Fear of Failure: For a Marketer, It’s the Kiss of Death

Are you receiving less than stellar results in your marketing? Well the first step in fixing it is identifying the cause. This article discusses one of the top causes why many businesses do not reach their full potential.

Keywords:

marketing,fear of failure

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Susan B. Anthony was once quoted as saying “Failure is impossible”. And you know what? I believe she was right because regardless of the outcome of whatever action you take, in anything you do, you always gain something from taking action.

On the other hand, fear of failure typically shows up as procrastination or inactivity which is the complete opposite of what fosters great marketing which for most of us requires properly targeted consistent and persistent action.

Now maybe you tried some marketing, even worse maybe you spent some of your hard to come by, hard earned money and didn’t quite achieve what you ultimately set out for.

As a marketer, and yes whether you realize it or not we are all marketers, if I was afraid to fail, I’d probably never try anything – unless of course it was a sure thing and I don’t believe anything in life is a ‘sure thing’. But anyway, if I never tried anything, I believe it would be safe to say that my target audience would not know who I was or what I do. Then as a result I’d most likely go out of business due to lack of sustainable income.

Now I’ve read the studies too that state the lack of capital as the main reason most small businesses fail however, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that although I can’t prove it, I believe one of the biggest reasons business fail or underachieve is due to lack of effective marketing.

The key here is to not be attached to an outcome. So what if customers weren’t banging down your door because of your last marketing campaign. What’s most important here is what you do going forward. The past is the past, you can’t change that. You can however, shape your future by what you do right now in the present.

Stay in the game. Learn from your previous marketing efforts and move forward.

Now marketing is all about timing and consistency and since timing is almost impossible to predict, consistency is key. You cannot know when every prospect is going to be ready to buy – that’s just impossible. It’s almost like trying to time the stock market. “Should I invest now? No. Should I invest now? No. How about now? Yes, it looks good, I’ll invest now.” Waiting for what seems to be the perfect time to invest is for the most part just like gambling. Hopefully you’re at least taking educated guesses there though, but that’s beside the point. Also note that even the best of the best investors regularly have bad timing however, their consistency and willingness to keep playing eventually bring them success.

So yes I’m drawing a parallel for you here. And my point is just get on the playing field. Get you marketing message out there consistently. Don’t sit back and wait for the perfect time to market your business – NOW is the perfect time! It’s always the perfect time to market your business because there is simply no way you can know when the perfect time is for everybody. However, by consistently getting your message out there to your target audience, you stand a much better chance of being top-of-mind when a certain prospect is ready to buy.

For example, if I sent out the same marketing piece every month, maybe for the first 4 months a particular prospect wasn’t interested. But then that 5th month rolls around and that prospect’s situation has changed a bit for whatever reason unknown to me, they now just happen to need what I offer and ‘whalla’ there I am positioned right in front of them.

Another key point to consider is that each ‘no’ brings you one step closer to a ‘yes’. So being told ‘no’ should not be looked at as a failure, but as a stepping stone bringing you closer to what you want.

So let me close by combining wisdom from 3 sources for you, former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nike, and Lotto and it goes something like this: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself” so “Just Do It” because “You’ve got to be in it to win it”!


© 2006 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Death Penalty Is Preferable to Life Imprisonment

Frederick Anthony Romano remembers the night. More than 15 years later, he remembers it as if it happened within the last week.

Keywords:

electrocution, firing squad, furman v georgia, gary gauger, hanging, troy lee jones, lethal gas, lethal injection

Article Body:

Kane, Gregory Current Controversies: Capital Punishment Mary E. Williams Greenhaven Press 2005

Viewpoint

Frederick Anthony Romano remembers the night. More than 15 years later, he remembers it as if it happened within the last week.

It was Sunday night, Nov. 1, 1987. Seventeen-year-old Romano had gone to bed. His mother, Betty Romano, was in the house with him and his father, Frederick Joseph Romano. Soon the father received a call from his son-in-law Keith Garvin, a Navy petty officer who had returned to his base in Oceana, [Virginia]. Garvin had called his wife, Dawn Garvin, to let her know he had arrived back safely. But there was no answer.

After two calls to his daughter's house, Frederick J. Romano headed to the newlywed couple's White Marsh apartment. He found his daughter beaten, tortured, mutilated and dead.

