Navigation

Searchtime

Featured

Get Clients Online

How To Get More Clients Online: Part 2 – Build Relationships

Posted by

Ian Brodie on September 5th, 2010.

This is the second in a series of posts on how to get more clients via online approaches for your professional business. It's written specifically with small and independent consultants and coaches in mind – but the lessons are applicable to other professional businesses.

Relationship Building: The Missing Link

If you've been looking into internet marketing for any time you'll no doubt have heard the “secret formula” for success on the web – traffic x conversions.

It's a statement of the blindingly obvious really: to get business on the web you need to get visitors to your site and convert them into customers. In some ways it's about as insightful as telling an offline retailer that the secret of success is to get customers into their shops and persuade them to buy.

At least it's succinct and it helps to focus your activities.

But for getting consulting, coaching or other professional services clients online – it's not sufficient.

The trouble is that unlike buying a book on amazon or even a TV from an online electronics store, clients aren't going to buy complex, costly, intangible services after just one visit to your site.

Before clients have the confidence to hire you to perform a high value, high impact service for them they need to be convinced you understand their issues, you have the capabilities to help them, and that you'll be a good fit to work with them and their team.

That confidence isn't going to be built in one visit to your site.

You need multiple interactions. And the deeper those interactions are, the more the client's confidence will be built.

This is a big gap for most professionals. Visitors to their site passively consume the content, but there’s nothing to engage them and start up a relationship with them. Nothing for them to interact with – except perhaps a lonely contact form asking visitors to make contact if they need their services.

In fact, there are many ways to build relationships with website visitors. You can encourage comments and feedback on your blog. You can run surveys. You can create a forum for discussion around specific topics. You can encourage them to link up with you via social media. Anything that takes them beyond being passive consumers of the information on your site to being active participants.

Active participation and interaction is the key to taking your relationship to the next level. The more they feel they’re communicating directly with you – not just reading your material like they’d read a book from a distant author – the stronger your relationship will get.

For most professionals, the simplest way to get more interaction and more direct communication is via an email “newsletter”.

I put newsletter in quotes, because although that’s what they’re most often called – in fact their focus shouldn't be on news. Updates from professionals with news on what’s happening in their company, who’s moving departments, which clients they’re working with, and the latest services they’re offering are typically filed straight in the trash by clients.

But newsletters which share useful information about the area in which the consultant is an expert – and which the client needs ideas and support in – are read with enthusiasm and filed where they can be found.

Not by everyone, of course. Not everything you send out will be valued by all your subscribers. But keep producing valuable, insightful material and you’ll find you engage much more with your potential clients.

They’ll start emailing you. Thanking you for your material. Asking you questions. And eventually, contacting you about your services.

And, most importantly, since by signing up they've given you permission to pro-actively contact them – you're not reliant on them remembering to come back to your website and remembering how to find it. You can actively keep in touch and nurture your relationship with them – you're in control.

This was really brought home to me a few months after I started producing my own newsletter.

I noticed the number of emails and contact form submissions I was getting from potential clients had gone up. So I tracked back the communications from a few of the recent enquires which had eventually turned into clients.
Over half of the emails had come within a few hours of the person contacting me reading the latest edition of my newsletter.

It wasn’t the first newsletter they’d had from me. In most cases they’d signed up a few months previously. They’d read a few issues of the newsletter and clicked through to a number of other articles.

But reading the latest issue of the newsletter in each case had “tipped them over the edge”. They’d been convinced I knew what I was talking about and had contacted me with details of a particular issue they wanted me to help with.

And notice – in each case they contacted me. I wasn’t pushing anything at them. Over time the articles on the website and the newsletter had convinced them I was the right person to help them.

As you can imagine – that makes the sales conversations with these potential clients an awful lot easier than if I’m pushing and promoting, or up against other equally well positioned competitors.

There’s a saying in the world of online marketing that “the money is in the list”.

I hate the saying. I hate calling valued potential clients who’ve chosen to receive communications from you a “list”.

But the meaning behind the saying is absolutely true. Your valued subscribers are your greatest asset online.

Featured

Get Clients Online

How To Get More Clients Online: Part 1 – The Power of a Content Rich Website

Posted by

Ian Brodie on August 29th, 2010.

This is the first in a series of posts on how to get more clients via online approaches for your professional business. It's written specifically with small and independent consultants and coaches in mind – but the lessons are applicable to other professional businesses.

The Power of Content: My Story

About three years ago I first started out trying to do more online with my consulting and coaching business. Back then, few consultants or coaches were getting any sort of business online – but I was convinced from my experience wih other service sectors that it could work.

And I knew that if I could make it work for me it would pay huge dividends. It would free me up from having to invest a ton of my time into going out, networking, having meetings, making presentations, schmoozing and other time consuming business development activities.

And I also believed strongly that if I could attract leads for my business via the web, they could be more qualified. Rather than me having to knock on doors to persuade people I was the right person to work with, I wanted people coming to me already predisposed to hire me.

But my early attempts weren't a huge success.

I paid big bucks for a fancy website. It wasn't bad either – it followed what was considered best practice at the time. It talked about who my clients were, the problems I helped them solve and the results they got from working with me. It described my services in benefit oriented terms and showcased testimonials and case studies.

It had pretty much everything.

Well, everything except clients.

Almost no one came to my site (despite paying for some search engine optimisation work). And those that did come didn't hang around for long.

Now being a bit of a geek at heart, this annoyed me.

I wanted to know why not. I wanted to know why some websites could get thousands of visitors and could convert many of those visitors into paying clients when mine couldn't.

My first clue came when I created this blog.

I started it for fun really, and as a creative outlet for my ideas on business development. But within a few months it was getting more traffic than my official “corporate” website.

And people were emailing me. Leaving comments on the blog telling me how helpful the articles were. I emailed them back and we began to build relationships. That had never happened with my “corporate” site.

Soon, other bloggers were linking to my blog and recommending it.

As more and more sites linked to my articles and blog posts, my blog rose up the search engine rankings. It got more and more traffic – both directly, and via searches. Visitors kept engaging. When I started a newsletter they engaged even more.

And then I started getting emails from people asking me about how I could help them in their business. In other words, clients were coming to me. Not because of my fancy corporate website. But because of my simple, content-rich blog.

And that's the lesson here: the most important factor in the success of a website for a consultant, coach or other professional is the quality and depth of the content on that website.

Now most professionals' websites are simply “brochure sites”. They describe what the professional does, who they work for, the benefits they bring to clients, etc. And that's fine – if the potential client is coming to your website explicitly to check you out and see whether you're a good fit for them.

But the truth is that the vast majority of people aren't out on the web looking for us specifically. They're out looking for ideas, solutions and resources. In other words: content.

High quality content helps us get clients in three key ways.

Content drives traffic. Other sites are more than happy to link to high quality content on your site as it adds value to their readers. Whereas they have no motivation to link to your site if all it has is descriptions of you and your services – no matter how well written.

Content drives engagement. Visitors to your site stick around and explore if they find useful content. If all there is is a sales pitch for your services they click away pretty quickly.

And content drives credibility. As a professional, clients need to know you have the expertise and experience to help them before they'll consider hiring you. Sharing valuable content which gives them insight and helps them improve their business proves your capabilities infinitely more than any claims you make or even any testimonials you might have.

In short, having the passion and energy to consistently create valuable content for your website is THE biggest driver of online success for professionals.

Featured

Strategy

How to Nurture Business Development Capabilities

Posted by

Ian Brodie on August 13th, 2010.

I'm currently on vacation in France, sipping on Stella Artois and musing on why the French always seem so much more sophisticated than we Brits.

For holiday reading I'm skimming through Malcolm Gladwell's latest book – “What the Dog Saw” – a collection of some of his New Yorker essays.

I like Gladwell. Sometimes his research is a little sloppy, but he's always thought provoking, challenging and often very insightful. Great for holiday reading: not too heavy.

On of his essays is on the challenge of hiring people for jobs that are different from what they're currently doing now. He uses the example of trying to select quarterbacks for the NFL.

Apparently, quarterback performance in college football is a notoriously poor predictor of success in the NFL. Because the opposition is shorter, smaller and slower than you'd find in the NFL, quarterbacks have much more time and options. They can just stand and pick out passes to any of their receivers.

In the NFL they have far less time. Huge linebacks descend on them, they have to move before throwing, anticipate where the defence is going, and have fewer open options.

As a result, quarterbacks that excel at college level aren't necessarily equipped to do well in the NFL. The same isn't true for other positions where the skills are similar – just at a higher level.

Similarly, it turns out that qualifiactions and courses are incredibly poor predictors of how good teachers will be in practice. Being able to engage with children, to “command” their attention and spark their interest in learning has very little to do with the academic qualifictions teachers pursue in college.

