In-Tune News You’ll Want To Use

Hard times create amazing successes.

Despite all the talk today of an oversupply of goods and services, industry consolidation, menacing imports, stalled prices, and shrinking margins, a few remarkable businesses have discovered how to make their brands irresistible to more and more customers. And they have done it in remarkably speedy fashion, seemingly coming out of nowhere to virtually own their markets. Consider, for example, Google, which went from being a nonsense word to a global verb and supernova of the Internet in only three years, which then led to its becoming a publicly traded company with an $80 billion market cap.

Or how about the gizmo named TiVo, which changed television viewing forever for millions of American families by creating buzz outside the typical sales and marketing channels.

Dozens of similarly surprising brands — names like American Girl, Best Buy, Chico’s, Hardiplank, and Washington Mutual — are thriving in all sorts of sectors, from manufacturing to wholesale to retail, and they have been built far more quickly and inexpensively than brands that rely solely on traditional approaches, most notably advertising. How do these luminaries do it? They overpromise and they overdeliver.

It’s a new, faster, and less-expensive approach to beating the competition that I call TouchPoint Branding. Simply put, they have made big promises to their customers, and they are delivering on them in big ways at three important points of interaction.

TouchPoint Branding begins with a unique, attention-grabbing brand promise that radically differentiates a company from its competitors. Google, for instance, vows to lead you to virtually anything you want to know, in 0.2 seconds. TiVo’s pledge is: TV — your way! American Girl promises dolls that enchant girls and teach them how to live a life of substance. And in a glutted business environment in which everyone seems to be shouting the same message simultaneously and at peak volume, exciting, breakthrough brand promises are the best way to stand out from the crowd. New companies must develop unique brand promises just to battle their way into the marketplace.

Established businesses, faced with fighting off upstarts and differentiating themselves from their rivals, have to periodically overhaul their brand promises to adjust to changes in their environments, their competitors, and their customers. But simply coming up with a unique brand promise, or overpromise, isn’t enough. When you overpromise, you will be saying that you are confident your brand will perform. You will be putting your whole reputation for honesty on the line, making a solemn contract with hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of customers. And, as wise managers know, trust is the hard currency of business success. The price for squandering it — sabotaging a brand’s promise — is always too high to pay, because, at the end of the day, the priceless intangible called integrity is the richest asset on any company’s balance sheet.

After a brand promise has been clearly established, you must also overdeliver by keeping your promises in imaginative, dynamic, and unique ways. And to do that, managers will need to get their entire organizations aligned to execute that big promise flawlessly and, above all, consistently every day with every sale or interaction. You must give your customers more than they ever expected from you at each of three critical moments of interaction — the Product TouchPoint, the Human TouchPoint, and the System TouchPoint. That’s where your advantage over competitors will emerge.

When properly executed, TouchPoint Branding enables managers at every level to inspire their employees to overdeliver on the company’s brand promise. This is the breakthrough that can revitalize your company, just as it has propelled the trailblazers I’ve written about here.

Copyright 2005 Rick Barrera

Create breakthrough brands and deliver extraordinary customer experiences with tips from Rick Barrera’s new book, Overpromise and Overdeliver; The Secrets of Unshakable Customer Loyalty. Free excerpt available at Rick’s Overpromise Website

Cram as much content into the brochure, after all
you paid for the printing and the ink - you’ve got to get the most out your investment.

Remember that even if you have the most gripping content out there, if you brochure’s layout isn’t inviting, interesting and non threatening, no one will read what you have to say. Business owners are most likely to fall into this trap when developing ads or marketing collateral it’s this one. Your parents and your grade school teachers were right - sometimes less is more.

Write what you think the important features about
your products and services are.

Oh no, please avoid this like the plague! What you want to focus on is the value as it relates to your clients and customers. Keep in mind who is buying from you; your client are, you’re not buying from yourself. If you want to know what your clients think, feel and want - ask them! If you’d like some guidance on how to ask you clients, call me, I’ll be happy to instruct you how (I’ll probably ask you a few questions as well). Everyone is tuned into the same radio station (WIIFM, what’s in it for me), so everything you include in your brochure should benefit the client from her/his perspective. Does that make sense to you?

