Book Review – The Greatness Guide: Powerful Secrets for Getting to World Class

"Greatness Guide: 101 Lessons for Making What's Good at Work and in Life Even Better" -- Robin Sharma

I have to say that so few books in the Self Help/ Self Improvement/ Personal Leadership/ or whatever you want to call this genre, break new ground with fresh concepts never discussed somewhere else before. Regardless of that thought though , this in my opinion doesn't mean that you shouldn't read these books with newer spins on old topics - Quite the contrary. I'm of the belief that you cannot reinforce great concepts enough and that there is someone meant to hear a specific message from you personally - regardless of who broke ground on that topic ahead of you.

So with that being said, I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars - not so much for breaking new ground, but more for putting a great spin on age-old wisdom.

By weaving powerful real-life storytelling and numerous timely great quotes to convey wisdom of the ages, Robin Sharma does a fantastic job of communicating 101 bold yet simple truths that can explode your happiness and success in life as well as in business.

I personally thoroughly enjoyed Robin Sharma’s easing conversational writing style and humble approach to these sometimes touchy topics. While some of these jolts of wisdom may on the surface seem like common sense, I for one certainly needed to hear them again. This is one of those rare books that should become a perennial read for all – it certainly will for me.

Though this book is a quick and easy read, I highly recommend that you don’t let the power of each of the 101 gems-of-advice slip past you. I got the most value by taking the time to reflect on the key point of each gem and identifying action items for myself that would make the key points stick.

Have you read this book? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it...

A Handful of Tips to Spruce-Up Your Networking

"It's not what you know but who you know that makes the difference." –Anonymous

I bet there’s a good chance you’ve heard that saying before – it certainly packs a punch doesn’t it?

It’s much like that age-old question… “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

In other words as I always say, you can be the best at what you do, however if the people who you want to know about you don’t, then how good are you really?! Essentially, your value to your target market will not be where you want, or need it to be.

So here comes networking to the rescue… right? …or right!

Remember, we can give 2 people the same set of tools, abilities and opportunities and get 2 totally different results. So networking can only help you if you’re willing to help yourself.

With that being said, here are a handful of tips that you can apply immediately to spruce up your networking to give it the best chance to make a difference for you and your business.

Sharpen Your Saw!
As Stephen Covey so wonderfully puts it in his highly acclaimed gem-of-a-book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", habit number 7 is the habit of self-renewal or as he calls it “Sharpen the Saw™”. In this habit you are the saw, and as I see it and adapt it to our conversation here, you should continually seek to improve your tools, abilities and opportunities to get better results from your networking.

So how do you do that?

First, take a look at your props, tools, and systems such as your business card, your brochures, your web site, your elevator speech, your follow-up procedures as well as any other supporting props, tools, and systems that you normally would use or reference in a networking scenario.

Now evaluate what’s working, what’s not working as well as what changes you could make that would make a difference in the results you get from your networking and go ahead and make whatever changes to those props, tools, and systems that make sense for you right now.

Also, anything worth doing is worth doing well, so study the art of networking… pick up a book or two on the topic and freshen up your knowledge on the subject… give yourself permission to gain some new insights and perspective on networking.

Additionally, I would even go as far as to include things like your wardrobe, even down to your grooming. Go ahead and get that great haircut so you feel great – you’d be surprised about how we allow our perception of how we look dictate how we feel and ultimately how productive we are at any given moment.

My point here is to get a real grip on how you’re showing up to your target market through your ability to network effectively.

Choose Better Targets
Determine where it makes the most sense to play and play there… but don’t just play… play hard… play to win! Don’t waste your precious time playing where it does not serve you… it’s that simple. So go ahead and evaluate the current networking organizations that you belong to and once again evaluate what’s working, what’s not working as well as what changes you could make that would make a difference in the results you get from your networking and go ahead and make whatever changes make sense for you right now.

Practice, Practice, Practice!
Like anything else practice makes perfect! Well if not perfect, at least it will allow you to be as effective as you can be. With networking, it’s not enough to just be ‘book smart’, excellence is attained through experience!


So in closing, take a hard and close look at both your inner-self as well as your outer-self. Additionally, take a look at where you’re playing and practice your way to success. In essence, maximize what’s working and replace what’s not working with something that will.


© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Liked this article? Want to use it in your eZine, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Online entrepreneur Dean Mercado, "The Motivational Marketer", is creator of the acclaimed 'Pumped Up Networking' system geared to explode your business through professional relationships. To learn more about it and to sign up for his FREE eZine the 'Marketing Minute' – a weekly multimedia eZine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes, visit www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com.

The One Marketing Strategy You Can’t Afford to Be Without!

"The power is in the follow up" –Dean Mercado

I see it all the time... not only as an avid networker but as a marketing coach and consultant. You meet someone… you exchange business cards… and then nothing happens! No one follows up. Why? Why bother networking if you’re not going to follow up to see where a relationship can lead?

This is a typical breakdown point for many independent professionals, small business owners, and entrepreneurs. On a broader scale, you spend all that time, money, and energy identifying prospects and making the initial contact. Then what happened? You disappeared! You literally faded away into the proverbial abyss!

Now, the popular consensus among many marketing experts is that it takes at least 4 touches or contacts just to get on someone’s radar and at least 7 touches for them to see you as a credible source to buy from. Now if that’s the case and you don’t follow up beyond the initial contact, you’re not even on their radar! So how could you possibly expect them to buy from you? Even if they need or want what you have to offer, unless they can’t find anyone else, they’ll probably give their business to someone they’re more comfortable with.

Remember unless there’s no choice, people tend do business with people they know, like, and trust... and regularly staying in front of your target market builds that bridge of familiarity and comfort with you. This way when they’re ready to buy what you sell, you already have top-of-mind awareness and will be one of the first people they call!

So with all of this being said, I firmly believe that every independent professional, small business owner, or entrepreneur must, and let me repeat that MUST, have at least one what I call “Keep in Touch” marketing strategy!

It’s critical that you stay in front of your target market on a fairly consistent basis. This at a minimum will give them a chance to get to know you… to get comfortable with you… comfortable enough to buy from you.

So let me guess… I bet your next question is “well what are some great ways of keeping in touch with my target market?”

My answer… there are so many possibilities available to you… regardless of your budget. Here are some possibilities:

• Start a blog and allow your target market to join in for regular conversations;


• Create a newsletter or an ezine that shares tips and tricks;


• Publish a regular podcast where you discuss hot topics of interest;


• Write “how to” articles geared to make your target market’s life easier or better and periodically send them out as a way to add value;


• Send out holiday, birthday, and special occasion greeting cards – I don’t care how old your target market is, we all appreciate being remembered;


• Reach out and touch someone with a phone call… even if it’s just to say hello;


• Invite one, or better yet a few people from your target market for coffee and some networking… believe me, if you put some thought into who you invite, they may really appreciate you connecting them with others they may be able to do business with as well;


• And we can go on and on and on here.

As you can probably see, there are literally tons of ways that you can keep in touch with your target market. Now be mindful that you don’t overdo it here… you don’t want to become a nuisance… That’s not the point. Neither is the point to bombard your target market with solicitations they didn’t request. This will only trigger the “oh no, what are they trying to sell me now?!” syndrome. The point is to find ways to stay top-of-mind by regularly adding value.

Additionally, select the marketing tactics and tools that both your target market and you are comfortable with. In other words don’t start a blog if neither your target market nor you are comfortable online – you most likely won’t get the best results that way.

So in closing, remember the power is in the follow up! You need to have at least one way, one “Keep in Touch” marketing strategy to regularly stay in front of your target market and establish the top-of-mind awareness it takes to succeed.

© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your e-zine, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? – Then marketing coach and consultant Dean Mercado invites you subscribe and join in on the small business marketing conversation on his blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal'. Additionally, Dean Mercado invites you to sample the latest edition of his FREE ezine, the 'Marketing Minute' – a weekly multimedia ezine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

Is Your Marketing Speaking My Language?

“Talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they'll say, ‘God, he said exactly what I was thinking.’ And when they begin to respect you, they'll follow you to the death”. – Lee Iacocca

Lately I’ve been making a number of enhancements to my blog, and something really jumped out at me. While the upside of blogging for small businesses is tremendous, unless you’re a regular blogging enthusiast, blogs can be downright intimidating to the intended end-user! And as a marketing coach and consultant, I can honestly say that marketing that’s intimidating is not good marketing! And yes, blogging is marketing!

Don’t get me wrong here though – I happen to love blogs – I use a blog to market myself and my own business. As a matter of fact, I firmly believe that a properly implemented and targeted blog can be an extremely powerful magnetic marketing vehicle.