Frederick A. Romano remembers his mother's panic-filled voice as she talked to his father, of himself grabbing the phone only to hear his father tell him that his older sister had been hurt.

"But he knew she was dead," Frederick A. Romano said.... Yes, Frederick A. Romano-who prefers to be called just "Fred"-remembers it all. He remembers the man who murdered his sister and two other women-Patricia Antoinette Hirt and Lori Elizabeth Ward-and how he has waited for 15 years for one Steven Howard Oken to, in the younger Romano's words, "meet his maker."

The Pain of Victims' Relatives

"It's caused a lot of emotional problems for me and my mom and dad," Fred said. "They're on so many drugs to keep themselves calm, it's unbelievable."

That is a suffering death penalty opponents can't or won't understand. The pain of homicide victims' relatives never ends. It chips away at their souls and psyches year after depressing year. So what's the appropriate punishment for that?

Death penalty opponents would have us believe that squirreling Oken away in a cell-where Frederick A. and Frederick J. Romano, Betty Romano and Keith Garvin would be among the taxpayers footing the bill for his housing and meals-is punishment enough. If the correctional system offered any college courses, the Romanos and Garvin would pay part of the cost if Oken wanted to take them. Dawn Garvin never got to finish her education at Harford Community College.

Justice but No Closure

Capital punishment foes figure that's justice. Here's what death penalty advocates feel is justice. Execute Oken the week of March 17, [2003], as a Baltimore County judge ordered.... After Oken is dead, death penalty advocates can then defy death penalty opponents to show us why and in what ways Oken's execution was not justice.

That's what it's about for Fred Romano. He doesn't buy into the closure argument some death penalty advocatesmake. (It's just as well. Death penalty opponents, ever noble with grief not their own, dismiss the notion of closure, too.)

"It won't bring closure," Fred Romano said. "Dawn will never be back. I'm not looking for closure. That's a bad misconception on the part of some people. I want Oken to die for the murder of Dawn, Patricia Hurt and Lori Ward."

Not About Revenge

This isn't even about revenge, another rallying cry of the anti-capital punishment crowd, who chide death penalty advocates for seeking vengeance.

"It's justice," Fred Romano said. "It's not revenge."

His wife, Vicki Romano, agreed, then elaborated.

"Revenge would be going out and killing one of [the murderer's] family members," Vicki Romano said. "The death penalty isn't revenge. It's the law."

Fred Romano believes the man who's supposed to uphold that law, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, has inserted himself squarely in the path of Oken's execution. [Early in 2003], Curran called for abolishing Maryland's death penalty....

Fred Romano called Curran after the announcement, to give the attorney general a piece of his mind. Curran, to his credit, called Fred Romano back and heard him out.

Curran, Fred Romano said, asked him if he had a problem with a sentence of life without parole as opposed to the death penalty. His response was what you might expect from a guy who organized the Maryland Coalition for State Executions [in 2002] and who's had the group's Web site (www.mc4se.org) up for [several] months.

"My problem with it is that 10 years from now some other idiot will come along and say life without parole is too harsh," Fred Romano said. "Then they'll pass a bill granting them parole and then we'll have a bunch of murderers walking the streets."

In Maryland's bleeding-heart liberal legislature, that's exactly what would happen.

Death Of A Salesman? It’s What Happens When The Customer Says “I’ll Think It Over!”

Michael Jordan said “Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it”

You have given a great presentation, you ask for the order and the customer says he‘s going to think it over. This was the moment I felt was the last straw. I’d had it! I don’t want to sell anymore; I’m going back to bookkeeping! So, without a care in mind I said whatever came to mind and it worked! Let ...

Keywords:

salesman,customer,objections,selling,think it over,sales trainer

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Michael Jordan said “Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it”

You have given a great presentation, you ask for the order and the customer says he‘s going to think it over. This was the moment I felt was the last straw. I’d had it! I don’t want to sell anymore; I’m going back to bookkeeping! So, without a care in mind I said whatever came to mind and it worked! Let me share my epiphany with you.

I was selling employment testing material that was based on the teachings of a well-known sales trainer. The question that brought the most conversation was about closing. How do you ask for an order? When someone says I’ll think it over, do you become the nice customer service type that says “fine, call me when you’re ready” or do you go for the throat and say “what is there to think about?” You know the first response is totally wrong and the second, which is the suggested answer, will probably turn the customer off. You try to say it nicely but at this point it’s likely he’s not going to say much more. What did I do? I said gently and with a smile in my voice, “Mr. Customer, could you think out loud so I can hear you?”