Print your brochure to inform people

If you’re in business to sell information, skip this step, but if you’re like most small businesses, you’ll want to read this. I’ll ask business owners, “Why are you having this brochure designed? What is it going to do for you?”, they respond, “We want to keep our customers informed”. Hey, that’s great, keeping people informed is good, but it won’t bring in any sales, and most businesses wouldn’t be investing hard-earned money on something that won’t help the company grow. This is why it’s so important that you as a businessperson take a moment and clearly identify why the brochure is being designed and then setting up some objectives you hope to achieve with it.

Recently a physician contacted me about having us design a brochure for her. She didn’t have an answer to why she was considering having the brochure designed, and didn’t have any clear objectives for it. In the end she designed the brochure herself and didn’t really get anything out of it.

If you want to get the most out of your brochure investment, you have to start with a plan.

Leave it up to the prospect in what the want to
do next

Wow, I started laughing when I wrote this one; this is another outstanding way to make sure your brochure finds its way into the circular file. Of course you don’t want that to happen, so what you want to do is to articulate a clear and defined action step that you want the prospect to take after the brochure. You want to lead your prospects by the hand through your sales process. If you don’t have a sales process, call me, we’ll talk about getting you one, they are critical.

Here’s a trick, find a niece, nephew, son or daughter and ask him/her after reading the brochure, “Do you know what the brochure is asking you to do next?” If she/he doesn’t know what the action step is, you need to go back and make it clearer. The next time you read the paper or see a commercial on television, take a moment and identify the action step, you will almost ALWAYS see one in there, that’s because they are leading you down the path to buying from them. You want your brochure to do the same thing. Now there effective and ineffective action steps, so you want to make sure that the designer who is creating your brochure understands marketing and can develop the right action step to get your prospects to act.

Do it yourself to save money

Well this is a tough one; of course not everyone can afford having professional marketing materials, right? Well, if you want professional results and you’re serious about growing your business you might want to consider it. Business owners by the thousands design their own collateral materials - you can do this too. You’ll want to ask yourself,

How effective am I going to be at designing something that achieves the level of professionalism I want?

Am I going to lose out on sales because my marketing collateral looks mediocre? How much is that costing me?

In terms of dollars and cents, what results can I realistically expect if I design this myself? What kind of results could I expect if I had someone design this for me?

Just remember that your marketing materials are a reflection of your company, your character and your level of professionalism and quality. Based on who you elect to design your brochure, you have the choice to look professional, intelligent or amateurish and no so savvy. Keep in mind that people, whether choosing a date or choosing who they do business with, make up there minds within the first 10 minutes, so you want to make sure you look like the clear and undeniable choice for your prospect to do business with, and well-designed brochure from a business savvy designer can help you do this.

About Jeremy:

I help small businesses build more confidence and credibility into their business brand. Through marketing and design initiatives; I help you feel better about your company. Making you feel good about your business gives you more confidence and less anxiety when you are networking, promoting or selling your business. If your business needs the reliability and talent of an in-house marketing and design department but doesn’t want additional employees, salaries and benefits, give me a call at 480.391.0704 - I have a new approach for you.

If you are looking for more free insight and inspiration, you’ll want to get in on the “Can-Do Confidence Builder”. Emailed weekly, the Confidence Builder provides you with essential marketing and design insights that help you get the most out of your investment and help you to stay one step ahead of the competition. Email me at comments@candographics.com and asked to be added to our list or visit http://www.candographics.com

A few months ago I phoned a number of builders and renovators to research some upcoming magazine articles. Many were gracious enough to spend 5 or 10 minutes answering some questions (I always appreciate that).

One question I asked was “do you guarantee any part of your service, over and above any industry warranty program?”

The interesting thing was the responses fell into two main, but vastly different, categories:

1) “Yes we do, and here it is.”

and

2) “Sure we do…well, it’s kind of like a reputation-thing…we don’t really put it in writing but, if something goes wrong, we’ll deal with it.”

