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Archive for opportunity
Why Facebook, Twitter and All Social Media is Useless
Posted by: | CommentsI spent this weekend at Tracey’s Mum and Dad’s house in Wiltshire.
A charming little country village.
I was up at 5am each day and Tracey’s dad Bob joined me around 6:30am.
I’d then spend about 2 hours thinking while pretending to listen as he spouted unending gossip, and anger towards various member of the village.
Once that was done he moved straight onto ‘it wasn’t like this in my day’.
‘It’s all a scam’.
‘It’s all a racket’.
‘There’s nothing free’.
‘This world is getting too bloody complicated’.
I actually kinda relish these bizarre and yet strangely enlightening rants from Bob. His generation have a HUGE amount of money waiting to be spent with me so I appreciate a little insight into how he feels.
Most of what he said was of course complete ‘ignorant’ B.S. But some of it did get me thinking.
Particularly when he started going on about Facebook and how annoyed he gets when Sarah and Tracey (Tracey is my fiancee and Sarah is here sister) sit on Facebook giggling away to themselves for hours.
I’m on his side there.
Just looking at Facebook makes me sweat with fear of addiction and endless hours wasted catching up with out-dated old mates who I got rid of in the first place because they in some way detracted from my life.
Social media like Facebook, Twitter. MySpace etc is here.
But is it all it’s cracked up to be?
And there’s always an army of rampant, ‘blinkered’ ’sheep’ hunting after the next fad that gives easy success and a fast buck.
Social media and web 2.0 has created a wonderful flock of these ‘brain washed’, impossible to distinguish, ‘cloned’ wollies. All touting social media as not only the fastest and easiest way to gain new customers but also FREE!
There can be some business benefits from social media.
BUT, in most cases for solo-entrepreneurs, small business there are MUCH better places to spend time.
Here’s the BIGGEST problem.
The idea that you can acquire clients for FREE or little has been around since the beginning of time.
And this is the main attraction with social media.
Trouble is, the FREE customers are usually the worst PLUS, they will NOT be free forever, PLUS, you cannot sidestep competition, PLUS you CANNOT make any rational, sensible decisions on how to GROW your business at any pace you desire.
It’s akin to BRAND ADVERTISING - with a TIME expense rather than a monetary one. EXCEPT, anyone can enter the game and EVERYONE is playing the same field…
Let me give you an example.
Say you want to add an additional 50 customers to your business this month.
Given the law of averages with not much testing you can do that easily as LONG as you can directly attribute your new customers to some kind of action you took.
Say you run an ad in a newspaper or magazine and then follow up with a sales process and create 10 new customers from that one mag. You know the circulation of the mag so all you need to do is test another bunch of mags with a similar readership and a total reader base of over 5 times the initial test.
Simple, predictable and pretty easy WHEN you know how to write good copy (and if you’re using ads with pretty pictures, your log and a slogan FORGET IT - you need help! Grab a free trial to my Inner Circle and get this bit sorted - CLICK HERE).
But with social media like Facebook and Twitter what do you do?
Go looking for 1,000 new friends?
Sit on forums for hours?
Send out a gazillion tweets on Twitter?
There’s simply no clear, measurable correlation between the actions you take and the result.
It’s a little bit like the OLD MLM and pyramid idea. Get 2 people to get 2 to get 2 and you’ll rule the world in a jiffy. Same kinda principle. And I’m afraid FUNDAMENALLY flawed.
On top of that there is NO barrier to entry (anyone can do what you do, see what you do and copy it) and it’s more than a little difficult to create any kind of competitive advantage UNLESS you are either a ‘celebrity’ in your field already (and if not then you need to become one and that means doing different things).
However - I am NOT saying social media is useless. It isn’t. For some applications it is brilliant. And it’s power is undeniable for some things. But for any business owner or entrepreneur SERIOUS about making big leaps in profits then their are MUCH better places to spend your time.
And there’s one more dynamic to consider.
Because so much of this stuff is apparently free (and it isn’t if you place any kind of value on your time) it means there is much less competition in traditional media and many fewer people with the skills to utilise it effectively.
That IS a BIG opportunity…
Food for thought…
Henry.
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Will this IDEA Change Your Life Too?
Posted by: | CommentsMy first real job (I was a lazy teenager) post university was with IBM - in sales.
I had NO sales experience, was and still am (inside, although I’ve used various techniques to beat it) a shy, quiet, thoughful person - not a brash extrovert with a big enough ego to offend Simon Cowell.
Thrown into a ‘pit’ of highly trained ’sales tigers’ I was completely out of my depth.
My first few weeks comprised of me spending about 50% of my time on the loo, 20% pretending to do stuff and 30% having completely pointless calls with people who had no idea what I’d called for (side-note: even back then I should have realised I was ‘unemployable’…).
Not a good place to be.
And I knew I was under the stopwatch to pick up my act and get things sorted - or, I’d be out of a job, had lost a great opportunity and my Dad would be more than a little displeased (having spent his working life battling to give us opportunities he’d never had).
But I simply didn’t know what to do.
Then, one afternoon I was sat in the loo (at work), reading a newspaper and an idea popped into my head (and quite frankly I have no idea why I hadn’t thought of it before; but when you’re as out of your depth as I was, you kinda don’t know your ‘ass’ from your ‘elbow’).
The idea was - why don’t I teach myself to sell!
SHHAAAABBBLAMMMM!
I know, I know…
Not rocket science.
But as a young man full of deluded bravado, and a mountain of misguided pretend confidence I thought ‘I knew it all’.
So… I headed off to the book shop…
And picked up a book by Tom Hopkins and a book by Zig Ziglar.
I devoured them cover to over that night.
Brilliant!
And drafted a sales system I could use to start creating real interest in what I was selling.
First stage of that was to call people and get their interest.
So… I wrote a script to do just that.
And it went something like this (and by all means copy it and adapt it - it works like gangbusters).
“Hi, this is Henry Baker, I’m calling from my office in Portsmouth.”
“I see like myself, you are interested in using computer technology to increase your companies profits and reduce your costs.”
“Let me ask you a question… If I can honestly show you a way to double the value of each of customers by knowing who are your best clients, how much they spend, on what, how often and how much it cost you to get them - would that be worth 45 minutes of your time?”
At the time, I was calling small to medium business owners who I knew had little in the way of computing power…
And the script worked a charm (there’s more to it than that bit).
I went from the worst appointment maker in the whole place to the best in about 14 days!
And within a year I was winning competitions left right and centre, training other people and had generated over over £7mill in revenue.
And those early results set me on a path I have never strayed from. A path of constant exposure, constant learning from people inside my industry and OUTSIDE my industry.
But enough about me.
This is the single most profitable thing you can do.
And I mentioned the ‘word’ above.
And the word is: IDEAS
IDEAS are the fruits of your thinking. But they’ve got to be harnessed and put to work to have value.
Each year an oak tree produces enough acorns to populate a good sized forest. Yet from these seeds perhaps one or two acorns will become a tree. The squirrels destroy most of them and the hard ground beneath the tree doesn’t give the others much chance.
And so it is with ideas. Very few bear fruit. Ideas are highly perishable. If you’re not on-guard from the squirrels (negative thinking people and your own negative thoughts) will destroy them. Ideas require special handling from the time they are born until they are transformed into practical ways for doing things.
Use these 3 ideas to harness and develop ideas:
1. CAPTURE THEM. Earl Nightingale said “Ideas are like slippery fish. If you don’t ’spear’ them with a pencil they will escape.” Ideas will come to you at all sorts of times. They’ll just ‘pop’ into your head when driving, having a shower, a beer or wherever. BUT, they don’t last long. If you don’t record them your mind WILL forget them. Keep a notebook with you at all times and WRITE them down. If you don’t, the fruits of your thinking will disappear…
2. Next, review your ideas. Store them where you can find them. If you only create ONE idea a day, within a year you will have more ideas than mot people record in a lifetime… Review your ideas… You NEVER know when just ONE will change your life.
