Marketing Action Club BLOG

Marketing from a position of strength, not need

Here is something that is close to many hearts at the moment, as there is more bad news every day on the economy. We all know that things are tough out there and probably we all know someone who has been laid off or under threat. As a small business owner the economy is critical to you as well, even if you don’t have to worry about corporate redundancies.

However in this climate your clients may be worried themselves and many of them are looking for ways to cut costs. This can be especially challenging for those  providing services as they may be in cross-hairs of cost cutting activity.

In such a climate, small businesses can find their revenue under pressure. In such a worrying time there is a danger that you move from a position of confidence to a position of need. This can be dangerous from a marketing point of view. Why is that?

People sense “need”

If you need to land a particular client that mindset clouds everything we do. I am not suggesting that not caring about an outcome is a great way to think because that also drives behavior! Nobody wants to deal with someone who doesn’t apparently care about them and their problems, or who has an overly laissez faire attitude to their business. However it is important to detach yourself from the outcome of each transaction when you go into it.

What does that mean?

When you need to land a client you can become fixated on that outcome and all your efforts are aimed at persuading, cajoling, overcoming objections and maybe trying to push your prospect to work with you. People can sense that and guess what? Rather than attracting them it actually pushes them away. As they withdraw you follow in an attempt to bring them closer and a bizarre type of prospect dance can occur! The result is not usually favorable.

So how do you detach?

You need to have goals of course, and one of these is certainly likely to be client acquisition. The way to detach from the “needy” outcome is to think of each interaction with a prospect as a fact finding exercise. In other words the goal is to answer the question: “Is this prospect a good target for me?” and “Is what I provide a good fit for them?”

To meet this goal you need to ask questions. Find out the prospects issues, discover the issues they are struggling with in detail. Asking questions in this way helps us detach from a mindset of “I need to get this prospect into my client funnel at all costs!”

Effective questioning builds trust and expertise

Think about a time you spoke to someone who really seemed to care about you. Chances are they didn’t talk all the time. More likely they asked you questions that demonstrated they understood you and were interested in you personally. It’s the same approach here. Prospects will trust you more when you ask them about themselves and they are talking about themselves. There is a chance that  you will mutually agree that you are not a good fit to work together. That can be tough if you need to generate revenues but it is a lot less stressful that trying to drag someone to a place they don’t want to go.

In summary……

Think of clients and prospects in terms of discovering whether they are a good fit for your services rather than purely as a revenue source. To do that you will need to know your IDEAL client profile and what you LOVE to do as a service provider.