Say what you do. Do what you say.

Anyone who has gone through ISO training in Corporate America has likely heard this basic tenet of the discipline. The idea is that you are more likely to achieve quality -- or at least, reliability -- when you document your processes, and then stick to them consistently.

Small business owners would do well to heed this advice when it comes to marketing their business. On some regular basis -- lets say quarterly -- the owner needs to carve out a little time and look at what is going on in their business and the larger business community. At this moment in time, what are the burning issues that surround you? What could you do -- this week, this month, this quarter -- to turn those issues into opportunities?

Write them down.

ISSUE :
OPPORTUNITY :
WHAT WE SHOULD DO THIS:
Week :
Month :
Quarter :


You have just written a plan. Maybe not a comprehensive, boil the ocean kind of plan, but a rudamentary kind of plan that can garner some quick wins and cultivate a new behavior in how you run your business.

Now follow your plan.

Revisit the plan in 90 days, and see how you've done.

Did you accomplish the weekly, monthly, quarterly activities you set out to, or did you get distracted along the way?

Did your actions result in the outcomes you had predicted? Why or Why Not?

Is the Issue still an issue, or did it resolve itself? Does it still represent an opportunity? Has anyone else addressed the issue in a different way?

Next week I will start a series of pieces about marketing planning , going into more detail about how a small business owner should view this process, and giving some guidance to how to get started, what you should look at, how to get the most out of the effort.

But for now, just try the exercise above, and see if it doesn't give you some greater sense of purpose and control...two of the most important reasons we ever plan anything in the first place.