Direct Marketing, What You Think And What You Will

If you think you will, you will. If you think you won’t, you won’t.

In our latest blog we talked about winning in direct marketing and how winning is connected directly to the benefits and success your customers receive from your products and the value they derive from your service. Today we want to cover the marketing concept of thinking and how it ties in to your success and the success of your customers.

If you think you will, you will. If you think you won’t, you won’t. Think of the first part of that statement, “If you think you will, you will.” Now, pause for a moment and think of a few of the simple pleasures that we as children used to enjoy. One that comes to mind is that kid favorite of jumping in a puddle of water. Oh the thrill and oh the splash!

Most may agree that half the fun of jumping or stomping in a puddle of water was seeing how big the splash would be and maybe the other half of the fun was watching where that splash landed. Where it landed wasn’t always so fun for our friends standing in its wake; of course, at least not until they joined in on the fun and sent a splash or two in your direction.

Now, as hard as it may be, try to remove yourself from the revelry of that childhood moment and try to look at it in an analytical perspective. Jumping in a mud puddle and the many other spontaneous things we enjoyed doing required two things of us before we engaged in them. First, we had to think of doing it. Second, we had to muster up the will to go ahead and do it.

Now, on those days when the sky was clear, not a cloud in the sky and the road was dry as the backside of a lizard; I can venture to guess you weren’t jumping in many mud puddles. You likely didn’t think of jumping in a mud puddle either. You had neither the thought nor the will to do so and if you did have the will to do so; then you would have had to have had the gumption to go to all the trouble of pulling out the garden hose and soaking the road down.  Right? Right. Where there is a will, there is a way.

We’ll have to admit, it is fun reminiscing those good ol’ childhood memories, but now turn your thoughts to the present moment and think of where you are today in relation to your customers and ask yourself, “Is it really true that if I think I will, I will?” and “Is it really true that if I think I won’t, I won’t?” As you ponder those questions we’ll go ahead and answer them. The answer is, absolutely, yes! Both are true. If both are true then it is case closed and all you’ve got to do is think you will make a million bucks and you will, right? Well, maybe.

Maybe? Yes, maybe. Why so?

It depends on where your will to make $1,000,000 falls in among the other things that you will to do. If your will to make a million bucks is the driving force that guides all the other things you will to do, you are going to end up short changing both yourself and your customers. However, if your will to make a million bucks is subordinate to the other things you will to do, you actually stand a good chance of making that million dollars.

So how does the “if I think I will, I will” and the “if I think I won’t, I won’t” principle relate to your direct marketing endeavor and your customers? It relates in the balance, or the lack balance, between the aim of your sales endeavor and your will and therein lies the balancing point. In anything you do in direct marketing, always temper the things you think you will do and the will you have to do those things with the overall aim of your pursuit; that is, your aim being the benefit and the success of your customers. Let the end result of their benefit and success filter what you think to do and what you will to do.

In that balance, everyone wins. No one loses. The end result is a win-win and your every decision will be in sync with the aim of your service. The tremendous outcomes attached to your being accountable to your customers in all that you do will steer you away from fruitless choices and those time draining, energy sapping, side pursuits. Your attention will always be upon what you think of doing and what you want to do for the benefit and success of your customers; which, in turn, always benefits your own success.

We encourage you to write the following down and think deeply about it in relation to all that you do in your business.

If I think I will, I will; how does what I’m thinking of doing benefit my customers’ success?

If I think I won’t, I won’t; how does what I’m thinking of not doing benefit my customers’ success?

Today’s Takeaway

Jumping in mud puddles is o.k. when it benefits your customers.

Mud Puddle – Definition: An insignificant body of water that, when jumped in, can have substantial effects upon your customers.