Anita Sharpe, a contributor to Worthwhile Magazine writes about a conversation she had with Mark Kaiser, a well respected business person, two time winner of the Forbes High Tech 50 award.

“The simplest definition of business is you solve a customer’s problem and create sustainable profits over time. Anyone with vision should understand the problem they’re solving. The problem with business today is that people think the meaning is about building a monument to yourself. The meaning of business is having an impact on people’s lives.”

My question of myself and of you is…. are you building a monument to yourself with your business?

Or are you creating a organization of impact on your clients lives and businesses, which rewards you with sustainable profits.

Even if you are the face and voice of your business, it is ultimately not about you.

It’s about them.

Mark Cuban, outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks talks about passion in his online blog.

I love what he says.

A byproduct of passion is saying exactly how you feel in a way that you know will get someone’s attention, and listening to exactly how someone else feels when they need to get your attention. All of this is my way of saying that I expect people who work for me to yell at me, and I expect them to know that at times I will do the same. If someone is pissed off, if they think I’m doing something wrong, or the wrong way, and I’m being too pigheaded to see it. Blast me.

I think sometimes we get so concerned that our staff respects us that we eliminate the opportunity for them to get our attention with us when we are preoccupied or are not willing to hear.

Cuban goes on to say…

I have told just about everyone who has ever partnered or reported directly to me, that I can get so focused or involved that I lose sight of something(s). When that happens, you have done your homework and are confident in your position, and when I don’t listen, raise your voice. Figuratively, literally, I don’t care. I don’t see decibels as a sign of disrespect. I see fear to communicate a needed message to me as a sign of disrespect. If you don’t care enough about our product, customer, company, employee, whatever it may be to step up and let me have it when I’m screwing up, then you don’t care enough to be here.

In the context of marketing, are you willing to raise your voice to your prospects? If you have a something that can help them, change them, save them… if what you have is valuable, why are you afraid to raise your voice about it?

Especially when what they are currently doing is hurting them, harming them or not giving them the results they deserve.

I’m not suggesting yelling at your customers… I’m encouraging you to speak up and tell them what they need to hear.

It’s scary to see a prospect or client doing something wrong and then calling them on it.You risk them rejecting you.

But if you are passionate about helping them and what you provide can do that, you’d be crazy not to.

If you are willing to give it… are you also willing to take it.

Are you willing to put yourself in the context of someone who is willing to passionate raise their voice at you as it relates to your marketing? It could be a coaching situation, a mastermind group… or with a makeshift “board.”

But you need to open yourself to others criticism, ideas and advice – even if it is done with decibels.

Service market leaders have found that success begins with limiting their focus and saying “NO.”

They say…

• NO to certain markets
• NO to some types of customers
• NO to certain categories of service offerings
• NO to some service levels
• NO to expansion in some geographies
• NO to certain growth opportunities

Wonderfully, saying “NO” to all these means an expanded “YES” to even better opportunities.

What are you saying no to?

I have often asked my clients this question…

“If you didn’t have a salesperson (even if that person was you)  to sell your services, what would you do? How would you get new clients?”

That answer is the foundation of your marketing plan.

What steps would you need to take to identify and find clients, woo them, engage them, qualify them and ultimately close them if you didn’t have the benefit of a person to do it?

If you think this task would be impossible, I suspect that your marketing program is limited in it’s ability to attract and move prospects towards you and to a buying decision. I would surmise that you place an inordinate amount of expectation on your salespeople (or yourself) to produce results… but don’t have the tools or tactics in place to give them a steady stream of prospects to talk to as a result of your marketing.

Something to consider today.

That’s right, here’s the inaugural show of my new video show entitled,

The World’s Most PERSONAL Business Marketing Show

Thanks for joining me. Please feel free to send me your questions, comments and more below.

Announcing: The World’s Most Personal Business Marketing Show

I read Craig Terrels and Arthur Middlebrooks book entitled, Market Leadership Strategies for Service Companies. Definitely worth the read.

I am struck immediately by the trap they say many service companies fall into, namely of “doing things better.”

The need for constant improvement in process, quality, cycle time and a host of other operational activities has not necessarily helped to improve market share and profits. It has however created a “commodity” mentality into our businesses.

I am sure that many of us have fallen into this trap. So listen to what Terrels and  Middlebrooks say in the 3rd Chapter.

Service companies need to dare to be different.

To find a leadership position in the market…. and then to lead. The key strategy is to be different from competitors. Service market leaders dominate their market niches by playing their own game, as opposed to one-upping competitors with the exact same offering. They break free from “be better” – internally oriented initiatives to pursue “be different” – externally oriented strategies.

Being different is grounded in providing customers with the unique value that they cannot get from any other competitor. It means constantly moving into uncharted waters and rallying the organization to do so confidently.

Are you willing to play your own game? To stand out in an overt and obvious way?To DARE to be different?

It can be scary, but very worth it.

I rant about this regularly, but your positioning is critical.

You must create a obvious uniqueness that allows you to differentiate yourself in the market.

You must stand out.

Check out this store that is doing it.

Let it be a catalyst for you in defining your own position. 

It only sells stuff that is black and white.

If they can create a very definable position, so can you.

If everyone in your market is selling colors and shades of gray, why not be the black and white option.  If everyone else does “x” make sure you do “y” or at least “X” with “y”

This video might be a reminder to you that if you want to do something great, be aware that others might question you on it. Don’t let them.

Be remarkable, no matter what!

Seth Godin writes in Purple Cow

If you’re remarkable, it’s likely that some people won’t like you. That’s part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise — ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out.

Probably the scariest thing about putting yourself out there is the fear of what “they” might say. They might be your spouse, your parents…I’ve even had clients tell me they feared what their competitor might say.

Where did you learn to fail? If you’re like most Americans, you learned in first grade. That’s when you started figuring out that the safe thing to do was to fit in . . .

Are you going to continue to play it safe? Not stand out? Not be remarkable?

“Playing it safe. Following the rules. Those seem like the best ways to avoid failure. And in school, they may very well be. Alas, these rules set a pattern for most people (like your boss?), and that pattern is awfully dangerous. These are the rules that ultimately lead to failure.

Think about it.

Without question most of us really want to listen to our prospects, our clients… our market. And in many cases we have the tools and systems set up to listen.

BUT…

Are we really hearing them?

There’s a great line in the movie “The Hunt For Red October.”  Maybe you remember it.

Jack Ryan, looking at a radar screen, asks “What are those destroyers doing?”

The Captain says, “They’re listening with sonar, looking for the Red October. Funny thing though–they’re moving so fast, they could run over my daughter’s stereo and not catch it.”

They’re listening. But moving so fast they can’t hear.

Does that ring true for you?

Are you moving so fast you miss the obvious clues your market is giving you?

Marketing is about listening. It’s not just about pitching.

And as we are all discovering, even the new social media requires us to listen first before we start sharing.

But if you are moving so fast you miss it, what good is listening?

Today’s I encourage you as I encourage myself to slow down enough to hear.