Onward Nation

Donna and her team teach a 3-Step Social Selling Process that helps sales professionals generate qualified leads and increase sales effectiveness and performance. Her latest online training course is called “Social Selling Using LinkedIn” and is designed to drive a company's total revenue and improve quota attainment. Donna has deep expertise in working with sales leaders and sales teams on increasing win rates by designing and delivering prescriptive, learning programs that are tailored to the specific needs of each salesperson. Donna has taught her process with sales professionals in a variety of industries.

Donna is always capturing data with Evernote -- keep everything organized with a system. ONWARD!

Get up in the morning and exercise -- Donna believes her best ideas flow during exercise.

Donna almost launched her course before it was ready -- and Donna tells the whole story here.

"If you're not focused on achieving something -- you'll never achieve anything."

"Be giving -- have a huge desire for your clients to succeed."

I would have had a content strategy.

If you're not looking at the data, then you're guessing.

An individual would take ownership in the business.

1. Take steps daily
2. Lean on other people

• Website: www.donnamccurley.com

Good Morning Onward Nation — I’m Stephen Woessner. During episode 193…I shared the deeply personal backstory of one of my biggest professional failures. It took me about 8 years before I could even speak about it.

It was the story of FortifiedNutrition.com and how my team and I built the company up to a valuation of $10 million (which was insane but par for the dot com course of 1999), and as a result, I was worth $3 million at the ripe old age of 28. That’s just bat crazy!

Then fast forward to March of 2000…Fortified Nutrition imploded when the dot-com bubble burst and the NASDAQ crashed.

My wife and I nearly lost everything — we nearly lost our house — and we definitely lost our life’s savings. Over $100,000 in cash sucked right out of our pockets. It was absolutely devastating.

But — we dug in — we rebuilt, we reinvented, and we came back stronger as a result of that failure. You can go back to episode 193 and listen to the whole story in excruciating detail.

But the Fortified Nutrition story inside episode 193 is not the end of my mistakes. As we know…many entrepreneurs have more than one epic failure in their journey or pathway to success — and I am definitely no different. So, unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on one’s perspective — episode 193 was not the end of the story.

I’m not sure who this quote belongs to, but I like it… “An entrepreneur is someone who makes enough money to pay for his or her mistakes.”

So, Onward Nation, during this solocast, I am going to share with you Colossal Failure #2…but more importantly…I am going to share with you a series of 13 questions you can ask yourself to help you avoid your own colossal mistake.

In fact, this next mistake makes the Fortified Nutrition loss of $100,000 out to be a walk in the park. It was a $200,000 failure called Predictive ROI LIVE and I recently shared the deep deep deep backstory with Jessica Rhodes when she interviewed me for her “Rhodes to Success” podcast. You can find the full episode right here.

Jessica gave our episode the fitting title of “How to Lose $200K & Still Rise Above The Failure.”Awesome!

I’m not going to repeat the Predictive ROI LIVE story during this solocast — you can get all of the fully transparent and completely candid details during my interview with Jessica. But let’s review why the event failed and how you can prevent mistakes like this from happening inside your business.

In short…the event failed for three simple reasons:

First, I was unwilling to shut down my ego and truly listen to what my mentor, Darren Hardy was saying to me about how to promote our event, Predictive ROI LIVE. As you will hear me say to Jessica, I just thought any business owner would love to come to the Ritz Carlton in Orlando, pay $7,000 to hear some amazing speakers and learn a few digital marketing strategies along the way. Good grief — I was so wrong.

Second, I was unwilling shut down my ego and take the necessary time to answer three very simple questions — and had I answered them — would have delivered a completely different result outcome.

And third, I was unwilling to define the avatar of our ideal event attendee.

So, your answers to the first set of three questions that I am about to share with you will help guide your overall communication strategy with customers and prospects. Your answers will help establish your expertise and why your message is relevant and deserves to be heard. But — your answers need to come from the perspective of your customer.