3. Fertilise your ideas. Now make your ideas grow. Think about them, attach them to other ideas. Read everything you can about your ideas. Discuss your ideas with other. And when the time is right, put them to work in your business and your life.
And be sure of this.
Ideas arise when you are exposed to new thinking, new people, things outside your comfort zone. People NOT in your industry, people who have SOLVED your problems before.
Attaching yourself to other people will similar goals and dreams as you acts as the fire to create the SPARKS of new ideas you can use to benefit your clients, yourself, your family and friends.
You need to rub shoulders with other success hungry people. Associate with people outside your core interests - doing so will illuminate the BIG picture.
And there is a place for you here.
Within my VIP Inner Circle.
A place where success hungry, goal orientated, forward thinking people come together to learn, share and create IDEAS that could change their lives and the lives of others.
If you havn’t yet accepted your FREE gifts and FREE trial to my Inner Circle then maybe, just maybe you are missing the one component which will ignite your IDEAS and your future
Don’t take that risk - Accept Your FREE Trial and FREE Gifts by Clicking Here
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
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How YOU Can Become a Celebrity Business Owner
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday I spoke a little about the ’sorry state of affairs’ we find our society in right now.
It used to be that ‘children spoke when spoken to’, teenagers respected their elders, your credibility as a business owner was dependant on your ‘track record’ and your success as a business owner was dependent purely on delivery of high quality products and services to the marketplace.
Nowadays, we are driven by something a little different.
We are in a ‘Celebrity Driven’ society.
Now, I actually ‘jest’ a little when I said our society was in a ’sorry state of affairs’ because there are of course two sides to a coin and a lot of GOOD things are all around us right now.
But whether we like it or not, one of the fastest paths to ‘Ultimate Power and Attraction’ is CELEBRITY.
Just take a peek around.
We’ve got X-Factor, Britain’s got talent, Fame Academy, Big Brother, that terrible program about people stuck in a jungle, Dancing on Ice, Strictly Come Dancing…. We’ve even got ‘foul mouthed’ aggressive chefs achieving world wide domination via the ‘F’ word (and don’t get me wrong, Gordon Ramsay has me in stitches).
SO…
While celebrity status does of course mean you open yourself up for ‘attack’ from all sides by anyone wishing to have a ‘pop’ (and that’ll happen anyway as your success rises) it brings with it a HUGE dose of INSTANT credibility, STATUS, and a WOPPING amount of new business, opportunity and for many excitement.
So how can you become a celebrity business owner (or individual if you wish).
Outside of giving up all dignity, stripping butt naked and running round the Big Brother house bashing ya ass with a tea strainer, there are fortunately some others options.
And best news is those other options can still keep your dignity, integrity, self worth intact and your parents still talking to you.
Here are two of the best:
1. Become a published author… OR, become a SELF PUBLISHED author. And before you start shouting ‘Henry! I can’t write for toffee’, or ‘how’s that going to help??’, let me make something crystal clear. If you KNOW something about what you do (which you do of course), you CAN write a book about what you do. Now, of course just writing a few pages isn’t enough, you gotta sell ‘em too. BUT, it’s not as hard as it seems… And if you want to know how, you’ll need to join my VIP Inner Circle… In a few months I’ll be interviewing a VERY FAMOUS person who has come from nothing to stardom from a simple book… You can get a free trial to my Inner Circle Here - Click Here
2. Use the very people that plaster the celebs all over their covers everyday. THE PRESS. There are endless opportunities for you to get local, national and international exposure for your business and yourself. But you gotta know how to get it. Simply sending out a press release letting journalists know ‘Joe Bloggs has been promoted to Finance Director ‘aint gonna do it. Nor is ‘XYZ Widgets Launches New Gadget to Stop Ear Fluff’… You have to ask yourself ‘WHAT IS IN IT FOR THE JOURNALIST?’ Remember, they are sat their everyday sifting through mountains of press releases looking for something RELEVANT and INTERESTING for their audience. They don’t really give a HOOT about you…
And there are a LOT more ways to catapult yourself to celebrity status.
