MONEY- MAKING MONTHLY THE Monthly Magazine For Sharp Entrepreneurs
PERCEPTIONS CREATE CONCLUSIONS By Sydney
Volume III Number 4 | April 2015 | $97
How Paying for Postage Made me a Better Marketer By Brian Kurtz
Barrows
DÕV BARON
AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP
ABOUT STEVE | APRIL 2015
About the Publisher, Steve Sipress
If you want to grow your business slowly – or just maintain it as is, you’ll have to do that all on your own. But if you want dramatic growth in your income and lifestyle, then Steve’s out-of-the-box and time-tested strategies and tactics could be the keys to your dreams. You can benefit from Steve’s coaching experience and expertise to revolutionize your business – yes, even in this challenging economy – at one of the many in-person entrepreneur events he hosts, OR from the comfort of your own home anywhere in the world. You can also learn basic and advanced direct response marketing strategies and tactics from 150+ hours of video instruction, plus use any or all of Steve’s multi-million-dollar, proven “done-for-you” marketing materials at SSSMarketingUniversity.com. That website has been called The Single Most Powerful Client Attraction Program Available Anywhere, and you could be using it to skyrocket your income anytime you want, 24/7, along with hundreds of other sharp, successful business leaders. If you’re just starting up your new business, you’ll want to take advantage of all of Steve’s training, guidance and resources at NewBusinessAcademy. org. Steve is a successful and award-winning serial entrepreneur, who has created and built nearly a dozen successful companies of his own, and he can help you do the same – more quickly and easily than you’ve ever imagined. In fact, you can immediately use plenty of his simple and powerful strategies and tactics that work especially well in this current frustrating economy. You can discover the basics of Steve’s powerful “The WOW! Strategy™: How To Solve All Of Your Marketing Problems” by watching a short video at www.SteveSipress.com. Steve is a celebrated author, speaker and business coach who has established profitable businesses and helped thousands of ambitious and aggressive business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and sales professionals all around the world. He has written numerous newsletters and articles on sales and marketing for a wide range of publications and has appeared on radio and television, helping millions of people along the way. For over five years, Steve was the #1 “Dan Kennedy Certified No B.S. Business Advisor,” and was Runner-Up out of 25,000 members for 2010 GKIC Marketer Of The Year. If you want the very best, hard-hitting, no-nonsense, caring advice and help you can get, then “Straight-Talk Steve” could be exactly what you and your business need most. Whether you’re a current or future business superstar, Steve can help you get exactly where you want to go as quickly, easily and powerfully as YOU want – with massive results both short-term and long-term.
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www.SteveSipress.com www.SSSMarketingUniversity.com
www.NewBusinessAcademy.org
www.Facebook .com/SmallBizHelp
www.Twitter.com/SteveSipress
“An Incredible Experience!” "When we first started, I was terribly in debt and we were just a few months away from bankruptcy. We started seeing a boost right away in our business, we took what Steve's given me and we just started implementing and implementing, and it's just totally transformed my business. Steve has helped me with my laser focus, he helps me implement, he's taken my business to a whole new level. We went from a half a million dollars to a million dollars in two years. It's just an incredible experience to know that where you think you're just dead and things are horrible, to now anything is possible. I can see taking this to a whole new three or four types of businesses -- it's going to be huge. Steve is all business, he is an unbelievably smart, brilliant man. I can't say enough about him. Everything he's told me, I've made so much money it doesn't matter what it costs. They don't make enough money in this world that somebody could pay me so I would stop listening to Steve. Steve is the exact reason why I have a retirement fund now. It's probably illegal how much fun I'm having!"
Jon Bockman
Owner, Bockman's Auto Care Sycamore, Illinois
HOW PAYING FOR POSTAGE MADE ME A BETTER MARKETER | APRIL 2015
HOW PAYING FOR POSTAGE
MADE ME A BETTER MARKETER By Brian Kurtz I have a confession. I’m a direct mail guy. I’ve been responsible for over a billion pieces of mail. And when I say “mail,” I mean those paper things that come to your physical mailbox. (Good thing I didn’t have to lick the stamps.)
(A control package is the best-performing marketing piece you have so far. It’s the reigning champion, which means that it has to keep defending its title against punky up-and-comers. Direct mail marketers are always testing new approaches against that control to find the new winner.)
I’ve learned a ton from the online marketers I’ve been hanging around with the last few years. Your expertise in harnessing technology amazes me, and the speed with which you execute astounds me.
In fact, with the cost of postage and printing, the sale had to come quickly. To use Gary Vaynerchuk’s language: in direct mail, it’s harder to “jab” and you have to go for the “right hook” faster.
But as we all know — especially in the Copyblogger community — good great copy and creative raises all boats.
