"Ooooooh," you may say, "I could NEVER be good at marketing, I'm just
not that sort of person. I'm just not pushy enough".
Well, if that is your reaction to the title of this article, I would
like to kick off by giving you permission to hate marketing (and its
cousin, "sales"). I am not going to try to turn you into a
marketeer or a salesperson - but will you open your mind (just a
chink!) to the possibility that you CAN stay just as you are and STILL
be more successful at what you do?
Marketing and sales are inextricably linked in most people's mind and
everyone knows sales people are scuzz-bags - right? The very
words "marketing" and "sales" conjures up images of people being
brainwashed by ads and parted from their money, in exchange for
something they don't want. By people in dodgy suits!
Well, the first concept to get your head around, is that people are
generally very sophisticated and astute. You cannot generally
sell people something they don't want, no matter how heavy handed your
tactics. And generally, even by very clever marketing, you
cannot persuade or brainwash people into wanting something, that they
hadn't wanted before. You couldn't massage someone who didn't
want it, could you?
How would it be if we started thinking of marketing as the art of
letting people know about an idea, solution, product or service that
they already want, but didn't know where to go or which one to
choose. How would it be if we made our service so good, so
excellent, that if WE were introduced to it, we would be DELIGHTED to
be told about that service. How about thinking of marketing
as simply making sure that our excellent service is not being kept a
secret?
What about the sales part of the process? The dreaded
"closing" that everyone seems to find so hard. What is a
"close", anyway? It's actually just asking someone if -
having been recommended, having voiced their needs, knowing your fees,
reassured that you can help - you ask them if they would like to book
an appointment. Offering an appointment on a Tuesday or a
Thursday is an "alternative close". Technical stuff, eh?
So marketing is about not being a secret, and selling is about making
an appointment. Easy - we can do that! But what if
we could make it even easier? Have I got your interest?
How do we go about not being a secret? The traditional ways
to market anything are by creating a brochure, business cards and
letterhead, advertising, mailing out to prospective purchasers (or
clients) and selling your services to them. An expensive and
time consuming business. Does your heart sink when you read
this? Well, I have some good news. None of that
works - or only 2% of the time anyway! So what does work?
What you need to do is simply create a reservoir of people who know
about you, who like what you do, and who ONE DAY might use your
services. Oh boy! When my coach Chris Barrow, told me this, I
breathed a big wonderful sigh of relief.
How big should your reservoir be? Chris Barrow's theory is
that it should be in excess of 1000 to generate an almost effortless
work flow, but that you start to attract clients at about 400-500
people.
How do you fill your reservoir and with whom? This is where
you start to think about your ideal client - because who wants a
reservoir of less than ideal clients? The first people on
your list should be your existing clients - or at least those you want
to keep. You see, this is one of the big secrets about
marketing, it's as much about weeding out the clients you don't want,
as attracting the clients you do want! Think about the
qualities of your ideal client, what are they like (TIP: think about
your existing clients and pick out the A-List). I'll share
the qualities of my ideal client to give you an idea.
My ideal coaching client is bright, articulate, educated (by life, if
not uni) fast on the uptake, action orientated, entrepreneurial (or
would like to be), definitely has email, is successful by anyone else's
standards but perhaps not achieving their potential yet. They may feel
overwhelmed and take on too much. They probably talk too fast
and walk as if they are in a hurry. They are serious about
wanting to improve their business or their life and they are prepared
to set aside some time to come to calls and to take some
action. They don't cancel or re-arrange calls, they pay on
time and they appreciate my coaching. They are not ashamed to
say they have a coach and they recommend me to everyone they meet!
Grade your existing clients into A clients (love you, come regularly,
pay happily, turn up, recommend you all the time), B clients (love you,
come fairly regularly, pay happily, turn up, sometimes recommend you),
C Clients (think you are ok, come occasionally, pay happily, turn up,
never recommend you) and the D Clients (aka the BMW's - bitchers,
moaners and whiners). What do we do right now with the D
Clients? D is for Dump. Dumping the D's makes more
time to give the A's and the B's more time, more service, more
attention.
