More Clients Memorandum

The most useful sentence I ever read

Posted byIan Brodie on June 23rd, 2013.

Have you ever been in a meeting with a client or potential client where you felt something was going on, but you just didn't know how to deal with it?

Maybe you felt a certain unease coming back from your potential client when you proposed that project.

Or maybe it felt like your client wasn't really paying attention when you discussed the agenda for your next meeting.

Or maybe you got the impression they just didn't believe you when you told them about the improvements they'd get from your service. Or it felt like they were “fobbing you off” when they asked you to write up a proposal for them.

Sometimes you know something's not quite right, but you don't know what to do about it.

So typically what we do is plough ahead.

We ignore the feeling of discomfort we have. We proceed as if the client has fully bought in even though our gut is telling us they haven't. We just get off and do that proposal even though in our heart we know there's something else the client is looking for.

And nine times out of ten, our gut instinct was right. The client had a concern they weren't voicing. Or some bigger issue was on their mind. Or they really weren't interested in the project but didn't want to say so, so they asked for a proposal anyway.

Years ago I read a sentence in the book “Let's Get Real, Or Let's Not Play” by Mahan Khalsa that changed the way I handled these situations and made a massive difference to the outcomes I got.

It said: “If you feel it, find a way to say it”.

So you'd say something like “I'm getting the feeling that this may not be exactly what you're looking for right now” and then wait for their reply.

Or “It feels like something else is a bigger priority for you right now – would you like to focus on that instead?”

Or “you know, I'm getting the sense you're not really convinced this'll work – what's your concern?”

If you feel something isn't quite right, get it out on the table.

Not in an aggressive or accusatory way. Talk about what you're feeling and it doesn't make it seem like you're blaming them.

It takes a bit of courage to do this. You might not want to hear what they have to say. But it's a lot better to hear it now when you can do something about it than let the concern fester and have it come back to bite you later.

And more often than not they'll open up. They'll tell you what's concerning them. It'll be a relief for them. They didn't come out with it initially because they didn't want to hurt your feelings.

And once the issue is out in the open, you can deal with it. Or if it can't be dealt with, you don't waste any more time both pretending things are going swimmingly. You part amicably.

This is an incredibly powerful approach when you're in a sales meeting with a potential client.

Usually what happens when you feel your potential client isn't quite ready to buy is you wheel out reason after reason why this is a good thing. And it feels more and more to them like you're trying to push something on them.

But if you just say “it feels like you still have maybe a couple of concerns about moving ahead…” they they usually tell you exactly what the issue is. And often it's something you just wouldn't have thought of yourself.

Once it's out in the open you can address it. Unspoken, it becomes a barrier to the sale.

All it takes is that little bit of bravery to be honest with the client and tell them what you're feeling.

And you get a huge payoff.

More Clients Memorandum

Nothing lasts forever

Posted byIan Brodie on June 16th, 2013.

A few years ago I interviewed Greg Alexander, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index for my Authority Marketing Podcast.

I've just read a new interview with him by David Meerman Scott. It's a fascinating read.

Greg's a hardcore sales guy turned consultant. And he tells how he initially built Sales Benchmark Index with traditional sales activities – particularly cold calling.

But then in 2011, his outbound lead generation just stopped working.

“It's like somebody slammed the doors shut.” he says in the interview.

Greg's view isn't that somehow his competitors outsmarted him. It's that his clients just got too busy to accept interruption based marketing. He stopped being able to get their attention.

So in 2011 he switched to inbound lead generation.

He researched his buyers' problems and how they solved them. And he and his team started regularly creating valuable resources that helped address those problems: blog posts, white papers, diagnostics, webinars.

Turns out my podcast interview with Greg was part of that process ;)

And it's working. They're currently having over twice the number of client meetings they used to have, and revenue is up over 50% already this year.

But for me, the important point isn't the specifics of what Greg and his team did.

It's simply that they did something.

They spotted that their lead generation efforts weren't working. They figured out why. And they started doing something that would work instead.

Many businesses are finding that the lead generation strategies that worked well for them in the past just aren't as effective any more.

If you're in that position. if you can no longer rely on word of mouth or networking or cold calling to bring in the new leads and clients you need; you need to do what Greg did.

