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The 20% rule

Posted byIan Brodie on July 21st, 2013.

For years I've been teaching that if you want to run a thriving business you need to be spending 20% of your time on marketing.

One day a week. Two half days. 90 minutes a day.

However you cut it, you need to devote that 20% of your time to make an impact.

Sure, you can let it slide for a while. Live off past investments.

But in the end it'll catch up. You'll go from feast to famine.

One of the best decisions I ever made early on when I was setting up my business was to invest more than 20% of my time on marketing. More like 40% really.

And yet a lot of people I speak to struggle to hit 20%.

It seems like a vicious circle. You need to be billing all the time, so you can't spare any time for marketing. And because you're not marketing much, you have to accept whatever clients come along. Usually not the highest paying ones. So you have to bill all the time to make ends meet.

And so the circle continues.

If you're going to break the circle you need to make a sacrifice. (Sorry, the alternative of just getting lucky isn't something I'd recommend waiting around for).

That might be taking home a lower income for a while (or burning up some savings) while you build your pipeline and your marketing assets.

Personally I sacrificed time. When I wrote my first lead magnet, Client Breakthrough, I did it over a couple of weekends. And I'd regularly stay up beyond midnight after a long day working with clients to do a blog post or to study a training course on a marketing technique I wanted to master.

I still work pretty hard today. But the investment's given me a lot more freedom and a business that's not reliant on my personal time to make money for me.

Are you investing 20% of your time on marketing?

If not, and you see yourself in that vicious circle, how are you going to break out?

Don't just think about it or worry about it. Make a plan for how you're going to deal with it. Then do something about it.

Joining Momentum Club so you get a shortcut to the most effective marketing strategies for professionals might be a good start.

Dedicating extra time every evening to blogging, or creating a lead magnet, or working on your social media presence could help.

Getting out and meeting potential clients at events they attend will help.

But you gotta do something.

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Yikes

Posted byIan Brodie on July 14th, 2013.

I was over in Geneva a whle back doing a marketing strategy workshop for a client.

As sometimes happens with workshops, we overran by 30 minutes or so. Combine that with a snarl-up on the roads on the way to the airport and I only just made my flight. Yikes!

In fact I had to run to the gate, and I was too late to check in my bags so I had to jettison all my toiletries on the way as, of course, you can't take liquids in your hand luggage.

As I collapsed in a heap in my seat before take-off, I wondered just how we'd managed to get so far behind.

The workshop was well planned and we'd been pretty much on track for most of the day.

But I just hadn't paid attention to the time when it got to the critical last hour or so. The team had come up with some great ideas and we allowed ourselves to get sucked into a few interesting but lower priority side discussions.

If I'm honest, I sometimes let the same thing happen with my marketing too. I wonder if you're the same?

It's easy to start out with a solid plan, but to get sidetracked by things that are interesting, or we enjoy or feel comfortable doing; but just arent real priorities.

You fiddle about with making your website looking pretty instead of focusing on the content. You get comfortable delivering a presentation again and again, even though it doesn't bring you any leads.

And while missing your flight is a pain in the butt, missing your financial targets because you let your marketing get off track is a whole lot more serious. A big “yikes”.

In the same way that I should have kept an eye on the time, you need to keep track not only of sales but of “lead flow”. How many initial contacts are you getting with qualified potential clients? How many meetings? How many people are opting in to your newsletter?

Whatever the right metrics are for you, check them weekly. Keep yourself on track. Don't end up metaphorically running through the airport and having to ditch any liquids you're carrying.

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“I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more”

Posted byIan Brodie on July 7th, 2013.

If you're a certain age like me, you'll remember Peter Finch screaming that line in the brillant “Network”.

If you haven't seen it and you consider yourself any sort of aficionado of good films, you MUST watch it. It won Finch an Oscar for best actor, the first to be posthumously awarded. And well worth it.

In the film, Finch's character, an evening news anchor, learns he has just a few weeks left on air because of declining ratings. In his last broadcasts he starts ranting about what he sees wrong in the world and the program's ratings see a sharp upward spike.

Things don't end well for Finch in the film, but there's definitely something we can learn from the way that Finch resurrected his audience's interest by opening up his heart and talking honestly about what made him mad.

Now I wouldn't recommend ranting and moaning all the time. No one likes to be around someone who complains incessantly.

But every now and then it can be incredibly powerful to “tell it like it is”.

Especially when your rant about something also helps your clients.

If you're slaying sacred cows for example. Or fighting against sharp practices. Or warning them away from bad advice.

Or standing up for them when they're under fire (I swear I'm going to punch the next person who complains about consultants “borrowing your watch to tell you the time” when my memories of my consulting colleagues are all of them being completely dedicated to helping their clients succeed. And of staying in the office to ensure that success long, long after the clients themselves had gone home).

So shoot down some sacred cows in your industry. Tell your audience (email subscribers, blog readers, seminar audience, whoever) just how you feel about important topics.

It'll cement a strong bond with those who share your views.

It'll provoke a reaction amongst those who don't agree – and get you talking to them.

It'll position you as a leader in your field – someone prepared to take a stand for something they believe in.

And ultimately, that will draw more potential clients towards you.

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The artisan market success secret

Posted byIan Brodie on June 30th, 2013.

A year or so ago a couple of enterprising women in our area decided to help revitalise the local economy by organising an Artisan Market.

To cut a long story short, it's been a huge success. Every month or so a ton of specialist food and craft stalls set up for a day in Wilmslow. And the town gets flooded with folks like Kathy and me wandering round buying stuff.

It's worked so well they've started up similar markets in three more of the surrounding towns.

What's been really interesting for me is just how willing people are to pay “top dollar” for stuff that's been cooked or crafted with care.

Personally I can't really tell the difference between an artisan-crafted spelt flour loaf and a half-decent one you might get down the supermarket. But it just feels good to buy stuff from someone who cares about what they do, and does it with skill.

It's the same with our clients.

If we could stop trying to appear “professional” and “corporate” for just a minute we'd see that many clients like to buy from artisans rather than supermarkets.

They want to see authenticity, passion for what we do and deep capabilities. Not just dull uniformity and a safe corporate pair of hands.

Of course, not all clients want to hire artisans. And most of us buy our basics at the supermarket. It's only when we want something special we call in the artisan.

But for me, I'd much rather be an authentic artisan than a buttoned-down corporate any day.

How about you?

Would you rather be an artisan?

And if so, what are you doing to ensure that's how your clients see you?