When I was a kid I went through a phase when I carried around a rabbit’s foot for luck. I still remember it: tie-dye purple on a keychain, tied to my blue roller skates with rainbow laces. I can’t honestly say I had any good fortune come my way because of it, but it did make me feel luckier.
Of course now that I’m an adult, I know better than to depend on silly charms or superstitions for the success (or failure) in life. Yes, I admit there are times when everything’s going pear-shaped and I wonder if I’ve crossed a black cat somewhere, but the truth is, 99% of the time we create our own circumstances – our own luck – by the choices we make.
Many of the people who knew me as a kid think I’m “lucky” to be where I am today, often citing the fact that I was “always that way,” born with some inherent abilities to run a business. And to a certain point, I agree. I DO feel fortunate to have certain talents that others seem to struggle with. But simply putting my success down to the “luck” of having been gifted certain talents is an insult. It wasn’t “luck” that made me spend thousands of dollars on my own education and work 60+ hour weeks for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t “luck” that I learned how to write persuasive sales copy, sell from the platform or implement highly effective marketing plans. And it’s not “luck” that keeps my business growing 25% – 40% year upon year.
Conversely, it wasn’t BAD luck that I screwed up royally and kept myself from hitting my goals for the past two years, going through staff problems, vendor problems, and a host of other troubles piled a mountain high, including skin cancer and other health issues. I made choices and decisions that were 100% cause and effect, no bad luck involved – only poor judgment on my part. I painted myself into a corner more than once, but I was always the one holding the paintbrush.
If you own a business, I think you’ll also agree that the successes you have are NOT by luck either…
It’s not luck that keeps you getting out of bed early every morning, working yourself into the wee hours of the night. It’s not luck that allows you to close a big managed services deal, keep customers, manage a team and generate a profit. It’s not luck that made you smart enough to jump on the managed services bandwagon or develop subscription income in your IT business that is now helping you survive. There’s no “luck” involved in growing your IT services business successfully or even holding your own in this tough economy. Far from it. In fact, I think most of you reading this will agree that, if anything, you get more of a helping of BAD luck than others simply because you’re out there trying to make things happen, constantly fighting gravity.
That being true, you can’t blame “bad” luck for the messes you are in either. Like me, the “bad” luck I experience is usually due to a lack of preparation, prevention or doing the things I KNOW I SHOULD be doing, but neglect to do until it turns into a mess that must be dealt with. Almost every problem that arises can be traced back to a series of bad decisions, poor choices, or LACK of actions we should have taken, but didn’t.
As Earl Wilson once said, “Success is only a matter of luck. Just ask any failure.”
So to all my fellow entrepreneurs; let me send you off into your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations with this little Irish blessing:
May those who love us, love us.
And for those who don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if he can not turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we may know them by their limping.
Here’s a bit of a dilemma I’d like to get your opinion on…
At my last 25K meeting, one of my colleagues, Tellman Knudson, shared how he was getting absolutely trashed online as a scam artist for trying to do a good deed.
Last year, Tellman decided to raise awareness and money for homeless teenagers by throwing down a pretty incredible challenge: he would run barefoot across America. The web site is www.runtellmanrun.com if you are interested.
I know what you’re thinking…he’s nuts. When I heard this I thought the same thing; BUT I also know that without some type of outrageous stunt like this, his charitable efforts would just blend in with all the other charities and get no media coverage.
As you may have already guessed, he didn’t accomplish his goal and had to stop the run because of severe damage to his feet. At that point, he had already invested over 1/2 million dollars of his OWN money to promote this new charity, not to mention the countless hours he invested to get it off the ground.
But, just as sure as vultures to a fresh carcass, many of his critics had a field day and started completely bashing him online, stating his “charity” was a complete scam and that there was no such organization created. I happen to know that is not true, and the things they are stating as “facts” are indeed half truths told in a way to purposefully mislead people. I won’t bore you with all the details.
The reason I share this story with you is because the BEST comment on how to deal with this came from my friend Richard Rossi, the CEO of EMI, who, after giving some suggestions for dealing with this PR nightmare said, “Toughen up—this is success tax.” So why is this important for you?
