Entrepreneur interviewed me to get the six simple steps to maximize productivity by 500% and it only takes 5 minutes a day. I reveal the time management secrets from our late founder, Chet Holmes, in his book The Ultimate Sales Machine.

Originally Chet learned these strategies while working for Berkshire Hathaway Vice-President Charlie Munger (Warren Buffet’s business partner). He noticed Charlie’s time was maximized in every way and once he adopted the practices of his billionaire boss he found the secret to mastering time effectively. Chet always used to say that majority of businesses are terrible at time management, and if he could see how we waste it with our phones today he’d be utterly shocked.

To hear the full interview only takes 15 minutes press play below. It could be the best 15 minutes you spend this year if adopted with PIG HEADED DISCIPLINE AND DETERMINATION.

You can also read the steps below!

BUT FIRST. Good advise is contextual. Would you like to talk to a real human about how to grow your business? That’s what we’re here for, to help you grow faster, better, smarter! Schedule your own breakthrough strategy call where we find you a breakthrough in your business in under 20 minutes, click HERE to get your complimentary session!

SIX STEPS TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY BY 500% 

Six proactive steps to time management can transform your day. They take five minutes to do and can double the amount of results you get daily. The problem is not whether or not these steps will work, because they will absolutely work. The problem is whether or not you will fully commit to doing them, repeatedly. The key to time management is commitment to the following six steps:

Step One: Touch it once 

How often do you pick up something on your desk and say, “I have to take care of this, but I can’t deal with it right now”? If you do that a few times per day with a few different documents/projects/tasks, by the end of the year, you will have spent an entire month touching and rereading information without taking action. So, if you touch it, move it to the next step. If you want to see how often you waste time, each time you pick up something, put a red dot on it. After you have three red dots on a piece of paper, you begin to feel pressure to do something and move on. If you touch it, take care of it.

Step Two: Make lists, but stick to the six most important things 

When we conduct this time management seminar, we ask how many people in the audience make lists. Practically everyone does. People often have lists with 25 to as many as 40 items on them. They are proud that their lists are so long and that they are so busy. Further investigation quickly shows them that long lists are the perfect way to be busy, but not productive. When you have a long list, your energy is focused more on trimming the list than it is on being productive. Each day, pick the six items that will produce the highest level of results, put them on your list, and finish all six things by day’s end.

Step Three: Plan how long you will spend on each item 

You’ve started your day by making a list of the six most important things. That took two or three minutes. Now take another minute to plan how long each item will take or how long you will dedicate to the items that are ongoing. When we conduct this workshop, the people with long lists usually find that they can have an incredibly productive day with only six hours spent on their six key items. Most people who use these steps find they get more important work done in less time because their time is focused on the most productive tasks.

Step Four: Plan when 

Now that you know how much time to dedicate to each task, you need to plan when you will do them. In addition, you must build in time for the reactive mode. For example, if you are a sales manager interrupted by frequent “got a minute” meetings, plan a fixed time when you will accept those types of meetings. Otherwise, unless it is an emergency, do not allow people to come to your desk and ask if you’ve got a minute! Think of any top executive you know. Can you simply call them up, or do you have to schedule time with them? Many top executives plan their day down to the minute. Everything is done according to a schedule, including time for “got a minute” meetings. Scheduling time is the key to time management.

Step Five: Ask the results 

Few people are highly productive. People like to have items on a list, so they can cross off the items. But that’s not enough. The things that produce the best results are generally the most difficult. Thus, they get left off of the list or are scheduled at the end of the day, causing them to get bumped to the next day…and the next…and the next. Schedule important tasks in the beginning of your day. Cold calling or trying to get appointments with key prospects or clients are the things that produce the best results. However, they often get pushed off by average salespeople. After you make your list, ask yourself if the items on it are the ones that will produce the most results.

Step Six: Will it hurt me to throw this away? 

