Why Your Marketing Plans Get Stalled6 min read
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In working with the participants of my group marketing programs, one issue comes up over and over again.
“I don’t know how to do that!”
Are you familiar with that one? It’s often an unspoken issue with a lot of emotional baggage.
We want to know and we don’t know. And we think we should know. Besides, everyone else obviously knows. So why don’t I know? What the f*ck is wrong with me?
You know, that kind of stuff.
You, my clients, myself and everyone else wants to know how to do marketing stuff that works. Stuff like:
How do I get the attention of prospective clients?
How do I get more meetings?
How do I close more deals?
Yeah, I focus on those the most these days because they give you the keys to the kingdom of growing your business.
“OK, Robert, tell me already. I want to know!”
Ahem, well, what do you think I’ve been writing about and teaching for the past 30+ years?
Here’s the thing: You already know. And if you don’t know, you can look it up pretty damn quickly.
So, I enter the following into Google:
“How to write an email that gets a meeting with a prospective client?”
And I get the following results:
4 Sales Email Templates to Get the Buyer’s Attention
12 Templates for Follow-up Emails After a Meeting or Conference
6 Tips that Will Help You Write the Perfect Sales Email to Get a Meeting
How to Ask for an Email After a Meeting
How to Write a Cold Email When You Have No Clue
And then I take a look at these five articles and see if there’s some valuable stuff in them.
The first one gives templates for a series of four emails to send to a prospect to get a meeting. Pretty good.
The second one on following up with an email after a meeting or conference includes some cool templates you can emulate. Great stuff.
The third one is a comprehensive one that covers all the bases and has many great ideas. Excelsior!
And the other two are equally good.
The truth is, if you really searched Google extensively, you could probably find fifty to one hundred good how-to articles on the topic.
OK, so what’s the problem then? Why is this still an issue for anyone?
The information is out there. There’s information, samples, and templates galore.
So why aren’t you studying this information, applying it, and getting appointments with new prospective clients left and right?
Let me count the ways you get stalled!
First of all, you’re overwhelmed with all the information. I just gave you five articles and that’s a lot. Which one is best? Which one has the ideal approach?
Next, you’re unsure of your writing ability. Sure, you can work from a template but will it come off as stiff, inauthentic, and end up not working?
What if my email is seen as spam? After all, I’m a professional. What if they tell everyone they know I’m sending spam emails, killing my credibility?
It looks like this will take a lot of time. I mean, I’m a busy person. Well, not busy enough; I need more clients, but I hate to waste my time doing something that won’t work.
I’ll wait until I find the “perfect” email template. Sure, there are good ideas in these articles, but I’m not sure any single one has the perfect template for little ol’ me.
Are you getting it?
There’s a ton of how-to information out there on how to write outreach emails to get appointments.
In fact, there’s a ton of how-to information on every conceivable marketing strategy known.
It’s not the lack of information, ideas, techniques, and templates, ad infinitum that is stopping you.
No, YOU are stopping you.
You are believing your fearful, doubtful, limiting thoughts about this marketing approach (or any other marketing approach for that matter).
When I work with clients and group participants, this is always the issue. It’s never the information. Never, ever.
But we are addicted to information and believe that this is where our salvation lies. More, better, perfect, magical information.
But we already have access to all the information we need.
“OK, Robert, you’ve convinced me. I have the information and it’s me that’s stopping me. So what do I do?”
Glad you asked!
1. Do some research and get the information. Study it and understand the basics.
2. Create an action plan. What are the actual steps you’ll take? An imperfect plan is better than no plan.
3. Go into action. Write some emails. Send them out. See what the response is (or isn’t) and then fine-tune and try again.
This is nothing new. Hell, I’m new on the Keto diet and this is exactly what I’m doing. The information is vast online. I made a basic plan and went into action. I lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks, 12 to go. Easy-peasy.
But I also apply the one big secret that applies to accomplishing anything:
I intentionally and consciously ignore all my fearful, doubtful, limiting thoughts and beliefs.
I don’t process my thoughts and beliefs, I don’t work through them. I don’t agonize about them. I just don’t give them any attention or oxygen.
Instead, I put my all energy into those three steps:
1. Study
2. Plan
3. Action
Sounds simple, right? Well, it is, except that all those damn thoughts and beliefs have a great deal of sway over us all.
We don’t realize that fearful and limiting thoughts and beliefs are illusions, no more substantial than our dreams at night.
We think they are real. They are not. They are nothing more than waking dreams (often more like nightmares).
They are like clouds floating in the sky, like stormy weather that passes, like a pungent odor that dissipates with the breeze.
Like my metaphors? 🙂
We are seduced by these insubstantial thoughts and beliefs. They are simply triggered by past memories. And before long they can become more real than the present information, plans and actions.
Are you ready to see them for what they are and start putting your attention where it matters?
And yes, if you’d like some support for this, I have a program for that!
The purpose of my marketing programs is not to give you endless amounts of information. These days information is cheap.
The focus is on supporting you in getting past your resistance, fears, and doubts, and moving forward confidently into action.
Are you ready for that?
Cheers, Robert
P.S. Check out the ABDO Program here.
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Hi Robert. I know you used to do a lot of work with the Byron Katie process. In this post, you talk about ignoring your limiting beliefs and not giving them any oxygen. Have you changed your approach… and would you be willing to write about it in one of your newsletters?
All the best!
Hey Bruce. I used Byron Katie’s process for years and it really works. And once in a while, when I seem to get intractably stuck (which is pretty rare these days) I’ll pull out a worksheet and work through it. But since Katie, I’ve studied a lot of other teachings. And what became crystal clear to me is that my thoughts are like clouds. They come and go unbidden by me. They are not any more substantial than dreams at night. You might call most thoughts “waking dreams.” So wouldn’t it be silly to pay attention to the ones that were negative, fearful, and opposing my intentions? Wouldn’t it make sense to simply ignore then and get on with whatever I’m doing? Sure, I get some great, creative thoughts as well. Those are also dreams, but they might be useful to apply in creating something new or problem-solving. So, one is aware of one’s thought’s and sees them for what they are – dreams floating through consciousness. Just because you’re thinking them doesn’t mean you need to believe them. Better to focus on what is real in front of you right now – one’s work, one’s relationships, one’s health and well-being. Make sense? Cheers, Robert