It’s time….to move, to transition from a place of basic personal and professional development, to a position of true personal strength. It’s time to put YOU on the map!
I have a lot of fabulous info and tools to share with you— to get you in motion, to get you strong, to give you peace of mind, and to help you create a FULFILLING life, a THRIVING business, and SOLID relationships. This is fitness for the soul.
It’s time for ALL of us to finally just be ourselves and contribute meaningfully AND powerfully to the world through who we were meant to be and what we were meant to do. You don’t need a hook or a gimmick. You just need to be YOU, and be it full throttle! There is no other you, and THAT is where YOUR power lies!
It’s time to get EMPOWERED——to STOP the ridiculous game of trying to please everyone else, be something you are not, or do it someone else’s way.
You CAN have a great life, a great business, and great relationships, but it starts with getting real and getting to where you are comfortable flowing in YOUR personal power and YOUR area of influence—not someone else’s.
I am living my DREAM. My dream is to be a true encouragement and inspiration to others, to have control over the way I use my time and my resources, to fully enjoy the experience of life, to love my work and my contributions, to be blessed economically, and in doing so to know I am a success.
I will help you find YOUR voice, YOUR passion, and YOUR creativity! YES, you have all of that within you RIGHT NOW. I write with YOU in mind. My entire goal is to empower you to embrace your life and live it fully and exceptionally, while touching the lives of others, being and feeling like a TRUE success, and having loads of fun.
I’ll help you grow your business, connect with others, be a giver, be a better person, grow personally and professionally, increase profits, understand the New Media and New Marketing Mindset, and enjoy your life with more authenticity, more time for what matters most, and more energy. I want you to live YOUR dream.
Please stop by often for words of empowerment and substantial tools you can use to continuously keep you on the track of being YOU, living your life and running your business the only way it will succeed—by YOU embracing YOU, and giving the real YOU to others!
Creating a tribe and leading them is how you make sales that matter in big ways.
The main thing to know about forming and growing your tribe is that numbers do not matter! They are a side thought. What matters is the quality of interaction you have with the members.
If you are serious about wanting to go tribal, you have to lay aside what you THINK you know about marketing, and learn a new and better way.
Consider getting out there on the web, or in your local neighborhood instead of hanging out within your 4 (or 400) walls. Check out groups with members who may have a need, desire for, or interest in your products. Join groups and contribute to them. Start and reply to discussion posts and forum questions, give great information and content, and be super helpful, not simply in your areas of business, but also in topics that you may have experience with. If you do have valuable input to share on a topic related to what you do, give the info without a sales pitch of any kind. If it is a local group that meets face-to-face, show up monthly or whenever they meet. Offer a valuable contribution—and NO, do not herald the link to your website or pass out your flyers or promote your next ad (It amazes me that most flyer or email campaigns are nothing but “buy this” blasts. There is no value to the recipient in that kind of silliness).
Within local gatherings and online forums, there will be a place and time to share your business contact information, so don’t try to infuse it into the conversations. Become a valuable part of the tribe rather than someone who showed up with a motive to just market to the tribe. Trust that if you become a giver, people will naturally want to know what you do and they will at some point want to do business with you. Allow yourself the process of becoming the “expert” in your field to the tribe members, rather than being a “salesperson”. Never throw your sales pitch. It’s ugly, and it is like spam. This will require “letting go” on your part but people will appreciate it.
I am personally the type of sales professional who tries to just be myself and relate to people as if they were a friend coming in to see me. My focus in selling is always to make a friend and then take care of that friend through attentiveness, kindness (helpfulness), knowledge, and exceptional service (meaning doing everything I can to ensure that the customer has a good experience and receives value for what they invest) .
I realize many stores have a scripted greeting that their sales associates say to the customers who come in the door. I personally don’t like this approach, but I do like the greeting.
If you work for a company that insists you use a “canned” greeting (which is often much too wordy and unnatural) still try to be conversational, and try to be yourself as you say those words, and speak them with sincerity.
