Before I get into deadlines, let’s come up with a friendlier word that lacks the connotations connected to your nearest funeral parlor.  From now on, I will refer to a deadline as due date.  Doesn’t that sound much better and not nearly as dreadful?

So you have your marketing plan, marketing calendar, marketing ideas, and, hopefully, marketing yourself, advertising plan together and a punctual person to hire.  You are well on your way to having the foundation to a successful way to market you and your business.

You’ve taken the reins on all these aspects. Now it comes down to when you deliver your product or service.  Some due dates are simple.  If you are a distributor for say, locally grown fruits and vegetables, it is the farmers that will tell you when your product will be ready to be picked up and delivered.

Other fields, and frankly, most other fields, you are doing the work.  It is all on you.  We all want to tell the client they can receive their goods or services right away! Tomorrow!  It’ll be done next week. But, like I have written before, “Life Happens” and, you know what, let it happen.  Enjoy it.  Here are a few ways how to enjoy the life and ways to keep you sane while being kind to the due dates.

DO NOT PUT UNREALISTIC DUE DATES ON YOURSELF.

This is an obvious one, but is it?  Many people, especially self-employed, tend to feel like they must be full of stress and anxiety in order to feel like they are being productive and pushing themselves.

Self-employment is just that and it is tough to gage what other people are doing in your field and how fast, so the solution to legitimizing oneself? The marketing problem here is the: “Do it faster, tell the client you can do it faster for less money” scenario.  It’s the American way.  Don’t.

This is an admirable marketing goal, but speed costs and what are you willing to spend or sacrifice?  Many times the quality of the work deteriorates or it is a completely unenjoyable, unfulfilling process.  Nine times out of ten this pain stake is translated somewhere in the work delivered.

Take your time.  You are worth the wait.  Make the best of the task at hand and market yourself in delivering the best work.  If it takes you a few extra days then you think someone else producing the same work is, so what.  Odds are you will get better at your craft if you take your time and the turnaround time will naturally increase.  Which leads me to….

DO NOT GIVE YOUR CLIENT AN UNREALISTIC DUE DATE.

Even if you do start turning work out faster as you get increasingly comfortable in your work, does not necessarily mean you need to tell the client an earlier due date.

Again, life happens and it is a life to enjoy.  Give yourself a few extra days to produce your work and, who knows what you can accomplish beyond your clients expectations with that time. Give yourself the time to make errors, learn and most importantly…time to blow your client away with a quality product or service.

The worst feeling is telling your client you are going to be later then you anticipated.  We all do it, but try to prevent that conversation from happening.  It falls right in line with your new punctual self.  You are on time to your meetings and on time with your due dates.  These are valuable traits and word will spread fast through the grapevine about you.

WIGGLE ROOM FOR THE TIME SENSITIVE DUE DATE CRUNCH.

Particularly in the marketing and advertising realm, some jobs are very time sensitive and tight due dates are impossible to avoid.  Another huge reason to give yourself some wiggle room when stating a realistic completion date.

Now, all of a sudden, you are the person that produces great work on a timely basis AND the person that can deliver when a client is in a crunch.  That’s a strategic and truthful marketing and advertising plan.

If you have too many tight due dates because you want to be the fastest to deliver, then when a client comes your way saying, “I need this now!” you won’t be able to accept the work without most likely, delaying all your other due dates.  This will screw up the reputation of meeting deadlines you have worked so hard to earn.

BE BETTER THEN THE STEREOTYPES.

A few days ago, I saw a commercial for, I think a Gillette air freshener.  It is advertised to last 30 days but may last longer.  Parallel to this statement is a guy that is redoing this couples kitchen and they both say it is going to last longer.  The guy says their kitchen will be done in a month and the couple says that it will last longer.  Sure enough, the air freshener and their kitchen rehab last 60 days.   It’s great advertising, marketed towards all of us who know that many people don’t meet their due dates.

Certain professions, we all get that it will probably take longer then what is quoted.  Be better then the stereotype your profession may have or, as usual, people anticipating that it will take longer to see a job completed.

I recommend not giving a due date immediately.  Go home and give it some careful thought and consideration to everything that could happen (including life!).  If you think about it and communicate the reasoning behind your due date, the client will have a better understanding of what steps it will take to meet the deadline and respect the thought you put behind it.

People love honesty, integrity and seeing a job meeting the deadline.  My personal gauge, is if I think something is going to take me three hours, I triple that time first thought to 9 hours.  Maybe the task at hand won’t take me 9 hours, but the bottom line is I covered myself, maybe have some extra time to let life happen and have a happy client on my hands.

I hope this helps you to meet your due dates, think about how your want to market and advertise yourself,  and to have fun doing it.

Tags: action, marketing, marketing plans, planning, plans, sandy barris

5 Ways To Stretch Your Marketing Dollars

B2B businesses seem to have much smaller marketing budgets then B2C businesses.

If you are a B2B business looking for a few ways to stretch your marketing dollars, here are 5 to get you stretching.

