Last month, we looked at the “Five Ways” and showed you how easy it was to get a 61 per cent increase in your bottom line … If you missed it, call for a back issue, because it truly is a great “secret” of business.

This month, we’re going to see how you can use those numbers to achieve an UNLIMITED marketing budget for your business.

That’s right – unlimited. Most companies aren’t good when it comes to figuring marketing budgets, and use a variety of figures, whether it’s a set amount per month, a set percentage of sales or just a number they decide on when a salesperson calls to sell advertising …

So if you could have an unlimited budget, how big could you grow your business? Let me show you how this works before I get into specifics.

Imagine you went to the bank and gave them $100. Then, 30 days later they gave you back $200.  How many $100 bills would you go to the bank with every day?

Now what if you could use that information to create an unlimited number of new leads and customers in your business?

Well, you can – if you focus on your “Acquisition Cost” and the “Lifetime Value” of your customers, topics we’ve looked at before but that now take on new meaning in light of the “Five Ways.”

Acquisition Cost is simply the cost of “buying” your current customer. If you’ve put $1000 into advertising and had 100 phone calls, you’re paying $10 for each of your leads. If only 10 of those leads “convert”, or make a purchase, you’re paying $100 to capture each sale.

Now, what’s this customer really worth?

Typically not much on a first purchase. But, even if it was just $200, you are putting in $100 and pulling out $200.  That said, in most retail businesses, a “bought” customer doesn’t begin to provide break-even or profitable revenues until the second, third or even fourth purchase.

However, the value of every purchase after those initial buys are just like gold for your business.

This is where the idea of the “Lifetime Value” of your customers is so important. Simply put, “Lifetime Value” is the amount of money your average customer will spend with you over a buying lifetime.

I’ve used the example before from my old dog food business. In that business, I knew my average customer would spend $800 a year on their dogs, and the average dog lived about 10 years. I presumed a customer would stay with me half that time, meaning the “Lifetime Value” of my dog food customer would be $4000.

What if I knew I could spend up to $38 to acquire each customer to get $800 a year per customer through my door?

Well, for my first month, I’d do better than break even. By my second month, my customer would be fully profitable, and at the end of the year, my marketing efforts would generate a better than twenty times return on my initial marketing “investment.”

So how often would you spend $38 to get $800?

It’s really just simple “marketing math.” Determine how much each new customer spends with you, figure your gross profit and “presto!” – you have your new marketing budget.

Let me explain …

In my dog food business, my customer’s first purchase averaged 6 weeks for delivery, totaled $108 and had a gross profit of $38.  Thus, my marketing allowance for “buying” each new customer – up to a total of $38 – was simply that.

Do your numbers and know that as long as you can cashflow the timing between when you pay for the advertising and when you get your customers’ money, your marketing results will be the same as if you were using the bank.

The idea of the unlimited marketing budget is to get you thinking in terms of your marketing efforts as investments rather than expenses. And with any investment, you are always looking for a return.

It also forces you to look at your advertising and marketing efforts in a whole new way. Why  toss thousands of dollars out your door looking to build a brand image when you could spend those dollars more tactically to actually increase your bottom-line – and build a brand as you’re doing it by buying customers?

Once you’ve bought your prospects and turned them into customers, know you’ll need to get them buying more, spending more and staying longer with your business. Why?

Because profits really come from repeat business, and your Return on Investment (ROI) is really determined by how long you keep customers.

Now you can see how these two factors – Acquisition Cost and Lifetime Value – add a powerful dimension to the “Five Ways” formula. Again, it works for any business in any industry or category.

In the next few months, we’ll get into more details about how to lower your Acquisition Costs and increase your Lifetime Value. We’ll also look at specific strategies to boost each one of the “Five Ways” factors in your business.

I would also be interested to hear what kind of results you get from these useful tools, now that you’ve realized their real secret is in the incredible value you can gain from getting the best information possible for your business.

A free resource

Our interactive “Five Ways” calculator remains active at the following link:

actioncoach.com/free-business-calculator-profit.php

It’s simple, it’s free, and it’s designed to give you an idea of how powerful the “Five Ways” can be for your business.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

It’s the plight of many a business, sales are steady, things seem good but over time there is a case of the disappearing profits …

It’s enough to drive you nuts. Why does a company that is going good, keeping its best customers happy and retaining good employees seem to be going slowly under?

Pretty simple actually.

Retaining customers without increasing prices, keeping employees who get pay rises, staying with suppliers even though prices may rise 1 or 2 %.  It all adds up and your profits magically fade into thin air …

So, what can you do about it … ?

Well, there are solutions and to be blunt, one very important solution …

Growth …

In business as in life, you’re either growing or you’re dying. Take a look at your garden. The trees can’t stop growing, or they wither and die …

You have to think of your business in the same light.  Growth or death …

And given that death is probably not a viable option, let’s go for growth …

So, how do you ensure you’re always in growth mode … ?

