Harness the power of your personal brand in your business endeavors by removing those self-imposed obstacles that we all create.
1. Forget trying to convince anyone of anything
A man convinced against his will…is of the same opinion still!
Every week I receive a phone call or an email from a misguided entrepreneur who wants me to teach them “how to convince people to buy my service.” I can’t do that. I won’t do that. I don’t believe in it.
Any parent of a teenager knows it’s impossible to convince someone of something. You have to let people convince themselves. After all, the prospective client has their hand on their wallet. You don’t. The prospective client is in charge of what happens. You aren’t. You can control the structure – the framework- of a conversation but the prospective client is in charge of what happens.
People want to be respected for the ability to make a decision that is right for them. Here’s an idea – approach every prospective client conversation from the standpoint that what you do may not be a match for what they need. Please do not discount the incredible power of this approach! It will affect your tone of voice, your phrasing, and the questions you ask. You can even say,
“I’m not sure if what I do is gong to match what you are looking for. Why don’t we talk for a few minutes and figure this out together?”
I’ve said this nearly word-for-word hundreds of times.
Does it create a sense of relief that you don’t have to try to convince someone to hire you? Do you notice how it shifts your focus from making a sale, to finding out if there is a match between their need and your service?
Approach each conversation with the idea that you are exploring whether there is a fit or not. If there is not a fit with this prospective client at this time, you leave the door wide open for the opportunity to work together when the timing is better. If you are hired, your new client will trust you even more. With the rapport you have built, if you are not hired right away, you will still be trusted, and remembered. Rapport leads to referrals whether your prospective clients hire you or not. What more could you ask for?
2. Remove the need to connect with anybody, everybody, and somebody
Your niche is not who buys your service – that’s your Choice (or Target) Client.
So, what is a niche?
Your niche is the heart of what you do. It’s the core result you deliver to your clients. It’s your core deliverable or your unique promise of value. For example, my core deliverable – my niche – is creating community around your brand. It’s not a fancy tag line. It doesn’t even say who I deliver my service to. However, it is at the heart of what I do.
Are you asking yourself, “So just what IS a Core Deliverable?!” There are many ways to think about your core deliverable. They all add up to the same thing. Your Core Deliverable is the:
- Heart of what you do
- Overarching result your client experiences
- Bottom Line of what your client receives
- Common thread running through each of your services.
A client once called asking for me to coach her on finding her niche. She told me, “I have three different services I offer. I feel divided amongst all of them. I want to feel more cohesive in my offer.” I listened to her describe the three services The common thread running through them was she provides information. In discussing this, she found that she doesn’t do three different things -she does the same thing…three different ways! So, she found what she really did was predict who is going to buy her clients’ service and why. She finally found her niche – her Core Deliverable.
3. Make a decision
Where ever you are right now, today, is not the result of a goal, it’s the result of a decision.
A decision is not a goal. A goal is to have two children – the decision is to have children in the first place. A goal is to earn five million dollars – the decision is to work for yourself. A goal is to contact ten prospective clients each week – the decision is the use of telephone calls as a marketing strategy.
Do you see the difference between the goal and a decision? The decision has to come first. A lot of people skip that step and go straight to setting goals.
This is a costly mistake.
If you haven’t made a clearly defined decision, then how do you know which goals to choose? How would you know which action steps to take? You don’t. They gamble their most precious commodity – their time- and waste it on this-or-that marketing effort, branding or promotion without any real, consistent results to show for it. It doesn’t take long to become frustrated and begin losing confidence in yourself.
A decision is a real conscious choice, not just a wish, a desire or a dream. Just like the reason you’re here today is because of a decision you made in the past. The decision you make today will impact your life in many positive ways in the future.
A decision has the power of cutting off all possibility except to what you have committed to do!
Here’s to success-filled choices!
Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks– a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is founder and moderator of #brandchat – a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.
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