“A Must-Read For Anyone Who Is Serious About A Career
As A Business Consultant!”
-- Forbes
Pulling Back
The Curtain
An Exclusive Interview with
TopLine’s Founder and CEO,
Martin Howey
A Behind-The-
Scenes, In-depth
Look At The
TopLine Business
Solutions System,
Training, and
Operations
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An Exclusive Interview With
Martin Howey
Tim: Hello, and welcome. Today, I have Martin Howey, founder and CEO of TopLine
Business Solutions with us. TopLine is an organization that specializes in
teaching people how to become business development consultants… helping
other businesses operate more efficiently and more profitably.
Now being a successful entrepreneur myself, I’m always seeking the absolute
best in training and opportunity. To give you an idea, my company has grossed
over $7 million last year, and on pace for more than $10 million this year.
So I, like so many of you, read all the books, attended all the training…
including $25,000 strategy events, belong to “millionaire-maker” type clubs
that you pay a fortune to belong to… and I’ve gotta tell you, a person could
toss it all if they only had the TopLine training and access directly to Mr. Martin
Howey. So, Martin, welcome to the call and thank you so much for joining us
today, it’s great to have you with us.
Martin: Well great, Tim. Thank you very much. It’s great to be with you.
Tim: Well, Martin, I’m curious and I know our listeners are as well… tell us more
about TopLine, how it came about, how you got started, where you’ve been,
where you are now, where you’re going… what the direction of this project is.
Martin: I’ll be glad to, Tim. Well, personally, I’ve been… for more than 50 years now…
working with some of the largest corporations in the world. Mobil Oil,
Sheraton Hotels, Black & Decker, General Mills… big outfits. And I’ve worked
with hundreds of small and medium size businesses as well, helping them get
better established, add clients, increase their proficiencies, and add more
profits to their bottom lines.
Tim: Now Martin, I heard through the grapevine, so to speak… at one point, after all
this experience, you actually retired. Is that a fact?
Martin: I really did. Several years ago I retired and cashed it all in and I decided to take
it easy… doing a little freelance work here and there and writing some courses
for a couple of clients. One day I got a call from a man in the U.K., wanting me
to come over and help him turn around a struggling business that he was
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involved in. But because of my other commitments and the things that I had
going on, I just wasn’t able to do it. But he pursued me for the next year or so,
and practically begged me to come over and help him out.
When my calendar finally cleared up and I had a little bit of time, I took a look
at his business, and I found out that it was in pretty bad shape. So I went over
and gave them an evaluation and some ideas on what he could do to fix his
business and turn it around, and I didn’t think much more about it.
Not long after that, this same person approached me about setting up an
international consulting organization to do the same thing that we did for him
with other companies. I really wasn’t interested, but again… I’d done it for so
long, and he continued to persist, and even came to Arizona from the U.K to
talk about putting this project together. He saw my materials, fell in love with
what I had, thought it was some of the best that he had ever seen. He took
copious notes and copied a bunch of my things, and headed back home.
I didn’t hear much more about him for a few weeks, and then he finally called
again and we decided to put some things together. And instead of forming a
consulting company itself, what we did is create a training company… a
franchise operation that taught people how to be business consultants. We
started in the U.K. and Ireland, and our business literally took off. It became
the fastest growing franchise operation in those countries. We grew it to a
value of $12.4 million in just 6 ½ months.
Tim: Wow!
Martin: It was an absolute success.
Tim: $12 and a half million bucks in 6 ½ months? That’s incredible!
Martin: Yes, it really is. But we created so much value… both for the consultants that
we brought on board, and for the market they served… their customers… that
if they followed our system (and that’s the key… follow the system), that there
was really no way they could lose. In fact, if a person had any kind of business
skill or business acumen at all, and they were interested in using that
knowledge and that experience in business, they’d literally have to be nuts not
to take a good look at our business. It’s just that powerful.
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Tim: That is an awesome success story. So what happened with that? Are you still
with that organization? What exactly are you doing now?
Martin: Well, actually, two things happened, Tim. For one, I was spending way too
much time away from family. At the time I had 6 children and 14
grandchildren, and they mean more to me than anything that I can think of.
And being in the U.K. so much of the time, and being away from home was
very wearing on me and my family life.
The second thing that happened is what often happens when you have two
diverse individuals in partnership in a business. I’m a pretty laid-back kind of
person… very analytical… a thinker. I like to write. I can come up with all kinds
of ideas and concepts and strategies on helping businesses. I wrote all the
materials that we used in the business, and I did much of the training and
follow-up work with the consultants after they came on board.
My partner, on the other hand, was a very aggressive, kind of an in-your-face
kind of guy… an it’s-my-way-or-the-highway type of person. He was very good
at sales, but he really offended a lot of people along the way, and I spent
considerable time trying to sooth the ruffled feathers.
My partner and i had some major differences in the way the company should
be run, and the way the consultants should be treated. It’s my belief that when
a person pays you money… and in our case, a substantial amount of money…
that you should be nice to them, and that you do whatever you can and
whatever is reasonable to help them become as successful as possible, as
quickly as possible. I think that just comes with the territory and with the job.
So we just had some basic differences in some of those things.
Tim: Well, Martin, that was one of the things that I was most impressed with, was
the way that consultants were treated from the beginning. So, you started this
operation in the U.K., you left that business, and now there’s TopLine. Let’s get
into that. Everyone wants to know more about TopLine specifically.
Martin: It got to the point were I really didn’t want to work anymore. I had retired
once and I was doing pretty well with my occasional freelance work. But when
I saw what we were able to do and what we were able to create in the U.K.
and Ireland, and what a huge and starving… really, an under-served market
there was for what we did… it didn’t take very much for me to think about
doing the same here in the U.S. and other parts of the world.
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So I did. I build a very similar company to what we had in the U.K. I rewrote all
the manuals and training aids, developed new ideas, new systems, new
strategies… just took the entire program to an entirely new level, and launched
it in the U.S., thinking that I would just stay local or domestic.
Tim: But Martin, just from my own experience in talking to a lot of consultants and
hearing about the reputation of TopLine, that didn’t happen. I mean you’ve got
consultants all over the globe now, don’t you?
Martin: Well, we do. Once we launched the business, we had people coming out of the
woodwork to find out how to get involved with us. Some of them had heard
about our operation in the U.K., they saw my name tied to it, they saw what
we built over there, but they really didn’t want to get involved because,
number one, the price was extremely high, and number two, some of the
things that were going on with the company and the leadership that was left
over there was probably not something that they wanted to get involved with.
So really, the floodgates opened. And we had people coming from all over the
world, actually. We now have offices in 62 different countries, and many of our
consultants are earning personal incomes in the mid 6-figures in their first 90
days out of training. We’re doing very well. Our business continues to grow
and we’re very aggressively looking for qualified people to join us.
Tim: Now Martin, when you say you’re “aggressively looking for qualified folks,”
what do you mean? I mean, what is “aggressive,” and can you give us some
specifics on how one would become “qualified?”
Martin: Sure. We’re very interested in growing our business. There’s just so much
potential out there, and like I mentioned a minute ago the market is just not
being served adequately. Growth in a business is good… as long as you’re able
to handle it… as long as it’s controlled. It’s when you try and grow faster than
you can process the growth or than you can handle or service your clients,
that’s when you get in trouble.
I’d much rather have 100 consultants working with us, each making $250,000 a
year, than 250 consultants each making only $1,000 a year… which is pretty
much the case with some of the other marketing companies out there. The key
is, adding competent and qualified people… not just people who have enough
money in their bank account to buy a license. My name and my reputation
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means too much to me to do anything less than what is honorable and what is
right. And I’m only interested… and I can only afford to have people with the
same standards associated with me.
Tim: Okay, well give us an idea, then. You mentioned that you wanted to attract the
“competent”, the “qualified”… can you give us a profile of who would be a
good candidate to be a consultant on your TopLine team?
Martin: Identifying your ideal target market… your “ideal” target market is one of the
primary keys to success in any business. It’s what we teach our consultants to
do, and it’s what we’ve done in our business, as well. If you try to market your
product to somebody who’s not qualified, then it ends up in frustration and it
costs a lot of money. So if you really want success, what you really try to do is
to find an ideal target market. And that’s what we’ve done.
