A thought as you consider your goals for 2008.
“The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me.” - Ayn Rand
I’ll take the newsletter, hold the guilt please
And now it’s time for a vent… this is my open letter to the marketers out there, especially the four from this morning who nearly induced a panic attack with some particularly poorly choosen subject lines designed to scare me into opening their emails.
I admit it. I’m subscribed to more newsletters and autoresponders than I can count. And at least 75% of the time it gets deleted before I read it. It’s my “quick scan filter.” You can get past my quick scan filter if I “know” you and know your content is valuable, or if the subject line really catches my eye.
But please, catch my eye with something that creates positive emotions! If you lead me to feel angry, sad, hurt, afraid, worried, or just plain cranky, sure I might read that email but there’s a 99% chance I will immediately then unsubscribe from your list and no longer consider purchasing your product or services.
Why? Because real life is tough enough. I do not need emails with subject lines like “Is something wrong?” or “What happened to you?!” coming into my inbox simply because I wasn’t ready to purchase the product you promoted to me last week. Maybe I’m still considering it. Maybe I am not sure I need it yet. Maybe I want to know more first. Or maybe I just can’t afford it at the present time.
But regardless of my reason, choosing to “sell” me with this type of psychological tactic isn’t going to work. Really, do you want me to buy from a place of negative emotion?
Consider that if a subscriber buys from negative emotion (fear, stress, concern) that negative emotion is going to stay powerfully connected to your product or service in the buyer’s mind. I don’t want to remember every time I pick up a great book that I only bought it because I felt guilty!
So stop trying to catch my attention with panic-inducing subject lines, please.
And don’t try to sell me with a scarcity perspective. If your product is going up 50 cents an hour, I’m not going to purchase it. Please, stop the gimmicks. I understand a pre-sale, that’s cool. But come on, you really want to charge your customers more as a punishment for not checking their email and being online every moment of the day?
Yeah, these things might work. I’ll give you that. But I hope that your concern for building a relationship with your potential customers and existing customers is worth more than a single sale. I hope it’s worth enough that you care about us and want to sell from a positive place.
Come from a place of inspiration, of positivity, and of genuine concern for me, my business, my family, and then we can build a relationship where you don’t just get a one -time sale, you get my respect and in turn my attention and referrals for the future. Wouldn’t you rather have that?
Tackling Procrastination: Six Ways to Overcome It
Do you find yourself procrastinating? Putting off tasks that truly need done? Here are some of the main reasons for procrastination and ways to overcome them.
1) You just don’t want to do it.
Sometimes there are tasks we just don’t want to do. There are three ways to overcome this: do it, hire someone else to do it, remove it from your list.
First, decide if it’s something that really has to be done. If it’s your monthly book-keeping, it’s essential. If it’s cold calling it may not be essential. Can you cross it off your list?
Next, if it does have to be done, can you hire it out? Get a virtual assistant, intern, or other helper to finish the task for you.
If you can’t hire it out and you can’t cross it off your list, you’re going to have to take a lesson from Nike and “just do it.” Try one of these methods:
- Make it your first task of the day and work at it until it’s done.
- Break it up into manageable pieces.
- Reward yourself when it’s complete.
2) You haven’t found the right solution yet.
If a task on your list is getting done because you’re not sure how to do it, here are three ideas:
- Start at Google and do your research.
- Purchase an info product to help you (this may be a good idea to help you get it done more quickly and make fewer mistakes if you find a quality info product).
- Ask your mastermind group, peers, or other resource people for their suggestions. It only takes a minute to post online or send out an email.
3) You don’t have the expertise to finish the project.
When a task you begin morphs into something much bigger or more involved than you expected it’s okay to find help. Go ahead and find someone who can assist you. It’ll be easier than dealing with yet more frustration, the job will be done quicker, and you’ll be able to focus on your business again.
4) It’s overwhelming and you aren’t sure where to begin.
This is actually one of the easiest procrastination reasons to overcome. You just need a plan! Break up that task into smaller tasks that you can spread out. How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time. So split the task into steps.
When I write an info product I start with the outline. I write down all the areas I want to cover. Then I look at what areas I already know well and where I might want to do some research. I research what I need to and then start writing.
Another idea that you may find helpful is to start by setting a deadline and then working backwards from that deadline.
5) It requires an action step you aren’t ready for.
Get clear about why you aren’t ready. You need to either cross it off your list for now so it’s not looming over you and discouraging you when it’s not complete, or you need to figure out why you aren’t moving forward on it so that you can deal with whatever is stopping you and move past it.
6) Distractions surround you.
For women working from home this is often a real challenge that results in procrastination. I can get more done in one hour of peace than in four hours of distracted work time. If distraction is a problem you need to find a way to work around it.
If you have very young children at home with you, plan your work time during nap time, late night, or early morning. Or find a trustworthy mother’s helper.
With older children you can often barter. Have a meeting and explain that for the next hour Mommy will need quiet time to work, and then when that hour is finished you’ll all do some fun project together. Make it something your kids enjoy doing (craft project, building legos, whatever they love to do with you) so that they’ll look forward to it. When your hour is up, stay true to your word and give your kids that time completely focused on them.
If the distractions come in the form of a spouse… you’ll need to have a family meeting to address your work time, come up with some boundaries that feel fair to everyone.
Other distractions can be eliminated. Close your email. Put the phone on silent and let it go to voicemail. Focus exclusively on the project you’ve been putting off.
I hope these 6 strategies help you to overcome whatever you’ve been procrastinating!
Michelle Shaeffer, The Small Business Muse, can be found online at www.michelleshaeffer.com where you’ll find great newsletters, helpful free articles and worksheets and much more for women working from home.