I can do it myself!
A case for a Marketing Coach

by Kay Keenan

I can do it myself! Words I remember so well, from one of my daughters when she was two years old as she struggled to put her shoes on and refused help. Today, people sell real estate without realtors and draft wills without legal advice. Why are people so stubborn to not use professionals with the right skills and tools for the job?

Fortunately, there are people who say “I can’t do it all myself!” Accountants, architects, retained search executives, and computer service firms are examples of a few industries who have turned to a professional to help them develop marketing plans and, more importantly, ask for help to stay on track and succeed.

One client, Kate describes the day before my scheduled day with the partners of her firm, as the day of the month she hates the most. Kate pulls out her marketing plan and begins to work her way through her “To Do” list. Kate says that having to report in front of her partners that she made no progress from one month to the next would be embarrassing, so she drives hard to schedule lunches with prospects and follow up meetings with former clients. In no way are her actions unique to her—her partners all smiled when Kate tried to decrease the frequency of our meetings. In the end, the partners continued with the monthly intervals, fearful that if they reduced it they would not make the progress they had been achieving in growing their business.

Progress is not always a straight line and it doesn’t always come as expected. For one business with which I was working, the 2001 recession required major business changes and marketing coaching was just one of the many cuts that were made, along with terminating much of the staff. Imagine my surprise earlier this year when I received a call asking if I would begin providing coaching to the president of the company. At the first meeting, when I asked what services she wanted me to provide, her list began with business therapist, marketing coach, business strategist, professional friend and growth consultant. I was flattered, but more importantly I realized that the role of marketing coach came with other services that were expected by my clients. As the senior person in her firm she needed someone to bounce ideas off of and she was willing to pay for a well-rounded professional for that service.

So why should you consider a marketing coach

• Do you have a personal marketing plan in writing?
• Have you gained the right new clients in the last year?
• Have you fired clients in the last year?
• Is marketing part of your weekly routine?
• As you gain new business is it profitable and the type of work that you like?
• Do you have great ideas but don’t know how to get them to reality?

If you don’t like your answers, it is time to write a marketing plan. The plan doesn’t need to be burdensome. Try the following template and you will have a great start:

But the completed marketing form is only a start; the discipline to follow through is what delivers the results. Yes, that sounds like the advice we have given children playing T-ball or baseball; it sounds like what the golf pro tells you to improve your golf game. Follow through is the key—not the personal marketing plan, but the fact that you take the right actions.

So as you look at your business development results, challenge yourself and ask if now is the time to find a coach to help you improve your score and your winning results.

Special offer to members of the ABA Women Rainmakers: complete a one page personal marketing plan and email it to the author at ask@GrowthConsultingInc.com. She will be glad to set up a half hour teleconference with you to discuss how to strengthen your plan at no charge to you or your firm. This offer is available only in 2004.

Kay Keenan is President of Growth Consulting Inc. where she advises businesses on profitable growth. Her clients have included companies both in the business-to-business as well as consumer markets ranging from accountants and architects to technology and manufacturing companies. She is a dynamic leader with 20 years of consumer and business-to-business marketing experience at both a Fortune 200 company and a Fortune 500 Investor Owned Public Utility. She is experienced in start-up ventures as well as growing through acquisition. While at an Investor Owned Public Utility, Kay was a key member of the management team that led 24 acquisitions to build a $140 million business in 4 years.

Kay enjoys helping others learn and is recognized for her talent in marketing and as a business advisor. She is a past President of the Delaware Forum of Executive Women and of Wilmington Women in Business.

To learn more about Kay and her business Growth Consulting Inc. visit www.GrowthConsultingInc.com