Here are some business examples to get you on the right path:

• “I want to meet with you because I feel I can boost your sales.”
• “I want to interview you because I admire your passion for your business.”
• “I want to negotiate the price further because my business’s sales have hit a quarterly slump.”
• “I want you to finish the work by tomorrow because I’ll need to pitch it to the Boss.”

Here are some dating examples to get what you want:

• “I want to date you because I feel we have a lot of things in common.”
• “I want you to pay for dinner because I have no money.”
• “I want you to drive because I can’t afford gas.”

Target your words for the results that you want. Clear communication requires clarity within yourself before you can be clear with anyone else. Remember to use the word “because” next time you really want something.

Somehow P90X has managed to break into a market that has never been touched. By changing the name and the branding to an extreme workout, they have taken what is mostly aerobics and now have a ton of not only men purchasing it, but women as well. I am doing the workout, and so far have learned that not only am I out of shape, but that not all workout videos include spandex which is of course a plus.

The secret behind the P90X system is its advanced training technique, which accelerates the results process by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus, and you never get bored! Whether you want to get lean, bulk up, or just plain get ripped, there’s an endless variety of ways to mix and match the routines to keep you motivated. It is geared for anyone no matter their gender or level of fitness. The total cost to me beyond the discs – about $100 was another $200 in gear and weights for both myself and my wife to get going.

P90X is comprised of 12 different workout routines, a three phase eating and nutrition plan, and a supplement system. So far, I have felt an increase in energy and sense of accomplishment each time I survive the 60 minute workout. For those of you thinking of trying the program get ready to have a whole new respect for Yoga. The change-up in the workout is definitely unique and gives you a taste for a lot of ways to keeping in shape.

I held out that if I could just wait a little while longer, the technology would be better, more apps would be available and so on. Truth be told, I just wanted to wait for my contract to expire with Sprint. When the Nexus One was announced I reached the tipping point. I gave in, ate the contract cancellation charge and bought the Nexus One.

After having owned it for about one month here are the top five things I love about it and the top five things I hate about it.

Love

1. The number one thing has got to be the voice integration in everything that the nexus does. And the voice recognition technology continues to surprise me at its ability to get what I am saying right the first time.

2. I love widgets. LinkedIn, Facebook, Pandora, Twitter, Google Calendar all sit on my screen fully functional and up to date.

3. Combining my Facebook contacts with my address book is pretty cool. Its nice to see faces in there without having to take pictures of everyone

4. Speed. I am a speed demon, and I love how fast the device surfs the web, opens applications and runs in general. It is faster in most cases than my laptop.

5. Google Voice Integration. It is easy to use and switch on and off

6. Screen resolution is amazing! (I know I said five things, but I can’t help but add one more)

Hate

1. I can’t stand having to charge my phone in the middle of the day. I don’t know what someone hasn’t figured this out yet, but if they can put a man on the moon, why can’t they get a cell phone to last a few days. By the way, this is something I loved about my Blackberry, I could go 2 days with no charge on my pearl, but the Nexus needs to be plugged in often. Could be that I am a heavy user, but isn’t that who they should be making these phones for

2. Crashes. My Nexus One has crashed on my several times. I have been told that it is due to the open source philosophy and apps I am downloading, but if the iPhone can do it then so should the nexus

3. T-Mobile data speeds sucks. It says I have 3G but it feels like dial up. Fortunately I use the phone a lot at home, or the office to surf, but when traveling it gets really annoying.

4. I can’t open the battery case up easily. I know this sounds stupid, but when you call tech support and they ask for the EIN number I sat there for about two minutes trying to get it open

5. The nexus ones use the micro SD card. Cool idea, it would be nice to have a 32G card installed at purchase instead of the standard 4GB and then upgrade. It seems inefficient.

What is an Elevator Pitch?

It is the term used for a two-minute presentation; the amount of time it takes to go from the lobby to the investor’s office on the top floor and to capture the investor’s interest (your audience could, of course, be someone other than an investor). Get it right and they’ll invite you into the boardroom for a more in depth discussion. It is also about the same time you need to convince other stakeholders that they should get involved with your enterprise.

Who is your audience?

The scenario goes something like this:

* You find yourself, opportunistically, in an elevator all alone with potential launch clients, possible future employees, VCs, Angel Investors, Bankers, Business Mentor or Coach.

* You remember to introduce yourself.

* You don’t forget to smile from time to time.

* You tell them what you are working on. Example: “Hi, I’m Mat Lafrance, President and CEO of a new service called GradeATechs.com. We do fast, on-site computer and network repair for homeowners and businesses.”

* You give it a short title. (”The title can’t be as long as the story,” Professor Max Neutze, Australian National University.)

What Makes a Good Elevator Pitch?

