Steer Manure and Growing Your Business

• DateJune 9, 2020
• AuthorLeah Swearingen
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My encounter with a load of steer manure at age six taught me a life lesson that has grounded me during these trying times. The lesson is this: Sometimes really nasty stuff produces extraordinary growth.

Earlier I wrote about having grit during this COVID crisis. Now I’ll turn to growth.

The back story to my childhood discovery is that I couldn’t resist the fresh “dirt” pile calling to me from our neighbor’s lawn. I had a hill to take! Only after Mother yelled to me to “Stop playing in the Prichard’s manure!” did I begin to grasp the secret to their lush carpet of grass. Later, I would learn of other enriching fertilizers such as horse, goat, and poultry manure, sludge, and my personal favorite, worm castings (worm poop). Properly applied, disgusting things can force exceptional growth.

I’ve observed impressive advances in my clients’ marketing efforts as they addressed this dreaded disease and quarantine. Adrian Lurseen, an early employee at Yahoo! and co-founder of data platform JD Supra, concurs. He recently observed in HubSpot that “This crisis has proven beyond a question of a doubt how essential thought leaders are to the world . . . Readers across the board are desperate to make sense of this landscape . . . The only way I can describe their engagement with these thought leaders right now is as an absolute Roar of Gratitude.” 

A few COVID-inspired “growth spurts” I’ve seen among my clients are:

• Embracing rapid response measures in the midst of daily change
• Managing clients’ expectations more proactively
• Tapping the power of email like never before to engage (concerned) clients
• Producing and sharing valued content on breaking developments
• Inventing virtual ways to show appreciation
• Becoming increasingly disciplined about messaging
• Reactivating lapsed relationships
• Cleaning up data bases, mailing lists, etc.

This is not to minimize the massive toll that COVID-19 has taken and will continue to take. Rather, it’s to confirm the paradox I first learned at age six– that hideous things can and do produce growth.

We are emerging from this frustrating and detrimental confinement. We won’t know the extent of the damage for a long time. What I am certain of is that many of my clients’ clients have seldom been more informed, attended to, updated, and appreciated than during this COVID crisis. Stronger bonds, greater loyalty, and more educated customers have resulted. They are grateful. In that regard, the loathsome COVID-19 threat that permeated our respective environments like an offensive fertilizer forced businesses to grow, innovate, and endear themselves to their clients.