Brian Tracy recently suggested that I try out his new Business Growth Strategies program, and who am I to say no to one of the greatest minds in small business success and personal development? Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars around the globe. He’s the top-selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages and has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement. So, you know, he’s major. And you simply have to know that Brian is the best at what he does.
Obviously, if someone like Brian Tracy personally recommends that you try something out, well, even if it’s his product, I just think you do it. So I immediately took the $1 trial and gave it a whirl.
*BTW, in the interests of full disclosure, please note that I do not have any sort of affiliate relationship with Brian Tracy. Period.
Business Growth Strategies: What is it?
Brian Tracy’s Business Growth Strategies is a seriously high-powered system of videos and written instructions to take you from where you are now to where you want to go with your business.
You start with a Business Profitability Assessment that examines 30 areas of your business. It’s comprehensive, but don’t be afraid- the whole assessment only takes about 10 minutes. That said, beware: this assessment shines a fairly harsh light on your business. I thought I had a pretty good setup with my business, but darned if I didn’t discover pretty quickly that there were at least 12 major areas where I could stand improvement.
What’s pretty cool, though, is that throughout the process, Brian is there, walking you through via video, and he’s just such a nice man and so encouraging that it helps soften the blow when you realize how much help you need (even if, for some bizarre reason I have yet to understand, the videos do tend to remind me a little bit of those Darma Initiative videos from Lost, which also strangely makes the whole thing even more pleasant…if you figure that one out, let me know).
Once you’ve gotten through the assessment, you learn all the areas where you need help and you can start getting into the actual meat of the content.
What you’ll learn:
Business Growth Strategies provides tangible help with just about any aspect of small business growth that you can think of. You learn a lot of theory about business growth, from setting up the right systems, making sure you’re properly capitalized, business planning, sales, marketing, time management, effectiveness, advertising….there’s almost nothing that isn’t covered. Business Growth Strategies is more comprehensive than you can possibly imagine. There are 52 lessons with more than 250 videos recorded by Brian Tracy himself, and every lesson comes with written materials, exercises, and action steps.
Pedagogically speaking…
From a teaching standpoint, the combination of mediums is really smart. You need to watch the videos to get the most out of everything, and probably it’s better if you watch them all more than one time, but you can download and (if you’re so inclined) print out the written instructions to make a pretty awesome workbook with exercises and action steps, so you know exactly what you’re supposed to do.
Although you can skip around the program and focus on whatever topic you want, they’ve set it up so that you get a lesson plan based on your Business Profitability Assessment. That’s pretty wise, because without that lesson plan, the massive amount of material available can get a little overwhelming and daunting.
If you go into this and want to be successful, I’d probably recommend that you plan to stay in the program for six months to a year. That way you can do one lesson a week and really maximize your learning and have plenty of time to take action and implement the recommended strategies.
Who does Business Growth Strategies rock for?
Business Growth Strategies is awesome if you’re just starting a business. You’ll start out the right way and with Brian as your de facto coach, you’ll have a clear plan and strategies in place to smooth out the often bumpy startup road.
It’s also great if you’ve been in business for awhile, especially if you’ve flat-lined. Your business will get a sound tune-up, you’ll find out exactly what you’ve been missing, and you’ll be back on an upward swing.
And, Business Growth Strategies would work especially well for people in a brick-and-mortar businesses who are looking to grow their businesses in traditional ways.
What do I wish Business Growth Strategies included?
Business Growth Strategies is soundly grounded in old-school business principles. You’d expect nothing else from Brian Tracy. So there’s no doubt in my mind that the content is top-notch and of the highest quality.
Still, as much value as the program brings, I’m left wishing that Business Growth Strategies had a small injection of “new school” business principles that factored in newer technologies like internet marketing and social media networking, which is an interesting thing to say since the entire program is internet-based.
That said, business is business, and too many folks in business today think it’s okay to bypass class business principles and as much as we entrepreneurs just love to fast-track stuff, in the end, that just doesn’t work as well. So as much as I’d like to infuse the program with just a wee bit of new school stuff, it’s probably okay that it doesn’t include much of it, because there’s plenty of that out here already.
Overall thoughts…
Do I recommend Business Growth Strategies? Yep. It pretty much rocks the house. It’s solid content, through and through. I didn’t feel sold on other stuff, and really, once you’re in, you’ll just spend time in the program learning. And learning. And learning. Brian Tracy just continues to prove over and over that he’s still got it, and he shows no sign of slowing down.
Welcome to March, the month that comes in like a lion!
For every month in 2010, I’m focusing on a theme that’s critical to small business success and talking about that theme in my e-zine, No Suits Allowed!, here in my blog, and with my experts in The Experts Series. In January, we talked about planning your year and your small business. In February we focused on finding meaning and purpose and gaining authenticity, and I interviewed Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and co-author of The Go-Giver and Go-Givers Sell More in The Experts Series (if you missed that call and want the recording, you can still download it for free here).
This month my attention will turn exclusively to Branding and Positioning. As such, you’ll see articles all month long on branding and positioning your small business, throughout this blog and my No Suits Allowed! e-zine.
I’m also interviewing Jack Trout, author of over thirteen bestsellers about branding, positioning, and marketing. He’s the author of several of my official small business reference books, including Differentiate or Die and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, and I consider Jack to be the father of modern branding and positioning.
When I was interviewing Bob Burg and mentioned my upcoming interview with Jack Trout, Bob said,
“Jack Trout is one of the seminal masters when it comes to positioning, branding, marketing. This is a guy who is so big and has been for so long, for you to have gotten him to appear on your call says a ton about you. And I hope everybody listening will be on that call next month. This guy is a master and just please, make the time to listen to him.”
I’d like to also announce the launch of my updated six-week teleseminar class, 7-Figure Branding Secrets, where I’ll take you through the exact process that I use with my one-on-one clients to create memorable brands with serious moneymaking potential. I’ll include a Q&A during every single class so I can walk you through your own branding process. More details, including dates and specifics, to come later this week!
In preparation for my recent interview with Bob Burg (if you missed it, download the recording here), I invited subscribers to share with me their top business challenges. I wasn’t surprised by the answers:
“sales,” “communicating with potential customers,” “sales,” “the telephone,” “sales,” “how do I increase my lead pipeline?” “how to market my business,” “where will I find my next client?” “growing my business,” “sales,”
90% of the questions I got were about sales and marketing, and the reason is that folks believe that sales and marketing are where you actually make the money. Well…you’re wrong.
If your top small business concerns are sales and marketing, you’re focusing on the wrong stuff.
“But…but how can that be true, when there’s an entire industry just build around sales and marketing???”
Ah, there’s the rub. Well, I’m not saying sales and marketing aren’t important. I’m saying that sales and marketing shouldn’t actually be your biggest “challenges.” And yes, I’m prepared to back that up. Here goes:
1) You should know your target market inside-out.
I’ll bet if you’re struggling with sales and marketing in your small business, you don’t know your target market well enough. If you did, you’d know everything from what their likely objections are to where to find them to what kind of marketing they’ll respond to. And when you know that, you really don’t have to wonder if your branding appeals to them or if you’re meeting their needs. You’ll know.
How do you get to know them? Well, first, you have to choose them. Narrow down the people you serve into a clear, definable subset of the population. It’s okay to do this, I promise. It doesn’t mean that you can’t work with people outside your target market. My target market is primarily female entrepreneurs in their 30s and 40s, but I work with women and men, and I have clients in their 60s. Your target market is who you work best with, who you understand the most, and who you like working with, combined with who wants what you have to offer.
Second, once you’ve narrowed down who your target market is, if you want to get to know them, ask them. Survey your list and if you don’t have a big list yet, look for places to find your peeps and invite them to take your survey. It’s not rocket science, but I do have a few recommendations: 1) Offer a high-quality freebie as a gift for taking the survey, 2) Limit your survey to 20-25 questions and only about 25% of those questions should be open-ended, 3) Ask them what you need to know as well as what you want to know. Get basic demographics, but also ask what keeps them up at night.
When your survey is over and you tabulate you responses, you should know a lot more about your target market, where to find them, and what they need and want. Everything else flows from there.
2) Once you know your target market inside out, you can focus on meeting their needs and providing value.
