The New Reality of Uncertainty
One thing's for certain ... The New Reality of Uncertainty
What used to be a sure thing is no longer anything. What has been used for years for business growth strategies no longer works.
And if you read or watch the news in the U.K. you’d be excused for thinking the world is about to end on this little green island.
It isn’t
But
Things have changed for business and marketing.
Things have changed dramatically.
Let me explain.
Uncertainty is a moment where no one really knows what is coming next.
The economy – no one knows. Jobs – no one knows.
The BREXIT – no one really knows.
That means if you are in business – what is next?
I started my first business in 1985. It’s 2017 and I am still going strong and I don’t mind sharing with you how.
My own personal business growth strategies were and are reinvention, market analysis, understanding what is needed to survive and looking for areas to grow during uncertainty. But the most powerful is leverage with a twist.
The business of getting busy during uncertain times.
A client I worked with faced uncertain times after as good as blowing partners huge investment going into the millions.
How?
Here is what was strange. He talked big. His team talked big. They loved meetings. They loved to plan. The loved to set big goals. They loved to motivate each other and they loved to leave the big company weekend away slightly hung-over but ready to start again on Monday. And that was that.
When I eventually went through his business results, his wages bill alone was huge and I mean obelisk in size (bigger than big!).
They had no response from direct mail. They wrote some words, sent it out and hoped with just one attempt it might get them busier. It didn't.
No response from email. They spent literally weeks setting up emails with images, great HTML (oh how they loved great HTML) and tracking. Again not a single response.
Social media was a waste of time – the team simply posted endless content and loved the fact the had hundreds of likes and some shares – yet – no sales, leads or anything apart from the glory of the moment from a like button.
The only source of leads came from a tiny badly written trade magazine advert the actual CEO had created some years ago. His team of 11 were possibly the worst underperforming marketing team I have ever met. Not what you need during uncertainty.
17-LEADS IN ONE HOUR - STOP IT!
Anyway I was asked to go in and find out what the problem was. I found it the first hour I visited their huge HQ. I solved it the next day i got home. This resulted in seventeen leads in a single hour rather than their usual one a day if they were lucky.
Now don’t miss the point here because it gets pretty shocking.
During the first hour of the new campaign where the 17 leads arrived I got an email from the marketing director on behalf of his team. She asked me this and this is absolutely true.
‘Please turn off the campaign until they get everything into place to cope with the new leads".
I asked to speak to the CEO. I couldn’t get him as he was in the Arab states. I finally got an email from him supporting his team and asking me to switch off the campaign until they got their ass into gear.
Around 12-weeks (84 days later) later the campaign was never reinstated. The marketing director felt it was safer to go back to what they were doing. They felt what I did for them was too different, too new, too direct so they asked for a switch off.
They carried on doing what they had been doing the previous 18-months ... planning, talking and going on company paid weekends.
The company went bust.
Obviously.
Failing to Act During Uncertain Times
Yet I gave them a crazy 17 leads in one single hour. That campaign could have run and run and run and run forever. He could have had the richest most successful company in his field ever. I think he had a job now. The investors lost their cash.
Why?
Because, during a tough time they failed to take action despite all the talk of taking action. This is common. This is also stupid. Very!
If your marketing is failing right now how long are you willing to listen to your team talk the talk without walking? How long are you willing to put up with behaviour like that.
"DOING OK" ... IS FAR FROM OK!
“OK’ is no longer good enough. I don’t want OK I want everything I can get from my business. Do you?
Your results can change faster than you might be thinking and I am more than well qualified with 32-years behind me to take you there.
You can read more details on my MENTOR page or my services page.
But seriously
If the thought of increasing your enquiries from 0-to-17 per hour scares you I am not for you.
If the thought of going from 1-3 leads a month to well over 300 hundreds leads a months makes you feel under pressure – I am not your man.
If the fear of a speaking to your team is greater than the fear of success – I am not your man.
As you might know and I am proud to say I have a long long list of success turning business around, advising clients into the millions and creating success where failure looked like the only next option.
Business Growth Strategies
During uncertain times you need some certainty in your business results and business growth strategies that deliver.
I am that man if that is what you demand.
And I am not cheap. Cheap is cheap, I don’t like cheap anything I never have. Yet the results for your fast-track, direct, tested and proven business growth strategies will more than compensate for any investment you make with myself.
When would you like to talk or will you just wait and see what happens?
Once I got a call from a client – potential client – that wanted everything to change because his business growth strategies just weren't working. Nothing worked for him at all.
He told me about a big email campaign he was going to launch to his database. Now before I say more my own email campaigns for my clients can be launched the SAME DAY especially if a turnaround or survival is needed.
So we spoke and he told me that he had written the email and then other parts changed by his staff – all of his staff. His receptionist had written the start, some over there had written this line, and another person had changed that line and so on. Not the perfect way to create business growth strategies.
I told him DO NOT send it do to the negative reaction in the mind of the reader.
He sent it with no results. The same was repeated on his other marketing outlets. To be truthful I fired as a client in the end because he moaned about results, moaned about everything he was and wasn’t doing yet never did anything to fix it by following what I know to be brilliant business growth strategies.
This is very common where the boss needs to take absolute control of everything yet … Can a man that creates components for machinery also be the same man that is great at marketing?
Stick to what you know is a rule that I live by yet it’s a rare rule in the marketing of business.
Again we are facing some uncertain things ahead.
The one thing you really can be certain of is removing useless wasteful business growth strategies and putting into place business growth strategies that have been tested into your market place and tested until they work.
This could be the exact opposite of what you are doing right now.
It could be the exact opposite of what your marketing team wants to do right now.
However
These are uncertain times and in uncertain times not taking a risk is more risky than taking a perceived risk.
Lets talk.
Tele: 00 44 (0) 1619296902
Text: 00 44 (0) 7793069486 With the word TALK
What’sApp: 07793069486
Viber: 07793069486
Email: alan@orangebeetle.com
Skype: orangebeetle
Alan Forrest Smith, Business Growth Strategist