The One Hundred Acre Development, north of Tampa is full of large, upscale homes, as large as 4,000 square feet. The tree-lined streets are populated with Porsches, luxury SUV’s. There are 600 full-time or “snow-bird” residents here, in a mix of homes and condos.

In addition, the resort the residential community surrounds attracts 1,000 people every weekend, 200 to 300 most weekdays. There’s an 8,400-square foot spa, golf course, bicycle trails, pools with waterfalls, and clubhouse. It is the Florida home or vacation spot of choice for affluent empty-nesters with one thing in common: they like bicycling on those trails, golfing on that course bare ass naked.

This is one of the largest, if not the largest “clothing optional” resort/residential communities in America, but it’s definitely not the only one.

Exclusive, gated communities for the affluent are nothing new – although it interests me that more proprietors of other, different types of businesses haven’t noticed and applied the strategy. After all, you probably boost the sale price of the homes by 50% as soon as you slap up a gate, guard shack and clubhouse. The bigger lesson here is the combining of a demographic niche (age/affluency) with a subculture niche (nudists).

It is obviously exclusionary, ruling out the majority of people – something most marketers are loathe to do. Yet by excluding most it is irresistibly attractive to the tiny minority it caters to, and, I can assure you, price disappears from the choice grid.

No, I’m not necessarily suggesting that GKIC make our offices “clothing optional.” I am suggesting there are a lot of ways to mine riches in niches.

One is combining. You might combine occupational niche with a subculture niche, like dentists who own and ride Harley-Davidsons, so you have your dental seminar just for them at Sturgis or Daytona Beach, immediately before the annual biker invasions. Or occupational with demographic – Dr. Searby’s done that, targeting dentists within a certain number of years of intended retirement, to sell his dental assistant schools to.

Actually, the combinations within the combinations, putting age, gender, married, single, divorced, with kids, without, Catholic or protestant, by occupation or business, years in business, by income, by net worth, recreational pursuits, etc. into a matrix, produces endless possibilities.

You shouldn’t ignore subculture by any means. People, businesspeople are much, much more passionate about whatever personal pastime and subculture they’re in than they are about their business.

In Japan or China, I forget which – this was in a little typed doohickey running across the bottom of the screen on CNN – the government is trying to outlaw and stop the common, popular practice of hiring strippers to dance and take-it-all-off at….funerals!

Hadn’t occurred to me before, but this does seem like something I’d like happening at mine. In between speakers and product pitches.

It seems that the people believe that the bigger the crowd at the dead guy’s send-off, the better the treatment he gets in heaven, as an obviously important and honored person. So, to attract crowds, they hire strippers.

Well, okay, it sounds goofy to you. But it’s a lot harder to see how goofy a lot of what you believe seems to others – or, more importantly, is.

There is a Grand Canyon difference between beliefs and facts, between believing and rational thought. Not acknowledging that difference is the cause behind most war and conflict, and is responsible right now for getting a whole lot of people killed every damned day.

Not acknowledging the difference is a very big problem in business. Way too much advertising, marketing and other decisions are made based on what we believe rather than what we know. And, ironically, beliefs tend to be permanent, while reality changes quite a bit from month to month, year to year. Tricky.

Gotta constantly question yourself: do I believe this to be true or do I know it to be true? Gotta get a few others you can rely on to challenge you, too. (Good reason to be in mastermind groups. Hint, hint, hint.)

Gotta constantly gather factual information wherever you can. Gotta be willing to consider new information that is in conflict with your beliefs. Have to be decisive, then firm and determined, not easily influenced by each new voice, not easily distracted, But also need to be flexible, open to different ideas and information . Tricky.

Are you too often in “instant reject mode”? That’s no good. Are you too often swayed by others opinions? That’s no good. Tricky.

One ‘fact’ is worth a hundred ‘beliefs.’ Fact-finding is a very profitable thing to do, if you can set aside beliefs in order to use the facts you find.

Yes, They are real questions actually sent to Dear Abby. Honest. Read ‘em carefully.

