“Just give me the quick win.”

“Tell me how to get my first client.”

“What’s the one marketing tool I should use to promote my business?”

All comments and questions that I hear all far often. And the answer? You won’t like it!

There are marketing ‘experts’ who will tell you to join their exclusive course, so they can show you how to sell your big ticket coaching programme, or your keynote speech. There are others who will charge you a fortune for the promise of grabbing the low hanging fruit. Others will say it’s just a case of trial and error – throw some potential clients at the wall and see which ones stick with you.

Me? I’m going to break it to you, not very gently, saying that there’s no one marketing activity you need to use, to promote your business. There is no silver bullet. I’ll tell you that quick wins, while giving you a warm glow for about 30 seconds, won’t stick around as clients and certainly won’t recommend you in the long term, profitable clients with whom you really want to work.

Instead I’ll remind you that marketing and growing a successful business is a marathon and not a sprint. If you’re not prepared to be in it for the long run, you might as well not even bother starting. At the end of 2020 I ran a workshop with a colleague, that we’ve run twice a year, for about 4 years now. A dozen people attending every event and lots of glowing recommendations from happy campers. Quite a few of them have gone on to work with me on an ongoing basis. After the December event we had our first ever complaints – two of them!

One person sat through the entire day long course and then emailed a few days later, asking for her money back. It wasn’t what she was expecting. We looked closely at her complaint and her feedback, coming to the conclusion that she wasn’t happy because we didn’t give her any quick wins. We told her that she needed to be in the business for the long run, to put in the time and effort to build up profitable relationships with potential clients. She didn’t like hearing that; she wanted work right now. We refunded her money.

The second complaint came two months after we’d run the course (even though we offered follow up calls straight after the course.) It was similar to the first. Where were the quick wins? How should he get his first new client? A new business will always find it tough, when the reputation is small and well established. Make connections; share your expertise; take the time to build relationships. “But I want to be an overnight success!”

If there was a silver bullet that I could sell you, to load into your marketing gun, to fire into a crowd of prospective clients, I would do just that. I would tell you exactly what that one marketing activity is. I would package it really simply, charge a fortune for it and become extremely rich. Sadly, there is no such silver bullet. The next time you hear someone tell you that they have the answer to your ‘I need clients now’ plea, send them my way and I’ll shoot them for you!

You can report them to me at chantal@appletreeuk.com or call me on 07773 252 744 if you’d like help with your long term marketing and business success.