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You get the meetings you deserve

Posted byIan Brodie on April 18th, 2017.

A lot of people struggle to get real meetings with potential clients.

By “real” I don't mean the “let's grab a coffee to talk about how we can help each other” or “lets do a 1-1” meetings beloved of networking organisations. The ones where both parties are hoping the other one will buy from them or refer them but that usually end up with nothing.

I mean meetings with potential clients where there's a strong chance they could become a paying client at some time in the future.

If you want more meetings with potential clients you need a good answer to the tough question: “why on earth would someone want to meet with you?”

“To find out how I could help them” isn't a good answer. Nor is “to understand more about them and their needs”.

Neither of those adds any value to the potential client.

Sure, you'll get some meetings that way. Some with tire-kickers. Some with people who already have a strong relationship with another supplier who just want to check the market. And a few genuine potential clients too.

But not nearly enough to build a thriving business.

Instead, craft something you could discuss with potential clients that would be useful, insightful and new for them. 

A review of the top trends for this year in their industry or your area of expertise.  

Benchmarking you've done on what their leading competitors are doing.

Case studies of businesses who've made the kind of major improvements they're looking to make.

Notice a common thread?

Apart from the fact that these are all incredibly valuable to a potential client, they also require you to do some work.

You can't just arrange a meeting and wing it with your super-smart questioning skills and off-the-cuff expertise.

You have to study current trends. Do the benchmarking. Prepare the case studies.

But if you put in that work, you'll get far more potential clients saying yes to meetings with you. And those meetings will do far more to build your relationship and establish your authority than meetings to “find out what they're looking for”.

If you put in the work you'll get the meetings you deserve.

And if you don't…well, you'll get the meetings you deserve.

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The simple secret of follow up that works

Posted byIan Brodie on April 16th, 2017.

In the last few weeks I've been sharing strategies for effective follow-up. But it struck me today that I forgot to mention the most important factor that ensures you get results from your follow-up.

It's to make it a habit.

Follow up once and you might get noticed.

Follow up two or three times and you'll probably be remembered a few weeks down the line.

But follow up (in a way that people value) week in, week out for months and years and you'll become a key part of your clients and prospects lives.

It's like compound interest really. You don't notice the effect at first but each follow-up builds on the previous to create a lasting impression.

The secret of making follow-up a habit is to plan it into your schedule and ideally to do it at the same date and time every week. Like going to the gym or reading. Make it something you just do rather than something you have to think about.

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How to stand out with your follow-up

Posted byIan Brodie on April 9th, 2017.

In last Sunday's email we looked at a simple method for following up with people after you first connect with them.

Follow-up, you won't be surprised to hear, is incredibly powerful. Keep in touch, keep top of mind, and you can cut out layer upon layer of painful selling and instead be the first person your ideal clients turn to when they need help.

Unfortunately, you're not the only one hoping to do this.

If you want your follow-up to be effective, you have to do it in a way that stands out from what everyone else is doing.

Options: you can do more. Follow-up with more people, more often. 

It works. Most of your competitors are lazy. Work a bit harder and you can have an edge.

Personally though, I don't like working harder.

Better, I find, to follow up differently. 

Phone instead of emailing. Write a letter instead of phoning. Record and send a video instead of a letter. 

Don't send a Facebook message to say happy birthday, send a card (remember them!). Don't do it on their birthday, do it on the anniversary of meeting them.

Introduce two contacts to each other who you think would be able to help each other out. Arrange a dinner for your 8 best business contacts.

None of those ideas are earth shatteringly new, but the chances are that your competitors aren't doing them. I'm sure you could think of 7 ways of following up that are completely unique to you if you sat down and thought about it for a few minutes.

Invest a little bit of time to think of something different you can do to follow up and it will pay you back big time in terms of being memorable.

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Why you don’t get referrals

Posted byIan Brodie on April 5th, 2017.

I've been talking to a couple of people about referrals recently.

Or more specifically, why they're not getting many.

There seems to be this expectation that if you're good at what you do and play your part by referring others, then reciprocation will kick in and people will refer you.

I don't know about you but that rarely happened for me.

If you think about it, expecting people to refer you spontaneously just because they know you and you might have referred them is expecting a lot.

Just think of what's has to happen inside their head for them to be able to refer you confidently. 

Firstly, they need to know that the person they'll be referring you to really needs what you have to offer. Otherwise, they'll be wasting both your time and theirs. (Hint: have you made it clear who would be a good referral for you and what would indicate that they might need your help).

Secondly, they need to be confident that you'll do a great job. You might think it goes without saying, but it rarely does – especially since their reputation is on the line when they refer you. (Hint: focus your attention for referrals on people who have seen you in action – for example clients and ex-clients. And find ways like presentations to demonstrate your expertise to people who haven't worked with you). 

Thirdly, you need to be top of mind. Most people don't wander the streets constantly thinking about how to refer others. So you need to make sure they remember you. (Hint: do you systematically keep in touch with your top potential referrers in a way that adds value to them just like you would do with your top potential clients?)

