Someone once told me that to be successful that sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. This is definitely true when it comes to advertising and marketing.

In my opinion a lot of marketing and advertising for small and medium sized businesses are not successful because businesses don’t take the time to focus and give the appropriate time to the 3 main elements of successful marketing campaign. Even when we do focus on these 3 elements, we tend to spend too much time on the least important aspect.

The 3 elements in order of importance are: 1) Target 2) Offer 3) Copy

Too many times marketers will devote too much time to the writing of copy and spend too little time determining who the copy is suppose to be talking to and if the offer is something the target really wants.

In reality you should spend

• 60% of your time determining who your target audience is and where can you find them.
• 40% of your time determining what your target wants, what to offer them, and why they would want to buy your offer.
• 10% of your time determining how you will communicate your offer to your target and how you want them to respond.

By taking the appropriate time in each of these areas of Target-Offer-Copy you will speed up the success of your campaign and your business.

Wishing you much success,Preview this Post

Coach Steve

Steve Goranson, MBA is a certified business coach with ActionCOACH.  He owns and operates the Jacksonville FL office.  He can be reached at Steve Goranson, MBA is a certified business coach with ActionCOACH.  He owns and operates the Jacksonville FL office.  He can be reached at  stevegoranson at actioncoach.com or 904-739-0200

A celebrated French naturalist Jean Henri Farber once conducted an experiment with processionary caterpillars. These caterpillars get their name because when you put them in a line they attach themselves to each other and follow each other as one, virtually blind.

In his experiment, he lined up the caterpillars in a circle and watched as the marched around in that circle one following the other. He then added food into the center of the circle to see what would happen. The caterpillars continued to follow each other for days one after the other not knowing where they were going. Though they overtaken by starvation and exhaustion, they began to die of one by one but the group kept going.

Why didn’t one of them just stop, rested and eaten? He could have led the others to the food and could have saved his whole team of caterpillars. This seems so ridicules. The food was right there. Why did they follow each other so blindly?

Unfortunately humans are not so much different. We get stuck in our comfort zone and just live on autopilot. We confuse movement with purpose. Our time is obsessed with movement and speed. Every day we get up, we go to work, we come home, we eat, we sleep. We rush through the day with no real purpose. Hours turn into days, days into years and we never stop to ask ourselves, where am I? Where am I going? We are always rushing to that next “shinning” thing that gets our attention.

Unfortunately it usually takes a disaster in our personal life or in our business to step back to make an accounting of where you are. So how do we create Movement with Purpose? Goals! - written goals, because a goal not written down is just a good idea. As we all know good ideas come and go and we act upon them based on where our attention is at that moment.

What is your life vision? What do you want to achieve in your lifetime. Once you get clarity there, take the time to step back and determine where do I need to be in 5 years, 3 years, at the end of this year? Break this year down to quarters. Where do you need to be at the end of each quarter to keep you on pace to where you need at the end of the year. You need to do this first for your personal life and then your business because your business should just be the vehicle to help you achieve your life’s dream, not just an end to itself.

Each week you need to step back and look at where you are and where you need to go. Not necessarily where you need to be next year or at the end of 5 years. But what are the important tasks I need to perform each day to move me toward your success. At each moment of the day you should be thinking, am I doing the most productive thing possible at this given moment that will move me close to my goals and dream.

In the end we need to remember success is not a destination but the milestones that you stopped along your path. Take the time to enjoy the journey!

Wishing you much success,

Coach Steve

Steve Goranson, MBA is a certified business coach with ActionCOACH.  He owns and operates the Jacksonville FL office.  He can be reached at 904-739-0200 or  

What makes us human beings different than any other creations in this world? It’s our ability to take our thoughts and translate them into speech and the written word so that our ideas can be shared with generations.

The words we speak, the words we write are powerful. Is it possible to put a numerical value to our words? In the Hebrew language each letter is not only a letter but it has a numerical value as well. Jewish sages for generations have been finding hidden insights from matching the numerical values of different words.

So I was wondering is there a similar connection in the English language and could we could find the secret of having a complete life that so many of us are in search of in the numerical values of the words. This is what I discovered thanks to a friend of mine.

What if ….

Now let’s see what makes life complete or 100%….

Hard Work

H+A+R+D+W+O+R+K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

Knowledge

K+N+O+W+L+E+D+G+E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

Love

L+O+V+E

12+15+22+5 = 54%

Luck

L+U+C+K

12+21+3+11 = 47%

(Don’t most of us think this is the most important?)

