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While I have completed a few 10ks in my time, I would never put myself in the category of being an athlete. What I do know about races though is that you don’t slow down when you see the finish line—you keep on running, and if you have it in you (there’s always that little bit in reserve, right?) then actually you speed up when you see it.

And you need to do this with your business goals and your marketing too.

For me there are 3 stages to ‘selling’. Now, don’t think I am about to launch into a “How to close in 3 easy steps” guide here–so not my Thing when it comes to sales. What I am talking about instead is the 3 stages people (by people, I mean ‘prospects’ if we’re doing sales speak) go through when they are buying.

Or, at least, this is how I see it…

The other day, Gary Vaynerchuk posted a great thing on Facebook which was along the lines of: “If this is your life’s work, don’t give up after 4 months”. And I’m sure you’ve read before about the ‘overnight’ success of people who have, in fact, been working away for years.

But that’s the point. If it was easy (like THAT easy) everyone would be doing it…

Belief.

Honestly, this is what makes the difference.

Yes, having great, compelling copy will help. Yes, having a clear offer and packages that show what’s possible works. It’s important you say clearly what it is you can do for people. It’s also important that you have a way for people to try you out, or connect with you. But above everything is belief.

When you’re an ambitious growing business it’s natural to want everything to happen RIGHT NOW, but sometimes it’s better to have only the answers you need NEXT to make sure you’re not missing a step.

Sometimes we know we’re ‘almost there’, but instead of taking the step to the left, we take about 47 right turns to end up there instead. And that’s OK.

Sometimes you’ll meet people who found their Thing, worked out their business model and got their positioning or niche right in one go. And then there will be other people (I was one of them) who took quite a few steps to get there. And shorter isn’t always better if you paid attention along the way.