Consultant Marketing Social Media Differentiators

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Being more memorable

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Just publishing on a host of social media platforms on a regular basis can make you more memorable.

Being consistent in one area of expertise can make you remarkable.

Delivering content in a unique way can make you outstanding.

Pick and Choose

You can’t be everywhere. You wouldn’t have time for the work that pays the bills. Your best bet is to find a way to use the same content across a range of social media. Working with my Virtual Assistant and some scheduling software we can post daily on Linked In, Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.

The formats we use are video, quotes, questions and lists all of which direct people to my blog site. We chose to use similar formats plus PDF carousels posted manually for the introduction of  ProBrandr that allows you to inject your brand into your Linked In profile in just one evening.

Being unique

Anyone can post in social media. The trick is to build up a following by displaying your expertise in a way that is different from everyone else. Here are three examples drawn from my work with elite consultants.

  1. Leadership myths started out as a chapter in a book written by my client Jim Grew. When Jim was doing the usual round of radio, TV and podcast interviews to promote the book he noted that every interviewer and their audience was interested in the Myths, the short lessons on leadership.

We agreed to translate them into a series of weekly videos with a standard open and close with music. Jim looked straight into the camera and challenged viewers perceptions. Here is a link to Myth 149  When Jim semi-retired in January, 2022 there were north of 155 myths in the can.

  • Handwritten Economists Insights are the best way I can describe Bill Conerly’s regular reports to clients and prospects. Bill can handle well written approaches to the economy both overall and by sector as he is a regular contributor to Forbes.

He is best known for his abbreviated reports that feature short handwritten notes on the charts and graphs published by the US government. Take a look at his website to see examples scrolling up the home page.

  • At the Whiteboard In talking about an upcoming speech to be delivered virtually, my client, Frank McShane mentioned that he would prefer using a white board to illustrate his talk instead of using Power Point slides. His rationale was that he often used the technique in client presentations with great success.

His 30 minute presentation sparked a Q&A session nearly as long and almost a third of it was commentary on his choice of medium to make his points. We have built the standard open and close and selected the music for a video series called At the Whiteboard. View one of our tests here.

How are you going to be more memorable?

These are just three ways that consultants have found to go from Credibility to Cash. is there something in how you operate than can make you stand out from the crowd?

I can help you find it.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com
Product: https://www.ProBrandr.com

Consultant Marketing A More Powerful Pitch

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It amazes me every time. Coach oriented selling eliminates proposals.

You figure that a consultant would know about and use a Value-Based Presentation.

Only a handful do, the ones that have been around for a while and those bold enough to study some of the masters of selling services. It’s like the refrain from a song in the musical South Pacific, “You have to be carefully taught.” Fewer still are trained in coach-oriented selling.

Most consultants aren’t trained in sales. They are babes in the woods when it comes to the psychology of the deal. Better pitches are built with better knowledge of what a lot of folks today call : “the customer journey.”

Start with a peek at the customer map.

They had a problem or concern about their business. They spoke with friends and colleagues about how to solve it. They queried trusted advisors for names of experts that might help them. With a handful of names they turned to Linked In to review profiles of the candidates to be considered further. They narrowed the search to no more than three. At that point they probably looked at your website to get more of an idea of how you work and to get a glimpse of the expertise you bring to the situation.

Make it easy to meet.

They are still evaluating when they call you to arrange a meeting. They want to get to know you. You are one of at most three candidates. Setting an appointment for what is to them a major concern is probably best made in person. Make sure they can contact you direct, not through an appointment setting app. But if you do use such an app, give them the possibility of stating why they want to talk. What may seem to be dull normal for you is the biggest thing in their world to them. So when that in noted I should be a trigger for you to call them.

The first meeting is all about discovery.

