All the great marketing plans in the world mean nothing if you don't get them implemented.
And I must admit, this is the area I'm personally the weakest at. I get my kicks from thinking: innovating or solving problems. It's probably what makes me quite a good consultant.
But I'm not so good at actually implementing my ideas myself. I just don't find that quite as exciting.
And my experience from working with hundreds of consultants, coaches and other professionals over the years is that I'm not alone.
It seems endemic that we prefer the intellectual to the practical or relationship sides of business.
So if like me, you're in that camp then the following implementation tips that I've picked up over the years may help you. They've made me vastly more effective at getting things done and getting results than I used to be.
The first tip is simple, but not often followed: don't attempt too much at once.
In previous posts, I've talked about planning your major lead generation campaigns. For an individual, my experience is that it's difficult to manage more than 3 or 4 such initiatives in a year.
And it's usually best to implement them sequentially rather than in parallel. When we multi-task we think we're achieving more, but we rarely give enough focus to each individual task to do it excellently.
And if you think about it logically, given we all have limited time, if you do 4 things in parallel it's going to take you 4 times as long to complete those tasks.
And since you usually don't see any results until you've finished – it means you don't get any results until right at the end.
But if you do each task at a time, you get the first one finished in a quarter the time and you start getting results straight away. Then you do the next and start getting results from that, etc.
Of course, it's not quite as simple as that – but it's not far off.
So focus on one important initiative at a time – hold back on your excitement and enthusiasm to work on them all at once.
Next, don't try for perfection initially. Don't spend ages trying to get your talk absolutely perfect, or your 2-minute introduction for networking, or your article or brochure. Once you're 70 or 80% there, start using it.
That last 20-30% will take ages – and you'll never get it right. The only way to get your marketing right is to test it in the real world and see how people react – then refine it.
I remember very clearly how I spend an absolute age perfecting the way I was going to introduce myself when I went networking.
At the first event where I used my clever introduction, I thought I'd done a great job with the group I introduced myself to. All according to plan. Then a new person joined the group and asked me what I did.
Slightly flustered I kind of stumbled over my introduction and got it much less than word perfect.
But the comment I got from another member of the original group was very revealing: “Oh, that sounded much less scripted” he said. “And I think I actually know what you do now”.
Oops. My attempts to get something perfect had led me astray.
So just get something good, not perfect. Then refine it in the real world based on feedback. Remember – imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time.
Next create action habits. What I mean by this is get into a regular routine of doing things which drive action. It's a bit like going to the gym first thing every morning so it becomes an ingrained habit.
In my case, I find that if I review my project plans every Monday morning and transfer the key upcoming activities either to my schedule (if they're going to take more than about 15 mins) or to my To-Do list – then it gets them prioritised and more likely to happen. I try to get every major activity actually scheduled so that it doesn't get pushed aside by busywork.
Then every morning I check my schedule and To-Do list and I'm off with a clear plan for the day.
Doing this doesn't just help me get organised – it reminds me of all the important activities I have to do and puts a little hustle into my day.
I find that if I don't do this I have a tendency to “goof off” in-between tasks, not realising just how much I have on my plate.
Of course, this particular routine might not work for you. Find your own routine that gets you moving – and make it a habit.
Finally, make commitments. For things which I know I need to do but don't particularly enjoy I'll force myself into action by making a commitment to it.
For example, I'll tell Kathy I'm going to write an article and ask her to ask me about progress at the end of the day. Or when I do the first blog post or email in a series I mention what's coming next so people are expecting it. These external commitments help to keep me on track.
Whatever you do…
…make sure you do something.
My experience is that the people who are the most successful at marketing and business development are simply the ones who do it the most.
Marketing is all about action. Yes, you must do some solid thinking in advance of course. But without action, there are no results.
Don't be the person who sits back and watches others thinking “I could do better than that”. Go out and actually do better.
PS – to put a little oomph into your marketing and get practical support for doing it, rather than just learning it – check out the details of Momentum Club by clicking the link below.
Ian Brodie on May 4th, 2011.
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