Because at multiple points in your entrepreneurial life, you will be faced with similar circumstances where people will try to undermine you, tell half-truths and do everything they can to make you look bad and take you down — and I positively guarantee that the MORE successful you become, and the more purposeful your mission, the worse it gets. And as your business grows, you’ll be forced to make tough decisions that are NOT popular with the masses. I also believe that at some point you’ll just have to choose to do what’s right rather than what’s popular, knowing that no matter what you do, someone is going to have a problem with it, and they’ll spend their waking hours telling everyone they know instead of engaging in more productive activities.
To quote Albert Einstein, “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
So toughen up, buttercup. If you’re going through this right now, just realize this is “success tax” and no one gets away without paying their dues.
Did you happen to catch any of the “top 10″ finishes of the Winter Olympics? For me, the best part is seeing someone have all their training and preparation pay off in a glorious win, especially if they won by a mere fraction of a second or a “big” lead. The look on their faces, the excitement in the annoucers voice, the winners circle, and the tears of sheer joy and accomplishment. Often makes me cry myself.
But imagine for a moment those who lose. Countless hours of training and hard preparation down the drain…the bitterness, the pain and crushing disappointment. You’re the 2nd fastest, best and most skilled athelete in the world and you get ZERO recognition – and some never to have a second chance. Competitive sport is like that…full of one season wonders, even one-game wonders. I saw George Foreman speak one time about his comeback and how difficult it was to overcome the unbelievable negativity and outright taunts launched at him over and over again from the media and public. He said, “One minute you’re the heavy weight champion of the world and everyone admires and respects you…then the next minute you’re just George, a has-been.”
Business is like that too; an endless string of medicore results, dissapointments and failed objectives with shining brief moments of unbelievable success. Knowing that, it’s important to do two things:
1. Make sure you celebrate your “wins” when they happen. They are fleeting, and within moments you’re attention will be swept away by some stress-filled problem or dillemma.
2. Constantly work on recharging your batteries. It bugs me that personal development gets such a bad rap; it doesn’t surprise me because those who are failing find it much easier to attack anyone or anything suggesting personal responsibility. But you as an entrepreneur have to be smarter than that. You cannot get inspired results from uninspired people – and if you aren’t reading, listening or ‘consuming’ some type of on-going motivational and educational material that reawakens the go-getter in you, I know you’re performing at a less than optimal level.
For me, working on my company vision and strategy juices me. Listening to my mentors and learning an elegant idea that I hadn’t thought of before — be it a new opportunity, a new marketing approach or a better way of accomplishing a goal — charges me more than a week’s vacation. But mostely, hanging around with successful, like-minded entrepreneurs is what re-energizes me the most. This week in the office Martin Howey is coming to “Robin Central” to deliver a one-day training on how to close a managed services sale, and I’m EXCITED about it. Some of my BEST students are also coming in and I’m absolutely 1,000% certain everyone will leave with batteries charged to the max because those coming are battery-chargers, not battery drainers. I know I’m going to spend the entire day on Saturday distilling and documenting what I learned – and I’ll be enthusiastic to do it.
So my question to you is this: what have you done over the last week, month or quarter to recharge your batteries? To re-inspire yourself about your business and gain that edge of enthusiasim that makes you jump out of bed in the morning rarin’ to go for your gold?
We’ve been getting a ton of questions about my upcoming boot camp. I recorded the answer to a couple of the top questions and posted them for your viewing pleasure below…
If you’re not already signed up for my boot camp, then you better hurry on over to http://www.robinsbigseminar.com right away. As of this posting, we only have room for 54 more people in the room!
I think I get more questions about lists than just about any other marketing topic. And quite honestly, it IS the single most important element in any marketing initiative.
But I seem to have a hard time getting people to understand that it’s not the list that you buy that will save you, but rather the list that you build.
