When we published Dominate Your Niche, we (my co-author, Thomas Fernandez, and I) were already considering to do our next book. But since we were both busy with our individual businesses we didn’t really put a timeline to it. However, since the release of Dominate Your Niche, we have been getting a lot of rave reviews and positive feedback about it. So we thought the time is right to release a follow up book.

With the new book we wanted to achieve a few objectives. Among them:

• share strategies on how to overcome the economic crisis and even profit from it,
• include more full-length case studies (a favourite among readers of our previous book),
• share more in-depth strategies on growing your business,
• show how to bounce back from set-backs, even if it is a severe one,
• and many more…

On top of that, we also wanted to do our part to encourage entrepreneurship locally and in the region. It’s our way to contribute back to the society. With that in mind, we set out and search for successful entrepreneurs in their niches. We invited them to be featured in our upcoming book. It is a win-win as we get to openly share their success secrets to the readers, while they get to expose their brand to the masses.

We are happy to have received wonderful responses from well-known entrepreneurs and brands. Some of them are over 10 million dollar companies. One is even over 100 million dollar company! We will share more about the companies in a later post.

But here, we would like to ask for your feedback. We have 3 book cover designs that we are considering. We’d like your opinion on them. I won’t explain too much on the reasoning behind the design as on the bookshelves, the general public will react just based on what they see, without prior knowledge of what it is about. So here’s how to judge them:

Imagine you’re in the bookstore and looking at the shelves. Which one grabs your attention and compels you to find out more/even buy it. The most important thing is attention grabbing.

Cover #1:

Cover #2:

Cover #3:

Let me know your choice (the one that GRABS your ATTENTION and makes you want to find out more/buy) by leaving a comment in the comment box below. It would be great if you can include your reasoning and additional thoughts/comments.

Looking forward to hear from you and thanks in advance.

Since the beginning of the sales training industry, there has been the 2 camps promoting opposing views on this. We all know the usually more aggressive “talker” camp. They are the ones that tell you to “take control of the situation”, “plow your way through”, “never leave without a check in hand”… to them, ABC means “Always Be Closing”…

Who can forget Alec Baldwin’s character Blake in the classic salesman movie, Glengarry Glenn Ross (if you don’t know the show… there’s no hope for you, go hug a pillow ;)). Alec’s character and Al Pacino’s Ricky Roma, are great representatives of the ultimate “talker” salesperson. They are ruthless and do whatever it takes to get the sale. Every wonder why salespeople get such bad rep?

On the other camp, the “listener” want you to “be a good listener”, “listen actively”, “don’t push, but pull”… they prefer the softer, gentler approach. I even heard a known trainers said “If they didn’t sign, just follow up. They will come back to you. I don’t know what world he was living in, but from personal experience and statistics in the real world, I know that when prospects leave without signing on the dotted line, chances of you closing the deal dropped significantly.

So who is right, who is wrong? Which method is the best?

Well, I think people need to take a step back to see that the most important thing… the result, is to close the sale. There are great sales principles from both camps. Salespeople should see them as tactics and tools in their toolbox and be flexible in using them appropriately to get the sale. They should not rely on one tool or technique alone.

Here’s my personal take:

First of all, before you meet any prospect, you must already have some ideas on what they are looking for, their wants, their needs, etc. You need to do some research on your general target market and understand their reasons to buy. You’d be surprised at how similar most of their basic reasons are… to feel good, to get attention, to make others happy, to avoid feeling left out, etc.

Second, when you meet with a prospect, it is important to start talking and get their attention.  If you don’t have their attention, you won’t get to move to the next round. Then you have to ask about what they are looking for.  Just a couple of sentences are usually enough. Obviously you can do it subtly. This is just so you know that you’re on the right track. There is nothing worse than starting your presentation with all the bells and whistles only to find out at the end that you missed what they wanted from the beginning.

But once you know that you’re on the right track, then it’s time for you to take more control of the conversation and be the one that is talking (presenting) persuasively. Most prospects want to be led. They are conditioned to be led. So you need to make them feel comfortable by giving them a sense of familiarity… of being led.

You would be surprised at the number of sales that failed because the salesperson just focused on asking questions and listening. Once you have their attention and establish some trust, most prospects will look to you as their guide. If you don’t do that, you will lose their attention and trust fast. They will start wondering whether you know what you are doing and begin to reconsider their position.