It is a conversation not a commercial. You need to acknowledge their expertise. They will always be more expert in their business than you. Always. Partner with them in a thought-provoking process that allows them to act in away that draws on their experience and your support ot find a way to act. Let them set the agenda. Your mission whether you accept it or not is to do four things:

  1. Engage
  2. Focus
  3. Evoke
  4. Plan

Engage

Establish a mutually trusting relationship based on genuine interest in their situation.

Listen. Focus on their goals, their expectations and why those things are important to them.

Questions you might use:

  • What are your successes?
  • Where are you challenged?
  • What od you know about our work?
  • How do you think we can help?

Focus

Your goal is to collaborate with the prospect, describe the desired outcomes and determine a way forward.

Questions that will allow you to reach common ground:

  • What is most important to you and your organization?
  • What outcome do you expect from our working together?
  • How do you see us working together?
  • What would this mean for the organization?
  • What will it cost if you do nothing?

Strive to define the problem concisely in concrete terms. It is best to zero in on a key single priority.

Evoke

Start by searching for strategies that could solve the problem at hand. Brainstorm some possibilities. Before you suggest an approach ask permission to give them advice.

Helpful queries:

  • What ideas have occurred to you to address this situation?
  • Are there corporate resources you can bring to bear?
  • Have you seen or heard of something that worked in the past that we could put to work here?
  • If forced to come up with one idea, what would it be?
  • What would you do if failure wasn’t an option?

Plan

What you are looking to do now is ascertain if the prospect is ready to move forward and become client. You are not closing. You are merely testing the waters.

Try asking:

  • What are you willing to commit to now?
  • Is there a first step that would be agreeable to you?
  • When can you assemble your team?
  • What’s your timeframe?
  • What are you willing to invest?

At this point, a prospect may ask you to begin an engagement or demur. If they are not asking you to get to work circle back. Engage them. Focus on their view of the problem. Help them imagine a positive resolution and see once more if they are ready to plan.

Some of the most successful consultants use this approach to begin ongoing relationships with clients. Although the information gathered can be used for a Value-based Proposal often the client will forgo that prerequisite just ot get to work now.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

Consultant Marketing Credibility Index

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What is your credibility index?

If you are a consultant it is a pretty good bet that you have a profile on Linked In.

How credible does that profile make you to your prospects? Here’s a simple way to evaluate that will take just minutes.

What to consider.

People, I’ve been told, do not give you a lot of time when they come across your information on any page on the internet. The last research I saw said you have 3 seconds to get their attention and brand yourself. Three seconds!

So you have to first stop them and once you’ve done that maintain their interest and provide the information they are looking for. Here’s the short list of considerations:

  • Stopping Power
  • Maintaining Interest
  • Answering their Questions

Let’s take those one at a time.

Stopping Power

If your Linked In profile looks like this you are in trouble:

We live in a visual world. If you want to stop people you need to take advantage of every bit of visual stopping power Linked In offers. The absolute minimum is a headshot. Consider also:

  1. Using the first panel of your website home page as the background.
  2. A photo in the background that shows you in action.
  3. A photo in the background that shows product(s) you are associated with.
  4. The addition of your company logo to that background
  5. Your name in that background.
  6. A positioning line in that background (like a headline)
  7. Combinations of the above.

Maintaining interest

Why are they searching on Linked In? In all likelihood, someone gave them your name or they came across it looking for an expert in a specific industry or they have heard about a specific skillset you have. You have to speak to their concerns and interests in their terms in order to keep them in your profile.

Your name Start with your name. Use the name you are known by amongst colleagues and people that might refer you. Do not use an initial for your last name. Initials are okay, however, if you regularly use them. If folks call you DJ or JJ or BZ then use that moniker but include your last name.

Your title Since most consultants are independent professionals operating as solos (nearly 70% in our last survey) you can call yourself anything you like. But instead of massaging your ego consider what that prospect is looking for. Do you think they want one of the “normal” titles like President or CEO? Research shows that they want more of a positioning statement that fits with the expertise they are looking for. You have space to use a positioning line, a generic/industry descriptor for what you do and a normal title.

