Making Your First Million.pdf - Association of Net Entrepreneurs and ...

Making Your First Million
Rod decides to take the risk, approaching a property developer who builds him a
$400,000 factory which is onsold to a Sydney investor at 10.5% pa yield on 7 year lease.
This commits Rod to a $900 a week outlay but the new premises offer far higher
visibility and traffic flows, and are not so far from his old premises that he'll lose any
existing customers. The advantage of the freeway position is he can now draw his
customers from two major population centres, Newcastle and the Central Coast.
To re-establish his business as a specialist LPG installer rather than a generalist
mechanic, Rod now needs to focus on his USP, his Unique Selling Proposition. He is a
specialist LPG installer. He can do it in 24 hours. He has a specialised team of expert
mechanics. LPG will pay for itself in less than a year. It's good for the environment. And
so on. These are all good things but they are not unique to him. He has to find a unique
proposition he can put to his customers.
It doesn't have to be spectacular. It can be simply better service. It can be a smiling voice
on the end of the phone. I'd just bought my wife a beautiful old iridescent blue Mercedes
450SEL from the wreckers for $4000 and was in the process of respraying and doing it
up. I rang around to get gas installed and contacted four places before I got onto Rod. The
first place was recommended to me by Trevor, the retailer I'd bought the car from. Trevor
had told me they'd look after me and would sell it to me wholesale at $1600. The first
time I rang they were engaged. The second time they said: "Look, sorry mate, we don't do
anything over 5 years old." The second place was recommended to me by my rev-head
son Bryson as the only place in Newcastle to go to: "Ah, no sorry mate. We wouldn't be
interested. We're flat strap at the moment." The third place I plucked out of the Yellow
Pages: "Ah, no. Sorry mate. We don't do gas anymore. There's no money in it." The
fourth place also from the Yellow Pages rang out and didn't answer. I was starting to feel
that I'd bought a lemon. The fifth place was Rod's: "Yes. No problems George. We can
do it for you for between $1500 and $1700 depending on whether its carburetted or
injected. When do you want it done?" A refreshing breath of fresh air. Hallelujah.
Good service goes a long way. When your competition is lousy, just ordinary good
service stands out and turns you into a winner. But let's look a little harder and see if we
can find a phenomenal USP for Rod. Get back into customer mode again. What turns you
off car service people? Uncertain cost, always more than you expect. Dirty premises.
Nowhere to wait. Your own lack of expertise leaving you at their mercy. Not knowing
who's in charge. No name tags on the staff. Everyone calling you mate. Pornographic
calendars. Not knowing when the car will be ready to pick up. Feeling like an intruder.
These are my personal turnoffs. What turns me on? Having a known contact person who
treats me like a friend and walks me through everything, telling me how much it will
cost, depending on what they find, and when it will be ready. Having somewhere clean to
wait if it's a while-you-wait operation such as tires, with a coffee machine, tv or papers.
And you know what would really turn me on? Personal pickup and delivery.
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