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Real authenticity

Posted byIan Brodie on November 3rd, 2013.

I sent out an email last Sunday entitled “Doorbell embarrassment”.

It told the story of how I'd been interrupted by my visiting parents when doing a webinar (and my kids were so “busy” on the xbox they didn't answer the door).

The point of the email was about how we spend so much time worrying about maintaining a professional image – yet in truth our real supporters don't care. In fact they appreciate seeing the ‘real” you.

I got more replies to that email than any I've sent out for years. All supportive. All agreeing and expanding on the point.

A lot of people used the word authentic in their reply and I think there's absolutely a growing expectation for the people we follow, interact with or buy from to be authentic. To be open and “real”.

I started thinking about authenticity, and what we can all do to be more authentic with our clients.

It's not easy.

In my field I see a lot of what I would call “scripted authenticity”. People recording “candid” videos in their back gardens with their kids rather conveniently captured on HD video with perfect sound and lighting. Or getting all weepy about their wonderful clients in a rather too perfectly written and structured sales video.

All carefully planned to have an emotional impact on you.

That kind of stuff makes my skin creep a bit. It seems to work for some people, but it's not for me.

One of the things I'm trying instead is to be transparent. I show you what's working (and not working) for me so you can apply the same lessons to your business.

Are you doing something to be more authentic in your business?

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Playing the big game

Posted byIan Brodie on October 27th, 2013.

I caught a rerun of one of my favourite films this week: Rounders.

If you haven't seen it, the film charts the rise, fall and rise of law school dropout and poker natural, Mike McDermott (played by a young Matt Damon).

The main plot follows McDermott as he tries to win enough money to pay back the debts of childhood friend Worm.

But there's a really interesting subtext which always grips me.

As the film reaches its climax, McDermott reaches out to his mentor Joey Knish to borrow money to take another tilt at his nemesis, Teddy KGB.

Knish turns him down and berates him for taking too many risks, for going for the big score and risking losing it all.

Knish is a “grinder”. Day in, day out he grinds out a living playing 12 hours a day against weaker players, slowly taking their money with percentage plays. Never taking any risks.

As he says, “I'm not playing for the thrill of f-ing victory here. I owe rent, alimony, child support. I play for money. My kids eat.”

There's great nobility in being a grinder.

Both my grandfathers were miners. Breaking their bodies underground to feed their families and put a roof over their heads.

Both my parents were teachers. They didn't always love what they did, but my brother and I got a great education and opportunities they never had.

There's a wonderful, selfless nobility in being a grinder.

And yet…

And yet, Mike McDermott knew he had the chops to play a bigger game.

When he'd won enough to pay off the loan and avoid the beating that came with non-payment, Teddy KGB goads him to play for bigger stakes. McDermott knows that quitting while he's ahead is the safe play. The one Joey Knish would make.

“You can't lose what you don't put in the middle….but you can't win much either” he says.

He risks it all for a shot at the big time. To follow a dream.

Sometimes. Just sometimes, you know in your heart the big play is the right thing.

Sometimes you've got to get above the grind and play a bigger game.

See you in Vegas ;)

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My doorbell embarassment

Posted byIan Brodie on October 20th, 2013.

So, about 20 minutes or so into a webinar I was running for Momentum Club members a while back on “How To Win High-End Clients” and our doorbell rings…

It's my parents. They've been visiting and have just come back from a visit to the shops.

The doorbell rings again. The kids are supposed to answer the door but they don't. Probably up in the loft on the Xbox.

The doorbell rings again. I can't leave my parents out in the cold so I have to apologise to the webinar attendees and head off to let them in.

A rather quiet 20 seconds later and I'm back on the webinar feeling rather embarrassed.

After we finish I'm still embarrassed and I get an email from my friend Brendan Cullen who was on the webinar.

“Your break for your parents is great raw material for an email!” he says.

So here it is. But what lesson can we learn from it?

Well, originally I thought “I'll write an email about how I should have prepared better”.

But I quickly realised that nothing bad actually happened.

I'm pretty certain that no one on the webinar suddenly started thinking “well, Ian was talking sense about winning high-end clients. But now he's answered the door he doesn't seem quite so credible”.

Like most people, I worry rather too much about my “image”. About looking professional. Not having any hiccups.

And it's great to always put your best foot forward.

But sometimes caring about our image holds us back. We never finish that great article about a topic we think is important because we're worried what other people might think.

We hold back from doing a quick video to share our ideas because it might not look professional enough.

The truth is that if people like you, you have useful insights to share, and you do your very best to help them; then they won't really care if you have the odd hiccup.

In fact it kind of adds to your appeal. You're fallible like them.

Don't let wanting to “look professional” hold you back.

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Avoiding “The Chase”

Posted byIan Brodie on October 13th, 2013.

Does this sound familiar…

You have a meeting with a client. They seem very enthusiastic about working with you. You send them a proposal and…

…nothing. No feedback, no call, no email.

So you email them to chase up and ask about progress.

No response.

You email again. Again no response.

You call and get voicemail.

And so the chase has begun.

You can't win the chase. Even if you do get through eventually you now seem so desperate that you lose all that expert positioning you worked so hard to build.

There are some things you can do to avoid the chase.

Firstly, at that initial meeting, always agree a specific follow-up date and time when you'll discuss next steps with them. That way you have an agreed meeting or call. It's downright rude if they don't show up. So you're not chasing when you follow up.

Secondly, follow-up with a full stop. Don't call and leave a message to say you'll call back. Then call back to leave a message to say you'll email them. Then email to say if you don't hear from them you'll call.

You're conditioning them to expect you're going to keep calling. So they don't need to take any action themselves.

Instead, call once, and if you get their voicemail leave a polite message saying you haven't heard from them, but if they want to discuss they can call you on such and such a number. If you don't hear from them you'll assume priorities have changed and you'll close the file on this one.

Then the ball's in their court. They can't rely on you keeping calling back.

But the biggest, most important way of avoiding the chase is to have enough quality leads that you don't have to worry if this one drops through.

If you don't need this client to sign up, you won't be so worried and keen to chase them.

And rather amazingly, they often pick up on that subconsciously and become rather more keen to chase you.

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Get rich slowly

Posted byIan Brodie on October 6th, 2013.

Warren Buffet often says “the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest”. He makes his money from long-term investments, not short-term gambles.

Winning clients works the same way too.

Trying to win clients quickly with no previous relationship is really rather tricky. And if you do, they're rarely the best clients. Much more likely to be folks who shop around.

If you want to win the very best, most loyal clients, you have to invest regularly and repeatedly in building relationships with them over time. Use a little client-winning compound interest, as it were.

Of course, it's tough. I've been there myself.

When you've got other things on your plate, especially client work, then investing in keeping in touch with potential clients where you many not see the returns on that investment for many months or years takes discipline.

My advice to my clients is often to dedicate Monday mornings to marketing. That way you don't get dragged into all the other issues that emerge during the week. And you're not yet worn out by all the energy you put into doing a great job for your clients.

Establish a habit of working on nurturing new client relationships every Monday morning and bit by bit, your investment will grow like compound interest.

You'll get rich slowly.

But surely.

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The dreaded S word

Posted byIan Brodie on September 29th, 2013.

If there's one word guaranteed to send an uncomfortable shiver down the spine of even the toughest consultant or coach it's “selling”.

Something about the word brings up associations with Willy Loman, Ricky Roma (or over here in the UK even more unfortunately, Del Boy Trotter).

Despite the fact that before we get hired we almost always have to talk to potential clients face to face or on the phone, most of us hate the idea that we might possibly be be considered “salespeople”. Or that this 1-1 discussion about whether we should work together is “selling”.

If you find that process really uncomfortable yourself, here's a simple solution I use with many of my clients in similar situations.

Instead of thinking of the meeting as a sales meeting. Think of it like your very first coaching session together. Or your kick-off meeting to start a consulting or other project with them.

What would you do in those sorts of meetings?

Well, you'd ask them questions to try to figure out what their big challenges were that you'd then work with them on.

You'd probably ask about the impact of those issues to get a sense of which were the biggest priorities. And you'd discuss some of the barriers you might face when it came to working on the issues.

And in that initial meeting you'd probably lay out an initial plan of action for them. And no doubt you'd confirm with them that they thought it was a good way forward.

And that's exactly what you do in your “sales meeting”. The only difference is that at the end, you ask them if they'd like to work with you to help them implement the plan.

(Michael Port puts it rather well. He advises simply asking “would you like some help with that?”).

Now that process isn't the absolute ne plus ultra of selling. But it is one that works, and one that even the most sales-averse professional can use.

If you're struggling to get as many clients from your meetings as you'd like, and you don't feel fully comfortable selling, give it a go.

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Do what others aren’t willing to do

Posted byIan Brodie on September 22nd, 2013.

If you do what everyone else is doing, you're going to end up with the same mediocre results as everyone else.

Common sense really.

To get exceptional results you have to be willing to do what they're not.

Over the years I've realised that most people aren't willing to:

• Invest their time in producing outstanding thought leadership to share with potential clients
• Produce a regular (weekly or more frequent) newsletter to keep in touch to build relationships
• Master new technologies like webinars or online video
• Give up their evenings and weekends to build their marketing assets while still working with clients to pay the bills
• Ask for help when they need it
• Invest their time in research to develop new, valuable and unique ideas for their clients
• Partner with people who might be considered competitors
• Ask clients for referrals and run the risk of them saying no
• Turn down clients who aren't an ideal fit for them

Just being willing to do a few of these puts you way ahead of most of your competitors.

