Michael Phelps has been much in the news.  He may be the most famous person in the world right now.  Certainly his accomplishments are remarkable and he is a role model for millions.  But you’re probably not trying to break world records or going for gold medals, so why should we pay attention to this young man who just won a record eight gold medals? 

It turns out that Michael Phelps has a lot to teach us about success.  As I’ve mentioned many times, principles apply across a range of applications.  If it’s a success strategy in business, it will also have application in your family’s success.  If it makes successful gold medal winners, it will also have application for success in your business. 

So first of all, Michael worked with what he was given.  He has a tall physique and extremely long arms.  Those physical traits, it turns out, work well for swimming sports, not so well for gymnastics or pummel horse.  So he made the best choice for the physique he has¾the way things just are.  He could have grown up complaining about his long arms and feeling bad about himself.  Whatever things just ‘are,’ for you, what you were given, you can work with instead of complaining about. 

He was a hyperactive as a child with adhd, and instead of allowing it to be a negative, that excess energy was channeled into his sport of swimming.  What negative(s) are in your life or business and how can you channel them into positives? 

Michael Phelps trains hard.  He practices his skills five to six hours a day.  He swims 50 miles a week.  Practice matters.  How much time do you spend practicing the skills you need to create better marketing or better interaction with your family, friends and customers?   

Michael knows his numbers!  After his swims in practice, his coach shows him his times and he always worked to get better. What are your numbers?  What are the stats in your business that you need to improve?  Do you know how many farm visits overall resulted in a sale (your closing rate)?  How much do your ads cost you in time and money per sale?  Tracking your numbers then improving them is golden. 

Michael plans his day.  Nothing is haphazard or left to chance.  He schedules fueling (eating) practicing, and resting.  What are the essential tasks of your day and how does your schedule planning look? 

Michael finishes strong, he doesn’t coast to the finish, unlike his competitor, M. Cavic,  in his 7^th gold medal race.  That last push made him the gold medal winner by  1/100^th  of a second.  Do you give up, coast, or are you giving it your all when it counts, even in the home stretch?

Michael set a goal of winning eight gold medals in this year’s Olympics.  He wrote it down.  He shared that goal with his coach, and then with the whole world. It was risky to “put it out there.”  It took courage to publicly state such an ambitious goal.  The story could have been disastrous instead of amazing.  But he also gained lots of motivation, support and recognition because of that public statement of his goal.  What is your goal and have you written it down?  Goals must be specific and have a time line.  Otherwise it’s only a dream. 

Michael has a support team which includes his mom, coach, teammates, family, friends and fans.  Build your own support team.  No one can do it alone. 

Michael Phelps has had setbacks.  Did you know he was arrested for driving under the influence and under legal drinking age after his first Olympics in 2004?  It  severely limited his earning potential in the athletic marketing world.    

He broke his wrist October, 2007.  He had to have surgery to repair it, and interrupted his training regime.
During the 200-meter freestyle this year, his goggles leaked and he couldn’t see. He finished the race by counting strokes.  And won another gold medal!
Any one of these events, or probably many other setbacks in his life, could have derailed Michael Phelps.  They didn’t because he never gave up, he never quit.  He made choices to always focus on his goal, not on the setbacks.   What are you focused on?  How hard it is, the setbacks that come up, or how much you want your goals met and what it takes to get there? 

Michael Phelps is a great example of human achievement.  The way to success is not obscure.  We have examples to follow.  Michael is a good one! 

So to recap, here are steps to follow:

1.  Work with what you have

2.  Turn negatives into positives. 

3.  Practice and train hard

4.  Know and improve your stats

5.  Plan your day, plan your strategies

6.  Push yourself to the very end

7.  Set goals, write them down, let others know what they are

8.  Build a team for support

Getting someone to buy from you requires getting them to change their mind.  Getting the world out there to have a different view of your company, requires getting them to change their minds.  To change the direction of your business, involves changing your own mind about it.  In your personal life, getting a friend or family member to do what you want them to do, also involves getting them to change their mind.  The start of changing minds is to open those minds to curiosity.  And you do that with mind- expanding questions.

What are mind expanding questions, you ask?  Well, let me give you a couple big examples. 

When Einstein was a teenager, he asked himself this question,  “What would the universe look like if I were riding on the end of a light beam going at the speed of light?”  The question became a thought experiemnt.  A few years later,  that question ultimately led Einstein to his Theory of Relativity.  As a result, the world of physics was changed forever.  From this theory, we now know that light bends in a gravitational field, that there is enormous energy in the smallest mass (E=mc²⁾ and that there isn’t one true time¾that time’s not the same for everyone. 