The target market that we’re looking for… the ideal person we want to attract
is an executive who has been laid off from their business, maybe he’s been
downsized from his corporate job… they’re tired of the rat race… or at 45 years
old, they may be considered “too old” and nobody wants to hire them back.
We see that all the time. They still have some great skills, but for some reason,
businesses have this idea that if you’re 45 or 50 years old (or older), that you
just don’t have enough life left in you. So even if they could go back to work in
corporate life, they’d rather not. They’d rather do something on their own.
They’d rather use their business experience to slow down a little bit, take life
easier and maybe do something they enjoy.
Another group that makes good consultants for us are business owners who
may be considering selling their businesses, or maybe they’ve just sold a
business and they are looking for something else to do.
Ad agency reps, accountants, CPA’s, bankers… people with sales or
entrepreneurial experience, leadership and communication skills. Really, the
ideal candidate is someone who is level-headed, they’re self-starters, they’re
motivated, they just have some level of business experience and they want to
use it to help other people grow their businesses.
Tim: Martin, in listening to that profile, I know there are tons of people out there
who are looking for exactly what you have. So, suppose someone is interested
in learning more about being a TopLine consultant, or going through your
training… what do they do?
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Martin: Well, our website has tons of information. We’ve got audio testimonials, we’ve
got video testimonials, written testimonials from consultants as they have just
come out of training, and from some of them who have been in the field
applying the systems for some time. And they’re talking about the successes
they’ve had. They’re talking about their experiences in training, they talk about
what they’ve been able to do with their experience and the knowledge and the
training they’ve gotten.
We have an actual Blueprint For Success. We have tons of comments, rave
reviews and testimonials from our consultants. We have our “I’ve Got Your
Back… The Risk Is On Me Double Guarantee” that takes virtually all the risk off
the shoulders of our consultants and transfers it to ours., and “The Quick-Start
Plan” that’s designed to get a new consultant up and running and generating
some real successes as quickly as possible. And of course, before we allow
anyone to attend any of our trainings, we have an in depth Discovery Call to
make sure our program is right for them, and conversely, they are right for us.
We’re simply not interested in taking on, or frankly, spending any time at all
with people who are not a good fit.
Tim: Now hold on a second. Let’s take a step back here. You mentioned a “Double
Guarantee”… that sounds great. What’s that all about?
Martin: I thought you might ask me that, Tim. It’s about success. You know about
success. And that’s exactly what it is. Simply put, it means that we’re
interested in your success. I mean, if someone leaves their job and their family
for several days, travels across the country (or in some cases, across the
world), and pays us money to learn our system, then we have an obligation to
them… a moral and a legal obligation to make sure they’re successful. We
simply don’t want failures in TopLine. The TopLine system works. It’s been
tried, it’s been tested, it’s been proven over more than 40 years, with
companies of all sizes, all types, and in every industry, every niche, and every
profession that you could possibly think of. And I’ve taught the TopLine system
to hundreds of consultants in countries throughout the world, like I mentioned
before.
The bottom line, is that I’m so confident that our system… if followed as we
teach it… will work. And I’m willing to do what no other franchise, no other
licensing opportunity or no other biz op program has the guts to do. I have two
guarantees… that’s why it’s called a “Double Guarantee.” I’m willing to put my
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money where my mouth is. My first guarantee is, at the halfway mark
(lunchtime) of the first day of training, you will see how you can start your
consulting practice from scratch and create a realistic $250,000+ annual
income working a fraction of the “normal” 40-hour workweek, or you can turn
in your materials, leave the training, and I will refund 100% of your training fee
PLUS write you a personal check for $1,000 to reimburse you for your travel
expenses!
The second guarantee is, if at the end of 12 months following your training,
you haven’t earned at least 10 times the amount of your investment for your
TopLine training, we will (at my expense!)…
• Fly you to our corporate offices
• Put you up in a hotel
• Pay all your transportation and living expenses while here
• Work with you full time every day while here to map out the strategies
necessary to get your consulting practice up and running and on track to
meet our financial goals
It is my personal guarantee that if you follow the proven TopLine system and
you don’t meet the 10X income goal, I will personally work with you until you
reach it no matter how long it takes!
What I’m saying that if someone applies the system and they don’t recoup at
least ten times the amount they paid for their license fees within the first 12
months after training, that I will refund the difference between what they
earned from their consulting efforts and what they paid for their license fee…
PLUS, I’ll go one step further, and I’ll throw in an extra thousand dollars just to
say, “Thanks for giving us a try, I’m sorry it didn’t work.”
Tim: Wow! So, I mean, you’re kidding… you’re going to give them their money back,
PLUS a thousand bucks? I mean, in my mind and on paper that makes it a no-
risk proposition… people would be crazy… I mean, how can anyone not take
advantage of that?
Martin: You make a good point. It is a no-risk proposition. In reality, it’s a no-lose
proposition. Unless a person simply does nothing, their success is pretty much
guaranteed. And that’s why we are so careful about who we bring on as
consultants. As I mentioned before, I’m only interested in dealing with
successful, self-motivated, self-starters. And if someone is willing to put forth
the time and the effort, and the investment to learn and to make this thing
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work, I’m willing to help anyone and to give whatever support I need to, to
make them successful. But I simply don’t have the time, the energy… and at
my age, I just don’t have the patience to baby sit or to hand-hold someone
who just doesn’t get out and follow a time-tested and proven system. Not only
that, but it’s just not fair to the other consultants who have legitimate needs
for my time to handle some of the tougher situations that they come across.
Look, I’ve only got so many hours in the day, and I love to help people who are
trying to make things work, but if they’re not… if they’re not trying at all, then I
just really can’t spend the time with them. So we’re very careful about who we
bring on and who we give this guarantee to.
Tim: Martin, that’s great… and you know, it’s also extremely fair. So let’s say that
based on all this information… money back guarantee, everything you’ve told
us so far… let’s say that I’m sold, I want to be a TopLine consultant. Let’s say
that I’ve been to your website, read the information, listened to the audios,
downloaded all the stuff… let’s say that I’ve done my due diligence and I’m
ready to take the plunge, what’s the next step?
Martin: Just because you think you might be right for TopLine, or that TopLine is right
for you, rather, doesn’t mean that you’re right for TopLine. After you’ve done
all your due diligence, you’ll need to complete a simple application so we can
learn a little about you, what your strengths are, what your past experience is,
and what you want to accomplish. Really, all that is… it’s not really an
application. It’s just an Expression of Interest. It asks questions about some of
the things you’ve done in the past, some of the successes you’ve had, and
some of the interests that you have, so we can get a basic background on you
and what you want to accomplish. Then you’ll schedule a time on my online
calendar for us to talk on the phone in a private Discovery Call. When we’re
both satisfied that we’re right for each other, then we get you scheduled into
one of our training classes and away we go… getting you all the information,
instruction, tools, templates, scripts… everything you need to get you started
and moving towards the success you want to achieve.
Tim: I think that sounds great for both parties, actually. So tell me about the
training, now. What will I learn? How long does it take? Where do we go for
the training? What are some of the expectations that I would have as a new
person coming to training?
Martin: Well, the training is 3-days and is held in Phoenix, Arizona. We cover
everything you need to know to get set up, get started and run a successful
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consulting practice. Basically, our training covers the seven things everyone
wants to know when they come out of training.
The first thing that everyone wants to know, is, How do I identify and select a
target market? WHO do I sell to? I mean this is the most burning question in
everybody’s mind. Stop and think about it. Everybody has that same question. I
mean, “Hey, I’ve got all this great information, I know exactly what to do… but
I don’t have anyone to make my presentation to!” So, the first thing we cover…
in fact, we spend an entire day on it… is, who is your market? Who or what are
the kinds of businesses that you want to connect with when you get back
home?
Tim: An entire day on finding your target market? That’s a huge day. Is it really
necessary to spend that much time on it?
