Fail Forward Fast - The Innovation Secret

Everything is changing - technology, regulation, transportation, competition, speed, convenience and capability.  And the biggest change are your client's expectations.  Yesterday's "good" is poor quality tomorrow.  

So even if you maintain what you do even for a short time you are going to be out done by others shortly.  Entire industries evaporate at light speed - think of cameras which were historically i.e. till 2012 bought for their specific function are nearly extinct and incorporated into your smartphone that also connects you to the internet, allows to conduct business and make calls.

What got you here won't last long.  The only offense is rapid "innovation" that continually delights your clients.  Rapid innovation requires changing your philosophy about trying stuff and finding quick cost effective ways to deliver delight.  

In work gathered by In Search of Excellence author Tom Peters he's found that the simple formula is get out there and try stuff.  Try lots of stuff and know that there are going to be failures in order to discover what will work faster.  

For many this process inhibits them because of the fear of loss yet without this constant exposure to your clients feedback you'll be usurped by the others often not even a competitor you know about today and likely from a totally new industry who will try.  Thus, an attitude of "rewarding excellent failures and punishing mediocre successes" will be come your new mantra. Your willingness to embrace innovation directly impacts your future profitability, productivity and viability.

Want help rethinking innovation into your mindset and creating an environment where individual and team initiative is supported, then let's talk.  Key is youThat's what I do...we'll discover what it takes to work this way while delighting more clients faster.

Call me at ph:  972 291 5566 or eM:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

How to Increase Sales by Being a Market & Product Expert

Developing your marketing appeal to the largest group of buyers is the difference between growing slowly or rapidly with more leads than you can handle.  You'll be the rare business owner or entrepreneur that can focus the sales team on both market expertise and product expertise. Here's how... 

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Visualize you have an audience of potential buyers where they are told they had to come but did not have to stay.  How do you keep them in the room?

Research by Chet Holmes in his book, The Ultimate Sales Machine, shows that only 3% of the people who can benefit from your product or services are ready to buy now and another 7% are open to the idea.  Assuming you can identify those 10% cost effectively that’s still a small number?  What if you could arouse the attention of the other 90% and re-educate them about their market vs. trying to sell your product immediately?  

If you use the direct approach with who’s buying your specific product/service you’ll get the 3% response.  What if you go with market approach, “The 5 Ways You’re Wasting Money and Time with ABCD?”  That will grab their attention for a little while and want to know more.  

The premise - offering to re-educate them on something of value vs. simply trying to sell them your product/service positions you as the expert and separates you from your competition.  Can you see how this makes it a lot easier to get appointments and enable you to get in to see just about anyone including the 90 percent who were not buying now.  Since the information was so good, it established the salesperson as an expert rather than merely a salesperson.

Want to serve Your Buyer Better…?  Be a Market Expert vs. a Product Expert

• Market data is far more motivational to your buyers than product data

• How does the market data make your products and services more important
• Apply this research as part of your marketing and sales appeal

ActionITEM:  Do a brainstorming session with your team on what industry market research you can re-educate your buyers on. Look at the findings historically to determine the amount and rate of change.  Give your buyers context that arouses their desire to know more about how your products and services benefit them.  

Want to know more on how to be a Market Expert vs Product Expert?  Then let’s talk.

Call me at ph:  972 291 5566 or eM:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

And we’ll get your sales team opening doors faster and more easily than directly selling products and services.

7 Transformational Steps to Higher Profits & Productivity

Want to be humbled?  Take a blank sheet of paper and draw your path to earning more profits and productivity.  You'll appreciate how difficult it is to be God.  Are you ever going to know or experience it all?  Probably not, so can you learn from the knowhow and experiences of others?  Of course you can and still have room to make your own mistakes - you just don't need to make anyone else's.

Look at the 7 transformational steps that lead to higher profits and productivity.  It starts with working with coaches/mentors/teachers, gaining knowledge, asking questions, forming beliefs and setting dreams, making informed decisions, taking actions and gaining results of higher profits and productivity.  

As ActionCOACH - Business Coaches we're having these conversations with thousands of owners monthly.  Often these business owners are going beyond a commercial profitable business to one that ultimately works without the owner always being there, as fast as possible.  