Here’s an example from one of my clients:

Answering Their Questions Whatever brought them to your Linked In profile in the first place will now come front and center. You stopped them with professional looking graphics. You intrigued them with a positioning line that will get them to read further.

There are different approaches prospects take from this point on. Some will read everything on your profile. Others will say, “That’s who I was looking for, How do I get in contact?”  As consultants we know the men and women who have the clout to hire us don’t have a lot of time. So why do so many consultants make it so hard to contact them?

There is a reason the words Contact Us are in blue. Unless you’ve been kidnapped and held incommunicado for a decade you know that clicking on that phrase will get you a way to contact the profile owner.

Yes and no. In a random check of that capability I found that 90% of the profiles did not include a telephone number. Many of them had only the Linked In Profile listed. You need to make it as easy as possible to contact you. Prospects want to know how to connect NOW

Here is what Jim includes:

What you say on your profile is important but these three things will make you one of the few that stand out.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

Consultant Marketing Digital World Speaking

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I spoke live on Wednesday.

It was only the third time this year. My expectation from the run-up back and forth with various staff members was that this would be a well-managed professional event.

It was. The gal at registration recognized me. She was delightful. The tech in the room was completely efficient. His first question was, “Any change in the slide deck?” I said, “No.” He then efficiently got me into a lavaliere microphone, did a sound check handed me a slide clicker and declared me, “Good to go.”

That’s when things went off the rails.

I sat in on a couple sessions before mine. One was being done by an acquaintance. His topic was: How Brands Can Use NFTs To Engage Consumers And Generate Revenue. (an NFT is a Non-Fungible Token, a unique digital asset that utilizes Blockchain Technology)

Like the preceding session the introducer basically read the session topic, the presenters name and their company name from the printed agenda card. That was it.

You have to introduce yourself.

Each of the speakers I watched had to use the first 2 minutes of their 30 minutes on stage to introduce themselves. I was bemused by the way they crammed all sorts of data on a slide: Name, Title, Company Logo, Web address, E-mail, Social media they were involved with, where they were published and seemingly any kind of social proof they felt gave them existence.

The first line of “Sympathy for the Devil,” Rolling Stones (1968) kept running through my mind:

“Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste. I’ve been around for a long, long year, stole many a man’s soul and faith.”

Whether you are a Stones fan or not you have to admit these lines are memorable.

An introduction sets the stage.

For some reason events primarily directed to digital professionals eliminate solid introductions and in doing so lose benefits to the speaker and the attendee.

A good introduction sets a positive tone, generates enthusiasm and interest. More importantly, sone properly it can make a clear case for why listening to the speaker is more beneficial than grabbing a cup of coffee. A memorable introduction engages the audience and convinces the audience to listen to the speaker.

A good introduction will accomplish three other objectives:

  1. Focus the audience attention on the speaker transitioning them from their current actions or thoughts.
  2. Enhance the credibility of the speaker personally or by citing social proofs.
  3. Make a promise about the presentation that creates intrigue and a need to “hear it from the horse’s mouth.”

A self-introduction is never as powerful.

Yes, you can introduce yourself powerfully in networking situations. That is what 30-Second Marketing is all about. Or you might like this video.

The fact is, we trust others more than we trust an individual presenter to perform an introduction. Second party information is given more credibility. The human mind does not like hearing someone “Toot their own horn.” And so introducers are used at most speaking events. And in order to accomplish the objectives of a good introduction, most professionals write their own and, in some cases, rehearse the introducer persuading them to read it as written.

Here’s the self-introduction I resorted to:

I’m Jerry Fletcher.

I’m a Master of Consultant Marketing.

You know how people keep telling you that you have to be memorable but nobody tells you how to do it?

Well, what I do is work with individuals and organizations to develop unique trust-based strategies to build businesses, brands and lives of joy.

