Build a True Market Monopoly

Key Points:

0:00 – Opening and Call Setup
Howard opens the Advanced Strategy Mastermind and turns the session over to Courtney, who sets expectations for a more energetic, direct, and provocative discussion.

2:45 – The Big Question
Courtney asks the group to identify the one thing more important than revenue, profit, and cash flow.

3:22 – The $10 Million Claim
Courtney says that if coaches understand and build this one thing for themselves or their clients, it could help create a $10 million enterprise over time.

5:27 – The Answer: Market Dominating Position
The discussion turns to MDP as the core concept behind long-term business value and differentiation.

7:34 – Why the MDP Message Got Confused
Courtney explains how advertising changed over time, moving from longer education-based ads to short, catchy messages that often skip the full conversion process.

8:30 – Interrupt, Engage, Educate, Offer
The call revisits the full Conversion Equation and how larger brands often shortened it into simple interrupt-and-engage messaging.

10:03 – MDP Is Not a Cute Phrase
Courtney warns that reducing an MDP to a clever phrase can mislead coaches and clients.

11:09 – Fraudulent Misrepresentation Warning
Courtney connects shallow positioning to the danger of making claims a company cannot actually deliver.

15:17 – Domino’s Pizza Example Begins
Courtney introduces Domino’s as the classic MDP example and begins unpacking what actually happened behind “30 minutes or less.”

16:34 – Domino’s Business Model Shift
Rather than just creating a phrase, Domino’s changed the business model by moving away from large restaurants and toward smaller delivery-focused locations near ideal customers.

17:30 – Operational Changes Behind the Promise
Domino’s reduced overhead, changed kitchen operations, increased speed, and aligned the business around delivery.

18:42 – The Risk of Over-Focusing on the Phrase
Courtney explains that Domino’s became associated with the slogan, but the real power came from the business model and capacity behind it.

20:21 – MDP Has 60 Sub-Steps
Courtney has Gary open the PAS implementation section and shows that MDP includes 10 steps with six sub-steps each.

21:01 – The MDP Statement Is Only One Part
The positioning statement appears as only one of the 60 sub-steps, meaning the MDP is much bigger than the words used to describe it.

21:29 – Wordsmithing Is Not Enough
Courtney explains that AI can wordsmith quickly, but a polished phrase disconnected from reality can hurt the client.

22:42 – Define the MDP, But Build the Reality
The MDP statement is important, but only when it is tied to a real business capacity competitors cannot easily duplicate.

23:38 – Howard’s Customer Perspective Point
Howard notes that the positioning process must start with the customer’s hot buttons and work backward, not only from the company’s internal perspective.

26:31 – PAS MDP Question One
Courtney reviews the first MDP assessment question: what benefits does the business offer that separate it from competitors?

27:55 – Listen Before Correcting
Coaches are encouraged to listen carefully to the client’s answer before editing or correcting it.

28:14 – PAS MDP Question Two
Courtney reviews the second question: are those benefits based on the hot buttons of the prospects?

29:22 – Ask the Follow-Up Question
If the answer is no, the coach should ask what the client’s real hot-button issues are, preferably in the client’s own words.

30:09 – Why Hot Buttons Matter
If the MDP is not connected to the client’s real hot buttons, the next question becomes irrelevant and the positioning work will be weak.

31:09 – Solve the Client’s Client’s Problem
Courtney explains that to help a business owner make more money, the coach must understand what that owner’s clients actually need.

32:06 – Courtney’s Banking Example
Courtney shares how business owners in Jamaica struggled with revenue, profit, cash flow, and high-interest loans, which shaped his mission to help them.

33:10 – Personal Mission Behind the Work
Courtney explains that a close friend’s business failure and suicide became part of his drive to help business owners avoid financial collapse.

35:38 – Discovering PAS
Courtney shares how discovering PAS gave him a structured way to help business owners grow revenue, profit, and cash flow.

36:16 – PAS as Capacity Builder
Through his PhD work and internal study of Focused.com, Courtney came to see PAS as a tool that gives business coaches the capacity to deliver unique, superior value.

37:15 – PAS as the Coach’s MDP Cornerstone
Courtney explains that PAS helps business coaches solve client problems in a unique way, making it part of the coach’s own MDP.

38:06 – MDP as the Domino
Courtney describes MDP as the one domino that supports all the other dominoes in a business.

39:10 – The Definition of MDP
MDP is described as the extent to which a business innovates so it has the capacity to deliver unique and superior value that solves clients’ biggest problems.

40:20 – Pizza Analogy for PAS Strategies
Courtney compares PAS strategies to pizza slices, with the full pizza representing the MDP and each strategy adding another layer of differentiation.

41:12 – The Depth of Your MDP
A coach who has implemented six strategies has a deeper and stronger MDP than a coach who has only implemented two.

41:39 – Don’t Abandon Strategies Too Quickly
Courtney warns that stopping one lead generation strategy to chase another can kill momentum instead of creating compounding improvement.

43:19 – MDP vs. MDP Statement
Courtney asks the group whether the MDP is different from the MDP statement, and the group agrees that it is.

44:04 – Don’t Broadcast the Secret Sauce
Courtney warns coaches not to expose the full MDP publicly because broadcasting the secret sauce invites copycats.