The director of Hewlet Packard’s Laboratory asked himself a question.  “Why isn’t our organization considered the best industrial research lab in the world?”  That question caused him to think about just what it meant to be the best industrial lab in the world.  And he put Barbara Waugh in charge of finding out.  She asked all the HP lab employees the world over. 

One day, one of her lab engineers came into her office and said this.  “That question is ok, but what would really energize me and get me up in the morning would be asking, “How can we be the best industrial research lab for the world?”
Changing the preposition in the question made for a radical shift in the entire focus of Barbara’s job.  Rather that discovering how to be best in the world, they began to search for the way to be best for the world.   

The result of that change in the question HP was asking, resulted in their  E-Inclusion effort, a project designed to provide critical medical information to communities in the third world.  The question caused HP to go far and create a better world. 

So, look at the places you want someone to change their mind.  Find some big questions that trigger and create curiosity.  In fact when you’re asking questions of others, ask them what they’re curious about—using the word ‘curious.’  The word itself sets up a thinking process that works in your favor.  Of course you must also know the answers. 

When you are looking at yourself or your business in terms of changing something, inspire your own curiosity by the questions you ask yourself.  Open up to new ideas, new ways of looking at old ‘stuff’. 

Look into your history, too and recall the times a powerful question led to your own success or changing of your mind.  I recall an incident in my very early years when someone simply asked me why I believed something I’d talked about.  The answer, I discovered,  was that some one had told me to believe it¾and that was the start of thinking for myself.  We sometimes call these moments epiphanies.  (Epiphany:  a perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization.)  That’s what big questions can do for you or your customer. 

Write down some mind changing questions you can ask the people you must deal with¾customers, friends, family. 

Aren’t you curious about how we  ______________________?

What are you curious about in __________________(alpacas, emus, llamas, goats, cows, fiber, organic produce, farm fresh eggs, etc.)

Aren’t you curious what a (date, meeting, trip, adventure)  with me would be like?

What would your life look like if it was perfect?  (Ask a customer, ask yourself.)

What would my business be like if it was the best ___________ farm in the county?

What would my business look like if it were the best ___________ farm for the county?

If I had all the income I wanted, what would I be curious about then? 

Curiosity greases the wheels of change.  Go ahead, question assumptions and beliefs.  Use curiosity as a tool to direct people to new information that questions their assumptions.   

A powerful question will never fail you.  Play with it.  Ask questions and see how your world changes.

When the economy is as bad as ours is right now, it’s even more important to invest  in yourself.  No matter how tightly your resources are stretched, some must be reinvested in yourself.   

Yes, you’ll see others giving up.  You see farms selling out.  You hear a lot of grumbling.  The “Ain’t it awful” club is huge.  But you’ve heard the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  Well, the grumblers, the whiners, and the complainers are not going to get going, are not going to reach success.  You can.  This is the time to invest in yourself! 

No matter how bad the economy gets, there are always some who thrive.  If it were entirely about the economy, then everyone would fail.  But they don’t.  It is by looking at what those who succeed are doing, that we can discover what makes the difference. 

Invest Your Time:  No matter how efficient you have been, there are some places where you have been spending time non-productively.  This is the time to re-examine the time wasters—TV, email that is non productive, meetings that go no where, people who sap your energy.  Find the places you’re wasting time. 

Every moment spent in happiness is well spent.  Happiness is free. Happiness is always a choice.  Steer clear of the things and people who are not making happiness choices.  Don’t allow gossip, complaining, and negative ‘what-if’s’ into your psyche and into your time.  Spend your time in a positive mind-set.  “This will work” as opposed to “This will never work.”  “My business has huge opportunities here,” instead of “Times are so tough.”  Don’t spend your time on strategies that don’t promote your business and your life. 

Invest in More Effort:   Use it on valuable goals.  Valuable to you that is.  It could be a clean closet , a new wholesale account or a master championship at the next show. What’s worth some elbow grease, some brain-challenge for you to be able to say “I did it!”  Prioritize.

Invest in Education and New Directions:  Learn!  Read. Take seminars and workshops!  Buy a new book. Master new skills. Try out a new environment or venue for getting your information or products out there and learn what works.  Give yourself new experiences, looking all the time for ideas that have not occurred to you before.  Plan for what these will cost in your marketing/ research and development budget.  Education is never a cost, but an investment. 

Relationships: Take some time to nurture relationships.  They  uphold you and enhance your life.  Don’t take the people you love for granted.  Spend some time expressing your appreciation (to family, friends and customers).
Who can you write a thank-you note to, who has contributed to your well-being?  Is there an over-due love letter to a parent, child, spouse or friend?  Who could you call to encourage¾ someone who may be  struggling in some way?