In other words, you don’t get much chance to build audience rapport with content alone, and you need to ask for the sale sooner rather than later.
And anyone who claims to be “crushing it” online could, well, “crush it even more” if they paid as much attention to their copy as they do to the technology.
But wise online marketers have an opportunity that should be used and not abused, given that it’s unlikely you’ll have to pay postage anytime soon …
I have told the (almost true) story of my “childhood” in direct mail many times:
Waste still sucks
“I walked 12 miles, uphill and barefoot, to work every day as one of the largest users of direct mail in the country early in my career … AND I paid postage!”
Direct mail means discipline
The fact that you don’t pay for postage to send your marketing messages is not a license to beat your list into submission until they buy.
What do I mean when I use the word discipline?
And discipline isn’t just something for guys like me who pay postage. It benefits every marketer, no matter what tools you use.
It means that everything I sent through the United States Postal Service had to be thought through in a way so nothing was wasted. Every test had to mean something. Every test needed to light the path to a potential breakthrough (and a new control package).
In the spirit of trying to take the discipline of direct mail into email and content, here are nine things that every marketer should consider before sending a billion pieces of mail … or before any marketer “hits send” to any number less than a billion. Volume III Number 4 | Pg 1
HOW PAYING FOR POSTAGE MADE ME A BETTER MARKETER | APRIL 2015
#1: Use content strategically Everything you send doesn’t have to sell something, but everything you send must achieve something. Familiarize yourself with what different types of strategic content look like, and how they fit together.
#2: Deploy the ninjas Hire or network with some heavy hitters who understand direct response and copy. (You can find smart people like this in the Authority forums.) Get them signed up for all of your messaging. Listen carefully to what they tell you about how your copy looks when it gets where it’s going — and where you should be tweaking.
#3: Learn what you can’t know You also want to find some “secret shoppers” who represent your ideal audience. These aren’t experts in direct response and advanced copy … they’re the type of people who can potentially be your best prospects, students, and customers. Side note: There are actually world class copywriters who use this technique and pay a panel of “people like their customer” to read their copy, so they can get opinions and reactions well before they send the copy to their client. The content gets tested two steps removed from when their client hits “send.” (Whether that’s to a direct mail campaign, e-mail promotion, or other.)
#4: Sweat the details Take the time and effort to agonize over every word in your copy. And always ask, “Who is the audience this will most appeal to?” Conversely, think about who your copy could possibly alienate. If your copy does have the potential to alienate, consider if those people are a good fit to become your customer. It’s okay to scare off the peanut gallery who will never buy from you anyway.
#5: Look at your message in terms of consequential thinking I learned the term consequential thinking from my mentor, Marty Edelston It means putting yourself in the prospect’s shoes and seeing how you react to the elements of the copy. Does it take you through a process that makes sense? In direct mail, this is a science in terms of how the mailing piece is received — the placement of the address, and the order the recipient sees the pieces in the envelope. Online, of course, you have many more choices to guide your prospect through the story. Navigation and site design play an important role here, and you’ll want to think through how your audience goes through your landing pages. Consequential thinking means taking a careful look at how you’re guiding your prospect through your marketing story.
#6: What’s the logic line? This is another one I learned from Marty. Is there a “logic line” that you believe? Does each part of the story follow from what comes before it? Is it logical (and believable)? The purpose of each sentence is to make sure you can move the reader to the next sentence. You need a logic line for each marketing message you send, but you also need a logic line for your business. Is this message congruent with your marketing message overall? Will it resonate with what you’ve sent in the past? Does it contradict earlier messages? If so, you need to decide if you truly want to move in a new direction, or if you want to rein this piece in to better fit your business’ overarching message.
#7: Do you care? No matter how hard hitting the copy might be, is there empathy? And is there some element of care and concern for your ultimate target?
No matter how much you believe your product, service, or message is a “need to have,” always assume you are only “nice to have.” Pg 2 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
HOW PAYING FOR POSTAGE MADE ME A BETTER MARKETER | APRIL 2015
Does the message communicate respect and care for your audience, or is it short on G.A.S.?
#8: Give them a reason to care Audiences — for direct mail or for online content — are basically selfish. It’s not their job to care about your business or what you do. To that end, write assuming that nobody cares what you have to say … and give them a reason to care. No matter how much you believe your product, service, or message is a “need to have,” always assume you are only “nice to have.” Your job is convincing your audience to go from “nice” to “need.”
About Brian Kurtz
You don’t need to be obsessed with correct grammar or perfect punctuation. Enjoyable content and copy usually use informal language.
