Marketing from a position of strength, not need

Here is something that is close to many hearts at the moment, as there is more bad news every day on the economy. We all know that things are tough out there and probably we all know someone who has been laid off or under threat. As a small business owner the economy is critical to us as well, even if we don’t have to worry about corporate redundancies. However in this climate our clients may be worried themselves and many of them are looking for ways to cut costs. This can be especially challenging for those of us providing services as they may be in cross-hairs of cost cutting activity.

In such a climate, small businesses can find their revenue under pressure. In such a worrying time there is a danger that we move from a position of confidence to a position of need. This can be dangerous from a marketing point of view. Why is that?

People sense “need”

If we need to land a particular client that mindset clouds everything we do. I am not suggesting that not caring about an outcome is a great way to think because that also drives behavior! Nobody wants to deal with someone who doesn’t apparently care about them and their problems, or who has an overly laissez faire attitude to their business. However it is important to detach yourself from the outcome of each transaction when you go into it.

What does that mean?

When we need to land a client we can become fixated on that outcome and all our efforts are aimed at persuading, cajoling, overcoming objections and maybe trying to push our prospect to work with us. People can sense that and guess what? Rather than attracting them it actually pushes them away. As they withdraw we follow in an attempt to bring them closer and a bizarre type of prospect dance can occur! The result is not usually favorable.

So how do you detach?

We need to have goals of course, and one of these is certainly likely to be client acquisition. The way to detach from the “needy” outcome is to think of each interaction with a prospect as a fact finding exercise. In other words the goal is to answer the question: “Is this prospect a good target for me?” and “Is what I provide a good fit for them?”

To meet this goal we need to ask questions. Find out the prospects issues, discover the issues they are struggling with in detail. Asking questions in this way helps us detach from a mindset of “I need to get this prospect into my client funnel at all costs!”

Effective questioning builds trust and expertise

Think about a time you spoke to someone who really seemed to care about you. Chances are they didn’t talk all the time. More likely they asked you questions that demonstrated they understood you and were interested in you personally. It’s the same approach here. Prospects will trust you more when you ask them about themselves and they are talking about themselves. There is a chance that  you will mutually agree that you are not a good fit to work together. That can be tough if you need to generate revenues but it is a lot less stressful that trying to drag someone to a place they don’t want to go.

In summary……

Think of clients and prospects in terms of discovering whether they are a good fit for your services rather than purely as a revenue source. To do that you will need to know your IDEAL client profile and what you LOVE to do as a service provider. We will address those topics here shortly!

The thirty second introduction is perhaps one of the most common things we have to do as business owners. How do you feel when you have to give yours? Well, you know you have to do it, but what do you say?

How unique does it need to be?

Let’s face it, there are relatively few totally unique businesses that the world has never heard of before. Probably even fewer that everyone in the room has been waiting their whole lives to hear about. So, chances are, “what you do” is not totally unique. For some of us the reverse is true; we are in a business more than adequately represented in a typical networking setting. Given that, how can we possibly say something that attracts our prospects attention?

People care about themselves - probably now more than ever

I am all for positive thinking but I guess we have to accept that times are tough for a lot of people in the current economic climate. Even under more favorable circumstances people are still concerned about their “stuff” rather than yours. Given this, the most common approach I see to grabbing attention is flawed - people feel that they have to explain their services in more detail, as though it IS totally unique. Other alternatives include a cute tag line or play on words.

More detail is a turn off - people don’t want to hear that you have the best services in the world or what great customer service you give. Why? Because that is what they hear all the time and it is what the last guy said. A cute tag line may be memorable and even raise a laugh, but it doesn’t talk to their world and also it carries a risk. People may not get it, they may dislike it or may even be offended.

So what DO I say?

You know your clients better than anyone. You need to be able to answer the self-imposed question “Who do I love to work with?”. If you can’t answer that, think about it so that you can and be specific. Here is the first stage to knowing what to say. Who do you want to help? Be as specific as possible and then turn the answer into the first thing you say: “I/we work with…….”

That first stage will get attention in the room, people will self identify. If you say you work with doctors, they will know who they are, so will HR managers or anyone you identify as a target. Do not worry about those that don’t fit that profile - you don’t know who they know.

The second stage is: What do you do for them? Specifically, what pain do you take away from them? Again, if you don’t know you can ask your clients and/or figure out the history of those you have helped. Turn this into the second stage of the 30 second intro in the form of a pain statement. “We help ……. who struggle to ………”

You can do more but that approach will help people identify you are talking to them or someone you know. It has the huge advantage of being different and far more personal than 90% of the intros out there. It will go much further toward getting people to ask: “How do you do that?” which is the response you want!

Don’t believe everything you think

Fairly recently I took up Tae Kon Do with my son. Those who know me will be aware of that as I talk about it a lot! Recently we were able to test for our next belt. The week before testing was intense preparation for the day. Not everyone was testing and those that were not were in the same room, practicing something else and making a fair amount of noise doing so! TKD is noisy if you do it right! Several of us were trying to concentrate on our own stuff and became distracted. Master Ko stopped us and asked why we were struggling - we mentioned that we were distracted by the noise. His words of wisdom I will long remember:

“The noise from the back of the room isn’t nearly as loud as the voice inside your head!”

What does this have to do with marketing?

How loud is the voice inside your head?

The point of this story is that we allow our thoughts and beliefs to affect how we act, how we concentrate on things, how we perform. We also allow them to impact our thoughts about how we market. The most common theme our inner voice comes up with is a variation on “You are not a marketing person”. If your voice is saying that to you, challenge it. What is a marketing person anyway? I am here to tell you that it is part of your job description as a small business owner so how is your voice serving you?

 There is no easy way to eliminate this voice so think about turning it into something more positive. Awareness is the first (and maybe the largest) step. Once you are aware of all the variations on this theme you will recognize it and be in a position to check if it serves you. If not, what are you going to do about it?

 Happy thanksgiving!

The joys of a 30 second infomercial

Those of us in small business who have ever thought about joining a networking group or attending a networking event will have faced the question: “What do you do?” Probably we have all sat in line as the creeping death of everyone else’s introduction works it’s way inexorably around to us. Maybe we have had the experience of the group leader saying: “OK, let’s all give our 30 second infomercials and we will start with……..Jerry.”

However familiar we are with giving our well practiced speech there is always a slight frisson or excitement in this process. Perhaps we are one of the last to speak and by the time it gets around to us there have been three other people in a similar line of business who have already explained why they have the best products and the best customer service. So, what do you say that makes you stand out?

Think about your best testimonial - that is the place to start

In my experience most people answer the “what do you do” question literally i.e. with a list of what they do. The difficulty with this is it makes you sound the same as everyone else and it is all about YOU. Think about the best client testimonial you have received. If it is in writing go back and look at it again. If not, you might like to talk to your best client and ask them again what they love about you, specifically.

I bet you won’t see many testimonials that include things like: “He had services I had never heard of before” or “What clinched it for me was she was based on 103rd street” or “I’ve never met anyone else who has been in business a combined 55 years - wow!”

Now I am being flippant and exaggerating for effect BUT I have heard all those statements made as reasons to do business in a 30 second introduction.

So what is in a testimonial that I can use?

Usually testimonials include how you made someone’s life better, or a particular unique feature you provided to your client but it will be about them. How you helped, what you did that improved their life etc. Look more deeply than comments about  great customer service and find out what that means specifically - took away worry, helped me sleep at night, solved a frustrating problem. There is your uniqueness and there is how you can help other people who match your ideal client profile.

Hint: Stop talking about yourself and base your message on what your clients get personally from the experience of working with you.

OK, I’ve heard of it? What should I do next?

Probably most of us have heard about Linked In. Many of us have a profile and some connections but the most common statement I hear about LI is something like: “I received a few invitations to connect and I have a profile but I don’t know what to do now”. So, we end up with a dead profile, couple of connections and it never goes anywhere.

So, what’s the point?

I encourage you to look into Linked In as a means of practicing networking best practice. Huh? What does that mean?

Think about LI as a tool. Once again, we have talked about marketing tools here before and encouraged you not to rush straight to the favorite tool of the moment. LI is a networking tool and all the rules of face to face networking also apply here. Namely: Give to get (give value and information and don’t expect to join a group to harvest leads from day one), it requires commitment, you need a goal, you need to know why you are doing it, it really helps to be genuinely curious about other people.

How does that work on line?

LI is set up to allow you to find people of interest and therefore you should complete your profile as fully as possible. This means that you have to complete a summary of what you do. Bearing in mind this is a business site primarily, this means you have the chance to write about your business. Hint: the rules of marketing apply here - this is a means of grabbing attention therefore the focus should be on the issues of your client and not a list of your services and how great you are.

How to add value - there is a section called “Answers”. Search it for keywords in your area of expertise and give freely of your thoughts and experience. Give is the operative word here - share your knowledge and people will be more interested in you. Again, this can’t be self serving. Please don’t go into a question and write: “I can help you on this, here’s my website” as I don’t think that will work well.

Enter a conversation - you can ask questions too. When you get answers you should enter a brief dialogue with the person who responded and thank them. They may be future partners with you.

Revisit goals

I’m often asked something along the lines of : “what business have you had from linked In?” This is a fair question but difficult to answer directly. I know some people who can point directly to such business. In my case I know of contacts made that have attracted attention and got us talking which led to business. I know people who spoke to me directly after viewing my profile on LI. Here’s the thing for me - that is my goal. I want to be more visible and have people develop an extra way to contact me. LI isn’t the only thing I do by any means but as a tool it fits well into my marketing toolkit. It may well be worth checking out for you too.

Get motivated!

Yesterday was the day the “Get Motivated” seminar rolled through Kansas City. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go but it was very well attended to the extent that it snarled traffic in downtown KC. I have heard good things about it and it is a good time, with the current economy, to hear some upbeat messages. There is a wider point here and that involves the use of seminars as a marketing tool. How effective is it? What should the expectations be when giving a seminar?

Make sure you have done the preparation work

Remember that seminars are a marketing tool, and we have talked here before about the dangers of starting with the tools! So, some planning is required: Who is your target audience? What message will be of most value to them? What do you want them to do as a result of attending? What, and how clear is the call to action?

Most people are savvy enough to realize that their world is not going to be made 100% OK by attending a seminar. However they are looking for some useful information of real value, and certainly don’t expect a full 90 minutes of a hard sell. This principles of marketing apply therefore: You need to grab attention, develop trust, give value, and have a call to action. With all these things in place your attendees will expect some selling - that is part of the call to action. However they will also expect value, useful information and a clear way to opt out of the selling phase.

So what is the challenge?

Seminars are really fun to do ASSUMING YOU LIKE PRESENTING. If you don’t, make a commitment to yourself to get into a positive mindset and practice/train yourself. Often the challenges is to make the material relevant so that if an attendee never talks to you again, they still get value from the material. Be generous with the information you give and don’t worry you are giving away too much.

There is a challenge in getting people there. That is a big subject in itself that I will tackle in another post! Perhaps the most common problem I see (and yes, I have done this myself) is assuming that giving great information will be enough to have people flocking to you at the end to give you their cards and/or hire you. The key thing is:

Having a clear way forward

Go back to your planning phase and ask yourself again: “What do I want people to do? What is the point of the seminar?” It may be to get a list of folks to follow up with. Perhaps you have a program in which you want them to register interest. It could be that the seminar is purely to establish you as a speaker. Whatever it is, make sure that you tell them what to do if they want to explore your ideas further, and how to opt out if they don’t. THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO HARD SELL THEM or lock the door preventing them leaving until they surrender a card.

Keep in the marketing flow of your business - if you want them to give you a card, what will they get? What is your promise to them? Many times I have presented and it went well and then all the energy faded and interest didn’t turn into action. Make sure you are clear how seminars fit into your overall strategy and then they can be a great and fun tool!

There is a great test of how effective your initial marketing message is being received. As we have discussed before, the key to establishing interest in prospects is engaging the emotional “stuff” they are dealing with. How do you do that? By tailoring your message to the pain they are suffering and/or a problem they want solving.

Engaging interest is vital!

How will you know when you have mentioned something that resonates with your prospect? They will ask you to elaborate, ask you “How do you do that?” or something similar. The response you don’t want is a blank look or worse, a vague: “Hmmm. Interesting.”

The “so what test”

The next time you go to a networking meeting, listen to what people are saying. Process the message in terms of the emotion that it generates in you. If not emotion, then a genuine feeling that you want to know more. You probably won’t want to ask this directly since it is rather abrupt, but ask yourself if “So what?” is an appropriate question.

For example: “We have been in business for 25 years” - So what?

“We have won numerous customer service awards” - So what?

See how it works? The so what question seems very valid. Specifically it is appropriate because it means, so how does that apply to me? Is it so appropriate as a response to the following statement: “We help small businesses owners frustrated that they are paying too much in personal income tax”.

Again, it is about them

Whilst you can still answer “so what?” I submit that it is far less likely. It is clear who the message is intended for, what pain (frustration) they are suffering and for what reason. The fact that the message includes “help” implies action and begs the question: “How do you help them?” Now you are into a meaningful conversation (at least potentially!)

The key thing is figuring out the pain, frustration, emotion that your prospects are feeling. Here’s a clue to how to figure that out if you don’t know - ask your clients how you help them and what RESULTS you have achieved with them.

Try the “so what?” test on your marketing message. How is it working for you?

What do you think about when you hear the term “marketing?”

For many (including the “old” me) my mind was great at throwing out images of young men and women dressed in sharp suits disappearing into a smoke filled room to come up with innovative ideas, slogans, logos and tag lines to define whatever was their product or service as the “next greatest thing”.

OK, now I have revealed my old belief system

If you have something similar in your mind you may not feel, I certainly didn’t, that such a picture describes who you are. However we all know that once in business we do have to market our services to some extent, otherwise who knows we are there?

