The More Clients Blog

Antidote to Pushy Marketing

After last week's eZine on "Playing it Safe" I got this response that Ruby Curran posted on my blog:

"I am enthusiastic and passionate about my business, but I must admit, I do a good job of keeping it to myself - unless someone shows an interest during a conversation. Why?

"I'm concerned about turning people off. I'm often turned off when someone I meet goes on and on about something I'm really not interested in. It often seems like they're trying to push me into something. I don't want to do that to others, so I find it hard to promote myself.

"Does that make any sense? Anyone else know what I'm talking about? How can I be sure I'm being passionate without annoying other people? Ideas?"

Thanks! Ruby

Thanks for this question, Ruby. This really gets to the heart of what stops people from marketing successfully.

There is a fundamental misunderstanding about marketing that you are making. You think marketing is about you. You think marketing is boasting, a big ego trip and fundamentally self-centered. You think that marketing is "going on and on about something I'm not really interested in."

If you believe that, of course, you'll keep your business to yourself. You don't want to be seen as an obnoxious egomaniac.

But marketing is NOT about you. It's not even about your services. It's not about all the things you do and it certainly isn't about going on and on until people are turned off.

Marketing isn't about what YOU do, it's about what THEY get.

Just think, when someone asks you what you do, you tend to talk all about you and how your business works. It just pours out automatically. You can't seem to help yourself. But you realize that this is a turn-off, so you solve the problem by not talking about your business at all (unless someone shows interest).

Clearly, this approach doesn't work.

When someone asks me what I do, I NEVER talk about my business. I talk about the problems my prospects and clients are experiencing. And when I do that, most people do show interest.

I say, "I work with Independent Professionals who have a great service but who struggle with attracting clients." There's absolutely nothing about me in that message. And it interests people because it's about them.

When they ask me how I do this, I say, "I work with them so that marketing is easier for them and becomes less of a struggle, and so that they ultimately attract more clients."

Again, nothing about me, it's all about what they get. And that is interesting as well. It starts a lot of good conversations.

And if they want to know more about how it works, I tell them a story of a client I worked with and the results they got. Again, nothing about me. Stories are great because people can see that if you helped someone else, maybe you can help them as well.

And you know what? When you talk about your business like that, people become interested. They want to know more. Then you provide more information in the form of an article or details of your services on your web site. And, of course, you get their email and put them on your regular eZine list.

Why do I have 50,000 people on my weekly eZine list? It's because that's how I've consistently communicated about my business over the years. It's all about communicating value, not going on and on about how great my business is.

But there's also another way to look at this.

I realize, that at any given time, I'm not going to communicate perfectly. I may say things that turn people off. I might send one too many emails and have someone unsubscribe. Once in awhile I might forget myself and go on and on.

But so what?

I do my very best to communicate with integrity. I know my weekly eZine provides value. I know that my products and services have made a huge difference to thousands of people.

But you can't please everyone all the time. In fact, if you're doing really well with your marketing, you're still only going to please (get positive response from) about 10% of your audience (at best).

For instance, I've been promoting my Fast Track to More Clients workshops since early March. In that time, about 2,000 people have visited the information page about the workshop. And about 200 people have signed up for the workshop. That's just 10%.

What am I going to do, weep and wail that 90% didn't sign up and then beat myself up because I might have turned them off?

Give me a break!

Look, if you communicate about your business with passion, if you stop playing it safe, inside your comfort zone, and instead, put your attention on the value you provide to your clients, your business will take off in ways that will amaze you.

So where do you start with this?

First, you need to understand some fundamental marketing principles. There are seven distinct principles you need to know if you're going to market yourself successfully:

1. The Game of Marketing
2. Your Marketing Mindset
3. The Language of Marketing
4. Your Marketing Message
5. Marketing Information
6. Marketing Strategies
7. Marketing Action Plans

In this eZine, I just touched on the Language of Marketing. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The more you understand how these principles work, the easier and more effective your marketing will be.

If you don't understand and apply these principles, you're going to struggle. You're going to play the game ineffectively, you're going to hold yourself back, afraid of turning people off. The chances of winning will be very slim indeed.

