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How to choose the right tools for the (marketing) job

Posted by

Ian Brodie on February 27th, 2011.

You know that old saying about how if all you have is a hammer, everything ends up looking like a nail?

(Apparently it was Abraham Maslow of “hierarchy of needs” fame who first coined the phrase back in 1966, although Drayton Bird tells me that Mark Twain was saying something similar even earlier).

Business owners (and frankly, far too many so-called marketing experts) tend to be like that too.

We have one way of marketing we know about so we use it in every available circumstance.

Far too often, we head off to that networking event because it's easy, we'll meet some friends, and it doesn't require much thought or preparation. And because it's what we've always done.

But is it the best use of our time to bring in new clients?

Choosing the right marketing and lead generation approaches to connect with your specific clients in a way that maximises your chances of a positive outcome is a real art that requires considerable thought.

But I've got something for you that I think will help.

It's my Marketing Menu.

The marketing menu is my run-through of the top lead generation approaches for professionals, with details of what they are, when they work, and simple strategies for making them work more effectively for you.

If you click here…

…you'll get to a presentation based on a training video I developed a little while back for my private members coaching site.

Feel free to download it, and use it to help you think through what's going to work for you and get you connected to those ideal, high paying clients you're love to work with.

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Authority Marketing Podcast

Authority Marketing Interview: Charles Green

Posted by

Ian Brodie on February 19th, 2011.

Charles Green, leading authority on Trust in Business explains how he found his niche and grew his reputation.

This is the second in a series of interviews with leading authorities and experts from the world of consulting and coaching.

Charlie is recognised globally for his expertise on Trust – yet as he explains in the interview, he didn't set out with the deliberate intention of building an authority position in this area. However, the approaches he “accidentally” used are certainly ones that aspring authorities can reproduce to build their reputations.

Click here to subscribe to the Authority Marketing podcasts in iTunes.

To find out more about Charlie and his work on trust and professional services, head over to:

http://trustedadvisor.com/

Enjoy!

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Strategy

Superpleasing Your Way to Success

Posted by

Ian Brodie on February 17th, 2011.

Most marketing focuses on how to attract and win new clients.

But once you've got 'em, how do you get 'em to stay – and to buy more from you?

Here's an idea introduced by David Maister in his classic work “Managing the Professional Services Firm”. It's the concept of “superpleasing”.

We all know that getting more work from existing clients can be the most profitable source of new business. They already know us and trust us – and we've (hopefully) done good work for them.

So it should be a much easier sell to get them to buy more from us – provided they need the other things we're offering.

Sadly, in most businesses and also for individual practitioners – we focus most of our marketing effort on much lower payoff activities.

Running an advertising campaign, trying to cold call new prospects, or networking to meet new people, for example.

It just seems kind of sexier to focus on brand new clients than it does to build our relationships with our existing and previous ones.

And when we do try to market to existing clients, we often go about it completely the wrong way.

We equate marketing with meetings and “schmoozing”. We invite the client out to an event. Or we arrange for our managing partner to meet them to “chat them up”.

Those are the things our marketing budget is geared up for – events and non-billable time.

Now there's nothing wrong with these activities. Sometimes they're just the right thing. But more often than not there's something much more effective you can do with your time and money.

Think about it from your client's perspective instead.

If you were your client, what would be more valuable to you, what would demonstrate the commitment of a professional more, and what would prove their capabilities more: a chat with the managing partner, or the professional massively overdelivering on the work they're doing for you?

99% of the time, clients will go for the latter.

So instead of spending our marketing time and money schmoozing our current clients – we should spend it “superpleasing” them.

Instead of spending time with clients at a social or business event, or in “marketing meetings” – spend it on the project you're working with them on and do an even better job than you would have done otherwise.

Instead of buying an advert or putting on a marketing event – spend the money to arrange a value-added session with your client's management team where you show them 5 new ways of implementing the results of your work and getting a better ROI.

In short, spend your time and money in any way you can think of so that the client not only thinks you did a great job for them (which should be the baseline) but that they think you've done the best job of any service provider they've hired.

Ever.

Don't think marketing – think value for your client.

Now you can't do this for every client. You need to focus on the high priority ones who have the potential to give you lots of new business, or strong referrals to other potential clients.

But if you superplease them like this it's the strongest way of getting them to buy more and to reccomend you with enthusiasm

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Authority Marketing Podcast

Authority Marketing Interview: Tom Searcy

Posted by

Ian Brodie on February 12th, 2011.