Now, here’s the really interesting part — only one person fell into the first category…everyone else fell into the second.

Pretty striking, isn’t it? Of all the builders and renovators I spoke with, only one had a guarantee over-and-above industry standard, in writing. Everyone else were basically saying “trust us, we’ll take care of it.”

Now, if you’re spending tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars (or more), which are you going to respond more favorably to — “just trust us” or “trust us, and here it is in writing”?

The Miracles of Guarantees

There is a lot of good in guarantees, and not just for the consumer. As a business, you can really benefit, and differentiate yourself, with guarantees.

Here’s three reasons why you should consider them.

REASON #1: No One Else is Doing It

There is no better way to differentiate yourself than by doing something no one else will do. And why isn’t anyone else offering guarantees in writing? Simple…for the same reason you’re probably not: they’re afraid everyone will take advantage of the guarantee and drive their business into the ground.

This is the #1 reasons most businesses don’t use guarantees, and it’s completely unfounded — it fact, the exact opposite is true…and here’s why…

REASON #2: You Attract More Business

Most builders and renovators don’t want to grow their business but, rather, just get more from it. But whether you’re growing your business, or trying to make more from it, the strategy is the same: attract more so you can have your choice of projects.

What if a hundred people banged on your door Monday morning and said “we want you to do our next build / renovation.” Would you turn them away and say, “sorry…too many people” or would you say, “great…tell me what you want done, and I’ll pick the five (or ten, or thirty) that I most want to work with.”

A guarantee helps you do that.

REASON #3: You Can Charge More

The biggie! Who else is sick and tired of low profits? Who has to fight just to get a good price (and a good margin) for a project, only to see the already low profit potential decrease as the problems pile up, and the costs mount (if the low-bidders didn’t steal the project from you in the first place)?

I believe the vast majority of professional builders and renovators don’t charge enough to compensate for the value they deliver in the first place…let alone all the extra pressures that push their prices (and profits) down.

The single easiest way to increase profits is to increase price…and the single easiest way to do that is to increase the value.

One way to do that is offer a “take-it-to-the-bank, get-it-in-writing” guarantee.

If there’s a second reason why most businesses don’t include guarantees it’s because “I can’t afford it.” Well, you can afford it if you charge for it.

If someone is renovating and decides to have low-grade windows put in, they should be charged for low-grade windows, right? If, however, they decide to have high-end, sturdy, energy-efficiency windows put in, they should be charged for high-end windows…right?

So why would it be any different in any other aspect of your business? If you’re adding value, and people want that value, people will pay for it. This includes the protection, and peace of mind, guarantees give.

Set Yourself Apart…Attract More Business to Choose From While Increasing Your Profits!

Guarantees are a great way to put your prospects at ease, knowing that you’ll do the job right, and take care of them if problems should arise. But although every single builder / renovator I spoke with was “guaranteed” their work…only one was willing to put it in writing and earn the trust of their prospects.

The secret is to make sure:

. you can, and will, honour it (that should go without saying)

. know the potential cost, and frequency of the guaranteed work, so you can charge appropriately (this will be refined with time, but even if you’re just starting you can make a decent stab at it.)

and

. let your market know you guarantee your work where others don’t…you’ll become the first choice to do business with (and let the rest of the competition take on the business you don’t want).

You either do quality work or you don’t…right? So guarantee what you know you can, and let the competition wonder how you can ‘afford’ it — ’cause, when it comes from differentiating yourself and being able to defend your higher prices, you can’t afford not to.

Brett Martinson is a professional coach and consultant to the home building and renovation industry. Builders and renovators can sign up for a FREE subscription to his Successful Home Builders’ Newsletter AND receive his free, bonus 5-Part eBook, “5 Profit-Draining Mistakes Builders and Renovators Make…and How to Fix Them” at http://www.SuccessfulHomeBuilders.com

I shop therefore I am? As Ireland’s largest shopping centre opened in Dundrum
and consumer spending rocketed across the country, 2005 was a year in which our
love affair with brands showed little signs of abating.

