The World-Famous Castles on Quicksand Marketing Method
Back when I was clueless, I spent lots of time doing big things that got me nowhere.
Don’t know if you heard of Larry Huston. He used to be SVP of Knowledge and Innovation at a little company called Procter and Gamble. $80+ billion in annual sales. Larry developed the famous open innovation model that everyone wanted to imitate.
I was the founder and sole employee of The Gordon Group. (Annual sales not public. But we’ve always trailed P&G.) My most important responsibility was finding clients. And I was failing miserably.
“Well, you need a bigger list,” I said to myself. “And teleseminars are a good way to grow a list.”
Larry had recently left P&G to open his own consulting firm. Got him on the phone and he agreed to do a teleseminar with this young guy from Israel he had never met or heard of.
Next. Where would the audience come from?
I called my way into the head of strategy for TheMarker magazine, Israel’s answer to Forbes or Fortune. I schlepped to Tel Aviv to meet with them and sell my brilliant idea: “I’ll bring you exclusive interviews with leading business luminaries. You publish the interview and mention my upcoming teleseminar in the byline with a link. Win – win – win.”
I don’t recall how many people joined the call. But it doesn’t matter. It was a great call. But it did NOTHING for my business.
Little did I realize that I was perfecting the Castles on Quicksand Method of Marketing: Working like a dog on projects that – even if successful – would do nothing for ME. Everyone would admire what I did and go home, leaving me to watch it all sink into nothing.
Are you building Castles on Quicksand? If yes, I have just two things to say to you:
1. Stop.
2. Request a free “Consistent Flow of Customers” strategy session with me.
Yes, there’s hope. You just need to take the first step.
Dov Gordon
The normal model would have been to get someone bigger/more important then Larry Hudson.
Then and only then would you stop.
Wait, no you would still need to:
- Try harder.
- Put more time in.
- More money would help, definitely.
- More equipment.
- Maybe a voice coach.
Then and only then, after you are broken and unrecognizable would you stop.
At least that is the way the ‘big boys/girls’ say it is done.
Or I guess you could forgo all that pain and just call Dov.
His free strategy session is an exposé of the castles in the air they tell us to build before we move.
Thanks, Jonathan.
May I mention that you listened to the recording of the session we did four times? ;-p
Happy New Year to you and your family,
Dov