Author Interviews: Tim Sanders on feedback and ‘Moving the Market’

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In this final installment of the podcast series with my good mate and bestselling author Tim Sanders, we talk about how to deal with receiving difficult feedback. This is obviously an concept important for all entrepreneurs but especially those in the early stages, and Tim has some great insights to share (hint: Tim’s grandmother = one brilliant lady). Later on we delve into one of my favorite concepts from Making It Happen: Moving the Market.

You have a great idea. You know it’s the next big thing. So big, in fact, that no one else is doing it, which also means that there is next to no market data to prove that there will be any demand. What do you do? You move the market.

I never knew I needed a flatscreen television… until I saw one. And suddenly I knew that my life would never be complete until I had one for myself. I needed a flat screen. Now, I wasn’t prepared to pay the $10,000 price tag for a 40 inch model that was about as graceful as a ’63 Zeta and weighed just as much, but I did know I would certainly buy one when they became competitive. This really was a case of build it and they will come. And now thanks to Avatar, it seems the market has shifted again – flatscreen is old news, 3D technology is everywhere.


How do you manage tough feedback? What is your favorite example of a product/service/company/individual that singlehandedly moved the market?


For more information and insights from Tim, check out www.timsanders.com or on Twitter at @sanderssays. His most recent book is Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence .


 

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Author Interviews: Jeffrey Hayzlett (whole interview)

The Mirror Test cover

Just a quick post: if you’re interested in listening to the conversation with Jeff Hayzlett from start to finish, here is the complete podcast. And send us your thoughts!

For more information about Jeff and The Mirror Test, visit hayzlett.com or on Twitter at @jeffreyhayzlett.


 


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Author Interviews: Tim Sanders on feeding your mind

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I’ll keep this short. Tim has one of the best routines I’ve heard to get his day going. If you implement these few things, I have no doubt of the positive impact it will have on the rest of your day.

And he brings up an interesting point: be selective on how much ‘junk food’ you put into your brain, because quality of input has a direct correlation with quality of output. Design your day so a) you own your technology so your technology doesn’t own you (to paraphrase Tim) and b) you don’t spend all your valuable free time on activities with so-called ‘empty calories’. Now, no one is chastising you for your favorite guilty-pleasure television habits (or video games, or whatever your brain junk food might be). I’m saying this as someone with a serious addiction to The West Wing, and every year around Christmas I put on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and really let myself just stop. Everyone needs to turn off sometimes. But for the rest of your day, be selective about where you get your news, be disciplined about how much time you spend on YouTube or Facebook, and beware letting yourself become a slave to your inbox.


What’s your favorite way to feed your mind?


For more information and insights from Tim, check out www.timsanders.com or on Twitter at @sanderssays. His most recent book is Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence .


 

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Author Interviews: Jeff Hayzlett on Influence and achieving scale

The Mirror Test cover

Just a quick chat from the podcast series with Jeff Hayzlett, former CMO of Kodak and bestselling author of The Mirror Test. As a rockstar CMO, Jeff really understands what drives people not just to buy, but to buy from you, and gives us a few tips on how to align with the Influence competency we discuss in Making It Happen.

Jeff also knows a thing or two about achieving scale and ‘adding zeros’, so I asked for some of his insight on the next competency in Making It Happen: Acceleration. This is the idea that when you get your business rolling, you begin with disproportionately poor returns on the time and effort that you put into your offer, but once you cross the mental barrier of the market you suddenly receive disproportionately good returns on your investment; in other words, this is the art of generating revenue without working 27 hours a day, eight days a week. Sounds pretty good, right?


What are you doing to accelerate your returns?


For more information about Jeff and The Mirror Test, visit hayzlett.com or on Twitter at @jeffreyhayzlett.


 


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Author Interviews: Tim Sanders on living your value proposition

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In this installment from my conversation with bestselling author Tim Sanders, he gives us his insights on how to prepare for confronting the three decisions you have to help every buyer to go through:

1) “Do I really need this?”
2) “Do I believe your offer can satisfy that need?” and
3) “Do I feel like you’re the person I want to buy this from?”

We talk about this in Making It Happen, and Tim says the key is to clarify and start living your value proposition. It’s knowing what business you’re actually in. It’s about understanding understanding customer process – from their side of the equation – and how to better serve your clients. If you stop thinking about the product, put some thought into refining what business you’re in, you can enhancing and embodying your value proposition which will unequivocally set you apart from the competition.

Listen here, and then let us know what you think.

For more information and insights from Tim, check out www.timsanders.com or on Twitter at @sanderssays. His most recent book is Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence .


 

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Death of a good idea – Part II


Le Penseur


Now, a note on fear: many people with whom I’ve spoken would list fear as the number one reason that good ideas fail. But I actually think a bit of fear is a good thing; that’s where risk management comes from. But it is a pendulum—it shouldn’t be only on one or the other side. Reckless activity consistently supported with no evidence is a very bad idea because you can kill a great idea in a New York minute. Yet at the same time inactivity from over-contemplation can be just as dangerous as poorly thought out activity, so it’s not either/or. Get clear on your value proposition, get your team aligned behind it and then move, even if you don’t have all the answers. I think you’ll find that action creates the clarity you’re looking for.
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Death of a good idea – Part I

Dead light bulb



I’ve often said that the world is not short of new ideas. We are short of people who can execute those ideas, and so many potentially brilliant enterprises end up on the cutting room floor. I was recently asked why these ideas fail; what are some of the reasons that entrepreneurs, idea generators and change makers stop short of bringing their ideas to life?

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Author Interviews: Jeffrey Hayzlett on weeding out your customers and the strategy of free

The Mirror Test cover

This is the second episode in the podcast series with Jeff Hayzlett, celebrity CMO and bestselling author of The Mirror Test.

Today we focus on understanding and crafting a more effective elevator pitch, the counter-instinctual (but crucial) process of ‘weeding out’ your customers, and the potential pitfalls of ‘the strategy of free’. A hint: even if you’re giving it away, be it time, money or energy, never let it be passed off as ‘free’ – because it isn’t!*

For more information about Jeff and The Mirror Test, visit hayzlett.com or on Twitter at @jeffreyhayzlett.



*And if you’re having trouble naming the value, refer back to this conversation with Dan Ariely in which he talks about finding value through association.

 


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Author Interviews: Jeffrey Hayzlett on taking risk, asking tough questions

The Mirror Test cover

Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking with Jeff Hayzlett, bestselling author and former CMO of Kodak. Jeff is an absolute force of nature; he has driven some of the most innovative (and aggressive) marketing strategies I’ve known. His most recent book, The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? is a must-read for anyone in business, and particularly anyone in the early stages of starting a business.

In this first podcast, Jeff talks to us about some of the practices from The Mirror Test and why it’s so important for entrepreneurs to ask the toughest questions early on. Think about it: why would anyone take on so much risk if we aren’t willing to take on our own reflection and get real about what we’re doing? Isn’t that just increasing the amount of risk we’re assuming, unnecessarily?

He also gives some examples of practical questions to ask and how to go about getting those answers. In Making It Happen, we talk about the idea of “10,000 hours to mastery,” and Jeff gives some great insight into his experience with that as well.

Hope you enjoy listening, and keep an eye out for the next few episodes in which we’ll hear more from Jeff developing a more effective elevator pitch, weeding out your customers, achieving scale and naming value vs. the “strategy of free”.

For more information about Jeff and The Mirror Test, visit hayzlett.com or on Twitter at @jeffreyhayzlett.


 


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Rock Star vs. the Orchestra

I was caught by a series of blog posts on the Harvard Business Review this week: “Why a Great Individual Is Better Than a Good Team” by Jeff Stibel, which was a response to a post by Bill Taylor, “Great People Are Overrated” (followed up with Part II).
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