Whilst H&M, House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and Starbucks arrived to great
fanfare, proving in the early months at least that absence does make the purse and
wallet grow fonder, there was little to suggest that our familiarity with traditional
home-grown retailers was breeding anything other than a continued willingness to
spend, spend, spend (along with contempt for the worried soundings from
economic commentators who suggested that our splurging may be just about to
spiral out of control).

In the midst of this extended retail love-in, it was easy to forget that, more
and more, the great Irish romance is in property, and a few Irish brand giants,
including the likes of Superquinn and Jurys Ballsbridge, were sweet-talked by buyers
who seemed to place greater value on the property bank they had collected than on
any goodwill they had built up over many years of trading.

Goodwill was severely rationed on board another domestic brand, Irish Ferries,
whose troubles quickly became a rallying point for Irish workers concerned about
how the economy is shaping up on wages and conditions of employment. Whilst a
deal of sorts has been thrashed out, public reaction on the streets of our cities
would suggest that the brand has been badly holed beneath the water line and will
do well to stay afloat in the new year.

Meanwhile, the three Irish airlines soared even higher than their tenor
counterparts (who enjoyed their own brand of success during the year). Aer Lingus,
Aer Arann and Ryanair, continued to fly high with each of the three adding more
routes to their already extensive European networks. Each of the airlines operates
from a hugely different brand model (chalk, cheese and charcoal?) and their success
offers a timely reminder that there is plenty of airspace for players in any sector who
are prepared to define a market and stand squarely for something.

Irish politicians branded themselves with a vengeance in 2005, with Enda
Kenny finally showing signs of breaking free from the muddled and indistinct image
that had mired previous leaders of his party. In the meantime, the man whose
position he covets tried on some socialist characteristics for size and found that red
simply didn’t match the shades of green his party usually favours.

Meanwhile, Irish soccer supporters turned various shades as the national team
turned in a series of insipid performances en route to a third place finish in their
qualifying group. More disappointing than the failure to make the grade was the
manner in which the team rolled over to have its belly tickled by unconvincing
opponents in a group that many felt was there for the taking. Since long before the
Charlton era, the Irish soccer brand has been about courage in the face of
overwhelming odds, what the poet Yeats called the “hurling of the little streets upon
the great” and, in the past, a tragic failure to qualify, allied to a show of steely,
native pluck, has simply added to the national sense of having won a moral victory.
Deprived of victory of any sort this time round, the Irish supporter felt cheated by
what he saw as the team’s betrayal of core values.

On the world scene, the big brand stories of the year were largely taking place
on the Internet. Confidence in the medium returned to levels unseen since before
the dot.com bubble burst with names such as eBay and Google growing in stature,
value and reach through the year. The announcement in early December by the
Oxford University Press that their ‘Word of the Year’ was ‘podcast’ (what they defined
as, “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on
the internet for downloading to a personal audio player”) confirmed both Apple’s
continued resurgence on the back of their iPod success of the previous year, as well
as the growing popularity of the internet as both communications and commercial
arena.

We were also treated to a new brand of papacy, with the man formerly known
as ‘God’s rottweiler’ stepping into a role that had been indelibly made his own by
one of the twentieth century’s most charismatic figures. From a PR perspective,
Benedict XVI handled his own elevation most skilfully, presenting himself in contrast
to “the great John Paul II” as a “simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord”.
Despite this rather meek language, the early signs are that, far from hiding in the
shadow of his predecessor, this Pope is ready to surprise his detractors by showing
an unexpected lightness of touch in his public dealings whilst asserting his own,
distinctive leadership style.

On the big screen, brand was king, with leading box office contenders King
Kong, Harry Potter and Narnia displaying all that we expect of the great brands: the
powerful story of a compelling hero, vividly told for a contemporary audience. That
none of this is any accident is evident in the words of Philip Boyens, screenwriter for
the remake of King Kong: “This is a classic story and it can withstand many
retellings. It doesn’t matter how good the effects, if you don’t care about the
characters and the story, then spectacular doesn’t really mean anything.” Advice
that any would-be brand builder would do well to take to heart.

