Why Taking Action Isn't Enough

Anyone and their grandmother can get traffic these days for a fee. And there are lots of hucksters who will gladly take your hard-earned money and do just that for you. Sure, you’ll get lots and lots of traffic. But is that what you really need? Or do you need to make sales?

- Kevin

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Why Taking Action Isn't Enough

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Updated 11/27/05

These days we are surrounded by the “Just do it” mentality. I can’t count the number of times I have read where others urge and advise their readers to “just take action, ANY action”. While it’s true that taking no action won’t get you very far, taking any old action is a recipe for disaster, and the sooner you learn this, the better off you’ll be. There is a defining word that must be applied to whatever action you take, and that word is: effective. That's because not just any old action will do - it must also be effective action.

If I’m being attacked by a crocodile, should I take action to scare it away by holding my hand in front of its face? Or perhaps jump in the water and try to talk him out of following me around? Both of those actions would most likely increase the probability that I would become the crocodile’s next meal. My efforts would not have been effective at all in making him leave.

The same logic holds true in business – some actions are not effective, and may even be detrimental to your business.

Taking effective action means you first need to have an effective plan. Having an effective plan means you have a PROVEN road-map designed to get you to your destination. Your destination could be something like "get 1000 more subscribers this month ", "get 500 more paying customers next year ", or "increase my converstion rate by 20% this quarter ", etc. Those are excellent specific goals because they establish measurable objectives within a specific timeframe. Now you just need to take effective action to achieve them.

Sometimes, we set ourselves up to follow the wrong focus. For example, “I need to get more traffic to my web site”. This is an example of a poorly constructed goal, because it has no measurable outcome, making it difficult to undertake effective action. So you take action to get more traffic. But, in addition to being ineffective, this is also the wrong focus. Anyone and their grandmother can get traffic these days for a fee. And there are lots of hucksters who will gladly take your hard-earned money and do just that for you. Sure, you’ll get lots and lots of traffic. But is that what you really need? Or do you need to make sales? More specifically, you should say "I need to increase my sales by 20% this month". That's a measurable outcome, and you can define effective action to help you achieve this goal.

If making sales is your goal, this means you need adjust your actions to get your message in front of Targeted Customers Who Will Buy From You. Clearly understanding and defining your true objective is absolutely necessary before you take any action at all.

Then, once you make a sale and acquire a customer, is it your goal to take action to sell to them again? Or should your action be designed to do whatever it takes to keep someone as your customer from the very first moment you encounter them? There is a huge (and powerful) distinction here.

Taking action should not be your goal, taking effective action must be, if you expect to be profitable. Effective action means you have a goal or the end in mind, and the actions you take will enable you to achieve that goal.

What are your business objectives and goals? Are they well defined? And are the actions you are taking proven to help you reach and meet them?

Taking action is a necessary component of working any business, but taking any action is a misnomer. All your actions must also be tempered by specific distinctions and measurable goals. If you take time out to think about what the distinctions for your business need to be, and then write them down and post them so you can refer to them often, you’ll be surprised at how much they will impact both your short and long term success online.

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Kevin Wirth is an online marketing tactician and consultant to small business owners. If taking effective action appeals to you, and you’d like to learn more, then please consider a free subscription to Kevs-Korner ezine by visiting www.kevs-korner.com You can also contact Kevin by writing to:

kevin @ kevs-korner.com.

This article was first published on KEVS-KORNER November 27, 2005.

Kevin and 'Sailor'

Kevin Wirth is the editor of KEVS-KORNER ezine and publisher of several reports and articles on many diverse topics such as Customer Loyalty, Internet Marking Tactics, and Seafood. A 25 year veteran of Corporate America, Kevin consults with netpreneurs and small businesses to help them attract and retain customers and design, build, and market digital products. He is also an expert on Team Dynamics, Project Management, Process Management, Risk Engineering, and Information Management. For a free sampler of his articles, reports and to sign up for a free subscription to KEVS KORNER ezine, be sure to visit Kevin's home page at:

http://www.kevs-korner.com.

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Why Taking Action Isn't Enough

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