And keep in mind, when I talk about celebrity status I DO NOT necessarily mean ‘front page news’. Celebrity status in YOUR industry, YOUR local area, within YOUR group of prospects and clients can be just as lucrative…
So…
It’s Time to GIve In
We have two choices… Either get really wounds up and down right cross about the celebrity driven society we live in OR, embrace it and use it to our advantage…
Take your pick…
Dedciated to your success,
Henry.
PS: For some unknow reason our web designer hasn’t yet removes our EASTER OFFER and therefore there is still a bargain to be had when accepting your free trial and free gifts. He should be expecting a rather cross Henry on the phone today and you can expect the offer to be gone by tomorrow. But if you want to grab it see it, head here, enter your details and you’ll be taken straight to it: Click Here
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G20 ‘Bail Out’ - Forget It!
Posted by: | CommentsObama is in town!
I’m an avid Obama fan.
I’ve yet to conclude whether or not he’s any good at real politics, real economics… BUT, simply for what he can do with the power of a speech - I applaud him. I’ve been privy to many of the world’s greatest speakers and young Obama IS one of them.
And he’s here for G20 - a gathering of World Leaders for a cup of coffee, a slice of gingerbread and good old fashioned ‘chin-wag’.
Or at least that’s about as much use as it’ll be to you…
They may be meeting to agree how to confront the worst Global financial crisis since the 1930’s but for business owners looking for a ‘ray of light’ - forget it!
All weather is local — what happens to you in your business, your life, your finances has much more to do with you, what you think about and what you do than it does with what’s happening in the economy.
It’s time to stop sitting, waiting and hoping that Government ‘intervention’ will be the ’saviour’.
Instead, it’s time for new strategies, new focus, new vigour and some good old fashioned British, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, American, Australian (sorry if I haven’t mentioned your country) determination to ‘yank’ us out of recession like a leek from a vegetable patch.
Any business owner with the determination to succeed can learn new skills, make the necessary changes, adapt and in turn both survive, even prosper and make a positive contribution to putting our and the World’s economy back on track.
It’s not that there is a lack of opportunity or even a lack of money.
There are plenty of ways businesses can dramatically increase their effectiveness in acquiring new customers, nurturing customers and developing new, exciting products and services.
Now is the time to being doing more, much more to build world-class customer focused businesses that add real value to our and the World’s economies.
WE cannot sit waiting, hoping for a rescue from the government or a turn of events.
That may never happen.
It’s down to each and every one of us - to make our ‘own luck’.
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
PS: Talking f making your own luck! If you haven’t yet accepted my FREE GIFT then do so. I’m offering to give you some fast and simple ways to immediately boost your profits. No risk, no strings attached… Hop to it… Grab it here => Click Here
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“Are You Failing to Attract as Many New
Customers/Clients and Repeat Spend
as You Could?”
Do you really have a system in place that consistently attracts the best, highest paying most loyal customers/clients?
Are you harnessing your immense potential to make your business generate greater revenues?
Wouldn’t your business and life be vastly different, if you knew with absolute certainty how much profit you were going to make each and every month?
Dear Friend,
If you don’t have a simple, predictable plan in pace to generate as many new clients and repeat business as you could, a lot of EASY business could be just passing by the door. And you may not even realise it!
Here’s your opportunity to quickly, easily and simply learn what makes your client’s brain tick. Then you can use this information, to keep them stuck to you like glue!
I’ll unravel an age-old mystery
The mystery is very simple. How can you motivate people to choose you ove your competition? My systems are based on thousands of years of tried and tested methods.
Our brains are hardwired with information, that hasn’t changed in all these centuries.
Imagine being able to use those methods in business. It’s so deceptively simple that you will wonder just how you did without this incredible understanding for so long.
What’s the catch?
People often ask me why I give so much valuable information free on this website. My answer is simple. I’ve learned from some fantastic people, and I could never give back. This is my way of Giving Forward.
Which is why the information in the Free Articles section, and my ‘Killer’ Business Success Secrets eNewsletter, will be extremely comprehensive, but always free.
