MONEY-MAKING FINALLY MADE EASY---
JAY ABRAHAM’S PRINCIPLES OF GEOMETRIC BUSINESS GROWTH H OW TO G O F ROM M EDIOCRITY TO M ILLIONS U SING J AY A BRAHAM ’ S B REAKTHROUGH S TRATEGIES F OR B UILDING Y OUR B USINESS
J AY A BRAHAM ’ S
PRINCIPLES OF GEOMETRIC BUSINESS GROWTH © 2004 The Abraham Group, Inc. - All Rights Reserved This document may not be modified, re-sold, licensed, offered as a bonus or auctioned without the prior written consent of The Abraham Group Inc.
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[email protected] Website: Abraham.com
Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................. 6 YOUR TWO GREATEST SOURCES OF LEVERAGE: MARKETING AND INNOVATION............ 8 PRINCIPLE #2: THE PRINCIPLE OF “FUNNEL VISION VS. TUNNEL VISION” ........................10 PRINCIPLE #3: THE PRINCIPLE OF “THREE WAYS TO GROW A BUSINESS” ......................12 PRINCIPLE #4: THE PRINCIPLE OF OPTIMIZATION .................................................................13 HOW TO INCREASE YOUR NUMBER OF CLIENTS...............................................................................15 HOW TO INCREASE THE SIZE OF THE SALE PER CLIENT ...................................................................16 HOW TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SALES PER CLIENT ..................................................................16 PRINCIPLE #5: THE PRINCIPLE OF STRATEGY VS. TACTICS ................................................17 PRINCIPLE #6: THE PRINCIPLE OF THE “DIVING BOARD APPROACH VS. THE POWER PARTHENON”................................................................................................................................18 YOUR STRATEGIC INTEGRATED MARKETING ...................................................................................19 THE FORCE MULTIPLIER EFFECT ....................................................................................................21 PRINCIPLE #7: THE ABRAHAM NINE DRIVERS OF BUSINESS SUCCESS.............................22 SUMMARY .....................................................................................................................................24
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
Jay L. Abraham Dear Fellow Entrepreneur, When most people hear about me and my exploits, they immediately think of me as a marketing genius, business growth expert, or strategy super consultant. Those titles are probably accurate, but---that is not how I personally see myself. Although my business accomplishments are legendary, I see myself predominately as a business growth “scientist”--- constantly experimenting, researching, calibrating and analyzing results from thousands of experiments/tests which I conduct on the frontlines of commerce and capitalism. A scientist works leveraging existing laws of nature and the universe. He creates, validates and documents theories and hypotheses. He finds new applications for these laws and develops new products, strategies or ways to solve problems. I do the same in the context of business and commerce. For the past 30 years, helping over 100,000 companies of every size, from solopreneur to multi-national conglomerate… after generating the better part of $7 BILLION dollars for my clients, customers and associates… after consulting with thousands of entrepreneurs and businesspeople around the world… and while working in over 7000 different industries and subindustries---I have been fortunate to discover, define and validate some amazingly simple yet profound fundamental business growth principles which are extremely relevant in business, marketing and sales. These principles, which you are about to read, can be harnessed and leveraged for the benefit of ANY entrepreneur, large or small business or professional practice---including yours. Sadly, I have discovered that most business owners do not know how to create consistent, enduring revenues streams and profits. Their business and personal destinies seem precariously hinged upon the wild economic rollercoaster, the government, a single 800 lb. gorilla client or seasonal swings of business. It doesn’t have to be that way---at all. I’ve been obsessed for all of my life with the question of why some companies are 1000 times more successful than others… why a successful Fortune 1000 company is so different than a struggling small- or medium-sized entrepreneurial one… and how to turn reactive, tacticallyoriented, non-strategic, non-systematic minded business people into very much the opposite--Into supremely sophisticated, supremely strategic, supremely proactive organizations.
