Monthly Archives: May 2018

Making an Offer that Reduces Risk

The world is a risky place and so an offer that reduces risk is attractive.

What is It?

Risk reduction can be internal or external.

External risk reduction may be easiest to understand.  Your offer addresses some inherently risky aspect of life.  An accountant prepares accounts for tax purposes and reduces risk for the business-owner who otherwise prepares their own accounts.  An Independent Financial Advisor manages investments and so reduces risk for the asset owner.

For any professional service, this Element of Value is crucial.  State risk clearly because the prospect may not immediately see the need for protection.  However, risk reduction alone may not be enough, where the prospect considers more than one provider.

Internal risk reduction usually takes the form of a guarantee.  So, the accountant might guarantee accounts prepared properly and submitted to the authorities on time.  If the accountant fails, the guarantee indicates the compensation the prospect can expect.

It is easy to see the power of an offer that reduces both external and internal risk.

Value to the Client

Internal risk reduction is primarily reassurance.  We all know things go wrong from time to time.  Guarantees simply recognise that fact.  The prospect has faith in the professional provider and the guarantee covers the unlikely possibility something might go wrong.

External risk reduction offers more advantages to the client and opens up more possibilities for professional service.

You might keep accounts of equal accuracy and reliability to the professional provider.  So, why consider taking on their services?

There is  the time you save.  If you use the time it takes to prepare accounts to generate more income, professional assistance might be attractive.  The chances are professionals produce accounts as good as or better than yours in less time, because they do it all the time.

They can do more.  Accountants produce management accounts and offer advice about financial arrangements for their client’s business.  They may be able to save their client money.  OK, you may be clever enough to work all this out for yourself but do you know that for certain?  They take responsibility for the risks you take when you do it yourself.

How to Get There

Do you really control risk?  A risk is an external threat.  It is there whatever the prospect does about it.  Internal threats are weaknesses the prospect has some control over should they choose to exercise it.

Do non-professional businesses control risk?  A gymnasium might reduce risk of ill-health.  If it trains soldiers to fight in wars, maybe it reduces risk.  Similarly, nutritionists deal mainly with weaknesses, problems prospects can address themselves.

Both of these claim to constrol risk of ill-health.  These are problems prospects address themselves and can be solved only if they do so.  Their client may need help to develop a plan and stick to it but the risk is internal.  Guarantees support the offer through reassurance but work only where the client co-operates.

For professional firms threats are external and so the client’s co-operation is less critical.  Changes in tax law or falls on the stock exchange are external and the accountant or IFA addresses them without interventions from the client.  All the client does is make regular contributions, eg by submitting income and expenditure for the month.

Your Offer

Consider whether the threat is internal or external.  Shape your offer, being clear about the expectations of your clients.  Consider whether you need a guarantee.

Your clients need to understand about the risks they expect you to tackle and what your expectations are of them.

This is the twenty-first of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

• Social impact: Self-transcendence
• Life Changing: Provide Hope, Self-Actualisation, Motivation, Heirloom, Affiliation and Belonging
• Emotional: Reduces Anxiety, Rewards Me, Nostalgia, Design / Aesthetics, Badge Value, Wellness, Therapeutic Value, Fun / Entertainment, Attractiveness, Provides Access
• Functional:   Saves Time, Simplifies, Makes Money, Reduces Risk

Next: Organises  + 9 more

How to be an Impresario and Promote Your Business

A lot depends on personal circumstance but the draw of doing what you enjoy (your job) is at the expense of running your business.

Your Job and Your Business

This is a common mishap for the self-employed.  One reason you became self-employed is you enjoy doing something; you are a coach and you love coaching.

Perhaps you put on an event and as a result get 6 clients.  Maybe that’s hard to imagine but bear with me.

You set to work.  They pay your fees.  For the next 6 months you live and breathe working with these clients.  You are successful in every way, you have enhanced your reputation as a coach.

Then one day you wake up to find you have no clients and no money.  You have done your job, as a coach but neglected your business.  You need another event and it will take weeks to organise.  Many businesses fail because they cannot recover from such a mistake.

You need a programme of events, to keep yourself in the public eye, so you continue to enrol clients.  You may have problems managing new clients when still working with old ones but that is a different problem, one of capacity.

Let’s stay with the problem at hand.  What can you do to remain in the public eye?

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone

1. What do you create that people will miss it when it’s gone (and hope it comes back soon)?
2. What could you create that offers a real incentive to tell my friends? That makes news?  Who can get the word out in exchange for a share of attention?
3. What would happen if your promotion didn’t work? What would happen if it did?

Impress an Impresario

Ok, a few definitions.  A promotion is an event you put on either in real life or online.  Real life promotions might be public speaking, a stall at a business fair, a workshop, training event, a network event over a meal, lunch and learn …  Online promotions might be a blog post, social media campaign, webinar, online course.  These need not necessarily be free events but usually they are fairly low-cost.  Your aim is to find clients.

An impresario is someone who brings people together to work on and promote an event.  You may be aware of impresarios in your own community.  You could join in with what they do.  If you spot a gap in what they are doing, perhaps you can step into the impresario role?

Next, do you need a schedule of promotions to keep you in the public eye?  I find it is best to have a few regular promotions punctuated by occasional experimental promotions.

Can you build a team who work with you because it helps promote their businesses and strengthens their message?  How you do this is flexible.  You might have a team who consistently work with you.  Alternatively, if you have a regular event, you can invite people to take part, perhaps as a keynote speaker or trainer.

Remember, the aim of marketing is to create change and so your events should aim to do just that.  How do you promote change? By being remarkable!  When people talk about your promotions, they are your audience.

Following this thirty-seventh post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.

Offers that Make Money

Oh, isn’t this the popular element of value?  Is yours one of those offers that make money for clients?  Take care when making this claim.

What is It?

This is perhaps the most popular claim made by marketers.  After all, if you don’t make money out of your marketing, what is the point?  What I want to suggest is we need to take care making this claim.

Let’s be clear, no-one can offer a 100% guarantee their offer makes money for their clients.  Nowhere near.

There are a number of reasons, mostly outside the control of either business owners or clients.

Approaches work when applied in the right circumstances.  Many marketers sell on their authority.  They have experience and made a good living because they stumbled upon something that works for them.  They made a £100K profit in a single product launch.  They’ve had many clients and know the many pitfalls en route.  So, they claim they can help you make money.  This is one common approach to offering this element of value.

Alternatively, think of something like Facebook ads.  You pay them for access to their database.  Everyone gets the same service.  Success depends on the ad you put up.  So there is risk involved.  But Facebook and similar organisations sell access.  They leave it to you to work out how to use that access but they can claim to help you make money.

Value to the Client

Note I am not criticising either approach but be cautious about making this claim.  The customer receives insights that may help them make money at some stage in their business development.  Those insights can be valuable but they don’t always make money.

Let’s say you try a Facebook ad and no-one clicks on it.  You can work on that and improve your ad until people start to click on it.  You learn from experience.

The same applies to training and coaching.  You may in time use the insights you glean to make money but this is not always a direct result of the service you receive.

The difference is analogous to brand and direct marketing.  With Facebook you have means to monitor your investment.  You can apply yourself to working out what works.

With a coach the results can be harder to pin down.  It is more like brand marketing, where you slowly see an improvement in learning over time.

How to Get There

The challenge to the coach is how to manage expectations.  If you stand on stage and promise the audience will make money as a result of listening to you, what is the best way to say this?

Some audience members may not have capacity to make the promised results.  Their business may not be developed to a stage where they can take full advantage of your offer.

If you cannot, like Facebook, provide feedback so the customer can see how much they are earning, then be cautious about making big claims.

Your Offer

People expect any marketing service or business coach to help them make money.  You can help your clients understand financial implications for their business.  You can help them find options to make the money they need.

Help them design a strategy and work on its strengths and weaknesses.  Help them reflect on experience, identify where they are going wrong and put it right.

But in the end you cannot help them make money.  They are the business-owner and ultimately that’s their responsibility.

This is the twentieth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

• Social impact: Self-transcendence
• Life Changing: Provide Hope, Self-Actualisation, Motivation, Heirloom, Affiliation and Belonging
• Emotional: Reduces Anxiety, Rewards Me, Nostalgia, Design / Aesthetics, Badge Value, Wellness, Therapeutic Value, Fun / Entertainment, Attractiveness, Provides Access
• Functional:   Saves Time, Simplifies, Makes Money

Next: Reduces Risk + 10 more

Why Finding the Right Name Matters

It’s easy to spend too little time finding the right name for your business.  Just how important is it?

A Rose by Any Other Name …

Naming your business, products and services: is it tactical or strategic?  Tactical implies names are temporary, do a job and once finished, can be disposed of.  Strategic implies a name says something about you and sets the scene for many years to come.

You can change your name. When you start out in business, you get to a point where there is pressure to change your name because your vision is clearer.  Perhaps it’s best to start with a name that will do for early months but not embed it too much into your business.  The challenge of changing urls, business cards and other publicity can be daunting.

A good name is one you can live with, even if you change what you do.  Perhaps, you have a personal brand and it helps you whatever you do.

There is a vogue for meaningless company names, eg Carillion, Amey, Consignia, Onyx.  Superficially, they sound good but many associate them with poor service.  They are big companies, bidding for government contracts.  Their names give nothing away about what they do because they do anything that pays.

Choosing Your Business Name

So, choose a plausible name and try it out.  Ask friends or potential customers.  Feedback helps but does not guarantee the name works as part of your marketing.

Say it aloud and get others to say it to you.  What does it sound like?  Is it easy to work out how to spell it?  Does it sound like something different from the spelling?

How does it feel to speak the name aloud?  Does it feel silly or sensible, strong or weak?

Write it down as for a url.  Be aware that words run together can be read in several ways.  For example, “therapist” can be read in two ways, one of which you may wish to avoid.

Will the name come up when Googled?  How easy is it be to find your business online with that name?  Remember competition is such that a name that works well to begin with can lose its advantage when a competitor finds something that works better.

All these are things to consider.  Few are absolute reasons to use or abandon a potential name.

Words Have Meanings

1. Does your business name remind prospects of the change you seek to make? Even if they don’t know the history of it?
2. Does saying your business name change customers’ attitude to help them believe the story you tell?
3. Does the name have room to gain a secondary meaning, so that it becomes associated with what you sell?

Authority

Perhaps the most important aspect of a name is it should be memorable. If someone knows it, they should be able to find you.  This is particularly important in the early days of your business, when you are not well-known and you benefit if people remember anything about you.

As you become better known, a good name comes to be associated with your business and what you sell.  So, think about this when you choose the name.  You sell something remarkable and so you need a remarkable name.

So, to what extent should your name show literally what you offer?  My business name does that but “Market Together” also says something about my approach.  It is memorable but is it remarkable?  I believe it speaks to those who share my values, in other words those who I wish to communicate with are those for whom my name may seem remarkable.

If you have authority in the marketplace it is possible you can get away with more prosaic names for your products and services.  The rest of us need to be remarkable about our names.  But beware words like “awesome”, they are not remarkable!

Following this thirty-sixth post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.

Offers that Reduce Complexity and Simplify

Things are complex and the human mind cannot cope with complexity.  Offers that simplify are therefore attractive.

What is It?

Complexity happens along the border between order and chaos.  Anything complex treads a path between ordered patterns and muddled confusion.

Consequently, complexity is difficult to comprehend and specific complex systems are the domain of specialists.  Mostly people do not want to spend time and energy understanding complexity.

One useful concept is the black box.  You know the inputs and outputs but do not need to know what happens in the box.  So long as the outputs are what you need and you can provide inputs, the details of what happens in the box are not important.

Value to the Client

Find a pattern among the complexity that allows the customer to understand enough to make the system work in their favour.

How to Get There

Take marketing as an example.  There are a bewildering number of marketing techniques available.  Some of these techniques are themselves complex.  No-one set out to create a complex market for marketing techniques.  It has become complex through addition of more and more systems.

The marketing specialist has two choices.  They can specialise in a single technique or else interpret the whole.

Single Technique

Single techniques work well for businesses that know their stage in development and have a clear message to get across to a specific market.  The provider of the technique helps the business clarify whether it meets requirements for the technique.  What if they find the business does not meet the requirements?  OK if they find out before they are a client but several weeks into a contract, it could be a real problem.

Many clients do not know what they want and are likely to show interest in whatever method captures their attention, even though it may not be for their best interest.  The provider must work out whether this is the right client.  It is likely they spend a lot of time setting prospects on the right road instead of making sales.  They can mitigate this to some degree through marketing, so they are clear who benefits from their technique. Few do that perhaps because it is difficult and they are not clear about their own message.

Classification

The second approach is to classify the field and teach the classification. I call this orientation.  The idea is to help the client understand their own business needs and so interpret the approaches on offer.

The former approach, sometimes called Done-for-You or expert consultancy, simplifies using the black box model.  The latter, sometimes called Done-with-You or coaching, builds understanding.

Your Offer

These two approaches are found in many fields, eg healing, life coaching, business coaching.  In terms of your offer, pick one and whichever you pick remember you must simplify your field.

Most offers are too complex.  They dwell on matters important to the business and not to the client.  For example, I know what the word empowerment means but I have no idea whether I would benefit from empowerment coaching.  The world is full of people offering all manner of useful methods but it is much harder to convey what any method can do for those who use it.

And remember it is likely, whatever your prospects seek, they’ll be interested in something that simplifies.  Complexity is the problem, few people want more of it.

This is the nineteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

Next: Makes Money + 11 more

You Don’t Need an Elevator Pitch

Everyone needs an elevator pitch.  Or so we are told.  Let’s consider whether we need one and if so, what it is for.

Creating Tension

The elevator pitch is the shortest possible presentation of your business.  The idea is, if you are in conversation in a lift (elevators are American lifts) and you have a few seconds to explain, what do you say?

Sometimes we call the 1 minute or so at a network event an elevator pitch.  Technically, this is not right because most elevators take far less than a minute.  A minute is a long time.  You can tell a story in one minute.

The one minute story has value.  You can use your 1 minute version as the foundation for a longer story.

So, the one minute builds on your 10 second pitch. It is usually addressed to a group and rarely to one person; it builds your brand or reputation.  If you regularly attend a network group, constant repetition builds your brand, so people remember you when they meet someone who needs your services.

So, you either build your brand or offer a call to action through the one minute pitch.  Do you want your audience to remember you or to respond to something, for example notice of a meeting?

Remember though you never get the same audience twice.  Whilst it is important you convey a consistent message, it has to be asked how effective your one minute pitch is alone.

So, what is the purpose of the 10 second elevator pitch?  It is not about selling and it is about creating tension.  The point is not to aim for accuracy so much as something to start a conversation.  It should piqué the interest of your audience of one, so they ask for more information.

Words and Images

1. Do words and images matter? How do you present yourself?  Do you know 12 words that show you are on the ball?
2. How do you make it clear you are there for your market? How do you use words to convey your focus on your market, eg us and I.
3. What is your superpower, the thing your market would miss if it was gone?

Your Elevator Role

Take that last question, your superpower.  Whatever your field, you specialise in something that separates you from others in the same field; something of value to you and your market.  This superpower may not be immediately obvious and if you cannot identify it for yourself, perhaps you could ask others for insights.

This is your elevator role.  Once you know your superpower you can describe it in 6 words.  (Six is a little arbitrary but it should be your aim.)

Analysis

I help <name a group of people> to <name something they aspire to>.

So, I might say “I help coaches enjoy their marketing”.

First word is likely to be “I”.  You could use a company name (this is why 6 words is arbitrary, your company name may be more than one word).  You could use “we” but remember they might not know the “we” you refer to.

Second word is likely to be “help” but could be another such as support, heal, challenge …

Third word is your market.  My sentence uses “coaches” but I could change it to “consultants” if I knew I was talking to a consultant.  It would be more accurate if I said “coaches, consultants and freelancers” but we are aiming for clarity.

The last 3 words should describe your superpower.  The point I make is coaches should enjoy their marketing.  Many coaches may not have considered this.  They also have objections, eg isn’t it more important the marketing works?

If the listener thinks they don’t enjoy their marketing or objects to the emphasis on enjoyment, this is tension.  That tension should result in conversation.  If people walk away after such a clear statement, perhaps your statement does not create enough tension.  You might seek better wording or a better superpower.  Try not to change too much, give your statement time to prove itself.  Remember consistency is important.

Pitch or Role?

Perhaps you don’t need an elevator pitch but you certainly need an elevator role.  Consistently turning up and playing that role is likely to build your brand reputation.

Following this thirty-fifth post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.

How a Good Offer Saves Time

Today we move from Emotional to Functional Elements of Value.  This is the lowest level of Bain’s version of Maslow’s triangle.  The idea is to have functional elements in place before we meet higher values.  The first of these elements saves time.

Functional Elements of Value are practical skills or services.  We can expect them to be technical and measurable.  Emotional values have a subjective dimension that is hard to measure. Here we would expect observable positive change.

What is It?

The change we expect to see is some measurable savings in time.  Our competitors take three days, we take two.

There are two ways to interpret this.  There are services that save me time.  If I employ an administrator they save me time to devote to other things.

Time can also be saved indirectly.  The delivery that takes 2 days instead of 3, might not save me any time.  For example, a birthday present must arrive by a specific date but only saves time because if it doesn’t arrive, I have to go shopping!

Waiting for a part I need to complete an order enables me to meet a deadline.  The actual time it takes me to complete the order is the same even if the part is late.  However, if it is late, I have to re-negotiate my contract with my customer.

Value to the Client

For most businesses time is money.  So, any dimension of your offer that saves time is potentially attractive.

From the point of view of the customer, there are several aspects of saving time.  Note any of these are urgent sometimes and just an inconvenience at others:

How to Get There

For many businesses, an offer that saves time is important but secondary to the service they deliver.  Honouring an order where delivery is promised by a certain date, is second to whatever is to be delivered.  Of course, a shorter delivery time is an advantage but it becomes important when the customer wants the offer.  Some customers may not be bothered about the exact date of delivery.

Similarly a business offering administrative services might choose to emphasise efficiency or competence over time savings.  However, mention of time saved is likely to appeal to some customers.

Similarly a time management coach can emphasise stress relief or health benefits.

It is worth mentioning time because for some customers it is crucial.

Your Offer

For any offer, consider whether you can claim it saves time.  Some customers say they don’t mind whether it takes three days or five, so long as it is done well.  For others three days instead of 5 may be crucial.  The main thing to remember is once you make the promise, keep it.

And don’t forget some offers are not about saving time.  If you coach, it may be best to take a few months because it allows time for reflection and practice.  Be upfront and explain why it takes as long as it takes.

And if someone wants something faster than your normal delivery time, is there scope to charge for fast delivery?  So long as you can deliver faster and you explain potential disadvantages, this is an advantage.

This is the eighteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

Next: Simplifies + 12 more

How Does Frequency Inspire Marketing?

We use the word frequency in two ways.  It means going over something over and again, showing up and performing the same act.  It also means something to tune into.  Both meanings are important for marketers.

Consistency and Change

People in your market tune into your message when they hear it many times.  This implies consistency in your message.

At the same time, your offers evolve to meet the needs of your market.  So, some aspects of your business are constant over long periods, while others are responsive to changes in your market as you tune into their needs.

To work out which aspects of your message are unchanging and which change is challenging.

What you do and the reason you do it should be unchanging.  But your understanding of your message evolves.  You consistently point in the same direction but as you move in that direction, your perspective changes.

If you  point consistently in the same direction, you draw people to you who are looking in that direction.  As you get to know those people, you design something that better meets their needs.

Consistency and You

1. How are you consistent (or inconsistent) in your messages or actions?
2. How frequently do you put out your message? What are the vehicles you use to do this?
3. How does frequency affect the way you convey your presence to the world?

Novelty and Empathy

Novelty is important but the place it is important is in the earliest stages of business development.  When you start, you must find your unique message.  This takes time.  Once you have that message, you must not change it.

Have new ideas about how you convey your message but consistency about the message itself is crucial.  This means you must show up online or in real life and deliver the same message over and over.  The only time to contemplate changing the message is if your business is at stake.  Your accountant is the only person who can change your message.

Tuning In

The reason you need to be consistent and frequent is so your market tunes into your message.  It’s like any other message, if you do not take a stand, it is impossible to debate with you.  It is impossible to debate with someone who has nothing to say and so shifts their ground.

Political parties are more successful with a consistent message.  They are all coalitions with a range of viewpoints. Problems set in when there are irreconcilable differences within the party.  However, manifestos change with each election.  The context changes but a party with a consistent message demonstrates it through the changes they make to policy.

Consistency and frequently sharing your message builds trust in your market.  People who like your message are drawn to you.  They need to understand your message and get to know you as a person (or a brand) but in time they get there.

On your part, this requires empathy.  You listen to your market, hear their objections, questions, fears, hopes and then deepen your message in response.

Following this thirty-fourth post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.