As you know, great customer service is rare which is why you want to reward it each and every time you come across it via a referral or testimonial. Today’s post is one such case study – Magnetite, a company dedicated to sound proofing homes and offices. We’ve been living in Sydney’s CBD for over 10 years, in a sub-penthouse unit with a clear and unobstructed view of Sydney Harbour clear to the heads with a spectacular city view. The last thing we want is to have to move because of ambient city noise.

A few years ago, several buildings around us have created ‘echo chambers’ that focus and concentrate ambient city noise thus amplifying it substantially – to the point of disturbing our sleep at night. We searched high and wide for someone to solve the problem, seeking out sound specialists, consulting a specialist architect… To no avail.

That’s when Adrian Lafleur of Magnetite came into the picture. We were armed with acoustic readings of the noise we were experiencing – we had a noise expert leave a meter overnight to capture the different sounds and frequencies. Noise is all about two things – decibels or volume and frequency – high (dolphin squeak) versus low (whale sounds).

The solution was a double glazed enclosure that was colour-matched to the existing window frame which was installed in one day with no mess and no damage to our unit. This is important because every other tradie that’s come into our unit has left an unwanted mark/reminder.

The reason this is a great customer service case study is because: Read More »»

Every year, we stage the Exponential Business Building Bootcamp which is 3 full-on days where entrepreneurs and business people get together to learn the best strategies that are proven and tested to work. Each time it’s staged, there is new content, examples and case studies from real Australian businesses just like yours. Case studies that defy the odds and in some cases are so astonishing that unless you met the business owner face-to-face to ask him or him how she did it, you’d never believe it was possible let alone THAT EASY.

That being said, HUNDREDS of people have attended Bootcamps, but only DOZENS have attended more than once. Most people think once the box is ticked, that’s it. “They know it all.”

That’s like thinking one tennis lesson is enough to make you Roger Federer or Serena Williams.

Today’s post is two examples from multiple Bootcamp attendees…

Business Growth Strategy Case Study #1: Bree Robbins of Paddington Pups

At the Bootcamp, I use antimimeticisomorphism examples that show how thinking differently can trigger innovative and creative ideas. One of the images was appropriate for Bree since she owns a doggy day care in Brisbane. The day after the Bootcamp, I sent her the impossible dog photo along with some links and voila! We both optimised our search engine rankings.

On the last night of every Exponential Business Building Bootcamp there is a session on Internet Strategies where participants can ask any question to increase their online traffic, sales and/or conversions. The Internet Marketing Strategies we teach are proven and tested for real brick and mortar businesses – not the spam0like ‘link building’ and other affiliate marketing strategies associated with get rich quick schemes. The strategies we teach are based on leveraging my 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine.

Business Growth Strategy Case Study #2: Gavin Buckett – The Gourmet Guardian

Another Exponential Growth Strategy, among the HUNDREDS covered at the Exponential Business Building Bootcamp is the strategy of preeminence. We spend all morning of day one covering all the tips and techniques to make sure you become the ultimate source of information, knowledge and expertise in your industry or market. The reasons you want to do this are beyond today’s blog post, but what I wanted to show you is how a multi-award winner takes action.

As part of  the Exponential Business Building Bootcamp there is Pre Program Preparation™ and Post Program Planning™ that ensures participants get the maximum out of the event. Today, Gavin responded to message #9 with the following:

“The statistic I found WHILE AT THE BOOTCAMP is that out of 2070 members of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST), only 25 (1%) have a cooking qualification/ experience. That means that 99% of my professional competitors have not worked in kitchens and food businesses.

Bare that in mind when you next go to the supermarket and try something new – 99% of food technologists have no practical cooking experience.”

Gavin Buckett is The Gourmet Guardian – an Australian Food Safety Specialist. You have to admit that with a quote like this (which he has started to use in his advertising and promotional material), you are positively predisposed to consider him more of an expert. That is one of the many reasons his business is growing by more than 200% per annum. He has attended the Exponential Business Building Bootcamp 4, maybe 5 times and each time gets additional distinctions to take his sales and profitability one level higher.

