Your flagship product

What's a flagship product?

A flagship product is a product or service that you and your business becomes identified with. It's something that communicates a concept or a solution that people automatically and favorably associate with you.

What a flagship product does is give you and your business instant credibility. When people purchase your flagship product, they are more likely to buy other products and services from you.

A flagship product should have the following characteristics:

Slack

A lot of corporations have seen dramatic decreases in revenue and have cut back projects as well. In many cases, this is accompanied by layoffs, and so everyone is working far harder.

But in other organizations, and for a lot of freelancers, there's more time than work. In other words, slack time.

Assume for a moment you don't have money to develop and launch something new. So, what are you going to do with the slack?

What can you build over the next year that will take time now and pay off later? How can you invest the slack to build a marketing asset that you'll own forever?

May I offer two suggestions:


http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/03/slack.html

Become an Industry Expert ... in a Week

Become an Industry Expert ... in a Week
with Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CSP

“How’s your business in this economy?”

“Really down. I was well-placed in the financial services and auto industries.”

“Ouch. I see. Why don’t you start working in some other industries?”

“You know ... people don’t want to hire you unless you’re an expert, and I’m not an expert in other industries.”

“What if you could become an expert with credibility in another industry in a week?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Michael Lee did it. And he’s going to be in an SNN teleseminar to tell what he did. You should listen. Even if it takes you more than a week, he says that with focus and effort, you can move into a new niche a lot more quickly than you think.”

More details of this session below, then register or pre-order the CD or MP3. Note: people who register for the teleseminar will get the MP3 recording of the session for free.

Red-hot sales negotiation

:
Everything You Need to Know to Close Deals, Build Relationships, and Create Win-Win Outcome by sPaul S. Goldner, Peter McKeon

Negotiation is more than just closing a sale. It’s the art of continuing a partnership that is successful for both parties. Red-Hot Sales Negotiation provides practical tips and strategies to help salespeople ... more

Hiring in the modern world

Video:

Malcolm Gladwell (author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point”) on the challenge of hiring in the modern world.

Book - Setting the table

Pivotal Book:

Setting the Table - the Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business


Is the customer always right? According to Danny Meyer, one of America's leading restaurateurs, the answer is no--but "they must always feel heard."

In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons he's learned while developing the winning recipe for doing the business he calls "enlightened hospitality."

This innovative philosophy emphasizes putting the power of hospitality to work in a new and counterintuitive way: The first and most important application of hospitality is to the people who work for you, and then, in descending order of priority, to the guests, the community, the suppliers, and the investors.

This way of prioritizing stands the more traditional business model on their heads, but Danny considers it the foundation of every success that he and his restaurants have achieved. He hired "genuine, happy, optimistic" people.

They shared their good feelings with customers. And customers felt liked and valued. They became regulars --- and if the secret of a successful long-term enterprise is not Repeat Business, what is it?

more on Setting the Table

Earn More and Work Less by “Expertizing” Your Book and Business

Earn More and Work Less by “Expertizing” Your Book and Business with Fern Reiss

If you’ve written and published a great book, don’t you deserve to see terrific book sales and an increase in your speaking and consulting? It’s time to consider “Expertizing” your book and business.

Expertizing is not only a way to get better media attention from journalists, it’s also a way to get more clients, more speaking engagements, and more sales.

Fern Reiss has Expertized authors, small businesses, large businesses, and nonprofits — everyone from the Hilton Hotels Corporation to the United Methodist Church.

Learn how to Expertize *your* book and business.

You will learn:

...What is “Expertising”?
...How to generate publicity for your book and business — online and off
...The five biggest (and most expensive) pitfalls of book marketing — and how to avoid them
...How to get the media to call *you* for quotes
...how to coin juicy sound bites and get into nearly any publication in the world
...How to get the benefits of a $100,000 PR campaign — while spending 0 to $2400
...How to earn a five-figure monthly income by leveraging your book into an association or subscription Web site

Register or order the CD or MP3 recording

7 Top strategies for Making 2009 Your Best year ever

It’s a new year.

So how will 2009 be different for you?

How will YOU be different?

What will you change, and what will you nurture and cultivate?

To finish the year well, you need to START well.

The first few weeks set the pace for the entire year to come.

How will you plan out and engineer your 2009?

Regardless of how you typically start the New Year, you’ll want to be on our webcast next Thursday.

