Imagine this - you've spent weeks writing the copy for your website and your promotional literature. You've tweaked it, polished it, selected the best pictures and graphics - and now it's launched out in the public domain. You eagerly await your 'ideal' clients to get in touch... but all you end up with is a bunch of tyre-kicking time wasters, asking annoying questions about what you do!
However, as you're in a service profession, you grit your teeth, paste a smile on your face, and politely answer their questions, Fingertip towels all the while wondering how it can be that they just don't seem to GET what your business is about, and what you offer.
How frustrating would that be?! It's actually more common than you might imagine, and even if you think this is NOT something your business suffers from - if you don't have the delightful 'problem' of having a client waiting list, then how you are communicating with your prospects is definitely something which you need to review in your business.
I've just re-read the excellent book 'Made to Stick' by Chip and Dan Heath (it's well worth a read if you get a chance!) and they show just how important this issue is! I've paraphrased what they said here:
In a well known experiment called 'Tappers and Listeners' carried out by Elizabeth Newton a PhD Psychology student at Stanford University, the people partaking in the experiment were given the role of either 'Tapper' or 'Listener'. The Tappers were given a list of 25 well known songs, and were asked to tap the song out by knocking its rhythm on a table. The task of the Listener was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped out. (This is a fun experiment to try yourself if there's a willing listener nearby!).
During the experiment 120 songs in total were tapped out, and the Listeners guessed only 2.5% of them: just 3 out of the 120.
But something else made this more interesting. Before the Tappers tapped out their songs they were asked to predict how many songs they thought the Listeners would get correct.
The Tappers predicted that the Listeners would get 50% correct.
In other words the Tappers only got their massage across 1 time in 40, but thought they were getting it across 1 time in every 2.
Why would there be such a huge difference?
Well, the answer is that when the Tapper taps he is hearing the song in his head (if you go ahead and try tapping out a song yourself you'll see it's impossible not to hear the whole song in your head). Meanwhile the Listener can't hear that tune; all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps.
In the experiment the Tappers were amazed at how hard the Listeners seemed to have to work to pick out the tune. Even worse, the Tappers were astonished that the Listeners kept failing to guess even the simplest tunes, especially when it was so obvious what they were (wasn't it?!!)
The problem is that Tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) which makes it impossible for them to imagine what it's like to lack that knowledge. When they're tapping they can't imagine what it's like for the Listeners to only hear isolated taps rather than the full song that they can hear in their heads.This is the Curse of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it's like not to know it. Our knowledge has 'cursed' us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can't readily recreate our listener's state of mind.
This leads of course to a huge information imbalance.
So, consider now how this applies in your business, and more importantly how it might be LOSING you business!
What assumptions are you making when you communicate with your prospects, based on your own curse of knowledge?
Are you assuming they understand your industry specific jargon? Are you surmising that they will somehow 'get' exactly what the benefits of taking your fantastic 'XYZ Program' are, without you having to spell it out? Have you forgotten all the questions that YOU had when you were a complete newcomer at whatever it is that you do? (Yes, even the questions that you perhaps felt a bit silly asking)? Are you guessing whether your clients are 'big picture' or 'detail' people and leaving one or the other out of your message? Are you focusing on only one of the modalities that we like to receive information in (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) and letting the other two trickle between the cracks of your marketing?
Can you see now that perhaps those time-wasters were in fact just your 'ideal' clients who couldn't get a clear idea of whether your program or service was right for them, because YOU had failed to communicate it properly?!
What can you do now?
1) Give your promotional literature to a selection of different people to look at and ask them to describe (not read!) back to you exactly what it is your business offers, and stands for.
If they come up with questions, note them down, and see what else you need to add to explain it better. You can guarantee that if one person is saying it, there would be ten others thinking it!
2) Look at the style of your copy (on your website, and in your promotional literature etc). This is not being done to show your understanding of the Oxford Dictionary and literary prowess, but to appeal to your prospects!
Unless your ideal clients happen to be a particularly scholarly group who expect perfect Queen's English, then remember that your copy is a vehicle for you to have a conversation with your prospects! A Conversation! Use a tone that you would have if you were face-to-face with your ideal prospect. Use words that he or she would understand, and cut out the jargon (or if you must include it, be sure to show what it stands for, or means to the layperson).
3) Be sure to appeal to 'Big Picture' people, as well as those who prefer Detail.
If you can include elements of both in your marketing you'll be appealing to more prospects. Typically the WHY is big picture (e.g. Why you would want to house train your new puppy) and the WHAT/HOW is detail (e.g. the step by step schedule to follow to house train your new puppy)
4) Consider including some Frequently Asked Questions FAQs, on your website where you have the room to do so.
That way you can answer all the questions that come up over and over, which will free up your time, reassure your prospects that you understand their concerns, help you overcome those concerns, AND position you as the Go-To helpful expert in your niche.
5) Benefit from the relationship you already have with your existing clients, and ASK them about how they perceived your marketing message.
Check with them - was there anything that didn't seem clear to them, or that seemed out of line with what they actually experienced as your client? Feedback from existing customers is invaluable!
Tanya Smith helps solopreneur coaches, consultants and other service professionals to consistently get more clients and grow their business with a workable, systemised Marketing Plan. She shares exactly how in a FREE step-by-step guide/workbook, the Get More Clients Marketing Plan at her site http://www.InnerGameProfits.com It takes you through the 6 Steps to getting more clients with a marketing plan, from where you are now, tailored for YOUR business.
No comments:
Post a Comment