Chasing The Flies Out Of Your Pantry And Other Marketing Thoughts
By Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan
"Flies are green and buzzing in this dungeon of despair ... the torture never stops." ~ Frank Zappa"
There is no doubt that most companies are "sales-heavy" and "marketing-light". How does this impact the organisation? Here I use an oddball example to demonstrate the difference.
Some of you may know that I have some joint venture partners, where I do a rather interesting work. From a former life I am butcher and, although I worked a bit in abattoirs, main expertise is slaughtering free-range, grass-fed organically grown animals for top-notch deli meat. No, this is not what you would buy in your local supermarket. Not even under the organic label. You can read a lot on the "organic" scam and corporate brainwashing on Dr. Joseph Mercola's website at www.mercola.com. He has a must-read newsletter for anyone who wants to live a long and healthy life.
Back to the meet example...
What does slaughtering have to do with business development?. A lot really.
Let's start...
You can most probably imagine that where there is blood and raw meat, there are flies. Not the tiny flies, but the big horse flies and bluebottles. And here I don't mean Secret Agent Bluebottle, the Leader of the East Finchley Junior Secret Agents Club, amateur knee-clapper and the Mastermind behind the second East Finchley World Cup from the world-renowned Goon Show, but I mean the real nasty big flies.
Of course I want these flies out of the way, so they can't wreak havoc with the meat.
At this point we have two distinct options:
1. Chasing the flies with a rolled up newspaper, as it's done in the old Pink Floyd song, entitled Grantchester Meadows, and flattening them one-by-one. It's doable but it takes too much time and energy, and the number of flies I can kill is very limited.
2. Creating a "honey pot". This is a jar halfway filled with sugared water. We all now that flies love sweet stuff. Then I spread honey on the inner side of the lid and screw it on the jar. Then, with the knife sharpening steel, I punch a small hole on the lid. The hole is just big enough so the biggest flies can squeeze through to get to their oh-so-much-longed-for sugar. Then I put out the jar in the working area, and get on with my work.
The interesting thing is that all the flies disappear. They all go to the jar. They are not interested in the "competition" (blood, meat or even the people) any more. They are only interested my unique offer, the sugared water in the jar. And of course after tasting my offer, they can't get away, and they all die in the jar.
What is the lesson here? We created the "honey pot" and the prospects (flies in this case) came to us without chasing them.
And now you may say, you can outrun prospects and catch them. Well, not really. All right. Maybe sometimes. There is a reason for this. A Zen master and his student were in the forest when they saw a fox that was chasing a rabbit.
Zen Master asked his student: "Who do you think will win?"
"The fox of course. It's bigger, stronger and faster." - the student said.
Then the Zen Master told the student the rabbit would win.
"But why, Master" - the student asked.
The master's response was simple: "You see, the fox is running for a meal. The rabbit is running for his LIFE!
You can chase your next fee, commission, sale, but your prospects are running for their lives. They are running from the dreaded, commission-crazed peddler. You can never catch them. Or in the best case you catch them is for one-off sales. Then the word starts spreading and everyone will hide from you. Soon people will place guards on their premises who can report when you are in the area, so they can safely evacuate and lock themselves up in their basements and bunker until the danger (you) passes.
Back to the flies. Now I don't say that we want to kill your prospects, and if they want to leave us, they are free to do so, but attracting them can follow the same logic. Well, I don't mean you collect prospects in a jar of sugared water. I hereby authorise you to replace the jar with a free white paper, a free audio download or whatever you see best for your specific target market.
Yes, it takes some time, money and effort to build a prospecting "honey pot" and concoct the right bait for your ideal clients, but once you do it, you can have your ideal prospects come to you seeking your expertise. Imagine. No more chasing. No more convincing. No more overcoming objections. No more price pressure and demands for discounts. And no more begging for business.
So, what can you do today, right now to start building such a "honey pot"? How can get your ideal prospects come to you, ready for working with you and willing to pay your fees and prices? So start thinking.
Attribution: "This article was written by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan who helps privately held information technology companies to develop high leverage client acquisition systems and business development teams in order to sell their products and services to premium clients at premium fees and prices. Visit Tom's website at http://www.varjan.com.
