nderstand ho exatly yor idea uyers are the rest o it is a Rare ... collection of extraorindary ideas... · ne ti I ive eope in y lasses is to take a sheet o aper and dra a ine ro

understand who exactly your ideal buyers are … the rest of it is a waste of time.

Unless, you dig deep into your buyers’ profile and you understand who they are, what average age they are, if they are married, single or divorced, if they have children and what age, what books they read, the movies they watch, and competitors they buy from … you won’t be able to sell to them nearly as effectively as you could..

FACE IT: the current economy has changed many people’s buying preferences. They are holding off on purchases. They are making their decisions based on a new criteria, and they are definitely not buying like they used to. Do you know what the difference is with YOUR customers? You need to!

•“Remember that a person’s name is to that person thesweetest and most important sound in any language.” Always use YOU in the writing you do, and in the presentations you do for your clients.

One tip I give people in my classes is to take a sheet of paper and draw a line from top to bottom down the middle.One the left side of the paper, count all the times you say “I”, “me”, “my”, “us” or “our”. On the right side of the paper, count all the times you say “you”, “yours”, “you’ll”, etc.The references to “you” should outnumber the others by eight to one MINIMUM.

www.trevormarchant.com

Extraordinary IdeasRare Collection Of

With Complimentswww.trevormarchant.com

Most Business Owners have heard of Dale Carnegie …

A man whose legacy will live forever. A man who has changed millions of lives

worldwide. And a man who has more of a grasp on the true art of marketing than many would ever recognize!

Having spent many hours studying his work, doing his courses, teaching his courses and being awarded the title of Master Sales Trainer I felt compelled to look back over his material and what I found is worth sharing…

If you want to market yourself, your business (…or write effective copy) – then I know we can all benefit from following advice from Dale Carnegie himself.

His book “How To Win Friends And Influence People” shares the following advice (written in 1936 but as applicable today as back then) …

•“First, arouse in the other person an eager want.”He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way” If they don’t want what you sell – they won’t buy it. You need to master the ability to showcase your product or service in a way that builds excitement and gets them passionate about buying what you offer.

•“Become genuinely interested in other people.”This actually should be first and foremost. If you don’t understand who exactly your ideal buyers are … the rest of it is a waste of time.

Unless, you dig deep into your buyers’ profile and you understand who they are, what average age they are, if they are married, single or divorced, if they have children and what age, what books they read, the movies they watch, and competitors they buy from … you won’t be able to sell to them nearly as effectively as you could...

FACE IT:

The current economy has changed many people’s buying preferences. They are holding off on purchases. They are making their decisions based on a new criteria, and they are definitely not buying like they used to. Do you know what the difference is with YOUR customers? You need to!

•“Remember that a person’s name is to that person thesweetest and most important sound in any language.” Always use YOU in the writing you do, and in the presentations you do for your clients.

One tip I give people in my classes is to take a sheet of paper and draw a line from top to bottom down the middle.On the left side of the paper, count all the times you say “I”, “me”, “my”, “us” or “our”. On the right side of the paper, count all the times you say “you”, “yours”, “you’ll”, etc.

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The references to “you” should outnumber the others by eight to one MINIMUM. If you are talking about yourself that much, instead of talking about them, their wants, their needs, their problems, what they want solved, etc., you won’t be getting nearly the response you could!

•“Become a good listener.”Potential clients don’t want to hear about you and your company; they want you to listen to them, their problems, their dreams, and their aspirations. Show them you understand this in your copy and they will listen.

•“Make the other person feel important.”Do it sincerely – share with them how important they are to you, to their friends, their family and the world.

•“Get the other person saying yes, yes, yes immediately.”What you don’t want to do is get them started on a negative note answering things in their mind with the word NO. Show them how much you understand them, their problems, their deepest darkest desires for solving that problem.

Get them shaking their head yes, and leave them wondering how it is you seem to know so much about them.

•“Make the other person happy to do what you suggest.”If you can leave them with such an incredible feeling of self-satisfaction after they order … you have done your job right.

Get that across in your campaigns and you have done some amazing things that will show in your sales numbers!

Think about it – this advice is 75 YEARS OLD … and still is not being listened to by 90% of the small business owners out there.

SAD, BUT TRUE.If you could accomplish that in all your dealings with your clients – you would be the leader in your field.

How many companies do know of (and have bought from) that actually apply even half of the above? 10%?

Make these ideas your new, minimum service goals when dealing with clients and see your profits soar this year – and your clients will thank you beyond all belief for finally understanding their side of the equation!

Welcome to the first edition of THE NEXT LEVEL Newsletter for Accountants and their Clients. The Newsletter is for people who want to create more sales, increase revenues and multiply profits.

Our plan with this Newsletter is to provide you with inspirational stories, tips and principles that will over time transform your thinking with regard to the business success possibilities that are “already in your hand”.

BETTER?Give them an awesome story they could tell their friends, family, and loved ones that would leave them just as excited about the product they just ordered.

Learn an amazing lesson from reading this social experimentabout people’s perceptions, tastes and priorities. It is about

violinist Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world, who plays to sold-out theatre audiences at $100 per average seat but after playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station for an hour, he received a total of $32.

THE SITUATION

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000

Inspirational Story Joshua Bell

people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

•About 4 minutes later:The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

•At 6 minutes:A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

•At 10 minutes:A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

•At 45 minutes:The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

•After 1 hour:He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.


Business is there to give you a life, not consume it.

THE LESSON

This experiment raised several questions:

• In a common-place environment, at an inappropriatehour, do we perceive beauty?

• If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

•Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made...

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

ENJOY LIFE NOW... it has an expiration date.

…and remember this thinking applies to all your business endeavours.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.


It’s human nature for us to focus our thoughts and concerns onour personal well-being. We begin as a child learning how to

‘get’ what we want from others. We are constantly thinking about what ‘we’ want, and about how we are going to get it. It could be food, clothes, or a bright, shiny new car -- it doesn’t matter what it is. We spend our lives thinking about how we can satisfy our wants and needs. This is a universal trait in all living creatures. It is at the heart of our very survival. And within this basic concept lies the problem as well as the solution to your desire to successfully grow your business.

“If you help enough people get what they want... you get what you want”

Zig Ziglar Master Trainer and Coach

Become a GO GIVER not a GO TAKER

You want to increase the revenue of your business and, YOUR CUSTOMERS want to satisfy their wants and needs…just like you do…

HERE’S THE KEY TO SUCCESS:

The more people you can help get what they want – the more you get what you want!The more you focus on what ‘you’ want, the less you will get and the more you focus on what your ‘customers’ want, the more you will get. I hope that makes sense to you…because if you can ‘get it’ it will make a world of difference to your sales.

NATURE HAS A WAY OF SHOWING US ‘THE WAY’

WE JUST HAVE TO BE AWARE…

Let me give you an example. We have a bird feeder outside our kitchen window. We put it up, because we wanted to attract the beautiful ‘rosellas’ in our area. However, when we first put the bird feeder up and filled it with generic bird seed, not one rosella came to our feeder. You know the reason, don’t you?

The rosellas didn’t want the seed we put into the bird feeder. And so, they ignored our feeder. Next time we filled our bird feeder, we filled it with seed especially designed for rosellas. It was the seed that they loved. And within a few days, we had rosellas visiting our feeder 2-3 times a day.

We gave the rosellas what ‘they’ wanted -- and only then did we get what ‘we’ wanted. It’s no different with people. Most small


business marketing focuses on the company, or the product/service, and not on the wants and needs of their customers.

Their ads focus on how long they have been in business, how much experience they have, how many awards they’ve won. Or they focus on the features of their product or service. Often these ads include a picture of the business owner.

The bottom line is, your prospects and customers really don’t care about you or your company or your products and services. They care about one thing only -- ‘How can you help me get what I want?’ ‘How can you help me solve my problem?’ ‘How can you make me happy?’

THIS IS WHERE THE ‘GO GIVER ‘PHILOSOPHY COMES IN.

We’re not saying that you shouldn’t think about what you want -- what you want is very important. We’re saying that in order to get what you want; you must focus all your energy on finding out what your customers want and then give it to them. Then you will ‘automatically’ get what you want.

For instance, if we want to grow our business by selling our marketing and sales courses-- The NEXT Level Masterclass series; The SFX High Performance Sales Skills course; The Lead Generation and Referral program for Accountants and soon to be released NEXT Level +1 program for selected Business Owners …as well as our other publications, then we have to keep working at …what our clients want – and why!

If we just put up a Website, or pass out flyers, or place ads trying to sell our course in one quick and easy step, we would actually sell very, very few courses.

Why? Because people wouldn’t know us, like us or trust us enough to buy from us. They would be skeptical about our claims.

