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Optimism Into Success: The Stallone Story

Sylvester Stallone as RockySylvester Stallone’s story of his rise from poverty to stardom is legendary, but his story of turning raw optimism into success is more complicated than it may first appear.

Stallone was literally a down-and-out actor in Hollywood when he decided that the way to become an actor was to write screenplay for movies.

His plan was to write 400 screenplays with the idea that one would allow him to work his way into acting.

For the tenth screenplay he wrote he was offered $75,000 which was alot of money in the 1970′s.

He refused the offer saying he would only accept if he was allowed to play the lead role. The studio said no.

But they came back to him and ended up offering him an amazing $315,000 for his script. Against the advice of his own agent he still refused.

In the end, the studio gave in to his demands. He was paid just $20,000 for his screenplay and he was only paid that because it was a legal requirement of the writer’s guild that a film that had a budget of more than a $1,000,000 must pay a minimum of $20,000 for the script.

All this for a simple movie called ‘Rocky’, that became a 1970′s blockbuster and made Sylvester Stallone a superstar overnight.

Stallone commented on his success by saying,

I represent something that is very frightening to East Coast critics: a guy who’s made it by being a raging optimist – and most of those people, as the word cynic implies, are pessimists.

However as I look back through his story, I found two other key ingredients that Stallone had besides being a raging optimist.

Sylvester added to his optimism, a commitment to do whatever it takes.

He recalls when he finally got his first acting role in Hollywood in a play called “Desire Caught By The Tail”. During one of the performances he ended up being so badly injured that he ended up in hospital:

…but I was committed. The show closed after the accident and by then, I couldn’t get my usher’s job back, so I got a job cleaning the lions’ cage at the Central Park Zoo.

Not too many people ever have a thrill of seeing lions taking giant leaks. Let me tell you, they’re accurate up to 15 feet, and after a month of getting whizzed on, I quit. I couldn’t put up with it anymore. Lion urine is intensely odorous, and I became the only man in New York who invariably wound up in his own private subway car.

I told myself, “This is marvelous, Sylvester. You’ve gotten to the point in your life where you’re now making $1.12 an hour to get pissed on by a lion.”

The other key factor for Stallone was one I definitely didn’t expect.

It turns out that despite all his optimism, Stallone did at one point give up on acting.

It was from one short movie he made to showcase his acting talents for auditions, but it backfired.

The movie was called “Horses” and at this point I quote it from there,

The film was so bad that when I showed it to my parents, they actually walked out of the room—and they’ll normally sit through two hours of flower slides. I decided to give up on acting forever.

If the story had ended there then the world would have never heard of Stallone the actor, or ‘Rocky’ or even ‘Rambo’.

So here is the final piece that saved Stallone’s career in his own words:

A stroke of luck.

The friend I made “Horses” with had to do a scene for his acting dass and asked me to be in it with him. The scene was from “Death of a Salesman”, which I had down pat, so we did it.

He was studying at the Herbert Berghof School, and after our scene, Berghof came up to me and offered me a scholarship. Which I turned down: I was through with acting.

But Stephen Verona was sitting in the audience that night and six months later, when he got ready to direct The Lords of Flatbush, he remembered me and sent me a telegram to come down and audition for him.

And that’s how I got into my first real film.

Stallone calls it luck.

I think we can break his luck down into two more parts beyond the first of commitment.

That he had ‘paid his dues’ to have the necessary acting skills.

Finally, that even an optimist needs an outside support on occasion.

I find this is true of many successes that people talk about. At some point in time, someone else recognizes the value and it’s the re-inspiration for the person to really go for it.

If you are ready to turn optimism into success then those 3 steps may help you be your own ‘Rocky’ story.

What Customers Say Vs What They Do…

When you want great word of mouth from your customers and clients, then you figure that what customers say would be important right? Er…

What Customers Say

Take this example from the New York Times:

Two years ago, Wal-Mart remodeled, trying to hang on to Target shoppers who traded down to Wal-Mart during the recession.

Out went the pallets of items like juice boxes or sweatshirts stacked in the centers of aisles. Merchandise on “end caps,” displays at the ends of aisles, slimmed down. Shelves got shorter, and Wal-Mart whittled the number of items it carried by about 9 percent, so as not to overwhelm shoppers. Customer satisfaction scores soared.

Despite those ratings, Wal-Mart has been encountering one of the longest slides in domestic same-store sales in its history.

“They loved the experience,” William S. Simon, the chief executive of Wal-Mart’s United States division, said at a recent conference. “They just bought less. And that generally is not a good long-term strategy.”

So after remodeling a large percentage of its stores, Wal-Mart is now re-remodeling them, adding back inventory, plopping stacks of stuff into aisles and stacking shelves with a dizzying array of merchandise.

As it turns out, the messier and more confusing a store looks, the better the deals it projects.

“Historically, the more a store is packed, the more people think of it as value — just as when you walk into a store and there are fewer things on the floor, you tend to think they’re expensive,” said Paco Underhill, founder and chief executive of Envirosell, who studies shopper behavior.

 

What this means it that when your customers tell you they love you, great.

But that doesn’t mean they will buy from you.