Let’s say you are a design-related sales professional. One suggestion for what you could say between the “official store greeting” and asking the visitor what their current home project is, could be something as simple as “so how has your day been going so far?” This gives opportunity for a little friendly dialog right off the bat. Another option is “so are you taking a little break in your day to have some fun browsing time?” This alludes to the fact that shopping is FUN, a BREAK, and not a chore. If your store manager wants you to keep it more “business-like”, or if you have been chatting for a minute or so, you could ask, “are you browsing with a particular project in mind this morning or are you just in the decorating mode?” Using the word “browsing” instead of “shopping” takes the pressure off the customer, as does talking about “decorating” instead of “buying”. This makes customers feel at ease, which can help them to more easily make purchases.
Think about how you like to be related to. Try to relax in the selling situation, focusing on making a new friend. If YOU stay relaxed, sincere, and approachable, your words will be taken as friendly, and the prospect is more likely to allow you to help them with their interior design needs.
“Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.” ~Frank Zappa
Many women are great at sales because most are naturally good communicators, and selling has so much to do with communication. Of course, that’s not all that makes a good salesperson, but it sure helps—a lot!
Today, we’ll touch on some important factors of selling like a girl. I won’t go into too much detail though, since I’ll do that in an upcoming issue of Furniture World Magazine, where I’ll get really serious about gender-selling, looking at the differences between how men and women approach business and selling. That way, you can take on the best of both worlds and benefit from the general selling styles of both sexes. I’ll keep you posted when that multi-part article comes out.
In the meantime, let’s look at how to sell like a girl, with all the softness, sensitivity, and connectivity of that wonderful gender!
• Start off Seeking to Make a New Friend
Be friendly and heartfelt from the beginning, leading more and more to engaging in a friendly and lively dialogue. That doesn’t mean your goal is to have lunch on Tuesday or golf next Saturday, but the essence of salesmanship is making a sincere and friendly connection based on a genuine interest in another human being. Girls totally get that. • Help Just to Be Helpful!
Women have a wonderful way of connecting just to connect, and helping just to help, and people can feel it. If you are concerned about others, you will want to help them. The motivation is intrinsic—it is there regardless of the promise of material reward or commission. • Let the Customer Tell You What They Want
It’s o.k. to dialog and ask questions, but telling the customer or client what they want is NOT o.k., and it is especially dangerous to do that before you even hear from them what they want. Picture the cocky sales-guy (o.k. — or the cocky sales-lady) who has the attitude of “Tell ya what I’m gonna do”. I’ll tell YOU—you’re gonna be sitting down at the unemployment line by next week if you’re not careful. • Respect the Customer’s Comfort-Level in Purchasing
Here’s where the pushy salesperson comes in. Of course you should help the customer to see all of the available options. Of course you should help the customer to see the many wonderful ad-ons that will increase the value of their purchase, but being pushy is different.
The customer must be in control, and yes, the customer must lead. THEY tell you what they want and need. Even if they do not know specifically what they want or need at first, you should dialog with them and ask meaningful questions to help them in this discovery. It is always done through respectful communication. You are there as a facilitator, guide, point of information, and in some ways a motivator, but you are never there to push the customer into a sale that they are not fully comfortable with.
Sure, you can charm, B.S., or manipulate your way into a sale, but you will lose a lifelong customer and all of their friends! The value of the life-long customer is so much more important that actual amount of the padded sale. When customers feel respected and in control, they will respect you and continue to do business with you. Today, prospects and customers have way too many options for us to be screwing around with pushy, selfish tactics. People will read them and run, or if they do purchase, they will likely never buy from you again. It’s just too much pressure for them to deal with. • Tell the Truth-ALWAYS
Little white lies—no such thing. A lie is a lie, and if you are ever found out, the distrust is permanent. There are few things more embarrassing than being caught in a lie, and few things worse for your career (unless you are a reality t.v. star).
You tell the customer the shipment didn’t come in yet (that it is back-ordered) because you sold the lamp to someone else, but another employee doesn’t know you said that, and reveals that the lamp was in fact on the shipment. Your customer may never let you know that they caught you in a lie, because most people prefer to avoid confrontation and conflict (I am not one of those peeps by the way). Most people will just never work with you again.
So the next time you are tempted to say “I sent you an email” when you didn’t, or, “I tried to call but it just rang and rang”, when it didn’t, FORGET ABOUT IT! Better to say, “Oh gosh, I am so very sorry, I dropped the ball. I got so tied up at work that I forgot to call. Please accept my sincerest apology”. • See and Be Supportive
Everyone likes to be seen and feel supported, even the tough guy on the Harley (my older brother)! Many salespeople won’t even go here because, “that’s not my job”. Oh, really? Then that’s not your big hunk of money in the savings account, either.