So what does all this have with business development in professional service firms?

Well, the challenge many firms have in trying to find and grow effective business developers is that the early careers of most professionals don't involve much business development, or the practice of the skills needed to win work.

In fact, in many professional firms, because of the obsession with billable hourse, all activity other than fee earning client delivery gets crowded out. “High performers” have often sacrificed all non-billable activities like building fledgeling client relationships on the altar of billing more time. So when they're eventually called upon to win work for the firm, those “high performers” often stumble.

Other firms try to identify “selling skills” by looking for extroverts and people with the “gift of the gab”. They're essentially using the stereotype many people have of a “typical salesperson” to try to identify those in their own team with potential to succeed at business development. In reality, however, there's no evidence to suggest that extroverts are any better at selling than their more introverted colleagues.

So what's the secret? How do you identify people who will make good business developers?

There's only one way to find out: test.

Give all your associates the opportunity to practice selling skills. To go out and form relationships with potential clients. To actively nurture those relationships over time. To convert those relationships into sales.

Give them training and mentoring. Monitor their progress. Then select based on actual performance at business development – not on technical performance or what you think the characteristics of good business developers are. Select on actual performance.

Far too many firms select too early, based on the wriong criteria. They think they know who's got “the right stuff”. But they don't.

Casting the net much wider in your search for rainmakers seems like an expensive strategy. Wouldn't it be better to focus training, mentoring and experience on the ones most likely to succeed?

Well, it would. But the truth is that you just can't tell from a professionals early career just who is likely to succeed at business development. Very often it's not the high flyers or superstars. Sometimes it's the people you'd least expect. So you must cast the net wide.

But the returns from this approach can be huge. Excellent business developers can bring in an order of magnitude more business than the average: sales of 5x, 10x or more that of their peers isn't unheard of. And that's certainly worth expending a bit more early on to get.

Featured

Marketing

How To Build Yourself As The Authority Figure In Your Industry

Posted by

Ian Brodie on August 7th, 2010.

Today's article is a guest post from Travis Petelle of Breakthrough Business Solutions. Travis has picked up on my ideas on Authority Marketing and shares some excellent tips on how to build an authority position in your business.

Building yourself as an authority figure in your niche could possibly be the best thing you could do for your business. It promises easier sales, more prospects knocking at your door, and overall a much simpler time getting what you want. Expecting this respect to just fall in your lap is foolish at best. You must take action to build yourself as the authority and that's what I wanted to cover in this article.

As Ian stated in his article, Authority Marketing: The Essentials, becoming the authority is more than just having the expertise. There are plenty of professionals with expertise in your industry available. Each one of them probably has about the same amount of knowledge and expertise in the subject. What's going to make you different? What's going to allow you to stand out from the rest of the crowd and have people begging to hear more from you. Building you as an authority will.

There are a number of ways to do this. You could add simple things to your website, create masterpieces that help your audience, or get hosted in several locations. Allow me to show you some great tactics that could easily increase your credibility and authority in your industry.

Instant Authority Builder – Become An Author

Writing a book and getting it published in your industry is one of my favorite ways to build authority. I often work with doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, and one of the main projects we focus on is making them a published author. When the public sees this, they instantly think of you as a higher authority. You are instantly seen as knowing more then others in the subject. It also opens the door to media coverage which I will get into later.

Becoming a published author isn't as difficult as you might think. If you aren't much of a writer, you can always hire a ghostwriter to help you get what you know down on paper.

Depending on your industry, you might find it difficult to get a book published by major publishers. There's an easy fix to this as well. Get your own book published. Amazon offers an easy to use service that will publish your book for a relatively cheap price. Just having that physical product with your name on it is what builds the authority.

Don't Be Afraid To Speak In Public

Public speaking is a great method to build your credibility and the influence you have on prospects as well. The reason it's such a powerful method is because you are helping the audience. Public speaking is all about informing others. In a consultant's example, once you show one member of the audience how to double his business by contacting his database, he will start talking to his friends about what your speech did for him. The power of referrals is tremendous and public speaking is a key step to fast referral building.

