A Meatball Sundae is just what you need.

Marketing genius Seth Godin has once again hit it out of the marketing ballpark with Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?. Colorfully and succinctly, Godin lays out what you might not want to hear: that the "Old Marketing" of television interrupts and mass marketing average products, is losing ground to the "New Marketing" in the Web 2.0 world, and you've got to pick a team.

With fourteen clearly defined considerations of New Marketing in his toolbox, along with enough case studies (from companies you not only already know of, but have probably worked with) to prove his points, Godin makes a great case for not only utilizing these new tools, but also for adapting your entire business structure to work with them.

What could be so compelling that a seasoned company would restructure into a fresh startup just to take advantage? The consumer. In today's online market, the customer is not only king, he's also the boss, the critic, and sounding board from which all new ideas come.

It's never been a better time to be a consumer, an entrepreneur, or a creative. With Meatball Sundae Seth Godin makes us all feel new again!


Check out this book as well as many other great business resources at the Serious Vanity Learning and Productivity Center.

Are you qualifying your leads, or are they qualifying you?

When you generate leads for your business, the logical middle step before converting a sale for the product or service you provide is the 'qualification' stage, ie, finding out if you're a good match for each other! You got their attention, but do they want what you offer?

In the studio business, we each have an 'ideal client' that has the working style we want and need in order to perform to the highest goal-meeting ability. But so many times, especially in businesses that differentiate themselves on price, it's the CLIENT that does the qualifying, not the business.

Let me explain: you tell a prospect what you can provide for them in a proposal. They come back with a completely different idea of what you'll provide in a follow-up (usually based on the cost of your service).

At this point, do you renegotiate with their follow-up in mind, setting your goals aside and grasping on to whatever they want you to do as your guide? If so, you've let THEM qualify YOU.

If instead, you either go back to negotiations with your original goals in mind, but taking into account some of their needs in their follow-up, or you just say, "Thank you, but we're not right for each other", then YOU'VE qualified (or disqualified) THEM.

You have to be the captain of your own ship in business, and taking time with clients who aren't your ideal takes time away from generating, qualifying, and converting those that are. Make sure your marketing and communication language always maintains the integrity of your business goals, and you'll spend far less time courting the ones that aren't right for you.

Start learning how to do this (and so much more), by reading The Answer.

Do you have The Answer?

I can't help but share some of the great products and resources I come across (even though I should probably keep them all to myself!). Right now I'm in the middle of The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life. Now, I'm not shy about endorsing authors John Assaraf and Murray Smith's company OneCoach, which I'm also a member of, but I would highly recommend this book even if I wasn't. This book has been billed as "The Secret for Business", and fans of that book and/or film who want to go to the next level with their businesses will not be disappointed. It's an MBA in hardback form, outlining the right steps to take, in the right order, from "inner work" to action steps in any industry.

I'll be keeping it in the sidebar as well, so you can easily grab yourself a copy!

GREAT book! Plus...site changes!

Well, we're deep into all of our site changes, and I have to thank a great new book for making it all possible! Sites that Soar! is the WordPress customization and instruction book that I'd always been seeking. You don't have to know html, css, or php in order to get a great looking site with WordPress. If you do know a little of any or all of that, it gives you an amazing base from which to build a unique, professional design all your own!

Weird I'm promoting it on Blogger, no? (Actually, I look at the two services as having different purposes, at least in my business, so no flip-flopping on blog services intended!).

Here's the link to get an instant copy: