It’s so easy to get stuck, isn’t it? We go about our lives, doing our work, pretty much on auto-pilot, and before we know it we’re stuck. Nothing is growing or changing or progressing; we’ve just been doing the same things day in and day out for weeks, months, and even years hoping that miraculously things will change and all our dreams will come true.
Well, the sad truth is nothing is going to change unless we do something to make it change. So take a look at these top 7 signs that your business is in a rut and decide if it’s time to do some things differently. 
- Nothing is working. Newspaper ads, yellow pages, direct mail, social media, and networking. You’re doing it all, yet you still don’t have all the business you want or need and your pipeline is empty.
- You have no accountability. You’ve read all the marketing books, attended seminars, and maybe even hired someone to help. You know the basics of marketing, you just haven’t committed the time and energy to creating a cohesive system to make it work, and you don’t have anyone to hold you accountable or to make sure you to do the things you know need to be done to take your business to the next level.
- You’re not getting objective feedback. Your friends and colleagues have been great for stroking your ego. But you know all your ideas aren’t as great as they say. If they were, you’d be a millionaire. You need objective opinions from somebody who can constructively lead you in the right direction and offer a fresh perspective to your ideas.
- You don’t have time to do all the marketing research on your own. You are an expert in your industry. You can’t possibly be a marketing expert too; you don’t have time to master the things you need to take your business to the next level. You value your time and know it’s better spent on other aspects of your business where you can reap a higher return. So your marketing efforts are suffering.
- You don’t have a marketing plan. You’ve been doing your marketing kind of haphazardly — a little here and there with no cohesive plan or strategy in place. It’s not working. You know that in order to make it work there has to be some consistency and process behind it. But you just don’t have the time.
- You aren’t ready to hire a full time marketing staff. Yes, it would be nice to have an entire department devoted to growing your business, but that’s an expense and a responsibility you aren’t quite ready for…yet!
- Waiting is costing your money. How much time, money, and resources do you waste on all the wrong marketing tactics? Really – this isn’t a rhetorical question, sit down and figure it out. How many more months are you going to pay for those ads that may or may not be bringing you business????
If any of these sound familiar, you might be in a rut, and it could be time to get some help. For more info on how to hire a marketing consultant, check out this article.
Carolyn Higgins is the President and founder of Fortune Marketing Company. Her personal mission is to help small businesses stop wasting money on advertising and promotions that don’t deliver and help business owners implement an effective marketing system that will bring in more customers—consistently. For more information about Fortune Marketing Company visit the Fortune Marketing Company website or blog.
