In racing, business and life, success is determined before you ever start. What do I mean by this? Steven Covey in his famous Seven Habits book said to "Begin with the end in mind". He was right.
If you don't read the entire book though, you might skip a few steps. Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tyler Tadevic of TruSpeed Motorsports. Tyler and Team Owner Rob Morgan had just returned from the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona. A race nearly 3000 miles from their home turf.
Winning Daytona is an amazing feat. Just finishing is a major accomplishment for any racing team.
Tyler and I spend nearly an hour talking about the race, and looking at the car. The car that TruSpeed entered came home a total loss. The engine was hanging on by a thread, even though no one could see it. If you grabbed the alternator you could shake the engine. Several parts of the car were missing due to contact with other cars and stationary objects as well. It looked like one tired pony.
Tyler was beaming and with good reason. TruSpeed left their home in Orange County's Costa Mesa and headed east with one goal. Finish. Tyler and Rob were smart enough to recognize the height of the challenge they were undertaking and set a goal that was just out of reach for many teams.
56 teams started the race at the 2013 24 hour race at Daytona, and not all of them finished. Even experienced teams couldn't make it the entire 24 hours. Daytona is a shining example of why endurance racing is different.
TruSpeed is probably best known for Driver Patrick Longs record winning season in 2011. Those are "sprints" according to Tyler. Daytona is a marathon.
TruSpeed didn't finish Daytona by showing up and racing. They started planning long before getting to the track and analyzed every decision based on the one goal. Finish the race on the track.
The method that Tyler Tadevic and Rob Morgan used to put together the right plan with the right car and the right drivers to finish Daytona works in business and marketing too. When you have a single target like "Finish the race on the track" or "Be the best Pizza Place", you can look at everything you do and very quickly and effectively see if it is working or not.
When I say this applies to everything I mean everything your business does. If you are a plumber who specializes in being the fastest and lowest cost water softener installer, you can quickly look at your trucks, your email campaign, your direct mail post cards and your website and say "does this say we are the best water softener guys period?". If not dump it and start again until everything you do reflects your one thing.
What is your single mission for this year, or what is your business target? does your advertising say that? Ask potential customers to make sure, because we all tend to see what we want to see, not what we are really doing.
Showing posts with label Internet Presence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet Presence. Show all posts
Friday, February 22, 2013
Friday, December 21, 2012
Internet Presence = Internet Marketing + Social Media ++
What is your Internet Presence? Do you know? Do you even know what it means?
Every business in the US, and for the most part, every business in the world has an "Internet Presence" whether they know it or not. If one customer stops by your business and posts information about you on their Facebook page, that is your Internet Presence.
At the end of the day, your Internet Presence is the sum total of all of the information about you that is published online. If you don't add to that information, then you have zero control over your Internet Presence. The more information you add, the more you control. At least that is the idea.
All told you actually can control a lot more or a lot less of the information based on how you deal with your customers. You can actively seek reviews on Yelp! or Google+. You can also ignore them. It is your choice.
As part of your complete marketing plan, you should have a plan and a direction for Online Marketing, Social Media and digital PR so that you can at least influence the Internet Presence of your business.
If you feel like all of this is overwhelming, and you just don't know what to do about your online marketing, you can of course hire an online marketing business like the Bourquin Group, and for a fee, we'll be glad to go to work for you.
If you want to watch your budget, another option is to get a copy of The Easy Guide To Internet Marketing, and follow the step by step guide to build your Internet Presence on your own. It is something that any business owner can do in just a few hours each week. You don't have to give up your life to monitor Facebook and Yelp!.
Even if you are going to hire someone to take over your online marketing and help you improve your internet presence, getting a copy of The Easy Guide To Internet Marketing will help you understand how to hire better and how to decide if your marketing and internet presence plan are going in the right direction.
Don't ignore your customers on the internet, engage them and win them over today so your business can grow tomorrow and you can enjoy the freedom that you were looking for when you started your business. Get your copy of The Easy Guide To Internet Marketing today.
Every business in the US, and for the most part, every business in the world has an "Internet Presence" whether they know it or not. If one customer stops by your business and posts information about you on their Facebook page, that is your Internet Presence.
At the end of the day, your Internet Presence is the sum total of all of the information about you that is published online. If you don't add to that information, then you have zero control over your Internet Presence. The more information you add, the more you control. At least that is the idea.
All told you actually can control a lot more or a lot less of the information based on how you deal with your customers. You can actively seek reviews on Yelp! or Google+. You can also ignore them. It is your choice.
As part of your complete marketing plan, you should have a plan and a direction for Online Marketing, Social Media and digital PR so that you can at least influence the Internet Presence of your business.
If you feel like all of this is overwhelming, and you just don't know what to do about your online marketing, you can of course hire an online marketing business like the Bourquin Group, and for a fee, we'll be glad to go to work for you.