The second set of 10 questions will help ensure you are speaking to the RIGHT or most ideal customers and prospects. The 10 questions are the same 10 questions my team and I use at Predictive ROI to help our clients define their customer avatar…sometimes called a customer persona…or other similar terms.

Let’s not get hung up on terminology right now — and instead — focus on questions you can ask yourself and your team to properly define the “WHO” as it relates to your ideal customer and prospects.

So, I will share the full 13 questions with you. Had I taken the time to answer these questions — in precise detail — we likely would not have lost $200,000 on Predictive ROI LIVE.

We would have either have had a much more precisely defined value proposition — or — we would have discovered that at the time of our business — the event was too soon — we were swinging for the fences when we should have been paying attention to getting on base and scoring some runs.

So now let’s review the three questions to guide your overall communication strategy with customers and prospects.

First off…you need to remember that your customers will not remember what you said…but how what you said made them FEEL. And in order for them to feel something as a result of what you said…you need to have established the credibility in their mind’s eye so you have enough permission to say what needs to be said.Throughout the entire conversation — heck — you may even be doing it now as you hear my voice — your audience will be asking themselves three simple questions…and you must answer them…or the conversation is over.

Question 1: Who are you?

Question 2: Why do I care?

Question 3: What’s in it for me?

Now, you may not like the questions — they may be too direct for your particular style — but they are, in reality, the essence of what your customers are asking themselves as they listen to you.

Let’s take a quick look at the questions.

The first two questions of “Who are you?” and “Why should I care?” are — at the core — credibility indicator questions. When beginning a conversation — especially with someone new — you need to answer these two questions in a short and succinct manner. No one likes the “Me Monster” at a party who goes on and on with the self-aggrandizing. So don’t do that. But a short sentence — or at the most — two sentences that answer these questions from the perspective of your customer is perfect.

And the third question of “What’s in it for me?” is the ultimate value proposition question. If you listen to the interview with Jessica Rhodes, you will hear me admit that one of the reasons our Predictive ROI LIVE event failed was because I — personally — yes, me — could never specifically explain, or define, why a business owner would want to invest $7,000 and head to the Ritz Carlton in Orlando, Florida to learn about digital marketing strategies. The pricing was off, the value proposition was non-existent, and the worst part, Darren Hardy, my mentor asked me this same question every time we talked. During every call he asked me, “Stephen, why would anyone want to come to this thing?” And I never set my ego aside — I never listened to Darren — and I never answered his very simple question. So the resulting outcome was that the event failed. Not awesome, Onward Nation.

When you are communicating with your audience…be sure to answer:

1. Who are you?
2. Why do I care?
3. What’s in it for me?

Next…once you have your core message defined — it is time to crystallize with whom you are going to share your message — and — how to create emotional impact with your audience at the same time.

To help with this piece…I am going to show you how to fix one of the most expensive mistakes any business can easily make within their marketing strategy.

In fact, I call it Money Draining Mistake #5…or “Not Knowing Your Customer.”

I am excited to share this strategy and recipe with you. We are going to dig deep into why most companies fail at delivering high-quality communications to their customers. It is because they have not taken the time to understand their customers from an emotional perspective.

In fact, I will show how a single WORD can completely change a situation – and I am going to give you a specific step-by-step strategy or recipe for understanding exactly how to connect with your customers on a different and more valuable level than what you may be doing currently.

My hope for you is that you will take this recipe — apply it — and see predictable, measurable, and repeatable increases in sales inside your business as a result.

This recipe represents such a significant opportunity for you and your business because only about 2 percent of the business owners listening right now will take action on the steps I share.

Some words of caution, Onward Nation. You may nod your head in agreement when you hear this recipe — you may even take some notes – or even share this episode with a colleague.

But ultimately, your inaction will signify your acceptance of operating your business at the status quo — instead of at the level of excellence.

Onward Nation — please don’t let this be you!

