The story of a father and his son...

This is a recent blog by Dave Dee - a guy who works closely with Dan Kennedy who - if you don't know of him is probably the No 1 marketeer in the WORLD!

The story of a father and his son...

My seven year old son, David, has been asking me for quite a while, "Daddy, when can you and I go out by ourselves and do some 'man stuff'?

"Tonight's the night we are going to do just that.I was thinking of taking him to a strip club

(That's a joke, by the way. I actually hate those places.) but decided to go to the Thrashers game with him instead. We are going to make a night of it. I booked a room at a very nice hotel near the arena, so we could stay in downtown Atlanta overnight.

I think I'm more excited than he is about this and he is pretty darn excited!

The point of all of this is I've structured my business so I can do things like this, on the spur of the moment. I've built my business around the lifestyle I wanted. I don't work for my business, my business works for me.

Some people would say I'm lucky to fly first class from Atlanta to California, first-class at least every other week and that I can take time off whenever I want, do do whatever I want. These same people would tell me that I was "lucky" to be able to afford to stay in a nice hotel, go to all the hockey games I want and sit in the best seats. But you know what?

"Luck" does not have a damn thing to do with it.

Sure, I acknowledge that I have some advantages that other people might not have. (By the way, having rich parents is NOT one of my advantages). On the other hand there are people with far greater advantages who have not accomplished squat. Conversely, there are people who had far less advantages than me but are kicking butt.

What's the difference that makes the difference?

Knowing what you want, making a plan for it and then working your ass off to make it happen.

Most people only dream about what they'd like their life to be about but never DO anything about making it a reality.

They are either too lazy or unmotivated to get up off the couch.There are also business owners, who work hard and think that's all they need to do to succeed. Yes, hard work is important BUT many business owners think "hard work" means working "in" the business instead of "on" the business.

For example, the guy who owns a restaurant thinks he's working hard to make his business better if he is spending time in the restaurant instead of getting out of the restaurant to think and plan for the growth of his business. This is where the real work and the highest leveraged payoff is.

Other business owners are too cheap or intellectually lazy to spend the time necessary to invest in themselves by reading books, attending seminars, hiring coaches, etc. They are even MORE lazy when it comes to developing strategy to take their business to the next level.

Yes, I think my business, the information marketing business is the perfect business. But that is because it fits the lifestyle that I want to have. YOU need to decide about how YOU want to live and spend time, energy and money designing your business around that.

Kick butt, make mucho dee-nero!

Dave Dee

With thanks to Dave Dee
http://www.davedee.com/blog/

Get your website noticed

I was listening to a teleconference tonight with Dan Bradbury and Chad Conger. If you don't know who they are check out their websites www.danbradbury.com and www.chadconger.com

Dan is an NLP coach and trainer and has inspired me to push my business forward recently. Chad is a website guru and really knows his stuff. They both have free downloads on their websites so go and take a look. That is if you want more traffic!

the teleconference was all about different ways you can get more traffic to your website and I picked up a few really great tips from it.

Here are a couple: -

• Make a video and post it on youtube.com. that way you can advertise your website too. Make sure your URL is at the bottom of the video.
• Volunteer to write articles for other websites with a reciprocal link back to yours.
• Join forums and get talking! Ask people on the forum to critique your website and give you feedback.

These are just a few ideas but come on - there are loads of ways to drive traffic to your site for FREE!

New VAT rules

You may be aware there are changes to the VAT rules. Here is a brief summary of what section applies to most of my clients. If you want any further clarification please contact me and I will be happy to explain what's going on.

All invoices will be required to be sequentially numbered by law. This is the only aspect of the changes that affects every VAT registered trader, and as many of you already number your invoices, there will be no change.

However, businesses which "restart" their invoicing sequence each financial year will now have to ensure that every single invoice has a unique number, and that number sequences are not repeated. Where businesses use separate sequences for different customers or product types this is acceptable, provided each sequence is identifiable and unique. Using customer prefixes is also fine, provided the sequencing is discernable. Any system under which invoice numbers are duplicated for whatever reason is unacceptable.

What happens if you get rid of unprofitable customers?

One day I was discussing ways of increasing their profit with one of my clients. One of my recommendations to him was to “sack” some of his customers. (Those of you familiar with the 80:20 principle will know why!)

My client couldn't comprehend how anyone could ever talk about "sacking” a customer".But the reason we were talking about it, and the reason why I'm writing about it today, is because I regularly get questions on the subject. Generally the customer facing the bullet falls into one of two camps:

(1) The unreasonable.If you can afford to sack consistently abusive, non-paying, and impossible-to-please customers, do it. But first, make sure you've not passed the buck. Blaming the customer is too easy.

And if you decide you have no option, bear in mind the twin danger that (a) you lose the "customer is always right" mentality amongst your employees and (b) you end up with a vindictive ex-customer rather than an unreasonable customer.

(2) The unprofitable.Some customers might carry a loss. If you have customers that are unprofitable, you need to work out why:

(a) Usually it's a result of charging too low a price "just to make ends meet" in the early days. As I've said before, pricing low is the most catastrophic error small businesses can make.

(b) Sometimes it's because you've taken on customers that are outside your niche or just a bad match for your business or your core skills.

(c) For the big business, the reason many customers end up unprofitable is because sales people are more interested in revenue-based commission than truly profitable customers. That shouldn't be a problem for anyone on this list.