This can be like the “Just Friends” category when you are trying to get a date – it’s not the right goal.

 

Examples of What Customers Say…

Here are just a couple of quick examples of how to move past what your customers are saying:

1. I well remember a story from Australian marketer Brad Sugars who asked a business owner why he stopped running his TV ads. The business owner said, “My customers kept telling me that they loved the store, but hated the annoying ads!”

And Brad’s reply was, “So these people were telling you that they had seen AND remembered your ads, in your store, buying your stuff, paying you money at the counter – and you thought you should stop running them? Hmmmmm.”

2. Websites will almost always work best for sales when they are cluttered with stuff.

Unfortunately many people will say your site is nice when it “looks clean”. They seem to expect your site should be more like Google. But remember, Google’s search bar is NOT for selling – it is to make you get to their their Search Results page which IS for selling and is very cluttered!

Think of ANY big seller online who is testing what they are doing (e.g. Amazon, GoDaddy) and they will always be providing lots of stuff on the page to distract you. The ONLY time they will stop distracting you is once you are about to pay. Then, they want you focused on one goal only.

Where can you take what customers say to you, and test if it is really true?

Simple Does It

Often a simple way to ‘WOW!’ people is to simply surprise them.

Being visual with video is certainly one way to do this, because most small businesses don’t use it.

But I was reminded of these when I was sent a different kind of video from a local marketer, Ivan Vantagiato of NetworkingSocialMedia.com.au

Reminds me of the K.I.S.S. Principle – Keep It Simple Scholar!

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It’s free and fun!

P.S. Contact me personally if you are interested in a professional video for your own business ventures because it can be much more affordable these days than it used to be.

A Simple WOW!

My formula for Word of Mouth is simple. I have it at the top of my blog…

WOW! + Follow-up + ‘Call-To-Action’ = Successful Word of Mouth marketing

For each of these three pieces it is immediately obvious what they are. At least on the surface.

WOW! is obvious isn’t it?

There has to be something out of the ordinary, something different, some X factor, to get your customer or prospective customer talking about you.

Unfortunately some people interpret this to mean you need to do something silly, annoying, or really expensive.

You don’t.

Sure you can cuss and swear, and people will talk about you for that alone, but you better be able to back it up and then some.

Chef Gordon Ramsey of “Hell’s Kitchen” fame can use expletives and have a new show named “The F-Word”, but he has had 12 of the highly-reputed Michelin stars, and has been awarded one UK’s highest national honors, an OBE, “for services to the hospitality industry”.

Sure you can dress like Madonna, or spend money like Trump, put a cute Chihuahua in your ads, or do 1001 things people might talk about, but it doesn’t have to be so hard.

Everyone can turn their business into a WOW! experience.

How?

Honesty.

I was reminded of one method of this from a post by Seth Godin

When a sales rep says, “You know, after hearing your situation, I think you’d be a lot better off with my competitor’s product instead, here’s her number,” it actually creates positive word of mouth and long-term growth.

Hopefully you don’t have to say this too often. If you are, you need to improve your product / service, OR better target your marketing.

But when your customer is truely best served by your competitor, teach yourself and your team to say so.

Position yourself as an educator, an adviser, and even further, as an advocate for your customer.

Then they will be more prepared to be an advocate for you.

Comedy Wanted Ad

Many years ago I was browsing the big job advertisement section in our weekend paper.

One ad stood out immediately.

It was brilliant.

Amongst all the small print ads this big text, short, punchy ad caught my eye and I was impressed by the marketing skill of the person who had placed the ad…

…until I realized one thing.

Can you figure out why this ad is a joke?

Yes that’s right.

There is no punchline. There is no phone number or way to contact the person who placed the ad!

To this day I don’t know if this was a joke ad, or a real ad gone horribly wrong.

How many of your marketing messages look great, but without a ‘Call To Action’, they too are a joke?

-Martin Russell

Word of Mouth – Rule Zero

There is one part of word of mouth that is so crucial that as a marketer I just take it for granted.

Call it Rule Zero. No other marketing rules apply until this one is in place.

Here it is…

You can’t get ANY word of mouth, until people know you exist.

Seems too simple doesn’t it, but as a marketer I notice how many businesses just ignore this.

Do people know you exist?

And by ‘know you exist’ I mean have people…

1. Met you,
2. Know your details enough to direct others to you, and
3. Know what you do for people?

Here is a starting list:

  • Family – hopefully only 3. is an issue here.
  • Friends / acquaintances – and by the way if you really look into this category even the most isolated of us probably have 100 people. Think of everyone in your email address book or in your mobile phone. Got 1000 yet?
  • Your own staff – do they really know what you offer? Don’t take this one for granted.
  • Vendors / suppliers / advisers – if they are any good you may well recommend them, and this can build-up goodwill for them to return the compliment
  • Businesses in your building / street / area – if you don’t know enough about them to send them referrals, then they probably don’t know enough about you either.)
  • Homes in the area – ever thought of having a ‘housewarming’ for a business. Why the heck not?

And this is before we get anywhere near most standard sources for business referrals and word of mouth.

So here is a zero-cost marketing tip.

If you find yourself in a quiet time, take a walk and wander into another nearby business, introduce yourself, and ask them about their business.

You might be surprised what comes of it.

-Martin Russell

Natural At Selling

I was chatting with a friend who had noticed the worn-out tires on my car, and he was giving me a few pointers on getting new ones.

He really knew a lot about the safety and performance advantages of different tires and where I could get them at the lowest possible prices.

He was genuinely enthusiastic and passionate about tires.

So as he was speaking I leaned back and offered him a compliment. I said to him, “You really are a natural at selling.”

Immediately he went all self-depreciating and said that although he had sold tires in the past it wasn’t his job now, and that he wasn’t really good at sales, and he was always afraid of coming across like a bad Amway rep.

So I said no more at that point.

Because he was right and I was wrong.

He was not a natural salesperson. Knowledge and passion are keys for selling, but he was missing a vital skill that was keeping him from success.

He hadn’t noticed in all the time talking to me about tires the single fact that… I wasn’t really interested!

His passion wasn’t my passion. My fascination was about how much he was fascinated with the topic rather than because I was worried about my car sliding on an snow covered road (we don’t get snow), or getting a 3% improvement in fuel economy with highway driving (when I drive mostly in the city.)

To really be able to sell he needed to be interested in finding out what interested me, what was important for me about car tires.

He needed to tune into the radio station, WII-FM… What’s In It For Me.

When he did try to sell, he came across as pushy, because he was telling, teaching and educating, but he wasn’t finding out what would draw someone to buy from their own motivation.

He was creating interest, without creating positive action.

Worst of all, by rejecting the idea of being a salesperson, he was not opening himself to learning this one remaining skill of understanding the other person.

His knowledge and passion were going to waste.

The next time he and I met I told him this.

I hope the valuable products / services / knowledge / skills you have to offer to others aren’t being wasted by a lack of selling ability either.

Fortunately you don’t have to be a natural. Selling, like empathy, is a learnable skill.

If you’ve learned the phrase, “The customer is always right”, and perhaps even learned some of the variations on that, you can learn enough to sell well.

-Martin Russell

PowToon – Will This Company Go Viral?

Well, here’s how to know.

As you watch this marketing lesson from legendary marketer and copywriter, Gary Halbert, ask yourself,

“Who do I know who needs to see and hear this?”

WARNING: not for the faint-hearted.

Press Play…

Brought to you by the DIY cartoons-in-your-presentation company that ‘gets’ viral marketing – PowToon.

Check out their latest offerings on their blog here.

The World’s #1 Referral Source

We live in very changing times. When I first came out with “Word of Mouth Magic” back in 2003 most small businesses weren’t using the internet.

How times have changed.

These days the #1 Source of Referrals and Word of Mouth is … Google!

People ‘trust’ Google. If you appear high up in it’s listings, people usually think you are better than your competition, or at least more popular.

And Google is now the ‘online Yellow Pages’. If you are big enough to pay for advertising, then you are big enough to want to be in Google.

Getting ranked high in Google onto the first pages can be a high-cost artform. You can always get the paid ads, but that can get even more expensive.

Fortunately it costs nothing to get a ‘Yellow Pages’ style listing in Google – it’s called Google Places – but you need to do it right, because if you don’t come up in Google on the first page or two, you may as well not be listed.

What is Google Places?

How do you get those top listings?

How do you turn Google’s ‘free’ listing, into eager, buying customers?

Well this is an ever-changing field, so I teamed up with the most prolific and up-to-date ‘guru’ in the Google Places Help forum, Andrew Huskinson, and we produced an e-book that gives you the solutions.

Click here for my latest update of the…

Google Places Blueprint

Where To Find Buyers

A FREE offer as part of your word of mouth marketing is best done when you make sure the offer goes only to proven buyers.

Isn’t this the frustration, asking yourself, “But where can I find buyers?!”

Fortunately it’s not difficult for most businesses begin to find buyers. They are in your database, not perhaps as ‘future buyers’, but under the label ‘past customers’. (You do keep a database of your customers, don’t you?)

Targeting them is an essential part of your word of mouth marketing.

Past buyers have proven ability to buy want what you are offering, or at least what they THOUGHT you were offering.

So what are you doing to follow them up?

In ‘Word of Mouth Magic’ there is an example of a follow-up letter to past clients with a free voucher offer.

In the testing this offer was described in two different ways:

 

A) FREE $200 gym voucher with every referral.

versus

B) Refer a friend and receive a FREE $200 gym voucher.

Which do you think would perform better?

Here are the results…

Headline A received a 30% greater response than headline B.

 

So, what’s the lesson?

Even the elements in the letters you write can make a big difference to the number of referrals you get, and in this case putting FREE at the beginning worked better.

Have you specifically worked out how much you can afford to give away in a FREE offer?

Do you know which of your past buyers to send the offer to?

Do you realize there are ones who should NOT get sent this offer?

Are you testing your marketing and getting 30+% improvements?

If you answered ‘No’ to any of these questions, then you can find the answer in Word of Mouth Magic:

http://www.WordofMouthMagic.com/magic/

-Martin Russell