Don’t fall into the trap of procrastination. My hope for you is that you will take the notes – have the discussions with your team — and then put the steps into action — swiftly. That is how excellence is reached.

This strategy has the potential of being a game-changer for you. Okay, let’s dig in.

First…I will ask you another question.

What’s the number one reason people buy anything?

I will give you a hint. It has nothing to do with the features, advantages, or benefits of the product or service.

In fact — it has everything to do with just one, four-letter word.

And that word is “HOPE.”

The only reason we buy anything is because we HOPE that tomorrow will somehow be better than today as a result of buying the product or service we are considering.

That’s it — HOPE.

So in order for you to fix this Money Draining Mistake, you need to understand how to make an emotional and empathetic connection with your prospects and customers.

You do this by becoming a HOPE Dealer to your customers.

Let’s take this a little bit deeper with another question.

What percentage of people make a purchase decision based solely on emotional reasons?

Would you guess 20%? 30%? Maybe even 50%?

The answer is 100%. Yes, 100%.

Now, we like to think we are such rational creatures and we only make decisions based on objective data and thoughtful analysis. But the reality is that all of our decisions — yes, 100% of them — are made for purely emotional reasons.

And because this percentage is so high — you and your business must become HOPE DEALERS to your customers. You can do that by connecting on an emotional and empathetic level with your “customer avatar”.

You can do this by understanding their challenges.

You can do this by understanding their pain points.

You can do this by going beyond demographic and economic data by metaphorically “Laying in their bed at night” to understand what is causing them pain…so you can get into the hearts and minds of your customers and prospects.

You need to understand the last thing they think about before they go to bed — and — the first thing they think about when they wake up in the morning.

Every piece of communication you send to your customer and prospect lists needs to speak directly to what we like to call your customer avatar.

You should give your avatar, him or her, or both a name. As if you were having a one-on-one conversation with them…right now…just you like and I are having…right now.

No surface answers — challenge yourself — and your team — to dig deep and push to find specific examples of situations that either reinforce or contradict what is currently believed to be true.

So now I am going to share 10 specific questions you and your team need to ask each other and then go out and ask your prospects and customers the same questions.

Question 1: what things are challenging our customers right now?

Question 2: what are our customer’s emotional fears or worries?

Question 3: what are their dreams and aspirations?

Question 4: what are their pain points?

Question 5: what are their values — and are their values the same as ours?

Question 6: who do they want to impress the most?

Question 7: what frustrates them about our business or others like us in the industry?

Question 8: what do they want from our business?

Question 9: what’s the one thing — or result — that if you could guarantee — your customers would pay a premium for?

Question 10: answer this on behalf of your customers… “You will gain my trust and comfort by…”

Once you have collected that data – you will have all you need in order to create your “Avatar.”

Some words of CAUTION!

Your avatar is one person. Not an email list of 20,000 people.

One person and you give him or her a name, a personality, you hang a photo of her on your conference room wall, and every time you write an email campaign, shoot a video, etc. you speak directly to your avatar.

Let me take you inside Predictive ROI to illustrate this point. Our client avatars are “Harry” and“Sally” (we chose those names because When Harry Met Sally is one of my favorite movies of all time).

All of our conversations with Harry and Sally are personal — they are emotional — and they are always authentic.

And this is Sally:

• Sally and her team are ambitious and want to learn new things
• She knows there is more opportunity and growth “out there” and is frustrated she does not know how to capitalized on it, faster
• She reads lots of books but doesn’t know a good idea from a bad one
• She is uncertain and afraid to fail
• She has been fooled before and does not know who to believe
• Everything sounds too good to be true
• And Sally has said to me…“Stephen…I want to trust you…that you can do what you say you can do…show me the evidence quickly that it is working and that you are delivering on your promises”.

During more than one prospect client presentation, “Sally” has said to me – “My goodness, that’s me!” I love it when it happens because I know we just made a powerful, emotional connection.