How long do you want to be a victim about your marketing, worrying you'll offend someone? This is a completely powerless way to live and to run your business.

Learn the principles and then get out and spread the word.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you are worrying you'll offend people when you get enthusiastic about your business, you're just not marketing correctly. Your premise is at fault, not marketing. Master the principles and skills of marketing and you'll be free to be enthusiastic, while turning more people on than off.

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Do you have any examples that prove the premise of today's eZine? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Unsticking Your Marketing

During the IMC Confab last week, one of the sessions I attended was the "IMC Experts Talk Show." Several people submitted questions ahead of time. In the session, the questions were read and the whole group answered them.

The question I asked was: "In working with clients, what percentage of the work you do is knowledge/skills based and what percentage is psychologically based?"

I've always been curious about this but had never gotten a large group consensus. When the question was asked, several people laughed and then someone stood up and said: "I've never done a client engagement where 85% of the issues weren't psychologically based!"

And that was typical of the rest of the answers. The consensus was that psychological issues were the number one reason a client called a consultant or professional in the first place.

But paradoxically, that was NEVER why the client thought they brought the consultant in to help them. They thought they were interested in getting help with knowledge and skills.

In my consulting and coaching I've always put a lot of emphasis on knowledge and skills. I think they are very, very important. Six of my Seven Marketing Principles are knowledge/skill based, but the second principle "The Marketing Mindset," usually has the biggest impact on a client's ultimate results.

What I try to make very clear is that the Marketing Mindset you have shapes your actions and results. You can have the knowledge, the skills and the plan, but get terrible results if your mindset remains: "Marketing is fundamentally dishonest," or, "I'll never find the time to market myself."

I've seen very smart and highly educated people flounder helplessly with their marketing because of some hesitation, doubt or fear.

But here's the funny (and perhaps tragic), thing: Even when people realize that their current mindset is in the way, they try to add more knowledge and skills to change the mindset.

This is a little like being on a train heading for a bridge that is out, and moving the baggage around in the baggage car, hoping that this will prevent the train from falling into the ravine!

"Hmm, I'm afraid of being rejected. That's why I don't follow up with prospects. Great insight. I think I'll get another degree. Maybe that will help!"

Or, more typically, a marketing strategy you've implemented isn't working as well as you'd like. But you don't notice that you had something to do with it. Because of your doubt and hesitation, you didn't follow through, sweat the details, or build up any real enthusiasm for the plan. But you blame the plan.

So how can you unstick your marketing mindset?

A way that you may find extraordinarily useful is to look at how you are BEING about your marketing. Are you Being fearful, doubtful or confused? Those ways of Being clearly won't help your marketing.

Your thinking, feelings and actions are always in alignment with the way you are Being. Be confused and you will act confused.

But what you may fail to notice is that you can't change your way of Being by doing! If you gather more knowledge and develop more skills, you may still remain fearful, doubtful or confused.

What if you chose who you were going to be instead?

This Monday morning I woke up with a huge pile of things on my plate. Not only did I have the eZine to write, but my in-progress projects include writing an online marketing software program, gearing up for my next Certification Program, giving feedback to my Marketing Coaches and creating a big fundraising event for a non-profit organization (Room to Read).

What I noticed, before even getting out of bed, was that I was gearing up to BE overwhelmed. I also remembered that when I'm overwhelmed, I either start procrastinating, stuck in not knowing what to do first, or I go into "stressed-out panic mode."

I also remembered that both of these options were not very effective in handling overwhelm. So I asked myself, "If I couldn't be overwhelmed, who would I be?" The answer came quickly: "I'd be calm, focused and fearless."

I clearly saw that if I was calm, focused and fearless, I'd look at all the things I had on my plate, do a little planning and prioritizing and then do one thing at a time. And then I asked myself, "Who am I going to choose to Be? Overwhelmed, or calm, focused and fearless?"

That wasn't a hard one to answer! So far the day is going just great. Being scattered and frantic has been replaced by productivity and ease.

Now take a look at some marketing activity that you are not having much success with. You are stuck or struggling. Ask yourself who you are being regarding that activity or project.

