Posts Tagged ‘Triggers’

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Niche Your Way To More Business

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

The title may sound counter-intuitive, but I think if you consider your niche well, you’ll find it to be true.

Yesterday, I was having lunch with a new coach, and we started talking about niching. She wasn’t sure what niche she wanted to target, and as we talked, I mentioned ADD coaching and coaching for people with Asperger’s Syndrome. She’d never thought of those, and she has skills in working with both communities. It sounded like she’d be perfect.

What was the benefit for her in targeting those niches?

1. They are clearly defined and easy to describe

Rather than saying she’s a life coach or even a life coach specializing in working with disabilities, she’s narrowed the disability. She can create clear triggers to generate referrals. She can target specific strategic partners and show her value in working with people with those disabilities. I’ve repeated again and again the importance of being specific.

2. Those niches opened up a market she hadn’t considered

Both disorders are being diagnosed more in adults, and many of her targets are bright, well-educated and successful. In other words, they have the money to pay for her services. And a strong need for coaching. She should have an ample pool of potential clients to target, and most of her competition is not targeting them, which gives her an advantage.

3. She is passionate about helping them

She had said she wanted to work with people with disabilities, but she was concerned about finding paying clients. She had family members with both disorders, so she’s highly interested in working with them. Isn’t it nice when working with your passion can also make a living?

Look at your client profile. Can you develop or describe a niche that feeds your passion, works to your strengths and isn’t what your competition is targeting? If you can, you’ll have more business and be happier serving your clients. Not a bad situation, eh?

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Referral Education. Or How to Get Referrals From Anyone.

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about deciding on what networking group to join based on the networking ability of the group members. But what if you find a group you like, want to join them, and they aren’t very savvy about referring your business?

You’ll need to systematically educate them. Which isn’t a bad thing. It will force you to hone your message and clearly define who is a good referral. Which might make you better at selling your product or service. Not bad, eh?

I’ve written a lot of article on elevator speeches, and it might be a good idea to review them. Just search on “elevator speech” on my blog home page.

Stories are going to be key to educating your audience. You’re going to need to look at your client list and come up with your best stories. Here’s what you’re looking for:

Problem
Solution
Outcome

If you can come up with three or four good examples that fit that format, you’re well on the way. Of course, you’ll work those stories into your elevator speech, but you’re going to need to use them in one on one meetings as well.

I’d suggest you mention in your meeting that your business can be tough to refer. Yes, there’s a danger in putting that idea into someone’s head, but I think it’s offset by the fact that they are probably already thinking, “I have no idea how to refer you.” Address what they are already thinking, and you’ve won half the battle.

Then pull out your stories. Go through the two that are most likely to be relevant to the person with whom you are meeting. Walk through why those clients needed you and how you were able to help.

Tie those stories to possible industries the other person might be familiar with. Give triggers. Ask the person to look or listen for certain cues. Then give them some specific ways they could start a conversation around your business.

Is that a lot of work? Yes, but it will be worth it. Of course, you need to give the other person equal time and attention. The more you are willing and able to refer others, the more likely they are to refer you.

Anyone have a particularly difficult business to refer? Tell us about it in the comments, and let’s see if we can’t help you out.

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Networking Into The Right Prospect Pool

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about the various pools prospects can fall into. Today I want to discuss how effective networking can get you introduced to the roughly 60% of people who need you but aren’t actively shopping for the solution you provide.

The short answers are clear triggers and strategic partners.

Triggers

What are things that your ideal clients do or say that other people could pick up on? We often experience pain points well in advance of deciding to take action. What are those signs? Let me illustrate with a couple of examples.

Before someone makes the decision to buy a house, they might say things like:

Rents have gotten so high
We’re tripping over each other in the house
Where are we going to put the new baby?

A business owner in need of some organizational help might say things like:

I can’t find my desk!
Where did I put those proposals and quotes?
Email has taken over my life

When people say these things, they are experiencing pain, but they are probably still at the point of suffering without looking for a solution. If you can train your network to listen or look for these signs, they can refer you at just the right point.

Strategic Partners

These are people in complementary but non-competing businesses. They are marketing to and servicing exactly the same clients as you. If they are good, they are probably already having conversations with their clients about pain points. For example, as a coach, I sometimes uncover a need for counseling. Some of my clients weren’t in the market for a therapist, but I was able to point them in the right direction. I was able to match the person to the right therapist, and none of them got “three estimates.”

Sometimes your strategic partners get it right away and don’t need coaching. But sometimes, they need help. That’s where you can sit down for a productive one to one meeting where you discuss questions they could ask to uncover referrals for you. Of course, I always recommend those be two-way conversations where you also ask how to find referrals for them

These two methods will increase the chance that you will get referrals from the 60% pool. If the referral is handled properly by all parties, these prospects will never need to move into the 30% (actively shopping) pool.

