There are 13 social media strategies I can share - here are just 3!
I know these work because I’ve seen them work over and over again for all different types of consultant clients.
- Use fewer social media platforms.
You don’t need to use every social media platform. In fact, you shouldn’t.
Just because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, and a thousand other platforms exist doesn’t mean you have to use them.
Any one of those platforms has more than enough people on it for you to achieve success beyond your wildest dreams so break from the feeling that you need to be everywhere.
- Follow fewer people.
Don’t follow everybody who follows you.
Don’t follow random people in the hope they’ll follow you back.
Don’t follow anybody you’re not genuinely interested in.
And don’t be afraid to unfollow people – often.
The fewer people you follow on any social platform, the better your feed will become as the algorithm will learn to better serve you.
- You don't need more followers, simply the RIGHT followers.
The first question I ask a consultant-client is always, “What are your social media goals?”
Their answer always includes some version of “I want to get more followers.”
That’s an understandable answer, but it reveals a crucial strategic flaw.
Because you don’t need more followers, you need the right followers to help you accomplish your goals.
If these 3 strategies made sense - read on!
If you’d like more hands-on helpwith these strategies, plus another ten more, visit my website petergianoli.com/social-strategy-for-consultants and download my latest resource. It's FREE!
People who grew up with Andy Warhol's art, music, and films will remember him for his famous line: In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.
Those who knew him personally recall a different message from the artist. "In order to survive," he reportedly said, "everybody will have their 15 minutes of fame."
Nevertheless, I feel that those who are still well-known at the 16-minute mark are most worth paying attention to.
The people who fit this bill best are those who have had their moment in the sun, their lucky break or a taste of success and have been able to return from the brink of rejection or disgrace with a fresh new take.
These folks, those who can bounce back from adversity, are my kind of heroes.
There's also another group of 16-minute notables whose fame comes from something no less heroic—surviving an extraordinarily difficult challenge.
As somebody who has been working shoulder to shoulder with entrepreneurs in business, I'm always inspired by people who turn what is considered misfortune into an opportunity. And they seem to do it time after time with grit and tenacity (and the help of their peers).
I've compiled a list of 16-minute character traits that if acquired, will help you make an indelible mark on your marketplace:
- Do what others won't do
- Tackle your fears head-on
- Bounce back from rejection or disgrace with a fresh new take on life
- Find value in the values of others
- Make it count when you're not in the top
- Have a way of inspiring others who are down and out
- Obsess the details—they matter most when you're in the top
- Put yourself in check for fear of losing sight of what's real or being consumed by self-centeredness
- Know when to tap out of the game to preserve your true values
- Remain humble through your climb—you can be down without being defeated
- Give back in large doses because there's always someone in need
- Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you—they will push your limits
- Create opportunities for others to make a name for themselves (and their company)
- Unleash the gifts and talents of those around you
- Don't cheat or cut corners in the pursuit of your goals
- Never stop growing—it's what makes you better today than yesterday
So, there you have it; my list of 16-minute character traits will take you from the top to near rock bottom, then back up—if you can handle it. Of course, these won't mean too much to you if you're looking for fast fame without putting in the work. I'm all for instant gratification but remember that it's fickle and fleeting (and not to mention, it could land you in jail or rehab).
If you're willing to work for it and show up every day with the same amount of gusto that got your name out there in the first place, then perhaps we can meet up at minute 16.
First impressions can be lasting.
When your marketing arrives in front of a prospect – email into an inbox, direct mail in the post, at somebody’s door or waiting room, a pattern interrupt on social media or as an advertisement; it can be perceived as either being an annoying pest or a welcome guest.
You are working from home
Imagine you are sitting, working from home. It’s around midday – and you hear knocking on your front door.
Chances are it’s someone like an Avon lady or the Jehovah Witness.
Because you have not invited anybody to come over, you think this is an annoying pest and you are busy, so you ignore it, confident that if you ignore a pest, it will go away.
It will tire of trying to get your attention and move on to the next house.
The knocking goes on for a while, but you are stubborn and are good at this “ignore” game.
Next thing you know, this person has climbed over the back wall of your property, and they are now banging on the sliding glass door, which they can see you through…
So now your kind of under an obligation to answer the door.
The message is all your shrubs in your front yard are on fire, and the flames are starting to lick at the front of your home.
His message was he’s called the fire brigade, but can you come out and help him fight the fire until they arrive.
A new impression
Now at that second in time, he (the intruder) went from being a most annoying pest to a most welcome guest.
And the only thing that changed was…
Right message, right time!
In our world, the world of marketing, for a decade or so, our marketing has been losing its impact.
In our strategies to overcome this impact loss, have been clunky, ineffective, and annoying.
When stats like email open rates are down.
The marketer who was sending one email a day will now start sending two a day.
As open rates go down further. Send four. Open rates go down even further. Send eight until opens rates are zero.
The bottom line is, you can't really amp up being an annoying pest and get results.
It's hard work.
Therefore, we must work in strategising with our marketing to do everything in our power to show up as a welcome guest!
This is why I like to use mail and in particular FedEx a lot, instead of simply email, because interest level automatically goes up because it's an interesting piece of mail or a FedEx package.
But if you do have to use email, at least make sure it is easy to read, skimmable, and of course, fit for purpose to help the recipient rather than pester and annoy.
Pause, strategise and spend as much time as you like ensuring that you appear as a welcome guest and your marketing will cut through be welcomed and succeed.
Most business owners and marketers do NOT know their enemy.
Recently I have been looking to do some work for a financial advisor and I came across a comprehensive survey of 600 financial advisors, where they ranked their biggest obstacles to acquiring clients:
(1) Competition from other advisors 64%
(2) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online 16%
(3) Interference by family and friends 13%
(4) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them 7%
In another comprehensive survey of over 3,000 unconverted client prospects who responded to advertising, attended workshops or otherwise interacted with advisors and did not do business with them, here’s how those consumers ranked the same four obstacles:
(2) Competition from other advisors 32%
(4) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online 9%
(3) Interference by family and friends 15%
(1) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them 44%
Look at the advisors misperceptions:
(1) Competition from other advisors – OVER-ESTIMATED BY DOUBLE (32 POINTS)
(2) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online – OVER-ESTIMATED BY NEARLY DOUBLE (7 POINTS)
(3) Interference by family and friends – UNDER-ESTIMATED BY 2 POINTS
(4) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them – UNDER-ESTIMATED BY MORE THAN DOUBLE (37 POINTS)
Simply put, the advisors are WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING.
This is a caution for Marketers: NEVER believe your clients’ opinions about their own customers. Consider them, but do NOT accept them without question and, if possible, verification. Do all you can to distinguish between Fact v. Opinion or Belief. Beware the most zealous beliefs. Recognize that most “kings” create circles of belief reinforcement around them, and have little tolerance for “heretics” who dare challenge their orthodoxy. In fact a client of mine said he was paying a lot of money to be asked annoying questions. Over time, he stopped paying for this service.
The Three Most Common Mistakes of Opinion
#1: MOST now believe that what’s going on, on the internet, with “ratings” on Google or Amazon, etc., in social media is far more important and influential (with their customers and potential customers) than it actually is.
#2: MOST obsess over their believed, external Competition.
#3: MOST grossly underestimate their own “ugliness” and “scariness” and/or how dull and uninteresting they are.
In most cases, your most formidable competition is yourself and the negative emotional state of your prospect towards you and what you do. Not the business across the street with the bigger sign and cheaper prices or more 5 -star reviews.
It might seem strange, but you're better off appealing to a small group of loyal customers than trying to attract everyone.
There's a fundamental rule in marketing that takes some discipline and some getting used to, but it's undeniably true:
You can't be everything for everybody.
It is a mistake to try and be all things to all people.
In fact, it is a mistake to simply swell the numbers (for numbers sake) – in many cases growth is not automatically profitable, and in most cases growth achieved with new customers who will require cultural, product, service and often price shifts – can serve to drive away your existing, your best, your longest serving and most certain customers can actually be a deal with the devil.
It is a mistake to favour short-term expediency over strategy.
I found this out the hard way during COVID.
In response to one of my clients putting their program with me on hold until they saw how COVID panned out – I reacted and starting touting for business.
Because I am pretty skilled at Client Acquisition, and I had a functioning CGS – I opened the channels full throttle…
It didn’t take long to realise I had taken on too much and a lot of it not really what and whom I like to work with.
It is a grievous mistake for a business to act or present itself absent a philosophy, a set of fundamental beliefs.
We become so vague that no one knows what we are offering, and our potential customers turn to other, more specific options.
Worse still we end up accomplishing far less than we had hoped, which is exhausting.
As entrepreneurs, we end up running ragged trying to get it all done with limited resources. It makes us feel busy and productive, but again it's actually quite the opposite.
We are doing busy work that isn't generating the kind of results we were ultimately aiming for.
In business, temptations abound.
There is, for example, fear of losing even one customer, this creates pressure to be vanilla, to take no risks and play it safe, to avoid all criticism, to be for all.
This fails two ways.
First, the only way to be free of criticism and disapproval is to climb into a pine box, and have it buried 6’ deep.
The idea of managing a pristine reputation with all is hopelessly naïve. Futile in fact.
Two, it castrates (I love that word for impact 😊) a business’ ability to resonate with any core constituency of rabid fans.
In business there is enormous temptation to choose tactical expediency rather than strategic effectiveness.
To see the dollar to be had today but not the high cost of taking it over time. Resisting, even recognising these temptations is not easy.
They sneak up on you. They mask themselves.
When we fail to recognize a temptation immediately, we often find it too late to resist it.
It takes a lot, to remain ever vigilant of and hyper-sensitive to temptations.
This is one of many prices that success demands, that many do not understand.
As an example, take fast food giant McDonalds. In response to diners who are increasingly seeking food that is fresh and healthy, and the explosion of fast-casual restaurants catering to this desire and giving them alternatives that are nearly as speedy as a Macas but are perceived as much healthier.
The company tried to take on these new competitors while also hanging onto its traditional business, and in doing so its menu grew bloated and its pricing strategy became confusing.
Sadly, for McDonald’s they found that wait times were getting longer at its drive-through windows as its menu grew increasingly long and complicated. Worse still, some restaurants didn’t have enough space in the kitchen to prepare such a wide array of dishes.
Consequently, the company had no alternative than to unveil a sweeping turnaround strategy promising to streamline its menu to fix the bottleneck.
The new revised strategy was that despite trying to respond to the desire for fresh food with items such as salads and wraps, these items did’nt sell particularly well. It found its real Macas consumers wanted to come to McDonald’s for burgers and chicken nuggets just as they always have, but instead Macas are now preparing those dishes more healthily.
Most of my business and financial mistakes, past, recent, and I am sure next, are not actually or simply misjudgements or errors; they are likely to be victories by temptations.
It may even be that the percentage of temptations succumbed to vs. those recognised and resisted is the secret math to that of success and failure.
If only somebody will invent an app for this, with an alarm bell or, better still, an electric shock triggered by every temptation, and a tracking of one’s percentages of surrender and resistance.
It is a fact - It's impossible to build a business and market a brand in a way that serves everyone. First of all, you can't possibly please everyone all the time and, secondly, you can't possibly offer everything that everyone would want all the time either.
It's simply impossible.
If you Google the term marketing consultant, you will get 748,000 results pop up.
Each describing themselves as a marketing consultant and each attempting to describe themselves slightly better in one way or another than the other 747,999 of them.
What a tough gig – what a failing proposition.
So if you are a marketing consultant you have no choice but to put some energy into differentiation.
You do not want to be what all the others are.
So my first problem if I was touting for business through Google is I would have to confront how I describe myself.
Same goes for a client of mine who is an accountant (385,000 search results in Perth WA alone), sure his practice is Xero certified but so are 70% of the other 385k.
Here too a point of difference is desperately required.
In fact, describing yourself as Xero certified is the wrong way to present yourself for two reasons.
One, nobody really wants that. They want outcomes. They want benefits, they want assets. They want things that work. They want information. They want the ability to manage their business effectively. Those are the things they want.
In my world, everybody says, I can do your marketing, I can do your this, I can do your that as well. But that, simply tells us what not to say.
What I do for clients is i make a list of the 10 things everybody in the category is saying, and then I know what to rule out in the messaging.
You have to position yourself as something other than what everybody else is saying.
Being just a marketing consultant or being a Xero certified accountant, or whatever it is, is simply a tool in the toolbox rather than what you are.
In my case I am there to help my clients exploit an opportunity, or to drive growth, expansion, revenue improvements, or profit improvements.
Nobody really wants just marketing.
And if they do, they're buying it as a commodity from the cheapest provider that they can get it from.
So I'm never starting from the position of, well – “I do marketing for food”.
One of my biggest clients – started as wanting a brochure.
5 solid years later and they have expanded into international markets and diversified from B2B and now into wholesale direct I have become an integral part of their business. And guess what – that didn’t happen with just a brochure.
Back to my Accounting client.
The second thing is it only matters that there's 385,000 other accountants of which 70% are Xero certified in Perth WA, if you are being seen, if you are showing yourself to, or presenting yourself to the same people as they are, at the same time as they are.
If you play that game it is somewhat like a Tinder profile.
That puts all the power on the other side. 50 guys all in a line. Where there's eight women looking, not a good scenario, unless of course you are Brad Pitt.
So it's not the situation you want to put yourself in, and that's why you need what I call a client generation system, a means of extracting a prospect out of the market so that they aren't paying any attention to the other 385,000 and are only paying attention to you.
In this fashion, it doesn't matter if there's 385 or 3,850, and it doesn't matter if they're all saying the same things. It doesn't even matter if you are saying the same things as long as you're the only one saying it to them at the particular moment.
So this is about, picking target markets, getting people in them to raise their hands, step forward and, step into your web.
Typically I like to do this by having them request information to solve a vexing problem or to exploit an opportunity, and then I will slam the door behind their back and I am the only one communicating with them, again and again and again over some period of time until they take action.
When you have that type of system in place, it greatly diminishes the importance of needing a differentiated message.
So in my feeder system that brings me a client, there's actually what I like to call nine points of entry or doors into it.
Prospects come into my world knowing about me or at the very least heard of me and how I do things.
Preferably it is via a referral or maybe it was through my newsletter, maybe through one of my books, maybe by hearing me at a seminar, or perhaps even by listening to this podcast.
Generally they have met me, encountered me, or at least read my stuff or heard my stuff or better yet heard from people who are my clients,
Thus!
I don't really need a big, differentiated message about me.
I really don’t need to spend too much energy in explaining my background, my education, my credentials, or why I'm better than any other marketer. The importance of all that diminishes enormously because by the time they are talking to me about marketing for them.
I'm the only one they are talking to and they are not even thinking about shopping me and my price around.
So there's two pieces to this puzzle. There's the message piece of what you say about yourself. How you position yourself in terms of beneficial outcomes, not tools in your toolkit.
And the second piece of this puzzle is how do you feed potential clients into a closed room where you are the only one talking to them in your category.
And when you combine those two things, you really have a lot of power in the marketplace.
Shock Jock Howard Stern has crafted out an award-winning career being a non-conformist.
He has attained massive cut through in arguably the most crowded media market in the world - none other than New York City.
This podcast delves into what is his number one weapon.
Being Howard…
A must listen.
There are two ways to build the tallest building in town.
The first way is to go out there and put a lot of sweat and effort and all of this stuff into something and build the tallest building in town.
The second way is to go around to everybody else’s buildings and knock them down, and that way you’re the tallest one.
If you haven’t encountered a hater yet, you will.
In fact, it’s a guarantee—even if you think you run the most noncontroversial business ever. More visibility and recognition just attracts the building crashers.
Most people do not want to go out and work their butts off to build the tallest building. They want to go and tear everybody else’s down because it makes them feel bigger. And every hater you encounter in your business journey will be this type of person.
Here’s the plot twist. It’s also important to make sure you are building and not just tearing other buildings down in an effort to grow.
Competition is great and necessary in a free market, but there is a difference between competition and animosity.
Do you deliver INCREDIBLE products, GREAT courses, AMAZING coaching?
Do you perform and try harder, even when people don’t demand it of you?
This is how competition works. Train harder and faster than everyone else so you can beat them fairly.
The people who choose the second method don’t actually create anything new or original. There is nothing you can point to and say, “Look at what they built!” Rather, everything they offer is to fix what others do poorly. Everything is designed to “undo” something else that was done badly or wrong. Haters will create entire businesses based on fear, suspicion, and “saving” others from the tall buildings already in existence.
Really talented haters will make it look like they are doing a great service to the world. They are saving us all. It’ll be a crusade masked as a good cause. They will tell you the buildings MUST be knocked down because they are all evil.
Don’t give your haters any attention.
Focus on your own building.
Way back when NASA started manned space flights, they discovered pens were useless without gravity to pull the ink down to the writing surfaces.
It took a consulting company and a truck load of engineers and scientists 10 years at $120-Million Dollars to develop “the zero-gravity pen”. Which could write upside down, in zero gravity, under water, and in temperatures ranging from below freezing to burning hot.
Ten years. $120 million.
When the Russians started their space program, they bumped up against the same problem, but they were a little cash-strapped, so they settled for a different solution.
A 5-cent pencil.
This is what goes on way, way, way too often, in peoples’ minds, in corporations, in government, and in marketing and sales strategy-making. We make things far too difficult.
I pity the people now all worked up, trying to manage the ever-expanding morass of media and social media.
Trying to tweet several times a day, post to Facebook, put new videos up at YouTube. Pinterest. Instagram. LinkedIn. Coping with hundreds of emails and text messages a day.
Soon they’re so busy attending to all this they forget that they’re supposed to be selling something, getting money for it, and putting money in the bank.
There’s been a lot of b.s. tossed around about online strategies that long, long, long delay selling anything while providing people with large quantities of free information and entertainment, bringing them to content rich sites with lots of choices and videos, and integrating Facebook and other social media.
My clients and I are doing fine with sites that are much like my 1986 Hillman Hunter.
We mail to lists, get people to go watch a video or power-point type sales letter, and sell them something with it.
Bing, bang, boom.
Whatsamatterwiththat?
There's one place where most problems in any business come from...
poor communication.
And often the problem is you.
This podcast aims to address the critical problem a lot of entrepreneurs suffer with.
Podcast Transcript
When you don't have a communication system, your team won't know what to expect or when they're going to hear from you.
As the entrepreneur in charge, you are likely to experience emotional overwhelm.
Since the whole team has to come to you, you're overwhelmed, and you're getting too many inquiries. You'll feel frustrated. You will feel like your team doesn't take the initiative and that everything is moving too slow. It will start to cause massive anxiety for you.
It’s important to know that having emotional overwhelm will affect everything in your life, not just your business.
Communication is by far the biggest issue in small businesses, the source of most arguments in relationships, and the root cause of most issues between human beings.
It might surprise you, but a lot of businesses lack a communication system.
As a result, you will start to wonder whether your team is contributing enough and why they aren't producing at the level you expect them You will constantly be wondering what you team is working on. It will start to make you a little crazy because if you don't have a communication system, you don't know what everyone is doing.
You will also begin to lose good team members.
They will get frustrated, feel overworked, and most likely quit. Projects start to fall behind because the communication was not there.
Then what happens?
We all know what entrepreneurs do. You have to pull a war room, an all-hands-on deck, let's save this type of move. Someone needs to be a hero, and everyone has to work like crazy. Everyone has to come in early and get stuff done.
Why?
Because there's no communication system telling people what's going on.
To solve communication issues in your business, you need to create a system to communicate efficiently and effectively with your team. When everyone knows what's going on, everyone's kept in the loop, and everyone knows what's happening in the business, problems, pressure, and noise go down.
When you have a communication system, mistakes and issues go down to a minimum. It's glorious. You stop having to hear about how everyone's frustrated.
You get more projects done, and you get projects done faster.
When there's a communication system, there's less hassle for you and your team. Everyone on the team is more efficient, and they get better at what they do.
When you overcome challenges in communication, your team understands you better. When your team knows when they're going to hear from you, how they're going to hear from you, and what they're going to hear from you, they feel like they're in momentum and they are no longer are waiting for word on high.
Your team is more productive, and they support each other.
They get into bigger and better momentum every day. If you want each person in your business to be in momentum, put in a communication system where they know their outcome, what they're accountable for, and the perspective you're using to see if they're successful.
Do this, and your entire business will explode.
We have all heard about the 80/20 principle, but how does it apply to making some fast money in business?
Ask an audience to stand up if they own a pair of shoes, stay standing if they own 2 pair, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 pairs... you will ultimately be left with one person (likely a lady 🤣) still standing. If you do the math and add the shoes owned in the room 80% of the shoes will be owned by 20% of the audience.
Same will apply with:
-
Watches owned
-
Domain names owned
-
Anything you can think of
Stop treating all customers the same, because 20% of THEM are very different.
Armed with the basics of 80/20, entrepreneurs can supercharge their profits.
No matter what you are marketing there is always a cohort that will go straight to the top and buy the VIP experience. The catch, is this more expensive offering must feel more valuable! An $800 product must feel worth it. Nobody will pay $800 for a $3.50 cup of coffee, but some will pay $1800 for that same barista machine for home.
If you do not offer your clients a super-deluxe experience, I will guarantee you that another entrepreneur will.
Great marketers are the alchemists who craft endlessly irresistible offers, such that people spend disproportionate amounts of money.
“Sports fanatics’ insatiable itch”
Season tickets, VIP boxes private memberships they all sell, to somebody!
You can get a single ticket to the football for $60, season tickets for up to $2000. But, the most luxurious VIP boxes require multi-year commitments of hundreds of thousands of dollars. How do sports get 50% of their revenue from 1 percent of customers? They scratch the “sports fanatics insatiable itch”!
In other words...
“How much money will a raving football fanatic, who has money, spend on football?
Virtually an unlimited amount!
Almost everybody has one passion, interest, obsession where they will gleefully spend irrational amounts of money.
Somehow, they will find a way to justify it.
Whenever there are rabid, obsessive customers, there is a great business. For some, its rock concerts for others its rare books and for my wife it is shoes. A member of the 20% 🤷♂️.
Most people have the wrong idea about the very purpose of business.
Unions would have you believe that the purpose of business is to employ people. The government thinks the purpose of business is to pay taxes. Communities think the purpose of business is to provide jobs, and sadly a lot of businesspeople think the purpose of business is to provide them with a job!
So, most businesspeople behave with an employee mentality. They don't even have an owner mentality, let alone an entrepreneur mentality.
Smart entrepreneurs understand that their business is a tool, a device, a means of creating money that you then take for yourself spin off and invest elsewhere. It's a different paradigm and very few people make that paradigm shift.
Business is used to Make money
Once one makes it one should Manage it
To Use it… but the most important aspect that most business owners miss is…
To Liberate it.
The ordinary businessperson typically leaves their wealth in their business, and it gets trapped in there. Often the mindset is in 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 45 years from now, I'm going to sell the thing. And that's when I'm going to get all my money out.
The problem is, first of all, it's very hard to predict what's going to happen in 30- or 40-years’ time (think Block Buster Video Store). And so, what you think you may be able to sell for $x, you may or may not be able to realize.
Beyond that, it simply means that you've left the money idle for all of that period of time before you get at it and start using it better.
So, one of the key responsibilities that everybody misses is extracting cash. Most people think of business as a thing to put money into. A smart entrepreneur’s belief is that business is a thing to get money out of.
It comes all the way back to a very basic personal finance principle, pay yourself first. Whilst most business owners pay themselves last.
You pay everybody else; you pay all the bills. If there's anything left, you take some. Quite often there's nothing left.
Most entrepreneurs think like this.
And it's exactly wrong. It's the polar opposite of how business should be run.
You get paid first, and if you can't get paid, then the whole deal is bad, and get out of it as quickly as you possibly can.
Your job is to extract wealth from your business on a day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year basis, and accumulate your wealth outside of your business.
Your ability to create wealth from a business actually depends on how many times you can turn the same invested dollar over. If you're not good at that, you can't liberate money out of the business because you have to leave a whole lot of dollars in the business because they're not turning, well then your business is sick and some solid medicine is required.
Change your mindset – think cash liberation and you will find that your decisions, your actions, and your results will start to get you on the right path.
Grace Jones once sang - “I am not perfect, but I am perfect for you”.
This is the song I am about to send to a person who sent me an email of complaint this week.
The email said, "Peter, your continuous autoresponders are driving us mad. An occasional one is wonderful! A deluge, No, thanks. Signed off."
It is essential to recognise what our clients or potential clients think, feel, fear, aspire to, their shortfalls, and strengths are. I urge people in marketing to be mindful of their client's avatars every time they communicate with them.
Here are my thoughts about this. Learn more about the reason for my podcast, why I email you when it is ready and what you can take out of it.
Advice to entrepreneurs, always pay yourself in terms of time, and you will learn how much time is really worth.
Here is a story.
At a break in a workshop a bunch of people were going to eat at a restaurant a few kms away. Everyone whipped out their phones for Uber. It’s better, faster, and cheaper than Taxis, right?
Well, not so fast, Jose'.
In this case, it was the opposite.
15 minutes or so for Uber, yet there were 3 Taxis right out front the hotel.
“I always use Uber,” one of them said.
Sigh.
Look, I have nothing against Uber.
That’s not the point here.
Lack of awareness of time.
The point is, here was this small bunch of entrepreneurs who thought saving 80 cents or whatever was more valuable than their time. Yes, I know it was just 15 minutes. But it’s not the amount of time that’s the problem here, it’s the corrosive effect not valuing time has on people.
This mindset carries over into business, too.
I see it all the time.
Like people who spend weeks stuffing around with WordPress instead of hiring it out to a trained pro to “save money.” Or the monkey who spends hours each month trying to do their own taxes and bookkeeping instead of having someone who’s versed in the ways of audit/asset protection do the deed to, you know, “save money.” Or the newbie who changes his own oil, mows his own lawn, and cleans their own office (instead of outsourcing these tasks to experts at these things) to, you know, “save money.”
And so on, and so forth.
All that time is gone.
Poof.
You’ll never see it again.
Unlike spent money, you cannot “make” back spent time.
You can only spend it.
And, when it’s gone, it’s not returning.
I know this falls on mostly deaf ears. But, it’s the one or two people who take it to heart I care about.
