"Nichefy or Die" Your 10 Steps to Joining the Top 5%

Are you cutting your prices when you could be doing this instead?  And making a whole lot more money…

You may have noticed this.

You’re losing out to competitors who are cutting their prices to get work.

And your clients appear to not value your high quality products/services…at least not enough to pay the prices you feel you deserve.

What’s going on?

Well as Jim Collins of “Good to Great” fame said,

“Good is the enemy of great.”

And I’d add that if you are great but no one knows about it, you might as well just be good.

And if you’re just good, you’ll become a commodity just like everyone else.

And you’ll soon be out of business (or wish you were).

So what do you need to do?

Don’t be a commodity

You need to get crystal clear as to what you do, or could do, to become better than everyone else in the world in your niche.

That’s the “Hedgehog” concept in the book “Good to Great.”

And since it is really difficult to be the best in the world in a very large market,

You must: Nichefy or Die.

Here’s a scary fact.

Jaynie Smith, author of “Creating Competitive Advantage” reports that 95 percent of all companies don’t even know their competitive advantages, much less how to communicate a compelling reason to choose their product or service.

And it is also a very exciting one…for those like you who see the opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors and take the pole position in their market.


So here’s your challenge.

By the time you’re done with this exercise you need to be able to clearly answer your client’s question,


“Why should I choose to do business with you??"

Here are 10 questions to move you in the right direction.

1. What are you most proud of?
2. What do your numbers say?
1. Best services
2. Best clients
3. Best markets
4. Revenues, margins, ease to work with
3. What does your competition tell you?
1. Who are your top competitors?
2. What do they do better than you?
3. What do you do better than them?
4. Why do your clients choose them over you?
5. Why do they choose you over them?
4. What do your clients say?
1. Read your testimonials
2. What are your clients’ biggest pains?  How do you solve them?  How could you solve them?
5. What are the unique features and benefits of your products/services?
1. Performance
2. Construction
3. Process
6. What do those unique features and benefits bring to your clients?
1. Results
2. Advantages
3. Benefits
4. Protections
5. Enhancements
6. Prestige
7. Quantify those benefits.
8. What should you stop doing?
9. What are you not offering that you should be?
10. What areas of your marketing and sales process can you use your newfound advantages to blow away the competition?

Did these questions jump start your creative juices?

Will you choose to join the top 5% of companies who take their business' reins and lead the pack instead of follow your competitors off a cliff?

Nichefy or Die

What Can Today’s Masters Golf Opening Round Teach You About Persistence and Perseverance?

Wow!

Fred Couples with the outright lead.

Tom Watson and Phil Mickelson one shot back.

And Tiger one behind them.

Could you ask for a more exciting opening round to a Masters Golf Tournament?

So many story lines…so little time.

Fred Couples – lighting up the Champions Tour with three wins…carrying it out to the Masters with his best round ever (great for us Washingtonians).

Tom Watson – after his great British Open runner-up finish, showing that wasn’t a fluke.

Phil Mickelson – showing he’s back on form after off-the-course challenges that made focusing on golf difficult the past few years.

And Tiger Woods – after a complete meltdown over the last several months, comes back to have his best opening round at the Masters ever and very much in contention.

That is one of the great things about sport.

No matter what is swirling around in the background.

The drama of the game takes over once the first ball is put in play.

Your life and your business are no different.

Business and life is no different.

We all have issues.  Whether it’s family challenges or character weakness or advancing age.

You still must get up every day.  Do what is required.  And hopefully achieve as much of your God-given potential as you can.

Everyone wins.

And ultimately we all benefit when you suck it up and forge ahead.

You build character.

And we benefit as a society.

Applaud excellence.

One thing I absolutely admire is people giving their all and achieving great results…day in and day out.

Whether it is top golfers at The Masters.

Or me or you.

People persevering and persisting against the odds is what makes America great.

And is what makes watching The Masters enjoyable too.

Your challenge.

When you get up tomorrow.

Remember this challenge.

You can compete with the best.  You can make a difference.

Go out and make your contribution count.

Life Is Short...Are You Being True To Yourself?

Many times we get to points in our life where things pop up out of nowhere.

They knock us back.

They make us re-examine our life and what we're about.

It is those times...

Those crossroads, those choices...

That define who you are and what you're about.

What do you do when crises hit you?

Do you let it derail you?

Do you let it bury you?

Or do you get mad, fight back, and use it to create new meaning in your life?

Whether in your personal life or business life,

the challenges always come.