I have other products and workshops that you may like to buy to increase your knowledge, but the Free Articles will always be FREE.
The purpose of this website
I’ve spent way too many hours on the Internet. And I’m sick of get rich quick schemes, and information that’s mostly fluff.
The reason I set up this website was to make sure you get the best possible information on topics such as client attraction, offline marketing, internet marketing, client retention, advertising, business ideas, etc.
If you’ve been bouncing around the Internet and, like me, you’re tired of outrageous, crappy (yes, crappy) information, your search will end here.
This will be the website that will give you level-headed information.
This is where you’ll find everything you need to know about the wild and wonderful aspects of how to do better in your business. And yes, there’s entertainment. Yes the articles are actually…ahem…funny. 
Don’t think like everyone else - do the opposite
Within this website is a gold mine of power-packed information that allows you to look at your business from a radically different viewpoint. You’ll find the information to be different, controversial yet very useful.
I suggest you explore the various sections of this site, and ONLY THEN, sign up for the ‘Killer’ Business Success Secrets eNewsletter and accept your FREE GIFT. The newsletter is FREE, but it’s not a hastily put-together document. Each newsletter is extremely comprehensive in its detail. You’ll find the information fun to read, simple to implement, and profitable.
Three reasons why you should subscribe
Reason 1: There are no pop ups — that alone should clue you in.
Reason 2: There are loads of testimonials about how my tips have HELPED people LIKE YOU.
Reason 3: Most of my BEST articles are hidden from public viewing. You can’t find the hidden pages on your own. So, without the accepting your FREE GIFT, you miss out on some very valuable information.
The bonus: By entering your details below and requesting full details of my FREE GIFT — you’ll also receive a powerful ebook…FREE!
What’s the free e-book is about
We’re currently knee deep in recession. For many business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants, coaches and authors times are hard.
But there is one opportunity descending on us which can make the next 5, 10, 20 years the most profitable in history for those business owners who take advantage.
This e-book explains the opportunity and how to tap into it…
Finally…
I don’t care how much you think you know about marketing and how to grow your business or how many of the “gurus” you’ve studied with, I have solid, on-the-money advice you probably won’t hear anywhere else - and I follow my own advice to create a businesses that truly are nviable.
Go on, grab yourself a strong coffee, and something to eat. You’re going to be on this site for a long, long time, so you might as well get comfortable. To start your journey enter your details belwo, get your FREE eBook and details of my FREE GIFT.
Or dive into the FREE ARTICLES HERE => FREE ARTICLES
Henry Baker
P.S. You may well find spelling mistakes and other grammatical errors on this site…Sorry… If you think you spot a mistake, please don’t hesitate to email me using the form at the bottom of the page. No mistake is too small to fix. In fact, we even offer a reward of £10 or more (in product) for the best blooper of the month! (Please note: The reward isn’t for every bug. It’s meant for the single best bug of the month, or 12 each year).
Happy hunting!
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5 Ways Recession Spells Opportunity for YOU!
Posted by: | CommentsHundreds of small businesses disappeared in 2008, thousands will die this year. The bloodbath will continue. But for the ‘brave’ small business owner, this spells huge opportunity.
The Darwinian principal of ’survival of the fittest’ is always good news for smarter, stronger survivors. And, the onset of recession has accelerated that process amongst small business across the UK.
Here are 5 reasons this spells opportunity for business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants, coaches and authors like YOU:
1. Opportunities for astute, aggressive local businesses who will step up and provide exceptional service are all around. Opportunities for online merchants able to offer expansive selection and great service are huge.
2. This earthquake-change and epic opportunity is mirrored (or soon will be) in virtually every industry, business, profession and sales career.
3. The disappearance of hundreds to possibly thousands of car dealerships and with them thousands of car salesmen provides exciting opportunity for the smart, surviving sales pro to go after all those orphaned customers, step up to solve their service problems, form relationships, build a bulging book of clients.
