The More Clients Blog

The Marketing Clarity Test

Today is the final day of a two-week Hawaiian vacation. I've tried not to think about marketing too much, but believe, me, marketing is alive and well here in paradise.

Every tourist-oriented business is doing everything possible to compete for one's dollars. Activities such as whale watching, snorkeling and helicopter rides partner with the timeshare industry to give the visitor even better deals.

Deals like this are promoted in every magazine, booklet, pamphlet, flyer and street vendor the moment your plane lands. Although it can be somewhat wearing, it clearly works.

I've noticed that the best Hawaiian marketing contains all the elements of any good client-attracting promotion. Below I've summarized the most important five:

Element 1 - Clearly defined products or services

Element 2 - Clearly targeted ideal buyers

Element 3 - Clear, benefit-oriented messages

Element 4 - Clearly written/designed marketing materials

Element 5 - Clearly communicated offers

Obviously, clarity is an essential component of each of these marketing elements. Communicate with lack of clarity and the marketing connection isn't made.

I believe that the biggest overall problem with any business's marketing is the absence of clarity. Whether this is because of ignorance or laziness, the result is the same: the inability to reliably attract more of the right clients

Where is your marketing falling short?

You may be looking for "silver bullet marketing solutions" when you're missing the basics - consistently communicating clearly about your business.

How well do you do on the "Marketing Clarity Test"? Score yourself five points for excellent, four for good, three for fair, two for poor and one for abysmal. Highest possible score is 25.

1. Your service (or product) is so clearly defined that you can explain what it is and the need for it, in one or two sentences, when someone asks you what you do.

2. You can clearly define who your ideal clients are, both demographically and psychographically. You know who they are and how you can reach them.

3. Your marketing messages (such as an Audio Logo, headlines on your web site, titles of articles, names of talks, etc,) all clearly communicate what your service is and who it is for.

4. All of your marketing materials, from your business card to your web site, expand on your marketing message and explain in more detail the benefits and advantages of your services.

5. Through your marketing messages and materials, you make a "call-to-action" or offer that clearly directs a prospect to take an action that will lead them to purchasing your services.

Interpreting your score:

25 - 21 - Excellent - You have clients on a waiting list

20 - 16 - Good - You are attracting good clients consistently

15 - 11 - Fair - Getting clients is somewhat of a struggle

10 - 6 - Poor - You find it very hard to attract clients

1 - 5 - Abysmal - Clients are running away from you

How do you score and what are you going to do about it?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: To a great degree, your success in attracting clients is correlated to how clearly and consistently you communicate about your business.

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How clear are you when communicating about your business? What do you need to improve? If you dare, list your score. Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Conquering Marketing Fears - Part II

In last week's More Clients, I was rather blunt about how people are afraid of people and how that impacts their marketing.

In general, the fear of being judged, fear of ridicule and fear of rejection are at the top of the "Fear Hit Parade." Just think, if you didn't have those fears, what would you do to market your business that you're not doing now?

But even if you knew exactly what to do, when it comes time to take action, the fear strikes again and every fiber of your being starts to argue why taking this action isn't such a good idea - at least not right now - maybe later.

So, fear is a given.

But clearly, it doesn't stop everyone all of the time. Many of us find a way over, around or through our fears and ultimately take the actions necessary to move our businesses forward.

But can you speed up the process?

My experience is definitely yes. Some fears can hold you back for a lifetime. But if you follow this seven-step process you can get beyond your fears relatively quickly and produce results as a much higher level, with a lot less struggle.

1. Set a marketing goal that's important to you
Without a goal, no fear, no resistance. Many people play life and even business this way, but we'll assume you want more than that. However, as soon as you've charted your direction, fear can get triggered rather quickly.

2. Recognize your fears and the power they have over you
If you're in denial, you can't work with them. However, if you can honestly admit you're afraid of networking, speaking, writing or asking for the business, you can then take the next step.

3. Realize the cost of the fears (reality check)
Fears leads to inaction, to stagnation, to doubt and to more fear. But you need to see the specific cost to you: "By not making those follow-up calls I'm probably missing out on gaining some new clients. And the longer I delay, the harder it will be."