Make Good Friends With The Press

When you generate attention from the press, your authority will quickly build in your industry. Even just a simple newspaper article about your business or a guest spot on a radio show can and will get customers knocking on your door. There are always new stories developing that are related to every industry. The key to grabbing the attention of a reporter or radio producer is creating a captivating angle on these stories. Once you offer them something their readers will enjoy, they will keep an eye out for your name and what's going on with your business. Having a book and doing speaking events really helps put you in the press's spotlight as well.

Building Authority From Your Website

You all know how important your website is in today's market. It's where 9 out of 10 customers of any service or industry research before they buy. This is why it's so important to begin the process of building you as an authority from your website. It's the first place they are going to look to learn more about you. Here are some simple things you can do to help start building that authority:

Add Association Logos – BBB, BNI, Local Chamber of Commerce, etc.
Adding logos of places like FedEx, UPS, and USPS helps. These companies spend a lot of money to market themselves and just having their logo can cause credibility to rub off on you.
Have methods of payment accepted logos such as credit card logos. Shows you have been approved by 3rd party vendors who have spent millions building their credibility and they have approved you. You could also add PayPal or other online checkout logos if you accept internet payments.
Offering a powerful guarantee and make it a logo.
List a local phone number and a toll free number if marketing out of your area.
Post icons that show as seen on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Bing, etc…
Include any awards you have earned even if it's not directly associated with your work. Charities often award these type of certificates, etc.
Any press release or news story featuring you or your business should be on your website.
Splashing testimonials across your website in random locations shows that what you do works.
Celebrity endorsements will rock your credibility even if they are just industry specific celebrities. Having pictures of you shaking hands with the celebrity etc.
Contact page including a picture of your office or building, Google Map, Fax , etc.
Link to Secretary of States office with YOUR business listing
A video of you speaking about your industry will boost your authority as well.

Becoming an authority in your industry is key to creating a highly successful business. As the authority, people come searching for you…not the other way around. You get the opportunity to start turning down clients instead of wondering where the next one will come from. So, get out there and start learning how to influence people.

This was a guest post by Travis Petelle. He is the president of the consulting firm, Breakthrough Business Solutions.

Thanks Travis!

Featured

Mindset

How Not To Keep In Touch – IBM Style

Posted by

Ian Brodie on August 4th, 2010.

It's important that you keep the contact details of your prospects and customers up to date. But here's an example of the wrong way to do it…

I got a phone call a couple of days ago from IBM – or rather from one of their offshore call centres.

Is that Mr Brodie?

Yeah, that's me.

Can I confirm your address please?

Hang on, who is this calling?

I'm calling from IBM. [Now sounding quite annoyed]Can you confirm your address please?

Er, no.

I'm sorry. Can I confirm your address please so that IBM can contact you?

Actually, no. I don't think I want IBM to contact me. Bye.

Now there are many things wrong with they way they handled that call. But the biggest thing it brought to mind for me is the huge shift in my (and most other people's) willingness to put up with these sorts of calls over the last 5 years.

5 years ago I'd have been most obliging. I'd have given my details over so that IBM could get their stuff to me.

Today, not only do I not particularly want to give over my details in case I get sent junk – but I even feel resentful that they're wasting my time with the call.

Today, if you want to get anything from me on a call – even answering a few quick questions, I'm going to have to feel I'm getting something of value in return. In fact, I need to know that within the first few seconds of the call or I'm already tuning out and thinking of ways to get rid of you.

I don't think it's just me. We're all incredibly short of time these days, incredibly cynical about why people want our details, and incredibly intolerant of being “sold to”.

So next time you or your team need to make a call to get some information from a client or prospect; think how you can actually make the call valuable to the person you're calling rather just a drain on their time and energy.

If you want to confirm their address, for example – offer to send them a free report in a subject area of interest to them. That way they get something in return and it's logical that you need their address to be up to date.

Want to carry out a client survey to get feedback on where your firm can improve its performance? Offer to create an individual action plan as a result showing how you'll improve your performance for them.

Anything you need from them: give them something back in return.

Otherwise each non-valuable communication is one step further to them becoming an ex-client.

———-
What do you think?

Are we all less tolerant these days of communications that don't add value to us?

Or is it just me getting grumpy in my old age?

I'd love to hear your views – drop me a comment in the comments box below.

Thanks!

Featured

News

Social Media vs the Lawyers: The Case of Chris Cardell

Posted by

Ian Brodie on July 22nd, 2010.

Please Note I have had to remove a number of comments from this blog post. The comments were reports from readers about their experiences with Chris Cardell's products and services. Mr Cardell has threatened me with legal action if these were not removed (ironic on a post chastising him for trying to gag bloggers with legal action, I know). I have removed them until I can confirm the veracity of the claims against him.

There's an interesting little storm brewing over here in the UK.

There's a fairly well known business guru here called Chris Cardell. He does seminars for small business owners and has online membership clubs etc.. I can't comment on the quality of his work as I've never bought any of his stuff – however you can get a general idea of feedback by googling his name.

Earlier this year Cardell ran a direct mail campaign where the piece being mailed was made to look like a newspaper clipping with an article singing his praises with a post-it note attached in handwritten script saying “Ian, I saw this and thought of you. This guy is brilliant. Have a look at his website” and is signed “J”. The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK ruled the ad to be misleading and the claims in it unsubstantiated and told him not to repeat it.

He also came in for criticism that the “free gifts” he advertisised in the piece came with an expensive monthly subscription plan attached that many people found it difficult to unsubscribe from.

Recently he ran the piece again in slightly modified form (I got one myself and it fooled me for a minute or so).

I guess what he hadn't counted on was the uproar this approach would create in the social media world. Dozens and dozens of bloggers wrote posts on it. Some credited it with being clever – but most decried it as being deceptive and unethical.

The end impact was that if you google his name you get an awful lot of negative vibes. So much so that the first additional word suggested by google when you type in “Chris Cardell” is the word “scam”. That can't be good for business.

Update: He's tried to counter (or maybe even take advantage of) the scam association by running an adwords campaign targeting “Chris Cardell Scam”. he appears at the top of the paid listings, and directs people to a page where he calls traditional advertising a scam. So maybe he's hoping people will think that “Chris Cardell Scam” really means his views on advertising being a scam – rather than the original meaning of people thinking his direct mail was a scam.

So what's Cardell's answer been? Has it been to go back and review his campaign and whether he should be running it? Has he realised that in todays social media dominated world you just can't get away with some of the things you used to get away with?

No.

He's hired a bunch of lawyers to send threatening Cease and Desist letters to bloggers to get them to take down their blog posts.

I'm not sure if they've sent similar letters to google to get them to remove the blog posts from their cache, or the Internet Archive to wipe them from the Wayback Machine!

Will his bully-boy tactics work?

Personally I think not. It's one of the great things to have come out of social media that you just can't get away with things or bury them under the carpet any more.

In even the recent past you could succeed with brilliant marketing and a mediocre product because it was relatively difficult for buyers (especially via mail order) to get any real feedback on what your product was really like. Nowadays you can. The truth is out there, and thanks to google it's a doddle to find it on blogs or via social media channels.

Now it may well be that I end up getting a Cease and Desist notice for this innoccuous blog post. But rather like the little Ants in Pixar's Bugs Life standing up to the big mean old grasshoppers – every time one of us gets knocked down, another will stand up to take their place, then another, then another. I believe that even big bad grasshoppery gurus and law firms can't take on so many of us blogger ants forever.

In fact, a number of posts just like mine have started appearing reporting on his attempts to legally gag bloggers. Here's one from popular IT commentary blog The Register.

I'll keep you updated if I get the big bad old letter…

What's your view? Is Cardell doing the right thing? Will it work – can he silence criticism from so many bloggers? Will it backfire? Drop you comments in the box below – I'd love to hear them.

Featured

Marketing

Authority Marketing: The Essentials

Posted by

Ian Brodie on July 10th, 2010.

In recent posts I’ve been musing over the concept of Authority Marketing. After my last post where I talked about the benefits of establishing authority, one reader rightly posed the question: “what’s the difference between authority and expertise?”

It’s a good question. We all feel intuitively that authority implies something more than expertise – but it’s sometimes difficult to put your finger on exactly what it is. Is authority just the upper echelons of expertise? Or is there something more to it?

Authority is Expertise + Influence

For me, the key is that while an expert is defined by what they know; an authority is defined by who listens to them.

In other words, you can be an expert by knowing a lot. But to be an authority, people have to listen to your expertise and act upon it.

An authority is the expert people turn to for guidance. When they speak, people listen.

So to become an authority, you must not only build your expertise, you must build your influence.

I’m very tempted to do a 2×2 matrix here with expertise on one axis and influence on the other. But I’ll refrain from consulting cliches on this occasion.

To be influential, you must communicate, and you must be persuasive.

And this is where many professionals fall down. They have a high degree of expertise, but they're unable to communicate it in a persuasive manner to their target clients.

Some don't communicate at all. They're either uncomfortable marketing – or they've fallen into that terrible psychological trap of believeing they're entitled to be respected and listened to because they're experts.

Others communicate badly – they stumble, or confuse and complicate.

Others communicate, but don't persuade. Their communication is informative – but it doesn't guide listeners to action.

Authorities simplify (without oversimplifying) the complex. They give clear recommendations and courses of action to take. They communicate frequently and effectively. And they're listened to.

What will it take for you to become an authority in your field?

Featured

Marketing

Linkedin Profiles – My Shocking Findings

Posted by

Ian Brodie on June 16th, 2010.

My latest tips on building a Client Winning Profile for Linkedin are now on a free, short video – click here to watch it.

Last night I was finalising a training course I ran today on Linkedin. I was having a quick look round at people's profiles for good/bad examples – and what I saw shocked me.

First a little bit of background:

In my landmark post 10 Linkedin Tips for Professionals (still showing on page 1 of google for “linkedin tips”!) the very first Linkedin tip I shared was to build what I called a Client Focused profile.

When most people join Linkedin they do one of two things.

After going through the process of telling Linkedin your education and previous jobs you get the chance to create a summary. This is the main thing people will look at when they visit your profile – it's your opportunity to say exactly what you want them to read when they do so. Most people spurn that opportunity.

Either they put nothing in their summary at all, or they essentially copy the text from their resume and talk about the jobs they've had, the responsibilities they've held, the achievements they've made, etc.

It's a huge mistake.

Your achievements and responsibilities may be great for a resume – but are you actually looking for a new job right now? Did you join Linkedin to use it as a place to store your resume for all to see? Probably not.

Most of us aren't looking for a new job most of the time. But we are on the lookout for new clients most of the time.

For the vast majority of professionals, their Linkedin profile summary should be written to give the right impression to potential clients or potential referrers (depending on whether they typically get their work mainly directly, or mainly from referrers).

It's not hard. Figure what impression you want to give to clients and referrers and write to create that impression in your profile.

Perhaps you want to come across as an expert, or someone who's approachable and easy to do business with. Or experienced. Or fun. Or empathetic.

Whatever it is, figure it out. And prove it in what you write. Your profile summary is the thing that's looked at more than any other – and it's under your control.

It will be looked at by potential clients who you meet and then who check you out online afterwards. It will be looked at by potential referrers who you offer to connect with.

It's not rocket science. Don't mess it up.

And yet last night, when I looked at a random set of profiles I was truly shocked by what I saw. They were awful.

I searched for profiles containing “managing director” in the job title.

What I got in the first 10 I looked at were:

2 who had nothing in the profile summary at all.

1 whose summary said “for information go to www.mysite.com/myprofile” (if he couldn't be bothered to copy and paste a decent profile onto Linkedin what on earth makes him think the people reading his page would be bothered to copy and paste his website address to go and see it?)

1 who just listed some consulting jargon words. Business Process Reengineering, ERP, etc.

3 Who said nothing about themselves – just what their company did. No personal connection at all.

1 Who told me all about his vision, his favourite mottos, the rules he lives by (but nothing about what he might be able to do to help me).

And only 2 who had reasonably descriptive profile summaries that actually said who they worked with, and how they helped them – so that I was able to see whether I'd be interested in connecting with them further.

And these were all very senior people.

Frightening really.

Featured

Mindset

Think Like a Fish

Posted by

Ian Brodie on May 21st, 2010.

Captain John Rade catches a Sea Bass Legendary copywriter Gary Bencivenga tells an insightful story about Long Island fisherman Captain John Rade.

Rade was a rod fisherman who out caught all other fishermen day-in, day-out. In his little motorboat he'd put out to sea and regularly come back with a bigger haul than boats with dozens of fishermen on them.

A local journalist interviewed him once and asked him what the secret of his success was.

“Well” he said, “when other fishermen set out to sea, they think like fishermen”.

“I think like a fish”.

OK – so it sounds simple, trite even.

But how many of us really think like our clients?

Rade apparently studied fish, and the ocean, obsessively. He knew what different currents meant, different weather conditions, and how the fish would react in each. He was able to go where the fish were, and offer them the bait he knew they'd take.

Are you a real student of your clients? Do you know what they really feel like when they've got the sort of problem you deal with – or they're thinking of hiring a professional like you?