Tom Searcy explains how he established himself as an authority in the field of Winning Big Sales.

This is the first in a series of interviews with leading authorities and experts from the world of consulting and coaching.

The purpose of the interviews is to identify how they established themselves as authorities in their fields. What marketing strategies they used (or whether it happened by accident). What their advice is for other budding experts who want to build a reputation as a leading authority.

This first interview is with Tom Searcy who many of you will know as the author of Whalehunting and RFPs Suck! Tom's recognised globally as a leader when it comes to winning big sales.

Tom's been touring Europe running seminars for senior executives as part of establishing a European office in Switzerland. I caught up with him in a coffee shop in Manchester – so apologies in advance for the background noise on the audio. The content is excellent though.

Click here to subscribe to the Authority Marketing podcasts in iTunes.

To find out more about Tom and his work on winning big sales, head over to:

http://www.huntbigsales.com

There are some great resources there: articles, blog posts, podcasts, etc.

Enjoy!

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Mindset

The SACI Principle

Posted by

Ian Brodie on February 8th, 2011.

Stepping Stones When I was developing a recent training course I put in a tiny little section on what I call the SACI principle.

I have to admit, at the time it was pretty much an afterthought. A few minutes of filler I thought.

But the feedback I got told me it was something more.

And the more I reflected on it, the more I realised I was onto something. I'd accidentally stumbled ont a really important point.

Let me explain.

You see, we all like secrets. Silver Bullets.

We all want to know that one elusive thing that's gonna change everything. Turn everything around.

“It's not your fault”. How many times have you heard that before someone tries to sell you the latest, greatest silver bullet?

“It's not your fault. You see, you didn't know X”.

It's super alluring. The thought that if we just knew X – that one elusive thing – then we'd be a huge success.

Of course, there is no X. No one mystery or secret that's going to change our lives.

But that doesn't stop us wishing for one.

How often have you been on a training course or read a book hoping to learn a new secret only to be disappointed?

“I already know that”. You think. “Nothing new here”.

But really, the question shouldn't be whether you already know it. It should be whether you already do it.

You see, we already know the things that will make us successful. They're not complex. They're not mysteries. They're not magic silver bullets.

They're simple things.

Things like regularly keeping in touch with prospects and clients.

Things like regularly going out and networking (if that's a strategy that works for us). Or regularly getting up on stage to present. or regularly writing blog posts and articles.

The secret – if there is one – is consistency. It's doing these simple things week in, week out.

Success in business development is not determined by big, one-off, complex new strategies.

It's Simple Actions, Consistently Implemented that bring success.

And that's the SACI principle.

————

Image by Tim Green

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Selling

Reason #3 You’re Losing Sales

Posted by

Ian Brodie on February 5th, 2011.

Reason #1 is here, and reason #2 is here

So you've probed the client's issues and they're enthusiastic.

They've had an “aha” moment – you've shared new insights and thinking and they fully trust you're the expert in this field.

And you've explored the impact of the problem – you can see they feel the pain and they need to fix it urgently.

In short, they're sold.

What could possibly go wrong?

Reason 3: You're Selling to the Wrong Person.

This, of course, is particularly applicable when you're selling to large organisations.

Often, the person you speak to initially is either the person you found it easiest to get through to (if you initiated the communication) or the person most interested in solving the problem (if they reached out to you).

That's not the same as the real buyer.

If fact, these days, there's rarely one simple buyer for very large purchases – there's a group of people who all influence the decision in one way or another.

And it's your job to figure out who these people are and make sure you've got them “covered” – preferably by having met them face to face.

How do you find out who these people are? You ask.

Of course, you don't say “who's the real decision-maker around here?”. That's not going to make you any friends.

But during the process of your sales meeting – usually near the end when the potential client you're speaking to is enthusiastic and ready to roll, you need to ask them about their buying process:

-> Who here, apart from yourself, needs to be involved in this decision?

-> What's the process from here for important decisions like this? Who's involved?

If you don't know the answers to these questions you're “selling blind”. You could very well close the sale, but not win any work because behind the scenes, decisions made by people you don't know and have never met go against you.

Nowadays, of course, it's not always possible to meet all the key decision-makers and influencers.

Stricter procurement policies often bar you from speaking to anyone outside a small group if you're taking part in a formal bid process, for example.

If that's the case you have two options.