What can I do about all the sex, nudity and violence on my VCR?

I have a man I can’t trust. He cheats so much I’m not even sure the baby I’m carrying is his. What should I do?

I am a 23 year old liberated woman. I have been on the pill for 2 years. It’s expensive and I think my boyfriend should share half the cost, but I don’t know him well enough to discuss money with him.

I joined the Navy to see the world. I’ve seen it. Now, how do I get out?

You told a woman whose husband had lost interest in sex to send him to a doctor. My husband has lost interest in sex and he is a doctor. Now what do I do?

Well, if you think these are funny, you should see and hear some of the questions I get! Look, that Leno/Jay-Walking stuff is real, not rigged. Morons are on the loose, and at all demographic levels too. Never underestimate the ignorance…

But the more useful lesson to mention here is the lesson of Dear Abby itself, the longest running, most successful syndicated newspaper feature of all time. So successful it would not even die when its originator did. Today, Dr. Laura has moved the model to radio.

With mind-numbing repetition, she fields often shockingly dumb questions from callers, and has millions tune in to hear it all, day after day after day. The Abby and Dr. Laura popularity ought not be ignored.

“The Dear Abby Principle” is a very, very, very powerful marketing and sales principle. Once you fully understand and internalize it, you can quite easily skyrocket your income.

Yeah, I know, you’re annoyed the last few strategies have been preachy and general. So here are a few quick ‘n dirty ways to bring in some extra dough this week or month.

1. Go back 2 to 3 years, find a sales letter and a promotion you used with your customers that worked, dust it off, and use it again.

2. Take your 10% best customers, think about them for a day, create a product, service, offer or promotion just for them and go after just them. Consider dialing for dollars too, even if you usually don’t. Personal calls to best customers with a good offer almost always pay off.

3. Take your 10% worst customers and dump ‘em. I guess that won’t immediately get you more money. It will give you a more realistic assessment of your customer number. It will save you money.

4. Take your lost, inactive customers, send them an apology letter. Think of it like coming into the room and getting “that look” from your wife – what difference does it make what you actually did or didn’t do? Just say “I’m sorry”. Then make them an absolutely irresistible offer to get them back. Like: free. Free’s usually pretty good. Not almost free or nearly free or deceptively not-free or free with clauses and restrictions. Free. Then have an upsell ready.

5. Mail a coupon or offer to ALL your customers with personalized birthday cards. It doesn’t matter that you’re wrong by months. They’ll either correct you or the won’t. But nobody throws away a big, colorful birthday card without reading what’s inside. If you want to go big, send balloons too.

6. If you have to prospect, prospect by proximity. If you sell to consumers, go after the immediate left, right and across the street neighbors of your good customers. If you sell B2B, the direct competitors, the other businesses in the same industry or same office complex or same group.

7. Also, prospect the prospects you think are untouchable; nobody else is trying to get to them either. I’ve only had two people selling anything directly attempt selling to me all year. Both did. Fortune favors the bold.

Tip: Massive action.

Tip: Fast action.

Do one of these today, the next tomorrow, the next the next day. If you rest on the 7th day, you can still get them all implemented in 8.

I’d predict some noticeable bump in business. If, however, you do one a month for the next 8 months you may not notice any change in the weather.

The other day I saw a new TV commercial for the first time, for a new extreme version of the OTC version of Pepcid, actually a medicine intended to treat a serious condition, but used now as a substitute for Tums or Alka-Seltzer, but taken before eating food you know will try to kill you rather than afterward.

Years ago, when I was a heavy drinker, overweight and ate junk 24/7, I had stomach troubles and used to joke about sprinkling Tums on my food as seasoning. In my first sales job, the guy sent to train me, a 30 year territory rep, ordered a three glass drink in the bar: glass #1, Scotch straight, glass#2 water on ice, glass #3 ice only, to which he added Pepto-Bismol, then sipped #1, #2, #3, #1, #2, #3.

Anyway, the new Pepcid slogan is a dandy: FEAR NO FOOD. If they’re smart, they’ll make up T-shirts, form a Fear No Food Club, get a Club celebrity known for eating, etc.

