Who Should Not Take Advantage of Your Offer?
One way to reduce conversations with people you do not need to talk to is to be clear about who your offer is for. How do you work out who should not take advantage of your offer?
You can list (1) those people who should take advantage and (2) those who should not.
I don’t mean by name of course. If you can say “If you are like this, contact me” and then “If you are like this don’t bother”, you are doing both prospects and non-prospects a service. They can be self-selecting, saving both of you time.
For example, I work with people who are new to marketing and need help developing their first marketing plan. So, I might say if you have a plan, maybe you don’t need to see me. Now I need to refine that further:
Contact me for a conversation if you are
- a coach, consultant or freelance or planning to start a practice of this type;
- returning to work as a self-employed business owner, perhaps after time out to raise your family, following a period of illness or redundancy or early retirement;
- an introvert and so find marketing challenging (or an extrovert who finds their approach is not working);
- without a marketing plan or your current plan is not working for you; and
- mainly focused on marketing locally.
We may have common interests but it is unlikely I can help you if you are
- an established business that employs staff;
- an established practitioner who is making a satisfactory income;
- an extrovert satisfied with their marketing practice;
- using a marketing plan that works for you; and
- mainly focused on marketing online for a national or global market.
Generally I’m happy to talk to anyone interested in talking to me and certainly I would not raise these with someone I met through networking. OK sometimes we don’t have a great deal in common but any meeting might bear fruit. Some networks, eg 4N, provide opportunities for 10 minute one-to-ones and these are excellent opportunities to assess whether a longer conversation would be worthwhile.
Lists like these might work on a website as a quick way to reassure people it is worth getting in touch. As you get to know your target market better you can refine these lists.
Using these Lists
You may have spotted in the lists I have not said whether people should contact me if they meet some or all the bullets on the lists. Certainly someone who does meet all the criteria, is very likely to be interested in my offer, so I could say contact me if you meet all these criteria.
On the other hand, there may be some benefit to talk if someone meets some of the criteria. Ultimately, these are only rules of thumb. Where you set the entry criteria to your business is up to you and can become more accurate as your experience develops. Your aim is to encourage the right people to make contact.
You’ll find out if it works from the quality of your contacts. Remember people who meet all your criteria are your primary market and you should aim to find as many as you can. People who meet some of your criteria are your secondary market. Returns on conversations will be less likely but not impossible.
If this has been helpful, let me know. What else would you like to know about this topic?