These two case studies show you first-hand how quick, easy and inexpensive these strategies are – that is the beauty and elegance of Exponential Marketing Strategies. You don’t need a multi-million dollar advertising budget – you just need to THINK and ACT EXPONENTIALLY. Contact us to find out how you can join the Platinum Program – it’s not just a great program, we guarantee that for every $1 you invest, you’ll make $3 – GUARANTEED!

This is a classic advertising story that is worthy of repetition. It’s not just funny, but exceptionally valuable when you extract from it lessons that you can leverage from it. Enjoy!

A barber had been noticing that his clients had been dropping off slowly over the last eighteen months or so. He blamed the economy and people moving on and such things and just kept plodding on as you would expect.

The last straw for him was when,  just two doors down from his barber shop, someone opened up another barber shop! His competitor put up signage all over the front of the store windows announcing “hair cuts $5” .

When they opened, there were people spilling out the door lining up for haircuts. This went on for days and as you can guess his clients dropped off dramatically to the point that he decided that he would rather sit at home watching Oprah than do hair cuts for five dollars. He even decided he would close down his shop at the end of the week.

That afternoon, a gentleman walked in and asked if he could get a hair cut. The barber warned him that he charged fifteen dollars. The gentleman said that’s fine as he did not have time to stand in line and wait two hours for the barber two doors down .

After he finished the gentleman stood up looked and thanked the barber for a really good haircut. He also said he would be back next time he needed a trim because he was very satisfied with his haircut. That’s when the barber advised him that he was going to close his shop because he couldn’t compete with $5 hair cuts.

The gentleman looked at him smiled and asked “If I can increase the number of clients, would you be willing to pay me two hundred dollars?” The barber said he would only have two days to do it since he was going to close the shop on the third day. The gentleman confidently said that would not be as issue. The barber could not help but like this cocky guy in a suit and since it was only two hundred dollars, he thought he really didn’t have much to lose.

The next day, when the barber showed up, there were people waiting for him to open his door! They continued to stream in all day his phone was ring hot taking bookings! He was so busy that by the end of the day, he was exhausted. He could not remember ever being that busy.

The next day the same thing happened and about lunch time the gentleman walked in smiling and asked how things were going. The barber told him about all the clients and bookings and asked him what he did to change things around so quickly -  hoping he hadn’t done anything illegal. The gentleman smiled and assured the barber that everything was OK and that after work there would be something out the front of the store for him.

That night, the barber walked out the front of his shop and saw an A frame – he could not stop laughing when he read what was written:

FIVE DOLLAR HAIRCUTS FIXED HERE

This is a totally exponential strategy – but here are a few questions I have for you.

• How can you use this story to your advantage?
• How can you leverage someone else’s efforts in a legal and morally acceptable way?
• How can you make the most of your marketing budget to get the very best results?

A lot of people have either heard this story or others similar to it. They get a laugh and move on to something else.

Very few learn the lesson. Very few learn HOW to leverage something like this.

That’s what I teach my clients to do, as their business coach, adviser or mentor. I explain to them that this is not just a funny story. It’s a lesson to be learned and applied. I then usually explain via one of my case study examples or one from a client.  In this case, I heard this story and used it to close a $250,000 sale to a top 50 ASX company.

I know you’d love to know how I did that, but sorry – I keep that information for my Platinum Members!

The thing about having an Exponential Mindset is not just thinking differently, but making sure you walk the thought. That only happens when you’re taught how to translate a great story like this one INTO a practical system and process that you can use in your own business.

Otherwise, it’s just another fun story to tell mates over a cold beer at your local.

If you want someone to help you turn things around, like the barber – contact us and we’ll show you how to get people lining up at your shop front door, into your business or if you’re online – visiting your website.

Google “transactional marketing” or “relationship marketing” and you’ll get thousands of hits with titles like “relationship marketing vs transaction marketing”. Basically, transactional marketing is thought of as a thing of the past, while relationship marketing is the bright future that businesses should be striving towards.

Transactional Relationship Marketing: The Cost Effective and Environmentally Friendly Strategy

Transactional Marketing

“Transactional marketing is an approach that focuses upon one-off exchanges with consumers.”