The rest of you?
Well, go ahead. Keep stepping over dollars to pick up cents.
Those of us who value time will see you from the top…
One of the most anticipated aspects of the AFL Grand Final, The NRL Grand Final and The Superbowl is the halftime entertainment or as the Americans call it “The Halftime Show”.
As evidence one needs simply to look at this year’s line-ups. The Superbowl had a hip hop extravaganza featuring Mary J Blige, Eminem, Dr Dre and Snoop Dog to name but a few. The AFL featured Robbie Williams accompanied by Delta Goodrem and the NRL selected Australian veteran rocker Jimmy Barnes and a host of his friends.
But, it hasn’t always been like this.
This podcast outlines how this odd business decision has paid off.
Let us be honest, by and large it is a crowded market.
The likelihood that your product or service is so unique that you do not have any competition is as rare as a Fremantle Dockers premiership :)!!
We need another Real Estate Agent (not), nor do we need another Coffee Shop, yet, new market entrants are constantly making an impact.
How can you make an impact with your product or service and this podcast will discuss how!
When you position yourself in the market as infallible, you’ll stop taking risks in order to avoid looking bad, and this will be the beginning of your end.
Staying relevant is so important. You must be at the front of people’s minds every day and all of the time.
The best way to do that is to always be trying something new or cool, and creating an atmosphere where people want to know what you’re up to and how it’s going.
I remember working alongside an overseas marketing guru once. He was so afraid to do anything risky that would upset his position in the market that had any blemish to it whatsoever.
He had such a high opinion of himself that he had positioned himself in such a way that it made it VERY difficult to make a mistake.
Think about your positioning in your marketplace. As you position yourself as an authority or expert, how are you going to set parameters for yourself? Obviously, this depends upon your profession – if you are a dentist or a beauty therapist you probably want to be technically excellent but if you are in more forgiving professions you can perhaps be a bit more fallible.
For me for example, I am in the imperfect area of marketing, I’ve picked a positioning standpoint that allows me to try things risk things and at times fail but learning from each of these without I believe lowering my status.
I am being me – open and honest and in doing so created a character that simply tries to share all the risks and the flops but emphasising what I have learned from them.
I remember vividly seeing this in action when I was working for a family property developing company that was being viewed as a take over target by a major National player. Whilst all of us lieutenants in the transaction were outing on our best performance and appearing really certain as to what we did – our founder, our boss – the owner was being himself warts and all and in doing so – not only did he land the deal but he came over so sincere, so worldly, so experienced, so capable with dealing with all sorts of things that the National company not only bought his family business but quickly moved to have our guy lead the whole company.
This is how this podcast began.
It is an unedited, raw look at the inner workings of Peter Gianoli —a human who loves to try new things and learn along the way. There’s no sugar coating.
In some episodes, it’s clear I or my clients are having a win and I want to share with you why this has happened – what is working whilst at other times I will share with you what I am grappling with. No matter what, I want to share the real truth because this is consistent with my positioning.
This allows me to take big risks, stay relevant, and keep my status intact.
So, if you can from a profession point of view - don’t enter the marketplace as the infallible guru. It’s the fastest way to fall to the bottom and become irrelevant.
Pick a position that allows you to fail and get back up again.
Is your offer really finished?
Is the funnel complete?
Is there something more you can add?
Ask these three questions all the time, even when you have an amazing funnel.
At any point in the sales process, you can do more if you just ask yourself the question “what else can we do?”
If people click on your landing page but do not give you an email address, retarget them with ads.
If they give you their email address but do not buy, contact them with an email or text or messenger sequence.
If they buy your low-cost product, how can you add more to it with an order bump?
Are there additional upsells you can add after they’ve made that first purchase?
If they don’t take the big upsell, can you down sell something instead?
What touchpoints can you create when the buying process is over to give them an opportunity to purchase higher-end products?
Even if you’re making a lot of money—in fact, Especially when you’re making a lot of money—look for where you can add more.
I guarantee there is always more you can do.
In this podcast, I'm gonna talk about human emotions and what drives us to make decisions.
We individuals are very simple folk. We do things really mainly for two distinct motivations. Either to move away from the pain, or to move towards pleasure. Now, we have to keep that firmly in our minds when we put together our sales and marketing initiatives.
So, what I ask my clients to do when I take on a contract is to spend a lot of time getting to understand what are the pain points that people are moving away from, that this particular product is offering, and what are the pleasure points that this particular service, or product can deliver. The better I get to know each and everyone of those- that I can tell you categorically, the better the sales and marketing efforts will be.
So I go through an exercise.
So when I start with the pain points.
Moving away from pain.
I dig deep to find out what’s going on inside my dream customer or the clients’ heads when they’re trying to move away from pain. Now, I force myself to write down a dozen phrases that the dream customer is saying or thinking as they try to move away from their pain. Now, if you’re struggling to fill this out, write down what you used to say to yourself when you were in similar circumstance and then attempt to elaborate what the dream customer would be thinking. Now, if you're looking for places for ideas, then I suggest you research for forums, message boards, get on to facebook groups, and you will see a lot of these pain points and a lot of discussions people are getting into, in those particular places.
Now the same goes for moving towards pleasure.
Now what I do, what I like to do is I try to deduce what’s going on inside the dream customers’ heads when they’re trying to move towards the pleasure. And this too - I write down at least a dozen phrases that dream customers are saying or thinking as they try to move towards the pleasure. And here too, you can pick up those examples from forums, message boards, facebook groups and the like.
And you know another place you can do it is by going to your competitor’s ads, your competitor’s websites - and looking at some of the language that they use because those guys have probably also done these exercises or aspects of this exercise themselves. And by compiling from these industry’s files, you’ll get a really good look into what’s going on in your dream customer’s mind. As they either move away from pain or move towards pleasure.
Now, this may seem like a superfluous exercise but trust me, it isn’t.
The more zeroed in, the more fixated you become on this, the more you listen. The more voyeuristic you can be then the better, I guarantee - your marketing and your sales effort will end up accordingly.
So go ahead, do this exercise. You don't have to do this in one sitting. You can keep a notebook and collectively add to them every time you’d come across a conversation that you experience with your dream customer about their pain or their pleasure they’re heading toward. And the better you put them together, the better they cut through in the foremost of time.
In this podcast, I'm gonna talk about human emotions and what drives us to make decisions.
We individuals are very simple folk. We do things really mainly for two distinct motivations. Either to move away from the pain, or to move towards pleasure. Now, we have to keep that firmly in our minds when we put together our sales and marketing initiatives.
So, what I ask my clients to do when I take on a contract is to spend a lot of time getting to understand what are the pain points that people are moving away from, that this particular product is offering, and what are the pleasure points that this particular service, or product can deliver. The better I get to know each and everyone of those- that I can tell you categorically, the better the sales and marketing efforts will be.
So I go through an exercise.
So when I start with the pain points.
Moving away from pain.
I dig deep to find out what’s going on inside my dream customer or the clients’ heads when they’re trying to move away from pain. Now, I force myself to write down a dozen phrases that the dream customer is saying or thinking as they try to move away from their pain. Now, if you’re struggling to fill this out, write down what you used to say to yourself when you were in similar circumstance and then attempt to elaborate what the dream customer would be thinking. Now, if you're looking for places for ideas, then I suggest you research for forums, message boards, get on to facebook groups, and you will see a lot of these pain points and a lot of discussions people are getting into, in those particular places.
Now the same goes for moving towards pleasure.
Now what I do, what I like to do is I try to deduce what’s going on inside the dream customers’ heads when they’re trying to move towards the pleasure. And this too - I write down at least a dozen phrases that dream customers are saying or thinking as they try to move towards the pleasure. And here too, you can pick up those examples from forums, message boards, facebook groups and the like.
And you know another place you can do it is by going to your competitor’s ads, your competitor’s websites - and looking at some of the language that they use because those guys have probably also done these exercises or aspects of this exercise themselves. And by compiling from these industry’s files, you’ll get a really good look into what’s going on in your dream customer’s mind. As they either move away from pain or move towards pleasure.
Now, this may seem like a superfluous exercise but trust me, it isn’t.
The more zeroed in, the more fixated you become on this, the more you listen. The more voyeuristic you can be then the better, I guarantee - your marketing and your sales effort will end up accordingly.
So go ahead, do this exercise. You don't have to do this in one sitting. You can keep a notebook and collectively add to them every time you’d come across a conversation that you experience with your dream customer about their pain or their pleasure they’re heading toward. And the better you put them together, the better they cut through in the foremost of time.
Protect Your Shelf Space
What is that new business idea or shiny object costing you in terms of focus?
Stores like Coles and Woolworths only have a certain number of shelves. Every single item placed on their shelves is sharply judged based on performance.
If a product doesn’t do well, it’s removed from the shelf to make room for a better option. They are protective of their shelf space.
But in consulting or the service industry, it’s harder to see this principle in action. Our products are intangible or digital. Our shelf space is between our ears, in our minds.
There came a point in my company when I realised how having my hands in all these business ventures was limiting my ability to grow my business. I had to protect my shelf space and let go of a lot of projects to keep it clear for what I wanted to grow.
The hard part for us entrepreneurs is we have so many good ideas, it’s hard to see them as unworthy. They aren’t bad at all! But in a sea of ideas, the merely good ideas become true enemies of the great.
We have to be ruthless with our mental shelf space and remember that whatever we focus on, that’s what will grow.
Take inventory in your store, and clear away anything that isn’t a top performer.
This formula is like the ultimate governor, here's why...
This simple formula - Responsibility equals control and control equals responsibility - is so true but only to the degree that you are prepared to accept responsibility for any situation.
So, by accepting responsibility means you can exert control over the situations you find yourself in.
I first heard this formula from Mr Dan Kennedy the legendary Us copywriter who I had the pleasure of working with many moons ago on a USA based National Speakers Association tour and he used this example, to illustrate the point.
When he was a pro speaker on the tour – there was another speaker on the program (for the record this wasn’t me – but at times it could have been :)) who was not doing as well with sales at the back of the room as he should have been doing. And when Dan had a conversation with him, he had a litany of reasons, for why he wasn't doing so well.
“The environment's not good”, as they were in a great big sports arena and the audience was sitting on benches and,
“The sound is bad”.
“His time slot is bad.”
“The sales staff were doing a terrible job and they are erratic,” and so on.
In Dan Kennedys example Dan went on to explain that whilst the list was somewhat right it didn't take Dan himself who was also on the tour that long to figure out all of the same things.
By the time Dan had done his third presentation, he could see it was a terrible environment. And, the staff did suck. And especially for Dan because by the end of the day, they were exhausted, and they just wanted out of there and they couldn’t care less if anybody purchased anything.
So, Dan had the same list, but the key difference was Dan began to exert control over element after element, after element on the list.
For example, with the sales staff at the back of the room, Dan was the only speaker who paid them bonuses. Dan would arrive at the venue two hours before he spoke and went around to the manager first of all, and put him on a bonus plan based on how much was sold, this was discussed and based on the size of the audience. And then he went around with the manager to every one of the product sales areas, and set them up on their own little bonus plan.
“So if we sell this much, everybody gets $5 bills. If we sell this much, everybody gets $10 bills. If we sell this much, everybody gets $20 bills. And when all the dust settles before you all leave, I'll be back around, passing out the cash. Now, do you want to hear what you can do to sell more? Fine. Here's the script. Here's what you say when they come out, etc etc”…
And so Dan did something like this for every item One by one down the list, because he understood that ultimately he is responsible for trying to control the environment in which he worked.
Now I have found the same in my circles - just like if you ask a Real Estate sales person how is business, and they answer with how tough the banks are being with lending policies and nobody can get loans – so it is too difficult to sell.
Or if you ask an entertainer how are your bookings going in this strange COVID world and most of them will say – oh its terrible but what would you expect in this market nobody is having events.
I must admit though – just the other day I got back this answer which was “look I have had a few enquiries, but I priced myself too high and I didn’t get the gigs”.
As I am sure you can sense the answers of blaming banks or COVID or the market are not overly useful because you have no opportunity to exercise any control over them. But the answer like “I have had a few enquiries, but I priced myself too high and I didn’t get the gigs” means you at least have an opportunity now to go try and figure out what the hell it is that we can do differently that will affect the result.
This is a real thought pattern. And you pick it up, you can see who has it or not - by their language. And when you say to somebody, “how did your database mail campaign go?
“You know, it didn't do very well” verses “well, we screwed it up”.
The person who says we screwed it up, guess what? They are the true entrepreneurs, the successful entrepreneurs - the winner.
How are things going?
“Oh, business this month. Isn't very good, Now that is a loser talking because they are not taking any responsibility for it. Therefore they have no control over it. So they can't do anything about it. The people that say, well, we haven't done much business this month. Now they’re in the, fix it, improve it, figure it out mode. And so this formula R=C & C=R is and can be so powerful.
People just don’t quite understand how important this is because this really does make a difference. Whether people take responsibility or not depends if they are going to be in control of something and make a difference or just let things happen to them – the choice does exist.
And one of the things that I have observed amongst successful people – is how often they are willing to accept the fact and make the statement that I screwed this up. As opposed to so many other people who go the victim route, you know, this happened and that happened.
Remember there's no power in that. No power in the excuse mode, in the long lists, all the excuses, the blame others…
The only power is in a hundred percent responsibility. So again, burn this into your psyche – your daily life – R=C & C=R
Responsibility equals control and control equals responsibility.
Trust me life and business will just keep getting better.
Imagine having 171.9 million subscribers on YouTube with a total views of 22 billion. What sort of influence do you think you could have?
Enter Mr Beast the 23-year-old American Youtuber Jimmy Donaldson, an icon of total dedication to his art. Even though he has been credited with pioneering a genre of YouTube videos that centre on expensive stunts, this is an age old technique and needs to be taken seriously in business marketing.
Ladies and Gentlemen - Harry Houdini and Dramatic Demonstration
Harry Houdini was all about dramatic demonstration. Houdini made his chops going to small town police stations where he could control the environment and the local media were thrilled to have something to cover. He would get the police to hand and ankle cuff him, tie him up and lock him in the cell. Naturally, he always managed to escape!
He then graduated to big city police departments and once he crossed that line, he became a worldwide celebrity. He thought about it formulaically. He figured out a place, an environment he could work in, be productive in, control, and then leverage up. And he did it all with dramatic demonstration. Same also, Jack Lalanne (swimming), David Copperfield (magic), Anthony Robbins (fire walk) and now Mr Beast with epic videos.
Dramatic demonstration is not just for celebrities
If your business has a component where you come face to face with a prospect, even online, structure in a dramatic demonstration and almost no selling will be required.
Over the years, carpet cleaners have done it sucking up a bowl of sand, car dealers do it by letting you test drive and smell the newness and during a sales webinar there will be evidence of people buying in droves.
So, the question is, do you have some great demonstrations? Is there a dramatic demonstration aspect to what you do? Since it's an ingredient that eventuates in a higher status, it suggests to us we need it.
I have helped countless entrepreneurs transform their businesses into empires and make millions of dollars faster than they ever thought possible.
My recent work with entrepreneurs and marketers has been more impactful than anything I've ever done. I've been guiding, pushing, prodding and nagging them to reinvent themselves to specifically focus on marketing to the wealthy and the top-end-of-town.
To get very, very rich, you need to see where the most money is and then take your business there to get it.
Transforming your business to market to, appeal to, and attract the affluent, will transform your income, security, and business life.
The vast majority of marketers waste valuable resources trying to get money from people who have little of it to part with. They think that customers for whom price is irrelevant are as rare as unicorns. They never set out deliberately to attract and do business with them.
In truth, there is a giant, growing availability of such customers.
The explosive growth of the "well heeled" makes this specialised focus irresistible.
We are in the midst of a demographic revolution, with the baby boomer population peaking, their inheritances exploding, and the affluent population growing richer per capita, all converging to produce a new "spending class."
Opportunities to trade up, to upgrade your clientele, to rearrange your business, your products, services, and prices, to attract the big spending consumers have never been better.
Get to understand them.
Appreciate how abundant and plentiful and obtainable they are (possibly contrary to your own limited perception) and learn to target and attract them.
If you want to succeed in marketing you have to constantly keep your eyes and ears open and never stop learning.
In this episode I outline a recent lesson I learnt thanks to an outreach email I had received.
Here Is the Email
Hi Peter,
I know you're busy so I'll cut right to it.
I'm reaching out to high-quality sites that feature great ways to get better leads.
I came across your post: https://petergianoli.com/get-better-leads/ and was particularly interested in the free stock photo sites that you mentioned!
I'd like to pitch my website for inclusion in the post - Pikwizard
We have over 100,000 free images and videos on the site, with 20,000 of those exclusive to us. We are also adding new images and videos to our library daily and our ultimate goal is to get to more than 1 million images and videos.
We've got A LOT of pictures of people, which tend to be rare on free stock photo sites. If you check out our site and search for "office" or "meeting", you will see the quality of images on the website. All of which are free to use without attribution.
You can also take each image and edit it on our graphic design tool, Design Wizard!
I realize it's a pain for you to make changes, so I'd like to attempt to return the favour whatever way I can (Write the blurb? Share on social?)
If interested, you can check out the site here: www.pikwizard.com
Thanks very much,
David,
Outreach Manager
For people like me in marketing it is a very unwelcome fact: the higher up the financial food chain you go in search of clientele, the less likely you are to obtain a customer, client, or patient through advertising, direct mail, or other proactive outreach.
Oprah Winfrey does not look on Google for a chiropractor, nor will she be motivated by a late night TV ad. If she has back pain, she'll reach out to her network for a recommendation.
To woo affluent clients the best weaponry is by repeatedly offering "bragging rights experiences” to your customer and client base. The hospitality industry has been doing this for years.
Golf resorts have been dispatching massage therapists to deliver a quick rub to sore shoulders or achy backs between greens. Hilton's super upscale Conrad Hotel introduced the now popular "pillow menu" and individual concierges. Whilst St. Regis, introduced your personal butler.
You probably don't operate a hotel or a resort, but you can learn a lot from the most upscale of them. The best have committed clientele, unwilling to stay elsewhere unless absolutely unavoidable, and urging their peers and friends to follow their lead.
Most businesses settle for whatever word-of-mouth advertising or specific referrals they get by accident, but in marketing to the wealthy, it is more vital to get them and each referral is so valuable, that a strategic investment of time and money is warranted.
There are three main strategies:
- creating experiences customers are motivated, preferably compelled, to tell others about - that is, being the basis for storytelling
- recognizing and rewarding those who refer
- tracking, measuring, and managing referrals
Steps 2 and 3 aren’t very useful without step 1, which is pretty obvious. But by taking the time to understand the psychological and emotional drivers of your wealthy customers’ buying behaviour and enthusiasm for what they buy and whom they buy from to crafting the most appropriate sales language and choreographing your sales process – all combine the Total Experience as felt by the customer.
That total experience determines a customer’s willingness to refer when asked as well as the likelihood of them spontaneously recommending you to others of their own initiative.
An important thing to understand is that satisfaction is not sufficient.
For example, there are many businesses I buy things from and do business with which I am sufficiently satisfied to continue as a customer. my dry cleaners, the local car wash, and my Accountant. But I have zero motivation to tell others about these businesses, let alone passionately urge others to use them.
On the other hand, I have actively referred people to my dentist; my graphic designer Troy, my favourite restaurant, Brika.
Why do I champion these businesses but not the others?
Because they do more than satisfy. They meet a higher standard. The secret to referral stimulus is the difference between satisfaction and enthusiasm, produced either by merely expectations or by exceeding them.
Getting recommendations and referrals from your clients is about turning them into storytellers about their experiences with you. Nobody gathers a crowd around at a cocktail party to tell them, "My dry cleaner gets my clothes clean, folds them, and puts them on hangers." It's just not much of a story.
Here's why this is particularly important in working with affluent clientele: Surveys show that the affluent are 30% less likely than the general public to return or exchange unsatisfactory merchandise, seek out management to lodge complaints, or make their disappointments known. Their time is too valuable to spend on such activities. They simply go elsewhere. If the experience you are delivering is unsatisfactory or merely ordinary, you can't rely on your wealthy customers to do your work for you and alert you to your mediocrity. You have to determine it, based on poor referral statistics or other statistical measurements and observation. Affluent consumers are, however, more demanding, even though they may keep their disappointments to themselves and go searching elsewhere for better experiences.
Peer Recommendations Rule
Abundant survey and statistical data supports the premise that, the more affluent the consumer, the more likely they are to rely, in whole or part, on word-of-mouth information and recommendations from peers in selecting stores, restaurants, products, services, and professional providers. If their interest is captured by advertising or direct solicitation, the wealthy consumer is at least four times (400%) more likely to ask their network about the company than is a consumer of average means.
With the affluent, word of mouth is far more critical. And far more valuable. And must be earned through complex creation and delivery of exceptional experiences that serve as basis for positive, interesting storytelling.
If you have all of this in place, you will get referrals. When you do, Strategy 2 (recognition and reward) should occur.
I cannot tell you the number of times I've heard the same unhappy story – “I sent my friend/ client/ neighbour to x and never got so much as a thank-you note." Each person telling me that story is expressing deep resentment of not being shown deserved respect and appreciation, and reinforcing their determination never to recommend that business to anyone else. I don't think most businesspeople understand just how much it irritates people who deserve appreciation but not get it.
This is multiplied with the affluent, who feel privileged to begin with and take the absence of appropriate response as a slap in the face. When they do you a favour, such as referring a customer, they are waiting for an appropriate acknowledgment.
The good news is that recognition and rewards motivate more of the same behaviour. I guess we can all be Pavlov's dogs.
The best way to turn a first-time or occasional referrer into a frequent one is: recognition. And, the more affluent the customer, the more personal the recognition should be. They do not need a gift card that you buy a dozen at a time to reward referring customers. A personal, preferably handwritten thank-you note will do.
But, ideally, its best to find and obtain something of specific relevance to the individual or their business, family, pets, or personal interests. And you are developing even more “bragging rights experiences”.
Finally, Strategy 3 is holding yourself, your staff, and even your clients accountable for referral activity. This means measuring effectiveness every way you can, beginning with overall stats.
I often ask a professional service provider like a dentist or chiropractor to tell me how many referrals they’ve received per active patient this year to date vs. last year … and guess what – most of them have no idea.
You can't manage what you don't measure. Depending on the nature of your business, you may be able to measure one staff person's efficacy at securing referrals against another’s. You can certainly track referral numbers, frequency, and consistency for each customer, client, or patient. The courageous marketer will single out the clients referring below par and engage them in frank discussion about it.
The point is that referral productivity is something to be proactively managed, not passively accepted, whatever it is.
A cloth bag is not worth $4,000 without a Gucci logo, or some other designer's logo.
You may feel that it is not worth $4,000.00 with the logo either. But that reveals you remain hung up on what a product is, instead of what it symbolises and represents, what status it confers on its owner, what emotional reactions it evokes, how it feels to purchase and own it, how others important to its owner feel about it.
Few things are intrinsically worth their price.
Diamonds are, in essence, polished dirt.
We have all accepted that a diamond engagement ring should be priced at least equal to two months' salary.
Finding rocks is easy. Selling rocks, tough. In the last 50 years, only two markets have opened up for stones. You wear them on your fingers when in love; you put them over the head of a loved one after death.
Both excellent examples that evoke reactions and eliminate price resistance.
What De Beers did for diamonds, anyone can do for anything.
There are wines that sell for hundreds of dollars per bottle.
But there is BrewDog beer that sells for $765 US per bottle. How can beer be worth such a price?
You may answer: It can't. Or answer: Why not?
To make a giant income marketing to the affluent, you must erase your own deeply ingrained insistence at connecting price to worth and worth to function.
Marketing to values is more powerful than the marketing of products.
As a marketer, it's a choice between selling things, or selling aspirations.
Selling things often requires brute force, typically against resistance. Whilst selling aspirations and emotional fulfillments takes finesse, typically with little resistance.
Which is the more pleasurable and profitable?
An accomplished jazz musician has 3 key rules:
- Find your own voice
- Never play the same way twice
- Know the basics inside and out
Sound advice I know. In fact these three rules even make more sense in business and marketing.
This podcast outlines the concept of Improvisation in detail.
Self-employment is one of the most reliable paths to first-generation wealth.
Research shows self-employed make up slightly more than 20% of the Australian population, yet account for about 70% of the wealth.
The personality of these affluent business owners and entrepreneurs is sharply drawn, so they can be marketed a wide variety of goods and services.
Won't Take No for an Answer
First and foremost, they view themselves as fiercely independent.
They exit, stage left, upon hearing "rules language" in marketing. The fastest way to repel this cohort is to tell them "no, you/we can't do that," and when asked why not, say, "policy."
There is a lot of value in being able to say yes to the wealthy.
If They Admire You, They'll Reward You with Their Business
The self-made wealthy are great admirers of the qualities that got them where they are.
Every one of them is doing business with somebody who reminds them of themselves when they were starting out. They reward ingenuity, drive, persistence, and sales acumen. They have a reverence for these virtues.
On the flip side, they detest sloth, weakness and wimpiness.
Generally Searching for Value as They Define It!
They know the value of money, and tend to pride themselves on being smart, getting good deals and bargains, negotiating successfully, even being seen as frugal.
While they all have one or two things they will spend wildly on, most abhor waste and have an emotional need to buy smart.
Most affluent entrepreneurs harbor a nagging fear of losing it all or having it all taken away from them and finishing up broke.
It's important to know that the price these people will pay for something has to do with how right and justified they feel about it. Not about intrinsic value or their ability to pay.
Most of us can't understand why seemingly good businesses go under.
They employ smart, dedicated people and they have a strong track record in the industry. So, what goes wrong?
Industry norms are often to blame.
Industry norms are often based on a faulty premise, not facts.
It is easier to accept unproven strategies because they seem to make sense.
When you first get into a business it is normal to model it on what others are doing. Like transferring to a new high school. You spend your first few weeks looking around to see how things are done. What do the cool kids do? How do I conform in order to be accepted?
It is no different in business
The majority is always wrong.
In business, conforming to industry norm’s guarantees – average results.
Industry norms by their very nature are based on the average, the median, what everybody else is doing. But that doesn't mean they are right or that those results are good enough for what you can achieve with your business.
