There are two 2-C’s that are necessary not only to do your marketing plan, but everything in life.

The 2-C’s are commitment and consistency. To do anything in life, you must have a commitment to do it. When you start any project, you have that initial excitement that makes it really easy to start a project and there is this really great sense of satisfaction when you finish a project. It’s that middle area that seems to drag where you wonder if you will ever get through this project. That is where you need that commitment and consistency to stick with it because it will be worth it in end.

The lack of the 2-C’s are probably the number one reason why life’s plans don’t get done.

It might only take one contact for a prospect to respond to you. But keep in mind it only takes one message from a competitor for you to lose them. The fact is 100% of all your competition is willing to make that effort.

If you make six or seven contacts to convince a prospect to try your product or service, in all likelihood you have converted a more committed customer. Generally, only 10% of your competitors are willing to put in that same kind of marketing effort to get them into their camp.

Those prospects who finally respond after 12-18 touches will turn out to be long-term customers that very few, if any, of your competition are willing to invest into converting.

Any business that is willing to invest extra effort into long-term prospecting will have a unique competitive advantage that will pay off in real dollars.

The “Rule of Seven” that states, “It takes an average of seven exposures of your marketing message to get a response from a prospect.” But in today’s economy that number is more like 12-18 touches. In fact, I believe that there is no magic number, and once you start prospecting, the only way you stop is if a prospect dies or tells you to stop.

In todays over communicated environment, a marketer must champion frequency over reach. The concept is simple. Instead of going to 10,000 prospects once, target the best 1,000 prospects and contact them 10 times.