We’ll give you the 7 Top Strategies for Making 2009 Your Best Year Yet.

I’ll even share with you my own personal strategies I’ll be using for my particular goals.

Being part of this (not cost) event will help you start the New Year with clarity, confidence and conviction.

Register today to be on the call and receive the bonuses we’ll be giving away.

http://SuccessNet.org/2009

Make it a great day–and a great year!
…………………………………………………………………………….
PS: You do NOT want to miss this so register today–phone lines are limited.
http://SuccessNet.org/2009
http://SuccessNet.org

Helping People and Companies Grow and Prosper Since 1995!

47 ways to help you keep your New Year resolutions

2009 promises to be a year of profound change. Millions of people around the world are having a tough time, but periods of dramatic upheaval are also the best time to start or grow a business. Extraordinary times create extraordinary opportunities.

Now we can’t help you lose 20 pounds or learn to play the violin. But if you want to increase your income, spend more time with your family, finally launch your online business, monetize your blog, or just get in better touch with your inner entrepreneur, here are some of the best Copyblogger posts of 2008 to help you do exactly that.

http://adjix.com/i7x

Your own Super Niche

To Find a Niche: Focus!

Many entrepreneurs think that selling to the widest possible market is the likeliest path to success. The problem is that the "take all comers" approach is not very effective as an overall marketing strategy; marketing becomes expensivewhen everyone is a potential prospect.

Today's small businesses share a fiercely competitive playing field. Combined with information overload, this means that it's harder to stand out when you have a generic message. If you are merely a "management consultant," a humble"business coach," or a nondescript "financial advisor," you risk fighting it out over price with competitors who offer identical services to yours. To rise above the fray, you need a compelling business message aimed at the right people. You need to cultivate your own Super Niche.

Read the whole article

Coaching Millions

Some coaches are making millions.


You can make more too.


"Coaching Millions" shows you step by step how to leverage your business growth.

A simple six step process to:-- Help more people -- Make a lot more revenue-- Live your ultimate lifestyleBrian Tracy called "Coaching Millions"

".. the best single book ever written on how to be successful in coaching"

I'm also recommending that anyone not yet using coaching as the ultimate high ticket information product get a copy. Even if you "know it".. this book contains simple explanations you can use in training others and leveraging any business.

I've joined with dozens of others to help author Milana Leshinsky tell the world about this wonderful book. We have each donated a gift.

Do this today.. Go to:
http://coachingbestseller.com/

scarcity

So what's scarce now? Respect. Honesty. Good judgment. Long-term relationships that lead to trust

Excellent! - from Seth Godin of course - a great post emphasising just how important this side of business has become.

One of the comments added to the list - O
"originality". And, of course, that's where Seth's power comes from!!

Six Sanity-Saving Scenarios to Turn a Massive Breakdown into a Powerful Business Breakthrough

There I was. Depressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Despite my best efforts to have a smooth running ship and organize my event, I realized I had a significant breakdown in my process. I admit, it wasn’t the end of the world, but come on, I teach this stuff! It was one week before we went live on our new program, we were preparing the workbooks for production, and I realized, no one ordered the right tabs! Yikes!

It got me thinking how a client of mine had shared a great story about their direct mail marketing campaign. A lot of money had been invested in buying a list of qualified candidates. But every step of the way there was breakdown in the process – the guy who formatted the list didn’t set it up right, the assistant didn’t have the proper envelopes, and they had no postage when they needed it. My client laughed as he told me this, but I knew he was frustrated!

Well, I’ve learned over the years that a breakdown means that something very valuable is happening – I have new insight into how I can improve my process, my attitude, or my belief so that problem never happens again.
Let’s look at a few examples of how breakdowns can occur in our business or life.

Read the whole article

What Customers Want from Your Products

Marketers should think less about market segments and more about the jobs customers want to do. A Harvard Business Review excerpt by HBS professor Clayton M. Christensen, Intuit’s Scott Cook, and Advertising Research Foundation’s Taddy Hall.

With few exceptions, every job people need or want to do has a social, a functional, and an emotional dimension. If marketers understand each of these dimensions, then they can design a product that's precisely targeted to the job.
In other words, the job, not the customer, is the fundamental unit of analysis for a marketer who hopes to develop products that customers will buy.

Read on ...