“Transactional marketing: Orientation towards single purchase. Limited direct customer / supplier contact. Focus on product benefits. Emphasis on near-term performance. Limited level of customer service. Goal of customer satisfaction. Quality a manufacturing responsibility.”[ii]

Relationship Marketing

“Relationship marketing is a business philosophy which aims to develop strong relationships with a range of stakeholders, such as suppliers, media, intermediaries and public organisations, as well as with customers.”

“Relationship marketing is a form of marketing that emerged in the 1980s, in which emphasis is placed on building longer term relationships with customers rather than on individual transactions. It involves understanding the customers’ needs as they go through their life cycles. It emphasizes providing a range of products or services to existing customers as they need them.”

The new kid on the block is a strategy called Transactional Relationship Marketing, or TRM. This is a process trademarked by direct mail company, Hermes Precisa (HPA).

Transactional Relationship Marketing Read More »»

I recently spoke at the 2010 Food Services Australia Show. I presented a summary of “How To Market Your Restaurant To Fill Your Empty Tables”. This all came about because of the 2010 Exponential Entrepreneur Of The Year Winner, Gavin Buckett, also known as the Gourmet Guardian, Australia’s premier Food Safety Specialist and HACCP Certification Expert who put me in contact with the show organisor.

One of the things I didn’t have time to cover is why a restaurant needs to be on the Internet – trust me, it’s not what you think!

Watch this 3-minute video to find out what 95% of people on the Internet don’t know… that can make the difference between a restaurant full of paying customers and one filled with empty tables.

Sam Kritsotakis of Eskae Jeweller recently won one of six prestigious Exponential Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards. After-the-fact people often look ‘back’ and realise how obvious it is… Which is why I wanted to share with you one of the many Exponential Marketing Strategies we’ve taught him – leveraging case studies. Click on the hyperlink to read the case study that Sam has created.

You’ll quickly get involved in the situation his clients were faced with, one that is often quite intimidating for people who are focused on getting married or celebrating an anniversary. Making the right decision when it comes to customised jewellery is not easy. Sam, with his private studio makes the process personal, intimate and stress-free.

Leveraging case studies is one of the many exponential strategies I teach my Business Mastery Platinum Program Members to help them grow their businesses leveraging the 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine that wins them awards, but more importantly wins their clients hearts.

Today’s short YouTube Video shows you what an antimimeticisomorphic marketing person can come up with to promote women’s bras and undergarments. It’s tasteful, different and gets people’s attention by INVOLVING them in the process.

Today’s post is yet another example of how the little things make a BIG difference. As you probably know, I love dogs even though I don’t have any because of my ‘jet set’ lifestyle… Recently, I visited the puppies and dogs at Paddington Pups Doggy Day Care in Brisbane (video below). While I was there, I made a few suggestions to Bree Robbins, Paddington Pups owner and Platinum Program graduate. Here’s how she went…

From ZERO Sales To Sold Out In 3 Weeks

Paddington Pups is a Doggy Day Care and Pet Supplies shop. Since we specialise in dogs, I got my hands on Cesar Millan’s the Dog Whisperer Series 1 and 2 DVD sets to sell at the shop. I was excited to be able to stock these for my clients since I know (first hand) that several of them have training and obedience issues with their dogs.

When I ordered in the first and second series I also ordered a “Display Stand”. I was expecting this to be big so it would stand out. However when it arrived, it was not only tiny, it didn’t say anything about the second series. I was quite disappointed to say the least.

After over two weeks, I hadn’t sold a single DVD series.  Now you might be thinking that’s fine but this was the end of November, early December which is the perfect time for people to purchase gifts like this for themselves and/or friends and family.

That’s when Marc came in for a visit and you know what that means – exponential ideas galore!

Marc suggested that I create a bigger, more obvious display to highlight this popular and much sought-after product.

As with anything Marc suggests, I thought about it and discussed it with my husband. Later that night, Ross was on Google looking for a good quality image we could use to create own display poster.

