Why should you work on your business instead of in it? Simply put, because you want your business working harder for you than you work for it. It’s amazing what a difference a little preposition can make.

The consequence of working in your business as opposed to working on your business is enormous. Working in the business means you’re just managing to accomplish the bare-minimum tasks that will get your rent paid and keep your company around to hopefully survive another month. Your time appears to be managing you, you’re answering e-mails, constantly searching for clients, and making sure your basic bills are being paid each month. It feels like a never-ending uphill battle for survival.

By comparison, working on your business, means that you’re focusing on the strategies, tactics and activities that not only maintain, but grow your business.

Creating such a strategy requires real smart thinking. Thinking which deserves more of your time, attention, and even respect than all other activities.

When you work on the business, you must break it down into its key success functions; strategy, marketing, innovation, management and communication which you then allocate as the highest and best use of your time, or the time of your staff. Your task is to work on the biggest moneymakers, not on the biggest time, energy and opportunity drainers.

To help you identify the biggest moneymakers, I’ve compiled a list of six strategic pillars that any business can grow from. These are the essential keys to working on your business:

1. Constantly identify and discover hidden assets in your business. Make “growth-thinking” a natural part of your everyday business philosophy.

2. Build your business on a foundation of multiple profit sources instead of depending on a single revenue source.

3. Find ways to be different, unique, and advantageous in the eyes of your clients.

4. Gain the maximum personal leverage from every action, investment and opportunity you create.

5. Network, connect and brainstorm with like-minded, success-driven people.

6. Become your industry’s trusted advisor. Turn yourself into an idea-generator and recognised innovator within your industry or market.

Article by John Lloyd, Brandstorm

What are your products or services really worth? How much will customers pay? Where will your competitors respond?

The first step in effective pricing is to determine your competitive advantage and use it to effectively differentiate your product. Failing to do this, you will be seen as simply selling a commodity. The moment you are selling a commodity then price is always the primary issue on the minds of your prospects.

Pricing is the most powerful profit driver and the convincing element in product positioning. Unfortunately, pricing is very often the most neglected element of the marketing mix.

It is essential that you sell your product or service on the basis of a strong competitive advantage.

You could select quality as your competitive advantage.

Most sales reps will instinctively demand for lower price to be the competitive advantage. Low price is one way for you to compete. But, it’s probably the dumbest strategy to try and compete on for customers.

If you want to effectively position yourself as a professional salesperson then you must urgently learn two things:

1. The first is to compete on something other than low price.
2. The second is that the only aspect of virtually any product or service that is extremely important to every prospect is quality.

How important and sustainable, as a competitive advantage, is the quality of your product or service? It’s vitally important. In many instances, it is the most important reason your prospect buys.

How do you sell quality as a benefit? Selling quality is easy. But only if you truly possess quality and you know what it is.

The real truth is that virtually everybody does have some sort of quality. Unfortunately, not everyone knows what quality means, and consequently they have a tough time selling it. They assume that all clients and prospects know what quality is. They don’t!

Quality, like all benefits, must effectively be positioned in the eyes of your prospect and client. Do you clearly and constantly articulate and demonstrate the quality of your products or services in the eyes and minds of the potential buyer?

Quality means fully meeting the expectations of your prospects.

Smart salespeople who sell at premium prices know that they can use a high price to make a credibility statement about their product or service being better; that is, if it costs more, it probably is worth more.

Allow price to be your competitive advantage, a higher price can make a statement about quality and credibility.

Always remember that the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

Article by John Lloyd, Brandstorm

The game of business is changing. Every day I see business people living in a naïve state as if the status quo still exists. Entire industries are being disrupted at rates that have never been seen before in history. Insurance agents, real estate agents, financial advisors, the advertising industry, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and music publishing to name a few. They are all under the threat of government regulation or industry disruption. It’s not over yet, as radical new technology coupled with new consumer needs will continue to replace or shrink these industries.

Where industries and people are not achieving at high levels, they are going to be replaced by more efficient means. The question is – are you going to be disrupted or are you going to push back?
How do you stop being disrupted? I share a few ideas:

• Stop thinking SMALL, or you will shrink and be left with crumbs.
• Start disrupting your own business before somebody does it for and to you. Don’t be scared to
• CANNIBALISE your own business. Be willing to take risks, spend on product innovation and conduct continuous real-time market research. Be open to cannibalising your own business.
• Smaller is not better. FASTER is better.
• Sales success in your business is not an option; it is an OBLIGATION. SELL better or face an uncertain future!
• Be OBSESSED about your business growth or be average. It’s a choice.
• Be OBSESSED with creating a more convenient customer experience.
• You need to be OBSESSED with getting known, so people can buy your product or service.
• You need to become OBSESSED with getting attention in the marketplace.
• You need to be OBSESSED with social media.
• You need to become OBSESSED with new income opportunities.
• You need to become OBSESSED with building client relationships. The disrupted industry salespeople tend to be less visible.
• You need to become OBSESSED with differentiating your products, services and sales approach.
• You need to MARKET smarter. All disrupted industries tend to market less as if they can cost-cut their way to success. It does not work.
• Keep asking what if?

