Mr Ken Varga recently surveyed thousands of business owners to find out what was in their way of generating more revenue. Then he spent several days categorizing the information to make it useful to them and to business owners like you.
2. And then I spent several days sifting through the responses to understand what they
felt they needed.
I noticed a common theme...in fact, I see
there are 7 major obstacles standing in the way of BIG revenues
for just about any business person who is struggling right now.
In this report, I'll tell you what those seven obstacles are – AND I'll tell you exactly
how to overcome every single one of them! I'll tell you what I've done in my own
businesses – and the thousands of others I've helped over the years – to blast
through these business obstacles and send sales and profits up, up, up!
The Good News Is…
None of these obstacles are insurmountable. With the proper attention and
experience, they can be overcome. Some of the obstacles you face can be
overcome quickly and easily. Others may take more work, and you can show
increasing success over time.. But they can all be overcome.
Be encouraged by that, my friend!
Sometimes, just changing our perspective on things allows us to see everything
differently. When that happens, we can then come up with solutions we couldn’t
have seen before.
What are the seven obstacles blocking BIG success in business?
Obstacle #1
Strapped for cash
The # 1 obstacle many people are facing is being strapped for cash. Many felt they
had opportunities they could take advantage of if they had the cash, but lack of
cash was keeping them from growing.
4. So, if you are strapped for cash, you’ve got to ask yourself - why?
The answer probably lies in the fact that you are not giving your customers
(retail or venture capitalist) enough of what they want so that you are getting
enough of what you want (investment capital or sales).
I understand there are forces outside of ourselves (like the economy) that have a
big effect on what people are buying or investing in. But they are still spending
money…on something. The big question you must ask is,
Why aren't they buying from you?
But to answer that question effectively, you have to ask it from THEIR point of
view…as THEY try to get THEIR needs met, with the limited time and money at
THEIR disposal - not from your point of view...as you try to sell what you’ve got.
Getting into, staying within, and coming from, your customer’s point of view can
be really tough to do by yourself on a continual basis. But you must find a way to
do this in order to capture, keep, nurture – and, yes, care for your customers.
You can't afford to assume anything about your customers' needs, desires, fears,
hopes and dreams. You must get out of your own head, out of your own way, and
be open to challenging all your basic assumptions about your customers and
prospects.
If you feel trapped by your own assumptions, or overwhelmed by your situation,
then I know exactly how you feel. I've been there, many times.
How did I get un-stuck? I asked for help.
And guess what? I got it, every time. And I have profited handsomely, again and
again, from my new knowledge. Expert help from a seasoned pro is worth its
weight in gold.
However, if we remain trapped by our perspective, we’ll probably remain strapped
for cash.
6. As they developed this product/service, they added more and more features to
make the product/service better.
Months or years later, the product/service is finished and they now have a product
they can be proud of.
Unfortunately, there are now so many features and benefits to this product that,
when it comes to launch the product, they must face difficult questions like:
Which features and benefits should they emphasize? To whom should they stress
which benefits or features? Which part of the market will be most profitable?
At that point, too often the decision-making process involved in marketing the
product/service becomes way too complex, time-consuming and expensive. Even
the largest companies in the world have made this mistake – and lost a bundle!
Don't you do it, too!
A similar situation occurs when a business finds a product that they fall in love
with, or that they believe has the potential to make a lot of money, and then decides
to sell it.
They have fallen so in love with the product that they feel everyone else will also.
The only problem is, they haven’t yet figured out how difficult, or expensive, that
is going to be! How will they find enough people like themselves who will fall in
love with the product? Where do those people congregate? What it will it cost to
reach those people? What will it take to “make” them “fall in love” with your
product? (or, at least, like it enough to buy it?)
This happens frequently in the network marketing field. People fall in love with
the income plan or the products and decide that is sufficient reason to start a
business. However, they haven’t figured out how they will find their ideal
customer beyond their family, friends and acquaintances.