Of all filed information, 80% is never referred to again. After hearing this time management idea, I began to throw away four out of five of the items I used to keep. It’s been 10 years, and I cannot think of a single time where it has hurt me.

Making The Training Stick

Human behavior can only truly be affected in two ways: Repetition and direct involvement. You can agree intellectually that these six steps will cause a productivity increase, but until you practice them (direct involvement) and continue to use them (repetition), your behavior will not change.

Common wisdom is that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. My experience is that it takes years. But for now, if you can stick to this program for just 21 days, you will be forever reminded of its power, and you will be more likely to use these important steps.

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE OF A MANAGER’S DAY

8:00 – 8:30am Plan day; have quick look at staff’s planned day.

8:30 – 9:30am Work on strategy to overcome our new, most frequently heard objection.

9:30 – 10:00am Create a standard promotional piece or standard letter that addresses the problem.

10:00 – 12:00pm On sales call with Bill

12:00 – 1:30pm Lunch with important client, Smith

1:30 – 2:00pm Miscellaneous

2:00 – 3:00pm Got-A-Minute meetings

3:00 – 4:00pm Review “Six Musts of Marketing” for the month

4:00 – 5:00pm Work on improving systems

5:00 – 6:00pm Meet with Boss

Question: How much of this day is proactive?

Answer: All but 90 minutes

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN! Write down your top six RIGHT NOW!

Want to share them? Comment below!

with love and light,
Amanda Holmes
CEO Ultimate Sales Machine

P.S. Did you see this earlier? Good advise is still contextual. Would you like to talk to a real human about how to grow your business? That’s what we’re here for, to help you grow faster, better, smarter! Schedule your own breakthrough strategy call where we find you a breakthrough in your business in under 20 minutes, click HERE to get your complimentary session!

“Retailers are really going to have to get smarter about how they use technology because we’re in a retail apocalypse right now,” says Amanda Holmes, CEO of Chet Holmes International. Many consumers are forming purchase decisions online based largely on peer reviews – this could spell death for salesmen who refuse to adapt to current buying trends. Amanda reveals her sales conversion strategy, and explains the concept of the ‘Buyer’s Pyramid’ which is detailed in her late father’s book, The Ultimate Sales Machine.

To hear the full interview listen here:

How has the retail apocalypse affected you? Please feel free to comment!

with love,
Amanda Holmes
CEO Chet Holmes International

P.S. If you like what you hear, you can always take advantage of our latest opportunity to have your very own Growth Session with a Chet Holmes Growth Coach. Learn how you can get 9x the results from your marketing and sales, click HERE!

Leaders must engage their people at a different level that elicits passion and the desire to not just follow but charge up that hill on their own account, therefore out-running their competition. One of the most powerful ways of doing this is to not just spout off talking points but instead find your teachable point of view—the words, or story, that move people. When this “moves” your audience from the heart up off their feet you’ve more than engaged them inspiring them to do great things. Over several years of research around leaders moving the top companies, Noel Tichy discovered this secret sauce.

When a story is told from an authentic place. It teaches the audience through “… a cohesive set of ideas and concepts that a person is able to articulate clearly to others.” Your primary message wrapped within this story must be crafted specifically to your audience. Now maybe you are catching on to why this topic can be translated into a CMO SHORT (by the way I am also inadvertently creating my own teachable point of view). Take this leadership philosophy and apply it to your own marketing.

To make this actionable, clearly teach your audience clearly, simply and yet powerfully about the concepts and ideas that connect you to one another.

How?

You must first do the intellectual work to uncover  through a definitive process, where you deftly uncover what you provide at the core, not just features and benefits, then match it through relevant research to your market. Next, you do the creative work by “putting it into a form that makes it accessible and interesting to others.” From this research you extrapolate WOW data that is honed into highly consumable messaging that breaks through the clutter and quickly hits home reaching the center of your Best Buyer™.