 Keep your long-term goals in mind at all times: If you know what you want, always move toward it.   If you don’t know what you want, now is a good time to figure it out.  Spend a few minutes in working backwards from the results you want to see.  The results you want to see is your dream.  When you put a time line on it and make it specific, it’s a goal.  “I want my farm to be successful” is a dream.  “My farm will have a gross income of $50,000 by the end of 2010,” is a goal.  “I want more customers,”  is not.  See Growing Your Rural Business, for a chapter on goal setting, or attend one of my workshops! 

You may have to go over, or around or find a new way to reach a goal, but keep your eyes on the results you want until you get there or think of something even better.

Investments to Avoid...
Time and energy spent in fear, guilt, anger, resentment, blame or regret.
Commiserating about how awful it all is.
Following a path that leads away from what you want.
If you find these three creeping into your life, note it and say something like, “Rewind,”  or “Not productive,” “Let’s don’t go there.”  Stay on track!

Questions or comments to winslowellie@yahoo.com

books, workshops, and free fun and useful stuff at http://beyondthesidewalk.com

I’ve had several people ask me recently about how to get started on effective marketing.  They want to know what’s step one?  What’s step two?  They’re looking for a game plan, a formula that works.   

All the hard sciences in our civilization have some basic formulas that are fundamental to the rest of the science.  The area of a circle is A = π r² .  The formula for momentum is p = mv .  The formula for energy is E = mc² .  Ohm's Law  is E=IR .  There is a formula for better marketing, too.  It’s listed below in six basics steps and they are do-able by anyone who really wants their rural business to succeed.   

When I teach workshops we cover this formula.  Of course I do it in four to eight hours in a workshop, but here are the steps in condensed form to get you started.  For now, we’re looking at the basics.  Refinements and advanced techniques can come later. 

Step One:  Goal setting.  If you don’t know what you want to accomplish and don’t lay out the process for getting there, you won’t.  Goal setting involves a clear picture of the results you want¾specific details.  It also involves a time line.  Good goal setting is creating a flow chart in reverse.   

Once you’re clear on exactly what you want to accomplish ($25,000 in income or $100,000 in income or selling X animals/products)  ask yourself this question:  What has to happen first in order to reach that goal?  Work backwards.  Start with where you want to end up, then trace the pathway back to where you are now.  (See Growing Your Rural Business for a chapter on goal setting.) 

Step Two: What’s getting in the way?  What about your goal makes you uncomfortable,  leaves you feeling nervous, afraid, insecure?  These are probably the things that are getting in your way right now.  Learn strategies for dealing with the “scary stuff” of marketing and taking risks.  (See the Chapter in Growing Your Rural Business, Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone.) 

Step Three:  Learn how to put the customer first.  If you don’t know what I mean yet, go back and read some of the previous material.  Quit talking about yourself, your farm and your stuff.  Start talking about how you solve problems and makes dreams come true for your customers.  This is the KEY to reaching customers.  When you write something or say something to a customer, always ask yourself, who is this about?  Me or  my customer.  ‘Cause he doesn’t care one whit about you.  He only cares about himself.  That’s how you reach him.  It’s the secret to selling more stuff, and all my books have chapters about it. 

Step Four:  Get an organized marketing plan.   Good marketing will include 6 categories of projects.  Internal events, external events, media ads, research and development, outreach (giving back to your community) and what you do to say thank you for those who are part of your team.  I have included an easy, visual marketing plan that really works in every one of my books.  A plan is mandatory.  And you need to  keep records on how effective everything you do is. 

Step Five:  Learn how to write better ads:  It’s called copywriting.  There are basic rules that make your ad-writing better.  Much of it involves having a good headline.  Ask yourself if your headline is interesting, compelling, gets the reader hooked or is it boring?  ‘For sale’ is a really BORING headline.  It doesn’t catch anyone’s attention.  It doesn’t get anyone excited or tell them why they should do business with you!!!!  (See Marketing Farm Products for tons of copywriting help, more in Growing Your Rural Business!) 

Step Six:  Discover all the new places to find customers.  There are actually thousands of places, both virtual and physical, most you’ve probably never thought about. This involves thinking in a new way.  Almost everything you do in life can be turned into a marketing opportunity.  Since you always find what you look for, start now to look for new places, ideas and opportunities for marketing. (See Marketing Farm Products for the chapter, Places To Market.) 

Basic steps create new customers and more income.  Master the formula and you’re well on your way! 

