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| Small Business Success | Lead Generation |
By: Santi Chacon
Business Coach
First Things First
How are we doing with the perfectionist stuff? and by 'we' I mean YOU! I hope by now that you have become a little more friendly toward constituents, customers, investors...you know people. You know it is in your best interest to move your perfectionist-ism off of things and direct it toward toward taking care of your people. After all managing and leading in a business is getting results through people. Don't get me wrong being a perfectionist is not bad it is just not always productive and often may lead to counter productive measures. If this was the case of a "little" over the top I wouldn't be presenting a business series on your OCD tendencies.
Just remember "You are not normal", the average person doesn't read this stuff or take advantage of opportunities as you have. You have goals and a vision for your business. If you have done your job as an executive than learn to let go. Just like a parent must let go when the children are all grown up, an executive must let go once his business has matured. If you know letting go will be disastrous then you should keep reading this series, and hope to amend your errors in judgment.
Okay, no more deviations:
Macro-Perspective On Lead Generation
If you want prospects to become interested in your offering you will be confronted by a series of choices. These choices will lead you to develop marketing or lead generation campaigns. Lead generation activities range from good ol' fashion cold calling and networking to savvy online marketing such as pay per click and social networking and everything in between. If you are a small shop or a sole proprietor with a small staff not every lead generation activity is going to provide a return on investment, therefore not every lead generation activity is worth pursuing. You must evaluate your financial restraints, talents, and time restraints before understanding what direction will be most profitable for your business. These three areas will have the most influence on your lead generation and small business success.
Financial Restraints
I believe the first area you should consider is your budget, if you don't have one create one for marketing. If you forsake creating a budget for marketing you may end up spending more then you can afford to. Without budgetary restraints your small business will not survive. Placing spending limits will help you to do more with less and it will push you to be more productive with you financial decisions.
What can you afford to do? If you have a larger budget for marketing you may consider outsourcing some of your marketing needs such as sales or SEO for your online presence. If you have a smaller budget you will have to invest your energy in lead generation activities that are inexpensive such as cold calling or networking, if done correct the former just needs a phone and internet connection and the latter needs a place, people, and your willingness to begin a pleasant conversation to evaluate if there are needs you can meet.
Talents
To posses a talents in business is to have a specialized knowledge, skill, and experience. A talent in lead generation is valuable and can be used to create the most leverage in your business. If you are better with people in person you may consider brushing up on your networking skills, if you have a wonderful speaking voice you may consider cold calling. If you are much more of a long-term strategic player then you may consider spending your time creating profitable partnerships and learning new skills toward internet marketing and long term-strategy.
Time Restraints
As you grow interested in specific lead generation activities and marketing campaigns related to your talents please understand it takes time to master one lead generation strategy. In other words it takes time to get your sales pitch down and to get prospects in your sales pipeline from demonstration to purchase or it takes time to understand SEO strategies and to gain exposure. In business time is money, so do your homework and consider based on your talents, financial restraints, time restraints and chosen lead generation activity what your ramp up time is. Remember in business things cost twice as much and take twice as long, so be prepared.
The OCD ADHD CEO and Small Business Success
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