1. Volume 3 ISSUE 7 Price: 19.97 Each Issue Its Christmas And Moments Of Truth Are Everywhere Moments Of Truth Affect The Success Of Your Business Whether You See It, Or Realise It, Or Not! Sorry to remind you but itll be Christmas in just a few short weeks. Inside This Issue Pages 1 - 2: Its Christmas And Moments Of Everywhere Truth Some people love it, others less so. Some businesses peak at this time of year, and others take a back seat. Are Page 3 - 5: 9 Proven Steps To Transform Your Business Into A Results Driven, Money Making Machine But how you respond to Christmas will affect how successful your business is all year round. In 1987 Jan Carlzon, the CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, wrote the book, Moments Of Truth. It explained how he took the airline from deficit to profit by moving the airline to a customerfocused organisation. Page 6 - 8: Why Identifying Your Market Is So Important To Every Business Page 8 - 10: How To Identify Your Perfect Target Market Page 10: Running Your Own Business Is Serious, But It Doesnt Have To Be Solemn Page 11: Whats Your Future Look Like? Page 12: No-Nonsense Resources For Your Business How you respond to Christmas will affect how successful your business is all year round There have been many books written on customer service but where this book, and Carlzons strategies, really differ is his focus on each interaction the customer has with the business. He calls these... >>> 1

2. Moments Of Truth Affect The Success Of Your Business Whether You See It, Or Realise It, Or Not ! Moments Of Truth and of course each interaction can be a positive or a negative experience. Scandinavian Airlines prospered because they worked very hard to make sure each Moment Of Truth with their customers was a very positive experience and the spectacular results they achieved were a testament to this. So how does this relate to your business at this time of year? Its personal from you the owner, or the person who most deals with them, or even the lorry driver if thats who they see the most. You send something thats about them, not you. Showing you care always rewards the effort... You ask them how you can help them more in future. Business This Year Thank You John For Your What Are Your Plans For 2014 ...And How Can We Help And Support You Alan? And you ignore that opportunity at your peril because I Do Hope Youre Coming To Our Open Day In February 68% of customers who change suppliers or take their custom elsewhere say they do so because of indifference on the part of the supplier. Ill Give You A Call To Thank You Personally For Your Business Enjoy The Break - Youve Earned It Mass Mailing Card? So could sending a cold round-robin email saying youve given the money you saved (by not sending a card) to charity. Both worthy and indifferent at the same time. What about a personal card? It doesnt have to be a card, but make sure: Or just a personal phone call? You send something personal to every client or customer that you possibly can. And while youre at it, what about suppliers, prospects, staff and neighbours? You thank them for their business. Wish them well both personally and professionally. Very simply, its an annual opportunity to make your existing customers feel welcomed, loved and special. And so not sending any acknowledgement of the festive season is a great example of such indifference. Now is a great time of year to use the power of positive experiences to show your customers that you care Or a free gift for the first 50 people to call you before (a date)? Moments Of Truth affect the success of your business every day of the year, whether you see it or realise it or not. 2 Mike - Enjoy Your Christmas With Mary And The Family Clare, I hope You Have A Great Christmas And Ill Give You A Call In Early 2014 Your Greetings Should All Be Handwritten And Signed If Possible