So, after letting all the people in their circle of influence know what they have,
they are faced with a slowdown in recruitment and sales.
Who Do You Love More -
Your Product Or Your Customers?
8. Six Simple Steps To
Test Before You Invest
1) Outline who you think you ideal prospect would be.
2) Outline the various ways to reach that prospect.
3) Rank those ways in terms of the cost to reach those prospects, the time it will
take to reach them, and the expected return on your investment.
4) Make your best choice and test it. Test it on as small a scale as you can.
5) If the test doesn’t work out, then take you next best “guess” and test that.
6) Keep repeating until you get positive results. Then scale up.
Does this take some doing? Yes, it does. But if you find yourself in the situation
where you have a product with wide application or a product in search of a market,
this is your best choice.
Would it be best to get help with this? You bet! I'll tell you how to do that later.
Meanwhile, read on...
Obstacle #3
Spending too much to get a customer
How do you know if you are spending too much to get a customer?
Well, you’ve got to know how much you can make from the customer first.
If you know that figure, then you know how much you can spend and still break
even. And you know beyond what point you’ll make a profit.
Can you see how, once you know this “magic number”, it can be almost like
having a license to print money?
The only way to do that is to:
10. You spend endless hours and too many dollars devising and testing marketing
strategies. You finally find one that works! You go gung-ho!
Then after a while it stops working.
Now you have to find another one. What could be more frustrating!
Why did it stop working?
There could be many reasons, such as:
1) Everybody’s ad now looks like your ad…yours is not standing out.
2) The market has changed....and you haven't.
3) There are more competitors....and you are losing business to them.
Obviously, revenue drops when this happens.
What can you do?
You’ve got one good option…
Put a new strategy in place real fast!
But how do you get a working, profitable, new strategy in place fast…especially if
you have to test a lot of them to find the right one?
This is something you must figure out to stay ahead of the pack, or you will be left
behind before you know it.
Here are a two things you can do, starting here and now…
1) ABT - Always Be Testing new strategies that you can ramp up as other
strategies die.
2) OPE - Other People’s Experience. Talk with others who have gone through
what you are going through. Find out what they did and what worked. You can
use OPE as “leverage” to get maximum results in minimum time. That's because
12. Why am I telling you this? It's simple.
I think focusing too much on the “big idea”
can actually slow the growth of a company.
Why?
Because that puts our focus in the wrong place. It takes our eye off the ball…
the customer.
Instead of looking for the big idea, we need to be looking for the big WANT the
customer has.
This may seem like a subtle difference, but it makes a big difference in terms of
how effective you’ll be in claiming your big success.
You can think of it this way…
It’s the customer that pays you, not the idea.
The idea is the vehicle through which you get paid, but it’s the customer who
reaches into his pocket and hands you the cash.
That’s where your focus must be.
If you focus only on the “big idea,” you can end up wasting your money and your
life, running in circles, trying to find that one idea.
But when you focus on the customer, you focus where it matters…
on what the customer wants.
To learn what customers want, you have to get below the surface, to what really
matters – what's going on in the hearts and minds of your customers. You have to
learn to listen to the conversations that are going on in their minds.
14. What's the point of doing all this?
It's simple, but paradoxical: The point is this:
If you focus your effort and intention on learning about
your customers more than on the “big idea” itself, then the
chances of you coming up with a big idea paradoxically increase!
But more importantly, on your way to the big idea, you will come up with products
and services that better suit your customers, and yield more and more revenues for
you. Forget “the big idea.” Go for “the big money.” Your customers would love
to hand it to you, if you offer them something they love!
Obstacle #6
Not being different enough from my competition
In today’s age, technology has made it possible to duplicate businesses fairly
rapidly, especially online businesses. Not only that, real-time information is so
readily accessible that competitors multiply like jack-rabbits.
You may know that you are better at what you do than many of your competitors,
but to the prospect who sees you as an insurance agent, a real estate agent, a web
designer, or whatever category they apply to you, they don’t know the difference.
