THE AFS METHOD PT 2.

THE AFS METHOD PT 2. I hope you enjoyed THE AFS METHOD PT1.

It’s now 1999 and I have two new BMW cars outside, a vintage 1976 VW Beetle in 1976 hippy orange and have built my own house with my own hands. That's it above. The house is big. It’s a converted barn with it’s own orchard and sheep walking around the edges that endlessly get stuck on the wire fence as they stick their heads through on the assumption that my grass is better than their grass. It also has 5 bedrooms and has its own acre of ground around it. Baby number four has now arrived - Lily and life is busy, busy busy yet the EFFECT from my  METHOD was really was starting to reshape my life. The most dramatic events from the effect were yet to show themselves.

The EFFECT from THE AFS METHOD had moved me from a small one bedroomed house to this huge self-build home. It had taken my Mini and given me new cars and a classic car. It brought and end to wet holidays in Wales and gave us 2-3 family holidays a year abroad. It also gave me all the good things in life that British people dream about. Fine furniture, AGA oven, the best kitchen money could buy and much more.

Now for someone that hadn’t really had any formal education I was running my own extremely successful direct mail campaigns that were simply created through trial and error. My marketing was flying and I was running a really strict formula that I stuck to.

In the last email I shared with you a couple of business clients that had felt the powerful effect of the AFS METHOD of things I had been up to in my hairdressing salons within their own businesses.

Now that same mysterious and business changing effect had started to change things for clients that were asking me to help them do something I was only really starting to practice myself in my own business.

Yes of course I was having my share of disasters of course I was. I had staff walk-outs and still struggling to manage cash whilst I was making more than plenty of it but more exciting things were yet to come for me.

POSITIONING

I often wondered why the likes of Mercedes or BMW or even other brands were seen as different despite the fact they were selling cars or other products like other car companies.

This was when something called POSITIONING entered into my life at a level that clicked for me and gave me even more clarity. Positioning was part of the effect and fed the effect and built the effect to even greater levels. My fixed AFS METHODOLOGY was now really working and working very strong.

This now meant I had to create a business that basically was the same – doing haircuts – but had a perception of being the best.

It took trial and error and of course time. For example all of the salons in the town where my salon was in the 90s charged around £20-25 for what we call a cut and blow dry. I decided to rename my cut and blow dry as a Cut and Design Service. This was supported by increased service whilst at the same time the price increased dramatically. Now my salon prices for a senior went as high as £70 but started at a price of £20.

For £20 they got the same as what other salons were selling which was…

THEM: Cut and Blow with Stylist: £25

US: Cut and Design Service with a Senior Hair Designer: From £20 to £70

This instantly positioned us as a service of higher quality and a product of higher quality and of course services of higher and premium quality.

The effect was massive in as much as this gave us

• More income
• More turnover
• More profits

The staff got higher paid than in any other salon in the area and of course my own personal profits were also higher to the point they gave me everything I need in life and more at that time. This gave me two things. Loyal staff and more cash!

POSITION PERCEPTION POWER & PRECENCE

Of course positioning is a whole lot more than simply pricing. Positioning has to be perception built and the perception has to be built around image and even every word that is used. Once the position is created in full that then gives presence and presence can give you a power in your business that you will have never had before.

The EFFECT was now gaining momentum for then and even for now.

I now had the FIRST option salon in a town of 35 salons for certain services when clients wanted only the best.

We had appointment books that were booked from morning until the evening. We had staff that loved working in a busy salon and of course the other salons in the area were now terrified that we were taking over the town – which we were of course ;-)

Now what I learnt in these days I simply repeated in clients businesses and even in my own businesses right now because the effect was just to powerful to ignore. AFS METHOD was also developing and growing fast yet at this time I still wasn't fully aware of it and the power it could and would have on my life in later years. The final part of this will show you exactly how that happened.

For now though - I not only had and have a stable business that grows hugely year on year I also have and have had businesses that are perceived as the best, number one and the only option.

Now a small but huge word of warning here for you ...

Yes you can do this but every last claim you make must be supported. When I finally left my salon businesses and started my fulltime consulting, marketing and writing business my aim was to be the very best.

To become the best I did not study everyone and anyone claiming to be experts. I only studied one or two experts I admired and knew of their track record.

Two of those mentors were alive and I thankfully worked with both of them, became friends and wined and dined with both of them. My other mentors were all dead geniuses that had more to say than a lot of the fakers alive today. The effect these guys had on my life and business was just huge. I read and devoured and practiced day after day after day and even today I still buy and read maybe 15 books every months whilst writing OVER ONE MILLION words each year! I still study minds I still research new ways and old ways that worked and I still read about my expertise whilst sitting in bed at night. No wonder THE AFS METHOD carries so much power today!

You won’t position yourself or your business by doing a little. Doing a little brings in a little. If you create a massive wave of momentum for your business by investing, doing everything you can to be the very best your position will just grow as long as it is supported by strong strategic marketing.

So my salons went from zero to number one in around 18 months and simply grew and kept on growing from there.

OrangeBeetle.com went from a new start-up with NO website at the time to being seen as the only and must use premium strategic business expert. My position from day one was huge with clients OFFERING ME checks of $50k to write sales copy for them and design the strategy for them. This is what THE AFS METHODOLOGY can do.

So the effect of doing things right, doing things with well thought out intentions and plans mostly grew huge results. If you don’t plant seeds nothing will grow. If you plant just a few seeds just a few plants will grow. If you endlessly plant but plant carefully you will grow at first so strong that it will change things in your life but in the lives of others.

The AFS EFFECT was now and is now so strong it has not only changed my life but actually saved the life of a young girl in Asia in 2009! Maybe more about that in the future because in THE AFS Part 3. I want to share with you how the AFS METHOD literally saved my own life from a crumbling disaster only to give me more than I could ever dream of and how the AFS METHOD can easily do the same for you.

By the way this isn’t all about me is it? I hope you are getting good lessons from this, strong ideas and of course I am provoking you into thinking a little bit more about life.

One thing I do know today and that is money isn’t the key to happiness. I know I have worked with and I have met a lot of very rich people that have been as miserable as hell. Yet another thing I do know is this. I have had money and I have experienced huge loss and I certainly prefer success and having good money to having no money and a life of struggle.

THE AFS METHOD is now more real than it has ever been and that is simply using strong, proven and powerful strategies first in my life and second in my business. Of course not just for myself but for many of my wonderful and super successful clients.

I’ll share a little more in Part 3 but for now I hope you enjoyed this and if you’d like to leave a comment or a reply feel free to share.

Your eternal marketing hero

Alan Forrest Smith