Jim Connolly Marketing

The secret sauce you were looking for, is here

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Secret sauce, secret sauce success, secret sauce business, what is the secret sauce

Photo by Walls.io on Pexels.com

A while ago, I was hired by the owner of an office supplies company. He told me that for years, he had been trying to figure out why his main competitor was so successful. He wanted to know what he referred to as their secret sauce: the secret ‘something’ that led to their ongoing success.

He found it. And I’m going to share it with you. Why? Because it applies to all small businesses, including yours and mine.

After years of wondering what his main competitor’s secret was, he discovered it by accident! One of his small team retired, and was replaced by a guy who used to work with his super-successful competitor. He then discovered the root of their success. It wasn’t any one thing or secret sauce, which made that competing business so successful.

No.

It was the combination of lots of little things, which prospects were attracted to and customers remained loyal to. Small adjustments in important areas. Minor differences that compounded to create a major impact.

As he said at the time, ‘Jim, I wasted years looking for a mountain, and totally missed the molehills that made them successful’.

What can we learn from this?

We live in an era, where success is marketed to be just one hack or AI prompt away.

We have influencers selling the dream of a tactic that they claim earned them (for example) $100k in 30-days. Often more. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to know what that magic is? In the current economy, these $100k in 30-days type videos are watched by millions of small business owners looking for hope. After all, even if it was possible for the hack or AI prompt to make $20k or $10k fast, that would be very useful for many of our fellow small business owners right now.

The core lesson here is that real, genuine success isn’t the result of a trick or secret tactic. It comes from doing lots of small things, correctly. Doing lots of small things correctly IS THE SECRET SOURCE.

What next, Jim?

Bear with me. Every edition of this newsletter is read by thousands of people in almost every industry, and its readership is worldwide. This means as always, I am forced to answer using broad brushstrokes.

This is a basic, almost universal framework you can use.

  • List every element of your sales, marketing, customer service and other key areas of your business.
  • Select the first one that you believe can be improved. Even if it’s only a small improvement. This is really important. Minor improvements of only a few percent, applied to multiple elements of your business will have a compounding effect. Think of it like compound interest. The returns on that compounding is what causes the kind of top competitor effect, which I mentioned earlier.
  • Then, look for the next, and the next, and the next, applying an improvement to each one. Repeat the process.

Don’t let the simplicity of this idea cause you discard it. It isn’t buzzy. It doesn’t promise you a fast fortune. But it is logical. And it is proven.

As always, I hope you find this useful.

A few things worth learning, from the top small businesses

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Photo: Shutterstock.

Here are 10 tips to help you grow a stronger business. Along with links to some useful articles.

These are based on 20-years of experience, helping clients build top-performing businesses, on my Marketing Mentor Program.

Simplify the next step
Don’t just tell prospects about your product or service and how wonderful it is. Show them very clearly what they need to do next. One specific action. Make it as easy as possible for them to move forward, from prospect to paying customer.

Turn up consistently
In uncertain times, consistency builds trust. Be the business that turns up, follows through, and keeps its word even when others go quiet. This is called Turning Upism. This tip will help you get it right: Turning Upism and your business.

Stop waiting. Start creating
The perfect time doesn’t exist. Decide to build the opportunity you are looking for. This article shows you a example you can follow: Don’t miss your win, win, win opportunity.

If you fit in, you’ll disappear
If your products, services or marketing looks like your competitors’, you will camouflage yourself and fail to stand out. This tip will help you. How to get your business noticed.

Guard your online reputation
The vast majority of buyers will check you out quietly, before they buy from you. They’ll primarily do this by looking at your social profiles, your website, by searching for your name and/or the name of your business. Make sure everything they discover builds trust and confidence in you.

Everything you do is marketing
And I mean everything. The way you answer emails. The people who work for you. Your level of enthusiasm for your business. How you follow-up when a prospect contacts you. Your prices or fees. It’s all marketing and it all matters. This article will help you get it right: 30 examples of marketing.