I’ve been doing it since1990 and stopped counting successful new product introductions at 207 and individual branding for consultants at 147 at last count.

Today I’m going to tell you how to go from Credibility to Cash in the New Normal.

The audience stayed for the entire session laughed at some stories and gave me a hand at the end. I’d like to think this digitally oriented, just give me the bullet points audience learned that no matter how they would like it not to be true, the analog human mind controls all acceptance, belief, trust and purchasing.

Like to see it?

I’ll be doing that speech virtually for IMC NorCal on October 5. Sign up here if you would like to see it.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences to you take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

Trust, Technology and Teams

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Hold on there, Abernathy!

You’ve built a relationship with this person. They may have been referred to you or you connected at a networking event then she or he simply called on you in your business. No matter how that initial meeting occurred you have now reached a point of mutual trust.

Before you go putting money down or signing an order or otherwise making a purchase from your new friend, what do you know about the team of which they are part? You are talking to someone standing on the shoulders of the those who are actually going to take care of you. Based on my experience I’d bet that the salesperson could not do some of the things the team must, to fulfill your expectations. This complex world of interlocking abilities and services that cross continents require that you pay attention.

You need to care, bunky.

You need to dig into the technology they are using and how they are applying the capabilities vis a vis your desired outcomes. Where are they in terms of their technology? What training do they have to work together smoothly?

Are those selling promises of better, faster and cheaper for real? What if the blandishments were better, faster and more expensive? Would the deal still look good? What if it were just a little bit better or faster and involved an expense you had not anticipated?

The consultant’s promise.

Frequently you will be faced with a decision to bet on the come if you have asked a consultant to look at your business concerns. He or she will delve into your data and statistics to find specific areas where you might profit from small changes in how you operate. You will have to do the work or hire their team to do it and monitor it to be sure you are getting the expected returns. Unfortunately, you have to decide before the work can proceed.

When it’s a no brainer.

Could you figure it out on your own? Probably. Could you train a team and shift them from their current roles to affect the changes? With some difficulty. Could you do it as fast, as well and at a reasonable price? I doubt it.

When the expected outcomes generate more savings or output or sufficient quality shifts to pay the consultant’s team fees in short order you don’t need to burn brain power to come to a conclusion. Those same improvements over more time will continue to make the organization more profitable.

Credibility to Cash

Every organization needs outside consultants, coaches, teams and technology to take it up a notch. Whether you provide a service or a product or a combination you get trapped in the day to day and can’t see the possibilities as well as an outsider.

Talk to an outsider with proven credentials about improving your product or service or the team that provide them.

Go from Credibility to Cash.

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Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. and a Certified WHYos Coach. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two. Get the Newslog at his consulting site.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

Marketing on Purpose

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Too often marketing gets disconnected from sales and operations and customer service.

Is your marketing operating in a silo?

You may not know if you’re running the company but there are simple questions you can ask folks in the marketing department to find out how far they are out of touch. Here are the ones I’ve found always work:

  1. You talk about our customer avatars. Can you connect me to one real person that represents that avatar, now, without calling them first?
  2. How does sales describe prospects?
  3. How do customers and prospects rate our customer service?
  4. When is the last time you surveyed:
  5. Customers
  6. Prospects
  7. Folks that abandoned the checkout process
  8. What did you find out?
  9. What is the purpose of your marketing activities?
  10. How do you know how well you’re doing? Be specific.

Your single most important follow up question is Why?

The purpose of your marketing must be known by you and your people before it can be implemented. It is the reason they do what they do. It is at the heart of their operating system.

They need to know WHY the company operates the way it does.

They need to know WHY you want to go after prospects that think a certain way.

They need to know WHY your products and services are made a certain way.

They need to know WHY the communications they devise must use the same language as the stated purpose of the company.

If you are a founder or the driving force of an organization it should reflect your WHYos.

