It's Up To You

When we first entered this industry, one very WRONG idea we had was that if we were good enough, then clients would knock our doors down to get to us. 

Of course, doing great work is vital for great sales, but it is not the solution to getting clients through your door. That is RE-ACTIVE and re-active marketing is not enough for a strong business.

Let's define re-active versus pro-active.

Re-active is waiting on everyone else to do something and hoping for a positive result.

Pro-active is characterized by forward movement and actions taken to create desired results.

So, how do we become more Pro-Active?

ONE: One of the first lessons we learned was that there was no excuse to sit home and be defeated by what was happening around us (RE-ACTIVE). It is in our DNA to keep moving forward to see what the next level holds and these last few months were no different.

During this time we have been closed, we decided to use our time wisely in order to gain perspective and be able to reopen with a position of strength and re-position any area that we felt needed a new angle.

To accomplish this, we took a deep dive to see what was working and what was not and then, focus more attention towards what was working and cut off what was not. 

We created new marketing pieces, ordered new products and revamped our website...all things we had let slide before now had our full attention. 

TWO: We started to look outside of our industry for new, exciting ideas that we felt we could use in our business. Sometimes it was the paint color on a wall, other times it was a booklet or a mailing piece. Or maybe it was simply an approach used by a business that caught our attention. 

THREE: We made learning a priority again. We ordered new books on marketing (here's a favorite...Stories that Stick) and actually read them. We attended as many *Think Tank Zoom classes as we could to expand our vision.

*I would recommend the Think Tank online classes by Ronan Ryle. You can find them on YouTube or Facebook.

We met with our small group of friends who had similar business models and brainstormed about new directions we all were taking, giving each other new ideas to try and encouraged each other as well.