A good Elevator Pitch is made up of two key elements:

1. Lay out the pain statement. What problem is it that you are trying to solve?

2. Show the value proposition. How does your venture solve that problem for an individual client or customer?

Be specific—how exactly does your product or service benefit a single client or customer? Can you show, on a spreadsheet, in a compelling way, how by buying your product or service, a client will make money from it or lower their costs or do both? Did you introduce anything innovative into your business model and what is the ‘pixie dust’ or differentiated value in your model that will help you create a sustainable enterprise with a long term competitive advantage that results in some type of ‘franchise’ or ‘concession’ that you can exploit?

Example: “You know people can either disassemble their PC, put it in their car, take it to a local repair shop, be told it’ll take two weeks and will cost $150 only to find out that it will really take three weeks and cost 250 bucks and that their hard drive got accidentally wiped. Alternatively, they can log on to or call GradeATechs.com, make an appointment and have a highly trained, certified Grade A Tech come to their home or business and fix the problem in a couple of hours for $120, guaranteed.”

Give them some idea of how big the opportunity is and who the competition might be. Will this be an enterprise that will provide you with more opportunity than if you just took a JOB? Never say that if you could just get (say) 1% of this (really huge) market, you would be set for life. That sort of ‘stat’ is meaningless and undermines your credibility…Will the enterprise outlive the founder? Can it eventually continue without you?

Example: “The computer repair industry is huge and growing fast and the repair industry is full of ‘mom and pop’ shops—it’s an industry that the established players aren’t particularly interested in—in essence, we are tackling the ‘last mile of service’. Plus, at any one time, about 30% of the PCs and laptops in the US and Canada aren’t working up to their potential—that’s around 180,000,000 computers that need our help!”

Every great Elevator Pitch must meet four key tests:

1. Must be succinct. You’ve only got one or two minutes.

2. Easy to understand. Both your grandma and your grand kids have to get it. Your product or service should appeal to more than one generation or, at a minimum, at least you are able to explain it to multi generations.

3. Greed inducing. Investors want to make money. Clients want to know that buying your product or service is a negative cost—the benefits generated are greater than its cost.

4. Irrefutable. If your Elevator Pitch leaves the investor or customer with more questions than answers, you’d better go back to the drawing board.

A startup plan includes a description of your business, marketing, finances, and management. The following factors are discussed in detail that contribute to most business success and should guide your planning process:

• Summary – The executive summary is the most important section of your business plan. It provides a concise overview of the entire plan along with a history of your company. This section tells your reader where your company is and where you want to take it.
• Statement – The mission statement briefly explains the thrust of your business. It should be as direct and focused as possible, and it should leave the reader with a clear picture of what your business is all about.
• Company Description – Inform the reader of the basic details of your business, such as ownership, products or services, and legal status.
• Market Analysis – The market analysis section should illustrate your knowledge about the particular industry your business is in. It should also present general highlights and conclusions of any marketing research data you have collected; however, the specific details of your marketing research studies should be moved to the appendix section of your business plan.
• Competition – It is better to know what you’re up against than to be surprised when you sales suddenly disappear to an unexpected competitor. A knowledgeable investor needs to know that you have fully examined the realities of your business.
• Organization – a company’s organization and management style act as powerful invisible forces shaping both the daily working atmosphere and the future of the company.

In this competitive and constantly changing business environment, you have to know how to run a business, as well as knowing what business you’re really running. Too many people think strategic planning is something meant only for big businesses, but it is equally applicable to small businesses. Strategic planning is matching the strengths of your business to available opportunities. To do this effectively, you need to collect, screen, and analyze information about the business environment. You also need to have a clear understanding of your business – its strengths and weaknesses – and develop a clear mission, goals, and objectives. Acquiring this understanding often involves more work than expected.

Now that you have a mini understanding why you need a business plan, start gathering the information you need to create one, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get everything down on paper. Click here for research sources.

Sources:

1. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies by Rhonda Abrams
2. Entrepreneur.com

In the painting industry we see an interesting trend. When the sun shines, people go outside and see what the winter, spring, and fall have done to their home and make a phone call to find out what it will cost to repair. It’s difficult to do an exterior paint job when the temperature is below 40°F. Most customers recognize that cold, wet weather means painting will have to be put off. If we were to compare the number of calls we receive during a sunny week vs. a rainy one Five Star Painting’s phone rings twice as much when the sun is out. Also, interestingly enough, our phone always rings the most on Monday.

Years ago I used to be involved with a winter festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba called Festival du Voyageur. This festival was insane enough to run in the height of winter and provided heated tents with entertainment, ice sculptures, and dog-sled racing. All in all it’s a great time, but I can assure you that this outdoor festival would in some years experience -50°C (-58°F) weather. I acquired some research and did a plot chart of the average temperature to the festival attendance. The correlation was staggering, yet expected. The colder the weather the less tickets sales we would have.

How does bad weather affect your business? A few disadvantages of running a business when the weather is bad can be overwhelming traffic, delayed shipments, tardy employees, and the list can go on. Most businesses have to take risks and try to force through it. Surprisingly, 75% of restaurants report a sales drop of at least 10% due to undesirable changes in the weather. BlueskyLocal.com mentions that if you are in the restaurant industry, this may not surprise you too much since many accept it as a way of doing business. Simply stated, if weather is bad certain businesses suffer. Click here to read my blog post on fishing. It would make sense to avoid direct mail in December to market painting a home and try to do it in the spring as the days get longer, and the sun starts to come out.