Sometimes it is better to start a new business category, where norms don't exist.
Make your own mark and stamp out your territory in business.
Once looked upon as a maverick, you start to develop a position of leadership with money and success mounting. You become an overnight sensation or just plain lucky- no one really knows how it happened but keep amplifying your uniqueness and the customers will flock to you because they appreciate differences from what's common today.
Entrepreneurs who make a lot of money defy norms whilst those who are content with average money conform to them.
The choice is yours.
Are you an awesome entrepreneur, consultant, accountant, or career coach?
Whatever your business, how do you expect people to find out about you and your talent? Promoting your work opens up unlimited opportunities because your valuable product or service sees the light of day.
Being modest, introverted or humble and not self-promoting, is holding you back.
Your less competent competitor is about to get the business.
True, we are all afraid of sales. The perception. The idea of being pushy.
Many people equate sales with making people buy things they don’t want, don’t need, and can’t afford. Daniel Pink, in his bestseller, "To Sell Is Human" states that 1 in 9 roles has a formal sales title. But 9 out of 9 roles involve selling to other people.
Teachers sell to kids. Doctors sell to patients. Authors sell to readers. If your work involves other humans, you are selling.
Finding ways to help others.
Want clients? Start talking to your network.
Find out how they are doing, how business is going, back and forth with ideas without any expectation of anything materialising. None of this costs anything but time.
But it is not a cost, it's an investment that can pay your business in spades, short term and long.
Some home truths
Truth #1: If you operate on the assumption that people will benefit from using your products and services, then sales is entirely about helping others.
Truth #2: How you sell is with the value you create for the customer.
Truth #3: Everyone is selling in some capacity — even if they don’t think they are — so we might as well get good at it.
Don’t run from sales. Embrace sales as the engine powering all business.
The path to entrepreneurship is not easy; it takes a lot of work and determination.
But if you really want something, nothing can stop your drive for success!
People come in all shapes and sizes when they're ready put their ideas into action--and that's what makes this industry so exciting because there’s always room at the table (literally). You may have found yourself asking "what am I passionate about?" or wondering why everyone else doesn't seem as fascinated with business as you are.
I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.
It is so hard.
You pour so much of your life into this thing. And there are such rough moments in time that most people give up.
I don't blame them.
It's really tough. It consumes your life. I mean, if you've got a family and you're in the early days of a company, I can't imagine how one could do it.
I'm sure it's been done, but it's rough.
It's pretty much an 18 hour per day job, seven days a week, certainly for a while.
So, unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive.
You're going to give it up.
Therefore, to succeed in business, you have to have an idea or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you're passionate about. Otherwise, you're not going to have the perseverance to stick it through.
That's half the battle right there.
In this episode of Marketing 24-7 Podcast, we will talk about novels and movies.
And, how this relates to Unique Selling Propositions.
More particularly, how you can make your business so unique that it will attract people in your market niche to come to you, rather than you have to constantly chase them?
More often you might ask, what can I do to improve the pass on value of my business?
Increasing your business’ word of mouth value is to make it so interesting so cut through so different that people will feel the need to pass it on to their friends and peers. That's the essence of a great USP.
In this podcast, I will share with you a technique on how to do so. I put a lot of work into this for my business and also my client’s businesses. I will unveil something that will give you results in direct proportion to the amount of energy that you put in and create something unique and individual.
The worst number in business is one!
The best number in business is many. It starts with two, but as quickly as possible you should grow the number to many.
This podcast episode outlines why and how many is your friend.
Have you ever asked yourself how much your marketing content is worth?
The eBooks you create. The infographics you design. The webinars you host. How much are they worth?
How do you value your marketing content?
You need to know, because contrary to your beliefs, they have value and your ability to apply the appropriate value matters.
The value of your marketing content isn’t measured in terms of money, but rather by how much information your prospects are willing to give up.
Value, marketing content based on its usefulness, currency and unique information it is offering.
The information you request for a download is the price.
Understanding how to price your content is the key to maximising your content strategy.
To simplify this a bit more, if your submission forms are asking for lots of information*, names, phone numbers, company size, title, roles, etc. then that’s a high price for the content. It may be worth it but know that it is expensive.
On the flip side, if you’re only asking for an email, that’s cheap.
YOUR CONTENT IS NOT FREE – let’s be clear,
If you’re asking for any information as a condition of access to your content, your content is not free. The price is the information. The only time content is free, is when prospects can click a button and get it without inputting any information.
Now that we understand our content is not free.
- Rule #1; Don’t price your content too high.
Like the pricing of anything, value is key. Make sure that you know what you’re asking for is worth what you’re offering. If you’re offering an infographic on general trends in the industry, asking for a lot of identifying personal and corporate information, may be too expensive and impede the volume of downloads
Too often companies overcharge for their content, requesting lots of information for content that’s not worth it.
- Rule #2; Don’t Price too low
Like over charging for content, you can under-charge for content.
Undercharging for content happens when you don’t ask for enough information for something that is highly valuable. Maybe you’ve completed a robust assessment of the state of a market that can help your prospects plan for their upcoming year. Only asking for an email is pricing it too low.
You don’t want to give away such a valuable piece of content.
Pricing killer content too low can overwhelm your Sales Development Rep’s, marketing and more with unqualified, unidentified submissions that have little to no lead or opportunity value.
The key is to price right.
Understanding the value of your marketing content and pricing accordingly is key. It’s not enough to just create content and just put it out there for everyone at a one price fits all strategy.
Consider offering content with varying price points.
Create some free content, referring to more expensive content tucked inside. Create inexpensive content that requires little more than an email address. Create higher value content that requires identifying information like size of an organisation, role, budget, etc.
Finally, create expensive content.
Expensive content is rich in data, insight, and value. Charge a lot for this content, require insights, identifying information, and even agreements to meet or a scheduled appointment.
When we evaluate content through the lens of value and price, it changes the game.
It requires price to be included into the conversation.
If we’re not getting the downloads or form submissions we want, is it the content or the price?
We can no longer simply assume it was bad content, thus poor submissions or valuable content because of tons of form submissions. Price plays a role in conversions and getting the price right matters.
The Strategy:
- Create content for all prices points, (free, cheap, moderate, expensive)
- Be sure the value of the content is consistent with the price
- Don’t overcharge or undercharge
- Use varying priced content to drive interest to more expensive content
- Continually evaluate your content to make sure the price is still fair
Old, out of date content may need to go on sale and only require an email.
Some of the meanest people I know are the wealthiest I know.
Strange isn't it, that while many wealthy consumers can easily afford high-fee cosmetic dentistry, luxury cars, first-class travel, designer fashions they find the price tags too big to swallow.
A $70,000.00 sticker on a car, a $35,000.00 fee quoted by the dentist, a $12,000.00 airline ticket are all so in-your-face. On the surface, the difference between the $70,000.00 car vs. the $35,000.00 car isn't so great; a car may feel like a car. On the plane, all the seats arrive at the same time.
I am sure you have heard this logic before.
Oddly however, these same people are easily wooed by little luxuries.
For what seems like a small uptick (which is a very big increase in profit margin) they can feel special without guilt. The fact that you can pick up two litres of ice cream at the supermarket for about the same price as a tiny cup of ice cream at a Gelateria is more disconnected. The experience is dramatically different. At the creamery, you pick out your flavour, your ground up cheesecake crust and chocolate chips, and watch your dessert being made for you on a granite slab. The price is still easily found in pocket or purse. It requires no thought, is done on impulse, feels good, and is easily rationalised. If I need had a hard day, I deserve it.
These little indulgences do add up.
Allow me to introduce you to a concept called luxflation. Termed by author Pamela Danziger it is the inching up of price. A form of self-induced inflation, experienced by consumers willing to pay what seems a little more for much better experiences - when, in fact, that little more may be a 500% to 5,000% premium.
It's ironic that the government, economists, and the media sweat bullets and display great angst over inflation creeping up by a half of a percent while consumers cheerfully accept 500% inflation in dozens of purchases every day.
This is important to grasp, as it affects every business.
If you cultivate these opportunities, these little indulgences can really add up for you in your business.
Luxflation is not new. The story is now a legend of how "burger chains" use the point-of-sale strategy, where the cashier responds, "Do you want fries with that?" ATS (average transaction size) is one of the most important numbers to know, manage, and work at improving in many businesses, whether you sell burgers to frequent customers or motor vehicles to very infrequent repeat customers.
Let's say we own an ice-cream stand where the cashier responds to each order by presenting the offer of a double flavour shot and an extra scoop of fresh fruit. If half say yes to the extra $4, and they serve 200 ice-creams a day, that's $400 added to revenue. But we may have increased the profit margin, invisibly, by much more.
If we can alter the whole experience to support a higher price, still add the extra fruit, and add a big chocolate chip cookie, well, we might take our $9 average transaction to $15. On a grander scale, we may turn our ice-cream stand into a much-talked about, much preferred destination rather than just one of a dozen same-as places in town.
Being in the little indulgence business in a big way, can lead to much bigger profits, but even to something more valuable:
sustainable unique positioning in your customers' minds and lives.
Be your customers’ shrink and get them thinking about themselves!
There are two types of questions, discovery questions and provoking questions. Using these properly in sales and marketing is how to get your customers to think and self-reflect.
Effective questions get the customers to think about things differently, consider other options, and to shift their point of view.
The whole sales call or presentation’s turning point is when the customer says to you or to themselves “Wow, I never considered that before” or “I’ve never thought about that” or “I never realised that was possible” or imagine if they said “No one has never asked me that before.”
That is exactly what we should try and achieve in our marketing and sales calls from now on.
It is based on the quality of your question.
Most of us are good with discovery questions often without knowing why.
What is a discovery question?
Discovery Questions
Discovery questions focus on “WHAT.”
Discovery questions are designed to identify existing needs, problems, customer pain points, customer’s goals etc.
Discovery questions are designed to get to the known, to ferret out what the customer knows about their environment.
Here are some examples:
- What are you challenged with?
- What are you trying to accomplish?
- What happens when you miss XYZ?
- How will you be measuring success?
- What have been the results to date?
- Are you happy with your current environment?
- What tools are you using?
Discovery questions target the known.
Our goal is to “discover” what is happening with the client to understand their world and offer a solution to their problem.
Discovery questions are great questions that provide the context we need to begin formulating a solution. Normally, however, not the best solution.
Why?
Because discovery questions don’t go far enough.
That is the point of provoking questions!
What is a provoking question?
Provoking Questions
Provoking questions take questioning to the next level.
Provoking questions are designed to challenge the customer to get them thinking in ways they hadn’t thought before. Provoking questions are questions designed to get deeper into the thinking processes and the logic behind their choices. Provoking questions target what is and was behind the decisions of your customers and prospects.
It provides insight into what the customer or prospect knows, what they don’t know and what they will prioritise to make their decisions.
Provoking questions help you and your customer or prospect evaluate what they are doing and why.
Here are some examples:
- Were you aware that . . . ?
- Did you know . . . ?
- Have you considered . . . ?
- Can I ask why you . . . ?
- Have you seen . . . ?
- Would you . . . ?
- What was the motive behind . . . ?
Provoking questions get the customer or prospect to think.
Effective questioning enables the customer to put unambiguous definition and great clarity around the issues and opportunities they are trying to address.
To be able to respond to great questions, the customer has to put structure, definition, and priorities around what they are trying to achieve.
Great questions can help the customer think about how they will make the decision.
Ask provoking questions AND discovery questions.
Go deep, get to what and why. Challenge your customer or prospects to self-evaluate.
The more YOU get them thinking about their choices and why they are doing what they are doing, the more they’re going to come to you for direction and guidance.
The girls all get prettier at closing time.
At least according to American country music artist Mickey Gilley in his 1976 hit. As opportunities, and the items they present, become scarcer, they are perceived as more valuable.
This principle accounts for studies showing that:
-
Tasters rated cookies as more desirable when they were scarce rather than abundant;
-
Consumers rated phosphate detergents as better once their use was prohibited by government decree;
- College students rated their cafeteria food higher when they learned that it would not be available to them for two weeks;
- And young lovers rated themselves as more in love with their sweethearts as long as their parents tried to keep them apart.
Scarcity marketing is the idea of limiting the supply of a product, whether it be through restricting availability to a certain timeframe or decreasing production—oftentimes both.
The principle is sound—we all want what we can’t have and love to flaunt when we have something others don’t. Scarcity marketing takes advantage of this desire, creating demand through mystique and enticement. It’s an excellent way to ensure that a product is swept off the shelves with the hype that every brand wants to create.
We tend to associate limited availability with exclusivity.
If things are difficult to get, we know it’s because they’re better than the things we already have.
As such, consumers use an item’s availability to decide on the quality of the product.
People don’t think about the fact that it’s a psychological reaction that’s causing us to want something. We know we want it. And because we need to make sense of this feeling, we assign the item positive qualities to justify our desire.
In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini argues that the idea of potential loss plays a role in how we make decisions.
How often have you been more motivated by the prospect of losing something than gaining something of equal value?
More than a few times, right?
Take Black Friday as an example.
People wake up at inhuman hours. They get in line for hours in the freezing cold. Why? So they can get their hands on the new LEGO Star Wars set that’s on sale for $49.99 before it’s sold out. (I actually have no idea what Star Wars LEGOs cost so don’t take me up on this).
We know this phenomenon as the fear of missing out (FOMO).
68% of millennial consumers say they would buy something after experiencing FOMO, most often within 24 hours.
No one wants to feel left out, especially if a good deal is up for grabs. But there’s more to scarcity and FOMO than great deals.
Now that you know why you should use scarcity, let’s take a look at...
6 Scarcity Marketing to Try Today
- The Few-Items-Left Tactic
- The Limited-Introductory-Price Tactic
- The Limited-Bonuses Tactic
- The Order-Before-XX-Today Tactic
- The Limited-Products Tactic
- The Device-Limited-Sale Tactic
Use some of these strategies and focus on the exclusivity of your product. Get people to buy now instead of later (read: never) and watch your sales soar.
I think Tarantino is a genius.
Before his movie “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” was released, Quentin Tarantino said something very intriguing I believe all business people should take to heart in an interview he did with Deadline.
The context: The plot of the movie is about a Hollywood actor and his stuntman in the late 60’s.
And to make sure the movie is as authentic as possible, Quentin literally wrote 5 episode scripts of the fictional TV show the actor starred in, in the movie (the audience who sees this movie will never see), as well as wrote out the main character’s entire fictional back story and filmography, film by film, as well as every single director he worked with, and all the little stories, quirks, and anecdotes on the sets he worked on, how he got his roles, who the casting directors were, which movies worked, which bombed, etc etc etc.
Why did he do all this extra work? And, why did he do it even though the audiences won’t see it?
Because, as he put it in the interview:
“[The audience] need to know that I take this mythology this history seriously, and that there are answers to these questions. I don’t have to vomit it out but if you ask, I could tell you. The writer needs to know that mythology backwards and forwards. You need to be able to throw it off with the expertise of an expert.”
Lots of meat in that paragraph.
It’s like a crash course in writing school in some ways — especially for marketers, copywriters, and anyone in business wanting to dominate and control a niche.
But, like any skill, you still have to work hard at learning and mastering it first. Thus, it’s completely incompatible for those who waste all day nattering on about nonsense in free Flakebook groups. Or the person who buys everything but uses nothing. Or the marketer who lacks the character to commit to anything that ejects them from their comfort zone.
i.e., 95+% of most so-called marketers.
The takeaway is that enough is never enough. If you really want to stand out in your business, you have to dig deep, pay attention to all of the little details and refine things striving for perfect.
Best summed up in a tale about another great Steve Jobs
He pored over every tiny detail of every product, every ad, every store, every thing related to Apple.
His attention to detail and craft came from his father who told him it was important to craft the backs of fences and cabinets even though they would never be seen.
Are you up for it?
There is no denying that the right mindset can do wonders. It is especially true when it comes to marketing and promoting your products to the market. It's important to think of marketing as an asset, rather than marketing as an expense.
If you want to make the most of your marketing opportunities, you need to make sure that every piece of marketing that you produce has the potential to be turned into an asset.
So how can you create assets out of your marketing?
How to Curate Marketing Strategies from Existing Assets
Let's begin with an example of "Ben Settle" –an email marketing expert who successfully conglomerated the content of emails into books. Ben's books allowed people to learn how they can build a business by constantly emailing their database.
Typically, Ben followed a simple technique of emailing his list every day to his clients. It helped him establish a relationship with these lists. Also, he was able to use these attempts to sell the offerings to various bits and pieces.
But it doesn't end here, as he collected, curated, and collated all the emails over time. He placed them into books to show people a perfect example of building a business by using a database. Although he incorporated it as a marketing tactic, he curated and cobbled them together into other assets and sold them to improve profitability.
Still not convinced?
Let's look at another example of asset creation marketing.
There's a charity called the "Center for Asylum Seekers and Refugees. One of the asylum activities is called "Second Harvest," where every Monday supermarket provides leftover food to the charity and the charity distributes it to their particular clients.
Over time, it turns out, most Mondays and Tuesdays, when they distribute the food, there's always a little bit leftover. Instead of destroying or discarding it on Wednesdays, they started an activity called Eat, Share, And Connect. The activity attracted volunteers (generally refugee volunteers) to join in and participate in cooking food by using the leftover food of their particular flavors and cuisine.
Soon it took the shape of a proper meet up and volunteer activity where all clients drop in and have an "Eat Share and Connect" Wednesday lunch.
These lunches have now become a perfect way to get sponsorships from people and obtain grants from people who pursue charitable work. This way, each share, connect Wednesday lunch time has become a brilliant showcase for everyone, including potential benefactors and consumers.
Leveraging Assets to Strengthen Marketing
The Australian football league started an exercise 20 years ago with a game called the "dream time" game. It was an initiative where Richmond played Essendon, and it was aimed at celebrating, and commemorating the profile of indigenous footballers.
Now the league has grown this game into an annual event and has become a popular attraction in Darwin. It attracts major sponsorships, large TV viewership, and heaps of promotion. Although they always play a football game, "Richmond versus Essendon," it is promoted as a special event called the dream time.
In short, this annual event is an annual asset that is worth a lot of money to the Australian football league.
Why Asset Creation is Beneficial
Thinking about developing assets for your business is crucial for the growth of your business. Remember that you don't need to do anything revolutionary for creating assets. However, it would help if you focused on changing your thought pattern and mindset when creating a marketing piece.
Don't think of it as a tactic or a promotion. Consider it a campaign, which can evolve into a marketing asset. It will be an asset that can not only generate leads for your business but revenue as well.
Therefore, instead of taking marketing as an expense, think about how you can utilise this money to create a resource that can ultimately become an asset.
Bottom Line
All in all, assets are something that you can put a value to, can sell, or can call upon. And that's how the marketing system works and supports businesses. Thus, if you know how to create these assets, your business will be substantially better off whilst strengthening its identity.
Most consultants post on their social media channels like episodes of a reality show — here’s what I think, here’s what I’m doing, here’s yet ANOTHER selfie.
That’s fine if it’s compelling, but in general it’s more effective to approach your social media channels as a magazine editor would.
Try to make your social media about more than just YOUR life.
Magazines aren’t all about their publisher’s life.
Instead, they feature curated content that represents the viewpoint of the publisher and is designed to provide value to a specific target audience. Not every one of your social posts needs to be about you (and they probably shouldn’t be).
Take a magazine approach and curate as much content as you create.
Curation of great content is about creating value for your followers.
Magazines that are niche specific are making a revival.
Developing and curating niche content specific to your industry or market is a successful social media strategy. Doing so will make it easier to attract an audience and easier to provide value to them more frequently because you don’t have to create every single thing you share.
Become the purveyor of your niche's quality information.
Share stuff and watch your influence grow.
Important note!
I’m not suggesting you steal content from others. Share stuff with credit and drive attention to others — don’t pass it off as your own. No need to be an ass. But don't just flick out links - add interpretations, opinions, advice and your social media success will grow.
Treat your social media feed as your magazine!
If you’d like more social media strategies, visit my website petergianoli.com/social-strategy-for-consultants and download my latest resource. It's FREE!
In my business I like to use the content I create in articles, blog posts, white papers, podcasts and interviews to develop a position in marketing called omnipresence.
Omnipresence means your prospects can't look in any direction bumping into you. Somebody is talking about you, somebody is showing them you, you are in the media they see you on socials.
The most effective thing you can do for yourself is to put yourself in the centre of the right group of people who you want talking to each other about you. This will lead to a mass of potential clients to “swim upstream” into your network and start paying you money.
To evidence the power of this phenomenon, I outline my client acquisition data from the last full year of the consulting arm of my business.
For the year I attained 76 new clients. 10 of them came to me directly from my marketing, two found me through my wife and eight others had worked with me over the years but are now in their own business or are fronting a new business and sought out my services. The “eye popper” a whopping 63% of last year’s new clients amounting to 45 businesses “swam upstream” via my network (of which I am in the centre of).
Eleven (11) came from purchasing a book. That too is a little deceptive, because most of them said they bought the book as the second thing after hearing about me somewhere in a newsletter they read, or someone mentioning me to them. They then went to Amazon and bought a book.
There are two things about these numbers that I think are extremely instructive.
One is that upstream is a significant strategy.
Meaning you should find ways to put yourself in a similar position. Whether it is builders feeding clients upstream to a Mortgage Broker or a fabulous restaurant finding ways to get other types of businesses with the right customers, feeding clients upstream to them.
Keep in mind, I specialise in advertising and marketing and yet 63% of my new clients came from someone else. What is more when I drill down into the 63%, there is no source that is really good by itself. One from here, one from there. two from here, three from there. It would have been nice just to have one or two sources that they all came from, but that is not the case. (In fact, it wouldn’t be nice because “one is the worst number” you can have in business – as I have already talked on about in multiple podcasts.
In my world, I like to provide my referral network with great content and resources to use for their purposes. I trade on the fact that everybody is lazy when it comes to content creation and, they welcome good content that they do not have to create themselves. This provides a positive benefit for them. In doing this what I have essentially created is around a hundred influencers who expose me to their customers on a regular basis.
From this, the best customers swim upstream.
The smartest one’s swim upstream.
The biggest spenders swim upstream.
The most common comment I get is, I have heard about you here, heard about you there, so I decided to go to the source, and find you for myself.
The second thing to understand is that if you assume that the 45 new businesses are worth on average forty to eighty thousand dollars in annual value as customers, that is a pretty big number. Which all came to me from simply stitching together little numbers, which cumulatively became a solid number.
This strategy takes work, this strategy is not for the faint hearted and at times this strategy requires you to get out of your comfort zone, but a considerable number of my clients that have adopted the same “swimming upstream” strategy conclusively swear by the results.
To find out more about my Fast Money for entrepreneur strategies please visit petergianoli.com/fast-money
There was a time when coffee was coffee. Ice cream was ice cream. A phone was a phone. Even a pair of jeans was, just a pair of jeans.
There are still businesses stuck in this time warp, continuing to conduct business as if people still purchased products.
Today, that cup of coffee comes with more options than a Porsche. A double shot, soy milk, almond milk, extra hot, topped up, half strength, in a takeaway cup because it tastes better. Thus, the $5.50 price for the 50 cents cup of coffee.
But even that is only half the story.
Breaking the price - product link
The profit margin of the double shot of extra something far exceeds the profit margin of the cup of coffee itself. The Prada Shearling Tote selling for $4,450 does not cost 200 times more to make than the tote at kmart for $20. This is a path to profit and to greater acceptance by affluent consumers. But as I said, it is only half the story.
Ordinary products morphing into their own category
Like them or not, Starbucks altered the coffee drinking world.
It redefined itself from a coffee shop to the "third-place" - home, office, Starbucks in between. It positioned itself as a merchant of feelings, of status, and most of all, of experience. A new category. And many other businesses have followed. Dean & Deluca (groceries), Under Armour (undies), Varsity Burgers and my favourite Burning Man (a camping trip in the desert with a bit of music ), have jazzed up their offerings to be in a new stratosphere with luxury pricing to match.
Price is no longer tied to product.
Far more appealing to "people with money"
As soon as you disconnect price and product in your own mind about your own products and services, you'll be liberated to make a great deal more money and to have much greater success appealing to the affluent and the top-end-of-town.
The future of luxury is still very much in brick-and-mortar stores.
Not online, despite many consumers having been forced to become more literate vis-à-vis online purchasing since COVID. Luxury is not a commodity, not needed, not repeatable, not an afterthought. Gaining time and getting a deal is essential for commodities.
Spending time and money and feeling good about it is the principle of luxury.
Luxury will remain a purchase with a purpose, a space where brands count – and will retain pricing power.
Stores are much better adapted to developing an emotional tie between consumer and the brand. Telling a story in store is easier than it is online. Shopping is social. Done well, it is a communal experience. Shopping online is not remotely comparable.
The exclusivity factor also plays a role.
“If it is luxury, it should be limited distribution.
E-commerce is innately democratic, luxury is not.
For a while now at Nike, you have been able to try on a pair of sneakers in store and have them shipped to your home for no fee, which will avoid you having to carry the box around all day. This is now described as “phygital” a seamless and unified brand experience that offers the best of physical and digital platforms.
Gucci also announced that in certain cities around the globe, they would deliver a selection of Gucci items from “store to door” in ninety minutes.
Do you need that handbag in the next hour?
There are considerations beyond convenience. If you want a custom experience, custom service, product personalisation, and a unique memory of how exciting it was to hold or wear your product for the first time, e-commerce has limitations that in-store can exploit.
The irreplaceable value of real-life experience will ensure the future of luxury includes a heavy reliance on physical stores.
Particularly if luxury stores adapt to better serve and connect to customers.
More luxury stores will be unique, “third places” (not work, not home) that offer opportunities for learning, community, networking and entertainment, in addition to selling watches and handbags.
There is the potential for stores to become places for “story doing” beyond just “story telling”.
Gucci Wooster features a screening room with custom 3D screen technology, headphones and armchairs in turmeric velvet.
The multi-sensorial space also features resident DJ’s and has a dedicated in-store Gucci app utilising augmented reality allowing the customer to point a provided iPad’s or iPhone’s camera at the tote and sneaker, customise it, and see it in a real-world setting.
Check it out Here!
The future of luxury is still very much in brick-and-mortar stores.
