be-unreasonable.com » Strategy

The Unreasonable Manifesto, Part 2

author — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:31:45 +0000

If you keep doing what other people want you to do, and thinking about what other people want you to think, what do you suppose is likely to happen?

Repeating the successes of the past, preserving tradition, doing things as they are “supposed” to be done, will- at best – produce results like those had before. Except that in this new future – our present – those results can’t possibly be as good, as productive, or as powerful as they once were. And probably not as much fun, either.

Unreasonable success requires unreasonable approaches to the future.Breakthroughs needn’t happen by chance. You can create them at will.Breakthroughs are great leaps forward, and while they can happen by accident, they can also happen by design.

Here are principles of Being Unreasonable

11. Don’t base your life on what’s likely. Base it on what you dream about

Take the possible further. Chart the course of your life not on what you think probable, not on what you think possible, but on that about which you think fantastic. The biggest breakthroughs and biggest successes come from dreamers. (Caveatfanaticus {dreamer beware}: It will still you take all the same work to get there – dreams just don’t yield results without action.)

12. Expect the best

Expect the best from those around you. Expect them to be successful. Count on it. Plan for it. Budget for it. Expecting the best gives you the highest likelihood of getting whatever IT is. Start with the best case scenario and figure out how insure it. By the way, expecting the worst has a similar, but opposite, effect.

13. Don’t think, “Can I accomplish it?” Think, “How can I get this done?”

If it is worth doing, and you have strong reasons for doing it, you’ll find a way. Stop worrying if it is possible. Trust me, it is. Focus your deepest mind on how to make it happen. Remember, the best answer to “How…?” is “Yes.”

14. Back yourself into a corner, so the only place you can go is forward

Warrior-sage Sun Tzu wrote that nothing is as dangerous as an enemy backed into a corner. They will fight to the death for the have nowhere else to run. Don’t think about “enemies,” use this strategy on yourself.

15. Cut your timelines in half. You’ll do better work

Not only does work expand to fill the time available, so do our schedules, creating a viscous and every-expanding circle. We need pressure to accomplish great things. Shorten your timeframes, cut them in half. Then tell your friends. Your work may not be any better, but you’ll get it done in less time.

16. Ask people for a lot. They just may give you what you need

Shrinking violets rarely accomplish anything, and asking for what you want will often get it for you. People like to serve. People like to accomplish. People like to win against great odds. Why not ask them for everything.

17. You don’t have to when someone says you should

People say, “you should” when what they really mean is, “In the past, most people I have known have done thus-and-so.” Ask, “Why should I?” whenever the conversation turns to should’s and shouldn’ts. Should is the road to mediocrity. “Why should I”, is the first step towards majesty.

18. If you’re not scared, you’re not doing anything worthy

ll great ventures things in life contain elements of profound risk, and the promise of failure as well as success. Courage isn’t acting without fear, it is being afraid, and acting anyway. If you are not at least a little afraid, you are probably not doing anything worthy of the name great. Unreasonable people are often afraid. So what, just be sure you are afraid of the right thing.

19. Don’t worry about getting it just right

Perfection prevents progress. New ideas must be tested against human beings. If you wait until you get it perfect, it may be too late. It may be never. Think functionality and workability. Experiment in the chaos of the real world, and fix the problems that arise later.

20. Freedom comes from responsibility

Be fully responsible for your actions and the effects they produce. Most people look for outside causes. Unreasonably lay claim to every miracle and debacle within your sphere of influence, which includes, by the way, everything. Make it all yours, for that’s the only way to exert dominion over your world and gain freedom.

I’d unreasonably like to hear what you think. Take a minute and put your comments below.

If you missed the first 10 ideas read them here.

The Law of Focused Action

author — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:13:55 +0000

Everyone wants to be more successful, but often, hard work seems just too hard. Some people turn to the Law of Attraction for help, so I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.

Hey, you know what? All hoopla aside, I like the LOA. And why not? It’s a cool idea, and if the choice is between focusing my mind on things I want versus focusing on things I don’t want, I’d rather spend my mental energy on things I want.

But here’s the question: Is “just” thinking, and emoting, and visualizing, and meditating, and yes, praying, about things I want going to bring them into my life?

LOA gurus say yes and offer proof like a garage full of fast cars, a big house, weight loss…

I don’t believe it.

If all you do is think, emote, visualize, meditate and pray, you may feel better, but all by themselves, those things aren’t going to make your house bigger or your cars faster. And if you think about being thin, and keep eating, well, as they say, the proof IS in the pudding…

If it did work, everyone reading The Secret would be rich. And while a few are, most are not.

But here’s what does happen…

When you sharply focus your internal self on what you want as directed by the LOA, you are going to see many subtle things you might otherwise have missed. You’ll also see some obvious things your previous blinders kept from view.

It’s also going to help you stop sabotaging yourself in whatever ways you’ve spent a lifetime mastering. (Everyone’s an expert at their own version of this.)

