It’s been
said that everyone wants to be a winner but few
are willing to do what it takes to be a winner.
In case you needed any more proof of the value of
preparation, the Indianapolis Colts definitive
victory in the Super Bowl is a study in the
importance preparation plays in winning.
In case you missed it, Super Bowl XLI was played
in Miami in an outdoor stadium in the middle of a
torrential downpour. The Bear's loss is
being placed squarely upon the young shoulders of
their QB, Rex Grossman.
It appears the outcome of the Super Bowl was
determined well in advance of playing the actual
game and was the direct result of obsessive
preparation all year long by Colts QB Peyton
Manning.
It’s been reported that during the regular season,
Manning would end practice by dragging a
bucket of water onto the field so that he and his
center could practice snapping water soaked balls.
As a result of that practice time, Manning didn’t
fumble a single snap during the big game. It
proved to be the difference between winning and
losing.
Preparing for success is essential
to not only winning football games, but also to
your marketing success.
Here's a personal story
about a local dentist whose lack of preparation
not only lost him potential new clients, it also
left him entirely in the dark with regards to the
effectiveness
of his marketing campaign.
The story continues here....
A few weeks ago on a Thursday night, my youngest
came in and announced that he had broken a
tooth. To say I was alarmed would be an
understatement. We’re a household of
relatively few problems in the dental realm, but
since my son wasn’t in any pain, I decided the
matter could wait until the morning.
The next morning, I went to the mail box and was
thrilled to see a brochure from a dentist. Since
it was Friday, I knew our regular dentist wasn’t
open and decided that this might be the
opportunity to make the switch to one who worked 5
full days a week.
The brochure was exceptionally well crafted. It
was a work of art…. literally. The colors, the
copy, the image all combined to create a
MASTERPIECE of persuasion. I picked
up the phone and dialed the number. One ring,
followed by another...finally a woman answers the
phone.
"Doctor's office," she grunts, as if I've just
pulled her away from something really important.
“I’d like to schedule an appointment for my son,”
I said.
“This is their answering service. They’re not in
today,” was the reply.
WHO SCHEDULES A DIRECT MAIL PIECE TO BE
DELIVERED ON THE ONE DAY THE OFFICE IS CLOSED?
The woman who answered the phone didn’t take my
name and she didn’t take my number. By the time
Monday morning rolled around, the baby tooth which
had broken had fallen
out without incident. When the reminder card
arrived from my regular dentist, I scheduled our
cleanings with him.
OPPORTUNITY LOST!
What really, really stinks is that the poor
dentist doesn’t have any idea how well his
brochure worked. It ALMOST netted him five new
patients that Friday morning…. but
not only doesn’t he work on Friday, he also wasn't
prepared for his mailing's success.
I’m sure that when the dentist sits down to
evaluate the success of that mailing, there will
be much moaning and groaning about how the
expensive piece failed to deliver new clients to
the practice.
Mailing the piece to hit mail boxes during a
Thursday, Friday, Saturday window was a mistake,
but it was a mistake that COULD have EASILY been
corrected with the next mailing (and should have
been caught during a test of the mailing).
The best marketing campaign in the world can’t
overcome the obstacle of who you have answering
the phone. If the person who answers your phone
isn’t able to convert callers into appointments,
it doesn’t matter how good your marketing is,
your advertising or marketing will never act to
grow your business.
In my book, I try to outline the steps you need to
take to prepare your message for success. However,
if you don’t prepare your staff and your business
for that marketing message success, you’ll
find yourself in the same situation Rex Grossman
found himself in on the evening of February
4th as he stood on the field in Miami in the
middle of a torrential downpour.
Preparation was the key element to the Colts
success. Are you prepared for success?
Find My Niche is written Kathy Hendershot-Hurd who
is the founder of Virtual Impax, a small business
marketing consulting firm and the author of
"Beyond
the Niche"
available at online book stores everywhere.