4. The huge reduction in the population of mortgage brokers, of estate agents is a very good thing for the smart, aggressive ones who remain
5. In business to business, the number of marketers and sales professional in virtually every product or service category actively prospecting, reaching out to new clients, exhibiting at trade shows, making presentations is diminishing by day, as the easily discouraged fade away - so it’s a terrific time to be showing up!
Yes, you may temporarily be side-stepping pools of blood and occasionally getting your shoes sticky with it, having to hold your nose when stepping over rotting corpses, brushing aside cobwebs while walking past empty space after empty space in the shopping centre.
But the magnitude of the opportunity laid out in front of you far eclipses the ugliness.
Supply and demand is tilting in the favour of the surviving business; lots and lots of customers to be had and far fewer competitors going after them…and a better supply of potential employees to choose from, finally giving you the chance of staffing to deliver extraordinary customer experiences, to demand it - there are plenty of replacements waiting.
The question is…
Are YOU grabbing ALL the opportunities in front of you?
Grab your FREE GIFT and let me help you => Click Here
Dedicated to your success,
Henry.
PS: Hope you, your Mum, Gran, Wife, Husband, Sister, Girfirend had a great Mother’s Day!
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6 Ways to Kick Recession Into Touch
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s now 2 minutes to 5pm on Saturday and I’m sat here watching England play Scotland in the 6 nations.
Right now we’re 18-9 up.
Who knows how the game will end…
Plus, we’ve got the Ireland, Wales game in a bit which should be a ‘cracker’.
Anyway, as I was sat here watching the rugby, it struck me that beating recession is a little like a close fought battle on the rugby pitch.
I don’t know if you are rugby fan and it doesn’t matter.
But, if you remember England’s campaign in the last World Cup then you’ll remember the dogged, ‘bloody’ determination and ‘never, ever give up’ attitude our team displayed on their way to the finals.
We didn’t win but my word what a fight we put up.
And, if you’re being hit by recession it is that kind of ‘brutal’, ‘take no prisoners’, ‘I CAN win this’ attitude you need and need to keep firm.
But there’s more to it than that. You also need to be thinking, planning and implementing ideas FAST.
Here are 6 critical things you should be doing:
Recession Slayer #1: Account for Every Single lead, Prospect or Enquiry. I’m willing to bet that you lose anything between 5% and 50% of the business you could generate through ’slippage’. Telephone enquiries that don’t get followed up, emails that get forgotten, proposals that aren’t closed etc, etc. In tough times the cost of new client acquisition goes up. In many cases there are less new clients around (not all) and you need to do more to attract them. A world class lead generation system will help you keep costs down and free up resources. Secrets to making your client acquisition more efficient:
1. Track response from all your advertising and marketing. Identify which get the responses and which don’t. Do more of the ones that do and less of the ones that don’t.
2. Perfect your sales process. Whether that’s face to face in a shop or office, online, offline or whatever. Spend MORE here.
Recession Slayer #3: Get Some Friends: Recession hits all business and those in your area, industry and outside are looking for help too. Now is a very good time to develop mutually beneficial partnerships. In simple terms you offer your products/services to another companies’ customers and they do the same in return. Many benefits arise - you both gain clients, you both gain easy profit, your customer win because they get added value from you both!
Recession Slayer #4: Keep Your Mouth Firmly Closed. Back in my deep dark days as a corporate ’superstar’ there was nothing which would draw my inspiration, creativity and motivation to a stop faster than hearing from a boss or colleague that the company was in trouble. Wham! The shutters went down. You can and will have the same affect on the people in your business. The moment they get a sniff of despair it’ll run riot. Remember - the market for what you sell still exists. People ARE still spending money (and more of it than either I or you could ever comfortably suck up). Be the opportunistic entrepreneur - don’t ‘throw in the towel’. Excite your own and your employee’s imagination with opportunity and creativity.
Recession Slayer #5: Specialise and Raise Your Prices. Focusing on a defined, niche group of prospects and customers allows you to charge premium prices and beat generic competitors. The very best way to recession proof your business is to change WHO you are targeting. Remember, your best clients will be those affected least and last by recession. Who are they? You got it… The affluent…
Recession Slayer #6: Mine for Gold. Earl Nightingale and ‘Acres of Diamonds’ keeps ringing in my ears. It is way, way easier and cheaper to extract additional business from your existing clients that it is to go find new ones. It astonishes me that so many small business owners, coaches, consultants, speakers and authors don’t have a rock solid system in place to sell additional stuff to their customers and clients. To get more from your base you must communicate with them more. Send a newsletter at least once a month and do not be shy to offer products and service that will be of value to them.
Above all, keep your chin up and keep thinking, keep creating, keep going. There’s ample, abundant opportunity out there for you. Grab your share.
And don’t forget to take me up on my FREE GIFT — It is packed full of recession beating ideas.
Click Here to Grab Your FREE GIFT
Have a fantastic weekend,
Henry.
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How to Raise Your Prices
Posted by: | CommentsWhat a week.
A few hundred billion more thrown at the banks, deflation, endless more losing their jobs and possibly the most historic day in American history with young Obama being inaugurated.
My younger 18 year old brother George has completed his book, has 4 magazines hunting after him to give him free space, a leading national TV journalist/presenter after him for a story and what appears to be a snowball starting to roll down a mountain. I’ve been coaching him for the last couple of years on how to start his own ventures to enable him to generate the approx £400k a year he needs to live his life fully independent (he has muscular dystrophy) to a good standard of living.
He’s 18 and has gone at it like a rocket. There is no stopping him. He couldn’t give a flying marshmallow what’s going on in the economy.
But, has ANY of that had ANY impact on you at all?
I doubt it, not really, only where you let it.
I still firmly pronounce ALL weather is local. What happen to YOU, in YOUR business, YOUR life really does have little to do with what’s going on down the road.
So, let’s go hunting those affluent customers with money to spend.
Are you doing it?
Are you actively looking for the affluent?
If not - good luck…
If so - great!
If you have any desire to break profit records in your industry FAST then take the action it says…
To today…
In the past I’ve spoken about how important it is to look to raise your prices. I won’t go into detail as to why here. But, suffice to say doing so give you more profit, better customers and can lead to power (don’t poo, poo that… LOW prices are NEVER sustainable and who wants to be in the middle ground? Have a look at what’s happened to the retailers who ran 70% off Xmas sales… I TOLD them NOT to).
Here we are.
“5 Ways to Raise Prices”
- 1. SNEAKILY. A litre of ice cream now has 750ml ounces.
If you go into a bedroom furniture shop, you’ll be pitched the wonderful new kind of “no-flip mattress”, which is truthfully a “can’t flip, because they’ve omitted the padded cover from one side. Any place you see switch from service to no-service, like self-serve checkouts at the supermarket, you’re actually witnessing the equivalent of a price increase by subtraction. These are sneaky ways to, in effect, raise prices by delivering less.
I’m not a fan of the strategy and, personally, I’ve always tried to deliver more than expected, contracted for or paid for. But I suppose there are many cases where you can get away with this, and there’s no good reason not to. Tread carefully, but consider.
- 2. UPGRADE. Create different/higher levels of service and upgrade your customers.
This is one of my favourite strategies - it works VERY well when looking for the affluent. One jeweller is brought to mind - the owner he has a small cadre of clients who pay a stiff premium fee to have him go to South Africa, to the diamond mines, and pick out exclusive diamonds for them - a good strategy. It points out that, within every customer group, there’s 5% to 20% who will step up to - and pay premiums for - higher levels of service.
I will never forget buying VIP cards for our local nightclub when I was a teen, entitling us only to stand in the shorter queue outside the back door rather than the front. Alton Tower’s do the same thing with their express ride pass.
- 3. ANNOUNCE THE INCREASES IN ADVANCE.
Sometimes, you’ll be blatantly raising prices on regularly and repeatedly purchased goods or services to repeat customers, with no opportunity to cleverly disguise it, or to soften the blow. When this is the case, you may want to let all or selected customers know in advance, give the best explanation you can, re-sell them, and offer them an opportunity to stock up or pay in advance at present prices.