When it comes to most products and services, people want

information first before they are ready to make a buying decision So we focus on what our prospects and customers want and we give it to them. Instead of focusing on what we want, we focus on giving you what you want -- information.

Our website will eventually be filled with free marketing articles, case studies, and tips all designed to help you grow your business. As our prospects read our newsletters and our information on our Web site, they are getting to know us and trust that we know what we are talking about. By providing all of this information, we are removing the natural skepticism that most people have. It’s a win-win philosophy.

How well does this ‘Go Giver’ philosophy work? It works incredibly well! Many of our clients’ businesses are testimony to that – as well as our own.

This ‘Go Giver’ philosophy is universal. If you only focus on the ‘take’’ part -- what you want -- you will actually ‘drive away ‘your potential customers. But if you focus on ‘Giving’ first -- giving them what they want -- then you will melt away resistance and begin attracting customers like a magnet. The first step in attracting customers by giving them what they want, is by understanding exactly what your prospects and customers want and why.

People don’t want to be sold, they want to be helped


•InformationPeople want to know…

• What are you trying to sell me?• How much is this going to cost?• Do I believe you?• What’s really in this for me? •Solutions to their problemsPeople don’t buy products and services. They buy what the products and services can do for them. We don’t buy 1/4 inch drills, we buy 1/4 inch holes. Products and services solve problems for people. What problems does your product or service solve?

•To be happyIn the end, all people want is one thing -- to be happy. They will buy your product or service because they believe they will be happier after buying it. Make sure you focus on making your prospects and customers happy -- before and after the sale.

•To have no riskThere is tremendous skepticism in the world. And with good cause. There are many people in the world who don’t deliver what they promise, and so, people are afraid that you won’t deliver what you promise. It’s up to you to let them know that you will stand behind your products and services 100%. We wouldn’t dream of selling one of our products without a 100%

money-back guarantee. Such a guarantee promotes trust, and dramatically increases sales.

•To feel importantEveryone wants to feel important. Treat your prospects and customers with respect and consideration. Show your appreciation for their purchases, and provide your best customers with special preferred customer offers.

•Things to be easyPeople hate things that are difficult or complicated. Design your marketing systems to make it as easy for your prospects and customers as possible. Make your information request systems easy. Make your ordering system easy, etc.

•Stay in touchFind a way to stay in touch. We’re all creatures of habit. If we’ve had good experience with a certain product or business it’s probable that we will go back there next time when we’re looking for something similar. It’s also probable that we will refer our family and friends. So keep in touch with your customers and let them know what’s happening in your business…let them know what’s coming up that may be of interest to them. Take a ‘leaf ’ out of the APPLE playbook…it’s not hard to understand why they are the most valuable business in the world!

These are just a few of the things that your prospects and customers want. This ‘Go Giver’ philosophy is powerful and it’s effective in attracting prospects and customers.

Everything you do to ‘give’ your prospects and customers what they want, will increase the chances that you will get what you want.

Here are just 7 things that your prospects and customers want:


Market Trend I travel a lot in my work and meet a lot of people. Some of these people are just ‘passing through’ yet I manage to stay in touch

with most of them. I recently received an article from a colleague who now lives in the US and it was about his experience with ‘market trends.’

HERE’S MY TAKE ON WHAT HE SAID…

There’s a coffee shop in Los Angeles where a lot of the movie stars and models hang out and while the coffee is okay, it seems it’s just a cool place to be.

The Urth Café it seems has a powerful story and was on a powerful trend.

If you visit its website, (http://www.urthcaffe.com/ ) Urth claims to have five standards for selecting its coffee.

HERE IS ITS FOURTH:

‘ Source farms must pay their coffee workers a fair wage in order to improve the workers’ quality of life. Urth Café representatives or reputable organisations must be invited to check the claims of fair wages by visiting workers’ ‘villages.’

These days, this practice is known as Fair-trade, but Urth Café had been following these principles for some years before it was the ‘in’ thing to do. Today, everyone seems to be claiming they buy only produce that has been grown without exploiting the communities that grow it.

It seems obvious now that this would be a powerful marketing ploy for a coffee seller, especially when you consider the kind of buyer who spends around $4 on a cup of coffee – everyday. What Urth achieved by getting on this trend early is firstly a point of

“I see a future in which marketing is customer driven. Instead of being passive recipients of “hits” from mass media, customers will determine what they will be exposed to, in what form, in what sequence, and from what sources. They will increasingly turn to the various forms of word of mouth” George Silverman


difference and secondly a justification for why it was charging a little more for its coffee. In this case the buyer’s ‘other buyer’ was his or her own conscience .