Before we get to the top nine ways to keep growing, remember that it doesn’t just have to be sales growth, it can be growth in many areas of your business …

• Top Line Revenues Growth – always a favourite, getting more sales and revenues flowing makes cashflow positive and really gets the team fired up.
• Bottom Line Profits Growth – my personal area of passion, getting more dollars in the top doesn’t seem as much fun if there isn’t more left over for the owners.
• Product or Service Lines Growth – often seems harder than it really is …
• Team or Staff Growth – so often new people bring new ideas and new business to handle growth in other areas …
• Geographic Growth – opening new territories again leads to other growth …
• Other Growth – so many other areas that you can open yourself up to …

Whatever the growth focus you have, remember the simple story of the tree, either growth or deterioration.

So, my top 9 strategies for immediate growth in companies I start coaching …

#1 ... Raise Your Prices – Simply put, if you haven’t done it in the last year, you need to.  Most business owners are scared stiff of moving prices, but the reality is, very few customers ever complain or even notice a 10% shift.  The ones that complain are already complaining about your prices.  Just test it on a certain range if you don’t believe me.

#2 ... Add on Sell or Package – You never get to leave McDonalds with the obligatory “would you like fries with that?” Learn from their systems, what can you add on, or how can you package your services and products together to get people buying more every time they do business with you?

#3 ... Debt Collection – I know it’s not really growth, but too many companies have no debt collection system in place.  Make the letters, calls and emails happen on a set schedule so people know to pay on time.

#4 ... Newsletter – Just a simple monthly few quality pages is where it can start and eventually turn into a masterpiece.  People love to know how to buy from you again and again, teach them what’s happening right now so they stay in touch and see you often, even when they are not in your store.

#5 ... Entire Range – You’ll be amazed how many times a business owners hears, “Oh, I didn’t know you did that,” from their customers.  Make sure you have a marketing piece or strategy to keep every customer or potential customer on your database (yes you need a database of every customer) aware of everything you do or sell.

#6 ... Sales Training – Probably the biggest area of growth potential for any company with a salesperson or two.  Doctors, sports stars and almost every other profession needs constant training, so too do salespeople, keep them learning and closing more and more deals.

#7 ... Referrals – Most companies make it so hard to refer people, how can you make it simple?

#8 ... Test and Measure – you cannot manage what you do not measure.  You’ve got to know your numbers, everything from how many new leads you got today down to your break-even numbers.  Learn your numbers and you’ll be far more in control and far more profitable.

#9 ... Follow Up Your Prospects – every time I go shopping, it blows me away how many companies never ask for my details, never call me back, never send me anything.  You think that is too pushy, you’re right, but the “so called” pushy companies are the ones getting the clients.  Follow Up.

No matter what, put growth on your agenda.  Set new goals, sales targets and challenge yourself and your team.  Ask big questions and chances are you’ll get big answers …

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

You know almost every big business started small, in fact many of them part time from home.

And yet, so many small companies fail to ever become more than a job and a wage for the owner. They fail to become true businesses and remain forever a BUSY-ness for the owner.

And to be blunt, there’s a reason most never grow.  You see there’s a reason your first business is the hardest one.  It’s because you have so much to learn.  Not only do you have to run the company, grow it and finance it, you have to learn as you go.  It’s a great challenge, one of the greatest.

But, let’s be honest, if it were easy, everyone would do it.  The challenge is only up to those of us with true entrepreneurial spirit …

So, let’s examine how to take any small business and make it big …

Here’s my true definition of a business, a “Commercial, Profitable, Enterprise that Works, Without Me …”

That’s right, the whole aim of the game is to get it to a stage where it works, so you don’t have to.

Here’s how you need to break down the definition …

Step 1 … A Commercial Enterprise … here’s where you get the basics right.  It’s vital to build a big company that you have the ability to deliver your products and services with high quality, great service and consistent productivity of your people.  Three main areas you need to work on … money, delivery and productivity.   Money is all about knowing your numbers and knowing you are making a profit on every sale.  Delivery is all about making sure every one of your customers is served consistently and with high quality and great service.  And productivity, about getting the most from yourself and your people.  This is the first stage of business growth and one many never bother to work through.  If you want to grow it, take these first steps …

Step 2 … A commercial Profitable enterprise … Here’s where you build revenues and capitalize on the profitability you built in step 1.  There are 4 areas you will need to build upon.  You will over time build the systems and strategies you have for Lead Generation, Converting Leads into Sales, Repeat Transactions and your Average Dollar Sale.  Building our business beyond a small company will need you to learn and build in these areas.  Over the next few issues of this magazine I will write articles on each one.

Step 3 … A commercial profitable enterprise, That Works … Here’s where you have to build systems, systems that run the company.  As you document, record, film and photograph how everything is done in your company you take it from a business that is dependant on good people to one that is dependant on good systems.  Add to good systems, good people and you end up with a great business that now works …

Step 4 … A commercial, profitable enterprise that works, Without ME … This is all about building a team.  If you want the company to run without you, then you have to build a team and a leader to take your place.

Step 5 … Growth … Get everything you have done to work together in harmony, with Synergy and open multiple offices, shops or territories.  This is where you multiply and use the system you already have working again and again.

Step 6 … Freedom and Results … now it’s big and you can let your team build it, it’s been several years, probably 7 to 10 years of you worked hard and smart, but finally you have made your small business big …

I know this seems like a lot of work, read my books for more details, but it takes time and learning, stay with it, it will be worth it in the end.  Owning your own business is definitely a great challenge, but it truly is filled with great reward.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

I want to teach you how it is that the very best companies and the very best salespeople NEVER worry about having a higher price.