I just wish we would have completed the same Avatar definition exercise BEFORE planning and promoting Predictive ROI LIVE. Our probability of success would have likely increased by a factor of 10.

You can too if you answer the ten avatar definition questions on behalf of your customer and then quickly apply what you learned.

So with that…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. My direct email address is [email protected] — and yes — that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email.

So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible interview with Donna McCurley — and we get practical and tactical about generating qualified sales leads through LinkedIn tools and systems — powerful conversation. You will not want to miss this discussion, Onward Nation!

Until then, onward with gusto!

Rochelle Rice is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and educator. A former professional jazz dancer, her passion stems from the inordinate amount of stress in our society placed on thinness rather than overall health and wellness. She motivates people to bridge the gap between knowledge and action, information, and implementation when it comes to their health. Rochelle is the only woman to currently hold the Accredited Speaker designation from Toastmasters International and the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association.

Rochelle spends her time on the projects that bring in revenue soonest -- focus on the income-generating tasks. ONWARD!

Stretch your mind, body, and soul -- Rochelle begins each day by journaling, praying, and stretching her muscles.

Rochelle business was directly affected by 9/11 -- and Rochelle tells the whole story here.

"Fit your business around your health."

"Make sure the information sits well with you."

I would have had QuickBooks back then -- but unfortunately it didn't exist.

An individual would enjoy what they're doing -- and it's up to me to play to their strengths.

1. Ask for help -- people want to help you
2. Trust your intuition

• Website: rochellerice.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (212) 689-4558

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Get ready to have your thinking challenged and expanded as you learn from an internationally recognized leadership expert. Mark is a bestselling author and noted authority on leadership, service, and extraordinary performance. His bestselling book “The Fred Factor”, which sold more than 2 million copies to date has established him as the expert on turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, in business and in life. Mark is an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis. He is featured by Crestcom in DVD-based training taught in 90 countries. His list of 2,500+ clients includes Harley-Davidson, Costco, Cisco, ESPN, First Data, and many others.

Mark feeds his dogs, goes through his email and social media, prays and studies the Bible, exercises, heads to the office, and figures out what his two top priorities are before he gets there -- how well you start your day determines how well you spend your day. ONWARD!

"Fear nothing but to waste the present moment because if you take care of the moments, the moments become your life."

Success is coming as close as possible to fulfilling your unique potential.

An "A player" is a contributor, cooperative, communicative, and committed.

Ask these three questions:

1. What did you learn?
2. What do you most need to learn?
3. How can I help?

1. Have a product or service that is so good that people instantly
2. Put the right content on the right platform

1. Don't stop doing the things that have made you successful because of complacency
2. Look for the low-hanging fruit so you can quickly improve

• Website: www.marksanborn.com
• "Fred Factor" website: fredfactor.com

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Verne believes that you have to find the vital 90 minutes a day several times a week to get good at what you want to get good at -- if you don't commit it will never happen. ONWARD!

You have to get a peer coach -- Verne believes in working with your peer coach to help hold yourself accountable.

Verne lost about $1 million in eight weeks after 9/11 -- and Verne tells the whole story here.

"Leaders are readers."

"Write down the names of the 25 people you need to get to support your venture."

I would have built my business model around cash flow.

Decide the word or two you can own in the minds of the market -- and become the king/queen of that every single day.

An individual would know what needed to get done -- and they'd put in the time to get it done.

1. Make your list and work it
2. Pick the words you want to own -- and get on it
3. Find 90 minutes to work on the most important thing
4. Don't run out of cash

• Website: scalingup.com

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Vera Fischer was born in Frankfurt, Germany and immigrated to the United States. She grew up on the edge of poverty in Florida. In 1993, she landed her first position in advertising at GSD&M. After several positions in various agencies in Austin, Texas she moved over to the client side as Director of Marketing for a public software company, Forgent Networks. Three years later, while on maternity leave, she was laid off in a corporate restructuring. Vera immediately started 97 Degrees West — her own agency in Austin — the day she received the news. 12 years have gone by and they have been filled with ups and downs — but through it all — 97 Degrees West has grown to become an international award winning agency.