Are you looking to accelerate your professional and personal growth, then let's talk.  I'll offer a complementary coaching session, 60 to 90 mins, to understand your situation.  I guarantee you'll leave with at least a half dozen implementable strategies to increase profits and productivity or gain you time back. 

Call me at - ph:  972 291 5566 or em:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let's get started...you'll work less and earn more!

Forget Planning the 2nd Half of the Year...Embrace Choosing, Selecting and Acting to Achieve Profits & Productivity

Forget business planning the 2nd half of the year and embrace choosing, selecting and acting...

Welcome to “Conversations every business owner has with their team in July.”  It’s the start of the second half of the year and let’s forget traditional business planning and start embracing - choosing, selecting and acting now.  Here’s why...

Traditional business planning as applied by big corporations and government is bureaucratic and stifling.  An entrepreneur and business owner success requires - faster easier and flexible direction setting ways more aligned to their passion and control mindset.  Something more empowering...here’s how!

1. Choose what you want, need, must have in your professional and personal life to feel happy about your progress for the time period selected.  That’s your future.  Prioritize the list to the top two to three must haves.
2. Select what you want or must take from your past into the future.  Think of this as if you were packing for a trip and have only two suitcases.  All of your past is not required for the journey - so prioritize and select the best experiences, thoughts, feelings, relationships, knowhow to create the future chosen.  
3. Act on what and where you’ve chosen to go using what you’ve selected from your past to take into the future.   The more compelling and clear your future the harder to veer off course when the moment of choice arrives or the momentum of the day overwhelms you.  You’ll align your actions, behaviors and decisions to achieve what makes you happy about your progress.  

This approach embraces an entrepreneur's attitude of business and life by design vs. happenstance.

Now go have July’s conversation with your team and forget planning and start choosing, selecting and acting to achieve more and work less.  

Want to know more?  Let’s talk.  I’ll offer a complimentary 60 to 90 min session to understand your situation and I’ll guarantee you at least a half dozen implementable ideas to maximize your effectiveness in the 2nd half of the year.

Call me at ph:  972 291 5566 or Email:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let’s get started...accelerating your growth.  

Top 3 Categories of Questions Every Business Owner Must Ask Their Team in July

What are the three categories of questions every business owner must ask their team in July and why?  Watch YouTube...

It’s the start of the second half of the year and let’s cover these three categories of questions.

1. How did we do compared to our ActionPLAN?  
   • Marketing - How many new prospects were attracted to us and for existing customers how much interest was sparked for additional products and services?   
   • Sales - How have our offers performed to add new customers and for existing customers increase average dollar sale and number of transactions?  
   • Operations - How effective and efficient were we in delivering on time, to spec and budget?
2. What did we learn and what are the implications for us?   Ask what are customers telling us?  How are our systems keeping up - technologically, regulatory, competitively?  What skills and competencies should our team be adding?  
3. What do we need to believe to achieve and our second half goals?

There really is a 4th category too.  “How can I, the owner, help you, my team member, best?”  Remember your role as owner is to develop your team to delight your customers and they’ll take care of business and the business takes care of you - the owner.

Now go have July’s conversation. 

If what you learn is that things are not on track or you want to accelerate your growth, then let’s talk.  I offer a complimentary 60 to 90 min session to understand your situation and I guarantee you at least a half dozen implementable strategies to maximize your effectiveness in the 2nd half of the year.

Call me at ph:  972 709 6776 or Email:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let’s get started...accelerating your growth.  You’ll work less and make more.

How to Avoid Facilitating Your Meetings as a Lion Tamer

Business owners - want to have fewer yet more productive meetings?  

Welcome to “Conversations every business owner has with their team.”  And today’s topic is how to have your people in fewer more productive meetings without you having to be a facilitation lion tamer.  

Situation - “Another meeting, I don’t have time for a meeting.”  “We never accomplish anything.”  You get the sentiments.   Yet you must have meetings to exchange ideas, engage your group, problem solve or coordinate action.  

Let’s assume you’ve done the meeting basics - clear agenda and purpose and invited the right people to participate.

 

Here’s a simple tip to keep your group more productive and engaged at your next meeting or work session.

The crux of the solution is a large sign.  It has an arrow pointing up corresponding to constructive and a down arrow siting a destructive comment or question.  Participants ask themselves to which degree their comment or question moves the agenda forward.  You get the picture.  With these two arrows they can test whether they are about to suggest adding or subtracting from the agendas purpose.  

