4 Lifestyle commitments to transform your life

The Four Agreements
by Don Miguel Ruiz

Sometime ago a friend recommended that I read this book. If you are like me, you capture some of the books recommended by your friends and others slip thru the cracks in your book reading information system. My system usually is a mixture of my brain (pretty hit and miss), the back of envelopes, bar napkins and other random scraps of

paper. Somedays I am lucky and the suggestions end up in my hand when I am on Amazon.com, at a local bookstore or at the library. I am glad that this book made it to the forefront of my consciousness.

Ruiz suggests that these four commitments will change your everyday experience. I have only read the book once and plan to read it again. A commitment to live in this way intuitively seems helpful.

The four agreements that you should make with yourself are (from the inside cover):
1. Be impeccable with your word.
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your work in the direction of truth and love.
2. Don't take anything personally.
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own realty, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you will not be the victim of needless suffering.
3. Don't make assumptions.
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid understandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
4. Always do your best.
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstances, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret.

Find a few hours during a snowstorm this winter and curl up with this book and a pot of your favorite tea. You will be glad you did. Click here to order


To your continued success,
Reg Gupton

Questions that great managers ask

First Break All the Rules
by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

Imagine a friend recommending a powerful and fun mystery book that they recently read and knowing you read mysteries, thought you might like it too.

You rush to your local or on-line bookseller and purchase the book. During some scheduled reading time you finally pick it up with much anticipation since you trust your friend’s recommendations.

You begin reading and find that on page 28 of the 270 page book the entire (or so you thought) plot is revealed.

This is exactly what happened to me with First Break All the Rules. When I reached the page mentioned the entire results of a major project on management were revealed. The Gallup organization surveyed hundreds of top performing managers and thousands of employees to create the keys to better management. What they found was that if employees are asked a specific series of powerful questions and managers are evaluated on the answers to this simple list of questions, amazing results are achieved.

The good news is that there are only 12 questions. The questions measure the most relevant information about how a workplace is run and what the employees feel about their jobs. I was stunned how few questions there were and by the differences in corporate performance between those firms that had employees that had higher scores and those that did not. Great information.

Much further in my reading I discovered that Gallup had interviewed over a billion (that is with a big B!) customers attempting to discover what customer service looks like in multiple industries from the customer’s perspective.

That is a strange strategy don’t you think? Ask customers what they want. Much to everyone’s surprise there are only 4 attributes that customers looked for and they must be satisfied in order. In addition, they are very similar across many, many different types of service providers from your physician to the bottler of your energy drink. They are accuracy, availability, partnership and advice. The section on these four attributes is a must read.

I am loving the material presented because it is based on research, not on someone’s opinion. Opinions are great but data driven decisions make more sense to me. You should have opinions and it is best if they are current and based on information that is drawn from those that are being impacted or served.

Opinions should not come from two or more people sitting around a table dreaming about what they want to be true or the way it has always been. The way we have always done things is no longer relevant in most situations in today’s customer driven information rich society.

Read First Break All the Rules. You won’t be disappointed if you wish to grow your business and increase your employee’s satisfaction and your profit.

Hurry and order this book: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

To your continued success,
Reg Gupton

A Blueprint for Success

Slight Edge
Jeff Olson

Reviewed by Fred Pelon, Seagate Technology

The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson has absolutely nothing new in it. In fact, Mr. Olson makes no bones about this. He mentions other famous and time-proven self-improvement books such as, Think and Grow Rich, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, liberally throughout his book.

Given a seemingly self-deprecating approach to self-improvement can this book offer anything of value? It has a lot to offer. The primary theme that pervades this narrative is contrary to all things modern-American: slow and steady wins the race.

This book is peppered with familiar monetary parables and common sense throughout, but it never talks down to the reader. Repetition is the prevalent learning device used by Mr. Olson, but his timing is impeccable contrary to many other self-improvement books on the market. In short, buy this book and read it. Slowly.

Order a personal copy for your library: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

To your continued success,
Reg Gupton

If you think you are marketing, read this!

You may have heard me ranting about Dan Kennedy. He is a marketing genius who receives $35,000-65,000 for a sales letter written for his clients plus a percentage of the gross income.

I have subscribed to his almost daily email newsletters for quite some time. I read one this morning that I think demonstrates what marketing is all about. It is written about a guy who runs a very, very successful mens wear stores in a mid-western city. If you think you are marketing to your database, think again.


