I thought you said…

October 8, 2015 by 2 Comments

Why???I received an email from one of the many Internet Marketers I follow the other day. In the email he said he was releasing a post from a private Facebook group that gave all this awesome information. He just thought it was so good it should be shared with everyone, not just his members. Cool!

When I clicked on the link, I was more than a bit surprised to find several sections of the post blurred out and overlaid with a message that this section was reserved for members only, and of course a link to join his group. Wait a minute. I thought he said he was sharing the post, not selected pieces of it!

Once I reviewed the original email I saw what he was doing. Pieces of what was promised in the email were unblurred in the post, just not everything, which was supposed to build desire on your part (human nature to complete a thought – if you are only given three steps of a four step process, your mind desperately wants to complete it by seeing the fourth step.) I am sure that he will get a bunch of sign-ups as well.

That said, I felt that was more than a tad dishonest. I was promised a post with great information. I was given a partial post with some great information. Was the information blurred the real meat of the post, or just some filler? I’ll never know. I do know that I felt a bit cheated.

Do I really believe a Facebook post would contain the key to my success, and that I could merrily go make millions of dollars thumbing my nose at all of the coaches and products that promise to help me reach that goal? Hardly. So why should he? Why not expose the whole post?

I suspect that he felt the basic human need to get that missing information would garner more sales than complaints, and hey, he did let some real good information come out from the post. Still…

What do you think? Was this a great piece of marketing that gave value and still left out enough to make you go crazy with desire to join these other marketers in the group, or a slightly manipulative piece of trickery? I’m not sure I would release something like that, would you? I’d like to get your opinion. Leave a comment here at the blog.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: , ,

The Whole Package

October 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

pieces of the puzzle

I had an interesting discussion with a “digital marketing expert” at an event recently.  He related to me that he had gotten an over twenty percent engagement rate for a Facebook page for one of his clients – a pretty nifty trick given that Facebook themselves will tell you that two percent is more common. However, there was no mention of the action taken from that engagement.

This was followed by a show of utter disdain for my assertions that the purpose of any engagement in social media was to drive traffic to your website, and that email is the glue a business needs to make their marketing framework more effective.  This was at the beginning of the event. As we separated to take our seats he promised we would talk more later. We didn’t, for which I was thankful.

Rather than take offense, I sat down and thought what lessons there were to be learned here. The first is that the desire for that silver bullet: “all I need is tons of likes on Facebook,” is very strong. I think a lot of us, and I will include myself in that group, have, at some point, chased after the newest shiny object, the newest method to “bring in thousands of leads effortlessly,” thinking maybe this is the one. That lesson leads directly into the second: there is no one way to make things happen, rather it is doing a combination of things (but not too many!) well that leads to success.

I’m not known for my love of social media, but I don’t dismiss it as being totally useless, as this “digital marketing expert” seemed to dismiss email or lead capture at the website. Social media or only having a sign up form on your web site isn’t going to be sufficient. People need to know about your page and your website. This awareness can come from speaking, networking, and yes the good old telephone, just to name a few.

It isn’t the one piece that closes the deal, it is the whole package.

 

Filed Under: Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

When is Internet Marketing NOT Internet Marketing?

August 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Internet Marketing

“Watson, I would like you to consider a statement, and tell me what it makes you think,” The Effective Detective wasted no time in starting out the conversation.

“Go ahead, sir, I shall endeavor to do my best,” I replied.

“I’m sure you will Watson,” The Detective said before continuing on. “The statement I would like you to consider is that just because you market on the Internet does not make you an Internet Marketer.’

“Just because you market on the Internet, does not make you an Internet Marketer. My first impression is that it is a contradiction, sir,” I said, giving my honest first impression.

“Just so, Watson, but think a little more on what that statement is saying,” The Detective urged me.

I furrowed my brow and turned the phrase over in my head before I felt a sudden flash of inspiration. “Wait! I think I see what you are saying. Just because say, a brick and mortar store that sells confections sends out an email occasionally to its customers and has a website, does not make them an Internet Marketer – they are not truly trying to make a living from selling on the Internet, yet they are using the Internet to market!”

“Precisely Watson.  Why do you think this distinction might be of some consequence in our dealings with small businesses?” asked The Detective.

I thought for a minute, but at last had to admit that I was stumped. “I am not sure sir, the distinction is plain once you give some thought to it, but I am not sure I see what use it is beyond that.”

“Ah, Watson, we need to work on your skills a bit yet. You are thinking merely of the words instead of the what the words imply,” The Detective began.