Once they categorize you, it’s hard for you to break through their perception and
deliver your message.
So how do you get them to see you as different and to listen to you with different
“ears”?
Here are two methods I recommend:
1) Never categorize yourself when you answer “what do you do?” Instead, give
an answer that creates curiosity.
For instance, if you are insurance agent and someone asks what you do, you could
respond with something like: “I protect people’s dreams.” The most likely thing to
happen then is that the person will ask you what you mean. Then you can go into
16. Here’s another example…
This example involves a clothier that I worked with. I had him offer free
alterations for life to his customers. That’s right, for life. (We added the element of
time and took it to an edge.) How often do we put on a few extra pounds and need
alterations?
The customers came in at any time they wanted and they got styling and fashion
tips. They would get their clothes pressed while they waited.
If they happened to be going out, or if they happened to be there at lunch and their
shirt, or tie, or even their pants were wrinkled, they would be given a robe to wear
while the clothier pressed their item.
Extraordinary? Sure. An edge? You bet.
The clothier doubled their business in six months!
They just extended themselves at the highest level possible, and they also did
wardrobe consulting for their customers, absolutely FREE.
They even came to your home and looked at your existing clothing wardrobe,
made notes, and then came back and laid out all kinds of possible matches,
contrasts and complements.
They would even come to your home at night if needed.
In other words, they did whatever it took to serve their customer at an
extraordinary level. By doing this, their business grew by leaps and bounds.
Can you go to an edge like this? Sure you can! How will you do it? Who do you
know who has gone to the edges, and been extraordinary? What can you learn
from them? How can you apply it to your business?
Obstacle #7
Too many choices. Not sure what to do next…
18. If there is something you are unsure of, or don’t know, ask someone who knows.
As a matter of fact, ask several people who you know are qualified to give you
helpful answers. The most qualified people to ask are those who have “been there,
and done that.” - those who have faced and overcome the same obstacles you are
facing now.
An experienced advisor can help you sort out and select what is reliable and
powerful information – and what is mere theory or opinion. Then you can act right
away to increase your chances of BIG success. This will speed up your progress.
And save you from wasting your money, and suffering unnecessary grief.
Of course, you can try to solve your problems, and find your way, all by yourself.
But please realize you are taking a big (and unnecessary) risk, because the “lone
wolf syndrome” is one underlying reason why many business owners and
entrepreneurs fail!
But even if you are successful, if you depend on yourself only, you are stunting
your growth, and cheating yourself out of your chance for the really BIG success
you could be enjoying..
Why?
Because no matter what you do, you will always see things only from your
perspective. This means you get a one-sided view of things, no matter how much
information you gather.
If you want to come up with out-of-the box solutions, you need other perspectives.
Other people can provide different perspectives that allow you to see more than
you can ever possibly see from only your point of view.
Most of us were taught from an early age that it was a sign of weakness to need
help, or to ask for it.
The fact is, it’s just the opposite.
It takes a strong person to admit that
they need help - and an even stronger
person to go get it when they do.
20. A SOLUTION
I’m putting together a new program to help you get past any obstacles in your
business, including the seven obstacles I mentioned in this report. I want to
personally guide a small group of motivated business owners and entrepreneurs to
BIG success. This will be the culmination of everything I've done in my four
decades in business. I will let you know more about it in a few days.
Since you won’t want to miss the other obstacle-busting information I’ll be sending
out….starting in the next few days….you want to get on my priority list now.
Make sure you are not left out. Just go here and enter your name and email address
while you are thinking of it: www.kenvarga.com/unstucklanding
You owe it to yourself to at least check out what I’m putting together. It may be
just what you are looking for.
To your success,
Ken Varga
P.S. Within the next few weeks I’ll be sending out some additional revenue-
increasing ideas you’ll definitely want to get your hands on. So make sure you get
notified by joining my list at www.kenvarga.com/unstucklanding
(SEE THE NEXT PAGE FOR A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME)