I’m talking about a simple thinking skill: Knowing what you want.

Nearly everyone who grabs one of the five free “Consistent Flow of Customers” strategy sessions I do each month makes the following mistake.

I’ll ask: “If you could have it any way you want it and didn’t have to worry about how to make it happen, how much do you want to be earning a year from now?”

And I’ll get an answer like “$150,000.”

“Why $150,000?”

“Because if I can get up to 30 billable hours per week, then I should be able to reach $150,000.”

Okay. Let’s analyze what’s wrong with this THINKing.  And why it’s keeping him and millions of others stuck.

Also, I’ll teach you a simple thinking skill you’ll start using every day – and your life will never be the same.

What this guy just did was confuse WHAT he wants with HOW he’ll get it.

The question was “If you could have it any way you want it and didn’t have to worry about how to make it happen, how much do you want to be earning a year from now?”

To answer this question, he began by looking at where he is today and extrapolating forward. But that’s what he thinks is POSSIBLE. Not what he WANTS.

Before letting himself dream, he asked “Well, HOW will I get there?”

It’s saying “I don’t know HOW I can get what I really want, so I’m going to settle and aim for something less.” Got it?

So now his target is something he doesn’t really want. But he figures it’s the best he can hope for.

So now he’ll lack the passion. And he won’t be willing to take the risks because who wants to take risks for something you don’t really want?

When passion is out, fear steps in to lead. And our friend the entrepreneur, who has so much to offer to so many people will stay stuck.

Remember I told you that it’s not enough to learn techniques and tactics – and that you need to learn how to THINK?

Well master this WHAT / HOW thinking skill. Practice separating the two.  When you’re talking about WHAT you want, don’t talk about HOW.  And when you’re talking about HOW, make sure you first know exactly WHAT.

This little skill will change your life because it frees to finally focus on what you really, really want. That unleashes your passion. Helps you overcome fear. And keeps you focused on only what matters.  (Which helps you stay out of the grip of the well meaning but dangerous marketing plumbers.)

My advice to you – learn simple, practical THINKing skills.   It will change your life and brings you customers.

What do you think? Let me know below.

I’d been looking around the room when I noticed him and realized what he was doing.  And where.

Turns out it wasn’t his cube.  He’d found it on the table and wanted to leave things better than he’d found them.

“Tell me,” I asked later, “There must be a system for solving those, isn’t there?”

“Sure,” he said.  “There are pattens. You need to learn to recognize the patterns.  It’s math.  You just need to memorize some algorithms.”

He lost me at math.  And my eyes glazed over when he said logarithms.  But PATTERNS – THAT I get.  Because it’s the same in building a consistent flow of customers.  And that’s an area where I’ve paid my dues.  I’ve learned to see the patterns – and it changed my life.

You’ve probably done your own twisting the Marketing Cube this way and that, hoping to get the thing solved.  You may get lucky and solve one side.  But to solve the whole puzzle, you need to learn to see the  patterns, the structure that makes it work.

In any area of human excellence, many pick up a cube, spin it this way and that, and put it down with a chuckle.  “This can’t be done.”   They quit before they started.

There are also those who, like my nine year old, take the cube apart and put it back the way he wants it. These are the marketing plumbers and the wide-eyed techno-zealots.  They discover you can peel the stickers and put them where you want them – and no one will know!  Imagine that!

I beg you – don’t be like them.  There’s no pride in that work.  And not much money, either. Unless you’re the cult leader.

Finally, there are those who stand there twisting and hoping and turning and hoping until one of two things happen:

• They’re forced to get a job.
• Or they realize someone out there must know the pattern.  And they go learn it.

1.  You’re eyes will be opened to the patterns that make your marketing work.  You’ll learn how to THINK – a skill that keeps you ahead, whatever the technology.

3.  Hands on help from me  via my private Oasis Forums.  Do the worksheet and post your work in the Oasis for feedback and help.

1. Lots and lots of information to keep you stuck in the illusion that you don’t know enough.  Because the truth is you know more than enough to get moving.  What you’re lacking is someone to simplify it and help you focus only on the critical 10% that will make you look brilliant 90% of the time.

3.  No fluff.  No padding.  No math. And no algorithms. You get only what you need to know to create a system that brings you a consistent flow of customers – within weeks.

Dov Gordon

Losing patience, the prince takes out a cigarette.

“Please don’t do that,” Lionel says.

“I’m sorry?” replies the prince.

“I believe sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you,” Lionel says.

“My physicians say it relaxes the throat,” says the prince.

“They’re idiots.”

The prince is taken aback.  “They’ve all been knighted!” he says.

“Makes it official then,” says Lionel.

I love this little repartee. Just because someone is well known, highly regarded and has many who agree with him, doesn’t mean he’s worth listening to.

Is there wisdom in crowds?  No.  If everyone is doing it, that’s reason enough to question it.

If you’re a regular at The Alchemist Entrepreneur(TM), I’m going to make a guess about you.  Tell me if I’m right.

You have a deep inner belief that you are on this earth for a reason.  That you have an important contribution to make.  That you are capable of much more than your record reveals.

You also look around at what others have achieved.  What others say.  What others do.  Sometimes you wonder. It doesn’t seem to make sense.  Something seems to be missing.  And yet, look where they are.  They must be smarter, more charismatic, more talented…  They’re certainly richer and more famous.  They must know something you don’t…

And you wonder to yourself, “Will I ever know, have and be what they know, have and are?”

Goodness, I hope not!  They’re idiots!  They’re loud today, and they’ll be gone tomorrow.

Shut out the experts.  Quiet your mind. Allow your own native common sense to shine through the smoke and mirrors.

There were many speech therapists in London.  But there was only one Lionel Logue.  At first the prince assumed Lionel would be like the others he had already seen and dismissed.  Eventually he realized that Lionel’s difference was also his genius.

You, too, my friend have your own genius. Don’t stifle it by trying to be like the others out there. The world doesn’t need more of them.  They need more of you.

Dov Gordon

Your comments and stories are welcome below.

They follow “recipe” advice without understanding why it works.

We all need the occasional expert opinion.  But how can you tell if the advice you’re getting is based on true wisdom or regurgitated platitudes?

One day I decided to create an audio preview for a public seminar I was doing.  If the group’s members could hear me for a few minutes, I reasoned, it would make them more likely to attend.

Of course, it could also turn them off, so I sent the podcast to an acquaintance and asked for his opinion.

“Like everything you do,” he said, “it’s too long.  People won’t listen to it.”

Well, yeah, I have a tendency to go on a bit.  But length is only one factor in determining whether someone will listen.  And this podcast was less than six minutes long.  If people find it stimulating, provocative, relevant or entertaining, they’ll listen for an hour.

“How long should it be?” I asked, trying to gauge where his advice was coming from.

“Sixty seconds or less.”  He went on to recommended I read someone’s ebook about selling online.

Well, I concluded he was parroting back a “recipe” he had heard somewhere without really understanding what he had heard.

“An online video shouldn’t be longer than three minutes,” one expert will say.  “Make your sales letter short,” says another.  “No one reads the long ones.”   And a social media “expert” with tens of thousands of followers tweaches (tweet + preach) this: “Spend a 1/3 of allocated blogging time commenting on other blogs & you’ll see engagement on your blog skyrocket.”

Advice like this is one reason why comments on so many blogs are mindless and fawning agreement.

Think about it this way:  The amateur cook and the master chef can both follow the same recipe.  But the master chef will produce a far tastier dish.

What’s the difference?

The amateur follows a recipe.  But the master understands the properties of each ingredient and how they interact with each other.  He understands what kind of pot or pan is best for what.  He understands how to substitute.  And so his results are superior.

There are thousands upon thousands of people out there telling us what we need to do to get rich, be successful, and so on.  Often they boil it down to a recipe.  Do this, that and the other thing and you’ll be successful.

Many of our naïve and fearful comrades, eager for a quick salve, gobble this stuff up as if it were something magical.

To say that a podcast shouldn’t be longer than 60 seconds is missing the point.  Length is only one factor and a relatively insignificant one.  People listen to podcasts that are thirty minutes long, watch movies for two hours and audio books that can be thirty hours long.

It’s not the length.  To know if something is likely to interest people, you need to understand the underlying properties.  Does this podcast have the ingredients that will catch someone’s attention and draw then through the end?

If it’s relevant or entertaining they’ll listen to the whole thing.  If it’s a good story they’ll read all 963 pages.

As you build your business, be very wary of people offering blanket recipe-style advice.  Ask lot of questions to determine if you’re hearing from an amateur cook or a master chef.

Don’t assume they know something you don’t.  The opposite is probably true:  You probably understand something about which they don’t have a clue.

—–

If you liked this post, you’re friends will like it too.  Please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

And then share your personal reactions below.

Dov

“As soon as a potential customer expresses an interest, I feel under enormous pressure and probably come over too much like I’m desperate to close at any cost rather than negotiate a reasonable/beneficial deal from a position of power.

“How can I be confident and relaxed?”

Nick, this is a mind game.  We must lean on the three principles of The Alchemist Entrepreneur™:  Reality, Impact and Leverage.  And on the AE’s foundation for everything: Mental Toughness.

We’ve all been there.  A promising new prospect is very interested. You begin to imagine how life will be like after you’ve made the sale.  The extra cash will sure go a long way. The sale is proof to you and those who doubt you that you’re going to succeed.  And now you can afford that vacation.  Maybe your long suffering wife will respect you a bit more, after all.

