Your business needs to FLOP.

Truly.

And no, this is NOT another one of those goofy semi-inspirational posts that tell you that all entrepreneurs need to FAIL before they succeed. 

FLOP is an acronym for one of the most powerful marketing concepts you can use to grow your business FAST and EXPONENTIALLY:

FLOP: Feature and Leverage Other People.

Marketing 101: If all you talk about is YOU - your company, your book, your blog, your brand, your programs, your products, your services... people will ignore you, tune you out, and dismiss you for the self-centered schmuck that you are. 

FACT: Experts promote other experts. 

• Experts are NOT insecure about shining the spotlight on others (Shawn Ellis for example)
• In fact, they THRIVE on it (like Damian Niolet)
• Experts ALWAYS work hard to feature and leverage other people (like my hero Tom Peters has done since 1999 with Tom's Cool Friends) 
• Experts are curators and pointers-out-of-cool-things (Another one of my heroes, Guy Kawasaki, built a business on this notion at Alltop.com)
• Experts post business book reviews of other experts' books
• Experts do research and interview other experts on their blog (like my BFF Stephanie Chandler does at BusinessInfoGuide)
• Experts recommend and refer other experts for client work, projects, and media interviews (like I teed up the awesome Derek Sivers for some nice coverage in Investors Business Daily by connecting him with uber-cool business journalist Amy Alexander)

More Examples:

1. As you may know, I'm in the process of publishing the DO IT! Marketing book with AMACOM. Notice I didn't say "my" book. Because it's really not just mine. In the writing process, I asked a dozen of the sharpest, most successful marketing experts I know to contribute a "success strategy sidebar." They did. Now my book is truly "our book." That's FLOP.

2. My pal, Avish Parashar, is not only a top-notch opening and closing keynote speaker... he's also a speaker marketing guru. Hmmm... competition? Nope. FLOP partner. He regularly shares my content with his newsletter readers and I do the same for him. He promotes my programs. I promote his. We're not only friends, we seek each others' professional advice and exchange referrals. That's what you might call FLOPPY.

3. My friend Carol Ritter writes for a Chamber blog and local paper. Her holiday column included these words: "My gifts to all the entrepreneurs and non-profits who are working so hard to be successful is the gift of resources. I work with some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country; their ideas and success will inspire you and give you concrete ideas for 2013..." and she proceeded to list a great sales culture expert, a great video production company, a great marketing resource (from yours truly), and a great motivational speaker from North Carolina. There's FLOP in action again.

Grow up. Step up. Be a real expert and learn once and for all - it's not about YOU.

The more you FLOP, the more YOU will succeed.

What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and experiences on featuring and leveraging other people...

p.s. Can you find the 2 awesome clients, 2 great friends, 1 respected colleague and a semi-nude woman in the graphic above? Here's some help: 

New Orleans motivational speaker Marvin LeBlanc

Healthcare keynote speaker LeAnn Thieman

Conference Catalyst keynote speaker Thom Singer

Presentation skills expert Laurie Brown

Meetings technology speaker Corbin Ball

Lingerie models (nice holiday savings too)

FLOPPED again!

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!