Your complete statement of Purpose also includes HOW and WHAT which as Simon Sinek spoke about in a TED talk. Understanding your WHY Operating System is the first step in aligning all the components of your company for success.

Learn more. E-mail the word WHYos to me. Give me 15 minutes of your time and an incredible piece of technology I‘ll provide FREE will change your life.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. and a Certified WHYos Coach. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two. Get the Newslog at his consulting site.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

Tit for Tat

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She wrote columns on communications for a handful of local newspapers, Her articles roamed from advertising advice to speech writing to one-on-one selling. She wrote and self-published a book on basic PR for business which got her on local TV and in the feature article that got my attention.

“Tit for tat will just get you hurt” was something she said early on in our conversation. I let it pass without questioning it.

The second time she mentioned it I asked what she meant. She asked if I had ever had a referral in business. I told her the story of my start up letter that had generated 6 responses from the 60 guys in my Advertisng Golf Club. Two said, “Good luck.” Two suggested possible leads and two asked me to work on a consulting engagement.

She explained that I should send handwritten thank you notes to those 6 and then do the same thing to those that had not responded. She was ahead of her time. She was telling me to pay it forward, to find ways to help folks without expectation of return because over time they would come to trust me.

Because of her:

  • I became the new programs committee chair for the Portland Chamber for 10 years.
  • I became the librarian of Pacific Northwest Association of Book Publishers.
  • I was in the room when a handful of people agreed to start the Portland Chapter of the National Speakers Association

Networking enhances your net worth. Relational networking where you give tips, assistance and referrals without expectation of reward changed my life. It is a key element in Credibility to Cash TM.

And so it goes.

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Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. and a Certified WHYos Coach. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two. Get the Newslog at his consulting site.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

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What’s Your Why?

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That is not a smart-ass question.

A few years ago (2009) Simon Sinek wrote a book called Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action,

He spoke about it in a TED talk which kind of went viral.

In that talk he did a great job of publicizing the idea but never got around to describing how to determine your why or that of others. In 2017 he got a around to publishing Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team.

A dentist in New Mexico. Gary Sanchez saw that talk and became fascinated by the concept, worked with Sinek to find his own WHY and for five years worked out a manual system to figure out other people’s WHYs, their way of approaching life.

The Why Discovery is what he called it. It was slow, taking hours for each discovery and required a certified coach to help determine how to apply the findings in your life, in your team and in your company.

Now it is the WHYos. After years of the manual approach Gary taught himself computer coding and wrote a program that has proven to be over 99% accurate and only takes minutes when you take it online. Get it FREE. just let me know.

Learn your WHY, your HOW and your WHAT in minutes. You’ll have:

·         A better grasp of how you operate as an individual.

·         A better connection in every relationship

·         A discovery of the joy of being fully engaged

Understand your brand.  Once you discover your WHYos you will have a firm grasp of your purpose and the perceptions that make you unique. The consistency you bring to your relationships will make you more memorable and more profitable.

That’s what credibility to Cash TM is all about.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. and a Certified WHYos Coach. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two. Get the Newslog at his consulting site.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

New Normal Marketing

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Had too many e-mails prescribing the tactics you should use next year to fill your marketing funnel/pipeline/sales telegraph.

Me, too.

What you need to do is what works for you.

There is no reason to change because some self-proclaimed expert is pitching what they believe is trendy. It is better to heed your own council and to do what serves your strategy.

State our strategy and keep track of your successes and your failures.

  • Write down the instruments you are using
  • Note the clients that came to you from each and their value.
  • Analyze the pattern and then delve into the specifics of the most successful.

That is part of what we compile in our Annual Consultant Marketing Survey for the industry. The study results are useful for Consultants, Coaches and Independent Professionals in all industries.

Trust is the single most important component of all Consultant Marketing.

That was true in our first survey and proven again in the 2021 survey. Greater intimacy in their business development process allowed older firms to stay in business and increase their market share in 2021.

Overall, those that have stayed in business are resilient.