“Imply sir?” I interrupted.

“Hush Watson, let me continue. You see you are merely looking at a play on words, I am thinking what is involved to actually be one of these two marketers.

“The key here is the tools and methodologies. When I review my daily bombardment of emails from the various lists I am on, I tend to see some common threads. One common one is using a funnel. In Internet marketing the end destination of the funnel is almost always the sale. However, if I am a consultant, I may want my end destination to be a complimentary analysis. The focus on an end sale tends to distort how to make use of the tool.

“I find it interesting that so many jump on a particular Internet Marketing bandwagon, only to jump off when they realize the tool doesn’t fit their situation. The shame of it is that in many cases some minor tweaks to the process might actually yield the results they desire, but they don’t look beyond the seemingly broken promise of purchases that don’t require the hard work of actually speaking with a prospect.

“Alternatively, a brick and mortar store misses out on the opportunity to use email because they know for their market email doesn’t work well as a direct sales tool, but completely forget that the backbone of their business is the true rapport they develop with their customers; a rapport that cannot be replaced by email, but can be supplemented by it,” The Detective paused briefly, and I decided to get in my usual interjection.

“So you feel people need to be more creative in using the tools that are out there, rather than blindly following a guru, who uses the tool a certain way that works well for them,” I ventured.

“Very good Watson! The secret is to not try to be an Internet Marketer if your business is not suited to it – which is really moving into a new business area, but to use the Internet and the various tools and methodologies in a way that suits your marketing style and market. Look to the Internet Marketing  experts for interesting techniques, but beware following them exactly if it doesn’t fit your market. At the same time, don’t discount the methodology if you can tweak it to fit your needs,” The Detective concluded.

“Excellent sir, I take it we should move on then?” I asked, letting The Detective have the last word.

“Quite so Watson, quite so.”

 

Filed Under: content, Marketing, sales Tagged With: , , ,

You don’t need CRM

July 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Customer Relationship Management

“The software world never ceases to amaze me, Watson,” The Effective Detective started out sounding just a tad negative as I entered the room.

“That surprises me sir, considering you were in the industry for so long, I didn’t think anything would amaze you,” I replied, expecting a certain reaction, and receiving it.

The Detective gave me his sideways look before answering, “Droll, Watson. I of course was using a figure of speech. I am well aware of the good points and the warts of the software industry. Rather than belaboring that point, may I continue?”

“Of course sir, what aspect of the software world has amazed you?” I somberly replied, snickering inwardly.

The Detective paused ever so briefly, as if contemplating another verbal jab, but thinking better of it. “One part in particular, Watson, Customer Relationship Management.”

“CRM, sir? I would think that you would be most in favor of CRM giving your attitude towards maintaining contact with prospects and customers,” I exclaimed, with some concern.

The Detective smiled, and I realized he had returned my initial favor, by eliciting a strong reaction from me. Honor having been served, he continued, “Yes CRM, Watson, and yes you are quite correct I am an advocate of maintaining contact with prospects and customers. However, the trend in this part of the industry is to go to vastly overblown and complex systems that ill serve the average user. Both in complexity and in cost.”

The Detective paused to give me my chance to interject, but I was still confused,  so I could only give a meek reply, “Please sir, continue.”

The Detective lifted an eyebrow, and perhaps a slight smile. “Watson, I do believe I have confounded you a bit. Let me explain. One of the mistakes people make is to think if a little data is a good thing, a lot of data is a great thing. This basic misunderstanding is encouraged by the breathless coverage of Big Data. It is true that in some cases masses of data can be useful, but in the case of the average small business, the emphasis should be on fewer key data points.”

“And how does this relate to CRM?” I asked, still a little puzzled.

“In the first place Customer Relationship Management is hardly an accurate term for what most small businesses need, Watson. To deserve such a lofty title as Customer Relationship Management System, a program should not only schedule and track phone conversations, but manage all of the emails you send – both mass emails and individual, coordinate sending out sales literature, note progress through the sales cycle, and provide tools for sales management to monitor and evaluate the progress of their staff.

“The reality is that most of us require the following pieces of information to have an effective follow-up system: A list of who we should call today, notes about the last contact we had, and when should we call them back, and perhaps a few keywords that can be used to search contacts. We used to call the process contact management, before the industry decided we needed all sorts of fancy features, and wanted to save detailed information that most of us can’t get from our prospects, and for the most part, don’t need or care about.

