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The Difference Between Action and Inertia

Guest post by: Paul Tobey

Article Overview: I was reminded recently, that it is not what we know that is important, but what we do with it that makes all the difference.

The Difference Between Action and Inertia

I was reminded recently, that it is not what we know that is important, but what we do with it that makes all the difference.

Over the last few weeks I had reason to speak to a number of people who attended a keynote address I did for a group of insurance agents early in 2004. Most of the conversations were fairly routine, but two stood out.

One woman I spoke to said "This year has been great for me. I used one idea from your presentation. I started asking myself 'Who knows the people I need to know?' I used this to find joint venture partners. In the last 12 months, I have doubled my income, bought a new home, and went to the Caribbean for a holiday in January. I am expecting next year to be even better."

Another attendee said, "I remember almost everything from your presentation last year. I thought you did a great job." I was naturally flattered that he liked what I had done and remembered almost everything I had said. However, I was skeptical and asked a few more questions, He eventually admitted; "I never got around to using them. My sales are much the same as they were the year before. In fact they have been pretty much the same for the last three years."

It is gratifying to know that you can give people a single idea that if acted upon, will increase income significantly. After all, that's why I do what I do. Fortunately in most cases, success is not due to some superior insight, but more to do with focus on a few basic ideas. The ideas don't have to be complex or new, sophisticated or clever. Some people ignore what I teach, simply because it sounds too simple. They are skeptical that something that simple and straight forward can have much impact. Nothing could be further from the truth.

After the above discussion, I concluded that people who know about something and don't do it, are actually in a worse position than someone who doesn't know about the subject. Here's a question; Are people who know how to read and don't, worse off than those who cant read?

You can't increase your income if you won't take action. If you don't a few action steps, you are simply fooling yourself - and you will not increase your income. It's action that produces results. No action always means no results.

Identify one thing that you have been meaning to do, but not yet started. Now decide what action steps you are going to take to get it going, and start right away.

Let me know how it goes

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  The Courage to Change the Things I Can
  Elevating and Repairing Marketing Constraints
  Action vs. Inaction

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Advertisement that sales - Plan your marketing programme. It should include commitment to capital resources. If you run a small business, you aren't likely to have a generous enough advertising budget that will allow you to run costly branding or campaign ads. Every advertisement you run must convey to your prospect a solid offer and attractive reasons to act quickly, and result in increased sales and an enhanced image of your company. Good advertising always pays its own way through increased sales and profits, improved cost-effectiveness, reduced selling costs and shortened selling cycles. A useful formula that will help you increase the effectiveness of your advertising efforts is A-I-D-A, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. When creating an advertisement, always remind yourself that it should: (1) capture your prospects' Attention, (2) arouse their Interest in your offer, (3) create their Desire for your product or service, and (4) provide a powerful spur to Action, that is, turn your prospect into buyers. Remember, bad advertising is an unproductive expense, and good advertising is an investment in future profits!
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