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:
Relevance
Novelty
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
.
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.
Without change we would be out of a job. Change is perceived by clients as a problem and they go looking for someone to solve it with expertise or experience they don’t have. We wind up working with them for a single engagement or, over time, for either multiple, linked engagements or just providing services in a single expertise on an ongoing basis.
Most of my interactions with clients are in the latter category. I tend to stay with clients for a while. I’ve worked with a current client now for over 25 years, celebrated a ten-year anniversary with one and I’m coming up on 3 years with another.
I still do singular encounters when I believe I can be of real assistance within the client’s time frame. I’ve come to the conclusion that Contact Relationship Management is no longer an arena I want to work in. Why? Management doesn’t understand it and more importantly does not understand that tasking sales-people with upkeep is a losing proposition.
For the future
I’m shifting my emphasis so that I will offer these services:
Marketing Consulting for consultants and coaches (Solopreneurs, Partnerships and Ensembles short and long term)
Strategic Marketing Counsel for entrepreneurs and start-ups
Speaking on topics that make individuals and organizations more memorable and more profitable. (Keynotes, Breakouts and Trainings for associations and businesses)
NEW Products that offer quick and easy branding, positioning and sales development. Example: Consultant Brandr for Linked In which allows you to inject your brand into your Linked In Profile in just one evening.
NEW The Credibillity to Cash Junto (named for the group Ben Franklin formed– a continuing conversation about establishing and maintaining your six-figure practice—a mastermind group limited to just 8 consultants that want to take their business up a notch.
Proven Publishing
That means I will continue publishing information on what works and what doesn’t in Marketing in general and consulting in particular.
Blogs I intend to publish blogs both in the USA and internationally on a regular basis every two weeks at a minimum. The topic will continue to be Consultant Marketing and will cover subjects from Practice Management to promos, PR and Premiums. The emphasis will continue to be branding across all the media available and how to move from suspect to prospect to client.
The Newslog, newly named Credibility to Cash will continue on a weekly basis. The new version will have the same information in an article, a video and an audio as requested by the current recipients. The first quarter for 2022 is in production now
The annual Consultant Marketing Survey is now in the field. This year’s results report will be available by New Year’s day! Sorry, no results tabulated as yet so I can’t provide a single finding! And yes, we will do it again next year.
Speak your Way to Business Riches A step-by-step guide to Get Booked, Get Heard and Build Your Business is in first draft. Look for it as a print on demand book from Amazon about the end of the first quarter. (Junto members and Newslog subscribers may receive webinar invitations as well as chapters in PDFs prior to publication)
In all we do in the coming year, the emphasis will be on showing you how to move from Credibility to Cash.
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 Sign up for the unique audio/video/article Newslog here.
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:
Focus the audience attention on the speaker transitioning them from their current actions or thoughts.
Enhance the credibility of the speaker personally or by citing social proofs.
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.
3 days ago I responded to a call for speakers passed along by a friend. It was for a Summit here in Portland and is a live event. I sent a one sheet on my Trust speech and a link to my speaking demo not expecting a response since I was mor interested in their events in major cities across the USA.
My e-mail lit up with a notation of interest and by the end of the day I was in communication with the event planner in charge of assuring speakers would not be doing commercials.
I’m used to that as these days so many organizations host events where they expect “Thought Leaders” to pay their own way to the event and pick up the cost of the hotel as well. Since most of these people are in corporate jobs that doesn’t present a problem to them.
But what if you are a “Thought Leader” but not affiliated with an organization that will allow you to write of the trip as a business expense? What about those unaffiliated “thought Leaders?”
What about the whole pay to play idea?
These events charge attendees. That is reasonable as the venue must be paid somehow. But it is not unknown for corporate speakers to be pressured to buy a booth and or a sponsorship or both. Failing that, often event planners will attempt to get professional speakers to engage in a commission deal for anything sold as a result of the speech. And it is not unknown for event planners to charge new speakers just for the privilege of taking their stage.
What about business development value?
One of the reasons I do an annual Consultant Marketing Survey is that years ago I wanted to prove the point that trade shows did not have reasonable ROI when compared to other promotional possibilities. Even though Covid has slowed things down the trade show continues. Yes, it has morphed in some ways but it still capture hearts and minds with the promise of being at the center of an industry and having all the players available. Why they might just stroll up to your booth and change your life!
The value is only there if you know how to take advantage of it. One of my clients spent the better part of two years going to shows to sell his software. Two years. No sales. All those out -of-pocket costs could not be recovered. In part it was because he never stopped tinkering with the product going through at least 5 programmers I was aware of. You have to pull the trigger if you are going to offer a product. It has to be real. Or all you get is a bill.
What about a service offering? Easier to make buck there. Anybody can make an offer in or out of a booth. You can set sales meetings with a lot of key players in a short time. You can network with media and other influencers. You can enjoy all the benefits of being there.
The money is in the follow up.
People don’t buy on the first meeting. You will have to build a relationship with them first. One client resisted the idea of sending thank you notes to people they had talked with at a convention. The president convinced the VP to do so. We sent 36 hand written thank you notes out. Three organizations responded immediately. Two asked for presentations. They bought. That put 2.5 Million on the bottom line for the company that quarter.
Speaking increases your visibility.
If you can get in front of part of the attendees at that event a group of them you can begin engaging with numbers well above what you might in any other way. All that stuff you’ve heard about lead magnets is really helpful here. Your personal offer from the stage is more valuable than all the social media you can imagine. Why? You have a relationship with the audience. When they ask you to send them something and give you their contact information you have an open door. More importantly if is with people that are several steps further along the customer journey.
Is it worth it? Yes. One client who had a Software as a service offering got really tired of paying for a booth and coming home empty. Then he negotiated a speaking breakout with the booth. The speech he developed proved to be crowd pleaser. Soon he was being asked to appear at all the regional shows and he booth became a courtesy. Yes, he had a product that brought digital to an analog industry and his understanding of both made him a sought-after expert. A year in sales of the product were making the company solvent. Two years in the largest analog supplier in the industry saw the writing on the wall. He accepted their offer of north of $7Million.
The advice
Look hard at every trade show/event/convention offer. Can you accomplish what you want ot get out of that time and place without writing a check. Attend once if you believe it is “your kind of people.” Evaluate it and make it a point to meet the people running it if you are going to pursue a speaking position. Then make sure you make your speech all about them. Those that realize you care will reach out to you.
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.
I don’t mean on stage but rather in figuring out how to make the most of presenting virtually.
I asked, in a “mastermind” group, “Anyone else finding that you know more about how to make virtual meetings work both in terms of technical and techniques than the folks hiring you and their experts?”
It was like dropping a match into a puddle of gasoline. First the whoosh of the gas and then a long low steady burn. The entire group whooped and then each told a story of woe. I took notes and here’s what I learned:
Live is easy. Virtual ain’t
Half of the group are Certified Speaking Professionals. The rest of us split out between those, like me, who have been speaking professionally for over 25 years and the youngsters averaging 5 years of experience.
All of us were appearing live across the North America regularly and a few of us have presented in International venues. All of us concluded:
Live is easy. Virtual ain’t
Live interactivity is not expected
Virtual interactivity is a must
Live reaction is easily visible
Virtual reaction is sometimes unreadable
Most Meeting professionals do not comprehend the differences
On-site technical experts drafted for Virtual duty are not up to speed on all the capabilities and difficulties of virtual technology
Technology tips
Those of us that have now been presenting virtually since January have used most of the major video conferencing tools. Our experience adheres to the general market share pattern.
Zoom 40.49%
Go to Webinar 19.82%
Cisco Webex 12.31%
ON 24 3.51%
Adobe Connect 3.38%
Each has peculiarities and each makes different demands on the presenter.
Meeting professionals who would never dream of having a keynote speaker say “Next slide please.” don’t understand that is exactly what they are doing when they do not have their technicians cede screen sharing to the speaker.
Those who plan meetings and conferences can no longer use the same sort of scheduling for their events. Sessions must be shorter because the demands on the visual cortex of watching a screen are greater than when you are in a live event. “Shorter is better in a virtual meeting” was our consensus.
To get the most out of the video conferencing platform speakers, especially non-professionals, should have a rehearsal before the event was a suggestion from one of the veterans. All agreed that programs would be more successful with this simple change.
All of us have had to deal with schedule changes. I have cut a one-hour keynote down to 32 minutes while on stage to get a meeting back on schedule. You need to make sure that you, the organizer and the technologists are all on the same page. One of the long-time professionals in our group suffered a change in scheduling that made it impossible to become interactive with an audience seeing her recorded keynote with segments built for that purpose. The technologists used multiple times for the audience to begin viewing without advising her!
