As you know, my business name incorporates the two words "Action Plan." It's not an accident. I want to use today's eZine to explain how incredibly important marketing action plans are to the success of your business.

Everyone is looking for the perfect marketing plan. You know, the one you apply that brings in as much business as you can possibly handle. (Like that one magic email sent to the right list!)

I wish there was one such plan!

But every marketing plan can be supercharged and help you yield a much better results every time you use it, if you understand that marketing action plans are much like recipes.

Action Planning is like creating a perfect meal that consists of several delicious dishes. You need to assemble the ingredients, mix them in the right proportions, and then cook at the correct temperature for a specified time. If you follow the recipe to the letter, your dish will turn out perfectly.

But is that how we implement marketing plans? I wish!

No, we do it in a haphazard way, throwing together random ingredients and, more often than not, under or over cooking it. What comes out of the oven tastes terrible. And then we blame the recipe (which we didn't follow).

The thing about a marketing plan is that it takes a few more ingredients, a little more time, some specialized knowledge, and a dash of patience for the recipe to come out successfully.

For instance, let me give you the basic recipe for getting new clients from speaking engagements (delivered to professional groups). I built my business on this recipe. I know it works. And you can make it work too (if you follow it faithfully).

The "Speaking for Clients" Recipe

- Decide on a topic for your talk and create a title.
- Do a write-up for your talk that explains the benefits.
- Include a bio and information on your business for the "speaker's package."
- Create a contact sheet to track your campaign.
- Do research on organizations that would be good audiences for your talk.
- Determine who the Program Directors are for these organizations.
- Develop and practice your calls to the Program Directors.
- Call the Program Directors and pitch your talk.
- If they are interested in knowing more, send your speaker's package.
- Follow up in few days to answer any questions they may have.
- Implement a keep-in-touch phone and email campaign until you book some talks.
- Put together a detailed write-up to promote the presentation.
- Coordinate with the organization to make sure you're on track.
- Prepare you talk. You'll need an outline and handouts.
- Practice your talk (out loud) until you feel comfortable.
- Practice the call-to-action at the end of the talk.
- Print out your handouts (make sure they're professional).
- Dress and groom yourself appropriately for the talk.
- Give the talk and deliver your call-to-action at the end.
- Gather the cards (with email addresses) of participants.
- Follow-up by email or phone (as you promised) after the talk.
- Set up appointments with qualified prospects.
- Turn the prospects into clients when you meet with them.

OK, that's twenty three steps in this marketing recipe.

But don't get overwhelmed by all the steps. This is something you can do - one step at a time. Like assembling the ingredients for a recipe, the sources and techniques are out there - in books, articles and courses. Even if you're new to this, with focus, you can get a favorable result the very first time.

If you miss any of these steps or do them poorly, you won't get optimal results from your marketing plan. However, once you've booked and delivered a few talks, the process becomes simple. You'll start to get results and you'll be able to tweak and fine-tune your recipe until every talk generates new clients.

You don't need to master fifty marketing recipes for success. Mastering one may be all you need.

I implemented the basic speaking recipe above in 1995. In six months (26 weeks) I had used it successfully to attract 26 new clients. That created the marketing foundation for my business, and things have been in a state of momentum ever since.

My main marketing recipe since then? You're reading it. I was determined to create an effective eZine and send it out weekly. I'm now somewhere into my 500th week. One tactic, one recipe implemented consistently, can produce more results than you can imagine.

So what's your marketing recipe (action plan) going to be?