Apr 23, 2020
Andrew Cuomo gave a fabulous speech last night about Reimagining New York.
We can all use this approach as we all go about reopening our lives in the coming weeks, months or even years..
Do we really have to rush back in... as we were, but, can we pause reflect and re enter in a better way. This could be by remembering how good it felt reconnecting with family, friends, neighbours or even yourself.
Reimagine!!
Now what about Reimaging Your Business - This Podcast is a must listen.
Podcast Transcript
Andrew Cuomo gave a fabulous speech last night about Reimagining New York.
We can all use this approach as we all go about reopening our lives in the coming weeks, months or even years..
Do we really have to rush back in... as we were, but, can we pause reflect and re enter in a better way. This could be by remembering how good it felt reconnecting with family, friends, neighbours or even yourself.
Reimagine!!
Now what about Reimaging Your Business -
I want to give you a glimpse of a perspective right now that hopefully will shift some things and change some things and get you excited and thinking and understanding the possibilities.
So right now - obviously so many things have shifted and changed for people.
But if you stop and reconsider and really look at things, what is business really at the core?
If I take a step back, I feel that being in business is something that should fire you up and passionately drive you.
It’s the internal nudge we feel. If you’ve ever felt that pull or that desire, you will know it. It’s that urge that probably got you into your own business in the first place its that
“I need to do something more. I need to be something more. I’ve got to figure something out.”
If you’ve ever felt that before, which I’m assuming if you’re listening to me, you’ve probably felt that. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gone on a path that got you researching things, subscribing to things, and listening to podcasts, if you didn’t feel that pull you wouldn’t be here. So I’m guessing and assuming that if you’re here, you felt that before and you feel like, “I need to do something, I don’t know what it is, but I gotta create and I gotta serve.”
And then what most people do is they go about it backwards. “I’m going to go and source or create a product, then I’m going to go figure out how to sell the product, then I’m going to go find people to sell it to.”
But you know I believe the opposite is true.
The successful people in business feel that they need to serve a group of people, or a market or a niche.
There’s this group of people who you’ve been given gifts and abilities to uniquely change and serve this group of people.
All of your life experiences, the ups, the downs, the problems, the trials, everything you’ve had to this point in your life has been given to you as a gift to be able to change the lives of a group of people you feel this drive to serve.
So when you look at the business, that’s what business is.
It’s a need to gather people together, listen to their needs, and figure out how to serve them.
That’s what business is when you boil it down. When you get rid of all the fanciness and the terms and the strategy and everything, it’s, my job is I’ve been called to serve this group of people.
I’m going to gather them together and I’m going to help them. I’m going to listen to their needs, figure out what they want, and figure out ways I can help them.
So right now we’re in this time where people have been disconnected, they’re not gathered, they’re pulled apart, they’re separated back into their families, they’re pulled out of all of their routines, and you look at our job as business owners, what is it right now?
It’s to gather the people, to gather them together, to listen to them, to figure out how you can help them, how you can serve them.
And what’s crazy, and this is what I wanted to talk about, taking advantage of this opportunity right now.
For example, I have an Accounting client here in Australia who has decided that he wants to help business owners navigate the huge stimulus packages the Government has on offer.
Rather than do what every other accountant has done which is to onsend Government babble fact sheets to their clients– this accountant chose to run a series of FREE Informative Webinars and what’s more advertised them on Facebook.
The response has been beyond belief –
My client listened to the needs and figured out an offer that would match their needs, and did his best to create that.
So what’s interesting, a month ago we would spend anywhere from 3 to 5 to 8 dollars to get someone to register for a webinar. For this webinar, for this gathering of people, we were averaging 78 cents per opt in.
The ability now to gather people together is at such a huge, huge discount.
I understand some of you guys don’t have all the pieces in place yet to be able to buy ads and things, I understand that, if that’s the case. I understand. Now’s the time to start studying these things and get them together so you can profitably generate some leads.
But what’s crazy is the people who have gathered together to listen to my Accounting client have their own Accountants but now Know, Like and Trust this new accountant and many of them will jump ship..
So if my job is to gather people together, I can do it now at a discount that I never could before.
And it’s not going to last forever, we are in a season right now. Many of us in marketing used to say, “I wish I could go back in the day when Google was cheap and easy. I wish I could go back in the day when Facebook was easy.”
Well - Right now we have this window where it is again. It’s crazy. I was reading articles saying that Facebook is going to lose 40 billion dollars in revenue in the next quarter because everyone is pulling their ad spend.
So ad costs are dropping. So it’s like, “Oh my gosh, here’s this really unique window.” And I’m hoping for most of you guys, you realize that if you’re gathering your people during this time, whatever level you can.
Some can do it through paid ads, some of you can’t and that’s fine. But your job as business owners is to gather people, and you can gather people right now at a discount.
People are silently begging to be connected. They’re silently begging to be led if you’ll stand up and gather those people together and let them plug into you. Right now you can do it at a discount that has not been around since adam was a boy!
Here is another example!
My local Café called Toast Café in EP by the waterfront had to shut like all the others except for takeaway. He exists amongst 4 other cafes – but he was the first to get up and running and offer great coffee, takeaway breakfasts, takeaway lunches and dinners. Almost overnight he transformed his offering, but he kept his friendly staff, cheerful demeanour and just made it COVID compliant and really easy for his customers. 3 weeks later and he tells me that he is selling more coffee now than pre COVID. Even funnier the Café next door who shut his doors for 3 weeks reopened the last weekend offering half price coffees – I mean go figure the only thing he has to sell is coffee and he is offering it at half price. But here’s the rub – to do that he has skeleton staff and a half baked operation. Guess what almost nobody is going there. Do you know why? Coffee isn’t what we are buying – we are actually buying a distraction, something to do, something to remind us of what will be. We are buying a place to gather (COVID compliant of course) and we are buying being remembered by name and being treated like we used to.
So I want you guys to understand that, it’s now. Its time to Reimagine.
Don’t stand on the sidelines, this is the game, we’re in the middle of it.
There’s been people who whenever this ends, in a month from now, a year from now, I don’t know when it’s going to end, but on the other side of this who are going to be saying,
“Man, I wish I would have taken advantage of that opportunity.”
So I’m here to tell you, take advantage of the opportunity.
Go all in, figure this stuff out.
This is the time for all of us to be stepping up and gathering our people and serving them.
You gather your people together, you listen, you give them faith, you give them hope, you give them inspiration, you create the tools and products and services and things that are going to help them to do whatever it is that they’re trying to do.
I want you guys to understand that. That’s the game, that’s the business we’re actually in. It’s to gather people, listen to their needs and then serve them. That’s business.
And right now you can gather people at such a discount, at prices we’ve never seen before. I want you to understand that, now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity. Because if you do that, man, how much further ahead are you going to be in a month from now, 6 months from now, a year from now, because you’re able to get the ear of people you couldn’t before.
So, thanks for listening. If you got some value from this or any of the episodes of the Marketing 24-7 podcast, please share them with others.
Talk soon.