Finally, lead them to the understanding of how your offering is of value to THEM answering a deeper need, fulfilling something within them that adds to their lives or eliminates a pain. Ultimately you have simultaneously solved an issue they either were aware or unaware they had. When you solve versus sell you have earned a place in their lives transforming it into something better.

If your customers buy purely, unpressed, after seeking you out directly to meet their needs, they do not go through buyer’s remorse but instead are planted firmly on the path to becoming a fanatical community member singing your praises far and wide through the hill tops. The inherent beauty of creating your own Core Story is that its very message provides clarity and cleverness that sticks to your audience allowing them to carry it further and communicate it wider. This is when real, sustainable growth happens.

Onward and upward.

By Shiloh Kelly, Chet Holmes International

Figuring out how to deliver true differentiation and VALUE in the marketplace starts with being known as the educator. In essence, acting as a “consultant,” who educates the marketplace on what they didn’t know, that they should know, about how current trends are influencing businesses.

There are very few resources out there today that do just that. You will want one that fuses your marketing and sales efforts together wielding a highly professional, powerful and consistent approach that provides your entire marketplace with an undeniable reason to buy. Ideally, you want to be seen as the expert in your industry, someone your prospective clients seek out to do business with. By sharing engaging, value-packed information with your audience you capture trust and credibility that earns you permission to present your solution, be it a product or service. Ultimately, you are solving not selling.

One I’d like to bring to your attention, as an example, is a leading-edge education-based marketing product Chet Holmes’ created called The Core Story^™. This one in particular is the ultimate strategic positioning tool, combining the power of data, research and your brand’s unique story to create a highly credible, audience-targeted sales and marketing tool. Best of all, it units your sales and marketing teams under one strategic and tactical initiative you can hold them accountable with to grow your business.

Over the years, I (personally) have coached hundreds of clients on the execution of their Core Story into their market, and it usually comes down to these 9 killer elements that always deliver maximum results.  Tools like The Core Story must have a clearly identifiable structure and set of elements that sets it apart from all other types of marketing presentations or studies. The most identifiable elements are as follows:

1.         Establish your educational based marketing and sales “core” activity repository founded on well-sourced market motivating research.

2.         Research is chock full of statistics, trended over time, that deliver new information to the audience creating a “WOW” through contrasting and comparing the data.

3.         Information being shared is focused on the prospect—not on you.

4.         Title leads with pain, “The Five Most Dangerous Trends Facing ______Today”

5.         Content is loaded with bad news because bad news motivates.

6.         This new information becomes the “core” of all marketing efforts—messaging, visuals, communications, web content, advertisements, webinars, social media, literature, etc.

7.         Research hinges on market data rather than product data (market data is much more motivational).

8.         Data sets up the buying criteria—positioning you to gain permission to sell.

9.         Set this strategy as a definitive sales methodology your entire team is trained in to make widespread, consistent impact on your audience, which increases your brand standing and conversion rates.

Make sure whatever you create is a superior marketing and audience access vehicle; meaning it is neither a sales, nor features and benefits piece. This means that while the elements of a tool, such as this Core Story approach, may expose certain benefits they will not be about “sell and tell”.  The biggest mistake I see businesses making over and over again is that the key data points that slaughter the client’s competition and position the client as the only possible solution are not based on notable research studies. And if they are wrong you run the risk of instantly discrediting yourself. Now you will never get the opportunity to sell.

The fact is if the center of the sales model is your Core Story then all of the other parts of the sales model must adapt. If a Core Story is considered without a full sales model, it cannot succeed. When the two pieces come together correctly, your entire field of prospects grows dramatically and the business closes more of them. The increased number of prospects, times the increased closing ratio, results in massive revenue gains.

By Chris Steely, VP Elite Consulting at Chet Holmes International

Empire Research Group Releases Education-based Market Research and Content Product Lines 2/1/14

Relevant research that drives your sales and marketing messages is mandatory to compete in today’s competitive market. 