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth In the following pages, I’m going to share with you some of the foundational principles of business growth that I have discovered. These are principles which have made me and my clients millions. These are the same principles which have produced eight Inc. 500 Entrepreneurs of the Year. These are principles which are so vital that I believe they will change the way you do business---forever. By consistently implementing these principles, you too can go from mediocrity to millions---in a very short period of time. Thousands of people before you have done the exact same thing. You too can grow your business, not just incrementally and linearly---but geometrically over the next three to twelve months. Let me show you exactly how to do it---easily, quickly and with minimal downside risk. Yours truly,
Jay L. Abraham P.S. Again, congratulations on taking your first steps to mastering and learning my business building methods and strategies. The financial growth and the profit increases will be quite profound, I promise. By the way, I want to tell you about a new program I am conducting in July 2004 that is designed to provide a customized, “turn-key” marketing makeover and re-structuring for EVERY business attending---based specifically upon my proven, multi-million dollar principles. Quite frankly, at this point in your business-building career, you may not be ready for it. But I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it to you, because it’s guaranteed to work marketing miracles for almost ANY business---regardless of whether you are extremely wellversed in my body of work or whether you are just starting out. (I can’t think of any better way for a new business to get started on the right track.) I believe you as an entrepreneur might enjoy learning, applying and profiting from my unique approach to building your business. To find out more about this extraordinary “first ever” program, contact one of my Business Growth Advisors at 1(800)635-6298 (USA) or 1(310)265-1840. I anticipate that my new program will attract some of the most ambitious, most action-oriented, most resourceful and most intrepid business owners and entrepreneurs from around the world. In fact, I fully expect it to sell out. Again, you may not be quite ready for it, but feel free to check it out and then decide for yourself. P.P.S. I almost forgot: It’s far easier to do what I’m about to show you, than it is to continue any of the ways you’ve been operating in the past.
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
Introduction I have a very simple philosophy on life:
You shouldn’t steal from yourself. If you’re going to get up in the morning… if you’re going to commit your life to an enterprise, to your wealth creation, to the security, the financial well-being and future of your family… if other people are going to commit their lives---your staff, your team, your employees, your vendors---to you… then you owe it to yourself, and to everyone else around you, to get the best and highest maximum result. Stated differently, you must optimize---every effort you take, every investment you make and every opportunity you pursue. I fervently believe you should NEVER accept a fraction of the yield, when the same effort or less… the same people or less… the same time or less… the same capital or less… the same opportunity cost or less…can deliver so much more to you currently and perpetually---just by shifting the way you think and the things you do. Here’s an amazing fact: Almost all entrepreneurs, when they decide to go into business for themselves, have no idea how to grow a business and sustain it long term. As you already know, the risks can be enormous. This is confirmed by the fact that the majority of start-ups are out of business within just a few short years. They never figure out how to maximize their revenues, their income, their capital, their relationships and their resources. It’s a shame. But it doesn’t have to happen to you. After working with tens of thousands of clients and businesses over the years, I have been fortunate enough to discover the “success-certain” principles to growing a business---any type or size of business. Proven, time tested principles which have generated almost 7 billion dollars for my clients, my associates and myself. Principles that, if you commit to applying them, WILL produce monster revenues and profits for you too. You can take that statement to the bank. That’s what I want to teach you to do today---how to grow your business geometrically…how to reap the cash windfall profits which are just waiting to be harvested… how to be able to dominate your market in good times or bad… to use--almost like martial art, jujitsu---the force and the power of your competition and the economic environment to your absolute, maximum advantage. Let’s get started, shall we?
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
Principle #1: The Principle of “Upside Leverage” The most important thing you must understand in growing your business is leverage. More precisely, what I am all about is upside leverage. Just like there are good and bad kinds of cholesterol, there are two kinds of leverage. There’s leverage which commits you to a certain obligation every month for access to an asset. That’s one kind of leverage. It’s is useful BUT the side effects can be disastrous for a business when the obligations become daunting. Then there’s what I call Upside Leverage. It’s the kind of leverage which has almost no costs associated with it, yet can give you almost infinite upside revenue and profit potential---if you only know how to identify and utilize the opportunities which are all around you. My goal is to show you that your greatest leverage is not your ability to borrow money from a bank---although that doesn’t hurt! It’s your ability to increase profits from the same quantity of marketing expenditures and efforts you are already making. In order to get the maximum upside leverage you desire, you must begin by first understanding and appreciating that every business, including yours, has intangible, yet valuable resources you haven’t begun to harvest or harness, such as: 1) Untapped and Hidden (“Off Balance Sheet”) Assets such as your customer list, the trust and goodwill of your customers and the desire of your vendors for your business to do well. 2) Overlooked Opportunities and opportunities which you do not know how to leverage yet. 3) Under Performing Activities, Systems and Processes. In every business, there are ALWAYS activities which can and should be optimized and improved---however, most businesses spend their time focusing, optimizing and fixing the wrong things. 4) Under Valued Distribution Channels which you have OR you know someone else who has them. There are easy ways to leverage them---if you have a strategy in place. 5) Under Utilized Relationships such as your relationships with your vendors, your employees, your bank, the professionals you engage, the trade associations and journals within your industry---and even your competitors. 6) Under Appreciated Intellectual Property such as ads, proprietary processes, and the know-how the people within your business have.
