Wonder when you’d get the best results with your marketing strategies? Wonder no more – with a new insight by Simon Sinek called The Golden Circle, you are sure to inspire your consumers and persuade them to make the action you’ve been expecting from them.
But before we expand on the idea of The Golden Circle, here’s a brief background on Simon Sinek. One of the TED Talk speakers, Simon is also known as the author of the book “Start With Why” which was released in 2009. With his works, he has been convincing and motivating people to do what inspires them.
With that said, there is no doubt that this new insight from him will help you get the results you have been dreaming of from your marketing strategies.
The Golden Circle Concept
As its name implies, the concept known as the Golden Circle is made up of 3 circles. The innermost circle is labeled as the WHY, the inner circle as the HOW and the outer circle as the WHAT. These 3 circles represent the 3 things that every company or organisation have in order to exist.
The WHAT circle refers to a company’s objective – what they want to achieve, the HOW circle represents a company’s resources as well as processes that are necessary to achieve their objective, while the WHY circle refers to a company’s purpose – why they exist. Most people perceive profit as a company’s purpose and this is incorrect – it is a result not a purpose.
To further understand how the Golden Circle works, let’s use the same example Simon used in the TED video.
Apple has been around for many years but while it is just like any other computer company, they stand out. What makes them stand out? And what makes people trust them so much that they are willing to buy computers, HDTVs and even MP3 players from them?
The answer can be seen here – Apple, just like some well-known achievers in this world – Martin Luther King and the Wright Brothers, operate in contrast to how the majority of the world’s population operate.
Most people, leaders and companies usually give more importance to the WHAT aspect of their business. They tend to emphasize on their products, their objectives without even stating WHY they sell what they sell, build what they build or do what they do.
If Apple were to operate just like everybody else, a marketing message from them would sound like this:
We make great computers. They’re beautifully-designed, simple to use and user-friendly. Want to buy one?
This kind of marketing pitch is common but uninspiring. And most of the time with this kind of message, companies don’t receive the right response from their customers because they fail to inspire action.
Now, since Apple operates in contrast to the usual uninspiring way, their marketing message sounds like this:
Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully-designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers, want to buy one?
By reversing the order of information and giving emphasis to WHY they do what they do, Apple inspires their customers and everyone else to make the right action based on their message.
This example proves that if you’re looking for amazing results from your marketing strategies, you have to let people understand WHY you do what you do because people who believe your cause will make it their own and do something about it.
So if you’re looking for the best way to inspire action from your customers and get best results, follow The Golden Circle concept.
In Simon’s words
“the goal is not to do business with anybody who needs what you have. But to do business with people who believe what you believe. Because when you talk about what you believe, you will attract those that believe in what you believe and therefore, inspire action.”
I recently posted about an interesting ad campaign from Canada using Porsches in a wealthy suburb in Toronto. Let’s expand on this concept of really understanding your target market and personalising your approach to them.
In the video, the advertising agency Lowe Roche in Toronto Canada thought of a way to make advertising more direct and more personal for client – Pfaff Porsche. They drove the Porsche to a neighborhood of affluent families in Toronto (which was their target market), parked the Porsche in driveways and took photos.
After the pictures were taken, the team from the advertising agency produced tailored marketing pieces for each address using mobile printers. They then distributed the print outs and the residents of the neighborhood received a personalized direct mail piece.
From this creative and very unique campaign, 32% of people responded to a website where they booked a test drive. For Pfaff Porsche, this ad campaign was very successful.
But this type of campaign isn’t completely new. In fact, an advertising agency for an auto company in the Netherlands has also utilised this type of campaign and has successfully tailored their marketing strategy to their customers.
They started using street view images about a year ago in their direct mails and the response has averaged about 63% leading to a 13% increase in sales from a single direct mail. They sent 1000 direct mails and sold 130 brand new cars in one dealership. This is a sensational response!
Now, with this type of personal and direct campaign so successful, how can we expand this beyond cars? How can we apply the same principles to other products and services? Some concepts are:
For fashion, the tailored marketing strategy would be to Photoshop different clothes onto client photos. Companies could make this work by allowing people subscribe to a service where they view themselves in different clothes and accessories. The business can also send them “an outfit” once per month. You could also do something similar for sporting apparel, ski wear, sunglasses, etc?
