What,Are,You,Fishing,With,amp, marketing What Are You Fishing With? Lure, Bait and Gear

Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie

A 10-step exercise for services professionals to evaluateclients...Fly fishing -- it doesn't work, does it? When I firstwatched someone fly-fishing, they released the line andfling it far out into the water. No sooner had the fly hitthe water was it being reeled back in. Even today, I stilldon't understand how this method catches any fish. Yet itdoes. The results had an opportunity to occur because the line was pitched.Fly fishing looks like so much more work compared to theworm, bobber, sitting on a camp chair, day dreaming, anoccasional inconsequential conversation, sipping on a beer(okay root beer for family friendliness), relaxing andwaiting for the bite. The energy is more comfortable yetthe results less active -- maybe, maybe not.If you talk to a fly-fisherman, they claim there isn'tanything better. And the same is uttered from a by-the-seat-of-the-pants fisherman as well (cute description huh?).Doesn't this sound like one marketing pitted against the other.What makes the two different? Technique? Yes. Water type-- salt or fresh? Yes. Type of fish? Yes. Equipment?Yes. Supplies? Yes. Or is it the bait? Yes.The right answer is "all of the above."You can also throw in the temperature, weather, and time ofday. Everything depends on the right combination in theright order. You don't want to toss out the fly before theline. Well, I guess you can. But you miz-as-well kiss itgoodbye.Or as my Grandmother used to say: Don't throw out thebath water before the bath.Marketing is not any different than fishing. If you aretossing out the wrong hook to the right fish, they are notgoing to bite. If you have the right fish and hook, and thewrong technique, maybe a prayer or two will work. Theresults might trickle now and then. Yet, not the results youneed.This is why marketing experts emphasize the importance ofknowing your target market. If you don't know who you aretrying to catch, you are forever going to be tryingdifferent lures, hooks and techniques. Eventually, wearingyou down and keeping you chasing the next best thing to comealong that just might work. You can't catch flounder in fresh water or blue gill in salt.Stop throwing out the fly without the line. Start knowingwhat bait they like to eat, what line spooks them, what istheir timing for buying, and especially what type of fish.Start with this exercise for service professionals:Start the exercise by hand to get the "feel" of it. Thenmove the process into a spreadsheet to continue its growthand your clarity.Step 1: Grab a blank sheet of paper. Turn the page sideways --landscape. Step 2: You are going to making many vertical columns so writesmall.On the left, create the first column. Record the name of each one of your clients that you remember off the top of yourhead. Keep it simple and write just the name you remember. Itcould be just their first name, company name, or a nickname orlabel you privately gave them. Don't be kind be truthful.Step 3: Second column, title it "M/F." You guessed it, "maleor female." Now, proceed down the column and write theanswer.Step 4: Third column, title "M/S/D/U"=married, single, divorced,unknown. Continue down the column.Step 5: Continue making columns for additional categoriesyou know about your clients. Create a column for age or agegroup. Location, US, UK, Australia. If all the same, skipthe column. Number of children. How long a client. Totalrevenue for the past year. Service type. How did they findyou?Step 6: Add new distinctions and details over the next fewdays or week as you remember. Set aside the first fiveminutes of the day to add to the list or as you remember.Step 7: If you find some information missing, contact theclient or past client and ask.Step 8: Look for similarities, for instance, 90% males, single,or divorced. Some of these patterns are going to be obviousand some aren't.Step 9: Place a "*" or highlight your ideal client or clients.Many times, and without knowing it, because you are just gladfor the business, the fish pick you.Step 10: If you couldn't find "the ideal client" then forsome reason you aren't attracting them. There are somethings you need to change, either inside yourself or out,probably both. Find the gap between the two? What do youneed to do or be differently in order to attract thepreferred type of clients?Describe the type of ideal client you want. Place as muchdetail to them as possible, including revenue. What do theywant that you aren't expressing you have? What do they wantthat you don't have and need to change?At some point during this process you will want to convertthis to a spreadsheet for ease of use. Start when the informationfeels it needs too. This isn't a requirement, you may want to stop as soon asyou see that you aren't expressing what the client iswilling to buy or some characteristics or type of serviceyou don't provide that the client must have in order to dobusiness with you. If this is the case, you can stop hereand work on what needs to shift or change.Feeling some reluctance in taking the time to do so? Youwill not be the first. Jim, an insurance agent from Arizona, sent me an e-mailafter his attendance on a teleclasses with this exercise."Darn, Catherine, you're good. The exercise ate at me allnight. I gave in and did the exercise this morning, eventhough last night I was convinced that I already knew allthe answers. Today, I discovered major holes in mymarketing. Just by closing one of these holes today salesincreased. I look forward to continuing the exercise. Thank you for your patient e-mail and letting me move through my denial and seeing that thinking its all in myhead and writing it down is two different things."This exercise deserves repeating regularly. You can usethe results of this exercise as a measurement when reviewing your yearly goals. Or comparing one year to another. For first year businesses, I recommend completing thisexercise once every three months. After the first year,shift to twice a year. After three, once a year. Or before and after a new service or product is introduced. Article Tags: Ideal Client