I recently had lunch with a CEO friend, Mark, who owns a commercial construction management company valued at about a half billion dollars.

I negotiated to pay the lunch tab if he’d tell me the secret to his fantastic success.

For the price of a spinach salad with salmon, he handed over the sales strategy that’s been key to his success—ever since 10th grade, when he first applied it to impress a girl (of course).

Mark came up with the strategy during the annual Student Council candy bar drive. The winner got a trip to Washington, D.C., but Mark’s interest was Cindy Mason, the reigning champ.

Cindy was a senior; the most popular, most beautiful girl in school; with a three-year winning streak and a burning desire to make it four. In 15-year old- guy logic, Mark thought winning the candy bar drive would capture Cindy’s affection, too.

As soon as he got his first box, he approached his three best friends who,instead of buying candy bars, convinced Mark to give them

candy bars for free. He then went to his brother and sister, who went “halfsies” on one bar. His calorie-counting parents turned him down flat, explaining he needed to figure it out on his own (parents,take note).

In just one afternoon, Mark had exhausted his entire network and his sales were in the red.

But Mark remained determined. One night, his parents had friends Bob and Nancy over for dinner. Mark suggested candy bars for dessert (for the bargain price of only $1each). With caramel dripping down his chin, Bob said, “You know Mark,these are really good.If you give me a box, I could probably sell them at my office.”

The next day, Bob came back with an empty box, an envelope full of cash and a request for more.

That was Mark’s eureka moment!  read more »

Last week we discussed how a BEST

BUYER client can be worth 100 times the average client—and cost you a lot less headaches and wallet aches.

Ultimately, you want to reduce the universe of available prospects down to your DREAM 50.

What’s a “DREAM” client?
Here’s your filter system: Of all the potential client target groups, which is EASY, FAST, and PROFITABLE?

EASY—They are easy to reach, costing you little advertising, marketing, and sales effort.

FAST—When presented with your solution, the value is quickly recognized and they are fast to make a decision and purchase.

PROFITABLE—Once converted, their lifetime value is richly profitable because of their transaction size, upsell purchases, frequency of repeat purchases, and referrals.

With this new narrowed focus, here is a 5-Step Action Plan for targeting your DREAM 50 clients.  read more »

Welcome to another edition of the exclusive SUCCESS In Action series.

This is how every business works out:

10% of your clients (or client type)
generate 90% of your profits.

BUT, the other 90% of your clients
give you 100% of the headaches.

The solution?
Spend 90% of your time focused on the 10% client type.
Then create systems to manage and service the other 90% (that’s for a later blog post).

This requires you to NARROW your target client group.

If you understand this next statement, you will have made money by reading this blog:
The key to greater profits is rarely capturing MORE clients.
The key to greater profits is capturing more VALUABLE clients.

Your objective is to indentify your BEST BUYER.

There is always a smaller number of Ideal Buyers versus All Buyers.

ONE BEST BUYER can be worth 100 times the average buyer.

Resulting in…  read more »

This past Monday I had dinner with Misty Lown, owner and CEO of Misty’s Dance Unlimited (and come to find out SEVEN other successful companies). More about Misty below.

How she is implementing breakthrough ideas in her business is awe-inspiring. I know you would benefit from her ideas, so I am passing them along to you.

To set the proper stage (no pun intended… dance joke, get it?), Misty is in her mid-thirties, has FIVE children, has built a $1,000,000+ business in an industry where the average studio does $50,000-$60,000 in net revenue… and she does it by spending less than 4 hours a week IN her business. How’s that for ‘WOW’ already, right?

Okay, with all that in mind, I forward you the strategy that is having a big impact on raising her game even further with her dance studio.

From Misty:
“Here is the one thing transforming my business since HPF:

“Darren Hardy says there is no competitive advantage in a satisfied customer: no word of mouth, no buzz, no loyalty. Customers have to be loved. To love is to ‘WOW’!

“I own a dance studio with over 700 students. After I came home from HPF, I made it my goal to turn every interaction into a ‘WOW’ experience! After HPF, I went through my organization from top to bottom looking for ways to elevate our client experience.”

‘WOW’ the client. ”We evaluated every client (parent’s) touch point and every process they engaged in. We have made leagues of improvements to all of our processes, including online ticketing for recitals, automating all client accounts with software, online booking of private lessons, and adding a new enrollment management office. The leadership team was challenged to take every client interaction as an opportunity to make things right, better, or exceptional for students and their families.”

‘WOW’ the end user (student). ”To our elevated systems and customer service, we added

‘WOW’ opportunities for our students for the upcoming school year, including new performing groups, a guest choreographer from the hit TV show ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ the

opportunity to perform ‘Nutcracker’ live with our local Symphony (first time ever in our city!), hosting a regional dance competition featuring studios from three states, a free 15th Anniversary Celebration and Alumni Event, and a trip to NYC for our high school students so they can study with the best of the best!”

‘WOW’ the entire brand experience. ”Even the physical building, which is only five years old, didn’t escape the microscope. We repainted the entire building, remodeled the dressing rooms, filled the children’s lobby with the best in children’s literature, got new tables and chairs for our cafe, updated the stock and fixtures in our store, resealed the parking lot, and added a snack bar.”

‘WOW’ the community. “And, we didn’t stop with our clients. We included the community by starting a non-profit foundation called ‘A Chance to Dance Foundation,’ which will provide scholarships for financial need, talent, and diversity so every child in our community will have ‘a chance to dance’!

“The event has raised over $280,000 for the local chapter of the Red Cross in the first six years ($95,000 of it was raised last year). The results have been phenomenal! Last month we had over 4,700 people come to our Spring Recitals, and at our recent Fall Registration, we had people CAMPING OUT overnight to secure a premium spot in line. My daughter and I went out at 6:30 a.m. in white aprons to serve our families fresh pastries and coffee while they waited. The first person in line was surprised with balloons and a free registration, and everyone walked out with a free geranium that day. People ate it up…they love to be loved on!”

‘WOW’ Life. “Best of all, read more »

I interviewed Dan Kennedy for our June issue of SUCCESS (on newsstands now). One of the concepts he discussed is one I have employed for much of my life—professionally and personally: Shock and Awe marketing.

I sold real estate when I was only 20 years old (through age 24). The most competitive prospecting group as a realtor are expired listings. These are homes that have been listed by other agents and when their contract expired an alert would show up on the Multiple Listing Service. Immediately several dozen real estate agents pounce and start calling on them.

I made up in hustle and aggressiveness what I lacked in age and experience. I developed what I called my Shock and Awe Blitz Campaign. Once I set my sights on you, you were either going to love me or hate me, but

you would not be able to ignore nor forget me.

Between 6 and 7 a.m. the morning your listing expired, I’d be standing on your doorstep asking to relist your home with me (immediately separating myself from everyone else and delivering a little shock). Sometimes this is all it took, but if not… read more »