This doesn’t mean that important or negative views or news is not spoken, quite the contrary.  It’s saying, “Stay on the agendas topic.”  

A simple pointing to or looking at the arrows keep participants on topic.

A Hierarchy of Constructive Comments or Questions are described as:

Destructive  comments or questions are increasingly detrimental if?  

Introduce these arrows and descriptors at your next meeting, explain the meeting ‘rules of the game’ and you’ll improve productivity, increase moral and leave with clear next steps.  That’s everyone’s definition of progress!

Still having challenges making your meeting as productive and positive as possible, then let’s talk.  I offer a complimentary 60 to 90 min session to understand your team dynamics.

I guarantee you at least a half dozen implementable ideas to maximize your time by reducing the number of meetings and improving the effectiveness of the ones held.

Call me at ph:  972 709 6776 or Email:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let’s get started...building and operation as a high quality team.  You’ll work less and make more.

"Your Price is Too High...!" How does Your Sales Team Respond?

Business owners - how do your sales people react to the objection, “Your Price is Too High?”  Are they amateurs or professionals and can find out what is really holding back the customer?    

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Welcome to “Conversations every business owner has with their sales team.”  And today’s topic covers how your sales team reacts or responds when they receive the price objection.  

“Your price is too high!”  Now, you may be getting somewhere with your customer.  They're acknowledging the need for a solution, so follow up with further questions.

 

Here are 21 responses that will increase the probability engaging the customer and learning what’s keeping them back from purchasing.

Instead of reacting agasped and surprised as an amature, practice responding as a professional and ask with confidence...  

1. Which means?
2. Compared to what?
3. What was your expectation?  
4. If our competitor is much less, what does that tell you?  
5. You can always find a cheaper solution but you won't find both the quality and value.  Isn't that what interests you?
6. I am glad you mentioned price.  Is it the amount or the terms?  
7. It is high compared to what some companies charge.  What does the fact that we have over 500 customers buying from us imply?  
8. You really feel that our price is too high?  Could you explain that for me?
9. It costs only about 15¢ per hour of operation.  What kind of peace of mind does that buy?
10. If it wasn’t the price is there anything else that is getting in the way making a decision to purchase?
11. Our price is high, compared to what some others companies in the field in charge.  But I believe it’s not high enough for what it does.  As a matter of fact, as the economy improves we're expecting a price increase any day.  Why not buy now and get our high quality at today’s price?
12. Have you ever figured the price of not having a high quality?  The price of breakdown, the cost of wasted time, the extra phone calls, the headaches, the repairs bills…you see, high quality actually saves you money in the long run.  Let’s compare when we add these cost?
13. Don’t deceived by today's prices.  You actually pay less because we are giving you more service, more quality, more expertise, and more security.  Isn’t that what you really interested in?
14. The sweetness of low price is quickly forgotten when you have to deal day after day with the bitterness of low quality.
15. We can lower the price right now, but you need to make a decision on what options to cut from our proposal.  Okay?
16. I might get in trouble for saying this, but I know a way to save you a few bucks.  What if I cut my commission on this transaction to lower the price?  
17. Yes, we are not the cheapest in our field; however, we do over $8 Million a year at the same price.  We cannot do that if our customers weren't convinced that this is the best buy.  Wouldn't you agree?
18. Does your company pay you only to buy the cheapest products?  Are they really interested in getting the best value for the dollar?  Shall we talk about value?
19. Our price is too high?  We very rarely hear that, what do you mean?
20. How much too high is it?  Do you realize that if you keep and use your products for 5 years, and most people do, the price difference is only 12¢ a day?  Isn't it worth 12¢ a day to have the very best?
21. If it were cheaper, would you want it?  Good!  Then what you are telling me is that you're interested.  Let's look at some ways you can afford it!

So there you have it, 21 ways to respond and most are questions that get the customer to share what's holding them back from a purchase.  Some of these responses may not be suitable for your situation but use this as a brainstorm with your sales team to come up with the right ones for them.  And then practicing these responses so they ask the follow-up questions confidently to engage the customer vs being argumentative or defensive with the customer.

