An old maxim from the world of advertising reminds us that 50% of all money spent on advertising is wasted.

The question, of course, has always been which 50%

And this remains a question without an answer.

And yet the demand created by continuous advertising is one of the key drivers behind our economy.

So what is it that causes businesses worldwide to continuously support a process with a known, and virtually guaranteed, failure rate of 50%?

The answer lies in a single word: consistency.

Advertisers have long ago learned that their marketing efforts will produce predictable results if they simply follow the rule of doing the same things over and over again.

In other words, businesses have learned the power of advertising is as much about the content, quality and appeal generated by an advertisement as it is about displaying that same advertisement often.

In fact, there is a growing body of data that points to the power of familiarity. This means that the more we are exposed to information, the more comfortable we become with it, and the more likely we are to want it for our own.

The Habit of Consistency it is also the habit of following a tried and proven method of producing results.

If we take a moment to examine the characteristics of great business success, there are three that stand out for their prevalence in almost all instances of mega-success.

Those three are:

Consistency.

Replicability.

Sustainability.

Consistency lies of the top of the list because it is consistency that brings us back for more.

In previous postings we have discussed the role that unmet expectations play in the development of conflict and, in the case of businesses, customer dissatisfaction.

Whenever we make a purchase we do so with a certain expectation of what we will receive and when that expectation goes unmet we become prime candidates for discontent with that business. That company from which we made the purchase then runs the risk not only of losing us as a customer but also of losing the business of all those with whom we share our disappointing experience.

Businesses that understand this place laser-like focus on ensuring customer’s expectations are either met or exceeded, and to do this they place great emphasis on consistency.

Commitment to the enforcement of consistency has enabled companies like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway and many others to enjoy massive growth because we, as customers, know exactly what we will get when we order food from these companies and seldom, if ever, are we disappointed.

A cheeseburger from one McDonald’s is exactly the same as a cheeseburger from another even if the two locations are continents apart.

The Habit of Consistency is firmly embedded in their business plan.

And consistency is the secret sauce that enables all of those who wish to bring permanent change into their lives, to realize, and then enjoy the benefits such change brings, for a long period of time.

Working out at a gym once a month, regardless of how intensely you do so, cannot come close to competing with the benefits you will derive from visiting that same gym three times per week, every week. Spending one full day per month making sales calls will almost certainly reap some rewards. Those rewards will pale into insignificance when compared with the rewards from spending 30 minutes every weekday doing the same thing.

It is said that if you were to spend one hour per day reading and studying a given topic then, at the end of five years the consistency of your effort will result in you being recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on that topic.

Consistency means the sameness, frequency and regularity with which we deliver products services and effort and, if we are indeed planning on welcoming vastness into our lives then consistency must play an enormous role in the execution of that plan.

The Habit of Consistency is one we cannot afford to set aside.

I will say this again next week and then again the week after.

Let’s make a habit of meeting like this.