This Blog Has Moved!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while or have just stumbled on my sporadic flashes of brilliance, you’ll want to Click Here to visit the new site. You’ll still get the same, no nonsense, behind the scenes marketing advice but it will be much easier to read and packed with more value.

Going to blogs is so 2004!

The best way to keep up with my steady stream of enlightened content is to subscribe to the new blog. That way, every time I whip up some deep thoughts on how you can grow your business, it will come straight to your in-box – no questions asked!

I won’t be updating this blog any more. So you’ll want to visit www.claritymarketingsupport.com and subscribe. Right now. Go on. It’s free. No, not after lunch – do it now.  Pretty please?

Adoption Rocks! A Musical Celebration

To celebrate International Adoption Month, The Long Center for the Performing Arts has scheduled a benefit concert and celebration called Adoption Rocks! It’s a benefit for The Gladney Center, a Texas organization that’s been providing adoption services for over 100 years.

This event was inspired by an Austin family’s adoption of their Ethiopian daughter last year. The family’s friends hosted a small live concert last November to raise money for the Ethiopian orphanage. It was such a great event, the organizers decided to do it again this year, only larger, and benefiting the Gladney Center, which is a licensed, not-for-profit agency that has been creating bright futures through adoption since 1889, and has become a global leader in providing adoption services.

 

If you haven’t seen it yet, this YouTube makes a great case for supporting the event.

COME JOIN US! Here’s how…

The event is November 13th at 7:30pm or 9:30pm, featuring Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, John Pointer and the Sangra del Sol Dance Troupe.

Tickets are $100 apiece, $50 of which is tax-deductible. There’s also a silent auction and a cash bar.

Seating is limited. To buy tickets, click on the desired show time link below and enter the promotional code “ADOPTIONROCKS” (all caps)
7:30 pm link = http://budurl.com/adopt1
9:30 pm link = http://budurl.com/adopt2

The organizers are doing all the promotion for this event through word-of-mouth and social media to save on overhead. Please feel free to borrow anything in this post and spread it throughout your social networks.

The Facebook Fan Page is http://budurl.com/adoptfb

What Trick or Treating Can Teach You About Sales

by: Amy Hardin – AcSELLerate

YOU HAVE TO YELL “TRICK OR TREAT”!
I don’t know about you, but if a kid shows up at my house and just stands there, they don’t get any candy. Every kid who comes to my house has to say “Trick or Treat” before they get their chance at the goodies!

AcSELLerate Sales Tip: If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Sales people who are timid or slow about closing, don’t walk away with the goodies!

A GOOD COSTUME GETS EXTRA CANDY.
Who do you reward with extra candy? The kid who worked hard on his costume, donned a wig and even put on make-up or the kid who showed up wearing a black trash bag carrying an empty pillow case?

AcSELLerate Sales Tip: Sales people who go to the extra effort of preparing for the sales call (researching the company and/or the industry, setting an agenda and preparing some relevant questions) are always rewarded over their competitors who decide to “wing it”. Don’t show up for your sales call with an empty pillow case!

DON’T GO TO DARK HOUSES WITHOUT DECORATIONS.
Ok, this one is easy. Every kid knows that the houses with the lights off and no decorations are Halloween Scrooges. No candy there, move on. Chances are 100% better at the cool houses with jack-o-lanterns, lights, and freaky music. Things get even better if the owner answers the door in a costume!

AcSELLerate Sales Tip: Why is it so easy for kids to quickly identify their “Ideal Client” and yet so hard for sales professionals to figure it out? How often do we find ourselves knocking on the door of someone who will never be qualified to be our client? If you haven’t spent the time or the money to identify your “Target Market”, no wonder you aren’t getting very much candy! Quit knocking on the wrong doors and move on! Call on some prospects who will show up in their costume (their “I need what you sell” costume) and start enjoying the sweet life.

YOU HAVE TO RUN FAST TO GET THE GOOD CANDY!
Every kid past the toddler stage has figured this one out. Word spreads quickly about the houses with the good candy. You’ve got to get there early if you want the best stuff.

AcSELLerate Sales Tip: If you snooze you lose. Selling requires that you are well-connected in your industry and can quickly identify an excellent prospect. There is more competition than ever before, and those who aren’t up for a serious pursuit of the prospect should just stay home.