Technique Tips
Any event with more than a few people in the room is show time. Virtual makes it more so. The further you can get away from the “Talking head,” the better. Here, in no particular order are suggestions to strengthen your appearance in that virtual meeting:
Stand up! Presenting standing up will give you better breath and voice control as well as make you more active in front of the camera.
Don’t be afraid to gesture. We, as humans, read body language more easily than we read facial expressions. It takes fewer of the little grey cells to understand what is being said.
You can move, the lens can’t. We all want to have visual cues about what is important. Even as a baby we respond to someone who “leans in.” Don’t be afraid to use that knowledge to get your point across.
Use hand gestures. Because you and your audience are closer to one another using the kind of gestures you would use across a desk or a table will be more easily understood than the broad gestures you might use on the platform.
Share your screen, briefly. That is one way to increase the interactivity and engagement in your message. But, one slide left up for more than a half minute is going to bore the audience to tears in live or virtual. But in virtual they can be gone completely and you will not know it.
Get interactive. Use polls, voting via gestures visible to all, having a contest with entry via the chat capability, Q&A using the chat, Breakout rooms with reports on return, team tasks in breakout rooms that may be contest oriented, Try a Karaoke choir to get everyone working together.
Record it in video. Yes, Use the capabilities of the platform for record purposes but understand that you want a higher level recording for promotion as the compression algorithms in the platform recording deliver a less than stellar result.
Do not be the weakest link.
Even nine months into the Pandemic there is a huge lack of knowledge in how to use the video conferencing capabilities available to us. Ask what platform is going to be used. Set up a way to communicate any program or timing changes in advance. Question everything. The success of the program depends on you.
And, so it goes.
Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc.
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.
Perhaps it was watching the credit roll on an old movie that used rock songs from my misspent youth as the background to everything from chase scenes to tender love scenes and everything in between.
The music of your career.
Consulting careers are usually sorted out into:
Start up
Growth
Established
When I first considered this way of looking at my past I was struck by the urgency of establishing my practice. As a foot ball fan, the Rolling Stones’ song “Start it Up” came to mind. But I couldn’t think of the words to the song just that powerful guitar riff and driving beat.
So I looked it up. The earworm I had of the musical opening to the song was accurate but the title wasn’t. It is actually “Start Me Up” which you don’t hear until about 15 seconds in. Of course, I watched this video. And then I checked out the lyrics that start with:
If you start me up If you start me up I’ll never stop You can start me up You can start me up I’ll never stop
I’ve been running hot You got me ticking going to blow my top If you start me up If you start me up I’ll never stop Never stop, never stop, never stop
You make a grown man cry You make a grown man cry You make a grown man cry
Seems to me there’s a little sexual tension there and if you are really into consulting it has some of those connotations.
What about growth?
That little foray into sensuality got me wondering what the key melody was for all those years I was growing the practice. Nothing came immediately to mind until I started thinking about the years I spent as a journeyman in advertising. Then it came to me. Neil Diamond. Either you’re a fan or you’re not. He recorded a live album at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles called “Hot August Night.” One song in particular that night sort of tells it like it was for me: “Brother Loves Travelin’ Salvation Show”
I discovered that it was used in the movie, “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” I sleuthed out a video where he explains how the song came about and then sings it. click here Later versions of the song with an orchestra and a choir backing him are just gilding the lily of this powerful take on a piece of Americana. This may have been when I decided to become a speaker because like Brother Love I’ve always wanted to give back and to spread the word of what works in my world. Listen all the way through. You’ll understand.
Established?
That one came easy. You can’t grow up when I did without knowing about a little town called Detroit. Yes, it was famous as where American cars were manufactured. But it became Motown when music that would sweep the nation began to be recorded there. No, I’m not going to claim a connection to something from Barry Gordy’s bunch.
My guy was Bob Seiger. He and the Silver Bullet Band would tour for years but his songs were made famous by other artists that covered them. He is best known for “Night Moves,” “Still the Same,” and “Against the Wind.”
But the song for this part of the journey is one he wrote while touring in 1973. Check out this video and remember these words: “Here I am, on the road again. There I am, up on the stage. Here I go, playin’ the star again. There I go, turn the page.”
And so it goes.
Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc.
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.
The request is: “Here’s the latest, take look and see if it will get your agreement.” Or, “How can we make it better?” Sometimes it is just a simple, “Please edit. I’m looking for people to agree with this and take action.”
Multiple forms, one mission
Here are the most common written documents produced by my clients:
Newsletters
Blogs
Articles
Posts
White papers
Position Papers
Presentations
Booklets
Books
All of them are written to be informative and to one degree or another to be convincing or persuasive.
Words that work
Ever find yourself wondering what someone means, especially when they use acronyms? Do you get confused when someone’s argument goes off obliquely? Are there words you’ve heard that sound good but don’t convey a succinct meaning to you?
I’m playing with you. Let’s try those questions with other words:
Ever find yourself wondering what someone means, especially when they use collections of letters as a word? Do you get confused when someone’s thinking goes off at an angle that doesn’t make sense? Are there words you’ve heard that sound good but don’t speak clearly to you?
A better picture in your mind’s eye
The USA is not one of the greatest collections of readers in the world. Of the developed countries we rank 16th or 17th depending on the study. Scarier still is the fact that about 14% of the US population is illiterate! So why should a consultant be worried about that?
Step away from the 50-cent words
Yes, you are well educated. Yes it cost you a fortune. Yes, you’d like to put the vocabulary you learned to work. Of course, you want to impress that prospect with your knowledge.
Don’t.
Let your emotions be your guide
To convince or persuade you first have to communicate. To get people to see things your way you have to find a way get your ideas across to them. Shorter words have greater emotional connections. The little words make people feel things. Some examples:
Canine versus dog
Residence versus home
Endeavor versus aim
Unbiased versus fair
Expeditious versus fast
Understanding is a many layered thing
The length of sentences as much as the words used control what we understand.
A sentence that goes on and on like a winding country road that meanders through one croft to another over hill and dale passing innocent bovine pastures and orchards swollen with nuts and fruits will sooner or later cause a bump in the reading larger than any of the chasms in the lanes.
Whew! I got lost somewhere around “bovine.”
To win, you need to write short.
Short sentences.
Little words.
To get the gig you need to touch their emotions.
Don’t impress.
Do not make them guess.
Find the words they use.
The right words.
This is the way I end a speech that talks about how to go from nobody to somebody:
The Right Words can make you Memorable in a heartbeat
The Right Words can generate trust as you introduce yourself
The Right Words allow people to sort themselves into prospects or referral sources
The Right Words can get the sale.
The Right Words can establish your brand in the time it takes you to speak them
And so it goes.
Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc.
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.
Normally I don’t sell from the stage when I speak. At least not for the last 15 years.
I just about
always collect contact data to begin a relationship.
I always take the
time to visit with anyone interested in learning more.
A salute to
product.
As a result of
a consulting contract an event manager has asked me to speak at three of his
events later this year. He specifically wants me to sell 30-Second Marketing TM
from the stage because it supports and adds to the planned experience of the
program.
You missed
one thing
My report said
that overall the 2-day event had been well done and provided some unexpected
presenters and subjects. “But,” I said, “You missed one thing. The people that
attend these entrepreneurial events come in two varieties:
Men and women completely new to start-ups
Experienced entrepreneurs trying to avoid further failures
Both of those groups need one thing that they generally don’t get in on-line or in-person events.”
They need a
brand but no one tells them how to build one.
I said, “Your program talked about all the social media needed to get to a mass market brand. It was excellent in that regard but provided no solid method to develop the words that would set an individual apart. Brands are built one contact at a time. One gem of a contact plus another and another until you have a string of them. Like a string of pearls. You have to be memorable to one person before you can be remembered in the same way by a crowd.
From Nobody
to Somebody
Three seconds
is all you’ve got to go from Nobody to Somebody. That’s true in person or on
line. How you answer the question, “What do you do?” will make you stand out from
the crowd or continue in oblivion.
A Memorable
Hook is just the beginning
You can get to
Trust, build a brand and generate referrals in 10 seconds if you have the right
words.
The right words
You think through the conversation before it happens so you
can find the right words.
You don’t have to come up with something on the fly.
You can truly connect with people by using the right words.
The right words… Can make you memorable in a
heartbeat.