It reminded me of the old Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is! slogan, also a terrific one because it tied the entire experience of using the product and the promise into the single sentence. USP’s, slogans, “elevator speeches” are all important items. When you get them right, you can capture and hold a piece of the marketplace mind as your proprietary territory; when they think of “x”, they think of you.

Truth is, few marketers ever get close to successfully staking out such territory, because they can never clearly enunciate what they are about – and stick with it. It’s something to aspire to; being understood, as about something.

I hung one of my hats on “No B.S.” for that purpose; to be known as the guy who tells it to you straight, who’s blunt, a little coarse, certainly insensitive, but delivers value. And I think we’ve been pretty successful making this positioning stick.

It’s a promise I’ve become known for, and known for keeping. Which begs the question for you and your business: are you about something? Is there a promise you’ve become known for, and known for keeping?

Dominos built its business on such a thing. So did FedEx. And even though neither company still uses the original promise/positioning statements, both are still imbedded in the marketplace mind, a testament to their effectiveness.

I’m sure you can recite both. So can quite a large number of each companies’ customers. Can your customers and prospects recite yours

In my last post, I told you about the 2 things you must do regardless of what the economic situation at the time is. So I thought it would be useful to give you some current statistics and life in these United States. Why? Because knowing these stats will put more money in your pocket if you use them to your advantage.

1. 11-million internet users participate in fantasy football leagues, with 2-million checking on their teams on any given day (undoubtedly while at work). Question: how can we get our customers, prospects, an entire market playing a fantasy game that brings them to our web sites at least once a week? (Gold/VIP Member Dean Cipriano figured out one answer.)
2. 10% of Hispanic homeowners with incomes from $40K to $100K took out home equity loans up from 7.5% prior 12 month period (a huge 25% increase). Question: should you be doing something specific re. the Hispanic market or some other ethnic market? (Gold/VIP Ron Caruthers is on top of this!)
3. Being able to retire comfortably is #1 TOP CONCERN of American workers, according to extensive surveys – mentioned by 37%. Next closest: healthcare, 24%. Question: if you’re in financial services, opportunities, etc., are you beating this drum loudly enough?
4. Nearly 20% of adults eat gourmet food – $41-billion spent on packaged premium foods and beverages. Question: will 20% of your customers choose a better, premium product or service?
5. 20% of all adults (a huge #) visited real estate web sites in a sample month .Question: is your site up to snuff? Should you be doing more online? Question: any way to hook yourself to these much visited sites?

When you come across a FACT you didn’t know before, how do you think about it? (Renegade Millionaires ALWAYS think about it in terms of potential profit and personal benefit). What do you do about it?

Align whatever it is that you sell, regardless of its price or its prospective buyers, regardless of media used, with the timeless, most fundamental motivations for parting with money. Fight the temptation and tendency to slip into selling based on your product or your service or your credibility — sell based on what actually motivates people to buy.

Fight the temptation and tendency to believe your prospect or client is overly sophisticated or intellectual or analytical and requires a more factual, logical, ‘high brow’ or professional sales approach. There is no such prospect or client.

Fight the temptation and tendency to insist your business is different. It isn’t. None are. Evaluate every word spoken or written, to be sure you are talking in the language of what people really want, what really motivates people to buy. Do no ad for men’s suit, luxury car, blue pill, red haired dog, private banking, investment in Macao, $10.00 child’s toy or 10-million dollar software system without talking in terms of what really motivates people to buy.

…..work hardest, longest, most diligently, studiously, aggressively, continuously at sharpening your skills at organizing words in a way that motivates people to part with their money. If you must be a nincompoop about some things, don’t let this be one of them. If you are to be a world class expert in any thing, let this be it.

Supposedly, I am a distant relative of philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, generally credited with the now hopelessly antiquated “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Here is my new version, never antiquated, never to be antiquated:

Assemble the right words that truly motivate people, and deliver them by some effective means, and the world will open its corporate vaults and private piggy banks to you.