For Real Estate, the personal approach would be presenting views of the customer and his family in their new home. Or even having a “Sold” sign superimposed over the street view of their house.
For Roofing businesses, the direct strategy would be showing customers what their house would look like with a different colour and style of roof.
But if you can’t use this type of marketing strategy in promotion, maybe you can use it to personalise a product.
Bundaberg Brewed Drinks has done this with their “personalised label” offer where you can create your own product labels using your own photos. It is also available through their iPhone apps.
What can you do to tailor your marketing to a clearly defined target market?
We are in a highly competitive world where consumers are constantly bombarded with information and advertising. You need to make your promotions cut through the clutter.
Maybe using a highly tailored approach to directly target or link your brand to the consumer is an option you should be considering?
The process of searching for a VA for your business is fairly easy (it worked well for me!) and is similar to recruiting an assistant locally. The only difference is that 100% of the process is done online – tests or surveys are conducted electronically and candidates are interviewed via VOIP services like Skype.
My Personal Hiring Experience
I found my VA via www.OnlineJobs.ph, an outsourcing website that offers foreign employers to post job openings and search among thousands of Filipino applicants for the perfect person to fill the post.
For sites like these, you will need to register yourself as an employer before you can post a job offer and get access to thousands of resumes in their database.
After registering and posting your offer, you can either wait for applicants to contact you and send in their resumes (via your contact email) or go through thousands of resumes yourself. I received at least 50 or more emails when I was searching for a VA.
As for my hiring process, the basic structure was:
1. Develop a Role Profile or Job Description – be clear on the qualities you are looking for. I was keen on finding someone with great English writing skills and I culled applicants very heavily on their written responses.
2. Advertise on www.OnlineJobs.ph or similar sites such as www.Freelancer.com, www.VWorker.com, www.Odesk.com
3. Have some simple criteria to sort through applicants on the first pass. Use templates – one for “Thanks but no thanks,” the other for “Congratulations the next step is…” This step reduced applicants from 50 to 20 for me.
4. Get people to demonstrate their abilities with some simple tests. I asked the remaining 20 applicants to do some tasks for me – transcribe my handwriting into one of my templates, read a newspaper article and write me a short blog from it, and provide me examples of their previous work. This step reduced applicants from 20 to 10, with 3 exceptional prospects.
5.Conduct a Skype interview with the Final 3. My current VA, Rai, was actually my top choice, and after the interview I knew she was the one I wanted to hire and so I didn’t bother to interview the other 2.
6. Prepare and have your selected VA sign a Confidentiality Agreement, then you’re good to go.
If you think my process is too much to handle – don’t fret! There are other ways to find and hire a Virtual Assistant.
You can actually work with a virtual staff agency to outsource the process of finding an outsourced worker.
Two sites that provide such services are www.virtualstafffinder.com and www.prialto.com where you are automatically paired with a qualified VA that best meets your needs.
Having a VA works well for me, just like I said in my previous blog and I highly recommend it to any business owner who needs assistance with work-related stuff. So if you think you could use a little help right now, go online, register in one or two outsourcing sites or virtual staff agencies and find yourself a credible, hardworking Virtual Assistant that will ultimately make work become a little easier.
If your business requires you to be on the road most of the time and/or you find yourself needing assistance to get secretarial and administrative things done then a Virtual Assistant (VA) is what you need.
Why a VA?
In this day and age where everything is mobile, having a VA fits the bill perfectly. Compared to having a traditional locally-based administrative assistant, VAs are often more economical (I can attest to that!) You also save on office space and equipment expenses as you don’t have to provide for it, except of course, if your business requires output from custom software.
Now you don’t have to go overseas to find a VA. There are a number of people in Australia who offer a range of VA services. I found this site http://www.virtualassistantaustralia.net.au with a Google Search. There will be similar services in other countries (if not – now there’s a quick business idea!)