“When looking at your needs in sales, think realistically about what is needed, and how you truly interact with your prospects and customers. I think you will find that you are actually doing simple contact management, not true CRM. Look for the program with the LEAST numbers of features. That will be the one you will truly use,” The Detective paused, waiting for my response.

“So less truly is better, sir?”

“Precisely Watson! Shall we move on?” The Detective responded, ending our conversation.

Filed Under: Marketing, sales Tagged With: , , , , ,

Looking For A Place To Speak?

June 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment

speaking“Sir, are we in for another dismal recitation of what is wrong with the marketing world today?” I asked, hoping beyond hope that I could start a positive discussion today.

“Why Watson, you sound exhausted. Does debunking myths, and correcting half-truths bother you?” The Effective Detective asked in a way that I first thought was sarcastic, but quickly realized had a humorous tone to it. His tone gave me hope as I answered his question.

“Hardly sir, but I think that people would like to hear something hopeful or even helpful,” I said, hoping I had not misread his tone.

“Quite right, Watson! It just so happens that I have stumbled across just such a tool, and depending on your circumstances it can accessed and used for essentially no cost,” The Detective said, raising an eyebrow, and gauging my reaction.

I gave my best encouraging smile and said “Please continue, sir.”

“As you wish Watson. As you might have heard from multiple sources, another excellent way to generate leads, and to strengthen your credibility is speaking and to a lesser extent, writing. However, for some fields it is not as easy as it sounds to get speaking engagements. Since everyone has been told that they should speak, many local organizations are booked out 6 months or more, and some organizations only allow members to speak. And as I said for some fields or niches, it is hard to find your audience at some of the more generic local meetings, so you may willingly bear the waiting only to find your target market is nowhere to be seen at the meeting. But before you start griping that I am being negative again, let me give you some good news,” The Detective paused, and I, in the middle of taking a breath to chastise him for just such an offense, shut my mouth. The Detective grinned.

“As I was saying, Watson, there is a tool that almost everyone should have free access to that can greatly expand your speaking opportunities,” The Detective started up again. “The Gale publishing group has several references related to various organizations and events that they put on. I suspect a large number of public and possibly even college libraries have copies of the ‘Encyclopedia of Associations’ which is indexed both by geographic location – so you can locate what organizations are headquartered near you, as well as by keyword so that you can pick the ones that relate to your subject. The information included should get you started in researching what local chapters there might be, and how to reach them.

“Another similar resource is ‘Tradeshows Worldwide’ which lists many trade shows from the previous year so that you can contact the organizations about the current or even future years shows where you might be able to present. The Gale group also has the ‘National Directory of Non Profit Organizations’ which seems to be similar to the ‘Encyclopedia of Associations’. They even have a ‘Gale Directory of Publications and Media’ so you can find various outlets for your writing related to your field. Ask your local reference librarian for help finding these directories.

“So you see Watson, I am capable of providing resources as well as merely directing people towards or away from certain modes of operation,” The Detective stopped and looked at me expectantly.

“It is quite the miracle sir!” I exclaimed.

“Your virtuosity with sarcasm remains intact, Watson. Shall we get back to work?” The Detective sighed, while trying to hide a smile.

“Of course sir.”

Filed Under: content, list building, Marketing, Networking, providing service Tagged With: , ,

The Big Lie About Networking and Referrals

June 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Fingers Crossed

“It’s all a lie, Watson”

I was slightly taken aback by this rather abrupt greeting from The Effective Detective. However, I recovered quickly and decided to play the game.

“To what are you referring to sir? Surely not all of life?”

“Clever Watson. Your sarcasm is noted. No, of course not all of life, merely a marketing technique that is pushed by pretty much everyone – networking and referrals,” The Detective answered, shooting me a sidelong look.

“Are you saying that networking and referrals are not actually good marketing techniques sir?” I asked, a sense of panic starting to grow.

“Have I alarmed you Watson?” The Detective smiled, and I realized that once again I had fallen into one of his verbal traps.

“A bit sir,” admitting that yes, once again he had tricked me.

“You may relax now Watson. I won’t destroy all of your beliefs. However, there is still a lie to be discussed here. This lie is one of omission. While networking and referrals are excellent sources of business – there is an IF there that I will mention in a bit – they are rarely immediate sources of business. They are long-term marketing tactics that require thought and a strategy, not randomly going out to networking events and hoping to bring home business, or calling up long-lost acquaintances and expecting them to toss business our way,” The Detective barely missed a beat before continuing on.

“If you network within your market, and if your goal is to develop relationships that might be leveraged at a later date, you stand a good chance at getting business via networking. If you carefully nurture relationships with people you meet that have connections within your market, keep them appraised of what you are up to, and ‘give before you receive’, you have a good chance at getting business via referrals,” The Detective paused at this point and I could not resist interrupting.

“But sir, what you describe could take forever!”

The Detective paused and gave me a withering look. Usually he welcomed my interruptions, but I seemed to have jumped in too soon on this one.

“No Watson, not forever,” The Detective sighed. “Simply not today in general. One might always by chance come across someone ready to buy, or who will refer you without knowing you or your product well, but in general networking and referral techniques are not ways to jumpstart your business. Unless of course you have spent the past few years building up a network of fans. But in general that is not something you will hear networking and referral gurus discussing.  Unless you have been a lifetime networker, and your network corresponds nicely to your current target market, you will most likely not generate large amounts of business initially through networking and referrals.” The Detective paused again, and I saw from his look, that I was now expected to jump into the conversation.

“Is there any way to accelerate the process?” I asked.

“If you are willing to take a chance and being the first in the relationship to offer help, especially if you don’t know the person well,  the need to reciprocate your good deed might overcome caution. Remember though Watson, when one gives a referral, one is putting their reputation on the line. You are asking a lot of this person, so I would still not rely on an overwhelming response,” The Detective concluded.

“So one shouldn’t abandon the technique, merely incorporate it in with others, realizing you may not reap the harvest for a bit,” I ventured.

“You are turning poet in your old age Watson. Bravo! Shall we return to our work?” The Detective clapped his hands smiling.

“Of course, sir,” I replied, getting the last word in – a most unusual turn of events.

 

Filed Under: Marketing, Networking, referrals Tagged With: , , ,

When Technology Fails

May 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment

woman-with-laptop-laughingAs I entered I was astounded to see The Effective Detective quietly laughing. I could not allow this rare occurrence to go without some comment.

“Sir, are you feeling alright?” I asked

“Eh? Watson, what would cause you to ask such a question?” The Detective replied to my question with another question.

“I rarely see you in such a jovial mood. I deduced there must be something strange afoot,” I answered his question directly, albeit with a slight smile on my face.

“I see Watson. You are mocking me. No matter. Watson, are you familiar with the concept of personalization in email?” The Detective, still smiling, shot back.

“Of course sir. It is similar to using the mail merge function of Microsoft Word to include contact information in the subject and or content of the email. For example first name. It is designed to make the email more personal and friendly. However, I fail to see anything humorous in that choice of email tactics,” I replied, now feeling a bit puzzled.

“Correct Watson, there is nothing inherently humorous in the use of personalization. Where the humor enters is when the technology used to implement it occasionally goes south,” answered The Detective, who actually seemed to be stifling a laugh.

“Sorry, sir. I am still not following.”

“Observe Watson,” The Detective said as he repositioned his laptop so I could see the screen. “Check out the salutation on the first message.”

“‘Hey blank field’,” I read. “What the blazes?”

“And this one Watson?” The Detective opened another message.

“#FName# you need to check this out!” Now I began laughing.

“Precisely Watson, technology is often hailed as a panacea to all of a business’s marketing woes, but sometimes, the technology fails, and at least in these cases, hilarity ensues,” The Detective, still smiling began his explanation. “There is of course a dark side to this too. A member of your list could assume your technology’s failure is yours as well and abandon you as a potential vendor. However I feel that most would react as I did, with laughter and a shared sense of the risks of completely relying on technology,” The Detective took his customary pause to allow me to interject my thoughts.

“Shouldn’t they report it as a bug to the software manufacturer sir?” I asked, unsure of my mentor’s lackadaisical attitude to the problem.

“Rubbish, Watson. You have no idea if this was truly the software’s error. The data might have been coded incorrectly, who knows? Why would you waste your time and the vendor’s time on chasing down a ghost. Of course there will be some literal-minded jerks out there who believes that even such a minor issue that could have happened for multiple reasons, is a reflection on the  competence of the creator. If we all reacted like that, we would never get anything out the door, we would be obsessing over the table alignment on a page until the wee hours of the morn, and never launching. No thank you,” The Detective looked at me expectantly to deliver the closing observation.

“So you are saying it is OK to laugh, but not OK to judge, criticise or obsess over it. Just let it go, and understand that the best of us or even machines cannot avoid all mistakes. Who knows, it might even make you seem more human,” I replied after a few seconds of contemplation.

