By MARK RIFFEY for the Flathead Beacon Newspaper
There are a lot of rewards that come with helping businesses improve beyond what they expected, or even simply going a step or two beyond an artificial boundary the business owner thought was in front of them. It’s really a fun thing to watch someone latch on to a piece of advice and make 10 or 100 times what they invested in it.
That isn’t the whole story though. In addition to those who take advice and use it, there are some who ask for advice, pay for it, receive it and for whatever reason, never use it. Perhaps they decide that it isn’t for them or they decide not to do anything at all, or they decide they can’t do anything right now. Or they don’t decide to do something, which is also a decision.
There are some in my mentor group who tell me not to worry about those who decide to do nothing (I don’t), and others who suggest that I shouldn’t let it bother me (I do, a little).
Why the difference between worry and bother?
Ultimately I think it comes from the root of why people open businesses – other than independence and control over their income: people get something from helping other people.
The result is that when you do your best to help someone, it feels incomplete until they plug in and use that help to improve their situation.
Sometimes, they just aren’t ready to act, even if they were ready to buy. I know that seems to be a disconnect, but there are plenty of books and courses and such out there with the cello wrap still on them. As I hear it, buying the tool, assistance or advice releases the “I did something” endorphins, so many leave it at that.
If you’re thinking this is some sort of subliminal sales pitch, it isn’t. Still, it’s reasonable to wonder “What does this have to do with me and my business?”
We’re getting there.
Where are they?
Hildy Gottlieb frequently talks about meeting people where they are. After all, you can’t meet them where they aren’t, right? Any well-trained salesperson will tell you the same thing – meet someone where they are, talk to that person, rather than talking to the person you want them to be. The same goes for writing.
When you lose a sale or when someone buys a product or service from you and then finds no use for it – despite an obvious need, that’s where the gap between “where your stuff is” and “where your clients are” will become obvious.
So how do you bridge the gap?
Today, you have a product or service (or both) that serves people that are in a certain place in their life, career or state of owning a business.
Think about where someone is when they are at the best possible place and time to buy. Can you identify the qualities, qualifications, situations and conditions in their life, career or business that are ideal when it comes to them making a decision to buy what you sell?
No, I mean where are they NOW?
Ok, so now you have a list of the situations, conditions and qualities that make it a no brainer (or at least ideal) for the right people to buy your stuff. Hopefully that’s where your marketing is focused.
Do you have enough these “ideal people” in your sales funnel / pipeline? Most people will say they don’t. They’s say this for any number of reasons, including that they simply want more leads than they have now because they have business and/or personal goals that require higher sales.
If you don’t have enough of those people, look at that timeline again. Glance to the left of ideal: the “not quite ready” portion of the timeline. What can you do to help people get from that part of the timeline to that optimum place you identified as perfect for your product / service?
Now help them.
The more people that you can help move along that timeline to “optimum” (whatever that means for you and them), the more people you’ll eventually have as “ideal” prospects. When they’re ready, they’ll already know you, since you helped them make the journey to “ideal”.
What can you do to help them make that journey?
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on Twitter, or email him at mriffey@flatheadbeacon.com.