If only I could focus more. You know, actually finishing what I had planned to get done. Instead, distracted by incoming emails, social media feeds, responding to WhatsApp pings on my smartphone and the desire to reach for a biscuit when I make myself that third cup of coffee of the morning.
Note to Reader. I’ve kicked the biscuit habit because I resist the temptation to buy them on my visit to the supermarket.
The rest of the distractions still stand.
I think a lot of people have the same challenge and when we claim to be ‘too busy’ it may be our attempt to justify to ourselves the time we have spent being distracted.
‘I’ve been really busy’ is normally shorthand for occupying my time with stuff but not achieving much that is worthwhile. Or am I being too hard? Is it more important to be busy or to be effective?
If the latter we need to identify and isolate income-producing priorities. ie. Making sales and building your reputation with customers.
Let me suggest the following income-producing activities.
1. Building an audience then reaching out in some way
Advertising, Email, Phone, Video, Coffee.
2. Engaging with prospects
Asking questions, adding value, building trust.
3. Doing Business
Closing Sales – Getting Paid
4. Creating ‘wow’ customer service
Building relationships and reputation with your clients/customers not shouting next!
5. Rinse and repeat
Anything else is a distraction. Distracts you from the income-producing activity above.
When we lose our focus our mind wanders. We lose sight of what we should be doing at any one time. We start to do things that keep us occupied or become distracted with short-term fixes and meaningless gadgets. Unimportant trivia. It’s difficult, we love nonsense.
EXAMPLE OF AN INCOME PRODUCING CAMPAIGN
Let me outline how I’ve helped someone set up such a system. This week I’ve created and been engaged in a marketing campaign for a B2B client (business to business).
After the initial discussion, I was able to research the target audience and gather meaningful data on each prospect, including email, telephone, phone, website, social media connections and mailing address for almost 200 business owners. Whatever the outcome this data is invaluable as it is live and not from a bought-in mailing list.
The next stage was to reach out to see who was open to a conversation and who wasn’t. Timing is everything. Some people are open to talk and some are not. And yes, some people are busy being busy that a conversation is impossible.
My client hates cold calling and so do I. So I chose a quick email and received a good response from a first email. Just under 10%. Incidentally, a good response meant people returning my email with a request for further information and call.
It’s always easier to engage when people request a phone call. It’s a qualified phone call. I forward relevant enquiries to my client’s team so they can outline their service and answer any questions the prospects will have. Time well spent building rapport and qualifying people still further.
The aim of the phone call in this example was to get people onto a video call in order to engage further, build trust and to make a sales or encourage another virtual meeting if that wasn’t possible.
So what do I do with the people who haven’t responded? I will email again. Rinse and repeat the process as the list is ‘mined’. And for those people who we have phoned or met on a video call, I make sure we keep the door open so we can stay in touch. Remember 82% of people buy after the 7th touch.
I describe this campaign in order to have you consider your own income-producing system. So when someone says, ‘how was your week?’ you don’t have to resort to ‘I’ve been really busy’.
Instead, you can say ‘I’ve been managing my marketing pipeline, reaching out to new prospects, getting in front of new prospects and closing sales.’
Now it that doesn’t keep you energised I don’t know what will.
Connect with Paul Clegg: connect@paulclegg.uk
01749 671596 | 07976 243107