In short, what we work on most together, through every means: newsletters, recordings, telephone seminars, personal coaching, meetings, boot camps….the No B.S. Marketing Letter, Gold+, Look Over My Shoulder, a newsletter marketing to the affluent, etc., etc., is what you should work on most yourself, invest in most yourself. Be cautious of distraction. Be cautious of feeling bored with digging up the same ground again and again.

Beware siren songs of some easier way. Stick to the only skill certain to produce success, in any century, at any time, in any place, in any environment, in any economy, with any clientele.

Let’s talk about fame and fortune and how you can have both.

My local supermarket has a large, diversified selection of magazines – from Millionaire and Worth to Small Business Opportunities to People, US, Entertainment Weekly to Maxim and GQ to Good Housekeeping and Town & Country to Cigar, Player and Poker Weekly, etc.

Paris Hilton for example, during the height of her popularity appeared on 13 of the 30 magazines in a magazine section. She was being paid $300,000.00 to make a 60-minute appearance at a party or night club. Paid to appear in magazine ads for several products, has licensed her “brand” to several others. She is the ultimate example of cashing in on being famous for nothing more than being famous. (I’d love to employ her publicist.)

At a Renegade Millionaire Retreat, I talked about manufactured celebrity, and why and how it is such a valuable asset – and best of all, is one that anyone can create for themselves out of thin air. I talked about Bob Stupak, for years the brilliant marketer, promoter and operator of Vegas World (now the Stratosphere), how he made himself a celebrity his customers were eager to meet, get photos taken with, then breathlessly tell their friends and family about meeting him – as if they’d met Elvis.

Unlike the late Elvis, I very rarely (as in: never) get asked to autograph bare breasts or bras or panties, but while about 300 stood in line for Bill Rancic’s autograph and photo opp, about 100 did so for me, and you might think I’d be “old hat” to many of them.

But I have cultivated celebrity within my customers and target markets, just as Bob Stupak did with his, and have profited by doing so. Even for local market business owners, this is important; VIP Members Bob Higgins, Dr. Greg Nielsen are somewhat good at it. The Phoenix restaurantuer and (local) “celebrity chef”, Eddie Matney, that I had Rory hire to speak at his boot camp for restaurant owners is good at it.

The simple truth is, if you aren’t deliberate, systematically, methodically – or rapidly and dramatically – establishing yourself as a celebrity, at least to your clientele and target market, you’re asleep at the wheel, ignoring what is fueling the entire economy around you, neglecting development of a measurably valuable asset.

For resources, certainly revisit what you own of Paul Hartunian’s, Steve and Bill Harrison’s, Raleigh Pinskey’s.  Observe me.

Then the question: do you have a plan you are following, working, implementing, step by step to make yourself a (bigger) celebrity? If not, why not? If not now, when?

Will the size of your funeral be determined by the weather?

Founder of NSA, a friend, the late Cavett Robert used to say that the size of your funeral will be determined by the weather. I’m embarrassed to admit, I missed his.

More importantly, I did not find time to visit him in any of his last years. Here are two separate thoughts about President Reagan and his funeral:

One, I wonder how many people were at the Reagan funeral who hadn’t bothered or ‘hadn’t had time’ to communicate with Nancy once in the prior year, two years, three years?

I’m not talking about the nearly 200,000 ‘regular folks’ who came to pay respects; I mean people the Reagans knew and who knew them, people he worked with, helped. I’ll bet, a bunch.

Funny how a death gets people to do things they had no time for when the deceased was still alive.
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In yesterday’s post, I started to talk about a not so favorable topic of how very successful businesses led by very successful people make major mistakes. Now let’s talk continue our talk on other mistakes mangers can make.

The five Big Ideas that keep reoccurring and demonstrating their importance are these:

1. How you think about money
2. How you manage and invest your time
3. How you cater to and leverage your 5% and 20% best customers
4. Price elasticity, premium pricing and transaction size
5. Under-utilizing or under-valuing prime asset(s)

Nothing new under the sun here, of course.
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