Marketing lesson: follow the plan

The 6th of our blog competition guest posts - Samantha Jones of the HomeTruths shows that success is at the end of completing the plan. The original guidelines for entry are here, read all the featured entries, you could also read about how we chose the winner, or what we learned from running the blogging competition.

Cheating at bootcamp? Not me!

I recently attended a month-long fitness ‘boot camp’; you know the kind of thing: lots of exercise, clean eating plan and a very scary instructor (thanks Jo!) to keep you on your plan. Halfway through the month, I had a social occasion to attend, and asked Jo if I could have her permission to take an evening off my plan, so I could enjoy the delicious food and a glass or two of wine. “Of course”, she said. “Just don’t be surprised if you don’t reach your goal”. A bit harsh, I thought. Could one evening of enjoying myself really make that much difference? My goal was a weight I really wanted to achieve, and if that one evening was going to put me in danger of not making it, I just wasn’t prepared to risk it. That evening, I stuck to fizzy water, and stayed away from the pastries and crisps. It wasn’t so bad, actually. Two weeks later, I stood on the scales, elated that I had, in fact, reached my goal, to the pound. I was so glad that I’d stuck to Jo’s advice; after all, she was as keen for me to succeed as I was. What has my boot camp got to do with selling houses? It’s all about following the plan – the plan of proven success. When we deliver a Home Sale Strategy to a client, in the form of an action plan, it is designed to get the house sold for the best price possible. If that client then decides that instead of the estate agent we’ve recommended he uses, he wants to use someone he knows from the golf club, or that the front path is fine as it is, despite the fact we have advised it be weeded and tidied, can he then really expect to get the result he wants? Do what we tell you to do – no more, no less – and you’ll massively increase your chance of selling your house for the price you want. Our advice is, after all, the right advice to sell your house. Read Sam's original blog post here and we'd love your comments - do you ever manage to see your marketing plan through? Bronwyn Durand founded JupiterJasper, the Marketing Mentor for small businesses. Bronwyn is also The Brand Whisperer, with a special interest in building commercial identities for businesses. Do you get my free weekly email? Sign up to ’1 Thing to Improve Your Marketing this week’ here.