Welcome to the world of marketing
This report is written especially for you, the small business owner/entrepreneur, who has invested and risked perhaps your life savings to build a better future for you and your family. I feel your pain and struggle, and know your desire to build a successful business. My goal is to share with you some very powerful and insightful marketing strategies. I know, if implemented correctly, these strategies can bring strong revenue growth over the next thirty to ninety days.

These marketing concepts may seem new and different than most conventional marketing texts, but trust me, they work!

My concepts are not theoretical, but simple and practical. My focus is to give you tools, tips and strategies that work. Although I will give you a lot of ideas, what is more important is that you adopt the “mindset” of a true marketing professional. In this way you’ll be able to do your own marketing, and not have to rely on outside help. Your marketing destiny does not have to be in the hands of outside agencies. You should be in control! Believe me, marketing is not rocket science! It is the very simple process of bringing value to the marketplace. 

So without further delay, let’s get started on how we can grow your business, or help you get it off the ground and make it successful! 

The first thing you need to know is why people buy anything from you. Value is the answer! 

The most important concept for any business owner or entrepreneur to know is why people buy. After all, you are in the business of selling something – a product, service, or idea. 

So, as part of my marketing mindset training, the first thing to grasp is the “psychology of buying,” or why people buy. I want to eliminate some of the false beliefs that surround the whole concept. Once you understand why people buy, selling becomes a whole lot easier. 

Contrary to traditional marketing texts and teaching, marketing is not about finding a need and filling it. Nearly every marketing text will tell you this, but it is simply not true! 

People don’t buy things because they need them. They buy things because they associate some level of value with them, and they perceive they will gain value from the buy. 

Let me explain. We don’t have “needs propositions” in the business world, but we do have “value propositions.” Every savvy business person will use this term.

In the real world people may need to take vitamins, exercise daily etc, but it is only when it becomes of significant value to them that they will actually take action. Value is really the want behind the need. You will always get what you want, but not necessarily what you need.

For example, you go to a car dealer because you need a new car, but you will purchase what you want and what is of perceived value to you.

People don’t just buy for benefit, since benefit is basically tangible value, but there is also something called “intangible value,” the feeling and emotions that people attach to a purchase. This is the whole concept behind branding, making you feel good, safe and secure about your purchase.

Remember, something may benefit you, but may not be of value to you. If it was all about benefit, every business decision in the world would be in black and white. All you would have to do is to show people the benefit of your product, service or idea and you’d be done. But life does not work that way. There is an element of intangible value, and this is where relationships, golf games, dinners, gifts, etc., come into focus. To be successful in selling, stop focusing on people’s needs and benefits, and start focusing on what is of real value to them. Then you will have found the winning formula.

There needs to be some level of trust in you, and your product, service or idea before anyone will do any business with you. People will only buy things when they see and trust in both you and your offering, and that you and your offering will deliver the perceived value they want.

So here is Marketing 101 by Ali Pervez: Marketing is all about bringing value to the marketplace, and bringing customers the perceived value they want and desire. If you understand this, you will run circles around your competition.

Now that you have adopted the mindset of a true marketing professional, let’s move on and talk about why your current marketing may not be effective. 

It’s not your fault your marketing is not working. No one ever taught you!

As a small business owner or entrepreneur you probably have had little or no marketing training. But now you are running a business where the front end, the process of attracting and retaining customers, is called marketing. And you’ve just invested your life savings in it! As a savvy business owner, you will quickly come to realize the importance and significance of marketing, and maybe read the odd book or two on the subject. The problem with this scenario is that most of the marketing books available are usually too academic and theoretical. They will teach you about the 4P’s of marketing, segmentation, branding, and the different methods of promotion, without telling you that the role of marketing in business is to simply generate sales. It’s no more than a tool to get sales!

If you are a well-groomed CEO, you may have done an MBA in marketing, or attended a Marketing course at the University level, but mainly you learned academic concepts not relevant to your business. Learning how a CEO developed a marketing strategy that turned around a multibillion dollar consumer products company may have little significance and relevance to you if you are a business that only has 90 days of cash flow left, and desperately need to generate some sales!

What is even worse, and what I address in my book Marketing is King! is that no MBA course in the world teaches Sales 101. Business marketing should have only one focus: how to generate sales. It’s a sad situation.

In reality, very few places can teach “real world marketing”: Marketing that can bring in a significant amount of sales in the next 30-90 days.

