Meditation is good for me.
I tend to think a lot and talk a lot. Meditation is simply shutting down the thinking and talking and just being. When I meditate, for five minutes or 20 minutes, I feel so much better. I am calmer, more relaxed. Happier.
So, why don’t I do it every day? I decided to get a coach, commit with a few dollars, and practice until it becomes habit. I joined an online group that meditates together. There are scheduled times. All I have to do is show up and exist. I am loving it. My meditation coach is great. He shares sound techniques for getting present, moving energy and tuning in to intuition.
He offers a question-and-answer session at the end of each class. One of the students asked, “What can I do to keep my mind from wandering?”
My coach offered, “Imagine bringing your attention to the center of your head. Call your awareness back to you from wherever it is. Imagine it collecting in the center of your head, drawn there by your intention.”
“OK,” the student replied. “Umm. What else can I do? If that doesn’t work.”
I laughed. Sure, the instructions were perhaps a bit esoteric. Still, why not try it? You paid to learn from a master. Take a swing and see if it works. Then, at least, you can come to the next lesson with some experience and results, or lack thereof. But you should at least try it and see what kind of success you have. If it works, keep using that technique. How simple and effective is that?
We make things harder than they need to be.
Take marketing, for example, and consider this scenario. A business owner shares the company’s marketing strategy: “I am sending quarterly newsletters. We have ads in the Yellowbook and Yellow Pages. Of course, we give away magnets and hang flyers on doors. I am visiting with a rep from the radio station to put together an intensive radio campaign. Not sure if I should expand into cable TV, too.
“What do you think?” he asks his business adviser.
“Well, what kind of results are you getting from all this action?” the adviser asks.
Silence.
“Do you track your incoming calls? Do you know how your customer came to call you?” the adviser presses on.
More silence.
“Would it help you make better marketing decisions if you did know?”
Sure it would. You could do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
This isn’t an exact science, of course. While countless volumes have been written on the subject, the jury is still out on why marketing works. We can measure whether it does work – at least to a “close enough” decision-impacting standard. Here are the critical statistics you need to make better, faster and more lucrative marketing decisions:
• How many calls per lead source?
• What is the cost per call per lead source?
• Calculate these statistics monthly, annually and historically.
Let’s define a few terms.
Lead source is the marketing vehicle. Yellow Pages, direct mail, yard signs, billboards and media ads are lead sources.
Calls describe the ringing phone looking for you to solve a problem.
Cost is what you spend on the expense of the lead source.
How many calls do you need? How much is an acceptable cost per call? Those answers are found by budgeting and assessing your statistics. Start now to get a baseline for these statistics. You’ll gather valuable information.
Try it, and see what happens.
Ellen Rohr is an author and business consultant who offers systems for getting focused and organized, making money and having fun in business. Her latest book is “The Bare Bones Biz Plan.” She can be reached at contact@barebonesbiz.com.[[In-content Ad]]
