10 Marketing Mindset Rules for Local Business

Actually the title should say 10 Marketing Mindset Rules Guidelines.  I’m not big on rules.  I think they were made to be broken.

Not long ago, I did a presentation on mindset. The way we see the world is the way we market our businesses. It can’t be helped–we’re just wired that way.

Another way to say it is “we can’t act differently from the way we believe.”

Here are the 10 Guidelines and my commentary on them.  I want you to think of them as Buddhist Koans.  Meditate on them and reflect back on your business.

1. Optimists Find Opportunities
The opposite of this is Pessimists See Problems.  I don’t think I have ever met an entrepreneur who wasn’t an optimist in some shape or form.  However, I have seen business owners who have acquired a negative world view.  Sounds contradictory, but hear me out.

Entrepreneurs believe they can change the environment around them so they start a business to cause a change, which can be to solve a consumer’s problem or to bring innovation to a market.  To believe this you have to be optimistic that you can actually change the environment.

Then hard-knocks come along and a negative perspective starts to set in.

The good news is that we have control over our world view and can become optimists again.  This is best done by focusing on the needs of others and not on yourself.

2. Whatever You Are Thinking–Think Bigger
I can’t remember who I heard this from.  It was either Sean Stephenson, author of Get Off Your But or Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com.

I, and probably everyone else, has to remind myself to think bigger.  We try to be rational, logical and realistic, but those important mental tools don’t drive passion.   Sometimes big goals are harder to achieve, but they attract talented, passionate people who will want to help.  Little goals don’t excite anyone–even yourself.

3. Turn Acquaintances Into Allies
To me, this koan means to create partnerships, especially joint ventures.  I have used JVs for my businesses to quickly add customers.  A friend of mine went from $10,000 a month in sales to $70,000 per month from using joint ventures.  I think his business is doing just over a million a year now.

Another meaning could be getting your customers, vendors and employees to be evangelists for your business.

In tough times, we need as many allies as we can get.

4. Always Provide More Value Than The Price You Charge
Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

Too many people mistakenly or purposefully believe that getting ahead requires taking advantage of others.  If you sell a product or service that doesn’t give more value than what you charged, you won’t succeed.  You could probably make a quick buck, but that won’t last.  If you don’t sell a product that is valuable to your market, then make it valuable or find something else to sell.

5. Love The Customers You Have or Get Customers You Can Love
Have you ever or do you have customers you don’t like?  Fire them.  Go find customers you can like.  This goes back to #4.  If you don’t like your customers, you can’t provide more value than you charge.  Also, life is too short to spend time with people you don’t like.

6. You Can’t Bore Your Prospect Into Buying
This is a tough one for most people including myself.  Boring sales literature (Come on, really? It ain’t literature.) is passed out all over the world and people don’t read it.  I’m not saying to be entertaining for the sake of getting attention.  Just speak to the wants and desires of your market.  People find their wants and desires to be very interesting.

7. Forget Being Professional (whatever that means) & Be Human
This is one of the main reasons for #6.  “I want my marketing to be ‘professional’ and not all salesy.”  Every time a prospective client says that to me, I just ask them to define what professional looks like.  Most can’t do it and those that do, show me the most asinine, sleep-inducing corporate brochures and websites.

So, I recommend speaking to your prospects and customers as one human to another.  Turns out people like that sort of thing.

8. Education Is Good For You & Your Customer
I learned education-based marketing from my friend and mentor, Joe Polish, the President of Piranha Marketing, Inc.  I have found over the years that a well-informed customer is a better customer.  I don’t mean just telling them what you do, but providing an education on how you can fulfill their wants and desires.

9. You Make a Sale to Get a Customer; You Don’t Get a Customer to Make a Sale
Many businesses operate with a transactional business model.  They sell something to someone and then go looking for someone else to buy from them.  If a customer buys again–woohoo, bonus!  In consulting, I have found I have to drag someone kicking and screaming to get them to spend money marketing to their current customers, but they will gladly drop thousands a month on the hope that their lame yellow page ad will bring in new customers.

There is a term in internet marketing circles called a continuity business.  This typically refers to a membership website, but it means that your customers buy over and over on a regular basis–hopefully by letting you automatically charge their credit card each month.  Not all businesses can get their customers to buy monthly, but what if you could get every customer to buy twice instead of once?  By making a sale to get a customer, you have less resistance from your customer to purchase more from you.

10. Chase The Vision, Not The Money
This I am sure I heard from Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com.  People, whether customers, employees, vendors, family or friends, will get behind a vision.  They will support you.  They will go out of their way to help you to succeed.  People love dreams and they will help you achieve yours if they believe it is bigger than you. If it’s a selfish dream such as “I want a ton of money so I can buy a Ferarri.”  They won’t be too interested in helping.  But if you are out to make a difference in your community, your industry or the whole world, people can visualize that future and how they would fit in it.

Too often we use money as our scoreboard when we should be counting all the lives that we have improved by chasing our vision.

Just the list:

10 Marketing Mindset Rules for Local Businesses

1. Optimists Find Opportunities

2. Whatever You Are Thinking–Think Bigger

3. Turn Acquaintances Into Allies

4. Always Provide More Value Than The Price You Charge

5. Love The Customers You Have or Get Customers You Can Love

6. You Can’t Bore Your Prospect Into Buying

7. Forget Being Professional (whatever that means) & Be Human

8. Education Is Good For You & Your Customer

9. You Make a Sale to Get a Customer; You Don’t Get a Customer to Make a Sale

10. Chase The Vision, Not The Money

This is not a definitive list.  Please add your Marketing Mindset Guidelines in the comments section.  Also, feel free to share this list.  If you do, please be kind and link back to me.  I can’t wait to hear what you have to share…

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