Bill opened a panel on the business of speaking by quoting one
of his mentors. She said, “You have to be lazy to succeed. Try to do things
once, figure out how to do them the easiest way possible and make it a macro.”
Kate grinned and said, “There must be more Fletch. You never
just drop a comment like that into the conversation and walk away from it.”
“Thas true you ol’ hound,” said Rob our steamy southern gentleman.
“Well,” I said, “It reminded me of what a friend of mine
calls administrivia. It’s a made up word for all that stuff that gets in the
way of getting real things done. It’s the repetitive tasks that crimp your
creative style.
Being lazy is a solution to that problem.”
“True,” Rick said. “I find in direct marketing that sometimes
folks are so intent on making sure that every little detail has been taken care
of that they overlook the truly important stuff. Take the reality that folks in
my business now understand.
When I was getting my spurs the adage was that the keys to
success in direct marketing were List, Offer and Creative. The percentages
assigned were 40, 40 and 20.
Today, we know there are some other factors that need to be
included. List, Offer and Creative are still there but Timing and Ease of Response
have been measured. The percentages shifted some but it is easy to understand
them he said drawing a pie chart on a napkin.”
“The list and the offer are still the most important” Said Chris.
“But the things we’ve found out from analytics in my online advertising
adventures really show how important Timing and Ease of Response are.
Timing is from the customer’s viewpoint. Where they are in
the buying cycle must match the offer and the creative and the ease of
response.”
“Thas where brand makes a difference,” said Rob. “It’s funny
how folks will complain about a little something and then y’all hear: ‘But I
don’t mind, bless their heart.”
“But the way you get to a brand,” said Gail, “is to keep
doing the right thing over and over.”
“It’s administrivia all over again,” I agreed and added, “Being
lazy is getting it right and establishing that behavior as a norm to build company
habits so your customer can be lazy. Concentrate on the big things and continually
try to find lazy ways to accomplish the administrivia. Long term the lazy way
will pay off.”
What is your advice for a lazy person?
Jerry Fletcher has been finding lazy ways to market businesses
for over 20 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com
Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally
on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com