Not online, despite many consumers having been forced to become more literate vis-à-vis online purchasing since COVID. Luxury is not a commodity, not needed, not repeatable, not an afterthought. Gaining time and getting a deal is essential for commodities.
Spending time and money and feeling good about it is the principle of luxury.
Luxury will remain a purchase with a purpose, a space where brands count – and will retain pricing power.
Stores are much better adapted to developing an emotional tie between consumer and the brand. Telling a story in store is easier than it is online. Shopping is social. Done well, it is a communal experience. Shopping online is not remotely comparable.
The exclusivity factor also plays a role.
“If it is luxury, it should be limited distribution.
E-commerce is innately democratic, luxury is not.
For a while now at Nike, you have been able to try on a pair of sneakers in store and have them shipped to your home for no fee, which will avoid you having to carry the box around all day. This is now described as “phygital” a seamless and unified brand experience that offers the best of physical and digital platforms.
Gucci also announced that in certain cities around the globe, they would deliver a selection of Gucci items from “store to door” in ninety minutes.
Do you need that handbag in the next hour?
There are considerations beyond convenience. If you want a custom experience, custom service, product personalisation, and a unique memory of how exciting it was to hold or wear your product for the first time, e-commerce has limitations that in-store can exploit.
The irreplaceable value of real-life experience will ensure the future of luxury includes a heavy reliance on physical stores.
Particularly if luxury stores adapt to better serve and connect to customers.
More luxury stores will be unique, “third places” (not work, not home) that offer opportunities for learning, community, networking and entertainment, in addition to selling watches and handbags.
There is the potential for stores to become places for “story doing” beyond just “story telling”.
Gucci Wooster features a screening room with custom 3D screen technology, headphones and armchairs in turmeric velvet.
The multi-sensorial space also features resident DJ’s and has a dedicated in-store Gucci app utilising augmented reality allowing the customer to point a provided iPad’s or iPhone’s camera at the tote and sneaker, customise it, and see it in a real-world setting.
Check it out Here!
The wealthy person is a complicated creature.
Research indicates the typical top-end-of-towner seeks incremental steps up, in a lot of things, makes major steps up, in one to three things, and remains unmoved by luxury, brand, experience or other factors in many other purchase categories.
The wealthy are selective in what they indulge in.
Price is literally out the window in the care and feeding of the poodle, but the wealthy often recoil at the price of a Lexus, often preferring a Toyota.
This makes marketing to the wealthy a strategic undertaking.
Clever brands have worked this out.
Luxury-goods have caught on and are engaging in a strategy called "luxury drop-down".
Luxury goods like Mercedes or Coach bags have created lower-priced products - usually smaller, with fewer features, but of the same quality and bearing the brand name - encouraging the affluent consumer to cross the luxury line without qualm.
Further, some luxury brands have found enormous leverage in leaving a huge chasm between their top-priced items and their new lower priced merchandise.
Women who can't afford one, and even those who can, might blanch at a $10,000 Vera Wang dress but be quite happy to pay $199 for a Vera Wang blouse. But without knowledge of the $10,000 dress, they'd balk at such a high price for the blouse.
It serves to have an ultra-expensive offering.
Some marketers, even go so far as to create and promote red-herring-priced goods or services they hope no one buys, only to set a standard that makes their actual prices seem imminently reasonable by comparison.
Take a look at the Fullarton Spdoingapore's wine list for a perfect example of this!!
“How much money will a raving football fanatic, who has money, spend on football?
Virtually an unlimited amount!
This need not be restricted to football. Basketball, racing, sailing you name it, passion abounds.
“Sports fanatics’ insatiable itch”
Season tickets, VIP boxes, private memberships - they all sell to somebody!
Despite a single ticket to the football costing $60, season tickets can go for up to $2,000. But, the most luxurious VIP boxes require multi-year commitments of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
How do sports get 50% of their revenue from 1 percent of customers? They scratch the “sports fanatics insatiable itch”!
Sport's marketers harness a very special kind of desire.
Fanatics will spend upward of a million dollars a year when bundled together with sponsorship and an all-inclusive experience.
Become completely immersed in football, literally and figuratively. At the FIFA world cup for the right amount of money, you can invite your friends and clients and know that everyone will be treated like foreign dignitaries.
Even a usually frugal, conservative gentleman who drives a six-year-old Lexus, despite the fact he can afford the latest top of the line Mercedes, if he really, really loves football, he will buy a VIP box.
Somehow, he will find a way to justify it.
Half the money in the sports industry comes from exploiting this amazing propensity for a tiny percentage of fans to spend outrageous amounts of money. Whenever there are rabid, obsessive customers, there is a great business.
And sport knows how to tip you upside down and empty your pockets.
You just need to find your clients insatiable itch, for your offering!!!
Kim Kardashian is one of the top copywriters on the planet - FACT!
Even though she has probably never even heard the word “copywriting”. Nor, ever written a sales letter in her life. And though she may very well not even know what a good ad was if it fell out of the sky and landed in her bosom.
Brands seek her skills.
What makes her one of the best copywriters?
Let’s just put it this way:
Brands offer her circa a million dollars for a single social media post. Think about that: Seven figures for a few sentences of copy, mentioning a brand, selling a bag, cosmetic, or other commodity that probably is not that much more intrinsically valuable than its equivalent at Kmart.
She beats A-lister copy day in day out.
Show me any copywriter, A-list or otherwise, who can do that.
If you summoned the ghosts of David Ogilvy, Gene Schwartz and Gary Halbert, locked them in a secluded cabin with 10 A-list copywriters on the planet today and gave them a year deadline to write a similar tweet, with all the market research modern technology can deliver.
They couldn’t do what KK does with a single tweet.
The reason:
It's not the “copy” doing the selling.
The heavy lifting selling is being done by all the positioning, all the built-up celebrity, all the marketplace leadership, all the cult-like legions of followers, the omnipresence, and all the massive marketplace demand already in place before that copy is written.
The copy merely pitches & asks for the order from there.
Which brings me to the point:
Stop deriding her, stop diminishing, her achievements, they are real.
We need to swallow our pride and see what KK can teach us when it comes to positioning, and I am not talking missionary 🤣
Sales are like legs day. Hard and brutal.
Punishment! Yet, when you work out legs, you're also activating muscle fibres in the rest of your body, arms, shoulders and even back. Just the same fashion, when you work in sales, you're activating muscle fibres in your marketing skillset as well.
So, the best advice you could ever give a business owner is to start doing some sales.
The tension between marketing and sales In most struggling organisations, there is tension between the sales team and the marketers.
Sales team complain that leads are lousy and insufficient. Marketing complain that sales want everything handed on a plate.
Enter the entrepreneur to adjudicate.
Time to get back into the gym. Before making a call, to side with marketing and or sales, at least "sharpen your saw".
Do a small amount of selling, take a half day "ride along" with one of your sales team. It will fire up your other skills, like marketing. Learning to better understand your customers and knowing how to cut through with messaging will be forever helpful.
With time, this will make you a better business person.
The bizarre habit Why is it that so many people brag about legs day on social media?
Very amusing!
Yet, there is a million-dollar sales and marketing lesson embedded in the legs versus arms debate.
A lot of people build their upper body and neglect their legs. Fact. Unfortunately, doing this sets them up to fail. Same for entrepreneurs who focus only on marketing and place no effort in sales!
Boomers are rich.
They bought houses when they were affordable and sold off at the right times. They purchased hovels downtown, they sold for millions. Didn’t know how to pick stocks so invested long-term, a boring yet profitable strategy.
Patience and delayed gratification have been virtues.
As the wealthiest generation in history, Boomers currently hold $2.6 trillion in buying power.
Today, Boomers are RE-INVENTING their lives.
They are finding NEW places to work, NEW places to travel to, NEW ways to spend their days, NEW ways to spend time with their children and grandchildren, and NEW ways to stay vital and connected as they age.
Each choice represents enormous business opportunity.
Today's boomers are planning their full retirement at 80, not 65, and are looking for second, third, or fourth careers or new businesses.
Shrinking, fixed incomes, minimum spending are out the window.
Ken Gronbach, author of Common Census: Counterintuitive Guide to Generational Marketing states:
"They know what they want. At this point in their lives they want only three things:
- Life made easy.
- Time saved.
- Not to be ripped off.
Boomers already own a lot of stuff.
Their needs are getting increasingly fewer, thus they are less interested in or seduced by things.
Boomers are service consumers more than product buyers. They want nothing as a thing; they want a thing that gives time, convenience, freedom, or ease.
Boomers still think in terms of "classic credibility".
Brand names matter, credible, relevant celebrity endorsements matter, years in business, professional affiliations, access to live humans for resolving problems all matter.
Above all else.
Boomers have had enough life experience to have been disappointed or felt ripped off by a number of purchases and marketers. And they are not eager to repeat the experience.
What happens to your business when the economy tanks?
It depends which part of the market you serve.
The impacts are not equal.
Avoid the middle:
The middle is the worst place to be in any market and doubly so when it tanks.
Entrepreneurs targeting the middle find themselves unable to compete with the bottom on price or selection, or with the top on style, status, or service.
They have no unique selling proposition to take to anyone.
The bottom is treacherous:
All the wars are waged at the bottom.
Buying rarely drops more than 5% to 10%, because the poor spend 90% of their money on necessities. Necessities somehow always get bought. But the profit margin goes away, as merchants battle over these consumers' shrunken spending power with price cutting as the only weapon.
The sanctuary of the Top
At the top, buying also drops by 5% to 10% because they only spend a tiny percentage of their money on necessities. Economic movements such as Inflation is not important to the wealthy, they continue to buy not just necessities but whatever the devil they want, regardless.
Best yet for the merchants’ profit margins don't have to erode.
Then there is the Uber Top.
Sales of big yachts, custom made shoes, designer-name wristwatches, corporate hospitality and the like increase, when the economy upheaves. All such businesses serving this niche do very nicely despite the turmoil. Some can even afford to travel private into space.
The mandate.
To fully earthquake proof your home on a fault line, may require moving.
Economy proofing a business does not necessarily require its physical relocation. Instead, it's as simple as moving to a different, more affluent group of customers.
I have over 25 years of experience as a sales and marketing strategist, and the epiphany I had before I even got started has been my most powerful.
I was a personal trainer before personal trainers were ever heard of 😂. In order to prevent my clients from hurting themselves, I produced a fact sheet called “Exercises to avoid and safe alternatives”. Strangely, my clients kept asking me for more copies and when I got a phone call from the local primary school asking for 500 copies, the penny dropped, and I realised what was going on.
I had become trusted in my niche.
That fact sheet was being passed around to family and friends. Bit by bit my fact sheet was positioning me as an authority. I was becoming seen by my niche community as an expert. The "go to guy for safe and effective exercise!"
I was wondering why my business was growing, with more and more clients coming to see me for exercise. I soon realised that this was due to my very effective marketing strategy!
My first "Marketing Epiphany".
Marketing Epiphany Number 1 - "Positioning yourself as an Authority turns the equation around".
Clients come to you.
Fast forward to what I do today.
I work to help my clients succeed by finding a place in the market that they can own. Sometimes this requires completely reinventing their business, but it's worth it in order to be successful.
Authority is a fast growth entrepreneur strategy
People often follow the lead of credible, knowledgeable experts when it comes to making decisions about their lives.
Entrepreneurs who commit to utilise this strategy, do so, because they know that it will be wildly successful.
I have developed a resource on how you too can claim the authority position in your niche and or marketplace – to find out more please visit
petergianoli.com/authority
Why Doing Less is the Secret for Consultants Looking to Flourish on Social Media!
I’ve noticed something about consultants.
Most of them have the same frustrations when it comes to social media. I work with a lot of consultants and hear the same issues over and over again.
Any of these sound familiar?
-
“I’m putting a lot of time and effort into social media but not getting any meaningful results.”
-
“I feel stuck my business is stuck and don’t know what to do to get unstuck.”
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“I don’t really have any plan for how to use social media so I’m just randomly posting stuff.”
If any of these resonate with you (and I bet several do), then you’ve come to the right place.
There are 13 social media strategies I can share - here are just 3!
I know these work because I’ve seen them work over and over again for all different types of consultant clients.
- Use fewer social media platforms.
You don’t need to use every social media platform. In fact, you shouldn’t.
Just because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, and a thousand other platforms exist doesn’t mean you have to use them.
Any one of those platforms has more than enough people on it for you to achieve success beyond your wildest dreams so break from the feeling that you need to be everywhere.
- Follow fewer people.
Don’t follow everybody who follows you.
Don’t follow random people in the hope they’ll follow you back.
Don’t follow anybody you’re not genuinely interested in.
And don’t be afraid to unfollow people – often.
The fewer people you follow on any social platform, the better your feed will become as the algorithm will learn to better serve you.
- You don't need more followers, simply the RIGHT followers.
The first question I ask a consultant client is always, “What are your social media goals?”
Their answer always includes some version of “I want to get more followers.”
That’s an understandable answer, but it reveals a crucial strategic flaw.
Because you don’t need more followers, you need the right followers to help you accomplish your goals.
If these 3 strategies made sense - read on!
If you’d like more hands-on helpwith these strategies, plus another ten more, visit my website petergianoli.com/social-strategy-for-consultants and download my latest resource. It's FREE!
The House of Gucci starring Lady Gaga and Al Pacino is the best luxury marketing tutorial money can buy.
“Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten,” a saying embossed in gold letters on pigskin plaques and displayed strategically around Gucci stores.
Throughout Gucci’s 101-year history, the fashion retailer’s popularity has waxed and waned, its business results have faltered and rebounded. The one thing that has remained constant “everything must be perfect”. “Even the bricks in the walls must know they are Gucci's!'' said descendant Aldo Gucci (Al Pacino).
“In order to sell style, we must have style!”
After opening its New York store, VIP Gucci clients were granted Gucci’s gold-plated key granting them access to the “Galleria”.
Here, VIPs were graciously ushered over to soft taupe couches and easy chairs where white gloved waiters served coffee or champagne on travertine marble tables. Surrounded by originals by Modigliani, van Gogh and Gaugin, VIPs could choose limited edition Gucci designed jewellery or handbags made of precious skins and featuring 18 karat gold hardware priced from $3,000 to $12,000.
In no time at all, the little gold key - fewer than a thousand were issued - became a must have in New York circles.
Over time, Gucci has become the ultimate in class and imprinted as top-of-the-line chic, an interest piqued when Patrizia (Lady Gaga) met Maurizio Gucci for the first time!
Smile even when times are tough
“You may ask, where are the people to buy these things in a time of recession?” Aldo said to Women’s Wear Daily at the opening of the Galleria.
“ I have a saying about beautiful women,” Aldo continued, “Only 5 percent are truly beautiful. And it’s the same with people with affluence. They are only 5 percent of the population. But 5 percent is enough to make us smile.”
Or in Patrizia's case after a nasty divorce, to "kill for!"
In this episode I am going to give your business a gift – FREE MONEY!
I do a lot of public speaking. At the start of a presentation, I like to get audience involvement, so I love to start with this simple experiment.
I ask an audience to stand up. I then ask people who have over 5 pairs of shoes to remain standing.
Then I ask people who have 10 to continue (to stand). Then 50. Then 100. Then 200. Then 300. And I keep going like this until no one is left standing.
I then do the same thing with web domains.
In any audience, there are always a few people who have more than 250 pairs of shoes!
There will always be a few people who have over 200 web domains! It may be you??
But what does this mean? To you or me and in particular our business?
It means that if you are not adhering the pricing of your products to this principle, you are losing money!
Let’s say you have a coffee shop. Each cup of coffee you sell is $4. If you sell 1,000 cups of coffee, you will make $4,000. But for every 1,000 cups of coffee you sell, the stats say there is one person who will want to buy your coffee and a top of the line espresso machine. It might be the local business, an international visitor, a client redoing their kitchen or somebody looking for a special gift – it doesn’t matter – the fact is they exist.
Let’s say you sell the machine for $2,700. You’ll now make one $2,700 sale on top of the original $4,000. All of a sudden, you’ve made nearly 500 times the money from your top customer as you made from someone who bought a $4 coffee.
What if you could find a way to leverage this phenomenon, this knowledge to make yourself more money with less effort?
The question companies need to ask themselves is:
“Do we have a high-end espresso machine we could sell?”
Many companies fail because they don’t offer that higher-end experience.
Think about it:
Hotels have the $2,000 per night suites on the top floor
Airlines have $20,000 first class flights and sleeping pods
Casinos fly whales on private jets so that they can bet a $100,000 per round on blackjack
A charity I have the honour of being the Chairperson of raises $500k per annum but we get $200k of it from one single trust fund
And I have an accounting client earning $200,000 per annum but one customer is $20,000 of that.
My suggestion is that you multiply the most expensive product you have by 5–10X to increase your returns, then to do the same for the next product, then the next, then the next.
Obviously, it’s not just the price – you also have to offer the value or at least the experience.
Think about sporting events, concerts, nightclubs. . . there are always VIP experiences – remember it doesn’t seem to matter who is paying for it – but put simply there are always customers for it…
Here is an example -
If you have 10,000 customers who are buying a membership for $10 a year, and that is your only product, you will be earning $100,000 a year.
But if you add a $40 membership, the 80/20 principle says 80% (8,000) of your clients would still only spend $10, earning you $80,000. But the other 20% (2,000) are probably willing to buy that $40 package instead of $10. This generates an extra $60,000. By creating this second package, your yearly earnings go up 60% to $160,000.
Now, if you add a third tier at $160, 4% (400) of your clients will buy, picking up an additional $48,000. Your revenues rise again by 30%, to $208,000.
Now, what if you included a fourth package at $640? Just how much more you would be earning each year? Imagine if you have 80 clients paying $640 a year. That’s an additional $38,400 a year, on top of what you were already earning. Your total revenue is now up to $246,400.
Previously you were only bringing in $100,000 with single-tier pricing.
In total, you are probably leaving as much as half your money on the table if you are not obeying this product pricing strategy.
The rule is simple- like the shoe story: 1/5th of the people will spend 4 times the money. This keeps going until you literally run out of people.
So, if you have a product with only one or two price points, now is the time to reconsider your pricing structure. If you don’t, you may run the risk of leaving money on the table, or worse yet, failing, because other businesses who do follow this pricing strategy will be better capitalised than you.
If you aren’t accommodating higher ticket sales and providing commensurate additional value, you will ultimately be doomed.
If you’d like more information on this topic I suggest you google Perry Marshall – he has a great book on it.
Your Opinion does Not Matter
Amazing products go undiscovered and companies go broke every single year because of people’s opinions. Your opinion does not matter.
People are afraid to push the envelope with their marketing because of all the opinions that get in the way.
It’s too pushy...
My audience won’t resonate with that kind of marketing...
It’ll turn them off...
And it’s not just entrepreneur opinions that bankrupt businesses either.
It’s entrepreneurs who listen to their customers’ opinions.
Customer opinions don’t matter either.
Well, not all of the time.
When you survey your audience on Facebook or with an email and they boldly tell you that your new sales letter or video or marketing campaign is not attractive to them, remember this:
"What your audience says and what they do are sometimes entirely different!"
You know this, right? You ask people if they will buy XYZ and they all yell YES!
But then you release it and…
crickets!
Or people will tell you they don’t like your new sales message, but $175 per customer later, you take that opinion all the way to the bank!
When I started the split tests for my 45- day - LinkedIn Program, I had an opinion about which Optin Page would work the best.
Guess what?
I was wrong big time.
The page with the LinkedIn logo won.
Go figure…
Now this message should encourage you rather than discourage you, because it means you don’t have to “read the stars” to be successful in business.
It means that if you’re willing to put your opinions aside (or should I say ego aside), and follow the math, the money, and the data to set the direction, you too can leverage the marketing secrets I present in this Podcast.
That’s right “the path is math.” Not opinion.
Watch what people do with their credit cards.
Put your opinions aside, and don’t be afraid to use the methods that have millions of dollars of evidence to back them up.
BTW if you’d like to check out my 45 Day Linked In Program and see a high converting optin page in action, visit petergianoli.com/Linkedin-mastery
In this week’s podcast I go through the 4 key things I do when I take on a new marketing client. I believe you too, should do these 4 things in your business. Especially if you are looking for more clients, quick wins and some instant cash flow.
These are the same 4 things that I implement with my fee-paying clients which is on average $50,000 each and you are getting the advice for nothing thanks to this podcast.
All you have to do is listen and implement – go on I dare you!!
Here is the link to the blog post
https://petergianoli.com/low-cost-ways-to-market-business/
We all know that a key component of any marketing strategy is to get your customers to talk about you and share what they have purchased with their network. But did you know this goes both ways?
It takes more than just getting people to buy from you, it also means making sure they actually consume or use the products that they purchase from you as well!
This is important because if a person does not use or consume what they have purchased from you then they will not experience any of the benefits. Hence, there's no reason for them to tell anyone else about it. As we all know referrals are an essential part of any business marketing mix. And by encouraging consumption or utilisation of your product or service, you are making it easier for them to refer others to you.
So, let’s look at a company that does this exceptionally well. Apple!
I love opening my latest Apple purchase, do you?
Why?
- Because everything is beautifully packaged.
- Once you open the box - everything is intuitive as to what to do next
- Once the product is turned on the instructions are clear, simple and bold.
- Thanks to their exceptional marketing, I know the pleasure that lies ahead of me when I use it.
In fact, consumption starts with the marketing. I like how Gene Schwartz said it, where “your ad is simply the functional product - details of what it does for them - sent to them in advance of the product itself”.
And while a lot of businesses are just glad to get a sale, and hope nobody refunds, that is playing not to lose instead of playing to win.
Fact is that great marketers always think of two "sales" you have to make.
(1) The product sale, and (2) the sale of them consuming the product or service.
So how can you encourage your customers to consume what they have purchased from you?
There are a few ways:
- Offering educational materials or tutorials that show them how to use the product in an easy and fun way.
- Making sure the product is easy to use, and if it's not give them support as well.
- Make sure there are clear instructions that show how to do what they want or need to do with your product or service.
Once again, Apple does this exceptionally well - they are always innovating and creating new products that not only look great but are easy to use as well. And thanks to their exceptional marketing, customers know the pleasure that awaits them when they open the box.
You can see this in action with the iPad - what's inside the box is just as important (if not more) than the product itself!
So, if you want to sell your products or services, make sure that there are no barriers between your customers and their enjoyment of them by encouraging consumption every step of the way.
One of the things we must keep in mind is that once a person makes a purchase in your environment, like in your store, on your sales page, in your Instagram feed or at a conference or in a sales office. When they return into their world the stresses and strains of their environment return.
Often, they purchased your product to improve their lives, but now their normal environment is what gets in the way of them using your offering. So, you need to have a plan to overcome this.
- A way is to follow up with them and remind them of the benefits of using your product or service.
- Showcase how others are using your product or service in an inspiring way.
- Use client testimonials to show how they overcame the same struggles by using your offering.
The important thing is to never stop encouraging your customers to consume what they have purchased from you. This will create a stronger connection with them and make it more likely that they will refer others to you in the future.
Let me give you another example...
Recently I signed up for an online course called Ship 30. It is about content creation and it doesn’t start until next month. For the record it wasn't cheap and like any buyer it wasn't long before I started feeling buyer’s remorse.
But thanks to some well-timed, well thought out emails, preparing me for next month I am now fired up and ready to get started.
It didn't take much, some links to helpful videos, some case studies of what others like me have achieved and it’s a wrap.
What about services how can you encourage consumption?
The best way to overcome the resistance that people have to consuming what they purchase, especially services, is by helping them see how easy it is to get started.
- Offer a free consultation or trial period so they can try out the service.
- here too, provide educational materials. One great example from a local health club is to introduce 30-day or 14-day challenges for members with built in rewards and incentives.
If you are looking for great examples just watch what Netflix and Spotify do to encourage consumption. Being continuity services where you can easily cancel at the end of a month - these services are the master of keeping you engaged and of course subscribing.
So, in a nutshell, encourage customers to consume what they purchase from you, both in the moment and after the fact.
The key takeaway here is that it's not enough to simply make a sale; instead, you need to think about your customer's consumption habits as well so that they will use what you have sold them and become fully satisfied with their decision.
As has already been said - the only way you will grow your referral network is by having satisfied and fully engaged customers and clients.
Once upon a time, during the baby boomer era, being different was a badge of honour. Yes, guys wearing scholls, long hair, playing in your own band and we even had surfers at Hamilton Hill High School the home of the bogan.
In my opinion this is one thing the baby boomers definitely got right. But their kids, brought up in an era of where you get a trophy for just participating and play football and netball with no scoring, are afraid to stand out. They are all about their network of friends and do not want to be ostracised.
Everyone’s afraid to lose friends. Everyone’s afraid to stand out. Everyone’s afraid of criticism. Kids don’t raise their hands in class because they don’t want to be seen as different, as know it alls, better off to play dumb.
The conundrum however is to get ahead in business, or marketing or in your art, we are looking for the new and different and if you don’t have people dropping their jaws, chances are you are not going to last, you probably won’t even be noticed.
Furthermore, just because no one likes what you are producing don’t necessarily give up right away. If you are not experiencing at least a little bit of resistance or if you don’t find people trying to reign you in, chances are you are not aiming high enough and will never cause a jaw to drop.
Dare to be unpopular… because that is where the germ of true popularity begins.
This week’s podcast is about a concept that I believe I've invented, and it's called the half-cation.
Think of vacation, get rid of the vac and add half. And that's what you've got. Half-cation!
Recently. I read a book, Catching the big fish by the film producer, David Lynch, it's a marvelous quick read.
In it, he refers to the value of transcendental meditation and how it helps him find the big fish creatively speaking that have made such a huge difference in his life. So always eager to try things. I thought “that sounds like me”.
I've dabbled in meditation off and on, but never transcendental meditation (TM), long story, but I got myself signed up and wow the first two days, I have never felt so tired in my life. So tired. In fact, that when I went to the premiere of the James Bond, latest movie, I fell asleep. Dead, out to it and I have been hanging 3 years to see this movie, I love James Bond.
All I had done was dedicate two sessions of 20 minutes to TM and it knocked me out.
When I told this to my TM teacher, she told me this was a normal response because of the stress in my body.