3. 9 Proven Steps To Transform Your Business Into A Results Driven, Money Making Machine! For All Small Business Owners - Who Want To Make 2014 Even Better Than 2013 By Bernard Keavy In order to grow your business its crucial to establish where you are now, where you want to be in, say, a years time, and how youre going to get there. You need to be able to measure your success as you go. As the business changes for the (even) better you need to monitor that success because... IF YOU CANT MEASURE IT YOU CANT MANAGE IT! So the starting point is a quick but detailed objective analysis of the current state of your business. By following this method, you not only lay solid foundations for the future growth of your business, you also identify quick wins from day one! Quick wins are actions you can take easily and immediately to deliver instant, significant extra profit without cost to you in either time or money. Here are examples of Quick Wins from two of our clients A restaurant set up a prize draw with the first prize being a free meal for two. The idea was to capture customer details, an area in which many small businesses arent very strong. Having captured these details the restaurant then offered an incentive scheme to reward those customers who referred new customers to them. This strategy produced dozens of new referrals in the first month alone! A furniture retailer sent out a customer reactivation letter with a special offer and a deadline. This strategy generated tens of thousands of pounds of extra business from customers who had not bought anything in the previous three months. What Are The 9 Stages? What Do You Do? How Do You Do It? STAGE 1 The Initial Health Check Review The first thing to do is to identify exactly what you sell. By this we mean what benefits are you providing, what needs are you satisfying with your product or service? Who do you sell it to, who else could you sell it to? Find out why your customers buy from you. STAGE 2 Set Business Performance Benchmarks Gross Profit is always the best measure of growing your business. Youll achieve this growth either by higher sales volume or higher margins with System 4Results its usually both so youll want to track the increases in each of them. To do so, you need to know your current monthly figures. Then decide what are your target, benchmark monthly figures? And when do you plan to achieve these targets by? Again, remember that If you cant measure it you cant manage it! STAGE 3 Research Your Customers, Staff And Competitors Asking them this question will suggest ways for you to get them to buy more, and show you how you can get other potential customers to buy. Customer Research: If you have more than one product or service, do this separately for each. Why do they buy from you, what are their Hot Buttons? What more could you do for them? By doing this youll discover ways to help them to buy more. Youll also discover how to get them to recommend other customers to Be as specific as you can. Imagine youre explaining all this to someone who knows nothing about you or your industry. Find out how your customers rate your products and services. >>> 3

4. 9 Proven Steps To Transform Your Business Into A Results Driven, Money Making Machine! you. You might even identify your Unique Perceived Benefit (UPB) - what you do or could offer your customers to make you stand out from the crowd. Theres more about UPB later on because when youve got one it gives people reasons other than price to buy from you and thats the easiest way to get your profit margins up. Staff Research: Ask your staff what they think. Expect some excellent ideas that youd never even thought of they know your business and see it from a different angle to you. Competitor Research: Also, find out what your competitors are doing. Find out their strengths and weaknesses compared to you. If theyre doing something better than you, you might wish to borrow their good ideas, or defend against them. However, you should clearly articulate to your customers all the things youre doing better than the competition. STAGE 4 Identify Your Most Profitable Target Markets Conduct an in-depth examination of your target markets. The target market is the single most important aspect of Business Growth. Your customers need to think theyre talking to me and you cant achieve that by shouting your message to everyone. You cant be all things to all men! Score each potential target market in terms of how lucrative it potentially is and how easily you can reach it. This will enable you to identify your preferred target markets, the ones youll most effectively focus your efforts and resources on. For each separate one you can now decide what you want to say to them talk to each target market differently based on what THEY need to know. (Read more about this pages 6 - 10). STAGE 5 Develop Your Business Boosters Any communication your business has with customers or potential customers is called a MEDIA PIECE. Every time you produce a media piece you should include the 8 Business Boosters which are proven to dramatically increase response rates, and generate fast and profitable returns. These 8 Business Boosters are: 1. The Headline the most important part of any media piece. In advertising its often referred to as the advert for the advert! Its the only thing that will persuade the potential customer to read the rest of your piece. 2. The Irresistible Offer to give potential customers an overpowering reason to respond. But dont make the mistake of offering money off make it a compelling added value offer. 3. The Call To Action this gives them a compelling reason to take up the offer NOW, rather than delay (and then forget to do it!) Research has 4 proved that without a call to action all your communications will be 50% less effective! 4. The Guarantee / Risk Reversal which removes all the risk to the customer and thus demolishes a large barrier to them responding to your offer. 5. Social Proof - such as testimonials, qualifications and professional body membership. These provide strong reassurance that you are a credible and trustworthy business to deal with because other people are saying so. They remove the risk to the consumer of dealing with a new supplier. 6. Unique Perceived Benefit one unique aspect of what you offer that will make you appear to be better than the rest, to stand out from the crowd. 7. The Benefits - of using your product or service. These are the things it will do for the customer, rather than what it is. They answer the question what will it do for me? 8. Reasons Why its because you know how good your products are you can afford to make such an attractive offer and give such a strong guarantee. But the danger is that prospects may see all this as too good to be true. So you need to finish by explaining why they can trust you (and the guarantee you offer will help here as well). STAGE 6 The Customer Life Cycle Map out the process that takes a prospect from first finding out about your business, responding to your irresistible >>>

5. 9 Proven Steps To Transform Your Business Into A Results Driven, Money Making Machine! offer, through to becoming a paying customer. Follow the process through to maximising the value from that customer, in terms of value of each transaction, frequency of transactions and longevity of relationship. Complete the journey through to that customer becoming an advocate of your business, referring and recommending new customers to you. By following this procedure you will now be able to put in place the most effective strategies at each part of the lifecycle journey. This will automatically generate higher sales at every step of the way. you can make your service the more sales youll make. Forget the jargon you need to know the best ways to reach your customers and prospects. STAGE 8 Select Media Channels By media channels we mean: Published Media such as classified ads, Yellow Pages or newspaper ads STAGE 7 Direct Mail Media such as sales letters, leaflets and flyers Product And Service Packaging E-Media such as websites, Facebook, Twitter By this we mean: Naming the product or service to immediately convey what it does, its benefits to the customer, for example Wash & Go Shampoo. The name should be short, concise and memorable. Making a service tangible like a product, highlighting what the customer will get for their money in specific terms, what it will do for them. Selling a product is easier than selling a service, so the more tangible Most small businesses dont use the most appropriate media channels for their target markets, so they miss out on extra profit. STAGE 9 Complete Your Action Plan Having decided on your media channels, you can now plan your media pieces and tactics. Remember to use the 8 Business Boosters at every stage to maximise their power. Also remember to constantly look out for Quick Wins at every stage of the process! In summary, you can see that the whole process is logical and scientific. By knowing what to do and how to do it, you can predict and cause significant growth in any business. Its not down to luck or creative genius, its simply a matter of following a proven system. Which is why if you want to transform your business into a results driven, money making machine, you need to understand that In order to choose the best media channels for your business, ask yourself two simple questions.. 1 How can I find my target market(s)? Business Growth Is Scientific, Not Creative! 2 Where would my target market look to source my type of product / service? Bernard Keavy Business Growth Specialist Warwickshire Inspirational Quotes I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well. Alan Greenspan Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business. Zig Ziglar 5 The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers. John Egan Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if youre not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were. David Rockefeller

6. Why Identifying Your Target Market(s) Is So Important To Every Business This simple example shows why focusing your marketing on one (or more) well-chosen target markets can skyrocket your sales and profits needed the lawns cutting/maintaining, dont you think this would relate to you? It would literally jump out at you and hit you right between the eyes. If youve been receiving this newsletter for several months, youll know we keep banging the drum about the importance of identifying your target market(s). If you're new to the newsletter then this is the perfect opportunity for you to get in line with our thinking on what is without question THE most important part of growing your business - any business. If all you do in the next 3 days is sit down and identify your most lucrative markets this will be the beginning of something special for you and your business. It doesnt matter what industry you're in. How small your company is, or whether you sell business-to-business or business-to-consumer. The point is this Compare this ad to the following ad. Same size; same industry; not targeted. There is likely to be a huge difference in the results. Notice the mention Big or Small which could mean large or small Identifying the right people or businesses who are likely to buy, can afford and are willing to pay a premium for your product or service is THE most important thing you can do. Selecting and then tailoring your message to each identified target market will multiply your sales and profits. lawns (who knows?). Even if large gardens arent something they do, just again think about the impact the ad would have if it said small gardens a speciality. We have some simple but great examples which should convince you how important this is. First - lets look at a small local business. Its a lawn-cutting service (by the way this is a huge industry in the UK). Take a look at the Yellow Pages ad below Now dont pay too much attention to how the ad is written - this is a good example of how NOT to write an ad (see the end of this article on how we would change/ optimise it). What do you think is their target market? Its easy to see that the Garden Care ad would clean up with people who have large lawns or grounds - agreed? Thats right - large grounds/gardens. However, what you need to pay close attention to is the effect of highlighting this target market on people with large domestic or commercial grounds. So even though this is not a great ad - it will be successful (and we happen to know it is) because of its appeal to the market its serving. If you were an owner of a property with half an acre or more of land and you 6 Heres another good examples (see page 7 )... ...This time its a much larger company advertising their personal injury service. Notice here the target market is people who have had serious injuries. This may seem quite obvious to you, but no other firm of solicitors targets people with serious injuries. Notice how the ad is completely focused on them. >>>

7. Why Identifying Your Target Market(s) Is Key to Your Success Notice the ad headlines the target market - Have You Had A Serious Injury. You dont want to bury this in the ad or any other media piece - otherwise your target market might miss it! >>> 7

8. Why Identifying Your Target Market(s) Is Key to Your Success Things like the home visit etc, connect with these people (most are incapacitated and cant get around after their accident). Were they this focused before? No they werent. But it didnt take much to tailor their service to meet the needs and wants of a very lucrative target market. Hardly any changes at all.. Compare this to an ad that says Had An Injury At Work, In The Street, Or In The Car? etc.which just doesnt focus on anyonetherefore theyre competing with everyone else. Why everyone else? Because very few people take the time to identify their prime target markets and then tailor their messages to them. So by focusing on a target market you almost wipe out the competition because YOU are the company that has the product or service completely tailored to the target marketeveryone else tries to please everyone and in reality pleases noone in comparison. Thats another reason why target marketing will help you reach your next level. It differentiates you and therefore minimises the competition and as a result youve added considerable value to your business without really changing anything. Of course that means your prices become less of an issue as well, and enables you to increase them without any resistance from customers. Do you see the difference it makes? Therefore what you need to do is write ALL your Media Pieces based on each individual target market. If you have three key target markets, that means you need three slightly different messages so you can talk to each target market and address their specific needs and wants and fears and frustrations. How To Identify Your Perfect Target Market(s) each target market. How To Tailor Your Message To Each Target Market To Multiply Your Sales As a simple exercise, now we know who our target market is we can easily identify properties in the local area with large lawns, for example. Yes we know its easy to just target everybody. But you wouldnt be reading this newsletter if you were happy with your existing results. We can easily get our hands on a local area map showing all properties and the amount of land each one has. Too much effort I hear you say? Well think about it, do the exercise once - and its done. And you now have your target market identified perfectly. So lets show you how to do this using the lawn-cutting service. Lets say they have two prime target markets - large lawns and small lawns. The lazy way to do this is to combine both target markets in the ad (just like Garden Busters). But this weakens the message significantly. What you need is two different ads - one for each target market Now, remember one of the golden rules of business growth is using multi-media Once youve identified your target market(s) you need to try and get inside their heads. If you can join the conversation going on inside their heads with your message you're onto a winner! across the 3 Business Multipliers. So as an example, youd want to create other Media Pieces such as a sales letter for 8 You can then mail (or even hand-deliver) your sales letter to each home and because its written with the target market in mind (ones with large lawns) it will connect with them. You then set up a simple follow-up programme (say once a month) to each household and within a short period of >>>

