Secret #6- Know Your Numbers

Here's where smart marketers separate themselves from the ordinary guys. None of this is sexy, cool, or exciting - in fact, it's detailed, hard work. It requires tons of patience and persistence. Unlike Home Depot, Fidelity, GM, and McDonalds, you don't have a billion dollar ad budget. You can't afford to settle with "getting your name out there." You must be careful with your marketing dollars. You don't have enough time or money to play the brand name recognition game with your competitors such as GEICO or Lowe's. You will lose…and it will cost you thousands of dollars in ad costs, not to mention lost sales. Your marketing must be surgical, laser-like precise And you must know to-the-penny, what it costs to bring in a client. You must know with precision the lifetime value of the clients. You must have systems in place to track and measure all your marketing. And here's a little side bonus benefit from tracking and knowing your numbers You'll find that what you measure automatically improves. Whatever you stop measuring automatically decays and gets worse. So you see, you DO want to maximize the power of your advertising dollars, get the most bang for your buck, figure out where to spend your time, money, and energy, investing in and finding out what works, and doesn't work. Now, if you don't mind blindly spending money, wasting tons of time, hope and pray that something…anything…works. If you're a short-term, tactical, pick-only-the-ripe fruit thinker, and you're simply not interested in building a profitable business that frees your time, then just skip this testing stuff. This testing and knowing your numbers isn't complex However, it does require work, and the guts to change and ditch the wrong stuff that you worked hard to implement, and perhaps spent gobs of money on. Just for starters… here's a few key numbers you need to know: Your per lead cost from ALL lead generation sources. Your cost to land a client How much you can afford to spend to get a lead, to get a client Your Return On Investment of each and every ingredient in your marketing mix. Lots of people are afraid to ask these tough questions so they ignore them or pretend that having a vague idea is good enough. It's troubling to know that what you're doing isn't working and face the fact that you got to do something else. (especially when you're not quite sure what really will work ) Your clear mandate is that your marketing must be held accountable for concrete, measurable results. The "hope and pray" approach is not going to cut it. Pinpointing exactly what works…and doesn't work…and constantly tweaking your marketing systems and processes, will position you for incredible growth. Not doing it, makes your business a crap-shoot. And here's the good news… 97% of your competitors don't test their advertising. 97% have no clue about their numbers. Imagine your clear advantage over your competition you have in knowing your numbers. And Now, finally... Check your inbox... You'll discover the secret to putting your marketing on Cruise-Control. Walt Goshert Make Your Marketing Work Walt@Make-Your-Marketing-Work.com