It may even make you more “attractive” to people who can help you, because you’ve become a more positive, pleasant, less whiny person to be around, and perhaps more fun, besides.

In all these ways, practicing the law of attraction can make a huge difference.

But here’s one more very important point…

You see, in the physical world, where most of us live, if you want something to happen, you’ve got to move things around. Whether it’s atoms or bits, things still have to move around. And that takes action.

The good news is that your LOA-driven focus can to cause you to DO THINGS, large and small, that you otherwise might have delayed, or blown off entirely, or done badly, which you will now do well. In other words, your LOA mindset can cause you to TAKE ACTION. And not only any action, but the right action. FOCUSED ACTION.

Is there something spiritual at work here? I can’t say, I’m not an expert. But I can tell you this: If you don’t have that last bit – the part about taking focused action? Not much is going to happen.

But if you consistently take Focused Action, doing the right things, day in and day out, you can make miracles happen.

So I’ve a proposal. The Law of Attraction is fine, but if you want really want to heat up your business and your life, apply the Law of Focused Action.

Be Unreasonable. Sharpen your mental focus using LOA. Then put the Law of Focused Action to work. Get busy with the things that will make a difference. Now.

P.S. My apologies to anyone else who’s written recently about any similar subject. When a lot of great minds think alike, that’s the LOA in action. Right?

Put the Law of Focused Action to work and add your comments below.

The Zen of Upsell

author — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:17:04 +0000

In times like these one the easiest things you can do to earn more is to make sure you upsell your customers and clients.

Upsell?

Upsell, in case you’re not familiar with the term, simply means offering your customer more than what they originally planned to purchase. When the guy behind the counter at McDonalds asks, “Would you like fries with that?”, that’s an upsell. When reservation clerk asks if you’d rather sit in the VIP orchestra section instead of the mezzanine, that’s an upsell. When the car salesman offers you the super snow-resistant undercoat on your new Hybrid, that is an upsell.

Why don’t more people use the upsell? Because,

1) they’re not educated to do it;

2) they haven’t thought it through;

3) they haven’t set up an up-sell “path” or “program”;

4) they don’t know what to sell; or,

5) they think it’s cheesy.

This last one’s important: lots of marketers feel as if they’re being pushy or they’re somehow taking advantage of their customer.

You’ve got to get this: most customers don’t know what they really want.

They haven’t thought it through.

They haven’t taken the time to figure out how to maximize the result they’re trying to create.

By helping them with an upsell, by adding pieces for them that go together, you’re making it easier for them to get what they really wanted.

Say I walk into a clothing store to buy a new dress suit. I pick out the one I want and the salesperson then offers me some shirts to go with it.

Is this a bad thing? Do I feel taken advantage of?

No, not really. First of all, I personally hate to shop, but once I’m in the store, it’s good to get all that shopping over with. If I get shirts and maybe even some of ties that go well with the suit, while I’m standing right there right then, I leave the store with a far better solution than having to try to match the suit and shirts and ties later.

Not only do I not have to go into any more stores, but it helps me put the package together more effectively than if the suit is at home and I’m looking for shirts in another store. Offering me “the upsell” is providing a service.

It’s giving me more of what I want, not less. Frankly, if a store doesn’t offer me those up-sells, those accouterments, I will be served less, not more.

Upsells are easy sales because you’ve already overcome all sales resistance. The upsell offer is made once your customer has already decided to buy. They may even have their wallets out and their credit cards ready. All you have to do is present the upsell option and you’re good to go.

The upsell is a win for your customer and it’s a win for you. They get more of what they want and you get to increase your revenue without having to find another customer. Plus, the additional gross margin on the sale becomes drops right to your bottom line, a win-win all around.

Be unreasonable. Upsell.

(Like to hear your thoughts on this. Comment below.)

Marketing Metrics Mistakes

author — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:15:22 +0000

Here are three “Marketing Mistakes” that business owners routinely make. (I saw an article in Direct Magazine which inspired me.)

1. Marketing plans and not aligned with business goals. For instance, say you have a goals to grow top-line revenues by 50%. (Only 50%? Well, it is a recession.) In Formula 5 terms, that would mean a three-part combination of strategies to improve pricing and margins, monetization of each customer, and of course, lead generation. Most business owners never think this way. They never try to figure out what it will take to reach that 50%, in action-oriented terms.

Work backwards from the goal. Ask the question, what will it take? Which parts of the business would be most amenable to improvement? Once you figure that out you can take the next step.

What can you add to your value proposition to justify a price increase – and how much could you add? What can you sell to your existing (and very happy) customers? Do you have that product or service? If not, what’s the plan to create it? What about new leads? Can you amp up your existing programs, or do you need to create new channels?

Create goals for each of these three improvement programs, with detailed action steps. Get busy meeting the business goals.

2) Not measuring the right things to reach those goals. Most business owners don’t keep good track of their marketing activities so they have no idea what’s what. Online marketers tend to be better, but not that much. As the old saying goes, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. If you don’t keep careful track of things, you are unable to take the right actions, and you never know if you’re on or off course. And if all you’re looking at is number of new leads and conversion rate – well, that’s not bad, but it is just not enough.