So one of the questions that pops up from this story is how do you identify trends?

•Use online trend polls that are based on what peopleare searching and sharingFor example:

• www.google.com/trends• www.trendpedia.com• www.facebook.com/advertising/?lexicon• www.blogpulse.com• www.trendrr.com• http://adlab.msn.com/ •Subscribe to different websites and newslettersYour job is not to become an expert in spotting trends – unless, of course, that is what you’re offering.

• Here are some sites I’ve found:• www.trendwtaching.com• www.trendhunter.com• www.peresearch.org• www.harrisinteractive.com• www.technorati.com

This sounds a bit obvious I know – but just being aware that you are looking for emerging trends makes you more likely to find them. The people who spot new trends are generally those who are already immersed in the area and looking for them.

•A few questions to think about…• What trends currently exist in the area of your offering that

you could ‘pin’ your idea to?• What trends exist outside the market you serve that could be

introduced into your market (think Urth and Fair-trade) tomake your offer even more compelling?

• What are the buyers being asked to find solutions for by theirbuyers (bosses, clients, investors) and how could your offer beseen as a possible solution?

Here are some resources I’ve found:


In four easy steps, it will teach you how to craft a powerfulspeech on any topic, a talk your listeners will enjoy and respond

to favourably.As an extra bonus, this method will also help you to write a winning headline whenever you need one.

Fear of Giving a Speech This four-step formula was created by Richard C. Borden. Many years ago, Borden was the Administrative Chairman of the Department of Public Speaking at New York University. He was also one of the nation’s most popular speakers and sales trainers, as well as an author of books on selling and public speaking

To give a great speech, Borden recommends that you imagine your audience shouting out these four emotional outbursts as you give your talk (this will become clear in a minute)...

Let’s see how this works in practice ...

Let’s imagine that you must give a speech or important presentation.

You are dreading it, but there’s no escape. So you enrol in a course that teaches the Borden method. At your weekly classes, you practice by

standing before the group and giving talks on various subjects assigned to you.

Each time you do, as you take your place at the front of the room, on cue the entire class shouts at you, at the top of their lungs, “Ho hum!”

If you were nervous before standing up to speak, hearing this thundering “Ho hum!” hurled at you by forty to fifty bored people will instantly turn you into a quivering mass of jelly.

But the experience teaches two valuable lessons . . .

First, you learn—in your gut, as only actual experience can teach—this truism of life:

The “Borden Formula” for Giving a Great Speech or Writing a Potent Headline

I’m sure you’ve heard about the surveys showing that more people are afraid of giving a speech than dying.Perhaps most dreaded of all is dying while giving a speech! But that will never happen to you if you remember the message in this column.

“Ho hum!”“Why bring that up!”“For instance?”“So what?”


Second, this experience indelibly stamps in your awareness the most critical principle of giving an effective speech: Your opening must electrify your audience, shake them awake, or, as we Borden students like to put it, “crash the ho-hum barrier.”

In his book, Public Speaking as Listeners Like It! Borden gives this example. Let’s say you’ve been asked to speak on traffic safety.

DON’T START OUT WITH . . .

“The subject which has been assigned me is the reduction of traffic accidents.” Ho-hum indeed!

How much more interesting to start your speech with . . .

“Four hundred and fifty shiny new coffins were delivered to the city last Thursday.”

That’s a grabber that will instantly interest your audience as they wonder, “Why?”

OK, so let’s say you’ve got an interesting opening sentence that survives the “Ho hum!” challenge. You’re just getting started in the Borden torture chamber!

Next, the entire class shouts at you, “Why bring that up?” which is your invitation to expand upon your attention-getting opener.

Next, the class shouts, “For instance?” demanding at least one specific, persuasive example of the point you’re making.

Finally, the class screams, “So what?”—what do you recommend we do about this?

Let’s see an excellent example provided by one of the greatest copywriters who ever lived, Bruce Barton, cofounder of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBDO), a leading Madison Avenue ad agency.

Fear is a cowardly bully. Stand up to it, and it runs.


•Ho Hum!Barton begins his talk with an intriguing observation about the potential value of spare time...

“Last month a man in Chicago refused a million dollars for an invention he had evolved in his spare time.”

•Why Bring That Up!“You are interested in this because it confronts you with the possibilities of your spare time. Did you ever stop to think that most of the world’s great men have achieved their true life work, not in the course of their needful occupations, but—in their spare time?