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
These resources (all totally within your sphere of operation and influence) are just waiting to be put to maximum use. The minute you appreciate this fact, you’ll quickly come to appreciate almost everything you do has infinitely greater upside leverage. In addition, you’ll find you can easily control or eliminate the downside risk in the process. Here’s a very simple example: When you run an ad in a newspaper or magazine, or on a radio or television, that ad costs you a finite amount of money. And it costs you the same amount whether that ad pulls 10 sales or 10,000 sales. Sadly, most entrepreneurs have their business set-up such that there is no upside leverage whatsoever. Their investment of time, effort, energy and capital is not commensurate with the returns which are potentially available to them. It’s lopsided---to their disadvantage. BUT---What if you could make the same action, the same activity, the same person, the same capital, the same client, everything produce more yield, more performance and then sustain it long term? If you want to grow your business, in order to get the maximum ROI, YOU MUST focus on getting the maximum upside leverage possible from as many places, resources and relationships as possible. Your job from now on is to maximize your results with the minimum effort, minimum expense, minimum time, and minimum risk. Here’s my fundamental challenge to you:
You have two choices: Either you can continue working hard for your business OR you can begin to build a business that works hard FOR YOU. Which would you prefer? Now let’s focus on your two greatest sources of upside leverage…
Your Two Greatest Sources of Leverage: Marketing and Innovation The two greatest levers you have in your business or professional practice are Marketing and Innovation. I believe Peter Drucker, the preeminent management expert, said it best: “Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two---and only two functions---Marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs…” 8
Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
The quote really puts a business’ ultimate purpose in perspective, doesn’t it? But let’s clarify this critical concept so that you can begin to take advantage of the upside leverage that’s available to you right now in your own business. Simply put, innovation is the ability to engineer breakthroughs to increase value to the customer. I have spent a lot of time studying the most successful-performing companies in their respective categories, and what I found out in analyzing them was that they tended to be the companies that deliberately engineered and introduced the most amount of quality breakthroughs on a continuous basis in four specific areas: 1) Strategy, 2) Marketing, 3) Innovation, 4) Management. Now most people think that being an innovator requires you to take on new, perhaps risky, perhaps unknown areas of endeavor---areas you are not familiar with and have no experience. That is patently untrue. I have discovered that one of your greatest sources of leverage comes from maximizing and creating breakthroughs in what you’re already doing. Let me explain: Whether Jay Abraham is in your life or not, your business has what I call “critical mass and velocity” in motion. For example: You’ve got many sales and revenue generating activities going on. You’ve got sales people. You’ve got ads running. You’ve got people calling. You’ve got word of mouth. You’ve got phone calls. You’ve got customer service. You’ve got all these contact and impact points. I believe first of all you’ve got to maximize what you’re currently doing BEFORE you can ever go out and expand your organization. (Otherwise you would be taking on unacceptable levels of risk by stopping what’s currently working and then suffering all the while you are trying to rebuild your primary revenue sources.) You can’t maximize what you’re currently doing, unless you break it down to its core components, processes and “drivers”. I learned that important strategy when I worked with W. Edwards Deming. (He was the father of process improvement and Total Quality Management.) Because only when you do that, can you test, can you monitor, can you quantify, and can you measurably improve your results.
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth Your second great source of leverage is your marketing. What is the definition of marketing?
Marketing is the process of educating the customer of the value you bring to the marketplace. If marketing is the other purpose of a business, doesn’t it make sense to focus your efforts on the creation of a customer? Doesn’t make sense to develop streamlined systems, processes and procedures which increase the number of customers, maximize the price at which they’ll buy and the frequency at which they’ll purchase? Regardless of the business or industry you are in, you must, from now on, consider the fact that you are in the marketing business. In the highest and best interests of yourself, your stakeholders, your clients and business, you must shift your thinking and conduct yourself as a marketer. And that your company is first and foremost---a marketing company. You must be committed to educating and informing your marketplace, your prospects and your clients. You must become expert at articulating what your product or service is/does as well as how it brings greater benefit, greater advantage and greater results into their lives. Let’s make no mistake: Being innovative and marketing can be risky. BUT--based upon what I’ve discovered and perfected, it doesn’t have to be that way---AT ALL. Using the simple, effective principles I am about to teach you, you can own your market---with minimal risk or expense. Let me prove it to you. The next Principle of Geometric Business Growth will simplify my innovation and marketing directive to you. (One small caveat: You must be willing to step outside your comfort zone and be willing to “think outside the box” you’ve put yourself in.)
