A while back, I met up with a fellow marketer for a brainstorming session at a place called Spolumbos.

They are famous on a local scale for the quality of their spicy (and non-spicy) sausages and meats.

They have done a TON of things right over the years.

Straight from their site (www.spolumbos.com):

“It’s a story of three first generation Italian-Canadian boys who grew up in traditional Italian families. With the family spirit of old-fashioned Italian tradition, the boys hand- cranked their family’s’ small food grinders, helping to make home-made Italian foods, like sausage and fresh crushed tomatoes for sauce.”

These guys are masters at marketing their business. Now think about this – it’s an Italian deli – not exactly something original.

But they own the majority of the market in the city of a million people.

How?

1) They use their celebrity status (all played in the CFL – the Canadian version of the NFL). Their old jerseys, photos, cups etc are all posted in the deli for all to see.

(if you have anything that resembles fame – use it! If anyone in your family does – ask them if they would be your spokesperson.)

2) They educate people on how their business works – how they make the meats – how the business does what it does. They have a virtual tour at their website showing you everything.

(remember the story of Schlitz beer? When they educated people about what goes INTO their beer – the time, labor and love – they went from 15th in the market to 1st! Everyone else did the SAME thing – but they were the only ones to educate people on it).

3) They use videos of their deli (the multimedia approach) – to attract the visual types. They even have a video there of Momma cooking over the stove.

(they did not worry about expensive camera crews and wasting a TON of money on high end product – it’s a hand held video camera! And it works. Don’t over complicate things – people could typically care less how much you spent on your video and audio production – all they want is the real content)

4) They give away their recipes! They don’t pretend they invented Italian sausage… they just make some of the best out there – and they share what they know. They are very open with the ingredients and the nutritional information of all their products.

(do you share all that you know about your business and industry? You should. People appreciate knowledge they don’t have – so show them you know what in the heck you do for a living).

5) They have wholesale AND retail covered. You can buy online via the case lot – or come in and get yourself lunch or dinner. You can buy their sausages through many other food related businesses here in town as well – so they use alliances and joint ventures to expand their reach to blanket the local market.

(are you give people numerous ways to order from you? Are you using other peoples client lists to sell your products or services? You should!)

6) They love giving to charity – and the media loves covering them. You will see these 3 guys at all the big sporting events – cooking up a storm on some big arse barbecues. They give a TON of food, toys, and help away to the charities that need the help.

And the media LOVES them. You see them everywhere – in the papers, on the radio, on television… they are everywhere.

(is there anything at all you can do or give away to a local charity? Help out those that need the help! And make sure the local media knows about it- phone them, fax them, write them)

THEY MISSED THIS THOUGH:

On their website they do not capture emails. They should. Think about the specials they could send out via email to get people in on their slow days of the week – even have specials for people to come in on their slow hours of the day.

(capture your customers contact information! Then do something with it… market to them… get them buying more often… in more quantity.)

Some very powerful lessons to be had in my last visit to Spolumbos – I hope you take notice and try a few new things in your business.

If it worked for them, it will work for you… no matter WHAT your business is.

This is not an excuse: ‘But… myyyyy business is different’ – no it isn’t!

You deal with people and people buy your product or service if you do what you promise.

Your business is not different at all.

It is all about people and giving them more than what you promise – and making sure they even know you exist.

**** Take heed in Mommas recipes – they contain the wisdom of wealth creation. ****

To your massive success

Troy

PS: Note something on the Spolumbos site… their story.

The simple addition of more of your back story is the simplest way to generate a following of prospects and buyers.

DON’T HIDE IT!

Most entrepreneurs seem to be scared or embarrassed about their beginnings.  Yet, to those who pay you for products and services,  it is one of the MOST important things about you.

Don’t kid yourself…

…you have competition out there… LOTS of them.

Your buyers could choose you or one of a handful of others.

So product isn’t how you differentiate yourself (and trying to win in  the long run on price is a losing battle)

Your STORY is how you win them over.  TELL IT!  

Starting with this step-by-step home study program to get it out there http://www.storysellingtips.com

Adding the story in helped one company go from $500 a month in online sales to $15,000 a month!  Just by adding a single page on their site that shared their story in a compelling way.

What could it do for YOUR site?

http://www.storysellingtips.com

Hobby entrepreneurs vs committed entrepreneurs

A bit of a rant today.

(I’m allowed, its my newsletter… and there are still lessons here for you…plus a free offer that can help you in your marketing)

This March is my 10 year anniversary of being in business full time.

It has been the ride of my life and the best thing I have ever done.

I would never be one of those BS artists and say it was all roses and champagne… anyone shoveling that shit at you should be avoided at all costs.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy.

It rarely happens as fast as you want, or makes you the kind of money you want in that amount of time.

Plus, it is a very convoluted zig-zag line of starting where you are and going to where you want to be.

It’s easy to sit there when you have a full time job, with a bi-weekly pay day, to think it will happen like magic when you leave the employed world into the self-employed world.

The one thing that irritates me to no end is the “hobby” entrepreneur. I don’t mean the person who markets their hobby, I mean the person who treats entrepreneurship like a hobby.

I am talking about the person with a full time job who starts a business on the side… that treats full time entrepreneurs like they too have a hobby business.

Case in point. A client from way back that had a good solid daytime gig. They made great money… but has the grass is greener mentality. They fall for the MLM pitch. They buy into it. They hire a couple experts to help. And they do what they can during their off time to move the business forward.

Then they sit back in amazement when they haven’t made their first million in the first 6 months.

The MLM gurus say they should be rich in no time.

The marketing guru they subscribe to tells them that all they need is copy and a website (with no mention to actual list building or traffic generation).

In their eyes, they were replacing their full time income in the first 6 months of selling miracle pills and potions.

…and they can’t figure out why it isn’t that way.

When I left the corporate world 10 years ago, my boss told me to expect a 2-4 year timeline to replace my income.

I didn’t believe him at the time…

…I do now.

He is a guy who has made a bloody fortune in 2 completely different businesses. One of them made a whole bunch of people millionaires during the dot com boom. The other one he stuck with for 20 years and just sold it to The Herjavec Group (of Dragons Den fame).

He has made high 8 figures (maybe 9 with his recent sale) I would guess in the businesses he helped build.

Very impressive.

But he isn’t done.

He is still young and is doing it all over again…

…starting from scratch in another unrelated business.

He doesn’t need the money.

But he does love the challenge.

The other thing about him that I still admire and aspire to?

He loves hiring people to do the dirty work.

I don’t. But I have no choice but to do that moving forward.

His last business he just sold had 100 employees or so.

Mine – 2 contractors.

Not enough.

So even I fall victim to the “hobby” mentality.

I haven’t wanted employees.

Tried them in the past and didn’t enjoy it (in my University days, I put myself through school owning a College Pro Painting Franchise and had 8 full time painters in the summer working for me… more like me babysitting them… but that’s another story).

But I also realized that going at the pace I am going is not going to get me my BHAGs in the next 10 years.

…having a serious team of players will though.

So, whether you are a part-time hobby entrepreneur, or a full time entrepreneur treating it like a hobby, make 2012 YOUR YEAR for thinking bigger than ever.

NOW is the time to get geared up for record sales.

NOW is the time to put people in place.

NOW is the time to market yourself more aggressively than EVER before.

NOW is the time to invest twice as much in your marketing.

Why?

When the worldwide economy settles (it will), those who are getting geared up now will be the ones that THRIVE in the new economy.

Not the ones treating it like a hobby.

Not the ones treating everyone with ambition like they are evil (some of the occupy crowd seems to believe this nonsense).

Full time, committed and passionate entrepreneurs are the ones that will drag this economy through the sludge, pull it up, and make sure it gets to a state where everyone can benefit.

Are you game?

Are you ready to take your hobby and make it your future?

I am… and I want you to join me.

Welcome to the select few.

To your success,

Troy

PS: One of the things I am committing to this year is more frequent emails to you. BUT… it is your choice if you want to receive them. If you want daily tips (5 days a week – instead of one or two) – click this link and you will start getting daily tips from me. Each of them will share insight into marketing, success, mindsets and money. They will be worth your while, I guarantee it. If you don’t click this link to get the dailies, you will still get my normal one or two a week. But if you want to commit FULL OUT this year, join me on the journey of your life.

Last, if you join my daily list, I will also gift you my 31k club membership. This gives you 31 days worth of drills and exercises that will get your own writing fired up and making you moola. This alone was “worth as much as the main course I teach on Story Selling”, according to Bill Loeber, one of the coaching students.

Yours free: the value to your business?

Hard to say – but if you start writing more articles, blog posts, promotions and newsletters… could be worth many thousands to you this year.