Fourthly – and this is the most overlooked one – they have to be confident they're not just setting up the person they're referring you to for a sales pitch.

Now you might think your approach is not pitchy at all. It's friendly, you get to know the people you get referred to, you find out their needs, you only offer your services if appropriate.

But to a potential referrer and the person they'd be referring you to, that's still a sales pitch. It's still a meeting or call with the primary purpose of getting you some business – even if they would benefit from your services downstream. 

There's no inherent value in the meeting itself to the person they refer you to.

Is it any wonder they're hesitant to refer?

They have to be really convinced of the downstream value to run the risk of introducing their friends and colleagues to someone whose main motivation is to sell something to them – even if they're going to do it ever so nicely.

So change that dynamic around. Don't make the referral about you getting business. Find a way to make it about the person they refer you to getting value.

Have you written a book or created a benchmarking study or report that potential clients would find really valuable. Then make the referral all about getting that to them, not about meeting with you to talk about working together. 

Or turn a meeting into a “high-value briefing” where you share some valuable information about them. Not a “strategy session” or “needs assessment” or “initial consultation” that's all about finding out what they need so you can offer something to them. Make it a session where you give something valuable to them without expecting to discuss how you could help them.

Believe me, if you do those sessions, and the content is valuable and relevant enough, many people will ask how you could help them. But the key is that they're far keener to have a pure value session than one where the agenda is really about you finding out their needs so you can offer something to them or “start to build a relationship”.

(And, of course, they're far more likely to say yes to working with you if they've asked about it themselves rather than feeling they've been steered into it by your clever strategy session script).

Being good at what you do and being generous at giving referrals is the foundation.

But you'll get far more referrals yourself if you can follow all four of my steps (especially the last one). And your contacts will refer you enthusiastically rather than doing it out of a sense of duty.

More Clients Memorandum

Do you do this? You should

Posted byIan Brodie on April 2nd, 2017.

Ever had someone make a really great first impression on you ?

Probably quite often.

A lot of people are pretty good at making an impression when you first meet them. Do some decent training on networking and you can get pretty good too.

Ever had someone make a really great second impression?

It's much rarer.

Most of the time the folks who make a good first impression leave it at that. They don't follow up.

A few days later, you've probably forgotten them. They've merged into to the mass of other people who made a good first impression too, but you never heard from since (unless they wanted something from you).

Good second impressions stand out because you rarely get them.

When I'm on my game, I'm pretty good at second impressions.

If I meet people I think I could be helpful to and vice versa, I'll check out their Linkedin profile and see if I can find them on google. If they mentioned something they were interested in when we spoke I'll check that out too to see if I can find something helpful for them.

Then I'll email them the next day and try to say something relevant and useful.

Same goes with Linkedin connection requests. You go to all the effort of requesting to connect with someone, or someone interesting offers to connect with you…you click yes to accept the connection…then nothing.

What was the point? Are you hoping the mere fact of connecting with them will burn you into their memory forever so they'll contact you when they need you?

Highly doubtful.

You need to make a great second impression. Check out their profile. Do a little bit of deeper research. Send them a “thanks for connecting” message that's funny, useful, interesting. Anything to make you stand out, and to get a conversation going.

Now in all honesty, I'm not “on my game” on this one all that often. Most usually I'll just click “accept” and leave it at that like everyone else.

So this email is as much a reminder to me as to you that making a great second impression can be hugely valuable. It really makes you stand out.

It might feel like a bit of a drag to do that research and type out the personalised email – but it works.

Some of my best contacts have come from people I've made a great second impression with (or people who've made a great second impression on me).

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realise how foolish I am not to use this technique every time! It only takes a few minutes really.

More Clients Memorandum

Does “just be yourself” lead to success?

Posted byIan Brodie on March 26th, 2017.

You hear that advice a lot in marketing these days don't you ?

“Just be yourself”. Or “be authentic”. 

And certainly, pretending to be someone else in your marketing is a path to both madness and poor results.

But I think “be yourself” is too simplistic. Here are some other things you need to add to it.

Firstly, just being yourself won't get you far if you're not pretty awesome to start off with.

Not that you need to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But if inside you're a bit of a jerk with a chip on their shoulder who constantly complains, then being authentic and letting the world see you're a jerk isn't going to help you.

The answer isn't to pretend to be someone else. It's to work on yourself so you're a better person first. Then be yourself.

(Or I guess, find some customers who enjoy being around a jerk. I suppose they might exist. But the first route is the best for the world).

Secondly, you need to have value to bring to the world.

We're in an age where celebrity itself seems to be be a goal for many people, rather than celebrity being the result of achieving something. Nonetheless, the longer lasting route to success is to have tremendous value to add to the world – and to be yourself while adding that value.

Thirdly, be interesting.

The truth is, there are many different versions of you. The quiet you alone reading. The you that you are when you're with your friends. The you that you are when you're a mother or father, or a husband or wife.

