What do you think is the most common problem that business owners ask me to help them with?

It’s a version of this: “Hi Jim. I need to get more sales leads (or client enquiries)”.

However, in over 25 years of working with business owners, I have never met or spoken to one whose actual problem was a lack of leads.

Their core (or root) problem is always a lot more obvious and a lot more direct. It’s THAT core problem, which needs their attention.

In this example, their core problem will be a need for bigger revenues and profits, or a need for more high-value sales, or perhaps a need for more high-quality clients. That’s their actual problem. Instead, they are looking for answers to their “more leads” question. And it causes them all kinds of frustrating challenges.

Their incorrect focus points them in multiple, fruitless directions. It also confines their thinking around one, solitary aspect of marketing. And it misses their core problem completely.

For example

When I explain this to business groups, I use the following scenario.

• Imagine someone owns a car and notices the smell of rubber whenever they’re driving.
• Their core problem is not the unpleasant smell of burning rubber.
• Their core problem is that something in their vehicle is either burning or drastically overheating.
• However, they focus on getting rid of the burning rubber smell.
• They decide to drive with the windows open, but that doesn’t work.
• They decide to buy an air-freshener, but that doesn’t work. They then buy a few more and none of them work, either.
• They decide to have the vehicle completely cleaned inside and outside. That doesn’t work.
• They then decide to plug their nose. This gets rid of the smell, but they can taste the rubber in their mouth.
• Finally, their smelly car refuses to start. Its electronics have burned out. And their vehicle is trashed.

The answer

Focus on your core problem. Then look for effective ways to overcome it.

Just to get you started, here are some useful questions I came up with (in exactly 5 minutes), to help you redirect your thinking to successfully resolving your core problem. Use them as a starting point and add your own great questions.

• What adjustments can I make to my product or service, which will open it up to a new, massively profitable marketplace?
• Who has already achieved what I need to achieve, and how can I get them to show me the way forward?
• How can I increase my average customer spend by XYZ%, starting next week?
• What new, high value services can I provide to my existing clients?
• How many ways can I think of, to increase my referral rate by XYZ%?
• How can I motivate customers to buy from me more frequently?
• What 5 money making lessons can I learn from (insert name of a successful company outside your industry)?
• What are the best ways I can find to radically improve my client / customer retention rate?
• Who are the people that my marketplace already trusts, and what’s the best way to get to know these trusted people?

And yes, one question would be, “how can I get more high quality sales leads”? One question. Just one.

Think about that, as you look at your marketing goals and business targets.

Image: Michael Kilcoyne

Important: Today’s post is not about email marketing. You won’t believe that at the start, though. So stick with it for the plot twist.

Just think.

• You can make the offer in your next marketing email more compelling and get a far higher conversion rate.
• You can improve the subject line of the email and get a massively higher open rate.
• You can figure out the most effective time (and day) to send that email and get an even better open rate.
• You can also send it a little more frequently and greatly multiply the impact of those previous increases.
• You have now dramatically expanded the number of people reading your marketing message. And all those additional, prospective customers are far, far more motivated to buy from you.

You can get to work on all those things. If you’re not sure how, there are lots of people around who can do it for you. Even an average marketing consultant or freelancer, using the above model, should have no problem whatsoever increasing your sales.

Ask them nicely, pay them accordingly and they may do the same again and again and again.

Here’s the plot twist

After reading the above, at what point did you notice yourself finding reasons why it wouldn’t work for you?

It may have been right at the start, when you thought your email list was too small. It could have been when you thought that any changes might result in a backlash from some people of your list. Perhaps it was when you thought you’re just too busy right now, too busy to do the work and too busy to find someone to do it for you.

This isn’t about email marketing

As I said at the start, the lesson here is not about maximizing your email marketing results. Though that basic email model works really well.

It’s about the stories you and I, as business owners, tell ourselves regarding the marketing activities available to us.

Here’s the thing.

• You will have current activities you feel comfortable doing, which produce predictable results. Some will work really well.
• However, and really importantly, you very probably have other marketing activities and investments that you choose to avoid, which would improve your bottom line beyond recognition if you deployed them.

Today, I recommend you consider looking at one marketing activity that you know works for others, but you have (until now) chosen to avoid. Challenge your past assumptions. Make sure they’re accurate. Do a little research. Ask around.

If you do, experience assures me that it’s entirely possible you’ll find at least one activity, right under your nose, which is absolute marketing gold dust. So take a look!

Image: Daniela Holzer

It’s not only okay to make marketing mistakes, they’re absolutely essential if you want your business to grow.

Here’s why these mistakes are so important. And why you might want to re-evaluate how you feel about making mistakes with your marketing.

Let’s go!

Why are marketing mistakes okay?

They’re okay because they’re temporary.

Temporary?

Yes. Much of the marketing we do can be adjusted in minutes, with useful feedback sometimes obtained in hours.

For example, you can try a new call-to-action in your next newsletter. If it bombs, simply try a better one next time. You’ll either win or you’ll learn. Not bad, eh?

Instead of thinking of your marketing as a somewhat rigid set of activities, try thinking of it as a series of temporary steps. Steps that you replace with something better, as you try new things. Because that’s exactly what the most effective marketing looks like.

Why are marketing mistakes essential?

They’re essential because you can’t possibly know if a new marketing idea or activity will work without testing it first. So, if you’re committed to growing your business, you’ll be committed to testing different ways to improve your results.

With testing comes measuring.

Measuring is where you find out what works.

It’s also where you find out what doesn’t work (the mistakes).

As such, the business owner who seldom makes a mistake with their marketing, seldom tries anything new and is leaving money on the table every day.

You may have heard the story about how Steve Jobs reprimanded team members, if they were not making mistakes often enough. Whether that’s true or just part of the Steve Jobs legend, the fact remains that mistakes are directly linked to progress. In trying to avoid mistakes with your marketing, by repeating what feels comfortable, you inadvertently block your business from the very success you long for.

So expect mistakes.

No… Scrub that.

Welcome marketing mistakes for what they truly are: A critically important part of the development of your business.