Meanwhile, back where we started in the world of retail, the fall of beauty Kate Moss matched that of the beast and sent her own brand endorsement value tumbling with global names such as Chanel, H&M and Burberry rushing to put distance between themselves and their erstwhile, beloved heroine. Whilst critics
were quick to point out that the model’s behaviour was scarcely news to those who
had commissioned her in the first place, the story does remind us that in 2005, the
power of the brand to make or break personal and corporate fortune remains
undiminished and that “I shop therefore I am” looks likely to remain the consumer
mantra long into 2006 and beyond.

Gerard Tannam is the founding Managing Director of Islandbridge Brand
Development, a business that delivers brand direction, planning and
communications across a wide range of sectors including retail, property, hospitality
and tourism. Recent clients include Temple Country Retreat & Spa, Platinum Hotels,
Liberty Limousines, The Westport Woods Hotel, The Arbutus Hotel Killarney, The
Smile Conference and DIT School of Hospitality Management. More details at
http://www.islandbridge.com.

In Network Marketing so often you hear the word - Duplication. You must duplicate yourself. Well, I don’t know about you, but I do know it is impossible to ‘duplicate’ myself!

Have you had the same life experiences I’ve had? What about your education? Your skills? Is it possible to really duplicate that? NO of course not!

Yet this fallacy is so often taught that it really creates confusion as to what duplication really is.

Brand Yourself

You need to be a ‘Brand of One’. You are unique, your skills, your life experiences, your personality and your circle of influence.

Now, if you heard that little voice go off in your head saying things like “I’m not special” “there is nothing really unique about me” and all those other negative thoughts that flood through your mind. STOP! Now!

Stop and make a list right now, of all your successes you have had in life up to this point. How many special people do you have in your life? ‘They’ are your circle of influence. Those other success’s you’ve had are a result of your ‘unique’ talents and abilities. These things make up the ‘essence of you’ your unique ‘Brand of One’.

Then Market ‘That’ Brand

Instead of going out there and ‘marketing’ your ‘wonderful company’, ‘your wonderful products’ and ‘your wonderful comp plan’. (just hear me out before you throw me out the door!) Market ‘yourself’. How? Let’s take a look.

By ‘being’ known in your community, known in your circle of influence for the ‘Brand Of One’. If you are knowledgeable about a specific topic or for having a special ’skill’, this in itself builds the ‘know, like and trust’ that is ‘essential’ for building your network marketing business.

Continue to ‘be’ the person you have always been, learning and growing as that person. So when the time is ‘right’ to share:

• what you ‘found out’ in regard to a way to clear those long standing debts,
• or a way for young mums to stay home and still earn an income,
• or maybe you share a way for people to maintain their health and vitality so they can enjoy quality of life in retirement
  As you ’share’, people will be ‘willing’ to ‘listen’ because you have built that ‘brand of one’.

Duplication

Now for the ‘duplication’ - you duplicate and encourage each person to ‘be unique’ developing their own skills, talents and circle of influence. Then duplicate the ongoing use / consumption of products - finding two to four other people willing to continue ‘being’ themselves, using the products and finding two other unique individuals willing to do the same.

THAT is the ultimate in duplication.

Delmae Bower writes from Melbourne Australia and has 25 years experience in Direct Sales and Network Marketing. http://www.my-homebased-business.com/brandofone

A few days ago, I mentioned that an easyJet flight to Venice had provided me with an insight to Stelios (Haji-Ioannou), the founder of the ground-breaking low-cost airline, which has revolutionised European air travel.

He was listing his top five things he ‘wished I had known when I started’.

Previously I mentioned that he wished he’d been ‘clear on his strengths and delegated the rest’. If you missed it you can find this on the 18th of November entry of my blog, through the link at the bottom of the article.