However, I have found my VA – Rai, who hails from the Philippines, to be better skilled and have more initiative than some, not all, of the local Support Staff I have used in the last few years and that is where the real value is added.
The additional benefits of having a full time Assistant, when previously I could only realistically afford casual help, are myriad. I am always finding new ways for Rai to help me in my business.
I use Rai for general business support and article writing but I know of others who have hired VA’s with detailed technical skills & knowledge e.g. Web design, SEO and social media. The choice is yours as there a plenty of options.
But the benefits aren’t one-sided. In fact, a VA saves a lot of time and money too by working as a VA.
Benefits of Being a VA (from Rai’s point of view)
From a VA’s point of view, being employed as a virtual assistant is more beneficial than being employed locally (and I say this from experience).
Before working online, I was a Sales Agent and had to spend way more than 8 hours to finish my day’s work. When I added extra work time and commuting I barely had time for other things and I sacrificed a lot of extra time – time that was supposedly for my young kids (I have 2 and am a single mom). I got stressed a lot and realized it wasn’t worth it since the pay didn’t get any higher. So eventually, I quit that job.
In my search for other opportunities, I stumbled upon the site that changed my life (www.onlinejobs.ph) I was eager to look for a well-paid, full-time job that I could do at home so I could be there for my kids every day. I found what I needed by being a VA – I found my life balance. I am paid well, save time and money by working at home – cutting transportation and other unnecessary costs.
Pitfalls of Hiring a VA
Hiring and working with a remote assistant who is a million miles away is not at all perfect. In fact, sooner or later you are bound to encounter a few pitfalls in this kind of working relationship. But don’t get dismayed, with proper communication you and your VA can find solutions and work around these pitfalls.
The most common pitfall English-speaking employers experience with a VA is the language barrier. Most VA applicants from outsourcing sites are based in countries where English isn’t the first language. Therefore, it is crucial for you to screen your candidates with their English speaking and writing abilities if you want the best VA and a smooth working relationship.
This is one of the great benefits of hiring a VA from the Philippines as they all speak excellent colloquial English – this makes communication a breeze.
The next one is Forex Rate. Since you and your VA aren’t from the same countries, expect that you don’t have the same currency. As the employer, know the equivalent of your currency in your VA’s location and negotiate a win-win deal. Consider and include money transfer and currency conversion fees (especially if you’re using PayPal) when calculating pay for your VA as these cost can be quite high and cut into the net wages for your VA.
Another drawback is time difference. Lucky for Rai and I, we only have a time gap of 3 hours so communication delays aren’t a big issue. But for those with greater time difference (8 hours or more) be sure to list tasks ahead of time so your VA will have things to do while your offline or having a good night’s rest. Then you can just check results in the morning.
Using online tools like BasecampHQ, online CRMs and Google Docs can really assist in communication with your VA. They allow for better collaboration than sending docs backwards and forwards through email. I also use Camtasia to make short instructional videos (published in private on my YouTube Channel) to provide better quality instructions on more complex issues in less time than writing an instructional email.
Other issues that may come up are holidays, electricity and internet connection issues. Be considerate and open-minded as these things happen. Ask about national non-working holidays and observe them. Also whenever necessary and imminent, your VA will need some time off to take care of personal issues (e.g. sickness, family matter).
Overall, encourage transparency so you and your VA can work around any issue that may come up.
Russell –Having a VA works well for me so I highly recommend it to any business owner who needs assistance with work-related stuff. I certainly couldn’t get through my current workload without Rai’s support.
Rai – Being a VA works for me because I can work from home with no commuting and extra costs. Russell gives me the freedom to manage my day and this gives me flexibility as well as a good wage. It’s a win-win!
In my latest blog, Planning for Success in 2012, I shared a simple process that can help you think about the importance of taking time to prepare and make a start for the New Year. If you’ve read that, I bet you’ve already planned and set new goals and objectives for your business. But if you haven’t started and are having trouble getting ideas, I should tell you that one of the best ways to start is by setting New Year’s resolutions.
Why New Year’s Resolution?
