[Paul Wenke has been an E-Myth Client since October 2005, and graduated from the Mastery Impact! Business Coaching program in December 2006.] Back to the Drawing Board As I detailed in Part 1 of my story, I started an online business called Hardware Overstock without implementing any of the E-Myth principles. The result was that we had spent a great deal of time, energy and money building something that would have to be rebuilt. When we went back and consulted the E-Myth lessons we had used in building our bricks-and-mortar business, we had a clear understanding of where we had failed. My original objective for our new bricks-and-clicks business on eBay was simply to sell products on the Internet, and that's as far as it we ...

When my daughters were younger, they belonged to our local community Girl Scout troop, and every year they'd go about the business of knocking on various strangers' doors to sell their Girl Scout cookies. Now that my kids are grown, I look back at this activity with a new clarity. It has occurred to me that those little salespeople, with their distinctive uniforms and using the same practiced pitch, were a perfect example of a systemized lead conversion process. With no experience needed, they consistently got results from house after house, year after year. Your sales force should be so systematically effective! What can you do in your business to get consistent sales results? The first step in establishing an effective lead c ...

Dinner among the two-by-fours A local lumber company has been in business for nearly a century. Considering that fewer than half of all businesses survive their first four years, this is a matter of special pride. At their entrance is a huge cross-section of a redwood tree, adorned with tabs marking significant historical events, including: "Birth of George Washington," "Declaration of Independence," "Gold discovered in California," and, approaching the bark: "We opened." Inside the foyer you're again reminded of the company's, uh, roots. Brochures tell their story. The walls display photos of the founders, the original location, and the successive general managers. You see how the company has matured with the community. The ...

A client of ours named John owns a chimney-sweeping business. His customers love him and the great service he provides, but the nature of the business is seasonal and his customers only call him once each year, usually at the beginning of winter. During the warm weather months, his revenue stream is lean and he worries about how the business will survive until the next fireplace season begins. He wonders how he can persuade people to have their chimneys cleaned regardless of the time of year; how he can hang onto the employees he painstakingly trains every year; how he can attract more customers to grow his business. Last year, while enrolled in the E-Myth Mastery coaching program, John had a sudden realization. He has a thousan ...

Do you consistently look for creative ways to stay in touch with your prospective clients, or do you only contact them when you are trying to close business? Great sales people form relationships, and establish themselves as: 1) someone who cares 2) someone who helps their prospects and clients stay abreast of important information, strategies, and solutions that will improve their situation 3) someone who's different than the other "sales guys and gals" So ask yourself this question, "Do I add value and make my prospective clients' lives better when they're in my sales process? How do they view me? As a salesperson, or as a consultant who's bringing them solutions, right now, even if they're not a client." For examp ...

Customers Are Allies, Not Opponents There's something inside-out about the way most business people think about the selling process. They all say, "We're customer focused," or "the customer comes first," or "customer satisfaction is our goal." But it's the exception, not the rule, when they really act like they believe it. Watch what they do (and maybe what you do) and you can see how backwards it is. They may not realize it, and no one would admit to it if they did, but most people in business see their customers as opponents to be overcome instead of allies to be helped. Allies? Yes. An ally is someone who cooperates with you to achieve a common purpose. And that's exactly what a customer is. Customers are, by nature, allies who ...