Number two on his list states:-

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Focus - on your job, on your brand.”

This seems a bit of a contradiction to me, but the essence of the best part of what he said, for me is the second bit:-

“Focus on your Brand”

As I see it, this can be construed two ways. It can be the brand of the business or organisation you work within, or it can be your personal brand - about who you are in the work you do.

Working on any Brand means initially being really clear about what it is that you represent, where you are going in your offer and pulling all the stops out to consistently deliver that. To be authentic - all the time.

It is about questioning every action and measuring against the background of the Brand you personally, your business or organisation are.

Clarity and focus are what you must have as a constant magnet drawing you forward.

© 2005-6 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.

…helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow…

Designing a logo can be an exciting process, and with an infinite array of logo design possibilities, it’s easy to forget to think about how your logo will look when you’re actually using it. No matter the nature of your business, you want to make sure your logo will look great no matter where you decide to use it.

It is important to remember that complex logos, although they may look great on a
large sign or on the company website, may not look so hot when shrunk down to fit
on business cards and company pens. Logos will need to be adjusted when they are
applied to stationary, t-shirts, business cards and websites. Aside from having
access to the different file forms of your logo (jpg, eps, Tif.), keep the logo simple,
avoid using too many colors and think about how you will be using your logo down
the road. This can save you a lot of trouble down the line.

A good logo is one that will fulfill all your needs, and part of that means being able
to make it look great no matter how and where you choose to use it, whether that is
on a billboard, on coasters, jackets, hats, or on your company’s vehicle, so keep
that in mind as you design a company logo.

Jonathan Munk writes articles for major Logo Maker companies such as http://www.LogoWorks.com and http://www.LogoMaker.com

For more information about LogoWorks visit
Statesman.com

Branding Services is a tactic that marketing executives and managers should not only understand, but also employ. Branding services helps your company clearly position your company over your competition by branding your product/service in the minds of your target markets. This helps build brand identity, brand image and overall brand equity.

Once you build brand recognition with your products/services with your company, you’re destined to establish total brand equity. Think about safe cars - there are thousands of vehicles to choose from for a safe car, but isn’t the first name you think of Volvo? This is because they have done a great job of branding services.

Once you’ve established a strong brand image then your customers will keep coming back over and over. You’ll be able to do this with the proper branding strategy. A Branding consultant, can help you discover the correct way to establish your brand and receive the best ROI.

Marketing and advertising alone will not catapult you over your competition. What does that is branding services consultant. They can help you position and differentiate your business.

They can help you develop the proper branding strategy, web design and marketing efforts to increase your business. It can be anything from helping you redesign your web site, develop ads, re-position your company or develop a direct mail campaign.

One of the most important things you can do for your firm is to find branding consultants who will know your industry and provide expert objective advise. Branding services is a tough task and an expert can bring you to the next level.

So, take a good look at the kind of business you are doing. Is your company’s brand strong enough? If not, then perhaps it’s time to start thinking about branding services.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Americans have always liked their coffee hot. But then Starbucks
made hot coffee desirable, in demand, and extraordinarily
profitable. And then Starbucks made coffee “cool” with its
super-popular iced Frappucino drink — just as trendy,
fashionable, and universally appealing.

Starbucks is no doubt one of the greatest marketing stories of
recent history. How this company turned an unassuming beverage
into an icon of sophistication and taste is no mystery, however.
It’s all about a marketing tenet called positioning.

The coffee company started out in Seattle’s Pike Place market in
1971 as a single gourmet coffee shop, and by 1995, the chain’s
earnings were $26.1 million. Marketing experts agree that
Starbucks’ skyrocket to fortune centers on its aesthetic sense.
In other words, the public’s perception of Starbucks has to do
with how it appreciates this company’s style. Sure, Starbucks
filled a need and created unique product brands, but what
attracts coffee drinkers again and again is the experience of
the Starbucks environment and its products. Smooth,
sophisticated, artistic: These are seductive qualities even for
a business based on a little brown bean.