It’s really not your fault if you do not practice marketing correctly, since no one ever taught you the right way. I hope that my simple example of how marketing is not about finding a need and filling it, shows you how there is a significant gap in our marketing education. Marketing today is about finding out what people value and providing them with a solution.

How most business marketing is done today: The state of the union

So let me show you how most companies market. Many simply see marketing as “ransom money” – they spend money to advertise because they fear their competitors will “eat their lunch” if they don’t spend the equivalent amount. This is “fear” based marketing, and not very constructive. 

Marketing should be seen as investment spending. If you do your marketing right, it should generate massive sales for you. In other words, if your marketing is not generating revenue, stop it!

If it can’t be measured, tracked or monitored, control it. But most of all make your marketing accountable to you. You would not allow your employees to come to work and not produce results. In the same way, hold your marketing accountable.

Most business owners have been trained by the advertising media that the only way to grow sales is through advertising. This is simply not true. In fact, there are no numbers that can show a direct correlation between advertising and sales. If there was a direct correlation, companies would simply double their advertising budget in order to double sales. But this does not happen. 

And most business owners think that it takes money to make money. I respectfully disagree. It takes brains to make money. You don’t need money to do quality marketing, you need brains. There are so many inexpensive things that you can do versus conventional advertising. 

The first and easiest thing to do is to get more business from your existing customers. Network with them to reach their friends, or implement a so-called formal referral program. (You probably have an informal program now. A formal one ensures that word of mouth gets translated into real dollars.) Also, put into place a loyalty program to make your existing customers buy more, and more frequently. A formal referral program and loyalty program can double or even triple your sales. It’s a myth that a huge advertising budget will grow a business. I know of several companies that have grown to millions of dollars insales without spending a dime on so called formal advertising.

There are so many more effective ways to sell than conventional advertising.

– Put in a formal referral system

– Do very focused direct mailings to your database

– Hold special events

– Develop a sales force, or link up to an existing one

– Attend and present at trade shows

– Program customers to buy more frequently

– Partner with people that offer similar products

– “Back-end” (which means sell add-on products) 

There are myriads of ways to “market.” And each can be used, irrespective of the type of business you are in.

However most businesses are focused on just one, which is “the big P” of marketing: Promotion. When promotion is actually the most ineffective and inefficient way to market or get business.

Why do business owners do it? Because this is the way they were taught. Advertising was fine in the days when there was not much competition, but today, things are so competitive. It’s all about who gets to the customer first and who can provide the winning value proposition.

Many small business owners think sales are a matter of luck and chance, triggered by someone walking by the store, a by-chance referral, an ad in the local paper, a storefront sign. You do your business injustice by leaving it to the laws of probability.

Marketing driven companies know that sales are based on possibility, not probability. They control each and every marketing activity. They know marketing is a science and all elements of the marketing process are controllable. 

You can and must control the amount of revenue by using a number of revenue generating mechanisms available to you. For instance, if you are a retailer, and put out flyers, your revenue only comes from a few sources: the location, the sign, and the flyers.

If a scientific marketer adds direct mail and a formal referral program, this adds two more sources of revenue. 

However, I still meet with small business owners so badly conditioned to believe that sales is a matter of luck and not choice. Sales is the result of doing your marketing right! 

If the activity is right, the results will follow. It is not by luck or chance that sales grow, it is about doing defined and systematic marketing. All you need to do is do your marketing right. It does not mean simply making people aware of your existence, but to show them the value of your product, service or idea that gives them a reason to buy. We talked about this extensively in the beginning of this report. Bring value to the marketplace! 

Let’s now review some fundamental marketing principles. 

Let’s look at a few more fundamental principles of how marketing works. My real goal in writing this report is to give you a fresh “marketing mindset.” In my opinion mindset is more important than method. Once you get the mindset, you will learn to develop your own marketing tactics. You know the saying: teach someone how to fish and he can feed himself for life. I want to teach you how to fish!

So what makes people buy your product? Marketing really is an invisible “force.” It creates a need, desire, and want in the minds of customers for your product, service or idea.

A good analogy is to compare it with a trial attorney. We both represent clients. In the case of marketing, the client is “deaf and dumb” – the product or service cannot talk or defend itself. Our goal is to ensure the client (your product or service) gets a fair hearing with the jury (in this case, the marketplace). 