If you led them well enough, they will start to ask questions. You listen. This is the time they raise concerns, objections, etc. Obviously you then resolve their objections and go for the close. I’m shocked at how many salespeople just leave things hanging after a great presentation. They had this idea that if their presentation is great enough, people will buy.

It’s more likely that they are cowards… or just not trained right. One of the companies I was helping was doing a lot of trade shows. I noticed that their new salespeople are pretty aggressive in pitching… but they didn’t close. After each pitch, they just left it hanging, and prospects just smiled, pretended to be distracted, looked away and walked off. And they let them! It was painful to watch.

So I worked with their salespeople before their next trade show. I pointed out some of their weaknesses and they confessed that they didn’t know what to say beyond the pitch. I gave them a few simple but highly effective closing tactics (Side note: you don’t want to many tactics in a trade show situation, rely on a few proven ones. It’s about the numbers. Pace and reliability is the game). I got them to rehearse it a few times. At the next trade show, which drew slightly lesser overall crowd, the same sales team closed double the amount from the previous one.

Bottom line, there is the right time to listen and the right time to talk. Be flexible enough to use those tactics to get the sale. As Donald Trump said “It’s not about book smart or street smart, it’s just about being smart.” It’s about getting the results. Everything else are just tools.

If you’re considering of starting out on your own, here are a few things to consider:

1. If you can, choose a niche/industry that has great growth potential.

I know, I know… lots of the gurus and those media-friendly entrepreneurs often claim that it doesn’t matter what niche/industry you choose as long as you follow your passion. Most sugar-coated advice says “follow your passion” or recently the new buzz-phrase “follow your bliss”, and you will succeed.

But in reality that’s just half true… which means that it’s half bullshit! You have to mix optimism with reality. What you’re passionate about might not pad your pockets. Some gurus (especially those new agey ones) will then justify that “bliss” is different for everyone, and that to some people money is not as important as contributing to society, helping others, etc.

However, I’m operating in the common sense assumption that it is better to have more than to have less. When you have abundant, then you can contribute and help more people.

If you take a look at the different industries (this applies to niches too), you will discover that some industries are much more profitable and have much more potential compared to others. That’s just reality. No matter how passionate you are for your industry, if it is a small industry, then there is a cap… a ceiling to the potential of growth.

Recently I had the pleasure of chatting with a few prominent millionaire entrepreneurs (in Singapore). They are really smart entrepreneurs who have become the leaders in their various industries. Most of them have their brands in the top 5 of their respective industries. In short, they are the cream of the crop.

However, I discovered something very interesting… Even though a few of them started around the same time within their own industries, the results they achieved so far were very different. Some of them are doing 50 - 80 millions per year, and the lower scale, there are those doing less than 10 millions. Don’t get me wrong, all of them are brilliant entrepreneurs. Many of them are still pretty young too! But the size of their various industries has a direct link to how big they can grow.

Recently, I watched a Donald Trump interview. And in the interview he pretty much said the same thing. He told the story of 2 of his friends, one very smart and the other was just average. The average guy went into the oil business, while the smart guy went into another more conventional business. Donald said, the average guy became so wealthy it is ridiculous, while the smart guy was just doing so so.

So choose the industry you want to go into carefully. Industries are NOT equal no matter what others say.

2. Be passionate about what you’re doing.

Now, this might seem to be a direct contradiction to what I just wrote above. However, it’s not, really. You see, you have to choose your industry based on growth potential, but also on how much passion you have for it. If an industry has great potential, but you hate it, you probably won’t do well in it. However, if you’re neutral about the industry, then go for it, because you can always grow your passion for it. And doing well and getting great income will definitely help you fall in love with your chosen industry.

So it’s a balance you need to decide on. If you have a great industry that you’re passionate about… well, that’s your bliss! The point is you have to be passionate about what you do. If you’re not, then you’re practically sabotaging yourself from the start. You might not be extremely passionate about it at the start, it’s ok. But never go into something you hate.

3. You must have overall knowledge of the industry.

To be successful you must have knowledge of how the industry works. You have to know the whole business process:

Who are the suppliers, who are the distributors, who are the retailers. Where do you stand in the process line? What are the profit centres? How many possible profit centres are there? Where are the demands coming from? Who are your competitors? Who can be your allies?

One of the biggest mistakes most start-ups make is the lack of knowledge of the industry they are entering. But these mistakes are not exclusive to new start-ups. A lot of big companies continue to commit such sins. I’ve written on this in previous articles (eg. the Starving Crowd article).

