Can you know too much?

Should you struggle in everlasting ignorance? 

What is contempt prior to investigation?

Even though I know a LOT about marketing, I’m ALWAYS open to
learning something new from someone doing great things.

If you understand the concept of “the slight edge,” then
you’ll appreciate why that is so.

Another reason that I will always learn from others in my
industry is that I do not want to fall victim to the number
ONE reason that most business marketers fail.

That reason is that, at some point, they begin to feel that
they “understand everything.”  They close their minds
to new ideas.  They simply believe the they are smarter than
anyone else . . . that there is nothing anyone else can teach
them.

Herbert Spencer,  a nineteenth British philospher, did a beautiful
job of explaining how so many business marketers doom themselves to failure. 
Here’s a favorite quotation from his writings:  “There is a principle
which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments
and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that
principle is contempt prior to investigation.”

Like Spencer, I am convinced that ignorance and a refusal to
examine things that we believe we “understand” is what keeps many
aspiring business marketers from ever succeeding.  I honestly believe
they unintentionally LOCK themselves in failure, often for the duration
of their lives or at least as long as their businesses survive.

I frequently see businesses failing simply because the owner or person
responsible for the marketing is “locked in to failure.”  This is tragic!
Unfortunately, I can often predict that that business will fail within a
certain number of years.  Even when they do not go bankrupt, they
simply struggle along enjoying a mere fraction of the success
they could be having.  Yet the person or people in charge will simply
resist any effort to enlighten them.

I heard this statement from the owner of a business which had every
reason to succeed, yet clearly wasn’t.  “This is what we offer.
The community will either support us [with purchases] or it won’t.”  What a tragedy!  Every time I asked if he had considered this or that, he told me why it wouldn’t
work or wasn’t necessary: true contempt prior to investigation. 

I opined privately to a friend who overheard my conversation that the
business would close within a year.  It remains to be seen whether
this turns out to be the case.

Never allow your marketing and your business to fail because you
refuse to acknowledge that you can learn something from someone
else.  If you always keep your eyes and ears open to the suggestions
of others and carefully assess what your customers are telling you
and what your competitors are doing–implementing those which
suit your business–you have all the tools to succeed in your business.

Can you know too much?  Clearly you can know “too much” for
the best interest of your business.  Ask yourself whether you
wish to run that risk.  My opinion is that life is too short to labor under such a delusion.

To your business success!

Paul Elliott
Marketing With Unbelievable Guarantees!™
http://www.MarketingSuccessBlueprint.com/blog

© 2008, Paul Elliott, All rights reserved world wide.