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The 100-year-old military strategy is the key to winning high-value clients

Posted byIan Brodie on January 10th, 2021.

If you're looking to win high-value clients you could do a lot worse than listen to the advice in Frederick W. Lanchester's 1916 book “Aviation in Warfare”.

It's advice that was taken up by Deming after the second world war and used to great effect by Canon to enter and dominate key markets.

Lanchester's observation was that in battle (and in business), advantages are typically exponential rather than linear. And that in military terms a smaller army is therefore far better off concentrating its forces to attack a small outpost where it can have superior numbers locally than it is to try to take on the enemy head-on.

When it comes to winning high-value clients the same thing applies.

You're far, far better off concentrating your “forces” on a small number of high-potential clients than spreading yourself thinly pitching for a large number of projects.

Firstly, high-value clients take a lot of winning.

The stakes are higher so they need more convincing. And that means more time spent building credibility and trust.

And often there are multiple people involved in the decision-making process and official hoops and processes to go through. Again, more time needed.

And secondly, you're likely to be up against more competitors aiming to win the same big prize.

You can't just do a little bit for a lot of clients and expect to win a percentage of them in this situation.

You have to be selective and go “all in” on a few.

Make sure you invest the time to stand head and shoulders above the rest.

And the great thing is that by focusing your efforts you can beat much bigger competitors. Because no matter how big they are, they still divide their resources “efficiently”.

It means that you can spend much more time and energy on your selected prospects than they do.

You can be the one that's top of mind with a stronger relationship and better credibility.

But only if you focus and choose to spend time with some prospects and not others.

It starts with picking a “Perfect 10” and I'll cover that in our next email.

PS Credit to Paul Denvir and Kevin Walker who were the first to talk about “Lanchester Strategy” for winning clients in their book Growing Your Client Base.

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This one thing builds relationships by email more than anything else

Posted byIan Brodie on December 20th, 2020.

There's a lot you can do in emails to enhance your relationship with your subscribers.

Honesty and openness is a good “trick”.

Telling stories that share a bit of your life and personality. Actually having an opinion about stuff. Admitting to your mistakes. Showing empathy for their challenges.

But the very best thing for building relationships is something you'll rarely see advised.

It's simply to write emails that get replies. Either because you ask for them, or because you write on topics that people are interested in replying to.

Most email marketing works on the principle of trying to reduce human interaction. That way you can reach thousands of people efficiently.

And that works for Amazon, or online marketers pitching products where people are buying the thing, rather than the person behind the thing.

But when we're marketing high-value services, the relationship is vital.

And relationships aren't about efficiency. Relationships come from human beings interacting with each other.

So the thing to do in your emails isn't to try to automate the heck out of everything. It's to use your automated emails to trigger more personal interaction.

An email reply from a subscriber turns into a personal reply from you and then an email conversation. Maybe even a call.

And then that person feels much more like they have a relationship with you. Because they do.

They'll find it much easier in future to shoot you an email or give you a call if they're looking for help. You're no longer a distant information provider. You're a responsive connection. A friend even.

And really, it's not all that inefficient to do this.

If you have a few thousand email subscribers, only a handful will email you back each time. It's perfectly manageable.

But each email you get back is a new or enhanced relationship

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The scary P word

Posted byIan Brodie on December 16th, 2020.

Persuasion.

There. I've said it.

A lot of people really don't like the P word. They worry that persuasion means something underhand and manipulative. Getting people to do things you want them to do rather than what they want to do.

But the reality is that adults spend rather large chunks of their time persuading – whether we want to admit it or not.

If I want the kids to do their homework, I have to persuade them. The alternative is just to hope they'll be inspired to do it themselves which never quite worked with our kids.

If I want to watch the Newcastle game on the big TV tonight I have to persuade Kathy that it's a better option than watching a Christmas movie (again). Newcastle games usually beat Christmas movies by the way. But Christmas movies beat everything else I might want to watch.

If I want you to join Momentum Club I have to persuade you that it's in your interests. Usually by telling you about the benefits you’d get from being a member. Or maybe by showing you what other members have got from it. Or maybe offering some kind of incentive.

Persuasion is something we do hundreds of times a day whether we realise it or not. And it's nothing to shy away from, as long as you do it ethically.

And it's something you need to be able to do in your emails if you want to actually help people.

You've spent all this time getting the attention of your audience. But unless you actually get them to do something different, it won't do you or them any good.

There are a million different models of persuasion and how it works. But I like to simplify it down to three big factors which I'm going to cover in the next emails.

Firstly, people are more likely to do what you ask if they have a relationship with you. If they like you and trust you.

Secondly, people are more likely to do what you ask if they see you as an expert or authority in the area you're trying to get them to do something in.

Or put another way, you're more likely to follow the financial advice of a qualified and experienced professional than someone you just met in the pub. Or at least I hope so. And if you like them and think they have your best interests at heart then that's doubly true.

Both those factors are contextual. You build relationships and establish authority in advance of the act of persuasion. When it comes time to ask someone to do something, all that work you put into building credibility and trust then pays off.

The final factor is more immediate.

I don’t have a great phrase for it, but it's to use persuasive strategies and techniques.

Not tricks. Not deception. But simply making your case in the best way possible to persuade someone.

Telling them about the good things they'll get if they follow your advice. Pointing them to others they respect who followed the same advice and got great results. Showing how following your advice is consistent with their previous actions. Making it easy for them to say yes.

Nothing underhand.

But techniques which can considerably increase your chances of getting a yes.

At least I hope so as I now have to tell Kathy about that match tonight…

See you next time with ideas on how to establish relationships in your emails.

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The interest payoff

Posted byIan Brodie on December 13th, 2020.

If you want people to pay attention to you over the long term, there's got to be some kind of payoff for them.

Otherwise they simply stop reading.

The obvious payoff is the value and results they get from your emails. But there's also a payoff for your readers in your emails simply being interesting.

I hesitate to use the word ‘entertaining' because it's not like they need to be laugh-a-minute or great works of drama. In fact, I think that can be counterproductive.

But by spicing up your emails a little you can maintain interest and ensure people get the messages you're trying to send.

Ultimately, how you make your emails interesting is a function of your personal style and how you want to come across.

Some people are loud and controversial. Others are funny. Others are thoughtful with deep insights. You have to kind of grow into your own style.

But here are some thoughts on different ways of making your emails interesting that might give you a good starting point.

• Firstly, try to focus on making one main point per email
  – otherwise your emails get confusing and boring
• Use stories. You could do the whole email as a story in parable/fable style. Or my preferred style is to use a “micro-story” as an introduction to your main point – a few sentences to set the scene.
• Use interesting analogies and comparisons your audience won’t have seen before
• Include surprising or contrarian ideas
• Share “behind the scenes” information and “what’s working now” from what you're doing in your life and how that relates to what you're teaching
• Hook into current events (though avoid the overused “5 leadership lessons from the Olympics” every 4 years)
• Write a series of related emails so that readers look forward to the next email in the series

You don't have to use all of these different techniques. I tend to tell personal stories, use series of emails, and throw in the odd quirky reference that happens to grab me at the time and make me smile.

Play around with different approaches. See which you enjoy. See which get a response from your readers.

No matter how valuable your emails are, your readers can only take so much raw information. That's why the most popular non-fiction books aren't textbooks – they're written by people like Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Bryson and Ben Goldacre who know how to tell a good tale.

We don’t have to quite hit those levels. But we do need to keep our emails interesting if we want people to keep tuning in, hearing our messages, and eventually being ready to buy from us.