Martin: Like I said, without someone… an interested party to make your presentation
to, it really doesn’t matter what you know or how good you are. We go over
more than 25 different prospecting methods, including joint ventures,
referrals, and a ton of other very unique and proprietary methods. You get all
the forms, the letters, the scripts and the templates. Of course, some of the
ideas and the systems that you’ll learn won’t be of any particular interest to
you… they may just not your style. But there are others that you’ll jump all
over. Because we don’t know the likes and dislikes or the preferences of each
person that attends our training, we give you a ton of different ideas and then
let you choose the ones you’re most comfortable with. Of course, we’re going
to help you identify some of the ones that are more successful or that some of
the other consultants are using that are more successful for them. But the
bottom line is, you have a lot of different things to choose from, so there’s
really no excuse for you not having at least one or two ways to quickly get
clients.
Tim: That sounds awesome, and as you said, I think that’s something that everyone
would love to be able to do right away… get some clients. What’s the thing you
cover after that… what’s next?
Martin: The second thing we cover in training is how to get your message past the
gatekeeper and in front of the decision maker on a non-threatening, non-
salesy basis so your intended contact sees it and has the opportunity to
respond to it.
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Tim: Not that right there… stop for a second. That’s a big problem in any business,
isn’t it?
Martin: Sure is... you can have the best, the most applicable, the most compelling
presentation and solution to your prospect’s needs, but if you can’t get the
message to them… if it’s stopped by someone who sees it first and makes an
unfair judgement about it… it doesn’t matter what you have to say. We’ll show
you some very creative ways to circumvent the front person… the one who is
actually paid to keep people like you out of the hair of the boss. And we do it in
very non-offensive ways that make them glad you got through to them.
Now the third area we cover is, how can you motivate your prospect to want
to do business with you? You’ve already identified your target prospect, you’ve
gotten past the gatekeeper, and you’re now in front of them making your
presentation. What are you going to do to make them not only WANT to do
business with you, but try to tackle you if you get up and try to leave their
place of business?
Here's what I mean… First of all, we only spend face-time with business owners
who are ten’s on a one-to-ten scale… one being, “Hey, I’m not at all interested
at all. Thanks for stopping by, but I just don’t have any interest in what you
have to say.” And ten being, “Must fix this, do or die… I gotta do this right
now.”
Tim: Wow! Now that right there is interesting. Everybody would love to work with a
“10”. How do you qualify someone… a business owner to that level?
Martin: That’s the easy part… and it’s so critical that you only spend time with people
who are committed to improving their business. Too many presentations are
made to people who are not tens… in every type of business, Tim. And the
salesperson wonders then, why he or she can’t make a sale.
For us, it’s a matter of protocol. The last thing we want to do is to approach a
business owner with a posture of trying to sell him something. That
immediately positions us as a salesperson… and puts us in a very weak
position, while elevating him to a position of power. He’s in a position to
simply say, “No thanks, I’m not interested,” and we’re finished, we’re out the
door.
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On the other hand, if we can find a way to position ourselves in the prospect’s
mind that it is more beneficial for him to contact us than ignore us we’re
immediately elevated to a position of power an authority, and we maintain
control.
So, before ever going out on a face to face appointment, we do some phone
work. Remember, the business owner has contacted us wanting to know about
how we can help them. So, we go through a series of simple questions to
determine what their needs, interest, and urgency are. These questions are
organized and written down so you can go right through them and get the
information you need.
The first thing that we try to do, is try to find if this is the kind of business that
we want to work with. Does it fit the minimum standards that we have set for
ourselves? If we choose not to work with night clubs, businesses that serve
alcoholic drinks, or anything that we’re not comfortable with or that we’d
rather steer clear of, we simply disqualify them and don’t even consider them.
The second thing is, does this business have the potential that will fit into our
model? In other words, can we make enough money from this business to
make it worth our while? The lady down the street with the little boutique
shop in the strip center… she might be a real nice person, and you might be
able to double, or triple… or maybe even quadruple her business… but if she’s
only making $25,000 a year in the first place, even a 400% increase isn’t going
to give you very much money for the time and effort you’re going to have to
invest. So, can that business support the income you need to make it worth
your while?
And the third thing we’re looking for, is the attitude of the business owner.
Where are they on the one-to-ten scale I mentioned earlier? If they’re not a
ten, we really don’t want anything to do with them. A nine or less is the same
as a one. Why? Because if they’re not a ten, they’re not fully committed, and
they’ll find all kinds of reasons why your systems and your suggestions won’t
work… and you’ll end up frustrated.
Think about this for a second. Suppose you had severe heart problems and
went to a heart specialist, and he said, “We’re going to have to cut your leg
open and take a vein out. Then we’re going to cut you from your neck to your
belly button, open up your chest, take out an artery and replace it with this
vein.” What would you say? Would you say, “Gee, Doc… I don’t know. My
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neighbor had that done and I’m not sure it’s a good idea. Do you have any
other ideas that might work?”
I don’t think that’s what you’d say. You’d probably just say this, “Okay, Doc…
you’re the expert. This is your area, and I trust your judgment. Just tell me
what you want me to do, and consider it done.”
Now that’s the same type of relationship you want with your clients. They
should consider you the expert who is here to save their business from
disaster… to make it better… to heal it. And you want them to do whatever it is
that you say. And if your prospect isn’t a ten on that one-to-ten scale, it just
isn’t going to happen.
What you’re really trying to do here, is measure where they are on their “Want
Scale,” and their “Willingness Scale.” What do they WANT? Well, they have a
million dollar business now, and they want a two million dollar business. That’s
what they WANT. Now, what are they WILLING to give to get it? Are they
willing to come in to the office an hour early to work on their business? No?
Why not? Oh, I see, you’ve got to take your daughter to school. Okay, no
problem. That’s legitimate. How about staying an hour late to work on your
business? No? Why? Oh, your favorite program is on TV and you’ve got to get
home to watch it. Okay, fair enough. What about coming in half a day on
Saturday… can you handle that? Can you spend a little extra time on Saturday
to work on your business? No? Why? Because your son has a soccer game?
Do you see what’s happening here? All of these things are important and they
have to be considered. But there is a conflict between what this prospect
WANTS and what they are WILLING to give up to get it. And if they’re not
willing to give up something on the front end, when you first begin working
with them, it’s just going to get harder later on. So this qualification step is
really critically important.
Tim: That is so interesting, and I can see and I can hear that qualification is really
important… but how do you motivate them to want to do business with you?
Martin: When you deal with qualified and motivated people… people like I’ve just
described, all you have to do is show them how you can solve their problems…
problems they may not even know exist, by the way… and then how they can
profit from those solutions in real and tangible ways, and if they’re truly
qualified and motivated to make changes, the rest is simply a formality.
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We have a short, very powerful and very pertinent PowerPoint presentation
that is designed to give prospects some good background information about
you as a consultant, about business – why some fail and others succeed. The
presentation shows them that you understand the problems that businesses
like theirs face, and how to overcome the challenges that are keeping them
from realizing the success that can and should be theirs.
Next, we use a special Excel-based Business Growth Calculator that
demonstrates how, if they focus on just a few key areas, they can effect major
changes in their business and their profits. When you plug numbers from their
business into the Calculator… numbers that they’ve given you… and you apply
a few minor changes to them, literally blows them away. By the time you’ve
finished your presentation… about 40 minutes, or so… in about 90% of the
cases, those prospects are ready to become clients and let you make those
changes to their business.
Tim: Ninety percent? I mean, that’s amazing! So we’ve got someone in that 90%
category, what’s next? I mean, now you have a client, he’s signed an
agreement with you… what’s next? How do you determine what to do for this
guy?
Martin: Well the fourth thing we cover in training is, how do you uncover their
problems, their challenges, their obstacles and their areas of concern… the
things that are keeping them and their business from achieving the success
and goals that they want?
Again, we make it real simple. The whole process that we use is very simple. It’s very
step-by-step. Basically, it’s designed so that if you follow step one, step two,
and step three, money comes out. We have a special 50-page Confidential
Business Audit that we lead them through step by step.
Before we begin with the audit, we let them know that we want to accomplish
three things. First, we need good information. Without good information,
accurate information, and solid answers, we can’t be of much help to them.
Just like if you went to a doctor and said, “Hey, Doc… I hurt.” And the doctor
asked where the hurt is and you said, “I don’t know, I just hurt.” There’s not
much he can do for you. Same with us. If you give me the information I need,
I’ll be able to uncover areas of hidden profits that can literally change the
direction of your business. If we come across a question that you don’t know
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the answer to or you’re not sure of, just tell me. But don’t make something up.
Give me good solid information.