As of today, I have over 15,000 warm prospects and customers on my list. When I started out 8 years ago, I didn’t have 100. BUT, I diligently groomed, mailed, and added to that list to make it what it is today — and now I can generate sales very easily because I have a ready-made, highly qualified, highly interested list to mail to. How did I build it? Entirely through joint ventures and other direct response advertising.
And I cannot urge you enough to make sure that you are passionate about building and communicating to your house list. To that end, a few pointers…
Make sure EVERYONE goes into your database. Of course, you must HAVE a database in order to put people in it. NEVER let a business card grow old on your desk. Put it in a database and make sure you source every lead (meaning you have a field that tells you where the person came from). In our office, I constantly repeat the mantra “Everyone goes into ACT!” You need to do the same in your office… and the habit starts with YOU.
Don’t just put clients and prospects on your list; also include joint venture partners and people of influence. If you know the Chamber Director, a local columnist, the chair of a charity or an association, put them in your database and communicate with them as often as your clients.
Mail your house list more consistently. If you don’t, you kill any momentum you may have started to generate. This happens all the time where someone starts mailing a monthly newsletter and then gets busy and “forgets” to mail their lists for a couple of months. Bad idea! Timing is critical to making a sale in the IT world. If you aren’t consistently showing up on your clients and prospects desks, you are missing out on opportunities.
Mail your house list more frequently. As the old saying goes, out of sight out of mind. If you are ever in need of good ideas (and are a client), just dig into the Toolkit or Managed Services Blueprint or heck, even my monthly newsletters to look for inspiration. Frequency builds familiarity, and familiarity breeds trust. That’s why it’s a fact that people traveling to foreign countries will eat at a McDonalds over the local fare. They know what to expect.
Mail your cold prospects, unconverted leads, and lost customers more persistently. There’s an old direct marketing joke that isn’t very funny, but it makes the point: A guy calls up a mail order company aggravated by all the mail they are sending him and demands that they take him off the list. The person answering the phone looks him up in the database and says “I don’t really think you want to do that.” He angrily replies, “Why not!?!?” He says, “Because you are on the “A” list. If I take you off of that, you’ll be placed in the “B” list. And while you can get off the “A” list any time you want, you can NEVER be taken off the “B” list.” (okay, I didn’t say it was going to be funny)
Make your mailings more creative. Lumpy mail, grabbers, stories behind the offer, pictures of you, your staff, your dog, etc. Of course, don’t be creative just for creative sake — make it interesting and tied to selling something. You want your customers & prospects to actually open your mail because they want to see what you’re up to.
Years ago, one of my clients relayed the following employee horror story relating to one of his top sales people. My client, who was a tech company business owner, received a call late one night (actually early one morning!) from the local police. The policeman he was speaking to let him know that they had responded to an alarm at my client’s place of business. When they arrived, they found a few folks having a “party”. They were in the process of arresting the person responsible and asked my client to come down and identify the person.
My client got out of bed, drove down to his office, and identified HIS TOP SALESPERSON as the ring-leader of this late-night party.
Following are the details of what happened that night…
It ends up that earlier that evening, my client’s TOP SALESPERSON (we’ll call him Bill….although, of course, that’s not his real name) stole a company van, drove downtown, and picked up two prostitutes and a couple cases of beer. He then drove back to the office, opened it up and they got the party started. Unfortunately for Bill, he got too drunk to even realize that he had set off the alarm. When the police arrived to investigate the reason for the alarm, they found Bill and his new friends in the midst of their party!
Well, needless to say, the police broke up this impromptu party and were in the process of arresting Bill. They had him hand-cuffed and were trying to determine who he was and how he had gained access to my client’s office. Bill wasn’t able to explain to the police who he was or how he got in. He was confident though that he should not be arrested. Bill begged the police to call his boss (my client), stating that his boss would be able to identify him and explain how and why Bill should have access to the office. That’s what led to the late-night / early-morning phone call.
Once my client arrived, he was able to explain to the police that Bill was and employee of his, again (and unfortunately for my client) his TOP SALESPERSON. He was eventually able to piece together the reason behind Bill’s abnormal and unacceptable behavior………it turns out that Bill was Bi-Polar and had gone off his meds! My client showed mercy and did not press charges against Bill. However, as you can imagine, this incident did lead to Bill’s termination of employment.