We're a social species and we're slightly different with everyone. There's no “one true you” that you should be when you “be yourself”. 

When you're marketing and you're doing presentations, writing articles or emails like this, you want to shine a light on the most interesting aspects of you that your audience can empathise with, cheer for, side with, laugh at or feel for.

We've all done some interesting things that we can turn into stories we can share with our audience. I've used stories about being a bit of a geek as a kid. About my love of close-up magic, about how I used to play poker tournaments a lot, about my successes and (mainly) failures learning to market and sell. Personal stories about my family and background.

But there's plenty about all of us that isn't that interesting to our audience either. No need to share everything about you or every thought that pops into your head. Think about what would be relevant, interesting or fun for your audience and emphasise that version of you when you're “being yourself”.

I'm sure there are many other factors you could think of that make “being yourself” work, but for me those are the big three I try to focus on.

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Even the painfully shy can do this to get clients

Posted byIan Brodie on March 23rd, 2017.

Sometimes I marvel at the folks who have no problem (in fact they actually seem to enjoy) networking and chatting to people they don't know.

Or they're quite happy phoning up their contacts just to see how things are going.

My toes are curling right now just at the thought of it.

But there's no doubt it works. Follow-up and keeping in touch is one of the “big rocks” I mentioned yesterday that make a huge difference to your success at winning clients.

But for many of us, the thought of picking up the phone or even emailing to check in with people is a huge challenge.

What do I say that won't come across as awkward? What if they think I'm just trying to sell something to them?

That's why email marketing is a godsend to us painfully shy people.

I might feel uncomfortable calling someone up or even emailing personally. But I'm quite happy to think of something I think my subscribers would find useful and mailing it out.

And then what happens is quite a few reply. We get into discussions.

I feel good about sending something useful, and the discussions happen naturally. No awkwardness. No feeling like I'm a pushy sales guy.

Now I know that really I ought to get my mindset fixed and learn to be less shy. But frankly, it's easier and quicker for me to use email marketing instead. 

Maybe one day I'll become Mr Assertive. But for now I'm happy being me and using email marketing instead.

If you're a bit like me, it might work for you too. 

Stay strong.

More Clients Memorandum

Big rocks first (not what you think)

Posted byIan Brodie on March 22nd, 2017.

There's a famous saying in time management attributed to Steven Covey about “putting the big rocks first”. In other words plan (and do) the big important things first and fit your less important tasks around them.

I've found the same is true in marketing.

In marketing, your big rocks are the big factors that have an impact across the board: your positioning in the marketplace, the value you're seen to offer to clients, your strategies for follow-up to nurture relationships.

Far too often we get obsessed by the tactics (and I have to say mea-culpa here – tactics are so interesting!)

We spend ages worrying about the subject lines for our emails. Obsessing over the elevator pitch we use to introduce ourselves. If we're technically minded we build big, complex marketing funnels to squeeze every last drop of profit from our campaigns.

But we often ignore the big rocks.

If we're seen as an authority in our field, we don't need super-optimised marketing.

If we have a lead magnet that's incredibly attractive to our ideal clients we'll get a steady stream of new contacts without having to spend every waking hour posting on social media.

If we have a systematic follow-up system we won't need to chase every shiny new marketing toy hoping for some kind of magical breakthrough.

Getting the big rocks right = big leaps in your impact. Focusing on the little rocks = incremental improvements.

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Do this to magnify all your marketing

Posted byIan Brodie on March 19th, 2017.

After a few years of doing OK with my marketing, I tried something that worked unexpectedly well. Way, way better than I thought.

Honestly, I fell into it by accident. I basically ran out of ideas for the regular emails I was doing.

I'd written a whole “soup to nuts” series covering all they key aspects of marketing and sales for service businesses. At the end of the series I was basically worn out. No more ideas.

I dredged my brain for something I could use that might be useful for people to hear and I came up with zip. Nada.

Then eventually I remembered an incident that had happened a few years earlier. No huge marketing insights, just an important lesson for me about grasping the nettle when you really want to get something done.

I called the email “So, are you going to do this?”.

It was a very personal story and frankly I was really worried when I sent it out. I thought that because it didn't have tons of details marketing tips in it that people would get cross or feel cheated.

I needn't have worried.

The exact reverse happened. I started getting all sorts of email replies from people saying they'd had the exact same experience, or how much of an impact the message had on them.

It's happened time and time again. My simple, story based emails based on my own experience get the best results.

I still use the “Are you going to do this?” email today and it still gets great results.

Being open. Sharing things that mean something to you (while being useful to your readers at the same time, of course). These things build a closer bond to your audience. They build trust.

And recent research shows they enhance learning too.

So if you want to magnify the results of your marketing: be brave and bring more of yourself into your marketing. Say what you feel and think. Share personal stories.

Now you can't just be self indulgent. Each of your stories has to also include a nugget of useful information for your audience. But a small nugget wrapped in a personal story has much more impact that a huge list of tips written without the personal connection.

Try it