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Be Easy to Refer

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

I’ll admit it. Last year was rough. Coaching in face to face networking wasn’t something people wanted to spend money on. I picked up a few new clients, but nothing like what I had wanted.

And my number of referrals was very low. So I spent my spare time researching social media, and now I coach people in that form of networking as well.

Guess what? My number of referrals and clients has shot up. While I am still picking up a few face to face networking clients through my own efforts, most of my referrals right now are coming from people talking about my social media coaching.

Why is that? Honestly, I have a much better track record with networking coaching. Social media is still fairly new for me, and while I can point to some successes, it’s still early days.

The people who are referring me know me, like me and trust me, which is very important. But that’s not all of it. They knew me last year and didn’t refer me. What’s different this year?

Social media. It’s a buzz word. People don’t understand it, but the media keeps telling us we need to master it.

I have successfully linked my name with social media with my network. So when someone says “I don’t understand social media” or “I think I need to market myself through social media, but I don’t know how,” people think of me and say, “Then you need to talk to Juli.”

Which makes me very happy!

Right now people aren’t saying (as often), I need to network more effectively. Networking isn’t a word that comes up in casual conversation. Twitter is. Facebook is. And my network knows those words mean me.

I had the “know, like and trust” covered. What I was lacking was the “easy to refer” part. Now that I have all four elements in place, referrals are coming in.

So look at your network. If they don’t know, like and trust you, that’s a big problem. If those pieces are in place, and you still aren’t getting referrals, then look at the easy piece. Is there something missing? Some easy trigger that you need to give them so they think of you?

If you’re not sure what’s missing, don’t hesitate to ask. Buy coffee for the people who know you best and ask them why you aren’t easy to refer. Let them help you find the answer. There may be several different answers, which is all to the good. Two or three triggers out there are better than one.

Which leads me to ask you. Social media is obviously a good trigger for me. You read my blog and know what I do. What other triggers should I be seeding to my network? Thanks!

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LinkedIn and One on One Meetings

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

I had a fantastic meeting this morning with someone who just might be a better networker than I am. And a joy that was to experience!

He taught me a use of LinkedIn that should have been obvious, but I just hadn’t thought of yet.

We had the usual “get to know each other” conversation and then got to the “how can we help each other” part. That’s when he pulled out a sheet of paper with several names on it. All of them are connected to me on LinkedIn, and we went through the list. There are three people I can definitely introduce him to.

Then we talked strategy. Interestingly, he doesn’t use the “Forward a Connection Request” feature of LinkedIn. He says it takes too long. Instead, he has a pre-written email he sends me. I just cut and paste it into my own email introduction, and he takes it from there. I will, of course, take it one level further and contact the people in advance and warm them up. But I can use the text from his email as a starting point for my conversation.

He says sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But networking and sales are a numbers game. If you know who you need to meet and you ask for enough introductions, some of them will come through.

Here’s what was interesting. Both of our methods worked. He brought the list. I told him the category of people I need to meet. He has two names in mind for me, and I have three for him. So we both have introductions to work on for each other.

But I can go look at his LinkedIn profile and see if I can pull up a few more names for him to work on for me. So I’m happy. My way generated a few names, and I have the potential for more.

I think both methods have value. Everyone I know isn’t connected to me on LinkedIn. So I need to know his criteria so I can mine my entire contact list for him. And he doesn’t know my LinkedIn connections as well as I do. I think there is a fourth on my list that he overlooked.

He now knows my criteria, which might shakes loose another name or two. So combining a list of names and specific triggers is more effective than either alone.

Try it the next time you meet with someone who is on LinkedIn. It’s certainly a very good way to be extremely specific, and I think you’ll walk out of the meeting with more introduction possibilities than if you hadn’t.

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How to Ask for a Referral And Actually Get One!

Friday, April 16th, 2010

I’ve done several posts this week on elevator speeches and the psychology behind them. I want to wrap up this series with specifically how to ask for a referral and get what you want.

If you’ve been following my suggested elevator speech structure, by now you’ve told a story about how you helped a client, and you’ve triggered an emotional response in your audience that should leave them inclined to help you.

Now you need to follow that emotional reaction with a specific request for a referral that gets our brains working.

You can do this one of two ways.

1. You can ask for an introduction to a specific person

I mean that exactly the way it sounds. Ask for a specific person, by name, company and title. “I’d really like an introduction to John Smith, CEO of Virginia Colony Corp.” This will get your everyone’s brains in gear while they try to think if they know John.

You’d be surprised how often this works. I’ve seen people raise their hands in meetings and say “I know him.”

And what if they don’t know him? That’s okay. Our brains will make connections. Maybe I don’t know John Smith or anyone else at Virginia Colony Corp. But I might know Cecil Calvert at Maryland Colony Corp. If I do, then I have to ask you if Cecil would be a good referral for you.

Either way, you’ve been successful at getting me to say “tell me more,” which is your ultimate goal in an elevator speech.

What if you don’t know of a particular person to ask for? Not a problem. You can…

2. Ask “Who do you know who?”

This method works if you are looking for a class of people. Examples:

“Who do you know who is paying too much for car insurance?”

“Who do you know who is unhappy with their web traffic from search engines?”

“Who do you know needs to network and doesn’t know how?”

“Who do you know who is a Keller Williams realtor?”

“Who do you know who” is powerful because it can’t be answered with “yes” or “no,” so we can’t default to no action.

I watched this in action with one of my clients at a networking event. After every conversation, he would ask for a referral. Sometimes he said, “Do you know someone who?” and sometimes he would ask “Who do you know who?” He’d been working the event the right way, so people were motivated to try to help him. Everyone he asked thought about it. But when he asked “who do you know who,” they thought longer. Noticeably longer.

Either method will work. If you’ve engaged our emotions with a solid story and then follow it up with a good referral request, you are working comfortably in our buy cycle, and with our inclinations and psychology. You won’t get a referral every time. But you’ll get one often enough to keep you in business. And a lot more often than your competitors, who probably don’t use these strategies.

Anyone want to try to put it all together? Go ahead and post your elevator speech in the comments. I’ll give you constructive (and supportive) feedback.

And maybe another reader will have a referral for you.

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Psychology Behind Asking for Referrals

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Yesterday I looked at some of the psychology behind the elevator speech and why the elements work the way they do in the order I suggest.

Today I want to focus on the psychology behind asking and how you can increase your odds that someone will respond with something you want.

Most people say either “If you know someone who needs my services, please hand over my card” or “A good referral for me today is…”

Neither of these are particularly effective. (Don’t believe me? Try them sometime and see what happens.) The first one does have a call to action (hand over my card), but asking for “someone who needs my services” is vague and not specific.

Remember that our natural inclination is to do nothing. It’s not fair, but it’s how most people act. Taking risks is…well…risky, and we don’t like to fail. As children, we’re taught to do the safe things, and the safest thing is often to do nothing. So if you are vague in what you ask for, we’ll default to doing nothing. Oh, we might say, “Sure, we’ll keep you in mind,” but more than likely 5 minutes later, you’re forgotten.

So you need to force us to think. Right here. Right now. Which is why “A good referral for me today” has part of it right. The “today” part. That gives a sense of urgency to thinking about it now. But you leave us with the question of “Is is still a good referral tomorrow?” Which gives us permission to ignore the request tomorrow and the day after. Still not what you want, right?

Frustrated yet? Don’t be. If you’ve followed the structure, you’re half way to getting what you want.

Remember how I talked about the importance of stories? Stories stick with us if they evoke an emotional reaction. You will remember an emotional reaction for a long time. It might be associated with what you were eating, smelling or feeling when the emotion is triggered. Emotions get fixed in us and can be re-triggered easily later. So the story will be valid tomorrow and the next day in the way that “A good referral today” won’t be.

Follow the story up with something to make us think, and you’ve probably got us. It makes the emotional trigger sink in deeper.

You make us think by asking for something specific. Remember the buy cycle? We make a decision with our emotions and then justify it logically. Well, the story helped us make an emotional decision. We either believe the story and want to help or we don’t. But we want to help. We really do, deep down. So that specific request, if it also triggers an emotional reaction, might shift our decision.

If our emotional decision was to help, then the specific request hits our logic and seals the deal.

How can you be specific? That’s the topic for tomorrow. Let what I talked about today sink in, and you’ll be ready to pull it all together.

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Biggest Networking Mistakes: Not Describing Yourself Well

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Yesterday I wrote about what I think is one of the biggest mistakes made in networking: not listening enough. Today I want to talk about the flip side: not describing yourself (or your business) well.

Have you ever been to an event where you asked someone, “So what do you do?” and been more confused after they finished than when they started.

Or have you ever asked someone “Who is a good client for you?” and they say, “Well, actually anyone is a good client for me.”

Neither of those messages accomplished anything positive. If they made the person more memorable, it wasn’t in a good way.

To network effectively, you need to have a clear message. You need to be able to describe what you do without jargon and in a way that people will understand. You need to know who you want to meet and be able to describe them in ways that will trigger a response.

This is one of the reasons I recommend people develop an elevator speech. Even if you never have a chance to stand up and deliver one, the process of writing about it forces you to think through who you are, what you do, and who you want to meet.

So how can you communicate those things more effectively?

1. Don’t use jargon! I can’t emphasize that enough. Jargon only communicates with people who know the jargon, and the majority of people you interact with won’t understand and won’t care.

2. Involve the senses. If you can describe what you do in a vivid way involving many senses, do so. When I was selling windows, I used to talk about standing in front of a large picture window and feeling either the heat or the cold through the glass. I got a referral from someone who felt the cold in front of the window in a friend’s living room. Saying, “if you know someone who needs my services” wouldn’t have given it to me. Making her feel it in my description did.

3. Be specific. If you want to meet plastic surgeons, don’t say you want to meet people “in the medical profession.” If you want to work with a particular company, mention it by name. If you can describe exactly what to look for of listen for, describe it. Our mind needs triggers to make connections. Give them to us.

4. Don’t wing it. Think through these things in advance. Sit down right now and write down what you do in vivid terms, using common language. Run your description past a friend or a client. See if it resonates. If you do it now, you’ll be ready when you need it.

Anyone want to share a particularly vivid description of what you do or who you need to meet? If I get some good ones, I’ll include them in an upcoming blog post. Don’t forget to leave a link to your site. I’ll include it in the post.

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From Client Profile to Referral Triggers

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Yesterday I wrote about profiling your ideal clients in a manner similar to law enforcement profiling criminals. Today I want to take a sample profile and show how the profile can lead to specific triggers you can use to generate referrals.

A lot of people ask for “anyone with skin” or “medium sized retail businesses.” These aren’t effective ways to ask for a referral because they are either too broad or too vague to generate a response. But to effectively ask for referrals, you need to know your clients and what they have in common. From there you can generate specific descriptions that will generate a response.

Let me walk through the process. One of my clients is a real estate agent. His ideal client profile looks something like this:

Age: 25-50
Marital Status: Married
Educational Level: College graduate
Income Range: $70K and up
Children: Yes

The list could go on, but that’s enough for us to work with. First, why are these the criteria? He wants to target clients who are in transition, and that age range covers a population likely to be moving in and out of houses. Can younger or older people also move? Of course, but this profile is for a particular category of client. He could (and has) created a different profile for older couples who are downsizing. Married people tend to have a higher gross income than singles. College grads tend to make more money. And married people with children are likely to have a reason to move several times. This particular agent is interested in long-term clients, not quick sales.

Someone probably can (and will) argue with me about the criteria. That’s what the comments are for. But for the rest of my example, just go with it.

So how does my client take those criteria (which are pretty broad) and turn them into specific triggers to generate referrals? He looks for ways his network might recognize these types of people. Where do they hang out? What organizations do they join? What are life events that others might recognize?

For example, he could ask for an introduction to a homeowner’s association to do a presentation on the changes in home prices in the area. He’d probably meet people matching his criteria at that meeting. He could ask people to look and listen for their friends discussing a need to up-size because of a new baby. He could ask for introductions to financial planners because they often ask targeted questions that will uncover referrals in his target market. Perhaps he could network with influential people in local alumni associations.

See how it works? Establishing a criteria helps him to create triggers to generate referrals for clients. It also gives him ideas of other professionals he can partner with and pass referrals to and from.

So look at your client list. Create a couple of profiles for the different segments of your target market. And then use those criteria to develop referral-generating messages.

Got a good one? Share it here. Maybe we can help you find the next great referral.

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Profiling Your Clients

Monday, November 9th, 2009

I was working with a client last week on defining her clients. As we were talking, I was telling her about profiling, and what fell out of my mouth was, “You need to profile your ideal client. You know, the way the FBI profiles serial killers.”

Yes, I love reading thrillers, in case you hadn’t guessed. But I realized there was a good bit of truth in what I said. When profiling, law enforcement professionals look at a lot of categories, including age, marital status, education, types of jobs, make and model of automobile and a host of other criteria.

Have you looked at your clients and asked those types of questions?

In what age range does your average client fall? Teen? Young working professional? Baby boomers? Retirees?

What about level of education? Is your offering going to resonate better with someone who has a college education? Does it matter?

You can ask yourself the same questions the FBI asks. The answers will help you refine your thinking. The profile itself won’t define the message you send to your network, but it will help make it more specific and targeted.

Come back tomorrow when I take a sample profile and use it to develop specific triggers to use when asking for referrals.

And if anyone wants to share their profile, please feel free to leave it in the comments. You never can tell when a reader of this blog might know someone who matches.

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