Obviously, the best sales engagements address price long before it comes up from the customer.  How to avoid the price objection is the subject of another blog.

If your sales team is facing objections like price that's consistently hindering sales, let's have a discussion on improving their effectiveness.

Call me at ph:  972 709 6776 or em:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let's get started...improving your sales team’s effectiveness to give you back control of your business, so you can earn more and work less...

Hi Stephen Marino, with ActionCOACH - World’s #1 Business Coaching firm, successfully coaching thousands of business owners globally over the past 20 years through the numerous boom/bust economic cycles to overcome the time, team, money and systems obstacles that get in the way of predictable increasing profits and productivity.

5 Ways to Prepare Your Marketing & Sales Team to Sell Your Brand

Business owners - how do your marketing and sales people describe your products and services?  Are they described in terms that address the customer’s fears, wants, needs and unmet desires?   

Watch YouTUBE Video...

Welcome to “Conversations every business owner has with their marketing and sales team.”  And today’s topic covers how your marketing and sales team communicates with your customers to find solutions.  Can your team describe all the different ways the customer can experience your company’s brand?   

Here are 5 questions to ask your marketing and sales team to discuss your products and services.  Improve performance here and you’ll make more sales...

1.   List the company’s range of products and services offered...this will spark an enlightening conversation

2.   How are the products and services offered and packaged to give customers choices for good, better, best options?  People are more likely to buy when they have options.  Step back look at the display offers.  Do the offers communicate easily the benefits, options, expectations and value to your customer?

3.   How do the sales people engage the customer to determine what problem needs to be overcome?  Do they share a story or follow an outline or script that lets the customer feel understood and appreciated and that you can help?

4.   How do the sales people present solutions to the customer?  How does the marketing and sales material enhance the buying experience?

5.   For your existing customers how do they learn of all your products and services after the first sale.  When do they learn of what else you could offer to delight them?

Review these questions with your Marketing and Sales team and you’ll improve the experience they give your customers and make more sales.  

If you discover the discussion was unsatisfactory, then let's talk.

Call me at ph:  972 709 6776 or em:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let's get started...improving your marketing and sales team’s effectiveness to give you back control of your business, so you can earn more and work less...

Hi Stephen Marino, with ActionCOACH - World’s #1 Business Coaching firm, successfully coaching thousands of business owners globally over the past 20 years through the numerous boom/bust economic cycles to overcome the time, team, money and systems obstacles that get in the way of predictable increasing profits and productivity.

5 Numbers Every Business Owner Must Know

Business owners - what are the 5 essential numbers to grow your business?  

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1. What’s the value of your time?  This number gives you perspective on how and where to apply your talents.  It helps prioritize your tasks.  Will this task make you money or avoid losing money - how much?  Without this this number you feel at odds constantly trying to do everything and failing to be productive.
2. When do you break-even?  Knowing when your revenues exceed the fixed and variable costs gives you confidence you make a profit for your efforts.  Without it you don’t know whether you’re winning or losing.  You don’t know the score.  You feel anxious and hesitant on strategy because you don’t know where you stand financially.
3. What’s the acquisition cost of your customers?  What are you spending in marketing, sales and customer experience to attract and retain them.  Are you receiving a return on investment?  Without this number you don’t have a basis to decide how and where to apply your resources.  You feel perplexed and must guess on marketing and sales strategies.
4. What is your customer lifetime value?  When you add up what your customer buys year-over-year plus their referrals, what value does it provide the business?  With this number you’ll appreciate your customers more.  Without this number you’ll miss apply your time with low quality customers vs focusing on retaining your loyal raving fans.
5. Finally, what is the value of your business?  What if you transitioned out of the business today, tomorrow or in 3 years what value do you need it to be?  What are the leveragable variables impacting the value?  How do you best show sustainable increasing discretionary cashflow?  Avoid feeling disappointed when this pinnacle event occurs.    

Knowing these 5 numbers is important.  Knowing the direction and rate of change is equally important over time.

If you’re uncertain about what your numbers are and their trends then let’s talk.  We’ll discuss how to calculate these numbers and how to move them in the right direction.  This is a complementary session and you're guaranteed to leave with at least a half dozen implementable ideas to improve these numbers.

Call me at ph:  972 709 6776 or eMail:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Let’s get started...know these numbers and we'll grow your business!