Then what makes 100%?

Is it Money?… NO!!!

M+O+N+E+Y

13+15+14+5+25 = 72%

Leadership? … NO!!!

L+E+A+D+E+R+S+H+I+P

12+5+1+4+5+18+19+9+16 = 89%

Every problem has a solution if we can just change our attitude. What is it that can make us get to that 100%? What’s the one thing that if we can change or improve will make a difference in our life?

It’s our ATTITTUDE!!!

A+T+T+I+T+T+U+D+E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

It’s our attitude toward our life and work that makes us OUR LIFE 100%!!!

Attitude is EVERYTHING! Change your Attitude…Change your LIFE!!!

Steve Goranson, MBA
ActionCOACH

If you ask most business owners what one they want more of in their business, the top answer is more customers. Unfortunately that is not what most businesses need to increase their bottom line profits. But that is for another post.

Even though more customers is want most businesses want, most don’t have a marketing plan that will help them achieve that goal. Marketing should not be that difficult but most of us don’t take the time to think through the process carefully enough.

Here are our 10 Marketing Rules (or premises) that you need to think about before creating your plan.

1. We are in the Profit Business!
2. Marketing is Math
3. Marketing is an investment when you measure and test your results
4. Spend more time producing income instead of reducing costs
5. Put 50% of your time, effort & investment into distribution & more important the other 50% into sales & marketing
6. Buying customers is an investment so set your marketing budget by your acquisition costs
7. Never chase market share, go after wallet share instead
8. Establish the long term view of the value of our customers and their lifetime value
9. Always aim to reduce your acquisition cost and raise their lifetime value
10. Measure & Test Everything
11. Use a marketing plan and don’t wing it

Steve Goranson, MBA
Certified ActionCOACH
 

Did you know that statistically, 80% of businesses will fail within their first 5 years in business.  And of the 20% that survive, 80% of those will fail during their next 5 years.

Here are the top 5 reasons that business fail….

1. There is no clear and concise vision and mission which is communicated to and understood by all the stakeholders (owners, management, employees, customers and suppliers) in the company. This answers the question, “Why are we in business?”
2. There is no culture which meets the needs of the owners, the employees, customers and suppliers of the company. This definition of culture answers the question, “How will we conduct ourselves as we do business?”
3. There is no uniqueness that separates the company from its competition, thereby answering the question, “Why should our customers buy from us?”
4. There is no system or ability to attract top performing people to accomplish the vision and mission. The really successful businesses do not depend on the charisma of any single individual, including that of the founder.
5. And finally and the most common reason, there are no financial reserves such as ownership capital and outside lending resources, but most importantly, capital accumulated from a healthy stream of profits. The healthy stream of profits will attract ever increasing amounts of ownership capital and lending resources to help the company grow.

As a bonus I will add just one more.

There is no written plan in place to overcome any of the above failures. Not having a written plan has to be one of the biggest failures.  Without a plan small businesses are just shooting from the hip and there are no benchmarks to determine what’s working and what is not.  Unfortunately by the time they figure out what’s not working their time is up.

Until we meet up again, make it a profitable day…

Steve Goranson, MBA
Certified ActionCOACH

My business mentor once told me that where I will be in 5 years will be based on the people I meet and the books I read. He was correct.

Since that time about 5-6 years ago, I have set it as part of my goals to read 1 to 2 books every month. With each book I read, I did not only help myself but I was also able to better help my clients, friends and family. Because as I grew, I was able to help my clients, friends and family grow as well.

My business mentor has also helped me to look at myself and my business in a new light. He has been able to give me a perspective that only a mentor who has been there could give. He has helped me to grow because he helped me to focus on my success and at the same time helped me to be honest about my shortcomings.

My business mentor is ActionCOACH founder Brad Sugars. He is known as the World’s #1 Business Coach. Business owners in Florida have an opportunity to see Brad Sugars live as he finishes up his 52 week North American “Business is Booming” Tour.

During this dynamic seminar he will be coaching business owners on the 28 proven business strategies that can help businesses to get their business booming again, especially in this economy.

He will be in Miami on August 30^th, Tampa August 31^st, Orlando September 1^st, and here in my hometown of Jacksonville on September 2^nd.

I would like you to be my guest to see one of the world’s top entrepreneurs. To get your free registration ticket go to http://www.businessisboomingtour.com and use registration code Jax001.