The second thing is, I want you to ask yourself, “Why is he asking me this
question? What is so important about this that he would want to know the
answer to this question?” Just thinking about the “why” and how you respond
should give you some clues about what’s missing in your business. If someone
asks you certain questions you can bet that they’re fishing for something that
will spark an idea or strategy that they can use to improve your business.
And the third thing: “What would the impact be on my business if I were to do
what this question suggests?” Here’s an example… One of the questions asks if
you have a database of your customers. Now why would that question be
important, and what would the impact be on your business if you had a
database? And by the way, you’d be surprised at how few businesses have
databases, and if they do, they are in very rough forms, incomplete and not
very usable at all.
Tim: Hey, Martin, let me stop you for just a second. Since we’re going through this,
what is the answer to that? Why is a database so important to a business?
Martin: A database is one of the most important things a business can have. Suppose
for a moment, that you had a business and you lost all your customers or
clients for whatever reason. Maybe a competitor opened operations and had
better prices, better selection, better service… it doesn’t matter what the
reason is. The bottom line is that you lost your customers. But you still kept
your nice building, all your computers, your office furniture, your delivery vans,
your staff, your employees, you kept all your stock and inventory. Who are you
going to sell to? Getting new customers is not cheap, nor is it easy, especially
since you lost your client base to begin with.
Now let’s flip that around and say that your office building burned down, your
computers went up in smoke, your delivery vans were stolen, and your
employees all left town… but you still had your customer list. How long would
it take you to get back in business? Well, you could rent another location, you
could rent computers, you could lease vans, hire new employees… you could
be back in business because you still have someone to sell to… you have a
source of income that you can depend on and leverage.
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The fact is, it costs between 6 to 8 times more to sell to a new customer than it
does to an existing customer, and it’s 16 times easier to sell to an existing
customer than it is to a new one. The problem is, if you don’t know who your
existing customers are, how can you sell to them? Think about it… 6 to 8
times… that’s 600% to 800%! You could cut your marketing costs by 600% to
800% if you just know who your existing customers are and how to access
them! That’s huge!
Tim: That’s right, that is huge. Do you have an example of a business that you could
relate all this to that we could get a digital on?
Martin: I’ll be happy to. I ride bikes. I do a lot of triathlons and I do a lot of bike races,
and so I’m really into bikes. So I went into my local bike shop one day and
talked to Warren, the owner. I asked him if he had a database of his
customers. He said he did, and that there were about 5,000 names on his
database. Now that’s pretty good for a bike shop… 5,000 names of customers
who have purchased from him in the past.
My next question had to do with segmentation. I asked if he had the names on
his database segmented. He didn’t know what that meant. Now think about
it… Warren had 5,000 names on his database. That’s it… 5,000 names. Nothing
more. And he thought he was doing good. Now compared to a lot of other
businesses, he was doing good. But doing good isn’t good enough… not if you
want to be competitive… not if you want to run a business for 5 to 8 years then
make enough to cash out and either retire or go on to do something else.
Tim: Okay, so when you say “segmentation,” what exactly do you mean by that?
Martin: What it means is that you have information on your customers in a number of
meaningful and specific segments or categories. For instance, contact
information is a given. You’ve got to have their names, you’ve got to have their
mailing addresses, their phone numbers, and if possible, their email addresses.
Next, it would be nice to know what type of product they purchased, how long
ago they purchased it, how often they buy from you on average, how much
money they typically spend with you, and a number of other things that could
help you track buying habits and needs.
That way, when you want to market… in Warren’s case, market high-end
triathlon bikes, for instance, you would only send the announcement of your
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sale of new tri-bikes or your special seminar on triathlons and triathlon training
to people who are specifically interested in triathlons and high-end triathlon
bikes. You don’t waste your time, printing and postage on people who ride
around the neighborhood with their spouses in the evenings after work on a
cruiser bike. That’s how you save the 600% to 800% on your marketing costs.
So you need to know who your customers are for a specific product, what their
interests are, and when they are potentially ready to purchase again. That’s
where a good, segmented database comes in.
Another thing a good database will do for you is help you identify why people
stop doing business with you.
Tim: Wow! That’s interesting, how can you do that?
Martin: Well, first of all, people stop doing business with a concern for several reasons.
They may die, they could move away, they have a friend or a relative or maybe
a neighbor who goes into business and they feel they need to give them their
support and their business. They could outgrow their need for the products or
services that you offer. They get out of the habit of doing business with you, or
they have a bad experience with a product, a service, or an individual from a
company.
Now in the first place, you’ve got to be able to determine whether or not
someone has stopped doing business with you. And unless you have some type
of tracking system to determine what we call, “Recency” and “Frequency”…
that is, how recently they’ve been into your place of business, and how
frequently or how often they typically come in, you have no real definitive way
of determining whether they’ve stopped or not. So a database is certainly
helpful here.
Next, your database, if it contains your customer’s contact information, will
give you the information you need to get a hold of them and find out where
they’ve been and perhaps invite them back in, if it’s appropriate. Or if there’s
been a problem with someone (an employee, for example) who works in your
business, to at least resolve that problem and try to make it right for them so
they will continue to do business with you.
I could go on and on about databases, it’s an entire subject to itself as you can
probably tell. The point I’m trying to make here isn’t about databases, per se,
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it’s really about the question in the Audit. If I ask you a question about
something, you need to be thinking about what the impact would be on your
business if you were to implement what that question suggests. Just the mere
exercise of going through the Audit… even if I didn’t make one suggestion or
one comment to you… should give you enough ideas to double your profits.
This Audit is really a blueprint… an x-ray into the business. It takes some time
to complete, but it will uncover things about the business that the owner
never even dreamed about.
You’ll find areas of hidden opportunities, money that’s just waiting to be
picked up, and streams of continuing income that they never knew existed. By
the time you finish with your Audit, you’ll know more about that owner’s
business than they do. Oh, they’ll know more about the technical side of the
business… what they do, how they make, or manufacture, or purchase the
products they sell… but you’ll know more about the operational side… the side
that really matters… the side that contributes to the profit column on their
balance sheet.
Tim: Martin, that is such awesome, awesome information. And you know frankly,
speaking for myself, I had no idea that questions… or even one question could
uncover such an amazing treasure trove of information.
Martin: And neither do most business owners. And that’s what makes the TopLine
system so powerful and so unique.
Now let’s move on to the fifth thing that we cover in training. Now that you
have all this great information, what do you do with it? How do you determine
the best way to help your client? Let me tell you, the hardest thing… the
absolute hardest thing that you’ll have to do as a consultant is to do this one
step. Not because you don’t have enough information or that you haven’t
been trained properly, or that you don’t know what to do. The hardest thing
you’re going to have to do is to determine which of the dozens of areas of
opportunity to work on first. You’re going to have so many things that you’ve
uncovered… so many things that you’re going to want to do… any one of which
have the potential of perhaps doubling the business… but you simply can’t do
all of them at once. You’re going to have to just select one, or two, or three, or
four things and get them implemented. Then once they’re up and running,
then you find two or three more and get them installed.
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You want to find the things that are the most cost-effective to install or
implement, the easiest to monitor, and the ones that produce the biggest
return in the shortest amount of time. You see, you need to produce quick
results for several reasons. First, you need to justify your existence and the
money you are getting paid (I’ll talk more about this later). Second, you need
to create some income for yourself. And third, if you can produce quick and
profitable results while you’re still new with this client, they’ll talk about you to
their associates and other business owners. But as time goes on, no matter
how great the results that you produce for them, they’re not as impressive as
when you first begin a relationship with them. So it’s very important to get
some things done for them right up front that are going to produce some
profits for them.
As far as determining exactly what to do for your client, that’s easy. We have a
ton of systems that you can draw from. Just as an example, we have 111
different ways to generate leads, 63 different ways to increase the conversion
rate of shoppers into buyers, 53 ways to increase the dollar amount or the
transactional value of the sales, 68 ways to enhance or increase the profit
margins, 55 ways to increase the number of times a business’s customers buy
from them, 38 ways to increase the average buying lifetime of each customer,
and 57 different referral-generating ideas. That’s 445 different things you can
do to improve the profitability of a business.
Tim: Martin… 445 different things? I can see how this could be difficult!
