Mike Symes
When I first met Mike Symes he was already successful. He had founded a Marketing Consultancy that specialised in assisting Financial Services Companies. He wasn’t short for business but still had to go looking for his new clients.
Mike wanted to take things up a level. He wanted to be priced in the premium end of the market (a well justified position) and he wanted clients chasing him rather than the traditional method of pitching for new business.
Mike signed up to the KPI Program in April 2010 and immediately had a breakthrough in the way he explained the value he delivers to a client. Rather than saying “I have financial marketing agency” Mike began telling clients that he “Works with financial services companies to ignite their brands, illuminates their points of difference and enable their messages to spread like wildfire leaving them and their customers feeling inspired” (Pitch).
He then set to work on his book “Find Your Firebrand” where he was able to consolidate his 25 years of industry experience into a powerful manuscript (Publish). In doing so he was able to uncover and explore his unique Intellectual Property. Mike discovered that he had a lot more value to share than he previously acknowledged.
Next Mike produced a new website and as well as a highly valuable brand assessment tool which could allow people all over the world to access his unique take on Financial Services Branding (Product).
With newfound clarity and scalability, Mike wasted no time in raising his profile online. This resulted in him being appointed as the Chairman of a highly prestigious industry body (Profile). Mike was also able to form Joint Ventures and Partnerships with key industry players (Partnerships).
With all of this in place, Mike noticed a clear shift in the amount of new business that was finding him. In one instance the CEO of one of the UK’s largest Banks, was excited to have the opportunity to sit down over coffee with Mike to discuss the future of their brand.
In a six month period, Mike Symes went from being a very successful marketing consultant to a Key Person of Influence in his field. He went from being great at pitching for new business to having people pitch him to become a client. Mike widened his scope to deliver value worldwide and distilled his unique ideas into valuable Intellectual Property. He recognised the mountain of value he was already standing on and is now producing at a whole new level.
Video: Mike Symes talks about his business transformation …
Sasha Selcuk
For Sixteen years Sacha pursued her passion. Her love of flowers allowed her to continue year after year as a florist despite the fact that her business barely paid the bills.
When I met Sacha, she told me that she was seriously considering just giving the flowers up and getting a job as a PA. It wasn’t what she wanted to do but she felt she had very little choice.
The thing I liked most about working with Sacha was her complete willingness to try out the ideas in the KPI Program. She got started without hesitation and made some big leaps ahead quickly.
She developed a new pitch, rather than being a florist, Sacha started saying that she “specialised in bringing out a woman’s worth through flower arranging”.
This new pitch led to a whole new business within 2 months. Sacha started running flower arranging workshops for corporate women in the CBD. She has also started talks within the prison service teaching women in prison how to arrange flowers as a sideline.
Sacha began writing her book, Big Day/Smaller Budget – A guide to saving money on weddings and events from a florist who’s seen every trick in the book.
She also wrote 49 tips for flowers, a little book that is now sold in flower shops and in she is in talks with supermarkets and hobby shops across the UK.
Next she set about creating a product. Sacha recorded a DVD and built a “Home Flower Arranging Kit” so that women all over the world could discover the joy of making their own bouquet, centrepiece or buttonholes. This is currently being pitched to Living TV and UKTV for a weekly show doing for flowers what cookery programmes do for food.
She then set to work on creating her Facebook, Twitter, Blog and YouTube presence. Today if you Google her there’s no question you’ve come accross a woman on a mission.
Finally Sacha fearlessly picked up the phone and began doing what she had been taught on the programme.
Within 6 months of starting the KPI Strategy as part of the KPI Accelerator Program, Sacha had gone from frustrated and ready to give up to being a Key Person in her industry with bunches of opportunity blossoming wherever she went.
Video: Sacha talks about making her business blossom …
Lazo Freeman
When I first met Lazo Freeman he told me he was a Personal Trainer. I wasn’t surprised, he certainly looks the part. After chatting for a while I discovered that he isn’t just any Personal Trainer, he’s actually a multi-award winning body builder. He’s won major titles for Natural Body Building and he even won a competition to meet Cindy Crawford!
What did surprise me was that despite his awards, his hourly rate was only marginally higher than my Personal Trainer who had not won any awards. Lazo was charging about 30 per cent higher than the industry average.
Like many in his industry he thought that the key to his success was doing more courses, getting more qualifications and having a nice brochure. Lazo was working hard with his clients, getting great results but not seeing big financial rewards.
I started telling Lazo about my KPI Strategy and he instantly got it. He could see straight away that he hadn’t differentiated himself from other Personal Trainers and he hadn’t used his success to establish himself as a KPI yet.
The fist thing we did was develop his Perfect Pitch. Today, rather than introducing himself as ‘Personal Trainer’, Lazo will tell you he does ‘Radical 12 week body transformations with highly successful people who do amazing things in their boardroom but very ordinary things in their bedroom!’ That line always gets a laugh, but more importantly people want to see pictures of the 12 week transformations.