I must tell you, I did not expect the response I got. He laughed heartily and said he could do that. He proceeded to tell me his reasoning and I proceeded to answer all his objections. We were both very relaxed; he purchased my product and congratulated me on my question and my closing.

There’s an old adage that says, “A smile given to another can make the difference in their day and yours too.”

Needless to say, I decided selling could be fun. I did not go back to boring bookkeeping and now that I’ve retired, these words ‘could you think out loud so I can hear you’ are my present to you.

Caller ID of Death

As a broker, there is an unwritten rule that you don't steal clients from a co-worker because we all work on commission. Our office phone system works in such a way that if a desk is unmanned, the call will be transferred to another desk until it is picked up. When I get a call of this nature, I can pull up the investor’s information and see exactly what has portfolio holds and who he normally deals with.

Keywords:

Telephone, telephones, phone, phones, telephone systems, telephone system

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As a broker, there is an unwritten rule that you don't steal clients from a co-worker because we all work on commission. Our office phone system works in such a way that if a desk is unmanned, the call will be transferred to another desk until it is picked up. When I get a call of this nature, I can pull up the investor’s information and see exactly what has portfolio holds and who he normally deals with. If the client is long term and has a preference for a particular broker, I simply tell them that I'll have their broker call them right back. The one time I decided to ignore this rule, it ended up causing a big scene.

Although we all have stocks to push, there is a degree of flexibility in what we recommend our customers buy that differentiates each of us. Therefore, what I recommend may be in stark contrast to what the guy sitting next to me might recommend. One day a call comes across my desk from a big client. This client is so big, in fact, that he is the primary bread and butter for one of my co-workers. The day the client called was the last day of a weeklong vacation my co-worker had taken, so I knew he wouldn't be able to call him back until the next day. By coincidence, I was pushing a stock that had just reached it's one month low, but that I knew was primed to resurge. I was as sure of this stock as any I'd ever recommended before. Still, I knew I would catch major hell from everyone for making a commission off of another broker's primary client. I decided I couldn't let the opportunity pass the investor by so I simply told him that his broker had instructed me to tell him about the stock I was sure of if the client called, and that his broker would be back tomorrow. The client bit on the stock and made a major purchase. I thanked him, filled out a commission sheet with my co-workers information on it (so that he would be the one to benefit from my work) and forgot about it. I figured I might get a nice "thank you" upon his return...especially if the stock performed as I expected and the client was happy. At the end of the day, I checked the stock to find it had climbed an astounding three points. I wasn't thinking of the sale to my co-worker's client as I, myself had made several sales of it to my clients and was happy that they were going to profit handsomely from my recommendation.

The next day, I came in to find my co-worker (yes, that co-worker) standing at my desk. He had seen his client on my caller ID and proceeded to throw a "class A" fit in front of God and everybody. I simply stood there while he lit into me as though I had just devoured his firstborn. Not only did he scream at me, several others joined in, thinking I had sold to his client on my behalf. I didn't say a word. I knew that he, nor they, had discovered that I put the sale under his name and that the stock had performed extremely well. He said his last and stormed off back to his desk.

Every morning, we get a printout of the previous day's activity around 9:00 am. That's usually about the time I go down to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. When I returned, there was my co-worker, standing at my desk and smiling from ear to ear. Not only had he made a nice commission without even being at work, his client called to thank him while I was getting coffee. I just smiled right back, knowing he had to be feeling about two feet tall. I had lobster for lunch that day, and guess who paid.

I love caller ID.

Death of a Salesman? It’s What Happens When the Customer Says “I’ll Think It Over!”

Michael Jordan said “Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it”
You have given a great presentation, you ask for the order and the customer says he‘s going to think it over. This was the moment I felt was the last straw. I’d had it! I don’t want to sell anymore; I’m going back to bookkeeping! So, without a care in mind I said whatever came to mind and it worked! Let me share my epiphany with you.