44:47 – Become a Monopoly in the Client’s Eyes
Courtney gives coaches a powerful framing: help clients become a monopoly in their marketplace in the eyes of their ideal customers.

46:40 – Build a Blue Ocean
The goal is to help clients become different from and better than competitors in the ways that matter most to their ideal clients.

47:14 – Dentist Example
Courtney and Tom discuss how dentists and similar professionals may have limits on how they can advertise, making true business differentiation even more important.

49:01 – Levels of MDP
Courtney explains that MDP can exist at multiple levels: personal, product, departmental, organizational, community, city, state, and national.

50:43 – Be in Integrity First
Courtney challenges coaches to build their own organizations before advising clients on how to build theirs.

52:40 – Domino’s Radical Honesty Case Study
Courtney shares a video-style case study about Domino’s admitting its pizza was bad, improving the product, and rebuilding trust.

53:57 – Stop Deflecting, Fix the Product
The Domino’s turnaround worked because the company changed the actual product and business reality, not just the advertising.

56:37 – Healthy Revenue vs. Sick Organization
Courtney explains that a company can be large and still unhealthy, just as a strong-looking person can have a serious internal issue.

57:31 – The $10 Million Math
Courtney breaks down the $10 million claim as 10 clients at $10,000 per month over 10 years, showing how higher-value coaching can compound.

59:13 – Build Your Own JV Network
Courtney warns that coaches trying to build alone are limiting themselves and should create strategic alliances, JV partners, and support teams.

1:00:37 – Strategic Alliances vs. Joint Ventures
Karen asks about the difference between strategic alliances, joint ventures, and referral relationships.

1:02:19 – Referral Relationship vs. JV
Courtney explains that every joint venture may include referrals, but not every referral system is a true joint venture.

1:04:37 – Train Strategic Partners
Courtney explains that partners should understand the training and language so they can speak truthfully and confidently about the coach’s program.

1:06:59 – MOU Support
Courtney shares that he has an MOU resource that can help structure JV or strategic partner relationships.

1:09:38 – Price Setters, Not Price Takers
Courtney closes by explaining that when businesses build true monopoly-style differentiation, they are no longer trapped competing on price.

Five Key Takeaways

• An MDP is not a tagline, slogan, elevator pitch, or clever phrase. It is the business’s capacity to deliver unique and superior value.
• The MDP statement matters, but it is only one small part of the full MDP process.
• Coaches must help clients build the reality behind the claim before they help them communicate the claim.
• PAS and the Jumpstart strategies help coaches build their own MDP by increasing their capacity to solve business owner problems.
• A strong MDP helps a business become the only logical choice in the eyes of the right clients, which moves them away from competing on price.

Notable Quotes

“The MDP is different from the MDP statement.”

“The real MDP is all of these things and then some.”

“AI can wordsmith better than you and faster than you.”

“The more eloquent you are in creating that phrase untethered from reality, the more fraudulent that statement is.”

“The MDP is the one domino that supports all other dominoes.”

“If your MDP is sinking sand, you don’t have a good foundation of your business.”

“It’s not about being better. It’s about you’re the only one who solves it this way.”

“You can become a monopoly in your marketplace, a monopoly in the eyes of your clients.”

“Monopolies have no competitors. They are price setters, not price takers.”

“Radical honesty is the rarest marketing strategy and the most powerful.”

Action Steps from the Call

1. Stop treating MDP as a tagline or slogan.
2. Review the MDP implementation section in PAS and study the full 10-step process.
3. Notice that the MDP statement is only one part of the broader MDP buildout.
4. When working with clients, ask what benefits they offer that truly separate them from competitors.
5. Ask whether those benefits are based on the hot buttons of their prospects.
6. If the answer is no, ask what their clients’ real hot-button issues are in the clients’ own words.
7. Do not wordsmith a positioning statement before confirming the business can actually deliver the promise.
8. Help clients build the capacity, systems, offers, alliances, and operations that make the MDP real.
9. Use PAS and the Jumpstart strategies to build your own coaching company’s MDP.
10. Add layers to your own MDP by implementing more than one strategy instead of abandoning one strategy for another.
11. Build strategic alliances, joint ventures, and referral relationships so you are not trying to deliver everything alone.
12. Train strategic partners so they understand your language, your system, and how to refer appropriately.
13. Use the Domino’s case study as a reminder that real business change beats clever marketing.
14. Think about how you can help clients become different from and better than competitors in the ways their ideal customers actually value.

Resources & Tools Mentioned

• Advanced Strategy Mastermind
• Market Dominating Position / MDP
• MDP Statement
• PAS / Profit Acceleration Software
• MDP Implementation Section
• MDP Assessment Questions
• Jumpstart 12
• Jumpstart 40
• Conversion Equation
• Interrupt, Engage, Educate, Offer
• Domino’s Pizza Case Study
• Domino’s “30 Minutes or Less” Example
• Domino’s Radical Honesty Campaign
• Unique Selling Proposition / USP
• Joint Ventures
• Strategic Alliances
• Referral Relationships
• MOU Resource
• Development Bank of Jamaica
• European Investment Bank
• PhD research
• Howard’s Workshop Wednesday on Root Cause
• Blue Ocean positioning