23 Dec The Grim Reaper of Your Business

In most businesses there is a sort of Grim Reaper that comes along and kills your sales. This grim reaper could be many different things, but I am going to talk about one all too common problem. This Grim Reaper is known as busyness. I’m talking about busyness from fulfilling customer orders and quotes, fielding phone calls, client appointments, customer followup, and all of the other day-to-day tasks of taking care of your clients. You know, the good kind of busyness. Now when you get busy due to high demand, this is a great thing. However, business owners should make certain that they don’t forgo doing their normal marketing duties such as email marketing, blogging, prospecting, mail-outs, networking, analyzing data and other analytics, and all of the other tasks on your marketing plan. If you skimp on your normal everyday marketing because you are busy and feel that you don’t need it, then you are losing new clients in the future. Have you ever wondered why you have peaks and valleys in your sales figures? I bet that when you are slow you start doing many more marketing strategies. These strategies may include participating in local Chamber activities, networking groups, sales calls and visits, emails, handing out brochures or promotional products, and following up with past clients. I would also bet that when you are get busy from your recent marketing campaigns, you stop doing much of this because you “don’t have time.” We should all have a written marketing plan and dedicate a certain amount of time each day to it. It may come down to not promising a customer an unreasonable deadline. Now, I’m not saying to cut back on your customer service, because top notch customer service is extremely important (and increasingly rare these days). I’m just saying that if it won’t hurt your client, promise a deadline that works for both your schedule and your client’s schedule.

If you are not guilty of skimping on your marketing plan during busy times, then what is your grim reaper. We all have one. Believe me, I speaketh from experience. The important point to take home is to identify your grim reaper and put it to death. Get a plan; write it down; follow it everyday!