"If anyone can do offline marketing, then why can't I get clients?..."

Hey Offliners,

If anyone can do offline marketing, then why doesn't everyone get paying clients?

There are dozens of reasons why so many consultants start out hopeful and energetic, but find themselves broken and rejected several months later.

In many cases, a healthy dose of reality from the beginning (like realizing that you do have to put your time in) would serve them well, but in many other cases folks were realistic.

Well, after talking to hundreds of consultants, I've come to one conclusion.

Success is most often reached by doing the right thing at the right time.

Let that sink in for a moment.

See, we've all wished we'd bought Google or Microsoft stock in the early days.

We've all heard the stories about the actors and singers being discovered while waiting tables at some hole in the wall pub or bar.

But many of us miss the most important theme that runs throughout most, if not all, of those stories.

What's the theme?

The common theme is that those people who hit it rich, became famous or had that huge break were doing the right thing at the right time which unlocked the success for them.

And that's where it gets really difficult for most consultants.

We love to pick up the latest hack, software or tactic. And there's nothing wrong with that.

But, the real success is only reached when we learn to do the right thing at the right time.

That could mean cold calling, doing direct mail, attending a sales improvement workshop or even joining a coaching program at the right time.

But the "when" is just as important as the "what". You need both to click for you at the same time.

That's why you need to start by having a well-managed daily, weekly and monthly calendar, so that you can begin to be strategic and deliberate about what you're doing.

You need to know at least a week (or a month if you're good) in advance the exact days and times that you're supposed to prospecting, returning phone calls, sending out proposals or working with clients.

That will give you a huge hand up towards planning out the right things that you need to be doing.

However, getting the "when" right is a little trickier. That only comes by doing the right thing consistently enough to be able to see when you are getting better results.

And that's where many consultants fall down on the job. They don't stay at the right things long enough to get the results that they want.

Don't let that be you.

Make a good plan, have it checked by a successful consultant that you trust and stick with it until you start to get the results you want.

Now, go sell something,

Chris