Re-Inventing Everything

It is December 2009. We are all leaving the reboot and reset years. What is next? We need to re-invent everything.

This seems a tall order. Do I really mean "everything"? Yes and no. Not all at once, as that would be too much to do. But there are many things that need to be re-invented. We just need to do them all, but one at a time.

I started a new business this year. I call it Enovative Energy Solutions. I need to find new customers in order for the company to survive. So how do I do it? There is the "old way", but is that good enough?

The old way involves mass producing chaos and hoping that – when the dust settles – there are more good things produced then negative. The old way involves printing many letters and sending them to many people, only a few of which – 3-5% is the rule of thumb – have even the vaguest interest in what you are trying to sell. The old way involves "cold calling", which means picking up the telephone and invading people's work time to banter them into buying what you are trying to sell. In short, the old way involves wasting paper, postage, and time with making a lot of noise. It is "mass marketing pollution".

The old ways are inefficient with the use of materials and resources. But the worst offense is that the old ways involve a waste of your time and that of all the non-customers that you must encounter on your way to finding customers. What is it called when people waste your time by calling you up to ask you to buy something that you are not interested in? It is really a kind of noise pollution, delivered by the telephone rather than in person.

What are the new ways to promoting a business? You can, of course, provide information on the Internet and rely on search engines like Google and Bing for your customers to find you. You can put on seminars and invite your friends to attend and learn about what you are trying to sell.

The new ways must involve networking. Networking has always been important, and yet it is hard to quantify the benefits from them. Networking involves going to places with other people who are similarly interested in meeting new people. Networking involves talking to the people that you already have relationships with and asking them to help you find other people that they know but that you do not know. Networking involves talking to people one-on-one and asking for their help, without badgering them into letting you do what you want to do.

When does networking become selling? That is like asking to identify the moment when a stranger becomes a friend. It happens in the blink of an eye. It happens without your knowing that it is happening almost.

There are more new ways. I am committed to discovering (rather than truly inventing) them. I must be willing to accept being the recipient of a marketing / sales approach as well as being willing to engage in the act of performing those marketing / sales activities. As I discover them, I will report on them here.