

A Business Strategy That Can’t Miss
THE SUCCESS MARGIN
Thursday, December 18, 2003
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Would you like to have a strategy for your business that can’t miss?
Here is the most powerful business strategy you could ever employ. It’s also the simplest.
Provide a quality product or service at a price lower than your competition.
It’s so fundamental, it amazes me it’s not discussed more often in university classes, books and business seminars.
Lowering costs is perhaps the most important reason free enterprise is by far the most beneficial economic system for consumers.
But to succeed in a big way, there is another factor beyond price. You must also add one or more special “twists.”
Two of the companies I’ve founded are prime examples of the “lower cost with twist” principle.
Enterprise Publishing Company’s most successful product ever is my book “How to Form Your Own Corporation
Without a Lawyer for Under $75” with sales of nearly two million copies.
The “twists”:
A. Slashing legal fees
B. Tear-out forms included right in the book
The Company Corporation, which I founded in 1972 and sold in 1991, has become the largest incorporator of businesses in the world, with over 300,000 clients.
The “twists”:
A. Lower cost than any major competitor
B. Faster service-“incorporation in seven minutes or less”
C. No lawyer necessary
Other examples of successful major companies which built their empires on reducing costs and their “twists”
include:
COMPANY: Dell
FIELD: Computers
TWIST: Direct sales to consumers; custom built
COMPANY: Wal-Mart
FIELD: Department stores
TWIST: Low prices every day; wide variety
COMPANY: Southwest
FIELD: Airlines
TWIST: No frills; excellent customer service
COMPANY: Office Depot
FIELD: Office supplies
TWIST: Wide variety; larger stores; good
display, excellent customer service
COMPANY: Hampton Inns
FIELD: Hotels
TWIST: Money-back guarantee
COMPANY: McDonald’s
FIELD: Restaurants
TWIST: Fast service; cleanliness
COMPANY: Toys R Us
FIELD: Toys
TWIST: Well-merchandised; wide variety
COMPANY: Book-of-the-Month Club
FIELD: Publishing
TWIST: 4 books for $1
COMPANY: Mary Carter
FIELD: House paints
TWIST: Buy one can, get one free
COMPANY: Geek’s on Call
FIELD: Computer service and repair
vTWIST: Great service
COMPANY: Ford Motor Company
FIELD: Automobiles
TWIST: Assembly line production
COMPANY: Standard Oil
FIELD: Gasoline
TWIST: Neat stations; clean restrooms
COMPANY: Select Information Exchange (SIE)
FIELD: Newsletter
TWIST: Five subscriptions $19
COMPANY: Charles Schwab
FIELD: Securities
TWIST: Discount brokers
COMPANY: Career Track
FIELD: Seminars
TWIST: One-day events
COMPANY: Ted Nicholas
FIELD: Seminars
TWIST: High value, high content; money-back guarantee
As a consultant and copywriter, I’ve always tried to make dealing with me a bargain.
I charge a minimum monthly fee, plus equity in the business. In every case I’ve ever been involved with, the increase in sales and profits plus equity built up for the client exceed and overwhelm the investment in me.
My seminar fees of $5,000 to $15,000 per person may at first seem on the high side. Of course, everything is relative. Many attendees who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions, based on what they learned from me will testify to their value.
What can you do to create a low-cost business with a powerful twist in your chosen field?
Answer this question and the result will be a successful future for you that will exceed all your dreams.
Your correspondent, twisting the night away,
Ted Nicholas
P.S. “The secret to success, in life and in business, is to work hard at the margin.Relentlessly. It’s as powerful as compound interest, the eighth wonder of the world. Those little marginal extra efforts will inevitably grow into something big.” –Bill Bonner
Little things mean a lot.
“God is in the details”.
P.P.S. My warmest wishes to you and your loved ones for a happy holiday season and a healthy and prosperous New Year.