After speaking with hundreds of business owners and managers, it's time to share the very most important thing of all things that will determine your success.

1. The Very Most Important Thing
of All Things
…at least in Business
Presented by Scott Howard (a.k.a. ScLoHo)
www.ScottHoward.me

2. The Very Most Important Thing of All
Things
• Lot’s of things we do in business are GOOD:
– Earning a living
– Providing goods and services that others want &
need
– Employing others so they can earn a living
– You can come up with a few more GOOD’s
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3. The Very Most Important Thing of All
Things
• Lot’s of things we do in business are
NECESSARY:
– Comply with government rules & regs
– Keep regular or predictable business hours
– Pay our bills
– You can come up with a few more NECESSARY’s in
your business
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4. The Very Most Important Thing of All
Things
Some consultants will try and sell you on the
concept of:
• Good
• Better
• Best
When referring to options about Important
Things
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5. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
But of apart from all the GOOD…
And apart from all the NECESSARY …
What really is the Very Most Important Thing of
All Things in Business???
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6. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
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It’s not:
• Your Logo

7. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
It’s not:
• Your Logo
• Your Location
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8. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
It’s not:
• Your Logo
• Your Location
• Your Name
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9. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
It’s not:
• Your Logo
• Your Location
• Your Name
• Your Age, Gender, Hair Color, blah, blah, blah
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10. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
While there are so many THINGS that determine the
level of success you and your business achieve, there
is one THING that is often:
• Overlooked
• Avoided
• Underplanned
• Ignored
That is critical to the life of your business, no matter
what type or kind of business you have…
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11. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Okay, I’ve teased you long enough.
It’s time to tell you what this
Very Most Important TThhiinngg ooff AAllll TThhiinnggss
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is
And I will…
On the next slide

12. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Every business, in order to stay in business
needs:
Paying Customers
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13. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Every business, in order to stay in business
needs:
Paying Customers
Some of you are saying “Duh, of course”
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14. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Every business, in order to stay in business needs:
Paying Customers
But if it is so obvious, than why is this such a low
priority with a majority of businesses?
Let’s go back a couple of slides.
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15. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Like I said earlier, the process of acquiring Paying
Customers is often:
• Overlooked
• Avoided
• Underplanned
• Ignored
That is critical to the life of your business, no matter
what type or kind of business you have…
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16. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
If acquiring Paying Customers is:
• Overlooked
• Avoided
• Underplanned
• Ignored
You will fail. Your business will go under. You are living
on hope and a prayer. To borrow from a recent
campaign slogan you need Hope, Change and Action,
(along with prayer).
Let’s dig in (next slide please)
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17. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
The process of acquiring Paying Customers falls
under the Marketing Umbrella.
Unless you are a Marketing Company, most
companies are lousy at this.
Quite Frankly, most Marketing Companies are
not very good at this either, because they
focus on things that are NOT the very most
important thing of all things.
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18. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Marketing is often thought of as:
• An Expense
• A Necessary Evil
But you need to change your mindset and look
at marketing as an Investment
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19. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Marketing as an Investment:
• Focuses on acquiring Paying Customers
• Is as valuable as any other business
expenditure you will make
• Probably more valuable than any other
business expenditure you will make.
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20. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
The key to acquiring
Paying Customers?
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21. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Q: The key to acquiring
Paying Customers?
A: Invite them to do
business with you
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22. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
“Build it and they will come” is only a half-truth
“Build it, and invite them to come” is the
complete truth these days.
I’ve got an example for you to consider…
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23. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
You are going to host a party. You prepare with the very best food,
decorations, accommodations for 500 guests and do everything perfectly.
You have painstakingly perfected every detail from lighting to music, to the
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very last detail.
The hour for the party arrives and you wait for your guests to arrive.
But no one shows up. Not a single soul. Oh a few folks happen to walk by
and notice the preparations for the festivities but they keep walking.
Why?
The answer is simple
The answer is obvious.
The answer is (next slide, please)

24. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
The real reason no one showed up at your party
is:
You never invited anyone to the party.
Now you would never do this, of course you
would invite people to your party.
But this is exactly what too many businesses do.
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25. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Too many businesses do not invite people to
becoming paying customers.
As we said earlier, The Very Most Important
Thing of All Things a business needs is:
Paying customers
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26. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
So how does a business use marketing to find
these paying customers?
Advertising is the 2nd most effective way to
acquire paying customers.
What’s number 1?
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27. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
If advertising is the 2nd most effective way to
acquire paying customers, what’s number 1?
Positive Word of Mouth also known as Referrals
is usually the best way to gain new customers.
How do you get referrals for your business that
lead to new paying customers?
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28. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
How do you get referrals for your business that
lead to new paying customers?
• Create a business that is worth talking about
• Ask current paying customers for referrals
There are limitations to this form of marketing.
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29. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
There are limitations to Word of Mouth and Referral
marketing.
• You need paying customers to get the ball rolling
• You need to always be on top of your game to create
a positive impression all the time.
• Negative word of mouth spreads faster than positive.
• This is a very time consuming process and while it is
important, it is dangerous, unpredictable and a lazy
way to “market your business”
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30. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Let’s see what makes Word of Mouth and Referral
marketing effective.
We can boil it down to ONE WORD:
Relationships
It is relationship-based marketing that sometimes leads
to inviting people to become paying customers.
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31. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Take a look at the 2nd most effective way of
acquiring paying customers = Advertising
Not All Advertising is created equal
and
Not All Advertising is equal in effectiveness
Starting with the next slide we’ll look at some options and how they relate to
the Very Most Important Thing of All Things.
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32. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
• Traditional Advertising includes Broadcasting
and Print (and all the variations).
• New Advertising options involve web based
including Social Media Options.
• I advise my clients to use multiple methods.
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33. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Traditional Advertising
TV:
• Expensive to create good ads
• Big audience (reach) depending on program
• Cheap ads can damage your brand perception
• Usually does not build relationships with
paying customers
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34. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Traditional Advertising
Radio:
• Can be inexpensive to create good ads
• Big audience (reach) depending on
program/station
• Transferability of trust of station personalities
to advertisers
• When ads are properly created they can build
relationships with paying customers
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35. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Traditional Advertising
Newspaper & Magazines:
• Easy to ignore ads
• Targeted reach depending on publication
• Readership is moving from print to online
• Converting readers to paying customers is
often only effective by using coupons
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36. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Traditional Advertising
Phonebooks, Billboards and other print:
• Most homes don’t use phone books anymore
• Billboards are limited in message content
• Direct mail is thought of as junk mail
• Converting readers to paying customers is
often only effective by using coupons
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37. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
New Advertising Options
Websites:
• Visibility depends on Search Engine Optimization
which constantly needs to be tweaked.
• Old, outdated websites can hurt brand perception.
• Your Business needs to be online, but very few can
measure the Return on Investment from their site.
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38. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
New Advertising Options
Social Media:
• Social Media is not free when you measure the time, energy
and efforts required to build a following that converts to
paying customers.
• People do not want to be sold stuff on Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest, or Google+. They are on social media to be…social
and maintain relationships.
• Very few businesses have been able to effectively merge the
relationship side of social media with their desire to convert
those relationships to paying customers.
• Social Media can be an effective tool for maintaining
relationships after someone becomes a paying customer.
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39. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
One more very important point regarding web-based
advertising options:
The growth of mobile devices ranging from
tablets to smartphones is reducing the
effectiveness of businesses that are not
keeping up with mobile-friendly websites
which is another expense that even major
media firms such as Facebook are struggling
with.
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40. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Let’s wrap things up:
The Very Most Important Thing of All Things
when it comes to success in business is..
You need ttoo iinnvviittee ppeeooppllee ttoo bbeeccoommee
ppaayyiinngg ccuussttoommeerrss.. WWiitthhoouutt ppaayyiinngg
ccuussttoommeerrss,, yyoouu wwiillll nnoott hhaavvee aa
bbuussiinneessss..
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41. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
You need to invest $$$ in your advertising and
marketing because:
You need ttoo iinnvviittee ppeeooppllee ttoo bbeeccoommee
ppaayyiinngg ccuussttoommeerrss.. WWiitthhoouutt ppaayyiinngg
ccuussttoommeerrss,, yyoouu wwiillll nnoott hhaavvee aa
bbuussiinneessss..
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42. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
When done properly, you can invest in radio
advertising that uses the same principles as
Word of Mouth and Referrals. This is
important because:
You need ttoo iinnvviittee ppeeooppllee ttoo bbeeccoommee
ppaayyiinngg ccuussttoommeerrss.. WWiitthhoouutt ppaayyiinngg
ccuussttoommeerrss,, yyoouu wwiillll nnoott hhaavvee aa
bbuussiinneessss..
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43. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
Please remember:
You need ttoo iinnvviittee ppeeooppllee ttoo bbeeccoommee
ppaayyiinngg ccuussttoommeerrss.. WWiitthhoouutt ppaayyiinngg
ccuussttoommeerrss,, yyoouu wwiillll nnoott hhaavvee aa
bbuussiinneessss..
Weigh all your advertising and marketing options
carefully with this as your benchmark.
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44. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
My promise to you:
• I will use all of my 20+ years of experience in this business to
recommend what you can do to invite paying customers to do
business with you.
• I will offer options that utilize my radio stations, along with
other forms of media.
• I will continue to further my education and learning and pass
along that wisdom when I make recomenations.
• My 1st desire is for you to be successful. I know that my
success is built of the success of my advertising partners and
clients.
• Want to know more? (See the next slide)
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45. The Very Most Important Thing of
All Things
You need to invite people to become paying customers. WWiitthhoouutt ppaayyiinngg ccuussttoommeerrss,,
yyoouu wwiillll nnoott hhaavvee aa bbuussiinneessss..
Want help? I work with some of the most popular heritage radio stations in Fort Wayne Indiana, including the
legendary WOWO AM/FM. Our company, Federated Media also has a complete and growing Digital
Solutions division that is continually and consistently out performing 92.3% of other digitally focused
companies.
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You can find and contact me at:
The Genuine ScLoHo aka Scott Howard website
My LinkedIn Page
My Twitter Page
My Facebook Page
Email: Scott@ScLoHo.net
Scott@WOWO.com
Phone or text: 260-255-4357
My number again is 260-255-HELP, because that’s what I’m here to do.