You can work with the clients you're allowed to speak to (and who are enthusiastic supporters) and coach them to make your case to the key decision-makers. Essentially teaching them to sell internally the way you would.

Or, you might want to consider whether it's worth investing in this bid.

Chances are the incumbent or one of the competitors on the bid already knows the key decision-makers and the odds will be stacked in their favour.

In this case, you may be better off investing your time in another opportunity.

Either way, you need to know who the decision-makers and influencers are and what their role is to make an informed decision on how to approach the sale.

‘Cos if you're not selling to the right person, your chances of winning are slim.

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Selling

Reason #2 You’re Losing Sales

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 23rd, 2011.

Reason #1 is here, and reason #3 is here

I get excited by solving client problems.

Can't help it. It's in my DNA somehow.

I bet it's in yours too.

It's what makes us good consultants, coaches, lawyers or whatever our profession is.

But it can also let us down when it comes to selling.

Does this sales meeting scenario ring a bell?

You build rapport with your potential client. You ask insightful questions. They talk about some of the challenges they're facing.

Bam! Your problem-solving skills kick in. You identify the root cause of their issues. Their eyes light up as you hit the right hot buttons. You've got the perfect solution for them.

They get interested. You talk about how you might work together. They get enthusiastic. They really want to proceed…

…then they ask how much.

You tell them your very reasonable fees – a fraction of what the solution is worth to them…

…and for some reason, it all falls apart.

You see, the problem is that your problem-solving skills kicked in too soon.

It's great to solve client problems. I have no qualms about giving them great advice and insight as part of the sales process. In fact I try to do so whenever possible.

But what I've learnt through painful experience is that if you jump to solutions before the client realises just how big their problem is – how much of an impact it truly has on their business – then you don't sell.

What's happening is that since you're an expert, you see straight away just how much that little morale problem actually damages productivity, staff retention and customer satisfaction.

You can take one look at their marketing and see how much money they're throwing away.

You can tell from a brief discussion about how they train their senior staff that their lack of leadership is impacting the company from top to bottom.

But they can't.

They're not an expert like you. So they just see a small problem with morale. They just think they need to beef up their marketing copy a bit.

They can't see how their dysfunctional leadership is damaging every aspect of their company.

And because they can't see this your reasonable fees look huge to them.

Gigantic.

A sledgehammer to crack a nut.

You know the rest. Much gnashing of teeth and knotting of brows later they either do nothing, try to fix it themselves, or go with someone cheaper (who doesn't really understand the issue).

Two years later you bump into them and they still haven't fixed it.

So how do you avoid this lose-lose scenario?

Before you jump into problem-solving mode you must work with your potential client to explore the impact of the problem or opportunity they have.

Not just superficially – fully. The knock-on and contingent impacts too.

And you need to help them see the impact for themselves – not just tell them what it is. Ask them questions to help them figure it out.

In many ways, it's even more important than drilling into their problem. Once they've hired you, you can do further exploration of the problem. But if you don't fully explore the impact, you're not going to get hired.

Now I don't mean by this that you exaggerate or manipulate. If through your questioning you discover the problem isn't really a big issue then you say so and move on.

But since you're the expert and they're not, it's your duty to highlight when things are a bigger issue than they realise.

And it's crucial to getting the sale.

Next, I'll reveal reason #3. Or go here to jump ahead.

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Selling

The Top 3 Reasons You Lose Sales: #1

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 17th, 2011.

Has this ever happened to you?

You have an initial meeting with a potential client. They asked to speak with you, or you were recommended to them – so you get off to a good start.

You ask them about their business. You talk about some of the problems they face and identify that there are things you can help them with.

You discuss what you can do and they seem pleased. They ask you to do them a proposal and you leave the meeting feeling rather pleased. It feels like this one is “in the bag”.

Then nothing happens.

Despite writing a very compelling proposal, they don't call you back. Eventually you get through to them and they explain that priorities have changed.

Budgets are tight and although they're still interested in working with you, it won't be for a while – they'll get back to you when things change.

Or perhaps they've chosen to go with a competitor. One you know won't do as good a job as you.

Sound familiar?

If it does, you're not alone. This scenario is played out time and time again for consultants, coaches and other professionals worldwide.

It happened to me again and again, until I learned three key lessons about why you lose sales. Not that it never happens now. But it happens an awful lot less.

The Top 3 Reasons You Lose Sales

Reason 1: Not Bringing Any New Insights.

These days many clients come to the table already having a clear picture in their minds of what they need and what kind of solution they want.

They may not be an expert like you – but they do their research on the web and come to you with some pretty clear needs laid out.

So you tell them about how you can meet their needs, and how you can deliver the solution they're looking for.

The trouble is, if all you're doing is telling the client that you can meet the needs they've explained to you and can provide the solution they already think they want – then you're a commodity.

Every service provider can tell the clients they'll meet their needs and provide the solution they're looking for. That means all the client has to go on to differentiate between you is price.

Of course, you'll tell them about your great service and people. Your brilliant testimonials and feedback. But everyone can say that.

You can list your USPs and differentiatiors. But the client's not interested in that. They just want to know whether you can meet their needs.

So how can you escape being painted into this corner?

You've got to bring new insights to the table. You've got to get them to change their minds about their needs or the solutions they want.

You've got to dig deeper than just asking the client what their needs are.

You've got to identify and highlight problems or opportunities they didn't know they had.

You've got to suggest different, better solutions than the ones they came up with.

If you can do this, then you're actually adding value. And you're differentiating yourself from your competitors in a real and meaningful way.

You're proposing different solutions to issues the client didn't initially specify. So your solution looks very different (and better) to your competitors.

Now doing this is not easy. You have to really know your stuff. You have to be able to challenge the client without insulting them. You have to be able to think on the spot.

But you must do it. Otherwise you're just competing on price.

(Reason #2 is here and reason #3 is here)

Speak soon,

Ian

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Mindset

Accelerating Expertise – Part 1

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 16th, 2011.

Kid Playing Chess In my posts about Authority Marketing I talk about the power of establishing yourself as authority in your field.

It's common sense really: when you're viewed as an authority, you're the default “go to” person for the difficult, challenging problems your clients have. You're the benchmark. And you'll command the high fees that being the leader in your field delivers.

One of the key components (along with enhancing your influence) of Authority Marketing is positioning yourself as an expert.

But being recognised as an expert is no easy task.

Please don't believe all the “how to instantly become an expert in your field” hype you might read on the internet.

Doing a handful of interviews with real experts doesn't make you one yourself. That gives you a valuable product to sell and some useful knowledge. But it doesn't make you an expert. Not yet at least.

Nor does endless self promotion and chatter on social media sites.

According to Professor Anders Ericsson – probably the worlds leading researcher on expertise and elite performance – becoming a true expert in a field takes around 10,000 hours of deliberate (goal-directed, feedback guided) practice.

Wow. That's 5 hours of practice every working day for 10 years.

Is that really necessary to become an expert in your specialism in consulting, coaching or other profession.

The answer is both yes and no.

Ericsson's definition of expertise is based on elite performance. An international-level concert violinist, a chess grandmaster, or one of the top athletes in a sport.

If you want to achieve those levels of expertise in your own field then yes – you do have to put in 10,000 hours of practice.

But if you're not “competing” at that level. If you're a marketing consultant who wants to be seen as the go-to expert for retail businesses in California, for example. Or you're a leadership coach focused on the public sector in the UK. In those cases, the level of expertise needed is not quite so high.

Selecting The Right Niche is One of the Keys to Becoming an Expert Quickly

By focusing on a very specific sector, geographic area or other factor, you don't have to be the leader in your field globally. What you need as a minimum is to have the expertise needed to provide significant help to your clients. And expertise at a level which puts you well above your competitors.

If you focus on leadership in the public sector in the UK, you'll rarely be competing for work against a Warren Bennis or John Kotter, for example.

So by focusing on a very specific niche, it's easier to become the recognised expert. Of course, you have to find a niche where there is still strong demand for your services. There's no point in being the recognised expert in a field where no one is buying.

It's also easier to become the recognised expert in a relatively new field. Where few people have any expertise at all, you can steal a march and become a recognised expert fairly quickly. Rather than standing on the sidelines waiting to see if the new technology or trend becomes mainstream, taking a gamble and investing your time to learn and experience the field can put you well ahead of others. Of course, the risk is that the new field doesn't become mainstream and your investment is wasted.

And selecting a niche where you already have considerable expertise helps too. If you look below the surface of the sort of work you've done, you can often find common themes and threads which you can use as a foundation for your niche.

When I initially looked at professional services marketing and sales as a potential niche, for example, at first I thought I hadn't done that much work in the field. But then I realised that for over a decade I'd been marketing and selling my professional services and the services of the consulting firms I'd been working for. So do look beyond the obvious.

