Using technology as a business tool...

Ponder the question, "How many times must you watch an exercise video before losing any weight?"

Just watching the video without doing the exercises will produce little, if any, results. The best sales tools and promotional items will not achieve your mission if you cannot do the exercises of success.

Just like the millions of people every year who buy exercise videos, with the ideas and intentions of losing weight, millions of business people buy sales and marketing tools with the ideas and intentions of generating sales. Our mission is to take you: "Beyond great ideas and good intentions!"

It's been said many times that in sales you have to sell the sizzle not the steak. The sad truth is that many businesses fail because they don't have a consistant recipe. The first step in achieving any mission is defining it. Just as critical is the ability to achieve your mission consistantly. As you make mistakes, as we all do, the key is to adjust and adapt. Your plan, your "recipe" for success must reflect where you're heading, tempered by where you've been.

Our basic model for success:
a darn good steak
a whole lot of sizzle
the recipe to produce it any time

The first step will be defining our steak. This is the idea of what your outcome will look like, so you know what to expect when you get there. The steak represents your model for success, your prototype. When building your model, first assume the logical, the anticipated outcome void of emotion.

Step two, the sizzle, will attack the human side of business, attitude and perception. The human side deals with the effective use of personality and emotion to influence your anticipated outcome.

Phase three is the most overlooked element of success: the recipe! The recipe is the means of producing the same outcome many times over, any time you choose. As with any recipe, the ingredients alone do not lead to success. To succeed you must have a list of the sequence of events needed to reach the desired outcome.

On a large scale the recipe may be a company's business or marketing plan. As an individual, programming your mind to seek success, will help establish your own personal recipe for success.

In programming your mind to seek success, the most important tool you have is your ability to ask a question. You will be asking questions to two groups of people. The people who help program your ideas will either be assisting you in developing your plan of attack, or be possible prospects for the products or services you are selling.

When you are selling for someone else, whether employed as a salesperson, or buying a franchise or existing business, many questions should be answered before you venture out. You will have past experiences to draw upon by going through the information gathering process using materials supplied to you by an employer or business opportunity source. You should become aware of the significant points of your product or service.

If your business venture has no track record, you may have to test market your product or idea in order to develop your strategy. Test marketing an idea or product is not necessarily different from the actual sales process. In test marketing you may go through the entire sales process with the objective of gathering information, rather than actually selling a product.

While the primary objective of a business is to get its good or services into the hands of a paying client, a good information gathering process may show trends which will cause you to rethink your strategy in an ever changing marketplace.

If you don't know the answer to a question, ask someone who does!

Ask successful people selling a similar product in a similar marketplace, what is commonplace for your industry. If you are not sure the person can help you, ask the question without directing it directly at them, such as: "Could you help me in setting a realistic goal for selling widgets in widgetown?" This type of question will direct you to industry standards rather than asking a specific person or company how much they sold.

When asking questions of friends, or "experts", make sure the answers are based on the same marketplace conditions as your own.
Demographics to consider:
Geography - results may vary from one region of the country to another
Size - what is the population of the market areas you are comparing
People issues - age, social class, gender, ethnic make up

Focus your questions, so you may focus your goals. Be realistic, be specific.

Statements like, "good service at a good price," are not realistic or specific. What is considered good service in your industry? What is a good price?

When asking questions, you want an answer based on experience, not speculation. When talking to people phrase questions in such a way that the person being asked will not feel obligated to guess. Establish their experience, and don't force them to answer.

For example:
Question: "Sir, I hear you are a salesman of widgets, could you, or someone you know, help me with some questions about your industry."
Thoughts: You haven't forced the person to be an expert. You have given them a way to point you to an expert. They may come back with, "While I would be able to answer some of your questions based on my ten years as a salesman, you could also contact the sales manager at Widget Works."
In a question and response such as this you are establishing their point of reference as well as allowing them to steer you to a person who does know the answer, rather than make a guess.

If you remember nothing else, remember that all successful business people understand the perspective of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages a business or enterprise, AND takes the risk of not making a profit and getting the profit when there is one. Anyone can give advice. Only a true entrepreneur can appreciate the risk of not making a profit if the advice is not helpful.

Many people confuse executives with entrepreneurs. The sad truth is many executives and managers of businesses are poor sources of information. They do not have the same point of view as an entrepreneur who risks their life savings on starting or establishing a business.

Ponder the following quote by entrepreneur and inventor Clarence "Bob" Birdseye:
"Only through curiosity can we discover opportunities, and only by gambling can we take advantage of them"
Clarence Birdseye truly understood the definition of entrepreneur.

Don't ever forget... Talk is cheap, ideas are dime a dozen. When asking directions to a goal, first ask if the person giving the directions has ever been there themselves.

How is losing weight like making money?

It's not how good your intentions are that count, it's how many times you get up off the couch and do the exercises!

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