In fact, if you’re great at sales, and great in business, you want a higher price.

You want to have to sell, rather than just accept orders.

You see, anyone who can only make a sale when they have the best price has, in my opinion, missed the whole point of selling.

Let me give you an example from my own life …

I needed new tires for my car. I opened the yellow pages and picked three companies to call.  Of course these companies had invested big dollars to have their advertisements placed, so you’d want their people to do a great job at answering the phone.

(Just as an aside, try calling your company and buying something, see if it’s hard, easy or somewhere in between.)

So I make the call, first company, what do I ask … “How much for a set of tires ... ?”

That’s what everyone asks, why …?

Because that’s how we’ve been trained - and even more importantly, what else do we know to ask about?  When I call to ask about airline tickets, do I ask about the pilots’ experience? No. I ask about price.

So, his answer … “That will be $X per tire plus fitting and balancing.”

I said, “Thanks, I’ll call you back.”

Of course I did, same line we all use, what other option did he give me?

Second call was the same, third guy must have been trained by me or Jeff.  He used my “magic line.”

“Yes sir, thanks for your call, just so I can help you best, would it be OK to ask you a couple of questions … ?”

How great is this? He makes me feel good, and then gets my permission to sell to me.

He then went on to ask VALUE based questions.  What type of driving I planned to do, how many passengers I carried and so on, until I blurted …

“So, what does all this have to do with a price … ?”

“Well sir, if I don’t understand your driving habits, I couldn’t possibly recommend the right tire with the right tread pattern, the right tire compound and that would mean your tire wouldn’t be safe and wouldn’t last as long as it could, and you wouldn’t want that would you sir … ?”

BANG … I’m shot dead, I can’t go anywhere …

Suffice to say he got the sale, but the whole point is …

Price only matters if you don’t educate your buyers …

If you let them think price is important, if your questions lead to price objections, if your sales literature focuses on price and if your sales skills are lacking …

Turn yourself into a performer …

Use questions rather than answers, let them show themselves why they should buy, design questions that lead to value answers not price answers …

You see, if you have a higher price, it must be because you are better. So find out why you are better and ask the customer questions about how important those things are to them …

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

If ever there was a concept you absolutely had to understand in order to succeed in business this would be it. That said, I would see less than 1 in 20 or 1 in 30 business owners who actually do grasp it and, even less who use it well.

So, why learn this … ?

Well, before I understood this I worked 16 hour days, traveled too much and, for two years running spent more than 200 nights a year in hotels … for work that is, not pleasure …

Now, I work maybe 2 or 3 hours a day, have 4 months a year on vacation and run a company with almost 1,000 offices in 26 countries …

So, here goes, let’s learn …

The concept of Leverage is all about achieving ever more with ever less.  Getting your people to achieve more with less effort, getting your advertising to return more sales with less dollars.  Getting better results with less and less efforts, time after time.

So, how do you do it … ?

Well, first you need to think in terms of the formula for Leverage, divide to multiply.  Stay with me. I truly want you to grasp this view of business thinking.

Think about divide to multiply in terms of day-to-day life, a tree cutting.  You take a cutting from one plant, you don’t end up with half a tree, you end up with 2 trees …

In terms of business, franchising is the easiest way to describe divide to multiply, but there are hundreds more ways to apply it.  I want to make it as simple as I can for you to use …

Leverage is your key to business success, and my definition fo you is … Do the work once and get paid forever …

And the exact opposite of that …

Do the work once and get paid once.

That’s why most employees will never create wealth in their job.  They go to work for a day and get paid for a day.  Business is a great way to build something once that will pay you and your family for the rest of your life.

Problem is, most business owners still think like employees and are trying to maximize their income from today’s work.

I don’t do that anymore …

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

Hiring an employee is kind of like dating. The interview can be all roses, but then on date #1, you really start to understand who it is you’ve hired.  And “Oh no,” you got it wrong.

In a big business, one bad employee won’t really kill them. But in small business, we need basically everyone to be a great performer if we are to build our revenues and profits.

So, how do we get and keep good people … ?

I remember when I was 21 and hiring people for my business right at start-up phase and I turned to my Dad for some wisdom and hopefully encouragement.

I said, “You know Dad, I just can’t seem to find any good people.”

To which he ever so bluntly replied, “You know son, you get the people you deserve.”

“Gee, thanks Dad, so motivational.”

Motivation I didn’t get, but a reality check I did.  The really great people didn’t want to work for me, yet.

So, over the years, I’ve come to realize that even though I probably wouldn’t be quite as blunt as my Dad, I would have to agree with him.  I have noticed that with my own companies and just as often with the business owners I’ve coached, Dad was right.

When you run a great company, you get great people.  When you are a great leader you get great people, and vice versa.

At the time I wasn’t a leader, I would have been lucky to be seen as an average manager, and thus I was rewarded with the type of employees who like working for a manager who really wasn’t any good.

So, how did I go about fixing it.  Pretty simple really.