Brad Sugars will get you to look at your business from a different perspective to help you see what strategies you need to focus on to get your business booming again.

Hope to see you there. Until then make it a profitable day…

Steve Goranson, MBA Certified ActionCOACH
 

Discounting if used properly can be an effective strategy to increase profitability and cash flow, but if not used properly it can cause serious consequences to the growth and profitability of your business.

Most of the time discounting is a gut reaction to a slowdown in business. Businesses find it easier to discount the value of their product than to sell on value. One of the biggest negative consequences of discounting is that we are training our clients to buy only on sale. This can have a big affect on our bottom line. I’m not really sure a business understands how much more they have to sell just to stay at that same profit level.

For Example if you have a 30% margin and you discount your product or service 10% you will have to sell 50% more to make the same amount of money. Contrast that with… if your margins are 30% and you increase your prices by 10%, you can sell 25% less and still make the same amount of money. Now isn’t that interesting…

Discounting is an appropriate strategy if your inventory is high and you need cash to pay bills or if it’s a perishable item that you will have to throw away. However instead of just discounting your product, use it as an incentive for your customers to purchase more.

Let’s assume you have a product that costs you $5.00 and you sell it for $10.00. If you were to have a sale of 25% off, you would now be selling it for $7.50 and only making $2.50 instead of $5.00. Instead of discounting the full price you can have a buy one get the 2^nd item at ½ price. Now you’ll at least be making the same $-profit if you sold 1 at full price. Another option is a buy 3 get the 4^th free. You are in essence still providing a 25% discount but you are now making $10.00 profit per sale instead of just $5.00 if you sold just 1 item. The advantage here is that you are moving more inventory and turning it back into cash.

When it comes to marketing, “perception is reality”. If you have a 25% off sale you become labeled as a discounter. If you have a buy 3 get the 4^th for free sale, or buy 1 and get the 2^nd item at ½ price, you now are perceived as a place where you get more for your money. You are now distinguishing your business from your competition by providing adding value to your customers instead of being viewed as just another discounter.

Until we meet up again, make it a profitable day…

Enthusiastically,

Steve Goranson, MBA Certified ActionCOACH Jacksonville, FL

Every business I speak with wants to increase sales in their business. Who wouldn’t? But increased sales is not necessary the goal. We don’t really want more sales, what we really want is more profit, right? Well not necessarily, because you can’t really do anything with profit. Profit is just a theory. The question is how we turn profits into cash.

To help us understand how to increase our profits and cash flow we must first understand the 4 M’s; Management, Money, Marketing, & Merchandise.

Management: Properly run companies can sustain profitability over the long run because they are organized and cut wasteful spending. When business is good the average company doesn’t seem to care where the wastes are in the business because there is enough cash to cover up the waste. Properly run companies understand that investing in properly trained teams will lead to increased profits and cash flow. A team who is aligned to company goals and that understands how their specific role and task leads into the company’s “big picture”, will be more effective and efficient. Since they are aligned to the company’s goals they will be able to recommend ways for the company to be more effective and efficient.

Money: Money management is a key to all successful business. That’s both money coming in and out. The two biggest bottle necks that prevent profits from turning into cash are inventory and accounts receivables. Properly run companies are always managing their vendors, looking for better ways to order more efficiently and ways they can negotiate better terms. Most AR problems arise because issues aren’t addressed until they turn into problems. Make sure your clients understand and are clear on your payment terms. Don’t be afraid to ask for your money. If you don’t, someone will be getting paid before you.

Marketing: Even in a tough economy people are spending money on your product or service. The purpose of your marketing is to help you get your “unfair” share of the dollars being spent. To do this you have to be very clear on what your clients want and how your product or service can help them achieve that. Marketing is not just advertising, it’s all about understanding your whole sales process, which turns a lead into a customer that comes back again and again. By understanding each step of the sales process from lead generation to repeat customer, you can quickly identify the bottlenecks and implement strategies to move them to the next step.

Merchandise: If sales are down, you need to see if people are using your product in the same way as before. In the past people might have been using your product or service out of ego, price, or having a particular item, that might not be the case now. Maybe now your product or service could be used in a different way that your customer hasn’t even thought of. Successful companies are always asking themselves why people are buying their product or service. Additionally, make sure your team understands which products are your most profitable. Just by adding some extra attention to your most profitable items can easily increase your overall profit margins.

