How easy are you to get a hold of?

Copyright 2006 Kelly Robbins

Whether a small business owner, nonprofit, or large
organization, a key piece of marketing communication is
making sure everyone that wants to get in touch with you
can. Whether it’s to further the sale, provide you with
information on a new marketing piece you’re working on, or
simply to say “hi,” you should always give people multiple
ways to contact you and your organization.

It’s YOUR job to make contacting you easy for them. Not the
other way around.

A colleague recently told me her sales went up dramatically
when she added her fax number to her website. I was very
surprised to hear this. I didn’t have my fax number listed
as contact information anywhere. (I hate hearing the fax
machine go off in the middle of the night and don’t like to
give it out!). But she assured me it was true. Which got me
thinking…

A lot of the copywriting I do involves working with
doctors. I do marketing consultations and my copywriting
projects often involve interviewing them. They are a large
part of my target market. And, while email is my preferred
method of communication, it’s often not theirs. Some of
them (not all) don’t check their emails regularly. They
would rather use the phone. I’ve learned this through
experience and have worked around it. I prefer email
hands-down. But that got me thinking again, some people may
be more comfortable using a fax rather than phone or email.
It’s concrete; the sender oftentimes gets a confirmation
that the fax went through, and if a signature is required
– there it is.

So, the moral of my story is to make it easy for your
clients to get in touch with you. Everyone does not work
the same way you do, whether that is by phone, email, fax
or some other method. It’s important to give people several
options.

Make it easy for people to do business with you, not for
you to do business with them.

Taking action is the only way to achieve goals

One of the items we talked about in my copywriting
business-building teleseminar this week was taking action.
You can think about great ideas, have big, elaborate
dreams, but if you don’t take action — now — nothing in
your life will change. Your dream will never become a
reality. Taking action is the only way you are going to get
your business off the ground. Taking action is the only way
you are going to get new clients. Taking action is the only
way you are going to get noticed at your company and get
promoted.

Think about what you want and how you are going to get
it…all of the time.

It doesn’t matter if your goals are personal or
professional, setting your mind to the one main goal you
want to accomplish will keep you focused on the outcome.
You will constantly be on the lookout for ways to achieve
that goal. Because it is always on your mind, you will be
constantly brainstorming. Your mind will continually be
looking for ways to take action on that goal.

You become what you think about. Focus on one item, your
one goal. Make it extremely positive, NOT negative.

The next important thing, after thinking about your goal
all of the time, is to take action. I try to do at least
one action item a day. With three kids (four if you count
my husband), a house to run and a growing business, it’s
easy for the day-to-day duties to suck up my time. It’s
easy for me to let life take over and not take proactive
steps towards my goal.

So I decided long ago to do at least one item on my list
each day. It can be a small item to move me toward my goal.
It may be searching for a new journal to run some of my
marketing articles. It could be working on a new product to
sell, coming up with a topic for a new seminar. Some days I
do much more than one thing, other days I barely squeak the
one item in. But I can assure you, if you do at least one
item, if you take one action every day, you will be closer
to your goal than most people you know. And because you
take action towards your goal you are much more likely to
reach it than those who don’t.

—————————————————-
Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed and The
Healthcare Copywriters Toolkit, Kelly Robbins is a
healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She
also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection
(http://www.healthcaremarketingconnection.com), a free
e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to
receive her free report, “5 critical things you must know
when writing for the healthcare industry” —
info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com or 303-460-0285.