The irony is, 80% of my clients are small business owners themselves and I help them over the hurdles of starting their businesses, which of course, includes sales and marketing.  They are assigned to me, so I don’t have to sell my services to them. The blind leading the blind you might comment. 

On the contrary, knowing my weakness, I invest heavily (time as much money) in professional development activities to compensate. The point is, I know enough about what to do, my challenge is actually applying it to my own business.  

 Frankly, it’s much easier to coach others and help strategize marketing plans to fit their businesses.  Providing a sounding board, and asking the right questions, really helps to test assumptions and clarify directions for promoting a business. Plus, I get to share gems from the Sales and Marketing Experts I’ve learned from. Gradually the message is getting engrained in my psyche and I’m starting to put into practice what I’ve preached.

 One of the most effective approaches I’ve come across lately is Charlene Brisson’s 3 Step Marketing (for non-marketers).  Charlene’s marketing expertise spans executive level marketing positions for major media and telecommunications corporations, operating her own small businesses and teaching sales and marketing. She has been through the trenches and has helped hundreds of businesses succeed. 

 In a recent interview with Ann Pustil, of ‘In A Nutshell Coaching’ Charlene talked about MSS: Marketing Stress Syndrome It was a really entertaining conversation and they had me giggling about how much we struggle with this stuff.  MSS occurs from

• overwhelming confusion – wondering where to start, what to do, frustration, spinning your wheels.
• Paralyzing fear of spending in the wrong place
• Marketing Insanity: repeating the same things and expecting different results
• Breaking into a Cold Sweat with the idea of cold calling
• Wallet Fatigue: spending and not getting results
• Procrastination and head-spinning indecision

 Charlene’s message is to keep it simple, with three steps to overcome the madness.

1. Know your ideal customer. Pinpoint all of the factors: geographic, demographic, psychographic, so precisely that you could give your ideal customer a name and write a story about who they are and what they do.  This gives you a foundation on which to develop your strategies. Use surveys and research to support your assumptions.

2. Craft a message that speaks to your ideal customer.  What you now know from step one helps you to know what to say. Let them know why they should do business with you; and what they can expect from your services.  State your Value Proposition or Unique Selling Position – What you do that is bigger, better, faster, than everyone else. State your clients’ situation and guide them through the resolution process in real time.

In addition to other brilliant examples on the call, they shared Anne’s marketing message for her business. “In a Nutshell Coaching: Gets to the heart of the matter quickly and resolves it quickly.’

3. Select effective marketing tactics to reach your ideal customer.  Strategically and optimally target your tactics to get the response you want. Tactics won’t work if they are not aligned with methods used by your ideal clients.  Always ask yourself if your ideal client uses the media you are planning for.

Granted there are so many traditional and new media marketing tactics: to choose from it can still be daunting. Charlene has solutions for you in her new book “148 Ways to Advertise & Promote your Business”. 

Have fun working easier with your marketing!

Here’s her story.

Working Easy is huge for Cindi, but it hasn’t always been the case. A one-time home school mom, on top of all the usual routines, she, “spent many years running – berating myself for not getting enough done. That’s not working easy.”

After a divorce she decided to find a happier life, and came to understand there was a healthier way to work and live too.  Her search led her to meditation and spirituality. Jill Bolte Taylor’s “My Stroke of Insight” showed her how being disconnected from her right brain was tied into working hard. She gave herself permission to play – meditate, paint, even do nothing.

Cindi realized it wasn’t necessary to be frantic to be productive and she wasn’t going to do it anymore.

Past work with realtors working east coast hours and weekends, made Mondays hell. We worked frantically for 3 days to catch up, she says.  “Eventually I recognized a pattern though; we were always caught up by Wednesday and she developed a new mind set.  “It’s going to be OK,” she would tell herself and her staff.

Studying the teachings of Abraham she learned that time is a perception, it’s a human construct. The way we divide up the day is made up.  We have all kinds of time; it’s how we use it that counts. She alludes to Steven Covey’s Big Rock story. We need to decide what our big rocks are. “For me it used to be getting the work done. Now the priority is how I feel when I am working.  I continuously check in, moment to moment, and ask how it feels?”

Now if she puts in a long day it’s because she has done her ‘gut check’ and she’s doing it because she wants to, not because someone says she should or has to.

When asked what supports her in working easy she says, “It’s really important to know your strengths and weaknesses – analyze your work style and make sure what you’re doing works for you. Because I’m a linear person I look at and incorporate tools, systems and procedures, and create short cuts.”

Drawing on Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen and 6 Sigma principles, she strives for efficiency.  She asks Five Whys: ask yourself why you are doing something five times and you’ll get to the core of it.  If your answer is ‘because this is the way I’ve always done it’, or ‘because someone told me to’ there is likely room for change.

She looks for ways to be productive, “If I am more productive here, then I have more time to play!”

She always asks, “Does it benefit me? Is there a better way? Is there a better tool?  If I’m using a tool, am I using it the best way?” Fewer mouse clicks to complete a task shaves off time. Even if it’s a few hundredths of a second it adds up every time you repeat it

Are you sending the same kind of documents often? Create templates. Looking for the same website over and over again? Make shortcuts. If you are reaching across the desk to grab something many times a day, move it to where it is handy. Keep visual clues, and use color coding to track projects.

Cindi’s recommendation: “Get in the habit of finding something to change before you start each day. Once you start doing this and you see the increased ease you will find more and more ways to streamline. Even after all the years I’ve been doing this I still find myself asking why I’m doing things a particular way.”

She also recommends spending a little money to have someone show you how to use the tools you have efficiently. We get bombarded by new tools all the time, but we don’t need to run out and buy them all. Bottom-line: A mind set of looking for ease has to come first, otherwise implementing the time-saving real world stuff just leaves room to fill up with a longer ‘to do’ list.

I tried Cindi’s tip of starting my day with changing something.  I really like this and plan to continue!

Lynne