9. How To Identify Your Perfect Target Market(s) time - the business will be flourishing. And remember thats just for one target market. Whether you like it or not, you have to be this detailed in your marketing. You have to put the effort in at the front end to get the rewards. But there is no other activity as important as this. Here are our 7 key questions to help you identify your ideal target market(s)... 1. What do you do well and enjoy at the same time? If you are offering a range of products/ services, there may be one in particular which you do better than the others. If so, which types of customers could benefit most from it? 2. Which product/service is the most profitable? If you offer more than one product or service (and you must!), there will be certain ones that are more profitable than others. Once you know the answer to this, you can then ask yourself which types of customers are these products/ services most suitable for. 3. Who are your best customers? Do 20% of your customers generate 80% of your profits? Find out who your best customers are. Analyse your database or accountancy software. What proportion of your profits do these top customers contribute? What product/ service are they buying? Is there a commonality? 4. Do your best customers have any similarities? If you sell your product/service to other businesses, what are the similarities? Look at the following indicators: Income Joint Income Geographic location Number of children Age Lifestyle habits and hobbies Employment type Their industry type What cars they drive 5. What is the profitability of each customer? This is a very important exercise for you to undertake. Look at all your customers and start analysing them in terms of profit. What youll find is the customer list can be broken down or segmented into 2-5 different profit categories. It makes sense to focus on the most lucrative groups. In some cases, you will realise some groups are costing you money. If thats the case, you need to get rid - and quick! 6. Does the business have any expertise relating to specific types of businesses or people? You may find your business has expertise in one or more areas which benefit certain types of customers more than others. For example, the business may be a firm of chartered accountants, but start -up businesses are the real area of expertise. In this instance, it would make sense to target new and start-up businesses. Note About New Businesses If your business is new it wont have any or many customers to base most of this information on. So heres what to do... Ring up at least 15 potential prospects in each different target market that you are thinking about. Prospects can be friends, business colleagues or family - it doesnt matter. Tell them you are thinking of setting up a new business and you'd really like to ask them a few questions. Many people are only too happy to help. You must make it clear that you are not trying to sell them anything! Now you can find out what they want. Whats missing from their current provider? What they like and dislike etc. This approach should give you loads of ideas for deciding which specific market(s) to focus on. Now Answer The Following 8 Questions To Ensure Youve Chosen The Right Market(s) Remember, you must ask this set of questions FOR EACH TARGET MARKET YOUVE IDENTIFIED What are the main needs, wants, problems and frustrations of your target market? How does the product or service address each of these issues? Do they have the money to pay for your product? Will they pay a premium for a better product? >>> 9

10. How To Identify Your Perfect Target Market(s) Where are they? Can the business service them successfully in these geographic areas? Are there many of them? How many in total? (Depending on the product or service sold, you will want to make sure there are enough customers to ensure your healthy existence!) Is competition in this segment weak? Does your business already have credibility with the target market(s)? This isnt essential but it will give you a head start. Those markets for which the business has relevant experience and credibility (Social proof testimonials, etc.) are of course your best and quickest options. By answering YES to the majority of these questions you can be confident that your chosen target market(s) will be very lucrative for you. But dont forget to tailor the message to each specific target market. To finish, heres how we would write the Garden Care ad shown on page 6 Running Your Own Business Is Serious But It Doesnt Mean It Has To Be Solemn Here is a list of the worlds top 50 Oxymorons... 50. Act naturally 49. Found missing 48. Resident alien 47. Advanced BASIC 46. Genuine imitation 45. Airline Food 44. Good grief 43. Same difference 42. Almost exactly 41. Government organization 40. Sanitary landfill 39. Alone together 38. Legally drunk 37. Silent scream 36. American history 35. Living dead 34. Small crowd 33. Business ethics 32. Soft rock 31. Butt Head 30. Military Intelligence 29. Software documentation 28. Australian culture 27. New classic 26. Sweet sorrow 25. Childproof 24. "Now, then ..." 23. Synthetic natural gas 21. Passive aggression 20. Taped live 19. Clearly misunderstood 18. Peace force 17. Extinct Life 16. Temporary tax increase 15. Computer jock 14. Plastic glasses 13. Terribly pleased 12. Computer security 11. Political science 10. Tight slacks 9. Definite maybe 8. Pretty ugly 7. Twelve-ounce pound cake 6. Diet ice cream 5. Rap music 4. Working vacation 3. Exact estimate 2. Religious tolerance And the Number one top OXY-Moron 1. Microsoft Works You've got to love bosses who demand results. I remember working for a guy who demanded that I drive around soliciting business from local companies. I had to prove my efforts by obtaining a business card from each person I solicited. You know, you can get an awful lot of business cards out of those "Win a free lunch" fishbowls at restaurants.... One day my boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" 10