•For Instance?“A tired-out rail-splitter crouched over his tattered books by candlelight or by fire-glow, at the day’s end; preparing for his

future, instead of snoring or skylarking like his co-laborers. Abraham Lincoln cut out his path to later immortality—in his spare time

“An underpaid and overworked telegraph clerk stole hours from sleep or from play, at night, trying to crystallize into realities certain fantastic dreams in which he had faith. Today the whole world is benefiting by what Edison did—in his spare time.

“A down-at-heel instructor in an obscure college varied the drudgery he hated by spending his evenings and holidays in tinkering with a queer device of his, at which his fellow teachers laughed. But he invented the telephone —in his spare time.

•So What?“Gentlemen, you, too, have spare time. The man who says: ‘I would do such and such a great thing, if only I had time!’ would do nothing if he had all the time on the calendar. There is always time—spare time—at the disposal of every human who has the energy to use it. Use it!”

In your spare time, I urge you to practice using this simple four-step Borden formula whenever you prepare your emails, memos, or presentations. It will work wonders in making you more persuasive.

Here is an example from a talk by Bruce Barton that Borden cites in his book. Barton was a firm believer in self-improvement, and in this talk he was urging a group of young men to make more productive use of their spare time.

(Though they were not part of Barton’s talk, I’ll overlay the four Borden questions at the right places to show, as Borden did in his book, how well Bruce Barton’s talk illustrates the Borden method.)


This week I’d like to share a few thoughts of my own ondiscipline along with more of what Brian Tracy has to say in

his book – ‘The Power of Discipline.’

Have you ever wondered why some people are more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority?

I started out in life with few advantages… for example no one in my family had ever completed high-school. My father finished school in grade three and my mother in grade six, yet they had a good life and gave me as much support as they could.

I finished high-school and some years later also completed

The Power of Discipline a Bachelor of Business degree at Charles Sturt University. (Formerly Mitchell College). This took me six years and I did it while commuting on a train from the Central Coast of NSW to Sydney each day.

I feel there was a time however when I considered myself to have limited skills and probably a limited future.

Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement. It seems the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarised it years ago, “Success is tons of discipline.”

Some years ago I read an article written by Brian Tracy. He related a story of a meeting he had with man by the name of Kop Kopmeyer.

Kop Kopmeyer was a legend in the field of success and achievement. He had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles – principles he had concluded after fiftyplus years of research and study.

One of these books

I’ve read cover to cover several times. Brian Tracy asked Mr Kopmeyer “of all the thousand success principles you’ve discovered , which do you think is the most important?”

“No Life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined”Harry E Fosdick

Brian Tracy is a world-leading author on the development of human potential. He said this …” If I had to pick the #1 key to success, it would be …self-discipline. It is the difference in winning or losing; between greatness and mediocrity.”


Without hesitating, Mr Kopmeyer replied:

“ The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago, ‘do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.’” He went on to say “there are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work.”

Self- discipline is the key to personal success – I can testify to this. It is the magic quality thatopens all doors for you, and makes everythingpossible. With self-discipline, the averageperson (by the way I don’t believe there areaverage people – just average thinking) canrise as far and as fast as their talents andintelligence can take them.

But without self-discipline, a person with

every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

Brian Tracy has done much more research on this subject than me and he suggests that there are seven areas where we can practice better self-discipline:

Goals

Character

Time Management

Personal Health

Money

Courage and

Responsibility

Discipline weighs ounces, but regret weighs tonsJim Rollins


The Most Persuasive Tool in Advertising & How to Use It

I’ve read a lot of Gary’s ‘copy’ in my studies as a Marketer andProfessional Sales person …and I thought I’d share his ideas

(and a few of mine) on the subject of :

THE MOST PERSUASIVE TOOL IN ADVERTISING

“How can I sell more product?,” is the marketer’s eternal question. If you sincerely seek the answer, just follow this suggestion. When it comes to creating advertising, most advice is for the birds. But the greatest secret of success can be found in two little words. No, they’re not, as some have written, those standbys NEW and FREE. Neither are they NOW and SALE, or even YOU or WE. No, to open minds and wallets and have prospects eagerly buy, The most persuasive words in advertising are simply, REASON WHY.

Whether you spread your message on TV, the internet or by letter, You must explain the REASON WHY your product is much

better. And while you’re at it, don’t forget that your audience won’t believe you unless you give the REASON WHY what you claim is true. To close the sale, these two little words once again point the way. Just give me another REASON WHY I should act today.