Most new start-ups only know a small part of the whole business process. And it’s ok to start with that. But it is critical to continuously learn and get to know more about your industry. You will be surprised at how many companies just stop at what they know and don’t bother to learn about their own industries. Having additional knowledge will give you the critical edge that can help you outmaneuver, outperform and outsell your competitors… and dominate your industry.

4. Focus On Building Automated Systems

As soon as possible, it is important to focus on building automated, hands-off systems in your business. For example, if you’re a designer, focus on creating a small team of other designers that you can rely on to do the hands-on work for you. You can be the creative director giving them the direction and checking on quality.

This way you free yourself from the time for money trap. This will probably eat into your profits initially, as you have to pay those designers too. So you need to consider your cash flow situation. But as soon as you can afford it, do it. You can keep expenses low by using freelancers so that you don’t have fixed expenses.

Once the automated system is set up, you have a great foundation to scale up. You’re no longer limited by your own time and efforts. So you can get more clients and get more income… while others are doing the hands-on work.

You can apply this principle to other areas (eg. finance, operations, etc) of your business as well. The less reliant the business is on you alone, the more stable it is.

5. Focus On Marketing & Selling

Here’s a cold hard fact: You don’t make money when you are creating/manufacturing the products. You don’t make money when you are delivering the service. You don’t make money when you’re interacting with customers. You don’t make money when you are improving quality. You don’t make money innovating…

You only make money when you sell something to someone. Period. And nothing sells by itself. Nothing.

Of course I don’t mean that all the rest of the above are not important. In fact, they are critical to a business’ survival and growth. And a lot of times, those elements can help in selling your solutions (products/services). But those elements only mean something when you can sell your solutions.

A business with the best product/service in the world won’t survive if it can’t market and sell it. You’d be surprised how often and regular this happens in the marketplace. If the solution is really great, another company with better marketing know-how will eventually end up with it and profiting from it.

So focus on marketing and selling your solutions. Use other elements to support your marketing efforts. Many people think that Henry Ford created the assembly-line that’s why he was so successful. But they got it wrong… they got it backwards.

Henry Ford wanted to SELL more automobiles to more people. That led him to create innovations in the assembly line techniques used in mass productions. He became the father of modern assembly lines.

Most businesses got it backwards. They spend too much time on things that don’t make them money. This is a mistake start-ups can’t afford to make.

To your profits,

Since the launch of our book “Secrets To Dominate Your Niche” in late April, things have been crazy (in a great way). The book became a National Bestseller in just 12 days, while competing with big names like Robert Kiyosaki & “The Last Lecture” (they were released about the same time). In 19 days it became the #1 Bestselling Business Book in Singapore.

We’ve been covered in many mainstream media. Readers are also raving about it. It was great! We have been receiving requests to conduct talks based on the book. One reader even proactively brought the book to his country (Philippines) and organised a launch there! You can read more about the exciting developments here: www.SecretsToDominateYourNiche.com

There are so many other exciting developments… but for now I’ll keep them under wraps for a while longer. Just know that I’ll be putting out more valuable content right here!

Finally… The book is done and we’ve received the first copies of the book. We’re really excited about it! We’ve received incredible reviews from some really big name business leaders like Brian Tracy, Joe Sugarman and many others. (Read their reviews HERE) It will be in the stores sometime next week. Majority of the bookstores like Kinokuniya, Borders, Times, etc, have already ordered it. We even have online pre-orders and bulk orders from overseas!

Here’s a sneak peek on what’s happening:

I’m holding one of the first few copies that was literally “Hot Off The Press“. It looks great and it feels great! We’ve been getting raving compliments (unsolicited) about the cover of the book, thanks to our wonderful designer Jessie. This photo taken with a mobile phone camera doesn’t do it justice. We used matt black for the background. The title and the picture are embossed so they “pop”. On top of that we added gold laminate on some of the keywords. It is fantastic! It’s something you’d be proud to be seen carrying around.

We’re busy with preparing to mail out the books for those who have pre-ordered and to the media. Each of them are personally autographed by my co-author, Thomas Fernandez, and myself.

