Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

How to avoid the worst mistake in business!

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marketing idea, marketing opportunity

Image: Shutterstock.

One of the greatest barriers to business success, are our undiscovered mistakes. I’m referring to those errors we make, without even knowing it.

Undiscovered mistakes are especially dangerous. That’s because we don’t know we’re making them, so we’re likely to inadvertently repeat them. Again and again.

How do we stop these mistakes from happening to us?

My mentor’s advice to me

Here’s something one of my mentors shared with me over 25 years ago. It’s simple and quite brilliant.

  • He told me to undertake a review, every time something of any importance goes wrong. Today we’d call this ‘unpacking the problem’.
  • He advised me to do this in as much detail as possible, and as soon after the mistake has been spotted as possible, and that it was essential to do it in writing.
  • By unpacking the problem soon after noticing it, we can still remember it clearly. So we’re less likely to miss anything.
  • By writing it down, rather than thinking it over exclusively in our head, we put space between us… and the problem.
  • He explained that the space between us and the problem, is where answers are born. This last step sounds a little poetic. Maybe it is. However, it’s also exactly what I’ve found happens.

I have no idea how (exactly) or why this strategy works. I only know it does, and with surprising frequency. That’s to say, it’s worked for me again and again over the past 25 years. And I’ve literally lost count of how many others I have shared the idea with, who have seen equally good, or better, results from it.

Give it a try the next time something meaningful goes wrong. You have nothing to lose from the additional clarity the strategy will bring. And you could find it saves you a fortune… or helps you make a fortune.

Either way, it’s certainly worth trying.

Why not me?

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marketing tip, get picked, get chosen

Someone, somewhere is asking that question today. And there could be a number of reasons why they didn’t get chosen.

  • Their proposal was very professional. But someone else’s proposal gave 3 recent, checkable examples of exceptionally high quality work.
  • Their presentation was really good. But the CEO’s best friend personally recommended another provider.
  • Their meeting with the prospective client went well. But their marketing caused the prospect to assume the fee would be lower, so the prospect hired someone cheaper.

It’s natural for our initial reaction, when we miss out on something, to be externally focused. We tend to look for reasons why another person wasn’t smart enough to see how good we are and hire us or buy from us. That’s certainly how I used to think.

But not any more.

Get picked or chosen

Experience has taught me, that it’s a great deal more profitable to look for ways to improve. To focus on how we can do better the next time.

Get feedback whenever possible. Though the quality of the feedback is often inaccurate. That’s especially the case in situations such as the first 2 of my examples.

Above all, seek out ways to increase your odds of success the next time. Replay the situation where someone else was picked. Unpack it.

Look for all possible opportunities to improve. For example.

  • Could your opening be stronger?
  • Do you check for clarity (often enough) before moving on?
  • Does your proposal, presentation, sales pitch or introduction have maximum impact?
  • And is it memorable?
  • Are there enough trust building assets; reasons for a prospect to trust you?
  • Are you leveraging your contacts?
  • Do your testimonials inspire confidence and desire?
  • Could you improve with expert training?
  • Is your content, proposal, follow-up, etc., professionally written or DIY?

Those are a few of the most obvious places to start looking for ways to improve.

And keep on improving, until you manage to get hired, get the account or get the contract, 10 out of 10 times.

One step at a time. One day at a time

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one step at a time

The next time you find yourself pondering where your BIG breakthrough will come from, hit pause.

Take a moment to study the stories of successful business owners. You’ll immediately notice a pattern. They got to where they are, one step at a time.

One lesson at a time.

One connection at a time.

One subscriber at a time.

One opportunity at a time.

One proposal at a time.

One presentation at a time.

One meeting at a time.

One new client (or customer) at a time.

One major new client at a time.

One life-changing contract at a time.

By building success one step at a time, you have the space required to learn and improve. This allows you to make better next steps. It ensures you’ll keep moving forward, with very few stumbles along the way.

Here’s your next step

You know what you want to achieve. So just ask yourself.

Based on what I know right now, what’s my next good step?

Then resolve to take that step. Do the same thing tomorrow and the following day, and every day. Just one step.

The success of this approach is easy to verify. You simply need to read the chronicles of anyone who’s ever achieved anything of great value. It’s the worst kept secret in business. And the best way to achieve the success you desire.

All it takes is one step at a time. One day at a time.

Marketing seminars are worse than useless

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avoid marketing seminars, marketing seminars useless,

Marketing seminars are worse than useless. No, not all of them. Just those offered to a non-specific audience, usually online.

Before I explain why, we need to acknowledge the following basic truths.

  • The marketing strategies and tactics that work best for a private school looking for students, differ wildly from the strategies that work for a chain of strip joints.
  • And the effective strip joint strategies are very different from the strategies required by an oven cleaning franchise.
  • And the perfect oven cleaning franchise strategies, are totally different from those required by a tech start-up… or a long-established family law firm…. or a record label… you get the idea.

General, non specific marketing seminars deliberately ignore this fact.

They provide strategies and tactics that are intentionally designed NOT to be specific to anyone attending, based on the most general, of general advice. They’re designed to sell as many places on the seminar as possible. It’s a cookie cutter approach. The exact opposite of what’s required.

Different industries and professions need radically different advice. Business owners need marketing strategies that are, at the very least, specific to their industry.

But even industry specific strategies aren’t that much better. They’re marginally less terrible, that’s all.

The danger of general marketing advice

General marketing advice is what the majority of businesses in any sector already use. It’s freely available on websites, podcasts, webinars, Facebook, Linkedin and Youtube, etc. It’s available from well-intentioned industry bodies and institutes. It’s available in those For Dummies books. Which is why the marketing of most businesses, in the same sector, looks so amazingly similar.

