Why fast isn't always best in business

If you're a Strictly Come Dancing fan you will have watched Hamza Yassin lift the glitterball trophy on Saturday as the winner of this year's contest.? I would have been happy for any of the contestants to win but I’m glad Hamza won because it meant we got to hear his victory speech.

“Number one, surround yourself with people whose eyes light up when you enter a room.? Two, the top of one mountain is the bottom of another so keep climbing.? Three slowly is the fastest way to get where you want to be”?

“Slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be” - in an online business and coaching culture where “fast” is the hallmark of success, fast is what makes a programme desirable - how quickly you can get someone to their desired result, for me Hamza's words vindicated what I have long believed.? Fast is great, but slow is better.?

Fast is great but slow is where the gold is

If you get somewhere fast you risk missing critical opportunities to learn along the way.? Lessons which can prevent future failures.??

Ever seen Santa Claus The Movie? Two Elves are competing for the chance to become Santa’s Chief toymaker.? Dudley Moore is one of the elves and he’s built a big machine to mass produce a lot of toys quickly.? The other Elf is handmaking the toys. His process is longer and more laborious and as a result, his output is much lower than Dudleys'.? Santa gives the job of Chief Elf to Dudley but not for long.? Shortly afterwards the toys that were made quickly and mass-produced start falling apart because the quality is much lower. Santa’s pissed, to say the least.? Dudley is demoted and the job is given to his rival, the handmaking toy maker.??

Coaching programmes and courses are packaged up in usually 12-week blocks and it makes sense from the seller's perspective,? we’ll work together for this long and these are the results that you can typically expect after that period of time all things being equal.? But what we don’t talk about is that those 12 weeks blocks are designed to be “job done”.? They’re the starting point.? It’s what you do AFTER the twelve weeks that determines your success a lot of the time.? If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard someone say “I’ve just finished X’s 12-week course and it was shit” I’d have to register for VAT already.? 12 weeks isn’t the magic amount of time it takes to create transformation or learn the critical skills you need?to be a successful business owner.? Most courses or programmes are just the top of one mountain and the bottom of the next one.?

Learning without implementing is pointless

Successful business owners are always learning AND always implementing.? Courses give you knowledge, skills and information but you need to take those resources and use them out on the road, in real life, in your business and with your clients.? You don’t deserve success just because you paid for the information. The real value and return on your investment come with what you DO with the information you buy. ??

People look for success quickly because we've been conditioned to believe that good things should happen quickly.? And that if something happens slowly then it’s either not very good or it's not going to happen at all.? That is simply not true.? The best stuff takes years.? The most valuable transformations happen over many months and the biggest success stories were years NOT weeks in the making.??

And the same applies to your marketing. Many people are looking for a marketing guru to tell them exactly what to say and do so they can go and say and do it on social media. They want to be told the BEST way to build an audience and the BEST things to say that will have clients piling into their inboxes, booking out their courses and forming a queue to get on their email list.?Sorry friend, it doesn’t work like that. And you should run a mile from anyone who is trying to sell the BEST way to do anything.

There is no one ring to sell them all

There is not one way, there are lots of ways and you will have to commit time to work through them and find the best way for you and for your clients. You could pay marketing expert after marketing expert and course after course. If what you’re after is a quick fix, a one size fits all “just say this and do this" then?you’re going to spend a lot of money and be perpetually disappointed. And I’m sure that’s how a lot of people make their money.?Making promises and offering results they simply can’t deliver.?

I?don’t know the exact words. I don’t know what you need to say. Nobody does.?All you can do is understand your audience better, learn how to articulate yourself better, position yourself better and be a better writer. ?

Get better at talking about what you do

You can't make anyone buy from you. I can’t make anyone buy from you.?All I can do is help you improve your skills.

Get better at talking about what you do and help people to decide if.........

1) what you do is what they need and 2) they want to buy what they need from you.

I can show you what to talk about and how to talk about it. I can teach you how to improve your writing skills so people are more likely to read your content. I can help you turn your thoughts into sentences that make sense to other people. I can show you how to create social media posts, blogs and emails that other people will enjoy reading and want to read more of.?I can help you find the right offer and match it to what the market wants and then show you how to talk about it clearly, passionately and repetitively. ??

I don’t sell "fast" and I don't sell results. I sell skills and competencies. Those skills and competencies breed confidence. And if you don't implement those skills and competencies you won't see any results at all. ?So if you want to be a skilled, competent and confident marketer for your business, work with me.?

If you want a magic set of words, keep looking and good luck.?My name is Clair Stevenson and I'm a marketing mentor for executive, leadership and career coaches who need help writing great content. I show you how to use content to build your business. DM me if you'd like to have a chat about your business.