Unfortunately, life is not like that. Business is not like that.  It can be, if you have the wherewithal to employ others to do the maintenance for you.  But even then it’s not a sure thing.

What I have learned though is that life’s little successes are achieved through the willingness to knuckle down, stop blaming others and take responsibility for an outcome. For instance, if you’re thinking of setting up, or improving a business, first you have to recognize and understand the critical success factors.

Ask yourself:  What are the key issues necessary to achieve the goal?

Then you have to focus on getting those key issues handled. Whether it’s implementing a reliable payment system, or establishing a good lead generation system, there are going to be details that need to be taken care of.

Sometimes this takes a lot of time.  Sometimes it takes an inordinate amount of time.  Sometimes, it’s just plain frustrating and you feel as if you’ll never emerge from the exercise victorious.

At times like these, the old saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” comes in handy.  It’s trite, but true.  From personal experience, I’ve discovered that if you’re determined to find that solution, to achieve that outcome, even though it seems as if the struggle is taking forever and you wonder frequently if it’s worth it – IF you persist, if you simply stick with it, you will succeed.

Eventually you will find a way to make things work. Whether it’s a skill you need to learn to be able to implement something properly, or the patience to work with others to bring a vision to life, if you simply keep on going, you will get there.

An apt analogy is the prisoner who uses the casing of a ball point pen to patiently scratch away at the concrete wall until an escape hole appears.  Day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, he keeps scratching away…

We’d all hope that our ‘scratching away’ would not mean that length of time, but, if we’re prepared to keep on, no matter how long it takes – it will eventually pay off and the escape hole will be made.

For many of us, much of our struggle is not so much because we’re scratching away at a concrete wall with a ball point pen casing, but because today we scratch in this place and tomorrow in another.  We lose focus.  We self sabotage because we lose focus.  As a result, we lose energy.  When we lose energy, we lose hope.  When we lose hope, we lose motivation.  Without motivation and hope, nothing is possible.

So… let me encourage to choose a point of focus in your business and keep scratching away.  You’re closer than you think!

Companies that invest in every means possible to sell and who’re prepared to put new and innovative strategies in place to build their sales, will inevitably end up better off than those who cry “The sky is falling, the sky is falling…”

Think about it this way… people are still buying, albeit there are less people buying, so inevitably, less ‘stuff’ is being bought.  However, there ARE still people buying, so the key to success is getting a decent share of the active, buying market.

Laying off staff and cutting back at this time is a two-edged sword.  Cut back too much and you run the risk of not being able to service your existing customers properly, never mind look for new business.  Sure, you lower your overheads, but you also give your competition the opportunity to move in on your turf and win away customers who are suddenly feeling neglected and insecure.

A better alternative is to become more aggressive in your marketing, rather than less.

Make use of low cost options (compared with face to face sales calls) such as direct response mail and avvy public relations strategies. Of course, your strategies require laser-targeted, focused and powerful communication, so don’t skimp on that. Direct response sales copy is an art and a science. You can’t expect your ‘face-to-face’ sales people to have those skills, but you can work with a professional, marketing savvy direct response copywriter who can provide your salespeople with practical, effective campaigns.

Campaigns can include a number of sales aids that will allow your sales people become a lot more productive, freeing them up from the intensive ‘cultivation’ process formerly undertaken in person.  Instead, a copywriter can work with your sales people to develop personalized communications that can be sent via mail, used on the phone and in other, more subtle, yet effective ways.

This allows your sales team to ‘see’ more customers and prospects than ever before,

giving them the opportunity to benefit from the current ‘falling sky’ mentality.  As other pull back and leave their customers high and dry, your sales people have the opportunity to pick up new business and build stronger loyalty with existing customers without necessarily having to work harder. It’s all a matter of the way you look at the situation: challenge or opportunity?

Who knows? Follow this advice and you could find yourself prospering even more in this economy than you ever have before – all because of a change of perspective!

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Questions?  Need a seasoned marketing savvy direct response copywriter?
email: jackie@jackiecooperwriter.com

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