Giving customers a little emotional support is another arm of respect. It is in effect saying, “I care about your world”. In many industries, the bulk of the shoppers are women, and women love emotional support! It’s how many of us navigate through life. It turns out that men really like it too, they just bury it a little bit deeper.
Here’s a Great Example of “Selling Like a Girl” from My Childhood:
As a young kid on Long Island, my mom took us (my sisters and me) to Jerry’s Shoes every year to get our school shoes. The store was small, niche, upscale, and the shoes were INCREDIBLY UGLY—every last pair of them. We begged and pleaded with my mom, “PLEASE mommy, we don’t want to buy our shoes from Jerrry’s, they’re ugly”, but mom wouldn’t hear of it (even though we had free rein to buy ALL of our other school clothes from anywhere we wanted, just not the shoes). WHY?
This made NO SENSE, but really it did. Jerry was wonderfully friendly and incredibly supportive of my mom. He was upbeat, kind, and wanted to know how things were going in our family. He helped my mom with us kids when we were all in the store. He asked how my dad was, and he measured all of our feet on a fancy foot measuring stool, leaving my mom to sit in a big chair and watch, as if she were the queen.
He told my mom how good the shoes would be for our feet, and how the shoes would help us in our bone development. He educated my mom and made her feel that she was a very smart shopper, and he always gave the kindness and the information, and left the decision up to her with no pressure. Jerry took care of it all, and we all really liked him, and even we kids liked the white-glove and friendly service (we just hated the dog-ugly shoes).
Jerry had figured out how to become our FAMILY SHOE GUY, and once you have a FAMILY SHOE GUY, you JUST CAN’T go anywhere else because YOU choose not to go outside the FAMILY. By the time we left Jerry’s shop each time, mom had purchased way more shoes than we needed (or wanted), each kid dragging out about three pair of shoes (and some candy), but mom felt great and she believed that to Jerry, she mattered. She also knew that her kids felt very much cared about by Jerry the shoe guy. We went back every year without fail until my sisters and I finally revolted as we approached our fashion forward Jr. high school years, but mom still bought her own shoes from Jerry! Selling Like a Girl is a Real Man’s Work!
It’s easy to skip all the “fluff” and get right to the sale, but life doesn’t work that way, so man up. Sell like a girl if you want to do business like a man. That way, you get to keep your customers and your big bag of money, too!
Hey, You Do Business Like a Girl!
Yes, and That’s Why I’m Kicking Butt in Sales, PART 1 “I’m not interested in money, I just want to be wonderful.”~Marilyn Monroe
Let’s face it, many times women are better communicators than men. Studies of the brain have shown that it is a matter of physiology. Men and women are driven by different centers of the brain and by different types of brain activity.
Being exceptional at customer satisfaction and sales is really all about great communication, something many women seem to be naturally good at, but regardless of your gender, being an effective people-person involves skills that must be learned and behaviors that must be practiced over and over again. The payoff is greater sales and a better sales career.
It may be an embarrassment for some people to “throw like a girl” or “wrestle like a girl” (even though I know a lot of girls who could give most guys a run for their money in these areas), it should be a goal to communicate—and sell—like a girl (that is, a girl who takes these things seriously). Here are a few pointers—in no particular order— for good customer communications that will lead to increased sales. This week we will look at doing business like a girl when dealing with customer concerns and complaints, and next Monday we will look at doing business like a girl in terms of sales.
Do Business Like a Girl When Dealing with Customer Concerns or Complaints
• Be OPEN, Not Defensive
Think about any time you were frustrated and wanted to voice your concern. It only frustrates you more when the person you are speaking to is so worried about covering their but that their stance is completely defensive. They never even come close to understanding you or your concerns.
• Listen
Listening with a full ear, with interested facial expressions, and with open body language calms people down, diffuses explosive emotions, and makes the connection a lot more friendly and the dilemma so much easier to solve.
True, active listening— not just hearing—causes people to WANT to do more business with you later, even if they ran into a snag or an uneasy situation this time. People want to know how fairly and maturely you deal with problems. Listen BEYOND the words to the hidden messages, hidden meanings, and deep concerns of the prospect or customer.
