The Mandatory Mind Shift

I am on Dave Dee‘s email list and he sent this article out today. The article was written by Dan Kennedy and is an excellent description of the “mind shift” you have to make if you are going to be a successful entrepreneur.  Enjoy.

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The First Paradigm Shift Is From Doer Of Things To Marketer Of Things

By Dan Kennedy

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When the jewelry store owner becomes a marketer of fine
jewelry, the carpet cleaner becomes a marketer of carpet
cleaning services, the chiropractor a marketer of
chiropractic care, etc., he takes a quantum leap up in
income potential.

Most service business owners, small business owners, self-
employed professionals and consultants all view themselves as
doers of what they do, with the task of getting people to do it
to as a necessary evil. The marketer sees the acquisition,
retention and value maximization of the customers as his primary
role, with the doing of the service the necessary evil. Simply,
marketers are much more valuable and highly paid than doers.

This is very, very difficult for doers to accept.  When you
go to our National Speakers Convention, at least 80% of
everybody’s conversation is about the doing, not the
marketing; in the cocktail lounge, people tell each other
what they do….”I speak about X, I’m an expert in Y.” In
the meetings, they endlessly rehash platform techniques. If
one asks another what do you do, the answerer will define
himself by his topic.

This is not unusual. If you go to a chiropractic or carpet
cleaning or computer programmer’s convention, the focus will be
on chiropractic technique, new chemicals and equipment, and new
software. If you ask most businesspeople what they do, they’ll
define themselves as a doer of a  thing rather than as a marketer
of a thing.

From the very beginning, when asked the question, I would
explain that I was in the speaking and consulting
businesses. To me, what I did on stage or in the boardroom
was not the main issue. Being in those businesses (ie.
marketing those services) was.

This attitude or view or definition of who you are has
enormous impact on how you allocate your time and energy.
The doers of things do those things and get around to
marketing if there’s “time left over.”

And often they will say they’re no good at marketing or selling.
Or that they don’t like it or want to do it. In this way, they
box themselves in to forever being a “worker bee” rather than a
“queen bee”, and to forever working harder than smarter.

Obviously, technical skills related to the delivery of a
quality product or service are important. But they are not
nearly as important as the ability to market those same
products or services.

And it is infinitely easier to delegate the doing than the
marketing in just about every business, because there are plenty
of good doers who are terrible marketers, who, because of that,
can be hired cheap.