Automating a Marketing Strategy

I have the opportunity to talk with independent professionals almost on a daily basis. I love this breed of people. Big dreams and lots of ambition. But as I talk to them, many of them express very similar concerns when it comes to meeting their career goals and building the lifestyle that they've envisioned. Most of the frustration is directly related to a lack of direction with their marketing and sales efforts.

So I always ask them, "So tell me about your marketing strategy". Most tell me at first that they really don't have a formal strategy in place. So I ask them to just tell me what efforts they see as effective in bringing in potential business. And here is where I get some great, very thought out answers. I generally get answers that would impress any MBA professor, filled with referral strategies, retention strategies, cold calling strategies and every other strategy you can think of. I'm usually impressed by the answers I get. So then I ask the natural question, "How do you implement those strategies?" And herein lies the frustration.

Sales people in general need systems in order to effectively and consistently grow their business. Otherwise growth comes in spurts. You'll get motivated one week, fill your pipeline full of potential business and exhaust yourself for the next 2 months trying to close that business and have to start all over again. This would be frustrating for anyone in any profession. So what do successful agents and consultants do? Well to put it simply, they build a system that works for them week in and week out. They find a way to keep a sales pipeline full every day of the week. They have a system for getting referrals, for client retention, for bringing in outside business. Then as time goes on, they are simply making the systems they've put into place better and better. Then one day they wake up and they're making a lot of money, they are able to go on vacation without being attached to their computers and they are able to enjoy they're career the way they've always envisioned....it's a beautiful thing to see.

Think of your business as a machine that is working for you and not the other way around and you are on your way to reaching your goals.

Cortez On Business

After months of programming and testing, we are finally ready to launch. There is lots of excitement and stress at the office as we already are signing up users and taking on integration projects, so we are definitely rolling.

I've really learned some valuable lessons through this development process. Primarily I've learned how important persistence is in any business. I can think of a dozen times that I've thought that the project was just too hard or had to many obstacles. I fear that is why so many businesses fail, starting a business is just plain hard work.

So I've been asked, "How do you persist?", "How do you keep going?". Here is my answer almost every time. "You've got to burn your ships." After an often awkward silence, I tell the story of the conquistadors that came from Europe to conquer and claim the early Americas. After Cortez landed in the Americas one of the first things he did was ordered his men to unload and burn the ships. Apparently he did this to communicate a "do or die" mentality in his men.

So when I tell people to burn their ships, what I'm saying is take the necessary steps to commit yourself to your business. I've rarely seen a new business really thrive if there are not members of the business that are truly vested. So whether you are financially investing, investing your time, quiting your full time job or whatever else, make sure that you are committing yourself and give yourself as few "outs" as possible. In my opinion, the easier it is to exit your business plan, the more likely it is to fail...and the reverse is true as well.