Business Articles - Marketing

---

My two dogs have the attention spans of, well, nothing. One second you are Deano's best friend, the next, he is bouncing off after a cat. Frankie just doesn't sit still. He's always moving, always looking for something to chew.
He has a discriminating palette. Only likes to eat women's clothing.

So, for their protection and our sanity, our house is a maze of baby gates. Outside is another story. While we have dog proofed the back yard, our boys have a taste for trouble...and bunnies. Frankie, the fatter of the two, digs out the rocks beneath the gate, and is subsequently free to roam around the neighborhood.

We've patched that hole a hundred times, but he still gets out. I, oblivious in the house, only realize we are down to one dog once he goes trotting through the front yard. Then, it is a mad dash out the door, usually without shoes. I am in crisis mode. Frantically running through the neighborhood, screaming his name.

He never comes. He likes to pretend he has intermittent hearing, kind of like my husband.

The last straw was this morning. Our usual game of duck duck goose began when I saw him through the bathroom window. Somebody, who will remain nameless, fell asleep watching the dogs. So, like 100 times before, I bolt out the front door without a thought to what I was wearing. Frankie was in the yard 3 houses down. They were enjoying a lovely family brunch outside. I was wearing a dressing gown with a blue goopy mask on my face.

The real question was, how did I get a wriggling dog home, with no leash, while retaining what dignity I had left?

I bought a large piece of wood to match the fence and fixed the problem. Frankie is back in obedience classes.

So, why did I tell you this? In our lives and business, there is that one problem which always occurs. We like to blame back luck or other people. But, as I bitterly complained about Frankie always getting out, I only ever tried to remedy the situation with the same solution. I believed that my solution was the best answer to the problem and blamed the dog for being mischievous. The truth is, instead of blaming the dog, I should have gotten to the root of the problem.

What problem is recurring in your business? What is your typical solution? Here's what I want you to do. Evaluate the problem. Bring in a friend to give you feedback, what ever it takes. I call it getting back to basics. A problem which repeats itself indicates a need to change the way in which you handle it.

Feel free to submit your recurring problem here. We can evaluate it together and figure out how to fortify the basics which supply your selling or marketing strategies.

.....until then, Frankie just ran by. I saw a little flash of pink in his mouth.