Sustained marketing is hard. Not all of us can do it. We lack time, resources, or inclination. However, small efforts will pay off - and they are better than nothing. If you do nothing, well...nothing happens. Except it's worse than that.

When it comes to finding the perfect customer, what we all need is one key non-negotiable quality. Without that key quality, you will spend too much time, money, and brand capital wasted on chasing imperfect, unsatisfying, and unfulfilling buyers using resources that could be developing ideal customers. Trust me. I have done it. It's not worth it.

"I hate marketing." My client said these words to me in a meeting about rejuvenating their sales pipeline. How would you prefer to do this? I asked. "I don't know, I just want to have an honest conversation. The rest of this doesn't seem genuine." Weeks later I asked him, "How many honest conversations have you managed to have since we last spoke?" You can guess what his answer was. My client's ideal prospect might be looking for him. The problem is, they are going to find someone else first. Thus begins an unhealthy pattern.

Do you remember those game shows where the contestant stands in a booth while money blows all around them? They have say, sixty seconds to collect all the cash they can. The big fan blows, cash flies, and the contestant flails about trying to snatch dollars from the air and hold on to them. The bills are in all denominations but move too fast to spot the big ones easily. The contestants must hold on to the cash they've caught while trying to get more. Even though there seem to be thousands of bills flying around, actually catching one is pretty difficult. This is exactly what sales looks like if you have no marketing.

Which would you rather have? A one million dollar new customer or ten one hundred thousand dollar new customers? Careful what you wish for.

Whenever a business owner begins our pre-consulting conversation with, “Well, we’re pretty unique,” I know that I am going to be dealing with one of the following: A business that evolved from an owner-operator to employees taking on responsibilities without any coordinated plan or, Multiple partners or family members in key jobs with unclear management structure or, A business feels that it is "too busy" to work on things that it knows are important.