Vera gets up at 5:30 every morning and eases into her morning -- start the day off in a place of calm. ONWARD!

Never forgo your health for your business -- Vera goes to pilates in the middle of the day, three times a week.

Vera merged her agency with another business -- and two years later her partner just left -- and Vera tells the whole story here.

"The ability to compartmentalize is critical."

"I'm going to do it the way I want to do it."

I knew the systems I would need from working in other agencies -- and one of the most crucial was QuickBooks.

You have to follow through and commit.

1. Sleep -- you have to sleep
2. Exercise
3. Have faith that whatever journey you're, you will get there

• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @VeraFischer97
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/verakfischer

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.

Good Morning Onward Nation -- and I hope you are having a rock solid awesome, Wednesday and that you are making consistent and steady progress toward your vital priorities for the week. And how can this be the last week in March already? We will close out the first quarter of 2016 tomorrow and then launch into second quarter strong.

And one of the ways we can be sure to end our quarters strong -- and our years right on track -- is to pay very close attention to our vital priorities, our vital functions and our vital metrics.

All of which are lessons I learned directly from one of my most influential mentors...Darren Hardy, former publisher of SUCCESS Magazine.

“Vitals” are top of the mind awareness for me right now because I just spent 2-½ days in Palm Beach with Darren and 20 other business owners from fast-growth companies where we focused on getting to that next level -- and vital metrics plays a critical role.

An amazing -- yet mentally exhausting experience!

And no joke, Onward Nation, within the first 30-minutes of meeting this elite group, I wrote in the upper left corner of the first page in my notebook, “I am the dumbest person in the room -- this is definitely the right group for me.”

Why? Because you need to be in a group that challenges you. That doesn’t let you get by with the status quo -- or zero growth. We all need to be pushed and put under pressure -- because that is where the growth is. And that is what Darren has always done for me when we spend time together -- he pushes me.

So during this solocast, I am going to share the story about how I first met Darren and then take you through vital priorities, vital functions, and vital metrics and then we will wrap up with a 33 question quiz -- or assessment -- you can use to evaluate the vitals in your business to determine your readiness to move onward to that next level.

Deal?

Okay, let’s dive in.

Darren Hardy, former publisher and founding editor of SUCCESS Magazine has been one of the most influential mentors in my business and life. I met Darren when I was invited to attend one of his original High-Performance Forums at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California.

I was one of 23 CEOs of fast-growth companies invited to spend two and a half days with Darren and the other CEOs. We spent the time together working through the latest in sales and marketing strategies with some intense masterminding.

Gulp. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. The imposter syndrome attempted to stop me from completing the application, booking my travel, from getting on the plane, checking into my hotel room, and actually making it to the conference room the next day.

The room Darren booked for our sessions overlooked the majestic Torrey Pines golf course, which has played host to the US Open and other prestigious events. I felt grossly out of my league.

I later learned from Darren that all of the signs of trepidation I was feeling were not reasons to turn and run – but instead – were indicators I was doing the right thing. Success would follow if I had the courage to push through the resistance. Steve Rodgers, the former CEO of Prudential Real Estate, shared this brilliant statement with me during our Onward Nation interview, “Resistance is part of the chemistry of success.” Steve went on to tell me that the amount of resistance one feels regarding a particular course of action, product rollout, new hire, or the internal debate whether their company should launch a new marketing strategy, is a direct reflection of the amount of payoff at the end of the tunnel.

Being there to meet Darren and the other CEOs was exactly the right place for me to be. In fact, Darren even boldly said to us within the first several minutes, that there was no more valuable place on the planet any of us could be then with that group for the next several days as it relates to growing our businesses. Spot on.

I began to get my sea legs under me after the first morning and lunch. My confidence began to build when I learned that others in the room were struggling with the same constraints and challenges facing my business.