Brian Kurtz helped build Boardroom, Inc. to over a $100 million company. Brian has overseen the mailing of approximately 1.3 billion pieces of third class mail over the past 20 years. He has been able to market and sell newsletters and books via direct response television (infomercials) and using e-mail and the Internet in huge numbers.
But when you do violate the rules and standards of the English language, know what you are violating. It needs to be in line with your audience and how they speak and write. Using their language always trumps “perfect” grammar and usage.
At the height of his infomercial success, he was responsible for buying media in excess of $80 million, and sold over 3 million books via direct response television over a three-year period.
The stakes are high for you, too
And since he’s never met a medium he didn’t like, he’s learned the ins and outs of every possible medium where direct marketing lives and thrives.
#9: Understand the basic rules of English (Or, of course, the language of your chosen audience.)
Okay, maybe you don’t have to pay for physical postage. But you have an audience whose opinion and respect you depend on. That puts your reputation and authority at stake. That’s why there’s so much to learn from the direct response principles of the past. The discipline of my field can be applied to everything happening in marketing and creative today. Because of the amazing accountability and measurement tools available on the web, I believe it’s all direct marketing now. We’re not “online marketers” or “direct mail marketers” — we’re just marketers. How can “paying for postage” make your marketing better?
Your job is convincing your audience to go from “nice” to “need.”
Brian is proud to have cut his teeth in the offline world of direct marketing, and finds that the principles he’s followed over the past 30+ years all apply to any and all “new media.” He is committed to educating any and all online marketers who will listen, and is also committed to “learning while teaching” - because there is still so much to learn. Brian recently discussed some very important concepts about how best to treat your customers/prospects/ friends/followers with another top direct response marketer, Joe Polish. Watch this powerful video titled “Everyone Is Going Right… Time To Go Left!” by going to: www.BrianKurtz.me/steve
Volume III Number 4 | Pg 3
EXPERT INTERVIEW: INTERVIEW WITH DÕV BARON DAVID T.| FAGAN APRIL 2015 | APRIL 2015
EXPERT INTERVIEW
DÕV BARON AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP Steve Sipress: So Dõv, you’re considered the leading authority on “Authentic Leadership.” Can you tell my listeners how you see this “Authentic Leadership” – what it means, and how it could apply to them? Dõv Baron: Yeah. Thanks for asking. “Authentic Leadership” is now becoming sort of a catch phrase. And when things become a catch phrase, inevitably they become diluted. I don’t really think that a lot of people really grasp what it means, so I think it’s a great question for you to ask because it’s important that we do get into the meat of what it is. “Authentic Leadership means” that… We’ve had a very old picture of leadership, and leadership has been the “command and control” – meaning the dictatorial style of leadership. “Authentic Leadership” is not command and control. In fact, it’s quite different than that, in what it is that it gives the power back to the people who you’re actually leading. In many ways, you lead from behind, you lead from side to side, rather than being out front. You’re out front as a representative, but as the “Authentic Leader,” you actually let people see you. That in itself is a big piece because again, if you grew up as I did as a Baby Boomer, part of the conditioning of a leader was that you are separate from. You’re on that pedestal, and you dare not let anybody see you sweat, let alone shed a tear. You’ve got to have this mask on all the time. “Authentic Leadership” is actually very different than that, in that an “Authentic Leader” understands something that is so contradictory to what we’ve been trained in. What that means
is this: We’ve been trained that vulnerability is a weakness. And in truth, particularly in dealing with today’s workforce, to be an “Authentic Leader” you must embrace vulnerability. I can hear the listeners who are Baby Boomers and even Gen X’s having a small bowel movement right now, and having to change into the Depends. But the truth is that the power of leadership is vulnerability, and an “Authentic Leader” gets that, understands that. Steve: I love what you’re saying, because I had a mentor long ago who taught me that originally. And I have this pushback, which you just mentioned, from clients all the time, and members and people that ask me. They’re afraid to be authentic. I’ve always found it’s best to be open, and invite people in, but I find people have a lot of difficulty doing that. Can you give people an idea of maybe just a first baby step they can take if they’re afraid of putting themselves out there? Dõv: Yeah. That’s a great question, because you’re right. People are afraid of putting themselves out there. I would put it forward to you this way: If you’re afraid of that, I understand that, but let me ask you a question. This is a question I ask in the boardroom. I’m working with a leadership team. As an example, a leadership team I’m working with right now who run a lot of money, a billion dollar’s worth of business that they run through there. Here’s the question: I sit with them, and I say, “Okay, I’m going to ask you to do this as we go along. Take out a piece of paper. I want you to write the name of the person who is your best
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AUTHENTIC THE ICON LEADERSHIP BUILDER | APRIL 2015