There are several morals to this story, but the most relevant one is that YOU CAN’T RELY ON JUST ONE REALLY GOOD EMPLOYEE BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT LOSE THEM.
At my upcoming Boot Camp (www.robinsbigseminar.com) April 14-17 in Nashville, leading Top-Grading consultant Chris Freiburger will cover how to identify, hire, coach and promote “A” players in your business and how to redeploy (or eliminate) B and C players.
Tell me about a horror employee story in your business…
The top 3 horror employee stories posted below by next Friday, February 5th win a copy of Chris Freiburger’s book “Avoid Costly Mis-Hires! Hire 90% High Performers with Topgrading Best Practices”.
Alright… here’s the last of my 4 part series of my Top 8 New Years Resolutions for IT Marketers. If you haven’t seen the 1st 6 resolutions, make sure to go check out those posts on my blog.
New Years Resolution #7: Get your online “presence” fixed
Okay, I DON’T like the word “presence” because it sounds like a meaningless fifty-cent word, but I don’t have a better one (yet) to describe all the elements that fall under your online marketing strategy. Even though I’ve said over and over again how important it is to have a web site that sells, far too many members are still struggling with this and have web sites that look like a 12 year old designed them—not to mention the broken links and graphics. I’m not going to launch into a lesson here on web marketing because I’ve more than covered the basics in the Toolkit session on the subject, but I will say this: it used to be “okay” for a company to have a good web site…now it’s becoming critical. I’m hearing from more members on how their web site is not only generating a significant portion of their new customers, but for those who DON’T have it figured out, how their LACK of a good web site, blog, Facebook page, etc. is actually hurting sales. Why? Because (like it or not) clients think that because you are a “technology” company, you should have a great web site, even though I know the two are entirely different specializations.
New Years Resolution #8: Get off your duff and implement MORE
I don’t know that this one needs a lot of explanation, other than to just do it. Just make sure you know what you’re doing before you start hiring people and/or companies to help you. Offloading the responsibility of marketing to someone else when you don’t know the difference between good marketing and bad is a surefire path wasting a lot of money.
This is a continuing series of posts of my top 8 New Years Resolutions for IT Marketers. This is part 3 out of a 4 part series… If you haven’t read them yet, make sure to check out Part I and Part II from last week.
New Years Resolution #5: If you’re going to pick the lock and steal the treasure map, use it!
Here’s an all-too-typical example of what I’mtalking about…
A marketing campaign was e-mailed to me for critique from a long-standing member (who, by the way, should know better both about the campaign which I’ll explain in a minute AND e-mailing me something important, expecting a response). He’s perplexed as to why he’s getting no response from his campaign when he’s “using the strategies exactly as I teach.” Except…
He’s sending a postcard instead of enveloped mail using the sneak up approach. Except, he’s mailing a cold list without scrubbing it first. Except, the postcard has no testimonials, no headline and doesn’t SELL the free audit. Except that despite the fact he’s mailed the list before, he’s only mailed the same offer once, and mailed the other offers about a month later, not referencing the first, building no urgency to respond, no deadline and confusing the prospect with a different offer each time. Except, except, except. Other than that, he’s following my strategies exactly as I’ve taught them. Now I’m not beating up on this poor fellow because I give him credit for taking action and trying…also for reaching out to us when things are going pear shaped…BUT it does need to be pointed out because I see so many other members making these same mistakes. This is like having the plans for baking a cake, but you leave out the eggs, cut the flour in half and bake it for only half the time, then wonder why you have something that looks like a flat uncooked pancake instead of an award-winning chocolate cake. Look, learning new skills takes time and practice and you can’t do it half-way. If you want to generate the same success as someone else, you have to model their behavior and actions to a “T,” not just doing what is convenient, easy or agreeable to you. Vary from the process even a little bit and you’re not going to get the same results.
