The question I posed to the room full of financial advisors
was "What new ways have you used in your marketing in the
past twelve months?" I was really eager to hear the
answers, and for other people in the room to hear and learn
from the suggestions as well.
As I took answers from the people around the room I saw
that one of the participants, Michael, had a self-satisfied
grin on his face. I thought to myself "Great! He must have
a good example to share."
You can imagine my surprise when he said, "I've been at
this thirty years. Frankly I've tried everything without
predictable results and there is nothing else worth
trying." He really meant it. When I asked for details, he
listed approaches he'd used years ago and never tried again
since.
Sitting across the table was a new financial planner, Dave,
who proceeded to list four things he's doing to market his
business...and each is getting him results right now,
building his business.
I could list those four approaches for you but that's
actually not the point. The point is the difference in
attitude and the steps Dave is actively using are producing
his results.
As I probed further, I unmasked the fact that Michael took
a scatter shot approach to his marketing and didn't stick
with any approach long enough to get real results. Dave on
the other hand was persistent in moving his new ideas
systematically through the four steps of innovation that I
teach my clients to use.
These four steps both drive new activities through from
first idea to completion, and also provide checkpoints that
ensure you won't get stuck along the way. It works for
marketing a new entree or your professional services.
Step 1 "Create" a new approach
Some people are brilliant innovators. They see the pieces
of new ideas and can assemble them into new approaches with
ease. Very often, though, people keep 'working the new
idea' trying to assure themselves they've got it perfectly
designed before putting it into action.
If you're like Michael, you tend to have new ideas, yet
never move them forward. Ask yourself if you clearly see
the new 'thinking' that is involved, and the new 'action'
that is required. When you can see both of those aspects of
your idea, move on to step two.
Step 2 "Advance" the idea with others
Having a new idea isn't enough. At times, we become
enamored with our own ideas and certain the rest of the
world will love them. We need to get a 'dose of reality' by
actually sharing the idea with others to get their opinion
of it.
The quickest way to do this is to use a board of advisors,
friends, clients or colleagues, as your sounding board.
Present the idea and take down every single compliment and
suggestion they have. It's key to test it in the real world
to see if it resonates with the market you're trying to go
after. Then use step three.
Step 3 "Refine" your idea
All too often independent professionals go from "idea" to
"done." It works for a while so they think that's all that
was needed. Over time results fall off and they classify
the effort as 'been there, done that, doesn't work' and
drop it permanently.
Even if your advisors say "It's great!" and a couple of
clients do as well, you're not done yet. You need to match
your "thinking" to your buyer's thinking. AND you need to
match the "action" you'll take to the way your buyers want
to be approached.
Your goal is to create new activities that reach the most
people with the greatest efficiency. Take every one of the
suggestions you received, and fine-tune your planned
approach. Now you're ready for step four.
Step 4 "Execute" your idea systematically
Using your new approach successfully once is not enough. To
build your business with new marketing activities, you need
to implement a step-by-step process to use it over and over
again.
Dave is getting High Payoff results because he's learned
that a good marketing idea needs a good plan of action.
Dave's plan consists of calendaring the time needed to
accomplish his marketing activity on a regular basis,
investing the resources needed to get it done, delegating
all the pieces that would distract him from focusing on
what he's best at, tracking the results, and repeating the
steps over and over again.
What new marketing idea will you be taking through these
steps?
----------------------------------------------------
Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is
"Your High payoff Catalyst." Linda publishes the free
weekly newsletter The Spark! to subscribers world-wide and
delivers targeted solutions, practical skills and simple
ways to build your business. If you're ready to focus on
your High Payoff activities, accelerate your results and
have more fun at it, get your FREE tips like these visit
her site at http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com
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