friend on there. You can do this right now, and you can come back to it. But I want you to write in bullet points why they are your best friend. Don’t write long stories – just bullet points: because of this, because of this, because of this. When you’ve done that and you’ve gotten that list complete, I want you to think of somebody else who’s an acquaintance. Somebody you know – they’re not friends, but you know them. They may refer to you as a friend, but it’s a casual thing – they’re actually an acquaintance. Write underneath their name bullet points of why they’re an acquaintance, as opposed to being a friend. When you’ve got those two lists, look at what the difference is.” By the way, I’ve done this hundreds of times, and the answer is always the same: The difference between an acquaintance and a friend is vulnerability. The friend, somebody who’s your best friend, they know s*** about you. They know your s***, and you know their s***. You’ve uncovered that. You’ve pulled away the mask. You’ve revealed yourself. And as a result, you trust them and they trust you. To be a leader who has people who are fiercely loyal to that leader, they can’t be fiercely loyal to you unless they can trust you. And they can’t trust you unless you’re willing to open up and be vulnerable. So grasp that as you’re afraid to be vulnerable, understanding that that is where the strength is. That’s what will make people deeply, fiercely loyal to you. Steve: I love that you say that. I have a saying that if anyone’s going to find out anything bad about me, they’re going to find it out from me. Dõv: I agree with that fully. I always said, “If I’m interviewed by Barbara Walters, she’s never going to be able to say anything that I didn’t already put out in the world.” Steve: Right. It’s when these celebrities or athletes or whatever are caught off guard with the whatever, and I’m like, “Yeah, that’s not going to be me.” I have so many flaws and so many skeletons in the closet and whatever. But you know what? I’m going to come right out and I’m saying them all. So if you don’t like me, good. That saves a lot of time of us wasting time trying to get to know each other, or you figuring out whether you can know me, like me or trust me. It weeds people out right away. Dõv: You see, you’ve made the point so well there, Steve. That’s important. You see, the mistake that people make is that they want everybody to like them. That is such a destructive process. Your job is not to get people to like you. Your job is to get people off the fence. Have them like you or dislike
you – that’s fine either way. Get them off the fence. If they’re on the fence, there is no value. They don’t trust you if they’re on the fence. Get them off the fence. Because I spoke for your group, I know in that group there were people who were like, “Ugh, I don’t like this guy.” Fine. There were people who loved what I had to say because it touched them, it hit home, it was to the heart. I understand that I’m not for everybody, and that’s what all of us leaders have got to get. You’re not for everybody. There’s not a fit for everybody. As an “Authentic Leader,” that’s your point. You’re being authentic – rather than being some kind of bloody chameleon who’s going to change in turn in order to try and gather business. You’ll get business, but it won’t last. So we’re not talking about just fierce loyalty to people who you employ, but we’re also talking about with your customers and your clients. You want them to be fiercely loyal, and they’re only going to be loyal to you if you are consistently who you are. Steve: You must have been with me back in my nine years of door-to-door sales days, where I was very quickly going around selling little $5 items. I was training people all the time, and I’m like, “No. You can’t stand there when they’re just asking you questions or hemming-and-hawing or looking at it or whatever.” I’m like, “Look. Do you want it or not?” I don’t care whether they say yes or no – just say it quickly. So they’re like, “How did you feel when you walked in the door and they said, “No soliciting. Get out?” I’m like, “I felt great. Get me out, so I can eventually… if I can go through the nine ‘No’s’ so quickly that I can get to the tenth person that’ll actually buy the thing from me, and that’s why I’m selling more than you.” Not because I’m being a great salesperson – it’s because I’m moving very quickly to get away from the “No’s.” The same thing in business. Doesn’t that apply to what you’re saying, that if you’re looking to be an “Authentic Leader,” aren’t leaders defined by how well they lead their followers? So what you’re looking for is to weed out as quick as you can to people that are not going to follow you? Dõv: Yeah, but there’s a distinction there, and you’ve brought up something very important – the difference between the traditional leader and an “Authentic Leader.” A traditional leader is looking to create followers. An “Authentic Leader” is not. An “Authentic Leader” is looking to create leaders. Now, I understand that some people have no desire to lead others. That’s fine, but we want our people to be able to lead
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EXPERT INTERVIEW: DÕV BARON | APRIL 2015
Here’s what’s fascinating: He took 12 weeks off last year, just to go and do his travel and do his things and hang out, and his business still grew by 25%. themselves, to be self-starting and do what needs to be done. So an “Authentic Leader” is constantly driving people to lead themselves and lead others, and learn how to discern and how to disseminate the work that needs to be done. So “Authentic Leaders” are not about the great glory – they’re very much about working towards a higher level or a higher purpose of what this organization or this project is about. Steve: I’m glad you said it, because I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I stuttered a little bit saying even the word “followers” because you said it so much better than me. That’s what I meant. I mean people that are going to follow and become leaders. I believe with you that the leader is judged by how many leaders… how well he develops other leaders. That’s the beauty. Otherwise you’re going to be one of these charismatic leaders like we see in business where once – I won’t name names – but once that guy’s gone from that company, the company’s going to go to nothing. Where the real good leader puts other people in place and systems in place, so that he could take a trip around the world for three years, and the company would still grow.