Martin: Well, when I say it’s difficult, I don’t really mean difficult as in hard. I mean you
get so excited with all the possibilities and options you have… you want to
implement a bunch of things. But you know that it’s just impossible to do it all,
so you have to settle on just a few manageable things.
Tim: Got it. Got it. Prioritize. Okay, you so you said, Martin, that there were seven
main areas that you cover in training… let’s move on to the sixth one.
Martin: Okay, number six is how can you create a long-term relationship with this
client? In other words, how do you keep from working on a “per-project” basis,
so once you’re done with a project, you’re unemployed again? The key is to let
them know of the mountain of areas of opportunity you’ve uncovered, how
you can solve them and turn them into profits for them… and then give them a
probable timeline… which, of course, extends into the future several months.
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It’s a matter of creating future value for them and then formulating a plan to
achieve your goals. And our agreement (or contract) will, of course, spell out
all the details. In reality, it’s a very simple process.
Finally… step seven… how can you get your clients to do your marketing for
you? In other words, how can you turn your business into a “by-referral-only”
business so you never have to prospect again? Well, a minute ago, I mentioned
that you get in and produce immediate results for your client. That’s one way.
A second way is to make giving you referrals a part of doing business with you.
For instance, “If I’m able to do the job that I say I can do for you within the
timeframe we’ve outlined… and you’re pleased with what I’ve done, I’ll expect
for you to provide me X number of introductions to other business owners
who may be in a position to use my services.”
Notice that I didn’t say “referrals,” I said “introductions.” There is a
difference… a BIG difference. I don’t want the name and phone number of
someone who may or may not be interested in what I do. What I really want is
for that business owner to take me to see his friend or associate and introduce
me and tell them what I have done for their business. We’re going to have a
meeting… perhaps a lunch date. We’re going to establish a relationship at that
meeting. I’m going to feel out this person and get to know them… I’m going to
do everything I would have done in the telephone qualifying interview I spoke
about earlier. By the time we finish this meeting, I’ll know whether I want to
work with this person, and he’ll know whether or not he wants to schedule a
face to face meeting to learn more.
Tim: Wow! You are covering a ton of information in your training.
Martin: Well, we really do. Of course, what I’ve just told you is just an overview. We
cover a whole lot more than that. We have break-out sessions, role-plays, and
tons of examples and strategies that we discuss. And, each attendee is asked
to bring a client with them to training. Not physically, of course, but to bring
some numbers from their financials… some data… some information (and we
tell you exactly what to bring)… so you can work with that client’s business
throughout the training workshop, and so you’ll have some systems ready to
implement as soon as you get back home… and the money will start coming in
that very first week.
Tim: Awesome. And would you say, Martin, that is kind of like a “Fast-Start”
program?
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Martin: It’s exactly like a fast-start program. Look, if you’re coming to training, why
would you want to work on examples furnished by the instructor when you
could be working on a real-life business… a business that will be paying you for
the results you generate for them? And why would you want to wait until you
get back home from training to find such a business? Why not get one before
you come to training, and then work on it during training, and then have the
other attendees in class plus the instructors help you develop strategies for
that business, and then be ready to meet with them when you get back home
and implement those strategies? I mean you’re immediately generating some
income – for your client’s business, and for yourself – as soon as you get back
home.
Tim: I love it and it makes sense.
Martin: Sure it does. And remember when I talked about generating results as soon as
possible so you would be positioned to get introduced to others by your client?
If you can get back home from training with ready-to-implement strategies for
the client’s business that you bring to training, the results should be rolling in
within a week or two, and you should be generating your first two or three
referrals (or introductions) within three weeks. And do you know what that
does? That takes the pain out of prospecting. You see, the goal is to position
yourself so you never have to prospect again. And that’s exactly what this
process does for you.
Tim: Now Martin… I guess that would help explain why so many of your consultants
are so successful so quickly right out of the gate.
Martin: Exactly. In fact, 92% of our attendees come to training with a client as I’ve just
described. The other 8% either signed on too late to get a client, or were too
busy, or simply didn’t do it. And a full 84% of our graduating consultants earn
their entire investment back within the first 45 to 60 days after leaving
training… largely, because of the fast-start program.
Tim: Martin, that is so very, very impressive, and so different from most things out
there. So if you can, tell me about a specific situation where a consultant was
able to quickly apply some of the systems or the techniques you teach, and
give us an idea of what the results were.
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Martin: Well, I can tell you a lot of stories, because we’ve had so many successes. One
that comes to mind is Nigel and his window client. This company made
windows and sold them to contractors. A contractor would place an order for
windows on Monday, and they could have them by Wednesday. Not a bad turn
around, but the window company wanted to do better.
So Nigel does a little research and finds out that the company that makes the
glass that the window company buys, is just a couple of miles away from the
window company. He talks the owner into literally closing the window
company during the day, and putting everyone on the night shift except a
receptionist to answer the phones, and a bookkeeper and a driver.
Then, when an order comes in on Monday morning, for example, it’s
forwarded to the glass company, and the driver from the window company
picks up the glass Monday afternoon or Monday evening, takes it back to the
window shop, and the night crew works during the night assembling the
windows. Then they’re delivered to the contractors Tuesday morning. So it’s
next-day delivery, instead of two-day delivery.
Then Nigel looked at the window company’s guarantee, which was 5 years.
Nigel wanted to change it to ten years, but the window company owner
wouldn’t go for it because he thought there would be too many returns or
service calls. Nigel and I discussed it for awhile, and he went back to talk to the
owner and asked him how many service calls he normally gets in a year. And of
course, the answer was, “Not very many.” And when there was a complaint, it
wasn’t about the installation, it was that the double pain glass fogged up
inside, or it leaked.
After a few discussions, Nigel convinced his client that if he had very few
service calls in a year, and that most of the calls were a result of glass problems
and not the installation, that he should offer a lifetime guarantee. Of course,
the owner thought Nigel was crazy.
But when Nigel explained that most people only live in their home for 5 or 6
years anyway, and that “lifetime” meant for the life that they owned the
home… and that the guarantee was subject to the original manufacturer’s
warranty (which in this case, was the glass company’s original one-year time
period)… and that what the window company owner was really only liable for
was the labor after one year, no further discussion was needed.
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Tim: So what happened, did the owner go along with Nigel’s suggestions?
Martin: Yes, he did. He was reluctant at first. But Nigel said that he saw real potential
in this method, and told him he would only take $8,000 up front in fees and
25% of any revenue increase he generated for him. That sounded good to the
owner, so they signed an agreement and the owner gave Nigel a check for
$8,000 right on the spot.
Tim: Okay, so what happened next?
Martin: Well, they were producing about 200 windows a week previously, and Nigel
sent out letters to all the contractors in the area telling them of the new
shorter turn-around time and the lifetime guarantee that they were offering…
which as you can imagine, was the strongest in the industry. Within a very
short time, they went from those 200 windows a week, to 400 windows a day!
They literally blew the doors off their competition. They owned their market.
Tim: Wow! 200 a week to 400 a day? That’s a HUGE difference!
Martin: It sure is… and that set Nigel up for a long time… just that one client. And that’s
all he really had to work on… just one client..
Tim: Incredible!
Martin: Well, it is. Ian is another one. Just eleven days out of training, he picked up a
health and beauty salon… they do hair, nails, tanning, that sort of thing. He got
an $11,000 retainer and 25% of the gross.
Tim: Now hold on a second. Both of these guys got 25%. That sounds like a lot.
Martin: Yes, it is. And that’s unusual. But both of these consultants only got an initial
down payment, and not a continuing retainer fee, so the 25% helps to offset
that.
In Scott’s case, he landed a chiropractor, got $3,000 a month in retainer fees,
and that’s continuing… and 12% of the increase that he generated for the
doctor. Now that’s a little different than picking up a big one-time down
payment and a larger percentage. Scott picked up a continuing retainer fee
and a smaller percentage. Andre works a little differently… he’ll pick up $6,500
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just to do an audit, then get a monthly retainer fee plus 8 to 12% of the
increase.
Tim: Okay, so these are a lot of different scenarios. What’s common? Is there any
particular way you teach your consultants to charge for their services?
Martin: Well, as you can imagine, there are as many different ways to charge as there
are consultants. Some charge by the project; some by time; some just charge a
monthly retainer… it just depends on what a person is comfortable with.