Your challenges define you.

Don't let them take you over.

Use them.

Bend them to your will.

Become stronger.

Be true to yourself.

Check out this song that brings it home...

Audioslave - Be Yourself

Proceed Like Pelosi

As many of you know I'm very much a conservative at heart, not necessarily a Republican though.

As I've watched the recent healthcare bill progress through the house, senate, and back to the house again, the one thing I've been impressed about...and sometimes a little scared too...is...

Nancy Pelosi

From a conservative's perspective she is what Bush was to liberals...the embodiment of the enemy.

But that's not the whole story.

One thing I am very impressed with.

That we all can learn from is...

Never say die.

She does not give up and keeps working and working until she achieves success.

Many may not agree with her tactics.

But I think everyone can agree she is EFFECTIVE at realizing her goals.

As you're thinking about your next job task.

Or a family problem.

Or a personal issue.

Remember to Proceed Like Pelosi...

Just keep moving forward until you reach your goal.

Nothing is impossible...

Just ask the Republicans who are licking their wounds...

Hopefully they'll learn this lesson too.

RealCom 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

Tonight I attended RealCom's 10 year anniversary party.

All I can say is I'm humbled by what has been created by great people following an exciting, compelling vision.

Eight years ago when I joined RealCom I never imagined we'd go from:

• seven people
• one office
• one client
• a couple projects

to:

• over 100 employees and 50+ independent contractors
• five offices in three states
• working for all the major wireless carriers
• over 40 active projects

I am truly blessed to be able to do something I love, with a great group of people, in an industry (wireless) that truly improves people's lives.

I look forward to the next decade.

Thank you all!

Mike

What “Rock Band” Can Teach You About People That Will Improve Your Marketing and Business Results

And I thought I was just going to play guitar on Rock Band to unwind at the end of a hard day.

Little did I know what Rock Band would teach me about business…

It’s deceptive…and addictive.

You start out playing the easy mode and can barely survive.

Then you start to get the hang of it and move up to the medium level.

Then the addiction kicks in and you’re getting 90%+ on the hard levels and checking out the expert level.

You let the kids play the drums…but you don’t connect the drum controller so the kids won’t ruin your high scores.

You want more.

You get through the series of songs…and want more.

So you buy another song CD.

Then you download from “Live” through the internet connection (they make it easy to feed your habit).

You now want to have the full band experience so you buy the stage effects and turn your house into a rock amphitheater.

So how did this start???

It doesn’t really matter at this point, does it?

I gotta give these guys some credit though.

They’re marketing geniuses.

How?

Let’s list the ways…

1)      COOL: The Rock Band guitar looks like a real Fender Stratocaster – you look cool right off the bat.

2)      INTERACTIVE: You can play with others – either in the same room or online – so it’s a social thing.

3)      INVITING: Each person can choose an instrument and a level of play – so you can play with different levels of experience at the same time.

4)      COMPETITIVE: You can challenge another person – competition is cool!

5)      INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT: You can unlock more songs and venues as you get better – so there’s a reward for continuing to play.

6)      COMMON ENEMY: You can download unlock codes to cheat the system and get all the songs…but that also means you end up buying more songs sooner – pretty sneaky, huh!

7)      VARIETY: You play some awesome rock songs of many different genres – variety is the spice of life, right?

8)      FANTASY/COMMITMENT: Your avatar can upgrade his wardrobe thorough his performances …the better he does, the more swag he gets.

9)      EVOLVE: You get to upgrade your transportation, support staff, etc. as you progress – hey, you want to go out in style, right?

10)   FEEDBACK: If you play well the crowd shows its love by cheering and singing along – always love the positive feedback.

11)   RISK/NO RISK: If you suck they throw you off stage and you have to start over…but there is a “no fail” option so you can still play with your pathetic friends and not get too upset.

12)   FANTASY/ESCAPE: The sound quality is excellent so you can crank up the music and really feel like a rock star!

The end result is you get to experience the fun of being a rock star, without the years of hard practice, blood, sweat and tears…it’s a fantasy life, a great escape, and a fun way to end the day.

So how can you generate the same level of commitment?

What could you do in your business to make it so your employees and customers were as committed and excited as you get playing Rock Band?

Give ‘em an escape!

People like fun and fantasy – if you can give it to them, whether it’s a noble cause, an inspirational work environment, friendly competition or recognition - you’ll get more committed employees and clients and enjoy your business a whole lot more.

Brainstorm away!