Thursday, May 18, 2017

What Would YOU Rather Make - Excuses, or Money? (And, Yes, That IS a Penis)

As my good friend and business mentor, Steve Sipress, is fond of saying, "You can make excuses or you can make money – but not both!"

 And, yes, that is a picture of a penis in a business related blog post. 

 It means something and will prove an excellent point, I promise. 

 The firearm and outdoor industry is in a tizzy right now. 

Gun company stocks dropped the day Donald Trump was elected president. Millions of dollars of firearms orders were canceled within the Weeks after SHOT Show and the presidential election. 
Ace rode the wave of gun sales to profits by sales and marketing as well as investing but also is diversified in his money and skills in order to "follow the money."
Gun Stocks Aren't doing so hot...


 Everywhere you turn you hear the same thing… "Our budget is already allocated."  Or "we love what we hear- come back and talk to us in October." 
Or, my favorite excuse making phrase, "The industry is changing. Sales are down. We need to cut our marketing budget in order to SAVE money."

 Long term agencies are being cut by their clients. 
 Long-term advertising partners are being reduced and eliminated. 

… And it's all completely ridiculous.

 I know – that's a bold statement. 
 I'm a bold guy.

If you want to "save money," turn off every other light in your building. Turn your thermostat a few degrees up in the summer and down in the winter. 
Don't over water your grass or run the faucet while you brush your teeth. 

If you want to MAKE MONEY, you need to MARKET EFFECTIVELY. 

Remember – you can make EXCUSES or you can make MONEY… But you can't make BOTH. 
Every phrase above is an excuse. 
 Really. Look at each one. 
Think about it. 
Now...
 Remember the movie that came out last year titled, "Greater?"
It's a great movie. 

"Greater" is the story of Arkansas Razorback football player Brandon Burlsworth.  Brandon was "A Division I football player in a Division III  body."

Anyway, it's a great story about someone who "accepts every excuse," never lifts weights, hardly does a running drill, really doesn't do much of anything, and "waits to see what happens" - and, miraculously, makes it as a starter for the Arkansas Razorbacks football team and becomes an all-star player....
What's that? 

That's not what happened? 

Wait… 

He didn't "cut back on his exercise regimen" so he could "save energy" and improve? 

When he received one low-level school scholarship, he didn't "sit back and wait and see what the college football market was going to do?"

 I'M  ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED! 

 If you seen the movie,(and, if not, I highly recommend you do so-and then watch "Rudy" and "Hoosiers" and "Remember The Titans", "Ali," "Rocky I,II,III, IV, V, and Rocky Balboa"-and every single other "Overcome extreme hardship/Obstacle/Work/Challenge to reach glory movie)  you know that Brandon became the  EPITOME  of work ethic – getting up in the dark to run and do drills. Spending extra time in the weight room. Losing the weight he had to and improving his speed and endurance by leaps and bounds… 
...And it follows the exact same story line of just about every success story ever told or ever experienced. 

Isn't that what you really want for your business or company? 
Are you making your decisions more like the first scenario or the actual movie? 
Ace once sold an injectable drug for erectile dysfunction.
What would you choose??

 Now… About this penis picture....
 This is the story of success from my own life – when a complete disaster was entirely averted in my very first "grown-up" sales job – selling pharmaceuticals in a rural and very, very large geography. 
I had a product that was worth approximately 20% of my  sales "quota."
 The product was called "Caverject," and it was dosed by taking a hypodermic needle and injecting it directly into the corpus cavernosum of the male penile organ.  I  was given this drug to sell the year that Viagra was launched – a pill that a man could take two, hypothetically, give the exact same effect  as my injectable product. 
 There was mass hysteria in the salesforce. 
 Almost everybody "Wrote off"  20% of their commission and focused on trying to INCREASE their other products to compensate. 
 I sat down and analyze the situation. 
I knew that my company would not reduce their expectation on me because of a market change (note-one of the biggest curses in sales – companies will take all the glory for your performance, but when there are circumstances outside of your control, they will be the first to blame you. If it's YOUR company – don't be "that guy.")
 I knew that the biggest obstacle to treating man with erectile problems with getting them to talk about it in the first place. I knew that Pfizer would make sure that everybody was talking about it. 