Now, a little recognition to a member using the materials verbatim DESPITE his initial skepticism: “Robin, (Despite my initial skepticism) we started to test the waters with some of the Toolkit materials and generated some positive feedback. I sent out 7 BDR e-mails to 7 of my clients, received 5 responses and sold 3 BDR and one managed services with the BDR. We started to use the telemarketing script for cleaning an old cold list and found the script does work. With all of the material that you have provided us with, it’s just a matter of rolling up thesleeves and going to work.” Ralph J. Fiorillo CNE, CNA, MCP, President, Tritech Solutions, Inc
New Years Resolution #6: Implement more UNUSUAL and attention grabbing strategies.
One of the “complaints” (maybe observations is more accurate) I hear from new members is that the marketing appears to be a bit unprofessional or “hokey.” That is, of course, a knee-jerk opinion entrenched in their brain based on the boring, plain-vanilla advertising they see all around them. Truth is, outrageous advertising sells. Back in October, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brands, encompassing over 360 different companies and one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time. In his book, “Screw It, Let’s Do It,” he talks
about how he used several outrageous stunts to market and promote his various brands including hanging (apparently) stark naked from a crane above Times Square in New York to promote Virgin Mobile’s tag line of “we have nothing to hide,” emphasizing the fact they had no hidden costs to taking dangerous balloon trips across the ocean risking his life more than once. He said that while it would have been easier to hire a PR firm to help promote his companies, he knew he was up against big competitors with big bank accounts and ruthless people who would do anything to keep him from entering the space—and that’s why he had to do it himself using outrageous stunts that would get him on the front page news…and it worked. My suggestion for this year is to do MORE of that type of crazy advertising and marketing. Should you hang in a flesh bodysuit over a billboard in rush hour traffic on the busiest Interstate in your area? Maybe…just make sure the media knows you’re doing it to promote that your managed services plans have “nothing to hide,” or no hidden fees—and take a picture for me because I certainly want it for the my newsletter.
This is part 2 out of a 4 part series this month, highlighting my Top 8 New Years Resolutions for IT Marketers.
New Years Resolution #3: Leverage MORE of your EXISTING assets.
To do this I suppose you need to recognize what your current assets are. That would be your current customers and (hopefully) the relationship you have with them. I would also include any unconverted leads you have (you ARE keeping those people in your database and marketing to them, right?) Could be a marketing process or campaign that has worked in the past. Could be relationships you have with influencers in your market area, JV partners, your reputation, your location, etc. Below is a forum posting I wanted to include here because 1) it will help me make the above point, and 2) it will help me make a point about the NEXT New Year’s Marketing Resolution.
First, here’s the post, modified slightly for space and readability: My AT&T Yellow Page ads are up for renewal and I wanted toget some suggestions from you all! I ran the Warning ad lastyear under the heading “Computer Service and Repair” inone of the local books where we are located and got veryfew calls from it. I was thinking about running the same ad again in the samebook, but this time under two headings: Computer Serviceand Repair and Computers Networking. I’m also consideringadding it in two other books to saturate the surroundingareas. One would be in the capital city area (much largerbook and distribution) and the other book would betargeting South of us. The pricing for this is very expensiveeven after all of their “discounts” and was wondering howmuch of your budget you all dedicate to this type of advertising? Our existing ad costs $213 per month for ONEheading.
Option 1: Renew our existing ad in the same book under TWO headings for the same cost ($213 per month). They’ll give me this deal if I commit to the advertising in the other books. I could also add the same ad to another small book for an additional $101 per month.
Option 2: Total for the two small books = $315 per month.
Option 3: I could also run the Warning ad in a new larger book under TWO headings for a cost of $741 for each heading, PER MONTH!
Option 4: Try their NEW program for $33 PER CALL for each heading.
Option 5: Run the ad in all 3 phone books for $315 per month plus $33 PER CALL for the large book.
Option 6: Pay $315 per month for the two small books + $741 for one heading for a total of $1,056 per month.
Option 7: Pay $315 per month for the two small books + $741×2 for one heading for a total of $1,797 per month.