Successful companies use it to ensure their marketing dollars get maximum impact. This is now available through customized research programs that drive business growth.

Target Market Research Analysis:  20 questions/35+ pages of market data to laser focus on your audience’s wants, needs and pains.  This intelligence is at the “core” of your communications to WOW your audience by focusing on them, not you, and so much more!

Introductory Pricing starting at $3995. Get yours by contacting cynthiapowers@empireresearchgroup.com or  VISIT www.empireresearchgroup.com to request a free consultation.

Chet Holmes® had a theory about conducting business in the spirit of always giving. He believed that his success in business constantly stemmed from this sentiment, “Always give away your best stuff for free. That’s the only way they’re going to come back for more.” (#chetism) So in continuing this CHI tradition we are sharing 12 valuable ‘Chetmas’ gifts with you in the hope that you’ll take them and turn your 2014 in your best year ever. Merry ‘Chetmas’ to all!

#1.  If your 2014 Business Plan is still not committed to paper, here is a special segment that speeds you through the process—the “QwikHit 2014” is a 10-minute annual planning breakthrough.

You’ll uncover:

• The richest low-hanging fruit in your business
• The long-term strategies YOU MUST implement now to get the edge on your competition

DOWNLOAD QWIKHIT NOW

#2.  Learn the 12 skills that are absolute musts for every single CEO and entrepreneur. Ring in the New Year with this trademark Chet Holmes International session that puts the plan in your hands to achieve quantifiable results in 2014. Join our CEO Mastery Training normally $229- now just $92 until December 31st, 2013! CLICK HERE to learn more.

#3. A BIG part of the success you’ll find in 2014 will come from utilizing outside resources to learn or re-learn the skills drive sales in today’s economy. Learn more about the power of executive coaching in this NEW white paper, “The Benefits of Hiring a Business Coach”.  DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER NOW

#4. To get TRANSFORMATION going within your organization you must quickly:

• Identify the “Constraining Factors” impacting you and your organization
• Develop a “Strategic Growth Plan” that lays out a road map for future growth and success
• Access “Education-based Marketing” strategies and techniques to create new opportunities
• Refine your “Ultimate Strategic Position” to level the competition
• Build a dynamic “Best Buyer” Strategy

Transform your business in 2014 with this combo punch of training and coaching called The Accelerated Growth System. LEARN MORE

#5. There are a certain number of buyers in EVERY industry that are the ideal candidates for your product or service – imagine how much you could grow by laser focusing on just those buyers who truly understand the value you bring to them.

As the 5^th gift we’re giving you a 60-minute “Who is Your Dream Client?” Strategic Coaching Session! You’ll define who your ‘dream client’ is and quantify the impact on your sales if you implement this targeted strategy. This maximizes the potential impact of a BEST BUYER STRATEGY. CLICK HERE for your FREE ‘Dream Client’ session.

#6. Get prepped for your FREE Strategic Coaching Session by first reading this important report, Defining Your “Dream Buyer” now. It outlines The Chet Holmes® Method™ to focus on and capture your dream clients.

ACCESS THIS IMPORTANT REPORT and worksheet to set the stage for your success in 2014 by learning how to attack your prospects.

#7. Get ahead of the curve by learning how to SHOW your clients why your solution is the best out there in this white paper “The Power of Education Based Marketing: How an Effective Core Story Can Catapult Your Business”– CLICK HERE.