It follows:

How to Compete Against the Big Guys and Win

In your previous Success Marketing Strategy email I started talking about how Bill Glazer's retail business has continued to thrive because of how he competes with the BIG retail chains through marketing. I would like to share with you one of the examples of the smart things he does with marketing in fact, it's my favorite.

He very diligently makes certain that every customer that walks into one of his stores never leaves withOUT his sales associates asking them for their complete contact information (name, address, phone, email, etc.)

Now, depending on their spending, he communicates with them often. In fact, certain customers will receive from his store yearly:

18 mailings
4 personal calls from their sales associate
4 Voice Broadcasts
52 weekly emails

Now in marketing, this is what we call "marketplace dominance." It doesn't matter how many expensive TV spots the big box retailers buy, they canNOT compete or make the impression that Bill's store makes with his customers.

As most of you know, now Bill teaches his marketing savvy to thousands of retailers worldwide. What separated him from all others? It's because he understands the overall importance of marketing.

You maybe asking yourself how can we apply a marketing idea that works in his retail business that has never been used in my business, how can we do those kind of things?

We find that that's what successful people are doing today. They are out there looking for and implementing great new marketing ideas.

Hope this gives you a slightly different perspective about marketing campaigns.

To your continued success,

Reg Gupton, MBA
Coach, consultant, trainer
Creative Growth Seminars
1900 13th Suite 302
Boulder, CO 80302

Take a look at my Blog everyday for proven success tips. It is located at http://regs-successtips.blogspot.com/

"Through my coaching with Reg, I've learned and implemented skills and practices which have helped me work smarter and grow my business dramatically in a very short time."

A satisfied coaching client in North Carolina.

Here are her numbers:
year 1-$2.1 million, (earnings = $52,500)
year 2-$5.0 million, (earnings = $125,000)
year 3-$9.0 million, (earnings = $190,000)
year 4-$11.0 million, (earnings = $239,000)

When you are ready for these results, call so we can accomplish the same for you.

www.growthseminars.com
800.418.0401 toll free
303.544.0340 office
303.544.0358 fax

Book Recommendation

Purple Cow
by Seth Godin

When my monthly issue of FastCompany shows up one of the people whose contributions I look for to and enjoy is Seth Godin. He is a regular contributor to this cutting * edge publication and the author of 3 (now soon to be 4) best selling books about marketing. You could summarize his thinking and writing as clearly out of the box.

There was an offer in his article that allowed you to order and receive prior to general release his next book, Purple Cow. All one had to do was pay for shipping and handling. Being the information junky that I am, I figured that I had really enjoyed and benefited from his other books and his monthly contributions to FastCompany, I would invest under $10.00 to see what he had to say.

The link provided in the article took me to a brief (single page if memory serves) web site where I could enter my contact information (and credit card, of course). The page was simple, direct and uncomplicated. The web site managed my expectations by telling me when to expect the book to be delivered.

Two things to note here: 1) the investment of $10.00 covered his cost of printing and mailing, a Jay Abraham maxim. But that is another story. 2) You can bet that the date given for the delivery was very clearly achievable as the book had been written, printed and was ready for shipping.

So not to my surprise earlier than the expected date which I (like you) had forgotten, a purple and white 1/2 gallon milk carton showed up in my mail. And it contained the book. The book’s complete title is: “Purple Cow, Transform your business by being remarkable” Do you suppose that receiving a book in a milk carton not a brown cardboard shipping box would be considered “remarkable.” You bet.

One page one of the book, Godin talks quickly and interestingly about the “P’s” of marketing. Over the last many years, the marketing practitioners have touted that there are 5 P’s that each business needs to pay attention to. Unfortunately for us mere mortals, each marketer has there own set of P’s. Some that are included:

* Product
* Pricing
* Promotion
* Positioning
* Publicity
* Packaging
* Permission
* Pass-along

Now Godin would have us believe that there is now another P, Purple Cow.

From the product description on Amazon.com:

“What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?

Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow.

Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.“

I read business books with a highlighter. Purple Cow by Seth Godin is full of turned down pages and many, many highlights. Your copy will be too. Order today: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin.

Reg Gupton says sign it correctly

Every day I receive emails from folks without email signatures nor following accepted email etiquette. Look here for a post I wrote some time ago on the "rules of the email road"

That said, one of the biggest mistakes I see is not having a proper and complete email signature.