4. Imagine taking the action without the fear
If you can actually see yourself making those calls, giving that talk or writing an article, you are on the way to a breakthrough. If you couldn't have the fear, who would you be? How would you act differently? Picture and feel this as vividly as possible.

5. Learn some basic marketing how-tos
Now that you can imagine taking effective action without fear, you need some information about what actually works and what doesn't work. There's not a lot of sense in fearlessly taking actions that won't get you where you want to go!

6. Make a simple plan and take one step at a time
Leverage your inspiration and clarity by taking quick and decisive action. But do something that is doable, where you can experience an immediate win. Don't sabotage yourself by setting impossible goals. Write a short article before you tackle that book.

7. Get support, coaching and consulting
Over the years, I've coached hundreds of people though this process. They came to me stuck, confused and afraid about how to make their marketing work. With direction, encouragement and support they found that attracting clients was a game they could win.

Success Will Follow Naturally

Once you've gone through this process several times, your confidence grows, fear subsides and success follows naturally, with minimum struggle. This basic approach to getting past marketing fears is very effective if you apply all the steps.

However, I've noticed that most people focus primarily on steps 5 and 6. They get some information (often not enough) and then take some actions (without a lot of planning).

But if things don't go too well (and isn't this usually the case when you try something new?), you start to experience the fears and doubts again and end up quitting before you're half way there. Of course, you always have a good reason!

How often do you take the time to look at and work with your fears? Wouldn't it make sense to come back to steps 2, 3 and 4 throughout the process? And wouldn't it make even more sense to get support to guide you until you were confident in your ability to consistently produce marketing results?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Any marketing action plan that doesn't take into account the fears you have is going to be rough going. Fears are a given, but you can work with them. And it's just as important to get some experienced guidance on the path.

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What are your steps for speeding up the process of producing results? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Conquering Marketing Fears

If someone gave me a magic wand that I could use to solve any marketing issue my subscribers and customers faced, what would that issue be?

Only one comes to mind. I suspect it was the same issue fifty years ago and would be the same issue fifty years from now.

That issue is "Fear of People."

Nothing holds people back from growing their business more than that. I see this issue reflected in every problem or concern people face when marketing their services.

Here are four of the most common instances:

Writing
People are afraid what others will think of their writing. They are afraid it won't be good enough, and that they'll be ridiculed if it doesn't meet the standards for the Pulitzer Prize.

Speaking
It's almost a cliche that the biggest fear people have is speaking in front of groups. You'd think, from the hesitation, that speaking was as dangerous as facing a firing squad.

Networking
Meeting new people can sometimes be fun, but often it doesn't feel very safe to us. Meeting strangers and sharing ourselves often feels scary and risky and therefore easy to avoid.

Calling
Picking up the phone to follow-up with someone you've met, or God-forbid, someone you've never met, triggers feelings of cowardice in the bravest of people.

Notice that these fears are all connected to communicating with other people. They are all about putting your message in front of others. There is only one conclusion: We are afraid of people.

Until we face this truth and deal with it, marketing is never going to be a lot of fun, or very productive, for that matter. Marketing is going to be an ordeal when we imagine judgment, rejection and ridicule at every turn.

Notice that I said "imagine."

For the most part, these horrors of being judged, rejected and ridiculed are just that - imagination. If they are not real, why do they *feel* so real to us?

Short answer: Something happened when you were a kid.

When you were very young, life was full of magic and possibilities. You could imagine anything and do everything. You were the master of your little universe and things were very good.

But then that thing happened. Some big kid beat you up; you tried selling something to the neighbors and they weren't interested; you weren't allowed to join a club; somebody called you a name.

Way back then, the judgment, rejection, and ridicule were very real. You tried, expected success, and failed. And it felt bad. So you told yourself something to protect yourself:

"I don't want to play anyway."
"I'll never ask anybody to do anything."
"I'll always play it safe and not get hurt."

What we tell ourselves in a moment of intense emotion tends to stick - not for just a few days, but often for a lifetime. We find ourselves arranging our lives to avoid any kind of judgment, rejection or ridicule.

Bad news if your livelihood depends on communicating to others about what you can offer them!

The funny thing is, we blame the bad feelings on marketing and selling, as if they were out to get us! "Marketing is hard, bad, manipulative, slimy and unethical. And besides, there's no time to do it and it really doesn't work anyway!!"

With a firmly entrenched mindset that is structured to avoid marketing and selling at all costs, it's easy to see why we don't do well with it. Many barely get by in their businesses. Others fail completely, unable to effectively "put themselves out there."

"OK, Robert, I get it! But what can I do about it? How can I stop being run by my fears of people?"

I plan to expand on this in next week's issue, but I'll share a few things now for you to consider:

One, if you are afraid of people, how do you think most people feel about you? They are afraid of you. Little ol' you. Deathly afraid that you'll judge, reject and ridicule them. If you really see the truth of that, something may shift for you.

Two, the you that is afraid of being judged, rejected and ridiculed isn't you. It's you as a five, six or seven year old. Would you accept this advice from a child: "Be afraid of everyone so you don't get hurt." Of course not.

Three, ask yourself: "If I could no longer be afraid of marketing myself, who would I be instead?" Would you be courageous, inspiring, and someone who makes a difference? If you knew you had that choice (and you do), what would you choose?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Fear of people is a big factor that holds us back from effective marketing. It keeps us small, it prevents us from making the difference we could. The thing to get is that the fear is no longer real. It's doesn't have to have a grip on you any longer. It's time to move on to bigger things.

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How has fear held you back from effectively marketing your business? How did you get past it? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

The Key to Inspiration

Today is "Super Tuesday" and the candidates for both parties are doing their best to win our votes on this pivotal primary election day. (Don't forget to vote!)

One word we've heard a lot in this primary season is "inspiration."

Many of us are called to leaders who are inspiring or inspirational. But how important is inspiration? Is it more important than someone's track record, more crucial than their policies and platform? And what is true inspiration, anyway?

The dictionary defines inspiration as: "The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative."

When someone inspires you, you're moved to take creative action. So, yes, I'd say inspiration is very important in politics. It's not the only thing, but it's impossible to win without it.

And the same goes for business.

We often see our role with clients as: "Getting the job done for them." And that is certainly true. But it's not very inspiring! After all, a lot of people could get the job done. But how good are you at inspiring your clients? And why is that so important?

It's important, because the success of most projects are up to the client, not you. As a coach, consultant or Independent Professional, your job is to assist your clients in implementing their plans. Your mission is to inspire them to follow through in the face of myriad obstacles and difficulties.

Inspiration isn't just one of your jobs, it's the most important job of all. If they aren't inspired (no matter how good you are technically), the chances of success plummet. But when you inspire your clients to produce great results, your "word-of-mouth factor" multiplies as well.

Inspiration = growth and success (for you and your clients)

So how do you inspire your clients?

Inspiration has very little to do with "Rah, rah, you can do it!" It's not about a veneer of excitement. It's not about a tone of voice or an inspiring vocabulary. It's not even about being sincere; that's superficial, not true inspiration.

Inspiration comes from an unwavering commitment to make a difference. It's not something you do, it's a place you come from.

When you love and appreciate your clients and stand behind their vision and goals, your clients know it. They can feel it. They know you are on their team and committed to them winning.

Commitment + action = inspiration

And where does that commitment come from? You've just met a prospect or started with a client. How can you be committed so soon, let alone be inspiring? Doesn't that take a long time?

Not at all.

The source of commitment is authentic interest. If you can't get truly interested in your prospects and clients, you'll never get committed to their dreams and projects and never become a source of inspiration to them.

I've often asked my clients how much they've learned about a client in their first interview. How much did they research about this client? Did they really dig in and find out about the business or the person? Did they demonstrate a high level of excited curiosity about this prospect or client?

If not, they were not building a foundation for inspiration.

When you get deeply interested in people, that expands into a commitment to make a difference. That commitment, plus action, will naturally grow into inspiration. And inspired clients will lead to fulfillment and success beyond your wildest dreams.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Inspiration isn't a doing. Inspiration is the product of an extraordinary level of authentic interest in your clients. Get interested, be interested, stay interested, and you will not only be inspiring, you'll attract droves of clients in the process.

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What do you think inspires your clients to take effective action? Please share on the More Clients Blog.