Next he went to our local print shop had the poster printed and laminated in A3 format all for under $50.

Within the next 3 weeks, I sold 4 copies of season one and 6 copies of season two at full price with no discounting. That’s what’s powerful about Marc’s advice. Most consultants would discount the price whereas Marc thinks one step ahead – the ONLY reason no one bought the DVDs was because they didn’t know I had stock. Marc knows The Dog Whisperer Series is a high-value item that is sought after and does not require discounting to sell.

Once I had my new poster up in full view of my clients, several confirmed they didn’t know I had The Dog Whisperer Series with Cesar Millan. In fact, most confirmed what I thought – that they hadn’t been able to find them anywhere.

So not only was I not selling any, I had clients WILLING AND LOOKING for the product I had in stock.

That hurts just writing it. I don’t know about you, but I want to sell as much inventory as I can, as quickly as I can. I consider myself a smart woman, but clearly I wasn’t being smart about this product promotion even though in hindsight it’s self-evident.

That’s what I appreciate about Marc’s advice – not only does he have a view from the ‘outside’, he understands people who buy. His Exponential Mindset is all about making it easy for people to buy from you.

Thanks Marc for your help once again – Come back again soon!

Bree Robbins
Business Entrepreneur

I don’t know about you, but every once in a while something like this comes around and you want to reach out and shake  Matt’s hand – for doing something that was so obvious, but took so much time and effort…

The ketchup packet has been around for more than 40 years, and complaints about it for nearly as long: too messy, too small, too hard to open.

Read More »»

Recently, I attended the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games and I came across this story about one of Canada’s top franchises that banned a disruptive client from its stores.

I don’t know the details of the story, but I like the fact that the retailer made the decision it wanted to make – to get rid of a disruptive client.

Read More »»

A lot of people ask me what the difference is between institutional advertising and call to action marketing. Simply put, institutional advertising is brand building and is only recommended when you have MILLIONS or BILLIONS in your marketing budget. Call to action marketing I don’t even call it advertising because it’s unilaterally focused on getting suspects to convert into prospects (take an action to show their interest in your product/service/offer) or prospects into clients (give you their money).

A friend of mine, Andrew Powell of Montreal, Canada asked me this outstanding question with the added twist that his company, Bogdon & Gross Furniture has been building furniture for over 80 years, using the tagline “Handcrafting your dreams since 1927″ and the e-mail signature “Canadian manufacturer of solid, hardwood furniture and supplier of Koosh ® mattresses – the world’s first high resiliency, soy-based foam Mattress.”

So here is the short version of the answer – something I cover at our Exponential Business Building and Internet Marketing Bootcamps…

Read More »»

If you’ve seen one car wash, you’ve seen ’em all, right? Well, not quite.

Consider the dynamic duo of Tiki and Alice, a pair of African elephants at the Wildlife Animal Park in southern Oregon. This pair of pachyderms is currently doing double-duty as car wash attendants. Actually, Tiki and Alice are the car wash.

Car Wash - Elephant

Simply roll up your vehicle and these elephantine employees will blast away the grit and grime via high pressure water emanating from their trunks. Then the 39-year-old elephants adroitly finish the job with sponges. (Turtle Wax, alas, is not available.)

For motorists, the elephant car wash is a sure-fire way to get up close and personal with animals that actually dwarf a Chevy Suburban. Meanwhile, Wildlife Animal Park is using this new revenue stream to weather the tough economy: an elephant-rendered car wash will set you back US$20.

Park organizers say another motive behind the scheme is to promote conservation through education. As well, the elephants’ handlers claim Tiki and Alice are actually having fun washing cars. (Did we mention they’re charging 20 bucks per vehicle?)

Still, hats off to Wildlife Animal Park for coming up with such a novel way to bolster the bottom line – especially considering Tiki and Alice work for peanuts.

Whenever I ask most people what business they’re in, I usually get an incoherent rambling about what they do (and they wonder why they’re struggling for new clients… but that’s a discussion for another day!) Then I ask then what’s important to their clients and 9 times out of 10 they have no clue. If only they understood it as well as this restaurant does -> it’s not about the food!

Go on and click on the hyperlink (they don’t allow it to be embedded) and then ask yourself, one simple, yet exponential question:

What’s MOST IMPORTANT to my clients?

If you can answer that question, then you know where your focus should be.

I know this sounds too simple , but watch the video again and just listen to what the clients are saying and the RESULTS it’s producing.

Case closed.

A good sense of humour never hurts, unless of course if you’re INsignificant!

Exponential Marketing Strategies include the use of humour as long as it is tasteful, relevant and ADDS to the customer experience as this one plain does with a tongue-in-cheek approach. Think of ways you can re-phrase want you do using puns and other linguistic skills – we teach them at Unleash The Speaker Within as well as in our Killer Kopywriting and Konversation Workshops… Contact us if you want to take laughs and giggles and turn them into sales!

Big Mens Clothing For The Significant Man

In a recent BBM Magazine, I came across this article  that stated that the underrated Hollywood hotty Naomi Watts is apparently the world’s most bankable actress.
The 41-year-old, who’s hot scene in Mulholland Drive, helped the box office rake in an estimated $44 for every $1 she was paid for her last three major films. That means in terms of bang for your buck, she’s the actress producers and directors turn to. What does this have to do with Management By Metrics?

Everything. If you’re in business, what metrics are you managing? What are you tracking to make sure you get your optimal return on investment? You’d be surprised who’s on the Hollywood’s MOST BANKABLE LIST and who’s not…

Naomi Watts - Most Bankable Actress

The list’s top spots are notably filled by many actresses willing to accept a lower salary than A-list stars like Angelina Jolie – who was named Hollywood’s highest-earning actress by Forbes earlier this year.

Jennifer Connelly, 38 – who previously won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe for her role in 2001’s ‘A Beautiful Mind’ – took second place making an average $41 per dollar she was paid. Meanwhile, Rachel McAdams finished third by turning low-budget films like ‘Red Eye’ and ‘The Notebook’ into hits.

Forbes.com’s Top Ten Best Actresses for the Buck:

1. Naomi Watts – made $44 for each $1 paid
2. Jennifer Connelly – $41
3. Rachel McAdams – $30
4. Natalie Portman – $28
5. Meryl Streep – $27
6. Jennifer Aniston – $26
7. Halle Berry – $23
8. Cate Blanchett – $23
9. Anne Hathaway – $23
10.  Hilary Swank – $23

This blog is all about seeing your business from a different perspective – which is called antimimeticisomorphism. When you come across different metrics in other industries, jot them down and consider using something similar in your business to determine what’s actually working versus what’s really not.

Sure Angelina Jolie may be prettier, sexier and more famous, but if you were INVESTING in a movie, who would YOU hire?

Hmmm….

That’s the point – sometimes in business we make the decisions we LIKE to make, not the ones that are the most profitable…

And you thought this was a lightweight blog post… Gotcha!

Gotcha thinkin’!!!

Sometimes people think that retail businesses have limitations when it comes to Exponential Marketing Strategies. They do and they don’t. It’s just a matter of how you Twist The Kube! Andrew Powell of Montreal Canada knows this only too well and sent this link to a Canadian retailer who has taken the Exponential Marketing Strategy of risk reversal to an extreme… Check out this short article that proves that an Exponential Mindset still wins the game!

Retail Risk Reversal

Click on this link -> Retailer reverses risk to below zero!

There are many instances when I get into a stream of consciousness ‘trance’ and really fun stuff happens. Sometimes I think people think it’s just fun and games, but it’s not – every single one has the opportunity to become a ‘business model or concept’ – here is one example that proves that when you run with something, you can make it into a viable business that really stands out above the crowd!

Antimimeticisomorphism Example: Felony Franks

As I explain to my clients – a recession is the best, easiest and least expensive time to start or grow a business. At our Advanced Business Mastery and Exponential Business Building Bootcamp, I explain exactly WHY this is the case and HOW to leverage it. That is a discussion well beyond the scope of a blog post, but if you’re keen to peak into a recent Bootcamp, check out this segment called How To Recession-Proof Your Business.