Use curiosity in your marketing
Give people just enough information to make them curious. Think about it, every sale you ever make starts when the prospect contacts you for information. Most small businesses provide way, way too much information on their website. And it’s losing them sales every day. This will help you get it right: How you generate enquiries.

Use fewer words
Most marketing copy I see is 70% too long. Yes, you should use as many words as required. But use no more than necessary. Cut to the chase before they lose interest. My friend Roy Peter Clarke, known as ‘America’s writing coach’, is the best in the world at this. I recommend his best-selling book: How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times. It’s available from all major bookstores.

Don’t lower your fees
Always make your product or service more compelling by pumping more value into it. Not by lowering your prices. This will help you: Sell more, earn more, without lowering your prices.

Clarity sells
There’s a wonderful saying that assures us: a confused mind always says NO!. When a person isn’t clear about what you’re offering, they will say no!, rather than risk making a mistake. Always keep your marketing clear. And never offer too many options. When faced with too many options, prospects won’t choose any!

And…
If you found this useful, please share it.

This marketing idea costs nothing and is extremely effective

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creative marketing, low budget marketing, free marketing ideas

Photo: Masud Allahverdizade

It’s a simple marketing idea. It costs you nothing. And I’ve seen it work extremely well. Moreover, it works for a diverse array of retailers and service providers.

Creative marketing in action

I had a creative marketing idea around 6-months ago. I wondered what might happen, if my friend added a word of the day to the specials menu board that’s behind the counter of her coffee shop. A word that’s interesting, funny or quirky.

I gave her the first word to get her started. It’s a word I have a close attachment to: Balter. To dance clumsily, with enthusiasm.

Anyhow, a month or so later she called me with an update.

Tip: Get my best marketing ideas delivered to your inbox for free by clicking here.

Here’s what happened.

  • Her customers started talking about the word of the day almost immediately.
  • Soon, she and her team noticed customers who previously only spoke to them when placing their order, started speaking with them about that day’s word. That’s better customer engagement.
  • Then, some of their customers started taking photos of the word of the day (which is intentionally written on their specials menu board) and sharing it with their friends via social media

So, that’s free organic publicity for their specials menu, which now gets spread locally across social media, resulting in new customers, many of whom do the same. Social media is working for the coffee shop, without investing time or money on social media

Pretty good, eh!

Creative ideas like this work extremely well for 2 reasons.

Firstly, your competitors won’t be using this in their marketing, as it was created by me and only published in my newsletter. So, you have the first-mover advantage.

Secondly, you can adapt the core of this idea, to develop a slightly different version, if your competitors figure out what you’re doing.

Give it a try!

When people say you’re too expensive, do this!

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fee sensitive, price sensitive, selling by price, marketing,

Photo by Kaboompics at Pexels.com

When you ask why they didn’t buy from you, prospective customers or clients often say that your prices are too high. And it could be true.

However, it usually isn’t. Here’s what you need to know to overcome price/fee resistance.

Let’s start with some far more likely reasons for their decision.

What makes them say you’re too expensive?

  • Your marketing could be suffering from Toxic Complexity. This is dangerous and extremely common.
  • You might be marketing to the wrong people.
  • You could be contacting them at the lowest point of their cash flow cycle.
  • You could be asking people to make a decision before they have all the information they need.
  • Your marketing could be failing to clearly demonstrate enough value, making your price seem higher than they expected.
  • Your marketing promises could be too similar to those offered by your lower priced competitors.
  • Your payment terms may not be flexible enough for them.
  • Your branding could be positioning you as a lower priced provider than you actually are.
  • You could be responding to enquiries too slowly.

And there are lots of other reasons. None of which have much to do with your prices or fees, and more to do with your marketing and how you sell your products or services.

Solve the problem. Win big!

Lowering your prices can be tempting. It’s a quick and extremely easy way to make your products or services seem better value. But it’s a trap. A trap you need to avoid. A trap that can put your business in a dangerous race to the bottom. You do not want to be in a race to the bottom!

