Are you guilty of multitasking?
What if I told you multitasking was a lie? Well, that’s precisely the point that Gary Keller makes in his book, The One Thing. By trying to do more than one thing at a time, we basically do multiple things poorly:
“…the truth is multitasking is neither efficient nor effective. In the world of results, it will fail you every time.”
Keller does say that it’s possible to do two things at once, but the tradeoff is that you will not focus on either task effectively. Which means the results of both will be far less than what you could achieve if you focused on only one thing at a time. By focusing on one thing for a defined period of time, you can get more done without spending as much effort.
The research backs this up. Our brains are not wired to effectively focus on more than one thing at a time. This is why texting and driving has become such a deadly combination. What makes this such a hard premise to accept is even if we want to focus on one thing at a time, we feel like we just can’t. Too many people are wanting too much from us right now!
I get it.
What if there was a way to do more by doing less?
Keller offers what he calls “The Focusing Question” as a way to prioritize your work and set you up to get more done. By asking yourself this one question, you can clarify the most important task in front of you. The goal is to identify the one thing you can do that will actually help make everything else easier.
Here is the question Keller wants you to ask yourself:
What’s the ONE thing I can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
Multitaskers are “suckers for irrelevancy,” Keller quotes a man by the name of Clifford Nass as saying. The Focusing Question helps trim down all the things you have to do, and forces you to identify what you should do first. In this way, you cut out unnecessary business and get more done.
How can The One Thing improve your company marketing?
Those in the equipment finance industry know how diverse our offerings can be. You don’t offer simple leases and loans. The variability of contract types, lengths, and the equipment itself means you are juggling a lot of products and services.
When it comes to marketing what you do, it is tempting to highlight everything in order to appeal to as many people as possible. But just like your daily work routine, when you juggle too many messages, you lose the ability to communicate effectively.
The example I like to use is Dave Ramsey. Everyone knows Dave Ramsey as the guy who can help them get out of debt. He offers numerous courses from financial coaching and management, to financial education for kids.
But you know what Dave Ramsey is best known for, his one thing? Financial peace.
Everyone knows you go to Dave Ramsey for financial peace. Even though he offers many ways to achieve that one thing, he focuses his messaging on that one thing.
Last month, we talked about the importance of clarifying your company message. You don’t want to make your customers work too hard to understand how you can help their equipment finance needs. Figuring out your company’s one thing, the one thing you do better than anyone else, will go a long way towards helping your ideal customer see that you are the right choice for them.
How you can improve your company messaging by focusing on your one thing.
As an equipment finance company, you have many products and services in place to help your customers in multiple ways. But I’m willing to bet there is one thing that you offer that helps your company stand out.
Your one thing may be a specific product that is the best in the market. Or maybe you offer flexible rates that no one else can match in your region. Maybe the thing you do best is the personalization of your sales and service in a way that makes your customer feel like a VIP every step of the way.
Whatever it is you do best, find that one thing and focus your messaging around that. Clarify your value so your customers know exactly what they gain by choosing your company.
Check out this article by David Skok for more tips on how to improve your company messaging.
Remember, multitasking at work means you’re just doing more things less effectively. The same is true for your marketing. The more your customer has to sift through multiple messages in order to figure out how you can help them, the more confused they will be.
Here’s how you can use Keller’s Focusing Question to help you:
- For yourself: What’s the ONE thing I can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
- For your marketing: What’s the ONE thing that we do as a company, such that by doing it, our customer’s life will be easier?
Check out this video from www.the1thing.com for more about the book:
Hope this helps!
BJ Cary
Content Marketing Specialist
LTi Technology Solutions
wpstage.ltisolutions.com
NOTE: LTi Technology Solutions is not affiliated with The One Thing book. The opinions expressed in this post are purely my own. No commission or payment in any form is received from the sale of this product.
P.S. What do you struggle with most in your company marketing? We love talking about this stuff and sharing what we learn. If there is anything you want to know more about, or if there is a topic you’d like us to research, let us know in the comments below.
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