Back in 2002, we really stretched financially to get into our house here in Portland, and it’s been a huge blessing for us.
However, it ain’t perfect. Built in 1908, there are a number of things that could be more comfortable. Larger closets, cabinets with drawers that open easily. A non-rubble-filled driveway.
You see, we have a super short driveway from the street into the tucked-under garage in our basement. There’s a good ten foot patch or so that is just a mess. The pavement is cracked with grass growing through. Oy.
In the fall of 2002, a few months after we moved in, I was outside the garage when a guy walked up to me. Dressed neatly, crisp handshake, looked me in the eye. He handed me a flyer letting me know he could patch that driveway and make it look beautiful.
Intriguing! Alas, we had just moved in, we were in the midst of Holly’s health crisis and spending big cashola on alternative health. We just didn’t have it to hire him. I took the flyer, smiled, told him I was interested but not this year, and he walked away.
Eight years later, I remember meeting him but not his face. Lordy Lordy, I don’t have the flyer, his name, or his phone number. I wouldn’t know him if he sat down at our kitchen table and had breakfast with us.
So tell me, why didn’t he get the job?
While you’re pondering that, let me tell you another story.
Painting Quotes
A friend of ours is starting an interior painting business here in Portland. As part of his market research, he called up several local painters and asked for quotes to repaint the inside of his own home.
Out of a handful of painters, none of them gave him a quote on the spot. None of them got him the quote later that day. Some never got back to him. Most got back to him two days later with an email, but never even followed up with a phone call.
He and I just shook our heads, wondering how people stay in business.
I wonder if any of those painters are hurting for clients.
While you’re pondering that situation, let me tell you about my cousin Margo.
Sprucing Up Yards
I recently found out that I have a second cousin here in Portland, Margo, and we’ve been enjoying getting to know each other. She does landscaping and yard work, and was asking me about getting more clients.
Because of her situation, I told her not to worry about a website or anything fancy right now. I suggested doing a flyer campaign. Yup, straight up old school flyers.
Only I suggested that instead of “yard work” or “landscaping” that she put her Who-Who-What on it. And I told her about a friend of mine, Corva Rose, who does aesthetic tree pruning in Albuquerque. Every season Corva sends out these cute hand-drawn postcards. She draws a tree, some fun facts about the season, and lists out which trees need what kind of care at this time of year.
I suggested Margo target her neighborhood and do a flyer campaign, putting out new flyers every two weeks or so for some time, making each one different, interesting, personable. I said she should include her photo and a bit about why she cares and why she’s so good.
I told her about the Hierarchy of Choice, and how long it can take a potential client to actually decide to make a significant hiring decision.
I asked her, have you ever seen anyone do a flyer campaign like that? She hadn’t, and I hadn’t either.
Sounds like an opportunity.
Three Examples of Randomness
Whether it’s the guy who wanted to patch my driveway, the interior painters, or the fly-by-night flyering tactics most people use, they are all examples of what my first marketing teacher Robert Middleton calls randomness in marketing.
I don’t know what happened to that guy who wanted to patch my driveway. I do know we would have hired him by now if he, or his flyers, had kept coming back over time.
I don’t know what happened to those painters my friend called. But I’ll bet my friend isn’t going to be hurting for clients in his own business.
After having worked with literally thousands of solo and small businesses over the last ten years, I can tell you that one big, simple ingredient most people are missing is consistency.
I’ll let you in on a secret: if you just keep showing up consistently, assuming you’re offering something people want, you’ll get clients. You may need to tweak your sales process. You may need to make your offer more compelling. But if you keep showing up, people will hire you.
Don’t Go Nutso
Sometimes people get overwhelmed when I tell them I write an article every week. “Every week!” they shriek, “I can’t do that.”
I don’t like folks overwhelming or judging themselves, because they may not do anything at all. So you don’t have to write every day or every week. Margo doesn’t have to draw and distribute flyers like an insane art student who downed nineteen double espressos.
But she, and you, do have to show up consistently.
Consistently. Not randomly. Once a week, once every two weeks, once a month, it depends on your audience and your business. My friend Corva has shown up season after season, for years now. She went from a one-woman show with long dry spells in the winter to having a whole crew working for her year-round.
You may be thinking, “I’m not a machine!” You aren’t, and please don’t act like one. But human beings can be very consistent. For instance, and thankfully, your heart is extremely consistent. Sometimes speeding up, sometimes slowing down. But it shows up minute after minute, keeping you alive, and keeping the flow going.
Surely you can bring the consistency of your heart into your marketing?
C’mon, be honest. What has been random about your marketing? And what can you honestly commit to in making it consistent starting now?
26 Responses
This is so right on. I just had a conversation similar to this topic today with a friend. In my experience I’ve run into one extreme or the other – either they contact you once and forget about you, or they won’t leave you alone. Both are very bad examples of building a business based on relationships. Thanks for the article, it definitely gave me something to think about. 🙂
.-= Jennifer’s lastest post: How To Determine Whether Your Idea Is Good =-.
Isn’t it amazing? I just keep shaking my head. Don’t people -want- clients?
