Positive Affirmations something an old boxer said

Positive mental attitude and self belief mantra is a massive industry with solutions provided by Guru’s and would be Guru’s trying to sell their latest recordings, books, seminars and so forth.

Now clearly a positive mental attitude isn’t the solution to everything, but when you are leading a business, particularly a business that’s in difficulties, its far better to have one, to transmit your positive beliefs and mindset to your colleagues, rather than being a defeatist and being negative.

Having turned around businesses in the past myself, I believe that being positive and keeping your emotions under control are part of the ‘tool kit’ required to deal with difficult situations.

Positive affirmations, such as; ‘I always can find a solution to a problem,’ or when you are going into a meeting with the Bank for example; ‘I am prepared for this meeting they can ask me anything and I’ll be able to answer it.’ ‘I’m a bloody negotiator; I’m a great salesperson etc.’

These kinds of statements do help.

I often recalled a story which my Father told me that he would recount when facing difficult situations.

He used to say to me, ‘You cannot let it beat you Mark, if you believe you can get through it you will.’

He told me on a number of occasions about what his brother in law Bill had told him.

Bill was a boxer who was a prize fighter in the 1930’s who took people on who challenged him, as well as fighting other professional boxers.

‘Let me tell you what your uncle Bill told me, after a particularly bad fight, Bill asked another older and more experienced boxer, called McKinty a question.’ Bill said; ‘What do you do McKinty, when you are in trouble in a fight?’ McKinty's reply was; 'Well when you are faced with a situation of great adversity, what you need to do is, get your head down and box on.’

My Dad would then reiterate the point, ‘So you see Mark we’ve got to not let this beat us, lets get stuck in like McKinty, get your head down and box on.’

I was reminded by all of this the other day, when I came across a board minute when I was clearing out some old papers. If was fifteen years ago when I put forward a plan to turn a group around, it certainly helped being positive.

Signing off for now, if you have any of your own story’s about being positive or positive affirmations, let me know and we can feature them on this blog.

I’m looking for guest writers.

Take care; get your head down and box on!!


Regards Mark 




Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2010 All Rights Reserved

Repurchase Systems

A repurchase system is a hidden marketing asset. (See my earlier posts which explain more about hidden marketing assets).

Your customers or clients should benefit when they purchase your product or service when it’s needed. 

You might think that's an obvious statement, but do your customers or clients purchase at the optimum time?

Do you have repurchase systems in place?


For example, it might be better for you to get your hair cut every four weeks not every six weeks.

So the optimal time is four weeks not six, to avoid those bad hair days!

What does that mean if you own a hairdressers business or hair salon owner, if your from the USA? 

Lets say the price is £10 for a cut for man. If someone purchases every six weeks that's it works out at 8.66 haircuts a year, well we don't have a .66 of a haircut, so lets say its 8 haircuts a year.

For at least two weeks out of this six week cycle, your hair might look slightly untidy.

Its £80 sales revenue per customer, per year without any extras.

Now if the hairdresser pre-booked the appointment and managed to get their customers to have their haircut every four weeks, that would generate 13 haircuts a year or £130 per customer in revenue an additional £50 per customer on the six week repurchase cycle or 62.5% more.

Just by changing the repurchase pattern, you can achieve a significant increase in sales.

In our Results Driven Marketing coaching program we have around 23 different proven marketing strategies like this one, to increase sales and profits. Creating better repurchase systems is one of the approaches we can use.

The program is available internationally coaching takes place via the telephone or video.

If you implement the ideas and strategies that we create for you, your return is guaranteed. 


Significant levels of growth is possible with the system.


Why not email me to find out more.

Regards




Mark




Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2010 All Rights Reserved

Hidden Unique Selling Proposition

I went to see a new prospect today, a really nice chap with an interesting business.


Without giving away who he is; its an online business which helps other business owners manage their people.


He has advantages in his services that are superior to the major competitors. 


When I asked him what are his concerns about his marketing he complained that 'people don't understand our service.'


Well prior to the meeting I reviewed his website and considered the notes from my first phone call with him. During the meeting he told me about other features and benefits, about how his system worked and guess what?


What do you think it said on his website and in his sales copy about the advantages of dealing with him?


Not a lot , he really wasn't telling anyone about his unique selling points or the extra value he was providing or about why people should do business with him as apposed to his competitors. So no wonder people didn't  understand his service.

A Hidden USP

If your business isn't communicating about 'what's in it for me,' from your prospective customers point of view, why should they care why should they buy from you?


Anyway here is the ad. If you need a new USP creating to convert more sales, just email me and I will explain how I work etc. It does not matter where in the world you are, this service can be handled via the web.


Take Care 


Regards


Mark



P.S. If what you do is good TELL PEOPLE.!!!!



A Results Driven Approach To Your Business Success


Mark Wheatley associates is a business development company that helps companies and professional firms grow providing low cost business growth strategies and sales techniques through coaching training and consulting services www.wheatleyassociates.org

Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

The Sun Asda and Tesco

I was doing the weekly shop the other week and the cashier said to me 'would you like a Sun to read, its free,' I was about to say no and then she said 'you can have £5 off your shopping bill,'

Well money for nothing and the Sun for free that's almost a song. Anyway it was a deal based on an irresistible offer. Why wouldn't I want £5 off for no effort on my part, even if I don't like reading the Sun, who's headline was all about the none football activities of our England football captain that was.


When I said okay to the cashier, she opened the Sun and she tore out the coupon that was in a full page ad that Asda was running.


It was interesting to see how Tesco reacted to the competitive threat and a reminder that coupons are a direct response tool to bring new customers or clients into your business.


You don't however have to spend money on full page ads in national newspapers to take advantage of this lead generation mechanism. There are online and offline methods which are both low cost and very effective. 


If you want to know which work best or tell other people your experiences with coupons please leave a comment.


Regards


Mark



Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved

No Posts Last Month

Greetings all blog readers!


I did not make a post last month because I was very busy helping my brother sell one of our businesses. 


In terms of what's going on at the moment I am currently working on a new business development course which will be supported  by coaching.


This will be launched in April of this year. Its taking the Michael Gerber principle a bit further, 'working on the business not in the business.' 


The objective is to grow a business incrementally by between 2-5% per month, addressing seven results divers. The course only requires an hour a week of the business owners time and I am throwing in some time management principles that will help you create additional time, if you are time pressured.


You can in fact sign up to the time management report on the blog and that will explain some of the concepts. Since I've not been attentive to my readers if you sign up to time management report I'll send you something else that you will find useful.


That's all for now.


Regards


Mark






Integrated Marketing  Copyright Mark Wheatley 2009 All Rights Reserved