Going Out Of Business Slowly

If you're not taking your marketing seriously, you're going out of business slowly. 

That's a bold statement. 

I'll repeat it. 

If you're not taking your marketing seriously, you're going out of business slowly. 

I'll back up what I mean, what I'm talking about. 

In business we're always told that cash flow is king, that turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash flow is king. 

But for me whilst cash flow, of course I mean I run more than one business, of course, cash flow is vital, it's the lifeblood of the business. 

But it's a bit pointless worrying about having lots of cash and not worrying about who's bringing the cash in. 

So getting the sales right in your business is essential, of course, because you could have the best product or service in the world, but if people can't buy it from you, if people can't give you their money, then it doesn't really matter how good you are they're just going to get bored and they'll go to someone else. 

Even though they know it's inferior or more expensive, it's less hassle. 

We're all busy, we all want less hassle right. 

The challenge is, we've got to get the sales piece right. 

Of course we do. 

And let's say you've got the sales piece right. 

Let's say you've got the cash flow, the business is ready to work perfectly, we just need some cash in it, right. 

We've got the sales piece sorted. 

We've got brilliant salespeople ready to go. 

Now all they need is a pipeline. 

Where does the pipeline come from? 

The pipeline of course comes from your marketing. 

Marketing is defined, for me anyway, as any part of you that touches a prospective customer. 

So in order to have a pipeline, whether it's lead generation, demand generation, account based marketing, whatever strategy, structure, referral marketing, whatever it is, whatever it is you're doing to generate opportunities for your sales team to bring in the revenue, it's marketing. 

And if you haven't got your marketing sorted, if you're not taking your marketing seriously, your sales team are going to have a difficult time of it. Because they're going to have less opportunities to do business. 

Which will make them hungrier. 

Which will fill them with urgency. 

And they will translate that almost certainly into pressure on the customer to come on board.

Because the salesperson will be terrified of losing the one opportunity they have. 

So you've got to get the marketing functioning perfectly to make sure your salespeople or your sales process looks as amazing as possible, and only then do you have fantastic cash flow. 

Imagine slowly turning on your taps to fill your bath. 

You've turned the taps on. 

They get there slowly. 

They're now flowing nicely. 

You put the bubble bath in. 

You've done everything right. 

You've plopped the little rubber duck in that you always love to have a bath with. 

The loofah's on standby. 

This bath is perfect. 

There are candles. 

There is music. 

There's a glass of wine. 

This is going to be an epic bath. 

If Carlsberg did baths, this would be the bath. 

But something's wrong. 

Something's wrong. 

The water doesn't seem to be mounting up. 

No one wants to have a bath in two inches of water. 

Of course what's wrong is you didn't put the plug in. 

So as quickly as the water is coming in, it's disappearing again. 

If you don't take your marketing seriously, at best what you can hope for is lots of people wanting you, lots of people coming to your website, calling up the number, doing whatever it is it takes to get your product or service. 

But if your marketing isn't set up seriously, you're going to be riddled with holes. 

You're not going to have any plugs to fill the gaps, and those people will fall out of your funnel as quickly as they fell into it. 

So when I say if you're not taking your marketing seriously, I get that cash flow is king, I get that turnover is vanity and profit is sanity and I totally accept and understand the value and importance of prioritising the sales process, to make sure you can capitalise on every opportunity when it arrives. 

But you still need opportunities. 

And that's why, if you're not taking your marketing seriously, you're going out of business slowly.