by Robert Middleton
Ever notice that you set marketing and sales goals and then you
either take forever to accomplish them or they don't get
accomplished at all?
I'd like to share a simple system to get you from goal to final
result in the shortest amount of time possible.
First of all, planning is great; without a plan you have no purpose
or direction. And then you're drifting. But the only thing worse
than having no plan is over-planning. This is where we get in our
own way and delay our progress.
I want you to imagine a Christmas tree with no branches.
At the bottom, the trunk is sitting in a Christmas tree stand. At
the top of the tree, there is a star. The stand is the foundation or
the goal and the star is the realization of that goal.
But you need a few branches to help you climb to the top.
Imagine that your goal is to turn some prospects into clients by
setting up complimentary sessions. That's the goal, and to get to
the top of the tree and to the star you'll need to climb up a few
branches. So what are the minimal number of branches you'll
need to do that? Let's look:
1. A list of people you could contact to invite them to take
advantage of the free session.
2. An invitation in the form of an email and perhaps a basic
script to use to follow up by phone to invite them.
3. An outline of the complimentary session.
4. A little time to practice the complimentary session.
And that's it - four branches. That's how simple it is. You get your
list together, you put together the invitation, you send it out, do
a few follow-up calls, and you'll likely set up some free sessions.
Then you practice and follow the outline for your free sessions and
take it to the end until they either say "yes" or "no."
Repeat until your practice is full.
Wow, that sounds easy. It really is. So why do people take so long
to get from their goal to the result? Good question. And the
answer is that they start to add too many branches.
Four branches seems too skimpy. So this is how you plan and how
branches get added to your plan:
"OK, so I have a list of people. Are they qualified? Hmmm, I'm
not sure. Let's do some research. Also, I only have six names
right now. I really need to have at least 50 to start don't I? So let
me work on some networking first to get more names. When I
have 50 I'll start to send the invites.
"Now let's see, I have a lot more names now and I'm about to
send the invites, but I don't have a web site yet. I doubt they'll
meet with me unless I have that completed. OK, let me work on
that project first. That will take a few months.
"Alright, now I have a bigger list and the web site is done; now I
need to do the outline for the free session itself. I can follow the
Free Sessions That Sell outline (see below) but I'll have to do
some tweaking. So I don't want to send out my invite until that's
done. That will take a couple weeks. OK, let me work on that.
"Here it is six month's later. Now I'm totally ready. I have the
names, the invite, the web site and the free session outline. But
you know, I'm feeling pretty nervous about this. Maybe I should
work with a coach for a month or two to get me past my
nervousness. Yeah, that's a good idea. Then I'll really get out
there!"
Getting the picture? Of course, you've never done this, right?
Am I saying you should just create your simple Christmas Tree
plan and start right away? Well, yes, I am. But you can still work
on those other branches. Here's the difference: Work on several
small Christmas Tree Plans at the same time instead of one big
Christmas Tree Plan.
First, you create your Free Sessions Plan. You don't need to have
everything in place to make it perfect; you can get started
quickly. You can get going in a week or two at the most.
The next Christmas Tree Plan is to expand your list. You can get
out there and network and build your list while you're starting
your Free Sessions Plan. You do them concurrently. By the time
you've run out of names for your Free Sessions Plan, you'll have
generated more names with your Networking Plan.
And then you have your Web Site Plan. Do that concurrently as
well. It will take a few months, but that doesn't mean you can't
get started on the other two plans at the same time. And by the
time your web site is done, you'll have a few new clients and have
built your list and now you can integrate your site into the other
things you're doing.
My suggestion is to build three or four Christmas Tree Plans. Each
tree just has a few branches that lead you from the goal to the
result in only a few well-chosen steps. Before long, you'll get used
to creating these simple and fast plans and be able to put them
into action almost immediately.
What Christmas Tree Plan will you implement first that will get
you in front of qualified prospects as soon as possible? Decide and
take action now. You could have a few new clients sooner than
you think.
*
The More Clients Bottom Line: One you have a workable
marketing strategy, jump in and make it happen. You'll be able to
improve it and fine tune it as you go. Beware of over-planning
and perfectionism; these are just delay tactics that won't really
get you better results in the long run.
*
By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit
Robert's web site at actionplan.com for additional
marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional
service businesses.
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