4. IMPROVEMENTS. The usual way to mitigate a price increase is to announce it or have it occur “in context” of improvements to your facility, your products, services, hours, etc.
5. GRANDFATHERING.
This is the least courageous approach: “grandfathering” existent customers at one price, establishing the higher price for all new customers. This is often done with continuity/membership programs. Sometimes this can be used to force upgrades, by offering present clients the opportunity to upgrade and lock in that present price, or suffer the increase if they remain where they are.
There you have it, 5 simple ways to raise prices. There are some nuggets (clue) in there. Pay close attention to the ones that relate directly to attracting the AFFLUENT.
FIVE BIGGEST PRICE MISTAKES:
1. Underestimating price elasticity and failing to find ways to test higher prices.
2. Pricing based on industry norms, textbook formulas or competitors’ prices.
3. Letting your own salespeople or employees talk you out of premium prices.
4. Trying to buy quantity of customers with low prices is often a disappointment; it’s usually much better to do it with better marketing made possible by higher prices!
5. Failing to offer goods or services priced for the top 5% of your customers.
This is IMPORTANT stuff.
Raising your prices is one of the fastest ways to a big leap in profits. But, it does need some thought…
Right, gotta go, off to our beach hut to get some quiet time to finish my current book.
Have a great day.
Henry.
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How to Use the News to Ignite Your Business
Posted by: | CommentsWHEN WILL NEXT GIANT METEORITE STRIKE EARTH AND CAUSE MASS EXTINCTION?
There are actually people worrying about this sort of thing.
According to a recent article in the Times, the last bash was about 250 million years ago.
Apparently this is cyclical, so, according to this article, in another 50 or 100 million years, you may not want to be standing in the middle of Australia. Make a note of that on the calendar in your Palm Pilot. You’ll thank me later.
Well, why have I put this odd news item in this week?
Years ago, Sinatra recorded the “once there was a little old ant who thought he’d move a rubber tree plant”, High Hopes song on a bet, that he could take any piece they handed him, record it, and put it on the charts.
One of the “dares” I like taking is: hand me any newspaper and I’ll find something I can use to advertise or promote something of mine or my clients’.
This particular day’s Times had slim pickings, so I got stuck with this meteorite story. So, if used as grabber, then “As you can see, I’ve sent you an article about a giant meteorite wiping out life on earth. Why have I sent you this?”
To show you how to use the news…
1. You don’t have to wait until another giant meteorite strikes to find unbelievable property opportunities at dirt-cheap, bargain prices.
2. Free when we paint your house: 100-Million Year Warranty Against Meteorite Damage.
3. How to defend yourself against attack by muggers, rapists, marauding mobs, terrorists, even giant meteorites — with your bare hands.
4. Warning: Epic disasters can strike your investment portfolio - tomorrow, not 50 million years from now.
Ah, I got a million of em.
Good 2nd grabber’d be a little rock, a hunk of a meteorite. Or sand in a baggie; a do it yourself meteorite kit.
Yes, it is possible that, this week, I had a little too much time on my hands.
But the demonstration has a legitimate point: there’s no shortage of “jumping off point” fodder for ads, sales letters, promotions, thus no excuse whatsoever for boring your customers or prospects, for turning out mundane stuff.
The daily news is ripe with opportunity and ideas. But you need to condition yourself to “read FOR what you can use”. Most people do not read for purpose, watch TV for purpose, even listen to the random conversations around them for purpose.
Great fiction writers listen to the conversations around them for purpose - to capture dialogue to use. I do the same thing, to capture “copy” for ads and sales letters.
You can program your subconscious to do this automatically, without conscious work on your part. You’ll have to do it very consciously and deliberately for 21 to 30 days, then your subconscious’ll get the idea and take over.
So, get a notebook to carry around, and set a goal to capture “out of the blue” at least one hot, possibly useable idea — ad theme, piece of copy, title, etc. — everyday. Every day, read your newspaper with the goal and purpose of tearing out one item you can somehow use in your marketing.
Have a great day.
Henry Baker.
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