I started to look at what sort of company a great employee would want to join, what sort of leader they really want to work with and learn from.  Then, and only then could I go to work to build a company that they would want to be employed by.

So, just to get you started, great team members (not staff) want to work in a positive, rewarding, successful organization where they have the ability to give input, get the job done and be recognized for their work.

They want a company that is going places where they can learn, grow and build a career.  If that’s not you yet, then keep building.

So, step one is building a great business they want to work with, step two is becoming a great leader who they want to learn from and work with.

I read every book, went to every seminar, got myself a mentor and went to work on becoming a much better leader of great people.

Finally I started to get the people I needed and wanted to help build a great company.

That said, even with all of that, in today’s market place, it’s getting tighter and tighter.  We are running out of great people.  With the labour market as tight as it is, we have to think of our help wanted ads as more of a marketing piece than ever before.  We have to almost sell people on why they would want to come work with us.

And they say the new IR laws are making it tough on employees. Crazy.

As small business owners right now, we’re paying the highest wages we ever have on average, we’re finding it harder to get good people.  That is if anyone will even show up for an interview and as I’ve always thought, when business is booming, the employees have it the best they ever can.

At least we do business in a country now where as a business owner you are allowed to let people go without the fear of them suing you and taking your whole business, or at the very least wasting hours of your time defending yourself anymore.  Across the ditch, the Kiwi’s only wish they had our Industrial Relations laws.

Yes, getting and keeping great people is vital, and yes it’s harder now than it has been in a long while.

But, the next time to feel yourself saying, “I just can’t get good people,” take a look in the mirror and ask yourself, what sort of company do the great people want to join, and go do it.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

I am often reminded of getting back to basics to build revenues and profits in business.

But none more so than when I am confronted with a business owner who shows me they need more new customers …

If you really want to grow your business and you really want to do it fast, then take a look at grasping these few simple ideas …

You are already getting people contacting you, coming in, emailing you and so on.  Your people are already messing up and not selling to anywhere near enough of these people.  Want to know just how bad it is, ask one of your friends to call your business and try to buy, just wait and see how they go …

Almost every business owner I meet believes that they are selling to the majority of prospects they come into contact with.

Well, put bluntly, you are not … how do I know?  After doing this exercise with literally thousands of business owners, I have only twice been proven wrong.

So, here goes …

For the next two weeks keep a record of every phone call, every email enquiry, every walk in every single prospective buyer that contacts your business.  Ask every single one of them how they found out about your business and keep a record of it.  Was it referral, Yellow pages etc.?

Then, at the end of the two weeks see how many of them have bought from you.  If you think you are at about 6 or 7 out of 10, it will be about 3 or 4 out of 10. I have seen this with so many companies, even restaurants who think they get everybody, then measure the people that call versus the people that book, and the people that read the menu out front versus those who actually come in …

Your Conversion Rate is a massive opportunity … If it is lower than say 50%, then we’ve got to get to work …

First, you’ve got to start measuring it every day.  That focus alone will get it up to 10% higher than it is right now …

Add to that, here’s another 11 ways to boost your conversion rate right now, this week …

1. Get your salesperson with the best conversion rate to train everybody else for a day or two.
2. Script your sales process. Use a lot of questions in the script (it’s NOT a sales pitch) and learn from what the best sales people are doing.
3. Break your sales process down into each and every critical step and work on one step at a time.
4. Measure your conversion from one step to the next and work on improving each step by just 10% more than it was.
5. Work on the letters, brochures and other written or audio and video material you use during each step of the sales process.
6. Use my magic question for phone selling, “Thanks for your call, just so I can help you best would it be OK if I asked you a couple of questions?”
7. Run a competition among your sales people for a week or two around the one area you need to see the most improvement in, then learn from the new ways they start doing things.
8. Learn the critical buying step in your sale, for example in female fashion stores, it’s trying the clothes on, with it you have more than a 50% chance at making a sale, without it, less than 10%.
9. Follow up and follow through, too many sales are lost by salespeople who can’t be bothered to follow up again and again and again … at least 7 times …
10. Make an offer that is either limited or a bonus offer or something to get customers to act now and to give sales people some ammunition …
11. Just plain ask people to buy, usually in sales training the one biggest reason sales people are not getting the sale is that they don’t ask for it …

Stay focused on your conversion rate for 3 months and watch the dramatic effect it has on your bottom line.

Once you’ve got it right, or at least much better than it is today, then and only then is it time to go to work getting more prospects and investing more money into your marketing and fixing the marketing you are doing now.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

Mention marketing to the average business owner and they think mainly of advertising, however there are far more cost effective, far more profitable and much easier ways to get yourself new customers …

But first, we need to understand a simple idea about what business really should be focused on, and that’s profitable customers …

Let me explain.

When you “buy” a new customer with any form of advertising or marketing it costs money.  Simple example, if you ran an advertisement for say $2,000 and got 100 calls and 20 sales then you spent $100 per new customer.

That number is your “acquisition cost” or “cost per sale.”  Essentially it’s how much it costs you to buy a new customer.  Take that one step further and you got 100 people who called or 100 leads so your “cost per lead” was ($2,000/100) $20.

So, if you don’t already know these numbers you need to go and work them out.  If you get a lot of business by word of mouth or passing traffic you still have to count them as well.