First, decide to take action.

Then look for ways of generating leads that don't rely on interrupting your clients or on them having the time to go to events and meetings to connect with you. Because, frankly, those days are over.

Implement lead generation strategies that work today. Strategies that add value to your clients in advance of you working with them. Strategies that build your credibility and relationship.

And don't just wait until your current lead generation strategies stop working completely. Nothing lasts forever – so keep monitoring them and testing new approaches.

More Clients Memorandum

Your bravest decision

Posted byIan Brodie on June 9th, 2013.

Your bravest decision is…well, we'll come to that in a minute ;)

I don't consider myself to be a particularly brave person.

Sure, I've left the corporate world to do my own thing. I've got up on stage in front of hundreds of people. I've stood up to a few bullying executives.

But nothing I'd consider out of the ordinary.

Until I spoke to a friend recently over a few drinks.

He'd been watching a few of the videos I've been doing and he remarked that I seemed “more comfortable in my own skin”.

In particular, he said it seemed like the “real me” on video. Not an image I was trying to project. Not some all powerful guru expert.

Just me.

Not wearing a suit and tie. Not dispensing wisdom like a professor. Just sharing what I've found.

And surprisingly enough, “just me” seems to be working.

A few years ago Huthwaite did some research into how people who sold different things were perceived by their clients.

And they found that people who sold professional services (that's you and me) were perceived as less trustworthy than those who sold products.

Less trustworthy than people who sell used cars or double glazing? Ugh.

Out of the three components of trust in their model (in their words, candour, competence and concern) the area that apparently lets us professionals down is showing concern and empathy for our clients.

So we're viewed as knowing what we're doing, and of being straight with them. But we do much, much worse than product salespeople at building that person to person relationship with our clients.

Accountants, lawyers, consultants; we're trained “to be professional”. To be objective, fact-driven and solution focused. We're conditioned into feeling we must constantly demonstrate our cleverness and expertise in order to be credible.

But all of this mitigates against showing genuine human concern for clients and their challenges.

We put on a veneer of professionalism that prevents us connecting deeply with our clients.

And so your bravest decision is to strip away that veneer.

To open up. To be you.

It's brave because it gives you nothing to hide behind. It's you out there, warts ‘n all. And not everyone is going to like you.

But for those you do click with, that relationship will be far stronger than the superficial professional to professional relationships most people have.

And that means more loyalty. More work. More fun too.

More Clients Memorandum

Is it just me?

Posted byIan Brodie on June 2nd, 2013.

Is it just me?

For a marketing and sales teacher, I seem to be remarkably intolerant of being marketed and sold to these days.

Thanks to Sky+ I fast-forward through the ads on TV. I close popups on websites on autopilot. I unlink from people who send me sales pitches or unsolicited “newsletters” on Linkedin. And don't get me started about people who call me up trying to sell me stuff.

Worst of all: people who seem to think that because we've gone to the same event it's their duty to tell me how brilliant their products and services are despite the fact I've indicated no interest in them.

Our attitudes, our client's attitudes, change all the time. And our marketing needs to change to reflect this.

I don't mean that we should abandon direct mail or referrals or other tried and tested marketing approaches in favour of newfangled, unproven technologies. Far from it.

But we need to use them in a different way.

Clients don't want to be bothered, interrupted, sold at. And these days they won't tolerate it – they'll go elsewhere.

So our marketing needs to be valuable, useful, entertaining.

If people tell you your marketing is so helpful to them you ought to charge for it, you know you're on the right track.

If your ideal clients think of your marketing as something they want to tune into, not switch off, then you're on the right track.

If they actively seek it out, subscribe to it, pay attention to it, learn from it, laugh at it. Then you've got marketing that can cut through any cynicism and reach even the most overworked, short-of-time client.

It's not rocket science. It's not costly. It just requires a different way of thinking.

Instead of trying to “persuade” people they should hire you, you prove you're the right choice by giving them value in advance of working with you.

And you know what? Not only is that sort of marketing better for your clients. Not only does it work better. It's more fun too.

Give it a go.

More Clients Memorandum

My Achilles heel (one you might have too)

Posted byIan Brodie on May 26th, 2013.