As everyone may already know, New Year’s resolutions are commitments made at the beginning of the year to reach certain goals or projects in life. Usually, a resolution is geared towards a personal objective such as reforming a habit, but it can certainly be used in a business point of view because of the enormous amount of effort and a high level of commitment people exert for it.
With that said, did you set any New Year’s resolutions for your business? If not, here are some you should highly consider.
Set Targets for 2012
As business owners, it is crucial for you to set targets for 2012. This is to increase productivity and performance, to provide context, focus, etc. for decision making and strategy development. The direction your business takes this year will very much depend on your targets. And as the leader, it is your responsibility to set these goals as early as now.
Give Back
Get involved in a Community Organization or Charity and donate your time to make a difference. It is amazing what this will do to for your confidence and sense of well-being which will have flow-on effects for your business. As the saying goes, it is better to give than to receive.
Build Your Team
Devote 20% of your time to building your team especially in times like these where many leaders have lost the art of developing and growing their teams. Don’t be like most modern managers that manage their teams with pressure and fear. Go back to the basics. Be a great mentor and coach your team to success. Build skills, knowledge and change behaviors when necessary.
For more ideas on how to build your team, read my recent blog – The Lost Art of Management.
Stop Doing Things
You can never do everything by yourself which is why this year you should pick out at least 3 things that you will “stop doing.” This will free up available time to do some of the other activities on this list. Depending on what kind of activity you’re going to stop doing, you can choose to do 3 things: cease the activity, delegate it to someone in your business or family, or outsource it.
Get Physically Fit and Active
As the business owner, it is important for you to have enough energy to be up and running. Use a Personal Trainer or go to the gym, that is, if you’re disciplined enough. Cut out refined carbohydrates, have alcohol-free days. This will help with energy levels and your body as well as your business, will thank you.
Get Mentally Fit
Buff up your mind too by turning off the TV and reading a business book or biography instead. Set a target for books per annum and read it. If you don’t like reading, get audio books. Make the most of your time in your car – turn off the radio and listen to podcasts or audio books (free from iTunes) that are related to your field of business or your expertise. Use an iPod or something similar.
Be Decisive
Make decisions and stick to them. Don’t vacillate. Do your research and do your thinking. Make a good decision and implement it.
Get Your Priorities
Think of the 3 most important things you must do for your business or for yourself as a business owner in 2012 – no excuses? Take note that these things should be large in scope and must have a large impact on your business. Getting your priorities right will give your business the right start it needs for the New Year.
Make Time for Family & Friends
Focus on your life balance and aim to correct any imbalances. This may mean that you will need to dramatically improve your time management or “stop doing” things more. Find a balance between your family, friends and your business.
Formalise Your Support System
Make sure you formalise your personal Support Team. These are the people who support you and help you (usually not employees). This can be your spouse/partner, Business Coach, Professionals, Mentors, friends, counselor, priest, AA sponsor, etc. Define who they are and let them know that you will be working with them to help you achieve your goals.
You might say, after reading all this that it’s tough to get these resolutions done. It may be at first, but I say it’s doable. The important thing is to set your mind to achieving these resolutions and remember that you’ve got the whole 2012 to do it! Good luck!
There’s no better way to start the year than by thinking about your plans for your business in 2012. With that said, I want to take you through a simple planning process that will help you make a start, and to help you get it going with a rush.
The model we’re going to talk about most importantly is the Now, Where and How. This is one of the most basic models in planning and problem solving. When creating a plan, it is really important that we have a look at where we are now, where we need to be (which is probably the most important component of all), and then finally, how are we going to get there? Where are we NOW?
Talking about the NOW means looking at where your business right now. It’s time to sit back and take stock of your business. Take a good hard look of what you’re doing. I get my clients to think about doing this in 6 key headings.
Profits
This is about your finances, your profitability and those sorts of things. Just use it as a general heading to think about and write down some dot points such as:
How profitable has your business been?
Where are you in terms of sales, costs, profits, debts?
Customers – Who are they?
The next heading then is Customers. This is where you think about:
Who your customers are?
How they’ve been going?
What sorts of customers do you have?