Wait...What? These business rock stars were people, too? By dinner that evening – I was feeling like I deserved to be there.

By the time the weekend was over, Darren had accepted my invitation to speak at an upcoming live event Predictive ROI was hosting. Darren and I also worked out an agreement for him to join our board of advisors for 12-months where he would personally mentor me on growing our business and new directions we ought to consider. It was the most intense 12-months of my business career. However, it was exactly what I needed to learn despite the process being challenging and sometimes painful. A great mentor pushes even when the last thing you want is to be pushed.

At Darren’s forum is where I met Don Yaeger, 9-time New York Times bestselling author, owner of three companies, outstanding man of faith, devoted husband, and one of the most rock star fathers I have seen in action. Don and I became accountability partners following that weekend and agreed to call each other every Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. to report our Wins, Losses, AH-HAs, and Fixes. We have maintained that weekly accountability for nearly four years and Don has become one of my best friends and trusted advisors. Don is also writing the Foreword to the book I am currently working on. The imposter syndrome tried to cheat me out of this relationship, too.

Darren used a portion of the forum to teach all of us about the importance of our “Success Vitals.” What were they? How to measure them? How to assess our current business health? The lessons I learned were so impactful and have added so much value into Predictive ROI and our ability to generate revenue from Onward Nation that I wanted to devote this solocast to sharing the most relevant insights.

My hope for you is that this solocast will help bring into focus what I often refer to as the Vital Metrics controlling the growth of a business. I learned the Vital Metrics principle directly from Darren. Our “vitals” represent a snapshot and oftentimes a visualization regarding the overall health of your business at any given moment. The metaphor Darren used when teaching this lesson to me was, “Stephen, think about if you went to the emergency room because you had a severe leg injury from a car accident. Would the medical team in the ER start your treatment by taking care of your leg? Or, would they first check your vitals – your pulse, check your breathing, check your eyes for trauma, check your abdomen for internal bleeding, and so on?”

A medical team knows the importance of completing an immediate diagnostic of a patient’s vital signs to ensure some underlying life-threatening trauma has not taken place before they address what seems to be the injury affecting a patient. Otherwise, the team could direct their attention to setting a cast on my leg and then I die because of a punctured lung. My wounded lung likely would have been found by checking my breathing during those critically important first few seconds.

I will review our comprehensive Evaluation of Predictive Success Metrics (EPSM) as a tool for you to complete later in today’s solocast. Your score will give you a snapshot view of the sales and marketing vitals in your business.

Why is your score within the EPSM important? This evaluation will help you diagnose any critical areas that may need attending to before an inflow of new leads and sales opportunities flow into your business. In addition, your result outcomes / score may indicate several corrective actions that need to be addressed so your marketing strategy has the highest probability of success.

The corrective actions are also important because increasing the flow of leads and sales into an inefficient, ineffective, or absent system within your business is a recipe that could spell disaster. More companies go out of business from indigestion from too much opportunity than from starvation from the lack of opportunity. Having the right systems in place at the outset is essential to your long success.

Let’s first begin with several definitions to make sure we get the terminology right.

We will focus on: Vital Priorities, Vital Functions, and Vital Metrics.

I will show you how to identify the five or six most relevant Vital Metrics you need to pay close attention to in order to ensure your overall sales and marketing strategies are turning your business into what I like to call a “Sales Generating Machine”.

The first term we need to define it Vital Priorities. What are they and why they are…vital?

Let’s think of Vital Priorities as your big goals over the next 12-months – and if you didn’t accomplish anything else – the year would have still been a major success because your Vital Priorities were checked off the list. Conversely, the rest of the year would not have mattered if you didn’t accomplish these vital few.

That is the importance of Vital Priorities. What are the Vital Priorities in your business right now?