Stress? What do you mean stress?
Sure enough, after a few more days of TM, I’m back to life, I obviously needed that break, that mental break to remove the stress.
On reflection, because of COVID, it's been two years or so where I've basically been flat out just doing stuff and haven't had a break. I imagine a lot of you are in a similar circumstance, we can’t take a break.
In my life, I'm doing some major clients work now. Plus, I've started two brand new, exciting ventures and they need my attention. And let's be honest, I'm recording this in November, so Christmas is just around the corner. I will shut the office down and I'll get a couple of weeks rest then.
But you know what, that stress I had built up can't be good.
Maybe I need a bit of a break, now?
Hence the concept of the half-cation where I'm going to have a two week break but staggered over the course of a month. In other words, work half days and have half days off. And in that time, I'm going to get a two-week, half-cation.
After one week, I’d like to share with you what I've learnt.
A quick backtrack, I've have plans for a new book that I want to publish. I'm a self-publisher, which means I take a 100% of my profits, that also means I must cover 100% of my expenses. No one sends me to an island and pays my bills and says, “send us the draft manuscript of the book”. No, I've got to squeeze time out of my schedule and use my own resources. Originally before COVID, my plan was to go to the coast of Croatia and write this book, but that isn’t happen anytime soon because of the international border situation. My plan now is to knock out a “chunk” of this book during some of the time I have for myself in this half-cation.
This is what I've learnt so far:
- the better you set the half-cation up, the more likely you are to be successful with it. This set up idea came from an article by Jari Roomer. Have some key rules behind setting up your vacation time.
- Use the free time to move forward rather than to move backward. In other words use the time to look after things like - your health, your nutrition (slow cooking), spend some time reading, spend some time on self-improvement, watch a few documentaries and work on passion projects, (AKA) my new book. This strategy has the effect of conditioning your mind to see the importance of this free time and prioritizing it happening.
- Plan the entire week ahead. Not only the half-cation time, but also the half day of work. Plan it ahead because now your work time, which is reduced to a half day is more critical than it perhaps was when you had a full day.
- work is for producing, half-cation time is for consuming. When you're working, you're there to produce. How do we produce…?
- Use the Pomodoro technique, by Francesco Cirrillo. Find your natural sweet spot of productivity. Mine is 33:33 minutes. In that amount of time, I can get an enormous amount done of the highest quality. I don't lose focus and concentration for the entirety of the time. Once 33:33 is done, I must get up. I must refresh. Even if I don't think I need it. If I aim for two or three pomodoro sessions in my half day of work, I will get a full day's work done because I am so focused.
- Have fun! Remember half your day is a vacation.
After one week, my to-do list is all but done. I've achieved just as much in half a week, as I normally would have in a week. Plus, I've done some of the activities, the passion projects, the book in my vacation time. Here to, simply slotting in one, or two pomodoros.
It's been an amazing week. Only one hiccup. If I continue to achieve what I've achieved in one week and that maintains itself for the month, then, I'm going to explore three months, six months and ultimately a year because it feels like I'm not going to lose anything in productivity.
Most people have the wrong idea about the very purpose of business.
Unions would have you believe that the purpose of business is to employ people. The government thinks the purpose of business is to pay taxes. Communities think the purpose of business is to provide jobs, and sadly a lot of businesspeople think the purpose of business is to provide them with a job!
So, most business people behave with an employee mentality. They don't even have an owner mentality, let alone an entrepreneur mentality.
Smart entrepreneurs understand that their business is a tool, a device, a means of creating money that you then take for yourself spin off and invest elsewhere. It's a different paradigm and very few people make that paradigm shift.
Business is used to Make money
Once one makes it one should Manage it
To Use it… but the most important aspect that most business owners miss is…
To Liberate it.
The ordinary businessperson typically leaves their wealth in their business, and it gets trapped in there. Often the mindset is in 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 45 years from now, I'm going to sell the thing. And that's when I'm going to get all my money out.
The problem is, first of all, it's very hard to predict what's going to happen in 30- or 40-years’ time (think Block Buster Video Store). And so, what you think you may be able to sell for $x, you may or may not be able to realize.
Beyond that, it simply means that you've left the money idle for all of that period of time before you get at it and start using it better.
So, one of the key responsibilities that everybody misses is extracting cash. Most people think of business as a thing to put money into. A smart entrepreneur’s belief is that business is a thing to get money out of.
It comes all the way back to a very basic personal finance principle, pay yourself first. Whilst most business owners pay themselves last.
You pay everybody else; you pay all the bills. If there's anything left, you take some. Quite often there's nothing left.
Most entrepreneurs think like this.
And it's exactly wrong. It's the polar opposite of how business should be run.
You get paid first, and if you can't get paid, then the whole deal is bad, and get out of it as quickly as you possibly can.
Your job is to extract wealth from your business on a day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year basis, and accumulate your wealth outside of your business.
Your ability to create wealth from a business actually depends on how many times you can turn the same invested dollar over. If you're not good at that, you can't liberate money out of the business because you have to leave a whole lot of dollars in the business because they're not turning, well then your business is sick and some solid medicine is required.
Change your mindset – think cash liberation and you will find that your decisions, your actions, and your results will start to get you on the right path.
People who grew up with Andy Warhol's art, music and films will remember him for his famous line: In the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.
Those who knew him personally recall a different message from the artist. "In order to survive," he reportedly said, "everybody will have their 15 minutes of fame."
Nevertheless, it's my feeling that those who are still well-known at the 16-minute mark are most worth paying attention to.
The people who fit this bill best are those who have had their moment in the sun, their lucky break or a taste of success, and have been able to return from the brink of rejection or disgrace with a fresh new take.
These folks, those who can bounce back from adversity, are my kind of heroes.
There's also another group of 16-minute notables whose fame comes as a result of something no less heroic—surviving an extraordinarily difficult challenge.
As somebody who has been working shoulder to shoulder with entrepreneurs in business, I'm always inspired by people who turn what is considered misfortune into an opportunity. And they seem to do it time after time with grit and tenacity (and the help of their peers).
I've compiled a list of 16-minute character traits, that if acquired will help you make an indelible mark on your marketplace.
- Do what others won't do
- Tackle your fears head on
- Bounce back from rejection or disgrace with a fresh new take on life
- Find value in the values of others
- Make it count when you're not at the top
- Have a way of inspiring others who are down and out
- Obsess over the details—they matter most when you're on top
- Put yourself in check for fear of losing sight of what's real or being consumed by self-centeredness
- Know when you need to tap out of the game to preserve your true values
- Remain humble through your climb—you can be down without being defeated
- Give back in large doses because there's always someone in need
- Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you—they will push your limits
- Create opportunities for others to make a name for themselves (and their company)
- Unleash the gifts and talents of those around you
- Don't cheat or cut corners in the pursuit of your goals
- Never stop growing—it's what makes you better today than yesterday
So, there you have it, my list of 16-minute character traits that will take you from the top to near rock bottom, then back up—if you can handle it. Of course, if you're just looking for fast fame without putting in the work, these won’t mean too much to you. I'm all for instant gratification but remember that it's fickle and fleeting (and not to mention, could land you in jail or rehab).
If you're willing to work for it and show up every day with the same amount of gusto that got your name out there in the first place, then perhaps we can meet up at minute 16.
When a person goes for a job interview or when they are introduced to someone for the first time, the impression that is known as "first impression" is critical in determining how things will go.
In fact, research says that the first 40 seconds is what can make or break a job interview.
And this: In a jury trial, the first impression of the defendant is 40% as important as all further impressions put together.
"First impression is a lasting impression" - Oscar Wilde.
We have all heard it said that if you give off a positive first impression, then people will see you in a better light and your life would be made easier for having done so.
And this: when a person falls in love, they may say that it is love at first sight.
So let's look into this thing called "first impression" and see if we can find out why it lasts. Just how does one make a good first impression? What is the magic in making a good (or bad) first impression? And what is all of this got to do with marketing and your business.
Well this, you either hook or lose a prospect with your marketing piece, not when they read it, but when they first look at it.
Now, of course this rule is not 100% accurate. Sometimes a person will read your piece, see it again sometime later and be hooked. Sometimes they hook themselves by reading through.
But most of the time that is not what happens. Most of the time when they get your email, or if they are sitting in front of someone pitching them with all their might, its this first impression that sets the tone for everything.
So, what does this mean when it comes to creating marketing? Since you only get one first impression, then ensure that your marketing piece has a powerful message in it and this will usually be the case when all emphasis is on the hook.
The good news for marketers is that most people tend to miss detail when they are looking at something for the first time. They tend to see "the forest" rather than “the trees".
This is why you will read a piece once, and if you like the “forest” you will decide whether you will read it again. Then as you reread it and get more out of it you are now seeing "trees" instead of "forest".
So, if this is true, then how can marketers use this? Again, your first impression must be powerful enough to keep the person hooked. So that when they consider it again, then there is a good chance that you will have another opportunity to hook them when they read it or hear it for a second time.
Just remember this: "First impressions last".
And don't forget this: If you fail to leave a powerful impression on someone at first meeting, the best ad copy in the world will not help you.
Have you ever watched professional poker players, constantly looking at their opponents eyes when they draw a card? What they are looking for is a specific micro-expression that can indicate whether the player has just drawn something good or if they have just drawn something bad.
This is because the eyes, like all other parts of the body, do not lie and will give away any secret or "tell" like behaviour before it happens. Poker players try to pick up on this nonverbal behaviour and try to make use of it themselves.
Well, I have a theory about all of this. What I believe is that most (or many) of our decisions about how we like or dislike something are not made in 40 seconds, or the first 4 or 40 minutes but rather in the first fraction of a second that we see something new.
And, I further believe that we unconsciously spend the rest of our so-called decision making time not really making a decision after all, but instead searching for justification for the decision we have already made.
And, that's why it is so difficult to get people to see your product, service or idea from a fresh perspective.
The mind remembers things that are associated with strong emotions - it will forever remember the "first time". Think about the intensity of emotion you experience when you first fall in love. And then think about how powerful that can be 10 years down the road.
I think that if you can get your prospect to get an instant lift out of your marketing, you'll be several steps ahead of the game.
Remember: The mind remembers things that are associated with strong emotions - it will forever remember the "first time". Get a lift or get lost!
This is why I say: "Every Marketing Piece Has to be fresh, has to be unique and has to have a Hook In It"
Until next time..
These mistakes have cost many sales people many clients, so it would be a good idea to check these errors out and assess whether you commit them as well.
- Failing to stay front of mind with your prospects
It is imperative for you to be present in the minds of your prospects. By failing to do so both outside and inside of your existing accounts will dramatically dry up your pipeline.
- Failing to focus on results
A common mistake that sales people make is focusing on the process instead of the results; an error that is largely a waste of time. What happens is that the sales person ends up delivering an ineffective pitch when they should have been focusing on bottom-line results.
- Failing to stand out
Many sales people have inadvertently stuck themselves into ‘me-too’ thinking. This thinking restricts them from being creative and innovative. They fall into the trap of being the same as everyone else in the pack, thus losing out on the opportunity to differentiate themselves.
- Failing to listen
This is the classic mistake that sales professionals make. Most of us have the habit of simply hearing our clients without listening to them. Others have the habit of interrupting what their prospects say, overwhelming them with an endless stream of words and delivering off-target solutions.
- Failing to anticipate.
This is a mistake that happens when a salesperson fails to use foresight. Foreseeing potential problems and anticipating solutions will have prevented problems from occurring and the subsequent loss of the sale.
If, you are wondering whether you make any of these mistakes, ask yourself the following:
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Have you noticed your prospects driving hard on your price lately?
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Do your customers patronize the products and services of your competitors instead of your brand? - Have you found yourself redoing or revising proposals for your prospects?
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Have any of your prospects rescheduled important meetings with you?
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Do your prospects submit last-minute requests for proposals?
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Have you experienced missing out on additional requests for customers?
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Think of your last four quotas. Have you ever missed at least two of your sales forecasts?
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Do you feel that your prospects are satisfied with what you propose to them or do you find them still looking for better solutions than the ones you have presented?
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Are your prospects failing to keep you posted on their plans?
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Are your prospects frustrated with errors on your part?
If you have answered a ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then you have a problem that you need to address. Work on resolving these issues and strive not to commit them again. By doing just that, you will experience increased sales success.
Creating an offer is different from just selling a product. I often hear “But I only have one thing to sell”.
Do you know that there can be a hidden business inside your business?
A coffee shop mainly sells coffee but they can also display artworks on their walls for sale. I think you get the idea.
Why should this be considered? No one ever gets rich by selling only one product.
Figure out what else can you sell by listening to this podcast.
This episode is about starting to do things differently.
I was talking about podcasts with my wife over breakfast and she said something that struck a chord. She said that she gets annoyed by the jingles played upfront in most of the podcasts she listens to.
Whoops! That's exactly what I have in my Marketing 24-7 Podcast. Should I continue them?
I recently wrote an E-book called 7 Trigger Marketing Guide to Fast Money and Entrepreneurial Success. Specifically, trigger number 2 is called defy industry norms. Ironically this is a perfect example of where I hadn’t challenged an industry norm.
Take a listen to the latest podcast episode to find out more.
In this week’s episode, we are going to talk about two types of questions that will enable your customers to think and self-reflect. Those two questions are the Discovery questions and Provoking questions.
In sales calls or marketing presentations your goal is to make your customers have their “aha moments” and to do that you have to ask effective questions.
Get to know what these two types of questions are and their differences.
Listen to this podcast and improve your results by improving the quality of your questions.
In this podcast, I am going to ask you one simple question. How do know if you are going to be successful in business?
There’s a very easy way to tell if you’re going to be successful as an entrepreneur. The people who are typically NOT successful are people who just want to make money.
Now, if you think crap if that’s the case I’m doomed, don’t worry—you can change your focus and become successful. Are you ready?
To learn more, listen to this podcast. Get to know why Apple is more successful compared to its competitors and how you can be successful too.
This podcast is about a desperate phone call I received from a potential client!
He had already gone through the process of starting a business. I could tell that the business was slow because he was somewhat desperate in his approaches to try to get new clients. I talked to him about the situation and gave him possible ideas to get more clients.
It hit me like a ton of bricks when he said he had spent four years to get his degree and four years more of commercial practice, but nobody talked to him about how to get clients, not until now.
It is the biggest problem with our education system that plagues new entrepreneurs in just about any market. They don't spend even 10 minutes explaining how to market the skills they have learnt.
In this podcast I outline the key triggers that successful businesses use to get more clients.
Timing and luck in business, yes, it is a thing!
I received an email from someone who has been watching me for a long time. He said that many people look at me as lucky.
Well, the lucky issue by itself is that every overnight success has a long history. My clients and I might appear to be lucky because this is one market we specialise in trying to get to, and that is a long evolving demographic process. We try our absolute best to exercise control over timing. You don't use timing as an excuse, but you do pay attention to it as an opportunity.
That is maybe the most significant difference between fast money entrepreneurs and successful business people versus those who don't. Over 25 years, my primary role has been to identify key triggers. It has made my clients more successful and opened up opportunities to make my clients successful.
Learn more about it by visiting my website Petergianoli.com/fast-money.
And of course, listening to the podcast.
This podcast is about the Guy Sebastian controversy, and why I believe he has made a faux pas on withdrawing his support of the #VaxTheNation Campaign.
COVID lockdowns have obviously crippled Australia's entertainment industry. So they launched a #VaxTheNation campaign urging Aussies to get vaccinated so live entertainment can return.
Australian musos, including Guy Sebastian and many others, got on board. They joined forces with major record labels, ticketing agencies and festival organisers.
For some bizarre reason, Guy Sebastion withdrew his support of the #VaxTheNation campaign.
This controversy isn't really about vaccination. It is about having an opinion, a stance, being authentic and genuine. There are many things you can learn from this and get to know how you attract and bond in a crowded marketplace using the Credo Technique.
Recently I received an email complaint from one of my client's avatars.
The email says, "Peter, your continuous autoresponders are driving us mad. An occasional one is wonderful! A deluge, No, thanks. Signed off."
It is essential to recognise what our clients or potential clients think, feel, fear, aspire to, their shortfalls, and strengths are. I urge people in marketing to be mindful of their client's avatars every time they communicate with them.
Here are my thoughts about this. Learn more about the reason for my podcast and what you can take out of it.
I also learned something from this. “I am not perfect, but I am perfect for you”. A quote from Grace Jones.
In today’s podcast, we talk about the ultra-important concept called the Value Ladder.
Imagine trying to sell a prospect in your first meeting a $60,000 all-in marketing service that is good for a year?
In my eyes that is a great offer! How about in their eyes?
The fact is they are unlikely to know, like and trust me well enough to make a purchase like that. Put yourself in your customer's shoes and you will understand that it is a crazy offer to make even though you may think it is a great offer.
That is where the value ladder comes into play. It is breaking down your services into smaller offers. During this time working with your prospect, you deepen your relationship and improve your chances of an ongoing and even more valuable relationship.
Listen to this podcast and get to know how to craft your own value ladder. Apply it, and then watch the uptake of your prospects dramatically improve.
You might get intrigued by the subject so let me explain it to you on this podcast. It is about a technique that will have clients and prospects come to you instead of pushing yourself to them.
A couple of years ago, I read the book by the late, great ad man David Ogilvy's: "Rules for respect in business."
The rule that resonated with me the most was:
"In meeting with clients, do not assume the posture of servants. They need you as much as you need them."
I'm sure you have your fair share of experiences with pushy salespeople, and your defence mechanism kicks in. They are so needy. That is why they are pushy.
So in this podcast, I will introduce my bass guitar instructor to you, who manages to stay in demand even if he has numerous cheaper competitors. Above all, it is about how you position your USP in this crowded marketplace. Uncover more about why being Needy is death.
In this week's podcast, I talk about Cut-Through!
As an entrepreneur, probably the biggest evil is that dastardly area called the comfort zone. You can't afford to rest on your laurels.
A year or so ago, I was speaking on a stage at an entrepreneur business event. I opened with this statement, "Money Loves Speed." Ironically, that statement is probably three times more appropriate today.
Now, if there's one constant in marketing, it is "Change." One of those changes over the past decade has been the slow erosion of Facebook and Google advertising. Now, look, I'm not one of those people saying that they are dead. If done correctly, it's still one of my favourite models.
So much so, I've got an excellent strategy for you.
Listen to this podcast and make a difference in your business.
This week's podcast will talk about a story that everyone can relate to involving the federal government's current marketing challenges. It is about the Covid Vaccination.
I got my 2nd vaccination! I am fully vaccinated.
When I arrive at the vaccination Centre to check in, they asked, what vaccine are you here to take? AstraZeneca or Pfizer? Well, I was there for my second shot of AstraZeneca. They said, "Straight in, mate. There is no one here." Five minutes later, done with my vaccination.
In doing so, I looked across. I saw plenty of people crammed like sheep in the Pfizer line. These people have clearly decided that vaccination is a good idea, but they are hesitant to take AstraZeneca. The vaccine that the government would like them to take.
What is this telling us?
Listen to this podcast and join me to identify the learnings we can get from the government's marketing challenges. Also, learn more on how to turn the Nos into Yeses!
This week’s Marketing 24-7 podcast is about how to get people’s attention.
Back in the 1980s, when I started my business. I stumbled onto something. Even though I had studied business in truth, I knew almost nothing about marketing and even less about sales. But I was successful, fortunately. Because I stumbled onto this thing called “campaign,” or what others may call a “sequence.”
Learn more on how I was able to improve my fortune. Listen to my podcast today and close more deals!
In this week’s Marketing 24-7 podcast, I will talk about a concept called the Dream 100.
The aim of Dream 100 is to move your clients or the people you are trying to influence to a continuum of:
- I’ve not heard of this company
- What is this company
- I think I have heard of this company
- Yes, I do business with this company
It was first introduced by Chet Homes in his book, The Ultimate Sales Machine (well worth a read). I have used this concept with my clients, and it has brought them success. Even Lady Gaga uses this concept in launching her albums.
Listen to this podcast and get to know how to apply a different marketing strategy that works like a bomb!
In this week’s Marketing 24-7 podcast, I talk about using vitality in marketing.
"The epiphany bridge" is one of the powerful concepts that you can master on your journey to becoming an expert in marketing.
In my case, it was way back in my fitness days. I started a fact sheet for my clients named Exercise Danger. It was about not hurting yourself while you are exercising. It was so timely because at that time Jane Fonda was making a fortune producing aerobics videos that were distributed all over the world, but in doing so lots of people were injuring themselves.
This fact sheet which I later self-published as a book gave me numerous opportunities such as being interviewed extensively by newspapers, radio stations and magazines from all over the globe.
In this podcast, I will share with you how I was able to tell my story passionately and utilising my vitality to bring you success.
This is Marketing 24-7 podcast, we will talk about three words: decide, commit, and obsess.
I know that building and marketing your business possess challenges. It’s not all a bed of roses. It can be frustrating and one needs to know how to handle every situation.
Decide. Set a goal to help you stay focus on how to be successful. Commit. Totally and not half-heartedly. Be motivated to reach your goal. Obsess. It makes you excited. It sets the fire going. Obsessing something makes you want to protect it.
I can help you find a quick fix or drive away potential problems. I help you find a resolution and never allow it to blow up and explode. Handle your business correctly with just three words. Decide, commit, and obsess.
In this episode of Marketing 24-7 Podcast, we will talk about novels and movies. How this relates to Unique Selling Propositions. More particularly, how can you make your business so unique that it will attract people in your market niche to come to you, rather than you have to constantly chase them?
More often you might ask, what can I do to improve the pass on value of my business?
Increasing your business’ word of mouth value is to make it so interesting so cut through so different that people will feel the need to pass it on to their friends and peers. That's the essence of a great USP.
In this podcast, I will share with you a technique on how to do so. I put a lot of work into this for my business and also my client’s businesses. I will unveil something that will give you results in direct proportion to the amount of energy that you put in and create something unique and individual.
What You Focus On Improves
In this episode we talk about scorecards.
What you decide to measure will grow. That is a fact! Many may not like the numbers, and it may stress you out. Don’t bury your head in the sand to avoid the numbers. This has to stop!
Athletes do this all the time. They always try to beat their best times. It is the same in business.
In this week’s podcast, I am urging you to create a scorecard today that you can see daily. Make it as fun as possible. Creating scorecards enables you to measure your growth. Pick the metrics you want to measure. Each day record the numbers. Try to beat your own best goals. Use your focus on your metrics to give yourself the motivation to grow your business.
This Episode of Marketing 24-7, will teach you how you can use your life scars to emerge a winner and not define yourself.
When I was 5 years old, a ferocious dog viciously attacked me. It bit me right through my trousers, there was blood everywhere. It was a terrifying and traumatic experience. That was my first scar—or what I call Battle scars.
Through the years of growing up, I have gathered scars and made vows that made me define who I am.
In this podcast, I will tell you about these scars that I have gathered over the years and how I was able to overcome them and share them with others. And to help others learn from their scars and make the most out of their lives rather than restricting their lives, letting it define who they are.
To be fearless.
To not let criticism define us, but be glad of them.
And more…
So, join me and let’s start to have some fun.
What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
In this podcast I outline a strategy that could make a world of difference to your day , your future and of course your business.
Listen up
The link I refer to in the podcast is
https://petergianoli.com/coach
Dreams suck, particularly the ones that leave you irritated, anxious, or downright mad. No idea why, but all of a sudden I have started dreaming. Even worse, come the morning, I can't remember any of the details, other than the experience wasn't pleasant. I'm left drained, disgruntled, and deranged.
Find out how my issue can be a help to you - listen up!
I devoured the thirty episodes of "Formula 1: Drive to Survive." By time I was done I knew all the players, the general workings of the sport, and Downloaded the F1 app to stay in the loop.
F1 has me hooked and this is why?
With the Olympic Games upon us - or are they? I thought I'd dedicate this episode to how you too should be ready for your opening ceremony.
Shock Jock Howard Stern has crafted out an award winning career being a non conformist.
He has attained massive cut through in arguably the most crowded media market in the world - none other than New York City.
This podcast delves into what is his number one weapon. A must listen.
In The Science of Getting Rich, published in 1910 (find the free e-book online), Wallace Wattles examines what separates those who make it big from those who always seem to fall short of their goals.
According to Wattles, one of the key strategies that wealthy entrepreneurs use is a Thought in Formless Substance—otherwise known as the big idea.
This podcast gives 5 ways to use this strategy.
Everybody thinks that in their business they have to be immediately and constantly accessible.
I say they are wrong.
Listen to this podcast to find out why!
In this podcast I talk about how a shiatsu massage aligned my body but even more importantly sharpened my marketing tools.
It pays to go about your daily life with your eyes wide open... even when you are having a shiatsu massage. As I have said many times before in these podcasts we are all students of marketing and the lessons are all around us... daily.
This episode highlights my latest lesson - and my wish is it helps you as much as it helped me.
Most entrepreneurs like to...Ready, fire, aim!
That’s good. It’s what makes us wake up in the morning, get our products out there, and change the world. So a word like foundations is boring. Definitely not sexy. BUT so essential!!
Podcast Transcript
Most entrepreneurs like to go go go!! Ready, fire, aim, right? That’s good. It’s what makes us wake up in the morning, get our products out there, and change the world. So a word like foundations is boring. Definitely not sexy.
When you stop to learn something like marketing foundations, you may feel like you’re slowing down or taking a step back, but it’s crucial to lay a good foundation so you can build a big house. After all, the foundation you need for a $100 million-dollar business is gonna be a beast compared to a foundation that will support a $1 million-dollar business.
A solid foundation multiplies and maximizes your efforts. It means that when you’re ready to go out there and sell, everything you do will be stronger, faster, and more profitable…even if you don’t exert more effort.
Good foundations build and sustain businesses during all the ups and downs, so don’t skip the chance to learn and shore up your business foundation.
Expand your thinking and expand your skills.
Some simple steps to become very successful in business through great marketing.
Podcast Transcript
IF YOU ARE AT POINT A AND YOU WANT TO GET TO POINT B IN BUSINESS, A BIG PART OF GETTING FROM A TO B IS GOING TO BE VIA YOUR KNOW-HOW AND SKILLS.