If we follow this example and pretend it was a restaurant, we can presume each person coming in spent only $100 on dinner.  How much money did you make from each customer?  That’s right, you lost money, It cost you $100 to get them there, $30 for food and drinks to serve them, $30 for staff and $10 for overheads, so all up $170 out for $100 in …

In other words, all 20 of these new customers were on average a loss.

So, there are four ways we can turn them into a profitable customer right up front.

1. We can work on writing better advertisements. Create a better headline, a better offer and make sure we only advertise in media that makes sure we are getting to our target audience. From there we should be able to get a much better response, many of my clients we’ve doubled and tripled advertising responses with just a few simple changes. So, let’s look at the numbers if we doubled the responses, and you can fairly easily do this. Now we get 200 callers and your cost per lead goes down to just $10 each …  That’s a great start and assuming the other numbers stays the same, we are down to just $50 cost per sale and thus $120 out for $100 in.  Still more work to do, but we are on track …
2. Next we work on getting more of the callers to come in and buy.  Boosting your conversion rate is often as simple as measuring it and as complex as creating scripts for your salespeople or receptionists to follow.  So, what if instead of 1 in every 5 (20 out of 100) coming in we could get 2 from 5 and really make sure the marketing and advertising dollar goes further. So, we are now getting 200 callers and instead of just 1 in 5 we get 2 people to come in and buy. That means we are up to 80 people booking in and buying from you. Your acquisition cost or, cost per sale is now down massively. Your $2,000 advert now gets you 80 buyers at just $25 each.  So when we do the math, our marketing is starting to make a profit on ever new customer, just $95 out for $100 in. Great work …
3. Next we need to get them spending more every time they buy from us. Instead of $100 each time, how can we work on raising sales, suggesting other items, a better wine list etc.  all these ideas you can sit down now and work on. What else can people buy,  Think of it like one of my clients, a pharmacist who offered ever single person who bought from him a bag of those wonderful chemist only jelly Beans. He ended up selling hundreds of packs a week, just by asking.
4. Finally, we need to get people back.  Collect their details, send them a monthly newsletter, special offers, even a simple thank-you card and invite them back as often as you can …

No matter what you do, remember you are buying customers and it’s getting more expensive every day. Once you’ve got them, keep them for as long as you can. Good service goes only so far, from there it’s up to you and your marketing to invite them back and give them reasons to buy from you again and again.

This article is reprinted courtesy of My Business magazine, one of the leading business publications in Australia.

So, when is great service really great?

Let’s say you and I go to a restaurant and sit down. The waitress is polite, greets us perfectly and serves us so well we feel obliged to order a little more expensive wine.

It’s poured and served with a great skill …

We order our meal and are having a great time …

The meal arrives and it’s bad, I mean real bad.  Now, no matter how good the service, a lack of delivery reminds us that customer service is about the whole experience, not just the interaction.

I had an accountant once who took me to great football games and wonderful dinners, but he kept messing up my returns and was almost always running late.

I don’t care how good the WOW factor is, if you can’t deliver the basics …

So, here’s my 3 steps …

#1 … Deliver with consistency – by far the most important of the three steps.  Every time I call your company, the phone should be answered the same way, the orders processed systematically, the services delivered with regularity so I can trust that you know what you are doing and I can feel good about coming back and referring my friends.  Remember, you can’t WOW a customer until you have at least satisfied them.

#2 … Make it easy for me to buy – consistency is a start, but if you make it hard to do business with you, I can never be WOW’ed.  Everything from ability to contact people, websites, emails to payment methods, delivery choices and so on.  All of these things you need to make sure you are easier or at least as simple and easy as any of your competitors.  Ring them, go to their websites, do as much ‘market research’ as you need to, to make sure buying from you is both simple and easy.

#3 … WOW me – satisfaction is boring, you have to do something I don’t expect.  I remember when only a year or so back, having WiFi in your room was a bonus, now I expect it and am greatly disappointed when a hotel doesn’t do it.  Check your industry and then check 3 or 4 others to find out what is now expected as standard so you can dream up a strategy to WOW me.

Let me give you a couple of examples …

I met with an accountant recently who has a $15,000 golf computer swing analyzer in his office, so while you are chatting about your accounts (and he is billing you) you get a few practice swings in.

Or, the Emirates First Class seats, where when I flew from Sydney to Dubai they actually have doors to your seat and you can close yourself off from the rest of the cabin.  The lights in the roof of the plane gradually change from day to night with a beautiful orange glow, and then the mini-bar in my seat.  All examples of WOW …

But remember, if they hadn’t of had the flight get to Dubai, would I have cared about all the other stuff.  Or, what if I could only pay with cash, how hard would that be…

Great service is one thing, satisfaction with what I am buying, backed up with great WOW type service is what counts …

Reprinted from http://www.mybusiness.com.au/

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And, here's the other 50 great ideas ...

