Table of Contents
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my wife and children,
Debbie, Kristyn, Tori and Brad.
Each a unique individual.
Each with special gifts.
I love you all,
just the way you are.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
This book is written to help small business owners and those with a small business owner attitude win more, lose less and make more money.
I have been wonderfully successful in my thirty years of small business ownership. And with that success comes a responsibility to give back.
This book is my effort to share the wisdom Ive acquired with the broadest possible audience. My goal is to teach others the scientific laws they need to know to thrive instead of merely survive in the world of business.
For those reading this book outside of the United States of America, this book is also intended as a guide for how to win in the American marketplace.
Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. In my mind there is no finer feeling than the sense of personal accomplishment that comes from founding a profitable new business.
THANK YOU
A complete listing of the many people who helped make this book possible is provided on pages 299-301.
OTHER BOOKS BY DOUG HALL
Jump Start Your Brain with David Wecker (Warner Books, 1995).
A fun and entertaining excursion into the world of innovation. Its a motivational anthem for those looking to shake up their thinking.
Maverick Mindset: Finding the Courage to Journey from Fear to Freedom (hardcover; Simon & Schuster, 1997) and Making the Courage Connection: Finding the Courage to Journey From Fear to Freedom (paperback version; Fireside, 1998). Both with David Wecker. Inspiring stories and lessons for generating the courage to take action with your life.
Three Options for How to Read This Book
Chapter eight outlines how each person learns and creates differently. In that spirit, you have three options for how to read this book. Pick the one that best fits your style and jump in.
Option 1 Begin at the beginning. The beginning of this book gives the scientific basis for all of the learnings and teachings. If youre the type of person who wants (or needs) that level of understanding, then start at the introduction and proceed through the book in sequence.
Option 2 Go straight to the tactics. If you are in urgent need of ideas, have no patience for background understanding, and trust that this is all based on hard scientific data, then jump directly to chapter two. This is where the practical tools for increasing your odds of success begin.
Option 3 Read the book in reverse order. This book teaches what a high-probability idea looks like (Marketing Physics), then it teaches you how to create one (Capitalist Creativity). Research has shown that this is the most effective learning sequence for most people. If, however, you are more interested in creating than evaluating ideas, feel free to start at chapter ten and then come back to the beginning.
FOREWORD BY TOM PETERS
Doug Hall has put me in a... HORRIBLE POSITION. (Ill not soon forgive him.) He asked me to write a Foreword to this book. That means... one thousand words or so. BUT... I cant do it. No... its not that I dont like the book. To the contrary... I LOVE IT. And... theres my problem.
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE RATIONAL? All I want to say is... I LOVE IT. ITS SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS.
(There... I said it.) Every damn practical question Doug poses, and there are dozens, is... simply... ESSENTIAL .. to creating a Cool/Profitable/Wildly Different business.
Heres how he hooked me, in a word (two, actually): DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE.
Dramatic Difference. PAYS OFF. Big Time. Thats true... and his new quantitative models prove that... as never before.
But it goes beyond that. I, of course, am thrilled that his Quant Studies PROVE what Ive long believed: SERIOUSLY COOL... WINS... BIG. (P.S. And takes Guts! Big Time!)
Its... THE PASSION... for the IDEA... of... D-R-A-M-A-T-I-C DIFFERENCE. (And... those COMPELLING/STUNNING/HARD NUMBERS ... to back it up.)
I LOVE IT. (OK?)
AND. As in... AND. Every Chapter is brimming with... PRACTICAL QUESTIONS and EXERCISES: None of us can escape from his... INEXORABLE LOGIC.
This aint a book for Wimps. It is a book for those who will Never Rest until they have Set the World on Its Ear. With a local auto-body shop. Or a 23-table French restaurant. Or Mega-corp. (Or a one-person window-washing service.)
You see, theres another thing Doug and I agree on. BIG TIME. (Again.) We dont think branding is limited to Coke or Pfizer. We believe branding is... AVAILABLE TO ALL... WITH VISION AND NERVE AND VERVE. We believe that dramatic difference and Brand Position is as plausible at $1,000,000 as at $1 billion. NO BULL.
DD is a FOM. (DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE... is a... Frame Of Mind.)
PERIOD.
Doug provides GAJILLIONS of Practical Examples. (No Barren Desert of Theory here!) And... YOU MUST READ THEM ALL. (Trust me. Please.)
I LOVE THIS BOOK. (And I rarelynever before, truth be toldgo that far.) It SOARS... and provides PRACTICAL STUFF... worth its weight and price 1000x over. PLEASE. P-L-E-A-S-E. Readand ingestthis book. PLEASE.
You may end up making a ton of money. Far more important... your life will take on Meaning as never before. (Meaning that flows from the Relentless Pursuit of Dramatic Difference.) How Liberating!
Thank you, Doug, for allowing me a few lines in this masterwork.
Palo Alto
May 14, 2001
INTRODUCTION
Good News!
I bring you good news! Business success is not random. There are patterns to the universe of business. There are reproducible scientific lessons and laws that, when applied with diligence, can help you win more, lose less and make more money with your new products, services, sales and advertising efforts.
Sadly, most businesspeople dont understand these laws. As a result, businesses large and small fail daily. Declining sales surprise business owners, companies are shut down and employees are put out of work. And worse yet, peoples dreams for businesses of their own die.
By applying the findings repeated in this book, you will significantly increase your odds of business success. I want to be very clear on this point. Im not guaranteeing success. Just as there are no foolproof systems for winning a lottery, so, too, there is no such thing as a miracle secret for guaranteed business success. What is being promised are a set of scientific lessons and laws that can dramatically increase your odds of success .
Estimates of new product or service success rates vary widely depending on the industry studied and the definition of success. A review of academic studies and U.S. census data found that on average about 75% of new businesses, products or services fail and are discontinued within two to five years. This means that you basically have only a 25% probability of success with your new advertising, product, service or business concept.
A venture capitalist told me that 17% of the companies his firm invests in succeed. This would actually be an improvement over the 10% rate reported by Greg A. Stevens and James Burley in 3000 Raw Ideas1 Commercial Success, their May-June 1997 Research Technology Management review of the results of ten major venture capital firms.
A 10 to 25% chance of success is terrible odds. Most business owners would have a greater probability of success if they went to a Las Vegas casino and gambled their investments. The following chart details the various probabilities of winning at gambling games.