Keywords:

salesman,customer,think it over,obstacles,presentation,selling,sales trainer,objections

Article Body:

I was selling employment testing material that was based on the teachings of a well-known sales trainer. The question that brought the most conversation was about closing. How do you ask for an order? When someone says I’ll think it over, do you become the nice customer service type that says “fine, call me when you’re ready” or do you go for the throat and say “what is there to think about?” You know the first response is totally wrong and the second, which is the suggested answer, will probably turn the customer off. You try to say it nicely but at this point it’s likely he’s not going to say much more. What did I do? I said gently and with a smile in my voice, “Mr. Customer, could you think out loud so I can hear you?”

I must tell you, I did not expect the response I got. He laughed heartily and said he could do that. He proceeded to tell me his reasoning and I proceeded to answer all his objections. We were both very relaxed; he purchased my product and congratulated me on my question and my closing.
There’s an old adage that says, “A smile given to another can make the difference in their day and yours too.”

Needless to say, I decided selling could be fun. I did not go back to boring bookkeeping and now that I’ve retired, these words ‘could you think out loud so I can hear you’ are my present to you.

Failing To Plan Your Business Financing Can Be A Death Sentence For Your Business

Most businesses start out thinking the first thing they need is a great business plan. The popular myth is that potential lenders will place great stock in your business plan as a major consideration for approving the financing you need.

While a well written business plan will assist you when you are seeking financing, it is far down on the lender’s list behind things such as your business management team’s experience, your past business successes and your “lending charact...

Keywords:

business loans, business financing, business funding, small business, business capital

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Most businesses start out thinking the first thing they need is a great business plan. The popular myth is that potential lenders will place great stock in your business plan as a major consideration for approving the financing you need.

While a well written business plan will assist you when you are seeking financing, it is far down on the lender’s list behind things such as your business management team’s experience, your past business successes and your “lending character “. Having a plan for accessing the business capital you need to execute your business plan is what is required to bring your business success. Not having a viable business financing plan is the direct cause of why 90% of all new businesses fail.

Your lending character means the lender sees you having the ability and stability to repay the loan. They also ask how far they believe you can take the business to maximize the potential earnings and therefore their chances of getting repaid.

The first thing a lender is going to look at is how did you structure the business and were you responsible and knowledgeable in that. Are you Incorporated or an LLC? If not you are declined for a business loan and everything becomes based solely on you as an individual. Did you do your EIN, State, business licenses and bank filings correctly? If not, you are declined because lender’s require attention to detail.

A simple business credit report check by a lender will quickly show whether or not you are even in the ballpark for getting approved for financing. If the lender finds that you haven’t bothered to insure that your business has active reports with all three major business credit reporting agencies, then of course you are immediately declined.

Next, the lender will look at the character of your business credit reports. What do they say about your business? What kind of payment histories have you had with debts that are easy to get such as vendor trade lines, small business credit cards, equipment leases, etc? If your business has no credit history or very minimal history then no lender will even consider your business for a larger loan when you have no track record of paying smaller debts.

If you pass these simple tests, now a lender will get to the heart of you business loan application and it is only at this point that you even get the opportunity to present your funding request. Unfortunately as high as 90% of all business loan applications never get to this point, because most business owners never take the time to complete the initial steps.

So you have made it this far, The next question you need to ask is what is a lender going to want to see? Debt service! Here is where the lender finally looks at your business plan (or at least the financial pat of it) to determine if your business can debt service the loan. To make this determination a lender will test the reality of your numbers. Basically this means do your numbers add up and do they make sense.

If you don’t know anything about accounting you had better get help. When a lender looks at your projected financial statement and finds simple accounting errors, then in most cases you will again be declined. They don’t want to lend money to someone who cannot produce a simple proof and loss statement; or someone that can’t balance a balance sheet. There is a lot of help out there, get some.

Next, a lender will look at the market niche section of your business plan. While most business owners think that this is the place that sets them apart from the competition, it actually is the part where lenders will compare you to your competition. Here is where lenders must see that you have done you market research. Can the revenue claims that you are making in your financial projections be backed up by the actual market demographics for your specific business industry, location, customer base, etc.? It essentially comes down to the need for your product or service.

All of this can seem overwhelming and in truth it can be. It is the reason that 97% of all business loan applications get declined. The overriding reason is that business owners are not taught this in school and typically only gain this knowledge through years of brutal experience that normally includes having one or two failed businesses under their belts.

This will give you plenty of information to get you started on putting together a business funding request. In my next article I will cover some of the other aspects of your business plan. For a full version of an excellent business funding guide do a search on Google, Yahoo, or MSN for "Business Funding Workbook".