What image do you get when you see the logo for Best Buy’s “Geek Squad”?  What are you reminded of when you see the red and white concentric circles in the shape of a bull’s eye?  When you see the stylized wing of Nike’s ads, what’s the sense you get? 

Each of these is an example of a logo that is recognizable, and transmits clear information.  You know with the Geek Squad you’re getting technical help from an expert, a geek.  The bull’s eye tells you Target, which is straight association between image and name.  Nike’s wing tells you you can fly with the right shoes. 

So what’s your logo?  How clear is it in terms of transmitting information about who you are or what your business does?  Does it look like the logo of many other farms or businesses, those which do many of the same things you do?  If there are words in your logo, are they easy to read?  Cursive and elaborate fonts are NOT easy to read.  Words with little contrast to the background are NOT easy to read.  Remember, no one¾no one at all¾will work hard to read your marketing or advertising. 

As I was thinking about this subject, it occurred to me that I really don’t have any logo at all.  Oops, I just never thought about what a logo could do for my business.  After all, I thought, my customers know what I do, right?  Wrong! 

So I set out to create a logo for my own business.  The first step for me was to come up with a single most important “thing” that my business does for my customers.  Notice that I did not focus on what I sell, or what services I offer.  This goes back to the difference between facts (features) and benefits (why the facts matter.)  I talk about this all the time¾in all my books and in these blogs.  Of course, this will be the big idea in a good logo. 

So ultimately, when I look at the benefit I provide to my customers, it is that I help them make more money.  I could say I teach marketing (marketing books).  Or I teach how to care for goats (my goat book).  Or I consult with individual farms.  Or I write ads for clients.  Or I facilitate workshops.  It’s true I do all those things.  But the point of my business is to help people make more money with their own businesses.  That’s the measure of my success¾if I make YOU more successful. 

So I started trying to think of a symbol or a graphic that indicates money coming in to my customers.  Well, It turns out that I’m the sort of person who thinks in words.  I find it nearly impossible to think in pictures.  Clearly, I need some help.  But it so happens that I know an artist who thinks in pictures and colors.  So my next step is to consult with this artist for picture/graphic ideas that might eventually become my logo.  I have now executed this step and it’s underway.   

I’ll keep you posted on my own progress in this logo development process.  I predict that once I have some visuals of the “idea” of my business,  I will hire a graphic artist to execute it.  Once again, I like words and have no training in design, and I want a great logo, not an amateur one. 

So today, I’m suggesting you take a look at the logo for your farm or business if you have one, and get started on one if you don’t.  Is it a cute picture of the species you raise?  Is it a picture of the product you sell?  Try re-thinking your logo idea so that it captures the essence of your business, the real reason someone should buy from you¾ the way you make his life better. 

Potential customers are called prospects.  And like prospecting for gold, your job is to find the ‘nuggets’ among the sand and rocks in the stream of people out there.  Here are some things to be aware of when you are prospecting for customers. 

1.)  They are busy people with a lot going on.  They do NOT want to work hard to get information or buy something.  That means you better make their experience with you as easy as possible.  Do some of the work for them.  Help them find you.  Eliminate all the obstacles.  The simpler and clearer your message and your process, the more likely they are to follow through.  Is your marketing message interesting, compelling and clear?  Is your website entertaining, informational and easy to contact or buy from you?  Make it easy because your prospect will not work hard¾ either to find you or to buy from you. 

2.)  For first impressions, let your prospects pigeonhole you.  Give them a convenient way to put you in a box, a way to think of you that’s short and sweet.  Later, you can tell them all about the full range of what you offer.  For the first impression, let them label you to create an association in their minds.  “The  farm that makes you successful.”  “The Nubians that produce better than Alpines.”  “The fiber that doesn’t tickle.”  “Nourishment in a basket.”  “Meat with real taste.”  “The peace of mind service.”  “Gifts to get you noticed.”  Find a short saying that identifies you (honestly) and sets you apart, so you get their attention and interest.  Be creative.  Make it fun! Later, you can tell them all about the rest of your ‘stuff.’ 

3.)  Your prospects may not always know what they need.  Listen carefully to them.  Show them a solution they might not have thought about.  Offer a few alternatives for them to choose from.   Let them decide. 

4.)  Your prospects might need time.   It's not always a put off.  When they say they have to think about it, or that they have to talk to someone else, it might be true.  Give them the time they ask for, but keep in touch.  A follow-up call or postcard should remind them of their interest without badgering.   

5.)  Don't forget: you are a prospect to someone out there too.  How do you want to be treated when someone is marketing to you?   What makes you defensive?  How often do you want someone calling you?  How much time would you like to think about a product, to ask questions and to make your decision?   How do you want to feel about the process when it is over?   Now apply that information to your own prospects. 