Principle #2: The Principle of “Funnel Vision vs. Tunnel Vision” You can’t begin to leverage all your opportunities and resources UNTIL you examine and evaluate all the other higher performing options, alternatives and opportunities that are out there. And you can’t do that unless you are willing to travel outside of your industry. Most people I meet have spent virtually their entire life in one basic business or industry. Maybe you’ve done that, too. But when you spend all your life in one industry, all you know well are the common success practices of just your industry. You only understand how companies in your field market, sell, advertise or promote. 10
Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth And my experienced guess is that almost everyone in your industry probably markets, sells, advertises and promotes pretty much the same way as everyone else. Very rarely does that prove to be the best way, the most profitable, powerful or effective way possible. Industrial manufacturers primarily use a field sales force…Retailers basically just put ads in newspapers and the Yellow Pages…Stockbrokers do virtually all their business by telephone… Doctors, dentists and lawyers rely almost exclusively on referrals…And so on, and so on, and so on. When you limit your business to doing things the same way every other competitor in your industry does them, you can only produce modest, incremental gains---at best. At worst, you could easily lose ground. If you looked at 100 different industries (or over 7000 different industries and sub-industries, as I’ve had the privilege of doing) you’d quickly realize that each different industry has pretty much depended upon just one or two basic success practices to generate and sustain clients and sales. That alone is amazing; but what’s more incredible is that of any 100 different industries you look at, you’ll find at least 95 totally different success practices being used (most of which can be easily applied to all the rest). Industry A doesn’t know anything about the methods industry B uses; correspondingly, industry C is totally unaware of the way industry B sells or markets, and on and on. Here’s what you are looking for: By studying and identifying the fundamental principles and strategies that drive the bigger successes in hundreds of other industries, you’ll be able to pick and choose the most powerful and effective breakthrough approaches to introduce to your industry. And since you’ll probably be the only competitor in your field using these breakthrough techniques, your results should multiply immediately. With a little extra effort and risk on your part, we should be able to engineer stunning advances for your business that leave everyone else in your dust. From now on, for the greatest impact on your business, you must commit to carefully evaluate, adapt and adopt the success processes, strategies, thinking and approaches from all kinds of other industries--- other than yours. The more different the better. Because if all you do is try to monitor and emulate what people in your industry are doing, by default, you’re going to be limited to incremental/linear growth. My directive to you requires a new mindset I call “funnel vision vs. tunnel vision.” Most people spend their whole time in one field, and the most they try to
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth do is copy or plagiarize what their somewhat more aggressive or successful competitor does. That’s an example of “tunnel vision”. However, entrepreneurs with a funnel vision mindset say “Forget that stuff! I want to know better ways, not just to sell, but if our goal is to find new prospects, what are 20 other industries doing to ‘find new prospects’ other than what we are currently doing?” After you’ve done all that, then you are now ready to multiply your performance by creatively emulating, adapting, adopting, importing and borrowing all kinds of higher-performing methods and approaches from outside your industry. But those are only to be added AFTER you’ve first maximized what you are currently doing. When I say the word “maximizing”, I mean taking a very analytical assessment of how every process in your system is actually performing. Because if a process is not delivering the results it should, you’ve got to either fix it, or you’ve got to purge it, or you’ve got to replace it, or you’ve got to improve it pretty darn fast. Here’s my prediction: If you are the first and the only company to introduce new selling approaches, strategic distinctions, and operating systems into your field that are matter-of-fact to others, it will knock your competitors for a loop, and it will distinguish you in such a powerful and preeminent way in your marketplace---that you will own it. You will literally own it. What this means to the astute entrepreneur or business person is that you have tremendous competitive opportunity---IF you have the flexibility, curiosity, the open-mindedness and willingness to seek out new approaches and test them. With an appreciation for the upside leverage lying dormant in your business up till now, plus a willingness to search out and implement new ideas from outside your industry, you are now ready for the foundational element in crafting a superior marketing strategy. It’s the principle and strategy which is at the heart of all my marketing success…
Principle #3: The Principle of “Three Ways to Grow a Business” Have you ever wondered how many ways there are to increase your business? 100 ways? 200 ways? 500 ways? It can be intimidating to merely know where to start given all the business models, strategies and technologies available. I have good news---There are only three ways to increase your business:
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth 1. Increase the number of clients. 2. Increase the average size of the sale per client. 3. Increase the number of times clients return and buy again. There’s ONLY three. It’s significantly less daunting when you only have to focus on three categories. In fact, comparably it’s very easy. Observation: Most business owners try to grow their business incrementally and linearly. I believe they leave money on the table because they fixate solely on just one aspect of growing a business---growing more buyers or clients. However, when you increase the number of clients AND you focus on the size of the transaction, plus you also increase the frequency at which they re-purchase … and you grow in terms of getting more frequency or utilization out of each client--you’ll maximize the overall value of the client to your business.
