More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: How do you get marketing activities done when there's absolutely no time in your schedule?
Getting It Done
This eZine is the fourth and last in a series of preview eZines for my new Action Plan ToolKit which will be launched next week. In fact, I'll be introducing the principles of the ToolKit in my free monthly TeleClass on Monday, November 14. (see below for details).
In this issue, the topic "Getting it Done" is all about moving into action and making your marketing goals and plans happen. As you know, this is always harder than it seems.
Have you ever had a great intention to launch a marketing strategy (eZine, web site, speaking, teleclasses, networking), but it never gets much further than a few notes in a spiral notebook?
One of the top barriers to implementing your marketing is the inability to fit these activities into an already busy schedule. We promise ourselves we'll get around to it when we have time, but the time never seems to come.
In Module 2 of the Action Plan ToolKit I teach a technique that will help you get past your "mental barriers" of avoidance; in Module 5 I address the nuts and bolts of fitting important projects into what feels like an impossible schedule.
Let's look at how you allocate time:
You can roughly divide your time as a self-employed professional into four broad categories: 1. Client Work (meetings and projects), 2. Administrative Work (paperwork, phone calls, email) 3. Strategy Work (long term planning, reading, seminars) 4. Marketing Work (any marketing and selling activities).
For most of us, Client Work and Administrative Work take up the majority of our time, creating the impression that we have no time to fit in anything else.
According to the famous Peter's Principle, "Work expands to fit the time." If we have four hours of Client Work in a day and two hours of Administrative Work, we will not only expand it to eight hours, we'll fit it into 12 hours if we have a home office!
We build some very solid evidence that it's impossible to fit in Strategy Work or Marketing Work. But deep down we know the value of this work. We know it will help us successfully build our business, attract more clients and make a better income.
But where and how do you fit it in?
The first place to look is your to-do list. If you're a typical Independent Professional, you have a very, very long list of to-do items that include activities from all four areas. Some are urgent, some are important, some are both, and some are neither.
But they all live on that big list you look at every day. (Just looking at that list can feel overwhelming, can't it?)
And how many items do you actually accomplish on that list daily? Usually only a fraction. The items such as "Develop a new presentation" and "Start an eZine" or "Work on finding joint venture partners," get pushed aside for other urgent work.
Sometimes these things get done - often at the last moment. But it's not unusual that they drop of the list permanently, leaving only a vague impression in the mind and a tinge of regret in the heart. You know they would have made a difference, but you just never got around to them.
Is there really a solution?
Yes, there is. However, I warn you that it is so simple it may not seem like one. It all comes down to that deadly to- do list. You simply cannot work from such a list. Instead, you need to narrow your daily activities down to a few essential items.
On my daily to do list (which is in a column right beside my daily schedule) are usually no more than five items. This is not everything that I need to do in my business; this is what I will commit to getting done today.
I first look at my calendar (Marketing Action Group at noon and workout at the gym at 4:30.). And then I only write down those items that I absolutely intend to get done today. And I don't put any Administrative Work on that list! That will happen anyway. I'll fit those items in between the cracks.
By taking my attention off *everything* I have to do (those items can be on a master list or on various project lists in a notebook or folder), and narrowing it down to the important things I want to accomplish today, not only do I get my Client Work done, I get my Planning Work and Marketing Work done as well.
Today I'll finish this eZine, put the final touches on the Action Plan ToolKit, and set up my free monthly TeleClass for next week. Only three items - but what leverage!
It's all a matter of focus. As the famous time management author, Alan Lakein, asked himself, "What's the most important use of my time right now?" If you answer that honestly, you'll discover how to make time for the most important things.
* I've only been able to cover, at best, about 10% of the material in the Action Plan ToolKit in the past four eZines. When it launches next week, you'll have access to some of the most powerful tools ever discovered for turning your ideas into reality.
* The More Clients Bottom Line: What we focus on gets done. The small, urgent things take care of themselves, and the important Client Work will always get onto your calendar. So narrow your focus to the high-priority items that will produce long-term results, put them on your daily list, and make them happen!
Free Monthly TeleClass - Monday - November 14
Each month I hold a free monthly TeleClass for the subscribers of More Clients. We've covered a variety of topics, from creating an effective marketing message to specific marketing techniques.
This month's TeleClass will be a preview of the new Action Plan ToolKit. This ToolKit is a comprehensive online program that will help you set marketing goals, overcome your resistance to marketing, brainstorm and create effective marketing plans, and fit marketing activities into your already busy schedule.
The ToolKit includes five written Modules and an Audio Tutorial. In the program, Bill Metcalf interviews me, and works through the program as well. Bill moves from unclarity and resistance to enthusiasm about his marketing project, and actually starts to put it into action by the end of the program.
Bill will join me on the TeleClass and we'll share some of the important concepts in the program. And of course, I'll answer any questions you may have. If you cannot attend, we'll be recording it so you can listen to it later. Please reserve a space (to attend or listen) by linking below:
http://www.actionplan.com/mtg.html
Resources to help you develop your own plan
The most important resource for any marketing plan are marketing recipes (strategies, tactics) that have a proven track record. You also want to understand the principles of how marketing actually works to persuade prospects to work with you.
Good places to start for most Independent Professionals are the two main products below offered by Action Plan Marketing. They give you the information, resources and support to develop detailed and proven marketing strategies for your business.
The InfoGuru Marketing Manual
This manual will help you develop a complete, workable marketing strategy to attract new clients to your business. Includes detailed information on all the marketing activities that work best to attract clients if you're an Independent Professional plus an online Support Forum to answer any marketing question you might have.
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html
The Web Site ToolKit
This ToolKit provides you absolutely everything you need to create a high quality web site that will establish a solid foundation for all your marketing. It will show you what to put in your site, how to write it, format it and design it for the best possible results. Includes dozens of tools and resources plus samples of web sites you can emulate.
http://www.actionplan.com/wstk.html
Until next week, all the best,
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Cracking the Marketing Code for Independent Professionals~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2005 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:
"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses."
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