Marketing can often seem very complicated to many business owners and managers. The truth is, it’s really not, as long as you understand the process. In fact, creating a successful marketing plan can be as simple (and as quick) as making Chicken N’ Dumplings. So, today I want to talk to you about creating your own Chicken N’ Dumpling marketing plan in 12 minutes.
Now, before we go any further, I want you to know that chicken and dumplings just happen to be my most favorite food ever. From the time I was a little tiny girl to well, now, many, many years later. So, I’m standing here at my mom’s house and you guys have met my mom and I’m standing over a pot of chicken and dumplings that I’m in the process of creating with my mom’s help, which is, of course, the best chicken and dumpling recipe.
As I was thinking about putting the chicken and dumplings together because I know I want the recipe recorded on video. I thought I’d love to give it to you because they’re delicious. I know I’ve got a responsibility to teach you something about marketing. As I’m putting the chicken and dumplings together, I realized that this is really about a marketing plan. Pay close attention.
To make chicken and dumplings really takes a long time to do it correctly. You need to have a plan. So, what we did her with my family, yesterday, which was a Sunday, is we put a whole chicken on to boil and we had that chicken take that sac of gizzards out. We had that chicken on boiling and we let it boil for a good hour and a half, two hours, until the chicken was so tender, it was going to fall off the bone. Well, that’s a good amount of time. Then you take that broth and that chicken from the heat and you let it cool that chicken out so you can just pull the chicken from the bone. Then you put that chicken on a plate, stick it in the refrigerator, put the broth somewhere cool. A lot of us use our garage or my mom has a patio room and we set it out there. Now, that’s a long period of time, a good three and a half hours, anyway.
That ties into a marketing plan because you need to know with your marketing, what do you want to end up with. You need to think about ahead of time, so that you indeed do make a plan. Not haphazardly, leisurely, or haphazardly throw something on your website or throw a website together or haphazardly make a Facebook post or haphazardly put an ad on the radio or the television. But, really think about what do you want to end up with. You want to end up with really delicious tender chicken and dumplings. So, we made our chicken ahead of time and we pulled the chicken off the bone. We put the broth somewhere it would be kept cool, so that we could finish today.
We thought about it ahead of time, what we wanted to end up with; great chicken and dumplings. I want to you to ask yourself, “Do you think about ahead of time, when you’re heading into marketing or making marketing decisions or making your marketing plan for the year, better yet, do you think about what kind of sale you want to have?” What do you want to be known as the best in your community at? What do you want to really excel at? What do you want that label to be for you that’s positive and tells the world what you’re great at? What do you want to end up with?
Think about that when you’re laying out your marketing plan. Now, what I did tonight, which is a Monday, is I came to my mom’s and I said, “Okay, mom, how do I put these together?” She had me get a really big bowl, which I’ll show you in a second, but then she had me take flour and put flour in the sifter. Now, I put about five cups of flour in because we figured we want to make 10 or 12 servings and that’s how my mom’s always cooked. Some of this, a little of that, approximate number of servings. Enough to feed the dining room, is how she’ll say it. So, really we don’t do a lot of measuring, so it taking a little bit of work to get really specifics out of her.
But, what she told me was to take five cups of flour, five cups a specific, put those five cups of flour in a sifter and begin to sift that flour. I said, “Well, why sift the flour, mom.” She said, “Because you don’t want it to be lumpy, your dumplings could be lumpy.” I thought to myself, “Aha, marketing again.”
You need to think about what kind of a lead you want. What kind of a dumpling do I want. Do I want a fat dumpling, a skinny dumpling, a lumpy dumpling, a tasty dumpling, a sticky dumpling? No, I want a perfect dumpling. So, I want you to think about your leads. There are bits and pieces that go into making these dumplings perfect. You sift the flour, you have the right number of cups of flour and after you sift that flour, you put in the right amount of baking powder, not baking soda. You don’t want to make that mistake and about two tablespoons, right mom. Then, we put in about a teaspoon of salt that could be to taste. So, you can salt later if you want more. But, it was very specific, the flour and then sifting the flour and then the baking powder and then the salt.
Then, after I had all those specifics together, I’m going to tie this into a lead in a second. I came over here and inside of this big bowl was my flour. Now, I wanted to scoop off the fat, off the top that raw and put it on top of this flour mixture, so that I could create a consistency that would easily roll out. I just had to keep adding until I knew it was just right. I’ll parallel that into marketing in a second.
Then, I took this dough and I padded it, to look and see that it was the right consistency to make a dumpling and I put it right here on a pre-floured rollout on a pastry mat, so that it wouldn’t stick. Then I rolled the dough out from the center, out, so the dumplings were around a half an inch, maybe a quarter of an inch thick. Then, I took a little knife, a little paring knife and I cut them. Well, these are all very specifics to having your dumplings turn out just right. What I want to ask you to think about is with your lead, with regard to your leads with your marketing, think about specifics.