Then there are the Vital Functions. These are the skills – the processes – the talents you possess that make you the best person inside your company at a certain set of tasks and projects. Vital Functions are the tasks you cannot delegate – you cannot hire out. Not only because you are so good at them – but because you drive the growth of your business by being the one who performs the Functions.

For minister Joel Osteen, his singular Vital Function is delivering the 27-minute sermon on Sunday at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. He used to try and manage the lights, the audio, the editing, and the myriad of other details that went along with producing a high-quality broadcast. But then he realized, the growth of their ministry was driven by one single metric. Was he excellent on Sunday? And if yes, they would grow. He delegated the rest of the tasks because they were not his Vital Function. He now invests four days of his week in focusing on his one Vital Function. Can he delegate the sermon to someone one? No, it's a vitally important function – therefore, it remains as Joel’s Vital Function.

Take a moment to consider your Vital Functions. What functions are critically important to the success of your business and cannot be delegated away? Resist the temptation to let yourself say things like bookkeeping, answering the phone, emailing customers, preparing proposals, and a variety of other functions. Are all of those important? Yes. Are they vital? Yes. Can they be delegated? Yes!

Dig deeper.

What are you world-class at – or could become world-class at if you dedicated the right amount of focus – and if you achieved world-class proficiency – would move the business along a completely different trajectory? The answers are your Vital Functions.

Then there are the Vital Metrics. These metrics are how you will quantifiably measure your success toward accomplishing your Vital Priorities.

Before I share the Vital Metrics with you – let me try to preempt a question that tends to hook business owners and prevent them from moving forward. Oftentimes a business owner will say to me, “Stephen, this sounds great but I have people on my team who are in charge of these metrics. Why do I need to care about these? I don’t want to learn this stuff and I certainly don’t want this to become my Vital Function.”

Excellent question and here’s what I want you to consider. You don’t need to be the one who pulls the levers or turns the knobs – these metrics do not need to become your Vital Functions – but if you don’t pay attention to them or care about them, no one else will, at least not as closely as you would.

I asked Avinash Kaushik, digital marketing evangelist for Google the same question, and his answer was, “Stephen, it’s because if you care about it — and you understand it — then you will be rich. But if you just dump it on someone else’s lap, then you will be poor. That should be incentive enough.” Well, said Avinash.

In my opinion, there are six Vital Metrics you need to consistently monitor as it relates to the result outcomes of your marketing strategy. And they are:

1. Change (increase / decrease) in unique website visitors to your website
2. Change (increase / decrease) in conversion rate of unique website visitors into email optins (list building to be used to increase size of your audience)
3. Change (increase / decrease) in conversion rate of email optins into leads
4. Change (increase / decrease) in conversion rate of leads into proposals
5. Change (increase / decrease) in conversion rate of proposals into sales
6. Total revenue for your business

Are you currently tracking and monitoring vital metrics similar to these in your business?

If you are, WELL DONE!

You and your business may already be a superstar at growing revenue from your marketing strategy. But if you’re not already paying attention to these vital metrics, the quiz or assessment I am about to share with you will help guide you through making the necessary adjustments so you can put precise checklists and ROI Scorecards into place to ensure a regular rhythm of evaluation.

Are you ready to take your evaluation of your vitals even deeper?

Here’s what I like to call our Evaluation of Predictive Success Metrics (EPSM) as a tool to provide a snapshot view of the sales and marketing “vitals” in any business.

This evaluation will help diagnose any critical areas that may need attending to before an inflow of new leads and sales opportunities flow into your business. Just answer the questions and then tally your score at the end.

I am going to review all 33 questions with you now -- and -- if you visit the show notes for this episode -- you will find them all listed as well. So tally up your score. How did you do?

If you scored between 33 - 50 points...ugh. But no problem -- this quiz will be a great guide for you.

If you scored between 51 - 75...congratulations...solid foundation...and the sky’s the limit.

If you scored between 76 - 85...You feel that? It’s Momentum -- and it feels awesome!

