By John Lavey | Hammock President/COO

A colleague recently decided to replace a rotting windowsill. He didn’t want to hire someone, so he researched what he needed to do, talked to friends who had experience, then did it himself.

As soon as he finished the windowsill, he noticed he needed to paint the window frame. As soon as he painted the window, he noticed the other windows in the house needed to be painted. And so on and so on. Success became about making the entire house look as good as possible.

I see the same issues in the work we do with clients. A client has a problem and decides to attack it. To do so, they may focus on one project, such as developing whitepapers, blog posts or a new sales presentation.

But it quickly becomes apparent that one project will likely not be the one thing. It may just shine a light on what else needs to be done.

Of course, sometimes you only want to accomplish a singular project. And that’s not a bad thing. You may have everything else just the way you want it.

But, if you have the desire and the resources to take things to another level, you will see that regular content creation is connected to inbound marketing, which is connected to a great website, which is also related to a successful sales team armed with a great presentation. And so on.

This means taking stock of the interrelated parts, then having a plan and a timetable for developing better content. Your plan may lead to better inbound marketing, better sales materials and a better website. Along the way, you’ll have to decide what parts you can handle yourself—and what parts require a partner with the skills and expertise to help you accomplish your goals.

Takeaway: When tackling what needs fixing, don’t focus too narrowly on one project. Think about how those projects are connected to other aspects of your sales and marketing efforts that need attention. Back up, look at it as a whole, then plan when and how to be successful. Or you’ll end up with just a new windowsill instead of a better-looking house.

Photo: Getty Images

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