You see, you need to know the demographics of what you want that lead to be. Male, female, economic status, married, single, but you need the psychographics, too. What’s their behavior, what do they do, what are they interested in? You need to know what benefits they want, so you can go after that correct lead. You need to know where they are. Are they at a place where you could go speak? Are they at a place where you could go give employee discounts, maybe where they work or is there a wellness program they’re a part of? Think about the kind of lead you want, so that leads qualified.
I’m thinking about the kind of dumpling I want, so I’m doing exactly what my mom says according to the recipe. So, I’m telling you that if you’ll do exactly according to a perfect marketing lead recipe, you’ll end up with a great lead. So, those are the specifics. Now, here’s the final piece.
I came over to this pan and my mom kept saying, “Is it boiling, is it boiling, the broth boiling?” The broth was boiling, I dropped all my dumplings in, one at a time and I’m occasionally stirring them, making sure they’re not sticking. I’m watching the consistency, making sure the broth continues to boil. Sure enough, it is, it is and it is. Here’s the thing, you need to know ahead of time what you want with your marketing plan. You need to think about these questions I’ve asked you and then you need to know the specifics of the quality of that lead, so it’s qualified. So, it ends up where you want it to end up. The thing you made your marketing plan for in the first place.
But, here’s the key. You’ve got to do the work. I have to pay attention to these dumplings. I’ve got to stir them appropriately and in the right amount of time. I’ve got to watch the consistency and if I needed to add any more broth, I needed to add broth. I need to season them and I just need to really pay attention. Finally, I took that chicken that I told you I made yesterday and I put that chicken in here with all these dumplings, so now the flavor is just blending together, just to tell you it smells incredible. I’m feeling like I feel when I know I’ve got a good marketing campaign on my hands and my whole team’s excited.
Now, I don’t know if my whole team gets as excited about getting a good marketing lead, as they would get about eating these chicken and dumplings, but it is exciting. When you do the work, and you pay attention to everything you put together, cooking the chicken and bringing the broth to where it needs to be and putting those specifics into your dumplings and cutting them just the right size. Of course, having a master mentor, which we’re going to talk to here in just a little bit, who’s behind the recipe, ensures that you’re going to succeed. Now, this may have been the most unusual explanation of marketing that you’ve ever had because you’ve just got to know what you want, pay attention to the specifics and then do the work, don’t let all that previous planning and thinking be in vain, do the work and you’ll end up with some great chicken and dumplings, too.
So, mom I’ve told everybody I’d let them meet the master recipe creator, my mentor, my secret weapon for success and that’s you, right? So, why is it important to follow the recipe to make good chicken and dumplings?
Mom:
Because if you don’t put the right ingredients in, it won’t be good, they won’t be good.
Donna:
So, it won’t turn out. Well, what if I put in the right ingredients, but I put in way too much flour or I forget the baking powder?
Mom:
Oh, it won’t be right. You have to put the right amount if you want it to be cooked good.
Donna:
You’ve just got to follow the recipe.
Mom:
Yes.
Donna:
So, you follow the recipe and you get good chicken and dumplings. You follow the right marketing recipe, like I’m teaching; people might end up with a successful business, right? Think it this way for life, too. I think if you pay attention what you want ahead of time, like with children. Like how we cooked the chicken and everything ahead of time, I think if you pay attention ahead of time to how you want your children to turn out; you raise them up in the way that they should go.
Mom:
You plan.
Donna:
You plan it and then all the specifics along the way, you make memories with them, you teach them great things, you do the specific things and then you do the work.
Mom:
Oh, yes, you’ve got to do the work.
Donna:
So, sometimes work is on your knees praying for them. Sometimes the work is giving them a big hug and telling them you’re there for them.
Mom:
Sometimes you write out a job for them to do.
Donna:
You make a list of chores for them.
Mom:
And they do it.
Donna:
And they do the work too. What ends up is you end up with a recipe for a family whose crazy about you.
Mom:
I appreciate that!
Donna:
Okay, there’s your recipe for great dumplings, for great marketing and the secret to happiness in life and with your family too.
Want More Customers AND Bigger Profits Right Now?
Grab your FREE Purpose Led Profits Workbook and Audio Training MP3 and learn how to grow your business, and your bottom line!
Inside this workbook and audio, you’ll learn:
- What emotionally motivates your customers and prospects to buy, and keep buying
- How to identify and use your aligned interests to connect and persuade your market
- How to create iron-clad loyalty amongst your entire customer base, community, and even team members
- How to make profits not only soar, but become predictable and controllable
- Plus, much more!
And you won’t have to spend a penny to get your hands on this game-changing information either. But hurry! This offer is available only for a short time. Grab your copy before this incredible opportunity expires.
Go to: www.purposeledprofits.com to get your copy now!