The people you serve are people. I’ve been saying that for a long time. They’re real people with real worries and real fears that keep them up at night. How can you serve them? How can you help address those worries and fears so that they can rest easy and get some sleep? If you’re addressing those needs and bringing enough value, not just in your products and services, but in how you’re showing up in the world, sales won’t really be a challenge anymore.
And remember, bringing value comes in many forms, too. This isn’t necessarily about giving your services away for free (although there may be times when that makes sense). As Bob and John talk about in Go-Givers Sell More, you can bring value in several ways. Bob and John mention five key ways to bring value that I really love: excellence, consistency, attention, empathy, and appreciation. And sometimes, just listening brings value. Who knew?
3) If you focus on bringing real value to people’s lives, sales will follow as a natural consequence.
One of the great things I picked up in my interview with Bob is that the top 10% of successful people in the world understand that giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. They’re a part of the same thing - as Bob put it, they’re like inhaling and exhaling.
So many of us think that “it’s better to give than to receive,” but actually, being a “go-giver” means you’re focused on giving value, but you’re open to receiving. And as such, if you’re focused on the other person and bringing real value, the natural consequence is that you’ll be rewarded. One of my favorite lines from Go-Givers Sell More is, “The task here is not to create value in order to create a sale or in order to anything. It’s to create value, period…Right now, your total job is to focus on one thing and one thing only: providing value to other people. If you do that well, sales—and money—will find you.”
The bottom line is that sales isn’t about sales. It isn’t even about the thing you sell. And marketing isn’t about the thing you sell, either. They’re both all about value. What value do you bring to the lives of other people? That should be your biggest challenge. Once you master that, sales and marketing shouldn’t be an issue.
If you’ve been reading my blog, my e-zine, following me on Facebook, or watching my Tweets, it would be impossible for you not to have noticed my new program, The Experts Series. This series is a yearlong, interview-and-integrate series. Each month, I’ll interview a top name in small business. The current lineup includes several bestselling authors, power players in marketing and PR, and heavy hitters from the real world, and all year long, we’ll be talking about ways for you to grow your small business.
So why should you join the series? Here are my top five reasons:
You’ll learn from the best. I’ve invited some of the world’s most well-known experts in small business, marketing, public relations, and branding to participate in this series. The lineup includes:
Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and co-author of The Go-Giver and Go-Givers Sell More
Jay Conrad Levinson,author of Guerilla Marketing, the best-known small business marketing book series of all time.
Jack Trout, author of Differentiate or Die and Positioning, among other bestsellers, and the guy I learned a ton about branding from.
Larry Winget, author of It’s Called Work For A Reason and You’re Broke Because You Want to Be and the guy I turn to for “get real, and get off your butt” advice.
David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, Eyeball Wars, and Cashing In with Content, among others, and one of the guys I’ve learned the most about marketing and PR from.
(I’ve actually got several more incredible people signed on to participate, but I agreed not to reveal their names or promote that they’re appearing in the series until we get a couple of months closer to their dates. I have to admit that it’s kind of killing me not to tell you who they are, because these are huge names, and I honestly can’t even believe they agreed to let me interview them. But you’ll see the announcements coming up as soon as I’m allowed to share them, I promise!)
You’ll figure out what’s missing in your business that’s keeping you from taking that next step forward.
I don’t plan to just ask these folks what’s in their books or what they always talk about. Sure, we’ll cover that stuff, but I want to go deeper and find out what you can’t learn from their books. What are their best-kept secrets for growing your brand, getting the word out, drawing in clients, getting booked for speaking gigs, and heck, just making money? Was there one thing that they did that took their business to the next level? Was there something that “clicked” in their business? What’s the one thing they think you can do to grow your business and achieve success? I’ll be asking them more in-depth questions than you’ve heard in other interviews, to get to the heart of what these true small business masters can teach us.
You’ll have a chance to get up-close and personal with the top names in small business and ask them your questions. When I’m done grilling these experts, I’ll give you a chance to ask your own questions. You’ll be able to talk to the biggest names in small business and ask them whatever’s been burning in your mind about their books or your business. How often do you have a chance to ask someone of this caliber for a little turbo-coaching?