Your goal should always be to leverage your relationship with the client to its maximum benefit, result and mutual value. Armed now with the principle of Three Ways to Grow Your Business, you now have my foundational strategy you need to start growing your business systematically, deliberately and consistently. Now I want to show you how I grow businesses geometrically. It’s an exciting and enduring principle I call “optimization”.
Principle #4: The Principle of Optimization This is a principle almost no entrepreneur understands, let alone fully appreciates: If you work on all three ways to grow a business at the same time, and all you did was improve all three ways by a mere 10%, it brings the power of geometry to bear. People wonder how I am able to engineer such staggering successes for my clients’ businesses. Well, this is how I do it. When I work with private clients, I focus all my efforts on increasing the geometry of their business. And I do that by bringing the principle of optimization to bear. The best way to demonstrate this principle is with a very simple example. Let’s do some simple math:
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth Let’s say you had 1,000 active clients, and you had an average order of $100 for each time they came in, and they bought two times a year.
Example of 1000 Clients, $100 Transaction Value, Purchasing 2 Times a Year # of Clients
Transaction Value Per Client
Transaction Per Year
Total Income
1,000
$100
2
= $200,000
But look what happens if you increase these three numbers by just 10%. If all you did was increase those three categories across the board by a mere 10%, it would increase your total revenue by very respectable 33%!
Example of 10% Increase Across The Board # of Clients
Transaction Value Per Client
Transaction Per Year
Total Income
1,100
$110
2.2
= $266,200
It gets even better: A modest, yet doable increase of 25% across the board in these categories nearly doubles your income to $390,625!
Example of 25% Increase Across The Board # of Clients
Transaction Value Per Client
Transaction Per Year
Total Income
1,250
$125
2.50
= $390,625
As you can see, the results become massive very quickly. Focusing your efforts on implementing this one simple formula in your business is this one small way you can easily increase your income and grow your business by 100%, 200% or more.
Such is the extraordinary geometric power of optimization.
If you don’t focus on geometric business growth…if you don’t bring the power of optimization to bear… if you don’t work on the geometry of your business… then you’re going to always work harder for your company than your company will work for you. 14
Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
My goal is to teach you how to get your company working harder and harder for you in a perpetual manner, so that you’ve got revenue generating systems in place that will sustain, thrive and survive. Your ultimate goal should be to build an asset – an enduring asset that will be worth so many times more than the mere increases in income… in earnings… in salary… or in dividends we can stimulate for you. This is a wealth-building play of the highest magnitude---if you understand it. AND if you execute consistently. You’ll be shocked at how truly easy this is going to be. You’ll also be surprised when you discover that the strategies I’m advocating don’t require a huge marketing budget either. Too good to be true? It’s not. Let’s get a little more specific. Here are a few clarifying and powerful examples of how various companies have increased their numbers in these three vital categories.
How to Increase Your Number of Clients I had a client whose income curve was stagnant. It doesn’t matter what they sold. Pretend it’s your product or service. This company had a compensation program that paid the sales people 10% of the profit. So, if the company made $1,000 profit on a sale, the sales person would get $100 and the company would get $900. I had them calculate a very valuable number---I call it the lifetime value of a client. It’s calculated by: •
Determining what the average new client is worth to them in dollars each time they buy.
•
How many times that client will buy from them each year.
•
How many years the average client will be with them.
It turned out the first sale, on average, resulted in about $200 profit for the company. Of that, 10% or $20 went to the salesman or woman, $180 to the company. On average, the client bought five times a year for three years. So basically, each time that company got a new client, they were receiving $3,000 in cumulative profits (i.e. lifetime value).
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth My solution: Instead of giving the sales people 10% of the profit on a sale to a new, first time client, give them 100% of the profit of the first sale. The company management’s response: “You’re insane!” I smiled pleasantly and went on to explain that as long as their sales people maintained sales from existing clients at past levels or above, give them 100% of profit on the first sale for every new client they bring in. They’ll be ten times more motivated to sell new clients. And every time they bring in a new client, the sales person makes an additional $200, but the company makes an additional $2,800. The company implemented the plan and sales grew six times in nine months…and they said they were sorry for calling me insane.