So how do we meet more A Clients and get them in our
reservoir? Work out who the A's are and where they hang
out. Are they business people? Mums At Home or
Ladies Who Lunch? Sports players?
When you have established who they are, then think about the problems
they have and the things they are interested in.
Think about ways you could add value to those A List Clients.
It might be sending out clippings from newspapers on articles of
interest, it might be creating a simple A4 two sided newsletter, it
might be a website with useful links and an email newsletter, it might
be writing for specialist publications (the last two being my preferred
methods, hence this article!). Just put yourself in their
shoes for a moment.
But whichever method you choose, make sure you enjoy it. Say
what? Yes, you have my permission to only choose marketing
methods that you actually enjoy. Why? Because if
you don't enjoy them, you won't do them - even if your business is
falling down around your ears.
Do you remember Fiona, my Reiki Master and therapist client?
She found that she was massaging a client or two in the morning, then
nothing at all till the evening, when her working clients turned
up. She wanted to build up her lunchtime and afternoon
clientele and then limit her evenings to two per week. Who
would be able to come at those times? The ladies who lunch
and the self-employed. Where do the ladies hang
out? At charity events and hairdressers and in nice
restaurants. What are their challenges? To look
after themselves to the n'th degree, be well groomed, relaxed and
charming at all times. She joined her local ladies groups,
talked to her hairdresser and beauty therapist about a joint marketing
initiative, volunteered for the local large charity committee and
attended a few lunches herself, and then, to reach the self-employed
business person, joined the BNI (Business Networking International -
for details see
BNI.com).
The self employed do not have enough time to look after themselves and
often suffer from stress and bad backs. Fiona initially
started talking about bad backs and sports injuries, and now her
business has taken off in an amazing way. People went for their
practical problems but now go for the Reiki and the other types of
emotional healing. She was so nervous talking about her
service for 60 seconds at first, but now is completely at home in that
environment. She even demonstrated crystal therapy the other
morning and it was a real treat to watch hard bitten businessmen
handling rose quartz and feeling the warmth coming off the crystals.
This route is not for everyone, but one thing is for sure, there is a
marketing method that will suit you. I like meeting people
and writing, so I have a website
NicolaCairncross.com, a monthly
financial coaching newsletter, I write articles for magazines and I
attend every networking lunch, breakfast and dinner that I
can. (Plays havoc with the weight though!)
Remember, whatever you do, you are not selling, just collecting people
for your reservoir. They may not use your service for ages,
but if you keep in touch with them in a way that adds value without
being too promotional, they will either buy spontaneously or recommend
someone who will.
The sales part is this. While not being overly promotional,
don't on the other hand make it difficult or even impossible for people
to buy your services when they are ready to.
Make sure you have contact details and they work (unlike me, who, in
the last article for this magazine put an incorrect newsletter link
with no other contact details!). Make sure that people know
your prices and don't have to ask (it's embarrassing for
them). Educate them so that they know how to be your ideal
client and feel privileged to be so. Let them know - and
thank them - how wonderful it feels when they recommend you or refer
someone into your reservoir (unlike my other hairdresser client who
used to tell all her existing clients how busy she was, so they felt
unable to recommend new clients to her).
Finally, write down your plan and evaluate it monthly. Keep
doing what works and drop what doesn't - unless you enjoy it!
Not everything works in obvious ways. Decide on your
preferred marketing methods and become the best at those
methods. Educate yourself on how to be most effective, or
hire a coach who can help.
And remember, 50% of all money spend on advertising is wasted, it's
just that no-one knows which half!
The Money Gym specializes in working with bright, intelligent people
who want to become financially free, learn how to build a business they
love and invest for a safe and fulfilling future. For more details
visit
The Money Gym