About 60% of firms noted increases in business due to shifts in marketing strategy. Greater intimacy in their business development process allowed older firms to stay in business and increase their market share

Referrals Continue to be the marketing mainstay of successful consultancies. Referral marketing increased in 2021. Networking and Direct sales both more than doubled in use over 2020 while internet marketing declined by about a third.

The most successful consultants concentrated their marketing efforts in the areas that provided the most contact with clients and prospects.

It works. It is the way from Credibility to Cash TM.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two. Get the Newslog at his consulting site.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

A Brand You Can Trust

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Memorability is what every brand strives for.

But it is not enough.

In the digital world we live in today, clients/customers can damage any brand they feel has acted unethically.

Every brand walks a Trust Tightrope.

Your clients expect you to:

  • Act ethically
  • Operate consistently and transparently
  • Stand for something

Consumers buy a product or service based on reputation but nearly 60% will stop buying it if they don’t trust it. (Source: Edelman Trust Barometer 2022)

Brands that do the right thing can do better than their competition. The same Edelman survey also noted:

  • 59% of respondents are willing to pay more for a brand that has earned their trust
  • 55% will pay more for a brand they believe is doing good for the world.
  • 65% of Millenials and Generation Z adults award a Trust premium

What goes around comes around.

You must value people over collecting data. Client/customer privacy must be respected by you and all your partners. All parts of the product or service that face the public must be real, no tricks, no deceptions. Integrity in all things must be maintained.

There are no shortcuts.

Avoid exploiting situations in the marketplace. Don’t let problems fester. Stay tuned in to the issues your clients care about. Be worthy of their trust to move from Credibility to Cash.

And so it goes.

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Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two. Get the Newslog at his consulting site.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

Quest For Serendipity

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Serendipity is what happens when we make unexpected connections and create possibilities that never existed before.

For elite marketers it is not a matter of chance.

It consists of three components:

  1. Relevance
  2. Novelty
  3. Unexpectedness

Those can be combined in each and every piece of content and every behavior you exhibit in your business. The quality you need to strive for is to be both surprising and useful.

How to get to serendipity:

  • Follow the yellow brick road. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Ozyou must be open to the possibilities. Take the road untaken, the path that may lead to connections. Go into your search with an open mind. Find the strengths in apparent weaknesses. Search for triggers. Find bridges that connect results.
  • Look for outcomes from combinations. Events may not be wholly beneficial taken individually but the unanticipated, unexpected and unsought can produce accidental discoveries that benefit you both short and long term.
  • Speak about your experience. The innovative value of your coincidental success needs to be shared. Incorporate the findings in a story.Let your passion spill over into the telling.

An example Christian Mickelsen offered food to his audience that had just returned from lunch. There were few takers. He then changed the offer to dessert. A few more showed interest.  Next he described the dessert as chocolate covered strawberries. Over 70% of the crowd was interested. Enthusiastically! He learned how the more specific an offer is the more powerful the connection with the audience. All of us can apply that serendipitious finding.

Look for fortunate strokes of Serendipity to move from  Credibility to Cash

And so it goes

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Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

Failure Is A Strategy

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Act.

Do something.

Measure the results.

You don’t have to be sure your marketing is going to work.

But if you don’t take action you will never know. That idea will always just rattle around in your mind. It will stagnate and die never having seen the light of day. It will be resigned to the scrap heap having never been tested. It will die, stillborn.

Action is better than inaction.

We learn from our mistakes. Even if we don’t have a process in place we absorb what works and what doesn’t. We understand what is effective versus what is not. We gather information to formulate new approaches and discover connections we had not perceived before.

