Be Prepared.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about being prepared for success.

"Be Prepared" is a motto I learned as a kid in the Boy Scouts. There's no greater teacher than when you've forgotten your mess kit at home, and you have to watch everyone else eat while waiting to wash and borrow theirs. From then on, I was always ready and prepared. When I pack the family car for a road trip, you'll notice that our family would be able to survive being marooned in a barren desert for several months, even though we're only planning to drive through Connecticut. It sort of annoys my wife, but one day being prepared for disaster will come in handy.

Survival is important, but you also have to be prepared for success. One summer, my parents let a friend and me go on an overnight fishing trip. We were so excited! We had every bit of gear you could imagine for catching fish, but didn't think to bring a bucket or a stringer with us in case we caught something. (A stringer is how you keep fish alive in the water after you've caught them.) It was a stupid oversight because we caught more than enough fish for our supper. We ended up using one of the ropes from our tent as a stringer, which wasn't all that tragic, but it would have been better to plan for success.

Many organizations have hired our agency to help them generate more leads for their sales team. I remember one time, we had generated so many qualified leads so quickly that the company called us in a panic, asking us to turn off the campaign because they were overwhelmed and unable to follow up on the leads fast enough. To make up for the shortfall in the sales team, we pulled in some engineers to take sales calls, who, by the way, knew the product better than anyone.

This is why we always ask our clients what is the maximum number of leads they can handle per day. Some are surprised by the question, but we want them to be ready when the phone rings. We've learned there is little use in going fishing if you've got no way of keeping them alive after you've got them on the hook! In fact, the lessons I learned as a kid are still quite true in business. You have to be prepared for disaster as well as plan for success, and in either case, you may have to make do with whatever resources you have available. As today's fortune says, "Good fortune takes preparation."