CAUTION: TAKING DEAD AIM WILL GROW YOUR BUSINESS WHILE ALSO LOWERING YOUR GOLF SCORE.
When I taught golf lessons as a PGA Professional, I adopted a phrase from legendary instructor Harvey Penick; “Take Dead Aim.” You see, the mind will actually direct the muscles to hit the ball towards the target automatically, even if you have a less than perfect swing. However, in order for this to work, your focus must be totally concentrated on the target; interject thoughts about swing mechanics, your score, or the hot dog you plan to order at the turn and you’re doomed.
I have also applied the “Take Dead Aim” approach in creating strategic marketing plans that have repeatedly and aggressively grown sales and market share while cutting marketing budgets by as much as 30%. So how does that work you ask? I have boiled the process down into 3 manageable steps and will elaborate on each in coming weeks.
Defining the Target
The “Take Dead Aim” approach only works if you have a very specific target. In golf, simply identifying the green as your target is insufficient. When visualizing my target from the fairway, I don’t use the flagstick as a target; I focus on the nut that holds the flag to the top of the flagstick.
In the marketing world, defining a specific target is equally as important. If you’re trying to sell a boat, you have to identify who is most likely to buy a boat from you today? Getting specific, your target could be “an existing owner who has had a positive ownership experience and bought their boat 2-4 years ago.” As we dig deeper into “Defining Your Target” in the weeks ahead, we’ll talk about how to evaluate and prioritize multiple targets.
Targeting the Target
How you reach your target is going to be unique to each target. Effectively persuading an existing customer who has had a positive ownership experience will be very different from persuading a likely boater who has never heard of you before. As we dissect “Targeting Your Target,” we’ll take a closer look at how we communicate with each target; what we communicate with each target; and what tone and style we should take with each target.
Capturing the Target
Ah, making the cash registers ring, my favorite part! Leading prospects through a series of defined processes is the secret to making more and better owners of your products and services. We’ll break down the specific steps a customer navigates in making a buying decision and address how we can strategically position ourselves in the right place at the right time to more effectively win their business.
Once we have defined, targeted, and captured our targets, we’ll sew it all together to form a strategic marketing plan, which when executed effectively, will yield powerful results.
I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you. Hey, if not for anything else, by taking dead aim at a very specific target you’ll at least improve your golf scores.
Happy New Year!
Pro Lead Management has been creating effective marketing plans yielding exponential growth in both market share and profit for more than a decade. Find out how we can help you grow your business in 2009; call 888.836.8567 or contact us by clicking here for a FREE consultation.
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