“Excellent Watson! Lets move on to less humorous work, shall we?” exclaimed The Detective, ending the conversation.

Filed Under: List Management, Marketing, technology Tagged With: , ,

You’re Famous!

May 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Everybody loves you!“Watson, I have recently realized that I am famous!” The Effective Detective exclaimed at me as I entered the room.

“Sir,” I began desperately trying to reply without piercing The Detective’s ego, and perhaps starting a major argument, “while I believe we are well received in certain pockets of the Internet, I am hesitant to say that rises to the level of a Seth Godin or a Frank Kern.”

The Detective cast a baleful eye at me as he answered, “Watson, must you be so literal? I’m quite aware that I or even we do not rise to the level of the luminaries you mention. But the fact remains that I am famous, and you should include yourself in that statement.”

“Sir, I am confused. How can you or I be famous, yet by your own admission we do not rise to the level of a Seth Godin, who as a matter of record is famous,” I answered back, actually quite confused.

“Watson, you are confusing the size of the audience with the very existence of an audience, and thus limiting your effectiveness to said audience,” The Detective said, sitting back in his chair to await my reaction.

Unfortunately for me, I was quite dumbfounded by what he had said and just sat there staring with my mouth slightly open.

The Detective took my silence as encouragement to continue and so, did.

“Watson, please close your mouth, you look like a fish. While your ability to have quite brilliant insights has been improving, I see this point has escaped you. Let me explain. A common lamentation I have heard from business people struggling to be noticed is when they look at someone like a Seth Godin or a Frank Kern, they think ‘Well this stuff is easy for them, they are famous!’ The point the complainers miss, and I admit to falling into this trap occasionally myself, is that Seth and Frank weren’t always so famous. They built their audience over time. But, one thing was certain, they were always superstars to the people who agreed to join their audience. Within that group, they were famous! Over time they have grown their tribe, and achieved a high level of celebrity. But the point is as soon as you start to develop an audience to your point of view, you are famous within that group,” The Detective stopped to let me absorb what he had just said.

“Ah, I see your point sir. You can be famous – a celebrity of sorts within a group no matter the size, but how does that make a difference for the smaller marketer?” A thought began to coalesce, but I thought it safe to allow The Detective to finish this discussion. Just in case.

“Think Watson, fame is self-perpetuating – if you allow it to be. If you recognize your fame within a select group, through word of mouth and the tendency of we humans to want to belong to groups we think are worth joining, you can grow that fame. Not only that, but within the group of your fans the ability to do business increases. After all you are a celebrity to them. You need to act like one, and I don’t mean in a rude or insensitive way, but rather an appreciative way. Your fans, followers, whatever you wish to call them, have given you something precious: their attention. Reward them with what they signed up for, you and your wisdom, experience, point of view, whatever it is that makes you, you. Of course where it is appropriate, you can, and indeed should, sell products or services that allow your tribe to leverage even more of what you offer,” The Detective stopped and this looked at me expectantly with his slight smile.

“I think I see sir, I guess not only are we famous, but many of our readers are as well!” I obliged his expectations.

“Precisely, Watson, well said! Now they just need to go out and leverage their fame, one fan at a time,” The Detective agreed and ended the conversation for the day.

Filed Under: branding, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Sales Funnels – What You Might Be Missing

April 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment

salesfunnelThe Effective Detective was lounging back in his chair examining a funnel of the type used to possibly fill a car with oil, when I entered the room. I assumed that this was the topic of the day, and unable to conceive of anything else that might be a better topic, I played along.

“Planning on changing your oil sometime today sir?” I asked innocently.

“Eh? What? Oh Watson, don’t be silly. You know I would never risk damaging my car by attempting to change the oil myself. That is work – at least in my case – best left to professionals. Actually what an interesting segue to today’s topic. Which, as you might of guessed is about sales funnels.” The Detective replied.

“I had a feeling, sir. However, I am intrigued how changing the oil in your car is a segue into the topic of sales funnels,” I responded back, a little puzzled at this turn of the conversation.

“Not the process of changing the oil itself, Watson – please don’t pretend to be so dense – but rather the funnel itself. You see Watson, many of us were trained to look at the sales funnel as a metaphor, not a process. It merely represented how the number of prospects are reduced as they move through the sales cycle. You start off with a large number of prospects – a number that shrinks as information is provided and contacts made. That however misses the point of what is currently described as a funnel truly is,” as was customary, The Detective paused giving me an opportunity to interject, or to simply request he continue.

