I was reminded of this simple yet profound truth on a Zoom meeting I recently conducted. The lesson today is very important. Please listen to what I am about to share with you.
As I always do, I asked my coaching students for their recent good news/bad news stories. I do this so we can all learn from each other’s experiences … both good and bad.
The topic that day was distribution, and more specifically, how we can spread the word beyond our current communication list. I began by offering an idea that once worked for me and one “student” immediately shared the fact that she had done exactly what I was talking about … and that it worked to perfection.
I applauded her positive efforts before asking her when she enjoyed her personal marketing success story. Remember, this was on a Zoom session conducted recently. Her reply was met with disbelief, and with me scratching my head in disbelief.
“2021” was the year she last performed this “successful” marketing gambit. 2021!
I suggested that she forget everything she has ever read about sales and marketing since that day in 2021 and simply do what she did back then. I meant it.
People (you and me) study, read, buy books, go to seminars, attend conferences, and go to church on Sunday to pray for ideas that just might work. Then on a good day, your prayer is answered. Something actually worked. Then for some unexplained reason we respond by buying another book.
My mind drifted back to my collegiate football days while playing quarterback. We had a playbook with at least 997 plays diagrammed to perfection. These diagrams were a work of art complete with different colored circles, arrows of all lengths and sizes, and letters written in secret code. You have probably noticed while watching football on television that the quarterback selects one play followed by another … seldom looking or unfolding in a similar fashion.
The same holds true for marketing. When you stumble across an idea, strategy, tactic, or gambit that works, do it again … and again … and again. (Until it stops working.)
I truly hope my coaching student returns to 2021 and does whatever it was she did back then. I doubt that she will. It appears to be more fun to fail at a new challenge than to benefit continuously from some old formula.
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club, mike@mikemarchev.com.
*** You want more to think about? Check out my weekly podcast (Miked Up Marchev). Also listed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, and iHeartRadio.
