I’ve had a very interesting conversation recently with someone who came to see me regarding their business. It was the usual complaints; “the business is struggling”, “we need more clients”, “the people in our area aren’t willing to pay, they’d rather pay someone less skilled if it meant paying cheaper”. Although these are very general complaints there are no such thing as a general solution to the problem since every business is unique.
In order for me to identify what the real problem in his business was I needed a few questions answered that would point me towards target audience, product, pricing, marketing etc. So the first question I asked him was how many potential clients he reaches every day. He stated that he was not quite sure; he had a Facebook business page which he manages himself and would post sporadically, but he doesn’t really know how many people actually see his posts or how much of his target audience he reaches on a daily basis.
His answer already showed me that work was needed in his marketing strategy, but his answer was such a profound revelation of what the core issue in his business was that I had to share it with you guys.
Within our industry is a social media marketing expert who specializes in LinkedIn. She’s absolutely amazing and really knows her stuff and she is my go-to-expert to contact when I need to stay ahead in the game. They once did an interview with her which was in a press conference kind of setting and one man stood up and said that he has also been training himself and specialising in the LinkedIn platform and would like to be doing what she’s doing. He then continued to ask her how he too could become a leading LinkedIn expert?
To understand her answer to this question you need a little background on her life. She actually started out as a bored housewife looking for a hobby she could enjoy by herself and get a little “me-time”. So her interest was peaked when it came to LinkedIn and she started to poke around on the platform. Later as her interest grew she paid to get professional training and kept studying the platform in-depth on her own (just for fun). It was many years later that she decided to turn her passion into a business, but this would be quite challenging; she was not part of the marketing industry, she had no so-called contacts and for all intents and purposes she had been stuck in her house by herself for many, many years.
So after the man asked his question her answer was:
“The way you become a leading LinkedIn expert is:
1.) You never stop studying and training and
2.) You make 75 cold calls every day”.
And you could see in the man’s face that this was not the answer he was looking for. He was looking for the recipe to quick success when the truth came to him like a punch in the gut; the answer was HARD WORK.
A short while after I had watched that interview, I was doing research for my Dangers of Social Media course and came upon staggering scammer facts and statistics. Scams always fascinate people, because it’s absolutely incredible that they still manage to get away with their scams in a time where these scams are almost public knowledge and almost everyone is aware of how they operate, yet they get away with scamming people out of millions on a monthly basis. And whilst you’re struggling just to cover your personal expenses by selling your latest healthy living product, these guys are living a life of luxury; HOW DO THEY DO THAT?!
Some of these scammers who were caught actually started helping authorities in their fight against cybercrime and what they shared was astounding: they make a HUNDRED phone calls EVERY DAY. Out of those 100 phone calls they might get one or two people who bite. But they do this consistently every day, every week, every month and they reap the benefits of their millions.
So, what’s the message I’m trying to bring across? It’s not that you need to start making a bunch of cold calls on a daily basis. If you have proper marketing strategies in place and your business model is sound that won’t be necessary. What I’m talking about here is the missing ingredient in your business where your goals need to match your commitment. Just like the man who came to see me regarding his business; he clearly had a PASSION for what he does, he is HIGHLY skilled (there’s no way an amateur can do what he can do), but he’s lacking the commitment.
There’s a saying that states: “If you do what only 1% of people are willing to do, you will have what only 1% of people have”. Whatever that 1% might be for you; whether it is seeking help from a business coach, getting your social media marketing up to scratch, finally getting that website up and running or even if it is making that 100 cold calls… only you would know what that 1% is that you’re avoiding or keep postponing. If you go the extra mile in whatever it is that you know in your heart is what will propel your business further and help it grow – DO IT! Success lies in your own hands.
If you need help with your business or marketing, you are welcome to contact us here.
