I spent the latter half of last week in Cleveland attending a seminar put on by Dan Kennedy. The room was full of “players” who had spent their money and, more importantly, their time to continue learning. Remember that school is never out for the real pro…no matter what level they are at.
After the seminar, I was talking to a guy who owns a multi-million dollar franchising type of company, and he said something to me that was profound. “I give all of my people a blueprint for how they can be successful, but when I get back home, I’m going to create a blueprint for how people can fail at their business as well. This way, they can check both blueprints and see if their behaviors are leading them down the road to success or the road of failure.”
What a great idea! Everyone is telling you what to do to be successful, but very few people are telling you the behaviors that lead to failure. So today, I’m going to give you a checklist of behaviors that lead to frustration and struggle at a minimum and to abject failure at worst. Be honest, and see how many of these behaviors YOU are exhibiting:
1. Not investing in continuing education and coaching. The most successful people I know are constantly investing time and money in learning. Now, some people think, “Well, he is rich, so he can afford to go to seminars, hire coaches and buy products.” The truth is that a person is successful because they did that BEFORE they had the money to invest. I most certainly did. I remember struggling to buy Dan Kennedy‘s “Magnetic Marketing” program for $279 about 13 years ago. I can’t imagine where I would be today if I didn’t do that.
2. Not investing in lead generation. This is the lifeblood of your business and where I see the biggest number of business owners in every category fall short. You MUST put money into marketing your business. Listen, you can have me create the greatest marketing campaign on the planet for you, but if you don’t have a list of customers and prospects to send it to or you are unwilling to invest money in building this list, you will be dead in the water.
3. Only using the Internet to market your business. Oh my goodness, this is a error of EPIC PROPORTIONS. It’s one that I have fallen into, but I can guarantee you that is changing not only for me but for my clients as well. My new “done for you” marketing launch package seamlessly integrates online marketing with offline marketing and leans heavily on the use of sending marketing messages to prospects in the mail. FORGET about what the phony, get rich on the Internet guru’s teach you. THEY ARE LYING TO YOU. In future blog posts, I’m going to go over this in greater detail, but for now, burn it into your brain that the marriage of online and offline is where your riches are waiting.
4. Not having a clear focus on who your target market is. You can’t effectively craft a powerful marketing message to attract your ideal customers if you do not know who they are. The “world” is not a niche market. You need to define who you are serving.
5. Not knowing how to sell. The most successful people I know are master salespeople. I don’t care how great a therapist, coach, doctor, butcher, baker, or candlestick maker you are. If you can’t sell, you are going to struggle. Later this week, I am going to be opening up a VERY inexpensive sales training program that YOU and every one of my subscribers should participate in. I made it so affordable that everyone can afford it.
6. Meditating instead of getting in motion and actually doing something. “Think & Grow Rich,” “The Law of Attraction,” blah, blah, blah. You can sit in the corner all day and think about getting rich but unless you actually DO something, they’re going to come and start taking your stuff. Gary Halbert said it best, “You accomplish more with movement than you do with meditation.” Hey, I agree that the idea of just want something enough and visualizing it enough, the “universe” will give it to you is appealing – and snake oil salesman have been peddling it for years, but the reality is it’s the men and women of ACTION who are the ones that get things done.
As I’m sure you’re aware, this list could go on and on but this is a pretty good start. So how did you measure up? I know I need to work on some of these areas. How ’bout you?
I’d love to know what you think, so if you have any questions or comments please post them here.
Kick butt, make mucho “DEE-nero”
Dave Dee
P.S. I mentioned Dan Kennedy a couple of times in this post and for good reason. Dan had and is having a profound impact on my business and my life. I have been a newsletter subscriber of his for over ten consecutive years and STILL look forward to when it arrives in the mail each month. He and his partner Bill Glazer are offering a free trial of the newsletter along with hundreds of dollars worth of valuable gifts. Take a test drive now and claim your free stuff.
Leave A Reply (12 comments So Far)
Laura Lee
436 days ago
“Meditating instead of getting in motion and actually doing something. “Think & Grow Rich,” “The Law of Attraction,” blah, blah, blah”
Classic! And why you ROCK!
Indeed I agree and I believe this should be the #1 reason – failure to take consistent action.
Keep up keeping it real Dave
Shane
436 days ago
I couldn’t agree more with you about continuing education. Things are always changing and there’s always more to learn.
Anxiety Attacks and Panic Attacks
Al Ward
436 days ago
A billboard just outside of Sioux Falls, SD has a Picture of Warren Buffet and says this. “Want my advice? Invest in Yourself.”
Most people never read a nonfiction book after they get out of school. I think I have listened to more words of Brian Tracy than he was ever spoken. It was changed me.
Jerry Zak
436 days ago
Take Action. …That is spot on Dave!
Honest, practical, real world, in the trenches advice. You don’t speak pipe dreams mumbo-jumbo but roll-up-your-sleeves seasoned truth.
