I have identified 6 reasons (excuses) that many of my local business owner friends use to “postpone” their marketing efforts.  (The period of postponement is usually indefinite.)

1. Quite simply, you don’t like marketing… and you wish someone else would take care of it for you. The ego portion of your psyche has a hard time delegating your marketing.
2. You’re too busy and don’t have time for marketing… you’re too busy working with your clients and “doing it, doing it, doing it.”
3. You hate writing and placing in-effective ads that don’t work… you’ve made this costly mistake one too many times.
4. You are unsure of how to get your prospects attention… and you have a difficult time putting yourself in their shoes.
5. There is no plan or system for marketing in your business… and consequently you market by a series of unrelated events and occurences.
6. You’re not sure which marketing tactic, strategy or approach will work best… and you become gripped with “paralysis by analysis.”

MYTH 1

The goals of the franchisee are the same as the goals of the franchisor, and when the franchisor succeeds, so does the franchisee.

There are two things wrong with this statement.

The first part and the second part.

It is very common for the the goals of the franchisor and the goals of the franchisee to be completely unrelated. Generally a franchisee works hard to improve his bottom line while a franchisor works hard to sell more franchised outlets. It’s really apples and oranges.

MYTH 2

The franchisee is protected from direct competition in his or her territory.

Usually when you purchase a franchise, your contract guarantees you the rights to your territory, but some contracts are ambiguous or unclear when it comes to really protecting the franchisee. Look carefully at the details of your contract to see how it handles certain situations that might leave your franchise vulnerable to competition from another branch, including a time frame after which your territory is negotiable.

Other circumstances that could arise include- if the franchisor company merges with another company, is acquired, or begins operating a second chain of competitive stores under a different trademark, then what? A strong franchise contract will clearly define how your territory is protected in each of these situations.

It is a good idea to have an attorney review this portion of your franchise agreement to make sure there are no loopholes or caveats in the contract that could leave you or your business vulnerable.

From a marketing perspective, you are always under the threat of invasion by neighboring fellow franchisees. This is almost always the case, even when the franchisor sets up the system to discourage this.

It is in your best interest to plan on marketing yourself in a unique manner.

MYTH 3 

The higher the cost of the franchise, the higher the returns.

When investments are strictly financial, the old adage is true that the more money you invest, the more money you tend to make. But because owning a franchise is an investment of your time and skills as well as capital, you should expect a return higher than that which you would receive from a strictly financial investment.

By seeking a franchise that leverages your skills and talents more than the money you put into it, you can reach higher levels of returns regardless of the initial investment or the up-front franchise fee. As a result, the higher priced franchises often have smaller returns, especially initially.

Want to see your investment pay off from the beginning? Seek a franchise, even one that costs under $50,000, and leverage your skills instead of your dollars.

MYTH 4 

Franchises are guaranteed to succeed.

Many people are attracted to franchises because of the belief that franchises are guaranteed to succeed and be profitable. It sure seems that way with a new franchise popping up every day on every corner. Prospective franchisees must realize, however, that no business venture is without risk, and franchises do fail.

The two most common reasons franchises fail are under-capitalization and a failure to follow the established franchise system. Tom Peters, famed business guru says that the high failure rate among first year businesses can be directly traced to their lack of a marketing plan and the inability to promote their company.

Turn off your TV.

Sounds simple on the surface, right? But I can already sense the twitching and the tension. The thought of missing Desperate Houswives tonight seems almost too much to bear.

Here are some unsettling facts about television:

• While viewing, certain synaptic impulses in the brain turn completely off, remaining passive during your TV trance.
• Part of your brain is programmed automatically and you are victim to whatever program you happen to be taking in, experts call this “sleep teaching.”
• Why do you think it’s called programming?
• Television offers neither rest nor stimulation.
• Television actually exhausts the mind.
• Thinking is not possible, you accept the images as they flash onto the screen.

Alright, I’ll back off a little. There are certain sporting events and educational programs that I find enlightening and not really harmful for myself.

But, it’s not the vegetables that we consume that hurts us, it’s the junk food. And the TV junk food expands exponentially every season.

“Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely… Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen.”

- from 1984 by George Orwell

One of my marketing clients has a neighbor who is in sales. He sells medical equipment to hospitals and as I gather is pretty good at what he does. However, he is frustrated at all the time he wastes trying to get in front of people.  My client knows I’ve helped marketing departments bolster their sales leads so he had him call me.

The unhappy sales rep. has a boss who has an old school, no medieval view of how a professional salesperson should spend their time. Apparently the boss feels it makes sense for a talented salesperson to spend the majority of the day dialing for dollars, canvassing buildings and climbing fences to meet new prospects.

At one point, oh around the turn of the century, door to door sales had it’s place. Mainly because that was one of the only means possible for cracking into new markets. Today we have more wisdom and technology at our disposal. Good marketing techniques can whip prospects into a froth, fill your inbox and cause your phone to ring when approached correctly.

Get this- I asked the sales rep. what the marketing people were up to and he said, and I quote, “What marketing people?”

Big surprise.

My quick advice to the sales rep.?  Change the mind of your boss or change jobs.

If you’re in sales- don’t chase customers. Ever.

Sometimes doing something a little off the wall is good in marketing. Creating a buzz in your little section of the sandbox can be a good thing.  Go ahead and take some chances by all means, but make sure you’re not being different for the sake of being different.

I mean, you could walk into a board meeting with your socks in your mouth and be the talk of the office, but that’s like winning the battle and losing the war. As with the subtle message of the old guy above- HAVE FUN, BUT HAVE A POINT.

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