The best way for me to describe a marketing system is to compare it to an award-winning, chocolate cake recipe. My guess is that you are familiar with chocolate cake, and you may have seen a recipe before. Here are the characteristics of a good chocolate cake recipe:
- You know exactly what the outcome is. You know what the cake should look like, taste like, and smell like and, therefore, you’ll have ways of knowing if the recipe was
successful. - There is a list of ingredients with exact measurements. These measurements are not vague, and there are no substitutions. You cannot leave out the flour or substitute it with salt or you won’t get the same results.
- There are specific instructions on how to use the ingredients. This is important; if you bake all the ingredients and then try to mix them together, you won’t have a very good cake. You must follow the instructions and use the ingredients in the order given.
If you follow the system, you should be able to produce an award-winning, chocolate cake every time.
A marketing system works exactly the same way:
- You need a specific, measurable result that you are trying to achieve. Many computer consultants are vague or unclear on exactly how they are going to know if their marketing was successful. Saying, “I want to generate more awareness” is too vague. How will you know? Having a web site that “looks professional” is too obscure. Instead, you should say, “I want a web site that generates 15 new leads and 5 new clients a month.” That is something that is tangible and measurable.
- You need an exact set of “ingredients” to use in every system. This may include a profitable target market, a compelling message that appeals to that target market, an irresistible offer, a means of getting that message to your market, and a way of capturing the leads that come in.
- You need a written down game plan of how you will use these elements to produce a sale. Most of my clients are the chief technician, manager, and sales person. At some point, they want to hire a sales person to take over some of the selling and client support activities. To that end, if you are already doing the selling, you want to document how you do it so when you do hire a sales person, you can hand the “recipe” over to them.
If you follow a well developed marketing system, you should be able to produce award winning results almost every time.
Speaking of “award-winning”. At my boot camp last month, Brad & Victoria Myers from Myers Network Solutions walked away with my brand new 2010 BMW X5. In their award winning presentation, they demonstrated how they have a fantastic, well thought out marketing system in their business that produces great results almost all of the time. In fact, from October 2007 thru March 2010, Victoria reported that their sales are up 42%, monthly recurring revenue is up 87%, and Net Profits are up a whopping 292%!
Enjoy this short video clip of the award presentation…
Congratulations to Brad and Victoria Myers. I am proud of your business success and am thrilled that you are my 2010 Spokespersons of the Year!