I then changed my message so that it HELPED my customer.
 You see, my product had a less than 5% failure rate. Viagra's was almost 26%.  I simply went around telling my doctor clients the truth – that no man would want to try my product first, but once they got their hopes up and FAILED, that would be a great time to bring up Caverject. 

Needless to say, I was number two in the entire Midwest division that year, thanks in no small part to a product that everyone else had written off.
What do you suppose would have happened if I had "cut back" my sales efforts and "waited to see what the market was going to do?" 

Instead, I simply changed my marketing to better reflect the new market. 

Remember- Money doesn't "disappear." 
It moves. 

Stop making "excuses" that do nothing but get in the way of you making MONEY!

Monday, May 15, 2017

How Not To Be "Average."

 If you want to be better than average, you have to give better than AVERAGE. 

 Quick – name the most AVERAGE baseball player in the major leagues today. 

 Who wins the title for the MOST AVERAGE basketball player in the NBA playoffs? 

Who is the MOST AVERAGE  hockey player to ever play the game?

 Do you find it hard to come up with those names? You should. 

Ace Luciano believes that you need to give BETTER than "average" in order to GET better than "Average." Call Ace Luciano Today to improve your bottom line.
Which one do you want to be? 
You know, Children are a great reflection upon society. They are, for the most part, pure innocence and pure, uncorrupted emotion. 

Watch your child playing in the sand experiencing pure joy. You could sit in that same stand and be bored. Or aggravated. 
You could become unmotivated and lie down.

...But if you watch the child digging in the sand – he or she is usually fascinated. They're fascinated by the texture. The feeling. The fact that they can mold and shape to their will. That brings them joy. 

 I bring this up for a very good reason. 
 Think back-- for some of you way, way, way back… To what you wanted and dreamed as a child. 

 When you were a child did you want to be "average"? 
 When you were five or six years old, did you look at the world and say, "when I grow up, I want to sit in a cubicle punching keys all day, work for a mediocre boss, At a mediocre company, doing the same thing, every single day of my entire life?"

                                                   If you did, you were the odd one. 

 Most likely you wanted to be a superhero. 
Perhaps as you got older he wanted to "be like mike (Michael Jordan),  you wanted to be the quarterback of your favorite football team, or some other superstar. 

 If you want better than "average", you have to give better than "average."

 One of MJ's most famous commercials was highlights of him sinking winning shots, winning big games, etc., but the background was Michael Jordan speaking 
 "I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I've been trusted To take the game-winning shot… And missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Michael Jordan used to practice his shooting technique – not just his shot – but his actual "technique" for 2 to 3 hours per day. 

 Tiger Woods hit hundreds of golf balls every single day. 

Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time. He has won 19 gold medals-  and as impressive as that is, his training routine is even more so. 
 He swims 50 miles per week – an average of 8 miles per training day. 
Plus dry land workouts.
He works so hard and so long that he needs to consume 12,000 calories per day just to maintain his body mass. 
 If a training day falls on Christmas, he swims in my house. If it falls on New Year's – 8 miles. Nothing gets in the way of his training. 

Even me, an- I hate to even say it- “average” guy- competed nationally in Olympic Taekwondo.
I trained 3 hours a day, PLUS my regular team and sparring practices.
I never lost because the other guy outlasted me and set a record for most knockouts.
I still work out every day.
I read a book a week and write at least one content piece, published or not, twice a week.

 The important question is, what are you willing to give THIS YEAR  in order to get? 

 One of my most recent articles talked about the state of the outdoor industry – how the gun economy has definitely changed.
How many companies out there are going to look for "average" results this year? 

 How many companies in the gun world are going to, rather than put in their "8 miles" of training – "cut their expenses" (which I've always found ridiculous, as marketing should never, ever be put under your ledger as an "expense)  

Instead of working harder, smarter, and doing MORE, many honestly believe that they will get by with doing LESS.

If you were on any type of sports team, when you really wanted to get BETTER and WIN MORE, did your coach ever say to you, or did you ever say to yourself, “You know what? We need to do LESS! We’re going to NOT WORK AS HARD in order to get BETTER and WIN MORE!”

