Life IS complicated, often confusing, and full of baffling details and nuances. Some things are trivial and others are significant—even life-changing. Some of these “things” we can control and others we cannot. Everything is that way, including every person we interact with. Same applies to our health, home, cars, and computers. Things and people can “work” the way we want them to. Or not.
In 1892 Reinhold Niebuhr was born in Massachusetts. He grew up to be an Evangelical preacher. His name has mostly been forgotten, but I think you’ll recognize the words he wrote and spoke:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
In 1892 Reinhold Niebuhr was born in Massachusetts. He grew up to be an Evangelical preacher. His name has mostly been forgotten, but I think you’ll recognize the words he wrote and spoke:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
There’s more to this prayer—worth looking up and reading in full. Many years after Niebuhr wrote it, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other twelve-step programs adopted and popularized this prayer of universal appeal and application. Some things never change.
I’ll get to my practical “marketing wisdom” in a moment. I do appreciate your patience in allowing me to step back from all things business and monetary for a few moments to look at life from a broad perspective from high atop my 2nd floor mastermind hideout. I hope you’ll agree with C.S Lewis, who wrote: We read to know we’re not alone. We all have individual goals and ambitious, skills and experiences, but ultimately we have more in common than differences to share. If nothing else, the essayist E.B. White said, The whole duty of a writer is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one. Today, that is you and me.
I’ll get to my practical “marketing wisdom” in a moment. I do appreciate your patience in allowing me to step back from all things business and monetary for a few moments to look at life from a broad perspective from high atop my 2nd floor mastermind hideout. I hope you’ll agree with C.S Lewis, who wrote: We read to know we’re not alone. We all have individual goals and ambitious, skills and experiences, but ultimately we have more in common than differences to share. If nothing else, the essayist E.B. White said, The whole duty of a writer is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one. Today, that is you and me.
The philosophy behind my Five Irrefutable Pillars of Marketing™ “manifesto” is to demystify and stop the confusion, and the endless fear of over-hype tactics peddled by sellers of high tech shiny objects and old ideas wrapped up new packages.
A generation ago, in the not-so-politically-correct days, teachers, coaches, mentors and even sales managers “encouraged” us with both positive and negative feedback. The negative had its place. Happened to me many times. Growing up in “the mean streets” of Farmington, Michigan”, classrooms, ball fields and gym classes I’d hear, Freund, what the hell where you thinking? Get your head out of your ass! Even, Stop being so stupid. Okay, fast forward. All these years later, as a parent, those words sound brutal. Maybe even mean-spirited. For the most part, the adults saying those things were very supportive. Actually, among us guys we figured out pretty quickly that if the coach yelled at you it meant you were an important part of the team. To be ignored was awful. The varsity starters always got the most attention—both positive and negative.
In all areas of life we tend to overcomplicate things. With access to Google, Bing, and Foxfire it’s even easier to do. One problem no longer equals one solution—it equals thousands of solutions. Many are contradictory, hence more confusion, but I digress.
Sometimes people trying to be “smart” behave “dumb”. The acronym K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid) provides valuable lessons. Even complex procedures are simple when broken down to the basic fundamentals.
Sometimes people trying to be “smart” behave “dumb”. The acronym K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid) provides valuable lessons. Even complex procedures are simple when broken down to the basic fundamentals.
Recently, I gave a short presentation to a business networking group. My opening statement, meant to gain universal agreement was, We’ve all heard it said at a workshop or read, “A master is somebody who does the basic fundamentals VERY well and repeatedly”. To my shock, there was no acknowledgement or agreement from my audience. Just blank stares. I repeated… A master is somebody who does the basic fundamentals VERY well and repeatedly. A few responded they had never heard the statement before. I’d always thought it was a universally accepted principle among well-educated high-earning professionals. My assumption was incorrect. Good incentive for me to keep teaching. I recovered by smiling and saying that I now had the privilege of sharing both that truism AND The Five Irrefutable Pillars of Marketing™.
While these pillars are “irrefutable” and time tested, I encourage you to prove them to yourself by carefully studying every extra-ordinary business.
While these pillars are “irrefutable” and time tested, I encourage you to prove them to yourself by carefully studying every extra-ordinary business.
- Generate Leads
- Engage Your Prospects
- Present Offer
- Close Sale
- Follow-up
How Do Your Business’s Pillars Stack Up?
This model is both elegantly simple, yet brutally honest and uncomplicated. A thorough assessment of any business will reveal that none of these pillars can be neglected without costly consequences.
It would be easy for me to teach that every business should invest an equal portion of time, talent and money to maintain and grow each of these pillars. When a business is in its 100-percent start up mode that would be ideal. However, my experience indicates that most businesses are disproportionally good-to-excellent at one or two pillars, and not very good at the others.
Improving or temporarily outsourcing the lacking pillars can and will turn an ordinary business into an extra-ordinary business or sales career.
To learn more about building stronger pillars for your business go to www.roguemarketingsystems.com and register for your FREE seat to watch The Reckoning webinar.
This model is both elegantly simple, yet brutally honest and uncomplicated. A thorough assessment of any business will reveal that none of these pillars can be neglected without costly consequences.
It would be easy for me to teach that every business should invest an equal portion of time, talent and money to maintain and grow each of these pillars. When a business is in its 100-percent start up mode that would be ideal. However, my experience indicates that most businesses are disproportionally good-to-excellent at one or two pillars, and not very good at the others.
Improving or temporarily outsourcing the lacking pillars can and will turn an ordinary business into an extra-ordinary business or sales career.
To learn more about building stronger pillars for your business go to www.roguemarketingsystems.com and register for your FREE seat to watch The Reckoning webinar.
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