In this mythological scenario, your focus is now 100% on building relationships.

No pressure to get them to actually buy anything. All you’re charged with is getting their attention and building a relationship.

How would you communicate differently?

The answers probably vary, but I’d imagine that there would be a lot less focus on you. Your solution. Your features. Why you are better/different/cooler than the competition.

My guess would be that you’d focus more on the person with whom you were speaking. What their challenges are. What they’re worried about. What they desire.

Now pause for a moment and put yourself in the shoes of that person. Who are you more interested in? The person who’s pushing their solution on you, or someone who is genuinely interested in you? (I realize the answer is kind of obvious.)

But here’s the point. In our desire to get people to buy, we tend to revert to a default mode that says the quickest way to do so is to evangelically preach at them about what we have to offer.

Once we’re out of the actually selling situation, we know that we should invest the time to find out needs and desires. But, once we’re actually in the white-hot fire of the sales conversation, WHAM-out come the big guns of WHY YOU SHOULD DO BUSINESS WITH ME. Let me preach at you until you see the light!

Curious, isn’t it, how we know we should do one thing, yet under pressure do something different?

I believe the reason why we don’t actually do, what we intellectually know we should, is because we feel under pressure to close the sale…make the money…meet the quota. And here’s where irony comes into play.

Which is…you’ll sell better if you just don’t care whether the person says, “Yes” or “No”. (Or at least not care too much.)

Of course, having that distance, that ability not to care, means that you have to have lots of people to present your case to. Lots of times at bat. And that’s what a great marketing system should get you-lots of “at bats”.

So you don’t have to care about making the sale (or at least not care too much.)

Food for thought
Mark
Here’s how to implement a marketing system in less than 45 days for under $300.

Here’s one idea from (of all places) the world of antique collecting-and don’t immediately turn off because you’re not in that business. I really believe it’s going to be helpful to you, regardless of the type of business you’re in.

A quick story…

Hanging in my office is an antique sword formerly owned by Jeanne Pierre Robinette. Monsieur Robinette was the finance secretary for Napoleon I, and since his role was administrative and not military, the sword is actually rather wimpy. Nice to look at, but it would probably break in half in a real battle. However, when he was sworn into office, Monsieur Robinette was the only member of Napoleon’s court not to have a sword, so he commissioned one from the great sword craftsman Angelo Del’Amico of Seville Spain. Unfortunately, the first time he wore the sword in court he was made fun of by Napoleon’s Chief of Staff. Tempers flared, a duel ensued and Napoleon was soon is search of new accountant.

I know this story because the person, who sold me the sword at Red Baron Antiques, here in Atlanta, told it to me. Since Marian and I entertain a lot, I’ve told that story dozens of times over the years.

In all candor, being able to tell that story is one of the most pleasurable aspects of owning the sword.

But here’s the important part.

At the end of the story I also, instinctively, include the part about how I first learned the story when I purchased the sword at Red Barron Antiques. (As I just did once again.)

And here’s the even more important point.

I also instinctively) go on to talk about Red Barron and how cool it is and how all the items they sell have these great stories behind them. (As I seem to be doing once again.)

I’m sure you see my point.

I’m bragging on Red Barron because they gave me a great story I could tell. And what I notice is that if I tell the story to someone here in Atlanta, they invariably start to tell me the story about the cool thing they bought at Red Barron. Lots of people seem to have a Red Barron story.

Obviously, there’s no shortage of antique shops. Quite frankly, Red Barron isn’t the most convenient place to get to, and the parking is often a pain. BUT, it’s become the antique shop of destination.

And a large part of the their appeal is that they arm us with great stories we can tell to others about the cool stuff we buy from them.

So…what are the stories you want your clients to be telling about the services or products they receive from you? Is it something about the experience clients have the first time they visit you? Is it something about the great information you share with them? Is it about events and activities they get invited to once they’re a part of your circle? Is it the personal handwritten note you send?

Lets make our clients proud of the fact that they’ve selected you. Let’s give them stories they’ll want to tell to others.

Food for thought
Mark
I hate to keep reminding you, but if you want to learn how to tell great stories you need to read my book. Get it Here.

However, I noticed that less than half of the participants from the first meeting, attended the second one. I’m sure there will be still fewer at the final session. I also notice that on the monthly conference calls, the comments are more about enthusiastic plans for the future, rather than what anyone has actually accomplished.

Which brings me to my point. I call it the “bright shiny object” syndrome.

Hey, it’s fun to learn new stuff-I’ll be the first to admit that. Especially when the “stuff” may contain the secret sauce that once we learn it all our problems will go away.

But, at some point in time we need to shift our focus from Learning stuff to Doing stuff. And that’s hard, for a lot of reasons.

*It requires that we actually do some work, rather than passively digesting information.

*In means engaging in that annoying mental heavy lifting, to determine how to actually implement the plan.

*It requires a willingness to take a certain amount of risk.

Yes, it’s far easier just to be a student. But, as my Dad used to say, “If you want to get hit by cars, you need to go play in traffic.”