It makes me feel I can and will succeed. Thanks Dave!
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
Nathan Burns
436 days ago
Dave the idea of posting a list of reason why people fail is a good idea. However, when you referred to the great book Think and Grow Rich in a negative light I was lead to point out one of the philosophy that is at the heart of the book. It is #9 of 30 major causes of failure pertaining to action. Lack of persistence: Most of us are good “starters” but poor “finishers” of everything we begin. Moreover, people are prone to give up at the first signs of defeat. There is no substitute for persistence. The person who make persistence his watch-word discovers that “Old Man Failure” finally become tired, and makes his departure. Failure cannot cope with persistence. I believe that persistent continuous action which does not recognize failure will bring “RICHES”.
Alicia Dunams
436 days ago
Yes, local and offline marketing is very important and often neglected. I found a nice balance by doing local seminars, and broadcasting them online.
There is a restaurant close to where I live that is always packed, with lines out the door. They have an online presence, of course, but there profits are being feed by a local community in addition to word of mouth marketing. Business marketing should be comprehensive, not myopic.
You’re a straight shooter Dave. Love it!
Ron
436 days ago
Hey Dave,
Great post as always!
I’m a little confused though…
You stated in point 3, as well as in other posts and products the importance of direct mail. I’ve also heard this from several other big time “gurus”, but the thing is, I rarely see it practiced by them in real life.
Everybody from Dan Kenned to Joe Polish to Michael Masterson keep preaching the importance of multi-step direct mail to your prospects and customers promoting your other products. But here’s my gripe: I’m a rabid customers of all these Gurus and others… yet in the past 2 years I have never received a single direct mail piece from any of them. Even the big players have stopped mailing me (like Boardroom and Agora, even though I still buy their products).
I have to actually go and search them online to find their other products when I’m interested in purchasing something else. Don’t get me wrong, they spam the hell out of you if you stay on their email list, but nothing in the mail. Ever. Yet they all preach the “send out at least 7 sales letters” mantra.
So I’m confused Dave, is this just “do as I say, not as I do” or have the economics of mailing changed with the economy?
I ask you this question because I’ve never seen you hype things up and you always tell it the way it is instead of parroting typical guru ambiguity to avoid the question.
Thanks for the great information!
Karen
436 days ago
Hi Dave,
This is the first newsletter/blog that I’ve found that actually comes out and says this. I’m glad to hear it, because my email “list” is pretty small right now. How does one go about getting or generating leads? Would you mind writing more about this?
Thanks, I always really enjoy your letters, and they often make me laugh too!
Dominique Bouyer
436 days ago
Dear Dave,
I love what you do because in this market of business intelligence gurus you’re not like others talking only about “sweet stuff”, but you say it right, whether people like it or not.
To your list I would like to propose to add some points that also occcured to be very important to me:
7. Know yourself, know your purpose in life and your abilities (you had a wonderful blog on that) and stick to it. Live your purpose in your everyday life, never sell yourself for money, work for your passion, not for money.
8. Be ethical. In other terms: always keep the agreements you make – even the non-spoken ones – and never do something to others that you would not want them do to yourself. Because you gonna have to be proud of yourself to sell yourself. And you are the one who faces yourself in the mirror every day. Make sure you like what you see!
9. Stay away from destructive people, whose only aim is to see you crush and/or to use you. The very bad ones are the most difficult to spot, because they will always pretend they are here to help you – and they will attack you very covertly. So make sure you learn how to spot them, to keep them away. And make sure you also learn to recognize good guys, because they are the ones that will really bring you further.
Bonny Kariuki
436 days ago
Hey Dave,
This is super serious content. I have a questions though; 4. Not having a clear focus on who your target market is.
Supposing whatever one is selling can suite a wide variety of people e.g a diabetes solution, what system should one follow in order to reach all of them as far as age, sex and other factors are concerned?
Regards,
Bonny.
Dave Dee
435 days ago
Hey Ron,
A lot of folks use direct mail and offline marketing to generate leads or get the first sale and then they move the customer online. (Agora definitely does this.) If you are a proven ONLINE buyer, they might just keep you online which is probably a mistake. Glazer-Kennedy sends a TON of direct mail.
For my part, I was seduced by the whole online thing and stopped using direct mail to the detriment of my sales. You will be seeing a change soon.
Dave
Dave Dee
435 days ago
Hi Bonnie,
There is always a certain segment of the market who will be better buyers than others. So NOT everyone who has diabetes even cares about taking care of themselves. On the other end of the spectrum there are people who are buying all types of products and information on the subject – you want to target these folks. (And can with direct mail.) Additionally, if you have an affinity with a group of people, then niching your solution to them will produce better results than trying to reach the the entire market. Ex. You’re a nurse who has diabetes. Targeting other nurses with diabetes would be a good idea.
Dave