August 2007 – Page 3

Competing Through Hard Work

In Guy Kawasaki’s interview
with Redfin’s Glenn Kelman,
Kelman says that most entrepreneurs
focus on the Eureka moment
when they should be focussing on hard work.

“If you don’t believe you have
any reliable competitive advantage,
you’re the kind of insecure person
who will work your competition into the ground,
so keep working.”

I tell myself “one more.”
I’ll send out “one more email”.
I’ll write “one more post.”
I’ll write “one more page.”

Combine those one more’s
and you have a competitive advantage.

Marketing The Movie Stardust

If you have a great product,
don’t be afraid of sampling.

The movie Stardust has hosted
the most free sneak previews
of any movie this summer.
Having multiple opportunities to attend,
I finally agreed to one screening.
And found out why they can confidently
give away free seats.

The movie is that good
(for those loving fairy tales).
I have personally recommended it
to over 1,000 women.

The Detailed Complaint

If a customer comes to you with
a complaint,
action steps to fix it,
and
perhaps even volunteers time and energy,
listen up.

This person is passionate.
This person is driven.
And if this person is not listened to,
they will either go to the competition
or build a competing product.

Recently a group of advanced members of an investing forum
spent time and effort on proposed fixes.
These were presented.
These were not listened to.

A month later, a competing forum is now active.
Their first customers?
The attendees of the previous forum.

Finder, Minder, Grinder

Ray Silverstein talks about
the three styles in sales.
The finder looking for her next conquest,
the minder thriving on relationships, and
the grinder working the numbers.

You can also apply these personality types
to entrepreneurs.
The finder has the big idea
but if it takes time,
not much follow through.
The minder needs to work in
a group to be truly happy
and can usually charm the birds out of trees.
The grinder, which I am,
simply applies the ratio of success to failures
and then works the ratio until she is successful.

As a grinder,
when I look for partners,
I look for someone with a finder or minder profile.

Your Company Money Is Your Money

I had to order checks for my business account.
Based on the amount of business
I do with the bank,
I insisted that there be no additional charge.

When the account manager didn’t argue,
I said “guess you get this request all the time.”

No, actually he didn’t.
He did for personal accounts
but never for business,
no matter how small the cashflow was.

Foolishness.
Expenses are expenses,
whether they’re business or personal.
Don’t overpay for either.

When You Can, Help

About once a month,
I submit a post to Romancing The Blog.
In these posts,
I always, always mention
two or three authors and books.

Why?
Because readers respond to specific examples.
It better serves my customer.

And by doing so, I help someone else.
I may never see a benefit
but as it didn’t cost…

When you can, help someone else.

Ravenswood Winery’s Joel Peterson And Descriptions

In an interview with Joel Peterson,
the founder of Ravenswood Winery,
he talked about wine tasting
at the tender age of 11.
He would taste and
his Dad would ask him for descriptions.

Why?

Because “kids have better words for wine.”
Its all about keeping it simple, understandable,
approachable for the average person.
That’s how you sell.

Artificial Deadlines And The Editing Death Spiral

No product is ever perfect.
There is always something to be tweaked.

Maybe the blue on the package
could be more blue
or the copy one word shorter
or one more bug taken out of the program
or…

That is why deadlines, even artificial,
are important.

Stick to the deadline
and get that product out.
If its successful and money flows in,
then consider “upgrades.”

Who Cares More?

Recently I overheard an argument
between a publisher and an author
(online of all places).

The author was upset about his book sales.
The publisher suggested
he market the books more.
The author felt that was the publisher’s responsibility.

That’s fine if he didn’t care about results
but he did.

My general rule is…
if I care, I take responsibility.
Not doing so causes stress.
Not doing so and whining,
makes one look like a putz.

Face Coding

Dan Hill, President Of Sensory Logic,
reads faces for a living.

A useful skill as
most reaction is subconscious.
The prospect doesn’t even realize
how she is responding to
a sales pitch, commercial, new product.

The key area of the face to focus on?
The eyes.
Hill claims that individuals
have very little control
over the muscles around the eye.
That’s why it is so easy
to spot a social smile vs a real smile.