Understand your Customer lifetime profits, average customer life, purchase frequency, and average transaction size. Add to that your conversion rates and cost of customer acquisition by marketing channel, and you know everything necessary to drive the business results. Without every one… it’s sort of like driving your car without a gas gauge. Would you do that?

3) Not knowing the cost of your goals, and not spending to reach them. This is the one almost every small business owner makes, and many large ones as well. Want to grow your business by 50%? Have you bothered to figure out that you need to advance $100,000 on lead generation and spend another $100k on product development and $50k on customer service to reach that goal? Do you have the cash or credit to do this? Most people never bother to figure this out which results in many business growth plans stopping short. And failure to execute always leads to failure.

Address each of these mistakes and you have a much higher chance of reaching your growth goals.

Breaking rules

author — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 21:22:48 +0000

I just discovered this note left over from writing Be Unreasonable:

“All unreasonable ideas violate some accepted wisdom.”

That’s a pretty good acid test. If you want to know if your ideas are “unreasonable” then make sure your are contravening something that you were heretofore certain was true.

Strategic Thinking or Nothing?

author — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:14:34 +0000

I just read this following passage in Gary Kasparov’s new book, “How Life Imitates Chess.” He has been writing about the phase of a chess game called “nothing to do,” and how greats such as Petrosian and Karpov used this time to eke out small positional advantages.

“In life, there is no such obligation to move. If you can’t find a useful plan, you can watch television, stick with business as usual, and believe that no news is good news. Human beings are brilliantly creative at finding ways to pass time in unconstructive ways. At these times, the true strategist shines by finding the means to make progress, to strengthen his position and prepare for the inevitable conflict. And conflict, we cannot forget, is inevitable.”

Think about these phases in your own business, where you are sitting around, waiting for something else to happen. Could they be used to strategic advantage?

How to engineer a breakthrough (on demand.)

author — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:10:31 +0000

Start here: Answer the question, “What am I trying to accomplish?”

Then, “What are some of the ways that can happen?” This will give you the high order possible strategies.

Next, validate that this is, in some way, possible. Use internal and external market research.

Your research opens up the Gap Analysis, and starts to answer the question, What is needed to get THERE?

Consider, “How different is that from WHERE YOU ARE NOW?” and “What are the ways to close the gaps?”

Prioritize which gaps are most important AND most closable AND Have the biggest payoff.

Now: DO THOSE THINGS FIRST

The decks are finally clear. Here are four ways to make a breakthrough:

Figure out what’s working and find a way to do it much more, or much better.
Figure out what’s not working and fix it.
Figure out something from a different discipline and apply it to your own GAP
Invent something new, completely of whole cloth.

Die Hard

author — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:02:26 +0000

I watch a lot of movies – all sorts, but in my movie tastes I’m not that evolved. I especially like eighties and nineties action pictures. I really like movies like the Die Hard series and Lethal Weapon, even the new version of the Bourne Ultimatum. And what I’ve learned from watching of these kinds of movies is that the hero – the one who kills all the bad guys – does not win by hunkering down, staying in hiding and waiting for them to come to him. He wins by running right out in front of the villains – charging towards them with everything he’s got and screaming at the top of his lungs. He lunges towards the competition firing – as they say – with both barrels. He puts himself at tremendous risk and doesn’t quit until it’s over. That’s the unreasonable approach.

Are there really only three ways?

author — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:59:44 +0000

Are there really only three ways?

I’ve been wracking my brain to find a new one, but there’s no way around it. Although there are hundreds of specific approaches, when you distill them all down, there are only three ways to expand a business. Three main ways, and only three. What are they?

1. Sell more to your existing customers
2. Find more new customers
3. Merge or acquire your competitors

You might ask, “What’s the point of talking about three when there are ‘hundreds of specific approaches’?” That’s a reasonable question – it’s easy to think consolidating them obscures the opportunity. But in fact, it’s just the opposite.

You see, most people don’t think much — about anything — and when they do they don’t never pay attention to how they’re thinking. So they never develop tools for how to do it. Generalization is one of those tools. Generalization allows you to crunch (maybe it’s the opposite of crunching) a whole bunch of information into a few manageable pieces you can more easily manipulate in your mind.

That’s what we’ve just done here. Now that you realize there are only three ways to grow a business – whether you are measuring growth by sales, or cash flow, or profits, or market share, or number of customers… whatever, you can examine each of these three more carefully and see how they apply to your business.

And that’s what you should do next. At least, that’s what I tell all my high-paying clients!

Perfectionism Prevents Progress

author — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:30:55 +0000

Yesterday I wrote that “perfection prevents progress,” and that was a mis-statement. Just as “money” is not the root of all evil, but “love of money” may be, it is “perfectionism” that prevents progress. Perfectionism is the love, desire and single-minded pursuit of perfection, and that is what truly slows things down. Perfection is great if you can have it. Just don’t spend too much time going after it.