The Single Most Important Success Tool for Your Business or

You've got your business plan for 2003, you've done your affirmations, you're pumped up, you're ready to go ... NOT!
You've forgotten the single most important success tool for your business - a marketing consultant.

WHY ENTREPRENEURS FAIL

As a coach, I talk to entrepreneurs all the time. They're sharp, they have great products and services, and they all make the same mistake - a mistake with two faces.

It's the marketing. They either (1) don't understand they aren't a lawyer/coach herapist/small business owner, they're an entrepreneur; or (2) they think they're a marketing person
as well as a lawyer/coach herapist/
small business owner and are trying to do something they don't have the experience, expertise or time for.

THE PRICE FOR THIS FALLACY IS HIGH

I would estimate that at least 75% of coaches fail because they don't know how to market their practices. I don't
know national figures, but lawyers and other professionals are dropping like flies in my town, as are maid services,
restaurants, errand services, small book stores, and the like.

As an entrepreneur, you're up against big marketing campaigns from big, long-established companies who offer similar
services.

PIE IN THE SKY

It's a common misconception that you get your degree or training, you hang up your shingle, and the clients come,
but "build it and they will come" is a sad, pie-in-the-sky fantasy.

As a minister said, who hired me to market his church, "They didn't cover this stuff in Divinity School."

Why don't they come? Because there are thousands of other people out there doing what you do, and offering what you offer, and nobody knows about you!

Nobody knows how and why you're different. You aren't branded.

Marketing is hard work that requires a professional. You know this about your own field - it takes an innate talent,
an instinct to do something well. Good marketing consultants have right-on instincts from years of trial and error, observation and analysis. You haven't!

"THE LAWYER WHO HAS HIMSELF FOR A CLIENT ...

... has a fool for a client."

Marketing appears to be subjective, but subjective marketing is deadly. It takes a practiced, external, objective eye.

You're not objective about your spouse or your kids, and you're not objective about your other baby - your business
or practice.

JUST WHAT IS MARKETING?

Marketing is a broad concept that encompasses advertising, public relations, and a lot of other things. Well, let's take a look at someone who markets small and home-based
entrepreneurs, Sharron Senter. She's known for her free weekly marketing tips and has published several marketing reports, including "20 Excuses to Send a News Brief."

Sharron (www.sharronsenter.com) has an impressive corporate background in marketing, and will do the following things for you: