I’m Going Back to What I Know

I’ve written a few articles over the past year which have chronicled my foray into the dark art of marketing. This is an area where I have no prior experience. On top of that, I have always avoided it outright since my gut feeling has been that there would be nothing about it that I would enjoy. Even remotely.

Well, I was correct on all counts and my efforts have been an abysmal failure. Do I throw good money and effort after bad or do I return to my roots? I choose that latter and that would be selling. I have zero interest in even attempting to make marketing work better for me.

The impetus of this whole adventure was my creation of a complete online course for Nimble CRM. It’s a great course. It really is! It would be nice if someone besides myself recognized that.

I have concluded that, as Nimble is so simple to use and since it’s not a lot of money to get into it, folks think that they can go it alone. Maybe, maybe not but that is neither here nor there. On top of that, Nimble offers a ton of how-to videos and support articles and they are all for free.

Therefore, I am going back to direct prospecting. Now, I’m 68 years old and I don’t have to do any of this. I can take down my shingle at any time, but I do love a good challenge. Still, I’m also not about to go around knocking on doors or doing haphazard email blasts hoping for a positive response.

I am planning a multi-pronged approach that will include LinkedIn. While LinkedIn has long since removed access to it’s site for CRMs, one of the nice features of Nimble is their Prospector extension that will allow me to create contact records from anywhere on the net including social networks and web pages.

I will tell you that a part of my plan will be for me to go vertical. I.e., offering a customized solution for specific industries. This may be for one market or it might be for a few. The first has already been identified.

Vertical markets have several strategic advantages …

Your prospects are more easily identified.
They generally have common needs. While they might not be exactly the same, they are going to be close.
As you learn more about that market, you learn more about what they want. You learn to speak their language.
Your prospecting efforts are focused and I am all about focus!

Basically, this involves customizing Nimble specifically for a given market. Creating a template. From there, Nimble can be further customized for any given company’s unique needs. The important thing is that anybody in this industry can immediately relate to the concept of a CRM for their business.

Fortunately for me, I know a lot about the market that I plan on chasing first. I still have some connections in this industry and I also believe that there is a need. I can also offer additional services on top of a customized CRM solution. Will I be correct? Stay tuned.

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!