While this isn’t about Follow-Up Marketing, it is about my next two favorite pursuits: business and pleasure.
I was listening to Cesar Ramirez the other day, a Marketer that specializes in Craigslist marketing. Somewhere in the flow of conversation Cesar mentions that his whole life is a constant flux of business, personal, and family interaction. It all just flows together from moment to moment. The gist of the dialog was that business owners often cannot distinguish the flow of business from family, or anything else in their life. He mentioned, in so many words, that it all just merges together throughout the day, and that his business life and family life was just part of the constant “symphony” of the mix.
The perfect mixing of business and pleasure.
While guys like Timothy Ferriss and Chris Ramsey live the 4 hour work week, I really don’t see the separation, nor the ability, or the desire to reach over and turn the volume knob off the other 164 hours of the week. I like having it mixed up. But to each their own. Not to say, however, that Timothy and Chris are not awesome role models, because they are.
“Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.” ~ William Shakespeare
The perfect mixing of business and pleasure is ultimately what you make out of it.
Scott Ellis and I were talking about surfing So. Cal – a LOT this week! While talking, we were reminiscing about snowboarding this one run up at Timberline in Oregon that is like a natural Half Pipe. Apparently it is affectionately known as “The Ditch Run”. I think this is my favorite run on good ‘ol planet Earth. It is so fun to haul-ass down this run, and cut back hard off the slopes.
I hope you enjoy this video that I dug up from YouTube:
After the video, run over and catch a copy of my report, 5 Things Businesses Can Do To Increase Customers and Reduce Costs By Using The Internet at Blue Sea Web Consulting
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi
Re-purposing for a fresh focus on “Follow-up Marketing” over the next year.
I will be writing a series of 20-24 blogs on Follow-up Marketing. In these articles, I will be providing metrics and statistics to make my cases. So, standby, it is coming….
Follow-Up Marketing May Be Your Number 1 Marketing Failure!
For many people, follow-up is their number one failure and fear in the Marketing game. A lot of money is left on the table for failure to follow through with continued Client contacts.
Many believe that it is the initial sales contact that brings fear and trepidation to the Salesperson. However, according to information I have studied, it is actually the fear of sequential follow up that cause people to have lack luster performance.
A follow-up email, postcard, or letter is often all it takes to dramatically improve your marketing results. Some statistics suggest that 80% of all potential sales occur AFTER the 7th contact attempt.
Do you have a Follow-Up Marketing strategy?
If not, while this idea is fresh in your mind, build it into your organizations process. One of the best ways to do Follow-Up Marketing is through an Email Autoresponder Series.
Although the target audience is Law Firms, the follow-up marketing tips apply to just about any business.
Here are some additional follow-up tips in this video from RainmakerLaywer:
I will be writing a series of 20-24 blogs on Follow-up Marketing. In these articles, I will be providing metrics and statistics to make my case for Follow-Up Marketing.
I think you would be hard pressed not to agree that a basic key component to Social Media Marketing is believing in your product.
Modern Internet Evangelism’s Vehicle IS Viral Social Media Marketing
Evangelism comes from three Greek words: ‘bringing good news’. Consider this: Customers and salespeople who believe so strongly in a product or service, that they freely try to convince others to buy and use it, should be a product promoters focus, goal, purpose, and dream.
This conviction is the very engine of a viral marketing campaign, and as one of the best marketers I know, Steve “Pawmarks” Johnson taught me, if your content is not viral, you have absolutely, 100%, wasted your marketing effort. Wouldn’t you agree, that the customers that become voluntary advocates, spreading the word on behalf of the company, are as valuable as gold? I believe in this situation, nothing can stop the spread of the product, not government censorship, not bureaucratic road blocks, and not production mess ups.
Tell me, which would you, as a sales person prefer, a product that you have to spend a huge budget to promote, twist peoples arm to sell, and beat down on your sales people to “get out there and make it happen”, or a product that is sooo good, it practically markets itself? Evangelizing customers that spread their recommendations, recruit new purchasers simply out of their clear belief in the product, are the tell tale signs of great product development.
Evangelist, Kalevi Lehtinen
Why Bother With A Social Media Marketing Campaign If You Don’t Believe In Your Product?
My opinion is that if you can’t evangelize your product, you are dead before you even begin.
Because customers by their nature act independently, evangelizing clients often become the most important customer influencers that you can hope to get. The fact that product evangelists are not paid or associated with any company, make their beliefs, as perceived by others as both credible and trustworthy. While Social Media Marketing is much more forgiving because of volume induced AD&D, in the long run, credibility and trustworthiness are everything.
The used car salesman that stands in front of a dent while trying to sell you a used car, will ultimately succeed in making sure you NEVER do business with them or their firm again. Yet is surprising how many people and businesses think that “let the buyer beware” is still an okay practice in business. A repeat buyer is money in the bank. A better practice, as Bal Simon teaches, is to make a fantastic product, under promise, and over deliver.
Here is a nice video from Ergo Social Media regarding Social Media Marketing, and why your first task in your Social Media Marketing campaign is the most important:
Make customer evangelism a consideration in your Social Media Marketing campaign, and you will have a much better shot at good conversion rates.
Update:
I am to understand that Kalevi Lehtinen, passed away on July 17, 2011. Rest in peace mighty warrior. Sad News about Kalevi Lehtinen
It is about the Winter of 1981 in the town of Chiapas, Mexico. Its 11, 12 pm, or 1 o’clock in the morning, and very cold. I’m standing in the bus station, wearing a coat, trying to keep warm, while waiting for my connecting ride to Veracruz, Mexico.
A Typical Chiapas Marketplace
The air is dead, and there is nothing but silence. I entertain myself by seeing how far my breath steams the air as I exhale. I look up and down the main street and see … nothing. I notice a cardboard box moving about a block away, and think to myself “How is that happening? There is no wind here.” and, since I am bored, I walk down to check it out, as it has gotten curiosity up.
As I get closer, I see the box more clearly. It is wiggling around, and I figure there is a dog or a cat in it. I open it up, and see, to my dismay, a small four or five year old boy wearing a shirt and shorts in it, and his approximately two year old baby brother. He is struggling to keep them both warm.
I stare for a moment in disbelief. I had seen plenty of poverty in Mexico, but this scene hit me hard. I knelt down absorbing the situation, and started racking my 21 year old brain for a solution. “Do I scoop them up and take them with me? No, I am a foreigner here, that would never work out on multiple levels… .”
I ask “Donde estan sus padres? (Where are your parents?)”. The little boy tells me, he doesn’t know. I go back to my duffel bag and pull out a blanket, and take it to them. I wrap them up the best I can and give them 150 pesos ($7) to buy food in the morning. Then I just sit there with them for a few minutes in silence, thinking about what to do. Then I think about it for another 30 years, and I am thinking about today.
As I stood up and continued to ponder the whole situation, I heard rustling across the street, at the Market, and see bunches of little faces and eyes looking at me. Then it hit me, what was really going on … all the castaway children were rummaging around the garbage pile at night trying to find things to eat.
Lesson learned: Life doesn’t make 100% sense, and it is never going to. All we can do, is make an effort to be compassionate. But, many problems are beyond our human resources and abilities to fix and repair. Don’t take it personal, and just do the best you can.
Now-a-days I try to make small micro loans to indigenous peoples in Central and South American. The way to help individuals, is to leverage resources to help groups. Thanks John Marshall for teaching me that.
My brother Mike says: “Am I warm? Am I full from eating? Am I comfortable? If yes, to all of those three things, a human being has all they need.” They are prerequisites to being able to experience joy more easily, or at all. Helping people meet those 3 needs goes a long way to eliminating Hell on Earth.