A big part of this shift for many of you, is simply to stop thinking like a marketer and to start thinking like a billionaire. I have already covered this, but to be more specific, making this transition involves these steps to become very, very successful.
- How to write better copy or to get better copy written.
- How to build systems that will convert strangers into sales.
- Learn to create campaigns that cause those new customers to continue to buy from you.
- Be able to increase your prices or sell more frequently at a higher price to existing customers.
- Drive traffic from advertising.
- How to generate more leads.
- Discover how to lower your cost per lead while raising your value per lead.
Our brains either move us away from pain or toward pleasure. When you learn how to use this to your advantage, you’ll get so much more done!
This Podcast discusses this subject and more.
Podcast Transcript
Pleasure Vs Pain
Our brains always move us either away from pain or toward pleasure. When you learn how to use this to your advantage, you’ll get so much more done!
The launch of one of my projects took months longer than it needed to because I was procrastinating on my part of the project. I had associated so much pain and suffering with it that no matter how many times I came into work early, I figured out ways to avoid doing it.
I see this happen all the time with people who are ready to take their business to the next level. They associate so much pain with spending money on ads, but instead they spend more and more time and money on additional training and courses and coaching and seminars.
Their brain is trying to find pleasure and move away from pain because the fear of the ad not working is so strong.
Somehow the success of the ad becomes a symbol of the total failure or success of the business. They believe that if the ad doesn’t work, then the offer is terrible, and the business should just go and curl up its toes.
Back to my procrastination, I spent 6 weeks delaying a task that took me 20 minutes to do. The pain in my brain made it so much worse than it actually was!
So how do you use your brain’s natural tendency—to find pleasure and avoid pain—to your advantage? What I do is to create something that had so much pleasure and excitement, so my brain felt like, “I want that! I want that more than I care about the pain.” That’s step one. Create that thing. (And no, I am not going to tell you what it was in my case, because it’s unique to me its a bit stupid and childish, but it was a pleasure thing for me.)
Step two is to tell yourself you can’t have those good feelings until the painful task is done. The pleasure eventually dwarfs the pain (if you do it right). Like a magnet, it pulls you to complete the task.
Step three is to recognize the next time it happens. Remember how big the pain felt and how once you actually did it, it really wasn’t as bad as you’d made it out to be in your head.
So that’s the essence of this message, find a pleasure big enough to override the pain associated with tasks you don’t want to do and get them done.
I woke up to a text from a client the other morning that said mate I need your help.
I love my clients and this client in particular has done just about everything I’ve asked. But, at the end of the day you can’t take the trader out of a businessman.
I got myself a bargain., he said. They started asking for $6000 for that newspaper ad, but I negotiated them down to $2000, mate it’s a bargain…..But! There’s only one problem I need the artwork by lunchtime today. Mate, can you get it done?
In truth there was probably more than one problem. Like do you really need to spend $2000. Is it really a bargain? Why do you think they offering discounts?
As it turned out the same day that the half page colour advertisement ran in the daily newspaper, was the same day that we had started a Facebook campaign to generate clients for this client’s loyalty list.
Now, just two weeks later let me compare and contrast the results.
I chose to wait two weeks before doing the comparison because the Facebook campaign ran for 14 days and has only ended this morning. I imagine other than my client who has the newspaper from 14 days ago on his desk, the bulk of the print copies of that newspaper would now be in landfill!
The half page colour print advertisement looked great, sadly it was on the left-hand page, but it was early in a special supplement.
All of my clients competitors had also been coerced to advertise and as such my client felt he was at least in there with the rest of his industry.
With regards results, well honestly how do you know? Without a coupon (which is a bit old fashioned, nowadays) there is no real way to tell in this client’s business whether they entered his retail outlets because of the advertisement or not.
So, to be fair, the newspaper advertisement did a reasonable job of positioning my client alongside his competitors in a special supplement which he was probably expected to be in. But this privilege came at a cost (albeit discounted) of $2000 plus artwork of around $350.
Now let’s look at the Facebook campaign.
When I first met my client, his daughter had done a fabulous job of cultivating for his business a vibrant and responsive Facebook page. She had incrementally built the page to have around 3000 followers, the size of this following has allowed us to test the market with our messages and offers very quickly. When we find a message that resonates with the followers, we then spend money as a sponsored post.
This particular Facebook campaign was promoting a message that resonated extremely well and as such we had a fair degree of confidence that it would produce strong results.
To put things into context, I need to backtrack a little and tell you more about my client.
He is a successful businessperson and he understands how to get rich in business. He understands that in business what one really does is multiply capital by leveraging assets. Until I joined him, he had never really made the connection that his business marketing should also be treated with exactly the same mindset.
What I had been encouraging him to understand was, that in marketing the capital is the money that is invested into advertising and the assets are the campaigns and products that turn that investment into a profit.
Up until this point when he managed to screw the daily newspaper down to an irresistible deal, I thought I had him no longer thinking about “products and promotions” but rather thinking about assets and ROI with all of his marketing.
Obviously, I have more work to do, but I have a hunch that after he has heard this episode he is likely to see what I mean!
Back to Facebook.
The sole purpose of this campaign was to get email addresses from interested prospects.
Knowing that most people aren’t going to buy the first time they see your offer this campaign was based around giving something valuable and free in exchange for the prospects email address. Remember we had tested this concept on our Facebook followers and knew that the likelihood of market acceptance was high. Our plan, once we had the email address was to build a relationship of trust and value and not necessarily to make a sale.
Thanks to a function inside Facebook where one can create a lookalike audience similar to the attributes of the people who currently follow our page, we could target with a considerable amount of confidence a whole new populous of people that were likely to respond to our offer.
As the email addresses started to enter our campaign funnel in considerable numbers, we began to see their reactions to our pre-formatted auto responder emails series aimed at developing trust. Yes, all the preparatory work had been done and the fruits of our Facebook advertising was to benefit from this work. The beauty of course is that this campaign now exists (Facebook ad copy, lookalike audience, website landing pages, the valuable bribe, auto responder emails, the lot) and can be activated at will. (Sounds like an asset to me!!!!)
Knowing that in every sales situation, there’s always an action or series of actions that a prospect typically takes before they buy. We call these actions response indicators and they are the key to any campaign success.
For example, in a car buying scenario, people rarely buy a car without first taking it out for a test drive. Therefore, the test drive is the response indicator.
This is why when you go to a car dealership, the salespersons first priority is to get you to take the test drive.
Here is how this was applied to this campaign.
We sent traffic via Facebook to a landing page on our website that advertised a free report in exchange for the prospects email.
In order for the prospect to trust us enough to buy, they needed to read the very report they opted in for. The act of them reading the report was the “response indicator” in our campaign.
Shocking statistic reveals major opportunity
Research shows that 50% of prospects are never going to access the information they opt in for.
This means your chances of making the sale are immediately cut in half because statistically speaking, half of your prospects never made it to the first “response indicator”.
Obviously, we had a cure for this, and this was by creating a sequence in our campaign whose sole purpose was to simply move the prospect from one response indicator to another until ultimately, they purchased. This was all pre-set in our auto responder campaign and worked a treat.
How did we know that a buyer came from this Facebook campaign?
Well unlike in print advertisements it is still cool in emails to include coupons. In our case we simply offered a small bonus for every purchase of over $150.
In summary, the 14-day Facebook campaign yielded 384 new prospects, all now onto our database at a total cost of $75.
What is more we were able to track that to date $3898 has been received from these registrations.
Plus we still have them on our database (as we like to call them Traffic we Own) and receiving our auto responders which will continue to drive them bit by bit toward incremental response indicators that finally sees them attend the retail outlet and make a purchase.
Here’s how the numbers ended up:
Total spend: $75
Total Opt Ins: 384
Total revenue collected to date: $3898
For every dollar we spend on that Facebook ad, we got back $51.97 within 14 days.
Plus we got 384 new email subscribers and created tons of goodwill with them.
So I’m sure more will come from it.
Here is the bottom line.
It’s true.
The fortune really is in the follow-up.
Just not in the way you’re used to.
You can’t bludgeon people with pitches and offers and expect it to work.
But if you have a truly dynamic campaign that tracks user behaviour and responds accordingly you can see your sales grow like nothing before.
So, there you have the comparison warts and all.
I’m sure my client is likely to opt for a print media advertisement again, and when he does I just have to make sure that we run a dynamic social media campaign with a pre-prepared sales funnel at exactly the same time to pay for the print ad and make some money at the same time.
Does this story resonate with you?
If you can’t consistently and profitably generate new clients, you’re in a terrible business. Get out.
Please listen to this important Podcast
Podcast Transcript
If you can’t consistently and profitably generate new clients, you’re in a terrible business. Get out.
I know that sounds harsh. People say to me all the time, “But I have these clients who love me!” and that’s awesome. But it doesn’t make this business law any less true. The second law of thermodynamics—the Law of Increased Entropy— means everything deteriorates.
There’s no standing still in business. You’re either growing or dying.
It’s just how the universe works.
You get an apple and you set it out in the sun, what happens? It doesn’t bloom or become bigger; it deteriorates until it becomes really gross rotten apple.
So if you have a business with existing customers but aren’t continually getting new ones, it’s going to start deteriorating quickly.
You want to be successful in business?
Maybe you don’t love selling, but all people seeking success in business —regardless of industry or niche—need to learn how to sell.
That is your first job as an entrepreneur.
Figure out how to consistently and profitably get new people to give you money. Until you get to $1 million in your business, that is your job.
Your primary Focus..
How many of you have replied to a marketing email or text or post with something like, “Stop texting and emailing me! It’s too much!”
This blows my mind, because experts are always looking for ways to learn more about marketing, even the tactics they don’t like.
Listen to this podcast and I will discuss with you a better way to approach things.
Podcast Transcript
Are You A Student Of Marketing?
How many of you have replied to a marketing email or text or post with something like, “Stop texting and emailing me! It’s too much!”
This blows my mind, because experts are always looking for ways to learn more about marketing, even the tactics they don’t like.
Recently I launched a product to help to use Instagram for your business, as I released my marketing sequence I could sense by the replies and uptake that my marketing client list were becoming super excited, signing up, and starting to talk about it to others.
A few days in, however I got a text from a member that said, “Hey, can you take me off this Instagram email sequence as I don’t think it suits my business!”
I couldn’t believe it. I was like, “What are you talking about?”
“I’m tired of getting all the messages, and it’s not for me. Please cancel it.”
I wanted to write back to him, but I didn’t because I was so annoyed and sad.
I know him and he runs a marketing department for a business, and he has told me he is trying to learn how to better market his company’s offerings and get a better return on investment. Well guess what? With this Instagram For Business launch, if he opened his eyes and mindset, he had a perfect behind-the-scenes seat to a launch that was selling its sock off!
He had all the marketing material emailed to him every day, but instead of saying, “Wow, this is a really good case study about how to launch a product,” he got annoyed with it and asked to cancel it.
It just blows my mind how many times people who are trying to learn and improve their marketing get upset with it.
No matter what your expertise or industry, you must become a student of marketing if you want to beat your competition.
And not just a student, an OBSESSED student.
Are you a student of marketing? Well the best university of marketing is usually sitting in your email inbox, your social media feed and even at the football stadium, in fact it’s all around you – you just have to alter your mindset and open your eyes.
Marketing.
Everyone knows they have to do it, but how? There are great stories about people who started with nothing but an idea and built a business from Facebook up, but is that feasible for everyone?
Hardly. In fact probably not…
Good marketing and building a business takes time, money, expertise, and sometimes the humility to say, “I can’t do this for myself; I must outsource!”
So how do you know when to DIY and when to let someone else take the wheel? This podcast is here to help.
Show notes
In fact, I refer to this as a Client Generation System and this is the essence of my Business in a Box service that I offer to clients just like you who are grappling with getting started or revamping their business and need more clients but aren’t sure where to start who to trust or whether to DIY versus getting it DFY
If this is something you are grappling with visit my website
https://petergianoli.com/business-in-a-box
For an explanatory video of what my program has to offer.
People wrongly assume that to be an expert they need to be the smartest person in the room. But that’s completely backward.
Your expertise grows when you surround yourself with smart A players who can make you look good.
Podcast Transcript
A and B Players the difference!!
People wrongly assume that to be an expert they need to be the smartest person in the room. But that’s completely backward.
Your expertise grows when you surround yourself with smart A players who can make you look good.
Don’t find the cheapest help or create a team of B players. You will end up looking bad and paying more.
I know this from experience. I’ve hired people who are the cheapest, and I’ve hired the most expensive, and I’ve hired people in between.
When you invest in A players, they are massively more productive than B players.
When you’re just starting out, you might try to get B and C players because it’s cheaper, but in reality it’s way more expensive in the long run.
One A player can do the work of 10, 15, or 20 people. It may seem hard to believe, but it’s true.
Today in my business I like to try before I buy.
Thanks to Upwork, fiver we work and a host of others for certain marketing type skills I use this strategy.
I have found The best way to find A players is to hire three people to do a small project.
Pay for three versions of what you need. Pick the best and give thatperson the next project. If they do well, give them more.
This way, you’ll always have A players on your team.
In order to be an expert, you shouldn’t surround yourself with people who know less than you.
Instead, build a team of experts who know more and can do things better. It will elevate you and your company much more quickly than a team of B players would.
In this episode I interview singer, entertainer and performer Darlene Marie. Fresh from her fourth Fringe Festival sell out tour we discuss what it takes to have sell out shows.
If you are an artist, perfromer or running a business with a personal flavour this interview is a must listen.
For more information on Darlene Marie visit the Brown Street Studio website.
Let us be honest, by and large it is a crowded market.
The likelihood that your product or service is so unique that you do not have any competition is as rare as a Fremantle Dockers premiership :)!!
We need another Real Estate Agent (not), nor do we need another Coffee Shop, yet, new market entrants are constantly making an impact.
How can you make an impact with your product or service and this podcast will discuss how!
For more training on this topic visit petergianoli.com/authority
This podcast outlines how easy it is nowadays to position you and your business as a voice of authority.
By following this advice you will position yourself so that your dream clients will be exposed to you and your message on every platform that they live on.
Now this isn’t for people who are just dabbling. This is for people who believe so much in their message, people who are so passionate about their message, they’re willing to go out there and try to be everywhere to all people.
Podcast Transcript
Ok I admit it I am not a huge fan of SEO. I dabbled in the dark arts of SEO for a long time. But the ability to position oneself as an authority in a niche of my liking and in doing so dominating the conversation for me has become so much bigger for me, especially so as social media channels started happening and we now have all these amazing channels. For example Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Podcasting so many options have and are popping up.
Now to benefit from this phenomenon you need to make sure you’re everywhere, omnipresent, everywhere you look you are there and you’re entertaining and educating, you’re there.
I want to be as omnipresent as I can on socials. So when you pull out your mobile, if you open it up, it doesn’t matter if you’re going to the Facebook app, the Instagram app, or the YouTube app, you are seeing me and my message.
Now I’m sharing this with you, if you want to dominate the conversations in your particular market niche here’s how you do it.
How to get your dream clients addictively binge watching you on every platform that they live on.
Now this isn’t for people who are just dabbling. This is for people who believe so much in their message, people who are so passionate about their message, they’re willing to go out there and try to be everywhere to all people.
So, as a precursor to this let me share some thoughts on this topic by paraphrasing Gary Vaynerchuk.
I think the mobile phone is the television in 1965. and the TVs of today are back where the radio was in 1965. So if you study is history you know it loves to repeat it’s self.
“So if you go look at the brands, the beer brands, that were romantic about staying on the radio because that’s how they did it, and didn’t shift to television while things like Miller Lite, that nobody’s ever heard of, went TV only and became the brands. If you look at TV 1965, that’s what I think this is. And I think YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are ABC, NBC, and CBS.
“That’s what’s happening. So what you need to do for your business, is figure out the channels where you could be the star of that network.”
So when I saw this clip from Gary Vaynerchuk it resonated We have this really rare, really unique opportunity where literally the mobile phone that Gary said, these are the TVs from the 1960s. So knowing what you know now if you were back in the 60’s and wanted to make it big in business you would be all over TV right and you would be on every channel like the Dem tel guy and. you’’d build the biggest brand possible.
Well, we can do the same thing today, that’s the whole goal.
So, I’m going to walk you through my model, because this is what I am doing for both myself and my clients. I’m trying to dominate the entire conversation in our marketplaces, and, if you weave these types of things into your marketing, and start getting your message out to people, it’s going to change the game for you.
Alright so let’s go over a brief history of TV.
Step number one with TV was to get distribution into people’s homes. People had to build TVs and actually get them into people’s houses. That must have been a horrible process. But eventually there was a TV in everybody’s home.
Then the next step was the channels. So on each TV there was the ABC, Channel 7 then along came 9 and eventually 10 and somewhere that I can’t remember how SBS. 4 channels primarily was all there was.
And then each channel had individual shows, and that’s how TV works.
So we have distribution, channels, and then shows within channels.
Well, Today the game’s a little bit different. But it’s similar.
So how we play today, number one, people already have the TVs. Everyone already has a mobile in their pocket. In fact, I bet most of you listening to this are doing so on a mobile – am I right? Okay, so distribution is now done. That’s nice. That’s taken care of for you guys.
Step number two then, is to have a channel. How many of you guys have the Facebook app on your phone? YouTube app? Instagram? The channels are already there as well. So our step now is to create shows on these channels, and then promote these shows.
That’s it. That’s the game, it can be really, really fun.
The other thing to keep in mind – just like with TV shows and their ratings – the shows that really work, the ones that really go off are the ones that entertain, teach, or make a difference. You need to keep this in mind when you are producing content for your shows – there is no difference – you need to keep “art” in mind.
I digress…
Alright, next step, this is the secret I need everyone to understand about business as a whole. I wish somebody had explained this to me twenty or so years ago. It took me a while to figure this out. The secret to winning in my business and any business at all for that matter is distribution. The person who will win, is always the person with the best distribution. The ability to get their message to people, distribution is the key.
So the big secret in this whole game is building your own distribution channels.
When you have it you can sell whatever it is you want. You can sell services, you can sell products, you can sell memberships and courses, you can sell whatever you want to sell you can sell it. But you have to have distribution channels to do it.
Now on the internet, most distribution happens a couple of ways. One is via our email lists. How many of you guys have an email list right now? Good, that’s your distribution channel. My email list has saved me many times over stupid choices. It’s a distribution channel. You can create a product, create a service, send the email out to that list, and then make you some money.
I remember when I first got this, this was probably 12-14 years ago now.
I was marketing high end apartments and the local newspaper had become uncompetitive – we were forever playing catch and kill type marketing/ That was so hard and expensive and ineffective.
Then I began experimenting with database building and marketing and it changed the game.
Recently I heard Russell Brunson explaining the concept of the email list and he said, “ if you have an email list of 100,000 people and you send an email out selling a $30 or $40 product, .001% will buy, that means around an $8,000 return.” Wow who doesn’t need one of those list things. That sounds awesome.” And that kind of the key.
Now if you look at the metrics, .001% is a number most people think is low, but if you have an email list you should average, on average at least one dollar per name, per month, on your email list. And that’s on the low, low end, if you’re really bad at this.
If you understand that, then what’s your goal? If your goal is to make a hundred thousand dollars a year, or to make a million dollars a year, whatever that is, you just have to reverse engineer it.
“Okay I need, if I have 10,000 people on my list, that’s $10 grand a month, that’s $120,000 a year.’ Boom, that’s where you focus, how do I build that distribution?
If you want a million dollars a year you say, “Okay I need 100,000 people on my list, that’s $100,000 a month, times 12 months, 1.2 million.” That’s the key to the distribution channel.
You’re building a list. Again, this is, one dollar per name, per month, is on the lower end. Especially now days when all the stuff we’re tying in with social media and connection with my clients, I’ve seen those numbers go up. I’ve seen people achieve 10, 15, 20 dollars per month, per name. So this is like the low end, if you’re really, really bad at it. Is that exciting? It should get you pumped because honestly this is the key.
IN the show nots of this podcast I will add the product page of my 24-7 List Building Package which sells for a paltry $19
Number two now, which is growing rapidly and almost probably bigger are social lists. Messenger is one of the biggest. How many of you guys have been using messengers in your business? Yes, this is a gift from the marketing gods. I’m grateful for messenger lists. So the question is, should I build an email list? Or should I build a messenger list? Which one’s better? And the answer is you need both. Do not rely on one distribution channel in anything.
I promise you guys, Mark Zuckerberg does not like your business as much as you do, or as much as his own business and someday he will change the deal on you, I promise.
One is like the scariest number. If you build nothing but a social list, you can be in trouble. If you build nothing but an email list – whilst not as much trouble. Its best to have a blend of both. In fact, I am working on a how to Messenger training course as we speak and it should be available so stay tuned on that one.
So how do you build your distribution?
There are three types of traffic. The first type of traffic is traffic you control. you don’t own this traffic, but you control it. Zuckerberg owns traffic, so you can go to him and ask, can I give you some money for some of your traffic?” and he’ll likely say, ‘Sure. Where do you want to send it to?” and you now control this traffic. And you say send it over here to my landing page. That’s traffic you control. Any kind of ad you are paying for, you are controlling traffic. You do not own that, but you are controlling it.
The second type of traffic is traffic that you don’t control. The traffic you don’t control is where people just show up onto your site. How many of you guys have a blog and somehow people show up and read it? You don’t really know how, but they’re there. That traffic is really nice, but you don’t control it so it’s, they show up and they’re there and that’s awesome or they don’t. A lot of times SEO, or PR or things like that are aimed at getting people to just show up because of stuff you’re doing.
I see a lot’s of people simply relying on these two – either buying ads or free search and to a lesser extent nowadays PR.
For me it’s neither of these. These are two really bad distribution channels.
I want to build my own distribution channel. So, all the traffic I control and all the traffic I don’t control, all gets pushed into one thing, that’s to become traffic that I own.
The only reason I give Mr Zuckerberg money is so I can take clients off his platform and turn them into something that I own, so now I can own that distribution. Does that make sense?
When I own the list, I can wake up one morning and say, “Hey I think I should do an event. Let’s call it Peter G Live. Do you think anyone will show up? I don’t know, I own some traffic. Let’s throw some traffic at it.” I throw some traffic at it and all of a sudden, I find out if people want it or not. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. If I did a good job on the what and the how then folk buy it and I say, “Cool, let’s do more of this.”
When you own traffic, you can make these offers, you can make up ideas, it becomes, this game becomes really, really easy to market and build your business – you now have some real levers to pull and execute.
So if you shift your mindset from, “I’m going to buy ads. I’m going to do SEO or whatever.” All the traffic that you get you must turn into traffic that you own. Because after you own it, you can do anything you want with it. So that’s my goal every time I work with clients in building up their busieness. That’s my goal. Converting traffic you control and don’t control into traffic that you own.
So all the traffic I control, if I’m buying any kind of ad, I’m not sending it randomly somewhere, I’m sending it to a defined system to convert it into traffic I own.
The worst number in business is one!
The best number in business is many. It starts with two, but as quickly as possible you should grow the number to many.
This podcast episode outlines why and how many is your friend.
To prevent your successful business from dying, heed this warning now.
In this episode I provide a warning of why you can never stop oxygenating your system. Here is some of the advice in this episode:
- Find out how I learnt to always oxygenate the system.
- See what kinds of things you can be doing to keep yourself relevant in the eyes of your customers.
- And find out why even when you’re successful you need to continually put oxygen into the system.
Podcast Transcript
I have had this recurring theme in my head for the last couple day or so and I need to share this with you.
So I’m going to talk about my own experience, and then a close friend’s experience,
So the theme, the message today is you have to keep on putting oxygen into the system. Now, I’ve experienced this about three or four times throughout my career, I’ve made this mistake and learned from it. And hopefully I won’t make this mistake again.
But a lot of times what happens is we start having success with something and we think, “This is amazing.” And then you stop doing it, for some reason.
In my business for example, I’ll start growing a list, I’m doing something to get new customers, new people to my door. And I’m having fun with it and it’s working and then I start shifting my focus from that to selling them. And in doing so I forget about the oxygen or the fuel if you wish - that was bringing people into business in the first place.
At first you don’t notice it because you’re having success converting the existing customers you had already brought in, but eventually it starts imploding and your company will struggle.
I’ve seen and discussed this with countless people who have come to me for marketing help and advice. When I ask them about the “good old days” in other words when they were making a dollar and loving their business success – they will all tell me about the things they used to do – the weekly ads, the weekly visits to customers – the weekly radio spot the weekly Facebook post whatever but for some reason it got hard, they got busy, it stopped working they are not really sure…. but they stopped. And surprise, surprise times are now tough.
Look I get it – in fact I’ve done it “I had another podcast called Monday Sales Coach I podcasted every single week, for well over 18 months and I started getting busy with sales consulting and strategy work, I mean really busy and then I stopped. “I was making money, things were great. And then I go and cut off the oxygen that was fuelling my success.”
That’s what happens and I know you are thinking, “I would never do that.” But how many of you guys are still doing weekly client outreach? Alright, that means you cut off the oxygen to your business.
Let me step back and tell you a story. About 5 years ago I decided to reengineer my company and what I intended to specialise in. In doing so I also decided to modernise my branding realign my USP and obviously revamp or should I say rebuild my website. (ok, so I don’t do half measures very well 😊). So all up by the time I had achieved everything it took every bit of six months.
I remember deciding during that process, “I don’t want to email my list at the moment. I don’t want to confuse them; I don’t want to freak them out. I want them to be ready so when I have the new look ready and launched and live, they’ll be ready to hear from me and of course buy stuff.”
So for nearly six months I didn’t email my list, and then the new look came out and I was so excited and I emailed the list.
My list would normally get close to a thousand clicks and was very responsive to my emails. Sadly, I remember this time I had around 300 opens and 12 clicks. “Oh crap, they don’t remember who I am. Not good. Getting some money into the door at that time would have been great as the revamp wasn’t cheap when I added it all up, and this was the expectation of this whole promotion.” They (the database) had forgotten who I was. I hadn’t been putting oxygen into the system.
And it was a very sad, and kind of scary lesson. I had to scramble to rebuild the value in my list, rebuild a connection with them, get new people. I remember saying, “I will never not email my list because people forget so fast.” If I waited a week to email my list, if it takes me three weeks to email my list, 2/3rds of my list will have forgotten who I am by that point.