Listening allows you to see what is important to people and perhaps create better products, systems, and services with that information going forward.
• Allow People to Talk –Don’t Interrupt
Your non-verbal (and verbal) communication should make it clear that you want the individual to have a stress-free way to voice their concerns in a very supportive environment.
• Acknowledge that Their Concerns are Important to You
Acknowledge that you understand the person’s concerns. Get away from the mentality that acknowledging means agreeing, or that acknowledging means a potential law suit. Many times we don’t acknowledge because of our own fears—fear of being sued or of looking foolish or unprofessional, but the truth is you look MORE PROFESSIONAL when you show you care (and you will be less likely to be sued if you act like a decent human being). I personally have stopped doing business with any individual or firm that will not fully acknowledge my concerns when I have them. I will just go somewhere else where I am valued.
• Show Respect for Their Point of View
In most cases, it takes enormous courage for a customer to contact you or approach you with a disappointment or complaint. THEY DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS CHORE (although it may seem as though they enjoy it), but they also do not want to waste their money which they worked hard to earn. It is INCREDIBLY disrespectful for a businesses owner, salesperson, or company representative to not hear a customer out or not try to see the experience from their point of view.
So there they are, some girly ways to smooth the feathers of an unhappy or unsure prospect or customer so you can win back their love (and you will with these techniques). Next week we will cover some great ways to sell—and prosper—like a girl!
“The heart has eyes which the brain knows nothing of.” ~Charles H. Perkhurst
“The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.” ~ Edward R. Murrow
“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” ~Henry David Thoreau
About three times a week, I drive through and get myself an iced tea (weaning myself off of Starbucks coffee). I usually go to the same fast food chain drive-through, but not necessarily the same location. This particular chain, SONIC, experiences a tremendous amount of traffic in any given hour.
I have made it a point when asked “How can I help you?” to first say, “Hi, how are you doing today?” in a very sincere and friendly voice. What a HUGE difference this has made in the service I receive.
I have always been polite at a drive-though, but now I slow down and take those extra few seconds to really acknowledge the individual who is helping me by asking how they are doing. They can hear in my voice that I really want to know. The result has been super friendly replies, like “I’m doing great, and how is your day going?” and other similar sentiments. I can totally tell by the surprised and almost shocked responses I get that most of the people I speak with this way rarely get a friendly greeting that speaks directly to them personally.
The other day, instead of driving through, I sat outside and ordered my tea from the ordering booth on the patio, using the same friendly tone. A car-hop brought me my drink and I sat down. Soon after, three individuals came to the patio to order, and they were somewhat demanding and unfriendly—although not really outright rude, just all about themselves—totally oblivious to the human spirit working diligently on the other side of the speaker. It made me a little sad for the way we go about unaware and unconscious a lot of the time.
Since using my new greeting consistently, I have been called “sweetie”, “hun”, and “love” by some overly appreciative sales girls (is that what you call the ladies who work at the drive-though?). I have to tell you, this simple gesture has really opened my eyes to how much we all just want to be “seen” (even though you can’t see someone at first in a drive through).
Being “Seen”
Being “seen” means being acknowledged and it also means experiencing a connection even if for a brief moment. Being seen means being appreciated and respected, even praised when it’s appropriate.
Seeing others means you come from the vantage point that all of our lives, all of our wallets, all of our jobs, and all of our time schedules matter and are valued just like we value our own.
Seeing others means dropping the manipulative tactics to get what we want, and letting go of the rudeness that tells someone we think they are less important than we are.
Seeing is believing, too. When we “see” our employees, they begin to believe in us more, and we in them. When we “see” our vendors, we embrace them as part of our team, not as adversaries that are out to stick us. When we “see” our co-workers, we understand that they are building their professional lives just as we are, and we see that is important to them just as it is important to us. When we “see” our customers, we are able to be amazingly thankful that with all of the many wonderful choices they have, and with all of the options at their disposal, they are willing to see us and give us a try—either for the first time or once again. When we ourselves are customers, and we “see” sales people, tellers, wait staff, professional service providers, clerks, and attendants, we open not only our eyes, but our hearts and our opportunities as well.
It takes only an instant to become aware in any given situation. It takes just a second to re-adjust bad thinking, and clear the air of any bad attitude that would cause us to not see another. The moment you notice yourself heading down the wrong communications road, it’s time to look and SEE.
