Friday 10 February 2012

Meeting the challenge of communicating our difference - part one

Well known and highly respected speakers bureau owner Susie Christie left the following comment on my 8th February ‘What are you doing that is truly different that is highly valued by your customers/clients?’ post: “Great post Ian, thank you. Knowing that you do things better or different is not the challenge. Communicating it is.”

Susie is spot on.

This post is the first of a series on my feelings, thoughts and actions about the communicating our difference challenge.

The first three steps in my view to meeting the communicating our difference challenge are:
1) knowing who our buyers are
2) deeply understanding the pain our buyers want to rid themselves of
3) knowing how what we do and how we do it can take away our buyers pain

Knowing who our buyers are

Decision-makers, i.e. people who can sign or authorize payment to me for my services, in organisations described in red, yellow, and white in the diagram below are my primary buyers.


Who precisely are your buyers?

Deeply understanding the pain our buyers want to rid themselves of

It is well known that seeking pleasure and avoiding pain are basic performance drivers and avoiding pain or getting rid of what is causing it is uppermost in most people’s minds.

How do you find out the pain pushers of your buyers?

My principal way is in-person meetings. In a social-media dominated world meeting with people in-person is in itself a differentiator! And fascinatingly, social-media fatigue is a pain pusher. Sadly some people have already allowed themselves to be pushed over their edge.

When I meet with prospective buyers my fundamental aims are to build and grow a relationship of high value and mutual reward and to provide value, sometimes called ‘giving value in advance’ or ‘providing value first.’

In the process of getting to know people and them getting to know me, we both discover pain pushers. I then give something of value to my prospect to help them take away their pain. I then follow up to find out about their results of using what I gave them. I do this personally, not via email.

My goal then, with the right people for me, is to create a sequence and frequency of staying in touch with them and continually providing value as perceived by them. A high percentage of people buy my services as a result of this highly personalised and as often as possible in-person approach.

What is your system for giving value first or in advance and personally staying in touch?

Knowing how what we do and how we do it can take away our buyers pain

One way is “lead magnets”, tools that demonstrate our value and attract our buyers to us. The one pager here is such a tool and it is something I will often leave with people after our first meeting. I will explore lead magnets more in future posts.

What tools do you use that demonstrate your value and that attract your buyers to you?

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with passionate people to conceive, instigate and implement the crucial people elements of change programs that actually achieve desired outcomes (research shows more than 70% of change programs fail).

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