Tag: success

It’s a marathon not a sprint

Posted on by philipdodson

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All too often we rush our lives.

Rushing for a train, eating dinner quickly to get on to the next thing, charging from one thing to another and allowing all the stress and pressure to mount. Trying to cram more and more into our days, often frustrated and saying ‘there’s not enough time’.

We are bombarded from all sides about getting things done instantly, about being busy, about doing more and so on.

Don’t do it.

Actually, it is much more productive to take your time, do less and then end up actually doing more in the process.

More importantly, very few things that we ‘need’ to do are so important, that they have to be done immediately, as most of them are not life or death. You can’t put everything off forever, but most things can wait until you are ready to do them well.

So take a step back and plan to do less, spend time doing that ‘less’ really well. Spend time on the things that matter and take time to saviour and enjoy those things.

Not only will you be more productive, you will be less stressed, healthier, more happy and ultimately more successful.

Life is a long journey, with many twists and turns. It is a marathon not a series of one-off sprints.

Tell the ‘why’ – don’t manipulate

Posted on by philipdodson

Tell the ‘why’ – don’t manipulate

Manipulation is how most companies sell. They use clever marketing techniques to manipulate you to buy their product/service. They add things, chop prices, do deals etc. All of this will bring about more sales.

It works for a while, as all humans are open to being manipulated. However, it never will bring loyalty, as any other company can out manipulate the buyers and people will switch in an instant to a better deal.

It will only bring you the late adopters, the laggards, it will bring you people only driven by price and the manipulations you offer.

Instead, you can build loyalty by inspiring your audience, then you don’t need to sell, you just need a great product/service, delivered well, that will get your customers to do the marketing for you.

Where does the inspiration come from? Simple, just communicate to your potential customers your ‘why’. As in why you do what you do. The what you do will validate the why. Look at all the successful products/services that have a hugely loyal following. All of them will have/do tell you ‘why’ they do what they do.

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It’s why people queue for Apple products, it’s why people don’t mind waiting 6 months + for a Harley Davidson, it’s why people get a ‘Never mind the bollocks’ credit card from Virgin when they already have a wallet full of cards and so on.

Sales & marketing should never be about manipulation. Marketing should be used to communicate your ‘why’ and then sales will come, and come again and again and again. Just make it simple for people to understand you and why you exist, then make it easy for people to buy. Then no need for sales.

By communicating your ‘why’ you will attract like-minded people who identify with your values, what you stand for, why you do what you do. Then they will walk over ‘hot coals’ to get your product/service often when you are more expensive and not always better quality than others.

If you want to look into how this works, check out Simon Sinek’s great book ‘Start with Why’. It is an truly inspirational read.