Following up on the heels of the Marketing Missteps Series, I wanted to revisit misstep number two, “Not having a plan.” In many cases, it’s at the heart of the other nine.

Without a plan, your marketing … and your business in general … just “happens” to you. That’s a bad idea. It’s April, but it’s still not too late to get your strategies together and make your goals a reality.

So, where do you start? A bit of soul searching is likely in order. What do you want to do? What’s your passion? Are you happy with the direction your business has been taking? Or, is a change in order? The thing is, unless you’re doing something you enjoy and make a decent living doing it, there isn’t much point. As someone once said, “Find something you love doing and you’ll never work another day in your life.”

It all starts with your goals. Goals are what you’re trying to accomplish. The kicker is that they should be realistic and have a timeline attached. If your goals are out there in the Stratosphere, odds are you’ll lose interest or spend way too much time trying to reach the unattainable. The same thing goes for a timeline. Without one, you’ll likely put things off and/or never know if you’re making any progress.

Once you have a goal - let’s say you want to increase billings by 25% - give yourself a reasonable amount of time to reach it. With goal in hand, or rather, on paper, break it down into those steps you need to take to reach it. This does a couple of things. First, it organizes your efforts. Things become clear. Second, each of these steps is something of a “mini-goal.” So, as you get things done, you’ll feel like you’re making progress and that typically encourages one to keep at it.

If you’re trying to increase your billings by 25%, what would you need to do? Maybe it means identifying and reaching a new niche market. Perhaps it means adding new services. Let’s use the former and break it down. (Bear with me here. I’m just pulling numbers and dates out of the air)

Goal:
Increase billings 25% by December 31, 2007

Action Plans:

Identify a niche that’s underserved, yet offers enough prospects to be profitable.
Conduct web searches
Check directories at library
Read newspapers and business publications to gather prospects
Develop a list of 300 qualified prospects

Create initial mailing to generate name awareness
Design piece by June 15, 2007
Get printing and mailing costs
Print piece
Prepare labels
Label, stamp & mail in lots of 25 each week beginning July 1, 2007

Follow up phone calls
5 calls per day to 25 weekly recipients asking for an appointment
Target one appointment per week

Initial meetings
Research prospect, market and potential needs
Gather background info at meeting to further qualify prospect
Ask if I can prepare a proposal
Use tip-sheet as leave behind

Create proposals

Make presentations

Ask for the sale

You may find yourself doing additional tasks, but this should give you the general idea.

What you’ve done here is set up your marketing efforts for several months. Plus, it’s manageable. You’ll have some time invested in developing your list, but after that, things start to become automatic. You know each week, for 12 weeks, you’ve got to mail your intro piece. Then, the following week all you need to do is make five phone calls each day. Piece of cake.

Plus, each time you drop your stuff into the mailbox, you’ll get those nifty warm fuzzy feelings because you’re doing something to help reach your goals. The phone calls might be a bit tough at first, but hang in there. I guarantee after the first week, they’ll be old hat.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt