A few years back, I was out on the ski slopes in Vermont, following my son Evan down an icy trail. I got going a bit too fast and took a fall and landed head first on the rock hard snow.
When I got up, I was a bit dazed, and Evan asked me if I realized I was bleeding. (I hadn’t.) It was just a trickle, so I… 
cleaned it off with some snow and kept skiing.
I did check in with the ski patrol, and other than a small concussion and a shiner on my forehead I was okay…Well, almost okay…
You see, my wife had been after me for a few years to start wearing a helmet and I knew I was headed for trouble when I returned home to Connecticut. Later that day on the way south, I had my son drive, so I could ice my forehead, not to mention the fact that I was in no condition to be behind the wheel.
My logic was that if I could keep the swelling down, maybe my wife wouldn’t notice and I could avoid the ‘I told you so’ abuse I was headed for.
Of course when I walked in the door, the first thing my wife asked was, “What’d you do to your head?”
So much for thinking straight after getting a concussion.
Then there was the time I tore my rotator cuff and couldn’t raise my arm or more recently this past January when I tore my ACL and on my return from the mountains my wife practically needed a crowbar to get me out of the car. Two more injuries I tried to ignore and power through.
What’s wrong with this picture? Other than being a cash cow for my orthopedist?
When things go wrong, trying to hide them, ignore them or just power through them is – well, it’s pretty dumb. I’ll admit it. And I’m sure you’d never try to pull some of the stunts I’ve tried, including ignoring a major injury. Right?
But that’s exactly what most small business owners do every day!
They build a website and it barely sends them a trickle of leads. Or they pour money into a direct mail campaign and only get a couple of responses.
And then they do it again, ignoring the fact that their marketing is broken and in desperate need of repair or in fact in need of major surgery And hardly any of them have the excuse that they’re suffering from a concussion.
What’s going on?
In my case just by pretending I wasn’t hurt that bad didn’t fool anyone… but me.
My wife, the trainer at the gym, and everyone else could see that I was injured. In the case of my most recent ACL tear, I can’t even walk in a straight line.
So what happens when small business owners pretend everything is okay with their marketing strategy? Does the problem go unnoticed?
Of course not.
Their prospects notice their marketing is boring and lame. And they don’t respond, or if they do they only spend a small fraction of what they could. And the business struggles.
Then they blame it on the economy, the competition, the moon or whatever.
How about you?
Are you being honest with yourself?
Is your marketing in need of repair or even major surgery?
One of the easiest things to fix is your marketing message. It’s like the equivalent of outpatient surgery that you can do yourself.
To your success,
Charlie
P.S. Next week I’ll share the most important factor in determining whether your prospects buy from you or run to the competition.
P.P.S. Yes, I now wear a helmet when I go skiing and after 5 weeks of skiing with a torn ACL I finally bit the bullet and went to the orthopedist.