6.)   Your prospects are people.  Develop relationships with them.  Relationships are more important now than ever.  Marketing is all about relationships.  The more you improve your people skills, the more likely you are to find customers and sell to them.

Go to http://beyondthesidewalk.com for real help with growing your rural business!

Best wishes,

Ellie

When you close your eyes and imagine throwing a basketball, or running down a track, small contractions actually take place in the muscles that would be used for those actions if you were really doing it.  How do we know that?  Because a psychologist named Edmund Jacobsen did some groundbreaking studies that actually measured those small contractions when people imagined. 

In the same way, when you imagine something dramatic and scary, like a bear suddenly appearing on the trail in front of you, your body reacts as though the bear  is actually there and gets you ready to run.  Your pulse speeds up.  Your blood pressure goes up.  You start sweating or get goose bumps or a dry mouth.

On the other hand, when you imagine something strong, positive or relaxing, your physiology strengthens and relaxes.  It’s measurable.  Ask anyone who meditates or participates in conscious relaxation techniques.  The point is that this is how your body and mind work together whether you are aware of it or not.  Your thoughts and imagination are producing neurotransmitters and hormones all the time.  The only question is, are they the ones that help or hinder, make you healthy or stressed out, make you successful or not?  You visualize all the time, even when you don’t call it that.

In other words, your body can’t really tell the difference between what’s “real” and what’s imagined.  This, of course, raises some interesting questions about reality itself, which I will leave to the psychologists and quantum physicists.  But it is also why every good coach the world over has his players spend time just imagining the moves of their sport.  It’s called visualization. 

Along with the neuro-chemical landscape of your body, your thoughts direct the screening mechanism of your brain.  There are millions of bits of information coming  in at any given instant.  The brain’s ability to process information is infinitely smaller than the amount of information available.  It must, therefore, screen what comes in and discard most of it.  It turns out that input is screened according to your conscious thoughts.  What you think is possible, appropriate, true and feasible is what your brain screens for.  Millions of bit of information are discarded and not processed.  If you think you’ll never get these animals sold, your brain helps that out by screening out ideas, opportunities, resources and possibilities that might help you get those animals sold.  It’s just the way it works.  Your brain keeps reality consistent with what you think.

Most people, most of the time, are not paying attention to how they think.  They assume that how they feel just shows up.  They assume that opportunities for success just happen to lucky people.  It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about success or failure in relationships with the people around you or your customers.  It doesn’t matter if we’re talking here about how you feel about your family, friends or business.  It all starts with the thoughts you have and your thoughts are under your control.

For instance, consider for a minute what you usually think and imagine about a customer who shows up at your farm.  What do you see happening before he gets there?  What thoughts do you tell yourself about your customer? 

What thoughts do you consistently have about your spouse or children.  What do you imagine going on in your interactions with them?  Those thoughts and imaginings have a biological and a selection component that determines how your world looks.

You’ve heard the phrase, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak?”  The sizzle of the steak as it comes from the kitchen of a fancy restaurant is an experience that goes well beyond the basics of a steak, even a great one.  It’s about ambiance and experience—a sensory experience—sight, sound and smell.  It’s about being served graciously and being with a person or people you care about.  It’s an experience that people are willing to pay big bucks for. 

‘Things’ have value.  But experience is priceless.  I you want an example of the difference, pay attention to a few of the many ads for MasterCard.  The priceless-ness of whatever you have for sale is the experience of the sizzle your product, animal or service has for your customer.  It’s experiential.  It’s not about the facts and figures of what you’re selling.  When you can give them that experience of something priceless, they are willing to pay top dollar and keep coming back for more.   

Stop looking at your customers as logical thinkers.  Start thinking about them as people who are hungry for a priceless experience.  Look at the ways your product can have an impact on his or her life.  They’re not buying a thing from you, they’re buying freedom, adventure, beauty, prestige, health, happiness, independence, or a whole host of other intangibles.  Your job is to connect your product (animal, vegetable or mineral) with those intangibles.  Provide those priceless experiences—it’s good business. 

I like to use similes and metaphors.  So here’s another example:  Your marketing efforts are a lot like trying to fill a bucket with water, one drop at a time.  The first drop is hardly visible.  The first few don’t seem to make a lot of difference.  But eventually, with a steady drip, drip¾drop by drop, the bucket fills and finally overflows.  The overflow becomes sales and income. 

