To Autopilot or Not to Autopilot?
Putting things on autopilot is all the rage these days.
Put Your Twitter on Autopilot!
Prospecting on Autopilot!
Generate Leads on Autopilot!
Put Your MLM on Autopilot!
Put Your Gmail on Autopilot!
Get Profits on Autopilot!
Put Your Blog on Autopilot!
What’s next?
Put Your Brain on Autopilot?
Put Your Life on Autopilot?
I’m all for automation. Taking the drudgery out of boring, repetitive tasks is one of the most useful things about computers and business systems.
Yes, I have a Twitterfeed that automatically updates my account periodically.
Yes, I do auto-bill pay.
Yes, I use an autoresponder.
Yes, I have a marketing funnel.
But all of the hype around not doing any work (or the thinking required to do that work ) can be dangerous or at least misleading.
Take Twitter, for example. A couple of people I followed were sending some automatic tweets. No problem. As stated, I do that too sometimes. I sent them a tweet to ask a question that only they could answer. Response? Crickets. No response at all. I soon unfollowed them.
Is Twitter becoming one big bot-fest?
Another example, Network Marketing. This is largely a "relationship business." Your success or failure in MLM is a function of your ability to forge significant and lasting bonds with other people.
Can a system or series of systems re-invent the way network marketing business is conducted so it is all "on auto-pilot"?
Some of it, yes. All of it, no.
The fact remains that at some point you will need to pick up the phone and actually speak to someone.
Or, you’ll need to actually respond to a tweet if you want to experience Twitter’s social value and potential.
Or, you’ll need to actually write your own blog posts every once in a while and not have all of them written by ghosts.
The value of putting some parts of your business on autopilot is that you can better leverage your time. You can add more of you , not less of you, to accomplishing your business’s most important goals.
I take my cue from commercial airline pilots themselves: Yes, they put the plane on autopilot once it’s in the air. But, for the really critical tasks–take-off and landing–they’ve got their hands directly on the controls.
Wishing You the Best,
Ben Mapp
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Comments
3 Responses to “To Autopilot or Not to Autopilot?”Speak Your Mind
Tell us what you're thinking...and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
I’ve also tested your “cricket theory”. I have responded to a tweet; hoping to engage them and….nothing until at least 24 hours later.
I think that Twitter is a powerful tool, but a powerful social tool. If no one is behind the wheel then it spoils all the fun of interacting in real time. It also hurts your business perspective of that person; in my opinion.
We have to find a balance of hands-on, and automated systems to perfect our approach in order to win at Social Marketing.
Thanks,
Becky Joubert
saw your comment on the 31DBBB thread and found your post - good opinion post, I enjoyed it! I will tweet it too :o)
I like the analogy to the pilots, too.
I couldn’t have said it better Ben. If you are in a relationship business, then you need to take the time to develop the relationship. All the fancy automation in the world is not going to accomplish that for you.