Consulting

Why Is Marketing the Most Important Business Skill You Can Develop?

That’s a really good question. A lot of people think it’s not, and that’s why they ignore it or treat it as an afterthought. But in fact, marketing is the heart of your business, no matter what your business is.

Ineffective or nonexistent marketing is the most common reasons businesses fail or fail to thrive. If you aren’t focused on your marketing, you are not focused on your business.

In 1990 I was busy running my third business when I decided I needed to learn more about marketing. I considered going to Harvard Business School (they offered me a slot and a scholarship), but then I came across a unique opportunity to study with the greatest direct marketing master of all time.

I gave up the Ivy League without a second thought, and I’ve never regretted it.

Why I Paid This Man $20,000 in 1990 to Learn Everything He Could Teach Me

Me and my marketing mentor, Jay Abraham. He promised to never teach his protégé program again, and I know he’ll keep his promise. His word is gold. If he did offer it today, he could probably double his fee to $50,000. I can think of 17 people off the top of my head that would gladly pay that much to learn what I know.

Jay Abraham is a legend in marketing. He possesses one of the greatest entrepreneurial and marketing minds ever. Over his decades in consulting, Jay was responsible for creating literally  billions of dollars of extra revenue for his clients. They paid handsomely for his counsel because quite simply, it made them a lot more money than it cost.

(This was one of my first lessons from Jay: you cannot possibly calculate the actual value on your work. You never know how what you give a client is going to impact that person’s life. While Jay’s clients gave him $1,000 for an hour of his time, they might make $1,000,000 as a result. Now, doesn’t that sound more than fair?)

When I spent my year as Jay’s protégé, I was young (twenty-five)and impressionable. My brain - always a busy place - soaked up his perspective like a pot of beans left to soak overnight. Jay broke down my preconceived ideas and remodeled my thoughts. I studied, listened, practiced, and absorbed. I took to heart his ethical, enthusiastic approach to marketing.

A year later, I was a completely different businessman, and I began to market my business in earnest.

Clients asked me for private consulting aside from my video business. Suddenly I was a marketing consultant, passing on what I had learned from Jay and watching it work magic for my clients.

Over the years, I have taken what I learned from Jay Abraham and built my own multi-million dollar companies, and helped my clients build their multi-million dollar companies … using the powerful strategies and mindset that I learned in 1990.

It was worth the $20,000 I paid for a year with Jay!

A lot has changed since 1990, in terms of technology and how messages are communicated, but basic marketing principles are still as solid as ever. Those rock-solid principles are foundational to the marketing and strategic planning I do for my businesses and for those of my clients.

Congruent Marketing™

Through working one-on-one with private clients, I developed an approach to marketing that is called Congruent Marketing™.  (It is actually trademarked.)

Congruent means corresponding in character or kind, appropriate to the situation.

Marketing means the process of developing, positioning, promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.

Put those two words together with my marketing mindset and you get:

Congruent  Marketing™ [kong groo ehnt  mahr-ki-ting], v. Communicating in such an authentic fashion that the prospect, customer, or client sees your business as the only appropriate source for the goods or service you offer.

Congruent Marketing™ is based on being authentic and letting your passion speak for itself. Convincing others to work with you happens when you speak from the heart.

Authenticity is very important to me, both in my personal life and in marketing.

If your marketing is not congruent with who you are, your customers can tell. And if they’re savvy, they probably won’t bother doing business with you.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

Congruent Marketing™ is based on presenting your authentic self – so that you will never feel like a fake, act like a fraud, or get stuck in the “muck of marketing.”

Private Consulting

When I studied with Jay back in 1990, he used to clasp his hands, lean forward slightly, and look me right in the eye before he said “I want more for you than you want for yourself.”

That sounded a little dodgy to me at the time. I doubted it could really be true, and wondered why he was trying to sell me on him when I was already his protege.

Years later after working with a few clients and watching them get enthusiastic about our sessions, but then back off from implementing in “real life,” I started to grasp what he meant.

Jay could see my full potential, and he wanted so bad to see me reach it. He wanted me to see it for myself, and to even exceed it.

That enthusiasm was catchy, and I started to employ it with my own clients. If I work with you, please remember that my highest goal is always to see you reach your full potential. I may see things in you and your business that you can’t even imagine. I want you to become totally aware of how amazing your ideas and plans really are—and how you really can make them come true.

You can serve your customers better. You can make more money and feel more successful and confident. And if your business is a worthwhile enterprise, countless lives could change as a result of you taking a measured, informed, step-by-step, ruthlessly honest look at yourself and your business and doing what needs to be done.

If you would like to discuss private consulting opportunities with me, please contact me using the contact information page.

Marketing Masterminds

In addition to private clients, I have formed some mastermind marketing groups to help entrepreneurs and business owners learn Congruent Marketing™ while also bonding with other like-minded, success-oriented individuals to form a powerful mastermind dynamic.

Maui Marketing Mastermind is a program I facilitate for local business owners in Maui, Hawaii.  It is currently closed and not open to new participants.