Can You Repeat That?

By Peter Nevland - Jun 16 , 2009

“How long will it take?”

“When will I start to see a return on my investment?”

“Can you guarantee that your ad will work?”

These questions constantly bombard my ears. People want me to pull out my prognostication wand as a marketing consultant. They want me to prove to them that the dollars they pay me will quickly turn into their business making more money. I search for signs, scan the skies, try to find words that will prove to them that the risk is worth it. The only problem is, I don’t know the future.

What I do know is that the building of a successful platform takes repetition; unglamorous, unnoticed, unseen repetition. The potency of your message or offer matters not. You have to repeat it and prove it, over and over and over.

Personally, I thought that I’d be performing in packed concert halls by now, almost 7 years after having left my job at Motorola to pursue my dreams. But sometimes the shows are big and sometimes they’re tiny. Sometimes I sign autographs afterward and sell CDs. Sometimes I leave shaking people’s hands and having sold nothing. But I keep refining my message, saying the same essential thing to new people: I perform this one-man show of rock n’ roll storytelling all over the world, helping students to discover the joy of writing, adults to awaken the slumbering power of their dreams, and businesses to discover the power of their story when told to their customers. It builds my business and expands my platform, even when I don’t see it. Pinky swear, promise.

One of my clients has an incredible story of triumph in the face of ridiculous adversity. She came to me last year having no clients, no experience, and few qualifications, other than her passion to help people. “How long will it take for me to start making money doing this?” she asked. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t going to pretend I did.

“You’ve got a powerful message, and you actually help people,” I told her. “I’m going to tell that message as powerfully as possible, but we have to keep telling it again and again. You may not see immediate results, but if we keep saying it, people will start signing up for appointments.”

We quickly built a website and started looking for ways to get people to go to it. Our first ad was a flyer I made for her. She posted it everywhere she could and waited for people to call. The next week I got her a deal in a local magazine where she advertised using quarter page magazine ads and wrote articles next to them. After the first month she had one call. We celebrated… …and then refined the website, kept writing, kept posting flyers, and prepared for the next month.

“People tell me they keep seeing my flyers all over the place,” she told me. That was good to hear, but what I really wanted to hear was people signing up for appointments. “Why isn’t it happening sooner?” I thought. “Do we have the right message?” It’s much easier to tell your clients to be patient than to be patient yourself.

Another month went by, and she had another appointment. Another month went by and there were two more. She kept writing. I kept encouraging her, even when it seemed like her photography career was taking off faster than her passion for helping people:

“Use it as an opportunity to tell people about your counseling sessions.”

“Even if it’s not contributing directly to your counseling business,

it’s helping you stay in the game.”

“Keep writing.”

“Don’t give up.”

“You’re doing better than you think.”

None of the things I say seem like rocket science to me, but she finds new courage. We keep repeating the message that’s starting to connect with more people. In this, her third month, she has 4 new appointments, including one emailed directly from her website. She has repeat customers paying for her services. Elizabeth sits on the verge of the release of her first book of photography and poetry.

Now she gets to talk to writing agents and publishers, the kings of “not interested” and “seen it before”.
Guess what we’re going to do: Craft a message and prepare to deliver it over and over and over again. My experience in the endlessly repetitive task of booking shows has prepared me to help Elizabeth know how to promote herself. It helps me remember to stick to the message that I know will work, even if it doesn’t produce unmistakable results right away. Sooner or later that message will find enough people to start drawing some of them in our direction and experiencing the power of what Elizabeth really has to offer.

Every morning I get up out of bed and repeat some of the same things I’ve done throughout my life. I brush my teeth. I plunge my head under the shower. I pull on clothes. I fix my hair. I eat. None of these things seem very powerful when swallowed in one dose. It’s their repetition that makes an impact and keeps our teeth from going bad, our odor from offending everyone, and our bodies from wasting away to nothing.

• Find a powerful message and repeat it.
• Say it to everyone you can.
• Keep saying it when you feel you can’t.
• Don’t steer away from that message even if you’re tired of hearing it yourself. Other people haven’t heard it as often as you have.

If they hear it enough, pretty soon the question of “How long will it take?” will turn into, “How do I keep up with all this return on my continuous investment?”