And if you scored 86 - 99...rock solid awesome...you better send me an email because I want to interview you on Onward Nation! WOW!

So with that...I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here -- thank you for tuning in -- I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine -- I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation...good or bad...I always want your feedback. My direct email address is [email protected] -- and yes -- that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email.

So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible interview with Heather Ann Havenwood -- and she shares an inspirational story of how she got back to building again after overcoming several very significant challenges in her way. You will not want to miss this discussion, Onward Nation!

Until then, onward with gusto!

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Andy Paul is a best-selling author, top-rated blogger and podcaster, speaker and executive coach, Andy helps sales teams get unstuck and on track to accelerate their sales. Andy is the author of “Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers To Make Fast, Favorable Decisions.” “Amp Up Your Sales” is on Amazon’s list of the 20 Top Rated Sales Books of All Time. Andy is also the author of “Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales,” which won Top Sales World's award as one of the Top 3 Sales & Marketing books of 2011. His podcast, “Accelerate! with Andy Paul,” is a top-rated, go-to resource offering the latest insights from the leading authorities to help sellers accelerate the growth of their sales and their businesses.

Andy looks at his calendar each night -- make sure you're completely prepared for tomorrow. ONWARD!

Be present in every moment -- Andy believes preparation is so important for doing this.

Andy went into business with a customer that expected more from his company than his company was used to -- and Andy tells the whole story here.

"Be willing to accept help."

"Always have integrity."

I would have invested in resources to accomplish nonessential functions.

Deliver something of value in every sales interaction.

1. Make sure you understand who you're selling to and create a customer profile for them
2. You need to go out and sell yourself

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (619) 980-4002
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zerotimeselling
• Twitter: @zerotimeselling
• Website: www.andypaul.com

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Alex Wehrley is a national TV host, former Miss Wisconsin USA and the creator of Empowerista, a media movement and mentorship program to inspire, celebrate and empower women. She has hosted for the Miss USA telecast, E!, VH1 and ABC red carpets. Alex also acts in national commercials for brands like Fidelity Investments and 5 Hour Energy. She recently made her big screen debut in the movie Rudderless, starring Selena Gomez. Through Empowerista, Alex reaches more than 40,000 ambitious women online with her empowering content. She also mentors women one-on-one, and in group settings, to help them have more confidence, focus and strategy while pursuing their goals.

Alex looks at things holistically -- make sure you work on every area that needs working on. ONWARD!

If you write things down they don't seem as daunting -- Alex loves using lists.

Alex couldn't find a job out of college -- and Alex tells the whole story here.

"It sounds so simple -- but it's consistency and discipline."

"You have to hang in there to see results."

I would have built a list from the very beginning.

Add value to your tribe.

1. Map out a plan -- know where you're going
2. It's the small steps that lead to big changes

• Instagram: @empowerista
• Twitter: @AlexWehrley
• Website: empowerista.me

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Amy Anderson is an Emmy Award-winning writer, the former senior editor of SUCCESS magazine, and founder of Anderson Content Consulting. Most recently, Amy is also the founder of Freelance Academy, a resource for freelancers at all stages of their careers. She has a passion for coaching and mentoring people to find the freedom they long for in their businesses and their lives.

Amy wakes up 30 minutes before her son, reads/meditates, spends an hour and a half with him, and then a half hour on a number of different activities -- rigidity is not a measure of consistency -- let your day flow as it needs to. ONWARD!

"What you can do -- or dream you can do -- begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Success is freedom -- and Amy talks about what freedom means to her.

Amy starts her fear defense plan by writing down all her fears -- and Amy tells the reasons why here.

An "A player" is first and foremost a good person. They're kind and hardworking.

1. Relate -- you need to share your own experience
2. Listen -- after relating it's time to listen
3. Assess your ability to help
4. Gauge that person's commitment to action

1. Start today
2. Don't be afraid to re-share content

1. Back up and start with yourself

• Free course: www.youcanfreelance.com/onward

You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----