Fearless Markeing

It seems I really hit a nerve last week with my eZine on "Ruffling Some Feathers." The point I made was that those who disparage marketing and selling tend to be those who most fear marketing and selling themselves. (Fear of X means X is bad.)

My main point wasn't to make these people wrong.

My real intention with the article was to hold up a mirror to those who have problems with marketing and selling. Hopefully it was a wake up call. (Not to "them" - to "YOU!")

If you saw yourself in that mirror, great, that's a first step.

But I'm not done.

The resistance, antipathy and downright fear you have about marketing and selling yourself is probably hurting your business more than you realize.

(Note: If this is a non-issue for you, great. Skip this eZine and get out there! If it is an issue, pay close attention.)

You know the symptoms:

- A tendency to avoid picking up the phone
- staying away from networking activities
- putting off writing a letter or an article
- not closing at the end of a sales interview
- avoiding speaking in public at all costs
- not promoting or selling in your eZine
- neglecting to ask for referrals

When I used to work with clients as a marketing coach, you'd think their main question would have been, "How do I do these things more effectively?" But no, the question was, "Why don't I get around to doing these things, even though I know I should do them?"

A lot of my time was spent working people though their resistance and fears to marketing and selling themselves. In fact, many of my clients called me their "marketing shrink!"

A big part of my work consisted of taking my clients slowly, step-by-step, through the marketing process. I demonstrated that if they picked up the phone and said the right thing, people would actually not yell at them. I showed that if they wrote an article, they would likely receive more praise than scorn.

I called it "jumping off the diving board" marketing: Start with a low board. Don't worry about getting it perfect, just jump. Then gradually go higher and improve a little each time.

This approach is actually quite effective. It's how we learn things. It's how we improve gradually and let go of our irrational fears until we are fully competent and confident.

In fact, this is the approach I took in the InfoGuru Manual and the Web Site ToolKit. If you take it one step at a time, and do the action plans at the end of each chapter or section, you'll begin to understand the underlying principles and practices of marketing, and start to get some results.

Many of you have used this approach to become better marketers.

However, being by nature an impatient person, I never felt that this approach was enough. Sure, many of my clients would take things step-by-step and ultimately get great results.

But many others would never get past first base. Their built-in distaste for marketing was stronger than their will to succeed.

So I started to build "belief work" into my marketing coaching. I used it in my Marketing Action Groups, and integrated it into the Action Plan ToolKit, which includes exercises for changing beliefs. For many, this made a huge difference.

The first step is to recognize the limiting beliefs underlying some of the symptoms I listed earlier. Here are some typical ones I discovered:

- a tendency to avoid picking up the phone
(People don't want to be bothered. I'm an interruption.)

- staying away from networking activities
(I'm just not a people person who is comfortable meeting strangers)

- putting off writing a letter or an article
(I'm not a good writer. And who would be interested, anyway?)

- not closing at the end of a sales interview
(If they want to buy, they'll let me know. I shouldn't be pushy.)

- avoiding speaking in public at all costs
(I'd probably make a fool of myself. Nobody wants to hear my ideas.)

- not promoting or selling in your eZine
(If I promote myself, people will hate me and unsubscribe in droves.)

- neglecting to ask for referrals
(If they're happy they'll give me referrals when they're ready.)

I'd be willing to bet a buck or two that you hold several of these (or similar) beliefs very dearly. And if you hold them strongly enough, you're not even going to take the small steps necessary to improve in that area of marketing. You'll give up before you start.

So what works best? Taking the small steps or changing beliefs?

Both are equally important. If you don't have any big issues about writing, for instance, get started now, one step at a time. But if you're terrified of speaking in front of a group, doing some belief work first will make the process a whole lot easier.

But no matter what your situation is, make that commitment to being a fearless marketer, and you'll find a way.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: Fear of marketing and selling is a big issue for a large percentage of Independent Professionals. The key is to recognize that fears are holding you back and then find the support you need to get past them.

What works for you to get past your fears of marketing and selling yourself? Please share on the Blog.