How to Increase the Size of the Sale Per Client General Motors, Honda, Ford, etc. will sell you a new car for $24,995. Have you ever paid just the advertised price? Or do you buy a few extra items, like a radio, air conditioning, security system, sunroof, warranty package or financing? Have you ever been to a fast food restaurant and been asked by the cashier “Do you want fries with that?” And despite our best intentions, when we go out to dinner many of us up the value of our transaction when the waiter shows us the wine list, and later that darn dessert tray. Such is the power of add-ons, incentives and bonuses.
How to Increase the Number of Sales Per Client Stockbrokers offer occasional IPOs to preferred clients. Clothing stores, auction houses, jewelry stores and others hold private “by invitation only” sales events for preferred clients. Airlines offer frequent flyer miles. Miles Laboratories published a small cookbook filled exclusively with hot and spicy recipes, and they gave it away for free. Why? Miles Laboratories is the maker of Alka-Seltzer.
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth These aren’t just random, unrelated business-increasing anecdotes. Each example represents a well thought-out, documented, income-increasing principle or leveraging strategy. This leads me to the next integrated principle which differentiates me from other marketing consultants. Understanding and applying strategies like these will lead to increased company revenues and increased personal success and income for you---but to fully maximize your business performance and results, you must adopt a superior strategic mindset.
Principle #5: The Principle of Strategy vs. Tactics At this point in our discussion of geometric business growth, I want to point out there is a massive difference between the thinking and executing strategically and thinking and acting tactically. It’s a distinction that most entrepreneurial marketers and business owners totally fail to realize, let alone take advantage of. Let me give you a quick insight into my personal success: Most people think of me as being a marketing consultant. The fact of the matter is that my success has ALWAYS been achieved more because I fully understood the power and greater performance of having a superior strategy. To me, being strategic means you’ve determined in advance an ultimate, meaningful long range goal that you’d like to see your business achieve. Each tactic and opportunity you pursue must be deployed to advance, enhance, and deploy that strategy and realize your goal. It should never vary or deviate. Tactics are the things you do, the actions you take to achieve the higher strategic goal. They are not the higher overarching, master plan. I believe your marketing should always have a master game always driving it. At this point, I want to help you examine five critical, strategic ideas that can produce faster growth and higher profits for your business. My purpose is to get you to absolutely realize that investing more time, effort and focus on strategic marketing has the tremendous potential to ignite explosive growth and competitive superiority for your company. Five Critical Strategic Ideas for You To Implement In Your Business 1) Marketing strategically vs. marketing in a purely tactical way (the way 99% of all businesses operate) produces a MONSTER difference in
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth results (up to 100 times greater results by marketing strategically). Plus---it gives you a tremendous competitive advantage. 2) You must use strategic marketing to put your business on a stratospheric growth course for future profits---because without it, you are destined to a mediocre and disappointing outcome compared to your fully realized potential. 3) You must learn to effectively and optimally use strategic marketing in your business – undoubtedly it is today’s most important business performance success factor. 4) Right now, your biggest limitation, by far, is your TACTICALLY oriented mindset. You must overcome this key obstacle and bring down the barriers of tactical thinking to unleash the full potential of strategic marketing thinking. 5) Today, you must adopt to use a strategic mindset to make your current competition practically irrelevant and meaningless. A strategic mindset gives you the ability to leverage and integrate every opportunity which comes on your radar. It makes every tactic and activity work five times harder for your business. And best of all it creates an entrepreneurial platform where you can take advantage of all the strategies, activities, resources and relationships which will drive your business to extraordinary success. The key to doing it lies totally in your ability to masterfully market strategically.
Principle #6: The Principle of the “Diving Board Approach vs. The Power Parthenon” The next thing I’m all about is the Power Parthenon of Geometric Business Growth. It’s a philosophy that’s predicated on a very simple assumption--I believe 99% of all companies today, and 99% of all companies ten years ago, generate the vast majority of their revenue, their stability, their income from only ONE primary revenue activity or marketing approach. It’s the worst thing in the world you can do.
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth Because with only one pillar supporting your entire revenue stream – it looks to me like a diving board, which is very, very, very precarious. And a diving board has never been a means for propelling anyone upward to growth on a sustaining basis. You do go up for a minute in time in the process of plummeting down. I try to get everybody I ever work with to build pillars and pillars and pillars – much like the Parthenon in Greece – of additional primary, secondary and complimentary revenue and income-generating approaches— again all borrowed from outside their industry. If each one only creates or adds 10% more… 15% more… 20% more of sales, clients, profits… the combined geometric effect is hundreds and hundreds of percent growth. Many people, upon first hearing of my success stories, think that my press and my track records are almost too impressive to be true. But they’re not. I’m just one of the few people who understands how much more you can get out of an opportunity, out of an asset, out of an ad, out of a sales call, out of an effort, out of a day. And that’s what I’m teaching you here today in a systematic manner.
