The Marketing Plan

"The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."

Joe Paterno, Head Football Coach, Penn State University

1. A Marketing Plan is a Map

Having a plan is the first step to getting someplace. If you were lost in a new city the first thing you would do is ask for directions and get a map. You must have a written sales plan that you use every day if you really want to have sales occur in your business.

Without opportunities for sales you will not have sales. It’s that simple. In today’s current market conditions, our strategy is to market ten times more than you ever have before. You must create a plan that includes sales activities that haven’t been happening. (We know it can be intimidating, but when you have a written plan, you can do it!) Networking, calling former clients, building your client database, putting out a newsletter, reworking your web site – all these actions will create opportunities for sales.

The plan must be on paper and it must be shared with everyone in the sales department

2. Action makes something happen

Actions are what make things happen. When we convert an idea into action we move the project forward. Thinking about it, feeling about it and creating a plan without action does not produce results. You need to create accountabilities and ways to keep the projects in existence. Coming up with a good idea and having everybody agree to it is nice, but unless you meet weekly, measure the results and agree on what is going to happen next, the plan will drop out of existence. And that means less sales.

3. Time is required when anything is accomplished

The one thing that is always present when anything happens is a period of time. If you do not block out a period of time to make something happen it will not get done. This is a key ingredient to the success of any plan. Carving out the time in your calendar to make something happen is the only way to insure that it will, in fact, occur.

4. Planning +Action+Time= Results

Planning +Action+Time= Results is the secret formula for making something happen. Implement this strategy, and you will always have success. You are on the right path to winning when all of these ingredients are included in your project. Make sure you play to win by using this strategy now in your marketing plan. Let us know how it works for you.

Are You Ready to Play the Game?

Performance and the Work/Life Balance

"Discipline is the whole key to being successful. We all get 24 hours a day. It's up to us what we do with those 24 hours."
Sam Huff, NFL Linebacker

According to Dictionary.com, performance is the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose.

At Possibilities Unlimited, we are committed to coaching you and your business to peak performance. When athletes train, they know that their peak performance comes when they achieve the best results with the least effort. When they develop a rhythm. When they combine their skills and experience to maximize their opportunities. We work with clients to reduce the effort needed to achieve the desired results – to achieve peak performance.

Business people are busy people. Business people do not have time to waste on situations that are not working. They typically have more things to do than they have time to do them. Well guess what? You will always have more to do than time to do it. We coach people to change their relationship with time. We train people to live the business/life they create instead of one created by the circumstances.

We coach people to put vacations back into their lives. To put family time back into their lives. Golf time back into their lives. Even elite athletes recognize the importance of rest and rejuvenation. You can’t be at the top of your game if you never take a time out.

Managing time is a skill and a discipline just like running or lifting weights. Everything we do happens in time. Work and play both happen in time, and if we can’t manage our time, we can’t manage our business/life balance. We coach people on how to achieve peak performance in the time they have available, and produce more efficient, profitable businesses in the process.

Remember that winners are those who consistently achieve peak performance on the playing field. That peak performance is a result of both hard work and rest, of managing time to achieve a competitive balance. For specific tips on how to set up a weekly schedule for your business, visit our website or call us for a personal consultation.

Are you ready to win?

Key Business Success Strategies

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Will Rogers, Actor/Lecturer/Humorist

Every winning team has key success strategies that are the basis for their decisions on the playing field. These are the strategies that remain constant despite change - different players, different opponents, and different circumstances.

In business you need strategies that hold true no matter the market conditions. These are the basic fallback positions that keep your business on track in a challenging economy. At Possibilities Unlimited, we believe that the three key success strategies are:

1. Structure your business to make a profit under current market conditions
2. Do not allow for anything in your business that is not working
3. Market ten times more than you have ever done before

Structure your business to make a profit under current market conditions
The basic law of business is “Thou Shalt Make a Profit!” If you violate that law, you will lose the right to do business. Your business will be permanently in the penalty box. You must at all times structure your business or your department to make a profit. You must bring in more money than you spend.

Your business coach is there to help you make the hard decisions that will keep your business lean and profitable. Getting help from someone who does not have an agenda or something to gain from your business situation makes it easier to get the job done faster with better results.

Do not allow for anything in your business that is not working
Now is the time to throw overboard anything on the boat that is not needed. Any person, system or product that is not contributing to profitability, to moving toward the goal line, needs to be eliminated. Stop allowing for anything that does not work in your business or your department. You need to be running 20% more efficiently that you ever dreamed possible.

Now is the time to get the right people into your starting lineup.You want to move the ball down the court, and that will only happen when the right people are working together and they are all working from the same playbook. The more cohesive the team, the more efficient the business and the lower the operating costs. All these things combine to make you more competitive and boost your results in the game of business/life.

Market ten times more than you ever have before
Market, Market, Market! Now is the time to get into the marketplace. This is no time for order-takers. The people sitting back waiting for the phone to ring are the ones having problems in today’s economy. If you have been marketing then increase it by ten times. (If you devote one hour a week to making sales calls, bump it up to ten hours a week.) Create more opportunities for sales. Build a pipeline of opportunities for sales. Sales are the foundation of your business, the touchdowns, the three-pointers from center court. If you want to win the game, you have to have points on the board. You have to have sales happening all the time.

Are you ready to win?

Winning in Business With the Business/Life Playbook

“The difference between the possible and the impossible lies in the man’s determination.”
Tommy Lasorda, Major League Manager

Welcome to the Consulting2Win Playbook where you can find strategies to win the game of Business/Life. At Possibilities Unlimited, our goal is to create the game plan for your extraordinary life.

Business is a game like any other. People go into business to have more time and more money. They dive into a business with the idea that it will result a fulfilling life outside that business. Instead, they usually wind up working more hours for less pay, diminishing the quality of both their professional and personal lives. This happens when business owners and managers are left to make all the decisions themselves with only a limited perspective on the whole playing field. You can’t hold the ball, run with it, and manage all the other players all at the same time.

What most business people lack is a coach, someone on the sidelines who can objectively assess the team and draw up plays that will point the way to victory. Possibilities Unlimited provides that coaching. We are the eyes on the sidelines, the objective third party point of view. Because we are not in the day-to-day circumstances of the business, we can lay out strategies without being attached to the emotions of the situation. This no-nonsense direction helps clients make better decisions and moves them closer to the goal line.

At Possibilities Unlimited, you are the player, we are the coaches and the business is the team on the field. You get credit for executing the plays. We are there to help you find the open man, make the clutch shot, and emerge victorious.

Each week, we will look at key situations in business and give you a strategy for improving your results in those circumstances. We’ll look at all kinds of business challenges and relate them to today’s ever-changing marketplace. We encourage you to print out the ideas and tactics, and be diligent about putting them into play. Before you know it, you’ll have a comprehensive playbook of specific actions to manage your business over time.

The playbook is a resource drawn from our years of coaching people to win at the game of business/life. If you prefer a more individualized approach, please contact us. We can customize a program that specifically meets the needs of your business, and position you take home the gold.

Are you ready to win?