One of the cornerstones of effective marketing, is to focus on your prospective clients and their needs, rather than your own.
Some call it paying it forward.
Others call it contribution.
You can call it whatever you like, but it’s the same thing: Focusing your efforts on the other guy and not on yourself.
Bring the marketplace your seed, not your need
Ask a farmer and she will tell you that if you want a bountiful harvest, you need to bring your seeds to the soil, not your needs. You can tell the soil how much you need a great harvest and pester it for months and nothing productive will happen.
The marketplace is very similar!
Pester people for leads at networking events and you will find it a time-consuming and unrewarding exercise. Equally, sending people letters or emails they never asked for, all about the benefits of working with you, can be a costly process.
It’s also unnecessary, in my experience.
The thing is, you don’t need to pester anyone. Your prospective clients present you with an opportunity to plant as many seeds of contribution as you want to. For example, I reach thousands of prospective clients daily, by giving away as much useful information as I can via my blogs and social networking accounts. Without pestering anyone, I generate leads and sales every day. But to earn that privilege, I have to consistently focus on you, your needs and how I can deliver valuable, free information that will be of use to you.
The bottom line is that the process of giving and receiving, starts with giving. So, if you need some more high quality clients right now, give until it stops hurting!
Jim Connolly can help you grow your business and achieve the breakthrough marketing results your hard work deserves. To find out more, simply click here!
Photo: Klearchos Kapoutsis
This is great advice and the way that I work but as a business you need to identify quite quickly those who’ll take everything that you give but never give back. They’re not usually customers / potential customers but affiliates or others who are in a position to refer onto you. The leaches of the business world.
Anybody else had this experience?
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