Sure, you've probably skimmed the market research. Maybe even read the results of feedback or focus groups which reveal what clients feel comfortable sharing in public.

But how often have you put yourself in their shoes? Immersed yourself in what it must be like in their position?

What do they feel when they first approach a professional if they've never hired one before?

Here's a starter: fear.

Fear of looking stupid. Fear of being ripped off. Fear of losing control. Fear of what might happen if things go badly. Fear of what might happen if things go well.

Next time you meet with a client for the first time, think like a fish, not a fisherman.

For my in-depth guide to building deep understanding of your ideal clients so you can think like a fish, go here:

» Customer Insight Mapping «

Featured

Marketing

Authority Marketing

Posted by

Ian Brodie on April 22nd, 2010.

Authority Marketing Sometimes my blog posts are fully formed ideas that I'm sharing, or examples of best practice from my experience, or a snippet of the training I deliver.

But sometimes the blog acts as more of a conversation with myself as I explore a new concept or topic. This is such a blog post. What you read below is more like you're looking over my shoulder as I scribble ideas in my personal journal. It's not a fully formed idea. It's not something you can pick up and implement right now. But it might help your thinking.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

——-
In my recent post on vertical differentiation I highlighted that the best marketing positioning for most consultants, advisers and other professionals is not one that's “different” to their competitors – but “above”. In other words, “we're the best in the field” – where best translates to best results.

How do you achieve that positioning? Through what I call Authority Marketing.

Authority Marketing is the process of establishing yourself or your firm as a leader – an authority – in your field.

Why is it important to establish yourself as an authority?

Well, direct marketing guru Dan Kennedy said a rather long time ago “it's all about the offer”.

In marketing we obsess about writing compelling copy, about design, image etc. But as Kennedy says, the single most important determinant of whether someone buys is the offer we make them. It's the value of our product or service.

You can have copy written by David Ogilvy himself, but unless you're offering something of high perceived value you won't get sales. Or to put it another way: you can put lipstick on a pig…

So how do clients determine value for professional services?

Well, of course it's dependent on the situation. Some clients just want a basic service at low cost. But to be frank, I don't want to play in that game – and neither do most professionals.

It's actually very difficult for clients to determine the value of a service they're going to get from a service provider. More often than not, the service will be tailored to the specific needs of the client. So in theory, all providers offer the same value because they're all offering the same “solution”.

What's different is the client's perception of how well they're able to deliver that value – or what the risk is that they might not deliver it.

And that's largely dependent on the perceived expertise and authority of the professional.

If the client doesn't believe you're an expert in your field – then the only part of the value equation you have to play with – the only way to differentiate yourself from your competitors – is through price. That's not a good place to be.

But how many of us focus on establishing our authority in our marketing and business development efforts? Not many.

Networking is the favoured approach of most professionals – be it face to face or social. But although it's a great way to meet potential clients, how easy is it to establish your authority in your field? Usually not easy.

Yes, they get to know you, like you and trust you.

And the old saying goes – all other things being equal, people buy from people they know, like and trust.

But guess what? If you're competing against an Authority Marketer – all things aren't equal.

If you're up against someone who's already perceived as an authority, you're starting with a huge handicap.

Yes, I like to do business with people I know and like. But if I'm developing a new strategy for my business, or if I want to minimise my huge tax bill, or I need my case defending – I want the best (within my range). So I'll pick someone I perceive to be an authority.

Look at most professional service firm's websites. What do they have on them?

About Us, Our Services, The Way We Work, Our People, Our Values, blah blah blah.

Nothing to establish their expertise or authority – other than claims about their great people and leading edge thinking. No proof.

And by proof I don't mean testimonials. They're 10 a penny.

What I want to see is examples of your expertise. If you're in marketing, show me some new marketing ideas. Get me excited about new insights I've not seen before that I can really use in my business.

And think about your own marketing for a moment.

What if instead of trying to “get in front of clients” or “establish our brand values”, the objective of your marketing was purely to establish yourself as an authority in your field.

What would you do differently? What approaches would you use that you don't use today? What approaches would you tweak and use differently? And what approaches would you drop? And how might that make clients perceive and react to you when they first meet you face to face?

Worth thinking about.

There'll be more on Authority Marketing in upcoming posts.

Update: I've developed more thoughts in this area in a more recent post on authority marketing:

Older Posts Newer Posts