The Christmas Tree Marketing Plan

Ever notice that you set marketing and sales goals and then you either take forever to accomplish them or they don't get accomplished at all?

I'd like to share a simple system to get you from goal to final result in the shortest amount of time possible.

First of all, planning is great; without a plan you have no purpose or direction. And then you're drifting. But the only thing worse than having no plan is over-planning. This is where we get in our own way and delay our progress.

I want you to imagine a Christmas tree with no branches.

At the bottom, the trunk is sitting in a Christmas tree stand. At the top of the tree, there is a star. The stand is the foundation or the goal and the star is the realization of that goal.

But you need a few branches to help you climb to the top.

Imagine that your goal is to turn some prospects into clients by setting up complimentary sessions. That's the goal, and to get to the top of the tree and to the star you'll need to climb up a few branches. So what are the minimal number of branches you'll need to do that? Let's look:

1. A list of people you could contact to invite them to take advantage of the free session.

2. An invitation in the form of an email and perhaps a basic script to use to follow up by phone to invite them.

3. An outline of the complimentary session.

4. A little time to practice the complimentary session.

And that's it - four branches. That's how simple it is. You get your list together, you put together the invitation, you send it out, do a few follow-up calls, and you'll likely set up some free sessions. Then you practice and follow the outline for your free sessions and take it to the end until they either say "yes" or "no."

Repeat until your practice is full.

Wow, that sounds easy. It really is. So why do people take so long to get from their goal to the result? Good question. And the answer is that they start to add too many branches.

Four branches seems too skimpy. So this is how you plan and how branches get added to your plan:

"OK, so I have a list of people. Are they qualified? Hmmm, I'm not sure. Let's do some research. Also, I only have six names right now. I really need to have at least 50 to start don't I? So let me work on some networking first to get more names. When I have 50 I'll start to send the invites.

"Now let's see, I have a lot more names now and I'm about to send the invites, but I don't have a web site yet. I doubt they'll meet with me unless I have that completed. OK, let me work on that project first. That will take a few months.

"OK, now I have a bigger list and the web site is done; now I need to do the outline for the free session itself. I can follow the Free Sessions That Sell outline (more info here) but I'll have to do some tweaking. So I don't want to send out my invite until that's done. That will take a couple weeks. OK, let me work on that.

"OK, here it is six month's later. Now I'm totally ready. I have the names, the invite, the web site and the free session outline. But you know, I'm feeling pretty nervous about this. Maybe I should work with a coach for a month or two to get me past my nervousness. Yeah, that's a good idea. Then I'll really get out there!"

Getting the picture? Of course, you've never done this, right?

So am I saying you should just create your simple Christmas Tree plan and start right away? Well, yes, I am. But you can still work on those other branches. Here's the difference: Work on several small Christmas Tree Plans at the same time instead of one big Christmas Tree Plan.

First, you create your Free Sessions Plan. You don't need to have everything in place to make it perfect; you can get started quickly. You can get going in a week or two at the most.

The next Christmas Tree Plan is to expand your list. You can get out there and network and build your list while you're starting your Free Sessions Plan. You do them concurrently. By the time you've run out of names for your Free Sessions Plan, you'll have generated more names with your Networking Plan.

And then you have your Web Site Plan. Do that concurrently as well. It will take a few months, but that doesn't mean you can't get started on the other two plans at the same time. And by the time your web site is done, you'll have a few new clients and have built your list and now you can integrate your site into the other things you're doing.

My suggestion is to build three or four Christmas Tree Plans. Each tree just has a few branches that lead you from the goal to the result in only a few well-chosen steps. Before long, you'll get used to creating these simple and fast plans and be able to put them into action almost immediately.

What Christmas Tree Plan will you implement first that will get you in front of qualified prospects as soon as possible? Decide and take action now. You could have a few new clients sooner than you think.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: One you have a workable marketing strategy, jump in and make it happen. You'll be able to improve it and fine tune it as you go. Beware of over-planning and perfectionism; these are just delay tactics that won't really get you better results in the long run.

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Got a story of either delaying a strategy or jumping right in and the impact it made? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Comments

[Jeff Paul Internet Millions]

I find blogging one of the good ways of internet marketing. I have received a small number of visitors on my site especially from the sites where I commented their blogs.

[Unsurbara]

Hi


What a great post. Thank you for your hard effort. It's a brilliant work.

[Stephen]

Nice article Robert.

I've got a story of jumping right in and starting something. That something resulted in my blog, which is now growing strong for its 6th month in a row! My article is called,

'Just Start'
http://www.stephenmartile.com/?p=14

Enjoy,

Stephen Martile
Personal Development Made Simple

[mikegarth]

Great advice and effectively put. Thank you!

As a sport psychologist in motor sport, I use a similar route to avoid such 'maladaptive perfectionism'. A mantra I use is 'failure is fine, but fail fast', ie use the feedback you get from others to keep improving what you do, just as Annette says above.

[Charles]

Hi Robert,
Several weeks/months ago, you posted about the value of blogging and said that you were going to blog more. But that didn't last long. Were there some lessons learned along the way that turned you off from blogging? Or did you simply get too busy? Do you still believe in the value of blogging? Because you seemed so excited about blogs being an important part of marketing, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is curious why things changed.

Keep up the great work!

[Annette Reissfelder]

Absolutely. I strongly believe the biggest case that can be made for starting NOW and gaining "market information" is that you no longer have to think up the whole thing by yourself - you can use potential clients' real questions, interests, etc. to shape your offer, your website, and find out WHAT EXACTLY makes you nervous, if you then do decide to work with a coach. In my experience, rocrastination only intensified my perceived "loneliness". I wish I had come accross your newsletter back in those days! Annette