someone that really helps him do it. I know we’re at the end of this segment, and you have mentioned a couple of times now these larger companies. Of course, my listeners are small business owners, but I know you’re a master of taking principles and strategies and experiences from large companies, and explaining how that can help small business owners and smaller entrepreneurs in our own lives and our own business. That’s what I want to discuss in the next segment coming up. Dõv: Fabulous. I look forward to it. To listen to the full interview, go to: www.SteveSipress.com/magazine
Dõv: And again, that’s a great point. One of the companies that I work with is actually an accounting company of all things, and I’ve actually mentored – because I’m a mentor as you know – I’ve mentored the actual CEO of that company now for nine years we’ve worked together. And I’ve been working with his company for the last year. Here’s what’s fascinating: He took 12 weeks off last year, just to go and do his travel and do his things and hang out, and his business still grew by 25%. Now that’s an example of him working on his business, rather than in it, and that working on it was developing leaders inside the organization, so that he’s not needed. It was so interesting, because he took 12 weeks off. He came back in the early New Year, because he was away for Christmas. He came back, and the day he came back, he got sick. He went to work for four hours, and his staff sent him home. He was out for 10 days. He was really sick. When he came back – he wrote a whole post about this – when he came back, it took him only four hours to catch up, because people were so in place, he had developed them as leaders. They could function perfectly well without him. Steve: Boy, I’ll tell you. Lack of stress and peace of mind are two things that I know my listeners really look for, and that’s just a great story that says how it’s possible to do it. And you’re Pg 6 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
About Dõv Baron Dõv Baron is an Elite Mind Strategist, specializing in the Psychology of High Performance Leadership. He serves as a mentor and adviser to corporate, creative and personal leaders. His company, Authentic Paragon Alliance. is the only resource for training tomorrow’s leaders in the implementation of “Full Monty Leadership” and “Corporate Cultural Momentum.” • Over 1,000,000, downloads on his Full Monty Leadership Radio Show and Leadership & Loyalty Podcast for Fortune 500 Executives and HR personnel • Advisor and mentor to TOP CEO’s and leadership teams • Devoted to bringing vulnerability and true authenticity to the corporate world To get a copy of Dõv’s book and a free infographic about How To Bond Any Team Instantly, go to: www.FiercelyLoyalBook.com
*FACT: 95% of Small Business Owners work WAY
too hard, have WAY too much stress and make WAY too little money – then go out of business in their first five years.
Steve Sipress The WOW Strategy™ Creator
I help Small Business Owners who want A LOT more out of life systematically attract their ideal customers, clients or patients using The WOW! Strategy™, so they totally transform their income and lifestyle.
To request your personal, 1-on-1 The WOW! Strategy™ Session, go to:
Jon Bockman Sycamore, IL
“Steve is all business. He is an unbelievably smart, brilliant, brilliant man. I can't say enough about him. Steve has put probably more, I would say, thousands, and thousands, and thousands of dollars... I mean, I probably can't even put a true figure on it, because it keeps coming back, and keeps coming back, just more and more money all the time.”
“One suggestion that Steve gave me, well, without question, put $300,000 more in my bank account. And we are going to be using it forever. This is not a one-time deal. We’re going to be using this idea that Steve helped us with... and we’ll be using it until it doesn't keep working like it is. And so, the value over time could literally be way over even the $300,000 number.”
Mary Forte Bensenville, IL
Keith Lee Seattle, WA
“He's helped me learn how to market my business, and today I can say that we're more successful than we've ever been… I needed to learn how to market the business better to create more revenue, and that's what Steve has helped me with. The financial difference is considerable. We've probably close to doubled our revenues. We're on track now to do another close to $500,000 more than we did last year. So that's awesome. I do owe all of that to Steve.”
WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT MESSES WITH SMALL BUSINESS, EVERYONE LOSES | APRIL 2015
WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT MESSES WITH SMALL BUSINESS,
EVERYONE LOSES By Steve Sipress A friend and fellow champion of small business owners recently alerted me to an article titled, “More Seattle Restaurants Close Doors As $15 Minimum Wage Approaches.” It contained this quote from the www.ShiftWA.org website: Restaurant owners, expecting to operate on thinner margins, have tried to adapt in several ways including “higher menu prices, cheaper, lower-quality ingredients, reduced opening times, and cutting work hours and firing workers,” according to The Seattle Times and Seattle Eater magazine. As the Washington Policy Center points out, when these strategies are not enough, businesses close, “workers lose their jobs and the neighborhood loses a prized amenity.” This sad-but-totally-expected result brought to mind several radio interviews I was asked to do a few months ago around the time of the minimum wage hike vote, and an article that I wrote about it. Here is an excerpt from that article… There’s a big cry these days from non-business owners for the government to raise the minimum wage.
I’ve interviewed, hired and trained thousands of salespeople over the past 30+ years, and the kiss of death in any interview has always been when the job applicant asked me, “What does your average salesperson make?” I never was and never will be looking for someone interested in being “average” – I’m always on the lookout for superstars. And from what I see lately, millions of Americans are no longer even looking to be average – all the buzz is about the “minimum!” Can you imagine if someone ever walked into your office looking for a sales position and said, “Hey, I want to know one thing before I take this job: What’s the minimum amount of money that your worst salesperson makes, because that’s how much I demand to make?” No adult should be concerned with what the minimum wage is. We’ve all had minimum-wage jobs, but we’re supposed to grow out of them.
• The town of SeaTac, Washington recently voted to require that over 6,000 workers in and around the nation’s 15thbusiest airport be paid $15.00 per hour – more than double the national minimum wage.
As the late, great business philosopher Jim Rohn said: “Life is a ladder – not a bed.”
• Fast-food workers all across the country have been marching and protesting to try to get the government to increase the minimum wage.
That’s the attitude that made America great – but sadly it’s becoming increasingly rare.
• Wal-Mart has been the subject of much publicity about its “inhumane” treatment of its workers, including the low wages it pays its lowest-value workers. What has happened to our country, that people now aspire to the “minimum”?
The idea is not just to lay in one spot forever – it’s to move up.
It’s outrageous that millions of Americans aspire to work a crappy job for their whole adult lives, and then complain for the government to mandate that they get better pay instead of dedicating themselves to do whatever it takes to provide more value to society and therefore earn more money.
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WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT MESSES WITH SMALL BUSINESS, EVERYONE LOSES | APRIL 2015
increase the minimum wage, we WILL find a way around the problem of having to pay an artificially-higher wage for the lowest-level, least-value workers. Some of our solutions might include: • Raising prices • Charging additional fees • Providing fewer services • Making each current employee handle more tasks • Cutting staff • Using lower-quality ingredients • Using lower-quality equipment • Cutting corners in production • Providing smaller portions • Staying open for less hours • Some combination of one or more of the above • and more – basically, whatever it takes.
Remember the movies, “Rudy” or “Urban Cowboy” or “An Officer And A Gentleman”? They’re all about the fact that people HATE the very idea of having to work in factories and how they’ll do just about anything to escape the life of being a factory worker. I don’t recall anyone ever saying, “Those movies make no sense. Factory jobs are great!”
Some business owners may even decide to re-locate their business to somewhere that doesn’t require them to pay artificially-high wages, leaving that area without their business producing value for that community by providing goods and services, hiring employees, paying suppliers, paying utilities, taxes, etc. But make no mistake: Business owners will find a way around the problem of being forced to pay artificially-inflated salaries. That’s their job. It’s what they do.
So why is it that we let politicians get away with proclaiming pure nonsense like “We need more manufacturing jobs,” and brainwashing Americans into believing that?
There’s no such thing as “something for nothing.” In a perfect, fairy-tale world, everyone would get high pay, great healthcare and other benefits – and no one would have to pay the price for any of them.
Of course the politicians themselves don’t even believe that. Show me one politician who wants his or her own children to work in a factory their whole lives, or to make the minimum wage as an adult.
However, of course that’s not how things work in the real world – at least not in a capitalist system.
