Today’s episode of More Profits TV was filmed in front of the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas. In it, I share with you the #1 rule of marketing and how the companies in Las Vegas are amazingly good at it.

In this video, I give my commentary on the old phrase “How to Sell Ice to Eskimos”.

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In a recession, it’s critical to communicate effectively with potential customers. This is a given. But what’s tricky is knowing what to communicate.

Specifically you must convey two things: 1) we know what you want us to solve for you, and 2) we can solve that problem for you in a unique way that none of our competitors can.

Today’s episode of More Profits TV discusses WHY these two factors are so important to communicate to prospective customers… especially in a recession

For those who are curious what the inside of TV studio looks like from the stage back out to the camera’s I’ve included a photo:

As you can see, from the perspective of the person on TV, it’s not very exciting to look at. The one thing you may not realize is that sometimes it can get a little warm and to make sure you look cool, especially if the interviewer is being aggressive in his question asking, you need to wear makeup – yes guy’s included.

Unfortunately, I could not find my make up kit at home before I left. I usually like to use some powder from MAC – yes I like to use the good stuff!   I figure that one compact will last me a lifetime so I might as well get the good stuff.  But since I did not have it with me, I got something basic from the local drug store.

Oh yeah, for the guys out there, you put powder on your face to take the shiny (aka the oil on your face) away. Otherwise it looks like you’re sweating bullets on air which doesn’t look very good. Here’s the emergency powder I used for this particular interview.

One of the most powerful strategies for attracting more prospects and closing more deals is what I call the “Put Up or Shut Up” marketing technique.

It works because almost nobody ever does it. And when used it makes customers notice.

I just bought a cow.

To be exact, I bought 1/4 of a cow.  Not the kind that moos, but the kind that used to moo.

Let me explain… as there’s a big lesson that you can use in your own business.

My wife and I have been on multi-year movement towards eating healthier. Unlike my college days, it turns out eating pizza and drinking Coke is not very sustainable.

One of type of meat that we like to eat is grass fed, organic, pasture raised beef.  This beef is from cattle that is raised the old fashion way — as opposed to cattle raised in an industrial factory fed corn.

Many years ago, I was under the impression that corn fed beef was the best. It was what all the top steakhouses in New York City served.

But, I always wondered how cows eat corn in nature. Do they peel back each ear before nibbling?

It turns out that in nature, cows don’t normally eat corn. They eat grass (clearly I was SO not raised on a farm).

But industrial farmers feed their cows corn because it’s cheaper and it fattens them up.

The reason most people think beef is high in saturated fat and generally considered to be unhealthy is because cows raised on corn are essentially fed a “high carb diet” which gets them all… well fat.  And so when you eat this kind of beef, you sort of end up with the same way.

But grass fed beef is so nutritionally different from corn fed beef, it’s like the difference between beef and fish — it’s really that different.  It’s incredibly lean, very rich in those Omega 3 fatty acids you doctor tells you to eat more of, etc…

To make a long story short, grass fed beef is great for you, taste very good, but is pretty pricey.

Rather than buy this beef by the pound, we decided to buy it by the cow. Yes, we bought 1/4 of a cow the other day – roughly 100 pounds of beef… and by grass fed beef standards, the price per pound was cheap.

(Sure if you add in the cost of the new freezer we just got to house said 1/4 cow, it’s a little more expensive… but that a one time cost)

So what is the big lesson in all this?

This example of marketing beef this way is a “change the game” strategy.

It is a totally different way of packaging a product or service.  By packaging I specifically mean changing around the combination of what’s included and how much it costs.

So rather than offering beef in say 1 or 2 pound quantities, the farm that’s selling me the 1/4 of the cow is selling it in 100 pound bundles.

When I first heard of this, it sort of blew my mind away. It was so out of the realm of what I was used to — which is kind of the point.

It forces the customer to stop and think about it for a moment. The business coach and marketing consultant in me found this very intriguing.

Actually the original idea came from my wife. And my initial response was no way.

But then I did the math and it turns out we would actually save a lot of money and eat healthier all at the same time. Hmmm… that got me thinking.

Healthier = Good

Save Money = Good

What’s not to like?

So here’s my challenge to you. Do you “package” your products or services in the exact same way as all of your competitors? Could you make radically different packaging options available to your customers to shake things up?

Anytime you can change the packaging of your offer, you essentially “invent” a new offering–often a very unique one to boot. This makes it easier to get their attention and to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Can you sell them way more than they’re used to? (The 1/4 cow / Costco strategy)

Can you deliver your service 300% faster than your competitors for a premium price? (The FedEx strategy)

Can you deliver your service way slower than your competitors and charge a lot less?

(An example of this would be a company like HR Block offering to file your taxes in May (after the typical deadline if you didn’t request an extension) for 35% less than the usual fee.

If you normally sell a widget, can you sell a widget delivered & installed for one bundled price?  If you normally manufacture and deliver your goods to customers, can you turn the manufacturing process into a live experience? (Think: Pick It Yourself Fruit Farms, Cut Your Own Christmas Tree Farms, etc…)

Throw out the “normal” and experiment/brainstorm with some unusual options. You might just come up with something unique to offer.

My latest area of interest has been the field of linguistics and communications.  At first, this seems like an odd topic, particularly in the context of creating revenue growth, but I’ve since come to realize its direct relevance.

Leadership, revenue growth, and execution all have their roots in one’s ability to communicate with others.

Imagine if you were not allowed to talk or e-mail your staff; what are you chances of success?  None.

What if you were prohibited from talking or communicating with your prospects?  You’d be dead meat.

So, clearly, the ability to communicate is a fundamental component to creating revenue growth.

Along those lines, it makes sense that if communicating is the key to growth, then communicating WELL is equally important.

One of my pet peeves is the amount of jargon present in everyday language among tech companies.  I met someone the other day at a tech social function, and, for 10 minutes, I was trying to figure out what in the world this person was talking about.

While an elevator pitch is essential to raising funding, it’s also critical to getting customers, too.

So, drop the scalable, faul-tolerant, industry leading, next generation, Web 2.x, multi-threaded, infrastructure, virtualization, best-of-breed, services-based, multi-gigawatt flux capacitor language… and just spit it out in plain English, so your own mother could understand it.

Here’s a simple video from PR web that provides a surprisingly good example: