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For what seems like an eternity, MasterCard has been running the “Priceless” ad campaign.
You know the ones I mean…
A man has a terrible cold, runny nose, cough, the works.
As he purchases things with his MasterCard, the narrator gives us the prices:
Hot soup, $4.00
Cold Medicine, $11
Tissues, $1
Blanket, $24Making it all better, priceless.
People don’t buy soup or cold medicine. They don’t buy tissues or blankets.
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A service is a promise.
You can’t touch it. Smell it. Or try it on and see if it causes a blister when you walk around in it.
It’s just words…
“I will do XYZ for you. I promise.”
Your prospect is skeptical. Will you do what you say you are going to do?
Of course, to make things more difficult, you are a tiny business. You don’t have a strong brand that reassures your prospect that you have been around a while and you are trustworthy.
That’s what brands do. They remind prospects that everything is going to be alright. We are big. We do this all the time.
As a tiny business you can forget about a six or seven figure ad campaign to build your brand. Nope, you have to build your trust in other ways.
Here are three powerful methods for straightening out those skeptical eyebrows.
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Often, your prospect will just tell you.
Something like:
“The last accountant I hired wasn’t responsive. I had to let him go.”
or,
“I worked with a business coach two years ago and she got too personal.”
You better believe it. This is an objection to working with you.
They have been burned.
And they are staring across the table at you wondering if you will burn them too. Someone has tainted the image of all members of your industry in the mind of this prospect.
You are guilty until proven innocent.
First, be aware that it is very likely that your prospect has dealt with someone else in your industry. In the case of something like accounting or insurance, nearly everyone will have had a previous experience.
Ask yourself this question — “Why is this prospect switching providers?”
Now, ask the prospect.
Questions like the following will cause a prospect to reveal their scar:
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We put up barriers.
Not intentionally but nevertheless, they are there. If there were zero barriers, we would have a 100% conversion rate. Every sales call would result in a sale.
If you are closing at this percentage, don’t read this article. Instead, start a marketing and sales consulting business. I’ll be your first customer.
If you want to improve your close rate and build stronger relationships with your market… read on.
Here is how to overcome 13 overlooked barriers between you and your market:
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We, as Tiny and Mighty businesses, should adopt that as our mantra!
We should then practice it every day! The fact is that it’s not very hard to distinguish yourself from others in a positive way. Amazingly, it’s relatively easy because so many people don’t GET IT!
Those subtle little differences can make all the difference in how others perceive you, your products, services and business.
Here are some examples:
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The concept isn’t new, the tactics are.
Business has been done this way for decades. What is different is the tools we are using to execute this strategy and the power we now have as tiny business owners to make this strategy work.
Here is the 3 step routine:
Television, radio and print advertising all work this way. It’s not new.
It all starts with the content. If the content is no good, there will be no audience. No audience, no offer. No offer, no money.
Think about what happens to television shows with poor content. They are unable to gather an audience and therefore, there are no advertisers willing to make offers around that content. For further information, see any television program Julia Louis-Dreyfuss has done since Seinfeld.
It’s important that all three aspects of the routine be in place and be executed consistently. Without content, there is no audience. Without an audience, there is no one to which to make offers.
Ask yourself this question:
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Do you want the idea for your product or service to spread like a virus?
Find those that are doing all the talking and promote them.
“It’s not about what you know. It’s not about who you know. It’s about who you know knows.“
This post is about finding those that can take your product or service viral — they are called the sneezers.
A sneezer is someone that is influential and commands the attention of others in a particular niche. They are different sort of folks.
They are borderline obsessive about a product or service — think Star Trek convention here.
They have an audience. People look to them for the “Gospel” about the product or service in this particular niche.
Some of these people are absolute rock stars (in their niche.) You know, these are the sort of people you think are gods and your friends couldn’t pick out of a police line-up.
In your industry, when they talk, people listen.
They are early adopters of new ideas in your niche, they make judgments and they share those judgments with their audience.
These are the sneezers and this is how you find them…
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In 2004, I met with a small business loan officer to discuss an SBA loan.
I was all but laughed at.
I understand. They needed a solid three years of Profit & Loss statements. They wanted to know my cash position. They wanted a business plan.
My answer … I have no P & L’s (it was my first year), no cash position (I was broke) and a business plan I typed up on Microsoft Word using a Quickbooks template.
No dice, they said.
It was then that I realized I was talking to the wrong people. I didn’t need the Small Business Administration (SBA), I needed the Tiny Business Administration (TBA.)
Upon further investigation, I learned a few things about what the federal government thinks is a small business.
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Let me get this straight.
You know…
But you don’t blog.
So you’re in one of those non-sexy industries, eh? An industry where it makes no sense to blog?
What do you sell? Office Supplies? Real Estate? Karate Lessons?
No matter what you are selling, you can get all the benefits of blogging. You just need to put on your thinking cap.
Let’s get busy…
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