Comments

[Jocelyn]

Re: Your changing the name from "Fearless Marketing" to "Fast Track to Marketing" because "Fearless" brings up the concept of "Fear" - Actually, when you first advertised your program as MAPP, I was tempted, but not sure it would really help me, and decided not to do it (and missed the first discount - darn!). When you changed it to "Fearless Marketer," it spoke to me, as I have had your InfoGuru manual for about a year, have gotten a lot of inspiration, but have been absolutely paralyzed by fear - I immediately signed up! I don't think it was bad to call up "fear" since that's the problem, and the problem is what your prospects are attuned to! I don't see why the name shouldn't evoke the fear, as long as it also evokes a solution. (Or am I missing something?) Frankly, I think "Fast-track..." just sounds like "marketing-speak" to me, and I don't think that name would have left me with any more sense of whether this program was for me than "MAPP" did. (Then again, I'm an energy healer, and not in a heavy-duty business environment like the firm you were thinking in terms of - I can see someone in a firm like that might have a different sense of things.)

[Charles Cuninghame]

Well Robert, since you asked, the thing that I use to help me overcome my limiting beliefs and resistance to marketing is Emotional Freedom Technique (or EFT).

From the day I started my business I knew the biggest success factor would be marketing. (I knew that because I am a marketer!) But despite this I found it nearly impossible to actually do any.

Not any more! Combining Info Guru marketing with EFT I've been able to make some giant strides forward. EFT has enabled me to release my limiting negative beliefs quickly, painlessly and completely. Marketing is now much easier.

If anyone is interested in EFT check out their website for heaps of free information: http://www.emofree.com/ (I'm not associated with EFT in any way, except being an enthusiastic practioner.)

I have found the hardest battles in my business are always the inner ones.

Charles

[Shel Horowitz]

It's not that I'm afraid to do the nitty-gritty work of marketing--it's that I don't enjoy certain aspects--so I concentrate on the aspects I do enjoy, e.g., writing rather than cold-calling. This approach works for me because I have created *systems* that springboard my marketing efforts. Prospects are calling me--I don't have to call them. They phone or e-mail already convinced that I am likely to be the solution to their copywriting or consulting problem, and if I don't mess it up, I usually get the account. In fact, I usually have a backlog of waiting client projects.

Still, I'm constantly in marketing mode--but it's stuff like posting to discussion groups, where I'm building my reputation for expertise and doing a very effective soft sell.

[Wade]

To read your blog is a great jump start to the day. Its great to read that even the most professional and successful sales people and marketers (we admire) have the same issues as the rest of us.
I have feared "spending" time on a brochure and having it not be very good. I changed my mind set to MAKE THE MISTAKE and do several of them till you get it right, or close to right. Now I have a nice looking flyer for the upcoming show (not perfect but will work very well!).
It's a no brainer, yet we put our markenting off with self imposed limits and excuses. Crazy.

Wade Fletcher

[Carol Blaha]

Fearless Marketing is a major issue with my clients too—and a major rant of mine. People waste thousands on books and programs rather than pick up the phone and “just do it”. Inertia creates anxiety. Anxiety creates dread. They know they aren’t doing what they know they are supposed to be doing. It just keeps feeding on itself. I’m working on my MBA and my thesis is on dread—call it call reluctance or some other fancy word—its dread. It controls and can ruin otherwise perfectly fine salespeople.

I teach day management—note I didn’t say time management. Create a marketing frame of mind, a routine of daily marketing action items and let the routine carry you through the day. Every day I talk to at least one person I don’t know. The day isn’t over till I do. We complain about voice mail—but this is one great thing about voice mail. You can leave a message at 8PM! I also plan for 5 face to face meetings each day. I can tell you there are days where I want to wrap it up with 4—who cares anyway? I let the routine carry me through that, and can’t tell you how many times that last call made my month. I make a lot of cold calls. If someone shoots me down, I made another call – immediately. I won’t end the day on a down note. I also make the call I dread first. If you don’t get it out of the way, it’ll control your day.

Bernie Schiffman’s book on cold calling sites a few examples of how the extra effort determines sales success. One salesperson calls it, “the last call of the day”. This award winner attributes his success to making one last call before leaving the office. Even if he leaves the office at 7PM. Another person called it “the call to the left”. She never leaves an appointment without stopping in to the office on the left. These little efforts banish dread.

Hate cold calls, hate marketing, fight it as much as you want – whatever. With over 20 years in sales, as an award winner—I will tell you there is nothing more ego boosting than a well planned day full of appointments and money making opportunities—and those great little pieces of paper with your name on them and dollar signs. If there was an easier way I’d have found it.