Money is limited and we have just begun the following:
1. Mailed a newsletter to our existing clients.
2. Hired a telemarketing firm to scrub our list, qualify the leads and set up appointments for us.
3. Mail postcards to prospects.
4. Budgeted $1,000 for Google and Online PPC.
5. Implemented Call and Online tracking to see which of our ad campaigns are working best.
Money is limited, and I know we need to be listed in the phone books, but just didn’t know how much of our budget should consist of the books (in percentage). In the past, we have found that we get the best quality leads from our Google PPC ads…Thanks!
This month, I’m going to give you my top 8 New Years Resolutions for IT Marketers in bite sized chunks. For today, we tackle resolutions #1 and #2…
New Year’s Resolution #1: Do A Better Job At Positioning Rather Than Prospecting.
If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Better question: If Robin constantly tells you the cornerstone to your marketing strategy should be positioning and attracting prospects to you rather than prospecting and chasing them down, but you don’t do it, does it mean it doesn’t work? Below is the cover of a book designed and authored by Genius League Member Chris Wiser, President of TechSquad. This is just one element that goes into Chris’s Shock-N-Awe box sent to new prospects BEFORE he meets with them. Genius League Member Jeff Johnson, President of CMIT Solutions in Sacramento has commented that since sending his book in a Shock-N-Awe box, the number of appointments that have been moved or cancelled have gone down dramatically.
Chris Wiser's Book
Fellow Genius League Member Kishor Solanki, Triohm Solutions is picking up approximately 6-7 new clients a month for his EMR solution, a $20,000 sale. How’s he doing it? Speaking engagements and JVs with pharmaceutical companies that position him as the expert in the new government regulations and benefits surrounding electronic medical records. I could go on. Bottom line is this: the better a job you do at positioning yourself as the expert in a certain area, the easier it is for you to acquire clients who willingly pay top dollar for your expertise.
Some of the best ways to position yourself are:
Write a book. Enough said. If you need help, search www.guru.com for a ghost writer or simply take one of the free reports in the Toolkit and use it as a soup starter. You can still hire a “book shepherd” to help you — that is a professional who will help you get your book written, formatted, printed and published. If you need help with the design & printing, go to my MasterMind website to look for our recommended vendors on self publishing and graphic design. The self publishers can provide you with recommendations for writers and editors as well as graphic design. Remember, it’s all in your head that this is difficult; it just takes a little thought on what to include and who you are going to sent it to — the free reports in the Toolkit have done the bulk of the work for you.
Publish a weekly article in the newspaper or your own blog/newsletter. If you can’t get awriting gig for your local paper, you can certainly publish a weekly blog or a monthly newsletter. Just make sure it’s both interesting and valuable, not just a bunch of geek speak and techie articles you cut and paste just to fill space.
Create an audio business card or get someone to interview you as an expert on a particular topic. I recently interviewed Genius LeagueMember Nathan Viveiros on what to look forwhen outsourcing your IT support; aninterview he’s now using to build credibilitywith new prospects. This is FAR morepowerful than a flimsy business card and it properly positions him as the expert while simultaneously delivering value. This is underscored by the fact that Nate operates his business remotely and has recently figured out how to close BIG managed services deals over the phone without ever meeting the prospect— something many of his peers swore couldn’t be done.
Public Speaking. I highly recommend you secure as many speaking engagements as possible, even if you have to create them on your own by conducting your own events and seminars. Seek out associations, non-profit groups and the Chamber. Many associations look for subject matter experts to add value to various meetings and programs they offer.
Become “active” in your local community. Join various boards and committees and volunteer your time. This will lift your awareness and open doors to meet key decision makers and key influencers in your market area. If you target a niche like I do, partner with other key vendors and influencers in that niche, whether it be speaking at their events, offering support to their members, attending their events, etc.
New Year’s Resolution #2: Use More “Creative And Honest Theft.”
I recently received a letter sent to me by Master Mind Member Leah Hazenfield, Customer Account Manager at ProfessionalTelecommunications Services, Inc. who wrote:
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