I was asked recently by a couple of accountant clients (…now good friends) what am I trying to make happen with our Trevor Marchant.Com BLOG and what is the philosophy of it …what is the real point of it?
Firstly, the primary aim for my readers is to ‘gain knowledge.’
If we can help people stretch their thinking — not necessarily agreeing with what we’re saying but at least starting a conversation or helping them move forward with their lives in some way — then we have added value and helped them gain some knowledge.
Secondly, the BLOG is about personal and business improvement. I intend challenging everyone to lift their game, to get in to the ‘margins’ where success happens, to UP their energy, UP their thinking, UP their knowledge and start claiming their potential.
As you know coaching is about turning potential into performance…that’s what we do…
I specialise in performance coaching and I intend to ask you to draw a ‘line in the sand’ — a baseline and then move everything UP a notch- and take it all to the next level.
I plan to UPMINE so I’m going to push you to UPYOURS.
Here’s my thought for the day:
We’ve not long started 2017 and if you feel like your dragging the chain a tad with your marketing and sales — then have a think about this-
WHO is your best, highest-probability customer or client?
Where do they hang out (online and offline)? What are their specific pains, problems, heartaches, headaches, challenges and gaps? What are their (again, specific) hopes, dreams, goals, aspirations, and priorities? What are their personality traits, characteristics, and behaviours? How can you plug into that with your marketing messages to convey the fact that you ‘get’ them completely? What do they TALK about when it comes to solving this problem — what WORDS do they use? What do they struggle with? How can you, your company, and your products and your services HELP them? If you’re unclear, vague, or fuzzy about this, then LISTEN, ASK, and SURVEY them to find out for sure.
WHAT has worked well for you in the past?
Is there something you should stop doing; something you should start doing and/or something you should continue doing?
What has been a dud? How can you take stock of all your company’s products, services, and programs and lose the duds to make room for some new, fresh, innovative ideas that your customers and clients might just BUST DOWN your doors to get their hands on? What can you do to shift from ‘push’ marketing and selling to ‘pull’ strategies? Look at your product and service mix — what needs to go? What needs to change? What needs to be added?
WHY do customers and clients buy from you ?
How can you articulate that with sharper, clearer, stronger language? More testimonials? Bolder success stories? Why do they seek the results that you provide? What are the ‘reasons behind the reasons’ (emotional, intellectual, personal, professional, and organizational)? If you can grasp the emotional ‘gut or intuitive’ reasons they buy from you, you’ll be much better positioned to enter the conversation already happening in their heads and you’re much more likely to trigger a sale — or at least a sales conversation — because now they GET it, they see how they might NEED it, and they WANT it.
HOW can you diversify while still specialising?
Whatever your current mix of products, services, and programs, ask these questions to come up with new ideas to further expand your market, your offerings, and your money-making activities: What else could you do? For whom else? How else could you do it? Where else? You might also consider developing a second parallel offering (or division or brand) that taps into your unique expertise but appeals to: DIFFERENT industries, needs, audiences, niches, or price points.
Have a 2-hour strategic meeting with yourself and these 4 questions plus a writing pad and some coloured pens — answer them in your favourite coffee shop, park bench, or bookstore — and your 2017 might just end up clocking in as your best year yet.
So UPYOURS and I’ll see you at the NEXT LEVEL
Good Luck and (always) Good Selling
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