What sorts of customers do you attract?
What sorts of customers would you like eventually?
Products and services – how have we performed?
The third thing to think about then is your Products and Services. If you’re a service business then you won’t have products maybe. But anyway, things to write notes about under this heading are:
What do you deliver?
What do you deliver to?
What is the quality of your delivery?
How do you compare against our competitors?
Core processes & systems
After establishing points for our products and services, talk about the Core Processes and Systems being used to deliver your products to your customers. Talk about your core processes – what are they and how do they operate in your business?
Our People & Teams – Internal and External
In order to deliver your products and services to your customers and then collect some cash, along the way you need to have engaged your team (internal and external). Make sure you have a great, quality team to work with – start thinking about your people and write down some comments about them.
Promotions
The final heading would be Marketing and Promotions. Write down some notes about how well your marketing and sales programs are working.
So that’s a quick summary of the NOW. You don’t need to spend a lot of time doing it, but I suggest that you do. Then the next thing I’d like you to spend some time on is the WHERE.
Define the WHERE – Explore your future
Use the same six headings we used for the NOW and be aspirational.
For Profits, set some targets – financial targets, for what you would like to achieve in the coming year. You might be planning for a longer period but just start with 2012.
What level of sales would you like to have?
What level of profitability you would like to have?
What sorts of volumes would you like to do?
Same with customers – think about what sorts of customers you would like to acquire in 2012. Do you want to maintain your current client base, Do you want to grow them or get some extra ones? Think about those things.
For Products and Services, think about what you need to do about these – how do you change them in 2012?
For Core Processes, again, think about what you need to do with your core processes. Be more efficient and more effective.
Then, think about your People. They are the enablers of your business and they are absolutely critical. What are your retention policies on people? How are you going to retain good quality people? How are you going to attract them and recruit them? These are really important.
And then lastly, it’s very important that you think about your Marketing and Sales because this is the engine that drives your business from the top end. It is really important to put some time and some thought into your Marketing and Promotional activities.
So there, we’ve done a quick summary for the WHERE to determine where you want to be. Now you have to think about how you’re going to get there.
The HOW – How will you move from NOW to WHERE?
The HOW is all about understanding what’s required to move from where you are now to where you want to be. What are the things you want to do?
Here are the things I would like you to do:
Think about the barriers – what are they? Thinking about the barriers will help you focus on some of the priority actions you need to take.
Brainstorm and come up with 3 or 4 MUST DO’s that you need to do in the next 12 months if you’re going to achieve your targets. These are “big chunks” like moving to bigger customers or launching of a new product or service.
So think about the MUST DO’s, about 3 or 4 normally, any more than that you start to get a bit out of focus. Remember it’s a 12-month time frame.
Break up your MUST DO’s
Then for each of those MUST DO’s, I’d like you to put some timelines. Start to break them up into when you need them delivered, who’s going to do them, what are the priority actions? Start thinking about those and then group them up into 90-Day Actions.
What are the 90-Day Actions?
The 90-Day Actions refer to the things you need to do within the next 90 days if you’re going to achieve our 12-month goal? Focus on those, set some Project Teams up for your business if that’s what you need to do. (These are small teams that are focused on actually delivering outcomes for you). So set up some Project Teams and make it happen.
Okay, so that the HOW part.
To summarise your plans, I suggest you use a One Page Plan tool, there’s actually a template for this online on my website on the blog, so you should be able to download it. If you can’t, just please contact me through the blog and I’ll send you a copy.
The One Page Plan is really simple. It contains a quick summary of the NOW, WHERE and some of the targets you want to hit. And then down the bottom, the strategies and the must do’s and then the action plans – the 3 or 4 things you need to do to get things moving.
So that’s the basic process. Work out where you are NOW, work out WHERE you’re going to be in the future and then lastly, plan HOW you’re going to get there. Summarise it all into a neat plan, set yourself some 90-day actions, be really clear on those actions and get you and your team motivated and off to a successful 2012.
Now is the time to get in and develop a plan for 2012 before you get too far down the track. Just do it – for most people this is a 20 min to 30 minute exercise.
