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What are your usual marketing expenses? For example, to gross 40,000 a month you put 10% or 4,000 for marketing... Thanks

Man who has the time to become a bean counter. I usually go after a market and print 500 hundred flyers and knock on doors. $300.00 bucks I am very selective as to the market I chase

Well you should spend money on a brand recognition and advertise in newspapers and things like that

Only an insurance company should spend money on brand recognition. I spend money on making money. This year I have been spending 12% a month on advertising.

Has anyone else noticed that advertising agencies don't advertise?

I'm not convinced that advertising is important. Marketing is important. Advertising? Not so much.

I look at marketing more from a time perspective than dollars. I spend 20% of my time in marketing activities.

I understand it as following and please correct me when i am wrong. let's say the agency's goal is to make 10K. Let's say we average 500 per closed prospect. Therefore we need to close 20 people a month. Now, because we don't have direct appoitments, let's assume our closing ration is 20% therefore we need 100 prospects a month. If we spend $10 per prospect, we will spend 1000 for marketing efforts and make 10K. It's just a number game. The more prospects you have, the more business you close

I think the numbers game approach, while attractive, over simplifies the business. It satisfies the part of our brains that is orderly and rational.

There is nothing orderly about working with prospects and clients.

It also assumes you can only control one part of the equation "" what you pour into the funnel. Why not improve your hit ratio or increase your profit per account?

Why is 10,000 the right number? What if it should be 25,000? How do you know? If you hit the 10k are you sure you couldn't have done 15? Perhaps, in a particular month, 8 was amazing given the other demands on your operation or the condition of the marketplace.

Goals are arbitrary. Plan your day tomorrow. At the end of the day list all the things you did that were not on the plan. If you can't plan a day in advance how can you plan a month or a year in advance?

Maximize opportunities today and set the stage for tomorrow's opportunities.

Perhaps, for your operation, that includes advertising. Maybe that means lining up a gig speaking to the local chamber of commerce. Perhaps it means cultivating a relationship with a client who is the incoming president of a trade association. It may mean finding an associate who fills a gap in your skill set "" so you can attract a higher profit client.

Absolutely valuable comments. Thanks Scott