Your Strategic Integrated Marketing With the Three Ways to Grow a Business, plus the Power Parthenon principle, you are ready for a quick outline of my 31 different marketing strategies which can catapult your business---for very little cost or risk on your part. I am giving you this list so that you can jump-start your strategic planning process. This list will give an immediate insight into all the strategies which you have yet to fully take advantage of and which have the potential to loft your business to new heights of success and financial gain. FYI: These are the exact same strategies I implement with my private contingency-based clients. In my other products and programs, I offer detailed explanations of each of these strategies. For instance, did you know I have identified 93 different ways to implement a referral system in your business? Did you know there over a dozen different facets to engineering a host beneficiary relationship? So let’s give you some powerful examples of different strategic pillars you can easily add and implement under the foundational principle of Three Ways to Grow a Business. 19
Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
31 Strategies To Grow Your Business---Geometrically 1. How to Increase Your Number of Clients: How you can Increase Your Lead or Inquiry Generation Through: 1)
Referral systems.
2)
Acquiring customers at break-even up front and make a profit on the back-end.
3)
Guaranteeing purchases through risk reversal.
4)
Host/beneficiary relationships.
5)
Advertising.
6)
Using direct mail.
7)
Using telemarketing.
8)
Running special events or information nights.
9)
Acquiring qualified lists.
10)
Develop a Unique Selling Proposition.
11)
Increasing the perceived value of your product/service through better customer education.
12)
Using public relations.
13)
Sequential Integrated Internet, Website & Email
How you can increase your customer retention rate by: 14)
Delivering higher-than-expected levels of service.
15)
Communicating frequently with your customers to "nurture” them.
How you can increase your conversion from inquiry to sale by: 16)
Increasing sales skill levels of your staff.
17)
Qualifying leads up front.
18)
Making irresistible offers. (i.e. Risk Reversal)
19)
Educating your customers by giving "reasons why”.
2. How to Increase Average Transaction Value: 1)
Improving your team's selling techniques to up-sell and cross-sell.
2)
Using point-of-sale promotions. 20
Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth 3)
Packaging complementary products and services together.
4)
Increasing your pricing and hence your margins.
5)
Changing the profile of your products or services to be more "up market."
6)
Offering greater/larger units of purchase.
3. How to Increase Transaction Frequency: 1)
Developing a back-end of products that you can go back to your customers with.
2)
Communicating personally with your customers to maintain a positive relationship.
3)
Endorsing other people's products to your list.
4)
Running special events such as "closed door sales," limited pre-releases, etc.
5)
Pre-framing or programming customers in advance.
6)
Price inducements for frequency of purchase.
Do you see how many exciting and powerful options and opportunities you have available to you---right under your nose? There are dozens more, but these are my favorite “fast track” ones that most businesses start out using. I have listed these strategies and options, to give you an overall sense of the profit possibilities which are available to you. I wanted to prove to you beyond a doubt that there are many, many strategies which can be engineered and integrated into your business---ALL which can catapult your business geometrically---in a very short period of time. Here’s another unique distinction I’ll offer you: In my work with clients, I am well known for putting lots of ideas into play immediately and simultaneously. It’s fast and it’s furious (and it’s fun!). It’s not unlike a military campaign, where everything seems to happen at once. Let me explain.
The Force Multiplier Effect To bring home the potential of the principle of optimization, strategic integration and the Power Parthenon on your business, I want to use a well known metaphor: The military. In the military, they have an useful concept called the “Force Multiplier 21
Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth Effect”. It’s a proven strategy of dominating the enemy in military terms. It’s also a proven strategy of predominately and eminently owning your market in the business and entrepreneurial arena. It’s letting the combined, geometric power of all kinds of different factors come together and give you the highest and best leverage possible. In the military, they create multiple avenues of penetration at the same time -- going by land, going by sea, frontal attacks, side attacks, surprise attacks, missiles, going ahead to penetrate and soften the market, air attack, land attack, stealth attack, etc. By leveraging and integrating the power of the Force Multiplier Effect, it significantly increases the combat potential of the entire force and thus enhances the probability of a successful mission accomplishment. Your goal must be to strategically integrate every part of your marketing. You may be tempted to operate tactically. Don’t do it. Create a plan that assures every dollar you spend contributes to your overall revenue and profits--and reinforces and leverages the other existing pillars within your Power Parthenon. Armed with the force multiplier effect, plus my other breakthrough concepts and principles, I want to now give you specific direction on where to focus your time, money and efforts for highest and best results in your business---The Abraham Nine Drivers.