James O McKinsey, founder of the eponymous consulting firm is reputed to have once hired a room opposite a potential client he was pursuing just so he could bump into them “accidentally” in the corridor.

What are you willing to do that others aren't?

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A different and powerful way to think about marketing

Posted byIan Brodie on September 15th, 2013.

Over the years I've gently changed the way I do my marketing.

What I've come to realise is that “little and often” beats “big and infrequent”.

If we're only communicating with our potential clients quite rarely, then it has to have a huge impact every time.

Not only does that put a ton of pressure on us, not only is it really difficult to market so well that we have a huge impact every time – it can also misfire.

In these cynical times, if your marketing is trying too hard to persuade (because it's the only shot you've got) then your client's defences will go up. They'll feel like they're being sold to and won't trust the message.

But if you're communicating with them frequently, it doesn't have to be perfect every time. And you don't have to have a huge sales pitch in each communication.

For example: since I switched to emailing a few times a week rather than a few times a month it's meant that in each of my emails I can focus on sharing valuable information first, and just including a short message about what I have to sell.

Over time, it adds up and has more impact than when I emailed infrequently and had to put more in each individual email about what I was selling.

I guess it's a bit like learning at the right pace over time, rather than cramming for an exam and forgetting it all a few days later.

The “little and often” philosophy also fits well with the time pressures our clients are under. Thinking of emails again, a huge monthly email is likely to get filed to be read later (and then never read). A shorter email every few days can be quickly read when it comes in.

Little and often isn't just about email. It works for networking, giving presentations, appearing in the press.

It's easier to do. And it has more impact. As long as you can be systematic about it and keep it up.

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Don’t just serve your clients

Posted byIan Brodie on September 8th, 2013.

Do you remember Anita Roddick back in the 90s and the pretty meteoric rise of her business, The Body Shop?

The Body Shop focused on the emerging “ethical consumer”. People interested in fair trade, natural products, and who weren't comfortable with the idea of testing cosmetics on animals.

What drove the Body Shop to success wasn't just that they served these sort of customers. They championed them.

They ran awareness campaigns, had posters supporting worthy causes, wore their heart on their sleeves (or in their case, on their t-shirts).

As a result, their customers didn't just feel like they were shopping. They felt like they were part of an important movement. They felt like Anita and the Body Shop shared their values and their ideals. They were on their side.

How loyal were Body Shop customers? Incredibly. They were prepared to pay a lot more for cosmetics from a firm that they felt stood for something they believed in too.

Can you do that in your marketing?

I think so. And it will make it much more powerful as a result.

I don't mean make up a cause just to get more sales. I mean finding a cause you already believe in that your ideal clients do too.

It means being a champion for your clients – not just serving them.

Take my business for example. In my years since leaving the corporate world I've increasingly realised that I really enjoy working with solo professionals and smaller firms.

I feel an affinity for them. I want them to succeed. And I believe they have a ton to offer that gets ignored because they don't have a big company name behind them.

So when I help them with their marketing and they start to get more clients, more visibility and to help more people I feel like I've done some good in the world.

Of course, large corporate clients are more lucrative financially. But emotionally I'm on the side of the little guy.

How about your business?

What can you do to champion your clients? Can you team up with other service providers who believe in the same things you do?

It doesn't have to necessarily be a “noble” cause. In many ways Apple have been a success because they've championed beautiful design and usability. Harley Davidson have championed freedom.

What can you champion?

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Curing yourself of hot lead syndrome

Posted byIan Brodie on September 1st, 2013.

One of the worst diseases you can have in marketing is “hot lead syndrome”. Constantly looking for and chasing potential clients who need what it is you have right now.

It sounds rather innocent. What could be wrong with trying to find people who are ready to buy right now? Cuts out all that faffing around waiting until the time is right.

The trouble is, when what you sell is a valuable professional service, you need to build up a high degree of trust and credibility with potential clients before they'll be ready to hire you.

And that doesn't happen overnight.

A hot lead may be ready to buy right now, but 99% of the time they won't be ready to buy from you if you haven't built that relationship with them.

Hot lead syndrome sees you hopping from prospect to prospect, losing out the vast majority of the time to service providers who've invested in nurturing relationships.

It's a losing game.

Instead, identify who your ideal clients are and catch them earlier when they're first exploring their problems or establishing their goals and aspirations.

Build credibility by helping them get clear on where they should be headed and giving them insights on what they should be focused on to get there.

Keep in touch, regularly adding value as they get closer to making a decision.

Then when they finally become a “hot lead”, you'll be the person they turn to.

It takes courage to invest in building relationships like this. Confidence that it will pay off. And the strength to hold off from desperately chasing hot leads.

But it's far, far more effective.