Rules for Failure as a strategy:

  1. Take action. Don’t wait. Do it now or forever lose this chance.
  2. Note trial components. Write down the strategy and expected results. Reduce the test to as few elements as possible. Use multi-variant design if you can’t reduce things to A-B split testing.
  3. Analyze results. Look at what happened versus what you thought might. Do not wear your rose-colored glasses. Delve into the fundamentals and scan for hints of affirmative outcomes while quantifying both positive and negative consequences. Look for both strategic and tactical effects.
  4. Build a winners file. Make note of what works whether it is graphics, words, colors, sounds, video or animation. Look at the combinations that work and how changes in one of them impacts your outcome.
  5. Assemble your findings.  Build a check list or diagram or a process report that incorporates what you’ve learned. I’ve been doing this since I opened my consulting firm. When you sign up for my Credibility to Cash Newslog you get the benefit of what works by avoiding 25 years of failures.

The longer you wait the less you’ll learn.

Credibility to Cash is a shortcut to success.

And so it goes.

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Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. See Jerry’s speaker demo reel.

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.

Credibility to Cash TM is his latest way to share experiences so you can take your business up a notch…or two.

Consulting: https://www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:  https://www.NetworkingNinja.com

No Change, No Gain 

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There is not a lot I remember from my High-School French class.

One phrase is stuck in the little gray cells:

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

That translates to “The more things change the more they stay the same.”

Kinda true!

When it comes to marketing, you need to adapt to the Normal particularly the New Normal.

You can’ keep doing the same thing and expecting a better result. That won’t work. (Some people say that is the definition of insanity!)

What has changed and what stays the same?

The ways of presenting your message, carving out a brand for yourself, your service or your product are increasing and morphing on a daily basis. Even the internet is enduring continuing change. Successful Marketing acknowledges and uses new technology (Pepsi is betting on Web3.0 and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens)

BUT, human nature is slower to change than technology.

Today I read some research that shows the younger generation prefers face to face over on-line to build relationships. New technology comes at a premium in terms of money and time but since we humans are slow on the uptake, smaller firms can orient to the customer, stick with earlier technology and still compete.

Exploit the changes while maintaining client/customer Trust.

Watch the “big guys” as they experiment with Web 3.0. Learn from their mistakes but do not commit staff, funds or time until you can see a clear path to changing tactics that stays on the winning strategy to stay connected to your customer.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is an international speaker with clients from Singapore to Spain.

He guides elite individuals and organizations to become more memorable and more profitable.

New Normal Uncertainty

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The disruption is too great.

We will never get back to the Normal we knew before Covid.

The financial arena is in turmoil but the predicted inflation problem is the least we have to worry about. The growing separation of the wealthy and the poor is the real problem. When a tank of gas costs well over $50 your commute from the suburbs, the only place you could afford a home, gets more and more expensive. And if you are not a corporate officer parking will have to come out of the same pay check you are already stretching for food and education and medical care.

Millions of people are walking away from jobs each month.

When you can’t stay ahead of the cost of goods and you don’t see a way out with a current employer you go looking. You look for a better position. You look for a side hustle. Many become desperate.

Hope becomes the best marketing tactic.

Those anxious millions become reckless and impulsive. You will see deals with benefits that are unbelievable.

They are. At the con man level the Nigerian Prince hustle morphs to a perceived charity that selects you as a winner in a drawing. When your situation seems hopeless you are most prone to buy in to schemes cloaked in righteousness.

Trust becomes more valuable than ever.

When the economy is stripping away your lifestyle you begin to look for friends, people that you know really well, merchants that you like and brands that haven’t let you down.

Suppliers that know that Trust is important to you will do everything they can to not betray it. They will stay consistent, truthful and engaged with you. That is how you extend the life of your service and your company.

You can’t go back. You can only go forward.

Your business will have to cope with the disruptions. Your marketing will have to accept the changes and communicate that understanding to customers that are disheartened but yearning for words of shared beliefs.  Heed their words and their actions. The life of your company depends on it.

And so it goes.

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Jerry Fletcher is an international keynote speaker with clients from Singapore to Spain and across the Americas.

He guides consulting individuals and organizations to become more memorable and more profitable.