Buy Good Junk

Buy good junk. What a marketing message. The seller makes no pretense as to what they are offering. They simply say that the junk they are selling is better than most other junk, so since you are likely to buy junk, you should buy good junk, not bad junk.

Don't try and make your offering look and feel like something it is not. There are times when we get something because the person we got it from made it out to be something it is not. 

Our emotions got the best of us and we created our own truth out of the misrepresentations that were emotionally presented.

The product or service you represent is not as much about the features and benefits as it is about how well you know the features and benefits and how accurately and comprehensively you represent them to the prospect.

There are many times when the prospects directs the process and moves relentlessly toward a lower price. They want what you have and the price is in their opinion far too high. 

If you have survived by representing your value proposition as bad junk and not good junk the price will remain the issue. So reducing the price of your bad junk is the only option you are left with. Anyone can do that.

Turn your junk into a high value offering by fully understanding, through the prospect's view, just how beneficial your offering is. When viewed from the client's perspective, your good junk takes on a whole new relative meaning. Your good junk becomes the solution to the problem and you can feel good about helping to solve it. Don't allow clients to buy bad junk, even if it is good junk. Help them to buy solutions.

Be Very Selective What You Value

What you assign value to and how much importance you assign to the values and how you adhere to those values, will define you. Being very selective as to what you value and how much you value, your values is one of the most critical decisions you will ever make. Values mean something. The value you place on things such as relationships and what it takes to build them cannot be overstated. The value you place on trust and commitment and persistence and clarity and transparency demonstrates to others what you stand for.

If value is placed on things that are not of the highest quality, the reasons for your being is deeply compromised. Compromise itself is a type of value. When you start compromising in order to achieve a specific result you dilute the merit of your position. Achieving a balance in relationships is admirable and typically is the best path to the mutually beneficial outcome. However, compromising can lead to circumventing the values that are so very important to your future and your outlook. Don't cut corners, but it is okay to drive quickly around some of them.

What do you consider to be your greatest value or values? When asking yourself this question consider how you view the people you deal with professionally and personally. How do they treat you and do you have any idea what they consider your values to be?

Gain a better perspective on your values by taking time and deep thought to list your values in order of importance. Here is a great place to start:

1. TRUSTWORTHY
( All relationships start and stop with Trust. If you can be trusted you can build a relationship. If you cannot be trusted, it matters not) 

2. DEPENDABLE
( One of the most valuable values is dependability. Will you do what you say you are going to do, at an acceptable level of quality, within the timeframe you have committed to? People love people that they can depend on. Life is easier to plan and predict if you are dependable and that means sharing immediately, if for some reason you cannot do that which you have promised to do)


3. DO THE RIGHT THING
( Take the High-Road. You can make a name for yourself by always taking the high road. Operating from this position eliminates any concerns that you may or may not behave in a manner that is trustworthy and dependable. )

You cannot be something you are not deeply committed to. Sooner or later your true self will shine fourth and when it does, your values will either shine brightly or so dimly that it is impossible to determine your intrinsic value.

The Blip that needs "splainin"

North Korean Soldiers in "Camouflage" Huh?

Recently a major American auto manufacturer introduced, with great fanfare, a new iconic model that was intended to reestablish their brand. Their brand was started in 1917. After years of declining sales and a brand that suffered a muddled and eroding reputation the car company was ready to roll off the assembly line "The Car" that was going to change everything. Years and millions of research & and development and design dollars had been committed to this game-changer. The investment in terms of human hours and emotional commitment was enormous. The processes were in place the scheduling had been nailed down. Millions of dollars had been spent advertising the new car. Orders for the car had been placed and buyers were waiting for delivery.  Now all that the company had to do was deliver on the promises.

Unfortunately someone forgot to thoroughly check one of the most important parts of the plan.  The place where these cars were going to be assembled had, without any indication, failed to fully commit to the high quality demanded and expected and therefore did not deliver. The cars were coming off the assembly lines plagued with numerous manufacturing and assembly defects. Car after car rolled out of the plant and virtually none of them met the high standards that this luxury brand spent years building. The results were disastrous.

How many times are we faced with something really significant and throughout the process we are counting on others to come through so we assume and simply do not check on their commitment or abilities to ensure a successful outcome. Then when things start to go wrong we do not know which way to go or who we can help to change in order to turn things around. A discovery is made that since the people at fault did not take ownership and deliver, the break down in the process is revealed and it comes to light that the disaster is simply beyond belief. And more often than not, entirely preventable. Someone or a group of people were so myopic or complacent that no one saw the train or heard the warning whistle. The collision happened and people everywhere were now committing their valuable time to damage control. Looking at the end results, the mistakes were clearly evident. The question becomes: "How did so many big mistakes get by so many bright people and create an extremely costly comedy of errors." Answer the question, make the necessary changes and get on with correcting.