This week I’ve been hit with the simple realization that clients are not just going to come to us. We have to go out and find them.

It sounds obvious but it’s hard to accept and do something about. I want clients to find us online because we put out great content, and some will.

This has came to the forefront because I’ve seen it in my friend’s businesses. They will ask me why I think they aren’t getting business and it seems so obvious.

They are hiding behind online marketing as an excuse to not reach out to people and I am just as guilty.

You see, we hear stories all the time of people that make it big…whatever that means. They put out some Facebook ads or got a ton of clients from a good video or their websites SEO. We hear them say “we just had the right product at the right time and the clients came to us, everybody came to us!”

Well great. That didn’t happen to me. Or my friend. Or their friend. The fact is, that doesn’t happen to almost anybody.

When we hear these stories, it makes it easy to say… “Hey, I’m going to put out a Facebook ad and get a bunch of clients!” or “I’m going to send an email and get a bunch of clients!”

But what actually happens? We often don’t end up like the stories we celebrate.

It has become too easy to hide behind all of these online marketing “tactics” convincing ourselves that we don’t have to go and knock on doors, pick up the phone and call somebody, or really just have a conversation with somebody you don’t know where you ask them for your business.

The internet has been amazing for business obviously for online marketing. But it’s given us reasons to not pick up the phone and call somebody and actually ask them for her business.

Making phone calls, sending emails, shaking hands and asking for support, and reaching out to lists does one very interesting. It reminds us of the fact that the market doesn’t lie. When we put out a Facebook ad, we can blame Facebook or say we are not getting enough website traffic because of Google. We can blame the internet. We can hide behind the internet.

But if I call somebody in and sit across from them. I talk to them and am sharing about what I do and asking them for business. Sharing my story. That is the moment that shows me whether or not we are on to something.

If I’m having that conversation with somebody and they choose to not do business with us, then I have to be honest about why not. Maybe I wasn’t communicating well, maybe my product is off, maybe it was the wrong audience.

The point is that the market never lies and making phone calls and shaking hands is still one of the most proven ways to see if a market is ready for your product. The market is proof.

This week at story on, I’ve been thinking about this a lot because it’s been really easy to wait and kind of do the “hope marketing” thing. You know? Where we just hope people come to us because we have a good product?

At Story On, this is something we are working on which means we are making lots of phone calls, setting up meetings, following up, and working on tapping into our local market more and more. Doing this well will give us more freedom in the future to be able to do online marketing, but we can’t hide behind Facebook ads hoping our business grows.

So my question for you is simple, are you hiding behind online marketing as an excuse to not call people to ask them for business? Are you more comfortable blaming the internet for not giving you business when the reality is that you aren’t making any phone calls or sending enough messages.

Online marketing is amazing. It is the best opportunity for business growth and storytelling in the history of mankind. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to leverage proven strategies that have worked for centuries. We need both.

Pick up the phone. Make the call. Send the email. Be honest about the results.

If you want to learn more about how to grow your business by marketing with stories, head to www.successwithstories.com to find out more about how we can help you grow.