Don’t Lose Your Marketing Muscle Memory
In this article, the author shares with readers that a number of practitioners expect a slow 2022; this is a departure from the current work frenzy. He shares his advice regarding what to do in anticipation of that fear.
I have been talking to many of my colleagues lately—mainly, those who specialize in tax purpose valuations. Collectively, they have been, and they are up to their a$$es in alligators—resulting from the ongoing influx of E/G work triggered first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then the change in Presidencies. Collectively, they expect they will be much less busy come 2022.
Feast or famine; Eat what you kill; Make hay while the sun shines.
We have euphemisms to describe a pipeline of projects that is either gushing or dripping. And while neither extreme is fun, you certainly fear the dripping more than the gushing.
The conventional wisdom to prevent the gushing is to “raise your fees.” The conventional wisdom to prevent the dripping is to “always be marketing.”
If you’re a sole practitioner, you are the chief marketing officer and the only one that can bring in more work. If you’re in a firm, a faster way to move up the ranks is to bring in new business.
But let’s face it. Many of you don’t like business development. You look for any excuse to avoid it. And you’re especially good at avoiding marketing when you’re already busy doing valuation work. But to do the work, you first must get the work.
And sometimes, when you’ve had a strong run of good projects, you can develop the mindset of I don’t need to market … the work will continue coming in. And so, you may become inclined to sit in your office and aggressively wait for the phone to ring.
Until it doesn’t. Then you’re back to picking up your business development efforts where you left off. Except it doesn’t quite work that way.
Ever break an arm or a leg? You get laid up for a few weeks. Then the cast comes off. You need to use the limb to get on with your life. But the muscles have weakened and atrophied.
Business development is like that. If you don’t use the skills you have, they decline. You lose that marketing muscle memory.
You begin to fear picking up the phone to make a “sales call.” The people you call don’t remember you. Or if they do, quickly realize you’re calling because you want something—more work.
And your previously sharp ability to grasp your prospect’s position gets dull. So, you are less effective at picking up on the problem—and assume you can provide a cookie cutter solution.
When you reach this stage, your confidence in your skills and abilities declines. Your hesitancy to market reinforces your fear of marketing.
The point to remember—business development is a muscle. A muscle grows when it is exercised. And constantly exercising your marketing muscle can help you avoid the dripping pipeline.
Always be marketing!
Everyone has a different idea of what a successful practice is. The practice you want is personal because it is based on what “successful” means to you. I help practitioners focus on the strategies, tactics, tools, and tech to build/grow/scale their versions of successful practices. If you want some help with that, e-mail me at rod@rodburkert.com.
