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Hi,
Well here we are, already a week into the New Year! We trust that you had a relaxing and enjoyable year-end break and that you are now back at work with newly pumped 'tires' and a filled up 'fuel tank' (so to speak).
Have you set your targets or resolutions for the New Year already? If not, then today’s article will walk you through a process to ensure that your resolutions actually stick this time.
And if you’ve already set yours, then undoubtedly you’ll benefit from using the article as a check-list to make sure you’ve done it right and not left any gaps.
You’ll also see that we’ve re-vamped the look of The Marketing Edge for 2009. We hope you like it, and would be happy to hear your feedback.
Just this morning we’ve secured a date with the organisers of Business South 2009 (see our teaser in You’re Invited) to host another VIP Reception, and invitations to this free event will make their way to you in due course. You may want to diarise Wednesday 4 March in the meantime if you’d like to join us there!
Here’s to a great 2009!
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But why not? Would you like to know how you can develop a powerful brand that will make your sales cycles shorter and close more deals at list price?
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Four Ways To Make Your Business
New Year’s Resolutions Stick
Call them goals, targets, aspirations or whatever you like, but at this time of year most folks make the expected 'New Year's Resolutions.' Normally thought up on the spur of the moment, they often mirror (at least to some extent) what everyone else is going to do: lose weight, join a gym, or stop smoking. Unsurprisingly almost everyone falls off the wagon by the end of January and gives up. They fail because the resolutions have not been well thought out, let alone clearly planned or executed with precision.
So this gives you a great excuse not to set resolutions for your business, right?
Absolutely not! Failing to plan is nothing more than planning to fail! You just have to do it in a fundamentally different way.
Resolutions have a negative connotation so let’s rather call them Aims, Intentions and Determinations. Then let’s take a look at a process to help you decide on yours for 2009 and on how to make them happen.
Written Down and Visible
It may or may not be just psychological, but it really is a fact that what gets written down gets done. Be it a shopping list, a ‘to do’ list or in this case your aims, intentions, and determinations you have a much stronger likelihood of (a) not forgetting anything and (b) making sure you achieve your goals, if they have been put into black and white.
Where you write them down isn’t important, what is important is that they are written down and somewhere visible so that you see them every day. I like to have mine on the whiteboard in front of my desk. I have clients who use their office notice board, have them in a frame on their desk, or even as the wall paper on their PC’s. It’s not naff – it’s commitment.
Smart
The goals you set must be specific and measurable. It’s no good saying you will sign more clients this year and increase your revenue. Be totally specific about:
- How many new clients you will sign,
- At what price will the business be done,
- What turnover you will generate,
- What marketing strategies you will use, etc.
You need to be specific too about how achievement will be measured and when. Break down your goals into achievable and realistic chunks that are nevertheless stretching. I always suggest to my clients that it’s better to aim high and fall short than aim low and succeed.
If you are currently turning over £200k per year setting a goal of £5million for this year is not realistic and probably unachievable, but setting a goal of £1million may not be that far out of reach. I would much rather set a goal of a million and achieve £750k than set a goal of £300k and stop there.
It is equally imperative that your goals have timescales attached, for example by the end of quarter 1... quarter 2... quarter 3... and so forth. Then drill down further into monthly, weekly, or daily goals with specific activities that will need to happen to achieve the overall goal.
Review and Adjust
At a minimum you should be reviewing your achievements against your goals on a quarterly basis—monthly is even better if you can get yourself into the habit. Knowledge is power and you need to know exactly how you are performing against expectations so you are able to take corrective action early if necessary. You may need to increase activity in certain areas, or outsource more in other areas.
Reviewing regularly will also help you uncover obstacles or challenges that are standing in the way of your success and allow you to adjust or call in expert help. Having a mentor or accountability partner is a tool that many successful entrepreneurs use to keep them on the right track (even David and I have mentors to keep us performing at our peak!)
Interview with the Future
Now visualise yourself twelve months into the future, at the end of December 2009. Picture yourself in a relaxed environment looking back at the intervening period which has delivered everything you hoped for.
What does the picture look like to you? How do you feel?
If the level of success you see and feel provides you with complete satisfaction, then go out and make it happen!
If, on the other hand, during this interview with the future you feel that 'it isn’t enough' or you are underwhelmed then you need to take another serious look through your goals and aim higher. Remember what I said earlier about aiming low and succeeding...
With all the best intentions in the world, unless you physically take action and execute the aims, intentions and determinations that you have drawn up for 2009 you will get to the end of the year and look back in bitter disappointment.
Don’t let that happen to you this year!
©Vanessa Deakin and Zee2A Limited 2009. Would you like to reprint this article? You may do so as long as you include the copyright notice and the following paragraph: Vanessa Deakin works with Professional Service Executives frustrated and disappointed with their current growth rates, marketing efforts, and business profitability. Through one-on-one and group mentoring programmes she helps them to skyrocket their results and break their own best records. To learn more, sign up for her e-zine, or make an enquiry please visit our website at www.zee2a.com.
Do you need a Mentor or Accountability Partner to hold your feet to the fire in 2009? Learn about our programmes and how we work or request a complimentary, no obligation 60 minute planning and goal setting session with either David or Vanessa valued at £199 (fee waived during January and subject to availability).
Would you like David or Vanessa to speak at your next event, seminar, workshop, or conference?
Send our assistant an email and we will respond within two working days to confirm availability and topics.
We offer our services as guest speakers for one event each month without charge, if the event is within reasonable travelling distance. Fees for events further afield are available on application.
- Did you attend our VIP Reception at Business South last year?
Did you read about it and see our photos and wish you could have been there?
Would you like to join us this year?
We have just agreed with the event organisers to host another VIP Reception at Business South in March 2009.
Our clients, Marketing Edge E-Zine subscribers, and our Marketing Edge Blog readers will be the first to be invited once we have secured our timeslot.
Watch this space!
In conclusion, if you enjoyed reading this issue of The Marketing Edge please forward it on to your friends and colleagues and help us spread the word! (But please erase the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. You don’t want to be inadvertently unsubscribed by one of your recipients!)
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ISSN 1756-350X
Volume 2 Issue 1
7th January 2009
www.zee2a.com
You have received this newsletter because you signed up for it or registered for one of our programmes.
In This Issue
David and Vanessa,
Your Zee2A Mentors
David and Vanessa work with Executives in the Professional Services Industry that are frustrated and dissatisfied with their current marketing activities, profitability, and business growth.
Through personal one-on-one mentoring they teach them how to become Marketing Masters, by among other things helping them create sustainable and repeatable marketing strategies that actually work!
Click to learn more about our mentoring programmes
Click to find out about our home-study information programmes
Food for Thought:
"In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high."
- Henry David Thoreau
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