You’ll be working directly with me to integrate everything we learn during the interviews into your own business. The evening after every interview, I’m hosting a second call. I’ll do a brief recap of the expert call, and then I’ll take your questions. We’ll cover integrating the material we learned the day before, or you can ask me other questions about your business. Point is, I’ll be coaching you live and giving you my best business advice on the spot. This is absolutely the most affordable way to get some real, authentic business mentoring from a seasoned pro. Plus, just like any other Mastermind (I call this my “mastermind lite”), you’ll learn from the other folks on the calls. Remember, we’re all in this together. Whatever you’re going through in your business, I’ve probably been there…and you’ll discover other people who are in the same boat as you, so you can learn together.
Each month you’ll get closer to achieving true business mastery, and building more freedom, flexibility and purpose into your life. Listen…let me be candid. Just listening to the interviews and Q&A calls probably won’t change your business too much. But if you act on what you learn in the series, your business could completely transform. Just imagine if you knew what to do and how to structure your time so you really did achieve small business mastery? Can you imagine if you actually had all of the freedom and flexibility that small business ownership promises? Can you imagine what would happen if you were able to create a vision for your business and then achieve it? The best way to achieve all of that is to learn from authentic leaders who have mastered it themselves, and know how to teach what they learned. And that’s what The Expert Series is all about.
Bonus Reason: These are real experts. They’re authentic people. And they’re interested in helping you. When I invited these folks, here’s how I describe the series: “a new teleseminar series for my subscribers and clients to help them learn and grow in areas they may miss on their own.” And you know, what really amazed me about the responses I received is how generous these people were. I mean, maybe it’s my own jaded perspective, but I never, in a million years, expected anyone as famous as some of these folks are to thank me for reaching out to them and to be enthusiastic about participating in the series. But they’ve all been so generous with their time and they’re excited to join in this series, because this is all about casting off the formality and the suits and rolling up our sleeves and getting real about small business growth today.
For the first time ever, I’m running a contest! I’m running a one-week-only contest and giving away free Power-Up sessions to three lucky small business owners. Entry is easy and the pay-off is huge!
What You Win: An hour-long, one-on-one Power-Up Session with me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, CEO of Business in Blue Jeans, also known as “The Micro-Entrepreneur’s Mentor.” In this session, I’ll determine the three biggest mistakes you’re making in your business and provide personalized strategies for powering up your business to grow profitability and achieve success.
How To Win: Write one paragraph. Topic: “If I Could Wave A Magic Wand and Change Something About My Small Business, It Would Be…..” Post it on your blog or Facebook page with link back to http://www.businessinbluejeans.com/contest.html (or to this blog entry…makes no difference to me).
Then, e-mail contest@businessinbluejeans.com with a link to your entry (or just e-mail your entry to contest@businessinbluejeans.com). It’s that simple!
Contest Rules: Three winners will be chosen at random on February 22, 2010. You’ll be contacted by me right away.
So…go write your paragraphs! It shouldn’t take too long and you just might win a freebie Power-Up Session with me!
The other day, I received a wonderful little package from EzineArticles.com. Inside was a leather coaster marked “Expert Author,” a large coffee mug, and a little bag of coffee, along with a note thanking me for submitting high-quality content to their site. Now, I’m not sharing this to brag, because frankly, this company has literally hundreds of Expert Authors. The reason I’m sharing this is because there’s an interesting business lesson in here.
Frankly, in small business, little things count. I never expected this company to send me a gift. And when I received it, even though I know they’ve sent that package to hundreds of people, it brightened my day and made me feel special. I liked it. It was nice to be acknowledged.
Whenever someone signs on as a client of mine, at some point during the first couple of months of our relationship, I send them a little gift. It lets them know I value them as a client and I’ve taken the time to welcome them.
Spend some time looking at your business and asking yourself, “What can I do to brighten my customer’s day?” The little gift you send to express your appreciation just may forge a stronger bond between you and your customer, encouraging repeat business and long-term loyalty.
So someone said no. You asked someone to participate in a joint venture, tried to close a sale, invited someone to be your social media friend, and they said no. And you felt that uncomfortable feeling of having put yourself “out there” on a limb, only to look over and see that someone’s sawing the limb out from under you. It’s a weird, stomach-turning feeling, isn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be.
Someone will always say no. Someone else will say yes. Previous results are no indicator of future success. So if you’ve gotten a bunch of nos, so what? You might get a yes tomorrow. And if one person says no, that has no bearing on what the next person will say.