But we cannot change the nature of the product or the client – we cannot lie. Our job is to simply represent and present the facts as best as we see and understand them. For evidence, we use the people that designed and made the product, including you the business owner. Our line of questioning is along the same lines that an attorney would ask a client, but instead relates to the product:

– What is so good about this product?

– Why do you think people would buy it?

– What is of value in your offering to others?

– How is it different from anything else on the market?

– Do you have any facts to support your claim?

– What are the alternatives to your product or service?

– Do you have testimonials we can use?

– How does it improve people’s lives?

Based on these facts, we put together a compelling and persuasive argument and present it to the jury (in this case, the marketplace).

The key point is that the product and marketing are two different things. When marketing folks take on your product or service, they assume it is good and will deliver on its promises.

All too often marketing people are blamed for poor product performance, when the product and its marketing are two entirely different things! As marketing professionals we assume all the products we represent are innocent when we take them on as clients! 

So when you engage a top quality marketing professional, remember you are basically hiring a top notch attorney. This is why top notch marketing folks don’t come cheap.

They will ask you a barrage of questions. They need to know the facts in order to give your product, service or idea a true representation in the marketplace, and in so doing, create perceived value for it. That’s ultimately what the world pays for to prove its innocence.

The reason that it’s important to grasp this analogy is that most people simply don’t understand what marketing people really do. Many think it’s just hype. But would you ever accuse an attorney of creating hype? In the same way, top marketing professionals are objective and independent, with the one goal to give all products a fair representation. We believe that all products are innocent until proven guilty!

Marketing is the key to start your sales engine.

So how can we use this foundation to generate sales?

1. Focus on the message, not the messenger

Conventional marketing teaches us to focus on the messenger and not the message. The messenger is the medium used to deliver your message. The message is the value proposition, or reason why someone should buy your product or service. The messenger is the “big P” of marketing – the promotional vehicles: print, radio, television. But the message is where the true value lies and where the real marketing is. It provides a “reason to buy” for the customer.

I teach my clients to focus on the message and the messenger will take care of itself. Good news always travels fast!

I would be willing to bet you a fair bit of change that as an entrepreneur your marketing focus to date has been on the big P of marketing (or the messenger) – the promotional activities. Instead, the focus should remain on why someone should buy from you versus the competition.

Most business owners become so obsessed and focused on the “messenger” or medium, that the “message” itself (value proposition) is completely lost.

This is not your fault, but the way most of us were trained. But marketing is not simply promotion, marketing is about value. It is about bringing value to the marketplace, and we need to get back to basics.

The reason people buy products or services or want to develop a relationship with you is because it’s of value to them. It is really that simple.

If you focus on promotion as the only means of selling, you are going to run out of money very fast. As a trained scientist I love to look at data. Look at any form of advertising:

– Newspaper ads

– Radio

– Television

– Direct Mailings

All have a standard response rate of 0.5-1.5 percent on average. Few pull more than two percent. Two percent of a few million (in the case of a television ad) can be substantial. The point is that advertising is really for people who can afford to play big. It is an “elite club.”

But the best form of advertising is “word of mouth,” which is basically free. This is a satisfied customer, and the best way you can leverage it is to put into place a “formal referral system.” Not ad hoc like you probably have at the moment, but a formal, systematic process, that ensures the “word of mouth” is channeled, managed and controlled so it follows a defined flight path that eventually leads to sales! I will be talking more about this later, as part of my Rolls Royce marketing principle.

2. Have the right mindset – I am in business to serve you!

As a business owner and entrepreneur, you may be in business, or think about going into business because you have a good idea. But that’s not going to make you successful.

What makes you successful in business is when other people love your product, service or idea. For some entrepreneurs this is a hard reality to accept. The more quickly you accept it, the more successful you and your business will be.

Your mindset has to be that of wanting to help and serve others and wanting to improve the quality of their lives. Never forget that people buy products, services or ideas because they want to improve the quality of their lives. They want to make life easier, better and more fun. Your business has to be a solution to other people’s problems to be successful.

The true mindset of any successful entrepreneur or business owner is to have an obsession to help people and to enrich their lives.

Sam Walton lived in an average home and drove a pick-up to work, when he was the world’s richest man. His obsession was not to make money, but to provide people the best value and shopping experience possible. Money was simply the reward. He proved the point. 

I also walk the talk. I wrote this series of reports, CDs, a book and do radio interviews not for my own ego, but because I am obsessed with teaching people the importance and significance of marketing, and how it can impact and improve all areas of life, be it business, personal or social.

I am in love with the process of helping my customers solve their marketing problems. I often spend hours at night talking to people who are looking for jobs, or trying to help business owners grow their businesses, by teaching them how to improve their marketing effectiveness.

Remember, however much you may love what you do, unless you can get a large audience or market to pay for it, it will simply end up as a hobby or an antique piece in a museum!

Plenty of patents in the patent office have value not yet realized, because the world does not see value in them. The only way to get others to buy your product is to show the value to them of what you have to offer. Once they see this it will be sold!

Companies go out of business because they no longer provide value to their customers. How can this happen? They have lost contact with the customer. Have you heard the old saying, “out of touch, out of control”?

Consistent communication with your customers is critical. For now, remember that databases are gold in the world of marketing.

The secret is to be in business for your customer and not yourself. In my book, I point out, “The only person that keeps you in business is your customer and the only person that can take you out of business is your customer.”

Be in business for the right reasons – to help and improve other people’s lives (not for your own financial interests), and you cannot help but succeed.

Five things you can do immediately to dramatically increase your sales

1. Get a database in place

They only revenue you have coming into your company is that from customers. All other dollars are expense dollars in any business. If you know this, then you will know the biggest asset any company has (after its people) is its database.

Having said this, I am amazed to this day of how many small companies don’t have a database, so they don’t know who their customers are. They let them come and go at will. This is like throwing dollar bills out of the window!

Databases are the marketing person’s treasure chest. A well populated database can be sold or rented. Some companies buy other companies, just because they want their customers.

There is a whole industry called “list rentals” where people pay thousands, sometimes millions of dollars for your database. They know in the world of marketing

Database = Customers = $$$

Please put a database in place in your business. It can be as simple as an Excel spreadsheet, or as sophisticated as an ACT or Oracle system. Every one of your customers should be in a formal database, and the information should be updated regularly. This is not difficult if you are in constant communication with them.

A sophisticated database contains:

Who are your customers?

Why do they buy from you?

Where are they?

When was the last time they bought from you?

What do they like to buy?

A regular schedule to send out value items.

Take all your business cards and get them into a database. Some excellent software is available and will do it automatically for you. Your goal should be to automatically scan in every single contact. As your database grows, so does your opportunity to grow sales.

Bottom line: once you know who your customers are and their buying patterns, you can see ways to add value to them.

2. Work your database! Communicate regularly and frequently with all your customers

If there is one word that summarizes the secret to sales it is “TRUST.” People will always buy from people they know and like and trust. And trust is built through frequent, progressive and value-added communications. You absolutely must have a system that allows you to talk to your contacts on a regular basis, keeping them informed about what is going on in your life, and sending them articles and information they may find valuable – things that can improve the quality of their day and life!

A restaurant owner can send the list a preview of new items upcoming on the menu! A DIY person can tell the database success stories of projects done and the impact on others’ lives, or how much your customers saved versus using a general contractor. Send them home improvement tips. I think you get the idea.

Is this work? Sure, but if done correctly it is worth the effort, and you will develop a loyal following. Marketing is not about hype, it is about value: educate people on the value you can add.

Today’s systems automate the whole process, so e-mails can be sent automatically, making the process a lot easier.

The key thing to remember is that if you think of your customers, they will think of you when they need you. You will be top in the mindshare awareness game.

Don’t fall into what I call the “shoot the tiger mentality.” This is when you take one or two shots at the tiger and run! If you want to hit the target you have to keep on shooting. Marketing is a perpetual and consistent process of always bringing value to your customers.

Most people cannot stay the course and so lose out. If you read any book on persuasion you will find that the biggest persuasion tool is “consistency.” Is this not the same reason you go to a franchise? You trust that you will get the same product time and time again.

Marketing is a game for life. If you progressively add value to your customers, they will stick with you when times get tough.

One of the greatest mistakes I see people making is in sending out one or two mailings. They make one or two calls, or run one or two ads, ask one or two people for referrals. Then they get disappointed when things don’t happen. To be taken seriously in the world of marketing and be seen as a real “player” you need to build trust. Contact all your prospects and customers on a regular basis with valuable information. The secret to marketing is to keep your customers excited, informed and entertained. It is a relationship like any other relationship, and unless it is kept alive, it will die. There are no secrets in marketing.

Your mindset is not “if they become a customer, but when?”