There’s so much noise, so many things happening, you have to always be out there. That’s the reason why I’m doing Instagram, and Facebook, and podcasting like this, and all these things because it would be rude of me to simply email a list everyday but I know that I should be doing something every single day because I need to keep oxygenating the system. This is what builds the business.
So I had a friend over last night and we were talking and he’s going through a bit of a tough time now, and we start talking and it was funny because he’s got a couple of different businesses and in all of them he had stopped supplying the oxygen.
For his local business he had stopped the fuel. He has just restarted adding it and already he has noticed doing awesome again. So, I asked, “Yeah, but what’s the lesson?” and he’s like, “I’d forgotten to put oxygen into the system.” I’m like, “yeah, you gotta keep doing that.” Even when things get successful, you gotta keep doing the things that are oxygenating the system.
And then that same person has a webinar, and he was doing a weekly webinar for a long time, making a bunch of money and then he stopped because he started selling other events and things like that to this list, and it worked for a while and then attrition started happening and atrophy, or whatever you want to call it. And then it slowed down. I said, “Start doing the weekly webinar. Get back with it. That’s the oxygen that builds the business, that keeps doing it.”
That same friend has used a lot of video, “I used to publish video a couple of times a week and I haven’t for some time.” You have to keep oxygenating the system, even when you have success, you can’t stop the lifeblood.
So that’s the message for this episode. This is a short podcast, I know. But arguably one of my most important.
I know we all go through cycles, you’re focusing on how do I make it rain, how to oxygenate the system, how do I bring people in here, and you’re doing that well and your list and your customer base will start growing.
And then what’s going to happen?
I’m warning you, for those who haven’t done it yet, and I’m reminding you for those of you who have. You’re going to shift your focus, and so you should, you should be shifting some portion of your focus to that audience and serving them and what’s the next thing I need and how else can I help them or offer them,
What should I do? Is it an event? Or whatever, but the big thing is you can’t stop. You still have to tie it all in, oxygenating the system. You have to keep providing the fuel to your business.
In my company I now have a system that actually measure the amount of oxygen I put into my system every day. I record each item and hours spent every day. I know I have to keep creating content, keep creating podcasts. I have to do at least one podcast a week. I must do at least this many emails a week. I have to present x number of proposals etc etc…I have these metrics I have to keep doing.
I have to get at least 50 new people a week to register for my material, I have to keep doing this to have the system work. I know my numbers and it all starts with newbies – at the moment for me it is 50 a week. So, my oxygen requirements for my business are straight forward because I know that’s the fuel for the business.
I could easily stop right now; I could stop doing all this stuff. Instagram Facebook the lot – I am busy and I’m making money.
I could stop all these things, but I know what would happen in six months to a year from now, if I stop these things today. I can’t tell you how many clients I have who have been in their industry a long time who were killing it at one time. They had built up this strong business by doing the hustle and grind and then they stopped and so too did their growth. That is the issue with business: you are either growing or shrinking.
So if you stop oxygenating your system, getting new people into the front end, your existing list, while they might be hot and responsive now, it will eventually get worse and worse until eventually you’re out of business.
So this is the warning to you all. Continually put oxygen into your system. Initially when you start your business it’s going to be a hundred percent of your effort, because you have no oxygen, no people, nothing to sell, no one to sell too. So it’s focusing, focusing, focusing a hundred percent of the time. And as customers start coming, you start shrinking the effort and diminishing the focus.
But I would say, if it were me now knowing what I now know, I would spend at least 50% of your time still oxygenating the system and the other 50% on serving the people you have in there. But I wouldn’t drop below that. Because if you do, it will start to shrink and shrink and eventually disappear, which is the worst thing you can do to your business.
Oxygenate your system, keep it going. Do not stop even when it seems like, “I don’t need to do this anymore”, You will become irrelevant if you stop the oxygen.
The difference in results of your marketing is around the willingness to do deep thinking about your customer. To not be lazy, to not be sloppy and above everything else not be guilty of Lazy Marketing.
Podcast Transcript
Here’s an example. You take two people.
They each make $300,000 a year. They each live in $1 million houses.
So demographically they’re affluent.
Now we’re going to market to them.
One of them travels incessantly. Five days a week on the road. Which they now hate. He’s overweight, unhealthy, eating bad food in airports, his relationship is in trouble.
The other one works from home, he loves it.
His desk looks out his window at his park across the road. He takes time off every day to take his dog for a walk. His marriage is in good shape.
Now - Do they feel equally affluent?
Demographically they’re affluent but we don’t want to be marketing to them the same way.
We’re going to fail with one.
Odds are we’re going to fail with both.
Bad advertising, bad marketing is simplistic and it’s lazy.
It always tries to lump too broad of a spectrum of people into one group and then to talk to them in a mass advertising mass marketing kind of way.
So, there’s not that many differences in structure in how you market to the affluent. In a broad sense there’s not much difference in what they want and what they don’t want than anybody else.
But there are nuance differences that really have big impact.
Remember they automatically have more choice.
So the more discretionary money you have to spend, the less price matters to you in a category, the more choices you have in that category and you can be more selective.
So marketing to them now means about being identified as for them and not for everybody else.
The difference in results is around the willingness to do deep thinking about your customer.
To not be lazy, to not be sloppy and so here’s a litmus test and it’s kind of the survey what do you know about your customer.
I can sit here, and with my customer I can talk to you about them for around three hours about who that customer is. I know that person intimately. I - so I can tell you demographics things. I can tell you psychographic things. I can tell you geographic things. I can tell you their pain buttons. I can tell you their desire buttons.
So if you can’t sit and tell me about your customer for three hours without running out of useful and relevant things to talk about, then I would say you’re not prepared to market to them effectively. If you have to put or you are putting a big umbrella over them you don’t have intimate enough information and your marketing could do a lot better.
Here is a handy little LinkedIn tip that if you follow methodically will make you and your business a lot of money!
Spend 30 minutes every day searching and adding your ideal clients to LinkedIn.
Podcast Transcript
Get your LinkedIn profile as up to date as possible and make sure it works as a sales funnel for your business. By that I mean make sure it is easy to get to your business website from your LinkedIn profile and ideally a lead generation page where you can entice prospects to give you their details.
Spend 30 minutes every day searching and adding your ideal clients to LinkedIn.
As you do this, your profile will get viewed by the exact criteria of people you wish to do business with. This is because LinkedIn tells people who have visited their profile.
Most people accept connection requests so this is a technique that is reliably successful.
As your target audience adds you, engage with their content by liking and commenting on it. Prospects will learn who you are and what you do and because you’ve built a relationship, you’ll find prospects start messaging you when they need your services.
In addition, you need to start posting your own content to LinkedIn. This too will get seen by your target prospects. Things like your opinions, updates on what you’re up to and amusing, creative and valuable stories relating to your business and or industry.
You can post that you’re looking for clients, essentially this is a free advert for your business and will be seen by your exact target audience as you keep adding your ideal target prospects.
The detailed search functionality of LinkedIn makes it an incredibly powerful platform for generating B2B leads with your ideal clients.
You can find them, add them, get in front of them, engage with them, and advertise to them. All for free.
This is so incredibly powerful.
Go do it just 30 minutes a day and you will start getting leads.
For even more in depth and simple How to master LinkedIn information – go to my website
Petergianoli.com/Linkedin-mastery
Spend 30 minutes every day searching and adding your ideal clients to LinkedIn.
How was it?
The common question asked by staff after a flight, at the cashier at a restuarant when you pay your bill wherever.
This question can only be answered in one of three different ways:
- Something positive and nice about your business
- Nothing about you and your business
- Something derogatory about you and your business.
The answer is 100% in your hands. This podcast tells you why and the consequences of the wrong answers.
Responsibility equals control and control equals responsibility.
Or as a formula it is R=C & C=R
Now this might seem very simplistic to some people. But the importance of this formula and how the average entrepreneur, applies it day to day can dramatically improve circumstances.
Podcast Transcript
This formula is like the ultimate governor, here's why...
This simple formula - Responsibility equals control and control equals responsibility - is so true but only to the degree that you are prepared to accept responsibility for any situation.
So, by accepting responsibility means you can exert control over the situations you find yourself in.
I first heard this formula from Mr Dan Kennedy the legendary Us copywriter who I had the pleasure of working with many moons ago on a USA based National Speakers Association tour and he used this example, to illustrate the point.
When he was a pro speaker on the tour – there was another speaker on the program (for the record this wasn’t me – but at times it could have been :)) who was not doing as well with sales at the back of the room as he should have been doing. And when Dan had a conversation with him, he had a litany of reasons, for why he wasn't doing so well.
“The environment's not good”, as they were in a great big sports arena and the audience was sitting on benches and,
“The sound is bad”.
“His time slot is bad.”
“The sales staff were doing a terrible job and they are erratic,” and so on.
In Dan Kennedys example Dan went on to explain that whilst the list was somewhat right it didn't take Dan himself who was also on the tour that long to figure out all of the same things.
By the time Dan had done his third presentation, he could see it was a terrible environment. And, the staff did suck. And especially for Dan because by the end of the day, they were exhausted, and they just wanted out of there and they couldn’t care less if anybody purchased anything.
So, Dan had the same list, but the key difference was Dan began to exert control over element after element, after element on the list.
For example, with the sales staff at the back of the room, Dan was the only speaker who paid them bonuses. Dan would arrive at the venue two hours before he spoke and went around to the manager first of all, and put him on a bonus plan based on how much was sold, this was discussed and based on the size of the audience. And then he went around with the manager to every one of the product sales areas, and set them up on their own little bonus plan.
“So if we sell this much, everybody gets $5 bills. If we sell this much, everybody gets $10 bills. If we sell this much, everybody gets $20 bills. And when all the dust settles before you all leave, I'll be back around, passing out the cash. Now, do you want to hear what you can do to sell more? Fine. Here's the script. Here's what you say when they come out, etc etc”…
And so Dan did something like this for every item One by one down the list, because he understood that ultimately he is responsible for trying to control the environment in which he worked.
Now I have found the same in my circles - just like if you ask a Real Estate sales person how is business, and they answer with how tough the banks are being with lending policies and nobody can get loans – so it is too difficult to sell.
Or if you ask an entertainer how are your bookings going in this strange COVID world and most of them will say – oh its terrible but what would you expect in this market nobody is having events.
I must admit though – just the other day I got back this answer which was “look I have had a few enquiries, but I priced myself too high and I didn’t get the gigs”.
As I am sure you can sense the answers of blaming banks or COVID or the market are not overly useful because you have no opportunity to exercise any control over them. But the answer like “I have had a few enquiries, but I priced myself too high and I didn’t get the gigs” means you at least have an opportunity now to go try and figure out what the hell it is that we can do differently, that will affect the result.
This is a real thought pattern. And you pick it up, you can see who has it or not - by their language. And when you say to somebody, “how did your database mail campaign go?
“You know, it didn't do very well” verses “well, we screwed it up”.
The person who says we screwed it up, guess what? they are the true entrepreneurs the successful entrepreneurs - the winner.
How are things going?
“Oh, business this month. Isn't very good, Now that is a loser talking because they are not taking any responsibility for it. Therefore they have no control over it. So they can't do anything about it. The people that say, well, we haven't done much business this month. Now they’re in the, fix it, improve it, figure it out mode. And so this formula R=C & C=R is and can be so powerfull.
People just don’t quite understand how important this is because this really does make a difference. Whether people take responsibility or not depends if they are going to be in control of something and make a difference or just let things happen to them – the choice does exist.
And one of the things that I have observed amongst successful people – is how often they are willing to accept the fact and make the statement that I screwed this up. As opposed to so many other people who go the victim route, you know, this happened and that happened.
Remember there's no power in that. No power in the excuse mode, in the long lists, all the excuses, the blame others…
The only power is in a hundred percent responsibility. So again, burn this into your psyche – your daily life – R=C & C=R
Responsibility equals control and control equals responsibility.
Trust me life and business will just keep getting better.
Let me give you a number...
82!
82, why is this so important?
Its the average life expectancy of the Australian male. Female number I believe is a little larger, but never the less we all have an end number, what you do from now until then is up to you.
Listen to this podcast for some timely advice.
An accomplished jazz musician has 3 key rules:
- Find your own voice
- Never play the same way twice
- Know the basics inside and out
Sound advice I know. In fact these three rules even make more sense in business and marketing.
This podcast is must listen.
Jerry Macuire is one of the best business movies ever produced.
Jerry's life changing mission statement scene is six minutes of pure entrepreneurial gold in this episode I outline why!
Show Links
Click HERE to watch the scene
Grab some great USP training here petergianoli.com/usp
In this podcast I feature an interview with Barry Walker a Senior Strategist with Wunderman Thompson, Perth. Barry discusses his recent article "The playbook for creating sport tribes that bind" which appeared in MarketingMag.com.au
During the interview we discuss what sport tribalism can mean for your business if you think about the relationship with your clients and customers in a different way.
It's amazing the lessons you learn in business and sometimes they come from unusual or in this case feared circumstances.
Keeping your eyes and ears open to issues your clients are experiencing can often times lead to business innovation that becomes core to your business growth.
Here is my latest lesson.
This is not a political podcast but rather a compare and contrast of the marketing strategies behind the Trump v Biden contest.
Lets be honest this is the biggest game on the planet and we as marketers should analyze it and see what we can learn.
Here is my take.
Go to this Link for the FREE resource I mention CLICK HERE
What was once an invitatoion to present at a conference and sell from the back of the room at the end of your presentation has now been replaced by Zoom.
Performing the segue from teach to pitch is always an awkward moment whether it be from a stage or on Zoom. In fact it is a lot harder on Zoom, so seamlessly transitioning through to pitching your offer takes thought, skill and strategy.
Here how...
People come to me and they say, well, I want to be an entrepreneur. And I go, Oh, that's great. What's your idea? And they go, well, I don't have one yet. And I say, well, I think you should go get a job in hospitality or something. So you find something you're really passionate about because it's a lot of work. And I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You pour so much of your life into this thing. And there are such rough moments in time that most people give up. I don't blame them. And it's really tough. And it consumes your life. I mean, if you've got a family and you're in the early days of a company, I can't imagine how one could do it.
I'm sure it's been done, but it's rough. I mean, cause it's a pretty much, you know, 18 hour per day job, seven days a week for a while. So unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive. You're going to give it up. So you got to have an idea or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you're passionate about. Otherwise you're not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. And I think that's half the battle right there.
CLICK HERE FOR MY APP
What steps can a sales or marketing professional take to create a compelling business proposal?
Podcast Transcript
In an ideal world, business proposals should be created in consultation with the client. However, when circumstances do not allow for direct communication with the other party, one should follow these 9 business proposal guidelines:
-
Write a concise and persuasive executive summary
Your summary should give your client a clear overview of what to expect in your proposal. A short and concise summary is preferred over a long one with little value. -
Focus on results rather than on procedures
Keep in mind that your client is giving you a chance to present a proposal because he or she believes in the potential that your product has in addressing their concerns. Take advantage of that by focusing your pitch on the results that your product can deliver. -
Let your ideas flow freely
While you should avoid unnecessary words, do not hold back from expressing important points and ideas. Add value by expressing well-thought out business propositions and back up your proposals with reliable data. -
Quality over quantity
Remember it is not going to be about the length of your business proposal but rather its quality. Get to the point. Do not make the mistake of sacrificing clarity of thought for the sake of too many words. -
Tailor the contents per the needs and concerns of the client
A business proposal, no matter how well-written, will be of little or no value if it does not address the specific concerns for which it was produced. Therefore understanding a client’s need is critical in the creation of the proposal. -
Double check your content
Do not risk devaluing your business proposal. Always double check your written proposal to make sure that your plans are valid and on-point. Check your data for accuracy. Remember that your client will rely on your proposal for key decisions so be responsible with what you include. -
Critique your output
Content quality is king. Do not rush your proposal. Give yourself time to sleep on it for a day if you can and then read the entire paper again. Do not stop editing until you are completely satisfied and confident that your client will find the proposal of real benefit. -
Details matter
In the interest of producing quality proposals, you need to pay attention to the tiniest details. For instance, keep the text free from any typographic or grammar errors. -
Do not oversell
Although you have written the business proposal to persuade your potential customer as to the value of your product, be mindful not to oversell. Sell only what you know you can offer.
By keeping these guidelines in mind, you can be sure that you will not only be able to deliver a well-written business proposal but also close deals because of your efforts.
Over the course of time, I have met people who seem to have done everything they could to spread the word about their business. They have met people, printed brochures, and much more, however, they still do not appear to get ahead.
When they ask me for suggestions, I simply ask them,
“Have you asked your clients to buy your product or service?” Most of the time I just get back disbelieving stares.
Podcast Transcript
“Have you asked your clients to buy your product or service?”
Yes, many salespeople have failed to realize that in the world of marketing, asking questions can mean the difference between closing and losing a deal. In fact, many sales have been lost simply because the salesperson did not ask for it.
Now, why is it that so many hesitate to ask a prospect to buy their product or service?
The short answer is that they are simply afraid of rejection. The thought, “What if they say ‘no’” keeps ringing in their minds and holding them back from saying the words that could have gotten them the sale.
If that is true in your case, then it is the time that you change your thinking. Instead of thinking, “What if they say ‘no”, start thinking, “What if they say ‘yes’”?
You see, years of studying the field of marketing have taught me that in business, it is normal for you to get more ‘no’s than ‘yes’. So, learn to consider every ‘no’ as a stepping stone leading to the ultimate ‘yes’.
Even the most successful salesperson is happy with a 10% conversion ratio. In other words, they are used to getting that ‘no’ from their prospects, 90% of the time.
So, do not take a ‘no’ as though it means the end of your business. Think positive! A ‘no’ may only mean that they are not interested for the time being. That means you could try again later.
There may be another reason behind the ‘no’. It may be that you have failed to help your prospect understand the benefits of what you are offering. If that is the case, then move forward from there. Try to tailor your message next time to help your audience relate to your products. Sometimes, all it takes is just a change of one word or two in your message.
If you still find it difficult to ask for a sale, why not consider reading through articles and other publications that tackle this subject? You will find the information they contain most helpful.
Learning to ask the right questions is often the answer to boosting your sales. Avoid falling into the trap of sales phobia. Learn, not only to socialize during business gatherings but also to speak up about your product with confidence.
Learn to sell yourself and do it well.
Do not be afraid to approach people and talk about your product. You must believe that you have the offer that could help them improve their lives. When you consider it your obligation to let others know that your product exists, you will gain more confidence in reaching out to them.
What if they say ‘no’? Then keep your smile on and proceed to the next person until you get a ‘yes’.
Having a USP is one thing, using it effectively is another. In this episode I take you through some of the genius of radio creative Garry Dean from NOVA 93.7 in his use of the USP for the WA's Big Butcher launch ads.
Podcast Transcript
Big Butcher (Grand Opening)
*MV has a big, deep voice
Sfx: Large butcher’s knife being sharpened
MV: Big Butcher here …
No prizes for guessing how I got my nickname.
Yes I’m big. Yes, I’m a butcher!
For me, it’s all about the CUT.
Premium cuts of meat … at cut prices … because I cut out the middle man …
… and bring ‘Margaret River Fresh’ meat direct from the paddock to your plate.
Sfx: Butchers knife slams down on heavy duty chopping board
MV: Come to my GRAND OPENING on October 10th!
39 King Edward Road Osborne Park.
BIG BUTCHER .com.au
For more information on how you can develop a unique and razor sharp USP for your business please visit petergianoli.com/usp
A strong USP provides a solid foundation for differentiating your product and giving you a leg up on the competition. These famous USPs have worked well to promote products and services successfully.
Podcast Transcript
A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a unique selling point or slogan that differentiates a product or service from its competitors. A USP may include words such as the "lowest cost," "the highest quality," or "the first-ever," which indicates to customers what your product or service has that your competitors do not.
Using a USP is a great marketing tool to help position and sell your product. Some marketing experts go even further and believe that unless you can pinpoint what makes your business unique in a world of homogeneous competitors, you can't target your sales efforts effectively.
A strong USP provides a solid foundation for differentiating your product and giving you a leg up on the competition. These famous USPs have worked well to promote products and services successfully.
Avis
We're number two. We try harder.
This USP does a fantastic job of turning a drawback into a benefit. For a long time, Avis was the second-largest car rental company, after Hertz. In fact, Avis was struggling just to stay afloat.
As part of a total image makeover, Avis hired the famous ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach to come up with a new ad campaign. The campaign was so successful, Avis' market share went from 11% to 35% in just four years.
Fed Ex
When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.
FedEx no longer uses this slogan, but while it was in effect, it was a perfect example of a compelling slogan. In very few words, FedEx was able to convey the message that it guarantees that it will deliver your package on time. FedEx replaced it with the slogan “The World on Time,” which is vague and doesn't contain a USP.
Mars
The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
The slogan for M&M's is an example of how even a rather off-beat USP can be catchy and compelling. Who would think of making a selling point out of the fact that a product doesn't melt if you hold it? Mars did, and it worked very well for them.
For more information on how you can develop a unique and razor sharp USP for your business please visit petergianoli.com/usp
A razor sharp USP sets you apart from your competitors.
It is your point of difference.
It is what do you have to do to have your clients easily talk about you and recommend you to others.
And how can you best describe your business, service, or your offering so that it resonates best with potential clients.
Podcast Details
This podcast is audio extracted from a video I have created on the topic.
To watch the video please visit my website CLICK HERE
If you would like more training on developing your Razor Sharp USP please CLICK HERE
There's one place where most problems in any business come from... challenges in communication.
Podcast Transcript
When you don't have a communication system, your team won't know what to expect or when they're going to hear from you. As the entrepreneur in charge, you are likely to experience emotional overwhelm. Since the whole team has to come to you, you're overwhelmed, and you're getting too many inquiries. You'll feel frustrated. You will feel like your team doesn't take the initiative and that everything is moving too slow. It will start to cause massive anxiety for you. It’s important to know that having emotional overwhelm will a ect everything in your life, not just your business.
Communication is by far the biggest issue in small businesses, the source of most arguments in relationships, and the root cause of most issues between human beings. It might surprise you, but a lot of businesses lack a communication system. As a result, you will start to wonder whether your team is contributing enough and why they aren't producing at the level you expect them You will constantly be wondering what you team is working on. It will start to make you a little crazy because if you don't have a communication system, you don't know what everyone is doing.
You will also begin to lose good team members. They will get frustrated, feel overworked, and most likely quit. Projects start to fall behind because the communication was not there. Then what happens? We all know what entrepreneurs do. You have to pull a war room, an all hands on deck, let's save this type of move. Someone needs to be a hero, and everyone has to work like crazy. Everyone has to come in early and get stu done. Why? Because there's no communication system telling people what's going on.
To solve communication issues in your business, you need to create a system to communicate efficiently and effectively with your team. When everyone knows what's going on, everyone's kept in the loop, and everyone knows what's happening in the business, problems, pressure, and noise go down.
When you have a communication system, mistakes and issues go down to a minimum. It's glorious. You stop having to hear about how everyone's frustrated. You get more projects done, and you get projects done faster. When there's a communication system, there's less hassle for you and your team. Everyone on the team is more efficient, and they get better at what they do.
When you overcome challenges in communication, your team understands you better. When your team knows when they're going to hear from you, how they're going to hear from you, and what they're going to hear from you, they feel like they're in momentum and they are no longer are waiting for word on high. Your team is more productive and they support each other. They get into bigger and better momentum every day. If you want each person in your business to be in momentum, put in a communication system where they know their outcome, what they're accountable for, and the perspective you're using to see if they're successful.
Do this, and your entire business will explode.
There is no denying that the right mindset can do wonders. It is especially true when it comes to marketing and promoting your products to the market. It's important to think of marketing as an asset, rather than marketing as an expense.
Podcast Transcript
There is no denying that the right mindset can do wonders. It is especially true when it comes to marketing and promoting your products to the market. It's important to think of marketing as an asset, rather than marketing as an expense.
If you want to make the most of your marketing opportunities, you need to make sure that every piece of marketing that you produce has the potential to be turned into an asset.
So how can you create assets out of your marketing?
How to Curate Marketing Strategies from Existing Assets Let's begin with an example of "Ben Settle" –an email marketing expert who successfully conglomerated the content of emails into books. Ben's books allowed people to learn how they can build a business by constantly emailing their database.
Typically, Ben followed a simple technique of emailing his list every day to his clients. It helped him establish a relationship with these lists. Also, he was able to use these attempts to sell the offerings to various bits and pieces.
But it doesn't end here, as he collected, curated, and collated all the emails over time. He placed them into books to show people a perfect example of building a business by using a database. Although he incorporated it as a marketing tactic, he curated and cobbled them together into other assets and sold them to improve profitability.
Still not convinced?
Let's look at another example of asset creation marketing. There's a charity called the "Center for Asylum Seekers and Refugees. One of the asylum activities is called "Second Harvest," where every Monday supermarket provides leftover food to the charity and the charity distributes it to their particular clients.
Over time, it turns out, most Mondays and Tuesdays, when they distribute the food, there's always a little bit leftover. Instead of destroying or discarding it on Wednesdays, they started an activity called Eat, Share, And Connect. The activity attracted volunteers (generally refugee volunteers) to join in and participate in cooking food by using the leftover food of their particular flavors and cuisine.
Soon it took the shape of a proper meet up and volunteer activity where all clients drop in and have an "Eat Share and Connect" Wednesday lunch.
These lunches have now become a perfect way to get sponsorships from people and obtain grants from people who pursue charitable work. This way, each share, connect Wednesday lunch time has become a brilliant showcase for everyone, including potential benefactors and consumers.
Leveraging Assets to Strengthen Marketing The Australian football league started an exercise 20 years ago with a game called the "dream time" game. It was an initiative where Richmond played Essendon, and it was aimed at celebrating, and commemorating the profile of indigenous footballers.
Now the league has grown this game into an annual event and hasbecame a popular attraction in Darwin. It attracts major sponsorships, large TV viewership, and heaps of promotion. Although they always play a football game, "Richmond versus Essendon," it is promoted as a special event called the dream time.
In short, this annual event is an annual asset that is worth a lot of money to the Australian football league.
Why Asset Creation is Beneficial Thinking about developing assets for your business is crucial for the growth of your business. Remember that you don't need to do anything revolutionary for creating assets. However, it would help if you focused on changing your thought pattern and mindset when creating a marketing piece.
Don't think of it as a tactic or a promotion. Consider it a campaign, which can evolve into a marketing asset. It will be an asset that can not only generate leads for your business but revenue as well.
Therefore, instead of taking marketing as an expense, think about how you can utilise this money to create a resource that can ultimately become an asset.
Bottom Line All in all, assets are something that you can put a value to, can sell, or can call upon. And that's how the marketing system works and supports businesses. Thus, if you know how to create these assets, your business will be substantially better off whilst strengthening its identity.
All humans either move away from pain or towards pleasure - this podcast outlines how to get into the heads and conversations of your customer and prospects and find out which way they are heading.
iMaven is a startup in the recruitment space. I conducted this interview with the CEO and Founder Nitha Coetzer to discuss startup challenges, bringing vision to reality, plus more.
Check out their website imaven.com.au
Look at business like a play or a music concert. You create the show, hire the actors and the producer and the director, build the set, and perform three or four times in your hometown city. You’ve spent all this time and energy putting on an awesome performance. What happens next? You take the show on the road.
Podacst Transcript
Look at business like a play or a music concert. You create the show, hire the actors and the producer and the director, build the set, and perform three or four times in your hometown city. You’ve spent all this time and energy putting on an awesome performance. What happens next? You take the show on the road.
Taking the show to different locations, you make more money because you keep tapping into new audiences.
Online we call that “changing the channel.”
The problem is that a lot of business owners get bored selling the
same thing over and over. We want to create something new and sell that instead. It’s our entrepreneurial desire for creativity and variety. And we lose out on all this extra revenue because instead of spending energy on more selling, we turn our attention to new inventions.
How can you change the channel and take your show on the road? If you’re heavily on Facebook and killing it, don’t start a new product. Move onto Instagram or Twitter or Pinterest or YouTube, or try direct mail or podcasts.
Go to each new channel, bring your offer there, and continue to make money.
There is a dispute raging in sport and inadvertantly I started it. As I tried to hose down the saga on my weekly sport radio show I realised that I was using business lessons to put my case. Many of the lessons are worthy to many of our business lives - so I thought I would share the audio.
BTW - you can hear my show every Sunday here sportfm.com.au/sunday-sports-cafe
If you believe in the product or service you are selling, you have a
moral obligation to do everything in your power to get it into the hands of your customers.
Listen carefully to this podcast you might even hear from Romeo
Growing a business is simple because there are only three ways to do it:
Get more customers,
get them to spend more,
or get them to buy more often.
That’s it!
Podcast Transcript
Growing a business is simple because there are only three ways to do it:
Get more customers,
get them to spend more,
or get them to buy more often.
That’s it!
When you’re working toward your first million dollars in revenue, the goal is to get customers. Get as many as possible. This has a snowball effect because at a certain point, referrals and word of mouth will start to kick in.
Once you hit $1 million, it’s time to move to the next phase. I call Phase Two ascension. To get your customers to spend more, you have to get them to buy the more expensive products. It might mean you have to make more expensive products. It might mean you have to create more trust and culture and expertise so that you are the person they think of first when they have a problem they can’t solve.
Once you have customers ascending up into more expensive products, move to Phase Three. Now it’s about consumption.
Figure out how to get them to use your product so much that they need to buy more of it more often. In our software, consumption means we’re trying to get them to use it more so they stay longer on the subscription plan. Consumption for a physical product is a bit different. If you sell hand lotion, it could mean sending them print materials showing them how to apply it several times a day so they run out of it more quickly. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in business when you’re trying to figure out what’s not working and how to make more money, but it’s really not hard.
Either get more customers, help them spend more, or figure out how to convince them to buy more often.
Provoking Questions vs Discovery Questions: How to Get Your Customer to Think and Self-Reflect
The answer to this is in this podcast let’s get started.
Podcast Transcript
There are two types of questions, discovery questions and provoking questions.
Discovery Questions
Discovery questions focus on “WHAT.” Discovery questions are designed to identify existing needs, problems, customer pain points, customer’s goals etc.
Discovery questions are designed to get to the known, to ferret out what the customer knows about their environment.
Here are some examples:
What are you challenged with?
What are you trying to accomplish?
What happens when you miss XYZ?
How will you be measuring success?
What have been the results to date?
Are you happy with your current environment?
What tools are you using?
Discovery questions target the known. Our goal is to “discover” what is happening with the client in an effort to understand their world and offer a solution to their problem.
Discovery questions are great questions that provide the context we need to begin formulating a solution. Normally, however, not the best solution.
Why?
Because discovery questions don’t go far enough.
Provoking Questions
Provoking questions take questioning to the next level. Provoking questions are designed to challenge the customer to get them thinking in ways they hadn’t thought. Provoking questions are questions designed to get into the thinking processes and the logic behind their choices. Provoking questions target what is
and was behind the decisions of your customers and prospects.
It provides insight into what the customer or prospect knows, what they don’t know and what they will prioritize to make their decisions. Provoking questions help you and your customer or prospect evaluate what they are doing and why.
Here are some examples:
Where you aware that . . . ?
Did you know . . . ?
Have you considered . . . ?
Can I ask why you . . . ?
Have you seen . . . ?
Would you . . . ?
What was the motive behind . . . ?
Provoking questions get the customer or prospect to think.
Effective questioning enables the customer to put unambiguous definition and great clarity around the issues and opportunities they are trying to address.
To be able to respond to great questions from the sales person, the customer has to put structure, definition, and priorities around what they are trying to achieve.
. . . Great questions can help the customer think about how they will make the decision.
Ask provoking questions AND discovery questions. Go deep, get to what and why. Challenge your customer or prospects to self-evaluate. The more YOU get them thinking about their choices and why they are doing what they are doing, the more they’re going to come to you for direction and guidance.
Be your customers shrink and get them thinking about them!
If you search the topic morning routine- google will return 493 million results. Lots of people have one, are interested in one and have written about their morning routine. Here is mine.
Podcast Transcript
My is 2 pronged – one is Vital Greens and two is Morning Pages – I got the concept of adding morning pages into my morning routine after reading The Artists Way by Julia Cameron
Prior to practicing morning pages – I used to sketch a bit, play guitar quite badly, and I had written three or four books whilst one was a serious hit (Exercise Danger) the others were ok
The bedrock tools
Morning Pages are the primary tool of a creative recovery. From my perspective they are the bedrock of a creative life. Three pages stream-of-consciousness writing done before the day “begins,”
Morning Pages serve to prioritize, clarify, and ground the day’s activities.
They let me clear my mind..
It is a paradox of my experience that Morning Pages both take time and give time.
It is as though by setting our inner movie onto the page, we are freed up to act in our lives. Suddenly, a day is filled with small choice points, tiny windows of time available for our conscious use.
As we write Morning Pages, we tend to get things “right.” Our days become our own. Other people’s agendas and priorities no longer run our lives. We care for others, but we now care for ourselves as well.
In fact I have become a much better person – At least I now like myself so much so that I honestly think that my morning pages are really what I like to call Thinkitation – now this is a term I have stolen from Tom Bilyeu the co founder of quest nutrition and Instagram Philosopher..
Reflection of the results of my morning routine
I am not sure that I have really become an artist..
I sketch a lot more – I have an easel set up – ipad pro and apple pencil
I play bass guitar now and not so much a 6 string – I even gigged in a band in Weekend Warriors
I learnt to radio broadcast and have been doing a weekly show at SportFM 91.3 called Sunday Sports Café for the last 2,5 years. I also volunteer at another station RTRFM where I do a Rockin the Roots show monthly
I write a ton more – but the content is now really about my passion being all things sales and marketing and helping people who have ventured into their own business succeed and have some control.
In line with this I have been podcasting with at time of this recording some 80 episodes Marketing 24- 7 twice per week.
I have created my own App and in it now have three IAP training courses and on my Website I have created a further four larger training type products.
Not to mention the growth of the sales and marketing strategy division of my business and the marketing and business coaching/mentoring I offer to select clients.
And on top of all of this – my mosts atisfying achievement and contribution is being the Chairperson of a not for profit called CARAD
All up I believe we can each achieve more and feel better about ourselves with a decent morning routine. – Why not try it?
petergianoli.com/thinkitation
If you believe the research, only 55% of salespeople make quota.
That means 45% of sales people don't make their quota, and the reason is we're flying blind.
Podcast Transcript
If you believe the research, only 55% of salespeople make quota.
That means 45% of sales people don't make their quota, and the reason is we're flying blind.
For years sales organizations have had to use quantitative metrics to determine if a sales person was effective. We've measured the number of calls, the number of touches, meetings set, closing percentages, average deal size, emails sent, conversion rates, quota attainment and more, to ascertain a salesperson effectiveness.
Metrics represent the science of sales.
They are the quantitative element of selling. Make more calls, sell more stuff. Improve your close rates, close more deals. Set more meetings, get closer to quota. The formula has almost always been quantitative, we've relied on the science, but it hasn't been enough, clearly.
Over the years, we continue to put quantitative metrics under the
microscope, we've looked to get more and more data to help us sell more and get more out of our sales team. The problem is, quantitative data only goes so far. Like the old adage says, sales is a science and an art, and until now it's been almost impossible to address the art piece.
The art in sales happens in the conversations. It's how we engage with prospects and buyers. The art comes in how we respond to objections. The art is the tone we use. The art is our unscripted responses to unexpected insights and customer responses. The art is the part of sales we’ve had trouble seeing-- until now.
Back in the day, there was something called the ride-along.
The ride-along was when a sales manager would drive with his or her salesperson for the day. The sales manager would spend the day on the road going from appointment to appointment with the rep, listening and watching how their sales person sold and how they conducted their meetings. It was a killer way for sales managers to evaluate and observe how their sales people sold.
The ride-along was the one place that provided sales rganisations and sale managers visibility into how their sales people sold.
Not the result of their efforts, like quota or number of calls, etc. but what they did on the calls, how they carried themselves, how the positioned the products and more.
Not all sales managers did ridealongs, but those who did garnered a wealth of knowledge.
Unfortunately, outside sales reps are a dying breed.
Who still goes on customers site sales calls anymore?
Therefore, ridealongs are a dying methodology. (Yeah, yeah, I know some of you still do, but it's becoming an increasingly smaller number every year).
What's a sales manager or sales leader to do?
How do we get visibility into what our salespeople are doing or saying if the ride-along is no longer an option?
How do we know how they give a demo?
How do we know how they overcome objections?
How do we know how they position the value proposition?
How do we know how they do a discovery call?
How do we know how they position us against the competition?
How do we know how they negotiate on price?
How do we know how they do anything they do, now that drive-a-longs are a thing of the past?
How?
Call recording that's how. I don't mean call recording like we get when we call customer service line, I mean coaching based call recording.
We've seen an explosion of new sales tools, methodologies, structures, strategies and more over the past 20 years.
However, I'm going on record as saying, coaching and call recording will have the biggest impact on sales organizations revenue for the next 10 years.
Call recording and coaching will have the same effect on B2B sales that video analysis and GPS wearing has had on football. There isn’t a team in the AFL that could compete without video. Football's entire coaching and strategic methodology have been built around video. Everything, I mean everything evolves around what they see on video, and B2B sales call recording and coaching has the ability to have the same impact on sales.
Email is critical to sales and marketing. We all know it, so if we want to win with email, we must create emails that not only get opened but also deliver on the objective of the email.
Podcast Transcript
8 Key Elements to a Winning Sales & Marketing Email
All sales and marketing emails have an objective.
We wouldn’t send them if they didn’t.
In most cases, the objective is to get the recipient to take action. We’re asking the recipient to download a document, to read an article or to give us 15 minutes of their time.
Every sales and marketing email worth anything has the objective of getting the recipient to act.
Unfortunately, the sales emails we send out aren’t very good at getting to the objective.
To improve your ability to meet your goals and create emails your
customers and prospects will open and respond to, they must rank high on the following eight traits.
SUBJECT LINE
The subject line of your emails must be compelling and intriguing. It must capture the attention of the reader immediately. There is no room here for messing up or cutting corners. The subject line has to get your readers attention or everything else in the email is lost. Make sure the subject line is about 9-14 words or 40-50 characters and is intriguing. Make your subject line feel like a riddle, that when clicked, the riddle will be answered.
INTRIGUE
This is the most important part of the email. It must be intriguing. The reader must want to keep reading or engage because the email breaks their expected thought patterns about email. If your email(s) looks, feels, or appears to be just like everyone else’s they won’t break through. Be sure to craft emails that intrigue the recipient and gets them wondering, that surprises them and gets them wanting more.
THE OFFER
Every sales and marketing email must have an offer, no matter how small or inconspicuous. We’re trying to get the reader to take action, and the offer is what we’re giving them to take action.
Therefore the offer must be of value. It must be worth something.
Take a look at your emails today. When you ask for 15 minutes of your prospects time, what are you offering for that time?
Is it worth it?
If you’re talking to an executive who makes 500k a year, that fifteen minutes is worth 50 dollars to them. Is what you’re asking worth 50 dollars? To put it another way. Would they pay you 50 dollars for what your offering? The answer is usually no.
When looking at your offer make sure it’s a good solid offer that meets the needs of your prospect or buyer. Even more important, ensure that you have an offer.
THE ASK
What are you asking the reader to do? Is it reasonable? Is it easy to execute? Is the ask clear and concise? Can the recipient do it now, with little hassle or effort? Are you making it easy for the reader to execute your ask or have you created hurdles or unnecessary process?
The key with the ask is to make sure you have one; it’s reasonable, and it’s easy to execute.
Be clear what it is you’re asking the reader to do and why.
The ask should be why you wrote the email in the first place, don’t mess this part up.
OVERALL VALUE
The overall value of the email can be summed up in a simple equation.
The value of your offer minus the ask (offer – ask = Value 0r O-A=V)
The greater the difference between what your email is offering and what you’re asking for, the greater probability the reader takes action and executes the action.
This equation represents the most valuable part of the mail.
Unfortunately, most emails fall flat here.
Little effort is focused on the overall value of the email, and therefore too many are ignored, resulting in low conversion rates. This is usually because the offer is less valuable to the prospect or buyer than the ask. When this happens the equation is upside down.
If you want your prospects and customers to take action, make sure the overall value of your email is high.
It’s a simple equation: O-A=V
LENGTH
Too long and you’ll lose the reader. Too short, your message is lost or not well articulated. The key is to create an email that is the perfect length. According to Boomerang data, emails that are between 50 and 120 words get opened the most. With that said, I don’t think there is a hard and steady rule to word length. What’s most important is that the email is the right length based on the complexity of the ask and the offer.
The best way to make sure your email isn’t too long is to have someone else read it. The key, the reader doesn’t get bored or want to “stop” reading. Don’t make your emails too long. Get to the point quickly.
RELEVANCE
How relevant is the email to the recipient. Make sure you’re sending the right email to the right person. Make sure the message and format are appropriate for the recipient. Don’t be sending an email to the CIO or head of IT that lacks data, and technical specifications. Don’t send an email to the CFO or CEO that doesn’t address business issues and money. It’s important to make sure your email is targeted to the recipient and relevant to their needs and responsibilities.
READABILITY
How easy is your email to read? Is it grammatically correct? Is the
sentence structure clean? Does it flow well? What it is the tone?
At the end of the day, emails are communication. Therefore, it’s critical to make sure you’re communicating in a way that connects with the reader. Make sure the email is written in a way that the tone is light, humorous, or engaging. It needs to connect with the reader. Don’t let run on sentences or poor grammar undermine a great email.
Make your emails conversational and engaging; people want to feel there is a person on the other side of the screen.
Being successful with emails is hard, it takes work, but it’s not impossible. Like most things, emails have a success formula and by adhering to the above you drastically increase your chances of creating emails that your prospects and buyers respond to.
Imagine, emails that our prospects and buyers engage with that has a nice ring to it.
If you'd like some new training on Email please CLICK HERE
Braggadocio is a fabulous word with a great history to its orrigin - find out what it means to your business and its implications.
Podcast Transcript
Today. I saw something on Twitter, which caught my attention. I must admit I've become a real user of Twitter a lot over the years. I've stopped reading newspapers, which is bad for the newspaper industry, but I'm fond of Twitter, I don't participate in it much, but I like to read it. I also find it's a great aggregator of all the news that's going on. Just don’t get too wrapped up in it.
However, there was this tweet that came through this morning. It was a beauty, and it was regarding Trump's estranged niece in her new book, where she depicts a man trained in deception and braggadocio, by a distant and dysfunctional father. I just loved that word “braggadocio.” It sounds Italian. I mean, it's got an Italian ending, and if you actually look at what it means according to the dictionary, braggadocio means boastful or arrogant behaviour. That word always resonated with me.
My mother used to use it. When I was a kid, I can always remember her saying to me. “Peter, pride comes before a fall.” To be honest with you. I think that held me back a little.
When I was young, I was too scared to put my head up and get knocked down because this pride was always going to come right before a fall, but I understood, and I understood a little later that what she was saying. It was “be aware of being arrogant.” There's nothing wrong with being proud. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your achievements, but it was the arrogance that you had to watch out for. Of course, if you have been around long enough, you tend to see popular culture trends, come and go and come back go again, with a slightly different twist.
It wasn’t easy to accept my mother’s advice when observing the great Cassius Clay as I was growing up. When he was young and was brash, arrogant, and confident, I think at the time I thought, “Yeah, he's got pride, but a fall is coming.” And obviously once he became Muhammad Ali, he really showed his conviction and wouldn't go to the war, he was prepared to go to jail and was prepared to lose his title and win it back. You realise that the man stood for something. Maybe all that false bravado of being the greatest was actually part of an act, whereas deep down, he was a really nice guy. So the greatest as he was called, and till his death, he was still known as the greatest.
Flick forward to the 1980’s, and that was the time of Gordon Gekko and “greed is good”. At that point, I suppose you could say that in popular culture, the tilt wasn't too far away. And in my mother's eyes, Gordon Gecko would have been someone that she would have said “there's a braggadocio.” And then this guys pride was definitely going to come before a fall and of course, as the movie would have it that's exactly what happened.
Then came the period when super model Naomi Campbell started to exhibit the most arrogant behaviour, where she was convicted and almost went to jail for throwing a phone at her personal assistant.
It was at about that point that the world got tired of “braggadocio.” The world had had enough of being too arrogant and to the point that one would be a celebrity if they started helping others. Mother Theresa and Princess Diana for example were celebrated during that whole period.
Being nice to people became the accepted norm. If you think about it, perhaps particularly Princess Diana got as much exposure, and got as much opportunity as any previous braggadocio. But you could see there was goodness in their hearts.
However, then came 2000, and all of a sudden arrogance came back into vogue The Kardashians and a number of others; greed was becoming good, arrogance was becoming good, being noticed was becoming good, being extreme was becoming good, being opinionated was becoming good again the list goes on and on. Trumpism, as we know, it started to appear and being extremist started being normalised.
Also in today's Twitter feed, the same day the niece of the president was saying that he was a braggadocio, here was Anthony Scaramucci, who did once work for the braggadocio, who said “every once in a while, like your mother told you, or your grandmother told you, sometimes people get what they deserve. It is nice to see that the negative karma that he generated in our society is coming back upon him”, said, Anthony Scaramucci about Steve Bannon's arrest, who was the braggadocio in arms – co-pilot.
Isn't that interesting, either Scaramucci had an Italian mother, or an Italian grandmother, but he obviously was told that pride comes before a fall just like I was.
Today's Twitter feed also contained commentary by Peter van Onselen who writes for NEWS CORP, he goes, “I sometimes seriously wonder if our prime minister thinks before he opens his mouth and makes pronouncements he constantly has to walk back from. It happens too often to just be a mistake. It's pretty ridiculous, frankly”.
So he's questioning our prime minister who this week couldn't help himself, indicating that he'd signed a deal on a vaccine for all Australian people. But of course it wasn't soon after that holes started to appear with this story and the deal.
So just maybe this brash arrogance in politics is starting to catch up with people, and just maybe the pendulum is starting to swing the other way.
What is even more evidence of the contempt the politicians have of the people, is on Fridays, which is known as “take out the garbage day.” The whole idea of take out the bad news, or take out when you've got to correct something, or take out when you've got to walk back on something like the treasurer Josh Frydenberg had to walk back on the job keeper allowance and his dodgy mathematics, and straighten up a $60 million over estimate.,
So you're bringing that out on a Friday because the media is apparently lazy, and won’t ask hard questions, and society is lazy, our community is lazy, and by Monday, we will have forgotten all about it.
But do we forget about it?
Is braggadocio still alive and well on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? I think the pendulum has swung. I think the pendulum's heading back towards at least the central line possibly even left of centre.
I'm thinking all of a sudden that boastful and arrogant behaviour may not be acceptable any more. Even in marketing, we need to be cognisant of this trend. In marketing we have to know where people are, and we have to act accordingly.
So where was the word braggadocio derived from? Well, it came from the fairy queen, which was written by a fellow called Spencer. It's a long poem, and it was about Knights in shining armour.
One of the knights was called Braggadocio and he didn't end too well.
Marketing is not just one quick trick or campaign. But marketing isn’t hard either, you just need to develop the understanding and skills.
Podacst Transcript
What started as just another normal morning.
Sitting at the café doing some writing when the owner came up asking for advice.
An Instagram Influencer who I happened to know, had offered to promote this café in a post or two for $500.
What did I think?
To be honest my immediate thoughts were two:
- These suckers still exist, and
- Got to hand it to that girl she is really “ballsy” to keep asking.
I am no longer as unfiltered as I once might have been and I actually love this coffee shop, so I opted to use some discretion.
The café business as I know it (at least pre COVID), runs a third product, a third overheads and a third profit. To liberate $500 for a dopamine hit of influence means $1500 in revenue. I am a good customer and I spend $13.60 daily on breakfast, so he would need 110 hits of new blood to simply breakeven.
Did he honestly think that there would be 110 losers so hooked on this influencers Instagram feed, bereft of a place for a coffee, that they would flock to his joint come hell or high water?
Sadly, when it comes to marketing, sensible and successful business folk can be oh so blind.
Now to the fisherman…
Later, I went for a walk and in the usual spot was Pedro (as I like to call him), the fisherman. He is there every day and generally in the same spot and always seems to be catching fish.
Strange occurrences today because in a panic he stopped me and asked whether I would watch his stuff whilst he chased a pelican that had stolen his trove of baited lures and hooks.
Lucky today I had donned my good Samaritan suit.
When he got back, he offered me my pick of the fish. I’m not a fish eater so declined, however during our quick conversation I gleaned that this spot yields him around five fish a day, which saves him and his extended family somewhere between $50 and a $100 a day. What's more, he loves fishing, so every day he gets to do what he loves and earns the keep and respect of
his family doing so.
The tale isn’t quite over…
As I continued to walk, I couldn't believe my eyes, but there was the Instagrammer posing for a snap.
She must have fleeced someone with that cheesy smile on Matagarup Bridge, earning herself a quick $500.
This got me thinking, the fisherman earning $50 a day doing what he loves and being loved by his family versus the influencer snapping 500 bucks for around 15 minutes work, albeit she probably had to have hair and makeup, (I'm sure another sucker coughed that up), but unlikely to score that $500 sucker again.
Who would I rather be?
In fact, what is more important… is who would you rather be?
Frankly, I'm with the fishermen, because as the saying goes,
“Give an influencer a gig and you feed her for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”
Actually, this is one reason I created my FREE sales and marketing strategy app. It has a host of marketing training, tips and strategies to help you resist the quick urge for a hit of dopamine. I want you to be able to make sensible decisions about your marketing and slowly but surely builds a business that is worthy of your efforts.
Marketing is not just one quick trick or campaign. But marketing isn’t hard either, you just need to develop the understanding and skills.
Selfishly, I’d like to have my app on your mobile phone because it will one business at a time put cheesy quick fix influencers out of work. Better still, it will let me sit on my lonesome in cafes writing my stuff ensuring there will be little need to be interrupted for free marketing advice. 😂😂
Please grab the app petergianoli.com/app
Not even 007 James Bond is immune to the effects of COVID-19. Here is my take on what he should do.
Podcast Transcript
It seems like just the other day that I shouted 20 friends to a James Bond Premiere for my 35th birthday, and trust me that wasn't the other day...
With the recent news regarding the delayed release of the latest James Bond aptly named "No Time to Die" - if I had been waiting for this movie to treat myself or my friends I will have aged 3 more years.
Whilst I can understand the effects the Coronavirus pandemic have had on global box offices, the 'go / no go' decision making is not going down well with fans and ultimately the perception of the brand.
Having already lost $30m on marketing 'No Time To Die' for its ill-fated April 2020 release, MGM and Universal are now somewhat gun shy with any new release dates. They have already snuck out buzz generating promotional tid bits like Billie Eilish is singing the theme song, Matera, Italy is the location for the grand opening scene and Daniel Craig is calling it quits after this -
so why not just man up and get the thing in front of the fans.
I am not sure if the M.B.A marketing types at EON, MGM, or Universal are awake to facts as yet - but a day when the world is likely to be normal again is unlikely to be soon, and NOW is not the time to die!!
But here's the good news: (And if they asked, this is what I would tell them) You CAN release it today if you anticipate change.
Just like in your business ... please stop waiting for things to get better - with this virus (sadly,) this could take a long time, if at all.
You can start TODAY.
In fact, this is the perfect time to stand up and say "enough! I'm NOT letting this virus control my life or my business any more!"
Over the last couple of days I have been urging you to take the time to download my FREE sales and marketing training app...
...many, many of you have, and the feedback has been a treat and to each of you I offer a nod.
BUT I know there are a lot more of you who need it and should go to the link now.
https://marketing.petergianoli.com/App
BTW, when interviewed about making another James Bond film, Daniel Craig said and I quote, ". . . I'd rather break this glass and slash my wrists."
Do you care who plays Bond after you? "'Look, I don't give a f***. Good luck to them! All I care about is that if I stop doing these things we've left it in a good place and people pick it up and make it better. Make it better, that's all."
Getting it released and in front of your fans is a great way to start. IMHO