
The Source of All Marketing Challenges4 min read
Last week, in my new Open Sessions Program, I asked the following question:
“What is your biggest challenge in attracting new clients? (and what is the Source of that challenge?)”
Well, it’s easy to come up with a challenge; it’s anything that you are trying to make work to attract clients that’s not currently working.
You are trying to get meetings with prospects and you can’t get them.
You’re trying to get more subscribers and nobody is opting in to your list.
You’re trying to become Master of the Universe and, well, it just ain’t happening.
With challenges like this and a million others, we want just one thing: A solution to our challenge, right?
If only you could find the strategy, the tactic, the holy grail of answers that would resolve your challenge once and for all!
And sometimes, with simple challenges, that’s actually possible.
For instance, a quick Google search will give you just the answer you need for a myriad of day-to-day challenges.
But many challenges are wicked complex.
And challenges about attracting clients are in that category.
There are so many variables that the challenge doesn’t usually yield to a simple or quick solution.
And what happens, more often than not, when we face these kinds of challenges, is we throw up our hands in frustration and just give up.
OK, so now let’s look at the second part of the question: “What is the source of that challenge?”
Do you ever ask that? My guess is, no. Instead, you ask, “What is the solution to this challenge?”
When we ask that question, we usually look for an external source:
The marketplace is too crowded.
Nobody is reading emails anymore.
My service isn’t wanted or needed.
Thing is, none of those is the source. Those are simply some of the conditions that surround the challenge.
No, the source of the challenge is always your thinking about the challenge.
In other words, what you’re trying to accomplish is not inherently a challenge; you made it up that it’s a challenge.
And, when you do that, you personalize or identify with the challenge.
“I should be able to attract more clients!” Says who?
“Attracting clients should be easier than this!” According to whom?
“I’ve already tried everything!” Have you really?
“I just don’t have the personality for marketing!” Right, but neither do I!
When you take a moment to identify the source of your challenge, it can always be found in your thinking.
And your thinking is telling you lies. None of those thoughts above are true.
But when you think them, you tend to get frustrated, impatient, disappointed, and discouraged, right?
And when that happens, any semblance of creativity, innovation, discovery, persistence, or good humor go out the door.
I see this ALL the time. This is exactly what happens.
A challenge arises. A story is made up about why the challenge is insurmountable. And the person throws in the towel. End of story.
So, what if it was impossible to believe those stories/thoughts?
What if you challenged them?
What if you could no longer think them?
What if those thoughts and stories simply evaporated?
Who would you be, what would you think, what would you try if you could no longer believe and identify with them?
Well, my guess (and my experience) is that you would start to come up with some more creative ideas to solve those challenges.
For instance, you might use humor.
You might apply the law of friendly persistence.
You might look for deeper insights about a prospect’s needs.
You might use a larger type size!
You might read more about the laws of persuasion.
You might add a comic:
Look, there’s never one simple, pat answer to the challenge of attracting clients.
But one thing is for sure, your challenges are only challenges because of your limited, conditioned, and often fearful thoughts.
When you see that those thoughts are total nonsense, and you face those challenges head-on, I predict that your mind will start to light up with more ideas and solutions than you can imagine.
And you may even start thinking “marketing is actually fun!”
Don’t laugh, it could happen.
Cheers, Robert