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It's not about YOU! (Stop with the excuses!)

This isn't personal. But I've had it up to here (picture me with my arm raised high over my head) with clients' excuses for not doing what it takes to get their social networking on.

"I forgot my [twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn ] password!"

"I just don't have the time!"

"I don't want to write a blog if no one is going to read it!"

"I'm not really into social networking yet!"

Guess what: I don't care about your excuses any more. No one cares.

While you're moving the "Talk with Jeff Cohan about social networking tools" entry in your appointment calendar to next month, your customers are being touched by, thinking about, and buying from your competitors.

Your customers are standing in long grocery store checkout lines, clicking over to Facebook on their iPhones and seeing that some other restaurant (not yours) is serving all-you-can-eat Alaskan King Crab Legs this Friday night.

Your customers are sitting in front of their computers at work, making quick visits to their LinkedIn home pages and seeing that some other marketing guru (not you) has just published an inspirational blog article, excerpted from the book she published three years ago — a book they've been thinking about buying.

Your customers are loading cases of wine from some other wine shop (not yours) into their trunks — wine paid with 20%-off coupons they received in their e-mails in-boxes.

Your customers are checking Twitter and finding out that some other string band (not yours) is performing tomorrow night at a private party at Lake Lanier. And even though they can't attend this invitation-only function, they're getting the idea that that other string band (not yours) is quite busy and in-demand, and they're thinking about hiring that other string band (not yours) for their next private party.

Come to think of it, mightn't it be a stretch to be referring to these people as your customers? After all, they're not thinking about you; you're giving them precious little reason to do so.

But, alas, you have excuses. You forgot your password. You just don't have time.

Your bottom-line excuse is that you're "just not really into" Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter yet.

That's fine. Just so long as you realize that your customers (and your competitors' customers) are.

Postscript:

Not exploiting the power of social networking tools to market your business because you're "not really into" social networking tools is like not selling premium at your gas station because you only ever fill up with regular. It's like not carrying white bread in your convenience store because you only ever eat whole wheat. It's like not offering vanilla in your ice cream parlor because you only ever eat rocky road.

It's not about you (or me). It's about them: your customers. Shift that paradigm. If you need guidance, maybe you know someone who can help.

And by all means, write your Twitter password down somewhere. Or just let your browser remember you, for cryin' out loud!