Whether you’re generating leads online or in more old school ways, two major keys are consistency and intention. You can’t just put out one informational video or blog and expect leads/people to come pouring in. You can’t just do one webinar and expect to fill your school or your client roster.
You have to be consistent so that people see you again and again.
It’s also important that you focus on a) lead generation vehicles that get results and b) lead generation vehicles that work for you and that fit who you are. In the past, you might have heard me mention the 9 C’s. For those unfamiliar, the 9 C’s are: You’ve got to commit to consistently, producing content the correct way so you’ll make a connection with people, then you’re more likely to convert them into clients and if you continue with this cycle, you have the complete sales system.
Of the 9 C’s, consistency is one of the most important keys.
You’re not going to get far by being sporadic in your efforts, just marketing and engaging when you feel like it. You need to be consistent, day after day, week after week. That’s when you’ll see the results you’re looking for. Consistency is all about developing small habits and planning. Habits are things you do without even consciously deciding to do it, like brushing your teeth before you go to bed. Most of us would feel weird if we didn’t brush our teeth, right? But we didn’t start out that way. For most of us as kids, our parents first had to show us how to do it then they had to nag us to do it until finally, it became a habit.
I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit.
So, for the first 21 days of doing the things I’m asking you to do, including these videos, you’ll have to remind yourself. You’ll have to keep those tasks on your calendar and put it on your daily To-Do list. You’ll have to prioritize them over other activities you might be used to doing. You’ll have to remind yourself of why you’re doing them. Then you’ll just have to do them, whether you feel like it or not!
That’s where your commitment comes in.
After a while, especially when you start seeing results, you’ll be eager to create videos and content and get them distributed correctly! It may seem like a huge thing at first. One thing I do when I have a project that feels big is to break it down into mini commitments. For instance, when I have a big speech or presentation coming up, I don’t sit down one day and try to knock the whole thing out.
That’s just too overwhelming.
Instead, I set myself up to work on it for 25 minutes increments a few times a day, every single day for two weeks. I put that “appointment” on my calendar and honor it as if I’m meeting with a client. I chip away at the speech over those two weeks and guess what? By the end, I’ve got a really good draft that just needs polishing. And because I made it into a routine, my subconscious was already working on that speech even when I wasn’t consciously working on it and is ready to go when I sit down to actually do it.
You can talk yourself into doing just about anything a few times a day for 20-25 minutes, right?
People who hate exercise often use the mini-commitment idea to get themselves started. They’ll tell themselves, “Okay, I’m just going to work out for 15 minutes.” But by the time they’ve exercised for a few minutes, they start feeling good and are really into it. They keep going. If they do this day after day, they start to find that they don’t have so much resistance to exercising at all.
They’ve created a habit.
They’ve become consistent and, just like everything we do, that consistency is what pays off. If they did a spurt of exercise for a few days then slacked off for the rest of the month, do you think they’d see any results? No. And it’s the same with your marketing.