The Starbucks story illustrates at least two powerful marketing
principles. Both help us to better understand effective
positioning, or the process of finding a “place” for ourselves
in people’s minds:

1. People buy for their own reasons, not anyone
   else’s.

2. The stronger position is found in the experience, outcome,
   or benefit you provide as opposed to the methods you use for
   producing those outcomes.

Starbucks shows us that it’s not about packaging — it’s about
positioning. The environment of Starbucks creates an experience
that invites us to come study for exams, hang out and
philosophize with friends, or get the day started with a warm
cup of java and the morning news. Starbucks is an invitation to
linger, not just get your coffee and go.

When you are assessing your own position and considering how you
might improve your image and thus your market share, remember
that there are essentially four winning positions: better,
different, faster, or cheaper. You can certainly position
yourself as one of these, perhaps even two; capturing a position
as three of them is tough and probably not desirable, and
cornering all four is just about impossible.

Not everyone is up to the task of creating another Starbucks.
It’s tempting, with price wars so rampant, to believe that a
perception of being cheapest is easiest to establish. Yet in
truth this is the most difficult because of fixed costs. It’s
like doing the limbo: you can go only so low, and then you’re
overextended or flat on your back. Definitely not the easiest
position to be in.

How about being better instead? Contrary to popular belief, this
is perhaps the easiest position to take, since making an
improvement or simply creating the impression of greater quality
or ability has no constraints. One tip: when you capture the
different category, you may get the better category as a
by-product.

Starbucks capitalized on this technique, as did Dennis Rodman,
the oddball of basketball. He came up with a way to take two
positions in fans’ eyes: both different and better. Okay, maybe
he wasn’t actually better than his teammate Michael Jordan, who
was unbeatable, but certainly he was perceived for a time as
better (cooler, trendier) among those who were captivated by his
style. His fashion and fascinating antics made him so unique that
he became unforgettable. And because he was also an excellent
ball handler, he became famous and highly regarded in his
sport.

BMW has also taken the better-different approach. Until fairly
recently, Mercedes-Benz had the better luxury car market sewn
up, so BMW — a competitor with a parity product — simply
repositioned itself. Its tag, “the ultimate driving machine,”
appeals to a younger crowd and gives them luxury with power and
handling. This is “hip luxury,” which is different from the
Mercedes position, which could be summed up as “elegant luxury.”
And voil: BMW became as hot and desirable as a cappucino on a
wintry morning.

BMW marketers had both a strong sense of the position they
wanted to hold and precisely defined their premium clients, the
créme de la créme within their target market. You can do this,
too. Once you’ve figured out what position you can successfully
gain in your business, ask yourself the following.

• Who is my premium client? Who would be the most enjoyable
  and rewarding to serve?
• What are this client’s unique desires, needs, and
  challenges? How can I best serve this client?
• What do I (or can I) provide in a unique way to help my
  clients achieve their business outcomes?
• How can I position myself as an expert in this market?

With this information, you can tailor your marketing efforts –
everything you say to people, any support materials you use,
even the way you dress and act — directly to this audience to
help establish your position. This is the first step to “owning
your market.”

Positioning is like popularity: You have to be seen in the right
places and with the right people. This is more than social
climbing: You learn more about your clients and they learn more
about you when you frequent the same places, attend the same
functions, join the same associations, be published in their
periodicals, and develop products and services specifically for
them.

Positioning is as much about who you are not as it is about who
you are. Starbucks is not a cheaper and faster cuppa joe; it is
an upscale, gourmet coffee experience. BMW is no old-style
luxury; it is stylish performance. Dennis Rodman is no gentleman
forward; he is the outrageous, extreme athlete who is a
recognized celebrity even for people who don’t know basketball
from billiards.

Do you want to win big? If so, have the courage to answer these
questions clearly and define your own game: Who are you? Who are
you not? Who are your clients? These are the essential decisions
you must make if you want to not only understand but own your
market.

