Marketing You: Do Prospects Trust You?
May 31, 2010
I had a couple of experiences this week that I wanted to write about but struggled with how to tie them into one subject. Then I attended a Bay Area Consultants’ Networking (BACN) meeting and had the pleasure of hearing Jeff Slayter and Kane Minkus speak about the “7 Attributes of Highly Successful Consultants”. One attribute they talked about is Congruency and how, as business owners being congruent in our actions is essential for getting prospects to trust us enough to want to buy from us.
Do Your Actions Match Your Words?
Congruency is about matching. And in terms of marketing and business success it’s about our words matching our actions and behaviors. We’ve all heard that only about 7% of communication is the words that we speak, so the rest is how we say it (tone), our facial expressions, eye contact, how we sit or stand (i.e.: whether or not we fidget (I’m guilty of this one) or stand or sit solidly), and dozens of other physical actions.
So now, armed with this new re-learned term – “congruency” – I can share with you my experiences and let you decide – do these business owners display a sense of trust? Are they exhibiting congruency?
1. I was at a local restaurant with an entrepreneur who sells water filtrations devices for your home. His marketing strategy is to enlighten people about the dangers of city water: it’s full of chemicals and contaminants that cause a plethora of horrible diseases and it’s completely horrible and unhealthy and we’d be better off drinking lead paint than unfiltered city water. I noticed that during our meeting he drank 2 cups of coffee and half a glass of water – tap water. Hmmmm, how bad is our city water again??? I felt like offering him a bite of my Phthalates –rich handbag to wash it all down.
2. I received an email from another local entrepreneur who claims to be an internet marketing expert. The intent of the email was to ask if I’d give feedback on an upcoming ezine he’s publishing about how to use internet marketing to grow our businesses and make more money. A few details about the email: a) it was addressed to “dear friend”; b) the first line of the email read, “you are receiving this because we met at a networking event, we’ve done business together, or have partnered in some way; c) and the kicker – every single recipient of this email was listed in the “To” field- so much for privacy! As a marketer I was embarrassed for this person. This email broke every rule of effective email marketing.
3. Another business owner stood in front of a group of about 50 consultants to announce an upcoming social media class. She said, “Our next class starts in June. There is a waiting list, but we have a few seats left.” Wait a minute… if you have a waiting list, how can there be seats left? Well, this incongruence happened to be by yours truly. 
And what I said isn’t what I meant and I’m sure that little inconsistency came across as dishonest to some.
Trust = Consisitency
So, what’s my point? My point is that besides being entrepreneurs, businesses and brands, we’re human. And being human, we’re full of inconsistencies and contradictions; some are minor blunders, slips of the tongue, some are a bit more deliberate and manageable.
These experiences, the lesson on congruency and my own lack of it really got me thinking: how often am I sending the wrong message to prospects and customers? When are my actions not matching my words? I’m taking a hard look at how I interact with prospects and customers to make sure my integrity, passion and honest desire to help is what is conveyed, not only in everything I say but more importantly, in everything IDO.
Where are your incongruence’s? Have you noticed them in others and if so, what kind of impression did it leave on you about their credibility?
I look forward to hearing from you. Please click here to leave your comments. (And then scroll down to the comments section on the bottom of the page)
How to Stay Encouraged in Business when it’s not Encouraging
May 23, 2010
Chris Brogan recently wrote a blog called “It’s Easy to Get Discouraged” in which he talked about how easy it is to get discouraged when certain people get negative about you or your work. It was a good post and it addressed an age-old problem: how do we keep our sense about us when faced with (outside) criticism. 
His blog got me thinking, what happens when the criticism and doubt comes from within? How do we stay encouraged when our very own psyche is getting negative on us and critiquing all we do?
Running a business is hard. Staying in business is even harder. Many of us go into it wide-eyed and bushy-tailed thinking we have what it takes to beat the odds. After all, we’re different, we’ve learned from others’ mistakes, we can make it work! Then reality starts to beat you down. Customers don’t come as easily as you expected. Outside forces begin to put pressure on you to produce more, faster. Just like Chris Brogan said, it’s easy to get discouraged.
Is this the thing that separates the successes from the failures? The ones that can continually overcome the self-doubt and self-discouragement rise to the top while the want-to-be entrepreneurs who let those feelings devour them sink to the bottom like a lead balloon?
This week I want to reach out to you and ask you: How do you avoid getting discouraged? What do you do to battle that self doubt and negativity that creeps into your mind – that voice that says, “who are you kidding? You can’t do this – get a job ya bum!”
I look forward to hearing from you. Please click here to leave your comments. (And then scroll down to the comments section on the bottom of the page)
5 Reasons to Build a Word of Mouth Marketing System
May 16, 2010
I constantly hear things like “most of my business comes from referrals”, “word of mouth is the only marketing I need”. But when I ask these business owners, “So, how’s business?” I hear, “slow”, “things are tough right now” or “I don’t have enough customers”. 
By far, word of mouth– or referral – marketing is the best kind of marketing there is. But what I usually see is a passive approach to referral marketing as opposed to an “active” approach. Most business owners have no real system in place to drive referrals on a consistent and regular basis; they just show up to their networking events and referral groups, cross their fingers, and hope someone will have a hot lead for them. This type of referral almost happens by chance, doesn’t it? Yet, I constantly hear – “Word of mouth is all I need - 90% of my business comes that way ”. But my question to them is this; is 90% of “not enough” enough?
What if you could be more proactive about referral marketing and actually put a system in place to improve the number, quality and consistency of referrals you get? What if you could have more control over when and how they come?
In his new book, The Referral Engine, John Jantsch gives 5 great reasons to take the time to build a systematic approach to referral marketing:
- People love to give referrals – People love to help other people and they like to appear smart and in the “in”. If someone can offer a tip to a friend, family member or colleague about a great product, service or business, it makes them feel (and look) good. So, don’t be shy about asking for referrals, you’re actually doing them a favor!
- Greater ROI (Return on Investment) – Good referral marketing isn’t usually free. There are costs associated with joining networking groups, printed materials and maybe incentives. But compared to some of the other forms of marketing (print, radio, television, etc.) the potential for return –when done correctly – can be huge.
- More Qualified Prospects and Customers – When you “train” your referral sources, i.e.: meticulously describe to them your best customer, the quality of prospects and customers you get will be better.
- Built-In Credibility and Trust – People like to work with people and companies they trust. It’s hard to trust someone you’ve never met face to face. But it’s easy to trust a friend, family member or colleague- so if someone who has already gained the trust of the prospect refers you; you’ve already achieved a level of credibility and trust.
- Fewer Issues Regarding Price- your referral source did the selling for you! They already told the prospect how great you are and the value you deliver so you don’t have to compete on price.
Would you like a free preview of John Jantsch’s new bestselling book, The Referral Engine? Click here to download a free chapter.
What do you think?! Please click here to leave your comments. (And then scroll down to the comments section on the bottom of the page)
-
- Sign Up for The Best Free Marketing Advice and Tips You Can Get!
Get Great Images!
Let's Get Social!
-
+Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company
- Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company specializes in helping small to medium sized businesses get the customers they need to sell more, increase profits and achieve all of their business and personal goals. We do this by implementing and managing marketing systems based on data and strategy - there is no guess work. For more information visit us at: FortuneMarketingCompany.com. We'd be glad to help!
Free Report: 7 Easy Steps to Small Business Marketing Success
