Understanding the importance of marketing

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Joe Polish | 26 Aug, 2008
There's something that Dan Sullivan taught me, which is his way of looking at tools that you use every day. Think of it as three drawers. Since we're not visually able to draw a picture, picture a three-drawer, little cabinet. The top drawer is labeled "tool belt," and the middle drawer is labeled "tool box," and the third drawer, the bottom drawer, is labeled "tool shed."

So, every day, people are using tools in their business. It could be cell phones. A carpet cleaner could be using equipment. A doctor could be using scalpels and things like that. Dentists could be using a drill. Poodle groomers could be using whatever you groom poodles with. I've never done that. I've cleaned carpets, but I've never groomed a poodle.

Nonetheless, whatever the deal is, whatever somebody's glop is, they use tools. The point is if you're going to use a tool every day, like a computer, you should probably have the best tool you can get your hands on. If you're going to use a cell phone every day and you have a cell phone that keeps dropping calls or the battery wears out after 10 minutes, go get another cell phone.

What amazes me in business is things that people focus on, that they actually think are important. So, your software, your database, your follow-up system, that doesn't need to be in your tool shed. It's not something you use every six months. You use it every day. So tool belt are tools you use every day, day-in and day-out. Toolboxes are things that you use frequently, and the tool shed are things that are special need.

There are not just actual physical tools; there are psychological tools. I create marketing tools for people. I have sales letters, I have social proof, and merging it together with what you guys know creates a perfect system. You need to really think about that even if you're going to do the best job in your business, no matter what you sell, whether it is products, services or whatever, and you're going to use marketing, if you don't have any clients, it doesn't matter how good of a manager you are. You've got nothing to manage.

From my standpoint, marketing is the most critical thing in the world. Marketing is what brings the catch in.