Perhaps we need to spend less time learning new stuff and spend more time implementing what we’ve already learned.

Food for thought.
Mark
A Different Type of Coaching For Those Who Play In Traffic

If truth be told, I don’t think I’m alone. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff you would do, if only it was simpler.

Unfortunately, simple answers usually only exist for simple problems. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I find that the more challenging the problem, the more we have to think “deep into the game”, as the chess masters say.

For example, let’s take the topic of getting more new clients.

On the surface the answer should be simple…Just ask them.

“Hey you. I realize we’ve never met, and you don’t know me, but wanna buy my stuff?”

OK, perhaps we say it a bit more elegantly, but haven’t you been guilty of that? I know I have.

It’s what’s called selling to strangers.

Does it work? Sure-if you’re willing to talk to enough people. It sort of reminds me of my strategy in the ‘70s of going up to women in the disco and asking them to go home with me. (Hey it was the ‘70s, I was young-gimme a break.)

Did it work? Sure. All right…occasionally. But what about the quality, you ask? Well…that was a bit suspect.

The problem is that if we blindly put our nose-to-the-proverbial-grindstone, asking strangers to do business with us, not only do we get a lot of rejection, but we also have no filter on the type of clients we eventually wind up with.

Granted, if you have no clients, the idea of having any clients, regardless of how bad, sounds good. But I think it’s important to remember that the goal is to have both quality and quantity.

So how do we accomplish this? Is there some sort of magic bullet/answer that if we only learned it, all of our client attraction problems would go away?

Of course not.

But…there is a strategy that will make the process a lot easier.

But…it takes a bit of patience.

Here it is…

Stop trying to sell to strangers.

That’s it. It really is that simple.

Stop trying to sell to strangers and focus instead on building a relationship with those who can either hire you, buy from you, or refer you to others.

And the way to do that?

Bribe them.

Give them something that’s interesting for free. A tip. A suggestion. Something helpful. Answer a question that people often ask you. But most importantly…

Focus on building a relationship…Not trying to sell someone something. There’s plenty of time for that down the road.

Patience & Best Regards
Mark
Want me to help you develop your marketing strategy or work with you to create your unique message? Info HERE.

Is it that you’re using the latest social media?

Is it because you redesigned your website and made it SEO friendly?

Is it your sheer persistence and hard work?

I don’t think so.

While all of these are helpful, they aren’t what your true competitive advantage is.

Nope.

Your true competitive advantage is the message you communicate-the stories you tell.

So here’s an interesting exercise. Read over your message. Then Google the type of work that you do. Take a look at those websites. Is your message fresh, different and intriguing? If so, kudos. However, if yours sounds a lot like all the others, then you’re not taking advantage of your one true competitive advantage for attracting new clients.

And that’s a shame.

Learn more about creating great messages HERE

Except for one chain.

Whose margins are around triple the standard.

As you may have guessed, I’m referring to Whole Foods (or, as more than one wag has put it, Whole Wallet.)

As recounted in the recent CNBC documentary, Whole Foods mastered the art of selling extremely high-priced luxury grocery products by focusing on one key marketing element.

Stories.

When you go to Whole Foods and gaze at the Hook Caught Pacific Salmon, you don’t just see a hunk of fish. Nope. What you see instead is literally a fish production. You’ll learn about where this fish came from, how it was caught, the subtle differences in its flavor and what wines might accompany it.

The results of this expertly told tale makes you feel incredibly smart for being discerning enough to buy it.

That’s the power of stories. They make us feel good about the decisions that others want us to make. They build brands. They’re what connect people to products and services.

At Whole Foods, they created an entirely new category within the grocery industry by focusing on communicating stories.

Suppose you took this approach. How can you make people feel incredibly smart about doing business with you?

It all starts with…What are the great stories you should be telling about your business?
Learn more about telling great stories.

When I was growing up there was NBC, CBS, ABC, plus 2 UHF channels, and a really grainy channel that, if the wind was blowing right, we could pick it up from New Hampshire.

I looked at my AT&T U-Verse choices yesterday, and discovered that not only do I have access to over 500 channels, I can now choose among 57 channels that exclusively program in Spanish and 13 in Japanese.

As a kid I loved to visit the Concord Bookshop. They carried a choice of maybe 2000 books. If I wanted an out-of-print book, I was out of luck.

Today, virtually any book ever printed is available through some bookseller via Amazon. And never mind that it used to be that if you wanted a book published you had to get accepted by one of 12 publishers. Now anyone can get published through resources such as Lightning Source. With e-books now having reached the tipping point, and all books accepted on Amazon, the shear volume of books available is almost beyond comprehension.

If I want a time management program for home-based entrepreneurs, I can choose among several.

If I want sales training for nutritional MLM entrepreneurs, there are multiple choices.

If I want to learn how to more effectively interview pharmaceutical reps, there are multiple vendors vying for my business.

In other words…scarcity doesn’t exist anymore.

Except for one thing.

As Seth Godin recently pointed out, the only thing that’s scarce is attention.

When there are numerous choices for virtually any need, how do we get people to choose us?