Then your prospect seems to pull back a bit and one of two things happen:

1. - Nothing at all.  And you can’t figure out why.
2. - You end up compromising on things that were important to you and the deal doesn’t give you what you hoped.

Why does this happen?

Here are three common reasons, along with strategies for avoiding each.

1. 1. You strap yourself to the Endowment Effect.

We humans are a bit strange. We’ll work harder and spend more money to keep from losing something we have than to get it in the first place.  The idea of losing something scares us.  And when worried or scared, we don’t think clearly.

When you believe you closed the sale before the money is actually in your account, this sale becomes something you own – and are now afraid to lose.  And so you act a little crazy to keep it.

Whenever you are in a selling situation, remember Reality at all times:  This sale is not closed until the money is in your account.  No celebrating until then.

1. 2. You actually think you can convince the customer.

As long as you think that selling is about convincing someone to buy, you’re going to be stressed.  And just like you can’t make a good decision in a bad mood, you can’t make a good sale while feeling bad about yourself.

The fastest way to feel lousy is to reflect on all your shortcomings and everything you want and don’t have.

The fastest way to feel good about yourself is to reflect on how you can help others. There are some things you have so much of that you can afford to give it away.  Or to sell it at a great price to those who can really benefit.

So yes, selling is about having a positive Impact on someone through your product and service, far in excess of the money they pay you.

When you really, really get this, your sales conversations are focused on developing a deep understanding of the person you’re talking to.  Before anything else, you genuinely want to know: Is this person a good fit?  Only when it’s clear to both feel the fit is right, do you talk about your products and services.

If you ever find yourself trying to convince someone, immediately step back and recalibrate.  Focus instead on having a genuine Impact and the sale will happen on its own.

1. 3. You tell yourself you need this deal.

Hokey.  You don’t need this deal.  There’s always another bus.

When you negotiate thinking you need this deal, you end up giving away what you really need and accepting instead what you could do without.  You made the sale, but then you’re miserable.  It’s winning the battle, but losing the war.

Before you negotiate any deal with any customer, write down what you MUST get from the deal as well as what you would WANT to get from it.

If the customer wants terms that violate your MUSTS, then walk away.  This is not someone you are meant to have an Impact on.

Be flexible on WANTS, but firm with your MUSTS.

This is Leverage. Focus on doing the small number of things that give you big results.  When you are crystal clear as to what you want from a deal, you can quickly walk away from the wrong prospect because it’s clearly not a match.  No point in pretending otherwise.  (Reality once again.)

Finally, Mental Toughness, as I see it, is forcing your mind to think in line with Reality, Impact and Leverage.  There’s no end to the forces trying to get you to delude yourself.

So become mentally tough. It’s a matter of practice.  It’s that simple and that difficult.

Well then, what do you think?  Share your comments below.

– If you liked this article, would you please share it on Twitter and Facebook?

– “Nick” got his question answered by making it a part of his answer to this short three question survey.  What’s your burning question about creating your own consistent, predictable flow of customers?  Click and answer.  It’s anonymous.

This is more of a thought provoking conversation than a ‘how-to.’  So I decided we’d do this in podcast form, a more personable medium.

Let me know what you think below in the comments section.

Click here to download the .mp3

Dov Gordon

But he won’t sit on a cold stove, either.”

- Mark Twain

When the know-it-all pontificator looks down her nose and says “Never make the same mistakes twice!” I grunt and run.

Like any of us haven’t made the same mistake again, and again, and again before FINALLY figuring it out.

Like Mark Twain’s cat, if I sit on a hot stove, I won’t sit there again. But that’s because it suddenly became crystal clear that I did something stupid – and I know exactly what it was.

But when you’re growing your business and dealing with all that’s involved in creating a great product and then actually selling it – you’re not talking about sitting on a stove.  You’re talking about walking confidently forward because the path looks clear – only to crash through a glass door you couldn’t see.

And so it’s only those of us who persevere long enough to make the same mistakes many, many, many times who wake up one day and suddenly “get it.”

That’s how I learned to speed up the sales process…

For years I thought that if I show people how smart I am they’ll want to buy from me. So I gave great advice.  And people saw how smart I was.  But they didn’t buy.

I made this mistake many, many times before I finally realized what I was doing: I was asking my prospects to skip a step.

There are four psychological “Levels” your prospects must pass through before deciding to buy:

1. Your prospect ‘raises his hand’ because something you said or did piqued his curiosity. You connected with him in a way that leads him to want to hear more.

2. Your prospect learns more about you, your company and products.  He comes to feel that yes, you folks know your stuff.

3. Your prospect shares his personal situation. He needs to get to a place where he feels you really understand him.

4. You make a recommendation and close the deal.

These four levels are just reality. It doesn’t matter what you sell, your prospect must pass through each of these Levels  - in order. If you sell coffee it may take a minute.  If you sell military helicopters, it may take a year or more.  But they MUST ALWAYS pass through these Levels.

I was losing deals because I couldn’t see this simple breakdown of reality. Since I couldn’t see the ‘hot stove’ I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. And when you can’t see reality, you break yourself against it again and again and again – until you do.

Today, my mistake is clear: I was recommending – a Level 4 activity – before my prospect had passed through Levels 2 and 3.

Now, the glass door you keep walking through may be different from mine. But what’s happening is that in your own way, you’re breaking yourself against reality and it’s hurting  your sales.

To speed up the pace of your sales, slow down and walk your prospect through one Level at a time. Refuse to talk about your product before they’ve passed through Levels 2 and 3.  And when you do this, your sales will happen faster.

—

I’m going to create some more free training that will teach you how to systematically and consistently attract more first-rate customers, but I need to know what you want me to include. So please answer the 3 questions here.

Book after book and article after article points to what this or that company did to achieve their success – and advises that you and I do what they did to succeed.

The problem is that no one company can stay on top forever. So it’s very tempting for the average author to attempt his 15 minutes of fame by showing how the advice in last year’s bestselling book no longer applies. And unless you listen to HIS brilliant new ideas, your company is doomed as “likely to be a victim of the next market shift. At least you’ll be in good company in the history books.”

Such was the advice of consultant Adam Hartung in a recent Forbes.com article.  Hartung advised that you “Stop focusing on your core business. It has become the fast track to oblivion.” He then proves it with stunningly shallow analysis during which he writes off both “Good to Great” by Jim Collins and “In Search of Excellence” by Tom Peters.

His article included gems such as “When markets can shift quickly, focus simply loses its value.” And “If you’re trying to improve your returns with execution, you’re likely to be a victim of the next market shift.”

What does Hartung advocate instead?  I had to visit his website to find out. Turns out he advocates his “Phoenix Principle” and something called “Disruptions and White Space.” I’m not going to comment, because I haven’t spent enough time to know what he means.

But astute reader “dave” commented politely that

“…Won’t the time come, if it hasn’t already, that Disruptions and White Space will go the way of ‘the Kraft approach’ or RIM’s ‘app-oplexy’? I seem to recall that ‘In Search of Excellence’ was viewed as the great salvation for business at one time. I assume you don’t believe that there won’t be a successor to the Phoenix Principle?”

“dave’s” comment still awaits a response.

Here’s my thinking on all this:

It’s important to study “Best Practices” because it gives you tactical ideas. But far more important is to study and master “Best Thinking.”

Best practices were best for a company in a particular industry at a particular time.  And they were probably the result of careful thought and analysis.

Then 98% of business people go out and thoughtlessly imitate what the model company “did,” forgetting that what they “did” was preceded by clear thinking.

At The Alchemist Entrepreneur™ we focus on clear thinking first, and then on wise practice. As you read through the articles here or go through any of our programs, you’ll start to notice that.  My tagline has long been “Clear thinking is your most valuable work.”

Here is the comment I left at Forbes.com below Mr. Hartung’s article:

There are so many problems with this analysis. Where to begin?

1. It is a waste of time to study “best practices” if you haven’t first studied “best thinking.”

A “best practice” that made one company a star, was probably the result of some really good behind the scenes thinking.  To imagine that you can imitate the practice without the thinking is not a very mature approach to business or life.

Yet this article, as well as the books it criticizes, focuses on what practices do and don’t “work.”

2.  To say “When markets can shift quickly, focus simply loses its value” is plain silly.

“Focus” is not a specific enough concept. Even the author must agree that focus is not an on-or-off switch, but a continuum.  At one end would be tunnel vision while on the other would be excessive diversification.

So how can you write an article saying that something as vague as “focus” is either good or bad?

3.  This author, like so many others, uses the scare tactic that “Times have changed. What worked yesterday doesn’t work today!  Listen to me or you’ll be doomed!”

This, too, is shallow.

Yes, some of the “best practices” that worked in 1975 may no longer work, but the Best Thinking is timeless. What worked for King Solomon works for us.

At The Alchemist Entrepreneur™ http://DovGordon.net we teach Best Thinking first, and best practices second because when you learn to quickly zero in on the key issues and decisions of your business, you have no need to mindlessly imitate today’s business darling.

Dov Gordon

PS – Isn’t it interesting that after a couple of minutes of clicking around on the Forbes billionaire list I came across James Leprino at # 374.  How did he make his billions?  Cheese. He’s the largest manufacturer of mozzarella cheese in the world. Would the author advise James to start selling sauce or pizzeria tables?

My point: You can always find a company to illustrate one practice or another.  So be smart and train yourself in clear thinking. Clear thinking is your most valuable work.