Mark Rattigan

The fact that brad offered $3000 to get fans means he is not getting them for free. He was looking for strategies on how we could get them for free.   But extremely good way for him to get fans for low acquisition cost whilst testing strategies to get them for cheaper. A win-win.  Wed at 1:37am ·

Adam Goudge

one word. Leverage. Launch a campaign like this and get other people to do it for you, just as you have done.  Wed at 4:47pm ·

Mike Smith

here's 30 ways YOU can improve your business CASHFLOW this month...for FREE..An article posted EVERY day for the next 30 days sent to every NEW Fb member (leverage off the stuff from instant cashflow that you already have)  Wed at 4:48pm ·

Mike Smith

OR get 3 of your high profile, highly followed , awesome educating buddies run a joint HOUR OF POWER free webinar using goto meeting which you intro and wrap up as well as sticking in your 15 minutes..could include business/property/Share Market (pick me!), and something else (could be money management/contribution/or investing in fine art or whatever). they advertise rego through this page ... Wed at 5:12pm ·

Troy Pollard

Got it! A Human Treasure Hunt. YOU create a list of let’s say 50 “Advisors” who would add value to ActionCoach as a resource. People with a specific skill set or talent who would be willing to assist others with their needs. Ex. Big 5 accountant, Google Adwords Expert, International Trade Lawyer, etc. Then, run a Treasure (Talent) Hunt and have people go find them! Make a list of the 50 skills and have the new “professional friend” put their name and skill, and who invited them. The winner gets $1000! Just a thought.   Wed at 5:46pm ·

Darin Scott

This isn't just about numbers ... it's about developing relationships ... so there has to be some personal contact. The next big thing over the internet will be 'vmail (video mail)', as a replacement for email.
So here's the campaign - offer a series of video/vmail messages with increasing value in each. Ask for vmail messages/testimonials from everyone already in your fan page to also include in your messages. Then escalate the offer by sending potential new fans to your fan page for even more value.  Wed at 6:58pm ·

Franky Kane

Easy! find people with a load of fans and offer to buy there accounts for cheap, then turn it into a Bradley J Sugars hub redirecting them to your main...then shut it down. BUY, BUILD, SELL.   Wed at 7:44pm ·

Mark Rattigan

We now have some great offers for our target market which are free whatever free advice offer is best or simplest. Now for distribution to business clients. Write some great articles or webinars and place them on your site/blog/facebook wall. At the bottom of the article place your details and offer eg. Free series of business ideas each week or other.

Then encourage your current fans to paste the link on their facebook/blog etc. This could be voluntary as it would add value to their business Having great content to share with their contacts or you could offer them something free for promoting it eg. 30 minute skype teleconference or free exclusive brad sugars webinars.

This way you are getting real fans that are interested in your service and have greater value to you, cost nothing but time, adds value to your current fans and showcases to those that participate how valuable your advice is, from the phone call or webinars, which might lead to sales for your existing fans.  Thu at 2:51am ·

Michael Houghton

Make a facebook app - perhaps the Business Health check as a facebook application. To use the app, you need to become a fan of Brad Sugars. That means you are not only gaining fans, but also leads! Facebook apps are so hot right now!  Thu at 6:28pm ·

Sara Lamond

Well personally Brad - I think you need to invite a Professional Event Photographer to EVERY seminar you have - that includes the free introductory ones! You know a picture speaks a thousand words - and we love to get our work seen by as many people as possible. Think of all the talking that would save you!!!!  Wed at 5:10pm ·

Amy Vale

Review all the touch points that you communicate to clients with... Then attach an offer that benefits the greater good. "For every person that joins my facebook page, I will donate $1 (or whatever) to XXX charity" It will not only encourage people to join themselves, but to actually forward it on to others. And when you make the donation to the charity, you can leverage it with press releases and get even more people to join!!!  Wed at 7:29pm ·

Wilson Yang

Create dozen landing pages for each of your free ebooks (utilizing the resources you already have) and each landing page target only on one issue (one and only one issue), for example, a page deals with people who has problem in putting classified ads on newspaper. The page will give them two or three free ideas to take action now with a special offer if they give you their email addresses or join your page and permission to send them the ebook for free.... Wed at 7:43pm ·

Nicole Hore

I'm putting on my FB page: Please be sure to give me your opinion on how easy you found it was to become a fan of Australia's No 1 Business Coach - Action Coach Founder, Mr Brad Sugars .http://www.facebook.com/BradleySugars P.S. Brad, when do you make your decision?  Wed at 7:44pm ·

Noel Roberts

Here is what you do. WRITE THIS DOWN. Ive seen it done and it has amazing results! Take any one of your email marketing campaigns. Just go to one of your lists, and send out a blast. Instead of sending the email from "Brad Sugars", go in and change it to "Facebook".

