Musings from My Mentor #1
by Gavriel Aryeh Sanders

(Note: A wise soul has patiently poured his insights into me for over 12 years. I've seen him only three times; yet we've shared hundreds of hours on the phone. Companies reward him well for his time. Money cannot measure the worth of what he's invested in me. In gratitude, I freely offer you what he's freely given.)

Knowing Your Real Competition

What if you could discover that your real competition is not the person, shop, or website that offers your product or service for less somewhere else? What if you could grasp the key to obtaining marketshare? Consider this.

Before attaining marketshare, a purveyor of goods and services must obtain mindshare. Mindshare enables marketshare. That's your real competition.

So - how does a business obtain mindshare? What three elements inhibit a customer or client from becoming your customer or client?

1. Ignorance - You may sell the best whatever; you may be the finest healer in your specialty; you may be an awesome forensic accountant. But if no one knows how you provide benefit, no one benefits - least of all you. People today are overwhelmed by weapons of mass distraction. The first step in sales and service is the elimination of ignorance, the greatest of all distractors. Become aware. Knowledge of your product or service is a small part of the awareness quotient. Knowledge of how you can enrich another through it is the main element. Eliminate ignorance for your prospect by focusing on what's in it for him or how she will benefit.

2. Habitual behavior - People practice patterns. These patterns may be inefficient, unconcious, and even costly. People need help to assess the balance sheet of their actions. Much of what passes for laziness is really the tenacious grip of fear of change. Touch the emotions. Help people feel the positive benefits they'll acquire through the new patterns you suggest.

"People buy on emotions, and justify on the numbers." - my mentor says

3. Change management - Have you ever resolved to stop smoking, lose weight, clean out the basement, pay off the debts, save for a vacation, or get back to the gym you joined four months ago? What happened? You started in earnest, right? But change resistance (unconcious habit) cancelled out the new behavior. While this quirk of character helps sports clubs and weight loss clinics profit handsomely, it's a prescription for personal and corporate impoverishment. People need help to evolve from not knowing, to desiring to know, to actively working to know, and finally to knowing. It's in the process of change that most fail. Managing that process, whether integrating a new software package , adopting a new personnel policy, or integrating a new habit, is what makes the difference.