Most CEO business owners completely misunderstand the point of market differentiation. They think that being different in a marketplace means doing what your competitors do, but better.

You see this a lot in the computer industry. One company has a computer that has 1 gigabyte or RAM, with a 150 gigabyte hard drive. The next company offers a similar computer that has 1.5 gigabyte of RAM with a 200 gigabyte hard drive. It's all about playing the game of one-up-manship with competitors.

Market differentiation does not mean more of the same.

It means being, well, different.

Not more of the same, but rather more of something entirely different.

The video above illustrates this point perfectly and shows how one company has generated $28 Billion in sales by selling products that are very different than their competitors – substantially worse in 3 key areas which enables them to be head and shoulders better than competitors in 2 other areas.

Remember: Compelling market differentiation requires SACRIFICE.

It is very difficult to have your product be dramatically superior to your competitor's product in one key attribute, unless you're willing to make your product substantially inferior in other attributes. The reason Ikea can deliver very style furniture extremely inexpensively is precisely because they deliberately make their products less durable and force you to install in yourself. Both decisions make it possible to invest in style and lower prices (while still maintaining healthy margins).

I was in Baltimore last week speaking to members of the CEO Club of Baltimore. I noticed several people in the room were have great sales and profits in 2009. Today's video explains what these companies had in common and how they were successful in deciding to NOT participate in the Great Recession.

Over the weekend, I saw the newspaper headlines that the US unemployment rate broke the 10% mark. For those in the US, we're now at 10.2% unemployment.

Quite ironically, I was on my way to speak at event that I think epitomizes the solution the average person and entrepreneur can use to combat the effects of 10.2% unemployment. See the video above for the simple idea.

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.

This episode was filmed in front of the heavily fortified New York Stock Exchange. In it, I describe a particular trait that a business can have that makes it 10 times easier to be completely recession proof.

Here's a photo of security at the NYSE – noticed the machine guns:

Here's a shot from the 7th floor of the building across from the NYSE – where I gave my speech on How to Create a Recession Proof Business. If you look very carefully at the bottom, you'll see a few NYSE workers walking on the sidewalk. Let me tell you that flag is BIG. I have to smirk, because the flag takes up the entire exterior of a 6 story building – and I guess is a not to subtle message to would be terrorists.

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

In today's episode of More Profits TV, I talk about one way you can tell if this recession is about to end. It's the concept of the sales pipeline forecast.

Here's how it works.

Consumer spending drives business profits. Business profits drive business spending. Business spending drives employment. Employment drives economic booms and recessions.

In this economic circle of life, one of the ways you can tell what's going on is to figure out if businesses are spending money. One of the metrics used to determine this that the mainstream press never reports, is called a sales pipeline vs. sales goal ratio.

Here's how it works.

Amongst corporate sales forces, sales people use the term sales pipeline to refer to deals they have in the works. So if they have $400k in deals in the works for this month, their sales pipeline is $400k.

You want to compare this pipeline number to the sales person's goal. If the target for the month is only $100k, this sales person is in good shape. Some deals fall through, some get delayed into the next month, etc…

Watch today's episode to see what the sales pipeline to goal ratio is across 10,900 companies in 19 industries RIGHT NOW. Keep in mind sales pipeline numbers improve BEFORE they ever appear in economic indicators. Watch today's episode to learn more.

The information from this post comes from Greg Alexander, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index who was a guest speaker at the Fortune Magazine Sales & Marketing Summit where I gave a keynote address recently.

In his day, Andrew Carnegie was many things. He was a billionaire. He was the richest person in the world. And with the help of Napoleon Hill came to popularize something known as a Mastermind Group.

Napoleon Hill was a big admirer of Andrew Carnegie and was desperate to discover how Carnegie his billionaire buddies accumulated such massive levels of wealth.

Napoleon Hill convinced Carnegie to let him follow him around for a period of years to document the keys to Carnegie's success. The summary of this research forms the basis of the best selling book "Think and Grow Rich" and business classic that has been selling steadily for over half a century and is on the top 10 reading list of the wealthiest business owners in the world.

So what were these habits of billionaires?

There were many that you might expect to see such as incredible determination and desire. But there was one habit that nobody had heard of at that time… it was the habit of belonging to a mastermind group.

When Think and Grow Rich first came out, few people had ever heard of the concept of a mastermind group. But very quietly, the very serious entrepreneurs began to form these groups — confidential gatherings of like minded business owners determined to help one another reach the next level of financial success in their businesses.

The video above elaborates on this powerful concept and habit… and is the topic of today's episode of More Profits TV.

Even in a recession, life goes on. Babies are still being born. Couples still fall in love. And they still have weddings.

Is the business of hosting weddings recession proof?  Or is it not?

Watch today's episode of More Profits TV and find out for yourself. And discover the lesson behind today's case study that you can apply to your business immediately.