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Lost In A Sea of Trouble

Guest articles > Lost In A Sea of Trouble

by: Drew Stevens

I am an avid reader of history and one of the things that I often find amazing about historical ventures such as Columbus, The Mayflower, Westward Expansion etc, is that many that had maps had the wrong information. No matter when and where those setting out to discover new places always got lost. I remember one time where Washington on his way to defeat the British had gotten lost in the woods of Virginia.

Do you remember when Mapquest and Google Maps never had the right information?
How many times did you make a turn that led to nowhere? Did you ever get into your car and GPS did not have the proper directions?.

After more than 30 years of working with professional services I want to share with you methods to help you grow your practice to the levels that you desire. If you are presently lost in your journey you need a MAP!

MAP is an acronym for Marketing, Accountastration and Protocol.

When I coach and speak one of my first statements is that each business professional is in the marketing business. With over 10 million unemployed and many others stuggling to achieve business success each must be a marketer so as to distinguish their value from the competition. Think for a moment, how many consultants, doctors, lawyers so on are located within 12 miles of your location? The market is saturated and you need to uncover your difference in an overcrowded market. Think about television today. Consumers do not want docudramas and just comedies, they want reality. Why because they are different. Differentiation sells!

The premise to aid the smart marketer is value. Consumers today are attracted to value. They visit for brands sake and when they are excited they tell others about it. Imagine having a practice where you do not advertise, promote infrequently but your referrals drive your practice. When you build a community like facebook or twitter followers you build a community of present and future revenue.

Second, when you operate a practice you need to hire, train and keep your staff motivated or you need consultants and interns to aid your success. They must know how to treat your existing clients as well as help you retain them. In addition, you need some measures of accountability. It is necessary to know what you week begins with and what you end with. But more importantly you need to hold yourself accountable so that you are conducting the proper visibility and community building that keeps the phone ringing and the proposals churning off the printer.

Finally, business professionals require proper protocols. Your business must run the implementation of a proper strategy. The great business professional will identify and manifest their driving force. They will work their passion and vision with the proper goals and stretch goals. Using good protocol will not only lay the foundation of your business they are the purpose of it.

When you use MAP for your practice you lay the foundation for not only a surviving practice but also thriving. There is a reason why some subsist in small offices with only a handful of clients and others a bucket. There is a reason why some are the envy of the profession and others lost. The only reason – they know the routes to take. If you want a thriving practice you have two choices – you can be lost like a castaway as Tom Hanks was in the movie or you can develop the right stuff to reach your new world!

© 2011. Drew J Stevens PhD. All rights reserved.

Drew Stevens Ph.D. President of Stevens Consulting Group is one of those very rare sales management and business development experts with not only 28 years of true sales experience but advanced degrees in sales productivity. Not many can make such as claim. Drew works with sales managers and their direct reports to create more customer centric relationships that dramatically drive new revenues and new clients. He is the author of Split Second Selling and the founder and coordinator of the Sales Leadership Program at Saint Louis University. Contact him today at 877-391-6821.

Contributor: Drew Stevens

Published here on: 06-Nov-11

Classification: Sales

Website: http://www.stevensconsultinggroup.com/