I spoke to a couple of my email subscribers recently.

Josef and I chatted over skype. We discussed a bunch of stuff but one thing I picked out was when he said “I read your email about Fiverr last week. Not heard of it before but I went on and got a logo for my new business and some quick market research done – all for $10 total”.

The other was a coffee I grabbed with Steve just before a meeting he was about to have with a potential corporate client. He'd got the meeting using a social media strategy I'd recommended (despite the fact that his MD had written off social media).

The common factor in both cases was that they actually did something with the advice they'd read.

They didn't just read and think “oh, that's interesting”. Or “yes, he's right, I knew that”.

They did something. Immediately.

In Steve's words: “I'm an implementer”.

I have to admit, that's often my Achilles heel.

I love to read and learn. I love to be at the leading edge of new techniques and strategies. To discover them before anyone else.

But I'm sometimes hesitant to “pull the trigger”.

Given the choice between implementing something or learning more about it so I can make sure I implement it perfectly (eventually) – I get learning.

Very many people are like me in this way I've found. And unfortunately, it really is the wrong way to do things.

Sure, if a little more research will give you a whole lot better result, then do it.

But that's not usually the case. usually a lot more research gives you a little better plan.

Nine times out of Ten, a B grade plan implemented today gets you much better results than an A grade plan implemented next week.

And that one time out of ten, you usually procrastinate and put it off another week anyway.

So do this right now: make a resolution to do something this week. Implement something you've been thinking of for a while but haven't pulled the trigger on.

Something you're sure will work, but you've been hesitating because you'd like it to work even better.

Better can be version 2. Do version 1 now.

More Clients Memorandum

Are your services worth more than a fiver?

Posted byIan Brodie on May 19th, 2013.

Hey there – I have a question for you this week.

Over the last few years I've farmed out lots of little jobs like getting logos made, creating intro videos, etc.

In the past I've hired designers for logos and spent hundreds of pounds. Sometimes I've tried to do it myself and spent hours fiddling around without getting what I wanted.

But for the last few years I've user fiverr.com.

If you've never used fiverr before you ought to give it a try. It's a website where freelancers offer to do things for, well, a fiver. Dollars that is.

People offer to do anything from business tasks like making intro videos, recording short voiceovers, doing some SEO work through to getting dressed up as a wizard and singing happy birthday to someone of your choice.

The last time I used it I searched for  logo design. Found someone with great feedback on the site and a good looking portfolio and told them what I was looking for.

$5 and three days later I had an excellent looking logo that was as good as anything I've bought before.

So, good for me, but incredibly scary if you happen to be a designer trying to make an income from logo design.

Or anyone doing any of the myriad services being offered on the site.

One of the big impacts of the web has been to make it much, much easier to find what you're looking for. And that cuts both ways.

If you're the best, or one of the best at what you do, the wonderful thing is that clients can now find you without you having to work for a big firm with a well known name.

But if you're “just” good at what you do and there are plenty of others equally as good – then it spells big problems.

The ugly truth is that many service providers have been able to charge high fees and get plenty of clients simply because their clients couldn't find anyone better.

Right now, not only do we have a pretty stangant economy globally where clients are buying less, but it's never been easier for them to find someone better, or someone just as good who costs less.

Maybe not always for a fiver. But quite probably for a lot less than you'd like.

So you've got to ask yourself. Do you want to become a leading expert that people who need the very best seek out and find? Or do you want to be one of the pack fighting it out over price?

Are your services worth more than a fiver?

More Clients Memorandum

Fitting marketing into a busy schedule

Posted byIan Brodie on May 12th, 2013.

last week I talked about the importance of marketing even when you're busy with client work.

This week I'm going to share some examples of just how you can do that.

The first approach is the simplest, and perhaps the most effective. It's simply to block out a regular slot for marketing.

That slot could be half a day a week, or two morning sessions or whatever.

The key is that no client project should need you to work every hour of the day every day of the week.

It might seem like that at times. But no client really needs you there “24/7”. When you're agreeing and setting up your work if you focus on the value and outcomes they'll get rather than the hours you put in then your time becomes much more flexible downstream.

