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The Simplest Secret To Business Growth

Guest post by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: Everyone wants to know the one thing they can do to get things going, the magic pill they can take, the one bit or advice from a guru that will turn the ship around. (How�fs that for some clichés?) Truth is, business is mostly a bunch of hard work, done consistently. However, there is one thing that every business can do that works in every instance – the one simple secret to guaranteed business growth. Want to know what that is?

The Simplest Secret To Business Growth

Everyone wants to know the one thing they can do to get things going, the magic pill they can take, the one bit or advice from a guru that will turn the ship around. (How's that for some clichés?) Truth is, business is mostly a bunch of hard work, done consistently. However, there is one thing that every business can do that works in every instance - the one simple secret to guaranteed business growth. Want to know what that is? Find what's working and do more of it. In fact, focus every fiber of your business being on that. Wait, wait, wait, I told you it was simple and to that I'm sure you're saying something like,"well, duh," but think about whether you really ever do this in you business or your life.

�¡When Johnny comes home with an A in Calculus and a D in Spanish our reaction is to hire a Spanish tutor or ground him until that Spanish grade turns around - when it should be to see if the school has a math club or to send him off to meet with Architects, Engineers and Scientists that employ math in the real world.

�¡When our new product doesn't sell well we invest more energy, money and resources into propping it up - when we should be focused on doing even more with the five items that already sell really, really well.

�¡When our best salesperson doubles everyone else using public speaking and writing we dock her for turning her reports in late - when it should be to spend hour upon hour with her documenting your company's new lead conversion process.

Do I speak a little truth here?

We're so wired to fix what's broken and focus on weakness that we let what's working, our strength, linger on its own when the real money lies in making what works better. There's no doubt that's where the easiest short term gains and the closest thing to a magic pill resides.

Sketch inspired by Dan Roam's great Unfolding the Napkin

Take a look at your customer base and the graphic above. Almost every business has customers that are both highly profitable and who refer business. These are gold, something's working here, you're clicking with these folks on the logical and emotional level - put everything you can into understanding the who, what, when, where and why of these customers and build your business around that. Often it's the folks on the bottom left, the one's that complain the most, that get our attention. Do whatever you can today to eliminate the bottom left!

The same chart can be produced for products and services - stop offering stuff that people don't want just because you've always offered it.

What about all your marketing activities. Figure out what's working by analyzing and testing everything - then do more of what works.

How about your people? Grab a copy of First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham or any of the Strengths Finder books by Tom Rath and start figuring out what you and each of your people do well, and build on that, rather than trying to fix weaknesses.

Find what works and do more of it may sound too simple to be and effective strategy, but look around you a bit and you'll find there is immense depth in these words.

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Article Tags: clich, guru, magic pill



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Clothing Niche - Yasunori, can you dig deeper into the clothing niche? e.g. Business Casual for people 6ft and taller (men only, women only or both). Victoria Secret is big in Canada because they don't have retail Stores here and the only way to get their product in Canada is thru online purchases. They have a great Hassle-free return policy too.
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Victoria's Secret - Too Sexy? - This will be upsetting for some men. I just heard a report about Victoria's Secret and it was interesting. Their sales were down drastically in the 4th quarter of 2007 and the report was about how they are thinking the company has gotten too far away from the heritage that made it the blockbuster company it is. They are thinking the ads etc have become too sexy and the plan (at the moment) is to make the ads more sophisticated. That would be like the Super Bowl commercial which was very tasteful, but very different from any Victoria's Secret I've seen lately. Who do you all think the current sexy ads are targeting? I think its the men that they hope will buy these items for their female significant others. I hate to give Omarosa any kudos - but most women aren't "sold" on an item by an ad of a near naked sexy woman. Shri
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
The Secret - Hi Binary Guy - The Secret certainly has been getting a lot of attention and promotion by the likes of Oprah. What have your experiences been with the program?


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