How an Old Dog Taught Me An Important Marketing Skill

Author: Wesley Murph

I\'m a dog lover.

And over the years my dog has taught me a ton.  Not only about life but also about sales and marketing.  

How can that be?

Well, in today\'s short article I\'ll share with you how my dog taught me the most important marketing skill there is.  

Here\'s a story to explain:

My dog named Elliot is going on 12 years old.  And like most 'elder' dogs he has trouble getting out of bed and moving around.  In fact, Elliot reminds me of a cross between the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan since he walks 'stiff'.  

That said, Elliot will do darn near anything for his ball.

He\'ll play ball till the cows come home, no matter how much his arthritis flares up.  

You could make the case that it\'s in Elliot\'s DNA to chase a ball since he\'s a retriever.  

But, I\'d offer another explanation.  

A simpler one which his that he is clear on what he wants.

This is very important marketing lesson too.  

Let me explain:

I can\'t tell you how many times clients tell me they want to attract 'everybody' to their business.  Everybody?  Who\'s everybody?  And if it\'s 'everybody' you want coming into your small business, then you\'re better off opening the phone book and mailing a random list of people the best offer you can make.

And surely, you realize this would be a complete waste of your time and money.

Think of it like this:

Let\'s say you are a painter.  And you are trying to market your services to paint houses in a particular neighborhood.  You\'d be crazy to waste time on people who have just had their house painted.

Right?

Why would they need your services?

They wouldn\'t.  And for this reason you\'d be better off eliminating these homes from your target list, and then marketing only to the houses that have paint chipping to the ground.

This gets back to my dog Elliot knowing what he wants (which is his ball).

You see, when you know who you want to sell to, then you\'ve already won half the battle.

And in small business marketing this can make all the difference between a blockbuster campaign and a told bomb.

One last thing:

If you are serious about growing your business, then what\'s holding you back?  More than likely all you are lacking is one good idea.  But you have to be careful where you look for ideas.  Because now days everybody and their brother claims to be some kind of 'business expert'.

That said:

Can I give you more good ideas like what\'s in this article?  

You better believe I can.

But, our personalities may not jive.  In fact, if there is some 'rub' between us then it\'ll never work.  You won\'t be happy.  And neither will I.  To see if we\'re a good fit, stroll on over to my website which you\'ll find in the author box below.
 

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/how-an-old-dog-taught-me-an-important-marketing-skill-5583509.html

About the Author

Wesley Murph is the author of 'The Little Black Book of Small Business Marketing Secrets: 10 Proven Ways to Add New Customers, Repeat Sales and Referrals to Any Small Business!' which includes a campaign he wrote for a client that pulled a whopping 35.7response to an ice-cold list.  He is not accepting any new clients at this time.  But if you\'d like more tips like the one you just read, then head on over to...

http://www.TheMarketingManiac.net

...where you can pick-up 3 free reports including:

Report #1: The 10 Most Important Elements to a BLOCKBUSTER Marketing Campaign

Report #2: 3 Effortless Ways to Get 10 New Customers using the B.I.N. Method

Report #3: The Simple Marketing Strategy that Puts New Customers into Your Business Almost Instantly