James Arthur Ray of James Ray International is an expert in
teaching individuals how to achieve Harmonic Wealth in
all areas of their life by focusing on what they want, opposed
to what they don’t want. He has been speaking to individuals as
well as Fortune 500 companies for over 20 years and is the
author of four books and an inventor of numerous learning
systems. His studies of highly successful people prove that they
continually achieve results by taking control of their thoughts
and actions to create and shape their own reality.

The Power to Win seminar (http://www.ThePowerToWin.com)
will explain in detail how success is state of mind and how the
principles of quantum physics (as seen in the movie What the
Bleep) can be applied to proven success-building techniques.
James will also cover why people who are successful in one
area of their life tend to be successful in all areas. For more information,
visit http://www.ThePowerToWin.com.

Successful Realtors know the importance of branding their
identities into the consciousness of the communities in
which they live, like the big boys; Pepsi, McDonald’s,
Burger King, and other companies we know and have come to
trust.

Why is branding important? Think about it! When you want a
soda do you buy an unknown off-brand just because it’s
cheap?

Or, do you reach for a Coke? I’m a Pepsi guy myself, but you
get my drift!

And why do you do that? Because there’s comfort in
familiarity and you know what you’re getting when you buy
it.

We spend mega bucks on name brand products just because
we’ve been inundated with their marketing campaign messages.

Don’t believe me? Try this! Quick, who said “Have It Your
Way”; “Soup and Sandwich, Soup and Sandwich”; “Oh, I wish I
was an ____ ____ ____, that is what I truly want to Be…”.
Point made!

People support businesses and products that they are
comfortably familiar with, even when the familiarity is
solely based on marketing campaigns, while avoiding the
unknowns.

The same is true for homeowners wanting to list properties
for sale with real estate agents. Unless there’s a
compelling reason to do so they’re not going to list their
property with a rookie agent, or worst yet somebody who’s
been in the business for years, but who hasn’t really been
in the business. Know what I mean?

Now, we may not like it but we do understand it. Still, it’s
difficult for newly licensed and even some veteran real
estate agents to make a living selling real estate because
of it.

So how does this impact you? It doesn’t if you have
thousands of dollars and can afford a couple of years to get
beyond it.

But if you’re relatively new to the profession and have
limited resources you just might have a problem.

Established agents have already put in time and money
cultivating their images, and when people in their
respective communities want to buy or sell real estate they
think of them - not you.

So, what can you do about it? Lots actually, but for now
I’ll focus on one thing; farming prospects.

Why? Because when done right you can easily put hundreds of
business cards, letters and other marketing materials in the
hands of known sellers and potential buyers every month.

Simply stated, the more people you contact the sooner you
brand yourself as an agent worthy of consideration. Anything
short of this is whistling in the wind.

Take a moment and honestly assess your situation. How many
contacts are you presently averaging - daily, weekly,
monthly?

Are they random contacts (shotgun approach) of people who
might be interested in your services, or with real prospects
known to need services right now (laser beam approach)?

A good real estate listing system can help put you on a fast
track to gaining name recognition within your community in
months, instead of years. And it won’t cost you thousands of
dollars to implement.

Let me suggest, though, that you avoid systems that appear
complicated, or that are hundreds of pages long. If it takes
days to read and weeks to comprehend whose really going to
read it and follow through to boring completion, anyway? Not
me!

Also, consider the following before committing to a
particular listing system.

1. Does it come with a satisfaction money back guarantee?

2. If you’re buying on line is a contact name and phone
number readily available on the website?

3. Can you reach anybody or get a response to a message when
you call before buying?

If the answers to any of the above are a resounding “no”
then I suggest that you put your credit card back in your
pocket and continue looking.

Proceed with caution, but do proceed, as you need a system
that’ll give you a competitive advantage.

Summarily, a good real estate listing system can help you
brand yourself relatively quickly. So, get one as soon as
you can and start claiming your share of the market!

Lanard Perry is the author of “Farming Expired Listings”, a
real estate listing system that shows Realtors how to secure
1-2 real estate listings a week. Get a FREE Sample Chapter at
http://www.farmingexpiredlistings.com