1. Use the ads you create in other way besides publication advertising. When you run your ad pay for reprints (they are very lows cost) and mail your reprints to clients and future clients. Also turn you ads into data sheets by printing feature data on the back of your reprints.
2. Don’t change a thing. If your ads are working, keep running them until they stop working. You’ll get bored with them long before your future clients.
3. Pay your suppliers on time. Taking advantage of discounts and avoiding costly late fee can save you a lot of money. Plus, you’ll build your reputation leading to referrals and better service from your suppliers.
4. Don’t get to fancy with your ads, brochures and marketing. Many times going overboard will turn off potential clients, especially in the industrial marketing. Concentrate on your headline and offer, they are far more important then the bells and whistles.
5. Do it yourself. The everyday marketing tactics such as distributing press releases, updating your marketing plans and meeting with media resources can all be done by your or and administrative assistant or even a virtual assistant for some of the repetitive tactics.

If you had to choose just one of these dollar-stretching ideas, which one would you do first?

By the way www.FastMarketingPlan.com is getting close to being completed. I’m shooting for a November 30 launch. So click on the link above and sign up for updates and you’ll be in the front of the line for a 30-day $1 trial where you’ll love building all the marketing plans you need, FAST and the best part, you’ll get reminders and help every Monday morning about your upcoming marketing tactics to kick into action

© 2009 Sanford Jay Barris

Tags: action, marketing, marketing ideas, repurpose

Proof Will Help You Sell More Products, Services and Ideas:

Go ahead, take a few minutes today and look at every marketing message you are putting out…

Ask yourself:
Am I providing my reader, viewer and listener the proof and credibility that what I’m saying is indeed true?

How many times have you seen an ad on TV and said to yourself “Yea. Right. Sure it is?”

Let’s face it… we are all slammed with so many marketing messages a day, that we stop believing most of them.

So how do make your marketing messages more believable?

Start by take a closer look at the benefits of what you are selling.

Think about all the ways you can prove your benefits actually exist.
Ask yourself:
•    What are the strongest “Reasons Why” anyone should believe they’ll get what I promise?
•    How much more specific can I be?
•    What solid proof have I offered showing what I claim it true?
•    Have I begun to think about how I can strengthen my guarantees?
•    Is there a way to demonstrate your product/service in action?
•    Can you get a celebrity endorsement?

Answer these questions and apply these ideas to what you are selling and you are well on your way to providing the proof people need to believe your benefits will deliver.

“No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof.”
-Henry David Thoreau

Quick Bonus Marketing Tip:

Thousands of marketing experts say that it costs 5 to 6 times more to win a new client than it does to retain an existing one.  What about your company? Is it true for you too?

Yet, most companies spend a small portion of their sales and marketing budget on client relationship management.

Take a moment and think about how much more profit you could generate by deepening your existing client relationships?

Rather than finding ways to get your sales people to “make 20 unqualified appointments this week,” instead, think about the easiest way to building stronger relationships.

Think about all the way you can say “Thank You.” All the ways you can show that you appreciate their business and enjoy the relationship you have.

Here are a few simple ways to get you started.
1. Send a hand written thank you card or note.
2. Drop off a small gift.
3. Bring a flower to the gatekeeper you’re trying to get past.
4. Take your client to breakfast or lunch to talk about ways to improve profits in the coming year.
5. Hold a customer appreciation party.
6. Have your CEO write a personal letter of thanks.

Now go out and give thanks. Show your appreciation.
It feels great and is sure reduces your client attrition rate.

Tags: action, Add new tag, business, credibility, guarantees, henry david thoreau, ideas, marketing, Proof, sales, sales and marketing, tips

Do you have ideas for growing your business that don’t seem “perfect” enough to try?

Are you are waiting for everything to be absolutely perfect? The perfect product to sell, the perfect marketing effort to start, the perfect sales staff, or the perfect distribution network—you will wait forever.

Perfection equals paralysis.

You need to be willing to act.

Just realize that you are going to make mistakes: Everyone does.

“Have no fear of perfection — you’ll never reach it .”
- Salvador Dali

You may market to the wrong target or pick the wrong mailing list.
You may make the wrong offer or use the wrong media.
Sometimes, even when you think that you’ve done everything right, things don’t work out the way that you hoped they would.

Mistakes happen.

The key is what you let yourself learn from them.

I once sent out a broadcast fax to 5,000 businesses for a local co-op, business-to-business mailing. The only responses that I received were 83 requests that said “Take me off of your fax list.” I did not get one positive response: nada, zip, and zilch. It happens. Luckily, it was a small test. At least I didn’t fax 50,000 businesses and get the same results. Now, I can change my message, or try a different marketing approach.

The important thing is that I tried something and learned from the experience.

If I had decided to wait until I had perfected everything, I’d still be waiting.
I wouldn’t have learned anything.

Remember: you can’t learn if you don’t act.

If you keep on trying and keep on testing, your efforts will succeed.

What you decide to do doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be done.

Action is the key. Decide to act!

Are you allowing perfection to paralyze your marketing efforts?

Tags: action, direct marketing, perfection, success, target marketing