Until we meet up again, make it a profitable day…

Steve Goranson, MBA Certified ActionCOACH Jacksonville FL

Everywhere you go today all you hear is how the bad the economy is doing. It’s true that there are many people out of work and business growth is moving at a snail’s pace if not at all. But!, there are many opportunities to be had, we just have to open our eyes. As the saying goes, it’s always the darkest before the dawn.

My business mentor Brad Sugars and founder of ActionCOACH says that attitude is the #1 thing that helps get business owners into trouble.

You might be asking yourself, how can my attitude change the economy? In every situation you can find good and bad. The fact is some of the biggest fortunes have been made in a down economy. This happens not because people were sitting around with their friends complaining how bad things “really” are but because they kept their eyes opened and focused on the things that were in their control. So even in this economy, there are big opportunities to be found for a properly run company if approached correctly.

The way we keep our eyes open is by having the proper attitude. At ActionCOACH we say that you choose your attitude by choosing to act Above the line or Below the line. Attitude is a choice.

When we act Below the Line we are Blaming others, coming up with Excuses, or we might be in Denial that we might be part of the problem.

When we act Above the Line, we are taking Ownership of the problems or opportunities that come our way, we are Accountable for results and most importantly we are Responsible for our actions.

Almost at every given moment, at every encounter, we make the decision to act Above the Line or Below the Line. So, how do we choose to act above or below the line? We choose our attitude and how we act by the questions we ask ourselves.

When a situation or opportunity arises or there is a problem, do you find yourself asking these types of questions…

Whose fault is it? How can I prove that I’m right? Why bother? Is this person clueless?

Or are you asking yourself these types of questions…

What’s working? What are the facts? What are my choices? What’s possible? What can I learn?

The first set of questions will take you down the past of acting below the line and the second set of questions will take you up the path of acting above the line.

Unfortunately being human will lead us down the path to acting below the line from time to time. The challenge is to recognize that we are acting below the line and switch our direction and start heading in a positive direction by acting above the line.

The switching tool that we use to go from acting below the line to acting above the line is our questions.

We begin the switching process by recognizing the types of questions we are asking ourselves. Are we acting below the line? Then, we need to step back to look at our situation objectively and start asking ourselves…What assumptions am I making? Do I have all the facts? What choices do I have?

These are simple but powerful and productive questions that can quickly change your attitude and your success in life.

By following these simple steps you will soon see that you’ll be looking at each situation differently and with a new attitude. After that the possibilities are endless.

Until we meet up again, make it a profitable day…

Steve Goranson, MBA Certified ActionCOACH Jacksonville FL

As I am sitting here exhausted from all the preparation and the celebration of the Passover holiday, I am reminded that success and happiness is not easy. There are many lessons to be learned from this holiday.  It’s not a holiday commemorating an ancient event but a lesson to achieve true success & happiness in our lives.

It takes hard work and preparation. There are no short cuts to true success. Passover is the holiday of freedom.  A time for each of us to search deep inside ourselves to find the things or limiting beliefs that keep us in our rut or comfort zone and keeping us from being as successful as we can.

When we search deep inside ourselves we will find the true source of our power and energy, and when we truly connect to this energy, we will be amazed in the abundant amount of good we can produce.

The Passover holiday is over a week long.  The first days are about preparation and beginning on your path of success.  Change is not easy. Whenever we try to change, it’s very easy to fall back into our comfort zone.  Making change last is what the last days of the holiday is all about.

The 7th day is when the Jews crossed the Sea of Reeds or commonly referred to as the Red Sea. The lesson here is, when you are focused on your goal, what appears to be obstacles will split & provide you with a path to reach your goals. Our biggest obstacle is our own limiting beliefs. Don’t focus on what you can’t do but what you can do. You’ll see the miracles appear in front of your own eyes.

Jack Canfield sums it up in a formula from his book “Success Principles”.

E + R = O  Event + Response = Outcome

We all know the outcome we want to achieve (though some of us have a clearer picture of that outcome than others).  There always seems to some event or barrier that comes along and keeps us from journeying forward to our desired outcome.  Most of the time, we have no control over this event or the personal barrier that is put in front of us by ourselves or others.

The only thing we are in control over is how we respond to this event.  When we focus on the event or obstacle we lose focus and our desire to move toward our goal.  But, when we are focused on our outcome or goal those obstacles that may appear to be as big as a whole sea will soon split an allow us to truly break free and move toward our goal.

Steve Goranson, MBA
stevegoranson@actioncoach.com
www.JacksonvilleCOACH.com