Are you pestering them? No, if you send them things that can make their life better, if you feel deep down in your heart that you want to help them, then it is absolutely the right thing to do. With the world’s largest library (the internet) you have access to information at your fingertips. It is really easy these days to direct customers to a simple link with a relevant article.

Use your marketing PC – Persistency and Consistency!

3. Implement a Rolls Royce Marketing System

Rolls Royce marketing is a concept I developed several years ago. It works wonders for all my clients. It is probably the most powerful of all my marketing concepts, because it is so simple and easy to do.

The concept is simple: get referrals and recommendation letters from all your customers (RR).

Most business owners have no idea how powerful it is to have a formal and systematic referral system in place for your business. If I asked, “do you have a referral system in place for your business?” your response would probably be “Oh yes, we do.”

Now I ask you, “Is it formal? Is it systematic, measured, monitored and controlled? Can you tell me the exact dollar amount of referral generated business in the last year?”

Your answer will probably be no!

This means that you are hoping that based on the quality of your work, people will refer you. Wishful thinking is good, but it will not pay the rent. What does not get measured does not get done in the world of business.

You cannot hope and wish in business, you need to make things happen by being proactive. How? Put into place a formal referral system to make the referral process easy for your customers to refer more customers.

You get a free no cost 24 hour a day sales force working for you, at little or no additional cost!

Everybody is doing referrals these days. Why? Because it works! Referrals are no more than old fashioned networking with your customers. I said it in my book, and I will say it again. “I hate Network marketing, the only thing that I like about it, is that it works, and it works beautifully!”

Look at Bank of America, look at Verizon wireless, and others. They all have “formal” referral programs these days, so why not you? Referral works for everyone!

If you feel shy or embarrassed about asking for referrals, then you need to look at your business very critically, because it means you don’t believe that you or your product are worth the price of asking. But if you have done a good quality job, you should have nothing to worry about. In fact, the greatest thing about referrals is they teach you to perform at your best for your customers at all times.

Another way to look at referrals is as your reward for doing quality work. Again, it is just a mindset.

People tell me they worry they may be rejected if they ask for a referral. Well this in itself is not such a bad thing. If you get rejected, you need to improve your product! Feedback is always food for champions!

If you know anything about me and my work, you know one thing I totally believe in is TQM, total quality marketing! It happens from the moment you are in touch with a prospect to the time they become a customer and happens with each repurchase time and time again.

I love referrals because they can be quantified. As a trained scientist, I need to see things in a logical manner. The basic math of referral mechanics is shown below:

Number of current customers x Referral Factor x Conversion Rate = New referral customer base!

The referral factor is the average number of referrals each customer may give you.

The conversion rate is how many of the referred customers you are able to convert to “real customers.”

As you see, referrals follow logical math and have rhyme, logic and reason. This is why they work!

Once I show clients the mathematical impact of referrals, it blows them away, since referrals alone can lead to exponential growth for business.

If you would like help in implementing a “formal and systematic referral system,” please call me. In one hour, I can show you how to double or triple your sales volume by implementing such a system versus an ad-hoc or informal system.

Don’t shy away from referrals. I can give you many examples of companies that have built millions of dollars in sales without any “formal marketing” (advertising) just by using so called “word of mouth” marketing. At the end of the day we all know word of mouth is the best form of advertising.

The Rolls Royce principle calls for getting referrals and references from existing customers, and building repeat business, based on the quality of the work, service or product provided. A large portion of your customer base should want to continue to do business with you. It goes back to the basic point that what really sells the product is the product itself.

No marketing can make a bad product good. The product’s success is based on its performance in the marketplace. It will either make it or it will self destruct based on its own merits.

4. Change the rules of the game. Create your own CV!

A question I’m often asked in a competitive situation, where two companies or individuals are competing for the same customer, who will win? Let’s assume they both bring perceived value to the customer.

The answer is simple. It’s the one that brings more value than the other, and this is shown in terms of competitive value (CV).

There is absolutely a reason why you choose to buy one product over another. For instance, if you open the yellow pages to look for a dentist, there are hundreds of dentists, so why do you choose one over another? The answer is one of the ads provides more value to you than another. Maybe it is a space advertisement that shows you trust they are a reputable vendor, or maybe they have extended hours or are open on weekends. The way your brain will process what it sees is based on perceived value, and will always focus in on the one that provides more value.

So now you know how to win the customer versus your competition. Focus on competitive value and have that one little extra edge over your competition. The competitive value (CV) brings more value to the market than your competitor. Here are a few very specific examples of how to use my competitive value concept. When you understand the concept, you can apply it to your own situation.

Create Competitive Value.

Example for

– Handyman / Gardener / Hair Stylist, etc.

– Or any consumable / re-usable product

Any product used or consumed more than once by your customer has the opportunity to be “programmed for its use.” What do I mean? How many times have you performed a service for your customer and let them buy your product and hope that they will come back when they need your service or product again?

Maybe you assumed they’d call when they want to order again, or they’d walk back into your store when they need to buy again. Well we have an old saying in management, “what gets managed gets done.”

Manage your customers for their best interests. As I pointed out at the beginning of the report, your mindset as a successful business owner must be that of trying to do things for the good and betterment of others. You don’t want them to go to your competition, not because your competition is going to make money from them, but because they will not do as good a job as you!

Some people think it is being manipulative or trying to “control” customers. This is the same reason poor sales people don’t pick up the phone. The underlying cause is the same: They simply don’t believe they bring value to the customer.

But, if you deep down inside believe the reason you are in business is to make people’s lives better, you should have no problem “ethically programming” your customers to come and visit you on a regular basis.

This way you bring them more competitive value (CV) than the competition. You manage their schedule for their benefit.

Using this simple marketing technique can easily double or triple your customers, since instead of coming back once, They’ll come back three or maybe four times in the same year. This can easily triple or quadruple your sales!

Believe me, your customers will love you if you take care of this aspect of their lives. You are simply helping them manage their schedule. The common term marketing folks give this approach is a formal “loyalty program.”

Here are some ideas to create competitive value:

Ask your customers to fill in a card before they leave, so the next appointment or visit is scheduled in advance. You can mail it, but you must follow up with a phone call to ensure 100 percent success.

Offer the above, plus lock in your customers to sign up for a one year package, debited directly from their credit card. In the case of a handyman, it could be seen as insurance. In the case of the gardener, it is a service that needs to be done anyway.

Offer monthly or quarterly food passes at a discount in the restaurant business.

Provide “frequent buyer points” redeemable against meal costs. That’s great for a restaurant and can be adapted to many other businesses, as well.

These are just a few simple examples. Again, my goal is to open your thinking to look at new and novel ways to add more competitive value to your customers.

All of the examples are no more than ways of showing your customers you provide more value than anyone else and as such should be the “only choice.”

Remember marketing is all about creativity, there are no hard and fast rules in this game.

5. Never forget there are only three ways to grow sales.

Most business owners think the only way to grow a business is by spending more money on advertising or getting more customers. But as we’ve seen, these are the most expensive and inefficient ways to grow sales. If you attend a MBA class, they will teach you that the sales revenue formula is as follows:

Sales Revenue = Units x Price x Frequency

If we study this formula a little deeper, what we find is that there are only three ways to get more sales:

Buy, Buy More, Buy more often!

Units always equates to getting people to buy, price usually relates to the size of the transaction, and frequency to how often people buy.

So here you see there are no smoke and mirrors when it comes to getting more sales. You simply get people to buy, then buy more, and then buy more often!

But most small business owners focus on simply getting people to buy. They forget that two-thirds of the revenue potential is by getting existing people to buy more and more often!

Regular contact with your existing customer database and selling them more products is easier and much more fun and efficient. It costs nothing to go back to existing customers and sell more and get them to buy more often by putting into place loyalty programs, and to ask them for referrals.

Summary

Some people reading this report will think these are good ideas. But others will immediately see and seize the opportunity. It all depends on how receptive and ready you are.

The first thing I say in my book is “when the student is ready, the master will appear.” My wish and heartfelt desire for you is to adopt the mindset of a true marketing professional, and to change the way you currently market, so you can see a major impact in sales growth.

But I have learned over the years that not everyone is as excited to learn and implement my marketing principles.

I have given you a road map. You have enough information here to make a change in the course of your business. I hope you make the most of it.

The problem with marketing today is that everyone is trying to make us all into commodities, and that means that we have nothing else to compete on but price. This may be the situation for your business at the moment. Marketing creates value by clearly differentiating yourself from the competition, so you are no longer seen as a commodity.

Never fall into the trap of being a commodity, be different! Do whatever it takes to be different and find unique and novel ways to add value to your business relationships.

If you bring people what they want and desire, you cannot help but succeed. It’s so simple, but unfortunately, common sense is not so common these days.

It has been a pleasure sharing my thoughts and ideas on how marketing can impact a small business.