Make the subject: "You have a facebook fanpage request from Brad Sugars"

Now in your message, just put: (Name_fix), you have a received a request for friendship from Brad Sugars. Write something nice and sweet, and throw in some links to your page. ... I guarantee that this will massively grow your following every time you send out a blast.  Let me know how it works! and message me when i've won   Wed at 7:44pm ·

 Pauline Roberts

You need a reason why they want to join and there has to be something in it for them.. People love the idea of getting something free or winning something - you could decide on that.. and another thing all these funny you tube clips you love create on of your own with your family - you the girls and your wife, people love it if they think you are human as well, l not just some rich dude trying to make more money and have a joining place there - make it fun.. Wed at 8:42pm ·

Suzanne Murray

Create a game similar to mafia wars / farm town - but something like ( what would would suit you ?? ) property tycoon?
were you can build a portfolio - renovate, hold , negotiate prices etc that way you would actually be teaching them something as well , and those type of games have huge followings.  Wed at 8:49pm ·

Carlie Sanborn

create a site that you can forward out in emails etc.. and have it say something like watch free videos now from brad sugars ceo of action coach, expert of business advice etc.. and learn what steps to take to achieve financial freedom. click here.. and then have something pop up were they have to become a fan to your page before they can watch your videos!  Good Luck   Wed at 8:56pm ·

Michael LeJeune

How about offering a 1 hour coaching session with you (The Brad Sugars) for the person that becomes fan number 25,000 or some other other number that you are looking for? Value it at a few thousand $$$. Have all Action coaches post this contest on their facebook pages and in all business groups as well as email all of their clients. You could even do the prizes in tiers. Level one could be a signed book. Level two one hour coaching session with you. Level three could be a trip to Las Vegas to meet you.  Wed at 9:03pm ·

Michael LeJeune

Another idea is to leverage some of the newsletters from people like Jeff Gitomer and other great global speakers that have a following. I'm sure you could come up with a great guest spot on their site that already gets thousands of hits.  Wed at 9:06pm ·

Arthur Carmazzi

Here is a special invitation link: http://bz9.com/BradleySugars that can be put on any page, even Google. You may need to wait a moment for the pop up  Thu at 1:08am ·

Wilson Yang

I believe this method will work for people like you. It will not only getting more people to your FB network, but also giving infinite number of ideas for social marketing as long as you keep the site running. Here is how: Setup a single page website with copy or video (make sure they are short to the point) like: "Hi, I am Brad Sugars from ActionCOACH. I am going to give away $3000 every three months for the best ideas of getting people on social marketing networks, these ideas will be seen by all people in the networks and I will choose top 5 and let all members to vote for the top three and I will pay them cash" Join me in the network and post your ideas, the cash can be yours.This one-page website need to have domain name like, ideasforcash.com or something like that. the only message on there is "I am giving away cash for ideas to get people on to FB", but the idea itself will cause a lot of people to add you in order to be qualified in the first place.  Thu at 2:05am ·

Nicola Anne Mann

I think it has got to be FUN...... and a bit of a mystery as well. So, you entice people to join up to Bradley J Sugars Facebook page and promise that "You will REVEAL all" for FREE if they do so. That way it may have a naughty connotation but in all honesty your little bits of wisdom in your daily comments does reveal it all i.e. the secrets to success:-)  Thu at 3:42am ·

Shane Crosbie

Hey Brad lets not focus on the result.Social media is dominated by young people I went 2 your seminar in Brisbane and the majority of the Audience was over 30. So lets focus on attracting the Audience below that lets look at what they like as this could be your biggest growth area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo this video has 5 000 000... in 2.5 months.Lets get away from the business side lets show people about u,lets take them and show them something truly great about your life that we can sell too them and in return they will join your page just so they don’t miss out on what’s next and there chance to have what u have.That’s how u got me 4 years ago you were on ABC radio talking about ur 2 big screens one for the xbox and the other for the footy not business just lifestyle. Lets post some videos not as well budgeted as the one above preferable ones that don’t need a budget at all. How much extra would it have been 2hve a camera man at ur wife’s helicopter bash?  Thu at 4:03am ·

Margie Baldock

Do a fun comedy skit with me on You Tube ...I will write it (or have it written) ...it will be topical but still relevant to business owners...EDU-TAIN your way to a new audience...  Thu at 4:53am ·

Jan DeKeyser Allison

Have all of your coaches add a link to join your FB Page to their newsletters. The benefit to clients taking immediate action is to offer 3 months free coaching for a name drawn from new FB fans created during a certain time period. You pay the Coach that provides the 3 months free training and they may even get the benefit of gaining a new long-term client.  Thu at 6:26am ·

Brett Hore

Create, buy, borrow, beg but DON'T sell something of value to other people and offer it for free. Then promote it with all the avenues you have available to you. The cost of creating these new leads will be very low, if not free and by honing your conversion skills you will make them even more valuable.  Thu at 2:42pm ·

Brett Hore

Be the best "you" you can be. People are attracted to success. Don't lie, but put your best you forward. No matter if it is in person, via email, a website, a blog or here on facebook, you are on show and only have one chance to make a first impression.  Thu at 2:47pm ·

Brett Hore

Pick one of your products/services that would appeal to a laser focused market segment, build a page on your website specifically for that product and that demographic, then use a unique/niche way of driving that group to your site/offer. IE: You have a product/service that's indispensable to soccer moms with kids aged 8-9. Supply your local under 10's soccer, baseball, football or rugby team with balls with your website page address on it as well as mini balls with the same for each kid to take home. A hit counter on your page combined with recording your uptake on the specific product will also provide you with great info about the effectiveness of your advertising and your conversion rate.