When Lazo pulls out the draft of his book and shows them some before and after shots of his clients, jaws hit the floor. In 12 weeks Lazo can transform a skinny guy into a buff guy, a fatty to a muscle man and the transformations are extraordinary.
He then directs them to his DVD and invites people to make friends with him on his Facebook Profile. By the time you see all of his photos, his YouTube videos and his testimonials you know that he is THE man for ‘Radical 12 Week Transformations in London’.
Before you get too excited about getting him to work with you I had better inform you of what happened to his prices. Today Lazo charges £10,000 for a Radical 12 Week Transformation, and he has a waiting list!
It wasn’t the awards that made it happen. It wasn’t the four years of getting outstanding results with his clients. It was becoming a KPI that caused a huge shift.
Lazo is now a KPI in his industry and is able to charge 500 per cent of what the normal person in his industry charges. He earns more than most doctors or lawyers and he has a lot more fun because he works in his passion.
Video: Lazo talks about bulking up his business …
Paul Fowler
Paul Fowler has spent a lifetime fascinated by flying. His earliest memories are of building cardboard wings and trying to take flight from the roof of the garden shed. As a teenager he started parachuting and eventually enrolled into the army as a paratrooper. Paul’s passion then led him to become a pilot where he spent years flying all over the world.
Even after being forced into an early retirement through illness, Paul still couldn’t keep away from planes. He took himself down to the local flying club and started working there to try and rescue the club from going broke.
At the end of 12 months Paul did a deal to buy the Oxfordshire Flying Club and flight school and for the first time ever he was a business owner with something he could get passionate about.
His health improved and so did the health of the flight school. Paul had begun to channel his lifetime passion into a business that had wings.
Despite his passion for the business, he did hit a glass ceiling after the 3rd year in the business. The club grew popular with flying fanatics but something was stopping it from growing to the size it needed to be if this was going to cover the bills and pay Paul a wage.
For the next two years Paul struggled to figure out what would make his beloved flight school really get off the ground. He attended marketing bootcamps, business networking events and poured over books on marketing and leadership. Nothing seemed to be working though, the business was flying on one engine.
Then in mid 2010, Paul heard about the “Key Person of Influence” strategy. He had never even thought about the idea that he could make a name for himself in aviation. “The industry is so big, it employs millions of people, I never dreamed that I could become a Key Person or have any Influence, the idea never crossed my mind until I heard Daniel Priestley talking about it” says Paul.
After joining the program, His first step was to identify a micro-niche and learn how to do a “Perfect-Pitch”. “I’ve always dreamed of owning a Spitfire aircraft and I guessed other people would want to fly one as well, so I decided to go for my lifetime dream and create the Spitfire Project Paul says.
At the Perfect Pitch workshop Paul developed his idea and arrived at a clear way to explain it to others. “Mike Harris told me to get out and start pitching it to see how people respond” Says Paul. “He also said I should go looking for people who say that it will never work because they will help to identify where the pitch needs to be stronger”.
As a result of pitching the idea to anyone who would listen, 3 months later Paul was crystal clear on his pitch. He then set about writing an article for the number one industry magazine Pilot. He phoned the editor and pitched his article and the editor gave Paul a double page spread dedicated to the Spitfire project on the spot even before he had finished his pitch!!!
Within months Paul was being invited to speak around the country about his project and was gathering interested parties who wanted to invest into the iconic plane as well as take lessons to learn to fly it.
Off the back of the article, Paul was approached by the BBC and Channel4 to discuss making a documentary on the project.
With so much buzz being created Paul knew he needed start focusing on productising the business. He set about creating a “Zero to Hero” program that would fast track a private pilot from beginner level through to flying their own Spitfire. It was a bold move but it received a lot of immediate interest.
He also began putting his Flight Briefings onto audio and video so that people could learn from home and share their excitement with friends. “It’s funny, we do dozens of flight briefings each week but until KPI I’d never even though of them as potential products – I’m guessing most businesses are the same, they probably have more opportunities under their nose than they think”.
Next, Paul worked to build an online Social Media profile for his flight school and his Spitfire Project. “I’m blown away at how many people are now reading our blogs and watching our videos on the web”.
Finally, with all this in place, Paul was able to begin doing JV’s and Partnerships with other businesses in the industry. Some of his first deals involved having the flight school promoted to lists of over 10,000 people as well as a win/win partnership a local hotel.
“I now feel like I am on track to be a Key Person of Influence in my Industry. KPI gave me a map to follow and helped me to see where I was on the map, then it gave me the strategy to move forward to where I wanted to be. My flight school is finally taking off and I’m feeling good about being in the captains seat.” says Paul.
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Hey Guys, well done with your great results! I’m sure there will be many more of these stories to come. Keep up the great results!