Todd Pillars

Want Stratospheric Success? Follow these Five Laws. Part 1

Reading “The Go-Giver” over the weekend has solidified my belief that business as we’ve known it for the last two decades (or more, your mileage may vary) is so antiquated that to continue “as it’s always been” is maybe the most deadly thing you can do to your business. If your business has stagnated, if it’s slowed down to “just getting by”, or if you have serious concerns if you’ll be in business a year from now you can cheer up! Follow these “Five Laws of Stratospheric Success”.

The first Law, The Law of Value states; “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value that you take in payment”.

You may have heard the phrase giving value misused by the Internet Marketing Gurus telling you to give away your secrets to entice your prospects. This misses the mark in two ways. 1) As used here, giving does not mean giving away – as in free. It simply means to present something, in this case value. 2) value in this context means the relative worth or desirability of a thing to the end user. More to the point it’s about asking yourself the question; “What can I offer that will set me apart – and I mean WAAAAY apart – from my competition and will allow people to want me as the person they choose to do business with?

Near and dear to my heart is appreciation. This is one of the things that cost little or nothing and leaves a lasting impression. Say please and thank you (and mean it). Send Nice to meet you notes – not emails – in a greeting card in your own handwriting. Remember birthdays and, you guessed, it send a card that says Happy Birthday!

Here’s a good place to mention one of the most important keys to making this law work, and it may be a deal breaker if you can’t commit to it, it’s that you have to give without any emotional attachment to the outcome. Now I know that’s going to sound really wacky to you but that’s how it works… because there is an outcome every time.

Head on over and get the book. Take this journey with me and let me know how you give value to your product or service.

Tune in next time for Law #2 “The Law of Compensation”.

Know, Like, and Trust?

This has come up a few times over the last couple of days and I thought I would share my thoughts. The basis for this post is the sales “truth” that people only buy from you if they like you.

I agree. So what’s the easiest way to illustrate this? Here’s the foundation I use to build my relationships.

Prospect		Me
K	Know	Knowledge
L	Like	Listening
T	Trust	Time

Lets look more closely at each one:

Your prospect has to “know you” (or at least know about you) which can be done it a couple of ways.
1) Self-Promotion. This can include both advertising and authoring – ezine, blog, tweeting, etc.
2) Referral (with edification this is the most powerful way – bar none)

The bottom line here is that you have knowledge that the prospect needs. For you to move to the next two steps the prospect has to find value in that knowledge and want to know more. Once the prospect confirms he has a resource to ask questions it it your responsibility – to yourself and your company – to be of service.

The fastest way to achieving likability is by listening. Powerful questions produce powerful results. How can you know if your product or service is a good fit for your prospect if you don’t dig deep into the motivation for seeking change? If your prospect had the answers he wouldn’t need you!

Hint: Like does not necessarily mean they agree with you – and often they won’t. If you approach the conversation in a non-judgemental way you will always have a positive outcome (whether you make a sale or not).

The T I’m discussing here is Time. Relationships take time – you can’t rush it or you’ll blow the like right out of the water. So many Internet marketers want to run in a jam their product or service down the prospect’s throat. Big No-No!

Take time to ask questions and provide service to solidify the relationship. Once the sales process is complete you’ll have a vocal proponent of your wares. It essential to your longevity that it is viewed in a positive light!

(The obvious but unspoken T is Truth. Truth is so essential that it’s considered a given. If you are being untruthful in your approach you’ll reap your just rewards – it’s only a matter of, you guessed it, time.)

By all means leave your thoughts.

To your success!