When you artificially raise the wage level, that causes a problem for business owners. And business owners are resourceful people. Our job is to solve problems. It’s what we do. Make no mistake: If the government decides to drastically
Personally, this whole topic doesn’t affect any of my businesses, because I’m never looking to hire low-value workers or pay anyone low wages. How about you? To read the full article, go to: www.RhinoDaily.com/minimum-rage
To find out more about Steve Sipress and how he can help you have more fun and make more money with your business, see the Inside Cover Page. To get new money-making strategies and tips every weekday from Steve and other top business-building experts from around the world, go to: www.RhinoDaily.com Volume III Number 4 | Pg 9
Pg 10 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
MANNY’S BLOG | APRIL 2015
Manny’s Blog
LETTERS WE GET SCRABBLE LETTERS
April 13 is National Scrabble Day. Yep, there is an official day honoring the game created by unemployed American architect Alfred Mosher Butts. In deference to National Honesty Day (April 30), I must admit that I don’t remember the names of any other game developers. I may have trouble remembering names, and even faces, but I never forget…well, never mind. Don’t be surprised that dogs like Scrabble. Those kitschy paintings of “Dogs Playing Poker” were supposed to feature pooches playing Scrabble, but the trademark owner wanted too hefty a fee. Speaking of art and canines, did you know that Gainsborough’s “Blue Boy” – up until the human model’s parents pulled some strings – was supposed to be “Good Boy!”? Or that concerns about unwieldy titles led to changes in “Washington Crossing The Delaware With The Assistance Of A Service Dog”? For that matter, what about Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile? She’s smiling because her pooch secretly gave her some words with X and Q to use in an early predecessor of Scrabble! I have enjoyed many happy evenings playing Scrabble with my canine family. The air is filled with barks of “Wow! Good vocabulary,”“That word is impermissible technical jargon,” and “You sank my battleship!” (*Sigh* Cousin Cletus means well, but I think he’s a few kibbles shy of a load.) Games tend to last forever, because one of the pups inevitably
swallows some game tiles or runs off with the official dictionary, until their parents snatch it back. “You took the words right out of my mouth!” they always giggle. Good times. Of course Scrabble had some obstacles to overcome with dogs. When Butts developed it in 1938, he called it CrissCrosswords. After he sold the rights in 1948, it was renamed Scrabble, which is a real word, meaning “to scratch frantically.” To scratch frantically. Surely you can see a marketing dilemma there. What other games will they come up with to lure canines? Empty Food Dish Land? Chutes & Vaccinations? Go Fish, And Get Ear Mites While You’re At The Lake? Butts did painstaking computations to assign the value of different letters. Heck, my mail carrier can do that on the fly, like when cousin Beau tackled him and sent the contents of his mailbag flying. (“Widow Green will kill me if I don’t recover that envelope addressed to Current Occupant!”) A lot of work involving “frequency analysis” went into Butts’ development of the game. Hmm. Steve does a frequency analysis of his own (“How many times can you whine to go out in one hour???”). Hey, maybe he’s creating a new board game! I’ll be rich! I can finally kiss this crummy writing job goodbye! Ha ha ha! Um…just in case…join me here next month, dear readers, so you can determine the value of my latest words.
Manny (full name “Emanuel” or “Dog With Us”) is Steve and Michele Sipress’ crazy, rambunctious cocker spaniel. He has a weak leg (despite a mostly-successful back surgery), grey hair, is totally deaf and partially blind. But he still enjoys barking at the mailman and landscapers, pulling dead frogs out of nearby ponds and chasing after his beloved squeaker toy. He loves everyone (even the mailman and landscapers), and everyone loves him.
Volume III Number 4 | Pg 11
PERCEPTIONS CREATE CONCLUSIONS | APRIL 2015
Perceptions Create
Conclusions By Sydney Barrows
Fashion week was a couple of weeks ago and as usual, I participated behind the scenes. The Ground Crew did over 30 shows this season, and I had my regulars like Michael Kors, Vera Wang and Hugo Boss Women, as well as a number of new clients, which can be a real challenge. This season, the Ground Crew was the victim of one of the worst sales choreography sins I’d witnessed in a very long time. Names will not be named – not to protect the guilty, but to protect the confidentiality of my friend Audrey, founder of the Ground Crew. Fashion designers are in the business of designing clothes, not producing fashion shows, so they subcontract that rather complex job to a handful of production companies that specialize in it. Just as in any area of business, there are a range of production companies who handle clients on a small budget, all the way up to companies who work with premium clients, usually those with big names and big budgets. The services the designer negotiates for can vary, and they are charged a single fee based on what they choose. The backstage crew is included in that fee.
When you want the best, expect to pay for the best The Ground Crew provides premium backstage services at premium prices, and is the choice of just about every European designer as well as the major US-based fashion houses. And given the level of experience and expertise we provide, we’re worth it.
The high-end production companies nearly always book us, because they know they have to provide their high-end clients with the best. Until this season when one of them decided to get greedy. Audrey was shocked to discover that we weren’t booked with two designers we’ve worked with forever (one since his very first show and the other since their first show in the US). She called the production company and was told they’d hired a woman who provides student volunteers from the Fashion Institute of Technology instead.
When you pay for the best you expect to get the best The teacher who puts it together charges $500, a far cry from what our fee would be. Audrey went ballistic and phoned the first designer, who promptly “hired us back.” She wasn’t so lucky with the other company, but having worked with them for a good 15 years, I know that the woman who puts that show together is very tightly wound and very picky and demanding. I can only imagine her reaction when a bunch of teenagers with no experience showed up instead of the seasoned professionals she’s worked with for years. It’s very reassuring to designers, who are usually very anxious before a show, to see faces they recognize because they’ve worked with them for so long. And now a group of kids are in charge?