Personally, I’ve never liked any of those methods. What I’ve always had the
best success with… and what works out best for me and the client, and for our
consultants’ clients, is to charge a monthly retainer plus a contingency on the
results you generate for them.
Tim: Give me an example of what you’re talking about. These are going to be new
terms for a lot of folks. A retainer and a contingency... what’s the difference,
and how do those work?
Martin: Well, a retainer is just that… it’s a certain pre-established amount of money a
client pays you every month to retain you for your services. For one, it beholds
you to his company… so you don’t go to work for his competitors. Second, it
pays you for the time you spend working in his business… doing research,
preparatory work, installing systems and procedures, that sort of thing. And
third, when a business owner is paying you, he’s putting out money… he has
“skin in the game”… and he’s more likely to follow through on his assignments
and do the things you ask him to do.
Contingency fees, on the other hand, are monies paid you based on (or
contingent on) the results you produce for your clients. Another way to term it
is a “success fee” or a “participation fee.” In other words, you’re participating
in the success of the results you produce for them.
The way most of our consultants charge, is they get a modest retainer amount.
They might charge anywhere from say, $1,500 up to $5,000 per month,
depending on the size of the business and the motivation of the owner, and
then they get a certain percentage of the results that they create, or the gross
revenues that they generate over a pre-established baseline. Usually the
percentage runs from 8% to 15% or so.
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Tim: Okay, now that sounds great, and you mentioned a “baseline.” What does that
mean? What is a baseline, and how do you go about coming up with and
establishing a baseline?
Martin: We teach our consultants how to read a financial report and then how to
determine how much money the business is generating on a monthly basis.
That’s important. Then we look at the last year’s revenues, compare them
against what they’re doing this year, and then establish a baseline, or amount
to measure our progress against. Then they’re paid a percentage of any
additional revenues that are generated over that baseline as a result of their
efforts.
Tim: Okay, Martin, when you talk about “revenues.” What exactly is that? Is that
the amount of profits that the business ends up with?
Martin: No, we don’t go by profits. Profits are too easy to manipulate. You can create
all kinds of new revenue streams or income for a business, and then find that
the owner wants to use the newfound monies to upgrade all his computers,
buy new delivery trucks, hire more staff, buy a company jet, a condo in Maui…
all sorts of things… and you end up with nothing for all your work.
Instead, when we refer to “revenues,” we mean gross revenues… or top dollar
amounts. You and the services you perform for your clients are expenses to
them just like any other expense… and your fees come out of gross revenues,
not from the left-overs, or the profits.
Tim: Got it. So you eliminate the jets and the condo in Maui, how does that
arrangement fly with most business owners, this particular arrangement?
Martin: Well, first of all you have to understand the mindset or the paradigm of the
typical business owner. They’re not used to the way you want to operate.
They’re used to seeing a body pass by their desk every morning, hear the time
clock being punched, and seeing that body in a cubicle in front of a computer
or out in the shop all day. What’s being done in that cubicle or in the shop is
less a consideration than the fact that there’s a body in it.
In the case of our consultants, they don’t have an office and they don’t punch
a time clock. They aren’t even around the office, the shop or the place of
business very much at all. In fact, the business owner hardly ever even sees
them. So the way they work is very unusual, very unconventional, and
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sometimes business owners get a little uneasy when they’re paying money out
and they don’t see you around. But if it’s explained up front, and then they’re
reminded on occasion that you’re being paid based on the results you
produce, and not for the time you put in, it brings them back to the amount of
value you produce for them.
All you have to do is sit in a meeting of the board of directors or the top
executives of a business and ask them in front of the owner how many of them
would be willing to give up their salaries to go on an arrangement to be paid
based on their level of contribution or performance. Then watch as every eye
in the room looks down or away.
The fact is, for what most consultants charge for their retainer amounts, it’s
tough to get a janitor or a maintenance person for that amount. Think about
it… $3,000 per month is only $36,000 a year. You can’t hire very much help for
that amount anymore. But they can get you… because you’re going to be paid
the lion’s share of your compensation on the results you’ll produce for them.
And no one else in the company, except maybe a commissioned salesperson,
would even consider working under those arrangements.
Now consider that they also don’t have to give you an office, a desk, a
computer, a secretary, a phone line, or a company car, or even pay their share
of your FICA taxes. And you don’t take vacation time or sick time (which is non-
productive time that they have to pay you for), and they don’t have to provide
you a benefits package that pays for medical insurance, dental coverage, or a
401k.
So when you look at it this way, it really makes sense for a business owner to
enter into this kind of arrangement with a consultant. Why? Because they save
on all those auxiliary costs that I just mentioned, pay a token amount as a
retainer, and place any risk they may have on whether or not you produce
results for them. If you don’t produce, they don’t pay, it’s as simple as that.
Tim: Hey, Martin, I can understand why that does work a huge percent of the time.
So we’ve got this agreement… how long does an agreement usually last
between a consultant and their clients?
Martin: Well, theoretically, unless other arrangements are made, if you develop
systems for a business and you’re paid based on the results the systems
produce, you should be entitled to be paid as long as the systems are in use, or
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as long as they continue to produce results, which means in perpetuity… or
forever.
Of course, in real life that’s not realistic. But at least it’s a starting point to base
negotiations on. The real key to longevity with a client… any client… is the
value you bring to that client. The more value you are to that client, the more
(and the longer) they should want to keep you. And the more value you are to
them, the more of a threat you could be to them if you decided to take your
services to their competition.
It’s really about value and relationships. Create value, and they’ll not only want
to keep you producing for them, but they’ll want to keep you away from their
competition. Create relationships, and it’s difficult to let friends go.
So how do you continue to create continuing value? Let’s go back to that 50-
page Confidential Business Audit for a moment. Remember all the information
you dug out about the business? There was no possible way you could handle
all the problems, the challenges, and tap into all the opportunities that you
uncovered back then. So you should still have tons of things you can do for the
business.
Now here’s an exciting thing… the business has changed since you originally
completed the Audit. And along with those changes, comes new challenges,
new problems, and new opportunities. The fact is… you should NEVER run out
of things to do, strategies to develop, or systems to implement for your client.
Here’s another secret… after you’ve worked with a business for a period of
time, you’ll have gotten to know all about the industry they operate in, the
market they serve, what is being done and what is not being done, which
businesses are serving their clients well, and which ones are not, which
businesses have great potential for improvement, and which businesses are
dogs.
And you’ll know all the ins and outs of your client’s business… the good, the
bad, and the ugly; the strong points and where they’re weak; you’ll know the
attitudes, the drive and the motivation of the owner and the employees… in
short, you’ll have all the information that you need to do some real damage to
that business if they should ever want to stop doing business with you.
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Tim: Whoa, Martin… that sounds almost like a blackmail or extortion-type of
situation. Now come on, is that ethical?
Martin: Well, that’s a good point. And I’m certainly not suggesting that you take all the
information you’ve gained from a client and hold it over their head in an effort
to keep you engaged. What I am saying is that you have created so much
value, both in their business and in their minds that it would be foolish for
them to let you go.
Tim: Okay, so what if a client says, “Hey, I don’t need you anymore. My business is
doing great now, and I don’t want to continue using your services and I don’t
want to continue paying you?? What if they just want to end the agreement…
to break the contract?
Martin: That’s an entirely different story. We do have a Buy-Out Agreement that will
allow a client to pay you an agreed-upon sum to let them out of their
obligation to you. You simply determine how much you would make over a
certain period of time if they kept you on, and negotiate either a lump-sum
settlement, or a monthly payment arrangement.
If they just refuse and want to break the agreement, you have a couple of
options. You can seek legal aid through the courts, or if they just flat out break
your contract, then it’s a no-holds-barred situation, and I wouldn’t hesitate to
take everything I’ve learned about their business to their competitors. After all,
you’ve put in your time, your effort and expertise to work for them, and you’re
entitled to be paid for it. You’ve entered into the situation in good faith, and if
they break it… if they’re not going to honor your working arrangement, you’re
still entitled to be paid. If they’re not willing to pay you based on the
agreement they signed with you, why not let your payment be from their
competitors?
