I’ve been in sales and business development long enough to NOT need an advisor
Hiring a Private Advisor isn’t for everyone. In fact, it’s not for the majority.
Most companies believe that copying what other businesses are doing with their marketing & sales process will get them a better result.
Earl Nightingale, one of the world’s foremost experts on what makes people successful, has some good advice for entrepreneurs who want to market their business.
He says, (and yes, I am paraphrasing) that if you wanted to learn a new skill in business, and you had no mentor or guide you could trust, the best thing you could do was figure out what everyone else was doing and then do the opposite.
Don’t expect a private advisor to swoop in and get you more clients if you don’t have a methodology that allows you to stand out amongst your competitors.
You Need A Real Strategy
One of my favorite quotes is from Peter Drucker as he explains his current definition of strategy…”Strategy is having a clear understanding of what NOT to do”.
A good private advisor will demand that you spend time building a firm foundation before proposing a series of strategies as well as tactics aimed at lifting website traffic, lead generation activities and pipeline development.
What this means is that until you find a way to change the context of how your ideal customer views what you do and in effect render the competition irrelevant, you’ll and that your marketing efforts never seem to build momentum. In essence, looking at things from an entirely different perspective will allow you to clearly discern where to invest your energy and most importantly, where NOT to invest your time, energy and resources.
You Need Fewer Objectives
Let’s face it, your cut from a certain cloth that drives you to win. And wanting to win generally comes with setting lofty goals – wait, lots of goals.
What a good advisor will do is help you determine your highest payoff work and your most pressing objectives based on where you want to be in a year, in three years, in five years – not next week. Additionally, a good growth advisor will make sure that the number of priority objectives at any given time stays very, very small.
In working with clients I’ve seen a lot of interesting things, especially those around productivity. There is a very strong correlation between having fewer objectives and actually getting things done (we have plenty of evidence, data and support to back this up).
Trying to do too many things at once dilutes focus. Pointed focus is one of the most powerful things in business when highlighted on the right thing.
You Have to Start Somewhere
It all comes back to this. Regardless of where you start, the most important thing is that you make a strategic shift in your approach to getting to the decision maker.
When it comes to starting anything new, there will be some turbulence. However, when you make a clear commitment and have the discipline, determination to doing the work, learning as you go, and constantly refining your process…then you’re miles ahead of what everyone else is doing.