Before you complete that little exercise though, let me entertain you with a story.
It’s about a truck, and it’s also about getting the most out of your marketing…
The Do-It-Yourself Trainwreck
I loved my Honda Ridgeline truck.
Best pickup ever.
(Sorry all you Dodge/Ford/Chevy/Nissan/Toyota guys. You’re just wrong.)
So when the light on the dash said it was time for a new timing belt, I did not hesitate.
I took it straight to my garage and asked them to give me the bad news.
The garage said it would take about 4 hours and cost me about $800.
Now here’s the thing about timing belts.
The up-and-down motion of each piston is precisely coordinated with all the others.
The timing belt controls when each piston moves up and down.
If the timing belt is put on wrong, then the pistons get out of sync with each other.
And when that happens, the engine can literally shake itself apart.
It’s that important.
Still… Eight Hundred Dollars?
It seemed like a lot of money.
How To Waste Time and Lose Money
I reminded myself that most mechanics were not Phi Beta Kappas.
And I’m a pretty smart guy.
I convinced myself I could probably figure out how to do it myself.
So I googled “Honda Ridgeline Timing Belt Replacement.”
I found a YouTube video that showed me exactly what to do.
The steps seemed clear enough.
And the parts were only about $200.
Since the garage told me 4 hours, I figured it would take me about 8 hours.
So I bit the bullet.
I ordered the parts from Rock Auto.
I watched and rewatched video of a master mechanic doing the job.
I was confident and I was ready.
The parts came in, I popped the hood and started taking things apart.
And nothing went as planned.
Nothing.
I pissed away three days away struggling to get it right.
And when I finally had everything back together and started up the truck,
it sounded like a train wreck under my hood.
You guessed it.
I got my timing belt on wrong.
And my engine almost shook itself apart.
Instead of spending $800 and being without my truck for a day, I spent $3549.17 and was without my truck for a month.
The lesson was as painful as it was simple:
If it’s really, really important, get an expert to do the job.
When The Expert Costs Less
Back to your sales & marketing self-evaluation.
If you were to rank your sales & marketing effectiveness on a scale from 1 to 10, how would you do?
10 is “hums like an exotic sports car.”
1 is “I think I put the timing belt on the wrong way…”
If you score your team less than 9, then you have a problem.
Just like an engine, every part of your sales and marketing team must be precisely calibrated and synchronized.
If they’re not, you risk destroying your business.
You should consider an expert marketing performance tuneup for your team.
Talk with us about the benefits of hiring an expert to give you a sales & marketing performance tuneup.
Our Pay-for-Performance model is your guarantee of measurable results.