Every time you do something about marketing, you are filling the “bucket” drop by drop.  The first ad you write or activity you engage in will probably not be the one that makes the bucket overflow (gets you a sale).  But it’s adding to the volume in the bucket and it will eventually fill up so that you’ll have all the sales you desire. 

I define marketing pretty broadly.  It is any activity that ultimately connects the producer and the user of a product (animal, service) for the benefit of both.  So let’s look at some marketing “drops” that could being filling your “bucket.”  And, by the way, for everything you do for marketing, you need to keep records of what it is, what it took to accomplish and what it got you in terms of results. 

Get your name out there, in as many different ways, forums and places, as often as you possibly can.  Volunteer for visible positions, speak to civic or club groups, write letters to the editor, send updates to organizations you belong to and newsletters you read.  Send a well done marketing postcard to all the members of your organizations plus your old and new customers, get face-to-face with people in groups where new customers might be found.  Network. 

Write a lot of ads, in a lot of places, learn marketing principles so your ads get better and better.  Become a judge, sponsor an event.  Donate to causes that have high visibility.  Run for office.  Bring someone famous to your farm.  Write a book or pamphlet, put on a workshop, offer a prize for a competition, be part of some corporate entertainments.   

Pass out beautiful, fun-to-read brochures about your farm, sponsor a class at a show or fair, have a GREAT website, offer a free report at your website¾one that is really helpful, ask for referrals, attend trade shows.   

Have a farm store, have a booth at the farmer’s market, take products to craft fairs, get involved in agri-tourism, check out community sponsored agriculture. 

As you can see by the lists above, almost anything you do can be turned into a marketing opportunity.  But you have to start looking for ways to make them add up and for opportunities to get your name out there.  Here’s a secret that people discover when they do…it’s fun and it works! 

Drop-by-drop, fill your marketing bucket by employing creativity and consistency.

See marketing and business help for rural entrepreneurs, at http://beyondthesidewalk.com

In 2001 one of the major advertising agencies in the world did a market study that showed what consumers thought generated excitement about their buying decisions.   

0 % from radio

1 % from billboards

4 % from TV ads

4 % from print ads

15 % from magazines

40 % referrals by friends and family 

Business in America now knows those numbers, too.  Have you noticed an upsurge of companies trying to get you to generate buzz about their product?  It turns out many of the tactics commonly used don’t really do the job of getting people to talk about a company.   

What really gets people talking about you and referring their friends and family is to be so outstanding that you amaze, startle and surprise your customers.  You can take advantage of word of mouth marketing by planning strategies, tactics and events that are unusual, spectacular, extravagant, over the top--things that make them feel very special, surprise them with your uniqueness, and impress them with your individuality.   

We also call this word of mouth marketing.  In order to take advantage of word of mouth marketing, you will need to think creatively about what makes you different from every other small business that sells your kind of animal or product.  It will take some effort, and planning but the rewards are worth it.  This week, think about something you can do within your own marketing that will be truly memorable—something that will make your customers talk about your farm or business to people around them, some of whom will be future customers.

My friend, Kristi Nielsen contributed the following article about better communication for this newsletter/blog.  She is a retirement coach in Vancouver, Brittish Columbia who has also written books about that.  See her signature at the end.  My thanks to her for her contribution!!! 

Effective Communication Tips

By Kristi Nielsen, Retirement Coach 

Effective communication skills can benefit every relationship. Here are some effective communication tips:

1) Talk less about yourself.

2) Ask the person you are talking to more questions about him or herself.

Ineffective communicators use any excuse to talk more about themselves appearing self-centered. Listening shows you care about others.

3) Pay attention to your tone and pitch of your voice. A little exercise that demonstrates this is to read the sentence "I know who stole the money" repeatedly and each time you read it change the word you emphasize, as follows:

Read the sentence emphasizing the word "I" "I KNOW who stole the money."

"I KNOW who stole the money."

"I know WHO stole the money."

"I know who STOLE the money."

"I know who stole the MONEY."

The same words can have many different implications.

4) Word choice often alters the message.

If you use imperatives, you sound bossy. If you use "tentative" Words you may sound unsure or untrustworthy, depending on the situation. If you use overly complicated sentence structures you may confuse the listener. Take the following examples of statements to your spouse

"You MUST be home on time tonight."

"I wonder if you can be on time tonight."

"I want you to be home on time tonight."

"I know it can be difficult, however it is important that you are home on time tonight."

Your word choice and tone can grate on the nerves of other people, and may detract or increase from the validity of what you are saying. It can show disrespect for others.

5) Accept what the other person is saying without yielding to the temptation to invalidate it or filter it because of your own bias.