Tim: Hey, I agree. Maybe we could put in that Agreement that we get the jet to
Maui afterwards. Martin I would expect that it’s important that after all that’s
been said, and after all the work that you’re going to put in, you’ve got to be
pretty selective about the kinds of businesses that you choose to work with
right from the start. Is that correct?
Martin: Exactly. That’s why we position ourselves as consultants, with our clients
contacting us, rather than as salespeople calling on businesses trying to peddle
our wares. And that’s exactly why we do the telephone qualifying
28
questionnaire before ever meeting with a business owner face to face. What
we really want to do is qualify them as much as possible up front.
That’s not to say that someone won’t slip by our screening process, lead us on
either intentionally, or unintentionally, and then try to break our agreement.
But we do as much qualification as possible up front.
Tim: Okay, so what types of businesses would you personally consider to be
“ideal”? What kinds of businesses should a consultant really try to secure?
Martin: Well, basically, there are three kinds of businesses. There are what’s known as
Start-ups, Foul-ups and Set-ups.
A Start-up is a business that, as its name implies, is just starting up. For the
most part, these are not the businesses to try and attract. For one, they may
have most of their operating capital tied up in inventory and set-up costs, and
they may be operating on a tight budget. For another, the owners of these
businesses oftentimes think that because they have a product or a service that
everyone wants and will love as much as they do (after all, that’s why they
went into business in the first place), that they can run their business just fine
by themselves.
There are some start-ups, however, that can make good clients. Much of it
depends on the attitudes of the owners and their willingness to be open to
options of help that go beyond their areas of expertise. As a TopLine
consultant, you have a number of different options to present to start-ups that
will be beneficial to them, and will allow you to create a fair… not necessarily
good… but a fair income stream for yourself.
Foul-ups are the next category. These are businesses that, for one reason or
another, have been run into the ground or neglected so much that there’s not
much you can do to save them. In most cases, it’s best not to get involved with
foul-ups, because if they do happen to bite the dust, you don’t want your
name to be connected to them.
Occasionally, you might find a foul-up business that the owner desperately
wants to get out of, and that you can see some potential in if the right
strategies and systems are installed in… and you can pick it up for pennies on
the dollar, turn it around and flip it. There are opportunities like this out there,
and if you can find the right one, you can make some good money.
29
Set-ups are the third category of businesses. These are businesses that already
have some systems and procedures in place, but they are not doing as well, or
functioning as good as they could be. They may have a sales force in place, be
doing some direct mail, some telemarketing, they could have a database…
they’re doing a number of things, but they’re not running at their optimal
levels.
With a little help in the right areas, you can do wonders with these companies
without asking them to spend any more money than they’re now spending…
just redirect their outlays in different, more productive areas.
Tim: Okay, I’ve got it. So let’s say you found the ideal business, and you’ve just
gotten a call from them. Can you walk me through your process? What are the
actual steps you go through from the time you get that call, until you finally
begin working with this client? Can you take me through a complete scenario…
from beginning to end.
Martin: Okay, sure. Well, we’ve already covered a lot of it, but we first start of with our
telephone Qualifying Questionnaire. Here’s where we determine whether this
is a business that we want to work with. We want to see if they meet our
minimum standards or criteria, and where the owner is on the one-to-ten scale
with wanting to build his or her business.
Let’s suppose this business qualifies. We then set an appointment for a face-
to-face meeting with them, and then send them (or email them) a letter
thanking them for their time and requesting some information. We want some
pertinent numbers from their financials, some of their ads, sales letters,
customer service forms. We have a whole list of things so we can determine
what they are doing, and how effectively (or non-effectively) they’re doing it.
While we’re waiting for them to send us that information and for our meeting,
we immediately go to work gathering some information on their industry, the
market they serve, their competitors, people who buy their kinds of services.
We look at, and collect ads, letters, brochures… whatever we can get our
hands on from their competitors. We call their competitors and record the
calls, and we do the same thing for their business.
Once we get the information that we requested from them, we put it all
together and analyze of it to identify some hot buttons or areas of opportunity
30
that they’re not capitalizing on, and we begin building a Competitive
Intelligence Report.
When it’s time for our meeting, the first thing we do is present an agenda of
what we’re going to discuss in the meeting.
Tim: An agenda? I’ve never heard of anyone doing that? What’s the purpose? Isn’t
this a sales meeting?
Martin: Yes, it is a sales meeting. And you’re right… you have never heard of anyone
doing that. And because you’re doing it, it automatically and immediately sets
you apart from everyone else they’ve ever been in a meeting with. It identifies
you as a professional… someone who’s done their homework, who knows why
they’re there and where they’re going.
By using an agenda, you don’t have to worry or stress about bringing up the
subject of money, accountability, or anything else that might be
uncomfortable. Why? Because it’s listed on the agenda as one of the subjects,
it’s just natural that you’re going to talk about it. It really takes the sting out of
certain touchy subjects.
Tim: I like that. Okay, so in this meeting, who is going to be there? What are you
going to do? What are you going to talk about? Give us some details.
Martin: Well, depending on the size of the business you’re working with, you may want
the business owner or the person who runs the business. But for sure, you
want ALL the decision makers present… anyone who has any input at all in the
decision-making process.
Prior to the meeting, you send a confirmation letter to the owner letting them
know exactly who should be there, what information they need to have with
them, and what the tenor of the meeting will be. You let them know that you
want quiet, uninterrupted time, free from phone calls, walk-ins, visitors, or
problems. You let them know very plainly that if for some reason everyone of
the items on your list cannot be met that they need to let you know so that
you can reschedule.
Tim: That’s interesting. That’s pretty strict. How strictly do you hold them to that?
31
Martin: 100%. There’s a reason why you’ve requested those things in the first place.
You’re there for one reason, and one reason only… to make a sale. This isn’t a
social visit. You’re not there for your health, for fun, or for entertainment. Your
time is valuable and you’re there to… plain and simple… make a sale. If any one
of the items on that list is missing, the chance for closing the sale is greatly
reduced.
The second reason you hold fast to your demand, is that you have to make it
perfectly clear right up front, that you are the professional… you are the
consultant… it’s their business that is in trouble… it’s they who contacted you…
and it’s you who is in charge, not them. So if all those items are not present,
you just don’t meet… you reschedule the meeting.
Tim: What if you get to the meeting and find out that one of the decision makers
had to cancel, or that they couldn’t get something that was on the list? Maybe
they didn’t provide you with something that you requested, what do you do?
Martin: If you let them get by with not doing exactly what you say from the beginning,
believe me, you will have nothing but problems later on. You have to make a
request or demand and then stick to it. By doing this you’ll immediately
position yourself as a person of authority… of stature… of competence…
someone who they can respect and someone who calls the shots. And your
positioning and perception of value immediately goes up in their eyes.
Tim: Yeah, but Martin, you know business owners. Don’t some of them get
offended if you it that way?
Martin: Sure, they may, but if they do… if you told them to do something and they
didn’t do it for your very first meeting, is this the kind of person you want to
deal with in a long term relationship? Is this the person you’re going to trust to
implement the procedures and systems that your income is going to depend
on? I don’t think so. You make your demands and stick to your guns right from
the start.
Now back to the meeting. Once you present your agenda you launch into your
PowerPoint… IF it’s appropriate. For some businesses it is, and for others it
may not be. You have to be the judge of that, and we teach you how to
determine when to and when not to use it.
32
Next, you fire up your Business Growth Calculator and show them how small
improvements in a number of different areas can dramatically improve the
profit picture of their business. And believe me, when you show them how the
Calculator works, using numbers from their own business… when you show
them the exponential increases they can get, not from some hypothetical
business, but from their very own business, it’ll literally blow them away.
Do those things correctly and you’ll have them eating out of your hand and
practically begging for you to work with their business. Next, you establish
your baseline figures, come to a mutual understanding, get a signature on your
Agreement, and set up the next meeting.
Tim: You make it sound so easy.
Martin: Well, it is easy. This is not a difficult or a complicated process. Once you
understand the procedure, which we teach you in training, and we give you a
flowchart to follow the entire process, you’ll fly through these presentations
like there’s no tomorrow.
Tim: Awesome, awesome. Tell us about the next meeting. Tell us about that.
What’s going to happen there?
Martin: Remember after your phone questionnaire how you had them collecting
information for you? That’s when it began. And now you’re just continuing the
process.
