by Robert Middleton – Action Plan Marketing

In the presidential race of 1992, James Carville came up with a memorable slogan directed to those who ran the campaign: "It's the economy, stupid!" And arguably, Clinton won because that's where they placed all their attention and messaging for the campaign. 

Every day we are in exactly the same position. 

We have a vital message we need to get out. And that message needs to penetrate the defenses of our potential clients. They are doing their very best to screen out our messages. They are busy and preoccupied with a thousand things, so if they can screen out your message, they won't have to handle one more thing. 

You know what it's like when a phone solicitor calls. You want to get off the phone as quickly as possible and get back to what you were doing. When you're watching TV, you tend to mute the commercials so you can just enjoy the show. 

Do you think your business is any different? Not on your life. 

Our never-ending challenge is to find a message and approach that will break through the minds that don't want to be interrupted, don't want another thing to think about, don't want to give you any time or attention. 

And there is a way to do that that works better than anything else. 

"It's the results, stupid!" 

That is, if your messages are results-rich, if they talk about the great results that you produce for your clients, if they emphasize your bottom-line value over and over, you have fighting chance to get through, and grab a little attention and interest. 

What are some ways to do that? I never thought you'd ask!

1. On a piece of paper, write down as many results you can think of that you deliver to your clients. I didn't say to write down all the things you did, but the actual, solid, real, measurable things that your clients get when they work with you. 

2. Now narrow these down to just a few, the most important ones, the ones that make the biggest overall difference. What is it that you help to improve, increase or expand? What do you make easier? What are your clients hungriest for? 

3. Then try to narrow that down to one big Ultimate Outcome. The Big Kahuna of results. The thing that your clients want more than anything else. This is the goods, the real thing. 

4. Next put this into a simple but punchy statement: "I help my clients get this result." Or sometimes better, "I help my clients who do not have this result and don't know how to get this result, actually get this result."

"We work with companies who are not consistently hitting their profitability goals, hit those goals every single month."

5. Now, of course, you can't make this up. If you can't do it, don't promise it. But take the highest results you know you can reliably deliver for your clients and promise that. As you increase your skills and ability to deliver a high-level result you can then adjust your message to fit that new reality. 

6. Next you want to build a rock solid, unassailable argument for that result. You want proof, examples, processes, models, and related concepts. My favorite way to do this is with a simple mind map. Put your Ultimate Outcome in the center and then surrounding it, have circles with all the other aspects of this outcome surrounding the central circle. 

7. This helps you talk about your Ultimate Outcome from every perspective and answers questions like: "How does it work? Who has used this approach? Where did it come from? What difference will it make? How long does it take? How much does it cost? How does it compare to others who offer similar solutions?"

8. Then create another mind map with all the ways you will communicate this Ultimate Outcome to your ideal clients: This time, around your center circle, put things like networking, speaking, website, articles, teleclasses, webinars, social media, joint ventures and videos. 

9. Now pick just one of those and create an action plan to put it into action one step at a time. This is a simple and powerful marketing action plan where the key concept is always as the center: The most important result you produce for your clients. 

10. Try a lot of stuff, but keep the message consistent. There may be dozens of ways you can talk about this Ultimate Outcome and even more vehicles to get the word out, but don't mess around with the core message. Ultimately, the message will fall on fertile ground and people will start responding in ways you can hardly imagine. 

Remember, "It's the Results, Stupid." And don't you ever forget it. 

What's the Ultimate Outcome that you plan to get out there? Please share on the Action Blog by clicking on the Comments link below.