Git-R-Done: Executing Your Lead Generation Plan

Question: On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being "always" and 5 being "never", how often do you stick to project schedules and keep commitments you make to clients?

I'm guessing that most of you would give yourself a 1 (or a 2). Of course you make commitments and keep them. What kind of professional would you be if you didn't? (I don't know about you, but many a service provider has made commitments to me and not kept them. A topic for another time...)

Next question: On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being "not challenging at all" and 5 being "extremely challenging," how challenging is it for you to implement your lead generation plans that you put in place at your own company (even when all of the stakeholders at the company agree on the plan)?

Here at RAIN Group and RainToday.com, we asked over 800 leaders at professional service businesses the same question as a part of our research report, What's Working In Lead Generation. I was perusing the preliminary results (they're not completely in yet), and 76% of the respondents said they found implementing their own lead generation plans "somewhat" to "extremely challenging" even when they agree internally on the plans.

Since service providers by and large deliver on commitments they make to clients, I believe service providers can, in general, execute. Yet when it comes to sustained lead generation, as Larry the Cable Guy might say, service businesses just don't Git-R-Done. Service providers keep commitments they make with clients. They just don't keep commitments they make with themselves. The question is, "Why?"