There you have it, clear as day. If you want to sell, here’s how:

Give good reasons for these three questions: why you, why true, why now? This little secret works like magic, for all products, in all seasons.

If you want to sell like a superstar, just boldly state your reasons: First, the reason yours is best. Second, a reason to believe, And third, a reason to act right now—give these and you’ll receive More sales than you can imagine, gold and riches heaped on high. The world showers you with treasure when you give the REASON WHY.

Soft drinks are one of the most difficult industries to break into with a new product. The number of times it’s been done over history is very, very seldom because people are loyal to whatever soft drink they like.

Not long ago, Slice soft drink came out with a campaign that said it’s a better-tasting soft drink because it contains 10-percent fruit juice.

It gave a little reason in the headline—the 10-percent fruit juice—to explain why it tastes better than the average fruit soda. And that made all the difference in the world. In a product

Gary Bencivenga, now retired, was once described by his peers as the “world’s greatest living reason – why copywriter.”

Could this be verse? I doubt it! But maybe a couple of quick examples will make the point . . .


category that’s renowned for a sky-high failure rate among new products, Slice quickly captured 7 percent of a $30-billion-a-year soft drink market.

Today, that same soft drink market is probably worth more than $50 billion per year. That means that right out of the box, Slice created $2 billion a year in sales on the strength of this one little proof element, 10-percent fruit juice.

To see how critical that line is to its success, try taking it away, and what do you have? “Slice, a better-tasting soft drink.” Nothing there but a bland claim.

But because it contains 10-percent fruit juice, if you’re a soft drink aficionado, you think, maybe I’ll try it. There’s a good reason to.

Here’s another classic reason-why positioning that built a fortune.

KLEENEX TOWELS ABSORB 50 PERCENT MORE BECAUSE THEY’RE TWO LAYERS THICK.

“Well, that makes sense,” you say to yourself. You can buy into the promise because it gives you its proof element, its reason why, right in the headline. Half Off Sale!

We’ve all seen half off sales and, by and large, they slide off your mind like water off a duck.

But give it a reason why and look what happens. Imagine if you say instead:

FIRE SALE! 50 PERCENT OFF EVERYTHING IN OUR STORE BECAUSE OF OUR RECENT FIRE.

See what a difference that makes?

If I’m going to buy a stereo, I don’t care if the box smells a little smoky. The reason why—the recent fire—gives me a rationale to buy into it, a believable explanation of why I might really get 50 percent off, rather than just another garden-variety, totally unbelievable and unmotivating “half price sale.”

Take a hard look at your most critical marketing materials, especially any that are underperforming.

Ask if you are giving reasons why in each of these three areas: • Compelling reason(s) why your product is superior to other

solutions your prospects might choose, including doingnothing.

• Compelling reason(s) to believe that what you say is true.• Compelling reason(s) to seize the opportunity today.

When you examine the most successful examples ofsalesmanship-in-print, you’ll almost always find these threereasons-why in full force, which is why they are so profitable.

Let’s look at another example. The headline of one of the most successful direct response ads of all time is:How to win friends and influence people. ( I wrote about this in an earlier column)Wisely paying off that key word “how,” the body copy of this ad gives many, many reasons in support of this powerful headline.


A TALE OF TWO LAWYERS

Mary is looking for a Lawyer to handle her divorce. She speaks to two lawyers and asks them both what they charge for their services.

The reason she asks this question is simply she doesn’t know what else to ask. She has never been through a divorce; this is all new to her.

She doesn’t know what issues are involved or how lawyers might differ, so the only thing she can think to ask is about their rates. (Remember - this is the norm, in any industry and for any business. In the absence of information about value, prospects will always default to price shopping.)

The first lawyer replies by telling her that he charges $250 per hour, and he would be happy to handle her case. “When would you like to book our first meeting?” he adds, as he opens his appointment book.

Mary declines to book a date just yet; she wants to check the second lawyer’s rates first.

When she contacts the second lawyer, she asks the same question – but receives a very different response. This time, the lawyerreplies by first asking Mary a few questions about her situation.After he has listened to her for a few minutes, he begins to tell herabout his service.

“Well, Mary, our practice is a little different from most family practices in the area, especially concerning divorce proceedings. Our goal is always to reach the most amicable and fair settlement possible for both parties – not only for our client, but for both clients involved.

“By approaching it this way,” he continues, “we have found that over seventy percent of our clients have been able to achieve a cordial ongoing relationship with their ex-spouses, and they generally move past the divorce and on with their lives more quickly.”

A good lesson for all professional sales people …which means anyone in business! If you’re in business then you’re in the business of selling.


And this is not just ‘hype.’ He tells Mary that he’ll have his secretary send her a packet of testimonials and survey data his firm has compiled that backs up what he’s telling her.

This law firm presents that same information on their website, in their brochures and other promotional materials, and in any public-speaking engagements they do. Why are they so consistent in making this information available and reinforcing its message? Because it speaks directly to their ‘ideal clients’ hot buttons, and illustrates the law firms unique value.

“This positive approach,” he continues, “has made it easier on both our clients and their ex-spouses – and especially for any children involved, whom we regard – in many ways – the most important parties to consider in the whole process.” The lawyer goes on to explain that his firm has developed several new approaches to help achieve this goal. And in doing this, he tells her, they have found that they typically are able to finalise a divorce 25 percent faster than the norm.

Finally, he tells her that his rates are $300 per hour.

Which one do you think Mary chose?

She went with the second lawyer, because he took the time to tell Mary about the special features his firm provides, and how she will benefit from them. He informed her of his firms’ value.

Mary has weighed the ‘pros and cons’ and decided that even if his rates are 20 percent higher than the other firm’s his approach could more quickly lead to an improved quality of life for her and her family.

It is most likely though, that if the second lawyer had not taken

the time to educate Mary but simply told her, “My rates are $300 an hour,” he would have lost this client to the first lawyer.

Note: It is possible that the first lawyer also does all the things the second lawyer does – but he didn’t bother to take the time or follow the process.

This approach is covered on our High Performance Selling program for professionals. We teach the process as well as the questions to ask


The Goal Was Ambitious

Armed with every ingredient for success, Samuel PierpontLangley set out in the early 1900s to be the first man to pilot

an airplane.

Highly regarded, he was a senior officer at the Smithsonian Institution, a mathematics professor who has also worked at Harvard. His friends included some of the most powerful men in government and business including Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell. Langley was given a $50,000 grant from the war Department to fund his project, a tremendous amount of money for the time. He pulled together the best minds of the day, a veritable dream team of talent and know-how. Langley and his team used the finest materials, and the press followed him everywhere. People all over the country were riveted to the story, waiting to read that he had achieved his goal. With the team he had gathered and ample resources, his success was guaranteed.

OR WAS IT?

A few hundred miles away, Wilbur and Orville Wright were working on their own flying machine. Their passion to fly was

so intense that it inspired the enthusiasm and commitment of a dedicated group in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. There was no funding for the venture. No government grants. No high-level connections. Not a single person on the team had an advanced degree or even a college education, not even Orville or Wilbur. But the team banded together in a humble bicycle shop and made their vision real. On December 17, 1903, a small group witnessed a man take a flight for the first time in history.

How did the Wright brothers succeed where a better- equipped, better – funded and better – educated team could not?

It wasn’t luck. Both the Wright brothers and Langley were highly motivated. Both had a strong work ethic. Both had keen scientific minds. They were pursuing exactly the same goal, but only the Wright brothers were able to inspire those around them and truly lead their team to develop a technology that would change the world.

Only the Wright brothers started with WHY?They started with why – they started with an underlying belief in a purpose or cause bigger than themselves. For them it was not just about being the first person to fly a plane it was about the travel - ramifications for all mankind.

So, here’s the question for you.

People don’t buy what you do – if they did, they could buy it from anyone of a hundred competitors. They buy why you do it. They buy your beliefs, your passion, your charisma – they buy your leadership and direction.

The goal was ambitious. Public interest was high. Experts were keen to contribute. Money was readily available

The question: why do you do what you do? If your answer is to make money and grow rich – well I’m afraid that won’t cut it these days.


How important is trust in your business?

HOW IMPORTANT IS TRUST IN BUSINESS?

There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organization, nation, economy and civilisation throughout the world.

One thing which, if removed, will destroy the most powerful government, the most successful business, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love.

On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, that one thing has the potential to create unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life. Yet, it is the least understood, most neglected, and most underestimated possibility of our time.

THAT ONE THING IS TRUST

Trust impacts us 24/7, 365 days a year. It underpins and affects the quality of every relationship, every communication, every work project, every business venture, and every effort in which we are engaged.

It changes the quality of every present moment and alters the trajectory and outcome of every future moment of our lives- both personally and professionally.