If you work on-site with clients, don't try to do your marketing from there. It's disrespectful and you'll be disturbed anyway. Spend a morning working from home, your office, your hotel room, a coffee shop. Anywhere that gets you away from the day-to-day environment.

Once you have your slot, the next step is to get off to a fast start.

One problem many of us have is that it takes us ages to “get on a roll” with our marketing.

Because its not second nature, when we sit down to focus on marketing we find we need to think from scratch about what to do with our time, what our priorities are.

Then when we do decide, we've got to get ready. Find those client contact details. Get out our notes on that presentation we were preparing. Search for those emails we were going to reply to.

By the time we get our act together we've lost half our marketing time.

So make sure you're well organised. Keep a special notebook for marketing ideas and plans so you always know where to look. Flag your potential client's contact details in your CRM or email system so you can find them easily.

When you plan your week, include your marketing activities so that when you sit down in doing mode you don't um and ah for ages trying to figure out what to focus on.

Once you've got your slot and you've got going, the third step is to make sure you don't waste your time.

No surprises here: switch off email. Switch off your phone. Switch off twitter and facebook. Switch off anything else that might distract you.

It's a feature of modern life that we seem to need stimulation and interruption every few minutes. It's like we can't bear to be alone with our own thoughts in silence.

But it's those silent moments where we're the most productive. Where ideas hit us. Where we get “in flow” and rattle off our presentation slides in 30 minutes.

Don't disturb the flow. Difficult as it may seem, you need to disconnect and block interruptions.

Even put a “do not disturb” sign on your door. Or put on some headphones to block outside noise (and avoid people disturbing you).

One final tip: fit your marketing to the time and resources you have available.

Back when I was an employed consultant I ended up running a project pretty much full time in Utrecht.

Unfortunately, Utrecht was nowhere near any of the clients I wanted to build relationships with – so face to face marketing was out.

And it was one of those projects that involved intense face to face client work almost all the day. It was incredibly tricky to slip away to make calls or work on marketing.

So I ended up doing my marketing late in the evenings in my hotel room.

Instead of kicking back watching TV or socialising, I made sure I spent an hour or so every night doing marketing I could work on in isolation but leverage later.

I wrote white papers. Created presentations. Emailed ex clients and contacts to keep in touch. Got busy on Linkedin.

You can't do “back office marketing” forever. But while I was stuck unable to do anything face to face I made sure I used the time I had productively.

There's always something you can do to further your marketing no matter how restricted you are for time and space. It just takes a little thought.

So think about how you're using your time. As I said last week, one of the biggest keys to keeping a full pipeline is to keep marketing when you're busy with client work.

Make sure you're one of the few that does it.

More Clients Memorandum

The very worst marketing mistake you can make…

Posted byIan Brodie on May 5th, 2013.

..is stopping marketing when you've got lots of work on.

I know that doesn't sound like a huge disaster – but hear me out.

If you cut back on marketing when you've got plenty of clients, not only does it mean that you suddenly have to scrabble around for work when your boom period ends…

…it also means your marketing is going to be WAY tougher when you do start it back up.

If you need clients in a hurry, you don't have time to build relationships. You don't have time to build your credibility. Instead you end up using brute-force methods to try to find “hot prospects”.

As I explored in a recent blog post, if you take a long term view then there are plenty of leads out there. Plenty of people who will need what you have in 3, 6, 9, 12 months time.

What's in short supply is people who need your stuff right now. And if you do happen to find them, chances are they're already hooked up with someone else who's taken the time to nurture a relationship with them.

But if you keep marketing when you've got plenty of client work you can be establishing those relationships and building credibility well in advance of them needing help.

By the time you need the work, many of those people you've built relationships with will be ready to buy. And they'll already trust you and know what you can do.

If you have to win work in a hurry from a standing start, then the only sort of work you'll win is work where the client doesn't need to have established a relationship and you don't need to build credibility. That's commodity work. Painful and low reward.

In next Sunday's email I'm going to be sharing some of the ways I've found to fit marketing into your schedule when you're busy with client work.

But the first step is critical: you have to recognise you need to do it. It's not just “nice to have”, it's absolutely essential.