Here’s what we see.

  • They provide a very similar sounding range of services.
  • They use very similar marketing promises.
  • They offer very similar guarantees.
  • They charge very similar prices.
  • They target very similar prospective clients.
  • And they suffer with the pain of very similar results, with (at best), a very similar slice of their marketplace.

The last thing they need is even more, general marketing advice; wrapped up as a so-called marketing seminar.

It’s worse than useless. It’s toxic.

Toxic?

Yes. Because as you can see, it makes your business less visible, less relevant and less attractive. It gives a prospective customer or client absolutely no meaningful reason whatsoever to notice you, contact you, hire you (or buy from you)… rather than hire a look-a-like competitor.

What’s needed is the exact opposite.

You need a strategy that will work for your specific business, based on your specific resources and designed to achieve your specific business growth targets.

That’s unavailable on any general marketing seminar.

Publish the process: Field Offices

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field offices, change scenery,

In the early days of the blog, I’d often share a look behind the scenes at my working day. It’s something I call publishing the process and today it’s back!

Just as before, I’ll share ideas I’m working on, the tools I’m using, useful new resources, the way I collect ideas… as well as things like sources of inspiration, etc.

Let’s kick things off with: Field offices

Lots of readers have asked me about how and why I use field offices. It’s something I’ve mentioned in passing in recent blog posts and newsletter articles. But never in any detail.

It’s a relevant topic to start with, as I sit in a field office right now; sipping espresso, with my MacBook Air finally connected to the coffee shop’s WiFi.

“[…] We get into ruts at work by following strict routines. That’s the problem! […]”

Dr. Todd Dewett

How many times have you had a great idea or flash of insight, when you’re in the shower, or when you’re at the gym or stuck in traffic?

It happens to all of us and it happens a lot.

One reason for this is that the change of scenery disrupts your routine and provides you with multiple, different inputs. Fresh sources of stimulation. And each of these influences how we think and feel, to a lesser or greater degree.

Like thousands of others, I’ve found that the same thing happens when I deliberately choose to break the routine of working from a non-traditional working environment.

Field offices offer 2 major benefits

  1. Field offices provide you with the same valuable, fresh / different ideas and insights, that often come randomly in the shower. However, by deciding to deliberately kick-start the process, you have far greater control over when it happens.
  2. Because you’re equipped with the tools you work with, for me it’s a laptop or a notebook and pen, you can capture the idea or insight and instantly get to work on it.

I also find it helps to use multiple different locations and settings. Here are the ones I’ve used recently.

  • A bench on a the Chesterfield Canal.
  • A coffee shop (in the above photo).
  • The grounds of Lincoln Castle and also Conisbrough Castle.
  • My garden.
  • Sherwood Forest.

As with anything like this, some people will find it extremely useful, others will find it a lot less useful. I strongly recommend you, at least, to give it a try. See it it helps and how it helps.

How it helps?

Yes.

Field offices work in different ways for different people.

I find that they’re of most use to me when I’m stuck with an idea. Other people I know, find field offices most useful when writing reports. Whilst others, still, use them exclusively when they’ve spent too many days at a desk, and feel they ‘just need’ a change of scenery.

I hope you found this look at field offices useful. Moreover, I hope it inspires you to give it a try the next time you’re looking for a creativity boost.

Einstein, Steve Jobs and the power of focus

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If you’d like greater clarity, more energy and dramatically improved results, you’ll find the following ideas really useful. It’s all about how to harness the power of focus.

It starts with something that seldom gets mentioned, yet is critically important.

It’s simply this: One of the fastest ways to massively improve your success rate, is to give your full focus to as few projects as possible.

steve jobs, power of focus, einstein

Photo: Shutterstock

Why focus on fewer things?

When you are a small business owner or consultant, you have a relatively limited number of resources. You’re required to work on many tasks, which larger companies have dedicated teams for.

By focusing your valuable time on developing too many ideas or opportunities, you dilute how effective you can be with any one of them.

What follows are 2 well-known examples of the power focus, along with lesser known benefits of improving your focus.

Einstein on the power of focus

Einstein is famously quoted as saying that one of the reasons for his amazing success, was his ability to focus on each individual challenge for as long as required.

By intentionally choosing to focus on one project or plan at a time, and saying ‘no’ to the multitude of other ideas demanding your attention, you get to give your full mental resources to the development of that idea.

You also eliminate Mind Fog: The fuzzy thinking that comes from focusing on too many things simultaneously.

Steve Jobs on the power of focus

Steve Jobs shared his thoughts on the power of focus, at the Apple Worldwide Developers’ Conference in 1997:

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all.

It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
– Steve Jobs

The lesson here is clear. In all of your planning, it pays to start by determining what’s the very best use of your focus. Then, give that project, idea or opportunity as much of your available time as required.

But that’s not all.

There’s another major benefit to channelling your focus correctly.

The ‘extra’ power of focus

As well as the benefits already mentioned, the power of focus brings with it another, highly valuable component.

I’m referring to off-the-charts energy levels!

Not convinced? Well, you’ve already seen this in action many, many times. It’s what you witness every time you’ve heard someone talking with great enthusiasm and passion about a project, idea or opportunity.

These high energy entrepreneurs and leaders do not see their energy defused by foggy thinking. Instead, their laser sharp focus brings great clarity. That clarity increases their direction and purpose. They’re then energized and ready to go!

I hope you’ve found this brief look at the power of focus useful. More importantly, I hope it inspires you to take greater control over the number of things you focus on.