An interview with Craig Stevens, Principal & CEO of Mar West Real Estate…

“I asked myself a question and it changed everything about my life—everything!”

I’m interviewing Craig Stevens, Principal & CEO of Mar West Real Estate, based in Tustin, CA. He’s explaining the moment that changed his life. It began with a single question…a question that led him on a journey from being VP at a respected global corporation…to working out of his bedroom sharing a laptop with his wife…to becoming an Owner and CEO leading his company to meteoric growth.

Here’s his story… [continue reading…]

You can’t always save a bad product…

It is often possible to take an abysmally performing product and actually turn it into a star through a little breakthrough imagination. You can alter your target markets, the sales process, the channels you sell through, the positioning, packaging, modify major elements of the value proposition and a dozen other high leverage plays.

But sometimes…

You need to face reality. You can’t teach a pig to sing. It frustrates both you and the pig. [continue reading…]

I heard a quote this weekend…

“The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence. It’s greener where you water it.”

I see so many businesses that face a set-back or competitive challenge or look at what another business is doing and they immediately start throwing time, attention and resources into a new venture or product or direction.

Instead of getting a nice dividend. They often end up losing two opportunities.

The opportunity to grow their existing situation — and the opportunity to reap a harvest with the new one.

Here’s why… [continue reading…]

Strategy will always have an attitude of seriousness…

After all, you are running a company where hundreds or thousands of lives depend on the decisions you make and the actions you take. During times of change and challenge, the decisions you make can mean the difference between success and failure, surviving and thriving.

So, it’s understandable that your team doesn’t approach strategic thinking like a couple of kids in an ad agency, sitting in bean bag chairs, tossing Nerf balls at each other and wondering if they should use a blue monkey to deliver the pitch.

On the other hand, all of your competitors have access to the same industry facts and trends as you do. So, analytics and metrics alone can never be the answer. At the end of the day, you have to take a hard look at the same facts everyone else sees, and see something different. And that is the realm of imagination. [continue reading…]

A few months ago I posted an article titled, “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

Well, just yesterday morning I was reminded again of this truth – and it’s price.

I was in a coffee house getting a cup of morning inspiration. The owner of the shop was starting a new, unrelated venture and had created a display of his new product on one of the tables. At a glance I saw a couple big problems with his marketing and packaging efforts. One of the biggest errors was that he had failed to mention any benefits or results or a USP in the headline on either the package or the flyer. Instead he had used his name and the description of the product: Pete’s Widget.

From work with my clients I know that a solid USP or customer-focused headline (or a name that implies a benefit) can kick up sales and response rates by 150% or more. [continue reading…]

Before you can take your company to the next level, you need to take your thinking to the next level.

Einstein said, “We can’t solve our problems at the same level of thinking that created them.”

And we can’t grow our businesses or capture more market share or create more sales growth at the level of thinking that has gotten us, or is keeping us where we are now.

Rarely is the key to breakthrough growth simply doing more of what you are doing now.

That means that we have to think and act differently. [continue reading…]

Fact: We don’t know what we don’t know…

So, huge, HUGE opportunities to create breakthroughs slip through our fingers everyday. Opportunities to increase profits, increase market-share, gain customer loyalty, improve our products, open new markets, discover profitable new channels and many, many more.

All lost because we just plain don’t know what we don’t know.

One Example:

I worked with a company that didn’t understand the simple power of A/B split testing headlines or ads against each other. When they heard the concept the executives thought it was a waste of time because they “knew” which concept was better. Finally they gave it a try. The month they conducted their first test they increased their sales 150%. This company happens to be one of the largest banks in the world. So, that simple test created tens-of-millions in extra revenue.

And that is just one small drop of know-how in a universe of possibilities for jolting your revenues upward.

What is the cure for not knowing what we don’t know about? [continue reading…]

As business leaders, the actions we take in the market place come from the thoughts we have about the market.

Looking at the actions that many businesses are (or are not) taking, I’m convinced they are having some of the following thoughts…

“My customers will never leave me no matter how badly I treat them.”
“My competitors are slow and stupid so I don’t need to push any new initiatives forward.”
“This product or service couldn’t be improved on.”
“Those new trends will take years to materialize.”
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“Market forces will have no impact on our pricing in the foreseeable future.”

So, what are your thoughts about your market and competitors?

Does your business need a vision? You decide how your vision of the future stacks up against these great leaders.

” I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces. ” –Henry Ford [continue reading…]