Companies need to retain their curiosity and continuously keep asking what if? Keep a vigilant eye on the market so you can evolve rather than decline. History has shown us what happens if you don’t change. Think of former market-leaders like Nokia or Kodak.

Focus 100% on your clients. Fall in love with your CLIENTS, not your products, services or systems.
So what can business managers and owners do to address this reality? The answer is to dream and then act!

“I could either watch it happen or be part of it.” – Elon Musk

Article by John Lloyd, Brandstorm

Most sales are won and lost based on one key factor: YOU.

You hold the keys to your sales success. Competitors don’t win because their offerings are more impressive, they gain because they deliver a superior sales experience. You can too.

Focus on improving in the following nine areas, and your business will experience a high level of exponential growth.

1. Implement a value-based selling philosophy

Fact: Buyers find only 42% of their meetings with sellers valuable.

While all sellers talk about providing value, few do it well. To drive value, you need to have a plan to create value.

You need to live and breathe value. The companies and sellers that focus on providing value experience wildly better sales results. Those who don’t, struggle!

2. Your prospects don’t care about what you sell

Stop telling prospects what you do. Your prospects don’t care what you do. They don’t care how it works. They’re mostly thinking of themselves and what’s in it for them.

I repeat, your prospects don’t care what you do. They will only care about you if you can solve their problem. Ease their pain. Make their job easier. Protect them. Make them look good.

They don’t care what you do. They care deeply about what you can do for them.

There is only demand for your product or service if there is more demand for the solution that it provides and represents.

Sell that way!

3. Winners educate buyers

Bring insights into your business. Buyers want your ideas and are looking for your insights. The sellers who do this, win more often than the rest.

4. Improve how you present your products and services to the marketplace

The first principle of effective marketing is clear presentation.

Clear, simple, direct language to communicate the known sales benefits of your company’s products or services in all marketing deliverables – advertising, direct mail, online, sales presentations or any other marketing tool, and using bold presentation and layout techniques to make the sales message as visible as possible to the most significant number of readers and viewers in your market.

The critical first impression you make with your marketing message to the prospect means the difference between your company getting the lead, or losing it to a competitor.

Clear presentation is the first essential element required to win in today’s demand pull marketing environment.

5. Make 2019 the year that you build stronger partnerships 

The best companies in the world have collaborative relationships with many other people and companies. These relationships can be joint ventures, co-marketing, partnering and so on. You have to find new ways to work with other non-competitive companies because they reach the same market as you, but from a different impact point with a level of credibility.

A few of these types of relationship can double or triple your business.

6. Give a superior level of service to your clients 

In an economic downturn or during other times when business is slow, you want to do everything you can to hold onto your existing customers.

The best way to hold onto your clients is to please them. Moreover, the best way to satisfy them is to exceed their expectations. Now is the time to go the extra mile. Give them that little bit extra that can mean the difference between dazzling the client versus merely satisfying them.

Nurture them. Communicate with them. Educate them. Serve them well. Do everything in your power to keep them happy and help them to succeed.

7. Refuse to be a commodity – become PREEMINENT

Strive for greatness in your impact and contribution to the marketplace. You can be profoundly different regarding the way you interact and render value. It all starts with your mindset and attitude. When you care more, do more, serve more and provide a better outcome, you demonstrate yourself to be a better investment than anyone else out there.

From there, it’s only a matter of time before your most coveted prospects will do business with you. Start improving your clients’ lives and they will recognise the different value you offer compared to your generic competitors.

Your goal is to make your prospect understand that you’re the only one who can indeed deliver. Merely adopting a preeminent mindset overrides everything else.

Preeminence is an unbeatable business strategy.

8. You must be 100% committed

Commitment is what transforms promise and potential into reality. They are the powerful words that speak boldly of our intentions, and the massive actions which speak louder than words.

Commitment is the stuff character is made of. There is a distinct difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it is convenient.

When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

Go the extra mile, that road is never crowded.

9. Be one of those rare people who doesn’t know how to quit

You will face challenges in 2019, but always remember to show the world your super-power – GRIT.

It’s time to add PhD to your mental toolkit, PIG-HEADED DISCIPLINE.

The 1^st of January is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.

Make 2019 great!

“The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Contact John  
www.brandstorm.co.za