I live a simple life with simple pleasures. I love our little farmhouse. I love my garden. I love my beautiful lawn. What I don’t like is what gophers do to the lawn and garden.
I’m convinced there’s a colony of gophers intent on bugging the heck out of me. Each year, they leave their trail of destruction on my beautiful lawn.
A few years ago I would wake each day to find at least two new mounds of dirt where they had dug.
That year I practically went nuts trying to find a solution to get rid of them. I got various ideas from friends on Facebook. I simply asked the question, “How can I get rid of gophers without any danger to my pets?” You see, I have pets who wander the yard which prevents me from using the “quick and easy” kill em dead in their tracks methods.
Amazingly, there were plenty of folks who offered ideas totally ignoring the part, “Without danger to my pets.” I had numerous recommendations of types of poisons. This told me that many people don’t pay full attention to what someone is saying and why.
To avoid any danger to my cats and dogs I tried putting chewing gum in the holes. I tried dish soap. I tried a hose in the hole to flush them out with water. I tried waiting patiently near the hole with a shovel so I could bop them on the head. I even tried visualizing my yard void of mounds of dirt. Then I tried prayer. I tried, I tried, I tried….
Bottom-line, nothing worked. That is until my mother-in-law gave me a device that sends off vibrating beeps every minute or so. Apparently the sound and vibration scares the gophers, sending them scrambling in another direction.
I decided it was worth a shot and put two of these gopher sound spikes in the ground. For over a month I saw no trace of the little varmints.
That is until about a week ago when I woke to four piles of dirt.
Urrrrrr! I was irritated to no end. How could this have happened?
Upon a closer look I realized the batteries had gone dead.
I couldn’t believe the new damage began again so suddenly.
Off to the store I went to get more sound spikes and lots of batteries.
I spent almost $100 on more “ammunition.” The result? This morning there were no new mounds. Whooo hooo! Gotcha you little varmints.
This got me to thinking that keeping the gopher damage under control is like marketing a business. Here’s what I see:

1. To keep  our business going we must market, but how we market makes all the difference in the world as to the outcome we get.
2. Lots of people have ideas, but most of the ideas will not work.
3. Some ideas are literally poison to our business. Watch who you listen to.
4. You can go nuts trying every new idea that comes along. Even though most of the ideas cost practically nothing, that’s exactly the result you’ll get; nothing.
5. There is a cost in both time and money for a great solution, but in the long run, the cost is minimal compared to the result.
6. If we pretend we don’t have a problem and avoid seeking a solid solution (which may cost more initially), in the long run it will cost a lot more in repairs and permanent damage than simply investing while the problem is manageable.
7. To keep things under control it takes more than a one time fix. It’s something that must be monitored so that we can make adjustments as needed.

As you think of your own marketing, are you really doing all you can to build your business? Are you using the right solutions or trying every new thing that gets recommended? Are you listening to the right people? In other words, listening to those who are getting long term results rather than those who read about a solution but never tried it themselves.
To find out what my top 12 proven marketing strategies are join me on Monday, September 10th for a FREE teleseminar – Get Notice, Stand Out, Close More Business. Register here  http://www.kathleengagetrains.com/12-marketing