Two thoughts.

The days of mass marketing are over. Even my former employers in the consumer goods industry (Pepsi & Kraft Foods) largely recognize this, and are increasingly targeting their messages to the young, the old, different ethnic groups, specific types of activities…the segmentation goes on and on.

Micro-niche marketing is everything. Unfortunately this message is often lost of new entrepreneurs and small business owners for the obvious reason. “But, I might miss someone if I niche market.”

The reality is that when your message attempts to appeal to everyone, it appeals to no-one. This is a hard learned lesson for many (myself included).

Second thought. Your message needs to stand out. It needs to fall into the sweet space between boring blather and “sky is falling” hyperbole. This is where mental heavy lifting comes to play.

What’s deceiving is that the end result-the ultimate marketing message-often seems so simple. Perhaps it’s just a few words such as “How to get consistent streams of brand new clients with no cold calling or hard selling.” Yet when you examine this in more detail, you notice that the word “consistent” is crucial, since avoiding feast-or-famine business cycles is a main concern for this particular audience. “Cold calling” also is carefully selected, since that’s the default method by which this niche trolls for new business. Although they may profess otherwise, in reality most everyone hates “smiling & dialing”.

The words “Hard selling” are also carefully selected. This niche views themselves as professionals and experts, and recoils from anything that is overtly salesy.

Thus the simple phrase, “How to get consistent streams of brand new clients with no cold calling or hard selling.”, is actually the result of many hours of thinking about a particular niche; their needs, hopes, wants and desires.

Why is this important?

Because the only thing that’s scarce in this day and age, is getting (and keeping) attention.

Food for thought
Mark
Want some assistance in developing your message? Information is HERE

Lots of advisors, consultants, HR experts, small business owners, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers…

Obviously, what we need to do is stand out amid the sea of competition-all of whom look pretty much like us. So here’s an idea.

*What if you became known as the financial advisor who specializes in ranchers? Or…

*The time management expert who specializes in helping insurance agents get more done during the day? Or…

*The HR consultant who works with software companies on helping them identify and develop high-potential employees.

And…suppose you wrote a relatively short (700-3000) word article that expressed your opinion about what ranchers or insurance agents or software companies were doing right & wrong when it comes to your area of expertise?

And suppose you created a simple one page website that promoted the availability of that article?

And then…you ran some inexpensive ads, did some publicity, used social media, created a YouTube video, spoke at the relevant association events, held some webinars or teleconferences…to promote your expertise.

Would you still be viewed as just another advisor, consultant, HR expert, butcher, baker, candlestick maker…?

I don’t think so.

In fact, I think you’d be perceived as an expert by your target market. (In fact you could then do the exact same exercise for a different niche market: ie the financial advisor who specializes in stamp collectors, the HR advisor who works with insurance companies, the time management expert who works with realtors…)

Certainly some good food for thought.
Mark
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How do we get people to pay attention to us without doing anything silly or inconsistent with the professionalism of our services?

Here’s an idea.

What’s a myth you can debunk?

Let me share a quick example…

If you’ve picked up a copy of USA Today anytime over the past year, you’ve undoubtedly seen the ubiquitous ads run by Bill Bartman, former CEO of Commercial Financial Services. You may recall his story about how he went from dirt poor to billionaire, back to dirt poor, and now seems to be back on track to really-rich status. What’s interesting about his latest business iteration is his attention-getting hook about debunking the myths on how the dept collection business really works.

There’s no shortage of people offering debt reduction assistance, yet Bartman has vaulted into the front ranks largely by offering a free report that focuses on his perspective and opinion.

And that’s key.

If you want to break out of the pack, you need to have a philosophy. And it’s particularly attention-getting, if a part of that philosophy is why common held assumptions are wrong.

In my own case, Gentle Rain Marketing’s philosophy is that most marketing experts and gurus make implementing a system for attracting consistent streams of brand new clients way too hard and complicated. As you’ve undoubtedly heard me preach, “If you do what I tell you to do, there’s absolutely no reason why any company can’t have a highly effective marketing system up and running in less than 30 days for under $300.”

In fact, if you really focused your energies, you could have that same marketing system up in a week.

That’s my soapbox.

That’s the myth I debunk.

Sure it stirs controversy, but that’s OK. As Grandmother used to say, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.”

What myth can you debunk?

Food for thought
Mark
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The secret? Link the boring “Here’s what you need to pack into a preparedness kit”, into a story about how to brace for disaster when the zombies attack. (And you know that’s going to happen any day now-so I’m packing my kit as soon as I’m done here.)

You hear me talk a lot about “mental heavy lifting” and how it’s the most important part of any marketing campaign. Well the CDC’s, Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic is a great example of some mental heaving lifting that results in a cool story around a dull topic.

Want to know what to pack to avoid zombies (as well as prepare for other natural disasters)? The article’s HERE.

Unfortunately most of us are in rather dry businesses. But as Zombie Pandemic illustrates, that doesn’t mean we have to be boring when it comes time to promote our message.

Food for thought
Mark
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