Our Dirty Little Secret

Yesterday, I said our company’s dirty little secret had everything to do with how smart you were.

You see, we don’t solicit business.

We only work with people who contact us, then we have to be very selective in the vetting process. We’re paid on growth, so we only make more money if our partnership works.

So, our dirty little secret? It’s two-fold:

1. You have to be very good at what you do.
2. You have to like talking about what you do.

The first is substantially more important that the second, but that doesn’t mean the second isn’t important.

Advertising will only accelerate the inevitable.

Our company can help a good business get to where they’re headed faster and more efficiently (meaning less effort and money) than you would without our help.

I see media reps who tell business owners all the time that ‘they can for sure help them’ when what the media rep should be doing – if she really wanted to help – would be advising the restaurant to clean up its restrooms, telling the jewelry store to invest in sales training.

If you’re an HVAC company whose guys show up late for service calls with dirty pants smelling a little bit like weed, one of our advertising campaigns will only put you out of business faster.

Which, when I think about it, may be the kindest thing I could do for that HVAC company.

We simply have to be as good at what we do as our extremely talented roster of small business clients.

A couple years ago, my partners came up with a list of the defining characteristics of our most successful clients.

Do you share the characteristics of our most successful clients?

• You are a business owner who has absolute authority to say “YES.”
• You are looking for a long-term growth solution … not a band-aid approach or a quick fix.
• You are open to innovation.
• You consider yourself the most ethical company in your category in your market.
• You have a long time horizon.
• You are willing to invest resources into the growth of your business.
• You are passionate about your business, its goals, products, and history.
• You are committed to your business goal.
• You accept responsibility for your successes and failures.

And finally, our most successful clients know that, just as getting fit involves commitment and pain before you start enjoying the benefits, so does good marketing. Only with marketing, the pain barrier is not physical, it is financial.

Many business owners hearing the words “financial pain and commitment” would run in the other direction. These are the business owners who are easy prey for the quick fix, no pain, advertising cocaine sales people. They’ll spend the rest of their business lives experimenting, testing the waters, and looking for the next ‘sure’ thing.

Sad, but true. But don’t tell anyone.

Let’s keep it our dirty little secret.

Have a great weekend.