Still Striving for Perfection?

.... or is good, good enough?

If so, then perhaps it's time to stop and compromise on perfection and instead focus on good is good enough.

One of my clients had been agonising over a new sales letter for both on and off-line use. The objective was to reinvigorate sales on a specific product line. In fact it had taken only 15 minutes to write the first draft but after three weeks version 10 or 11 was still sitting on the desk!

He was striving for the perfect sales letter. An admirable goal but in reality, was it just too big a goal to aim for? The letter was good – definitely good enough – it articulated the proposition, demonstrated that it solved a problem and included a call to action.

The key point here is that there is only one really effective sales letter;  and that is the one that actually gets sent out. Even a badly worded, poorly spelt letter that is sent out to a customer is effective. In fact it is 100% more effective than the perfect letter that doesn't get off your desk.

Once the letter, or website or whatever, is out there with your customers, you’ll get feedback and you can make improvements next time. It will also get you some sales. Maybe not as many as the perfect letter, but, of course, that assumes that the perfect letter actually went out. If it’s not sent out then it will never generate sales.

So, the next time you're struggling to get the perfect message out, just stop and ask yourself if ‘good is good enough’?