The right words…can generate trust as you
introduce yourself
The right words…allow people to sort themselves
into prospect or referral sources
The right words…can establish a brand in the
time it takes to speak them
Moving from
Vision to Product
Most
entrepreneurs have the ability to have others connect with their vision. They
start with family and friends and expand to other funding resources but then
comes the time to sell their product or service in order to be successful and
they are stymied.
They have to
stop selling the vision and start selling the product or service. Then they
have to expand that market or get faster repeat.
The right words
make the difference.
The formula is
all about the words. It always includes a Hook, a Hold, a Pitch
and a Close.
The Hook changes your generic title to something
Memorable in the vernacular that inextricably includes your name.
The Hold must be presented in the prospect’s
words with full understanding of their fears, ambitions, concerns and perceived
risks.
The Pitch must be definitive in how your process
or ability or approach delivers that is not available elsewhere while giving
them an easy way to explain it to someone else they believe it will fit.
The Close is more about taking an order when they
are ready to buy than selling. Yes, give them concrete examples of what you’ve
done for others. Talk about outcomes you’ve delivered.
Then there
is the guarantee.
If you operate in the English Language and fully participate in an in person or on-line 30-Second MarketingTM Workshop and can’t develop words that work based on your fellow student’s viewpoint, I will give you three hours of my personal assistance, If, after that your fellow students still say it is a lost cause you get your money back. No ifs, ands or buts.
Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International
Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc.
His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is
known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing and Brand
development advice that builds businesses, brands and lives of joy.
I had approached the interviewer because of a post she had
put in a group I’d been asked to join on Facebook. Usually I don’t engage on
that platform but there she was, right up front when I clicked a link to the
group.
We had chatted briefly on the phone, set a date for the
interview and she said she would send me all the particulars.
When she called a little after dinner she was
concerned that I had not responded to her e-mail.
I immediately searched my e-mail files and found zip, nada,
nothing. She did the same and discovered that it was in her draft folder and
had not been sent!
She asked if I could talk now to record her
blog.
I said, “Certainly.”
She clarified a few points and then proceeded with the
introduction.
Our connection is an event promoter who is launching a
nationwide tour in March. I’ll be one of two keynoters in San Diego in
November. He wanted me to keynote in multiple cities in the west but I no
longer get a kick out of being in an all-day event, flying at night to the next
city and doing it all again the next day. So I passed on Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Then I was asked to introduce myself.
Here’s what I said:
“My name is Jerry Fletcher, I’m a master of consultant marketing. You know how everybody tells you that you have to have to be memorable but nobody tells you how to do it? Well what I do is help consultants, coaches and entrepreneurs craft a unique trust-based marketing strategy to build a business, a brand and a life of joy.”
Memorable? She asked
“You have three seconds to use words face-to-face or on-line to get someone’s attention. Three seconds to say something or register or a strong headline to get through the armor we all have on our minds to open the way to further conversation. In the next ten seconds you must give them a reason to want to talk to you.
A commercial is not going to get it. People would rather have a conversation than listen to a commercial.”
Nobody is legendary right out of the box.
What you say in that first three seconds must give them a
way to recall you. It should include your name and a memorable hook. That is
the beginning of what I call 30-Second Marketing TM. Over time you will move
through a series of steps that bring you closer and closer to that client/customer.
Here’s the progression:
Memorable
Trusted
Branded
Employed
Unforgettable
And for a few elites: Legendary
For her, it is the beginning.
Her questions revealed that she is moving from a full-time
job in healthcare to coaching. She is fired up. She has taken the training and
is now certified but like all indpendent professionals, consultants, coaches
and solopreneurs she is having difficulties figuring out how to market her
services.
I explained that the marketing that works in the beginning is not the same as she will use as her business grows and will change yet again when she is established. Of course, I have the benefit of the consultant marketing research studies I’ve done over the last 16 years.
Companies are built one contact at a time.
One gem of a contact plus another and yet another until you
have a string of them like a lustrous string of pearls. In time, with trust some
become clients, some become referral sources and some become both. Networking
will always be a part of the successful firm’s marketing strategy. It will diminish
in relative importance over time but will always be there. Along with direct
sales activities, no matter what the business entails it is what the new
entrepreneur must count on in order to pay the bills.
Speaking puts more targets in your sights.
