The Sticking Point Solution.
9 ways to move your business from stagnation to stunning growth in tough economic times.
By Jay Abraham
The simple fact is that businesses can plateau, or stagnate.. Without the owners or key persons realising it. The purpose of “The sticking point solution” is to help entrepreneurs and executives recognise the ways in which their businesses may be stuck, and to then give them tools for getting unstuck and enjoying exponential growth.
To achieve this, this book will help you to identify the nine ‘sticking points’ that keep entrepreneurs and executives alike grinding just to survive, instead of growing and thriving.
Unlocking that true business potential and diagnosing the specific issues that each reader / business owner/ entrepreneur/ employee faces is the mission of this book. The results: Freedom from stagnation and stalling; new levels of profitability and success; and a much greater sense of control and pleasure.
Why it matters.
Jay Abraham loves a bad economy. And after reading you’ve read “The sticking point solution”, he believes so will you. The fact is, areas of growth are actually more fruitful in difficult economic times than in great times. And Abraham aims to show you how to succeed in these times. He doesn’t just share theories and platitudes that are common among so-called experts. No, Abraham has done it. He’s created success for more businesses in more countries than just about anyone else on the planet, even in bad times.
This book is brimming with amazing stories of entrepreneurs just like you who have made millions, even billions, by cashing in on an opportunity that many others would have overlooked. He’s a living, breathing, thriving success story who can show you how to achieve unrivaled results in a crisis economy.
The Big Idea.
Businesses can do well in down economies. On one single day when Abraham was writing “The sticking point solution”, the stock market fell by 700 points. But that same day, 100 stocks went up. No matter how bad it is, somebody somewhere is having their best year ever. How do you become one of those somebodies.
You have to become unstuck. A stuck company is one that fails to grow predictably every year, every quarter, every day. And in good times, stuck companies don’t even realise that they’re stuck. There are four main reasons for being stuck:-
Reason 1. Not incorporating growth thinking into every aspect of the business.
Reason 2. Not measuring, monitoring, comparing and quantifying results.
Reason 3. Not having a detailed, strategic marketing plan with growth expectations.
Reason 4. Not setting appropriate specific goals.
Let’s be honest. How many of these four are you guilty of?
Down times provide opportunity to take business from your under performing competitors, in addition to capturing the new buyers in the market. This is true even if the bottom has fallen out of your industry, however you have to get serious and be very creative. And you have to focus on solving your business problems for yourself and your marketplace. These are the problems that get ignored in good times. Now is the time to fix them and reign triumphant over everyone else.
Abstract from the book..
Most businesses lack a firm, clear picture of where they should go. The owners don’t examine their current projections.They’re stuck doing more of the same thing or less of the same thing – but they’re still doing the same old thing. If you’re going to be successful, you need to blast through the status quo. You have to get unstuck. Abraham details the nine sticking points:-
Sticking Point 1. Are you stuck losing out to the competition?
To quote Peter Drucker, “Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.” To that Abraham adds, strategizing is a third income generating activity. What’s the difference between big winners, versus the ones who do so-so, or who lose? Implementation of Vision.
The leaders are the ones who engineer the most quantity, quality and consistency in breakthroughs. But look around. How many small or medium size businesses have any strategy? They are mostly tactical aren’t they.
Sticking Point 2. How about you?
Change the way you run your business so your clients see you as a definitive expert, as Malcolm Gladwell said in “The Tipping Point”, establish business pre-eminence! Think of Dr Pepper’s “23 Flavours” campaign. Others were using a blend of many flavours, but only Dr Pepper made it a focus of their marketing message. The point is that by being the first to publicly define and describe the process, you look like the innovator and all the others look like clones.
Sticking Point 3. Are you stuck not selling enough?
“Most people are stuck not selling enough because they don’t know how to sell products or services effectively.” It’s that simple and it’s that powerful. Are you stuck here? Look at your sales know-how. Sales ability is not something you either have or you don’t. It’s not black magic. It can be systematically learned or implemented by anyone.
So you’re not in a position to hire, train and handsomely reward a top-calibre sales force? No problem. Do a joint venture (JV) with someone in a non-competing business. More on the power of JV’s later.
If you’re stuck not selling enough look at your marketing too. Even small changes to your current marketing can yield big results. Here are seven ways to leverage your marketing:-
- Write Great Headlines
- Set Yourself Apart
- Offer Proof to build Your Credibility
- Reverse Your Customer’s RIsk
- Include a Call To Action
- Offer a Bonus
- Summarise Your Offers
If you want to win, you need to be needed, To do this, you must clearly communicate why the buyer needs you. Remove ambiguities! Show them that you are the only path to fulfilment for your market. Remove all opportunity for your prospect to say “So What?”
Sticking Point 4. Are you stuck with erratic business volume?
Want to know the biggest problems of small to medium sized businesses? It’s really simple:-
- They’re not strategic
- They’re not analytical
- They’re not systematic
Here’s what Abraham says about the lack of strategy:- “If you’re not strategic, then each month you’ll be putting out the same fires. Usually those fires are related to finances and cash flow. flow. If you’re like most businesses without a workable strategy, you’ll find yourself rehashing the same problem time after time: how to get through that month and pay the rent. Every thirty days, you start over, interminably pushing that same boulder up the same slippery hillside”.
Your strategy will change according to your target audience; clearly, you’ll need to strategize differently to reach different kinds of clients. You simply must identify the people in your target market, then identify the problems that you solve for them. Determine what other products or services these people need and then offer it to them, even if you’re not currently doing so.