#8. Get a 1-hour strategic evaluation with an education-based marketing specialist from The Core Story™ team. Put education-based marketing to work for your business in 2014. CORE STORY EVALUATION

#9. The 9^th gift of ‘Chetmas’ is a FREE LIVE, 1-on-1 “22-minute breakthrough” session with one of our expert consultants. In this free session, we GUARANTEE that we will help you find at least 1 major breakthrough for your company, to position you for record breaking revenues in 2014. FREE 22-MINUTE BREAKTHROUGH

#10. A Chet Holmes® Method™ trained, certified business coach works with you to identify and provide concrete pathways for additional profits, no matter what industry or stage you are in.  Get The Ultimate Growth Plan (UGP) for $1495 ($4,000 VALUE)… but only pay $495 down to get started. The balance of $1,000 isn’t paid until after we’ve conducted your custom growth plan review and you are 100% satisfied. GET THIS OFFER NOW

#11.  Gift #11 is a 14-day FREE trial to the Ultimate Sales Mastery System training platform. A comprehensive approach to training that has helped sales organizations generate millions.

Offer includes:

• 14 day complimentary, no obligation “test drive” of the system
• Assigned “success advisor” to help you navigate through

GET FREE TRIAL

#12. The final gift of Chetmas will help you increase productivity, reduce overhead and grow your company faster – all by simply going virtual with our Take it Virtual! system. Get a FREE consultation ($229 value) to discover how easy and valuable it would be to take your company virtual in 2014! FREE TIV CONSULT

Hurry- these AMAZING gifts expire December 31^st, 2013!

To your success!

Your Chet Holmes International Team

As 2013 thunders into Q4 many businesses are seeing an uptick in sales as the recessionary environment cools and the real estate market rebounds. Ironically, despite recent government and political ills – private industries are humming with mergers and acquisitions up

In post recessionary times, business owners often pull back their budgets by cutting marketing first. Yet history proves over and over again this is a big mistake. Businesses that held steady or increased their marketing efforts during prior recessions saw a 200% post-recession gross increase. Add in the continuously changing business landscape and you are bound to fall behind in more ways than one. Consider technology, the onslaught of social media outlets and changing marketing trends. Businesses owners have to make one tough decision after another to decide where to put their hard earned dollars.  The unknowns and complexities often make it difficult to take action, but lack of action is often responsible for profit and growth demise.

Most successful companies have learned taking action is mandatory for business growth. In fact, 86 percent of executives agree advertising in a down economy keep a company at the front of the audience’s mind, while 48 percent of adults believe lack of advertising during a recession indicates the business must be struggling. Marketing is necessary to keep your business front and center; fresh in your consumers’ minds.

It has become obvious, pumping money into traditional marketing plans is not good enough anymore. Staying ahead of the curve, knowing the “who, what and where” is more critical than ever.

So how do you find out these critical markers of marketing especially when you have limited resources compared to big corporations?    

Market research is a great place to start. But not the type of typical market research most of you may be familiar with – endless pages of convoluted surveys, numbers and graphs you are left to decipher what they mean.

Instead we are talking about research that is highly targeted to help you figure out the who, what and where of your target market. Imagine having the inside knowledge of what makes your ideal customer happy, angry, distracted, motivated and ultimately pay attention to your brand. Large corporations with deep pockets have been using market intelligence to gain their massive market share for years. For small businesses, Googling is often the extent of intelligence gathering before running sales and marketing programs; leaving trial and error and the ‘wait and see’ methods to test the effectiveness. During times of rising advertising costs, this is an expensive cycle, both in time and money.

The answer is education-based market research that uncovers the critical factors that make your audience tick and the intelligence you need to produce hard hitting sales and marketing campaigns.  I personally have seen these expensive mistakes time and time again. Companies focus their advertising efforts on what they think the audience wants by trial and error vs. having actual knowledge of the needs and wants of their audience. Having the critical edge of audience intelligence yields higher conversions, increased ROI of marketing, a softer sell, better rapport and higher trust.

Small and medium-size businesses all over the globe can gain critical knowledge using relevant market research and education-based marketing techniques. Having targeted, disseminated and useable research can catapult your companies’ sales and marketing programs to produce more qualified leads and powerful content that moves your brand and the people it serves. The initial step of action is to get guidance on where to spend those hard earned dollars.

By Cynthia Powers, President of the Core Story™ by Empire Research Group®, a registered trademark of Chet Holmes International

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