Book Summary: The Mirror Test: Does Your Business Really Breathe? – Written by Jeffrey Hayzlett

The mirror test unites basic business principles with common sense. This book outlines very basic business principles that should be examined by business owners. If you are new to business, this book may benefit you.

Why is this important to me?

I do not want to waste your time. In business, either you grow profitably or you die, there is no balance. That is the true test of “Proof of Life”. Jeffrey has real business experience. Various books will talk about high level strategy, mission statements, vision which is important but when the rubber meets the road he must pay the payroll.

If you’ve never had people responsibility, I can tell you personally that worrying about payroll when money is tight is very stressful. When the cash flows, you run the business. When the cash isn’t flowing, the business runs it for you.

The mirror test is divided into three main parts. For time reasons, I will touch on certain sections within each part. I have outlined several books that talk about Passion, Leadership and Focus. In this summary I will outline the three parts that have to do with business tactics.

1. Say no to low prices: can you compete with Wal-Mart? No, I can’t either. If your business value proposition is price, then it’s slowly dying. There is nothing worse than competing to the bottom to commodify your market. The purpose of a business is to get a customer and create value for stakeholders. If you compete on price and expect to be low, then there are several problems, including: One, you don’t know how to sell value. Two, you are not creating a business that can be sold later for its real value and three, you are buying yourself a job. The goal of a business is to provide value to the customer at a PROFIT. If you’re afraid of profit or think it’s a dirty word, go work for someone else.

2. Value: We now know that we shouldn’t sell cheap, so you can ask us how we create value. This requires some thought and is exactly why there are so many fringe businesses on the market today. Here are three things you can do to set its value:

has. Examine your product, delivery, service and differentiate yourself from your competition. We did this at our enterprise software company and developed what’s called DSS Direct Advantage. Simply put, we proactively manufacture, sell, service and support customers directly without going through other reseller companies. This is unique in our market and provides us with direct contact with the client and control of it.

b. Control your message. Do you have a unique selling proposition? If not, then create one. If you remove your company name and your pitch sounds like, “We’re the best widget provider at the lowest cost and I’ll do a good job for you.” You can work for any of your competitors and say the same thing. This is not a unique value proposition.

against Educate your prospects and customers through thought leadership. This is the golden egg to create real value. The knowledge locked into your business is second nature to you, but NOT to your prospects. You must outline the value of knowledge and take it forward. This will establish you as an expert in your field and people will flock to you.

3. Sell it: Are you comfortable presenting in front of groups? If not, then get over the fear and gain the ability. This is the single greatest asset you can gain to profitably grow your business. If you create value and become a thought leader, you will be asked to present and clients will ask you to work with them. This is a far cry from cold calling and forced selling. I can tell you that this requires a lot of work up front, but the reward is market leadership.

The mirror test has good common sense content. I digressed a bit from the book to outline three key points that will help your business succeed. Remember that Execution is critical today because the business environment is tough.

I hope you have found this brief summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes a habit. Habits are formed in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is thought leadership. Schedule 30 minutes each day for the next 30 days to work on material that will add value to your customers. Examples of these are videos, e-books, and white papers on the benefits and definitions of industry terms. If you approach this with the customer in mind, then the success of your business will change for the better.