Day 1.5 -- Thoughts on Filling the Pipeline

Okay, so I said I was going to write once a day, and technically this is still the first day and I'm writing twice. Call it margin. Or being proactive... Tomorrow is pretty full, and I'm not sure how much I'll get done, so I'll get this off my plate early. And actually it's almost tomorrow anyway!

Why am I making excuses? Get a grip!

So, according to our book, there are four primary areas in the sales process:

• Filling the pipeline
• Following up
• Getting presentations
• Closing sales

I'm working on Filling the Pipeline because while I have lots of contacts, as I've really tried to narrow my focus on the what my ideal client is like, I think most of my contacts are not it. Now I'm not sure I could articulate who my ideal client is tonight (it's very late), but knowing who it is NOT is valid, too.

The strategies I've chosen to fill the pipeline are:

• Direct contact and follow-up
• Public Speaking
• Writing and Publicity

And, I'm working on all of those.

I finished Module 2 on my certification project. It was on Website Analytics, and got pretty heavy. I passed the test, but I need to go over it again, I think. There's more there than I anticipated, but then if I already knew everything, why would I need to be taking a course??

Day 1 -- Starting the journey

First let me say that I realize the world doesn't need another blog. With (according to a quote from Technorati) over 175,000 new blogs a day... well, need I say more?

My goal is to write daily for 28 days as I go through the Get Clients Now!TM group coaching program with Kim Avery, who is a certified trainer for GCN. Learn more about how Kim helps entrepreneurs and those seeking a career change (by choice or otherwise) at her website:

www.CareerBuildersPlus.com

Our group started two weeks ago when we "met" for the first time on a conference call, six of us and Kim. We identified where we felt stuck in our marketing cycle, and where we wanted to go. During the following week we choose our Success Ingredients and mapped out our Daily Actions. On yesterday's call we shared those and talked about how we would move forward.

Because I know that writing/journaling my progress is critical to my success, I've chosen to chronicle this 28 day journey in a blog. And I chose a blog because it would be much easier to let the exercise slide if it were a physical journal... So here we go!

I've filled in my Tracking Worksheet and will be sending it to Kim this morning.

The last time I went through this class, I choose Thursdays as a rest day because that day was devoted to the weekly Bible Study class I'm involved in (LifeRenewal Ministries). I have to be honest -- I love working my business, and almost always do something on it every day. So rest "day" might be a little off the mark for me. But I think as long as I get it all done... it will work out just fine.

Okay, off to work on my other daily Actions. If you are reading this, I would love you to join in the conversation. Feel free to think of this as a co-journaling effort, and update us on your progress, too. If we all work at pushing this snowball down the hill, who knows what will happen!