When running a business, how can you take advantage when the sun is out? Usually in the springtime, people are more willing to do spring cleaning, clean out everything, and organize. AnnArbor.com states that a Farmer’s Market in Kerrytown, MI decided to take advantage of the sunny skies and warmer temps, and ended up having great success. The mood was festive around the market, shoppers were enjoying the weather and the vendors were happily selling their wares. Many merchants, who said sales were up, credited the boost to the good weather.

Even the best weather professionals get it wrong, so how can an entrepreneur get it right? Before you start marketing take a look into what your environment experiences historically during the months you are going to be marketing, and go with the highest probability plays. You won’t always get it right, but sometimes the stars align and your marketing program will hit the week of sunshine you are looking for.

This idea that people can break through reality through a paradigm shift from dependence to independence introduces the first three habits of Stephen R. Covey’s, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. This shift is based on the character ethic of human beings. We can think of it as the base structure of a building, it has to be strong to be able to withstand the weight of the building, and the author labeled this shift as private victory since the shift is done between you and yourself.

The next three habits shift us to total interdependent. They are based on personality ethic management or what we call modern management. This provides us with the tools needed for managing our lives in a social environment, and the author labeled them as public victory since it involves others.

The seventh habit is introduced to contain all the other six habits in an upward spiral motion to guarantee their effectiveness and stability. It gives a balanced renewal of the four basic dimensions of life (physical, spiritual, mental, emotional).

Now that I have successfully blogged about one of my favorite movies and books I will touch on a few ideas on Perception vs. Reality.

I have learned over and over again that perception is reality. No matter what you may think your brand means, and what your brand does, whatever your customer perceives is reality to them. This is an interesting concept in franchising and a big message on why branding is so critical.

I have been going to Subway for some time, and for the most part have found that Subway has done a great job of creating a consistent brand through each of their stores and food quality. Have you ever been to a subway where for whatever reason the restaurant was a mess, or the bread was stale, or perhaps the people working behind the counter were disheveled? This has happened to me once, and it has always stuck out in my mind as strange, because Subway has done an excellent job of creating brand consistency.

When does our perception begin on a new brand? For a lot of small business it is the sign and building that we see when we drive by. Companies are just like people, we all give a first impression and begin creating the reality that your customers perceive. This is one of the main reasons I got into the painting industry and began franchising. That first impression is often communicated by colors and the quality of the environment that people are operating in. The art of persuasion and influence is a tricky area for entrepreneurs, but it’s not as mysterious as you think.

The overall appearance of your workplace has a huge impact on how your customers and even your current employees perceive your business. Color plays a large psychological factor in how your customers identify your business and respond to your products. Most customers aren’t willing to accept a product if it doesn’t come in their preferred or perceived color combination. That in itself explains how significant colors can be. For example, most popular chain restaurants use the colors red and orange. These colors have been determined to stimulate appetite and encourage diners to eat more quickly. Just what a restaurant wants in a customer!

If you are considering changing colors and would like a quick guide on how to impact the perception of your customers before they even walk in the door I have prepared a short chart below for quick reference.

What does soccer have to do with running a painting company?

1. Practice. Just today I spent a few hours with one of our newest franchisees as we went through the business, preparing forecasts, and committing to certain tactics that are proven to work in the field. This is an exercise every business owner should engage in regularly. It is the art of visualizing a business on a spreadsheet that gives you the foundation to go out and execute. To keep your COGS (cost of goods sold) in line. To ask for the close and keep your close ratio to projections.
2. Teams win. In the service industry you need your team to work like a well oiled machine. Our sales center offers the backstop support for our strikers. They are confident that if they are working hard at trying to put the ball in the net. Understanding that their back is covered to make sure every call that comes in is serviced, and sent back to them to score. In today’s environment, your team is everyone on the field with you, and off the field cheering for you. Involving your significant-other or advisors in your success and failures gives you perspective and encouragement to get out there and make it happen.
3. Don’t run around like a chicken with your head cut off. In the service industry this is especially relevant. You can waste valuable energy trying to run that ball up and down the field when the pass would have gotten it there twice as fast. In business, you need to be able to delegate, pass the buck, and involve others in your success.

One of the most rewarding parts of business is in the perfect execution of a sale from the moment the opportunity presents itself, all the way through production and payment. It takes practice working like a team and efficient use of your resources to pull it off.

My uncle competes in these kinds of races, he was actually invited to Switzerland after finishing in the top of his class on a transrockies race. Five days of mountain biking solid. Once and a while I go for a run with him or ride through the back woods in Canada and I’m once again reminded that age has little to do with how fit your are.

In business, success comes at a price. It takes HARD work, determination, focus, and a little bit of luck. My experience has been that luck follows those who exhibit the other characteristics.

So to answer the question, what’s wrong with hard? Nothing, if it was easy it wouldn’t be any fun.