Thu at 4:25pm ·

Nicole Hore

I will email out to the masses and post up via Internet/fb/twitter etc. "Become a facebook fan of World's Leading Business Coach, Brad Sugars, and I will pay him $1,000 to spend 10 minutes sharing VITAL business information with you via phone. Email me NOW for a link to his fan page." Then I pay you, Brad, the $1,000 and set up a Conference call for all who become a fan via me Details of the call will go out via email.  Thu at 4:33pm ·

Colin Ahearn

Hi Brad, you get more comments and conversations about your posts than anyone else that I know and follow. Through your photos and posts you allow us into the life of one of the most successful businessmen on the globe.
The massive link that Facebook has given us is the ability to use an electronic medium to still give personal referrals and recommendations.
If you can offer an each one reach one program where a post is a link to a free audio download of yours The link would take you to a form on your website where there is mandatory fields to be filled in, by people logging on and providing an (or lots) of email or facebook referral to your database they then win as well and get some up to date Guru information from the man.
I reckon the best thing you have on your posts Brad, is the fact that you are active on Facebook and you comment on what people say on your posts. You are reachable and real and this is fairly unique, I value that immensely and thank you for it. Col Ahearn  Thu at 4:47pm ·

Jeremy Carter

offer 1 hour of your time as a business coach (transferable or saleable) to whoever brings the most number of new fans to your page

Thu at 5:12pm ·

LaShan Arceneaux

there is a giftbuilder app here on facebook. we've garnered a lot of new business by creating garden trading cards. they can only unlock a certain number of gifts per day.
1. get everyone to join the fan page
2. for the gifts, have coaching cards with tidbits of info that people will find useful - business tips, etc. to open the cards, you have tosend them to other people. so they are spreading the word for you. make certain the link to your fan page is very visible on the gift page.
3. state that when your fan page reaches a certain number of fans, someone will be chosen for a free coaching session. they must be using the gift app and be a fan to be eligible.

Thu at 5:28pm ·

Sue Wickes

A great idea is to hide something on your Facebook page that people have to find. The first person to join as a fan and find it gets a phone consultation with you. Email the contest to friends and ask them to forward it to their friends etc. I borrowed this idea from the fabulous Mari Smith.  Thu at 6:22pm ·

Margie Baldock

I reckon you should give out random cash prizes to contributors on your facebook page for kick butt contribution of ideas....eg $100 a throw for something that delighted you or taught you something. And that faster than anything else will get people to start putting quality contributions and that in turn will get more people interested etc.

Thu at 8:05pm ·

Esteban De Gyvés

what if every ActionCOACH works with our clients and comunity and let they know that you are going to give us 7 webminars for FREE if we help you to have 1,000,000 fans?

Thu at 9:20pm ·

Brett Hore

Use the power of Geometric Progression combined with the 7 degrees of separation: Invite 10 current friends to invite 10 uncommon friends to invite 10 new friends and so on down the 7 generations. Thus 100,000,000 new friends. With the power of the communication networks we now have at our fingertips you will have it much easier than Stanley Milgram.

Yesterday at 2:40am ·

Michael Bowman

Keep giving to those who you inspire and by word of mouth via FB things will happen to an extent you can only imagine at present.

Yesterday at 3:16am ·

Kristine Wirth

Comment Contest - Ask a question related to your business and with a time-frame (2 days or so) to answer that question...the correct answer (or the one closest) gets a free book, a personal phone call, a free course, etc.

OR... The 1,000th person to become a fan of Brad Sugars on Facebook is the winner of....(freebies work wonders)  Yesterday at 10:27am ·

Sarah-Jane Hunter

Get us all to post it on our what we are up to on facebook and twitter accounts letting people have your link and chance of winning - you could ask us to do it and in return you will donate to charity and x amount or the likes - also an incentive for people doing it would b the person that drives the most traffic wins a certain amount... SJ

Yesterday at 11:09am ·

Scott Gassmann

Offer a low cost, high value product (i.e. white paper, e-book, audio - changed weekly for ongoing referrals by existing fan base) for current fans suggesting/referring your page.

Yesterday at 2:26pm ·

Sylvester Liddane

ask face bookers to pass this onto all of their friends as you never know who it will help. this way you have offered a service and a gaurantee at an awesome price $0.
Take Action Now.
learn why action coach is the worlds leading business coaching system by following brad sugars on face book. if you don't get any value, insight or inspiration in.7 days then we will get one of our amazing coaches nearest you to make contact for a free 1 hour session. not only do you get to see brad in action and the ability to ask him questions you also get access to stay upto date on his special tips tricks and thoughts pages where he details all sorts of how to manuals for business.

Yesterday at 5:50pm ·

Allen Tian

What ever you do it facebook, it must be consistant with the brand image u are trying to develop offline. You don't want to do something that is going against your brand imagae. Again, we need quality fans and not fans that just add up but dont really know about Brad.

What i am suggesting would be an addup to others strategies that you may use. Since you are selling thousand of book and giving away seminar each year. It would be better to include the suggestion to add facebook to keep in touch with you in the front cover of each books as well as mentioned it in podcast or seminar. It would'nt hurt to leverage existing media isn't it ??

10 hours ago ·

Tim Dollmeyer

But wait... there's more... all you need to do is to ask every fan invite all of their friends, including all groups and fan pages. If only 10% respond, you'll be there. Very simple. No contest or expense needed.  Yesterday at 8:46pm ·