Tim: So what do you have them do? What kinds of assignments do you give them?
Martin: They need to be collecting additional data and information that you’ll need,
and they need to be thinking about the people who will be present at your
next meeting, which is your Confidential Business Audit meeting. This is where
you go through that 50-page audit and begin identifying the problems,
challenges, and areas of opportunity that they have. This is the key meeting.
It’s your “discovery” meeting. This is where you’re going to learn exactly what
needs to be done to improve your client’s business.
Effective business consulting… the kind of consulting that produces real results
is not a matter of simply giving a business owner a handful of ideas. You can’t
simply think that the business needs a USP, for example, that that’s the most
important thing to do for them. You can’t just think that they need sales
33
training, or that their customer service program needs overhauled. If you don’t
dig in and find out exactly what the biggest hurt is, or where the biggest area
for growth is, you’re not only doing them a disservice, but you’re hurting your
potential for income, as well.
As I said previously… when you finish this meeting, you’re going to know more
about the operational aspects of their business than they do… and you’re
going to be in a VERY powerful position.
Once you finish this information-gathering meeting, you go back to your home
or office and begin analyzing the information and developing your strategies
and the systems that you’ll implement in their business. Remember, you have
445 different strategies to choose from… but you’re only looking for two or
three to implement in their business. Of course, if you’re working with a very
large business with several staff that can be involved, you’ll be able to
implement more strategies. But it’s important to not try to bite off more than
you can manage at any one time.
Now again, before you leave that meeting, you give them some homework…
gotta keep ‘em busy. What you’re going to have them do now, is assemble
their Strategies Team… the people who are going to do the actual work… the
implementation of your strategies and systems.
Tim: Hey, wait a minute. Are you telling us on this call today, that you physically as
a consultant are not going to have to do this on your own? That you’re not
going to do the work? You’re going to have them do it? I thought that’s what
they hired you to do.
Martin: No, that’s not what they hired the consultant to do. The consultant consults…
you think up the ideas, the solutions, and the strategies. But you don’t do the
actual work… at least, not in most cases. Sure, there may be a few instances in
which you’d want to get involved, but you’re not an envelope stuffer, a stamp
licker, a telemarketer, or anything like that. You’re an idea person and an
events director.
Tim: Excellent. Very interesting… now what comes next?
Martin: Now you come back for your Executive Meeting. Here’s where you meet with
your Strategies Team, present your agenda for this meeting, introduce the
strategies and the systems that you’ve determined you want to implement,
34
establish your goals, and assign accountability to the people who are going to
see them through to their completion.
You want to make sure that for everything… for every system… for every
procedure you introduce and want installed, that there is someone who is
accountable… someone responsible… someone you can depend on to make
sure the job gets done.
It’s the old “Inspect what you expect” thing. If you make an assignment but
don’t have a specific person accountable and responsible, you can bet that it
won’t get done, or that it won’t get done the way you wanted it to.
Tim: Okay, so not being the owner of the business, as a consultant, how do I make
sure the work gets done? I mean, your success with your client, and even your
income as a consultant is dependent on someone else implementing your
ideas. If they don’t follow through they could make you look bad, it could make
this whole project fail. What assurances do you have that they’ll actually put
your ideas and strategies into action?
Martin: Great question. You’re thinking. And you’re absolutely right, if the work isn’t
done or if it’s not done properly, you can really look bad, and it can end up
costing you a lot of money… even a client. The key is doing your periodic
reviews or follow-up meetings.
You’ve got to think like some employees think, and then figure out how to
neutralize that thinking. There are a lot of employees who have the idea that if
they just paid me more… if they just gave me more money… then I’d be happy
to do more work around here. They’re in the “collect the paycheck and go
home and forget about work” mode. Not that there’s necessarily anything
wrong with that on a personal level, but that type of attitude can’t carry over
into their work.
Earl Nightingale once told the story of a man who sat in front of a stove and
said, “You give me heat, and then I’ll put in the wood.” Of course this is
erroneous thinking, but it’s the same mentality that a lot of employees have
about their jobs… give me more money, and I’ll do more around here.
But on the employer’s level, it runs just the opposite. He’s saying, “Give me
more production, and I can pay you more. Give me more production and I can
build a nicer facility. Give me more production and I can give you more and
35
better benefits. Give me more production and I can grow the company, get
better equipment, more and better staff, and make life much better for all of
us.”
Do you see what’s happening? First comes the wood, and then the heat. First
comes the production, and then the money. And then comes all the things the
money can buy.
So what you as a consultant has to do, is hold the employee’s (and I’m talking
about the people responsible for carrying out your assignments, here)… you’ve
got to hold their feet to the fire… to make sure they get their assigned tasks
done, and done in a timely manner.
So you hold review meetings, you check on their progress, you get
accountability reports, offer suggestions, give them additional help, make new
assignments, and in general… just keep the ball rolling forward. That’s what a
consultant does… they consult. They don’t do the actual physical labor.
Tim: Okay, Martin, I can see how this would work in a huge company. But what if a
business just doesn’t have the manpower to do everything that’s needed?
Martin: A couple of things. And when you first start out, you’ll run into this quite a bit.
First, don’t give them too much at any one time. Give them enough that they
can do, that they can handle on a reasonable level. Second, if it’s a small
company, the owner may have to put in some additional time if they want the
results. And third, they may have to outsource some work.
For instance, say you have a direct mail campaign that needs to go out, but the
client just doesn’t have anyone to spare to put it together. They may be able to
find a friend, and neighbor, a relative, a client, a client’s teenager… someone
who is homebound due to being somewhat physically challenged and can’t get
out… or maybe someone who has a baby that takes a nap in the afternoon and
the mother has some free time that she can do some piece work or some small
jobs at home. There are all kinds of solutions if you just look around, and we
teach a lot of those in training.
Tim: Well, speaking of not giving too much at one time, you’ve certainly given us so
much… a lot to think about today. And just knowing you and knowing about
the program, I’ll bet you could go on and talk for hours, couldn’t you?
36
Martin: There really is. In fact, we’ve only just scratched the surface about this great
business of consulting and what we teach in our training. The reality is, it’s a
great business… it’s a fun business… and even with all the businesses I’ve seen
in my more than 50 years of consulting… I’ve never found a business that can
give you the kind of time-freedom, the money-freedom, and the lifestyle that
this business can.
Where else can you find a business that you can start up for practically no out
of pocket cost, that you can work from your home, or an office, if you choose,
and that you can operate without the expense and headaches of employees? A
business where you can pick and choose who you want to work with as clients,
what hours you want to work… a business that’s in a huge and growing…
really, a never-ending market that not only needs what you have to offer, but
actually wants it, and that, if you position yourself correctly, will actually
pursue you to get it?
I mean, really… this business is as close to a perfect business as you can get.
It’s fun, and it’s challenging… and it’s extremely rewarding.
Tim: Martin, it sounds exactly that. I really appreciate the time you’ve spend with
me today and all you’ve shared. One more time… if someone is interested in
learning how to do what you do… how to become a marketing and business
development consultant, what should they do? What steps should they take?
Martin: The first step is to visit our website. Watch the videos, read the comments and
success stories from others, and if you like what you see and you want to
explore the opportunity further, schedule a time on my online calendar for a
no-cost, no-obligation, no-sales Discovery Call. We’ll get together on the
phone, give you all the information and details, answer all your questions, then
together we’ll determine if we are right for each other.
Tim: Great… it sounds like you’ve got it all pretty well worked out into very well-
defined steps.
Martin: Well, we really do. We’ve been doing this for some time and it just gets better
as we go along. It’s really a pretty simple process. There’s no need to make it
any more difficult or time-consuming than it needs to be. It’s not intimidating…
either the application process, the discovery process, the due diligence
process, or the consulting process. We’ve tried to keep it on a very, very simple
level. We’re really interested in growing our business. The market is so huge,
37
it’s begging for help, and there’s really no one serving it adequately. So we’re
very aggressively looking for the right… and I underscore RIGHT… people to
join us and share in the profits, the prestige, and the lifestyle that this business
can give you.
Tim: Fantastic! Again, Martin Howey, thank you so much. It’s been a great
conversation. I’ve taken a ton of notes. I know I learned a lot, and I’m sure our
listeners have, also. I hope we can talk again soon!
38
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