Let’s look at a few recession success stories:

The Walt Disney Company

In the summer of 1923, Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles to find a distributor for one of his first animations. With America two months into a recession this seemed, at best, hopeful. But by October 1923 Walt Disney had signed a contract with a well-known film distributor. The deal marked the formal beginnings of a film studio which started in a garage, went on to survive the stock market crash of 1929 and today The Walt Disney Company is one of the world’s biggest entertainment businesses in the world.
The Walt Disney Company was not the first to launch in a recession. Of the 30 companies on the Dow Jones industrial index, 16 started in a downturn. Household names like General Electric, Kodak, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and Burger King all launched in tough times. So did some of the most successful
products—the iPod, Sellotape and Monopoly.
There are some advantages to launching a company in a recession. Start-up costs are lower, with real estate, computer equipment and labour more abundant and cheaper. Also in a recession there is less competition so less advertising is needed to get people’s attention—all of which, undoubtedly, helps the
a company to grow in its early years or helps an existing company get a lead on its competitors.

Whenever you do something within your business, you should take advantage of turning it into a FUN activity and then leveraging it as a marketing tool – like Geelong’s Gym did recently when they put up their new sign as part of their corporate facelift and branding makeover. They got their staff up on the scaffolding and turned it into a fabulous fun foto opportunity!

Geelong's Gym Puts Up New Sign!

The key is to have FUN and capturing that on ‘FILM’…

Geelong's Gym Puts Up New Sign!

It’s worth hiring a professional photographer to get it right. You want to capture the emotion, fun and enthusiasm of the event…

What do you have coming up that you can turn into a Fun Foto opportunity?

Exponential Marketing Strategies are so simple that often people discount them as not effective, influential or otherwise important to consider. “Mistake, BIG mistake” – Remember Julia Roberts in Pretty Wowan? Here is Belinda Cohen from Inspired Reality’s version of this principle.

How To Grow Your Business Exponentially

“I am forever preaching to my clients and those who I present to, the importance of continual marketing.  What I mean by this is continuing to demonstrate that you care for and value your clients after the sale has been done and the money received.  Interestingly enough, I recently had this reinforced in a very positive way in my own business.

Earlier in the year, I was contacted by a former workmate to see if I was interested in doing some consulting work for his company.  After the usual meetings the job was confirmed and I undertook approximately two weeks of work for his team to support them in a project that had deliverables at Board level.  The job was straightforward, I completed the work and was paid.

A couple of weeks after completing the job, I wrote an email to my former workmate thanking him for thinking of me and telling him how much I had enjoyed the work and assisting his team.  For me this was simply part of the process of completing the job and coming full circle.

What a wonderful surprise I got when he wrote back not only with positive feedback about the work I had done, but then asking what capacity I had to assist further as they had ‘plenty more’ of that type of work – so much so he enquired as to whether I would be interested in coming on board as a part-time employee!  Whilst the permanent role was not for me, we negotiated an outcome that worked well for both of us and I am now going to assist as a contractor 2 days a week until the work is completed.

They are a great client so I am already enjoying work with them, but more importantly it simply reinforced for me the power of ‘thank you’ in the context of marketing and positive client relationships.”

I know this seems simplistic and self-evident, but y’know what?

Most people don’t do it.

First, they have NO SYSTEMS to make this automatic. They don’t include them in what I call their Pathways To Profits™. Second, it’s rarely done AUTHENTICALLY.

When it is done with sincerity and genuine goodwill, the results are well… Exponential.

By that I mean someone’s business can double or triple in 12 to 24 months ‘easy’. The reason is that EXISTING CLIENTS are easier and LESS EXPENSIVE to sell to than as yet unknown prospects.

Yeah I know. You’ll get around to doing it. I hear that all the time.

If you want to really step up, consider one of our Business Mastery Momentum Memberships that will get you MOTIVATED to ACT and FOLLOW THROUGH on ideas, principles and strategies like this.

Imagine following through on a strategy like this every week… Imagine every day – what would that do to your sales?

Check out this short YouTube video to find out what Exponential REALLY means!