In a recent blog post by Chris Brogan, titled Simplify and Package the Sale, he stated “Let simple be the mantra. Make your contracts brief, small, simple. Make your projects short, finite, and clear. Make your deliverables obvious, simple, and measurable.”

Simplicity in thought, speech and action with everything we do is becoming incredibly important in a world where our diaries are blocked out to the max doing things that we think would make us happy, but where we are in fact squeezing away time to do the very things that will serve us long-term.

Simplicity in thought comes about through reflecting on the nature of the world around us, just how impermanent it all is, and seeking out the source of abundant bliss within.

Simplicity in speech shines through when we hear of wise people who neither speak without being asked nor interrupt when another person is speaking.

Simplicity in action is the ability to perform our everyday duties and rising above all the elements that are pleasing or displeasing to our senses. Having taken care of these simple everyday duties, our time and focus can be put towards seeking fulfilment from the treasury within.

Through simplicity, in all it’s forms, we make life a process of purification. How does simplicity apply in your life right now? What can you simplify to support your quest for permanent happiness?

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In the Tim Ferriss interview with Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth Revisited) on Escaping The Entrepreneurial Seizure, Michael introduces the three step process for building an automated business system.

As an entrepreneur, the focus here is not on working in the company (being the technician), nor is it about managing the company. The entrepreneur steps outside of the process and works ON the company rather than IN it.

Albert Einstein certainly had the right idea when he said “Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which the problems were created.”

So here is Michael Gerber’s 3 step process (with commentary from me) for building your very own business system…

Step #1: Intentional Dreaming

With this foundational step, take the time to dream, formulating your vision for your business and the impact you want to make on your immediate surroundings and the wider world. What is the purpose for your business? Who will it serve? How will it serve them now, and how will it serve them 10 years from now? Dream big, and dream outside yourself. Dream so that this system can continue without you, and will live strong way beyond your own life span.

Step #2: Intentional Organisation

What is the specific product or service that your client will receive, and how will your company get it to them? How will the company operate? Conceive, build, and perfect the automated client fulfilment systems that make up how your company operates.

Step #3: Intentional Growth

Once you’ve dreamed up what the business will do, and you have perfected the system that delivers this product or service, the final step is to conceive, build, and perfect the operating systems of the company that focus on lead generation and lead conversion.

Lead Generation: How are you going to tell potential clients about the business and how are you going to get them to come to you?  What is the marketing effort that needs to take place to attract your ideal clients to your business?  How can you automate the whole process so that you are leveraging technology and other people’s time to drive more business to your company?

Lead Conversion: Once your prospects come to know about your company and the products or services it offers, how are you going to help them take decisive action and give you money for the products and services that you are offering?  What are the barriers to securing the sale that need addressing? How can you leverage technology and other people’s time to automate this sales process?

All successful entrepreneurs seem to follow this simple 3 step model for building their very own automated business system.

Over To You

So what do you think of this 3 step process for building a business system? Where else in your work can you apply these very principles? How would you adapt them to make them work better for you?

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When you have the intention of making a sale or securing a deal, your duty is first to be a gentleman, and then, if it requires it, to be a gangster. A gentleman conducts himself with confidence, clarity, warmth, and respect.

When you believe fully in the product or service you’re offering, and know that your prospect would truly receive value from having it, here’s how to secure the deal in 3 easy steps…

Step #1: Offer

As a gentleman, confidently approach your prospect and clearly state who you are, what you’re offering, and how you feel it would add value to their business or lifestyle.

Step #2: Listen

As a gentleman, listen intently to their response. Is it that they want to purchase straight away? If so, great, sign on the dotted line please!

If they explicitly say “no, not at all” – then ask yourself again: “Is it truly going to add value to them?” If not, nevermind, walk away with your head up, and onto the next prospect.

If their response if more like “yes, but…” or “kinda…” or “no, but ummm…”, chances are that they really would benefit from having your product or service right now, yet they have a barrier that’s popped up for them in the shape of:

• I don’t know you:
  • How do I know you’re qualified?
  • How do I know you’re reputable?
  • How can I trust you?
• I don’t believe you
• I don’t want it / need it yet
• I can’t afford it
• It won’t work for me
• You don’t understand my problem
• What happens if I don’t like it?

This is where you shift your mindset from that of a gentleman, into the mindset of a gangster…

Step #3: Combat

As a gangster, systematically address each and every one of these barriers, so that you may overcome the prospect’s buying resistance, and through that, persuade them to take action and secure the deal.

If they ask “how do I know you’re qualified?” then respond with details of you / your company’s history and track record. If they say “it won’t work for me” then offer them a handful of solid testimonials from others who are in a similar position to them who have benefited massively by using your product or service. If they say “what happens if I don’t like it?” then offer them a ‘60 day no questions asked money back guarantee’.

IMPORTANT: you’re not in combat with your prospect. You’re in combat with that space that’s between you and the prospect, that’s keeping you from securing the deal. You’re addressing each of the barriers above with verbal combat and solid proof.

So there you have it: How to be a Gentleman and a Gangster to Secure the Deal in 3 Easy Steps.

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Chick-fil-A® have done it again by using a descriptive domain name to increase traffic to their promotion by capturing the attention of those who are looking for a free breakfast.

This is yet another promotion being run in the US by Chick-fil-A®, a fast food restaurant, where the visitor can register to be sent a coupon for a free Chick-fil-A® Chicken Biscuit in the mail.

When the site visitor goes to www.freebreakfastnow.com, they arrive at a landing page which asks them to click on an image to enter and register. When they click the ‘enter button’, the visitor gets taken to a form that asks them for their key details such as first and last name, email address, telephone number, full address, date of birth, and gender – and to top if off, they are ALL mandatory questions.

What the company gets from this is vital information about their target market – i.e. where they live, how old they are, what gender – as well as specific contact information so that further promotional material can be sent to them by post, by email, and over the phone.

Beneath these mandatory questions, there are the optional survey questions. Now HERE’s where they get really clever. They start by asking a couple of simple basic questions such as “Have you ever eaten at a Chick-fil-A® restaurant?” and “Have you ever eaten breakfast at Chick-fil-A®?”, which are most likely there to conceal the more sneakier items that follow…

Here come the subtle yet powerful marketing messages disguised as questions: “Please check which Chick-fil-A® Breakfast items you have tried:”. The page then allows the visitor to place a check mark next to any of the 5 items on the list that they may have tried for breakfast. Also, there’s the “Did you know Chick-fil-A® offers reloadable gift cards?” What this does is that even though these survey questions are optional, the visitor will still scan through them (even if they don’t answer) and even if they haven’t tried it, they will probably want to make a special trip into that fast food restaurant to have a taste of one of the other breakfast items, or even purchase a gift card.

Don’t you know, there’s no such thing as a free breakfast!?

In your business or community organisation, how can you model the promotional campaign that Chick-fil-A® have used to:

1. build your database of customers to directly promote to via email / post / telephone,
2. learn more about your target market, and
3. give your customers a subtle message about other products and services that are available?

What will be YOUR free breakfast?

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