11. Whats Your Future Look Like? According to the Federation Of Small Businesses there are 4.8 million small businesses in the UK. Many are struggling. Although the recession had an impact and made things tougher for many businesses, it didnt have a major effect on company liquidations. The table below shows the total company liquidations over the last decade Year 2001 Total 14,972 2002 16,306 2003 14,184 2004 12,192 2005 12,893 2006 13,137 2007 12,507 2008 15,535 2009 19,077 2010 16,045 It gets tougher when the growth in the economy slows no news there. But what is surprising and shocking is that even when times are good there are still well over 12,000 liquidations every year. And you cant blame the economy for that! There are many reasons for the failure of businesses, but almost every one of these can be overcome by getting in more cash. More customers. More sales from existing customers. When you have positive cash flow you have a sustainable business and most problems disappear. So, yes you can blame the economy for increased business failures, but ultimately there is no reason to suggest that you cant survive and prosper no matter what the trading conditions. With little hope of a significant change of fortunes in the coming months, business owners face a challenging time ahead. What Does Your Future Hold Nothing is truer when it comes to your business. If youre not acquiring new customers then youre almost certainly going backwards. Even if you are great at servicing customers, you will always lose a small number through mergers, acquisitions, retirement, bankruptcy (more so at the moment), death, relocation and of course competition. A wise man once said: If youve stopped growing, youre actually shrinking. So, alarmingly, if your business has slowed, it may not be long before it starts going backwards. However, the good news is, with the right advice and good old-fashioned hard work, you can buck this trend and create a fast-growing and dominant business. A business that grows month on month. Thats why we write these newsletters. Youre reading this newsletter because you see it as the first step in doing something about the growth of your business. We dont know your exact personal situation, but we do know you want improvement in your business. And we do know, for whatever reason, youre not happy with things as they stand at the moment. Realising this is a major part of your battle. Next its all about what you do about it. You need to get busy and start 11 implementing a range of strategies that will help you... Stand out from the crowd Attract customers easily Remove price from the mind of the customer Provide added value that no other competitor can compete with Acquire the right type of customers at the right price Achieve everything your skills, effort and experience deserve And the next important step is to contact your nearest System 4Results Specialist (details on the back page) and claim your Free Consultation. Theres nothing to pay and no obligation on either side. Although growing your business is down to some basic fundamentals, many of the things we talk to you about will challenge what you believe to be true about growing a business. You have to trust us. This system works. It doesnt matter if youre a sole trader or in a business with four or ten partners/ directors. But to get results, you have to change what youre doing. You have to be different. You cannot hope to achieve all you want with an attitude of ...This wont work for my business (make sure you ask our consultants to show you their testimonials of satisfied business owners across all types and sizes of business). You have to open your mind to the opportunities that present themselves to you through System 4Results. And if you do, then youre going to enjoy the results of your efforts. WE PROMISE YOU THAT. And thats why ALL of our work with clients comes with a money back guarantee.

12. No-Nonsense Resources For Your Business Where Results Are Always Top Of The Agenda FREE RESOURCE #1: Go 4Ward Review Meeting Probably the best FREE two-hours youll ever spend. Our Go 4Ward Review Meeting helps you uncover profits already lying untapped inside your business. During this meeting invaluable 2-hour Well show you in detail how by implementing S y s t e m 4Results you virtually guarantee your business success. Our resources help you to target the 3 Business Multipliers in your own business and help you quickly build your sales and profits Well reveal how to austerityproof your business so it grows youre genuinely serious about even in tough economic growing your business. conditions. Well explain how you can To arrange your Go 4Ward Review destroy the competition and Meeting contact us on the numbers blow them out of the water shown without reducing your prices. Youll discover how you can uncover vast potential profits already hidden in your business just lying there waiting to be found! Youll find out how you can grow your business, and reap the financial rewards that all successful businesses bring, by implementing S y s t e m 4Results into your business. And much, much more. All in all its a meeting you shouldnt miss if FREE RESOURCE #2: FREE RESOURCE #3: To access all the ways we can help your business to grow, many of them free, go to www.system4results.co.uk CONTACT US: To get your FREE report Stop Stop Moaning And Blaming Your Moaning And Blaming Your Lack Of Lack Of Profits On Other People Profits On Other PeopleAnd Start And Start Doing Something About Doing Something About It NOW or to arrange your Go 4Ward Review It NOW Meeting contact: One of the most popular reports on the Bernard Keavy Internet. Our FREE report titled Stop Moaning And Blaming Your T: 01926 519363 Lack Of Profits On Other People M: 07791 003129 And Start Doing Something About It NOW has been downloaded and read bernard.keavy@system4results.co.uk by thousands of people. If you havent www.system4results.co.uk done so already, get your copy now at 12