So, Once the basic human needs are met, how does one experience joy with so many un-joyful situations around us? Good question, and here is an even better answer:
Much of what I understand with regards to articulating what joy “is”, and how to experience it consistently I learned from Eckhart Tolle. So, without belaboring the pathway to the point, here it is:
The Secret To Experiencing Joy
Most people get it completely, 100% backwards. They think things and situations will give you joy. But, no thing or situation can ever do that. They just don’t, and never will have the power. The truth is, joy does NOT come from WHAT you do, or from WHAT you have. It originates inside you, and flows from your being INTO the thing or situation (car, home, vacation, Thanksgiving Dinner, etc..) from within you.
A Quote From Eckhart Tolle:
“The mis-perception that joy comes from what you do is normal, and it is also dangerous, because it creates the belief that joy is something that can be derived from something else, such as an activity or thing.
When you look to the world to bring you joy, and happiness, you will live in constant frustration that the world is not giving you what you think you need.”
“Expansion and positive change on the outer level is much more likely to come into your life if you can enjoy what you are doing already, instead of waiting for some change so that you can start enjoying what you do.”
“You will enjoy any activity in which you are fully present, any activity that is not just a means to an end. It isn’t the action you perform that you really enjoy, but the deep sense of aliveness that flows into it, from you.”
~ A New Earth : Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle
I’m a big fan of Randy Gage. I find his words insightful, appropriate, and don’t mess around – cutting right into your core psyche. His words turn the big spotlight on “You”, and make me squirm and re-evaluate my thought processes.
Randy Gage’s Story:
“When I started a business, the county started construction on the highway, the next time I had a crooked partner, and another time the economy went bad. Finally the last time, the IRS seized my restaurant for non-payment of taxes, and auctioned it off on the courthouse steps. Which left me with no car, no house, no money, no job, and $55,000 in debt . . .
Which ultimately was the best thing that happened to me. By losing everything, I finally stopped looking at all the outside factors (crooked partner, IRS, economy, etc.), and started looking at the inside ones. Or more specifically, ask the question, “Was there ONE person who was always at the scene of the crime?”
Of course I didn’t like the answer I came up with, but it was the true one. All those outside factors were being manifested by me because I: Had a subconscious fear of success; Lacked Self-esteem; and, Didn’t believe I was worthy of success.” source: http://www.randygage.com/prosperousliving.pdf
You might have to take some time and really think this through. We all have mental baggage that we could stand to discard. Here is some you may want to consider:
Sometimes when you are getting going in a business, you’re scared. One of my sons, Nick, an expert salesman, told me that sometimes you just have to get out there and crash and burn for a few days until you find out what to say to people.
It’s just how it is.
I grew up surfing, so I relate to stories of courage, that have to do with that sport. The story of Maverick’s in Northern California is legendary.
“In 1975, another local surfer, Jeff Clark, gazed out at the monster surf break his junior high school teacher used to refer to as Mavericks, and thought “Why not?” For the next 15 years, Clark enjoyed what was essentially his own private salt-water roller coaster. Nobody else seemed to be aware (or willing to believe) that a Hawaii-sized giant wave resided off the Northern California coast. Word did eventually get out, though. Curious friends began to accompany Jeff when he rode Mavericks, and in 1990 Surfer Magazine published a photograph of the site.” Source: http://maverickssurf.com/wave/hist.php
All by himself Jeff surfed Maverick’s, paddled out alone, and surfed the place, and almost nobody knew for 15 YEARS!. Amazing!
For a small price you can receive high speed Internet that you can take with you anywhere, anytime. Is it time for you to “Cut the Cord”? … Check out the Video below.
The best part about it is that you will notice improvements in your work and personal life. You will be able to get more done and be more efficient. I recommend you get a 4G+ USB MODEM, because, while 4G is any many places, 3G is in more. You will be glad you opted for 4G Plus.
You can enjoy the FAST 3 – 6 Mbps download, and 1 Mbps upload speeds of 4G, but in the case that 4G is not available, then I highly recommend you have the trusty 3G standby. You will only get the combo of 4G and 3G with the 4G Plus product.
Just be aware that many carriers keep a 5Gig cap on the 3G access, and charge a nickle a meg after 5Gig. So, if the MODEM is indicating it is hooked up to 3G, you may want to waiting to stream that new movie, until you are back on your unlimited 4G connection.