If you want to watch your budget, another option is to get a copy of The Easy Guide To Internet Marketing, and follow the step by step guide to build your Internet Presence on your own. It is something that any business owner can do in just a few hours each week. You don't have to give up your life to monitor Facebook and Yelp!.
Even if you are going to hire someone to take over your online marketing and help you improve your internet presence, getting a copy of The Easy Guide To Internet Marketing will help you understand how to hire better and how to decide if your marketing and internet presence plan are going in the right direction.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Checklists for Success
As a pilot, we need to get a check ride every year if you want to keep flying. The bigger the plane the more difficult the check ride is the rule of thumb. The truth is a lot easier than that.
There is a saying in aviation, when something happens either "wind your watch" or "sit on your hands". The reason is simple. The knee jerk or impulse reaction is usually the wrong reaction. I see it in aviation and I see it in business every day.
It is almost an irony of the jet age and the information age that going faster isn't always the best method. Big jets get places fast, but don't change trajectory quickly. Business is much the same. When an engine catches fire in an airplane, specifically a big airplane there is an impulse reaction to shut the engine down and use the fire extinguisher.
While those two steps are on the checklist there are other things to check first. For instance, you want to make sure it is a real fire, not a false alarm. Shutting down an engine that really isn't on fire makes things worse when you are halfway between New York and London or Los Angeles and Honolulu. We call this a self induced emergency.
In business the same thing can happen. I see it in my office and I see it in my clients offices. The big difference between flying and business, is pilots have a checklist. Our "checkride" is really a reminder to use the checklist. Unfortunately, business owners don't get to practice emergency procedures and test out their checklists. Many big name franchises have excellent training manuals that include these checklists. If you are a small business, and didn't work for a competitor and "borrow" the checklists, you have to build yours by trial and error. That can be an expensive checklist.
A business coach can be like the flight instructor on a check ride. The business coach can ask you questions about scenarios that are likely to happen and you haven't seen yet. Then you can build the checklist for your staff before the business is actually on fire. Teachers even have a checklist for fire drills and yet most business owners don't.
Many things that you as the owner do every day can be handed off to your staff very effectively by just building a simple checklist and training your staff to use it. The key to success here is followup.
When you hire a really good business coach what you are really hiring is someone to hold you accountable for achieving your stated goals and reaching that next level of freedom and success in your business. Your mission is to find tasks that you can shed to your staff and hold them accountable in the same way.
As you build your checklists and your staff begins to take over your tasks, you can focus on your business instead of working in your business. Need help? For $297, I'll send you a copy of the "Easy Guide to Internet Marketing", and for the first ten people, I'll add a $100 Google adwords coupon if you don't already have an account and we'll spend an hour going over how to create the right ads and create a checklist so you don't have to do it. That is a $1,675 value for $297.
Not convinced. I'll do one better. How about a money back guarantee. If you don't think you got a deal, I'll refund your money, you keep the book. email me at scott@ownersplay.com and I'll send you the questionairre and a paypal invoice so when we get on the phone we can get you started right away.
There is a saying in aviation, when something happens either "wind your watch" or "sit on your hands". The reason is simple. The knee jerk or impulse reaction is usually the wrong reaction. I see it in aviation and I see it in business every day.
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| Would You Like A Little Freedom With Your Business? |
While those two steps are on the checklist there are other things to check first. For instance, you want to make sure it is a real fire, not a false alarm. Shutting down an engine that really isn't on fire makes things worse when you are halfway between New York and London or Los Angeles and Honolulu. We call this a self induced emergency.
In business the same thing can happen. I see it in my office and I see it in my clients offices. The big difference between flying and business, is pilots have a checklist. Our "checkride" is really a reminder to use the checklist. Unfortunately, business owners don't get to practice emergency procedures and test out their checklists. Many big name franchises have excellent training manuals that include these checklists. If you are a small business, and didn't work for a competitor and "borrow" the checklists, you have to build yours by trial and error. That can be an expensive checklist.
A business coach can be like the flight instructor on a check ride. The business coach can ask you questions about scenarios that are likely to happen and you haven't seen yet. Then you can build the checklist for your staff before the business is actually on fire. Teachers even have a checklist for fire drills and yet most business owners don't.
Many things that you as the owner do every day can be handed off to your staff very effectively by just building a simple checklist and training your staff to use it. The key to success here is followup.
When you hire a really good business coach what you are really hiring is someone to hold you accountable for achieving your stated goals and reaching that next level of freedom and success in your business. Your mission is to find tasks that you can shed to your staff and hold them accountable in the same way.
Not convinced. I'll do one better. How about a money back guarantee. If you don't think you got a deal, I'll refund your money, you keep the book. email me at scott@ownersplay.com and I'll send you the questionairre and a paypal invoice so when we get on the phone we can get you started right away.
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