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What's Job #1 for the
leader of a wellness business?
Making decisions.
That requires
you to figure out what needs
to be decided....gather
information...reach a conclusion...and
get feedback on the eventual
results.
It's simple...if you
avoid the decision traps
that lurk
at every step.
These gotchas
are common mistakes that
managers at every level
and in every business typically
make.
Missed Part 1? Read Decision Traps #1
through #5.
6) The
"Stalling"
Trap
Carola is
a holistic health
practitioner with an
array of fascinating
interests and
capabilities ranging
from bodhran (Irish
drum) performances to
healing through
aromatherapy.
She earns her
income from several
sources: nomadic yoga
instructor, personal
chef, and
self-actualization
workshops.
She's
determined to find the
perfect business idea
that combines all of her
interests.
Meanwhile, she's
exhausted by a work
schedule that sends her
on 100-mile round trips
to conduct seminars and
commits nearly every
evening to a yoga class.
Our
advice: it may or may
not be possible to find
the Perfect Business
Idea.
But you sure
can't do it when you're
wiped out and yanked
from pillar to post on a
daily basis. Carola's had several interesting ideas that combined most -
though not all - of her
interests.
We think it would
be smart to pick one of
those and start making
moves towards the future
she wants.
Perfection
rarely arrives overnight
in a neatly wrapped
package. And a prolonged search for perfection is often just decision
avoidance.
7) The
Ignoring Results Trap
We created
a growth plan for a
healthcare
not-for-profit
association last year.
They came to us
because their previous
attempts to grow
membership had fizzled
badly.
Why? Well,
their previous marketing
initiative centered
around a
consumer-oriented
newsletter with
headlines like
"School's In: Flu
Vaccines Great For
Kids” - old and
uninteresting news for
their professional
membership.
Moreover, they
offered few membership
benefits - no
professional
publication, no
conference, no
professional networking.
Now, you
never know what's going
to work until you try
it. But this situation had existed for several years.
Smart business
leaders pay attention to
the results of their
decisions so that they
can tweak what's not
working.
Sure, try the
consumer-oriented
newsletter.
You never know -
maybe these health
professionals don't have
time to skim the health
headlines on CNN.
But after a few
months or a year, when
it's clearly not
attracting members, move
on to something
different.
Check your
results before you
continue investing time
and money and what
you've always done. Data
is your friend.
8) The
Conventional Wisdom Trap
We had
about thirty sole
proprietors in a
marketing workshop a
couple of months
ago...medical massage
therapists, personal
trainers, nutrition
coaches and the like.
When we
asked folks to name
their key marketing
strategy, 24 people said
"my website."
True, the
web offers lots of
marketing opportunities.
But that doesn't
make it the right
strategy for everyone.
The best
way for most of these
folks to win clients is
through local networking
with other healthcare
practitioners and
related businesses.
Should
they have a website?
Yes.
Should they also
engage in local offline
marketing? Absolutely.
Frankly, events like
free seminars plus local
media exposure will
probably win them far
more business than their
website ever will.
Are some
of your business
initiatives important
"because everyone
knows you should do it
this way?"
9) The
"Similarity"
Trap
When
you're hiring employers
or vendors, most of us
will unconsciously tend
to prefer people who
seem similar to us.
Closely related to this
is the tendency to think
that the best employees
or suppliers are those
who demographically
resemble our target
customer.
We
recently worked with a
health club and personal
training business whose
marketing firm did
mediocre work that
produced extremely low
response rates both
online and offline. But
our clients loved the
people who ran the
marketing firm because
they shared an interest
in healthy lifestyles.
Great - you can
all run the Turkey Trot
together. Meanwhile,
pick your suppliers
based on capabilities
and results, not
hobbies!
We've also
worked with numerous
weight management
businesses who insisted
that only women
employees would be
capable of helping women
customers.
Yet we've seen
many, many real-life
situations where guys
were extremely effective
in helping women reach
healthy weights.
It's not the
gender that matters -
it's the temperament and
approach
.
Avoid this
trap by creating a list
of selection criteria.
When you find yourself
veering away from a
candidate, ask yourself
if you're falling into
the similarity trap.
10) The
"Comfort Zone"
Trap
Many
fitness and wellness
centers are up to the
same old marketing
tricks they used years
ago: a printed
newsletter, a few
postcard mailings, and
the occasional
refer-a-friend promo.
They don't
know anything about
website, email or search
marketing. And they're
not all that interested
in finding out. It's
much easier to go
through the motions, to
do what you always do in
October, say.
Of course,
the problem with this
approach is that other
businesses are
forward-thinking.
They're
experimenting with new
ideas and finding more
and better ways to reach
potential customers and
to strengthen their
relationship with
existing customers.
That
breeze you felt wasn't
the wind...it was
competitors breathing
down your neck.
If
everything you do feels
warm and fuzzy, you're
probably squarely in the
middle of the
"Comfort Zone"
trap.
The
lesson: smart business
decisions don't always
feel comfortable.
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