Walking the talk: We are giving some copies to the media for their reviews. But we didn’t want to give it to them “plain & boring”. After all, these people are probably receiving dozens of solicitations for reviews. To stand out and be different we came up with a novel idea of wrapping the book in a “money bag”. The bag is rich black and is made of “felt” material. Then we used a golden rope to tie it up. And for the final touch, we hanged the picture from our cover (that became our logo) on the rope. What do you think?        We are also getting rave reviews about this packaging. But most importantly, we already have confirmed media appointments in the next coming weeks! That’s the power of being different!

Michelle and my wife, Olivia, who are largely responsible for making the packaging looks great!

The branding doesn’t stop at the packaging of the book. What do you think we will be wearing on the launch day and those media interviews? One of Thomas’ staff modelled the T-shirt for us. He looked so youthful and handsome… in it! (Yeah, him pretending to read the book was a blatant attempt at product placement :) )

Currently the “Hot Off The Press” mini promo is still on till end of Sunday. If you’re interested to get early, personally autographed copies you can still get it HERE. But not for long, as we’re running out of our early copies. After that you can grab it from the bookstores… but with no personal autographs from us.

By the way, this whole process is a great case study of creating a brand. We did a lot more than what I shared here. I’ll reveal more next time. Meanwhile, go check out the promo before it’s gone!

Leave your comments on the book, the packaging bag, the pretty babes, the handsome t-shirt… I mean the handsome guy and the T-shirt he wears below. I’d love to hear from you.

Do you like it? Let me know what you think.

To thank you for being a loyal reader I’d like to share with you the secret that the extremely successful gurus are NOT telling you. This is the secret that gurus like Rich Schefren, Frank Kern, Yanik Silver, and other really successful ones are using. The exact same kind of secret that big ultra successful and big companies like Mercedes Benz and McDonald’s is using.

As you can see, most the well-known gurus have similar standards of expertise and technical knowledge. They know how to do keyword research, they know how to use copywriting effectively, they know how to create buzz, they know about the launch sequence, etc…

So why is it that some are much, much more successful than others?

What is the DIFFERENCE that make the DIFFERENCE?

Find out in this audio:

Go get Adobe Flash Player!

(Note: This is the first time I’m posting an audio. Hopefully everything works out fine It took me about 2 hours to record and post this 14 min audio. But I’ll get better)

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Cheers.

In just a few weeks I’ll be launching a book that I’m co-authoring with a very successful, award-winning entrepreneur. The title of the book is: “Secrets To Dominate Your Niche: Differentiating Ideas To Easily Outwit, Outsell & Outperform the Competition!”

We’re really excited about it. This book is about entrepreneurship & marketing. We show you how you can create your own niche and dominate it.

We’ve sent out an early copy of the book for reviews and we’re very happy to have received wonderful reviews so far. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“Powerful, direct, clear and highly useful advice. You will definitely learn something new and important in this bold, outspoken book. I did and I’ve been a leading marketer for over 20 years!” - Michael Weissman, High Technology Marketing Guru and co-author of The Paradox of Excellence.

“I love the book! There are so many powerful and practical messages and strategies revealed. This is real life stuff! I also enjoyed all the action points, as nothing happens without action…”
- Frank Furness CSP
International motivational speaker, sales trainer and author

“This is an excellent guidebook for entrepreneurs. In it Thomas and Sant reveal the secrets to building your business for massive profit and success… strategies can literally help you dominate your niche market. If you are interested to improve your business, get the book!”
- Adam Khoo, Chief Master Trainer & Best-Selling Author, Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group

But we need your help!

We are in the midst of tidying up the book and having the designer work on it. We have gotten 3 possible cover versions. We want to get your feedback. Which of the 3 cover designs appeals to you the most? We’re looking for something that stands out and grabs attention. And of course compels you to grab a copy.

Which one captures your attention more than others? Which one makes you want to reach out and get a copy to read? Which one makes you want to buy?

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

When you give us your opinion, I will send you excerpts of the highlights from the book.

Here’s how:

1. Please leave your opinions below as comments.

2. Please fill in your email add when leaving a comment so we can email you the ebook.

3. Only leave sincere and truthful comments.

4. Please choose the best one you like, the second best and the third. Remember, we’re looking for the one that grabs your attention, makes you want to reach for it and buy it.

5. If you have additional comments, we’d love to hear them. Please keep it short and to the point.

NOTE: This will only be available in just the next few days. I reserve the rights to take this down as soon as I think we have a good indication. So if you’re interested to get excerpts of the highlights, let us know your opinion ASAP.

Thank you very much for giving us your feedback. We really appreciate it.

Cheers!

Sant