By Robin Robins, President, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Inc.
www.technologymarketingtoolkit.com
Are you familiar with the late, U.S. President Garfield’s story on margins?
James Garfield was born in a log cabin to poor, uneducated parents, yet he went on to become a scholar, a Civil War hero, a U.S. congressman for 18 years and, eventually, the 20th President of the United States.
When he was a young boy, Garfield had a rival student at school who consistently received higher marks than he. This puzzled and frustrated him because he knew that the other boy was no more talented, educated, or smarter than himself. Then one night he discovered the boy’s secret.
Garfield had put out his lamp and was getting ready for bed when he looked out his window across campus and noticed that his rival student was still up studying. He watched him every night after that and noticed that this process continued; his rival was putting in several additional minutes of study every night.
Garfield decided that it was by this small margin that his rival was beating him and decided to not only match his rival’s extra study time, but to make sure he added an extra 15 minutes more every night. At the end of the school year, Garfield found himself ahead by a small margin.
As in all things in life, the margin between success and failure is often exceedingly small. It’s not uncommon for the average athlete or the average entertainer to win by a very small margin. That’s because it’s not just a matter of having natural talents and abilities, but rather what you do to develop those abilities and how you put them to use.
Success in business is just like that
How is it that one small computer consulting firm can double or triple its revenue when others in the same area, marketing to the same customers, using the same vendors, remain stagnant or even decline?
Go to any event in the IT industry two years in a row and talk to the same business owners you spoke to at the previous year’s event. Why do most report only a tiny increase in growth, clients, profits, and success year after year and continue to complain about the same problems, while only a small few report exponential gains?
Why do so many computer consultants settle – even resign themselves – to owning a “job” that commands them to work 60+ hours a week without breaks, significant rewards, or the promise of a big payout?
That’s because success in business – which is the ability to get things done, to persuade others, and to develop a master plan and execute that plan – is in direct proportion to the owner’s ability to invest that little extra marginal time and effort into mastering the key skills every business owner must learn to be a success.
Obviously one of those skills is selling and marketing. Truth be told, it’s the “Achilles heel” of most smart, hard-working, small business owners in the IT industry. It seems that no other aspect of running a profitable, thriving business stumps them more.
And if you are reading this, you would probably agree that your lack of expertise in marketing IS significantly harming your income, profitability, and overall success in business to some degree.
But I’ve got some great news that is actually a “secret” most don’t know about marketing…
You don’t actually have to be a marketing master to generate significant gains in your business; you only have to be marginally better than your competition.
Do you know the old joke about two men walking through the woods who stumble upon a bear? Realizing the immediate danger they are in, the one man starts to run only to notice his friend is bent over tying his shoes. He yells to the other man, “What are you doing? Why are you tying your shoes instead of running?” The other man replies, “I’m tying my shoes because I don’t have to outrun the bear – I only have to outrun YOU.”
The same is true in marketing your business. You don’t have to be a Zen master at marketing to win – you only have to be marginally better than the competition.
Just imagine being able to be only 5% or 10% better than your competition at attracting new customers and closing sales. Imagine being only marginally better at marketing online and creating websites that really sell. Imagine knowing only a handful of “tricks” for attracting new clients with direct mail, networking, and partnering that your competition wasn’t even aware of.
Just think about what that would do to your income! The effect would be astounding.
Quite honestly, I don’t like to tell my clients this little “secret” because I truly want them to master marketing. I want them to know what I know and invest serious time into studying the “art” of persuasion. But truth be told, they only need to make a few changes to see results; that’s because most of their competitors are so severely lacking when it comes to marketing.
So, if you would like to learn a few valuable tricks and key “secrets” to marketing, then you must join me at an upcoming client Attraction and Marketing Blueprint Seminar.
During this event I’m not going to be able to turn you into a marketing master – BUT, I will teach you a handful of proven, field-tested strategies that are easy to use and incredibly cheap to implement. Some won’t cost you anything.
You’ll learn:
- How other SMB consultants are doubling the number of qualified leads and new clients they have using an “auto-pilot” client attraction marketing system that doesn’t require a sales team or large marketing budget to work. Click here to register now
- How to avoid wasting thousands of dollars and your precious time on marketing campaigns that don’t work. I’ll reveal the exact marketing media that has been proven time and time again to work best when marketing IT services.
- How to position yourself as the most “in demand” consultant in your area with the highest fees and still get more business than cheaper competitors.
- The 3 critical characteristics you must develop to unlock a flood of new sales and business opportunities; have nothing to do with your marketing, the type of clients you serve, the way you price your services, or your competition. Click here to register now
- Auto-pilot marketing systems that will cut the time and effort of selling in half while virtually eliminating cheap clients. This is price-shopper pest control for your business!
- How to get every ad, sales letter, brochure marketing campaign, website – and even your business card – to generate two to three times as many leads and sales as it currently is.
- What type of marketing media is hands down the BEST for promoting your computer consulting services, and which ones will waste your time, drain your bank account, and leave you disappointed and frustrated.
This seminar is unconditionally guaranteed to give you specific, usable marketing strategies you can implement into your business and see results in your bank account within 6 weeks or less.
You will see actual campaigns and strategies that other small computer consultants used to double or triple their annual revenue, launch a profitable managed services practice, and transform the way they do business.
Seating is limited! The last 2 events SOLD OUT. If you want to make sure you don’t miss out, click here now to register.
