Dollarmakers.com BLOG

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Clutter

The average consumer is confronted with over 36,000 commercial messages per day.
Decision makers face even more options. All available space is being bought up and sold as advertising space. Advertising exposure is increasing exponentially, and this naturally affects your cost of sales and therefore your margins. It now costs three times more to get just half the results you used to get. What to do?

You have two choices. You can work harder, which is tactical, short-term and comprised of reactive, daily activities. Or you can work smarter, which is strategic, based on a long-range plan and objective. Your strategy should drive your tactics, not vice-versa. Strategists understand the big picture they’re creating. They agree with Michael Gerber, who said, “If you’re not working ON your business, you’ll soon be OUT of business.” So they create strategies that minimize cost and risk and maximize efficiency.

Statistically, motorists slow down when they see a police car to avoid a speeding ticket. Did you know they speed up again within only half a mile? That’s how quickly you’re forgotten by your clients and prospects if you don’t have a strategy that will create ongoing, unique, varied exposure and value. Strategists set goals and consistently work towards them, which leverages the Reticular Activating Systems of all those involved in the process. Involving others in your planning and creating joint ventures and win/win partnerships is essential.

Large companies know this. 90% of corporate executives surveyed felt a Joint Venture with another company was “absolutely essential” to maintain their competitive edge. At least 20% of the revenues in the Fortune 500 and International 2,000 are now coming from Joint Ventures. This strategic approach works in any size business and cuts the clutter to shreds, resulting in increased margins and staff retention, reduced customer attrition, radically decreased cost of sales and risk and exponential growth.

Sales Tip
By creating and setting your Buying Criteria, then educating your customers, you become the natural, logical choice. That overcomes clutter. And remember, it’s far better to spend $100 on each of ten good prospects than to haphazardly spend $1 on each of 100 suspects.

Management Tip
The second biggest problem in sales is that salespeople don’t close. But the biggest problem is hiring the wrong people. There is a proven system for hiring sales superstars and when you get the right salespeople, closing is no longer an issue. Once you have superstars, train them consistently and the sky's the limit.
Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

Metamorphosis

Scientists tells us that as eagles age, their beaks and talons become encrusted with calcium. Thus, neither is as sharp as they once were. When this happens, the aging eagle cannot hunt as effectively as he once did. As he ages, he also loses some of his feathers. When this happens it causes his body to "whistle" in the air as he dives toward his prey. This destroys his ability to hunt in silence, thus further reducing his effectiveness as a hunter.

When the eagle enters this period of his life and he appears bedraggled and haggard, he will descend from soaring in the heights above and find him a place in the rocks. There, he will pluck out all of his feather and break off his own calcium encrusted beak against the rocks. He will even scratch his talons against the rocks until they are reduced to nubs. At this point, the eagle is absolutely vulnerable and defenseless. Many eagles die during this process because they cannot feed themselves or escape predators.

But, during this time a wonderful thing begins to happen, to those who survive. The feathers will begin to grow back. His beak will also grow back. His talons regrow as long and as sharp as ever before. After a time, the eagle will step out on the rocks, flap his great wings and take to the skies once again in victory. The eagle has "renewed its youth", its vigor and strength return and it mounts up and soars on high again. Member Selena Cheung told me about this amazing fact.

There comes a time in all our lives when we should regroup, reconsider and reevaluate. It’s never too late to start over. It’s good to take refuge and be alone, or at least to take counsel from a wiser and more successful Eagle. It’s been said that you can put wings on a pig, but he will never soar. Be careful not to take advice from a winged pig, masquerading as an Eagle. Select an Eagle whom you admire and trust and emulate the metamorphism described above.
“Come to the edge,” he said, but they were afraid. “Come to edge,” he said. They came, he pushed them, and they flew.

Robin J. Elliott robin@dollarmakers.com Call Toll Free1.866.746.0631 PST
Robin J. Elliott has been officially included in the International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs in 2002 and has been nominated as a candidate for inclusion in the 2004-2005 edition of the International Who's Who of Professionals.