Stretch yourself to see things from different perspectives.  If you are not sure you understand it from their point of view, ask for clarification or if you are unsure, ask them to clarify. If you believe you understand, paraphrase it back to them for confirmation.

6) Don’t get caught in a cycle of negativity.

Constant complaining and negativity can send your friends and family scrambling to get away from you.

7) Refrain from annoying repetition.

In business relationships, keep notes about your conversations, so that you do not repeat a conversation.

As a result, they are more likely to remember the conversation than you are—making for an embarrassing situation when you realize it.

 8) Keep listening even if your interests are different. Share their enthusiasm for things that are important to them.

9) Avoid the urge to be right. Always correcting others when you disagree is simply arrogance. Be more interested in understanding, than in being right.

10) Be present. Don’t allow other thoughts to distract you from truly listening. Don't interrupt. Validate the person with whom you are speaking by giving them an opportunity to complete their thoughts without your comments changing the direction of their thoughts. It makes them feel good and the reciprocal effect is that they like you.

Kristi Nielsen, BA, Retirement Coach,

Author: “Retirement Inspirement” and  “Your Life is YOUR Business”

www.plus50lifestyles.com and www.retirementsecrets.ca

© Kristi Nielsen 2008

►Get friendly, get comfortable.  If you’re writing, imagine you’re talking to a friend and write that way.  If you’re in person, develop some rapport (that means some things in common, a bond, some empathy). 

►Be the happiest and most enthusiastic person they’ve seen in a long time. 

►Tell why you’re different than anyone else selling alpacas, emus, goats, horses, organic edibles, fiber products, crafts or services.  What sets you apart from every other business.   

►Say it all in terms of how it helps, not just the facts about what you have for sale (want them to do). 

►What ever you say or write, say it in terms of “you” and “your” not “me” and “I”. 

►When you’re talking to someone in person, take notes. 

►Get him involved by asking him to DO something¾hold a halter, help you move something, hold a baby, send in a coupon, check a box, sign up for a newsletter, sample your product, etc. 

►Use testimonials to show people that others have been delighted with your product. 

►If you get approval along the way, you’re more likely to get approval at the end.  “Don’t you agree?”  “Can you see how this helps?”  “Isn’t it?”  “Wouldn’t it?”  These sentences can help in writing as well as in person. 

►What are the likely objections to your product (or what you want them to do)?  Figure out ahead of time how to overcome those objections.  Is it price?  Tell them about your payment plan.  Is it about delivery?  How do you manage that?  If you want someone to go out with you are they likely to be very busy?  Give them two or three possibilities.  If someone objects that they are not ready yet, be ready to tell they why they loose out if they don’t buy (do) now.  If they want it in a different size (color, style, quantity) tell them how you’ll provide that.  Whatever it is you’re trying to ‘sell,’ you know what the likely objections are, be ready to address them. 

►Strive for a real relationship with your customers because you care.  Long-term trumps short-term every time.

There are several fuzzy words that people use in marketing far too often.  By fuzzy words, I mean words that have a vague meaning or many meanings, or perhaps just are so overused that they’ve become ‘ho-hum,’ so that no one pays attention.  Whether you’re writing a Friday ad on an email list, an ad in a magazine or newspaper, doing some marketing on the radio, or writing a flyer or brochure, the point of writing advertising copy is to get your point across.  You must get it across so clearly that the reader knows exactly what you are offering and what it does for them¾and in an interesting way. 

Fuzzy words make your message ambiguous or unclear, hard to understand or just boring.  Let’s look at a few examples.   

Great.  There are 18 or more definitions for the word great.  Besides which, it’s used all the way from something was ‘just ok’ to something is phenomenal.  There are better words to choose from.  Use a dictionary or use the synonym feature in MS Word.  You do that by putting your cursor on the word, right click and go to ‘synonym’ at the bottom of the menu. 

Style.  What kind of style?  Do you mean couture style or punk style?   Is it stylish in the way of business casual or black tie?  Do you mean an animal fits in a current preferred trend or has it some specific conformational traits.  Does style mean a technique for doing things or does it mean chic?  Get specific. 

Proven.  Do you mean she has demonstrated fertility or won certain awards, or do you have some scientific studies to back up a particular claim?   

Quality.  Overworked and overstated so often, no one believes it anyway.  Also, quality means different things to different people.  It needs to be defined narrowly.  Are you talking about food quality that is correlated with scientific requirements (bacteria count in milk, for instance)?  Is it about the sturdiness of the workmanship?  Is your quality about winning recognition (blue ribbons) or about the décor on the wall (fiber artwork)?  Quality is one of the fuzziest of words.  Find a different way to get your idea across. 