“I’m confused sir. How does it miss the point? What else is a funnel sales or otherwise?” I asked, knowing this would trigger the explanation The Detective was so obviously hoping to provide.

“Ah Watson, a modern sales funnel, one that would be used by marketers such as ourselves, is far more complex, perhaps even more elegant. In the past, this funnel represented advertising to some prospects to get them interested, calling them to gauge their interest, sending them sales literature – brochures and the like, calling them again to make a trial close, then finally going after the final close, so that a few clients would drop out the end of the funnel.

“Today’s sales funnel would be more like a fun house maze. If you take a certain action, you may go in a completely different direction. It is not a straight path. How you respond to your prospect is totally dependent on how they respond to you. Did they open that email? Did they watch that video? A real sales funnel has multiple paths to get to the final destination – a sale. The beauty of it all? The tools to do it are all there for us to make this happen!” The Detective finished with a flourish.

“Fascinating, sir! I don’t believe I have ever thought of it that way,” I responded quite pleased with the way this had ended.

“Quite, Watson,” The Detective said, ending today’s discussion.

 

Filed Under: list building, List Management, Marketing, sales, sales funnels, segmentation Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The One In A Million Chance

March 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment

One in a MillionThings had been quiet around The Effective Detective in the last week. I was hoping that things were going to stay relatively quiet for this week’s discussion, whatever that might be. The Detective seemed to rouse himself as I came into the room.

“Watson, how very nice to see you today,” The Detective started. “Do you know what this is?” he asked, holding up a rectangular piece of thick paper.

“I do believe it is a lottery ticket, sir,” I replied, and then out of some misplaced sense of possibility, I exclaimed, “You didn’t actually win sir?! Has lady luck smiled down upon you and granted us riches?”

The Detective heartily laughed before replying, “Heaven’s sakes man! Do you know what the odds are of winning this ridiculous game of chance? I merely needed you to identify it to start today’s discussion, not jump to conclusions regarding my possession of said ticket.”

“Seems a simple lesson, sir, don’t gamble, it is a waste of time,” I sighed dejectedly.

“That is where you are wrong Watson! All things in life are gambles. There is a chance for success and a chance for failure. Where we go astray is simple – we look only at the level of effort and risk against the chance that we could win, ignoring the overwhelming odds of actually doing so.”

The Detective paused briefly, and I took this chance to interject, thinking our conversation had somehow gone off the rails, if indeed it had ever been on the track at all. “But sir, what in the world does this have to do with business and marketing?” The Detective gave me that half-smile, and I realized that once again, I had fallen into one of his carefully laid traps.

“A shame Watson, your powers of logic and observation had been showing great signs of improvement. The relationship is simple. Why is it that you think so many entrepreneurs have invested so much time and energy in social media and Internet Marketing of physical products? Social Media especially carries little risk in terms of investment. We ask a bunch of people to like our page, or follow our tweets, or help make your latest video viral and then sit back and wait. You know that over a billion people are on Facebook, and you believe even though there is little chance very many will see your posts, ‘if’ they do, the payoff will be fantastic! Of course the payback only comes to a lucky few that were in the right place at the right time,” a second pause, and I thought I would see if I could provoke a reaction.

“So it is hopeless then. We should all just pack up and give up on business since only the lucky ones will win!” I answered injecting what I hoped was just the right amount of sarcasm.

“That would be silly and rather stupid Watson. You are missing the point. I said all things in life are gambles. The key is to take the occasional no risk, big return gamble – like buying a lottery ticket or posting on social media, but to be far more consistent with the gambles that carry a little more or sometimes a lot more risk – posting consistently on your blog and sending it out to your list – which requires time and effort – along with the occasional offer leveraging the trust built up. Creating local events – which will often cost you something for at least the venue, and time and effort to market – that might bring in a few thousand dollars, but builds up both possible client and referral relationships. Are any of these guaranteed to generate that big score? Of course not, but they are far more likely to generate something! Too often we look for the risk free score. The result is almost always disappointment.” The Detective looked at me expectantly, his point now made.

“Not hopeless, just not risk or effort free,” I said after a minute of reflection.

“Well summarized Watson! Now shall we get back to our slightly risky work requiring effort?” The Detective answered, closing discussion for another day.

Filed Under: failure, Marketing, Networking, Vulnerabilities and Weaknesses Tagged With:
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