Laying the Foundation of a Conscious Business:
Your Business IS Marketing
Article by Corporate Coach Alchemist Anne Merkel, Ph.D.
Marketing is focusing on your clients’ needs, wants, fears, and frustrations. A by-product is the increased income you receive in the process of activating your marketing process. When you serve people by making sure that you are meeting their needs and helping them to overcome their fears and frustrations, then they pay you for doing that and you profit financially.
In the book E-myth by Michael Gerber, the concept that the author has engineered and explains is that people often work ON their businesses rather than IN their businesses. According to the E-myth most of us are slaves to our businesses. We become technicians and go into business because we are really good at a technical skill. At the same time we don’t know how to apply a system that will market the skill and connect with the people who will most benefit from it. We get so caught up in trying to do everything that nothing is done well. The first step toward success, then, is to make a shift in your mindset.
Marketing is one of the most profitable activities that you can do. This wholistic process includes internal mind-set focus, research into the appropriate market for your services, and then identifying and implementing the marketing strategic action steps that speak best to your audience. Without the marketing focus you will NOT be in business at all. Here is a new way of looking at your business:
You are not in the business that you think you are in. If you are a coach, trainer, consultant, speaker, author, professional service provider, etc. – you are NOT in the “coaching business” or “customer service business”, etc.
You are actually in the business of marketing whatever you do.
This is a new way of considering your business: you are in the business of marketing coaching or marketing training or marketing speaking engagements, etc. There is a major distinction between looking at your business in one way versus the other.
Your main role is to market your product and service. What you actually own and manage is a marketing company.
This is an important distinction because whoever does a better job of marketing to clients and then has effective systems to support the clients, is the one that will attract and maintain the most business over time. There is more to business than quality alone, and so you must know how to market and manage in addition to the service skills that you offer.
Systems
A system is a set of procedures or steps that result in a predictable outcome each time. Systems are a series of straight-forward steps that can be followed by virtually anyone to achieve the same consistent results, so this is why it is important to put systems into place so you can leverage your own time. A good system gives you freedom. Think about what clients want. Think about what you want. We all want consistency.
Imagine McDonalds restaurants and the consistency you get there. Everywhere in the world you get the same caliber of food and the same choices when you visit a McDonalds restaurant. This happens because McDonalds focused on their systems from the beginning. Other fast food chains have followed suit, and so should you in your business.
You own a marketing business and you need systems. Even if you are just starting out and have no clients, this is the time to be laying this foundation. Your main job is to grow your business and refine your systems.
You should never do a job yourself when you can pay someone less money to do it, and in some cases not pay for the service at all. It is very important that you be able to focus on your brilliances - those things you do absolutely brilliantly. There are usually only a few of them per person, so these are the areas where you should focus most of your energy… and hire others to do the other tasks.
One very common “disease” found in entrepreneurs is the need to do EVERYTHING associated with one’s business. Please DO NOT succumb to this “Entrepreneurs’ Disease” because it can exhaust you and kill your business. You may think you are saving money by doing everything yourself, but actually you are losing money by mis-using your time and talents and energy. You have to factor the potential income you would be making performing your brilliances versus what you would lose by spending your own time marketing and bringing in new clients.
Marketing IS the key aspect of building your business. There is nothing more profitable than marketing, so you must learn how to set it in motion with the appropriate systems, then either do it brilliantly - with joy - or delegate it. You own or work in a business; your job is to attract and keep clients in the door so you can do what it is that you do so well. Without clients you will not be able to do what it is you love to do to serve the world. So, here are the key systems that a successful business should have in place.
KEY SYSTEMS
1- The first system you need to create is a feedback system. You must be prepared to listen to your clients and to be open to hearing their criticisms and complaints along with positive remarks.
2- System number two makes use of contact management software or manual systems. You will need something that is going to allow you to have a system in place as you market to people. It will allow you to start building your foundation and allow you to be more organized. You cannot take the risk of losing your database due to disorganization or technical glitches. It is in your best interest to invest up front in a contact management system so that you will easily manage your clients.
3- The third marketing system is a testing system. You must test your marketing tools for effectiveness before you use them extensively. This system provides you with ways of always being able to have a sense of why things are working or not working for you.
4- You need to be able to track how people are finding you, so it is important to have a system that helps you to do this.
5- Another important system within a system is keeping track of all advertising that you place. Along with the marketing tool itself you also place the results that you got using each one. This helps you to keep models and their effectiveness for future use.
6- Another system will help you to add money to your business fast. The way to do this is to know the lifetime value of your clients or potential clients. Lifetime value means how much profit each client is worth to you. It is important to think about this approach of evaluating clients in order to plan your marketing tactics.
7- Since your life is all about energy anyway, a very important system for your inner and outer business building - that you can start right now - is to make the decision that the most important thing in building your business is for you to be in a high frequency place as much as you can. Focus on what is working, even when things don’t seem to be working. Energy management strategies must be put into practice here.
Marketing Summary
Now you understand how important it is for your business that you understand and manage your marketing processes. You see now that unless you go out and draw people into your funnel they will never know you are there. Just imagine you are in a jungle and your clients can hear you but there are too many vines to see you. Your clients have a machete, so if you keep calling out to them, sooner or later they are able to find you. Doing systemized marketing with testing along the way is similar to this analogy. You are able to create an expressway with lighted signs showing your clients the way to your funnel. This is the difference between applying the processes and systems we have discussed or not applying them.
You can learn more about Whole Person Processes and utilizing our other Corporate Alchemy™ tools by contacting us. We also encourage you to sign up to receive our free Conscious Living e-zine, or Alchemist Anne blog, to learn more about how to live and work consciously and in alignment!