If you get a no, you’re no worse off than before you asked. This one I learned from my hubby Leo. Before you ask, you definitely have a no. If you don’t ask, the result is the same as if you get a no. If you ask and get a no, you’re in exactly the same boat. If you ask and get a yes, though, you’re off and running. If you put your ego out there, though, that’s when you get a little damaged. That’s why you have to move to #3.
When you ask, don’t attach yourself to the answer. When you ask for the sale or whatever else it is, you can’t be attached to the answer or you will get hurt. The “no” rarely has anything to do with you. If you’ve invited a big name to be a part of a joint venture or a conference, they might say no because they’re overwhelmed with time commitments. If you’ve asked someone to hire you, they might say no because they can’t afford you. Don’t attach yourself to the answer, and you’ll handle those nos with grace.
Handling a no with grace can mean future business. If someone says no now, they may be willing to say yes later. Handling a no with grace means you’ll have no hesitation about going back to them next month or next year to bring something else to the table.
It’s not exactly rejection when someone says no. It’s more than likely that the no has nothing to do with you anyway. If you stay detached from the results and stay engaged in your business relationships regardless of the outcome, you’ll have no problem continuing to go out on that limb over and over.
Want to know the number one way to get more clients? Simple. Have a large list!
When you have a large list, everything changes. When you communicate with your list on a regular basis, share tips and thoughts, you become an integral part of their lives. As you share with them, they see your expertise and feel your passion. So when they’re ready, they know that they need to contact you. When people on your list need your products and services, they immediately think of you! So how do you build a large list of people who want to hear from you?
Why not attend the World’s First ListBuilding TeleSummit for Coaches and find out what works best for some of the leading names in coaching, including me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, plus Andy O’Bryan, Adam Urbanski, MaryPat Kavanagh, and more?
It’s going on now, 2/8/10 thru 2/13/20, and my interview on why branding is critical to building your list is live today!
The other day, I was watching an Eban Pagan video from the Engage Today event in 2009. In the video, Eban said something really interesting that caught my attention. He asked, “Are you living “at cause” or are you still “at effect?” It’s a great way to put something that I’ve been saying for years!
What does it all mean? First, what does “at effect” mean? “At effect” means you’re waiting for something. You’re waiting for the silver bullet — that one thing that will make everything okay, the thing that will solve all your problems. Maybe you’re a workshop junkie. Maybe you know all the “big names” and you’ve already given them thousands of dollars to solve your problems for you and give you the answers to bring you great success. Problem is, that’s not what many of them are there for (but that’s a topic for another day).
So let’s look at the flip side. What does “at cause” mean? It means to take charge, take action, be in the driver’s seat. Those are all good, general “catch” phrases, but what does that look like in your small business? It looks like putting all those great ideas that we know work into action. Ideas like choosing a target market, creating a memorable brand, positioning yourself as an expert, being credible and authentic, marketing your business with integrity, offering solid, useful content, overdelivering on what you promise, and giving everything you’ve got to the clients and customers who choose to trust you with their business.
“At cause” also means investing in your business and making sure you’ve got enough capital to fund your business, so you can take decisive action when it’s needed. I don’t mean you necessarily need a fortune, but you want enough to cover essentials like having a professional web site designed, marketing copywriting done, and getting the right team in place, one that includes a mentor, virtual assistants, and other pros who will help you get your business off the ground without overwhelming you.
If you want your business to grow and if you want to see benefits in your personal life as well, try living “at cause” every day. Wake up each morning knowing that you’re taking decisive action. Know that you’re ready for true business (and life) mastery, and you’re in charge of your own life. Live “at cause” and your life and your business will change.
Want to know the number one way to get more clients? Simple. Have a large list!
When you have a large list, everything changes. When you communicate with your list on a regular basis, share tips and thoughts, you become an integral part of their lives. As you share with them, they see your expertise and feel your passion. So when they’re ready, they know that they need to contact you. When people on your list need your products and services, they immediately think of you! So how do you build a large list of people who want to hear from you?
Why not attend the World’s First ListBuilding TeleSummit for Coaches and find out what works best for some of the leading names in coaching, including me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, plus Andy O’Bryan, Adam Urbanski, MaryPat Kavanagh, and more?
