Listening

I know loads. About all sorts of things (not just Thing-related). But knowing and doing and two very different things.

Making mistakes doesn’t mean you aren’t doing your Thing, or that you don’t have a great business. It just means you tried something and it didn’t work. That is all.

Now it might be that you chose the wrong time, the wrong offer, the wrong price, the wrong message, the wrong media, the wrong delivery method, the wrong title, …who knows? It might just have been the wrong day!

It doesn’t mean what you are doing is wrong. It just means something in the variable of what you did wasn’t right (and when I say right I mean right for your market—your ideal clients).

I am not saying you need to run a 24-hour business—that’s why websites were invented after all—but let us know in any advertising if you’re not going to be open and don’t waste our time. Have your opening hours for phone calls in your ad OR point us only to your website (and let us know what we can do there).

Now I know a niche is as important as the next marketing/sales/business guru but there is an order to these things that may well be the difference between driving yourself mad and your sanity (and success).

For me the ‘right’ order is Thing first and Niche second.

Now, while I do believe it’s true that all men (and women) were created equal, in business it’s very important to remember that not all customers are created equal. What I am talking about here is customer segmentation, and identifying the ‘best’ customers for your business…

Do you sell you? Of course you do, you’re a business celebrity!

But are you only selling you – your time – and nothing more? That’s not good – as you’re putting a limit on what you can do and who you can reach, not to mention a limit on your income.