Convincing sucks.
(You know what I’m talking about).
It’s that awkward song-and-dance you find yourself in, when you’re trying to convince someone:
How great your stuff is
The amazing way it works.
And why they should buy it.
Not only is “convincing” a struggle. It makes us feel not-so-good. The “If I only I didn’t have to do this my business would be so much fun” not-so-good.
So I’m going to suggest you give up convincing.
1. Because it’s like pulling teeth.
2. It rarely works.
3. And it makes you feel awful.
And instead … try the one thing that gives you the best chance for a spectacular business.
Without feeling like you have to beg to have it.
Just identify:
What I’m really really good at.
And what my ideal clients really want right now.
The place they converge creates a response spike. That helps you work with a lot more people and make a lot more money.
Let me say that in English:
When what you’re really good at helps your ideal clients overcome a painful challenge they’re having right now, and supports them to get what they want right now …
You make sales. Lots of them.
.
.
How do I know this works?
First … its helped someone like me who started with ZERO business background build a year-after-year six-figure business.
Second … it works ON ME. Almost every single thing I’ve purchased for my own business in the last 15 years was because of this idea.
TRUE STORY: You know how the day after Thanksgiving your in-box is flooded with tons of Black Friday offers?
This year I purchased 3 Black Friday offers. And in each case, I knew in SECONDS which offers to buy. Why?
1. I knew the person making the offer was great at their specific skill.
2. I had a challenge I was ALREADY seeking a solution for.
3. Their offer helped me solve that challenge with their special skill and delivered the specific outcome I ALREADY wanted.
The word ALREADY is in all caps and bolded for a reason:
It frees you from the hard selling that makes you queasy.
Because there’s no “convincing” when your prospects already WANT what you’re offering.
So how can you use these ideas to create a Response Spike that helps you enroll a lot more clients and make more money, without all the sweating and begging?
STEP
Start with your prospect. Not with you.
To start, I want you to forget about what you do. And get clear on the problems your market is seeking solutions for RIGHT NOW.
Why?
Because that’s what they buy.
Look, there are lots of things my market wants that I can’t help them with:
- They’d love a date with Bradley Cooper. (Darn, can’t help them with that).
- They’d also jump at landing backstage passes to the next Beyonce concert. (Yep, I come up empty there too!)
But there are a bunch of SPECIFIC urgent problems my ideal clients have that I can help overcome.
And a bunch of specific OUTCOMES they are seeking I can help them achieve.
These are the ones I’m talking about. These are what you need to get clear about and focus on.
STEP
Which problem are you especially gifted at solving?
You know the ones I’m talking about:
Where you get that Ninja Reflex where you know you’ve nailed the perfect solution, your client’s jaw drops, and all is well in the world.
This list is a lot smaller than the one you’re probably targeting now.
In fact, it’s small enough that it probably makes you uncomfortable. But trying to work with “everyone” is one of the biggest reasons so many businesses don’t generate the momentum to survive and thrive.
Trust me on this one:
Trying to help everyone is the fastest path to helping no one.
But focus leads to fortune.
(You might want to tweet that out).
This doesn’t diminish your gift.
It means you get to practice it with more people and make a lot more money. Everybody wins.
So you now have a list of the:
- Specific problems your ideal clients are actively seeking to escape.
- Specific outcomes they are actively wanting to achieve.
- And the specific subset of those that you are gifted with.
So what now?
STEP
Build all your marketing, messaging and outreach around this Sweet Spot.
This is where so many of us fall off the apple cart.
We get clear on the specific problems our ideal clients are seeking solutions for.
We know the specific outcomes they are chomping at the bit to experience.
We know the exact ones where our gifts and talents are a perfect fit.
But the first time someone asks: “What do you do?”
Or the first chance we have to write an email, blog or Facebook update …
We forget everything and launch into the wordy, boring, detailed explanation of “what we do” that gets us into so much trouble in the first place.
Or we write vague, abstract, rambling copy, filled with buzzwords and industry jargon prospects don’t care about or understand.
What they do care passionately about is:
Can you solve the challenge I am having right now?
Can you help me get the result I want right now?
And are you really really good at it?
So step three is:
Having the DISCIPLINE to focus all our messaging, whether in-person or online, on the ultra-targeted answers to steps one and two.
This step is the most crucial and often the hardest because it feels too simple and too boring. It feels like we are leaving people out.
But guess what?
It’s NOT too simple and boring to our clients because it’s WHAT THEY WANT.
Look at it this way:
I’ve heard the song “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac approximately 567 times.
I’ve heard “Go Your Own Way” 723 times.
But if I catch Fleetwood Mac live on Tour, guess which songs do I want to hear?
The new “fresh” non-boring stuff from their latest album? (You’re kidding, right?)
I want to hear the songs I’ve already heard hundreds of times.
I want to hear the hits.
It’s the SAME THING in your business:
Your ideal clients want your Greatest Hits.
(you can tweet that out too).
THIS is why using these 3 steps works with everything. Whether you’re talking to someone you just met networking. Or blasting an email out to your entire list.
When you start giving your followers what they want:
- Selling becomes a lot easier.
- You will find yourself getting more interest faster.
- People start pursuing you with excitement and interest in their eyes.
- You will stop “chasing” clients.
- You will start seeing opportunities too numerous to count line up before you.
And MOST IMPORTANT of all … you will start making more money.
Yep, momentum is a beautiful thing.
And the way you get it is not by diluting your message so people don’t even hear it.
But focusing it so in the moment they hear it, they KNOW you are the one who changes the game for them.