The wonderful thing about seeing others is that by doing so you begin to see yourself, and best of all you also begin to be seen, and once again we come full circle (something I love to do).
So this week, see and be seen. Open your mind, your heart, your voice, your consideration to others, and see how it makes all the difference in your business and in your life (and of course it will never hurt your profits either).
“Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” ~John F. Kennedy
“The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.” ~Will Durant
“Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in.” ~Alan Alda
Once in a while I find myself deep in thought about life and business and such. It’s a good practice. Thinking purposefully can open the door to so many new ideas and possibilities. If you can think about thinking as a way of just reflecting, looking, observing, or even brainstorming in an objective manner, you can leave your usual thoughts and habits to discover greater success.
Here are some thoughts I looked at today. As you read them, don’t judge the words. Instead, simply be open. Maybe there is space here for you to explore something in a new way in your own life and business.
1. Create and develop amazingly USEFUL and BENEFICIAL products and services. Leave the so-so stuff for the armatures.
2. Don’t expect overnight success. Keep pluggin’ away at being exceptional in your business offerings, and give people time enough to catch on.
3. Be passionate about what you do (I cannot say this enough, have you noticed?). If you are not passionate with what you are doing, find something else you can be passionate about, since success takes time and you’ll need your passion to keep you going until you reach your financial goals.
4. Don’t follow the pack in your products and services, or in the way that you market them. See what everyone else is NOT doing and make it a point to do that.
5. Just because a product or has a great margin for profit, and just because YOU like it, doesn’t mean people will want to buy it.
6. Hire GREAT people and don’t be afraid of their talent. Treat them very well and let them help you win.
7. Don’t fight change. Open your arms to it. See it as the new way of life. If you are coasting, you are not growing, so make it a choice to ENJOY change and the effort it takes to go with it—the way you enjoy any sport. Let change help you to see the needs and desires of your customers, prospects, employees, business associates, and yourself. Let change bring you terrific opportunities to learn, grow and profit.
8. Make certain today’s to-do-list focuses on the priorities that matter most TODAY, NOT yesterday.
9. Your customer’s and prospect’s attention is so divided that they can barely hear their spouses, kids, and significant others anymore! On top of that, droves of marketers are shouting for their attention on every corner of the street and Internet. When you say something to your prospects, make it great, not just good or O.K. Say something that makes them want to give you a shout out, instead of something that makes them want to run from your shouting.
10. Don’t be fooled into thinking you have to create controversy (like they do on most talk radio, and on all of the news and interview shows on t.v.) The world is changing, and so is the way people want to talk. Forget controversy; instead, seek to always ADVANCE the CONVERSATION—with your employees, your prospects, your customers, your vendors, your business associates, and your joint venture partners. Drop the gimmicks and the need to impress. BE WHO YOU ARE and bring your incredible self to the conversation knowing that YOU are enough. STIMULATE and ADVANCE conversations that make you a vital and valuable part of someone else’s world.
“Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.” ~ Amanda Cross
Today’s message is one I shared with some of you in the recent past. I thought it was fitting to share again so that everyone could read it. I hope you enjoy the message.
Here goes:
A handful of premium customers at-a-time (in any given day, week, month) is better than droves of average buyers. If you can’t get all of the customers you THINK you want, “honey, love the ones you’re with”.
If you owned a small, chic, and fabulous gourmet restaurant that offered exceptional cuisine and fine wines, where people were encouraged to linger, and if you had 30 tables to fill during an evening for dinner (and you set that table number based on your table turnaround time, your price points, and your projected profit margins), then as long as all 30 tables were filled throughout the night, you could in a sense rest easy as you focus all of your efforts on impressing and WOW-ing those 30 tables of customers.
What you probably would not do is run out into the street and call people in for dinner (though that might not be a bad idea on one of those wild hair nights—just for the novelty and fun of it, but that’s another message)! You wouldn’t need to, because as long as you had 30 tables full, you would already have all of the people you need to meet your sales goals for the night (as long as you attended to them and properly romanced them). More importantly, if you had more than 30 tables worth of people in a given night, you would have no place to comfortably seat everyone, people would be rushed and wouldn’t be able to savor their exceptional wine and all of the extra delicacies your wait staff suggested to them, and the service would undoubtedly take a dive as servers and hostesses scurried to deal with the overflow.