Principle #7: The Abraham Nine Drivers of Business Success There is one last, vital distinction you need to give you the maximum leverage in your business. In order to get from where you are to where you want to be, in addition to the principles already discussed, you must know the key strategic resources/drivers/levers you have available to you which will make the biggest difference to your success. I call them the Abraham Nine Drivers of Business Success. In business, there are infinite resources to work with, but I have uncovered and analyzed nine specific strategic drivers; nine major point of leverage which have defined the majority of my business success and that of my clients. These are the top nine drivers that guarantee you get optimal immediate leverage and enhanced performance on an enduring basis in your business:
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth Abraham Nine Drivers of Business Success 1) Your Marketing – change your marketing, change your results. Enormous leverage, up to 2100% leverage in each improved activity you do, if you put a system together that’s not only operational, but also continually tests, monitors, and measures. 2) Your Strategy. Changing your business and marketing strategy, is the fastest, most powerful way to change your results. 3) Your Capital... human, intellectual, financial. Human capital is basically the people working for you. Intellectual capital is the intellectual property. It could be the proprietary systems, the procedures that are unique and distinctive to you. And obviously financial capital. Enormous upside leverage in all three of those. 4) Your Business Model. The business model is decisively different than your strategy. You can have a big, sweeping strategy, but the business model may be wrong. The strategy may perform OK, but won’t be optimal for you. 5) The Relationships you have. Your existing network of the business relationships, the professional relationships, the collegial relationships, the employee relationships, the mastermind relationships is the easiest, most cost effective driver to leverage. 6) Your Distribution Channels - and that’s a very broad concept that describes all the different means you have of impacting the market, from the advertising you do… the selling organization you do… the associations you’ve got – it’s a very broad and sweeping area. 7) Your Products and Services. The different products and services you have or you create will give you enormously greater or less leverage... frequency of purchase… profit. It will give you enormously renewed ability to get far greater yield and sustained income from the relationships that you breed with clients.
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth 8) Systems, Procedures and Processes. Your ability to systemize your marketing, your operations, your management gives you enormous freedom, even though they imply structure and rigidity. 9) Your Ideology. This is the whole mindset that you’re basing your operating system around. I’ve done entire seminars where we focus almost exclusively on your mindset. It’s that powerful. Are there others? Of course. Regardless of how many others that are out there, I can guarantee that you that the time you invest in optimizing and focusing only on these nine will absolutely pay off---geometrically. These must be at the top of your priority list. When you change, improve, or add to any of these nine drivers, it meaningfully improves your performance and results. But---if you learn how to maximize all nine, your profits will soar. The only question now is this: How effective will you be at maximizing the principles, strategies and drivers which I’ve documented within this report? You owe it to yourself and your business to put them to the test.
Summary These are just some of the key success and income-increasing principles, distinctions and strategies which I am known for. They are a few of my most powerful, most enduring, most universally applicable and most effective strategies for building your business massively. But again, don’t limit their power and effectiveness by looking at any of them as individual concepts. As you have read, I strategically integrate all of them into everything I do. When you combine them together and execute them as a unified master strategy, they will produce geometric business growth in income, results and success as they have for thousands of other entrepreneurs. My unique business philosophy allows you to avoid the costly learning curve in almost everything you do in business. That saves you time, money and opportunity costs. It enables you to run rings around all of your competitors, before they ever figure out what you did to them. And it virtually guarantees you greater success and multiplied profits from every business-building step you ever take. In closing, I’d like to leave you with one last thought. In my experience, many entrepreneurs torture themselves over one question: “Am I worthy?”
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Jay Abraham’s Principles of Geometric Business Growth
In other words, “Am I worthy to own a successful, growing, thriving business? Am I worthy of the trust and respect of my clients, employees and peers? Am I worthy of the super success I desire?” I think it is the absolute wrong question to ask yourself. I am reminded of a quote from my friend Robert Proctor. He said something which I deeply believe: “Do not ask ‘Am I worthy or do I deserve this goal…’ Rather ask ‘Is this goal worthy of YOU’.” You’re about to begin a wonderful and exciting journey. Embrace these strategies, apply them with diligence and your final destination will be financial security, distinction, recognition, and much deserved success. I wish you the best of success in all your entrepreneurial and business endeavors.
To find out more about Jay Abraham and his breakthrough business building programs, strategies and principles, contact: The Abraham Group, Inc. 27520 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 263 Rolling Hills Estates, California 90274 Phone: 1(310)265-1840 Fax: 1(310)541-3192 Email:
[email protected] Website: Abraham.com
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