Pg 12 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
PERCEPTIONS CREATE CONCLUSIONS | APRIL 2015
What’s the lesson here? When you put yourself out there as a premium business and you have premium clients paying premium prices, the last thing you should be doing is delivering less than premium goods and services.
What’s the take home value?? Greed is not good. Greed is the professional equivalent of jealousy, and just as corrosive. When you are disrespectful of and not aligned with a client’s best interests, you don’t deserve to have that client, and that client certainly does not deserve to have you. A number of my members have premium businesses, and nearly all of the others serve the higher end of the market they’re in. Having worked with many of you, I know how important it is to you to deliver an experience commensurate with what you’ve led your client, patient or customer to expect. In fact, that’s what we work on, choreographing experiences that deliver to their clients the perception that they are receiving the level of service, care and value they were led to believe they’d receive. And preferably even more or better than they expected.
How can I apply this to my business? When was the last time you really thought about the experiences your clients have when they do business with you? When was the last time you tweaked your choreography in order to enhance those experiences? Are all the component parts of the programs, products and services you provide as good as if not better than you led your clientele to expect? How could you tweak things to create an even better experience and higher perceived value that you’re currently delivering?
Perceptions create conclusions What perceptions are your patients coming away with right now? Remember, perception is reality; they take all the perceptions they receive, and come to conclusions about who you are, how good you are at what you do, whether you can deliver the results they desire and/or expect, how trustworthy they believe you to be… and so on. Are you quite certain that your prospects and customers are having the experiences you think they’re having? I’ve found quite often, they aren’t. It’s a very competitive world out there, and all of us have to be conscientious of keeping one step ahead of the game and give our clients a more appealing and engaging experience than they expect.
About Sydney Barrows There are a number of consultants and coaches who specialize in working with solo-preneurs, entrepreneurs, small business owners and professional practices, but it’s probably safe to say that none of them have such a “unique and unusual” history and “professional qualifications!” A descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims, Sydney was born into an affluent family in Philadelphia. After losing her job in New York’s fashion industry, she worked the phone for an escort service. She opened her own escort service, and gained a reputation for providing high-class prostitutes. She was arrested in 1984, and has since become a best-selling author of business books and has enjoyed a highly successful career as an author and business consultant. In 1986, she wrote The Mayflower Madam: The Secret Life of Sydney Biddle Barrows, an autobiography providing an insider look at the inner dynamics of the prostitution industry. An instant best-seller, the book was named one of Fortune magazine’s 10 best business books of the year, and has since been used in the curriculum at Harvard Business School. Barrows has since authored three more books, and also works as a private business consultant. Sydney invites you to spend an hour on the phone with her so you can get some great Sales Choreography strategies and ideas for your business, so you can ramp up the impressions and experiences you deliver to your clientele. To schedule a complimentary 30-minute private conversation to talk about it further to see if it’s right for you, email: Sydney@SydneyBarrows.com
Volume III Number 4 | Pg 13
MONEY-MAKING MONTHLY Volume III Number 4 | April 2015
www.SteveSipress.com/magazine
This Month’s Money-Making Info
1
HOW PAYING FOR POSTAGE MADE ME A BETTER MARKETER
11
By Brian Kurtz
8
WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT MESSES WITH SMALL BUSINESS, EVERYONE LOSES By Steve Sipress
LETTERS, WE GET SCRABBLE LETTERS Manny’s Blog
12
PERCEPTIONS CREATE CONCLUSIONS By Sydney Barrows
D Õ V B A R O N 4 AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP Publisher Steve Sipress Successful Selling Systems, Inc. 869 E Schaumburg Rd #237 Schaumburg, IL 60194 (p) 773-236-8134 (f ) 847-232-1535 Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
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Editor Michele Tiberio
Layout & Design JDO of SPX Multimedia spxmultimedia.com Publisher’s Notice: Copyright 2015 Successful Selling Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Neither the author nor the publisher make any express or implied warranties concerning the legal or ethical appropriateness of any of the marketing documents, materials or instructions in or enclosed with the magazine and/or your use of the same. If in doubt about the appropriateness or legality of any materials or instructions, you should obtain competent guidance, just as you would with any marketing documents, materials or marketing plans you have developed or would develop on your own. In the interests of disclosure, we want to be open about how we may, from time to time, make money from this magazine. Certain third-party links contained in this magazine may be affiliate links for which we get paid a commission if you buy the product or service through the affiliate link.