photo credit: C.Alary - expose à La Taverne de Cluny-Paris 5è

Go on over to Michel Fortin’s blog and watch the copywriting giant rock out.   Don’t worry it doesn’t take long to watch and it’s fun.  Then when you come back you’ll better understand what I’m going to talk to you about.  Relationships.

Welcome back  

You conceptually understand that if you want to increase sales and sell more you have to establish relationships with people who are potential new clients, and deepen your relationship with existing clients.  There are a number of ways to approach building relationships.  As you build relationships the benefits to you include:

• more sales
• higher value sales
• trust leading to repeat sales
• trust leading to referrals
• open communications between you and your potential new clients and existing clients.

Good stuff, right?  You certainly know how to establish relationships when meeting people one-on-one in a face-to-face setting, but what about people you haven’t met yet who are great potential clients for you.  Can you start a relationship with a complete stranger?

Yes, you can.  Now I’m not suggesting you make a video like Michel did and email it to future prospects.  However, I am suggesting that you do things that make initial relationships build faster.  Your sales outcomes are directly impacted by that first connection and the follow-up connections you make with potential clients and existing clients.

Relationships demand you be the real you.  You can spot a phony instantly and you resent anyone trying to be someone or something they aren’t.  So think of how you can allow the people you connect with to get a feel for, or sense of who you are.  Your values and beliefs…what’s important to you.  You don’t want to ram it down their throats just allow the real you to come through whether your sending a sales letter, making a phone call, writing your newsletter, however you’re making that first connection.

Sometimes fun can be viral.  I shared Michel’s video with you because it’s fun and it provides a good example of allowing potential client an inside glimpse of who he is.  I’m sure other blog viewers shared his video too so who knows how many people have seen his video by now.

If you’re going to hold a barbecue for a few friends anyway why not include a few clients and share photos of the event in your newsletter.  They’ll show their photo to their friends thus spreading the word about you.

Why not allow them to bring a friend and invite all your clients so they can mingle with each other.  After all the more people who know you the better.

What if they each shared a story about you?  And you included those stories in some of your marketing materials.   What if you had a contest for the best story?

When you allow them to share and contribute you exponentially increase your relationship.  You make them feel important and you validate why they like and trust you.

The ideas are endless…

Your clients don’t want to work with a stiff shirt big company.  They want you to be a real person who cares a whole lot about them and their outcomes.  Allowing yourself to be a little vulnerable, and giving them a closer look at who you are makes you more trustworthy and trust-able.  They just want you to be human because they want to connect with you if you’ll just help them…

photo credit: Logan Antill

Marketing is the initial connection starting a conversation.  As a business owner you’ve probably felt exactly the way John Jantsch states, “I sure love to work with spreadsheets and do people’s taxes, holy crap, I’ve got to learn how to market.”  Yep, that’s the stark realization.

No matter how much you love doing what you do you don’t get to do it until you attract clients.  Now many of you are repulsed by the idea of marketing your services.  You think as a professional it’s beneath you, or you shouldn’t have to because people should just come to you because of your expertise.

As the bank account dwindles you face the fact that you have to market yourself, or you’ll have to go work for someone else.  Someone who’ll do the marketing for you.  The reason you’re marketing averse is because you’re focusing on what marketing isn’t.  Marketing isn’t:

• hypey communications that mislead people
• shouting louder than the competition about how great you are
• tricking people

Now there are definitely examples of people who market themselves exactly as I’ve described what marketing isn’t.  They do it because they don’t understand marketing.  They buy into a marketing scheme sold by some huskster.  And they’re desperate.

True marketing is:

• talking to potential prospects about their problem(s)
• quietly entering the conversation already in their heads
• genuinely giving and caring first

Does that change your perception?  I hope so.  You see everyone markets it’s how they do it that makes the difference.  Even when you do it well you can’t expect your marketing to do all the work for you and sell your services.  At some point you have to hold a one-on-one human to human genuine conversation with the other person.

I know that’s probably your next fear.  But that’s because you don’t understand that selling is really nothing more than a genuine conversation between you and the other person where you’re seeking to understand if you can help them and how.