Game Plans for Success

By three-time Olympian, Ruben Gonzalez

 

Everyone wants to win.  Wanting to win is not enough.  You have to be willing to prepare to win. No matter how many times I’ve been to a particular luge track with my team mates, before we train on it we “walk the track” with Coach.  A typical week during the Luge World Cup Circuit is like this:  Tuesday through Friday we take our training and qualifying runs, Saturday and Sunday we race, and Mondays are for traveling to the next track.

Within Europe, we drive from track to track in vans.  For races outside of Europe, we fly.  No matter how long we have been traveling, no matter how tired we are, whether we’ve just ridden in a van for twelve hours from Innsbruck to Sarajevo, or flown ten hours from Europe to Calgary, before we go to the hotel - we walk the track.

We start at the top of the track and for two hours we literally walk down the track, slipping and sliding the whole way, planning exactly what lines we will take during training.  Coach knows the best lines – he was the World Champion three times. Coach knows the shortcut to success.  We follow Coach and take detailed notes on everything he says.

Typically, it goes something like this: “Okay guys, this is curve three.  You want to enter early.  At this point, you want to be no more than three inches from the left wall.  Over here, steer with a force of three (where zero is no steering and ten is all you’ve got).  Down there at the expansion joint give it a five, over there by that sign hold it up, then at the end - crank it with all you’ve got, but remember to counter steer or else you’ll slam into the wall!”

We feverishly write every word he says.  Some of us even tape Coach as he’s talking. When we finally get to the hotel, we don’t go straight to bed; we memorize the fastest lines and start visualizing our perfect run.

What if on the way to the track I had told Coach, “Coach, I’m not feeling well, will you just drop me off at the hotel?”

You know what would happen?  I’d take a hot shower, get a hot meal, snuggle under the warm covers, watch “Friends” or “Frazier" on TV in Serbo-Croatian while sipping a hot chocolate, and drift into a wonderful night’s sleep, all the while thinking, “Those fools! They’re freezing their rear ends out there!” And then the next day I’d kill myself on the track and have only myself to blame.

Wanting to win is not enough.  You have to prepare to win.  Winners do whatever it takes to get to the next level.  Are you willing to do whatever it takes?  If you’re not, then your dream is a pipe dream.

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Ruben Gonzalez is an award-winning keynote speaker and the author of the critically acclaimed book, “The Courage to Succeed.”  His experiences as a three-time Olympian and as the owner of two businesses give him a unique perspective on how to conquer the corporate struggles of today.  For his free 10-Part Success eCourse, visit www.StartWinningMore.com or contact him at 832-689-8282.

 

 

Love vs. Lust: 

Long-Term Marketing Success Trumps the One-Night Brand

By Aimee Woodall

 

 

Oh the thrill of the chase!  When you meet someone new it’s all snap, crackle, and pop.  You’re getting to know each other and it’s EXCITING.  Then things start becoming complacent.  You know your brand has your audience’s attention; so now what?  You need something different; something new.  So you start focusing on grabbing a new audience’s attention and ignore the ones you already have.  Welcome to the life of the one-night brand1

 

Not content to create a lasting relationship with customers, the one-night brand goes after every hot young thing that saunters onto its Twitter feed.  It’s all about flash and dazzle and romancing new conquests.  Like the local bar lothario, the one-night brand fails to invest in its audience, going instead for shiny new customers and ignoring those who are tried and true.  Don’t be like that.  Set your sites on the long term.  Look for a more meaningful relationship with your audience.

  

Here are some sure-fire ways to keep things interesting and make a real connection:

 

Define Your Ideal Match

Is your perfect customer an avid Twitter user?  Or are they more of the strong, silent type, content to just like or follow without describing exactly how their day was in 140 characters?  More importantly, do they share your values; your sense of humor?  Like filling out a Match.com profile, you need to know what you’re looking for before you start to woo.  Look to your customer data and see what trends emerge.  It’s very likely that you’ll be surprised by what kind of people you really connect with.

 

Plan the Perfect “Date”

Once you know who you’re looking for, it’s time to be strategic.  You want to reach your audience in the right ways; planning experiences and interactions that are real, delightful, and engaging.  Don’t just grab some grocery store roses and think you’re sweeping them off their feet; create a plan of action to reach your audiences in the ways they want to be communicated with.  A strategy that contains research about your audience, your core messaging, plans for outreach (online and off), and tactics for executing those plans is essential for making sure your brand is thinking through all the ways you can make your customers feel special.

 

Make a Commitment

With your perfect match in mind and your strategy in place, it’s time to focus on what a lot of brands get wrong - consistency.  It’s wonderful to have a creative, groundbreaking campaign that goes off without a hitch but it’s better to have a creative, groundbreaking campaign that goes off without a hitch AND continues to engage with audiences even after the launch.  Don’t take your audiences to dinner and then never text them again.  That’s just rude.  Make plans to keep your brand relevant to your customers three or six months AFTER your campaign launches.

 

Sometimes It’s Good to Spice Things Up

Finally, it’s important to keep the romance alive.  Include some surprises and little incentives for your audiences such as contests, unique content, or personal outreach.  You’ll be amazed at how much a personal tweet or a small token/gift from a favorite brand can delight a person.

 

In marketing, love and lust are just as confusing as they are in the dating world. Focusing on these areas of your brand will keep the home fires burning in your customers’ hearts.

 

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Aimee Woodall is the owner of the Black Sheep Agency, a Houston-based strategic branding agency specializing in cause-driven marketing, public relations, social media, and community outreach.  You can contact Amy by phone at 832-971-7725, by email at aimee@theblacksheepagency.com, or visit the website at www.theblacksheepagency.com.

 

 

February Publisher's Column

Small Business is often a Family Affair

Many of the entrepreneurs that we have interviewed for our covers started out working in the family business.  Many started out very young, sweeping the floors, emptying the trash, and running errands.

Most of you know that I was fed and clothed from the proceeds of the two dry goods stores run by my parents who were originally recruited into the business by my paternal grandparents who started them in Nyack and Pearl River, New York. Both of my parents had aspirations of going to college and pursuing their individual dreams.  My father had planned to go on the G.I. Bill and my mother had an art scholarship but instead of going to college, they accepted my grandparents’ offer of working for them with an offer to pay for them to go to college later.  College never happened and even after my grandparents passed away, my parents continued to work the stores until my mother succumbed to cancer and “big box” stores put their little stores out of business.

Admittedly, I never worked in the family business but I spent plenty of time observing their work ethic, their focus on customer service, their dedication to their community, and their dedication to each other.  I can honestly say that the lessons that I learned from those observations still serve me well today.

As a high school wrestler, I stepped out on the wrestling mat to meet my opponent and knew that my parents were not in the stands to cheer me on or console me when I lost.  I went to several father/son awards banquets on my own.  I was never disappointed as I knew where they were. They were working their business to feed and clothe my sister and me.

Many of today’s entrepreneurs grew up like I did as observers in their parents’ business.  Their parents were their role models in learning about work ethics and commitment that a business owner needs to have for success.

For this month’s cover honorees, Troi & Kelley Taylor of Taylor Construction Management, every day is a learning experience for their “Mini Mes”, daughter Laila and son Joshua.  Troi and Kelley are creating a legacy for their children and establishing a blueprint by which they can follow in their parents footsteps in creating their own successful business or taking over the helm if they so choose when they are adults.

It is time to let you get started on this month’s very special issue,

Good Reading, Good Sales, & Success to You,

 

Steve Levine

Executive Publisher