To find out what’s working you have to test it. Try multiple strategies and test them all. It will work or it won’t, but you’ll have hard data, not assumptions. And with each step =, you’ll move closer to bigger and better results.
Sticking Point 5. Are you stuck failing to strategize?
If you’re like most business people you fail to focus on managing, strategizing and working on the real growth issues of your business. You do what you’ve always done- and get the same results or worse. If you’re not being strategic I can guarantee you’re spending your time in the wrong ways. What are the wrong ways? Abraham puts it like this: “Anything that isn’t relevant, that you’re not competent in, or that you’re not completely passionate about should be delegated to someone else.” And if your budget is lean, find creative ways to compensate assistants and employees, such as joint ventures and barters.
Think of emails and phone calls. Are they running your life with constant distractions? Or do you schedule specific times for these activities, and focus the rest of your day on productive, revenue generating activities?
In down times, strategy matters more than ever because your competitors are cutting corners. At this time, you must identify what your business does, or can begin doing better than anyone else.
Are you stuck with costs eating up all your profits? You know well that when markets tighten, business owners cut their marketing budget. The consequence is that they’re cutting investment in their business. This is a foolish thing to do..
Of course if you’re not measuring results, you’re flying blind. And you’re probably spending in poorly performing areas. If you dump good money into marketing activities that aren’t working in good times, you can’t expect them to work in tough times, When you’re stuck, you must examine every activity to get the most out of every pound you spend.
You can find creative ways to grow your business. Carnival Cruise is now the largest cruise line in the world. But it started with one ship and no real capital. It was painted on only one side, so they birthed it with that side showing. To grow the business, they traded cabins that would have been empty for advertising in 100 cities for ten years, without spending a penny of hard cash. This strategy le to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Do you have a way of using this in your business.
If your business is struggling, the source is probably either paying too much (as with fixed overheads) or paying too little. If you’re paying too little, your people are probably not giving their best. Focus on incentives and pay for results, not merely salaries.
Sticking Point 6. Are you stuck still doing what’s not working?
Don’t be insular and interact only with those inside your industry. Instead, gain exposure to other industries and strategic ways of thinking that you can adapt to your business. To succeed, you must break free of the constraints that are holding you back.
There are six common constraints that are holding you back:-
- The idea that mistakes should be avoided at all costs. If you fail and it gets you closer to a winning solution or idea it doesn’t matter.
- Linear thinking. Learn to view your business systematically, as opposed to a series of symptoms.
- Flying blind (until it’s too late). 80% of new businesses fail within the first five years. But, the 20% that make it almost always take a different direction than what they intended. If you’re going to meet real customer needs, you must adapt to do so.
- An inefficient work style. This severely limits your productivity- find and implement ways to save time and maximise your profits.
- Being alone and lost in a networked world. You need a network of people with answers, resources and specialised tasks.
- Customer bottlenecks. Particularly in your sales process, it could sound counter intuitive, but a key to satisfaction for customers is actually having fewer choices.
Sticking Point 7. Are you stuck being marginalised by the marketplace?
Marginalisation and commoditization seriously hamper real growth. To strike back, you must set your business apart by being preeminent, pre-emptive and proprietary. Knowledge alone isn’t enough.
- To gain pre-eminence you need to offer something very different from anyones else, all by being creative in how you integrate it and render it. You can be like the best cars and baseball players who outshine everyone else.
To do this, you’ll need a systematic, strategic and sustaining plan. You have to establish yourself as propriety. Do this, and your clients will see better results, your products will see better results, your products will be better respected, and your reputation will be extended.
To come unstuck, change your perspective. Many business owners ask how they can cut costs, survive and do better. But the right question is: how can you add more value to your clients?
Sticking Point 8. Are you stuck with mediocre marketing?
Marketing has the power to create the difference between mediocrity and making millions. If you want to be a brilliant marketer, devise three ways to articulate your customers problems better than your competitors. The build this into a vision for your market. If you do this, versus simply focusing on the day to day business, you’ll be well ahead of almost all of the others. This will lead to a purpose behind your company.
If you harness the power of marketing, you’ll be able to make your business work harder for you, so you can work less for great results. Let your business work hard, and let it grow into a valuable asset for you. Doesn’t that beat the alternative?
Turn what you may know about marketing on its head by redefining the word. Think of it as the process of educating the market and informing people that your business can solve their problems.
Sticking Point 9. Are you stuck still saying “I can do it myself”?
Successful entrepreneurship today isn’t about being a hero who does it all in isolation. No, it’s about leveraging people, assets, capital and effort. Creative collaboration is the defining trait of successful 21st century businesses. None of us can totally go it alone. If you’re like many entrepreneurs, juggling too many tasks and functions, you’re not following the concept of highest and best use. And I can guarantee that you either are, or about to become STUCK.
Joint ventures can be a boon for smart entrepreneurs. If you don’t have distribution, find somebody who does and buy into theirs by giving them a share of your profits. If you have a weaker competitor, consider this: Try a joint venture acquisition. Help them get rid of overhead, and give them an easy way out. You can even pay them a share of revenue on an ongoing basis. This is the best solution for both of you. Joint ventures like these are incredibly powerful and have massive potential, but you must leverage them!
Think about how best to leverage your network. Increased sales don’t come from increased contacts. They come from a higher value and quality network of contacts.
Final word.
This is an excellent book that most entrepreneurs haven’t read. Be different, grab a copy of it from the link below and don’t just read it study it.
Buy on Amazon.(The Sticking Point Solution.)
Happy reading
Twelve intensive half-day meetings.
