by Jason Linett
Think about it. A potentially nerve-wracking situation was diffused by a dash of logic and the “Power of Premise.” I did not buy into the idea that I needed to be nervous. It’s like the time I was almost mugged in France. Almost. The truth is, I didn’t know we were getting mugged. I didn’t speak French, and I didn’t notice that this man asking for money was holding a knife. I assumed he was a homeless panhandler and politely said, “No thank you,” and kept walking. As we moved out of this dark alley, my wife exclaimed, “He had a knife!” Ignorance is bliss when you’re too naive to realize someone is sticking you up for money with a knife.
As I speak to organizations about strategies for better innovation and achieving their goals, I’ve discovered corporations and associations are also in need of the “ Power of Premise.” I’m often invited to give a keynote presentation to help reinforce the future growth of their industry. In spite of this positive future goal, businesses are often retreating by toning down spending or reducing their efforts. They’re waving the white flag rather than embracing a challenge. The more successful the company I speak to, the more likely they’re doubling down their efforts to inspire the right message to their team.
The “Power of Premise” can flip the negative news cycle of a down economy into limitless potential for growth. “How can I make this work even better?” Break out of the analysis paralysis myth that perhaps the timing isn’t right and, instead, WORK SMART to make it the right time.
Remember those old movies with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney? (Please note that my cultural references will gradually become more outdated and oddly specific.) For some reason, they kept finding the need to put on a performance. These movies became formulaic. The solution to all their problems was for someone to say, “My uncle has a barn, let’s put on a show!”
It’s like standing in an empty office, in debt, and deciding this is the perfect positioning to launch a business. It’s like being an entrepreneur with a wife, two children, a dog, and a cat. “I’m going to make this work.” Sounds like a powerful premise to live by, doesn’t it?
A married couple often debates for years if it’s the right time for them to have kids. If they truly have the desire to grow their family, do they wait for the right time, or do they make it the right time?
The “Power of Premise” can help you change your health.
You’ve likely heard of people using hypnosis for weight loss. It’s not necessarily that the power of suggestion can talk to a person’s fat cells and directly tell them to die off. Hypnosis can help create the mental shift to motivate the strategies necessary for weight loss. A 1996 study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology demonstrated that hypnosis more than doubled the average weight loss of people in an experiment. The people following a diet and using hypnosis as a motivational tool found far greater results than those simply following the diet alone.
I share this research with you as the foundation to tell the story of two different men in their early sixties who called seeking my help in motivating their weight loss. It was synchronicity and coincidence that they had the same backstory and happened to schedule on the same day .
The 10:00 a.m. man walked in and explained, “Now that I’m retired, it’s going be so easy to lose weight. I’m going to have time to go to the gym. I’m going to be able to cook and prepare food for myself. This is going to be so easy.”
Then came the other man at 12:00 p.m. “Now that I’m retired, it’s going to be impossible to lose weight. We’re going to all sorts of social environments, we’re going on vacations, and I’m going to want to just sit around the house. This is going to be impossible.” The first man easily achieved his goal. The second man was struggling to see results until I told him the story of the first guy. The “Power of Premise” was the missing ingredient that made the change possible.
Sometimes there are real conflicts to address. You should factor in the current state of your finances to avoid blindly spending money you don’t have. Please avoid sacrificing your personal health and connections to loved ones just to go after a goal. Stay tuned later in this book for “Keep Balance,” a chapter devoted to having a life outside of your business. The “Power of Premise” can help you harness genuine conflicts and convert them into advantages or motivational tools.
I once found myself working with an executive who explained that a specific medical condition was every reason why he wasn’t successful with one part of his business. His belief systems changed the more we talked about it. As he now put it, “Because I’ve got this disability, it’s every reason I owe it to myself and my community to become massively successful.” The premise of his life shifted out of the stuck issue of being a victim and, instead, into the role of survivor and advocate.
Put the “Power of Premise” to use right away. The formula is simple. Take every reason you believe you can’t and let it become every reason you can. The word “because” could be the most dangerous word you use. It could also be the most inspiring. Let your current situation be the “because” you’re going to WORK SMART in your business. Move beyond “I could” to inspire the mindset “I will.”
Once again, “There’s got to be a better way.”
WORK SMART ACTION STEPS:
☞ You can have reasons, or you can have results. Compile a list of the “reasons” you may have been persuading yourself as to why you can’t achieve a certain outcome. Let your creative mind have some fun considering all the alternatives in which these potential conflicts can become your best motivators. Let yourself truly discover that the logic works in both directions, and let the better mindset take hold.
☞ Use “The Power of Premise” to rewrite your personal origin story. Like a superhero, take the elements that demonstrate your readiness to move forward in your new business adventure. This is the story you will now tell yourself to stay motivated and continue to grow. Maintain the truth and integrity of what happened, though realize you can shine a metaphorical spotlight to position yourself as the hero in the next part of your story.