The first task of marketing: GAIN ATTENTION

It isn’t the only thing, but it is the most important first step. When you think about it, that is actually what the smart ad, the snappy logo and the cute tagline is trying to do, GRAB YOUR ATTENTION.

There are are many, many types of business put there but there are some common categories. Perhaps one of the simplest is the difference between businesses that everyone has heard of (e.g. Insurance, Financial planning, Real Estate, Chiropractors) and those that are unfamiliar (Life coach, security consultant etc.)

The challenge for the former group is the reaction: “OK. I know what that is and I already know someone who does that/I don’t need it”

The challenge for the latter group: “OK. I didn’t understand that and I don’t see how that applies to me because I don’t really know what you do”

Get into your prospects world

The challenges, though different in detail are basically the same. How do I, as a service provider, get the prospect to think: “OK, I understand that and yes, I am dealing with that issue - how could you help me?” This is attention getting and you have the chance to do that as soon as you meet someone.

How to do it? It takes practice but thinking along these lines may help:

1. Who is my product or service aimed at? (Be specific)

2. What challenges are they facing?

3. How do I solve those challenges?

Then tune your message to the challenges of your ideal client base. Turn your client attraction message into words they understand, and emotion words at that. Before you work with them are your clients frustrated, angry, confused, scared, uncertain about anything? That could be a good place to start.

Thinking about your client/prospect and what they are dealing with will help you avoid the mistake of talking endlessly about your self and your company. Doing that more or less guarantees that your prospect will not be attracted to your message!

Great book!

Reading is greatly underrated in my view. There are so many things that you can pick up from reading, even in books you really don’t enjoy. It is always worth having your personal view of the world challenged by an author! Right now I am in the middle of:  “What got you here, won’t get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith

As I intimated there are things I disagree with in most books and there are a few here. There is a lot of material of great interest in this book though, much of it having direct relevance to small business marketing. Perhaps the most important nugget I have come across so far is the notion that:

Being smart is a turn on, telling people how smart you are is a turn off (I paraphrase!)

Are you showing off too much?

As a business owner you are probably the world’s foremost expert on your company (I hope that is so). In addition you are likely to be extremely well informed on topics that affect your business and/or the field in which you work. Again, this is an assumption when you own a business, you should be an expert in what you do. It is likely you are passionate about what you do and the difference you want to make.

It can be difficult to reign in that enthusiasm, especially when a prospect demonstrates some interest in what you do. It is very tempting to dazzle them with your expertise. Most of the time we end up talking too much, and talking about ourselves, overtly demonstrating who expert we are.

It’s about them, not you

So how do people get to see and experience how expert you are? It seems counter intuitive to say “talk less” but that is part of it. The other part of it is : “Ask questions”. When you are an expert it is relatively easy to ask perceptive, probing questions. Anything that gets your prospect to talk about him or herself and their challenges is what you are aiming for. Ask them what their challenges are, ask them their opinions and you will find they open up much more.

 Also, they will come away from the encounter thinking much more of you and your expertise than they would have if you spent half an hour telling them about how great you are. It really works! Although it is simple, it isn’t necessarily easy - as Goldsmith writes in his book, there is a difference. With practice, and by listening closely to what others say, you will find that natural curiosity will help you pose perceptive questions.

I encourage reading generally and “What got you here..” is shaping up to be a good read specifically. Here is a link to his blog for anyone interested : Marshall Goldsmith blog

Are you a card collector?

It’s been said (can’t remember where, but I am sure I read it) that a business card is one of the most effective marketing tools you will ever use. Certainly it is hard to imagine going through business life, or life in general without them. Indeed I was planning a quiet day recently and to my endless embarrassment I was caught without my usual supply when asked for one. Note to self: Make sure that never happens again.

So, on balance I agree that your card says a lot about you and your company. However…..I have been to numerous networking events where there was a lot of card collecting going on. In other words people handing out cards and taking them almost as if it were a game - who can give out and/or collect the most by the end of the evening.

Why are we exchanging cards

Try asking that question if you are genuinely not sure of the answer. Many times in the past I have been given a card BEFORE any connection was established or we had discussed where the relationship went next. Of course, cards allow us to connect after the event but, let’s be honest, how often do you go through your card collection and think: “Hmmm. I wonder who that was?”

Left Pocket, Right Pocket

Kevin has a great approach. If he knows why he has a card and what the follow up is it goes into his right pocket and then into his follow up process. Left pocket? Don’t know what the next step is, goes into a stack of cards with no detailed follow up.

Make sure you know why you might want to follow up with a contact. Find out what they do and what their concerns are - is that person a good target/prospect/referral partner/resource for you and what can you do for them? If you find that out at a network meeting, by all means swap cards and agree the next stage of discussion.

Then you will save on cards and make sure more of the ones you give out make it to the right pocket!