IF YOU CAN GROW A BEARD, YOU SHOULDN’T TRICK OR TREAT.

We’ve all seen this guy—eighteen, obnoxious and completely out of touch with the realities of his situation. He may try to fake you out with a cute cowboy costume, but we all know he isn’t the real deal.

AcSELLerate Sales Tip: If you haven’t updated your sales approach or tactics in the last 10 years, you may be dating yourself. Worse, you are probably losing business. The time-worn techniques of bonding by asking personal questions and presenting features and benefits are out of touch with today’s businesses. Businesses today value high-level problem solving and The New ABCS of Selling: Authentic Business Conversations ™.

High Growth Firms Spend Limited Budgets Differently From Lower Growth Peers

Just read a study that shows that high growth firms in professional services categories invested in marketing activities very differently from their lagging peers. Here’s how it breaks down:

High Growth Firms put more emphasis on:

• Building awareness through advertising and PR
• Lead generation through channels such as direct mail, cold calls, trade shows and newsletters
• Web site upgrades
• Outside marketing experts and consultants
• Training and using non-marketing staff to generate business.

Low Growth Firms were more likely to:

• Have no formal marketing plan
• Revise their strategy, structure or budget
• Focus on thought leadership activities such as publishing and workshops

The 2008 study by Hinge  broke down companies by size and industry. The above trends were across the board.

Interesting.

My Dad

For my regular readers, this post may be a bit unusual. But, for me, it is right on topic since much of what I know about business and what I share here originated from my dad. Allow me to indulge you with the tale of the Air Force vet, turned pilot, turned rodeo rider, turned computer whiz, turned electronics manufacturer, turned cabinet maker.

My name is derived from my dad – he’s Peter R., I’m Peter J. For most of my life, he’s been self-employed. My first jobs were working for his companies. Some were successful, some were not. For me, it was just a job to put gas in my car and hang out with my teenage delinquent friends (at the time). What I didn’t realize was that my father was the best teacher I’ve ever had. He may not even know this and his teaching was never in words. In fact, my dad is the master of the three word sentence. Unless you count grunts.

He taught me by example. By how he lived his life (for better or worse) and how he ran his companies. You see, Peter R. Monfre always operated at the highest levels of ethics. Whether he was operating the Greater Milwaukee Flying Club (12 airplanes!), working for Control Data, building high end custom cabinets or roping calves in the rodeo, he put his customers and employees first – often to his own detriment. He did the right thing always.

I don’t know how he did these things. He didn’t go to college. Yet he is an accomplished pilot (thousands of hours – even full instrument ratings), provided quality control for early computers (punch cards, anyone?) and even manufactured the first subcutaneous chip implants (long story). I’m not even going to try to explain the calf roping. I suspect he has a photographic memory. I know he worked his ass off.

Looking back over the years, there is a reason I’m where I am today. And that reason is probably hauling bales of hay to feed his horses in 4 feet of snow right now. I, too, have chosen the road less followed. I’ve been self employed my entire adult life. I see the world as a place of endless possibilities where anything is possible. I may have chosen college but the lessons I learned at Monfre Cabinets have been more valuable to me than any lecture I was forced to attend.

My dad still lives in Casper, Wyoming in a house he built at the base of 5K foot Casper Mountain (the third house he build for his family). He’s back to making the best custom cabinets you’ve ever seen for an exclusive clientele that doesn’t even ask “how much?”.  They know that Peter R. Monfre will deliver on the level of a true master craftsman and anything less will never see the light of day.

He still has horses (somehow he’s managed to train two wild horses) and he still raises and trains German Shepherd dogs. He still watches Fox News and wears a very large western belt buckle. He still punctuates his sentences with grunts and he looks like his father, Joseph Monfre whom I suspect taught him unknowingly. He still drives my mom crazy.

And he’s still teaching me. We talk on the phone once a week or so (he gets bored with phone conversations quickly) and I still call him to unravel the mysteries of why I can’t install a pre-hung door to save my life. But his values and work ethic permeate my life to this day and I hope that I can be as amazing as my dad and teach my son that integrity is the true measure of success.