On Getting Work and MORE Work

A friend of mine just returned from a trip with his family. It was the first time he went on a multi-state trip in his brand new Prius and he came back bragging about the mileage. The last multistate trip I went on was in an SUV (with apologies to the environment) so the difference was, of course, dramatic. My rented SUV guzzled gas and it felt like we were just driving from gas station to gas station to fill the hungry beast.

In comparing mileage notes, it was interesting to think of the parallels with business: The SUV took a massive investment to start and run, and it would only run for a short time before it needed more fuel. Many businesses – especially small businesses and solopreneurs – are like that: They market their business, then do the work, then need to market again for more business.

Conversely the “Prius” of businesses can do a bit of marketing and go for miles on that small amount of marketing “fuel” investment.

So that begs the question: How can businesses go from gas guzzlers to efficient?

The secret is in branding, positioning, and effective marketing that runs without a lot of effort. I’m going to mention a few items here that I think can help businesses make that transition:

• Twitter, when combined with a professional Twitter client like HootSuite (2.0), allows professionals to schedule tweets and tweet more consistently and effectively.

• An assistant, or a virtual assistant like IAC Professionals (hello, of course I’d suggest this!) takes the pressure off of business owners by taking care of some of the marketing to increase their billable time. One client just reported that he had a record-breaking quarter because he gave his virtual assistant nearly all of his marketing tasks to do for him.

• Checklists, CRM systems, and autoresponders are all ways to improve the efficiency of your marketing to reduce the amount of time you need to “stop for gas”.

• As I’m writing this, one of my clients just told me about a coaching class she’s offering. It’s relevant here so I thought I’d mention it: Trish Lambert of Success in Sweatpants is a certified “Book Yourself Solid” trainer (based on Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid system and book). She’s offering a “coaching in sweatpants” class that covers how to build a foundation for success, how to build trust and credibility, and how to promote yourself. The classes cover critical topics like “how to have a brand”, “how to be an expert”, “how to have effective sales conversations”, and more. Read more about it here: Coaching in Sweatpants and sign up for her class!

Business growth does come from marketing, but not just any marketing. It comes from strategic marketing built on a solid foundation and one that aims at reducing how much you actually market while increasing the effectiveness of the time you do spend marketing.

Speak Soon!

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