The Bottleneck Breakthrough Podcast

“Systems permit ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results predictably.” — Michael Gerber

As I’ve mentioned earlier in this book, nearly every one of my clients came to me with a marketing need, typically focused on generating more leads to help grow their company. In roughly half the cases, they actually had a systems problem or, better stated, they didn’t have anything documented to keep from having to reinvent the wheel every day.

“Your success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have.” — Tim Ferriss

If you’re anything like me, you’ve grown up with a healthy dose of altruism burned into your subconscious. We’re taught that putting others’ needs before our own is a worthy character trait, and I don’t disagree with that. I just think it gets severely distorted, especially when used as a method of control or manipulation.

“Management by objective works . . . if you know the objectives. 90% of the time you don’t.” — Peter Drucker

I’ve found a single activity that helps solve all of your management problems, while also setting you up well to move toward the ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) model in the future if you want.

“The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker, but of the manager.” — Peter Drucker

Business owners have the habit of believing that how they think is “common sense,” and that it is handed out to everyone like candy on Halloween. They think it’s “common sense” to show up on time, to call ahead if you’re going to be late, to double check all of your grammar in email communication, and never to yell at anybody on the phone. Their list of unstated expectations is seemingly endless.

“If people like you, they’ll listen to you. But if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.” — Zig Ziglar

Before we cover the keys to improving your closing process, I’d like to discuss the worst sales profiles that just won’t seem to go away.

“The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.” — Thomas Kempis

The feature that stands out about ancient Greek architecture, and especially the Parthenon, is the use of pillars to create structures that withstand the ravages of time.

All the high-growth companies I’ve worked with share a similar feature with Greek architecture. Instead of physical pillars, they have Traffic Pillars that support the entire structure of the company. Without effective marketing, a business will only go so far, and will have a shaky structure.

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing.” — W. Edwards Deming

The challenge is to figure out which communications are most effective for your business right now, given your time, money, staffing, industry, and target market, so you can generate growth again.

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.” — Karl Pearson

“The basic approach to positioning is not to create something new and different, but to manipulate what’s already in the mind, to re-tie the connections that already exist.” — Al Ries & Jack Trout

Chapter 2 walks you through developing brilliant positioning by finding your Big Idea that cuts through the clutter of the marketplace to draw prospects to you.

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” —Henry Ford

A bottleneck is any point of friction in your business that prevents you from generating more revenue or generating the same revenue more easily. When I talk about bottlenecks, business owners always ask for examples of what they look like so they can find them in their own business.