Selling is just selling

Selling is just selling

Today I’d like to share one of the most important insights I stole from my mentor and publisher, Kyle Wilson, who used it to amass an email list of one million subscribers before selling his businesses.

But first, I’ll give you some background on him.

Vernon, Texas, a small town of around 12,000 people, is where he spent his childhood.

He launched his first successful business (and marketing campaign) when he was only 19 years old.

It all started when he set up shop as a car detailer. Even though he wasn’t a car guy and had barely any experience in the industry, he took advantage of a gap in the market. He kept costs down by leasing space from a modest gas station. Soon after, he expanded his offerings to include things like oil changes, brake pad replacements, etc.

Four years later, he bought one of the town’s most visible gas stations as a result. Almost everything related to school buses was handled by them, including contracts, tyres, batteries, a simonizing franchise, and even snacks and lunches. The slogan “Wilson’s Texaco – We’re America’s Station” was a play on the Dallas Cowboys’ “We are America’s Team” slogan.

It didn’t take him long to figure out that effective marketing required four factors that most people overlook:

Superb Quality at Reasonable Costs

Excellent support for customers

Methods that work well (time and efficiency)

Excellent staff and guidance system (multiply your efforts)

After some time, he made the decision to sell the gas station and relocate to Dallas. He had no idea that a few short years later he’d stumble into the seminar business and find himself promoting speakers like Jim Rohn, Og Mandino, Brian Tracy, and others all over the country. And in 1993, he established Jim Rohn International and YourSuccessStore.com. Far away from Vernon’s auto repair shop!

Now, skip ahead to the year 1998. His seminar and product sales were booming, but the internet was quickly becoming the industry’s hottest topic. Seminars, promoters, direct mail, newspaper and magazine ads, and some media, primarily radio, were all that they had to promote their product up until that point.

It was scary to use the internet! Only the savviest techies were allowed in (which he certainly was NOT). Numerous techies have recast themselves as marketing gurus.

And then he heard Jay Conrad Levinson say something that put him five years ahead of the curve. The marketing expert remarked that “all marketing is the same.” Everything from newspaper ads in the 1940s to TV commercials in the 1960s to direct mail in the 1970s and 1980s to infomercials in the 1990s is basically the same.

The fundamentals of marketing remain the same; what alters are the methods used to implement them?

Professional marketers are adept at seeing the big picture and making connections. No one but the business owner or operator has a more complete picture of the company’s future than they do. Make sure the marketing guys are doing the marketing and let the tech guys do the tech work and the sales guys do the sales.

As a side note, if you run your own business, YOU should be the one responsible for shaping your marketing and brand.

Instead of asking the tech guys to do it for us, Kyle decided to find a very teachable and flexible internet tech guy and build their online plan together.

That is to say, he would play the role of strategist, while they would be responsible for implementation. In this case, he would be in charge of marketing, while they would handle the technical aspects.

Kyle was incredibly fortuitous to ride the crest of the internet marketing wave in its infancy. His business ventures flourished as a result. In late 2007, he sold the companies, and a major selling point was the customer email list he had amassed through online promotion.

Now fast-forward a decade, and social media has replaced both email marketing and the internet. Now what?

For the most part, business owners and entrepreneurs know more about their customers and their businesses than any third-party expert could ever hope to. They have an advantage over an outsider because they can see what the competition is up to firsthand and because they have access to information about the industry’s past.

Now, it’s crucial for marketing to connect the dots with technology and outside experts, and this often requires outside assistance. Be a student of the world forever and always; always look to others for guidance and advice.

However, in my opinion, it is crucial for business owners to take charge of their own marketing.

You should be the one steering the ship and drawing the connections in all your marketing endeavours, from the content to the technology (websites, email marketing, social media, SEO, etc.). At the very least, you should be co-creating your marketing strategies and activities.

The knowledge he gave me was priceless. Within a short time frame, I had my first book published. This year, I co-authored a second book with five other writers, and it was published.

Furthermore, I’ve been expanding my company at a much faster rate than before.

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Here are the three ways you can work with me, whether you want to work with me one-on-one or just be a part of what I do to assist business owners in increasing their revenue and visibility in the marketplace.

  • First, We Have a Brand New Marketing Superstars Mentoring Program
  • Participate in My Upcoming Programming Effort
  • Quick and Simple: Just Send an Email to Your Blog Mastermind
  • Visit any of these links for additional information on any of these three services. If you’re interested in exploring the possibility of working with me or a member of my team to help you achieve greater success in your business, please respond to this email with some details about yourself and what you’re hoping to achieve.Greetings, and Best Wishes for Your Achievement!

    Charles

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