More Clients Memorandum

Is your “shop window” letting you down?

Posted byIan Brodie on April 28th, 2013.

I get emails every now and then from professionals frustrated that they're not getting the clients they feel they deserve. Their less talented competitors seem to have all the luck and be in the right place at the right time.

When I look at what they've been doing with their marketing though, it turns out it's almost never down to luck.

Usually their website looks nice – but it has no content on it that would let anyone know what an expert they are in their field.

Do they do many presentations or run seminars showcasing their expertise? Nope – they go to networking events and tell people how great they are rather than demonstrating it.

Articles, a book, a podcast, email marketing? Nope.

In essence they're expecting their potential clients to have psychic powers – to magically know how good they are without ever proving it.

It's a bit like having a retail store with nothing in the shop window.

Can you imagine a clothing store without the latest fashions showing in the window? A technology store without any gadgets on display? A bakers without mouthwatering cakes, tarts and breads on show?

Smart retailers know they can't just tell people what's inside the store or rely on them knowing. They have to show their best stuff in the window to entice customers in. And then they have to give them a chance to “try before they buy”.

Fashion outlets let you try on the clothes. Tech stores let you play with the gadgets. Bakers always have a little sample tray so you can see that their stuff tastes as good as it looks.

You've got to do the same in your business.

You've got to have a shop window that showcases what you can do. And you've got to have some way that potential clients can “try before they buy”.

That could be a blog or videos on your website. A regular series of presentations or webinars you run. Articles in magazines your clients read.

Hiring a professional to help with a critical issue in their business or life is a huge decision or most people. If you don't have a decent shop window it's no surprise they turn to someone else.

More Clients Memorandum

Do you have this vital business-winning trait?

Posted byIan Brodie on April 21st, 2013.

I met an accountant at an event a few weeks ago.

Nice guy, senior partner in smallish practice. Very good accountant it seemed. But his business was struggling.

I asked him a few questions about what he'd been doing marketing-wise and the answer was the same as you'd get from most struggling practices. He'd been picking up the odd client from recommendations. And the occasional one from the breakfast networking group he went to.

And that was about it for marketing. Oh, he had an old website that wasn't getting any traffic either. But other than that, nothing.

As we chatted it became clear that he was hoping to find some kind of silver bullet solution to his lack of clients. Not because he really believed in silver bullets, but mainly because he didn't want to do anything different.

Going to a regular breakfast meeting with friends and hoping they'd pass him referrals was inside his comfort zone. As was waiting for clients he'd done a good job for to recommend him to others.

But proactively asking for referrals. Doing presentations to groups of potential clients. Meeting people he didn't know. He just wasn't comfortable with that.

I'm certain he knew that he'd get results if he just started doing more of those activities. But he didn't feel comfortable with them, so he kept looking for something else. A kind of “easy button” he could press to get more leads and clients without having to step out of his comfort zone.

I think we're all a bit like that sometimes. I know I spend too much time fiddling with my website because I enjoy it and I'm good at it, when there are other much higher payoff activities I could be doing.

It takes a lot of courage to try something new. Especially when it comes to marketing as it impacts something we all care about deeply: what others think of us.

We don't want to be seen as pushy. Or desperate. Or needing the help (even if we do).

It takes courage to overcome that fear. To step out of your comfort zone and do something that might not work. To stop worrying so much about what others think about you.

Not heroic levels of courage. We're not putting our lives at risk or anything.

But more courage than most people manage to muster.

If you can develop this vital trait, to be just a bit more courageous with your marketing, you can make a big difference.

I have clients who are trying out video, direct mail, running seminars, blogging. All things they've never done before. And they might not work the first time or even the second.

And like any new skills, while they're learning how to do them it won't feel comfortable. They won't be brilliant straight out of the gate.

But their courage (and a little bit of support from me) will see them through the challenges.

How can you develop this kind of courage?

In my experience the best, perhaps the only way, is to start small.

Try something new that's just a bit outside your comfort zone. Get help and support to make sure it's a success.

That'll give you the confidence to try something bigger. And then something bigger.

And pretty soon you'll be taking on things you never thought you'd be able to do. And it won't seem all that courageous (even though it is).