A far better alternative is to find out what’s actually causing people to think you’re too expensive. And to massively improve in those key areas. The least expensive way, the fastest way and the clearest way, is this way. 

If you’re not sure where to start looking for answers, the brief list above is a useful place to begin. Try to look at each item on that list from the perspective of a potential client. Remember, most prospects will have done at least some research. So check your competitors to see how your; services, marketing, payment terms, promises, guarantees, branding and response times, etc., stack up against theirs.

And make lowering your prices the very last thing you consider.

It costs $7,000 a gallon and it’s less useful than water!

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marketing, story telling, jim connolly, 2026

Photo by Daniel Schludi

People buy stories. When you figure this out and put it into action for your business, you can make a fortune. Here’s an example you already know about.

This product costs $7,000 for 1 gallon. It sells all day, every day. And literally no one needs it. It’s less useful than water! Unlike water, this liquid isn’t life-preserving–you can’t drink it. It isn’t life-giving either–so you can’t water crops with it.

Have you guessed what it is yet? The liquid I’m referring to here is Chanel No.5 perfume. So, why does a pleasant smelling liquid sell for such a huge price?

People buy stories

Chanel has successfully built a story around their perfume. It’s a story about style, opulence, beauty and sensuality. It’s nothing whatsoever to do with fragrant smelling liquid. It’s all about the feelings associated with the Chanel No. 5 story.

How the story works for Chanel’s marketing.

  • When we buy Chanel No. 5 for someone, they know they’re receiving an expensive, classy gift. They then connect us with the feelings they associate with the Chanel No. 5 brand. Beautiful people. Stylish locations. Wealth.
  • When we buy Chanel No. 5 for ourselves, the story we’re telling ourselves is that we’re now connected to the aspirational lifestyle embodied by the Chanel No. 5 brand. Beautiful people. Stylish locations. Wealth.

People buy the Chanel No.5 story. They have no need for the actual liquid. But the story behind the brand makes them want it.

The story behind your brand

If you’re like the vast majority of small business owners, you won’t have a compelling story to motivate people to want to hire you specifically or buy from you specifically.

So, ask yourself: why should someone buy from you? Then get to work on building your story.

Because make no mistake, your ability to answer that question with a compelling story, could be the difference between you making a living… and making an absolute fortune.

Ignore the unbelievers

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marketing tips

Photo by Anna Shvets

You gave a great presentation or demo to a prospect.

It went extremely well. Without a hitch.

You answered their questions in full.

You also provided assurances and quoted them a really great price.

Only for them to say they’re not interested!

Today, I’d like to show you how to avoid this scenario. Or stop it from happening as often in the future.

It’s all about two things. Knowledge and belief.

In particular, the difference between how we get someone to know what we know, and how we get someone to believe what we believe.

Knowledge and beliefs

Knowledge: If you want a prospective customer to know something you know, you simply tell them. Your knowledge is then transferred.

They now know what you shared with them. This is what happens during the sales process.

Beliefs: If you want a prospective customer to change what they believe, simply telling them something new has very little effect. That’s because our beliefs run deep.

Our beliefs about what constitutes value, what we regard as important, what we believe is risky, etc., are developed over decades. They naturally take a long time and a lot of effort to change. Too long for a sales presentation. That’s for sure!

The answer?

Simple!

Focus on the believers

The most direct route to spectacularly improved sales results, is to focus on the believers. Believers are the prospects who already believe in, and value, whatever the core benefits of your product or service are.

And the marketplace is packed with your believers.

This is true regardless of what kind of service or product you offer and what end of the market you serve. Your believers should be your sole focus. These are the only prospects worthy of your attention or your time.

Everything improves when a prospective customer already believes what you believe. Because gaining the sale (or new client) becomes a simple matter of providing a compelling presentation. You know… just like the great presentations you wasted on all those unbelievers, who said they were not interested!

Yes, you’ll need to adjust your marketing so you can identify and attract your believers. But that’s relatively easy.

When you get it right, your reward is vastly better conversion rates, higher sales volume and greater revenues and profits.