I didn’t think so.

 The next year will separate a lot of "average" from many new and up-and-comer's that will become "exceptional."


 Which camp will you be in? 

Monday, May 8, 2017

These Times, They Are A Changing...

Last week, I was fortunate to, once again, attend the NRA Annual Meetings, held this year in Atlanta, GA. 

Ace Luciano attended the 2017 NRA Show. Ace is a Life/ Endowment member of the NRA.
While there was quite a bit of apprehension in the opening few days of SHOT Show this year, there was a palpable sense of relief in the convention hall, the press room, and various other places where people were gathered. 

 Donald Trump  became the first president since 1983 to address the membership. His speech was full of enthusiasm and shined a light of hope after eight years of  apprehension and fear. 
... which brings me to my next point. 

 The industry has changed. 
No longer do we have a "fear-based market."

 As recently as a year ago and excellent deal on an AR 15 platform might be in the $700 range. Today, there a half a dozen for under $400. 
Several manufacturers lamented canceled firearm orders-  One that was in the millions of dollars. 
Yet, NICS Checks for March 2017 are up more than 5%. 

SOMEBODY is clearly buying SOMETHING... 
Ace Luciano believes The Money is in the Marketing, and that when the market changes you must change too.

From Breitbart:
"In a press release sent to Breitbart News, NSSF reports the number of NICS checks for March 2017 was 2,422,749. But after adjusting checks–eliminating those that were not the result of sales–the figure was 1,356,929. The number of NSSF-adjusted NICS checks for March 2016 was 1,289,670. This means the number of checks actually connected to gun sales increased 5.2 percent in March 2017.
The number of NICS checks–including NSSF-adjusted checks–is not a precise indicator of the number of guns sold, as checks are conducted on buyers rather than guns bought. Moreover, each buyer may legally purchase multiple guns after passing a background check, which means an adjusted figure of 1,36,929 checks may not even come close to representing the number of guns sold."

When markets change, businesses must change with them. 

While many tactical based manufacturers are seeing lower sales, some custom manufacturers in the same space are seeing an uptick in their sales. 
Optics manufacturers are having a banner year. Companies that make accessories for AR 15's (and other weapons) are off to a great 2017. 
 Hunting rifle and high end shot gun sales are up. 
 This, of course, makes perfect sense when you realize that people are no longer afraid that they have to have 10,000 rounds of ammunition, a tactical weapon or two, and a pile of high-capacity magazines before they are banned.

 That budget can now go back "into the system" to purchase things like accessories,  as well as hunting and sporting weapons. 
What this also means is that many small and medium size businesses in the industry have an unprecedented opportunity. 

That opportunity is to take market share from some of the "big players" who, foolishly, will look at the economy and surmise that they have to "cut their budgets" for marketing and advertising. 

You see, many large companies both in and out of the firearm industry, are run by "boards of directors" and CEOs that are accountable to "shareholders."

 All those shareholders care about is the bottom line.

 They will take that short term increase to the bottom line, completely ignoring the long-term consequence to the overall business. 

 Quite frankly, they can afford it. 

If you are a small or medium size business, you can't.  
Or at least you shouldn't.  
Obviously, you can't afford to waste a single penny– especially in the "new gun economy."
Even BIG companies shouldn't waste marketing dollars, yet many do. 

The outdoor industry is approximately ten years behind in most marketing methods. 
I'm hearing from more than a few companies that they are "pulling more out of print" and "putting more into digital." 
Some are "wowed" by Facebook. 
That's all good- but the MOST important thing to know is DOES IT WORK? 
The truth is, it does. 
Yes, even print (though for how much longer is uncertain) works and can give great ROI. 
The important thing is that you can TRACK it. 
So, what SHOULD you do? 

I'm glad you asked!

You can take a portion of those dollars you would spend on "traditional" marketing (Magazines, TV shows, etc.) and put them in front of over 3 million PROVEN BUYERS of Outdoor, Firearm, Hunting and Fishing products. 
100% Trackable, and in whatever amounts or frequencies you like. 

If that interests you, reach out or comment below. 
Regardless of what you do, remember- 

"Keep it the same" should not be an option this year.