The problem with great tools such as blogs mainly lies in their implementation. In my opinion, many bloggers tend to get caught up in what I call ‘blog-speak’, a language that is somewhat foreign to the non-blogger. RSS feeds, trackbacks, permalinks, news aggregators… what exactly do these terms mean? And why should your target market care?

Unless your target market is mainly savvy blogging enthusiasts, speak to them using a language they understand. For example instead of just putting a cryptic icon representing an RSS Feed or just the words ‘RSS Feed’, how about adding a few more descriptive terms next to the RSS icon saying something like ‘Subscribe to this Blog via RSS Feed’. It’s just a subtle suggestion but at least your target market will have a better chance at understanding that that’s a way they can subscribe to your blog.

This brings to mind a good book by Steve Krug titled, “Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability”. If you have a web site or a blog and haven’t read this book yet, I highly suggest you pick it up and browse through it. The title alone is so powerful… Don’t make me think! Always look to make your target market’s experience easy, lucrative and fun! Make them think too much and they’re out of there – they’ll just go somewhere else where they can have a better experience – regardless of how great your content is.

So in closing, I hope I’ve urged you to take a look at the language you’re using in your marketing – remember to speak the language of your target market! Don’t try to be overly cryptic or cute with your marketing. Especially, don’t worry so much about being hip with the lingo – I’m not saying don’t use it… go ahead and use it where it makes sense… but the bottom line is make sure that you’re connecting properly with your target market. Paint a crystal clear picture for them so to speak so they know exactly what it is you are trying to say and what you want them to do.

© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your e-zine, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? – Then marketing coach and consultant Dean Mercado invites you subscribe and join in on the small business marketing conversation on his blog ‘The Motivational Marketer’s Journal’. Additionally, Dean Mercado invites you to sample the latest edition of his FREE e-zine, the 'Marketing Minute' – a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

Practice Your Way to Marketing Perfection

“Repetition is the mother of skill.” –Anthony Robbins

Just ask any pro athlete how true that statement is. As a matter of fact, in most sports, athletes practice the fundaments of their sport every day. They don’t take it for granted that just because they know conceptually how to do something, they can deliver when it counts – This is what allows them to deliver that winning free throw at the buzzer, kick the game winning field goal in overtime, or get that game winning hit in the bottom of the 9^th inning.

Hey wait a minute could there be a correlation between the amount an athlete practices, their ability to perform in the game, and their income? You bet there is!

Well it’s the same in business. The more you practice marketing, the better you will get at it and the better you get at marketing the more revenue you’ll generate for your business.

The key to note here is that it’s not the quantity of your marketing so much as it’s the quality. Don’t fall into the trap of wasting precious marketing dollars on half-baked marketing strategies and tactics. Concentrate your dollars and efforts on fewer more promising ones. Just remember, whatever marketing you decide to do, do it to the best of your ability and milk it for everything it’s worth.

So how can you get started? It’s simple.

First, pick one marketing strategy or tactic that’s well suited for your business.

Second, practice it (in real time if possible) until you’re real good at it and it’s steadily producing adequate results.

Third, if you can create a system around it, systematize it. This will certainly help bring more consistent results and make your life easier and more cost effective.

Fourth, if it makes sense for you to delegate or outsource this now systematized marketing strategy or tactic, do it! This will free you up to do bigger and better things.

And lastly fifth, choose your next marketing weapon and repeat this process.

Remember though, that once you get some marketing momentum behind you, and momentum is a key here, don’t slack off. Keep your momentum moving forward – this is the best way to ensure that you have a steady stream of prospects and Clients for your business. I see it happen all the time, as soon as a business gets enough Clients to sustain themselves, they cut back on the marketing – they stop practicing! Essentially they’re removing the artery that pumps the lifeblood into the business.

So in closing, I’d like to leave you with this series of thoughts. Practice breeds Ease; Ease breeds Confidence; Confidence breeds Magnetism; Magnetism breeds Clients; and Clients breed Revenue. See how this all ties together? And remember the old saying here that Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your marketing expertise so be patient with yourself and enjoy the journey of practicing your way to marketing perfection!

© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Liked this article? Want to use it in your eZine, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Online entrepreneur Dean Mercado, "The Motivational Marketer", is creator of the acclaimed 'Pumped Up Networking' system geared to explode your business through professional relationships. To learn more about it and to sign up for his FREE eZine the 'Marketing Minute' – a weekly multimedia eZine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes, visit www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com.