EnTrends

"Into every life a little rain must fall." And into every
business too. Don't have the luxury of surplus cash to fund a
rainmaker for your business? Well then, it'll have to be up to
you. As usual. Here's how:

YOU HAVE VERY LITTLE COMPETITION

"Everyone wants to win on Sunday, but not everyone is
willing to practice Monday through Friday." Vince Lombardi

If you asked all of your competitors whether they want to be

successful, it's a fair bet that pretty much all of them would
say "Yes, of course, who doesn't want to be successful?"

But if you asked your competitors if they were prepared to do
what it takes to develop their businesses so they could
ultimately become successful, to pay the price in terms of
effort, discipline, perseverance and patience, although most if
not all would probably answer "yes, of course, whatever it
takes", the reality is that very few of them actually would.

Although everyone wants success, very few are prepared to
pay the price over the long haul. Oh, they may give it a good
go for a little while but when the results don't come quickly,
they decide their efforts aren't working and try something
else.

The cold, hard reality is that success takes hard work, lots of

it, and lots of time. Overnight successes are very rare. That's
why successful people say there's always room at the top.
It's because most people quit before succeeding, even when
success is literally just around the next bend. This is why
you have very little competition. Although you may think
you have a lot of competition, in reality you're really
competing against only ten percent or so because the other
ninety percent will drop out before they achieve success.

Think of your business as a garden. The first stage is to

decide what you want to grow, the second stage is to go get

seeds and plant them, the third stage is to tend your garden
and

the fourth is to reap what you have sown. The greatest
challenge for most people is to sustain themselves through
the third stage. This is where patience is essential because it
may be some considerable time between planting and
reaping. Tending your garden also requires, in addition to
patience, creativity, self- motivation, self-discipline,
perseverance and resilience (all the better to bounce back
with after disappointment, my dear).

The good news, though, is that ninety percent of your
competitors can't or won't stick it out long enough to reach
the harvest stage. This is why you can be always be a
success no matter how much competition you have. So, let's
get to it.

DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO GROW

Before you can plant your seeds, you need to know what it is

you want to grow.

"Communicating one on one is different. This requires

listening, never taking your eyes off that person, conveying the
impression that this conversation is very important to you."
Rick Pitino

The first step in communicating with anyone about your
business is knowing with absolute clarity what it is you and
your business are about. You must decide what it is that you
offer and to whom. This means finding your niche. It is the kiss
of death to any business to try to be all things to all people.
Accept the fact that not everyone is a worthwhile prospect for
your business and don't waste your energies targeting anyone
who is not a worthwhile prospect.

For example, let's say your business is about web site
optimization for search engines. You take your clients' web
pages and you optimize them for each of the engines, tailoring
the pages to rank well. You don't design web pages, you don't
create them, you don't offer credit card merchant facilities or
shopping carts. You optimize existing pages to rank well in the
search engines. Period. This is a very specific niche within the
broader market of those requiring help marketing their web-
based businesses.

Although that broad market will include people interested in
web page optimization, it will also include people interested in
learning HTML, looking for shopping cart assistance, looking
for website design services or information on successfully
promoting affiliate programs. If you targeted this entire market, it
would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack identifying
those people interested specifically in web page optimization.

Instead, narrow your focus to that niche of the market that you
have decided to target and target ONLY that market. Everything
you do needs to be focused on web site optimization and
nothing else. Every communication you make must be to that
end and no other. Don't allow your message to be diluted by
generalizing. Don't allow your business to become fragmented.

The most effective rainmakers are very skilled at differentiating
themselves and their businesses from the competition because
they know exactly what they are selling and to whom before
they ever meet their first prospect. They have rehearsed over
and over in their minds what it is that makes them special and
why a client would be smart to do business with them. They
relish questions such as "So what do you do?", "What makes
you special?" and "Why should

I do business with you?". While ordinary mortals may stumble
and fumble for effective responses to such questions,