Playing the Game

As I lead my Fast Track Workshops around the country, work with my Marketing Coaches and interact with business owners in general, I pay a lot of attention to how well (or how poorly) people are following my Seven Principles of Marketing.

The Seven Principles are:

1. Marketing Ball - The Game of Marketing
2. Marketing Mindset - The Inner Game of Marketing
3. Marketing Syntax - The Language of Marketing
4. Marketing Message - Getting Attention and Interest
5. Marketing Currency - Written Marketing Materials
6. Marketing Strategies - The How-to of Marketing
7. Marketing Structure - Marketing Action Plans

Where do you think you're the strongest? The weakest?

All of these principles are important, and if you are weak in one or more of them, you're going to have problems attracting clients consistently. But for me, one stands out as the most important, yet least understood and practiced.

And that's "The Game of Marketing."

To most people, this is the least interesting as it's very process-oriented. We're more interested in strategies - the marketing how-tos and techniques that actually do the job of attracting new clients (from speaking to blogging).

But if you don't know how to play the game, all those great strategies won't get you very far.

Let's look at the Marketing Ball analogy.

Take a rookie baseball player who has great talents and abilities in the four major activities of baseball: throwing, catching, hitting and running. He's the best there is in all four areas -- a potential champion.

But imagine that this baseball player doesn't yet know the rules of the game. What will happen when he gets out onto the field? He'll throw, catch, hit and run. But it will become painfully clear to his teammates that he's not really playing baseball (and not helping them win the game).

He'll need some remedial training in the rules of baseball.

The whole aim of the game of baseball is to score runs. Throwing, catching, hitting and running are are only means to that end.

As I was writing this, I got a testimonial from Mim Grace who just attended my Cincinnati Fast Track Workshop. She said:

"I have given dozens and dozens and dozens of talks about EFT and TAT and have never gotten a client. Last Friday night I gave a talk to 15 cancer survivors following your guidelines and got two long term clients! I look forward to more successes! Thanks!"

What was the difference? After all, she'd already given a lot of talks before. But they didn't result in any clients. Then she learned how to play the marketing ball game. She took the steps to move the prospects around the bases.

Think of all the marketing activities you've tried but haven't gotten very good results with. In the marketing game there are six distinct marketing steps, from your initial connection with a prospect, to an appointment where the selling process starts.

How many of these are you using?

1. Affiliation - Marketing to those you have a connection with
2. Attention - Using a marketing message that generates interest
3. Familiarity - Becoming a known and trusted entity
4. Information - Providing the materials to educate your prospects
5. Experience - Giving your prospects a taste of your work
6. Follow-up - Being proactive in making sales appointments

Chances are, you're using only one or two of these. And if you skip steps, you get struck out. Here are some losing plays you may be familiar with:

• Trying to get attention before you have affiliation. Also known as cold calls. Typically results in a high rejection rate.

• Getting attention and trying to jump right away to follow-up. The prospect feels pressure and does not reciprocate.

• Developing familiarity with a group of prospects (say, in an organization), and then not providing detailed information on your services.

• Providing information and even an experience of what you do (say a presentation), and then failing to follow-up.

Those are four ways of striking out at Marketing Ball. What I want everyone to get is that marketing isn't the problem. It's how you're playing the game. Your effectiveness as a marketer starts with mastering the rules and then applying the best strategies.

It goes without saying that the Fast Track Workshops are a great place to learn the rules of the game and how to play in a way that attracts more clients. There are four upcoming workshops on the current summer schedule and I'm working on three more for the fall.

I'm also recording the San Francisco Workshop, and will have that program available for sale in August. I'll keep you posted.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: The big key to attracting more clients is learning how to play the game. If you use marketing strategies without considering the game plan, you are going to skip bases and get struck out. Master the art of moving around the bases and you'll consistently score more runs.

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What bases do you skip when playing the game of marketing? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Comments

[georgina Lipsey]

This has been very helpful and generous of you as a start point for the process of unfolding an event/ business within the next few months.
Thank you,
Georgina Lipsey

[Jaco Grobbelaar]

Robert, Over the last week I had several meetings with people to share info regarding our services. I was amazed at how many tried to sell me during our first meeting. As soon as they thought they had my attention they jumped straight to 3rd base. It gave me a great opportunity to explain marketing ball to them. Thanks, Jaco