See below for a sample of one that meets CAN-SPAM and provides all your prospects and others the information they need to contact you.

This is especially true if you have an AOL, juno or yahoo acct which does not display your name in the "from" line of most email programs.

Reg Gupton, MBA
Coach, consultant, trainer
Creative Growth Seminars
1900 13th Suite 302
Boulder, CO 80302

Take a look at my Blog everyday for proven success tips. It is located at http://regs-successtips.blogspot.com/

"Through my coaching with Reg, I've learned and implemented skills and practices which have helped me work smarter and grow my business dramatically in a very short time."

A satisfied coaching client in North Carolina.

Here are her numbers:
year 1-$2.1 million, (earnings = $52,500)
year 2-$5.0 million, (earnings = $125,000)
year 3-$9.0 million, (earnings = $190,000)

When you are ready for these results, call so we can accomplish the same for you.

www.growthseminars.com
800.418.0401 toll free
303.544.0340 office
303.544.0358 fax

Reg Gupton's Top 10 direct mail campaign tips

An important element of most profitable marketing systems can be direct mail. In many businesses, it has the highest return on investment (ROI) of all the marketing dollars spent. If you have repeat purchases, direct mail is a powerful way to reach existing (and new) customers.

1. Select a narrow target audience.

Hopefully your electronic database is segmented so that you can send a card to just a part of the entire list.

I receive cards (and more expensive direct mail pieces) that make absolutely no sense to or for me.

The other day I received a very expensive four color, glossy 11X17 piece for spreaders and sprayers. I live in a condo and would not ever need a product like this. No lawn to take care of. No wonder the rate of return on cold, one time direct mail is low and dropping. Target, target and target again.

2. Decide the frequency of your campaign

Be aware that research tells us that we need to send about 12-18 messages to a specific target audience before they even notice you. Make sure that you can keep up the campaign without any sales for months and months.

Remember, send to the same target audience. Don't skip around.

Results that you receive in the first few months are low hanging fruit. Almost any contact with these individuals would have generated a sale. The real power comes after many, many contacts. The momentum builds and builds over time.

3. Select your offer

Your offer should be targeted to your audience and no one else. You can however, achieve top of mind awareness (TOMA) with cards. When your product or service comes to mind, you are the first or second person they think of. That is a great spot to be in.

4. Select a card vendor.

I have been totally satisfied with the prices and services of Expresscopy. As have a large number of my coaching and consulting clients.

Visit them at www.expresscopy.com/partner/reg_gupton. Learn what they do. Can you imagine about $45.00 per 100 cards, printed, addressed, postage and mailing? You will be pleased, especially if you can export your address file. Most software programs make that very, very easy these days.

5. Learn what your competition is doing with direct mail

Find out what your competition is doing with direct mail. Nothing I bet. Visit their web site or store and sign up for their newsletter, or catalog. Understanding the offers of the competition will put you at a distinct advantage.

6. Make it abundantly clear how you want people to respond.

Call, e-mail, fax or bring the card by your place of business to redeem, order the free report. Don't make it confusing.

If your target audience is spread about the country, make sure that you have a toll free number and e mail. Your response rate will increase dramatically. These days they are surprisingly inexpensive.

7. Decide how you will measure success

What are you after? Sales, entry in a drawing, or order a catalog? Just make sure that you and the recipient are clear on what is expected and you measure the responses you receive.

8. Don't quit

One of the actions that I see most often with direct mail is quitting after one or two mail pieces. Realize that embarking on a new direct mail marketing campaign is extremely painful in the beginning. This is true especially if you have not done this kind of marketing before. Plan your campaign. Plan for a year in advance. Get the schedule on your calendar. And follow it.

9. Realize that you only have a few seconds with the mind of the reader

Your offer or request should be plainly visible and clear to the reader. It is important to understand that you only have 4-8 seconds with their brain. They will decide if what you have to say is what they want to hear. Today. Next month your offer might be in alignment with their need. It was not last month and it is now.

10. Test you offer on a small segment of your list.

If your list is large, test the offer on a part of it. If the ROI is not what you need, re-think your plan, graphic, and offer. You should see sales (if that is your goal) that makes direct mail a profit center for you. Don't lose money on your direct mail marketing.

To your continued success,

Reg Gupton, MBA

www.growthseminars.com