You might have passion to spare when you start your practice – but passion alone won’t get you to your ultimate goal of success.
To achieve success, you have to have a strategic plan in place.
A while back, I was contacted by a client who had fired me a few years earlier. We had worked together for about 10 months but we never really accomplished anything. We spent most of our time debating the importance of achieving a #1 organic SERP on her desired keyword. She thought it was a top priority – while I wanted to focus on creating a lead generation process.
The client is always right – so I focused my efforts on her desired objective. We parted on good terms when she claimed she couldn’t “afford” to work with me anymore – and I left the door open for her to return when the circumstances changed.
Over the next few years, my efforts on her behalf were rewarded. Her site rose to a #1 organic position on her desired keyword but despite that “success” – her practice wasn’t succeeding.
Her next contact with me was after she had emptied her savings and been forced to go to work 40 hours a week. She sent me a link to a competitor’s website – one who is offering EXACTLY the same service she offers on her website with the comment , “This is the kind of practice I want to have!”
In my reply, I pointed out that this competitor was simply copying her website – sans the graphics but right down to her tightly targeted, carefully crafted keyword phrase.
When we were first working together, she had carved out a unique niche in her field. Today she has a myriad of competitors – all chasing this tightly targeted audience which we had identified as under-served years ago.
The key takeaway is this: my client had passion to spare when she started her practice. However, passion couldn’t take her all the way to achieving success.
During our first go-around – she didn’t see the value of putting together a cohesive marketing strategy – which in my world includes a lead generation process. Instead the “shiny” marketing tactics which promised a “softer,cheaper, easier way” to build her practice had let her down.
For some reason, many of my clients resist digging in and developing a strong lead generation process. This former client in particular didn’t view developing such a process as necessary – until she had to get a “real” job to support herself.
Creating a solid lead generation process is hard work – but it’s hard work that pays HUGE dividends in the long run!
