What’s your perception of why things don’t turn out the way they should? I’m very confident in my methods and my consulting process. Plenty of former clients have given me rave testimonials. But not everyone, and I often wonder how I can change that. I’ll bet you probably have some of those same thoughts for your business.
This week I’ve been at the Adobe Omniture Summit for online marketing in Salt Lake City meeting lots of smart people, one of those people is Quentin Hardy, National Editor of Forbes. Curious about small businesses, Quentin asked me what are the obstacles with helping small businesses build marketing plans. I said there were two big ones:
ONE: Getting the entrepreneur to understand that their brand is not about their product so that they will commit to a brand promise that is not quality or price or service.
TWO: Once I’ve sold them on that idea, the next big hurdle is getting clients to pull the trigger on awesomeness. Because once your left brain understands that brands are not about what you sell, but how you sell it, your right brain takes over and opens up a new world of possibilities. This is when the magic happens and awesome marketing plans are built, full of fresh ideas and out-of-the-box tactics. The problem is, once the new marketing plan full of extraordinary ideas is completed, it must be implemented. Some entrepreneurs are unable to pull the trigger on these fresh ideas.
Quentin asked me why that was, and here’s where my perception comes in. I told him that I thought that the new plan full of awesome ideas would force the entrepreneur to become someone that he or she previously had not been. It would force them to become a new business, and some people just can’t do that.
In response, Quentin offered this observation: maybe it was the potential success that was holding them back. He said that some people are afraid of growth and the success it would bring. Entrepreneurs think they want to be this bigger, more influential business, but maybe subconsciously they don’t.
What do you think? What holds a business back from awesomeness?
DISCLOSURE: Adobe sponsored my attendance at Adobe Omniture 2011
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