For more information about how you can “Cut the Cord” contact me on Skype: Venerable.Marketing, or give call me at 253.229.7067.
Nick Vujicic – A Modern Prophet of Optimism. You may have to bust out the Kleenex for this one. Nick is a charming individual, with a powerful message. Thank God for people like him.
How A Cigarette Butt Can Change Your Life – As Synthesized From the Teaching Of Viktor Frankl
This Cigarette Butt Can Change Your Life
I’m driving home, tired. A long day at work. I’m in the middle lane. “Haul-Ass Truck Driver Guy”, who was tailgating me, swerves around me on the right hand side, so he can get ahead in life 30 feet, and throws on his brakes for the traffic light.
Nice.
His window rolls down.
He flips a cigarette butt out of his “Haul-Ass-Truck – I got chronic Diarrhea, that is why I speed every where I go” window.
Nice.
Okay, so where is this going?
I used to spend unbelievable amounts of time being pissed off over people throwing their cigarette butts on the ground. The keywords here are “used to”.
Stephen Covey talks about his book in this 7 minute video:
Mr. Covey Writes About A Modern Hero, Viktor Frankl
“[Viktor] Frankl was also a psychiatrist and a Jew. He was imprisoned in the death camps of Nazi Germany, where he experienced things that were so repugnant to our sense of decency that we shudder to even repeat them.
His parents, his brother, and his wife died in the camps or were sent to the gas ovens. Except for his sister, his entire family perished. Frankl himself suffered torture and innumerable indignities, never knowing from one moment to the next if his path would lead to the ovens or if he would be among the “saved” who would remove the bodies or shovel out the ashes of those so fated.
One day, naked and alone in a small room, he began to come aware of what he called “the last of the human freedoms” — the freedom that his Nazi captors could not take away. They could control his entire environment, they could do what they wanted to his body, but Victor Frankl was a self-aware being who could look as an observer at his very involvement. His basic identity was intact. He could decide within himself how all of this was going to affect him. Between what happened to him, or the stimulus, and his response to it, was his freedom or power to choose that response. …
I hope you enjoy this video “Interview with Dr. Viktor Frankl Part I”.
And there my friends, is a solution and a form of liberation to our problems. A solution we have so desperately needed and have searched for.
The only real freedom we have in life, is that we get to choose our response to the stimuluses in our environment, and that is all we really have.
My friends if you don’t like something in your environment, then use it to your advantage. Change what it means to you. Control your response.
What a cigarette butt thrown out a window means to me now? I have chosen it to mean, that it is a reminder to me to go home and play my guitar, and say something nice to a friend.
Thank you “Haul-Ass Truck Driver Guy” and thanks for throwing the remainder of your cancer stick out the window. Best of Luck. What song am I going to play tonight?
In Napoleon Hills classic book, Think and Grow Rich, there is a Self-Confidence Formula you can follow to achieve your “Definite Purpose” in life.
What follows here, is a quotation of that written mantra, updated and rewritten with a few personal tweaks. You should modify the content of the Self-Confidence Formula passage to what fits your personalty and whatever language “calls” to you. After all, you know yourself better than anyone.
The benefit of this daily exercise is that it will allow your mind to be attracted to your goals as a heat seeking missile is attracted to its “Locked On” target.
From the book, you are instructed to read this out loud once everyday, and commit it to memory.
The modifications are:
Future tense phrases such as “I will” are modified to “Ernest Holmes THE SCIENCE OF MIND affirmation style” present tense, “I am”.
The “Seven Major Negative Emotions” are “transmuted” in the text to one or more of Hill’s “Seven Major Positive Emotions”. Please note: Not all fourteen emotions are included.
The times have been changed from words to numerals.
Here is the modified Hill formula. Some of the modifications are in Bold:
“I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my DEFINITE CHIEF AIM in life, therefore, I DEMAND of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action.
I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into physical reality. Therefore, I concentrate my thoughts for 30 minutes daily, upon the task of thinking of the person I will become, creating in my mind a clear mental picture of that person.