Joint Venture Experts Use The Tools

Imagine a plumber that arrives at your house with a mousetrap, two radial tires and a tennis racket. Wrong tools. Probably won’t get pipe fixed. Or imagine you go to the dentist and he insists he does your dental work on a park bench with no tools. Scary, huh? Worse still, imagine you take your car to the shop and the mechanic refuses to use his tools because he wants to “feel the car’s pain”. Ridiculous. Yet some of us are not using tools that are readily available.

There is an abundance of affordable and even no cost tools available that we can use to be more effective in our businesses. I’m no techie, believe me, but the tools are easy to use, even for me, especially if you use professionals to help you when necessary. I recently acquired a great Video Signature to attach to my e mails. Excellent results. And how about using Skype? No cost, excellent quality VOIP. I use it regularly. And of course LinkedIn – no cost, great communication and marketing tool. Take advantage of seminars and TeleClasses, (Try FreeConferenceCall.com) E Books and the like.

Keep up to date with the latest developments. Libraries will order books for you – you don’t even have to buy them yourself. Octavio Marquez recently introduced me to Google’s amazing new mapping service. Spend time learning from youngsters – they’re up to date and cutting edge. The fellow who does my video signature is only seventeen, yet he charges far less and is much better and far more professional than his competition. He even used GotoMeeting very efficiently to add the signature to my e mail for me in two minutes! Instead of spending an hour explaining what I do, I can have someone download an entire 57 minute interview and listen online. Saves a huge amount of time. You can use a Blog (at no cost) to communicate regularly with customers, employees and suppliers.

Naturally, internet and tools can’t take the place of relationships and face-to-face communication; there should always be a balance. But let’s not lag behind in this competitive world. Save time and money and deliver more value by using the tools available.

Sales Tip:
Tricks and gadgets can’t replace good old customer service. A smile and a bunch of flowers is worth 100 e mails. A telephone call and firm handshake are always the best tools. But we should always be looking for ways to increase the value we deliver to our clients.

Management Tip:
Make sure your employees optimize their productivity through the careful use of tools. Educate them and help them to understand the importance of staying up to date on new technology. Don’t be threatened by young people who know more than you do – learn from them!

Motivational Quote:
“The foolish think the Eagle weak, and easy to bring to heel. The Eagle's wings are silken, but its claws are made of steel.” ~ Sidney Sheldon

Contact us: Robin J. Elliott E Mail: robin@dollarmakers.com Call Toll Free in North America, Hawaii, Alaska PST: 1.866.746.0631 International Phone + 604.945.5754

Joint Venture Success Depends on Analysis

We need to know what's going on in our businesses if we intend to follow Michael Gerber's famous advice and "work ON our businesses, instead of IN our businesses". The biggest enemy of objective analysis is EGO. We want to be right, we don't want to admit to our fears, mistakes and failures, and we want to look good. Gary Player said, "Sales is Ego; Profit is Reality." He's right. Successful entrepreneurs forget about popularity, being politically correct or their own egos. They are self confident and strong and they measure the bottom line. Successful Joint Venture Brokers are objective, proactive and fast moving.

Joint Ventures are the most effective business tool available. They allow us to build massive profits, overnight, with no money or risk and very little time, by leveraging existing resources. After 18 years of Joint Venture experience, I have come up with a few questions we should ask ourselves and standards by which we should measure whether or not to accept or institute or continue with a Joint Venture.

1. Is this the best use of my time and resources, or do I have a better alternative? (If another alternative is better, cut bait.)
2. Am I spending my own time, money and resources, or am I using other peoples' time, money and resources? (We should use other peoples' resources.
3. Am I acting as a salesperson / hired gun? (If so, walk away immediately.)
4. Is this deal as good as I thought it would be? Is the other party doing what he or she said they would? Am I still comfortable with this, or should I drop it?
5. Is this win/win and does every party benefit, or is someone being taken advantage of?
6. Are my partners ethical, honest and professional?
7. How can I add a back end, further leverage this situation, increase profits and/or distribution, or sell the deal?
8. Where can I learn more about Joint Ventures?
9. How can I meet better JV partners and find better deals? (My NetWORK determines my NetWORTH).
10. Are my resources being optimized? Do I have underutilized resources?

For complimentary reports, PowerPoint Presentations or a TeleClass or Bootcamp on Joint Ventures, see www.DollarMakers.com
Robin J. Elliott