Important.  Overworked word, and besides just who is it important to,  you or the customer?   

Hand made.  Another cliché sort of term that’s very overworked.  It can also mean amateurish, so find a better way to say it, like hand crafted (slightly better) crafted carefully by hand, made by artisans, one-of-a-kind,  artistically distinctive, irreplaceably memorable …there are a thousand ways to say it.    

Unique.  Unique is a little like hand crafted above.  It’s a word that’s over used  and often used in reference to things that are not actually unique.  It means one-of-a-kind, no other like it.  Not many animals or products truly fall into that category.  Besides the tonal quality of the word might not have pizzazz enough for what you want to get across.   If you really have something unique, find other ways to say so.  No other like it, exclusive, limited edition, matchless.   

Super.  Too, too overused from Super Bowl to super size and super star.  Find some other words that get your idea across. 

My friend Elizabeth Fischer says in her book, “What’s in it For Me?” to pretend every word you use in your marketing costs you a hundred dollars each.  If you think about words that way, you’ll probably be more careful and be sure they mean something clear, to the point and interesting to your customer.  Get specific and do not use clichés!

Pretty much everyone is great sometimes and not so great sometimes.  It’s very human.  But early on  in your development, in those area of your psyche that you seldom explore, you decided some traits are good and some are not for you.  The truth is that you have them all, more or less. 

The more highly charged the emotions around the trait, the more likely you are to deny it  is part of who you are.  That process of disowning some parts of yourself has long-term consequences.   

When you disown some part of yourself, it ends up running your life. 

It will be the issue that causes you the most problems.  It will be the issue/personality trait that you will often meet in your life.  It will be what most irritates and frustrates you in others.   

Psychologists and spiritual leaders¾now and historically¾tell us that the people out there mirror for us what we most need to pay attention to.  Whatever faults you are finding in your spouse, children, staff, coworkers, customers and friends, chances are it is what you most fear ‘owning’ in yourself.   

It works in all parts of life, too, often even  in professional areas.  Have you ever noticed that some people even go into certain professions because the are insecure about their capability in that arena?  Some psychologists may be less than certain they’re psychologically sound.  Some jocks flex their muscles to compensate for their fears they aren't manly enough.  Some ROTC people go through the military stuff because they fear they're afraid of combat.  English mavens may be worried about being literate enough, some business professionals may have fears about their own economic capability.  Some social science people may fear they're not humane enough.   

But the place it is most critical to pay attention, is in your interpersonal relationships.  If you are finding that things irritate you about the people around you¾whether that’s your customers, your staff or your family, realize that it comes out of your own stuff you are unwilling to own up to.  No exceptions.  You fit here.  I fit here.  The world is a mirror of your internal landscape. 

I know, I hear some of you say, “Not me!  His lack of organization has nothing to do with me!”  Sorry.  It does.  If you owned the part of yourself that is so afraid of not having everything organized, disorganization wouldn’t bother you in someone else.  You could say, “Well, he’s not very organized, big deal.” 

If you have customers driving you crazy because they’re always late for meetings or appointments, they are giving you a cue to examine why you are so afraid of being late.  If you have a staff person who makes mistakes that send you thru the roof, it’s a good bet you ought to be looking at your own  fear of not being perfect.  If your child is doing something that sends you up the wall, it is surely about your disowning that part of yourself.  Everyone is showing you your stuff. 

It’s the way the world works.  It’s the way our psychology works.  Or as Dr. John Demartini says, “What we want to change in others is what we haven’t loved in ourselves.” 

Now, the good news is this.  The reverse is also true.  The things you admire in others are also things in yourself that you have not owned!  Admire someone’s serenity or patience, or sense of humor?  That also is part of who you are.  Take a look.  When we can accept and appreciate all the parts of ourselves, the frustrations and irritations are gone.  Life, business, family and social situations all go better.  You will be a better human being! 

Even the New Testament  talks about this¾not only in Matthew, but also from Luke¾ the following admonition: 

And why behold the mote that is in your brother's eye, but perceive not the beam that is in your own eye?  

Either how can you say to your brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in your eye, when you yourself  behold not the beam that is in your own eye?  

You hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of your own eye, and then shall you see clearly to pull out the mote that is in your brother's eye.” 

Next time a customer irritates you, or you find you’re aggravated by a family member, look inside first at the characteristic you are not loving in yourself.

Is your business economically feasible?  How do you know or find out?  The way you begin to assess your viability is to ask yourself some simple questions. 

1.  How much money do you need out of this business for it to meet your needs?  Remember, your needs may be for an elabo