Today a client of mine emailed me with great news. He is starting to see results from the last 6 months of his marketing efforts. For instance, his sales pipeline is heating up thanks to an educational letter and follow up campaign we worked on—including 2 recently closed deals. He just spoke at an association that serves his target market and landed a client and a lead that way. Plus he is actively getting referrals from his existing customers, which now number about 70.

But 4-5 months ago, things didn’t look so rosey. It is only thanks to a consistent, focused commitment to marketing that he has achieved these results.

While you can see instant results by marketing, it takes time and persistence to build momentum.

Hopefully you have a plan and are sticking to it. Don’t get frustrated. Results come to those who persist.

Some positive thinking guru used to tell the story of a bunch of gold diggers who dug a big hole looking for gold and eventually gave up. Then someone else claimed the land and found a huge supply of gold after digging only one foot more. Keep digging!

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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Salesforce.com, in its constant battle to move up-market, is now introducing middleware for connecting its hosted CRM software with SAP’s R/3 resource planning software. The upgrade will be available July 30. That feature works in conjunction with the new Salesforce Summer ‘06 edition, which is basically version 20 of the software. Also new in this version are call scripting and lead-tracking features, plus regulatory compliance tools.

For more on the upgrade:
- take a look at this IDG News article

The last blog post talked about the importance of failure.

There are two mindsets that makes failure acceptable and bearable, and they are non-judgment and non-attachment.

Both of these mindsets mean that you can go all out to get your business going, or to make a sale—but you stay a bit detached. You don’t judge yourself. You don’t take things personally. You don’t wrap your ego up in how things go, and instead drive to the outcome.

If things work out, great! If they don’t, you observe what happened, learn, make adjustments, and try again.

Many people misinterpret non-attachment to mean that one is passive. That’s not the case. You still move forward powerfully and with full intent. You still give it your all. But you don’t add the junk that so many people add—like tying your sense of personal worth to your success or failure.

A friend and business partner and I recently invested lots of money in a business that didn’t quite work out. I mourned it for a while, and then moved on. He is still kicking himself about the result. What’s the point?

There is a Zen story about two monks crossing a river, when they meet a beautiful naked girl. She asks for help crossing the river. The older monk picks her up and crosses the river, while the younger monk looks on in shock (as monks are supposed to be celibate and avoid beautiful naked girls). A mile or so down the river, the younger monk is still in shock, and can’t stop thinking about the older monk’s behavior. The older monk says something like, “I crossed the river with that girl a mile ago and left her there, yet you still carry her.” I think lots of people still carry their burdens of long and not so long ago.

There is a great book called the Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Galloway that everyone should read—tennis player or not. In it, Galloway talks about a Self 1 and a Self 2. Self 1 is our rational, thinking self. It is the self that gets all wrapped up in ego and judgment. It is the self that causes players to talk to themselves on the court, or throw their racket when they miss a shot. Self 2 is the self that actually gets things done, and hits the ball—without thinking, but simply by doing. His approach is about trusting and developing Self 2.

The same applies to business. The more you can let your Self 2, your non-judgmental and non-attached observer and doer, do the job, the happier and more successful you will be.

Another fine book to read is Money and the Meaning of Life—which gets into our attachment to and judgments about money. How we think about money has a lot to do with our enjoyment and ultimate fulfillment and success.

Failure means nothing. Success means nothing. Striving for excellence and fun—that’s everything (and also nothing).

Hopefully this does not come across as too fluffy or mystical. It is a very crucial point, and a hard one to put into practice.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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A recent post to a blog entry asked about failure and what to do if you have never failed.

I have to confess that I am one of the biggest failures you will ever meet. And that’s a good thing from my point of view.

4 out of 5 businesses or ideas I have fail. (But 1 out of 5 do great; and I’ve learned how to test ideas at low cost).

I’ve failed trying to climb the corporate ladder—at at least four decent-sized companies. And I’ve failed as an employee in a variety of smaller ventures. I’ve been laid off once and fired another time. (But these failures have given me the confidence and desire to go out on my own).

I’ve failed in working with 2 out of 3 business partners. (But the 1 that has worked out has been fabulous!)

One out of 4 clients don’t continue to work with me. (But 3 out of 4 are intensely loyal!)

The vast majority of people who see me speak, read my articles and blogs, receive a direct mail letter, or see an online ad for my programs don’t respond. (But I learn from this and keep testing and improving to increase response).

Get out there and fail! Stop trying to be perfect. Put up a site and keep improving it. Get out there and keep learning and refining your approach. Stop being an A student and start being a B or even C student. Try lots of things and see what works—and then build on that.

In fact, one of the reasons clients come to me is because I have failed so much. I turn that into an advantage: “Mr. Client, I can save you lots of money because I know what DOESN’T WORK as much as I know what does work. Hire me and you’ll avoid making lots of costly mistakes that your competitors make every single day.”

I used to be a perfectionist. I was an all-A student at Harvard. But while that kind of record (which came before grade inflation there) was great for a career in research or academia, it didn’t mean much in the business world. I learned fast that success in business is much different than success in school. It took me a long time to adapt, and get out of the perfectionist trap.

So try things and see what works, and doesn’t work. Learn about the needs of a specific market and solve their problems.

Get out there, try (at low cost), and learn.

Take risks and be ready to fail. When you get good at failing, paradoxically, success will follow.

That’s because you are out there doing something. That can often be enough to take your knowledge to a new level compared to your peers, and then have an insight that brings you great success.

Obviously, you can’t fail 100% of the time forever. You have to keep shifting and adapting, using what you have learned to try new things. Don’t try to fail. But do take risks in which you minimize your downside, learn from your actions, and keep persisting in new and improved directions.

In drilling for oil, you might hit 9 dry wells before you strike the gusher! The same is true in business. You never know if success will come after 1 well, after 10, or—due to the way that statistics can work—after 20.

Just keep drilling! And that means you have to be willing to keep failing.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.