Doing whatever it takes…………

Growing a business is not an easy undertaking. There are many times when the task that needs to be done takes us out of our comfort zone.

Until a business moves into its second “growth stage”, the business founder is still responsible and often the hands-on doer of everything that needs to be done. That may include some of the most terrifying requirements which include “in-person marketing”, another word for some form of “cold calling.”

There are many reasons why we currently have a failure in small businesses of between 50 to 70%, depending upon the source. With more than 25 years of working with small business owners, I found that the main reason for failure is a lack of income and a lack of knowledge of how to develop a successful marketing program.

Technology has offered the small business owner a place to hide. Using the internet, blogs and e-mails as well as social media, a business owner can hide in front of a computer, joining millions of other business hopefuls, and attempt to sell a product/service.

I believe that a presence on the internet is necessary, but I do know that a “Human Touch Marketing program™” can produce powerful results, especially during the first phase of a business’s   life cycle.

Properly structured and implemented a Human Touch Marketing Program™ can provide the necessary income for growth and at the same time remove the fear of “selling”.

Doing whatever it takes means taking the time to understand marketing outside of technology. There is a way to develop and implement such a program which can produce fast results, but it requires discipline and the dedication of time to its implementation.

A few of the items I include in my training are: structured networking, data base management, list building, hard copy marketing material, finding qualified prospects, content development, storytelling and the branding process. Like any other system, marketing has to become a system that has 40% of a business owner’s time devoted to its implementation.

The second reason for small business failure is, in my opinion, the lack of a structured time management system. In order to implement a marketing program and still be able to keep the “delivery process” that creates income, a structured time management system has to exist.

I must create a System, or be enslav’d by another Man’s.                       William Blake

Nick J. Petra CFP