(d) Lastly, perhaps you've used samples, money-back trials,"all you can eat" promotions, or loss-leader products, and have ended up with some customers who cost you more than they spend.

As with sacking unreasonable customers, you face a twin danger if you choose to give your unprofitable customers the heave-ho.

First, and this applies particularly to customers recruited by method (d) above, you may cut off the very hand that delivered your most profitable customers.

For sure, your local curry house may have the odd customer who eats his or her bodyweight in chicken tikka masala on "all you can eat" night. But if you water down the offer with caveats, don't you also lose half of your profitable customers? The cost of your freeloaders is simply a marketing investment that helps you acquire profitable customers.

And second, it's hard to look at the past and say with much certainty which of your customers will be good and bad customers in the future.

If you sack an unprofitable customer, you also burn the investment you made in acquiring that customer, and in the relationship you have with that customer. Even though you may be making a loss on the customer right now, you still have a loyal customer on your books. And in many cases that loyalty can be turned into profitability in the future.

Five ideas for pubs

The BARventure Top 5 Basics - these are aimed at pubs but a lot of these ideas could work for YOUR business too!

Rule 1: The Customer Really Is Always Right.Ok!
I know this isn't really the case. They want the one product you don't sell. The dessert you took off the menu months ago. They haven't booked and want their 'usual table'. Obviously there are many situations where the customer is absolutely, 100%, utterly wrong. However, there is absolutely, 100% utterly no point in telling them so.

You are never going to find a customer who turns around and says "Oh thanks for pointing out how wrong I was. I shall never do that again". In fact all that will happen is that they shall leave and go and find someone who does sell what they want, has the dessert they loved or always manages to find them that 'special' table.

Without customers you have no business - just a shell - so get into the mindset of thinking that they're always right. It's amazing what solutions you can think of if you really want someone's business.

Rule 2: Consistency is Key
Lucky streaks are great; they can provide big windfalls and give you a real buzz. But ask any poker player and they will tell you that they would rather play consistently good odds each hand than land the odd royal flush. This is why the same players keep appearing at the final table of the world series. Not because they are luckier than everyone else but because they play consistently good poker. Looking at the odds, making good judgment calls and then occasionally getting that whopping hand.

So open your doors, provide great service all the time, deliver what you promise and what you advertise. Build up your reputation. The worst thing you can do is lose consistency. You'll end up giving a lovely couple the best time in the world and then they'll re-book and bring their friends and if you don't provide the service you had previously they'll feel embarrassed and let down. All of a sudden you've lost double the customers you made happy. Gain two - lose four, this is non-profitable mathematics! Be consistent. Always.

Rule 3: You get what you pay for. As a customer and as an employer.
Whether you have one person working for you or 50 give them the maximum remuneration you can not the minimum amount you think you can get away with. I can't praise enough the benefits of top quality waiter or waitress that costs you £7 per hour over the student working filling up their time on minimum wage. The return you'll get in upsales, repeat business and simple peace of mind will far out-weigh your additional costs. Its not only wages that count though, what else can you do for your staff? Days away? Employee of the Month awards that offer something more than a bottle of wine - is it really that expensive to pay for a weekend for two in Rome or Paris? Not really - if you shop around about £200.

Support you staff, treat them as well as you can and in return they will support you. They will tell their friends how great it is to work for you and recruitment will get easier. They will turn up for work on time. They will stay on when you need them to. They will feel involved in the business, taking ownership and giving the customer that 'WOW' factor service.Unless you're the only person in your business your staff are your representatives. Treat them like yourself.

Rule 4: Life is Unfair
Yes.Its official. Life is unfair. If it was then Elvis would still be alive and all the impersonators would be dead (I know...I know not my line! I don't know who said it actually so if you do please drop me a line...if it was you - please don't sue!) Not only is life unfair but there is also nothing you can do about it. Sometimes things are going to go wrong and it won’t be anyone's fault, or at least they won't have purposefully made the mistake. You could stamp you're feet, have a fit and throw your toys out of your pram. But life will still be unfair, you will still have the problem and you just be a little bit more stressed. As hard as it is, take a breath, learn from the situation and move in.

This is the second time I've had to write this page because I accidentally deleted it the first time over. I could have got really upset, angry that I had lost all my writing but would it have helped me? Not really. Instead I made a cup of tea sat back down and started re-writing. And you know what, this version is better. I've got a funny little anecdote to add to this rule, this page is better than it was the first time over.

Life isn't fair, but if you're calm and relaxed you'll often find you can turn mistakes and disasters into benefits and profit.

Rule 5: Stop, Look and Listen
Not only a rule that will keep you alive when crossing the road but also a rule that will keep your business alive with fresh ideas. Take a moment to stop taking. Shhh. Listen to that. The world you're in is full of great ideas bumping around in peoples heads. Or in the bar you're sat in, the cinema, the casino, the coffee shop, the supermarket. In fact everywhere you go. On holiday, at your friends house, at a motorway road stop. No matter where you go you'll find ideas that you can use or sparks of ideas that lead to your next big thing.

Listen to your customers and they will tell you what they want Listen closely and they'll even tell you what would make them spend more money. Ask your staff, their ideas might not have the business acumen you're looking for but I bet they give you something to work with. Use the people and places around you and keep your mind open to new ideas



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