photo by albertopveiga

Does it ever seem like life gets too complicated? 

Does your business get so crazy that you constantly feel like you have to play the ‘Hero’ – come in and pick up the pieces and save the day?

Have you ever had a potential customer say to you:  “Now what is it that you do…exactly?”

Simple is underrated when it comes to success in business.

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  photo by jsorbieus

Can generosity – giving stuff away, helping others really help you win at business?

This came up the other day during a workshop I was doing on Guerrilla Marketing – one of the characteristics of a successful Guerrilla Marketer is Generosity (contact me if you’d like to get an evaluation for all 16 characteristics).

I was talking about the importance of generosity when it comes to business and marketing success in front of 25 people and one of them interrupted and said quite brusquely:

“I totally disagree with the generosity point – I’ve given free things away for years and I’ve never…ever…gotten any business out of it!”

Nothing’s more fun than having a heckler when you’re giving a presentation!    However to be fair, I know lots of people who disagree with giving things away or helping others out when it comes to business. 

A big part of my approach with Aspire since I started over 3 years ago is a focus on the concept of generosity, paying it forward, karma, etc.  Not just as a philosophical idea, but because it’s good business!  However the heckling did get me to thinking about WHY this concept of generosity is important.  I came up with seven practical reasons you would want to develop a give first, give more approach with your business.

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One of the foundations of Guerrilla Marketing is creativity – finding a unique and interesting way to capture attention.  However just as importantly you need to be talking to the right people and you need to be getting them to think about the problems you solve and the benefits you deliver.

The example above does a great job of being different and illustrating the benefits…the only drawback is that it probably was pretty expensive, but compared to a TV commercial, I’m sure it was a bargain and it would have much longer lasting impact.

Interested in seeing some more examples…

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The world has changed a lot – you used to be able to send out letters…direct mail and bring in new business with great success.

But costs have gone up, effectiveness of direct mail has gone down and there are lots of other marketing choices out there.

One of those choices is email marketing – it’s low cost, it’s easy enough that anyone can do  it and if it’s done right it’s been proven to more effective in terms of ROI (Return on Investment) than anything else out there.

The kicker is that is needs to be done the right way!

Let’s start out by looking at an example:

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Photo by Daexus 

I haven’t been able to play golf in a while (kids and a relatively new business tends to squeeze out your free time).  But I’ve played enough to recognize the one secret that all of the pros have that allows them to be great.  Without this trait, all the talent, brilliance, training or money in the world won’t allow them to compete at the highest level.

Oddly enough, that same trait is a major key for success when it comes to marketing your business as well.

In golf you might be on the 1st tee and hit a 300 yard drive right down the middle, but if you chunk your approach shot (chunk is my technical term for total a total mis-hit that results in a 10 yard dribble up the fairway), it’s pretty unlikely that you are going to make par.

A consistent swing that gives you expected repeatable results is the only way to score really low.

In marketing, you might go to a networking event and make 5 great contacts that could really help your business, but if you wait 2 weeks before calling them back, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to set up very many meetings or convert them to new clients.

A consistent approach in marketing that gives you expected repeatable results is the best way to have a winning business.

Obviously the key in both of these examples is consistency.  How can a consistent approach (or the lack of consistency) impact your business?  Read on.

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