“No Battle Plan Survives First Contact with the Enemy”

Many of us view our businesses and their plans as ongoing wars with competitors. We tend to see every facet of our plans and actions as battle-like comparisons with those of our adversaries.

After all, things like our marketing plans, advertising efforts, marketing calendars, logos and branding – even our products, services and ideas, themselves – are our weapons. And, collectively, we are always trying our best to make sure that our weapons and stratagem are bigger, better and stronger than those of our ‘enemies’.

The title of this article was actually a quote of the infamous Napoleon the Great. And, while you may be saying to yourself, “But, Napoleon lost”, your statement is missing one ever-important word – ‘eventually‘.

Napoleon had plenty of victorious battles – many of which he was predicted to lose – and, regardless of what you think of the “Pint-Sized General”, the quote -and philosophy behind it – are a great start, as far as the way one should look at their business’s plan and, how it relates to that ongoing war with the competition.

In regard to business, no marketing plan should be set in concrete! No matter how effective your plan may be, chances are, it will have to be altered at a given time; due to what your competitor(s) is doing.

We have all been in a situation in which, we feel heavy frustration from the fact that we have to change the plan - that we once considered our ‘baby’ – in order to counter what it was that another company was coming to battle with.

Even the actions of your clients, future clients or suppliers can take you by surprise – to the point of startling you – and force you to change the way in which you had set out to do things. In other words, you must be ready for anything. You must have flexibility. You must expect the unexpected!

Now, don’t feel as if you have to be a psychic. Don’t feel overwhelmed at the thought of needing a business and marketing plan so flexible that it takes away from the overall aim and goals that made you ‘hungry‘ to run your particular business in the first place!

There is an easy way to be sure that you can continue to have success in the future – if you just start off with flexibility in mind! The best way to do so is to have a marketing plan that is flexible and built to adjust itself when the time comes to do so.

At Fast Marketing Plan, our goal is to provide our clients with marketing plans that are easy-to- create, easy-to- follow, success-driven and (perhaps, most importantly) flexible. Because without flexibility, a business owner may find himself trapped and on the verge of giving up on everything that he had set out to do. Well, no person or business entity should have the power to put you into that mindset and, with a flexible marketing tool as a weapon; they won’t be able to!

When going to war, you must be sure that you have a pre-planned counter-attack for anything that may take you by surprise. Just having that knowledge may put you ahead of a good percentage of those that you are competing with.

More importantly, however, is being sure that your counter-weapon is more powerful than that of your enemies’ and, that you have another weapon or plan of attack to follow-up with; allowing you continue your march to success without any interference.

In any case, don’t be trapped by a stationary, unchangeable plan of attack. Do not allow yourself to be left with your shields down, while busy doing other things; allowing your empire to be taken down. Have the proper fortifications in place to protect what you worked so hard to build.

And, know that the first (and likely the most crucial) defense for the upcoming battles that you will face is a flexible, defensive-to-offensive marketing plan!

For more info on creating you marketing plans, check outhttp://www.FastMarketingPlan.com

To your success
Sandy Barris

If you play by the rules of your industry,
or if you do the same thing as your competition,
how will you ever gain more clients?

Be inventive, creative, or even outrageous to capture a bigger share of the available business.

Boring is and will always be boring.

Creative marketing will help you to crush your competition.

Follow your gut.
Go with your hunches.
Do it smart and careful.

Keep an eye on what your industry competitors are doing.

Many times it makes sense to do the opposite of what they are doing.

Do your own strategic marketing, it will set you apart.

Your future clients will notice that you are a unique business with different ideas.

What ideas do you have to out-market your competitors?

What marketing efforts are your competitors using?

• Call your competitor on the telephone and pose as a prospective client.
• Talk to their sales staff
• Ask the right questions and most salespeople will tell you exactly what you want to know about their business. Many salespeople love to talk about themselves and their business. This can help you with your research.
• Collect your competitors’ brochures, ads, and sales letters.
• Record their voice messages and their radio and TV commercials.
• Visit their booths at trade shows and go to their showrooms.
• Also, check out their Web site(s).
  Most Web sites will give you a lot of information about how the company does business with its clients. The site may even provide a list of clients, which can become a great “target list” for your own sales efforts.
  While visiting the Web sites of your competitors, request more information regarding their companies and their products/services. Then, keep an accurate record about how quickly they respond.

How Many Things Are Competing For Your Attention Right Now?

In today’s world, we are overwhelmed with far more information than ever before.

TV (both network and cable), radio, the Internet, hundreds of newspapers and magazines, faxes, e­mails, cell phones, PDAs, multiple 24­hour news and sports channels, newsletters, etc., etc., etc.

Even worse, each source of information is screaming louder and louder to get our attention.

All of this information and “noise” makes it very important that you target your marketing precisely to the people who actually want to receive it.

Precise, targeted marketing is indispensa­ble for every business. When you know exactly who will buy your products or services, you can save thousands of marketing dollars by directly contacting only those people who have an ‘affinity’ to buy what you are selling.

Target your marketing where you know that your typical customer will be looking.

Example: I wrote a marketing plan recently for a group of financial planners who had developed a system of advice for couples who are going through a divorce.

We did some research and found out that over 14,000 couples divorced every year in the metro Detroit area, where we are located.

Even if we were only to sell the planners’ services to 1.25% of these couples, at an aver­age profit of $750.00 for the services and materials involved, the revenue in the first year would be approxi­mately $273,750.00.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The real income is made on the “back­end” financial planning commissions from the insurance and investments that are made for the divorcing couples.

Since divorce typically is a very private issue, we decided to market using a referral sys­tem.

Divorcing couples can locate my clients’ services through religious organizations, community and govern­ment organizations, business organizations and associa­tions, real estate associations, hospital and medical organizations and associations, arts and humanities organizations, CPAs and enrolled accountants, family marriage counselors and psychologists, and estate plan­ning specialists.

Typically, these are the groups that divorcing couples go to for advice.

Do you know who your ideal clients are and where to find them?

What can you do to target your clients and prospects precisely?