After hours marketing?

On vacation in Los Angeles, I combined my enjoyment of sporbikes with business by renting a bike and driving it through the Malibu Canyon to visit Leonard Megliola at Bestline Plumbing in Glendale. The resulting story has become one of this blog's most frequently-viewed postings over the past few months. I'm not a particularly talented motorcyclist, but enjoy the sport. Could I combine my hobby and vacation with effective marketing? Can you achieve similar combinations? Absolutely.

Rory Swann in the Washington D..C. area posted this provocative question on the Remodelcrazy.com forums:

OK, it's five o'clock the jobsites are closed down for the day.

Everyone has left the office, you're setting the buildings alarm and turning key to lock up for the night.

But your job is only beginning.

Where do you go and what do you do to market, advertise and promote your company after hours?

So far i have started to attending a local networking event every month since they started it. It has had a well attended crowd and every event.

My next after-hours event will be a local BNI that I have been invited to attend next Wednesday.

So what do you guys do to market you business after hours?

Other forum members responded that they participate in business and community networking groups, or not, golf, or not, and someone jokingly posted a reference to a topic which is outside of the terms of reference allowed for me to accept third-party advertising on this blog.

Here is my answer:

If it's after hours, and it isn't fun to do for you, then where is your life? Golf works, if you like golf. I can't golf and don't like it.

Get me to an interesting city away from home (best with the family along for the adventure) for a relevant conference (like SMPS National last year in Denver), and I'm really happy (and do some great networking).

I like writing and blogging -- definitely something to do after hours. Forcing myself to "network" at an event with people I don't really like; not so good (but if it is a core group, I can always bring the camera and generate material and collect plenty of cards. (I'm debating whether to go to the next Design and Construction Network happy hour in Washington. If it was a day trip, it would be a no-brainer; I'd go; overnight is more complex.)

Our challenge for after-hours stuff is to find things we like doing AND which are useful for the business. Then it isn't work. And when we enjoy our time, we are usually much more successful at it.

In fact, this point relates to my fundamental attitude about the key ingredients to marketing (and business) success:

• You must enjoy the activity; and

• Your activity must put you in connection (in the right sort of way) with your current and prospective clients.

One person related a story about a working-class person who found his way to be a member of an exclusive golf club, and soon had all the business he could handle, is instructive. The trades person who did this clearly took some risks -- stepping outside his traditional comfort zone -- but unless he had truly exceptional willpower, I don't think he could have succeeded unless he really enjoyed golfing.

There is a third criteria, but this applies only to your working hours:

• You must be really good at what you do.

(After hours, it is fine to pursue your hobbies and non-career passions; from a marketing perspective, you simply want to do these things in context of your client base. Of course if you really aren't great at your primary craft, trade, or business management skills during working hours, you are probably in the wrong business.)

Take a look at your after-hours activities, and think of the things you really enjoy doing, and how you can connect this time with your business. You will succeed at your sales and marketing, and have fun, too.

Thinking about number one (and having fun, too)

Whenever you are selling or marketing construction-related products and services, you always need to remember that decisions about what and when to buy are made by people, not machines, and they are thinking of their own best interests.

This is basic stuff, of course, but if you are like many people in business, you forget this rule to your risk and peril. Yet, in asking you to think first of your current and potential clients in your marketing, you may be surprised to find that I recommend, instead, that you focus first on your own needs, interests and values.

Simply put, you can give the most and share most freely with others by doing what you enjoy doing the most.

Because you enjoy your work, you are less motivated or worried by the money (or lack of money) in your efforts; so you can sustain them in all economic conditions, and be patient while the results eventually occur. and the people you are working with and helping appreciate your sincerity -- you aren't forcing the issue to be helpful.

How does this work in practice?

Simply determine the two or three interests/activities that give you the most pleasure, and build most of your marketing time and effort around them.

If you are a trades person and really enjoy certain aspects of your work, find a way to give some services to organizations or individuals who could use your support, who would be in our marketing orbit (a condo association, a community-non profit supported by other potential clients, or so on.)

If you really enjoy golfing, connect with the association representing your major clients, and allocate some time for the game with other golfing enthusiasts (among potential clients, of course.)

If you like writing and journalism, start a blog (hey, that's me!)

When you think things through, virtually all marketing wok involving significant time and effort on your part can be adapted to turn the process into pleasurable experiences for you and the people who you help. This is especially effective if you infuse these values throughout your organization and encourage your employees to think the same way. They start coming up with their own ideas which combine making their own work more enjoyable, and reaching out and connecting with current and potential clients. (And since your employees may have different interests, you reach different potential clients.)

In observing these ideas, consider who you would rather do business with: Someone who genuinely, passionately, enjoys their work, and is of generous spirit, or someone pounding the pavements and making cold calls because they have to do this work to survive?