I think a lot of people try to market to the masses—to get more and more customers that they cannot AMAZINGLY serve. Don’t get caught up on numbers. If you want to have a great business selling premium products and services to people who really appreciate the value of those products and services, you must have a different focus.
When I was doing design full time (and coaching only on the side), if I would have had too few customers, I would not have made a substantial living, but yet if I had too many, I would not have had a wonderful career either, because I would have been way too stressed and too tired for myself, my friends, and my family, and I would have been a raging maniac (and still on occasion, I was)! I learned during my brilliant career in decorating and design that there was a special number of clients (NOT simply LEADS, but paying customers) each month (or each week if you break it down) that I should have in order to have maximum profitability for myself and exceptional products and services for my clients.
That meant I had enough customers to make a great income, but not so many that I cheated them out of my full attention, or left sales on the table, or spent my days discouraged and exhausted.
Some people would be surprised at how low that miracle number of customers actually was, and it was low because with fewer customers I had more time to sell the amazing add-ons (like that fine wine) to the discerning people who most wanted and valued them. They were pampered (and I was too), and my customers absolutely loved it.
So this week, stop stressing about all of the customers you DON’T have. Focus diligently on the ones you DO have. If you have NONE, call up a few former customers and ask them how they are doing, and how they are enjoying the services or products you provided to them in the past. Quit thinking you need more, more, more (you do need some, though)! Do what you have to do in order to reach YOUR miracle number of customers to put you at a good balance of very good profits and always welcome sanity, with enough free time to enjoy your life and success.
Spoil your clientele, no matter how few. Sell premium products and add-ons that people value, and if you can’t get all of the customers you THINK you want, “honey, love the ones you’re with”.
As long as your going to be thinking anyway, think big. ~Donald Trump
You Can’t Just Transfer an Old Mindset to a New Medium
I saw a TV commercial the other day that was another piece of proof that there are still plenty of marketing decision-makers who just don’t “get” the “new” marketing (not so new anymore). The commercial—which showed one guy taking video of another guy so he could mischievously place it on YouTube—was another pathetic company attempt to prove to a new media audience that the company was “up on”, or savvy to, a new media world. In reality though, it showed that the company didn’t understand what’s really going on with marketing.
Just taking the same old “speak” about YOUR business and throwing in the fact that you have a Facebook account, a blog, or knowledge of YouTube doesn’t even begin to excite customers. It actually makes you look silly.
When I was in graduate school majoring in Adult Learning and Distance Ed, one of the things that was stressed (back when online education was just getting a real start) was that you cannot simply take classroom content and strategies and transfer them to the web. You had to know how to engage the learner with completely new tools and a totally new approach.
The same is absolutely true of the new media and new marketing. So many retailers and business pros think they can take a TV commercial and pop it up online (or at the very least, the elements of it). Not so. It just won’t work. The web is NOT TV. It’s a totally different animal.
Today’s It’s About Connecting, Relating, and Helping People to Decide
Today’s climate is not about getting a blog or a Facebook or Twitter account (and trust me, there are thousands more great social media sites we can become a part of) so you can transfer your old offline marketing model to the web to interrupt people and talk them into buying. Today is about relating, building relationships, educating, and delivering quality, helpful content and information WHEN people decide they need it. Showing people you know about or use social sites does not mean one bit that you are informing, engaging, interacting with, or building relationships with your prospects.
In this “new” era, we need to be available to assist people in THEIR decision-making processes. Some business-people actually love this idea, because it is totally in line with being a helpful professional. Some business pros have been living this way all along, and now the web provides a wonderful outlet for their exceptional business philosophy. Those who haven’t been this way have got to start doing so NOW.
Online, people are seeking information at the very least, and NO NO NO, telling them that you are having a sale is NOT the information they are coming to the web to see. EVERYONE is having a sale. However, not everyone is becoming a part of the prospects’ lives.
People are also seeking meaningful connection, and companies that get that will get more customers. It all begins when we seek to relate.
We don’t relate when we are slamming folks with “No Money Down”, “15% Off”, “Blowout Sale”, or even worse, “Respond by Midnight”. We relate by showing we understand some basic things, like:
What might be going on in the mind of the customer?
