Dear {FirstName},

We hope you've been enjoying your Monday Morning Motivator. If you've received this issue for the first time - welcome aboard!

It only takes a couple of minutes to start your week off right with the MMM! Be encouraged by the success or great ideas of others in your business community. 

How to Make Business Good When Times are Bad

With all the negative sentiment in the media about today's economy, we wanted to share the following message from one of the brightest minds in marketing marketing. Roy Williams.

Here's the Pattern: When times are tough and customers are scarce, business owners buckle down and try to become even better at the things they do well. They do this because they trust the Guide pattern, “This has always worked in the past.”

Perhaps you're doing the same.

But following the Guide pattern in a declining market won’t take you where want to go, since staying who you are won’t expand your customer base.

To grow your sales volume you must increase your market share. You must attract those customers who, in the past, have chosen not to do business with you. But those customers won’t make a new decision about your business until you give them new information. As long as you keep doing what you’ve always done (and saying what you've always said,) they’ll keep making the decision they’ve always made.

They’ll keep buying somewhere else.

To grow, you must expand your identity.  Add to your message. Appeal to additional customers.

The Challenge pattern of new circumstances demands that you choose a new Guide pattern.

Leaders usually cling to old Guide patterns in times of stress. This is why challengers often overtake leaders during times of upheaval. The leaders were reluctant to reinvent themselves.

For more than a quarter century I’ve made my living dethroning market leaders and setting my clients in their places. And in all those years I’ve never seen a category leader do anything but what they do best. This predictability makes them easy to defeat.

The successful challenger is always willing to adopt a new guide pattern and stretch beyond the comfort zone.

If You Feel It's Time to Reinvent Your Business:

Step 1: Do exactly what you fear a competitor might do. Be your own competition.

Step 2: Evaluate your advertising. If your messages have been transactional (full of facts and details) build a relational offering for your customer. If your messages have been relational (service and commitment based) create a transactional package.

Step 3: Ignore those well-meaning friends who will accuse you of having lost your focus.

Step 4: Release unhappy team members to go where they can be happy or they'll torpedo your plan with half-hearted implementation.

Step 5: Advertise aggressively. “Aggressive” doesn’t require a big budget. It requires a big message. In the words of Robert Stephens, "Advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable."

The more unremarkable your message, the more ad money you have to spend.  Embrace a remarkable message and you'll be surprised how little money is required to spread the word.

If you need some help crafting a remarkable message, give us a call. We're good at it.

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

PS - We have just finished a new web video project for SureSlim. This project is intended to educate visitors to the SureSlim website about their amazing system using an individual's metabolism's to produce effective and lasting weight loss. We will also be producing a 30 sec TV spot from this video. To view go to www.AdamAdGroup.com and click on SureSlim in our video section or go to www.SureSlim.ca to see it in action.

PPS - We also just finished a very cool animated video project for eCrypt. The goal was to introduce the product in an unique and memorable manner, something that would appeal towards young male professionals and celebrities alike. To view click Go2productions .

Success Profile

With all the negative sentiment that has been megaphoned these past weeks it was a real pleasure to attend the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Gala.

It was a fantastic evening focussing on the passion and success of some outstanding individuals and companies.

This week we would like to recognize Ron McNeil & Ivan Harmatny of the LMS Group for winning Entrepreneur of The Year in the Real Estate and Construction category.  

Since the days when they were two guys and a pick-up truck, Ron and Ivan share the CEO and COO positions in a unique partnership that has driven consistent, planned annual growth.

Today’s LMS reflects the values and vision of these two men whose commitment to customer service and core competence has attracted over 400 of the best people in the business. To find out more about this special company go to www.LMSgroup.ca  

The Adam Advertising Group is proud to play a small role in the on-going success of many of the companies featured in the MMM.

Can The Adam Advertising Group help your business, or do you have a success story we should hear about? Contact Drago Adam at drago@AdamAdGroup.com or
call 1 866 923 - 6477.

PS : We wanted to say Thank You for sharing your Monday Mornings with us, and also for the positive feedback we receive weekly. The MMM started three years ago with 35 subscribers, today's issue is going out to over 13,355 weekly subscribers.

The Adam Advertising Group
www.AdamAdGroup.com