☞ Mark Twain said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Consider upcoming events or possibilities that are causing you stress and exercise your “Power of Premise” to shift your own emotional state.
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BUILD ASSETS AND LEVERAGE THEM
I learned one of the best lessons in marketing by watching The Simpsons .
You are about to learn to “Build Assets and Leverage Them.” This principle will enable you to take physical and mental stock of the tools you have to succeed in your entrepreneurial journey. I’m going to share the methods to rapidly become a peer to your potential customers, rather than to only be looked upon as a vendor.
I will reveal how I turn speaking opportunities into an opportunity to exponentially grow my business. You will get a preview of content marketing: the methods to provide a valuable experience to your future clients, positioning you as the obvious person to work with. You will learn how to listen for client feedback, to harness it, and to turn it into a machine that inspires others to take action .
But wait a minute, there’s an episode of The Simpsons starting on my television.
“Hi. I’m Troy McClure. You may remember me from such self-help videos as ‘Smoke Yourself Thin’ and ‘Get Some Confidence Stupid.’”
The late, great Phil Hartman was the voice of this quirky character. He was a media personality who had a knack of reminding you of where you may have seen him before.
“Hi, I’m Troy McClure. You may remember me from such educational films as ‘Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun’ and ‘Firecrackers: The Silent Killer.’” The comedic bit extended to the cartoon character’s personal life. Once on a second date, he said, “You might remember me from such dates as last night’s dinner.”
There’s actually something brilliant behind this. While the bit was meant to be a parody, I discovered the value of branding at a young
age. Use your current resume and personal experiences as a bridge to the next step in a professional relationship. Because I have done X and Y, I can help you with Z. It inspired my communication formula of “make them care before you ask them to listen.”
I call it “Build Assets and Leverage Them.” If you have a pile of bricks, you can build a house. If you have money in savings, you can invest it .
Assets are not just physical objects. They can be skills, knowledge, testimonials, or stories. Take the experiences you already have and domino them into the next step of your entrepreneurial journey. What can you do with your previous experience? Who needs to know these assets exist?
The formula I’m sharing here to “Build Assets and Leverage Them” is the foundation of a later chapter called “Scale Up.” To scale your business is to let it grow exponentially. I would encourage you to install the question in your mind: “Will this give me more of the same, or will it help me scale up?” The goal of growth is to scale up. We’re now going to harness your physical and metaphorical assets to make it happen.
Have you ever had the opportunity to appear at some kind of vendor fair? Whether you have a product or a service, there’s often an event where people stand behind tables and talk about their business, and it’s as if the attendees walk around to interview the businesses. Their questions relate to “Do I really need this product?” “Is this a service I need?” “Is this better than something I’m already doing?”
I meet a lot of business owners who have done this, and they’ve experienced frustration. These events often turn into strangers walking around looking for free items to take from your table. This isn’t theft, it’s common practice for companies to attempt to be memorable by having branded items such as pens, notepads, candies, toys, or whatever, for you to take home a memento of their business. I’m not completely criticizing this. I once gave the keynote at a major convention, and I sent 800 fidget spinner toys home with the attendees.
The problem is that the companies at these events position themselves as a vendor. They’re just another person trying to sell you something. The solution? Be the expert, not the vendor.
Take the experience of appearing at this event, the asset, and leverage it into the opportunity for a speaking engagement. I now have an informal rule that I won’t appear at a conference and have a vendor room table unless I’m speaking at the event. Otherwise, I’m just a guy trying to sell something. As a speaker, you’re in an expert position to demonstrate knowledge rather than be another person handing out branded fidget spinners toys. (No joke, if that’s your thing, I know a great source for them.)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin is an old legend where a man played a flute to drive rodents out of town. Spin this metaphor into an effective business strategy as you now “Pied Piper” the attendees from the audience of your presentation back to your vendor table. You’ve provided value, and this is the opportunity to answer questions, build relationships, and appropriately sell your services .
Stand out in your market by providing value before asking for the sale. When we hit “Lead Generation Marketing,” you’ll learn more about the astonishing value and methods of content marketing.
Imagine there’s a market in which you’d like to grow your business. What if there was a way to demonstrate your credibility in such a way that sets you apart from other businesses? Take note, I’m assuming you have the experience and knowledge to back what I’m about to share with you. Let your actions always have integrity and be truthful. However, if there’s a method to demonstrate your authority faster and your work creates raving fans, you owe it to the world to promote what you do.
Here’s a story of how I rapidly exploded a segment of my business. I was already doing motivational programs at high schools. I booked these programs through direct-mail advertising, networking, and word-of-mouth. I took the assets of my experience and leveraged it into a strategy to quickly establish myself clearly as a peer within this community. The expert positioning was more effective than just being another vendor sending out a contract and expecting a paycheck.
Market research revealed the name of a magazine that all United States high school principals received. If I called them and asked, “I’m a hypnotist who does a motivational program at schools about making positive choices. Can I write for your magazine?” The likely response would be that they’d send me their current advertising rates. I reached into my toolkit of ethical influence strategies because I knew what I could write for this magazine would serve a genuine benefit for the principals. This method is called a “double bind.” Rather than “Can I write for your magazine?” I asked, “Which one of these two topics would most benefit your readers?”
The framework of this question is also making use of what’s called an “assumptive close.” When will you apply this to your business? That question assumes you’re going to put this to use. Would you rather meet on Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon? That question implies that we are going to meet. Again, if your business truly delivers what it promises, and turns your past clients into raving fans, I would suggest it’s your ethical responsibility to use the appropriate methods to motivate action.
I took the asset of my experience and leveraged it into the publishing of an article. The published article immediately served a benefit as the dynamic of my business changed. I wasn’t just reaching out to the schools. They were now reaching out to me. But wait, there’s more! I took the asset of the article, the marketing lesson I learned from The Simpsons , and I leveraged the experience into a direct mail blast to the areas of schools I wished to tour. Attached to a color copy of the article was a customized “Hi, I’m Troy McClure” style cover letter. “Perhaps you’ve already read my article? In case you haven’t, here’s an extra copy for your records. I’ve already spoken at three of the schools in your county, and I’d be happy to briefly connect by phone to talk about a positive program for your students.” The response was incredible. I needed to subcontract programs to other speakers to match the demand.
Model this story. A single phone call leveraged my experiences into an article. I didn’t just hope for my phone to ring. I took serious action. Remember Kevin Pollak? “If you’re not creating, you’re waiting.”
The asset will sometimes magically appear. You’ll get invited to be on a podcast or radio show. It’s not just that you were on the program, it’s also who you get to listen to that program. A local newspaper ran a story about my business. I leveraged it by scanning it and putting the image on the homepage of my website. Simply ask yourself, “Who needs to see this?” and the method explains itself.
In my corporate keynote, I teach business people three strategies to internalize goals. One of the methods is self-hypnosis which I demonstrate with volunteers from the group. The majority of my presentations have been for insurance groups, real estate organizations, and large-scale retailers. One day, the gods of Google opened up. I was booked into an industry I’ve never targeted in my marketing: security and defense. The presentation resulted in an exceptional testimonial from the magazine’s editor. I hope you’re already guessing what came next! With permission, copies of the endorsement were made, customized “Hi, I’m Troy McClure” letters were mailed out, and I was soon speaking to more companies in that industry.
The stories so far may seem like large-scale efforts, yet they were targeted and specific. Sometimes thinking smaller helps you go big. The article written for the school administrators’ magazine was targeting an extremely specific audience: high school principals. The mailing with the defense magazine’s editor was only going to one specific audience who would care what that person had to say. The editor was their peer, and I took the asset of his approval of my program to leverage myself as someone who could do the same for other security-based organizations.
You could call these niche markets. I’d call them micro-niche markets. The more specific you get in your business targeting, the more informed you will be to deliver the right mes
sage to the right person. As a former member of BNI (Business Networking International), I learned the importance of “Be specific to be terrific.”
The more you micro-niche your marketing, the more likely your message will be read and received. I previously mentioned the science of the process and how I’ve helped people lose weight with hypnosis. Weight loss is a MASSIVE market! It’s a billion-dollar industry. Every day there are more people offering a new weight loss system, a new exercise program, or that magic pill that’s supposed to fix everything. For what it’s worth, the diet pill likely suggests it’s most effective when combined with diet and exercise. Want to know how I rapidly lost weight? I dieted and exercised.
Before explaining how I succeeded in offering a weight loss solution to my clients, it may be helpful to know that this concept of “Building Assets and Leveraging Them” is how I made my personal health transformation. I took the unfortunate asset of feeling weak and out-of-breath and leveraged that into the motivation for religiously exercising and eating healthier foods in the right portions. Stick around for “Build Rituals,” a chapter in this book which will shift your thinking on how to lock in new habits and behaviors at the speed of thought.
How did I succeed in the weight loss markets? The same method we’ve been talking about so far: small, targeted efforts to produce large-scale results. The category of weight loss was too vague. Instead, I targeted my efforts on several micro-niche categories. People who were doing a Paleo style of eating. People looking to gain muscle and strength while losing body fat. Realize that in any large community there are many smaller communities waiting for someone to reach out to them.
The best success came from meeting the needs of people living with diabetes who wished to curb their sweet tooth. A man visited my office with this exact goal. Being able to control his sugar intake would help him better manage the condition and reduce his medication through his doctor’s guidance. The unwanted habits were easily resolved and, as a bonus, he lost some weight. He happily shared a video testimonial and gave me permission to share it. Through the wonders of online targeted marketing, the video began to roll in front of people who had identified, online, an interest in organizations supporting people living with diabetes. The targeted online market was so small and so specific, yet the response was so big.