What's Your Solution?
Hi, it’s Adele Michal back today with Step 3 of how to be clearly compelling in your messaging and marketing for your service-based business.
The overall concept for successfully marketing your services is that you want to offer people what they WANT, not what they NEED.
Watch the video or read the article below for help answering this question for your business.
You know what they need, but you want to offer them what they want – and be an invitation into what they want, so that you can also give them what they need. You want to figure out what problem you solve.
In the marketplace now your solution can be pretty narrow.
THE BIG QUESTION
Step 3 is to answer, “What’s your solution?”
You have a particular point of view about why people struggle, and there are problems that you are uniquely qualified to help solve. You may go into the marketplace thinking, “That’s enough to know that.”
Well, it’s usually not. I have experienced that myself and it wasn’t very good for my business.
That’s why I do what I do now – help my clients get clear on how to talk about what they offer so they’re actually communicating with the people they want to serve. Broadcasting a big, diffused message that doesn’t get heard by anyone won’t help you grow your business.
SMALLER QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU ANSWER THE BIG QUESTION
The next questions to answer within this bigger question of what’s your solution are:
What need do you meet?
o Is it overall health and well-being?
o Is it relationships and happiness?
o Is it money and meaning?
o Or is it a mash-up of some of those issues - like how to talk about money in your significant relationship?
What desires do you fulfill?
You want to offer what people want so that they get into a conversation with you and have the opportunity to buy from you.
MY STORY AROUND MY MARKETING MESSAGE
I used to try to market “freedom and empowerment for women.”
I didn’t get a lot of traction on that.
Then, I thought, “Well, what about money? Everybody wants more money.” I got a little bit more traction on that, but it was still too broad.
Then, I realized that from what I learned about selling authentically coupled with the communication skills I had learned as a counselor that I could help others learn to sell authentically. I looked around and saw colleagues who had wonderful services to offer but weren’t getting the clients they wanted. I knew that I could help meet them learn how to get more clients in their own style with their values intact. That is what my people want.
I’ve narrowed my marketing message down to helping women business owners and service providers sell with authenticity and integrity.
WHY IS YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE CRITICAL?
You may wonder why I’m talking about marketing when I focus on teaching authentic sales skills.
Marketing leads to sales conversations – to the opportunity to talk with someone about what s/he wants and needs and how you can solve their problem.
Because I was able to narrow down what I offer to what people want, I'm serving more of the people that I can help. I'm still delivering freedom and empowerment – around life, around money, and around the business.
Do you see how marketing and sales are connected? You start with the message of what you do and the problem you solve, then you build relationships and have conversations to see whether your services are what the prospective clients wants and needs, and then you ask for a sale.
It feels much better and is more profitable to have something that’s clearl attractive to the people you can help.
They know they want what you offer so you have more conversations, develop more relationships, and see whether what you do is a match to what they want to invest in.
COULD IT BE EASIER THAN YOU’RE MAKING IT?
I want to tell you about what happened last week at Abundance with Adele, my live, in-person workshop that I hold monthly in Durham, North Carolina. (If you’re in the Triangle or nearby, please come and join us. You can register for free here)
An acupuncturist new to the area got to be in the Abundance Seat. Everyone in the workshop focused on her and her business issue which is how to attract and book more patients.
She is very committed to wellness and health. She really wants to help everyone that she treats to be to feel better and be healthier.
She described her business issue this way, “Not many people buy health and well-being. They know they need it, but they don’t really buy it.
“What people really want is to look better. I do Facelift Acupuncture, and it really works. But I'm feeling resistant to offering that because I want to help people to be healthier.
“I have a judgment about people wanting to have facelifts, but I know I can help them look and feel younger and more beautiful with Facelift Acupuncture.”
My response was, “That is a wonderful doorway to attract more of the people that you want to serve.”
Offering Facelift Acupuncture gives the person who wants to look better access to the result she wants without Botox, drugs or surgery.
While the acupuncturist is having that session with her patient, she can also say, “This wrinkle right here on your forehead relates to a certain organ in your body, and we can help that organ feel better with acupuncture and herbs”, or
“These bags under your eyes relate to your kidneys, and there are ways that we can strengthen them with acupuncture.”
Facelift Acupuncture could be her doorway to getting more patients and helping them enjoy more health and well-being as well as look better.
Combining at the solution she provides – overall health and well-being – with what the marketplace wants – looking better – is a win-win.
Think about that for yourself:
Is there anything that you know that your people want, but you’re resisting?
That’s your assignment for the week: Think about the solution you provide and how you could marry that with what you ideal clients desire.
PS I’d like to offer you an opportunity to spend two days in October with me and a very small group of other women entrepreneurs to get clear and compelling with how you talk about what you do and confident when you say it.
It’s a 2-day authentic marketing retreat called Choosing Abundance.
We each have choices in life and business.
You can choose to stay hidden, diffused and unclear with your messaging. One person in the workshop recognized this in her own business and said, “It’s like I'm in a hole under a rock. How am I getting clients that way?”
It really is harder to get clients that way.
If you want to be seen and heard about your business so you get more clients and enjoy more income, join us this two-day retreat in Durham, North Carolina. It’s a Friday and Saturday, October 19th and 20th with up to 12 women business owners who are committed to growing their business, increasing their income, and serving their clients well.
Together we’ll go through seven essential steps to clarify your marketing message including
· What your people want
· The problem you solve
· The solution you provide
In the two days together we’ll cover the other four essential steps in creating a marketing message that stands out in a noisy marketplace so you are seen and heard by the right people when you talk about what you do.
If this intrigues you, go to ChoosingAbundanceEvent.com. You can register there or sign up for a complimentary conversation with me if you have any questions about whether it’s right for you right now.
I’m offering an early price discount if you register by September 15th. If you register by then, you also have an option to pay in two installments.
If you attend and bring a friend who also registers, you each get a $100 rebate off the retreat tuition. There’s also a money-back guarantee.
Have a look here if having a clear and compelling marketing message would serve you, your business, and the people you want to help now.