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.

The Greatest Marketing Strategy Ever

Welcome to 2009. We hope you had a fantastic holiday season and are filled with exuberence at the possibilities that the New Year has in store for us. This week's message from Jon Gordon has one of the best marketing ideas we have ever come across.

As a student of people and ideas I had to admit that what two guys are doing in a Northeast Florida Starbucks is absolutely genius.

The other day as I tried to pay for my green tea at my local Starbucks the cashier said, “Don’t worry about it sir. Those guys over there are paying for it today.” She then handed me their business card from a stack by the register. Turns out the guys were wealth management, financial planners who once a week, at different times, will spend a few hours at this Starbucks and buy customers their coffee. Most people, like me, will walk over and thank the gentlemen and walk away with their business card in our pocket.

I thought about how brilliant this was. People love their Starbucks in the morning. While they are waiting in line they smell that aroma and think, “Yes, there is a God for only God could make something that smells so good.” For many the Starbucks experience has become a ritual or right of passage that helps them take on the day. It’s become an emotional experience that makes them feel good. It’s become a bond of love.

Imagine yourself at the register, which is very easy for many of us, as you anticipate holding that coffee in your hand, thinking “YES”. Then the cashier tells you it’s FREE. Wow, an unexpected gift. Now instead of feeling good you are feeling great. You feel so good you don’t mind placing a stranger’s card in your pocket. When you walk over and say thank you to these financial planners they cease to be strangers and become more like acquaintances and neighbors. Then about an hour later when the caffeine really kicks in you’re feeling so great, you think, “Wow, those financial planners are great guys.” Now instead of acquaintances they have become more like long lost friends. These financial planners brilliantly connected something you love with a service they offer.

Not surprisingly I found out that these men do receive a good number of calls from the Starbucks customers interested in planning for their financial future.

It is said we remember one third of what we read, half of what people tell us and 100 % how feel. Whether we are watching a commercial, listening to a teacher, or talking to a sales person it is how we feel that impacts us the most.

We can’t remember what we ate for lunch a week ago but we can remember where we were on 9-11 when we saw the World Trade towers collapse. We remember how we feel and when it comes time to investing our money, buying a product, purchasing insurance, or choosing a restaurant and we will make choices based on these feelings.

This leads us to the greatest sales strategy ever—but it doesn’t involve coffee. While the Starbucks idea is brilliant it isn’t the best way to build a business. There is a far more powerful strategy to create an emotional connection and foster and emotional memory. It’s so simple and it doesn’t even cost a dime. It’s to love your customers. Caffeine is temporary but love lasts forever.

Love and business are two words you usually don’t here in the same sentence but when it comes to sales, customers do business with people they like and who love and care about them. When customers feel like they matter and feel cared for they love back with more loyalty, more business and more referrals.

So if you are in sales, and we all are, I encourage you to make loving and caring about your customers your top priority. You don’t have to buy them coffee to connect your product or service with something they love. You can be the connection.

Your love can be the bridge that connects your customer with your product or service. After all no matter what we are selling, people are always buying our energy and making decisions based on how our energy makes them feel. And while coffee is an energy source that makes people feel good it doesn’t compare to the energy of love. Look out for your customers interests. Show them you care. Share the love and you’ll be so successful you’ll be able to buy your own Starbucks and give away all the coffee you want.

Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.

Drago

PS - We know some of you are going to try the Starbucks idea, please share your results with us.

PPS - We also wanted to say Thank You for allowing us to meet with you every Monday Morning. This has been an incredible year of growth for us, the MMM had a subscriber base of over 2000 people in January /08 and here we are in January /09 with over 15,835 subscribers. We are truly grateful and humbled by the positive comments we receive weekly. Our goal now is 100,000 subscribers. You can help us reach our goal, if you enjoy the MMM please pass it along and let others know about it.

Success Profile

With it being a New Year we know many people make health a priority. This week's success profile is SureSlim.

SureSlim creates personalized eating plans that correct your metabolism and balance your body's weight gaining hormone levels so that you can lose weight and get healthy.

Their consultants will teach you how to feed your body properly so that you start burning fat, instead of storing it. We personally know two people who have used The SureSlim Method and have lost an astonishing 55 Lbs & 65 Lbs respectively and more importantly kept the weight off! To find out how The SureSlim Method can help you go to SureSlim.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 604 937 -8886 or 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
15,835 Weekly Subscribers.

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