I know through the principle of auto suggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object of the thought in back of it. I devote 10 minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of SELF CONFIDENCE.
I have clearly written down a description of my DEFINITE CHIEF AIM in life, and I will never stop trying, until I have developed sufficient self confidence for its attainment.
I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice, therefore, I engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use, and the cooperation of other people. I induce others to serve me, because of my willingness to serve others. I eliminate revenge and replace it with justice; hatred is replaced by love and mercy; envy is replaced with desire; and cynicism is replaced with faith, hope, and enthusiasm for this cause. I develop love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I cause others to believe in me, because I believe in them, and in myself.
I have signed my name to this formula, and have committed it to memory. I repeat it aloud once a day, with full FAITH that it influences my THOUGHTS and ACTIONS so that I am a self-reliant, and successful person.” ~Modified from Napoleon Hill’s, Think And Grow Rich.
Check out the Think and Grow Rich audio CD’s, Click Here >> >Think and Grow Rich
… It is 5:00 in the afternoon. I have no thought as to what the rest of the world is doing. It does not even come close to my state of mind.
Waves
I sit on my board at first peak, Rockview St., Santa Cruz, scanning the horizon for the next set. Finally I see the lazy humps in the distance. I scrutinize them for where I think they will peak. Which one will have the best wall to run down. I know the 4 or 5 other people here will try to pick off the first couple of waves of the set. The question is, do I want to out maneuver them and take the inside position on one of the first two waves or paddle farther out for a bigger wave in the set …
That was 1975. Freedom.
Do you remember when you were a teenager? Free to check out the surf, or what ever it was you loved to do? Free to read a book? Free to stare at the clouds, sky, or hills?
No constant demanding obligations. No guilt for the least little infraction. No performance demands of social obligations.
Michael Gerber Has a Business Plan For You
Michael Gerber has a plan for you. A plan that will get you back your life. Might get you back your life I should say, if you follow his wisdom.
Michael teaches us that a business should enhance our lives, not drain it. That is the hope he gives us, with a blueprint on how to get there. I solemnly recommend this book to anyone “before” you start a business, so that your thinking will be correct, your head will be screwed on right, and you can avoid a business crash and burn.
Then just maybe, it will be “enjoy life” time for you again.
Before you start that next Joint Venture Marketing campaign, do yourself a favor and read his book, The E-Myth Revisited , Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What To Do About It.
A Video By Michael Gerber
Here is a video by the man himself, Michael Gerber, titled: E-Myth and Business Development expert Michael Gerber
There was an idea I came across several years ago, I think it was from Anthony Robbins (probably modified from Napoleon Hill), that suggested we make a Mastermind Committee in our minds of 10 people: five people we greatly admire, and five people we greatly despise.
Mastermind Boardroom
Pretend in your mind that you are sitting in a Board Room surrounded by these people. For example: Tony Robbins, Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Clinton, Andrew Carnegie, Mother Theresa, and five people you hate. Ask each person the question that is on your mind, and then write down their answer.
I find that their voices give very interesting responses. If nothing else, you will have some fresh ideas to think about.
My personal technique, and this has proven beneficial to myself many times, is to create a committee made up of yourself, one year from now, then at 30 years old, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 etc. You will find that each of these “selves” or future “selfs”, have very unique ideas, that you should consider and follow. After all, who knows you better than yourself??
My conversation with Denton Hess at 80, aka DH80, told me to “Make sure you enjoy every moment.” DH54 and DH55 had business advice for me, and DH60 had family advice.
Give it a try.
Napoleon Hill Video Discusses the Mastermind Principle
In this video Napoleon Hill discusses the Mastermind Principle:
The mastermind principle used externally, as in a mastermind group you are a member of, or used internally as outlined above, brings to bear unique ideas, camera angles, and solutions to problems that you can not get any other way. Use the mastermind principle and you will achieve more, faster.
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By-the-way, you are missing out if you don’t read this book.
affirmation style” present tense, “I am”.
