You probably wouldn't be reading these emails if you weren't interested in improving what you do to get more clients.

Well, apart from my wife Kathy, who reads them so she can make funny replies. Obviously :)

It's a very good trait to have, to be constantly on the lookout for improvements. But sometimes it can cause us problems.

Mostly our improvement cycle starts when we spot something someone else is doing and having success with. And we think “maybe if I did that, I would be able to get the same success too”.

So we try it out.

Then we spot something someone else is doing.

Or we get caught up in the cottage industry of “copy my exact steps to become a zillionaire consultant overnight” promotions and take on board their recommendations.

And so on.

The thing is that while we pay close attention to all these things people are doing to bring them success, we tend to ignore what they're not doing.

So that guy who's getting tons of conversations with potential clients through outreach on Linkedin…that's probably the only thing he's doing to generate leads.    

That coach who's successfully using webinars…or the one doing live video…or the one using Facebook Ads? Probably the only marketing things they're doing.

Us?

We see someone succeeding on Linkedin so we try to do that too. Then we try webinars. then we try live video, then Facebook Ads.

All the time adding to our already-overloaded plate of things we're just not focused enough on to ever get any good at.

Not to mention that we're open to working with multiple different types of customers on a whole bunch of different problems.

We're talented people, of course. We have a track record of being able to turn our hand to pretty much anything.

But only if we focus on it.

So next time someone tells you about this amazing new marketing thing they’re doing, make sure you also check out what they're not doing.

Next time you decide to try something new, make sure you stop doing something first. Free up the time to do the new thing properly.

Better still: take a long hard look at your marketing and think about how focused you really are.

How many things are you doing because you've always done them? Or because they “kinda” work?  Or you don't want to stop them because you've invested so much in them?

Strip back your marketing to the few things that really do work. Give yourself the time and space to excel at those few things rather than just getting by at a whole bunch of stuff.