I didn’t discover this fact of life. L learned about it by
interviewing a consultant that had authored a book. Because of her I signed up
for a newly formed group that I helped become the local chapter of the National
Speakers Association. I’ve been a professional member of the National and the
Local since 1993
If you have a process or viewpoint that can help solve a problem
for individuals you can take that same information and build it into a speech
crafted with signature stories and incidents along with content that will
change the lives of those in the
audience. In doing so you will generate memorability, trust and brand. You will
bring a part of that audience to the point that they want to work with you. You
will be able to close the deal to work with them. And, assuming you deliver as
promised, you will make yourself unforgettable.
Walk away from the podium.
Get your first appearances in places like your local
Rotary. You won’t get paid by them or other small local groups that would like
to hear your message. That is okay. You will need the practice and to learn
what people really want to hear.
Slowly but surely you will develop the skill to speak without notes and to roam a stage finding positions that will help you make your point. Later when you are pursuing an appearance at a larger organization you will be asked, “What is your fee?” It will happen and from that day on you will be a professional speaker. Just remember, “It’s not about you. It’s about them.” Make sure your audiences always leave with information they can put to work immediately and that you have a way to continue the relationship.
Between those who come up to speak with you when you finish
and those that provide you with their contact information your business and
your referrals will continue to grow.
And so it goes.
Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International
Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc.
His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is
known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing strategies that
build businesses, brands and lives of joy.
I figured it was a good way to build trust while working
out some of the kinks in the first of a series of new experiential products
with a small group.
What I learned.
I knew that most informational products sold okay but the
purchasers didn’t implement the actions recommended. The research shows that
80% don’t even open the item after they have paid for it and downloaded it! And
of the 20% who do open it up only a handful (20 to 25%) ever finish and
implement!
In other words gamification techniques must be applied in
order to get the purchasers to put the training to work.
Expectations versus reality
I wanted to be sure that this proven process got implemented.
I carefully set things up so the perceived value was greater than the stated
price ($197) the product included:
A
bonus video demonstrating the 30-Second Marketing self intro technique
Module
1:
An overview video for the course.
A graphic roadmap of the course
Trial Hook worksheets in writeable PDF form
A zoom coaching call with all participants to
share their work (and build community)
Module
2:
Hook’em worksheet with tips on resources to
help craft creative breakthroughs
Directions on how to come up with more memorable
hooks
A Higher recall worksheet (writeable PDF)
Challenge Winners worksheet (with segment for
recording the groups suggestions)
A 30-Second Marketing Briefing
A zoom coaching call to share their progress
and provide feedback
It worked but not as
well as I had hoped. I was targeting 80% of those who signed up completing the
course. Shifting the goal to actual use of the material being developed makes a
difference. No longer is the measure of success a simple sales metric. Now it
is a true measure…whether or not the purchaser got their money’s worth.
The numbers
The entire pitch was 3 minutes out of a 2-hour presentation. It was a small group, just 12. Eight of them signed up. Three completed the first worksheets. The same 3 showed up for the Zoom coaching calls. None of them completed the Module 2 worksheets. (1 did a day later)
BUT, all of them felt the product was worthwhile and all said they had learned a great deal about how to present themselves and their offering in a new way that they believed would pay off.
Mission Accomplished.
Along the way we helped one participant figure out how to
expand his potential market and how to change up another’s presentation to get her
unique difference across more quickly.
Shifting these individuals from doing a commercial to
having a conversation was what I had set out to do. That got done. Will they be
more memorable in the future? Probably.
An epiphany
One of the participants, after hearing the group agree with
her friend’s suggestion about how to identify herself said,
“Hmmmm… interesting. Seems that would let me tailor what I say next based on whether I’m talking with an executive, business owner, manager or staff person.“
That made it all worth while
The lesson for us all
I’ve been doing one-on-one consulting with consultants long
enough to know that getting ready to get ready is a common failing. We all do
it. We bite off more than we can chew. We sign up for a course, then get busy
and figure, “well I can always come back to it.” We procrastinate.
There is a solution. As one of my clients puts it:
“Define the three things you believe will
change your business for the better.
Pick one.
Do it.
Rinse and repeat.”
Stay tuned. More to come on putting more positive experience
into the products it takes to build a business, a brand and a life of joy.
And so it goes.
Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International
Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and CEO of Z-axis Marketing, Inc.
His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is
known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing strategies that
build businesses, brands and lives of joy.
