The Preeminence Principle

(Average read time: 7 minutes)

At its core, the preeminence principle will allow you to focus on surpassing all others when it comes to delivering incredible value and results to customers.

If you’re a full-time entrepreneur or manage a business alongside your day job, the preeminence principle framework can take you and your business to the next level.

The preeminence principle is best implemented through the four pillars.

Pillar 1: Know Your Customer

I will use my blog as an example. My blog was created to take my experience and unique perspective, structure it, and share it in a way that can add value to entrepreneurs and their business.

Entrepreneurs are the perfect customer. Why? Because I know what they want. They want their business to be successful.

Great entrepreneurs are constantly learning and implementing that acquired knowledge into their business. Click To Tweet

Whether it’s growing revenue, increasing productivity or optimizing their business model, they are looking to continually improve.

My success hinges on whether or not I can provide content and products that allows them to learn something they can use to improve their business.

Understand that your customer is looking for tangible and practical steps they can take to achieve the result they want.

Pillar 2: Know Your Business

It takes time for new entrepreneurs to truly understand what business they’re in.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but it can take time and experience to realize what business you’re truly in, but when you do, your results will increase significantly.

When a homeowner wants to hang a picture and buys a drill, they don't want the drill, they want a hole in the wall.Click To Tweet

It’s a subtle difference, yet extremely important. Focus on the result, not the product.

I will use my first book, Divorced Before 30 as an example.

People read to be informed or entertained, yet I wrote this book without a focused result for readers – it’s informative, yet tries to be entertaining, and it’s also in the realm of self-improvement.

I did not consider the ideal customer when I wrote this book. As a result, the branding was scattered and its sales reflect that.

Is my target customer a man who is currently separated, bitter, and is looking for a book to calm his fears? Or, is it a woman who’s divorced, moving on, and is optimistic about the future? These are two very different customers. Therefore, the content, book cover, and marketing messages should directly address my customer’s needs.

There’s a saying in the marketing space that helps me stay focused – sell the sizzle, not the steak. Homeowners don’t want a drill, they want a hole in the wall.

Pillar 3: The Best Version of Yourself

Since you truly understand your customer and their fundamental needs, the only thing left to do is ensure you’re performing at your highest level and can serve them like no one else.

Taking a holistic approach to your life and addressing any areas of concern will allow you to bring your best self to your business.

Health

If you’re eating poorly, avoiding exercise, not getting enough sleep, and generally neglecting your body and mind, it becomes very difficult to perform at a high level. Some decisions may take years before the consequences become evident and others have a more immediate impact.

I’ve been guilty of this. The entrepreneur’s default excuse is I don’t have time. I never had enough time until I made the time. There’s always time if something is a priority.

Relationships

Entrepreneurs struggle with this. You have a business that you’re trying to grow and at times can consume you for hours. Even though your motivation is for a good cause, don’t allow yourself to create a widening gap between you and your loved ones.

I have two kids. A son and a daughter who are 7 and 4. The highlight of most days is when I’m able to FaceTime them throughout the day, which is second only to playing Minecraft with my son and Shopkins with my daughter.

This may be difficult, but give yourself a day off. This month I’m going to not work on Sunday – all month. Take this time to enjoy the company of family and friends. Life is short and time is something we can never get back.

Spiritual Fulfillment

Whether it’s religion, the environment or eliminating homelessness, if it brings joy to your heart and mind, make that a part of your life.

I’ve researched many wealthy individuals, titans of industry, political leaders, and I have not come across one extremely wealthy individual that doesn’t have a philanthropic cause or mission they care about.

Generosity, humility, and business success go hand in hand.Click To Tweet
Your Environment

In the peak-performance and self-improvement world, there’s a theory that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

If you are in an environment that has low motivation and little support, it is very difficult to overcome that. For example, if the five people closest to me play video games 8 hours a day, eat junk food, and stay up late, guess what might happen? I may resist it at first, but there’s the probability that I will slowly enjoy video games a little more, go to sleep a little later, and eat more pizza and burgers in between.

On the other hand, if you surround yourself with people that push you to be better, discuss new ways to reach goals, and want to be successful, your potential for success is infinitely greater.

Besides your kids, who are the five people you spend the most time with?

Pillar 4: Deliver Incredible Value

You know your customer like no one else, you understand their needs and positioned your business to address those needs, and you are functioning at your highest level, great!

Now you’re ready to put it all together and deliver the results your customers need.

The 95% Rule

The preeminence principle is 100% about giving your customers insane amounts of value.

Give your customers your knowledge, your content, your best stuff for free. Yes, I said free. Once you find out why, it will make sense. I created the 95% rule specifically for service and digital businesses. If you sell a physical product, you can still incorporate the essence of the 95% rule without giving away 95% of your products.

I’ll use my blog as an example. My customer is an entrepreneur that wants their business to be successful. The results they’re looking for are to grow revenues, increase productivity, and optimize their business model. Therefore, I need to create content and products that will produce one of those three results. I will give entrepreneurs my knowledge, experience, strategies, research, and 95% of my best ideas for free. Even if that means I refer them to other products and services when I’m not able to best serve them. That’s delivering value. That’s when I become a trusted resource. That’s the 95% rule.

How do you make money?

The remaining 5%.

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