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Recently my friend and colleague Kristen and I led a couple of introductory
calls for Your Heart-Based Marketing, designed for coaches and other service
professionals. We started out by asking a simple question: “how do you react
when you think about marketing?”
Here are a few of the reactions we got:
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“I get a tight sensation in my chest and a pit in my stomach.” |
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“I feel small and powerless.” |
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“I find something, anything else to do.” |
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“I feel like I’m going to throw up.” |
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“I feel a lack of integrity, like I’m pushing something on people
that they don’t want or need.” |
Any of these sound familiar?
That last person went on to say that she had mentors who were highly
successful in their careers, that people flocked to them, and they seemed to get
where they were effortlessly and with no marketing.
I assured her that they are marketing, but because their marketing was
invisible, they weren’t doing it in conventional ways. They may not have even
thought of it as marketing but just, simply, being themselves.
Then a small miracle occurred on that call: a simple definition for
marketing was born.
Communicating Clearly and Building Strong Relationships.
That’s it. No magic, no perfect elevator speech, no networking talent, no
luck. No website required; especially no trying to get clients.
When I first started my life coaching business, a colleague and I would go to
networking events and we’d challenge each other to come away with five clients
each. We never got one, because we were focused on getting clients, not on
building relationships and communicating clearly.
Imagine a scenario where a man and a woman show up to a networking event with
100 others. One is a great salesperson – he’s smooth and charming, says all the
right things, and even believes deeply in what he’s peddling. He’s really going
after getting new clients.
The other focuses only on establishing relationships with new people,
deepening existing relationships, and communicating her message clearly with
everyone.
In terms of attracting the attention and interest of potential clients, I’ll
put my money on the latter every time.
Not only is this a more effective approach, it’s easier, because it only
requires you to be yourself and be with people in a way that’s aligned with who
you really are.
The bottom line here is an emphasis on attracting clients, rather than
going out and getting them. Building relationships and clear communication
attract people naturally. Pitching, selling, getting, working, and generally
trying to get people to do what you want repulses them. By the way, this is true
in every context, not just building your business.
Of course, building relationships and clear communication aren’t all that
simple; there are some things you can do to enhance your abilities. Here are a
few tips to consider for each:
Clear Communication
I say “clear,” because most of the time, marketing messages confuse or
bore people. Here are some things to think about that will help you lead
your marketing conversations in a way that will clarify and excite your
prospects.
1. Know who your ideal clients are. This may seem obvious, but if I
asked you right now, “what are all the demographics (age, gender, career range,
economic status) of your target market?” could you rattle them off?
Harder still, could you come up with the psychographics? If you’re a
financial planner, how important is risk-aversion in your clients? If you’re a
life coach, do you want your clients to have an affinity for creativity &
open-mindedness? These are the internal qualities that define the clients you
want to work with.
If you’re clear with people on this, it makes it easy for them to
self-select, saying to themselves, “yes, that’s me,” or “that’s not me,”
and/or, “I know someone like that.”
2. Be able to talk intelligently about the challenges of your target
market; nothing builds trust and credibility faster. If they know you
understand what’s difficult about their situation, they’ll also see you as the
person who can help them.
3. Know the value you provide. Again, this one may be obvious, but too
many service providers are clear about what they do (their processes and
procedures), but not about the benefits their clients receive from working with
them.
Why is this important? Because prospects don’t care about your process.
They care about what you can do for them. If you can’t tell them what
outcome they can expect working with you in about the first minute, you’ll lose
their attention and interest. Point to the outcome they want, and you retain
them.
4. Have a few concise stories about client successes. These comprise
the proof for the benefits of working with you. Giving them anecdotes is better
than giving concepts, for two reasons: they’re real examples of how you help
people like them, and they touch an emotional nerve in the listener, engaging
their imagination about how you can help them too.
If you can talk clearly and succinctly about these four things, you’ll not
only gain the attention and interest of your ideal clients, you’ll begin the
process of building real relationships with them.
Building Relationships
1. Be genuine. You know when somebody’s being even the slightest bit phony
with you, and you’re as transparent as they are. Human beings have a natural
BS radar. Even if you could pass yourself off as something you’re not, do you
want to run your business that way?
Remember that not every prospective client is right for you. Your ideal
clients are the ones you “click” with, and you can’t develop anything real
unless you think, talk, and act like the real you.
2. Get curious about them first. Ask open-ended questions and listen more
than you talk. Not only will you let them know you actively care about their
situation you’ll find out what their challenges are and what outcome they want.
That’s valuable information for when it comes time to communicate your message
to them. Don’t accumulate facts. Learn about the bigger picture that is that
person.
Remember the genuine part. Only direct the conversation in places you’re
truly interested in. If you find it hard to get curious or care about the person
you’re talking to, it’s not your ideal client. Move on.
3. Identify a potential foundation for the relationship. Every
relationship in your life has a foundation, i.e., what you find meaningful in
it. Why would this person be a great client for you?
Some examples might include,
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“I get to help someone who is struggling.” |
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“I like her sense of humor and open-mindedness.” |
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“He challenges me to be better at my profession.” |
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“I feel more creative around her.” |
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“They’re paying me a lot of money for my valuable service.”
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Understanding marketing as nothing more than clear communication and building
relationships really is that simple. Try these things at your next networking
event and see what happens in the eyes of the folks you meet. If you refine
them, I guarantee you’ll see results you’ve never had before.
Until next month,
happy connecting!
RJ
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- by Seth Godin
by Seth Godin
by Joe Marconi