Thank you so much for this! In June I let clients, friends and contacts know about a new service I offer and was just wondering if it would be ok to get back in touch with my list in the fall. This sealed the deal. Maybe realizing that consistency is part of your obligation in marketinfg takes some of the anxiety out of the ‘Oh, I don’t want them to think I’m always selling,’ fear.
Oh yes! Please, let them know, let them know! Actually, many times they’ll need to hear about it, many more than you’re comfortable with.
Hi Mark,
Excellent post about the power of consistency (aka showing up like Woody Allen suggests.) I’ve had similar experiences like the ones you recount here with folks not getting back to me with quotes for various things. Not sure if they don’t want the business or they’re afraid of the business.
It makes me wonder if they will show up for the job consistently if I hire them.
Love your flyer idea for your new-found cousin. People feel more comfortable working with folks they know and showing up makes that more likely to happen.
Good luck with the driveway!
Giulietta
.-= Giulietta Nardone’s lastest post: Have you worn other people
Thanks! We’ll eventually get to that driveway… life, and then toddlers, seems to have eclipsed it for now. 🙂
Hi Mark
You are so right on with this. I ran a window cleaning business for 10 years and soon had more customers than I knew what to do with – just by showing up regularly, doing a great job, and being polite.
Tradesmen sound like they are the same in the UK as they are in Portland. Invite 10 to give a quote and we’re lucky if even half bother to turn up. And out of those only half will get back with a quote within a reasonable time. And don’t even think about the quality of work on offer…
However, the upside is that those few who take their business seriously, give a good service, do a great job, and simply stay around have all the work they need.
My ex-brother-in-law ran a gardening business and had to take the name of his company off the side of his van because he was so inundated with customers!
Seems it’s a good world for those who care.
love
Leo
I’m sure it’s the same all over… I’m so pleased to hear about your ex-brother-in-law as well. I just wish more people were like that.
Or maybe not- because now it’s easy for my cousin Margo to stand out.
Mark,
This post was so helpful. I’ve been struggling with this very thing lately. It gets exhausting sending newsletters and blogging when you’re not getting a lot of response. This post and the link to your Hierarchy of Choice post really put all of that into perspective for me. For me it’s not only consistency right now but also perseverance. You started my day off with some great sychronicity so thanks for that!
Woo-hoo! And if you’re being consistent, your next step may be tweaking your sales process. Have you looked at that closely?
Great post! This advice will never go out of style, never become obsolete, and never fail to differentiate one from the competition. But often we’re too afraid of “bothering” people to communicate consistently. Or we’re too busy with other parts of our businesses and don’t understand the power and importance of consistent communication. Or we’re unsure of our ability to communicate effectively. Regardless of the reason, as you’ve said so often and so eloquently before Mark, the “way out” is to look within.
(And I too thought almost immediately about the Woody Allen quote.)
I know… consistency is never out of style, but still surprising how often people don’t take it on.
Thank you for your kind words.
Woohoo! Can’t count the number of times clients with wonderful offers say, “I’ve marketed xyz but it isn’t working.” What’s really happening is that they’re putting heart and soul into one-off, random marketing and feeling broken hearted when nothing happens. Simple truth is one-off efforts rarely land when people are ready to buy. Repetition is not only more effective, it’s more generous. I actually get thanked by people for sending multiple emails about offers.
.-= Molly Gordon, Self-Employment Coach’s lastest post: How to stop Impostor Syndrome in its tracks- 7 strategies for reclaiming confidence and motivation =-.
Yes! I’ve seen the same thing, Molly. I’m so glad you’re doing the work, too- you’re such a gift to folks.
Wow, what a great reminder to be persistent! I can certainly learn a lesson from this – I tend to err on the side of “I don’t want to be a pest and bug people!” when really I need to just get my message out there more.
Thanks for the reminder!
.-= Jess Webb’s lastest post: Being Yourself and Living Your Passions- A Blog Carnival =-.
Exactly! Get’r’done! Out there and out loud!
As they say… the fortune is in the follow up!
Do they say that? Aren’t they smart.
A quickie to say I loved the headline for this blog post. I didn’t even know what ‘patching the driveway’ meant so it intrigued me even more 🙂
With love,
Corrina
.-= Corrina Gordon-Barnes’s lastest post: 4 Ways To Bypass Fear Of Failure When You Just Have To Succeed =-.
Which part is the Americanism- “driveway” or “patch” in that context?
I don’t even know if it’s an Americanism or if I’m just not very down with house-and-garden phrases!
We certainly have driveways. Fellow Brits – do we patch ’em?! 🙂
.-= Corrina Gordon-Barnes’s lastest post: 4 Ways To Bypass Fear Of Failure When You Just Have To Succeed =-.
Interesting… Good twitter question.
thank you very god
After being in my same office for 25 years, whole families have grown up…generations. I thought in my early years of practice as a therapist that just treating one person didn’t matter. Wrong! It is like a drop in the ocean, everyone changes, including me! Consistency matter…thanks for the post.
http://www.what-matters-most.com
25 years, Lizbeth! That is quite a journey! I bet you have some fantastic inspiring stories to tell. 🙂
Ooops, I lied, it is going on 29 years in the same office this year. As I say, I could write a whole book on ‘If these walls could talk, arm chair wisdom’s from a therapist chair’!