What need or desire might they be addressing?
What text might they be putting into a search on the Internet?
What are the many reasons they might be buying, and
How might they be seeking a better way of life?
We also relate when we communicate that we are O.K. with the fact that buying may very well be a bit of a process, and that we are not there to rush people, but to help, educate and inform them, not just about OUR types of products and services, but about the climate, opinions, uses, thoughts, and research surrounding them.
People Seek REAL People
Today, buyers want to do business with REAL people who they can relate to. Today’s buyers are super turned off to overly-polished companies and stiff, robotic, mainstream businesses that look like they somehow managed to survive Madison Avenue.
I could go on for hours. But instead, let me sum it all up by giving you a good number of bullet points for you to follow that will help you create a great interactive web-based marketing approach that your customers and prospects will appreciate and better relate to—one that makes you approachable, user-friendly, a relationship builder, and even a leader. It’s time for you to have a web presence that makes sense.
Basic Guidelines for Marketing Online
• The old rules of marketing wont work on the web. Forget about putting your TV type ad on the internet (on your website, blog, or social sites) expecting it to gain leads or sales. People on the web are looking for info, not ads.
• Instead of advertising, RELATE. Messages should be full of great content and useful information and not one way communication where you are TELLING people what YOU want them to know just so the will buy.
• Don’t try too hard to gain people’s attention. Once someone comes to your site, you already have their attention. The question becomes, what will you do with it? The answer, ENGAGE THEM with GREAT CONTENT
• Don’t think people trust your advertising that touts your fabulous products and your fabulous prices. Trust must be earned. People to day have tremendous opportunities and a heck of a lot of choices
• Don’t be afraid to share. Tell folks all about your people, your philosophy of connecting, your manufacturing process, where the wood is grown that you use in your furniture, how you are helping to save the earth, how you helped a customer out of a big dilemma, how your mom show’s up at the office every Friday with eggplant parmesan for everyone, how much you love what you do, and how your products are so much more than just products.
• You are not in the driver’s seat (sorry, Charlie)! The person searching the web is. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you put an “ad” on the web, people will stop what they are doing to take a look at it. Instead, you need to have what people want and need precisely when THEY think they need it.
• People search the web when they need info. Your site should provide helpful content, not ads telling about low, low, financing or 15% off.
• Today, it’s about connection and building relationships of trust. Show your visitors that you want a relationship with them FIRST and foremost (yes, doing businesses like a girl)!
• Don’t try to sell the minute your visitors see your site. They are not there to buy YET. They first want information.
• PLEASE, don’t try to copy the advertising your competitors are doing. First of all, you have your own voice, so speak it. THAT’S what sets you apart. People want to do business with YOU because of your unique personality or position, not with a robot. Secondly, your competitors are likely doing it all wrong, EVEN if they have a blog, a website or use Twitter or YouTube.
• People don’t wait for you to “advertise” to them. They go online as an experience, looking for what they want to discover, learn about, and POSSIBLY buy.
• Provide useful reports, white papers, short videos, and even simple but informative e-books on your site for free. Don’t try so hard to be cute, clever, entertaining. If your content is awesome, that’s enough.
• Get to know the key words and key phrases your potential buyers are using to search information on the web (not necessarily the keywords and key phrases that industry experts use). Then, create content that will lead these “researchers” to your site.
• Don’t try to target the masses. Seek unique niche markets that value who you are and what you can do for them. They will be impressed that you cared so much.
• Don’t make the focus of your communication about selling your products. Make the focus meaningful interactions with others. The products will then sell themselves. This means, don’t focus on how great YOU are, focus on being a great resource for your desired customers.
• And finally, as I always tell you, BE YOURSELF and have fun doing it!
Have a Wild Week of New Marketing with a New Marketing Brain,
One day my husband sent me the link to the Dave Matthews Band song, “You and Me”. He said, “This is us, honey”.
This song is so beautiful and inspiring; I could not keep it to myself. I have included the words here as well as a link to the live version of the song so you can listen.
Listen, close your eyes, and imagine the possibilities for your life.