Finally, and in my view, most importantly of all, find a niche you're passionate about.

If you choose a niche that you're not really interested in – then no matter how lucrative it initially looks – you'll struggle to build the enthusiasm to really “get into” it.

If you're going to invest thousands of hours into continually building your expertise over the years and strengthening your expert positioning – then you really need to love what you do.

Think of the best and highest paid sportspeople and performers in their field. How often have we heard them say that they'd do what they do for free, they love it so much?

Time and time again.

Ironically, it's that love of their subject, that willingness to “do it for free”, that drives them do the hours and hours of practice when others fall by the wayside. And that's what's given them such a high degree of skill and has earnt them so much money.

Now sure, it's certainly possible to become an expert in a field you don't love. But it ain't easy. And it's certainly not a life I'd want to condemn myself to.

So in summary – if you want to accelerate your path to expertise – find a niche that you love, that you already have some experience in, and that isn't already filled with experts.

And stay tuned for the next article on Accelerating Expertise where I'm going to take a look at the practical steps you can take to build your expertise once you've defined your niche.

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Selling

Expertise Driven Selling

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 14th, 2011.

A while back I read Mike Schulz's excellent free report on the “New Rules of Selling Consulting Services”.

One of Mike's points was that to succeed in selling consulting (or other advisory services like coaching, training, accounting or law) you need to set the agenda. It's no longer enough to show up, ask the client “what keeps you up at night?”, then drop in a proposal to address the issues they raise.

Today's clients are looking for immediate advice and help.

In particular, the more complex and difficult their problem and the higher your fees the more risk they're taking in hiring you. If it's vital they get a real expert with experience to work with them then they simply can't take it on trust that you have those capabilities. Testimonials and references help, but nothing works better than them seeing your expertise in action with their own eyes.

If, as part of your sales meeting with them, you open their eyes to new insights on their problem and new solutions they'd never thought of before, then you're immediately elevated to pole position for working with them.

But this brings up a dilemma. Isn't there a risk you'll “give away the store” by sharing your expertise with them before you're hired?

Well, there's definitely a risk – but it's not that you'll “give away the store”.

Let's put that myth to bed.

If you think that in the course of a short sales meeting with a client it's possible for you to give away enough of your expertise that the client will then be able to go away and solve their problem themselves – well, you ought to have a serious think about how much expertise you actually have.

The sorts of high impact issues that high paid consultants and coaches work on are not the sort that can be solved simply by “knowing the secret” as if it had been revealed by the Masked Magician on Magic's Greatest Secrets Revealed.

And the sort of clients high paid consultants and coaches target aren't the sort of people who think that knowing the secret to a trick is the same as being able to do it.

If you want to make it to the top of the advisory professions, you have to be working on client issues that are tough and complex and require significant expertise, experience and judgement to solve. Those are the projects that earn the “big bucks”. If the client can solve the issue by himself simply by “knowing the secret” then you're working on the wrong issues.

By giving your advice and recommendations in a sales meeting you're helping your potential client to evaluate one of the key criteria they're going to use when deciding whether to go ahead with you: does this person know their stuff? Have they got the capabilities to do the job?

So what is the real risk that sharing your expertise creates?

The risk is inappropriate advice.

If you immediately jump into advising the client in a sales meeting on what they should be doing before you've thoroughly listened to and explored their issues – then your advice will most likely be inappropriate. And the client will feel you haven't really understood them.

If your advice-giving consists of telling the client what they need to do – rather than sharing what has worked for others in similar situations or what you would do in their place (but not knowing all the facts yet) – then you're giving inappropriate advice. And the client will feel you're being pushy and taking over.

If you're not softening your advice with phrases like “well, obviously I don't know all the details of the situation – but from what I can see, your best course of action is probably…” then the client will feel you think you know it all and don't respect them.

You see, the other key criteria clients will use in evaluating whether they want to work with you is interpersonal.

“Can I get on with this person? Would I enjoy working with them?”

Often these criteria are applied unconsciously – it's just a feeling. But often it's more powerful than the more rational criteria about your expertise.

After all, how would you feel about working with someone who didn't listen to you, who thought they knew everything, and told you what to do without getting your perspective?

You might put up with that for a little while.

But for a significant project where you're going to be working closely with your advisor, you absolutely have to get on with them.

That means that for consultants, coaches and other advisors you must learn how to give advice in ways that engage and enthuse potential clients. Not in ways that, to be blunt, piss them off.

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