Look at the behaviors that come out of that way of Being, and ask "If I couldn't be that way, who would I prefer to be?" And if that resonates with you, choose to be that way and take the first action towards that project, coming from that way of being.

I predict you'll discover you don't need to know a whole lot more or even learn more skills to take that first step.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: It's not what you know or what you do that has the biggest impact on your success and productivity, It's who you are Being. Be aware of who you are being regarding an area where you are stuck, and ask if that's working for you. If it's not, choose a new way to be.

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Who have you been BEING that has you stuck in moving forward with your marketing? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Let Your Writing Do the Heavy Lifting

Go to a services page on the web site of any independent professional.

What will you find in most cases? Not enough information. It's not unusual that you'll see one to three paragraphs of very general information about the service and then at the end "call or email for more information."

Why the hell would I want to call for more information? Why isn't the information I'm looking for right there on the page? After all, this is what a web site is for. When you list one of your services, tell everything about it and answer all the questions someone may have about it. And then when people respond, it won't be for more information, it will be to actually explore working together.

In fact, one of my practices is to note any questions I get about the service (usually by email) and then go back to the web page and answer that question in the copy. I don't want people asking questions about the service. I want people saying "I think I need this service, can we talk?"

Some of the information to include on a service page.

• A title that actually says something that's benefit oriented (not "Our Services")

• An opening paragraph that talks about the target audience for this service and why this service is needed (what problems or challenges it addresses).

• A paragraph on the big result or ultimate outcome this service delivers.

• Several one to two-sentence bullet points that outline all the benefits and advantages of the service.

• A paragraph or two that explains exactly how the services works and how it is delivered.

• A testimonial quote from someone who has used the service successfully.

• A link to more detailed information such as a report, article or audio related to the service.

• A phone number, email and response form to make it easy to be in touch with you about using the service.

If you provide this level of detail about a service, when people contact you they will either be ready to buy or almost ready to buy. Let the writing do the heavy lifting of marketing and selling the service. It will save you time fielding calls for "more information" that could have easily be included on the services web page.

The only thing you usually want to leave out is the price. That gives your serious prospects another reason to contact you.

Disqualiying Prospects

In yesterday's eZine I said that marketing problem number three is when "your prospect knows more about your business, but is not yet sure your service is the appropriate one for them." This is when you need to provide information to qualify that prospect. But just as important is to disqualify that prospect.

I found a great article by Tom Varjan that talks about the importance of disqualifying prospects. You can find the complete article at this link. He're the opening of the article:

While in traditional sales we talk about qualifying prospects, I think it's even better to start disqualifying prospects.

I can't remember the exact words of Gill Wagner, author of Honest Selling, but the essence of his article was this: "Throughout our interactions with buyers, we're looking for a reason why we can't do business together. The sooner we find the reason, the sooner we can go home." He even used this phrase with prospects: "I guess we've just found a reason not to do business together. Would you agree?"

I loved his approach and being true to his company's (and book's) name, Gill's approach sounded honest to me.

Disqualification is a great way of finding committed buyers, but only if we can detach ourselves from the outcome. Of course this is easy for independent consultants, but an uphill struggle for consultants who work for a firm that pressures them to turn every piece of warm meat into paying clients.

Check out Tom Varjan's Blog with a collection of thought-provoking articles at this link.

What do I do next?

Everyone asks me this. What should I do next in my marketing? What strategies should I use? What will work best for me?

They forget the most important things: What do you want to accomplish? Where are you right now? Where are your prospects? How clear is your message? What do you already have in place?

Only when you know these things can you determine next steps. Today I worked with someone who's in my Certification Program. He's just launched two very intensive marketing campaigns and wants to know what campaign he should do next.

"Well, how many appointments have you set up with qualified prospects?"

"About seven."

"And what usually happens when you meet with a prospect?"

"I usually get the business."

"Then your problem very soon is going to be how to manage the business you get. Don't add a campaign, figure out how you can deliver what you're about to sell."

Where are you exactly with your marketing right now? Answer all those questions above. The answers will tell you pretty quickly what you need to do next.