If you’re not getting the sales and marketing results you want for your business, what’s holding you back? Maybe you believe it’s your failed website project, the marketing automation software that didn’t double sales, or the marketing expert who took you for the last ride to hell and back.
It’s none of that. It’s fear.
John and his wife own a small business. Their biggest fear is losing everything if the business fails, again. The Great Recession was rough on them. Worse, they completely missed the digital marketing bus. Because of this their sales and marketing results suck. It’s now a bare bones crew. Nobody is happy.
Pissed At the Last Marketing Guy
Guess who the business owners take it out on? Their last marketing guy.
What do business owners want from their marketing guy? They want ROI. And they expect their marketing guy to help them get it.
While the business owners have been looking for a new marketing guy, here’s what else is happening.
- The CFO fears change. He hates losing money. He worries about keeping his job. He wants stability, predicable revenue and a solid bottom line. Mostly, he wants to keep the job he hates now.
- The poor web guy fears not graduating from college, or getting a solid job, or paying off the mountain of debt choking him. He learned how to build websites on YouTube. He’s pretty good at it. But he charges too little money and might as well make $17 a hour driving for Uber. But he lost his license. He’s just wants to get through college. He’s blames the last marketing guy for being bossy and making him use SharpSpring marketing automation.
- The sales guy fears not making his monthly quota. He’s new to this team. He came on board after the Great Recession. He used to sell cars. He thinks the leads suck. He wants better leads. He blames the business owner who still blames the last marketing guy. The salesman wonders if he should look for another job; one where the leads are really good.
- The SEO guy, who lives in Mexico and is semi-retired, fears losing one of his $200 per month accounts. It’s cheap to live in Mexico. He wants to live a simple life and do as little as possible. The SEO blames the IRS for needing to move out of the U.S. (He’s in the same time zone though.) He thought the last marketing guy was a putz.
- There is one investor in this deal. He fears being bored in life because he’s retired and rich. He invested in the deal so he could “consult.” This means meddle with everything he knows nothing about. He missed the digital marketing bus by two decades, one less than the guy he invested his retirement savings with. The owner puts up with it because he needed the investor’s money. The investor wants a new website even though there is a new website in progress and it will soon be ready, when the website guy’s semester is over. He thought the last marketing guy was too intense and he could never understand what he was talking about.
- There is no content marketing person on this team. There isn’t a CRM administrator or a copywriter. There is no Adwords pro driving ads. Not even a social media magician works for this team. Why?
Fear. How many business owners and other people fear investing and losing money?
This couple and almost everyone we meet has had such a rough time getting sales and marketing results, they fear losing more money.
“That marketing guy never did what he said he would,” they say.
I’m The Next Marketing Guy
My name is Cliff Jones. I’m the next marketing guy. The scenario I present is a compilation of many true characters, stories and fears I have faced especially over the last ten years since the internet changed the way we market and sell.
When I show up to audit and optimize the sales and marketing, my job is to listen. I conduct my discovery by asking many questions, taking notes and listening more. I then create a tight scope of work (what you get). Together we build a plan of action. The plan is your new road map and it will get you better sales and marketing results. But you must work the plan and never stop. Unless you sell the business or quit and take a day job.
I have fear because I am human. I know it intimately well because I’ve worked for the last 30 years starting, funding, building and selling my and other people’s sales and marketing campaigns. Because of this I’ve learned a few things about dealing with fear.
Fear can be a powerful teacher. Fear can also kill.
You must not let your fear get in the way any more. “Give it no counsel,” a wise friend once said to me.
Take a stand against fear. Talk to it and let it know who the boss is; you. If it shows up, shine the line on it and let it go so you can do what you need to do to grow your business; invest wisely in sales, marketing, people and technology. In order to do that you need a plan of action. You need someone to help you – someone you can trust.
I know from thousands of hours of auditing, questioning, listening, planning, building, testing and adapting to the mostly-crappy results that are normal in sales and marketing. Sales and marketing is a game of failure. That’s why it’s not for wimps. You must face the fear you feel if it’s holiding you back from getting better sales and marketing results.
This Is What We Hear
I do not work alone. We have a small crew. And we hear all about your fear. We want yo to know it’s going to be okay.
Jack and Mack, my business partners, drive this bus with me. This is what you tell us and we hear …
You tell us about your last marketing guy. And normally, the one before him. We listen.
I ask you now if this is you, “Why spend so much energy regretting the past now that you know the #1 killer of sales and marketing results is fear?”
Don’t. It’s silly to spend another minute thinking about your past train wrecks in marketing. Vow to learn from your mistakes. Let the fear go. Focus on building confidence and clarity. Build a plan. Take action.
What’s holding you back? Maybe you’re playing the sales and marketing leader, but you don’t know what you need to know. So you suffer. Maybe you think you don’t have the money, but now you know the real cost is lost opportunity to grow and succeed. Maybe it’s 10,000 things. Underneath it is all is fear.
Look, sales and marketing is a team sport. It is a contact sport. If you want a championship team, where’s your championship coach, leader or manager? If you don’t have this, no wonder you feel fear.
The bottom line is you can’t afford NOT to have the best sales and marketing person you can afford driving your sales and marketing bus. It’s simply too difficult. If you are really good at making paperclips or videos, do what you do best. Delegate the rest to a sales and marketing leader you can trust.
Marketing Is Too Expensive
Has it ever occurred to you that marketing is, “too expensive.” This cracks me up. Of course it is when you don’t what the heck you’re doing. But it’s an essential investment in every business. If you do knew how to manage for sales and marketing results you would have the results to show for your work and money.
How much is it costing you not to have the right person driving your marketing bus? Think about this. If you hired someone who delivers the road map, support, tools and experience to get you and your team where you want to go, why not hire them?
Fear. But who can help you overcome your fear?
A fearless sales and marketing warrior who knows technology. Even though he has fear because he is human, he gives his fear and yours no counsel because of his long track record in the trenches. He knows that fear kills sales and marketing results. This is why he is the warrior who battles the fear, even if he has to get in your face and tell you you’re not listening.
You value the person who tells you what other people will not. Most will be afraid to tell you what you need and want to know. Fear.
Enter the fearless sales and marketing leader. Maybe this is the person who helps you break through your biggest obstacles in sales and marketing.
People. Product. Process.
Who’s driving your marketing bus today? If it’s you and you’re not a qualified marketing expert with a track record of getting sales and marketing results across a wide spectrum of vertical markets and use cases, why are you running your own marketing? How much is that costing you?
They still aren’t happy. They think it’s me. But why aren’t they getting the sales and marketing result they all want?
Ask Marcus Lemonis what the three keys for business success are and he’ll say, “People, product and process.” Over come your fear by building confidence through process. If you’ve got a great product or service to sell, and you have all the right people on your team except sales and marketing, what will it take for you to get what you want? Get over your fear.
My small team and I bring in the sales and marketing process. We help you write a plan of action. We manage the projects and set up the marketing funnels. We build you bullet proof marketing automation systems. We create and manage all the content elements. We keep tight scopes of work and budgets. We are relentless on details and data-driven decision making. We do the marketing for you and you get to do what you do best.
We help you get over your fear.
Got a question for us? Leave a comment or question below on the blog. Or contact us here.