Margo
You and Me Dave Matthews Band
Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we’ll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world
Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We’re gonna teach them to fly
You and me together, could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes
You and I, we’re not tied to the ground
Not falling but rising like rolling around
Eyes closed above the rooftops
Eyes closed, we’re gonna spin through the stars
Our arms wide as the sky
We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world
To the end of the world
Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We’re gonna teach them to fly
You and me together, could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes
We can always look back at what we did
Always the memory of you and me baby
But right now it’s you and me forever girl
And you know we could do better than anything that we did
You know that you and me, we could do anything
You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby
Something small
Till we reach the end of the world
Here is the link to their LIVE performance of You and Me:
“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” ~ Tom Brokaw
This week I’m going to share with you a very personal letter I received from my sister a few years ago on the night of her college graduation. The letter was written by a woman (Kathy) in her forties who found her own voice and her own definition of success, and who turned her life around after many long years of opposition, obstacles, and enormous struggles.
I share this letter at the risk of seeming like I am tooting my own horn, but that is not my intention. I want to share it because every one of you has a letter much like this stashed away somewhere in your office, workroom, or home. Even if it is not in the form of a written letter, there is no doubt someone you know— who loves or admires you and who has greatly benefited because of you—who is walking around with a letter like this to you, clearly written on their heart.
Life is not always easy. Sometimes it is totally wonderful and extraordinary, and at other times we are boldly and fiercely challenged. As business owners and professionals, we have good “seasons” and not so good “seasons”, great days and difficult days where discouragement wants to fall on us like a heavy woolen blanket if we were to let it. I know, because I have had many challenges myself, but so what! That is NOT what defines us.
YOU (and I) have the power to infuse life and exceptional energy into the lives of others! WOW! Every day that you are alive, every day that you have the occasion to be in the presence of another human being, you have the opportunity to shine your light and leave your mark. It’s a great business strategy, too, and the profit you reap from living this large will extend far beyond just dollars.
Here’s the letter (used with permission from Kathy):
Dear Margarett,
I just wanted to write this letter to thank you for all you have done for me these past couple of years. You have been an awesome sister and support for me. I know that tonight is my graduation but if it were not for you I believe I would not have come this far. You would never let me give up, and when I felt I could not go any further in my education you supported me and encouraged me like no one else. You believed in me the many times I did not believe in myself.
When I made a “C” in a class, instead of saying “Is that the best you could do”, you said, ”Woo-hoo, that is awesome”. You have been so proud of me and it has shown in everything you have done to help me. In times when I needed you the most, no matter how busy you were, you always made time to help. When I thought I could not teach myself how to study, you stepped in and taught me yourself, and it paid off so much. I just wanted you to know how much of an impact you had on me.
I can truly say that I would not be walking across this stage without your love, guidance, and support. So tonight, as I walk across this stage I want you to give yourself a pat on the back because I am here because of you. I love you.
Kathy
When I first read this letter, Kathy’s very kind words brought tears to my eyes. Of course I knew that she was the one who did all of the work and made all of the effort to earn that degree, but I so appreciated her letting me know that my light and mark mattered to her. For me, this letter came full circle because so many caring individuals showed up on my life’s path throughout the years, making incredible deposits into my life and towards my future success.
Today, I try to always make a meaningful connection with others, no matter where they are coming from or where they are going (within reason, of course). The connection may last for seconds, minutes, or hours. It doesn’t matter. I know that my little light—be it shining on a customer, colleague, or friend— could be the twinkle they need to keep on going, and my unique mark—be it written on a business associate, vendor, or family member— could be a part of the cumulative text that eventually leads to the story of their amazing success!
September 8, 2010 1157 King Richard I 1886 Siegfried Sassoon 1925 Peter Sellers 1932 Patsy Cline 1931 Jack Rosenthal 1933 Michael Frayn 1934 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies 1940 Frankie Avalon 1954 Ann Diamond
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It’s time for ALL of us to finally just be ourselves and contribute meaningfully AND powerfully to the world through who we were meant to be and what we were meant to do. You don’t need a hook or a gimmick. You just need to be YOU, and be it full throttle! There is no other you, and THAT is where YOUR power lies!
please everyone else, be something you are not, or do it someone else’s way.
I am living my DREAM. My dream is to be a true encouragement and inspiration to others, to have control over the way I use my time and my resources, to fully enjoy the experience of life, to love my work and my contributions, to be blessed economically, and in doing so to know I am a success.
TRUE success, and having loads of fun.