I contend that the ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust is not only vital to our personal and interpersonal well-being; it is the key leadership competency of the new global economy.

Speed happens when people really Trust each other

If you really want to build a successful career and a successful business, you have to become the ‘trusted advisor’ to your market.


When people buy from you they will be concerned about four things:

• Is what they’re buying from you going to help them getsomething they want? In other words – they’re not justbuying a house from you, they’re not just buying yourproposal that you can sell their house for them or they’re notjust buying your ability to rent their house out for them andensure their property will be maintained in a professionalmanner.These people want something and what you provide mightjust help them get it and your job is to find out what they wantand why.

• They will want to know and be convinced that ‘whateveryou’re selling ‘is a quality product or service – relative to whatthey’re prepared to pay. Values are relative. Nobody sets outto buy ‘poor quality’ anything. However, what one personthinks is quality will be different for the next person.

• Is what you’re offering ‘value for money?’ Once again, valuefor money is relative and although you might think it’s a gooddeal, the person in front of you may have other thoughts.

• Finally, your potential customer will have a question intheir mind – can I trust you? You see, the world is full ofthousands, perhaps millions of stories every other day abouthow someone got short-sheeted on a deal. You have to dowhatever you have to do to make them trust you!

Now all these points are critical to your success – no matter what you’re profession but they particularly apply to certain industries that have suffered over many years at the hands of a few ‘unscrupulous’ people. People who have chosen to use the industry for their gains at the expense of their customers.

Having said that if I had to name one of the four points as the most important it would be trust. Trust is the basis of all relationships and without it we have nothing.

So what can we do about it? What can we do to gain or in some case re-gain people’s trust?

FIRSTLY LET’S GET CLEAR ON WHAT TRUST IS.

Jack Welch, former CEO of general Electric, said, “You know it when you feel it.”

Simply put, trust means confidence. The opposite of trust – distrust – is suspicion. When you trust people, you haveconfidence in them – in their integrity and in their abilities.When you distrust people, you are suspicious of them – of theirintegrity, their agenda, their capabilities, or their track record.It’s that simple. We have all had experiences that validate thedifference between relationships that are built on trust and thosethat are not. These experiences clearly tell us the difference is notsmall; it’s dramatic!

Take a minute now and think of a person with whom you have high trust relationships – perhaps a boss, co-worker, customer, spouse, parent, sibling, child, or friend. How well do you communicate? How quickly can you get things done? How much do you enjoy this relationship?

Now think of a person with whom you have a low-trust relationship. Again, this person could be anyone at work or at home. Describe this relationship. What’s it like? How does it feel? How is the communication? Does it flow quickly and freely… or do you feel like you’re constantly walking on land mines and being misunderstood?


Do you work together to get things done quickly… or does it take a disproportionate amount of time and energy to finally reach agreement and execution? Do you enjoy this relationship … or do you find it tedious, cumbersome, and draining?

HERE’S WHAT JIM BURKE, THE FORMER CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF JOHNSON AND JOHNSON HAD TO SAY ABOUT TRUST:

Whether trust is high or low it always affects speed and cost. When trust is high, speed goes up and costs come down. When trust is low, speed comes down and costs go up.Consider the example of Warren Buffett – CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (and generally considered one of the most trusted and philanthropic leaders in the world) – who a few years ago completed a major acquisition of McLane Distribution (a $23 billion company) from Wal-Mart – one of the largest companies in the world.

As public companies both Berkshire Hathaway and Wal-Mart are subject to all kinds of market and regulatory scrutiny. Typically, a merger of this size would take several months to complete and cost several million dollars to pay for accountants, auditors and

lawyers to verify and validate all kinds of information. But in this instance, because both parties operated with high trust, the deal was made with one two-hour meeting and a handshake. In less than a month it was completed.

In a management letter that accompanied his 2004 annual report Warren Buffet wrote:

“We did no due diligence. We knew everything would be exactly as Wal-Mart said it would be – and it was.”

Imagine – less than one month (instead of six months or longer) and no due diligence costs (instead of millions typically spent)!

High TRUST, High speed, Low cost

“You can’t have success without trust. The word trust embodies almost everything you can strive for that will help you to succeed.You tell me any human relationship that works without trust, whether it is marriage or a friendship or a social interaction; in the long run, the same thing is true in business, especially businesses that deal with the public.”



For more information on Marchant - Dallas

visit: www.marchantdallas.com.auwww.mxthegrowthfactor.com www.trevormarchant.com or

email: [email protected]

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