On way there, we stopped to pick up some lunch to eat pool-side. Given choice of Wendy’s, Subway, or McDonald’s, I chose Subway because I knew I could get a relatively low-calorie, low-fat lunch there.

How did I know that? Because I’d seen their commercials starring Jared who had lost something like 150 pounds by eating an all-Subway-sandwich diet.

Now, I don’t need to lose 150 pounds, and I don’t plan to go on an all-Subway-sandwich diet. However, I also didn’t want to blow 648 calories I had burned on elliptical trainer that morning.

From moment we walked in, I knew I had made right decision. They had a poster-sized sign telling me how many calories and grams of fat each of their basic sandwiches have. That helped me make a decision about best thing to order.

Then, they reinforced my smart decision when they handed me my sandwich-drink combo. Plastered across sandwich wrapper, around my cup, and over my napkin were same calorie/fat breakdowns. I was pleased to see that I was only eating 320 calories for lunch (okay, truth be told, I splurged on chips too). But, nonetheless, Subway had done their job and done it well.

I’m talking about POSITIONING. They might be a lot of things, but thing they want you to know above all else is that they offer low-calorie fast food alternatives. Yes, they were fast. Yes, they were cheap. But point they have hammered home with their advertisements, in-store signage, and paper goods is that I can get a meal that won’t blow my diet.

Positioning is what sets you apart from your competitors. It’s what makes a prospect choose to work with you rather than someone else. It’s part of perception that you have most control over. But many business owners neglect to take charge of their position in marketplace and let customers position their business for them.

How many times have you lowered your prices to get a new client who balked at your original bid? How many times have you agreed to provide a certain service to a client that you never planned to provide, don’t enjoy doing, and isn’t very profitable? How many times have you taken on a job that requires most basic skills you possess and complained that you can’t get clients that want to use all of your talents?

These are all things that business owners experience when they let their prospects/clients position their business for them. If you find yourself doing this, time to change is NOW!

"I feel a little stuck," she shared in our last call. "Every time I try running another ad or sending another mailer, I only generate enough new work to make up for additional cost I've expended. I can't hire an additional employee until I get more work, but I can't seem to get more work. I really want to make more income for myself and my family and think I could do it if I could just get some of these new marketing strategies to work out."

My next question threw her -- "What are you selling?" "What do you mean? I'm selling cleaning services," she responded. "No, what are you REALLY selling? Or look at it this way, what are your clients buying?"

It took a couple more rounds before she understood what I meant. Many service business owners run out to marketplace without a clear understanding of what they are selling or what their clients are buying. After awhile, they start getting clients by shear fact that they've approached enough people to generate some interest. The problem comes once they've reached a plateau and can't seem to grow beyond it.

It's like golf. Anyone can learn to hit ball and, if given enough strokes, get it in hole. They can even become pretty good ... but only sometimes. The rest of time, they are hooking or slicing uncontrollably. They never play a consistent game. The key to success in golf is technique. If you do right things consistently, you’ll play a good game every time (well, almost!).

In business, it’s same thing – you need to do right things consistently. Almost anyone can learn how to make a sale. It might not be in record speed or at a profit, but they can make sale. The key is in being able to generate sales consistently up to and beyond your plateau.