“What is value to the customer?” may be the most important questoin you ever ask. 

Value is not a quality of your product or service.  The customer doesn’t buy a product or service.  He buys a satisfaction of a want or a need.

He buys value.  Value is what attracts the customer.

Customer Creation Action

Make a list of all of your current customers.  Contact them by to find out what they value about your product or service.  Listen.  Listen.  Listen.  Record the answers.  Integrate them into your customer creation machine.

You create your business circumstances by the beliefs you hold and the actions you take.  You can choose to take actions that support the process of business or you can choose to do nothing (non-action).  In both cases you will be creating.

Creating a never ending stream of customers can make life a lot easier as a business owner.

Understanding that you are creating, and focusing that power on the creation of customers, will support business success.

No one cares anymore about what you sell.  Someone else is selling what you sell.

The people that make up the market are looking for the HOW in you.  There’s value in the HOW.

HOW do you get my attention?

HOW do you talk to me once you have it?

HOW do you give me your attention?

HOW do you understand me?

HOW do you communicate so I understand you?

HOW do you care?

Once I know HOW you go about doing business, the what doesn’t really matter.  In a world of shouting whats it’s the HOWS that make the difference.

He has the smoothest, most powerful stroke of any player I have ever seen.  The calm he exhibits must come from Buddhist lessons taught to him by his mother.  He approaches each and every shot like it is his last and like there wasn’t another just a few minutes before.  But, we know all this.  We see it on
television every week.  What you may not know is what is shown on television is just a tidbit of what Tiger does during a tournament week.  And, what he does can only be described as Work!  With the capital ‘W’!

During tournament week the course gets buzzing well before the sun comes up.  There are fairways and greens to be mowed, sand traps to be raked and a hundred other things to be taken care of before the crowd starts to gather.  But golf course attendants do this work.

If you look over at the driving range, or the practice green, you’ll see golf pros doing their work.  And, always, Tiger Woods Working on his game.

It doesn’t matter that he just won the British Open.  It doesn’t matter that he has the smoothest, most powerful stroke.  It doesn’t matter that he makes more money than the guy swinging a club next to him.  It doesn’t matter that he will draw an estimated 70,000 more people to the tournament than if he didn’t show up.

What matters is the Work!

Before his round, after his round.  Rain or shine.  Putting in the Work to be the most successful golfer in the history of the game. As you might be able to tell, I admire the man.  He is, in every sense of the word, a true professional.

Most business people I encounter could learn a thing or two from Tiger.  They could work on their business instead of treating their business like they are always on the course.  If attracting an extra 70,000 prospects, in a week, to your game was the result, would you do the work?

It’s fashionable for people to tout how easy it can be to grow a business.  The “programs, secrets and systems” are all over the internet.  I strongly disagree.  I’ll take my cues from Tiger

If you want to be a Tiger, work like a dog!

Kids Roar is a company that sells cool stuff for kids.  I purchased the Paint and Play Horses for my daughter since her entire bedroom is horse themed and she rides and cares for her own horse.  Perfect. 

But, that isn’t the point here. 

The point is the entrepreneur that started this company is, drumroll please, 8 years old! Alexandra McDaniel is going to be a 10 year business veteran by the time she graduates from High School.

Take a look at all of the things that are done right there.  She speaks publicly.  She has a blog.  She has personality.  She targets a specific demographic niche.  She is an open book about the business.  She has cool products.  She has an e-mail newsletter.  She pays her bills.  She learns and APPLIES business principles.  She uses the media for exposure.

I could go on and on but click over to her site and take a look. 

It will make you ask yourself, “So, what have I done lately?”

If you want to learn how to do your own publishing, click over and take a look at Brad’s tutorial titled, “My First Amazon/Booksurge Self-Publishing Project"

I ordered “The Miracle That I Offer” on Tuesday night at around 9:00pm from Amazon.  It shipped on Wednesday afternoon by 5:00pm.  Less than 24 hours and its on the way to me!  So, that raises the question of, “Why does any publisher print a bunch of books and stock them in a warehouse?” Publishers are playing a whole new game and I wonder how many of the big guys even know it.

By now you’re probably asking yourself how this ties in with “judging a book by its cover.”

Well, I was reading Bob Bly’s blog today and he asked a question about which of two is the best title for a book that is going to be published soon.  My first thought was, why?

With the print-on-demand capabilities of Booksurge there’s no reason to guess.  Advertise a whole list of titles and let the reader buy the title that suits them!  As any direct marketer knows, one will eventually be the clear winner and that will be the final answer to Bob’s question.

And that’s really “judging a book by its cover.”

There are other things that are more important to me, and I’m sure many others.

1. When can I get it?
2. What kind of quality is the product in relation to other products in the category?
3. Will you be here after the sale if I have any questions or problems?
4. How about a warranty?
5. Do you know of any special benefits or features I don’t have the experience to ask about?
6. What do other people like me think about your product?
7. How does it make my life easier?

It seems that whenever I want to spend money I have to answer my own questions by doing the research.

Does anyone sell anymore?